I seem to have neglected this for a couple weeks.
Sorry. Between the start of a new ad cycle and getting sick, I wasn't quite up to trip planning. I have stayed on top of the threads I am subscribed to though, so that counts for something, yes?
So since I last updated, as I mentioned, I have been sick. I am pretty stubborn and attempted to not miss any run days though. 7/13 Steve and I were scheduled to run a color in motion 5k. Now, he had been diagnosed with pneumonia (I think the previous saturday). I woke feeling solidly not well. We had already paid for our bibs and I knew my normally scheduled run of 8.5 miles would take too much from me. In my mind... going the 3.1 was fine since it was "planned". (I allow myself to skip my "normal" run if I have a planned event that I am doing instead). So while I wasn't feeling great, I knew that it would be easier on me to do the 5k than to do 8.5 miles. Surprisingly, Steve was not feeling to bad. He had finished a course of zithromax. So while he balked at first, once he was up he agreed to go.
It was an early morning though since, like most everything, it takes approximately an hour to get from our "out in the middle of no where" town to any of the larger cities near by. So we had to leave early to get there in time. Also, this was ADR day... but I will get to that in my ADR update.
We arrived and decided to get into the POP line. Good grief. I should have taken a picture of it. The line snaked through the crowd and it was hard to tell where the crowd was and where the line was. It was NOT a well organized line. It was funny too because as the line would curve and you would run up along another side of the line you would hear people realize they were in the line for the POPs and hop out of line saying that they thought they were in line for something else. It was hilarious. It was also frustrating because I know that the line would lose people occasionally too when it would bend. I know this is hard to imagine, but really... the crowd was shoulder to shoulder and you really had know who was in front of and behind you in order to stay in the line.
There were also some freebies at various sponsor booths. We were able to snag some fancy vitamin water bottles. They came in a gazillion flavors and were fun cause you twisted a special cap to release the vitamins into the water and then shook. Fun.
Once we actually finished with our POP adventure it was time to hustle to the corrals. (not timed, just one fills and you are in the next) I think we made it to the 3rd corral. There was a event person up high over the crowd playing music and spraying color and throwing out swag. The crowd energy was infectiously high.
Once our corral was up to the front we all were loud and dancing. The dancing caused the event rep to throw out more swag. A pair of sunglasses was thrown over my head and Steve opened his had to catch it...but sadly didn't close his hand fast enough and it flew forward. Another pair landed at my feet. I put my foot on it to "claim it" but someone was diving for it before I could even reach down.
I guess Steve and I are just too old for jumping and diving for swag.
The race itself was nice. It was not timed. I didn't bring my phone so I have NO idea how long it took us. We ran most of the segments between color stations. This was big for Steve because he is still very much at doing intervals in his training. (or was since 7/13 was the last time he ran) He even ran up some pretty impressive hills... I couldn't keep up with him on them.
I tried to make sure he got a good amount of color on him by doing some scooping of the color at each station. This wasn't too great for me cause bending down and picking that stuff up put me breathing in that denser cloud of color.
The finish was probably the LEAST climatic finish at any race I have ever seen. No cameras no cheers. People just kinda crossed and a crowd formed.
There crowd that formed was part of the after party. They were spraying each other (think even more dense cloud of color in the air) There was swimming pools full of ice and bottled water, but as people had grabbed bottles and their colors had washed off the water had become a murky swampy color. So even though I grabbed my water bottle, I wasn't able to bring myself to drink it. We chose to leave right after grabbing the bottle of water. The cloud was just too much for either of us.
We looked happy though, yes?
And of course we had to get front and back shots.
The week of 7/15 I continued to feel more poorly.
Steve also felt worse again.
I had a lot of work to get done (but luckily not too much since my hours got cut by 10 a week) I ran my normal distance on 7/15 and on 7/16 but by the time 7/18 came, I just couldn't. I skipped a run day!
That was the day of the next scheduled event though, so it wasn't a total skip. For those of you with a roadrunner sports near you, DO THE ADVENTURE RUN! It is free and a fun way to incorporate running into a playful activity. Last month I was a big winner, taking home all the unclaimed prizes.
Josh was also a big winner and although dollar for dollar not as big as mine... MUCH more practical cause... well, I know the crossfit classes are going to go to waste... probably even the hour massage. And the case of muscle milk makes me gag...so will likely go to the food bank.
This month, the theme was luau. I was going to go all out and dress up for it, but I wasn't feeling well enough. I had talked my entire family into going. (except Steve, he still is mad at me for leaving him the previous month
) So it was Kimberly, Zach, Kimberly's mom - Pearl, Kimberly's friend - Kenzie, Kira, Josh, Zoe and myself. Kimberly's dad even showed up for the after party!
We took it easy and didn't hit all the check points. (you run to check points around town in what ever order you want and collect raffle tickets) Kira and Josh went off on their own while the rest of us stayed together. It was so much fun. Zach participated in a dance off. He is such a goof. He didn't win... but we all got a good laugh.
If you want to see more pictures of the entire event. (we are in a few) go
here
In the end, Zach won a gc for his costume. (did ya see the shells?) Josh managed to catch 3 socks that were thrown out into the crowd (what is with swag being thrown into crowds?
) During the raffle drawings, Pearl and I went into the beer garden. OMG! I have never drank after running. Not sure I will again. Participants are able to purchase tickets for beer (pre race) at $1 a ticket. First, I am not a beer drinker. Second, the beers were HUGE. Pearl and I only each bought one. She did not finish hers, but I wasn't going to let mine go to waste.
It wasn't even good beer. (well, I don't think it was...but again, not a beer drinker)
After the event was over, Josh decided he was going to use one of his prizes from the previous month. A burrito party at Chipotle. We all got to choose what ever we wanted off the menu, got a huge bag of chips and a container of amazing guacamole.
I then did not go out again on 7/20 (my next scheduled day) however 8.5 was NOT going to happen. I managed just a bit over 4 miles.
On the med this past week though and I went out on 7/22 and not only ran my scheduled distance, but PR'd it! 2.04 miles in 16:45
I managed my normal distance on 7/23 and yesterday, 7/25. Yesterday was HARD though. It was the farthest I have ran in almost 3 weeks. (6.5 miles) I had the worst side ache for the last couple miles and the heat didn't help. My time was about normal though for that distance. (I just normally don't feel like I am going to die quite so much)
7/25 was Steve's birthday. I got all the kids (except Kimberly) to come over for a big meal. It was a lot of fun to have everyone together.
Somewhere in the last couple of weeks, I also got my hair cut. I had a pretty short do anyway, but this is a little bit better.
Also, in the last couple weeks poor Zoe has had her latex allergy get worse. We are good about keeping the latex away from her and being cautious that way, but there is a syndrome called latex fruit syndrome. I need to have her officially tested because in one week she had a fairly severe reactions to two or three of the items on the list. (I say two or three because in one sitting she was exposed to two items) The first was when we had a pasta dish with zucchini and watermelon on the side. All of a sudden she started wincing and saying her face was burning. It was shocking. I looked at her and every where the watermelon had touched was red, inflamed and had HUGE hives. (watermelon and zucchini are both on the list.) Then at the burrito party the same thing happened as she was eating the guacamole
She LOVES avocado. So a trip to be tested is in her future. I know it will come back positive, but it will be helpful to know just what foods she will need to stay away from. (the list is large)
So that is my last couple weeks.
Thanks for letting me share.
I promise I will do an "official" update with PTRs soon. (maybe even today)
A dismet and I know how much you need those face to face times.
since she has had problems. Hmmm....do you really want to have the surgery right before we go? I am thinking that really is not a great idea...don't want you to worry the entire time that Steve is attending to business at home with her!
I am not sure I saw any tees out when we were there. 
I bet you are used to it though.
Glad you are gonna follow along. I am very blessed to have a dh who despite complaining about disney... tends to support my obsession... and that the running thing has turned into something I really enjoy. There is so little in my life that has made me feel as empowered. Big moments in my life... birth of my kids, wedding day and finishing my first half marathon. All were defining moments. And... for me to complete that at the age of 43... I feel it shows that the saying you can't teach an old dog new tricks is WAY off... cause this old dog is learning just what she is capable of doing!!!
and thank you for both the congrats and well wishes. DVC is something we probably should have "invested" in years ago. And as for Zoe's surgery... I have faith it will go well. She is under the care of a world class surgeon. He is one of the leading pediatric urologists in the country.
)
and this 
look a lot alike..both with blue tones and a frown. It confuses her body and it thinks it is the same...and maybe it is the "tear" part of the protein that she is actually allergic so when testing this 
I know...
