Hi Friends. We've had this blog going now for almost 3 1/2 years. When Stephanie and I began, we thought we'd try a few months and see how it went. I enjoyed it a lot and even now like to go back through it and reminisce. When I was doing a combination of running races, training and tons of spectating, there was a lot of material. Well, that sort of dried up with the good old coronavirus. The Un-Canceled Project is fun and I will continue to participate in that, but won't bore you with the details. If one good thing has come of all this so far, Deb and I have increased our weekly runs together from 2 to 3. We both enjoy that and appreciate the motivation of a friend waiting on the curb at 5:00am. I'm officially going to take a break from blogging for now. Perhaps in the next few months when there is a little more going on, I'll have things to say and want to return to regular posts. If something really cool happens, I may just throw in a random post. Thank you everyone who has continued to follow the blog through well over 400 entries. I am NOT taking a hiatus from running and don't want you to either. Running is NOT CANCELED. Happy running! Missee
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Somehow the days have gotten away from me and I haven't reported back on the last two Un-Canceled races. Last week, courage was not canceled. After three half-marathons, we opted for a 15K this week. That is about 9.3 miles, a very nice distance for a long, but not grueling run. Our color was purple, but I didn't have any. At about two miles, Deb and I saw a bright purple car with a MN Vikings logo. That is some courage to drive a car like that. In Minnesota, people like to say that they are set up for and disappointed by the Vikings every, single, year. The run went very well; we cruised along at a steady although not super fast pace. At around 8 miles, we remarked that the run was comfortable enough, but we were glad we had 2 and not 5 miles left like the past three weeks. Here is our finisher bib and photo. Don't you love how it always looks like one person is a photo-bomber? 15K was a fun distance, so I planned to do the same the following week. I knew I'd be doing that one solo as it was going to be opening fishing and my husband, Charlie and I would be going to our son's new house and the guys would fish from there. This past week at school was Spirit Week. That felt a little odd with no students around, but the kids were encouraged to dress up and show their teachers on Zoom calls. On Wacky Hair Day, I wore a French braid which was out of my pattern, but not especially wacky. Thursday was Jersey Day, so I wore the jersey of my favorite track team! Friday was Husker Spirit Day, so everyone wore Husker gear. Most of us opted for our coronavirus themed shirts. Here we are at the end of the day. My work group has needed to use all of their Un-Canceled skills to pack and serve meals to the district's children since school went to distance learning March 18th. We've used our Hope, Humor, Gratitude, Inspiration, Commitment and Courage every day. Here are a few photos of packing the meals, our jam-packed coolers of lunches to give you an idea of what school nutrition staff all over the country have been doing to get food out to the students. This week, Commitment was Un-Canceled! I enjoyed doing this run in Duluth, much of it near where I was supposed to run the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in June. Along the way, I saw the mile markers for Miles 17, 18, 19 and 20 for Grandma's Marathon. The half follows along the 2nd half of the course, so I saw those markers as well. There were lots of runners out enjoying the sunny morning. Those of you who live in large cities may not have thought it was a lot of runners, but for us more rural folks, it was nice to see. Here is my starting photo: and my finisher's bib, 15K later: After I was done, I was treated to "going" to yoga via Zoom with my daughter and future daughter-in-law. It was a challenging class, but we still looked pretty peppy at the end...except the little dog in the corner. Later in the day, we all worked on a service project for Haley's pharmacy fraternity. She needed to make fleece blankets for a domestic abuse shelter and chew toys for an animal shelter. Someone tried out the blanket and approved of the craftsmanship. Today was also Mother's Day, so Happy Mother's Day to all the running mothers out there. I think we'd all agree that running keeps our mothering skills at their best by burning off excess stress. My kids were very good to me today and I was treated to a car wax, chocolate, flowers and cards. I even got my first "Mother-In-Law" card this year. We will be adding two extras to our family this summer with a daughter-in-law in July and a son-in-law in August. The more the merrier!
The Un-Canedled project was originally supposed to be 4 weeks, extended to 6 and now they have added an extra 6 weeks of virtual races. This time, they said it's free if you cannot afford it or you can choose to make a donation to continue and also purchase a medal if you want. The donations they suggested were very small, so Deb and I will continue on another 6 weeks. I forget which race is next, but the next things not canceled are dreams, kindness, joy, community, perseverance and life. I'm just hoping we are not still on the stay at home directives by then! One thing that I know for sure will be canceled, or at least over, in the next three weeks is the current school year. On Star Wars Day this past Monday, I saw this meme which completely sums up how everyone who works with schools or school children feels about the current distance learning situation. Everyone is doing their best and trying to be positive, but it's a workout of massive proportions. I hope you are feeling more like Baby Yoda these days, but if not, don't worry, keep running and don't forget what good things are NOT CANCELED! Happy Running--Missee |
AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
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