2013 Year in Review

So much happens in the course of a year.  I love to throw together a list of some of the major events that occurred so I can look back and remember them.  It feels like a REALLY long time ago that I ran in the Charleston Half Marathon and it was still less than a year ago.  Of course, we did lots of other stuff in 2013, but here are some of the highlights.....

January 2013
Made some resolutions... more on how things went in a later post
Completed the Charleston Half Marathon with a personal best time!
Spent lots of time visiting my niece in the NICU

February 2013
Hosted a Supper Club Super Bowl Party!
Celebrated my niece coming home from the NICU
Celebrated Ryan's 29th Birthday
Got together with friends to start Nooks & Grannies book club
Found some lovely fabric for re-decorating our den

March 2013
Ran in my first 10K - Get To the Green St. Patty's Day Run
Discovered Thursday night jazz at Hunter Gatherer

April 2013
Spent a long weekend at the beach!
Trained & ran in the Heart & Sole 5-miler
"Ran for Boston"
Celebrated my sister & niece at a belated baby shower
Helped with my JWC's Annual Yard Sale
Played Ultimate Frisbee for the first time (my team was awesome!)

May 2013
Served as a guest speaker for a group of nurses state convention
Spent Memorial Day Weekend at the Beach!

June 2013  
Quit Monthly Menu Planning
Began serving as the President for JWC of Lake Murray
Attended Brandon & Mary Kathryn's wedding!
Went Kayaking with friends... got inspired & bought our own kayaks!
It started raining... and it rained and it rained and it rained.  Longest streak of rainy days in history.

July 2013
Celebrated my nephew's 3rd birthday & my niece's Baptism
Ryan started a new job... I went on vacation to the beach
I completed my PHI Pilates Instructor Certification
Hosted Nooks & Grannies book club at my house!

August 2013
Went on a weekend trip to Greenville
Started training for Georgetown Half Marathon
Taught my first Pilates class
Talked about and decided to put our house up for-sale-by-owner....
Were completely shocked when it was under contract in a quick 2 weeks
Packed liked crazy & searched for a new home

September 2013
Quit training for Georgetown Half (too busy moving!)
CLOSED on the Sale of our first home
Shopped and shopped and shopped for a new home
Moved in with my parents
Put a contract on our new home!

October 2013
Completed lots of inspections & paperwork for our new house
CLOSED on the purchase of our new home
Helped to host a baby shower for my college roommate Elizabeth
Attended Heather & Jeff's Wedding

November 2013
Ryan started another new job... a much better fit!
Moved into our new home!
Celebrated 10 years together (we started dating in November 2003)
Made a big long list of things "to-do" for our house & got started working

December 2013
Volunteered at our JWC 2nd Annual Tour of Homes
Celebrated our 4th Anniversary
Celebrated Christmas & New Years with family & friends
Celebrated my 29th Birthday

Charleston Half Marathon Recap

Wow, what a weekend!   Late last Friday afternoon, we packed up and jumped in Jenny’s car to head toward Charleston for the Charleston Half-Marathon.  We chugged some bottles of water on the way down.  Thanks to my tiny baby bladder, we had to stop on the way into town for a potty break (consider this foreshadowing).  We headed straight for Burke High School to pick up our packets.  It was pretty chaotic because you had to figure out your bib# and then pick up your bib and double check to be sure your timing chip was working.  The whole place smelled like Fazoli’s and my stomach started grumbling for a breadstick!  We picked up our race shirts…  these awesome long-sleeve tech shirts!

We bought some Jelly Belly Sports Beans from one of the vendors, and then headed back to check in at our hotel in Mt. Pleasant.  I worked on laying out my race gear and pinning my bib onto my jacket and getting everything just perfect for the next morning.  We checked out the menu for our dinner restaurant and looked at the race website for information on the best place for our fan-club to watch us.  Then, we headed to meet Jenny’s parents for dinner at Al Di La in West Ashley.  It was awesome that the race fell the same week as Charleston Restaurant Week, so we were able to enjoy 3-course dinners for just $20 each.  I will absolutely return to this restaurant next time I’m in the Charleston area.  Between the 5 of us, we sampled lots of different items on the menu, and every bit of it was wonderful.  I ordered the Bruschetta, Mozzarella and Tomato Salad for Antipasti, the Strangozzi Spoletina for Primi, and then finished with Strawberry Gelati for Dolci.  And, because it was Italian, we decided it would be OK to have just one glass of wine with our dinner, too. Despite how good the Fazoli’s smelled at the expo, I was thrilled we chose to eat out instead!!

We came back to the hotel and crashed (I slept like a ROCK until about 5:20, and then since my clock was already set for 6:00am, I ended up getting out of bed around 5:30).  After a wake-up shower and getting mostly dressed, we headed downstairs for the hotel breakfast.  We’ve been training a lot in the afternoon/evenings for this race, so I hadn’t established any sort of breakfast routine.  I was hoping to find a bagel for my pre-race fuel, but since there was none, I ate some grits, bacon, eggs and toast.  I was praying this wouldn’t make me sluggish or sick during the race! 

After breakfast, we didn’t have much time left before we needed to head out to the starting line, so we gathered the rest of our gear, and jumped in the car to head back to Burke High School.  We arrived in plenty of time at the start to hear the high school drumline play and the National Anthem before the race.  We chatted with Jenny’s friend Betsy and wound up crossing the start line about 2 minutes after the gun due to the crowd.  Here we are before the start!  (Note to self... get someone else to take your pre-race picture... self portraits are so bad).

The first mile went by fast, and we had both discarded our outer layer of throwaway sweatshirts.  Shortly thereafter, I also tossed my gloves.  I snapped my one and only picture as we started to make our way out to the battery.   

The crowd of runners was pretty thick for those first few miles, and Jenny and I got separated a few times, and she got a ways ahead of me when we hit King Street.   Ryan was watching for us around mile 4.5 and ran with me for about a block (Never underestimate the power of seeing someone you know along the course!)  I caught a glimpse of Jenny up ahead and ran my fastest mile to catch up with her.  We stuck together for the next few miles until my baby bladder wouldn’t let me wait any longer.  I dipped into a gas station during mile 7 for a potty break, and was on my own from there on out.  Luckily, we had made our way out of the city at this point, so the roads were flatter and my ankles weren’t bothering me as much.  We were mostly on backroads with not much to look at, so I turned up my iPod and zoned out to the music for the next few miles.  Around mile 8-9, my timing chip came detached from my race bib, and I had to pick it up and carry it the rest of the way.  (For future reference, if they don’t use the timing chips that attach to your shoe, go ahead and put it somewhere it won’t be dropped – I would’ve been SO mad if it had fallen off and I didn’t notice it).  The marathon split off from us somewhere between mile 9 and 10, and either I never saw the 10 mile marker, or there was none.  I worried for another long mile about missing the mile marker and wondering how I was doing on time.

Just after the mile 11 marker, we entered Riverfront Park in North Charleston.  It was really pretty and I enjoyed running through the park, except the 0.25miles worth of gravel at the very end.  Exiting the park, we passed the 12 mile mark and I couldn’t have been happier to see that sign!  We started to see some finishers come back to run with their friends, which was inspiring because we knew the end was near!  As we got into “town”, a lady shouted out “just 3 turns from here”.  So I picked up speed.  My phone GPS had already declared that I had met my goal of 13.1 miles, so I knew I was close and I really gave it all I had left.  However, there were at least 4 or 5 turns… wah-wah-wah.  By the time I finally saw the finish line, I was SO focused on the clock that I didn’t even see Ryan, Jenny and Jenny’s family cheering me on (they tell me they were all screaming and could’ve reached out to touch me).  Jenny snapped this pic:

My goal for the race was to run faster than Georgetown, and I beat my previous official time by 5 minutes and 22 seconds…. Finishing at 2:20:55.  I’ve been whining a lot that if I hadn’t stopped to go to the bathroom, I could’ve broken the 2:20 time barrier, but I didn’t dream that was even possible for me this weekend, so I guess I have a new goal for my next half!   I’ve come a long way since my first half-marathon in Savannah – improving my overall time by 15 minutes 34 seconds.  I’d say improving by 55 seconds for the next one is a goal I can definitely accomplish!

 We skipped the Beer, Shrimp & Grits after the finish (seriously, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted LESS at that moment) and headed back to our hotel for a shower.  We met up with Jenny’s family again at a restaurant/bar called Midtown, which as it happens, is co-owned by one of Ryan’s friends from high school.  I ordered a beer and loaded cheese fries.  Best decision ever!  I would absolutely love to see the city of Charleston allow the race to be reversed and run INTO town instead of OUT of town.  I think it would make for a fantastic finish and bring LOTS of runners to the Charleston area, however this is a race I would love to run again.  The flat course made it easy to meet my time goals and the big crowd of runners was really motivating.  Oh, and not to mention, check out this pretty bling:

Georgetown Race Recap... 3 months later

Well, as this post is publishing, I'm  at the starting line of my 3rd half-marathon in Charleston, SC.  Hopefully the recap of that race will hit the blog in a little bit more timely manner than this one!  I actually wrote this recap 2 weeks after the race but for some reason never got around to posting it.  Without further adieu...

So the Friday before our race in Georgetown, Jennifer and I started our day with yummy hot drinks from Starbucks (Caramel salted mocha for her, Skinny White Hot Chocolate for me), and then hit the road to the Tanger outlets for some pre-race retail therapy.  Jenny & Ryan picked up our race packets on their way down from Columbia, and after some grocery shopping for the weekend, we headed to Pastaria 811 to meet Lindsey & Jimmy for dinner.  I got my usual favorite, the house salad and Penne Ziti a la Vodka.  Next time you’re in Pawley’s Island and have a hankering for Italian, you need to visit this place!  After dinner, I set about getting everything laid out for race morning.  I pinned my bib to my shirt, hooked my race chip to my shoe, and laid out EVERYTHING (from toothpaste to socks and shoes, and my race fanny pack, complete with T.P. to help prevent any potty emergencies along the course).  I woke up nearly every hour on the hour throughout the night.  Not sure what my fear of sleeping in is, but I had a dream earlier during the week that I overslept and missed the start, so needless to say, I was awake before my alarm. 

We ate our breakfast and plotted out where we should try to park, loaded up into the car around 6:40 and headed to Georgetown.  We found parking easily about a ¼ mile from the starting line and decided to jog to the start so we’d be warmed up to stretch.  Last year in Savannah, we laughed at all those doing any “warm up” jogging.  We learned during our training this year that it helped a lot if we stopped to stretch after a little warm up jog.  After that, we found the bathrooms first for a last potty break, took some pre-race pics, then it was time to line up!   This was a totally different start line experience than Savannah, and I have to say, I’m in HUGE favor of the small race.  No corrals and delayed start, just run up to the start line and GO!  We were able to spread out fairly quickly and set our own pace.  We passed Ryan and my dad right after the start line, and I figured we would see them again in a few miles.  We passed the 1-mile clock at under 11 minutes, and I knew we were on track for a great race (my goal was a 2.5 hour half marathon, so that meant keeping an average pace of 11:27).  My dad was on his bike and we saw him several times in the first 3 miles at unexpected points, so we nicknamed him “ninja dad”.  Unfortunately, he got a flat tire early on, so that slowed his progress a bit.  We hit the first of the bridges and it wasn’t NEARLY the challenge I thought it would be.  We started to see the leaders coming back toward us about half way over the bridge, and started giving some superlatives.  My favorite was “best hair club” which was three guys running together… one with just seriously great hair, one with a Mohawk, and the third had an awesome beard going on.   I also got really excited when I saw the first few women leaders, because I think it is just so awesome that running is a sport in which women can really excel.   We kept our stride up and over the hill, and when we reached the top and turned around, we high-fived and celebrated all the hill training we did over the last few months.  

When we came off the bridge, we were at about mile 6, and we saw Dad and Ryan once again cheering us on.  Yeah, Ninja dad! (and husband)!  We were still keeping up an average pace of less than 11 min/mile according to my Nike+ app, even though the GPS must have picked up some extra distance at some point because it started giving me the mile updates about a quarter mile early.   We raced through town and met a lady who was doing something she called the “Galileo” technique, where she walked ¼ of every mile.  Apparently she shaved a lot of time off her running by doing this, but I don’t think it’s something I’d ever do while running a race.  This was also the point in time when we started seeing LOTS of people who had run the 5K walking along the course and cheering for us.   I decided that I wished they would’ve removed their race bibs and just cheered, because it seemed a little like they were taunting me with the fact that their race was already completed and I still had 6 miles to go!

We continued through town and there was a long straight-away leading up to the next bridge.  Since I had driven over this bridge in August, I knew it was going to be a challenge, but it was pretty scary to watch it growing bigger and bigger before my eyes as we ran closer to it.  I do remember my ankle started feeling a little funny at this point in the race and I was trying really hard to get on the least slanted part of the road.  (Hard to do in a town that is  probably prone to flooding and has a pretty steep slant on most roads for water runoff).  The next thing I noticed was that the mile marker on our side of the bridge was mile 8, and the mile marker on the way back was mile 12.  The leaders were coming back over at this point, and I was a little disappointed to see that the hair club had split up L.   Apparently, I didn’t study the course map that closely, because I had no idea that we wouldn’t be running over the bridge, doing a quick turn around, and coming straight back.  We chugged our way up the bridge, and I walked a little bit to catch my breath, and really picked up speed on the way down.  There were about 3 miles of winding through an undeveloped neighborhood  on the far side of the bridge.  Every time I thought we were close to turning around, we’d make another turn and the sun and wind were in our faces the whole time!  When we got way out by the water, I was excited to see my dad and Ryan again around mile 10.  It was SO good to see our little cheerleading group in what was otherwise a deserted neighborhood with no crowd support.  After seeing them, I picked up my pace a little and split off from Jenny and Jennifer to take a quick potty stop.  

After mile 10, I kept telling myself only a 5K left!  Then, at mile 11, only 2.1 miles left!  Splitting up the end of the race in those little distances was the only way I could fathom finishing!  About mile 11, I suddenly became concerned again about my goal to finish in less than 2.5 hours.  Was I going to make it?  I should’ve asked dad and Ryan how I was doing on time, but I totally forgot!  When we got back to the bridge, I knew we had about 1.5-1.75 miles to go.  I decided to pull out my phone and check the actual time to see if I thought we could make it.  The race started at 7:30, so I needed to finish by 10am (or very close to it) in order to make my goal.  When I pulled out my phone, I saw it was 9:38.  Though the basic math was pretty hard at that point, I knew I had 22 minutes to run less than 2 miles, and that got me really really excited.  Jennifer and I were pulling away from Jenny at this point on the bridge, and I started to worry if I should slow up for her to catch up or if I should continue on ahead.   Jennifer and I quickly consulted and decided Jenny would want us to try and do our best, so we decided to go for it and then when we finished ahead, we would go back and run with Jenny until she finished. 

I booked it for that last mile.  There was a girl in a pink long sleeved shirt, and another girl in black that I was determined to pass before we took the last turn onto Front street.  When we took the last turn, there was a guy in a Clemson shirt that was walking, and Jennifer said “Why would you walk NOW!?”, so of course, we weren’t gonna let anyone walking beat us, and we also passed him.    We could see the finish line, and I’m pretty sure I started giving it my last push a little too early, but then I also saw my parents on the side of the road (iPhones in hand making videos), so then there was no stopping me!  This time around, Ryan was cheering for us just before the finish line so he could see me cross (Savannah was WAY too crowded last year).  We finished with a time of 2:26:17, 3 minutes to spare on my goal of 2.5 hours, and a new PR by 10 minutes and 12 seconds for me!  Getting my medal and a drink, I quickly turned around and ran back up the block to catch Jenny’s last bit of her first half-marathon.  (Yes, we were those obnoxious people in her finishing pictures running along with her and screaming like a bunch of crazies).  We then snacked on some bagels and fruit, more water, and caught up with Lindsey, who finished WAY ahead of us, in just under 2 hours!  There was live music, and some free massages.  We took full advantage,  stayed around for the awards presentation, snapped a few last pics and then headed back to the house. 

Overall, this race was an awesome experience.  It was so fun to train with my friends and then accomplish the goal of not only finishing, but getting a new personal record. Since this race was such a fun experience, it didn't take me long to start researching our next race and we settled on the Charleston Half Marathon.... say prayers for me this morning!!

on the eve of my 3rd half marathon....

I realized yesterday that I didn’t really tell too many people that I’m running in a third half-marathon in Charleston this weekend.  The first two were such a big deal that my whole family came to watch.  This time around, it’s just me, my running buddy and bestie Jenny, and my husband Ryan is coming to support us.  (Jenny's family is coming to see her cross the finish line too, because they weren’t able to be there for her first half in Georgetown). 

I came across this post…. "Confessions of a Marathon Trainer"  written by a runner who is running a marathon this weekend.  She really expressed a lot of my thoughts about running.  I too have a hard time doing math and simple spelling during a run, and it’s also comical the thoughts and conversations that happen as you get up into higher mileage and your blood  sugar drops so your brain isn’t functioning all that well. 

Also, since I never ever posted my race re-cap from Georgetown (yep, it’s been written for a LONG time), I decided I’d schedule it for a post tomorrow at 8am, the exact time when we will be at the start line of the half-marathon in Charleston.  I promise myself (and you!) that I’ll post a re-cap of our race in Charleston much sooner than the 3 months that have passed since we ran in Georgetown.  Another goal I have for our race this weekend is to capture a few more pictures along the way, so you can see the race from my perspective, rather than just hear a whole bunch of descriptions of what I see J

Also, looking for someone to run in front of us the entire way with this picture pinned to their shirt…. Any takers?

resolved... 2013

Well, now that we know how 2012 turned out, it’s about that time to talk about goals for 2013.  I liked paring down the resolutions to four categories last year, so I’m going to stick with that again. 

1.       Faith –  for real this year, going to read the Bible, cover-to-cover.  Well, actually, I’m going to read everything between the front and back cover, but not exactly in order from beginning to end.   I’ll be reading along with our church using the Discipleship Journal Reading Plan.  I’m already 11 days in and you can use the YouVersion App for this reading plan, so I have the paper PDF calendar cut up in tiny pieces for my regular calendar, but I’m also checking off the readings using the app.   Double the accountability, right?

2.       Budget – we’re sticking to our budget this year (seriously, we must!).  We’re REALLY trying to save money on our biggest area of spending (food) so that we can pay off our student loan debt.  We would absolutely LOVE to kiss those payments GOODBYE!  You can see we switched over to a monthly menu plan, and so far I'm loving it.  It is hard work once a month, but then it simplifies things a TON for the rest of the month.  

3.       Health – run another half-marathon (going to accomplish that next week) and plan for my 4^th !  Also want to make better decisions regarding food and keep up a regular fitness routine, to include running at least 3x/week, and perhaps picking up speed.  Talking to my running buddies about starting this plan after next week's race!

4.       House – I’ve got MAJOR plans in the works for our house this year.  We got a new TV for Christmas and that is snowballing into a big re-arrangement of furniture in our house, new chairs for our den, and I hope the plans also will include new paint throughout, getting countertops re-done and a few more improvements along the way!  Stay tuned for posts on our progress!  **Since I originally wrote this post, we have already purchased some super cute recliners from Marshall's.... Let me just tell you, never hesitate to negotiate with the manager for a better deal... hurrah extra 20% off and getting two chairs for less than the original price of one!**

So those are just a few things I'm looking forward to in 2013... what are your goals this year??

resolved.... a look back at 2012 resolutions

Well, here it is January 2013, a brand new year!  Let’s look back at last year’s resolutions…

1.       Memorize more scripture… well, originally I started out verse by verse, and then got involved with memorizing the first book of James when I participated in the James Bible Study by Beth Moore. I memorized James 1:1-25.  I’m a little disappointed in myself that I memorized all but 2 verses of the first chapter.  However, memorizing 25 verses is quite a feat, and that’s nearly 1 verse for every 2 weeks out of the year, so that was pretty good.  I’m considering whether to continue the challenge to memorize the entire book of James this year, or to see about memorizing different parts of scripture.  What do you think?  I’m also pretty disappointed that I didn’t do a good job documenting the other verses I memorized this year.  I’ll try to do better J

2.       Cash only budget for food… yep, didn’t stick to this one.  We followed our spending much more closely this year, but by and large, still spent a VAST amount of money on food.  Going to continue this as a goal to help us save some more this year, except we won’t do the cash-only version since I can never keep up with cash.  We’ll just be tracking carefully on our budget in the giant excel file (yep, I'm a big spreadsheet nerd).   

3.       2^nd Half-Marathon – DONE!  And with a PR to boot!  And I’m in the midst of training for my 3^rd half, coming up in just a few weeks, so I’d say I kicked that resolution’s behind!    Overall, I could definitely stand to continue making strides in the healthy food choices department and need to figure out what my next fitness goal is after this half marathon!

Me, Jenny & Jennifer after the Georgetown, SC Half-Marathon

4.       Figuring out household chores… definitely NOT done.  Teamwork is key here, as clutter doesn’t bother me and dirt doesn’t bother my husband.  So, if he can help me keep the clutter in check, I can work on the dirt.  Still LOTS of room for improvement though! 

So 2 out of 4 isn't too bad, considering it's not often that resolutions are kept.  Did you keep any of your resolutions or goals from 2012??  Check back later this week to see my goals for 2013.

2012 in Review

The year 2012 has been an interesting one to say the least, but we made it through, and here are some highlights!

January

Made some resolutions..... check back later this week to see how I did! 

Ryan started taking a Statistics class at our local tech school 

February

Spent a long weekend in NYC with my girlfriends from work

Celebrated Ryan's 28th Birthday

March

Spent lots of time with my girlfriends Leigh & Leigh since they would both be moving soon!

Celebrated my first-day-of-college friend Taylor's Bachelorette Weekend with my first-ever trip to St. Patty's in 5pts

April

Tour-de-food around Columbia before our best friends moved away! 

Celebrated Taylor & Peter's Wedding Weekend in St. Simon's Island, GA

May

Celebrated Mary Elizabeth & Gabe's Wedding Reception after their return from their wedding in Jamaica!

Celebrated my little brother's graduation from Clemson

Celebrated Elizabeth & Billy's Wedding in Charleston

Convinced Ryan's parents to adopt a goldendoodle half-brother of Beaufort's  

June

Spent a few days at our family beach house in North Litchfield, SC

Celebrated my nephew Cooper's 2nd Birthday

July

Spent a little more time at the beach

Visited our friends and my uncle in D.C.  

FINALLY decided to run in my 2nd Half Marathon  

August

Spent a week at Folly Beach and went to the PGA Championship Golf Tournament in Kiawah Island

Celebrated Hilary & Kyle's Wedding (the same day we missed Jessica & Mark's wedding)

Ryan started taking some more classes at USC

Fall 2012 Football Season began with another Thursday season opener for the Gamecocks!

September

Lots of football watching going on!

Continued training for my half-marathon, hitting a few bad runs 

October

Ran my second half-marathon in Georgetown, SC and met my goal of running under 2.5 hours, setting a new PR at 2:26:17

Hosted a pumpkin carving party!  

November

Helped throw a SURPRISE party for my sister's 30th b-day

Visited the local corn maze with some friends from our Sunday School Class

December

My niece Elliott was born December 1st 

Celebrated our 3rd anniversary

Hosted a Favorite Things Christmas Exchange 

Celebrated Christmas and my 28th birthday with family and friends

Ended the year with a few extremely relaxing days at the beach!

Ready, Set, Race Week!

If you didn’t already know, it’s RACE WEEK! I’ve had several good weeks of running in a row, including my first (and probably only) ever award for coming in 2nd place in my age group this past weekend at the Habitat for Humanity 15K. Maybe for the ego boost, I’ll run in it again next year. There weren’t too many brave souls who took on the 15K version of this challenging and HILLY course. However, it left me feeling much more confident for this weekend. Once the soreness in my quads wore off, Jenny and I headed out for the last short runs before race day on Tuesday and Wednesday night.

I tried to look back at my TNT page and blog from last year to see how I was feeling about my upcoming half-marathon, but I wrote more that week about my overall gratefulness to everyone who supported me through TNT than my actual feelings about running the race itself. Ultimately, that race was much more about the CAUSE than the running, so looking back, it makes a lot of sense.

I recall being nervously excited, but overall knowing my race was a part of a much bigger cause, therefore, however the race went, I’d be happy at the end. This year, I’m plain excited that we made it through our training all by ourselves, and hopefully I’ll have a new PR to go along with this sweet bling around my neck on Saturday! Please say a prayer for me and my running buddies that we all have a good race day and that those crazy side-stitches and any other pains stay FAR away

Menu Plan Monday (Year 2, Week 40)

Week 40?  How can this be?  Only 12 weeks left in 2012, and I'm totally not ready for the holidays to be upon us, and especially not a whole new year!

10.1.12 - Homemade Pizza (didn't make it last week)
10.2.12 - Crockpot Shredded Beef Tacos with Blackbeans, Chips & Guac
10.3.12 - Leftovers (cause those tacos are awesome, and make a huge meal!)
10.4.12 - Thai Chicken Bites w/ Rice
10.5.12 - Grilling out
10.6.12 - USC vs. UGA Tailgate
10.7.12 - TBD

This is also the last week before my next half marathon!  Cannot believe it is almost here.... trying to fit in a few more short training runs (easy ones, to avoid injury), and a 15K race here at home to "warm up" for the big day in Georgetown!  So excited!!

Why I hate icepacks

1. Generally, ice packs are only used when you’re hurting. Hurting = no fun.
2. Whenever you first put on your icepack, the cold actually hurts a little worse than the real hurt.
3. Mostly, it is impossible to move around while wearing an icepack. I’m not a sit still kinda girl. (Anyone wanna be my trainer and wrap my leg up with saran wrap and ice like you see on the college athletes walking around after a practice or game?)
4. Icepacks = hurting = must rest from training. Blegh.

4 weeks away from race day, and I’m being forced to take the weekend off because of probable tendonitis (overuse injury). You might remember this happened to me last year when I was training as well! We have trained all the way up to 9 miles, and last weekend we had a GLORIOUS 9 miler. Never felt so good during run before… hoping and praying I feel that good on race day.

That being said, I’m praying for some quick healing and want to get back out on the road running next week. I’ll be hanging out with my BFF’s advil and the icepack this weekend! (oh, and that fuzzy guy in the background)

Race registration & training update

I’ve updated my race training schedule, and I realized I had originally left out the week of Sept 1st! Hurrah for an extra training week! We’re hitting the hills again this weekend. In other news, I’ve also registered for the Habitat for Humanity 15K the week before our half marathon. Originally, I thought I was going to have to do my training run by myself that weekend, so this will be a nice warm-up to the half marathon the following week! Also, I love the Habitat organization and in my opinion, it’s hard to pay for a race if you don’t believe in the cause for which they are raising money. Otherwise, why not just go out and run on your own for free?

P.S. If you’re planning to participate in either of these two races, the prices for registration go up after August 31st! So hurry up and register! Also, both events are offering a 5K, and the Habitat race is also offering a 10K, so there are lots of options for different distances!

Week 1 (08/11): Long Run = 5 miles, Short runs = 3.5 miles each
Week 2 (08/18): Long Run = 6 miles, Short runs = 3 miles & 4 miles hills
Week 3 (08/25): Long Run = 7 miles, Short runs = 4 miles each
Week 4 (09/01): Long Run = 7 miles, Short runs = 4 miles & 5 miles hills – moving long run to Labor Day morning
Week 5 (09/08): Long Run = 8 miles, Short runs = 4 miles & 5 miles – moving long run to Sunday
Week 6 (09/15): Long Run = 9 miles, Short runs = 4 miles & 5 miles hills
Week 7 (09/22): Long Run = 10 miles, Short runs = 5 miles & 5 miles
Week 8 (09/29): Long Run = 10 miles, Short runs = 5 miles & 5 miles hills
Week 9 (10/06): Long Run = 9 miles, Short runs = 4 miles & 3 miles, Providence Presbyterian Habitat for Humanity 15K
Week 10 (10/13): Long Run = RACE DAY = 13.1, Historic Georgetown Bridge2Bridge Half-Marathon!

And our motto for this week....

crazy hills - 6 miler

We decided to take on some crazy hills for our 6 mile training run this morning.  We ran from my parents' house in Irmo, out of their neighborhood onto Lake Murray Blvd.  We ran up and down and up and down some major hills, until we reached the last 1.7mi of our 6 miles, and I can't tell you how thankful I was to reach this point in our run....

1.7 miles of FLAT trail.  It wasn't nearly as clear as this picture today, either.  It was super foggy, which I think was probably a blessing since I couldn't see too far ahead to see what was coming my direction on the hills or see how far was left on the dam.

If today is any indication of how our race day will be, I've got a LOT of work to do to conquer the bridges in Georgetown!    Luckily, every uphill comes with a downhill, and that's definitely something to celebrate.  We actually were pacing faster than most of our short flat runs, so at least we felt accomplished picking up our pace a little despite the difficulty of the uphill parts.

I think all of us were a little unsure of how this run was going to go, and although it's not always fun to wake up super early on a Saturday, we were all happy we did it when we finished.  Also, I have to thank my running buddy Jenny for telling me to keep going several times when we hit hard spots on the hills.  I think she enjoyed turning the tables on me a little bit, since normally I'm the one with the "don't quit, keep moving" mantra.

Also, by the end of our 6 miles... we were truly feeling this quote....

Happy running this week :)

iPhone dump... what iPhone photos tell you about us...

1. my husband and i are obsessed with our dog.  we are constantly sending pictures back and forth to each other and giving voice to the awesome personality of this precious fella... for example... 

I'm a model dog... pose - pose - pose 

2. I take pics of things that I like in stores... for instance... first bathing suit of the season... and the tankini is the best thing that ever happened to bathing suits, amen?

3. I have random recipes that one day maybe I'll post, or just perhaps I wanted to see what my food looked like on camera....

4. we are dweebs.  we were SO excited that our church has a REAL life candlelight service.  when the church we grew up in built a new building, they axed the candles because of wax drippings, and it was sad.  this Christmas eve, we were so happy! nothing like silent night & sharing the light of the world

5. i have no idea how to take a picture in weird light.  but for some reason, I love this shadowy one of my two favorite boys on the beach.

6. obsessed with this face.  how could you not be?

7. i intended to post about christmas decorations.... maybe?  or just wanted to remember how the wreath looked this year?

8. this sign is why I don't think I'll ever run a full marathon.  this was a scary place.  I can't imagine having to take the left fork instead of the right.

resolved....

It is hard to believe we're rolling right into another new year.  I didn't really put all my resolutions out there for the world to see last year, but I can tell you that I kept only two of them (budgeting and menu planning).   I aim to do much better this year, but mostly by setting realistic goals in a few specific areas that will help me meet some of those overall resolutions!

So here you have them...

Faith - Memorize more scripture.... Last year, I set a goal to memorize 52 scriptures, and I didn't make it very far into the 52!  In 2012, my goal is to constantly have a verse in practice, and once I have it committed to memory, add another one to the list.  If it takes me longer than a week to memorize a verse, I am not tied down to that specific "52" number.  If it only takes me 1 day to memorize, I can commit multiple verses to memory in one week.  I'll keep you posted here on how I'm doing!

Budget -  This year, we're going to stick to a weekly cash-only budget for food and hopefully that will help us to save money.  By and large, after our tithe, household bills and student loans, our largest expense monthly is FOOD!  So, here's to cutting back on wasteful spending in that area!

Health - train for and complete my 2nd half-marathon (and maybe my 3rd as well!)  Along with budgeting for food (which means cooking more, eating out less) and a routine exercise schedule, I hope to be much more healthy in 2012!

Household - figure out some sort of schedule for household chores.  Learn to get them done and out of the way, rather than procrastinate and have them pile up so that I have even MORE to do.  If anyone has any suggestions on this, let me know, cause I desperately need help in this area!

I'm resolved to tackle these four areas in 2012.... what have you resolved to do?!

2011 in Review

I think it is pretty cool to look back and see what the heck happened over the last year, especially when I feel like I was JUST looking back at 2010.  Seems like 2012 has always been a year that was WAY far in the future, but here it is, just around the bend!

Started my first full year of menu planning!  **First New Year's Resolution I ever kept!**

Joined the NOMA Dog Park... best place ever.

Started sticking to a budget to save money to replace Ryan's car & pay off school loans

Bought our first piece of furniture (all the rest we have is inherited/gifts) -- a new couch!

Got snowed in! You know it's bad when even the federal government cancels work!

Hosted our 1st Supper Club...  I made MEXICAN food (I know you're shocked!)  It was the first time I pulled out all my fancy china & crystal that we got for our wedding... all went well until the dog put his face in the sourcream :)

Celebrated Ryan's 27th Birthday

Had a long weekend at the beach & a weekend in Spartanburg for Josh & Jennifer's wedding

Helped host a wedding shower for Ryan's best bud and his fiance

I met THE PIONEER WOMAN with my sister at Ree's book signing in Georgia

Did some big projects for our backyard - new addition to deck, planted shrubs, painted the shed

Celebrated my great aunt's 90th Birthday!

  Decided to sign up with Team-in-Training for my first half-marathon
FINALLY sold the Rodeo & bought a Truck for Ryan
Had our second major mishap of homeownership & had to replace our A/C unit
Travelled to Chicago, IL and Holland, MI to celebrate the wedding of Christian & Stephanie

Celebrated with our friend's Gray & Leigh when they brought home their son from Ethiopia!
Finally got to make the Blackberry-to-iPhone switch

Watched excitedly as our GAMECOCKS rose to the top of the pack again and brought home their SECOND NCAA Baseball National Championship!

Celebrated our nephew Cooper's 1st birthday
Spent a week of vacation at the BEACH!
My friend Jenny moved back to town!

The summer of broken appliances continued with a washing machine that tried to flood our house!  Luckily we found a great deal on a new washer/dryer set at Home Depot -- our 3rd major purchase for our house.

Travelled to Charlotte to kick off the USC Football Season!
Suffered from tendonitis and had to break from training for my half marathon :(

Spent one awesome & relaxing weekend in the mountains with my college girlfriends
Resumed training and kicked it into high gear for about 6 weeks before my race.

RAN my first half-marathon in Savannah, GA!!
RESTED from all that running.
Ate TONS of food at Thanksgiving.
Decorated for Christmas... except, never got around to putting ornaments on the tree.

Celebrated the holidays by eating with pretty much everyone we knew.  And eating lots of food.  Our celebrations lasted ALL month.  
Celebrated our 2nd Anniversary with dinner at Mr. Friendly's & decided we need to go on more fancy dinner dates
Vacationed to the beach, relaxed & got all our Christmas shopping done
Spent Christmas with our families
Celebrated my 27th Birthday
Prepared to bring in the NEW YEAR!

Tons more things happened throughout the course of 2011, but I couldn't possibly remember them all. We are truly blessed and excited to see what 2012 is going to bring!  Happy New Year!

My T-E-A-M in Training Experience

This is a huge long post about my recent training & completion of my first half-marathon, mainly to help me remember when I'm looking back in time someday... it is also posted over on my TNT website if you care to read more about the WHOLE experience from the beginning, but I'm not sure how long that site will exist, so I'm posting it here too!

Six months ago I embarked on a journey with 2 friends and a goal -- finishing theSavannah Rock'N'Roll Half-Marathon. When we decided to train for our very first half, I knew I would need something huge to motivate me. After all, just a few days before, I had simply walked the 3-mile course of a race for which I signed up to RUN the 5-mile course. Jennifer, Amy & I passed the TNT tent and tossed around the idea of training for our first half-marathon. I knew all about Team-in-Training because my sister had participated with the Columbia team just 2 years ago to complete her first half-marathon in Myrtle Beach. At first, I was overwhelmed by the idea of raising the money, but at that point, I couldn't even imagine the outflowing of support I would receive in the coming months. I was also overwhelmed by the task of running such a long race. Many times I had spoken the words, "who would want to run for 2+ hours straight?!?". I think the things I learned over the last six months relating to both fundraising and running can definitely be summed up in the TNT motto "TEAM - TRAIN, ENDURE, ACHIEVE, MATTER". Leading up to the race, I wore a purple bracelet with the TEAM motto to remind me what it was all about.

Best 6am picture we've ever taken... me and my biggest supporter!

TRAIN - Each and every week, our coaches provided us with the opportunity to run as a group 3 times. We had two week-night "short" runs and a EARLY Saturday morning "long" run. Of course, the main goal of these runs were to train our bodies for our eventual goal. We gradually built up our mileage, all the way from 1 mile to 12 miles. As we ran, we also trained our minds to complete our race. By the time our 12-mile training run came around, I no longer doubted that I would be able to complete the 13.1 miles on race day. I knew I was trained. I had learned many important lessons.... the importance of breakfast, what to drink before/during/after a run, how early to wake up, how much to stretch, what clothes to wear, what supplies I needed with me at all times, what snacks to eat along the way, my favorite flavor of gatorade, where to find porta - potties, what to do when you couldn't find one, and how to recognize signs of trouble in myself and fellow runners. Training as a group was a great experience for me, and a successful one. Without my teammates, I wouldn't have been able to complete the training on my own.

6 months ago, we walked 3 miles... here we are after running 13.1!

ENDURE - Our first training started with these instructions: "Run this direction for 15 minutes, then run back...go as slow as you need to go to keep running the whole way." Looking back on that day, those 30 minutes seemed like an eternity. However, they were just a tiny FRACTION of the time we would spend on the road in the coming months. To be exact, they were less than 1/5 of my total race-day run. We slowly built up the endurance to run longer amounts of time and distances. I remember clearly the first day I ran the entire 5-miles of the Riverfront trail without worrying about whether I would make it the whole way. It was such a mental hurdle to overcome. Here are a few of the simple things I've learned about endurance: (1)long distances are easier to run early in the day, specifically, first thing. (2)attempting endurance in the middle of a heat advisory = ill-advised. (3)good company is better than any itunes playlist (4)an itunes playlist can go a long way to encourage you if good company is unavailable (5)running long distances leads you to share things you wouldn't ordinarily share with strangers (6)your brain doesn't work so well at the end of long distance running...just try doing some easy math and test yourself :) Most of all, I learned that the biggest obstacle to endurance is your MIND, not your body. I have short legs and don't run very fast, but my determined spirit took me a long way in my training. Each time I ran, I knew the total distance in my head, and didn't allow myself to quit until I had it completed. My teammates and I endured through injuries, SC's famously hot weather, rain, storms, early mornings, and many other obstacles along the way, but it was definitely well worth it when we finally crossed that finish line.

Hanging out before the START...
See those greenlights in the background?
Green means GO!

ACHIEVE - Each week in our training, we set and achieved new goals. Before joining TNT, I had never run more than 5 miles in a single stretch. Leading up to joining the team, the longest I had run in recent history was 4 miles. We began building up our mileage from 1 mile all the way to 12 miles. Each time we increased our goal, I achieved a new personal record for distance. The sense of accomplishment each week was just enough to spur me on to the next goal and the next. We also set goals for fundraising, and it seemed like each time I set a new goal, my supporters jumped on board and helped me to surpass the goal within only a matter of hours-to-days. With the help of all my generous supporters, I raised $4107.90 for LLS. At our inspiration dinner before the race, it was a great feeling to hear that the South Carolina team in Savannah had raised over $235,000, and all the TNT'ers in Savannah had raised over $1.4 Million! I'd say we achieved our fundraising goal, and then some. Ultimately, our goal is to find cures for cancer, and that $1.4 million ought to go a long way. One day, when someone finds that cure, I'll know that I had a part in that achievement.

Blue Ribbons = My HEROES
Green Ribbons = My Supporters & Donors

MATTER - On race day, I had a ribbon pinned to my jersey for all of my supporters and a ribbon for each of our honored heroes who battled cancer. I was thrilled to share with fellow runners on the course what each ribbon signified. By far, my favorite moment during the race was being able to tell a runner whose mother had died of Lymphoma that the reason I was running was to help find a cure.During our training and during my race, I couldn't help but strive to honor my heroes through my efforts. Even when hardships showed up along the way, I knew it was nothing compared to the fight against cancer. TNT has another slogan "If you think training is tough, try chemo." Each time the going got tough, I could remember those people who were battling cancer, and I knew that I had to keep fighting. My efforts to raise money and awareness for LLS definitely MATTER to those who are in the fight for their lives. On race day, when I left my hotel room, there was a sign on my door with the pictures of all my honored heroes. It read "Good Luck Leslie! Never forget who you're fighting for. Your honored heroes are with you every step of the way." That was all the inspiration I needed to run the race of my life to honor each and every one of them.

The sign from my hotel room door on race morning!

Being a part of TNT was an awesome experience, and definitely taught me many lessons that I'll carry with me in the future, both for running and for life. My team was comprised of a few close friends, strangers who became friends, and some pros dedicated to teaching us what being part of this team was all about. I am ever grateful to the heroes who inspired me, the donors, family & friends who supported me, and the teammates that raced for a cure with me. I could never have done it without you.

My finishers medal and 13.1mile pin!