Gage is 15!

This kid here... What can I say? He's livened my life up for 15 years today. Been a blessing the whole way. Now he's pushing me to be a better runner and all around better version of myself. Happy birthday Gage. Love you bunches.





We ran the St. Jude's 5k run this morning and he placed 3rd overall, but was .3 seconds behind #2. I ran a personal best with a chip time of 27:59. I got 7th in the females. 

Ryker is 9!

Well here it is, 9 years later! This boy came flying into this world and has been a joy since. He is the calm in the storm. Literally the middle child with the calmest disposition out of all of them. Love you Ryker! We went to see Home at the movies and ate some cupcakes that I made. He is a pretty simple boy. All the boys party is next Sunday. Gage's birthday is next Saturday. It's a busy month.

Therapist post of the day! Answering the age old question of how is addiction a disease and not just a choice?

Had a discussion earlier about this and it's been heavily on my mind since. Many debate this and yes semantics get too much in the way at times. But there is importance in understanding how and why addiction is a disease and not JUST about choices. 
Let me explain it the best way I can. Let’s use heart disease. I think all can agree heart disease is a disease. It is related to a dysfunction of the heart, an organ in the body. One can either be born with this or develop it over time. There is a varying spectrum in the seriousness of different people’s heart disease. One person can have a slight dysfunction and require simple lifestyle changes to treat it, such as exercise and healthy diet. Other more serious versions require medication and/or surgery as well as lifestyle changes. Unfortunately there are those with the slighter version that refuse to make those changes. This in turn causes worse symptoms of the disease and could potentially lead to death. And sometimes those with more serious forms of the disease can continue treatment and make lifestyle changes and live a long happy life. Now how does this relate to addiction? Addiction is a disease. It is a disease of the brain, an organ in the body. Individuals with this disease have altered chemical makeup and different brain patterns of someone who does not have an addiction. These patterns can be from birth, passed down from parents, or it can be created by bad lifestyle choices. In the end the brain has a dysfunction that alters the person brain, again an organ in the body. Now like the person with heart disease a person with an addiction can have varying levels of severity of this disease. One individual can have this dysfunction and choose to seek treatment and make lifestyle choices to prevent further decline. Some individuals with a severe form can make the choice but they require very intense treatment, such as a medical detox to prevent physical symptoms, which have been known to cause death. Some of these symptoms include seizures and severe pain. They have to continue to stay the course of treatment the remainder of their life. These individuals cannot partake in substances without fear of falling back into the same behaviors or triggering the dysfunction in the brain, once again. Some individuals are less affected by this dysfunction and are able to make lifestyle choices to remove themselves completely from this addictive behavior. To them it is much easier because: 1, the dysfunction has not been made more severe by long term usage, or 2. they were not born with the severe form of this dysfunction. In saying all of this, as with any disease there is an element to choose to treat or not to treat. Some are deadly and even with treatment it may do no good. Addiction can be treated, and one must choose to treat it. Unfortunately many choose altered brain chemicals over their families and living in general. Many fear being sober and what that may mean for their life. But it is indeed a disease. You still have a right to be angry with someone choosing not to treat it, just as you can get angry at someone who chooses not to take their insulin for their diabetes.
Here is a great website with more info. on addiction.

Second race of the week

Gage's 2nd 5k of the week and my first 5k after my my 10k took place yesterday. Gage won 1st overall male with an awesome time of 19:15. I beat my PR by over a minute and a half with a 28:15. I got 7th in my age division but it was bigger age gap than usual and the times were awesome. This was our first race in the cooler weather. 

Run 4 a child, 5k and 10k

Officially my first 10k. Gage ran the 5k. He got 5th overall and 1st in his age group. I ran a better pace than I thought (10:03) and got 6th in my division. I am more than happy with it. Honestly I prefer the 10k to the 5k because I can go slow my first mile and not feel like a race horse right out of the shoot. I was going to do a 15k next month, but it falls right on one of Gage's XC races. Instead I signed up for another 10k the week prior, only it's a trail run. Different mindset, but I want to run trails too, so I need to start somewhere.