Walking Vs. Running

Staring back in high school, I've always tried to do some form of exercise.  I've tried various types of exercise, from running, walking, videos, and/or classes at a gym.  I seem to do what the spirit moves me to do at any given time.  There are days when I want to exercise, but more often, I do it because I know I will feel better when I am done and because I want to be healthy.  Lately, I've chosen running as my method of exercise.  But there were days when I really didn't want to run.  On those days, I would tell myself, "Well, at least you can get out here and do it.  Some people aren't able."  And I would just keep going.  Now that I'm having to take a break from running, I see the value in it even more.  I am thankful that my lack of running should only be a short time.  The walking is okay, but I'm surprised how much I miss running.  When I first heard that I would have to walk, I thought, "Oh good, an excuse to slow down and go slow."  But now, after a couple weeks of walking, I'm looking forward to getting the green light to run again.  Once again, I am thankful that I can walk or run.  And when I take up running again, I doubt I will take it for granted.

Sam Turned 4!

Little Sam is not so little anymore.  He's getting to be such a big boy, sometimes I can't believe it.  His birthday was May 12, and we celebrated it with our family.  I look at him now and see how he has gotten taller.  He is able to do more for himself.  He talks a lot more.  And he wants to know how everything works.  That's just Sam. 
For his birthday, I had my run in the morning, and then the afternoon we focused on celebrating for Sam.  My parents were in town and Aunt Debbie joined us as we went to the zoo.  It was a beautiful, sunny day.  The boys really love riding the zoo train, so that was part of our day too.  Later that day we went out to eat at McMenamens.  The boys love the tator tots!  We were able to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine even more.  After that, we came home and had cake and opened presents.  I think Sam had a good day.  Here's a look back at Sam over the years.

Birth

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday

3rd Birthday

4th Birthday

Hippie Chick 2012

Last Saturday, May 12, my friend Hannah and I set out to run a 1/2 marathon.  It started last fall, when I decided to sign up for a 1/2 marathon.  I had never run that far.  I guess I felt like after the Hood to Coast run, I wanted to push myself to do something I hadn't done before.  I also knew it would motivate me to keep running.  In December I started my training early and gradual.  As the weeks went on, the miles went up.  The long mile runs (8, 9, 10, 11) were tough, but it felt good to have a goal and be training for something.  As I shared this with my friend Hannah, she also decided to sign up.  We had fun sharing our ups and downs of training.  And then it was the day of the race.  It was sunny and not too warm.  We arrived with not a lot of time to spare.  It was a quick trip to the Honey Buckets, and then we were off.  It was a beautiful race through the Hillsboro countryside.  The first few miles weren't too bad.  It was around mile 7 or 8 that I was starting to wish we were done.  At mile 10 I hit a wall.  I really wanted to walk, but we kept running, only walking when we stopped to drink our water.  The last 3 miles, the conversation was quiet as we focused on finishing.  It was tough, I won't say it was a breeze, but I feel like the training paid off.  As we rounded the final corner and into the stadium, it felt so good to have achieved this goal.  We were greeted by my family.  It was a great moment, one I will never forget. 

Pre-Race & Shiny with Sunscreen

Coming Across the Finish Line

We Are Done!  We Did It!

Cooling Down

Broken

Two Saturdays ago, the weather was warm and beautiful.  It was the nicest weather we'd had all year.  We decided to go to the park and have a picnic, maybe even do a short hike.  It was just a great day to be outside.  So after church, we headed to Washington Park to enjoy the great outdoors.  The lunch was yummy, and the boys had so much fun playing.  Daniel even made friends with a little girl.  He invited her over to our table for brownies.  She seemed to like that.  After a couple of hours, we packed up our things.  I was waiting at the picnic table while Jeff took stuff to the car.  I knew there was some kind of problem when he came back without the backpack for Simon.  He walked over and said our window was broken, smashed is more accurate.  He asked me if anything valuable was in there.  I said my purse.  He said, oh yeah, that's gone.  We immediately went into crisis mode, calling our bank and credit card company.  As the realization of what had happened on that beautiful day started to sink in, I felt nauseous.  I quickly remembered what was in there.  Not just my wallet, but our camera.  I hadn't downloaded pics for about a month, so we lost all of our Easter pic, our pics from Daniel's first race, and some other misc. pics.  Other small items were lost too: gift cards, the boys' immunization records, lipsticks, chapstick, tissue, a diaper along with some wipes.  Of course a lot of that stuff is replaceable, but still, I felt broken inside at the thought of what some random person did to our car along with taking my personal belongings.  We walked along the sidewalk, hoping that the person would have grabbed the cash (which was only a few dollars anyway, not enough to make it worth stealing my purse and damaging our car!) and tossed the purse.  But we never found anything.  On Monday, we got the window fixed, and I began the long process of replacing the items that were lost.  I'd like to say that now everything is fine and all is well with the world again.  But honestly, I'm still angry and feel very violated.  It also makes me have less trust in humanity in general.  Some things are just wrong, and breaking into our car and taking something that didn't belong to you...well, it's just wrong.

Another Resolution Update

Here we are, the middle of April.  And I thought I would check to see how my resolutions are coming.  I figured by this point I'm either keeping them, or I'm not.  Here's a review of what they were:

1.  Run in at least 5 races this year
2.  Make a new recipe each week
3.  Update this blog more than once a month

Number 1: So far, I've run in 2 races, and I am signed up for 2 more.  I think there's a good chance I can keep this one.
Number 2:  I've not made a new recipe every week, it's been more like every other week.  When we make our menu at the beginning of each week, a couple of times I've forgotten to factor in a new recipe, so then I try to make up for it and remember it the next week.  I'll keep working on this one.  Although I think I would be more realistic to say 2-3 new recipes a month.
Number 3:  I have updated this blog more than once a month, but I was really hoping to update it at least once a week.  I think I've fallen somewhere in the middle.  I will keep trying with this one too, and see if I can update the blog more often.

Not bad, overall.  At least I've not given up on them quite yet.  I find it fun and challenging to set new goals for myself and try to keep them.

Have a good week!

Memory Lane via Skate Plaza

Last week we were at my parent's house in CDA for a few days.  Since it was raining basically the entire time, we found some fun rainy day activities to keep us busy.  One of the things we did was go to Skate Plaza and go roller skating.  This is THE place to go roller skating, or probably the only place in CDA to go roller skating.  Either way, it was so much fun, because this was a big part of my childhood growing up.  As a kid, every Thursday afternoon, my dad would take me to Skate Plaza.  It was practically empty this time of day, and I had plenty of time and space to learn how to skate.  As I got older, it was a fun jr. high activity to get dropped off there on Monday night, otherwise known as the Christian music night.  Some of the fun songs we listened to, "Tide is High" or "9 to 5" or perhaps "Whip It!" jump to mind and bring back fun memories  It was just fun to go back there now and experience this with my own kids. 

Sam Gets the Hang of It

Daniel Having Fun

Shy Sam and Myself

The Shamrock Run

This past weekend, I did what is known as the Shamrock Fun Run here in Portland.  They have a 5K, an 8K and a 15K.  I decided to challenge myself and sign up for the 15K.  I figured it would be a good run to see if I'm ready for the half marathon coming up in May.  My only worry were the hills in the 15K.  And they didn't disappoint.  The distance wasn't so hard, but the hills really worked me.  It was still so much fun though.  I've realized that I really enjoy running and doing races from time to time.  There is such an energy with all of the runners.  People are usually in good spirits and excited to be out doing something fun.  Running for me has become a way of doing something fun for myself.  I enjoy getting the exercise and trying to be healthy.  We didn't have a chance to take pictures.  At the end of the race we were all cold and wet, as it had been raining pretty hard the last 3 miles.    But I still had a lot of fun, and I hope to do it again next year!