About Running

If you followed my blog in the long ago past, you know that since 2007 I ran fairly consistently. After I got into decent shape I set and met several goals for myself including running six marathons. However, this last year has proved to be my worst running year yet, and I actually think my running days may be over. 

But it's ok. I have discovered that I love walking!

Here's what happened: I slowly lost interest in running, even when I met friends to run. I can't explain it, but last July I just didn't want to run anymore. (Some of this feeling was because Jimmy had a scary episode of atrial fibrillation while running, and he had to curtail his running for a while. I felt badly about going for a run when he was needing to not run......so that explains a little bit of my loss of interest in running, but really it was just a good excuse for me to stop doing something that I had lost interest in anyway.)

So I ran and less, but I still ran a little because Lynn, Leanna, and I signed up to run the St. Jude Half Marathon on December 7. It got to the point that I was running only once a week, the day I met Leanna and Lynn for our long run, and as any runner will know, running only once a week, and doing a long run on that one day is asking for a running injury. And that is what happened. My hip began bothering me the entire time I ran. And then one morning in late November, during what was supposed to be a 10 or 11 mile run (I can't remember), about 3 miles into the run I had a sudden, excruciating pain in my left foot. I stopped immediately, but the pain did not subside. I walked a little; I jogged a little. Then I knew there was no way I could finish the run, so I hobbled back to my car. I wondered what to do. The half marathon was about ten days away, so I decided to rest totally from running until the day of the race. Unfortunately my foot still hurt every day, but I kept telling myself that it was getting better. 

And then I did the dumbest running thing of all. I ran (well, hobbled) the half marathon anyway. How crazy was that? My plan was to start out and then bail out if/when my foot pain got too bad. But I kept on walking/jogging/hobbling one more mile, and so I took three and a half hours (that is soooo slow), but I did finish. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Of course I caused my foot injury to be even worse, and I really could barely walk. Finally, on December 11, I went to our family doctor and embarrassingly told him what I did (he knows me, so he wasn't surprised--I've had to see him for CrossFit injuries too, plus he is a runner). He did an X-ray, diagnosed me with a stress fracture of the 3rd or 5th (I can't remember) metatarsal, and prescribed two weeks in a walking boot. I reluctantly got the boot. The thing was, as long as I did not use my foot, meaning I didn't stand up or walk, my foot did not hurt. Otherwise, it felt like it was breaking in half. 

I made it 8 days in the boot. I couldn't wear it anymore! The change in my walking, even with a lift in my shoe was causing other kinds of leg and knee pains, so I stopped wearing it. Well, that was a bad decision. After a few days, I was back to having the same foot pain. So, I wore it again, and this time I made it 13 days! Yay! And that seemed to do the trick. I discovered one pair of shoes that kept my foot in the perfect position and pain free, so I wore those shoes all day every day for another month.

I tried to jog again in early March, but it caused pain. So I began to walk daily. I started with 15 minutes at a time, and I slowly worked up to 30 minutes. At first, if I walked longer than 30 minutes, my foot would hurt, but I have now built up to one hour of walking without foot pain. In fact, yesterday I deemed myself fully cured, and I ran a little bit. Just a little bit, less than half a mile. While I was running, my foot felt fine, but last night when Jimmy and I walked after supper, when we had been walking about 40 minutes, my foot began to hurt in that familiar way. Since I have walked miles and miles during our "shelter at home", I am pretty sure the running yesterday morning caused the pain. So that's that. I probably won't even try running again, at least not for another couple of months.

I know that was a long explanation!

I am still signed up for a 5K in the fall, which I will walk, and I am not sure what I plan to do about the St. Jude race. I have run that race every year (except one) for the last twelve years. They do have a 5K, so that is an option. Registration for St. Jude is in early June, so I will be making my decision soon.

I miss the idea of running, but I don't really miss the actual running. At least not for now.

Countdown to Christmas: Part 1

No. I'm not "robbing the Pilgrims" as Kelly tries to tell us when we decorate for the Christmas Holidays well before Thanksgiving. It's just that Christmas decorations are so much fun. The tree, my Santa collection, the special ornaments, the greenery--I love it all, and I want to enjoy it a little bit longer than 3-4 weeks. 

I saw this sentiment somewhere on social media recently:

November 1-21:  Christmas

November 22:  Thanksgiving

November 23-December 25:  Christmas

I agree!  

My plan is for "the other Kelly" (Jimmy's college roommate who decorates for me each year--not be confused with "Uncle Kelly", my best friend, Lynn's husband) to come over next Monday night to work his magic. In about two hours he has the living areas of our home decked out in Christmas finery. It takes me way, way longer to take it down and pack it up each year than it does for him to make it all look so beautiful! 

But today's plan is to make a plan.

If you are beginning to think about the holiday season, now is time to make a list. Make lots of lists! 

Here is my plan for today:

• Take inventory of the gifts I have bought so far this year. I try to pick up a few things here and there for people as I see things that I think would be perfect for someone. I create a word document on my computer each year of each family member and friend's name that I buy/make gifts for, the gift, and when I wrap it. Actually I delete all the previous year's information and use the same document template each year. I don't make a whole new document. I just save the new one with the current year in the title. I think they are all called "Christmas 2018", etc. 
• Look in the various places I hide gifts and bring them all to a central location.
• Type the gifts into my Christmas document.
• Record the amount of money already spent on various Christmas items (gifts, cards, stamps, supplies etc.) in another document. I do set a Christmas Holidays budget each year, and I save money all throughout the year for this purpose. 
• Rehide all the gifts, but this time begin grouping them for wrapping.
• One more thing--when I am done shopping and wrapping, I print out all my gift lists and place them inside my Christmas binder. (More about my Christmas binder another day.)

P.S.

I ran/walked again this morning! Today I did 2.5 miles, so now I have 4 miles for this week. My goal is 10, and I think I can do it!

Do you have any exercise goals?

Do you want to start your holiday planning fun with me?

Happy Tuesday!

I May Be Back

Well. It's been a long, long time since I blogged.

I have heard on social media more than once that blogging is dead. That podcasts are the new thing now, and many people just don't read blogs anymore. True. I listen to a few podcasts myself, and I don't read blogs like I used to. However part of that is because of the stage of life I am in, and part of that is because many of the bloggers I used to follow are no longer blogging!

But I miss my blogging community, and I miss writing. I like getting my thoughts down on "paper", and I like sharing a little bit of my life and hopefully some encouragement to my readers.

So here goes. Again. I am going to try to jump back in.

Here is some of what has been going on in my life:

• Julie and Big Sam moved back to Mississippi (from Romania).
• Julie and Big Sam had a baby in August!  A precious baby girl named Mae.
• I am a grandmother! I love being a grandmother so much!
• It is difficult being a grandmother, a mother to a married daughter 9.5 hours away, a mother to a college sophomore 12 hours away, and a homeschooling mother to a 12 and 14 year old. (Plus Julie who now lives only 15 minutes away! :) All of those roles together have been quite the task. But I love being a wife/mother/grandmother most of all. Even when it's hard.
• Olivia and Brian have visited us twice--once in July and once over Labor Day weekend. I love having my children come home.
• I hosted Clay's college cross county team for an overnight stay last week. All 18 of them. It was delightful!
• Jimmy and I were able to travel and watch Clay's college end of season conference meet and also Leah and Sam's national meet over the last several days.
• I have basically quit running. :( I sometimes meet Leanna once a week or so for a 4-6 mile run, but that's it. I am not sure how or why I lost my motivation to run, but it's gone. And I am working on getting my motivation back. I ran/walked 1.5 miles this morning. I have set a goal of 10 miles this week.  For the first time in probably 10 years, I am not running the St. Jude Half Marathon (I ran the full marathon back in 2011, and I skipped 2014 to run a full marathon the next weekend). I signed up for the 10K instead. Now I am sad that I will be getting in the line to pick up the 10K bib instead of the half or full marathon bib! That may motivate me to get back into running! (Not that there is any shame in running the 5K or 10K, it's just that for so long I was running 2-3 half marathons a year, and now.......nothing.)
• I am still doing CrossFit once or twice a week. Our class meets three times a week, but going twice is always my weekly goal. 
• I am beginning to work on my Christmas Holidays plans. That makes me happy! This is the topic I will probably blog about first.....as I get my thoughts and plans together I will share them.
• I have read several good books over the last several months.
• I stated an inductive Bible study. I have found a new groove in my personal Bible study that is working well in my life right now.
• I love my church family. 
• I love my best friends, Lynn and Leanna.
• I love my family. 
• I am so thankful for all of my blessings. 

Friday

We are taking a Spring Break beginning now!  I am leaving in just a few minutes to pick up Clay and his college roommate from the airport. We are all so excited for the week that lies ahead--even Jimmy is off work the whole week. I have several things planned for the week including our Family Bible Study tomorrow night (so I will need to clean house tomorrow!), Teen Bible Study next Friday, vet appointments for all five dogs (Clay and Bret will be taking them for me), Jimmy an eye doctor appointment, plus I also have a few deep cleaning/purging/organizing tasks for myself. Plus I am still sewing curtains for our tiny pop-up camper (which I began last March and stopped for many, many months because:  weddings.) I also want to visit our local fabric store to get some fabric samples for Julie's baby nursery! She, Leah, and hopefully Olivia, and I plan to sew some bedding and various decorative items for her nursery. So much fun! I want her to have the fabric and plans chosen before she arrives on July 11 so we can hit the ground running with baby preparations! She will have only 8 weeks until her due date when she gets home to Mississippi.

A running update: Ever since my last blog post I have been consistent in my running and attending CrossFit classes. It's true that a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Once I got into the groove of running 5-6 days a week and attending CrossFit twice a week, it has been easier to keep it up. When I finish my miles tomorrow morning (just 3 left), I will have completed the weekly running plan I made for myself for 4 weeks in a row. I am pleased. I have also managed to stay injury-free in CrossFit. That is mainly because of my wonderful coach, MC, who modifies most every workout to accommodate  my shoulder challenges. I appreciate her so much. And I love my classmates (5 ladies from my local church)! They make exercising fun--well, almost fun....at least they are encouraging and a fun distraction from the grueling workouts!

I hope you are enjoying your March. The month of March always seems like a good time to do spring cleaning, both inside and outside the house.

Let's Talk About Running Again

I have a love/hate relationship with running. Although I have run fairly consistently for 11 years now, it continues to be a struggle most days. Up until about three years ago I continually trained for six marathons and numerous half-marathons. I ran my last marathon in December of 2014, and I have not even considered running another one since! I have still run one or two half-marathons a year since that time, but I have almost lost my interest in that too.

I ran two half-marathons recently--one in December and one in January. The December one was ok. My training was poor. I ran only 1-3 days a week, but for the last four weeks prior to the race I did a  10-12 mile run weekly. On race day I finished with a respectable time, (however pretty slow for me), but I was sore for days. I vowed then that I would train better for my January half-marathon.

But I didn't.
It was Christmas holidays and all my people were here for almost two weeks and of course I did not want to run. My plan for the Mississippi Blues Half Marathon on January 27 was to run/walk and somehow finish before Jimmy finished the marathon. Note to self: running a half-marathon without proper training is not the smartest idea.
I walked/ran in about 1/2 mile intervals. It was cold, and it rained the entire time. I listened to podcasts and just took my time. I set a PR for my slowest half-marathon ever!

So here I am. I have not been motivated to run for so long now. I even stopped going to CrossFit for all of December and January. I began CrossFit again at the beginning of February, and I am slowly getting my groove back. I also printed out a training plan for the Coke 10K on May 5. I actually completed all my miles for week one (which ended today). Progress. 

For me, exercise is like most other tasks. Once I get started and in a routine, I am fine. It's just taking the first step, literally. I am ALWAYS glad once I am through exercising. I like how I feel when I run in the mornings or go to Crossfit (well, except for being sore sometimes after Crossfit---but I am so weak and am basically starting over and my Coach is modifying everything for me---so I am not really even that sore yet!) My clothes fit better when I run on a regular basis. 

So I am challenging myself, again, to follow a training plan for an upcoming race. This time I am going to do it. 

Do you need to challenge yourself? Do you have a fitness goal? Do you want to join me in making exercising five days a week a top priority? Walk, run, aerobics, CrossFit, yoga, pilates.....whatever form of exercise you are motivated to do. Please join me. Let's be successful together. 

Spiritual and Fitness Goals for 2018

I have finally set my 2018 spiritual and fitness goals for 2018. They are subject to tweaking, but here they are for now.

Spiritual

• Read the Daily Bible.  This is a NIV Bible divided into daily readings--you will read the entire Bible in one year. It is also arranged chronologically with thoughts and commentaries scattered throughout. I began on January 1, and so far, so good. Jimmy began reading his again, and this is either is 2nd or 3rd time through.
• Read verses pertaining to worry, anxiety, and fear. I am using a concordance feature on my Bible app to locate verses on these subjects. I am copying them in a new journal that Sam gave me for Christmas.
• Continue to list five things each day I am grateful for in a journal. (I began doing this 21 years ago.)
• Do a better job at memorizing the Bible verses I assign to the children each week. Their memory is so much better than mine. I am making a copy of each week's verse for myself so I can drill the verses more than just at the kitchen table.

Fitness

I have been unsure of what exactly my fitness goals should be at this point beyond exercising on a regular basis. I have somewhat floundered the last three years. Ever since I finished the Rocket City Marathon in December 2014, I have not had a significant running or fitness-related goal. I have half-heartedly trained and run a few half marathons, but I have done nothing consistently. Jimmy challenged me to running at least 2 miles every day. I considered that, but it the end I modified that goal. Here is what I have come up with:

• Run at least 2 miles 5 days a week. Last week was my first week, and I ran 6 days for a total of 19 miles. In years past that would have been not a big deal, but for me right now, it was quite an accomplishment. 
• Beginning this week run at least 20 miles per week. I will excuse myself from the 5 days a week and the 20 mile minimum when we are out of town for an extended period of time.
• Start going to CrossFit again and attend class twice a week unless I am out of town. CrossFit is another fitness area I have been inconsistent in over the last year. I quit completely for a few months after a shoulder injury, but went back because I missed my friends (and coach) in the class so much! I stopped going for the month of December because, well. December! I am debating on taking off this month since I am trying to train for a half-marathon January 27. I will decide in the next few days, but I am definitely going back twice a week in after my race. My sweet coach, MC, is so willing to modify the workouts for me and my shoulder! I love being with the other ladies, so I am going to give it another try!

I have not chosen a word for 2018. I have too many words! LOL! I just finished listening to the Big Boo Cast's latest podcast, and I love Melanie's word for 2018--NO!

P.S. I set up my Instagram, but so far I have no idea what I am doing!

Chick Fil A 5K

This morning we left at 5:00AM to drive to Memphis for the Chick-Fil-A 5K race. Our family has run this race on and off over the past several years. It is one of our favorite 5K races! It is a large race (over 1200 finishers this year), and the door prizes and post-race refreshments are outstanding.

All four of us met our running goals, and Jimmy placed 2nd in his age group!

 Here we are looking sleepy....we had just gotten out of the car after our 2 hour drive.

 Here we are posing in front of the finish line (before the race). The finish is inside the Auto Zone Park. (Which is the baseball field for the Memphis Redbirds)

 Leah and Sam, enjoying their post-race Chick-Fil-A sandwich!

Jimmy and Me....

tired, but happy!

We hung out at the Bass Pro Shop for a little while before heading home. When we got here, Jimmy mowed the grass, and Leah and Sam did a math and science lesson.

It was a good Labor Day for us.

Words and Thoughts

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my strength and my redeemer."

Psalm 19:14

In my Psalms reading this morning, this particular verse stood out. What a tall order--for my words and the meditation of my heart (my thoughts) to be acceptable in God's sight.  Lately my thoughts are anxious, so my words are sometimes less than acceptable in God's sight. I am working on this. The second part of the verse gives the solution...."O Lord my strength and my redeemer". On my own, I will fail every time. With God's help and with my willingness to submit my selfish desires to Him, I can hope to succeed in making my words and thoughts acceptable to Him. 

What's been going on:

• Julie and Big Sam are married! The wedding was absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way. As soon as the photographer gets the pictures to me, I will share some. He texted me a few.....here is one of them.
• 
• The kids and I attended Rustic Youth Camp last week. My team of teachers (of the 3rd and 4th grade class) graciously allowed me to just be a helper for the week of camp since I am in the middle of two weddings! It was such a blessing to not have to spend hours preparing lessons and crafts and then packing and taking the whole house to camp! Thank you so much Beverly, Desiree', Chrystal, and Heather!
• I am still washing tablecloths from Julie's wedding!  They must be washed and dried one at a time in order to get the wrinkles out. The wash cycle is 35 minutes, and the drying time is 20 minutes. I have to get them out of the dryer the second the dryer cuts off. Then I hurriedly lay the tablecloth on my bed and fold it carefully before hanging it on a hanger. I think I have washed, dried, folded, and hung 23 so far. We used about 40 at Julie's wedding, so I still have many left. I also have some additional tablecloths that are new that we will also need for Olivia's wedding. They must be washed and dried before using them because they have hard wrinkles in them from the packaging. I think I have about 50 tablecloths to prepare in all for Olivia's rehearsal dinner and wedding reception.
• I'm slowing increasing my running miles. I have really let myself get out of shape with the traveling and wedding planning. I also starting rowing yesterday. I plan to row 3 days a week to hopefully strengthen my shoulder (that I injured doing CrossFit). I hope to go back to CrossFit class in July. 

Today Olivia and I have a long to-do list for her wedding.

Fun!

One Week From Today

Well. Wedding #1 is one week from today. Julie and Sam's wedding. I am not quite ready!

Here's what's been going on since I last blogged on May 2:

• We hosted several of Olivia and Julie's college friends for a weekend while they all came to run the Coke 10K race. We bought new bunk beds for Sam's room for this occasion which sleep 5! The beds are two double beds bunked with a twin trundle bed. I only put 3 college boys on these beds, but I am thinking that 5 future grandchildren can sleep there just fine.
• Our family also ran the Gumtree 10K the following week.
• Clay graduated, and we had a huge party to celebrate the occasion at our home. It was supposed to be an outdoor BBQ, but it rained and rained, so I had to host 94 people inside my house! I was able to seat 42 people in tables and chairs on my porches. Still, it was fun and crowded!
• Our family of seven took a short vacation to the Rocky Mountain National Park. Except we did not do much hiking in the mountains.....it snowed. Three feet of snow in 24 hours! We have never experienced snow like that before! We stayed in a cabin in Estes Park. The first day, before the snowstorm hit, we were able to do three hikes. The next two days we played in the snow and even tried to drive into the park to explore (unsuccessfully!). The last day we drove to Boulder, Colorado, where we were able to drive up to the summit of Flagstaff Mountain. We took a few picture there in the snow before heading down to explore the Pearl Street Mall.
• This last week I have done wedding stuff every single day. This included counting and sorting tablecloths, vases, lanterns, and candles, shopping for ribbon, fabric to drape over the arbor and various other items, taking the program to the printer, picking up Olivia's invitation envelopes (the outer and inner envelopes were printed), and much more.
• Last night Leanna and I spray painted 38 clear vases gold and silver speckled. 
• I've had my final meetings with the caterer and florist. 
• Lynn and Leanna have been diligently working to plan the flow and flip of the ceremony and reception. I am so thankful for both of them, and there is no way I could pull off these weddings without their help. 
• Julie finished her wedding dress and veil, and they are both beautiful!
• Olivia's dress is hemmed and ready as well. Both gowns and dresses along with bridesmaids dresses are all hanging in the closet.

I actually have so much to say about our fun and busy month of May, and I have lots of pictures to share. I really hope I can find time to do that! 

Big Sam will fly in Tuesday! He will stay with us until the night before the wedding. I am sending all guests to a hotel for Friday and Saturday nights. :) After that, the Johnson Hotel will reopen for business. Julie and Sam have not seen each other since the beginning of January, so they are both super excited! Their plan is to come back here after their honeymoon and some other traveling they need to do (Sam will be giving reports to the churches that have supported him the last year). They will stay with us until after Olivia's wedding on July 22. Then they will fly to their new home in Romania. 

Happy Saturday!

A Blog Post

So every day I put blog on my to-do list, and every day I never get to check it off.

Here goes......Last Thursday we went camping in our tiny house camper. The weather was perfect, and we had such a great time! We hiked many miles and cooked yummy food over the campfire. I am not through sewing curtains for the camper, but when I get them finished I plan to share pictures of our cute tiny house pop-up camper! So far I have only recovered the dinette cushions and bought color coordinated bedding, pillows, baskets, etc. I am using navy and turquoise (no pink because the boys said, "please, no pink!)

Wedding Update: not much

• ordered wedding memory books for both girls
• ordering hostess gifts for their showers today
• pondering when and where to buy a dress for me for both weddings
• planned an all day wedding planning extravaganza for tomorrow--Lynn, Leann, and I are meeting at 8:30 AM to get a lot of stuff done.
• most of the items we ordered during Spring Break have arrived

I am almost through reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I really like this book. It's my third time to read it, and I enjoy it more every time. We are reading this book in my senior English class. I am not sure they appreciate it as much as I do!  They are happy that I am not making them write a paper about it. We are doing business writing (business letters, resumes, and job applications) instead. And they have an 1800 word research paper due next week. 

We had our first track meet last Tuesday. It was Leah's first one, and she ran well. She and Clay both ran the 1 mile and the 800m, and Leah also ran the 4 x 800 relay. We got home around 11:00 PM. Fun.

I have gradually begun running again. (My CrossFit injury from many weeks ago has really slowed me down.) This week I have run 2 times!  2.5 miles on Monday and yesterday a long run with Leanna of 4 miles! Baby steps. I know that if I jump in too fast with too many miles I will get a running related injury in my knee or IT band. So, I am easing into the miles. I am running the Coke 10K on May 6, so my goal is to do that in under an hour. 

That's about all.

Oh. I haven't forgotten about Better Than Before. Keep reading! I'll blog about it soon.

A Few More Goals

How is your new year going? Have you set any goals? Are you keeping them so far?

I decided how I was going to cover my gospels reading each month. I plan to divide each gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) into 6 readings, and read one gospel each week. So this week I am reading 5 chapters of Matthew each morning and on the sixth day I will read 3 chapters.

I set a running goal for 2017. I want to run a total of 1000 miles this year. That is an average of 20 miles each week. Until last year had little difficulty reaching this goal since I was training for marathons or at least keeping a consistent long run. I ran only 699 miles in 2016. I have run 10 miles so far this week! I also decided to record my miles on Daily Mile again. If you are on Daily Mile please ask me to be your friend!

I am still working on my reading list. I am currently reading the play Our Town in preparation for the English class I teach. We are also reading Huckleberry Finn later this semester, and I have not read that before. I did read Our Town in high school, I think.

My homemaking goals for 2017 are to keep up with my weekly housecleaning chores and to tackle a few major projects throughout the year. In January I plan to completely clean out my closets and drawers--all my clothes, using the Konmari method. I have divided my house into four zones, and I aspire to clean each zone each week--one zone per day. Other major projects I have include a big clean-out and reorganization of Sam's room, helping Jimmy clean out his workshop, and deep cleaning the entire house (ceiling fans, baseboards, light fixtures, windows, etc.)

I think that's all my goals for now!

Book Club, Holidays, Running, and More

Hello!
I hope your Thanksgiving went well. I thoroughly enjoyed having Olivia and Julie home along with Brian and Ellie. We filled each day they were here with lots of fun and hopefully some relaxation for them.
We bought and decorated our live Christmas tree. We always say when it's done that it's the BEST. TREE. EVER. This year was no exception.

We drove 3 hours to celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents, my grandmother,  and my brothers and their families at my parents' house. I cannot express how much I enjoy Thanksgiving at my parents' house. It is truly a relaxing holiday for me. My mother does all the cooking for Thanksgiving, and I appreciate that so much!  It is the one holiday/event that I do not help with or do all the preparing/cleaning/cooking for. What a delight! My mother went over and beyond this year---she cooked extra of four of her Thanksgiving dishes and put them in disposable pans for me to take to Jimmy's family's Thanksgiving meal on Friday. I was so excited about this!  What a huge blessing, and I was so thankful. Everyone enjoyed the food she prepared for the Johnson Thanksgiving. It was all eaten!

We drove 4 hours Friday from my parents' house to Jimmy's mother's house on Friday to enjoy celebrating with his family. Ellie and Brian got to visit with all of our extended family in two days. Fun for all!

Saturday after decorating the tree (we bought it Wednesday, but did not have time to decorate it until Saturday), we all went to Kelly and Lynn's house to watch the Egg Bowl. (MS State vs. Ole Miss football game.) To our great surprise and delight State won!  Ellie and Brian got to experience the cowbell, and their hearing may never be the same.

I took the four college kids to the Memphis airport on Monday for their flight back to school. They get out for Winter Break on December 15. Yay!

Ok. The book club. Honestly, I have been so busy with visiting with my children, and then trying to get back into some sort of routine of homeschool and housework this week, that I have not reread our next chapter. I plan to post about it either Monday or Tuesday. Please keep reading, and try to determine which choice you are in each distinction category. For example, in lark or owl?, I am definitely a lark.

Tomorrow is the annual St. Jude Marathon/Half Marathon in Memphis. Jimmy is running the marathon and I am running the half. I am not the best trained for this event.....I have done my long run each week and gone to CrossFit once or twice a week, but that's it for the last 3 weeks. I don't doubt I can run 13.1 miles, I am just afraid that my time will be very, very slow!  I'll let you know!

Have a great weekend!

Book Club Reminder Plus Some Other Stuff

Don't forget that tomorrow we will be discussing the following chapter in Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin:
"Self-Knowledge:  The Four Tendencies."

I am looking forward to discussing which tendency each of us is.

Yesterday my family all ran a 5K (except Olivia, who has been a little sick lately).  Jimmy, Clay, Leah, Sam and I ran a race in Plantersville (close to us) while Julie ran a race in Tampa. It was a good day for running! Leah and Sam have been training so hard for XC all fall, and they wanted to test their training on a road race. Julie of course has been training and running hard with her XC college team as well. All three of them set PRs (personal records) at their 5K races yesterday! I was so happy for them. It is so rewarding to have your hard work pay off!

My college girls and two extras (Julie's roommate and Olivia's friend that is a boy) are flying home for Thanksgiving holidays Tuesday night!  I. CANNOT. WAIT.
Olivia has not been home since she left for school in early August!  I will have the house decorated for Christmas when they get here. We plan to buy our live Christmas tree on Wednesday and then decorate it on Saturday. Fun! Fun!  We will also be driving to visit my parents and Jimmy's mama and celebrate Thanksgiving will both sides of our extended family.

Don't forget to read the book.

Fun Days and an Update

I began blogging over eight years ago, and up until about 2 years ago, I was a fairly regular blogger.  I want to try to get back into the habit of blogging again. I really do. My internet (or lack of high speed internet) still frustrates me, but I am going to do the best I can.

Yesterday we attended the Mississippi State football game. It was hot, we got sunburned, and State lost, but it was still a fun day with friends and family!

 The Three Amigos 

(Lynn, Leanna, and Me)

AKA The Wedding Planners

(more on that later....)

 Me and Jimmy

Sweet Sam and Jimmy

(Uncle Kelly in the background)

After the game we enjoyed an early supper at Oby's, which was one of our favorite restaurants in Starkville when we were all in college. It's still delicious!

The fun for today involved getting up at 3:30 to run the Tupelo 13.1 Miler.  Leanna, Jimmy, Clay and I joined about 800 other runners for the 5:00 AM race start.  Leanna and I had the goal of finishing by 7:30 so we would have enough time to go home and get ready for Bible Class which started at 9:00. We did it!  In fact, we ran the race in 2 hours, 12 minutes. Of course Jimmy and Clay finished well before that. 

I am resting now. 

But first, about the wedding planners.....

Julie got engaged on August 20!  She and Sam Peters will be marrying on June 3. So, Leanna, Lynn, and I are in full planning mode. Our first wedding! 

 Sam and Julie

Sam and Julie again

Running and CrossFit

So I have been going to CrossFit since February, and I have also slowly increased my weekly running mileage. It has been challenging!  From February until the first of June, I could only attend CrossFit classes twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. Since we are taking a break from homeschooling for the summer, when I have been in town, I have gone to CrossFit three days a week. That has made a difference!  I am getting stronger, but I am also more tired, especially on days like today when I do a long run in the morning and then go to CrossFit in the afternoon.  But, overall, I am pleased with my exercise routine.

But in all honesty, I am sore almost every. single. day. Sore in areas where I did not even know I had muscles!

The seven of us in our CrossFit class (6 students and our dear instructor) have an ongoing group message text/chat, and most of the dialogue is about how sore we are or what hurts or how we want to skip the workout that day because we looked online at what we were going to be doing--and we were dreading that particular activity. (For the record, we shame/encourage the complaining member into attending anyway!) The camaraderie and friendships built and maintained while we are sweating together (and there is a copious amount of sweat!) is worth all the discomfort.  My CrossFit ladies are my support group! (Lynn, Leanna, Leigh, Tracy, MC, and Season). Also Olivia is joining us for the summer, so she gets to have fun too!

Several people cautioned me about getting injured while doing CrossFit.  Our coach (MC) is very conscientious of the fact that I am weak (and not a spring chicken!), and she has been very thorough when instructing us the proper techniques. She also is kind and very encouraging!  She has her work cut out for her with six homeschooling mamas who are not natural athletes. (Well, some of my classmates are very strong and have progressed quickly!) At the end of each workout, after I pick myself up off the floor, I am so glad that I came!

Leanna and I are currently training for the Tupelo 13.1 Miler on September 4. We do have a time goal--we must be through by 7:25 so have time to get home, shower, and be at our church service which begins at 9:30.  Fortunately, the race begins at 5:00AM, so unless something really terrible happens, we should finish in time.  I have run this race several times before, and I have always made my time goal.

Running and doing CrossFit at the same time has been hard, but since I am not training for a marathon, it is certainly doable.  And when I begin my homeschool again in August, I will cut my CrossFit workouts back to twice a week.  Leanna, Lynn, and I are also running the St. Jude Half Marathon in December, so we will continue that training throughout the fall.

Our CrossFit class just ordered the shirts in the picture above...but in pink.  It will bring us such joy to all wear them on the same day to class and take a picture!

Keeping fitness fun.  That's the key to doing it.

Running With The King 5K

Bright and early this morning all of us (except Clay who was still at Boys State--he's been gone all week) ran the Running With the King 5K. The "king" is Elvis.  Tupelo has a big Elvis Festival every year to celebrate the fact that Elvis Presley was born here. The race course runs right by his birthplace.  It has become a tradition for our family to run this race each year.

Sam and Julie both set a PR (personal record) in a road race 5K.  The rest of us were happy with our finish times too.

Jimmy and Sam

 We still look sleepy, don't we?

We found my nephew, Causey, at the race too!

Last weekend I made another quick road trip.  I drove 4 other ladies from my church to a wedding in Clinton, about 3.5 hours away.  We had a delightful time!  At the reception there was a photo booth (which was the cutest idea, by the way), and we laughed and laughed at our experience!  

Here is our printout!

Sheila, Lynn, Leanna, Mary Alice, and Me

What a blast!

The wedding and reception were both lovely, and we are all so happy for Josh and Emily. 

The Epic Road Trip

Ok. First of all, this is the reason I never blog anymore......it took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to upload these 12 pictures, and they are not even in the order I wanted them to be.  I am not kidding.  Will high speed internet please come to my house???

I digress.

So, about 5-6 weeks ago Julie asked me could she run the Coke 10K race.  Our family has run this race every single year since she was 8 years old, and she really, really did not want to miss it.  However, we had one tiny problem.  She, Olivia, and I would be in Tampa, Florida (12 hours away) on the Friday night before the race for Florida College's graduation.  I had only registered Jimmy, Leah, and Clay for the race because I was well aware of the conflict this year.  

But Julie said, "We can leave as soon as graduation is over and drive all night and make it just in time for the 8:30 AM race start."

Really?  I have never stayed up all night in my life.  Even with sick babies I dozed in the rocking chair.  Could I really drive all night?  

But how could I say no?  Olivia said, "Mama.  We cannot drive all night and then run a race."  I decided I needed a challenge, so I told Julie sure.  And just like that all three of us registered for the race.  

Then some of Julie's crazy cross county friends heard about our plan, and they wanted to join the fun too!  In the end, Josh, Cameron, and Sam (not my son Sam) registered for the race and agreed to caravan all night with us.  Their XC coach and his son drove to my house Friday and met us at the race Saturday morning.  

I spent the few days prior to our road trip flying to FL, packing up both girls' belongings from their dorm rooms--putting most of it in storage, and then squeezing the rest of it in their small car.  Josh also carried a couple suitcases for us in his vehicle.  Then we all attended graduation.

On our way to the gym for graduation.  Olivia is holding a pitcher that contains her beloved goldfish, Bingley.  He went to graduation too!

Sadly......Bingley passed away a couple of days after we got home (our cats attacked him!) :(

Olivia has gotten a new goldfish, and his name is Levi.

Julie with Sam (we call him Big Sam--so we won't confuse him with our Sam)

Sam is the main reason we all wanted to attend graduation.

After graduation we stopped by 7 Eleven for gasoline, coffee, and I got the biggest coke you have ever seen!  We were on the road at 8:13 PM EST.

Car #1:  Josh and Cameron.

Car #2:  Olivia and Me

Car #3:  Sam and Julie

This was my passenger!

The road trip home was actually pretty uneventful.  Just miles and miles and miles of driving in the dark!  We stopped about 7 times I think....for coffee, coke, the bathroom, gasoline....at our first stop, Josh and Cameron ordered seven Chick-Fil-A sandwiches! I alternated listening to an old John Grisham book on audible and peppy music on the radio.  I got a little sleepy after about an hour of driving, but after more coffee, I was alert the rest of the night.  I drove our car the entire way, Sam drove their car the entire way, and I think Josh let Cameron drive the last couple of hours.

At 7:38 CST, we made it!  Twelve hours and 15 minutes of delirious driving.

We met Jimmy, Leah, Sam, Coach Weliever and Miles, Lynn and her family, and a host of other friends and family members at Jimmy's mama's house.  The all night crew quickly changed into running clothes, and we were all on our way to the starting line.

We made it!

The rest of these pictures are all out of order.....

 Coach Weliever and his cute son Miles

 Cameron and Big Sam

They both won a golden Coke bottle!

 Julie with her Coke bottle

 The all night crew---all ready to race!

Josh, Cameron, Big Sam, Julie, Olivia, and Me

We don't even look sleepy!  

 My sweet children

Jimmy and Me--before the race

Lynn and Me--after the race.

(Russ and Megan in the background)

Let me just say---running 6.2 miles after being up all night fueled on caffeine and sugar was harder than driving all night.  I wasn't sure if I could even finish the race!  

Josh and Bo (a local friend) with their Coke bottle trophies

The Three Sams:

Uncle Sam, Big Sam, and Small Sam

It was an adventure, to say the least!

After the race we all went to Jimmy's mama's house for lunch and visiting.  Many people joined us, and we had a really nice time.  About mid afternoon, we all packed up for one last leg of our road trip--45 minutes to our house.

And the fun continued!  Coach, Miles, Josh, Cameron, Big Sam, and Big Sam's parents (they just met us at our house....they drove during the day like sane people) all joined my family at my house for a couple of days of fun and fellowship.

I would have NEVER been able to receive guests and be hospitable after being out of town for several days if it were not for the wonderful help of Jimmy and my kids at home, Lynn, Leanna and Megan.  My dear friends kept Leah and Sam for me, bought groceries for me (and washed and prepared all the produce), changed sheets on beds for me, and I can't even remember all what else, but it was FANTASTIC!  My house was clean, and we had food for the masses.  Priceless.

We made some remarkable memories over those several days.

Books, Running, Life.....

I finished David Copperfield a couple of days ago.  I really liked that book.  I have decided that I really like Charles Dickens, and so I plan to read some more of his books.  I think my next one will be Oliver Twist.  So far I have read Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

But the reality is that I have so many books on my must read now list, with the Bible in 90 Days (I am 1/3 of the way through) and The Red Badge of Courage (for my English class) being top priority.  Oh, and my Running Book Club selection, Better Than Before.  However our running club has not met in a few weeks because it has been too cold to run outside.  I refuse to run outside if the temperature is below freezing, and we have had many, many below freezing mornings lately.

Which brings me to my next topic:  running.  Oh, the love/hate relationship I have with regular running.  I love actually running--well I don't love it on the treadmill which is where I have been doing most of my running, when I run, lately....but I really, really enjoy running outside--either with friends (therapy session) or alone (prayer and sorting out my thoughts sessions), but the logistics of fitting regular running into my daily routine is challenging, and that's an understatement.  (Wow!  That was a long sentence!)  So for me, the stress of running is the planning and talking myself into doing it, not the actual running itself.  Yes.  This is still my challenge after 9 years of regular, consistent running.

My running goals for 2016 include logging 1000 miles for the year and training and running a marathon (my 6th).  I haven't selected the marathon yet, but it will probably be St. Jude in December in Memphis.  I am failing so far amassing the miles.....I need to average 20 miles a week to get to 1000 for the year, and I have run 20 miles per week only once this year.  Most weeks I have 18 or less. But there is still time!  Progress, not perfection, right?

And because I like to stretch myself even further, I have added two new exercise things to my plate.  I attended a piyo (pilates/yoga) for the first time last week with a friend of mine, and I plan to go to this class twice a week.  Also, a group of ladies from my church have formed a CrossFit class, and I hope to attend that 2 times a week beginning next week.  We will see if I can CrossFit, Yoga, and run......or if I am just asking for trouble!  :)

Life.....
I am in new season of motherhood.....my oldest two growing up and spreading their wings, my middle one preparing to leave home for college in the next year and a half, and my youngest two, thankfully still at home with me for several years to come!  Most days I think parenting lots of little children with diapers, pacifiers,  and sippy cups to be much easier than where I am today.  But with God's help, lots of prayer and Bible reading, and hopefully a friend or two who can guide me along the way I will figure it all out.

Happy Friday!

The Fall in Review

Since I have been such a failure at blogging lately, I decided to share a few photos that give an overview of our fall. Much of my life over the last few months included lots of traveling.

I traveled to Tampa and back 4 times since August….driving three of those trips and flying only one. 

I saw Olivia and Julie run in two XC meets, and Jimmy was able to see four of them.

I made several 2 hour + trips to Tennessee and one to Clinton, MS for Clay's high school XC meets.

We attended five (or maybe 4? I already can't remember….there were 7 home games in all….) Mississippi State home football games, complete with all day tailgating, visiting, etc.

When we were home we diligently completed our schoolwork, and we have listened to hours upon hours of audio books for both Sonlight and Clay's English class in our car while traveling hundreds of miles. 

Some pictures in no particular order…...

 Olivia and Julie at one of their XC meets

 Madison, Julie, and Olivia at their XC Nationals Meet Banquet

 Julie and Cassie at a XC meet

 Olivia and Julie at a XC meet

 Joe, Leanna, Kelly, Lynn, Jimmy, and Me at a MSU game.

 Lynn and I were unable to attend our homeschool group's field trip to the pumpkin patch, so we just took our children on another day.  We pretty much had the place to ourselves.

 Leah with a rabbit at the pumpkin patch

 on the "hayride" getting their pumpkins

 We attended the Prince's Halloween party.  This year Jimmy and I did not dress up because I simply could not find the time or energy to plan and make us costumes!

Leah was Honey Lemon from Big Hero 6.

 Sam dressed up as his uncle Sam Johnson.

Sam Johnson and Sam Johnson.

 One glorious night in October Leah and these other sweet girls were baptized into Christ!

 Olivia and Julie texted this picture to Jimmy one night……It was an ENO party.

It looked pretty dangerous to me, and I did not ask how the people in the upper ENOs got up there.  Olivia is 2nd or 3rd from the top. Julie is 3rd from the bottom.

 Another December tradition for our family is to run the St. Jude Marathon or Half Marathon.  This year Jimmy ran the full, and Lynn, Leanna and I ran the half.  Leanna and I are happy to be finished in this picture!

 Here we are, freezing before the race.  

Lynn took these pictures which is why she is not in them!

The three amigos before the race. 

Lynn and I wore matching outfits. Our leggings had Christmas lights on them!  :)

 Jimmy and Julie and the XC Nationals Meet Banquet

We went to see the Nina and the Pinta which were docked on a nearby waterway.  Of course these are replicas, but it was an interesting tour.

 My children, Lynn's children, Leanna, children, and a few cousins outside one of the ships

Clay, Leah, and Sam wanted to have an ENO party of their own.

(They used a ladder.)

Better Than Before: Chapter 2

This week's running book club met this morning to run 8 miles and discuss chapter 2 of Better Than Before, entitled:  Self-Knowledge:  Distinctions.

This chapter presented several pairs of types of people followed by examples of each.  I wrote down most of these choices on my hand along with some key words from the discussion questions at the end of the chapter.

The written reminders really facilitated our discussion….until I started sweating.  And also, for most of the pairs I wrote down only one of the choices, and sometimes we could not think of the other choice!

All in all, it was a lively, enlightening discussion, and a great run!