My Marathon of a Journey | Peaches Prattlings

{November 19, 2013} Time…it’s a funny thing

Isn’t it interesting how time seems to change depending on what you’re doing?

You know the expression “time flies when you’re having fun”? The time elapsed isn’t any different, it’s how we are perceiving it. What does it mean anyway?

When we’re having a good time, we don’t look at the clock and all of a sudden three hours passed and it feels like a moment. When we’re somewhere we don’t want to be or doing something we don’t want to or just plain bored, doesn’t the time seem to drag? Perfect example, when we’re at work and bored or have nothing to do, doesn’t it seem that time has stopped? But be busy, have a deadline? Where did the time go? You start working on something at 11am, the next thing you know, you look up and it’s 3pm!

What about when we were in cash cool? If we weren’t into whatever it was especially on a Friday or right before the holidays, did the clock stop altogether? When we’re on vacation, when you get there, you have all the time in the world, then all of a sudden, you’re going home in two days!

When you’re late for something, time seems to speed up. When we are sad about losing something/someone, time seems to have gotten away from us. when we’re trying to get somewhere on time, does the minutes hand seem to have jumped?

Today, I went out for a run/walk, something I haven’t done since I hurt myself in September. I have gone for walks, but no running, I thought it was time I took a chance. I decided to walk .25 of a mile, run .25 and so on. As I started, I got the first quarter mile, no problem, seemed like I was making good time, then it was time for the next quarter mile, not bad, then walk and that seemed to take forever to get to the next quarter mile, what was going on? .10 to go seemed to go on forever. Then the next quarter mile, is there no end in sight?

I know we have all thought about this and even asked those questions aloud “where did the time go?” (?Although, a lot of times, peope, will use that as an excuse when they’re trying to get away from someone!).

I know there are days I look at the clock and think, I have plenty of time to write my blog post and then all of a sudden, it’s almost midnight!

We also say..where did the time go? Or my favorite, I just don’t have the time or enough hours in the day… To that I say tag I am reminded of a quote that my mom had on the wall in her classroom. “You have the same number of hours in the day as Marie Curie and Albert Einstein”, think about that.

Here are some great quote about time.
http://quotations.about.com/cs/inspirationquotes/a/Time10.htm

All I have to say in conclusion…Thank you for taking the time read my post!”

{October 7, 2013} Apparently I’ll do a lot for chocolate…I don’t even like chocolate!

Ok, so not all chocolate…if there’s peanut butter with the chocolate, I’m in!

Volunteer shirt

I think I told you I signed up to do the Hot Chocolate 5k in Denver a few weeks ago. Friday and Saturday was the Expo for packet pickup and I decided that I would kill two bird with one stone [isn’t that an awful phrase? those poor birds] and Friday afternoon, I volunteered for the Hot Chocolate Expo race packet pickup.

Did you know it snowed on Friday? It started raining/snowing Thursday night and when I got up to go to therapy, it was snowing! About 12, it was done and melted! After therapy I went to the clinic for their first site visit and then it was off to the Hot Chocolate Expo.

Snowing on the way to the mountain Friday morning!

My new Chucks!

Chocolate socks!

Since it was a little chilly and started snowing a little sooner than I expected, I needed better footwear, at least for the afternoon, I really need some boots! I stopped at Ross and it must have been fate, couldn’t find any boots that fit or I liked, but I did find…a pair of chocolate colored! Chuck Taylor Converse All Stars! I love the laces, they are elastic [one pink and one blue in each sneaker] and…chocolate colored Converse socks! what are the odds and was it a sign? [did I need another pair of “Chucky Ts?” not really, but did i want them? most definitely!] [I believe one of my posts soon will be introducing you to my collection!] I put my new Chucks on and it was off to the Expo.

Race Sweatshirt [girls were grey and orange, guy were grey and grey]

I first picked up my packet and the packets for DCM, JS and CD, next, I checked in for my volunteering time, I had requested packet pickup, but I was put at the table to do size exchanges, the sweatshirts run a little small. [When I did the run in Atlanta in January, I got a medium, it was too small, so this time I got a large, but then at the expo tried on the XL and it was perfect!

I had a lot of fun volunteering, (made me want to it find other events to volunteer for) I talked to and laughed with a lot of people, talked about the run, had a little advice for the run and the chocolate [ie bring a plastic bag for their cups with the dipping chocolate]. Then it was home to chill after a very long day.

You already know about yesterday and last night, so on to today.

Brace and Halloween socks!

We got up at oh dark thirty [who organizes a 5k that starts at 7am?] and got into the car and headed into Denver. We found parking, about the same time CD called to tell me they were closing the corrals at 6:45, I didn’t think that was going to happen, but I ran to meet her with her race bag, yes I said ran. I got the lace-up brace that the doctor told me I should get, I’ve been wearing it for a few days [as you notice, it’s October, so it’s Halloween sock month! yeah baby!] [oh man, that would be another great post, my bizarre sock collection! I need help…I know DCM is saying that as he’s reading this!]

It did well for me today, well for the ankle part, the bottom of my foot (heel spur) didn’t fare as well, so it will be a process. I got home and iced my ankle. I took it easy and DCM and I walked the 5k, after the run, we found JS & PS, GW and his wife DW and CD, we chatted for a few minutes, took some pictures, picked up our finishers mug and then headed home.

When we got home it was hot shower time for me, DCM started the laundry and then got some rest on the couch, I spent the day chilling out and cross stitching on the sofa (wait until you see what I’m working on!).

Did I tell you I’m going back to Atlanta in January to do the Hot Chocolate 5k in January? There should be about 6 of us, how much fun will that be? I’m hoping RS joins us, it’s her birthday! CKM and I have already registered to work the expo, will be fun!

Homepage

{September 23, 2013} Today, I went for a walk

This may not sound like big news to anyone and to those who follow my posts about races may think this is a given, but…after what happened last weekend, this is a big deal.

As you know, I turned my ankle not once, not twice, but three times last Saturday. While it’s definitely been getting better, it still hurts and is tender. I have been wearing an ace bandage on it, changed every few days and last night, I decided to take the bandage off, give it some time to heal.

I also haven’t been able to rest it much during the day this past week, during a go-live you’re usually all over the place, walking around to see where you’re needed, after 10 hours on your feet, even though you’re sitting, driving doesn’t feel awesome. Top down on the car definitely helps though!

And before you ask, I have an appointment on Wednesday to have it x-rayed to see if I have done any serious or permanent damage, I’ll keep you posted.

Part of the reason I decided to take off the bandage is that I did some walking yesterday (Pink Power Ranger costume is on it’s way soon EJS!) and I may have overdone it in conjunction with the bandage being too tight. So, in the evening, after we were done running around, I sat with my leg elevated and iced. It was a crap shoot if it hurt or didn’t.

Today was all about taking it easy, good moments and bad, always elevating my leg. Football was on so I was in the bedroom cross stitching, which I am going to tell you all about in another post, and watching movies, not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

I would like to say I slept in due to my new curtains, but not so…yesterday, it was 7:41am and today it was 8:30, really? Well, the curtains we thought were dark enough, were not. I hope I remedied this when I went to the store (I bought a blackout curtain and put it up behind the pretty curtains). I was feeling a bit claustrophobic and antsy, so I got dressed, put on sneakers and headed to Walmart, it’s only about 1/4 mile and I took it slow, but I am still nervous about moving to fast or putting pressure on my feet, it’s going to take some time, I’ve done this before, but it’s usually better in a few days. My appointment on Wednesday will tell.

Well, I walked to Walmart, around the store and then walked home and up a flight of stairs to get to the appointment, as sad as this sounds, that was enough for me.

I know what it’s like when you’ve been sick for a while and then you have a good day and decide I’m going to climb Mt Fuji. Well, I’m happy to say I didn’t overdo it and I’ve been sitting with my leg raised and icing since the, well, after I made banana bread!

Time to get a little more cross stitch in before I sign off and get some sleep!

{September 16, 2013} Run For Your Lives (for real!), Break Fast and Breakfast

So as to know, I participated in the Run For Your Lives 5k obstacle run yesterday. It’s funny, someone asked if I did the run yesterday because I didn’t post anything on Facebook or text.

Here’s why and then what the rest of my day and today was like because they were better.(and be prepared, this may take a while!)

I also realized that I didn’t get anyone to take my picture, so I won’t have any of me this time, oh well, maybe there will be one on the race page that I can tag and my friends can see it.

I flew in on Friday night as you know, drove 1.5 hours to Dalton, GA to spend the night, no way I was getting up before the sun to drive all the way down to run a race. I’ve started doing that, if the race is more than an hour, I will spend the night and sometimes, even if its an hour away, could be a fun night out.

I got up in the morning, got ready, requested a late checkout so I would have a place to shower, thank goodness! I had plans later and wasn’t going home first. I headed out, got cash for parking and was on my way. I got the with enough time to check in, check my bag in, get an Atlanta zombie shirt and line up for my heat.

Last year, I really enjoyed the run, it was at a dirt bike park track in the woods and it had been raining, so it was muddy, muddy, muddy. (Friends on Facebook, look for those photos from last year) we lined up in three corrals based on your pace (appetizer: 7-9 min mile, entree: 9-11 min mile and dessert, 12-14 min mile, guess where I was, yup, sweet sweet sweet).

It was so muddy that I lost the soles in both my shoes, almost lost a shoe at one of the obstacles. The obstacles yesterday weren’t in abundance or that spectacular, they seemed more like other obstacle races, last year there were hay bales, mud pits, mud bogs.

This year, except for the places they made muddy, it was DRY, DRY, DRY. Not that much fun running or walking on dry, huge rocks, so there were not many people running, partly because of the rocks, but it felt like the entire course was uphill and the downhills were straight down! People were complaining and getting hurt!

The zombies were in abundance, and they were great, the thing I liked better this year, the zombies weren’t as aggressive or body checking people, which they were rejected for last year. There is one zombie, KR, who I also met at the Vampire 5k earlier this year, he posted that it was great to see me, he’s great, he has two extra heads on his shoulders (ha ha) and squirts water at people.

There were doctor zombies, nurse zombies, (I told them I had lost all faith in the medical community that day!) mommies, kids, cheerleaders, brides, prom queens, you name it, it was probably there! The cool thing was that after you finished running, you could have volunteered to be a zombie, how fun would that be!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do most of the obstacles because…wait for it, as I was told by one zombie, I figured out how to avoid or survive the zombie apocalypse, I was injured! Just at the start, I stepped in one of the hundreds of holes, there was one zombie actually standing in one so people wouldn’t fall in, I wasn’t so lucky, stepped in one and turned my right ankle, I felt and heard “POP!” Ouch! I started limping and several people asked if I was alright, even the zombies asked if I wanted medical attention, no not from the zombie doctors! Everyone was very nice! I said no thanks, I’m going to try to walk it off and I am going to finish!

There were a bunch of people who got picked up and driven back on golf carts, it was bad. Eventually they were starting to put out flags to mark the holes…

So, as I’m walking it off and looking pathetic I did it again! Darn it! But I was going on! I kept limping and let me tell you, zombies are actually quite sympathetic when you look that pathetic! They even asked if I was injured! I told some of them they could go for my flags, I wasn’t moving any faster! Some even gave me flags back! (The flags were cool this year, had the logo on them!)

I don’t remember if you recall from yesterday’s post about how Yom Kippur crossed over into the zombie run…one of the zombie nuns was approaching and I said “So, sister, tell me all your bad habits!” I thought it was funny, so did she!(DCM is rolling his eyes right now) and she said, I’m Jewish! I asked if she was fasting! She was, said she had a talk with g-d and it was alright, she was drinking water. I wished her an easy fast and a good Yom Tov! The world is very small!

So, I limped my way through the course and along the way met a lot of cool people, we all talked about different runs that we’ve done and liked. I met a really cool family, J and her husband, C, who lost his glasses, I really hope they got lucky and found them! They were with their daughter and one of her friends. This was their first, they were in from Charlotte, NC, so of course I had tell her about the run I did there and I would be back. We traded email addresses, I hope we’ll keep in touch! I’m hoping she comes to Atlanta for the Hot Chocolate in January!

(For anyone new to reading my blog, specifically J & C, they’re not all this long! Sometimes I just have a lot to say!)

After the run, I collected my gear and headed to the medical tent. There, the EMT looked at my ankle, I told him I did a number on it, he said, woah! And called another EMT over to look at what I done, see, told ya! I don’t do anything half way! He wrapped my ankle up, I found out I could get the wrap wet and it would harden, so far so good.

So…here’s where it gets a little worse, as I’m limping and apparently looking pathetic, a nice guy offered to give me a ride back to my car, on his bike. I had seen him earlier talking to people who worked there, so I said thank you, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble. Well, I climb on to the TEENY TINY back seat, held on and away we went. Very nice bike, by the way orange and black soft tail, too loud for my tastes, but in great shape!

He told me it wouldn’t be smooth, due to all the rocks, no problem, we took the street for part of it. We are ow I the parking area and it’s straw and grass, about 1/4 mile from my car,we are taking a left turn and I’m not sure if it was too fast, all of a sudden, a serious flash, I am on my back with a motorcycle on top of me! In a flash, there were about six people surrounding us picking up the bike, which was good because the foot peg had dug into my LEFT ankle! When I stood up, everyone was checking that I was ok,the driver included, we checked each other out, we were fine, no worse for wear, but better than his bike, the shifter snapped off! He was not going to be able to ride that bike anywhere, luckily he had his truck.

When I was sure he was alright, other people were helping him, I hobbled to my car. It didn’t take very long for the golf ball sized lump to appear on my ankle, pretty solid thing! It’s going to turn very pretty colors! If you’re lucky, I’ll share pictures! Let’s just say this morning, it was tough to get out of bed! I can tell were the bruises are going to be on my left side and backside, but I am lucky, it’s no where near what I had when I crashed my bike a few years ago.

Alright, you heard about my morning, lets move on to the good stuff! (By the way, this all happened before 12:30pm!)

I went back to the hotel for a hot shower, was not as muddy as I have been, thankfully for the hotel cleaning staff! I got in the car and headed downtown to meet some friends for dinner and to Break the Fast, perfect, with my friends. I stopped off at an outlet mall for some retail therapy, it helped my wardrobe for work, not my feet…

I was meeting some of the gang at Yeah Burger in VA Highland, I love it! CKM was there, of course, and first to arrive so we caught up a bit, but I didn’t want to give too many details for fear of repetition, shortly after, DL, my former co-worker and dear friend and her husband, ML, (and CKM and I finally got her to agree to do the Hot Chocolate 5k with us!) we caught up for a few minutes. It was ML’s birthday Friday, Happy Birthday M! Next was SDL and Miss A, you know I scooped that one up and barely let go! Next was TS, looking fabulous as always! I was so excited to hear what she has going on and coming up!

Rounding out the group was another couple who are former co-workers, JC and CC and their adorable son, M, he has gotten so big! I think CC is going to do the Hot Chocolate as well!

We had a great time, ate (I broke the fast with a delicious hand made veggie burger with goat cheese, yum!) caught up, laughed and had the best time! It’s never enough time, but it was great. I was so happy they were able to come out to dinner! I’ll be back, I can’t wait to see them again and if I missed you this time, hope you can join us next time!

After dinner, CKM, SDL and Miss A and I went for dessert around the corner, they had gelato and I had a crepe, yum! We talked a bit more, as we always do and as we are getting to SDL’s car, I walk off the curb and TURN MY FREAKING RIGHT ANKLE, what?!? OUCH! I yelled out quite a few expletives, apologizing the whole time, thank goodness Miss A isn’t repeating what we say! I felt sooo stupid!

SLD gave me a ice pack and after a while, drove me to CKM’s car, who drove me to mine. I felt so stupid! I did feel a little better when she gave me my birthday presents early! I got a stack of books, a patch for climbing Stone Mountain and what I asked for…”whirled peas”! When we were kids, my sister and I would ask my dad what he wanted for his birthday…his response was a digital watch and peace on earth or world peace! So what did I get? Whirled peas! Thank you!!!

I drove home, finished my post, elevated and iced my ankle, as instructed, and passed out!

Are you ok? Need a nap, get a glass of water? (you have to pack as much as possible when the time is short)

Today, I got up and went to meet LK and her three girls, K, J and K. The youngest, K had asked if I would come in for her birthday, it’s in two weeks, of course I wanted to and…it just worked out perfectly. We met at Mimi’s Cafe for a fantastic breakfast and fun. I think I’ve seen them more since if moved than in the last two years I was I Atlanta, I have a lot of time to make up for. When we got there, the youngest K, gave me a bracelet that she made for me, I love it! How did she know I love jewelry made by my nieces?

I told them I would see them when I am back in a we months, we took pictures, gave hugs and kisses, love and we were off!

It was so good to see them ad we would have spent more time together, but one had a softball game, one had a soccer game and I had playtime duties!

I headed to SDL’s house to play with Miss A while SDL mowed the lawn. We played, talked, giggled, ate caught up a little more since last night and a few hours later, it was time to head for the airport.

I dropped off the car, hobbled through security and off we went.

I hope you aren’t too wiped out from my adventure! I need for recoup! Thank goodness I don’t have to get up early tomorrow! I need a nap! Good night!

{September 14, 2013} Run for Your Lives, It’s Yom Kippur or It’s Yom Kippur, Run For Your Lives

No matter how you say it, it just sounds wrong!

The reason I mention both in the title is that they both occurred today and one played in the other which I will explain.

Last week I told you about the start of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, the High Holy Days, culminating ten days later on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, known as the Day of Atonement. Yom Kippur is observed with a fast from sunset the day before, last night, to sunset touch. Traditionally it is observed in prayer and most often in synagogue, or temple. Fasting helps us focus on prayers and reflections of our lives.

As the day of atonement, it is a time for us to ask forgiveness from people we may have wronged and as we hope that our names were written in the book of life on Rosh Hashanah, on Yom Kippur, the book is sealed and our fate is sealed for the next year.

In greetings, as we talked about greetings during Rosh Hashanah, and during Yom Kippur, you would wish someone an easy fast and a good Yom Tov.

There are a LOT of rules associated with Yom Kippur, I’ve attached a link to give you more information and insight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur

Everyone participates in their own way, I used to go to services more often, and…Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have the highest attendance rates in synagogues, those who may not be very religious, tend to go for these two holidays as they are the most holy and on Yom Kippur, we observe a special service for those who are no longer with us. It is a somber time, but a joyous one that we are here to celebrate another year of life and be with those we are close to.

Traditionally you “break fast” with a piece of challah (a traditional Jewish braided bread) or maybe a piece of rugelach, a wonderful Jewish pastry. My sister used to keep a small ziplock full of rugelach, that our grandma M used to bring us from a great Jewish bakery in Brooklyn for the holiday, in the car and the second service were over, she’d be in the car eating a sweet while we drove home for a wonderful dinner of traditional foods that my mother and grandmother would cook.

(I’m smiling thinking about it…home made chicken soup, gefilte fish, kreplach, brisket and/or chicken and wonderful desserts: grandmas home made apple sauce and rugelach)

As I said, I do not go to synagogue like I used to, but I do observe the fast and I never work on Yom Kippur, I observe in my own way.

I liked the title of my post at first, but I realized now that I only want to devote this post to Yom Kippur and I will tell you about the run tomorrow. (Run for your Lives is a 5k obstacle course I ran today).

So, as I said in my post on Facebook, my wish to you…”Wishing all my friends and family an easy fast, may you find the answers you seek this day of atonement and may you be inscribed in the book of life for another year”

{August 10, 2013} Neon Splash Dash

Tonight, I did my second night run in Denver, the Neon Splash Dash 5k.

This was one of the first times I’ve done a run like this and didn’t pick up my packet in advance, the pickup hours were 9am-2pm in downtown Denver, not sure what the deal was, some of us have to work, a evident by the long, long, long line to get our packets.

The only rule…you have to wear white, all white, which I followed along with a bunch of people, to the letter, but of course, there we those who were doing their own thing. There were a lot of tutus, a bunch of neon, but overwhelmingly…white white and more white! There were even people n white plastic suits, with hoods! There were participants of all ages, it was cute to see the kids in strollers and on bicycles with training wheels.

My own outfit, since this is my blog: white long sleeve t, white skirt (that I had worn for the color run, which was still white), a white baseball cap and my XX-Hi Chuck Taylor’s (if my smart feet didn’t fit, I would have been in a lot of pain after the run!), I looked fabulous, of course! Oh man, I should have gotten some angel wings!

CKM, you were very much missed at this one, you would have loved it! My Atlanta race friends, do this, it was a blast!

There was a huge storm earlier in the day, even while waiting to leave the apartment, BIG bah-da-boom thunderclap! On the way to the run, rain, thunder, lightening and rainbows. They said the rainbows were a good sign! All the pretty colors and we were going to shine like that!
They decided to delay the start of the race because of the rain and people getting their packets. We started the run about 8:30. After the run, I looked at my watch, it was only about 2.65, not sure what happened to the 3.1 miles!

We were off! It was a lot of fun! It was very relaxed, some runners, a lot of walkers. I saw a bunch of Color Run tshirts and some of the blinky (yes, I said blinky!) things we got at the Firefly Run. Needless to say, there were a lot of blinking lights everywhere. There was music piped in throughout the run, I didn’t hear a lot of it, I had my headphones on (you know, so I can’t hear myself panting!)

Every half mile, you went through some inflated light up balloons, they looked like curved dragon teeth, very cool. After the colored lights, which indicated the color of neon paint you were about to get hit with, reminiscent of the color run. As you went by the black lights, you were sprayed with watered down colored paint (blue, then yellow, then green, then pink).

Just so you know, no matter how much they water down the paint, it still doesn’t taste good! You learn quickly to keep your eyes and mouth closed, I forgot to hold my nose too! Luckily, I had my headphones in, protected my ears from a lot more paint! (I ended up getting some clear glasses, which would have been a good thing when going through the paint spray. I’m going to use them in the convertible, when the top is down at night.)

At the finish line, I started looking for DCM, we’ve missed even other once or twice, but there he was. I found him first, it was dark and there were a lot of us! And even though we were wearing white, we were all covered head to toe in neon paint. I couldn’t figure out why he didn’t want to hug me!

We walked back to the truck and it’s a good thing I brought a change of clothes, DCM said I would have had to ride back in the bed of the truck! Nah! But who wants to take a chance and find out? After I changed, I realized there was paint in my hair, ears, on my face and even my eyelashes!

My clothes are drying, might wear these for every one of these races! I need a backlight, anyone have one?

http://www.neonsplashdash.com/

{July 23, 2013} R.I.P.D.

After I finished work I called DCM and asked if he wanted to celebrate, he had a great day at work, solved a tough problem. I’ll take care of everything!

So, after I ordered pizza from Abo’s Pizza, yum, http://abospizza.com/, I order tickets to see R.I.P.D. We were set, DCM would just need to get home. So, since I had some time, I decided it was time to get outside and go for a walk, remember my post from Friday?

It was about 3:45 and out the door I went. On the way downstairs, I met a girl coming upstairs who told me it was hot out, not so bad in the shade. She was not lying! I did have trouble finding shade though. Off I went, took a tour, not sure where I was going, but what I love? There are sidewalks and paths everywhere! Even in between some of the houses, there are paths towards the paths in the fields behind the neighborhoods!

Well, I gave it my best effort, walked the hills, the neighborhood and when I looked at the weather app on my phone, it said 94degrees, but feels like 85, nope, felt like 94! I gave Mother Nature 2.13 miles and I was done!

On the way back to the apartment, I saw Muskego and Jason, he’s getting so big! The dog silly! Back to the apartment, 2nd shower of the day, DCM got home shortly after that, then…ding dong, pizza!

We chilled and then headed to the movie theater, 3rd movie date in 4 days! I. A lucky girl!

R.I.P.D. was funny! There was humor, good guys, bad cops, “dead-o’s”, surprise bad guys and Kevin Bacon. There you go.

Kidding!

R.I.P.D. is the Rest In Peace Department, everyone is dead, I hope you figured that out. The cops were all alive at one point, the best at what they do and their job is to catch the dead-o’s, those who have passed on but refuse to leave the earth.

Mary Louise Parker is the captain and she’s great in the role, very dry, but really funny, Jeff Bridges is Roy, the crusty old timer, Ryan Reynolds is the angry/confused new recruit…after he died and went up, he had a choice, serve on the R.I.P.D. For 100 years or go…

They have special weapons to go after the dead-o’s, although they try to capture them instead of eliminate them. The catch, go figure, they don’t look like themselves as they did when they were alive, Jeff Bridges is a 5’8″ blond bombshell, fully stacked, so to speak who can stop traffic, played by Marissa Miller, armed with a hair dryer. Ryan Reynols’ “avatar” is played by James Wong, an old Chinese dude, armed with a banana! Ok, so who else thinks of David Lo Pan in Big Trouble in Little China when they hear or see James Hong?

Does any of this sound like Men In Black? Yeah, that’s what we were thinking while we were watching, but we still enjoyed it.

If you’re looking for a good time with some good one liners, creative dead-o’s, explosions, true love, mystery and some “they didn’t see that coming?” and won’t get caught up by not understanding half of what Jeff Bridges character is saying, you’ll enjoy it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790736/?ref_=sr_1

{July 19, 2013} Firefly 5k

As I was run/walking the Firefly 5k tonight in Denver, I was thinking about my post and what I was going to say.

I was also thinking that if I could dictate successfully while running, it would make life so easy! The ideas would be there instead me trying to remember!

I was thinking do I write about something else about myself, do people really need to hear something else about me, shouldn’t I write about something more important or different, (I have to stop saying something!)? But then I thought…why not? It’s my blog and people who know me like to keep up with what I’m doing, know what’s happening with me, so there you go.

The Firefly 5k is a run that happens at night and in multiple cities around the country, not necessarily on the same night. (Would be cool though if they did) It’s an all ages run and there were all ages. It wasn’t the party that the Electric Run was, but it was still fun. It was fun seeing all the costumes and the glow in the dark accessories. Our race packet included a performance tshirt (men’s), our bib and two dayglo yellow bracelets with red blinking lights on them. While you’re running or walking, it was cool to look forward or back to see all the red lights, like looking at traffic on the road, it was very cool.

The run was at the Dicks Sporting Good Center in Denver, haven’t looked up what events happen there, but it looked like a field with grass on it, so could be football or futball. We did part of the run in the parking lot, then through the stadium, it was very cool. I like night races, especially in the summer, a little cooler temperature and it’s fun to see all the ideas, you should try one.

The other thing I realized while I was run/walking, is that I am grossly out of shape! Oh, I can walk and keep up, but it takes serious effort! And we know how I feel about my shadow!

There are two (three sort of) things that I count on when doing a 5k.

One, I finish under 45 minutes (you can normally count on me to complete a 5k in 41-43 minutes). Today, I came in just at 45 minutes, not bad for someone who hasn’t run in over a week!

Two, that someone can read my clever and funny shirt, should I choose to wear a funny and/or clever shirt (tonight I wore the one that says “When the zombies come, I’m tripping you!” on the back) and three (which could be part of two) is that there are people who are still behind me. Even when I did the half marathon, we ad 3:30 to finish, I came in 3:23 and there were still people coming in.

I could blame it on a lot of things. Maybe the fact that I’ve been up since 6am MT (I think I’ve acclimated to the time difference), it could be that I traveled from Atlanta today, a 3 hour flight and then almost 2 to get home. It could be the altitude, lets go with that one! it could be that I haven’t run or walked in over a week. Or it cold be that I’m seriously out of shape.

Whatever the reason, I did the most important thing, I finished (after showing up!), yes, I finished and that says more than anything! I may never be the fastest, but they will never say I didn’t try!

I do know that I am inspired to get it there and start walking again, and then running, I’ll get there! My goal…complete another half marathon, this time, run more of it, heck, even most of it! Who knows…wish me luck!

{July 4, 2013} I heard that holidays mean relaxing…

Happy Independence Day!

And a BIG THANK YOU to all the men and women who are currently serving and have served in our nations military, so that we can enjoy our freedoms. Hint hint, DCM, DA, CA, KS, MA, just to name a few.

As I mentioned yesterday, CKM and I have volunteered for the Peachtree Roadrace for the last 3 years, this being our 4th, next year, we get a hat and a special 5 year pin! The alarm went off at 3:45am…what? DCM had just gotten home about an hour earlier! (I did snooze for about 10 minutes, it was glorious! Ever notice that the few minutes of snoozing are sometimes more enjoyable than the entire night of sleep!)

Up, dressed and out the door by 4:08, go me! Off to Phipps Plaza to park and check in. We checked in by 5am, got our volunteer T-shirts, (we like them best this year) our pin, clearance badges and Waffle House discount card.

Pack everything we can in our plastic bags inside our bags inside our rain jackets…did I mention it’s been raining in Atlanta all week and there were flash flood warnings until tomorrow? Then we walk to Dante’s Down the Hatch to do our jobs. This consisted of telling the elite runners go this way and everyone else, no entry. Not very exiting or incredibly organized, but since when do CKM and I need something to do when there’s an opportunity to talk!

Next year…new assignment!

After the wheelchair racers went, wicked cooks by the way! Then the elite women, then the elite men, then…the elite volunteers, well, us! We went out after the A group, after finding out that you don’t have to cross the start line to get your time clocked at the end, so off we went! We’d already walked the .2 miles (as that tshirt says…it’s that darn .1/.2 that gets you ever time!) so we were in good company!

All I wanted was to finish before my official corral, P came by! We were hoofing it, getting our groove on! We went by the Moe’s and got tshirts there! (We walked a 10 Queso!) all of a sudden we’re at mile marker 2, then 3, were we faster than last year? I do know that the rain helped, not as hot as past years, but all in all, it felt almost anticlimactic when we got to the finish because we were finishing so early and it felt like no time had passed. We finished the run before our normal start time, how cool!

We held hands and ran across the finish line, got our coveted Tshirts, then went in search of snacks: bagels, bananas, cookies, all the good stuff.

When we left Piedmont Park, we must have walked another 2-3 miles to the MARTA station and instead of taking the train, hopped on a shuttle headed for the train, then…jumped in a cab back to or cars. Two reasons we took a cab… First, it was less hassle than the train and second, CKM had never ridden in a taxi, cross that one off your bucket list!

Got the cars, headed home and took a long hot shower, what a mechia!

Two of DCM’s daughters came over and brought new baby M, to meet his grandpa for the first time. What a doll baby! What a great to see them together, it was love at first site! After what seemed to be a very long time, DCM relinquished the baby to JJ! So soft and sweet!

KAT, DCM, DCM, Baby A and I all hung out and played, chatted and got caught up. I left to go meet CKM AND A for dinner and let DCM have some alone time with his kids.

We met at a Turkish restaurant, shared seem great food, great stories, lots of laughs and then went to see The Heat and we all know how much I liked that!

Now I am home writing to you, dear readers, ready to catch up on some much needs sleep!

{July 3, 2013} I’m still awake? Are we there yet?

What a day! You may want to sit down, I don’t want you to get worn out!

I got into Atlanta last night about 10:15, got a rental car (remember when I said it wold be surreal, every time I come back to Atlanta, will need to rent a car, yeah, still weird), drove to my house, it’s still here, ha ha. It is a little weird to be in it and it is so barren, very nice and clean, but very little of my personality, oh well, such is the life of a house on the market.

Right before the alarm went off at 7, I had the worst dream! I got pulled over for texting and I wasn’t even texting! I think I was looking at a map, but definitely not texting and I couldn’t wake up! I am on the fence about whether I knew it was a dream, just know that I was not happy!

Snoozed enough, grrr…that I had just enough time for a quick shower and out the door. I forgot its been raining in Atlanta A LOT lately and we are in flash flood warnings until Friday, what? It rains in Colorado for about 3 minutes, then it’s over! So, off I went, hoping the traffic wouldn’t be too bad, no school in session!

Had my annual visit today, that’s the doctor for girl parts, love seeing Dr. B, she cracks me up, we laugh a lot and she told me she likes me because I’m real, well, thank you. She also told me she’s closing up shop, so now I need to find a new doctor, I guess I’m looking in Colorado.

Off to find something to eat, went to Moe’s (“Welcome to Moe’s!”) I sent a picture to DCM with the caption…jealous? The closest Moe’s in Colorado is about 4 hours away, guess we’ll be having it when we’re in Atlanta. Connected to their WiFi and got some work done; the good and bad thing about having a black berry or at least being able to get work emails on your phone..you can still work, no matter what..see, good and bad.

A few hours later, went to meet CKM at MARTA to head to the Georgia World Congress Center for the Peachtree Roadrace Expo to pick up our bibs and check out the expo. This is the first year we didn’t volunteer at the expo, we’re volunteering tomorrow (tell you more in a minute). After we got our numbers, we walked the expo, doing a little shopping and looking. The thing about the expo is they have all different vendors from running shoes, to shirts, skirts, sport drinks, snacks to things to help you heal and registering for the next race.

Since things are so discounted, at least the pricing they have indicates mark downs…I buy a few things I might need and others I want. I used to get my running shoes there deeply discounted, not today. I got a few shirts, a pair of running pants and information about some races I’m interested in. It turns it that they are bringing the Monster Dash to Denver! I was hoping to register, get my jacket, SOCKS and BAG, but I will have to wait until they post it online. JCT, guess what!!! They are only doing a 5k and 10k this year in Atlanta, you get the jacket no matter which run you do! And it’s smokin! http://www.monsterdash.org/

I did, however, register for a Disney 5k much cheaper than the others! I see a girls weekend in my future! Who’s with me? (It’s in February 2014). Guess what the bonus was for registering at the expo..I’ll let you figure it out!

The shirts I get are always funny, I’ve posted pics for you to see. I love the zombie one, I’m wearing that tomorrow, but there is one that CKM shouted, “you HAVE to get this one!” You’ll know it when you see it! I also finally got a magnet for my car and a sticker for DCM! I got him a funny shirt as well.

We saw everything, tasted everything, got swag, goodies, snacks and our annual picture taken, like we’re running the race! We even filled in “Why I Run” bibs from VW Runners Unite, can you guess which was mine and which was CKM’s! We were beat! This was the first time we got to chill out while and take our time, it was nice.

Since our plans got rained out, an impromptu dinner came about, we met TS and her daughter KS at an Irish pub. Always great to see them, but as KS is in college, a rare treat for me! We ate good food, I carbo-loaded as is customary before a race, of course if I was actually running, it would have meant more than just pasta for dinner! We caught up, laughed, joked and had a great time and then realized what time it was!

This year, CKM and I volunteered to work with/help the elite runners, the runners that are invited to participate in the Peachtree. We are excited for the new challenge, besides the tshirt it comes with! But…this assignment starts at 5:30AM, what? We volunteered to sign up for this? Apparently we did! I think it will be a lot of fun and if we are really really lucky, maybe we can go earlier than our assigned start times, fingers crossed on that one!

So…DCM just landed a while ago and is on his way to see his daughter, DCM, who turned SIXTEEN today! A very very very happy birthday to her! I am looking forward to seeing her while we are here! I know she’s going to be so excited about her presents! I can’t tell you what they are, she might be reading this right now, but I can tell you, she’s gong to be stoked!

So, here I sit, it’s 11:32pm, I have to be up again in about four hours! What am I still doing awake? I just reiterated the title of this post! And my next question…are we there yet? Yes, friends, we have come to the end of this post..in conclusion, we are there, but I’m still awake! About to change that! Good night!