Country Music Half Marathon Recap

This update is almost a month old but hey better late than never huh!!

The Country Music Half Marathon was my first Half and it was a blast!! The fun started the night before when my sister, her husband and 3 of their friends drove down from Ohio to spend the weekend with us and run the race. Throw in 2 3 year olds, a one year old and my mom to babysit us all and what you have is a house full of awesome!! Friday night Alfred made us a huge pot of spaghetti and salad so we would be properly fueled the next day. We sat around ate, laughed, talked strategy and attempted to turn in as early as possible. Of course I'd been sick with sinus issues and Beckett had croup so he was coughing nonstop which kept some of us awake. Somehow we still managed to get up at 4:30AM, shovel in some peanut butter and honey sandwiches and we were ready to go when our ride got there at 5:15! (FYI if you ever run the CMM beg or pay someone to drop you off, don't park it's packed!!)

The All Guts, Not Nuts/Nuts crew ready to get this started! (From Left: My hubs Alfred, me, Mel, my sister Amanda, Ashley, Damien, and my brother in law Scott)

This race is HUGE - Approx. 35000 people ran it this year. The race directors did an awesome job pacing people so it didn't seem too large! Everyone in our group but Alfred and I were assigned to Coral 4 (AKA the speedy people) Alfred and I were assigned to Coral 22 which meant after the initial gun went off we had about a 40 minute wait before we started which gave us time to people watch and really take in the enormity of this race. Finally it was our turn to begin. I couldn't believe all the training had led to this moment.

This course is notorious for it's bands and fans so I chose to go musicless. For the most part this was a great idea. It is also a very hilly course! Just when you've tackled one HUGE hill another one is there to smack you in the face. I don't mind hills, I think they keep it interesting but this was a bit too much. Next time I know to do better with my hill training!

Since this was mine and Alfred's first half marathon, and I love him more than life we decided to run it together, rather than separating and seeing what we could do. His knee had been giving him a lot of trouble so I was worried about him but somehow he managed to hang in there. The first 4 or 5 miles weren't bad at all, I was still on the adrenaline high from actually starting the race. It was about mile 6 when I really started to rely on the spectators. They were awesome. There were so many wonderful signs (Your running while I'm having mimosas-IF Donald Trump can run so can you etc.) and there were so many awesome people. As we ran through neighborhoods people were spraying us with water hoses which was so needed. I was having such a good time I almost forgot I was running a half...almost. Then around mile 8 I started to hit a wall, I ate a salt pack, ate some more gu chomps drank some Gatorade and started running into other friends running the marathon, we chit chatted and ran and got through it. At about mile 10 we headed in the gulch. This is right before the half marathon and marathon split. I did a body check and knew I could finish the half but knew I would be crying if I still has 15 miles to go on the marathon. The Gulch was fun, there were bands and beer and people cheering. I knew I was getting ready to go into some pretty major hills but I must have turned on auto pilot and just went for it because I don't really remember much until mile 12. I wanted to finish in under 2:30 and at this point I knew I wasn't going to do it but I still had a chance to finish in 2:45 if I booked it. I looked at Alfred and he said "I can't go any faster, I'm hurting all over" to which I replied "If I don't pick up the pace now I'll never get in under 2:45" and I took off.

I almost cried when I had half a mile left. I was tired but I knew I was about to accomplish something I had been thinking about for 2 years. I had trained so long for this moment and I was about to accomplish my goal. I don't know what I expected when I crossed under the finish line at 2:45:01, I guess I thought I would feel like screaming from the rooftops but I didn't. I felt calm and empowered. This was my moment to reflect on all the hard work I had put into this, the hours I had scarified, think about the people who pushed me and made this possible. It was so surreal. Then I realized I was starving and I better find my husband and our friends. Turns out Alfred was right behind me. He said pain or no pain he couldn't let me get too far ahead! We are very competitive with one another :)! We went got food, found our friends talked for awhile then went home to rest and devour wings! It was an awesome experience!!

Some of my favorite things were our shirts made by my sister. People kept telling us how much they loved them which only fueled us to do better!

The fact that I got to share my beautiful city with such awesome people!! I'm so proud that Nashville is my home and what better way to show it off then to run through it!

The fact that I got to run with this guy!! It's amazing when you find someone in life that will go on so many crazy adventures with you!

I felt good about a lot of things during this race. Three days before the race I started drinking water like it was my job so I would be hydrated and because I was sick with a sinus infection. During the race my fuel was spot on, which had been my biggest issue during training. I woke up and ate a bagel with peanut butter and honey and a banana. I filled my fuel belt with gatorade, gu, gu chomps, sweet tarts and salt packets. They were also handing out salt along the course which I took every chance I got. I'm glad I didn't run with music so I could really take it all in. I paced pretty well although I think there were times I could have went faster but I'm probably glad I didn't because of the hills in the last 2 miles.

There were some things I would have done differently. The biggest thing was to have cut my toenails the day before :). They weren't bad but they were just long enough that I ended up bruising my toe under my toe nail and really started to feel it around mile 6! I wore Swiftwick socks and I love them but I had a seam that rubbed a blister on my foot. I used 2Toms blister shield but even it couldn't combat 13.1 miles of seam rubbage!! The blister did go away fairly quickly though. I would try to get more sleep the night before. I would like to run a 1/2 when I'm not sick with sinus funk but that's pretty unpredictable.

As for my training I used a very basic plan that my friend Dean put together for me, it was very effective and the mileage was spot on. I felt really ready for this and was super happy with the results. I went into wanting to get under 2:30 but really just wanting to finish and still love running! I can't wait to do another one!

Team All Guts No Nuts/Nuts Half Marathon Times

Amanda Davis 1:53:14 (PR by 3 Seconds)

Scott Davis 2:01:47

Mel Smith 2:03:26

Ashley Southard 2:03:36

Damien Southard 2:03:37

Rachel Eller 2:45:01

Alfred Eller 2:45:03

And even though she didn't run wearing one of our shits because her entry fee was paid for by her company I have to give a huge thank you to Susan Bakaitis who dragged me through many hours of running. I wouldn't have trained as well as I did without her pushing me with our e-mail updates and hours spent talking and running or as I like to call it our alternative happy hours!! She set a goal to finish under 2:30 and she did just that with a 2:29:51 finish!! I am one proud running partner and friend!!

Beckett John You are 1!

Again I'm a little behind on the birthday post and you've been 1 for a few weeks now. I was trying to wait until you went for your 1 year appointment but that is taking forever and I can't wait to tell the world how wonderful my little boy is so here we go! I can't believe how fast a year has flown by. You are so amazing. I was terrified when I was pregnant with you because we had it so easy with your brother, I knew you were going to be the baby that cried all the time, wouldn't sleep and would be a picky eater but you are none of these things. You are a parents dream. You always sleep through the night even when you're sick or teething. You adjust to things as if they don't bother you at all. Your teachers at daycare said you transitioned quicker than any toddler they've had. You had no problem going from your crib to the cot and you eat your meals at the little table like you've always been doing it (sometimes it's a bit messy but you love to eat). You cry some mornings when mommy drops you off but you are over it by the time I drop your brother off and walk back by the door. I took your bottle at 11 months and you did pretty good from day 1. Mommy only gave in once when you kept throwing the sippy cup back at me and screaming at me but after that you took to the sippy no problem and haven't looked back. You are still a thumb sucker but you only do it when you are sleepy! I think it's cute but I know from trying to break your brother of the habit we have a long road ahead of us but I'm not too worried, we will get through it.
You aren't walking on your own yet but you cruise from thing to thing and you love to walk around if someones holding your fingers. You love to slam small doors (ie. the entertainment center, kitchen cabinets etc.) If we can't find you we just wait a second and we will hear where you are. You have gotten very good at crawling upstairs, especially when your brother is up there playing and you want to be up there. You love your dog Laney and you follow her from room to room and laugh anytime she pays attention to you. You still adore your brother and the two of you are starting to play together and I love it. You two sit at the dinner table cracking each other up, then of course mommy and daddy start cracking up and before you know it we are having the best time. You will eat just about anything. I haven't found anything yet that you hate. Your favorites are any kind of bread, pasta, apple sauce, yogurt, bananas and just about any kind of fruit we put in front of you.
You say a few things like mama, dada, bubba, Laney and you repeat a ton of sounds. We are trying to get you to use signs but you don't seem very interested. I think you've figured out that even if you don't sign we are going to give you whatever you want.
You have 6 teeth and 2 more are currently coming in. You have to have your teeth brushed and you get so excited when you see the tooth brush. In that respect I guess you are your mommies kid.
Everyone comments all the time on how handsome you are and how beautiful your eyes are. They are still blue but they have a green tint to them and since daddy and MiMi both have green eyes yours might just end up green.
You are pretty stubborn. You always want to sit in the front of the bath tub and if Kingston is sitting there you crawl over him and knock him out of the way. If you want to eat you crawl to your high chair and grunt loudly until someone gets you food. Mommy sings you a song she made up and if I'm singing it and I stop you look at me and grab my mouth until I start again. You are very good at letting us know what you want and making sure it gets done when you want it to get done.
We celebrated your first birthday at Pie in The Sky Pizza and you loved it. So many great friends came out to help you celebrate. You ate pizza and cake and then fell asleep in Mimi's lap. It was so so cute!
I could go on and on about you Bex because your dad I love you so so much!! I know this next year is going to fly by and you are going to do so many new and interesting things and although I am super excited to watch all these things take shape I'm also super sad that my little baby is growing up. We are so truly blessed that you are in our lives Beckett! Your giggles melt our hearts and your smile lights up our house! You are a one of a kind amazing child and I'm glad I get to call you my son!!

Kingston Homer You are 3!

Kingston Homer you are 3! Actually you've been 3 for a week and a half now but every time mommy has went to write this post I've started balling so I had to wait until I could handle it :)! You had such a great birthday week. You spent the first part of the week playing at Mimi and Papa's where you got to spend the night at your Aunt Amanda's with your cousins Corey, Chase and Andrew. And of course Mimi and Papa let you play in the mud and play with their dog Charlie and basically run things while you were there. Then on Wednesday they met mommy and daddy to drop you off so we could bring you home to hang out with GiGi and Pappy. On Thursday, March 24th you woke up to a donut with a candle in it. You have been talking about candles for your birthday since January! We went to Chucky Cheese for dinner and you had a blast. All day you kept saying "Goodbye 2 Hello 3!"

We had you a triathlon birthday party on Saturday at the local park. We had great weather for 2 weeks leading up to your party day and the hour your party started the sky opened up and the rain started pounding us. Mommy debated canceling the party but didn't and it was a good thing since 42 of your friends came to celebrate your big day in freezing cold weather. When we sang Happy Birthday your face lit up. It ended up being a great party and you and your friends had a great time despite the rain. Mommy's favorite moment of the whole party was looking out and seeing you sweet sweet baby boy peddling your tricycle in the pouring rain all by yourself around this loop. You looked so grown up and I was so proud of your bravery.

I still can't believe it's been 3 years since you came into our lives with your HUGE personality. Sometimes it seems like you've been here forever and sometimes it feels like it's all went by so quickly. You are such a good kid. I mean you're a 3 year old and you are very head strong but you listen really well most of the time and you are so so smart. The things you say amaze most everyone because your vocabulary is so vast. Your pediatrician said you have the vocal skills of a 5 year old. Of course you talk all the time and when I ask if you will be quiet for one second you say you can't! Here lately you try to talk your way out of doing your chores or cleaning up at school instead of actually doing it. You are still a small guy, you only weigh 28 pounds and you were the shortest kid in your class until the younger kids moved up :)! You sing and dance around the house all the time. You love watching Mickey Mouse, Handy Manny, Phinnias and Ferb and movies! You adore your teacher Miss Caite, she is a wonderful wonderful influence in your life who really cares about you and your friends. Mommy hates leaving you to go to work but you are so so lucky to have someone like her in your life. You are good at memorizing things. Most recently mommy taught you "The Pledge of Allegiance" and you get frustrated if you mess up a word. You say your prayers every night and you are starting to know some of the stories from the Bible and repeat them to us. You have been completely potty trained for about 6 months now which has been so nice for mommy and daddy. You caught on to it rather quickly. You get yourself undressed but you still have problems dressing yourself but we are working on it. You will eat just about anything and everything! You eat a lot!! You just got strep throat for the first time and you were pretty miserable but you were a great patient. You just laid on the couch drinking water and watching cartoons. You are wonderful to Beckett, most of the time! You always want to be the one to go in his room after his nap if you're already up. The 2 of you are starting to play together and it's so so cute. You want him to walk so bad you can't stand it! I'm sure I'm leaving out tons of stuff but these are a few of the things I want to remember about this time in our lives! My heart over flows with love for you and your brother. I was never the girl that sat in class dreaming about having kids, I sat there dreaming about being joining the Peace Corp and being President and although I'm still sure those things would be awesome when you came into my life 3 years ago I couldn't figure out why I had ever dreamed of anything else but being your mommy. Happy Birthday Kingston Homer once again I am so so proud of you!

Homework Art Project

Kingston's teachers Ms. Caite and Ms. Shannon decided to start giving home work assignmments this year. His first assignment is to make a Valentine's Day Box out of a tissue box so his friends can put Valentine's Cards in it at thier party next week. Today was really the first day Kingston has felt much like doing anything since Sunday so it was nice to have a project Alfred and I could get in on. And get in on it we did......

I'm pretty sure Kingston is happy with his finished product! And mommy and daddy loved spending time with Kingston! I don't remember homework being this fun before!

A Party of a Weekend!

We had a very busy weekend full of party fun!! It started out Saturday with a PJ Birthday Party Brunch for Gavin!! Here's the birthday boy enjoying a sucker from his birthday cake! Beckett spent the first half of the birthday party crawling in Jen's lap. We're pretty sure he thought she was me because when he would see me he would look at us like we tricked him. It was super cute!

The highlight of the party was the fish pinata that wouldn't break!! All the kids took a turn hitting it with a stick and they were having a blast!

But after several attempts from some pretty heavy hitters, Gavin's dad, Ian took a swing at it and out came the candy and the kids wasted no time diving right in!

Of course there was cake which is always a hit with Kingston!!

All the party fun got the best of Bex and he had to have a nap in the middle of the party!!

When daddy got home from work I headed to my friend Rosanna's sleepover birthday party!!

Here's the birthday girl with her smokey eye birthday look!

We had such a great time playing catch phrase, doing each others make-up, gossiping and of course playing dance off on the wii!!

Rosanna wasn't the only one who got smokey eyes!! We all did!! Watch out Snooky!

Since it was Superbowl weekend Alfred spent most of his time at Publix! He decided to let his associates have off during the game so he worked. The boys and I were invited to a few parties but by the time Sunday rolled around we were all exhausted so we watched the Superbowl cuddled up on the couch which was perfect!

Of course Kingston had to get up to belt out the Star Spangled Banner!

And was speechless during the Half Time Show!!

All of that partying and staying up late finally took a toll on Kingston, Monday he started running a temperature that got higher and higher and finally maxed out a little over 104. He once again didn't manage to escape the flu even with the flu shot.

We seem to finally be on the mend today. His fever is still between 99 to 101 but he's starting to act like he has a little more energy, his appetite is starting to return and we've been able to skip a dose of Tylenol or ibuprofen here and there!! Now let's hope the rest of the Eller's don't get it because we have another Birthday party this weekend and my sister's family is coming to visit. Here's to another great weekend and no more sickness!!

America's Next Top Chef

Alfred is working late tonight so I decided to let Kingston make our main course!

His Gigi got him this cookbook for his 1st birthday and he loves making things out of it.
On tonight's menu...Cheese toast made with both Swiss and sharp cheddar on sour dough bread and cooked in the toaster oven.

Every young chef must consult the cook book often!

And of course there is plenty of ingredient tasting!

And finally all the hard work pays off and dinner is served!

The Chef enjoying the fruits of his labor.

It is a great night in the Eller house!

Huntsville AL

Although we love the Holidays around here they are very hectic. Since Alfred works in retail it's nothing for him to put in 60+ hours per week during the months of November and December; and since his birthday is January 9th we decided yet again to take a little family get away for his birthday so we could spend some time together. We chose Huntsville AL so we wouldn't have to spend much time driving and because we had heard such great things about the US Space and Science museum there. And everyone was right, this place is awesome! It has a giant rocket in the middle of the museum which Kingston thought was awesome!! The inside of the building tells the history of space travel and how Huntsville AL contributed to that. It has a ton of memorabilia and fun things to look at and do. There is a scientist that does experiments and a kids play area! You can get into a space ship and feel what take off would feel like. There's even a rock wall! It was really neat. Outside there are helicopters and even amusement park rides that are open in the summer. I really recommend this place to anyone with kids or without.

Of course Beckett got a little bored and decided to take a nap while we were there! So I guess it isn't the most fun place for an 8 month old :)!

A lot of our time was spent in the hotel! We decided on the Embassy Suites which was super nice! They had a really cool water feature in the lobby that Kingston loved playing on and throwing money into!

We spent a lot of time swimming since we have fish for children!

And a ton of time in the hot tub, hanging out!

Of course when we finished working up an appetite from our busy day playing we ordered Ruth's Chris room service and ate in bed!

Being on the 9th floor had the advantage of aweome views which Kingston took advantage of every chance he got by standing in the window!

All good things must come to an end so after 2 nights away and before the big snow hit we headed home where we ended our trip with some porch time playing with sparklers!! That's how every great vacation should end!

White Christmas

I love all things Christmas!! I love the lights, the music, the decorations, the time off work but my absolute favorite thing is the time I get to spend with my family making memories! This was the first Christmas that Kingston actually understood there was something different going on. He talked about Santa and Jesus' birthday and he knew something was different about this time of year. He doesn't totally get it yet but he was a blast!! He and I got really into tracking where Santa was and I took this opportunity to show him videos of other places around the world. I actually stayed up after he had went to bed and tracked Santa myself, I am like a kid this time of year :)! Of course we had to bake cookies for Santa and leave him a thank you letter so he would know we really appreciate all the hard work he puts in!

After the boys went to bed Alfred and I sat back and enjoyed a nice fire while enjoying the view of our stockings...

oh who am I kidding Alfred and I were up until 2AM helping "Santa" get his toys put together!! I hope we've learned our lesson about waiting until the last minute and thinking it will be easy because it wasn't!!! Of course it was absolutely worth it to see the looks on the boys faces the next morning!! And as an added bonus we woke up to this....

that's right a White Christmas. Being born and raised in the WV-Southern Ohio area I have seen many of these but they never loose their excitement. For the boys however, and yes I mean all the boys including my GA raised husband this was their first White Christmas! It really did make everything better!!

Of course the boys enjoyed their toys and we spent the better part of the morning upstairs in our PJ's reading letters from Santa, playing with toy cars walking around the bonus room with Beckett and his new toy and just enjoying being together!!

Finally after a wonderful Christmas dinner cooked by Alfred we ventured out to Yogi Bear Camp Ground to see an amazing display of Christmas lights set to music! We had such a good time, even if the roads were a little treacherous on the way home!

It was a great Christmas!! And the end of it all the boys were worn out beyond belief!!

I hope your family had a wonderful Christmas too!