driven

running has given me the courage to start, the determination to keep trying, and the childlike spirit to have fun along the way. run often and run long, but never outrun your joy of running.- julie isphording, winner of the 1990 LA marathon

we had to be there at 10 AM. for our 12 PM 5K san diego mud run today. the sun was shining bright. not a cloud in the sky. a sweltering 90 degrees. the pacific beach babes (shawn, me and adrienne) were ready, ready to do our first official run together, after having picked up walking / running about 2 1/2 months ago. we were excited, nervous, scared...you name it, all wrapped up inside, precisely placed as a knot in our stomachs.

and then, at 12:10 PM, the whistle blew and the herd of people began to run. it wasn't long before we hit our first giant puddle of mud, to our knees and sometimes to our waist. we each had our own methods of getting through. mine...i decided to try and run through the mud, as i would sink into the mud less. that worked until i biffed and scraped my entire right shin coming out of one of the puddles. blood dripped down my leg and my leg stung like crazy but the running continued until...we got to the damn biggest hill i've ever climbed in my life. steep and big. no, it was huge. most of us walked up the hill. some of the crazy (i mean amazing) people actually ran. once at the top of the hill, it was back to running. 20 puddles, a few haystacks to climb over, a tunnel to crawl through, a hill to slide down, a wall to climb over and flags to swim under and we were done. i was beat. i was excited. i was proud. my first 5K. done!

we finished around 1:15 PM and kiele wasn't feel well (from the heat) so we left without my taking a shower or cleaning up in any way. i took off my shoes, put on the junk dress i had brought, slipped off my shorts, put on my flip-flops and i was ready to go. and it was on to the rest of our day. and that, the rest of our day, continued to race through my head. how was i going to get done everything i needed to do?

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kiele has to bring a decorated potato to school tomorrow, for her family life class. we needed things--googly eyes, felt, pom-poms, etc. we had to decorate a potato as a baby, to include such things as a diaper and bed. i also had a 3 PM shoot and a military wives thanksgiving get-together to attend, after my shoot. that meant i had to keep moving, muddy and all. we went to michaels, then to mcdonalds and back home.

holy crap. it's 2:25 PM and i have to shoot in 30 minutes.

i called my client to see if we could begin the shoot a bit later but they were already out the door. i apologized that i was still muddy and told them i'd see them at 3 PM. luckily, the client and i are friends. i did the shoot, went back home, picked up the kids and we were quickly off to the thanksgiving get-together. yep, still dried mud and all. after the get-together, it was time to actually purchase the baby / potato, along with some much needed coffee and creamer). finally home at 7 PM and longing to shower and...steve rings.

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it's always so awesome to chat with steve, but it's also very emotional. hard. and today was exceptionally hard as it's our six year anniversary. i really miss his touch. i long for his hug. steve continues to do well and is enjoying his time in iraq. that makes me happy. if he's going to have to deploy, he might as well be doing a mission that he enjoys. i am thankful that he is.

7:45 PM and i was finally able to shower. YAY!

it's now almost 11 PM and i'm absolutely exhausted and drained. off to bed, for some much needed rest.