The Life and Times of the Watters Family

what we’ve been up to

Last week the boys each had 2 games. We had an extremely busy week on top of all the sports stuff. We had commitments every morning and evening last week– it was too much. Today we are going to stay in our jammies as long as we want and just relax. We may go for a walk or a hike later this afternoon.

Hopefully, taking this time to relax today will help us get through our next super busy week with a little more calm and kindness.

Only 4 weeks to SoCal! We are so looking forward to our vacation.

caleb

Today’s soccer game was a big blow-out. Caleb was kinda bummed but recovered quickly. One of my favorite things about Caleb is that he is generally pretty happy. He isn’t brooding. He doesn’t hold grudges. He isn’t really even stubborn. The things that typically frustrate us about Caleb are his tendencies to go over the top with silliness and how easily he gets distracted but really he is a pretty fantastic kid.

Sorry about your loss today bud! We are super proud of you!

farewell Seahawks

It’s stressful to be a Seahawks fan! Once upon a time I couldn’t have cared less about football and I miss those carefree days!

We are disappointed in their loss today but we still love them!

Until next year.

Seahawks Game

(click image to see more)

Sean and Cam went to the Seahawks game together yesterday. This was Sean’s first NFL game. They had the best time! Sean said it was almost as good as Disneyland.

On Friday at Caleb’s soccer practice, Sean overheard another player’s dad talking on the phone trying to get rid of a couple of tickets to Sunday’s game. The tickets were for seats that were 3 rows back from the sideline at the 25 yd line! Sean immediately called Cam to find out if he wanted him to ask about it. Cam gave him the okay and Sean jumped out of the car, walked right up to this guy (Joe) that he’d never talked to before and offered to buy the tickets from him. Joe explained to Sean that the tickets “were expensive” and Sean said he had overheard the price and that it was fine. Joe got Cam’s number from us and said he needed to hear back from a couple other people he’d checked with. Joe called Friday night and said the tickets were theirs if they wanted them.

Sean and Cam needed some Seahawks apparel for the game so we went shopping Saturday night and found a couple T-shirts. We also picked up some green and blue hair spiking gel and gave Seany this fabulous faux-hawk! The Seahawks beat the Rams 33 to 6!

Caleb rode down to Seattle with them and spent the day with Auntie Holly and Uncle Shane. He had a lot of fun with them. They played Lego, watched movies, drank apple cider, went to the park and played soccer. It was really nice for the boys to get a break from each other (they spend every minute together, 24/7).

I stayed home all by myself and had a really great time in the peace and quiet. I worked on some craft projects with Colleen, watched a movie and of course, watched the Seahawks game! Sam (the dog) thought I was crazy every time I would cheer or get excited about the game.

It was a great day!

soccer

I wouldn’t wanna meet these two on a soccer field, how ’bout you?

Bellingham Bay Half Marathon

Here’s a few photos from Cam’s half Marathon today (I didn’t get great pictures, my battery was really low on my camera). We are so proud of Cam!! Way to go babe!

love this

(click photo to see more pictures on flickr)

soccer schedules are posted

There’s a lot of 8am games on Sean’s schedule, ughh.

9/22/07 8:00am Sean (field 16)

1:50pm Caleb (field 11)

9/29/07 10:20am Caleb (field 12) W 8-1 (Caleb scored 3 goals!)

4:10pm Sean (field 15) L 1-6 (freezing and miserable)

10/6/07 8:00am Sean (field 16) L 1-7

1:50pm Caleb (field 12) L 5-8

10/13/07 12:40pm Caleb (field 14) W 7-2

1:50pm Sean (field 17) L0-3

10/20/07 10:20am Sean (field 15) L 1-4?

1:50pm Caleb (field 11) W 13-3?

10/27/07 10:20am Caleb (field 11)

1:50pm Sean (field 16)

11/3/07 8:00am Sean (field 15)

11:30am Caleb (field 11)

Sean’s Baseball Schedule

Friday, April 20th @6:45 pm

Monday, April 23rd @6:45 pm

Friday, April 27th @5:30 pm

Thursday, May 3rd @6:45 pm

Friday, May 4th @6:45 pm

Friday, May 11th @5:30 pm

Saturday, May 12th @10:30 am– (Caleb also has a 10:20 soccer game)

Monday, May 14th @5:30 pm

Saturday, May 19th @9:00 am

Saturday, June 2nd @12:00 pm

Most games are played at Northwest Fields except Saturday games which will be played at Meridian Middle School.

REVISED: Caleb’s soccer schedule

• 3/31 9:00 am field 16/21

• 4/7 10:20 am field 18/19

• 4/14 2:20 pm field 17/20

• 4/21 1:00 pm field 17/20

• 4/28 3:40 pm field 18/19

• 5/5 11:40 am field 16/21

• 5/12 10:20 am field 16/21

Spring Sports

Hi, you’ve reached the Watters’. We are unable to be reached at this time. You may leave a message or look for our tent at Northwest Fields. We will be taking up residence there for the next 3 months. We’ll be sopping wet and muddy but having lots of fun .
Pray for a sunny sports season! Maybe we’ll see you out there? Look for game schedules to be posted within the next week.

last days of summer, first day of school

I can’t believe how fast the summer passed by! Our camping trip to Chelan was our last big event for the summer. Cam and I have decided that camping is NOT a vacation. The boys started school on Wednesday and are LOVING it so far. Sean is in 2nd grade and Caleb is in 1st. They have great teachers who are enthusiastic and encouraging — thank you God!

Our family is excited to begin our fall routine — school, AWANA, soccer (Caleb) and Thursday nights watching our favorite T.V. shows (The Office, Smallville & My Name is Earl). We are going to try to keep our schedule very empty and have more time together as a family at home. There are too many memorable moments that get missed running life at such a fast pace. I am actually looking forward to the leaves changing colors, the briskness of fall and the slower pace it brings to life.

“How Far Can You Throw A Baseball Now?”

Next up on the wishlsit is a Garmin Forerunner 205. I got the Forerunner 201 for my birthday last year, and it still works well, so I don't anticipate getting this one in the immediate future.

The primary improvements that make it attractive to me are the improved GPS signal tracking and a new, wristwatch-like form factor.

Super Bowl XL MVPs

The award should be shared equally among these guys.

Jingle Bell Run/Walk 2005

Jingle Bell Walk/Run for Arthritis

This holiday season, our family is taking on a challenge to make a difference in the lives of people with arthritis. We are participating in the Arthritis Foundation’s annual Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis where thousands of participants nationwide will run or walk while raising funds on behalf of the 66 million Americans affected by arthritis or chronic joint symptoms. Please take a step by helping us reach our fund-raising goal!

Check out our fundraising website.

Resuming Exercise After The Race

Since finishing the marathon, I’ve realized that I need to keep exercising. Often. I think for now, I’ll definitely continue running, but I’ll focus on maintaining a manageable number of miles per week, probably in the neighborhood of 20-30 miles per week. At least until I have to start training for next year’s Portland Marathon, which will probably begin around the end of May.

I’ve also been looking into cycling. It’s a little less hard on the joints, which is probably a good thing considering I’m a pretty big guy at 6′ 2″, 250 lbs. The Cascade Bicycle Club has an annual ride from Seattle to Portland that looks interesting. Recently, one of my coworkers, a cycling enthusiast, showed me around the cycling equipment world at a nearby local bike shop for which he used to work.

All told, a basic setup is probably going to cost between $1750 - $2000 for a decent bike, pedals, shoes, bike rack, a new helmet and other assorted equipment and apparel.

I think I may even be able to find a few people around town to train and ride with.

The Space Needle And A Mariner Game

These pictures are from our trip to Seattle on September 30th, 2005.

On The Soccer Field

Marathon Day

Well, the day finally arrived.

All the training and hard work paid off.

Here’s a link to the results: Portland Marathon 2005 Results.

I finished in 5:17:34. I had been shooting for about 5 hours, but I’m just happy to have finished.

UPDATE:

Here are some photos from race day. Be kind. I make terrible faces in some of them.

UPDATE #2:

A quick note to mention Gary Bering.

He was my walking pal from about the 22.5 mile point until just after mile 25. Thanks for the conversation and comiseration (if that’s even a word).

UPDATE #3:

A bunch of people from Bellingham in the race (55, including me): read more…

Marathon Training Update

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update on my training for the Portland Marathon. Well, I haven’t stopped training and, in fact, the race is just a little over two weeks away on October 9th. I’m tapering down my training now to get rested for the race.

Things have been super busy at work and at home, so I’ll post my backlog of running diary/log entries when I get a chance.

Marathon Training - Week 10 - Day 4

Marathon Training - Week 10 - Day 3

Marathon Training - Week 10 - Day 1

Marathon Training - Week 9 - Day 4

Marathon Training - Week 9 - Day 2

Marathon Training - Week 9 - Day 1

I’ve been needing extra time to recover from the long runs the last few times, but I think that by skipping the Day 1 run altogether, I’m doing myself a disservice. So today, instead of skipping it, I just made it a little lower impact and I think it’ll help me to have better success in the other runs this week.

Marathon Training - Week 8 - Day 4

As anyone who reads this site with any regularity can see, I’m not the fastest bloke on the planet. That’s no problem for me, but it led to a funny exchange during my 14 mile run.

Guy On The Trail: “That’s a good pace you’ve got there. Not trying to kill yourself or anything.”

Me: “Well, I’ve got ten miles left.”

Guy: “How many total?”

Me: “Fourteen.”

Guy: “Oh, so you are trying to kill yourself!”

After the first 6.1 miles, I ran back by my house and picked up my sister-in-law’s boyfriend, Shane who ran the last 7.9 miles with me. (Here’s a pic of Shane and Holly, Betsy’s sister.)

Marathon Training - Week 8 - Day 1

Marathon Training - Week 7 - Day 4

12 miles is a long way. Ran it today (Monday) instead of on Sunday, as I normally would, because we were out of town and it was 90+ degrees where we were.

Marathon Training - Week 7 - Day 3

Marathon Training - Week 7 - Day 1

Marathon Training - Week 6 - Day 4

Marathon Training - Week 6 - Day 2?

Marathon Training - Week 5 - Day 4

I missed the Day 3 run on Friday due to work…again.

Marathon Training - Week 5 - Day 2

I missed the Day 1 run yesterday due to work. Wasn’t going to miss today’s 5 miler, though.

Marathon Training - Week 4 - Day 4

Taking the week off seemed to work out well. I finished today with less pain than after the 7 mile run, and I felt like I still had some gas in the tank when I finished. Next week is 10 miles. We’ll see how that goes.

Marathon Training - Week 4 - Day 3

Ran without the Forerunner again. I think I run faster with it.

Marathon Training - Week 4 - Day 2

Marathon Training - Week 4 - Day 1

Felt good to get out there again. Tomorrow will be a little more fun, as I shoot for 5 miles. Yay!

Marathon Training - Week 4

Ok, a quick update. Week 4 of my training should’ve started on July 5th. However, I was traveling out of town all week and it cramped my ability to keep up with my training as well as I would’ve liked. I did run about 5 miles one of the days that I was out of town, but I skipped both the 3 mile runs and I still haven’t run the 8 mile, which I was supposed to run on Sunday. It’s tough to run 8 miles when you’re traveling from 5:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Needless to say, I’m a little behind.

Fortunately, I had an extra week difference between when I started training and what the schedule called for. I had intended to double up Week 5 and just do it twice, but I think what I’ll actually end up doing is stretching Week 4 out over two weeks. This’ll hopefully do two things. First, it’ll give my knee a shot at getting better before I try to attempt 8 miles. Also, it’ll keep me from over-exerting myself trying to just overcome the gaps I left in my training. I think this’ll be good, because I don’t want to injure myself and not be able to finish my training. Anyway, watch for the real Week 4 to start tomorrow (Tuseday, July 12th).

Marathon Training - Week 3 - Day 4

I forgot to charge my Forerunner before today’s run, so I simply ran for a little over 70 minutes and figured that was close enough as I pretty consistently average around a 10 minute mile. I also ran with my brother-in-law and our pace over the distances that I knew for sure were way ahead of that pace. My knee is killing me.

Marathon Training - Week 3 - Days 2 & 3

I’m still fighting the Iliotibial Band problems, hence the crappy performance on Wednesday. I tried to rest and stretch Thursday and Friday, and ran a little later in the day on Friday. I was a little slow, and had some pain, but it was manageable. I’m going to try running with a brace on Sunday. This morning, I couldn’t even move without my knee hurting terribly. I think I aggravate it at night by turning over in my sleep and torquing it in funny ways. Maybe I should sleep with a brace on.

Baseball 2005

Marathon Training - Week 3 - Day 1

Marathon Training - Week 2 - Day 4

Yes, I skipped day 3 (a 3 mile run). I didn’t skip today, though.

Marathon Training - Week 2 - Day 2

Marathon Training - Week 1 - Day 4

Marathon Training - Week 1 - Day 3

Marathon Training - Week 1 - Day 2

Woohoo! Today was the first time we ran/jogged more than 3.2 miles. It’s a new milestone. One we’ll be breaking on Sunday.

I’ve really gotta figure out what to do about shin splints. They’re really getting painful and I’d rather not have to run with them the entire time.

Marathon Training - Week 1 - Day 1

Preliminary Training - Stage 10 - Day 10

Today was the last day of the preliminary training for us. Kelly was sick (breathing like “a fat kid with asthma”), so we only jogged for a limited time. Starting Tuesday, we switch to distance goals and get a LOT more agressive about increasing distance. In a few short weeks, we’ll be running 8 miles on Sundays.

Preliminary Training - Stage 10 - Day 9

Preliminary Training - Stage 10 - Day 8

Preliminary Training - Stage 10 - Days 3 thru 7

Sorry. I’ve been busy and haven’t been keeping up with the postings. Here’s an update that catches backup up to today’s run.

Preliminary Training - Stage 10 - Day 2

Preliminary Training - Stage 10 - Day 1

Preliminary Training - Stage 9 - Day 4

Today was the last day to include some walking in the training. Starting on Tuesday, it’s all jogging/running the entire time. For the next two weeks (Stage 10 of the Preliminary Training) it’s 30 minutes of jogging 4 days a week, and then, on June 7th we start the first week of the actual training program.

I’ve noticed a lot of changes since I started this process two months ago. Since I started tracking my training progress on this site after my knee injury, I’ve lost nearly 7 pounds. I’ve gained a ton of muscle in my legs since then as well. Back then, I was only jogging for 5 minutes at a stretch and I couldn’t fathom how I was going to jog for 30 minutes consecutively. What a difference a month makes.

I also need much less sleep and although my work stress has increased considerably, I’m generally able to cope with it better.

Preliminary Training - Stage 9 - Day 3

Preliminary Training - Stage 9 - Day 2

Preliminary Training - Stage 9 - Day 1

Preliminary Training - Stage 8 - Day 4

My sister Kelly rejoined me today and should be with me throughout the rest of my training.