Lyman Orchards

Grammy and Grampy visited over the weekend and we spent an hour or so at Lyman Orchards.  The last weekend before Halloween, it was incredibly crowded so we ended up cutting our visit a bit short.  We still had time to pick out a pumpkin, some yummy treats, and take some photos.

The girls found our pumpkin! 

This should have been a great photo, but I hit a button on my camera and the colors are not that great.  Oh well. 

Family photo, courtesy of Grammy. 

The LeBlanc Ladies.

Hartford Half 2014

Last weekend, I ran the Hartford Half Marathon for the third time.  Over the last six months, I have completely changed my approach to training.  I started eating "clean" to the best of my abilities - no white sugar, no white flour, no processed foods.  I started lifting more rigorously - I had Lee design a program for me that had me lifting legs twice a week and spending a solid hour on my upper body each week as well.  And in preparation for the race, I followed a difficult training program that required speed work on the track and hard runs during the week, in addition to long weekend training runs.  Going into the race, I was stronger, faster and 15 pounds lighter, but whether I could put it all together for a race was still an unknown.  The morning of the race was less than ideal for me - 50 degrees, 89% humidity and pouring rain.  Add to that another factor - my sister was also running the race.  We have not raced together since the Philadelphia Marathon in 2011 and I was very wishy washy about whether I even wanted to run with her; she is much faster than me and I'm a bit of a head case on race days, so I didn't know if running with her would be good or disastrous.  As it turned out, we did not run together - although we ran near each other the entire time.  At times, we were side by side; other times, she was as far at 25 yards ahead of me or I was ahead of her and she almost lost me.  By mile 11, however, we settled into a nice rhythm and ran side by the side for the remainder of the race.  Despite the conditions - or perhaps because of them - it ended up being almost a perfect race for me.  I beat my prior best time by just short of five minutes, running a 1:50:31.  I placed 1,155 out of 5,912 half marathoners (top 20%); 381 out of 3,487 females (top 10%); and 61 out of 527 in my age group (top 11%).  I didn't have a single mile split above 8:30; mile 2 was actually at a sub-8 mile pace; and the majority of the splits were between 8:10 and 8:20.  I am immensely grateful to my sister who ran the entire race with me, without pressuring me to run faster - she sacrificed her own race (although still finished 12th in her age group!) to make sure that I did my best.  While a 1:50:31 is a great day for me, it's almost 15 minutes slower than her best half marathon - and something for me to shoot for as I head into my 40's, which are supposedly the fastest years for women.

DOT signs, the week leading up to the race. 

In the car, wearing garbage bags of course, before the race.  It was pouring and just barely light, although this was taken close to 7:30 a.m. 

I think that this is just after mile 9. 

Optical illusion - I'm in front of Kathleen, but she crossed the starting line before more so actually placed ahead of me.  But we ran the exact same time.

Post race selfie - also in the car, as it was still pouring. 

Hartford makes a great finishers medal. 

Kathleen on her way to Boston to see our niece Meghan swim, me on the way to a Halloween party with Elizabeth.  We clean up well.

September Odds and Ends

Here are some photos that didn't make our September posts:

Baxter watched some of Emily's tournament games.  He loved being out and about so much that he snapped his harness ten minutes after he arrived. Always an adventure!

The most fashionable soccer player around.

Making s'mores. 

Heading out for an night out without the girls - a rare thing indeed!

A family of four eyes.... 

Elizabeth's teacher made her this certificate for reading 58 books this summer.  There was no school-wide summer reading award, so we felt it necessary to tell Elizabeth that her award was only for 5th grade, as Emily read 63 books this summer (and who knows if there were others that read more!).

Halloween Party

One of Elizabeth's friends from school had a Halloween Party over the weekend and the kids had a blast.  Elizabeth decided to be Artemis this year - the goddess of the hunt.  There was a lot of handwringing over finding the perfect "look" but I think that we were able to pull it off.

5th graders 

6th graders 

The candy room.

Junior Robotics

JPII started a Junior Robotics program this year, and Elizabeth dove in, head first.  She loves Legos, so we were not that surprised that she would be interested in robotics, but to be honest, we were a bit surprised with her level of enthusiasm.  The Junior Robotics program meets twice a week for two hours, which is a huge time commitment for a 10 year old that is already bursting at the seams with extra-curricular activities, but she can't get enough.  For example, when I got home on Monday night, I asked her "how was robotics today?"  She replied, "Good.  Great.  Awesome, actually."  It makes me a bit giddy to see how much she is caught up in this. After all, nerds rule the world.

This morning, the school's Facebook page featured a photo spread by the talented Cathy Avalone, photojournalist for the New Haven Register, and the following description of the program:

Focused on building an interest in science and engineering in children, JPII FIRST® LEGO® League Robotics Program is a hands-on program designed to capture young children's curiosity and direct it toward discovering how science and technology impact the world around them.
This program features a real-world challenge, to be explored through research, critical thinking and imagination. Guided by adult coaches, team members work with LEGO elements and motorized parts to build ideas and concepts and present them for review.

She's in this photo, just behind the boy with the remote. I just wish I could see her face.

September Soccer

Emily is having a terrific soccer season so far.  She is playing really well, getting better and better with each game.  She also started practicing with Elizabeth's team one night a week, which is making her faster and more aggressive. Elizabeth's coach and teammates nicknamed her "Little Diablo"and she enjoys living up to the name!  It's been really great watching the changes in her ability and her confidence.  She is fun to watch and becoming a perfectionist.

Elizabeth did not see a lot of playing time in September - the one game that she did play a lot, it was pouring and I didn't have my camera.  And unfortunately, our schedules are such that I haven't been able to make any of her lacrosse workouts.  She's already seen some action in October, so I will have some shots of her next month for sure.