Post Race Craving

Maybe we're still working on our post 1/2 marathon high, but Mara and I are officially signed up for the PF Chang's full marathon January 16th, 2011! Since the half marathon last weekend we've been keeping up with training (not wanting to fall back into a vicious cycle of inactivity). We've incorporated some weightlifting and as always, rock climbing, as ways to cross train. The couple of runs we've done since the 1/2 marathon have felt great, and we even ran in the rain! It wasn't a sprinkle either! We had 20-30 MPH winds and a pretty driving rain. The valley got over 4" in 3 days. Rohan was nice and comfy in his jogging stroller and rain flap, which doubles as a tool for resistance training (i.e. acts like a parachute!). We've been using the rain fly when it's chilly at night so the breeze stays off his face, but it worked awesome in the hard rain as well. We got some good looks from people who thought we were crazy, but I think we showed ourselves that we're pretty dedicated to this running thing. It's probably the same feeling our family gets when they run in the snow...:)
Other than that, this last week was pretty uneventful.  We took the opportunity to get back into a training schedule.  Right now we are training for a fictional 1/2 marathon on April 18th so we can keep a program going in Nike+.  Anyone who is using Nike+ should consider starting ANY sort of training program (even a 5-10K), just so we don't fall out of a running schedule.  Just make one up.  If you want, you can join our training for a 1/2 in April.  We could even start a group on Nike+ for it.
Rohan's been running all over the place, so it's getting more and more fun to watch him "sprint" to things he sees across the room.  Rohan & Schroeder have been playing with a blue plastic bone Holly gave Schroeder.  It's great to see them interact that way, especially since that's why we got Schroeder!
Hope everyone is able to get out and be active, especially with the storms that rolled across the US!


Rohan Plays Fetch With Schroeder:

Pretty awesome video that attempts to give some perspective of our place in this universe.    If you think it's a long ways to the top of the Himalayan Mountains, wait until you see how far our first radio signals have traveled....

PF Chang's Half Marathon & Rohan's 3rd 1st Birthday Party!

I really think we look forward to slowing down when the work week hits!  This last week was crazy busy, but as usual, really fun.  Thursday, Heather & John took Rohan for the night and we met up with Sasha for a nice Indian meal at Delhi Palace.  We were boring as usual and headed back to home and relaxed without Rohan.  It's always weird to try and find our pre-Rohan groove.  Friday we met up with family at the PF Chang's Marathon Expo.  Mara's Mother, Holly, and Cousins, Cari & Krista flew in to run with us.  The expo was fun, and had a lot of good freebies so we loaded up on Gu, Clif Bars, and misc. other expo shwag.  Mara and I found an amazing deal and got $300 worth of running shoes for $100 at the RoadRunner booth ($130 & $170 Retail prices).  They had a "Worn Once" sale and we had been drooling over 2 pairs of expensive Saucony shoes that were both for sale for $50 each.  We can't wait to start running in them and see how they compare to our $40 Sauconys (ever the experimentalists).  Friday we hung out with the family for a bit, then headed to the Caldwell's where our friend Kara was staying while she was in town for the race.  It was great to see her again and catch up, since the last time was our wedding!
Saturday was Rohan's birthday party at Heather & John's.  He was a perfect kid the whole time, and surely didn't disappoint with the cake eating.  The Justin.tv broadcast worked out really well for whomever was available to join in and feel a little closer to Rohan.  I heard even cousin Sam got to sing Happy Birthday to Rohan with everyone...:)  You can watch some of the broadcast archives at the Channel: http://www.justin.tv/s/li/I4yWkqo/syring.  Just use Rohan's middle name for a password.  It was a great way to relax a little before raceday, as well as carb-load on cake & pasta...:)
The day of the race we met up with the family. John & Mara's Uncle Ed shuttled everyone and did a My Two Dad's daycare for Rohan.  They also lept around the course and we got to see Rohan at miles 3 & 7 (just missed them at mile 12).  The race was cold to start, but gorgeous after the sun came through the clouds.  Everyone had a great race, and we all felt awesome the next day.  Mara and I felt so good that we are committing to doing the full marathon next year!  There are photos below and more to come (as we get family pics sent to us).  A cool feature is you can watch everyone cross the finish line which is pretty fun.  Everyone looked great as they crossed!  You can search a last name or bib number HERE.  Mara and I finished in 2:15, which we felt great about.  It's a personal record for us both (our last 1/2 marathon was 2:37).  We are looking forward to training for the Dallas TX 1/2 Marathon which we'll run, but not in TX.  Travel & registration gets expensive!  We'll do the 12 week program and have a good, relaxing run on race day without the expense.
Monday I picked up Mara's Mom from Heather's and we met up with Mara for lunch, and then met up with Sasha at AZR.  Holly was a natural rock climber!  She did 5 climbs, topping out on each of them, and even did a 5.6 route!  We were really glad she gave it a try, and maybe Dan can set up a climbing wall on the side of the calf barn or something for her...:P.
Hope everyone else had a great weekend!  We got to slow down a tad once we started back at work & the hospital.  Maybe we'll find some time to get up to Flagstaff, AZ and catch some skiing or sledding sometime before all the snow is gone.


Fun With Balloon Static:

Rohan's Birthday Webcast!

Here is the streaming video of Rohan's birthday party. The password is Rohan's middle name (look on the left side of the blog).  Text either Mara or I if you need help with it, but it should be pretty easy, just hit play and it will ask you for the password.
Rohan will probably be eating his cake around 5pm or 5:30 (MST) so be sure to catch that.  We'll have a piñata and other activities as well.  Hope this works and hope you enjoy the show!  I'll try and update our times if they change much on Facebook
If the embedded video is misbehaving you can go directly to http://www.justin.tv/s/li/I4yWkqo/syring to check it out.

Not Much New

NOthing has really happened this week, so not much to report. We got a bookcase for Rohan (from G&G Bacon) and also picked up a little tent for him. He LOVES them both as you can see in the pictures & videos.
Looking forward to the PF Chang's half marathon next weekend! Rohan will get to see some family and Heather is throwing a birthday party for him on Saturday. We are going to be posting a live video feed on here so be sure to check back after 3pm next Saturday (the 16th Michelle & Jen). I'll try and get rough times for activities like cake eating and the piñata posted as soon as we figure it out.


Rohan & His New Tent!:


Mara Plays "I'm Gonna Get You":

One Year Stats!

Rohan is HUGE!

Weight: 21lbs (10-25%)

Height: 30.25in (50%)

Head: 18.25in (50%)

Compared to Smallest:
Weight: 5lbs5oz (<5%)
Height: 17.75in (<5%)

What a difference a year makes!

Rohan Enjoyed His Birthday Cake!!!

Mara and I baked a cake and decorated it for Rohan's 1st birthday.  The cake and frosting was all 1/2 sugar so he didn't get a super buzz from it.  We (being the sporty/sciency nerds we are) decorated it with an outline of a periodic table (seperated by inert/noble gases, rare earth/transition metals, halogens, etc) and baseball gloves/ball.  I don't pretend to be an artist.  Never have been, never will be.  Stick figures are crooked when I draw them...:)  Nevertheless, Rohan got a crooked, freehand periodic table on his cake.
Rohan was (as before) absolutley geeked up about the notion of getting cake.  He was freaking out when we put him in his chair and showed him the cake.  The rest you can see in the pictures & videos.
The rest of the cake wasn't going to be eaten by Mara and I, so we headed out to AZR to climb and brought them some cake as well.  They've been watching Rohan grow for the last 6 months, and were glad to share in the day.
Rohan has enjoyed all the cards and borthday wishes.  We've been sure to hug him extra for everyone who couldn't be here!  Hope you enjoy the pictures & videos.  We have much more, but these are the highlights:


Blowing Out The Candle:


The First Piece:


Sharing Cake With Mom:


Show 'Em How A Piggie Eats:

Happy Birthday Rohan!!!

Today our little man turns one years old!  It's amazing how much he has learned on just one year!  He's getting a very unique persona all his own.
We've tried over the last year to expose him to as much as we can, and we hope to continue to do that.  He's been camping, backpacking, mountain climbing, has his own rock wall, and now is waking and jabbering all the time.  We can't wait for what the next year brings!
Just in time for his one year birthday, we got him into a climbing harness and up the wall.  We forgot the camera, so we just have one pic from our phone.  I'm sure there will be more pics to follow...:)

Here is a little timeline snapshot of Rohan through the last year:

Finishing Out Mara's Break With A Flurry Of Activity

We hope everyone had a great New Year! We finished 2009 by going for a 6mi run, that turned into a 10mi run. We were rewarded with a gorgeous sunset from the base of McDowell Mountain. We also got to see a Javelina (AKA Peccary) on our way back. We tried to get a picture of it in a culvert, but all you can see were it's eyes. Probably a good think we couldn't see more of it up close...
Friday we went on a nice 4.5mi hike from the Gateway Trailhead we run by. We felt bad that we hadn't explored the trails that are right by our house, but we found some great ones to try now.
Saturday was by far our busiest. We had a 12mi run planned for our training, but it felt so good, we ended up running 13.5! It's the farthest we've ever run, and it felt awesome (even the next day!). We were really happy to run that far, have it feel that good, and ran the half marathon (13.1mi) in under 2hrs! We were pretty geeked up about that...:)

We grabbed a quick snack and headed to John & Heather's for their Packers/Cardinals Pre-Tailgate. They (and lot of friends & family) are going to the game tomorrow. After last night, I can only imagine how much fun they are going to have.
Today we are going to go rock climbing and have a more subdued day after our long few weeks. Mara starts Anesthesiology tomorrow, do she'll be back in the swing of things (not that she didn't study all break). Hope everyone had a safe New Years!


A Snort For Aunt Shell:


Rohan Playing With His Puppies:


Rohan Belly Flops Onto Linus: