Max started swimming for the Washington Township Sharks this fall. He made the move from Coffman because he wanted to follow a couple coaches to the Sharks team. It's been a great move! He really enjoys it, had made so many new friends and just excels at what he does. No updates or pictures on that for now, just wanted to get in that short blurb because that's where we spent most of September...
What I really want to document is our weekend trip to Columbus... with LOTS of pictures.
Last weekend we set out on a mini-vacation (I love to take them!) to Columbus. Max literally jumped off the bus and into our car on Friday as we set out on our way. The weekend had been on our calendar for a couple months with two big ideas: Max's first OSU Buckeyes game and the Columbus Half Marathon.Saturday morning we woke up early, got showered, and found a cab to take us to campus. Max's first OSU experience. He took note that it was "urban" as opposed to Miami's "rural" campus from a few weeks earlier. (yes, they are learning about that stuff in social studies). He decided right away he liked Miami better but was excited to see what he could see at OSU. We spent all morning in the rain walking around campus. We had breakfast, visited the Ohio Union (did anyone see the video of the flash mob from OSU about a year ago? It was filmed there), walked up to High and Lane and then headed down Lane to pass all the crazy tailgaters already prepping for the game. We got to our seats about an hour before kick off which gave us plenty of time for snacks and drinks and bleacher butt.
The game was pretty boring, I won't lie. Of course we left at the beginning of the 4th quarter so we could beat the crowd to the cabs and that's when we missed all the good stuff. Luckily we were back at our hotel in time to see the ending! I think the highlight of the day for Max was all the compliments he got on his new hat! He was pretty popular in that thing.
The next morning we were up well before the sun for the marathon. I still have my side ailment that is a mystery so like Chicago, I wasn't sure how this race would go. It was FREEZING outside (almost literally) but that is my favorite kind of running weather. I am proud to say I ran a personal best of 1:39!!! Man when I was making my way to the finish line and saw that time I started sprinting! My last PR was 1:41 and when I saw that "3" in 39 I wanted to make it! Chris laughs because he wondered why I didn't run faster to the finish. Seriously? I was flat out giving it my all. HAHA! I felt like I was in the Olympics at that point. Anyway, it was a good race. A few hills (but I'm ok with that) and beautiful scenery. I'll do that one again next year for sure! And my side pain didn't stop me like it had in Chicago so that was one extra bonus (thank you for the prayers... you know who you are!). It was also fun because this was the first race I've done where my name was printed on my bib. So total strangers cheered for me on the route. I felt like a celebrity... kind of. I do wonder if I really trained for a half and then pushed myself to my limit how fast I could go? I don't know if I'll ever do that because I'm crazy enough about running as it is and that would add more crazy to the mix, certainly. I'll take my 1:39 and smile! :)
We didn't leave Columbus without a few trips to Easton either. Max desperately wanted to do Build A Bear. I was kinda surprised. I mean he will be 8 next month! I said no the first 234234 times but then on Sunday before we packed up I thought to myself "why wouldn't I let him do it? there will be a day when he won't want to, when he IS too big for it. I should let him do it now!". So I did. He picked out a little dog and named him Buckeye, even bought an OSU football uni for him to wear. Pretty sure that made Max's weekend.
Now it's just work, work, work until our next "thing"... which I guess will be Halloween... then a swim meet... then planning a birthday party!!!! Until then...
