The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

Summer 2019, you were so good to us! Two big trips down the Cape, lots of time on various beaches, a big kid who can ride her bike on two wheels like a champ, Annie's first summer camp and so much time outside, with each other and with our favorite people all summer long. Maddie heads back to school tomorrow and then Annie follows her in on Monday for her very first day of school ever. And just like that, we have both kids in school. Sweet, bittersweet and all the underlying anxiety for Mama to absorb the change, but I know it is going to be nothing but great. Annie is totally ready to be there and we still get the best of both worlds by having our glue/aka nanny in the afternoons with them. Life really worked itself out as best as could this season of life, and for that I am so thankful. I cannot wait to watch them grow and live their best little lives this next year. This fall is going to be a whole new world for us with new activities, different schedules and me having such...

Sunday marked my sixth take on 26.2 miles in six years, which is pretty crazy for me to even write because in six years I have been postpartum and breastfeeding (twice), had three jobs, bought a house, celebrated 8 years of marriage, been surrounded by dozens of wonderful friends and yet still have had zero years of prior history with running or being any sort of athlete. But here I am, a marathoner 6 times over, with my most recent being my fastest one yet at 4:15:37, which is at least an hour faster than my first and just over 4 minutes faster than my last. I am happy, for sure. Happy that I have a body that can carry me those miles, happy to have a running club to spend hundreds of training miles with and happy to have a partner and family willing to cover dance class and Target runs and not get mad when I fall asleep before everyone else during movie night after a Saturday long run. Also, so happy to have my "off season" from training. Here is the thing that they don...

Tomorrow morning Matt and I are getting on a plane and flying to New Orleans! Not a strange thing to read on this blog because we are always adventuring off somewhere. The next day I am running the Louisiana Marathon. Again, not out of the ordinary, we like to sign up for marathons in other states. But here is the kicker: it is just us. As in, just the two of us (go ahead, sing it right out loud). For the first time EVER. Well, since we became three, and then four. Yup, the last time Matt and I slept in the same room together without a child in the house was six years, one month, and three weeks ago. Also known as the night before Madeleine was born. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? Let me tell you - I am going to go to bed at a ridiculously early hour stark raving sober tomorrow night, get up and attend a 26.2 minute mass presided over by a marathon running priest and then I am going to (hopefully) run the fastest 26.2 miles I have ever run. And then. We party! The marathon is in Baton ...

I am not sure where to start with this post, what witty or cute thing to say, so I am just going to skip that and let this picture do the talking: I ran a marathon! Yep, twenty six point two miles later, I am a marathon finisher and I am feeling pretty darn good about it. The bottoms of my feet are sore, but the rest of my body feels totally great, which means I trained well and didn't push myself too hard on race day. It also means that I need new running shoes, apparently about 800 miles was my limit on my trusty Brooks . The race was pretty amazing for a number of reasons The weather was perfect - cool and sunny with some splashes of cloud breaks to keep from being too bright or hot. The views were beautiful and varied - the Newport mansions, the ocean and lots of greenery - oh New England, you beautiful thing  you. The spectators were awesome - there was a group at mile twenty banging on pots and pans and waving a flag and cheering their hearts out who could not h...