I took some time to ponder the nature of long distance, endurance running. It is about so much more than the physical motion of putting one foot in front of another for an extended period of time. It is the prep, what do I wear? It is the nutrition, what do I eat and when do I eat it? It is the mental, how can I convince myself to keep going when it is against everything I want to do? What do I think about for that long?

After two sessions, we figured we had created enough blocks for the drool box so we decided to sneak out early. I don’t know that I would call the event a success for our little one, although she did find a different way to explore the blocks than most of the other kids. We look forward to participating in the event next year when presumably, putting the blocks in her mouth won’t be of paramount interest.

I honestly am so inspired by Anna (my sister) and Erin’s (Andy’s sister) persistence and commitment to train for this 50K that I am starting to feel like we are really going to do this thing. The other good news is that for some strange reason, defying all logic, after our two hours and twenty five minutes of running on some steep hills yesterday morning, my hip feels a lot better today. Go figure, I was supposed to avoid hills.

Both women (actually girls), at 16-years of age, are attempting to be the youngest person to sail, solo, non-stop, unassisted around the world. Jessica is mid-route and just rounded Cape Horn today. Abby is due to set out this weekend.

It has been a heck of a year. 2009 started with wedding festivities for my sister, Anna and her now husband, Derik. On April 28, 2009, Belén Rose entered our lives and changed them forever! I cannot believe so much wonderful change can happen in one year.

When my name was called, I walked down the makeshift aisle in the football stadium turned ceremonial meeting place in my black gown to receive my college diploma. For years to come, I would have dreams that I had signed up for a class that I forgot to attend and wake up thinking it had never really happened…I hadn’t really graduated. The fact that in three days I could not dig up a photo proving it did take place made me start to wonder again. But it is true, on this day, almost exactly ten years ago, I graduated from the University of Idaho with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics.

Because I desperately needed a stress-relieving, feel-better-about-myself run and because we were kicking off our 50K training schedule, Anna and I decided to brave the snow and head out on a Saturday afternoon run. To show how motivated we were, we initially planned to run at the YMCA at 9:30. I nearly choked my daughter by shooting Vitamin D liquid too quickly down her throat which traumatized both me and her so I texted that I was not going to be able to run until we had both recovered. That led to me wanting to take a nap with Belén because I was too nervous if I let her sleep on her own she might die because the Vitamin D was in her lungs or something. Which led to waking up around 12:30 starving. Which led to being lazy on the couch and then Andy going and getting us BURGERS and TATER GEMS (seriously, like that is going to help the situation…but yes, I ate EVERY LAST BITE!) which led to me delaying the run yet another 45 minutes so I could digest a bit. And we finally met up at Anna’s house around 3:15pm.

In lieu of the typical prayer, Ray, Andy’s dad, gave the prayer. He went around the table and expressed why he was thankful for each one of us. At first I thought I might be successful in fending off the tears, but by the time he got to my dad, I recognized it was going to be impossible. By the time he made it to Andy, Eileen had added a box of Kleenix to the crowded table and we were all dabbing our eyes.

I was really disappointed that I had to work both Saturday and Sunday last weekend. I truly treasure my weekend time with both Alecia and Belén. When I came into the office yesterday I ran into my acting manager and she said, “So you are not coming in tomorrow… correct?” I was [...]

It was exciting times at the mall when Andy and Belén saw an on-foot pursuit of a shoplifter near Dillards.