My sweet new ride
Family breakfast
Hanging out with my best friend during her tattoo
Avery Quinn
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Mother's Day / The rest of May
We returned home from Montana on Mother's Day, and saying that I was spoiled this Mother's Day is an understatement. I got a new car!! And not just any car, its a Prius :):):) I am LOVING the great gas mileage already. I traded in my Dodge Neon when we got the Prius, the Neon did me well these past years but it was time for an upgrade. I got the Neon in high school, it was already used when I got it, and I put an additional 7 years of wear and tear into that car. I am now spoiled with a vehicle that has everything I need :) Keyless entry, automatic windows, amazing gas mileage, keyless start, and so much more!
On a less exciting note, I had 3 biopsies done this month, it was not fun. I was awake for the biopsies with just a local anesthetic which creeped me out, but Steven was there for moral support. I went to work after they finished sewing me up, the biopsy sites swelled and bruised pretty bad, I was in a lot of pain. Surprisingly the pain lasted an entire week until I went back to have my stitches removed. It turns out my body did not like the type of stitches used and I was rejecting them. My body is so overly sensitive to everything since Avery was born, its crazy haha.
We took Avery to the zoo this month with my parents. I love being able to include family in little activities like this while Avery grows up. I know Avery likely won't remember anything from her first year of life but its sad that my parents and in-laws missed out on all of Avery's firsts during that first year. The best part of the trip was feeding the giraffes, Avery fed them last year but this year she was tall enough to feed them herself. I expected her to be apprehensive of a giant creature eating from her hand but instead she marched right up to that giraffe and demanded he eat the lettuce haha.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Montana
SPARTAN RACE!!!!
I dropped Avery off at my mom's house on Thursday night since we left at 3:30 am Friday morning. It was a grueling 10 hour drive to Montana but we made it in one piece. We had some lunch in Kalispell and went to pre-registration for the race. I was number 467 and Steven was 466 - we got our bibs, headbands, timer bracelets and our start time bracelets.
I dropped Avery off at my mom's house on Thursday night since we left at 3:30 am Friday morning. It was a grueling 10 hour drive to Montana but we made it in one piece. We had some lunch in Kalispell and went to pre-registration for the race. I was number 467 and Steven was 466 - we got our bibs, headbands, timer bracelets and our start time bracelets.
We woke up fairly early on Saturday to eat a big pre-race breakfast. The dining area at the hotel was littered with people in workout gear also in town for the race. Steven and I tried to eat a hearty breakfast but I was too nervous/excited to really eat much. The racers were shuttled to the race in school buses.
A stroke of luck led us to run into one of Steven's co-workers as we stood at starting line. Steven's co-workers all work from home and are scattered about the country, the only other employee he's ever met is my dad (obviously). Steven's co-worker, Scott, recognized Steven from an email that was sent to everyone on Steven's birthday, it had pictures and mentioned that he would be doing the Spartan Race. Scott and his family were kind enough to stick around during the race and take pictures for us, it was so generous because it took 3 hours to finish.
The race is a bit of a blur so forgive me if I forget any details.
1. Wall #1 - to even get to the starting line we had to scale a wall
2. Water #1 - immediately after crossing the starting line we had to trudge through waist-deep (at least for me) freezing cold water.
3. Hike #1 - we hiked up a fairly steep hill, the hundreds of dripping wet racers that had gone up before us made the terrain slick and unsteady.
4. Wall of Sparta - we used ropes to climb up the side of the wall, Army crawled under a net at the top, and then climbed down the back side.
5. More Walls - there were a series of walls that we either had to climb over, crawl under, or squeeze through an opening in the middle.
6. Hike #2 - this hike was awful. It was a mile hike upwards and terrible steep, to make things worse the path was very tiny so racers were very slow moving.
7. Cargo Net - We hit the first water station at the cargo nets, I have never had water that tasted so good. We climbed up and over a cargo net, it was really high up which was intimidating.
8. Log Carry - We were given a heavy log to carry up and down a hill, I fell during the descent. I held onto the log so that it didn't roll down the hill and knock down other racers. I was really embarrassed to have fallen in front of everyone.
9. Hike #3 - This was by-far the worst of the hike of the entire race. We came to a break in the race where we had to go left or right. We chose to go left and it was a horrible mistake. The incline was so intense that it took us probably 45 minutes to reach the top.
10. Monkey Bars - Steven and I had practiced monkey bars at the our neighborhood playground and knew we couldn't do it. Steven put me on his shoulders and helped me across the bars <3
11. Hike #4 - This was the start of the hike down the mountain. There was no path during this part of the hike so we went through bushes, around trees, over rocks, and even had to use rope to rappel down the side of the mountain. I fell jumping off a rock, my legs were jelly and just collapsed underneath me. I scratched up my leg pretty good.
12. Water #2 - More waist-deep water to wade through.
13. Wooden Structures - I think there were 6 wooden structures that we had to climb over.
14. Log Flip - Basically we grabbed a giant log (mine was at least 10 feet tall if not taller) and flip it twice - horizontal vertical horizontal vertical horizontal.
15. Hike #5 - Thankfully this hike wasn't too crazy, just a normal hike, but I fell again and twisted my knee and ankle.
16. Water #3 - This is when we reached our second water station, I chugged as much as possible before advancing to the water puddle/pit. This water pit was the deepest and, although it was ice cold, several racers swam through it to get as cooled off as possible.
17. Barbed Wire Crawl - This barbed wire crawl went on forever! A lot of people were Army crawling under the barbed wire but Steven and I rolled under the wire - I was SO dizzy!! Steven ended up catching his shorts on the barbed wire and ripping them, everyone got a good laugh out of that.
18. Hay Climb - Spaced out between the barbed wire were stacked hay bales, they were mushy and muddy which made it difficult to climb over.
19. Bridge Crawl - This one kind of freaked me out. We had to crawl (or roll) under a very low "bridge" that other racers were running over. The bridge was just logs set on top of other logs, we would have been crushed if anything went wrong. I felt claustrophobic trapped in that tiny space with tons of other people trying to crawl out as well.
20. Spear Throw - We had one chance to throw a spear and have it stick into a bale of hay. Steven managed to spear the hay, I failed miserably. I had to do 30 burpees but Steven did 15 of them for me <3.
21. Rope Climb - A failure for both of us. I got so so close to the top, the bell I needed to ring was only inches away but I just couldn't muster the strength to get it. Steven and I had to do burpees, one of the announcers said that if we kissed a fellow Spartan then we would only have to do 20 burpess instead of 30 so I ran over and planted one on Steven :)
22. Wall #2 - This wall was pretty tall so I got on my hands and knees so Steven could get a little boost, then I tried to push his butt over the wall lol
23. Water #4 - Not terrible deep.
24. Sand Bag Carry - After getting soaked again we grabbed a heavy sand bag and carried it up and down a steep hill. Everyone carried their sand bags on their shoulder but I held it to my chest like I would if I were carrying Avery, I've lugged her around for 2 years so it was natural for me.
25. Hike # 6 - Another random hike just for the hell of it. Pretty sick of hiking at this point.
26. Water # 4 - This water was pretty shallow, mostly a giant mud puddle by the time I got to it.
27. Wall #3 - The biggest wall yet, probably 10 feet tall. So close to the end!
28. Fire Jump - We ran and jumped over fire (mostly just embers because we took so long to finish haha)
FINISH LINE!!!!!
Immediately after crossing the finish line we were given snacks, water, our medals, a T-Shirt, and had our timer wrist bands removed. There was a "shower" area but instead of showers it was just people spraying you off with a pressure washer that was pumping water from a stream. We decided to just stay dirty and shower at the hotel haha.
I showered for close to an hour and STILL had mud and dirt coming off of me. We went to dinner at a pizza place, got ice cream, and went to bed super early that night.
The race is a bit of a blur so forgive me if I forget any details.
1. Wall #1 - to even get to the starting line we had to scale a wall
2. Water #1 - immediately after crossing the starting line we had to trudge through waist-deep (at least for me) freezing cold water.
3. Hike #1 - we hiked up a fairly steep hill, the hundreds of dripping wet racers that had gone up before us made the terrain slick and unsteady.
4. Wall of Sparta - we used ropes to climb up the side of the wall, Army crawled under a net at the top, and then climbed down the back side.
5. More Walls - there were a series of walls that we either had to climb over, crawl under, or squeeze through an opening in the middle.
6. Hike #2 - this hike was awful. It was a mile hike upwards and terrible steep, to make things worse the path was very tiny so racers were very slow moving.
7. Cargo Net - We hit the first water station at the cargo nets, I have never had water that tasted so good. We climbed up and over a cargo net, it was really high up which was intimidating.
8. Log Carry - We were given a heavy log to carry up and down a hill, I fell during the descent. I held onto the log so that it didn't roll down the hill and knock down other racers. I was really embarrassed to have fallen in front of everyone.
9. Hike #3 - This was by-far the worst of the hike of the entire race. We came to a break in the race where we had to go left or right. We chose to go left and it was a horrible mistake. The incline was so intense that it took us probably 45 minutes to reach the top.
10. Monkey Bars - Steven and I had practiced monkey bars at the our neighborhood playground and knew we couldn't do it. Steven put me on his shoulders and helped me across the bars <3
11. Hike #4 - This was the start of the hike down the mountain. There was no path during this part of the hike so we went through bushes, around trees, over rocks, and even had to use rope to rappel down the side of the mountain. I fell jumping off a rock, my legs were jelly and just collapsed underneath me. I scratched up my leg pretty good.
12. Water #2 - More waist-deep water to wade through.
13. Wooden Structures - I think there were 6 wooden structures that we had to climb over.
14. Log Flip - Basically we grabbed a giant log (mine was at least 10 feet tall if not taller) and flip it twice - horizontal vertical horizontal vertical horizontal.
15. Hike #5 - Thankfully this hike wasn't too crazy, just a normal hike, but I fell again and twisted my knee and ankle.
16. Water #3 - This is when we reached our second water station, I chugged as much as possible before advancing to the water puddle/pit. This water pit was the deepest and, although it was ice cold, several racers swam through it to get as cooled off as possible.
17. Barbed Wire Crawl - This barbed wire crawl went on forever! A lot of people were Army crawling under the barbed wire but Steven and I rolled under the wire - I was SO dizzy!! Steven ended up catching his shorts on the barbed wire and ripping them, everyone got a good laugh out of that.
18. Hay Climb - Spaced out between the barbed wire were stacked hay bales, they were mushy and muddy which made it difficult to climb over.
19. Bridge Crawl - This one kind of freaked me out. We had to crawl (or roll) under a very low "bridge" that other racers were running over. The bridge was just logs set on top of other logs, we would have been crushed if anything went wrong. I felt claustrophobic trapped in that tiny space with tons of other people trying to crawl out as well.
21. Rope Climb - A failure for both of us. I got so so close to the top, the bell I needed to ring was only inches away but I just couldn't muster the strength to get it. Steven and I had to do burpees, one of the announcers said that if we kissed a fellow Spartan then we would only have to do 20 burpess instead of 30 so I ran over and planted one on Steven :)
22. Wall #2 - This wall was pretty tall so I got on my hands and knees so Steven could get a little boost, then I tried to push his butt over the wall lol
23. Water #4 - Not terrible deep.
24. Sand Bag Carry - After getting soaked again we grabbed a heavy sand bag and carried it up and down a steep hill. Everyone carried their sand bags on their shoulder but I held it to my chest like I would if I were carrying Avery, I've lugged her around for 2 years so it was natural for me.
25. Hike # 6 - Another random hike just for the hell of it. Pretty sick of hiking at this point.
26. Water # 4 - This water was pretty shallow, mostly a giant mud puddle by the time I got to it.
27. Wall #3 - The biggest wall yet, probably 10 feet tall. So close to the end!
28. Fire Jump - We ran and jumped over fire (mostly just embers because we took so long to finish haha)
FINISH LINE!!!!!
Immediately after crossing the finish line we were given snacks, water, our medals, a T-Shirt, and had our timer wrist bands removed. There was a "shower" area but instead of showers it was just people spraying you off with a pressure washer that was pumping water from a stream. We decided to just stay dirty and shower at the hotel haha.
I showered for close to an hour and STILL had mud and dirt coming off of me. We went to dinner at a pizza place, got ice cream, and went to bed super early that night.
We woke up early on Sunday to drive home, the drive was awful. Steven and I were so sore and stiff that the last thing we wanted to do was sit in the car for 10 hours. We made it home in time for dinner and I finally got to see my baby girl!! She was excited to see us for about 5 minutes before giving all her love and attention to my mom haha. When it was time to go home Avery said that she was staying with Mimi and that we should go get in the car. My mom wanted to keep Avery that night and Avery wanted to stay with Mimi that night so I went home baby-less. Although I was very unhappy to spend another night away from my daughter (and on Mother's day I might add!) I was very sore and tired and didn't want to chase after a toddler. Steven was going stir-crazy for some reason and wanted to go see a movie, I wanted to stay home and be lazy. We normally settle things by playing rock-paper-scissor but that night we mixed things up and flipped a coin instead, Steven won so we went and saw a movie.
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