Quantify Your Enjoyment

I am sure you all are wondering how the race went. Now I can gladly tell you the details. I am alive and well, by the way.

Anxious has been the feeling for the last couple days. Upon arrival at the race start, I immediately noticed the caliber of runners ready to partake in this day's adventure. I wanted to go home. I was feeling a little out of my league. However, I told myself that I was here to simply complete the race. Not to beat everyone else. The race began at 8 a.m. on the dot. I started at the back of the pack and remained there passing only a few runners. Once I hit the last big hill, I had a smile on my face. I had to walk parts of the trail, but overall I was proud of myself. I finished the race in an hour and 37 minutes. Byron, Marissa, Anthony, and Anthony's parents were at the finish cheering me on. It has been a good experience and I am going to try again next year to see if I can beat my time. I am hoping that a year of running will be significantly better than three months of running.

A Swift Kick in the Butt.

Well, I worked out for the last time this morning before the race. Now my job is to eat right and get lots of sleep. I will fill everyone in on the details and will hopefully have a picture to share.

I will leave you with an awesome quote that I give some credit to for why I am running this next race.

What we have is based upon moment-to-moment choices of what we do. In each of those moments, we choose.

We either take a risk and move toward what we want, or we play if safe and choose comfort.

Most of the people, most of the time, choose comfort.

In the end, people either have excuses or experiences; reasons or results; buts or brilliance.

They either have what they wanted or they have a detailed list of all the rational reasons why not.

As Deb and Dad have said, "Do something difficult everyday." I guess that I challenge you to do this today. See what happens. Accomplish a goal or start to work towards one.

Bestow Thy Flickering Light Forever.

I wanted to include a list of the blogs that I check regularly before the work day gets underway or when I am procrastinating going to bed.

Of course there are the ones on my side bar. My family blogs and my friend, Kelly, who goes to church with me. Now, here are the others...

Andrea & Telfer Griffith. Friends from college.
RaChelle Hendricks. Friend from college.
Nate & Melissa Roskam. Friends from college.
Amanda Marble. Friend from college.
Loobylu. My sister introduced me to this blog.
Dooce. And this one too.
Missy Small. Friend from college.

Well, that a few for now.

Demerits.

During my training for this upcoming race I have found that my free time is diminished due to an early bedtime and just plain being tired. I have succumb to two of my favorite television shows: Project Runway and The Contender. As a result, my house is a mess and I have no clean clothes... I guess that I know what my weekend will consist of.

Yesterday I got to run next to Christi Effinger. That was good. It is always better to have a friend next to you, it is an added boost of encouragement.

Byron and I and Anthony and Marissa are going to go brave the foothills on Saturday morning to see what our run has set out for us. Tomorrow will be one week away from race day-aaaahhhh!!!!

Phooey

Charles Spurgeon said ,

It was by perserverance that the snail reached the ark.

I read this last night in a devotional. I really liked it and thought that I would share it with everyone here.

I just got home from taking Ally and Parker to the Snake River Stampede (Angie joined us a little after we arrived). It was fun to see the kids faces light up and the interest they took in simply "people watching". I will post pictures after I get them developed. They were so cute in their "get-ups".

Byron has another migraine tonight. Not sure what is going on...

Simple Homily

Matthew 7:5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

I have moments where I notice things in other people that make me stop and wonder if I act the same way. These things can be either positive or negative. Reflecting on the verse above though, I am thinking particularly of the negative. I guess all that I can do is to check myself with God and pray that I am keenly aware of how I behave and how God wants me to behave.

Sorry for the sobering entry today. Some things are all too fresh in my mind.

Halcyon Days of Youth

I got sleep. Lots of it today. It was wonderful. Last week was terrible because I went to bed late every night and woke up so early. So, I think that I made up for it all today.

I barely lifted a finger today. I feel a little guilty about it, but at the same time, appreciated the quiet serenity. I can attack the mess later. I did, however, go running today. I am working on the inclines at The Rec. I also took Rachael McReynolds out to recap her mission trip experience.

Byron has been struggling with migraines lately and we are not sure what is triggering them. Please send up a prayer for him. I honestly can't imagine what it must be like since I rarely get headaches and have never had a migraine.

Tomorrow Byron and I will go up to McCall with some friends after church and return in the evening. I love McCall. It is a great place to be. It is a "business" trip to the cabin, but a relaxed one. Check out the cabin here.

I will post something today...

I am feeling a little more organized and less frazzled today. Why? I made a to-do list and prioritized the items on that list. I think my friends Jayci and Kelly can relate.

Random.

Okay, had to add a picture. How cute are my nieces and nephew?!

Subject change. Something else about my upcoming race. Get this... Byron and I figured this out at lunch today...

Mile:
1.0--2% incline
2.0--7% incline
2.5--5.5% incline
3.0--8% incline
3.5--.5% incline
4.0--8.5% incline
5.0--0% incline
6.0--0% incline
6.5--5.5% incline
7.0--0% incline
8.0--0% incline

I think that Brian is right, definitely certifiable.

Love Mornings.

I echo that of my sister with regard to enjoying 5am mornings-

(you feel like the world is your own since most everybody else is asleep, and time just seems sweeter)

I have been waking up at 5am MWF to go to spin class at The Rec and now that the race is two and a half weeks away, I will be going there to run on incline TTHS. Plus, it gives me a little window of time to post before the work day begins. I got four miles in this morning on a 4.0 incline. I wonder what the conversion of the hills at the race to treadmill incline is.

Byron and I did golf yesterday, but only nine holes. My two frustrations: not keeping my head down and turning my wrists. No matter how many times Byron told me, I couldn't get it right. I am amazed at his patience and cannot understand how he does it! We stopped early due to the heat and major hunger pains.

I am going to have to get pictures on this blog. There's nothing like a boring blog without pictures. ugh. I will have to take Jayci's advice and purchase myself a little digital camera.

Commit Me!

Okay. I signed up for this race tonight. I am very nervous and feeling like I am a little bit crazy.

Race

A breather.

Finally. I have the chance to create my first post. What to write... This may be a long post so brace yourselves. And, this blog is not going to have a constant theme since I go in phases with my passions and interests. However, here are the main things in my life.

The first thing is God and Church. I am an anally organized person and must schedule my time in order to feel somewhat in control and to get anything done. I have tried to schedule quiet time in before my morning routine, but was sleeping in. So, I tried scheduling it right before bed-always a good recap of the day. However, nights are always busy. But, nights seem to be the best timing for this time in my life. So, pray for me to be consistent. My friend, Kelly, and I are working hard to grow a young marrieds group at our church and have been blessed with at least six couples (that I can think of off the top of my head). Please pray for our little group! Youth group is a blast and I am looking forward to Wednesday since I have missed the last three Wednesday nights.

The next thing coming to mind is RUNNING. I am running. Amazing enough. I always have said how much I hate running, but I discovered that I can run more than a mile and continue on. I must give recognition to Byron's sister, Steph, since she starting me running. So, you will hear lots of my running/exercise.

The next thing is Cooking. Ugh. I don't feel very talented in this area. If you have any good recipes-send 'em my way. Even though I am not a talented cook, I still enjoy it and aspire to be better. I need to make out my grocery list and head to WinCo Foods.

Cleaning/Organizing. This had to find its way in here. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a natural born organizer. So, I will share my tricks (probably somewhere on here). Right now I still have to unpack from our week vacation to McCall. I would include pictures, but I do not have a digital camera yet and everyone will have to wait for the normal 35mm film to get developed and put on a CD from Wal-Mart. So, after this post will come lots of cleaning and putting away. Chris Rhom did a fabulous job of housesitting for us and it was nice to come home to a clean house.

Lastly, I will add Activity. This could encompass a lot of things, but it mainly means getting me out of my hermit mode and spending time with people. Byron complements me so well here because he is a social being and encourages that side of me. We were going to go golfing this lovely, hot Sunday afternoon, but his water(irrigating) needed tending to and we will have to postpone until tomorrow or another day. Yes, Byron is so patient to teach me how to golf. Isn't he amazing?!