The Great 28

A couple months ago, I celebrated my 28th birthday. I thought long and hard (that’s what she said) about posting something that explains 28 wonderful things I plan on doing in the coming year, or 28 thought-provoking revelations I’ve had in the past 28 years, or showing you my favorite 28 dance moves (hint: they all include the running man) – but it would have been completely forced.

This is another year for me, another year to push forward with my running, to try and be a better wife and mother, a friend and an overall person. This is just a continuation from the day before when I was only a young 27.

So if you’re hoping for something amazing and ground-breaking here, uh, my bad.

Instead, you get to hear me brag about how my little sister (who lives in Colorado) made it to Texas for the first time in 4 years. This means that she has never met my daughter and I have never met hers. To say I was simply excited – under-freaking-statement of the year.

Photo courtesy of my Aunt Shannon.

We offered up our guest room with the only requirement being that she had to hang out with me on my birthday. When I told her we were planning on riding 4 wheelers with some friends that night, she was more than down. We hung out during the day with our kids and then passed them off ever so gently to Lillie’s Godparents (who are also the wonderful people who took us in as teenagers) and got our birthday on.

Photos are minimal because 1. I was on a 4 wheeler most of the time &  2. I was enjoying my time with my baby sister and didn’t want to take photo breaks constantly. Sometimes real life takes the reins instead of internet fun, and it’s totally worth it.

Am is on the 4-wheeler that is sitting in the lake. I do not apologize for the crappiness of the photo.

Overall, it was a really wonderful way to ring in my 28th year by spending time with my sister and niece.

Tea time is very important business.

I was sad to see them go but grateful for the time we were able to spend together. Being sad didn’t last too long though – a few weeks later she decided she wanted to be closer to family and next thing I know the husband & I are hitting the road to Colorado! This was in Amarillo, Texas – home of the free 72 oz steak (that is if you can eat it in under an hour). I’ve never really had the luxury of being a small person (5’10 at age 11 can do that to you) so this is probably the closest I’ll ever get to feeling unlike an Amazon.

Except for when we helped Amber move to Colorado 5 years ago. We had also stopped in the same place when that happened. Oh look, a young Al & Tam. How precious we are.

Beyond having my sister back – here are a few other things that have happened in the past two months of my 28th year.

I decided to run a marathon. Like whoa, right?

I found a pink truck. With half naked girls on it. Then I forced the husband to take a picture of me with it because that’s the kind of juvenile things married folks like us tend to do.

I met a guy with a legit mullet, took a picture with the sexiest face I could muster and then posted it on this blog.

I mastered the side braid. and I painted pumpkins with the kid. So, the Great 28 is off to a fantastic start – here’s to keeping up the momentum!

Hot 2 Trot 5k 2013

I was weirdly looking forward to this particular 5k since my horrible experience with it last year. 

This race is in July, in Texas at that, and so it shouldn’t have to be said, but I’m going to say it anyway -

It’s fucking hot.

Last year when I went into it, I had grossly overestimated my abilities as a runner. Probably because I hadn’t even attempted to train in the heat since most of my runs were on the treadmill at that point. You live and learn. Needless to say, I was looking forward to going back to this course to see how much I’ve improved from one year ago.

(It says 2013 but it’s only because I snagged it off the website just a few moments ago, it’s actually the 2012 photo) Anything’s an improvement from this, right?

Nope, apparently not. (And yes, I did wear the exact same race shirt for both 2012 and 2013, I’m fancy in that way)

I may not have improved my race day photo skills (I hope you all appreciate how much strength it takes to post these gems for you) but I did improve my time!

2012 time: 42:45
2013 time: 38:29

I also made sure to drink water like a fish in the days leading up to the race (something I did not do last year) and last year I talked about not being prepared for a couple of hills in the race. Yeah, compared to what I did for the Bearathon those ‘hills’ that were such a battle then seemed like nothing this time. It was just a nice reminder of how far I’ve come in my training.

One of those non-scale victories I see people brag about from time-to-time.

Overall, definitely glad I signed up for this race again to prove to myself I can do better but I don’t know if I’ll run it next year. It’s not particularly scenic or have anything that just stands out. Unless of course I can convince someone to run it with me (I’ve done this solo both years) – then you know I won’t be able to back out.

Until we run again!

Marathon Madness

Did you miss me? No need to answer, I already know.

I don’t have much of a reason or excuse as to why I haven’t been around much, other than life had me re-prioritize things for a bit (like hanging out with a lemur) and then I just got kind of lazy and thought…

“I’ll just post that tomorrow”

And then when tomorrow came, it was today and I had other things to do so I put it off until another tomorrow and now it’s a month later and I’ve somehow convinced myself to register for a marathon.

I wasn’t sure how to segue from not being around at all to being all like, “hey kids, I want to run 26.2 miles for fun! Who wants to join me?!” But I got to say -

Nailed it.

I’ve been somewhat willy-nilly with my training over the past couple of months – I’ll do great one week and then the next I’m lucky to get my running shoes out once. I just didn’t have anything to focus my efforts on and it all just went to the wayside. I had already planned on running a marathon (initially I thought it’d be the OKC Marathon) and with the registration for that not starting until September 1st – I’ve just been wandering aimlessly from one treadmill to the next.

Then, I got an email that mentioned The Army Marathon. It sparked a memory in me from all the way back to this past January at the Miracle Match 5k expo. I was checking out all the booths while I picked up my bib and happened to stop at The Army Marathon, it was their inaugural year this year, and they tried to convince me to sign up. Even though I had two half-marathons under my belt at that point I was not mentally ready to commit to the fact that I could run 26 freaking miles.

I started reading about dates/times and thinking how that would work with my current race schedule as far as training and y’all, I had no excuse. I couldn’t put it on the back burner any longer (much like writing for this janky ol’ blog y’all love so dearly) and I just said, “Fuck it” as I hit the register button.

And just like that, there was no turning back.

I still would really like to run Oklahoma but ultimately chose to go with this since it’s much closer to home for me (Killeen-Temple area). I traveled for my first half, and while it was an amazing experience, it also added a lot of extra stress I probably could have avoided.

Running 26.2 miles is no freaking joke and I want to be as prepared as possible come race day so cutting out travel seemed fairly logical. Also, this way I can force my family/friends to come & cheer me on along the way.

I’ve created a marathon schedule that I believe will work for me (please feel free to give me any and all your insights!) with my main focus simply being on finishing. My first official week was, uh this one. And I can already feel my focus on workouts coming back, it’s been a good week.

I kept stairs as a workout because I feel like that really helped prepare me other races – it’s hard work guys. Seriously, up and down stairs for 45+ minutes and you’re sweating like raccoon in a hat-making contest. Cross training with Moj is basically whatever strength workout Moj has cooked up for us to do. Today involved a lot of planks and incline push-ups. I seriously have no idea how I even put my shirt on after it.

I’m nervous but more than that, I’m really excited to push myself and see what I’m capable of. I can remember thinking there’s no way I’ll ever be able to run 3 miles and now, here I am ready to tackle 26. It’s a helluva feeling and I’m glad I get to share it with you guys.

So, you tell me – what’s something on your schedule you’re pumped about? I’ve missed y’all!