Happy Spring! Here comes June...

Jim and I celebrated our one year anniversary in May. I was really looking forward to the one year anniversary for many reasons. Initially it was a huge change when we combined households, and if I told you it was easy, I would be lying. I spent my entire adult life as a single person, and a change as large as getting married and becoming a stepmom isn't something to be taken lightly. I knew it would take some time for the household of 4 to adjust to all the changes, and I assumed at the 1 year mark we would all be well on our way. To me the one year mark symbolized that we had successfully negotiated a lot of those changes. Success!

As a side note to any new stepfamily, I highly recommend the book Smart Stepfamily by Ron Deal. People who have children but are not in a blended family are in a very different boat than those blending families, and those people will give you advice based on a completely different knowledge set. Having friends that are in similar situations to yours (thanks, Mary!) can be a real lifesaver as well. 

For our 1 year anniversary, we once again returned to the Tye Die 50K. Gina, the race director, had given us free entry into the race this year as a wedding present last year. How could we turn that down? Thanks, Gina!

Tie Dye 50K 2016

Luckily there were no sprained ankles this year. We also had plans to spend a weekend in Hocking Hills, and we had a great weekend. It is by far one of the most beautiful places in Ohio.

Old Man's Cave at Hocking Hills

Jim looking at some water falls

One of the many benefits of being married is having a bug killer on call. Of course, those who know me know I am not really scared of bugs. Those who know Jim well know he can be a bit of a goofball. Since spring has sprung, the bugs have taken to flying around the home security cameras which sends a lot of bug spam emails. I was traveling for work last week, and asked Jim to take care of a few of those bugs so the emails would stop. This was his response...

Yep folks, married life. Not quite like the movies... which is a good thing. While being married has a lot of good times and some difficult ones, getting a driveway installed apparently can be very difficult. Jim has been hard at work trying to get the plans into place for barn materials delivery, but the driveway, or lack thereof, has been causing him much stress. This is how Jim looks when he gets a driveway...

That's one very happy man! 

I am not completely sure what the next year will hold, but I am hoping the next blog post include the building of a barn. 

Land Ho!

Jim keeps threatening to write a blog post... one of these days :-). This week was a big week for the Clouse clan. After months and months, the purchaser finally closed on Jim's house. After 6+ months, it seemed as though it might be a pipe dream, but lo and behold it happened! We celebrated with a 7 mile run and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, sans cheesecake. If you know me, you know I quit cake and the like 4 years ago. Yay, me!  Poor Jim turned down the cheesecake as well but seemed happy enough with a second loaf of honey wheat brown bread.

While we were waiting for Jim's place to sell, we spent a lot of time searching online and driving around to find a spot that had everything we wanted at a price that wasn't crazy. After many miles and one false start, today we closed on 6 acres in an area where we were really hoping to find some land. So, the adventure begins!

Welcome! The Beginning of the Story.

"Hey, ever heard of the Tecumseh Trail Marathon?"

I guess that was the beginning. Jim and I had chatted in passing at different running events over the years, but neither one of us is terribly forward. I blame it on engineer brain. Jim's a computer engineer. I'm an electrical engineer who has reformed somewhat by turning into a human factors engineer.  Jim runs. I run. After a few emails back and forth, somehow we wound up running the Tecumseh Trail Marathon together. It must have been divine intervention.

I could tell you about the time years ago when I beat Jim at a half marathon one cold January 1st. Well, okay, he had just run the Huff 50K a few days before, but whatever. Apparently he looked for me after the race, but I was gone baby gone. I could also mention the time I was running in the marathon in Knoxville, TN, and thought I saw him going the opposite direction, and yelled, "Jim!" I wasn't even sure it was him so when he didn't turn around, I assumed it wasn't and kept going. I mean, why in the world would he be running a marathon in Tennessee when we both lived in Ohio??? I beat him in Knoxville, too. ;-)

Since the cold water, ice bath, mud fest that was the Tecumseh Trail Marathon, a lot has happened. Jim evened out the win / loss record. He might even be winning, but I'll never admit it. We've run many miles and races together.

Jim is a born and bred Ohioan. He has always called Ohio home. He became a runner from an early age when he ran many a mile with his dad, and he's always been a car guy.

When we first began getting to know each other, Jim told me that he had a barn where he stored his old cars. Now, I'm from Texas so I probably had some preconceived notions of what that might look like, but I was very wrong. It was decorated with big gas stations signs, some of which even light up. I have to say, it was all very impressive!

He's dad to the Madcat, and as you can tell by these pictures, he might be a little goofy. They always say you want to find someone with a sense of humor, right?! Winner, winner chicken dinner...

Minecraft Madcat and Pokemon Jim

Marine Corps Marathon

Finishing my 1st 50 miler

I am originally from Texas and have lived in New York, Maryland, Tennessee, and now Ohio. Most of those moves were courtesy of the U.S. Army. After high school, I got on a plane from Texas to West Point, New York, for one of my first big adventures.

After living in Tennessee for quite a few years and running a few ultras, I found my way to Ohio with a new job. I also found many trails and bike paths. I had never seen anything quite like it! My love of the outdoors grew and so did my relationship with God. Moving to Ohio has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.

While I enjoy living in Ohio, I also love to travel. To say Jim loves to travel is probably an understatement. Now we both have a traveling / running buddy, and I have to say, he's a a great one!