Five Whole Years

Arabelle,

Today you turned five years old.  Five!!!  How is this possible?  Where has the time gone since you had the little baby voice in this video?  I watched you sleeping this morning in disbelief that another year had passed.  In disbelief that you are as big as you are, that you hold conversations, that you are as mature as you are and that you are who you are.  Life you with you is amazing.  This year has been a fun one for you.  You have learned to tell jokes, or your own version of jokes.  You have your first little pop star crush...a little Bieber fever.  (Although I am not sure you know what liking someone is all about since you also want to marry Lincoln.)  You have made us laugh until we cry.  You have taking a strong liking to posing like a model.  You also really like to dance.  You love deeply and are so passionate about everything.  You even are starting to tell your friends about God and how important it is that they know him and know he is our Father.

I am not going to lie, there are times when things are all sunshine and rainbows though.  You can make us work for it.  Sometimes the tears I cry aren't from a silly joke you told or when you walked in and said "Arabelle in da house", but from wondering how strong willed you can possibly be.  Which I am finding is very strong willed.  You know what you want that is for sure.  But in that you have grown so much this year.  You come and say you are sorry for things you do and are starting to understand repentance.  You want to pray about how you maybe yelled at us or didn't listen.  You are growing in such awesome and amazing ways.

I pray today and ever day that God blesses you in unimaginable ways.  I know that God has a purpose and vision for you that is far beyond any idea I have ever had or could imagine for your life.  He loves you and is proud of you, just as mommy and daddy love you and are proud of you.  We can't wait to see what this next year has for you.  Starting school is just one big thing I can think of.  I know you can't wait for that. 

Happy birthday Bo Bo Bear!  We love you!

Mommy

Running Up That Hill

Ok, actually I haven't been running up any hills.  I have been running somewhere that is very flat, the scenery never changes and the speed stays oddly consistent.  Can you guess where I am running??  If you said on a treadmill then you are a winner!  Umm I don't have a prize to give you, so this is kind of embarrassing. 

I thought it was time to give a little update on my half marathon training.  So up until last night I would have simply said, "It's going."  Right after signing up, I was pretty motivated and ran consistently for a couple of weeks.  Then the holidays hit hard and I was just way to occupied to find space to squeeze in a run.  This is a totally lame excuse, I realize that.  It's just the way the cookie crumbled though...into my mouth.

Anyways after some time off, I started feeling nervous about this upcoming race.  I mean it's not until May, but I need to be super intentional in my training so that I can actually make it. I am in no way competing in this race.  I just want to finish and I would like to run the whole race without feeling a need to walk.  We'll see.

So this last week I really pushed myself to run.  My first run of the week yielded 2.5 miles and those were for some reason the hardest miles I have just about ever ran.  I would say that most of the time when I feel like I need to stop running it's due to overall lung capacity.  I start to feel like I can't breath which just makes me overall feel tired.  This run was different though.  Somewhere around one mile my legs turned into lead.  Maybe not for real, but it was overwhelming.  It took everything in me to not stop right then.  My next run for the week was much better.  I made it to three miles and managed to run it 1 1/2 minutes faster than I had been prior to the holiday hiatus.  So the issue has been this three mile mark.  I have been really struggling to get past it.  It takes a lot of self talk to get myself to three miles because I find myself just wanting to lay down.  It's been this kind of mountain blocking my way.  Last night though, I totally did it.  I ran a total of 4 miles.  I was really determined to make it past that 3 mile mark.  My goal was to at least get to a 5k.  I mean that's barely past 3 miles.  But three miles came and I thought I can do this and I went for it.  And I totally did it.  I will admit that around 2 miles last night I wanted to stop.  I found the tired sensation and lazy feeling creeping in and I almost gave in.  But I know I have to overcome this!  And at least for last night I did.  I am paying for it a little today though.  I am getting sore as the day goes on.  That's ok though, I will take it. 

I have one hundred and something days left which is really a good chunk of time to train for this.  I still haven't settled on an actual plan for training.  My goal up to now has been to get this three mile block out of the way.  If I can consistently get past three miles, I think I will feel comfortable moving into a full blown training plan.  Ryan found one he is excited about, so we'll see.

I am by no means an expert runner.  I have to have my music blasting to try and not hear myself breath, because I know what that sounds like and it's not pleasant.  I also know that I probably look like I am about to pass out.  Nice thing about treadmills are that I can lock my door and run without the embarrassment and I can shed clothing when I get too hot.  I do realize that here soon I need to venture outside.  The biggest roadblock there is timing with work.  By the time I am off work it is dark or very much on it's way to dark. And I am not comfortable running around here in the dark.  It's not that our neighborhood is bad, it just makes me nervous to be alone running in the dark.

Anyone else running out there??  If so how is it going for you?  I found this picture once and it makes me laugh so I thought I would  share.