Done and done...

Well, I ran the half-marathon and it was awesome. Beautiful weather, an awesome ipod mix, and just myself to run with. No one to catch up with or beat out (I am very competitive). It was so much different than 2007. It was a lot warmer and it never rained. They switched up the course a little bit which was a nice change. I did secretly hope that I could have beat my 2007 time, but I actually ran it 3:02 minutes slower this time...I am still getting BETTER with age. Right around mile #6 my knees starting burning but I just ignored it. Then around mile #9 my hip flexors and butt were on fire...just keep running, running, running. It started to get a lot warmer by that time too, but I knew I was in the home stretch so I just decided to bang it out. I saw my photos online last night, and let's just say that I won't be purchasing any of those. I went back to the gym this morning and took it a bit easy for the first day back. I did get on the treadmill and I did run a few minutes. Tomorrow is another day. I can definitely say that after Sunday's run, I am CONFIDENT that I will one day run an entire marathon all in one day. I am kind of hooked now!

Running the Race

Life has been all about house hunting, the tax man, paying off debt, learning to take blood pressures, working and running and the day has finally come...almost.
Sunday morning at 6:00am is the big day. I am thinking it will take me around 3 hours to run 13.1 miles. This is slow by running standards, but I don't care. I am running a half marathon...and if I add it to the half marathon I ran 2 years ago, I have run a whole marathon. I have been able to raise close to $200 already for Love Bags and I am ecstatic about that, because I felt almost bad for asking for the money from anyone because times are so tight these days. I am never surprised or overwhelmed by the generosity of my family, friends, and coworkers...THANK YOU! I could not have done this without you.
I have learned that one should never hold on too tightly to any one thing just in case they miss something better to come along for them to grab a hold onto. Lots of words in the last sentence, a little deep in nature, but still true. I will be back on Monday with a race update. I would love to beat my 2007 time, because that only proves I am getting BETTER with age!

Home Owner?

I have wanted to own my own home for several years now and the market has finally turned in such a way that this might actually happen. I am in the process of applying for a loan so that we (Jen and I) can put an offer in for a Short Sale property in the neighborhood we currently live in. There are many advantages to this thought process. 1) We know and LOVE the neighborhood 2) We will be close to our Mom 3) We know the neighbors and it's a very quiet area in the development 4) We get to shop at the same Publix!!! and 5) The only work the house needs is a new coat of paint in the 2nd bedroom.
Hopefully the bank will accept our offer and we get the house. If not, it was not meant to be. I would love the house, but I will not allow every next breath to hinge on it!

Can you spell C-O-L-D???

I can never seem to sleep all the way up to the alarm going off each morning at 5:53am, and don't ask why the alarm is set for 5:53am. I usually wake up out of a dead sleep sometime between 4:45 and 5:45am just to wait for the alarm to sound. I have been cursed as a "morning person".
I knew last night that I wouldn't make it to the gym today namely due to the predicted early morning temperature of "feels like 28 degrees" and I was right. I woke up at 5:45am and the alarm went off at 5:53...snooze. Alarm again at 6:02...snooze. That went on until 6:50am when the dog started to bark for her morning walk. I put on the following high-fashion outfit: a gray tank top and blue house pants followed by a mismatched gray sweatsuit, fur-lined dark brown suede boots and a red hoodie with a broken zipper and several holes at the wrists. With the hood on, I ventured outside in what felt like 28 degree and windy weather for the dog's 15-minute morning walk. As I rounded the corner at the end of my block I saw a dead lizard of some kind. It was either a baby iguana or a very large green lizard. It's belly was about the circumference of a quarter. It was on it's back, frozen in time. This is actually a very good thing, because South Florida as a whole has a problem with the iguana population. I actually heard Ron McGill (Metro Zoo fame) say that he was looking forward to this cold snap killing some of them off. So my suggestion to you is to be careful walking under trees over the next few days and nights...because the last place these lizards stay before they plummet to their frozen deaths is that tree limb you are standing underneath.