I did it!!!

I ran with a pace of 10:18 mile.  Which is not my best by any means... My best is around an 8 minute mile, but that was for a 5K, so I wasn't expecting that at all.  Ten minutes is a decent mile pace!!
It hurt... there were so many hills (I mean, it was a marathon in the Blue Hills near Boston, I guess I should have expected it!)
I'm sore tonight, but it was incredible!!!
I cried a few times during the race, just in disbelief that I was actually running that distance and running a HALF MARATHON!!!

This was taken at 4:30am just before leaving the house.... The race began at 6:13am!



















This one was minutes after I finished...  I wont lie, I was a little nauseous, but I was so happy to be done!

These are my friend that I ran with.  The one in the hat is Erin, my newest Bestie!! She's the one who talked me into this whole thing!!  The one with the sunglasses is Crystal, she's wonderful and I just met her today!! But I felt like I knew her because she's Erin's best friend so we know of each other.  Crystal and my pace was exactly the same, so we kept each other running... and pretty much faster than either of us wanted, but as long as the other one was running, we kept going!
The one in the pink is a former resident of mine, but really good friends with Erin.  I feel like we were all friends, and really, after you go through something like this together, you are!















And these are RDs that I work with!  (Erin, from above!) and Mike.  He is not a runner but decided he could certainly walk it, at a pretty fast pace!  And he did!!

















We all did so great!!

So, I'll go into full detail at some point.  I will tell you that I felt incredible the whole race.  Until mile 10.  I got the worst cramp I've ever felt at mile 10 and I did not think it would go away.  But, I kept praying to God to take it away and finally, after about a full mile of running with it, it went away.  (Thank you God!)
I prayed a lot on this race!  I took the advice of a blogger who ran a full marathon and said that she dedicated each mile to a person and then she prayed for that person through the whole mile.  That is a lot tougher than you think!! But I did it.  I prayed a lot for my dad (I'll update on that again too!)... a lot of thankful prayers!!

Ok, I NEED to go to bed!  More later!!!

Training is over...

And now we see if it all paid off!! Back in say March, maybe February even, I started seriously training for this half marathon that I'd be running in the summer.  It seemed so far away.

My days and weeks of training went like this:

Week 1:  Monday: run 3 miles
Tuesday: run 3 miles
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: run 3 miles
Friday: rest
Saturday: run 5 miles
Sunday: rest

Week 2:  Monday: run 3 miles
Tuesday: run 4 miles
Wednesday: rest
thursday: run 3 miles
Friday: rest
Saturday: run 6 miles

Week 3: Monday: run 3 miles
tuesday: run 4 miles
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: run 4 miles
Friday: rest
Saturday: run 7 miles

And this continued until three weeks ago when it looked like this:

Monday: run 4 miles
Tuesday: run 5 miles
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: run 6 miles
Friday: rest
Saturday: run 12 miles

I did... and it was great... then the two weeks in between that 12 mile run and now, I've done two 5K races and ran about 12 miles in addition (in sets of 3 miles at a time) but that's it!!

I'm so nervous!!

Tomorrow all of that training comes to a head.  I will run 13.1 miles starting at 6:13am!

Yes the race actually starts that early!

We are leaving here at 4:45am!!
Hopefully I'll have many pictures to post!!

Wish me luck!

Day 22

A Youtube video...

Two years ago, during RA training, we had to put on a skit or choreographed something of some sort... The theme was a chef theme and our Phrase for Training was "Mixin' it up in Res. Life" so I had all 14 of my staff members learn the "Thriller Dance" and we performed it infront of the rest of the staff (about 90 people)...
I thought it was pretty good considering we had about 2 hours total to come up with the idea, learn what we decided on, and then had to perform it:
So here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAE2MJQYcVg

NO GOOD AT EVERYDAY BLOGGING

I'll say it over and over because I just can't remember to log in every day and do this...

but here we go:  Here are the days I missed!



Day 17: An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.) - Hmmm...  Here is my work of art:

Day 18: Whatever tickles your fancy - How cute is this.  Maddie was making sure T didn't fall off the chair while Mommy was taking the picture of Amber! :)

Day 19: A talent of yours - I can (barely) play the piano.  I can braid hair - when I was on the field hockey team in HS I used to spend the whole ride to away games going up and down the seats on the bus french braiding people's hair.  I can also draw and am pretty creative if I want to be.

Day 20: A hobby of yours - scrapbooking.  I have a few in the works and completed three.

Day 21: A recipe - Buffalo Chicken Dip!  I LOVE IT
2 boneless breasts of chicken
1 cup blue cheese dressing
.5 cup franks red hot sauce
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup celery chopped up
1 pkg cheddar cheese (shredded)

cut the chicken in cubes and cook.
add the dressing and cream cheese
add the celery
add the
combine until fully blended
move into a casserole dish and cook on 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
sprinkle cheddar on top, mix and serve with tostito chips!  yummm!!!

Day 22: A website:  well, I google everything!!
but I like to look at my hometowns paper online www.thesunchronicle.com almost weekly... so check it out!

Clearly I'm not good at blogging daily!!

So here are my updates from the two days I've missed:

Day 15: A fanfic - this is dumb...
I don't know what it is, my friend wikipedia'd it and I still don't get it, so I'm not doing this...

Instead, here's a fun picture:  My dad helping Maddie ring the Camp Dennen bell (which is in their back yard now!)














Day 16: A song that makes you cry (or nearly) -
There are a couple of songs that make me cry... if I'm alone, most songs do!  Who You'd Be Today by Kenny Chesney.

Here are the lyrics in case you're not familiar:
Sunny days seem to hurt the most
Wear the pain like a heavy coat
I feel you everywhere I go
I see your smile, I see your face
I hear you laughing in the rain
Still can't believe you're gone

Chorus:

It ain't fair you died too young
Like a story that had just begun
The death tore the pages all away
God knows how I miss you
All the hell that I've been through
Just knowing no one could take your *place*(instead of 'love away')
Sometimes I wonder who you'd be today

Would you see the world?
Would you chase your dreams?
Settle down with a family?
I wonder, what would you name your babies?
Some days the sky's so blue
I feel like I can talk to you
And I know it might sound crazy

Chorus

Today, Today, Today
Today, Today, Today

Sunny days seem to hurt the most
I wear the pain like a heavy coat
The only thing that gives me hope
Is I know I'll see you again someday

Someday, Someday


Not so much for me but for anyone who has lost a child and especially for my sister who lost her son way too early.
For anyone that lost a friend too young or anyone that died too young really, I don't know how you could hear that song and not cry!

up to Day 14....

again, I have to add a few days at once.  This time, though it is because I was at a conference from Wednesday to Saturday.  (p.s. my "s" key is not typing unless I slam it down, so if I miss a few "s's" in there, that's why)...

Day 9: A photo you took - Ryan and Maddie on the train the other day

 











Day 10: A photo of you taken over ten years ago - This might have just been about 10 years ago, me with my friend Lisa.

 











 

Day 11: A photo of you taken recently - this was this weekend at the Professional Housing Conference I was at with my friend Erin.

 










Day 12: Whatever tickles your fancy - My sister and me this Easter.  She's the most amazing woman I know.  She's been through more in her life than any woman should have to go through and although most days he doesn't think she is, she's so strong!  (this was our attempt at a silly picture, we're a little lame!)
 

Day 13: A fictional book - I resisted this series like I did the Harry Potter books (never read those)... until a friend just begged me to try them.  I'm going into the 4th book tonight and not really because I love them (because I don't love them) but because I started, so I must finish!!
 



 













Day 14: A non-fictional book - The Secret... interesting to say the least... 

a few more days

30 Days of ME
 
I had to do a few days at once, because I keep forgetting to update this...


Day 6: Whatever tickles your fancy -  This one is funny... tickles my fancy?  I guess that means whatever makes you happy... Today made me happy.  Ryan had a Personal Day to use, so I took the day too.  We took Maddie on the train to Boston and had a great day together.  She is well on her way to being potty trained and that makes me very happy!!
 
Day 7: A photo that makes you happy

 This was today.  We went to this giant Ice Cream event, where you paid $7 to get in and it was all you can eat ice cream from Baskin Robins, Ben and Jerrys, Hood, and a ton of other places.  All the proceeds went to the Jimmy Fund for families affected by cancer.

Day 8: A photo that makes you angry/sad

 All but one person in this makes me happy.  The fact that 10 year were wasted hoping that he would change and now he is being more of an ass than ever just makes me angry and sad all at the same time.  I love everyone in this family, but I only like 8 out of the 9.