Supporter or Stalker?

I just can't help myself. I am so proud of my guy. Saturday morning he had a 16 mile training run scheduled. I can't even begin to fathom what it would be like to run 16 miles. The weather was perfect and the fall scenery still pretty so he decided to take advantage of the road that runs along the Mississippi. My sidekick and I went along to be his support team. We would try to meet him every few miles to give him water or fuel. This was actually his first training run in which he did mid-run fueling. He tried blocks and gels. I thought for sure he wouldn't like them because he is sensitive about texture. He hates any sort of gummy candy, but actually really like the blocks. He had an apple cinnamon gel that he said tasted just like the filling out of danish :)

We started our adventure at the lodge where we got married. There was pre-run stretching. Our little sidekick jumped right in stretched with him.

And off he goes....

There was a brutal section of hills and he had some cramping, but was able to run through it.

The final stretch back to the lodge.

We had a good time chasing him down and cheering him on. Every runner should have their own personal photographer, right?  I know I won't be able to move about as freely when he is actually running the marathon, so I loved being able to do it for a training run. Of course, the scenery made me love the photography even more :) 

If you haven't already, please check out Little More Each Day. Jessica is training for her first marathon too. She is truly inspirational :)

I promise my next post will include some actual movement of my own...I promise. 

A Prize, a Goal and a Birthday Guy

In celebration of my wonderful husband's birthday I want to share a little something that makes me a very proud wife.

Like me, after we lost significant weight two years ago, he managed to put it all back on. He was super discouraged. However, several months ago, something clicked in him again. He made a commitment and he took it off again. I think there was a little bit of The Force involved. I will let him explain.

He lost about 60 pounds to get to his Sandcrawler goal of getting under 200 pounds!!  He was crazy focused.  Since then he has lost another 15 pounds.

Seriously, I think he ran straight from the scale to the box. Out of the box comes his big prize. Bag after bag of teeny tiny LEGOs.

 I love how methodical he is. Each bag is sorted by color and shape before he begins assembling.

I believe the Sandcrawler is his new favorite LEGO set. He hasn't told me which one he has his sights on next, but no doubt there will be another....

For awhile he has been toying with the idea of running a marathon. Now that has to negotiate the maintenance side of weight loss he has made the decision to stop toying with the idea of a marathon and instead make it happen. Focusing on marathon training is giving him a new perspective on fueling his body and maintaining his weight. He looks fantastic and feels better than he has in a long time.

For several months he has run up to 5 miles a day 6 days a week. Three weeks ago he ran his first official "long run" of his marathon training. We dropped him off 10 miles down the river road and met him back near town. I was a little nervous about the fog.

By the time we got to the drop off point the sun was coming out and the fog was lifting.

Off he goes. He later admitted about 2 miles in he started to wonder what he got himself into.

The Piasa Bird is a Native American dragon depicted in one of two murals painted by Native Americans on bluffs above the Mississippi River. The original is long gone and this is a 20th century reproduction. 

I know this is a post about my husband, but I can't help but continue sharing my obsession with all things road related - man hole covers, locate markings and now drains. Have seen manhole covers from this foundry before. I love that this tells you right where the drain leads.

More quickly than I expected he comes around the bend. The blue ribbons on the pole are in honor of a local police officer killed in the line of duty. This road was part of the funeral procession a few days before this run.

As he clears the final obstacle of his 10 mile run we are there to cheer him to the finish.

Training is going well. The next Saturday he completed a 13.1 mile run - an unofficial half marathon - in just under two hours.

For my husband's birthday, we picked out some cold weather running gear. Although it has been an unseasonable warm fall, winter is coming. Wardrobe is going to be a bit tricky since he will be training in considerably colder weather. There is so much to consider in addition to just being able to run the distance.

Unfortunately, it hasn't worked out for me to go with him since the first run. I love this picture he took before his 15 mile (yes, 15 miles - I can't believe it!) run this Saturday. The happiness and pride I see on his face is priceless.

So when will this marathon take place? Ten weeks from today...January 15. He is officially signed up for the Louisiana Marathon in Baton Rouge. We booked our hotel on Priceline, so there is no turning back :)  I am super excited to just be taking a little trip with him. We have been together almost 7 years and this will be our first trip alone together. Here is to a speedy race and a speedy race recovery!! We plan to stay in the area for a couple days to sight-see, sample authentic Cajun cuisine, and visit friends. I can't wait to spend some time with a couple of my Lovely Ladies.

Happy Birthday to the Love Of My Life! I am so proud of you and can't wait to cheer you on :)

To the Seasonally Challenged

This post is a little gift to my southern friends...I am looking at you Louisiana.  I will do my best to answer your call for fall color. Truth is it has not been the most spectacular colored fall. Too warm...too dry...not sure why.  I just took a quick 15 minute walk around work and here is what I found...

Looks like someone lost their lid :)

Looks closely.  I caught a few falling leaves especially for you :)

I need to remember him for next year. Although, I am not sure I will be allowed to sacrifice an action figure.

And a little something for those of you who went straight from Halloween to Christmas :)

I hope this gave you a small measure of fall joy. I will continue to send more your way as soon as it cools off enough for me to get out for regular lunchtime walks - 80 degrees today - ugh! 

Photo Walk and Halloween Fun

A friend of mine invited me to a Photo Walk a local camera store was sponsoring. The location was about an hour and a half away. However, we managed to get lost and make it a much longer trip :)  Eventually, we arrived.

Although I was happy with some of the pictures. I was a bit disappointed in broader landscape shots. The area just seemed a bit overwhelming. There were so many things to focus on in one picture I feel like I couldn't do the scenery justice. It actually turned out we were over taking pictures before the actual photo walk group got started. I am actually glad we missed it because there were tons of people. I can't imagine trying to get any decent pics with that many people milling around and trying to navigate the narrow trails.

We left the canyon and found these adorable faces along the way home. Is there anything sweeter than cow faces?

It was fun to celebrate Halloween this year with our little sidekick. On Saturday we made sugar cookies. We used my mom's old tin cookie cutters. The same ones we used when I was her age. We even tried to make the cookies like we she did. She would but the circle out of yellow dough and then cut out a shape and inlay that same shape in a black cookie to make a silhouette against the moon. I think our versions need a little more work :)

Guess who we are??  I couldn't find the color hoodies I wanted to all match, so I bought white hoodies and attempted my first clothes dyeing. It was actually super easy - a washing machine and a bottle of Rit dye. The color was exactly what I wanted.(And I have a bright yellow hoodie for some cool weather walking!)

The feeling you get when you see your heart walking down the street.

Hope everyone had a good Halloween. So far I am doing well on not gorging myself on her candy :)

One final thought...what is the deal with this?  As I have mentioned before I am not into the pumpkin everything, but some of it makes sense. Pumpkin donut Laffy Taffy?? I don't get it.

For research sake, I swiped one from her candy stash and gave it a try. It wasn't as horrible as I imagined it would be, but it was not great either. Stick to the fruity flavors, please. The joke on the package was "What kind of car does a ghost drive? A Ockles.  I don't get it.