2 more sleeps

I do my countdowns typically in sleeps. It is easier that way. I started it for the kids I babysat, and never stopped. Today is Wednesday, I am going home for Christmas on Friday. 2 more sleeps til I go home for Christmas! I can't wait.

It is slowly starting to feel a little more christmasy for me. All of my presents are bought and hopefully arrive on time.

I can't wait to watch A Christmas Story with my dad. The movie is stupid, but my dad watching it is the best. The man cries laughing at half of it. Fra-ra-ra-ra-rah Ra-ra-ra-rah! You should watch it with us, its funnier  that way!


In other news, not having school means I get bored. But not bored enough to deal with my reader. I am VERY weird and I hate having an unread count. My email in box always says 0.

So that 639 is giving me anxiety. I don't read everything that I subscribe to, but after a weekend at home being pretty unplugged, the number is too big to think about dealing with.
I will probably mark all as read and start over :-D (yes I am odd)

Last weekend I ran 10.5 miles. It was a great run. Running 10 miles during my last half marathon training was NEVER easy. (I also beat the time of my 10miler race) It was easy until about 9 miles. I ran 9 miles like it was no big deal. Who am I?

I also went out to lunch with my bff Richie and the "merry widows" for his birthday. I ran into so many people I haven't seen in such a long time. It made me very happy, and made me miss Frederick a little. (not enough to move back though!)

I got a new phone. It rocks! I can take screen shots (like above), I can take pictures of things quickly. My phone holds a charge and actually works. It is amazing! I love it.

Getting excited for Christmas, but really just excited to go home to my family. I love them

Will Run for Chocolate…

Maybe never again.

I signed up for the Hot Chocolate 15k because it sounded fun. 9.3 miles with fondue at the finish? No brainer.

So. I sign up with no real information about the race. I didn’t know the course. I wasn’t sure the logistics, but whatever.

So as it gets closer I get about 40 emails about getting a parking registration and carpool. UM…what? I wasn’t planning on running this with people…

So I reach out to a friend to carpool with her. whatever.

Fast forward to race week. I feel sick all week. I run 1 run. I don’t even know how long it was because my watch died and I was pushing the girls in the stroller.

Went Wed. night to pick up my bib, and traffic getting there was nuts. (red flag number 1) but I just figured it was rush hour in DC and whatever.

So Saturday am, we make plans to get picked up at 6:15 (Meredith is running it with me now because our friend got hurt and couldn’t run it.)

We get to the highway and its break light city. We have to go 3-4 miles, literally across a bridge and 1 exit. We sit, and sit, and sit. The race starts at 8am. At 7:45 we are not even off the highway and we still have to go to the satellite parking lot and catch a shuttle to the start.

We did hear they were delaying the start so that was good.

So we eventually get to the start, through a series of bad directions and a little bit of wandering.

We just jumped the barriers and just got in a corral. I was corral O and I think I started around C. This ended up really being a good thing for me I think.

So the race starts. The course is NARROW. Like one car lane for 20,000 people.  The course sucked. It was crowded and mostly out and backs. The first 2 miles went down a 3 lane highway, 1 lane runners out, 1 lane runners back and 1 lane TRAFFIC. I heard someone got hit by a car! SO NOT SAFE, and horrible breathing those fumes!  Another out and back on this gravel construction site.  Then running along the river on a skinny little trail.

Then there were the hills. LOTS of hills. The last half mile or so was up a pretty steep hill. I was trying so hard to go fast, and I felt like a hamster on a wheel. I was running hard but going NO WHERE.

There were very few spectators or people cheering. I get that, they probably couldn’t get to the race!

It was very boring and of course I picked this race to give up running with music!

However, crappy race details aside, I ran the race of my life! I ran the first 3 miles sub 10 min miles!

I walked one water stop only because I got caught in the middle of everyone who just stopped to get water, and I struggled to get out of the jam. The rest of the race was me just going, thinking about how I was going to get some chocolate at the end (WHAT A FAT!)

I finished the race and felt good. I would have felt great if I didn’t have to fight that hill at the end!

I found Meredith and Bo and we went to get our chocolate. We get apples, banana, pretzel and rice krispy treats to dip in melted Ghirardelli chocolate! SO GOOD.

The weather was COLD, and so the the hot chocolate at the end was perfect and tasted amazing too!

The race officials sent out an email apologizing for such a logistical nightmare of a race.

As frustrating as it was, I had a great run, so I can’t hate it too much. I just won’t run it again, unless there are significant changes. 

Look at that pace! I give my running coach Kelly lots of that credit!! I am getting excited to see what my half brings!

Life Update

School consumed my life in November. But it is over. I officially finished my second semester with 1 A and 1 B. The B was in my finance class and that class challenged me from the start. I get 2 months off! I have been watching Grey’s Anatomy, running, and reading books that aren’t textbooks so far!

I went to New Jersey with the roommates (I will always call them the roommates, even though none of us live together anymore) We took my little car on its first road trip! Armed with Justin Bieber’s Christmas album we headed to Jersey to celebrate Carol’s birthday. After a few drinks at the bar, we may have played on the greatest playground I have ever seen at midnight.

Saturday we got up and went to the city and then had a party! I remade Carol’s wedding cake in cupcake form.

Thanksgiving was awesome. Mom had to work, so we had dinner in Frederick. I cooked my first Thanksgiving meal. Beer can turkey, mac and cheese, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, beans, carrots, rolls and desserts! So good. Then we played apples to apples.

Before I finished up the cooking, I went out for my own personal turkey trot 5k. I have slowly noticed my pace getting faster, but since I ran 5 miles on Wed. I decided to just run a quick 5k. Well, my legs just went, I was running fast and it was easy. I noticed at 2 miles that I had run both miles sub 10 min miles! I decided I was going to make this 5k a sub 10 min mile 5k! I pushed hard at the end and PRed my 5k time by about 2 mins! My pace never went over 10 min miles! So exciting!  (foreshadowing for an upcoming race maybe?!…) Wait and see.

Lastly, I have been struggling to find my Christmas spirit. I have this nagging feeling that this year is going to be hard for me. While I am staying positive about it, I still worry. (but I worried about my birthday and it was perfect!)

I decided I could fit my tree in my room here, so I would put it up. But then I never talked myself into doing it. I wanted to, but it made me sad. Meredith said that we would all do it as a family. So today my favorite toddlers pitter pattered up my stairs and helped me decorate my tree. They did a great job and there were no ornament casualties.  

Helping Evelyn put on the elephant

Helping Sylvia put on the fishy

 

Decorating the tree together

Me and my girls

The toddler clump

About 5 ornaments on 1 branch <3 it!

 

We hung my stocking downstairs with everyone else’s

 

Some new favorite ornaments!

After I balanced out the bottom

 

It is beginning to look a bit like Christmas, and it may even be beginning to feel like it too

27 is a big deal

 

I had a birthday. It was perfect. I am long overdue talking about it (and many other things going on) but school is owning my soul lately. I finish classes the Sunday after Thanksgiving and then I will be playing catch up.

So October 26, 2011 I turned 27! 

Last year I set out to bake 26 different things… but life changed big time, and that got pushed away. I will eventually finish that list, but it isn’t important anymore.

So on to the celebrations!

The weekend before, my parents, brother and I went out for Japanese Hibachi. It is my favorite and it was so good. Such a fun, dysfunctional time with the family!!

This is what happens when my mom makes us take 50,000 pics

Mom’s big mouth… drums and gongs and lots of embarrassment!

Yes dad thanks.. we know!

On my actual birthday I woke up and went down stairs and was greeted by two adorable two year olds singing to me and a plate full of pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes with turkey bacon! YUM!!

The girls sang to me ALL DAY! Seriously. ALL DAY. I may have loved it a lot.

We had a little play date with 2 moms I am friends with. I walked into balloons and cupcakes. I even let the girls have one  

We may have had a little silly photo shoot too.

We love our sunglasses  

Then Meredith and David made me a super yummy steak dinner and chocolate brownie cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. (OH MY GOD! So good!)

Then my new friend Lindsay and I went out for a birthday cocktail.

The Friday after my b-day, all my college peeps got together for Mexican  

I was really worried about my birthday. I tend to love October, and countdown all 26 days til my birthday! I was still excited, but it was a little more subdued. I was worried I would be sad, or lonely on my birthday. But I wasn’t. I felt so loved and so happy all day! I have a lot of great people in my life! Thanks everyone who makes my life so great!

26 was a good year, a hard year, a year of changes but it has nothing on what 27 will bring to me.

At 27 I will be PRing in a half marathon (yes, I will PR that baby!)

At 27 I will continue to focus on me and my health.

At 27 I will keep on kicking grad school butt.

At 27 I will run a marathon (well it actually will be 2 days after my 28th birthday, but whatever)

At 27 I will cross off at least 2 things from the bucket list.

27 will be the BEST year yet!!