Filanthropy Friday

This week, Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murdering her child, Caylee Anthony. 

Just writing the words - murdering her child - gives me the shivers.

Like most, I believe that Casey Anthony did something to Caylee; however, I understand the jury's verdict.

In Caylee Anthony's honor, I donated $25 to the Polly Klaas Foundation.  

Polly was twelve years old when she was abducted from her home in California in 1993; her body was found two months later.  The Polly Klaas Foundation was created by her mother and their goals include; finding missing children, preventing child abduction and working with lawmakers to pass Amber Alert-type legislation.  Since 1993 they have helped nearly 7,000 families. 

It angers me to think of all the resources used to help find Caylee Anthony when her mother knew she had not been abducted, but hopefully my $25 will help some family some where to find their child.

Mormor!

Mormor is here!

She and Cub had a great day playing.  I absolutely love hearing about things that Cub does when he is with other people.  Apparently, he was a perfect little angel.

Here's Cub and Mormor playing with plants.  Cub finds it hilarious when Mormor sniffs the flowers.

Wordless Wednesday

Steady State Pace

Today's run was 8 miles, with a 20 minute segment in the middle reserved for steady state pace. 

Our coach described a steady state pace as approximately 85% of maximum heart rate - somewhere in between half marathon and 30K pace - my only thought, How am I supposed to go faster than 85% of maximum heart rate for an entire half marathon? 

My half marathon pace is supposed to be 9:32 - so I just decided that I would try to go faster than 10:00/mile for 20 minutes.  My plan worked and I ended up doing the entire 8 miles in an average of 10:46/mile, with the two miles in the middle being right around 9:42. 

This week Cub's school is on summer vacation (Buttin wants his money back), so Buttin and I are taking turns going into work and being at home with Cub.  We also have MorMor coming in town on Thursday and Friday.  Cub and I played this morning outside with the hose.

Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July - I'm relieved it's not a Misfit Monday.

We didn't do anything that was very 4th-of-July-y, unless you count going to Target, but we had a really nice day relaxing as a family

We had our own little parade - a parade of one kid, on his new bike.  Here he is waving to the crowd of about three people.

Time With Gigi

Gigi has been in town since Friday, so we've been playing - not blogging.

Yesterday the running schedule had our group going down in mileage.  The (only) ten mile run was a very welcomed break.  I didn't go very quickly (11:23/mile), but it felt good to stop.

Here are a couple pictures of Cub:

Filanthropy Friday

Earlier this week, my dearest friend's mother passed away.

I'm driving to Houston this morning for the funeral.

I think flowers are beautiful, but in lieu of flowers I decided to dedicate this week's Filanthropy Friday to Maria O'Neal.  In her memory, I donated $50 to The Rose. 

The Rose (four star rating on charity navigator) is a non-profit breast cancer charity in Houston that provides screening, diagnosis and access to treatment to women regardless of their ability to pay.   Maria O'Neal beat breast cancer, but it seemed like a organization worthy of donating to in her honor.