Maine

Pete and I spent the day up in Maine yesterday, just the two of us. Ann has been visiting with us for over a week and I think Pete and I have dated more in the last week than we have all year! We went to NYC with friends, to the temple, on walks and runs together and to the grocery store (that doesn't sound like that much fun, but we never get to go with just the two of us!)

Spring is a little late in Maine this year, as it is in Mass, but it was still beautiful. We went up there to run a half marathon together in Biddeford, then took a long walk on the beach and had lunch in Kennebunkport. The race was a lot of fun. I used a training plan that Pete's sister Sarah had sent me a while ago and set a goal for 1'30". A few miles into the race I kind of tossed my goal out the window, I wasn't getting the splits I wanted and just tried to keep up a pace that felt good. And then to my surprise, at mile 12 I was at 1'22" and realized that I might do it! And I did, I ended up getting 1'29"42s. Made my goal by 18 seconds. I don't think I could have gone much faster than that and felt great when I finished. I think half marathons might be my new race. After doing so many marathons, training for a half is so much more doable and, to be honest, so much more enjoyable. I don't feel like I'm going to die by the end of the race. The 2 girls that beat me were 45 and 54! Amazing runners. They looked like they were from the same running group, they were wearing matching tanks and shorts. I would so love to join some kind of running club and run with other people who love running as much as I do. Running is always more fun with other people. Maybe when the kids are a little older, all in school, I'll have time to do something like that.

After the race Pete and I took a long walk on the beach, looking at the tide pools and collecting cool rocks for the kids. Then we drove down to Kennebunkport and had lunch at Federal Jack's. While we waited for a table, we went to a little boutique and looked around. We quickly found ourselves in the kids corner of the store looking at games, toys, clothes and books. Even when we're not with the kids we can't help but think about them, talk about them, and, sometimes, wish they were with us. I guess that's the way it should be. It was great to spend most of the day alone with Pete, and it was great to come home to little faces that were excited and happy to see us.