I know I've been a little M.I.A lately, but hang on to your butts, friends! I'm about to make up for it now with so much blogging goodness, you're not even going to hardly know what to do with yourselves ;P
First of all, my dear DadE was here last week for an extended weekend. It was GLORIOUS! Sometimes, a gal still needs her dad to swoop in and take care of her. My dad is the best because he loves champagne as much as I do (maybe it runs in the family?) He's also very handy for: walking dogs, killing cockroaches, doing dishes, buying lunch, and just generally being awesome! This picture pretty much sums up the 5 days he was here:
Man, did we have a good time! Although, naturally, with DadE around, there was much food and wine and happiness and not so much putting one foot in front of the other for long, long times. Oh well. I'm not even mad about it.
It wasn't all fun and games, though. We went to WORK! Let me explain: my lanai is unquestionably my favorite room in the house, even though it's not even a room. It's always perfect out there. There's twinkle lights, and ocean breezes and happiness. However, there's a damn fence around the whole thing that is just a little too high. When Billy and I first moved in, we went to every single store on this rock that might sell patio furniture, trying to find a table & chairs that would be tall enough to see over the fence so we could perch up there and see the ocean. We got the tallest one we could find and it's the perfect height...if you like looking at a white fence :/ There are so many stupid things like that in this house. I know it had to be designed by a man, what with the lack of common sense and everything.
Anyway, you ladies out there already know this to be true, but:
An Extra 6" Makes All the Difference
Dad listened to my lament about the stupid too tall fence and I could almost see the cogs in his head turning. Friday I came home from work, and he said "We're going to Home Depot" and so we did!
By Saturday afternoon, this is what was going on (along with some imbibing for some reason...)
Voila! The happiest place on earth just got 6" happier! Now, when I sit out there I can see the ocean and not just hear it. It's glorious. Plus, we didn't just make a platform, we made a memory. Cheesey? Yes. True? Also yes. We had such a stupid fun time! Now, for those of you haven't come out to visit me yet, you have another reason. You simply MUST see the new and improved lanai ;)
20 Easy Miles
I couldn't make this up! I ran 20 miles yesterday morning which is as far as I will have to run until Marathon Day shows up 2 months and 1 day from today. I was very, VERY nervous beforehand, which is probably what made it so good. My dear Teresa even called me the night before and, like a good coach, asked me "Have you been hydrating? What did you have for dinner? Did you clip your toenails? Are you sure?" I have good friends! So, not only did I prepare BEFORE the run, but I was well-stocked with margarita flavored Cliff Shot Bloks, those energy jelly beans, and H2O in my hip runner's fanny pack. At 10 miles I didn't know it was possible to feel so good at 10 miles. Remember back here when 10 miles almost killed me? Here I am, 4 months later and I doubled that and felt better at the end! AMAZING what a body can do. I must be doing something right in this whole training process. There's always ups and downs, of course, but when it all comes together like it did yesterday, it makes it soooo worth it!
Total time ran clocked in at 3:28:08. Have you ever been to a concert or something and had to be on your feet for 3 1/2 hours? Being on your feet for that long does something funny to your body, but that's why you need to do it BEFORE marathon day. There was nothing completely fast about that time, I believe it's over a 10 minute mile pace but I'm not concerned for a couple of reasons: 1)I felt so stinking good at the end, and that only means that if I could have run faster if I needed to and 2) I didn't need to because it's called Long, Slow Distance for that very reason. The purpose is just to do it! And I did it. And I feel so self-righteous and proud of myself - I can't help it! Go me ;)
The Weigh-In
Holding strong at 133.0. The stupid scale hasn't budged in 3 weeks. I'm sure not running last weekend and eating with wild abandon and drinking bottles and bottles of wine with dad probably evened out all the running I did this week. Bah humbug. I have a month and some change before hubs comes home, and I would love to lose 3 more lbs. Just 3 more stupid pounds. We'll see how it goes, because this coming weekend, there's going to be another hitch in training regime:
MARGARITAVILLE!!!
On Thursday, I'm flying into San Francisco to meet up with my MuM, my Auntie H, Kelly, Kari, and a plethora of other fabulous women for a weekend of wine tasting, giggling, and of course, a JIMMY BUFFETT concert!!! The plane ticket and conert ticket was a gift from my MuM for my birthday all the way back in May, so I've been looking forward to this for 5 months!
I really love my family, in case you all out there haven't noticed yet. I love that I can have my dad out here and he doesn't stress me out and we can build platforms for my lanai and drink wine. And I love how I'm just as excited about Estrogenfest: Part Deux with my MuM as I was for the orginal Estrogenfest with my best lady friends. Like I said, it must run in the family ;)
Have a lovely week, all of you! Till we meet again...xoxoxoxo
PS - I almost forgot! THANK YOU, Christopher Columbus for getting lost, ending up on this continent, and being a jerk about it so that nearly 600 years later, I can have a day off. I'll make sure to have a glass today for you, my exploring friend!
