A husband who supports me.
When I run in the morning on week days, I usually need to be home by 7AM so Robert can get to work on time. This week I wanted to get my long run out of the way before the weekend (because we are so busy with tee ball and other family commitments) and was planning to push Baby Gus in the stroller this afternoon. The forecast was calling for 90 degrees with humidity though – not great for a baby to sit in the stroller for 2+ hours. So Robert agreed to go into work late, giving me an extra hour this morning. I got 14 miles done by 8AM – all thanks to him. And as it turns out, the forecast was totally off – it’s been thunder storming all afternoon. If I hadn’t gone out for my run early this morning, it simply would not have happened. To top it all off, when I walked in the door at 8AM all sweaty and gross (and tired) after my run, he had already made the beds and cooked the kids a fantastic pancake breakfast. Who does that?!? My husband, that’s who. He is awesome and I am so thankful for him.
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| Me, Robert & Gus. I love this picture. |
A buddy (or two) who will run at sunrise with me any or every day of the week.
Every single day this week I met up with Chris for a run, and a couple of days we had extra company from our friends Amy and Terri. Monday was 6 miles, Tuesday we did 10 (soaked in the rain), Wednesday was 8, Thursday another 6 and today 14. That’s 44 miles logged with my buddies. There is no doubt about it – if it were not for these guys I would be pushing the stroller or running on the treadmill. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have such true and devoted friends.
A sister who is a rockstar.
My sister Jodi had her ACL surgery on Wednesday and it went well. It turns out she did not have meniscus damage — this is HUGELY AWESOME news! Post surgery she is in a lot of pain, but is handling it like you would not believe. She is one of the toughest, bravest and strongest woman I know. I am insanely proud of her. I am so grateful she is over the hurdle of surgery. Today she has her first physical therapy appointment. She is on her way to recovery and I will be with her every step of the way. Go, Jodi!!
Going outside my comfort zone – and surviving.
So you will probably laugh, but this week I went outside my comfort zone in the kitchen. I cooked chicken! And it wasn’t awful, apparently! Having been a vegetarian for the better part of the last 20 years, this was no small miracle. I made dinner for my sister and her family yesterday and I’ll be honest – I went to the store to get one of those pre-cooked rotisserie chickens for them. But I went in the morning, and there were none out yet. I wasn’t going to be able to go back to the store later in the day, so the only other option I could think of was to actually cook chicken for them (eeek). Honestly, my stomach hurt just thinking about it, as I froze in the grocery store aisle trying to come up with Plan B. I called my sister Alissa (who is an AMAZING cook) and got some advice on a simple way to cook chicken breasts. It was ridiculously easy once I got going, but I was a bit (ok, a lot) freaked out at first. When Robert came home he tasted it and said I did a good job! He is an awesome cook too, so this made me feel pretty much amazing. I’m not confident in the kitchen. Being married to a man that is passionate about food and great at cooking it has it’s benefits — but also makes me kind of not so great at it. Yesterday though I was inspired to believe in myself a little more in the kitchen. I am going to work on this more. I think my family will like it, and it will help me feel better about myself.
Children who are happy for me.
I’m so excited to be running Hood to Coast with nuun in a few months, and my kids are very aware of the whole thing. When I was applying for the team, they were eager and excited about my video. And now that I am preparing for it, we talk about it almost on a daily basis – how mommy will be flying across the country to run a relay, to be part of a TEAM. How I’ll be drinking lots of nuun (which they love and are obsessed with), running in the middle of the night and “smelling stinky” in a van. How this is a dream come true for me. And how I am saving money to buy my plane ticket. I work a few different jobs – I teach pilates, I’m a running coach (with private clients) and I have a small business (Sugar Cone). My family doesn’t rely on my income because it is pretty unpredictable (and truthfully, not so much money). The money I make is sort of “icing on the cake” so to speak. When I was applying for Hood to Coast, Robert and I agreed that if I got on the team I would pay for my plane ticket with the money I earn, so as soon as I got selected I made an envelope to save my money in. I pinned it up in the kitchen on our family bulletin board and every time I make money I put it in there.
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| mommy’s savings plan |
The other day, Abby noticed my envelope for the first time and asked me about it. I explained that I was saving money so I could get to Hood to Coast. She disappeared from the kitchen and a few minutes later, she came downstairs with her piggy bank and the following note:
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| how sweet is that? |
I couldn’t believe her generosity. I gave her a big hug and told her how much it meant to me. I said I did not want to take her money, but that the kindness she showed me just made my heart soar. It made me feel so loved that she would do something like that for me, and that was worth more to me than any amount of money. I told her how proud I was of her, for being so thoughtful and giving of herself. She insisted on giving me $11 (yes, my kid is loaded!) and she wanted to put it in my envelope. I really did not want to take her money, but the look on her face when I told her that just about made me cry. I realized that she would feel hurt if I didn’t accept it, so Robert told her he would pay her $11 for being so awesome. It all worked out. Abby still has all her money, and I am $11 closer to having a plane ticket!
Another note about HTC and how it is impacting my family — it is so fun to share this adventure with them. I can tell that it gives them a little bit of anxiety – I’ve never been away from them for more than an overnight – but they are genuinely excited for me and happy for me despite their feelings about how it affects them. I’m not just talking about my kids here – Robert, too. I am so grateful to all of them for supporting me and for wanting this for me, even though it means they will be without me for a few (possibly very long) days.
This week has been full of things to be thankful for. Sometimes I think life feels so busy – so chaotic!! – that I don’t really stop to take a minute to appreciate all the wonderfulness that abounds. This morning as I was running – a run that was harder than hard for some reason – I thought about all the things that I have to be thankful for today. And I realized – the list is endless. It inspired me to take a second to write just a few of them down, to capture the gratitude that is in my heart on this day. It is going to become a regular thing for me from now on. There are just so many things to be thankful for …
