Where's the fun in staying at home a single weekend of the month of January? There is none, I say!

Last weekend I hit the road to Dallas, bound to have some time with the girls and meet Little Lee for the first time. I stayed with Amber Friday night, and we ran the Snowman Shuffle 5k at White Rock Saturday morning. Pretty hysterical: somehow my bib got switched, and I ran under someone by the name of Courtney. I thought something was amiss when they announced me as her as I crossed the finish. It was certainly confirmed when my bib number was posted with her name and info on the results. My time was not stellar enough to mess with contesting, so Amber and I headed out to go make pancakes. Turns out, Courtney I won my age group and could've been the proud owner of a special race snow globe had I stuck around a bit longer. Ha! Memories...





Spent the day Saturday with this little guy!



He is such a sweet, sweet baby. Kathleen and I discussed all things Baby Mitchell, caught up on life, grocery shopped and made up some freezer meals, and sat down to a tasty dinner complete with Duck Dynasty. Such a good day.







I went to The Village on Sunday morning, and really enjoyed being there for worship. The few other people I tried to rendezvous with didn't quite make it, so I headed to check out the new park on Woodall Rodgers, Klyde Warren. Such a cool space; I was way impressed. Children's area with really unique play spots, dog park, green grass with tables and chairs scattered around, fountain areas, a library and game space, croquet, ping pong, putting green, food trucks, and on and on. It was pretty darn crowded, but I guess that's what you get on a sunny, 70 degree day in the middle of January.



The park also boasted a row of food trucks, which I didn't think much about until I saw it: the ice cream truck. #29 on my 30 List just so happens to be "buy ice cream from an ice cream truck". I couldn't resist. And let me tell you, it was some of the best ice cream I've ever put in my mouth. Spent a few hours reading, journaling, and walking around before heading back to CS in time to regroup for the week ahead.



What a lovely little weekend.

Houston Marathon. Round 3. And the old adage applies: third time's a charm! Here's how it all went down:

Drove in Saturday morning. Picked Mom up from Bush before heading to La Madeleine. Learned that Houston La Mad is not equal to the fireplace atmosphere of the Dallas La Mad. First world problems... Still managed an amazing blueberry muffin.



After that, en route to Les Miserables! I'd been holding out to see it, even after everyone I knew had already been a minimum of 10 times, but sooo worth it. Loved the truth and redemptive themes in the story. Trying to psych myself up to read the book now. Still have the music stuck in my head.



Expo time! I have now been fully converted into a race-detail-planning-how-did-they-handle-that-stalking nerd. Thankfully Mom put up with my constant stream of "we did this" and "look how they did that" as I snapped many-many-photos of various signage, banners, stands, barricade fencing... Picked up my bib, ran into my friend Erin, picked up my shirt, snapped a picture of Mom with the Geico gecko, ran into Mark, Chris, and Ken on the way out, and made it out in under an hour. Success.





Hotel time: pasta, debated race morning clothes, checked weather, what time should we leave?, debated clothes again, planned Mom's spectator route, laid out clothes, what time should we leave?, and checked the weather one more time just in case the weatherman really did make up 50 degrees at the start with 1000% chance of rain. He didn't. What time should we leave again?



Alarm. 4:45am. Game on. Throw everything together and hand off the keys to Mom. Here we go. Perfect timing on arrival at the convention center. A little after 6:00 I am standing outside the bag drop area to meet Chris, realizing in 2 seconds that we should've been a bit clearer regarding the exact meet-up locale. Wait a bit, and when the poor planning really sinks in along with the fact that I'm very close to running in the rain without a pacer sidekick for 26.2 miles, search for two girls trying to take a picture with the holding-out-the-phone-in-front-of-them-trick. "Hi, would you like me to take a picture for you?" (They are elated.) "Also, do you mind if I send a quick text? Trying to locate my training friend." (Sure, no problem!) "Saints." 10 minutes later, bag is dropped, and Chris and I head out of the nice warm convention center into.... cold rain.

After 5 minutes, wish for the rain cover I left in the car. Genius. Luckily, there were plenty to choose from once the gun went off and runners started shedding clothes. First 2 miles of rain, directly into the wind, but finally turned out of it and settled in. My friend Erin described the early portion of the race well in her Houston recap, but it's easily the coolest part of the course: a very eclectic, low-economic neighborhood with fantastic spectators – even in the rain.

And so the morning went. Saw Mom about every 4 miles along the way, saw the Field crew and Lindsey at 13. Started the "I'm over this phase" around 16-18, but stayed on track and logged the miles. Chris graciously (and entertainingly) paced me to mile 20, and then we split ways for the remaining miles. Perfectly set-up with plenty of room to PR as long as I could stick pace a little longer. My GPS didn't kick on for the first several miles and then went haywire after mile 23 (as did my mental state), so just hoped to hold on at that point, but for the first time in quite a few marathons, met my time goal with a 7:00 PR at the finish. Wohoo! Such a good feeling. I suppose the average person likely wouldn't choose a marathon as a primary source of confidence boosting, but I've not ever really been average so... I'll take it!



Met up with Mom, chowed down on Smashburger and made our way back to the hotel for me to clean up and relax a bit. Headed to IKEA to play walk around and then on to Outback for a celebratory steak dinner (thanks, M!). Ordered dessert, and though they were out of their chocolate-ice-cream-goodness, topped things off with a bit of cheesecake. Yum!


Made an Einstein bagel run (yes, all we did was eat) early the next morning and dropped Mom at the airport before driving back to CS for work on Monday. Whew! The weekend flew by but it was such a fun time. So grateful for lots of support over the weekend. #7 in the books, and I may or may not be planning #8 already...

I think I've mentioned this idea of "loving people well" on here before. It's a constant work in my heart to really try and meet people where they're at and not where I want them to be or where I think they should be.

I frequent Donald Miller's blog where several folks are now guest posting, and this popped up yesterday: A Tip on Learning How to Love – Dive Into Their World. Instant intrigue and glad I took the time to check it out.

"It’s so easy to love people who like all the same things you do—who never listen to music that makes you cringe, or who believe all the same things you believe. But love sometimes asks you to lay down your preferences, and dive into someone else’s world for a little while... Love asks what's best for the person you love, not what's best or most convenient to you."

A very simple concept, this whole "get outside your comfort zone for someone else idea". I'm just not always good at that. But then I witness people doing that for me, going way out of their way for me, and it makes me want to learn to love others equally well.

It's... let's go where you want to eat today even if it's not my first choice.
It's... my house is your house, towels are laid out, and here's a hot cup of coffee.
It's... I'll change my schedule and cancel my plans to meet your needs.
It's... how are you doing, really, even when I don't want to listen.
It's... my schedule will wait, because you're more important.
It's... we don't always agree, but let's still be the best of friends.
It's... that costs me time and energy, but I'll do it because I know it means much to you.

Little things, little moments making big, big differences.

Happy weekend!

So I've been wanting to go to Waco and check out Cameron Park for awhile now. Some good friends mentioned it to me; they had me at "416 acres" and "wooded running trails". Granted, mid-August in Texas is not the best season to visit as it was 101 when we were there, but it was certainly worth checking out.

My compadres and I camped at Lake Whitney in Hillsburo, surprisingly the only tent campers in our area behind the RV spots. Come to think of it, that's likely why we were the only ones there. That, and I choose isolation over crowded lake-side sites every day of the week. Any PC folks remember this camping trip to Lake Whitney?

Ironically, that was one of the coldest nights I've ever camped... ever. We kept the same fire going all weekend and hardly strayed 10 feet from it except to play so many Nerts games I lost count.

Anyway, Amber and I perfected our ziploc bag omelet-making skills on this trip; we also tried out pizza skewers which were absolutely amazing. Sausage, green pepper, pineapple, and pepperoni on a skewer wrapped in cheese and crescent roll, cooked on the campfire and dipped in pizza sauce. Yes, please. Those will be making a comeback. We then drove in to Cameron Park (about 30 minutes) for the day on Sunday. 

Cameron Park is truly one of my new favorite places. We hiked in the morning while it was still "cool", found a few geocaches, and then spent the afternoon running through a Splash Pad with 6-year-olds and playing disc golf in the shade. By "playing", I mean that I launched a piece of plastic about 10 ft each throw. Let's just say I have some practicing to do on that. I did, however, redeem myself in multiple games of Jungle Uno that night as we waited for brats to grill.

The getaway ended back at Lake Whitney with us rescuing a stranded boat that "got lost" and ran out of gas. Pretty epic weekend, I'd say. Can't wait for cooler weather and a chance to go back and actually run some trails. Enjoy the Friday and put a little adventure in your day!

This was actually from two weekends ago, but since I'm so timely with my posts (though this week has been better... points?), I figured it would fit right in. It's not really exciting, but I'm loving Instagram and, well, I'm addicted to lists.

a. Coffee shop: this was at Sweet Eugene's which rounds out my visiting of every major coffee shop in town. (Weird personal goal?)

b. New recipes: I go through seasons of wanting to cook and try something new and wanting to just eat nothing but peanut butter and eggs. Thus are my eating habits. This time around was Southwestern Rice and Tilapia, a definite win.

c. Homemade Laundry Soap: loving it! I made a two gallon bucket recipe and while it doesn't have any scent to it, my running clothes came through without stench – a sure sign of success. This is super easy and dirt cheap too, also a win.

d. Blue Like Jazz: I've been wanting to see this for awhile, and talk about creative! I think it was pretty edgy and maybe a bit "out there" if you haven't read the book but overall very well done. And revolutionary. And gutsy. Speaking of gutsy, this is way late in the game, but I fine it compelling. I know nothing about the guy who wrote it, but I appreciate his boldness.

e. Book time: Life gets busy, and I tend to forget quiet time. But every now and then, I'm able to sneak a bit in. Worth it.

f. Pavement: Been hitting a lot of that lately, and it's been good. 5:30 Saturday morning group runs have been so great, way more enjoyable than I anticipated. Actual race training commences in two weeks!

Next up, one epic 101 degree day at Cameron Park. 

I was going to post something today that was awesome and thought-provoking and full of inspiration, but then I didn't. So this weekend, ponder the greatness of e.e.cummings (You're welcome, Dad.):


To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

The last few days have been fantastic, and by fantastic I don't mean in a time-of-my-life sort of way but rather a time-to-relax-with-nothing-planned-and-nowhere-to-be sort of way... to the point that I spent much of the weekend studying a list of things to do and then just watching the Olympics.


Finished up a painting last week, of which my favorite piece is this top photo. I'm not a real cutesy heart type, but I love how this part turned out. "Love fiercely" (which you can barely see in the top right) was part of the painting that described the friends who were the victims recipients of this piece. They love people so well and are already missed.


Along with a final dinner for the above mentioned friends came crockpot chicken. I hence forth declare that I shall never cook a whole chicken in any other fashion. So tasty – and props to whoever invented crockpot liners.


Books, books, and more books. I've been so busy the last few months that I haven't done a whole lot of reading. But this is a "quieter" season of life (at least, today is), and so I'm soaking in every page I can get. Is there a limit on how many books you can read at one time? (I count 13 here...)


And I can't leave out a trip to JJ's, the local snow cone stand. Apparently it's the Cajun Cones of Abilene. I don't know if I can make that bold of a judgement call based on one visit, but the Blackberry/Yellow Cake Batter did not disappoint. It's like a rite of passage into summer... now that summer's nearly over. Great timing.


I'm also becoming a fan of Instagram, although I have a few misgivings about it taking away from the legitimacy of good photo editing. But hey, if it can make a crockpot look good, I'm in. Although my current 7 photos are less than exciting, a trip to the mountains is about to revolutionize my scarce Instagramming world. Get ready.

Car repaired.
Restful night.
Short run.
Arrive.
Fuego.
Running store opened!
New friends.
Spain beats France.
Wal-mart run. Corn tortillas.
Blockbuster enthusiast.
Jalapano salsa.
Up. Must see.
SQUIRREL!
"A wilderness explorer is a friend to all."
With you.
Academy. Jump ropes!
Turkey bacon.
I Spy.
2 dolphins and a heart.
Avery's mac -n- cheese.
Spoons.
Kiosk.
Conversation.
Worship.
Prayed over.
Supported.
Study time.
Leftovers.
Phone calls.
Super 8. Must see #2.
Sleep.