My Marathon of a Journey | Peaches Prattlings

{June 9, 2013} First Run in Colorado

Today I/we did my/our first run/walk in Colorado.

One of DCM’s co-workers has a son who was diagnosed with epilepsy, and today was the Epilepsy 5k. I originally registered as a runner because I wasn’t sure if DCM was going to be participating.

The alarm went off at 7am…I will sleep past 7am one Saturday, I can feel it! You’ll pull for me, right? We headed out to City Park in Denver, it only took about 30 minutes to get there, it was a nice ride with the top down. We got our race bibs and T-shirts, found the group and got ready for the run to begin,

There was a good group of people, employees and spouse/significant others. Most people were walking, a few running and they encouraged me to run, I made sure DCM would be alright with that as I said we’d do it together, he was cool with it, as he’d be with his co-workers, I still feel a little bad, as I don’t know if I’ll get him to do another one with me.

It’s been about 5 weeks since I’ve run or done any kind of exercise due to packing and the move, I can’t believe I was kind of jonesing to run, if you can believe that! I wasn’t prepared to run (I did have my running shoes and 2 sports bras on, that was good thinking!) I had on jeans short, but honestly, they fit well, didn’t slide down and kept my thighs covered, what could be wrong.

The bad part…no headphones! So I had to listen to myself breathing, ok, panting most of the way! I ran the first quarter mile, walked 2 minutes, ran a quarter mile and so on. My best time in a run was 39 minutes, my slowest time 43 minutes. Since I haven’t run in a while and I’ve been told it would be very different with Denver being the Mile Hight City, I’m really happy, I made it in 44:55, no complaints here!

Someone said I need to train here, then when I go back to Atlanta, I’ll be a monster on the course! That is the plan!

After the race, I got to hang out with DCM’s co-workers, we had frozen fruit bars, ice cream, snow cones, popcorn, danced with team mascots, had a lot of laughs and took team photos. After the run, we headed home.

There were some side effects, could be from the run, might be from something else. My chest was tight for most of the day and I ended up with a wicked headache, spent the rest of the day on the couch, fading in and out of sleep, DCM taking care of me, thank you. So, I just need to start training again and I should be golden!

Tonight, DCM got an email from JS, PS’s wife about a run June 22nd and she said, “DCM, this email is of course, directed to JRS!” Too funny!

Here’s to the beginning of my runs, bib and tshirt collection in Denver, looking forward to it!

{May 13, 2013} My weekend Part II

So, I hope you didn’t fall asleep reading my post last night! I have to tell you, I had to stop blogging last night because I started dozing off as I was writing!

After the museum, I drove to JB’s house to meet CKM so we could go to the Electric Run, http://electricrun.com/atlanta/, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Luckily for me this was a 5k and we were going to walk it! Whew!

At JB’s house, they fed me, it was his son E’s birthday, yummy yummy yummy! After a while, we got dressed in our day glow funky outfits (we were the “Brightest Crayons in the Box”) and headed to the speedway. The race was capped at 10,000 participants, so there wouldn’t be too many people there.

We passed a bunch of people going to the race, you could tell, we were all glowing! Everyone gave each other thumbs up! When we got to the race, it was fun to see all the different ideas people had for this run. There were light up tutus, wheelchairs were decked out, grow ups, kids, everyone was definitely in the spirit of things! I’m excited because I registered for the Firefly 5k in July in Colorado!

There were no official start waves, they started a countdown every five minutes and we were off! There was music at the start, pumped through speakers throughout and at several stations. It was very cool, all the different lighting features along the way, umbrellas hanging from trees lit up, Chinese lanterns in the trees,all different color lights, even the water stations were cool, the cups were dayglo colors and they had these lit up tubes and when you added your cup, it created a great feature! There were tunnels with strobes and tunnels with bubbles. The course even took us onto the track! That was so much fun, and as close as I will possibly ever get to a racetrack!

The nice thing about the race was there was no pressure, just walk it at your leisure and finish when you finish. It started raining during the run, on and off, it wasn’t bad at all, luckily it wasn’t cold and we had ponchos if it got bad. After the finish was a big thumping after party, we both looked at each other “when was the last time you were at a night club?” Um…

We left after jumping and dancing for a bit, I dropped CKM off and headed home, but…I realized I was starving, so I stopped at Fellini’s for a slice and a Coke, it was heavenly! That gave me the little boost I needed to get home, it was a wee bit late when I got here. I knew I needed to blog quickly and then I passed out!

Sunday came and I amazingly enough slept in…when did sleeping until 9am become sleeping in? Oh well…I wished a few people of Happy Mothers Day, I got to talk to my sister, that was great! got a few hours packing done and then headed out to meet SDL, her sister DJL and Miss A for lunch. We went to Doc Chey’s in the Highland and had a great time, as always. I am so honored to be a part of their lives and that they let me celebrate in the big and little things in their lives means so much to me.

I posted a picture of myself, my mom, her mom and my sister, in honor of Mother’s Day and it still amazes people how much I look like my mom. People posted some wonderful things and memories about my mom, I was really touched. It was 19 years ago today, I left NYC for GA, the day after Mother’s Day, she had mixed feelings,happy for me in my new adventure, sad that I was going.

I will tell you sometime about my mom, she was quite the woman, just not today. It was nice seeing all the photos on Facebook of people and their moms and the wonderful things they had to say, some who’s moms have passed, and of course, it made me miss mine all the more.

And then, it made me a little sad, because for almost 12 years I was mom to a son and daughter (step mom, don’t want to confuse anyone too much) that I miss very much. They were 7 & 8 when I met them back in 1996! They were so little, cute and shorter than me! (That didn’t last that long). I realized that May 2008 was the last time I saw my daughter and August 2008 was the last time I saw my son. I understand that with divorce you lose your spouse, as you’re supposed to, and you might lose some friends, but the hard part is when you’re the step mom, you might lose the kids and that’s what really hurt.

I did hear from my daughter back when Hurricane Sandy hit NYC, she wanted to see how my family was doing, I was very touched. She also told me about herself, where she is and what she’s doing now and how I impacted her life and it was wonderful and made me feel great, I think I cried and bragged about it for a good week, sorry if anyone had to hear me go on and on! Unfortunately, that was the last I heard from her.

No matter what happened with their dad, I loved those two more than anything and every Nov 11 (boy child) and May 9 (girl child) I think about them on their birthdays and send them a birthday wish that who knows, maybe they feel in their heart,they may not know what it is, but it’s there.

Ok, maudlin is done.

I got home from lunch and mowed the lawn, apparently the dandelion fairy had made a stop at my house and her sack broke because my yard was a toddlers dream! All those pretty flowers for mommy! I felt much better! Sorry kids!

Speaking of fairies, I have been sending up requests to the packing fairy and she isn’t listening, I even offered cookies, no dice. BG tells me that she is trying to teach me a lesson, I have to much stuff! Gee thanks!

This is really happening! Uhaul is rented, the realtors are coming over tomorrow to sign contracts and put a sign in the yard. Maybe it’s time for a new St Joseph statue, the last one didn’t seem to work!
http://www.stjosephstatue.com/

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Now, it’s off to bed to dream about packing tape!

{May 12, 2013} My weekend

As promised, my weekend. A tea tasting, two races, a museum, Mother’s Day lunch, and packing. The end.

Sorry, couldn’t resist, but now, here it is, my weekend, not sure if you’ll need a nap and or a tissue or maybe both.

Friday started out fine enough, until I lost ALL my files on my work PC, what? Several hours and cuss words later and a chat with my favorite IT guy at work, RJ, I had my files back, apparently my external hard drive wanted them, bad hard drive!

I managed to get a little packing done as well, then at 3:30, headed out to pick up our race packets for the Electric Run, race number 2 on Saturday. It wasn’t very crowded at all (OMG, Air Supply on the radio!) at packet pick up, but I had our entries and we were ready to go. In order for me to pick up CKM’s packet, she had to complete a release, I attached the link because it was really funny!

Click to access PACKET-RELEASE-FORM.pdf

Then I headed to meet CKM for the first activity of the weekend, a tea tasting at Zen Tea, it was quite enjoyable and highly recommended, by us. There were 6 of us, 3 sets of 2 women, we each got to select a pot of tea to have while we waited to start, we smelled about 6 before settling on White Christmas for CKM and Jasmine Rose for me (I have probably gotten those wrong and she will correct me!). Both were really good and they had lots of sugaring options: simple sugar, raw sugar, rock sugar, sugar water and honey. You know I was in heaven! We also had a glass of an iced tea, yes, I drank iced tea! Not going to make a habit of it, but it was good!

When everyone was settled and had their personal pot of tea, the lesson started. Tonight, we were doing white teas. I love white teas, I enjoy almost all teas, but I really enjoy white teas. Camomile is a good example of a white tea and PF Changs has one of my favorites, White Tangerine. We would get a lesson on the tea we were going to try, we would smell the leaves and then get a demitasse cup of the tea. You wouldn’t think that six teeny cups of tea would be filling, but you would be wrong! CKM was taking her time and laughing because at one point, she had about four cups in front of her and the thing about white teas, they looks so similar! Hard to tell what you’re having! We did agree, neither of us liked the lemongrass tea.

In the middle of the tasting, we were given a slice of chocolate cake with black cherry sorbet, you know what I ate…the sorbet was great! After the six cups, we got to choose one more pot, so we decided on a caramel and oh my! Tasted as good as it smelled!

http://www.ezentea.com/atlanta-tea-shop/atlanta-tea-room-house-chamblee-georgia

When we were done, we were hungry! We walked down to Vintage Pizza, I almost asked what the soup of the day was! What? We had a nice dinner and then walked back to our cars, still talking and then I realized, we were going to see each other the next day! Why are we still talking? I had to get to the hotel and it was almost 10 pm!

We parted company and I headed to Cartersville to crash for the night. If I haven’t already mentioned this, when a race is 1.5 hours or more away, I spend the night. I don’t mind driving here, I don’t feel like getting up before the sun to get to the race, so I spend the night. (I get my points, it’s a win-win!)

I the morning I drove to Dallas, Ga to meet BG and his brother AG for the Savage Race. Unfortunately, BG had surgery on his foot and wouldn’t be able to participate, and I knew AG would take off at the start, they are both “real”runners! I didn’t realize when I signed up it was 4-6 miles with obstacles!!! What? So…when someone told me it was 6 or 7 miles for the run, I felt better, because at one point I was thinking, I don’t think this thing is ever going to end!

It was tough because there was more running than anything else and it was mostly uphill, no thanks! I can tell you that my hamstrings are killing me and I thinking my glutes hate me! I said after I did the Spartan Run that I wouldn’t do another without real training, apparently I lied to myself!

This was a tough race, but not much tougher than any other hard core obstacle race. The slogan is “The Savage Run…A race built to kick your a$$! A least at this race, no one made you do burpees if you skipped one and everyone wasincredibly encouraging and helpful to each other, definitely a plus!

There were a few obstacles that I skipped and I slept just fine last night! BG asked if I would do this one again, I said not unless I really trained for it, I have very little upper body strength, need to work on that! But…the most important thing? I finished, I ran, I jumped, I climbed, I slid, I was shocked by electricity and I got muddy, I finished,that is what really matters, I have the tshirt and medal to prove it!
The best part? My knee didn’t hurt! I turned each ankle at some point and my elbows hurt,but other than that, I survived!

Home

Need a nap, a cup of coffee? Go for it, we’re not going anywhere for a while!

Next, I went to LA Fitness to take a shower, I got as much as I could off with a garden hose with really low water pressure. Very nice!

After the gym, I drove over to The High Museum of Art for the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera exhibit. It was the last weekend, so I expected it to be crowded, it wasn’t too bad. There were a large number of Hispanic families with lots of kids, which was great to expose them to the art world.

If you’re not familiar with Frida Kahlo’s work, she is famous for her self portraits and one of the distinguishing things was her “uni-brow”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo
Frida Kahlo was married to Diego Rivera, it was a tumultuous relationship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Rivera
There was a quote from Frida on the wall, “I suffered two accidents in my life. One in which a streetcar knocked me down. The other accident was Diego.” That should tell you a lot!

After I left the museum, I called my dad. I told him I was a little unsettled, I had just been to see a Frida Kahlo/Diego Rivera exhibit, he asked one question, “why? You don’t like her!” True, I’m not a huge fan, but I do like Diego Rivers’s work.

The reasons I don’t like her work is that when I was 9, I was at her studio in Mexico and saw a painting that she did that freaked me out, gave me nightmares. This is a painting that shows her conflict between her Mexican and American sides, after you look at the link you’ll know why I had nightmares!
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/K/kahlo/two_fridas.jpg.html
I really thought I could get thorough it, but no, there were a few pieces I enjoyed and a few that I couldn’t stomach.
I made it through the exhibit and it was good to talk to my dad after, he knows how I feel!

Ok friends, I think it is time for me to pack it in and say goodnight. We’ll call this part one, I will finish my weekend telling tomorrow

{May 4, 2013} A very full day

I started to put something cheesy in the title of this post, A Very Full ( of Iron Man), but aren’t you lucky I didn’t!

The day started very early, or late, as it were. I realized at 2am that I needed to get up at 6 to go run a race, so I got some sleep, up at 6, listened to the rain come down and think about if I wanted to get up and do the run and if there would still be a neighborhood yard sale, all before 7am!

So, I cancelled the help I had for the yard sale, got dressed and headed towards Decatur for the Beat the Street for Little Feet 5k. http://www.rungeorgia.com/littlefeet5k.html. This race benefits the Oakhurst Park Prep school. One of the reasons people like to do this particular race is that James Dean, the artist, draws this wonderful cat, Pete, check out his site and some of his artwork
http://www.petethecat.com/. You can purchase the T-shirt without having to run the race, I haven’t done that yet with an race and this is a race I’ve done twice before and I was looking forward to doing it again, and get my t-shirt!

I got there about 7:30, checked in and got my race Bibb and tshirt, then started running laps so I would stay warm, it was very cold and rainy. I was pretty happy with my time for this race as I haven’t been running in about a week, every morning I have been getting up at 7, but to pack, I’m looking forward to the packing to be done so I can start training again! So, my time 41:51, very happy! I hit the 3 mile mark at 38 minutes, wahoo! It felt good to be back on the road, knee wrapped, no injuries!

Got my apple, banana, Lara bars (good source of protein) http://www.larabar.com/, got in the car, headed home, finish getting things ready for the Iron Man Movie Marathon.

Turns out a few neighbors still had the yard sale, actually a true garage sale, everything in the garages! I am actually amassing a nice pile of stuff for a yard sale! Salvation Army got a nice donation yesterday, got a jump on next years taxes.

The marathon: Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and The Avengers, then go to the theater to see Iron Man 3. It was going to be me, BG and TS.

BG showed up first, turns out his son, JG, woke up sick, so he had to be home by 5, so slight change of plans, we went to Studio Movie Grill to see Iron Man 3, skip the marathon. I won’t be reviewing the movie for you tonight, I don’t want to influence your viewing experience, especially opening weekend.

Be on the lookout, I am going to be creating a movie ticket blog, all the movies I have stubs for, it’s gonna be something!

TS and her daughter, KS met us there and we watched the movie. I’m not a fan of the new SMG, service was so-so, the experience ok. After the movie. BG went home and TS and KS came to my place and we watched The Avengers, TS hadn’t seen it yet. We got to catch up a little, which was good, I don’t get to see KS very often as she is off at college, miss seeing her, I’ve known her since she was a young girl and I have gotten to watch her grow into a bright, beautiful, intelligent young woman, a joy and honor to know.

They left and now I a watching Iron Man 2, looking forward to getting some sleep, possibly sleeping in and getting major work done on the house tomorrow.

{April 26, 2013} Fun, fun and more fun!

Tonight was so much fun!

I participated in the Vampire 5k, http://www.vampire5k.com/. Proceeds to go to local blood banks. It was being conducted in five cities around the country tonight! The only bad thing about this race, is it moved 3 times! The first was at Piedmont Park, pretty good for everyone, then it moved to the Conyers Horse Park, great for me, not so great for everyone else, then it moved to Six Flags, not great for anyone!

I was doing this race with RS and DL, a friend from work and NM, who used to work there as well and I’ve become friendly with through lunches.

Before I left the house,I got dressed. I was running as a vampire: black tights with bones criss crossed up the front and back, my black running skirt, black socks, bright pink sneakers (the only thing I had on that wasn’t black and I mean only), a black t-shirt that I made for us, in red puffy paint, I wrote our team name “We Are Fangastic”, it got quite a few compliments! I did my hair in two tight buns on top of my head and put gauzy pony holders with spiders on the ends.

I had bleeding bite marks on my neck, a tattoo I had from a while back, but knew I wanted for this! Then I did my makeup, that’s where I shine, it was one of my specialties in college. After my face and neck were done, I added my fangs, which someone had brought back from a horror convention for me a very long time ago, I finally got to wear them! Apparently I looked pretty good and scary, someone asked if I got my makeup done in the makeup tent and I scared a few kids!

I made it in plenty of time, if I had waited any longer to leave, it would have been another story.

RS got there after a while and I gave her her tshirt and did her makeup, she looked fabulous! It’s always great when we can catch up! Then we went to meet DL and NM, I was waving at DL, she kept looking a me, which I guess is a good thing! I also ran into some nurses that I taught at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta two jobs ago!

You could run as a vampire or as a citizen. If you were a citizen, you wore all white, vampires, all black. The citizens had a belt with 2 flags, and the vampires had to get their flags and when they were out of flags, they became vampires. The citizens lined up, got to start the race, then the vampires, we were off!

I ended up grabbing one person’s flag! I kept it! I couldn’t grab any others, they were too fast, but it was a lot of fun! The costumes were great, so many fantastic vampire and clever names of teams and clever costumes and socks and tutus, just a very fun event.

At the end of the race, instead of getting covered in red dyed corn starch, we got a red ribbon in honor of Boston. Nicely done.

I started out walking with all the girls, then we kind of got separated and RS met up with a friend, so we walked together. About half a mile from the finish, I needed to run, so I ran, it felt good. I ran right into the strobe lights that were on either side of the finish line, that was interesting and blinding.

There were some people towards the back worried they were going to slow or weren’t good at it. The important thing is that you did it and you finish!

It was so much fun to do the run with good friends, makes it all the more worth it! Let me know when you’re ready to do a run with me!

{April 25, 2013} Falling apart

I may very well be falling apart.

How old am I? Some days I feel like my body has it in for me and some of those days I think, “ok, you win”. Who wins and who am I talking to?

This last year has taken a toll on my body. I am only talking about the external, internal is a treat. I’ve had bunions on both my feet, something I inherited from my mom and grandfather, thanks! Most of the time I can deal with it, but it has hampered my ability to purchase some really cute shoes that might dig into them, I bought some ballet flats and said “the hell with it” and sometimes it’s a good day and sometimes it’s a bad day. There are times that they hurt after a long day, standing for a long time or just for being there, I have even woken up screaming from the pain.

When I went to see Dr Julian for something else, we talked about surgery, he said bunion surgery was his favorite, when I asked why, he told me because it was easy for him, and he didn’t have to deal with the recovery, gee thanks! I’ve considered it off and on for years, but, I found out, it’s 2-4 weeks off your feet completely then about 3 (maybe 6, I could be completely wrong here) months full recovery. That means no walking, no races, what? Nope!

The reason I went to see Dr Julian, and by the way, amazing podiatrist in Atlanta! Was my feet were hurting after I walked a few miles and when I did the Atlanta Women’s 2 Day, 30 miles in 2 days, I had blisters that had blisters, ouch. He told me I had heel spurs, thank goodness I wasn’t the hypochondriac I thought I might be turning into! He gave me some Smart Feet and recommended the sneakers I needed and exercises that I have to do. The Smart Feet are great, I just picked up some new ones, (they need to be replaced every 8 months) I wore them to my last mud run, so now I need new clean ones and a pair of new clean sneakers. I vowed never to run any kind of race without the proper foot-ware and Smart Feet, I learned my lesson, that which I am still paying for over a month later. (I do my exercises most of the time, I really try.)

The next fun thing to happen…I wrenched my knee! I was coming downhill, through the woods, in the mud, at a race and something snapped, great! Oh my word, I don’t know if I’ve been in that kind of pain before, well, maybe kidney stones, but it kept waking me up! Now I am very careful when I run, especially downhill. Luckily, each time it has happened, it was close to the end of a race. Yes, I said each time, I never claimed to be that smart! I saw someone after a race, he wrapped it with Rock Tape http://rocktape.com/products/tape/. I was rockin! And it helped! He told me what the issue was and I would love to tell you, if I could remember! One thing he told me to do was lunges, let me know how that worked out for you! I know, need to make an appointment with an orthopedist and I will, I promise! It’s hard to remember to make an appointment when nothing feels wrong, you know?

Now…I think I have carpel tunnel, really? I know it comes from a lot of typing and using your wrists, well, I have all the symptoms and when I spoke to a pharmacist, he said it sounded like carpel tunnel. So, it wakes me up at night, but when my hand falls asleep while I am asleep, then I don’t feel it, kind of ironic, isn’t it? I am wearing a wrist brace and making an appointment, when it happened the last time, I an to cancel the appointment. I didn’t think anything of it when it first happened, it only lasted a few days, these last few times have been for weeks a a time. I know, I know, make an appointment. I will, tomorrow! What I’m afraid of with the carpel tunnel, they’ll do an X-ray, tell me to take Tylenol and wear a wrist brace, thanks and here’s your copay.

I can tell you that as much pain as I am in, it has not stopped me and I just keep going, but wait, I’m not done. When my feet hurt too much to walk, I do take it easy and don’t do my morning run/walks, like today and yesterday, so there. I am sort of taking care of myself.

How old am I? Some days my body feels ancient, but I am stubborn like a 3year old, I won’t stop moving! Somebody stop me! (Wish me luck in the race tomorrow!)

{April 20, 2013} I am a Dirty Girl!!!

Today I did the Dirty Girl 5k Mud Run and Obstacle Course with CKM and it was AWESOME!

Hey, remember…. family blog!

Today was a great day! CKM spent the night after helping me to paint last night [great job by the way! texted a pic to the realtor and she was amazed!]. We got up, went to Bojangles drive through for breakfast. It’s one of CKM’s favorite places and there aren’t any where she lives and when she knows she’s coming to see me, wahoo!

On to Lake Lanier Island Resort for the Dirty Girl 5K Mud Run. Paid our $10 to park, found a spot, had to walk what seemed like a mile [on the way back, after the race, felt like 10!] and then stand in a very long line for a very long time to check in and get our race bibs. Next, pick up our shirts and necklaces [apparel and bling, what could be better!], drop off our bag at back check, last time at the port o’ jane, then off to the start.

There was a sea of pink, apparently we missed the memo! I was in all black and CKM in black and purple, not to worry, we still looked fabulous! [my sneakers are pink does that count?] and we were off! There were some great team shirts, a lot in support of breast cancer awareness, so just think about all the puns and go from there!

There were 13 obstacles and none of them were very difficult, that’s what I liked about it, it was something everyone could do. Some were in the mud, some climbing, crawling, under, over, through. Since this is a women’s only event, I would say if you have never done an obstacle race, this would be a great one to cut your teeth on. There was some running, but it wasn’t mandatory and all the obstacle signs said “we won’t tell if you go around” so there was no pressure.

There was a lot of comraderie, even with people you didn’t know, you encouraged, you helped and if, perchance your teammate was not muddy after the 3rd or 4th obstacle [DEFINITELY NOT myself or CKM] then, you helped those teams out by running up to the VERY clean members and hugging them! this was a mud run ladies, don’t buy expensive clothes and expect to not get dirty!

There were cargo net ladders, muddy baths, walls to climb [I did not skip one obstacle!!!] a slide that was so much fun, we did it twice! no one cared! the best was we weren’t being timed, so have some fun!

At the finish line we danced into the water to clean off the mud, but not to worry it’s still on our race bibs!

After the race, we collected our bags, went into the tent and hosed off, literally! There was a pipe that ran the length of the tent and hoses with spray handles on the end and the water was fffffrrriiigggiiiddd and if you were a modest person, you might have been able to find a spot in the very back corner to change, but if you wanted to wash off the mud, bite the bullet, drop your drawers and hose off!

There was a sign posted “no cell phones, no photos” makes sense, all these women in the all together, who would want their photos taken, although, i thought it seemed like an artist installment, women together, something like that. you did your thing, got dressed and got out, simple as that.

Next, it was on to the merchandise tent…sweatshirt and performance shirt later [it’s going to be cold where I’m going, so CKM reminded me] and the sweatshirt is cozy and the performance shirt has a pocket and a hood, how could I not? CKM and I thought it would be fun to be twins, but, as it turns out…the shirt I liked didn’t suit her and the shirt she liked didn’t work for me! what are the odds?

Gather all belongings and new purchases, head the 20 miles back to the car, I’m telling you, after the race, it seemed to take forever to get back to the car! On to Cracker Barrel for brunch, along with a whole bunch of other Dirty Girls, we managed to keep our heads off our plates.

After lunch, get in the car, drop the top and away we went!

We are so doing this race again next year, even during the race, after the 3rd obstacle, we were talking about doing it again, who we thought would enjoy doing it with us and what cities we could do it in! Would I fly back to Atlanta to do the race with CKM next year? You betcha! [April happens to coincide with some important events that I want to be here for, so bonus!] and would CKM fly to Colorado to do the race with me? Why not!

If I haven’t stressed this enough, this was a very fun race that I recommend to anyone, well, any woman, who is looking for an obstacle race, a fun time, no pressure and lots of other women to share the experience with. Go for it! It will be worth the price!

http://www.godirtygirl.com/

{April 5, 2013} Ready for the Color Run!

The Color Run is tomorrow!

The tutus are made, white. The hats are made/ready, white. The shoes are ready, white. The socks are good to go, white. The packets picked up, T-shirt, headband, tattoos, white, white and white. Are you sensing a theme?

We are participating in the color run Atlanta tomorrow with about 24,0000 of our closest friends and if not, they will be. The only rule for this 5k is to wear white so we have gone all out! CKM, SDL and Miss A and CTS will be doing the run together tomorrow, well, we’re walking it. It’s at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, GA.

It’s a color explosion, at every 1/4 mile, they toss colored corn starch at you, the more color you want, stay on the outside. At the end, you are completely rainbowed! Hence the white clothing requirement. They call it the happiest 5k on the planet!

Last year, they added a an extra date; this year, they changed the venue because so many people signed up! They’ve even added one in September! So, if you have the opportunity, go for it!

We are staying at the Hampton Inn (not a coincidence), in McDonough because its about 1.5 hours to drive there from home and if a race is more than an hour, I’ve started staying overnight. I don’t have to rush and I get my hotel points (it’s all about the points, right?)

We met for dinner after work, drove up here and then compared what we made for our fabulous selves!

SDL found a white top hat, put a flower on it and some tulle, very My Fair Lady meets steam punk. Miss A has a barrette sized one with a pink flower, oh so cute! They both have tutus and SDL got a white sheet for the stroller.

CKM has her white keds, white socks, tutu and hat. The tutu, she made out of a white belt with holes in it and tulle knotted throughout, it was a great idea, so guess what I did!

I have a white skirt, white tutu, same as CKM, white socks and white extra extra hi hi top Converse All Stars! I’m stoked I will have an original pair (and I just tested them and my smart feet fit! I don’t have to take a chance of hurting my feet any more than they are!). I even have a white wrist brace (possible carpel tunnel syndrome), it will be an original too!

CTS is meeting us there in the morning, so not sure what fabulousness there will be, but I know it will be groovy!

We have been told that if you spray vinegar on the clothing, the color will set, we are so ready for that! When will we wear these things again? Not sure, but I’m sure we’ll find an excuse!

I’m excited to be doing this with two of my besties, a good friend and my fantabulous niece! Facebook friends, look out for our rainbow of photos!

http://thecolorrun.com/atlanta/

{March 29, 2013} Ready to Run!

Ok, I am ready to get back into my running shoes and get back out there and run.

Wait, did I just say that? I didn’t say it out loud, but I did just tell you guys, so does that mean I mean it? I guess it does! Who am I?

I’ve had problems with my feet for a long time, I have bunions on both feet and my feet hurt when I used to get up after sitting too long and after about 4-5 miles walking. My feet would also blister like crazy and easily!

I thought I was being a hypochondriac and I didn’t like complaining so I went to a podiatrist, Dr Julian, in Atlanta, he’s terrific by the way, go see him! He listened to all I had to say, took x-rays and it turns out, not only do I have bunions, but I have heel spurs, I saw the x-rays, it looks like an alien’s foot! There’s actually a spur [looked like a hook] off my heel! I was so relieved! Not that I have heel spurs, but there really was/is something wrong with my feet! It wasn’t me just complaining! I was also wearing the wrong shoes.

So, the order of things: Super feet, WOW! These are inserts I put into my shoes, it was amazing the first step I took, there was no pain, thank gawd! I will never be without these things! I can’t put them in every pair of shoes I have, but at least in my sneakers, what I wear when I walk the most. Next, exercises. I am supposed to stretch my feet 6 times per day, I admit, I don’t do the exercises like I am supposed to. I go through phases where I am golden and do exactly what I am supposed to and then i drop off and I pay for it.

Next, the right shoes. I finally got a pair of running shoes that I can walk and run in, why they don’t just make me a runner, I don’t get. hmm… I actually had to get a wide shoe to fit the insert, but I’m ok with it, if my feet feel this good [or at least, not that bad!], I’ll do whatever!

For the bunions, we talked about surgery, but it means 2-4 weeks off my feet completely and then 8 weeks no running, walking nothing, HUH? So, for now, NOT HAPPENING! other options please.

A few races ago, ha ha, in February, during the Diva Dash, I did something to my knee, I wasn’t wearing my smart feet in my shoes because I was terrified of getting them dirty [I have learned my lesson 5 r aces later] SMART FEET IN SHOES OR NO RUNNING!!! Am i getting the message? Not sure, only time will tell. I was coming down a muddy hill and felt something almost snap in my knee and I took a step and felt my heel! oh brother, when will I learn? So, my knee felt like it was being pinched and I couldn’t straighten my leg, I woke up from the pain. I iced and kept it elevated. After a few days, it felt better, so what did I do? another race of course and coming down a hill, ouch.

I finally talked to an orthopedist after a race and he told me a few of the issues I needed to see a professional for, he wrapped my knee with Rock Tape [I was a Rock Star!] and it helped a lot. I know I need to make an appointment with an orthopedist and I will, just need to do it.

So, it’s been about two weeks and I am finally starting to feel better, it’s been hard enough taking a step, let alone walking a long distance or running and I have felt like crud! I am saying it out loud… I am ready to put my Mizuno Wave Runners [my new sneakers] on and start running. I’m sure I should walk and then run, so I’ll do both.

I have two goals for this year. One: Run a full 5k start to finish, I know I can do it. One A: Finish a 5k in 33-37 minutes. Two: Train for an obstacle race, really train so that I can run it and do all the obstacles [ok, if I NEVER climb over a 7 or 8 foot wall, I will be OK with that!]. I want to be able to lift myself, jump, climb and get through it.

I have 3 races scheduled for April and 3 for May, let’s see what I can do.

Send me good vibes and root for me! I’ll make you proud!

{March 9, 2013} Additional charges…bah!

Today I ran (ha ha, yeah right), ok, ran/walked the Spartan Sprint in Conyers, Ga at the Horse Park.

It was a 4+ mile race with A LOT of obstacles. http://www.spartanrace.com/index.html. We started off the race in the corrals yelling “I am Spartan!” I was invigorating! The MC was talking about everyone helping each other, even if you were running on your own someone would help you. I thought that was great until I asked for a hand and some guy clapped for me and then laughed at me, I didn’t think that was very helpful, but oh well. There were other places we helped each other, that was cool.

If you didn’t do an obstacle, you had to do 30 burpees! For those of you who don’t know what this torture is, check out the following link:
https://www.google.com/search?q=burpees+exercise&hl=en&client=safari&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=o_Q7Uf-RHou09gSkj4DQAw&ved=0CEEQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=672.

There were four obstacles I didn’t do and admittedly, I only did burpees at one of them and between you and me I’m ok living with the fact that I skipped 4 obstacles. (The one I did burpees at, and quite badly, admittedly, I had completed most of the obstacle, grrr). There were 7 & 8 foot walls (skipped) and ropes, tires, bricks, sandbags, javelins, barbed wire and lots and lots of mud! I’m still getting mud out of places!

I got my t-shirt and my medal (an odd pain in my knee) and the bragging rights, I am good with that!

Last weekend I did the Diva Dash and next weekend I am doing the Foam Fest 5k, apparently I like doing this obstacle races!

Ok, so, here is where the title of my blog comes in. Regular 5k races are generally about $25 starting and then the cost goes up the closer you get to the race. It’s worth it, you get to be a part of something, get some exercise and a t-shirt, (my Monster Dash half marathon jacket is my favorite, I’m wearing it right now) sometimes a medal and a belt buckle, how can you argue with that?

Half marathons start about $55 and up and some marathons start about $125, Disney races are ridiculous! Obstacle races start about $50 and up, when I registered for the zombie run last year, Run For Your Lives, I paid $85, I signed up late, this year, I registered for $45, timing is everything!

Sometimes, you can find a deal on Groupon, Living Social, Half Off Depot. I found the Spartan Race on Living Social, sign me up! The Vampire Run 5k coming up in April had so many people get the deal, it bogged up the race sight for registrations.

The only bad part about today…I purchased the deal for Sunday but they didn’t have enough registrations for Sunday, so I did the race today. The bad part was that I was supposed to have brunch with my good friends, SS and SD and meet their new daughter, my new “niece” SDS, pook…I know I can reschedule, but I was really looking forward to it!

I’m ok, mostly, with the cost of registration, the organization needs to make money. Parking at some events cost money, generally $10, I understand that, the host location needs to make money, I’m sure they are getting something from the race organization, but we are parking on their grass, so they might be using the money towards landscaping among other things.

Then the race organization sells t-shirts, socks, bags, all sorts of swag (yes, I have bought some additional swag, not every time, sometimes I want a little something extra and today I DID NOT buy the race bag!!! Be proud of me!). Why not, merchandising doesn’t hurt anything, it’s great advertising for the organization and we feel great wearing it, I love my I ❤ Warriors shirt.

Where I have an issue…you have to sign a waiver for all of the obstacle races, if you actually read the waiver, you might not do the race! (By signing this, you understand that you can be injured, catch something by swimming in the water and if you die, you can't blame the organization!). I sign the waivers.

Now, all of a sudden, in addition to paying for the race, you have to pay for race insurance, $12-$15 each time, really? So, I pay $65 for a race, then $12 for insurance? Next week, if I forget to bring the waiver to the Foam Fest, it costs $1??? For a piece of paper?!? Normally bag check is free, today at the Spartan Race, $5 for bag check?!? Really?

I'm all for making a buck, but c'mon…

Ok, rant over, icing my knee and chilling out, looking forward to Waffle House for breakfast!

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