Every month we get together with our small group at church and always have a blast. This weekend we decided to go bowling and the out to dinner at Lupe Tortilla--so much fun!

We bowled girls against guys--I'm pretty sure the guys won, but it was pretty close--and enjoyed getting to visit and catch up with everyone.

from now until the first weekend in October we have practice for our church's performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I'd never even seen the play until a few months ago, but Landon's mom is the one directing it, so how could we say no? Landon was in it 10 years ago when his mom first produced it for the church and he dug out the old copy of that production and showed me--I couldn't believe how young he looked! :)

So now every Sunday, Tuesday, Friday and some Wednesday evenings, this is what we'll be doing. It makes like crazy and hectic (and I'm not even working right now!!!), but it is a lot of fun, and I've been getting to know more people at church also, which is never a bad thing!

Last week Landon's firm moved offices and since he has a place all his own now we finally got around to getting all his diplomas/certifications framed this summer. Today I picked them all up and got to hang out with him for the afternoon and help him set up his office. So fun.


And, I love knowing where he is all day--now I can picture it when I talk to him, which for some reason is a big deal to me. :)

Well, we're at the halfway mark--we both ran 13 miles yesterday, a half marathon. :) And then came home, ate lunch, went to a dance scene rehearsal for a musical we're in at our church and then had dinner and watched Harry Potter with some of our friends. It was a good day. And I was just glad we could walk at the end of our 13 miles, as opposed to the last time we did that distance in January, for the Houston Half Marathon.

We couldn't run on Saturday morning because of a volleyball tournament that Landon played in and I watched and took some pictures of, so on Sunday we got up and went to early service then headed straight to the gym around 10am, because it was just too stinkin' hot to run outside. We opted instead for 130 laps around a .1 track at the Bally's by our house. It was a lot of turning.

Landon did awesome. He was strong and on pace almost the whole time and finished really close to his goal time--he ran 13.1 miles in a little over 2 hours. That's almost 30 minutes faster than we did the Houston Half marathon in, back in January. Way to go babe! I'm SO proud of you!!

I, on the other hand, had a horrible day. When we got to the gym I realized that my Garmin was out of battery because I had forgotten to charge it the night before, so I didn't have a watch to pace myself with. Which was really frustrating, because when we ran our 12 miles 2 weeks ago my Garmin wasn't working right--the satellites couldn't get reception for some reason--so I didn't have it to pace myself then either. So on that day I decided just to run and ended up running 12 miles at about an 11:30 pace, finishing in 2:18, a little over a mile behind Landon. And I didn't feel like I was pushing myself to go fast that day; I just wanted to finish and run it all. And it was HOT.

Yesterday, we were at the gym. It was actually relatively cool, we had water when we needed it, it was not crowded. Much better conditions than last week, weather wise. I started off at about an 11 minute pace, because I didn't want to die halfway through, like I did on our 10 mile run a little while ago at the gym. And after about a half mile of so, I stopped checking my timer on my Ipod ever lap and just tried to keep that pace. I just tried to zone out and run and click my lap counter every time a lap went by. For the first 3 miles or so my ankle/shin muscle was cramping up and I had to stop about 30 minutes in to stretch it out, so I could keep running. Aftet that though, the first 2 hours just flew by. I expected to have run about 10-11 miles by that time, because I knew I wasn't going fast, but I was working to not let myself slow down (or so I thought). I thought I was running at least a little faster than my pace on our 12 miles run; I was still getting passed by Landon, but it didn't feel like any more than usual and I just kept telling myself that I had to run my race and let him run his, because it sucks to get lapped like that. But, at the end of 2 hours I was excited because I was still feeling good, well ok, at this point--I didn't feel fatigued yet.

Then, Landon finished at a little over 2 hours and I finally looked at my lap counter and I had only run 9 miles, meaning I was 4 miles behind him. And I did the math in my head and knew I must have been going really slow and that I wouldn't finish in under 2 and a half hours. I felt like crying. And the last 4 miles were so hard, mainly because I was so disappointed in myself. I did the best I could though at that point and finished in 2:45, right at about a 5:30 marathon pace, about 20 minutes slower than I was hoping to run my 13 miles in today. And, 10 minutes slower than Landon and I ran the Houston Half marathon in January, and we walked off and on throughout that whole race. I think that's what really got me.

When we finished I went in the locker room to get my stuff and just sat down on the bench and cried. I was so mad. I spent the next hour or so trying to figure out what happened--if I was really just running a lot slower and getting lapped a lot more than I thought I was because I'm struggling with really finding my pace, if I forgot to click my lap counter 10 laps or so out of the 130 that I ran and ended up running an extra mile or so, if the track is a little over a .1 track (which is Landon's theory based on how he felt about his pace on his run) and each mile is really a little more than a mile. Who knows. And what's frustrating is that because my watch wasn't working (which is totally my fault) I won't be able to find out.

I know though that it's just one run and that my run yesterday does not predict my race on October 11th. I know training for a marathon, especially on long runs, is mainly just about getting your miles in and getting your body used to running for that long. So, I'm trying to be positive about it, even though it's not how I'm feeling--I'm still mad about it, even today. :) But, in an effort to be positive, I keep telling myelf that I have now actually run 13 miles straight, which is the farthest I've ever run, I've now run for 2 hours and 45 minutes without stopping, which is the furthest time that I've ever run, and that now I know 2 things I am going to be working on in our work outs this week--really pushing to keep my pace and not letting myself off the hook when I get tired and want to slow down, and finding my marathon pace and getting a feel for it, because of the options of things that led to my time yesterday, that's the only one I can do anything about. :) And at least I wasn't dying yesterday after 2 hours, because it makes me feel like I can definitely push myself more next week, and definitely need to, because a 12:30 pace is a lot slower than I want to be running in the actual race.

Clean water is definitely something I take advantage of, many times a day, every day. I fill up my Nalgene before I go run and after I go run and many times in between. I don't even think twice about it.

And in all reality, it's almost unimaginable to me to think that there are so many people around the world who cannot take that for granted, who don't have clean water to drink. Who have water to drink that can make them sick because of what is in it.

And it's a simple fix, really. There's a relatively cheap solution that someone can dump in their water in Africa that will purify it. Or a pump can be bought for a few families to share, to provide clean water. Or, a well can be dug in a village to provide clean water, which is the best option, albeit the most expensive. It cost about a thousand dollars, give or take a little depending upon the time and location of the well being put in.

And so this is what Landon and I are running our marathon for--we're each raising $500.00, so that the money that we raise by running the Chicago marathon will be enough to provide a village in Kenya, where there currently is not clean drinking water, with a source of clean water. When we're dragging ourselves out of bed to go run in the early morning heat, I try to remember the people who will benefit from all of the money that will be sent their way in October and it makes me so excited!

I first want to give a shout out to my youngest brother, Michael, who made the first contribution to our fund (thanks Michael!!) and to my Dad, who continued it on (thanks Dad!!). And now I'd like to ask you, those of you reading this blog, to consider donating. It is such a worthy cause, just a practical need that we have the power and privilege to meet, to provide, for a group of people whom we will probably never meet on this side of heaven. And in doing so, we have the chance to share Christ and his love with them. Because that's why World Vision does all of the practical need meeting, the providing of physical things such as water wells and goats and chickens and seeds and farming equipment and school supplies--to show the love of Jesus Christ to people all around the world.

If you would like to help us meet this need, to help raise the money to put a well in a village in Kenya and give them the gift of clean drinking water, just click on the "donate" button on the side where it says Team Speights Fundraising.

If you cannot donate monetarily, please keep us in your prayers as we continue training for the marathon and as we run it, but more than that, please be praying for the countries and villages that we are raising money for and for all of the ways that World Vision will be able to improve the physical quality of life of the people in those countries and villages, and, most importantly, for them to come to know Christ or be encouraged in their relationship with Him!

Well, we did something this week that we haven't ever done. We skipped a run. A long run.

There's a lot going on in our lives right now: a lot of things being conversed about and prayed about and a lot of decisions being made and we were just basically out of time and out of energy this weekend. It seemed like every minute was packed and by the time we got to Sunday afternoon (which is not at all an ideal time to try and run 12 miles but the only block of time we had available) we were just exhausted, emotionally and physically. It was a good weekend--filled with a junior high lock in and 2 children's birthday parties and lots of imagining possibilities for the future and acting on them. Fun, but draining. So we took a nap instead, so that we'd be rested for the meeting we were having that night that, well, we needed to be rested for. I'll update more on the goings-ons in the Speights household when something is even just a little more definite. I promise. :)

And plus, this was a repeat week that we'd built into the training program because we had 22 weeks to complete an 18 week program, so at least we'd already run the 12 miles once. This was just like a bonus week. Still not good to skip the long run for the week, but that made us feel a little better at least.

Next week we'll be at the halfway mark--11 weeks down, 11 weeks to go. We'll be running a half marathon on Saturday. Pray for cooler weather and good times. :)

At the beginning of my summer I made a massive to do list (some fun things, some more just necessary) and one of those was to try 15 new recipes this summer. With it being as hot as it has been, it's been hard to convince myself to get into the kitchen and actually cook anything, much less anything new, but over the last 2 weeks I've been doing just that and it's actually been fun. And everything we've tried has been delicious. A few will take a little tweaking, but I'm definitely glad we tried them out.

If you're looking for some new recipes, here are some of my recommendations, from my experiments over the last couple of weeks...

Mama Trishy's Fishy Tacos (from Confessions of a CF Husband blog)--these were awesome and so easy to make. We pretty much followed the recipe exactly, except for the sour cream part, since we both hate sour cream. :)

Pastor Ryan's Homemade Bread (from The Pioneer Woman Cooks blog)--again, super easy and SO good. I made it in the oven because I don't have a dutch over like they recommend, but the flavor was wonderful. I'm already planning to make it again soon!

Pastor Ryan's Homemade Pasta (from The Pioneer Woman Cooks blog)--who knew making homemade pasta was so simple--just a few eggs and some flour. When I make it again I will be sure to roll the dough out just a little thinner and cut it just a little straighter with my pizza cutter that I just bought, so that the noodles will cook more evenly, but all in all it was good and a lot of fun to make!

Pastor Ryan's Bolognese Sauce (from The Pioneer Woman Cooks blog)-- this one had a few more steps than the other things but again, was really simple and really good. It was a little meaty for me, but Landon said it was really good and he's a spaghetti lover, so I think that means it's a winner. :)

Italian Confetti Pasta Salad (from All Recipes)--this was so easy and delicous. I cut out the olives and added some corn, which gave it a nice flavor. Also, I would recommend only making half of the dressing or doubling the amount of pasta, unless you like your pasta salad really soupy. And, like the recipe says, it does taste better the next day after all of the flavors have marinated for a while!

Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil (Simply Recipes)--just how I like my bruschetta. Nothing fancy, but delicious flavors.

Next week, I've got a few things I'm planning to make off of this website (it all looks so good!) and I'm planning to try the homemade noodles and bread again with this fresh tomato sauce from the Eating Well Magazine/Website.

And, if I get a sweet tooth (or really, if I have some event to bring a dessert to) I might just have to try these pecan/pretzel/rolo combos from Annalee's blog.

Happy cooking! And, happy Friday! :)

Photoshop is tricky.

I've been playing in it a little for about 6 months or so now and there's so much to learn! I'm figuring out a few of the basics from reading tutorials online and talking to people and reading blogs and gleaning any bit of info I can from my husband, who patiently explains, and re-explains (and re-explains again a few weeks later when something isn't working right). It's fun, but so frustrating at the same time, because I keep seeing cool things on photography sites that I want to be able to do!

Anyway, the other night he let me take some pictures of him because I was trying to figure out how to make the eyes look cool, like I keep seeing everywhere. Anyway, I tried to make a few subtle changes to make the picture look better, because half the time I think I end up doing too much and the end result, when I compare it to the straight out of the camera shot, sucks. So frustrating.

Anyway, here's my handsome model, before and after. :) I'm working on it...hopefully I'll look back in a few months (or years, haha) and think how I didn't know anything when I was messing around with this picture. You know, because I'll be so good at photoshop then. I can dream, right? :)

I'm pretty sure that I've figured out what I would do with my days.

I'd sleep in a little, and some days get up and go for a run.

Then, for the rest of the morning, sometimes into early afternoon, I'd volunteer somewhere that I adore. Maybe teaching, maybe not. It would be fun, sometimes a little challenging, but something that I'd do and not even care if I got paid. Like Impact.


Then, I'd have the rest of the afternoon to run my errands, get things done around the house, cook a real dinner.

The perfect balance between having a purpose to my day and doing something rewarding, and being able to relax and not stress because there are enough hours in the day to get done what I want to/need to do.

Too bad I have to go back to work in a real job in less than a month.

Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket...

It's amazing the difference a year can make. Last year, right around this time, I was in Maine with my parents visiting my dad's sister's family. A few weeks later she passed away. The day before we left they brought my Aunt Lina home from the hospital, and that morning, before she arrived, I remember my cousin Chloe leaving for a little while without telling anyone where she was going. She came back a little while later with flowers just like these, put them in a vase and put them on a little table beside her bed, so they'd be there when she got home.

I learned that day that they were her favorite flowers. And that they had spent a lot of money over the years buying bulbs and trying to plant them in the backyard, with little success--I remember my Uncle Craig laughing as he told us that story. It was nice to hear him laugh.

I always see these flowers in the florist shop at Kroger when I go grocery shopping and think of my Aunt Lina. This weekend I was at a memorial service for Michael's girlfriend's uncle who passed away this week and it made me think about her memorial service. So when I passed by the flowers last night, I decided to buy some.

Even though time does heal, I know life must still be so hard for her family. They're really on my mind and on my heart this time of year. Please pray for them.

These days, more often than not, on Sunday evenings you'll find us at our local Spark Park in the neighborhood elementary school, affectionately called the dog park by those in our neighborhood. We can walk the track for our cross training and the dogs have a huge area to run around like crazy. They love it. We love it. It's a good combination.