November?? Already?!!

October was good. I felt on top of all the events going on and we had a good amount of birthday celebrations and Halloween fun for the kiddies. BUT November??! Already??!

I was so busy planning October, I did not adequately prepare for November. I had to change my entry for a local, women only, half-marathon race to a 5K due to inadequate preparation and a nagging hamstring. The flip side of it was that I rarely run 5Ks, so it felt quick and fast.. just enough to break a sweat, but not enough to have major impact on my strained hamstring.

Yessir.. I am a total race poser!

I took it easy by stopping and chatting at the 3 water stations (that's a lot for a 3 mile race... you're lucky if you even get 1 water station for a 3 miler), and focused more on my running form versus speed. All in all, my time was okay. Definitely not my best, but since it was a local race, I did end up placing 3rd in my age division. (Ignore the fact that two 60 year-olds and two 10/11 year-olds beat me among many others... but hey, they aren't in my age group!). I was in the 47% percentile overall.

Since running has been reduced temporarily, rock climbing and upper body training has bumped up in priority. It just so happens that there is a new gym opening in town which is geared towards ninja warrior training and OCRs (obstacle course racing). I am hoping they will install the Ultimate Cliffhanger, but a sneak peak shows a 14' Warp wall and Spider Climb/Rope climb.

I have been wanting to get the kids into activities as well, but way back when we tried swim lessons, we found it very time consuming and difficult to work into a regular routine. I clearly recognize though, that my kids have NO activities unlike many of their peers that are enrolled in gymnastics, soccer, dance, swim, etc. So, not to be too much of slacker parents, we are starting them off with rock climbing; It seems like a great choice for our family.

Em trying on her (and Liam's) new rock climbing shoes Ryan purchased for her.

Em trying out climbing back when we went to the grand opening of a local climbing gym a while back...

Ryan and I do have more Spartan Races coming up in January...so, on top of holidays, it is time to up the training again.