It's been an interesting couple weeks along My Path. Between marathon training, work and family life - stress levels have been high. Here's the high and low lights...

The most monumental thing to mention is the passing of my grandmother. She would have turned 88 in a couple weeks. It had been a rough several months for her, with deteriorating health battling congestive heart failure, lots of pain meds and confusion surrounding what all was happening. We all know she is in a better place now.

BDR and I made the 7 hour trek to Stillwater Minnesota where 98% of my mom's family lives. It was great to see all my aunts, uncles, cousins and family extended even further. My grandfather's health is rough as well, so it was tough to see him. He's battling skin cancer and Alzheimer's and is generally in poor health. I guess that what 63 years of marriage will do to you! All kidding aside, it was wonderful to be around family for a couple short days, and to know that our extended family that runs the funeral home was able to take care of Gramma's body to prepare her for her final resting. Read Gramma's obituary here. Looking back, I know she would be pleased that all of her grandchildren were able to make it to the services. Gramma loved family more than anything else, so she would be happy to see us all together celebrating her life.

Coming home, I felt more loved than I've felt in a long while. Maybe its the corn-spread plains or the wind farms that give you some perspective, but a long drive in a big truck with an amazing man does wonders for the heart. Seeing how my family interacted and was more there for each other than I imagined, I know that feeling of love extended way beyond the cab of the "Brownerado".

Missing two days of work when mortgage rates are at all-time lows was a little tough though. I had 3 closings last week, and 9 over the month. I've never had a job where I've been consistently this busy. I mean, I haven't been able to keep up on my news. Its hard to watch the Facebook news feed when you're busy quoting refinances! I haven't been able to keep on my favorite blogs, or had time to write on mine. But I have been selling - so hooray for that! There is still time to refi and take advantage of the rates - let me know if you want a quote. :-)

Ugh. Marathon training. This has not been going so well, and isn't really on my list of favorite things to do. Two Saturday's ago, JW and I ran 17 miles. My motivation was LOW and her knee was hurting, so we walked quite a bit. It was hot. But we finished. And I came home to EAT, Shower and NAP. My favorite post-run activities. Afterwards, I went to help my brother with wedding invitations and in the midst of addressing, I felt seriously sick. Thinking it was gonna come out one end, it actually came out the other. Ugh. I haven't felt that crappy since I don't know when. I'm guessing it was dehydration since I didn't want to move. I got in bed at 7 pm and didn't get up til noon the next day - and didn't feel decent until that night.



I battled the "crap" for several days and had 0 interest in getting up to run with my buds. Then this past Saturday, we were supposed to do 18. JW's knee said no to running and so I didn't go either. We did go out for bike ride and about 6 miles in, I felt the same crap as the weekend before.

So needless to say, I don't want to run. I'm not finding it fun. I can't really remember why I signed up for this race. I know it was partially to stay in a shape other than round. Keep off the lbs so I can keep enjoying ice cream and cookies and whatnot. And it was partially because that is what I felt like I should do.

But you know what? Just going to the gym for boxing or zumba or yoga sounds fun. So what would be wrong with bagging the marathon and trading it in for a little more fun?!