On the eve of the IL half marathon...

If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run. - John Bingham

Tomorrow is the big day - the Illinois Marathon & Half Marathon. I've been training for this since my last race in January. I've been running around like a crazy all day to pick up race packets and then to cook a yummy spaghetti dinner for the fam. This year Justin and Jill will also be participating in the races. Justin will be running the 5K and Jill will be walking the 5K. I'm really excited that they are involved! :)

For those of you who run, you know that the week before a race is called the taper. It sucks. It's the worst part of training for a long distance event. For a whole week (sometimes two) you cut back on mileage. For this week you may only run 2 or 3 times, for short distances (3 miles). The ONLY purpose for these runs is to keep your muscles loose. This becomes a week of doubt and stress. A week of asking yourself if you trained long enough, if you trained hard enough. A week of worrying about EVERY possible thing that could go wrong on race day.

I will be leaving Mattoon at 5am (it's about an hour drive to Champaign) for a 7:30 start time. I'm currently doing a load of laundry. Why, you ask. Because I'm not sure what I'll feeling like wearing when I wake up. I'm planning on wearing my black running skirt. But what if I suddenly have the urge to wear my green running skirt? Are my favorite socks clean? What about my favorite shirt? I have to be up by 4am - hopefully I'll have to poo before I leave the house. What if I can't? What if I have to go once I start running?! Ugh. These are the things that runners freak out about during the taper! On top of these things, I'm anxious because last year I rolled my ankle at mile 1.5 of this race and wasn't able to finish. I've been overly careful with my ankle during training. I know that I need to stay positive, but I can't help worrying.

Then there's the question of pacing. I said a few weeks back that my goal is to break 2:30 for this half. Since the full & half start out together, my plan is to run with the 5 hour pace team. I think I can do it. I know I can do it. Still, I'm anxious.

Anyway, I met with my runner girls for lunch and packet pick-up today. They always make me laugh. I could tell I was anxious though, cause I dropped the F-bomb a lot. I can't help it. It's now 9pm and 4am will come very early, so I guess I should hit the sack. Good luck to all of you running tomorrow!! Wish me luck and check back for a race recap. :)

Birthday Yum...

Last Thursday, April 22nd, I turned 27. I'm still a little amazed. 27. It sounds old, but I know that it isn't (even though I'll continue to call my husband - who's also 27, old). Hubby woke me up with a dozen roses and told me to order the macbook laptop that we'd been talking about for a while. I was super excited, to say the least! Then we watched Avatar on DVD. The day was off to a wonderful start.

Roses and a red velvet cake for the birthday girl!!

A few hours later, my stethoscope arrive via post. I've already posted a picture. The arrival of my stethoscope somehow made PA school much more real. The countdown is at 38 days and counting!

The rest of my day was pretty relaxing. In the evening, my friend (and former boss) Amie Jo and I went out for some yum. My favorite local coffee shop was having a business after hours, so we decided to hit up Common Grounds and see what was going on. They were showing off a new meeting room that they had just opened and it looked GREAT! They were also serving yummy morsels, so we hung out for a bit and chatted with the owner - who's a runner and a very cool lady. :) After this we went to Charleston for a wine tasting event that was put on by my mommy-in-law's (Jill's) place of business. There was a lot of good wine to taste and the snacks were.... just, wow. The event was catered by a local business called 2 Flowers Catering. They ALWAYS make delicious stuff. This time they had a few things I'd never tasted before - artichoke & feta dip (it was incredible) served with various types of breads, and strips of sundried eggplant wrapped around a chunk of fresh mozarella. Everything else paled in comparison to these two. All of this added up to a fantastic day! :)

Due to hubby's work schedule, we went to dinner to celebrate my birthday on Sunday evening. We had a delicious dinner (and an even better dessert) at the Firefly Grill down in Effingham.

Here are some pics!

Me and my mint chocolate martini

Me & the Hubby ::smile::

Mint chocolate martini and mini cheesecake with raspberry

P.S. Jill and I saw "The Back-Up Plan" on Sunday. Very cute. Jennifer Lopez was made for the romantic comedy genre :)

It's almost time...

I've been fighting a head cold (i think) for the past 9 days. My nose will not stop running. I went to see the Dr. yesterday and he thinks that seasonal allergies are the culprit. Weird. I've never suffered from allergies in the past. So, I went and got the generic Claritin and the generic Affrin spray - yes I'm cheap (thank you, dad, for bequeathing the cheap gene to me).

I started this regimen yesterday. Right now, I feel worse. Now my throat hurts too. Ugh. I just added some Nyquil to the mix. I'm really hoping I get better soon because the IL Half Marathon is just around the corner. 3 days, 9 hours and counting - to be exact. I really need to be in top form on Saturday. Last Saturday was my final long run in preparation for the event. It was 10 miles and it was miserable. I just was not feeling it. I ended up walking a lot and was very disappointed.

Thank goodness for post-long run breakfast with buddies. One of these lovely ladies told me that a bad dress rehearsal usually means a good event - i really hope this holds true for this Saturday...

My new baby!!!

So, you guys know how excited I am about my new stethoscope. So, here's a pic!

P.S. Ain't she purdy? ::sheephish grin::

Happy Earth Day!!

I love Spring in the Midwest. It's totally unlike Spring in South Florida. As a matter of fact, there really isn't a Spring in South Florida. It's really just varying degrees of Summer. They actually had a winter this year, but that's incredibly rare. Usually they just get a month of fantastic weather in the high 60s.

Anyway, in the Midwest you get to see all of nature reawakening. It's pretty amazing. Since today is Earth Day (and my birthday!!!), I'd like to share some pictures I've taken in the past week or so. Some are pics of flowers I've potted this year, others are from a little park here in town.

My Dahlias

Closeup of the Dahlias

Celosia. I planted some Zinnia seeds in the middle. Can't wait till they come up!

My neighbor's Tulips.

The rest of these are from the Friendship Garden.

My Lucien.

I love these trees...

Take the opportunity to get outside today. Do something to celebrate Earth Day. Take a walk and enjoy the beauty that nature has to offer. Happy Earth Day!!

Carbondale fun!

So, I finally uploaded my pictures from this past weekend o' fun with the girls! Here they are for your viewing pleasure :) Enjoy.

Thank you Mr. Cuervo for getting the party started. Yay for pomegranate margaritas.

At the "surprise" party. Teehee. My pen had a mini penis on it!

Hurricanes and fried pickles. Sounded nasty, but damn they were good!

Jen being a goober. :)

Amanda, Katie, Me, Caryn, Jen, & Natalie in front of Busch Stadium

4/16/10

Me and the girls after a Cardinal WIN!!

Some of my future PA classmates c/o 2012!!

There is exactly 6 weeks (42 days) until class orientation. These people will be the my family for the next two years! It's pretty much gonna be awesome. Oh! My stethoscope shipped yesterday and should be here soon! And more good news - Justin told me to order my new Mac laptop!

Leaky Faucet

My nose feels like a leaky faucet. I've got a head cold that is being persistent. Tomorrow is my 27th birthday and I was hoping to feel better by then, but it's looking like a no go. Oh well, what can you do?

It's been a while since I posted. I was out of town in Carbondale, IL last week from Thursday to Sunday. I spent some time with some of the lovely ladies who will be my classmates for the next two years of PA school. We did some running around and got lots of school stuff accomplished. Got my school ID, turned in immunization records, financial aid forms, turned in more health records, etc. Then we played for the rest of the weekend. We went to a "surprise" party. (For those of you who don't know, this is just like a Passion party), hit a Cardinals game in St. Louis (where we were privileged enough to see a grand slam!), went to a class picnic and just hung out. It was a great weekend. I have a feeling I'm going to make some wonderful friendships in the next two years.

Anyway, I've spent most of the last few days on the couch covered in blankets, so I haven't uploaded my pictures yet. But when I do, I'll be sure to post them. :) I hope everyone is having a GREAT week. I'm off to run 7 miles - hopefully my nose doesn't drip the whole time. Ugh.

P.S. This may sound super dorky, but I ordered my stethoscope online yesterday!!! It was so exciting. And for my birthday, my mom sent my white coat and my sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff)! I feel like it's all starting to come together. :)

Pacing...

This year's Christie Clinic Illinois Half Marathon is on May 1st. That is exactly 3 weeks from this morning. This means that today and next Saturday are my longest training runs before the big day. Today was absolutely PERFECT. It was about 42 degrees when I left my house and closer to 50 when we actually started running. This may sound cold to some of you, but the sun was shining brightly and it warmed up as we ran. All the trees and flowers are in bloom, and the birds are out singing and playing. No better way to start the weekend.

My fastest half marathon time is currently 2:41:23. This is an average pace of 12:19 per mile. My goal for this race is to finish in 2:30:00. This would be a pace of 11:27 per mile.

This said, I am very excited to report that on today's 11 mile run I kept an average pace of 11:22 per mile. If I can keep this pace on race day, I will come in at 2:28:54!!! This is soo exciting. :) And I've still got 3 weeks to improve!

I wasn't the only one kicking a$$ this morning. The ladies were all on top of their game this morning, but Randy was on FIRE! He has a torn meniscus and I was chasing him for half of my 11 miles. Incredible. Thank you to my group of amazing runner friends for always inspiring me!

P.S. Breakfast at Panera was awesome :) If you've never tried their lowfat black cherry smoothie, go do it NOW! Yum. :)

Florence + the Machine

This is what I'm currently enjoying: Florence + the Machine. The album name is Lungs. Listen to it. DO IT!! :)

Cosmic Love - by Florence + the Machine

A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes
I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it's left me blind

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart

And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat
I tried to find the sound
But then it stopped, and I was in the darkness,
So darkness I became

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart

I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map
And knew that somehow I could find my way back
Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too
So I stayed in the darkness with you

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart

I would totally have posted a video clip, but my laptop is elderly and froze up when I tried. I had to reboot just to finish this post. :(

Anyway, thanks to Jonathan and Christopher for telling me about Florence + the Machine. You guys ROCK. Enjoy the show on Monday - I'm jealous!

An homage...

To Isabella Sofia.... my incredible niece. I love you.

Isabella & Grandpa.

Isabella & Mommy.

Isabella & Grandma. :)

Isabella & Daddy.

Isabella & uncle Justin.

Surprise, Surprise! I'm gangster :)

So, sometimes you have the opportunity to try something new and you totally surprise yourself. This is always a treat. :)

My brother is a arms instructor in South Florida. He teaches classes on basic firearms safety and also does concealed carry certification classes. He's been shooting for a few years now and has been wanting to take me shooting for a while. Last week while we were home in Florida, he finally got the chance. I was a little nervous at first. As a matter of fact, I had a pretty unexpected emotional/physiological reaction when I heard the first few gunshots ring out through the shooting range. I had to step outside and calm myself down. I'm not sure if it was the noise itself, or the fact that my hubby is a police officer - it was like the reality of the danger inherent in his profession just slapped me in the face.

After I got my nerves under control, I stepped back into the range and took my first shots.

My first two shots ever!

Can you tell I was excited?!?!

Me shooting the shotgun. My reaction after the first shot: "Holf F*CK, I'm gangster!!!" LOL.

Hubby shooting the shotgun.

He's kinda cute ::wink::

My target. I definitely kept this bad boy! :)

Brother & Hubby were quite proud of me - it was a pretty fantastic feeling. I'd definitely like to go shooting again sometime. If any of you live in the South Florida area and would like to go shooting or be certified for carrying concealed, get in touch with me and I'll get you my brother's info.

Running Horror Stories

Last night as I read through some runner forums looking for some motivation, I came across this gem.

Once "movement" is imminent, the trickiest part is finding your OBMPP (Optimal Bowel Movement Prevention Pace). Run too fast, and you hasten your body's process dangerously. Slow down too much, and your system may slow down, but then you're not getting much closer to safety. There's a real delicate balance in finding that pace that will mitigate disaster...

When I finally stopped laughing a few minutes later, I found another treasure.

http://www.tnrunning.com/articles/milner/everyone_poops.html Be prepared to laugh your arse off. I mean seriously, just the first few sentences had me going:

Usually, when nature calls while I am running, my digestive system gives some kind of polite 10-minute warning. If that is not heeded quickly, it then sounds a more serious 5-minute warning, perhaps with a warning shot being fired off, before going to DEFCON 3, at which point there had better be a toilet within a quarter-mile, because an explosion is imminent.

Needless to say, these things were on my mind when I left home for my 10 mile long run this morning. So far I haven't had any issues like this. That said, as a runner, I know that my day will come. Here's to hoping I'm fully prepared to handle the situation on that day!

Cheers!

Schnebly Winery

So, last Friday while mom worked, Justin & I were able to keep her car. Our plan was to wake up and head to the Everglades. Justin had never been before and he was excited to walk around and check out the wildlife. When we finally made it out of the house, we were greeted by an overcast sky. I had gone running earlier that morning (5 miles) and it had cleared up a bit since then. Our thought was that the clouds might just pass - you can never tell in Miami. As we reached the Homestead exit it began to rain. We promptly spotted a brand new Red Lobster. Justin was VERY excited (shaking my head), so we decided to stop for lunch and wait out the rain.

After lunch the sky still looked ominous so we decided to skip the Everglades. Instead, we opted to drive out to Schnebly Winery in the Redlands. I had visited a few years back when the place was tiny and was undergoing a ton of construction. I'd heard from several people that it was now a beautiful place to visit - and I already knew I enjoyed their wine. So, off we went. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere and Justin was pretty surprised to see all of the space dedicated to agriculture. :)

All of Schnebly's wines are made from tropical fruit - no grapes used at all! This makes for some pretty interesting flavors. We did a tasting a of 5 wines each. I'm generally not a fan of avocado, but a friend mentioned their avocado wine in a blog post, so I figured I'd give it a try. I really enjoyed the Sweet Avocado wine and ended up buying a bottle. We sat on the back patio and sipped. What a beautiful place! We walked around and took it all in. I was really surprised to see how much it had all changed. Justin said that he wants our future porch to look like their place. Wishful thinking... :)

If you're looking for a beautiful place to relax and enjoy the ambiance, check it out. http://schneblywinery.ning.com/

I really like the label. It was designed by one of the guys who works at the winery.

Later this same night we met up with friends and stuffed our faces at the Miami Dade County Youth Fair. Yum!!

The lighthouse on Key Biscayne

So, I've been living in Illinois for almost four years now. In the time that I've been gone I've come to realize how much I took for granted that I lived in Miami. There were so many things that I just didn't make the time to take advantage of. For instance, the beach or the everglades or Knausberry Farm or the many local festivals that take place all year. I lived in South Florida for 17 years. That's a long time. How is it that I never knew there was a lighthouse at the very end of Key Biscayne? In high school and college we used to go to Crandon Beach on Key Biscayne, and yet I never knew about the lighthouse.

Either way, Justin and were sure to take advantage of the gorgeous weather while we visited. We tried to see as much as possible. Here are some of the pics from Billy Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne.

The view from below.

View from the top.

The shore line from the top.

View from the shore line. I really like this one.

My Mr. :)

No explanation needed. ::smile::

Toes in the sunwarmed sand.

I really enjoyed the way the light was filtering through this tree. Something about it felt magical to me. :)

This little guy ran past us as we were walking from the parking lot. He found a spot under a tree and proceeded to wait patiently for a group to finish their picnic. Smart little opportunist! Later we saw another raccoon being hand-fed by two guys finishing a picnic lunch. He was actually sitting on his back legs like a begging dog!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pics. If you're interested in visiting the lighthouse next time you're in Miami, here's the website with information: http://www.floridastateparks.org/capeflorida/