a life beyond running shoes.

stef is in the lottery for the NY marathon to run with TNT- of course i am in the lottery as well but that means diddlesquat! thankfully she is still game for some slow runs around the park with pregers here. this morning: 6:30AM, 48 degrees - what, you say, 48 degrees - yes......it was cold and we both had no idea how to dress. funny thing about getting used to the warmer weather - it is hard to go back. well, i can say that i made it up the hill but didn't really want to go much further. it was a slow but tough run for me. i gotta keep getting out there but it is such a mind game cuz it has gotten harder. that is not as much fun..... but it was a great run with stef! thanks for the partnership.....

john and i got to go to a black tie fundraiser on saturday night for the midtown pregnancy support center . it was a great evening with some friends that had moved away. it was nice to get all dolled up for the evening.....even if we didn't stay for the dancing because prego here was "too tired." it was worth it for the salad and the dessert - dinner did not appeal to my pregnant stomach.

i had a great run this morning. thankx, stef. what a great way to start the day (that ended up being grey and chilly). with great news, a good run, and good conversation that you just don't want to end. i guess i really do like you, my friend, stef (wink, wink). thanks for letting me share your life, for the joy of sharing your excitements, but also for when i get to share your lows. it was good to talk about my fears with this change in my life but also the ones that you share. what if we never see each other when it becomes to hard for me to get my growing behind up that hill or after the baby comes if i can't get back to where i am now..... i guess we just cross that bridge and just as life's circumstances have to change - we will have to navigate the changes that it creates for our friendship. i think we can do it - why do you think i suckered you in for the book club. i guess instead of pavement we can always connect over coffee.... yet, i will miss the sweat...

our very own brand, spanking new jog stroller!!! ours is in a much cooler orange. i took it for my first loop this morning with stef. i don't think the stroller and me prego go well with group running. the hill was a true challenge, but it was still a great run with sassy stef and her new haircut. it was 60 degrees and sunny. i am loving the shorts and tee thing. there were a ton of people out - i have that small moment of pride when i think how none of them were out pounding pavement three months ago - I WAS!!! a moment of gloating that is well deserved. shout our to my gals for an AWESOME race on sunday.

i went for a sonogram just to make sure everything was okay due to some spotting last week - and there really is a baby in there. not that i doubted it in the least (actually i totally still did not believe that sweet baby #2 was on its way) - but i heard the heartbeat and have a picture of a kidney beans shaped baby. holy cow! i do have to hit the pause button on my running regime until my doctor can look over the sonogram.... i guess that lends the question i was pondering last night about having started to really identify myself as a runner. i can think back over the last couple of years as see that i have really struggled with identifying myself by what i "do" teacher, new mom, runner. i have gotten a lot of satisfaction out of those titles, particularly that most recently acquired, or acknowledged, title. i am having a hard time with the thought of putting "her" (that lean, mean, running machine) to rest for the next year or so. it really brings to the su...

WELL, WHAT DO YOU KNOW!?! micah is not fully sure how he feels about the news he is broadcasting! stef - thanks for the run this morning..... i guess the nature of the funk is fully realized now. you & hot bod will be in my thoughts sunday morning as you blaze the trial along the shore in NJ - have a great run!

i slept horribly, was feeling cranky, and didn't want to run around the park. if stef & janna had not been out there this morning - neither would i. i am so glad that they were there to motivate my sorry attitude. they are running the long branch (in new jersey) half marathon this sunday - alas without me. i opted out of the queens half this weekend due to a bad attitude and lack of consistent training - i know stef thinks she has the same excuse to get out of long branch - but no such luck! rock on quiznos team!!! it seems like a week of doctor's appointments - john had one yesterday for a possible nerve thing (thankfully not about his heart this time), another on wednesday (the referral), and i have a check up on thursday..... weird, huh? no doctors for a year and now three in one week. my lingering funk and weird tummy pangs may cause me to head in a bit early just to make sure everything is okay..... see you with the stroller on thursday, stef!

this was my first opportunity to share about my sister's wedding. here i am with my hubbie & the milkman! what a fun night! it has been a full month since the crew was together - today we were in full form plus midget in the jog stroller. it was a team effort to get that stroller around for 3.3 miles of the park. glorious 60 degrees - naked girls in their sports bras and of course janna is already hot. tales of my sister's wedding and other added events dominated our run..... no one else got a word in edge wise. i guess i got to trump all other stories. it is nice to run in shorts finally.... it is amazing that we made it through the entire winter together! girls, we rock. it has been an interesting journey of having to see that god is in the midst of all things - good and bad. that his goodness does not cease when things become unexplainable - new life or the loss of that new life. i had a great run this morning and just hope that my tales of perfect timing didn...

so i am in a funk. what does that mean, exactly? i am down - true - but not for any reason. i am tired - probably explainable from my sister's wedding last weekend that was awesome and so much fun. i am grumpy - true - but again not for any good reason. so i bailed on my running partner this morning just cuz i didn't want to run.....well that and i didn't sleep very good at all for the third night in a row. bummer! i need the routine of it but i need the routine to jump start it and i need a jump start to get the routine back......the vicious cycle continues. oh well - there is always tomorrow. but until then, i still don't have a working definition of a funk......but i have one that is for sure.

hope - we all want it and need it.... but where it comes from is the critical question. on our 3.5 mile run through the park, molly and talked about this very thing. it was chilly and windy which made for a necessary walk break on the hill. looking to david in the psalms for some guidance, he says, "have mercy on me, o god, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. i will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed." - psalm 57. what is amazing to me is that david really knew affliction; the disasters of my life pale in comparison. my struggles are no less real, but i can take comfort that david found his refuge in the same place i should find mine. jobs are temporary, bosses jerks, friends move, the neighborhood changes, but god is constant without change.....in him we find our hope. we are so often inticed by "lovers so less wild" than the creator of the universe that it was good to be reminded this morning of these things...

Micah & G'ma!!! okay time change - spring forward - good for early rising baby to sleep late!!!! gretchen and i headed out to the park this morning for a quick run around 8AM - 4 miles, 50 degrees, sunny & glorious. it is such a delight to my soul to have spring finally arriving. the splendor of the morning is starting to set in for gretchen. by the time we got around to the parade grounds, we had warmed up and were cruising along. we had a great talk about working through issues that lie on the outside only to feel like you are successfully self managing those issues when the danger can be about not getting to the heart issues that are below. when i don't get to the heart issues, i am not able to get to the point where it becomes about jesus getting in there and doing the work to change me. like issues of food and weight. i can think that i am managing my food & weight, which are good things, but when i think that is just about the food and not the comfort t...

gretchen (micah's g'ma) and i ran to the brooklyn bridge and back today - 7 miles, 60 degrees, and the sun was trying to break through all morning. i actually wore shorts this morning - the gloriousness of the morning was lost on gretchen (flordia gal). having run the NY marathon, gretchen was really enjoying trying to figure out where we were during our run in relation to her race. the whole family was awake at 6AM - chatterbox (whose birthday is three days away) was ready to go. g'pa ran with the dog, g'ma ran with mom, and dad had play time with baby. it was a great run cuz gretchen, despite being my mother-in-law, is considerably faster than i am. i was able to keep up - granted she let me set the pace, but it was a bit faster than normal. that made me feel great! seven miles and i broke a sweat! it was nice to push!

what a glorious day!!!! holy cow - sunny, 50 degrees, and stef was wearing shorts!!! we got a late start cuz stef has the day off - what a day to enjoy being outside.....it is supposed to be around 65 today! wow - can it be true - is spring really here? i'm not convinced yet. a thought about the camaraderie of running. it is indicative to me that i enjoy the partnership of it almost as much because we finish running and stand around talking for 10 minutes because we aren't finished catching up. stef even continued her story ALL the way up the hill.... no pause button this morning. now the stories aren't always about the high points of life, just as sometimes runs can really be a challenge even when it is the same course that you ran the day before but for some reason it is just tougher that day..... while our run was pretty easy, the tales were the challenge of the day. last week it was mine, today stef's. i'm glad i don't run alone - nor walk through life...

today's run was just a normal run around the park with one small twist - we went the opposite way. molly met me a bit after our normal time, so there were more people out than normal - plus it is getting warmer (no jacket, no gloves, no hat!!!). well i brought savannah with me so that micah could have "dad" time not involving the stroller. well, i had this brilliant idea to try running the opposite way. what was i thinking...... poor molly. her stories about her trip to LA were continuously being interrupted dodging people (we were going against the flow), dodging cars, and oncoming bikers. what an annoying run it was. it was great to hear about her trip - i an envious of her tix to the KCRW show featuring death cab & surprise guest franz ferdinand. we did get excited about the queens half marathon that is at the end of april - she has a car and is wiling to drive!!!! that rules out the subway which was the major deterrent in my wanting to run it - you take th...

as i pound the pavement this morning with savannah leading (or dragging) me on, i consider again that terminology of "runner." am i one? i mean it is 6:45AM on a saturday morning, i was out the three previous nights, i am tired, yet here i am doing 7 miles on a cloudy, chilly morning (40 degrees). so it was just me and savannah after a hard week. jesus was very kind to me this week as i struggled with my loneliness, my sadness, and my stubbornness. he was kind to meet me in all of it. he was a gracious father who loved this wounded child. this is part of what i was thinking about as i ran this morning - the comfort of god that was very real to me this week. to compliment my own struggle was the great joy and anticipation of a friend's potential adoption going through this very weekend. god truly does have perfect timing and i am so apt to forget that or even trivialize it. how small of me & how big is He! i also thought about my sister's wedding that i...

i'm not at the point yet to where i am craving the pavement, but i am still working on getting out of my hole, so for 3.5 miles, stef was my counselor. we did the park loop -a sunny and chilly 35 degrees. not a bad run but we were both kind of sluggish. i think we are both still working out the kinks from saturday - i know i am. when we hit that hill though, we could not help but recount what it was like five days earlier after ten miles. i can't say it was all the much easier today...... i am seeing the light at the top of my hole, so i think i am almost out of it. perhaps a run tomorrow might do the trick..... maybe a few psalms to relate to david and some quiet time praying.....that might help too. perhaps a concert & some shopping tonight might help as well. "a mighty fortress is our god, a bulwark never failing; our helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing."

i needed this mornings run for both my body and my head. i got some sad news about a friend on sunday and just wanted to crawl into a hole and hibernate. thankfully molly called to run! i am so glad for partners! molly and i rant the park in the chilly sunshine. it is not windy today though which makes the 27 degrees more tolerable. i know what you are thinking - how can 27 degrees EVER be tolerable, but it is. since i know myself, i'll have to recruit stef for thursday to make sure that i don't try and crawl back in the hole this week.

We clean up real nice!!!! My awesome cheering section that braved the wind and cold! now that i have had a day to ponder what i actually accomplished, i am more thankful for my "team" and for my support system. i could not have made it to the start line much less the finish without these folks. thanks!!!!

WE DID IT!!!!! yes, i think we rock!!!! 13.1 miles in 30 degree weather WITH wind in our face..... quite the accomplishment, for sure. let's start with the morning: janna woke at 5AM, stef at 5:30, myself at 6:15. little boy made a peep about two minutes before my alarm went off. proceed with peanut butter toast, grab bag, head for subway. as i am getting my metrocard out - i hear the train - start the sprint, get through turnstile, run down stairs, through the doors, sit down, sigh of relief as doors close, and we head the wrong direction - ARGH!!!! get out next stop, run to the other side and hope that stef & barb (member of our awesome cheering section) didn't have to miss a train to wait for me. luckily, the next train is only a two minute wait. as with savvy new yorkers, stef & i have coordinated how to get on the same car of the same train as a way of meeting up. funny note, almost everyone on that train (and it was kind of full for 6:45AM) had on running...

i didn't think i would run the park this week with the race coming up - easy week, steady on the treadmill....blah, blah, blah. but molly called and said she was good to run this morning. at 5AM when little boy got a bottle i was thinking that it would be okay if it was raining this morning and we just couldn't get out there. alas, it was not raining....cloudy, but not rainy. we met at the 9th street entrance and started along. it was a good run despite the rain on the other side of the park. molly is a bit faster than my other gals, but it was awesome to connect over life stories and pavement. ohio meets california in brooklyn over 3.3 miles. thanks for the push, molly! four days 'til race day!!!