Starting International Women's Day with a Thankful Heart

I have a daughter with a faucet for a nose (home from school so I can nag her to pu-leez use a tissue and help bring down her low-grade fever), but there is still plenty to be thankful as we kick-off this work week.

March 8th is set aside to commemorate the achievements of women in politics, science and social change as International Women's Day. As great as the "big name" women are in our world who have enabled the women of today to shine, I think it is important for us to recognize the strength and gifts of the women who touch our lives at a local, community level.

In honor of International Women's Day, I give you a list of strong women in my life for whom I am thankful:

1. The great Jennifer Tai, photographer extraordinaire - Saturday marked my fourth photo session with her. This woman has an incredible eye for composition, a laid-back personality to put her clients at total ease, and a contagious laugh. Though I know she misses her homeland of Malaysia, I think she's finding Western Washington to be a decent second home. I'm honored to live in the same community with her and count her among my friends. When she's not capturing our community's lives with her lens she's working on the Board with me at our girls' preschool. When I asked her how she does "it all" she replied, "I don't sleep!" I think she's telling the truth.

2. Maria Millsap of Banana Blossom Press - Not only does Maria create fitness-related greeting cards and shirts (both of my kids have the shirt pictured below - "Running. It's a family thing"), but she visits countless fitness expos to generate a positive vibe in the fitness community with her products. She has an encouraging attitude and welcoming sense of humor. A supporter of fellow-local business women, Maria also sells We Are Girls Who Love to Run at her booth! I am so thankful for her energy and support of the book. Thanks for bringing my book to the masses, Maria. Oh, and she has lots of Seattle fitness goodness to share on her blog Hills & Hammies. Send her some bloggy love!

3. My friend, Christine. Our little girls are good friends, her older daughter and my son hit it off beautifully and she and I both love to run. Christine is new to the sport, her true love is volleyball (she's a coach). Yet in the last year, she has discovered that her legs were made to GO. I first coaxed her out for an early Saturday morning trail run in the fall after I found out that she was a runner. We're now training for the Mercer Island 10K on the 21st - at an amazingly fast clip for me (8:30 miles!). Thanks to her I'm doing more outdoor runs and facing my fear of hills. After our long hilly runs, I can now breathe all the way to the top. That's huge. We're going to rock this thing, Christine.

4. The women of my Saturday morning trail run - I started this thing last spring and it is still going. I wouldn't say it is going strong yet, but it looks like we're turning a corner and numbers are increasing. I had two women join me for 5K (give or take) at 7:30 this last Saturday morning. Funny thing is they thought I had hit the trail early without them because there was a car identical to mine in the parking lot. So off the went - before I arrived! I eventually caught up with them near the turn-around spot and enjoyed running back to the lot with them. They now have my license plate memorized so it won't happen again (and I'll do my best to get there a few minutes earlier!). I expect to have at least 6 more women to join in the trail run adventure with me next weekend and more as we get closer to summer. Spring is in the air and fair weather runners are getting excited to get back out. The Saturday group has spurred some interest in some of the group meeting up during the week, too. Just what I hoped would happen!

5. My mom - I don't think a single paragraph in a blog is sufficient for summing up this woman's gifts. So I'll just let you know that she's great and that I appreciate all she's done to pave the way for me and my little girl.

And representing the next generation of strong women:

6. My daughter (who is a LONG way from becoming a woman, but she's a STRONG girl!) - This three year old has a way about her. She can hike up Diamond Head, sprint up-hill for a quarter mile, bicycle around a 1.5 mile lake loop without batting an eye, play "Angel Robin" along side her "Batman Brother" in her white angel costume with handcuffs she made to haul the bad guys off to jail, and set up a "fancy shoe party" with her tea set and stuffed ponies. She is perhaps her daddy's biggest fan, but is thrilled to give me occasional kudos like the night she deemed me "Best Sunggler in the House". She inspires me to set new goals and work toward them. Always one to stop what she's doing for a good spin (think arms spread, head thrown back, dizzy-making, fall-over spinning!), this carefree girl also makes sure I stay in touch with my inner girl and take time to play. Yes, that's her on the Diamond Head trail last month, stopping to show me her muscles. :)

How about YOU? Who is one strong woman that inspires you?

Birthday Reflections

Though my actual birthday was last Friday - the 13th - birthday celebrations in our family tend to start a few days early and end a few days later. It is just more fun that way. It started with a big birthday celebration with family (8 birthdays in all in October/November) when family was in town visiting in late October, included a 4.4 mile group trail run on Saturday and ended last night with my favorite birthday dinner of my youth made by my mom (breaded chicken tenders, egg noodles, cranberry relish and green beans - with chocolate muffins/ice cream for dessert!).

This year I helped my husband and dad lay laminate flooring in our family room on my actual birthday - just one part of the main level flooring project we tackled this fall. My husband took the day off from work, my mom took our daughter to the Tiny Tots program sponsored by the Seattle Symphony and our son was at school. The previous 2 days of the flooring adventure (the last 2 Saturdays) I was on kid patrol while the guys worked. Helpful? Absolutely. But I'm a hands-on gal, so I really enjoyed putting on those old jeans and a running t-shirt from 2004 to help out with the actual installation. I was in bed by 9:30 on my birthday, but I'd still call it a successful and happy day. I love my new floors!

As the day allowed, I did my usual birthday reflecting. I thought back to birthdays past:

1. In 5th grade I had a joint birthday party with my best friend (her name is Briana and her birthday is the day after mine - no joke!). We made cookies at my house and then we all headed down the street and around the corner for a sleep over at her house.
2. My 25th birthday weekend was also my marathon weekend at the SunTrust Richmond Marathon.
3. Last year was a pretty day and I celebrated it with a run! This year I did a quick 2 miles on the treadmill before it was time for the floor fun.

And I thought about how intimidated I was by the number "30" last year and how welcoming I find the number "31" to be this year. So now I give you a quick 5K version of what I'm thankful for as I round out my birthday celebrations (3.1 things!):

1. My body, mind and spirit continue to enjoy running
2. My children are adventurous & energetic souls like their parents
3. My husband and I are making reading a more regular part of our evenings
.1 The thrill of discovering what this next year has in store for our little family

How about you? Do you have something you do every year for your birthday?

Starting with a Thankful Heart returns . . .

It is too pretty of a day to be sitting at the computer (for which I am most thankful!), so I'll keep this post short.

I'm starting this week with a smile in my heart because I'm thankful for:

1. The 5 women that joined me to run on Saturday morning (and one brought along her daughter to ride her bike along side her!). This women's running group is really picking up momentum! It is great to see people come together to share their passion and support one another, no matter their speed.

2. The beauty of Camano Island, WA. We spent Memorial Day there and went back again yesterday. I haven't felt so connected with a place since living in Italy for a summer. Although the day was a bit hazy, we could still see the Olympic Mountains and enjoyed a picnic and walk along the rocky shore of Camano Island State Park.

3. The excitement of running this week to prep for Saturday's Duvall Days 5K. I'm thinking that with all of the weight training and more frequent runs I'm doing that this could be a PR race for me! I ran the Duvall Days 10K last year (brutal hills!!!), so it should be fun to do the flat 5K route for a change of pace this year.

4. I remembered to use sun screen today! Sunscreen is almost part of our daily routine now. It took some getting used to once the weather improved, but now even the kids think to ask about it.

5. The house has been purged of baby gear. That's right - 2 SUV loads of stuff (in good shape, no junk!) went to the Duvall Co-op Preschool to help raise money at their garage sale next weekend in conjunction with the big Fire fighter's Pancake Breakfast event next door to the preschool. This is BIG time stuff in our little town. :) There's actually room to park a car in our garage now - and should I want, I can twirl around in just about any room in our house without knocking my shins into excess toys.

I do thank you for stopping by to visit, but I must encourage you to please leave a quick comment and then step away from your computer and get outside to enjoy your day/evening! What about me, you ask? I'm following my own advice by relaxing in our hammock before the kids get up from their naps and we head to the park.

Happy June and happy running!