2013 City of Oaks half marathon

If you follow me on social media, you already know that I completed my fourth half marathon. (I got a little annoying with the race photos.)

Many thanks to Will (Lindsey's BF) for being there after I finished to hang out.

This race was, by far, my favorite even with all the dang HILLS. For the first time, I had the opportunity to train AND run this race with friends. It makes such a huge difference. I ran with two friends who were running the full marathon and who had to stop to pee a couple of times. I didn't come close to a PR but I don't even care. Not even .1%. I ran into (no pun intended) calf cramps around mile 10, which slowed me down. My next race is at the beach, so I'll try for a PR next time. Maybe.

Lindsey, Molly, and me. Smiling. While RUNNING!

Aside from friends making this race awesome, a few other things stood out:

• A church group handing out Twizzlers around mile 5
• Mile 9-ish, a woman with a box of tissues for those in need (temps were in the mid-40s so snot was flowing)
• Amazing police and volunteer involvement 
• Firefighters at two fire houses outside cheering 
• A pastor spectating outside of his church, fully robed
• As finishers were approaching the finish line, their names were called over the speakers. 

You can't not fist pump at the sound of your name at this moment.

Also, after crossing the finish, the volunteer handing out medals shook my hand, congratulated me, and put the medal around my neck. That dude deserved a medal!

Well-placed photographer: WIN

This whole weekend was one that I won't soon forget. I think sometimes running to finish and not worrying about your time, but just on having fun, is important. I know people who disagree and that's just fine. 

Epiphany

I've been absent from blogging for a while now. Basically? Life happened. Life, and me working through some things. Getting back to running after an almost five-month hiatus while dealing with a back "injury" has put a lot of things into perspective.

It feels like I'm starting over. My first run back was ok, but the resulting muscle pain was ridiculous. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I guess I figured maybe I'm lucky and I'll bounce back quickly.

Nuh-uh!

Endurance is earned, not given. You have to earn that shit back, guys. It's no joke! My training plan for my next race doesn't start until next week, but since my first long run (next weekend...already!) is six miles, I knew I needed to work up to it and put in some base miles so I decided I wouldn't wait for the doctor's ok and started running again about a month ago. I'm quite the risk-taker.

I'm in LOVE with my shoes. Sorry, Brooks. I'm a traitor.

Before my running hiatus, I'd gotten to the point where I felt like I was comparing myself with my running counterparts (who are much more competitive and better runners than me) and it wasn't enjoyable anymore. I was almost ready to throw in the towel.

Almost.

This past Sunday while I was running with my friend, Lindsey, we discussed this issue and I realized I wasn't the only one who'd experienced this "runner's guilt." We didn't have a particularly fast run and we weren't competing with each other. We ran at a comfortable pace and walked when we needed it. It was stress-free and, dare I say it, enjoyable! But we were still putting in the miles. I can't remember the last time before this year that I actually enjoyed a run. No, seriously.

Why was I comparing myself with everyone else? Why did I let it bother me that I'm slower than they are and not wanting to run longer races? Epiphany: Why not be in competition...with only myself? I know, novel idea, right? Welcome to adulthood, self.

Yes, my goal at my next race is to PR (and at the one after that and the one after that) but I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't. I'm just going to enjoy the journey...and embrace my inner tortoise.

Running again!

That's right. After five months of recovering, I'm back at it. It's been slow and annoying and I'm so frustrated with my loss of endurance, but I guess that's to be expected. I did a lot of hemming and hawing around what new shoes to try since I've never had a pair that didn't cause me pain of some sort (mainly in the form of blisters) and I ended up going with a pair of Asics GEL-Cumulus.

So far I've not run more than 3.5 miles so I'm not sure how they'll do for long runs, but for short ones, so far they're winning. I feel bad for cheating on Brooks. We had a good run (no pun intended), but I had to move on. I've also been painfully reminded how much it sucks running in the humidity. Summer forecast: dog breath.

Luckily I've found a group of awesome girls to run with which makes it so much more fun and motivating. Also, they like food as much as I do. It's a match made in heaven.

My first run back...in downtown Raleigh!

And now, to brighten up your hump day:

Boing!

Three random facts

 ...because my life is kinda boring.


Fact 1: I like lumpy food.

Allow me to elaborate. You know how mashed potatoes aren't supposed to have lumps? I'd make them with lumps (Ross would want to eat my mashed potatoes). Also, when I have leftover rice and there are rice clumps? Those are my favorite. Also, lumpy oatmeal. Delicious.

Fact 2: I don't love thunderstorms.

You know how everyone claims to just love thunderstorms? I don't get it. What exactly is so appealing about them? The dog gets nervous, they knock out the power, thunder is loud... I don't see the appeal.

Fact 3: My dog is extremely modest.

What are your thoughts on thunderstorms? Any insight into why people love them so much?

Almost as spoiled as the dog

I'm having one of those weeks that is truly testing my ability to hold my shit together. That's pretty much all I have to say about that.

In other news? Last night my laminate floors were completed!

Dining room

Living room before and after

I couldn't be happier with them. I just added up all the costs for reimbursement purposes and the total spent, including last-minute purchases including some molding and an extra package of underlayment, was less than $700. To put it into perspective, the estimate I was given to have a contractor do the work? $3,120! The amount I was going to be allowed to use out of the account I pay into every month for replacing home systems was $1,786, so there is $1,100 in the account that wouldn't have been there if I'd gone with having the contractor do the work!

Being incredibly cheap is awesome, right?

The other plus to not having a contractor do the work? I got company for four days; company that joined in with my bad "that's what she said" jokes and 12-year-old boy humor. Score! I now owe my friend Dan and his dad, Jeff, my right arm and first born child because Somehow I don't think some pizza and beer is quite enough of a payment.

These two are my heroes.

They let me take the first whack at the old floor, and lay the last piece of flooring, which Pippi supervised.

After removing the old flooring in the living room, why wouldn't you trace a body on the floor to freak out some future tenant?

One thing I learned throughout this process is that the walls in my house aren't straight. Apparently this is common. Even though the walls are wonky, when laying the floor we (ok, "they") ended up not having to do much trimming to the length of the "boards" until the very end, which was good because as it turns out, I didn't measure for the area in front of the stairs or the closet when I ordered materials. And  yet? There are four full boards left over. Win!

Chuck's impressed. That's good enough for me.

Progress in the living room

Progress in the dining room

Pippi supervising

I'm sure Dan and Jeff are glad to be done, have their tools back, and be free of Pippi, who they deemed to be a cross between pit bull and meth addict.

Last night when they finished the floors, Dan so kindly cleared my gutters for me since my HOA still had not done it. Yeah, I'm spoiled. Almost as spoiled as the dog. 

Almost.

Trash TV makes me feel smart

This past weekend I decided it was time, again, to be crafty. I'm getting increasingly sick of looking at my sad, naked walls. Thankfully, I had all the supplies I needed for a new project: some canvasses I'd gotten on sale and hadn't used, fabric I purchased from Etsy, and staples.

Pretty fabric.

I'm not going to pretend I didn't get this idea from Pinterest. 

*SHAPOW*

All-in-all, this probably cost me maybe $40. Since I already had the canvasses, I only recently spent the $24 for the fabric, and I have a good amount left over to add more canvasses...after payday.

I then had another bright idea for the third wall in my dining room, between two windows.

Fabric is so versatile.

At least it's prettier than Pippi's wall.

My dog is so high maintenance.

Now, the fun stuff.

I decided this week to take a couple of vacation days. Since the thought of taking a staycation at my house seemed about as fun as spending a day at work, I jumped at the chance to take my staycation days 20 miles away, with friends. Unfortunately, due to meetings at work, I had to split my days off up but in the long run I think it was a fantastic idea.

Monday evening Pippi and I packed up to spend some time at Mike and Nicole's. Monday was Mike's 30th birthday so we all went out for dinner. (No, the dogs didn't join).

Nothing says Happy Birthday like a shot of tequila and a
sombrero.

Yesterday was my first day off for the week and it was fabulously fun and relaxing. Nicole, their friend Shane, and I spent the afternoon antique and goodwill shopping. I found my new favorite store.

Darn. I was really hoping to buy a creepy baby doll head!

And then, for my workout for the day, we busted out Insanity. Holy mother of PAIN! The speed at which these people can do these insane (heh. Get it?) workouts is nuts. I'm convinced they're robots.

My favorite part of this whole image is the correct uses of
you're and your.

There was also some watching of The Bachelor Pad. Because watching trash tv is just so much more fun with company. I didn't even know this little piece of genius existed before Monday night. Now I wish I could afford cable.

Using the term "star" extremely loosely.

OH! Milestone alert! Yesterday, for the first time ever, Pippi fetched! Usually I'll throw a ball, she'll run, and then run back to me without having picked up the ball, like she thought I endlessly produced tennis balls. Yesterday, more than once, she actually picked up the ball and brought it back to me! This may seem minor, but believe me, it's like proof that miracles really do happen. I didn't even have to use my magic wand. Maybe this is the first step on my way to teaching her to bring me useful things.

Hope and homework

So you know those vegetables I cut up for the 4th of July celebration? Yeah, I forgot them at home. I currently have a fridge full of Ziploc bags with cut up vegetables in them and a container of veggie dip. Want some?

No, the Cool Whip isn't for the veggies.

I did spend the day with my friends and their 7-year-old nephew and this little lady.

Remember the days of bouncing around the living room naked with a fountain ponytail? I wanted to attempt it, but I don't think It'd be half this cute.


Last night Pippi and I started our obedience classes. It was nice to see she wasn't the only one with issues with manners. At introduction time, Instructor Ryan wanted to know what kinds of things each dog needed to work on and when I went down our list of issues, he kept saying "that's easy." Ryan gave me hope...and homework.

This is my new best friend.

How has Hartford training been going? Yeah, not well. I spent the fourth of July being dizzy and then yesterday started out dizzy and ended with a migraine. It's a good thing my training plan allows two rest days a week. I'm still feeling iffy today, but hopefully this evening when I head out for a run, my head will be back to normal. It's been a really long time since I've had a migraine and I was sort of hoping I "grew out" of them. Yeah, apparently that's not actually a thing. I had no Excedrin or caffeinated beverages in the house, so I ate some coffee ice cream instead. It ended up doing nothing for the migraine, but it sure was delicious.

If you're training for a race, I hope you've been having a better week than me. What's on tap for the weekend (besides a long run)?

Mother Nature is a jerk

I'm waiting! No one has come to beat me up yet. I did not run twice since Friday like I had planned. Due to the fact that the entire weekend we had thunderstorms and tornado warnings, I decided to have my way with the elliptical for an hour on Saturday and then yesterday I lost all motivation after running errands and cleaning until 3pm. I'll be running today instead of taking my usual Monday rest day.

I think it's safe to say I will not be sufficiently prepared for my second half marathon in three weeks and if I PR it will be a miracle. I guess Hartford will have to be my redemption half.

Saturday morning I met my best friend and her daughter (who is almost six months old already!) for breakfast and some Target shopping. This little lady's smile is intoxicating.

"You'd be smiling too if you just downed a bottle of
boobjuice!"

Yesterday I went to Costco with Jeremy and Amanda and made my first (non-wall decoration) home purchase!

The puppy feet are an added bonus.

I just thought they were cool, AND they are plastic which is awesome news for me, Clumsy McBumpsintowalls. I think I unknowingly just decided the color scheme for the first floor.

After we got back from Costco, Amanda and our friend Korie went to get their nails done. I need a pedicure, but since I can't afford it right now, I stayed home and cleaned. Shitty trade-off, right? Well, I took care of my own toes for free.

Purple was probably not the best color choice, in retrospect.

So, this weekend was overcast and rainy with thunderstorms, the entire weekend. Today, Monday, it's beautiful and sunny, in the 70s.

I really want to punch her.

I mesmerize dogs with my awesomeness

This weekend I re-made a new friend.

I have a very comfortable lap.

Kara's dog, Peanut, and I got some quality time this weekend. I don't know who enjoyed it more. She's awesome.

The real story of the weekend is how I drove five hours up to Maryland to spend the weekend with Kara and Alyssa. Alyssa ran the Lower Potomac River Marathon and Kara and I spectated like champs.

This was much appreciated at mile 8.

The best response to this one: "He didn't train enough."

This was a huge hit. Runners keep Imodium in business.

At mile 19.5, Kara and I met up with Alyssa and Kara's neighbor Kim to run the last 6.5 miles with them to the finish.

This was around mile 11. Photobomber dude is getting schooled
by two girls.

Alyssa and Kara finished together and I decided to run in with Kim, who was finishing her first marathon! I also met a new blogger friend, Ashley. (Hi Ashley!) I am officially finally feeling confident about my second half in a month (at least I am today. We'll see what tomorrow brings).

My left calf is screaming at me today. I want to say I'm "looking forward" to foam rolling when I get home, but it's such a bittersweet activity. I tweeted about it this morning and my local Fleet Feet store responded. I'm about to take them up on this offer :)

More exciting news: A Facebook message today from Aspaeris Pivot Shorts led me to believe they may be coming out with new colors! Go over to their page and tell them what new colors you'd like them to come in. (Hint: purple! :)


What's your favorite color?

What's your favorite color to wear?

What's your favorite color to wear running?