Running this May

So I have two 5Ks coming up in May. The first is The Race for Hope, which I have been doing for the last 4 years, this will be my 5th.  I've had the joy of running with my husband and two of my besties. Last year I ran with PC(in utero) and this year, I will run with PC in stroller! I run in memory of my dad who passed away in 1997 from a brain tumor.  I wish PC would be able to know her grandfather, but hopefully she'll see some of him in me!

3 years ago 2012 with my girls and my hubs

Race for hope 2013- baby in utero 4 months 

I hope the third bestie will come back and run it again with us next year and with her newest edition too!

So, this weekend was perfect running weather.  I took Pepe out on Saturday for a 3 mile run and had to drag the pup along at several points.  Apparently I'm more in shape than he is. HA!

Then on Sunday, the hubs, PC and I went for a run.  Clear skies! Slight breeze.....Purrrrfection! We also christened her jogging stroller that PC's grandparents bought for her.  It rides soo smooth.

We love the trail that is right by our house....a fun discovery when we moved!
It does start off a little bumpy though ---------> Yay for the shocks on the BOB!

The trail runs along the Anacostia river.....not the cleanest river, but at least it is scenic and there isn't the hustle and bustle of the city.

I have to say that I was way proud of myself because I was able to keep up with the hubs! Maybe it's because he was just getting used to running with the stroller, or that he was being nice, but I like to think I've gotten better.

The only problem is, she's such a petite little thing that when she fell asleep her little head just lolled off to the side, soooo we need to remedy that. Guess it looks like I'm going to have to roll blankets and put them on either side of her head.
<------ She woke up, somehow she knows when we get home. She always wakes up when we get home in the car or in the stroller. It's like her 6th sense!
 Does anyone else have that problem?If so, what do you do?

The second 5K that I am running is the Girls on the Run 5K. I am running with our girls running club, Sole Sisters. Unfortunately GOTR was not part of the spring season in our county, but I hope that it will return....if not, we will continue with our Sole Sister running club.  I will be running with 20 wonderful young girls. We have some wonderful runners, some better than me! Ha, that doesn't say much does it? We are really trying to work on pacing with the girls because they do really well sprinting off in the beginning, but then end up walking, then sprinting off again.

If anyone has some good tips for teaching young girls how to pace, I'm all ears!!

Will post later about how we all did! 

Did y'all run this weekend? How far did you go?

Spring means flowers!

Spring is definitely in full bloom here in DC.  

We spent the day cleaning out our garden of dead plants and weeds.  We had a couple of plants that just couldn't handle the polar vortex this winter so those bad boys had to come out. It's ok, I didn't really like any of them anyway, but felt bad getting rid of perfectly healthy plants.  It's like the winter knew!

We walked over to the outdoor market that's a block away in the parking lot of RFK.  We bought a bunch of plants there last year and they did pretty well.  We decided that vine dwelling veggies were not such a great idea so we purchased, tomatoes, red peppers and banana peppers.  We also purchased some herbs, basil, peppermint, rosemary and cilantro. I never really used to be a huge fan of cilantro, but I think that it's grown on me, much like asparagus and brussel sprouts.

Flower wise for the front garden we bought gerbera daisies, zinnias, salvia portulaca and a knockout rosebush.  The knockouts are apparently very hardy and disease resistant.  The front garden gets a lot of sun and so we needed plants that didn't mind heat or lack of water. I decided the the front garden this year would be mainly yellows and reds/oranges.

I also bought marigolds for the front porch, as well as the herbs. I am also hoping to buy a citronella plant and catnip.  I hear that all three of those plants are natural mosquito deterrents. Mosquitos tend to be awful here, but there are also just "pocket" areas. I'm really hoping because of our crazy winter that there are sooo many less. We love being outback or on our porch, but not with the skeets!

For the back garden we purchased more marigolds and erysimum(those are the tall yellow plants) . If marigolds work my gardens will be full of them. Even though they aren't my favorite I dislike mosquitos even more! The back gardens already have some flowering bushes, knockout roses, the daisies are growing back, as is the hydrangea I like perennials.

We also got another stepping stone.  I know, one! But last year we purchased 4 and I thought we needed one more so that I didn't have to "leap" from one to the next (call me crazy).  I mean they aren't that close together....5 is perf!

We also bought some extensions for our drain so it didn't wash out and flood the one garden and we bought some garden edger.  The mulch will wait until the next trip! Our goal was to spend no more than 100 and we came in at $99.45! Pretty proud of us! Can't wait to drink some mojitos and moscato on the front porch! 

PC didn't help much, just sat on the front porch and looked cute while I blogged, she mostly napped during our working outside times.