26.2 in the Snow and Christmas Letter

Saturday was the Pigtails Flat Ass marathon. Eric, Michelle, Jenny and I carpooled up and met Steve, Linda and Jessica at the start. Michelle and Jessica ran together and the rest of us ran the majority of the race together with a few speedsters turning their jets on at the end. I wish I had jets at the end, but I did not, oh well.

There was about an inch or two of snow on the trail and the muscles really felt it the 2nd half of the race. Jenny kept me moving despite my lack of willpower. I have a long way to go to get into shape (I understand the term "in shape" is relative) and I think it's going to take a bit more than just running marathons on the weekends. My body does well the more it runs and I felt the fatigue out there. Another marathon in the books. It was a slow one in just a little over 5 hours. We definitely took it leisurely and I slowed at the end, but it was a beautiful day out there and the snow was enjoyable.

If you're only interested in the running you can skip the next part. Here's a virtual copy of the Christmas Letter I sent to friends and family. Since I don't have all of your addresses, but consider you friends just the same. I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, 2008!

Another year has gone by in the Hester household. It was a good year by all accounts.

Tyler will be 4 years old in January and keeps the girls on their toes. If he has a bat in his hands when you see him you might want to be careful when approaching. He has recently discovered computer games within the past few months and there are times when it is difficult to pry him off. He navigates Nick Jr. dot com like a pro and also enjoys playing with the girls Nintendo DS. He loves going running with mom in the stroller, but we imagine he might grow out of the stroller here in the next year. The most exciting news for Tyler, and most of all us, was potty training. We decided to take the procrastination stance and argued back and forth about who was going to potty train Tyler. Jessica insisted that I should since I am a boy (man), and I insisted she should since she potty trained all the girls and is the expert. We both held our ground. Finally, in September after school had started he decided that he no longer wanted to wait for us. He has been diaper free ever since.

Katelynn is now in the 2nd grade at Bonney Lake Elementary. She is following in the footsteps of her older sisters and is doing exceptionally well in school. She is meeting, and in many cases, exceeding the standards for 2nd grade and according to her teacher is a delight to have in the classroom, although at times she can be social. You don’t have to be a teacher to know that means she talks a lot. She will be participating in the school talent show in January performing jokes with two of her best friends. Last May, she was able to capture the Hester girl title for the kid’s marathon at the Tacoma City Marathon beating both of her sisters. She ran the final 1.2 miles after completing a series of physical activities a month prior and ran almost the entire way.

Emily is now in the 4th grade at Bonney Lake Elementary. Last year was her first WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning- State Test) year and she passed with flying colors. Due to her exceptionally high score in math she has been nominated to be tested for the gifted program. At first, she had doubts about wanting to give it a shot, but now she is excited for the opportunity it may provide. Emily is in the school choir and most recently sang at the fire station in Bonney Lake for their annual Christmas tree lighting. She will be playing her first year of indoor soccer in January and February with some of her friends from school. Over the summer she participated in a UK led soccer camp and had a great time. We have always taken the stance that we were not going to force our kids into sports, well maybe Tyler, and so we were excited when she asked us if she could play. Hopefully, she will continue to pursue soccer and other activities in the future.

Loralie is now in the 6th grade at Lakeridge Middle School. That’s right, middle school! She has become an exceptional student and also passed all portions of the WASL last year, including her first year of science, which is impressive since she is not a huge fan of the science fair, just so you know. Her first report card brought home all A’s and a B. We’re glad that she is not mimicking her father’s efforts in middle school. She is involved in the recycling club and yearbook club and has many friends that seem to want to spend the night all the time. Trips to hang out at the mall have begun already as well. Thankfully there are no boys that we know about yet. She will be attending a state leadership conference in Seattle for 4 days where she will be staying at a hotel all by herself, well without her parents anyways. A huge thank you to all of you who donated money so that she is able to attend!

Jessica continues to work at Burlington Coat Factory in the Linens department at the Supermall. They appreciate her greatly there and she is most certainly the hardest worker around. She prides herself on the merchandise displays she creates and this helps feed her artistic talents. She works mostly nights and weekends so that one of us is always home with the kids, well, unless Rob is off running a marathon, but that’s a topic for the next paragraph. Jessica also enjoys scrap booking when she finds the time and loves to make Christmas jewelry trees for family members, which are a highly coveted item. Maybe most surprising to some of you is that Jessica has caught the running bug this year, although she still claims she is not a runner. This October she completed her first marathon at the Portland Marathon. I believe there will be more to come as well.

Rob is enjoying his 2nd year of teaching at Keithley Middle School in the Franklin Pierce School District. He is a special education teacher and is fortunate to be teaching all math this year. The school is a very diverse school with a large minority population and about 65% of its population living in poverty. He plans on taking this year away from his graduate studies and completing his Master of Education degree in the spring of 2010. Most of you know that he loves to run. Rob hopes to complete 20 marathons or ultras this year and in August finished his 2nd 100 miler. His times are getting slower, but he is thankful to have the ability to participate in a sport he loves that provides him the opportunity to see some beautiful mountain ranges and express his addictive personality in a productive manner. This last point may be debatable, but let’s not go there.

We feel truly blessed by God that he has provided us with the family and friends that we have in our life. There are times that we bicker, argue and complain, but we know that we are fortunate to have a loving family, great friends, a roof over our head and food on our table. We pray that all of you find yourselves happy with your life and thankful for what you have.

With love,

Rob, Jessica, Loralie, Emily, Katelynn and Tyler

Snow Day, Secret Plans and Facebook

I am at home enjoying a snow day, which will allow me to spend a chill day relaxing and hanging with the family, catching up on blogs, maybe do some reading and check out the movie "Indulgence" featuring Anton Krupicka. I love snow days. We had a late arrival on Monday, which I thought meant that teachers get to be late as well, but I guess per our contract we are supposed to be on time, with the understanding not to risk our safety. Today, the news listed my school district as 2 hours late so I put on my good employee shoes and headed out the door to make it to school at the regular time. As soon as I arrived in the parking lot I got an automated phone call from the district canceling school. It was a nice 1 hour drive round trip.

My secret plans can only remain a secret if no one knows. That's not really the case. I have a sidebar filled with races. I have mentioned my plans to those in the run club, at least some of them, as well as discussed them with my wife. I am not sure that my plan can pan out, but why not give it a try. My reasoning is partially based on earning another star and elevating my Maniac status to one below the ultimate level of ten stars, which is actually two below because there is no 9 star option, which would put me at 8 stars. If you check out the criteria maybe you can figure out the route I will try and take. I can tell you it's the shortest route as far as time frame goes.

Finally, you can now find me on facebook. I am not sure who out of all of you are on facebook, but if you would like to add me as a friend please do so. I won't ignore you. It's been fun catching up with some friends from high school and even as far back as elementary school. I've only been signed up for a few days now, but I am addicted. Surprise, surprise!

Happy Running!

Pushups and More

The pushup challenge is going well, but it doesn't always seem so. During the week of the triple I decided to only complete 2 of the 3 days of week 4 so I didn't jeopardize my energy reserves too much. I was struggling with the week and figured I would have to repeat it anyways. I repeated week 4 last week and managed to successfully complete the first 2 days without fail. Day 3 was a different story.

I managed to knock out the first 2 of the 5 sets, but totally collapsed on the final 3 sets and only managed 25 on my max set that was supposed to be 40. I took a day of rest and did an exhaustion, or max out set today to see if I would go on to week 5, or possibly back to week 3. I should also mention that there are also 3 levels within each week, with level 3 being the most difficult. I performed the test and was able to do 45 pushups before collapsing to the ground. Thus, I will move on to week 5 and remain in the level 3 column. I suppose I should be happy, but I was hoping for a respite. Week 4 was brutal and week 5 is even more so.

Other than that, I am looking forward to Christmas break. I have a few runs scheduled including a marathon this coming Saturday. I have more plans in the works, but am still working on all the details before I feel like opening it up for public scrutiny. There are always critics out there, or as my middle schoolers would call em, HATERS :)

Happy Running!

Seattle Marathon- Day 3

It was a great day out there for marathon number 3. I planned to run with Michelle and Jenny the entire way and did just that. The weather was cool and foggy and perfect for running. Michelle stayed strong the entire day and my legs felt good. Almost fresh, if I dare say it. It made for a pleasurable run with friends.

The highlights of the race were on the out and backs where we were able to see all of the other Maniacs and friends and were able to cheer each other on. Also, Jenny and I ran into Starbucks around mile 18 and got egg nog lattes for us and a soy chai for Michelle. The volunteers got a kick out of us running by with the cups in hand as we were trying to catch back up with Michelle. We all dumped them into our bottles and enjoyed them as we ran.

The conversation kept us going the second half and I was able to get about 12 oz. of beer around mile 22 and then Krispy Kreme not too far afterward. The finish was a welcome sight and it felt good to be done. By all accounts the triple was a success. I ran hard the first two days and enjoyed day three with friends. On to the next adventure...