my october table

I love my house, too!

Trick or Treating is so much fun! I love all the little kids and big kids who come to my door. Just a minute ago a family had a little boy who walked away from my house and said, "I love this house!!" Did he like our orange lights? Or the cute "trick or treat" sign? Maybe he liked my daughter's cat jack-o-lantern.....or maybe the happy face jack-o-lantern that had put out moments before. He might have liked the HUGE pot of purple and yellow mums that our neighbors gave us, or maybe he just liked the giant spider peeking out from under the mum. I don't know. Maybe he just likes bracelets and mini packs of swedish fish. Anyway, when a three year old says he loves something, you know he really means it. As he was walking away, I called out to him, "I love it, too!"

I'm here!

Yikes! I know it's been several weeks since I posted, but since I got the "nod" from my sister Heidi over at Everday Cookies
(http://www.everyday-cookies.blogspot.com/ ),
I thought I better say something new here.

This is supposed to be sort of a running-mom blog....sometimes more "running" blog, sometimes more "mom" blog. I've pretty much been running now for about 2 1/2 years. I was a runner in high school and college, but took a long hiatus after having my 3rd and 4th children. I developed asthma and thought I couldn't run any more. I am so thankful for Advair, which got me breathing again; and for Kathy Smith walking tapes/CD's -- she's great!; and then for Curves, which got me a little stronger all over; and last but certainly not least, I am thankful for my friends who I started running with.....and we just kept going and going. We call ourselves the Trail Mix----we run on a beautiful TRAIL, and we are a serious MIX of from all different walks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_mix

We run almost every day---well, someone from the group is there everyday----rain or shine----in the heat and humidity and in the frigid cold. Well, I'm not usually there on Sundays as I go to church instead, and my attendence on Saturdays is a little spotty, too. I don't like leaving my family when they're all home.

We've run in some 5K races and in a couple of Half Marathons, and some of us even trained for and ran a marathon---the Disney Marathon---that was a blast!
Here's an old blog on that--although a little jumbled in the AOL to Google transfer: http://nc-mom-on-the-run.blogspot.com/2008/01/disney-marathon.html

We've been training this fall for a Half Marathon in November and for another in January (the one at Disney!! I think 12 of us are signed up!). Today was our last long run (15 to 17 miles)---only I didn't run it.

I've had walking pneumonia for over two weeks and just can't seem to shake it. I took TEN WHOLE DAYS OFF from any running or exercise and am on my second round of antibiotics and I'm still sick. I walked the trail today (3 miles) with a friend and was huffing and puffing and coughing. I can't believe that two weeks ago I RAN nearly 15 miles!!

Life can certainly throw you some curve balls.
I think my neice got one last week, too. She was just diagnosed with mono--Get well soon, e.beck.artist.daughter.!

My Trail Mix friends all reminded me this week that we're training FOR LIFE and not just for one race. And yesterday, on my first day back to walk, 4 friends walked with me, instead of their usual run. Wow, that meant a lot. (I'm still way happy for the others who chose to run! It was great fun cheering for them as the pack ran by!).

So, sometimes we have to slow down and be spectators. Or be the receiver of the chicken soup (thanks go to a dear friend who was my supplier this week!). Or take naps instead of do whatever it was that we thought we had to do.

With four kids, my life is pretty busy to say the least, but I have a dear Godsend of a husband who takes care of me and I don't think I'm too hard on myself. So how in the world did I get so sick? You know, it doesn't really matter....maybe it was just "because", or maybe God wanted me to just slow down a bit.

It has been really hard for me to slow down. I have two high school age boys finishing up their soccer season, and a middle school daughter on the volleyball team. And then there's #4 in elementary school who needs a little help every afternoon with homework, and someone to listen to her play her songs on the piano. Dinner, laundry, yardwork, cleaning, beds, parties, friends over, bills, cooking meals for others, cooking snacks for school, volunteering, school activities,etc, etc, etc. We all have our lists don't we? And, I must say, that daughter #4 did have a fabulous birthday party last weekend for 15---we carved pumpkins, played, decorated Halloween buckets, and frosted cupcakes. I'll post a photo soon.

We've also had a lot of fun this week getting "Boo-ed" and "Boo-ing". See a sample here:
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/halloween/l/blhalbooed.htm
Ring and run does really get your heart pumping! I think that 7 houses on our street have been "boo-ed" so far!

I also went to a very moving funeral this week for a neighbor who passed away. She was an amazing woman. I didn't know her very well, but wish I had. She was a dear friend to a close neighbor on my strret. You can read her blog here:
http://diaryofadyingmom.blogspot.com/

So, what did I learn this week?

**Each day is a gift.

**Slow down a little bit.

**Friends are wonderful.

**It's amazing and exciting watching your children grow, and learn, and mature.

**A loving husband is truly God's best gift.

**How to pray a little more specifically for my children.

**We need to take care of ourselves and also to take care of each other.

**I don't really care for the slow cooker recipe: "There's more in the kitchen."

**Eventually you might let your daughter wear dresses that have spaghetti straps.

**There's a cool new show called Robinson Crusoe - the season premier movie was on tonight.

**I miss my friends more than my running when I can't run.

A lovely morning

I had a beautiful cool, sunny and breezy morning for our hard day workout of 10 half mile repeats.  There were 5 of us ladies out on the track this morning running around in circles.  The purpose of the half mile repeats is to train your body to maintain a certain pace.  Today's pace for the shorter distance of 800 meters, is slightly faster than the pace we plan to maintain for our half-marathon.  It was a good mental exercise though.  It was actually comfortable enough that we were able to converse a good deal.  When you can't talk, you know you're running pretty hard, by the way.

I'll be heading off on a college road trip with just my older son and me.  I'm thinking a couple of book tapes might be good.  I'm not sure if a 17 year old and a 40 - something year old can talk for 10 hours straight.  We'll take turns driving, so I know they'll be some snoozing going on.  I'm bringing my running shoes.

Oh, and did you know that Tuesday was officially the first day of Autumn?  Is that supposed to be capitalized?  Are you supposed to end a paragraph with a question?

Hug your children

My middle school daughter lost one her classmates to cancer this week.

We've both been working through it.  It's funny how grief pops up at such random times.  I think when someone near you dies, your brain is just mulling over it constantly, and thoughts about the person that you're grieving just constantly bubble to the surface.

One thing I like about running is the time spent running you can use to either think things through,or talk them over with your trail mates.  Friday was our long day.  We were supposed to do 12 1/2, but ended up at 14 miles as we went out a little too far.  It was good. And it was good to spend that time with friends. Talking.  Laughing.  Sweating.

 

Great running quote

Today I was reading a local sports magazine and ran across a great quote about running.  I felt it was blog worthy:

"There's a secret, a secret that every runner knows.  I start at point 'A.' I end at point 'A.' And somewhere in between point 'A' and point 'A' is where I find ... the point."

~Amy Kidder-Hayes

Challenging running week for me this week.  After 6 miles on Monday and Tuesday, a group of us (trying to follow the Galloway plan) decided to do half mile repeats.  (That's running way harder than usual and taking a 3 minute walking break in between.) We were supposed to do 6-8, but after 5 in excessive humidity, we decided that maybe that was enough.  Two of us ended up at the track for 5 more quarter miles at faster than race pace.  Needless to say, I was pretty tired and ended up with stomach cramps that night (dehydration?).  Not sure why, but I ended up doing a long run on Thursday--9 1/2 miles.  I had cramps that night, too.  Decided on Friday morning to take it easy and only walked three miles.

I was asking myself and my friends on Thursday, what we 30,40, and 50 - something aged women were doing running as hard as we could??  I guess the quote above is apropos.

Rest Day

Today was a rest day---in preparation for my 9 miler tomorrow. Well, we didn't rest completely....we ran an easy 3 miles.

Tomorrow's run  will be my first long run in the new  training plan I've got going to prepare my next half marathon in November. It will be my third half marathon.

Do you remember Yael Naim.  Her song got popular with the new slim Apple computer.  I loved that video----remember, the one where her apartment walls fall away to reveal that she's floating in a lake in an "out-doorsy scene.

Check that one out again here: YouTube - yael naim new soul clip

Well, this evening I stumbled across this new video compilation with a new song she's done, "Far, far."  Now that's a good song to sing on the night before a long run!

Check it out here: YouTube - Yael Naim - Far Far