My Thankfulness in Pictures

Click on any of these pictures to see them bigger.

My mom came for a visit this month.

A short walk on the beach and some waves.

Toby and I on the beach on Veteran's Day morning.

Norah likes to swing on the bar on Toby's playground.

Norah's collage. She is thankful for:
 "my brother, and my mom and dad. I am also thankful for my dad's work, my toys, school, and myself."
Ditto for all of us, sweetie!

My Finisher's Photos

T.G.I.F.
Thank God I Finished.
My "tweaked" knee turned out to be too  much to overcome, and after 5 miles of jogging I decided to just walk. Eight miles (and 2 hours) later I met these 2 adorable creatures (and one handsome photographer) and walked across the finish line. My rewards for finishing: a new knee brace (thanks to the first aid workers at mile 7), a ceramic finisher's medallion, a sack of food, and a glass of beer.
While it took me an hour of running to feel like I broke my knee out on the course, it only took my kids 5 hours to break the medallion at home.

My Ice Bath

Some people say that a nice way to recover from a long run is to ice your legs, or even immerse yourself in an ice-cold bath.
I prefer the Pacific.

Monterey Bay, view from Pacific Grove. Click to enlarge.

After my 10-mile run on Saturday I took off my shoes and socks and waded right into the ocean.

My Solo Training Runs

I've been training for the Big Sur Half Marathon, now less than two weeks away.
When I say that I've been "training" I mean that I've been running a few days a week and trying to go long on the weekends. I have a few other people that I run with a few mornings before the kids get up (I've never had to run with a flashlight before--that's interesting). On Saturday or Sunday I tend to sleep in a bit and then head out. I've done two 8+ mile runs, one here around Carmel and one in Pacific Grove along the course route. It's been nice to just zone out and not worry too much about pace or whatnot, and while I enjoy the company that I have on the weekdays, I know that my solo running time is often what I long for.

This is a shot of the trail that I run along most often. The Carmel beach is to my left. (That's Toby, schlepping our only beach chair down the path from where we parked to the beach access stairs when we went to the beach yesterday.)
This past weekend I went out and ran 10 miles, with the help of my new Garmin GPS watch. (I love it, by the way. Happy birthday to me!) It was absolutely gorgeous out, with tons of seals barking, sun shining, and tourists wandering the path. It was wonderful to get out and go, and the fact that my ipod battery died after the first mile turned out to be a good thing. I did a lot of people watching. Unfortunately I had to make a little dodge-move to avoid crashing into a wandering tourist and I tweaked my knee a bit. At mile 7, with 3 to go. I had to walk a good portion of the last 2 miles because my knee wouldn't stop complaining. I've got to cut back on my miles anyways, so I'm hoping that with a lot of ice and ibuprofen I can heal up nicely and in time to go out and run 13 miles less than 2 weeks from now.