This year was a very German Halloween. We borrowed dirndls from a friend so that Madeline and I could dress up as German girls and we put something together for Mike to coordinate with us. Madeline looked like the cutest little German girl ever. I had to really suck it in to fit into my dirndl but once it was on it all came together. Abby was Max from Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas movie. Emma wasn't able to join us this year as she was out on a date. Such is life when you are 17 years old. We took our photos at our traditional section behind our house. Then we came home and grabbed a quick dinner before heading out to go trick or treating with Easton and his family. Madeline and Easton loved being together and we made it to most of the houses in our neighborhood. It was cold like every year, but we managed to stay warm. The kids wanted to go to the house down the street to do the haunted house but once we got there Madeline got really scared and started to cry. That was our cue to head home and call it a night. After Easton finished with the haunted house he came out and gave Madeline the biggest hug. It was so sweet. Madeline was so excited for her school Halloween party. I dropped in for a little bit to watch them play games and do fun activities. The class moms for her class are amazing and always put on great holiday parties. Madeline looked so cute in her little German dirndl. I was able to snap a quick photo with her teacher and also a group photo of the entire class with their costumes on.
This month started out with some last preparatory runs before R2R2R followed by a taper week, our big adventure in the Grand Canyon (see post HERE), and finally some recovery time. One of our last big runs was running some downhill trail miles on Rampart Range Road. Dionne and I had her brother drive us 6 miles up so we could run down to simulate the first part of R2R2R. I was also able to do some hill repeats with the Striders at Red Rocks. By the time I hit my taper week I was so relieved! After we got back from the Grand Canyon we took some time off and then got back out there slowly by riding bikes with Madeline. We took her to ride both on the Santa Fe gravel trail and the paved section up by Costco. She had more fun on the paved section and enjoyed playing at the park at MVP. After 10 days of resting and riding bikes or the peloton, I decided to jump back into the Striders run. I did some intervals at the CC track and felt surprisingly good.
I made sure to volunteer for Madeline's field trip to the pumpkin patch because it is such a fun place to play. This was the third time both Madeline and I have been to this particular pumpkin patch. I was in a group with 4 little girls plus another mom. We basically had free play for a few hours and jumped from one activity to the next. We let each of the girls get to choose which activity they wanted to do next. The favorite of the group was definitely the roller slides. Madeline would have stayed there all day if it had been up to her. Madeline also loved feeding the animals, jumping on the big bounce pillows, riding the cow train, and running through the hay maze. At the end of the field trip each of the kids got to pick out a pumpkin to take home. Madeline choose a tiny white pumpkin that fit in the palm of her hand. It was the cutest thing ever!
With Madeline showing a lot of promise as a runner last cross-country season, we contemplated about whether we wanted to start running with the Kokopelli kids. After some serious thought we decided to wait one more year and do Landsharks again. Although I appreciated the simplicity of her season, I didn't love how disorganized Landsharks was this year. Since Madeline is now in second grade she has the opportunity to move up to the one-mile race. She was nervous but excited to try out a new distance. At the very first meet, her coaches didn't communicate well with some of the kids, and she mistakenly entered the 1/2-mile race with the younger kids. She ran slower for that one lap thinking that she had to save energy for 2 laps. Poor thing. For the second and third meet she entered the one-mile race (2 laps) and did a great job running against 2nd-5th graders. During the second meet I noticed halfway through the first lap that she was chilling with friends and having fun talking until I told her to stop socializing and start running! She made a great improvement on the second lap. For the final meet she finally understood how to run the one-mile race and finished faster than the previous week. I think she enjoyed the season running with her friends from her school, but one thing is for sure, she is ready for a better organized and tiny bit more serious run club. Way to go on another great season little one! Meet #1 - Air force academy (falcon stadium) |
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