Can it really be 7 years already?

Monday, June 14th.

June 14th always brings several emotions my way! Today is the anniversary of buying our house and moving to Harvard, Illinois. Seven years ago today, we left the great Hawkeye state and ventured out on our own for the first time. I was so excited to be a homeowner, so sad to be pregnant and so far away from my family, nervous to be studying for the bar exam, scared to death that I would not pass. I am sure I could go on and on with the raw emotions I felt on that hot June day.

Looking back, I am so glad that we moved to Harvard. Yes, you read that correctly:) Over the past 7 years, I have been blessed to have met so many great people; people I now call my best friends. After successfully passing the bar exam, I took a great job, which has been such a blessing in my life as well. Looking back, I would not have expected all that I have achieved in 7 years. My babies have grown up here, and truly love Harvard as well!

This June 14th is also pretty important because it marks the first day of my 18 week marathon training plan. If I run every mile of the plan I will run 591.2 miles by October 17, 2010. The plan also includes cross training every Monday. I think I will do the bike at the gym tonight. I set up a training log notebook last night to hopefully do a better job of tracking my runs during this training session. I am also trying to train for the 3 Day walk. I got up at 5:00 this morning, and walked a little over 4 miles before work today. My plan is to keep walking in the morning, and do the marathon training plan in the evening. I will try to update once a week with how its going. I am really excited for this marathon because so many of my family members have committed to this race. Both my brothers, Jasen and Trent, have started training for the full marathon as well. One of the groomsmen in our wedding, Tim, is also running the full with us! I am praying for my friend, Beth, to be able to join us for the full as well. Beth and I shared our first full marathon experience together in Kenosha, and I would LOVE to have her there in Des Moines as well! Also joining us in Des Moines is Dani and Justy! I was supposed to run my first full marathon with Justy in Hawaii, but due to injuries, I only did the half. Dani has done 2 halves and is ready to try for the full! It will be so cool to have so many people I know on the course! My sister Nitasha and her husband Ryan, as well as my sister-in-law Amy, are all planning on doing the half marathon! I can't wait to have all my friends and family there; it should be a great experience!