bloggin' bout bloomsday

I came:

We had a lovely drive up to Spokane on Saturday morning. Just me and my boo. We hooked my ipod up to the car sterio and played my running playlist the whole way up there. Its about 99% Christian music. Dennis loves Third Day and insisted that I play them over and over again. lol. I had a sack FULL of snacks, and 4 liters of water. Carb loading, and hydration is serious business.

Got in to town and discovered that we had a flat tire. Dangit! We were right by a tire shop, so we went in and had it checked out. No hole or anything, they inspected it and aired it up, and sent us on our way.

I saw:

We found our way down to the convention center, and I picked up my race packet. It was seriously so exciting! All the people, and the chaos!! It rocked. Dennis was blown away by the crowd. I dont think the "55,000 registered runners" really sank in with him.

We walked the trade show, which was super cool! Then we went to our hotel to get
checked in.

I got my D-tag (timing tag) hooked on to my shoe. I wanted to be as prepared as possible.

 

Here is my OWN official race number!!

 

We ventured around downtown for a while, then I asked Dennis to drive me around the race course. Dumb idea. With the map in hand, I guided him through the route. I became very overwhelmed. It was sooooo long!! And the hills???? Impossible!!!

It was discouraging, to say the least. But the morning of the race, I woke up with a better attitude!

I conquered:

Here I am, with a smile on my face, getting ready to line up.

 

And away I went.....

I told myself I would run the first 3 miles, and I did. It was hard. There were 2 hills in the first 3 miles. Killer hills! They sucked. It was really crowded, hard to maintain a good pace. The first 3 miles were loooooooong. The longest 3 miles ever! At the end of the 3rd mile was a down hill, so I just kept running. I ran, pretty much all the way to the bottom of mile 5... DOOMSDAY HILL!! I walked Doomsday Hill. I hate hills! So I didnt feel guilty about walking it. There was a lot of entertainment a long the way.

I was running alone, and I felt lonely. But I dont know what I would have done with a partner either. I am used to running alone. But running alone in a HUGE sea of people.... its wierd.

At the top of the hill, I started running again. I ran into a friend of mine at the top. He was at one of the houses and they were cooking pancakes for the runners and handing them out. Too funny.

The last 2 miles were loooooong. I kept thinking to myself "I know we are getting close" "arent we?" It felt like it took forever to get to the finish line. I was a at a very slow jog by this point. My fat, yes I said my fat.... my fat actually hurt! It hurt from bouncing up and down for an hour. Everytime I would pick up the pace, it would hurt my fat parts. My right boob hurt too. Sometimes if I wanted to go faster, I would hold my boob and run. I held my stomach and ran a little too. I didnt care what I looked like. There were people in costumes, cross dressers, ugly pink pigtails, naked people, etc.

You know what the best sound in the world is to a bloomsday runner???

Chariots of Fire!!

They play it about 1/2 block from the finish!! It rocks! As soon as people hear it, and turn the corner to the finish line... they just started hooting and hollering and sprinting toward the finish!!!! Its a downhill to the finish, its soooo funny!!!

I was glad to be done. I just wanted to get my shirt, and go find Dennis. I had a perma grin all the way through the shirt line.

Behold!!! The finisher shirt!! ONLY finishers get these shirts!!


My time: 1 hr 40 minutes... not too bad, but definitely something to beat next year.

And that is, in short, my first Bloomsday experience.

I will spare you the details about how I ate too much for the rest of the day, and spent the night in stomach pain and throwing up. And had to cancel plans with one of my BFF's the next day, and couldnt move and spent all day in bed, eating only applesauce.....

woot!

Woot!

That is what I say when I'm excited about something.

Most of the time I say "Woot!" in text messages, but sometimes I just say it out loud.

Woot!

I have been saying Woot! a lot tonight.

The reason for that, is because I finished Couch to 5K!

I finished! I finished a 9 week program designed to train me to run 3 miles.

I followed the program, pretty much to the T, and it worked!

When I set out to do this, I decided my running days would be Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

And for the last 9 weeks, I have not missed a single Sunday, Tuesday, or Thursday.

Oh... believe me! I have tried talking myself out of skipping a day, postponing a day, quitting early, etc.

But I didnt!!! I pressed on!!!

Woot!

I ran in the freezing cold, the gusting wind, some beautiful dewey mornings, and some warm humid evenings. Once during my run at the park, a rain storm came, and people ran to the their cars, but I kept running.

I ran at the river park mostly, but also around my neighborhood, and hotel treadmills. Last weekend I ran up to my church and back, and on the high school track a few times.

9 weeks ago I started the program, and I "wanted" to finish it. But I kinda told myself I probably wouldnt. I could barely run 1 minute.

I can run for 30 minutes now!

Woot!

What I have learned:

*I really can do things that I set my mind to
*I dont mind running alone
*I must have chapstick on, and lots of it
*I prefer to run in a baseball cap
*I rock a black Nike sweat suit
*I never get tired of the worship music playlist on my iPod
*It takes almost 10 minutes for me to get my shoes laced just right
*Stretching is absolutely necessary
*I think I actually "like" running
*Okay I am kinda obsessed with the idea of being a "runner"
*I need to do some strength training
*I have huge calves
*And the only reason I completed this "what i thought was impossible" program, was because I turned this over to The Lord. He gave me all I needed to keep moving along.

Woot!!!

What I have yet to learn:
*What to do with my car keys when I go to the park to run????

Thank you, friends, for all of your encouragement and support.

My next post will be about my experience at Bloomsday this weekend.

Spokane here I come!!!

WOOT!!!!!

I'll take Potpouri for $500, Alex!

Just potpouri of updates:

* Still doing the running thing. Last thursday was the end of week 5, and I ran for 20 minutes with out taking a break! Can you say milestone?? I had been dreading week 5 day 2 for, well... about 5 weeks! I knew that 20 minutes run was coming. I guess all along I just thought to myself that will be the day I quit the program. How could I possibly run for 20 minutes w/o stopping, when just 5 weeks ago I could barely run for 1 minute?! Well.... I did do it! I prayed a lot before my run. I always pray before my runs, but this particular day, I prayed extra. The strength I received that day... indescribable! And today, one week later, I ran for 25 minutes! I have completed 6 weeks of this 9 week program, and I dont see any sign of quitting now.

* Easter was great. My mom came down and stayed the weekend with us. This was huge! My mom hates Hermiston, and she hasnt been back here in about 9 years. She's going through some awful stuff right now, so it was nice for her to take a break and spend it with us. I sooo enjoyed having her here. I made her my special cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We cooked a big ham dinner together, and had fresh strawberry shortcake for dessert. We took her for a drive around town so she could see how much it has changed ( or not, lol ). After dinner we went down to the park where I run and took a nice walk. Her and Harley dyed Easter eggs, and we watched The Blindside. It was awesome quality family time. It was hard letting her go on Sunday. My mom needs a lot of prayers for some positive strength in her life right now. No one imagines they will have to start over at age 50. My mom is beautiful, intelligent, and talented, so I know she will be fine, but I still worry.

* Bubba has a birthday coming up! We are taking him out for ribs this weekend. Next weekend we will be staying a couple nights up in Kennewick at the Little People of America Convention. We love taking the kids to the conventions, they are totally stoked!!

* I have been roasting brusselsprouts for dinner, and they are the bomb! I ate a little too much "bad stuff" over Easter weekend, but I am back on track. I look forward to eating roasted brusselsprouts at night! lol! You must try them yourself! Get out there and get some fresh ones, chop the suckers in half lengthwise, toss in a bowl with EVOO and salt n pepper. Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake @ 350 for 15-20 minutes. Even if you "think" you dont like brusselprouts.. you gotta try them. Roasting them completely changes the flavor.

* I am having a yardsale on April 24th. My house is a little tore up right now, as I go room by room digging out treasures to sell. I love yardsale season! I need to make room for more treasures of my own.

Okay I am all out of potpouri for the night... smooches.

These Two

 

Brother and Sister.
Best Friends.
Worst Enemies.
Complete Opposites.

The probably spend more time together than any other brother/sister combo you've ever seen. They are 4-1/2 years apart, and most days, you would never know it.

These two have been through so much together. Well, with their mother being an alcoholic and pretty much non existent in their lives. But, they also understand each other. When no one else understands things from their {point of view}, they can turn to one another.

Sure they have their share of daily fighting, competing, tattling, and trickery.


HIM.....

 

A clone of his dad.
One of the sweetest boys you will ever meet.
Lover of music, wrestling, and horror movies.
Great sense of humor.
Will beat you at any video game at any time.
Would eat baby back ribs every day of the year.
Practices good personal hygeine.
Quite the entertainer.

This kid, he does some.....dumb stuff. He's so typically an almost 15 yr old young man. But he is so kind. He never raises his voice, or talks down to anyone. He says his "pleases" and more often.. his "thank yous."

I know I posted a couple months ago about Bubba, and his academics. He had a rough
1st semester of high school. He has really turned things around, and I am happy to report that the 3rd quarter is about to end, and he has held above a 3.0 GPA for the whole 9 weeks!!!

Proud of that kid.


HER.....

 

Yes, that is the look she is giving me most of the time. Its that "you cant be serious" look.

A clone of her mom (unfortunately... but we cant change that)
One of the loudest kids you will ever meet.
Lover of animals, flip flops, and any one who pays her attention.
Thinks she can beat you at anything, at anytime.
Eats her veggies.
Tetherball obessesd.
The phrase "mind your own business" means squat to her.
Quite the people pleaser.

This girl... hardly ever "finds trouble." Her trouble is rudeness and disrespect. Unlike Bubba, who finds trouble, but is really nice about it. Harley is little miss perfect, while being mean.

She's cute, and funny, and she knows it. She is a textbook Leo! She loves all attention on her. She will even go as far as doing something really nice for someone, to get their attention. (thats when I like her best). Because she really is a kind, sweet, person, with a ton of love to give. I often forget that she's only 10.


I am so blessed to have this family in my life. I know that we are together for a reason. They need me, and I need them. I have learned so much about love, respect, and patience.

Love these two.

our little get away...

I havent had a chance to post what we did for the first weekend of Spring Break. It wasnt all hard work the whole time.

Dennis and I dropped the kiddos off in Canby and went to Lincoln City for a night.

First we actually went down to Depot Bay and braved the open sea for a whale watching tour...

 

This is the boat we went on. We didnt get to see any whales, but the ocean was so rough, it made the boat ride fun. We want to go do it again, and hopefully see whales, but it was fun to go out there anyway.

 

We headed back up to Lincoln City for an afternoon of shopping and site seeing.

Checked in to our motel, and this was our view!! Amazing view!

 

If you are ever looking for a great hotel to stay at in Lincoln City, I highly recommend the Coho Inn! The room was gorgeous!!

Giant King size bed!!

 

Fancy TV!



Private balcony!


Gas Fireplace!! I was soooo in love with this!


Jacuzzi tub!!


The picture of the balcony was actually taken from the Jacuzzi tub! Yes you could see the ocean from the tub! Dreamy!

Another recommendation.... Blackfish Grill!! Yum! A very cute place, with quality service, and a fresh menu!

Our appetizer.. flatbread pizza with capicolla ham, wild mushrooms, and walnuts. I loved it! Dennis could take it or leave it. But trust me... it rocked!!


My entree. Alaskan Halibut, blackened, with roasted fingerling potatos, and brazed golden beets. The sauce was kinda like a seedy mustard sauce. The fish was freakin amazing!! Best Halibut I have EVER had!!


Den's Rockfish fish and chips. He always orders fish and chips when we are at the beach! I have to say, its not the best fish and chips... but good. The price was right though! I think it was like $11.


DO NOT leave the Blackfish without dessert. They have a selection of desserts but the chef is known for making these homemade Ding Dongs!!!



Check them out! My mouth is watering for them now... that chocolate sponge cake, home made whipped cream.... droool..


Isnt it sad that I take more pictures of my food, than I do anything else??

We spent a little time at the casino that night, doubled our money, so it was time to run.

I went down to the fitness room at the hotel and did my run the next morning. It was a good run, with the exception of the location of the fitness room. In the same building as the pool, hottub, and sauna. It was a scorcher!! Hot and humid. Needless to say, I was sweating profusely! Dennis couldnt help but laugh.

Breakfast was free at the hotel and it was lovely! (sorry no pics of breakfast...)

It was so hard to leave that day, we had such a good time relaxing, and enjoying our room and the ocean. Cant wait to go back!

Too Legit!

Yep, and we finished pretty much a day early!

Again, I just have to say how happy I am with the way this room turned out. It's hip, its fresh, kinda retro funky, its legit... its perfect!

 

Oh, here is the print purchased from Etsy, that started this whole project. This print was my inspiration for the whole entire bathroom. Does anyone know what it means??? (I've given a couple hints already)

 

 

How about a before/after comparison, just for good measure.

Damn.... we are good!

 

The bathroom is ready for guest use!!! Would you come over and use my bathroom??

one day closer...

We are still hard at work on this bathroom. Its soooo coming together. I couldnt be happier!!

I still have some stuff that I need to put in there, but I have to save some suprises for the grand finale, right???

Here is what it looks like as of tonight!!!

 

 

 

 

This poor little room, its come a loooooong way!