Run Liens Run!!

Woo-hoo!! We came, we saw, we conquered! The 1/2 marathon was so much fun; I am still on the endorphin high of finishing it! Really and truly, it was such an amazing experience. People lined the streets and cheered us on all day.

It was my personal goal to: A. Finish and B. Not get last place. For those of you who don't know this, I did complete a triathalon at the age of 18. I got 12th place of 13 people. So, even finishing 2nd to last would have been fine by me! Well, I have come to find out, I came in more than 500th to last....not bad!

Chris, Sara and I ran together for the first 8 or so miles. Then those 2 pulled ahead (showoffs) and I finished about 5 minutes after them. I, of course, cried when I finished because I was just so happy to be done and there were so many wonderful people along the way. A amputee woman running, a man pushing his brother in a bed-like wheelchair because he suffered a stroke, but wanted to be a part of the marathon, a very elderly man who finished the full marathon in 8 or so hours coming in after everyone else had been long done. It was just one incredible display of strength and endurance after the other. I loved it.

Ethan got to accomplish his own "kids marathon". We ran 1/2 a mile together. I'm not pointing at that random stranger and laughing at him. In fact, I am pointing out Chris and Emma who were cheering him on. I was so proud. The wind knocked him over at one point and he kept going. Running the whole time.

Now he saw them! This is almost the finish line. The last marathoner (must have been 90+ years old) came in just before the kids race. Everyone cheered loudly and gave him a standing ovation.

Here's all of us with our medals. Elliot will be running soon enough and hopefully, we can get Emma back into it. (She fought us on it for months....we let her have her way and sit out....she regretted it today and talked of running next year....you really should listen to your dad and stepmom sometimes.) All in all, it was such a great day. I encourage any of you reading this to try this at least once....it is an indescribable experience. -RL

Bravery...

It took Ethan 4 sessions to build up the courage, but he finally did it! He climbed onto the "big bar" at gymnastics and dropped into the pit. Elliot looked on, unimpressed, but I was very proud.

Tubby Time!

If you are looking at the picture above and not oohing and ahhing, then you are a robot. That picture is damn cute. Until...... the bucket face-smashing starts. Not as cute, but very funny. He looks like he's being sucked back into the Matrix. But then......
there's my cute little punk again. Clean as a whistle, with the wildest hair I've seen on a child.

Inspiration from Afar

I recently found a blog that is inspiring and heartbreaking. If you go to this site, have tissues and a loved one nearby and ready....you will need both. This guy, Matt, has a newborn daughter that he is raising on his own. His wife passed away shortly after giving birth. I love reading his blog, even though it makes me sob as if I know them. I wish I did. He amazes me.

http://www.mattlogelin.com/

He has beautiful pictures on his blog and Flickr site, which inspired me to buy myself a Mother's Day present of a new camera and take pictures of everything and anything. I started today on Mother's Day. Keep in mind that I am not a photographer, but I tried to find beauty in ordinary things today and this is what I found. Well, 3 of the 109 things I found and took pictures of. -RL

barn

windmill

clothespins

Mama Mia!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there in the blogosphere! It was a great day with the 2 little guys shown above. How lucky am I to be their mom?!

We went to the Lien farm in Rothsay and then Chris and I ran 4 miles in preparation for the upcoming marathon. It was quite a bit easier and more fun than our 12.5 mile trek last Sunday. I found the meaning of "hitting the wall." I also found that there is no shame in stopping for a Snickers bar at mile 11. -RL

Why I never blog pt. 1

I realized the other day, that I haven't blogged in several weeks. It's my sworn duty as a driver on the information superhighway to blog every so often so that the world is aprised of my every thought and whim. Here is today's whim. This is the second time I've tried to blog this topic. Five minutes ago my Dell screwed something up (Rikki says it might have been my fault, but why play the blame game?) and I'm re-typing this. My first post was so much wittier. Here's what I remember:

I'm going to use the word blog in everyday speech from now on. Tomorrow I'll say "Yesterday. I blogged." Yeah.

See how witty that is? Anyway, my goal is to blog more than sporadically for the rest of my life until every thought I have magically appears on the interweb without me even having to type it. I will tie a string around my finger so as not to forget to use blog it up ad nauseum henceforth. If you have any problems with my newfound attitude let's argue via the comment area. I'm in the mood for some verbal fencing. Peace out. -C.L.

P.S. My favorite 70's song is "Slow Ride" by Bloghat. "Take it easy!"