GNATS!

I've been complaining about the gnats on Grant's trail for a while now, and finally managed to take a picture with my camera phone before toweling off.

So...this is me after a 7 mile run on Thursday where I stopped myself from wiping my face for the last half mile.  I was doing a tempo run, so my last mile was cool-down, meaning that I stopped at mile six and used my shirt to wipe off my face.

YUCK!  

Can you imagine if I didn't wipe my face off for the entire run?  

No wonder I don't look happy.

Oooooh it grosses me out to just think of it! 

I don't remember the gnats being a problem last year...it's only really bad around dusk.

I'm hoping we'll get a cold snap soon so that all these suckers die.

YUCK-O!!!

THIRTY! THREE ZERO! THIRTY!

Today, my most-favorite person turns thirty!

Happy birthday, David!!!

I thought I would share a smattering of pictures.  

Our first ever picture together...I was so smitten!

David emailed this to me when I was having a bad day...

A trip to Chicago about a month-ish into our relationship...we had started looking for rings on that trip. Again, smitten!  

David's birthday last year--kind of digging the beard!

David's first 5k race!

Me posing with my engagement ring :)

A scene from our honeymoon.  Awwww.

Getting our marriage license...yay!

David humoring me at our wedding with a Moldova-esque pose.

 Married!

David showing off his auction purchase....

And, finally, David with a creeper-stach.

Love you, David!

Chicago

I just found that I'm going to Chicago for work at the end of this month...and that means I get to see one of my darlings,  Rachel!

I'll be there over Halloween weekend (but not the actual day), which makes me wonder...

• How cold is it in Chicago on Halloween?
• Do I need a costume?  
• Will the "work people" think of me differently if I high-tail it out of the conference to go to a par-tay with Rach?
• What does one wear in front of "work people" for Halloween that's not too skimpy?  Hmmm...
• Will Halloween in a different city be rockin' if I can't drink?
• Note: not drinking because the MARATHON will be the following weekend...

At any rate, I'm uber excited.  I was actually considering a trip to Chicago that weekend anyway...now work gets to pay my travel.  Bwaaa-haaaa-haaaaaaa.

I will have to fit in a ten mile run while I'm there, but that won't be terrible.  I think it'll be cool to run around a new city.... yay!!

Lewis and Clark Half Marathon

The weekend was a success!  I ran 20 miles Saturday morning (with relative ease, no less) and then was snazzily cleaned up in time for David's birthday dinner.

Man, I like it when we dress up.  Woo-hoo!

The next morning, I crawled out of bed at 4:30 to run the Lewis and Clark Half Marathon...shesh, was that early.

Jess was ready for her first half.... how excited does she look?

It was SUPER cold at the race start!  I had to do a quick outfit change in the car for some extra warmth!

I decided to carry my camera on the trip... because I thought it would be cool to document a race and for Jess to have some extra photos :)

Plus, I got a picture of the juggler I see on Grant's Trail.

How cool is this?

I can't juggle, running or not.

I think this is at mile 8 or so... still feeling good.

Here, we can see the finish line...

And, man... are my legs sore.  

Finisher!  She worked really hard--and finished without a second of walking in 2:35 even (Garmin time).

Happy day!!!!

Congrats to Jess on finishing her first half--the first one is the best feeling and I'm happy she let me be a part of it.

My body, however, wasn't so thrilled. I put on my compression socks as soon as I had showered and didn't take them off until I left for work the next day.  Monday was a little rough :)  I might think long and hard about running 33 miles in a single weekend, but it was totally worth it this time.

Big Weekend

This weekend is going to be exhausting...but a good exhausting.  I'm actually looking forward to it.



Here's a breakdown of the plans... because I love a good list.

Friday (today): Lead workshop from 8-11, lead "sessions" from 12-3, go to David's softball game, out to dinner, and to see The Town

Saturday: Run 20 miles, clean house (David's parents are staying with us), nap, go to dinner to celebrate David's 30th birthday with his parents, grandparents, sister, & brother-in-law

Sunday: Pace my friend Jess in a half marathon, shower at Danna's, brunch with David's family, nap, and hopefully church.  Also, do some work to get a head start on next week.

Um.... did you notice I'm running 33.1 miles?  I'm going to need some prayers and positive thoughts.  Luckily, the weather has highs in the 60's this weekend, so I won't have to get up at 5 on Saturday to run.  I'll have to get up at 5 on Sunday, but that's just to make it to the race on time.



Thank God for compression socks and ice baths.

Vibram

I caved.

After reading Born to Run, I decided that I wanted to try out this whole barefoot running thing.

Read the book.  You'll want to as well.

After reading it, I started seeing people wearing the "barefoot running shoes" almost every time I went for a run.

I became very, very jealous.

So I went and purchased a pair of Vibram Fivefingers.  

Aren't they cute?

OK, not really, but I think they're kind of fetching.

Only problem... this is my second pair.  The first pair fit in the store, but when I got them home I realized they were about 3/4" too long on the back...so I took them back for the smaller size.

This pair is too small in the toe area.  I can't cram my toes in the slot!!!

Can you tell?  Can you see all the extra room on my 3 smallest toes??  

Frustrating!  I don't want to take them back and give up!!

Maybe barefoot running isn't for me.

Oopsy

I've managed to injure myself again.

It happens a lot

Sunday, I was sitting on the coach in shorts, enjoying a nice, piping hot bowl of soup.

Then I tried to put the bowl on the tv tray while avoiding dropping it on the dog.

And I managed to spill it all over myself.

It hurt, a lot.  I did some screaming. David came out and tried to fix it, which involved both of us freaking out.

We've decided that we need to take some crisis management classes, because neither one of us remain calm or polite in the face of injury.

Oh well...

Here's the mark, 36 hours after injury.  A little oozy and gross!