It's that Time of Year

When you barely have time to breathe.

'Cause you're so stinkin' busy. But you love every minute of it!

My weekend started out totally awesome as soon as I got off work on Friday. I headed over to the high school to watch Bahama Mama's baby girl's ballet debut.

Oh she was adorable! They all were! Lil' Bit danced and shimmied and smiled and waved. Cutest. Thing. Ever. Seriously, is this not the sweetest little ballerina evah?

Saturday morning I was up before the rooster, per ush. And it was beyond chilly. Brr! We braved to cold for less than the planned 12 miles. Somebody's knee wasn't behaving. I won't say who, but she has a blog and loves pink. Dang. I have a race in a week and my knee starts to gripe now??? We shivered and shook, but it was totally worth it. Look at this view!

Yes, that is ICE! Here's more on my car. Okay, so maybe it's really just frost. I'm entitled to be dramatic. I live in Texas. We don't have cold like this often...certainly not this early in the year. I didn't realize how cold I was until we went inside Panera. Where I couldn't stop shivering! The cashier took pity on me and offered me a cup of hot water to hold. I nearly spilled it on myself I was shivering so hard. Confession. I had a bagel. I ate out. Remember how I'm not eating out in December? Hey, my challenge, my rules. Like I was really going to sit there shivering and hungry, watching them eat breakfast! It was one measly little bagel. I'll live. No other indiscretions though. One week and counting...

Bahama Mama and Kat sitting close to try to warm up.Coveting Loose's toasty hoodie. At least I thought to bring a dry shirt to change into. Brr!Inspired...Hubs and I headed to the outlet malls to find some dress pants for his Christmas party later that night. Because I practically breathe Nike, I had to stop and check out their deals. Walked out with new Navy tights and a wind breaker. I love this pink thing; the sleeves zip off, store in the back and it converts to a vest. My booty was still frozen from my morning run so I had warm layers on the brain!Here I am getting gussied up for the party. I can't exactly take photos of the both of us with my phone. That's the only camera I have right now...so you'll have to stayed tuned for the dressy shots. BTW, I LOVE large velcro rollers. Changed my life.Sunday afternoon we braved the cold rain and headed to the hardware store to pick out our tree. Winner winner chicken dinner!And isn't it a cutie patootie in our house? I just love a big fat tree and I just love this time of year!

My knee has pretty much stopped speaking to me. It's just pouting. I'm keeping it taped, icing like a polar bear and stretching. I've got the half at White Rock on Sunday. I'd loooove to make it through the entire race without achieving tear inducing pain. Is that just a dream???

Off to make a meal plan for my party on Thursday!

Thankful Thursday

Who ordered this cold weather?
Hubs just spoke these words to me. And for Texas, it's pretty dang cold. It's 35 (or 1.6 Canadian.) It's almost as if heck actually DID freeze over. Hmm...I might need to watch out for flying pigs as well. Wait, is that how we get swine flew? Ba dum dum, I couldn't help myself.
Guess what? It snowed yesterday! Real snow! Snowed for about an hour. This picture is awful, but it's all I have.
You'll have to trust me - it's really snowing, not raining! I assure you no work was accomplished in the greater Dallas area as all of us Texas had our noses pressed to the glass, squealing in utter amazement. These things just don't happen here very often. Certainly not in early December. (sometimes in March)
Guess what? It's supposed to snow again tomorrow! Crazy. I'm thankful that God gives US snow. I know that some of y'all get waaaay too much snow. But we get very little and it thrills our little hot hearts. Snow.
I'm looking forward to running in the 28 degrees (-2.2) tomorrow, believe it or not. I'm excited to bundle up and head out to run in the day that is not promised.
I'm thankful for snow.

For Whom the Phone Rings

We have an old fashioned wall phone.

It's black, plastic and rings with a real bell. Usually it is someone taking a survey or wanting me to buy tickets to the circus for less fortunate children.

I love it, that phone.

Every now and then it's actually for me.

Saturday evening the phone rang and it was indeed for me. It was my Pappy. You must first know that my Pappy lives on several acres out in the country. It's all very Texas. Once a working cotton farm, it's now home to Pappy, his cat Tom and a few very lazy old horses that he keeps around for company.

Oh yes, and an Indian sweat lodge.

Doesn't every grandad have a sweat lodge on his property? He'll rent out pasture space for your horses, your cows your goats. Just come and tend to them. It's all just a bit of extra income, plus I think he enjoys seeing the land used for what God intended, to provide. But he also has quite the sense of adventure and humor. So when a few local Native Americans approached him about building a sweat lodge on his property, he naturally jumped at the idea. Everyone in town knows about his sweat lodge. I've admonished him to stay out of the sweat lodge; the heat isn't good for his blood pressure. As far as I know, he abides. He does enjoy walking down to visit with them when they come for their ceremonies. Apparently they enjoy visiting with him too.

So as I was saying, my favorite black plastic phone rings and it's him. He asks if he showed me his newest photo. He hadn't. On his last visit to the sweat lodge, they let him try on an amazing headdress; it's over 100 years old. I can tell this event really tickled him. Naturally, they made his picture. He tells me he only has one copy and he's going to mail it to me.

This arrived in the mail today.

I love this man. What will I do when that black plastic phone doesn't ring for me any more and he's not on the other end?

My Morning Jacket

Our heater has stopped heating.
We've had it turned completely off for a while now. No biggie, it hasn't been that cold. Until today. I woke up shivering and checked the weather. It was 42. (5 for my dear Canadians!) Hmm, to wear a jacket or not? My biggest fear while running is not being hit by a car, or chased by the boogeyman or a dog. Nope, my biggest fear is getting too hot.
This is Texas after all.
I made the choice to don a jacket and I was glad that I did. Okay, let's be honest, I donned a jacket, my ear warmers and gloves. I slipped off my ear warmers mid way and kept zipping and unzipping my jacket to ventilate. It's official - jacket weather is near! It's supposed to continue to get colder this week. We can expect lows in the 30's for the next few days. That's cold for Texas y'all!
I called the heater man as soon as I got home.
To extend my long weekend, I took the day off from work. Went back to bed after my run, did some laundry, called the heaterman, had a doctor's appointment, got my vehicle registered. Exciting stuff.
I did find a heart shaped tortilla while making breakfast tacos!
I signed up to run the RnR Half in March. This will be the first year for RnR in Dallas. I ran this same course this year and I have the privilege of paying nearly twice as much now that RnR is hosting. Hoping to PR to make it worth it!
US continues to replay the Ironman World Championships over and over. I continue to watch and obsess. My doctor is not helping. She was looking up local sprint tris for the Spring for me. (and humoring my talk about the half Ironman held in Austin each October...)
Because I'm a super dork, when I recorded my mileage this morning I noticed I was only 4 miles away from hitting 100 this month. Clearly this meant that I must head back out for 4 more miles. I did just that this evening. Is that even semi-normal? I was logging 140+ easily each month during marathon training. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I was 4 miles short of 100 for November. Oh, and they were 4 amazing miles! My time was 41.35. Not bad, I'm slowly picking up the pace again.
I better, White Rock is only two weeks away! I'm not hoping to PR (but secretly I am.) I'm just running this one to get my half legs back. Remember what a great race I had last year???
Oh yes, and I'm giving up eating out for the month of December. I do this from time to time, mostly because I'm crazy. Considering making it a once a week benefit, not cold turkey. We eat out alot. Like alot, alot. I'll keep you posted.
November was a great month. I'm a little sad to see it go. December holds great promise though!

Cutest Gift Ever!

This is not a craft blog.

Clearly.

But.

I spent a great deal of time at Hobby Lobby this weekend. On my favorite aisle, the scrapbook paper aisle.

I do not scrapbook.

But oh, I love all that paper! I use it for gift tags, to make invitations, to line my serving pieces for added festivity. I'm always looking for a reason to buy more scrapbook paper. And when they go on sale 2 for a dollar, well, it's even better.

So how cute is THIS project?

Start with lined notepads. I used the small size, but the bigger ones would work just fine too.

I picked out a vast selection of cutey patootie papers. Vast.

I cut out the papers to cover the gummed labels and glued them on using white glue. I found it easiest to apply the glue most precisely with a small paint brush. It really is that easy.

How cute is this??? The perfect Office Gift! Who doesn't need another notepad on their desk? Especially one this cute! If you work with me, please act surprised when you get one!

On an unrelated note, I have not run once since Wednesday. Now, to be fair, Bahama Mama and I got our long run in on Wednesday night, so my last run was a good one. I had great plans to run Friday and Saturday. Friday, I was out of kinesio tape. I'm not ready to try running without the support, so I bailed. Saturday, I have no excuse. I slept in and shopped the rest of the day. I'm doubtful that counts as mileage...so I'm hopeful I can get in a few tomorrow. Who knows, maybe I just needed a break.

Thankful Thursday

I have a lot to be thankful for.
I am very blessed. For my faith, my family, my friends. A husband that loves and supports me. A job that provides both financially and with a sense of service and purpose. My health. Adequate shelter and a full belly. Plentiful, safe, clean drinking water. Freedom and security.

I'm a thankful Pink Girl today.
Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

And I would walk (run) 500 miles

And I would walk (run) 500 more.
Together that makes 1000 miles I'd walk (run.) This morning, in the very wee hours, in the darkness the fog and in the cold, that's just what I did. I crossed that threshold of 1000 miles.
Wow.
I think I'm more amazed at that than crossing the finish line of the marathon. 1000 miles this year.
Hmm, wonder what I'll run next year?

Of course, running all those miles (not at once clearly, I'm not Dean Karnazes) makes your legs sore. Everyone is raving about Recover Socks. Everyone. No Meat Athlete is giving away a pair of Recovery Socks!!! Check out his awesome blog (he qualified for Boston last month!) and enter to win a pair!

I need a weekend

To recover from my weekend!

It's that time of year when our weekends start to fill up. Boy howdy was this one full!

Saturday morning I got up with those birds and flew off to run 10 miles with Bahama Mama. I hurried home to work on my sit ups, exercise my weak @$$ and then roll myself out on the foam roller.

How can something feel so good and hurt so badly at the same time? It's like rubbing your eyes with your fists.

Next I hurried to Thunderbird Skate for a skating party! I haven't been roller skating in 9 years, but it came back to me immediately! I was a little nervous that I might fall, but fear was soon replaced with elation. Skating is so much fun! (and hard)

I'm not sure if all that sideways motion was good or bad for my hip, but it was definitely a good workout. (and I'd already run the aforementioned 10 miles...) I skated for over an hour and if the cake and presents part of the party hadn't started, I'd probably still be out there now! I am going back for sure.

Then I headed to the AAC, where the Dallas Stars play hockey, to watch my dear Hubs play hockey! His team arranged for some ice time like the pros. He had a blast and I enjoyed watching him play on the "Rink of Dreams."

Here is my niece rooting for her dad, Hubs' brother.By this time I'm starting to lose steam. A nap was sounding like just what I needed, but then my mom called with a bribe of Mexican food and well, really, I'm not one to turn down free Mexican food! We then headed to the mall to bust out some Christmas shopping. Mostly my sister and I just played dress up. We are helpful like that.Sister modeling the latest in Winter fashion.Once again demonstrating my penchant for faux fur. As evidenced prior in this post.

Today I woke up feeling like I had been run over by a train. A very large train. I'm coughing and my head feels huge. I think this cold I've been battling might have finally got the best of me. Good thing it's a short week! But I won't let that stop me from heading out in the morning. Check out the mileage on the right - 999.14 miles! I'll hit 1000 miles tomorrow!

Side note: is anyone having issues loading photos in Blogger using Microsoft 7? We converted this week and they don't seem to be getting along!

For the Birds!

I didn't go running again this morning.

What is up with me? I did however, go running this evening. I'm becoming a night time runner! See, it was supposed to be 38 this morning (actually it was 37) so Bahama Mama and I decided it would be much more pleasant to run this evening when it would be a nice 60 degrees. The choice was clear.

We were right.

I rolled over at 4:30, warm and cozy in the biscuit, and smiled at the knowledge that I had over an hour and a half of sleep left. Bliss.

On my way home yesterday I saw the freakiest thing. Birds!I saw it again today. Apparently, on their way to Aruba, the birds have settled in our community to break up the journey. Guess it was roosting time.

There were birds everywhere! Must have been thousands of them, just swirling and swarming, each looking for a place to light. I sat at the light for a while (traffic, grr) and watched them fight for a place to rest.I wonder if that's what runners look like, in a race, to all those non-runners who glance out the window on race day. Thousands of people, scampering about, fighting to get ahead of the runner in front of them, swirling about the road, restless.

Just like those birds, we know exactly what we're doing though.

Scamper on y'all!

Crunchy Run

I didn't run this morning.

Hold up y'all, don't trip. I didn't run this morning because Bahama Mama and I have an agreement. If you wake up and it's pouring hard, just roll over and go back to bed. And it was. Plus, poor thing, her kids were sick all weekend and you know what happens when loving mother nurses sick children. Yep, mama gets sick too. Feel better soon Bahama Mama!

Sooo, I ran this evening after work. Put on my new red Nike half zip, taped up my knee and headed out for 5 blustery miles. It's not that cold (maybe 48 when I left) but boy howdy that wind sure was a blowin'!

And no, I'm not plugged in. That's my iPod. I rarely run with an iPod because I always run with friends. Since I was heading out solo, I queued up a playlist and took off. No worries, I only put in one earbud so I can still hear cars and the boogey man. I could also hear the leaves crunchy beneath my feet. Autumn is in full force! I was also using my new app from Map My Run. Since my phone has a built in GPS, I can track my run. (no need for a Garmin since I always run with my phone!) I've only used it twice now, but it's fairly accurate. Tonight I covered 5 miles in 50:33. I wish you could see the elevation - it's crazy! Apparently my hood is hillier than I knew. And this is what I look like after 5 hilly miles in 50 minutes!To be fair, that face is after 5 miles, my weak @$$ exercises and sit ups. Yep, I'm working on a new challenge! This quarter it's the 200 Sit Up Challenge. I was only able to do 45 in the 2 minute eval last week. I'm hoping for 80 in six weeks!!!

This weekend I had a the privilege of attending the wedding of such a sweet friend. Laura listened to God's call in her life and picked up to work as a missionary. Overseas. In a country that isn't exactly friendly to Christians. And there she met Daniel. Boy meets girl, they fall in love. And at last they married. It was one of the most joyous weddings I've ever witnessed. From the song they walked in to, Lucky by Jason Mraz and CC, to the worship held during the ceremony to the first dance...all filled with such obvious joy for Christ and for one another. I wish them all the best!

Reprised my role as Creeshy's date. We once again split the cake. I took chocolate, she took white and we shared. Mmmm, friends that share cake are the best!We took a cue from Britney and Jules was #3 in our party. Every party is better with Jules! I may at some point during the reception, been unable to separate two glasses, hail a member of the waitstaff and ask him to take them from me because "I don't want to set them down, I've had my paws all over them." Sometimes I forget that regular people just don't get my particular brand of humor.

I'm thinking about taking swim lessons this Winter. Because isn't Winter the most obv time to take swim lessons??? Yeah, I know how to swim. I could totes save my life if I had to...but I don't know how to swim efficiently. And if I'm going to get talked into a sprint triathlon, well I should prob know how to swim. My doctor (who is a triathlete) assured me that a lot of beginner TAs use cheapo mountain bikes from Target. (and that is exactly what I have) She's probably just telling me that so she can point and laugh, but at this point I have no reason NOT to trust her.

We shall see.