Where does all my time go??

Hi everyone, I just wanted to pop in and say hello and let you all know that I haven't disappeared. Work home life have both been really busy since we got back from Cali, and I haven't had time to get the post together that I want to documenting our trip. Rich's mom and stepdad, brother and soon to be sister-in-law are all coming in today to spend the weekend with us. I promise to return next week with lots of action and pic-packed posts!

I have been reading all of your wonderful blogs, and I apologize for being a lurker instead of commenter the last 2 weeks. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Oh, we're planning on running our first full marathon in November, the Outer Banks Marathon. Official training begins Monday. Exciting!!

There Mom, I updated my blog just for you :)

Foto Friday and We Leave For Napa!

Yesterday was our 4 year anniversary, here are a few pics from July 16, 2005. Blogger is being wierd, so for now I'll leave it with pre-wedding pics (so none of Rich and I together).

We are busy packing and getting ready for our trip. Our plane leaves in a few hours, so we just have to drop the dogs off and head to the airport. Have a great weekend everyone!

Sprint Tri Training = Half Marathon Taper

WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO We leave for California on Friday and I couldn't be more excited. To be honest, I keep forgeting that there will be 13.1 miles of running involved because I'm so focused on the fellowship and vino. For the sprint-tri, we are using a Hal Higdon plan which seems pretty basic and easy..right up our alley for our first one. We have swam (swum?) both in the ocean and in the pool, and although we're both still pretty slow, we're at least getting a feel for it and getting comfy in the water. Our bikes are hybrid style, not sleek road bikes so we'll never be super fast on them but they will get us there and that's what matters to me at this point. My last several runs have been awful. I guess because they've been midday when it's really hot?? It's a little discouraging, but I'm just going to take this half as it comes and have fun with it. If I run the whole way and feel great, wonderful! If I have to walk, that's wonderful too. You know why? Because there is WINE AT THE END!

This will be my 4th half, and the only one I haven't really trained hard for, picked a goal time, tried to PR, etc and so it will be a new experience.

Work and life have been busy the last few days, but I'll be posting some wedding pics later in the week because Thursday is our 4th anniversary!

Don't leave your dogs/cats/kids/birds/whatever in hot cars

They will die! I've read about several cases of people leaving dogs (2 of them were police dogs!) in their cars and the dogs died from the heat.

Just a friendly reminder that it gets super hot super fast, even in the shade with the windows cracked. Just don't do it!!

Photo Thursday (yeah, so I'm a day early...)

This is the view down at my legs on the walk into work this morning. Rain + high tide = much flooding in downtown Charleston. Thankfully I had my rain boots on so I hiked up the dress and was good to go. It was mid-calf on me for at least a block.

This guy decided to drive through the water, his wake made some waves that almost came over the top of my boots...and they almost reach my knees!

I'll be back tomorrow with an update on week 1 of triathlon training.

Wordless Wednesday (none of my words at least)

Signed up for a Sprint-Tri

It's only 6 weeks away, and neither of us have ever swam much more than from one end of a pool to the other, usually with a detour by the swim-up bar for cocktails, so it should be interesting.

We will be heading to the beach in the morning for a 30 minute swim attempt, followed by 30 minutes of biking. So this is a dumb question, but what do you do? Just wade out til it's deep enough and start swimming in one direction, then turn around and swim back? I also have no idea what to wear. Do I need a hair cap thingy? goggles? Then do you bike in the same clothes you swam in, or like swim in a bathing suit then put shorts on to bike? I'm clueless about all things tri, except now we have a $110 charge to the Visa that says I better get un-clueless in the next 6 weeks.

Wish us luck haha:)

Photo Friday

Where I blog: sitting at the counter with my little helpers.

Dickson hanging out with Reggie the Roomba, and Fiona trying to get in the shot.

Tanner, our huge chocolate bear.

Hope you all have a great 4th of July weekend!

12 Miler down...and some work bitterness

Well as we all know, my half marathon training has been sporadic at best the last month or two. I really really wanted to knock out a 12 before Napa on July 19th, as much for my mental confidence as for the physical training benefit. I decided yesterday was the day, and I set my alarm for 5am to try to get it done before it got hot. The high yesterday was 94 and it was pretty humid. The first 7 miles were flat, then the last 5 were the Cooper River Bridge with its steep hills. By the time I got to the start of the bridge, I was super hot and tired, so I took pretty frequent walk breaks on the uphill portions. I finished up a ultra-pokey 12 miles in 2:22 (slower than my last half marathon in March) but at least I finished! My fuel belt was completely empty by the end, which is unusual for me, and I definitely had the cold-chill feeling. Oh and as I was looking at the very visible salt coating covering my entire body once the sweat dried, I decided to rub and scrub it in as a sort of makeshift salt scrub. Kinda gross, but also kinda cool:)

I came home, drank a Hammer Recoverite and took about a 15 minute ice bath, which sounded great when I was running but in reality I hate them just as much in the summer as in the winter. But they do work wonders for the legs! It was my first time to try the Recoverite but I really liked it. At that point, mixing some powder with water was about all I had the energy to make or consume, and the citrus flavor was not bad at all. While I was ice bathing, Rich made me a delish strawberry vanilla protein smoothie. I typically tend not to eat enough immediately after a long run, and then I spend the rest of the day feeling sluggish and yucky, no matter how much I eat later. After Rich got home at 9 last night, we walked the dogs which I think helped loosen my legs up. I slept in my Recovery Socks and then walked the dogs another mile each (so about 3 miles for me) this morning, and my legs feel great today.

On a side note, today is my Monday..meaning I work today and the next 5 days. Oh wait, actually it's the next 5 evenings, 2:30-11:00. I can't even log onto Facebook because all the "Woohoo 3 day weekend" "It's almost Friday" "I love the 4th of July" messages are just depressing me. Yes, I'm bitter. I shouldn't be, but I am. Working weekends and holidays and evenings sucks. I wonder how many alcohol poisonings and fireworks injuries we will have at the hospital over the next 5 days...at least it should be interesting.