The Life of a Running Momma: October 2017

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Tulsa Run 15k

Last year Ty and I ran the Tulsa Run 15k for the first time. It's the largest race in the area and everyone always talks about it. When I first moved here and people heard I was a runner one of their first questions was always whether I'd run the Tulsa Run. I didn't really understand the hype and thought a 15k was an odd distance, but after running the race for a 2nd time, I have to agree I love it! The atmosphere of the race is amazing. Since it's so big you are always running with someone else and the crowd support is wonderful. There's only one section of the race that's a little quiet with no spectators around. Last year mom ran the 5k and then Ty and I did the 15k. This year mom and dad both ran the 5k and then Thomas, Jeremy, and I all ran the 15k. Ty was signed up for the 15k but is still dealing with his ankle injury so he wasn't able to run. Going into last year's race I'd never run a 15k so I knew it would be a PR no matter what kind of race I had. This year I knew what I'd run last year but I also knew I wasn't in anywhere near the shape I was last year.

There's this big thing with the race where if you run in under 60 minutes as a male or under 70 as a female you get a mug. It's kind of like our local version of qualifying for Boston, it's a big deal to a lot of people to earn the mug. Since I got a mug last year, I really wanted to get one again this year. I felt like 7:30 pace should be doable but I was a little nervous about it because I hadn't had a strong race at all this fall. Then I saw a video showing off the mug and really desperately wanted to be under 70. It's one of those awesome color changing mugs that changes color when it gets warm. Last year I ran my 10k about 20 seconds per mile slower than my 5k and my 15k about 20 seconds per mile slower than my 10k. I ran my 10k at the Zoo Run this year in 7:09 pace. If the same were true, that would put my 15k pace around 7:29 which was too close for comfort. The 2 races I've run this fall have been the Zoo Run 10k and the Twilight Thriller 5k. Both races came less than a week after a 20-22 mile long run. I was hopeful that not having run a long run the weekend before the Tulsa Run would feel a bit like a taper to me and would result in a faster time.

Carter and Opa after Opa's race.

Mom and the kids got their faces painted in the kids' zone.

Due to my 5k time from the St. Patrick's Day 5k in the spring and the fact that I'm on the Runner's World Race Team, I qualified for an up front start in the race. I didn't realize that meant my bib would have Elite printed across it which I found a bit embarrassing considering the current shape I'm in. I didn't see the need to start up front so I just headed to the starting area with Jeremy and Thomas. It was pretty cold at the start, in the low 30's, and I have found I don't do well running in shorts below 40 degrees. I don't know what my deal is, but my legs just don't warm up and my race suffers, so I wore tights. I do better with my upper body so I just wore a long sleeved tech shirt. If I had arm warmers I probably would've gone that route. During my warm-up my feet were numb and my hands were freezing. Although it was above freezing, the wind chill was super cold! We took off at the start and my legs were feeling great. I knew the first mile would go out fast since it has a decent amount of downhill so I didn't worry too much about my pace, I just ran what felt sustainable. Jeremy ran with me a bit during this mile and we passed a lot of people. I saw a clock at the mile mark and intended to check what my watch split was so I could see how many seconds it had taken me to start. I missed my watch mile but went through it in 7:14. I was pleased with that and headed into the 2nd mile feeling pretty good as we started to get into the hills of the course.

When my watch beeped for mile 2 in 7:27, I felt a little bit nervous. I knew that should be one of my slower miles because it had a lot of incline in it, but I was still a little worried it was barely under 7:30. I kept repeating in my head, "23, 46, 69," which was where I wanted to be when I hit each 5k mark of the race. I went through mile 3 in 7:02. I intended to check my watch at the 5k mark but didn't look until about 3.2 miles. I was I was at 23:20 so I figured I had gone through the first 5k under 23 minutes as I'd hoped. The results show my 5k split was 22:40. At that point we ran out and back on a road and it was a little bit like a party getting to see everyone going by. I saw my teammates and some women I ran with last year when I was faster go by on their way back. When I made it to the turn around I saw Jeremy was not far behind me. I missed Thomas go by but heard him cheer for me. Then I started scanning the crowd looking for Ty before realizing he wasn't running and I wouldn't see him. I got a little bummed at that point and then I heard someone screaming my name, only to look over and see 3 women whose kids I had in class so that was a nice boost! I went through mile 4 in 7:11. I put a Gu in my pocket just in case I needed it but didn't end up eating it. I drank a scoop of protein mixed with water before the race and that was all I needed.

I went through mile 5 in 7:22 and knew we were coming up on a couple of flat miles. We would cross the bridge and that area of the race was where I passed quite a few runners last year. When we got to the bridge I looked up and saw I had plenty of runners to work toward. We were nearing the 10k mark and I was repeating, "23, 46, 69," over in my head again. I went through mile 6 in 7:08 and saw mats at the 10k mark out ahead. I went through the 10k in 45:13 and got so excited. I knew I was way under where I 'd hoped to be at that point. I also had gone through the 10k mark only 16 seconds slower than what I'd run at the Zoo Run 10k. I'd say not having a 20 miler on my legs made a difference! I passed a few runners through here and was catching up to a woman wearing a glittery skirt and I really wanted to catch her. There were other women between us who I'd already caught but I just had to pass her. My split for mile 7 was 7:09. As we crossed back over the river and I got closer to the last mile I started to dread hitting that mile. I remembered the last mile of the race last year being nearly all uphill and just dying. I tried to stay under 7:15 for that mile but faded to 7:23. I was worried about what the last mile would mean for my overall time. When I hit a mile and a half to go I felt much better knowing I could run 8 minute pace for the rest of the race and still come in under 70.

Mile 8 was 7:19 and then it was time to crest the hill. I passed the girl in the sparkly skirt at that point and took off up the hill. It was steep but not nearly as bad as what I was prepared for. My legs weren't as dead as they had been the previous year and I found myself thinking, "Oh, this isn't too bad." Then, "That was it?!" once I made it to the top. We got a little bit of a downhill after going up the hill and then it was back to a slight incline for the rest of the race. I was really pushing it the last mile, passing people and making ground on people in front of me. I went through mile 9 in 7:16 which was faster than what I ran that mile in last year! I could see a guy a bit ahead of me wearing a shirt that said, "Probably hungover," on the back and I really wanted to catch him. I felt like I was giving it everything I had but I just couldn't quite catch up to him. I ran the last portion of the race in 6:51 pace. I was surprised as I was finishing because I remembered finishing uphill the year before but I didn't feel like I was running uphill. It wasn't until after I finished and was walking down the street that I realized it had actually been uphill. I saw my teammates near the finish line and chatted with them while cheering Jeremy on. I walked with Jeremy after he finished and then we watched for Thomas. We got a picture together after the race with our medals and then headed through the finishing chute to get our food.

I was really proud of myself and what a smart race I had run. I started conservatively and sped up as the race went on, running each 5k faster than the last. My 5k splits were 22:40, 22:33, and 22:26. Last year my 1st 5k was my fastest and my last 5k was my slowest. It felt good to have run such a consistent race. This race was exactly what I needed to give me some confidence that I can get back where I was last fall again. I hadn't had a strong race where I felt good and finished strong since the Turkey Trot last November. Since that race I've had a string of poor performances and disappointing races. It was so nice to go out there and not only run faster than I expected but to feel good while doing it. My legs didn't feel tired or burn as I ran and I just enjoyed the race so much! I'm still riding the high of the race and am actually more proud of my performance this year than my race last year even though I ran over 2 minutes slower than last year. I think it's harder to go into a race and do well when you've had a bad season followed by some bad races than it is to go into a race when you are rocking a season with multiple PRs already in the books. Now I have faith that if I take the time to let my body heal and then get in some good training I can be back where I want to be next fall and hopefully even running some PRs!

Jeremy finishing the race.

Thomas finishing the race.

I finished the race in 1:07:39 which my Garmin showed was 7:14 pace. I did a better job of running the tangents this year as my Garmin showed I ran 9.36 miles compared to 9.38 miles last year! That put me 8th out of 268 in my age group, 34th out of 1,956 women, and 173rd out of 3,612 total runners. Jeremy finished in 1:09:42. He was 37th out of 182 in his age group and 205th overall. Thomas finished in 1:12:51. He was 38th out of 141 in his age group and 308th overall. Mom and dad enjoyed the 5k and hung out in the kids' area with Ty, Carter, and Elise during our race. I heard mom cheering for me as I ran down the finishing stretch. Dad finished the 5k in 25:12 which put him 4th out of 56 in his age group and 194th out of 2,130 overall. Mom finished in 34:55 which put her 12th out of 77 in her age group and 951 overall. Every cup of coffee and tea I've had since the race, I've drank out of my new mug!

The mug starts out black and then turns yellow once it warms up. This is it warming up.

Here's the mug once it was all warmed up.

Friday, October 27, 2017

Weekly Learning Theme: Fall

Fall has been a favorite learning theme of mine to do each year. Since starting learning themes with Carter I've done some variation of fall and pumpkins each year. It is so much fun. I love the excitement that comes with the changing of the weather and with watching the leaves change colors. As always, this year's fall learning theme was a lot of fun! Read last year's fall learning theme here, 2015's fall learning theme here, and 2014's learning theme here. Pumpkin learning themes can be found here (2015) and here (2014). Looking back at the pictures of Elise as a baby were just the sweetest!

Listed below are the objectives I am focusing on for the themed weeks. I have revised our objectives once again to really hone in and focus on specific skills Carter will need to master before kindergarten. I used our the public school's website where I used to work to pull up their objectives for preschool and chose the ones I felt like Carter needed to work on and adapted them to fit his needs. I have also revised Elise's objectives since she was easily able to do everything I had listed in her objective section and was ready to move on to learning new things.

The highlighted objectives below are ones Carter received exposure to during our theme this week:

Writing Skills:

holds a pencil with 2 fingers and a thumb grasp.
draws a circle, plus sign, and square.
uses scissors to cut a 4 inch line.
uses pictures to write a story.
writes name.

Reading Skills:

blends sounds to say word.
chunks words into syllables.
hears and identifies rhyming words.
recognizes and names uppercase and lowercase letters.
isolates and identifies beginning and ending sounds in spoken words.
practice the Dolch pre-kindergarten sight words.

Math Skills:

counts to 20.

counts with one to one correspondence.

represents a number of objects with a written numeral (0-10).

compares objects in sets with more, less, or equal to.
creates and extends patterns.
identifies shapes and describes attributes.
understands that addition means adding to.
understands that subtraction means taking from.

Experiences Elise was exposed to during our theme this week are highlighted below:

Continue to improve fine motor skills and drawing (specifically I'm looking for her to be able to copy a circle and a square as well as eventually draw a person with 2-4 body parts).
Understand same and different.

Accurately tell stories as well as retell the story from a book.
Use age appropriate scissors.
Develop a better understanding of time (for example, be able to describe when things happen using morning, afternoon, night)
Group objects based on a category (sort by defining feature such as size, color, hard, soft).
Count and understand what the numbers mean.

Activities/Movement:

We started our learning theme as usual with our theme written on a sentence strip. I had Carter count to see how many letters were in the word fall. Then he identified the letters in the word. I had him tell me the letter sounds and then I said them for him a few times so he could blend the sounds together to determine the word. Then I had him isolate the beginning sound to tell me what sound the word started with.
We read a Scholastic News about leaves during fall and then we completed a graph on the back. The Scholastic News talked about different kinds of leaves and in order to fill in the graph Carter had to decide whether a leaf pictured was a simple or compound leaf. When he was finished with the graph I asked him which kind of leaf there were more of and which there were less of. Then he counted to see how many he had found of each kind.
We also read Scholastic News about how animals prepare for winter. Carter loves reading about animals and enjoyed talking about how squirrels gather nuts to get ready for the cold weather ahead. That made him think about animals who hibernate so he talked about that and reviewed what he learned about animals that hibernate during our learning theme last year.
I found some cute fall numbers here. We used them quite a bit throughout the learning theme. I used the numbers 1-10 to show Carter and ask him to identify the numeral. We also used them when counting items so he could use a number to identify the number of items in the set.

I found some cute fall bingo dabber pages here. I knew Carter and Elise would enjoy using dabbers on the pages to make some fall pictures. I showed Elise how to put the dabber over the circle and then press it down to make the dot. She identified the circle by name and then decided to decorate her pages differently. Carter saw how Elise was doing her pages and decided to veer off the directions a little bit too. I also found some do a dot pumpkin pages here.
I put together a sensory bin using the acorns we collected a few years ago as the base. Then I put in some pumpkin and orange toys for the kids to play with in the acorns. Elise loved the sensory bin but Carter didn't play with it nearly as much as he had the past few years which surprised me. I guess he's getting to where he prefers the smaller objects which he can dump and pour easier.
Carter and I took turns making patterns with acorns. I'd make a pattern for him to identify and then extend. Once he was finished he'd make a pattern for me to identify and then extend. We did patterns based on size as well as with tops and bases of the nuts.
When I bought the pumpkin ice cube trays at Dollar Tree last year I realized they'd be perfect to use as 10 Frames. Carter was a little young to delve into addition last year but this year is starting to grapple with the concept a little. I used the ice cube tray along with acorns to practice different ways to make a sum of 10. I'd fill a few of the pumpkin spots with acorns and have him tell me how many pumpkins had an acorn and then how many didn't. Then I'd ask him how many pumpkin spots there were all together. I turned it into an addition word sentence for him, for example saying, "3 plus 7 equals 10." I also worded it different ways like, "3 and 7 makes 10." After a few different times Carter started to pick up on the fact that the total number was always going to be 10. I told him we were practicing different ways to make the number 10. I could have also had him identify whether there were more pumpkins spots with acorns than without but I didn't want to prolong this activity too much since he was working on something new.
Once we'd played with the ice cube trays as 10 Frames, Carter wanted to use them with Play Doh. I got out the Play Doh and he had a blast making pumpkins using the ice cube tray as a mold. When Elise woke up from her nap she had to get in on the action. I also got out some pumpkin cookie cutters for them to use as they played.
Since we started this learning theme right at the beginning of fall it was the perfect time to compare 2 different seasons: summer and fall. We talked about how they are alike and how they are different. I wrote Carter's ideas onto a chart and Elise wanted to add to them so I let her draw on the page.
I made the word fall out of magnetic letters and had Carter tell me what the beginning sound is in fall. Then he used the word fall to create words that rhyme with fall. I showed him how we could just change out the beginning sound to make a new word. He loved trying it out. I'd say the beginning sound and the root of the word for him to blend together to determine what word he had made. Then he'd tell me whether it was a real word or not. Some he picked out the beginning letter to make a word he knew for sure existed and rhymed with fall. Each time he came up with a word, I wrote it down to keep track of the words he made. When he was finished we counted to see how many words he found that rhyme with fall. Elise had fun picking out letters and handing them to Carter to try.
We read a Scholastic News about Leaves Changing Colors. It talked about chloroyphyll and and how leaves make color. It was interesting and Carter enjoyed it. Elise like pointing at the leaves and telling us what color they were.
Once we had collected some leaves from outside I helped Elise sort the leaves by color. She's not really one to follow directions for very long so I considered it a win when I sorted a couple leaves and then she followed suit to sort a couple more. We had red, green, brown, and yellow leaves.
Carter really enjoyed a Scholastic News page I have called Squirrel's Journal. It's like a mad lib page. I asked Carter to supply certain kinds of words and we used them to fill in the blanks in the journal. It was good practice for him to think of different kinds of words to add into the blanks.
I used the same squirrel Play Doh mat I made last year to practice numbers with Carter. I filled in the blank with one of our special fall numbers and then Carter made the correct number of acorns out of Play Doh to put on the mat. Last year I put the mat in a Ziplock bag. This summer I found plastic sleeves in the Dollar Spot at Target that were perfect for sliding in pages to put Play Doh on or to draw on with Expo markers. I used one of the sleeves this year and it was wonderful! I put the number on the page and had Carter identify it and make the correct number of acorns. Then I added a larger number and him identify the new number. I asked him how many more acorns he needed to add to his page to make the larger number. He did really well with it!
We read a Scholastic News called Inside a Pumpkin. The kids loved learning about the different parts of a pumpkin. As we read I had Carter and Elise compare parts of their body to a pumpkin. For example, what would the meat of the pumpkin be like in your body?
We also read a From Autumn to Winter Scholastic News. I love this one because it takes certain aspects like leaves on a tree and shows what they would be like in fall and then what they would be like in winter. Carter liked pointing out which was fall and which was winter and telling me how he knew.
On the back of our Scholastic News there was an acorn graph. I had Carter first look at the graph and tell me which set of acorns had the most and which one had the least. Then I had him count each set of acorns and place a number card by it to show how many there were. When he was done I had him compare different sets, telling me how many more there were in one set than the other. I showed him the trick of covering the acorns that matched up and seeing how many were left over in the set that had more.
I made different piles of acorns and asked Carter to tell me which set had more and which set had less. Then I put out two sets with the same amount and asked him and said they were the same so I told him we could say they were equal to each other. I also had him count sets of acorns and we practiced counting up to 20. He's getting to where he doesn't skip 15 every time like he used to.
We also used some pumpkin cut outs I have, using them to make patterns. We did different AB and AAB patterns. Carter loves figuring out the pattern and then extending it. He also likes to try to trick me when he makes a pattern.
I found some cute pumpkin shaped books at Target and gave Carter one so he could write a pumpkin story. He came up with a strange fictional story about a wolf stealing pumpkins. He did a great job planning out his story and then drawing pictures to show what happened. When he was done I added words to the pages as he dictated what it should say. Elise and Jake both drew as Carter wrote his story. Elise very proudly drew a round pumpkin.

Carter's finished story. I made the collage and then realized I can't save anymore unless I get an account so I just took a picture of the computer screen.

We made names out of glue and then used our leaves from our sensory bin to crumple and drop on the glue to make our names. Carter wrote his name on his paper but decided it was too small for him to make out of glue and asked me to write his name bigger on the paper for him. I wrote his name and he went over it with glue. I wrote and did the glue on Elise's. She just crumpled the leaves to make her name. I had Jake tell me what letters are in his name and then I wrote his name for him and he traced over the letters with glue. It was fun to have 3 kids all at different levels, completing the same activity according to their ability level.
We read the 5 Little Pumpkins different versions of The Five Little Pumpkins various different times. I had Carter retell the story and he decided to make up his own version. Then Jake retold the story using the book's words and Elise acted it out while I read it. That way they each again got to do the same activity but at different ability levels.

We walked to the library and to the park a few different times during this learning theme. As we walked I would discuss with Carter how the different trees we passed looked the same and how they looked different. He would point out varying degrees of leaf loss and different kinds of leaves as we observed the trees.

Craft:

Carter wanted to decorate for a fall party. I had planned to have the kids draw pumpkins to practice making ovals and circles. So the kids drew pumpkins and then decorated them and cut out. So they also got practice using scissors. Carter is getting to where he can actually cut out random shapes such as circles. Elise obviously needed some help. We talked about the difference between circles and ovals as we compared the pumpkins they had made.
Carter made an adorable leaf craft at school where they used leaves as a fox's face and then added eyes, ears, and a nose. It was so cute!
I wanted to make a fall tree craft with the kids where they could use Q Tips to add painted leaves to the tree and the ground. Holding the Q Tip would be great practice with fine motor skills as well as had to grip and hold a pencil. I printed an outline of a tree for the kids to color in and then showed them how to use the Q Tip to add painted leaves to their picture. Carter very carefully made dots for leaves on his branches as well as on the ground. Elise ended up using the Q Tip more as a paint brush, making stroked on the page. It was so cute to watch the difference in their approaches.

Carter's finished tree.

Elise's finished tree.
At the Children's Museum when we were visiting during this learning theme they had a lab set up where kids could make art out of objects from nature such as sticks, pine cones, and leaves. They also had an area set up to make leaf rubbings. Both kids made leaf rubbings and Carter tinkered with a pine cone while we were there.
Carter learned about the parts of a pumpkin at school and then made a craft to review.
Carter also made a cute acorn craft at school where he glued tissue paper down to decorate the acorn. I'm thinking they ripped some of the paper to use it which is also good practice with fine motor skills.

Special Snack:

One day for lunch I used a cookie cutter to make pumpkin shaped sandwiches for the kids. Elise was super excited about it and kept talking about her pumpkin sandwich. When I use cookie cutters to make food into shapes I always give the leftover section on the kids' plates because I hate wasting food and they are both really good about eating that section of the food too.
When we were at Wal-Mart I had Carter point out some of the seasonal items that we hadn't seen until fall came along. He was really excited when he saw caramel apples so we bought some with sprinkles instead of nuts and the kids loved them!
I always love a good excuse to make cookies. Carter wanted to set up a fall-themed party to surprise Ty when he got home from work. That's one of his favorite things is planning parties for when daddy gets home. Usually he makes or sets out a special snack, a craft, and some games. But his favorite part is decorating. So we decided to make pumpkin shaped sugar cookies for the party. Carter has gotten really good at cutting shapes out of dough with a cookie cutter and really enjoys that. Elise mostly eats the dough as she works, so I have to watch her! We reviewed mixing colors as we made the fall themed icing colors we wanted.

Carter helping me make sugar cookies.

Making pumpkins out of the cookies.

Decorating our fall cookies.
Oma bought some pumpkin cupcake mix and decorations so the kids could make special cupcakes when we visited. The cupcakes were delicious and the kids had a lot of fun making and decorating them. Although Elise's face in the picture doesn't show that!

Make Believe:

We had so much fun pretending to be squirrels and chipmunks. Carter's favorite was to collect acorns from our sensory bin and leave them in a pile in his den or burrow. He also loved taking a blanket and setting up a burrow so we could pretend we were chipmunks preparing to hibernate in winter by collecting nuts and storing them in our burrow. He also liked for me or Ty to pretend to be a fox or wolf and attempt to get into the burrow to eat him and Elise. Elise was not as fond of that game.

Songs:

I found a really cute fall song here. That I printed out and hung up next to our calendar. That way when we sang our song about October we could also sing about fall. I thought it would also be good for Carter to see that although our month songs will change our seasonal song won't because seasons are longer periods of time than months. He still refers to fall like it is a month.

I have a handful of pumpkin songs and poems from school that I do with the kids each year. My favorite song is "I'm a Little Pumpkin" to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot". Carter did a great job learning the actions this year and remembered the song from the past few years.

We also sang a couple songs I know from my Girl Scout days as well as a Furry Squirrel song with actions I came across in a book I read about toddler activities when Carter was little. The "I'm a Nut" song was a huge hit with the kids and Elise is still signing it weeks after we finished this learning theme. I'm impressed she can make the clicking sound with her mouth. Elise just sings "I'm a nut," over and over while doing the tongue click where it belongs. The song goes like this:

I'm an acorn golden brown,

lying on the cold, cold grown.

Everybody steps on me,

that is why I'm cracked, you see.

I'm a nut (click, click).

I'm a nut, I'm a nut, I'm a nut (click, click).

Technology:

Carter played some fall games on the computer. His favorite was Curious George Pumpkin Boo on PBS Kids and pumpkin carving on ABCYa!.

Field Trip/Interactive Experience:

We went on a leaf hunt after reading Wearing Going on a Leaf Hunt. Carter decided he and Elise each needed their own bags to carry on our leaf hunt. It was fun to watch and see which leaves the kids decided to pick up and take home. Elise didn't discriminate too much, she grabbed any kind of leaf she found, even the really brittle brown ones. Carter picked only the prettiest leaves and looked mostly for red and yellow leaves. He left green and brown ones on the ground. We talked about how the leaves looked alike and how they looked different as we walked. I had the kids guess whether some leaves fell off the same tree or not and also asked them to guess which tree the leaf they picked up may have fallen from.
We went to a special fall storytime at our botanic garden. They read the book Leaf Man and then had materials out for kids to create their own leaf man or any art project of their choice out of leaves. Carter really worked hard to make his look like a man. Elise just randomly glued pretty leaves and baby leaves down on her paper.

Carter and his friend, Brylee, with their creations. Elise wasn't interested in taking a picture.

A favorite fall activity for us is visiting the pumpkin patch. This year we visited the pumpkin patch in my hometown when we were back for a birthday party and then also visited a nearby pumpkin patch for a playdate with friends. The kids love playing in the corn and the corn mazes are always a hit too.