Terrific Tuesday

I had a very busy day yesterday and wasn't able to post! I also wanted to do a Monday night post, but of course fell asleep before 9:30pm, so I am dedicating this post to 5 Happy Tuesday things to make up for Monday, because my Tuesday was awesome!

1. Hilarious conversations between my kiddies.

2. Seeing these cuties

3. Seeing this cutie passed out with his Batman toy (I spy Sierra's tiny feet)

4. Dinner and Bobcats game with the boy (Bobcats won! Josh was sad because the only reason we went was for the Magic - I had fun heckling him at the game)

5. And probably the most exciting thing that's happened to me in a while? We won these:

We won 2 free lower level tickets to Friday's game! We found these papers in two empty seats beside us and Josh went to claim the prize it said they won, which happened to be these tickets! We are excited for another night out downtown. I really had fun last night. We can use the money we save on tickets on Friday to buy food and beverages :)

I have a million things to do for work, dinner to make, and I may make some more roasted chickpeas and crutons (I did this on Sunday - I will post recipes once perfected!). Josh really liked both, as did I! I also want to try to squeeze in a run, but we'll see if that happens. I am obsessed with a new iPhone game (when am I not?) called Draw Something and it has already cut into my productivity this afternoon. Time to get stuff done!

Disney: Race Day

I am laying in my bed and it's pretty outside. It is nice to relax after a long day at work (case of the Mondays for sure). Josh and I have been texting about a bunch of different stressors today, so I am excited about this post for the mere fact of escaping back into my incredible runner's high.


Disney: The Run
Race morning my first alarm went off at 3:15am. I was out of bed and brushing my teeth by 3:19. I got dressed, laid out food to take with us (bananas, banana oat bars, and mini Luna bars we got at the expo), did my hair/headband, and got all my accessories ready. We left the room around 3:45 to catch the shuttle from the hotel to Epcot.

On the bus ride over, Jennifer and I ate the bananas and banana oat bars. We arrived to tons of other shuttle buses and runners (27,000 people ran this race!!). We walked for a while and got to the bag check spot. We met up with our team "captain" (NF lady) so she could take a picture of us and wish us luck. We left that area and made our way to the corrals. It took us a good 20-30 minutes to walk there. I ate my Luna bar on the walk over.

We were in corral B (they had corrals A-H I think) and made it just after 5am. We were scheduled to start at 5:45. I killed time on my phone and we took some pictures.

Tebowing, for Joshua

I actually left off something running related. The weather that morning was in the 50s and was not supposed to go up much during the race. I debated wearing running capris, but the only ones I brought made me chafe last year - I brought shorts because it was supposed to be warmer. I decided to go with the shorts. My bottom half never gets too cold anyway. I wore some pants and a jacket that my mom was going to give to Goodwill while we waited for the race to begin. They have all these bins you can throw clothes into to donate because a lot of people wear "throw away" clothes. While we were waiting, I gave Jennifer my jacket because she was really cold and I felt okay...plus I had been using it to stay warm for a while. I took the pants off about 5 minutes before our corral started. The shorts were perfect and I actually got hot and sweaty in the lightweight long sleeved shirts we wore under our jerseys, but it was the kind of sweaty I didn't notice too much while running because it was still chilly out.

Around 5:45, our corral was off! We were in a large herd of people. It was really hard for about the first 2 miles to pick up a good pace because of the amount of people. Josh was "tracking" me and my splits were sent to his phone. Our first 5k was around a 13 minute per mile pace, but we decreased that time every 5k because the crowd of people thinned out and we were actually able to run.

In the Disney Princess Half Marathon, they have tons of characters throughout the course you can stop to take pictures with. We stopped once to try and snap a quick picture of Buzz Lightyear (Kylan's new obsession), but other than that we didn't stop for any pictures. I tried to take some pictures on my phone while running, but they all came out blurry (shocker). I think the best one I got was going into the castle (my favorite part!)

Jennifer dropped her camera at this point and luckily some nice person picked it up and some other people stopped to tell her. The castle was around mile 6 and I was still feeling good. We ran through the kingdom, and this was my favorite part last year. It was still awesome. After the kingdom comes this long flat stretch of road for a few miles. I remember dreading this last year. We stopped for our first powerade break then because I could tell I was starting to run out of fuel. This was around mile 7 or 8. When I hit mile 9, I knew the rest would be difficult because 9 miles was the most I was able to run in my training due to sickness.

Around mile 10 I believe, they gave us Cliff shots of goo. I got the chocolate flavor which actually was tasty. However, my legs were killing me, I was fighting with myself in my head trying to block out the pain, was just telling my legs to keep moving, and it was all I could do to open up the packet and try to eat the gel while still moving. I did feel like it helped and I could tell I had a little more energy about half a mile after that, but come mile 11, I was back to pain and exhaustion. The last 2 miles were like a blur. There were some roads, curves, a huge screen, and lots of things on the side (like more characters, people in stilts, and a choir). Every step hurt and my right ankle started to do this weird pulsing thing. I wanted to stop and walk, but Jennifer kept running. I tried to pick up my pace to keep up, but I couldn't. Then I realized that I just needed to finish for me, not for any one else. Jennifer did pull ahead and end up beating me by about 30 seconds, but I realized that I didn't need to kill myself just to finish beside her.

The last mile I probably pushed my iPhone button 5 times to see how much time had passed (on my Nike+) and if I was almost there. I went around a loop, turned a corner and saw the finish line. One of the best feelings ever. I tried to start sprinting the best I could and crossing that line was a feeling of pure elation. 

Right before I crossed the finish!

My whole body hurt and I had to hobble to walk, but when I got that medal around my neck, I was the happiest girl in the world. I found Jennifer, and saw Roy and Josh in the crowd. They took a picture before they came to find us.

I grabbed water, powerade, and a box of goodies (food) they provided us with. I downed the water and started on the powerade. We talked about the race, found our "captain" lady and took some pictures. I smiled through the exhaustion, but it was genuine happiness.

I hobbled over to Epcot (seriously, I felt like an old lady. I know Josh was laughing on the inside, but was very sweet about it) and we took some pictures in front of the "ball" just like we did last year.

Time spent doing a half marathon?

2 hours and 20 minutes (9 minutes less than last year!)

Feeling after running 31.1 miles?

priceless :)

she's 6!

I am writing this before I go back to bed. I got home from celebrating Skylar's birthday and passed out in bed before 8:30pm. I just woke up to finish school work and now am heading back up to sleep. I plan on doing my Disney race post tomorrow after school when I have some time. For now here are two pictures from the night. I cannot believe Sky is already 6 years old! Time flies.

house huntin'

Josh and I have been watching the DIY network all morning. We've watched 2 episodes of Bath Crashers, and right now we're watching Kitchen Crashers. They are doing an outdoor kitchen/entertainment area. I love these kind of shows, and Josh and I have also decided to start looking for a house to buy. I can't imagine owning a house and it makes me nervous but I want to get out of here. We also want a place to call our "own" and do work to. All these shows are giving us ideas and getting us anxious to get our own place. Now, we just need to miraculously come into some money :)

Yesterday we did a bunch of laundry, cleaning, and I even worked out. I did 2 10-minute trainer videos. One was cardio and one was total body. I am sore today! Today I want to hopefully run.

Lots of laundry!

UNC vs. DOOK

Last night was WONDERFUL because UNC blew out dook on their own court. It is a rivalry that runs deep for us loyal Carolina fans. It is one thing I really miss about college! Josh and I had some drinks and watched the game. I was so excited the whole time.

My mom is so cute.

We went to bed really early again and I've been up for about 3 hours this morning. I had breakfast and have been watching these shows. I am going to make a grocery list with some recipes out of my cook books, and then we're going to Old Navy (I have a coupon and we need to get Sky a birthday present) and Harris Teeter. Besides that and working out, I have some laundry to finish up and some school work to do before heading over to celebrate Sky's birthday. Hopefully I can squeeze in a Disney Race Day post! Happy Sunday.

Disney: Pre-Race

Good morning! I love Saturday's. I woke up and laid in bed for a while. Since Josh and I both went to bed so early last night, he was up too and we just chatted and played with Pepper. When we finally got up, we had been in bed for about 12 hours! I feel well rested for sure. We had breakfast (I had 2 veggie sausage patties and a piece of toast) and have been doing some cleaning. Now I'm taking a break as some coffee brews.

Disney Recap: Pre-Race
We left Charlotte around 7pm on Friday night. Josh drove a few hours and I was in and out of sleep. Around 11pm, I took over and Josh slept for about 2 and a half hours. Then we switched again and I got some sleep time. We finally arrived at the resort just before 3am. We fell straight into bed for sleep.

Saturday morning we had to go pick up our NF race gear from the team "captain" and our race packets at the ESPN Wide World of Sports.

We waited in line for a bit to pick up our packets, and then we got to go to the race expo where they have tons of vendors. I could have spent forever in there, but Roy and Josh were getting a little impatient. Jennifer and I got a few head bands and I got a new shirt, which I love.

The 4 of us went to lunch at TGIFriday's. I had a really delicious salad, Caribbean something. If you go to Friday's and see this on the menu, get it! Then we went to Wal-Mart and the party store to get some things for the mini birthday party we were having for Skylar (her real birthday is actually tomorrow).

That evening, Vanessa came to the hotel room to hang out. We went down to the beach area at the resort for marshmallow roasting and sand castle building.

The weather was so nice, the view was amazing, I loved hanging out with some of my favorite people. It was the perfect evening.

That night we had Skylar's little birthday party. She is turning 6 tomorrow! I can't believe she is growing up so quickly. We had a cake and some presents. She was a happy little girl.

That night, we set out all of our gear for the race. I got songs on my iPhone, set out my headphones, armband, and headband. Then set out my clothes and shoes and finally climbed into bed around 9 or 9:30. I had so many nerves, it was hard to fall asleep!

Time to go fold some laundry after I finish this cup of coffee. I will try to do a post about the actual race day later, before the UNC vs. Dook game. Goals today: clean, laundry, workout/run, school work, and make a grocery list? I already have a lot to do tomorrow which includes getting my car fixed (aligned and oil changed) and getting a birthday present for Skylar. Her real birthday party is tomorrow night. Hope you have a happy and productive Saturday!

i love to sleep

Last night I had intended to possibly do one of my Disney recap posts, but started dozing on the couch at 8PM. yes, 8PM. I am a grandma. Josh made me go lay in bed at 8:30 and we both passed out. I guess the weekend really did us in and I hadn't quite caught up from sleeping. I did feel pretty well rested today though, so that was good. Much needed for a crazy Friday in Kindergarten.

happy birthday to the big guy himself, Dr. Seuss!

Last night I did manage to make BBQ Tempeh sandwiches with some veggie cheese and whole wheat bread before I fell asleep. I thought they were really tasty! Josh liked them too.

I am ready to get back into Eat to Live by actually attempting to make some of the recipes and have some variety instead of just salads. Plus I think this will help keep me on track. I have rested all week (my legs finally feel back to normal!), but tomorrow I plan on getting back into working out. I want to run and do yoga, then start looking into other things I can do for work out and mix it up a bit. I really want to get into a set routine...this week has just seemed off.

Currently, I'm enjoying a glass of wine and waiting for Josh to get home. I am going to make some corn tortilla chips and have them with salsa for dinner. Plus more wine of course. Tonight's plans are just to lay back and take it easy. I have tons of cleaning, shopping, working out, blogging about Disney, and productivity to do tomorrow before the big UNC vs. Dook basketball game. Then Josh and I may even hit the town for his coworker's birthday! Have a happy happy Friday - I know I will.

Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.

do you like green eggs and ham?

Tomorrow is Dr. Seuss' birthday - another thing I love about my job. Fun learning experiences that the kids really get in to! We have been celebrating Read Across America all week at school and today was "Foot Book" day (each day has been a different theme for different books). We were supposed to wear crazy shoes (i.e. two different pairs of shoes) and/or crazy socks. I wore stripped socks - none of my kids wore miss-matched shoes, but some wore fun socks!

During writing time, the kids traced each other's feet, decorated them, and wrote stories. They worked really hard on them and I was so proud :)

Today was our "no specials" day which means no breaks and a long afternoon with the kiddies. So, the Kindergarten Team read Green Eggs and Ham and had our own feast!

My kids were in awe of how the eggs were green. Most of them were really brave and tried them - they said they tasted just like real eggs! Crazy how that happens ;)

For being a long Thursday, my kids did pretty well. I need to work on PEPs (so many acronyms in the education world) and think about something for dinner. Josh and I got the bare essentials on a grocery run last night and are going to create a meal plan and grocery list to shop for next week. I hope to be back tonight with some Half-Marathon talk. I was thinking about splitting up parts of the weekend into different posts. There's a lot I want to remember! TGI-almost Friday!