Cake is my number one priority

This may sound a little bit confusing, since I talked all about being back at work last week, but now I am officially back at work. Last week was actually optional, and only for reading teachers at my school. There's just a different feeling knowing that I actually have to show up now, as opposed to just opting in because I like getting paid more than not getting paid. Plus, I have to give all these presentations to the staff, which I'm just terrible at. Luckily, I refuse to act professional or even wear normal clothes until the last possible second, so I have one more week of living in running clothes.

As you may imagine, I'm facing a major challenge as I begin this school year: which picture of my nephew do I frame to put on my desk? I struggled enough to choose one for my phone and laptop background, and this is even more of a commitment. Every time I try to decide I just get sucked in to looking at them all and each one seems cuter than the last, and I'm left right back where I started.

Quite suspicious of the camera here

It's my sister's birthday today, so go over to her blog, wish her a happy birthday, and then give me some feedback on which picture is the cutest!

I think this picture sums up our relationship.

I got a cruel text today with a picture of the birthday cake that my mom made for my sister. It's a salted caramel cake with Nutella buttercream frosting.

CRUEL

I knew I had to have some of that cake in my life. Kari and I are going to visit when we run the Wineglass Marathon in 6 weeks. I was planning to drive home directly after the race on Sunday, but after receiving that text, I decided to fly home Monday morning instead. I texted my sister to see if she thought my mom would make it again for a post marathon dessert (she thought she would). Then I called my mom to confirm 100% that there would be cake before booking my plane ticket. I'm not proud, but after hearing "salted caramel cake with Nutella buttercream frosting", that became my number one priority in life.

I've been teaching for 7 years, and I can safely say I've never been prouder of anything a child has done.

Less than 3 weeks old and already knows the meaning of life

This morning Lily came over for a run, so it was just like the good old days! We ran 4 miles before hitting my new discovery, the high school track a mile away. I did 3 mile repeats, which were lame because they were supposed to be at an 8:00 pace, but they were 8:00, 8:06, and 8:07. But my visit wasn't wasted, I met a guy who is a super ultra marathoner - as in, he's done over forty 100 milers. He's training for some world championship 24 hour run. He's done JFK 10 times, and gave me some good advice.  

I just happened to ask if he'd ever done Umstead, the first - timer friendly 100 miler that Kara and I plan on doing eventually. It wasn't like I'd immediately recognized him from the time he wore an "Umstead" shirt to the YMCA months ago or anything. Turns out he's not only done it, he's won it. Four times. 

Just take a guess how many miles a week he usually runs to do all this. 

If you're anything like me, your guess was way too low. The answer is 190. ONE HUNDRED NINETY MILES A WEEK. And he's a regular guy with a full time job. Unbelievable. 

Which picture of Harrison should be framed on my desk for me to constantly look at to reduce my stress level at work?

How many mile did you think that guy would have run a week? I was thinking more like....90. I wanted to run 20 more miles with him and pick his brain. If work was optional this week I totally would have.