Buy Buy Baby

So for those of you that don't know us that well we are not kid people.  Don't get me wrong we LOVE our nephew we're just glad he isn't ours. So this humorous tale beings in fact because of our nephew.  We (I dragging dh with me)were on the hunt for a Christmas present for him.

So we go into Buy Buy Baby (apparently not where you can actually BUY a baby) but none the less this turned out to be VERY entertaining.  Our Buy Buy Baby is located in an old mall (we call it the dead mall bc when we were kids it was) so it's set up a bit weird, it's an outside mall, but with two levels.  Regardless we walk in the door and take the escalor up. 

Perhaps now is the time to mention my husband looks like a bum. And by bum I mean I have seen better dressed people asking for money in Chicago.  He is wearing the fleece pants pictured above, a pair of old hiking boots, and a multicolored fleece type of jacket from the 90's.  He is also wearing a ball cap probably his John Deere one I can't remember (but that is his new favorite so it's a safe bet).  Also he is carrying his travel coffee mug that is extremely brightly decorated, if I thought people wouldn't go running in horror I would have taken pics of the jacket and coffee mug as well.  I am fairing a little better in jeans and sweatshirt, but I have my monkey hat on.

So we get about half way up the escalor and it starts to smell, just a little at first but by the time we get to the top it's pretty strong.  At this point we're converisng about how bad it smells in the store and trying to figure out what it is.  I finally find the toy section I am looking for, but by this time dh is beyond reason. He's standing there (drinking his coffee) going "Just get something it smells so bad in here I'm going to throw up."  Along with some other humerous comments that are making me laugh hysterically.  I'm trying to tell him to breath through his mouth, but he just tells me he can taste it then.  So I spend (what seems like forever) looking for what I want settle for my second choice, because by now I can't take the smell anymore and people are staring at us (well mainly dh). 

I grab my treasure and dh happily follows to check out.  The lady who was checking out in front of us was very quick about it, she was probably terrified of dh who was still going "what is that god awful smell."  While she is checking out we grab a gift card for my dad for Panera, which somewhat surprised me being in a store like that, though as dh remarked (loudly) that the parents needed some time away from the kids so they didn't kill each other or the kids.  We finally check out which was no doubt the fastest I have ever gone through checkout anywhere!  Finally we were back on the escalator at which point dh remarked "we don't ever need to go in that store again....that's what amazon is for!"

Spirits in the Air

So there has been a reason I haven't been on here much.........and that reason is dh switched jobs!  He is now officially typed in the A319/320 at Spirit!

As usual we've been real quiet about him going, we didn't want to jinx his training, but he did his type ride yesterday!  It's been an exciting (who am I kidding super stressful) month and a half, but he is now officially based in FLL and only 2 numbers away from being based in ORD!  Imagine that (fingers crossed) being based where we live!  We know how lucky we were to be able to make the jump to Spirit as they have about 6,000 resumes!  So now that training (still has a little to finish up IOE) is out of the way I will be back on here a whole lot more!

Yep, that's my parking spot!

I'd love to say this wasn't my parking job, but it was.  I have an explanation for it sort of it has more to do with my impatience than anything else.  Remember how much I disliked the  Princess 1/2 marathon?

Well the crowds at the race and expo were nothing compared to the crowds at the park....and in this particular instance the Polynesian.  See we were going to go to the Polynesian to eat dinner I love the Kona Cafe!  However upon arriving there was NO place to park, and by NO I mean NO, not just that it was a long way to walk.  Not to mention the other 50 cars circling the lot like vultures looking for a spot.  So I decided to make my own! Hard to tell from this angle but it was the perfect made spot! I was out of the way so people could drive behind me (hence why I pulled up to the tree and angled just like the rest of the cars so everyone could still get out.  Alas we were only in this spot for about 1/2 hour...the line for the Kona Cafe was horribly long, I would probably be eating now if we had stayed.  But to my defense when we left we had people waiting to take my "parking spot."

How to Celebrate your Birthday, as a Pilot's Wife!

So first rule of celebrating your birthday as a pilot's wife, you must not celebrate on your actual birthday.  This is sacrilege and one can conclude you're not really a pilot's wife if your husband is actually home on your birthday.

Second of all, what kind of pilots wife would you be if you didn't start your birthday off by an O'Dark thirty trip to the airport? You know your birthday is going to be great because you got up at 3am to take the pilot to the airport.  I had my phone all ready to take pictures of take offs/landings at the airport this morning but realized that dh was taking the first flight out, so this is a picture of the sunrise on the way home.

A few other fun ways to celebrate your birthday time are.....going to bed at 8:30 the night before, remember the 3am wake up?  Also no birthday morning is complete unless your pilot calls you to tell you the plane is packed and he has to be in the jump seat and he doesn't want to be because he can't sleep and he really hopes that the hotel I told him to book lets him check in early so he can take a nap when he gets there.  I can only hope the hotel lets him check in early otherwise that is all I will hear about on my birthday!

What REALLY happens when you're a pilot's wife

So let me give you my typical days around here.

 Before I go to work I clean/feed the horses, feed and let out dogs, this really doesn't take too long and including a shower I can be out the door in (if I push it) 45 min.

 I come home from work let dogs out, feed/clean cats, feed/clean horses.

 This in general leaves me little time to do anything else were talking 6am-7pm here, but I do try. So last Thursday I came home and cut the grass some, this was also my night to play "slumber party" at the hospital with my grandma (completely different post but she's not doing well and someone needs to stay with her pretty much 24-7). I come home from work Thursday follow my usual clean/feed routine, then trying to be a nice wife I start to cut the grass, more accurately I cut the grass that wasn't standing water from the rain, but I figure any little bit helps when you have 5 acres. Now DH is SUPPOSED to be home Thursday nights since he's working in the office BUT of course he's not some kind of blah blah blah about people timing out, he's in Hawaii.

 So I am done cutting the grass and I am bring the horses in before I head to the hospital, Hokus and I are jogging in together and something happens, I'm still not sure what, but we both go down in a terrific display of legs everywhere I tripped, he tripped it was awesome! Once I hit the ground I'm scream and swearing at the top of my lungs, as we all know I broke my foot a few months ago, and I was pretty sure I had just broke it again. This is when being a pilot's wife gets real.

 There I am swearing and crying my eyes out holding my foot which feels like some dropped an anvil on it, and what am I going to do? DH isn't home, I can't exactly call my parents as it's my moms night off and she really needs a night off she'd been up for about 3 days straight with my grandma.

 What are my options? I crawl across the barn (mind you the stall doors are still open horses are wandering around) to my phone (still bawling and swearing) I manage to get a hold of dh before they start the leg back to Hawaii, I can't hardly talk because I'm crying so hard, and for those of you who know me, for me to cry because of pain is really bad, in fact I can't remember the last time I cried because something hurt. The only thing dh keeps saying is he will call my parents/his parents someones parents, which won't work because I need to get to the hospital to babysit my grandma. So at this point I'm still crying but he's kind of pissing me off. What I really wanted to hear was "I'm really sorry I'm not there." I don't need him to fix the situation I just wanted someone to cry to, instead I get Mr.Fix It, and then I get "I'm sorry we're closing the door I gotta go."

 Anyway since I didn't have choice I managed to hop in the house, take a shower, change and get to the hospital to babysit my grandma. I put on my old boot from when I had broken my foot and then managed to take enough Vicodin to live through the next few days.

 My next days adventures included driving all over Chicago in the truck to get hay, and picking up my contacts, and picking up dh from ORD. So once I picked dh up I then finally made it to the ER! Where they took 3 x-rays and said "you need to go see the dr you were seeing so they can compare the x-rays....btw here's some more Vicodin, I can write you a note for work, and don't do anything for the next week."

Anyway the whole situation made me really think, we pilot wives really are on our own when our hubbies are gone. The whole situation really kind of ticked/ticks me off, I REALLY could have used dh being home that night. Was it absolutely necessary?  No, I did manage by myself, but doing everything yourself gets old and to be honest I'm still a little ticked at him for being gone even though it's not his fault.

Being Grateful

As all my pilot wives know, bad things happend when the pilot is away, it doesn't matter how hard you try to avoid it shit happens

But this week its been interesting, the shoe has been on the other foot as they say.  I have been crazy busy with the new job and during the week it's all I can do to keep up with the work around the house (remember the 5 acres and horses) and going to work.  So this last weekend when dh was home I had to work Saturday (thankfully it's only one saturday a month).  I came home and was pleasantly surprised that dh (and the fence guys) had finished the run outs for the horses!  He had spent most of the day working on varouis outside barn type projects.  As I was walking around listening to him talk about everything he had done I realized " this is what I do all the time when you're gone."  He had (selflessly) spent the day working on something I wanted done, even though he had  a ton of work to do.  I was incredibly grateful.

Poor dh could not catch a break though....I woke up sunday mornng sick.  I don't mean functional sick, I mean pitching a tent in the bathroom sick (I think food poisoning).  I manged to let the dogs out but that was it.  I finally passed out about 9am.  I woke up at 11:30 just in time to see dh's dad pull in to pick him up to play a well deserved round of golf.  So I quickly go on the hunt for dh, he's just leaving the barn.  He had cleaned the stalls, turned the horses out and moved one of the huge water tubs in the field.  Again I was so appreciative he had done all this!

The whole shoe on the other foot situation got me thinking.....I was/am so grateful that dh had stepped up and helped me out either because I was at work or I was sick.  I really wonder if he thinks like this when he is at work and when I do everything around here while he is gone, or if he just has come to expect it?  While I don't know the answer to that question, I do feel bad he has had to help out so much this weekend because he has a couple of really big projects at work this week and a PC, so I'll be sending him good thoughts all week!

Sweat Pink Ambassador!

So a few months ago I applied to be a Sweat Pink Ambassador (running and fitness). I hadn’t heard anything back so I figured oh well they obviously had more qualified candidates then me…I mean lets face it, I just started running and my blog (at best) is functional.

So imagine my surprise when I got an email a week or so ago that wanted me to fill everything out so I could be an Official Sweat Pink Ambassador! If someone had told me a year ago I would run 1/2 marathons (and soon a full marathon!)I would have said “You’re Crazy!” Besides the fact that I hadn’t run much, I’m not exactly the picture of health, between the hysterectomy, appendectomy (complete with cancer) and a kidney surgery or two thrown in for good measure. So for me to be a Sweat Pink Ambassador I’m thrilled

I’m so excited to have the opportunity to inspire and help others who want to run, and overcome their challenges!

Things you don't learn in school

So since I have been doing such a stellar job (haha just a little sarcastic) of blogging every day in May (where does the time go?) I have decided to pick this topic from the last few days that I have missed. I picked this topic also because my cousin just graduated from high school so it's been a recent topic.

 So you know those classes you had to take that you HATED....be it Math, English, History...whatever class you hated, you know what? Those were just preparing you for a job that you hate. As my mother always said (says) "Having a job you like is not a requirement." This is absolutely true. Yes, yes it's great if you have a job you like, BUT the more important thing is that you have A job.

 If you have the opportunity to go somewhere interesting, or have an opportunity to do something cool, as long as you won't end up in jail (or anywhere near cops) DO IT! You know why? Because that thing I mentioned in the above paragraph will get in the way All.The.Time. once you're in the real world.

 Speaking of the real world, please don't go to work expecting a prize for showing up everyday....that's what your paycheck is...always remember "you're special, just like everybody else."

And listen to your parents, even if you ignore them and think they are wrong...just keep it in mind, because one day you will wake up and realize they have been right about most things.

Ohhh and since I'm old now and I'm sure this isn't on the radio anymore.... Don't forget your sunscreen

A Day in the Life

Of course what isn't pictured here is me cleaning stalls, weed whacking and cleaning the house!

Top 10

So today's theme (if you will) is 10 things that make you happy.....if you remember yesterday's post you should probably guess that SLEEP is one of them! Just an FYI these are in no particular order, other wise sleep might have been a little lower on my list.


JIMMY BUFFETT CONCERTS---if you haven't been to one GO!

Jimmy in Concert in LAS

I would be a horrible person if I didn't mention my PARENTS, they are simply the best!

The BEST Parents in the WORLD!

My ANIMALS of course, animals not pictured...pretty much everyone; horses, cats, and the rest of the dogs :)

Flop in the snow

DISNEYWORLD, how can you not be happy at the "Happiest Place on Earth!"  Especially at Christmas...definitely the best time!

EPCOT at Christmas

I would probably burst into flames if I didn't mention my HUSBAND, but I'm only putting him on the list if he isn't being "grumptastic." (Thanks for the word Shelley!)

Dh when he's not grumpstastic

 HAWAII- need I say more??

Kona Airport

 How about TRAVELING? I would be a horrible pilot wife if I didn't mention that!

Spain at Christmas

 I have to mention ANIMAL RESCUES; I love these people they spend all day fighting an uphill battle and even when they win and save a dog/cat, there are more that they lose, but they never give up! Here is one of many that I think do a great job SNARR Rescue

And of course what would life be without FRIENDS!

Now I am sure I missed somethings, as in general more than 10 things do make me happy....some days sitting down and drinking a diet coke makes me happy, but I really liked these and it was fun (though a complete PITA) to do pictures with each one!

ABP out for Sleep

So in my great (becoming great) effort to at least do everyother day in Blog a Day in May One of the things I miss the most is sleep and down time.

It seems I can never get enough of these two things with dh being gone a good 4 days a week and me working 3-4 days it's crazy how fast time goes!  Of course it's a little harder right now with the broken foot and all so that doesn't help. I seriously feel like I am always tired!  My idea of a good vacation anymore is going somewhere and not moving and watching tv how sad is that??

10 Words or Less

So for the blog a day (yes I skipped yesterday’s I know, I still feel I am doing pretty well!) today’s topic is describe yourself in 10 words or less…….I would have to go with………….

Sarcastic

Animal Lover

Traveler

Pilot Wife

Runner

Picture a Day....

Here's my "blog" for the day...it's picture day!

Blog (Almost) Everyday in May

So there was no way by the time last night rolled around I could actually stay awake to post anything! So today I will roll 2 in 1.

 Yesterdays topic was something you're afraid of, well let's see I'm not overly fond of bugs...ticks and flea's in particular I have an absolute paranoia of them (dogs/cats frontlined EVERY month). But I would have to say after being on crutches for 3 weeks I have a fear of every being on them ever again.....it's absolutely exhausting and I can't do half of what I want but it's still way more than my dr thinks I should do!


 So today's topic is what advice would you give everyone? It's interesting how life sometimes points you in a direction, I had no idea what kind of advice to give, who am I after all?   Besides the typical "be nice, kind, and helpful" type advice, which personally no one should have to give because it should be standard, I couldn't figure out what to talk about. Today I was talking with a friend and it was brought up things that we regret in life.

  Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -Mark Twain 

 Given that I've already done a blog on this topic, I'm not going to say much. This type of regret falls under the category of "can't find the time, or just never got around to it." So I will leave you with the thought; Do it now, don't regret it later!!

What do you do?

This is the topic of the day for the "blog a day in May." Apparently answering with your job is not acceptable so again the question is "What do you do?" I suppose I could give the obvious answer of rescue fuzzy animals, (also raising awareness of rescuing fuzzy animals) typing dhs reports (which I have gotten behind on doing because of my real job) taking care of the house when dh is gone, which in my opinion is a FULL time job! So as you can see "what do you do?" is a lot more than just a job, but since it is 10:30 and I have to be up at 5:45 this is as good an answer as you will get :)

Another Blog

So in some effort to keep up with the blog a day in May. Today's subject is another blog you like....so here it is The Lazy Pit Bull I really like her blog because it's about helping animals!

Don't Say You Can't!

So the "theme" for today is one of your favorite quotes. As you can guess from my title that's it. My very first riding instructor told me that one time. I was not doubt carrying on about how I couldn't get my horse to do something and I said "I can't do it." She told me "Don't say you can't, if you must say I don't know how." That philosophy has served me well, in almost every aspect of life from running to riding and anything in between, though there are times when I still say I can't, I try to keep it in mind. I'm sure my mother wished I would have said "can't" the other night when she came over to find me dragging the dumpster with the truck after I had unhooked it from the flatbed all with a broken foot!

Blog Everyday in May!

So I'm not much of one to try these "blogging fads" BUT since I have been so lazy on my blogs (and really for no reason after all my foots broken not like I can do a whole lot) I thought I would try. Being that this is May 3rd and all I'm already a few days behind so I thought I'd take the liberty to pick which one of the 3 I missed and start today after all are the blog police going to get me? So one of the topics I missed was About me in 250 words or less..... Let's see I was born and grew up about 5 miles from where I currently live. I have always (ever since I was a kid) loved animals and thankfully my parents were (pretty ) open to this and we always had at least one dog and occasionally a parakeet around. I went to High School in St. Louis, College in Kentucky where I majored in Equine Management (it's a super useful degree....sarcasm...) . After that I moved back to IL for a few years, also got married and divorced in that time. I met my husband at a star bucks about 5 miles away from where we now live. I moved with him to TX when he upgraded to Captain, we lived there for about 2 yrs. Then built a house in New Mexico. We lived there for 5 and moved back to the Chicago area where all our family is located. I still love animals as you can probably tell, 3 horses, dogs, and cats as well and recently started a new job with a non-for profit animal group. I have recently started running and while I will never win a race (unless I sprout wings) I do like to run/walk. I'm also a self-proclaimed "Mouse Junkie." Both dh and I love Disneyworld we even had annual passes last year, and it's a big part of why/how I got into running. Ohh and I broke my foot a few weeks ago!

Fight Like a Girl

This is one of my favorite websites as it has been so helpful to me. I was so excited when they published my article . I hope I can be as much of an inspiration to others as they have been to me. Just as an FYI this was written before my round with melanoma and my stay in the hospital because of my kidney!

New Website!

So my new website is up and completely operational! It was a huge learning curve and I know there are some things I can/could do better but I'm super happy with it! So let me introduce you to running4rescues

Another Year Bites the Dust

So you may be thinking "this isn't January or even Chinese New Year's what's up?  This is FAR more important than either of those, in airline world it's 3rd year pay!!!  Every year in airline world is the holy grail (until you cap out) it comes but once a year and it's like Christmas, you look forward to it ALL year.  I always like to recap you can read about them last day and here .

This year has brought many changes as well, as I type John is on his way back from LAS.  In August he moved from the MD-80 to the 757, and is currently based in LAS.   He also wiped out going down the stairs and had surgery on his knee and back, so he has been doing office work in lieu of flying, mostly working on the new rest rules, Part 117.

This year has also seen a successful union drive at his company by teamsters who knows what will happen with that, but overall I think its beneficial.

I have learned a lot of things this year that I had no knowledge in, mostly about unions and the crazy rabidness of some pilots about them, and the inability of a lot of them to put their money where their mouth is.  And also about the new rest rules, they are surprisingly (mostly) easy to understand and I proof read all Johns reports.

On the non-work front we sold our house in NM and moved back to the Chicago area!  Yea no more crappy homeowners association, and no more crappy medical care!  We are extremely happy to be back in the land of good pizza and hotdogs even if it means a longer commute for John.  I also started running this past year and have actually been having fun!  I even started my own website (that was a learning curve!)that will hopefully be a place to learn about running as well as animal rescues and what events you can do you to help your local shelters and rescues.

If someone had told me a year ago all of this I would have said you're crazy!  It just goes to show you; you never know what difference a year can make!

The government, taxes, and death..

Ok well maybe not death but I think that is how the saying goes. So a few days ago the courts decided that yes really the airlines had to put taxes in the final price of tickets . Now when I buy airline tickets (yes I do this often, sorry for destroying your illusion that flying standby is free and easy, it's neither) I hate to be nickel and dimed to death, drives me crazy! I would rather pay $20 and have my bag included. BUT I have to say the court's ruling just pisses me off, what makes the airlines different than say car dealers? Everyone knows that if you go to the car dealer the price on the window is NOT what you're going to pay, not even close! And as long as were going down that road, why aren't tax prices included on EVERYTHING? From airline tickets to cars to TV's and laptops? I guess I just wonder why they singled out the airlines and not everyone else?

Blogging Help!

So I've been following the frugal beautiful for a while and I really like it! I found it when I started doing half-marathons at Disney.  She is giving away a coaching session with her that I would love to use for my new website, running4rescues The whole concept of my new website is to incorporate two things that I love; animals and running!  I thought what better way for me to get (and stay) in shape than run for a good reason.  I would love for this blog to "take off" and that way I could make enough to stay home and work on the blog AND raise more money (other than what I donate to the races) for homeless animals.  I started doing this because my hope is that if you're bored one weekend and looking for a race (or occasionally a fun event such as bowling) you can find something to do that is for a good cause.

New Website!

So I have been working on this for a while and it won't really be up and running until April 1st or so BUT I thought since I hadn't posted anything in a while I would! So here is the link hopefully it will be easy to use and navigate.  This new website will be mostly about running and animal (rescues) where as this blog will be reserved for all the fun stories of being a pilots wife :)

http://www.running4rescues.com/

A Snowy Flop!

So we got quite a bit of snow the other day and Flop LOVED it! We on the other hand spent the day shopping for a new fridge (blah) but thats a different post altogether!  I haven't been running in about 10 days and need to get my butt to the gym since I'm doing an 8k in a few weeks but first I get to go shovel the driveway, to bad Flop can't do that for me!

Pretty Princess?

I love almost all things Disney.....alas the Princess Race was not one of them.....

  The craziness began when I went to the expo to pick up my bib and shirt.  Now this may not look as bad as it was, but it was AWFUL!  I take that back it took about 2 seconds to pick up my bib, the rest was crazy.  There were So Many People.  I couldn't even walk up and down the aisles :(  But the worst was getting the t-shirt 45 min for them to hand me a bag with a shirt, really??

 

This craziness came about when I (stupidly) decided I needed to go back to the expo because I wanted to do the early sign up for Wine and Dine.  I waited for 15 min for the bus and said screw it.

Before they "released the hounds."

 This was the best part of the race!  I got there about 4:15am (they wanted you in corrals by 5am).  Since I walked from the Key West Resort I was the ONLY one out there besides the volunteers, it was amazing!  In just a few short minutes that whole road would become wall to wall people.

My corral start!

Finally! The start of my corral, I had a decent time from Tink so I got moved up from Corral H to D :)  They sent up fireworks with every corral that started and the fairy god mother said some happy little chant that probably translated to "Even though this race is horribly overcrowded and humid as hell you will spend more money when you get to the end and buy a t-shirt."

So I really don't have many pics from the race, to be honest after mile 3 of running around people, running in the grass, and thinking I was going to die I was so hot, stopping seemed like a bad idea.  Sure, sure, there were characters out and one very entertaining man on an overpass dancing, but the lines were so long I wouldn't have stopped even if they had free booze!  The race imo was just badly planned.  Fine you want a million people in the race on the 5th anniversary, and of course the Mouse makes more the more people in the race.  I understand this I do, it's all about $$ so fine, keep the numbers high but instead of having many places were we were running on the road in only one lane keep both of them open!  I felt there were a lot of small things that could have been done to make this way better. 

 So I managed to finish, which in my book is where things went way south!  My friends from New Mexico surprised me by coming down to watch and meet me at the finish, which is where I "turned into a Gremlin."  This would probably be accurate.  I had told them it should only take them about 45-1hr to get to the finish line from the hotel...boy was I wrong!  It took them about 2 hours to my dismay (and theirs) to get to the finish line.  This would haven't been so bad except I had NO Diet Coke and no money with which to buy said Diet Coke.  This is where I turned into a Gremlin.  For those of you who know me, know I don't function well without Diet Coke.  Did I mention I had just run 13.1 miles and was hot as well?  So long story short I finally got to them by jumping a fence because Disney's lack of planning also included funnelling all the runners and some of the friends and family (the ones that made it back that far) through a little narrow lane...Awesome....

So this picture is about 2 1/2 hrs after the race, after I had traipsed over to the Polynesian to get a yummy breakfast that they said there was "no wait for" and when I got there there was 1 1/2 hr wait.  At which point I let out a nice for letter word and went to the fast food area. 

To be honest if this had been the first Disney race I would have done I would NEVER do another one.  It was crazy crowded, badly organized, oh and did I mention humid?  Ok well I will give Disney that one it's not their fault it was humid.

At any rate I finished, and in a better time than I did at Tink, thanks I think to my new Brooks!  Plus I got my coast to coast medal as well :)

That's It, I'm Old

So this is why I'm old....these are the songs that Run Disney has chosen for some sort of "theme" song for the Princess Run.  I don't know ANY of these songs, well thats not entirely true I have a vague recollection of the Kelly Clarkson "Stronger" song, not so much that I could actually sing it, just that I think I have heard it.

I think this just really means I am old, a continuing theme I'm not liking.  Songs that frequently appear on my running playlist are Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett, and Barenaked Ladies.  I can only guess as the years go on that I won't be getting younger, so I hope that come Wine and Dine Run time    Run Disney has better song options than these!

Somewhere between 13.1

So here I am somewhere between two 13.1 runs.  First off let me say I have had no idea how to train between running two 13.1's ...None!  Secondly,  I haven't had much time to train, John ended up having back surgery (cyst on spine) so I haven't had a chance to do anything!

Now for my other problem......shoes.  After my 13.1 fun run from last month I could hardly walk in my Saucony Hurricanes (shown left) though I ran fine in them.  So I think maybe it's time to switch shoes and end up with Brooks Adrenaline (middle).  I did manage to sneak in 10 miles and they seemed ok, at least I could walk the next day which was better than the Saucony.  The shoes on the right are my tried and true Nike Vomero 5.  I cannot tell you how much I love these shoes for walking, they are fantastic!  However when I run in them (besides being 1/2 size to small to really run in) they feel like marshmallows and it seems I have to work twice as hard to pick up my feet.  The cushioning that I so love on them when I walk is a hindrance when I run.

I am optimistic that when I run my next 13.1 in a week that the Brooks will allow me to be comfortable after the run, without the use of beer!

B Student

Pretty much all through my life (ask my mother) I've been a B student.  I wanted to do enough work to get me through with a better than average grade, but not enough that I would actually HAVE to work.  This also drove my mother crazy.

When I decided to start training to run a half marathon, everyone thought I was crazy, including me!  Looking back on it the idea really came from the idea that I felt I needed a goal, any goal.  When I came across a half marathon on my Disney facebook page, I thought, that's a good goal.  I love all things Disney, and I hate running but there is a 16min mil requirement and I figured I could walk it if it came down to it.

So to start training I went to the RunDisney site where they have a training program designed by Jeff Galloway and ex-Olympian.  I downloaded it and it seemed to make a lot of sense to me.  His goal is to have you finish (in the allotted time) but not have you be dead at the end so you can still enjoy the day.

In true B student fashion I started training, I did try to follow the training plan but I ended up changing a little (a lot).  I am healthish in general and I walk a lot so I figured that should carry me for a little ways right?  Plus do you have any idea how much time is involved in training?? For Disney a 16min/mile comes to 3 hours and 30min.  That's a long time, and it's a really long time when you're running 3 days a week (true you don't run that far every week!).

Being the B student that I am I hit the start line only having run a total of 11 miles at once before the race.  I figure how bad could the last 2 miles be right?  My biggest fear was being swept (not keeping the 16min/mile time and getting driven to the finish line).  I started in the WAY back having never run anything before, well that's not true we occasionally do run at Disney world but it's usually running over people to get to a line or a monorail.

I have to admit the race itself was actually a blast!  I didn't stop as much as I wanted (or at all) except to go to the bathroom, I was terrified of being swept!  So imagine my surprise (because I forgot to start my watch) when I finished in under 3 hours!!!  Not bad for a B student :)

SNOW!!!

So it's been FOREVER since I posted on here BUT hopefully in the next week or two I'll get back in the swing of things!  For now my observation of the day is

"The driveway gets longer the more snow we have"