How Do I Love Thee?

Holidays in my house are always a big deal.

Valentine's is no exception. Even if some (ahem, Lane) believe it is a "made-up holiday".

So, like every thing, I did my best to deck the house.

Our centerpiece. Tutorial on hearts here.

In the entry. The photo doesn't do the garland justice. Both are easy to do. Stiff felt and cut out shapes. Easy peasy.

This year, I started a new tradition of love notes.

Starting about a month before the holiday, I hung this large envelope (the flap is held down with Velcro) on the door. Little postcard-sized printouts sat on the counter and you could write a love letter to anyone in the family. The kids loved getting love notes each morning.

Ridiculously easy to make. NOT worth the $20 or whatever it is Pottery Barn charges. It's easy just to eye. I used one sheet of the large, stiff felt.

Door wreath. I posted it last year, but here's the tutorial again

The kids made Valentine's for the classmates:

Jane's.

Elliot's.

 They decked out in their best holiday splendor:

Elliot insisted on this shirt at Target. I couldn't sell him on anything else.

Not out of his jammies yet, but who can resist this face?

The best part of the day?

Without exception, and quite cheesely, it was when Jane and Elliot took turns singing me the little song I've song them since they were newborn.

It is a song everyone in my family signs to babies and small children. I can't tell you how my heart swelled when they sang it to me. The baby repeated "mama mama" throughout their singing. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

Owen's shirt says "Prince Charming". He had SEVERAL other Valentine's shirts (courtesy his brother), but this baby has surpassed his 12-month clothes, despite the fact that he is not quite 11 months.

And my sweet husband, despite his reluctance to celebrate a made-up holiday (in his definition) made me dinner and brought me flowers. Perfect.

That's a twice-baked potato made with blue cheese crumbles, bacon and real cheese. Mmmm.

I capped off Valentine's weekend by running my third marathon.

The goal was to complete a marathon before the baby's first birthday.

I wasn't keen on spending a ton on the marathon nor traveling a great distance for it and almost two months ago I found a trail marathon: Cross Timbers Trail Marathon. It was run on a Saturday about an hour and a half from home.

Perfect.

I talked my very best buddy and running pal, Sara, into running it with me (I didn't even have to try to convince her ... I mentioned marathon and she said "YES!")

Sara in all her layers right before the start. Seriously she wears about 5 layers every morning the temp is below 40.

The logo for the trail run called it "The Toughest Little Trail in Texas".

Sara and I thought it was a gimmick.

Turns out it wasn't.

Can you see the the person up there? They weren't that far from me. This is about par for the course. The vast majority of the 26.2 miles had inclines (or declines) at about this steep or worse with roots and/or boulders at every step.

The photos don't do the course justice. You can't capture it. And of course no one can cheer you on because when they say "little" in the description, they were referring to the width of the trail. One person wide for the most part. Sara and I joked that if you fell down and hurt yourself, you would just have to pull yourself to the next aid station.

Really, you can't tell, but this was a gradient where you had to use hands and knees to get up and slide on your butt part of the way down.

I feel it incumbent to mention, I fell no less than 5 times during the course. Of course, 6 weeks prior to the marathon, I twisted my right ankle. I merely wrapped it for training and the marathon because the only option was to finish.

At mile 3, I fell and and felt my left ankle pop. That was easy enough to shake off, though I now had gauges down my leg and could feel a massive bruise forming on my thigh.

Mile 10 I fell for the third time, but this time I felt my left ankle pop and then I heard it crack. I laid by the side of the trail for about 3 minutes. Got up, shook it off with several unpleasant words and kept going.

At the turn around, they wrapped my unwrapped ankle (expertly) and triple checked that I didn't want the only ride I'd be able to get back to the finish. I told them my mantra, "not finishing is not an option."

Ten minutes later I knew this was the hardest thing I would ever have to do.

Independently, Sara and I were both told more than once from our fellow runners (who run many trail races) that this one was the hardest. They were a little incredulous that we would choose this one for our first trail marathon. Admittedly, we were a little naive.

Right when there was 1/4 mile left I came to the last massive incline. I stopped and seriously considered sitting down and waiting for Sara to miss me long enough to come get me. My sprained/twisted/whatever ankles (for it was both at this point) felt like knives every time I walked. I had blood in my shoe and my thighs and butt have never hurt so much.

Four minutes later, I sucked it up, screwed it to the sticking point and started up the mountain.

This is halfway up the incline where I turned around and snapped a photo. It was pretty steep, but the photo only indicates about a quarter of its steepness. This is when there was a 1/4 mile left.

I don't know if I'll do this particular run again. Not that it was a bad course, it was just spectacularly challenging. Maybe someday if I become an amazing superstar. Or when I feel I need to redeem my miserable time.

That said, the organizers, volunteers and other runners were AMAZING. The best I've ever had the privilege to run with. They were so kind and encouraging.

Sara and I in our post-marathon glory. That plaque was a "shiny shiny gold" (as Jane calls it).

As a side note, one week prior to the marathon, Sara turned to me during our 12-mile Saturday run and says, "When people ask me how many marathons I've run, it feels like I should be saying this is my 5th, not my 3rd."

"I get that," I responded.

"So," she continued, "don't you think we could get to 5 before the end of the year."

"Sure," came my immediate and crazy response.

I love this girl.