Happy Easter!

To my friends whose religious traditions celebrate Easter, Happy Easter! He is risen!! Hallelujah!

The boys were both home today and I so enjoyed having them here. I love them to pieces. My brother and his family were here too. My niece and nephew are the most adorable, well-mannered kids. Love them too!

At home, talking about their day : )

I decided to eschew the traditional Easter meal of ham, scalloped potatoes, etc. and make what are the boys' favorites. And everyone seemed very pleased with that decision. So we ate ... breaded, baked chicken, penne pasta with a Provolone cheese sauce, shallots and roasted butternut squash, green beans, bread, orange "fluff" for the kids, and cherry pie. Delish. That was my only meal today (just after noon) and I'm still not hungry and it's nearly 7:00.

Workouts ... Wednesday was 10.15 miles, including 12 x 1/4 mile. Thursday easy 10.15 miles. Friday, my legs felt like they needed a break. My last "legless" workout was March 3, the day before the Napa Valley marathon. I almost took the day off entirely but decided to swim 2500 meters and lift. Saturday's route from the RAC was about 19.5 miles and I figured I'd do what I felt like. Maybe a 20-miler, maybe I'd cut it short. I'd just see how I felt. I've run 20+ the last 3 weeks. So I took off, leaving my dead Garmin in the car. I feel SO lost without that thing. But I'd just have to run how I felt and get the the time and mileage from someone else. Well, it didn't make sense, but I felt great. Dinner on Friday was Brussels sprouts and 2 slices of a frozen Cosetta pizza. Not the greatest of fuels. I brought 2 GUs for the run, but didn't use either of them. Drank 2-3 small cups of Gatorade at each of the 4 water stops, and ate 6 or 7 jelly beans (Jeff and Carter win the Best Stocked Water Stop award this week!) and maybe 6-8 slices of banana. Got back to the RAC and Dawn said the mileage was 19.46 about 20 yards from the driveway. So by the time I walked to my car, and got a bottle of water from the back seat, and half a cookie from the trunk I figured it was at least 19.5. Then I ran back .4 miles to meet the crew (clocked that in my car, starting from the driveway to where I turned) so that was another .8. When we got back I ran out a mile with Marv and turned around. 22.3, is approximately what I cobbled together for mileage. Marv had 3:05 for running time. I figured it took at least 3 minutes to walk from 19th St to my car in the 3rd row, get the water, get the cookie and get going again. So I'm calling it 3:02, and that includes chatting with the super cool water stop volunteers!! Thank you Andy, Trevor, Jeff and Carter!! I was soooo happy with that run. I just felt great. I cramped some in the stretch from Silver Lake up to 19th and back to the RAC, but I pressed through it. I really needed a confidence boosting run after a tough year and a half.

Today, this evening actually, after the boys left, a 6 mile jog. No Garmin, no watch. But I know exactly where to turn around for EXACTLY 6 miles. : ) And my iPod that's not functioned for the last 2+ years decided to cooperate. I could finally use the wheel to get to a playlist. I rarely run with tunes, but particularly enjoyed having them for this run.

I've posted these lyrics from time to time previously, but the sone just played on my iPod and I feel like posting them again. From Never Alone ...

May the angels protect you, trouble neglect you
And heaven accept you when it's time to go home
May you always have plenty, the glass never empty
And know in your belly, you're never alone

May your tears come from laughing, you find friends worth having
As every year passes, they mean more than gold
May you win and stay humble, smile more than grumble
And know when you stumble, you're never alone

Happy Easter.