Enter to Win

Hop on over to Chic Runner. She has a super cool giveaway for an iBelt. I may have to purchase one if I don't win.

6 hours 45 minutes

That’s all I have left until I’m officially on vacation mode for the next 2 weeks! And I have a feeling it’s going to be a long 6 hours and 45 minutes!

No morning run report today. I forgot Mr. Jeep has an appointment this afternoon and has to leave work early. This meant he had to go into work early to make up the time (isn’t he a great employee?). Most likely I won’t be able to get a run in this evening because an old friend of Mr. Jeep is in town and he’s stopping by so we can finally give him his wedding present. I ran 5.6 miles yesterday morning. The first half of my run I wasn’t feeling all that great. Pretty sluggish actually. So I knew I wasn’t going to have a great time. My time was something like 10:15, still not bad, but not where I wanted to be. Everyday can’t be a great day, so I’m over it.

I’m going to do my best to continue my running while on vacation. We’re also taking the bikes, so we should be able to get a lot of that in as well. I don’t know if I mentioned that the place we’re going to for the first week is the town that Mr. Jeep and I got married in. We haven’t been there since then. We’re both really excited to go back and to show LC where mommy and daddy got married. It’s a beautiful part of Michigan and a place that all people should enjoy once. It’s a town called Charlevoix and it’s in the northwest part of the lower peninsula.

Hopefully I’ll have some awesome pictures to post. I bought a Nikon d40 camera right after Memorial Day and I absolutely love the picture quality. Now I just need to learn how to properly use it!

If I don’t post tomorrow or Saturday morning, have a great 2 weeks! I’m sure I’ll have loads of stories.

Back to the Grindstone

Happy Belated 4^th of July! The weekend was very uneventful and I am really happy about it. I did not go for a run Thursday evening, but I did go Friday morning. I ran 4 miles and my time was 9:01! I am very pleased with the time. I’ll get under 9 minutes one of these days. I was hoping it would happen this morning and it probably would have had I not gotten stopped at a light and by some idiot that refused to yield to a pedestrian. I ran 3.6 miles this morning and my time was 9:05. Still not bad and very happy about it!

Speaking of the idiot that wouldn’t yield to me, this has got to be one of my biggest pet peeves while out running/walking. It irritates me when I’m in a residential area and people are so impatient that they can’t bother to wait the 5 seconds (not even) it will take me to get across the street. Seriously! Is that teensy bit of time really going to make or break you getting to where you need to go? I’ll never forget the one time I was walking our old dog Buddy. I used to take him on the monster long walks and we were walking on a busy road, but we were on the sidewalk. We came to a light and it was red for us, so I stopped of course. When the light turned green I hesitated a couple of seconds to make sure everyone was stopping and then started to go. As soon as Buddy and I took two steps, the jackass that was turning right decided we had hesitated a little too long and decided to go. I had to yank Buddy back as hard as I could, otherwise he would have gotten hit by that asshole! I was so angry! I couldn’t believe how close that car came to hitting Buddy. I’ve even had that happen while I’ve been running with LC in the jogger. My jogging stroller is this bright lime green color and there is no way you can’t see it. I really think people just don’t care. It’s as if once they’re behind the wheel they are the only thing that matters. The ones that irritate me more than anything are the people that go in front of you and then stare at you like you, as the pedestrian, are in the wrong for being out there in the first place. Frustrating!

So anyway, now that I’m off my little rant, it was a really good run this morning. I definitely think I needed the break and it seems to have helped.

We leave for vacation this Saturday. We’re going camping for a week and then the following week we’re going to be at the property up north. Neither Mr. Jeep nor myself like taking vacation in July, but we are. Originally Mr. Jeep was told by his lovely employer that Chrysler would be taking a mandatory two week shutdown in July. Ford and GM have always done this, but Chrysler never has. And they would have to use two weeks of vacation during that time. So we decided on our trip and I made the camping reservations. About two weeks ago Mr. Jeep found out that now they’ll be working during those two weeks…WTF! At first we thought about only going camping the first week and then using the other week sometime in the fall. But after thinking it over and discussing it, we decided that we had already accepted the fact that we were taking a two week vacation and anything less than that would be a let down. I’m looking forward to it. It should be a lot of fun and LC is really geeked about it!

And today it’s back to work after the holiday weekend!

Another sweet giveaway

Just a quick post that Chic Runner is having another sweet giveaway. This time it’s for a Zensah $75 Prize Pack. You get to choose whatever you want for $75. Chic Runner has talked a lot about the arm warmers and sports bra that she bought from them.

Also, as you may have noticed, there hasn’t been a morning run report all week. What’s going on???? Well, Mr. Jeep has been out of town since last Thursday and I didn’t even consider the fact that I wouldn’t be able to run in the mornings while he was gone. I can’t very well leave LC home by herself and put the doggies in charge! Can you even imagine? It would be another Good Dog Carl book all over again (if you’ve never seen this book, you must. Someone should call Child Protective Services on that mother!). I’m looking at the bright side of things of not having run all week that maybe this is the break I needed. I’m planning on going for a run maybe this evening and definitely tomorrow morning. Although the run this evening most likely won’t happen. Mr. Jeep came home 10 minutes before I left this morning, so I’ll want to spend time with him.

He's down and not out

Mr. Jeep went fishing Saturday morning on our friends’ boat with the guys. This is something new for Mr. Jeep, he never fishes. But he wants to get into it more and secretly I think he has mini-man crush on our friend Bill that owns the boat. Bill is a cop/fireman/paramedic and is big into hunting and fishing. He also has guns and great toys. All things Mr. Jeep also loves. Anyway, Mr. Jeep ended up hurting his back while fishing Saturday morning. I think the thing that really made it worse was that he didn’t take it easy the rest of the day Saturday, Sunday or Monday. He got up to get ready for work yesterday morning and could barely walk to the bathroom. He’s had this happen before and it was a bulging disc that was causing the problem. So he stayed home yesterday and ended up taking a Vicodin, which he hates doing. He’s still not better today. He’s supposed to be leaving tomorrow night for Vegas for work, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to be happening. He stayed home again today and is going to try and get in to see the doctor. Hopefully they can do something.

Not so great morning run report

I ran this morning and that’s about all that I can say. I ran 3 miles…just 3 miles. It was very humid and I was extremely sweaty when I got home. And no I don’t perspire, I sweat (very easily I might add). It’s supposed to be 95^o or something crazy like that today. There’s a heat advisory for today here.

We set up LC’s new pool on Monday and when I got back home from my run I walked over to it and for one brief moment considered jumping in. In hindsight I should have; it would have felt great! Instead, I reached in and splashed water all over my face. It felt good, but not as good as jumping in would have been.

Morning Run Report

I’ve decided I’m going to start doing a morning run report. I think this is going to help me in a couple of ways: 1) It will provide a pseudo run log and 2) hopefully help with I think it considered “hitting the wall”. Let’s talk about #2 for a moment. For the last couple of weeks whenever I go running I have had one hell of a time finishing. Usually the first mile is the hardest for me and then I’m fine. But lately every single mile is the hardest for me and I even struggle with *gasp* walking. I never do but I think about it really hard. I went running Sunday morning and did 4.6 miles. I planned on doing at least 6, but I got to the point where I could turn to go home and I honestly felt like I couldn’t run anymore and turned to go home. I didn’t run yesterday, but I went this morning. I ran 4.4 miles this morning (9:07/mile) and I felt good. I ran a different route than one of my normal ones that I choose from, so I’m thinking maybe this helped. I’m going to try and map out some different routes than what I normally do and see if maybe it’s just boredom with the same routine that’s making me dread running.

So the report for this morning was very good. Like I said, I ran 4.4 miles and I felt great. It was starting to get light out when I left. I love the fact that the sun starts rising so early now. I leave for my runs around 5:00 – 5:15 am, so it’s kind of nice that’s it not dark outside. And by the time I get back home it’s really light out. I wish I could carry my camera some mornings because the sunrises are so beautiful. It was about 65^o when I left the house this morning and already was starting to feel humid. It’s supposed to be in the 90’s tomorrow and I think high humidity…summer is here in Michigan! I only passed one other person this morning and saw one rabbit. Oh and I ran through every cobweb in the area. I probably look like a crazy person some mornings because when I have to run where I think there may be cobwebs, I flail my arms out in front of me to clear the cobwebs before I have to run through them. It works, but I don’t always remember until it’s too late.

So that’s my first morning run report. Hopefully it helps me!

Awesome Giveaway

Felice over at The Happy Runner has a great giveaway going on. She's hosting a giveaway for some pretty awesome running gear. The contest ends 6/25, so hurry on over!

Torture

This past weekend we surprised my mother-in-law with a spa day during the day on Saturday and then dinner in the evening. That is a long ass day to spend with my in-laws. The reason for the surprise is that my mother-in-law turned 70 on May 28^th. My sister-in-law and niece came in from Illinois to surprise her as well. It was a very nice thought and gesture for my mother-in-law and I know she really enjoyed herself. Can’t you just sense that there is a “but” coming?

Let me give a shortened version of my husband’s family situation. You may want to take notes because it’s a little complicated. Soap operas are written about this stuff. In fact there was a little show called the Brady Bunch that it was loosely based off of. My father-in-law was married before and had two daughters from that marriage. His first wife passed away when the girls were really young. She had tuberculosis. My mother-in-law was also married before and had three daughters from that marriage. Her first husband was a Detroit cop and was hit and killed by a Detroit City bus while on pursuit of another vehicle. The girls were also very young, in fact the youngest was only about 5 months old. Both very tragic stories. My in-laws met, married and had my husband the following year. He is the youngest and the only boy with five (yes 5!) sisters.

I can only imagine what the house was like growing up. The oldest daughter from each of my in-laws are the same age and the next two from each are only a few months apart. When my husband was born, the oldest daughter was about 9 years old. So my in-laws had six children under the age of 9 when my husband was born. Can you even imagine? It explains some things in that family. I mean you have to be a little crazy to be able to handle all those kids, right?

My husband really only gets along with three of his sisters. The oldest from my mother-in-law and my husband do not speak to each other at all. I also do not speak to her. She is an A-1 bitch. And we are all certain that she has some mental disorder or something, possibly a little bipolar. We’re not sure, but she is super nice one minute and then just a total bitch the next. Most of the time she learns more towards total bitch. She didn’t even go to her own sister’s wedding two years ago. The wedding was on the other side of the state and it was her second marriage, but everyone else made the trip. Even the sister from Illinois made it. Funny enough, she came to our wedding and our wedding was in Charlevoix which is in the very northwest part of Michigan. The other sister, ironically the oldest from my father-in-law, we used to get along with. In fact, she’s the one that introduced Mr. Jeep and I. She used to be my favorite of the sisters. I still don’t know what happened, but she never really acknowledged when LC was born. She came to my baby shower and was her normal self. She sent a card the day after LC was born, but that was it. She never came to the house to see LC. She never called. She ignored us the next time we saw her. It was all very bizarre.

They all pretty much drive me crazy. They are very LOUD people. More so, two of the sisters that Mr. Jeep gets along with are very loud. The one regularly states that she is the smartest in the family. No joke. I have heard her say this on several occasions. Actually she says that she and the other loud one are the smartest in the family. And it’s the entire family, not just the immediate that they are above. Who the hell says this? She’s also the one that last Memorial Day when we were up north, emerges from the house in full on make-up and some outfit that looked like it came straight out of Orvis! We have no running water or electricity at the property up north. Everyone pretty much looks gross all weekend. That’s how it is, accept it. I could go on and on with the stories, but you probably get the idea. They are a couple of high maintenance chicks. I like to think that I am not.

So when the idea of spending pretty much the entire day with the five of them came up, I shuddered. Instantly I began thinking of ways to get out of the spa part of it. Finally I told myself that it was for my mother-in-law and not me and to suck it up and do it. So that’s what I did. All-in-all it went pretty well. The first appointments were supposed to be at 10 am and we were to get there before 10 am to surprise my MIL. My niece was bringing her to the spa. 10 am came and went and there was still no sign of the niece and MIL. Finally it was around 10:20 or so and the massage therapist that was going to be working with me asked if I wanted to get started or keep waiting. I felt horrible making her wait because this then meant that all of her appointments were now pushed back for the rest of the day. I finally told her let’s get started; I can always say hi after my massage. I ended up leaving around 2:30 pm and they were still there. Apparently they didn’t leave until almost 4 pm! Thank God I made an early exit.

We were supposed to be at the restaurant at 6:00 pm for dinner. Mr. Jeep, LC and I were actually early. I was very proud. Everyone else trickled in after that. We probably didn’t sit down to start ordering until 6:45. There were about 20 people total in our group. The restaurant had 1 waitress waiting on 20 people. They had us split up into two long tables and 1 waitress! WTF! We never left the restaurant until after 9:30. LC was crashing big time at the end. She kept saying “Momma, I’m so tired.” I felt really bad and I also wanted to leave. My brother-in-law came up to me to see how I was doing and so we had a little bit of a bitch session between the two of us.

It was one day/night and my MIL had a great time. That’s all that matters. And the saying “you can choose your spouse but not your in-laws” is oh so true in my case. They’re all headed to Frankenmuth (a German touristy town north of Detroit known for its chicken) together today. Mr. Jeep and I were not jumping on that train.

Go Wings!

Tonight is Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals and I can’t wait! Hopefully it will be a total repeat of last year and the Red Wings will win tonight. If they win that means a late night for Mr. Jeep and I. Of course we’ll have to stay up for all of the celebratory stuff after the game. I love hockey!

Good luck boys!

Keep your mouth closed

I was almost home from my run yesterday morning and this bug flew right in my mouth and went back in my throat. I started gagging for a few seconds and was in total disbelief that he flew right back into my throat. I’m pretty sure the damn thing hit my uvula on the way in. That bug must have been flying pretty fast with the force I felt at the back of my mouth. He was too far in to try and spit him out, so I must have swallowed him (I don’t know why she swallowed the fly….).

So I decide on the way to dropping LC off at school to tell her about it…that was a mistake and I should have known it would be. I couldn’t really see her face as I was telling her the story, but she asked me why he flew in my mouth. I had to explain that sometimes those things happen.

LC: “Did he come out?”

Me: “No, I swallowed him because he was back in my throat.”

LC: “I don’t like that very much.”

Me: “Well I didn’t really like it either, it made me gag.”

LC: “Are you o.k.? Where is the bug right now?”

Me: “In my tummy most likely. He’s not coming out my mouth that’s for sure.”

So we get to her school and I go to unbuckle her from the car seat and she has this pained expression on her face and she’s staring at my mouth. I really think she thought the damn bug was going to fly out of my mouth! I had to laugh. She looked at me and she said “Momma, I don’t want you to kiss me today.” I said “why not?” She said, “I don’t want the bug to fly in my mouth when you kiss me!” I couldn’t help but laugh. It’s amazing how her mind works.

She brought it up again at dinner and then before bed and then this morning. Maybe next year she will have stopped asking me about it!

Crazy Talk

I’ve been thinking about running a marathon for a long time. I’ve always told myself that I will do one before I am no longer part of this Earth. There are two marathons that I would consider doing as my first one. One is the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar marathon and the other is the Chicago Marathon. Obviously the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar would make more sense. Last year I thought about doing it for a long time and then I just didn’t feel quite ready. Plus I figured I should probably do a half before I attempted a full. Well now that I have the half under my belt, I really have no excuses.

Last Thursday I received an email from the Free Press marathon stating that the race fee is cheaper until June 30^th. After I finished the Martian ½ Marathon I had made up my mind to run the ½ for the Free Press. Now I’m considering doing the whole thing. In my head I know I could do it, but there’s also a little voice that is telling me that is a long ass way to run! I emailed my friend Elena, which was a mistake blessing, to hear her thoughts on the subject. Of course she says that she would also like to do the full marathon. Of course. She has a book with a training program that only requires you to run three days a week to avoid burnout and injury. Ugh, I think I’m running a marathon. I have until June 30^th to make up my mind for the cheaper rate.

What's Been Going On?

Not a whole heck of a lot is what’s been going on. Well, I guess I shouldn’t say that. I have been crazy busy at work, I mean crazy! I work for a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee (yes, I’m still at that same j-o-b) which explains the reason why I’ve been so busy.

Since my last post I’ve run one race. I ran the Oak Apple Run two weekends ago. It’s a 10K and usually has a pretty small turnout, which is nice for me. My time was 56:32 and I am still very happy with it. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do a 10K under an hour. I know it’s not fast by any means, but it was fast for me. And in all honesty it probably would have been better if I wasn’t stuck in a crowd for the first mile or so. I was one of those people at one point where I ran up on the sidewalk to go around a group of people. Mr. Jeep and LC went with me because LC was running the Kid’s ¼ Mile Fun Run. So while I was running my 10K they were at the Coney Island in downtown Royal Oak having breakfast. LC got a kick out of seeing me at mile 4. She enjoyed herself because she got to pet a ton of dogs. I did the ¼ mile run with her. We didn’t actually run. She had been practicing for the entire week before by having me count 1-2-3…GO! Sure enough we get to the start line and we start going and she doesn’t want to run. So we walked and then she wanted me to carry her. Mr. Jeep met up with us at the 1/8 mile point and “ran” the rest of the way with us. We told LC that she had to either walk or run through the finish line. She did and she was really excited. She cleaned up at the end of the run! First she got a trophy (I did not) and a backpack full of stuff! And good stuff, not crappy stuff that would end up in the garbage as soon as we got home. Needless-to-say, for the next week she carried that trophy with her everywhere. It was very cute! All momma got was a banana, some Gatorade and water.

Stop Whining!

Since last Wednesday it has been less than great in my house. Mr. Jeep came home sick from work last Wednesday. He went to the doctor and found out that he has a really bad sinus infection. He gets a couple of them a year, but this is definitely the worst one. I feel really bad for him. Well, I did feel really bad for him. I know this is a totally horrible thing to say, but I have no sympathy left. The doctor put him on an antibiotic (Augmentin) and a steroid. I'm putting the blame on the steroid for his moody behavior. At least, that's what I tell myself to try and keep my sanity. He called the doctor yesterday and a new prescription was called in. Thank God he's getting better. I don't think I would have been able to stand another day of the complaining. But now he's moved on to complain about all the stuff he hasn't been able to get done due to his illness. It's always something!

Martian Half-Marathon Report

I can officially say that I have run a half-marathon! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! (can you tell by the exclamation points?) Sunday I ran the Martian Half-Marathon and it was great. I totally see why people say that once you run one, you want to do more. In my crazy warped sense of thinking I was already thinking of the next one while I was still running my first one. Crazy, right? So here's the report.

When I first signed up for the race it said that it started at 8:30 am. Awesome I thought. I run in the morning before work, so this is perfect. I don't like those late start races. About a month ago I get an email saying that they've moved the race start up to 8:00 am. Again I thought awesome. I guess I should back track and say that the race was a little ways away from my house. About a 40 minute drive, so you have to factor that into the equation here. Anyway, two weeks ago I get an email that says "Due to unforseen circumstances the race time is being moved up to 7:00 am." Excuse me? 7:00 am and I have to drive 40 minutes to get there? WTF?!? Of course I immediately go into panic mode with how I am supposed to eat something and have enough time for it digest enough before the race. On my daily runs I don't eat anything before because they're not so long that I need something. But for 13.1 miles I need something. Luckily my friend Elena ran a half in the fall and she was my go to person for advice on everything. We got the food situation figured out.

A few days before the race I found out that one of my sister and brother-in-law's friends was also going to do the half. So he and I ended up going to get our race packets together and he rode with us to the race. I told Brian (the friend) Saturday that Mr. Jeep, LC and I would pick him up around 5:30 - 5:45 am on Sunday. He said perfect. My alarm went off at 4:30 am on Sunday (who gets up that early on the weekend) and I ate half a bagel and some yogurt. I also drank water and put a little bit of coffee in my mug to drink on our way there. By the time Mr. Jeep and LC were ready to leave it was 5:30 am when we pulled out of our driveway. So already I'm upset because we're leaving late to pick up Brian. Really there was no need to get upset about it. We pull into Brian's driveway and I get out to go to the front door and Brian opens it and tells me that he didn't hear his alarm and he just got up at 5:30 am! He kept apologizing and finally we were on our way.

Mr. Jeep drove us. Brian and I were telling him how to go since he didn't go on Saturday to pick up the race packet. Well we're riding along and all of a sudden Brian says "I think we missed the exit." And I agreed because I was just about to say the same thing. So we had to get off the expressway and go back. We hadn't gone too far out of our way. So it wasn't that big of a deal. We made sure to razz Mr. Jeep about it though.

Finally we parked and made our way to the starting area. I had to go pee really bad, but when I saw the line for the lovel porta-johns I figured I didn't have enough time. The race was going to start in about 5 minutes. After a minute or so I told Brian I had to use the bathroom. So I got in a line of all men thinking that it would move faster and it did. I came out of the porta-john and Brian said the race had already started. I said, "What?!?" and then realized that we were surrounded by everyone else waiting to start. I had a chip on my shoe so I wasn't that worried. So as we're standing there I go to put my headphones on and start my musice and my damn mp3 player wouldn't turn on. I was getting really frustrated and the start was getting closer. I even took the battery out and put it back in and it still didn't work. So I ran 13.1 miles without any music. I had the headphones on because I had no other place to put them, but no music. I later determined that after I put the new battery in it on Saturday night, LC and I were listening to it and I must have not turned it off all the way. I was so pissed! Live and learn right?

As soon as we hit the start line Brian and I wished each other good luck and he was off. Starting back further, I later determined, was actually a blessing for me. For the first 2-3 miles I was passing a lot of people and it wasn't because I was running incredibly fast, it was due to us starting further back. Usually for me, the first 2 miles are the hardest part for me. But that wasn't the case this time. I think because of the adrenaline of the race and the people it really helped. The course had some hills that I'm not used to by my house. Around me it's pretty flat. I think I did pretty good on the hills though. I seemed to pass a lot of people on the uphills and feel that I kept a pretty even pace.

I didn't take anything at the first water station. I don't think it was until mile 4 that I took some water. Then after that I'd take water at all the stations except for the last one. I was doing pretty good overall until about mile 9 or 10. I started getting a cramp in my left hamstring. As soon as it would start feeling better I'd come to a hill and then it would get worse. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't run, but it hurt. I worked through it and I was fine.

As is the case at most races, there was an interesting mix of people. I spotted one woman that made me laugh and there's usually always one or two at a race. She looked to be in her early 50's and she had her face completely done up. She had mascara, eye shadow, lipstick, blush. You could totally tell that she had got up that morning and washed and dried her hair and curled it. She was done up! Apparently she must follow the line of women don't sweat, they perspire. This other woman every time I saw her all I could think was "Farrah Fawcett is running this race." This woman was straight out of the 70's. She had frosted blond hair with the wings and the harsh rouge lines on her cheeks. And the best part was that her eyes reminded me of Tammy Faye Baker! Ugh, can you even imagine? I also saw an older man, probably in his late 60's wearing a garbage bag (it was not raining, the sun was out) and he had on the Karate Kid headband. Whenever I saw him I thought "Aw, Danielson." This is what kept me entertained.

After about the 6-7 mile mark I ran with pretty much the same group of people the rest of the way. It was kind of nice. Even though nobody was talking to each other, it was comforting knowing that I was with the same people.

When there was about 2 miles left in the race, the route went through U of M Dearborn's campus on this road. It was nice, until the jackass in the car came up behind me and laid on his horn! I have no idea how this guy got his car on the race route or where he came from, but I was with this group of people and I thought I heard a vehicle behind me. I turned to look and sure enough there's a car coming behind me. I heard him honk his horn at some people farther back from me and then next thing I know he's about 2 feet behind me. I am not lying, he was that close. So I moved over and he went past me and made others move, too. He ended up zipping in this parking lot, only to realize there was no way out. So here comes Mr. Jackass back onto the race route. I was the lucky one he came to first. He was even closer to me this time and he laid on his fucking horn! The girl next to me and I turned and looked at him like are you kidding me? We both moved over and then he did the same thing to 2 other women in front of me. The one woman turned around and yelled "What the hell are you doing?" and moved over. Her friend wasn't quite so nice. She gave the car a huge smack on the roof. Eventually the asshole made his way through everyone. I still have no idea where he came from and why he thought he was so important.

I also have to admit that when I had about 2 miles left, I actually started getting choked up. I started thinking about the fact that I was about to finish my first half. All my training had come to this point. Then I reminded myself that Mr. Jeep and Brian would be at the finish line and I'd have to hear about it if I finished with tears in my eyes. There's nothing that irritates me more than being called a girl in those situations.

I was almost to the finish line and there was Mr. Jeep with LC on his shoulders and Brian standing with them. Mr. Jeep was taking pictures and LC was cheering and eating a bagel. I hit the finish line, got a water and was given a medal by some hot looking guy (I almost went back for a second just to have him hand me another medal). Mr. Jeep and LC met me after I got through all that and kept telling me how proud they were. It was awesome! I couldn't stop smiling. And other than my hamstring hurting, I felt great. I wasn't tired. I wasn't out of breath. I felt great. I knew it was still the adrenaline that was making me feel that way, but I didn't care.

Unfortunately, in addition to my technical problems with my radio, we were also experiencing technical problems with the camera. I think because it was cold outside it wasn't working properly. Mr. Jeep couldn't get it to focus. So I think we got one good picture. (this is now making me want to get the better camera I wanted to get when we got this one)

I really didn't start getting tired until a couple hours later, which I expected. That's what happened to me when I would do my long runs on the weekend.

I checked my official time yesterday at it was 2 hours 13 minutes. I think that's pretty respectable for my first half. Now I have something to beat. I'm really glad I did it and I can't wait for the next one!

Entertaining

Be sure to check out The Chic Runner today. She has an awesome giveaway of a $100 gift certificate to onlineshoes.com.

I absolutely love reading her blog. I love all of her race stories and bargain tips for clothing and running gear. She has also inspired me ask for a Garmin Forerunner for Mother's Day. I really want one. I may also need to steal her idea of naming it (hers is Chuck).

Thanks again for the opportunity to win the gift certificate! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Facecrack

So as I stated previously, I've been obsessed with Facebook. It hasn't been as bad as it was a few months ago. I'm amazed by how many people have found me and the people that I have found. It is crazy! Pretty much all of my friends use it and the new phrase I keep hearing amongst people is "Either send me an email or Facebook me and let me know". As of today, the look of Facebook has changed and I don't really care for it. Some of the status updates that people put on there are just plain stupid! I mean really, do I care that so-and-so is cleaning or cooking dinner. No, not really. Do I care that someone is going to work, bed, movies, shop, blah, blah, blah? No, not really. I guess they've changed the status portion so that it's more general. So you can put any random thought or whatever. I like this idea better, so maybe the new isn't so bad.

I have quite a few people that I went to high school with as "friends" on Facebook. I was very hesitant at first about accepting these people. Truthfully, I have one friend that I went to junior high and high school with that I still talk to. She is my female best friend (Mr. Jeep being the male). I do not talk or keep in touch with anyone else. So my thought was, if I haven't spoken to them in 19 years, why start now? But, alas, I gave in and friended a couple and then that led to more. The thing that kills me is that this one person that I was best friends with throughout junior high and high school, I just don't get. My friend Elena (the one I still keep in touch with) and I used to be best friends with the other one that I don't get (Julia). After I graduated from college I realized I needed to not have Julia in my life anymore. She was a real negative in my life. I could never count on her for anything. We'd make plans and she'd always cancel. I was the one who did all the work in the relationship and it was exhausting. The straw that broke the camel's back was at her wedding. I had been friends with her since 7-8th grade. She invited Elena and I to her wedding and we went. She didn't even say hello to either one of us at the reception. She and her creepy husband came up to our table and she talked to this other couple at our table, but said nothing to the two people she had been close friends with for about 11 years. So as soon as dinner was over, I left. Anyway, I saw that she was on Facebook. But I decided that since I hadn't spoken to her in about 12 years and didn't want her drama that I was not going to start now. I guess she sent Elena a message and wanted to know why I hadn't requested her as a friend. I was like "How old are we?" It was exactly like being back in high school. She eventually sent me a friend request and I accepted just to look at her profile. (which, side note, is why I have friended most people) The thing I don't get is that she has all of these people that we went to school with as friends and I know she didn't talk to them in high school. But now she leaves them all these messages on Facebook like she's long lost friends with them. I don't get it and never will.

I heard on the radio about this whole new category of people that are popping up that is related to Facebook. Apparently there are people that are now having these huge self-esteem issues because they don't have a lot of friends on Facebook. Or they'll get rejected as a friend and it opens up a whole new issue. I just think the whole thing is bizarre. However, even though I say it's bizarre, I still check it everyday!

I'm Still Alive

I cannot believe it's been since January that I've posted anything. How lame am I? Actually I've got my damn Facebook obsession going on and the whole training thing going on. Those things alone have kept me busy enough. Plus, I'm stuck behind an f--ing computer all day and the last thing I want to do when I get home is be stuck behind a computer again. I really need to start posting at work...why not?

Mr. Jeep and I just got back on Tuesday from a mini-vacay. We went to Cancun for a few days. I told him about a month or so ago that I needed to go somewhere and it needed to be warm. So I started looking around and Cancun seemed to be the best deal. We actually ended up using a travel agent (yes, they still exist. I couldn't believe it either!). We stayed at all all-inclusive resort and it was fantastic! The two biggest decisions I had to make were 1) beach or pool and 2) cerveza or margarita. It was such a stress on my brain! :) The break was incredible and very much needed. I'm now trying to figure out what I need to do to live that life permanently. I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Some observations from Cancun...way too many old men wear banana hammocks and older women aren't afraid to be topless or change into a new bikini right on the beach! There was one guy that we saw everyday that wore the banana hammock. That man was not afraid to flaunt it. But I really don't need to know how low he's hanging or which direction it's pointing. The last day we were there I saw him in a black thong Speedo! Yikes! Of course, Mr. Jeep made me take a picture and I did. It's pretty funny!

Onto the older topless women...I made a comment about an older women that walked past us and her hat. I said that when I got that age I was going to also get the same sort of hat. The hat is pretty hard to describe, but it was white with a black band around it and wide brim all the way around. I also think you need to be of a certain age to wear that type of hat. Anyway, the woman was wearing a strapless pink bikini. She had to be in her late 60's, early 70's. Mr. Jeep and I went into the water and I was looking up at the beach and I saw the man of the couple standing up and I was about to say to Mr. Jeep that the husband had on a Speedo, when I realized that it was not the husband I was looking at, but the wife topless! So I point her out to Mr. Jeep and he kind of laughs. So I look away for a few minutes and look back up to where she was standing and now she has on a yellow bikini. She totally changed right there on the beach, in front of everyone! On one hand I say good for her that she's so confident and comfortable in her skin and on the other hand I say Ewww!

Am I Crazy?

Tomorrow I am going to sign up for my first ever half-marathon. Yes, I will be running 13.1 miles in one day, at one time. I think I've gone mad. The race is April 5th. I started my training last week and so far it's going pretty well. I have decided that I am ditching my brand new trail running shoes. I bought them because I thought it would be better to run in them in the snow and ice than regular running shoes. The shoes are great for traction, but they keep giving me blisters in the arches of my feet. I think the arch support is too much or something.

I've always wanted to do a marathon and so I figure this will set me on my way. We'll see how I feel about the marathon after I finish the half-marathon. My goal for this half-marathon...not to be last. I think that's pretty reasonable.

Who's Next?

The news today is that Circuit City is closing and going out of business. It's only a matter of time before other stores have to start doing the same thing. Just my random thought. It's just really sad and scary the way things are going. At what point are we going to hit rock bottom? I don't think it's that far away.

Sorry for the downer for the day. That's what I get for watching the news.

I just want a book

I had put some books on hold at the library and had to pick them up yesterday. I love putting books on hold because I can run in and out. It's fantastic! So anyway, I go to the library, grab my books that were on hold and decide to go into the children's section to get LC some CDs. At our library the children's section is off in it's own area, so as not to disturb the rest of the library. It's a great set-up. There were only two other people in the children's section when I went in there and the librarian at the children's circulation desk. I walk over to start looking at the CDs and my phone starts vibrating (yes, I am always nice enough to put my phone on vibrate in the library). By the time I found it in my purse, it had stopped vibrating. I look and it was Mr. Jeep calling me. So I stepped into the far corner of the children's section so that I was far away from the now one other person in the children's section. This one other person was on the complete opposite side of the room. I called Mr. Jeep back to see what he needed. So I'm talking to him (he wanted to know what we were doing for dinner) and all of a sudden I hear whispering in my other ear. So I turn and it's the librarian and she whispers "There's no cell phones allowed in the library." (as she's making the universal phone gesture with her hand) I said, "What?" (I have never seen a sign) And she repeats herself and walks away. So I say to Mr. Jeep, "I've got to go because apparently cell phones aren't allowed in the library." So I hang up. As I'm walking past the children's circulation desk, their phone rings. The librarian (who I forgot to mention looks like the kindergarten teacher from Billy Madison...you know, the one that eats paste when the kids are napping?) answers the phone and is practically yelling she's talking so loudly. I'm sorry that my 2 second phone call to my husband about dinner disturbed her. I almost said something to her, but I decided to be the bigger person and just let it go.

As I was checking out my books I looked around for a sign about cell phone usage. There wasn't one. Don't get me wrong, had I of been in the regular part of the library, I wouldn't have used it and would have been irritated had someone been near me while I was working on something. But it was the simple fact that I was in a section where there was only one other person. Did I mention the other person had an infant with her?

These library bitches always irritate me.