School Stuff

It's been a whirl wind of school photo ops lately. First, was Spaghetti with Santa.....they have a spaghetti dinner fundraiser at school, and you can also have a private audience Santa (insert political joke here) and get your photo done. This is a snapshot of the photo. (Redneck scanner) She did her best to smile. Once again, Ms. Claus thinks this is all about her.

I guess at school, they dictated a note to Santa with something they wanted for Christmas. It was nice to see this clipped on the drying line in the school hallway for the whole world to see.

(in case you have low res, it says "I wish I had a bookshelf to put my books in it so they are not all over the floor" )
For what it's worth, these are words directly out of Bob's mouth....I guess they stuck in her head....but it was months ago that he said this, and since, her books have been neatly put in a basket (until we find a suitable bookshelf of course).

And last Friday night, she had her Christmas Program. I was VERY pleased with myself for having her bathed, fed, dressed and there on time for us to get a good seat. Major improvement over last year when we were frantic and running late. Here's what she wore:

She did very well, no stage fright, and had a great time singing the songs on stage with her classmates.

And finally, her school picture for this year:
I wasn't all that organized the week of school pictures, so it was a bit of surprise getting to school and learning it was picture day. Luckily she put together a semi-matching ensemble that morning, and I did a decent job on her hair. The teacher said the expression on her face is a perfect mirror of her personality at school. Ok, but I'm a liiiiitle worried about that smirk.

Bob-tracker

And in other news, Bob has written a program that will track him as he drives (using the GPS on his phone). That way, in the evening Parker and I can see how long we have before he gets home. We can see one of his coworkers in Austin on it too. You know it's a slow night in the Post home when we sit on the couch and watch his friend drive home from work on the laptop!

Half Mary Moms

Last weekend, my friend Holly and I ran the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon. The week prior, the weather forecast was all over the place. For most of the week we thought it was going to be warm, and were concerned about heat and dehydration. Race officials even ordered extra cups and ice. But at the last minute, the forecast changed to cold (w/ dropping temps) and rain. We put lots of energy into trying to pick out clothing that would keep us warm, but not hot, and dry. At the start of the full marathon, the temp was 47.
There were some good showers on the drive to the start that caused lots of anxiety, but we only had a few sprinkles during the actual race. We started the race wearing trashbags for warmth and dryness (lots of people do this, so we didn't look as weird as you think). After about a mile or so, we discarded them. After about a quarter of mile or so, we realized it was easier to run if you poked arm holes.
By the time we finished our half, it was 44. I read in the paper that the Kenyans (Kenyans always run/win marathons) complained about the cold. Note to Kenyans: Wear more clothes!

Because of the dreary weather, the jet flyovers at the start were grounded, but it was still exciting standing, huddled with thousands waiting the countdown to start. At one point, a blast of cold wind hit us, and the entire crowd squeeled, and then cheered, as if to say "What are we doing out here! This is crazy! Lets go!!"

During most of the race, the miles seemed to tick by. There were lots of spectators, despite the weather, and lots of interesting things to see along the way. People holding signs - "This seemed like a good idea in September" and "Toenails are for wimps". We saw a group running clothing items they had made out of Crown Royal bags. We added to the levity by wearing signs on our backs. We got lots of attention from other moms!

It was really nice this year to have a training partner and a running buddy on race day. Usually I run alone and listen to my ipod, but for many of the long training runs this year, Holly and I ran together. Chatting about new things we're cooking, how to get our children to behave and where we would live if we ran away from home made the miles go by much more quickly.

Here we are about mile 6 or so. My finish time was 2:19:35 I think, which is an improvement over last year, so that's good. I think it works out to a 10:39 pace, which is pretty good over 13 miles. I'm not really into racing and trying to go super fast, for the most part I like to just keep a steady effort and enjoy myself.
They had lots of neat tracking/results sites this year. Here are mine: http://www.runpix11.com/dwr07/21/finord.php?LastName=10060&lan=&aset=0
If that link doesn't work, you can go to Runtherock.com and put my bib # in on the results page. Bib #10060