Three Little Birds

We are in week 3 of my half marathon training.  It's still hard to wrap my mind around that concept.  You see, I am all of 5'1" with a short torso and short legs.  There is literally about a half inch between my bottom ribs and the tops of my hips.  Nope.  This body was not built for running. But I'm running anyway. Justin and I are still tweaking our running schedules around each other's running schedules and our crazy life.  This week I ran on Wednesday morning and Thursday evening for my short runs.  Then my long run was on Saturday with Amber.  More on that later. Wednesday morning was a nice little run.  Since I didn't get up to the 4 miles I wanted the Sunday before, I did 4 miles that morning.  Walked a bit still but I can tell my endurance is improving.  Pretty little sunrise to start the day off just right! One thing I did try was my husband's Garmin running GPS watch in lieu of using the RunKeeper app.  I ...

Week 2 of my half marathon training is over, and I feel I've made some progress! However, thanks to the intense rain & storms we seem to have at least once a day (usually in the evenings, it seems)... and thanks to the heat & humidity of the evenings here in eastern NC... and thanks to having a fun little family at home that I don't want to miss a single minute with... I have decided I need to work in some early morning runs instead of my usual evening runs. Now, if you know me pretty well, then you know I am NOT a morning person and my husband has to drag me out of the bed each morning at the last possible second before being late for work.  So getting up early (say, 5:30 am) is TOUGH!!! But Tuesday morning I did it (although I hit snooze a few times and got up at 5:50am instead)... I have a goal to increase my "run-straight-through" mileage by half a mile each run until I am able to get back to my baseline of being able to run straight through 3 to 4 m...

Well I want to just start out by saying how much I love you guys!!!!  Amazing support and encouraging words. Thank you so much!!!  Also I wanted to just put a couple disclaimers out there... #1, please seek your primary care provider's advice before starting a new exercise program... #2, any photos taken during runs will be crap-quality due to using a phone :).... #3, push yourself this week beyond a limit you've set on yourself by saying "can't".  I have done 2 of my 3-4 runs this week. Not ideal. Considering I have 2 more days and it's the middle of the day at the beach so running today (in the heat and humidity) is outta the question!  Tuesday's run was with my friend Alicia, who can't be taller than 4'11" but who carries a pace of about 8:30 miles (super fast for a shortie like the both of us, and super fast for me especially!!).  My usual pace is about 10-11 minute miles right now (embarrassed to share, but told you all I'd be compl...

Yes you read that right.  And yes, I have lost my mind. Well maybe not.  But I have questioned that notion lately, ever since I decided my next big goal in life is going to be to run a half marathon. :) Here are the facts: I started "running" in 2009, when I started training for my first 5K, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k. I have no idea what sparked my interest in running! I trained for 3 months for that 5k, and finished, although in a miserable time of 45 minutes. :)  wow. I ran off and on (more "off" than "on") after that time.  I did not run another race until 2011.  My time was better. I ran another 5K in November 2012 after completing the C25K (Couch to 5K) program.  My best time at that point.  I was SO proud of myself. I joined the Rock Steady Running Club in Princeton in January 2013.  For the first time, I felt challenged to do better.  To push myself beyond my self-imposed limits.  And I was officially addi...

So a couple weeks ago I blogged about the epidemic of comparison.  I promised an "answer" of what we can do about it personally.  I've spent some time in thought, meditation, and prayer (my best thought processes came during my runs, when unfortunately I don't have anything to write or record those thoughts....).  That's why it's taken some time for me to wrap this up.  Also I want to make sure that whoever reads this knows I am also struggling with "comparison syndrome" especially when it comes to social media, so this is also for me.  As Paul states, " Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." ( Philipians 3:12 ).   So here we go... be prepared - it's a long one! First, recognize that this is a human flaw, a weakness in our flesh.  Lisa Terkeurst said, "...I desperately need God's truth to bump into my we...

Fill in the blank.  You know you can.  We all have that person (or probably more true: that family) that we try to "compete" with... even if we don't mean to or realize it.  In my own opinion, I feel that social media (Facebook, Instagram, whatever) has magnified this epidemic of trying to be *that* family. This soap box is brought to you by a recent article I read by Steve Wiens HERE . The picture perfect family with perfectly dressed, well-behaved, nutritionally optimized, sugar free genius kids that don't ever watch TV or demand to watch YouTube on the iPad for hours (ahem) is something I am sure you have never tried to create.  Ha.  Right?!  Unless you don't go on the Internet (hence this is your first time, EVER - welcome!) or have an incredibly amazing ability to be holy, then you, like I, have battled with this mind-set.  Maybe it's not the kid(s).  Maybe it's that you want to have *that* body, or *that* house, or be able to run ...

So it's been 7 days since my hysterectomy.  I am at the 7th day of recovery and for the FIRST time, I don't feel as if I'm in la-la land.  I haven't taken any narcotic pain medication since postop day 2 so I guess it was the anesthesia that has made me so out of it!  The pain is lifting slowly.  I told Justin today I was just ready to wake up in the morning pain-free.  I am noticing a very weird sensation of my inside organs "sloshing around" (for lack of a better term) when I turn over in bed.... anyone else with this surgery ever have this sensation??  I don't know if it's just gas bubbles or if it's really what it feels like.... maybe from them taking out so much scar tissue as well (??).  And I'm having A LOT of muscle aches in my mid-back, especially my shoulders, and in my neck.  It doesn't respond to much other than a heating pad! Anyways, enough of my whining!  As most of you know by now, the surgeons were able to do the surgery a...

So my family & closest friends already know by now, but we have scheduled my total hysterectomy... it is in 9 weeks, as of yesterday.  May 21st.  Emotions are high and mixed.  I think what made it harder was that I was confronted with speaking to Z's birthmom on the phone the other evening.  Hearing her voice reminds me that he is not from my own womb (I often forget that, actually!).  And it makes the reality that my womb will never grow a life that much more difficult.  I am sad and there is a sense of loss.  But strangely, I am a little excited as well... I will finally have this "mess" behind me.  And it IS a mess.  Literally.  My specialist/surgeon at UNC has to have a colorectal surgeon to assist with takedown of the severe adhesions to ensure my sigmoid colon is not perforated, given that the left side of my uterus is attached to that part of the large intestine.  I am hoping that removing the 9cm mass on the left ovary a...

Been too long since I last blogged!  Isn't that what I always say?!  Anyway, got the blogging bug again today after sharing with my new coworkers our story about how we met Z's birthmother.  They have not heard about our month in Oklahoma yet.  But I can't wait to share it with them!  It's so funny how I remember that looooonnnggg month in OKC (waiting and then worrying if T would actually change her mind about giving us the gift of a lifetime) and often forget about the amazing miracle of how it came to be.  After telling that part of the story today, it reminded me how, without God's miraculous provision we would have never even gotten the opportunity to get to that month in OKC.  Isn't that the way life goes sometimes?  We forget the miraculous steps that got us to the end point?  I know I do anyway.  When we look back on our amazing journey toward becoming parents, I am in awe of how God met the financial miracle - we did not have th...