Catching Up Blogging

Well I have sort of slipped out of my good habit of keeping the blog up to date. It was by accident, but certainly Ms. Emaleigh has had her hand in it as well. I can’t complain too much. I don’t mind spending most of my free time answering to her every need. But that doesn’t leave too much time for updating my blog or even my facebook status for that matter. I believe my facebook status right now says “I hate running…” I wrote that three weeks ago, or was it four, when my training for the San Antonio Rock and Roll Half Marathon began. Half Marathon, that’s 13.1 miles, not 6 as my friend thought last year when he signed up for it. The last thing I really blogged about was my trip to Florida to see precious Zoe. Well what you might not know is that since then I:

*went to Colorado to spend an extended weekend with my girlfriends Trish and Abby. The three of us, and Emaleigh (see above), flew into Denver and after a great dinner at The Black Pearl, we headed south and west to Del Norte, Colorado where my folks have a retirement log house. Del Norte was perfect for a getaway. With a population of 1,674 down-home folks according to the Chamber of Commerce, Del Norte was exactly what we needed to slow down and spend time with each other rather than running around each other without getting the opportunity to visit. We had some ideas about adventures we might take while we were there, but ultimately, slowing down and relaxing at home seemed to fit the bill. We did spend a day in the shops on Grande searching for deals and we also had lunch twice at The Organic Peddler / Peace of Art Café. Infact, if you are ever in the area it is a really sweet place to stop in. The building is really unique corkwood construction. My mom kept saying that and I was thinking, OK, OK…but it was worth talking about as much. Oh yeah. I forgot to mention something. Ivy was present as well. She so generously raced from spending time with me in Florida to get to Del Norte in time to de- winterize (i.e. kill flies, dust, move or hide mouse traps and turn on water and electricity) the house so it would be ready for us. I am certainly thankful for that as I know the last thing we wanted to do upon arrival at 1 a.m. was deal with those sorts of pests. Mom likes to take care of me still. I am pretty lucky for it. It’s very nice to have friends like these. I hope we get to do this kind of visit many more times.

*started training for the half marathon. I DO NOT hate running anymore. Now I hate being injured from running and wish my knee would hurry up and get better so I could get back out there and run some more. I have turned a new leaf as far as running is concerned. But I think I will always need the support of a running group or at least for a while. I want to find softer ground to run on, like marshmallows. I have really enjoyed tracking my workouts on http://www.mapmyrun.com/. That also has been an encouragement for me. I love to go out for a run/walk and come home and map my route. Generally I have been running in the neighborhood, but on Saturdays I run with my running group. We start near the Pearl Brewery from the running store, Run Wild Sports. I started, without realizing it, with a defeatist mentality. I would start each run, first it was 1 mile then 2 and so on…thinking, “I am not a runner, I’m going to run a little bit but I am not a runner so before this is over I am going to stop and walk”. I continued like this thru the first two weeks. On the third Saturday, I ran with Catherine, the very young owner of the running store. She gently encouraged me along to rum the whole way, 3 miles, and I did it. And I think now that I may be a runner. My breathing has been fine, me knees not so much, but I have overcome my mind and I am moving on, I will run 13.1 miles come November 15.

*Found out that the Mathletes in Action event that I am on the committee for is on November 14^th. Oh No!!!! This event is awesome, it is held on the court at the AT&T Center where the Spurs play. We use the game clock and buzzer for our timed events. Wait until you hear the game buzzer at the end of complete focused silence. I wouldn’t be surprised to find several #2 pencils at the top of the AT&T Center. The Spurs Coyote always makes an appearance and entertains while we are feverishly grading tests to rank competitors and get ready for awards. The schedule of the day is identical to the official MathCounts competition. It serves as a practice test for all of the kids, grades 5-7, who will be competing in the official competition held in February. Exceptions are, we can’t begin until the visiting NBA team’s morning practice is over, and we have to be off of the floor ASAP, I mean now, not another minute by 2 p.m. It is always stressful and I am always completely drained and sore at the end of this day. It will be interesting to see how well I do on my aforementioned run the day following!!! This event has always been in October during pre-season. All mathletes and volunteers get a ticket to the game at night. This year there were no pre-season home games on a Saturday and so we are having it in regular season. Word on the street is that the NBA does not like this. Go Math!!!

*and registered Addie Belle for school, Kindergarten. Can you believe it? Addie, my big girl is starting school. She’s very excited. She already got to meet her principal at registration and on Friday August 21 we will meet her teacher. The Judson Independent School District has a very strict dress code. I have been spending some time this week buying clothes on eBay that fit the description. NOTHING that she already owns does fit into the guidelines. It is rather boring.

I have sort of been waiting to blog about anything because I wanted to accompany with photos. I think I will upload a photo only blog later.