Running for a cause

The St. Jude Half Marathon was two weeks ago.  I ran this as my first half marathon back in 2004, but much has changed (mainly three kids and a couple of years in the thirties) since that race.  I must not have enjoyed the race too much the first time since I stopped running for about seven years after it.  This year was different--I truly enjoyed the half and vowed to run it again because it benefits such a worthy cause. 

Before the half in Nashville, Stephanie and I trained religiously.  We stuck to our schedule, drank plenty of water, and carb-loaded before the race.  After the half, we were both injured and not in the mood to train consistently.  We still ran, but not with the same dedication.  I still ran three mornings a week at 5 am, but we did not always make our long runs.  In short, we weren't fully prepared for this race. 

The weather on race day was ridiculously warm for December--I think it was in the 60s by the time we finished running.  I actually prefer warmer weather for running, so that was a benefit for me.  The race course was so much flatter than Nashville, and there were fans and entertainment literally all along the course.  This was just a much better race to run.  The biggest inspiration was when we hit the fifth mile and ran through the campus of St. Jude.  Seeing all the precious patients clapping and cheering for me broke my heart--I felt so guilty that these cancer patients were thanking me and all I was doing was running--they were truly the ones fighting a battle.  Some of the signs they held and looks they gave me were overwhelming;  I cried, along with every other runner with a soul. 

I finished the race in 2 hours, 19 minutes.  This was six minutes (and millions of aches) less than the Nashville half.  I was pleased with my time.  I'm so flipping competitive that I really wanted to beat my time from 2004 of 2:17, but I have to remind myself my body has gone through pregnancy and childbirth three times since then.  I would love to run a half marathon in two hours, but I really love being able to run at all and being mother to three perfectly healthy children.  This race is a blessing and I was honored to run it.

Three little elves

I woke up the morning after Thanksgiving in the mood to decorate;  we usually wait until Sunday to give Thanksgiving time to get out of our system and to let the Egg Bowl pass (because Egg Bowl is synonymous with Thanksgiving from our younger years when the game was actually on Thanksgiving), but we took advantage of David being home and got a tree.  Even though the tree attacked David on its way off the roof of the car and left a nasty burn on his face, David did not turn into a Scrooge.  As soon as the tree was in its stand, I had two little elves eager to decorate.  They found elf and santa hats in our Christmas tubs, so they literally dressed the part to decorate.  Benton was so excited to find all the ornaments that are his and decide where to put those, which meant I had to follow behind him and move each one to a higher and more sturdy branch.  Lindsey was her usual hummingbird self, flitting from one task to the next without stopping to analyze the situation.  She was determined to hang every ball on the tree before Kate woke up.  But the littlest elf did not sleep through all the decorating and soon was up to "help" us. 

The kids were extra excited about the tree because they remembered from last year that when the tree arrives, so does Chippy the elf.  Sure enough, Chippy was perched on a branch this morning.  I noticed Lindsey stopping to tell him she wants a Kindle Fire at one point, then later Benton stood by him and said he wanted "boy toys" for Christmas.  As I walked through later in the morning I noticed that Chippy was leaning a little too far left, so I pushed him upright.  The next time the kids walked through they squealed, "HE"S REAL!  HE MOVED!"  I have to be careful or they will be on to me.

We spent our last day in the Grove for this season today, and although it was very cold, the day was pleasant.  It was so special to have Ben and his boys back for the game, even though it meant the grown ups were outnumbered and thus exhausted.  Lindsey and Benton were extremely well-behaved today, and I kept bragging to them and then realized they weren't being good for me--they were behaving for Chippy.  He may need to move in permanently.

 Benton holding all the Benton ornaments

 and finding the perfect spot for them

 Two elves after decorating

 Kate likes to pose and scream "CHEESE" anytime she sees a camera.  The other two were hard at work, but she had to take a break to pose.

Happy Halloween

The kids enjoyed trick-or-treating in the neighborhood again this year, as did the adults.  We have a great group of neighbors with lots of kids all around the same age.  Gordon hooked up a trailer and made a hayride for the kids.  After the kids loaded up on loot, we all came back to our house for some taco soup.  All three kids loved this holiday!

Mom on the run

Yesterday I ran the HomeRun 5K sponsored by my church and Habitat for Humanity.  The area high schools competed to have the most participants, so Stephanie and I signed up as high schoolers.  David and the big two played games while I ran, and a group of my students offered to push Kate and Will Risher in their strollers.  It was hot for late October, but it was also fun to only run 3 miles after training so much for the half marathons.  We finished in just over 29 minutes, 30 seconds, and we were impressed with our time.  It was so fun to have David and the kids (and lots of other people we knew) cheering for us at the finish line. 
About ten minutes later, my sweet student Maria came running through the finish line pushing Kate in the stroller.  Kate completed her first 5K!  Maria was a trooper because she had the big stroller loaded down with cameras and the baby bag instead of our jogging stroller, but she jogged--and talked to Kate--the whole time.  Will was being pushed by a walker so Kate had to trash talk him since she smoked him. 

The night before, the kids went to a Halloween party.  Although I detest Halloween and parties for grown ups, I think kids are adorable in their costumes.  This year Lindsey orchestrated the perfect combination for her and Benton--Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia.  Benton loves Star Wars and Lindsey loves to match, so this costume idea was perfect.  B made Lindsey's outfit, and she didn't think I could pull off the sock buns, but I did with the help of lots of bobby pins, hair spray, and hair nets. 

 Ready to run!

 Luke reunited with his father

 Kate was not even winded after her first race

 Check out Leia's hair.  Also notice that her costume can easily double as an angel.  Two costumes in one!

 The kids insisted that Luke and Leia would have guns.  I don't advocate violent toys. 

 Luke Skywalker befriends a storm trooper

Luke Skywalker becomes a storm trooper.  Check out that pose--he is truly in character.

Ole Miss Homecoming

After a miserably cold and rainy Texas game, two weeks later we were back in Oxford for homecoming and it was 90 degrees and sunny.  October in Mississippi!  Benton used my ticket and went to the game with David, and Lindsey used Popsey and B's extra ticket and went to the game with them.  That meant Kate and I got to spend the afternoon shopping on the Square!  We spent most of our time at Square Books Jr., but it was still a fun outing. 

When we went back to campus and the game was over (and David was in a good mood because we finally got an SEC win), we went to the DG house for open house.  That house has changed so much over the past 12 years, but two of the staff are still there and it was so fun to see them.  They knew me because I lived there two years and David because he was a houseboy for four years, so as soon as they saw us they ran up and gave us hugs. 

All of the Rebel Ruffs--missing the one lone bulldog

Just for laughs

Today was the first half of fall break, and I had one item on my to-do list:  take a picture of the kids for our Christmas card.  After 151 pictures, we still have nothing that will work for our cards.  I went to Tupelo to get mom's help with the photo shoot, and the kids cooperated long enough to get dressed.  Although it was overcast, it was also muddy, which was the first problem we had.  Our bigger problem was Kate not wanting to participate, and our biggest problem was Benton's attitude.  So if our Christmas card has only Lindsey on it, I hope everyone understands.

We finally threw in the towel and went inside where Popsey was flipping the channels.  He stopped on an old version of Planet of the Apes, and Benton was quickly glued to the tv.  So much so that a little while later when we were all ready to go eat and B said, "Just turn the tv off, Eddie," Benton quickly shot back with "Don't do it, Eddie" without batting an eye. 

 Check out this pose.  If he was not so stinking cute, I would have left him in Tupelo.  But I brought him home where he quickly convinced his dad to watch Batman yet again.

This little munchkin loves to eat.  Although she looks like her mom, she eats like her dad.  We hope she will not become a picky eater like the big two.  The first week we tailgated she discovered Mary John's corn dip, and she went back for seconds and thirds until we finally had to cut her off.  She ate the dip with a spoon.  And it wasn't corn dip that a baby should like--it has tomatoes, peppers, and peas.  The next game, she went straight for the dip. 

13.1 miles completed

Stephanie and I ran a half-marathon on September 22 in Nashville.  Once we finished our master's degrees and gifted certification we decided to make a new goal that was not school-related.  She came up with the plan to run, and I reluctantly joined her.  I ran a half back in 2004, but I was younger with three less kids and plenty of spare time.  I did not honestly think I would be able to train for a half marathon this year.  We set our sights on the St. Jude Half in December in Memphis.  After we signed up for that, we found a women's only half in Nashville that benefitted the Chron's Foundation, and Steph's mom has chron's.  We signed up in June and spent three dedicated months training.  We ran our long runs together on the weekends (usually at 6 on Saturday mornings) and we ran our three shorter runs separately during the week--I ran three mornings before school, which meant I got up at 4:45.  People say I am crazy, but I truly loved training for the half and am so glad that we are running another one in December.  I feel like my life gets so busy on a daily basis that it is nice to have that time each morning that is mine.  David has been incredibly supportive and even attempted to run a couple of times with me (but quickly decided he hates running).

We went to Nashville on a Friday, checked in our hotel, and walked to a little family-run Italian restaurant that was full of runners fueling up on carbs.  We went to bed early that night because we had an early morning Saturday.  We loved the race atmosphere, but that race was hilly.  We had been warned that Nashville was hilly, and we thought we trained with lots of hills.  However, Olive Branch hills are not the same as Nashville hills, so we ran a bit slower than we anticipated.  But we finished it running, and that was our goal.  The race was fun, especially when we reached points where there were spectators cheering.  At one point, we were met by some hecklers who made derogatory signs toward women such as "The roads are safe for the next three hours."  At the end we were exhausted but elated.

We showered, ate lunch, shopped, shopped, shopped, ate supper, ate yogurt, and changed our original plan to go to a movie and instead were in our pajamas watching football in the hotel before 9:00. 
Unfortunately, we both woke up with injuries Sunday morning--my foot and her hip.  Her hip had bothered her for weeks, but my foot was a new injury.  It worried me because the pain was intense.  I have taken two weeks off and think I'm ready to run again. 

Training for our second half!