Half Marathon -- I did it!

I'm the one in the lime green top.

Well, I did it! I ran THIRTEEN miles!!!! Wow, it feels great. I was nervous all week, then the day came and I woke up at the butt crack of dawn to find rain and 40 degree temps (with wind chill in the 30's)! I was NERVOUS. Luckily the rain stopped just before the race began. As soon as the gun was fired I realized that I had my cell phone in the pocket of my hoodie. Crud! James was too far for me to find and give it to. As I finally crossed the start line and began to run (about 10 minutes into the race), I felt my hoodie pocket to discover that my cell phone had vanished from my pocket, fallen on the concrete to be trampled on by thousands of people! The rest of the race I had moments of "DOH!" (think Homer Simpson). But otherwise the race was amazing. It was fun to run through downtown, right by my hospital of employment, past the Capitol, through beautiful older neighborhoods, and down a few main roads. I had run 13 miles last weekend and those last two miles were killer. But during this race, I had so much adrenaline pumping that those last 2 miles didn't even phase me. There's no way the "me" two years ago would ever believe that the "me" now has completed a half marathon. Thanks to my hubby for all the support those early mornings when I had to get a run in.

Here I am about to cross the finish line. I am sooo relieved to finally be there! The gal on my left in the white top was about to kick my trash those last few yards, I had nothing left in me to keep up with her. By the way, James had a great view! What an awesome shot, honey!

James got a shot of the clock as I crossed the finish line. This indicated my "gun finish time" (which was actually 2 hrs 5 min 52 sec), but it wasn't my REAL time...I didn't actually cross the start line until almost 10 min after the start of the race. My time was much better than I ever expected. My #1 goal time was: 2 hrs 40 min, My #2 goal was 2 hrs and 10 minutes, my secret goal was less than 2 hrs...I did it in 1 hr 56 min!

Here's my stats:

Allison Stuart
bib number:
H3215
gender:
F
location:
Edmond, OK
overall place:
1132 out of 4353
division place:
93 out of 489
gender place:
438 out of 2571
time:
1:56:04
pace:
8:52
guntime:
2:05:52
10k:
55:17

Say Cheese!

One day last week I wasn't feeling very well. I put Ethan down for his nap, turned Go Diego Go on for Aidan so that I could lie down and rest. Aidan came in my room about 15 minutes later with shredded cheese hanging from his chin. Hmm, I thought, where did the cheese come from? I walked down the hallway, rounded the corner, and THIS is what I found. Shredded cheese EVERYWHERE (you can see the empty bag on the floor). He had pulled out a jumbo bag of shredded cheese (you know, the finely shredded kind) from the fridge and had a little party. I think he was throwing it around like confetti just before dumping the whole contents of the bag on my couch! I found cheese all over the ENTIRE living room. I found cheese on and behind the t.v., all over the floor, on the train table, and on the piano. He went cheese-tossing crazy! I guess that's what I get for letting my kids watch cartoons!
Here's Aidan being punished (after time-out). I made him clean up the cheese with the shop-vac. As you can see from this pic, he kind of enjoyed his punishment.

Best Buds

Ethan loves pushing his Tonka Truck around the back yard.

He fills it with sand and soccer balls and pushes it around everywhere.
Of course, Aidan has his own Tonka Truck too.

Aidan introduced Ethan to popsicles. I have these great "Mini Pops" that are tiny, 25 calories, and are slow-melting. Perfect for my boys. Now Aidan climbs on his stool to reach the freezer and gets 2 popsicles, one for him and one for Ethan.

Going for a ride in the bus.
Look at those smiles!!!
(Notice Aidan's green tongue from a popsicle, one of his fav treats)


I love having two boys. They are so fun. They are similar in the way they play with the same toys and love to be covered in dirt but have such different personalities. And they are such good buddies...most of the time (except when one has a toy the other wants or when Aidan feels the need to bite Ethan on the forearm--which we haven't seen in a few days, thank goodness). Aidan has loved Ethan since the day he met him in the hospital. I have a great video of Aidan going up to the bassinet excited to meet his new "baby". Aidan is a wonderful big bro. Ethan wants to keep up with the big kids, especially AJ. I'd love to have a little daughter someday, but I wouldn't trade my boys for anything in the world!!!!

Run Forest Run!

So, I have to write about something I have been prepping for lately. I'm going to run a half marathon in 10 days! I've been wanting/trying to get in shape since Ethan was born. The only thing that I seem to keep coming back to is running. I have been an on-again/off-again 3 miler for a few years. I've said in the past that I would NEVER find enjoyment in long distance running. For some reason, lately I've been obsessed with the OKC Memorial Marathon. I have a voice in the back of my head saying ever so faintly "You will run the half marathon". So I got in gear and made up a 9 week training plan for myself, which involves running up to 20 miles/week. And now I am 10 days away from running the furthest distance I have ever ran before in my life. I had commitment issues; I didn't actually sign up to run it until the last day before registration prices went up. But now it's official. I'm really excited to complete this goal of mine, but scared to death! My #1 goal is to FINISH. I really want to finish the race running (as opposed to crawling) across the finish line with a smile on my face. I'm glad I've been able to stick to something for a length of time and I hope to accomplish my goal. Now it's off to bed so I can rise early and put my running shoes on!

Zoo Fun

My friend Brianna and I took our boys to the zoo. Aidan and Shane of course had a great time running around together. Ethan did all he could to keep up. And little Wyatt didn't realize all the fun he was missing as he slept in his car seat. There's a pic above with Aidan and Shane looking at the gorillas. There was one gorilla that would come pretty close to the glass. The boys would sit on the ledge with their backs against the glass, and the gorilla would walk RIGHT behind them brushing the glass with his side. The boys were FREAKED out the first time gorilla did it. Then they would sit back down on the ledge and here's the crazy part...that gorilla would circle around and walk right behind them again, the boys would get up giggling and squealing, then the cycle would repeat with gorilla circling back 'round and brushing the glass with his side. The boys were playing a game with him and the gorilla was playing right back. We got this on video. I'll try to get that video on the blog.

Gimme Birthday Cake!!!

Ethan's Birthday celebration continues...Here's some cake pics from Ethan's party at Grandma T-sa and Papa's house. Both boys dove in head first and had the biggest sugar rush I've ever seen.

Two Peas in a Pod

Aidan's friend Shane came to visit from Georgia for 1 1/2 weeks. They had such a great time together. They loved to do EVERYTHING together! If one was wearing his cowboy hat & boots, the other had to quickly follow suit. They loved playing in the sand, at the park, made pizza dough together, they even loved the same movies. One day, we were playing in Aidan's room and I started to read a book to them. Ethan started to get cranky b/c it was naptime. I left the two older boys in Aidan's bed (with the book, Buzz Lightyear, and Woody) so that I could put Ethan down for a nap. As I was rocking Ethan in the next room, I could hear the boys playing pretend with Woody & Buzz; a few minutes later...silence. After I put Ethan down in his crib I peeked into Aidan's room and low and behold they were both sleeping!! I don't know who fell asleep first but I was very surprised considering the fact that neither one of them had napped all week. They had played themselves to sleep. It was precious! When they woke, they sat on the couch together to watch "Cars" (hence the 2nd picture down). They had such a great time together. Toobad Shane & Aidan don't live near each other.
Good friends are hard to come by. It was so nice to see the McLellands again. I hope you guys had a nice visit to OK!

Ethan's First Birthday (March 25th)

I cannot believe my little angel is ONE! He is a ray of sunshine. He has been such a happy child. I keep waiting for him to go through a difficult "stage" but he continues to be the easiest child to raise. He is so laid back and no matter what Aidan is doing (whether it be steal a toy or run him over with his tonka dump truck), he just goes with the flow and takes the abuse with a huge smile on his face (dimple and all). He just started walking 2 weeks before his birthday. He actually took his first steps at the child watch at the gym while I was working out! And he is now on the go, walking more than he is crawling. He LIVES for bouncy balls. He actually does something that really does amaze James and I. He's only been walking for 3 weeks now and he walks around the house KICKING a ball. That seems like an awfully a lot of coordination for someone who just began to walk. And whenever he's playing with cars, he makes the "brrrrr" sound that cars make. Where did he learn that? Maybe his older bro has taught him a thing or two. One last thing that he does, he likes to put phones up to his ear and begin to talk (he learned that from daddy who is always taking business phone calls!). He is such a quick learner and is such a joy to watch. I wish you all could see him the way I do! Happy birthday, big man!