I’d also hoped to finish under 7 hours. Now, knowing that top runners are getting age awards and placing so high with those times, I’m less sure. I figured I could do a 6:30 or a 6:45 since my best marathon (road) is a 4:36. Again, less sure now.

Thanks for posting. This was good for me to read. Have to go hyperventilate now.

Best of luck with your plan – your journey over the last years has been so inspiring. Time for me to get out of the “planning” phase of fitness and into the “doing”!

Live the bike.

Love the bike.

August 26th.
http://www.danskintriathlon.net/

On the other hand, I think I put a finger on why my calves are absolutely destroyed right now. Did you know that they aren’t kidding when they say to only jump rope every other day, and only for fifteen seconds at a time? Really, they aren’t. Really.

JOY

How are you going to roast it? I’ve had goose once, long, long ago, but never been responsible for cooking one.

They are pretty great, if you like epic fantasy. It’s been tough having to wait so long for a conclusion, but I’ve been reading them as they came out since the third one, so I’m toughing them out. The last one is killing me though, since it was initially supposed to be out this past October. Sanderson needs to get it done!

Anyway, I’d encourage you to finish the series… it’s a bit disloyal of me, but things have picked up remarkably with someone else finishing it up.

Anne

PS – Let Gabe know that his evil laugh made me giggle.

You’ll get no complaints from this end, and I’m sorry if it sounded like I was complaining about y’all. I loved the Holidailies project, in every incarnation it took.

One regular participant has expressed interest in operating the site this year. We’re trying to support them, but not sure it will be successful. There is a bunch of technology behind it that they are not familiar with.

Sorry to have irked you, but, sad to say, that’s pretty much the norm for how Holidailies participants treat us.

Why is it the voices in my head go silent when I need them most?

Great job on the race and I hope your shoulder feels better soon!

So – are you planning on joining the 500 Mile Club? ::ducks and runs for cover::

Thus ends the pep talk. Reapply as needed.

You’ve got this!! No problem!

I don’t think Gabe has an ASD; I think a lot of it boils down to a very determined personality. The dental appointment before this one actually had a 180-degree turnaround, where he suddenly decided to believe the dentist that it would be no big deal (“Wait, are you just going to brush my teeth?”)…and that was that, as far as he was concerned. Sam, on the other hand, is the one I’ve debated SID about; Gabe’s dentist issues are fear based, whereas Sam *wants* to cooperate, but has such an aversion to things in his mouth that he gags and turns pale at the thought. He also has trouble with textures, certain sounds, smells…but he’s able to function well enough, even through it, so as long as I can keep it in mind (yep, a sensory-friendly home), we’re mostly okay.

(Assuming Gabe doesn’t get ticked off at him and chase him around with a “gross” picture. )

I always knew when you started a project(your beautifl cape, etc.)and also motherhood and wifehood, you’d be a WINNER!

Glad Sam is well… enjoy the rapidly approaching teen years… you’ll make it through with flying colors.

…and we had a winner!

We love this recipe.
We are paleo so we sub in coconut flour. They are great.
Also try zucchini slice with lots of bacon. It makes a great school lunch too.

I kinda wish I could eat at your house during the zucchini uprising. Sounds good to me!

I was hiking two weeks ago and my feet slipped out from under me on a sandy hill and I broke my leg! AUGH! Thankfully, I was hiking with a friend and we weren’t that far from the road. What a trip….

I hope you are okay.

We did a varaiation of the ‘tiny cowboy” thing, we developed a code word together = CARE. First thing Catch hold of yourself (hug), second thing remember that Anger gets me in trouble, third thing Listen to the teacher and try to do what she asks, and M is for Monkeys are funny! Sounds silly but he said it helped him because he had to remember the letters and what to do which took his mind off being mad. He also had a smooth stone he carried around in his pocket for years that helped soothe him, and one really cool teacher he had told him when he was angry if he wanted to take a timeout as long as he was quiet he could go sit in the beanbag chair and the class rule was nobody bothers or talks to or looks at someone who is in the beanbag chair.

I found as he matured his ability to deal with anger improved each year. He just turned 13 and is doing very well with it now.

My hope is that our intense, explosive kids grow up to channel their passion into something productive – that they’ll be powerful leaders. If nothing else, you don’t have to worry that Gabe will be a doormat and sit back while other people take advantage of him!

Try here to get some ideas for bridging the two eating styles. Or just google ‘vegetarian paleo’ and poke around. You might at least get some side ideas!

Anne

I do think they may have turned off the air in our building, or our plant is overwhelmed. Even our students (I work for Marquette Univ) are coming in to the office looking heat whipped – and they are the hardy souls who will walk around in winter in flip flops.

Do you think it is the cave-like atmosphere of a basement, or the further distance from maternal interaction that turned the boys all animal house-y? Interesting phenomona.

I feel sorry for the neighbor girl who is caught in the middle of all of this.

I feel for the little girl, too, but, as you say, maybe there are reasons I don’t know. I’ve spoken to the mom (the few times, as I said, that I’ve seen the little girl playing were when I was over talking with the mom), and nothing’s been said to me that would indicate there’s an issue with her, but maybe the parents have good reasons to be very protective. I don’t know. Maybe K. has very good reasons, too, for not wanting to hang out with her. (Kidding, mostly; I’ve been the big sister, though, so I can empathize.)

It’s not really that I’m encouraging him to jump in and play with her, precisely – more that I want my cheerful little guy back. At the very least, his brother needs to not dump him, too, and I’ve made that crystal clear to Sam.

I actually feel terrible for the younger sister who spends her life inside and only with mom. You let your kid make choices, even if sometimes they suck. That little girl apparently has no choice.

My sympathies lie with her.

Unless you’ve discussed it with the mom, you don’t know what the reasons or motives are. Nor do you know why they make the choices they do. You are taking the words of a child as truth. Kids can and do make their own truths.

Unless or until you talk to the mother, you are passing judgment on something you don’t really know anything about.

Even if the mother’s rules are not yours, that’s still no reason to pass judgment or project your views onto your kids.

Making excuses to Gabe and encouraging him to ‘get in there’ may be the entirely wrong thing to do. It may be the right thing to do, but you just don’t know. No, he shouldn’t be punished, there is nothing to be punished for. But, you can’t pretend or project behaviors onto others to explain it.

The younger sister does stay inside for the most part, or occasionally stays in her yard if the mom is outside gardening. I’ve only seen her five or six times, total, since we’ve lived here, and K. is practically a fixture in our backyard.

Obviously her parents have the right to do as they please but I cant understand why they would allow her to *not* play with her younger sibling? Do they keep the younger child inside while the other goes out to play?

I would hope the parents would want the two siblings to get along and be able to play together and what better way for that to happen than having all four of the kids playing outside together?

Happy (belated) birthday to one awesome kid!

1. You’ve ran not only a marathon before, but in heat and humidity 31 something miles!! Up and down huge hills including a ski hill!

2. You’ve ran numerous 20 mile runs–so your body physically IS ready.

3. You’ve raced this distance before, and with the training you just did–your mind IS ready to complete the distance.

4. Think about this: What if you could not run, let alone race. What if all the mornings you wake up, get out of bed, put your running shoes on, and enjoy your time outside hitting the pavement all stopped, and you were a non runner. Now, that is something to fret about for someone who LOVES to run! Remember you are running this race because you love it, because it is now part of who you are–take joy in that! Enjoy each moment of the race and the expo and the travel and just being a part of the running scene!

5. Think of how GREAT you will feel when you complete it.

I hope this helps, buddy! I know how you feel and I hate the way I feel before I race–I even feel that way before some training runs. You’re gonna do great. And the horrible feeling before a race happens to most runners–comes with the territory. You’re amazing Carrie! I cant wait to hear how you do!

howie & i got married in the middle of january in chicago b/c we got the marriage license a little prematurely and decided to get married before it expired. ha! but i liked the idea of getting married at the beginning of the year, and every year, we start off the year celebrating another year together!

on a lighter note, our anniversary is 1/23.

Happy anniversary!

I think I have asked before, but which marathon are you running?

We’d like you to try HealthRally and give us feedback before we bring it to the public. We think you would be a great fit.

HealthRally.com is a private social network where you choose a health goal like losing weight, pick a reward that could motivate you, and then invite your close friends and family to cheer you on and motivate you to succeed with pledges toward your reward.

It’s a new approach, and we are seeing our first group of users achieve their goals and have a bunch of fun in the process.

Can I send you a link to sign in and try?

Just send me a note at justine@healthrally.com

Thanks!

Justine Lam
Community Outreach
HealthRally.com

To be honest, the negative comments rarely happen anymore, because I have forbid them in my presence! They have to try a bite, can’t be theatrical and gag on it, and if they don’t like it, they are only permitted to say, “No thank you, I’m afraid it’s too sophisticated a flavor for me.” And yes, I DO make them use exactly that phrase! I find it amusing (I have to get my entertainment where I can), and figure it will someday save their butts when they’re eating at a friend’s house and encounter something they don’t like.

But yeah–this is one of the parts of parenting I will not miss. I am tired of being the Enforcer of Nutrition, and long for the day when I can cook only for my husband and myself.

Also, the only reason that I care about the royal wedding is because we in the UK get the day off. There’s even a drinking game, but even I thought it was waaaaay too early for that (I think they started at like 9 am or something )

We’ve also made “bunny hutches” (the Easter equivalent of the gingerbread house) out of kits. The kids love this one, and I usually let them have one friend each over to share the fun.

We blow out our eggs, too. Eggs are usually cheap enough per dozen that I feel no qualms with discarding the insides. (There’s only so many scrambled eggs you can eat, yo!)

We like to save the prettiest ones from year to year. Put some basket grass in a bowl, heap it with colored eggs from previous years–voila, instant Easter decorating!

You could also make an Easter tree from several branches stuck in a large vase. Loop some ribbon and glue it to the top of the dyed egg, and hang on the tree. I’ve seen neighbors decorate small landscaping trees & bushes using plastic eggs, which is cuter than you’d think.

And congratulations on placing. ::hugs::

He’s traveling about once a month or so, sometimes more and sometimes less. I wasn’t anticipating the June trip, especially!

Does your husband not travel often? (I am new to your blog and don’t know). I can’t imagine being alone and taking care of two kids!

Duh. You got me…for a few hours

(Did I ever tell you that my mother de-friended me on Twitter a year or two back when I retweeted a link from Harlequin’s new self-pub line, specifying which very adult things were permissable? I tried to point out that I wasn’t posting a link to my own gay bdsm novel, just sharing information, but she decided she just didn’t want to know. Hee.)

This one though…I’m glad there weren’t any…ahem… visual aids.

So not kidding here.

The really funny thing is, I *am* a part-time editor for erotic fiction, and it pays a lot less than you think.

Best wishes and happy blending!

Ha ha ha. I have a feeling the stack of homework in Sam’s closet will be something you are all laughing about for years to come!

Oh, and that he didn’t get busted at customs for having bootleg stuff. The fines for that are pretty hefty.