Finally Spring!

Leaf alert!  It took forever this year, but we actually have some leaves on most of the trees.  Some are very small, but we've finally made it to the point where it just gets better from here.  The tiniest leaves appear one day, and in less than a week we have shade again.  The hostas poke out of the ground one day and then grow several inches every day until the world is lush and green.  Better late than never!

All in God's good timing, I suppose!  And speaking of timing, I begged for received a Garmin Forerunner 10 (aka fancy GPS running watch) for Mother's Day!  It's done a great job so far of showing me how inconsistent my pace can be when I run outside.  It's really fun having all those geeky details about my run right at my fingertips.  And there are even more geeky details to be found once I get home and plug it into the computer.

I'm sure you're all surprised to find that I approach running very scientifically.  Not that mentioning I had changed my breathing style to avoid injury would have given you a clue!  I'm sure I'll have much more to say about my Garmin once I've gotten to know it a bit better.  But three runs in I think it is so fun to know how far I've gone without being on the treadmill in the basement!

The first run with my fancy watch!
 (And my longest run since last August.)

It's a super busy week here, so that will have to be all for now!  I need to spend time making an exit plan for the school year...

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven...(Ecclesiastes 3:1, ESV)

Too Amazing for Words...

The weather here went from this last Monday and Tuesday:

 To this on Thursday:

And, in addition to the weather becoming suddenly glorious with temperatures in the 70's, we did all of this:

John turned 12!

David

Anna and David went to their first formal!

Anna

And, in case that wasn't enough fun, the whole family went to a Twins game on Saturday, where the glorious weather continued and the Twins even won!

There was a cowboy hat giveaway, so now we have 7 of those!

Today the weather is so nice that we are having a bonfire tonight for Daniel's 10th birthday.  I was even inspired to clean the six months' worth of grime from the screened porch, where I am sitting now, enjoying, guess what? The glorious weather! 

Happy Birthday Daniel!

And if that isn't really enough about how great our last few days have been around here, I have also taken two outside runs.  I've left the squishy safety of the treadmill and have managed well so far on the hard asphalt, 3 miles each time.  This is a big milestone and I am so excited!

Someone needs a tan!

That's all for now!  Life is Different Here this week, and I am so thankful!

Starting Over: How Life Is Different Here Now (The Summary)

To say it's been a while is an understatement.  One measly post with some mediocre pictures stood in for my usual string of winter complaints.  Maybe that's a good thing.  If I'm going to complain about winter in Minnesota I can at least not publish it for the world 10 people (5?) who read my blog to see.  I'd love to report that winter is over and spring is here and all is well with the weather world, but, alas, we got a big snow in almost-mid-April, right after nearly all the snow in our yard had melted...

The family is doing great.  The kids are all racing to outgrow me and eating us out of house and home.  Here are a couple of pictures from our Easter hike at Minnehaha Falls.  It's what Easter looked like in Minnesota this year, and it's another example of how Life Is Different Here:

I hope to begin writing again; time will tell if I follow through.  I decided to pop in today for a short post because I feel like I have arrived at a running milestone following that pesky running injury.  Here's the summary of the last nine months or so, as it relates to running anyway!

• 4 weeks of running through the pain (including my first half-marathon)
• 4 weeks of hoping to get better (but getting worse)
• 13 weeks of non-weight-bearing crutches
• 5 weeks of remembering how to walk without limping
• 15 weeks of retraining: walking, biking, & running
• Today: Ran 3 miles, all in a row, under 30 minutes.  Feeling done with the tibial stress fracture!
• Enjoying pain-free running again, feeling very thankful...

I've been thinking a lot about what should be different in my training this time around.  I really don't want another injury! I have made a few changes and I am definitely on alert for signs of trouble, taking the whole "listen to your body" thing much more seriously now. 

More on how Life Is Different Here coming soon!

'Nough Said...

Just in Time

Since the scenery has changed so much I thought the blog deserved an update.  I first need to say just how thankful I am that I have actually been off crutches and back to walking for exactly two weeks now.  It still feels like a miracle to me, since I really thought I would be getting a tibial rod for Christmas this year.  But the MRI results showed a huge improvement that couldn't be seen on an x-ray, and the actual results of me putting lots of weight on my leg have convinced me it must be much better.

Walking again after being one-legged for 13 weeks wasn't exactly fun.  It was a bit depressing to realize just how weak that leg had become and how much cardiovascular fitness I lost in that time.  But as I had long-since determined, I am not a good sedentary person, and that caused me to be so much happier moving around on my own despite the pain.  And it's already so. much. better.  Better enough for me to have spent two evenings standing around in high heels at the company Christmas parties (Yes, that is plural.  The company has grown so much it had two parties and we got to go to both!).  Yes, I felt that big time but was so happy to do it.

And yesterday I rode the exercise bike!  Today I walked a whole mile on the treadmill (in 20 minutes - gotta start somewhere!).  So the official rehab has begun.  This winter will be full of the exercise bike, walking and eventually running on the treadmill, and building up my leg strength.  No road running for a good while, and probably no skiing for me this winter.  The only reason I say "probably" is that winter is very long, and a lot can improve between now and March, so who knows?

I have to say that I really learned a lot from this whole stress fracture season of my life.  I am sure I will realize more as time goes by, but my main impression is how God always takes care of His children and works for their good.  He does not give us more than we can handle, though it may seem that way at times.  I am so proud of the way my kids stepped up to help the last three months!  And Edwin got so used to doing a million things a day for me that he is still doing some of them.  I am blessed to have them!  And so happy to be back on my two feet, just in time for Christmas.  Not a moment too soon for my sanity as well!

The Plunge: A Pictoral Review

Polar Bear Plunge: Dash & Splash

Tomorrow is the big day that Edwin, along with a team of coworkers, is taking the plunge into a hole in the ice of Lake Calhoun.  It's the Polar Bear Plunge: Dash & Splash, a fund-raising event for The Special Olympics.  There is a 5K run (which I am joining in for) - the Dash - followed by lots and lots of possibly crazy folks (not including me!) taking the plunge - the Splash - into a hole in the ice on the lake.  And if you are thinking that water will be freezing (literally!), you are exactly right!  The outdoor temperature will be somewhere between 20 and 30, the water temperature will be hovering around 32, and the trip to the warming tent afterwards will be slippery, icy, and don't-touch-your-frozen-hair-or-you-might-break-it-off-just-plain-freezing-cold!

I will post some pictures next week.  It's sure to be a spectacle, with famous, or at least locally famous, folks like Christian Ponder and Tim Mahoney, and who knows who else.  All freezin' for a reason.  Should be fun!

Oh What a Beautiful Morning...

One thing is for sure: the weather predictors around here have only a tiny advantage over the rest of us.  They are really only sure whether it will snow or rain or be sunny about five minutes before it happens.  This winter, looking out the window is about as helpful as checking the weather forecast.

That said, there are quite a few members of my family who were overjoyed to wake to the weatherman's miscalculation of the rain/snow line.  And although that meant some shovelling, we've had so little snow this winter that even on the eve of March they were happy to welcome it.

I have to say that this mild Minnesota winter has been a real blessing to me.  Last winter and its 144 days of snow cover wore me down to say the least.  This winter it hasn't been really cold (I have lived here nearly 13 years, mind you) for very many days in a row.  We've had a few below zero mornings, but we have had so many days in the 30's it's hard to believe.  And there has been hardly. any. snow.  Amazing!  It's a drought that started in the summer and has continued through the winter, which is certainly unusual in our, albeit limited, Minnesota experience. 

And I couldn't be more thankful.  Just a little rest from the pain that winter is, and I can wake up and be happy to see a big pile of snow.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)

Sports Photography

It's been a while and my blog is once again neglected.  I have not even gotten the Christmas pictures off of the camera yet, so it's that bad.  But I think I need to post something here, and my talented children, David and John, are coming to the rescue.  They took photos and videos of our ski trip last week and they are pretty good - at skiing, snowboarding, and catching it on "film."

We need a snowmaker for the backyard this year!

Ski Day!

He knows when you are skiing...

Safer Than It Looks

The Pond Octopus

I'm Dreaming of a Brown Christmas...

Just Like the Ones I Used to Know!

I'm afraid it's starting to look a lot like Christmas in Alabama, give or take a frozen pond or two.  And I must admit it is disappointing to have our first brown Christmas in Minnesota; I'm actually hoping for some snow!  I didn't realize how much the snow adds to the wonder of Christmas when driving around (though I do remember that it sometimes adds to the pain of driving around).  I also didn't realize how much time my children spend playing in the snow, time that is now spent inside, desperately searching for something to "do."

So far, we have been tempted to fall into complaining: the weather stinks, the kids have been sick, plans have changed, Edwin has been travelling, the Christmas tree even fell down.  But these are the moments that have been given to us for our good by a loving God.  (Reminds me of this.)  So we repent and move on, trying to glorify God in all things.  Tonight is our Children's Choir concert, and there will be no blizzard to cancel it this year.  And no blizzard for driving to the company Christmas party afterward, either!

He has given us advent, snow or no snow.  He has given us Jesus to take away our sins.  He has given us everything.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
(Romans 8:28 ESV)