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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Thankful

Of course I have to write about all of the things I am thankful for...sorry for the cliche post!

I am thankful for...

{my amazing husband who always makes me laugh}

{my parents}

{and my whole, big CRAZY family}

This would be us....hahaha

{the best "in-law family" EVER!}

{the most incredible, supportive, FUN friends ever, both here in Charlotte and all over the country}



{my "Tailgate Family"...and the fact that my husband's favorite team has pretty colors!}

{our beautiful home}

{my job....sometimes. The kids can be cray, but I honestly LOVE 90% of the people I work with!}

{speaking of which, I'm SO thankful for our literacy facilitator, who spent the last few days in my room, leveling and organizing ALL of my books!! Now they are all ready for the kids to go "shopping" for their level!}

{the wedding of my dreams....I just wish I could do it again....and again...and again...}


{the ability to run...although maybe not right now--I'm still sore!}

{vacations}

{all of the babies EVERYONE I know is having! Seriously, I'm glad y'all can figure out the prego thing and then pass your tips (and fab maternity clothes) along to me when the time comes!}

....and I'm thankful for some shallow things, too (Dad, you can stop reading now!):

{my iPad}

{Whole Foods and $2 WINE Tuesdays!}

{entertaining television}


{pedicures}

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

26.2 {Check, Done, NEVER AGAIN}

Well kids, I made it through allllll 26.2 miles of my marathon!!!!!

Here is all about it (I know you want to know! Ha!):

So you already knew about my knee situation....ugh.

As if that wasn't enough to worry about, on Wednesday I decided to wear these J. Crew flats that I don't wear on reg to school, leaving me with this horrible bunion type deal on my left pinky toe! It hurt so bad on Friday (yes, the day before the race!), I called my mom crying! She advised me to go to the store and buy basically every pain cream/pill/medication possible. So I came home from Target with: Icy Hot, Orajel, moleskin padding, callus cushions, and my personal fav, BC powder. Such a redneck, I am.  

The Icy Hot and Orajel helped to numb the pain, and then I made a paste with the BCs and that helped take down the inflammation.

So here's what it looked like Friday night: (gross, I know; I hate feet!)

{see? the left pinky toe? it was twice that size earlier in the day!}

Saturday, I woke up, felt fine and spent 25 minutes with my Rock Tape, taping both knees and my ankle. I thought about taping my bunion but I was scared that might irritate it more.


Travis dropped me off uptown, where I met up with my friend and almost instantly, my bunion started hurting. I was FREAKING OUT! Luckily, once the race started and I began to run, it felt ok.

The first few miles were great! I was easily holding an 8:00 pace (maybe even a little under), and I was really happy about the playlist I had made! I saw some of my friends cheering for me, and loved all of the funny signs.

A few of my faves:
"Blister are in this season" (bunions, too?!)
"If this didn't suck, I'd be doing it"
"Run now, wine later"

So then about mile 5, my stupid bunion started hurting REALLLLLLY BAD. I was freaking out! I wasn't even to the 10k mark yet!!!!! I passed the 10k mark at 50:41, which I thought was incredibly slow. Luckily right after that point, my foot magically became numb and I was able to pick it up a bit!!!

I saw Kathryn around mile 11, with her sweet dog cheering me on! I just remember yelling to her, "my foot is NUMB!!!!" Hahah. Here is the pic she took of me.


After mile 12, the marathoners split from the half-marathoners, which was super depressing because: A. I was jealous they were almost done and I wasn't even half way done, B. they were fewer fans now cheering us on, and C. There were wayyyy fewer runners, so I was essentially all by myself there for a bit! I made it to the halfway mark (13.1 miles) at 1:46:15. So I was still on pace to finish in under 4 hours (my goal)!

I felt great up until about mile 16. We turned north and the wind was out.of.control. My knees also started hurting a little at this point. I had heard mile 18 was the worst mile, but that's where I saw my sweet husband cheering for me (and also there was not a lot of wind at that point!), so it wasn't too bad!

However, the worst was after mile 20. The longest I had run was 20 miles, so I thought I'd be able to do another 6 no problem. Ummmmmm NO! Running for 2 hours and 42 minutes and then having to run ANOTHER 6 miles is probably the worst/most depressing thing ever! Plus it felt like it was all uphill! And also, we were in the straight up GHETTO. Like, I was less than 5 miles from my school I think. So there were not a lot of people to cheer and help push me along!

I just remember seeing TONS of runners stopping to stretch and walk. A lot looked like they were in excruciating pain. It was extremely discouraging. I knew that if I stopped to walk, I would not be able to get running again, so I told myself I was only going to stop at the water stations. Thank god for the water stations!!! I walked through them so I could chug my Gatorade, and then kept running.

The last mile (and that stupid extra 2 tenths they just HAD to throw in there) was possible the longest mile I've ever run in my whole life. I thought I was never going to make it!!! As I got closer to the finish line, I saw the clock...it was on the 3:30-something....WHAT?!? No way that was right!!! I literally dragged my body across the finish line, and my official time was 3:35:00!! That's actually good enough to qualify me for the Boston Marathon! Yeah right, like I am ever going to put my body through this again!!!! No thanks!!!!!

{So happy to be done!!!}
Please excuse that I look like CRAP! I just ran for 3.5+ hours. 

{Yay for my husband!}

Today I am so sore, I can barely move. As tired as I was last night, I kept waking up every time I moved in my sleep because literally every muscle/joint/part of my body is aching!!!! Even my elbows!!!! 

So no, I will never, ever run a marathon again!!! Was it fun? Ehhhh debatable. The first 12 miles, yes. The rest, no. Pure hell.


Please don't ever run a marathon unless you are completely crazy, willing to not have any sort of life for 2-3 months and enjoy not moving from sore muscles! Take it from me...the half is much more civilized! :)

Sorry for the longest and possibly most boring post ever...just wanted to make sure I talked you out of running a marathon...and if I ever even think about running another one, I wanted something I could read to talk me out of it as well!! 

Happy Sunday and Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Monday, November 12, 2012

Marathon Prep

Ahhhhhhhhh I can't believe my marathon is this weekend!!! Seeing as I've been thinking about this race since JULY, I am so glad it's almost HERE and I really can't wait for it to be OVER!!!

Unfortunately, my stupid knee is continuing to hurt, and I seriously hope I can make it through the 26.2 miles!!!

I went on a little shopping spree yesterday and got some some stuff....


I decided to try out that KT/Rock tape that I had heard a lot about...especially during the Olympics. 
I bought the Rock Tape, because it is thicker than the KT tape, plus you cut it into what size strips you want (the KT tape is pre-cut). Then, I went to the company's website and they have a whole bunch of videos showing you how to tape! It was surprisingly pretty easy to tape up my knee!

After its taped, you must apply friction so it will stick. The lady at the store told me to use my hair dryer, so that is what I did!


And voila....BONUS, you can shower with it on and everything! It stays on for up to 5 days!


Then, I put on my running pants right over the tape, and completed my look with my cool new blue knee strap, and then just for extra precaution, I put my old knee strap on my "good" knee, which has been starting to hurt lately as well! 


Also, please note in my hand the Clif Shot Blocks that I thought I should try...apparently, that is what they will be giving out at aid stations toward the end of the race, and I wanted to make sure my stomach could handle them and that they wouldn't make me cramp up! Good news: they're just like big gummies and had no negative impact on my tummy :)

So after ALLLLLLLL of this prep, I ran a whopping TWO miles on the treadmill! (My plan said to run 3 today, but I have been doing a little less bc of the knee pain!) 

And wouldn't you know....my knee still hurt :( 
Not as bad as usual, but I mean, I only ran 2 freakin' miles!!! 

So here is me now.... 

I will say that I think the tape helped, but I might also tape my ankle (also hurting) and the side (in addition to the front which I taped today) of my knee on race day!

And I'm popping the anti-inflammatories like crazy this week!!!
Any other tricks I need to try to help me survive the 26.2?!?!?!

I think the lesson we all can learn from reading this entire blog post is DON'T RUN A MARATHON. That's all.

If I am alive/not in the hospital having knee surgery, I'll be back next weekend to let you know how it went!!!! :)

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Halloween/Bobcats Game/Carrie Underwood

It has been quite a busy week!! Even though I was old and lame last time, I had lots of fun in this past week!!

First, we had our first Halloween in our new house...which meant trick or treaters!! We ended up having TONS (about 95% of whom I am positive do not live in our neighborhood, but whatev) and I actually ran out of candy! Whoops!

We also got to spend the evening with this little tiger...

{gahhhh, my friend has the cutest baby ever!}

Friday night, we went to the home opener for the Charlotte Bobcats. It was our first Bobcats game being married and they won (p.s. if you are not aware, they had, um, like the worst record in the whole NBA last year, so them winning a game is few and far between!)!!! So I think we were good luck....


{you can't see the score--stupid iPhone camera--but it says they won, I promise}

Our favorite baby was also in attendance, complete with mustache pacifier...


Doesn't this pic just make your heart smile?! :) 

Then on Saturday, my friend Steph and I went to see Carrie Underwood!!!!! So amazing!!! 


Unfortunately, my zoom on my camera is broken, so I didn't get any super close pics!! But we were in a suite, so our seats were amaze!




{singing with Hunter Hayes....love him!}

After the concert, we went OUT. And I mean, OUT. So, I mostly spend Saturday nights on my couch, maybs having a glass of wine or two. Well, Steph is my little social butterfly friend, who also used to work at a real club here in Charlotte, so that is where we went.....to the CLUUUUB....


OMG, y'all. It was a far cry from my couch and $2 Chuck. 
We even got to go in the DJ booth (Steph knows people)...


And then ended the night at Mattie's Diner, which had the most amaze breakfast food! Please note the menu item titled "You Might Be A Redneck" hahaha...


Sunday was spent recovering!! 
And I haven't done anything fun since! 

(Unless you count the season premiere of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills exciting; which, in my book it totally does)

10 days till my marathon!!! Feel free to send your positive thoughts my way!!!