A day off - Thank you Veterans!

I have been doing a lot of bragging about NH the last 3 months. I think I need to ramp it up though. So far only one friend/family member has been persuaded. Candice and 

Peter. 

So here's another reason. It's the number one thing around here. . . if you ask me. And if you're reading this and think "Oh gross, give me a break" then maybe we wouldn't be such great neighbors after all, so don't bother. 

I am talking about The Dump. New Hampshire offers the general public a far better option than goodwill or the garbage man.  Near our house is the city Transfer/Recycling Station aka - the Dump. 

But it's not just a Dump. It is so much more.  It's a STORE. Really! There is a building that things are organized in. It is like one awesome yard sale held twice a week. . .  but it is all for. . . FREE. They call it the swap shop. And it is a busy place. Volunteers from the community take shifts there sorting and organizing the donations during a 6 hour shift twice week when the Dump is open for business. I can't believe all the stuff I have found there. I'm looking around my house for reminders now. Sewing desk, Deck Chairs, Wood Rocking Chair, Nice baby changing table that I grabbed (just in case) but refashioned into a laundry folding station that is saving my life, Reader's Digest Piano Books that I grew up and love and have been trying to find on Ebay for years. . And That's just the beginning. Sometimes I pick up a Little Tykes Play kitchen or Basketball hoop, etc. just for the week then return it to swap for something else. I don't even know how yard sales stay in business in this state thanks to our sweet dump.  I even joined the volunteer list and will be pulling a three hour shift thanksgiving weekend. 

So, if you're cool like me and all about free. . . look into the Live Free or Die State.

I am so dead when my two tweens see this post. They really hate it when I talk like "a Cheapo".

Last weekend Savannah was there shopping away and saw a kid from her school there at the Dump, which as you can imagine, was totally embarrassed to be seen by her peers at the dump.  She took off for the van and didn't even listen when I pointed out, "Come on, he's in there too!" 

But the truth is they love the dump every bit as much as their mother. How do I get them to get their Saturday morning chores done every morning in a timely manner. "You guys have one hour and I'm headed to the dump. Whoever's not done by then won't be coming along." 

Of course I actually hate bringing them along but I always keep in mind the fact that on it's open again on Tuesday while the kids are away at school. This is important because that is the day you can sneak into their room and retrieve anything to return to the dump. 

So Caroline found her a pair of rollerblades there last weekend and has been taking advantage of our lack of carpet in our home. I wasn't letting them skate much around here in case it was bad on the rental floors. But Yesterday was Veterans Day and we were all home just hanging around when Brent decided that it was a great thing to do indoors. He even went as far as to set up an indoor race track. All our furniture (mostly from the dump, though I will say that I draw the line at couches. No dump couches or cushy chairs. We are anti-bed bugs, and smoke or pet smells around here) was pushed up against the walls and the course was set.  Caroline went first and set the time to beat at 35 seconds.I

Kennon was studying below in her room and had come up several times to scream at us all about the racket, but eventually she just joined in. The race began on Marcus's bed and continued down the hall, around the coffee table then into the dining room and around the table there. Then back again to Marcus's bed. I always feel like the party pooper because Brent is hands down more fun but this time I really did have an excuse. No size 9 rollerblades. But tomorrow is Saturday and I'll keep my fingers crossed that some size 9 woman around here is ready to donate them to my new favorite store.

Marcus doesn't have rollerblades either. But he strapped on his drum and squeezed in between heats down the hallway.

 

The hardest part was keeping the runways clear. After drumming for a while, Marcus grabbed the broom and kept shooting it out of the kitchen doorway. Luckily no one was decapitated or swept off their feet.

  

Here is Kennon's action shot. She was pretty good. . but not good enough. 

  
To beat her little sister Savannah.  Savannah is extremely competitive and just kept racing the course until she had it down to 16 seconds.  That was when Brent decided to strap on his blades.

We all know who Savannah got her competitive streak from. Just look at the determination in his eyes. So intent on the prize. Beating his 11 year old daughter. In the end he triumphed beating Savannah by 1/2 a second.

 This is an action shot from later in the day. We had a very late in the season campfire. Savannah's marshmallow had just melted off her stick and had a brief stint on my hot dog.

 We decided that fall weenie roasts are much preferable to summer. No mosquitoes and a warm fire is much more appreciated when they are needed for warmth. I

I brought out hot chocolate to encourage lingering and Brent remarked while taking this picture that I was looking very New Hampshiry which is such a compliment I am sure since I have told him many times that none of the women around here wear makeup let alone heels. It has been described to me as "crunchy" which I think means All Natural and comfy. I am still wearing mascara but I like it that I'm not the only one in sneakers anymore.  

 

 Later we all frosted cupcakes for the first time with Savannah's dump find. This is the stupidest invention EVER. It's called a Cupcake Maker but as it turns out all it is capable of doing is frosting the cupcakes. You have to make cupcakes on your own the old fashioned way. They do provide a cup to make them in the microwave but that also seemed like a big waste of time. Once the cupcakes are ready you get to use the machine. You load your frosting into a gun, then shoot it into this contraption, start pumping until the the frosting squeezes out, usually missing the cupcake. It took about 15 minutes for us to assemble, load, and frost three cupcakes. That doesn't count the time it took to make cupcakes first. Once we had our fun I threw the cupcake maker (hah!) in the our trash can.  That way I didn't have to clean out all the frosting and I was saving some other family the trouble.  I didn't feel a bit guilty at the time.  All seven of us agreed that the cupcake maker was so worthless it wasn't even dump worthy. Then,  I saw them tonight on clearance at Walmart for $15 and felt a little guilt about my wastefulness.

 Then finally to cap off the Veterans Day off Work/School, Brent and I went on our weekly date. It isn't always weekly but it usually is on Thursday since that is the last day of Brent's work week. We decided to bring our soon to be 9 year old along to celebrate her birthday. She wanted steak and mashed potatoes and peas/ lima beans or edamame (her three favorite greens that she literally salivates over). I had a free coupon for an appetizer at Texas Roadhouse and that was the deciding factor . Camille got the steak and potatoes but will have to have accept an I OWE YOU on the peas. 

They placed her on the saddle and announced to the whole restaurant that CAMILLE WAS HAVING A BIRTHDAY which thrilled her to death. She didn't get a free sunday though. In a completely perfect world we would have a Red Robin in NH .

I ordered a side salad as my dinner to keep us in our date budget to offset Camille's kid's size steak.

Camille as always was a complete sweetie and felt truly spoiled to eat steak at a restaurant with Mom and Dad. Unfortunately the bar has been set now for all other birthdays.  No more getting away with a quiet dinner at home.

 After tons of begging since bringing it home, I caved and cut into a pumpkin two weeks before Halloween. But once we got the seeds out, the kids all took off and I was left to carve it on my own. Thinking that this would be one shriveled pumpkin by Halloween and what a waste that was of good pumpkin I started thinking about pie instead. So I quartered, skinned, boiled, mashed, and froze the pumpkin while no one was looking. Canned pumpkin is a $1.50 a can and for some reason someone had marked my  pumpkin down to that same price. Once the job was done I had enough from that reduced pumpkin to make five pies or lots and lots of pumpkin pancakes.  My children weren't too happy to find the pumpkin in bags in the freezer when they came back to check on how the work was coming along. And they don't like all the pumpkin pancakes I have been making instead of pies.

 Camille carved this in class to exhibit in the school pumpkin stroll. The kids have their own school pumpkin patch and grow so many pumpkins that they each have one to carve and place out in the woods for the big night when Mom and Dad come to stroll through the lighted jack-lanterned path. We have been in three grade schools now total and it is always so interesting to me how each run the show in such different ways, starting with Halloween. The first did huge Halloween bingo/carnivals, the second school- was our first school to let the kids wear their costumes during school and dismissed them at noon every Halloween so they had plenty of time for Prep (Halloween is big in Buffalo). Here it is all about the pumpkin, our state fruit. So the big event is the Family Pumpkin Stroll. First you meet in the school sugar shack. It's a little shed out in the woods where later they will make maple syrup as a class. Hot apple cider is served along with homemade pumpkin treats. Farther out in the woods is a big bonfire where families gathered to listened to a story teller after you were done strolling the woods.  We loved it! I like these kind of fall activities.

 But as far as Halloween itself. . .  it stresses me out every year.  First of all I hate carving pumpkins. Especially the really, really hard ones that break your Cutco knife. Now that isn't worth saving the price of a can. That happened on the second pumpkin we carved into because I was feeling really guilty on Halloween day that we still didn't have a jack-o-lantern.  

And I don't look forward to creating costumes every year for 5 kids. I tell myself that it's because I want to foster their own creativity by leaving it up to them.  But we all know that it's I'm just too lazy and too cheap and that's why my kids have to scrounge every Halloween.


This cowboy costume wasn't so bad. I had picked up the boots, hat and shirt over the course of a year at different thrift stores. I was pretty proud of how I had planned ahead for at least one child.
Caroline and Camille didn't get a lot of help. The thing is about Camille is if you bought or sewed her a real costume she wouldn't wear it. She has to have a hand in it. So my Camille had her heart set on being a swan lake princess. She found what she needed in the ever growing costume collection and I bought here some feathery wings after her ones she made out of hangers and white nylons weren't looking too swany, though I was quite impressed with her efforts. Caroline got this thrown on her 10 minutes before we left. I think it is her 3rd time as the orange witch. Camille did both of their face makeup. Kennon was running trying to come up with some thing after a last minute decision to trick or treat after all. Savannah was long gone to trick or treat with friends in the neighborhood dressed as the Greek Goddess Artemis, which was ALL Savannah. And I was out raking leaves with Brent while most of this was going on.  I ran in and felt bad for my lack of Halloween spirit so I threw on the Indian Costume that I have had since high school. Brent decided he was sick at this point and I left to trick or treat with three of my children.  (By the way. . . in this area trick or treating is always on the day before Halloween.  Not just when it falls on Sunday. Every year it's on the 30th.  And don't bother asking them to explain it or complaining. It's live free or die around here and they want to celebrate it a day early and that's that) 

So after all these years my kids are used to being on their own for costumes and they don't complain.  But, what if I was a cool Mom like this?
  

 These are our friends Ezra and Candace from Buffalo.  That kind of planning and creativity is both inspiring and overwhelming to me.  The Trockel's are another family that you can count on every Halloween.  I pulled these off their blogs and am going to start a picture file on creative people to get the juices flowing next Halloween.

But Hey, that's not what Halloween is about anyway. My kid's favorite part is the last thing we do. The Candy Trade.

Buffalo, Bestfriends, Bragging, Broken Buicks, Blah Blah Blah

 Camille misses Buffalo. She is my only child that hasn't moved on.  (Actually Kennon still hasn't moved on from Washington. . . but that's a different story) She misses Sara her best friend. To the point of tears on a weekly basis. A few days ago she couldn't go to sleep because she was so upset that all of her new friends here already have best friends and only play with her once in awhile at recess. Then she started talking about "Holmes" her old school and suddenly she burst out with, "No wonder they call it Homes!" Then lots of tears. Then a blessing from her Dad.

Last night, the Buffalo best friend Sara called and said that a tornado was headed to Buffalo. This was very upsetting to Camille. Before bed she prayed hard for Sarah and all of Buffalo.

Just as I assured her last night, Buffalo and Sarah survived to see another day. 

Because of lack of best friends, she has taken to running laps around the playground for recess. She was told that 7 laps around = One mile. Yesterday she ran 14 during the first recess and 14 during the second recess. She came home and bragged to her mom,  "I ran 4 miles today." 

She's really upset at me because I just won't believe it. She is adamant. Seven laps = One mile. And she ran seven . . . four times! I may have to run it myself one of these days and get this matter decided. Stay tuned.

 Caroline barely noticed the change in location. She is happy happy happy. She assures me that she has lots of friends. . .  but can never remember their names? ?  Even the best friend who lives next door. 

She is finally reading. All it took was a mother of 5 to commit to 20 minutes a day with the first grader. I was pretty embarrassed to have a 6 year old who couldn't read. In two months of school she is all caught up and I've been assured that she is right on schedule at her fall parent teacher conference.  
As Brent would say, " That's great Caroline! But time to start passing!"

I am borrowing his line from a cross country meet earlier in the season. That's exactly how he cheered on his daughter, Kennon 1/2 way through one of her races. She was a mile into it and had just gone up a big hill, when he cheered, "Good Job, Kennon!" and then a louder, "Now it's time to start Passing!"  

Don't worry Kennon. I slugged him for you. Mr. Half-miler is not qualified to cheer like that.

Caroline attends speech class at school. They are trying to erase her lateral lisp.  A couple days a week she practices sucking in her spit and saying words like "tree" instead of "pree." 

I can't believe we have to get rid of her cute little voice. If the speech therapy works. . . I guess that's good but we will all miss little Caroline and her lateral lisp.

Marcus is debating being a dentist like Dad or a fireman. I was helping him make up his mind the other day after his brief experience in a real fire truck. I reminded him that if he was a fireman he got to drive a big red truck around not an old Buick like a dentist does. 

We had borrowed his Dad's old Buick a couple days before because he wanted us to take it in for an oil change. I guess I don't understand it's quirks because we drove about a 1/4 of a mile from our house and it stopped. And wouldn't start. For about 2 minutes. When it did start again I went straight back home and abandoned the assigned errand. 

Brent was disgusted that I would quit so easily and said that you just have to take it easy on it and it runs just fine. 

Marcus and I have called it "Dad's broken car" ever since.  So when I told him about his chance to drive a big red truck I was sure that he would choose a fireman. But he is his father's son - true blue through and through and replied, " I want to be a dentist so I can drive a broken car". 


Pretty sad when you are a real dentist and you still have to drive the old broken Buick that was once your old man's. But it's made it through 10 years with this family including 3 years dubbed by his scouts as the multipurpose scouting vehicle, 3 big overheated Buick ventures pulling a a loaded trailer of family belongings during our moves, and four years of hood to school commutes in Buffalo and well. . . . He may as well drive it into it's grave, right? I think that's the plan.

The runner's tick

Kennon has been spending a lot of time running through the woods lately and as result claims the title of first family member to host a tick. According to the locals -ticks are no big deal. You strip search your kids every night and usually pull a dozen or so off every summer.  For a newcomer, it sounds like an awful task.

Every place has it's problems and deer ticks are the # 1 here. The tick took about 20 minutes to remove. There was a lot of screaming going on while the whole family crowded around watching the difficult extraction. 

I circled the spot with a marker and check it every day for any signs of a reaction. Kennon is very annoyed with me about it but I am pretty determined not to be joining the Lyme Disease Support Group meeting at our local library. 

So far no dreaded bulls eye mark has popped up and she was right back at it the next week. 

Running through the tick infested woods.

 She finished out in the top seven in her school for the season and was eligible to compete at the state meet. 

Her Dad made her a deal that if she could be in the top 4 at her school he would buy her something she's been eyeing on Ebay. The girls ahead of her were all beating her by one to two minutes and I didn't see the point of adding on pressure by throwing Ugg's into the mix.

At the state meet she finished 5th from her school with a time of 16:04 for the two mile race.  Her overall place wasn't all that impressive (81) but according to her coach NH has the biggest cross country meets in the country and there was way too much stiff competition if you ask me. She actually had her best time at the last meet -15:59.

Though she didn't qualify for new boots she did get a big congratulatory kiss from her Dad. Kennon loved it!

I am going to miss Cross Country a ton. It kicked off my first ever running program and the meets have been a great social event for a mom anxious to make friends.  I've met so many awesome parents at these events as we run around trying to catch sight of and cheer on our kids at different points along the race. This Wednesday is the very last race and I will be running in it along with other parents and faculty.  

Brent has been training. . .  but only is up to a half mile so far. He has his reasons. . . a bad knee and too much time in the office as of late. He started in a couple weeks ago with a program and is building up slow to save the knee. I don't think a two mile run is going to be possible for him right now, but who knows? He may be unable to resist.

As for me, I am sure that I won't see Kennon at all after she dusts me at the beginning of the race. Hopefully we can meet back at the finish line in around 20. And then I may be done with racing. I can't stand people passing me like I am standing still.  All I can remember from my last race is all the old men and little 8 year old boys that flew by me. Running isn't supposed to be depressing. I work best alone.

 Yesterday Marcus and I went on a run. I in my sweats and him in his finest in search of the perfect photo spot -bright red leaves and a water view. I found it above the Oyster River at the home and memorial spot of Revolutionary war General John Sullivan.

 Marcus wouldn''t put this stick down and hold still for the camera, though. I was mad at him and his stick. 

Turns out the stick picture was the best one of all.

 

Unless you like his big cheesy picture face. He's holding the stick behind his back.  

I need to keep the camera hopping the next couple weeks. Yay! New England in the Fall! I am living the dream.  

Wait till the bitter NE winter hits and hear this girl change her tune.

A taste of his own medicine

I gave a 20 minute talk in church on Sunday. Kennon also spoke. After church, while fixing lunch Brent asked if I noticed Kennon saying, "Umm" a lot. I told him I noticed a couple umms.. Then he said that she said umm quite a few times, but not near as many times as her mother did.


"Are you serious? I don't remember saying umm at all".  I was pretty mortified to hear this since this was my new ward debut.

"Yeah, I was counting for a while, but finally gave up once I was up to 100. I tried mouthing, "Umm" to you but you didn't ever notice.  I wasn't going to say anything. . .  but then I thought Hey, maybe you might want to know".

No, I don't think I wanted to know that actually.  I was pretty mad that he had brought it up at all.

 I got him back a couple days later. I didn't plan it. It just happened. The dentist showed up for Kennon's cross country meet with stuff in his teeth. We were talking to other parents when I noticed and never found a chance to break in and tell him.


  He told me last night that he ran out and needed another tub of Cocoa Almonds from Sam's club.  That and an apple usually constitute lunch. He's a bit addicted to them right now. I said, "Did you finish them off on the way to Kennon's meet?" 


"Yeah. . .  how did you know?"


"Because you had like 100 nuts stuck in your teeth. I wasn't going to say anything since I didn't get a chance to tell you at the time. But I thought, Hey, maybe you might want to know".  ( Actually I just said "nuts" But I wanted to say 100)

 Kennon keeps getting faster. She finished 9th in her latest meet. I am so glad I literally drug her to her first practice.

I went on a two mile run with her yesterday afternoon. Kennon stayed a little ahead of me the whole way. Only by running in circles every couple minutes so I could catch up. Arriving at home I was completely dead after running my hardest to keep her in my sights the entire way. She wasn't even breathing hard. It stinks because I've been running pretty much every day to get to the point I am now. Two miles in a little under 20 minutes. And she runs three times a week for a couple months and she is in super shape. 

I am going to stick to solo runs. All I could think about while running with Kennon is how out of shape I am. No fun. 

Hip Hip Hooray for Uncle Peter!

I can still hardly believe it's true! I am sure more exciting things have happened to me before. . . 

But I can't think of anything? ? ?


Suddenly our decision to move to NH makes so much more sense. 

I have had so many people ask in wonder when they hear about our drastic decision to make a permanent move to New England, "So you don't have any family in the area. . .  AT ALL?"

Nope, just us. 

And I was so sure that I was just fine with that. 

Then how come I am just bursting with joy with the news that our solo status is soon to change?

Remember this interviewee. . . Uncle Peter?

He has been offered the job at a fabulous law firm in Manchester, NH! So next summer Peter will be bringing my sister Candice and baby Laura up to join us!

Unfortunately, it will just be the summer internship at first and we will have to say goodbye next fall while he finishes his final year at Vanderbilt in Nashville. But after graduation we will all be neighbors!


Any other brothers/uncles/cousins/nieces. . .  etc want to join the New Hampshire Family Exodus?

Here come's a catch up post. First of all, I am pretty sure that Ben wasn't too satisfied with one sorry post after seven whole days he spent with us. Let's see if this helps do the visit justice.
 

 One crisp morning we went in search of the famous Lake Winnepasaukee of "What about Bob?" fame. The leaves were just starting to change and the crowds have all gone away. It was a perfect day to visit.  
 I keep trying to come up with a caption for this one . .  and I got nothing really. Just posted it because it was also taken at the lake and I like it. And when you are 34 and can find a picture you like. .  I say go for it.  

Same thing goes if you can find a great shot like this of your brother in law. Check him out! He is exerting his very best efforts to destroy Brent's hard earned money. He wore out luckily before the tramp did.
  
I got a huge smile one day when I surprised him by popping these on his ears. I figured it was time to give him a break. He had offered the blessing on our food that morning and concluded with, "And I am thankful that I am all DONE raising my children".   
Marcus likes jumping as much as his Uncle Ben. They played this game for awhile at Dr. Dahlgren's home. While we were driving home from the lake we happened to drive right by the home of the dentist we bought the practice from just as he pulled into his drive. He showed us around his old farm house and attached barn built in 1840. 


The very last day of their visit we drove into Portsmouth and and onto New Castle Island. Past all the water and all the sail boats. It was almost more than Ben could stand who had just been talking non-stop about getting his hands on a large amount of Lobster. The measly one he enjoyed during Conference had done nothing to satiate the huge lobster appetite he had suddenly inherited upon finding himself in New England. On the way home we stopped and let him out at the grocery store. He came out, and jumped in with a bag of 8 lobster asking, "How much time have we got before the kids come home?"  

Ben was pretty concerned about the kids disrupting our big Lobster Fest. He asked me repeatedly to call their schools and sign them up for detention. At 3:00 he was just cracking into his third lobster, and with dripping butter fingers asked me if I would please go lock the front door, as Savannah was due home any second. Once again I refused.

I really don't think he was kidding. So we had to sacrifice and share our 8 lobsters with Savannah but we made good and sure we had it all put away an hour later when the rest of the kids came home. No chance of truly destroying the evidence, though. Boiling Lobster is one of the hardest smells to hide.  Each kid that came through the door, said "Aughhhhh! Did you cook Lobster again?" Not a one of us fessed up how very much they had missed out on though. EIGHT LOBSTER!

It was a really fun thing to do, though. Sit around and share large amounts of fresh lobster with our guests. I think we need to make a tradition out of this one. Thanks Ben for the great times. 


Grandma was pretty concerned when Marcus wouldn't come to her at the beginning of the visit. I told her not to take it personally. He won't even go to Brent most of the time. He is a momma's boy through and through. But she just started getting out his books and before long he was right there by here side every minute. They literally spent hours reading together. He never tired of it and amazingly Grandma didn't seem to either. She also spent a while with the UNO cards working on his numbers and letters with him. They were best of friends by the time the visit was over. Books are the way to his heart.


We had such a wonderful time and appreciate the week you both stayed with us! Come again. We know the drill now. Lot's and lots of Lobster.


Last weekend was one of my favorites here so far, thanks to living by a University. You already know all about my BIG race. We also enjoyed the UNH parade with some of the kids friend. Very sparsely attended and I think we ended up with the majority of the candy. . . thanks to the lack of spectators and the very nice posters the girls made to attract candy. Caroline is super upset here because her bag and sign are smaller than the other girls. She was convinced that she wouldn't never get enough candy with a smaller target.

 

For some reason people armed with Candy really enjoy "TARGET PRACTICE"

 

 Savannah and her friend were way too cool for all that. But if you look close you can see a bag behind Savannah's legs. And you know when the candy started flying she was right there in it.  Marcus held out his hat and was cute as could be. He was thrown a fireman's hat when the firefighters went by.

Savannah, ever the craft queen, organized a post parade candy craft the next morning while I was off running. They play with their candy before they eat it. Maybe we'll save some of these creations for our trick or treaters.

 And someone left out the Red Permanent Marker and Marcus did a little crafting of his own.

 Later that afternoon we hit up the FREE UNH carnival. My kids tell me I am a free magnet. 

Am I supposed to be ashamed about that? The cool thing about free events here is they don't get swamped like they would in Buffalo.  There was hardly anyone there.  We have always been too cheap for a family trip to Bounce Magic so this was our first time enjoying this kind of fun. We really lived it up for several hours.

 Caroline was the brave one that investigated the cotton candy booth and came back to tell us that it was also FREE!

 She went back again and again.   

Marcus was easy to keep track of. He stood by my side and munched. 

 We all tried the bungee trampolining. . . for FREE!  Kennon and Brent were the best at the flips. All day Sunday I was incredibly sore. It was either three miles or way too many attempts to flip like an acrobat.

 Brent participated in plenty of races himself that day. Kids can be pretty competitive when it comes to huge bounce toys. I think this is the one time he beat Camille on this course.

 

I barely convinced Kennon to hang out a free carnival with  family. I think she was glad she came. 

 

Caroline was brave enough to take on a formidable contender. They all Fought to Fight with Dad. 

By the time we made it over to the climbing wall I was cold and had no interest in getting to higher ground even it is was for FREE! Brent shimmied right up to the top though. 

Thanks UNH for some great family fun. I love living next to the University.

Kashann Runs a Race

I ran a 5 K today!  

This race marks the first time in my life I have ever ran 3 miles all at once. It also marks the first time I have ever run in a race. Unless you count all the races I was forced to run with Kennon around our trailer. She first beat me when she was 7.  I was 8 months pregnant at the time but that didn't matter.  Brent wouldn't let it rest that I had beaten by my 7 year old.


Last night I ran into Kris and Andy, Savannah's best friend's parents. They moved into the neighborhood about the same time we did.  Andy is retired military and now spends a good portion of his day just running. I have never once seen him wear anything but running gear. They told me that they were running the UNH Homecoming 5K in the morning and without thinking I burst out with, "Oh, I wish I would've known".


Well of course it wasn't too late to register and they picked me up at 8 a.m. this morning.


I had the worst pre-race gitters. I was sure that I would seriously choke in front of my friends.  Choke meaning -be forced to walk.  Before moving to NH, I wasn't even a runner. But we have the runningest neighborhood I have ever seen. It is full of hills and shade and it seems that there are constantly young fit people running by and I just couldn't help trying to fit in. Plus, Kennon joined cross country and I found out that the parents are invited to run with them on their last meet. So I clocked a two mile hilly course through my neighborhood and have ran it almost everyday the last couple weeks, still not sure if I actually was brave enough to run a real race with my daughter.


It hadn't gotten easy yet, like everyone told me it would. And now I was going to run 3? 


But guess who never stopped running? I made it just fine to the one mile marker but then right after that and I was searching hard for mile marker 2. I decided that once I got there I had to walk.  But it never came and before long the cheerleaders along the sides were saying, "You're almost there!"


I felt stupid for asking but I yelled back at them, "How far?" I was still looking for that 2 mile mark. "Just around the corner"  was the reply,. This should've encouraged me but by then I was having stomach cramps I hadn't ever had in my life and I personally couldn't see the finish line. 


I kept thinking, "It's time to walk".  I definitely could've walked faster than I was running at this point. But I knew that a fast walk wouldn't impress my husband who may be just ahead.  I hadn't seen Brent yet since I left him in bed that morning, and if I started walking right when I passed him I would be so mad.  Sure enough there he was right near the finish line, cheering like crazy.  I had nothing left to show off and sprint to the finish.


My time was 31:30. Brent had about given up on me. 

I know this is all kind of embarrassing to document how very hard I found my first 5K, but I figured it would be good to remember it all. Especially if I became a really great runner someday. This is how it all began.


And by the way, the course was FULL of Hills and I beat Kris and Andy by a minute and a half.