I moved to East Africa 25 years ago. This was before the internet redefined our lives. It was the age of pay-by-the-byte-downloaded emails, expensive international phone calls, airmail paper letters, and no Amazon – unless we’re talking about the Amazon River. In Kenya, we experienced power and water outages and the occasional food item shortage […]
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Hi-ho, Kermit the Frog here!
If you are anywhere near Leland, Mississippi, you should do yourself a favor and stop in at the Birthplace of Kermit the Frog. This is a simple little museum/exhibit, supported through donations and grant monies, and operated with a lot of love and affection towards a hometown boy made good. We love the Muppets and […]
Race Review | Mobile Marathon
We’re continuing to work our way through our 50 states of races. In January, we checked off Alabama with the Mobile Marathon and Half Marathon. Mobile is a great city! Friendly people, historic architecture and – important for runners – a nice, fairly flat race course. The race is a little old school. It still […]
Seeing Sacramento – and a Race
Kelly’s final marathon of 2019 took us back to California – Sacramento, to be precise, for the California International Marathon. Packet pickup was in the former home arena of the Sacramento Kings. I know these arenas are out of fashion, but I love the old intimate spaces. Once his packet was in hand, we headed […]
December 2019 Wrap Up
The month started off terribly as we said goodbye to our little girl Bridget. Yet life goes on and so does the routine, with regular events like the City’s employee holiday luncheon. We escaped the “stuff” with a trip to Sacramento for another marathon for Kelly – the California International. It was good timing to […]
2020 Word of the Year: Returning
Another year, another opportunity to give myself a bit of focus. This year, my word is RETURNING. I’m returning to a simpler home life. returning to the marathon distance. returning to fitness and nutrition discipline. returning to the other-focused activities that bring us joy. returning to a structured Bible study program. I’m sure there are […]
About 2019’s Word of the Year
I didn’t realize when I picked KINDNESS as my word for 2019 that I should have picked UNEXPECTED CHANGE. Thank goodness I had plenty of kindness to offer myself. Leadership changes, saying goodbye to Bridget, helping parents’ move and a host of other things was a drain. But I survived with, I hope, a bit […]
Running Las Vegas
Marathon 56 for Kelly was in Las Vegas. Neither of us had ever gone before (no desire really), but knowing the Rock N Roll series would close the Strip for the race made it appealing. Our two days in town were enough for us. We hit a lot of historic highlights and did a ton […]
How to Take the Train from DIA to Downtown Denver
Knowing I was going to be at a hotel in downtown Denver – a very walkable city – for a multi-day conference, I decided to take public transportation from the airport. I could have taken a ride share instead, but the cost would have been nearly 4x as much, and I would have been subject […]
Visiting Wrangell, Alaska
It’s the Hayley’s 20th anniversary year and we’ve been celebrating all year long with special trips. And regarding that – there was no better trip to take than to return to the state where we honeymooned – Alaska. In 1999, we took a small cruise ship from Vancouver through the Inside Passage to Juneau. This […]