Tuesday, September 24, 2013

FINISH


Well the half marathon has come and gone, and I'm still standing! It was a crazy experience, it was fun, and it was the hardest thing I have ever done.

The whole thing was a very emotional experience for me. Even before we started, I wanted to cry. I was nervous, anxious, ready, and unsure. But in the end, I knew that not finishing was not an option.


We got there bright and early, and my mom was there to cheer us on from the start. The first half went pretty well, but about at mile five I started to feel some tightness in my right leg. This is when Andrew and I separated. I could tell he wanted to give it his all, and I wouldn't have been able to keep his pace.

Things got really tough for me after the turnaround. I was by myself and everything started to hurt. At this point, I was doing a lot of walking and running intervals. With about two miles left to go, I started to get emotional again. I was excited to be done with this, but more than that I was proud of how far I had already come. At about the one mile mark, I committed to running the rest of the way. I was so excited to see Andrew and my mom, and then Sarah and Ryan were there too!


I was so glad to finally get that medal. All of the nervousness and anxiety was gone. It was done! I had done it! My time wasn't nearly what I had hoped, but it's now a good starting point for the next one.

And there will be a next one!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

FRONT PORCH LOUNGING

After a week like this, all I can think about it how close I am to the weekend! One. More. Day! One of the first things I'm going to do is head straight for my porch.



Andrew and I just bought "new" furniture for our front porch, and we couldn't be happier about our purchase! It's technically used (like all of the furniture I buy), but is in pretty good condition.

I love being able to just sit back and relax. It's nice to have a scenic view while keeping an eye on the neighborhood. It really has become our favorite hang out spot!


Coby really seems to love it too! He gets excited anytime we even walk out the front door because he thinks it's porch time. And he does make a pretty good neighborhood watchdog. The cats don't hesitate to let us know how jealous they are by sitting in the window and meowing... poor kitties.


So if you are ever passing through the neighborhood, don't be shy. We would love to have some porch company!


Monday, September 16, 2013

GOODNIGHT, MONDAY

Monday Haters Club

Well I was planning on writing about my fun weekend, but instead you get to hear about Monday...

It all started when Andrew's car wouldn't start this morning... I then had to wake him up so he could help me get it started, drop it off at the repair shop, and find a ride to work.

When Andrew came to pick me up after work, he called to let me know that my car had a flat. My amazing coworker, Jann, was able to drop me off at the repair shop so I could pick up his car, run home to make dinner while he waited with my car, pack him a lunch, and then go back to wait with my car so that he could go to work. A hour later, the repair guy finally shows up.

Because of the car madness I was late to work, had to cancel a dog meet-n-greet, and my dinner was cold. Oh, and my Macbook died today. RIP Macbook.

Goodnight, Monday.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

JOG IT OUT

Ok, so this 1/2 marathon training is kicking my butt. Not only is it hard physically, it's mentally draining. I run without headphones so I can enjoy the sounds of the outdoors and take it all in, and it gives me plenty of time (maybe too much time) to think about anything and everything. I make lists, I think of things to write in this thing I call my blog, and I try to focus on running. How is my breathing? Where should I be looking? At the ground? Up ahead? I think my strides are too short. Yes, my strides are too short.

I have been really hard on myself lately. When I go out for my runs, I get really disappointed when I walk. I should just be able to push through it, right?  Yeah... no. I want to do my best, but I also want to just finish. Finishing should be more important than my time, but I am having a really hard time getting over that number.

I know I could have trained more/harder. I think I already want to do another one to try and push myself even further (or faster?). But for now I guess I just need to focus on the one I have coming up.

Here she is rocking some bottled water after the race. (Thanks for the photos, facebook!)

My friend Katie has been a big inspiration. She had to take a couple of weeks off of training, and she still ran the whole thing. Booyah! She even wrote me a nice email recently just to let me know that I can do this! Thanks Trem!

Oh, and here is a video that made me laugh. I'll just try to think of his one-liners during my race.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

WEEKEND RECAP: SEPTEMBER 6-8

Andrew and I had a nice extra long weekend visiting his parents in their new home. Lucky for us, their new home happened to be near a wedding that we were going to that weekend. Perfect timing? I think so. Here are a few highlights from the trip!


Thursday
A few drinks on a patio were a perfect end to a nice long drive. Some homecooked food didn't hurt either.



Friday
Andrew and I ran/walked about 5 miles on a partial gravel road complete with a scenic view of cows - that was neat. We then needed to run a few errands including getting my first Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season and hitting up a huge beer store. You know, just the necessities. We then had lunch at Crust - awesome! Before we knew it, wedding time. It was crazy hot, but Sarah looked beautiful! After dinner at the reception, we snuck out so that we could head back to the house to meet up with Jenny and Chris who also decided to come into town for the weekend. I think it's easy to understand our early bedtime on Friday.


Saturday
A slow morning was just what we needed to spend the rest of the day touring the countryside, eating lunch at Breitbach (Iowa's oldest food and drinking establishment), and baseball. We grilled out, tried almost all of the beers we recently bought, and had lots of family talks.

I'm already looking forward to the next time we can visit Andrew's parents! How was your weekend?