Solo

On a particularly foggy morning one fall day in Nebraska, I went for a run and felt like I could very well be the only person left. It was very foggy, you couldn't see far ahead of you, and there were no cars on any roads.

It was a really pretty 5 mile run, but also a little eerie at the same time. Like the day after some kind of zombie apocalypse from a movie. After all, it is October?!

I didn't see a soul, until I have about half a mile left to go. Gotta love a cool Sunday morning run in good ole' Nebraska!

New Kicks

Thanks to a pretty amazing group of CC runners and parents at EMS, I got some great new running shoes that were sorely needed!

And they are even purple...bonus!  I'm well on my way to logging another week of running 15+miles.  My pace is still much slower than I would like but that comes along with starting over again.

Both boys continue to practice hard at swim team each week and we can't wait to see how they do at their first short course meet in a few weeks!

And thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Ammeter for making days off from school so much fun when mom and dad have to work!  They are a lifesaver for us in many ways...and we know the boys are making special memories on these days spent with them while we are at work.

The long road back

Beside coaching cross-country, I haven't posted anything about running for a while.

And this is not without good reason. This summer I had a fairly extensive setback, after coming home from our most amazing trip to Mexico and eventually discovering that I had brought home an unwanted hitchhiker in the form of the parasite Cyclospora.

 After three months, four rounds of anabiotic's, I was finally on a path to feeling better and it just at the right time to start the cross country season. I had not ran since early July at that point when the season began in August.

Then over Labor Day weekend, I decided to drop an extra leaf to our dining room table on my foot. Thankfully I didn't break anything, but wearing shoes, let alone running was out of the question for a few more weeks. With the season now over, and my foot healed I have started a long road back to running and training for my next half marathon in March 2017.

 My pace is slow, frustratingly slow to be honest. But I know I have to start somewhere. I have registered for my 13th half marathon and this week logged the most mileage I have ran in months.

Fall

It must be fall...we are in long pants and holding pumpkins.

Our church held our annual trip to a Patch near Alma where the weather was perfect and the company was even better.

We have such a great church family! The two friends pictures above and below were both made back when each went thru Ms Melody's class in preschool ❤️

And we found other ways to entertain our family on Saturday...like hoola hoops in Aggieville

And fall also means KSU Football is back!

ZBB & Acolytes

Saturday was a beatiful fall day that set up a perfect evening for Mitchell's first concert. We saw Zach Brown Band at Bill Snyder Family Stadium!

We had a fun evening with lots of singing, dancing and a few embarrassing but funny moments brought to our 12 year old courtesy of his parents. 😆

Nothing like a group of cute college girls to make our non-stop talker quiet and blush!

Lots of fun and great music!

Today was Christian Ed Sunday at church where Collin and the other 3rd graders received their bibles.

And both boys successfully served as acolytes today without starting a fire in the process!

Coaching

Today we ended another fast furious middle cross country season with our centennial league meet at Milford State Park.

This is my third year as assistant coach and it was so much fun to watch this group perform. They were so positive with each and so much fun to be around!

This was also the biggest cross country team we have had at Eisenhower middle school yet with 45 members participating on our team! Great to see the program growing like it is and seeing these kids find a place to belong while pushing each other each week.

I willmiss this group of eighth-graders. Great season. Great team atmosphere!

Overdue

I'm back after a busy August! This post on Mitchell's birthday is well overdue....much like he was in 2004 when he finally arrived 7 days past my original due date!

Looking at photos like these makes it hard to believe that this little guy turned 12 years old at the end of last month!

Mitchell is such an amazing young man.We are proud of the caring, witty and intelligent person he continues to grow into.

And we had some late birthday antics with Grandma and Grandpa Bunger last weekend to celebrate!

Cross country is also in full swing (adding to our start of the year hectic schedule).

It's such a great group of middle schoolers running this year and getting to see friends like this above at our first meet is an added bonus.

More pictures and posts to follow!