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Here are a few pics from vacation...which we are still on...thus the brief blog. We are having tons of fun, despite the rain. I continue to run, although not as far as I normally would due to the high humidity (it's killing me!). But, I did get some new running shoes and am looking forward to running in them soon!

Things to Think About

"See, here's the thing..."
This week has been a little weird and sad. My friend's husband has been battling cancer for a while, and just had his last chemotherapy treatment. However, he began suffering complications (they thought it was pneumonia) from the chemo a few weeks ago. I've been calling her a few times a week to check up on them, and everything seemed a whole lot better on Monday. In fact, they were thinking that he would be out of the hospital soon. But, on Thursday night, things took a turn for the worse and he passed away on Friday morning. Not only did he leave behind my friend, but also 3 girls. Please pray for their family.

So, this leads me to all the things that I have to think about. What would I do without Keith? I don't really know, and hope that I never have to think about it. Not only that, but I have been thinking a lot about all of the stupid, petty little things that I whine and worry about. For what? Do they really matter? In the grand scheme of things, probably not. All that really matters is having a family that loves you.

Anyway, this leads me to my running. Even though my friend's husband did not have Leukemia or Lymphoma, he did have cancer. This makes me even more determined to continue to run, even though I felt like crap while trying to complete my 10 miles this morning. I will now be running in memory of him in October.

You know, I was reading a book this past week, and came to a quote by the main character that really struck home with me. It made me think about my goal - running a marathon while raising funds to help find a cure for these deadly diseases. The quote comes from "Dark Watch" by Clive Cussler. The main character in the book, Juan Cabrillo, is remembering something that this father once told him - "I remember my father's words when Mom finally stopped sobbing. 'Juan,' he said, 'no matter what anyone tells you, there is evil in this world. And all it takes for it to triumph is for good people to do nothing.' " I don't want to do nothing. I want to help. I want to make a difference in the lives of people who can't help themselves due to the effects of Leukemia and Lymphoma.

Here is my weekly running update:
Weekly Total: 30.8 miles
Monthly Total: 30.8 miles
Overall Total: 391.6 miles

Adventures in Running

"See, here's the thing..."

This week's running has been quite interesting. Last Sunday, I saw a little dead bird just as I started out for my long run. It had no feathers so I am sure that it fell out of the nest in the tree just above where it lay. It was a little sad, but I continued on with my run since I hadn't even hit the 1/2 mile mark of my 10 mile run. After that, it seemed that I saw one dead animal after another. Here's the run down (including my little baby bird):

2 baby birds - 1 with feathers, 1 without

2 dead crows - I was hoping that one would be the crow that likes to "dive bomb" me as I'm running on one particular street, but no such luck....

1 dead turtle

That's quite a lot of dead animals if you ask me!

However, on my usual Saturday morning run yesterday, I ran into the worst dead animal ever! As I was running across one particular grassy spot (I always walk across those because I can't run across them without twisting my ankle!), I almost ran over a dead snake! That's right...a snake! Now, I do not live in an rural area. There are houses all over the place! Let me also say that snakes are the one thing that I am deathly afraid of! I have nightmares about them. So, when I saw this dead snake, I almost threw up. My breathing was thrown off, my legs turned to jello, and I wondered if I would make it back without hyperventilating. Needless to say, I did NOT run that way this morning and am debating whether or not to run that way EVER again.

Oh, and did I mention that I was stopped this morning during my run by a lady from Michigan for directions to Wal-Mart? Just a word of advice for all of you non-runners out there...do NOT stop someone who is running to get directions. While they will probably stop and give them to you, they won't like you very much. It totally throws the whole run off.

Ok, let's move on to other things. Ty got her braces on Tuesday. She did really great during the process and kept saying that they didn't hurt...until around 4:30 that afternoon when she bagan taking Tylenol that there was no tomorrow! She has gradually decreased the Tylenol as her teeth have begun to feel better. In fact, I don't think she's taken any today. I told her that I think that she is the only person that I know that can make braces look beautiful. Here's a pic to prove it.

Here's my weekly running update:

Weekly Total: 29.4 miles

Montlhy Total: 121.6 miles

Overall Total: 360.8 miles