You know it's Spring when....

1- The forecast says sunny and near 60 degrees.
2- You see daffodils
3- Runners put on their SHORTS.
4- When you mow your LAWN for the first time…….and your lawn mower breaks down!
5- But the way you Really know it’s Spring is…….When your neighbors come to watch you TRY and fix your lawn mower, and they provide tips from the “last time this happened to me.”

Rick busted out his lawn mower, and of course it broke. But never fear! Shawn is here! Things all worked out. And, alas, our lawn is short again.

I'm in 2nd place!!!!!

Watch out Jenny Cole!!!! Here I COME!
OK, here are the standings after our 3rd race. And look who's in 2nd place! Can I get a @#$% YA! If you're wondering how this can be when I came in 9th in my age division last race....it's because you only get to place if you run all 5 races. That's how! Wooohooooo!
Female age 35-40
1 Jenny Cole 36 24:51.4 0:51:27 1:22:07 2:38:25
2 Tiffany Gatten 39 25:48.8 0:52:42 1:27:45 2:46:16
3 Heidi Shaw 38 26:43.7 0:54:03 1:27:18 2:48:05
4 Julie Archie 35 26:17.6 0:53:30 1:30:39 2:50:27
5 Jaynie Hirschi 35 26:25.1 0:54:27 1:30:45 2:51:37
6 Jennifer Frongner 37 28:02.0 0:54:48 1:29:08 2:51:58
7 Connie Wilkinson 35 27:30.4 0:55:13 1:31:31 2:54:14
8 Monica Skonnard 35 28:32.3 0:58:32 1:31:25 2:58:29
9 Stacy Browning 39 32:58.5 0:48:43 1:54:48 3:16:30
10 Susie Hatch 38 29:50.4 1:02:50 1:43:50 3:16:30
11 Brooke Field 35 30:15.2 1:01:33 1:45:41 3:17:29
12 JeaLeen White 37 31:45.2 1:07:59 1:44:47 3:24:31
13 Rita Zimmerman 37 31:11.1 1:05:54 1:50:01 3:27:06
14 Pam Lagerquist 38 33:20.3 1:07:24 1:47:14 3:27:58
15 Carol Nef 39 33:13.0 1:08:45 1:52:01 3:33:59
16 April Stoddart 35 34:50.2 1:13:01 1:59:55 3:47:46

Iowa Test

Not Just ANOTHER Pretty Face

Chantel was so excited to receive this certificate for Outstanding Performance. She’s so proud of herself, and we’re proud of her too. She scored in the top 10 percent nationally on the Iowa tests that the kids take at school. She’s smarter than she lets on. Now if we could just teach her to clean up after herself. lol.

Corbin practices his guitar

ROCK STAR.

Corbin took up the guitar this year. He really seems to enjoy it, and I love for him to play for me. I can't wait until he is good enough that I can sing a song while he plays. Of course, no one in my family can wait for this moment either. I have such a fine singing voice that it's a much anticipated event, ha, ha. Seriously though, he's doing great. He has a good time playing little bits of songs and having me guess what song it is. Looks, brains, and talent.....a total package.......better watch out for this one.

Striders 10mile race

I wanna CRY! It sucked sooooooooo bad!

This is a lovely pic of me after my race. Trust me, I feel even worse than I look. There wasn't one person I talked to after the race that didn't say, "That Sucked!!!"

This was our 3rd race of 5 in the Striders winter training series. Because of the the time change, this race was technically one hour earlier than the past couple. As a result of this it was cold, and the roads were icy......which was tricky (almost bit it a couple of times.) The best part was we didn't have to run in the snow that was forecast (it didn't start snowing until the afternoon.)

I made a huge mistake of eating pasta at 8:00p.m followed by a Hot fudge Sunday the night before....yep. And I felt it like a rock in my gut the whole time. It was not a strong race for me. I dropped about 18 seconds a mile. I was however, happy to stay under 9min miles. I wasn't sure I could after I ran it eairlier this week. The hills are so steep. Here's the end result. I finished 1:27:45, 131 overall, and 9th in my age catagory.

9 Tiffany Gatten 117 39 131 1:27:45.3 8:47/M

Before this race I was sitting in 3rd place over all (combining the last 2 races) in my age category. We'll see how this race effects my standing. I'm was so excited to get this race over with though. It is by far the worst race of the five, and it's all cake after this. Bring on the 1/2 marathon BABY!

My freakin' awsome friends times. They had wonderful races, and Missy gave blood! Way to bleed it out Missy!!!! You're my kinda girl. :)

5 Missy Nichols 257 40 145 1:29:11.2 8:55/M

4 Teresa Odekirk 259 46 146 1:29:11.6 8:55/M

10 Lisa Stofferahn 353 40 187 1:33:27.7 9:21/M

11 BECKY WOODEN 432 34 193 1:33:47.7 9:23/M

Girl's Night at the Gatten's

Girls, Girls, Girls!
L to R: Back row, Ciara, Maddi E., Chantel, Andrea, Front row, Kaylee, and Hanna. Can I just tell you how happy Rick gets on Girls Night? I think he wishes he has a dozen or more little girls, ha, ha. All night he kept asking, “Why are they screaming? Why do they scream so much? Why do they have to scream?” He went to bed early…..he just couldn’t take it. :) Light weight! I really think by the amount of screaming, and laughing….they had a really good time. They watched Darkness Falls (killer Tooth Fairy movie), ate pizza, and baked brownies…..no plates needed. Just grab a spoon and dig in. I really hope they all don’t end up sick.

Maddi, Andrea, and Chantel. Today was Elmo Friday. These girls are so funny. They are all in the same class, and they have a certain color they wear each day of the week, then they finish up with Elmo Friday. Without an Elmo shirt…..you’re nothin’.

Ciara, and Maddi make faces. At this age, you must NEVER look pretty, NEVER!

Andrea, and Channy show their love for pizza. These are such goofy girls. They sure know how to have a good time though.

Striders 10K

My Running Girls

L to R: Becky (she wore those shorts, and kept saying, "I thought it was supposed to be the warmest day of the year!" She clearly didn't go to weather.com, ha, ha.), Me (up front), Missy (in the back), Teresa, and Lisa. Stacy was sick; get better Stac.

Well, it was worse than I even thought. Brutal, is the word we all used to describe it. It was a wonderful 10k if you have a love for steep, steep hills. We clearly don’t.

When I got out of bed today I said, “I’ll be happy if I run it in 54.” I ran it in 58 the last time I ran it, but it was a pretty comfortable run. Well, today….I though I’d throw up, ha, ha. And here’s how it went down. My time was 52:42. I finished 137 over all, 34th in women's over all, and 7th in my age group. It was great fun.

7 Tiffany Gatten 624 38 137 52:42.7 8:30/M
3 Missy Nichols 765 40 156 54:06.5 8:44/M
7 Teresa Odekirk 767 46 157 54:07.5 8:44/M
11 BECKY WOODEN 941 34 179 55:06.3 8:53/M
6 Lisa Stofferahn 864 40 186 55:23.4 8:56/M