How do moms do what they do

Seeing Noah so much has been as fun as I thought it would be and as rewarding. He loves attention. He is always saying, "Daddy, daddy, daddy," before he does something he thinks is totally amazing, like telling me what a rock is, or throwing his basketball at his mini basketball hoop.

I have to admit, it is also hard work. All last week, I had Noah for about four or five hours each day by myself because they were laying tile down at Nancy's house and she didn't want him around all that dust.

When you are in charge of a 21-month-old, you have to find creative ways to do things like cook, or go to the bathroom, or even read the paper. Turns out, I don't have those skills yet of being a multi-tasking father. Because the minute I'd walk in the kitchen to try to clean up or cook something for me, Noah would either walk in the kitchen behind me, or he'd want me to play with him. So, I'd play with him and wait until he was napping to get in all my errands.

By the end of each day, I was very tired.

So, to all you mothers out there, I raise my (wine) glass to you. You should get paid for what you do. Raising children (and I only have one) is hard work.

But I'm looking forward to it.

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The job search is going slow....slow....slow. I've got a lot of contacts, and a lot of people telling me they know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who can get me a job. But right now, I'm too far away on the six degrees of separation thing. My money is still ok... for now. So, I'm not panicking. Yet.

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The weather has been so nice in Austin the last few days that I have probably run a little more than I'd planned to run so early in a marathon schedule.

Monday was in the low 60s with virtually no humidity. My original plan was to do 8 miles. I was going to do the Town Lake Boulevard/Exposition loop for about 4.5 miles then do a 4 mile loop around Town Lake. Now, I'd taken Sunday off after running 12 miles in 70-degree, 100-percent humidity on Saturday. So, needless to say, my legs were pretty fresh.

I do the neighborhood loop, then I get out on the lake, running from the foot bridge under Mopac east to 1st Street, where there is a water station set up. I was supposed to go over the First Street bridge and go back to Mopac. But at this point, I was feeling pretty good, and decided to run all the way to the I-35 bridge before turning back. (Ok, ok. There was also a very very very pretty girl running ahead of me and, well, I sorta missed the First Street turn).

So, I wound up doing 12 miles. I have never run that many miles on any day other than Saturday or Sunday. My pace for those 12 miles was 7:57, though the last 9 miles my pace was more like 7:30. It takes me a few miles to warm up before I start, "feeling good."

Anyway, I didn't feel like running at all this morning, but the weather was sooooo good that I got out and did a slow 5-miler around Town Lake, running from the foot bridge under Mopac, east to the Congress Avenue Bridge, over the bridge, and back west to my car under Mopac. It was actually 4.9 miles. Near the end of the run, when I knew it'd be 4.9 and not 5 miles, I thought about running the extra tenth of a mile just so I could put a whole number in my logbook. But, nahhhhh, why run an extra minute. So, I stopped, stretched, and drove back home.

I'll get that .10 on another day.