A Year of Firsts!!

Ok so now that you know how HUGE of a nerd I am (see last post: Music)…we’ll move on! :0)

In spirit of the upcoming New Year and in looking back over 2010, I know that this past year has been a HUGE year of firsts for me.  I like that because it keeps life interesting and helps ward of boredom!

I always want to keep each year exciting and fresh so for 2011, my “resolution” is never be scared or afraid to try something new and try as many “firsts” as possible!  I’m starting off 2011 on a high note with a first, I would say!  2011 WDW Marathon!!

So in the spirit of “firsts”, I pulled up a lot of old blog posts from 2010 (except my very first blog post). 

I started this blog in July of 09.  My main focus of this blog was to recount my training for my very first Half Marathon!  It’s funny to see how that has changed over the past year and a half! :0)

First Blog Post

So far to date, I’ve run 5 Half Marathons with my first being in January of 2010 at WDW! 

Here’s my Half Marathon recaps:

January 2010 Walt Disney World Half Marathon Recap
My very first Half Marathon!!  We braved the cold/icy weather for this Half Marathon and somehow decided that we “enjoyed” doing this…so we signed up for more!

February 2010 New Orleans Rock and Roll Half  Marathon Recap
I ran this one with a friend and we had a goal of 2:30.  We broke that goal at 2:28 and that felt like a HUGE accomplishment.  At the time, it WAS a huge accomplishment!  That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do!

October 2010 Walt Disney World Wine and Dine Half Marathon Recap
I ran this race sick.  A friend also hurt her knee mid run so we walked most of the end.

October 2010 New Orleans Jazz Half Marathon Recap Part 1 
October 2010 New Orleans Jazz Half Marathon Recap Part 2
Kayla’s first Half Marathon!  I ran the entire way with her and realized that I felt GREAT at 2:30!! How much faster could I run a Half now that I’ve been training for a Full?  Hmm…

December 2010 Swamp Stomp Half Marathon Recap
This race holds my current PR!  2:12!!  Seriously one of the hardest things I’ve ever done!  I was trying for 2:10 but I’ll take it! :0)

A few other firsts that happened in my life this year….

Perhaps one of the most exciting things that happened for fellow Louisianans early 2010:

WHO DAT BABY!!!

Dat’s right…the Saints won the Superbowl!!  You could feel the excitement in the air for MONTHS after the game was over…shoot…you can STILL feel the excitement in the air! :0)

I also made a few new friends in my running group!  I’m so grateful for their friendship and the long runs that they help me endure!!!  

 New GoRun Friends

March 2010 rolled around and I ran a humid, muggy 5K out of town!  Unknown race course, bad weather…but guess what?  That race currently holds my 5K PR!  I was trying to break 28 minutes and I did it!

March 2010 Courier du Festivale - Current 5K PR – 27:35

I also had my first EVER broken bone!  Yes, 28 years old (well 27 at the time) and still hadn’t had a broken bone!  I broke this bone playing softball. Someone threw a crazy ball from the outfield (I was standing on 2nd base) and the ball hit my foot HARD.  I knew it was broken but I finished out playing the game.  Crazy?  Yes I am.  Hard core….playing like my dad would play….what can I say?  It’s in my genes.

My 1st broken bone!

Skip finger paintings and silly paint by number photos from when I was young…this past June, I did my first ever REAL painting on canvas with real paint! I felt like a big girl! :0)

My 1st painting!

Post broken foot, my first Marathon training run happened this past summer!  I let my foot heal for 5 weeks before running on it again!  (My ortho Dr. told me that I’m too “old” for all of this activity stuff  ie: softball…running…etc.)  Shows how much he knows!

First Marathon Training Run

I lost a very good friend this past August.  He was a friend of my grandfather’s and from the moment we met, I knew we would make great friends!  He passed away from cancer as did my grandfather.  Just another reason I’m so passionate about my cause…running with the American Cancer Society’s DetermiNation team.  I hate this disease.

In Memory of Mr. Duhon
My Cause – ACS DetermiNation –
A world with LESS Cancer and MORE Birthdays!

I also attended a Jonas Brothers/Demi Lovato/Camp Rock 2 concert this past September with one of my best friends and my sister in law!  We had a BLAST!  (I can’t believe I just admitted that out loud!)

Concert weekend!

In September, I also reached 100 posts on my blog!  Yay!

100 posts!

That leaves us with my longest training run to date!  21 Miles!!

Longest Training Run

My first first of 2011 is coming up in just 9 days!!! 

I hope you all had a productive and exciting 2010!!  Here’s to an even more exciting 2011!

Happy New Year! :0)

Music

I’m a nerd. A huge nerd. I’m about to prove how big of a nerd I am to you! :0)

On a side note first, I just realized that I can do ONLINE check-in for our upcoming Marathon trip!! Woohoo! It’s already time! I can’t stand the anticipation/nerves/excitement, etc! I’ll start getting things together and packing this weekend! Eek!

As I’m writing this, I’m watching a mile by mile recap of the WDW Marathon video on YouTube!! So neat to see! The music at the start of the video made me smile! Whoever put this together did an AWESOME job! I cannot WAIT! I’m crying watching the end of this video so I can only imagine how I will feel at the end of the real race!!

Here’s the link incase you are interested!

WDW Marathon - Mile by Mile recap video

Ok now to the reason for this entry….my total nerdy-ness!

I love music….and for each race that I run, I dedicate a “theme song” for that race. There….I said it…nerd, right?

Well, in full force of my nerdy-ness, I’m SO excited because I just found my Marathon song for WDW Marathon weekend! I like doing this because when I hear the song in the weeks/days leading up to the race, I get excited and it makes me smile. Just a little something to help keep my focus and keep me excited about the race!

A few songs I’ve used in the past:
(BIG nerd, remember?! I love the Disney Channel and a lot of their artists including Demi Lovato, the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus. Yes, I AM 28 years old, I promise!)

2010 WDW Half Marathon – Celebrate You by Corbin Bleu
I know this was already being used as the parks theme song but I decided to use it for my race, too…this race was a first ever for me so that was exciting!!!
2010 Rock and Roll Jazz Half – Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus
You hate the song, I know. So does my husband! Hah!
2010 WDW Wine and Dine Half Marathon – Feeling Alive by the Jonas Brothers
The cheese continues. It was a night time race and the lyrics to the song fit! “This is the night, for feeling alive…” When they sang this song at their concert this past September (yes I went to a Jonas Brothers concert), just weeks before we left for WDW, the 12 year old in me came out in full force! “This is my Half Marathon song!” I yelled to Kayla!! See what I mean? Excitement…anticipation…yeah.
OK then. Moving on.
2010 New Orleans Jazz Half - Dynamite by Taio Cruz
Totally different from my other choices, huh? :0)
2010 Swamp Stomp – My best race (PR wise) to date and believe it or not, I registered 2 weeks before the race and didn’t have enough time to pick a song. That should tell me something right there, huh? Hah!

Alright, so now onto my song of choice for the 2011 WDW Full Marathon – Long Live by Taylor Swift!

It’s off her newest album Speak Now and it’s a song that she wrote for her band…but I really like it! Check out a few of the lyrics… (The parts in bold are my take!!) :0)

I said remember this moment
In the back of my mind
(Yes I will definitely experience many moments like this!)
The time we stood with our shaking hands
(Or shaking bodies depending on if it’s cold outside! If not, then the shaking will be the result of nerves!)
The crowds in stands went wild
We were the kings and the queens
And they read off our names
(People on the sidelines cheering you on!)
The night you danced like you knew our lives would never be the same
You held your head like a hero on a history book page
It was the end of a decade
But the start of an age
(Crossing that finish line…feeling like you can accomplish anything because YOU just ran a MARATHON!)

Long live the walls we crashed through
(Lots of barriers were broken with training/signing up for this race!)
How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you
(Kingdom lights…get it? MAGIC Kingdom…yeah!) NERD
I was screaming long live all the magic we made
And bring on all the pretenders
One day we will be remembered

I said remember this feeling
I pass the pictures around
Of all the years that we stood there on the sidelines
Wishing for right now
(2009….Wishing I could one day accomplish what so many others were at that moment!)
We are the kings and the queens
You traded your baseball cap for a crown
When they gave us our trophies
And we held them up for our town
(Our Medals…bright shiny Mickey Medals…)

There’s more to the song but that’s all my insight for now! :0) So now you know what goes on in my cheesy little head! :0)

Hope you all have a great night! It’s very rainy and nasty over here! I’m supposed to go see a movie with a friend and I HATE driving in the pouring rain…I hope it lets up soon!

Happy New Year!! :0)

Only 364 days to go!

This is always the saddest day of the year for me….the day AFTER Christmas!  I look forward to Christmas day all year long…then it’s over so fast….

 

Christmas Eve Morning…my tree! :0)

Our Christmas plans:

1.)  Christmas Eve Morning breakfast at my parents. I started making cinnamon rolls last year so I decided to start a tradition! :0)
2.)  Christmas Eve lunch with Jason’s dad and brother’s family.
3.)  Christmas Eve dinner at Jason’s mom’s house with his brothers/sisters
4.)  Christmas Day Lunch at my brother’s house in Texas with my parents and my brother/his wife/my grandfather, etc

Busy busy busy!!!

 

The yummy homemade cinnamon rolls I made for Christmas Eve Breakfast!  They were SO GOOD! :0)

I also spent time in between all of the business to make goodies! :0)

Everyone got a to-go container! Teehee! :0)

Jason’s Family on Christmas Eve! :0)

My family on Christmas Day! :0)

     

We watched the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade!  If you look close, you can see the castle to the left of the TV screen! :0)

  

We all got Saints gear!  I LOVE my new sparkly jersey!!!

 

Merry Christmas from our home to yours! :0)

We had a great Christmas!  What I didn’t expect was the fever I developed on Christmas day.  It was not fun and I spent the rest of Christmas night on the couch sleeping.  I started some antibiotics that expired last month (the Dr I work for is out of the country so I couldn’t call for any more) but I figured it was better than nothing! I feel slightly better today….I had yogurt and blueberries for breakfast and a banana almond butter spinach smoothie for lunch.  I also took some probiotics so hopefully I can kick this in the butt before it gets me!  I’m just worried about feeling better for my Full Marathon coming up in 2 weeks!!!  Oh well…Merry SICKmas is what I said all day yesterday!  Hah!

I’ll leave you with a few pictures of my puppies!

Madalynn was “Santa Paws”!   As you can see, she LOVED her gift from Santa!!!

Until Pixie stole it and hid under the tree so Madalynn couldn’t get it!  Brat!

Now my parents are here and we are about to eat leftovers and watch Christmas Vacation (also a tradition of ours!)!!! I’m using my Winterberry Christmas China for the first time!  (It was a Christmas gift from my parents last Christmas!)  :0)

Merry Christmas!  Hope you had a blessed weekend!!!

Jingle Bell Run! :0)

Every December during the week of Christmas, my running group holds its Annual Jingle Bell Run!  It’s not a race, it’s not anything timed….it’s very similar to the Turkey Trot I ran Thanksgiving Day with my mom.  The Jingle Bell Run is very family friendly and very much open to walkers or runners.

I arrived about 5 minutes late, but before I began my run, I needed a picture of my watch from Saturday before I reset it!  Hah!  Thanks for all the awesome comments you guys left me on my last blog post about my 21 mile run!  This weekend has been insane and I promise to catch up on blogs during the week! :0)

 

Our board! 

No Jingle Bell Run is complete without Jingle Bells on your shoes!!  I loved running and hearing everyone’s shoes jingling! :0)

This run is my most FAVORITE run of the year!  I look forward to this run all year long!  We run down my favorite route along the water downtown….and we pass right in front of all the gorgeous homes decorated for Christmas! Can we say LOVE!!!!

This house had a Santa out front handing out Candy Canes!  I didn’t get any pictures or video of Santa though because it also had 2 cops out guarding the house!  (These people pay for cops to patrol every single year!)  It also happens to be my favorite house on the route!!! They have Christmas music piped it and it was a lot of fun hearing the kids sing along as we ran by!

You could run 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 miles!  I chose 4.  I was surprised I could run after my long run on Saturday but I did great!  I ran pretty hard and it felt awesome!! :0)

 

An awful picture of me running! Hah!

After the run, I got to see Santa!!!!

 

We also walked the circle in front of our Civic Center.  It was here that we were taped and placed on the local 10 o’clock news!  :0)

This was the news guy! :0) 

Amanda and I!! She’s running the Houston Full!

 

Mica, Amanda, and I!

 

On top of all the fun, I also won a DOOR PRIZE! I never win door prizes!  Woohoo! I was so excited!  Amanda, Heather, and I all won! :0)

Now I’m off to fundraise for our American Cancer Society’s DetermiNation group!  Have a wonderful night!! 

Merry Christmas!!!

21 Miles: DONE!!

Saturday morning, I had my longest training run yet….a 21 mile run!  This also marks the longest run I will do before my Full Marathon in just 3 weeks!!! 

I
AM
SO
NERVOUS EXCITED!

Saturday morning was cold, but it was in the high 40’s, low 50’s so it wasn’t too bad!  I met up with my running group at 5 a.m. and four of us set off on our run.  The other three girls are running the Houston Full and Saturday morning was their 16 mile run…..so thankfully, I was able to run through that part with them!  Otherwise, I knew this run would have been MISERABLE without their company!

We veered off course a little when we saw THIS house!  Isn’t it incredible?!  They also had music playing!  We looked like a bunch of little kids standing in front of the house with our mouths gaping open in awe! 

Yes, we ran into the first part of their yard to take pictures.  Bad, we know. 

 

Tara and I with the Grinch!  Hah!  :0)

The run wasn’t too bad.  It was very long (obviously…it was 21 miles after all)…and it took me about 4 1/2 hours to finish.  It was nice running the first part with the other girls. They really helped me make it through!  My lower body started aching right on cue of course…14 miles.  It never really stopped and was hard to run through but I made it!   At least at Disney, I’ll have things to entertain me while I run! :0)

I was the last one to finish (I was the only one running 21 miles on Saturday) as I am the only run running the Disney Full (two of my friends are running the Disney Half but their run obviously was shorter than mine!).  Even though I finished last, our coach and Julie were waiting for me with a camera and a Go Run medal!!!!

  

I LOVE this idea and think it’s so cute!  Even though it’s just a cheap plastic medal, I still earned it!!!

 

21 miles! Oh yea!!!

After the run, I had to go to work (which is only like 2 blocks away from where we run), freshen up super fast in the bathroom, then get to an associate event that our team planned.  It was crazy but I made it!!

Today, my thighs are really sore but other than that, I feel great!  I did feel kind of loopy yesterday after the run and I’ve been sleeping a lot this weekend but I guess Marathon Training will do that to you! :0)

I had a VERY busy weekend!!!  Besides the run, I also had our work Christmas party, our Children’s Ministries Christmas party for Church, a Christmas Party for friends at my house, and my sister in law’s Graduation party!!!  Needless to say, after church this morning, I took a 2 hour nap on the couch. I was worn out!

A glimpse into the rest of my weekend….

I got a haircut….no….wait…..

It’s a wig!  Friday, this wig was floating around our department and I tried it on!! My hair would NEVER behave like this….even if I wanted it to! Hah!

We had our work Christmas party where we all received Kindles from the Doctor that we work for! :0)  (The girl to my right is wearing the wig!  It really made it’s way around! Hah!)  We are a small department and we share everything…we aren’t very worried about coodies…as you can tell!!

SO excited about this one!!!

I got this in the White Elephant game we played!  SO excited!!!!

   

Yummy Gumbo (which I ate TWICE on Friday…once at our work party and again at our church party!)…

 

Our gang!  I love working with these guys!  :0)

Saturday night was our friends Christmas party at my house!  We had a BLAST! :0)

Yummy desserts!! :0)

 

Everyone intently watching Mickey’s Christmas Carol.  Every time they said the word “Christmas” or the word “Bah Humbug”, we had to pass the gift to the right.  It was crazy trying to keep up sometimes!!  Crazy but fun!  Last year, we played the game with “A Charlie Brown Christmas”!  Whatever gift is in your hands at the end of the show is the gift you get.  Then you can trade if you want but you don’t have to! :0)

 

Bah Humbug!!  SWITCH! 

This was the result of our game…I got a POUND of Russell Stover chocolate.  Holy moly.  I have no clue what I’m going to do with all of this!!!  I hope it doesn’t ruin my Marathon Training!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! :0)

Happy Birthday, Pixie!

December 15, 2006 – My sweet baby girl turned 4 years old yesterday!!

I decided that I wanted a girl Yorkie around Valentines Day. My husband drove EVERYWHERE trying to find a girl but everyone only had boys.  Finally, we found one online that we fell in love with!  He drove to a town 3 hours away as a surprise and brought her home.  When I got home from work, there was a “package” waiting for me….inside the “package” (box) was my little girl!! :0)

At six weeks old, she was SO little!  Just 1 pound 5 ounces and she fit in the palm of your hand!

She also fit in my scrub pocket! lol

Her first bath!  She looked like a little wet rat! :0)

Superbowl Sunday!

Our Valentines Day gifts to each other!  At this point, she was about 2 months old!

Getting bigger!

Tinkerbell for Halloween! :0)

She was supposed to be a Lady Bug the following year for Halloween but she wouldn’t cooperate with the costume.  She looks SO mad at me in this picture!  Hah!

All grown up!  Now 5 pounds of sweetness! :0)

Happy Birthday my sweet Pixie!!  You are such a joy to us…I can’t imagine life without you! :0)

"All you need is faith and trust... and a little bit of PIXIE dust!"
--Peter Pan
(That’s where her name came from…just incase you were wondering!) :0)