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!!!

2011 in Review

Why fold & put away laundry when I can write a blog post?

Today I ran my last run for the year.  16 miles; it wasn't pretty but it's over with.  Afterwards I decided to plug ole' Gus into Garmin Connect and get a total of my miles for the year.

1,656 miles and over 300 hours of running.  That's about 12 and a half days.  Mixed in there was 2 marathons, 3 half marathons, a 4-day charity run and several 5Ks.  Maybe next year I can hit 2,000???  (Ok, 1800 is much more reasonable.)  According to my Garmin Connect, that is 200 miles more than 2010, but I didn't get Gus until late January or February of last year, so the all of the miles weren't logged.

I made a couple of big changes in the home improvement area - new windows in August and a safer, more energy efficient, brightly colored front door in November.  I have three more big projects that I would like to do, but not sure which will come next.  I would like ceramic tile in my kitchen and I would also like to seriously renovate my two bathrooms.  All of them will be quite costly so there's no telling when I'll actually get my wishes fulfilled.

Another big development in 2011 that I am really excited about is a change at work.  I was given an opportunity to take a different position with my company.  I've been doing it for about a week and a half now.  It's very challenging but I really enjoy it.

Overall, 2011 has been a pretty good year.  I think it's important to focus on what I do have and know that it far outweighs what I don't have that I think I might need.  I can't wait to see what is in store for 2012!

I Saw a White Door and I Want to Paint it Green

My apologies to The Rolling Stones.

First I had this great idea to paint my front door a bright color thanks to this post at Young House Love.  However, I also knew that my current front door wasn't very safe nor was it energy efficient.  So I talked to my mom and decided that the best idea was to install a new door and then paint it.  My parents were nice enough to give me a new door and installation for my birthday.

Before we even had a new door bought, I started to play around with color ideas.  As much I loved John & Sherry's yellow door, I'm just not a yellow person.  Red doors are popular, but I didn't think it would go great with my red brick.  So I decided to go with one of my favorite colors, a bright appl-y green.  I went to Lowe's and Home Depot and collected several paint chips, and taped them to the front door to get a feeling.

Then came demolition and installation day.

I was slightly freaking out at this point.  Not a fan of having giant holes in my house!!

Being the home improvement expert that I am, I thought it was as simple as buying a new door, unscrewing the old one off its hinges and then attaching the new door.  Wrong.  Saint had to pull the molding off around the door inside, take off the old door, rip out the old frame and build all new stuff.  I hope I'm not losing you with all these technical terms.  I should also add that while he and my mom were installing the door, I was near-death with bronchitis and a sinus infection and was full of antibiotics and cough syrup so the details are fuzzy.

I found Stripey and Sage hiding in mommy's closet.  They don't care for home improvement projects.

Once it was finished, this is what it looks like from the inside.  Nice!

Remember, I am an advanced procrastinator, so it took me a few weeks to get around to actually painting the door.  I spent way too much time staring at paint chips, in all different kinds of light, but I finally made my decision - Sunny Dale from Lowe's.

Fun with painter's tape!  I don't have a lot of pictures of the actual painting process, but two coats did the trick.  Here's the finished product:

This is what it looks like most of the time, with the screen door closed.

 ... and with the door open.

Next, I wanted to hang something on the front door and went to Walmart looking for Command hooks.  Imagine my surprise to find these!

 I knew these would be perfect.  Here it is on the door:

 Sorry about the shadow.  Almost invisible!

Now for the piece de resistance: for my birthday, Cassie bought me a cross that we saw at Christmas Jubiliee.  It's perfect - pink and it has my name on it!  And it's accented with blue and green polka dots, almost a perfect match for the door!

I love it!

Shopping Like It's My Job

The only thing I love more than running is shopping, so I played hooky today so I could do some Christmas shopping.  Ok, I didn't really play hooky.  I actually used up my last vacation day for the year before I lost it.  It was kinda fun to sleep late in the middle of the week, and I went for a 7 mile run this morning.  Then I got to have a long, chatty lunch with Courtney before we hit the mall.

First thing I did was visit the Salvation Army Angel Tree in the mall and I adopted an angel.  This is my first time to buy Christmas presents for my very own angel.  Years ago, when I was in high school, my parents participated in a toy drive that was organized by a local Harley shop.  For several years, my mom and I would go buy Christmas presents for kids they had drawn in a process similar to adopting an angel from the Angel Tree.  Those kids were usually residents at St. Mary's and Wilmer Hall.  We had a lot of fun buying the presents and then Mama would tell me about their trip to deliver the presents to the children.  Since then, I've participated in similar projects at school and work, where we would adopt angels or needy families and collect gifts and/or money to help make their Christmas a little brighter.  But this year, I wanted to do something on my own.

(I redacted the name because I don't know the rules about privacy and stuff.)  

I looked at the angels on the tree and I picked this little girl because she wanted Barbies.  Then I hit up Target because they were having a pretty good sale on toys this week.  It was a lot of fun and I realized that Barbies have changed a lot since I played with them.  You know, in the last 5 years.  ;)  I also realized that toys are crazy expensive.  To all my friends with kids, I say God Bless You.  I also got her a few clothes too.  This is what I came home with:

It's kinda hard to tell from the picture, but I got her a jacket, a dress and leggings, a two-pair set of jammies (with a giraffe hugging a monkey - so cute!), a super cool ballerina Barbie (her feet move!) and two Barbie dresses.  I am so excited!  I hope she likes it and I pray she and her family have a good Christmas.

I was also able to make a lot of progress on my Christmas shopping for my friends and family, too.  I'm not done yet but I feel good about how much I got accomplished.

Also, I don't by any means fancy myself as a couponing/savings expert, but I got a few good (non-Christmas present) deals today at Target that I'm pretty proud of.  I had seen that Target had a $5 gift card with purchase on Olay Pro-X Brush Heads.  http://www.target.com/p/Olay-ProX-Brush-Head-Refill-For-Cleansing-System/-/A-13109604  Plus, I had a $1 off coupon from Walgreens, and Target honored it!  Target also had a $5 gift card with purchase on Starbucks coffee. http://weeklyad.target.com/mobile-al-36606/categories?sort=title Coffee?  Yes, please!  Now I can send in for the $5 Starbucks gift card rebate I read about here: http://starbucks.rewardpromo.com/  So, that's $10 from Target and $5 from Starbucks that I earned today.  Go me!!!