This is for you Sister

We did it!

Sister and I ran in a 5k on Thanksgiving Day morning successfully.

All those weeks of training really paid off. I'm so glad that we did this together. It was so great and having her there gave me memories that will last forever. Plus I beat her. How awesome is that?!?!?!? (Sorry, had to throw that in there. She probably would have creamed me but towards the end she was at war with her hair and that spiraled into having a mini-heart attack or wanted to throw up, more on that below).

I am going to attempt to post pictures but if Blogger starts acting up, this might be published as a partial post. It's early, I have a hangover, and I was woken up by French Kitty barfing up the gorgeous flowers that were given to us by sister all over the hallway. Work with me Blogger, work with me.

Oh, and I normally don't like posting pictures of my actual mug shot but I think it's almost unavoidable. Oh well. Couldn't keep it a secret forever.

We started off the day being the first one's there, which left us about an hour to take some pictures, which helped us warm up:

We found the restroom to be warm and toasty, so we stayed in there for a while, finding peace and solitude amongst the sinks:

More and more people started to show and stand in line to register, I am in there, can you find me?

We still had about 35 minutes so we decided to wait in the truck until the race started (why we didn't think of this sooner, I'm not sure) :

The time arrived for us to stand and wait for the big start, I was so excited!

We were informed that in order to complete the 5k, we would have to run around the lake twice. Here's me the first time around:

That guy next to was like 'lady your crazy' I was yelling. :)

Here's me the 2nd time around in almost the exact same spot, I was flying:

Like I mentioned above, towards the end sister was having some difficulties with her hair, which I really think lead to the end of her demise. She wanted to walk off her heart attack, I mean hair troubles, and told me to go ahead. She was kind enough to take a shot of me doing just that:

This was really close to the end. She caught up to me and we kicked up into 5 gear and sprinted to the end. It was so exciting. Even more great was they were playing the song that sister picked out for me for the wedding. Isn't that funny? Of all the songs in the world they could have played they were playing that one.

It was such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment for me to do this and have sister by my side. She didn't have to come with, but she did and that means the world to me. Running in an event like this has been a goal of mine for so long, and I did it. Well, we did it. Together. Thanks sister, I love you.

We took another picture at the end, sweaty red cherry popped faces and all:

Attractive, right?

I plan on continuing to run, and hopefully run in more and more events in the future. I have caught the running bug and can only hope to accomplish a 10k, half marathon and full marathon. What? A girl can dream, can't she?

The biggest thing I learned from this experience would be to make sure my toe nails are properly trimmed. The toenail on my 4th toe attacked my middle toe with avengece and this is was what happened:

Can you see on the left shoe on the outside how it looks like it's a different color? It is because it's blood. Literally my toe bled right thru my shoe.

Thanks to everyone for cheering me on in spirit!

Cheers!

(side bar: I am going to attempt to publish this now, and it looks fine here. But I have learned that Blogger does weird things when it come to pictures so if it looks f*cked up I am blaming Blogger. Or maybe it's something I'm doing. No, let's blame Blogger).

Really?

So I only have TWO readers willing to come forward and admit they read this blog? TWO? Well I think it's fair to say that there at least 3 more of you that are too chicken shit to leave a comment and possibly some others lurking around that haven't either. C'mon, don't be afraid, you can even post a comment and be anonymous. (This is possible so don't give me that 'I couldn't figure it out' BS). Oh well. THANK YOU to NorCalMrs and kbl for being brave and letting me know that you are faithful and committed readers of Paper Castles. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, like after have a couple glasses of wine in the tub. Or something.

MN sister and I will be running in a 5k together on Thanksgiving Day and I couldn't be more excited. I know it's not a huge feat to run 3.1 miles, but for me it's like landing on the moon. It has been a goal of mine for the past...oh...I don't know...10 years or so to run in one of these organized events so I am living out a dream friends. My 8 week coarse is done so I have been taking it easy the past week, letting my body recoup (by recoup I mean develop tendinitis in my ankle. What am I? 80?). So for the TWO OF YOU who read this, be cheering me and sister on in spirit at 830am on Thanksgiving Day morning.

That's all for now, thanks for reading YOU TWO.

I like running on the treadmil (Gasp!)

Hi Friends

I am on to graduating Week 7 of my running regimen. Just in time for the weather to turn cold rainy and gross (not today which is a very nice 65 degrees and sunny--perfect for tonight's festivities--more on that later).

My work out Tuesday was this, and I quote:

Today you are going to try something different. Go to a school track or a trail
in your area (hee hee hee) that you have measured. Warm up with vigorous walking
for 10 minutes then jog 2x1 mile repeats...

Apparently these fine folks didn't anticipate a Minnesotan training near daylight savings time in October. Sorry, but it gets dark at about 430pm and this mama isn't going any where near a trail or an unlit high school track. Na-ah. No way.

So my only option is to go up to mini-mall fitness center and brave the treadmill. I was frightened of this unavoidable situation for various reasons, a few being:

• Falling off the treadmill.


• Sweating all over the place.


• Setting the speed too fast and being to proud to slow it down.


• Having the super fit hot chick/or dude next to me do the same workout and not sweat all over the place.

To name a few.

Well anywho, I had no choice but to go up to the fitness place to get this all important work out in. I wasn't about to skip it. I am very proud to say I have only missed ONE workout during this whole 7 almost 8 week regimen due to Super Kid's birthday (I do have priorities). So that's walking/jogging every day except for Friday's and Monday's which are required rest days.

So there.

I enter in the gym and it's it's usual quiet self, except for the clanking of the weights and the treadmills. I nervously walk up to the only open one. I am sandwiched in between two older gentlemen who are walking fast, but I do note that once they saw me, they started going faster. Whatever, I'm just going to do my thing and try not to fall off.

I should probably take a minute to explain the reason why I am nervous about falling off these things. If you know me at all you know the answer. Yours truly is a little uncoordinated. Little meaning a lot. So for me to step onto a moving object, try to look graceful, and watch a tv that is about 5 inches above my forehead is a little undaunting for me. It's either watch the tv or watch myself running in the huge floor to ceiling mirror. Ah, no thanks.

Getting back to the story, I step on the treadmill and start walking. No problems so far, I've walked on a treadmill a billion times. After the warm-up, I now have to make the thing go faster to start jogging. I go a little bit at a time. A little bit more. One more time. K, now I'm at a comfortable jogging speed. And there you have it! I did it! For the next two miles or whatever it was, I am jogging at a good pace, not sweating too much (I don't think anyway), can still keep my breath, and not a single time did I feel like I was going to fall off. Yeah me. I actually liked it because it keeps track of your time/speed/distance for you, right in front of you. So I don't have to rely on my cell phone stop watch or worry about a silly dog dodging out in front of me or the wind or rain! It's great!

I am onto week 8, my last week, I can't believe I actually went thru with this whole thing. Husband asked me what I was going to do after I was done with the 8 weeks and I honestly don't have any idea. Maybe I'll start training for a 10k...maybe.

Happy Halloween to all.

What was I thinking???

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You shouldn't be laughing at this, but you will.