A two-month review

My goodness, it's been a while since I've posted! Here's a quick (well, sort of quick) synopsis of the last couple of months:

The entire Prairie Spirit Trail run was wonderful.
It scratched the itch I had for multi-day long quiet runs.
It also heightened my desire to work through the list of Rail Trails.
So many marvelous miles, so little time!



Through April and into May, I had the privilege and joy of coaching a girls running club at Kendall's elementary school. What a fantastic group! And what a fantastic community to be coaching in. I cold-called a number of athletes in the area to invite them to join us and had an overwhelming positive response: Sara Slattery, Colleen DeReuck, Coach Ceal Barry - and my running buddies (to show that friendship is also a benefit of running in addition to fitness) all helped out with the young runners. It was such a successful experience, Kendall (the school's librarian) and I will be doing a Running and Reading Club this summer.

The girls jumping with their new shoes - donated by Mark Plaatjes & Boulder Running Company

May also saw two family celebrations. One of my cousins came to visit (a rare occurrence for our midwest oriented family). In fact, she had the honor of christening our newly remodeled guest room. She also was the official courier for delivering the gift from that branch of the family to my brother in celebration of his 60th birthday. And that was the second of the family celebrations. Yes, my brother turned 60. And to do it up right, his birthday party was a Vaughan + Miller talent show - which turned out to be one of the most fun parties we've ever hosted. Talent ranged from story telling to comedy to magic tricks to dancing, fiddling, guitar playing (with yodeling!), and singing. A fabulous afternoon!

Great niece Kira, me, my brother Dave, and my son Devon doing the twist at Dave's 60th bday party

May's finale' was the Bolder Boulder with many family and friends running followed by Memorial Day tributes and elite athlete race finishes in the stadium...one of the best community events I've ever experienced. Icing on the cake: I beat my age in the 10k. A good day.

Now June is here. AND PAUL'S COLLEGE GRADUATION!!!! Yes, tomorrow we leave for Knox College, Paul graduates on Saturday, we head up to Petoskey on Sunday, return to Knox on Friday so Paul can go to a friend's wedding, then it's back to Boulder and summertime in the Rockies - with our entire family here to enjoy it. Weeehaww!!!