Birthday Post, Part 2 - And Post #500!!!

First, a blogging note. This is post number 500 for me on this blog. Whoa! I originally started the blog to chronicle events leading up to my first marathon, but I guess blogging became a habit which was hard to shake :-)

I did end up getting my run in during an early lunch break. I did the same 6 mile Yasso 800 interval workout as last week. The one difference is that today I ran it without my heart rate monitor.

You see, I own two heart rate monitors - my old Polar (the watch went kaput last year, but the strap still works - and the treadmills at the gym read the signal from that strap), and the Garmin which I use when I run outside. When I packed my gym bag this morning, I made sure to put my heart rate monitor strap in the bag. However, when I went to put it on at the gym, I found that I packed the fabric connector strap of the Garmin, with the electrodes plastic strap of the Polar. And of course these two are not compatible. So no HRM for me on today's run.

After the run, I went to California Tortilla for my free birthday burrito! Then back to work...

Tonight was my fundraiser at The Star Diner. It was hugely successful - I had over 100 people there, and at one point there was over a 30 minute wait for a table (so much for Wednesday nights being slow!) I'll find out tomorrow how much money I made. I should have a few pictures to post as well.

It's My Birthday!

Today is my birthday. I'm now 38 years old. In only two years I'll be 40 - UGH!

I'm going to try not to dwell on getting older and things like that. My body reminds me of this every day :-)

It should be a nice day, though. My work schedule doesn't seem too hectic. I'm planning to run during my lunch break (although I just got invited to a conference call at 12:30pm - so I either need to take my lunch break early or late...). And tonight I'm holding my fundraiser at The Star Diner - so I'll see lots of friends and celebrate!!

Also, I got a nice surprise this morning. Sherry and the boys gave me an awesome birthday present - a race bag from Mile 22 which sports lots of my race bibs! Check it out:

A Look Back Over The Past Year...

Today is my birthday, so I've taken some time to reflect over the past year.

Wow!

First of all, I don't think I have ever had such an outpouring of people who remembered my birthday.  Thank you Facebook!  (here's my profile...feel free to friend me if you are a frequent blog reader).

It's hard to believe all that I have accomplished over the past 12 months.  There are obvious ones here - running a full marathon and starting a blog and keeping up with it regularly.  Professionally I have made big strides - completing Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification within my company and being assigned to the largest project I have had to date.  I started an Israeli Dance group for families at my synagogue which has a dedicated base of participants such that I will be able to continue the group this next school year.  Another accomplishment I had with my synagogue is that I learned the trope (cantillation for chanting scriptures) that is used for the books of Ruth and Song of Songs and chanted parts of those books during the holidays of Shavuot and Pesach.  I also made new running friends - via the blogosphere and RunningAhead - and reconnected with many other old friends - mostly through Facebook.

All of these were "additions" during the past year.  Many of the other activities that I was doing beforehand (co-leading the Yesodot Israeli Dance Troupe, reading Torah at our synagogue twice a month) I am still doing.

I also had the joy of watching my children grow.  My older son, Doron started and completed his first year of Elementary School at the Charles E Smith Jewish Day School.  He is starting to become computer savvy - he can navigate to Yahoo! Kids, Nickelodeon, PBS Kids and Webkins websites and be entertained (for much too long!).  He also just lost his first tooth today!  In the last twelve months my younger son, Matan, has also developed tons.  He has started to talk in complete sentences.  He is no longer in a crib and no longer in diapers.  Every day he does something - or says something - new that just amazes us.

As I get older, I tend to think that the birthdays are not such big milestones anymore.  So, it's my 37th birthday today - so what???  However, reflecting over the past year I see that it is a big deal and that I continue to make big strides in my life even though it may not seem like it on a day-to-day basis.

OK...enough blogging.  I'm going to get some core exercises in and then get some ICE CREAM to celebrate!!!