Everything You Do Matters

Last night I went to Andalusia for my youngest cousin's high school graduation.  First of all I am just going to say what everyone else is thinking which is graduations are quite boring. Except for the 30 seconds that your loved one is walking across the stage, it is quite miserable.  However, for that 30 seconds we got to stand up and everyone knew that was our kid walking across the stage and it was pretty awesome.

I was quite bothered about something I witnessed during the ceremony. The audience stood up while the graduates walked in, and then several people sat down.  Which would not be a problem except that was the part of the program where we all said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the Star Spangled Banner.  What is wrong with our society when people are too lazy to stand for our pledge and our national anthem?  Of course I have my own thoughts and opinions on the subject but I am going to keep them to myself. But it definitely speaks volumes about the lack respect some people have for our country and how we got here and the people who have worked so hard to make our country great.  And that makes me sad.

The principal, of course, said a few words during the ceremony and I really hope what he said sunk in to some people there (students and adults).  He told them that "Everything you do matters." Not just to you, but to someone else.  And they should consider that when they are making decisions. I think a lot of times people make decisions and choose their actions based solely on themselves and don't ever think about how that might affect someone else.  What would it be like if everyone stopped to think about how their actions are going to matter to someone else - good or bad?  Would we be nicer, help others more?  Would we work a little harder? 

Only I Would Do This...

Seek out a bakery to start and end my run. 

I think I may have nightmares about this...

So I'm browsing on Amazon because I'm almost out of Gu and I am trying to decide if it would be easier/cheaper to order it online versus driving all the way out to Academy and I find this:

I almost barfed on my keyboard.  If you know me, you know I *hate* bananas and have done so for the last 30 years.  Oh my.

**By the way, because I know you're dying to know, I think I'm going to continue purchasing my Gu at Academy.  None of the variety boxes on Amazon really appeal to me and I just don't think I can commit to an entire box of one flavor.  Ideally they would have a 24 pack with 10 Chocolate / 10 Vanilla / 4 Espresso Love.  Or maybe 10 / 6 / 8.

Out Like a Lion

I am super excited to have gotten in 153.07 miles in March!  I started the month off kinda slow but had a  couple good weeks and I am back on track for my goal for the year.  I am absolutely loving Daylight Savings Time.  It makes it easier to get extra miles during the week.  Of course, it is already July-hot out there.  But hey, the more humidity the better, right?  Sure...

I can't believe Easter is this weekend!  Last weekend was the Easter Egg Hunt at church.  It was so much fun!  I am sad that I will be missing Easter services at my church this weekend, but I am really excited to be going to Enterprise to visit my Sissy & Q!!!  After church on Sunday we're going to Andalusia to see our family.  It will be a good weekend and thankfully I have a pretty good book to listen to since I'll have a lot of time in the car.

Tomorrow is my first fundraiser for the St. Jude Memphis to Mobile Relay.  So go out and eat some Old Dutch ice cream tomorrow!  I'm also excited because one of my favorite blogging runners (or running bloggers?) plugged my fundraiser in her post today!  It's like I'm almost famous.  ;)

It's Time to Stop Talking and Start Doing

One of my biggest pet peeves is people who are all talk with no action behind it.  Lately, I have been guilty of that because I have been saying for months (literally) that I need to start my fundraising for M2M3.  I am egregiously behind, but that all ends today.  I have updated my online fundraising page and I'm open for business!

When a friend first told me that he was doing this relay and asked if I wanted to join, I thought he was crazy.  4 days on an RV with a bunch of strangers sounded awful.  But then I saw the runners coming back into Mobile and I heard their stories and I thought "well... maybe."  Then I signed up for last year's run, and I thought that it would be a cool thing to do but really only thought of it as a one-time thing.  I was only into the first day of the relay when I realized there was no way that I wasn't coming back.  I was hooked.  I will admit that there have been more than just a few times over the last few months where I considered not doing it again this year because "fundraising is a pain" and "4 days is a long time to take off work."  But then I realized that would be taking the easy way out, and I remembered the kids at St. Jude's who don't have an easy way out.

So here I am, officially kicking off my fundraising.  I've looked back over the pictures from last year, and remembered the hospital tour, the sleep deprivation and the crazy roadside dance parties (which were probably a direct result of the sleep deprivation) - and I'm ready to do it all again!  Our legs save lives!

Daylight Savings has kicked my butt

Note to self:  Maybe signing up for a race the first morning of daylight savings is not the best idea, especially one that's 45 minutes away.  This morning Heather & I rode over to Robertsdale to do the Leprechaun Chase 10k.  It was a fun race and a lot of good company.  :)  The course was a little hilly and challenging, especially with the headwind on the way back.  Afterwards we ran an extra 4 miles so this counted as a long run too.  Tomorrow night I will be loving the DST when there is still daylight for me to run after work.

However, early wake up - 1 hr of sleep + 10 mile run + 100 loads of laundry = Long Day.  I'm just going to finish watching GCB and then I'm crashing out!

February Recap

February went by like a blur.  A marathon, a half marathon and Mardi Gras... It was a lot of fun and exhausting!!  Unfortunately, I only got in 111 miles in, so I am a little behind on my goal for the year.  I took it easy last week because my knee wasn't been feeling 100%.  I sprained it 3 years ago and every so often it gets a little unhappy.  The rest was good though because this week felt much better.  It's funny when you take some time off from running to recover from a big race or rest from an injury - I like to call it a run-cation.  The first couple of days are kinda fun and I'm like "ooh I have all this time on my hands" but after that I just have this nagging feeling that I am forgetting something.

Last Saturday I had another fun surprise... my washer decided to die on me.  As much as I would love a laundry-cation, it is a necessary evil.  I had to make a quick decision and had the new washer delivered earlier tonight!  FYI, shopping for laundry appliances is nowhere near as much fun as shopping for a new outfit.  It's an HE washer which means I need special detergent which means I cannot avoid a trip to Walmart.  I also need groceries.  And toothpaste.  Oh wow that's going to put a damper on my Saturday.

I'm going to do a new (to me) race on Sunday in Robertsdale - the Leprechaun Chase 10k!  It should be fun!

(Heat) Pumpin' it Up!

I am a self-admitted control freak, but I also know that sometimes it's nice when other people make decisions.  Like, where we're going for lunch or what movie we're going to see or what the run route is.  What's not fun is when home improvement decisions are made for you.

A few weeks ago when my mom & I were traveling to Birmingham for the Mercedes Marathon, we were talking about my next big project at the house.  I was trying to decided between tiling the kitchen or making some changes to my bathroom.  Unfortunately, when I got home I was greeted by the smell of gas in the house.  We looked at the furnace and the pilot light looked ok, so we decided it was probably nothing.  Not long after she left, the heat kicked on and made a funny noise, which I later discovered coincided with what looked like a mini explosion.  Scary.  I turned the unit off and called someone to come look at it Monday morning.

Long story short, I got two opinions that basically said the furnace is older than I am and fixing the problem will be more expensive than it's worth, and I should consider getting a new unit.  So, that's what I decided to do.  I also decided to go with a heat pump because I hear that it's more energy efficient.  Fortunately it hasn't been cold since my furnace died so not having heat has not really been a big deal.

I took the day off while the work was being done at the house.  I worked on catching up on some paperwork, and clearing off the DVR  (otherwise how else could I justify taking a day off work to watch TV?).  Still, it was not the most exciting way to spend the day and I didn't even get to take a nap.  But I do have a brand new Heat & AC system.  Sometime soon(ish) I will replace my gas water heater with an electric, and then my house will be all electric.  Yay!

Here's a picture of the 30+ year old furnace:

It's About Time Someone Recognized My Princess Status

Last weekend, I ran the Disney Princess Half Marathon!!  I have been wanting to run this race for quite some time.  Duh, a princess *needs* to run a princess race, right?

My friend Cassie & I left Mobile Friday mid day for the 8 hour drive (and a time change) to Orlando, FL.  We got to our hotel around 10:30 pm (bedtime - haha).  Then Sunday we went to ESPN Wide World of Sports for the Expo.  I had registered for this race several months ago (while the registration fees were still "cheap") (quotation marks are my best effort at writing in sarcasm) so I had forgotten that they ask you what your favorite Disney Princess is.  I chose Aurora so they gave me a pink race bib.  Yay!!!!  Also, I love when they put your name on the race bib.  It automatically goes to the top of my Favorite Race Bib list.  Double Yay!!!  Therefore, imagine my excitement to get a race number with "Princess Joy" printed on it.  Triple Yay!!!  Jackpot of race bibs!

The rest of the expo was pretty standard.  I think it was smaller than the Marine Corps Marathon expo but it was also less crowded which is a good thing.  I didn't spend too much money - bought some mouse ears to wear during the race, a new pair of Nike running shorts (I don't have a problem, I can quit any time I want) and a super cute new 26.2 magnet for my car.

Because we had only a half a day left, we decided not to go to one of the amusement parks.  Instead, we decided to go to the giant outlet mall we saw as we were driving in the night before.  For these two girls, an outlet mall of that size is our Disney World.  Probably not the best way to rest your legs for race the next day, but it was fun.  :)

Thanks to having read Skinny Runner's recap of the Tinkerbell Half Marathon, I kinda knew what to expect.    Especially the part about the pre-dawn start time.  Race instructions advised us to be parked by 4 am (Eastern Time) so we set our alarms for 2:30 am.  Which means I went to bed on Saturday night early even by my standards.  haha  I wasn't crazy about the timetable for the race start.  We also spent a lot of time standing around (waiting in the potty line, walking to the corrals...) and it was a little chilly out.  When I had looked at the weather I thought it would be warm enough that I didn't need to bring extra clothes.  But standing around before the race, I was really wishing I had brought something to wrap up in before the race.

The start of the race was pretty awesome.  It was still dark out, and they shot off fireworks at the beginning of each corral start.  It seemed like no time when I got to the first mile marker/water stop.  There was so much excitement and so much to see along the way that the miles seemed to tick off pretty quickly.  However, I also know that as far as pacing goes, I was doing a pretty crappy job.  All along the course there were Disney characters and you could have your picture made with them.  I wasn't inclined to stop and take too many pictures, although I did stop for a picture of Cinderella's castle.

I finished the race with a pretty good time; better than I expected actually.  It was a pretty big race - approximately 20,000 people, and it's hard to navigate through the crowds at times.  But the medal is so pretty!!!

After the race, we went straight back to our hotel to get cleaned up and check out.  We got back to Mobile around 7:30 and I went to bed as soon as I could, after having been up for about 20 hours.  It was a really fun race and weekend away.

Shoe of the Day

I ran across these super cute shoes at Shoe Station last weekend!  At first I thought they were peacock feathers but now I'm not so sure.

I can hardly keep up with myself

Another Mardi Gras has come and gone.  The last few days were jam-packed - Joe Cain 5K, IM Ball and Fat Tuesday wrapped up with the KOR Reception.

The Joe Cain 5K was awesome.  After we had a tropical storm come through on Saturday, the weather for Sunday was dry!  We had an amazing turnout.  For both races this weekend I worked at the finish line and it's pretty cool seeing all the runners as they come though.  It was a little cloudy and windy, but that didn't stop us from dancing in the street until the widows arrived!  If that doesn't make any sense to you, our post-race party is across the street from Joe Cain's house and we party until Joe Cain's Merry Widows come by and visit the house.  It's always a great time and I love my running club!

Fat Tuesday was another crazy busy fun day.  I spent the same amount downtown as I do on a regular work day, but I was probably twice as tired.  Of course, I had twice as much fun so that explains it.  :)  However, as with every year I'm glad to see Mardi Gras come to an end and for life to get back to normal.

Of course we can't forget that today marks the beginning of the Lenten season.  I have decided that I am going to give up fried foods for Lent.  I do love me some french fries and chicken fingers so this will be tough!!!  On Sunday at church we talked about the purpose of Lent being to regain control.  I definitely need to regain control of my eating habits, especially now that I am not training for a marathon.

Confession: tonight was the first time I have ran since last Thursday.  Crazy!  It was great to get back to regular routine of changing clothes in the office bathroom and rushing out the door to go run.  Heck, I was even happy to be out there doing hill repeats!!!!

Tomorrow is my Friday!  I am taking Friday off because my friend Cassie & I are driving to Orlando for the Disney Princess Half Marathon on Sunday.  I am so excited!!!  This will be my first Disney race, and my first time at Disney in over 10 years.  It's going to be a quick trip and another busy weekend.

Recovery

This week seemed to have flown by, and maybe not in a good way.  When I came home Sunday from Birmingham, my post-Marathon PR bubble was burst by the discovery that my furnace was malfunctioning.  Long story short, it needs to be replaced and will be soon.  But it still added a little extra stress to my week.

Normally after I run a marathon I take a few days off from running, but I had to break out the running shoes on Monday night for one of my favorite runs during the whole year.  Our Monday night running group meets at Callaghan's instead of Heroes every year on the second Monday before Fat Tuesday, and then we run the parade route before the parade starts.  We dress up silly and it's always funny to hear what people say as we are running through the streets.  Mostly it's a lot of "Run Forrest Run" (only my most *favorite* running joke ever) and "what are you doing"?

I only ran one other day this week.  I was going to run this morning at the BOMB but we needed extra volunteers and the weather was a drizzly mess.  I will get back to my schedule after Fat Tuesday.  We're in the home stretch for Mardi Gras... tomorrow is the Joe Cain 5K.  I've got my tutu ready and we are going to have a blast!

Lucky #4

Yesterday I finished my 4th marathon - Mercedes Marathon!!!  I decided to this marathon for a number of reasons - REALLY cool medal, relatively close to home (~4 hours away) and one of my training partners was doing it as a part of the 3N3 Alabama Marathon challenge.

After I finished the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October, I decided that I would keep my mileage up and kinda stay in "marathon training mode" until February.  I didn't have a real time goal for this race, other than just getting out there and enjoying it and getting my medal at the end.  I had heard this race was pretty hilly and tough.

My mom and I drove up to Birmingham on Saturday, the day before the race.  She had been at my first two marathons, but she didn't go with me to Washington, D.C., so I was really glad to know she would be out there on the race course.

I started to get a little nervous leading up to the race because the forecast went from lows in the 40's to lows in the 20's - making it even colder than Marine Corps (and it snowed the day before!).  However, I stuck with my plan of wearing a short sleeved shirt, shorts, compression socks and arm warmers.  I also wore gloves and ear warmers.  I brought a long sleeved shirt that I didn't mind throwing away on the course; I wore it for the first 4 3/4 miles before I decided I was warm enough to take it off.  My legs were tingling from the cold at first but they eventually warmed up too.

I didn't start really thinking about my finish time until around mile 16 when I saw a 4:00 pace group.  I thought that if I had made it this far I might could stick with them for the rest of the race.  I was a little concerned that my stop at the potty could keep me from a sub-4 finish time, and that just made me mad.  lol  I just kept telling myself that I felt good and it was important to finish the race happy.  It wasn't until I passed the clock at mile 25 that I let myself get excited about finishing under 4 hours.  Even better - I set a new PR with 3:52!!!!  I was beyond excited.

A few other thoughts about the race:
- This was my first marathon that was a double loop.  I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, but it was fine.  I don't know if it was better or not, but I didn't hate it.
- It was so cold that the water/powerade cups had ice chips in them, which was kind of fun.  I like slushies.  However, there were also patches of ice at the water stops, which was not fun.  I slipped a little once, and that was scary.
- There weren't a lot of funny sings like you see at big races, but I did see one and it was the best one I've seen at all my races - "You trained for this race longer than Kim Kardashian was married."  True story - technically I had been training for this marathon since the end of May.

In short, it was a great race.  Beautiful (even though cold) weather, new PR, no injuries, super-cool medal and I had a great trip with my mom.  I think Huntsville may be next!

Time flies...

Where the heck did January go?!?!?  And how has February snuck almost a whole week in?

I finished up January with 191.36 miles, over 10% of the way to my goal of 1800 miles.  Woo hoo!  February could possibly be a little short due to tapering for the marathon, recovering from the marathon and celebrating Mardi Gras.  ;)

This weekend I ran the Double Bridge Run in Pensacola for the first time.  It was a blast!!!  Aside from the 60 degree temperature, the two monster bridges and the headwind, it was a great time.  The post race party was great too.

I cannot believe the marathon is less than a week away!!!  So far, the forecast looks like perfect marathon weather - sunny and lows in the 40s.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed because a lot can change in a few days.  I'm a little nervous because I know this race is going to be hilly and hilly hurts.  But, I'm just going to get out there and try to enjoy myself and not worry too much.  I can't wait to get my new bling!

It's January?!?!

Today was the Gulf Coast Half Marathon in Gulf Shores (#13!!!!!).  Second Half Marathon in January of this year, Second Half Marathon with crappy, unseasonable weather.  :(  It was actually warmer than First Light two weeks ago, but I think the only thing that saved us was the sun did not come out to bake us.  However, it was terribly foggy and we could only see a few blocks ahead of us.  So weird.

Aside from the unfortunate weather, the race was great!  The Gulf Coast people always put on a great race.  The post race party was at Lulu's and was a lot of fun.  Rollin' in the Hay was there.  We got a free pair of socks.  The good thing about running small races (only 330 finishers) is that it is much easier to place!  2nd in my age group!  Woop woop!  Heather also got 2nd in her age group!

I can't believe there are only 3 weeks until Mercedes Marathon!!!  I also can't believe this ridiculously hot weather in January.  The only thing that stresses me out more than running a marathon is running a marathon in high temps & humidity.  Yikes!!

First Light Half

Today I ran my 12th half marathon - First Light!!!  (If my counting is correct, which it usually is not.)  It was not pretty, I must admit.  The weather was turrible - close to 60 degrees at the start.  Two years ago, the temperature at the race start was around 19 degrees.  I crossed the finish line looking like this:

Today I was in a tank and shorts.  The good news is, I still took about 3 minutes off that day.  I so much prefer running in cooler temperatures though.  The heat and humidity are not my friends.  I still feel kinda yucky.

Once I finished the race, I took off and ran a little more than 3 miles to meet my buddy Robert and provide him with a little support as he finished the marathon.  He didn't really need our help though.  He's a rockstar.  I ended up with a little over 20 miles for the day.  I felt good except the temperatures.  5 weeks until Mercedes!!!