A Running Collection

We've been homeschooling for ten years. At LEAST once a week I think that homeschooling is the worst possible thing on the planet. I look at my kids and think, "I've got nothin'!" It is scary. It is hard. How many hundreds of times have I called my extremely patient husband and yelled, literally screamed into the phone, "I CAN'T DO THIS!" There was a day, in the middle of a lesson that wasn't going well at all, that I walked out the back door, walked to the pool, jumped in fully clothed and yelled as loud as I could under the water. I got back out of the pool, calmly walked inside, changed my clothes and continued with the day feeling much relieved. George, my husband and biggest cheerleader - also a major part of our homeschooling life, is diligent to walk me off the cliff of homeschool despair. When I feel like I am failing our children, he offers me this morsel... Before I give you his advice, I would like to mention at this poi...

Last week, after working through a small set back, after a long hard run working my way back up to an even longer run, the news came that the race, for the first time in the history of the race, wasn't going to happen in seven Mondays.  Last week, these were the last words I wrote... The good news that we all can take with us is that we are NOT in control and we don't have to be. It is important to practice discipline while training for this race. It is good to be ready, but in the end, God is in control. God is the one that has all the stars and planets aligned. He has all the days counted out. And one thing I know for sure. God is good. He is good if my toes are rotting and he is good if they are crossing the finish line.  And, this is more real to me today than it was last Monday. Is it frustrating? Yes! It is! Not only was I training better than ever before even with a set back, but I was having a blast sharing the journey with you all and working to challenge...

Friday  Marathon training reaches deep into the furthest places of the mind, body, soul, and heart and courage and endurance and patience and tenacity and whatever it takes to get to that day where you wait to start running and hope that all that you did — all of the woven pieces stay together long enough to get to the finish.  I feel like I’m careful about everything. Careful about sleep, food, cross training, weight training, stretching, timing runs, shoes, pace, sunglasses, cool downs — all of it. I try to remember to not go barefoot outside during training and I definitely wear shoes that won’t mess with my feet.  I’m not sure what happened, but something happened. The second toe on my left foot is angry. It is so angry that I feel it when I sleep, when I’m awake, when I walk. It is red and purple and weird. It is tingly and tender. It is swollen and huge. I can’t fix it. I’ve tried to rest. I’ve tried ice, heat, oils, balms. I tried digging into it to se...

This morning was the morning. The morning to buy the shoes that will go to Boston. The shoes that will glide over the giant word painted in bright blue and yellow - START, and hopefully 26.2 miles later cross the FINISH in the same bright blue and yellow letters. This was a thoroughly calculated move. I purchased Brooks Women's Ghost 12 running shoes size 8.5. The shoes cost $121 with the $8 discount I had from Amazon points. In November, I ran 27 of 196 miles in a 36 hour relay race. As I neared the day of the race, I knew my shoes were nearly worn out. I waited one run too long to buy a new pair, which meant I had to run in new shoes for the race. I tried running in the old ones during my first leg and immediately I knew it was a bad idea. The better idea was to run in the new shoes. This might all sound like too much information about a pair of shoes, but hang with me for a minute. This will be at least my 12th pair of Brooks Women's Ghost running shoes in three years...