A runner is born.

Two marathons
Two relay Races
One Half Marathon
Three years of pacing a running group

And....

I AM A RUNNER!!

Running has always been tough for me. I get bored, I don't like it, I would rather do something else. I have a lot of excuses, but I keep at it. It is the easiest form of exercise to do. You just have to have shoes. And you can do it anywhere in any weather.

But it has been so hard for me. Running long distances hasn't ever agreed with me. My knee hurts, my legs go dead, I had some ligament problem in my foot for months. Plus my lungs feel like they are going to generally explode after about a mile. In elementary school I would always be slow in the mile run.

Somehow though, on my ten mile training run for an upcoming half-marathon, I broke through. I felt real good. At mile 5 about the time I was staring at this:

I wanted to keep going. This is rare. Normally at mile 5 I would want to catch a cab. But I plugged along and felt good. I am getting excited for our Half-marathon in two weeks. Our office is doing it together (all three of us) and it should be a blast. I am still slow, but slow and steady crosses the finish line, right?

This winter I seemed to watch a lot of movies. It was cold and dreary and I had no desire to go outside. There are a few movies I adored. Here they are:

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Garrett, Bryson and I watched this while G was visiting us. All three of us loved it. I think this is a diverse enough sample group that it will entertain everyone. This documentary tells of Steve Wiebe trying to break the Donkey Kong world record which was held by Billy Mitchell. I got so into the movie I yelled at the TV and almost cried. Hollywood could not have created better characters, and these are real people. Totally family friendly.

Lars and the Real Girl

I think I have cried in three movies in my life. This is one of them. The description of the movie sounds like it could be scandalous. It isn't. Lars brings home the girl of his dreams- the problem is she is a doll. The storyline is hilarious and moving and the acting is great.