Lil LeBron

As usual at this time of year the weather has been predictable. Predictable that it will be unpredictable. It's hot, it's cold, it's raining. It's a vicious cycle. Last Friday it was crazy cold. 20 mph winds cold. I wanted seafood gumbo so off we went to Mike Anderson's for dinner. It was fabulous!

Saturday morning was Logan's first basketball game. In case you haven't noticed in past posts Logan takes sports really seriously & he has to look the part.

Come to find out, Logan's favorite basketball player is LeBron James.

See the resemblance?? Ha!

I only wish I could've gotten a picture of him when he was trying to intimidate the girl that was guarding him. His expressions were priceless. This was some of the funniest stuff I've seen in a long time!

Look at that form! 

Some of these kids were surprisingly good. I mean considering they're 5 & 6 years old.

He made some shots.

And showed a lot of emotion! Kids are so funny!

After the game we went to my parents, ran errands, had lunch (I can't believe all the years that I didn't eat chicken shawarma) & went to Mass. We stopped at Caliente. It had been 2 weeks & we can't go longer than that. 

Work has been crazy. We're getting into tax season so there's no early Friday's. Such a bummer. 

I've stuck with all my workouts this week. Up every morning at 4:30, Sunday & Tuesday I had 4 mi. runs & Thursday a 5 miler. Monday & Friday was leg day & arm day on Wednesday. I've felt better this week & more rested. According to my Vivofit I've been getting more deep sleep than I had been. 

Other than Logan's basketball game tomorrow the only thing on the agenda for the weekend is a piece of this

I haven't been eating king cake at work or indulging in all of the king cake flavored things that I normally do but this will be an exception! 

Toodles!

Last Weekend

Friday night we went to Confirmation for my Godchild/cousin, Brendan. 

Scott is Brendan's Godfather. 

My parents with Brendan, Brooke, Dylan. They're brothers & sisters & Logan because nobody's taking a picture without him!

The Bishop does all the Confirmations in our Diocese. 

Saturday night out crew hosted an engagement party for Alexandra & Travis. Alexandra is the first kid of our 3900 Krewe & More to get engaged.

Me, Cindy & Jackie. The party was at Jackie's. We had tables set up in her outdoor patio.

I thought Cindy's cheese & fruit trays were so pretty!

We used a pirogue for the beer & water.

If you need flowers, Trader Joe's is the place to go. I went over there a few weeks ago & talked to the girl that's in charge of their flowers & told her that I was going to need white flowers & the date I needed them. She said she'd order extras. When I got there Saturday morning she'd pulled a bunch of white flowers & bouquets & had them in water at the service desk. I was able to look through them, pick what I want & buy them. It was so easy! Much less expensive than using a florist too.

Jeff, Brad, Cindy, Dawn & Suzy - all hosts. 

The main course was pastalaya, salad & rolls. It was delicious. Also, the perfect meal for me since I was running the Half the next day.

It's Carnival season so we had to have a king cake It was delicious! There was a red velvet bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes & a sheet cake from Sam's that was my favorite!! Love butter cream icing! We had adorable custom made styrofoam cups with Alexandra & Travis names & wedding date on one side & their hashtag on the other. 

I'd made the decision that my exit time was 9:00. I had a 4:30 wake up the next morning. I needed some sleep. I didn't drink one drop of alcohol & about 45 bottles of water. Once I got home & in bed I couldn't go to sleep right away because of the music coming from the party!! Nothing like trying to sleep with Beat It playing. The party went on until 1:00 am. This ought to be some wedding!

Have a great weekend!

Toodles!

The Louisiana Marthon

What a crazy busy weekend! Saturday morning was the 5K for The Louisiana Marathon. When I first registered for this the plan was to run it & the Half on Sunday. When you do both you get the Deja Vu award. Since my leg had been bothering me I decided to walk. Let's back up to Friday. I went to the Expo after work & met up with a friend that is a Physical Therapist. The company she works for is a huge supporter of the race. We were talking & I mentioned my leg had been bothering me & she took me into her "tent" & worked on me. She "scraped" with something that looked like this.

It kinda hurt but it felt good if that makes sense. After she finished scraping she did a few stretches & showed me some things I can do to keep it from getting bad again. When I stood up & walked away I had zero pain. It was the strangest thing ever. She showed me how to tape it with KT Tape too. I understand that stuff about as much as I understand the Cloud which is not at all. People swear by the tape so I bought some.

Back to Saturday. I walked the 5K in 46:05. It was cold. 

Karen ran & she just knew she was going to do awful because she hasn't been running as much but her time was the EXACT, I mean down to the second exact time from last year. 

After the 5K we went to the finishers fest & had some food. Ruffino's was there with braised pork cheek & butternut squash which was delicious! Community Coffee was there too with free coffee which was great because aside from it being cold, it was windy too. They even had the king cake coffee. After that it was time for the kid's race. 

Logan had a great time. All those kids are so cute. One poor kid ran by with one shoe on his foot & one shoe in his hand! I saw him cross the finish line the same way! 

Sunday morning I was up bright & early at 4:30. I got dressed & ate my usual breakfast of whole wheat toast with peanut butter, chia seeds, blueberries & honey. I still had zero pain in my leg. The race start is only about 10 minutes from my house but I left a little before 5:30 in case I had trouble finding a parking place. I ended up getting a great spot. It pays to get there early.

 First stop was Mass at 6:00. The Cathedral is only a block from the starting line. The Church was packed. I got a seat but by the time Mass started it was standing room only. Father Michael joked that he didn't get this many people at Christmas Mass. Later he said that there were 800 people there. All either runners or people there to support their runner friends & family. His plan was to do Mass in 26.2 minutes. 

One of the readers - I did not take pictures in Church. I borrowed this from Fr. Michael's Facebook page. The clock was a great touch! He was soooo close to making his time BUT as he said "Too many people came" so Communion took longer than expected. He's such a great Priest. He has lots of energy, he's young & doesn't take himself too serious. His sermon's are easy to understand too. It was a great way to start the day. The extra blessings didn't hurt either. Another great perk is we got to use the bathroom at Church so no porta potties!! 

The view approaching the starting line.

The tall building is the State Capitol.

I've talked about my leg & I talked about how I didn't run for about a week and a half leading up to the race because of my leg. I think sometime during my training I talked about a 2:15 goal. Well, it seems like after the Disney race everything went down hill. First that race was changed from a Half to a 7 miler, then it was the holidays & cold & rainy & just a lot going on. I managed to get some  runs in but they were all slower than they had been & I wasn't really sure why. Needless to say when my leg started feeling worse I pretty much kissed 2:15 goodbye & was thinking about being able to do it in October at the Gulf Coast Half in Mandeville. That's a super flat course & the site of my last PR. 

I started this race with no expectations. My longest run this training cycle was 11 miles so I was just hoping that those last 2 miles wouldn't kill me. Especially considering the overpass is at mile 11. 

I always start slow. Nothing new there. When I had to run up the overpass the first time (yeh we get to do it twice) after a mile I checked my watch & I was going faster than normal at that stage. I was under 11:00. That was good to see. At that point I was hoping for 2:17 something because that would be a new PR. 

I'm running along enjoying the scenery. There are a ton of spectators for this race. People were handing out jello shots, shots of champagne, pancakes. Yes, pancakes. There were also a lot of people along the route playing music. It was great to hear Snoop at mile 2! Not long after that I heard a familiar voice. Cindy is the BEST cheerleader because she squeals & screams & you can hear her before you see her.

Running selfie!! I never stopped, she just ran a few feet with me. See the commotion behind me with the man bent over? He is a very nice man. When I saw Cindy I started taking off my sleeves because I was warming up a little & I was going to give them to her so I didn't have to carry them or fight to get them in my flip belt. While I was doing that I managed to take off my finish fest bracelet & didn't know it. That very nice man was picking it up for me. He could've kept it & had more food & drinks for himself or he could've just left it on the ground. Runners are very nice people. 

I saw Cindy again a few more times along the route. She took my gloves later. It was great. I had no idea she'd be out there. 

When I saw my 10K time I got excited. It was 1:02. I've never ran a 10K that fast. I've barely run 6 miles that fast. I start calculating in my head which also helps get your mind off the actual running. I knew I was going to be close to 2:15. 

Then mile 11 hit. It was tough. At that point I was ready to be done & I kept thinking about the dreaded overpass. I managed to speed up before getting to it. My thinking was maybe some of my momentum would help get me up the hill. Yeh, not so much. I thought I was going to die. I wanted to walk so bad. I yelled at myself in my head. I did not get to 11 miles & that close to a PR to blow it all & walk when I was almost to mile 12. I kept going & I saw my friend Denese at mile 13. Dean was standing right next to her but somehow I didn't see him. I was expecting him at the finish line I guess. When I saw the clock I was so excited because that's when I knew not only did I beat 2:15, I was in the 2:10's!

Official time: 2:10:46!!! A PR of almost 8 minutes! 

Next up was time to wait for my sister-in-law Lydia. The race had an app this year with live tracking. 

After Lydia finished we went to the porta potty & to find coffee because we were so cold. Surprisingly, the porta potty wasn't awful. People who know me & are still shocked that I run are even more shocked that I'm using a porta potty! 

It was in the 40's & windy but as you can see from the pictures, it was a gorgeous day! After running my first Half in 40 degree rainy weather I will never take for granted the awesome weather we seem to always have for the Louisiana Marathon.

We got our coffee & headed back to wait for my my brother Scott. We had a great spot to watch from but it was also in a wind tunnel.

Freezing!

Here he comes!

3:48:48 for his first Full Marathon! He said it wasn't as bad as he expected & he didn't say that he wouldn't do another one.  

All in the family!

My haul from the weekend! Not too shabby!

It's a pretty good day when you get over 30,000 steps.

Toodles!

January

I haven't been around much lately. I guess there's just really nothing happening that's blog worthy. Aside from eating out & hanging out at home we haven't done much of anything. I haven't even worked out since Sunday.

This weekend will be the opposite of boring. Friday night is my Godchild's Confirmation.  Saturday morning is the 5K for The Louisiana Marathon. I've been having some soreness in my left leg so my plan is to walk the 5K. Saturday night we're co-hosting an engagement party. The first kid in our crew got engaged on Thanksgiving. The wedding is in May & due to a tight schedule on the groom's part Saturday night was the only night that worked. I will be making an early exit from the party because Sunday morning is the Half Marathon I'm running. I'm hoping by walking Saturday my leg will be ok to run. I haven't ran since last week in hopes that it'll be good & rested. We'll see how that works for me. At 6:00 am Sunday morning you'll find me at St. Joseph's Cathedral in downtown Baton Rouge for a special runners Mass. A local Priest is running the full marathon Sunday morning & he got the idea to have Mass beforehand. I think it's safe to say we can use all the prayers we can get. I had high hopes of this race being a new PR. Training was going really good & my pace was improving & best of all I was feeling good. All that has gone out the window & I'm extremely frustrated. Probably why I haven't dragged myself out of bed this week to work out. I've had good intentions to work out after work but that hasn't happened either. The last thing I feel like doing when I get home is workout. Which is why I started getting up at 4:30 in the morning to begin with! My plan is to get back on track with that next week. I'm just giving myself a break this week. I'm finally sleeping better so that's a good thing. Exciting stuff here right? LOL.

 

Toodles!

 

2016

Our office closed at noon on New Year's Eve. That was exciting! In case you haven't noticed I'm all about not being at work. It's just not my favorite thing. Knowing that tax season is quickly approaching which means no more early Friday's is also not one of my favorite things. Thank goodness it's only 3 months before we get early Friday's back. 

We hung out with our group of neighbor friends New Years Eve & ate & watched football. Why can't Alabama lose when it matters??? Needless to say we'll be cheering for Dabo & the other Tigers Monday night. 

I got a lot of my Christmas decorations picked up on New Year's Day & I also laid around & napped. We ate at Caliente that night. It had been 2 weeks & I missed it. 

My first run of 2016 was Saturday morning. The plan was to run at the lakes with my brother & sister-in-law. When I say run with my brother I mean we start at the same place & at the same time but I don't see him again until we're finished. Unless of course we cross paths going the opposite directions of each other. Logan woke up with an earache so Lydia brought him to the Doctor & I ran by myself. I'm used to it but I wish I had someone to run with me regularly. It's just more fun. 

Slower than I wanted. It's officially cold here too. It was in the 40's when I started. I crossed paths with my brother. I'd ran 8.2 miles & he'd ran 11. When I finished he was still there. Come to find out he'd ran 17.5 mi. He's training for his first full marathon. 

The Louisiana Marathon is less than 2 weeks away. I'm registered for the 5K on Saturday & the Half Marathon on Sunday. Did I mention my Godchild's Confirmation is that Friday night & the engagement party we're hosting is Saturday night. Not even close to an ideal situation. Friday night & Saturday morning I'm not worried about. I'm worried about not getting enough sleep Saturday night. One of my favorite Priest is running the full marathon & he's going to do a 26.2 minute Mass at 6:00 am before the race at the Church that's only steps away from the starting line. I definitely want to go to that so it's looking like a really early morning.  

After Mass Saturday we ate at a newish place, Canefield Tavern. I'd been wanting their shrimp remoulade wedge salad. I was not amused when it came out.

What. The. Hell? Tails on the shrimp in a SALAD????!!! Sadly, this is not a new concept. This is actually the second time in about a month that this has happened. For SOME REASON people think this is ok. Well, let me tell you IT'S NOT! Salad is NOT a finger food. If I have to use my fingers, it needs to be a finger food. So there I am in the restaurant rummaging around in my salad to take the tails off so I can eat it. Did I mention I've had to do this TWICE recently? Sure, I could use a knife to cut the tail off but then I still have to use my finger to pick the tail out of the salad. Plus, if you cut it off you don't get all of the shrimp. In case I haven't mentioned before, I don't like to work for my food. The only thing worse than tails on shrimp in a salad is tails on shrimp on a poboy. YES, I've had that. You have to take the whole poboy apart. Ridiculous! Other than that the salad was good. 

It's that time of year again.

All things King Cake are back! So far I've only bought the K-Cups. I've seen a FB reminder about a King Cake shake & King Cake Cheesecake. I'm trying to refrain on eating all of it because I enjoyed food a little too much during the holidays. Now, the cheesecake will happen. Maybe it'll be my after the Half Marathon treat.  

Sunday we went to the movies & saw The Big Short. It was so interesting. I really liked it. 

My plan was to take Monday off & get up Tuesday & run.Well when I saw the forecast I decided to run after work Monday.

I forgot to charge my watch so I had to use my phone. I also tracked with my Vivofit & I was surprised at how accurate the distance was. Good to know. 

I made a really good decision about running after work. When I got up Tuesday morning to do a weight workout the temp was 32 with a wind chill of 26. Yikes! 

Today I did not get out of bed to run like I was planning. I haven't been sleeping good. Mostly it's during the week. My Vivo shows that I get an average of about 2.5 hours of deep sleep a night. On the weekends it more than doubles. I don't have a problem falling asleep at all. It's staying asleep that's giving me fits. So, the plan is to run after work today. We have a lot of rain in the forecast for the next few days so I need to get it done while I can. 

How's your New Year going?

Toodles!