Recovery day number 2

Well, I survived the actual act of running the marathon, but Sunday night and Monday were a bit sore... and tender.  After eating on Sunday I came back and took a shower and just kinda did nothing.  My sweet husband made sure everything was taken care of so I didn't have to move to much. :)  That night the things that hurt the worst were my joints.  My legs felt really good!  Then when I woke up on Monday my muscles realized what I had done to them the day before... I was pretty sore.  My quads were the sorest of everything, but I can imagine that if my quads weren't so tender I'd be feeling it elsewhere.

However, today is much much better.  I can still feel a little bit, but nothing like the previous day.  I can move around without wincing at every step.  Today Gaetan went on a run this morning and I took the kids on a chariot ride.  :)  I thought that it would be a good way to get the lactic acid out of my muscles without having the impact of running.  although, I do think I'm going to run tomorrow :).  On the way back from the run I looked back and sweet Duder was lending a shoulder to passed out Lu again.  It was adorable.

Upon our arrival home my new shoes were waiting for us on the doorstep!  :)  I do love me some shoes.  I used one of my Christmas coupons from Gaetan to get a new pair.  I ended up with a pair of mary jane crocs... and DO I LOVE THEM!  They are light weight, and easy to slip on and off.  They stay on my feet well, (good for kid chasing) and they are well vented, perfect for the summer!

I also tried a new lentil taco recipe tonight for dinner.  It was delicious.  We had a lentil taco recipe already, but I'm always up for trying new things.  The kiddos liked it too :)  They mostly wanted the toppings (avocado the most) but they did well with the actual taco part as well.

Today was a good day... just ask Duder.  I'll write more about that in the next post.  :)

JVG

Summer time!

Gaetan has been done with school now for a few weeks and we weren't really sure how the summer was going to go with his research grant and all.  He did have a meeting with his advisor, so we got some answers!  :)  It appears that because his work is theoretical he doesn't really ever have to go in on campus. That most of their communication about the project can be done via email, which he will be able to access the school computers from home.  His advisor told him that he could do his work sitting on the couch, after the kids were asleep if he wanted.  After his meeting he also came up with a thesis for his doctorate maybe:   R-Matrix MQDT (multichannel quantum defect theory) Rovibrational Frame Transformation Approach to Molecular Photoionization. Not really sure what the heck that means, but good for him!  :)

His advisor also told him that after he was done with classes (which is next year) and passes the qualifier (which is hopefully at the end of the summer) then he could research from wherever... and Gaetan asked, "From Seattle?" and he said, sure if that's where we wanted to be.  With such freedom that opens a lot of doors... exciting and kinda scary at the same time!  So we will see what that holds for us!

Enjoying the outdoors

Some Papa-Lucy snug time

As for now, we have been enjoying all the time that Papa has been home.  I know that the kids love it, and I enjoy seeing his lovely face around here more too.  I'm sure there will come a point when he will have to go somewhere to research or work, for the sanity of all, but for now, we are enjoying it!

JVG

Another trip to urgent care

Dude had a pretty packed day today.  We played hard in the morning, and then the kiddos went for a chariot ride while Momma struggled through her last run.  It was so stinking hot out... oof.  But after that he played outside for a little bit, and then he and Papa went to the library while Lucy took a nap.  And apparently it was the most epic nap yet.  I couldn't believe how long she slept!  We were going to meet up with them at the library, but 3 hours later she wasn't showing any signs of getting up... so they decided to come home.

Duder playing educational games at the library

After that, Gaetan and I were starving (because I realized I had only had an apple and a few bites of yogurt) so we tried out this sushi/hibachi place.  It was underwhelming.  And we are both actually crossing our fingers that we don't get sick from it... Lucy loved the sushi... I've decided that she pretty much loves all food.  :)  Good girl.  Also, Duder was trying to eat this rather large piece of sushi and I told him that he could take it in a few bites but then he said, "Challenge accepted" and shoved the whole thing in there... he's hilarious.

Lucy with her sushi that filled her entire hand

We then got home and we played hard outside, until it was clear that both kids were going to fall over from exhaustion we went in, had bath time, cleaned up both play areas (!) and then the kids were having some fun time playing together... until Duder ran into something and hit his head in the exact same place as he did before knocking the glue loose.  The Dr said that if that happened we should bring him back in. Of course, he head started bleeding again, so we got him dressed and off to urgent care they went.  I stayed home with Lucy, because honestly, it was easier to not take her.

The kiddos playing on the slide together.  

The Dr was amazed that Tristan left the glue alone for this long and didn't try to pick it off.  He said that the glue was still semi on there and was keeping this nice little pocket for him so they just cleaned it up as best they could and bandaged him up.  I hear that Tristan was a champ the entire time and even got another popsicle at the end.  :)

On the way to urgent care... you can see his poor glue scab still on there and blood coming out

At home, all bandaged up.  Happy as can be.

I'm glad that Duder is so resilient and doesn't let these things throw him.  I'm also glad that he still like to play hard.  He has so many bruises up his legs from playing hard and he just doesn't care.  Love my little brute.

JVG

Marathon day!

It is finally here ladies and gentleman... the day to see if all my training was worth it.  All the late nights on a treadmill... missing out on eating dinner with the family so that I wouldn't be stuffed with food for the run later that night... all the junk TV I watched while on the treadmill... and the pain of all those miles...

Getting my race packet... and trying on my new shirt. :)

And I am happy to say it did in fact pay off.  :)  To jump to the end I finished the 26.5 course (Yes, a marathon is only 26.2 but for some reason they made it a little longer?) in 4 hours and 15 minutes.  Oof!  My first and foremost goal was to finish, and I was fairly certain that I was going to be able to do that.  My next goal was after finishing, I wanted to try and do it in less than 4:20... which would've put me at 10 min/miles.  So I was pumped that I finished ahead of schedule.  :)  Now, that all the fun facts are out, here's how my day went.

Just crossed the finish.  My eyes saying, "I can't believe I did it!"

I woke up at 5 am to get a little bit of food in me before running.  I normally don't run in the morning and I don't do so well then either.  I don't think that my body is quite awake... so I tried to give myself enough time to wake up and digest some.  We left the house around 6:30.  I packed a bag full of dry clothes for after the race and another bag full of goodies and snacks for the kids to do while they waited.  Some toys and drawing and activities to keep them busy as well.  Gaetan dropped me off at 'tent city' where everything was by the start/finish around 7.  I thought that it was going to take a lot longer with traffic so we left way earlier than we needed to, but this allowed me to get a little bit of a warm up in and hit the bathrooms before the start.  I also go to catch the tail end of the church service and I drank my pre-run drink and had a few energy chews.

While lining up I tried to find my pacesetters.  I lined up between the 4:15 and the 4:30 guys.  My only concern was that I was going to go out to fast and just die at the end... so I tried to stay with them as closely as possible.  About 1.5 miles out I stepped on this huge rock that hurt really bad... and since I have minimalist shoes I felt all of it!  Ugh!  I stayed with the 4:15 pacesetters for a long time.  I even ran ahead of them a little bit too!

I was so excited to see Gaetan and the kids.  We sorta planned out where we would meet up and that was around the half way point.  I actually saw them around 14 miles.  :)  I was SO HAPPY to see them.  My 13 mile time was 2:04 (which is what I ran the half in at Seattle) and I was feeling really good.  Around mile 9 though I kinda had that feeling that I didn't want to be running anymore and I thought, "Oh no... I can't think this already!  I have a LONG way to go still!"  but after I saw the family it boosted my energy and I took off!  I stayed ahead of the pacesetters from about mile 15-21... but then they caught me on this HUGE hill.

Looking at the elevation map online it doesn't look like a very hilly course... but that would be wrong.  It had some good sized hills in them for sure... The worst was at mile 25... who thinks that's a good idea to put a big hill so close to the end?! haha.  I have to admit though I did end up walking up that hill... but I don't feel ashamed about it.  So there.  :P

My sister and her family came to cheer me on too!  :)  They were right around the 20 mile mark... and it was just the boost I needed too.  I was starting to feel the miles and then I saw them and it kept me going until mile 22.  At 20 miles I was at 3:10, so I was happy with that.  At that point I thought, "I got this.  No worries!  It's all but over..."

My nephews waiting for me

See!  I'm so happy to be at mile 20!  haha

But then mile 22 happened.  And it was like I got hit with a brick wall.  Ouch.  My lower back was starting to feel all the impact, my feet were getting blisters and my mental motivation was dwindling fast... From about miles 22-24.5 I was in some serious mental trouble.  I also realized that I had been listening to the same song for 22 miles... so I changed my iPod.  Up until this point I was running with one earbud in and holding the other because I liked listening to the other runners and the crowd... but this was serious time and I needed to try and focus, but I was just bored mentally... I had gotten over the physical pain but I just didn't want to be doing it anymore.  I just started looking for the water stations... so I would just keep telling myself to run to the next one.  At the 24.5 mile one though I did have to take a potty break... I had hit every single water station to stay hydrated so it was a good excuse to take a mini break.

I knew once I saw the mile 25 sign I was home free.  And I was!  The last little bit went by so fast and there were so many people there cheering everybody on.  It was great.  While I came into the home stretch there was an announcer saying people's names as they crossed if he had time and the poor guy started to say my name and got to Julie Van.... then he just went uhh... and mumbled something.  Haha.  It's all good though.  :)

I'm happy I did it.  I'm glad I could finish it.  And I would recommend it to anybody who has the time and the motivation.  They say that you go through all the emotions when you do a marathon and they aren't kidding.  You go from thinking you can run forever, a bit euphoric, to thinking "I'm going to die!" and everything in between.  My trick seriously was to just keep smiling.  All the spectators were so helpful and you can't help but smile back at them.  And I think smiling helped keep my attitude up as long as it could.  I also have heard from people that you should stop at all the aid stations to get hydrated.  I would recommend that as well.  all the stations I got water, but I picked up some of that GUGel around mile 8 and ate it around mile 10 and 14.  Some other places I got some electrolyte drink too to keep everything balanced.

I am happy with how everything went today.  I got to go out to eat with Holly and her family afterwards.  It was nice hanging out with them.  I appreciate all the support that everybody has shown me through this endeavor.  To Gaetan, who watched the kids while I went on my long runs outside and was so encouraging the entire time.  For believing in me, way before I thought that I could... and for watching the kids during today... and then taking care of them when we got home because I'm lame.  I have to say the things that are the sorest are my knees and my right foot.  My leg muscles feel great and I even got some sun on my face and now have sock and short lines... haha.

Proud sister.  :)

I can't believe that the day is over.  For right now, I'm gonna say that I'm not going to be running a marathon anytime in the near future... but I guess 6 months ago I would've told you that I wouldn't have ever wanted to run a marathon period.  So, who knows. :)

My finishers medal :)

I am also very impressed with how Kalamazoo handled the marathon.  Everything seemed to be really organized and the flow of traffic was amazing.  I feel like, in big events like this, that's the hardest thing to control or make smooth... and they did a great job.  The announcer was saying some stats and there were 900 marathoners, about 2,500 half marathoners and then about 1,500 5K's and a lot of 10K's but I missed that number.  That's a lot!  There is a guy librarian also who is a marathon runner and he said that he ran it as well... :)  I didn't see him, but he said he was around the 5 hour mark.

We are at 49% on the fundraiser which is over $1,500!  almost $1,600.  Which is amazing.  I know that there is some more coming in and I can't wait to see what an impact we can make.

JVG

Lucy's one year check-up

I can't believe that our little baby girl is already a year!  But apparently when you turn one you get a ton of shots!  :(  I have only had to witness one kid getting shots and it was enough for me.  So, Gaetan took her to her appointment this time because I was sure she had to get them... and sure enough, she did.  Four.  Oof.  He said that she did great though.  They had to go in sets of 2 so after the first set was finished and they poked her again she was pretty unhappy.  But then after she realized that was it and no more pokes she settled right down and was great.  She apparently was really still for all the measurements, and because she's so steady on her feet she got to use the big girl scale instead of the infant scale!  She is still measuring on the higher end of the scales but at least she's on the charts now.  She measured at 25 lbs and 30.5 inches.  :)  Healthy girl.

She is also very smart and coordinated.  The Dr said that if she didn't progress at all in the next 6 months she would still be ahead of the game.  :)  She is really into copying Tristan now and she loves to climb.  Oh man does she love to climb.  She was trying to get some of Tristan's food off his tray and she climbed up and almost got some when she slipped but she didn't fall... no, she held on cliff hanger style.  She was still pretty unhappy about not getting any of Tristan's food, but I couldn't believe that she hung on!  She does that with the slide too.  She'll climb up the slide, and then hold on the top, let her body dangle, giggle, kick around a bit and then eventually let go.  I'm impressed that she has the strength to do that!  I don't think that's very easy to do...

She is also beginning to ween herself from nursing.  She's down to sometimes before naps and then before she goes to bed.  She's been doing really well at sleeping at night time too so she hardly does that in the middle of the night anymore (wahoo!)  She usually gets up once a few hours after she goes to bed or a few hours before she gets up.  So, I am getting a pretty good chunk of sleep.  I appreciate it for sure.

Although, the other day she did take a dive out of her crib... so we had to lower it down.  I was wondering when we were going to have to do that, but she was so good about not trying to climb out... but like I said, she loves to climb.  She also is so fast up the stairs now, but she did take a little tumble down them the other day.  I think it surprised her more than anything... Tristan never had that issue because we never had stairs for him to go down or up when he was that age, so there is always something new to learn!

We look forward to see what other things she accomplishes in the next little while.  This is such a fun age because they are getting into everything and learning so fast.  Every week makes such a difference.

JVG

Imagination

Lately Duder has been showing us more of his imagination.  It's adorable.  The first time I really saw him make stuff up was when we were playing in the play room and he asked for the keys to unlock the cabinet.  Now, there isn't a lock on the cabinet, just a way to make sure the doors don't swing open wildly.  So Gaetan pretended to get some keys out of his pocket and hand it to him.  He took them, and make this funny little noise as he did, as if he was unlocking the doors right then.  He went over and pretended to unlock the door and then play instead.  Later, he was sitting on top of something and said that he needed the keys again, so I pretended to throw him the pair of keys and he pretended to catch them, while making the key unlocking noise.  It was pretty funny.

I have also caught him talking with his pals.  Hippo and Dog are by far his favorite and when he was supposed to be taking a nap I heard him just chatting away in his room.  He was going through the routine that Gaetan goes through with him when he puts him down to sleep.  It was adorable.  He 'read' them a story, then they prayed together and then he told them a story that he made up.  I saw him in there with Hippo and Dog taking turns telling each other stories too.

It's fun seeing the way he's developing and the types of things his little mind picks up.

JVG

First Sunday off

This was the first weekend that Gaetan has had off since starting school!  He has finished up his first year of grad school and done some amazing things in that year.  I honestly can't believe that the first year is already over, and how easy he made it seem.  He never did homework while at home (unless the kids were asleep, but that gave me time to catch up on stuff that didn't get done during the day...) and he did extremely well in all his classes.  My hats off to anybody who can get through a week of that nonsense!  Just a few things my amazing husband did in the short academic year...

1.) After one semester of teaching labs he was recognized as being a phenomenal educator and they asked him to teach a lab that is reserved for doctoral students who have been there a handful of years.  The other grad student who taught the other section was a 5th year and graduating this year!  And on top of being able to teach this lab they asked him to rewrite a few labs (to make them better, and that means he'll be published).
2.) The department gave him the most prestigious award they have.  The best TA in the world!!!!  He is up against all the other TA's in the program (not just his year) and having only been there for a year and outshining the rest of the students is amazing.
3.) He passed all his classes with ease.  Well, I wouldn't say that quantum mechanics is easy on any given day, but he made it look easy.  He got all A's and B's this year!
4.) He also landed a researching gig this summer with one of the most connected theoretical profs at WMU to start on something that is pretty new in the physics field.  And thanks to NASA he won't have to take classes or teach this summer.... which means, he will be home with us and 'thinking' a whole lot.  :)
5.) As I mentioned before he did get published a handful of times.  He has written a handful of things for labs, and the lab manual for WMU.  They have even asked him to present a few of this ideas at some conferences (mini vaca for the family perhaps?  :)

Yup, my genius husband.  :)  I'm glad he likes to be silly with the kids.

So, after all that, I am so glad that he is getting some time off to just hang out, and relax.  So far during that we've had a lot of nice family outtings.  He got to take Duder to the library in the morning for lego time while I took Lucy to her appointment.

On Sunday after church I was craving BBQ and so Gaetan suggested we try a restaurant I've never been... but a goodie, Famous Dave's!  It was yummy!  The kids did GREAT and they loved the food too.  I am so thankful that we have children that we can take out to eat and know that they will behave. They certainly make outtings more entertaining...

Lucy copying Papa

Look Momma!  No hands!

Dude is excited to be out with the fam

Making faces with Lucy

Waiting patiently for his food...

Yup!  All good!  Nothing a little tic-tac-toe can't fix.

As she waited patiently for her food she chowed down a lemon...

When we got home I had to do my last 'long' run before my marathon... 10 miles.  I went to turn on my ipod but it was dead... :(  So Gaetan suggested that he take the kids for a chariot ride while I went running.  It was a really nice idea!  I was hoping that I didn't go slow that it was boring for them, but he said (I think he was just being nice) that I was going at a pretty decent pace.  The kids must've thought that it was relaxing because at some point one, or both were asleep.  The cutest part of my run was when Lucy fell asleep and her poor neck looked so kinked and Duder took her head, and rested it on his shoulder.  What a sweet Dude.  He loves his little sister so much.  But then, he fell asleep and both of their necks were at an unreal angle.  It is so nice to run with somebody else, and I was surprised at how quickly the run went without the music.  :)  It was a nice outting with the family... everybody got some fresh air and exercise!

My darling kiddos

When we got home, I had to cool down and so the kids wanted to play outside.  Lucy is so excited about her new found ability to climb stairs... so that means she can get up the stairs to the slide.  Tristan likes to help her out at times when she gets stuck... its endearing.  They love to be together... and of course, they love to pick at each other too :)  It's nice to see them interact.

So excited she got up the stairs 

Duder is a big helper.  He was helping her up.

Showing her how its done 

Getting ready for her turn!

After that, we had some popcorn for a snack and got ready for bed.  It was just a nice day.  Being together all day was amazing.  I look forward to the other days ahead when we can just be together and hang out.  :)

On that note I can't believe that this is the last week before the big run.  We drove a bit of the course on the way home and I forget that 26.2 miles is a long way... haha.  I am excited to have this underway and have this done!  :)  So here's to the rest of the week together, and the end of a big training session!

JVG