Curiousity--A Wonderful, Yet Dangerous Thing

The Marathon- The Witch's Perspective

Marathon day, for me, started at 1 AM. We got a weird phone call. The Warlock sat straight up in bed, "Who's calling us at this hour? It must be an emergency." So I leaped from bed (because I'm not the one who's going to run a marathon the next morning), worried about my pregnant friends, and my parents, and anyone who could possibly need me in the middle of the night, and run for the phone only to discover that the caller hung up. The Warlock, totally excited, couldn't go back to sleep, so he put on a movie, waiting for the moment every alarm clock in the house was set to ring.

Early in the morning our friend, Amy, who trained for the half-marathon met the Warlock so they could drive downtown together.

I got the kids ready as quickly as I could but missed watching the Warlock run at mile 11, as I'd planned. So the kids and I waited for him at mile eighteen.

Pippi was cold.
Bardo was not.
Noel was happy until the snacks disappeared.
I spent time practicing taking pictures of other runners so that when the Warlock arrived I could get some stunning pictures of him. I also saw a woman running and pushing a jogging wheelchair, a marathoner practically ran over her Dad. He would have missed her if she hadn't come right up and placed her headband on his head. I saw groups of runners who looked like they were having a great time. By the time the Warlock came around Noel needed to be held, so I had to take pictures one-handed. I think the Warlock looks too good in this picture to have run 18 miles, don't you?
As soon as we were done doing our ten-second cheer and photo shoot for the Warlock we maneuvered our way through the marathon route to mile 24. We found a sunny patch right outside the Warlock's office building and waited...... and waited ...
and waited. Just when I was sure that Warlock would be coming down the road, guess who had to go potty...After the little break, we did see the Warlcok and cheered.

45 minutes or so later we found the Warlock on the cement in a heap at our meeting place. Noel was especially happy to see that he hadn't eaten all of his banana.
The Warlock was so tired he couldn't even smile. Who knew you exercised your face muscles when running? If you can take your eyes off of his baby blues, you can see salt on his face. Amazing.
Pippi enjoyed supporting him on the walk to his parking garage.
Good times.

And here are more pictures, expensive professional pictures. We were really impressed with the Houston Marathon and their organization, and I think it's pretty special that they were able to take so many pictures of the Warlock living his dream. There are more than this, if you really want to see them you can go to the Houston Marathon website and look them up by his bib number. Or you can email me and I can forward you the email of ALL the pictures.

Pain is good. Very good.

I could write for pages on end about the marathon this last Sunday - about the great crowds, the wonderful organization, the perfect weather, etc. - but that's not the important part to me.

The important part is how fitting a capstone it is for the last 12 months.

It was harder than I had anticipated, mostly because my knee went bonkers at mile 4 (IT band, for those who know) and it took a lot of willpower to finish. It hurt. I didn't quite reach my time goal. And all of those things made it an even better representation of my life change in 2009.

The Witch will have some pictures later, I'm sure, and her own perspective. It was absolutely wonderful to see her hanging out at mile 18 (and later at mile 25), just when I needed a good pick-me-up.

I could barely move right after the race. I couldn't walk yesterday. Today I can do stairs without holding the handrail, but if I concentrate.

So how does one celebrate that much soreness? By signing up to do it again next year.

As if his ego wasn't already out of control...

Just kidding. I'm even more smitten with the Warlock than the lady who wrote this article.

My Favorite Question

Me: What are you doing?
Bardo: I'm playing with brains.

Now I have "brains" all over the house. No wonder I have problems!

The Birthday Dress

Noel doesn't love photo sessions...especially after church. She started to cry when I was trying to get the perfect shot.



And then Bardo dumped cereal all over the floor...

Helping Hands

The girl is already an amazing help, and I have the highest of hopes for the boy.

Daddy got a sunburn.

Well, that was Pippi's initial response when I showed this to her.

Focus, Silly Witch, Focus

This is the year my life is going to change. I mean it this time. And I'm going to change my life with one simple New Year's Resolution. This year (drum roll please)--I am determined to form new habits by setting realistic goals and focusing on one thing at a time. Got it?

My first new habit is to be in bed, asleep by 10:00 pm every night. I'll give you an update in thirty days. This new goal is going to change my life. Watch.

The Birthday Girl

So we couldn't do it. We could not have a birthday party on the same day as Christmas. Noel was NOT in the mood to open more presents. We could not bring ourselves to eat cake. But we did party--2 days after her birthday.



Good times. (Oh yeah, and she walks. Everywhere.)