Blanchards in 2015: A Year of Our Lives in as Few Words as Possible

Welcome to the synopsis of the Blanchards in 2015! January 2015: Taylor got a new car and headed back for her 5th semester at LSU! Todd, Lauryn, Camryn, Patty, Autumn.. all back to work and school as usual. **Note: I am going back to my timeline on Facebook to get some ideas of what to write here, and honestly, January has a lot of "I wish it was summer or still Christmas vacation" posts or "Time to go run" posts, plus some pictures of normal daily events. A regular ol' month, really... Except for the Odell Beckham world record. :)

February 2015: MARDI GRAS SEASON! once again! This time with a freshman in the Fontainebleau's High School Band! Camryn played cymbals, and marched in 4 parades in Mandeville, New Orleans, and Metarie. This was our FIRST uptown parade, and boy was it fun! Looking forward to Krewe of Tucks next year!

March 2015:  A busy month!  Patty ran the Shamrockin' Run 8K in NOLA.  Taylor and Patty ran the Rock N Fly Half Marathon in Pensacola.  The whole family plus the Cadles and the Gillmans went to Austin for Katie and David's wedding at the end of the month.  OH and Patty turned the big 4-0!!!

April 2015:  Taylor and Patty ran the Crescent City Classic.  We had a peaceful, fun Easter here at home, with swimming on Spring Break.  Taylor was inducted into Psi Chi, the Psychology honor society.  We bought a camper!  Ready for some outdoor fun in the Sun Lite!

May 2015:  Taylor and Patty ran the Huey P. Long Bridge Run.  The big girls went to a Paramore concert for Taylor's birthday.  Taylor and Autumn had their 20/5 birthday parties.  Autumn graduated from Pre-K and registered from Kindergarten.  The school year ended for all... AMEN! says all of the teachers! Let the summer BEGIN!!!!

June 2015:  We headed to the beach for an extended weekend of fun in the sun.  The Bodies moved to Mandeville at the beginning of the month.  The Blanchard daughters went to Florida for Girlapalooza, and the Blanchard Mr. and Mrs. and Guinny Boy headed to North Carolina with the camper for a week in the mountains.  (We hiked and hiked and hiked some more.)  Then we came back home for some relaxing pool time and summer goodness in Mandeville.

July 2015:  We enjoyed 4th of July fireworks near the house.  (The first time Autumn watched fireworks and actually enjoyed them.)  We visited in Houma for Paw Robbie's birthday.  Then the whole Blanchard clan headed out for a week+ of camping in Georgia and North Carolina.  We enjoyed some of our old NC stomping grounds.  We loved the majestic views, the cool rivers, and had a few encounters with snakes.. but no bears!

August 2015:  Ah, back to school.  Lauryn started junior high (7th grade), Camryn started 10th grade, and Taylor moved on to her Junior year at LSU.  Autumn started Kindergarten as well.  Camryn joined ROTC; she would soon be moving up in the ranks!

September 2015:  A very busy month getting adjusted to new routines, classrooms, work loads, etc.  Patty became a Girls on the Run coach at Lake Harbor.  Autie truly loves Kindergarten and her teacher.  Autumn was named the Kiwanis Club's Terrific Kid of her Class in September, and she started violin lessons at her school weekly. Patty ran the Saints Kickoff 5K in September.  (and after the season we have had, I may never run across the field again.. was I bad luck?)

October 2015:  Lauryn turned the big 1-3!  We watched the Saints and LSU games every week... ah, the trials and tribulations of being a Louisiana football fan!  We visited Bourg to celebrate Mrs. Bonnie's birthday.  Lauryn started weekly guitar lessons.  Dash and Euen Bodie were born on October 27th!  They stayed in the hospital for a little over a week.  Halloween was a super rainy one- we trick or treated the night before in a nearby neighborhood!  Camryn and Taylor went to Voodoo fest for the first time on Halloween.

November 2015:  LSU's hopes and football dreams took a downturn with the game vs. Alabama.  There was some time freed up on the weekends that was not spent watching football!  :)  Camryn turned 16 on Nov. 22.  We had a great Thanksgiving week off, and decorated for Chrismas in the days before and after Thanksgiving.

December 2015:  And so this brings us to December again.  Our trees are up (one small in the foyer, a bigger one in the living room), we have some lights outside, stockings are hung.  Autumn is anxiously awaiting what her elf, Lucia, will do next.  She wakes up at 5:30 almost every morning to see where Lucia has hidden or caused mischief the night before!  Autumn had her violin concert on Tuesday, and Lauryn had her Christmas concert at FJHS on Tuesday as well.  We are eagerly awaiting Christmas vacation from school!

We hope you have enjoyed this synopsis of our year.  We are never bored in this house, that is for sure!  We wish you all the best of luck and love in 2016!

Locomotive Half Marathon in Kennesaw 2-17-2013

 Me and Tay about to embark on our first half marathon together.

• 10 mile run the weekend  before- check.
• Carbed up all week on bagels and bread and pasta- check.
• Cold weather running gear purchased and accounted for-check.
• Numbers retrieved and free pasta buffet consumed- check.
• Went to bed early the night before- check.
• Woke up early to a breakfast of coffee, bagel (me), HN Cheerios (Tay)- check.

So off we go, and WOW! Was it cold!  22 degrees cold.  The dj dude at the race said it felt like 15 degrees.  The tips of our toes and the tips of our fingers were throbbing from the cold within a few minutes of getting out of the cold.  We walked briskly to warm up.  Then we had to pee one last time.. and all of the body heat accumulated in our layers escaped!

But no time to complain!  Head to the start, they say!  And we did, and within seconds of the gun starting the race, we were off for 13.1 miles around Kennesaw.

As promised, I began the race with this awesome selection:

I can say, now, that this song has never had any staying power on my playlists.  Sad, right?  (callie, I know you are shaking your head!  :)  BUT!  I will say I am converted.  I could actually HEAR the song I played at the start this time.. many other races I did had very loud DJs at the start, etc. and I could never hear that first song.  But timing was awesome... as I pressed play, Eye of the Tiger started, and the gun sounded the beginning of the race!  In fact, it was hilarious... the dude running a few yards in front of me was fist pumping like he was listening to the same song!

At mile 1, the mile markers were set up side by side.

Mile 1/Mile 11

I wondered if we could choose, like in Pedro, which one the "Ace" would be. :)

The streets were very quiet, no real interesting outfits or shirts or roadkill or things to report. :)

I did get to see the building for this place, which I did not know existed until Sunday:  Cryolife

And wow.. look at their locations.. Kennesaw and the United Kingdom.

The building is GINORMOUS.. and we passed it twice.. Todd said there are probably people cryogenically frozen in there, waiting to be awakened and cured...
The whole thought of what went on behind those huge glass walls kept my brain occupied for a few miles, at least.

Somewhere around mile 6 or 7, we headed down a road that led to the Vulcan facilities in K-Saw.  The huge massive amounts of rock kept my mind busy for awhile.  And THEN.. there was the chiropractor set up down this same dusty road in the middle of seemingly nowhere, with a table and all, with a sign that said 'Active Adjustment".. something like that.  I am thinking, "Who is going to stop?"  but then on our way back up the street (from the U turn a mile down) I realized that there was a porta potty set up nearby!  Anyone the stopped to use the bathroom might get an adjustment from this person!  HA!  If I would have stopped and laid on that table, I don't know if I would have gotten back up!  

And on we went...

Somewhere around mile 8, I think, this song played, and I realized how happy I was that I left it on my playlist.

As I looked over at my almost 18 year old running her first marathon, I couldn't have been happier all of the miles that we trekked in almost perfect cadence.  Our only words were me asking if she was good and her giving me the thumbs up... no talking necessary.. footfalls together were our only language.

(geez that's cheezy.. sorry.. true though!)

So we ran through the finish line and got our medals.. and wth.. all of the vendors were out of food!  I was looking forward to WHATEVER anyone had to offer.. this was my only gripe about the race.. there honestly was no one there with food.  Sweet Tomatoes had left some multigrain chips, which I ate two bags of.  Muscle Milk was there giving out samples.. (bleck.. too sweet.. give me some good ol 2% milk, please)... the best thing about there not being anyone else WAS Frannie's Gluten Free Muffins.  I swear I ate 2 packs back to back of these yummy delicacies!  Lemon Zest and Zucchini.... thank you, ladies, for an awesome post race meal AND for sticking it out till the end!

(My theory is that the 5Kers ate all of the food!)

Here we are at the finish!

Awesome experience all in all for our first half together!  Yes we rested and ate our butts off that day!  Yes we were very thankful for having the day off Monday!  and YES!  I am looking forward to our next!

My First 13.1

So somewhere around mile 8 today I started to think about what I was going to write in this blog post.  There were several different ideas I had...and I ended wanting to tell them all.  So I will try to keep this brief.

I. Scenery & Music
I stood at the starting line in my "corral" of 2:30 race pace people.  The lady next to me chit chatted with me about this being her 45th Half Marathon.. sheese... all in 8 years.  I really hoped to see her at the finish line... what awesome motivation.

As the starting gun went off and we slowly merged to the front, Pound the Alarm filled my ears... and it made me laugh as the song reminds me of one of my older students who is always trying to sneak on YouTube to listen to music, this being one of the songs I see on the video title.  (Another kid in this same class said "Mrs Blanchard, don't watch that video.. it's inappropriate." lol)

As I passed through the timer to start the race, I INSTANTLY teared up.... WOW!  I am here!  It has begun!  I am gonna do this!!!  I made myself focus... long road ahead.. cut out the drama, Patricia.
Apologies right now to the lady who's shoe I untied by stepping on her laces at some point in this first mile.  But, you know.. I learned in my first 5K that if I was going to be slower than others, to keep my body to the right to let people pass on the left.  The first 3 miles or so, people would just stop running right in front of me and start walking on the hills... all good, I understand but dang, talk about a road block.

(This brought back a story a friend of mine told me about her first half, which must have been this one based on the scenery, and how people did this to her and it drove her nuts.. that kept my brain occupied for a little while, trying to figure out the last time I saw her and how the birth of her baby went, etc.)

The course wound through neighborhoods near Oglethorpe University.  Beautiful homes in mildly hilly neighborhoods, with trees and lushness galore.  The sun rose while we were in this neighborhood, somewhere around mile 2.  Lights by Ellie Goulding queued into the playlist just as the sun came up.. it was perfect.

And then, somewhere in this 2nd mile, I realized.. I HAVE TO PEE!  lordy me... really?  There were water stations and port a lets every two miles, I believe, but damn, I didn't want to stop.  I decided that I would only stop if I was absolutely about to be in pain.

Somewhere around mile 4, I felt that small pang in my stomach telling me I was hungry.. dammit again.  I had 6 Sports Beans with me (ooo I found watermelon at Big Peach Running yesterday.. my new fave)... so I ate one and realized yea! A water station... didn't have to waste the water I was carrying.

Poster I saw around this time:
"If a half marathon were EASY it would be called YOUR MOTHER."
hee hee
another one was a group of teenagers with a sign that said "You are all CRAZY!"
love...

Miles 4, 5, 6 really were great.  I know at mile 4 I thought "two more like that plus 1 mile" but that didn't really help me any... just kept counting down the miles.  I timed my Sports Beans/water combos well so as not to get stomach aches but not get hungry either.  In fact, at around mile 6, I had this burst of energy that I felt AWESOME.

We had some boring highway miles.  The highlite of these miles was the Wesley Cook band that was set up on the side of the road, jamming out.  I was hoping to remember their name, and I passed them again at about mile 11 and then on the way home so yep... name transferred to memory.

I knew that the race was headed to a park, but didn't realize we would double back at the end of the race.  So on the left of us passed a dude running obviously in the front of the pack for the head of the race.  The next person I saw was a woman... most definitely was the winner in the female category.  Yea for her.. awesome chick.. however I will say this... she was tiny to begin with, and was obviously only muscle and bone. SOOOO skinny, but with muscle tone.. pretty scary, but then the next 20 or so people behind her looked pretty similar.  Maybe they all hang out together and don't realize they look kind of freakish.. in my opinion anyway.. mind of like the Desperate Housewives with all of their collagen and botox :)

At around mile 8 or so, while in that park... gotta look up the name... the water tables were run by a Troop of Boy Scouts.. who also had candy and oranges, and I almost took something but didn't want to chance a stomachache... I would be regretting not taking something at mile 11 when I was SOO hungry :)  They had speakers blaring One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful.  Which mixed well with the techno song on my headphones, and made me smile, thinking of my big 10 year old birthday girl at home (this being one of her fave songs).

Somewhere around this time I saw a woman in front of me with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale shirt on.. yes I was dreaming of the beer I would eventually drink and was pretending she was the beer.. she stopped and I kept going...

Mile 9 started us into the park, which was pretty and on a paved but wooded trail.  And then came mile 10..

Endomondo told me I was at mile 10, but of course I started a good bit back from the start line, so Endomondo was a bit ahead in marking the miles.  Well, the hills started, which I knew from looking at the altitude map when I signed up for the race.  I had no idea how many hills, how big, etc.  So hillward bound I went... each one I went down.. there was some flat land.. and then yet another hill on the other side.. finally I just hollered out "OMG these hills SUCK!"  yet there were still more, one decently big and similar to Cardiac Hill in the Peachtree Road Race.  Really??? at 10.5 miles... ugh...
My knees were starting to not be happy, my feet had been hurting for at least 2 miles, every now and then I realized I had to pee still...

I had no doubt I could push my butt to the finish line but dangit, I didn't want to be miserable.. it's too bad thoughts can't make the endorphins release for pain relief!  or can they...

Maybe I got wrapped up in one of my new favorite running songs, Criminal by Disturbed  (thank you, Tay, for having it on your play list.. and thank you, Brian, for the influence.)  I think right after that was Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace and then Bad Religion by Godsmack.

Mile 11.5-ish was Breakin Dishes by Rihanna thank you Andrea!  and my another new favorite song, Kyoto by Skrillex.

Mile 12- Lady was carrying a sign that said "Think of the bragging rights" ... ahhh.. that made me smile.
Passed by the Wesley Cook band again, as well as this duet- two guys one with a guitar and one with a harmonica that were awesome
And I hit the turn back around the start line... and there were photographers.. and I tried to smile but I knew I was a hot mess.. :)
and as I got right to the finish line I hear a bunch of names and then "Patty Blanchard... welcome to the finish line"  and I teared up again.. I had done it!  I ran the whole thing!

I crossed the finish line and forgot to stop running, and then I walked to a girl handing me a bottle of water.. and another one handing me a banana, and then another girl was giving out bags of cookies.. mmm.. and another bags of pretzels... and then another was giving out bagels.. and don't forget the chocolate milk..  and then someone walked up to me and put my medal around my neck, and smiled and called me by name (thanks to my name on my running bib) and said great job.. and I almost cried again
and I walked around till my legs slowed down and I thought I could handle sitting.
and I ate almost ALL of that while contemplating passing out under a tree...
a little girl, she looked about 3 or 4.. was eyeballing my chocolate milk.

II. Randomness

On the course I saw...

• 3 cases of road kill (2 chipmunks and a very flat bird)
• about 100 empty packs of Gu (that runner energy gel stuff I can't handle the texture of)
• 1 Shot Block energy chew (the kind that tay likes.. I hope whoever dropped it had a spare)
• 1 Runner's bib.. I thought about it a mile later, I should have picked it up and carried it to the finish with me
• A good sized group of ladies scattered out throughout the race with "preserve the sexy" shirts on.. oh yeah
• Way too many runners with today's shirt on.. I thought that was bad karma?
• About 8 Natural Light cans all within 10 feet of each other... but really not much trash on the road with the exception of
• a million little empty cups from water and powerade... aw man, the job of picking all that crap up
• only one couple in costume.. bet they will make the highlights
• way too many women with too tight shorts on a the wrong panties.. ouch.. I hope their cracks aren't chaffed (hey you run that long, what else are you gonna look at)
• this one dad with two toddlers, seemingly the same age, on the side of the road in one of the neighborhoods, who worked for the whole time they were in my sights trying to keep one kid and then the other out of the road when the runners passed...poor guy, I wonder how long he stayed out there herding cats.
• lots of "Go Mom" signs on the sidelines, held by kids... made me smile.

III.  Final Thoughts

You guys knew this was going to be a long post...

Something else dawned on me as I was running...

the fact that I did pass so many people that were running together, and here I was running solo.. which I love to do (so Andrea and others, when we get to run together, we start and end together but the middle is a solo thing... unless we are doing some kind of keg run or something... lol)

But then I thought

I am not really alone

essentially, when I run, I have a crew with me... or I should say a KREWE with me.. and this is in no particular order, except for the first one :)

• first and foremost, I always have my family with me... my babies and my hubby... I started this jaunt with running 2 short years ago.  Lots of mornings I would hit the pavement before anyone woke up and y'all would hold the fort down till I got back... also, the expense of the running gear, etc.  (especially the search for the right shoes)  props to my mom for those!  With the motivation of being mom and wife to the best I can be, the running goal might not have gone to this level.
•   Kila and Brandee were my first two running friends.. well I think Angie Kraemer, you might have been one of the first back years ago... and then Kila ran that triathlon which totally motivated me to do SOMETHING.  Kila mentioned Couch to 5K, which my friends Shannon and Tara in Lullwater reiterated.  Tara then talked to me every day, or so it seemed.. did I bore you to death Tara? haha... about her 5K and other running experiences.  We had talked about running my first 5 miler together (it was supposed to be right around Autumn's first birthday) which I didn't register for.. darn it.  Tara ran her first 1/2 marathon in March 2011, and I couldn't even imagine wanting to do that, let alone DOING it...
• my buddy, Stephen, who recommended I run the Peachtree this past summer (oh what fun) which led me to running even further and completing this race
• The main reason I started running in the first place was because Camryn seemed to be into running at the time, and I wanted to keep up with the "Cam-zes" :) and Taylor was also running... and I figured maybe if I started running, and Taylor kept running, we could do a race together one of these days.  We did a 5K in Feb., the Peachtree in July, and we are soon to register for the Hot Chocolate 15K in January. :)
• Charmaine and Jason, Emily and Robert, who did the Rock n Roll Marathon last year in NOLA, who put the bug in my head about maybe doing one myself one day...
• Andrea Marcel, who started running around when I did, and who kept me motivated and gave us yet another thing to talk about and keep in touch about.   
• All my other new friends I have met through running who motivate me daily.
• And then a few that might not seem so obvious:
• I only met him once, and only in passing, and I am surrounded by his presence daily at Kennesaw Charter.  Jay Ingram was a friend to many, and he was a runner, and his spirit has been a spot of motivation on long runs, as I know how much he loved to run and the thought of how many miles he would have tallied.  
• My cousin, Aimee, who never was able to run and who fought for every day of normalcy.  I run in her honor, and the pain in my feet is nothing compared to what she contended with her entire life.  We miss you, Aim.

Also, through my awesome playlists, I run with several memories as songs pop into my ears. 

• My fireside posse was hangin with me during DJ Trashy's Close My Eyes at mile 9 today.
• Maw J was with me for Gloria's 'Conga" and Tom Jones' "Kiss".
• Andrea, "Breakin Dishes"
• Godsmack crew of 2000 during "Bad Religion"
• Brian and Tay= Disturbed's "Criminal"
• Blind Melon fanatics during "Galaxie"
• My Sis, Chrissy, during the Foos' "Monkey Wrench" and green Day's "Peacemaker"
• Any Paramore song brings me back to Tay's 8th grade year, as does Avril Lavigne
• My DMB buddy Brad was with me for "Shake Me Like a Monkey"
• Donnelly from KCSMA was there for "Rush" from Big Audio Dynamite
• Darude's "Sandstorm" made me think of Autie at the North Cobb games

Whew. ok.. all my thoughts are out... If you read this far, thanks for determination to make it to the end!

Path to a HALF- first entry of my running journal

    So on Sunday I made a decision that I would have never in a million years thought about doing prior to a few weeks ago:  I registered for a half marathon which will take place on 10/7/12 in ATL.  The road to this decision probably began when my buddy Tara ran her first half last March, and then when my Stoufflet friends ran the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in New Orleans last March as well.  But I never imagined I would actually WANT to run that far... 5K was enough, right?  And so I began running again after Christmas, seriously, to get ready for the Cupid's Chase 5K in February with Taylor.  Hills and all, it seemed to be hard.  But the next day was Sunday, and I found myself running AGAIN, for another 3+ miles.  My awesome Endomondo app on my Droid uploads my runs to Facebook, cuz where would I be without encouragement from my friends?!?  A friend of mine, Stephen, asked if I was training for the Peachtree Road Race, a thought I hadn't really contemplated since the damn thing is in JULY in the dead heat of summer, and I know I am not a summer runner.  So, what the heck, my buddy Callie said she wanted to do the Peachtree, so I asked Tay if she would, and now we have 10 people awaiting this Thursday to be able to register and hopefully get in together as a group for the 7/4/12 run 10K run.

    Alright, so now my goal is 6.2- another distance I thought would surely take me awhile to reach.  Well, one Sunday while running early in the morning, with no worries about kids or house since Todd was home to hold down the fort, I just kept running.  My goal was 4 miles that day, but then a really good song popped up on my random mix ("Walk" by Pantera I believe.. thanks Miss Pam and Keith for the suggestion!) and so I kept on.. and then "Perfect Insanity" by Disturbed played right around mile 5 (thanks Brian) and so I kept on, and then I said "I wonder if could make it to 6 miles" and so many steps later and some really good tunes, I made it to 6 miles and some change~!  So awesome to know that I can run a 10K.. although "Cardiac Hill" and the heat and humidity of the Peachtree (if we get in) will prove to test that.

    So fast forward to this Sunday, time change and all, I hit the pavement at 6:30 AM... cool clear day, quiet... my mantra kicked in throughout the run.. "Carpe Diem" I kept saying to myself.  A possibly overused and cheesy selection for a running mantra, but it popped into my head one day while running- influenced by a recent viewing of The Dead Poet's Society no doubt.  These moment of quietness and alone time do not come frequently.. seize them and milk them for all they are worth...  So, without the aid of my mile tracking on Endomondo (something was up with the audio coaching)  I only knew when I had reached the set goal of 4 miles (which I knew I would keep going).  I was no where near home when I hit the goal, which is great and easy to keep going.  Which I did.. and I hit 7 miles!  And through those last 3, with the pictures of victorious friends from the NOLA Rock n Roll 1/2 still in my head from the week before, I told myself that I need to find a half marathon to run sooner than Feb 2013.

    So home I went, to a glass of chocolate milk and an "ice" bath (my butt has not been that cold in a long time!  I think since I swam in the Pacific Summer of 99), I searched for a 1/2 and found one on 10/7/12.. my Lola's 10th birthday.  I would love for her to be on the sidelines cheering me on when I cross it that day.. race time is 7 AM so we will see, plus it's her birthday and whatever she wants to do...

    SO, Carpe Diem indeed... I am signed up and there is no turning back!   So begins my journey to chase my first Half Marathon medal

3.1 miles this morning