Progress!

Week	S	M	T	W	TH	F	S
1	4	3	Rest	3	Cross Train	Rest	3
2	5	3	Rest	3	Cross Train	Rest	3
3	6	3	Rest	4	Cross Train	Rest	3
4	7	3	Rest	4	Cross Train	Rest	3
5	8	3	Rest	4	Cross Train	Rest	3
6	8	3	Rest	4	Cross Train	Rest	3
7	9	3	Rest	5	Cross Train	Rest	3
8	10	3	Rest	5	Cross Train	Rest	3
9	10	3	Rest	5	Cross Train	Rest	3
10	12	3	Rest	5	Cross Train	Rest	3
11	5	3	Rest	2	Cross Train	Rest	3
12	10	3	Rest	2	Cross Train	Rest	3

I just thought that I would give an update on half marathon training (because yesterday was a really good run!).  And last time you got to see this chart the title was Struggle when I maxed out at 6 miles.  Well yesterday we (Brianna and I) ran 10 miles (for the second time!).  That is progress!  If you would have told me 2.5 months ago that I would be running 10 miles by now, I would not believe you.

The perfect way to describe the work that I have put in is “worth it”.  People ask me if I really think it is fun.  I don’t know it isn’t really fun, like “Yay!  This is so much fun.”  But it is so rewarding and totally worth it.  It takes up a lot of time, and sometimes it is more enjoyable than others.

And I don’t mean this to brag.  By no means am I fast, or excellent.  I am happy of the work we are putting in and the reward that is coming from it.  Yesterday 10 miles took us 1:54:47, which is a 11:28 pace.  You really can do whatever you set your mind too.  Chase your dreams!!

An Enjoyable Slack!

Last night I slacked!  It was raining and 60 degrees most of the evening. I was supposed to run 3 or 4 miles, but as soon as I got in the car to leave work it started raining, but it was 71. I thought as long as it doesn’t start storming I will still run.  And by the time I got home, it looked stormy and it had dropped to 60 degrees and was raining much harder.  I lost all motivation.  I laid in bed and read for about 40 minutes, then ate dinner.  By the time dinner was done, it had quit raining but I was full and knew I wasn’t running on a stomach full of pasta.  But it was sunny and pretty with fresh rain drops on everything.  So I put on my hot pink rain boots, grabbed my camera, called the dogs and took a walk.

I went back into the woods that I have been to many, many times.  But it has been awhile since I was back there in the same sense that I was last night.  I walked to any area that my mom and I jokingly call “the enchanted forest”.  It has been a long time since I took a walk and didn’t run, since training for the half marathon is taking up so much time.  But it was really enjoyable to take it slow and look around and notice the little things that I never see while running.  “The enchanted forest”  is a really pretty little low lying valley with a creek bed running through it right between our property and my aunt’s property.  It is not a far walk back to it, maybe a little over a half mile, but yesterday the journey was so much more important than the destination.  The whole way back I stopped many times to take pictures of flowers, rain drops, the dogs, the creek.  And when I got back there it was pretty with the creek rushing and the bright green “skunk cabbage” leaves growing through last year’s dead leaves.     Romans 1:20

A Best friend!

Tomorrow is one of my best friend’s birthdays.  And yes girls and guys can be best friends and there not be anything else to it.  No we are not, never have been and (I know, never say never, but) will never “be more than friends”.  He is a best friend.  I would never say “just a best friend”, he is more than that.  He is a bother in Christ, a support system and a best friend.

I met him my senior year of high school, we had trig class together. And I didn’t really know him all that well in high school.  My most vivid memory of him, I thought he was a nut, he came to school in jeans so ripped up (they were trashed) and a brown t-shirt with 2 or 3 raccoons on.  Who wears that?  And yeah we would talk in class once in a while, because it was a small class but I didn’t really know him.  I knew who his older brother was because he wrestled with Keagan.   He was plenty nice but I never thought he would turn out to be who he is to me.

4 years later I went to a music thing at a local church where he was playing.  He is an awesome musician.  And I started talking to mutual friends of ours (Brittany and Jake) and he came over.  They were going to get wings and to a “jam night” a local bar.  I had never been there before, and never hung out with these people much, but I thought what the heck it will be fun.  I am so glad that I went.  After that we really started hanging out, pretty often.  He was looking for a church, I invited him to mine and he started regularly attending there, which was really cool, to have a friend there and hear him (I told he can sing!) from the pew behind me.

We became really good friends, hanging out in and outside of church multiple times a week, I regularly went to his shows.  It was so fun.  Then I found out in March that he was moving to Nashville in May.  This really made sad.  Many times growing up I would make a new friend and they would move away.  I never took this well, and I felt like I was reliving that.  So a week after I graduated college he moved to Nashville and I thought well he will be like the other guys I know (Keag especially) and not be good at keeping in touch.  But he really surprised me and I have the pleasure of keeping in touch with him, more than I do with hardly anyone else.  He comes home at least every few months or so, and I even got to see him in the stardom light one weekend in Nashville.

He is a friend that I know I can trust with any secret, rely on for prayer requests and know that he will always be honest with me.  I really pray that we remain friends for years to come.

Thanks for being my friend, even though you are weird, and always being there for me!  Love you like a brother!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  Looking forward to seeing you this weekend!!

Running in the Rain

“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass.  It’s about learning to run to in the Rain.”

So with this training plan, I learned not to let the cold stop me (if it is above 25 degrees).  And I am officially at the half way point of training for my half marathon, with a 9 mile run planned for this weekend and some runs throughout the week (as always).  The weather forecast for the weekend looks nice, and it looks warm for the week days, but it is supposed to rain like none stop.  Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.

I won’t run in a chilly rain, like below 65 and rainy, but if it’s warm and raining I decided that I can’t let that be an excuse, I won’t freeze, I won’t melt and skin is water proof.  Rain can be depressing and un-motivational, it can be easy to skip a run.  But that is just another lame excuse that will not help me become a better runner.  Instead I need to look at the positive aspects of running in the rain: it may just make me one of the crazy runners (yes we like beginning that), it will make me stronger (mentally and physically) and it may help others not to make excuses.  If you scroll to the first blog that I posted you will see that two of my favorite runs, happened in the rain.      “Two of my favorite runs happened during the rain, the first being the Pineapple Run with Kelly, and other being a run “around the block” with Keagan.  Before the Pineapple Run I knew the weather forecast was rain, and that sounded awful.  Kelly and I went to the running store, to get matching shirts (because that is what girls do, for team races) and we asked the guy for any tips for races in the rain and he said “you will love it” and I thought what a nut.  But he was totally right, I loved that race!”

So yes the weather forecast says rain and I am looking forward to re-learning how to run in the rain!

At what point do you really know a person?

We all warm up to others at different rates, different people interact different.  No two people are the same and therefore no two relationships are the same.  And that is wonderful.  We are all different with different things that make us “tick”.  If we were all the same, that would be very boring.  I am so glad that God is creative.  But at what point do you really know someone?  What classifies a relationship as “close”?  Are there specific elements that make you really know someone?

In pre-school/kindergarten, after playing with someone for a few hours we can decide that they are our “best-friend” and we could have a new “best-friend” the next week, or even next day.  I am happy to say that I still know my “pre-school best friends”.  Are we still friends?  Yes.  Best-friends? They are which is really cool.  Middle school, friendship become rough, at least for girls, for my brother they never were.  Him and his friends, have been, are, and I assume will be as thick as thieves.  College, it is one of the most nerve-wrecking things; will I make friends?  And from my experience, yes you make wonderful friends.  The friends I made in college are friends that I never want to lose.  Post-college, friends get jobs, move home, get married a variety of exciting life happens.  But the sad part, the hard part, is you don’t get to see them weekly or even daily anymore.  But when you do get to see them it is even more exciting!  Then after college there have been some bumpy spots again.  You rekindle friendships from people from your childhood, you become friends with people you knew all of your life (just didn’t have the privilege of yet calling them a friend) and you make new friends (work-friends, new neighbor friends, mutual friends and so on).  But what actually make someone a friend?  Is it a length of time you know them, amount you trust them, experiences shared together?  I don’t know, but I do love meeting people and making new friends.

Mary Magdalene

This Saturday night I wrote this from the view point Mary Magdalene in the form of a children’s sermon for Easter morning.   Being Easter, I told the children what I (Mary Magdalene) remembered of the very first Easter.

Well just like the day before I woke up very early and very sad.  As you might know on Friday night Jesus, one of my very best friends, died, he died on a cross.  It was so tragic and so sad, it was the worst day.  I just couldn’t get over it.  So two days later, I was still mourning the death of my Lord, Jesus and I was up early so I figured I would go to the grave were Jesus was buried.   It was in the middle of a garden, and when he died they put a huge stone over the entrance to the grave.  I mean it was so big.  But when I got to the garden, there was no one else around.  It was quite and I was just crying and walking.  But then I got to where the grave was, where it was supposed to be covered by the huge stone and it wasn’t.  This scared me, I mean really scared me.  Who could have moved that huge of a stone? So I went it the grave, scared and crying and the body wasn’t there.  Where could it be?  I thought for sure someone must have taken it, how else could the body have moved?  Who would have taken my Lord?  Why did they take Him?  What were they going to do with him?  I was panic and I cried even harder.

So I didn’t know what else to do so I got up and ran out of the garden down the road to some other friends named Peter and John.  And I yelled “They’ve taken away his body and I do not know where they have put him.”   Peter and John jumped to their feet and ran to the grave faster than I have ever seen them run, and I chased after them.  They were way faster than me and I couldn’t keep up.  So by the time I got there Peter and John were already gone again.  They were really upset.  I had no idea what to do.  What could I do?

So I just stood there and cried.  I really don’t know how long I was there but I just cried and cried.  My Lord and best friend was completely gone and there was nothing I could do about it.  I finally got up and took another look at the grave, no Jesus to be seen.  At this point my eyes were burning I was so upset but through my blurred vision I saw two men dressed in white, they were sitting was Jesus’s body was supposed to be.  Right away the one asked, “Why are you weeping?”  I was so upset I shouted, “they have taken away my Lord and I don’t know where they have put Him?”

Then I turned the other way, and there was a man standing there.  And he asked me the same question, “Why are you crying?”  “Who are you looking for?”  And I thought maybe he took away Jesus so I asked Him, “If he was the one who took Jesus?”  Then the man said my name, he said, “Mary!”    And right away I knew who the man was, he was my friend, my Lord, Jesus!!  I was so excited.  I was no longer afraid or sad, he was there, Jesus was there with me!!  I reached out and touched him, he was there he was real.  He still had him wounds from the cross but he was there!!  He told me to go and tell the others, tell his friends, Peter and John and everyone, “Tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

I need you to trust me, he is alive!  He is Rise!  (He is Risen indeed!)

Happy Easter!!

Ephesians 4:32

Yesterday I describe my day to a friend as, “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day” in reference to the book, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” by Judith Viorst. Was I being dramatic?  Yes.  Was my day that bad? No.  But sometimes the petty things add up.  And yesterday embarrassment and pettiness really added up inside of me.    But yes, the sun is still shinning, the earth is still spinning and the world is a better place today than yesterday from my (over-worn) contacts.

I am not going to go into the details of my day yesterday, but I felt offended and embarrassed in a situation that I do not think was well deserved.  But looking back, people also lent me a shoulder and a kind thought, and the kindness was not deserved either.  They just gave it to me out of goodness.  So for me to hold onto the hurt or bitterness would not be deserved either, nor just, nor Christ-like.

Ephesians 4:32 reads “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  Just because one person didn’t treat me as I see kind that does not give me a reason not to forgive.  I was forgiven for much worse.  The King of Kings ate His last meal with His closest friends on this night hundreds of years ago.  Tomorrow night (hundreds of years ago), He died a gruesome death to pay for my sins, to forgive me.   I am forgiven, I am called to forgive.

Also I am grateful, four people really showed care for the embarrassment and hurt that I was feeling.  They were “tenderhearted”, and what catches me as a surprise sometimes (though it shouldn’t).  I know that not all of these people are people of strong Christian faith, yet they continue to display the attributes that Christ calls us to be.   There are attributes that we as Christians sometimes fail that living up to.  All people have their faults.  But we are called to strive to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.”  So I want to thank those who were tenderhearted to me yesterday, and always, and encourage you to try to do the same as these four people did to me.

If I do not post again before Easter, not sure if I will or not, Happy Easter!  He is Risen!  You are Forgiven, Rejoice in that!!

Favorite Things

“When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things then I don’t feel so bad….”  -Sound of Music

Color:  Light Aqua Blue/ Weathered Glass

Food: Fruit

Fruit: Strawberries

Animal: Dog

Dog:  Black Lab/ Golden Retriever Mix

Beverage: Water

Winter Activity:  Ice skating

Summer Activity:  Jet skiing

Sport:  Baseball

Bible Verse: Jeremiah 29:11

TV Show:  Gilmore Girls

Movie: Water for Elephants

Flower: Peony

Scent: Lavender

Candy: Dark Chocolate

Magazine: Southern Living

Favorite Song:  Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton)

Outfit:  Gym shorts, a hoddie and tennis shoes

Time of day:  6-9 pm on a warm summer night

Meal:  Thanksgiving

View:  Water and Mountains at the same time

Keagan’s 80th Birthday!?!

Yesterday was a busy day, or I would have written this then.  It wasn’t busy in anyway because of my brother, but it was his birthday!!  Happy Birthday to my favorite guy!!  It may be somewhat cliché or immature but he really one of my favorite people ever.  I actually get excited and kind of sentimental even thinking about writing this blog.  Why?  I don’t know, because he is my big bother and yea I love him.  So I guess I am throwing out a little shout out/ tribute to him, and I don’t know how to do it better than write him a note.  He doesn’t really go online so he might be old by the time he reads this.  I am teasing on that, but he may never read it so, maybe this is just as much for me as it is for him.  And during my sophomore year of college I wrote a letter to my 80 year old self.  So here is one for you Keagan, (hope you don’t hate me for posting this.)

Ke Ke De,

It is official you are now officially old, and I can image that you are wearing Velcro shoes, and they aren’t mountain biking clip in shoes, but actually “old man shoes”.  But who knows maybe you are still wearing mountain biking shoes, which really wouldn’t surprise me either.  You are just cool like that, and I bet that you are a pretty cool old guy too.  I hope you don’t hurt too badly as an old guy, you were pretty hard on your body at least up to 26 and I can imagine much beyond that.  You are just like that, intense and a go getter.

I pray so hard that we are still close; it would break my heart if we weren’t.  You really are my favorite guy ever and have been all of my thus far 23 years of life.  And let’s face it; I am sure that you are still pretty high on my list.  If you are not my favorite guy, well he might be my husband if I get married.  I can’t help it if he is awesome, that your fault.  I wouldn’t settle for a guy that wasn’t at least as awesome as you.  Again your fault, you told me I had to “marry someone awesome, so we do really cool things together.”  You told me this the summer of 2014 while mountain bike riding.  I agreed and told you that your wife must be equally as awesome.  So if we are married they better be great people.

I really hope that you are happy, and had a very fulfilling life.  You are such a hard worker, and I am so proud of you.  Wow!  When you are 80 it will be 2069, that sounds so far away.  Who knows what the world is even like?  And ha you are 80 and I am still young, hehe 77 isn’t old yet!!

What has life looked like the past 54 years, I hope I was there to witness for the most part.  I bet you have kids now and face it, they will be way older than I am now (at 23) while I am writing this, that is weird to think of that.  I actually hope that our kids aren’t just cousins, but friends; hopefully we got to take some family vacation together, spend holidays together, and so much more.

I know you are a hard worker, but you also play hard.  I hope you continued this mentality.  That you were successful in your career, you have already made it very far at 26, but I also hope that you always took time for fun, to travel, to ride your bike and to work out, and any other hobbies that you have picked up.

How is Ryan?  I hope you have kept in touch.  I know it is so rare for people to be best friends from 4 years old through 26 plus, but you two are.  I really am confidence it continued, Ryan as goofy as he is, is a really good guy, with a kind heart and would do anything for you or I.  Your friendships were always something that I admired, and was even jealous of when we were young.  There were times that I didn’t feel like I had a best friend, I wanted to be your best friend, but all the guys were “all your best friends.”  It’s okay, they can “all be your best friends” I always get to be your little sister.  Even as old people I am still your little sister and so proud to be.  “I smile because you are my brother and I laugh because there is nothing you can do about it.”  Keagan, I love you!!  Happy 80^th Birthday!!

Travel Bug

I totaled realized that I generally speaking completely skip any introduction statement and almost always want to start each post with the word “so”… so here goes.

So I have written my bucket this, and shared that.  A few points on my bucket list involved travel, so this will be somewhat of an overlap, sorry, well not really.  But I love to travel; I have done my fair share of it, but not a ton and not nearly enough.  Some neat places that I have been include… probably leaving some off and some were neater than others:

• Germany
• France
• Niagara Falls
• Grand Canyon
• NYC
• DC
• Southern CA
• Nashville
• Ashville and Psigah National Forest
• Keys
• Virginia Beach and the Blue Ridge Mnts.
• Boston- Favorite City
• Maine Coast and Acadia National Park
• Blue Ridge Mounts
• Gettysburg
• Annapolis

So here is my dream list for travel…. I am so sure that I am leaving off a ton of places, that I would like to go but here is a start.  Some maybe talked about now or in the future.  Some places just sound awesome, for different reasons.

Starting nationally:

• Alaska
• Yellowstone
• Seattle
• Arches National Park and Zion National Park
• Painted Desert
• Bad Lands
• Everglades
• Virgin Islands

Internationally (this list has plenty of growing, yet to happen):

• Ireland (MAY!!)
• Iceland
• New Zealand
• Portugal
• Australia
• Bora Bora
• Tahiti
• New Foundland
• Northern Island

I am sure there are so many more!!!