Breakfast

Last Saturday the most amazing thing happened. My roommates and I had some guy friends come over to our house and cook us breakfast. Let me tell you how it went down:

On Thursday night, at our co-ed Bible study, my roommate Hubs was talking to her friend Mitchell who really enjoyed the cake she brought to share. She mentioned she had never had his cooking, because he loves to cook. He immediately was like, ok, breakfast at your house Saturday morning. She kinda laughed but he was serious. I was standing near by so he asked me if I was gonna be home too. And then he said he was making Monkey Bread!!! A few other guys overheard and said they were coming too and our good friend Kali.

So on Saturday morning at 9:30, Mitchell and Kali show up with a big plastic tub of his pancake griddle, gallon of milk, juice and everything he needed to cook us breakfast. Topher and Kenny came as well and ordered us out of the kitchen while they cooked. The food was amazing! They did such an incredible job. The 7 of us enoyed eating together, laughing, talking and playing "Make it or Break it". And they cleaned up after themselves! It really was the coolest act of service I've ever received. I have some pretty awesome friends! :)

half-marathon fun

I finished the half-marathon!

13.1 miles

2 hours, 18 minutes

10:34 min/mile

One of the best things I have EVER done! It was hard, challenging and painful but so worth every minute! The first 6 miles I ran with my roommate and we ran about an 11 min/mile keeping up the run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute routine. But at 6 miles her dad jumped in and finished the rest with her. I decided I wanted to go faster and ran the rest of the race without stopping for walking breaks! It was incredible because I didn't train for that! The last mile and a half were the hardest and I really wanted to stop but I saw a sign that pushed me through:

The pain is temporary. The pride lasts forever.

It hurt really bad but I knew it would go away (and it has) and the sense of accomplishment that I finished will last forever. I am proud of what I did. I'm not a runner, never have been and still dont consider myself one. But I prayed before, during and after my race and know it puts a smile on God's face to see one of his children work hard and attain something they want so badly.

New goal: Full marathon Jan 2010!

marathon weekend

Friday is finally here... which means the marathon weekend is finally here! I could barely sit still through work today just thinking about all the fun that was going to be happening this weekend. But the time ticked by slowly sure enough and at 4pm, I was gone and on my way home.

All the fun begins tomorrow. My roommates and I have a bridal shower at 11am, so I'll wake up, get dressed and go buy her a gift. Rendezvous with the roommies and go to the shower for about an hour to an hour and a half. It will be a lot of fun to see old friends from high school and just have girl time and gush over the bride-to-be.

Then it's off to the EXPO at the George R. Brown Convention Center to pick up our race packets that will have our running bibs, timing chips and final instructions for race day. There will be lots of vendors there giving away free stuff and selling cool running gear at discounts. I'll be walking into a world I know nothing about, since I'm a swimmer and NOT a runner. But it'll be eye-opening to meet people who have dedicated so much time and effort to the sport.

After EXPO, we will need to decide on what we are going to wear on race day. We will definitely be wearing our names on our person somewhere but we can't decide just yet if we want to paint t-shirts, or paint fabric and pin it on fancy running shirts or what. But we will be putting our names somewhere so spectators can cheer as we run by! :)

Dinner is one of the things I'm most excited about. Our families are coming over for a spaghetti dinner at our house! We will work out all the details for the following morning as far as meeting up after the race. As well as just chat and get excited about the race! And then, to bed early!

And then you can guess what will happen on Sunday morning. :)

new favorite snack

While in Paris I was introduced to Nutella. On a fresh made crepe. And it was. Amazing.

So I bought some when I got back here but haven't found a way to eat it that I like. I tried it on a slice of bread dipped in milk like the French eat but... yuck. I didn't like it. I could try it on toast. I haven't done that yet. But basically until today, my Nutella jar has been sitting in the pantry.

I had an epiphany. Nutella + pretzels. I knew it was gonna be good before I even tried it. It was amazing. Basically chocolate dipped pretzels. Yummmm....

i'm sick :(

Sunday after church I started to feel this wierd thing in my throat and I immediately drank an EmergenC but it was too late. I stayed home from work today to rest and it was a really good decision. I rarely will let myself stay home from work unless I'm high fever and absolutely miserable. But I felt really bad this morning and the half-marathon is this weekend and I just didn't want to spread it to anyone at work. Such a bummer. I wish I felt well and hopefully I will recover soon since I stayed home today. Pray for me to feel better. :-/

TGIF

Today I am really, really TGIF. I think it's because the last 2 weeks have been shortened because the holidays and now we are getting back in the swing of a 5-day week. Plus work has just been stressful because one girl is on vacation, everyone is behind and my test is still broken. And I'm just excited about the weekend. One week until the half-marathon!!!

We got our packets in the mail this week that had all the details information on it like what time to get there, where the running trail will be, what to do after the race, etc. I'm so excited because we are getting to run through some of my favorite parts of Houston. Along the bayou, up Allen Parkway into Downtown. :) And I'm getting so anxious to hear the weather forecast for Sunday. I'm praying it's warm.

I don't have big plans this weekend except for a surprise dinner & a movie for someone I can't mention just yet in case they might see (highly unlikely though). But there's lots of things I need to get done including a 5-mile run. And on Sunday we are having our first meeting for the Honduras trip. I know I'm gonna get so excited once I have the VBS material in my hands and all the planning starts. I haven't started learning Spanish yet but maybe that can be the focus of my weekend.

Oh, thank goodness it's Friday! :)

In Flight Running

Look what I found:

In Flight Running

The KSBJ marthon team is training with this organization. I didn't even know it was a good idea to train with a group but it makes sense. I've been lucky enough that by coincidence my roommates are running the half-marathon so I've been training with them. But if I want to be serious about running in the future, it may be a good idea to train with people who know a lot more about running than me. Especially since I've never, ever, EVER been a runner. I'm used to the water supporting my body when I exercise... this is a whole new ball game for me.

They haven't even started talking about the 2009-2010 season yet but I'm definitely going to look into it. I think I'm catching the "running bug" as they call it.

Decisions

"He still had some doubts about the decision he had made. But he was able to understand one thing: making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision."
-The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

Indecisiveness is my weakness. I'm terrible about making big decisions. I always ask someone's opinion before I make a big decision. Usually it's my parent's. But we make decisions all the time and it's important to be able to make wise decisions. Some examples of my indecisiveness have been moving out of my parent's house, buying a new car, changing jobs, going to Honduras with my church, etc...

But this book is all about following your dreams and realizing your destiny. It follows this young man as he realizes his dream and leaves everything behind to puruse it. Even when difficult times come his way, he finds ways to make the best of the situation. Even when he doubts himself, he sticks with his pursuit. I feel like life would be richer and I would enjoy more opportunities that way. I just started the book so a lot of it hasn't sunk in yet for me to say how I feel but this quote meant a lot to me. I want to learn how to not be afraid to make decisions.

Project 365 buddies

My roommates, Meagan and Ashley (aka Hubs) have joined me on doing Project 365. They are both super excited about it and so am I. It's nice to have people who are doing it with you so you can help each other with your pictures and give support when it gets hard.

Meagan

Hubs

I'm almost a third of the way done. It's going to take me a little longer than a year to get all 365 pictures because I slacked when I first started but I'm already becoming WAY proud of my project. Especially since I'm over 100 pictures now! Really, really consider doing one. It's so much fun.

I ran 10 miles today!

The peak of the half-marathon training. I did it in an hour and 52 minutes which equals an 11 minute mile. Not fast at all but I took a 6 minute walking break during that so I was running a little bit faster than that. I'm just glad I finished because I would not have been able to do it this summer. I feel like I've come a long way and I'm going to continue to challenge myself even when the half-marathon is over. The marathon is in 2 weeks! I'm super excited! :)

My roommates and I after running at Memorial Park!

Happy New Year!

I had so much fun ringing in the new year. I got to see lots of friends, new and old and most of my family on New Years Eve. Plus I had another 4-day weekend and I can't express how much I've enjoyed this extra time off work. My only vacation I've taken since starting work has been to Paris and that was not a restful vacation. This has just been heavenly.

I can't decide on my new years resolutions yet though. There's things I want to do but I don't really consider them resolutions. For example, I want to learn how to cook and bake well. I want to keep training in my running after the half-marathon is over (hopefully run full marathon next year). I want to keep making life amazing with awesome experiences and memorable moments. I want to make more new friends in Houston. I want to learn some Spanish for my Honduras trip. So you know... lots of small things. I'm just excited for how great 2008 was and looking forward to an even better 2009 year.