Friday, January 29, 2010

Hi, My Name is Keri and I am a Coyote Killer...

That is right, I killed a coyote this morning on my way to work.  I. Am. A. Murderer.  I was just cruising along on the highway talking to my mom and BAM!!! dead coyote.  I immediately started freaking out and crying to my mom.  She was being so comforting telling me that maybe it was not dead and it would get up and run away.  Um yeah, I was driving 70 mph (I was on the highway) and I saw his carcus (not sure how to spell that one) fly up in the air and hit the asphalt.  It was terrible.  My mom was so sweet and was telling me it was not my fault.  At first I did not know if it were a fox or a coyote and my mom pointed out that there is a huge difference in size between the two. 

My husband drove the same way to work right after me and confirmed it was indeed a coyote.  I did manage to stop crying before arriving at my office. (And fortunately, my mascara was not smudged.)  Still, I am pretty upset about killing something.  I know it was not my fault and it is a good thing it happened so fast so I could not swerve and hurt myself, but still.  It was a horrific sight to see.  It is like I killed Wile E. Coyote.  Rest in peace Mr. Coyote.  I am sure you are in Coyote Heaven now.  I just hope I did not assist you in committing suicide. 

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

14 Mile Run and Pictures of the Hooligans...

On Saturday I was able to venture outside for a great run!  It was a GREAT run!  I ran my hilly route and really enjoyed the time to myself listening to my ipod and thinking about all of the house stuff.  Both contracts are off at this point, so I did a lot of reflecting. 

Anyway, I ended up running 14 miles in 2:06.  My last mile was at 8:38!  I felt so great.  I really feel like the speedwork is starting to pay off.  The last mile I felt like I was not even pushing it at all.  It was a great first week of marathon training!  I ended the week with 35 miles.

P.S. My husband just made my day.  It is amazing how a simple text asking for a lunch date can make a girl smile!

Now for the pictures!

Angel, Theodore, and Kya.  I always try to get a picture of the three of them together, and this is the best one yet! 

Here is Kya after our dirty 10 mile run last weekend.  She had sand all over her tummy and had to take a nice long bath.  At least I made her a little tired so she was a good girl in the tub!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

New Jacket...

Thank you all for your kind words about our house.  I really appreciate it and it made my day during all of the drama. 

One of the items that my sweet husband got me for Christmas is a North Face Windstopper Full Zip Jacket.  I LOVE this jacket!  It is super cute and it really does keep you warm.  I got to wear it running over the weekend and it is just magical.  It is super cute too!  Everyone knows you have to look cute and stylish while running too!

Two thumbs up from me!  The sizing is a little big, but it could be because I am only 4'10 and have short arms.  :) 

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

It Can Always be Worse...

I have to keep reminding myself this.  Ken and I are in the process of selling our house and purchasing a different house.  The process has been so smooth, seemless actually.  It has been going so smooth that Ken and I were both waiting on the sky to fall.  Well it fell.  It fell Thursday last week. 

We were at the new house with the inspector and we received a call from the buyer's agent on our house that there is an issue with the contract on the buyer's house.  Great.  We just made a $450 donation to the inspector if we cannot work this out.  My figures are crossed, but I am sure that everything is not going to work.  We are waiting on the man we are buying our house from to tell us to take a hike.  Luckily, this house is vacant and owned by an investor and is not looking at other properties.  This could be an even bigger mess if he were not an investor. 

I am going to count my blessings because I know things can always be worse.  We are both happy, healthy, employed, have two vehicles, and a beautiful roof over our heads.  We are lucky people. 

It is just so frustrating when you want something to work out so badly and you have no control over it.  I am kind of a control freak so this is really hard for me.  When we got the news on Thursday, I did not run that evening.  I was too upset.  I came home and Ken had a bottle of wine waiting for me.  What a sweet husband.  He also took me to dinner on Friday to cheer me up. 

I did run on Saturday and Sunday.  These were my first runs outside since December 22nd!  Wow, it had been way too long.  It was very foggy here, so I stuck to our neighborhood.  Kya joined me on my run on Sunday.  We ran 10.25.  I wish we could have run further, but the fog started to set in and it was getting a little to dangerous.  We had a great run together and she ended up having to take a bath afterwards.  She was so dirty!  She had a lot of fun.  She loves running so much.  :)

It was a short running week for me, 29 miles.  I also rode my spin bike for 35 minutes. I am hoping this week will be better!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

2010 Goals...

I guess it is time that I list off my goals for 2010!  2009 was such a great year for me!  I ran two marathons, San Francisco and The Gobbler Grind in my home town.  (Okay, I am not originally from the Kansas City area, but there is where I have spent most of my adult life so I claim it as my home town.)  I ran SF in 4:23 which was a PR and then ran Gobbler Grind in 4:15, a new PR.  This leads us to goal #1...

RUN A MARATHON IN UNDER FOUR HOURS!!!!  I know I can do it.  I was on pace at Gobbler Grind to do this, but the second half is all on trails (paved trails) and I was so lonely.  I am going to make my first attempt at this in St. Louis with my great friend Laura.  I am so excited to spend the weekend with her and experience her first marathon post children!  She ran several marathons before kids and now she is back into it!

I am wanting to get faster and I am.  I am running faster and stronger than ever before.  I attribute most of this to just running more consistently.  Which leads me to my next two goals...

RUN IN A 5K OR 10K!!!  Yeah, I am not much on shorter races, but hope to run a few shorter distances and help improve my speed.

RUN MORE THAN 1,231 MILES!!!  2009 was the first year I truly tracked all of my miles.  I have noticed that now I am starting to record more information.  I guess you just keep getting more obsessive the more you run.  :) 

I have not quite decided about the half ironman.  I am leaning toward just doing it!  We do not have any children and my husband works a lot of hours, which leaves me with a lot of free time. 

There you have it, my goals for 2010. 

I had a GREAT treadmill run last night.  I started off at 6.5 mph and increased the pace .1 mph every half mile until I was at 7.2 mph.  I ran 1.25 miles at this pace and then worked it back down.  It was a great 8.25 mile run.  I left the gym one happy girl!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Go Big or Go Home...

Is a saying we use at our house a lot.  It can be used in a lot of different scenarios.  For example, when you are sitting on the patio with your boyfriend (pre-engagement and marriage) and decide that you both want to move to Nashville.  Job hunting began, a job offer was accepted, and our house was listed.  Go big or go home.  Yep, that was our motto.  To sum things up, Ken ended up coming back home after six months in Nashville.  I guess in this case the "Go Home" part came true.  Oh how we miss Nashville though. 

Go big or go home.  I am pretty sure that came into play when I started running.  I had never run a race in my life or anything over seven miles.  I decide to train for a half marathon and had not even run the half marathon when I decided to start training for a marathon.  Go big or go home.  I still have never run in a 5K.

I have been debating about trying a triathalon.  You know me, I do not want to train for a small race or a short distance.  I want to you guessed it, go big or go home.  The Kansas Ironman 70.3 is held every June in Lawrence, KS, which is right in my backyard.  I have been tossing around the idea of signing up for it.  I talked it over with Ken last night at dinner and he told me the decision is up to me.  He asked me the distance and responded with, "You can totally do that!".  How cool is it that he has so much faith in me!  My biggest concern is what the heck is he going to do for the time it will take me to finish?  If you know Ken, you know he gets bored easily.  He loves to support me, but he likes to be entertained by doing so.  He told me that we can figure this part out.  He can drop me off and come back later with Kya or we can simply drive separately.  Why is it that I get so concerned with logistics and I am not even signed up for the race??  Seriously. 

So a decision needs to be made.  Will I go big or go home??  The race is two months after the St. Louis Marathon, so it will not interfere with marathon training.  I can simply adjust my training a little to add in the running and biking.  Hmm...what to do what to do...

Friday, January 8, 2010

Funny...

Ken had an early breakfast meeting this morning.  He left all dressed up in his suit since he is interviewing a few job candidates today.  Since he had to take the trash out, he had his tennis shoes on so he would not fall on the drive way or get his dress shoes all nasty. 

He calls me about 30 minutes ago to let me know he accidentally grabbed two different dress shoes.  We both laugh and he asks me what he should do.  I told him just to wear them and no one will notice since they are both black and similar. 

He calls me back about 10 minutes later to let me know that he went to put them on and realized he has two right foot shoes...

Monday, January 4, 2010

December Totals...

I ran 123 miles in December.  71.25 of these miles were run on the treadmill.  It is looking like the treadmill is going to be my BFF this winter! 

I have been starving today.  Starving.  I am trying not to eat any candy or cookies this week, so maybe I need to bring more snacks to work.  Marathon training officially begins in two weeks!  Let the speedwork begin!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Christmas Vacation...

Can you say that winter has arrived in full force in KC?  Wow!  We ended up with about 10 inches over snow and it is still snowing!  We got about four inches more last night.  It will not end.  Please melt snow, please melt.  This is the longest I ever remember snow being on the ground.  Needless to say, I have been running on the treadmill!  I ran 35 miles this week and 37 the week before.  That is a lot of treadmill miles!  Here are some photos of our little family Christmas.

Angel and Theodore were both good kitties this year.  Santa filled their stockings with treats and mice!



Santa did not forget Kya this year.  Her stocking was stuffed with lots of treats.  She only plays with her stuffed pumpkin, so she did not get any other toys.  We have about five back up pumpkins in case the pumpkin gets a hole in it. 


A White Christmas is excellent news for a Husky.  We took her up to the high school by our house and let her play in the fenced tennis court area.  We do not have a fence and the dog park was closed.  You do what you have to do to please a desperate Husky.

Eating snow.  It was so cold and windy, but she loved it!

Her whiskers are frozen!

Pouring a little plum wine for Christmas dinner. 

The three amigos

A little competition on NYE.  Ken and I had a push up challenge.  I won of course!  We are so competitive with one another. 

Happy 2010 Everyone!  Make it a great year, I know I plan to!