She Runs By Faith

(Repost from IG with some deets at the end) On Saturday, I ran the Fargo Marathon for Marathon #19! There is a lesson to learn from every marathon and yesterday’s was: Even when things don’t go according to plan, NEVER GIVE UP‼️ Back when the miles felt smooth :)  I went in with an aggressive “A” goal, overshot my pacing (oye 🙄) and hit a pretty hard wall wayyy too early in the race. After mile 10, I started to fade and knew that my current pacing wasn’t sustainable for the next 16.2 miles. I was passed by many runners at that point and really battled it out in my mind for the rest of the race. Somewhere around the 25th mile of the race, a half marathon runner yelled, “the lead is only 4 minutes ahead, GO GET HER!” I said, “thank you!”, and gave her a thumbs up but was very doubtful that I could catch anyone with how miserable I felt. How not to pace a marathon... I kept trucking at whatever pace I could keep, feeling pretty tense and disappointed in how I executed this race

It's been too long since my last homeschool update; time runs away from me. Our previous school year ended abruptly and in a hard way, when my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer after Mother's Day. We completed our state testing requirements much earlier in the school year and well-exceed Minnesota's required number of school days, so we stopped the school year a week early and went to grandma & grandpa's farm to spend time together.  That's the beauty of homeschooling. There is room for flexbility, swapping around days/weeks, starting or ending early and even taking school on the road with us.  Life has been a bit different ever since then but we have made so many great memories even during tough times! Having Christmas together as a family at my parents' farm was a miracle in itself.  ---- We soaked in the summer as much as possible - full of farm things, swim lessons, 4-H, fairs, a trip to Mt. Rushmore, family time, baseball - and then started sc