Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween again, and this year it falls on a Friday, which is always fun. I remember how hard it was as a little kid to get excited about going out trick-or-treating, and then the letdown of having to go to school the next day. I know a lot of people have wild and crazy Halloween plans involving drunk escapades and skimpy costumes, but my plans are a bit more tame this year. My sister is coming over to my mom's house with her three kids (ages 2, 4, and 6), and Uncle D and I are taking them trick-or-treating while my mom and sister stay behind and prepare dinner, hand out candy, and drink wine. We did this last year, and it was actually SO much fun. I love getting to see how excited the kids get, how cool they think it is that Uncle D is taking them out, and how they carefully filter through their candy, separating the good from the bad, trying to trade with one another, and figuring out how to gorge on as much as they can before their mom takes it away for the night.

Tomorrow morning is another 6am long run (7 miles this Saturday), so that is a small part of my tame Halloween plans. I was forced to miss last weekend's long run because of work, and I'll be forced to miss next weekend's as well. I've gotten back on track with my weekly runs this week, but I still feel like I have a long way to go, and a lot to make up. I'm going to try my hardest to stick with the program as best I can from now till marathon day. Life comes up, but I need to make this a priority. The fundraising has been the easy part for me. People have been so incredibly generous, but I need to remember the commitment that I made to follow through by taking on this challenge and doing more than just asking people for money. I want to be a living example of the good that comes from their donations. Not only am I back in good health, but I'm attempting to get in the best shape of my life, motivated by wanting to do better and be more in my post-cancer life.

I'll turn off those musings for a while. Needless to say, I've been getting down on myself lately for letting myself slack. I just need to keep remembering why I am doing this, and no matter how hard it might seem, it's nothing compared to what I have been through.

Anyway, Sunday is a joint birthday party for nephew Charlie (who just turned 5), and niece Ann-Marie (who turns 3 in November). Uncle D and I have some birthday gift shopping to do. It's tough getting stuff for kids who seem to have every toy known to man. Maybe we'll just end up getting the fun toys we want, and then making excuses to go over there and play with them :).