May Month Recap

Geez, I am so far behind that I'm not sure I can even catch up with all that's gone on in the last month.  Note to self... don't try and get anything done during the month of May.  May is for Crew, Crew, Crew and nothing else.. not eating, not sleeping, not time with the family... do I even still have a husband?  Don't get me wrong, I love Crew and I love being busy and keeping everything in order, but without a doubt there's hardly time to think of anything but rowing.   So, just a few bullets to update the last few weeks...

1.  I ran my 4th 5K up at George Mason University.  It was hilly and hellish, but I did it.  My time 33.19.  Not the best, but I'm still keeping with my New Years Resolution.

2.  We completed the Al Urquia Regatta.  It was very successful, Zack's boat moved out of their heat and qualified for finals.  They then placed 4th in their final.  It was a great day, made even better because Grandpa Bud and Miss Louise were here to enjoy it.  We had a great time showing them the way we row at Woodbridge.  They were good sports and I think had a great time.  Brenna also came home for the weekend.

smores

3.  Then we had the Ted Phoenix Lower Boat State Championships.  These turned out not to be as successful as we'd hoped.  The boys got an AWESOME start, but then Zack and Nathan both caught small crabs at the beginning, they were able to recover and keep going, but in the last 500 meters, Tyler caught a crab so big he couldn't get his oar out of the water!  Sadly, they came in last in their heat.  On the positive side they still beat the B boats time.   I know that's mean, but you gotta take your pluses where you can.

4.  I hit my 5th 5K.  Lake Ridge Runners May Day Run.  It was fun because it was right here in the neighborhood and I knew probably half the people who were running in it.   Again, it was a hugely hellacious hilly course, but it seems like that's my excuse for all my runs now. :o)  But this one really was hilly!  Anyway, I completed it and didn't humiliate myself.  Time 33.07.  I just can't seem to do much better than that.  But a mile is a mile.  

5.  Then most exciting of all,  Zack got to experience his first Stotesbury Regatta!  It was awesome as always.  I'm not even going to try and recap.  Brenna went with me and we had a great time.  She was the best assistant ever.  I don't think I could have survived the weekend without her.  My new position with the Board, really does include a lot of extra duties.  I love it, I love being involved in everything, but it does take a toll and she was worth her weight in gold!  The boys did great.  They didn't make it out of their time trials, but we don't really expect our freshman to get past time trials.  Their time was 5:11, which was good for them.  They were 36th out of 47 and we were plenty proud of them.  The lightweight boys and girls made it to semi's and the girls quad made it all the way to finals, coming in 6th.  It was all very exciting.  The weather was beautiful and as always, it doesn't get much better than Stotes!  We have such a great group of kids and parents that I don't ever want it to end.

Finishing time trial

View from the bridge

Time trials

Our freshman Big Head Boat was the hit of Stotesbury!  We kept everyone laughing and probably perplexed.  The boys were all good sports and I think they actually enjoyed having big heads of their own!

So, as May draws to an end along with Crew,  hopefully I'll be able to keep up with life a little better.  Catch my breath, run a little more, eat a little less and relax.  Although I'm already grieving a little for the end of Crew.  I'm sure I'll find something to occupy my time.

Best. Hostess. Gift. EVER!

Grandpa Bud and Louise made it here safe and sound.  They even brought me a hostess gift!  Some people get decorative soaps, some get wine, some might even get potpourri!  But nothing says "Thank you for hosting us in your home" like a foot long, machete named the Zombie Slayer!

Now that's something that will come in handy!  Do I have the best family ever!!!  I can't wait to show it off to the boys in the neighborhood!  Can you say....JEALOUS!!

Grandpa Bud is coming! Grandpa Bud is coming!

Dad and Louise are flying in today for a quick visit!  I talked them into coming because I wanted them to see Zack row!  Brenna is going to come home for the weekend as well!  Weather looks good... Don't want to jinx anything.  I'm off to stock up on the two main food groups when Grandpa Bud is in the house... Vodka and cigarettes!!

Regatta #4 under our belt!

We traveled down to the Anacostia to race a bunch of private schools this weekend in the Cindy Cole Cup.  It was cold, windy, the day after Prom and the competition was all private schools.  It went about as well as could be expected. :o)  But any race is a good race, if you can learn something and I think Zack and his boat learned many things.  The deck was stacked against them from the beginning.  The conditions were so bad, that they had to move the start line to avoid the whitecaps at the beginning. It was cold, it was windy, the current was crazy strong and there were no lane markers!  Coach Meehan forgot to register their boat, so they couldn't race in their 8.  They ended up breaking them into 2 4's - a light 4 and a heavy 4.   They had only ever been in a 4 maybe twice.  They also had a totally different coxswain since there were 2 boats instead of one.  Then the icing on the cake... the Novice 4 race was full, so they put them in the Varsity 4 race!  I think a couple of the Varsity boats had one rower that weigh more than any 2 of the boys in Zack's boat! Could there be anything else going against them?  But once again, they survived, they didn't flip (although they tried) and hopefully they learned some valuable lessons.  He seemed pretty positive when he came off the water.   Art and Karen and Mark were all here visiting and hopefully enjoyed watching Zman race.

Working the fan faces!

We also hosted the Pasta Party this week.  It was quite an experience.  I just love these kids so much.  Such a great group!!

So much food, so many shoes, so many boys!  But a great time.  I'd have them back anytime!

Double Regatta Catch up!

Geez, I just can't keep up!  We've had 2 regattas...

Walter Mess - April 6th.
Zack was still rowing in the B boat, but they moved him up to the stroke position, so he was very excited about that.  It was a beautiful day and the B boat ended up rowing really well and beating the A boat by 8 secs!  B Boat... my ass!!

The green and gold Spirit Tutu also made it's debut at Walter Mess.   My dear friend Jennie Tatum, heard that one of my truest wishes (totally true) was to have a tutu!  Then to make it a spirit tutu... does it get any better than that??  I don't think so!

Next,  Darrell Winslow on April 13th - 

This time Zack moved up to A boat - 3 seat.  He was very excited about his boat and his boat lineup, because most of his friends are in this boat.  He worked really hard and changed up his attitude a little bit and it worked for him.  I have to give him a lot of credit, when we talked about what he should do to move up to the A boat. He told me he was going to work on his attitude, I was suddenly concerned that he'd been disrespectful or something.  But, he said he thought maybe he joked around a little too much with the coaches and he needed to be a little more serious.  I thought that was pretty mature for a 15 year old boy to recognize that!  Obviously, something worked.  Once again, they had a great race and beat the B boat by 1:03!  What seems to be the common factor....Hmmm... let's see, maybe it's...ZACHARY HYZY!  Why yes, I think that's it!

hamburger hands

This is also the regatta that the Big Head made it's debut.  It was the envy of everyone, or at least that's what I imagine.  Many got a big kick out of it and while you would think Zack would be horrified and embarrassed - he was not!  I think that boy is missing the embarrassment gene!  I embraced the whole thing.  Most of the kids were, in turn, both horrified that their parents might order one and envious that Zack had one.  It was actually quite fun!

Boston Marathon Sadness

I always debate whether I should be commenting on current events in this blog.  Will ALL (a little sarcasm inserted here) my flock of readers in the future wonder why I didn't mention important events like Margaret Thatcher, who died last week or the escalations between North Korea and pretty much the whole world - will they launch a bomb or won't they.  This blog has always been about our daily lives and while those things are sad or scary they don't really impact our day to day living...

But, yesterday someone or someones set off 2 bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  While again this doesn't impact my daily life exactly, it actually does in some ways.  It affected normal everyday people who were just watching and running an exciting race.  While N. Korea may launch a missile it probably won't hit me...  but I am an everyday person and while I doubt I'll EVER run the Boston Marathon, or any marathon for that matter, I could.  I could have been cheering someone on, I could have been volunteering, I could have been running.  I am an everyday normal person who has just dipped her toe into the running world.  It just makes me so sad and discouraged that this sort of sickness and hatred and evil is still making it's presence felt.  The 8 year old boy, who died while waiting to cheer his father across the finish line.  Is there anything more heartbreaking than thinking about the impact on his family?  A triumphant moment, turned in to horror and never-ending heartbreak.  In the midst of all my "be happy for the small things" posts,  I can only shake my head and love my family and hope that we find a way to end this sort of evil.  My thoughts and heart is with Boston and everyone impacted.

Another little happy thing... that's BIG!

A Big Head of my baby boy and a green and gold Spirit Tutu.... Enough said!!!!