Working on Year 9

2011 will be my 9th Turkey Trot here in Cleveland. I just love this race. Last year, it was just me and the girls. The rain was so heavy that I finished the short 1-mile race sans jogging stroller. Since having Bridget, I've been running the 1-mile race with Greg and Megan while pushing Bridget in the jogging stroller. This year, I convinced Greg to join me in the 5-mile race. Can't wait! This is one tradition I love keeping up!

New Running Traditions

It seems that we're taught that you must carb load on pasta the night before a race and abstain from all alcohol. A new tradition for this running family began while we were in Iowa and we've been continuing it since.

It was two years ago when we checked in to our hotel in Iowa, which by most standards was supposed to be on the nicer end. The same hotel here in Cleveland is one of the finest in their brand. But this particular hotel in Des Moines was tiny. And I mean super duper, how are we going to sleep here, tiny. When we walked in to the room, there was the bed with a desk on one side of the bed, a nightstand on the other side of the bed, and a dresser at the foot of the bed with the TV on top of the dresser. You could NOT walk AROUND the bed. There was no door on the closet because the bed was too close. Greg immediately went downstairs and asked for a larger room. The clerk told him it was "European style" and asked if he was familiar with that style of room. Clearly, the clerk thought that all Europeans are only slightly larger than dwarfs. When we found out we were not going to be upgraded, he asked for the refrigerator (which was previously requested and nowhere to be found in our room, but needed for Bridget's bottles) and a small microwave. The hotel delivered the refrigerator, placing it in the closet! The microwave was placed on top of the nightstand and then the lamp was placed on top of the microwave. Hilarious! Except Greg did not find it funny. So we went to get a drink. We found a great little Mexican joint, plopped ourselves down, gave Bridget some rice, and Greg and I had the best tasting (and therapeutic) margaritas. And thus began the tradition of a margarita the night before a race.

While in Wichita, having our chips and salsa and salt-rimmed margaritas, we laughed about our Des Moines experience and how a new tradition began!

Valentine's Day is Upon Us!

At my house, we do not celebrate Valentine's Day because Hallmark or American Greetings says so. We celebrate Valentine's Day because it's an opportunity to turn a sappy day into something fun as a family. If you want to know the true origin of Valentine's Day, you can go here. But for me, Valentine's Day became something fun, creative and different in 2001 when Meg and I first spent February 14 with a very nervous Greg.

For a guy, Valentine's Day is territory that must be carefully navigated, much like a minefield or teaching Steve Wozniak to dance. But he scored. Big. On the first one. He came over to my single mom apartment (complete with a 19" TV) and surprised me with When Harry Met Sally DVD (my favorite rom-com at the time & only my 2nd DVD to own). But the best surprise was the gigantic assortment of valentines candy that he gave Meg (I think he bought everything on display at krogers) and the look of pure excitement on her 7-year-old face. Of course, it was followed with the look of "do you think mom will actually let me eat all this?!" For me, that was the best Valentine's gift - that he made such an effort to make Valentine's day special for my pumpkin. Keep in mind, we had only been dating for 6 weeks or so at this point, so gift buying and the underlying message it sends had to have been tough for him. But he scored. Big. We were both happy.

The second year, as we were shopping at krogers (afterall, we were in Athens-krogers was the only place you could shop) and Greg was bemoaning the pressures of valentine's day for a guy - you know, the cliche evening of candy, flowers, restaurant - and I said "let's just do tacos. It's not a big deal.". This Sunday will be our 9th valentine's day dinner of tacos. We have not missed a single one and, this year, Bridget will enjoy tacos, too!

So no matter what your V-day tradition is, I hope that you're spending the day doing something you love!