Race Day

After months of training and preparing, the big day arrived.  It was time to head into downtown Chicago so that we could run the Soldier Field 10 Miler in honor of Comfort Zone Camp.  We took the train down the night before.  We had to be there at 6:30am so had we made the drive the morning of we would have had to leave at 4:30 to give ourselves enough time to drive, park, and get to the start line. 

I wasn't as nervous as I thought when the time came.  The weather couldn't have been better.  The week before the temperature hit nearly 100.  Race day was in the 70's and overcast.  Perfect. 

The first 5 miles were so smooth.  I felt great and I was so pumped by all of the people cheering us on from the sidelines and bridges we were running under.  When we turned the bend at the halfway mark, we stopped for a quick bathroom break.  When I started up again my knee completely gave out. 

The final 5 miles were excruciating.  I was in so much pain that I cried my way through it.  But I knew I had to finish - for the kids and for the loved ones that I've lost.  That is where I drew my strength and I did it....I finished!  My time was nothing to be proud of but I did it.  That definitely called for a celebratory glass of champagne!

When I got home and came down from the rush, I realized how bad my knee was.  Lot of ice and a little contraption my nurse friend loaned me helped me to mend over the following two weeks. 

Next up we've got the Warrior Dash and then the half marathon.  And then?  I may never run again. 

More Soccer Talk

Slowly we have gone from being soccer fans to soccer fanatics.  We have been so spoiled!  We were able to go to a couple more games this month.  One was a date night for Kevin and I.  It was an evening game.  We had great seats and passes to get into the club house afterwards.  We met Leo upstairs to say hello.  As we were saying our goodbyes he insisted on walking us downstairs.  When we got there, instead of leading us out the doors, he instead took us into the locker room for an after hours tour.  Kevin was 10 steps behind the entire time because he stopped to take as many pictures as he could.  It was so awesome being behind the scenes!  My first impression was that it smelled really, really good.  Like freshly showered men wearing expensive cologne.

This may be my favorite part of what we saw.  This is on the wall in the tunnel heading onto the field.  It's the last thing the guys see before they hit the field.  So cool.

Next we got to check out the field, lit only by the light of the sign.  It was a really warm, clear night so the stars were shining bright.  Again....awesome. 

The other game we were able to go to was not on a clear night.  The weather was actually pretty nasty.  Well, Leo being Leo insisted on us going up to the family box seats because he didn't like the thought of the kids being stuck in the rain.  So he left us all access passes at will call so that we could enjoy the covered seats and indoor suite.  The kids were in Heaven. 

And again, afterwards we were able to go up to the club house to hang with the players afterwards.  Remember this guy from last year?  He's the one Talan saw and said "that man has a kitty cat on his head". 

We ran into him again but he was sans mohawk this time.  We chatted with his mom for quite a while.  Good kid!



So yes, we're super fans.  It's so nice to have found something that we all enjoy on an equal level.  And it really doesn't hurt that Leo is so amazing to our family.  GO FIRE!!!!

Raising Funds

Much of the month of May was completely consumed by a fundraiser I organized for Comfort Zone Camp.  I tried raising the funds by asking family and friends for donations.  Everyone was beyond generous but I set my goal high and needed to find another way to raise the money.  Our neighborhood does monthly Bunco nights so that seemed like the easiest way to raise money - hold a Bunco night and make it a fundraiser.  

I had four weeks to solicit as many goods and services as I could so that we could raffle off baskets at the event.  I was so overwhelmed by the generosity of those in our community who were more than willing to donate.  I heard "no" much more than "yes" so it took a lot of effort but we really pulled together some amazing prize packages.  My house was a wreck for weeks while I was organizing everything.   

 In the end, it was all worth it.  The event was a huge success.  We were able to make enough money to send 6 kids to camp in that one night and all 3 of us who signed up for the race exceeded our fundraising goals. 

It was an honor to wear this shirt:

The Great Outdoors

We have been blessed with gorgeous weather for weeks now.  We have tried hard to take advantage of it.  This year we joined "Centennial Beach" which is the Midwest version of a beach.  It's really a pool with a huge sandpit on site.  Hey, we aren't complaining.  At least we have a way to beat the heat! 

Nothing better than a frozen drink in the sunshine while watching your husband teach your little girl how to ride a long board.  These are the days....

We are so lucky to have Heather and Eric down the street.  Unfortunately our busy lives really get in the way of being able to see each other as much as we'd like.  We were so happy to have a night out, just the four of us, to celebrate my 35th birthday.  We had a great time, per usual. 

First Holy Communion

I am finally getting around to playing catch up on the blog.   I have to start way back at the beginning of May.  One of the biggest things that happened was Reese receiving her First Holy Communion.  She has been working towards this for a couple of years, attending religious education classes weekly, and learning all she needed to know before the big day. 

We spent months looking for the perfect dress.  I found several that I liked but none were what she had pictured in her mind.  We finally found it while in Florida over spring break.  It was a special day so that called for a special hairdo.  I took her to a salon to get an up-do for the occasion.  She looked beautiful!

She had a speaking part before Mass began.  She got to go up to the alter and read a welcome message.  We were all pretty impressed by her composure and the lack of nerves while up in front of all of those people.  She's not scared of the microphone at all.

After Reese received her communion, Talan looked at me confused and said "hey, what about me?" 

We were fortunate to be able to spend the special day with out of town guests; our parents were all able to come into town to be there. 

And Reese's cousins were there as well. 

Our last out of town guest travelled the farthest.  Our dear friend, Jason Fischer, was here from Hawaii.  He comes back to Florida once a year for a visit and this year we were lucky enough to have him here in town for a few days.  He and Kevin left the morning after Reese's big night to go into downtown Chicago.  They took in a Cubs game and stayed overnight before Jason was off again and headed back to paradise.  This is the only photo proof that he was here:

It was so fantastic to spend some time with him and with the rest of our family. 

Chicago Fire

This past Sunday was one of the best days we've had in a while.  We were invited to a meet-the-team event at Toyota Park to celebrate the Chicago Fire Soccer Club.  The back story is that I met the assistant coach, Leo Percovich, at the Dallas airport when he was travelling with the team.  We ended up sitting next to each other on the plane and he later invited us to come to a game and hooked us up with incredible seats.  He made huge fans out of us.  We all had a blast at the game cheering on the team. 

Fast forward to now, 8 months later, and we are still in contact.  I reached out to him recently because I'm in the midst of planning a fundraiser to raise money for Comfort Zone Camp.  I was hoping they could help out with a donation.  Leo suggested that I come and meet the president of the club face-to-face and thought the meet-and-greet would be the perfect setting. 

We had no idea how huge this event was.  It's exclusive to season ticket holders so we were very lucky to be there.  Leo met us at the gate and introduced us as his guests.  We made our way into the stadium and couldn't help but feel the excitement build. 

They had 10 tables set up on the outskirts of the field with three players at each table. The lines for each table, where you waited for autographs, were from the top to bottom of each section of the stadium. The president wasn't quite ready for us when we got there so we stood in line with the rest of the fans and started racking up on autographs.  First up was one of my favorite players, Daniel Paladini.   

Talan high-fived Kwame Watson-Siriboe and the player you can barely see in the right hand corner, Marco Pappa, who is a favorite of Kevin. 

I got a call from Leo who was at one of the tables signing autographs.  He told us to make our way down to the field so that we could be escorted by security to the tunnel to meet with the president.  I have to say, it was super exciting.  Watching hundreds of people stare down at us wondering why, on earth, we were walking around all of the tables around the field was a rush.  We finally met up with him and he was extremely receptive to my asking for their support.  When we finished talking, he asked us if we'd like to run across the field.  Up until that point everyone we came in contact with had asked us to be sure to stay off of the field per the groundskeepers request.  So when he asked us we must have looked puzzled.  He said "I know I'm going to get in big trouble for this but I don't care!  Come on kids, let's run through the middle of the field!".  So the five of us took off across the field, surrounded by all of those people wondering what the heck was going on.  It was so awesome!  Kevin offered to strip down and streak but the president politely declined. 

Before we left we were sure to make a stop to say hello to the head coach.  Reese was lucky enough to get a picture with him. 

From there we made our way out with one last stop at the team store.  On our way to the car we ran into the man who made it all happen, my friend Leo.  We didn't get a picture at his table so we took advantage of our impromptu photo opp. 

So much fun.  Kevin and I are going back for a game next week.  I can't wait!