One final rest day

Today is my final rest day before beginning my personal challenge tomorrow on October 1st (will post details about that tomorrow, so you must wait!). We ended up going on a wild goose chase this evening to get D and I flushots, and unfortunately, neither of us ended up getting one. I'll have to go at lunch tomorrow to make sure mine is done, and then I guess I can take D next Tuesday to his regular doc if we can't get it done over the weekend.

However, we did hit up Run On for a bit, and I got some decent advice from the chick there about my shoes. I'm going to take them with me and go back to try out some of her suggestions. It sounds like I might not have to get a whole new pairs of shoes just yet, though she did suggest another pair about a month before my next half as a backup.

Food was just ok today. I'm eating out WAY too much, but did try to make decent choices. Today I had oatmeal for breakfast and a granola bar about midmorning. Since I had to run errands at lunch, I had no time to go by the store, so I ran by Taco Bell and got one taco and a pintos and cheese. In the afternoon I had a tbsp of peanut butter. Dinner ended up being Sonny Bryans BBQ. I had the pulled chicken, with mac n cheese, and I ordered green beans too. She didn't bother to TELL me though that they only have green bean CASSEROLE. I only ate a few bites of that, and had one roll to end my day at 1232 calories.

Output: none today, stay tuned for details tomorrow!!

Half Marathon pics

So here are some pics. I'd like to thank all the people who TOOK pics, as I didn't have any obviously...lol

Well I did take this one...my medal and race bib...

The Heels and Hills Lucky 13 Run Team (11 of us, the other two were in line at the portalets)

About 3 miles or so in to the race...

Jogging the last few steps across the mats, I jumped off the mat right as Stacy took this pic from behind me...

Ok I'ma pass out now...can I get a drink????!!! What you can't really see, in my hand, is the picked flower that D gave me while I was coming up on the finish line....that sweet boy!

Back to moving

I'm slowly coming back in recovery. My hip/upper buttock feels decent. I do have a few spots that still ache pretty good at times, and I'm a bit stiff still every time I start moving after sitting down too long, but other than that, I'm feeling good. My blisters aren't bothering me a lot, but I'm keeping them pretty well bandaged.

I kept food decent today, though I did eat a bit more than I typically would. I think I made decent choices though. Breakfast was oatmeal. Lunch was a CFA chicken salad with light italian. My afternoon snack was baked chips. Dinner was sliced turkey sausage, mac n cheese, and green beans. I had a bottle of Vitamin Water today, and then this evening, I had a 100 calorie granola bar to end my day at 1475 calories.

Output: not a lot, but I did strap my shoes back on and got D and I out for a 10 minute walk this evening just to loosen up some. I let him run along beside me with no stroller and he did just fine.

Day after a Half

OW. That's about how the whole day went. I woke up after being passed out all night in the bed to my alarm clock blaring, hopped out of bed to get to it before D heard it, and about went headfirst into the wall when my legs didn't want to take me there. Despite that, I made it to work anyway. My whole body hurt today, and it didn't help that at lunchtime I pulled a muscle in the back of my hip/upper buttock getting into my car. I felt it give and just thought...CRAP! So had to deal with the pain from that the rest of the day. And then tonite I had to drain one of my blisters on my foot, which was fun...or not. But all in all, it was a good soreness, good pain, I felt very accomplished in it, and tried to revel in it. I'm definitely taking another day or two off from any activity to let my body heal some more, before I get moving again.

Want to hear the crazy thing? I want to do this all over again in December. Yeah, I want to do the White Rock Half on Dec 13th. There were two main factors that I think really made this half the hard time that it was. One, was the heat. I don't see that being as much of a problem in December...lol And Two, and probably the most important, my shoes. I screwed up last week with rinsing off the mud from our 12 mile on them and getting the inside all wet. I think I posted yesterday how I started hurting at mile 4-5, and usually don't til at least mile 9 or so, and so that really screwed me over. Lesson learned...big time. So I think I'm going to relegate those shoes to the weekly walk pile, and again go get some more new ones. I hate to spend the money again, but I want to do this so bad. It will be a worthy investment, and really, its not THAT much more money than signing up for a gym or for classes, etc. So, worth it.

So I think with those two factors under control, I can focus on training (I found a 10 week training program to keep me on a schedule, which worked really well for me this last one). Dina has committed herself to doing the White Rock Half as well, so we're going to work on the training schedule together. I did decide to wait a month to register for it though. I want to make sure that I can get eating under control to get more weight off before I do it. In my opinion, had I been focused on that before this past half, and really worked to make sure more weight was off before I did (and not GAINING weight the weeks before), that would have helped a lot too. So while I am committing myself to the Rock, I'm reserving the right to not register for it. I don't want to do it if I can't do it in 4 hours. The Rock is such a huge event, much bigger than the H&H one, that I'm not guaranteed a medal if I don't finish in 4 hours. They could never support me near as much as the wonderful ladies of H&H did, so I want to be in top shape for it.

No calorie counting for me today. I was ravenous all.day.long so I knew I needed to hydrate really well and eat sustenance. No frozen meal for lunch today was going to satisfy me!!! lol I made sure to drink a LOT too, I was just about floating in it all day.

And output today: Ummmm none. lol

Heels and Hills and Him Half Marathon

Today, after a little over 4 months of training, I finished a half marathon, the Heels and Hills and Him Half Marathon, to be exact. It was blistering hot out there (high of 94 degrees in Irving), and there were honestly times I didn't think I could keep going. I would guess that between 1/2 to 3/4th of the course was directly in the sun. It was miserable. I know one runner who said that they never walk in a run, and today, they had to walk some. Yeah, it sucked, but it was amazing.

I tried my best to stay hydrated, sucking down powerade/water, refilling my bottle that I brought, wetting a washcloth to keep on my neck and all around me, and I think it paid off for the most part. I did have a hat and sunscreen, but they didn't do much good. I also have two very nice blisters on my feet which were the main cause of my issues in the walk. Well, that and the sun that sucked it all out of me. I kept thinking, I SO never felt like this in our 12 mile walk where it was drizzling rain the whole time!! We were SO not prepared for it to still be like this!!

This challenge was the most mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting challenge I have ever faced. I ended up finishing in 5 hours and a few seconds (17? maybe?). I can't believe it has finally come and gone. Update: My official chip time was 4:58:38, so actually UNDER 5 hours!!

Special thanks go to Tracy and Tammy, fellow Run Team members, who met me at around 2.5 miles to go, and walked the rest of the way in with me and 3 other ladies who brought us more water (I wish I could remember their names but I was so out of it...lol). It was awesome to have that final amount of support, even if I was pretty embarrassed that anyone came back out just for me.

Even more special thanks go to everyone who showed up at the finish line. My aunt and brother, Stacy and her son, Kristen (and the baby), my training buddy Jenn who stuck around to see my finish despite her own finishing at right around 3:30 (way to go, Jenn!!!!), and most importantly, Beth, who brought D so he could be there at the finish line too. I get all choked up about the support I had when I think about it, and goodness knows I cried all the way to lunch after we finished, and have had a few bouts of it this evening...lol

I also wanted to say that I could not have done this alone in another way. I know God was with me every step of the way. There's no way I could have achieved that without Him. There were times where all I could do was repeat the words on my bracelet that my BFF gave me for my birthday: "It was then that I carried you." and inscribed on the inside "He is with you." and just keep putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that it was the truth. Other times, I'd be praying it...and I'd feel a slight breeze dance across my face, and I'd just smile a bit, knowing that He was letting me know it was ok.

I didn't count food today. Obviously with that long of a workout, it didn't really matter. I tried my best to keep nutrients in me before and during the race, and afterward we all met up at Twisted Root burger company for a DELISH lunch of a cheeseburger, curly fries with ranch, and a chocolate shake. OMG I think I ate enough calories for 20 people, and was half afraid at one point that I'd get sick, but it was soooooooooooo good.

So this phase of my fitness goals is now over. And what a ride it has been. Doing the half marathon today actually knocked me over the 200 mile mark in training, so that goal is met as well! The next phase is going to include working on running more, getting MORE in shape, getting more of this weight off, so that my next walks/runs will take even less time. I want to GET THERE FASTER. lol I'm sore as all get out, sunburnt on my legs, arms, face, and neck, dealing with two blisters, keep finding little rashes in the oddest places and I'm totally exhausted, but somehow I already know that I will do it all over again one day. Stay tuned for that.

NOCC 5K

Today, I pushed D in the NOCC 5K (for Ovarian Cancer). We did this one last year (it was my first 5K ever then) with our friend Helen in honor of her sister who is now a 2 year survivor!

I used it mainly as a warm up walk for the half. We had a lot of fun and it was great to see everyone who could make it out there! Pics will be on our adventure blog soon!

My calories were highish but decent today. I wanted a big carb dinner before Sunday. Breakfast before the 5K was a cup of Easy Mac. At the end of the 5K, I had a banana. After that, we hit up Steak and Shake for some yummy bfast! I had two slices of sour dough toast, plus eggs and bacon (with a little cheese on the eggs). Dinner was at Olive Garden. I had the linguine alla marinara, salad with lowfat italian and parmesan (on both salad and pasta), and 2 breadsticks, and then an Andes Mint to end my day at 1855 calories.

Output: a roughly one hour 5K walk.

Finally Friday...

YES! And only two more days to go! Well, 1.5 now...lol

This evening, I went and picked up my packet, which included the H&H&H tech shirt, the race bib, and we also got our run team shirts. It all became SO much more real to me! I won't be wearing either of the shirts, I decided. The main reason is that I'm very comfortable already in my usual tech shirt for long walks, and I don't want to mess with that, but also, I could stand to lose abit more to really look decent in that thin and closecut of a "female cut" shirt! These show ALLLLLL your flab. Yeah, I think I'll stay in my comfy men's tech shirt...lol I so don't want to chance having it rub the wrong way anyway and giving me a road rash while walking. I could have chosen the men's style shirt, but I think these will give me good incentive to push harder and get more weight off so I can rock em!

Today was a decent food day. I did let my cals go up because I really didn't eat much yesterday, but I ate pretty decent. Breakfast was oatmeal and an organic fruit bar. Then for lunch I had a Smart Ones Ziti meal and green beans. My afternoon snack was a tbsp of peanut butter. Dinner was at Chilis with some friends. I got fajitas, and then had some chips and queso, and lots of salsa. On the way home, I had promised D some ice cream, as he had FOUR blue days this week and one green!!! I wanted to give him a reward for no yellow or red days. I'm so proud of him!!!! And, of course, mommy gets ice cream too. lol I had a kids capp chunky choc at Braums to end my day at 1684 calories.

Output: none. I'm doin a 5K in the morning which will be a good warm up walk for the half on Sunday.

So many facets

I'm finding that there are so many different levels of anxiousness, anticipation, excitement and nerves coming up on the half. Lately, its been a bit of anxiousness with a lot of excitement. But last night, I think the whole experience really hit home, and I was up half the night with nerves and anxiety. This is NOT a good few days to not be able to sleep when I need my sleep most...not cool, body, not cool. And with no dam or facebook to take my mind off things, there's not much else to distract me. I think mommy needs a drink tonite to calm the nerves...LOL the no calorie version would be an 800mg pill of ibuprofen, which might be a better option. We'll see.

We actually went to the grocery store last night (*gasp*) so I have a decent meal plan for the day. Breakfast today was oatmeal and an organic twisted fruit bar. Lunch was a Lean Cuisine pizza. Afternoon snack was a tbsp of peanut butter. Dinner was Birdseye 4 Cheese skillet meal. My evening snack was a Kashi cereal bar to end my day at 1045 calories. It's low but I really wasn't that hungry today.

Output: Not much this evening. I have quite a headache so will be going to bed early tonite I think.

Happy Hump Day

That's about all I can think of for a title, not feeling very profound tonite...lol

I'm still on sabbatical, can't believe that tomorrow morning, it will have been a whole week. It's been difficult these last couple days to keep it up, but I have to believe that I'm doing this for a reason, and that it will have a benefit. I sure wish I could snap out of this funk.

Food today was just ok. For breakfast I had a granola bar. Lunch was Sonic since I had to run errands, but I was good. I had a grilled cheese sandwich and apple slices (and an unsweet tea). Then I had baked chips for an afternoon snack. This evening, a friend of mine was doing a fundraiser at Tin Star, so we ended up there. I got chicken quesadillas (used almost none of the sourcream since I don't really like it), and then chips and salsa, to end my day at 1500 calories. I think I overestimated on the chicken quesadilla, but it was a lot of chicken in there.

Output: nothing but a trip to Kroger this evening.

Just One More Mile

Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use. ~Earl Nightingale

As I wind down this half marathon training and prepare for the big day (5 days away!!), I find myself thinking back on what has brought me to this point. We started this almost 4 months ago. May 24th. I thought September was such a long way away, and that the odds of sticking with this were slim, but was game for it anyway. I think the key to being successful at this training, was the training program we found and implemented. It was baby steps. The training started us out at 3-4 miles. It kept us at 3-4 miles walking except for one day a week, we'd bump up a mile. One week was 4, then 5, then 6, and then three weeks of 7 to gain confidence in it. And so on. There's no way I could have gone from walking 3 miles to 13 in 4 months without those gradual bumps. I remember every single week we'd bump up a mile, and I'd think, oh its 'just one more mile' than before, I can do that. I can do another 20 minutes max, on up to a 12 mile walk a week and a half ago. And now 4 months have passed since that first 3 miles, and I'm set to walk 'just one more mile'. On Sunday, I'll be walking 13.1 miles, a half marathon. And I have no doubts that I will accomplish this.

Prepped for battle

The battle of a kid who knows a needle is headed his way with an injection. I took D this evening to get two immunizations that he already HAD over a year ago, but the state of Texas says he was 2 months EARLY in getting (these two are apparently required no earlier than the 4th birthday). So to stay in school, he needs to get them. It was off to the doctor as soon as I got him as they are only open late one evening a week. I girded my loins for battle. The little man has never taken a shot easily. Even when he'd already been numbed last year, he fought through getting stitches put in his ankle AND taken out. And his scream is glass shattering. Lord love him. But it's over. My ears are still ringing, but its done. It took 3 of us to hold him down. OY.

Today was an interesting day food-wise. I had oatmeal for breakfast. Lunch was a Jimmy Johns Slim ham and cheese Sandwich, then baked chips, and a pickle. My afternoon snack was a tbsp of peanut butter as I am in dire need of groceries...lol will probably go tomorrow at lunchtime to stock up on fruits and frozen meals. Dinner...well...I kind of promised D ice cream for dinner once he got past his shots. He asked me a gazillion times if he was gonna cry during them, and I told him over and over, its ok to cry. Well he screamed his lungs sore but in the end, he did not cry. He said to me on the way out, "I didn't cry, mommy!" He was proud of himself. I told him I was proud of him for getting through the shots, but that I'd be just as proud of him if he had cried, because he walked in there with me knowing he was getting shots. Too bad he fought once we got IN the room, but he was brave going into it. I had not tried to hide it from him, he knew.

Output was a 20 minute stationary bike ride again, still working on keeping my legs ready to go for sunday...5 days!

Still on sabbatical

When will it end? I have no idea. It's been over 96 hours (4 days) since I've gotten on DAM or FB. I'll admit, I've had my moments of really missing them, but I've found other things to occupy my time (that Law and Order:SVU Marathon and the tension of the Cowboy game last night really helped LOL!). I do need to get on DAM sometime this week to get ready for the BLC which starts on Friday and I have a commitment to do that, but other than that, I honestly don't know. I think some of this has been really good for me, but the first two days of it, it was difficult to not want to fill that online void with food. Last night was a lot easier for that though, although it helps that due to AF being awful I can't move around much. Big help there.

The Half is coming up in a mere 6 days...6 days! I have some big plans coming for October to really start working on running more, but I'll announce those on October 1st. No, its not anything SUPER special, but I have been really inspired by Paula and Libby's Running Streaks, and I'd like to attempt a similar challenge.

This morning I wanted a slightly more filling breakfast than just oatmeal so I ended up having a pbj and baked chips. It sounded good at the time. Lunch ended up being Sweet and Sour Chicken (very little sauce on the side) with rice. Dinner was KFC. I got grilled chicken breast with mashed tatoes, no gravy, and green beans to end my day at 1320 calories.

Output: another 20 minutes on the bike. I want to keep my legs warmed up even though I can't walk right now due to AF.

A quiet day

We didn't do a lot today with AF being a PITA. D and I did get out of the house for a bit to meet my aunt for lunch but that's about it, we came home so he could take a nap, and just relaxed the best of the day.

I didn't eat breakfast since we slept in a bit. Lunch was at Uncle Julio's. I had some chips, salsa, and queso, plus one tortilla, and then my aunt and I split chicken quesadillas. Dinner was spaghetti, chicken nuggets and green beans. This evening I had some animal crackers to end my day at 1422 calories.

Output: not much but I did do 20 minutes on the exercise bike just to get SOMETHING in today.

Day with a sleeping angel

Do they come any sweeter than this?

Nope, I don't think so! Despite AF being a PITA today, we joined my friend Kristen and her beautiful newborn out at Stonebriar for lunch, shopping and then a movie. We had such a great time!

My food sucked today though. I WAY underestimated my lunch calories, so it just kind of killed the rest of the day. *sigh* I didn't go way overboard but it was not a good day.

Output: we needed to get up and walk 6 miles this morning but AF was not having it, so I cancelled. I'm definitely grateful its not going to affect next weekend but I was hoping for one more longish walk before the half. It will be late this coming week that I'll even be able to do a good walk, but I'm going to try and get in some short milers just to keep it up.

On sabbatical

As my friend Stacy is so fond of calling it. It's now been over 24 hours since I've gotten on DAM or Facebook, and will probably keep it up another day or so. This has been a much needed break for me. I've gotten so frustrated lately with being single (when is that a new thing?) that even seeing people vent about their husbands really gets to me. It's a good reminder to me when I DO get married someday to not take certain things for granted, and to not stress over the small stuff, but right now, it just hurts. I actually quite a bit done last night as far as housecleaning goes, and went to bed early, which is always nice.

I got really excited today because AF is finally getting started. It was nervewracking to think that it might not start in time to be done before the half next weekend, so this is definitely a good thing! I also went ahead and registered for the NOCC Ovarian Cancer 5K for next Saturday, the day before the half. I did it last year and it was my very first 5K ever, so its a special day for me.

Food today has been decent. I had oatmeal for breakfast. For lunch, I hit up Sweet Tomatoes and had my usual. A romaine/tomato salad (no cheese) with fat free ranch and a few croutons and pickle slices, plus a slice of lowfat sourdough bread with butter, a cup of chunky chicken noodle soup, and some of their nonfat chocolate frozen yogurt. I'm out of yogurt for my afternoon snack but do have some baked chips I will likely have later. Dinner is uncertain. Weather and AF permitting, we're going to hit up the balloon festival this evening. I'm going to try really hard to be good and just eat something light. We'll see how that works.

Poor D and food log changes

He's had a rough week so far. I noticed almost two weeks ago that he has what looks like two molars coming in on the bottom of his mouth, one on each side. Tuesday of this week was the roughest day for him. His special ed teacher said that he was teary all day, cried a few times, and it just was not a good day (he also got on yellow at school and had his first accident of the year). Last night during dinner, he flat out refused to eat anything that wasn't soft. Bless his heart, he really doesn't complain about things. I never would have known it hurt him but this past weekend, he made a comment about how good the ice cream he was eating felt on his mouth. That was my first clue that it bothered him. At dinner yesterday, I asked him if his teeth hurt and I got a pitiful "yeah" out of him, but that was it. Then today he had a really off day at school, ended up getting on red, plus had an accident again. Then this evening when I picked him up from afterschool, he had pooped his pants. Yeah, good times. I'm hoping this teeth mess clears up SOON, but on a good note, at least he's not running a fever from it like he did when he was 3, as that would keep him home from school!

On a good note, in that same email from the Spec Ed teacher, I was very encouraged at everything they are implementing in the classroom to help him be successful. He now has a visual schedule, plus a ticket board where he can earn tickets to do things he likes, like puzzles. She also said how much she loves working with him, and it really just made me feel good to know that he's cared about there and not just being left hanging. I thought he was getting a new teacher this week as the school had sent home a very confusing letter about it, but I got an email from his regular teacher that he will be staying with her, so yay. No more upheaval.

In other news, I'm going to switch my food log back to here starting today. I was doing better at logging it here, and as evidenced by my previous post, have really slacked in doing it there. This should be a much better choice for me to stay consistent. I had a good food morning, switched it up a bit from my usual and added a bit more, and I think that helped me get through the morning unscathed.

So, today, for breakfast I had an apple, a slice of cheese, and some orange juice. Then midmorning, I had half of a pbj. Lunch was a Lean Cuisine meal, which I have slacked on getting lately and I know that plays a big part too. My afternoon snack was a fat free yogurt and some popcorn. Since D came home with poopy pants, we didn't go anywhere. I did swing by Taco Bell and got two chicken soft tacos for dinner. No evening snack and I ended my day at 1339 calories.

Output: none other than some house cleaning this evening. I went to bed early. This rain definitely needs to clear out, it's affecting my mood, I don't want to do ANY activity, which is really bad considering the half is in 9 days!

12 miles forward, 6 lbs back...

I realized on Sunday that it had been a week and a half (I think) since I'd logged calories on the other blog. And my eating, I knew, had been awful. Stress over D's school, after-school issues, finances, thinkin about the half marathon coming up, all led me into a pitfall. So I weighed in on Monday morning, and discovered I had gained 6 lbs...acck! I knew it was coming and much as I would like to say that a lot of it was muscle weight from the 12 miles or that AF is coming, I know its from eating.

I know quite a bit of it has been due to school starting in more than one way. It seems like everyone is more busy so we've been more isolated. It's hard when finances are tight and there just aren't a lot of people we know available in the evenings to eat or hang out with. Isolation is a big eating trigger for me, and that coupled with stress throws me into a tailspin. And that is exactly what happened. I attempted to clamp back down, and did fine on Monday. Yesterday, was a beating in the evening, and I finally caved and had some ramen noodles. Today has been ok so far, but I had more than I intended at dinner, especially since D is teething, so has a sore mouth and refused to eat anything not very soft. So I finished his. :(

It's such a bad time for this with the half coming up in 11 days. I need to be at the top of my game and I feel all bloated and like crap. Tomorrow is a new day though. Ideally, I won't have any more awful eating these next 11 days, as I intend to splurge for lunch after completing the race, but right now, I'm struggling pretty bad and I just don't know. I have lost a lot of the internal motivation I had, and am trying my darnedest to get it back.

I saw a quote today that said "Consistency breeds success". And what I'm taking from that is, to keep restarting this every single day. I will not call this quits, despite my struggle. And if I keep taking it day by day, I will eventually succeed.

All that said, I do have to add, I can not believe I'm still very much into doing this half marathon. I can't believe I've been this committed to it for this long. Now we are down to only a week and a half left, and adding only a mile to the mileage I've already done, and it's a reality. I'm proud of myself for sticking with it this long, despite the bumps in the road, like AF. And the feeling of knowing that I will soon cross that finish line just overwhelms me.

The Almost Half

This morning, despite reports of 40%, 100%, various other chances of rain, my friend Dina and I hit the trail to get in...a 12 mile walk!!! We slogged through mud, dealt with the rain, and finished it in 4:07. This included a detour off the trail to a Racetrac for a bathroom break and water bottle refill. I'm happy to say I had no dizzy spells, and didn't need to take any stops to rest. So I was happy, despite my feet killing me!

We really could not have planned it out better. The walk started at 6:50am, and we never really had just pouring rain. There were definitely stretches of no rain, then drizzle, then a GOOD drizzle, but overall, it was just perfect. And barely 30 minutes after we finished, it was POURING rain. So yay! Great timing! I'm glad we got it done...I knew I needed to do this walk if I was going to have a shot at a decent time during the half marathon.

I did not have the stroller for this. My friend watched D while we walked, so I had to figure out how to carry snacks/drink, etc. I think I have it really well planned out. My fanny pack worked great, turned around to the small of my back, barely even noticed it was there! I do need to tweak my waterbottle, but I might not even carry it since there should be water stops every 2 miles. I might just take a throwaway small water bottle that will fit in my fanny pack, and then toss it if I need to. Other than that, I have my garb all set, my shoes are doing ok. I did get a small blister after today's walk, but I might just tape up that spot for the half.

2 weeks to go!!!

I can't believe its been 8 years...

Since the terrorist attacks in 2001. I still vividly remember what I was doing. When the first plane hit, I was on my way to work listening to Kidd Kraddick in the Morning. My first thought was it was some stunt gone wrong, a plane trying to fly between the towers, something like that. When I got to work soon after, I went down to our Leasing Dept which had a tv at the time. Right after I got down there, we saw the second plane hit. Shortly after, we heard so many conflicting stories, but the one about the plane hitting the Pentagon jarred me badly. I have a second cousin who works there. Thankfully, she was fine, but the wait to hear was incredible.

I know that a lot of people got really patriotic after that, and a lot of people turned to God for answers. In the past 8 years, a lot of that patriotism has faded, some of that turning to God has faded, and that saddens me. I pray that today we all take a moment to reflect on what happened that fateful day, remember that it showed us how we can all come together as a country, and how we can always turn to God no matter what the circumstance.

2009 Chili Cook off

Today we had a Chili Cookoff at work. My department was in charge of it and we had a lot of fun! Will post pics later, still need to upload them.

My contribution was a turkey chili recipe that was really easy, and I got a lot of compliments on. Basically, I browned a lb of ground turkey, and then threw it in the crockpot for 8 hours on low with half a diced onion, a can of lowfat tomato soup, 2 cans of rotel, a big can of kidney beans, a small can of black beans, and then some cumin, cayenne pepper, black pepper and garlic salt. It smelled SO GOOD!

Here are some pics!

Allen's artwork

The table set up

The spread...we had 10 crockpots of chili, plus everything that goes with it from cheese, to onions, to sourcream. We even had a surprise plate of tamales!

So.Much.Chili.

The gift for anyone who brought chili...

The gifts for the winners of the three categories (Best of Show, Excellence in Spice, and The Kitchen Sink (for most unique))

The judges gifts

Our winners with their gift and certificate!

One of our judge's opening her gift...

The judges hard at work...

Wednesday Revelation

Another Wednesday! Today's topic is: show your purse/diaper bag, etc. I'm pretty simple, I like a sling purse to just toss over my shoulder and go. So here ya go!

Congrats Kris!

Just wanted to say CONGRATS to my friend on the birth of her beautiful baby girl! She was born today 9/8/09, and is just gorgeous! Here are two pics, one of me with her and one of her with the teddy bear I got her.

Whirlwind Weekend

Happy Labor Day! We had a crazy busy weekend and I got SO little sleep but it was totally worth it! From the park on Saturday, a surprise MNI that night, to the lake on Sunday (driving 5 hours roundtrip in one day on 3.5 hours of sleep), to enjoying some yummy bbq at Red Hot and Blue with Da Crew plus 1 and 2 kids, to visiting at an old friends house for awhile, we barely stopped to breath! We really had to cram it all in. But that is about how ALL of our weekends go. lol

The most tiring part for me, is taking D into new homes/environments. Today, my friend Kristen, D, and I went over to an old friends house to visit for awhile, and yeah he was being pretty good, overall...but him in a new house is very stressful for me. The minute he walks in anywhere, he gets overwhelmed with SO MUCH to check out, very curious, and he's into E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. I will say, I was proud of him. She has a whole set up of ceramic figurines that look like a church service. And D did a great job of looking and not touching. He even had his arms crossed across his chest. Great job, D! I was definitely relieved when it was time to go, though, so we could drop Kris off at her car and get home by bedtime.

In other news, we are now at T minus 3 weeks til the half marathon, and will be walking 12 miles this coming weekend. Yipes!! This will be the true marker for me mentally that I WILL be able to do this, and I can't wait.

Friday Cuteness

I'm wanting to add a new side to this blog, one that is more picture
oriented as well. I've added Wednesday Revelation, which will be fairly
random stuff. And I want to add something for D. We already have D and
I's Adventure blog so I don't necessarily need to add that, so I will
just be adding a picture of D every Friday from our week. Most of it
will be random pictures, might just be a picture of his foot one day.
But Fridays will now be all about him. I hope you enjoy!

Random Thoughts on a Half Marathon

Only 3 weeks to go
I'm scared to death
I'm excited as all get out
I've done 11 miles
I KNOW I can do 2 more
What if AF cuts into it?
This is the greatest physical challenge I've ever considered
Some people have called me crazy for even thinking about this
I tend to think I'm crazy for this
I'm over thinking this
I'm not preparing ENOUGH for this
Can you EVER prepare enough for this?
Every time I think about it, I get choked up
I try not to think about it
This is just a 4ish hour event
I can do anything for 4ish hours.
I can do this.
I've done 11 miles.
What if AF cuts into it?
I. GOT. THIS.

Talk about speedwork!!

Tonite D and I headed out for a training walk. The first part was pretty slow as we went a gradual uphill for the first part. We got 1.5 miles out and I saw lightning. Great. We sped up, I started praying like crazy, as we were going. Unfortunately, I know myself, so I didn't start running...yet. I didn't figure I had the stamina to make it 1.5 miles if most of it was running, and had a feeling I'd pass out first...lol

However, at 3/4th mile left to go, the lightning seemed to be right over head. And I average an 18-19 minute mile.

By the time we hit 1/2 a mile left, I was getting very concerned we weren't gonna make it. So we stuck to under the trees on the way, and I started running in the open spaces. I also learned very quickly why runners lock the front wheel. lol My iphone hit the ground with THAT lesson but fortunately its fine.

We made it home safely PRAISE THE LORD and ended up having done 3.03 miles. My heart was pounding out of my chest from the run/walking, but I feel good now about it. I'm glad we got out there and did it despite the impending storm (which I didn't realize was NEAR that close).

Wednesday Revelation

It's another Wednesday Revelation! Today, the topic is: something you ate today.

Here was my dinner from Jasons Deli...the Kids Meal Chicken Ranch Wrapper with ranch on the side, and carrots for the side. Not pictured: the chocolate ice cream that you get free there. YUMMY!