Day 5

Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory

Another tough one. I have had so many amazing moments in my life! And so many things that have happened recently! I decided to modify this and post my most proud memory. My first 1/2 marathon. When I signed up, a lot of people (including myself), doubted that I could do it. No one was sure if I would stick with it (let me remind you to look at the name of this blog!). But I did stick with it. I finished my first half marathon (it was really my first big race, EVER!) at Walt Disney World in January 2005. I'll point out that those mouse ears have now traveled at least 196.5 miles. How can you do a Disney race WITHOUT mouse ears???

Day 4

Day 04 - A picture of your night

I suppose my evening began when I left work. I was working at our headquarters today which is just over an hour away from home. After traffic, construction, a head-on collision that closed the intersection I wanted to go through, a tour through my hometown to bypass that intersection and a stop to feed my parents' cat, I finally made it home almost 2 hours after I left the office. Fail!

Luckily The Pilot is home this week and had dinner waiting for me. Yeay! I hate to cook and I stress out about dinner most nights. The Pilot is vegetarian so when he's around, I'm a vegetarian too. I'm completely ok with that since I don't have to cook. This is one of the many perks that makes up for him being away so much! :)

Tonight he made a vegetarian chili recipe that a fellow TNT coach passed along to us. Lots of organic goodness here:
Before I met The Pilot, at least 1/2 of these ingredients had never been in my house before. I hadn't even heard of tempeh. The chili is good....especially with cheese sprinkled on it. Cheese makes everything better. I used to say bacon made everything better but The Pilot seems to be changing my mind....and he's not a vegan so yeay for cheesy goodness!

Steamy!

Day 3

Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show

I love me some CSI! Not the spin off shows but the original in Las Vegas. And for the record, I miss Grissom.


I regularly watch several other shows but all of my shows are now on DVR and I watch when The Pilot isn't around. He's not much of a TV fan and I wouldn't want to make him watch some of the random things I enjoy like.... Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Survivor (I only watch the challenges and fast forward through those fools fighting and scheming), 19 Kids and Counting (I have no idea why I am so intrigued by this family), Deadliest Catch (another strange one considering my fear of creepy things that come out of the ocean) and Amazing Race. When I type it all out, it seems like I watch a lot of TV but it doesn't really feel that way. I sometimes will go a week or more without watching any of my shows. I tend to save them up on the DVR until I'm sick...or recovering from a hard workout....or my gimpy knee.

I Guess I'll Just Go Slower

I coached our TNT marathoners this morning. I got in a great 6 miles with one of our amazing alumni. I was super excited that I got through all 6 miles without any knee pain! Not even a twinge. It's been pretty discouraging that it's taken so long to get back to "normal" after the Goofy Challenge. I hope this means that I'm on the right track and can start working out more during the week (I've still be modifying my training schedule).

After the marathon training in the morning, I took a few minutes to relax, throw in some laundry and eat lunch before it was off to the next workout. The triathlon team is still meeting on Sundays for spinning class since the weather is still too unpredictable to plan to ride outside. Probably only another 2 weeks before we are outdoors for the season! I made it through about 30 minutes of the spinning class without any knee pain. It was tough and we were doing single leg drills (pedaling with only one foot clipped intp the pedal) and these hill ladders that make me want to puke. We spin at a medium resistance and then increase the resistance and stand. We did this 4 times, each time standing for even longer and then you repeat, but you decrease the amount of time standing. It's so hard and it feels like my heart is going to jump out of my chest.

The funny thing is that even though I feel like I'm dying during those hill ladders, my knee doesn't hurt. In the last 30 minutes of class, we did a few sprints (low resistance, spinning really fast) and instantly, my knee started to hurt. I added resistance and slowed down a little and it felt better. We had one last looooong "hill" (continually adding resistance until you have to stand) at the end of class and while it was tough, I got through it and the pain in my knee wasn't there.

My take-away from that....I guess I'll just go slower!

OK, so maybe that's not the best answer but I'm going to go with it for right now. I think I'll wait until we get outside and I'm back on my own bike to see how the knee feels. If it's still giving me hell, I think a trip back to the doctor might be in order.

But I'm going to end on a positive note. I am SO excited about daylight savings. Yes, it was a bummer to lose an hour of sleep last night and I'm exhausted but it's worth it. I can finally start working out outside after work! My paranoia won't let me train outdoors in the dark so I haven't done any weekday training outside since October! I can't wait to get some fresh air during the week!

Day 2

Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

This was a tough one. I instantly thought of my friends. I have been blessed with a group of girls that are amazing! They know me inside and out and still love me anyways. And I've known then all for a really long time. I could get all technical and try to think back to when I met each of them but that required a lot of thinking. And that's too much for a Sunday. And it hit me. Duh...other than my amazing parents, who have I known the longest? My big brother! He was almost 6 when I made my entrance. We spent a lot of years when I was the pesky little sister but once I got to college and was officially an "adult" we get along great! I mentioned on day 1 that I would give his kids one of my limbs if they needed it. But you see, my brother would do the same for me (and his kids!). He'd never let me forget about it in his humorous, "pick on my little sister" way, but he would do it!

I LOVE this series of pictures. My mom was always trying to get a nice picture of us and we couldn't make it easy on her. This was taken in 2000 when I was doing my internship at Disney World. My family came down to visit and we spend the day at Epcot.

That's not right!
Wait, that's not right either (not sure why my mouth is open!)

Sorry, mom, this is as close as it gets!


Love him!

A 30-Day Challenge

So it occurred to me recently that my life has changed so much over the past year (Hello! Meeting The Pilot and saying yes to his proposal!). It has changed more than I ever could have imagined to be honest! But I realized that this blog...and my life has revolved around training for a long time. And with the changes that have happened, I decided that this blog really is about my life...all of it. While it still revolves around training, there are a lot of other aspects to it. I couldn't train if it wasn't for the support of my family and friends. I probably wouldn't train so hard if it wasn't for Team in Training and my TNT family. I wouldn't be so obnoxiously happy if it wasn't for The Pilot. I decided to shift the concept of my blog to really give a glimpse into what makes up all of my world.

This 30-day challenge has been making the rounds around the blog world but I "borrowed" the idea from Brittney over at Life in a Holding Pattern. (I'm about to be a "pilot's wife," which is not an easy lifestyle so I've already found lots of support in bloggy land!)

This is the challenge: I'll be posting (or trying to at least) pictures each day with a story about each picture. Here's how it will go:

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with ten facts
Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest
Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show
Day 04 - A picture of your night
Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory
Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day
Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item
Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh
Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most
Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most ****** up things with
Day 11 - A picture of something you hate
Day 12 - A picture of something you love
Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist
Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without
Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die
Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you
Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity
Day 19 - A picture and a letter
Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel
Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget
Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at
Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book
Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change
Day 25 - A picture of your day
Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you
Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member
Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of
Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile
Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss

Today is Day 1 and here is my picture and some random facts.

1. This picture was taken in the fall of 2009 (old, I know). My brother, his wife and I had pictures taken with us and their kids to give to my parents for Christmas. I don't know that we will ever be able to top that gift because I think both my mom and dad got a little teary eyed.
   
2. I hate lima beans. So does my grandpa which I find humorous because he will eat just about anything else.
   
3. I am NOT the slowest marathoner ever. These guys are.
4. Even though it's completely irrational, I am terrified of fish. They give me the heebie jeebies.
5. Kids terrify me also. They are unpredictable, sticky and smelly (kind of like fish when I think about it...). But, I love my niece and nephew to pieces, literally. If either of them needed one of my limbs, I would give it to them.
6. I don't care that it's not 1992 anymore. I still believe that Pearl Jam is the greatest band EVER.
7. I feel guilty about making my best friends in the whole world wear fuchsia bridesmaid dresses. I can't help that I love the color though and realize that this may have been a bridezilla move. :)
8. The only time I drink milk is when I'm dunking cookies or eating cereal.
9. I cannot function without a paper calendar (old school!), check lists or sticky notes. I know this makes me sound compulsive but if you've ever traveled with me, you'll know I don't forget anything!
   
10. I am head over heels in love with my best friend. At first glance we don't have much in common but it works. And in July, I will get to marry my best friend and I cannot wait to become his wife!
    

Robot Marathon

So some little "robot runners" in Japan did a marathon. All 26.2 miles of it! It's damn impressive when humans do it but it's a little strange to watch these little guys. I can relate to the one that got kicked right at the start line. That tends to happen to us slow folks.

But it seems as though there is something slower than me in this world! The marathon took more than two days. At least my marathon time is typically under 7 hours!

"Organisers billed the race - which took more than two days - as a test of durability rather than speed." Source

That is exactly how I have always approached my races- a test of durability rather than speed. I think I'll stick with that.