10

I ran 10 miles this morning. And it was a PAIN. Seriously, every bone in my body ached. But, I was so proud of myself (and my awesome running partner) when it was finished. For those of you who know Memphis and where I currently live, we ran down N. Parkway to the Pyramid (which is basically the Mississippi River a.k.a. the end of Tennessee) then over to Poplar where we ran all the way back. Geez, it hurts even to relive it in writing. Too bad I have to run 11 next weekend.

Anyways, I thought I'd do a top ten since I ran ten miles and I am way behind in blogging:

1. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! I have had two huge prayers answered the past couple of weeks, the first being that my Pa is now recovering after having some very scary days in the hospital. He is in rehab to get his strength back but they think he will go home this week, which is incredible!

(Here he is behind my mom...he is about to turn 84 years old, or 85? I don't remember)
2. Jacob Daniel Hartman was born on Monday of last week, and mom and baby are healthy and great! Isn't he precious? I haven't gotten to see him in person yet, but can't wait until we can. He is a pretty special kid to have Dan, Jenna, and Luke as family. We can't wait to love on our little nephew. As Mamaw says, the Hartmans are now past having enough to form a basketball team, so she is now hoping for a Hartman football team!
3. We did 3 things over Spring Break that I am proud of....we completely redid the landscaping in our front yard; super organized and condensed our closet; and painted a credenza I had bought off of Craigslist for our dining room.

4. WE HAVE GRASS! Who would have thought it would be such a happy thing to say you have grass in your yard? Well, for those of us who live in dirt/mud, it is about the happiest thing to happen to your lawn (especially if you have a dog).

5. Henry is officially the slowest dog in the neighborhood, I don't even know why I try anymore. note: Randy would like for me to mention that his dog is "slow" in the context of running, not his mental capabilities.

6. Giving up sweets has been really, really hard. Especially those days when it was so warm and everyone wanted to go get ice cream. It has been a very good reminder of what this time of the year is for in getting our hearts and minds ready to celebrate Easter Sunday.

7. The refugee girls from Girl's Club planned the sweetest going away party ever for two girls in the neighborhood who are leaving soon to preach the gospel in Afghanistan. What a special night! I am so thankful for the work that will be done in God's name thanks to these two disciples.

8. We are anxiously awaiting and praying for our nephew (yes, another boy) who wants to come way too early. Hang in there, Reed (and Jen)...we cannot wait to meet you! One more boy to join the Hartman football team. Gosh I hope I don't disappoint the family one day!?!

Another baby I cannot wait to meet? Audrey Belle, who should be born this week! :)

9. I booked a flight to visit my bestie in SAN DIEGO! I cannot wait. T minus 4 months Kelsa!

10. For the first time in my teaching career, I am excited about teaching next year. At this time of year I am usually nervous and scared about the upcoming year, but this time I cannot wait to have another year of teaching the little kiddos at my school. Looks like Elementary School is where I need to be!

Why?

This is the question I have asked myself numerous times over the past several weeks...WHY? But despite my doubts, I "drank the koolaid" and decided to register to run the Country Music Half Marathon on April 30th. You see, it has always been a dream of mine, a "bucket list" if you will, and so many people in my neighborhood are doing it that I jumped on the band wagon. Now, for those of you that think I literally just signed up and that's it, you will be happy to know that I have been training. I have been running about 5-6 days a week and have gotten up to a SIX mile run. That's more than I ever did when running Cross Country (contrary to what my coaches probably hoped I did). So here I am getting up at 5:20 am to run with a 100 lb dog who is as slow as they come. Luckily, when I run in the afternoons I go with my friend Sarah and her dog who keeps Henry running like a champ. The long runs I have done on Saturdays, and I have yet to do any other exercising like crunches, push-ups, etc....I guess I should be starting that soon.

Anyways, another WHY question is WHY do I always choose desserts to give up on Lent? The answer is simple: because it is the hardest. Harder than coffee, harder than Facebook, texting, etc. Just plain hard. But I do it because it helps me remember that I am not the one in control, it is God, and he is really the only thing I need. I can do without desserts for forty days and it WILL NOT KILL ME! After all, we rely way too much on getting our comfort and satisfaction from food therapy, retail therapy, massage therapy, you name it, while we should be relying on God to be the source of fulfillment. So goodbye, sweets. But you better believe that tomorrow, Fat Tuesday to those celebrating, I will be living it up with the sweets!

On the agenda? El Toro Loco for some Mexican (Randy is giving up cokes so he will throw several back with his mexican food) and then YoLo for ice cream! Good thing I'm training for a marathon, right?!

a LOST weekend

This past weekend I met some of my best friends in Eva (Tennessee River/Kentucky Lake area) to hang out at Jessi's cabin for the weekend. Anna Grace is due towards the end of March, and we wanted to have one last hoorah before babies enter our world...because we all know "a baby changes everything" (that's for you Jessi, Julianna, Allie, AG, if your reading).

Anyways, we got there late Friday night and stayed up waaay late (for me at least) talking and eating...literally, that's all we did. It's kinda funny how when you finally see friends you never get to see all you want to do is sit and talk.

Well, saturday morning I wanted to go for a run (I'll have a post about my new running lifestyle later) and set out by myself. No phone, but it was dead so it wouldn't have been much help anyways. I told Anna Grace that if I wasn't back in an hour and a half to come looking for me. The run was great...super hilly but beautiful...deer everywhere, water to my right, no cars in sight, just beautiful. UNTIL I looked at my watch and realized I had been running for one hour and probably missed my turn. Instead of turning around right then, I just keep going to find out if the road is just a little bit up ahead. Soon I realize I have no idea where I am. Then I think, "I'm out in the country on a saturday morning, surely people will be out working"....nope. I try to flag down not one but two cars....nope. Finally, I hear some men in a garage welding or something, I run back there (it was way behind their house) and ask where I am...they proceed to tell me I am about 3 miles away from where I should be. At this point I can no longer run and am walking, but feel like I should be running so kinda do an in-between. I finally see my big turn, but then I am on all the back roads next to Jessi's cabin and lost again. I look at the watch...it's been 2 hours and counting since I left. Just as I topped a wrong hill and thought I literally couldn't move another inch, Jessi and Anna Grace come driving up saying my name...THEY CAME TO FIND ME!!

The rest of the day I stayed very close to the cabin :)

Funny side note: I found out later that Kelsa was lost around the same time in San Diego by HERself...coincidence? I think not!

Our humble abode for the weekend...so cute.

Ahhhh....the water.

You gotta love a retro kitchen.

And big vines wrapping around giant trees.

The gang enjoying the view.

I would have biked had I not spent over two hours on foot!

Last photo before baby Audrey?!??

After this crazy/fun/much-needed trip, I headed to Nashville. I really lucked out by getting to see so many family and friends in such a short amount of time! My sister and brother-in-law happened to be in Nashville from Ohio so I got to see them Saturday and Sunday. I also squeezed in some time with my the bride-to-be, Michelle, to talk weddings and Jen, my sister-in-law, who is on bed rest for a month :(. Basically, I got to do all the things Randy doesn't like to do...talk, talk, and talk some more...oh, and I got to see Audrey Belle's nursery and my parent's new sofa (Randy wouldn't much care for that either). Somehow I forgot to mention that I got some really good food along the way. Although getting lost wasn't fun, the rest of my weekend sure was!