Superwoman! :0)

I have an announcement!

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I
AM
SUPERWOMAN!

Hahahah JUST KIDDING!!!! 

Here’s the story.  Today, I totally didn’t feel like going for a run.  In order to get my 60 miles in for the month, I needed to run just 4 miles and I needed to do it TODAY!  So, even though my Garmin was dead, I talked myself into running, and surprisingly, I felt great!  I felt awesome, actually.  I decided to run alone (minus my puppy dog) – just me,  my Yurbuds, and my RunKeeper app on my phone! 

I was about to reach 2 miles when I came across a couple walking with a stroller and their two dogs.  I’m always friendly to dogs when I see them so I said hi to the huge Golden Retriever.  She jumped at me twice to tell me “hi” and in the process, she bumped me in the eye with her slimy nose, and she ripped my Yurbuds completely out of my ears.  Her owners never once told me hi…they yelled at her (“MOLLY!”) to leave me alone.  I shrugged it off and decided to start running again-only one problem: I lost a Yurbud.  The earphones were still intact, but one blue plastic bud had popped off the earphones.  I became frantic (even though I still remembered to stop my RunKeeper) and was about to ask the couple to turn around to help me – but I realized they never once paid any attention to me.  What nice neighbors, huh?  In the middle of my franticness (if that’s even a word), my husband called.  I told him he would probably have to meet me on his way home to shine his lights because by this point, it was getting dark.  I wondered if Molly had my Yurbud in her mouth?  Where did it fall?  Did it roll? 

Miraculously, I found it.  It was in my shirt (even though I shook out my shirt twice) but I never questioned it. I just said a quick thanks and restarted RunKeeper.  I got home, grabbed my doggie to try out her new harness, and started on the 2nd half of my run.  In the middle of that mess, RunKeeper jumped from a distance of 1.5 miles to a distance of 2.6 miles when it should have only increased by 0.3 miles! Wow!  I knew I hadn’t run that far, so I used RunKeeper for a timer and kept up with the mileage in my head.  The 2nd half of my run with my dog was much faster than the first – partly because it was getting dark when we stated our run! 

Even though RunKeeper says I ran 5.5 miles in 36 minutes, I actually ran 4 miles in 36 minutes – Making it my FASTEST 4 mile run to date!!!  Woohooo!

Soooo, to end the month of February, my mileage totals:  60.60 miles!  :0))  I’m pretty excited about that!

Before/After! :0)

I’m pretty sure I’ve been bitten by the “spring cleaning bug”, even though it’s not quite Spring! :0)  That’s ok…I’ve been VERY productive and have taken a lot of joy in throwing things away! 

It all began with my closet.  I was sick and tired of seeing it a mess.  So last week, I went to Target/Wal-Mart and spent a small fortune purchased shelves, plastic containers, and baskets to store things in.  You would not believe the difference it has made!  I took one room per night and meant to take before/after pictures of everything-which I forgot to do! (That is SO unlike me!)

So far, I’ve gotten through my closet, my bathroom, the kitchen cabinets, and the guest bedroom closet.  I feel so much better already. I HATE clutter!  I still have a little more to do but it’s not a lot!  Yay!

This morning, Jason and I woke up and started working.  We should have gone to church today, and I really don’t have a good reason as to why we didn’t.  I did watch/listen to a pastor from Dallas, Tx live online this morning so I didn’t feel as guilty for missing!

Anyway, as soon as we woke up, we immediately took to working on our flower bed.  It needed quite a bit of work!  We pulled weeds, fixed our water fountain, cut back more winterized plants, and got rid of the ants!  All we have left to do is rake through the bed and plant new Spring flowers!  I’m worried about another freeze coming through, so I think we’ll wait a few weeks before we plant anything.  I know I know…it’s almost March and it hasn’t been cold here in weeks.  WELL, in April of 2007, on our wedding weekend, a huge cold front came through and we had SLEET and frost!  So…I’m traumatized! :0)  No planting I know for sure we won’t have another freeze!

We also worked on our garage.  I sort-of remembered a before picture.  This is more like a half-way finished picture! :0)  That huge shelf on the left wasn’t there before we started our cleaning today…but you can still see the mess!  I was so embarrassed to open my garage and drive my car in…worried about what my neighbors would think!  hah!

Semi-before-picture…..

After!  Yay!

We have plans to obtain a shed this Spring, so we’ll put our lawn mower and the ladder, rake, lattice work, etc. in there! 

I LOVE productive days and I feel SO much better after I clean!! :0)

A side note from my cleaning fiasco….I’m at 99 followers!!  Wow!!!  Who will be number 100?! :0)  

How did you spend your weekend?

Happy Saturday! :0)

Happy Saturday! :0)  Right now, I’m sitting in my living room re-watching “Waking Sleeping Beauty”.  You know how much of a Disney fan I am….

“By the mid-1980s, the fabled animation studios of Walt Disney had fallen on hard times. The artists were polarized between newcomers hungry to innovate and old timers not yet ready to relinquish control. These conditions produced a series of box-office flops and pessimistic forecasts: maybe the best days of animation were over. Maybe the public didn't care. Only a miracle or a magic spell could produce a happy ending. Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale. It's the true story of how Disney regained its magic with a staggering output of hits - "Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast ," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," and more - over a 10-year period.”

"This period started with the studios almost being closed down and ended with classic and successful animated films like 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'The Lion King'.”

I’m re-watching it because Jason and I attempted watching it the night before we left for Marathon Weekend in January.  Of course, I fell asleep and missed the end….

 

My sweet Pixie! :0)  Isn’t she cute?

This  past week, I sat down multiple times and attempted a blog entry. I had no ideas and no clue what to write.  Is there a such thing as “Bloggers Block”?  If not, then there should be…:0)

Today, I woke up at 5 a.m. and met with my running group for a 12 mile run!  I had a blast as usual!!

My friend Amanda and I had a blast running and catching up!!  It feels like forever since I’ve been able to meet up with my friends!  :0)  We talked so much during the run, I didn’t even realize the miles were adding up!

 

King Cake was waiting on us when we  returned to our home base! :0)  Yum!!!

 

Amanda and I missed our friends Tara and Heather this morning…they weren’t able to join us today.  We all have plans to run a mud run in Texas in April and I can’t wait!! :0)  Fun times!

Hope everyone has a blessed weekend! :0)

Rock-N-Roll New Orleans Half Marathon Part 3

The Race/Post Race Celebration

**Check out Rock-N-Roll New Orleans Half Marathon Part 1 -
The Expo

**Check out Rock-N-Roll New Orleans Half Marathon Part 2 –
ACS Decorating Party and Pasta Dinner

The morning of the race, my alarm went off bright and early at 5 a.m.! I wanted to leave our hotel no later than 5:40 a.m. so I could check in with the DetermiNation tent and meet up with my running group for our group picture!

Race day items ready to go!

Heather and Bobby waited until later to walk down so that’s why she’s still in her pajama pants here!

From our hotel, the walk was not far at all!  Jason woke up early and came with me!  Isn’t he sweet?! :0)

I made my way over to the DetermiNation tent where I found these two…

 

Katie and Erin!  They were both running their first Half Marathon!  We were on a team together to raise money for DetermiNation!  They did awesome and had a fabulous time!  Way to go, ladies! :0)

After giving a few words of encouragement to Katie and Erin, I made my way to Corral 20 where my running group was meeting up!

GO RUN! :0)

I love these guys! :0)

My sister in law Kayla also found me!  Yay!

Wow….these costumes were quite interesting…and looked very uncomfortable!

My awesome husband was awake bright and early to see me off! :0)

 

A picture of the back of my race shirt….

I do have to say, the weather for this race was GORGEOUS!!!  Very similar to the weather we had for last year’s race.  Not too cold, not too warm…just perfect!  It was a beautiful day, as well!

I also met up with Heather and we made our way to Corral 10!

  

The MASSIVE line of people waiting for the race to begin! We were much closer to the start line this year vs last year!

The start of this race went MUCH faster than last year it seemed.  Before we knew it (I wasn’t even ready with my Garmin), we were off and running!

About to cross the start line!  I was too busy taking pictures that I forgot to sync my Garmin. Ugh.

I got my Garmin working pretty quickly though…and before I knew it, the first band appeared!

Also, right away I spotted the first group of DetermiNation cheerleaders.  I do have to say, they were INCREDIBLE through the ENTIRE race course!  I LOVED every minute!!!!!

I also loved all of the gorgeous homes that we passed along the race course!

I could not believe how fast this race seemed to fly by!!  We were making very good time!

Loved the tree line streets!

A band was playing from the front porch of this home!

These cheerleaders won the contest!  They were pretty awesome if I do say so myself! :0)

Here’s where the Half and the Full people split…

Another band…

This guy’s sign cracked me up!!!

Self-photo!  Hah!

Another group of DetermiNation cheerleaders!!  Again, they were AWESOME!

The people at this table were giving away free beer/donuts.  Umm…no thank you! 

Making our way into downtown!!

I stopped for a photo with this group!  I’m sure they wondered what on EARTH I was doing!  The girl that’s smiling with me kept looking at me like “Do you need something?!”  They were awesome as usual, though!  LOVED the cowbells!  :0)

 

The St. Louis Cathedral in downtown New Orleans

Passing Cafe DuMonde!  No beignets for me, thanks! :0)

Around mile 8, a DetermiNation coach joined me for a little while during the run.  She made sure everything was going well and that I was doing ok.  She was super sweet and I loved that they had people along the course like that!

My traditional Mile 12 sign…

Hah!

Call me crazy, but I’ve never seen one of these fancy water contraptions!  How cool is that?!

Getting closer!!!

This guy was begging people to take his King Cake!  Too funny!

I knew when we saw the Museum of Art, we were VERY close!

I got distracted by the pretty DetermiNation banners, though!  Just a quick picture and we were on our way again…

Conquer Cancer…I LOVE it!

 

These guys were playing on the front steps of the Museum!

After we passed by the Art Museum, another DetermiNation coach joined me for a little while during the run!  I feel the need to say it again…this was their first event in New Orleans and they were AMAZING.  If any of you read this, thank you for everything.

The finish line!

Here we come!  I was waving at Heather’s husband…I totally didn't see mine just a few people back…

We finished at 2:27 something…definitely not what we wanted but that’s ok we had a good race! :0)

There comes Kayla!

Post race goodies!

After Kayla crossed the finish line, Jason and I made our way to the DetermiNation post race party!  Woohoo!

They were awesome!  They had a LOT to drink, King Cake, Red Beans and Rice, Jambalaya, the list goes on and on!

 

Yummy!

 

Kayla and Brian found us and we stood talking for a while, trying to recover from the race.

I LOVED this.  I have it up on my Facebook right now!  Hah!

I’m a dork, yes we’ve established this already.

I couldn’t resist this picture, though…. :0)

The Rock-N-Roll post race party!

We took a group picture, then parted ways.  We still had a bus to catch to downtown.  We had to be out of our hotel by noon!

Because of Jason’s sweatshirt, I forgot all about his DetermiNation shirt that we made!  Yay!  Go Team Karen!  Hah!

We made it out by noon (and got a discount cause we had a very hairy bathroom…yuck!).  Instead of staying in town to eat, we decided to go back to Mandeville and stop at Times Bar and Grill!  Can we say YUMMY!? :0)

I had a roast beef po-boy and sweet potato fries. Oh my goodness it was amazing!

Heather and Bobby split this massive hamburger!

Jason had a hamburger, too!

Jason and I in our Team Karen shirts! :0))

After eating, we went back to Heather’s parents house to get everything together and we drove home.

I wore my compression socks for recovery (I even slept in them!) and the only thing that was sore on my body the following day was my hip flexors.  :0)  Yay!

Thanks for following along on my journey and thanks also for the support of my DetermiNation goal! I had an incredible time and would definitely recommend running with them!  It’s totally worth it!! :0)  I know I will definitely consider running with them again in the future! :0)