I am so blessed!

Yes, today is my birthday. I don't know how everyone found out, but I think I have a good idea of who and who might be behind the scenes on this one.

The day had an early start at 4:45 this morning. Not much different than most Saturdays, in fact, I slept in an extra 15 minutes, but I didn't get to bed until after 1 am last night. I had the chance to take some of the kids to see another Shakespeare production at Winedale and it was a long ride home.

For any lovers of Shakespeare, and for those who have never seen his work, I highly recommend that you take the time to visit Winedale.

Thankfully, Pete and I did not have to add any extra miles on this morning. After Thursday night's disaster of a run, I wasn't sure how I was going to hold up this morning.

Wednesday, I had run a nice tempo run with some hills thrown in. My calves were burning afterwards! I had some pretty quick miles, one was 8:49! I iced them and put them to bed, but then on Thursday, I was only able to get 3 miles in before having to call home for a ride. I could have walked home, but I thought the quicker I could get some ice on the old legs, the better.

We had 13 miles on tap for today. I slathered the legs with some Bio-Freeze before the run and took a few Advil. This is against the rules as far as running through pain, so I don't recommend it. The old, do as I say, not as I do...

Upon arriving at the Y, I saw the usual suspects and then Jon and Holden! It was so good to see them. I must admit, I have a special fondness for my TIR mates! A sort of kinship that I hope never fades.

Before I could figure out what was going on, I heard Bill talking about a tail-gate party. I couldn't figure out what he was talking about but figured it had something to do with the Olympics. Quickly, I realized that somehow he knew it was my birthday. He pulled out a huge chocolate cake, implored the Fit folks to sing Happy Birthday to me and showered my with kind words. I was so humbled be it all. As outgoing as I am, I really don't like being the center of all attention. I'd rather be helping pull something like this off on someone else! God has blessed me with wonderful friends, and I am truly grateful.

We headed out into the dark for our run, me without the Garmin as she wasn't up for the challenge. Her battery was not charged. I informed Pete that he would be our pacer today.

The first 2 miles were quite painful. I was pretty sure I would have to cut off and head home to retrieve my bike to complete the route with my group. We stopped at the water stop and I tried stretching, but this only caused more pain. I decided to run a bit further, praying all the while that the discomfort would subside.

Thankfully, the pain did let up, almost immediately after starting the run up again. I decided to give the rest of the run a try and I am really glad that I did. I am running with some of the nicest people around. All from different walks of life, different points of view, but all with the same passion for what we love...running. We had a good time spotting the other sets of nice looking legs out on the road this morning. One of the runner's was hitting her highest mileage ever today and needed that kind of distraction to take her mind off of the physical discomfort.

We ran together almost the entire run, only splitting up the last mile or so. Pete and I walked a bit more at the end. He, unfortunately caught some of my calf problems. I was exhausted.

We finished the run in about 2 hours and 10 mins. The total miles ended up being 12.25 instead of 13, but I don't know if I could have made it the full 13. Based on this time guesstimate, I believe our pace was about 10:37. It was probably a bit quicker than that because Pete tends to run us faster.

Pete was kind enough to bring my older-self home and I came in to my wonderful family who let me take a shower and literally fall into bed for an hour while they prepared me a wonderful breakfast of blueberry pancakes! Yummy!

After breakfast, I was spoiled further with cards and gifts that were so thoughtful. Among the gifts, the new Third Day CD,(thank you Lord for Mac Powell's amazing voice!), a new running shirt and undergarment, some REAL sunglasses which are totally awesome and make me look extremely COOL! I'm also the proud owner of some new shoes!

As I type this, my oldest son is affixing my new pedals, lights, and seat to my bike as well as giving her a good cleaning. As I said, I am so blessed and a tad bit spoiled.

Thank you to all who have thought of me in a special way today. Your friendship means the world to me. I pray that each of you feel as blessed as I do - today and every day!

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!