These Days {Captured}

They weren't meant to last forever. I knew they weren't. 

Summer days, they're passing you know.

The routine and the order will come back, I told myself. 

These days are good for me, they are good for us.

And then one day a cloud covered a portion of my world and I had trouble recovering.

But then, God showed up.

He showed me that the lifeline had been there all along.

I just needed to find it again, grab hold of grace and rest a while.

(photo credit: Jonah)

To enjoy the last weeks of summer and take the days as they came.

Thankfully, that came in simple days as well as fun, adventurous, family days.

I did a 5K walk/run (we ran at the very end of the race) with my big kids and we had a blast! My mom joined us as our cheering section and photographer.

The event was called the Fiat 5K and is done to raise funds/awareness of a young womens discernment house in our diocese. It's also held out at the home farm of one of the Fiat House foundresses. 

If you are in Minnesota and on a dairy farm, there has to be cow milking.

After a priest vs seminarian duel, a couple more names of attendees were drawn for another friendly competition.

And whose should be chosen? Lily's!

At first reluctant, we cheered her on and she decided to go for it. Thankfully, a dear seminarian friend of ours is from a dairy farm, and agreed to lend her a hand.

It really was a priceless moment and will forever remain a very fun memory of Summer 2014.

Then came some busy days for me with my part time church job. After which, I was ready to get out of small town MN for a day with my parents.

A little adventure day meandering through the heart of Minnesota in my old stomping grounds proved to be the perfect respite.

The kids enjoyed time by the Mississippi, at the park, playground, bakery, McDonalds for lunch, a new splash pad and treats at the DQ.

Days such as these are too good to let them pass us by.

Today, on this last day of these days, we spent our last official day of summer vacation together as a family.

Sunshine and smiles abound.

A picnic in the park, climbing around the playground, a splash pad to cool off, and the local ice cream truck. Of course, we had to let them get treats.

We finished the afternoon off with paddle boat rides with daddy, which the kids thoroughly enjoyed.

These days are worth the wait.

They are a beautiful and memorable finish line.

They propel us forward and prepare us for the next season that is to come.

Tomorrow, school begins.

Virtual 5K: I DID IT!!

Many moons ago, this idea came up over at Catholic Exchange for a Virtual 5K to be held in September. Since I'm a huge fan of Clan Donaldson, I thought it would be fun to join in.

Hey, no competition, just virtual fun and a 5K. I had in my mind that I wanted to do a 5K all summer and was afraid of the training time and not being ready. So when Cari mentioned the run/walk/limp/crawl idea, I figured it was the ideal no-fuss/no-pressure way to attempt a 5K.

How fun would this be? Plan and train and then join in with people all over the world. Super fun!

And then the summer slipped by with me exercising, but hardly getting in real time to actually train. I remained uncommitted and said nothing to hardly a soul. You know, just in case I didn't go through with it. Rather not disappoint anyone but myself.

A few weeks ago I set my mind to it. Come heck or high water I was gonna try, darn it.

I decided that I would run if I was able or at least I was going to walk like a speed walking maniac.

This morning, the weather dawned perfect and I wanted to get out early before it warmed up too much. We had a forecast high of 83 degrees.

Just before 8:00 I was out and ready to go.

I wore my bright pink shirt in the event hubby needed to hunt me down on the side of the road somewhere.

I started out on a brisk walk for the first 1/2 mile to get myself going and then, with the tunes cranked up on my iPod, I started running.

Well, more like a jog really. Just a touch faster than my fast walking. I know this wasn't a time competition, but I wanted to see IF I could do it and HOW FAST I could do it.

But really, how is it that as fast as I felt I was going, I wasn't really getting anywhere??

I kept going on my flat surface, easy-peasy route on the county road that runs past our house. The locals that passed by on their early Saturday morning drive by clearly watched in amazement at my swift pace. And I dare say, the cows I passed in the pasture were equally impressed.

Or confused how a human being could possibly 'run' that slowly.

I ran until my half way point and then went to a walk for a bit lest my heart fail me and I keel over on the side of the road.

My legs were jello. Shoot. Should have kept running.

The whole time while I was out I was composing this blog post in my head and reminding myself that I was gonna get this done. After all, Colleen, my bloggy bestie was going to be doing this today. And my coach, Cari, was surely going to have a hilarious post all about it later.

I needed to do this.

I picked up the pace and set to running again. This time it didn't feel nearly so bad.

I kept running. And running. And running.

How Forrest Gump of me, huh?

And, finally my house was within sight. Oh this place never looked so good.

With the cheering and adoring fans to welcome me, I finished.

I was proud of myself. I had finished and I had ran probably about 2 miles of the 3.1. Not all of the race, but at least I didn't have to resort to the limp or crawl.

To prove that I have a long ways to go, but at least didn't take the better part of the day racing:

My goal was around 45 mins or less, even though I know that's nowhere near runners pace.

All in all, I feel accomplished and reached my goal of actually doing a 5K this year. Not bad seven months after baby and without training near as much as I would've liked.

I just may be up for this again.

Thanks Cari and Catholic Exchange for hosting!

Read Cari's re-cap of her run over here.

**Truth be told, my family missed my finish. I was already walking a cool-down when they appeared outside to cheer. Of course, we did a re-do ending. You know, because it would look good for the blog post and all.