Weekend Recap

Friday morning I hit the gym before work, well-rested and rearing to go. I had 5 miles planned and dangit that's what I did. They were brutal, my legs felt like lead, but I kicked through them and felt good for getting it done on a Friday morning at 5am.

There was a lot of fun and alcohol consumed both Friday and Saturday night. It's been a while since I have gone out both nights out of a weekend, and drank a lot of liquor. Ouch! Too much drinking Friday night, thus I did not get in my scheduled brick workout Saturday morning. Last night we went out to a local comedy club and got to see The Midnight Swinger perform.... freakin' hilarious! He is from Las Vegas and if you ever get a chance to see him, do it! I had a few drinks, but nothing that kept me from enjoying the beautiful 35 degree weather on a 3 mile run this morning.

Today I got a few more Christmas gifts crossed off the list, as well as lights and other stuff for decorating around the house. I was going to put up my tree this afternoon, but I lost the motivation!

Tomorrow and Tuesday we have long days due to two evenings full of parent-teacher conferences, but Wednesday is our comp day and I look forward to heading to the Bis then!

Have a great week y'all! I am going to try and catch up with your blogs this evening!

Thanks Trek

First of all, some of you have inquired more information about my Wordless Wednesday post. Yes, I am a HUGE Tarheel's fan, beyond belief. Some of you have asked my connection to the 'heels, but the truth is I am just a huge fan and have been for as long as I can remember. Thanks to my love of basketball and my Dad. Michael Jordan was a Tarheel, and he was a rockstar when I was a kid! And.... Tyler Hansbrough is awesome.... need I explain further?

The week has gone by extremely fast and I can't believe tomorrow is Friday already! It's been one crazy busy week at work and I couldn't be more excited for a weekend of ... well, anything but work. Blech.


About a month ago I received an email from Trek. Supposedly they had extra t-shirts from the Breast Cancer Awareness Ride and was wondering if I wanted one. Well, of course I did and I let them know right away!


I forgot about the t-shirt until yesterday when I found a big envelop from Trek in my mailbox. Unfortunately it wasn't a t-shirt and instead, they sent me a hat. One of thosebeanies with the brim. Now I am not much of a hat person and I really struggle with trying to pull it off ... see?!




But I thank Trek, once again, for the wonderful gift! I can't wait to do the ride again next year!

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I didn't make it for my 5am long(er) run this morning. I went to bed last night with very tight muscles (due to lack of stretching - scold me now), and a sore achilles on my right leg. On top of that, my youngest sister decided to text me pictures. waking me well after 11 last night. So, today I rest, because my workday left me extremely worn out and mentally drained. Tomorrow morning I will try again. A few of us plan to head for apps and taps after school tomorrow, so that will be enough to motivate me out of bed in the morning!

I want to shout out to Laurel and N.D. running the Philadelphia Marathon this weekend! Good luck!

Wordless Wednesday

Shattered PR?

I forgot to mention this in my race post yesterday, but I couldn't help but wonder if the race course was actually 3.1 miles. I mean, it's easy to doubt the distance when I was able to shatter my PR by 2 minutes. But, they did call it a 5K, so I am going to agree with the time, move on, and be extremely happy with my PR! You'd do the same, wouldn't you?

This afternoon I hit up the gym for a nice run. It was too dark by the time I left work to do it outside. The goal was to do a little speed work. I didn't really have a concrete plan in mind, I wasn't going to do 400's or 800's, but just go with the flow and see what the body could handle. When I would increase the the speed, I would drop the incline; when I would slow down, I would up the incline to about 2%. When all was said and done, I was pleased.

Tomorrow morning the plan is to get wet. It's been a week since I was last in the pool and I am dying to get back in!

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Today's Workout: Run 3.56 miles, 37:30, 10:32/mile average
Today's Song: O.A.R. - Shattered (new song!)

5K Turkey Trot, #1 of 2

Like I said in my previous post, my sister talked me into coming to the cities this weeking, bribing me with a 5K race..... the 5K Turkey Trot in Chaska, MN. I jumped on the opportunity. Plus, I was looking forward to spending a relaxing weekend with her and my brother-in-law.

Saturday morning we headed to the Chaska High School, the location of the race, and registered. The school was packed. Supposedly a basketball tournament was going on as well. Once we were registered, and our bibs and timing chips were attached, we waited patiently in the cold 30 degree weather at the starting line. It wasn't too bad but the wind wasn't pretty. We both went into this race hoping to just have a good run, enjoy our time, and possibly run the entire course, something I had never been able to do in a race before!

Shortly after 9 the race started. Our first short stretch of the route was downhill and before we knew it we were heading uphill soon after. We all know that what goes down, must go up, or vice versa, right? Throughout the race there was some mild hills, but nothing too terribly difficult. I will admit, I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to run the entire time with the hills.

We did a pretty good job pacing ourselves. Our goal was to keep up with the lady-in-the-pink-hat a few feet in front of us. Once we saw that 2 miler marker we picked up the pace a little bit. At this point I was starting to feel nauseous, and this has never happened to me in a race before. In the last tenth of a mile we did a full out sprint across the finish line. Talk about finishing strong. I stopped to get my chip cut out of my shoe and thought I was going to puke, but it went away pretty fast. It turns out that the lady-in-the-pink-hat was using us as a pacer as well. Glad we could return the favor.
The results?

Well, we haven't seen any official results yet, but according to my watch and what I believed to have seen when crossing the finish mat, I broke my 35:30 PR by 2 minutes flat. Both of us finished in approximately 33:30! It felt great! I am going to cash this in as my "freshly shaved" time for the Shave Your 5K Challenge! Thanks for putting this challenge together, Half-Fast!

After the race we grabbed some fruit and water. We got a nice little goody bag too.

Steph and I after the race

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, shopping, and relaxing! Thanks Steph and Blaine!

We have another Turkey Trot (one I have done for the past 3 years) in less than two weeks, on Thanksgiving Day in Bismarck. I hope that race will go just as well, if not better!

********UPDATE**********

Here's the official race results! We finished in 33:33, a 10:47min/mile average! Yeah!

We'll be Trottin'

I think I might have made my "near-migraine" the other night sound worse than it really was. The problem wasn't so much the awful pain, but the lack of sleep that night due to the caffiene in the drugs. However, I appreciate all the warm thoughts.

It's been a craaaazzzzy last couple of days at school, and this afternoon a co-worker of mine reminded me that it was a full moon. Fo reals?! I swear, between probable snow storms and full moons, things just get too weird around here.

On to better things.

Tomorrow I flee work as soon as I can and head for the Twin Cities. My sister tried to get me to come down there last weekend, but I had tons of paperwork and painting that just needed to get done. This week she emailed me and bribed me with a 5K Turkey Trot, saying I couldn't possibly turn her down two weekends in a row.... She was right.

We are, at least I am, going to be running for fun. But if I am able to Shave my 5K, I will take it and cross that off my to-do list for 2008! The weather looks like it is going to be chilly; 29 degrees (feels like 15) with wind out of the NNW at 23mph. ouch.

So wish us luck.

Have a great weekend, y'all! Good luck to those racing... especially my 'rents running in yet another half marathon, the San Antonio Rock and Roll Half Marathon. They will be celebrating 30 years of married life... and probably 22 years of surviving the drama 3 daughters can create!

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Today's Workout: Run 3.18 miles, 36:05, 11:20/mile average

Today's Song: Britney Spears - Womanizer (She's Baaackk!!!)

Fighting the pain

Last night, while I was getting ready for the next day, I felt the signs of a migraine. I knew that ibuprofen wouldn't make a difference so I pulled out the all-mighty Excedrin Migraine. I rarely resort to this, and try to stay away from any other form of pain releivers if I can, but I knew that if I didn't take something, I would wake with the same pain, if not worse.

This was at 8pm.

I started to notice the pain reducing about an hour later while trying to fall asleep in bed. But, I tossed, and turned, and tossed, and turned. I almost wanted to cry myself to sleep. I just couldn't fall asleep. The last time I looked at my clock was 11:30 and I know for a fact that I continued to toss and turn for a good hour after that.

Could the 65mg of caffiene really have affected me that much?

I was so angry. You don't want to see me with only 5.5 hours of sleep. I am not a bear, but I am not up to par either.

And when I woke this morning, the pain was only 75% gone. And when I got to work, my first 2 hours of the day was complete chaos, dealing with one particular student. I thank my other students for going about their business, working independently, in a time of crisis.

I am off to do some painting. Not on the walls... but on canvas. I can't wait to get back into this hobby.

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Yesterday's Workout: 1600M Swim
Today's Workout: Run 1.55 miles, 18:00, 11:36/mile;
Bike 15.8 miles, 44:00, 21.54mph

Today's Song: Fall Out Boy - I Don't Care

More house pictures

Note: I posted this Monday morning, but forgot I wanted to wish my parents a happy anniversary instead. Some of you may have already seen these, but I am going to post them again, anyway.



Here are some updated photos of the house. Some I may have posted before, but I thought I would show all. Now that all the painting is pretty much finished, I can concentrate on other things, like finding a dining room table, putting pictures on the walls, and other fun things.

Upstairs living room/dining room/ kitchen....

Master bedroom....

2nd bedroom....a work in progress.

3rd bedroom (Art/Office)...another work in progress.

2nd bathroom...

Basement living room with fresh coat of paint and new furniture....

Master Bathroom with a fresh coat of paint......