picture edition: who wants to run that many?

Compliments of the broseph's phone and the race photographers...

Everyone getting ready to start.
You can see the start line in the distance.

Start line!

The race started around 6:45 instead of 7 because of weather.


Hardcore.


After the race.

What happens when my fam tries to take pictures...

Mom telling Trey to hurry and take the picture
because rain had started to fall.


Trey trying to take a picture of us after my dad
failed multiple times/ways with the iphone cam.

Oh. Oh. And I had a couple of signs that stuck with me.

1) Relax. You're not going to win it anyways. (around mile 6)
2) Your feet hurt because you are kicking so much ass. ( around mile 7)

My fave signs were back to back.

And. I'm. Out.

who wants to run that many?

13.1 miles...who wants to run that many miles? (in little old lady voice)

That's the response my mom got from her friend's mom when discussing my race during a lunch date with my grandmother, my mom's friend and her mother earlier this week.

...Apparently me.

When I started training earlier this year my two goals were to a) run the entire time and b) finish. I had no goal set for time seeing as how any finish would be a PR. Good news though...I did better than I thought.

I ran the whole time. I paced myself. I drank a ton of Cytomax and water. I didn't have to use the bathroom at all. I timed my energy gel just right with a little practice during my 12 mile practice run. AND the storms that were suppose to hit Nash didn't roll in until about 15 minutes after I crossed the finish line.

Was it hilly? Yes. Did I want to quit at times? Only within the first 5k. It took me that long to get in sync. Did I almost cry twice during the race because of the ways I could tell I had changed both mentally and physically? Yes until I realized it affected my breathing so I tried to prevent it when I felt emotions rising. Did I cry at the finish? No...I had no water left in me to produce tears. Haha.

I finished about 4 minutes faster than I had predicted. I managed to dead sprint the last quarter mile because I could see the finish line so I wasn't completely out of gas but I don't know how much longer I could've made it.

I had my parents and brother there for support along with amazing fans that lined the roads. I think I high fived about 20 kids during the race. What a great feeling.

One stretch of the race is strictly residential so folks were outside tailgating with mimosas and bloody marys in hand. They had all this food laid out and I even saw one table with a bunch of tiny mouthwash cups full of beer. One of my coworkers and I were talking about it and he said that he saw one guy take a couple of beers and then a mile later saw that same guy off to the side...not racing for the moment.

So I guess you can say I am officially a distance runner. I enjoyed it enough to do it again so we'll see what the future brings. I will say this. If you think there is no way in heck you can do it, that's just not true. I couldn't even run a mile without walking when I started earlier this year, and now my short runs are 3-5 miles. And the best part is...I enjoy it.

Pictures to follow.

humpday

Song currently stuck in my head...

Your welcome.

taylor swift meets auburn

For those of you who aren't aware of what's going on between two Auburn students and Taylor Swift...check out their website here.

Challenges from Taylor...

And completed...

Will I ever like her music? Probably not. Do I like her? After watching these videos...yep.

crafty

Since I'm not going home for Mother's Day this year and my mom is going to be up this weekend for the race, I thought I'd give her her Mother's Day present this weekend. After shopping galore out at Opry Mills on Saturday, I stopped at Michael's to buy some paint and canvases. As I do at most stores I walk into, I walked in with a set gameplan and walked out with something that wasn't on my list and nothing that was. Go me.

What did I get? A mosaic coaster kit. What? Haha. I thought my mom could use some cute coasters outside during the spring/summer time, and after hours of working on them from glue mishaps to a black grout sink to vegetable oil shining...here they are.

Before the grout...


Finished product...

This was my first time doing a mosaic so I was pretty excited just to get a finished product.

I just can't hide it

Less than 9 days until the half AND less than two months for CK and JT in concerto! Just doing a little bit of research/reading on their shows thus far on tour.

I liked this review just because of the title, but once reading it, I thoroughly enjoyed the content as well...The Earth Waggled Its Hips.

A couple of my faves (beware if you get motion sickness...apparently the lady/lad recording was a bit shaky).

Oh...and guess who else is a fan?

Carola tweeted this pic herself. Oh twitter.

livemocha

One goal I have always had is to be multilingual...bilingual at the least. After many failed attempts to get started, I finally found a site last night that I think I'm going to stick with.

It's called livemocha, and it's completely free to get you started. You can take lessons, submit written and oral assignments, and receive comments from peers who are fluent in whatever language you are learning. I even commented on a few English submissions and earned some teacher points.

The main thing that drew me in to this site was the opportunity to interact with people who spoke the language that I am trying to learn. I feel like the more I dive in and interact, the better off I will be.

I guess when I think Spanish the first thing that comes to mind is how quickly the words roll off of the tongue. I wasn't sure how well my Southern tongue would adapt to this seeing as how I can't even speak English that fast without getting tongue tied. Well last night I completed my first oral submission and one comment I received from one of my Spanish "teachers" was this...


Slower? Well at least I know that won't be an issue. Haha.

my productive weekend

Not many items but three were pretty huge. Normally I crash after my long run but not this weekend. I decided to get things done instead...

• Started and completed my taxes
• Hung out at Centennial with a nice book
• Got my prescriptions refilled (usually not very good at doing this on time)
  
• Ran 12 miles
• Cleaned my entire house (including closets)
  
• Recycled
• Played the uke (to most this would be unproductive but to me it's something that keeps me balanced)
  

Now if I can make this week at work as productive...that would be awesome.

Happy Monday!

sharing time

Watched the season premiere of In Plain Sight today in between spring cleaning sessions. I really liked the quote at the end and thought I'd share.

We forget sometimes how much the world can hurt. It can hurt people we love. People we don't. People caught in the middle. Even people who'd give anything if they would never, ever, get hurt again, but sometimes the hurt can't be avoided.

It's just coming at us and can't be stopped. It's in us and can't be seen. Or its lying next to us in the dark... waiting, but sometimes it doesn't come at all.

Sometimes we get this other thing that just flutters down out of nowhere that stays just long enough to give us hope. Sometimes, rarely, barely, but just when we need it the most and expect it the least, we get a break.

I'm a firm believer in God never gives us more than we can handle, and I feel like this quote explains that quite nicely.

go ahead and...

...smile! You thought I was going to say jump, didn't you? Be honest.

believe it

I can't believe my first half marathon is less than three weeks away. I also can't believe that I pulled my quad playing in a rec kickball league game last Wednesday. I completely laid off training or physical use of my leg since (minus walking and a few games of ladder golf over the weekend). Good news is my leg has seemed to heal pretty fast (fingers crossed), and I'm going to try out some easy running today.

I also can't believe this...

It's called the double dunk. Woof on my face.