Dear Ruth,

On the day you were born I looked up out of my haze and saw a pink moon. The year has both creeped, and whizzed by. Everything is all blown around and different now. You have been there hovering over my shoulder keeping me focused and helping me keep your mommy strong. Today it is your first birthday. We sent you cards on balloons. I hope you feel the love. You sent us something more amazing. Last night the world was surrounded by aurora borealis. The whole earth glowed just for you, aren't you just an amazing little thing!? I love the way it was worded in this article-

On August 1st, the entire Earth-facing side of the sun erupted in a tumult of activity. There was a C3-class solar flare, a solar tsunami, multiple filaments of magnetism lifting off the stellar surface, large-scale shaking of the solar corona, radio bursts, a coronal mass ejection and more.

Three days later it hit the earth and lit it up like a colorful marble. Thank you for the sign. Happy Birthday, baby girl.

Mile 500

I am running the Newport Marathon on saturday. I'm not training as seriously as I did for Eugene, because this was just my backup marathon in case I didn't qualify in Eugene. I'm really looking forward to this one. I'm just going to enjoy it. No pressure, no time restraint. Hopefully no gross blisters or missing toenails!

It's been so rainy this week I hadn't done my last training run. I knew I would get to do it today when I woke up to some bright light peeking through some non-rain clouds. Ruth's miles have been very neer 500 and I thought I would hit them during the marathon. On my check of miles this morning I realized I would not only hit them on my 4 mile run today, but I would hit them in one of my favorite spots near my house. I took the camera with me since I had Irelin in the jogging stroller. It's Ruth's 10 month birthday tomorrow.

Here we are Ruthie girl, 500 miles

Mother's Day

I know it's a Hallmark day, but I've grown up with it and, like it or not, it means something to me.
Last week while I was running the Eugene marathon I had support from so many family members that came to watch, and cheer, and in Jim's case- run with me.
My mom meets me in the same spot every year, around mile 8. This year I saw her first. As I was calling for her, I really got a look at her face. Looking past me, for me. Really looking hard, and hopeful, and- I guess I just recognised it as the look you have when your watching your kids and so proud. The way I look at my kids. I really wished I could get a picture of her face.
After I called her a few times and slowed just a bit, she saw me and was all flustered trying to get a picture- then she took off down the road ahead of me so she could get another picture. This is the picture.
It's the only picture of me looking happy during the race, and I'm happy because of her. I wish I had time to stop and hug her and tell her how much that look in her eyes meant to me. I'll never forget it.

I am 1624

I got my bib number in an e-mail today, 1624. Race day is coming so fast.
Could I have run more in February and March? I wonder if I stretched enough. I've had three pretty good nightmares about the marathon. Shelly had a dream that I was super tall and won the marathon. I like her dream.
Overall I think I trained as well as I could. I had some great runs, and some really bad runs. I even kept thinking the same pile of branches was a rabbit when I did 10 laps at the local college 2 mile track. I was "run drunk". Mostly, the wind was hard. It pushed me back. Every time it got really hard- I could talk to Ruth and remember why I'm doing this. The last windy day I ran, I had the wind at my back. It pushed so hard that I could imagine two tiny hands at the small of my back, pushing me along.
I'm afraid of failing because I'm not doing this for me. I don't want to fail her.
I have a little bracelet that will be with me when I run the marathon. I add a shell every time I run 100 miles since she was born. All the miles that she has run with me. It has an "R" for Ruth and a little silver shoe, she is my running partner- so she gets her shoe.

Her memory has kept me strong and focused when I feel weak and unsure. Thank you Ruth.

Talk Radio

I have discovered talk radio. I'm pretty sure I'm not the first one, but it's new to me.
NPR is full of amazing shows that entertain me while I run. I had tuned out the music that normally rocks me along. I needed something more distracting. Now, author interviews from "Fresh Air", silly news quizzes from "Wait, wait, don't tell me," and the crazy Boston guys from "Car Talk" get me through my runs.
Maybe I'll figure out how to mix my techno tunes with public radio. Anything to kill time and take my mind away from my legs.
It's April fools day. Four weeks, 3 days until the Eugene marathon. No joke. I don't know if I'll do it in a qualifying time. I have Newport a month later, just in case I don't. It sure would be nice if I could just get it over with in Eugene though.
So, if you see me out running around with my ipod plugged in, you know I'm not keeping pace with my amazing music playlist. Is this a sign of aging? Maturity? Ew, I hope not. All the vitamins, glucosamine and whole wheat stuff I eat are signs of that.
Next adventure? Books on my ipod!