First and foremost, a great big
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
to Kati and Brigitte! Yes, my sister and best friend share the same birthday. I know it's weird. You know what's even weirder? I have the same birthday as Brigitte's youngest sister. Apparently the universe has aligned!
Work is easing up a little bit (hooray!) today. It's been a while since I've looked forward to the weekend this much... I'm just toast. At rehearsal last night my brain was literally fried. Nothing there. Couldn't sight sing to save my life, and I'm normally pretty good at it! I really think I need some down time - stat!
Speaking of stat, this Thursday is the last episode of "ER"... ever. That's right, ever. I will be sitting in front of my TV with tissues in hand. I can't believe the show is actually going to be done! It looks like they're going to pretty much have every character that has ever been on the show back for the finale. I can't wait!
In other random musings, I can't believe that it's the end of March already. We're seriously a quarter of the way through 2009 already? Where the heck is time going?!
Sorry it's been so long, faithful blog fans! It's been a crazy last two weeks... everything seems to be moving at the speed of life and I'm just barely hanging on! The good news is that work should slow down towards the end of next week, so I just need to get myself through the next few days!
I went back to the gym last night for the first time since the treadmill incident. With our work passes, I have to pick one 24 Hour Fitness and can only go to that one. I switched yesterday to the gym that's a little bit closer to work. The one I had been going to was much newer and nicer, but sits right where traffic sucks around the time I would normally go. This one is all of 5 minutes from work, with traffic. But it's super ghetto. Julie and I used to go there before the new one was built and I believe I might have blocked out some of our time there. I went over to swim yesterday. The pool itself is not too terrible (although it's a little cloudy... I think because of whatever they use to keep it clean - clearly not chlorine). The locker room, on the other hand, terrifes me.
I'm sad to report that "the spitter" is still there. She's this sweet little old asian lady that hacks the most disgusting loogies I've ever heard in my whole life. She does this the whole time she's in the shower. For some reason, no matter where I put myself in the shower area, she always ends up in the shower stall next to mine. So gross. Thank God for shower shoes.
That's right, I survived my very first half marathon! Today was such an amazing day - I'm still floating on adrenaline! I was super nervous this morning... if you know me, you know how I get. I'm cranky and, well, a little bit on the bitchy side when I'm really scared about something. So you can only imagine the sorts of things I was saying to other drivers on the road who cut me off at the exit.
My good friend Susan left me some great advice on Facebook last night... she said "the challenge in marathon running is getting to the starting line, knowing what lies ahead and having the guts to start. The rest will take care of itself." Honestly, it was so true. I was so freaked out until I actually started the race. Once we took off, it was "just run"... like every other run I've done for three months. Amazing.
And, of course, my fantastic family was there to support me! Adam and Eva brought some "flair" with them to make sure that our family was the loudest most visible group on the course:
And cheer they did... I know some of you are skeptical, but let me tell you, I was happy to have ANYONE cheering for me. My friend Jess also came to cheer... it was so amazing having all that support! Here's the family and I before the race:
The weather could not have been more perfect - it was cold, but once I started running, it was enough to cool you down without cramping your muscles. I started out pretty fast (hooray for adrenaline). My goal was to run 10 minute miles, which would have given me a final time of around two hours and ten minutes. Instead, I ended up doing roughly nine minute thirty-three second miles which gave me a final time of two hours and five minutes. I'm so super proud of myself! Towards the very end of the race, I seriously wanted to cry. I'm not sure if I was just that tired or if I was overwhelmed by it all or both. The only real pain I have going on is some seriously screwed up feet. I spilled some water on my shoes at one of the aid stations and managed to get it to soak through my socks... leaving me with some great blisters. Other than that, just the normal soreness!
Mike was stuck on a fire all night but was still sweet enough to drag his tired self down to catch what he could of the race. I honestly didn't think he'd make it, so I was blown away (and probably a little delirious) when I saw him standing at the top of the stairs. Here's us (don't I look great after 13.1 miles?):
After the run we headed over to Mom and Dad's for a delicious lunch (trust me, today I'm ready to eat just about anything!). I then went over to Betty's for a little going away party for one of our CERT members, Cheryl, who is moving to Texas. We did an offical "couch picture" for Cheryl to remember us by:
I spent the rest of tonight working on the pictures and catching up on some work... I think I'm just about ready for bed! For those of you who are wondering, yes, I'm still contemplating doing the full marathon, although I'll need some time to think about it. Here are the final stats for this run:
Half Marathon Final Stats
First Day Training: January 4th
Race Date: March 15th
Final Race Time: 2:05:08.3
Total Miles Logged: 178.6
Well, tomorrow at this time I will have just started my first half marathon. Yup, I'm a little nervous. No idea why - I've done 12 miles for the last two weekends, so I'm pretty sure that the extra 1.1 miles won't kill me. Oh well... today I'm heading over to Mom and Dad's to hang out - the whole gang is here! Adam, Eva, Mom, Dad, Kati and Oma are all there ready to chill and BBQ later tonight. It looks like it's supposed to rain, which is a little bit of a bummer, but nothing I can't handle!
Ok, off to carb load! :)
Marathon Update
Miles This Week and last: 27
Total Miles: 166
