Summer seems to have arrived in Virginia. It may just now be June 1, but it's been feeling like summer in the south for a week or so now. Weekly recaps with Tara and Erin will now include lots of pictures of a very sweaty me LOL. Just in case you are feeling hot too, I'm giving away some samples of my favorite on the run hydration options (Nuun, Skratch, MeStrength, Gatorade...). … [Read more...]
Fueling your teen athlete, Gatorade style
A few weeks ago, Gatorade flew me down to Florida to visit the IMG Academy and learn more about their product. (How has it been a few weeks already and why haven't I written my recap of the event??? Oy.) The theme of the event was fueling your teen athlete and they had flown 9 bloggers down to attend. My athlete is only 8, but I took away a lot of useful information for both him and myself. I have long been a fan of Gatorade on hot race days. I tend to lose any interest in food, so having a way to get carbs into my body while hydrating on the run is very important to me. Learning that there is actually science behind it was pretty cool. Although there was definitely an emphasis on Gatorade during and after games (especially … [Read more...]
5 things you may not know about me
I've been blogging for a long time (6 years!) so I'm not sure how much there is left to tell about me, but I decided to accept the challenge that Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney have thrown out. 1. We moved out of Wisconsin when I was two years old. From then until Beer Geek and I bought our house, I never lived in the same place for more than 3 years. Despite not living in Wisconsin since then, I still consider myself a Wisconsin girl. Probably has something to do with nearly my entire extended family living there. 2. Shoo was born at home. Yes, I did it intentionally and yes, it was an amazing experience. As it turns out, it was a good choice as I was in active labor for less than a half hour and only pushed for 10 … [Read more...]
Warning: crazy ahead
It seemed like a good idea at the time. We had a busy October schedule. We could get it all over at once. What am I talking about? This weekend, we are hosting 4 of Jones' friends for a Saturday night sleep over. Five boys taking over the man cave for a late night of Minecraft, Wii, and movies. But we couldn't leave it at that. No, we decided that we'd have Shoo's birthday party on Sunday morning. So, 11 eight year olds + 4 twelve year olds = one heck of a laser tag party! But wait! That's not all! Today I'm going on a field trip with Shoo's class to a fall festival (I'm actually kind of sad as this is probably the last time we'll go, after having gone nearly every year since Jones was 2) and tonight Jones' is playing … [Read more...]
Three Things Thursday
1. I finally found a way to read blogs again that makes me happy: The Old Reader. Yes, it's pretty much a knock off on Google reader. And that works for me. I was able to download all of my feeds from google reader and upload them (complete with folders) to The Old Reader in a matter of minutes. Pretty cool! If you've chosen a different reader, here are some other ways to follow my blog: Or on Feedly Or via email... Subscribe to MCM Mama Runs by Email Or join me on Facebook - where I frequently talk about beer and whine about the weather... 2. Yesterday we went with a friend to the Baltimore Aquarium. The boys loved it. I'll have a real post about it in a day or two. Apparently they keep records a long time, as … [Read more...]
School’s out for the summer!
Or it will be at 1pm today. It's hard to believe that my first baby is done with elementary school. It was an amazing 6 years and I'm so proud of all he's accomplished and of the person he's becoming! We have a fun summer planned. The boys chose not to go to camp this summer, so we'll be coming up with our own fun. Judging by the fun things we did last year, it's going to be Epic! Yeah, it's gonna be kind of awesome! If you are heading to DC for a summer vacation this year, let me know! We'd love to show you around our town! … [Read more...]
Three Things Thursday
1. I could never be a food blogger. Beer Geek and I went to an amazing beer and food pairing dinner at Mad Fox last night. The beers, as I expected, were amazing. But the food. Oh, the food. The chef went with a BBQ theme - we had jerk chicken wings and lamb and baby back ribs and... Oh. My. Goodness. I don't like a lot of what he chose to make and yet, it was an incredible meal and the beer paired in a way I'll never be able to re-create at home. (Not with my mediocre cooking skills anyway.) So, it was this incredible, wonderful, beautifully presented meal - and I didn't take a single picture. Oops. 2. Another picture fail: yesterday was crazy hair day at the boys' school. Shoo told me at the last minute that he wanted … [Read more...]
White House Easter Egg Roll
Sometimes I get really lucky and get some pretty cool stuff as a result of social media. Once, my kids got to be in a filming for a commercial for Wild Kratts, thanks to someone at PBS reading my blog. Yesterday? We got to go to the White House Easter Egg Roll thanks to a local representative of Honest Tea. Tickets to the event are free, but it's a lottery to get them and you are assigned a specific time to be there. We've never had the opportunity to attend. So, when the Honest Tea rep reached out to me with not only tickets to the event, but ones where you could go at any time, I was ALL.OVER.IT! It was AWESOME! The boys did the Egg Roll and the Egg Hunt and we wandered around the huge event. It was a gorgeous day and … [Read more...]
Reason #8,344,000 why I workout
Yesterday we took the boys to an indoor waterpark. You know, one of those ones with multi-story slides, lazy rivers, and a huge hot tub. (Thank goodness for the hot tub - one of the reasons I don't like swimming is I get cold easily.) Two of the slides had the option of riding a raft or a tube down the slide with another person. I went down the slide with each kid multiple times. Which meant I walked up a ton of stairs multiple times, often while carrying a double person inner tube. Then, after an absolutely wicked fun ride down the tube, I had to get my butt out and then drag out the tube. And then walk back up the stairs to do it again. This is why I stay fit. I'm not going to be the mom sitting in a chair on the side while my … [Read more...]
Wild Kratts!
This past weekend, while I was running my heart out at the Army 10 Miler, the boys (and my mom and Beer Geek) were out at the Reston Zoo. They'd been invited by PBS to participate in the taping of the promo materials for the new "Wild Kratts" show that will begin airing in January. The Kratt brothers allowed the kids to touch a pet and interact with a number of different animals, including a baby alligator and a llama. Shoo lost interest before he got a chance to be in a shoot, but Jones may end up on tv in one of the ads. (Jones was thrilled to be included, the llama was not so thrilled.) My dad and I drove out there after the race (which had actually delayed the shooting because the Kratt brothers got stuck in race related … [Read more...]
