FAIL

So that pretty little plan I typed out last week?? Yeah, totally fail on my part. I got in about 2 miles while in Michigan and that's IT for exercise last week. Pretty pathetic.

In my defense (or just another excuse) I woke up with a pretty gnarly head cold Monday morning. Knowing that we had a busy, fun, exciting weekend coming up - I decided rest and medication were more important to me than running myself ragged. I know some people think exercise helps when they are sick, but I couldn't breathe out of my nose and I didn't want to chance being even more sick over the weekend.

Just tonight I have made the decision to sign up for the Rock the Parkway half marathon in KC April 14th, 2012. It seems to be a fairly challenging course described as having "gentle rolling hills." That's pretty similar to the description in Nashville, which I found to be VERY hilly. So, we'll see.

I would like to use the next 27 weeks (I think that's what I counted) to really concentrate on speed, hill work, and long runs away from the trail (think super flat trail). Assuming I can stick to a training plan that incorporates all of that then I should be blogging about a pretty significant PR next spring. But, I'm not going to get too cocky as I know I absolutely suck at following a plan.

I should have time to do Hal Higdon's intermediate training program pretty much each week twice...or some sort of combination of that program, just doubled. The unfortunate part is that this is another spring time half so that puts me training through the winter. I don't mind running in the cold, but it gets trickier when there is snow on the ground, it's dark outside, and the runs get longer.

I hope to blog a bit more leading up to this half, but anyone who has stuck around saw how that went for me last time around. Wish me luck, cheer me along my training, and please keep me accountable. Thanks in advance. :)

Accountability

I am happy to report that my 5:30am wake up call followed by a run was successful last Saturday. I may or may not have hit snooze a couple of times, but I did make it out the door by a little after 6. Not bad considering I was seriously doubting myself to even get out of bed that early.

Since I was getting started a little later than I would have liked - I knew that I was going to have to cut my mileage shorter than I had planned. I ended up running a little over 3 miles. Not a great distance, but at least I made it out there.

The first mile of my run was pretty darn dark. It was a new experience for me. My eyes and mind were playing tricks on me. I really wasn't a fan of it all. I will definitely be asking for a head lamp for Christmas...along with reflective gear. I pointed all of this out to Justin last weekend when we were at a sporting goods store. :)

I am also happy to report that Mizzou won their first game. It was a close one, but they pulled it out.

Justin and I made the trip to Tempe, AZ this past weekend to watch Mizzou play at Arizona State. We weren't quite so fortunate there. We lost in overtime. It was disappointing, but they rallied to come back in the 4th quarter so I don't think it was a complete loss.

I got up fairly early in Tempe to go for a run as well. Our hotel was very close to the campus so I did a few miles around their campus. I know people mention that Arizona is a dry heat....I'm sorry, but 90* is 90* regardless of the "type" of heat. It was only 7am at the point, mind you. I think it got up to 113* that day before a little bit of rain came through.

I don't have much more to report at this point. Mizzou is back at home this weekend and it's a 6pm game. We will probably start tailgating around noon so a morning run should not be that hard to manage. There is a Susan G Komen 5k this Sunday, but I haven't signed up just yet. I know Saturday will be a long night so a race the next day may not go so well. I will probably still do the race just because of the cause, but I don't anticipate good results.

A lot of the blogs I read post their weekly training plan and then follow up with how they did later in the week. I think this is something I may have to try out around here. I know there for a while this blog was a way to keep me accountable and I would feel guilty missing runs because I knew I would report back here that I missed them. So, I think if I post my weekly plan then I might stick to it more. At this point I am not training for anything in particular. I have a half in mind for the spring so I am loosely training for that, but it's still 6 months away so it's not a major deal right now.

I hope everyone is enjoying the break in the crazy hot temps (at least around here). If you are not, I'm sorry. I hope relief comes soon. I know my pace has dropped a few seconds with the temperature drop. I can only hope that continues...in a big way.

Later, y'all!

Truffle Shuffle race recap

**Better late than never. :) Truffle Shuffle 5k in Overland Park, KS 3.5.11 My first 5k of 2011! Yay, finally!! Let's start with discussing the weather. The week leading up to the 5k was pretty darn good weather. 40s-50s. Nice. I was excited for a warmish 5k too. Wrong. The temperature dropped in a hurry Friday night. The forecast said 30* with an 11* windchill. Oh.em.gee. This was going to be like my first 5k on Thanksgiving all over again. Sure enough - cold ass temperature and lots of wind greeted me Saturday morning. Lovely. I wore long tights, Mizzou shorts (we were in KS and Mizzou was playing KU), long sleeved cold gear shirt, fleece 3/4 zip up, ear warmer, and gloves. To say that kept me warm would be a lie. My fingers were freezing. My toes were cold. My legs were cold. My core felt like it kept a good and warm temperature though. The race was held at a community college. Everyone huddled inside of one of the buildings on campus before braving the cold weather. I ran this race with one of my good friend's from college (she is one of the 3 I'm going with to run the half marathon in Nashville). It was a little difficult finding them in the sardine packed building. For me - there was no warm up, no stretching, none of that. I usually don't do a significant warm up pre-race, but I could have used it in those temps. The beginning of the race was pretty uneventful. We ran around the parking lot a bit and then made a turn towards a gravel trail. It was odd, for me. I have never run on a gravel trail. Parts of the trail were packed down and other was very loose gravel. It was a difficult surface to run on. The trail did all sorts of turns and things. It was basically a couple of miles packed into a small surface area...if that makes any sense. I hated it. There was no change in scenery. There was not much change in elevation. Boring. My time reflected how cold, bored, and uncomfortable I was with the trail. 27:37. I was 8th in my age/gender group (out of 29). The cool thing was that a 25 year old girl won it all. Me gusta. It was great to get to run a race with a friend. Unfortunately, for H, this was her first race. This was NOT a good first race, in my opinion. And some pics.... PS - Don't ask me why the formatting sucks on this post. I swear, whenever I had more than a couple of pics to a post that blogger freaks out. I'm sorry for the lack of a paragraphs. I tried multiple times to redo it, but failed.

Back at it....

So, the last week has not been the most successful training week for me. I was sick last Wednesday, I was recovering Thursday and Friday, and we began moving on Saturday.

The good news is that we have moved back into our own place. We really appreciated the opportunity to live with Justin's parents and save money while living there...the time has come for us to live on our own again. January 1 marked one year that Justin lived with his parents. I moved there at the end of February/first of March...so my one year mark was quickly approaching.

We moved this past weekend into a duplex. And, quite honestly, it is in my in law's back yard. We are literally .4 of a mile from my in law's house. I know this from running the loop in their neighborhood often, ha.

We are slowly, but surely finding a place for everything. We got rid of a lot of furniture when we moved from Kansas City because we didn't have space in our storage unit for everything. So, needless to say, we are in the market for some new furniture. We have hand-me-down couches...which we are ok with for now. We have our master bedroom set which we love (until we move again...and we will get a king). And we have 2 beds for spare bedrooms. We need: a tv stand, end tables, coffee table, computer desk, and some bookcases. Once we get all of that furniture - we will be complete. :)

On the training front - with everything going on, I have not done much. AKA I have not run since my awesome work out last Tuesday. I really need to get after it and get back to my training plan. Based on my plan - I am at week 4. So I feel like as long as I get back on track Sunday with my long run (5 miles) then I am good. I have got to hit these long runs at an absolute minimum. Of course I want to get all of my work outs in, but I feel like as long as I am upping my mileage each week then I will be ok. But, I want to be more than ok. I want to rock this 13.1 I have a lot of work to to do. I have exactly 3 months, 1 week, and 4 days to go before Nashville.

Side note: the 5k that I was recently talking about...it got cancelled. It was supposed to be this past Sunday. Thankfully - it was cancelled due to ice/snow on a major hill of the course. By cancelled...I mean postponed. It's going to be the end of January instead. I am cool with that. I was feeling very run down on Sunday morning so this works better for me. The cool thing about this race? I paid $25 as an entry fee (pretty normal around here) and I get $20 back in gift certificate form to a local running store. SCORE! I got a fabulous gift card from my in law's for Christmas to this store. So add $20 to that and I should be able to get fitted and new running shoes without much out of pocket. Holla!

Here's to getting back on track this weekend. *tink*tink*

Holy catch up!!

Five months without blogging. How did that happen?? Where does the time go?? I will do a fairly brief catch up post and then probably go into more detail on the individual things. Otherwise, this post might take hours to write and read.

Here we go....

-To start, I will say that we are still living with the inlaws.

-Justin and I are both still very happy to be back in Columbia. And we are both really liking our
new jobs.

-The month of May was fairly uneventful. We went to a lot of my little brother's baseball games. It's great being back and barely missing a game.

-June was a bit more eventful, I guess.
--We went to St. Louis for a weekend anniversary get-a-way. It was very nice (pics to come in a later post.
--I had an impromptu reuniting with some very close friends. Unfortunately, it was not
under good circumstances. One of my very bestfriend's mom lost her battle with cancer.
--We made a trip to Kansas City to watch the Cardinals and Royals play baseball. That was a
good time because it was a reuniting with friends under much better circumstances.
--We watched a ton of little league baseball in the month of June as well.

-July....
--We housesat for my mom for a week (EXCITING STUFF, PEOPLE! :)). As little of a detail
as that seems - it was great to stay a week away from the in-law's house. I am sure they
appreciated having their house to themselves for a week as well.
--I visited my pal Abbey and her family at the Lake of the Ozarks for the 4th of July. It's
always a lot of fun with Abbey and her fam. Good people.
--I began the south beach diet towards the end of July. I am still on it...and this will definitely
have its own dedicated post.

-The only big thing that happened in August was that I started on the evening shift and started
taking call at work. I miss being on days, but I have to work my way up the ladder.

-September was, of course, the beginning of football season. We also house and child sat for my
dad and stepmom a week in September. My little brother is 12 so it was kind of training for the
day we decide to have children...kind of.

That has brought us to now. That's where my time has gone in a nutshell.

I wonder if anyone has noticed my absence from blogging. I also wonder if anyone will notice that I am back to blogging. Leave a comment if you are reading this to let me know that/if someone is actually still interested.

Edit: UGH, I see blogger still sucks at formatting. Sorry for the wacky format here.

Just gorgeous, darling!

I received the 'gorgeous blogger award' from Tiffany from Baby Fish. Thanks, girl!

Yes! Something to blog about...sad, isn't it??

Rules:
1. Accept and thank the blogger who gave this to you.
2. List 10 things about yourself.
3. List 5 additional things that you don't like.
4. Award this to 10 fellow bloggers.

10 things about me:
1. I was born in a hospital who is nicknamed "Deathwell."
2. I have always wanted an old VW Bug.
3. I learned (just last night, actually) that my dad has always wanted an old VW Bug. I guess that's where I got the idea.
4. Cinnamon toast is my favorite breakfast food...especially when it's made in the broiler.
5. I am the only person I know who likes the taste of red bull. I really wish that they would make caffeine free (and sugar free) red bull - I would LOVE it.
6. The only major injury I ever had during my 14 years of playing soccer was a head-on-head collision with another girl during the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college. It resulted in about 36 stitches and a broken nose. Other than that, just a few sprained ankles.
7. During one of our trips moving from KC - I stopped to meet my cousin to give her some wedding stuff and I managed to lock my keys in the car with it running. Justin had a spare key, but he was about 90 minutes behind me. I have locked keys in the car before, but never with it running.
8. I did the electric slide to 'Achy Breaky Heart' in 2nd grade.
9. Also in 2nd grade was the election that Bill Clinton became president. My elementary school did a ballot, etc. I voted for Bill Clinton - totally uneducated vote, but I think it's crazy that I even remember that.
10. I love the Shrek movies. I am excited for another one to come out, but I hope it doesn't ruin it for me.

5 things I don't like:
1. Spiders.
2. Heights.
3. The sound of styrofoam being scratched.
4. This haircut I got today (I might post pics if my camera decides to work today).
5. Pineapple.

From what I can tell - just about everyone has already been awarded this. If you haven't, then I award YOU! It's genuine, I promise.

Update..

Once again, I have done a horrible job at blogging over the last month or so. I don't feel like I have anything excited to talk about. Plus, my camera only works 1/2 the time so I don't take many pictures to upload here. I know that I enjoy posts from other people with pics so I am sure the few times I do update - they are probably pretty boring to everyone because the content is generally boring plus there are no pics.

So the last month...

-We have watched my little brother play baseball a lot this spring. I am so happy to be back in Columbia so that we can catch most of his games. They are all 10 or 11 years old and they are really fun to watch. They are starting to understand the game much better and they are getting pretty skilled at their specific positions. It's much more fun than a couple of years ago when there were kids who didn't have a clue. Rian pitches quite a bit, which I love to watch. He is doing so well. I hope that he keeps it up because I think he is going to continue to grow into a great player.

-We are still living with the in-laws. It's not ideal for anyone involved, but it's going pretty well. We definitely can't complain.

-My job is going very well. I am learning a ton each day. I have been told multiple times that I am learning very quickly and that they are impressed with how well I have done so far. I feel great about that, obviously. After my first week, I never thought I would get to a point where I feel so comfortable so quickly. I am very happy with this switch. And after a budget meeting earlier this week, it seems that MRI is one of the few sub-departments in radiology that are doing well. So, at the moment, my job is not in jeopardy. That's some great peace of mind to have.

-Justin's job is going well also. He does a lot of gopher work still. He is slowly working his way into doing more cases. He goes to a week long training in May. After that training, I think he will be better equipped to start selling some of the orthopaedic implants. He is doing a great job so far and I am really proud of him.

-Our 2 year wedding anniversary is in just over a month. Some days it seems like there is no way we could be married for that long...and other days it feels like we have been married for 10 years. We are also just a couple of weeks away from our 8 year dating anniversary. We don't have plans for our anniversary yet. I think we will probably just do something fairly low-key again this year. Last year we spent the night in a hotel in KC...we went to dinner, went to a comedy club, and out for a couple of drinks afterwards. Nothing too exciting. We do, however, plan to go to St. Lucia next year for our anniversary. I really hope that we are actually able to swing that. We definitely need a trip away just the two of us...and to a beach, my request. :)

So that's our exciting life in a nut shell.

And speaking of my less than par functioning camera...does you have any recommendations for a good point and shoot camera??

Moving...

Moving sucks.

I doubt there is anyone in the world who actually enjoys moving. If they do, they are nuts. And by moving I mean the actual packing, loading boxes/furniture into a truck, unpacking, and putting away everything.

We attempted to move from Kansas City this last weekend. Unfortunately, since Justin started his job at the first of the year and I didn't start until March (and I left KC about 2 weeks after finding out I got the job) - we did ZERO packing before leaving for Columbia. We packed up the bare minimum that would get us by in Columbia. Other than that, everything was left in KC.

That was mistake #1. And mistake #2 was made by thinking we could get our entire house packed and moved 2 hours away in a weekend.

And, fear not, there was a mistake #3. Mistake #3 came when I got off work on Friday evening. Justin asked if I wanted to wait until Saturday morning to leave for KC. I agreed and continued to make mistakes #4 and #5 (are you still with me??). We met up with the fam to have some drinks Friday evening and then met up with some friends to close the bar down Friday night (collectively mistake #4). I then woke up at the crack of dawn (7:30...that's the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning for me) to watch my little brother play baseball. He had a double header starting at 8. Of course, I could not leave after the first game so I stayed for the 2nd (mistake #5). I didn't leave Columbia until about 12:30 on Saturday.

So if you are following...that's Friday evening and half of Saturday wasted. When I finally made it to KC, Justin was already there and at a friend's house because he didn't take a house key with him. OYE! I needed a nap at that point. So I asked Justin to let me sleep for 45-60 min. That turned into about 90 minutes because he was enjoying the company of his friend. So it's now about 5pm on Saturday.

Instead of getting right to packing/moving then, we decided we should grill burgers. So while the boys prepared and cooked burgers, I packed. I got a few boxes packed on Saturday...but no where near the amount we needed to pack in order to be ready for the in-laws to bring a trailer to load up on Sunday morning.

After dinner (oh and a movie) on Saturday night, we were worthless so we went to bed. We planned to get up around 9 on Sunday. As you can probably imagine, that didn't happened. We started packing about 10:30 on Sunday morning...with the in-laws planning to arrive about 12:30 ready to load things up.

Believe it or not, we got about 60-70% of our house packed and furniture disassembled by the time they got there. I was impressed with us considering how the rest of our weekend had gone.

By the time 6pm rolled around on Sunday we were D-U-N, done. :)

We still have about 25% left to do. Unfortunately, that means another planned trip back to KC to finish.

I hate moving under any circumstances.

I have quickly realized that I hate moving when it's:
A. moving long distance
B. completely put off until the last minute
C. preceded by slacking and procrastination (goes along with b).

I don't plan to move into another house until we can afford to build it how we want and make it our forever home. Other than that, we will move some things into an apartment in the mean time...1 apartment followed by 1 house and then never move again is the plan for right now.

And just based on this post, we can all now tell how good we are at executing plans. :)

I'm alive!

Eeek. Sorry for the lack of blogging. I am still trying to find a routine now that I am working the day shift (for a bit..and then I will be back on evenings).

We are still transitioning from our house in KC to our in-laws in Columbia. It's a gradual process. And we are very lucky to have family here in Columbia to offer us places to stay. It's tough to be 25 and moving back in with our parents, but we are very fortunate to have the option.

I am about to start the 3rd week of my new job. It's going well. It is a lot of new information since I was doing x-ray and now I am doing MRI. The very first day in the MRI department I was definitely on information overload. I was very overwhelmed, but each day gets a little bit better. I actually meant to blog about my first day of work that evening because I figured I could look back on it and laugh about how overwhelmed I was. Needless to say, that didn't happen. But, believe me, I was incredibly overwhelmed and a little freaked out about taking on such a new modality.

Other than learning our new jobs and being back in our hometown...not much has been going on. My little brother's baseball season starts in 2 weeks and we are very excited for that. I am so happy to be back in town so that we can go to his sporting events. All in all, things here in Columbia are going well. We are very happy to be closer to our families.

I will do my best to keep up with this blog a bit better as things calm down and I get into a routine. I say the same thing about my gym routine also. Ha. :)

And the best news of all - it's almost spring!!

See ya later!

I had this whole post thought out in my head to write yesterday. Today was my last day of work...

At this time last night, I thought I was a-ok with that. I thought I might shed a few tears, but I never expected to be completely heart broken and for it to be so tough.

Even driving into work - I was cool with it being my last day. I was thinking, "yeah, I can do this. Bring it!"

I walked in and went straight to human resources so that I could get my immunization records and discuss rolling over my retirement to the new job. When I walked into my department, a bunch of my coworkers were there to "surprise" me with goodies and food. It was so nice of them. I managed to hold it together through everyone talking about my last day.

I quickly learned that I did not prepare myself for the types of feelings that I felt today. I was not prepared to hear how much I would be missed. I was not prepared for tight hugs that I knew were coming from the heart. I was not prepared to be missed by my favorite cafeteria lady that I saw everyday...and who I might not ever see again. I was not prepared to think about possibly never seeing some of my coworkers ever again. I was not prepared to clock out for the last time at that hospital.

Even more than all of that - I was not prepared to say goodbye to the coworkers who I consider good friends...and a couple my best friends, even. Some of these people I went to college with. Some of them were there when I was a student and when I became a full time tech. And some of them came in between.

This was the first place I worked where I was putting my major to use. I started as a student and was hired post-graduation. I only worked there for 4 years, but those 4 years were very important in my life.

I created bonds with those people. We would hang out after work. I could vent about life to them and they could do the same to me. We could fight one day and make up easily the next like nothing happened. I am going to miss them all so much.

I know that I want to be in Columbia...there is no question about that. It does not, however, make it any easier to leave the life that I have had for the last 4 years (at my job/hospital) and 7 years (since I moved to this city after high school). I am so excited for the next chapter in my life, but it's a bittersweet feeling.

If I could transplant my hospital and friends into Columbia - I would be in heaven. Obviously, that's me living in a fantasy world.

Life is about the changes and challenges. I am ready to face them full steam ahead. That's why I left work today saying "see ya later" and not "goodbye." I know I will see many of them again..and keep in touch with the majority of them. They all know that my journey started there and they understand that this is what is best for me. It's great to have their support as difficult as it is.

**And I want to apologize if this post is jumbled, rambling mess. It's hard to put into words the many different feelings that I have gone through in the last couple of weeks...and specifically the last couple of days.