Happy Thanksgiving!

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. ~ Psalm 105:1 NLT

Twofer Tuesday

Today was double-run day... again!

It was COLD this morning when Brad, Sarah and I hit the pavement. But look at that payoff:

 

We sat out in the driveway to stretch so we could watch the sky show!

After work, I had the privilege of joining Julie for a birthday run!

She didn't have a lot of time before meeting her fam for a birthday dinner, but we squeezed in 2.5 miles. And the weather was fabulous! A perfect fall afternoon.

Happy birthday, new running buddy :)

I tried out my new Newtons, purchased at deep, DEEP discount at the Portland Marathon expo ($42 for almost-brand-new running shoes!).

They felt pretty good, though we were chatting the whole time, so I wasn't paying much attention to my stride. I'll take note next time :)

Clear, cold skies

I started my Friday with a cold bike ride and this:

Nice :)

Eryn is nursing a stress fracture and came over Wednesday to try out our elliptical. I ran on the 'mill while we watched Jon Stewart:

Thursday, an after-work meeting prompted a lunch-time workout. I hit the stadium for 25 minutes, then showered at work. It worked out well, especially this view:

It was cold out there. Frozen puddle on the way!

It took about 15 minutes before I warmed up!

:)

Go Tigers!

Photo: Ralph Greene

Last night, my Tigard Tigers crushed the North Medford Black Tornado to advance to the 6A football semifinals! I wore all my warm clothes and bundled up in a down sleeping bag to battle the cold wind.

Tigard remains undefeated and seems unstoppable! Some people think this is our year :)

It was the last home game for our seniors (pictured), as the remaining playoff games will be held downtown at Jeld-Wen Field.

GO TIGERS!!! :)

Friday!

Oh, yeah!




:)

Snowy Sunriver adventure

We spent a lovely, relaxing weekend in Sunriver with Brad's folks.

I started Saturday with a run to the river. I thought it would be about 3 miles. Oops - ended up being 5+, and I never even made it to the footbridge. Sunriver trails are SO confusing. I get lost every time :)

A dusting of snow made it extra beautiful.

Brad was out running too, and we finished about the same time.

After showers and some waffles (thanks, Steve and Donna!), we were off to the Holiday Food and Gift Festival in Sisters!

Then a picnic in the car:

Sunday, we visited nearby Lava Cast Forest:

It was just enough higher to give us some snow and cold wind.

We walked the 1-mile loop and checked out the holes in the lava left by trees. Very cool!

The snow was brief, but I loved it!

Thanks for sharing your home with us, Kari and Vicki! We had a great time on our annual trek to Central Oregon :)

Daily double

Tuesday was a double day for my running shoes.

Sarah came over for our weekly morning run, and cousin-in-law Kenny joined the fun. Brad's on a short business trip and missed out.

It was dry and warm when we started, but the rain soon came - and we were soaked by the end of our 3.35 miles. It was a really fun, wet run! (It was Kenny's first time running in the rain!!)

Good job, Cuz! 

(Shoulda remembered my flash...)

 

My shoes were almost dry when it was time to run again - after work with Julie and Nicole:

We had a lovely time in the neighborhood and park trails! The rain held off, and it was perfect.

We dropped off Nicole to get her kiddo from preschool, and Julie and I did another loop for 5.16 miles in all. That's 8.5 for the day. Getting closer to my goal :)

The THS crew is already making plans for next week!

:)

No. 47

Book No. 47 for 2013 was Adam and Evil by Gillian Roberts - from the trusty THS library collection.

For some reason, it took a while to get into this one. But it ended up being a good mystery, and I didn't figure it out until the end.

:)

Belly love

Lauren Fleshman might just be my new hero.

She's a 32-year-old runner - the kind who wins things... like world championships. She's been to the Olympic trials. She runs a 14:58 5K and a 2:37 marathon. She's also one of the founder of Picky Bars. YUM!

Lauren just did a runway shoot for her sponsor, Oiselle, resulting in this amazing photo:

But instead of letting us "normal" people all feel bad about our bodies in comparison to hers, she wrote this incredibly honest post on her Web site, including pictures of what her belly really looks like - without the spray tan and the flexing and the sucking in. And she has thigh cellulite!

OH MY GOSH! Big smile. Understatement... Huge smile  :)

I don't consider myself a woman with body-image issues - I am fairly content with the body/features God gave me. But I do sometimes find myself comparing my body to others I feel are more ideal than mine. And then there's my belly. I guess I really do spend a tremendous amount of time thinking and worrying about that. 

My mystery digestive issues cause distention. I constantly remind myself that I shouldn't be upset by a medical condition I cannot control. But it's really hard.

Thank you, Lauren Fleshman, for showing me your real belly, which looks a lot like mine :)  Thank you for reminding me that I am a strong, fit, healthy women, even though my belly protrudes in the evening. Your honesty is awesome.

:)

Julie and Nicole

I always tell people, "Let me know if you ever want to go running!!" It's sorta like asking someone how they are. The correct answer is always "Good!" While I actually DO want to go running, no one ever takes me up on it. I don't take it personally... though maybe I should :)

So when I said that this week on Facebook to both Julie and Nicole, I assumed nothing would happen. But both jumped on it, and we set a date for after work Thursday!!

Nicole teaches math, and Julie teaches Spanish and French at THS. So we met up as soon as class let out and ran to Cook Park. Nicole had to cut it short to pick up her kiddo, but Julie and I headed back to the park and ended up doing 5.17 miles!

We took it easy, walking on hills and just enjoying the beautiful fall afternoon. The predicted rain even held off until I got home on my bike.

I forgot my camera at home, so there's no photographic proof :( But it was terrific, and we're already set to run again next week!

Anyone else wanna come with us??? :)

Next

Guess what my goal is??

:)

Weekend wrap

Randomness from my lovely long weekend:

Fred was my bus driver way back in the day... like 30 years ago. He drove us from Templeton Elementary School to Byrom Elementary School in Tualatin for our weekly (I think) TAG classes. He was a really nice guy. I've always felt bad because some of the students were really mean to him.

Fred lived near us, and we saw him almost every time we went to Davidson's restaurant. I was sad to learn of his death. I'll miss seeing him when we go out to eat :)

I set out after work Friday for a long run. The fall weather was perfect, and I had a great workout.

I started slow and sped up, finishing 10 miles at the bottom of the Cook Park hill and walking up for my cool down. 10.03 at a 9:36 average. Nice!

Friday night, I watched my Tigard Tigers beat the Gresham Gophers in the first round of the playoffs 57-29!

Photo: Ralph Greene

On the way to the game, I almost got hit by an SUV!

I've narrowly missed getting T-boned several times, but this time the driver came up from behind and actually swerved into the bike lane and almost side-swiped me! Scary. I watched as he continued down Durham Road, and he was having a hard time staying in his lane. Drunk, I suppose. :(

Saturday was a lazy day with some shopping and some baking. Then a family dinner Saturday night at Friendsview in Newberg.

Dad's aunt Shirley and cousin Lindy flew up for a short visit with Grandpa (Shirley was married to Grandpa's brother, Joe). They seemed to have a really good time visiting:

We all had yummy dinner at Friendsview and some fun chatting with cousins I don't see often enough.

Sista:

Cousin Amy and her sweet kiddos, Meghan, Ryan and Andrew.

Cousins Pat and Lindy (and Uncle Dave):

Kenny and Mom discussing economics:

Love this one! Grandpa looks great! Since his recent move to assisted living, he's eating three meals a day and gaining weight - looking strong.

Cousins:

Uncle Dave taking a picture with the iPad... always makes me laugh :)

Truth in advertising... (inspired by a great message from Gregg)
It's hard to visit my grandparents.

Grandma lives in the health center now, and when we saw her Saturday, she was all slumped over and wouldn't wake up. But even if she had, dementia makes communication very difficult and uncomfortable. I knew she was rapidly losing weight, but even when you expect someone to look like skin and bones, it's still shocking to actually see your grandmother like that. She's getting hospice care now.

And while Grandpa looked great, he was more confused than I usually see him. He didn't remember that he lives at Friendsview and wanted to get in the car and go home after dinner. 

But they have both lived long, full lives and are relatively content at this point. What makes me saddest is knowing the burden on my dad. Other than the Friendsview staff, Dad is Grandpa's main caregiver. And I know it's really hard for him to see his parents like this.

Still, it was great to see distant relatives... and ones who live close but whose paths don't often cross ours. I'm glad we were all together for one evening.

Sunday, we decided on second service at NFC. I can't sleep late anymore, so I got up and hit the treadmill accompanied by Jon Stewart. SO FUNNY :)

It was really a strong run, and I would have gone longer if I had time.

The rest of the weekend was mostly spent vegging out and baking. I was on a baking kick and made three batches of cookies and two kinds of bread. Then we defrosted the garage freezer so we'd have room for all the boxes of cookies!

Oh, and Monday, I made Brad come to spin class with me! I loved being able to share that with him - and watch him burn out before class was over. See, it IS hard :)

I hope your holiday weekend was also relaxing and fun :)

Rain or shine

We knew it was bound to happen eventually: a wet morning run.

It sounded like it was pouring when my just-before-5 a.m. alarm sounded. But Sarah was soon on her way, so I crawled out of bed and prepared for a wet workout.

It actually wasn't that bad. It was warm, and the rain turned to drizzle and then was mostly over by the time we finished. And it was getting light. Foggy but light:

We finished 3.36 miles at a quick (for me) pace. It felt good at first, but when we hit about 2.5 miles, I was hurting. Sucking wind and feeling the burn :) Fortunately, while my running buddies are really fast, they are also really kind and don't judge me for needing to slow it down a skosh. I need to keeping reminding myself of that and not feel pressured to keep up.

I zoomed ahead of Sarah on the final hill and I thought I was SuperWoman... Turns out she has an ankle injury and had to pull back. Oh well - I'll take it ;)

Sounds like cousin-in-law Kenny will be joining us next week!

Anyone else up for a 6 a.m. run on Tuesdays?? Rain or shine, we're doing it! (Actually, there won't be any "shine" for a couple months...)

:)

Santa sneak peak

It's just the beginning of November, but for one evening, we pretended it was Christmas!

Al's Garden Center held it's annual Evening of Lights, which has become a family tradition for the McKees.

Photos with Santa - sorta:

We admired the Christmas displays and all the beautiful decorations that we're way too cheap to buy. We sampled treats and bought some fudge and toffee. YUM!

They had a preliminary list from Santa:

WOOHOO! I'm on it:

Mom had to run off to a work thing, but Dad took us to dinner at Davidsons. YUM!

Now back to reality. Christmas will be here soon enough... now to enjoy some more fall :)