1:21 am thoughts.

I think I write best at night.  I am usually too lazy to get out of my bed to sit down and type away at my computer.  I day dream about sitting in front of a beautiful window with trees, sipping tea and writing.  Writing wherever my pen takes me.  But this is a dream that is far away from reality.  First, yes we have a desk, but it's piled high with textbook after textbook and too many papers to count.  Second, I have lost the art of pen and paper.  Every once in a while I sit down with my journal and take time, much needed time, to leave a note of remembrance for my future.

Back to writing at night.  I should be asleep.  I know that morning is going to come and I am going to regret my decision to write down some of the thoughts that are swimming around in my head like movements from a dance I am trying to choreograph.

It's late.  I have a final to turn into tomorrow and I have been writing all day long, in fact all week long.  My classes this semester haven't required any sort of tests, just writing.  Writing all the time.  I am trying to find the fine line of creative writing with facts.  I want my readers to have interest, but it all must be supported by fact.  I think it's in my nature to write for likelihood.  (Probably why I am drawn to fiction over non-fiction almost 99% of the time).

So, here I am at 1:21 am, thinking that I should just probably go back to my paper, but I think I might scream if I have to look at one more APA detail.  So instead, I am listening to a new song I downloaded by Bon Iver, thank you to the recommendation of a friend and I am trying to put my thought into words.  Words that make sense.

Tonight I was thinking about the last time I cooked.  I honestly can't remember.  I am blessed with a husband who cooks for me.  There is nothing better than coming home to a nice green chicken enchilada. So incredibly delicious.  Also, I didn't clean my kitchen this week.  This never happens.  Cleaning soothes me.  I love to have things in some sort of order and I love routines.  I love my early morning Saturday runs.  I love to teach dance every Wednesday.  And I love a Diet Coke every day right around 1:45 pm.  I am a total creature of habit.  I love plans and being on time, and keeping to schedules.  This week I failed.  I literally couldn't find the time to clean my kitchen, I guess in all reality I could go and do it right now.  There is almost no way.  My eyes are closing as I type.

Second, there are pieces of furniture and bikes scattered all over our not-so-large living room.  We inherited a piece of furniture that I imagine being fabulous for a basement.  But now that I am looking at this piece of furniture, I am trying to think of when we will actually have a basement.  It's probably much further away than I even want to image.

Goodnight.

Amish Country

Bree, Anna and Me. So happy they came along.

I ran a half marathon in Adamstown, Pennsylvania on Saturday, Amish country. It might have been my best one yet. Mitch had a golf tournament, so I took Anna and Bree along with me. We journeyed up to Amish country and enjoyed ourselves.

Running is very therapeutic for me. I usually shy away from wearing a watch when running. I have learned to really listen to my body and how I am feeling. It takes my body about 25 minutes to get completely warm. The first 25 minutes are always the hardest part of the race for me. There are many days when I have no idea how long I am actually going to run. Sometimes I go out and come back 30 minutes later or two hours. It all just depends on how I am feeling.

Saturday was just a good running day. It was one of those days when everything just all came together. I felt great when I woke up, I had no stomach pains, and the weather was perfect. The race was much harder than I had imagined. I don't why I thought it was just going to be flat. I felt like I was climbing mountain after mountain.

At mile six I looked up to the sky and saw a sky full of clouds, but no rain. I looked over to my left and saw an Amish man on his horse plowing his field. There were no crowds to cheer me on, just Amish people riding their bikes. I felt so much joy. There was almost tears. So much happiness, peace, and joy all found in running. Stride after stride, step after step, I was so comfortable.

I decided to wear a watch for the race. I thought, why not? I was running a very small race and wasn't exactly sure of the mile markers. At mile 1, I ran 7:30. Which is faster than my normal pace. I try to keep about an 8-9 minute mile. Miles 3-8 I battled with this older man to keep my pace with his. He finally went ahead of me until mile 12. The watch kept me going strong and hard. I kept 8 minutes miles, mile after mile (except mile 9).

Running is all mental for me. I have to think about a race in stages. The first three are the hardest, but once I get done with them I only have 10 left. And once I get half way done, I think to myself, "it's only 6.5. You do that all the time. To the the Lincoln memorial and back." Once I started keeping 8 minutes miles, I know it's not fast, but I just wanted to finish strong. As I got nearer to the finish line, people kept on telling me what place I was in compared to other woman. So, of course my ego got the best of me and I wanted to finish strong. My upper thighs were on fire. I am a lazy runner, probably why I enjoy it so much. My upper thighs usually don't get that tired, again I am a lazy runner.

All in all I finished 6th overall for women, again it was a small race. But it was really exciting. This woman who had been tailing me for five miles finished literally 2 seconds before me.

First race of the season was amazing. I write this to remember. I can't wait for Brooklyn next month, especially since I get to run with Abby following Jason's trail (he's so fast).

Happy running.

Amish Country.

Kites and Abby.

Abby came this weekend. We always love to have her. Our weekend was fabulous. We went running around the mall, chit-chatted like old friends, ordered Chinese food (for some strange reason, I always want to order Chinese food), went to the Kite Festival on the mall, tried a new restaurant called ShopHouse in Dupont, Mitch and I went to prom with his school, got Mon-u-Mint concrete at Shake Shack (I am a little obsessed), watched conference, and ended the weekend with a delicious Sunday dinner with friends.

Happy Sunday.

Claire at the Kite Festival. She is so cute. Can you see all the kites? There were loads of them.

Miss Mary Kate. Yes, I am so obsessed with her. Hence the reason for all the photos.

Don't you just love her so much...

Mitch and the kite. He's kind of turned into a runner these days. Awesome, right?

Abby and Mary Kate. We are all a little obsessed with her.

She has been the only baby in the family for a long time.

Pratt (Henriod) Family. We love them.

Late Pictures....

Here are a few pictures from New York back in February.

The High Line, it's so beautiful.

Sara, Abby, Me and Shelley

Here we all are at the 9/11 Memorial. It was done so well.

Spencer, Sara, Jason, Abby, Shelley, Paul, Mitch and Me