Publication Day!

For those of you who don't already know, I wrote a book and created a publishing company with my mom to publish it. Our company, Balanced Steps, LLC, is proud to announce the official release of the bilingual picture book for girls of all ages: We Are Girls Who Love to Run (Somos Chicas y A Nosotras Nos Encanta Correr)! It has been a 3 year project for me, with the big official push over the last year.

To celebrate the day, I went for my first outdoor run in months! I have no idea how far I went (I'm pretty sure it was farther than I would have gone on the treadmill, becuase I was crusin'!), but I went for a total of 30 minutes and ran part of the 10K route I'll be running at Duvall Days in June (hills, hills, hills, that race!). It was a glorious day for a run - the sun was shining, the temp was in the 60s, I spent 2 hours at the park with the kids, everything was "just right" - I even had dinner in the crock pot so my husband could feed the kids if they went into a hunger meltdown before I made it home from my run. To top it all off, the three of them were playing in the front yard to greet me after I huffed myself up the hill to our house. Little Sister ran up the driveway to me to give me a hug and a kiss (giving kisses is a newly acquired skill of hers - and she knows just when to give them!) that was simply the sweet icing on the cake. It was a good day to run and the run made me glad to be a runner. The welcome when I returned home made me glad to be a mom.

In business news, the book is now being carried by the educational wholesaler Follett. So we now have 2 wholesalers and 1 distributor (Marathon & Beyond Magazine will carry it at the running expos they attend). Horray! My mom also got it placed in a few stores in Wenatchee, WA today. Things are picking up.

If you are interested in getting a copy of the book, you have another day or so to enter a drawing with Marathon Bird - she's giving away 2 signed copies. I'm cooking up a surprise with Non-Runner Nancy for her 10K on the 10th Virtual race, so look for news on either of our blogs for that. You are always welcome to order signed (and personalized!) copies directly through our publishing company, too!

Thanks everyone for your support with this book. We're excited to share it with the world and encourage girls (& women!) to embrace running, see the awesome potential they have to reach their goals, and take steps to make their dreams become realitites!

Happy Publication Day!