Marine Corps Marathon (The Pre-Race)

At work on Friday morning one of my co-workers, who runs, gave me a gift bag and said, "two are for now and one is for later." I imagine that she meant the Gatorade and pasta were for now and the big bottle of Champagne was for later. That was officially the kickoff to my marathon weekend!



Friday afternoon I met up with my bestie, B, to head over to the Expo for the Marine Corps Marathon. On the metro ride over to the Convention Center B was telling me of a few other people she knew that were running the race. She didn't have her old skate coach's phone number, but she had heard from through the grapevine that her former coach was running on Sunday. Sure enough, out of 30,000 runners B ran into her former coach at bib pickup. It's a pretty funny and small world in Washington DC.

The Expo itself was pretty crowded, but that could be expected since we got there right around 4:30pm on a Friday workday. Of course, it is the Marine Corps Marathon, so there were Marines everywhere! It was very refreshing to all the mannerly Marines help anyone and everyone who needed assistance during the Expo. I honestly couldn't even guess how many times I heard the "Hoo-rah!" chant made during that afternoon and it carried over during the rest of the weekend.

There were so many things to look at and buy during the Expo. It was sensory overload for runners! The One Mile and Brooks shops were fantastic. Both B and I really wanted a few different shirts from the Brooks shop, but we didn't want to wait in the long check-out line. Only later did we hear from Kristen, B's old skate coach, that the line moved insanely fast :( Oh well, I think we'll both take a look online and see if we can order something.

B and I did stop at this one booth and pick up these amazing t-shirts. B's boyfriend found her t-shirt to be hilarious, whereas the hubs didn't roll over with laughter when he saw my t-shirt. Oh well.

I almost bought this t-shirt just on principle!


Saturday the hubs and I had a fairly low-key day. My initial plan was to go to the Expo on Saturday and then swing by the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally on Saturday afternoon. My plans changed when my parents confirmed that they were coming down Saturday afternoon.

Later on Saturday night I welcomed my parents and grandma to Baltimore for their first official visit. Coming down the weekend I got married doesn't count as a visit! Hopefully, they liked my dinner consisting of shrimp scampi, grilled asparagus, green peppers, and whole wheat pasta. Maybe that will entice them to visit more often. Plus, I had leftover pineapple upside down cake, which is my dad's favorite, to encourage them to come for more food.

Sunday morning my family left in two waves.

When I came downstairs in my racing outfit my dad said to me, "you're so skinny. I'm worried you're not going to have enough in you to finish."

My response, "dad just wait until you see the skinny chicks running today."

My dad and I left my house at 4:30am sharp. From there we drove down to the Greenbelt Metro Station and made the trip over to the Pentagon Metro Station. My dad had never been on the Metro before, so he kept saying, "I'm following you!" There was a 15 minute delay when we went to switch from the Green to Yellow lines and for a brief moment I panicked, but we made it to the Pentagon just after 6am.

Then, we joined a mass of people and made our way over to the starting area. I think the walk was something close to a mile. It was dark and kind of calming to be walking with so many other people. To put it into perspective it took us close to 15 minutes just to get out of the metro station because the line was so long to swipe your cards to get out.

I had a minor freak out moment when we started to get closer to the bag drop-off point because police officers were stopping everyone to make sure they either were a runner or they were with a runner. My hubs, mom, brother, and grandma left my house at 5:30am and were on the metro. I was worried they wouldn't be able to get in without me! Thankfully, they got to the start line just fine and dandy.

I've waited in some pretty long port-a-potty lines in the past at races, so the first thing I did was seek out the lines and decided to go then. The lines were only two people deep at that point, which made me very happy.

My dad and I then met B and Kristen over at bag drop off. We all checked our bags at one of our assigned UPS trucks (there were 30 trucks!). Then, B gave my dad her phone because she was hoping her phone would circulate from my dad to my hubs who then in turn would give it to her boyfriend. That didn't happen, but it worked out just fine.

Now, it was after 7am so we figured we'd make our way over to the starting area. B, Kristen, and me heading off to the start line.

I swear my dad isn't an alien and he wasn't wearing a costume. Just some strategically placed street lights happen to behind him.

Hilarious story, but you can see that my dad is on the taller side. I was telling him on the metro that B can't reach the tall "Oh-crap" bars. Well, at this point in the morning my dad shared with B that he had to duck under those bars or else he would have banged his forehead.

On the way over to the start we passed a ton of port-a-potties. We saw the Brooks VIP ones which were heated, had flushing toilets, and running water. Pretty spiffy!!!
In continuing with my game plan to have as much fun as possible I was a complete and total ham as much as I possibly could be.

I threw out all conventional wisdom and decided to start the race with B and Kristen. You know, in the 3:40 pace area. Not that I expected to finish ANYWHERE near that time, but I just wanted to start with people I knew.

B and me rocking our Goodwill gear. I didn't go to Frostburg State, but $5 for a comfy and warm hoodie was good enough for me! I also had on magenta fleece pants. In line with other large races any clothes that are "ditched" along the course would be donated to local homeless shelters. The hubs and I had just cleaned our closets out when we moved over the summer, which meant I didn't have anything I wanted to get rid of. A trip to Goodwill was in order!

I don't know what the actual temperature was at this point, all I know was it was cold! I think the temperature at the end of the race was 61 degrees, so that tells you it was probably a bit cooler at 7:30am.

At this point I saw that the port-a-potty lines were nearly non-existent, so I jumped in line for one last stop. I was really hoping not to have to stop during the race!

Finally, we took our places in the mass of people. My dad was able to retreat back up a tiny hill and follow as us three ladies as we weeded through a mass of runners. I'm going to have to remember to wear a bright colored shirt before every race start from here on out. The red hoodie definitely came in handy.


I didn't get to see the hubs before the start of the race :( I told my family that my realistic finishing time would be between 4:30 and 4:45 hours. So when the rest of my family got to the starting area they stayed at that spot. Oh well, next time I would have had my dad called them and told them where I was.

Next, it was off to the races!!!

Taking photos is not one of his strengths

The hubs is afraid of cameras. There's really no other logical explanation for his anti-camera stance than pure, absolute fear because I can't fathom why a grown man would be so hesitant to ever take a picture of his wife. It's comical because every year for Christmas I put together a photo book for our grandparents and ever year it's a struggle to find a decent picture of me.


I had a somewhat important down in Washington, DC the other day and decided to ditch the traditional power suit and instead wear a somewhat cute and youthful dress. I am on the team as the technology person, so I really shouldn't hide from the fact that I'm there because I'm young and I know the current technology systems that pertain to my work's project. I wore, what I considered, to be a cute dress I just picked up from Banana Republic. I'll be honest, it's more fitted than what I normally wear, so all day long people at my office kept saying things like, "I really like that dress" or "you look great!"

Then, at my meeting an Assistant Deputy Secretary at a very important government entity said to me in the hallway, "that dress is fantastic. It's business, but with a side of fun." I replied, "I just got it at Banana Republic and there are a quite a few more to be purchased." She laughed.

When I came home late (again!) from work I asked the hubs if he could take a picture of me in my supposed cute dress. I made the mistake of already pulling my hair back in a pony tail, but figured at least I could show my aunt that I don't wear only ill fitting clothes.

That quasi head-less shot above is what the hubs took. Thankfully, the pups wanted in on the action and the hubs kept shooting away.










Seriously, all I wanted was a picture where I was smiling and both of my eyes were open, how hard could that be?




Finally, here's a picture of the dress. It's cute and I love it.



As for the hubs... I'm working on that situation!

This boot was not made for walking...

Now that the weather has turned a few degrees cooler it certainly seems that summer has come and gone. Which is a pity because I had a pretty good summer, but alas fall is my favorite season.

One of the things I was looking forward the most to this fall was finding the perfect pair of fall boots. I was thinking a gorgeous suede knee high boot with a nice stiletto heel.



This thing, however is what I find myself wearing around my house.


Yeah, it's not attractive. Even worse, I could barely sleep with it on the first week. I may or may not have kicked the hubs multiple times and I definitely scratched him with some evil Velcro straps.

Just a few short weeks ago I went to hop out of bed on a Saturday morning and by time I dragged myself down the hall to my bathroom I was assuming the fetal position while wrenching in pain. I only dragged myself to the bathroom because after the first two steps I swore there must have been a metal or glass splinter penetrating the heel of my right foot. Upon further inspection there was no such splinter. There was however a decent bit of swelling in my foot and some ugly discoloration. Panicked, I called out for the hubs and the moment he saw my tears he was gathering up my wallet to take me to the emergency room. There are two things I don't do when it comes to sports: I don't bet and I don't show pain.

I dislocated a finger once and still finished a game, drove to the bar, downed a drink, sobered up and then drove home. Let me say trying to drive a stick shift with a busted right index finger is not an enjoyable task. I didn't even cry when I tore my quad in college. I just don't like to show pain.

My tears on this particular Saturday morning where twofold: first I was in a lot of pain and more importantly I've been training for a marathon which was right around the corner. I had a 12 mile run to do that weekend! Plus an 18 miler to do the next weekend. This was not the time to get hurt!!!

My intense fear of doctors let me persuade the hubs that I didn't need to be rushed to the emergency room. Rather I'd take it easy for the day, including a scheduled two-hand touch football game, and schedule an appointment with a specialist if I was still in pain on Sunday.

Yeah, I tried going running Sunday morning and came home after .5 miles, again in tears. Pride-0, Heel-2. So that Sunday I asked for doctor recommendations with all of my running buddies. Monday morning I scheduled an appointment for the very next day. I had to drive into work on Tuesday and even driving Peggy was painful.

$300 later at the doctor's office and a cortisone shot later I was diagnosed with the dreaded plantar fasciitis. The aforementioned ugly boot shown earlier is apparently some evil contraption to help keep my foot stabilized and decrease the amount of fluid that builds up in the heel of my foot. I've got to say, the boot definitely helps. There have been a few nights where I have forgotten to wear the boot and the next morning the pain in my foot is quite a few decimals higher than average.

So the past few weeks I've been trudging around the house wearing the boot as often as possible. Thankfully, Jax and Jewels no longer growl at the boot and I don't have to worry about Jax trying to make it into his next favorite chew toy.

However, my endurance took a significant hit. I missed two long runs and did a pathetic attempt a running for two weeks. I kept struggling with pain management and I was in this gray place where each day the pain started to feel a little bit less than the day before, so I wanted to rest more and not risk aggravating things and making it worse.

Any conceivable time goals I had for my first marathon were tossed out the window. My doctor advised me to start walking in stints while running anytime I felt the pressure in my heel reach a certain point. I've found that running down hills is more painful than running on flat surfaces, which means I'm the crazy person walking down hills for the moment.

In a nut shell, it sucks. I'm extremely disappointed that I won't be able to finish in a time that I wanted to, but I'm going to focus instead on finishing. I had to walk over the weekend for a few bits while doing my big 20 miler, but I finished it. Slow and steady will get me across that finish line.

13.1 miles (part deux!)

I recently completely my second half-marathon. This time, I hoped to improve upon my finish from last year.

I went into the race with three goals:

1. Walk through the aid stations and actually drink some Gatorade and water. Success! I remembered that I tried to run through the first few aid stations last year and I wasn't very successful at actually downing any fluids. So, this year I specifically told myself to walk through the aid stations. Sure, I hated slowing to a walk, but it was rather refreshing to pass people after each stop :)

2. Finish strong. Success! I wasn't running this particular race as a true race. Instead, I wanted to run at a strong, but comfortable pace. In an ideal world I wanted to finish the race and feel two things: I could have run faster and continued running. When I came through the final stretch and out kicked a guy, I felt really good. I got a shout-out from the race director at the finish line, which has never happened before because people are too intimidated to try saying my last name aloud (silly hubs!). But after I crossed the finish line I found my bestie B and grinned, "I could have kept running!" This was a drastic improvement upon last year's race when B practically had to pull me across the finish line.

3. Finish in under two hours. Success! I'm even more impressed that I finished with running sub 9minute miles because I did walk through every aid station and I kept telling myself to slow down during the race. I was running really well despite the low temperatures, rain, and mud during the race.

Overall, I'm really happy with the race. My goals were all met, which is fantastic. I wanted to run a decent time, but also know that I could have continued on for 16-18 miles at the same pace (or somewhere close to the same pace). The objective wasn't to run the fastest time I could, rather keep in mind that the bigger picture, aka the full marathon is just over a month away.

I'm also proud of my running because I ran by myself. When I convinced B to run a marathon with me she remarked, "I know I ran your first half with you, but if I'm going to commit to training for a full marathon I'm going to run it for time." Her time goal was to run in the 1:45 area during the half, which is a time way beyond what I could have run. So, I borrowed her boyfriend's Nike watch because my cheap Target watch broke on me! At some point I'll upgrade and get a Garmin, but for now I'm happy just knowing I'm running distances rather than times.

Unfortunately, I don't have a single picture from the race. Well, that's kind of a lie because there are pro pictures online and I do actually look somewhat decent in some of them (that never happens, I think the rain helped). B and I ran this race on our own and treked back to her place on the DC Metro. Note to self: taking the Metro after running for nearly 2 hours in the rain sucks. You're wet, cold, muddy and did I mention cold? B and I decided that a half was a little ol' thing and told the boys they didn't need to come.

Dear Significant Others: when your ladies tell you don't need to come, that means you should still get up and be there at the finish (preferably with a warm towel or sweatshirt).

It's fine, I'm not bitter at all. After the race we had a girl time and went and got pedicures. :)

We moved!

(that would be a past out hubs tired from moving all of our furniture in 90-plus degree heat)

That's really the reason I haven't posted practically all summer. The hubs and I moved over the summer and it's been quite a long process between finding a new place, packing, moving, and unpacking.

Moving away from Towson was bittersweet. We both loved the area, but my commute was just too miserable and I was an uber bitch most nights. Not exactly good for the home life. Leaving for work at 6:30am and not getting home until 12 to 13 hours later wasn't making me all giddy and sunshiny happy. Certainly, carpooling with the hubs 90% of the time was nice (he did most of the driving!), but I can't say that sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic could be construed as "quality time."

So, we left Towson. It's really sad because I really liked living within 3 miles of everything. Seriously, Trader Joe's, Safeway, Michael's, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Louis Vuitton (like I shopped there!), PetSmart, Target, Joann's Fabric, Sports Authority, Chipotle, Green Turtle, and possibly every other store you could think of was right around the corner! I'm going to miss Trader Joe's, Chipotle and Sushi Hanna the most. Every Friday the hubs and I either stopped off at Sushi Hanna or Belvedere Square for dinner.

But, that killer commute was figuratively driving me crazy.

With that being said we had to find a place that was within our budget, close to a train station, had a fenced in yard, central air, and would take two Boston Terriers. Oh yeah, we're renters... so much fun! The most annoying thing about renting is that you're almost forced to wait until the very last minute to find a place. Nothing showing is available in two to three months. Everything is available NOW or in two weeks.

I'm actually proud that I was able to convince the hubs to take a serious look at living in Baltimore. We went to quite a few places in Federal Hill, but in the end the lure of a larger yard pulled us to a townhouse development just south of Baltimore. That and I'm now a whopping .8 miles from the train station! It's absolutely magical leaving the house 9 minutes before the train arrives and having plenty of time to park and make the walk down the train station parking lot. It's even better to not have to listen for the traffic report in the morning because my "commute" doesn't involve a single highway.

So, we're slowly starting to decorate. Okay, that's a bold faced lie. I'm slowly starting to decorate. The hubs could live in a card board box and be happy as long as it had a big screen tv and a PS3 hooked up!

Hopefully, in the coming weeks I'll be able to pull my head out of a closet and start posting more often.

Because really, moving absolutely sucks!!!

Perhaps there is hope for a new pair of jeans

Finding the perfect pair of jeans is a fashion myth. I haven't actually heard of a flesh and blood friend finding the "one" pair of jeans for them. Finding the perfect man, piece of cake, but the perfect pair of jeans... totally not going to happen.

I, myself, didn't wear jeans for nearly four long years because I grew to get so frustrated with the limited options available for curvier women (aka the jeans at JC Penny's weren't doing it for me!). I've always been a white girl with a big ol' bubble butt and in the late 90s to early 2000s that translated into jeans that didn't fit. I'd have a size 6 waist and a size 10 butt. Jeans just weren't cut for the masses to include curves. Thank goodness J.Lo and Beyonce came along! Then, it was cool to have curves. I think Nelly even came out with a line of jeans for curvier women (not that I ever purchased a pair).

Still, finding the "one" never happened for me. It's mostly because I'm a cheapo when it comes to jeans and I can't stomach to pay more than $80 for a pair of pants. Actually, that's a bit high, I don't like to spend more than $50 on a pair of jeans. Basically, I can't even shop at Express anymore for a pair of jeans and I'm too old to go in with my grandma and have her buy me a pair (man, I long for those end of summer ritual back-to-school shopping sprees thanks to a very generous grandma).

Lately, I've been rocking my Old Navy jeans because I've scored them every Black Friday for $15 the past few years. The suckers shrink in the wash and then I have to go through that jumping up and down routine post-washing to get them to fit right again. Insert massive amounts of laughter by the hubs and you can see why I avoided jeans for quite some time.

Last year, I believe it was the Gap that became the moderately-priced "go-to" jeans place. Like a lemming I went in and tried them on and left the store empty handed. The dreaded waist gap got me again. Sure, I'll take my ill-fitting ON jeans because they're $15! That's like three cups of coffee! But if I'm going to spend more than $50 on a pair of jeans well then I want them to fit. Is that too much to ask?!?!?!?

Apparently so because I'm at the point where all I have are ON jeans and a few leftover Express jeans from back when flared leg jeans were all the rage. Seriously, buying or attempting to buy jeans for me is like a Road Runner episode except I'm the darn Coyote. I know full well going in that the jeans aren't going to fit and yet I'm shocked when I come out of the fitting room and hand back the attendant a mountain of ill-fitting jeans. Okay, skinny jeans are solely responsible for my .000 batting average as of late, but that's just because my damn calves are too big. Seriously, I tried on a pair Citizens because I was willing to spend $150 on a pair of jeans if they would fit and my frickin' calves were too big! It's bad enough that my calves don't fit into Hunter boots, but now I can't even try to buy a pair of fancy trendy jeans.

Sigh....

Anyway, the original makers of jeans have apparently heard that women experience some frustration in their endless quest to find the "one." I'm a bit skeptical of the perfect pair of jeans coming to my womanly butt by a man, but whatever. I'm also skeptical that 80% of the world's women fall within three body types, but again I'm willing to suffer the humilation in effort to find a pair of jeans that fit me. I'll even slide for a pair of jeans that make my butt look bad if the suckers fit the rest of me!!!

A fellow curvy and frustrated friend sent me the video below and suggested we make a shopping date in the near future. Levi's please don't let me down!!!



Anyone else struggle to find the "one" and care to share? As soon as I try on some new Levi's I'll report on how I faired.

Third time's a charm!

The hubs and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary last night and in his typical fashion the hubs blew me away. I must confess, the hubs doesn't do those large scale, grand, romantic gestures. You know how Seal proposed to Heidi Klum in an ice castle (or igloo!)? Yeah, my hubs would never do something like that. He's never even bought me roses before!

Anyway, I digress.

I was actually running a bit late on my way home from work and he called to make sure I was alright. The silly train was running a bit tardy due to the high temperatures (something about continuous lines and the metal stretches and bends when it's ridiculously hot out. I'm not really sure, but the hubs could break it down for you.).

I walk through the front door and there's the hubs putting the finishing touches on dinner. I immediately looked confused because I thought we were going out to dinner.

There's the hubs wearing a purple collared shirt I bought him, striped tie, dress slacks and dress shoes in the kitchen. We're not really wear shoes in the house type people, so it really was the shoes (and tie) that caught me off guard. He just looked up and said, "dinner's ready!'

I sat down and realized I would trade those large romantic gestures for my hubs any day of the week. Just a simple meal for two and I'm set. Of course it helps that the hubs has a penchant for details. He bought a candle for the table and picked up a small bouquet of fresh flowers just to spice things up a bit.

I've got to say, we're really found our grove here lately. We've never been a couple that fights all the time, but we haven't even had a serious disagreement since March. Trust me, we're too opinionated people, but we really respect each other's opinions so our little banters never come across as arguments.

How bad could it be? I make him cheesecake even though I hate it and he brings me fresh cappuccino when I'm stressed out and doing work on a Saturday afternoon.




He's a keeper!