Saturday, March 27, 2010

Run To Register 10K

Well, we ran and lived to tell the story. We actually both ran good times. Travis came in at 55:05 mins and I came in at 55:11 mins. That's about 8:54/8:55 minutes a mile. When we run normally, we usually run about 10 min/mile pace - but that includes all our stops to look at woodpeckers, squirrels, deer and froggies on the trail.

Just in case you don't know (I wouldn't unless I asked), a 10K is 6.2 miles. This one is part of the Marine Corps Marathon. If you run in this race, you're guaranteed a spot in the marathon on Oct. 31. We are still thinking about the full marathon (26.2 miles), but we're signed up for the Historic Half (13.1 miles) in Fredericksburg on May 16.

This morning was really cold. It was 34 degrees when we left the house at 6:45ish. We were both really cold walking to the porta-potty lines, then to the start line, but it felt good once we started running. It was actually perfect temp. There were about 1798 people racing, so a lot of warm bodies! :) hee hee According to the race result sheets, Travis came in 869th overall, and 106 in his division. I came in 881 overall, and 36th in my division. Of course, the girl divisions are easier. :) Here's the link to the RESULTS. We had a really good time and are looking forward to the HH in May. We have to decide whether or not we're gonna do the Marathon by April 5, so I'll let you all know soon! :) Here are a couple of pics.

Friday, March 26, 2010

For those who look at my blog but don't see anything new

I was talking to my mom today and she was telling me I needed to update it because she comes to check on it and there IS NOTHING NEW. Hi mom. :)

Aaron is out visiting for a couple of weeks. Our futon/guest bed is set up in the front room which is connected to the room where the computer is, and since he's a teenager and they go to bed at like, 5 a.m., I don't get on the computer as much as normal so I don't wake him up. Once they're up, I have to keep them entertained, so I let them sleep.

Not much is new around here anyway. Now that dance is over, things are pretty mellow. I spend my days watching squirrels and birds, playing on the computer (when we don't have company), doing sudoku, shopping or going to lunch with Anisa, and sometimes with Renee and Ava, doing laundry and cleaning the house. Pretty boring. I haven't done much sewing lately because Sara took her desk back...I was using it in my sewing room as an extra storage and flat surface. Now, the room is messy and I don't like to go in there. I'm on a mission to find a good, cheap dresser or desk. I looked at Ikea, but they didn't have anything that thrilled me. I liked their dressers, but they were a couple hundred bucks and I'd have to buy new drawer bottoms cuz the bottoms in there are REALLY cheap and flimsy and I wouldn't want my fabric to fall out and get all messed up since it's nicely folded right now.

Tomorrow, Travis and I are heading down to Quantico Marine Corps base to run a 10k (it's part of the Marine Corps Marathon and if you do this 10K, you are guaranteed a spot in the marathon in the fall. We'll decide if we can do the full marathon after we do the Historic Half in May). It should be fun. We usually run about 6ish miles, so it's a normal distance for us, but we'll do it with thousands of other people. I have personal space issues, so I hope I don't freak out on anyone for getting in my "personal space". Actually, I'd probably only freak out on Travis because he's already been warned SEVERAL times. The base is about 45 minutes south of here, so we have to get up early if we want to have some coffee and a little power breakfast.

So, that's the news from here. Pretty boring, huh? I'll post pictures and stories from the race tomorrow. Until then, I hope you all are having a fun, boring (if you prefer) day. love and kisses to all! :)

Friday, March 12, 2010

Oh, I forgot to mention....

If you go to Varsity.com you can click on the "Great Themes from NDA Nationals" and the team is interviewed (they are right after the wedding theme team. Also, you can type in the Search bar "West Springfield" and it will pull up the routines. They cut a little bit of the routine - not sure why- but you can get an idea of how the kids performed. :)

Thursday, March 11, 2010

NDA National Champions

I'm just now getting around to putting up some shots of the 2010 Medium Varsity Hip Hop National Champion team from WEST SPRINGFIELD HIGH SCHOOL! They went down as ordinary high school dancers and came back as National Champions! :)

The competition was held on Mar. 6 & 7 at the Hard Rock auditorium at Universal in Orlando, FL. The most surprising thing about the weekend was the cold weather. It was cold enough to wear a sweatshirt (but I DID wear shorts). We got down there on Thursday, got to the hotel, dropped our bags and everyone got something to eat and the kids went to practice.

Friday was more of the same. Some adults went to WDW, some of us went to Super Walmart to get food for the kids since they were spending $15 a meal and they were on a budget. We got fruit, water and stuff for PB&Js. They scarfed them down! We even had to get more bread. :) That afternoon, one of my high school friends who lives in Orlando, Tim, came to pick me up and we went to dinner (along with his darling wife and mom). That was super fun to see him and meet his family.

Saturday was prelims. The kids got ready, and we pulled our little white vans over and picked up all the wild haired kids with all their bags. Off we headed to Universal Studios to go to the Hard Rock Auditorium. We got seats in the balcony and watched the competition. Of course, we went wild as our team performed and when they announced their score (#1) we all went even more crazy! We went outside, took lots of pictures then headed back to the hotel for showers, naps, food and a little more practicing. Then, we loaded the vans again and headed back to Hard Rock for their Pom routine. They did their best, but their pom routine wasn't their favorite, or the one they really poured their hearts into. The made finals for that routine, too. :) Back to the hotel, a little more practicing, then off to bed for FINALS on Sunday.

Sunday is now kind of a blur. My cute Blog friend, Marie, came with her sweet daughter and granddaughter to watch the team. Her kids and grandkids live a couple of miles from here and her grandson is friends with Sara! It was fun to finally get to give my friend a real life hug since we've known each other in blogland for a few years now. Small world! Anyway, the kids appeared pretty calm, but they were all busy preparing themselves to win this competition. They performed their best and it paid off....BIG. They got 1st place in the Medium Varsity Hip Hop division. Their score was 9.451. The second place team's score was 9.126. The parents in the balcony about flipped!!!! We couldn't help but start screaming and jumping after they announced the second place team. We were so proud and happy for our kids. All the practice, time, tears, money, and huge commitment became so worth it all. They got a HUGE trophy, a banner and every dancer got a NATIONAL CHAMPION jacket. They called friends and family at home, cried, hugged, screamed, danced and posed for lots and lots of pictures. But, it was soon time to head back to the hotel to change for their pom performance. They were still on their "high" from the afternoon and performed their pom routine. They came in 9th out of 10 final qualifying teams. We were all ok with that (at least they didn't come in last. :) ). We planned to go out to dinner at Planet Hollywood, but things got messed up with the reservations (the competition didn't get out soon enough and we were late for our reservation) so we headed back to the hotel and the kids just got stuff to eat at a couple of the restraunts around the hotel.

Monday, we headed to the Parks to play. First stop was Magic Kingdom. We stayed together for a few rides, then everyone went their own ways. We all got done and ready to go to Epcot for dinner and a couple of rides. When that park closed, we headed to MGM since they stayed open late for resort guests. We rode Tower of Terror (one of my favorites) and Rockin' Rollercoaster (another favorite), then headed to the hotel to finally get some much needed sleep. We had planned to go to Animal Kingdom on Tuesday before we headed home, but the kids decided they'd rather swim and just hang out. So, us moms who were there, headed off to lunch, then came back to pack up and head home.

It was nice to be home and get to see my Nisa and Travis, but everyone is a little sad that the season is over. Now it's back to reality, but the kids have a big trophy, their names on the marquee in front of the school, sweet jackets and tons of great memories that I'm sure none of will forget. Go to my Shutterfly page to see the pics. Shutterfly