Hi

I suck at this blogging thing. Woops.

I enjoy reading other blogs that have daily (sometimes more than once a day) updates, but I can't seem to get myself in a blogging routine.

A little update....

My first half marathon is ONE.WEEK.FROM.TODAY. Holy cow! Time has flown by since we signed up in October (?). My running has been near non-existent this week. You would think with the race being so close that I would have the motivation to lace up my shoes and hit the road. Not so much.

I am feeling extremely nervous and anxious. I am not sure why. I really wish I could go into this race with the attitude of "just finish with a smile and enjoy yourself." I can't seem to wrap my mind around that. I am, apparently, too competitive and tough on myself. Competitive might not be the right word. There is NO way I will win this race or even come close. It's more competitive with myself. I know the time that I am able to achieve and now it's just a matter of doing it so I don't let myself down. Stupid mental side of running getting to me.

I have had 3 (and hopefully 4 after today) 10-11 mile long runs in the course of my training. I feel like if I can run 10 or 11 miles then I can run 13.1. I want to save that 13.1 for the race. I want to have that feeling of miles 12 and 13 to be the longest I have ever run to be in this race situation. Hopefully I don't eat my words and the wheels won't fall off after 10 or 11 miles.

My long runs have ranged from a 9:20-9:33/mile pace. That 9:33 pace came on a long run after a night out the night before. It was pretty miserable. So I like to scratch that pace out of my mind. 9:20/mile or faster is what I will be shooting for. Again, I wish I could just ignore the numbers and just run to run. It won't happen so I might as well share my goals with other people. More pressure does me good. No? Oh.

I am so excited for the trip to Nashville. As I have mentioned before - I am going with 3 of my very good friends from college. This will be the first half marathon for all 4 of us. I can't wait to experience this major accomplishment with these girls. And I REALLY can't wait to celebrate said accomplishment next Saturday night. :)

I am starting to make lists for packing. It's a little overwhelming doing a race so far away and being gone for 4 days. That's a lot to pack. I tend to over pack anyway...add a race to the situation and I can only imagine what my suitcase is going to be like next week.

I have been stalking weather.com for the next Saturday's forecast. It looks like a high of 78 and partly cloudy. That 78* could be a bit balmy, but with an 8AM start time I hope it's more low 60s to begin with. Missouri weather hasn't been that warm just yet so I am hope I am able to deal with that minor detail of heat.

So to the runners who read this blog:
Any advice, tips, etc. for my first half marathon?
How do I shut off my brain and just enjoy the experience?

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??

Wait for it....

We are having major computer issues in the Foster home. I got a laptop for high school graduation 6 years ago...Justin got a desktop for HS grad 6 years ago as well. Needless to say, it's time for us to get a new computer.

We typically only use the laptop these days. It's just easier. However, the laptop is being very finicky about when it will turn on and when it won't. You never know if it will want to turn on today or not. Good times. On top of that, when it does turn on it won't connect to the internet. Perfect! Of course, it chooses to turn on late at night so I can't call our internet provider to fix the internet problem.

So needless to say, my updates might be few and far between until we get a new computer.

And to add to the lack of technology in our house, I can't find the cord for our external hard drive. I have tons of pictures from the last two weeks (wedding and girls weekend) that I can't upload to our computer even if it was working properly. I have to upload pics to the external hard drive because the hard drive on our computer says it is low on space. How?? Yeah, I have no clue. I have cleared out everything I can possibly think of (pics and documents have been moved to the external hard drive, we have removed programs that we don't use, etc.). The lap top is just done for!

As for last weekend, I can give a little update but it would be so much more fun with pictures. We made the 2 1/2 hour trip on Friday mid-day. This got us into Springfield at a decent time so that we could have lunch, do a little shopping (SO not needed for me!), and just hang out. We played a little Catch Phrase and had a couple of drinks before going to the bar. We had fun that night, but we were all looking forward to Saturday night for the real fun.

Saturday came and I had plans to meet up with Justin's at his friend's house to meet their new twin baby girls (ADORABLE!...again, I need pics for this post!!). After I left, my girls and I had a nice relaxing day at the pool. The weather was perfect (when the sun was out, a bit chilly when it wasn't) to just lounge around on rafts and hang out. It was great.

Saturday evening we played some more games (of course Apples to Apples!) and had some drinks before heading to dinner. Dinner was delicious...mac and cheese, amazing! After dinner we went to piano bar. Piano bars just about lead the list of the most fun bars to me. I love them. After the piano bar we went to Moonlight Delight, Midnight Delight, Midnight Rodeo, Midnight Hodeo...take your pick. It's a country bar that you can get into if you are 18...last time there were high school students there in prom attire. It is a blast! Of course we go there a bit later in the night every time so that might have something to do with it.

After Moonlight Delight, we went home and made all kind of (un)healthy foods and went to bed. Sunday was a veg out day all around. We hung out on the couch and watched a couple of movies before heading back to Kansas City. The drive home was loooong, but it was an awesome weekend. I cannot wait to go back!

As if the last few weekends have not been eventful enough, I have another exciting weekend coming up. I am going to the lake with a few friends. One of my friends, Abbey and her family, have a house down there. It should be a good time as well. Not to mention, Mizzou kicks of the season again Illinois on Saturday. Abbey's family love Mizzou as well so we will definitely be catching the game amongst all the other festivities. I am also anxious to see Oklahoma State host Georgia. That should be a good Big 12 v SEC match up. As much as I am not a fan of OSU, I am rooting for the Big 12 all the way.

Hopefully I can have some updates with pictures included in the near future. Until then, this will have to do. I hope everyone has a great week!

Oh dang!

The weekend is upon us...FINA-FREAKING-LY! It's crazy that many work weeks seem like they drag on, but here we are at the 2nd of May. The 5th month in 2009. Crazy.

This weekend is going to be a blast. I am so excited. Beth and I are leaving for Springfield tomorrow morning to visit H. This is our first time visiting her down there...she always comes to KC to see us.

The three of us together are a trip. We have so much fun together. This weekend won't be any different, I am sure of it. Apparently Springfield has a Cinco De Mayo pub crawl tomorrow evening. If the weather cooperates (which really is not looking good), we will be participating in that. I am definitely looking forward to tomorrow. I will, of course, miss the husband (cheese ball, I know)...but I will deal.