Trips, Runs, and other stuff

I've been running. A lot. In March I helped my company have an extremely good appearance at the Knoxville Marathon Expo. We exceeded all expectations and it seems as if Sport Seasons will be participating from now on. I was very pleased. On that Saturday, after working the expo and breaking it down that night, I worked a total of fifteen hours. The next morning the race started at 7am and I was there ready to go at 6:15am. It was a tough run but I was able to complete my first half-marathon in two hours and fifteen minutes. I'm looking forward to training and participating in the full 26.2 miler in Chattanooga in the fall. BTW, Gabriella was there and Sara was too, to capture the fun on camera. (note Ella's outfit, thanks to Sara for that)

A few weeks after the race we had a wonderful Easter. With a new baby girl in the house, this Easter was much more emotional and the sacrifice that God made, sending His perfect Son to earth to be killed and resurrected three days later to bare the wrath for my sin, was much more polarizing. If anything, I can feel a new confidence to share my faith and speak boldly about the beliefs I have...But we had a great time visiting with family that day and catching up with Sara's cousin Dustin and his wife Lindsey.

This past weekend Sara and I took a little road trip to central Virginia with the intention of running in the half marathon in Charlottesville and seeing some much missed family members. We succeeded with the second agenda; We stayed with my parents and spent the weekend catching up with my brother Bryan and with Kevin and my sister in-law Jamie. It was hard to say goodbye in that parking lot in Roanoke. Yes, we made a pit stop in Roanoke to introduce Gabriella to her Great-Grandmother Deel. It was a very special day.

The first intention we had didn't go so well. After a lot of preparation and training I was not able to run in the Charlottesville Half-Marathon. To make a long story short; I have trouble with calendars.

I'm the worst blogger ever...it's been too long.

It's official. Gabriella will be a spaz like her dad. She's growing very fast but what has us talking is how energetic she is, just like her dad. In fact, I have some bruises on my stomach because when she gets excited those legs start kicking. I have come to the conclusion that she will not only be a runner, but she will be a swimmer and a cycler. Hello to my little triathlete! She has reached a couple of growth milestones too. She is becoming a pro at holding her little head up, especially when she's bored and fighting sleep (another trait from her dad), even though she is still a little wobbly. Also her alertness is growing exponentially, we get surprised by it more and more as each day goes on. Nothing melts a daddy's heart like when he walks into the room and his little girl locks eyes with him and starts waving those chubby, dimpled hands and kicking those chunky, froggy legs because she's excited. By the way, we have begun marking time by the outfits that she is growing out of (single tear).

I was very excited to be able to share these things with Ella's Nana and Granddad in person earlier in Feb. It had been too long since they were here back in December but we enjoyed the dinner at Mimi's the night they were in town. We're scheduled to go to Charlottesville in April for a marathon or something but Nana and Granddad may not be able to wait that long. (That's a really big hint, Mom and Dad)

Speaking of a marathon in Charlottesville...I am continuing to run and train so I will be able to complete the Charlottesville marathon on April 18th. It has been difficult knowing that while I'm out for sometimes 2-3 hrs at a time that Sara and Ella are waiting patiently at home for me. The time I've been out on the road has been useful as I use that time to meditate and sort through the attic that is my mind and remove all of the useless junk that gets stored up there during the course of a day or two. As a warmup to the twenty six point two, I will be running the Knoxville Half-Marathon on March 29th. It will be a challenge because the day before, I will be helping my good friends Ronnie Dove and Sam Bowen run a booth at the Marathon Expo for Sport Seasons for roughly, hmm, 14 or 15 hours. It has been great helping coordinate the event and I have been learning a lot from Sam that will be useful in many aspects of business.

A lot of good things have been happening with my work recently. Don't get me wrong, our business is driven by sales and when the economic forcast gets worse everyday the people who are doing okay financially get tighter and tighter with their dollar. But since December I've been working at our store in West Knoxville and the Lord's favor has been an evident answer to prayer. Numerous times I've been recognized for hardwork, leadership, and wonderful customer service. I even had a customer bring me a thank you gift at the store. I'm not sharing this with you to brag, (I like doing that in person) I just wanted to share an example of answered prayer. Sara and I have been praying about a change with my job for sometime now and just when I'm thankful to be employed at all, I've been blessed with a promotion. The details are still being hammered out but I will share them with you all in the next post. God is good!

Stephen

Update time!!!

Alright this past week in itself has been jam-packed full of delightful events. I will begin with the most recent and work my way back.

Today, October 11th, Sara attended Gabriella's first baby shower! It was graciously hosted by Kathy Payne and I'm sure we'll be talking about it for a while. I'm won't go into specific detail about guests and gifts, but from Sara, Heather, and Karen's account, it was an excellent time. Thanks again to all of our friends and family who are helping us accumulate all of the things a baby girl needs. (unfortunately I do not have photos to post of this event but they are coming)

While Sara was representing Gabriella at the shower, I was getting some much needed R&R. This morning I woke up at 5:30 to eat breakfast and start warming up for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in downtown Knoxville. Sara and I went down to the event and were quite surprised at the vastness of it. Covering the field at World's Fair Park were 20 or so vendors promoting breast cancer awareness, making sure the runner's have what they needed. Even Starbucks was there handing out free coffee to be sure we all stayed caffeinated! It was very moving being around the breast cancer survivors and also those who were walking or running in memory of a loved one taken by the terrible disease or in celebration of a survivor. But today was a day of triumph, and I refused not to join in. It was my first official race ever and I ran hard and pretty well. I felt great afterwards and I cannot wait to run my next race.

FYI, this week I also decided to train for the Knoxville Marathon in March. If I can run it at 7:25 a mile, I will qualify for the Boston Marathon.

Wednesday, Oct 8th Sara completed her comphrensive exam for nursing school! I was talking about how proud she makes me and someone I work with asked me, "On a scale from 1 -10 how proud of her are you?"

I didn't verbally respond but instead held up both of my hands and I actually grew an extra finger on my right hand to authoritatively answer, "11!" But I digress...

Now that we're in the final stretch, we have been working on getting Gabriella's room transformed from an office to a nursery. Sara and her mom did a fantastic job of cleaning and organizing all of my junk that I had stowed away in the room. And I have been doing a little painting upstairs and downstairs. It's not all done but it is very close.

With all of the events to catch you up on, I forgot to mention just how well Sara and Gabriella are doing. They are working well as a team and everybody is very healthy.

Please keep Sara's sister, Heather, in your prayers as she is recovering from surgery to remove a cyst from her lower back.

Stephen

10 = 6.2 = 51 mins 17 secs

It is 1:54 am and I am nearing the end of my cool down from my first 10k race. I was part of Nike's 10k Race for the Human Race. It was a great experience, although, I'm not happy with my time but if you were to subtract the time during which I had to make a pit stop with an upset stomach, it might look more like 46 mins. I may not be happy with the time but I am very satisfied with my effort. I'm looking forward continuing to train for more races and also my first triathlon some time next year. I remember how much fun it was waiting for my Dad to finish a race one Saturday morning in Waynesboro, VA long ago. I had no idea what place he came in or what his time was but I remember being so proud to be his son as he crossed the finish line. And now, as I look back I don't recall a time in the last 26.67 years where I haven't been proud to be his son.

Dad, as Gabriella gets older and we have more children, I can't wait to follow in your footsteps.