Are we there yet? My first half-marathon!

Are we there yet? My first half-marathon

Wow! Today has been one of the top ten best days of my life, which is an odd thing to say about any day I wake up at 5:30am.

I drove downtown and parked down from Boutwell where the runners were congregating. I felt chilly in my long-sleeved shirt, jacket, gloves, scarf and hat as I walked towards the starting line. The sun was still trying to come out, but from what I could see the weather appeared to be partly cloudy, little wind and temps were in the mid 30’s.

As I got closer and closer to the starting line I encountered more and more people. I was one of thousands of people converging on a couple blocks of downtown Birmingham for a shared, unspoken reason.

At 7:00, the race started! Can’t you smell the excitement?

Around mile 10 I realized my time was pretty good and I hadn’t even stopped running yet.

Mental math is hard when you’re running a mini-marathon. About this time I started to think about walking. I kept running anyway.

At mile 10.5, I decided I needed the cheesy music I had downloaded the night before. So, here came the repeated version of The Eye of the Tiger. (Yes, Auburn fans I have this song downloaded to itunes.)

Somewhere between mile marker 12 and 13 I slowed down because my knee was giving out. As we got within a mile of the finish line the standbys started telling us how much farther we had to go. 1 mile left. 3/4 of a mile left.

I could finally see the finish line. I started running faster. As I kept running and running, the finish line came closer and closer. It was very unexpected…I got very EMO about this time. I couldn’t believe I had actually came to the finish line.

And then I crossed the finish line. I couldn’t believe it was over. No, really, I didn’t quite believe that it was okay to stop running. For the last three miles I felt like I’d be running forever, that the rest of my life would be spent drudging along, trying to finish an endless race.

I really did just run a half-marathon.

Eleven ways to celebrate Valentines Day

1. Take the entire day off. Devote it to one another.
2. Have another honeymoon. Even if it’s only in your local area and for a night, you can make it memorable.

3. Break the rules and celebrate all week long. Do something romantic and different each day.

4. Be kids again. Get some boxes of kid’s valentine cards and write romantic notes to each other.

5. Have a romantic movie marathon with your favorite foods to snack on.

6. Head off for some private time with a romantic game. There are many of them available.

7. Serve your significant other breakfast in bed.

8. Shower your bedroom in rose petals.

9. Plan a cozy lunch at a romantic restaurant, but make sure that you book your table in advance to avoid standing in line.

10. Have dinner at home by the fireplace, or light candles and have romantic music.

11. RUN A HALF MARATHON AND LEAVE YOUR HUSBAND IN BED.

Olexa's Chocolate Cake from P :)

I will praise You in this storm!

“In our lives there is bound to come some pain, surely as there are storms and falling rain; just believe that the One who holds the storms will bring the sun.”

All of us face storms in our life at one time or another. Some storms are big and scary storms that seem to last forever, others are small storms that just get us a little dreary and gloom. No matter how big or small these storms are, they make life difficult for us. Question is, why do we have storms in our life? Why does God allow these storms to come into our lives? Well, in the 1st place, no one, not even Jesus said that life would be easy. Life isn't easy, that's for sure. But another thing that we can be sure about is that God is walking through it with us.

It's very easy to praise God for the things He has done for us when everything is bright and sunny, when things just seem to be going the right direction. It's easy to praise God when we are not facing any difficulties in our life. Why wouldn't we praise God? I mean everything is going just perfect! But what about when we are facing tough times in our lives? Do we praise God in these storms? Even when it is so hard to, the answer is Yes. We praise God, because when God allows a storm to come into our life, He has a reason for it, and He will either calm the storm for us, or He will just ride through it with us. God will never leave us in the storm. So we will praise God, because we know that He is with us.

God puts these storms in our lives only for our own good, to make us learn, and that He is always looking after us, either by riding through the storm with us or by calming the storm in the end.

“May God give you... For every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise and a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share, for every sigh a sweet song and an answer for each prayer.”

I'M ALIVE...

I guess I have a lot of catching up to do! WOW! I can't believe it's been close to 4 months since my last blog update. I really have got to per-fect my social networking skills if I ever intend on documenting the life of my child one day.

So, you may ask what have you been up to over the last several months???

First, Paul and I are getting to know one another again and having LOTS of fun doing so. We enjoyed spending the holidays together and with family. We aquired a new family member on Christmas Day. Her name is Lollipop "Lollie" Comer and she's a 5 month old Yorkshire Terrier.