Parents/Grandma visiting

I just put in 7 miles in 1:13:37. It was a tough day to be motivated because my parents and grandmother are visiting from Nebraska and I would have preferred to spend that hour with them instead of pounding the pavement. However, they are here for a week, so I can't totally neglect my training during that time, especially since Poco Loco is in just 29 days!


Today's run was supposed to include speed work, but I wasn't feeling too speedy. I did kick it up a notch every other mile as planned, but my slow miles were slower than planned. My fast miles weren't breaking any speed records, but I felt it was very respectable to be under 9:50ish for a fast mile. I know I've done this workout more successfully, but I'm just glad it's done today. My miles were 10:20, 9:08, 11:14, 9:20, 11:57, 9:41, and 11:52.

In other news, we've had a great week visiting with my parents and grandmother. We've played several hands of cribbage, gone for walks, and made many wonderful meals. Val's great grandmother taught her how to make proper mid-western gravy and the kids had their first real hot roast beef sandwiches. We've been keeping Grandma busy! She also bought some books at the library and helped us pick out Val's new backpack and binder for school. On Sunday, we'll go to church and then out to a nice brunch at the 94th Aero Squadron.

As is our tradition when my parents visit, we are making significant progress on home improvements for their new house and ours, too.

For my parent's house, Dad got the lawn cleaned up and fertilized and a new furnace filter installed. We also met with the contractor and made decisions on their new garage. The contractor is thinking the project will begin in mid-April.

In my house, we got new kitchen faucet, a replaced shower head for the kids' bathroom, a decent video game/karaoke stand for Jason's room, reorganized shop area, and removed an old doorbell. We also had Mom and Dad's contractor come to our house to look at our bathroom. Our shower is leaking and we need to decide how to replace it. Of course, I want a total bath remodel: Drop the huge soaking tub and create a huge walk-in shower. Ken was more open to the idea once we met with the contractor. Tomorrow, we'll go to some tile shops and a plumbing fixture store so we can get an idea of how much all this might cost.