10 things and more

I didn't post on July 4 after I ran. But I had everything written out in my head. Here's my top ten list of Things a New Runner Notices, That Didn't Matter Before:

10: Running 2.5 miles after playing almost an hour of tennis is tough but makes you feel great!
9: People shouldn't put their trash and cut limbs on their sidewalk 3 days before trash pick up. It stinks and you have to run around the piles.
8: Not enough people water their yard, there were ZERO water sprinklers to run thru and I looked hard for one.
7: Some neighborhoods are scary to run thru alone.
6: People shouldn't grill outside in their front yard while people are running. That's just wrong! Even if it IS July 4. The smell is SO good.
5: To pass the time you can invent games. My new game was "One foot in each square on the sidewalk, no more." Until I got to the bigger squares in the sidewalk, then it was 2 steps in.
4: Obviously there are no new running games, Edwin said he already knew that one.
3: Never go outside without OFF, the mosquitos are fierce and like sweat obviously.
2: It's rather disappointing when your husband forgets to meet you outside with a waterhose and bottle of water.
and
1: The best part of a run is jumping in a COLD shower immediately afterwards. Ahhhhh :)

I cut 27 seconds off my previous goal. I wanted to run 30 minutes, 2.5 miles. I finished the 2.5 in 29:42! Woo Hoo! I was so excited I stopped running (I was in front of my house at the 2.5 mile mark) so I stopped the watch and ran to show Edwin. Kinda makes me sad that he's there to cheer me on and encourage me and the past few years I haven't taken an interest in his running achievements.

A word of advice - if you really love someone, be active in their interests, get to know their friends, whether you understand or not. Now go tell someone you love them, and you're sorry that you have not been supportive or understanding of their needs :)

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On a different note, I just got back from visiting my mother in law. It was good to see her. She's very frail, but sharp and pleasant. She's doing much better with all this than I am. And my father in law. He's so sad, it breaks my heart to watch when he just watches her, or brushes her hair aside. He's hurting and he's trying not to show it in front of her.

It was nice to be there to fix them lunch and just take care of them a bit. Visit and talk. I had to help pick out her burial clothes and that was very tough, but she wanted me and my sister in law to decide which of two choices would be best. And now we know then the time comes what she wants. So strange . . . .

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I took my kids to the Aly & AJ concert tonight. I guess they are still too young. Though they love to watch them on Disney channel, after one hour of concert they said "OK we can go home now." I said are you sure? Ashton, the oldest, said "Yes they sang my favorite song and it's too loud. We can go now."

So we did. It was beautiful walking thru downtown at night, though the fountain across from Verizon Theater was roped off with police tape.

But they liked it. So that's all that matters.