Double Down

Yesterday Brad and I ran about 5 miles, trading off pushing the kids the entire way.  I forgot how hard it is to push the kids and it also became apparent how much they've grown (how heavy they are!) in the last year.

It was a slow run, but it felt really good afterward.  That morning I was constantly on the verge of tears.  I almost cried during an episode of Parks And Rec!  I think I was shutting down and stressing out about the shit that needs to be done in the next month.  Packing, switching utilities, forwarding our address... I was overwhelming myself.  But after a good sweat, my mind was clearer and I was ready to get to work.  I had forgotten about the pink bag that had shown up in our mailbox a few days earlier.  It was the Veteran donation bag!  Fantastic!  On the bag it tells you all the things that the vets could use which is pretty much everything.  I already had a few bags of clothes in my trunk, ready for Goodwill but thank goodness I procrastinated taking them.  Now I had an even better charity coming right to my door.  But I had to get working because it was last night when I found the pink bag and they are getting all my stuff this morning.

And it's all gone now.

My great grandma was hoarder.  Like, she had bedrooms that you couldn't walk in because she had stacked up so much useless stuff.  I think I have a little of that in me because I get a little emotional seeing my old stuff go away.  Weird huh?

 My donation choices have come down to two questions: How often do we use it, and how much space does it take up in a trailer?    It feels so good to lighten the load, if only by a little.



I just signed up for my next race!  Actually, my mom signed me up as a Christmas present.  Thanks mom!  It's actually two races.  A half marathon on the last day of 2011 and then another half marathon on the first day of 2012.  I'm pretty excited about it.  It's the New Years Double in Allen, Tx.  On both days they offer a Full, half, half relay, and a 5k.  You can do any combo you like.  I wasn't super thrilled about the course at first because you run the same loop twice (four times for the full) but then I started thinking that it might be nice for my family to able to cheer for me multiple times without much effort.  I had originally wanted to do the full on the second day, but both fulls have already sold out.  That may have a bit much for me anyhow.  I think it's the perfect way to end one year and begin the next.

-Hugh Jass