The Rowe Family Blog

Well, looking back at our blog, I noticed that it has been a VERY long time since either of us has taken time to blog about Cassie.  So…here’s an update…

October was an interesting month…Cassie took us to the hospital on Columbus Day.  She was running a fever of over 103 and had been miserable all day.  She didn’t want to be moved.  We went to the emergency room and they did many different tests and couldn’t find anything.  They kept asking us if she had a rash at all and we couldn’t find one.  They tried to get a urine sample from her too.  That was awful…they had to do a catheter.  It took many tries and they finally got it.  Poor, poor, poor kid!  She hated being held down and it brought her parents to tears seeing her so upset and uncomfortable.  In the early morning, her fever broke.  Apparently that was a good thing.  They told us that we could go  home if we could get her to smile.  Thank God we have such a happy kid.  She smiled and we went home.  They almost did a spinal tap on her.  Phew…glad we missed that.  Later that day we checked in with the doctor and she developed a rash.  The doctor told us that she had Roseola, a virus, and that she would be fine.  Phew!  The rest of October was colds and tummy bugs for Miss Cassie…but she faired well.

In November we cut back on breastfeeding and started formula while she was at daycare.  She also started cereal and veggies.  She loved that!  Prior to that she was jealous of the kids at daycare that got breakfast and lunch and she didn’t.  Poor Cassie!  November also brought other fun things…Cassie started sitting up on her own and babbling.  Sooo cute!

In December Cassie started lunch too.  She now has rice cereal for breakfast, stage 2 fruits for lunch, and rice cereal and stage 1 veggies for dinner.   She loves peaches and pears but can’t eat bananas or she’ll be constipated.  Cassie hates peas but loves squash, sweet potatoes, and green beans.  She can’t eat too many beans for the same reason many adults can’t.  He he he!

Cassie has started to talk a lot!  Mind you, they are not words, but they sure sound like it.  She says “da da” and “la la” a lot as well as producing a high pitched squeal.  Yesterday she started playing with the volume of her voice and is whispering.  She did that while we were still trying to sleep.

Over the past couple of weeks she has become a Mommy’s girl.  When I leave the room or walk away from her she’ll whine or cry.  It’s really cute.  She also reaches for the person she wants now.  It just melts us!

We’ll try to be better about keeping you updated.  For now, know that she’s “a gem” just like her Daddy.

1. Drop your weekly mileage to about 10 miles per week running 2-3 times (usually 2).
2. Get new running gear which makes you even more excited than normal to run.
3. Run 4-5 times in one week.
4. Double your weekly mileage.

This is what I have done.  I now have shin splints, which I have not had since spring.  I can deal with this though.  I had planned to close out the year running 10-13 miles on New Year’s Eve but those plans have been canceled.  I do have good running news though… Read the rest of this entry »

This is what my sister wrote about our ice cold Christmas Eve run.

Who’s afraid of the Little brother…I AM!

I don’t know when it happened but it did. Greg went crazy.

Forecast: feels like 17 but is 29…according to weather.com; according to Donna.com feels like CRAP (which is anything less than 80) but is less than tolerable.

Activity: A “run” with Greg

Distance: 5 miles

Reason I believe Greg is crazy: (these are quotes from this morning all from Greg)

• “I can’t feel my face, this is great”
• “Let’s run into the wind”
• “Looking forward to running the other direction to freeze BOTH sides of my face”
• “It’s not that bad”
• “I will be taking Vitamin I” (ibuprohen in Greg’s language)
• “Looks like a great training run, lots of uphill”

**side note…there are no quotes from me because I could not breath***

I had 2 pairs of pants, sports bra, jacket, sweatshirt and plastic jacket, face mask…yes the ones with only the eyes and mouth cut out (the kind robbers wear…we just happened to have some here), and another hat on top of that. Greg…well, I think I have four shirts on…not JACKETS…not sweaters…no parkas…..seriously!

We did finish 5 miles…I saw the most awesome signs that I can’t find in Florida….one that says Low Flying Planes, one that is a picture of a man on horse…apparently there is heavy horse traffic there, and my personal favorite: Seasoned Manure Free. Absolutely awesome. The other thing I can’t find in FL is snow, can I get an amen?

I need some Tylenol 24hr about now…and then a huge jolt of caffeine.

Waddle on.

Mary ran the first race of the freezeeroo (sp?) series yesterday morning.  As always I was jealous to not be participating in the race.  I continued to be jealous all day while we had friends over.  When they left I decided to run 6.5 miles even though it was 17 degrees out and starting to get dark.  I suited up with 5 long sleeve technical shirts, my hat, my gloves, mittens over my gloves, my running shorts, and wind breaker style pants.  The pants were a first for me running.  I knew I couldn’t handle temps that low in shorts so I finally bit the bullet and wore pants.  It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be but it wasn’t ideal either.  The material brushed against my knees (as I feared) and it was irritating.  Still it was better than being freezing cold.

I got a runners high after only 3 miles!  It was awesome.  I had a blast running.  In fact I recorded a new PR for the Rowe Quarter at 52:28.  That’s only 28 seconds off of breaking an 8 minute mile for that route!

While it was an awesome run in most ways it was bad in that my knee hurt almost the entire time.  I’ve decided to take about a week off of running to let my knee heal.  I’ll run next when Donna is home.  I know better than to keep running on it…as much as I want to keep running on it…

When I ran with Mary on Sunday my knee hurt almost from the start.  The outside of my legs were numb but the edge of my knee hurt on the inside.  Instead of cutting the run off at the 7 miles mark I continued for another 3 miles.  By the time I finished my knee had stopped hurting but my hip was in pain.  I seem to have this under control after taking some vitamin-I (ibuprofen).

I ran a nice 3 miler last night at an 8 minute per mile pace and I had almost no pain.  Even though it was 33 degrees and completely dark out the run felt great.  I paid special attention to my foot strike.  It seems like my right foot strikes heel to toe and my left foot strikes on the ball of my foot.  I tried to run so that both of my feet struck on the balls of my feets (or the midsection or whatever you call it — just not the heels).  I felt like I was running faster and that it was easier.

I was lucky this time but I might not be so lucky next time.  I don’t want to end up like John and miss out on the coolest races.

I haven’t been making to the gym or running as much as I’d like to. It’s easy to blame external factors like the weather we see this time of year in Rochester, NY but weather shouldn’t be stopping me. I can brave the weather — if I choose to. I haven’t chosen to enough lately and I plan to change that. I admire that Mary gets out there and runs in the horrible cold.

I made it to the gym twice this week and I may make it for one more workout this week but I’m not sure. I haven’t run yet this week (so sad!). I will run on Sunday with Mary. I may turn that into a long run. It may be a challenge if the weather doesn’t cooperate — especially the wind.

My last run was last Friday. I ran the Rowe Quarter in reverse. I very rarely, if ever, run that route in reverse. I don’t even run that route in the normal order very often. The wind was pushing at my back…well it was pushing against the shirt I had one, one of five shirts that I had on. I wasn’t that cold but I was afraid of ice and I did walk a little to avoid slipping on ice. I also walked once because my shin muscles got very tired. Walking made it worse. I felt great at the 5 miles point and had an awesome 1.5 miles to the finish. I was flying! It felt great and I felt super relaxed after the run. Laziness and fear of the weather kept me off the road this week (so far at least). I ended up clocking a very good time, an 8:07 average pace!

Flight reservations have been made. Donna, John, and I are all running Miami! If you ask John he’ll probably lie right to your face and say that he’s not going to run the race. Generally John’s a very good guy. I don’t understand why he’s turned into such a liar. So don’t bother asking him. Just know that he is going to run. My next planned race will be the Spring Forward 15k in April and the Buffalo Half Marathon in May.

By the way, if you want to know what the weather is like in Rochester at this time of year just close your eyes and walk into a large freezer.

I registered for the Freezeroo Series.  It’s a series of 8 races throughout the winter (running from Dec 15- Feb 23rd) with differing distances (5k-12k).    I thought it would be a great way to keep motivated with running throughout the winter months.

Well, this morning I ran my first race in cold weather.  I knew it was going to be cold (around 22 degrees).  However, I did not expect the snow when I woke up this morning to run the Jingle Bell 5k in Rochester.  I haven’t yet purchased any winter weather running gear since I’m hoping Santa will be dropping some off when he stops in to deliver Cassie’s gifts.

Anyway…so it was 22 degrees, snowing, and windy.  I got out there and ran for the first time in snow which was much more difficult than I imagined.  I had a lot more power in me than what ended up showing.  I would push off with my feet (also known as running) and felt like I was spinning my wheels.  I finished with an OK time, but I had really hoped to break 30 minutes.  I finished in 31:18.  Corey and Marie also finished.  Marie hit a PR of 41:16.  It was really stinking cold out there!  My legs were numb!

After the race we went back to Corey and Marie’s for a hot shower, hot chocolate, Play Station 2, and subs with Lance and Phaedra (note…we showered separately in case you were wondering).  All in all it was a good day…but I still think I’m crazy for registering for the Freezeroo Series.  I definitely need to get some gear for those next 8 races!

Special thanks to Greg, Cassie, and John for spectating the race and Lance and Phaedra for picking up lunch!