Half Marathon Monday

Oops, I did it again?!

That's right. I ran another half marathon. This one was the AthHalf in Athens, Georgia - and Sadie made me do it!

Post race in front of an ambulance we did not need!

So maybe she didn't make me do it, but she might have been the one to suggest another half marathon. This one took us around and up and down town on a really beautiful run. Good thing it was so scenic because the up and down bit was quite a departure from the oh-so-flat city of Houston.



Just before this run I was convincing myself that maybe 10k was more my distance, but there's something addicting about goals that are just out of comfortable reach.

Trying to stay warm before the start

I'm still not so fast (although Sadie is a speed demon these days) but just doing it comes with a serious sense of accomplishment. I still maintain that if I can run a half marathon, anybody can. I saw participants of this race who were easily twice my size or three times my age. There were runners, walkers and people in wheelchairs. Looking around and taking in all of the different types of people who subject themselves to half marathons is quite inspiring.

And now we all share our prizes of a pretty comfy t-shirt, a small medal and bragging rights. AthHalf unfortunately doesn't win any sort of swag award.


Be on the lookout for us again early next year because we're going back to Austin in February. The crazy train is going full steam ahead!

Meet Kitsune

Hi! I'm Kitsune. I look like
a dog, but I'm really a cat.

One month ago, our family of 3 became 4. The newest addition is a Shiba Inu named Kitsune. Her name means fox in Japanese, which is quite appropriate because she's a Japanese dog that looks like a fox!

You may recognize this little one from photos of play dates or vacations, but now she's for keeps. Some friends from Portland (turned friends from Houston) were unable to keep her. Fortunately, we met her along the way!

Really what happened is Kitsune and Bear met and, at first sight, fell madly in love. They played, they snuggled, they could never be separated again. They had to part for a while, but they worked through the distance and will now live happily ever after. For ever and ever amen.


I'm sure we're still just getting acquainted, but here's what we know so far:

Things Kitsune likes:

• Running
• Snuggling
• Crawling under things
• Tug of war
• Bearsicle
• Smelling everything thoroughly
• Blankets
• Sleeping
• Car rides
• The dog park
• Dead things
• Being like a cat

Things Kitsune does not like:

• Baths
• Sleeping alone
• Being in trouble
• Anything unfamiliar
• Dog park maintenance guy
• Being forced to do something
• Practicing anything
• Excessive speed
• Revealing that she's a big softie

Rest assured this is just the beginning of our adventure, and there will be many stories to come. I've heard people say that with kids, 1 is like 1 and 2 is like 20. I've found dogs are like that, but with cuteness. 1 is really cute, but two is like having the world's cutest baby animal calendar and YouTube videos at your disposal in your living room.

... unless they're eating something they're not supposed to.

Until next time, I leave you with some more photos!

10 Miles

Once upon a time, I ran 10-ish miles. It was hard, and it hurt, and it was really more like 11. That was about two weeks before my very first half marathon, and today, three weeks before my third half marathon I ran not walked 10 miles... without stopping. I wasn't terribly fast (it took me 1 hour and 57 minutes to do it) but it was the longest distance I've ever gone without stopping to walk! Milestone.

They say that the long runs are about covering the distance, and not the time that it takes you to do it. But I can't help but thinking, "why the heck am I so slow?!" I crunched the numbers, and today evened out to be slightly faster than a 12 minute mile. ...I'm pretty sure some people can walk that fast. Yes, I know it's faster than if I were at home in bed or sitting on my sofa, but it's slower than I was before running my first half marathon. But it felt better - a lot better.

Instead of getting frustrated and fixating on the things that aren't going quite how I'd like, I'm trying to recognize what's going well. Today, I didn't have to contemplate whether or not I could make it up the stairs on my own or ice my knees right away because they felt like they were being held together with old rubber bands. My hands and feet didn't swell, threatening to explode - and that's a serious improvement. Maybe one day I'll start running half marathons for time, but for now I'll be proud of the fact that in the past year I've gone from being a non-runner (who was terrified of just one mile) to running 10 miles at a time.

Here's to the impossible.

All That Vajiggle Jaggle

... is not beautimous.

I can already tell that spell check is going to be really unhappy with me on this one. So, I usually write about running or my dogs (yes, that's plural now!) and I thought I'd mix it up a bit - Honey Boo Boo style.

If you don't know who this little gem is, do yourself a favor and google her.

Here's the basic idea:
Alana "Honey Boo Boo Child" Thompson is a tiny, overcaffeinated pageant queen from TLC's Toddlers and Tiaras. Her crazy antics on the show have earned her and her (even crazier) family their own show: Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. The whole thing is horrifyingly awesome.


Ok. Technically, should I feel unethical for giving ratings to a show that exploits a young girl and her family for being self-proclaimed rednecks doing ridiculous things? Probably. But they make me giggle just enough that I can't stop watching it!

HoneyBooBooSay on Twitter
Honey Boo Boo Redneckipedia 
Honey Boo Boo and the GoGo Juice

Attitude is Everything

It really is. I know I've been writing about this quite a bit lately, but I write about the revelations as they come.

How do you get a plane full of sleepy (and most likely grumpy) airplane passengers to pep up and play nice at 5am? Pull yourself out of your own 5am funk and make people laugh. The security announcements on the first leg of my flight this morning included phrases like:

• If Atlanta is not part of your travel plans today, it's too late. It is now.
• Please be sure your seat belt is secured tightly, low across your hips... like J-Lo's pants
• The pilot has promised to fly the plane like he stole it, which should get us there on time. It may also result in losing some exterior paint, but that should help in our transition to Southwest Airlines.
• If the cabin loses pressure, once you have finished screaming, place the mask over your face... [may not inflate... put your mask on first before assisting others... etc] If you are travelling with more than one child, you may have to pick your favorite.

This seems a little silly now, but let me tell you, if you've been up since 3am it's pretty hysterical. One of the flight attendants on round two was cracking jokes also. The moral of the story is - you can choose to shake off the funk if you really want to. If you make the choice to give up the grumps in a situation where it's easy to just give in, it's truly infectious and brightens everyone's day!

It's Possible

At least that's what Cesar Chavez tells me. So maybe he wasn't talking to me but it's still advice worth taking. There are always things in life that we think are physically, mentally, or genetically impossible - a lost cause. I'm sure some people are more prone to this thought pattern than others, and I'll admit I've been known to say I can't do something more than once. Sometimes I just insist that I choose not to do something (let's say, run) because what I'm really afraid of is not being able do it.

What I'm learning is that we don't have to stick to those boundaries we (or others) set, no matter how crazy they seem. As it turns out, I can run. Even if I am slow at achieving the final "impossible" goal, or don't quite make it there, at least I have made progress toward it.

I see the same woman walking around the trail Memorial Park lately. She would be classified as morbidly obese and limps a little bit as she walks while her face shows her discomfort too. This loop is 3 miles long and I've gone on long enough runs while we're both there to know that she goes all of the way around. She just keeps going one small step at a time. Every time we pass I think about how courageous she is to do this despite how hard it is. If my run went awry, I would always have the option to finish by walking without too much difficulty. She doesn't have that safety net. She puts herself out there and focuses on herself with hundreds of the city's fittest people running circles around her. As I pass all of them, she's the one I admire most. I contemplate stopping to tell her this sometimes, but my own fear that she'll think I'm strange or even be offended stops me.

Let this be a reminder that you most likely can do whatever it is that you think you can't. You just have to decide how badly you want it and give it a try.

Don't Ever Quit

I'm not going to say that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, but I didn't jump out of it will all of the energy, enthusiasm, and rested feelings that I'd hoped I would have. I've signed up to run another half marathon in October, and I'm determined to actually run this one. So, I've been following a training schedule suggested by Runner's World (albeit for first-timers) to help get my mileage back up.

This week it feels like my body's been wearing down. I've been demanding a lot of myself physically and also have a lot on my mind. I started my morning a little too late and believing that this wasn't going to be the best or easiest run. For the record, I do not suggest setting yourself up for defeat (or mediocrity, for that matter) before you even start. But I made it out of the door: the first step.

I have also decided that, in the summer, I prefer to run before the sun comes up to cook me. Today, I just couldn't make it out in time. Although 8am seems early, 6am is ideal. My opinion is that no one in their right mind is still running after 8 or 9am on a Texas summer day.

My mission was 6 miles; twice around a 3 mile loop. As I came toward the end of the first loop, and old thought pattern crept up on me: I'm beat! And this is a respectable enough distance... right? I was SO tempted to stop at 3 miles and call it a day. I haven't been feeling well anyway. And if it's not 90 degrees yet, the heat index is already there. For those who don't believe in signs - these are the moments you believe. In the last 100 feet or so, I came up on a man who was wearing a red shirt with the words "Don't Ever Quit" on the back. Now you tell me how I'm supposed to stop half-way through my goal after that. I no longer have an option. What I did instead was tell him that I appreciated his shirt. I pointed toward my car and told him that I am supposed to run 6 miles today and I was seriously considering stopping here, at the end of my first lap, until I read his shirt. We saw each other once more and he smiled and waved with both hands, happy to see me still going, and I smiled and waved back. I might not have been very fast, but I made it through all six of those miles and I can't be disappointed in that.