I RAN a Half Marathon!

Here's the proof:

Pre-race. Don't be fooled by the smiles, we were FREEZING.

I'm really not in as much pain as my face shows. I was enjoying myself.

Crossing the finish line. I really ran the whole thing...didn't even walk!
All done, medals achieved!!!! (Be sure to note Anna in the picture)

All in all, it was a great day. Don't get me wrong....it was hard & painful (esp for the next 3 days), but it was fun. I had a great time, achieved a decent time that I was proud of, and proved to myself a really big lesson of determination. And while I won't do it again, I'd say I've come to enjoy running, and am looking forward to the 10k in the spring.

Survived & Thrived

I did survive the 11 miles this past weekend. It was hard & tedious, but I did it and in a totally respectable time too (for me!). So now I'm pumped for this weekend. I don't know if I'm more excited for this to be over or to actually run the race.

I said in my last running post that I would praise the merits of team & accountability after being so me-centered last time. And it's true, even though a majority of my running during this training process has been alone, the accountability to the team has been a major motivational factor. You have to achieve goals like this for yourself, but you also do it for the team because everyone is working hard, equally hard and you don't want to let anyone down. You don't want to quit on the team. And the team is a very ENCOURAGING part of the process, cheering each other on as you pass major milestones is so important.

On my 11 this past week, Keith biked the route next to me (he's resting his knee for the race b/c it's been acting up again), and it was so encouraging and comforting to have a partner through the 11 miles.

And you know, this is also the truth of our life and our faith. We must make our decision to follow Christ alone, and only Christ sees the solitude in our hearts, but we are a TEAM. We have to work hard because others are working hard around us and for the good of all of us, we can't let each other down, and we NEED to encourage each other through the milestones, both the wonderful and the tragic. God means for us to do this in life together, he means for this team of family, friends and relationships to be a physical aspect of Him, encouraging us and comforting us. And through it, though we have to do the work ourselves, we as a team of believers achieve GREAT THINGS!

I have HP7Part1. Is there a shot for that?

I cannot wait for Harry Potter 7 (Part 1) to come out. Spana and I are going to see it Nov 20th. I know, I know....but I realized that I cannot attend HP on opening night a few years back b/c I get legitimately angry at all the little pre-teens in their costumes and glasses and fake scars who cannot even appreciate the depth of the story. I'm re-reading again to get ready!

9 and counting....4 more to go!

I RAN 9 MILES THIS PAST WEEKEND! OMG...I seriously can't even believe it myself. And here's my running lesson from this week, I can do it by myself.

The hubs & I have been fighting for awhile now b/c he and some family/friends were the ones that talked me into this craziness, but I run slower than everyone else (and I'm d... proud of my achievement of taking my 13min mile to an 11)! And it's been really frustrating to see everyone else running ahead of me and thinking that I'm gonna end up running this stupid race by myself. And the few times Keith would slow down to run with me, it was really hard for him, hurt his knees, and he'd have to even stop and wait, etc.

But what has happened, that I did not expect, is that I have come into my own with this running stuff. It's no big thing for me to go out and run 5 miles by myself and love it. And this weekend, when it was time for the big 9-miler, I knew I had to do it alone, and I did, and I didn't doubt myself. And I know I can do it again, and I will be able to do it on race day (only 1.5 weeks away). By myself, along with the other 20,000 runners that will be out there that day, haha. But I know if my friends and Keith are ahead of me, they'll be cheering me on at the finish line when I ACCOMPLISH THIS BY MYSELF.

Now, all that said, tomorrow I'll write my lesson on how the accountability of our team has been a crucial part of me sticking with this, and I'll end that post with.....YOU CAN'T DO THIS ALONE!!!! Hahaha.

Other little running lessons this week:

• All those gels & goos that runners use are just straight shots of carbohydrates, and I tried them, but I read an article from a doctor who runs marathons and took this little tidbit. Try a candy bar, it has the same shot of carbs. Seriously, so during my 9-miler, I ate a mini Snickers instead of the goo, and LOVED IT! Will definitely use that trick again.
• Running pants are the best! No more distraction of constantly pulling down the shorts.
• Cheering and encouragement is the BEST! Keith drove to meet me on the last mile of my 9-miler this past weekend, and the kids were cheering in the car "Go Mommy" and "Mommy's awesome", and they even got out and ran with me in their PJ's for like 2 minutes. And it was the best motivation EVER. I booked it home the last mile b/c of that.

I'll let you know if I survive 11 this weekend.

Sloppy Joes

If you don't follow this blog, pioneer woman cooks, you're missing out on some of the best recipes EVER. So I randomly decided this week to make Sloppy Joes as one of my weekly meals (I plan my meals out for the week on Sunday before we go grocery shopping), but I knew I wanted to make them homemade, not Manwich. So I googled it, and Ree's recipe came up....which of course, I was like, duh....should've checked her sight first. Anyways, her recipe was AWESOME, but I added carrots to sneak in veggies for my kids. You just dice them and cook them in the beginning with the onions & peppers.

But so here's the best part, we're sitting down to dinner, and Delph is like "what are sloppy joes?" And I'm like, "really? I've never made you sloppy joes?" And I hadn't, Delphie had not had a basic American tradition at 7 years old! Because I'd never made them b/c I've never been a big fan of Manwich. Yet, I grew up on these things! SHE LOVED THEM. Maybe b/c the recipe was awesome. Maybe just because sloppy joes are awesome. And she commented, "I get why they call them sloppy, but why joe?" Good question, my wise sage of the 7-year-old world, good question.

Running Through The Pain

So I haven't blogged about my half-marathon training in awhile....here are the updates:

1) We are officially signed up for the race! $75 in....EACH! So there is no backing out now. Come out and support us if you want, November 13th, you can google the course online to pick a good watching spot. It's early, we start at 7:30, but no worries, I'll be running for a solid 3 hours, so come on down around 9, and I'm sure I'll still be tortoise-ing along.

2) I have shin splints! UGH. If you've ever had them, they are EXTREMELY painful. And you can get all kinds of advice, ice them, brace them, tap your foot, stretch, etc. But the only way to make them go away is to STOP the activity that caused them and let them rest. But I can't and I'm not. So I do all the things mentioned above and I run anyway. It's been terribly painful, and gotten better at the same time. I did lower my training in the past two weeks to try to give them some more significant rest, and that seems to have helped. I only have to run a 10k today.....ONLY, hahaha! But this week I've got to pick it back up for 9er next weekend. The race is only 3 weeks away, so I'm just gonna suck it up and RUN THROUGH THE PAIN (sounds like a good sermon in there somewhere....maybe I'll blog about that as a devotional later.)

3) I've officially reached another mile stone, last weekend we ran 8 miles. So proud of myself, really happy I accomplished it.....and it was the most miserable experience of my life. Seriously! In being retrospective on this whole race thing, I can say honestly, that I'm pretty proud of myself and have learned that I don't totally dislike running. I can see myself continuing to go out and run 3 miles 3-4 times a week, with maybe a long 5-miler on the weekends. I could even see myself training annually for a 10k, BUT I will NEVER do something of this length again. It's so much pressure, our lives are already insanely busy with two young kids, jobs & tons of activities. But each week we also have to fit in hours & hours of running. And then when you do a long run, you're wiped out for days! I literally couldn't walk normally for two days after the 8 miles. So I'm going through with it, but that's it for me, cross it off the bucket list. No Marathons or Triathalons for this gal. Ironically, after running the miserable 8 miles, I went out this week and had the best run of my life, 5 miles faster than ever (for me) and no pain.

4) I'm a sucker for the gear. As you saw in an earlier post, I already have my armband for music, my water bottle belt. And now I'm using energy gels! I need some cold weather running pants, and I get totally a ga-ga about all the great athletic clothes when I walk in REI or Dicks. I love the idea that I could walk into Starbucks on a Saturday morning in my cool athletic clothes and look totally hard core like the other runners I've seen in there in the past. To bad when I'm actually running, I look nothing like that.

I vow to listen

So, I've wanted to write since I was about a senior in high school. When I first went to college, that was my direct goal, I studied English, read all the classic literature, wrote & edited for the paper. But after time, that gave way to other goals. I'm happy with all the things I've done, especially being a teacher and my work now at WEAG. But I still want to write.

These days I dream about my various projects....I'd love to write fiction for teenage girls (not the Gossip Girl stuff), but cool, relevant stories with Christian messages. Or I'd love to write theology books, and die waiting to be published in the oversaturated market. And I have this great idea about a funny devotional book for the working/soccer/crazed/messy house mom, who can't even find a time to have devotions.

But that's the background to my title for this post. I was having a conversation with a friend the other day, and this gal is so much fun. She's got a colorful personality, has great stories and is just really fun to talk to. And I got to thinking, the kinds of conversations I have with her are the kinds of conversations that people write into their books to help make points. You know, all good writers have tons of stories in their books that help them express what they are getting at.

And then I realized, I'm 35, and I'm totally lacking in having paid attention to those conversations, those stories for my whole life. I don't listen enough. I mean, I listen well enough to respond back, even to offer good advice, but I don't listen enough for poignant moments, for conversations or comments that are so good and meaty, that you want to go home and record them for future use.

Not just so I can be a good writer, but so that I can be a better friend, person, example to my kids.............I vow to be a better listener!