The BE5K

So almost a year ago Eric decided, on a whim, to run a 5K. Our church was sponsoring it and the proceeds go to missions, so it's for a good cause. Little did we know this one simple run would get him hooked. I'm not even sure how many 5K's he's run in since then but probably somewhere around 15-20 of them in the past 10 months. I've also started running although I didn't catch the running bug the way he did. I have more trouble getting motivated and prioritizing my time to fit running into my already crazy schedule. But Every couple of months I'll run in a 5K and about once a week I'll run in our neighborhood or at the track (with Riley in the jogging stroller) or on the treadmill.

I was very excited when the day after Christmas I ran for an entire mile... without stopping... for the first time EVER in my life. Sad, but true. I've just never been much of a runner. That Saturday I ran in my 3rd 5K and my sister-in-law, Whitney, and her husband, Nathan, ran in it as well. Nathan finished just a little bit ahead of me (probably 30 seconds or so). I knew about 6 weeks later we were all going to be running in the BE5K in Birmingham which is hosted by BE&K (where Nathan works). Since I had come SO close to beating Nathan in the December race, I decided I would train hard and beat him in HIS race. But then I had PRK eye surgery and was out of commission for 2 weeks and then Riley had his eye surgery and, well, I know it's just excuses, but I only ended having one week to actually train for the race. Not looking too good for me to beat Nathan.

The Thursday before the race, I did finally break my previous record of running 1 mile without walking. See, usually, as soon as I hit the 1 mile mark I CANNOT make myself run another single step. I HAVE to walk. But that Thursday, I ran 1.5 miles without stopping. I was so proud and excited. I know, pride isn't good, but in the grand scheme of things, I'm still going at a snail's pace so I figure it's okay to proud of yourself for being mediocre. :-P

So race day came. And I ran. I was watching my time hoping to reach the 1 mile marker in less than 11 minutes, but 11 minutes came and went and I didn't see the mile marker. Then 12 minutes. Then 13. At that point I was still running and I was pretty sure I HAD to have gone a mile already. It was a pretty big race so I thought maybe I was in a crowd when I went by the 1 mile point and just didn't realize I had passed it. And I had no way to know when I'd been 1.5 miles, but I decided I'd run for 16 minutes before allowing myself to walk. This turned out to be right at the water station which turned out to be... right at 1.5 miles! I guess I should have known. So anyway, I walked and ran the rest of the race. There was an out and back part from about 1.5 miles until somewhere around 2.8 miles which was kind of nice because I was able to see Eric (and cheer him on!) and I knew he was doing well and way up toward the front. And then I saw Nathan and cheered him on as well which he said was a real motivator because he was about to start walking but decided to run one more block after hearing me yell at him. ;-)

I was finally getting near the end of the race. There was a couple of turns right at the end so you couldn't see the finish line until you came around the last corner, but a block before that they had the road all blocked off to keep spectators out of the street so I knew I was getting close and I poured on the heat. There were a lot of other runners around me and ahead of me but I sped up and passed at least 2 dozen of them before crossing the finish line. Boy was I glad to be finished. Unfortunately I didn't meet my goal of finishing in under 35 minutes, but I was close. And I'm pretty sure I'll make that next time. We didn't get any pics of any of us running (although there are some from the finish line at brightroom.com) but we did get a pic after the race. **Please pardon my brother-in-law for the shirt he's wearing. No one is perfect.**

And did I mention how awesome my husband did? He finished 4th in his age group out of 56 runners! How amazing is that! And he was only 11 seconds behind 3rd place so he ALMOST got an award. He was 54th in his division (men) and 61st overall out of over 1100 runner! Can you tell I'm proud of him? ;-D My brother-in-law, Nathan, did really well also. He finished in just over 30 minutes (more than 5 minutes ahead of me!!!) and was 32nd out of 57 in his age group. And if you care, I was 45th in my age group out of 81. That sure beats my usual LAST place in my age group finish I always seem to have at all of the local races.

Valentine's

I helped Owen make his own Valentine's for his classmates this year. We did monster-tines and he got a little creative. I found the idea on familyfun.com but it only had one-eyed monsters. Owen couldn't stick to just one eye, so we did 3, 5 and even 7-eyed monsters. And I loved all the logic behind deciding who got which monster (the seven-eyed monster had the smallest eyes so it went to Blake "because he's little"). And for what it's worth, I tried to think of something a little more clever to put on the paper the monster's holding but I was tired and couldn't think so we just used the suggestion given with the instructions. :-/



Coming soon: The BE5K and this weekend's trip to Birmingham.

I'm Baaaaaaaccccckkkk! Again.

I swear this darn computer spends more time off getting fixed than it does here working. But it's here and working... for now. There's been a lot going, but I won't take the time now to fill you in on all of it. The most recent craziness has been eye surgeries for both Riley and me.

I had PRK laser surgery to correct my vision 4 weeks ago. It's kind of like LASIK but in PRK they don't cut a flap on your cornea but put a contact in to act as a bandage instead. They say the recovery is a little longer than with LASIK (supposed to be 4 days instead of just one day of discomfort), but my recovery was much longer. It took a full 2 weeks for me to reach the point where I could function anything close to normally. I'm not sure exactly why it took so long. I do think that on days when I'd start feeling better I might have over done it a little but who knows for sure. Luckily my mom was able to come down and stay for 10 days, then came back for a couple more days. I could not have made it through it without her! I'm doing fine now. My eyes are slightly sensitive to light, but other than that I'm doing great. My vision was 20/15 at my last check up! I guess it was worth it all.

Then fifteen days after my surgery, Riley had surgery. His was for his nystagmus. Nystagmus is a condition that makes his eyes wiggle side to side. Some people with nystagmus have a null point where their eyes wiggle less and therefore they can see better. Riley's null point was the extreme right corner of his eyes so when he wanted to see something clearly he would always turn his head to the left so he could look out of the right corner. So his doctor cut the four eye muscles on the sides of his eyes and shortened the left muscles while reattaching the right ones in a more relaxed position. The surgery went well and he was playing with Owen that very evening and the next day. But then, for some reason, he decided to keep his eyes closed for two and a half days! He finally decided playing would be more fun than sitting with his eyes closed and he opened them. He's been doing fine ever since. He does have what his doctor just referred to as a "raised area" on the sides of his eyes. I'm not sure exactly what is going on with that but she did say it's possible for a cyst to form at the suture site so we're still praying for continued recovery for him.

Here's a pic from the fall where you can see the way he looks out of the corner of his eye. Most of our pictures have his head turned like this. You have to kind of catch him by surprised to get a straight on shot of him.
Owen finally started back to school this week for second semester. I LOVE his school, but the one draw back is they don't go at all in January. The plus though this semester is that they're staying for a longer day. It's 8:30-1 now instead of 8:30-11:30. I have to pack his lunch each day, but I think it will make the transition to full days a little easier in the fall. Riley's not too keen on the longer days without his brother though and asks me a dozen times a day if it's time to go get Owen yet.

Hopefully, if my computer doesn't quit on me again, I will be on here more.