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!

Christmas

I can't believe Christmas has come & gone. Life has been busy & the time is flying by. At some point since my last post I had a cookie baking day at my house. We made 2 cookies & a bark. Cookies were good, bark was so-so. We only had one incident & that was when my oven mitt caught on fire. No biggie, we didn't even need the fire extinguisher.

 

Later that night our friends that live next door had their annual Christmas Cocktail Party.

 

Cliff has a thing for tuxes. We brought him the very large bottle of Chianti. He loves wine & anything Italian.

 

 

The weather was actually cold that night.

 

I had a couple of days off, did some running, did more shopping & started planning an engagement party that's happening in 3 weeks. Good times.

 

Christmas Eve morning was spent a little differently than normal for me. I had a hair appointment. It was a great way to relax after a crazy busy week.

 

We went to 4:00 Mass which means leaving before 3:00 so that we can get a seat & don't have to stand. After Mass we went with friends to Ruffino's. We've done this for several years.

 

 

 

Starting at 10:00 we have our annual pajama party at our other neighbors house with the rest of the group. We have to re-evaluate that time next year. Some of us (me) are falling asleep well before the party starts.

 

We play the white elephant game & this was one of the gifts. It's called the Beer Beard?? I think? You can see the clear plastic tube. From what I could tell there's a place under all of that hair to put a can of bear & the tube goes into it & you can drink from it. Weird. I was lucky enough to get away with a Canes gift card!

 

This year we went all out with t-shirts.

 

 

They've got all the family names & the dates. It was cute.

 

Christmas Day was spent with our families at our house.

 

 

Logan's first stop is to find his name under the tree.

 

We ate a lot and then opened presents.

 

 

He was soooo excited with everything. He loves Hot Wheels so much & he got plenty!

 

 

Dean's mom, my mom & my uncle Donnie

 

 

My cousins & Godchildren Dylan  & Brooke

 

We played a few games of Jenga. My hands shake way too much for this.

 

Dylan, Brendan, me, Dean, Brooke & Logan  - all of these kiddos are my Godchildren

 

Dean bought me a Garmin Vivofit 2 activity tracker. It's showing me just how little I move on non running days. My average deep sleep during the night is 2.5 hours. That explains a lot. He also got me a gift card for a day at the spa. I can't wait to use that!

Allison sent me this pic of her little girl. I bought her this outfit for Christmas.

Seriously, the cutest outfit ever!!!

 

Saturday we spent the day in Bayou Pigeon at Dean's parents. His brother & fiancé & kids were there so we had Christmas with them.

 

I gave Dean's mom this Christmas cactus last year. It was so small.

 

Mine is still alive but hasn't grown like this.

 

Our cute gift to hang on the patio!

 

Sunday morning I got up early & went for a run. My Half Marathon is on Jan. 17th so it'll be here in no time.

I ran 10 miles then did a 1 mile "cool down" walk. I use the term "cool down" loosely. It was close to 80 degrees when I finished the run. The humidity was at 80% when I started. The weather is CRAZY. Shorts on Christmas Day, 80 on Christmas Day, horribly muggy & humid on Christmas Day, raining on Christmas Eve. AWFUL, AWFUL, AWFUL!

 

Can you tell I haven't been happy with the weather??

 

So today's Monday & I'm back at work. Yay. (That's sarcasm). At least it's only a 4 day week.

 

How was your Christmas?

 

Toodles!

Here, There & Yonder

I can't believe Christmas is almost here. It's ridiculous how fast time goes when you get older. I hate it. I still have gifts to buy, gifts to wrap, decorations to put up, Christmas cards to be mailed. Let's face it, the chances of it all happening is slim & that makes me sad but it's my own fault. I just haven't been in the mood. 

Dean & I were both off Friday so we did some shopping & had lunch at VooDoo BBQ. We also found out that Dean's brother got engaged so that was exciting. 

Friday night we had Christmas with Dean's cousins. I ate way too much! 

These cookies were so good. 

The kids sang a lot of Christmas carols & then it was time to Whip & Nae Nae.

Notice that Cody is wearing shorts. That's because it was 80 degrees Friday. Ridiculous. 

Saturday morning we were up bright & early to book our next vacation. 

This picture cracks me up. They're so serious. We're going to an all inclusive resort in Cancun in June. So far it will be us & 2 other couples but there's always a chance more of the group will join us. 

After the vacation stuff was handled I went for a run. It was hot. 

I was really slow too. Slower than I've been in awhile. I'm sure the fact that I had 2 Dr. Peppers, a Coke Zero, 3 glasses of wine & very little water on Friday had something to do with it. I know better. I was so hot that I actually got in the pool. It was cold but it wasn't unbearable. 

Dean & I were off again yesterday & the plan was to finish the shopping. It didn't happen. We got a lot done but not everything. We  had breakfast at Another Broken Egg. 

I had the Crab Cake Cavallo. It was delicious.

My plan was to run when we got home yesterday but it was hot, I was annoyed & I took a nap instead. Ugh. 

I got up early this morning & ran before work like normal. It was 44 so that was nice but I was still really slow. I didn't feel bad so I don't know what the deal was. I'm trying to improve my time for my half in January. At least I got out there & did it.  

Tonight I have dinner with some friends that I haven't seen in awhile & then tomorrow night is a birthday dinner. Such a busy time of year. 

Toodles!

Thanksgiving

Last week was crazy busy so I'm playing catch up. I feel like that's all I do these days. The day before Thanksgiving I went to Trader Joe's to get some flowers.

Tulips are my favorite!

They didn't live very long which was a bummer. 

Our typical Thanksgiving is to eat then watch Logan play football with Scott & Dean.

Yes, it was ridiculously hot & we all had on shorts. 

Notice Logan's mouth is wide open in both pictures. He's got the trash talking down to a science.

The wind was blowing about 150 mph. 

Logan's head is wet from sweat. He's the hottest kid I know. 

I bought this at Sam's.

I loved it. Dean said it was ok.

The most exciting thing of the day was when my neighbor ran in the house to borrow a bottle of champagne because her daughter got engaged. It was all very exciting. The first 3900 Krewe Wedding.

Friday I got up & ran. It had been over a week because in keeping with my Thanksgiving tradition I was sick & had to get a steroid shot. 

I ran 4 miles & then walked 1 mi.

I decorated the house & the tree. 

Monday I ran 5 mi.

It was chilly.

I ran 6.5 mi. on Wednesday to try & run off some of the cheesecake. I got a couple of weight workouts in too. 

Not a lot of excitement is happening around here. 

Toodles!