Dinner Anyone?

Someone apparently forgot about their dinner.  I got on the elevator one day after work to find this...

When I left shortly after getting home to run, it was gone.  I guess someone remember they were hungry.

Now what...

Over the last few years of running (yes, years...I've been running consistently since February '08) I've come to realize that I am a better runner when I have something to work towards.

I first started running in September '07 doing the "Couch to 5K" program while living in Dothan.  It was a fairly easy program and there was a great park that I would go to immediately after work to run.  It's amazing to think back to then.  Not only was I living in a town where I knew NO ONE and at this point was really not enjoying my job, I struggled with running 2 miles.  In high school when I would run, it was timed miles or stadiums or hills (and it was all H-E-double hockey sticks).  

Since then I’ve run:

August ‘08  South DeKalb Striders 5K 33:48 (10:54 pace) *and I got 2^nd place for my age division, HAHAHAHA
July ‘09 Peachtree Road Race 10K 1:07:23 (10:52 pace)
July ’10 Peachtree Road Race 10K 1:00:08 (9:41 pace)
November ’10 Thanksgiving Trot 8K 46:29 (9:23 pace)
March ’11 Georgia ½ Marathon 2:09:09 (9:51 pace)

I’m happy to see my times improving.  Which makes me excited to run in another Peachtree Road Race.  I’m hoping to shed more time off and run closer to a 9:00 pace.  My only problem, the race is 16 weeks away and my “training” is an 8 week program.  So now I’m trying to find something to keep me motivated for the next 8 weeks before I officially start training for the Peachtree.  I'm eyeing a 5K the first weekend in May-I like the idea of updating my "official" 5K run since it's been so long.   

Side note: Robert got some exciting news today!  He has an interview with the City of Atlanta Friday AM!!  Now we’re not counting our eggs before they hatch or anything, but this is his first real interview since beginning his unemployment 10 ½ months ago (he’s had a few phone interviews here and there). 

13.1

Well I did it!  My knees are currently hating the hills in downtown Atlanta right now, but during the race I felt great!  If you remember from this post, I said that I really just wanted to run the entire time and wasn't going to set a time goal.  Well, as the time got closer and I got a better feel for my pace on the longer runs (10, 11 and 12 miles), I decided that I would be happy for a time between 2:10 and 2:20. 

Robert ended up having a basketball playoff game this morning, so he didn't get to be there for the finish.  But he was a trooper and woke up at 6 to drop me off.  At first I was bummed he wouldn't be there, but I knew if it weren't for the basketball game he would have been there to cheer me on.  The race began at 6:55 for the wheelchair division and 7:00 for the runners.  I was in corral K, so not in the front by not in the last group (like I have been for the Peachtree for the last 2 years).  It actually worked out really well because I started exactly 10 minutes into the race-which made figuring out my time easy since I forgot to grab my watch.

We got to run through some pretty cool parts of Atlanta...downtown, 4th Ward, Little Five Points, Va-Highlands, Piedmont Park, GA Tech, and then back downtown.  The weather was perfect, a tad warm at 60 but there was a nice cloud cover so we weren't being scorched.  The last 4 miles of the race were hard-not because I had run 9 miles but because it was basically up hill the entire time (note to self, next half marathon pick a FLAT location).  But I guess it was all worth it because I ended up running the entire time (goal 1, check) and did it in 2:09:09-a 9:51 pace (goal 2,check)! 

When it was all over, I met a friend of ours and her husband for a few minutes and then got in the car and drove to play in a basketball game.  I'm not really sure how I managed to get suckered into playing EVERY game (when I was supposed to be a sub/only play if they were going to forfeit).  But it was the playoffs and the other girl was running the half marathon with her aunt so she was going to be later.  We ended up winning the first game and had to play in the championship game an hour later, which we won as well.   


I'll post pictures from the race when they post them...since it was just me, I didn't have anyone to take pictures pre or post race.  I must say though, I'm looking forward to the Peachtree 10K.  It's going to seem so easy only being 6.2 and only 2 hills!

Repaired & Repainted

So for the last month Robert and I have been hard at work-hence the lack of blogs.  We've had a few areas in the condo that previously had leaks and had essentially ruined the plaster and paint around them.  We'd been putting it off for far too long to actually fix the plaster and since we own our unit it was our problem to fix.

Robert picking off the large pieces of plaster and paint, area 1 hallway

So after a weekend of just chiseling the areas to get the bad plaster down, we started to see some process...

Side note-this was the worst spot, and the area that took the longest to repair

After a few more weeks (yes weeks) of plaster, dry, and repeat it started to look like we had walls again...

God bless the person who thought to make white stuff go on pink and dry white

Then began the sanding process.  That was a good thing and a bad thing.  Good that we were getting closer to no longer living in a disaster area, but bad because dust. was. EVERYWHERE.  And I mean everywhere.  I tried to tidy up in between sanding and pastering, but it didn't work.  The floors were covered, the sofa,  the TV, the china cabinet, the counters...you get the picture.  On top of it all (literally) Robert accidentally spilled some liquid on the dust, so that was a task cleaning the floor (plaster dust+liquid=plaster).

In the middle of this we decided that since we were going to have repaint the repaired areas we would paint our kitchen dark blue...

pardon the mess-

 

Thankfully we had made a lot of food and just lived off of leftovers while the kitchen was disheveled for the better part of a week.  But we like the refresher of the kitchen and hallway a lot!  I'll take more pictures once we are done with everything.  We still have 2 areas in the bedroom that we're working on...

Sunset

This picture makes me want to go back to Jamaica...

One Year Later

(So I'm a tad late on this post, but I promise to post again soon as to why)


It's hard to believe that just barely over a year ago...

I was loading a trolley with some of my favorite people...

Robert was sticking a $20 bill in my dress after saying my name incorrectly (after the ceremony)...

And we were walking in together to all the people we care about most...

We had an absolutely fabulous night, and when we got in the limo at the end of the night I look at Robert and said "That was so much fun, can we do it again?"  Some great memories were made that day, but even more in the past year.

To celebrate our one year anniversary, we decided to visit 2 of our favorite restaurants that are a tad more pricey than our current budget.  Friday night we headed over to Decatur to The Brick Store Pub.  They have a unique variety of beers on draft, amazing pub food, and spectacular people watching.  We thoroughly enjoy spending time here, and it often is a few hours at a time.  We started off with a few beers and a raclette (seen below) and then I got the fingers and chips and Robert had the fish and chips.  I must say, they have the best chicken fingers ever, hands down.  I'm a fan, I couldn't even let Robert take a picture before I had to chow down.  Here is a photo recap of that visit...

Saturday afternoon we headed over to West Atlanta to go to our favorite Mexican Restaurant (yes, there is one that tops Taxco-I know some of your are shocked right now), Nuevo Laredo.  We started off with chips and salsa and a pitcher of margarita's and then I had the chicken mole and Robert had the chicken diablo. The food is so good there, but of course we were stuffed after we left.  We drove around to look at houses for little bit after dinner, and then headed home.

Sunday morning Robert had a basketball game-I guess I did too since I "played" in it.  And for dinner we decided to make a fancy dinner at home.  Robert made steaks, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, and then I made the croissants and whipped horseradish.  Clearly I am not the cook in our family. 

And then we dove into the year old wedding cake that has been sitting in our freezer.  Robert thought it is a strange tradition, but I convinced him that we were doing it.  We were actually pleasantly surprised on how good it was.  The icing was tad freezer burnt, but the cake and filling was almost as good as a year ago.  It most certainly didn't look as nice as it did a year ago. 

Although it wasn't the weekend full of the most healthy eating, we did have a great time (and I managed to slip running 9.3 miles in on Saturday around Chastain Park).

This isn't the best looking picture, but our camera died shortly after this was taken

Marathon

It's official!  I signed up for my first 1/2 marathon today!! Be thinking of me the morning of March 20th!

I've been training for this since December 26th but have put off signing up just in case I hurt myself somewhere along the way.  I did a 9 mile run this past weekend and felt great doing it-and could have easily done 4 more miles.  I'm not going to set a time goal for myself for this one, I just want to run the entire time.  Maybe my next one I'll set a time...or as it comes closer I set a time.  We'll see!!