Thursday, March 25, 2010

First Day of Spring...

We ended up with eight inches of snow last Saturday!  I could not believe it.  I had a 20 miler on the schedule, and that is why I ran on the treadmill instead.

What do Husky parents do when it snows eight inches on a Saturday?  We load Kya up in the Mountaineer and head to the dog park!  Boy did she have a blast.  I am just hoping this is the last of the snow!

She LOVES the snow so much. 

Playing with her new friend by the pond. 

Such a good photo Ken captured!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Just in the Nick of Time!

Whew!  I cut that one close!  I registered for the Chicago Marathon yesterday at 4:11 and the race was sold out when I checked back at 4:23!  Wow, talk about cutting it close, geeze!

Chicago was originally going to be a girls trip, but plans changed and I was not sure if I could convince Ken to go to Chicago and NYC (if I get selected).  I was trying to hold out for the NYC lottery results, but my sweet husband agreed that he would go to both if necessary under two conditions:
  1. Stop bringing up the New York Marathon until the lottery drawing. (This one is going to be tough, but on the bright side I have made it about 20 hours.)
  2. Realize that no matter how much "selling" I do, we will go to Ireland in 2011 and not any earlier.  I can bring it up when it is time to purchase plane tickets.  (I may be able to manage this for a week of two, but if there is another Ireland special on the Food Network, I am screwed.)  Ken is not impressed with my offering to present a Powerpoint presentation of the trip I have outlined.  (See what happens when I get bored at work, I plan vacations.)
I agreed to all terms and conditions.  I really can get annoying by trying to plan things out way too far in advance.  Just imagine me talking about the NYC Marathon for the last three years.  I am surprised Ken has not purchased me a muzzle.  It is that Type A Thing.  Deep down I know that Ken appreciates me planning things so far in advance, he has to. 
I am pretty happy right now!  Hopefully, I can manage to not break my foot this time walking out the front door and actually be able to run the darn thing!

Monday, March 22, 2010

A 20 Miler...

On the treadmill.  Yep, thanks to Mother Nature, I had to run 20 miles on the treadmill yesterday.  I think I might be a hampster now. 

I have to say, it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I went into it knowing that I could do it, so I am thinking that my positive attitude helped. 

This is the longest training run I have ever run and it is certainly the longest I have ever run on the treadmill.  I finished really strong and felt like I could keep going.  I am hoping this is a sign of what is to come in St. Louis! 

Huge mental victory!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

A Visit to Arkansas...

Last weekend, Ken and I took a weekend trip with our friends Rob and Michelle.  Ken and Rob went kayaking and Michelle and I visited wineries.  We stayed in a darling little cabin and had a great weekend away.

I made breakfast both mornings.  Biscuits and gravy on Saturday and homemade waffles on Sunday. 

Ken and Rob preparing to take off.

My man

The first winery.  Um, between the two of us, we purchased 14 bottles of wine at this winery.  I would say that we like it!

Michelle driving us to our next destination

We took a detour and thought this was a winery, um guess not!

They even had what Ken and I call a Rapist Van

At the second winery.  This is the one where Michelle lost her keys and did not know.  We were checking out and some man asked who lost their keys.  Michelle looks at me and asks me what kind of idiot loses their keys.  I looked at the keys and knew right away they were hers.  I started laughing so hard that the mint she had just giving me fell out of my mouth and onto the floor.  Michelle turned SOOO red!

A photo of the outside of the second winery we visited.  Michelle and I thought it looked like a VFW hall.

Michelle proudly displaying her plum wine she just purchased for her husband.

Yeah, not sure why I took this picture.  I guess because it said Bikers Welcome in HUGE red letters maybe?  I got a huge kick out of it. 

Michelle tasting at the fourth and final winery

Me enjoying sample number 1,374




Cheers!

Michelle at lunch enjoying the candlelight.  I am not sure that we really needed to buy a bottle of wine for lunch.

Waiting on my lunch

This is the funniest photo of the day.  This truck may or may not have been following us. :)  Do you remember that game you played as a child to get the truck drivers to honk at you?  (Quite common in Southwest Missouri, cheap car entertainment.) Well, I still like to do it.  I got this guy to honk at us and then he started following us and would not let us back in the right line to get off of the highway.  We ended up missing our exit and had to drive down to the next one.  Too funny.  I am going to spare myself the embarrassment and not post the video I took of me getting this guy to honk.  Yeah, I am still five years old!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Sweet Friend Award



One of my favorite people in the whole world, Heather, tagged me with a Sweet Friend Award.  I am suppose to list 10 things that make me happy.  Here goes:

  • Angel, Theodore, and Kya.  Angel and Theodore do not get talked about as much on this blog, but they were my first pets.  It was by pure coincidence that they are all three white.  Careful with those black pants at my house!
Aren't they SUPER cute??
  • Planning vacations.   I adore planning out all of the small details.  I drive my husband CRAZY when I come up with vacation destinations and refuse to take no for an answer.  I will talk and talk about a destination until he agrees to go.  Ireland Ken?
  • Coffee.  I am in love with my new Keurig coffee maker.  I have named her Hazel.  I love sitting and drinking coffee in the mornings.
  • Heated seats.  I love the heated seats in my car.  There is nothing better than a warm booty on a cold day.
  • Impromtu lunches with Ken.  Nothing is better than a morning text message inviting me to lunch.
  • Red Box Movies.  Ken and I love to rent the most horrendous looking scary movie from the Red Box.  If you see a bad scary movie at the Red Box, chances are I have watched it!
  • The Biggest Loser.  There is just something about this show that I love!  I even have Ken watching it now.  I love watching people transform their lives and bodies.  I wish more people would put the cookies down and workout.  I love Jillian Michaels!
  • Easter candy.  It is not even April yet and I already eaten eight bags of Easter candy.  I am yet to buy Cadbury Creme Eggs this year, but need to get some.  These were my favorites as a child.
  • Online Shopping.  I squeal with delight when a package arrives on my front porch.  I love ripping open the packages and checking out my new items!
  • Paying bills.  I am the Chief Financial Officer of household and I love writing checks and transferring money around.  I always feel so much better after everything is paid. 
Anyone that wants to play is more than welcome too!  I think everyone that reads my blog is sweet!


  

Friday, March 12, 2010

It was Suppose to be 20....

On Saturday I set out to run one of two 20 mile runs that I have scheduled for my upcoming marathon.  To be honest, I have never run more than 18 miles during training.  In my quest for a speedier marathon, I decided I must run a 20 mile training run.  I am really trying hard not to wing this marathon like I have done in the past.

Off I went.  I plan my route so that I can stop at my house to refill my water bottle and go tinkle if needed.  I carry my cell phone with me in my iFitness Belt and carry mace in my hand.  I am always ready.  I run a lot in my neighborhood, but also venture out to add hills and a little variety.  I was wanting to tackle hills during this run and the thought of running 20 miles in my neighborhood was enough to make me crazy. 

The one thing I depise most about Kansas is the wind.  It is almost always windy. It was not too bad on my way out.  Up and over the hills I went.  On the way back though, I was running up hill into the wind for what felt like a mile.  Geeze.  After I would get up the hill, the wind would still be there.  I finally made it back to my neighborhood and was a little over half way.  Wow, that seemed way too hard.  I think it was the windy maybe?  Perhaps I am just tired?

I went the other way I go where I end up running up the Killer Hill.  I loop back around into my neighborhood, pick up Miss Kya and run with her and figure we will finish this bad boy together.  Have you ever run with an excited husky when you are 17 miles into a run?  Yeah, I do not recommend it.  That girl is focussed on one thing and that is running.  She could care less that my legs were about ready to fall off, she just wanted to GO.  She and I ran a mile and half together and I saw that Ken had just pulled in the driveway.  I ran inside and asked him if he would hop on his bike and ride around with me to finish the 1.5 miles I had left.  He calmly looked at me and said no.  Seriously, I just ran 18.5 miles and you will not hop on your bike for 1.5 miles?  Nope. 

He told me that 18.5 miles was enough and I should stay inside.  Wow, that sounds good I thought.  No, no, I have to finish.  He yells "You're Crazy" as I head out.  I walk down the driveway and start out and quickly turn back around and walk back inside.  I told Ken, forget this, I am not running another 1.5 miles.  And that was that. 

On Friday I did host Game Night with my girlfriends.  We do not even play games anymore, but still call it Game Night.  We had a blast and Melissa was sure to get a picture of us before we called it a night at 1:00 am.  (In reference to being tired earlier, I waited until 1:00 pm to run and slept in until 9:00 am). 



Michelle, Erinn, Heather and Me


Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Happy Anniversary Ken!!!

I am happy to report that today is Ken's two year anniversary of being a non-smoker!  Two years ago today he decided to quit smoking cold turkey!  I am so proud of him! 

He decided to quit after making a bet with me about running a marathon.  I did it in December 2007 and he held up his end of the deal and stopped smoking in March.  I am so glad he kicked this nasty habit and will have healthy lungs.  Now if only I could get him to start running...

Congratulations Ken!

Monday, March 1, 2010

18 Miles...Done!

On Saturday I headed out to meet my friend Susan on our favorite trail.  When I say trail, I mean a paved trail.  I got there early and warmed up with three miles since I needed to run a total of 18. 

Susan is the person that got me into running marathons.  She was my neighbor and I saw her running one day and Ken commented to her husband that I liked to run as well.  Well, it turns out that Susan was training for the NYC Marathon.  She let me borrow her copy of Marathon by Hal Higdon and the rest was history.  We began running together every weekend.  Susan took some time off to have her second baby and now she is getting back into it. 

I had so much fun running with her, it was like old times.  She ran six miles with me and then I finished up the remaining nine. The last few miles were not as easy as I had hoped, but I did miss my long run altogether last week since I was under the weather.  At any rate, the miles are finished and I am ready for this week!

Oh and I did eat a lot of Easter candy after my run.  Isn't that why I run anyway?