"Keep Portland Weird!"

That was a line I heard yesterday as I ran my FIRST 5k race EVER in the Portland’s Starlight Run.  And I think we kept Portland weird.  There were tons of people in costumes including eyeball man and the muppets “Animal”, along with the runaway brides and the chasing grooms.  

But during the race, I didn’t have time to truly enjoy all the scenery because I really was kicking my tushie!  I felt like slowing to a walk before I was even half way through.  There was a good upward slant the last half of the race, and being kind of warm and at night made it a different running scenario.  It was playing on my mind games just a tad as I was anticipating it to be “easier”...  ummm... No.

BUT... I RAN the WHOLE 5K!  

Woo Hoo!  Did it in about 42 minutes.  

Felt AWESOME!

Another super cool thing was my family being there, especially my man, Brent.  All wearing our “Believing it’s possible is half the battle” T-shirts.  I love that pic above left of Brent and my daughter waiting to see me come running!  And on the right you can see me in the cap, my son and my friend waving during the run.

And my friends who came to run it with me - Including JOY!  Could it get any better than that?  Even my son, who had just gradated high school a few hours earlier decided last minute to run with me too.  And he stayed right with me too, what a guy!  Here is a pic of our group on the left and Joy and I on the right.

It’s been an amazing weekend!  Brent came home - literally by a miracle - late Thursday night (almost didn't get his ticket in time).  Friday, my newest “boy scout” son headed off to his first campout, while the rest of us went out to dinner to celebrate our son’s graduation the next day.  Saturday, we attended said graduation.  I could do a whole long post on this graduation and what it means to us and to me... but I will save that story.  Needless to say, I felt a lot of new “mom” emotions I wasn’t expecting to feel.  It’s all good.  Right after that, it was home to change and then run to pick up my little Boogie Man and off to the Starlight Run.

Brent tells me that every time he comes home (from Utah), we got so much stuff going he’s kept so busy... and it’s not house chores either.  During this time home, we went to an open house, for a bike ride, a walk together, celebration dinner, movie, High School Graduation, 5k event, parade, and church - all in 2 and a half days.  Awesome stuff!  Sure beats laying around the house groaning and being depressed and eating crappy stuff.  Those were our old days, ya know!   The weather was PERFECT while he was here... sunny and gorgeous.  Today, after I dropped him off at the airport, while driving home I saw raindrops on the windshield.  It’s like the Lord gave me the sun along with the hubs for those 3 days.  That was the best gift!  Life is good!  My life is good... I can see that now each and every day!  XoxoXO ~Margene