Charlotte has an ongoing monologue in the backseat of the car, which I don't always tune into. But she really wanted me to hear what she had to say about her cousin Hannah on the way to school today. Obviously it is not verbatim since I can't recall exactly what she said, and she kept going on and on and on, as is her wont. But this is a pretty accurate representation of HannahJam 2014.
"Hannah is in Texas. She's my friend and my cousin. She's both at the same time. Hannah loves me and I love her. Hannah made me a bracelet for Christmas because she loves me and I wear it because I love her. We were playing and running in Texas and she is a really good runner. She's fast like this (insert hand motion and sound effects). I'm a good runner too but Hannah is a really good jumper and I'm not a good jumper. I'm too little to be a good jumper like Hannah. I do little hurdles in the living room and Hannah does big hurdles and some of the big kids fall over on the hurdles but Hannah does not."
So, clearly Charlotte's ability to compare and contrast is emerging appropriately.
And then when we were driving home, again Charlotte started up with Hannah. It took awhile for me to figure out what she was talking about because, for me, she was talking about such an obscure memory: an errand, but with family. This time Charlotte wanted to talk about when Charlotte, Beth, and I went to pick up Hannah after track practice over Spring Break.
And then it hit me, both times Charlotte was talking about Hannah was when we went by the Minnehaha Academy track, which clearly made her think of Hannah. So if Charlotte does get pushed into running and people want to think it was her daddy pressuring her into the sport, remember this post: Charlotte is looking up to Hannah the Track Star as a role model, not her Has Been/Never Was Dad.
And for the record, Calvin and Sophia DO get equal play in Charlotte's monologues. I just haven't happened to have free time to post them on the same day they occur, and then whatever was said is lost in my cluttered brain, or, more accurately, it never stuck.
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
May 05, 2014
January 08, 2014
Planning Ahead
I was wearing a running shirt as I put Charlotte to bed. When I turned out her light she said, "I want to go running with Daddy on the Mississippi River when the snow melts down."
I can't wait. Mostly because the snow will be melted.
October 28, 2013
What I Do
This summer and fall was marked by me working a lot with running. When I wasn't coaching the MDRA marathon training class I was coaching cross country at Washington. In August there were was one week where there was a marathon class run on Saturday morning, an MDRA board meeting the following Monday night, cross country practice at Washington started that week at 10 a.m. every day, a marathon class run on Tuesday, a track night I host every other week on Thursday, and then the weekly Saturday morning run. That's five MDRA runs or meeting and five Washington practices I had to be at, and stay married.
By the end of August, I had to confess to Emily that I had reached the end of my coaching rope. Earlier in the summer and we had to kind of intensely talk out/negotiate if all this coaching was worth it. The sacrifices Emily had to make while I was gone coaching go without saying and at the same time cannot be overstated. I am not sure when (or if) I will coach a marathon training class again. This spring I had to be coaxed out of MDRA coaching retirement by my friend Marty in the first place.
But coaching at Washington is a different story. That is something I will do for as long as I can, until they kick me off the track. It allows me to be so much more involved in my building and get to know so many new students I only see in passing if I see them at all. And I get to be at the ground level of a sport I love.
But coaching the MDRA class was a challenge to get up for by August. I always was able to. Fortunately, there were so many things to keep me going: working closely with my good friends Deb and Marty, giving back to a sport that gave me so much, the enthusiasm, hard work, and camaraderie of the people in the class, and most importantly Charlotte. Charlotte loves running. And she loved to "help the runners with Daddy." We would fill the water jugs together on Tuesday afternoons in the backyard and on Saturdays I would pick her up while the class did its long run and we would go check on the runners together at various points along the way, and she would run with Marty at the finish of the run... and then eat all the snacks we had laid out for the runners. She especially liked the cookies and Goldfish.
Charlotte also noted"the blue water for the runners. They like it." This would be PowerAid Mountain Berry Blast which I usually made five to ten gallons worth of at each run. It's an unnatural blue, with an unnatural smell, and an unnatural taste. The kind of thing a two year old would love, but all summer she said wanted nothing to do with it. She would say, "the blue water is for the runners. The regular water is for Charlotte."
Anyway, a week before the Chicago marathon, class member made a video for her friends who were all running Chicago together. A little background: we break the class into four pace groups. The slowest group is the Terrapins (a name they chose themselves and they call themselves the Terps with pride). They are longtime friends and very loyal to each other and our training classes, no matter who is coaching. So Noelle made this video to celebrate. The fact that Noelle was able to film and photo and then edit this into a four minute video speaks volumes to the depth of friendships running and this training program has produced.
Regardless, it tells the story of what the MDRA program is all about and why this summer was worth it for me, even if it is too much to do again for a long time. One day, when Charlotte is older we can watch the video together and I can tell her that in her how special way, she played a small part in this class. And that for sure makes everything worth it.
By the end of August, I had to confess to Emily that I had reached the end of my coaching rope. Earlier in the summer and we had to kind of intensely talk out/negotiate if all this coaching was worth it. The sacrifices Emily had to make while I was gone coaching go without saying and at the same time cannot be overstated. I am not sure when (or if) I will coach a marathon training class again. This spring I had to be coaxed out of MDRA coaching retirement by my friend Marty in the first place.
But coaching at Washington is a different story. That is something I will do for as long as I can, until they kick me off the track. It allows me to be so much more involved in my building and get to know so many new students I only see in passing if I see them at all. And I get to be at the ground level of a sport I love.
But coaching the MDRA class was a challenge to get up for by August. I always was able to. Fortunately, there were so many things to keep me going: working closely with my good friends Deb and Marty, giving back to a sport that gave me so much, the enthusiasm, hard work, and camaraderie of the people in the class, and most importantly Charlotte. Charlotte loves running. And she loved to "help the runners with Daddy." We would fill the water jugs together on Tuesday afternoons in the backyard and on Saturdays I would pick her up while the class did its long run and we would go check on the runners together at various points along the way, and she would run with Marty at the finish of the run... and then eat all the snacks we had laid out for the runners. She especially liked the cookies and Goldfish.
Charlotte also noted"the blue water for the runners. They like it." This would be PowerAid Mountain Berry Blast which I usually made five to ten gallons worth of at each run. It's an unnatural blue, with an unnatural smell, and an unnatural taste. The kind of thing a two year old would love, but all summer she said wanted nothing to do with it. She would say, "the blue water is for the runners. The regular water is for Charlotte."
Anyway, a week before the Chicago marathon, class member made a video for her friends who were all running Chicago together. A little background: we break the class into four pace groups. The slowest group is the Terrapins (a name they chose themselves and they call themselves the Terps with pride). They are longtime friends and very loyal to each other and our training classes, no matter who is coaching. So Noelle made this video to celebrate. The fact that Noelle was able to film and photo and then edit this into a four minute video speaks volumes to the depth of friendships running and this training program has produced.
Regardless, it tells the story of what the MDRA program is all about and why this summer was worth it for me, even if it is too much to do again for a long time. One day, when Charlotte is older we can watch the video together and I can tell her that in her how special way, she played a small part in this class. And that for sure makes everything worth it.
October 19, 2013
Charlotte Turns #3!
If you ask Charlotte how old she is, she'll hold up her fingers and say, "I'm number 3." We celebrated three ways. Charlotte's birthday part 1. Her birthday happened to fall on the same day as the Twin Cities Marathon Family Day, so we had a nice breakfast (pancakes, Charlotte's favorite) and headed over to the capital to sign Charlotte up for the toddler trot.
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| Birthday breakfast sausage |
We also signed Happy up for the Diaper Dash. We debated whether or not it was worth it, after all she is nowhere near crawling, but we agreed that it was worth it for the photo op alone. I think you will agree.
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| Happy at the starting line |
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| Totally worth $11! |
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| Happy's souvenir from her first race - CUTE! |
Then we went home and took naps to get ready for Chartlotte's birthday part 2. After dinner it was time for cupcakes and presents! Charlotte has a mild obsession with cupcakes. Ever since her birthday last year she has asked to look at pictures of her birthday cupcake on my phone at least once a week. She has fond memories of the "fire" and frosting. This year's cupcake did not disappoint - Oreo! The frosting tasted like the filling of an Oreo.
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| She's in love. |
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| Charlotte got this gift from her friends Nathan, Noah and Alma. I think these fruit snacks were her favorite present. |
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| Trying to tempt her with another present, but she can't stop talking about those fruit snacks! |
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| Frog Trouble - Sandra Boynton's best work yet. Seriously, I would listen to this without any kids around. |
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| Charlotte's big present - a sweet stove. |
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| And to top it off, cupcake PJs!! |
A week later, we had a little party with Netta and Bailey for birthday part 3! We had a little cake and went to the park to play. Charlotte was very excited for Netta and Bailey to come over and spent the morning talking about which burner of her new stove would be for which cousin to cook on.
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| Bailey, Netta and Charlotte turning 3 together. |
September 02, 2013
Charlotte's First Race!
Charlotte ran in the fun run at Victory races this morning. It's Mike's favorite race - it's fast, flat, and a fun family event. Aunt Jessie and the cousins ran too! Charlotte had a blast, she was smiling the whole time. Happy had a very pretty miserable time, it was cold and I left her pacifier in the car. Poor thing.
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