i'm here, just being a busy bee

My post is in response to Wendy’s question of where have I been lately …..
Let’s say I have taken some time off from running – I am still running, I am just making sure to get a lot of living in also. Spring is my favorite time of the year, I love waking up with the sun and going to bed when it gets dark, although I may be guilty of thinking that I could weed the garden with a headlamp on. Here is a long list of the past month or so…. I’ll get back to running soon, I have Portland to start training for after all….


My list:

• Accepting the fact that I am 30 and nearly every woman I know is pregnant – I’m not even kidding, I can ramble the list of ladies for days. I should invest in Babies-R-Us.



• My Surprise birthday party with my entire family at the local pizza place (just wished someone told me to wear a nice sweatshirt…)





• Mini-vacation to Cannon Beach; spa tub, warm weather, long hike, lots of walking/sightseeing, missing our puppy at home.



• My friend Elinor called us in Cannon Beach to tell us she is pregnant! She and her husband have been so patient, they are going to love this child so much. I am so excited to hear about all of the new steps in her journey. I saw photos of the baby’s leg yesterday!



• Ran the Tacoma Half Marathon with Wendy. I went slow with her (or so she thought, I was really trying to keep up) and she got me to finish the last couple of miles. We got lots of talking in and it was great to have someone to pass the time with. I still need to check to see if it was my best time or not.



• I planted my first vegetable garden. I have waited so many years to do this, now that I have most of the ‘flower’ beds planted, I wanted to have my own vegetables (the seeds are even poking out of the ground). I’m sure I’ll have enough vegetables to pass around, I went a little crazy with the lettuce seeds.



• Brian and I babysat my niece (1-1/2years) and nephew (2-1/2 years) for my sister’s birthday gift. She has baby #3 on the way this fall, so I thought I would make a grand gesture. Brian and I had fun, but were beat after we dropped them off – guess that answers that question.

• My dad and I finalized our trip to Anchorage to visit my brother over a long weekend at the end of June and see the Elmendorf Air Force Base Air Show. We haven’t seen him since he moved to Anchorage in March. We also get to see his shiny new car (that gets 4 times better gas mileage than the truck he had).



• Brian and I took the lawn back – over the long weekend we thatched, aerated and over-seeded, and the next day we put down 2 yards of bark! That got a good workout in.

• Brian and I also babysat my parents Alpaca Farm (they look like llamas, they are decedents of the camel, she raises them for their wool, which has all of the qualities of regular wool only it is really soft) while they went to a convention in Utah. Those animals can win your heart; I don’t think I can have one in my backyard though…. If anyone wants any fertilizer they produce a wheelbarrow full a day (did I mention that we had to scoop poop as one of our babysitting duties).











• Oh yeah, I joined a local weight watchers group after reading Michelle’s amazing journey. Since April 30th I have lost 10 pounds!!!! My goal is to be a lean mean, running machine in Portland in October.
  

So that is the long answer to where I’ve been lately…. I hope to get some running in with the Y-club, even if I am the slow guy out there. They are running Chambers Bay Golf Course on Sunday – that might be my run to start up again. It also means a trip to Trader Joes afterward!
Hope to see you all on the trail soon.