morning chat with Sam

This morning Sam asked me, "How do you make bread?"

I told him about mixing up flour and water and yeast, stirring and kneading, and putting dough in the oven.

Then he chimed in, "And then you cut a piece off and send it to your tongue!"

Send it to your tongue. How do kids come up with stuff like this?

Goodnight, I'm going to go send a few chocolate covered acai berries to my tongue.

Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey

Took the kids to the circus today - their first time ever. Alex claimed she did not want to go, but once we were there, she loved it. She kept yelling at the trapeze artists to "Be careful up there! That is VERY DANGEROUS!"

It's one of those things I would never do if I didn't have kids, but I enjoy it because I do have kids.

It was a good show - I especially liked the acrobats and the high flyers. The looks on the kids' faces as they gaped in amazement with their mouths wide open: priceless.

An act I don't remember seeing as a child: seven guys on motorcycles zooming around inside a giant metal cage, in the dark, with glow-in-the-dark helmets and uniforms on. Cool. Overall, I think the circus is better than I remember as a kid. I still don't really laugh at the clowns, though.

new 10K PR

This morning: 10K in 1:04:27 - a new personal record (PR)! Tammy deserves the real credit - I was pushing to keep up with her. It was a beautiful morning on the Jordan River trail - loved being out there - and what a treat to go with a friend. It was totally worth the 4:40 a.m. wake-up.


OK, that was more than one sentence, but I reserve the right to take liberties on my own blog. 

Sam time

In reading "The Happiness Project" for a new book club, I am intrigued by the idea of writing a one-sentence journal. Maybe if I only had to write one sentence, I would blog more often.

Anyway, one thing the book made me think about is how all the little moments go by so fast. "The days are long, but the years are short." I wanted to remember something that happened this week.

I've been reading a really good book about raising adopted kids. The most recent chapter talked about "facial exploration" and how some adopted kids are fascinated with exploring their new parents' faces. Maybe as infants they didn't get the chance to do this as much as children who stayed with their birth parents. The book encouraged parents to help their children learn to explore - gently - and mirror their kids' actions to promote connection.

Anyway, the very next morning after reading that chapter, Sam came and climbed up in my lap when he woke up. He and I often are the first ones up in the morning, and we enjoy our special one-on-one time. This morning, I was smiling at him. He looked into my eyes, reached out one finger and gently touched my teeth. "Teeth," he said. I touched his front teeth and replied, "Teeth."

He touched my nose. "Nose," I said. "Nose," he replied.

Then he touched my eyes. "Eyes." I touched his eyes. "Eyes."

And so it went with cheeks, chin, lips, eyebrows, forehead. Then he touched my glasses and said, "Glasses." I reached toward his eyes and said, "No glasses!" And we both laughed.

I just wanted to remember this little game we played. It was very sweet.

Little Grand Canyon Half Marathon!

We did it!

This picture was taken only moments after crossing the finish line. Actually, I think I gulped a few bites of watermelon between the finish and this picture. Can you see the juice dripping down my chin?

It was cold at the start - upper 30's. Brrr!! Yes, I did have 3 layers on my top half and no, I did not get too hot at the end. I like to be warm.

The scenery was nice and the sun came up as we ran...ahhh...the weather was ideal, no wind and cloudless blue skies.

Isn't this a nice rock formation? Again, love the color of the sky. A beautiful cerulean blue.

This self-portrait was made at about mile 8. I think it was around that time I started to feel a little pickup from the triple-berry caffeinated goo (aka GU) that I sampled at the aid station. That stuff is weird. Like eating toothpaste. While running. Yeah. Weird.

More geologic wonderment.

Coolest feature of the run - ancient Native American pictographs painted on the canyon walls.

Holding up our medals (and Sno-Cone) at the end. We crossed the finish line together in 2:23 and something. Yay, us! and, a shout out to Jeff Galloway who gave us the virtual coaching and training schedule to finish strong. We ran 4 minutes, walked 1 min. the whole way except for the last mile which we ran in 9:39. Our average pace was between 10-11 min/mile, I think. We were soundly beaten by most of the crowd, of course, most notably by a couple pushing the cutest twins imaginable in a double stroller. On a dirt/gravel road. I marvel at the energy of any parents of infant twins to do such a thing. I really wish I had gotten pictures of the babies on the bus ride - they were smiling at everyone and really, really, really, really, really, really cute.

Speaking of pictures - all pictures (above) courtesy of my friend Tammy and nice friends along the way who helped out. There are more from Jessica's husband who captured us doing our warmup exercises, so maybe I'll add them later, if they're not too embarrassing. :-)

I am so grateful that I could do this! Grateful not only for a great race day, but for new friends and new experiences, even black toenails and weird goo along the way. I never imagined running would become a fun hobby for me. Life is strange, but good.

Last but not least - a huge thanks to all my friends and supporters - Holt's Ilsan Center is about to gain $1000 in donations! Thank you for making it happen. You're the best!

Cheers,

Sarah

birthday girl AND first day of kindergarten

How did we go from here...

to here...

so fast?

It feels like this...

which is all I could get when I tried to take her picture on the first day of school. She was totally anti-picture. It's probably the only picture you'll ever see where she's moving and Sam is standing still. :-)  Leave it to her to be the nonconformist kid who won't let me be sentimental and document the memories. I feel sorry for the photographer at her wedding already.

Her first day at school went great, from what I heard. Of course, it helps that she gained instant popularity by bringing donuts for the class for her birthday. The drop-off was chaos, but in a good way. I am impressed already with the teacher's craftiness. She met us at the door with a list of instructions for how to organize and put away all the school supplies. It kept everyone busy and taught all the kids where everything goes, and no one had time to even think about crying. :-) Zip zip, we said goodbye and went out the door to a ferocious thunderstorm that soaked us running to the car. The whole sky opened up and I read in the news that a man was hit by lightning but was doing OK. A drama day for my drama girl.

She had her swim party with friends last week, so tonight we just had a family "party." Her choice for birthday dinner was Kraft macaroni and cheese, and ice cream for dessert. I tried her pink bubblegum flavor and it tasted exactly like those fluoride treatments at the dentist.

I have lots more blurry pictures, as she never wants her picture taken, but I finally was able to sneak one good one. Happy birthday to my sweet SIX year old - I love you soooooooo much.

Interesting running venue

I'm in Las Vegas for a work-related trip this week. The hotel has a gym, but unlike in most hotels, gym access is not included in the room fee. They want $25 per day or $50 for 3 days. No thanks.

So, my challenge last night was to find somewhere to run. It's about 100 degrees here in August and we're located in the middle of the Strip. Running through the air-conditioned mall adjacent to our hotel was tempting, but I felt too self-conscious. So I took an impromptu, self-guided walking tour of the area. It was hot, and the sidewalks were packed with tourists taking photos, so I rescheduled the run for the morning and wandered around. I can't remember when I was here last - maybe 7 years - and it hasn't changed much - if anything it looks a little more worn down. I wonder if the economy has been tough on it. Anyway, Seinfeld, Cher, and Cirque du Soleil are all here, and I saw one ad for Donny and Marie. Good times.

This morning I did run for about 45 minutes. It was still hot - probably 75 degrees - but at least the crowds were gone and the scenery was interesting. Too bad I'm such a flake - should have brought my camera - maybe tomorrow morning. I passed Caesar's Palace, the Mirage, Treasure Island with the pirate ship, the volcano that erupts every hour, the Eiffel Tower, the Venetian, Fashion Show plaza, Circus Circus and some less glitzy areas under construction. There was a "Sin on Sunday" billboard too. I got to run up and down some escalators and threw in a few extra flights of stairs just for kicks. There were a few other joggers, a few homeless people and a police officer just hanging out on the corner. The casinos were all open - definitely a 24 hour town.

Never thought I would be jogging on the strip in Vegas at 6 a.m. I wouldn't call it a "rave run", but at least it's a nice flat road with unique scenery. One thing I won't miss about Vegas is the air - between the smoke inside and the exhaust outside, I bet my cilia are working overtime.