The Polar Express 2011

Our 2nd year on The Polar Express was even better than the first! Not only were Laney and Charlo older and more excited about it, but the little kiddos (Betsy & Max) and the hubbies (Daddy & JB) joined us! It wasn't nearly as cold as it was last year, which was nice, but I must admit, having snow last year made it more "real"

We had to do a "tradition" picture of Laney and Charlo with their feet together. Laney reminded me of it first thing when we sat down. The child forgets NOTHING!

We were so excited that Daddy and Max could join us this year!

We had a pretty cute group of kids, but we all knew that!

We laughed...

We had cookies and hot chocolate...

We went to the North Pole!!

Traditions like this are so important

It's something we will always remember and always look forward to

Who wouldn't enjoy it?!?!

Dancing....

Smiles...

Hugs...

SANTA!!!!!

Receiving our bells...

Dressing up like Frosty...

and dancing in the aisle!

Everyone had such a good time on The Polar Express! We are already talking about going next year!! I highly recommend it to anyone!

Very Thankful

There are many things in my life that I am thankful for. Benji and I explained what the holiday "Thanksgiving" means to Laney. It's hard for a 3 year old to understand a lot of things, but being thankful wasn't too hard for her to grasp. The things I'm thankful in my life are easy to list....my family and friends, my health, my home, a career that I love, nature, etc. The list goes on and on. Most of all, these 2 little people mean the World to us. We are so very thankful for everything in our life, but this just sums it all up!

It doesn't get much better than this....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, The Reinhart Family

Knee Update (and some other thoughts)

As I'm standing here cooking dinner (with a crutch under one arm) and listening to my iPod, some of my favorite running songs come on. I start thinking about the race, things I could have done differently. Should have done differently. Yes, I am totally bummed that this happened and that I've been "laid up" for 2 weeks. Yes, I'm bummed when I'm driving down my road and see others out there running the route I ran for so many mornings. But then, I stop and think about how lucky I really am. I WILL be able to run again! There are some people out there that live like this on a day to day basis. They will never walk, let alone run, ever again. I'll be back out there in no time. It may be awhile before I'm actually running, but it's better than the alternative.

So to update all of you on my progress. I saw Dr. Ollo (Ortho Surgeon) almost 2 weeks ago. His first thought was it was a stress fracture. He did x-rays, which came back negative for a fracture. Little did I know, stress fractures sometimes take awhile to show up on x-rays. The older the fracture, the better it shows up. He said there is always the possibility of it being severe tendonitis. He said the treatment is the exact same, but the stress fracture will take longer to heal (4-6 weeks vs 6-8 weeks). He wanted to see me back a week later. I couldn't work or drive for the first week. If you've never been on crutches, you're lucky. There is nothing fun about not being able to do ANYTHING for yourself. "Benj, can you bring me my water please? Benj, can you please hand me my ice pack? Benj, can you please grab a pillow so I can prop my leg up?" IT.GETS.OLD. I'm sure Benji and my mom (who has helped SO MUCH) are JUST as over it as I am! My follow-up appointment was just explaining how I was feeling. He was happy with how I've progressed, but was hoping I would be off crutches. My next appointment is the week after Thanksgiving. If I'm still "crutchin' around" he wants to order an MRI. Thankfully, I've made some progress this week. I've worked a whole week (eh ehm, worked 5 days) without any pain, just cutting hair with crutches! No, it's not easy, but with the holiday just around the corner, it needed to be done! I've been using one crutch today and still feel great this evening. I am really hoping I can be off of crutches by Thanskgiving, which would mean no MRI. We will see.

So how am I doing this with a 19 month old and a 3 1/2 year old.....with LOTS of help from my Mom! She's cooked, grocery shopped, cleaned, did laundry, kept the kids, etc. So Mom, when you read this, I will make it up to you! :) I must leave this post with a few funnies that have happened this week:
-As I tell Laney it's naptime (and am not able to walk well even with the crutches), she takes off running and says, "You can't catch me!" NIIIIICE!!! I threatened to trip her with my crutch! ;)

-Max has discovered he can reach the pen drawer and get markers out. He comes in front of me, smiles, and takes off running. He knows I can't catch him!
-I have officially driven a motorized cart at Target and shopped at Keystone Mall in a wheelchair.

-Laney informed me today that her knee hurts and she needs to sit down and ice it.

I'm glad those two kiddos can still make me smile during all of this mess! Let's all pray for a Thanksgiving miracle of walking!

A First of Many

For those of you who didn't know, I have been training for my very first Half Marathon for the past 12 weeks. The 4th Annual Indianapolis Monumental Marathon/Half Marathon! I had so much support from friends and family, I couldn't have been more excited. I've never been a "runner" but always enjoyed working out. I have to give credit to my love of running to one of my best buds, Tiffany. She did the Seymour Mini last spring and I was so proud of her, I wanted to do it too! So thanks Tiff! :) I always did my runs first thing in the morning. During the heat of the summer months, I went as early as 5:15. Once it started getting cooler, I could sleep in a bit and be on the road running by 6:15. Many of you are probably thinking, "Why in the World would you want to get up that early and run?" With 2 small kiddos, a hubby working full time, and me working part-time (yes, I still admit I'm a part timer!), the earlier the better! During the week, my runs were done solo...me and my iPod were pretty tight! During the long runs (7 miles or more), I had two awesome friends keeping me company!

Sometimes I had to drag their butts out of bed in the AM, but they usually made it! I have to give them credit, they had to drive about 30 minute into town to start the run, so you've gotta hand it to them for showing up! My ultimate goal for my VERY FIRST half marathon was to finish, without walking. Once the training got more intense, I thought my goal would be 2 hours, 10 min or less.

We spent the night Friday night up in Indy and all met before the race for a picture and good luck wishes! Our Seymour Crew was a fun one! We had 2 half marathon walkers, 5 half marathon veterans, and 4 half marathon rookies! What a group!

I must admit, the rush at the beginning was amazing. It was something I will never forget! All of the people up at 7:30 in the morning in 34 degree weather to run anywhere from 13.1 miles to 26.2 miles. Like I said, amazing! Unfortunately, my body had other plans for me. I've been struggling with knee pain for the past month, but it always seemed to get better before I ran again. The week before the race, it was not getting better. I did the RICE treatment (Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation) that was suggested by my aunt, a physical therapist. It seemed to be getting much better towards the end of the week, with no pain at all on Friday or Saturday morning. I was pumped!! The race started and my body felt great, my breathing was right on, and I was so focused. A little past mile 3, my knee started acting up. I shook it off and kept running. It continued to get worse step by step, so I went to the side, stretched a bit and hit the pavement again. Pain. More pain. I finally thought I needed to listen to my body and take a break. I then had to walk a bit, not much, just to loosen the pain. Once I noticed my "run" was more of "limp run" I thought, "Great!" Not really, my exact words aren't appropriate for the blog! :) I limped my way across the finish line, 13.1 miles with a time of 3:06:39. I was bummed. Most of you are probably thinking, "Hey, you finished!" Yeah, I did, so I can say that, but to have such a strong goal in mind and not be able to fulfill it, is hard.

So you might be wondering, "How is your knee today?" Ha, well....long story, short version...I can't walk. I'm on crutches. The PT and Dr at the finish line did a quick exam on me and feel it's a MCL sprain. We're all praying it's not torn. I'll be calling an Ortho Surgeon first thing in the morning to see what he has to say. I told Benji that once I'm released to run and feel comfortable, I WILL go out and run 13.1 miles for the heck of it just to say, "I did it!" Until then,

I'll leave you with what I read (in tears) in my Runner's World magazine when I got home: Tip #8 on their best running tips-"My coach said, 'Have fun! The hard work was the training. The race is the party! Even if today's run was what you would consider a failure, it is a bridge to your next good run." Another runner states, "This thought keeps me from fretting about lack of progress. Any run is cause for joy. There is no such thing as a bad run!"