8 Mile

Yesterday I ran 8.03 miles with M&M. It's the farthest I've ever run by about 1.5 miles. We went up to Tramway and ran from Candelaria to Paseo del Norte and back again. By the end of the run it was very dark, we didn't leave early enough, but the dark, and the cloud cover, and the little bit of rain that we encountered during the run were much more welcome than the blaring sun that has been around during most of the day the last couple weeks.

Anyways, I learned a couple of things while (well actually after) doing that run.

1. I always swore that I hated and would always hate running, but I'm actually starting to enjoy it, thanks to Manda getting me to go run with her.
2. I have huge respect for Manda, who has run a Half Marathon. I cannot imagine running another 5 miles on top of what we did last night.
3. I did not eat anywhere near enough food yesterday.

When we got home from that run I was tired, but I was feeling ok. However, soon after getting home I started feeling nauseous and dizzy. I put the run into my phone and realized that I had burned about 200 more calories during that run than I had consumed all day. That's not a good thing. I proceeded to drink a glass of milk, accompanied by 2 Papa Murphy's chocolate chip cookies, 1 whole peach, and a slice of toast. I think this did the trick because I remember waking up with a bite of toast in my mouth, still holding the rest of the toast near my lips. It was an awkward thing to wake up to.

Anyways, I am quite happy that I completed that run yesterday, but next time I will make sure to eat a whole lot more (have more energy) in preparation for it, and I am not planning on doing anything crazy (like a Half Marathon) until January in DisneyWorld.

*On a side note, Manda is running a Half Marathon this weekend, and she's gonna rock it!  

Discipline, Comfort & Love

Last night was not a good night as far as sleep and Mallory go. She decided that she didn't want to sleep, and Manda and I decided that we were not going to give in to her screaming. It was not fun. We first tried to gently rock/sing her to sleep in her crib, but she would have none of that. She did not want to sleep in her room and let us know with loud banshee shrieks, so we told her she needed to be quite and go to sleep. When she refused, we asked if she wanted us to just leave her in her crib and us go back into our room. She said, "Yes," so we did. I don't think she really knew what she was asking because she continued screaming for about 1.5 hours after that, but eventually, finally, she laid down and went to sleep. It was not fun at all, and I am quite tired today, but it got me thinking about something.

Mallory was, obviously upset, and she was upset at us. However, the initial source of her frustration and anger last night was her failure to obey us. We had every intention and desire to have a pleasant bedtime, putting her to sleep while lovingly rocking her and singing to her. However, she chose, instead to fight and claw and scream, in order to get her way. Ironically, she got what she said she wanted, for us to leave her room. The entire time we were seconds away, watching her in the monitor, making sure she didn't hurt herself, but we allowed her to cry. Even though every fiber of us wanted to just go in, pick her up, love her, comfort her ... we let her cry. We let her cry because we love her, and in the long run it is going to be better for her. When she comes into our room she doesn't sleep well, we don't sleep well, and the next day everyone is a bit crankier, and she tends to get in more trouble. She needs to sleep in her room, and so, even though it was hard. We let her cry.

How often do we do this with God? God has a specific plan for us, and it's great. If we were to follow it and allow Him to do what He has planned we would be blown away by how great it is, but instead of peacefully drifting off to sleep in His arms, to the sound of His voice, we kick and scream and claw and demand our way. We fight tooth and nail to disobey and do what we "know" will be better. Then, when God says, "I want to rock you to sleep peacefully in my arms. Do you want this, or do you want to deny this?" we deny it. We ask/tell Him to leave, and then we are furious that we don't feel Him there. It makes no sense.

However, just like Manda and I never truly left and abandoned Mallory, God never leaves us. He will allow us to go our own way sometime and do what we want, but He is always there, watching us, and His heart is breaking to see the pain we are going through. He is standing there, knowing that if we would just allow Him to take over everything would be so much better, and yet, because He loves us, He is witholding, allowing us to make our own choices, and suffer the consequences, in order that we may learn.

So often we feel like God abandons us and leaves us alone when we are the most upset, but we do not see the big picture, and we forget that we asked Him to leave in the first place. However, even in the midst of our screaming, flailing of legs, and attempts to climb out of our crib, He is always there, loving us, caring about us, and waiting for us to choose to surrender and let Him take over so He can hold us in His arms.

"...I will never leave you nor forsake you." -- Joshua 1:5b

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -- Jeremiah 29:11

In the morning I'm making ... Waffles?

So this morning Manda and I decided to make some waffles. The only problem was that neither of us really know how to make waffles. So, what was supposed to be 6 waffles turned into this pile of stuff. :)

Big Kid

This evening I had an incredibly fun time, and it was completely unplanned. We planned to go see Mr. Popper's Penguins at 6:50 with Manda and my families at the Dollar Theater where my sister works. Well, as is normal for us, we showed up at about 6:52, only to discover that the movie was sold out. Who knew the Dollar Theater was so busy? Problem was, Manda and my parents had already bought their tickets, popcorn, and drinks. Meanwhile, M&M, Manda's sister and brother-in-law, our nieces, and I were all out of luck. Anyways, there was another showing at 9:30, so what do we do? We buy/exchange tickets for that one and sit down on the grass to eat popcorn and pass 2.5 hours...

That got boring after about 30 minutes so...we got Starbucks and went to the park. This particular park had a brand new playground. When was the last time you played on a playground? It had been quite a while for me, and I suddenly turned into a little kid, in a big body, which was a problem. There were these rope ladder/web things (picture below), and I thought it would be fun to try and crawl through one of the holes. Well, I got my head through easily, and then my arms and shoulders, with a bit of difficulty, and then I encountered a problem. Evidently, my butt and hips are larger than my shoulders, cause I was firmly stuck, and every attempt to get out only succeeded in almost pulling my pants off.

So there I am, stuck in the playground equipment, when some little girl decides she wants to climb on that rope grid... She lets me know I am in the way, which I assure her that I know. She then tells me to move, and I point out the fact that I am stuck and cannot move. She then scolds me, asks me why I got in there if I couldn't get out, and proceeds to become incredibly annoyed and yell at Manda, TJ, and I as we try, to no avail, to free me.

Finally, I am able to backtrack and corkscrew my self back out, up and over my shoulders again. I was, needless to say, a bit embarrassed, and yet it was so much fun!

The moral of the story...if you ever find yourself needing to waste a couple hours cause your movie was sold out, go play on a playground, get stuck cause you are larger than the average kid, and get scolded by kid who is much younger and smaller than you.

Go be a kid! It's fun!