Ran the Heart Mini this morning. Here’s me with coach Edwin afterwards:
The race was a 15-K (9.3 miles), and my goal was to finish in under 80 minutes (about 8:36 min/mile). Well, I just missed, finishing with a time of 1:20:31 (about 8:40 min/mile). I probably could’ve hit my goal had I sprinted the last quarter mile. I swear I tried, but after 9 miles of running at that pace, sprinting just wasn’t happening for me.
Anyway, I’m still considering it a success. It was a stretch goal, as I’ve never run that fast for that long before. (Part of me thought I’d be lucky to hit a 9 min/mile pace). Coach Edwin considered it a success as well and here’s the high five to prove it:
It was a pretty fun morning all-in-all. Mindy & Edwin dropped me off near the start. (Mindy taught Edwin a new word: downtown, which he pronounces with 4 syllables, dah-uh-tah-uhn.) They hung out at First Watch while I ran (Tamara joined them), which was nice because I met them there to get a much needed cup of coffee & sausage omelet within minutes of finishing the run.
Now it’s time for an evening of celebratory beers and looking for my next race. Thinking something in the Mahoning Valley. Matt, you ready?
Getting the warm coats on again makes us really depressed! Most play time was indoors this week which gets boring. The warm weather was just a tease :) We tried to make the best of it. Matt took the girls to the mall for some play time there. He even agreed to let them ride this mini train. Madeline got right in her own car and Meredith ... well, she decided to cry b/c she was scared. She didn't like that it stopped so much. Whatever! So Matt got refunded for Meredith's ticket and they watched Madeline have fun. Meredith pouted on the chair. 
Grandma volunteered to watch the girls for a sleepover on Friday. We all went to the final Fish fry at church. Matt and I decided to see a 3D movie after dropping off the girls. We were so impressed with the effects of Avatar that we thought that another 3D movie would live up to it. We were wrong of course. Alice in Wonderland was not as fantastic as I had hoped, but still impressed with Johnny Depp. The girls did a bunny art project with Grandma. 
What a great week for Matt to have off from work! Nothing but sunny , warmer weather. On Wednesday, I had a seminar to attend, but I did wear my green in honor of St. Patty's day. They didn't serve us corned beef and cabbage at the banquet place. How rude! Good thing Papa gave me leftovers to eat that night. I had the girls go into school wearing their shamrock headbands. Matt said that everyone was just loving how cute they looked. I tried to complete the night with another Shamrock Shake, but THEY WERE OUT! Man that stunk. :(
Matt's funny story of the week involving the girls takes place at the Austintown Library. He thought that it would be nice to take them for story time. So they arrived and were told to make their Bunny name tag/necklaces while they wait for the program to start. Five minutes went by and the lady instructed them that the program was starting to go into the room. Off they went into the room and indeed the program began with a whopping attendance of 3! *** this includes Matt. HAHA. The woman needed volunteers for certain parts of the story, but the girls were too shy to do it. With no other kids, Matt was trying to do the moves to try to get the girls inspired. I wish I would have seen this. Then another 2 girls came in. Madeline and Meredith found it more interesting to stare at the new kids instead of looking at the poor library lady. They did finally warm up. As they were leaving Madeline informed Matt that the girl behind them was a schoolmate. SHE NEVER EVEN SAID "hello" TO HER!??! 
I didn't have to work on Thursday so we decided to head over to the Grove City Outlets. The funny part of that adventure was the fact that it was "WELCOMING CANADIANS" week. There were maple leafs posted in the store windows. Strange!! There were several cars from Ontario that we noticed. I thought I would never notice a Canadian, but then a pair of them walked in front of us and said, "OAT"...really 'out', but they don't say it correctly. 
Pretty much we spent every minute outside . The girls were loving the bikes and scooters. Saturday, Papa and Deb made a trip up and helped them with their Easter art project. They even stuck around to go to Fair Park for some playground fun. And to top it off, they suggested we go to SALSITA'S! for an early dinner. The girls were thrilled of course. 
The girls were thrilled to find out that Uncle Dave, Aunt Mindy, and Edwin were coming to visit! I haven't seen them that hyped up in a long time. They were these little balls of energy wanting to play, play, play! Poor little Edwin was a sleepyhead in the above picture. Uncle Matt was trying to hypnotize him to sleep. 
We met them at the Fish Fry on Friday. As soon as they entered the hall, Edwin went full force running towards Madeline and Meredith. Of course, I was fretting that he was going to trip on the floor and bust his teeth. I worry too much. :( We had the quickest service ever at the dinner. I think maybe we waited 5 minutes for our delicious food . YUM. 
