S.A.Y.what?: May 2010

5.29.2010

Relaxation at its Finest

Finally. Finallyfinallyfinally. That's all i can say about that. While I'm bummed that I'm not enjoying some nice quality girl time for Lindsey's bachelorette party & bridal shower in NY this weekend with the 3 musketeers, I know I made the right decision. I've been wound up like a top for the past 2 weeks between being out of town (for fun and for work), with Momma being so sick, and with Mimi's new breast cancer diagnosis, that I really just needed to spend some time maxin & relaxin as the Fresh Prince would say ;)

And boy am I feelin it. We went for a 5k run this morning and ever since I have been so lazy and just kind of falling asleep on the couch on and off. I just have no energy, now that I have time to chill and don't need to have any energy!

I am, however, getting ready to sign us up for a 10k (6.2 miles) as our June race - we're trying to do at least one per month so we still have lots of time to ~~do nothing~~ go camping (like next weekend! YAY!) and relax at home and have company :) But right now the website isn't working and it's making me absolutely CrAzY.

Speaking of running, Chris made an amazing deal with me: when I get to 100 miles (I've been tracking since April 25 and I'm up to 67.5 miles) I get this beauty...

Garmin Forerunner 205

A few highlights of its features:

Virtual Partner™ features lets you program time, distance and pace goals, then shows you if you're ahead or behind your goal
Calculates calorie consumption based on user's weight, distance traveled and hills climbed
Records lap history by day and week, stores up to 200 workouts in its memory
Pace alarm sounds if you're either exceeding or slower than your programmed pace
Navigation capabilities let you mark locations, find locations or navigate back to the starting point; mark and save waypoints (not that I'll need said feature because of my remarkable sense of direction and navigation skills...HA!)

Last night we gave ClareBear another pet-i-cure.... pink this time! She's loving it, even though she won't admit it...

Yes, the blue one from the last pet-i-cure is still clinging on for dear life!

Well, I suppose that's about all for now. I know I didn't have much to say, but I'm just sitting here ~~bored out of my mind~~ relaxing (maxin & relaxing, remember?) with "Can't Hardly Wait" on in the background. (Yup, the 1998 film that revolves around an eclectic group of students from Pennsylvania attending a high school graduation party at a large house owned by a rich class member's family. Each character has different plans for the night. Optimistic misfit Preston Myers (Ethan Embry) plans to proclaim his love to his four-year secret crush, to whom he's never had the nerve to speak before, prom queen Amanda Beckett (Jenifer Love Hewitt), who in turn has recently been dumped by her top jock boyfriend, Mike Dexter (Peter Facinelli - yes! now from the Twilight series...who knew!) who is targeted by classmate William Lichter (Charlie Korsmo), who is plotting revenge against Mike for happily making his high school years a living nightmare.)

Have a great LONG Memorial Day Weekend! It is well-deserved.

5.23.2010

The Past 186 Hours.... AKA This Past Week

Well. Where to begin? Since my last post I've been to Philly (twice), Maine for 3 days, and Abingdon VA (basically Tennessee), felt about every possible emotion at least 4 times, and now it's Sunday night - which tonight is AKA The LOST Series Finale. Make that every emotion 5 times. Right now I'm sitting here blogging only half-aware of whatever is going on around me. I am beyond tired. I am exhausted in every possible way. Please forgive me if this post makes less sense (than usual.)

First and foremost, THANK YOU my wonderful and family and friends who have shared warm wishes, sincere prayers, and supportive hugs either in person or through distance. Many of you know that I went home this past Monday-Wednesday in an unexpected and hurried manner to lend whatever support I could to my tough-as-nails mamma who was sick, and tried to keep my equally tough-as-nails dad standing on two feet from the opposite side of the hospital bed than what he is typically used to (Sorry Day - you know it's true! hehe.) I know that it made me feel better to be home and I hope that sentiment was shared all around, which I think it was. You'll be happy to know that Mom is home as of today and recovery can officially begin from HOME! YAY! That makes me extreeeeemely happy.

The trip was also nice too. It's always nice to visit Maine. I even got to go to Bennetts with Dad..YUMMMMMMm and we swung by the beach

Before I went home, though, I had just finished a wonderful weekend in Philadelphia for Janie's Bridal Shower. It was really beautiful and it was nice spending time and getting to meet new friends and spend time with some of her family. It was a great day and she certainly deserved such a special day!

Me feedin lil 5 week old ladybug Ryann, she is so sweet

JL with her yummy dessert "martini"

JL and her bridesmaids

yummy cake!

the beach theme was perfect

So Philly was last Sat/Sun, Maine was Mon-Wed, Thurs - Sat was Abingdon, VA for a pediatric feeding disorders conference which was amaaaaazing. I won't share the details here (snooooozefest to 99.9% of you), but I had a good time learning some really relevant info and spending time with my wonderful co-workers. I am so lucky!

Today I made a mostly impromptu trip back to Philly. Just a quick up-and-back trip to help my wonderful husband. Again, details need not be shared here (LOVE YOU BABY hehe) but I know he would've done the same for me. Plus, I haven't seen him in the past week so it was nice getting to spend some time with him and update each other on our lives over the last 7 days or so!

And now.... the LOST series finale begins and this is where I end this post. Again, thanks for bearing with me.

I will miss you.

5.14.2010

Funny Speech Moment

While I was seeing a lil preschool boy (for stuttering) on Thursday, we were looking at a book. We were talking about the pictures - what people were doing, playing Eye Spy...the usual. Here's how this quick convo went. It was just one of those sweet moments that makes you giggle a little bit and smile a whole lot.

Me: Do you know what that is? (pointing to a snorkel)
Cute kid: Yup.
Me: What is it?
Cute kid: A snort.

He was so matter-of-fact about it that for a minute I thought he might be right ;)

* * * *

Check back for more updates soon! Tomorrow AM I'm headed to Philly for Janie's bridal shower extravaganza!

5.09.2010

Happy Mother's Day!

...to the most amazing, beautiful, loving, wonderful mom I've ever known. I truly mean it when I say that I can only hope that one day I can be half the mom that you have always been to me.
I love you, Momma!

Mom & Dad at Christmas.
Love.
I know, not the most updated pic but I haven't even seen my family THIS YEAR!

Also a very happy momma's day to ALL the moms and mommas-to-be out there! (seems to be a lot right now - something must be in the water!)

* * *

Also, we just got back from a 5.45 mile AMAZING run. It was cool outside (about 65*) and very windy. While the wind did make it tough at some parts, it cooled us down at all the right times! A couple hills too which were tough, but good. We kept a nice pace where we were able to talk to each other pretty much the entire time which I hope to do for my "long" runs. Thanks, Cristobal, for pushing me to keep going that extra .45!! Check out the course we did! We created it and saved it so other runners can use it too!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

5.08.2010

Happiness Is...

...a new pair of running shoes!!

I bought a pair of Nike's from Kohls not too long ago and unfortunately for me they just didn't work! My toes are all torn up in very strange places, and calloused too. (Yeah my feet are zexy right now.) We went on a 4 mile run to Old Town Alexandria today (more on that later) and I'd had it with my shoes. So, we went to Pacers in Old Town to see if there was anything there. It was time to go to a real shoe store for a real pair of running shoes, especially with the increase in miles per week I'm doing which will only continue to increase.

We just kind of poked around in there, it was pretty small. Nothing too exciting (except they had a water cooler that you could use so that was great to get some nice cold water after the run in the SUN!) so we left. (Don't get me wrong, it's a nice store..just didn't have anything that really caught my eye at the time.) We also got to go to lunch with Erin and Jimmy which was really nice, especially since we saw them on Thursday too! (Thanks for meeting us down there guys! It was great to see you - as always - and we appreciated the ride back too, hehe)

After we got back here I decided to give another location of Pacers a try and went to the one in Clarendon where I had more luck! It seems to be the main store of the chain. Bigger and much more selection. A very sweet older man helped me out and actually fitted me for shoes: measured my feet like they did when you're a kid, had me walk the runway (in my socks), worked some magic and brought out 2 pairs of sneaks for me to try! He even let me go outside with them and jog around a little bit. I ended up with Brooks Glycerin 8 which feel like Heaven. Oh. My. God. I'm excited for our 5 miler tomorrow to see how they hold up during a run, and I have high hopes! We did go for a walk this evening and they felt amazing.

I also learned that you should absolutely NOT run in cotton socks as they absorb all the sweat (instead of wicking it away) which can be very abrasive, and is the #1 cause of blisters. While I try not to run in my cotton socks (I didn't know that i wasn't supposed to, it was just more comfortable I guess?), I have been guilty of this running sin! Not anymore though! Well, after I buy more non-cotton socks ;)

Aren't they spiffy?
And they were 15% off because Brooks is sponsoring Pacers Running Festival tomorrow!
Lucky Me!

Oh yeah, I was going to talk about the run. While it was good and ~~sooo many crappy hills~~ challenging, and always good to run outside (for training purposes as well as for fresh air) it was not the best because of the route we took. There were sooooo many traffic lights that made us stop. Once in a while a break is not something I'll complain about, but it's really hard to stop and go so frequently. It's much easier to get into a rhythm and just keep going, like Forrest ;) So next time we have a different plan for getting into Old Town and a different route we're going to take tomorrow (not to Old Town.)

Also, since signing up for the Half Marathon last weekend, I've started my "pre-training" schedule. Right now (and I'll probably do this for at least the whole month of May) this is my schedule:

	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.
Pre- Train	Off	3M	4M	4M	Off	3M	5M

Once I begin "official" training, I guess you could call it, I'll be following the schedule below. Although, I'm sure I'll repeat some weeks as it gets more challenging and I'll have more than 12 weeks left of training. Thank God!

Week	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.
1	Off	Fartlek (4M)	4M	4M	Off	3M	6M
2	Off	Fartlek (4M)	5M	3M	Off	3M	7M
3	Off	4-5 Hills 5K-10K pace	5M	3M	Off	3M	6M
4	Off	3-4 Long Hills 5K-10K pace	3M	4M	Off	3M	8M
5	Off	5-6 Hills 5K-10K pace	3M	4M	Off	3M	7M
6	Off	3 x Mile 5K-10K pace	4M	6M	Off	5M	9M
7	Off	3 x Mile 5K-10K pace	3M	5M	Off	3M	7M
8	Off	6 x 880s 5K-10K pace	5M	6M	Off	5M	10M
9	Off	6 x 880s 5K-10K pace	4M	7M	Off	3M	10K Race (Or 8M run)
10M	Off	4 x Mile 5K-10K pace	6M	7M	Off	6M	12M
11	Off	5M	5M	8M	Off	3M	8M
12	Off	5M	5M	8M	Off	3M	RACE DAY

I know I put in lots of links in this entry. Make sure you check them out! Enlighten yourself ;) Check back soon for more updates! Don't forget your Mom tomorrow on HER special day!

5.02.2010

Let the Games Begin!

May is going to be incredibly busy. With the exception of next weekend, of course. We have no plans and I"m so happy!

This weekend Chris' mom was here and we had a great time! She flew in Friday afternoon and Chris took a half day which was so weird having him around on a weekday afternoon! Very nice though!!

Friday we were in traffic for a long time, then went to dinner and a nice walk around the neighborhood. Nice and relaxing. Saturday we spent the day in DC. Got to see all the sights (literally, all of them!) and went out to dinner again. Hung out in the evening and watched the 6th Harry Potter movie and loved it all over again! Sunday morning was the Race for Hope 5k which was for brain tumors. This was a particularly special day/cause for us since Margy is a brain tumor survivor (acoustic neuroma.) We couldn't have planned it better if we had tried! It was very moving seeing all the survivors parading around before the start of the race. And it was unbelievable seeing how many families have been affected in some way or another by brain tumors. I also made a special picture honoring Margy and her bravery through her battle, which was put up on the Wall of Hope -- pictures below. After the race we went to breakfast and caught up on lots of R & R and caught some sun :) We headed to dinner around 5 and then off to the airport. It really was a great weekend, and I can't believe tomorrow is MONDAY - wahhh!

Oh yeah, how did the race go you ask? Well, not awesome... but we did it. We completed and I met my fundraising goal and the money went to a good cause; I'd call that success.
Here's the rundown of how it went:

We both were a little slower than our race a couple weeks ago, but Chris only by a few seconds.
It was unbelievably hot and humid
with 10,000 people running, lots of energy was spent dodging people and jumping on/off sidewalks
and for me, running is very much mental (and obviously physical too) but I really do prepare mentally for all the runs I do, regardless of how long they are. So with this one, we knew the course was up-and-back. But I *thought* we were turning around at the traffic circle in front of the Capitol. Boy was I wrong... it went at least another mile past that. It was like a nasty trick that was sooo disappointing! And then, the last straightaway when you could see the finish line...was NEVER ENDING. Oh man, it went on and on for-evvvv-errrr! Oh well, we did it. :)

Anyway, here are some pics of the weekend...

Squishing the Washington Monument