Don't wish it away.

Last week, my 5 year old graduated from pre-school.

During the ceremony.

That's me with my little guy after the graduation.

And there's the graduate with his dad.

He seems so old. And, yet, still so young (this is a kid who still asks to watch Blue's Clues after all). I can't believe he'll be off to kindergarten in the fall. It doesn't seem possible.


Parenting really is like that saying: The days are long but the years are short. 


The years certainly are short. And those long days? I believe they are meant to be enjoyed. A friend sent me an email the other day and in it she wrote, "It really is lovely to see how you enjoy your family." It touched my heart -- such a kind thing to say. And so true. I do enjoy them. I truly love spending my days with my family and that is a great feeling. 


Yet, there have been times when I've gotten caught up in the trap of wishing it all away. I hear others talking about how they can't wait for their kids to go off to kindergarten, or they can't wait for camp to start, or they can't wait for this milestone or that. And, truth be told, I've often covered my discomfort in those conversations by nodding my head or giving a "Yeah, I know."


But I don't. I don't know. I can wait for kindergarten. No, I don't want to keep my kids home forever but, honestly, I'll miss my little guy when he goes off to school for 7 hours. It is not popular, but I wish our school district had half-day kindergarten. We don't. So, he'll be off to kindergarten. He'll get older and older. 


And me? I don't plan to wish any of it away. I plan to continue to enjoy these days. I plan to make the most of all the moments we have together.

Source: via Felice on Pinterest

So, now, I'm off to enjoy my days of miracle and wonder with my two little boys!


Enjoy the day, everyone!


Thanks for stopping by.


~ Felice 

Get out the vote!

So, last week I told you all about the Coca-Cola Live Positively America Is Your Park campaign.

Have you voted?

I sure hope so! Remember, the voting period only runs through July 15, 2012. This program could result in your favorite park winning thousands of dollars. When I think of all the good a park could do with $100,000, I hop over to the web site (HERE!) and vote.

Because, honestly, I love parks -- and so do my kids and husband. We'll go for hikes, plan day trips and sometimes go camping. OK, full disclosure: I don't go camping. But my husband and son do, like last year when they enjoyed a little camping at Cherry Plain State Park, about a half hour from our house:

So, yeah. I'm all about the America Is Your Park campaign. 

What about the awesome park I'm voting for? (Schodack Island State Park, if you've forgotten.) It is racking up the votes! Right now, I'm ready to ratchet things up to campaign for my park, and you're invited to do the same.

See, community action is the name of the game. The park that won the title of "America's Favorite Park" last year had tons of community support. Fans of Oak Park in Minot, ND (the park that won) organized events in the park, got busy online spreading the word about the campaign and voted, voted and voted again.

You can support your favorite park by getting others involved:

• Visit the America Is Your Park campaign website and VOTE between now and July 15, 2012. After you vote, you'll see a link to share your action on Facebook. Do it! The more people who know, the more people who can vote.
• Speaking of Facebook, why not set up a page to support your favorite park? Invite your friends. And, heck, your frenemies too! Let them help you support your park.
• Check out the "Campaign for your park" link on the America Is Your Park site. It has lots of information and tips for supporting your park.
• Go to your park! But don't just park there. Run! Or bike, or stroll, or whatever you want to do. A busy park is a happy park. :-)
• Do you do those check-ins on Foursquare? Each check-in earns your favorite park 100 votes, so go for it! I might even be tempted to figure this Foursquare thing out...
• Tweet about it! Email about it! Get up, walk over to your neighbor's house and chat about it! 

Basically: Spread the word. For your park's sake.

If you've voted, take a minute to let me -- and others -- know which park you voted for!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Only legal residents of the 50 U.S. (and D.C.) who are at least 13 years old and reside within the U.S. at the time of participation are eligible to vote for a Park. Participate on behalf of a Park by: July 15, 2012. The 3 most popular Parks will be offered a grant and there will be 1 Wild Card drawing at the end of the Contest to award an additional grant.  To participate, for Official Rules, and complete details including grant descriptions, visit www.LivePositively.com/parks. Void where prohibited.

Marathon tips Monday: Melissa.

After a one week break, I'm back with Marathon tips Monday!

Today's tips come from one of my training partners for the New Jersey Marathon, Melissa. Melissa inspires me with her ability to run fast while pushing her 2.5 year-old daughter, Mia, in the jogging stroller. I can barely break 10 minute miles while pushing my son in that thing, but Melissa? Well, she puts me to shame. She's speedy -- in fact, she recently ran a 34-minute 4-mile race while pushing her daughter! 

Melissa crossing the finish line of her second marathon in the month of May, alongside her daughter, Mia.

Not only does this 33-year-old mother-of-one (and wife of Joe, who also runs) run fast while pushing her daughter in the stroller, she knows a thing or two about marathons. So, let's check out today's tips from Melissa:

How many marathons have you run?

6 attempted, 5 completed (2 in the month of May!)

Two marathons in one month . . . I'm always amazed when I think about that! What was your favorite marathon?

New York City, it’s like one big party the whole way. The crowds are amazing.

And what is your marathon PR?

4:23:59

What is your favorite part of marathon training?

The long runs. During my last training cycle I did my long runs with a group of amazing women (including the Happy Runner). In the past I have done my long runs by myself for the most part and always dreaded them. This time I found myself looking forward to them every week.

I felt the same way! Loved the long runs this spring. So, what is your least favorite part of training?

Probably trying to balance training with the rest of life, but I love it so with the support of my wonderful family I am able to do it.

How long do you typically train for a marathon?

I have always followed 16-18 week training plans and I run 5 days a week.

What advice would you give to runners setting out to train for their first marathon?

Ha ha!! I have a lot of good advice that I should learn to follow.

Don’t start out too fast and run your own race. I went into the New Jersey Marathon with the goal of breaking 4 hours and I knew exactly what pace I needed to maintain to get there, I even made a pace band. Instead I let myself get caught up in the race day excitement and took off like a maniac. I ran the first half with a pace 30 seconds per mile faster than I should have. I felt great and was mentally thinking how I was not only going to break 4 hours I was going to crush it. Then at around mile 16 I started falling apart. I hadn’t trained to run a marathon that fast, I should have stuck to my plan. I ended up with a 10 minute PR at 4:23:59 but I was disappointed because I knew I could have done better if I stuck with my plan. I’m still extremely proud of that race and I learned a lot from it.

What race are you training for now?

My next race is the Utica Boilermaker a 15K on July 8th. I feel like I am in good shape from just coming off a marathon training cycle so I am going to focus the next few weeks on recovery and maintaining that. After that I will be running the Hudson Mohawk Marathon in October and finally getting that sub 4 hour marathon!

I bet you'll get that sub-4 in October, for sure! Aside from running a sub-4 marathon, do you have a "dream marathon" on your list that you'd love to run some day?

There are several marathons on my dream list. One is the Big Sur Marathon in Big Sur, CA, I have seen photos of this race and it’s a beautiful course. The views are spectacular. I hope to run it in the next few years. Another one on my list is the San Diego Marathon. I had just signed up for it in 2009 and begun the first few weeks of training when I found out I was pregnant with Mia. I decided not to run it since I didn’t know how my body would handle pregnancy and running let alone attempting a marathon, plus I didn’t want to spend the money on travel across country for a race I most likely could not put my all into. I would also like to participate in a Run Disney race, either the Walt Disney World Marathon or the Disney Princess Half. They look like such fun races!

*     *     *

Awesome, Melissa! That was wise to beg off the San Diego Marathon to see how your body would handle running while pregnant. I hope you get to run San Diego someday! And, thanks for sharing your marathon advice.

You can read more from Melissa at her blog: miasmommyruns.blogspot.com. 

Or, if you have any questions you'd like to ask Melissa about her marathon experience, leave a comment and I'll pass them along!

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Felice

PS: If you would like to be featured on Marathon Tips Monday, send me an email at felicehalf at yahoo dot com.

ZOOMA announcement!

Things are a-happening over here in Happy Runnerville. Lots of good stuff!

And one of those things has some relevance for you so let me get right to it: I've been invited to be an ambassador for the new ZOOMA Cape Cod half marathon and 10K this September.

I'm super excited to be part of this race. The ZOOMA series' mission is to "inspire women to live healthy and active lives." Sounds right up my alley, huh? Yup!

So what does this all mean? Well, for starters, I'll be running the ZOOMA half marathon on September 22nd in Cape Cod. Before that, I'll be working to spread the word about the race, and writing about it here and on the ZOOMA site.

Step 1 in spreading the word is to let you know two things:

1. Cape Cod registration is open NOW! The current price is good through June 22nd but increases by $10 after that. So, if you are interested, save yourself $10 and register now!

2. But before you do that, grab my discount code! If you use my code: CCAMB5 you can save $10 on the half marathon registration or $5 on the 10K registration.

You can read all about the race on the web site HERE.

I would love to hear from anyone who is planning to run either the half marathon or the 10K ~ leave me a comment and let me know! 

Or, if you've run one of the other races in the series, let me know what you thought about it!

~ Felice