Quick Update

I'm running 2 miles now. Takes me 30.04 minutes but I get-er-done. I'm working on building mileage, not speed. The slower the pace is for me, the easier it is to put in more mileage. Legs are sore today and with trick or treat tonight, I've decided to not run today since I'll be walking for 1.5 hours tonight. Cassidy hasn't stopped talking about trick or treat all day. She wanted to put on her costume this morning after dropping the boys off at school. I've got the camcorder charged, the camera charged, the candy bags/bucket ready. Brenden is going with his friends tonight. There is a group of boys that we are allowing him to go with and they'll all have their phones on them.

Speaking of Brenden, the other night was a very proud moment. Here's the story: Fred, Richard's former brother in law, collects the tabs off of cans and donates them to somewhere that uses them to raise money for St. Jude Children's hospital. Richard mentioned it to us and asked us to keep them off of pop cans and we'll give them to Fred. Well, Brenden has a little keychain that he has been saving pop tabs on already. As soon as Richard mentioned St. Jude Brenden was up and getting them and giving them to us. These were ones he was keeping himself as a little collection of his own. Wow, the tears welled up in my eyes. He has such a big and giving heart. That's our boy!

Cassidy at the dentist

Cassidy had her first dentist appointment this morning and she was so good. She wouldn't dare speak to anyone there because she is so stinking shy but she listened well and did everything they asked. When the hygienist first started to lay the chair the back Cassidy's eyes got so big and she had a scared look on her face but I stood at her feet and held onto her leg so she knew I was right there and she was fine. The dentist lets the kids wear sunglasses but she didn't want to. And when kids are all done they get a toy from the treasure chest and Cassidy didn't one that either. The dentist wasn't prepared to walk in and see Cassidy in that chair. She said "Oh, no already!" We've been with her since her first year in practice. At that time Brenden was little and Spencer was just a few months old. She's really awesome. And her people there have always been great too. She almost got a crash course in obstetrics in March 2006 because I had a cleaning done for me on March 6 and I was having contractions sitting in her chair. It was freaking her out! I would grab the handles on the chair and she would ask if she was hurting me somehow and I would say nope, contraction and she was like "Oh crap, I'm not that kind of doctor". I called them at the end of the week and told them that Cassidy was born on the 8th. Anway, if you need a great dentist in the Columbus area she is Dr. Donna Noll from Violet Family Dental in Pickerington.

One week later, more miles added

It has been a week since I ran a mile for the first time. Running it, no walking. I continued that last week and today, one week later, I ran 1.25 miles. I've upped my speed just a bit to 4.2 miles per hour now. I ran a mile yesterday at a 4.5 mph speed and wanted to try to go further than 1 mile but my breathing was getting labored and I needed a break. But I ran that stinking mile in 13.41 minutes. That was awesome! I just wanted to increase my speed to see if I could do it and push myself and I did. But in order to build the mileage I need to slow down my pace. Today my mile mark was 14.30. I am not working on speed at this time, just mileage. When I get to 3 miles, the 5K distance, then I will work on the speed to have a better race time. I'm so proud of myself. Running has been really addicting! It's making me want to see how far I can go and that's an awesome feeling. Looking forward to my first 5K next year.

"Man Day"

The boys and Richard have declared today "Man Day". They went to the school to play basketball, then to the park to hike the trails and they just stopped by here for potty breaks and they are going back to the school to hike the trails in the woods behind the school. The boys are having so much fun. The park is called Rising Park and it has what people around here call a mountain but I call it a hill, and the trail leads to the top and looks out over the city of Lancaster. They said it is very pretty. When your family is from southern Ohio and you've seen those hills that aren't called mountains, trust me people, this is no mountain. It's a very nice day out today. It was freezing this morning but now I think it has hit the low 60's so it's been a perfect "Man Day" for them.

Check out Brenden's blog

Brenden has a blog now. You can view it at www.rockintheweb.blogspot.com or find it on my list of blogs I follow. I won't let him do myspace or have e-mail yet so the blog is a way he can still share things with his friends online that I can totally monitor!

I Did It!

I ran a continuous mile today without walking any of it! I ran at 4 miles an hour so it was a nice, easy and steady pace for me. I'm so proud of myself! I was channeling Jillian Michaels from "The Biggest Loser" from about .85 on by yelling at myself (in my head) making myself push hard and dig deep to finish the mile. What an awesome feeling I have right now. I can't wait to go past the mile and tell you all when I've done 2 straight miles. Now don't expect miracles from me, I'm sure it will take some time but now that I've done a straight mile I feel like anything is possible and I know that I can push myself to the next step. Yay me!