More Race Day Photos

Here are a few more pictures from Race Day. You can also see some on Sarah's blog.


It's hard to read here, but Sarah walked in memory of her friend Sue from London, who passed away last fall. I ran in celebration of "My Sister, Sarah Glover".

This was taken after I finished the race. My official time was 35:49, which equates to less than a 12-minute mile. The last person to finish the race took over an hour, so I am very pleased with my time. Here is a link to the results page for my age group: http://www.hermescleveland.com/roadracing/results/2008/NCTriangle/AGEGROUP.HTM#21

I want to run again next year with the goal of beating this year's time by some amount yet to be determined.

Success

I did it - I finished the race and ran all the way. My friend Amanda ran with me and talked to me when we were going up the hills and I couldn't talk. Sarah was at the finish line to see me complete my first 5K. It was a thrilling and awesome and amazing experience. This video was taken by my father before Sarah and I began the 5K route again during the coed recreational walk/run. (We didn't realize he was in video mode on his camera so we were just standing there waiting for him to take our picture.) We pushed my niece E in the stroller as we walked. The temperature rose significantly and a lot of the shade disappeared in the 2 hours since my 7:00 am race - this one was hot. I appreciated my hat and sunglasses very much. It was a great day. But I had little energy left the rest of the day!

Tomorrow's the Day!

Tomorrow is racing day. Thanks be to God, I am ready. The smoke from the eastern NC wildfire was very thick yesterday, but better today. I'm praying that it will remain clear for the race tomorrow. I'm not sure I could run in the air conditions present yesterday.

It's hard to believe the time is here, and that five months ago I couldn't run a mile and in fact had never tried to run before. Many thanks to Sarah for the inspiration and to Bernadette and my family and friends for all of your encouragement. Thank you James for your support and childcare during my training. Thank you to everyone who has contributed financially. Together we have raised $1300 to date, exceeding my $1000 goal!

Let's go find that Cure!

First Day of Summer Vacation

I'd say the day is going pretty well so far. The kids have played well together and separately, and best of all, have not required very much of me! I've done 3 loads of laundry (actually the third is in progress), loaded the dishwasher, updated my Quicken accounts on the computer and checked to see how I'm doing with my monthly budget. Solomon came out from under our bed when I was folding clothes on it a little while ago. Despite the kids' current high-pitched shrieks downstairs, he has followed me to the computer and is getting some lap time right now. He has switched from being an outside cat in the day and inside at night to outside at night and inside during the day. Given our recent heat wave, that's a good idea for an 11-year old black cat. We didn't name him Solomon for nothing!

Got to go check on the kids.

Last Day of Second Grade

Now (March 2008)

Then (Sept 2001)

Today is J's last day of school. James and I went to what will likely be the first of numerous awards celebrations for him yesterday. He was recognized for his national placement on a math competition that he took part in after school in March. There were quite a few others from his school who were recognized with him, including some who performed better than him in his grade level. When he stood up he was obviously very proud of himself, as he should be, and he has never gotten upset that he did not finish the highest among his school peers. This is a mark of some maturity and a little relaxing of his perfectionism, which makes me proud. It was good to see how far he has come.

No More Chips

I just ate the bag of chips I brought home with me.

What I Did

After dropping off MC at camp, I went to the bank to deposit a check for J's savings account and to cash some checks that I had collected for a friend whose mother just died last week. She has 4 boys ages 3 to 8, so a group of us thought a babysitting fund would be helpful for her. Then I stopped by her house and delivered the cash. I was able to stay and talk with her for a few minutes and learn a little more about her mother. I enjoyed my time with her.

Then I drove to the mall, sale coupons in hand, to buy myself something. First I stopped at Panera Bread for my breakfast/lunch and took the time to sit down and eat it. Then I went to Eddie Bauer, my favorite clothing store, and looked, picked up several things for me and for Father's Day presents, then put them all back, feeling that nothing was "calling" to me, whatever that means.

So I stopped at Sharper Image, which is going out of business and where everything is on sale, but still rather pricy, where I shopped for Father's Day stuff, but left with nothing. I did run into the mother of one of J's best friends, and we talked about planning some time for the two kids to spend together this summer. I hope we don't fall through on that. I'll do my best.

Lastly I went to Belk, looking for dresses. I found lots of dresses marked 50% off, and even tried on two of them. Again, they were close, but not "calling" to me to spend the money on them. I did get a cell phone call from a friend while I was shopping, which was good. It's always good to talk with her. So I left the mall empty-handed, but my purse still contains the unopened bag of chips that came with my sandwich. Yes, I said unopened!

So I picked up MC from camp, which she said she "hated" and I remarked that that was a strong word for such a little person. This remark didn't phase her. She's ready for our beach trip, which won't be until mid-July.

And now I'm here writing this down on my blog.

I think I enjoyed most of my morning. I certainly enjoyed the air conditioning at the mall in this 99-degree humid heat! And I enjoyed moving at my own pace and connecting with some nice people at various points in my morning. And my sandwich was very good too.

What to do?

Now here is a very unusual predicament for me: I don't know what I'm going to do with my free time today! Today is MC's last day (morning) of camp and J is still in school. I had plans to meet a friend for bagels but she just called to reschedule, so my morning is now freed up.

I hear my perfectionism calling - this has to be the perfect day!! I must make the most of it. Maybe I can keep that "p" word from rearing its ugly head any more than it already has. I think the main thing is that I should enjoy whatever I do. So I will now get dressed to take MC to camp and see where that leads me.

I'll keep you posted, because I know you are anxiously waiting to find out what I will do today (thanks for being interested).

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Marie. To learn more about Marie, go to Sarah's blog where she has a link to Marie's blog. I read what Sarah wrote after Marie tagged her, and I like the concept. My only problem is I only know Sarah and Marie who blog and they have already been tagged. So I guess I won't be able to tag anyone else at this time, but I'll play along by following the first of three blog-tag rules. The rules are: 1) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. 2) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. 3) Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 Weird/Random Facts about Helen:

1. I am a speech pathologist with a word-finding problem, yet rarely at a loss for words.

2. I have, according to my sister who read a book on palm-reading, a "murderer's thumb" on my left hand.

3. I am left-handed for detailed work and right-handed for power work (having a murderer's thumb really helps with those details!).

4. I finally made the middle school cheerleading squad after trying out three times, and even then I got on as a substitute, or back-up cheerleader (I think there is a better-sounding label for what I was, but as I mentioned I have this word-finding, oh yes: alternate.)

5. I like cucumbers but really dislike pickles.

6. I have trouble understanding the lyrics of songs on the radio. (I thought the words "...the heat of the moment" in a song I heard in elementary school were actually "Lead on the Mormons" - really, ask Sarah.)

7. People tell me I'm funny and it always surprises me (I think most of my sense of humor lies between parentheses marks, actually).

8. A bonus fact: I love doing this sort of thing (basically I like to talk about myself, or anything I can get anyone to listen to - I love an audience :)