New Member of the (Extended) Family

On Sunday we packed up the kids (an hour process) and drove to Detroit Lakes to meet Janelle's brother Rob and his newest family member, Penny. We met at a nice grassy area and let the kids run and play with Penny. She enjoyed all the attention and loved to chase the kids, especially Jordan because she could catch him and pull him down. We then went to a park and let the kids play on the playground equipment before we headed out for pizza. It was a nice day and it was fun to see Rob and Penny.

Cheesy

Jadenism:

Janelle made Macaroni and Cheese (the kind out of the box) for the kids for lunch and after Jaden took his first bite he looked and Janelle and said, "Not bad Mom, a little on the cheesy side, but not bad."

Suction Cup Warning

Jadenism:

As we were sitting in a drive thru waiting our turn to order Jaden was looking out the window at a large puddle of water in the gravel parking lot adjacent to us. As he stared out at the water he inquired "wonder if there are any suction cups in there?" I looked back at him puzzled "Suction cups?" He replied, "Ya, suction cups, you know, like at the lake." I thought a moment then it dawned on me, "You mean leeches."

TV Star? (only in the eyes of my children)

During the marathon a Fox TV reporter interviewed me at mile two and then again at the end of the race. We had taped the interview when it played later that evening and watched it a few times. After watching it and seeing her father on TV, Megan looked at me and asked, "Daddy, are we going to be rich now?"

Marathon z-man

I did it! 26.2 miles of pure enjoyment. 4 hours and 23 minutes of running bliss. O.K maybe not quite like that but it was a very successful run. I certainly did not break any speed records but I accomplished my goal of finishing a marathon at 40. It actually went very well, but the last two miles were tough. My sister Tammy and her husband Curt and a niece Mandy helped me get past those final two miles. The key to the whole run was the hat. You have to have a good hat if you are going to run a marathon. Why? Because everyone cheers you on if you have a good hat. My beanie with a propeller worked great. I received tons of cheers from spectators because of the hat. So my advise to anyone who is thinking of running a marathon; train hard, get a good hat, and enjoy it.

Something I've Never Done Before

It has been a week of firsts!!! Last weekend I accomplished two task I have never done and never thought I would ever do.

The first is this blog. You see I am a math guy so I am very uneasy writing for others to see. English was never my strong point. You will see grammatical errors and misspellings (thank God for spell check). I thought with a house full of four small children it would be nice to keep friends and relatives updated on our lives.

The second was accomplished last Sunday. I ran for 20.5 miles!! After three hours and thirty five minutes I arrived back at home completing the longest run I had ever done. Why you ask??? Three years ago I told myself that I would run a marathon when I was forty. Well that magic birthday came less than a month ago. I have always been a runner, but a sprinter not a distance runner. Three years ago I decided to start running in races, not so much to compete with others but to try to continue to improve. I trained heavily last Fall but decided to wait until that 40th year of my existence to run a marathon. Things went well until ....well... our fourth child was born in February. Training has been replaced with sleep, whenever and wherever I can. I few weeks ago (about the same time the baby started to sleep though the night) I decided to go ahead with my dream and give it all I had. The race I had picked was the Fargo Marathon because it was close, flat, and friendly. I have used an accelerated training schedule and went to work. Sundays run will be the longest that I complete until the actual marathon on May 19th. Now I feel I can finish the 26.2 miles.