Marathon Training Week Three

As I child I grew up going to church every Sunday and going to Bible class and hearing all of the stories from the Bible that you tend to learn as a child. And while those have definitely stuck with me, there was another smaller, more seemingly random Bible story that we read when I was in 4th grade, that has also stuck with me throughout the last fifteen years or so and comes back to me in different situations.

Last night was one of those situations.

But first, let me give you a quick overview of the story. An army of men were out in the woods camping as they were in battle or on their way to battle. At some point, one of the men dropped his hatchet in the water and this was really bad. He would have gotten in a lot of trouble because of it. And God helped him to find the hatchet in the water, so that he could retrieve it and life could be good again. And I remember my Sunday school class teachers talking about how God cares about us and therefore cares about the little details of our lives. Does He always work them out the way we see fit or would like? Of course not. But He is there and is aware of the details of our lives (even the small things that seem like huge things to us, but are really small things) and He does care about them.

Ok, so on to yesterday. Yesterday morning we got up to run. For the first few miles I was able to keep pace with Landon and then, I fell behind a little, which has become the norm on our long runs unfortunately. At one point, about 4 miles in or so, he motions for them to turn left, or at least I think he does, so I turn left, expecting him to loop back and come join me, like he sometimes does. In reality, he was motioning for me to go straight and follow him, and thought I was mad at him and just wanted to run alone and decided to turn left. So the rest of the run, we're looking for each other as we run, but never cross paths. Probably because I went some weird way that I thought was the right way home but ended up being the wrong way home and when I finished my 7 miles, realized that I was about 2 miles from home. So, I began the long walk home as Landon drove around in his car looking for me, until I finally reached the house and could call him and tell him to call off the search! Haha--what a way to end a run and start a Staurday!!

Anyway, as silly as it feels now to type it out, this weekend, and especially on Sunday, I was feeling really depressed and down on myself about our running because I just wasn't able to keep up with my husband. I didn't want to say anything to Landon though, because I thought he'd just tell me I was being negative, which I was. So instead, as I was killing myself on the box stair-climber at the gym, I just pleaded with God to take the negativity away and to give me a way to talk to Landon about how I was struggling and what to do about my pace goal for the marathon etc, in a way that would draw us closer and not cause a fight. And all throughout the workout, and on the way home and on the way to our Sunday school class picnic, I didn't hear an answer from him, but I tried to just forget about how I was feeling and enjoy hanging out with friends.

Then, at one point during the picnic, I overheard Landon talking running with a girl who had already run a marathon and I ended up talking at the same time to a good friend who is thinking about running one, but I didn't realize until the car ride home that in that moment, as we were in 2 separate conversations, God was orchestrating it to happen as the answer to my prayer.

Talking to Lauren totally lifted my spirits and made me feel not so much like crap because I couldn't keep up--mainly because I had just been praying for someone to talk to about it and God placed her there as a friend I could talk to--and Landon talking to Amanda gave him a little insight into girls running marathons and paces and what is realistic and normal etc, from someone that wasn't me.

And on the car ride home, as we talked about running and pacing and how we're probably going to split up at some point during the marathon because that's what's realistic, I had tears in my eyes realizing how God had answered my prayer in such a perfect and tangible way. I had such a peace and it was like such a load was lifted and running automatically became fun again, not something to be dreaded because I'd fail every time we got out to run. And we had a good, good conversation about it all--one of those where each person is actually getting what the other person is saying and at the end of the conversation, you're actually on the same page. It was nice.

Thank you God. Your love is truly extravagant and I don't deserve it. Thank you for loving us so intimately that you care for us in the little, insignificant details of life.

A Whirlwind of a Saturday

This weekend our Saturday began as the sun came up and ended WAY after it went down, pretty much without a break in between. It was a lot of fun, don't get me wrong, but, in the words of my sister in law (and my 3 year old niece), it was a whip. I was exhausted by about 4pm and definitely crashed as soon as my head hit the pillow at about 1230pm that night.

We started off the day with a 7 mile run (which turned into a 9 miler for me, because I managed to take a wrong turn and get lost in my own neighborhood--sad, I know). When I finally made it home, recovered and showered etc, I hit the ground running, knowing I would probably crash long before it was over, since we definitely did not go to bed early on Friday night, which would have been the smart thing to do.

Anyway, I ran to the grocery store for the ingredients to make a meal for our sweet friends, Ryan and Mary Beth, who just had their second baby. Together Landon and I whipped up the meal, got dressed for the wedding that we'd be heading to after dropping off the meal, packed clothes to change into for the First Family get together we had after the wedding, packed a bag with the bananas foster ingredients for the dessert we'd be making at the get together, scarfed down a little lunch ourselves and jumped in the car.

Our first stop with to drop off the food and meet this sweet baby. He was so precious--only 2 weeks old! I love his tiny little hands and feet. I could have held him all afternoon.

From there we drove over to the church where Terry and Carlos, one of Landon's childhood friends, was getting married. We made it there right on time, but almost sat through the wrong wedding! As it turns out, there were 2 weddings in the same church at the exact time and thank goodness we looked at the program before we sat down, or we definitely would have watched 2 total strangers get married! So we jumped up, asked the groomsmen if there was another wedding somewhere and ran across the huge parking lot to the chapel, making it there just in time! It was a beautiful wedding and I'm so glad we didn't miss it!

After the wedding and the reception at Cafe Adobe, we changed clothes and headed over to the Blackburn's for First Family, which was SO much fun. Almost all of our core members of our small group were there as well as three or four new couples. We got to meet new people, reconnect with friends we hadn't seen in a while due to crazy schedules, hold a precious 2 month old, eat delicious italian food, watch Landon make bananas foster (I would have helped, but I was too busy, you know, holding the baby :)--and he did a great job by himself!), do some planning for what our group wants to do in the future and play some crazy rounds of Catch Phrase and Joker. All in all, it was a great night. I am so thankful to finally feel like I belong here and have people that I can really and truluy call friends. I don't know at all what the future holds for us or where we will end up, but looking around the circle on Saturday night as we all sat around and played Catch Phrase and talked, I found myself thinking that these are people I would enjoy growing old with, raising my kids with, staying friends with. We are so blessed to be a part of this group and look forward to many more nights like Saturday night!

Year Three

I know this is so cliche to say, but it really is hard to believe this school year is over; though at times it seemed like the end would never come, it really has flown by. Complete with Hurricane Ike and flooding and mandatory after school tutorials to catch up from Ike and the district monitoring our every move because our state accountability rating and teaching my first group of ESL students, it's been a year. Hard at times (especially compared to last year), but good. I learned SO much about kids and reading and writing and about teaching this year--I'm just hoping my kids learned as much from me as I did from them. Cliche again, but I really do mean it.

I don't even remember the last day of school of my first year of teaching really--I was just so ready to get the heck out of that school that I think I was already checked out. Last year, I loved the kids but was so frustrated with their lack of focus, willingness to work that last week of school that I was kinda ready to see them leave on that last day. This year though, I learned my lesson, and decided to just go with the flow. I kept teaching until yesterday, but was reasonable about it, anticipating they'd be antsy to be out of school, especially knowing grades were already turned in, and just had fun with them, not letting myself get frustrated with them if they weren't working quite as hard during the last week of school as they had during the rest of the year. And as they left my classroom for the last time yesterday, I truly was a little sad; despite their antics and craziness at times, I really will miss them. They're good kids and they grew SO much this year.

And now that the test results are all in--and we're acceptable as a school this year, woohoo!!--, and the end of year paperwork is complete and the kids are all at home relaxing and my room is all boxed up and I'm at home relaxing too it's official. Summer vacation is here!

And while there's so much I could, and probably should, be doing right now, I think I'm going to take advantage of the quiet right now, with the dogs playing outside and my husband still at work, while the late afternoon sun streams in from my window, and take a nap. :)

I love KSBJ Brown Bag Concerts

When I was in high school my parents took us and Leslie, one of my good friends, to a Brown Bag concert with Watermark, who was, and still is (even though they're not technically a group anymore) one of my favorite artists. Her voice is amazing. I loved seeing them--it's so fun being so close and being outside worshipping. And, it's free. It doesn't get any better than that.

Back then, the Brown Bag concert was relatively small. But not anymore. I learned my lesson when I went to the one for Michael W. Smith in March and got to Francesca Batestelli's about an hour and a half early and managed to get us good seats on the 8th row. Sitting in the sun, saving the seats, was totally worth it to 1. have a chair and 2. be that close.


She sang a couple of songs we knew (we only really knew 2 of her songs) and a bunch of new ones. She was SO good--I would highly reccomend seeing her if you get a chance. Or checking out her music if you don't know who she is. It will totally be worth your time. I promise.

For her last song, Francesca sang "Free To Be Me", our favorite song. It's on my marathon playlist on my Ipod and will forever make me think of training for this marathon and this period of time in our lives.

PS--This is Jen Driscoll, from KSBJ. I got to see her and Francesca live on the air inside Chick-Fil-A while I was getting food. Pretty cool.


We'd been looking forward to this concert for about a month. Not a bad way to spend an evening. She definitely did not disappoint!

Memorial Day Weekend

This last weekend we thought it would be a good chance to just get out of town for a while, so we packed up the car on Friday evening and headed up to the DFW area to spend a few days with some family and friends. We spent Friday night and Saturday with Logan, Elizabeth and Abagael and really had a nice time. Abagael was precious, as usual, and we had a blast just hanging out with Logan and Elizabeth, talking, shopping, laughing, playing Clue, making calzones and bananas foster on Saturday night. Thanks for having us over, guys!

the beautiful sunset we saw on the way out of town

Abagael modeling her new dress for us :)

Aunt Aja and Abagael

playing on the playground at Central MarketUncle Landon and Abagael reading a bedtime story

we had so much fun cooking (and eating) calzones--I'm going to have to try to make them myself one day!

On Saturday morning we got up at ran around 7am, and on Sunday around 7am, we woke up to find this little munchkin snuggled up between us in bed. We had vague recollections of her crawling over us arounf 4am. Pretty much the cutest thing ever. And she even let us sleep a little longer as she typed on my phone...

Sunday morning we got up and headed to church with 2 sweet friends, Blake and Morgan, and then packed up and went out to their lake house in Granbury for a couple of days. We walked around the town square for a little while, which was fun because there was a little street fair going on for Memorial ay weeknd

then we went to this cute little winery and did a wine tasting

and rounded the night out with some good italian food and fishing, as the storm clouds rolled in. the guys fished while Morgan and I played with our camerasWe rounded the night off with what has seemingly become our nightly tradition as of late (haha!)...bananas foster and a movie--7 Pounds. The bananas foster was great and the movie was depressing. Still a fun night though!
On Memorial Day we slept in a little, watched some good daytime TV (ha!) and then went outside for a little more fishing and some good food the guys grilled with us. Then, we sat around the table and planned out our Mediterranean cruise for next summer...we can't wait!! And then, to round out a pretty much perfect weekend, we got to have dinner with Janeen and Steve, which is always a treat. Old friends are the best!!
Thanks babe, for suggesting we head up to DFW for the weekend--I loved the time with you (and everyone else! :). Thanks everyone for an awesome, relaxing weekend--it was just what we needed and so good to see you all!

Marathon Training Week Two

This weekend we were in Fort Worth visiting Landon's family, so we had to get up and do our run in their neighborhood. We tried to find the least hilly route (which was hard to do!!) and ran part of the six miles on this green belt behind their neighborhood that was really nice. The air was cool and not humid, which was wonderful, and I managed to run the whole six miles. I couldn't keep up with Landon's nine minute mile pace the whole time, but I wasn't too far behind--maybe a 9:10/9:15 pace??
I was just proud I ran it all at a reasonable pace, considering how I had to walk because I was dying the week before. Now we've got seven miles next Saturday, but I'm trying to take running one day at a time, because if not I get myself all stressed out about the 10 and 15 and 20 (and 26.2) days of running to come! I'm just counting on the fact that everyone says if you work hard and stick to the training plan, you'll be able to do the runs!

And now for the anniversary that actually matters...

Happy 3 year anniversary, babe!!

I love you more now than when we got married, which I didn't even think was possible at the time. These last 3 years have literally been the best of my life--thank you for all of the peace and laughter and comfort and fun and excitement and love that you bring to my life. I am a better person for being your wife and am so grateful for how well you love and lead our family. I am looking forward to the next year and all of the changes and excitement it will bring.


God blessed my life so richly when he brought you into it.


I love you and respect you more than I can ever show you.


I'm looking forward to celebrating with you this weekend, and at our Astros games and on our hot balloon ride!

Happy One Year Blogger-versary to Speights Stories!

One year ago today, Landon made my blog site for me and I started blogging and haven't looked back since. I am loving chronicling our journey through life and being able to look back on all that we've been through and done in the last year.

When I looked back to last May at this time, it was definitely no less crazy than this May, with our graduations and puppies and my brother's birthday and the end of school. But, between now and then, so much has happened. We've settled into working life, been through a couple of different jobs, lost my aunt to cancer, watched 2 of my cousins get married, made it officially into our mid-twenties, relived our relationship story here on the blog, lost our dog Marry but got a new little puppy who we also adore, survived Hurricane Ike, ran a half-marathon, began training for a full marathon, celebrated with Landon's little sister as she got engaged, got an awesome new camera, watched my brother Matt graduate from ACU and are now one day away from celebrating our three year anniversary. It's been a wild, faith-building, exciting, wonderful year. And I've loved writing about it here.

I'm definitely not quitting blogging any time soon.

And, on a side note, I'd love to know who (if anyone) is along for the journey with us! If you're stopping in to read this, leave me a comment, introduce yourself, say hi! I'd love to meet you and check out your blog too if you have one!

Happy Wednesday!

Snippets of Life

We went for a three mile run today and I just feel the need to document it because it was the first run in about 3 weeks that wasn't miserable for me and we actually ran a little under 9 minute miles, which was our goals. I don't know if it was because I ate well today or because I drank a lot of water or because I ate a cliff bar a little before we ran or a combination of them all or what, but it was nice. It wasn't easy and I was definitely tired at the end, but it wasn't miserable. I am SO grateful for that; I was in desperate need of a run like that, a run that doesn't make me dread tomorrow's run.
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I was a little bummed that Melissa didn't win Dancing With The Stars (she and Tony are who both Landon and I really wanted to win!) and surprised the Gilles and Cheryl didn't win (but glad because we aren't loving Cheryl's attitude anymore), but surprisingly happy that Shawn and Mark did win. I mean, you've got to give it to her--the kid's only 17! She did awesome and it was fun to see the genuine shock and happiness on her face--and on Mark's--when they annoucned that they won! I love this show. What am I going to do now that House, 24 and Dancing with the Stars are all over? That's the only TV I watch. On a happy note though, I'll probably be a lot more productive in the evenings now!
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I got a phone call from 2 of Landon and I's good friends from college (and one of my bridesmaids) last night to tell us that they're pregnant! I am so excited for them (and slightly jealous :))--they're the first one in my group of friends from high school and from college to be having a baby and they are thrilled! I'm not sure if I can tell the world yet, but if you read this, you know who you are and we're thrilled for you and can't wait to meet your little one...in 9 months!!
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In other news, I only have 6 days left with my kids this year. And even though it's been a challenging year at times, I'm really going to miss my kids. I always feel like I haven't had enough time with them when the end of the year rolls around, because it always just seems to creep up on me and suddenly I'm feeling like I have so much left to teach them and not enough time to get it all in. But at the end of the year, it is what it is and it's so fun to look back and see the progress they've made as readers and writers, but also how they've grown from pretty much still being 7th graders when they walked into my room in August, to students ready for high school. Right now they're finishing up our last writing piece called a Personal Essay, which is where you use a story from your life to help you speak out on a social issue in our world that you have something to say about. And it is so cool (and heart-wrenching at the same time) to hear the stories they are willing to put out there for the world to hear and to hear what they have to say about the issues they're dealing with in their own lives--in their families, with friends, in our school, in our community. They're saying such smart things about such tough issues--they're dealing with domestic violence and abortion and gender biases and sexism and abuse of power and immigration and education/standardized testing friendship and choices and drugs/alcohol and violence. I have various students from Africa speaking out on the violence and fighting and war they experienced with they lived there. They're being honest and they have something to say and they're finding their voice. And in their writing, while my first reaction is to want to reach out and give them a hug, I see such resilience and such determination to change things and not repeat the mistakes of their families and friends. While their writing is filled with stories that sometimes I wish were fiction instead of reality, they are also filled with wisdom and reflection and hope. I love this time of year.

Beautiful Weekend

This weekend we had the most beautiful weather--it almost felt like it did in Abilene a couple of weeks ago--the highs were in the seventies and it wasn't humid. It was gorgeous. Except for when it poured down rain on Saturday evening as we were on our way over to have dinner with my family and hang out with them some. But, the sky looked really cool and it was this storm that brought the cool weather, so we were happy to see it!


Today we woke up to the still amazingly cool weather and had a wonderful, relaxing Sunday--it was so nice to already have our run over with because it allowed me to enjoy the day instead of worrying the run that night. Church was really good and afterwords we had lunch with Landon's family. Kenna was in town and we enjoyed getting to sit and talk after lunch and hang out with her some. Then, we drove home to get the dogs and wound up back at his parents house to watch game seven. It was so sad. And I was doubly sad because I had bet Landon they would win and lost bad. Oh well--at least they made that last 3 pointer so that they weren't in the sixties still because that just looked so much worse. It was still a depressing game though.


And, we even managed to get half of our cross training in during half time by taking the dogs out for a walk because we really wanted to get out and enjoy the weather some while we could, because knowing Houston, it'll be hot and humid tomorrow again.


Tonight we went to our second to last Love Dare class, which we've really been enjoying--both the class itself and the Love Dare book and challenges. One of my favorite times of the week has become Sunday evenings, after the Love Dare class, because we pick a new restaurant in the Heights that we haven't been to yet, eat dinner together and discuss a set of questions that we get at the class. It's nice to talk about our marriage and it's just nice to talk.

We had the dogs with us so we staked them out in the grassy area by the room we were in--they surely barked the entire 30 minutes we were in there at everyone walking by. Until we went out to get them. Then, they just layed there and watched us...for a few minutes at least. Then, they went crazy, forgetting they were still staked to the ground!

They both slept the whole way home--I guess our walk and them harassing everyone who walked into church tonight wore them out, haha! So, we dropped them off and went off to try out next new restuarant.

We wound up at the 11th street Cafe, which we ALWAYS see people at, regardless of the time of day, so we figured it had to be good. And it was--it had a fun, homey feel, the waitress we really nice and the food was good. We'd go back for sure--next time I'm going to try the pizza!


We wrapped up our night by doing a little more exploring of our part of town and tried out a new park that has a nice running/walking trail where we finished up our hour of cross training tonight. It was actually a little cool out as we started, which we were loving because it felt absolutely wonderful during the walk.

It's been such a good, relaxing weekend that part of me is not even sad I have to go to work tomorrow, but on the other had part of me is really sad because I don't want it to end. I guess this time it probably helps too that I only have 9 more days of this school year and a three day weekend next weekend... :)