Marathon Training: Day Twenty Seven

Double Digits.

This morning's run was an 11 miler and I was solo. My training partner, Kelsey, is out of town and I was on my own. Some observations from the road:

1. I love my Ipod. I don't know what I am going to do on race day without it. The race rules say no tunes. Waaaah. Nothing picks you up like the right song at the right time. Today, I smiled when I listened to "Gary Come Home" off of the Spongebob album. (don't ask). There were a couple other more normal songs that made me pick up my feet a little faster.
2. Rain feels good. It rained a little bit around mile 9. Washed all the salt right off.
   
3. My knees complain after about 8 miles. Not a lot, just a little. I started taking glucosamine this week and I'm hoping it kicks in soon. I felt a little bit like an old lady, standing in the "joint health" section of Walmart, looking for the stuff. Whatever.
4. Reeses Peanut Butter Cups are a good post run fuel. I'm just sayin.

It's a bit daunting to think that race day will be over twice the distance that I just ran, but I'm trusting the plan. There are still 15 more weeks to get me to where I need to be.

Baby Froggies

Dude.

Check out these baby frogs. Keep in mind, that is the hand of a six and a half year old. Look at how many they caught.

An Important Letter

Dear Family,

I would like to apologize for buying the cheap toilet paper. It was a momentary lapse in judgment. Once these 8 double rolls are gone I'll pick up something a little...fluffier. We can get through this together.

Love, Mom

Another "I'm Not Dead" Post

I'm alive, just not blogging.

I've been up to my eyeballs in Vacation Bible School decor and painting my head off. I love every minute of it, this is my one chance to be artsy fartsy. I've got paint under my fingernails, in my hair, and unbeknownst to me (until a look in the mirror), on my face.

I'll be back soon, I promise. And not in my painting clothes. I promise.

Wheeeeeee!

Yesterday Was Gemma's Day

She's three! I love this age. Every emotion is felt with abandon. As each birthday gift was opened, it was welcomed with a squeal, or a giggle, or even a little dance. She had two cupcakes before dinner. Pink princess cupcakes. And a birthday perk? You don't have to share the beaters.

Father's Day

What?! You don't have a Father's Day gift for that special Dad in your life? Never fear. Just buy him a Mandle.

Kathy Stopped By

Look what she brought me.
Try not to be jealous.

I'm Here. Really I Am.

Oh yeah, that's right, I have a blog. I guess it might be a good idea to update it once in awhile. Preferably more than once a week. No one wants to hear excuses of how busy it's been, blah, blah, blah. School's out. Vacation Bible School is getting closer by the day. (I'm decorations so we've been painting away). And now our town is flooded.

We are high, dry, and safe but so many of our friends have been affected. Basements are full of yicky, sludgy, river water. The water is starting to recede and it won't be long and people will be able to get back into their homes to see what kind of clean up is going to be needed. I feel so helpless to do anything. I want to throw on a pair or rubber gloves and grab a bottle (or seven) of bleach and get in there and start scrubbing.

Oh yeah, the kids.

So I've been doing what I can, letting my friends' kiddos come play here so they can take care of business without dragging their little ones through flood water. What a mess. It ended up being worse than they predicted so most people weren't quite as ready as they needed to be, but I keep hearing stories upon stories of the water being "this close" to the main floor but peaking just in time and not damaging more than the basement.

Watching the flooding was surreal and scary. You can't stop an angry river and it raged and crashed out of it's banks worse than it ever has before. This is the bike trail bridge. A little freaky.

If you look closely in this next photo, you can see the top of a back stop right in front of that building. No baseball games for awhile unless you brought scuba gear.


This next one isa shot down main street. We have movies rented from Family Video, the brick building on the left. I hope they forgive our late fees. I'm not wading through that mess just to return The Land Before Time. I put a little yellow arrow to point out where the river usually lives. It's almost a half a mile out of it's banks.

You can see that the water is receding, even in this photo. As I stood at the edge, I felt an overwhelming desire to release a dove. What we need now is a big old rainbow.

An Introduction

We weighed our options. The Beast was beginning to make some noises that weren't characteristic of the old boy (girl?). I guess I never really had a gender in mind for our vehicle. We decided that it was better to be proactive on the transportation front than to wait until the big red clunker kicked the bucket and left us stranded. So we made another strategic Ebay move.

I give you The Great White.


Eight years newer than The Beast, The Great White rides so much smoother than I knew was possible. It is identical to our previous van, another airport shuttle, but now with improvements. We moved up from a Ramada to an Embassy Suites. Why does that crack me up so much?

So until we get rid of, *ahem* I mean find a loving home for The Beast, we have enough vehicle power parked in front of our house to transport 24 people. I take that back. The Beast has two broken seat belts, so 22 people. But if we include the XB in the fleet, technically we have space for 27 people.

Now that is something right there.

And our neighbors must love us for taking up all the street space on the block because obviously these things don't fit in a garage. But you should see me maneuver it though the bank drive thru. Skills. That right there is skills.

Marathon Training: Day One

It begins.

I didn't get off to the best start. Our family is in the middle of fighting the War On Terror, the terror of a nasty stomach bug that leaves you moaning on the couch for days. I just came off of a four day battle, surviving solely on toast. Toast is not necessarily the best nutrition for running. The schedule called for 6 miles this morning. I ran the first three with Kelsey, then peetered out to a walk for mile 4, sending her on to finish strong. A well placed porta potty saved my life, then I ran the rest of the six. I foresee spending the rest of the day caring for a sweet baby who is spending the first few days as a one year old, sick. This motherhood gig is quite a marathon itself.