When the shit hits the floor

First off, sorry for swearing - I meant "s-word."  OK, not really.  Shit is more fitting. 

As we transition from winter to spring with wonky SF weather, and the boys transition from toothless to toothed it seems like the boys are leaking everywhere (allergies, drool from teething, you name it).  That coupled with rolling everywhere = a big mess in the house.  This morning when I was changing Cole, Wilson was basking in his nakedness in the sun on the floor.  All of the sudden, Wilson got super quiet.  I thought he had found his binkie to entertain himself for a minute ... nope!  He pooped and proceeded to roll around in it in the corner. 

Oofa.

Towards the end of the day I got a call from daycare that Wilson's eyes were swollen.  I ran from the financial district to North Beach (literally - mommy on the run in full affect - I think had this been a race I would've gotten a new PR) and when I arrived at daycare Wilson's eyes were both leeky and swollen.  Pink eye! 

Ugh.

I hope tomorrow is dryer to say the least.

Boston Marathon! Race report

What an amazing weekend! This weekend I had the amazing joy (and pain) of running the Boston Marathon and it truly was a once in a lifetime event.

Matt and I stayed with our friends Emily, Roy, and their baby boy Red in Boston and Matt's parents came up to SF to watch the boys (side note, this was the longest we've ever been away for the boys and I have to say that was tough).  Emily and Roy was our "Town and Country" friends - they're amazing.  They have a gorgeous home in the South End (not to be confused with Southy land), and Red is the nicest boy - all smiles.  The meals we enjoyed going out around South End and that Emily cooked almost rivaled the race ... almost.

Here's my race report - the abbreviated version...

Marathons are tough, I won't lie.  The night before the race I couldn't sleep for the life of me. I don't know if it's that I tried to go down in the middle of True Blood or the adrenaline rushing through me - I'm guessing the latter.  Finally, around 3am (midnight SF time) I fell asleep ... only to wake again at 6am (3am SF time). The day started at the bus shuttle - the shuttle was around a mile from Emily's house and we walked there only to wait in line for an hour.  I got on the 7:30am shuttle and hugged Matty goodbye (it was a funny hug - filled with adrenaline, fear, and "I can't wait to be done and get this hug again) angst).  The line to the shuttle itself was funny - it was amazing already being surrounded by so many phenomenal runners. Next the the line, though, was an old Boston cemetary ... spooky.

After the 1-hour shuttle, I walked around athletes village half getting in the zone, half trying to convince myself I did not need to pee again (pre-race jitters always make me run to the loo about 15-times). Again it was great seeing all the athletes getting ready - I felt so lucky to be with them.

Finally, at 10:15, I made my way to the starting line (they started "wave 1 at 10am and wave 2 at 10:15).  It was PACKED. There were spectators and more runners than I've ever seen at a race before. Then there was the countdown ... 3 ... 2... 1... poof (and honestly, it was more like a poof - a weak starting gun).

The entire race was lined with spectators.  There were the families with kids in the small towns we ran through (I gave about 100 high fives to the kids on the road - that was one of my favorite parts), college kids partying in the streets, and more.  Some of the standouts were the Welsley girls who were giving kisses to men and women (I opted out) and the Boston College gang who were BBQing in the front lawns of houses.

The first 10-miles I felt great - the miles flew by.  At mile 14 I hit my first mental wall.  It was just over a half marathon (my favorite distance) and I was thinking "if it were half, I'd be done." Bad mindset, so I pushed on thinking "if I can do a 30k trail race, I can do this." That was a good mental reminder, until I hit the 30k point.  Mile 19 I slowed down a bit again only to hit a mega wall at mile 20 - and, mile 20 is right where heart break hill rises.  Ugh.  It was about mile 20 I started the mantra "I won't do a marathon again, I won't do a marathon again" (1-day later, I don't think this is the case - I'd like to do Chicago, NYC, and Great Wall of China).  Then I really had to remind myself "the mind tires before the body," and my mantra switched to this.  Around mile 21 I saw 3 twin strollers in a half mile stretch - this helped me keep going. Oddly, being reminded of how much I missed my baby boys made me go faster, as if that'd get me home for baby hugs faster.

Miles 21-24 were OK - painful, but OK.  At mile 25 I realized I was close to qualifying again. Feeling like I never wanted to run a marathon again, I had a mental battle (just like at the SD Rock 'n Roll marathon) where I didn't know if I should slow, or push to qualify. Then I had a mental battle of "people know I'm doing this race - I better get a decent time" so I picked up the pace as best I could with my 300lb legs (at least they felt like 300lb).

I finished with a new marathon PR - 3:35:55. I am shocked at this number. Honestly, sometimes I feel like I don't deserve to call myself a runner and when I get kudos from my family and friends on race times it feels like it's not me getting those times.  Weird. I still have a ways to go, but I'm happy happy happy with my Boston Marathon race.

Post marathon I just vegged.  We played with Red, ate, drank, and were lazily merry all night - it was a perfect end of race, and end of a day I'll never forget.

Holy cow - I ran the Boston Marathon!  Woot!

Here are all the results:

Some highlights from the Boston Marathon Association:
There were 26,776 entrants, 23,071 starters and 22,588 finishers in the 114th race.

http://www.bostonmarathon.org/2010/cf/Public/TrackingIndividual.cfm?mode=multipleBegin

16561	Taylor, Amber	30	F	San Francisco	CA	USA
Checkpoints 5k 10k 15k 20k Half 25k 30k 35k 40k 0:23:40 0:46:20 1:09:14 1:33:18 1:38:34 1:58:26 2:24:57 2:53:22 3:22:56 Finish Start Time Offset Pace Projected Time Official Time Overall Gender Division 00:02:01 0:08:14 3:35:55 8798 2023 1508

Back home with the boys, life couldn't be better.  Lucky me.

In the park

One of the many things I love about living in the city is the parks and people watching. After work when we pick the boys up from daycare, we often go to Washington Square for belly time (well, belly time for the boys, chill time for Matt and I). this week’s part outings have been hilarious.

Wednesday the boys worked on … sharing … more like stealing. Wilson and Cole were enjoying their binks (pacifiers) when Wilson decided Cole’s looked better so he reached out and grabbed it. Cole didn’t seem to mind, though.

Friday while I waited for Matt and his parents to get in from the airport, I hung with the boys in the square. A man walked up and asked “are those twins,” (a question I get often – really, though, do you think if I had kids back to back they’d look just the same in size and ability? Um…)

Me: Yes

Man: They’re cute! (proceeds to sit down – bummer, I don’t like small talk)

Man: Both boys?

Me: Yes

Man: Different personalities, though

Me: Yes (notice the trend of 1-word answers – a hint to please go away)

Man: So how old were you when you had them? 42? 38?

Me: 30

Man: Oh, you look old. I guess they took a lot out of you.

Me: Guess to

Man: That one (points to Cole) keeps looking at me – he likes me

Me: Oh?

Man: That one (points to Wilson) is active, the other one (Cole) is intellectual

Me: Yes

Man: Since that one is looking at me, I know he’s going to be straight. The other one is going to be gay.

Me: Um?...
Man: Are you Italian? You’re in North Beach.
Me: No
Man: What then?
Me: Irish plus a few other things
Man: Oh. Are you catholic?
Me: No

Man: I was raised (blah blah blah – to be honest, I zoned out – I sawa Matt’s parents in the distance coming and was SO happy to almost be out of the conversation)

When Matt’s parents came up I decided we needed “sun” time and we had to move. I think the man got the hint – he moved on to go talk to a nearby sign. Later, when Matt was there, we saw the man walking around the park muttering “maybe it’s time for me to have a baby. I think I need to find a woman to have my baby.”

Ah fun in the SF parks.

Fitness after twins - an interview with yours truly

One of my favorite readers writes for examiner.com.  Last week she posted an interview with yours truly (if you've been reading this blog it's just a recap of what you've read - namely, getting "sexy back" after twins ... not that I ever had "sexy" but I needed something catchy - so Justin T's words are chipping in).

Luna Chix hits the headlines

The awesome Summit last week with Luna Chix has hit the (online) papers at examiner.com - check it out here!

The San Francisco crew of the Bay Area team are starting up runs on Wednesday May 5th at Fleet Feet at 5:30pm - if you're a local runner, or just in town for kicks, come on by!

What a week!

Well, last week definitely put the juggling act to the test. We had our company meetup for which I was at the office 8am to 8pm every day, a customer conference that I coordinated, and over the weekend the meetup and the Luna Chix Summit overlapped.  I had been dreading this week for months - I knew I would get few to no workouts in, I wasn't sure how I'd manage Luna + work + the conference, and worst of all, I knew I'd miss the boys with all my heart.  Turns out, I'm married to some kind of rock star - Matt was the daddy extraordinaire doing dinner/bed/story time duty every day.

Here are the highlights...

The meetup was awesome!  It was fun seeing all of our out of towners in town.  Being in the parent camp, now, I enjoyed talking mommy hood with the other company parents (most of whom are daddies, but friggin amazing daddies who love their kids).

The customer event went off without a hitch (which is a first).  We dodged union issues by having the meetup at a place called Spear Tower in San Francisco (you could see the entire city from the windows circling the room). Reviews were very positive and we actually made money on the event!

The Luna Chix Summit was AMAZING!!!  The Summit opened with staying at the Larkspur Hotel in Mill Valley - it felt like a slumber party with 100+ amazing women athletes.  On Saturday we rose early for a quick run, then a track workout, then stretching, and finally a talk on how to coach and motivate women.  During the track workout I was honored to run next to a phenomenal Kenyan woman (who just ran a 2:40 marathon - her first marathon!!!)  We were doing a 6min fast run (to see what our V02 range was - mine is 90sec) and I was trying SO hard to keep up with her.  On lap 3 when she said "don't worry - I wait for you" I nearly started laughing ... only I could barely breathe.  She was just relaxing and running while throwing her hand out for a low five.

Saturday afternoon I went back to work for an Amazing Race corporate training/bonding event.  I partnered up with engineers from around the globe to run through the city following clues to get points.  Highlights included doing the cancan with our VP of engineering, making a pyramid with 3 developers and myself, and dancing with street performers in the middle of Union Square.  My team won which was a nice bonus!

Sunday it was back to Luna Chix where I led a run - it was supposed to be long, hard and hilly, but the dumping rain turned that into 3-mile hilly and then circuit training.  Thoroughly exhausted after the training, I made my way back to the city for back-to-back meetings, and then a Sunday evening company dinner wrapping up the week.

Exhausted!

I did manage to get home every day for at least one meal, cuddles, laundry and dishes.  Had that not happened, I think I would have lost it.  Turns out running is a stress relief, but the boys are even more so.  Lucky!

Baby presses

Sometimes when I don't have time to get to the gym, the boys help me workout.  This morning, I did 3 sets of 15 Cole tosses for the lats and shoulders, 3 sets of twists for the obliques and triceps, and 3 sets of lunches for the bootay and abs.  The roars of laughter and heartwarming smile make "working out" so much fun.

And then there were teeth

He's playing shy, but Wilson is really pretty darn proud of his teeth.  Every time a cute girl walks by he flashes his pearlys ... then milk pukes a little.

Off to the zoo for the Taylors two (well, 4 if you count the rents)

Today was bbbuuuussssyyyy (notice the emphasis on busy - does repeating letters drive home that we did a ton?)  This morning we rose, fed the boys, coffee'd up, and then took off to explore Bernal Heights and Mission District (our desire to buy a home is coming back full force).

When the boys woke from their morning nap, we were off to the zoo!  This was the first time at the zoo with the boys and it was a ton of fun for two reasons:

1. The boys were in awe of the animals - occasionally just looking confused, and sometimes snubbing their noses at the monkey smell (now they know how we feel)
2. The zoo was packed with strollers!  A rarity in San Francisco.  The cafe had tons of high chairs (vs. the 1-2 we usually see in restaurants) and the bathrooms all had changing tables (no need to run to the car to change the boys in the semi-clean trunk)

After the zoo we made our way to Berma Superstar (hands down, best food in the city) for lunch, and then went to a friend from SF Parents of Muletiples' house to stock up on hand-me-downs. A quick stop at home to change and grab more bottles and we were off again - this time to Chrissy Field.

This afternoon Matt went climbing at the rock climbing gym, and I brought the boys to the beach - another first, sitting in sand.  They loved staring at the water, but then Wilson decided to snack ... on sand.  No bueno.

Another quick stop by home, a fresh change for the boys (no time for Matt and I) and we were off to meet some other friends from POM for an early dinner with the twins (theirs and ours) in North Beach.

Home again home again and we're all worked.  The boys are sleeping and we're taking in Sherlock Holmes.

Tomorrow is Easter and we're hoping to have a mellow day.  I was joking with Matt that after forcing the boys on Santa's lap at Christmas, I should try to get pics with a Priest ... but don't worry, I'm not that coocoo.

 p.s. check out Wilson's cool doo from bath time - we don't cut/comb his hair, this is from him getting his head in the tub and us pulling him out.  Radness.