Kentucky Oaks

I should be here today, drinking Lilly's and betting on pretty ponies... but I am at work instead. This is the best time to be in KY!!! I guess I am just saving my feet for the big day on Saturday!!!

Mini pics

Here are some pics from the race saturday.

TEAM FLAB TO FAB

With my mom and dad after the race

Hugging my dad before the finish

G and I after finishing the 13.1!!

Final Week Update

Wow!! Training is OVER (for now, will explain later). 16 long weeks of running 5 days a week with our longest run days being on saturdays. We ran in snow, rain, cold, heat, and everything else. We have endured blisters and bruises and sore muscles. But through it all we pushed toward our goal of 13.1 miles.

And we finished out of 10,748 finishers. It is an amazing accomplishment and like I have said before, I am extremely proud of my husband for doing the whole thing.

We ran pretty much the whole way except for a few minute in the middle where I HAD to go the bathroom (I have never stopped in a race before) and a couple times during the end to walk the water stops. My legs hurt from about mile 7 on, but I knew I just had to keep going or else I wasn't going to make it.

As you can see from above, I finished in 2 hours and 23 minutes.. which is pretty much exactly what I finished the race in last year. I am not fast by any means, but I did it. It rained for the first part of the race, and then thankfully tapered off and cleared up (luckily for my parents who were at the finish line).

It was good. I am proud. Gonna rest this week.

Here's how the last week of training went:

Monday: 4 miles
Tuesday: 3 miles
Wednesday: 3 miles
Thursday: rest
Friday: was supposed to do 1 mile, but had a wedding to go to, so nothing
Saturday: 13.1!!!
Sunday: rest.. well, clean house and make a fancy dinner party ;)

I totally took the whole week off of P90X. I decided that I just needed to let my body rest a little bit before the race. Plus, it was a little crazy last week, so I was having a hard time fitting everything in. I think I am going to take this week off too, just to recover, and then come back next week to finally finish off Phase 2 and start on Phase 3 the next week (that's the plan anyway-- it's good to have a plan). Then, as I stated above, I think we may do another half marathon in the fall. As one of my goals for 2010, I want to run 2 half marathons. So since, I have just completed the first, gotta start looking for the second, possibly Chicago. Once that is decided, training will begin again. I want to keep up running, so I don't fall back and have to start from scratch if I decide to race again.

Ok, long post for a monday. I'll post pics from the race later.

Less than 24 hours!

And I will be running 13.1 miles. I can't believe it is finally here. It seems like we just started training yesterday. But 16 weeks have gone by. That's just crazy.

Am I am ready? I have no idea. I have done what I think I need to do and I will just have to keep truckin'. I will make it across the finish line one way or another. I am sort of confident that I am better prepared than last year and I am not sure why. Maybe it was the extra P90X that helped.. who knows. My time from last year was 2:23, so I am hoping to beat that, but if I dont, oh well.

I guess the biggest draw back about tomorrow is it is going to RAIN! I am ok with a little bit of rain, but I have a feeling it's just going to pour. So soggy shoes the whole way. Oh well. We have trained and we are going to do it, rain or shine. At least it won't be hot like it was last year.

ACK!! I am excited and scared all at the same time. Wish me luck and pray that I finish!!!

New Babies!!!

My best friend just had a baby this morning at 3:36 am!!! He is a healthy 7lb, 9oz baby boy. I am beyond thrilled and happy for her and her husband and I cannot wait to meet the little one.

What a great day!!! :)

LAST PAYMENT

(all sorts of blog posts today!)

Oh Happy day.. I am mailing in my final payment for my car! That is 5 years of paying every month, on time! I am so happy to be done with it.. what a relief. This is a fantastic day.

HAPPY BIRTHAY G MONEY!

Today is my wonderful husband's, G, birthday!!

I just love birthdays.. and I love that he was born so I could spend my life with him.

Happy 34th honey!

Week 15 Updates

Sorry for no Weekly Update yesterday, but it was crazy busy and I just didnt get around to it. It seems like that is the story of my life these days.. ugh... but once this half is out of the way, things will be a bit calmer.

Here is last weeks work outs:

Monday: 3 miles and Legs & Back and Ab Ripper
Tuesday: 3 miles and Kenpo X
Wednesday: 4 miles
Thursday: 2 miles (was supposed to do Yoga X, but I really just dont like the routine, so I took the night off and went and ate pizza and drank beer instead ;) Sometimes you need a break)
Friday: Core Synergistics
Saturday: 5 miles... last long run before the big race!
Sunday : nada (was supposed to be Kenpo, but I was recovering from the night before where we had a wedding... )

So now we are in our final week of training. I felt good on my run yesterday, and I just hope and pray that I feel the same way come saturday. The weather situation has gone from 70 and sunny, to 60s and storming... so who knows what it will be like. I could use some cooler temperatures, and don't mind the rain, just hope it isnt pouring! We shall see as the day gets closer though (in the Ohio Valley it could snow one day and be 80 degrees the next, you just never know!)

Wish Us Luck!

Oh and we got our bib numbers for the race.. 9510 and 9509!!!!

Eye Brows

Lately, I have noticed that my eyebrows are disappearing in pictures. It's kind of a weird thing, since in person I think I have fairly darker brows. But, in thinking about this, and remembering what I did for my wedding, I have started to fill in my brows to help out my face a bit. I guess I shouldnt be too surprised, since my mother's eyebrows are so blonde she has to fill them in too. I dont know if it's that they are too light, or that I have plucked them too much, but I am going with the too light reason.

Before

After

Can you see a difference? It's pretty subtle (obviously) but I think it definitely helps.... do you?

(notice the "unused" color...lol)

And here is the color I used. It doesnt look like it would have that much effect, but I think it makes a difference. It's just a shadow from one of my old MAC palettes. I dont know the exact color. I probably need to go and get actual eye brow filler stuff, but just haven't gotten to sephora yet, so this will do for now

Do you fill in your brows?

Let's be Real

this may, or may not, be part of the reason I can work out 2 hours a day and not loose a single pound.

but lets be real, I dont eat it everyday.. only when my home fridge and cabinet are empty and I can't think of any other place to go... oh, and the cokes kind of pull me in too!

yuck! :)

OOTD

Usually, I am not really impressed with my work outfits. They generally consist of some sort of dress pant and a shirt. Nothing to spectacular, and most of the time I walk out of the house not even knowing what I am wearing (cause the mirror is in a different room from where I get dressed and if I do look in the mirror, its too late to change anything).

But today, I actually picked out an outfit I am proud of! ha ha.(not the greatest pic, but it was in the bathroom, with an iphone)

I know it may not seem like much. But I think it's way cuter than what I normally pull off.
I am wearing dark brown pants from Limited, drew fit; white cardigan from J.crew, 3/4 length sleeves; and a satin, high neck, ruffled, button down, blue and white patterned shirt from Forever 21. Plus my brown strapy wedges from Gianni Bini.

This makes me want more "cute" clothes..

House Decorating

I have been in the mood to "nest" lately. We have lived in our house for almost 3 years, and there is still a lot to be done as far as decorating goes. I always thought that I would be good at furnishing my house to make it look home-y.... but maybe not. I just dont really know how to put things together and make them look good.But as of late, I have wanted to start really making our house "ours". We need tons of stuff:• new bed
• bedside tables
• dressers
• window treatments• new paint for the office, bathroom and bedroom
• more pictures on the walls
• shelving units (we have no where to put picture frames and knick nacks!)
• chairs and table for living room
We have a very awkward room in the front of our house. It takes up the entire length of the front of the house, and one side we use for our TV and the other is more "formal" - if you can call it that. Currently it holds Charlie's crate, a old desk and a single high back chair that Charles has claimed as his own. This side also includes the fireplace. I really would like 2 chairs, matching and an ottoman/coffeetable. I had found a chair I liked at Macy's that was on clearance FOREVER and never purchased it, then it was no longer available. But just some club chairs, not too big, that would make for a nice little sitting area.

While on a blog site I frequently read.. I can't remember which one... they had some furniture from Target. And while I have always known target to carry furniture items, I was amazed by how many chairs they had! And all at pretty reasonable prices for how cute they are. I realize that the quality may not be great, but at least they will do for now (if I decide to purchase).

Here are some I really liked:(all images from Target.com)

Week 14 Update

14 weeks!! Can you believe it?! It's pretty amazing I must say. 14 weeks = 98 days. Thats like almost a third of the year gone by! We have definitely come a long way from the first mile on January 2nd (or whatever the exact day was, can't recall)!! And we only have 2 more weeks till the big race. At this point, we feel pretty prepared, but it is still a daunting task to undertake, so we wont be slacking on any of of our runs.

Here's our week:

Monday : 4 miles
Tuesday : Kenpo X ( was also supposed to run 3 miles, but had a few errands and didn't get a chance)
Wednesday: 4 miles and Core Synergistics (so happy to be back on schedule with P90x)
Thursday : 2 miles and Cardio X (you will notice our milage is not as far as it has been, and that is due to the schedule tapering off before the race. It will help us not to over do it before the race and keep our bodies fresh)
Friday: Chest, Shoulders & Triceps and Ab Ripper X
Saturday: 8 miles (it was a beautiful day... the sun was out, the temperature wasn't too warm.. nice breeze. pretty perfect. I can only cross my fingers that the weather will be just like that for the race. And my legs felt good. It was a great run for me)
Sunday: nada (was supposed to do Yoga X, but G and I worked in the yard for 2 days straight, so I am counting that as my workout. I am definitely sore today! Not to mention, a lovely sunburn on my back..haha)

This week should be even easier as far as runs go, so I am going to increase my intensity on the P90X. I am also at a cross roads about what I want to do after the race. I really like having a schedule of work outs to do. It keeps me accountable. I will have one more phase with P90X, but I am thinking I may take 30 days to do the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred before completing. I can't decide. Just want to change it up.. give my body a little bit of a rest, but not totally give up exercise. I have found that if I stop, even for a short while, my body gives it back to me two fold. Plus, I want to keep up with my 2010 goal of being in the best shape EVER!!!! We'll see

Happy Monday!

what to say....

So, I am running in this 1/2 marathon in just a little over 2 weeks. And as I mentioned in an earlier post, G and I have decided to raise money for the American Cancer Society through a program called DetermiNation. This is a national program for many endurance across the country, but new to our area. Meaning, there are only about 10 participants this year. To help promote the program for next year, ACS is setting up a booth at the expo before the race. There, they will have a display and also hand out cards about the event.

I have been asked to write a quick sentence (or two) about why I am choosing to run for ACS and DetermiNation. It's a hard thing to write and being that I am not not great with words makes it even harder to put in 1 or 2 sentences.

It took me a while to figure it out. I didnt want it to be contrived or sound forced. I wanted it to be from the heart and truthful. Here's what I said:

"I am running in honor of my father, a former runner, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2008. Watching him go through months of treatments and pain, I wanted to be able to do my part to help and support him. There was a time when he was able to complete this race and now, I run, because he cannot."

What do you all think? Ok?

Who wants to...

Buy me a completely new wardrobe??

I am very serious about this.

I pulled out my "spring/summer" clothes before going to L.A., since the weather was/is getting so much warmer, and much to my dismay, they suck. Everything is like 3 - 4 years old and completely worn, and not even cute any more. It's really kind of depressing. I was hoping that my summer wardrobe would get me out of the winter funk of clothes, but no.

I need everything new... shirts! bottoms (skirts, capris, jeans)! tanks! dresses! bathing suit! Problem is, I am little stingy on cash. I am not one of those that can go out and spend $40 on a tshirt or even $80 on a pair of pants. It just hurts me to do it. I really need to get on "what not to wear" so that I can have a free $5000 to spend on me!! Either that or win the lottery, or find someone who just wants to spend money on me. haha.

Another problem I have is getting rid of stuff all the time. I am known to purge a few times a year, which leave with less and less... part of this is attributed to the fact that my closet is TINY.. I'm talking maybe 1.5 feet wide.. maybe. So, if I dont see it, it doesnt get worn, it eventually gets tossed because I haven't worn it.

So who wants to take me shopping!?!?!??!

Week 13 Update

Yes, I was a terrible blogger last week. It's hard to go on vacation and then come back and try to get into the swing of things, especially if you return in the middle of a week. I am totally one of those people that has to start everything on a monday, diets, workouts, lists, etc etc. It just helps me keep track of things better.

Anyway, last week was probably the worst week yet, but with exception because of travel. Here's how it panned out:

Monday- nada, still in CA, traveling back home
Tuesday - had gotten stuck in ATL trying to get back home monday, ended up hanging out in an airport all day till we got home at 5 pm.. that night I went to a concert with a friend.
Wednesday- back on schedule with running, 5 miles
Thursday - 3 miles
Friday- off

Saturday - 10 mile race!! (G and I finished the last let of the triple crown of running on saturday. Thankfully the weather was warm enough, but a little cloudy, and it actually rained around mile 6. We did great though. I beat my time from last year by 4 min!! And G ran the whole way without stopping once. I am so proud of him-- can I say this enough? I felt pretty good that day, even with the congestion that still has not gone out of my face. The last race of the season will be in 3 weeks, the 1/2 marathon, so we are gearin up!)

Sunday- 8 mile, leisurely bike ride with G. (we weren't out for exercise, but when you haven't biked in YEARS, it can get hard. Today my butt bones REALLY hurt, I think they are bruised, and I am pretty sore everywhere else, so we will count it as exercise)

I totally did not do any P90X last week. After having those few days off, I found it hard to pick back up again. Plus, with this whole sinus issue, I just havent felt well. I am hoping to get back in it tonight (and redo my schedule). I am only 2 "weeks" away from completing Phase 2!! And I really want to do the whole thing.

Also, G and I have decided to go back to eating at home more often. We did it in January for every meal, and it really saved us money and helped us to eat better. This time though, we are going to try to do it every meal monday- friday. That way, we can still enjoy a dinner out on the weekends and not feel so restricted. I still have some pounds I want to lose, and I hope this helps with that too. Bikini season is fast approaching!!!

Week 12 Update

As I said in last weeks monday post, I knew that last week was going to be a tough week on the schedule because of the trip we were taking. We got in as much as we could and don't feel to horrible about it. The P90X lacked more than anything, but that is OK, just need to pick it up and get back on schedule.

Here's how it panned out:

Monday - 5 miles

Tuesday - 4 miles (was supposed to do Kenpo X, but went to dinner for my father's 71st birthday and never got it done)

Wednesday - was supposed to be our leaving date, but our flight was canceled. We pretty much knew we weren't going to get in our scheduled 7 miles that day, so it was skipped

Thursday - 3 miles (G and I woke bright and early to do our 3 miles before we boarded the plane, this was a good decision by us)

Friday - should have been Core Synergistics to start my week 3 of phase 2, but I was not going to be doing that while in sunny L.A!

Saturday - 11 miles!!! (G and I had a GREAT run on the beach in California. We ran from Santa Monica through Venice Beach and back. We were not running on sand, they have a path on the beach. It was pretty awesome and we felt good running. What a cool thing to do-- well if you are from the south like us)

Sunday - again, this should have been Cardio X, but didn't do it.

So it wasn't completely horrible, and it's pretty hard to work out while on "vacation" but we did our best. Now, just trying to get back in the swing of things and to my ultimate goal.

G and I have also been talking about doing the Chicago Rock 'N Roll 1/2 Marathon in August. I really want to do 2 mini marathons this year and this seems like it might be a good time to do it. Still talking about it, haven't planned anything yet.