William's First Talk

William gave his first talk in church during Primary last week. He did amazingly, especially since I totally forgot about him giving a talk until that morning. Thank goodness I have been teaching him how to read, or else we would've been in really big trouble. I guess I would have just resorted to whispering in his ear, but you know, need to make it sound more dramatic than it really is.

William got up, not nervous at all, and delivered this talk in front of the entire Jr. Primary.

Here he is practicing his talk on the way to church

Good job Will-Dog

Baby Gaga

Has arrived

Caste nova

Todd had no idea what he got himself into. He had worked so hard to get me while we were dating, fighting off all of the competition, and finally succeeded in getting me to marry him.

Well, a few years later he has found himself in the same situation, having to compete with other boys for my attention. The only problem is that Todd created his own competition. And let's be honest, his competition is cuter, smoother, and more lovable.

One thing I love about being a mom to boys is that boys sure do love their mother. The boys are always giving me compliments, telling me how much they love me, how beautiful I am, how grateful they are for me.

I do have to say that the boys have increased the competition since I have become pregnant. They are fighting more for my attention, and throwing all sorts of lines.
"Mom, I am so lucky to have you be my mom"
"You are so dramatically beautiful" (Roger)
"I'm glad that you know how to take care of us"

Todd even admits that he cannot compete.

Then William and Grant will usually climb into our bed in the middle of the night, putting themselves between me and Todd.

Then, to add insult to injury, Todd cannot win any points. The boys will come up with these absurd games, such as, "Guess what word I am about to say c...."
Todd can try saying a list of words, but they will only say that the words I say are correct. Then I get thousands and thousands of points where Todd has only 14.

Poor Todd, he does have stiff competition, but I still am his (I just wish he would take some pointers from the boys though).

Rock Star

William had slicked his hair to the side (it's the only way William will let us do his hair since he hates his hair spiky).

Roger, almost surprised to see his hair like this, exclaimed, "William, you look like a Rock Star!"

This makes me wonder what Roger thinks a rock star looks like. Maybe if a Rock Star is a singer in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

I think this may be closer to a Rock Star

Thanksgiving

 For Thanksgiving this year, we hosted Todd's parents, Mike and Eve, and a woman from our ward, Elaine. Being the host, I was in charge of all the cooking, which I actually don't mind since I love cooking.

During the meal we did our traditional, "I am grateful for...." Here is our video of us doing it

Newest Running Partner

Almost two weeks ago I ran my most recent marathon in Indianapolis, Indiana. I have done this marathon for the last three years, I really enjoy it and it's a great course.

This year I was planning on BQ (Boston Qualifying) and PR (Personal Record), but due to the needs of my RP (running partner), I ran the race 2 hours slower than planned!!!!

This may sound crazy, especially knowing the time and energy I have put into my training, but if you have ever had a RP, you know that there is a lot more to your relationship than just running. When you become RPs, you share a bond, charity is always abound between you.

I wrote about the Running Partners I have had here.

What would cause me to run a 5:30 marathon instead of a 3:30? Well, my running partner is really new at this, incredibly new. So new in fact that this was my RP's first marathon. Actually, my RP has never gone running without me, and whenever I go running I have to carry my RP (so lazy!).

That's right.

My new running partner is actually a growing baby.

We're adding to our family and we are ecstatic about it.

 I told Todd about the pregnancy by leaving this on the front seat when we were going somewhere:

Of course, even though we've been trying to get pregnant, Todd asked, "Who is this for?"
He seriously can be clueless sometimes. When I told him we were expecting Roger I had laid tea lights on the floor and had them spell out 'Baby". When he saw them he thought I was calling him Baby in a tender, loving way.

Coming June 2012!!

Running Partners

If you have ever had a Running Partner (RP), you know how much love and appreciation is felt for this person. I don't know if it is because of all of the hours spent together, some of which can be painful, because you have seen each other in the early morning hours, or if it's because of all the endorphins that are felt during running which makes you feel a surge of love that seems to fall on the nearest object. I think it's a combination of all the above.
I wanted to introduce you to the RPs I have had in my life, and since I tend to be very left-brained, I will introduce them chronologically.

High School 
Tara G.

It's not until now that I realize that I have always been a runner, I just never knew it. I played soccer in high school and thought that you needed a ball to run after in order to run, but then when soccer season was over, I was running. Why--I have no clue. I just wish someone would have encouraged me to go for track or cross country.

I had cheerleading practice in the mornings (yes, I was a cheerleader but where I come from, they were the good girls) so many days after school I would run. A lot of times I could get Tara to join me. Now I do not know who was supposed to be in charge of us for we would run in the middle of the day in the hot desert, not the smartest thing. I remember our runs being tough, but enjoyable together. We probably only ran 2-3 miles (which I wouldn't get dressed for now) but then it felt like forever.
Tara has always been very sweet and pleasant, and was the same on our runs. We cheered together and hung out together a lot. She was/is always nice to everybody, never bad mouthed anyone.

2005/6
Stephanie, Mom, and Todd

A year or two earlier I had watched my sister-in-law, Stephanie, run a marathon. It was such an emotional experience to witness. It wasn't just watching her, but everyone that was running. Watching a marathon can be quite inspiring, sometimes more inspiring than running one. Watching the race made me have more respect for the marathon, but I thought that there was no way I could do one, I wasn't strong enough, I wasn't good enough, no way.

Well, amazing what a cross-country move will do. When I first moved to Ohio, I had moved far away from anything I had ever known. I had just had my second baby and my first was just over a year old, and my husband was starting medical school.  I had made new friends, but still needed an outlet, something that I could do for me.

One day I loaded my boys up in my single stroller, having Roger's baby car seat on the bottom and Mikey straddling the car seat, and I went for a run. I had been thinking about training for a marathon, no clue of how long I would need to train for, or what marathon to run, but I decided that if I could go for a run, run as long as I could, I could decide whether to do it or not. The run was hard. I tried with all my might to not start walking at all and was able to make it - 2 miles!! I immediately called Stephanie and told her that I wanted to run a marathon, I just needed some directions and instructions.

Stephanie was very excited, and using first-time runner's guide, she made me a cute little calendar to follow. When my mom saw the calendar, how cute it was and how slowly we would have to progress (started in October training for a marathon in May), she decided that she could do it as well. So, even though I wasn't running with them, I trained long-distance with my mom and Stephanie. There were a couple of visits that I was able to run with them, one fantastic memory being when we ran 17 miles in Playa de Carmen, Mexico.

Training for my first marathon was difficult and seemed to be very time consuming. I had underestimated how difficult it was going to be to get up in the early morning and go out in the winter's cold to run, especially since it was my first Ohio winter (VERY COLD).

When I did my long run on Saturdays, it was a big deal. It was the top thing I had planned for my day (whereas now it is something I get up early in time to do it before the first soccer game, etc). We would drive to the designated mileage spot (since Todd would get on our bike (we only had one that we shared) that we lovingly called the Purple Passion. Todd's dad had gotten it out of the trash and gave it to us, we were just grateful for it. Using the Purple Passion, Todd would pull our boys in a bike trailer. I'm not sure of how much the boys liked it, but they never seemed to complain, even when it was so cold that Roger's bottle froze. Todd and I would go, side by side, him biking, me running, on the bike path that ended just by our house. We would listen to our own music most of the time, but we also did spend sometime talking. I just hadn't come to the realization yet that you could really run and talk. Though we didn't talk as much then as we would if we were doing it now, I really cherished our time together.

May 2006
William

At the time of my first marathon (which was one of the hardest things I have ever done) I had no idea that I was pregnant with William. So, I guess William counts as one of my Running Partners. No wonder he loves running so much.

2009
Melissa C.

After getting pregnant and having to endure a humid summer, I pretty much quit running cold turkey. In some ways I missed it, and every once in awhile I would throw on my running shoes and go for a run, but I rarely ran much, but I also had William and Grant and moved to Northeast Ohio during this break, so I wasn't totally slacking.

A girl from my hometown was on American Idol and I wanted to support her by watching, but we don't have TV. I had become friends with a gal named Melissa and she was an expert on American Idol. So, I found myself once a week on her couch, watching AI, laughing, talking and having a good time with Melissa. The girl from my hometown didn't last very long, but because I enjoyed being with Melissa so much, I kept coming. I would stay over at her house until the late hours with our conversations. When AI had ended, we decided that we still wanted to have a regular hangout, so instead of seeing each other during the late night hours, we decided we could meet in the early hours of the morning.

She had run a marathon a few years before so we both had this connection that at one point we had run some long miles. We would talk about our training days and swap stories. Running together was an instant hit.

We only ran together once or twice a week, but it was so awesome. We would get up super early and run. We started out doing 5 miles together, then after much time and training, we were doing double digits. I had only started to run for the social, but I soon found that I had to do other runs on my own to be able to insure that I could handle our weekly runs.

Melissa is a super organized person, has everything put together, runs her house very smoothly, but is still very personable. Neither of us are ones to complain too much nor talk about other people, but we did soon find that we established what was "Run Talk".

When you are running, sometimes you meet some of your frustrations and you need to get them out. When you're running with someone else, this can be an opportune time to talk about these frustrations. Plus, there are times when you're running that you are searching for anything to take your mind off of the pavement ahead.

We ran together for awhile, taking a small break during the winter when the sidewalks were like ice and we found ourselves ice skating. She ran on her treadmill and I ran on the indoor track at the gym in order for us to be able to keep up with each other when the sidewalks would no longer be covered in ice.

There were times when we would run together that Melissa would say something about her holding me back. I disagreed and thought to myself that I was hurting just as much as she was. Then one day I decided to run our route when I was by myself. I was shocked to find that even though I didn't think I was going too fast, but I ran the same route 20 minutes faster.

Around this time Melissa's husband got a job in another state and would be gone a lot, causing Melissa to not be able to go out in the early morning for she would be leaving her 3 children home alone. Our runs together became less and less frequent, but the admiration was never lost.

Sporadically 2010-2011
Carol and Kris

Whenever I would visit my mom in Utah, I would always go running with her. She has a group of friends that really encourage each other in their running and healthy lifestyles. The friends that run together would usually meet in the morning, chat and run together for a quarter of a mile, then the faster runners (Carol and Kris) would run ahead while the slower ones kept at their pace. I usually would stay with my mom, but on one particular trip to Utah, I decided to run with Carol and Kris.
I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to keep up, or worse, that I would hold them back. Much to my surprise, I was able to keep up and found that I enjoyed running with these marvelous people.
Carol homeschools and homebirths and it has always been so incredible to get her insight and support. Kris also has amazing insights as well as hilarious stories. I found that I really enjoyed running with them and got motivated to qualify for Boston - which looking back was an impossible goal but they made me believe that I could do it. Carol can be quite convincing. I ended up doing my 100 mile ultramaraton and Ironman with Carol and Kris.

Winter 2010 - Present
Kara, Jocelyn, and Leah

It was always so nice to visit Utah for that meant that I could run with people. Since I wasn't running much with Melissa, I was feeling so incredibly lonely. I had been doing so much training by myself, so many hours to myself. I had been praying to find someone, anyone that I could run with. I started stalking anyone that was wearing anything that looked like running shoes. I would finally find some woman with running shoes on and I would ask if she ran. I was elated to find out that she did, but when I would ask her about distances she would reply with 5K's. Now don't get me wrong, 5K's are awesome, but I needed a more long-distance running partner.
I was at the park and had this same conversation with a mom, only to find that she ran 5K's.  I was disappointed, and almost embarrassed when she asked what I ran. I reluctantly told her that I ran almost 10 times the distance. But then she replied with, "Oh, well then you should talk to my friend" as she pointed to the woman near her.
This tall, skinny woman with short, dark, curly hair with a baby on her hip started talking with me. I was only able to talk to her for a minute before she had to leave, but being desperate as I was, I asked for her number, and her name - Kara. She probably thought I was super weird, but she gave it to me.
We texted several times before we were able to run together. The first time that we did run was fun, Kara has the gift of gab. She is able to talk to anyone about anything and make it enjoyable, and she can do it all while running mile after mile. Even though we barely knew each other, she kept the conversation going and I was very pleased. We only ran once before she was running her first marathon. But shortly after that, we started meeting for our weekly long runs on Saturday in the nearby metro parks.
For a while one of her friends, Chuck, joined us, but then he couldn't keep up, had a mid-life crisis and disappeared. We ran through everything, rain, sleet, snow, ice. One morning it was only 4 degrees outside, but that didn't stop us. Frosted eyelashes was a common occurrence for us. We would layer on our clothes and when we got too hot, we would stash our extra clothes in the snow and bushes and retrieve them on our way back.
Kara and I are quite the running pair. We are incredibly different from each other. Whereas I am ultraconservative and religious, Kara is the exact opposite. She is agnostic while sporting a stud in each nostril. To some it may seem that the only similarities that we have are pace, being a mother of 4 children, and love of running. But in all actuality there are more similarities than just that. Our differences allow us to see different viewpoints of things, and our discussions and differences of opinions can help the miles tick by quickly. Kara is a great mother that loves people and loves the moment.
This spring Kara started running mid-week with an old high school friend, Jocelyn, who ran with her own running partner, Leah. The mornings I could (with Todd's schedule) I would join them. I soon found that there were two more women that I found that I enjoyed running with.
Jocelyn (and her husband) are known around the racing circuit. She has a marathon PR of 3:04 at the Akron Marathon (which has a lot of hills) and has 2 young boys.
Leah is a cyclist, and is on a local racing team. She just runs for fun, and she really does enjoy it. She brings her dog to run along with us, and I must say that he is one fast dog.
Though I run with Jocelyn and Leah, I would consider Kara more my RP. We do our long runs together, and really, there's a lot more talking going on in 20 miles than in 8. We've been training for the Indianapolis marathon, hoping to run it in 3:30.
Well, that didn't quite happen.