YAM Scram

The girls ran the YAM Scram again this year. This year was horrible in terms of weather. It was cold, pouring rain, and wind. But they did it!

Here is Chloe at the start. Look for the tallest pink rain coat hood out there.

And their off!

Coming around for the first lap!

The sprint for the finish!

Alexa huddled in the tent before her race started.

Alexa, Annabel, and I at the finish line.

It was a driving wind and rain and they were still smiling at the end!

YAM Scram

Memorial Day weekend in our house means family comes to visit and running races. This weekend was no different. Saturday was the Yam Scram which is the kid's running event that takes place on marathon weekend here in Burlington. Chloe ran her fifth Yam Scram on Saturday, but her first time at the one mile event. It was a warm morning and she was definitely wearing down by that second lap around the field.

She finished and got her medal though!

This was Annabel's first Yam Scram now that she has reached that all important mile stone of being four. She and Alexa both were competing in the 1/2 mile event.

They were pretty excited!

Here we are at the start.

Here we are finshing... a little worn down but still smiling!

The finishers and their medals.

Sam was attending his second Yam Scram as a spectator. We entered him in the yogurt eating competition. He won first place. 

A New Year

I have been feeling like a rather lazy blogger. I have lots of ideas of things I should write, but then I don't. I get caught up in the day to day and then I just don't get it done. I decided in the spirit of the whole New Year's resolution concept (of which I am not very good at) I would try my hand at posting at least a  picture each day.

I like to write about things we do each day, but the reality is I don't often have the energy for the writing part of it. I could post the picture though... well maybe. I mean it might end up a total flop that I can't keep up with but it isn't exactly a life or death matter here so it is worth a shot.

I have been trying to figure out what a good goal for me would be this year. I do like the New Year. I like the idea of a fresh start and making a positive change. This year I feel a little muddled after 2011. It wasn't that I can make a blanket statement that 2011 was a bad year. There were some wonderful things that happened. There were some rough part too though.

Rough in ways that I hope 2012 isn't . I mean I like my attorney. I do. He is really nice. I just hadn't known him at all prior to 2011, and we spent a fair amount of time together this past year. I am hoping that we don't have to chat as often in 2012. Maybe I could use that money for some other purpose.

I said good-bye to someone I care about this year too. Not in a death way but in an erase, delete, unsubscribe kind of way that comes with the new technological ways in which we are in contact with people. It was the right thing for me to do, but that didn't make it any easier. I am hoping that this coming year brings more people into my life than people leaving it.

So here we go today's pictures.

It was a home with Cabbie kind of day.

I did get a run in my first of the year so far. My newish shoes have a lot of work to do as my co-worker Katie and I are hoping that our team is drawn for the two person relay team in this year's marathon. I am shooting  for a PR in the half marathon this year.

Look at that you got two pictures! I am already ahead of the game.

Running Girls

Chloe and Alexa ran a Ready Set Run race in Essex this morning. It is a kids running program through Run Vermont, who organize the Vermont City Marathon among other things. They have various races the kids do throughout the year. Once they finish all the different races they get a medal for participating. Today's race was in Essex. It was a rather damp and breezy morning, but the rain held off. They had some warm up exercises before the race started.

They lined them up by height at the start line. A good plan so the little guys don't get stepped on. Notice Alexa peeking out from the back.

And they were off....

Water and trail mix at the finish line.

Best of all was the raffle at the end of  the race where Chloe won a gift certificate worth $100 for a new pair of sneakers at the SkiRack. She is pretty excited to go pick out her new shoes.

Running Girls

The girls ran a one mile fun run this morning.

They have both expressed an interest in doing these, so I have been trying to find them races to do. This one only had the one mile option. Alexa has never run that far before, so I wasn't sure how she would hold up.

Here they both are just past the half way turn around point.

She did great though and was excited that she even beat a couple of "big kids" at the end.

A Run

As the girls have gotten older it has become harder for me to get out and run. When they were really little I used the jogger. That worked pretty well for a couple of years even though I used it long after Chloe was really too big for it. The summer I started this blog (2009) I ran with both of them in it. The jogger plus both kids and assorted snacks meant I was pushing around 70 pounds of weight. It was a lot and about 4-5 miles was the limit for them and me when using it. Last summer I tried to get the kids to bike with me a few times while I ran, but neither of them (especially Alexa) was able to bike all that far and the pace was not very consistent to say the least. I also tried to have a sitter come a few mornings a week so I could get out to run, but that wasn't great either. It is hard to find someone and when you do it is about ten dollars and hour. Which gets rather steep if you want to go more than a few times a week. This year I am trying out a new idea. I am using the high school track to run on. It is really tedious for me. I can't think of much worse, save maybe running on a treadmill, than running around the track. It really don't have much choice though. If I want to get a run in and I assure you I am much more pleasant to be around if I have had my run. So for the past two days the girls and I have packed up some activities for them and headed over to the track. Today Alexa was used the long jump pit as a sand box. It worked rather well. She also brought as kick ball and kicked it around the field and into the various soccer and lacrosse nets that were set up.

Chloe settled herself in for a good read.
The high jump mat made a rather comfy place to settle in with a good book.

So far it seems to be working OK. I might even start to throw a few speed work outs in. Goodness knows I could use improve my times and it is an amazing track to run on.

Memorial Day Weekend

OK, so we are about two days past the weekend, but I am a bit behind. Here I will recap it for you.

#1 The girls ran the YAM Scram. Here are the before pictures...
Here is Alexa running during the race.

Chloe wouldn't be seen with her parents and wanted to run herself. Here are the after pictures.

#2 COMPANY!!! We had Aunt Cherie, Uncle Micheal, Annabel, and Sam come to visit. It was lots of fun and warm weather. So we dug out the slip and slide. Everyone had their own way down.
Then we had the pool out for a pool party.

Good times. I, personally, am extremely grateful that even though I forgot my camera out on the deck and it rained on it; it still seems to be working... more or less.