Cold Day. Downtown Chicago. Us.

A few months back, our good friend and my co-worker Nathan Gomez took some pics of Joseph and I in the city. It was freezing but we had a blast being our goofy selves. He also made us look good. Check a few of them out, y'allz . . .

Typical.

Love.

Inappropriate.

And the dance session begins . . .

Dang.

One word: Cold

There are more. I'll post them to FB or something.

10.10.10: First Month: Check.

Well - the first month of marathon training is officially done. Yikes. I am almost half way there in my mileage. The "twenties" still seem so daunting and far . . .

I just did 12 miles with my mom downtown on the lakefront on Saturday. Running on the lakefront is a piece of cake compared to running my long runs near my house on hilly roads. Yes, there are "hills" in the outer suburbs of Chicago. I am not crazy, come out to Cary.

Training is going well - and the sunrise at 5:00 A.M. helps me get my butt out of bed to go run. Convincing myself to get up is getting harder and harder but the little voice in my head tells me that I will feel so much better when I am done. And, I do - but I just love the comfort of my bed.

Challenges Ahead: More miles. Hotter days. Lack of time/desire. I am slow. Need new running shoes but lack of funds.

Welp - I am feeling pretty good about my training so far - 12 miles doesn't seem like a lot to me but then again, it is only July.

I'll let you know how July goes in a bit. And any other new information along the way.

my running partner is a rockstar

26.2... "no biggie" - for a mother of five, a grandma, a wife, employee x 2, and the other million things my incredible mother has on her plate....

Yesterday, I was able to witness the 2009 Chicago Marathon as a spectator - I decided to take the year off and cheer on my mom. While, I won't type her age, when you become a grandma and can run a marathon, well, that is something else. She is one incredible, strong, determined and dedicated woman and most importantly, I am glad to have her as someone I look up to. This is my mom's third consecutive and fifth marathon total. Not many women her age can do that. So, three cheers for you, mom.

Watching from the start line was bittersweet for me. I really did enjoy taking the year off (wedding, new husband, new job, new house... ;) ). However, being a part of something like that and understanding what those 45,000 runners were going through made me tear up. I played "Amazing Race" by myself for the majority of the morning and I finally got to LaSalle near Moody, only to miss my mom by like 2 minutes. She was runnin' like a cheetah...

I risked my life, actually the lives of the marathon runners, and crossed the street to get to Wells (the other side of Moody) to meet my mom there. Once I was there, our plan was for me to finish the last 14.5 miles with my mom. While waiting for her to come, Candace, Madeline, Kerry and Ethan met up with me. It was FREEZING and not much fun for an 11 month old... poor guy.

Finally, the running star appeared and I joined the fun....I told my mom while we were running, "So, this is what the last half of the marathon is suppose to look like..." [Note: 2007 and 2008 were two of the hottest marathons in the history of the 32 Chicago Marathons on record & I don't do so well in heat....]

It was a great, easy and chilly run with my mom. Perfect weather for a marathon. I enjoyed finishing the marathon and getting a medal at the end so I didn't look too suspicious....

So, congratulations mom. You are incredible. Another Chicago Marathon checked off. Now that she is taking 2010 off, anyone interested in training for next year's marathon with me? 10.10.10? Neat, huh?