Celebrate.

Via.

For my 33rd birthday, I celebrated by...

1. Putting a candy bar and a note in my mailbox for the mail lady.
2. Paying for the next car in line in the McDonalds drive thru.
3. Taking treats to the child-care center at the YMCA. (They are so good to my little ones.)
4. Giving a treat to my personal trainer. (Irony.)
5. Canvassing to get out the vote.
6. Putting away stray carts at Walmart.
7. Bought a gift card at Walmart and turned around and handed it to the lady behind me.
8. Volunteering for lunch duty with my daughter's class.
9. Giving a treat and a note to each of my kid's teachers.
10. Muffins to the poll workers at my local Early Voting station.
11. I voted.
12. Chips and salsa to our local volunteer fire department.
13. Treats to my OB/GYN and his office.
14. Treats to the nurses in labor and delivery. (They do such a great job.)
15. A balloon and a smoothie to a random brand new mom on the L&D floor.
16. Tape quarters to vending machines.
17. Treats to the ER nurses. (We've been there...2? 3? times this year?)
18. Drop off cookies and juices at Bright Blessings, a great organization here that hosts birthday parties for homeless children.
19. Drop treats off to my favorite librarians.
20. Have lunch at a small, local cafe that is struggling to stay in business.
21. Take treats to a good friend who is going through a rough patch.
22. Drop donut holes off at the sheriff station.
23. Play checkers with my son. (Yes. That counts as a service. I don't do games. *grin*)
24. Sing extra songs to all my kids.
25. Make 75 baggies of caramel corn for our ward's trunk or treat.
26. Scatter lucky pennies.
27. Pick up garbage.
28. Take bags of toys and clothes to Goodwill.
29. Watch neighbor's kids to help them out.
30. Take someone dinner.
31. Make cookies for neighbors.
32. Rub my sweetheart's feet.
33. Give to humanitarian aid.

I am exhausted. Next year, I would definitely spread it over several days, but it was a FANTASTIC birthday...

33.

From Pinterest.

Tomorrow is my 33rd birthday.

To celebrate, I'm planning The Grand Day of 33 Nice Things--a whole day of service projects. (I was inspired by this.) Today I am getting ready--making my list, calling ahead, baking and prepping. It is going to be great.

Won't you join me in celebrating? Do something out of the ordinary tomorrow for someone else. I'd love to hear about it.

3.3 Miles (or 5K)

Image credit here.

3.3 Miles, people.

That is 5K.

I did it.

And yes, I cried.

3 Miles (or "The Blessing of a Headwind.")

From Pinterest.

Tomorrow I will run 3.3 miles. It will be the furthest I have ever run. And, to be totally honest, it may be the furthest that I ever will.

Last week, I completed 3 miles, so this should feel do-able. Yep. No problem. The first mile should feel easy by now, right? And the second mile? Pshaw, done that. Lots of times. And it's only a mile further to 3 miles, and one more lap to a 5K. No biggie...right?

Oh, my fellow sufferers, so wrong.

3 miles still feels like a whole different person away. It feels as achievable as a size medium, which is to say: not achievable. 

This. is. hard.

But. I am learning the blessing of moving my body uphill and into a headwind.

When you are forcing your legs to move even just a little bit uphill, you appreciate the oh-so-delicious little downhills. The little bursts of an inside curve. And if you stop to notice, when you are running into a headwind, moving at a glacial pace and feeling positively geologic in age, you'll find that the headwind is forcing fresh, cold oxygen into your lungs and your muscles don't hurt quite so much. Plus, where there is a good headwind--there will be a good tailwind.

So tonight I'm charging my i-pod and telling my brain, over and over, that I can run 3.3 miles. That a 5K is within reach, and--just beyond that--a 10K. That I could do that, too... if I wanted to.