7 days and counting

It's a week away. In exactly 7 days from now, I will be pounding the pavement for 26.2 miles in San Francisco. I thought I would be terrified.....but after failing the practice marathon, my fear has disappeared. I don't know how that works....I would think I'd be even more fearful that I didn't finish, but no. It only took one day to recover from the 20 miles I did, as opposed to three recovery days after the first time I did 20 miles. My body can take it. I'm ready. Here I am, ready to hit the road....


And most of my running group....

Reunion Time!!

This past weekend was my 10 year High School reunion, and my Satellite reunion which was 4th through 6th grades. It was a great weekend!

The turnout was impressive and I got to reconnect with some amazing people. The Satellite reunion was the most exciting as I grew up with all of them and loved hearing about what they were up to. They are all still overachievers!


The girls who put it together dug out scrapbooks with pictures of us when we were little, old video footage, yearbooks, and they even made a scrapbook with all of our updates and recent pictures so we could read up on the folks who didn't make it to the reunion. Kelly and Heather are the rockstars that organized the whole thing....



Our teacher from 4th and 6th grade, Mrs. B, showed up as well and she's just as elegant and kind as ever. To this day, Mrs. B has been the best teacher I have ever known, and taught me more in grade school than I ever got from high school or college.




Two of my BEST FRIENDS were Sarah P from grade school, and Kimmy P all through Junior High. I had tried to find them both, so to reconnect with each of them made the whole trip worth it. Aren't they beautiful?


And who could forget some of these handsome faces?


Overall, the whole weekend was incredible. Seeing old friends was wonderful, and even better to resume old friendships that have weathered the storm of time.

My Deviant Derriere

I arrived in Utah last night. Today, I spent most of the day pitching in, doing a little cleaning. By evening hours I was exhausted and collapsed on the floor, whining to my baby brother that I needed a massage. My baby brother is 6 years old. Kids that age don't know the first thing about massage. I was expecting to be poked or even tickled when I asked for one, but to my surprise, he started walking up and down my back like a pro! Clearly he had done this before!! He walked on my butt too, and started giggling. I asked him what was so funny, and he said, "Your butt is HUMONGOUS!" OH. MY. GOSH. That's freakin hilarious! After I had a good laugh, I told him it was ok for him to say that to ME because I'm his sister and I don't mind having a "humongous" butt, but if he were to say that to anyone else, he might make someone cry. Oh, the hilarity! What 6 year old uses the word "humongous" anyway? When I told him my butt gets bigger when I run a lot, he said, "Then maybe you shouldn't run so much." LMAO!!! It took me 10 minutes to catch my breath!

Even Super-Heros Have Bad Days....

I don't even know where to start. All I can say is my practice marathon seemed doomed from the start. My body gave out on me after 20 miles. I was struggling after about 8!! Here's where I think I went wrong.

1. Apparently going for a 13 mile run the Monday before a Saturday marathon is a BAAAAD idea. I was told that wasn't enough recovery time for that kind of distance, so my body wasn't rested enough.

2. I didn't take in enough salt early enough in the run. I hit delirium before I should have. And let me add to that DESPERATION.

3. I got a massage the day before. Not a good one, just a foofy, fluffy one.....but I was told that was another BAAAAD idea.

4. Not enough rest. The night before, as my head hit the pillow, I heard a JACKHAMMER POUNDING THE PAVEMENT a half block away from my apartment. It was nearly 11pm in a residential neighborhood. I think I threw a few cuss words out the window before I called the police. After another 15 minutes of pounding, I marched my sassy ass over there and threw a fit. I can only imagine how I looked.....red plaid pajama shorts, a pink pajama top, flip flops smacking my feet with every step, my hair wildly flailing about. I'm pretty sure I saw them snickering.

5. I wasn't mentally prepared. I haven't quite convinced myself I can do this....so I'm wondering how much of this is self sabotage. I am truly grateful for all the support I've received! It has helped tremendously. Now I need to be more supportive of myself!

The real marathon is in 3 more weeks. That's plenty of time to get it right and prepare myself to go all the way. My family will be at the finish line that day, so whether I'm upright or crawling....I'll cross the finish line!!

I was really disappointed with myself yesterday, and tears were shed. But as cheesy as it is.... I feel I really got something valuable from this. I've learned A LOT....and it has given me good perspective. Not just on running, but on my life. Some things we have to learn through disappointments.

I heard this quote today, and it really hit home for me after this.

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." -Michael Jordan

The moment of truth....

Tomorrow is the big training run.....the 26 miler. The actual marathon is in three weeks. Why do I have to do a marathon TWICE you ask? I have no idea. I was thinking the same thing. These are the thoughts bouncing around in my head.....

"I'm scared to DEATH! 26 MILES? Am I out of my mind??"

"No self....you'll be fine. You did 13 miles Monday and you weren't even sore after that. You'll finish, no worries."

"But that was 13 miles, not 26. Again. Am I out of my mind?"

"Self.....stop freakin out! You rested, ate a big pasta dinner....your hydrated.....you're good to go."

"Underwear. I'm worried about my underwear."

"Shut up. You're gonna chafe regardless.....deal."

*starting to get teary eyed*"I DON'T WANT to run 26 miles tomorrow!!! What if its a million degrees? I'll overheat. I'll sunburn."

"Breathe self. Relax. Do what you can do. Just aim for the finish line."

*dramatic sigh/long pause* "Ok. But I don't have to like it."

"No you don't, but try anyway. Go to bed and stop blogging."

"I ate too much pasta. I can't go to bed with a full tummy."

"Seriously? Really? We're having this conversation?"

"Ok, fine. Going......"


It's pretty likely I won't be able to walk for the next two or three days, so be assured I will let you all know how it goes. Pray for me. I'm gonna need it. I'm pretty sure this will be me at the finish line..................

Ghetto Superstar

You know you're ghetto when.....rather than ditching a pair of socks that gets a hole in the toe, you put it on the other foot so your big toe doesn't poke out. You're even MORE of a GHETTO SUPERSTAR when there's a FEW holes so that no matter what foot the sock is on, your toes poke out. And the biggest GHETTO SUPERSTAR award goes to those that even with all the holes, TWISTS the sock around so the bottom is on the top of your foot, hiding the unsightly holes. The holes are still there, mind you, and it's only a matter of time before the sock has so many holes that it resembles an anklet.

I don't personally know anyone with this problem.....I'm just sayin.......