Margarita on the rocks no salt please

I'm leaving today for good old Medina, OH. My sister is graciously hosting a bridal shower in my honor - a Mexican Margarita Fiesta! Oh my family and friends know me so well. Provide a regular margarita on the rocks no salt with some chips and guacamole and she is one happy girl ;) It should be fun. Two of my bridesmaids are even flying in tomorrow to help celebrate with me. Yay!

In saying all that I haven't had much time for running or any kind of exercise yesterday and today. I was in the car driving to and from Wisconsin for over 7 hours yesterday and just so exhausted after getting home late that I hit snooze instead of going for a run today. Now it's in the 80's and ridiculously humid. Hopefully I can get 1 or 2 good runs in this weekend. I'll aim for 1 and 2 will be a bonus :) Alright - off to finish packing up the car! Happy weekend.

4 is the new 3

Recently I have had it in my head that 3 miles is just not enough. 4 mile runs have become my new 3. It's probably for the best. I need to squeeze in all the miles I can when I have time :) I did just get back from a nice 4 mile run. The humidity has gone away for now and it was unseasonably cool. A beautiful day for a run. My last run was on Saturday and I actually went farther than 4 :) But it was hot and humid and the nearly 6 mile run at 4pm was slow going. But at least I got it done and I felt better that I did run.

Tonight my big plan is dinner with the girls! It took us nearly a month to find a day for all of us to meet thanks to all of our crazy schedules but we are finally making it work. I am in desperate need of some girl time even if it is for only a couple hours.

dude this is me from nearly 3 years ago. Look at my awesome quad muscle. I want that back. At least that aweful shirt still fits me :) honestly how do I get that back. I know I was 26 when that was taken - but seriously that's awesome!

New Shoes

Nothing better than some new shoes! I let myself splurge and get a new pair of my beloved Asics at full price because I was long overdue for some kicks. I may have had a crappy run today but my feet felt fantastic. Crappy run happened because I ate a fabulous tasting lunch but not so fabulous for a run and just being exhausted from this weeks travels. Now I need to take the old pairs to the local running store and put in the donation/recycle bin.

In wedding world we have received 2 response cards - wahoo only 86 left to track :) 1 yes and 1 no. If this keeps up I'm going to have an even smaller wedding than expected ;) ;) Alright I'm off to make some thank you cards I have not found time to write since my shower in the beginning of June. Yes I know...bad.

Sometimes I'm...

Really forgetful and flighty. Sometimes I think it is a result of me losing consciousness on more than 1 occasion then I realize I have always been like this and it's not any worse. For example, today I had a 7am flight to St. Louis. Joy of joys I love waking at 5am and rushing to the airport. Anyways while on the way to the airport I realized I packed my running shoes but no shorts, t-shirt or sports bra. And peeps, this isn't the first time this has happened. Where I'm staying for this trip is an area where there's not a whole lot on the shopping front (or much of anything front) available. I think there is a Target maybe 10 miles away. I may have to head over there after work and pick up some items...I may just scratch it altogether.

Yesterday I had a great 4 mile run. And for the first time in weeks I consistently ran under a 9 minute mile AND negative splits. Two good runs in 3 days puts me in a very happy mood. My love affair with running has returned for now :)

Over already?

I can't believe yet another weekend is over already! First, Happy Father's day to all who are fathers. Second, I know this is primarily a running blog but as of late it has become primarily a wedding and general life blog. So if you can't stand all this wedding talk it will all be over in 70 days.

This weekend was sort of productive on both the wedding and running fronts. Friday I was way too tired to do much of anything but I managed a nice home weight session before heading out for dinner. I tried a new circuit from one of my gazillion magazines I subscribe to and it kicked my butt literally. My booty is still sore. After dinner I came home to finish our wedding invitations as I had made myself a deadline of Saturday to get them in the mail. Even though at 1am I realized I was missing 6 peoples invitations (ugh) I am happy to report those suckers made it in the box by the required date :) Yay! I was so nervous putting them in the box (yes I know that wedding etiquette states I should request those time sucking pieces of paper to be hand stamped but seriously?!? I am not asking my post office to do that. They would just laugh me into the next neighborhood). It's so real and now begins the competition with who will return their RSVP first then who won't at all...The remainder of Saturday was spent searching high and low for an affordable sectional that is also comfortable (read can't get out of when you stand up but don't feel like you are laying on cement) we came home with no sofa and very frustrated. I was also on a wedding low as I didn't know what my next project would be and so not feeling a run in me. However, as I sat to watch Terminator 3 (I'm a sucker for sci-fi movies with good action on HD) and watch the minutes tick by I thought I would put the running clothes on at least and see if that would motivate me. And it did! I was only going for 3 1/2 and it turned into 5 because I was feeling so good. I probably would have gone more if we weren't meeting friends for dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant. Dinner was fabulous as always and the company even better! I slept in on Sunday and ran errands when Jacob decided he wanted to golf before settling in to watch the US Open. The new project of the day after a requisite trip to Target was that I was going to attempt to make our wedding guestbook. And you know what I did and if I don't say so myself it is pretty freaking fantastic. It took me about 4 1/2 hours and some swearing at the very confusing instructions with blurred pictures but I figured it out. Of course there are a couple things wrong but nothing blatantly obvious and I saved myself a good $30 making it myself. That's a dinner out one night :) And after this little project I decided I wanted my new job to be making wedding albums :) It would be so much more less stressful than my current position while still being able to work from home ;) Jacob thinks I'm crazy. I say there is money to be made!

Bad Mojo

What a freaking day. Long day at work and my manager wants me to somehow squeeze in another 2 day visit when I only have 1 day free the remainder of this month. It is what midnight ??? and I just walked in the door. And since the last time I ate was 6pm I was starving so I just inhaled 2 pieces of hawaiian pizza. Yeah, Jake so not helping my diet right now. So I was delayed, blah, blah, blah. I seem to start a lot of my sentences with those 4 words. The other word of the night was f*&%! I used that word A LOT on the way home. Stupid fender bender (of course a chicago cab was involved) before even leaving the airport. Stuck in traffic for 20 minutes there (it should take less than 5) then hit the Kennedy for the whole 4 miles I have to take the expressway and whadya know - traffic. At 10:50pm. 1) why are there so many people on the road at nearly 11pm and 2) what the hell are you all doing/where are you going? So what should take another 15 minutes takes oh 35. Then I finally get to my exit and hit nearly every red light. I had some bad mojo this evening.

If the storms hold off I hope to get a run in tomorrow if not I'm off to the gym. Either way a workout will do me some good!

Wear Sunscreen

Does anyone else remember that song? I guess it wasn't really a song more of a commencement speech turned spoken song. If you don't check it out here. That's what I didn't do on this mornings run and the speech kept going through my head once I realized I forgot. I definitely need to be better about putting it on and not just because of vanity reasons (I don't need to look like I am still wearing a running tank while walking down the aisle in my strapless wedding dress!) And yes I said I ran! That hasn't happened in oh....5 days. I just have not made time for myself. Of course I have all kinds of excuses like I was out of town for the weekend and it was 90 something. But I came back and made time to go to the Ribfest so that excuse won't fly. Or that work is killing me right now. But honestly I had plenty of time to go Monday but chose to work on addressing my wedding invitations instead. Ah priorities lately :) But seriously check out that song if you have no idea what I am talking about. It has tons of insight besides wear sunscreen like STRETCH, SING, FLOSS, TRAVEL, and on that really hits home for me now that it has been nearly 6 years since I lost my mom "Get to know your parents, you'll never know when they'll be gone for good".

Alright I am off to pack and travel to Birmingham, AL. This job has me gone nearly 3 work weeks every month. I am exhausted and tired with all the travel. 6 1/2 years ago it was glamorous and fun and I loved the perks now I'm old and sick of it every week. Hopefully this will change soon.

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

It's hot. And my fingers are swollen like little sausages. Side effect of running in the heat. Tuesday it was in the 50's and raining and today 80 degrees by 7 a.m. Just once I would like to ease into this weather not just one day - Hello! Anyways I had intentions to go on a nice 8 mile run before heading out to the suburbs to go meet with one of my local sites. It was going to act as my long run this week as we are going to central IL tonight because my first bridal shower is tomorrow. It is difficult to find time and a place to run there. So I thought I would be good get it done in the morning before it got too humid and gross. Boy was I wrong. I hadn't even started running yet and I was already sweating. So my 8 mile turned into a slow 5.5 mile run. I need to ease into this heat...On the run I realized this is my first hot run since the infamous marathon last year. After that race I took 2 weeks to ensure I was healed (rhabdomylosis = doctor's worried this girl was going to have a heart attack at age 28. The questionable EKG's and high CK levels didn't ease their concern much either) and recover from my general disdain of running. By the time I returned no more warm weather. I have to say it makes me nervous to run in this weather this year. I trained for a marathon in this heat last year with few issues but it all just seems so different now. I know it is all mental and I'll get a few more warm weather runs under my belt and gain some confidence but right now I'm hesitant. At least it has me focusing more on my body and running itself versus trying to be tough girl. Maybe I should sign up for that August half mary just to prove last year was a fluke and I'm not that girl that passes out in warm races ;)

I've been Tagged

Tonight's run started as an angry run. I was fuming thanks to many issues and frustrating people in my life. I was so mad I left garmy at home but thankfully remembered my keys. Luckily by mile 3 I calmed down enough to think clearly but not necessarily relax. I wish I would have remembered garmy as it would have been interesting to see my pace those first 3 miles. Thank goodness the rain held off long enough to allow me to run or I really don't know what I would have done.

In other news I was tagged by Derek. This one is a fun running related tag!

Here are the rules and my reply is just below.Tagging is easy. Just copy the following onto your post.The rules of the game are posted at the start of your blog post.In this case, I'm asking you 5 questions about running.Each player answers the 5 questions on their own blog.At the end of your post you tag 5 other people and post their names.Go to their blogs and leave a comment on their blogs telling them they've been tagged and to look at your blog for details.When they've answered the questions on their own blog, they come back to yours to tell you. Got that?Here goes.
1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?
Hahahaha - This girl was so not running 10 years ago! I was at or right around my heaviest weight ever. After breaking my toe and requiring surgery to remove bones I basically became the laziest person ever. The most exercise I got was walking up the steps to the 2nd floor of my dorm only because there was no elevator (you know I would have used it to if there had been one). I may have overslept and had to "run" to an early morning bio class or something ;)
2. What is your best and worst run/race experience?

Let's start with the worst - Hands down Chicago Marathon 2007. Nothing will ever trump passing out and waking up in the ER with a bright light shining on my face, a random but nice woman standing over me, and not knowing who I was, how I got there, or the name of the place I was located. Then to make matters worse the hospital staff didn't know to look at my emergency information actually written in the back of my bib for over 4 hours. In the meantime my family and now fiance had no idea where I was as I sat in the hallway of the ER only known to passerby's as Jane Doe. Then random people would come up to me (usually scaring me to near death) to bombard me with questions in attempt to have me remember more than the area code of my phone number. Yeah that sucked. Then coming home 2 days later and seeing a DNF on my race results. No fun.

Best race experience - Finishing the 2007 Dallas White Rock Marathon 2 short months after my first horrible experience with the distance. Nothing will trump seeing the finish line and hearing "Somewhere over a Rainbow" come on my ipod. All the pain I was feeling melted away and I realized why I set out to achieve this goal in the first place.

3. Why do you run?

I run for my sanity and because I love a good challenge. I started running for vanity reasons and there still is that plus side. Running is something I am never going to be great at but I love to see how I improve, or where I need to improve. I love race weekend too - going to the expo, seeing all these other crazy people who woke up early to run, enjoying a good course and the people around me.

4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?

Worst - Why even run/race if you're never going to win?

Best - There's so much thanks to all you bloggers and especially on the Runners Lounge!

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.

I once was arrested in Mexico. So not my fault - all because a store owner accused my sister of taking something when she wouldn't buy whatever it was he was trying to sell her. Guilty by association I guess. Thank goodness someone from the US embassy was downtown and saw the whole thing go down or I may not be writing this blog today ;) Seriously it makes for a great story over drinks wasn't so funny when it happened and there's gun in your face but it's funny now.

Okay so I'll tag: Laura, Marcy, Lam, Jess, and Bill

Another too short weekend

As usual the weekend just wasn't long enough. Although I did enjoy the time to myself. I was able to get a 6 mile run done yesterday around a 9min/mile pace. The weather was perfect! My Wii Fit came in the mail on Saturday so I also played on that all weekend. My obliques freakin hurt from all my hula hooping action. I love the hula hoop game! A lot of the weekend was spent running errands and putting together the wedding invitations. I probably only made it 1/3 of the way through despite staying up to midnight both Saturday and Sunday night. I am not 100% happy with how the colors turned out (the two blue's I used don't look fantastic together) but honestly who cares people are just going to throw them out anyways. I got my haircut after 4 months (shorter than I wanted but luckily it grows fast!), met my friend who just got back from her honeymoon for lunch then we went to my venue to take pictures for my florist. Once I get the new camera installed on the computer I will post pictures of my venue. I love it so much probably even more now that it's not January and barren like when we booked it - who cares that we are paying a ridiculous amount of money for an empty room and garden! It is like this beautiful sanctuary in the middle of downtown Chicago. I picked up a thank you gift for my future mother in law as my first bridal shower is next weekend and so on and so forth. And how can I forget seeing Sex and The City on Friday night with the girls! I'm happy to have seen it openinng night and enjoyed it for the most part but wasn't so happy about sitting 3rd row. My neck still hurts. This will be another crazy week for work travel wise but I hope to squeeze in a couple short-medium length runs. I have been kicking around the idea of running a 1/2 marathon 2 weeks before the wedding even though it will be hot just to wear a shirt that say last race as a single girl or something lame like that ;) Also to motivate me to stay in shape before the big day! Anyone care to join me?