Finish The Sentence Link Up

Today I'm linking up with my love, Holly, and her love Jake, to finish the sentence.

I laughed so hard I cried when... I had the following conversation with one of my kindergartners.

    Me:   "You should be a comedian when you grow up."
    Boy:  ::give me strange look::
    Me:   "Do you know what a comedian is?"
    Boy:  "Uhhh, yeaaaahh.  It's a kind of lizard."

My high school...  was very large!  I had roughly 450 people in my graduating class.

It realls pisses me off... when people are extremely closed minded.  Who are we to tell someone how they should live/think/feel?

In 10 years... I'll be 40!!  Holy crap!!!!!

If I could erase one thing... it would be the haircut I just HAD to get in 2nd grade.  YIKES.  Otherwise, every experience and scar makes me who I am today.

In 1999... I was partying like it's 1999.  -- Not really, but I had to throw in the Prince reference.  I was 17 and in high school.

Honestly... what you see is what you get!

To me, sushi... is DELICIOUS!  I could eat it everyday!

Someone really needs to invent... longer weekends!  And beer that makes you lose weight!

The first time I drank alcohol...  I was in high school {sorry Mom}.  A friend and I split a beer from her parents fridge.  We sat outside sipping our beers talking about how gross it was, but thinking we were so cool.

The one question I would ask God is...  Who shot JKF?

Lindsay Lohan... needs to discover Victoria's Secret.  Apparently homegirl bought a one way ticket on the Hot Mess Express.  YIKES! 

SWW

This week I'm saying SO WHAT IF...

• I forgot to grab breakfast this morning.  Hurray for 11:00 lunch!
• I'm loving having control of the tv remote, but not that R is gone!
• I'm like a kid on Christmas waiting for my Garmin to arrive!
• I'm thrilled that the number of people coming to run the Fort 4 Fitness race keeps increasing! Come to my home town!
• I'm excited that my carpets are getting cleaned today.
• Holly made my day Monday!  I adore her!
• a girl I went to HS with is trying to be my bestie because it's rumored that Mama Laughlin and Skinny Meg are coming for the F4F race. I will welcome almost anyone into my home, unless but not people who bullied me in HS {or one of my friends... ever}.
• I'm at a loss on what to blog about this week.
• I'm becoming to addicted to running outside.  I just wish the weather would cooperate!
• I'm planning on being in bed at 8:30 tonight!!!

Heavy Heart

As someone who is beginning to train for my first half marathon, the events of yesterday's Boston Marathon really hit home.  These people have trained for months, even years to complete this run.  Their families and community members went to support them.  Such a sad event.  So many lives will never be the same.

Such a scary, messed up world we live in.

May God be with those injured and their families as they search to understand this.

My prayers are with you, Boston.

Thoughts On A Thursday

• I want another tattoo.  Maybe this summer??
• I need to go to the grocery (I loathe this chore, almost as much as I loathe pinstripes.)
• R is traveling for work for the next three weeks so it will just be Fenway and I. This means one thing - Very little cooking!  Salads and steamed veggies for dinner most nights.  Perhaps some grilled chicken mixed in there too.
• June 21st.
• I need to get my carpets cleaned.
• September 28th. 
• We should probably do some landscaping before then.
• Maybe Skinny Meg will paint my house in September {a girl can dream}.
• I'm hungry.
• I miss having dinner with my Mom every Monday.
• I really need to go to bed earlier.
• Is 'ain't' in the dictionary?  This was the argument of one of my third grade classes this morning.
• I need some sun and sand in my life.
• PTL tomorrow is FRIDAY!!

Jumping Mental Hurdles

It's Wednesday!!  That means one thing... REST DAY!

I mentioned in my post yesterday about running outside.  I know for some of you, outside is the only place you run.  That's not the case for me.  When I first started running I couldn't run a mile without walking.  I remember getting into my car and calling my mom the first time I ran a mile on the treadmill without walking.  I was so proud of myself.  Slowly, I increased my speed and distances.  If I get on a treadmill now, I can easily crank out 4-5 miles at a 9:15/mile pace.

Outside is a different story.  

I struggle BIG TIME when I run outside.  

Running is incredibly hard for me mentally when I get outside. 

I have run through my neighborhood a few time, and I know if I go down every cal-de-sac it's a 2.84 mile loop.  Before Monday, that 2.84 miles was my limit outside {except for the one 5K I ran this past December}.  I know the streets in my neighborhood so well, that while running I can only think about how far I still have to go, and mentally, I cash out.  

Monday I tried something new.  I drove to an elementary school three miles from my house and ran along some paved trails my city has.  These trails are awesome.  The city has done an amazing job building trails all over the place.  If they wanted to, someone could actually run/walk/bike from one side of the city to the other on these trails. 

The route I ran Monday, had neighborhoods along it.  I turned into one of the neighborhoods thinking, "I've never been in here, let's check it out."  I figured I would just run down the sidewalks in this neighborhood and see where it took me.  Well, the neighborhood turned out to be bigger than I though and at one point I had to get my phone out and use the GPS feature to figure out how to get out of the neighborhood.  I had my Nike+ App running, but focused on not looking at it so I wouldn't psych myself out.  

It was a windy day and the neighborhood was hilly.  I was so afraid of burning myself out and still having to get back to my car that I cut that run shorter than I could have.  I was disappointed when I got back to my car, stopped my run, and felt like I could have kept going.  I was however satisfied with the 3.4 miles I had run feeling great!  It wasn't fast, but I was more focused on pacing myself for more distance than speed.  

I have 5 months to work on speed.

When I got home and really looked at the route I had run, I discovered I had run down all but about five streets in that neighborhood.  So, I set the goal for yesterday of running every street in that neighborhood, then coming out a different entrance and back to my car.  Knowing roughly what my running route would look like was mentally a HUGE mistake.  Having a visual image in my mind of roughly how many streets I had already run and how many I had left to do was mentally very hard for me.  

But, I didn't give up. 

I walked up a few hills that were really steep where the wind was blowing in my face and I thought I was going to die, but I didn't quit.   When I got back to my car and stopped my Nike+ App, I was thrilled to see I had gone 4.7 miles.  That was a new outside distance PR for me.  My fastest pace was a 9:17 mile and my slowest was a 10:32 mile.  Not to shabby.

I definitely learned that I do better when I don't have a set route planned.  My next outside run will be through a series of neighborhoods that all connect together.  I think I'll focus more on just running until I can't anymore and less on turing around when I think I might be at my "half way" point.  I don't know yet what my half way point feels like and I know I'm cheating myself out of doing more when I pick a point and think, "yea, this is probably half way, I should turn around now."  

I haven't officially started my death sentence half training yet.  Right now I am working on pushing away the negative thoughts of "I can't do this" to see what my body is really capable of.  The mental discomfort is my biggest challenge right now.  My breathing has been great and my legs feel fantastic when I'm pounding the pavement.

Slowly, but sure, I'll get to where I need to be for my half. I cannot express how excited I am about the group of friends I have coming to run this with me.  When I sent Holly a text yesterday asking if she was really coming out of retirement to run this with me, she replied with, "Of course!  I can't make you do it yourself!"   She's treasure!  

My next big running item -- buying a GPS watch.  I really want the Garmin 610, but don't want to fork over the dolla doll bills to get it.  Perhaps for now I'll stick with smaller purchases such as BodyGlide. You know, the necessities.  

Such is life....  

Certified Crazy

If you missed my StL recap - you can read about that here. 

Somewhere during the fabulous weekend shenanigans I just had, I got the brilliant idea to sign up to run the Fort 4 Fitness half marathon here in my hometown.  Seeing as my hometown is flatter than my chest, my biggest concern is simply the thought of running 13 consecutive miles.  Last night I went out and purposefully ran through a hilly neighborhood to challenge myself (crazy: Exhibit A).  After getting semi-lost in the 'hood, and almost dying from starvation, I made my way home.  I think I could have gone farther, but was was afraid of cashing-out and not having it in me to get back home.  Once I got back to my car, I was frustrated with myself for not going farther.  

This morning while on my lunch break, this happened.... 

It's official.  I'm running the half marathon in my hometown on September 28th.  (Exhibit B: crazy)

I have printed out two training plans.  One is the Hal Higdon Novice 1 half training.  The other one is a 20 week training program Marcy sent me.  BTW - Marcy is coming up and running the half with me!  AND..... Mel, Holly, and Kira are coming to run it too!!!!  CAN'T WAIT to have them in my hometown!!  I think R is going to run the half as well!  Sorry, Hubby Jack, you're on your own holding signs with the Cheetah guy!

This afternoon, I went back to the neighborhood I ran in yesterday and cranked out another 4.7 miles.  It was windier today than yesterday and I ran in a hillier part of the 'hood.  What was I thinking?!?  I'm not going to lie, there were a couple times I wanted to hitch a ride from people driving through just to get me farther.  Today's run was hard!  I kept repeating a quote I found on Meredith's IG page over and over and over again in my head.  It got me through.

Thanks for posting that, Meredith!  You have no idea how much it helped!!

Now, here's the kicker.... Not only am I running the Fort 4 Fitness half in September, but I also am highly considering running the Rock & Roll half marathon in St. Louis on October 27th (Exhibit C: Certified Crazy).  What's happening to me?!?!?

Tuesday, out.  This girl needs ice cream!

St. Louis Surprise

Last week was my Spring Break.  R had to work so I had a low key week... for the most part.  I had a little something up my sleeve though.  

Several weeks ago I decided to go to St. Louis and surprise Mel and cheer her on for her Go! St. Louis half marathon.  Holly, Lora, Laura, Meredith, and Laura-who-doesn't-have-a-blog-yet also ran the half.  I admire these ladies for their determination to tackle this half.  So much so that I made an announcement on the way home - more on that later.

I went into the weekend nervous about meeting so many new people.  Will they like me?  Will I be what they expected?  I left the weekend with six amazingly beautiful women, and one Hubby Jack, I now call friends.   There was never an awkward moment - we all clicked right from the start.  Perhaps it's because with Lora around, we were ALWAYS laughing, or simply because these friendships were meant to be.  

It would be impossible to write every detail of the weekend.  So I'll give you some of the highlights in pictures...  Sorry about the quality of some of them.  They are all from my phone.  And my apologies in advance if you follow me on IG.  These will almost all be repeats. 

This was in the car on the way to the Lou.  I sent this pictures to Mel (who had no idea I was on my way to see her) and Kimmy (who knew the whole secret).  Kimmy and I kept video chatting each other about how shocked Mel would be.  :)  

After TONS of construction which resulted in a quick change at a truck stop, we arrived at the restaurant.  Met Holly (It's true, she's just as cute and sweet in person!) and waited (and waited, and waited, and waited) for Mel to get there.  I sat so my back would be to her... but that sneaky 'b' came in a different door! 

She walked over to the table, looked at me, then it clicked who I was.  The look on her face was PRICELESS!  I wish I could have gotten a picture of it!  I got up, hugged her, and there may or may not have been a few tears.  She kept asking if I was real. 

So glad to finally be united with this girl!  LOVE her!

Laura, Holly, Mel, and I had a fantastic time laughing and catching up.

Poor R, he was our testosterone representative for dinner.  He was a trooper and took a hundred pictures for us.  He's a keeper!

After dinner we went to a place called The Train Wreck - some of the people in there probably gave it it's name. Yikes.  At this point, Lora and FH had arrived from Memphis, so R had a testosterone buddy.

Big Holly made an appearance with her classy shades.

Saturday morning, R and I got up and toured the Anheuser Busch Brewery.  This was the most beautiful horse I've ever seen!

We attended Beer School before our tour and learned about different beers, why they get poured into certain glasses, what gives their flavor,  and how to know if your glass is dirty.  This Honeycrisp Shock Top smelled like a candy apple!  YUM! Not to mention, we graduated with Honors. 

These Budweiser Clydesdales live better than we do!

This building is where the beer is made.

This building is where the beer is bottled and packaged.  We learned that all the beer packaged here would last only 1.5 days, and the midwest consumed more beer than any other region in the US.  

These are all of the beverages made at the Anheuser Busch Brewery.  

I didn't realize there were that many.

After we finished our tour, we met the girls (Laura and Meredith had arrived from Memphis that morning) for lunch at a cute little place called The Fountain.

Saturday evening we went to Mel's house for a low key evening and for the girls to carb-load for their race.  Hubby Jack couldn't miss out on an opportunity to swoon over his blog ladies.

Some backyard shenanigans. 

Apparently, my baton twirling skills didn't make this photo.

Saturday morning, HJ and I stood post with this fabulous sign I made.  The girls mentioned getting free beers after their race, so I figure this was only fitting for the occasion.  You'll have to ask Lora if you want the backstory on the hashtag....

Terrible picture, but there's Mel just in front of the gal with the green jacket tied around her waist.

Here's Holly!!!  Still smiling at mile 6.  By mile 13 that's wasn't the case anymore....

Post race, Kimmy needed proof that Mel survived.  

After lunch and saying our "see you later's" to everyone, we hit up the arch on our way out of town.

The ride home was uneventful, until this happened.......

Yes, ladies and gentleman, these women have inspired me to run the half marathon in my hometown in September.  

Also, we are investing in leg deodorant so Lora doesn't start any fires.