Thoughts

The Louisiana Marathon posted some pictures on their FB page that I thought were cool looking so I'm sharing.

There was a little more daylight than this when I got down there Sunday morning.

The race started at the steps of the State Capital

This was along the route The sunset was just a random picture I took yesterday while sitting in traffic. When I got home I did a 4 mi. run. I had tired legs & averaged an 11:07 min./mi  I've been told the quicker you get back out there the better. I've been doing a lot of stretching & foam rolling & I feel good.

Today I visited the boob Dr. for my 6 mo. check up. I had my 6 mo. ultrasound earlier in the week & my yearly mammogram. Oh what fun. In keeping with the last several years I have yet another "spot" to watch but the Dr. isn't concerned about it. I just have to see her again in 6 mos.

 Last January when I saw her she was telling me all about how she'd been training for her first marathon but had gotten injured & wasn't able to run it. She'd been running 5K's & Half's before that. I mentioned to her that I'd been running but didn't think I could do a Half. She assured me I could & encouraged me to train. I thought about it & a couple of days later is when I signed up for the Woman's Half Marathon. I saw my Dr. at the starting line of Woman's & she told me she was recovering from a knee issue but was feeling good. I didn't see her after that but she finished a couple of minutes before me. She's 10 years older than me so it just goes to show you that everyone is different & age doesn't necessarily mean you'll be fast or slow.

At today's appt. we talked about our races. She finished the full in 5:20, 20 minutes faster than her goal. She said she had friends with her the whole run & they chatted & it was great. She said she felt fine afterwards too. I can't imagine!

I'm sure some of you think I'm leading up to saying that I'm going to run a full. You'd be wrong. Ha! I have no desire. I'm so incredibly proud of myself for training for a 5K & completing the first one & continuing on & completing the half's. I've never been an athlete (I don't consider myself one now either), I tend to not follow through with grandiose plans either! So all of this is a really big deal to me. I'm not fast by any means & I'm not the slowest one out there but that's ok. Some days I feel like crap & don't think I'll be able to make it to 2 miles. Some days I feel good. All this to say if you've thought about training but haven't pulled the trigger - DO IT! You'll be glad you did.

Toodles!

 

Half #2

This weekend was my second Half Marathon. The Louisiana Marathon is a pretty big race. It's only in it's third year but was voted one of Runner's World magazine's best "new" races.
Saturday morning there was a 5K & a kids fun run.  I went out to watch my friend Allison  & her son Cael.
Cael had so much fun!
Allison did great too.
Allison's hubs made me laugh when he said "apparently, I'm part of a family of runners".

Me, Cael & Allison. It was cold!!!

In keeping with Half Marathon Eve tradition Dean & I went & got cake balls for dessert Saturday night.
King cake & wedding cake. OMG!! FABULOUS!! The King Cake ones taste better than any king cake I've ever eaten. So so so good.
They deserve another picture. The purple, green & gold are King Cake in case you're not familiar with Mardi Gras.

We had dinner at Portobello's so I could get some carbs & it was delish!

Sunday morning on the way to the race which is approx. 10 mins. from my house I thought I was going to have an anxiety attack. I don't know why but I felt like I was going to throw up & burst into tears at the same time. I didn't have that feeling before the first one. I sucked it up & found Scott & Lydia.

Not the greatest picture but the sun wasn't up yet. This is the starting line.

Me & Lydia. Excuse how I look. When there's any wind I have to cover my ears & the headband doesn't work too well with the hat but since it was going to be sunny I needed the hat.  This was the first time I ran with compression sleeves. LOVED THEM! I took them off & threw them at my friend Cindy on the course when I saw her because I'd gotten hot but they're great when you're cold & don't want to wear a jacket.
We finished! Me, my brother Scott & my sis in law Lydia. Scott & I both PR'd! I was soooo excited! 2:19:24. Scott aka the Kenyan Wannabe was 1:35. That's just craziness. Lydia had knee issues & this was one of her worst races. She finished in 2:40. I still think that's an awesome time.

This race had a slightly different route than my other half & I liked it a lot with the exception of the overpass. Same overpass as the first half but this half we went across it twice. UGH! It was at mile 2ish & mile 11.5. The second time was really rough & the majority of people were walking but I KNEW if I walked I wouldn't be able to start running so I powered through. UGH!

I felt really good throughout the race. It was so fun because it's a big race & there are tons of spectators. There were people with DJ equipment, guitars & there was even a gong! The route is through a lot of residential areas near LSU which have beautiful multi-million dollar homes so I enjoyed that. A couple of places had bars set up & were offering runners shots & drinks. The thought of that made me nauseous..... When I got around mile 9 I looked at my watch & was in the low 10 min. mi. pace. I knew I would be close to my previous time. Once I hit mile 10 the distance between miles slowed down. Earlier in the race it seemed like the miles were flying by. I knew that stupid overpass was coming & I thought that it was really close to the end of the race. Not so much. It was at mile 11.5. Well, I just thought mile 10-11 was long. 12-13.1 was the longest mile ever!!!!! I saw my friend that I work with about 100 yards from the finish so that was good. At that point I knew I was really close on the time. As you rounded the corner to the finish they were playing the LSU fight song. I saw the time on the clock & it was past my time. I thought I'd started my watch pretty close to when my chip time started so I was a little bummed. Then I saw Allison, Dean & Scott cheering for me & that made me happy. I got water & my medal & went to meet up with them. That's when Allison showed me the text message. Her & Dean were tracking me & got text updates. Final time: 2:19:24. I was so so excited. We waited for Lydia & during that time the guy that won the full marathon finished - 2:38. That's so unbelievable to me!

My medal & time ticket!

Normally, my watch is off like 1/10 of a mile compared to my phone & it's always behind my phone. I did not expect to see 13.24.

There was a nice Finish Festival with food, drinks & live music. We stuck around for awhile & then I was getting cold so we headed home. After some stretching & foam rolling I was going to take a nice long, hot bath. I discovered this.
What is that you ask? Well, that would be blood. Both shoes looked like this. Around mile 8 or 9 I felt like I might be getting blisters on my pinky toes. Very odd because I don't have a problem with blisters.  I was a little scared to take my shoes off. Once I did I was happy to see that there were no blisters, just a very small cut on the top of each of my pinky toes. So weird right? After feeling around the inside of my shoe the only thing I could find was a stitch that felt funny. It's definitely time for new shoes. I'd been on the fence about whether to buy new shoes before the first Half but I decided that I didn't want to take any chances & I just stayed with what I trained in. With Christmas & everything I kinda forgot about shoes. Well, except for when I put them on to run. Needless to say I decided to just stick with the same ones. I told Dean looking at my shoes reminded me of when Curt Schilling was pitching in the World Series & he had a horrible bloody ankle & his sock was soaked but he just kept pitching. Dean looked at my shoes & wasn't reminded of that at all. Apparently, I'm not as hard core as I thought. But, hey I ran with bloody toes!!!

Toodles!

Happy Friday!

I don't know about y'all but my week has flown by! YAY! It's been a pretty boring week. Work, run, work, run. Yesterday, I ran 2 miles. As the app says "just to calm your nerves". I'm not overly nervous since I know what to expect & NO RAIN!!! I'm a little nervous since I haven't run more than 10 miles since the last half but we've had a lot of rain & ridiculous temps. I ran the first half in the rain, been there, done that & I have zero intention of training in it.

I saw this on Facebook the other day & I loved it!

I often say I don't understand why everyone can't just be happy for each other? Or what about the whole "if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all". Anyway, it made me laugh!

So the only plans we have this weekend are eating, the race & getting a mani. I think I'm going back to what I've been thinking of as my signature color (OPI - I'll Take The Cake). I did some red & tried a couple of other colors so I'm ready for the light neutral. Mainly because it isn't as noticeable when they start to grow out.

I guess this is enough random nothingness for one day. HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Toodles!

Weekend in pics

It was our last Friday that the office closed at 2:00 until April 15th. sigh. It's a bummer but it's only for 3 months. I took advantage & got my hair done. Cut & low lights and a little hibiscus tea
and a little champs!
Funny story, an "older" lady came in & when she was asked if she wanted coffee or tea she responded with "Lord no, I've got a good Champagne buzz going." Y'all, it was 4:00. Her stylist asked if she wanted champagne & she answered "now you're talking" so she asked the others that were there if we wanted any. I'll never turn down champs!

Have y'all heard of these?
I swear it's a miracle brush! I have a lot of hair but it's very fine so it tangles. A LOT. I always thought it was because it was dry but Alexy the stylist says no. She used this brush & it worked great so I bought one. I used it this morning & it worked way better than my big comb that I've been using for years. In keeping with the "I think I have adult ADD" theme I left the brush in the bag at the front desk while I went to take off the smock & I proceeded to walk right out the door, get in my car & get 3/4 of the way home when I remembered that I left my brush. Ugh. I went & got it Saturday.

What I worked so hard for!
Dean put my sticker on Saturday. I've had it since the race but it was always cold or raining & when it wasn't we'd forget.
Another view of it. HA! Also, something we did Saturday that wasn't on the to do list?? Kill a snake. This is starting to get old. We've killed more snakes since we've lived in this house than I've ever seen in my entire life. I was cleaning out the closet & I had some stuff to put in the trash so I went to put it in the outside can & as I turned around to go back in the house I saw the little monster staring at me from behind my car. What is it with these animals that they stare into my soul?? It started slithering under my car. This may sound ridiculous but he seemed to be injured. He had a funny, gimp slither. Almost like a limp. So I don't want to lose sight of him because he needs to be dead. So I start hollering for Dean. Nothing. I go on the patio by the pool & holler while jumping up & down waving my hands in the air (like I just don't care) hoping to get his attention. No luck so I ran to the back door & hollered there's a snake.  Have I mentioned that Dean is calm & mild mannered? Yeh, the exact opposite of me. He began to what can only be described as moseying to the door & said "huh, I thought it was too cold". I went back to my spot so I could keep an eye on Mr. Gimp. It's like he knew exactly where to go so that we couldn't get to him. Under the car up against the back, drivers side tire. Seriously. Dean got the shovel & he stood behind my car with the above view, while I was in front of the car. We stood there a good 5 minutes just staring trying to figure out what to do. I even had a broom & poked him a couple of times (from a distance that wasn't quite far enough away for my liking). He didn't move much. We decide to try what we've tried before that didn't work. Running over him with the car. It terrifies me to get in the car with the snake being that close. I have this fear that all of a sudden he's going to jump in the car with me. I jumped in & closed the door really quick. All I had to do was back straight up & I'd get him. Score! Except that after Dean watched the front tire roll right over him the snake was gone. Vamoosh! No snake. He was like Houdini. He then appeared on the other side of the car, ALIVE. Seriously, I don't know how much my car weighs but I'm pretty sure it's in the tons & if that doesn't kill a snake we're in a world of trouble. It's time like these when I think maybe I could be on a reality TV show. One that really is unscripted reality. So Dean killed it with the shovel & disposed of it in the ditch behind our house. This is becoming such a regular occurrence I didn't even take a picture. I went back to working on the closet.

Speaking of the closet. No pics because I'm not finished but it looks sooooo good! I have 2 shelves that I still need to go through. It's a lot of t-shirts & I think it's time that I actually part with some. I got tired of working & it was time for the Saints game so that's why it's not finished. Let me tell you, those Saints really messed things up for me. I didn't finish the closet because they were playing & I didn't go to Mass Saturday because they were playing. Then they went & lost. So, I went to Mass Sunday morning, did our grocery shopping & then went for my long run. Well, it was 9:30 by that time & in the 50's & sunny. Not good for my run. I wanted to go 11-12 miles. I ran out of water around mile 7. That never happens but I was hot, I had capri's on & I should've had shorts, around mile 8 there was a rock in my shoe. Have I mentioned that I was hot. Finally, I didn't feel like I could go anymore.
9.5 miles isn't bad but when I wanted to go a minimum of 11 it's not good. My race is Sunday. I'm nervous. 10 mi. is the furthest I've ran since the last race. I do think I'll do better than yesterday because the race starts at 7:00 so it will be cooler & they have water every mile. I did some good stretching & foam rolling when I finished & managed to eat good the rest of the day.
Scrambled eggs with green onions, feta, tomatoes, avocado & spinach was delish! I'll definitely make this again but throw in more veggies & mushrooms.

How was y'alls weekend?

Toodles!

Behind

I think this is more evidence that I have ADD. I haven't posted in a week. Did I mention that I googled the symptoms of Adult ADD? Let's just say that A LOT of them apply to me. Dean thinks I'm crazy. Sometimes I wonder if he realized what he was getting into when he proposed.

So we had a low key weekend which was nice. Friday night was dinner out as usual. Only we switched it up a bit & didn't go to Caliente! We went to the Chimes. LOVE that place but it's on LSU's campus & it's popular so normally when school is in session there's a crazy wait. We took advantage of school being out.

Saturday morning this happened
I wasn't sure I'd be able to do 10. I only had one run last week because of rain. I was scared because my longest run since the half was an 8 miler. It wasn't awful so I was relieved. I'm doing another half in 10 days so I have my last long run Sunday.

Saturday night a group of us went to Caliente to watch the Saints game. They won but it came down to the bitter end.

Sunday we just hung around the house. It was rainy & a cold front was coming. When I say cold I actually mean cold, not just 50 degrees like I normally whine about.
This was on my way to work Tuesday. At one point it was 19. This is Louisiana, it's NEVER supposed to be that cold & if by chance it is it needs to be snowing so that nobody would have to go anywhere. I was so bundled up that if I would've fallen down I'm not sure I would've gotten myself up. I kept my puffy vest on all day. I swear that's the best $25 I've ever spent.

I decided to run Tuesday afternoon. With the race being so close I must get all of my runs in. Must must must! Tuesday afternoon was going to be better than Monday afternoon. It would be in the mid 30s. I draw the line at running in 20 degree weather. I may be crazy but I'm not that crazy. Unless of course it's a race that I've already trained & paid for. Soooo, I ran.

It was cold. I wore a heavier jacket than I normally do for cold runs & I never took it off. Usually, by the first mile the jacket comes off. My face felt like it was frozen when I finished.
I don't know if you can tell but it was 34 when I finished. I thought that I'd ran in those temps before but I've never been that cold so maybe not.

This morning was much "warmer" but I decided that I'd have another evening run because even though it's warmer it's still cold & I've been so cold this week I'm giving myself a break.

I've decided that January is my least favorite month. Cold, holiday hangover, boredom, Christmas bills, etc. don't make it a very happy month. I just feel blah & like nothing's going on. Anyone else share these feelings??

Toodles!

Happy New Year!

I mentioned in my last post that I was crossing my fingers that the office would close early on New Years Eve & luckily we did. We closed a little before 2:00 so I stopped & had my nails done. We ended up going to dinner with friends. Caliente closed early so we went to La Carreta.
Love, love, love the Rum Rita's! After dinner we went to another neighbor's house & just hung out. All the kids (and some of the guys) shot fireworks. I'm not a fan. They make me nervous & I don't like the noise. Dean had to actually get our fire extinguisher to put out a fire in the street. Being that it was raining I have no idea how a fire started but whatevs. We actually went home before midnight but did manage to stay awake til 12:00. Yes, we were in bed watching TV but we were awake!

I'm sure everyone is cleaning out & organizing. I'm no different. Our closet is a constant issue for me. It's a great size but it still doesn't seem to be enough. I think the real problem is that there is so much space that I don't really know how to use. I need one of those closet people to come in & fix it all up but geez they're crazy expensive. I worked on the closet yesterday but I still have a ways to go. I started with these.

$10 for 35 hangers at Sam's. Dean picked up 2 packs & I'll be going back Friday to get more. I have a huge problem with stuff sliding off of hangers. These are velvet so there's no slipping. They're also narrower than regular hangers (see the pic on the box?) so they take up less room. I was able to get a lot of my clothes switched over to these yesterday & already I can see a huge difference. My goal is to get the closet completed this weekend. I'm trying to get the organizing done because we're approaching "busy season" at work & I'm not sure how much overtime I'll be working. January 17th is our first full Friday work day of the season. That's going to be hard but it's only for 3 months.

 

Has anyone made any resolutions? I haven't come up with anything aside from the usual - watch my eating, exercise more, continue running & trying to get organized. I googled the symptoms of adult ADD & I really think I have it. Dean doesn't agree. I feel really scattered & all over the place. Not sure how to get a handle on that! I'm going to try making lists. Maybe if I see in writing what needs to be done I can do it. We'll see.

 

Anyway, yesterday LSU played in the Outback Bowl. We went to our friends next door to watch & eat. I didn't watch too much but I ate plenty.

 

Hope everyone had a great holiday! Happy New Year!

 

Toodles!

It's New Years Eve!

I can't believe 2013 is basically over. Where did the time go?

We had a pretty low key weekend. Friday when I got off work at 2:00 I went straight home. This hasn't happened since I started this job in August. When I got home I went straight into the catch all room aka the guest bedroom. It happens every year & that room is a huge mess. Not anymore! It didn't take long either. That's one thing I can check off of my list. Of course Friday night we were at Caliente. It was just Dean & I. Everyone else was out of town.

Saturday morning I got up early & took down Christmas decorations. I never take them down this early but I was just ready for the house to be back to normal. It didn't take nearly as long as I expected so I rewarded myself the rest of the day & did nothing. It rained all day so I read & took a nap.

Saturday night we ate Mexican again. We went to Superior Grill for a going away dinner with our friend Bill. He's leaving LSU & going to work for Miss. St. We went to a going away party for him a few weeks ago. It was just us Saturday night & we had a great visit.
My Rumrita was good but not as good as Caliente. Of course I love the styrofoam cups.
Me & Bill. Freezing & raining = layers & a hat.

Sunday morning I ran. My plan was to go 5 miles but I was feeling good so I went 6.5.My second half is 3 weeks away! As hard as I tried I ended up napping Sunday too.

This morning I ran 4 miles before work. It was cold - 41 degrees but it felt colder. I've been cold since Friday & the only time I'm warm is during/after a run. sigh.

I'm crossing my fingers that the office closes early today. It did the day before Thanksgiving & the day before Christmas Eve. It's not like we have plans because we don't but who wants to be at work when you don't have to be??

Hope everyone has a great NY Eve & Happy New Year!

Toodles!