We have had a busy week or so lately.  First, on Sunday Nov 18 I ran my sixth marathon.  This was in Philadelphia, and I acheived a new personal best time for me, 3:48:12.  It was only 44 seconds faster than I did in Cincinnati, but it's something.  I was hoping to do better, but I'll take it.

 

Then this week for Thanksgiving, we went to my cousin's house just outside of Philly for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was a lot of fun, but we are beginning to learn that it's much more difficult to travel with a child than it was when it was just the two of us.

 

And then yesterday was Jillian's Christening.  We had a lot of family and friends in from out of town, and it was a very special day.  Jillian behaved like a little angel the entire time.  She slept thru much of it, but she was nice and quiet even when she was awake.  So far we seem to be blessed with a terrific baby.  And Maggie and I couldn't be happier.

First of all, I really should finally say something about the Red Sox winning the World Series again!  The Sox sure had a great run thru the playoffs.  Yes, they were down 3-1 to the Indians at one point.  But even then, I still had confidence that they would come back and win the series.  I guess this is the difference in a post-2004 Red Sox world.  Without that championship in 2004, I certainly would have expected the Sox to whimper away against the Indians.  But after 2004, I have a new sense of confidence that they can overcome little things like that.  And overcome they did.  The Red Sox closed out the playoffs in amazing fashion, and left no doubt in the World Series.  Yes, it feels strange to have the Red Sox on top of the baseball world.  But it's a good feeling.

 

By the way, I haven't mentioned much about running lately.  The Philadelphia Marathon is barely a week away.  I am looking forward to it.  I think I've trained well this time around, so I have hopes of being able to top my best time of 3:48:56.  But with the baby around, I fear I might be a little low on sleep, and thus not quite be at my best.  So I'm hoping for a personal best, but I won't be too disappointed if I miss it by a little bit.

 

As for Jillian, she is still doing well.  Some more pics were added to her website today, at www.JillianMann.com.  Sure, she gets fussy every so often, but it hasn't been too bad.  She's a joy to have around, and Maggie and I are both extremely thrilled so far.  Please keep checking back to see more pictures of her.  I promise to keep updating her site frequently.  At least until we get bored of her...