Miracles and love

and glitter, unicorns and rainbows. 

Today started out way too early.  Got to the hospital by 6am to get baby Xander into this world.  I fell asleep.  Of course I couldn't sleep the night before.  I was hot, my mind was racing and just couldn't sleep.  

Waiting, waiting, waiting. 

Once she got the epidural, Xander made a run for it and she was feeling nauseated and a little like pushing.

She was right.  I only had time to grab my iphone.  She pushed once for the nurse and 2 -3 times for the doctor and then BOOM!  Out came Xander, covered in crisco and screaming like a banchie!

Dad Brent cut the cord.

Mom taking a good look of her greasy monkey!

At this point I don't think he is pleased.

He's a smart fella and after getting a little mama's milk and passing out he woke up all bright eyed and ready to take a good look at his family.

Grandpa Chris taking a good look.  He's such a tender hearted asshole. 

(if you know Chris that will make perfect sense)

A few hours later I grabbed grease monkey number one and took him home.  He wasn't too sure, since he hasn't been with me without mom and dad before.  He got over that real quick.  I'm adorable - how can he resist?  He had a delicious meal, followed by a bath that included bubbles and toys.  He moved water from one container to the next and between each one we clapped and cheered.  That is the exact moment I won his heart.  After that was jammies and playtime.  We also had a bedtime snack - I was worried that he didn't get enough to eat today.  I cut up an apple and banana and he loved it.  We ended the evening with a leap frog numbers video with lots of "yeahs!" and clapping.  Of course we spent about 30 minutes cuddling in the lazy boy.  

He started laughing at this picture and I took a few more.  Look how tired his little face is.  I carried him, his woobies and baby bear and put him in bed.  He didn't even cry!  Now it's my turn.  Another "Nana" day and going to the hospital to make sure brother Xander is ok.  I love Matthews little face and could cuddle with him for DAYS!!

FYI - this gal didn't even get light headed!  BOOM!

Blog on.............

Manitou Incline

1914.  Back when they had cool hats.

There was recently a story in Runner's World about the Manitou Incline.  I can't find the article but I remember it was fascinating.  The incline is located in the Pikes Peak mountains and since I had planned to be in Colorado Springs I figured I would at least go look at it.  

This was my plan for Saturday after I got to Lyndsi's house.  (She is getting induced Monday!  Yeah!!)  

Can I get a "hell yeah!" for the map feature on the iPhone!  

*Get Coffee - Starbucks - check!

*Stop by the Lululemon Showroom in downtown Colorado Springs....CHECK and YIKES!!!   (Why did they have to have that long sleeve on sale AND the black shorts I've been looking for!  I am SO grounded!!)

Check out the Manitou Incline & then go to the gym.  Hahahahaha

Instead of just checking out the Incline, I decided to give it a shot.  The people around me looked as if they were going to do it.  Luckily I had stopped at Lululemon and purchased a couple of long sleeve tech tops that I could layer.

I took this picture at my car before I took off.  I look mad.  I'm actually concentrating on trying to get the top in the picture to send Tera.  

I had to park on the narrow road and walk to the incline.  Legally they couldn't let us park in the parking lot of the Cog Train.  That's what the parking guy said.  He was a doll and so kind to give me instruction and encouragement so I believe him.

 Extreme = bad ass

Doesn't look so bad!  I figured I'd just get started and if I got tired I would come back down.  That is just like my personality - NOT.

I shed the top long sleeve and I never ended up using the iPod.  I was enjoying the entire experience.  (look at those straight teeth!!!  haha)

Where I have to go and where I have been.  

After about this far up is when I started counting stairs.  I would look up to check it out and make a goal.  Usually 75 steps, sometimes 100 and if they were really steep and treacherous then 50.  This is also about the time I figured out the auto pause on my Garmin was on most of the time because I wasn't hoofin it very fast.  I turned the Auto pause off about half way up.  This was sort of irritating because I don't have all the right numbers.  I love numbers!

Yep - you are trespassing if you go up the incline. 

 From what I understand there is a part of the incline right smack in the middle that is privately owned.  I'm sure their lawyers are horrified at the idea of allowing people on it and the company having to take responsibility so it's illegal to go all the way up.  It's common knowledge, that is ignored.

There are multiple areas that have rusted out pipes in the middle.  

Areas of the trail are pretty sketchy.  I didn't find it too difficult to get up, but I have long legs and I'm in pretty good shape.  Although when I do this again I'm bringing gloves.  Sometimes I needed my hands to steady myself or boost up a step.

At one point someone told me I was almost done.  Oh nay nay!

There is a little dip in the incline so it looks like you have about 30 feet to go and after a few steps this is what you see.  

I can't remember at what point I decided that I would finish, but it was long before this.  There was a light rain, it wasn't too cold and the challenge made it impossible to stop. Also, i'm a little scared of heights.  Walking down the stairs wouldn't have been very fun at all.  Going up it helped a lot to concentrate on my footing and counting stairs. I wouldn't look down until I knew my footing was steady.  

I received at least 5 compliments on my shoes.  One lady even commented on how they didn't even look broken in.  Oh yeah, about 100 miles of broken in!  Of course they weren't the right shoes for the job but they did an awesome job.  Remember - I was going to run at the gym - not the mountain.  

When I did steady myself and look back, this is what I saw.  

With the cool weather, slight rain and a rainbow behind me, how could I possibly just stop and go to a gym!  I was really hoping that the rainbow ended at my car and when I got back there would be a pot of gold.  Nope. 

STATS OFF GARMIN

Elevation Gain:2,017 ft

Elevation Loss:2,048 ft

Min Elevation:6,575 ft

Max Elevation:8,618 ft

DONE!  Made it to the top!  There was a nice girl that was waiting for her brother at the top that took my picture with the rainbow.  

I was a little wet from the rain, but I was comfortable and I have to say - it was as exciting as finishing a race!  I just wish there was someone at the top handing out medals!  Matt has been trying to get me to go hiking for years and the first time I really go for it, I'm out of town.  I've decided we are going to do more hiking AND trail running!

Here is the start of the trail going down.  

There are a lot of fascinating rock formations on the mountain.  After about a half of a mile of almost straight down hill I finally made it to a part of the trail that was actually runable, and so I decided to run.  My Garmin hit a mile at about that time so I thought I would run/jog/trailrun in my street running shoes for another mile and see how I did.  

LOVED it!

A few pictures I took on the way down.  It was breathtaking!

This was the trail I came down.  I did it in like 2.5 miles...:SHRUG:?  Am I such a fast trail runner that I fly??

THAT IS FUNNY!

Here is my Garmin map.

 The dots in the picture below show the empty spots where the auto pause stayed on.  GRRRR.  Now I have to do it again.  I might not have time this trip, but it will happen.

Here are my splits.  They are way off on the first mile, but the second mile the auto pause was off and I was running.  I think an average pace 15:54 and 16:30 min/miles for a down hill trail that I've never been on before was pretty good.  I had a couple of runners pass me that were flying!  Next time I need to bring my trail shoes.  

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:35:50.5	3.25	29:27
1	57:13.9	1.00	57:15
2	15:54.4	1.00	15:55
3	16:30.4	1.00	16:31
4	6:11.8	0.26	24:16

It's a long post and lots of pictures, but it was so much fun!  It really gave me a bug to start doing some trail running.  Next spring when my foot heals, I'm planning on running more trails.  It's just so beautiful and fun!  

Speaking of foot - yes it hurt like mad!  The PF pain goes away pretty fast when I start moving around, but the nerve pain is killing me!  All the research (Internet) that I've done basically states that it treated the same way PF is.  There is a lot of theories of wearing shoes with a higher heel, getting rid of inserts, blah blah blah.  I am going to see a doctor when I get back and maybe an MRI is the next step.  At this point I'm still going to run my races with lots of rest, ice and ibuprofen in between. 

Has anyone ran the incline?

Trail Running - love it or not?

Blog on................

COLORADO February 2011

This month I was lucky enough to have Al (father in law) fly me up to see my family in Colorado for a few days.  It took a couple of tries, but the weather and timing was in our favor and we went for it.

I had the greatest of time!

Airplane ride!

 I had to take a picture of Austin.  He was doped up from getting four teeth pulled.  He insisted on coming out to the plane with us.

 Thanks to my honey, he put all the plans together and even got us our rental cars.  This is a man with connections!

 Closer look at the dope head.  Totally legal and totally loving it.  I have a feeling he got some Versed.  

See his cheeks all packed up with cotton??  

 See the big plane?  Well I'm getting on the little plane.  Here it looks like a little "smart plane", kinda like a smart car only way faster and super cool.

 Awesome, eh???  It's so much fun!

 Matt getting pics of me getting set to go.  There is a very complex and rigid puzzle to getting into small planes.  

 Ready to FLY!!  Opp...guess I will wait for the pilot.

 Oh look, there is air med and if you look really carefully you can see the helicopter.  I've been on that plane..unless they have two...then I've been on one like it.

 Airmed behind us getting ready to taxi.  If they took a picture of me you would see some dumb ass with an old airmed hat waving like a nerd.  :::Shrug::: it happens.

 Salt Lake

 The Valley

 Park City Area

 Mountains

 Aspen from afar

 Aspen, Colorado more close up.

 So beautiful.  Although clouds bring turbulence and turbulence in the RV6 is just a wee bit more bumpy then in a 747. This is where I realized WHY we needed shoulder straps on our seat belts.  Curiously enough, I didn't get sick and thought it was kinda fun.  But only for about a minute and realized after 30 minutes I would probably need a yak sak.  Luckily with Al's flying skills and cloud knowledge, we hit very little turbulence.  Props to mother nature too....it was a beautiful day!

 Pikes Peak...almost there.

 Park the plane, they fill it up and then bring you your rental car.  I could get use to this kind of travel.  No riff raff whatsoever.  Al had plans with friends and family in Colorado and of course my plans were to get over to that grand baby of mine and smooch his fricken face!!  Oh and give hugs to Hunter, Lyndsi and Chris.  A friendly nod to Brent.

HERE IS THE FLIGHT HOME!

 Pueblo reservoir.

 A lake, looks cool because of the cracks or whatever they are.

 I think this is part of Black Canyon, or the lake that is above it.

 awesome!

Colorado River.. I think

 Green River.

 I am such a camera hog!!

There is the Duschesne Airport!  

MY REASON FOR GOING!

 Look at that face.  Those eyes.  Matthew (MAC) is just a droolin bundle of love.

 At the restaurant.  He was happy just leanin back and flirtin with the ladies.

Bedtime cuddles.

 This is the blanket I made for him.  I love this picture.  He looks like he was just goosed.

 Oh this picture taking was getting old!

 He likes his thumb.  Delish!

 Lucky Lucky to be able to have dinner with the family!  Joining us was Butch.  He's just the nicest guy.  Thanks to Chris for taking a chance and letting me see Hunter for a few hours.  I love that little guy and he always gives me a big smile when I come see him!

 So cute.

I really do take off my jacket and scarf.  I just love the way he holds his bottle.  At the end....because that is how he ROLLS!

I can't thank Al enough for flying me up there.  I love seeing my little Colorado family and feeling the love and friendship I have there.  I never thought that I would have so much fun in a little plane, but Al is a great teacher and by the end of the trip I was reading the maps and actually able to tell how many feet we were in the air and all that stuff.  Just an absolute joy.  I think he had fun too!!

 I am up for a flight, anytime!!

Such a great time.  

Thanks Lyndsi for cleaning the house for me and letting me have your baby for 2 days!!

Thanks Chris!  Your the best!

Thanks Al!  The best plane flight I've had!

Live is great now isn't it?

Blog on.............