Running out of Gatorade causes problems

For those of you who are runners, you know that you need to replace your lost electrolytes if you are exercising for longer than an hour. Ammon counted on drinking Gatorade at all the water stations along the marathon route. Unfortunately, the half-marathoners and 5K runners were on the same course causing them to run out of the precious liquid. Consequently, because it was also so hot, Ammon had some real problems following the race.

He ended up in the medical tent for about an hour. His heart rate was racing (over 100) well after he finished the race so he was on a heart rate monitor. The EMT's also had him on oxygen (see the picture with the cannula on his face). The paramedics said I should pour cool water over his feet to help bring his body temp down, which I did right away. I took off his shoes and socks and massaged his feet too. I kept talking to him to get his mind off of his pain. Also, Ammon called over some of the other runners, including the winner in the black. He had fun reminiscing in Spanish with them about the race.

Once he had recovered some, the medical personnel tried to get him to stand up. Unfortunately, that's when his leg started cramping up. He started howling in pain. Another runner flexed his foot so that it would stop. Once he got to his feet, he tried to hobble around.

He thought it was hilarious to use his grandmothers' cane to help him. In this video, you can see Ammon and Danny both wobbling and limping around.

Ammon starts his marathon

And they're off! Ammon ran the race along with his cousin Danny that will be leaving on his mission soon to Ventura CA. The Palos Verdes race was in San Pedro and included some beautiful scenery of the ocean (see picture). The course was really hilly and it was a hot day so it was harder than Ammon and Danny expected. Ammon was hoping for a sub 3 hour and Danny wanted a 3:30.

So, how did they do?? Despite the water stations running out of Gatorade for the last 8 miles of the race, Ammon came in 2nd place overall! His time was 2:48:16. He was pleased with his time and place. He was also first in his age group. Interestingly, the 1st place guy was 40 as well as the 3rd place guy. They all ran together in a group most of the way. Ammon laughed and talked with them the whole time, in Spanish because they were hispanic.

Mother's Day in the mountains

After church on Sunday we drove up to Mt Lemmon to enjoy the cooler weather (it was 97 in Tucson) and to see the pine trees and beautiful views. Surprisingly, Ammon had never been up there before. I have many times for Girls Camp, rockclimbing (see other post) and a Relief Society retreat. It was so nice up there and even a little chilly. We found ourselves wishing we had brought jackets.

We used the opportunity to get some family pictures in our natural surruondings. It was so beautiful!

Father and Son outing

Ammon and Connor went away last weekend on the annual Father and Son campout, leaving me a rare and cherished night home alone- yippee! Of course I wasn't there but the pictures are pretty self-explanatory as to what they did. You can see that Connor spelled something in the sand. It says Ryan for his friend Ryan that he loves. He wrote "RrYyAaNn". Isn't that great?! He loves writing his upper and lower case letters. Connor was so excited to sleep outside in the tent too. I'm glad they had fun.

Knight in shining plastic

That's what Ammon calls this costume but I think it's way cute. Connor loves to dress up as so many things. Last night he was an astronaut (he put a clear bucket over his head) and I flew him around. He also dresses up as Boots the monkey from Dora. He calls me Dora and refuses to answer to Connor. He puts a white kitchen container lid on his head to be Peter and I'm the wolf. He often puts on his Puss in Boots outfit too (see my other post about this). If you noticed in many pictures he has a tape measure tied around his waist. That's his tail for whatever character he's trying to be at the moment (and most of them have tails at this point).

Cinco de Mayo party

Several families with young kids from our ward got together for a party to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. We met at a community park and had good eats, good play and a good time.

Our assignment was the pinata. We found a Dora one that was just perfect. Connor had fun stuffing it full of candy and Ammon had fun stringing her up (literally). He later decapitated her (or, the head was busted off) and made it a mask for any kid that was willing to put it on. Connor was a good sport and tried it on. I think some of the kids were scared though. I hope that didn't ruin any kids on Dora or give them nightmares. Sorry parents!

The kids also played t-ball. (I guess we had a bat theme going.) That was Connor's first try and he quite liked it. He even got a hit. Good job Connor. Looks like you're ready to be on a sports team.

Ammon's training for his first marathon!

Here's my stud on his long run of 21.5 miles! Can you believe that?! This was to be his longest run before the marathon. He's been training for this pretty hard. He has a cousin, Danny, that will be running the race with him too.

He had me go out with him at 5:30am to be his "water girl", how cute. I ran alongside him while he drank so he didn't have to stop. He was going dang fast, about a 6:30 pace for those of you that know running. He was pretty hard to keep up with just for the short time I was giving him a drink. He said that really helped him though to simulate the actual race. I'm glad I could be of help!

Since I was out, I thought I would snag a few pictures for our blog. It seems like we hardly have any posts about Ammon and he is a very important part of our family!! Connor was so cute. Every time we would drive ahead of Ammon and wait for him to pass Connor would say, "oh there's my daddy again".

The race is Saturday the 17th in Palos Verdes (San Pedro), CA. Wish him luck!

Our little shutterbug strikes again

Connor found the camera again and went picture taking mad. I love to see the variety of his pictures, even though many of them involve taking pictures of me in not-so-flattering poses. Again, I deleted all the pictures of my behind. Silly kid!

Bubbles

I bought Connor a new bubble wand. He had fun trying to blow the bubbles before the wind would catch them. He never did get very many bubbles going because the wind just wouldn't die down. We'll try again another day.

Ammon turns 30!

Wow, is he really already that old? Everyone at work still thinks he looks 18! We joke that when his hair starts turning gray, that will help his career because it will make him look older.

I made Ammon's favorite cake- spice cake with homemade caramel frosting (he hates the canned stuff because it's not like what grandma used to make!). This cake is a Larsen family favorite and Ammon just loves it. It was so good even though it didn't look that great. I guess it didn't help that Connor started eating the frosting just after I frosted it! Happy Birthday honey.

Connor in the yard

Connor's Primary music lady let Connor "borrow" this life-size frog. Connor immediately latched onto this frog dressing him in his clothes -- all by himself, carrying him everywhere and even sleeping with him. He is so cute. He'll have a hard time when we have to return it!

There's Connor and his chalk drawing again. He's covered our front sidewalk and our backyard brick patio and even our block walls (that looks like graffiti, unfortunately not a stranger to Tucson neighborhoods- even the good ones like where we live).

Connor trying to blow out the citronella candle that I bought to ward off the mosquitos. Didn't work. Ammon got 6 bites in the time we were outside for dinner. Yikes! I say that Ammon has sweet blood because he just attracts the mosquitos like no other and I, on the other hand, never get bit, at least not when he's around!