Ella says...

"Mom, I'm glad God sent me here to live with you."

Me too, Ella!!! 

Runner's High...

Thought I would write down a few of my thoughts after finishing my longest run so far of marathon training...

*Using the port a pot at a construction site.  Hope they don't mind.  I felt a little guilty, but I was also on the verge of peeing my pants.

*Having the bike path all to myself, rocking out to my ipod, twirling around, thinking I'm a sadist for loving this so much. 

*Love looking at all of the birds out and their brilliant colors.  I also saw several deer and, of course, some gray squirrels out running around.

*I love the pace of training runs.  I like being able to stop every 7-8 miles and refuel.

*Enjoying my chocolate flavored Gu.  I used to dread going on long runs and needing to eat this stuff, but since Mike introduced me to the chocolate flavor I look forward to taking my gels! 

*Complimenting the people in my head as they walk, run or ride by me.  La la la...  :)  Hey, the post is entitled runner's high.  I was happy! 

*Thankful that the weather pretty much held out for me today.  It was a little misty, but no downpours.  Whew!  I've been caught in some pretty nasty weather during my long runs.

*So far I've done all of my long runs alone during this training process.  Believe it or not I was actually looking forward to the time today.  It's not often that I get to be alone with my thoughts and my music.

*Lovin' the new downloads on my ipod, an eclectic mix of indie rock, old school rap, and bluegrass.

I'm feeling proud now that I finished my 20 miles.  Woo-hoo!!!  Just scarfed down some left over pizza and a coconut water.

* Feeling disappointed in myself when I started shuffling along and my time was not as fast as I would have liked, then reminding myself that I'm out there running with a healthy body so I need to be grateful, not discouraged.

*Seeing a friendly, familiar face along the way.  As I was running through campus I saw Stephanie.  She said she wanted to be like me.  Hmph.  I want to be like her!

***This post was written on March 10th.  I've gotten into a bad habit of writing posts and then not publishing.  Can you tell?  I'm just publishing away right now!  Grammar be damned!  :)  It was good to read this post over again.  I'm getting ready to do another long run soon and it can be intimidating going into it.  I'll try to remember the highlights and not the fact that I didn't want to do a single thing after this last run besides lay horizontal! 

Sometimes a Great Notion

A while back my book club chose this novel.  I haven't been reading as much  lately, but I fell in love with this one.  Can you do that?  I think you can if you're a book nerd.  I think I might have given it a few hugs too.  Some passages read like a love story to Oregon.  As a native, I could hear, smell and taste some of the scenes he was describing.  Kesey also captures the culture of this area so well.  The writing is incredible.  Check it out!

Sugar Cane Train

I was hoping to learn a little history during our ride on the sugar cane train.  Unfortunately, I couldn't hear a darn thing the announcer was saying.  I was a little disappointed about that, but it was still fun to take a ride on an old train like this one. 

More Sunshine...Why Not?

 Audrey wearing her sister's sunglasses and lookin' cute

 I told Mike to try and get a nice picture with me and the kids.  He was pretty proud of himself when he came over and showed me this.  Thanks a lot, Mike. 

 That's more what I had in mind!

 Just another Dave in paradise...

 Yet another flattering picture taken by my husband.  He was really enjoying his role as photographer. 

 Will prepares for his first snorkeling adventure

 The snorkelers

 Lovin' the water!

 Doesn't this look dreamy?

 My turn with the camera.  For some reason Mike was wearing my shades.  Ha, ha, except for I think he looks pretty cute in this picture.  I should have waited till he was bending over or had food in his mouth!

 Kristin and the kids livin' it up

 Kristin and I waiting to be seated for my birthday dinner.  Woo-hoo!

 Sisters in coordinating outfits thanks to Carolyn

 A birthday coupon from my in-laws.  Carolyn has taken me shopping several years in a row now.  I love that birthday tradition!  :)

 I like how the sunlight is shining on Will in this picture

 Ella with the bow from one of my presents in her hair

 Posing just a little bit

 Carolyn and Dave with Audrey

Carolyn brought the birthday banner all the way from Oregon.  It was fun to celebrate in Hawaii!!!

As Told to Me by Will...

"Mom, you're specialer than ice cream."

Awwwwwwww...

A Little Sunshine for You...Aluminum Man in Maui

 Leave it to Mike to find a race for us to do on vacation!  Wish I would have worn MY sunglasses.  Yipes!  Let's just say I didn't sleep a lot while I was on vacation!

 Kristin looking studly

 Woo-hoo!  Where's the WATER????

 Whew!

 Mike won this awesome potholder after the race.  Now I need to put him to work in the kitchen! 

 This is gorgeous! 

 Could be a postcard, right?

Man, I stink at this blogging business!  We went on vacation to Maui in October and I hardly wrote about it.  I found this post and thought I might as well put it up here.  We need some sunshine around here right now!  Most of the pics above are from our race, The Aluminum Man.  It was a 3/4 mile swim in the ocean plus a 5 mile run after that.  I was debating about the race even as we were driving down the road to the start.  I get a little anxious about swimming with big groups of people in open water.  It turned out to be amazing!  Beforehand, we all gathered on the beach in a large circle.  One of the race directors talked about the spirit of aloha.  It was pretty special to be out there and doing a race that seemed to consist mostly of people from the area.  Thanks to Michael for making this happen and incorporating some aloha into our vacation!  Also, thanks to Dave and Carolyn for watching our three kiddoes while we were off swimming and running!