Chronicles of a Retired Suburban Skatemom

Welcome to Suburbia South

Let me clear out the toys so you can sit down.

	Who: Skatemom -- 37, married 14 years as of August 2007, two kids, full-time job
	What: Trying to keep it all together, and sometimes document my little life on this and related pages
	Where: Suburbia South, AKA Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
	When: Whenever I find a convergence of time and energy to update
	Why: Because Batgrl made me
	How: I don't ask questions like that. It's all the Bat's fault.

Things that keep me busy these days:

Skating

My older son "The Elder Child" used to be a competitive inline speed skater, skating between 3-5 times a week. We live around the corner from the rink. After a particularly bad show at regionals in his third year of competition, he transitioned to ice speed skating, then to hockey. He now is a full-time hockey player. But he also runs with me, and in July 2006 completed a triathlon, finishing DFL, but finishing nonetheless. He's my rock star.

DinoBoy

The "baby" of the family is DinoBoy. He is 6 years old and keeps us all busy and highly entertained. He can properly identify about 47 kinds of dinosaurs, as well as re-enact pretty much any Disney, Pixar or Dreamworks movie released in his lifetime. He also is a burgeoning film buff and enjoys the original versions of King Kong and War of the Worlds, in black and white, to the remakes. He took beginner lessons at the rink nearby, but as he doesn't have a competitive bone in his body, he's not into speed or racing. This spring, he'll start T-Ball. Wahoo!

Work

I just took a job traveling 4 days a week, doing higher education computer system consulting. This should be interesting.

Home

We moved into our house long enough ago that it's time to start re-doing things. The inside's mostly done, but now the exterior still needs some personalization. However, my rose garden now has four wonderfully gorgeous bushes. I got the first one for Mother's Day the 2nd year we lived in the house, and the garden will be quite lovely when I'm done with it in about three years. Mostly, I'm content with keeping the floors from getting too sticky, the counters wiped off and the laundry mostly done. Life to too short for housework.

Running

I learned to run while i was in college (thank you, Joe Acebo, wherever you are!). I ran in grad school, mostly to avoid writing my thesis. Kept it up sporadically after/between having kids. I've completed five marathons now -- White Rock in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the 30th Annual Marine Corps Marathon in October 2005, and the Miracle Match Marathon in Waco in October 2006. I am currently training for a fall race -- I've put in for New York, but if my number doesn't come up I'll have to find a backup. I run about a 10:00 mile if I'm doing a 5K or less, but slow down to about an 11:15 mile or more if I'm going long. I am a runner. I never have purported to be a FAST runner -- my marathon PR is 5:13, and I think I'd be hard pressed to beat that, although I know one day I'll break 5:00. I'm just not sure when, and I'm content to keep at it until it happens.

I use my blog to keep track of my running, my weight battles and general family life. Join me.