the f-word, runner style.

in the process of all things new on this little blog of mine, i should probably tell you one of the new big things i finally committed too. its something that has terrified me to my very core for a long time as a runner and something i swore up/down/left/right/center i would never ever do. its a scary, scary word that starts with an f. ladies and gentlemen this last week i signed up for a full marathon. thats right, 26.2 miles of pure full craziness!

now i didnt go into this lightly. i had been thinking about it for many months, consulted a few experts that gave great personal encouragement, did research-a lot actually, and even a little bit of a test run with the back to back 1/2 marathons last year in october-sneaky i know. and while signing up was a big decision for me, where i would go was no question. i knew instantly when i wanted to sign up i would be traveling to washington dc to run the marine corps marathon!

first it is known as the peoples marathon and does not have a half attached to it. i knew for my own psychy i would not want to be tempted in going down the half course on race day! it would also allow me to check off another place i have raced in and the marines hold a very special place in my heart:) i never knew how true it was when someone said when one member joins the corp, the whole family does, until i was in that family. plus i figured that of anybody that could coordinate a race, the marines would do a kickass job. 

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so 2 weeks ago i sat down at the computer on my desk at work and watched the clock countdown to 9a pst, then waited a good 2 minutes before logging onto the active.com website to sign up. last year the race sold out in 2 hours and 46 minutes so i knew i needed to hop on fairly quickly when it opened. and then the site crashed from overload. then kicked me off halfway through registration. and finally after 2 hours and 27 minutes of refreshing the race was sold out. now what was i going to do?

there were many apologies by the marathon of all the people that had countless problems and frustrations, trust me there were tons of us. but that still left me without a bib. so back to my research i went in what to do next. i considered the bib transfer option in which over the summer someone that signed up no longer wants their bib can give it to someone waiting desperately for one. but that meant i would have to find an actual person and with all the people that got shut out, i wasnt sure that was the safest option. see i didnt have a back up plan if i didnt get in. the marine corp marathon is my only choice for my 1st full marathon. that meant i was heading down the road of a charity option.

i hesitated quite i bit, ill be honest. i didnt want to pick one just because it was my only option. i wanted to pick one that i was passionate about. but then i started to really look into the amazing organizations and was phenomenally impressed with what they do! i narrowed it down to two places after chatting with my brother. can you tell i dont make big, big decisions quickly haha.

after waiting a few days for response and confirmation i am incredibly proud to tell you that this year i will be fundraising and running the 38th marine corps marathon with.......

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you may have heard of them before, if not please check out their website! they are doing truly amazing things with the incredibly brave men and women that have served our country:) i am sooo proud to be able to help raise money for such a fantastic organization!

alright now its time to start the fundraising, today my friends! my firm goal is $500 by october 1st. but i would love, love, love to blow that goal out of the water before then and continue to raise money all the way through race day! you will see these links a lot and i will talk about it tons for the next few months:) it so super easy to donate. you simply enter the donation amount, click on the next button and enter the credit card information. no amount is too big or too small, everything adds up! thank you so, so, so much in advance:)

https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org/individual-fundraising/curlyrunnerbugtakesonmcm/

the march 2013 running recap.

total run mileage: 65.67 miles
highest weekly run mileage: 29.68 miles
# runs: 11
# rest days: 17

# xtraining workouts: 3

favorite run: the hot chocolate 15k in san diego. the course was pretty rough, i had no idea there were so many hills in san diego! but got to do it with my mom and we had a blast:)

most hardcore run: the 10 miler i did last friday. i skipped the morning run and decided i would do it in the afternoon because i got off work at a decent time. forgot to factor in that it would be 85* at 330p with no clouds, oops. but i got through it and felt very accomplished!

current reads: nothing serious, crud.

current shame-inducing guilty pleasure: travel sites! i have some seriously cool things happening the rest of this year and i have been looking things up like a crazy person. tours, places to eat, those cant miss touristy attractions. oh i so have the travel bug!

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current obsession: getting ready for spring! well, the few very short weeks we get here in vegas haha. my flipflops and super cute dresses are all set to come out of the closet!

current drink: water and more water.

current song: such the hopeless romantic:)

current wish-list:

·         a magical shopping spree that i could update all the accessories in my closet

·         another magical shopping spree so i could reinvigorate my closet with things that fit and with the so cute new things on the spring shelves.

·         hey, its a “wishlist”:)

current need: to get back to regular blogging. i think i was trying to “reinvent” the wheel a little bit in what i want this little blog to be. instead im just going to go with the flow and see where it takes me.

current triumph: a successful return to the indoor soccer field! i know that sounds silly, but i havent played in years, literally. crazy how it all comes back so quickly and naturally. and im having a blast!

current bane of my existence: taxes. they are just mean. enough said.

current goal: to remember this…

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current indulgence: easter candy…well these specifically…

current excitement: two pretty fun plans finally fell into place in the last week. funny how those things happen on their own, when they are supposed too. and they both involve traveling to fun new places! more details on both soon:) i told ya, my travel bug is getting out of control!

the race season craziness.

i start making my race calendar in the beginning of the year. i like to have a plan, i like to know where im going and when race day is. i knew last year that nashville was an absolute must for me. next i had to start looking at the rest of the year.

my ultimate dream race is the nike womens half marathon in san francisco on october16th. 20,000 women running through the streets of san francisco? sign me up! however there are quite a few hoops to jump through. first you must stalk the website to see when the sign up will be, there is only a 10 day window. once you do you get to wait. and wait. and wait. finally about 2 months later they pick up a day and start notifying runners through email on an hourly basis. so then you are stalking your email. now there are about 40,000+ women that register for the half and full marathon with only 20,000 runners picked.

while i was (not so) patiently waiting, the las vegas marathon released their big draw for the year, the race was to be run at night on the strip! you would think living in las vegas i would have done the race in the last 2 years. but it just hadnt fit into my race schedule. i wasnt really sure that it was going to this year, but i was not about to miss the race being run this way for the first time! there was only a 7 week turnaround from nike to las vegas and i was a little nervous. i have never done a turnaround that fast. however i was not going to miss either opportunity!

i found out shortly after that i didnt get into nike:( i got the email the next day when they were notifying the non-participants. i had made a back up plan in running the five cities marathon and half in covina, ca on october 9th. i thought about going back to long beach but decided on this one instead. it was an inaugural race and was planned to be a bit smaller than i was used. i decided this was a good thing and was excited about a new challenge.

just when i was already to book the hotel, i got a sucky email stating the five cities marathon and half marathon is officially canceled! apparently someone does not know how to check a race calendar and they scheduled it the same weekend as long beach which has been running for 25+ years and is a massive race. five cities did not have the participation level they needed to sponsor a race. so after being really mad and a frustrated phone call to richard, i decided it was time to head back to long beach! looks like the 3rd pick for the race is a charm!

just when i thought i was done, run disney announced they were debuting a new race. they did a rather lame clue game in which no one guessed the answer too. all i cared about was a new race because seriously, disney does it right. all their events are awesome! finally after a few weeks they released the new race...an all womens race called the tinkerbell half marathon at disneyland on january 29th! well as soon as i found that out i was on the phone with my mom and were trying to say no, but it was just not happening. there is only an 8 week turnaround from vegas to tinkerbell. however there was no way we were missing a new all-womens disney race and it was so close! plus we already had outfits picked out before we even got off the phone. what can i say we are girls:)

so here it is, officially. my insane fall/winter race schedule for everyone to see:

in 6 weeks...

10/9/11-long beach international bank marathon and half marathon.

7 weeks later...

12/4/11-rock and roll las vegas marathon and half.

8 weeks after that....

1/29/11-tinkerbell half marathon.

rest, finally!

yes i know this is crazy! and it is 3 races in 15 weeks. i will also say i have promised my family when i am done with tinkerbell i will not race more than a 5k for at least 4 months. i can still run and train, but no races! there i said it, its out there for everyone to see:) this will be the most intense thing i have ever done. it sounds nutty now that it is officially on here. but it will be an amazing feat when i am finished! i have been bitten by the race bug! cant wait to take you all with me on this running adventure:)

the real settling in.

one of the hardest things to do when you move in with anyone is to combine things.  you are so used to having your own things (no matter how broken or out of date they are) around you.  but when you really start looking into it more often then not, one person has things the other doesnt or has the better quality.  one has the better tv, the other has the better dvd player.  it helps in the beginning to not have to rush out and buy things immediately, but what happens when you want to start upgrading?

its usually the girl first, lets be honest, who brings up the purchasing of new things.  that was definitely true in our case as well.  it started right around the middle of december.  we had been in the apartment about 2 months and i started looking around noticing that the bookshelf was mine, the tv was richards, the bedroom furniture was mine, the couch was richards.  the only things in our apartment at the time that was ours were the christmas decorations and those were going in boxed in a matter of weeks.

for me it wasnt just about the purchase of new things, it was about purchasing things together.  it was about making our apartment ours.  the couch was the very first thing on the list.  that futon was soooo uncomfortable.  it was a great starter, not a forever.  the purchasing process, well that was something else completely.  if you havent heard that story, well please enjoy.

to go from this...

to this...huge upgrade.

it was our first big purchase as a couple and that really meant we were in this together.  not just going on vacations together, or moving in together, or sharing bills.  it was no longer a his and her thing, it is an us thing now.

after that purchase, i was bitten by the decorating bug.  i wanted to purchase like there was no tomorrow.  new bed sets, lamps, wall decor, everything.  now i didnt, my budget quickly halted me.  as did the fact that i wasnt the only opinion that mattered.  if i was going to buy a large picture to go over the couch, i needed to ask for richards opinion.  not because i had too or needed too.  because we are in this together and he deserves to have an opinion too.

i quickly made the deal that i would buy the bed set if he would buy the lamps for the bedroom.  this way we could both purchase something important and on our own time lines.  of course mine wanted to be a lot quicker, part of being a girl i guess.  we had found the perfect bed set months earlier.  not too girlie, not too much color, actually had color, it was perfect.  ps i am still waiting on the new lamps.

the upgrade from an all white comforter.  love.

the next thing on my mental checklist was a ceiling fan.  you may remember my rant about fans from the previous summer/winter/staying at richards.  the loud fan had to go before the summer rolled around.  once it started getting warmer and we knew it was only going to get warmer richard came around to the idea of a ceiling fan.  it was economical, better circulation, and soooo much quieter.  we did quite a bit of looking for this as we always do with big purchases.  and finally found a great one.

from the loudest fan on the planet

to a much quieter and fashionable one.

these are the little things you start to appreciate when are past the newness stage.  youve lived together for over 6 months, there arent an influx of holidays to keep you busy, and you are really seriously living together.  who knew a new couch and fan could start to turn an apartment into a home. 

the halloween party.

i really go back and forth on my love for halloween.  now part of me likes the costumes and candy and the fact that it usually means we are finally getting cooler weather.  the other part of me hates the scariness factor and the need for girls to dress like whores and the pressure to come up with the perfect costume.   last year i spent so much money on my dorothy costume.  now it was cute as hell, and probably shorter then it should have been, but i made a vow this year to not spend nearly the money.  see last year i waited so long to figure out if i was going to dress up and what i would be that to get all the parts of my costume i needed to do express shipping to get them all here on time.  big mistake for a costume i have one picture in and spent about 4 hours in.

this year my priorities were a little different.  first i participated in a really fun 5k on thursday night with my mom.  i actually dragged up enough courage to run through 2 graveyards in an etchy-sketchy part of las vegas for a really good cause, the easter seals of nevada.  you also had to dress up for the event!  now that i am a running costume pro i was actually excited to go.  i went as a fairy and mom went as a deviled egg!  we both shattered our 5k times mine @26:38 and mom @38:26.  and mom even won 2nd place in her age group!  we celebrated at metro pizza naturally:)

friday was all about voting, the start of my 3-day weekend, and carving pumpkins.  it was the last day for early voter registration and unless i wanted to drive back up to shelia tarr on tuesday i had to vote friday.  so after a delicious lunch at raising canes with tiffany i went off to do my patriotic duty and cast my early vote.  as i was pulling in richard calls to say he finally going to get the pumpkin carving kit we found 2 weeks ago, that i had been asking hime to pick back up since he was home during the day.  i had just come from picking up the same kit.  there was quite a line, but it went through really quickly.  i made a bee line for home because i was so excited about carving pumpkins.  i hadnt carved one in a few years and richard had never carved one, this was going to be fun.

we had picked our pumpkins the weekend before at the grocery store and each had weighed in at about 16 pounds with excellent stems.  those are very important you know.  once you have the perfect pumpkin it is all about the perfect pattern to carve.  i had chosen a very cute mummy, but richard was all over the place being super indecisive.  so we lay out all the newspaper on the kitchen floor, tools ready, and big knives set to carve.  as i start to cut out the lid, richard starts reading the directions from the pattern book and looking at me like i am doing it all wrong.  of all things i know how to carve a perfect pumpkin.  once the lid is off i start digging out all the gooey stuff inside, loving every minute.  richard takes one look inside my pumpkin and the things i am pulling out and i thought he was going to tell me i am on my own!  finally he starts carving out the lid and begins gingerly pulling out the gooey guts. 

he looks so uncomfortable, at this point i cant help but laugh.  he pulls out the bare minimum and claims he is finished and has a idea for his pumpkin.  earlier he decided we will both carve individual pumpkins and then we let his friends decide, who were coming over the next evening, who the better pumpkin was.

after helping in the search for a thundercat logo and hearing the complaints about the printer, i knew my pumpkin carving championship was over.  i mean it was a really good idea and i wish i come up with something cool as well, but come on your friends and thundercats, there was no way i was winning.  as he started poking out the pattern he realized he hadnt cleaned out the pumpkin nearly enough, so he started digging again.  about an hour later our pumpkins were complete!  the thundercat logo did look really cool and when it was lit up, man you could tell i wasnt going to win.  see example a.

later that night when richard went to work the baking bug had taken over.  i had been desperately looking for a reason to bake pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and knew that the small halloween/housewarming party we were having the next night was the perfect excuse.  while i know that not everyone likes the cookies-fools-i also made halloween funfetti cupcakes.  i made a special cupcake for richard with lots of frosting, he was not so impressed.  and forget the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, he was way not havin that.  i knew the next day we were going to need to buy candy so he would have some snacks. 

there was originally quite the dilemma about how to decorate.  i like the cutesy/kid version of halloween with smiley faces and candy.  richard likes the all out scary, mean, the more terrifying the better.  he learned first hand how scared i am of, well everything when we were in walmart and he made me burst into tears over a giant stuffed red-eye scary rat.  while he still thinks its funny, we scaled back on the decorations.  we started the evening with a few friends coming by early to hang out and begin the drinking early.  richard borrowed the deviled egg costume and it was a big hit.  it also could have been the fact he was already pretty buzzed by the time the rest of the group came by.  we had found some pretty good quality alcohol while unpacking the things from richards storage unit so had a good base going into the evening.  richard even gave a cribs tour of the apartment to vanessa, it was hilarious.  partially because your tour is by a deviled egg and partially because richard is pretty buzzed.

many drinks later we headed out to kellys for an evening filled with karoke, more drinking, vanessa stumbling to tylers car about 5 minutes after we got there, richard sleeping in the bar before going on stage, and a costume contest won by a man dressed as an unattractive woman. 

all in all this was a very successful halloween weekend.  a good mix of kid halloween and grown-up halloween.  a small successful housewarming party where lots of alcohol was consumed.  and possibly a few new traditions were formed.