La Familia Brophy

So you may have noticed we haven’t ben updating this blog for a while! A lot of people have been asking me why.

We’ve decided to stop using this blog. Having the blog has been great - when we started four years ago it was amazing to communicate our early days with Nathan this way. Reading through those early updates I feel like they had a lot more passion and energy than we give the blog now. I had thought I would only blog for a few months, now four years have gone by and we’re ready to let go.

We are continuing to post our photos. So if you want your regular updates bookmark La Familia Brophy on Flickr right now - it’s got the photos along with descriptions even an RSS feed if you like that kind of thing.

I’ll also be be continuing to post fresh links on benbrophy.com. Many of those are related to my work the more fun ones, listed in the diversions column on the right, are available through Ben’s Magnolia account.

So I hope we’ll see you there. Even better — I have a growing appreciation for actually talking to people and seeing them in person, so we could always fall back on older technologies.

I did it! The couch to 5k is complete! Here I am pushing towards the finish line. We need a new camera. Whatever, I am so glad I did it. As you can see I did not come in last. I also got my best time ever, not sure what it was exactly, but less than 30 minutes. Nathan ran his first race today, too.

Look Here

Jog 28 minutes with no walking

This was a rough week. I kept my time at 28 minutes, and generally felt like I’d hit a limit. Can I get any better than this at running? Still not running 5k on my runs, I’m up to about 4.6k in 28 minutes.

I now know how far 5k is. My goal is to run 5k or 30 minutes, whichever comes first, each day next week, with the hope that 5k will come first! My race (click here to donate) is September 30, just 9 days away. The race is the The Eighth Annual 5K “Run for Someone Else’s Life” Roadrace, and looke like there will be some sort of celebration after the race, in case you want to come along.

Update: I did it! I finally ran 5k, and did it in about 29:55. I’ll be happy if I can do the same thing at the race next Saturday.

(You can also see photos of Nathan’s weekend at East Hill Farm)

Nathan has had a great start to his school year (here’s he is going to his first day). He really likes going and jumps right into playing when he gets there. He has a nice group of kids to play with and his teachers are very good. So far, in typical boy fashion, he has been stuck in the block area and always “forgets” to go paint.

I was so excited for him to start up so that I could have a few hours a week to get stuff done. But I am finding that I feel a little sad leaving him and facing four quiet hours to myself. I thought I’d get more cleaning done but it turns out that it isn’t really any more fun to clean the toilet by myself than it is when Nathan is playing in the other room.

After just a few days of school it seems like Nathan is changing a bit. He’s a little more flexible and a little more independent. It could be school or it could be that he only has a few more days left as a 3 year old. It is really hard being 3 (and living with a 3 year old) so hopefully 4 will bring easier times.

He has been enthusiastically checking the mail each day looking for presents and cards. He’s much more aware of what birthdays are all about this year! It is hard not to pile on the gifts but we are trying to moderate ourselves.

Jog 25 minutes with no walking

9/1: All went smoothly today. I ran a route that was easier to figure out on the map. So I ran 2 1/3 miles this morning, or 3.77 kilometer. That’s a bit closer to 5k than I’d feared. I was also totally wiped out after the run, after I’d got home and showered I felt sort of weird and faint – some water an big bowl of peanut butter bumpers made me feel better. Now my body is craving a big serving of Peanut Chicken with brown rice, I suspect it will be an early lunch today.

9/4: I got my first real cramp, in my ribs on the right side. I was able to run through it, though. Lot’s of college students are back in town, running past me.

9/6: I loved my run this morning. I did two loops of Western Avenue to JFK around the river, so it’s an easily measurable distance. 2.6 miles or 4 kilometers! I’m almost there! I ate two fried egg sandwiches and half a mango when I got home and I’m still hungry.

It turns out that when you have fish for lunch everyone in the house shows up. Two of the guys in this photo are usually fast asleep at lunch time….

I went to the Shakira concert last night with some friends who also have Colombian ties. I actually don’t know her latest album aside from the cover song but I had a pretty good time since she played some of her older (and better) tunes too.

Friday: Jog 5 minutes, Walk 3 minutes, Jog 8 minutes, Walk 3 minutes, Jog 5 minutes

8/25: My first experience jogging in the rain. It didn’t start raining heavily until I was almost done. Can’t say I loved it, seems like I might have the chance to try it out again on Monday.

Monday: Jog 10 minutes, Walk 3 minutes, Jog 10 minutes

8/28: I savored my last walking break listening to a Yo La Tengo song. The psychological difference between looking straight ahead while running rather than staring at the ground right in front of me struck me while crossing the Western Avenue bridge. I am tempted to go into all sorts of surfer-philosophy based on this realization.

Wednesday: Jog 25 minutes with no walking

8/30: I made it through today’s record breaking 25 minute run. I actually ran an extra minute. I had an all Clash mix today, but I couldn’t remember what the last song was. As a result when the iPod finished and started over with ‘London Calling’ again, I wasn’t sure if I’d heard that. All of those songs are so familiar anyway. When I heard “Phony beatlemania has bitten the dust’ I remembered that I had definitely heard this song 25 minutes ago. Mind like steel trap, I’m telling ya. I wound up with a long walk home Because I wasn’t sure when to stop. By the time I got home Lisa was starting to get worried about me.

It’s all jogging from here on out. it’s hard not to notice that I am the slowest runner out there. Also I have yet to run 5k. I am so going to be last in that race. I have to remember that I’m racing myself, and I can’t really lose in that situation, as long as I finish the course.