Thursday, April 27, 2006

Happy Birthday Lola and Shea!

Today is the twins’ fifth birthday, and they got very excited (again) about presents. Five years ago Niamh and me agreed resolutely not to gender-stereotype them, ever. But, five years later, all our intentions are in tatters. They are old enough to know what they want, and the presents reflect that. Shea got some Dinosaurs (and a volcano!) and a dinosaur story with him as the main character. Lola got a princess bed and a story of a ballerina, with her as the main character. Can you get any more stereotypical? Oh Dear!

The running is going very well indeed. I did a slow recovery run yesterday, and another 9 miles today, with a few strides thrown in for good measure. I felt great all the way. Getting up at 6:10 am is much easier now than it was during the winter, because it’s already very bright. One thing I must be much more disciplined about is going to bed early. I didn’t get enough sleep when training for Connemara, and when I'm training for Dublin I must plan for the fact that Shea usually wakes at 6 and I’m unlikely to sleep for another minute after that.

The weather is absolutely gorgeous at the moment. Niamh took all the children for a pick nick in the Killarney National Park, while I had to waste my time in the office. Life just isn’t fair!

26 Apr: 6 miles, 57:13, 9:32 pace
27 Apr: 9 miles, 1:13, 8:06 pace

12 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday to Shea and Lola! Funny how the boy/girl thing comes through no matter what you do. I see it all the time at preschool. Just the way it goes.

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  2. Happy birthday to your children.
    There’s a National Park near your house: I think you and your family live in a beautiful town

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  3. Happy b-day to your kids! I think it's fun to see how they separate in gender with every year:)

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  4. I love the ongoing adventures with Cian! You would think that twins would be challenging enough, be he seems to be outdoing them quite emphatically.

    Good luck in your half this weekend.

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  5. Happy b-day to your kids.. :)...a kids invasion...must be crazy :0.

    Yes...gettnig at 6 is no prob now since the sun is up earlier.

    I still have the shoes Thomas. If u want them let me know.

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  6. Happy burpday to the twins -

    Good running to you as well, and I'll let you know how Belfast was by Monday evening I hope, if I'm still in one piece :)

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  7. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHEA AND LOLA!!!!!
    Great fun kids birthdays :)

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  8. Happy B Day to the daddy, it proves that you can do it! I mean survive parenthood!

    Before we know it these little ones are gonna be running in the local fun runs!

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  9. sounds like a wild party, I'm amazed your house is still standing. Good luck in the 1/2. You're strong from all the hard training so go out conservatively and then pick off runners at the end with your endurance. Enjoy!

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  10. Happy Belated birthday to the twins. At least you had the intention of not playing into the gender sterotypes, but it is very hard not to when they are set on what they want. I hope you all had a great day.

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  11. Happy birthday to the twins! My wife and I tried not to gender-stereotype our kids, too. Our daughter turned out to be a girly girl, and our son's first word (before mama or dada) was "backhoe".

    It is much easier getting up when the sun is up, isn't it?

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  12. happy birthday shea and lola!!!

    we've tried to not gender-stereotype Ash, and yet he still loves dinosaurs and cars (although he does say pink is his favorite color).

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