Running Again

Six years ago my good friends Marishell and Andrea inspired me to start running. I began a simple little program to train for a 5K. For those Americans reading this, that is a 3.1 mile race. My program was really easy. Basically I ran about 4 or 5 times a week for 20 minutes. The first week I ran 1 minute and then would walk 1 minute. The second week I ran 2 minutes and walked 1 minute. Eventually I was running 10 minutes with a 1 minute break, then I was running for 20 minutes nonstop!

In the summer of 2003 I lost about 30 pounds and ran in 4 or so races. My first race was a 1 mile fun run while Mari and Andrea ran a 10K. I came in 5th place and brought home a little mug saying "5th Place." I still use it! I ran a 2 mile bridge run and was the second place female but there were no awards for that one. Boo. I still have all of my race bibs. It was a great summer.

Then, as luck would have it, I got sick and had mono. Being under the weather, planning a wedding, and in the middle of winter, I stopped running. And I gained weight. I was a chubby bunny for sure!

Now, 6 years later, my workouts have consisted of lots of time on the elliptical machine in 2006 and 2007. In 2008 I participated in a 4 week Boot Camp three or four times. And I went to spin class like a fiend! Now, 2009 dawned with me ready to find a personal legend.

I decided that my personal legend was going to be running in the Country Music Half Marathon. I love remembering the excitement of race day. The challenges. The crowds of people. And the fun times with my gals after we finished running. I have been missing it for six years! My great friend Melanie and I have been following a simple 12 week program for beginners. I am amazed that in four weeks we have run 37.5 miles! We have a 3.5 mile run this afternoon and that will put us over 40 miles this month!

The Half Marathon is a big deal. 13.1 miles. Since I wasn't running before we started the training, the idea of running the whole thing is daunting. So my goal for this race is not a time issue. I am not telling myself that I want to run it in 3 and a half hours or anything like that. My goal is to simply finish. If I have to walk here and there, I am totally ok with that. I just want to do it!

Our run yesterday was a nice, easy run. We only had to run 2 miles. And we rocked it out! We ran 1.5 without stopping. We walked a short distance (it was hilly!) then finished strong! I am so proud of us!

Another motivation for me has been my Nike+ that Ellis bought me for my birthday in January. It is a little microchip that you attach to your running shoe. Then there is a little plug that I attach to my Nano. It sends data back and forth and tracks our distance, time, speed, and calories burned. Then, I load the info to the Nikeplus.com website. It has been great to see all of our runs and watch our progress. Check out my "Mini Me" at the bottom of this blog to see my progress!

Carpet Installation!

We finally had the new carpet installed! YAY! It looks so different. I love it! It is all subdued, warm, and cozy! Here are some pics from the actual installation.


Here is the living room. Check out all the tools it takes to install carpet! Including this really hot iron thingy. It smelled just like a glue gun!


It was neat watching the sunlight come in on the carpet. The browns looks different at different times of the day, depending on the sun light.


I love how you can see the pattern in this shot. Ellis describes it as being like the weave in linen. I just think it is cool. I have never seen carpet like this before! And I love being unique!



This is the carpet in our bedroom. It is hard to see it in this pic. It is multicolored, light khaki mixed with browns. And it is a frieze. It is the new shag. I love it! Our room looks fantastic!

Carpet is COMING!

First, I have to totally apologize for these pics. There are a few from Ellis's phone camera and a few from mine. And my phone camera is terrible! Stupid Nextel/Sprint phone!

This is what our living room looked like when we moved in. Actually, we had already replaced the dining room light fixture. It is pretty, isn't it! As soon as I took this picture, I started tearing the wallpaper off!



This is the same angle last night. Since it was night time and we had the light on, it is really bright! But you can tell that the wall paper is gone. And you can see that the blue carpet is gone!



And here is the other side of the room. This is the living room area. I was a little surprised by the dust beneath the carpet and pad. Ellis and I decided that the pad was disintegrating a little bit. I guess that is what happens after 24 years!


This morning, I took a couple more pictures. These are from my crappy phone. We moved the love seat to in front of the TV so we could watch some stuff that we DVR'ed before bed. Notice how we just cut around the TV and left a carpet rug! We aren't going to move it until we have to!


In the morning light, you can see the chandelier. Isn't it pretty? One day I will find a dining table to go under it. The wall with the four windows was painted "Macadamia." The wall with the one wall is just wall paper backing. The area above that is "Kaffe." I will have Ellis take some pictures with his camera soon so you can see the colors better.

Tonight we are going to work on removing the carpet in our bedroom. We moved several pieces of furniture last night. Tonight we will just have to move the night stands and take down our bed. It looks so funny being so empty!

As usual, Chewy has been actively involved with the renovation process. She instantly missed the carpet. She had nothing to dig her claws in as she raced across the huge, empty room. I think Chewy was actually abducted by her evil twin. She scratched me, meowed a lot, and climbed all over the furniture all night. I think I snapped a picture of her body snatcher. You can tell by the glowing, lifeless eyes. This is a picture of PURE EVIL! BEWARE!