Music City Marathon

Music City Marathon and Half Marathon

April 29, 2011

My First Half Marathon is DONE!!! I can not believe it, I stopped training 2 weeks into training. I got pneumonia, or the flu, (they never really gave me a clear diagnoses). I never really started training again since it took me 4 weeks from start to finish to feel better. It was a rough go. However I was still determined to do the half marathon. (And so was Paul as he paid for registration at that point).

Here's Paul and I before we started. This was at sunrise.

I was pretty good up till the 6 mile point, and I had to go pee really bad. Anyone who runs can probably tell you how uncomfortable it is when you have to pee. Once I stopped at the "rest stop" I never got my mojo back. Around mile 8 my right foot got a cramp. Pretty bad. By mile 10 I was favoring it and then my left knee started to act up. THrough all of this, my (God bless him) motivating husband was right next to me pushing me to keep going. "He kept saying annoying things like "It will al be worth it", and "you can do this", and the real zinger, "it's better than being home with the kids". Around mile 11, he said, "If you finish, there's a prize for a month's worth of free childcare", it made me laugh and run a little faster at the same time. :)

The feeling of crossing the finish line was an overwhelming surge of emotions. I could not believe I did it. When I put that medal around my neck I can't tell you how filled with pride I was. It was amazing. My finish time was 3:00:20.

Now let me finish by telling you I AM NOT A RUNNER. In fact I haven't been "running" since the race. But I want to start again. Since the news about moving, I haven't used any of my free time on me or fitness, but I will try and start soon. I honestly can't believe I did this. I heard about the race and thought, I want to do that, and before I knew it, I was at the start line thinking "what have I gotten myself into?!"

In the end, it was all worth it, I did do it, and it was great to spend that time with my man (sans kids). So it looks like he was right.
The only thing I'm waiting on is my coupon for childcare...hmm...


 

It's Official!!

...no I'm not pregnant.
But it is life changing...
We're moving a little earlier than expected!

Our original PCS (permanent change of station) day was around the May 2012 time, but they've made some changes with the recruiting station and our move date has moved up because of it. Paul has a check in date of Sept 30th at Camp Pendleton in SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA!!!!! Woot Woot!!!!!

I can not tell you how excited I am for this move!!! Moving sucks, yes, but we were wanting Camp Pendleton for our next duty station anyway and now it's just earlier than expected!!!
We are going to try and have a major garage sale, sell the house and visit with family in MI within the next 4 months and hope to have enough time to enjoy a road trip of our drive to CA.
The best part of this is Paul's brother got the same duty station!!! We'll be by family out there and
my new SIL will be introduced to military lifestyle in Southern Cali!
I know a lot of people who have been there, are there and have just gotten there so I look forward to sharing the experience with them!!!
Tennessee has been good to us the short time we've been here, and I'll definitely miss some great friends I've made, but I can't say I'll miss the weather. And as someone who grew up in MI, I'm very much looking forward to sunny days the majority of the year!
Hannah's already running around saying "me and mommy are going to be California Girls!" And Ethan was VERY excited to learn about Lego Land right outside base!


Keep us in your thoughts and prayers over the next few months, it'll be a busy, stressful time, but we know it will be worth it in the end.

(I pray an earthquake doesn't hit the day after we get there.)

Finisher!!!!

Give it up for Paul! Today he did an amazing thing! Paul ran the Murfreesboro Half Marathon! A.K.A. "The Middle Half" (did you see what they did there??!!) :)
Now I know the athletes out there are about to say, "13.1 miles, pffft! I could do that in my sleep!" BUT considering I don't run unless someone is chasing me, this is a huge accomplishment in my book!
The race started at 7am, and Paul handed me the paper with all the stop points of good places to take pictures, where to park, and the finish line location...
Without fail, our children slept in, the ONE day I needed to get out the door at a specific time. ugh.
Nevertheless, we made it to the race and got to the 13th mile hoping we hadn't already missed his big finish! We cheered some others on, yelled "Go State!" to some guy with a sparty shirt on and clapped for lots of runners! (When I say "we", I mean "me", my children just stared and looked at me like I was crazy.)
Then we saw him! Woot Woot!!! You can see by this grin that 13.1 was NOTHING for him! HAHAHAHA!

We got to see him run his last .1 miles and it was pretty exciting to hear all the motivating cheers inside the stadium!

How exhilarating!!!!

I couldn't be more proud of him! Let me just say, he did NOT have time to train for this and still pulled off a run time, 2:14:02. AND (in case the boss reads this) he advertised for the Marines the whole way, so he's a true recruiter! How about a round of applause!?

Flooding

Ok, when I said interesting, I guess I said a mouthful. I had no idea that the day would come to this.
Currently I am watching a Mayor's press conference about the flooding here in Middle TN. We have had over 12 inches of rain in some areas and there is one confirmed drowning. The current is picking up buildings and floating them away and then destroying them due to the amount of pressure built up by the water.
For those who know the area, 1-24 and Bell Rd (Hickory Hollow area) was COMPLETELY flooded. This is about 20 minutes north west from us.

Please keep all the folks in our area in your prayers. We've had 3 tornado warnings and several watches. They still expect MORE rain (up to 5 inches) for tonight and tomorrow.

So far, our neighborhood is still above water, but it could all change over night.

Ok, and the news just now issued a new tornado watch. 

Please keep us in your thoughts.

Thank you!

The Votes have been tallied...

...And...

WE'RE GOING TO HOLLYWOOD NASHVILLE BABY!!!!!!!

(mom I tried to call you to get the news to you first, but you weren't home...)

I can not believe it!  I woke up today to the sweet ringtone on my cell phone, and when I answered, my Darling husband gave me the fabulous news!  These kind of orders aren't set in stone (as most of you know) but they do hold firmer than regular orders since the board approved and selected Paul to be the OSO!

So now there are a few things that need to be done before our departure in APRIL!!! GAH! Can you believe it?!?! I am dumbfounded that I finally know "The Word"!!!

I will now be subscribing to the Nashville local newspapers, to get a sense of the "good cities" so we can start looking for HOUSES!!! OMG!!! The goodness floweth over!!!

And we need to look for houses for our respective family members that will be moving there as soon as we do...right? That is still happening right??? We're starting our own cult, right?? LOL!!

AGH! I am just so thrilled to finally have some idea where we are going!! Get me outta here!!!

So in the words of many "American Idols" (edited in favor of my post)

"I'm going to Nashville, Baby!!!!"

note** Please do not think I am that naive to actually put all my faith in Marine Corps orders as I know and have witnessed with friends that they sometimes change more than diapers on a newborn. I am just happy, so just be happy for me, ok?? :)