Confused Cactus - Thursday - February 24, 2011

Back in November,

 I shared a photo of my "Christmas" Cactus

 blooming at Thanksgiving??? 

Well, I was informed that there is a variety of Cactus

called Thanksgiving Cactus.

I assumed I had a Thanksgiving Cactus

and not

a Christmas Cactus. 

Well, now what...

it is February and the Cactus is blooming AGAIN!!

Oh well, it made me smile and reminded me to

"ENJOY THE JOURNEY!!"

The 5K – We Did It! - Friday - February, 18, 2011

Nancy and I signed up several months ago to compete/complete in a 5k race during the Myrtle Beach Marathon weekend. Every year the city of Myrtle Beach hosts a marathon weekend. Included in the events are a one mile family fun run, a 5k race, a half marathon, a full marathon and three different bike rides (15, 33 & 63 miles respectively).

In the past couple of years I’ve done the 5k and the 33 mile bike ride. Nancy trained to do the marathon (26.2 miles) last year. However, the marathon was cancelled due to a freak snow storm. I felt bad that Nancy wasn’t able to do the marathon. She took the disappointment in stride.

This year we had decided to powerwalk the 5k together. Nancy had made us each a fantastic gospel playlist for our Ipods for training and the race. As luck would have it, our training got side-tracked because of work, really crappy weather and Nancy’s Mom’s illness. We decided to do the race anyway and give it our best try.

The race is run at 7:00 pm and Nancy was scheduled to work early in the day.  That gave me a chance to do my pre-race workout and prep.

Stretching and Resting

Dressed and Ready

The weather was perfect – the stars were out, a full moon, no wind, and temperatures in the mid 60’s.

No Bill, that is NOT the starting line!!

We walked stride for stride, side by side at a brisk walking pace of less than 14 ½ minutes a mile. Our goal was to finish in less than 45 minutes for the 3.1 miles. That’s not a fast time if you are running, but, it’s a very respectable time if you are walking.

We did it!

We finished hand in hand with a time of 44 minutes 24 seconds. That is about a 4.2mph pace...we were happy with that!! When the unofficial results were printed out, Nancy’s time was a couple of seconds faster than mine.

She now has bragging rights – at least until the next one!

This morning Nancy had to go to work. Normally, we get up early and go watch the half marathon and marathon. The races start promptly at 6:30 AM. Today I went solo and as always experienced the real “high” from being in such a positive environment with all the competitors. It’s really a great feeling.

Now, we’re both a little tired.

Are we glad we did it? You betcha!

As I said to Nancy “You go girl!” 

There's always NEXT year ;o)

Dancing with the Princesses - Monday - February 14, 2011

It’s been a couple of weeks or more since we’ve done a blog. Nancy and I have been busy doing some “not so neat” things the last two weeks. Nancy’s Mom was hospitalized for a number of things and so Nancy has been spending a lot of time running back and forth between the hospital and her Mom’s apartment to take care of her Mom’s cat. I basically have been in the background handling the financial stuff for her Mom as well as keeping our house spotless and in “show” condition for prospective buyers. Yesterday, her mother's condition improved enough to allow her to go home.  Hooray!!

On Friday, I drove up to our daughter’s house in Raleigh for the weekend. I built a few shelves for them in a room they are using for an office. With four young children to raise including home schooling, it leaves very little time to get projects like this done. That’s where Grandmom and Grandpop come into play. This time, however, Grandmom was busy tending to Great-Grandmom.

Friday night was an exciting night for for our grand daughters, Emily and Samantha. Their church was having a Father-Daughter Dance to celebrate Valentine's Day. Steve asked me to accompany him with the girls. I was thrilled to be asked and of course, I accepted.  The little ones were so pumped up about the dance. They wore their princess dresses complete with wrist corsages.  Unfortunately, the 'official photographer' Grandmom was not there and something went wrong with the camera.  We only have these 3 photos.

Emily

Samantha

Grandpop and the Princesses!

Talk about a good time – we danced, ate cookies, danced and danced. I don’t know who was more tired – them or me, but, none of us needed a rocking to get some sleep when we got home.

Emily and Samantha spent most of Saturday telling their big brothers, Andrew and Daniel, and their Mom how much they danced. It’s one of those times for me that is difficult to describe. Dancing with the Princesses is the best description I can come up with. Steve (Julie’s husband) said to me that the girls would remember this forever. I’m not sure if they will, but, I will cherish the love and fun I shared with them for a long time.

I got back to Murrells Inlet about lunch time on Sunday. I had time to do a couple of loads of wash while Nancy was tending to her Mother. I know Nancy will need some much needed rest after this past week. We are both going to need it as this coming Friday we’re doing a 5k as part of the Myrtle Beach Marathon Weekend. We have both trained to do a power walk.

Stay tuned to find out if we finish. But, for now, I still have a big smile on my face. Not too many things can top the “Dancing with the Princesses.”

Happy Valentine’s Day!