Google is NOT Your Friend...

...don't let him fool you. Those bright colors saying, "GOOGLE" enticing you to type what you're ailments or something you're curious about. It's like he's holding a piece of chocolate in front of you, come on Lyssie....you can do it, just type in that information and I'll tell you EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about it. Me? I ALWAYS fall for his little trick.

For instance, last year all the commercials were on tv about Yaz, the birth control I was on, so I start researching it and within 10 minutes I think I'm clinically depressed and all my ovaries are rotted out because of Yaz. FYI-upon discussing this with an actual health care provider, Yaz is only bad if you don't stay hydrated and don't get enough potassium.

But the down and dirty truth is, I'm breaking up with Google. I'm a worrier to begin with so why would/should I continue to put myself in situations that I know will cause me to freak out. So after my last round of Googling on Wednesday night which resulted in deep down real crocodile tears that even made my stomach so upset that I felt like I was going to puke, I decided that I need to call it off with Google. I think this will make everyone happier in my life. So I'm sorry Google, but this charade can't continue, I hope you understand....it's really not you, it's me...I hope we can still be friends.

The Hairs on my Chinny Chin Chin...

...yes ladies (and Slam Dunk), I am finally accepting the fact that I have hairs on my chinny chin chin. I mean this suckers are so long (and luckily mostly blonde except for the dark black ones I've picked at over the years) that I can stroke my chin hairs like Abe Lincoln while in a deep discussion or contemplating to be or not to be. I watched my mom Nair her chin for YEARS so that's why I've been putting this off so long. So any of you out there have this same issue? What do you suggest a weekly (or every other or however often) wax at the beauty shop? Nair? Self wax (if so, what kind and where do you get it)? Bleach? Shave it? Can you picture Matt and I shaving together in the mirror?

UGH! I hate getting old!!! As though shaving my legs wasn't enough of a hassle, now I have to think about shaving my chin too!

Another Race this Weekend...

...the Delta Gamma Race for Sight 5K is this weekend. Last year, I ran it in 37.43. My goal this year is to run it in under 35. I really need to hit my goal because I need my confidence back. Ever since the 10K, I feel as though I've lost my running mojo. I know it's just a mental thing but so far since Saturday, the furthest I've ran is 2 miles. Last week, I'd look at 6 miles and be like ain't no thang, this week, I am doing everything I can to get to 2 miles. If I don't hit my goal this weekend, it's going to be a long month of training for the half. Wish me luck!

Welcome Baby Nick!!!

...last Friday, I went to visit Angie and new baby Nick! Angie is doing great to have just had such a handsome little boy. Here is the proud momma and her son.
Here's Nick lovin' his new swing
Big sis Daisy got some love from me too.
Here I am feeding Nick while he's looking at me saying, "I'm not so sure about you lady..."
Thanks for having me over guys! Angie, he's gorgeous!!! I hope I get to see you two soon.

PS
Happy birthday to the world's best big sister! LOVE YOU SHA!

Girls' Night Out...

...so Saturday night, I met up with Sarah for dinner at The Fountain on Locust. I cannot rave enough about this place!!! Delicious food, the world's smallest sundae for dessert and good company-what could be better!!! I've been dying to go to this place for MONTHS after Angie and her dinner club went there in the fall but, of course, we don't eat out if its not in St. Charles County so I had to wait for a "city" friend to venture out there. I had the St. Louis salad on a baguette toasted with garlic and cheese and their homemade potato chips-YUM!!! Then I ordered the world's smallest sundae with the after dinner mint per Sarah's request-omg-the best three bites of ice cream-ever!!!

We then headed over to Jazz at the Bistro to hear Erin Bode play. She was awesome and who knew that her husband was in the band as well. I also indulged there in a Thin Mintini-watch out, I was getting crazy!!! We also sat with another couple that were big dog lovers, I hope when we "grow up" that Matt and I have a relationship like they do. So thanks Sarah for a fun and much needed girls night out!

The Mighty 10K...

...this morning I ran the St. Charles Community College 10K. I went all alone by luckily when I pulled up I saw my good friend Angie so I was able to hang out with her and keep the nerves calmed before the race started. Here's how I stored my key.
Here I am after the race holding my free Smoothie King smoothie. Sorry, I'm crouching, this was a timer where the camera was set on the hood of my car. Quickly after this picture I sped off to work. Okay, so let's get into this whole race thing. WARNING: This is not a good post and it is not a pity post, it's a what's really going through that crazy mind of mine post. I'd looked at the race results from last year and saw that the slowest person finished in 1 hour and 17 minutes. So crap, I'm stressing all week that I'm going to finish last because my goal time was 1 hour and 15 minutes. I start off doing well, rocking out to my workout playlist that my sister created me, I glance behind me and notice that I am pretty close to the end of the pack but there's still quite a few people back there.

Mile 1 goes by, then mile 2 then somewhere between 2-4 (I totally didn't see the sign for mile 3), I realize there's only 3 people behind me. I glance at my I-Touch and I'm off pace, WAY off pace. I start to panic and get really down on myself, I'm near tears as I think to myself, "How am I ever going to finish a half marathon?!?" And let me tell you from the waist up I felt good, I was breathing fine, wasn't cramping it was my damn heavy legs of stone. My shins were hurting, my hips pulling, I felt like I could walk faster than my legs were shuffling along. I told myself DO.NOT.CRY. or there is no way you will ever finish. I get out of the school we ran through and noticed that the race crew is picking up all the cones behind us-how embarrassing.

I turn back to the main road and realize I'm not going nearly as fast as I can. A couple ladies were right in front of me so I tried to keep pace with them which really helped then they took off and I lost them. I just kept thinking hurry up and finish, maybe the time won't be as bad as you think it is. After mile 4, some lady passed me who seemed like she would be in good shape so I tried to stay fairly close to her. All of 4 and about half of 5 she was ahead of me then I realized I was getting closer. Suddenly during mile 5, I found my pace and was running...easy! I was able to catch this lady then she'd stop to walk then speed up to me again then stop to walk then speed up to me again. She tried talking to me but my I-Touch was up super loud so I just smiled and nodded then took off. I crossed the finishing line feeling strong but very disappointed when the clock said 1:19:30 (1 hour 19 minutes 30 seconds). Not only did I miss my goal of 1.15 but that's almost a 13 minute mile pace not to mention I finished 4th to last. Angie was there cheering me on at the finish line so after a quick thanks to her and grabbing my free smoothie, I was off to work.

At work, I was very quiet and didn't say much. My "team" and I talked about the race so they tried to discourage others from asking about it because they knew I was upset. I didn't think to much about it but when I got in the car to drive home, I broke down and lost it. Yes, I finished and it was my first 10K ever. I thought it would be a good idea to get something longer than a 5K under my belt before the half-marathon. And let me tell you, physically the race wasn't that hard it was a pure mental thing. But I felt like such a failure!!! Way off pace, fourth to last, I feel like I let everyone down...myself, my co-workers who are always asking me about my workouts and encouraging me, my blog friends who think I'm doing great, my running friends at Daily Mile...pause while I wipe away some tears...

There is just so much going on in my life right now and I thought running would be a good, healthy outlet but now I just feel like this adds to the list of my disappointments and failures. But like my dad reminded me this morning, I told him once that, "I'm not a quitter" so I'll keep trucking on and training for the half on June 5. Hopefully it'll go better than today.

Mmm, I Heart PB...

...my co-workers know me well...very well. I heart peanut butter...a lot, I'm sure if you've followed/read my blog for awhile, you would know this. I mean hello people-I give it up for LENT!?! So long story short, I heart PB...a whole heck of a lot, got it?

My old boss stopped by around Christmas time to tell me about this PB he'd found. It's all natural by Peanut Butter & Company. It comes in Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate and I think a cinnamon swirl or something along those lines (if it doesn't say chocolate, then I don't care!). The only probably is, we can only find it at Kroger out in Troy!!! So in January, we were out visiting Matt's family and I stopped and got me a couple jars-yummo!!! Then the other day at work, Paula (who is prego so go over and tell her congrats!) brought me some of this yummy peanut butter! Yummy! Thank you Paula, it went great with my pretzels.
Okay, so my boss tells me about Inside Out Peanut Butter Cups. This recipe was super easy, a little messy and the only disappointing thing is that it only made 6. You can use mini cupcake pans (which I don't have) and make more though. When I took the crust out of the oven, it reminded me of a peanut butter cookie then the filling is like a melted Reese's...OMG! They are in the fridge right now harding but I taste the filling and it's to die for!!! Lucky Angie, I'm bringing her some tomorrow if Matt stays out of them like I told him to! Happy Friday everyone!

Lamb: Book Review by Me...

...okay, so I've totally slacked off on reading. My prime reading time is deer season so I started this book when we went to Florida and couldn't put it down then I got home and forgot all about it. I FINALLY finished Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore last night. Don't get me wrong, just because it took me 4 months to finish it doesn't mean it's not a good book, it just means I'm easily distracted. So here goes, my thoughts without giving the book away:

*Wow! Not at ALL what I expected. I am not a highly religious person so I would really like to hear the thoughts from someone that is or more so than I, which is probably anyone. I mean I thought it was a good book and I think it would be a little more clear if I had a better understanding of some of the things that went on (I found myself during our trip asking my mom a lot of questions) but I'm not sure how they would take it...like would they consider it to be sacrilegious?

*Can we just say there is a lot of fornication going on in this book? WOW!

*Mary Magdalene not how I pictured her from the Bible. She kind of reminds of woman power-Mary rocks!

*I really came to love Levi throughout the book. I mean he's an awesome friend to Joshua AKA Jesus and he's hilarious plus he marches to his own drum. I was really sad with Levi at the end of the book but happy in the epilogue.

So overall, good book...would definitely recommend it. I know there's some of you out there that have read it so please let me know what you thought of it.

Words on Wednesday...

...I don't have much to blog about so here goes nothing...

*Today is my last full day of work this week! I can't wait to sleep in on Friday and then I'm going to see Angie and meet Nick for the first time-super excited about that.

*Running a 10K (6.2 miles) race this weekend, hope it doesn't rain, hope I don't come in last either. My goal time is 1 hour 15 minutes, the slowest person that did the race last year was 1.17-yikes! I'd better be booking it!

*A co-worker sent me this recipe for Inside Out Peanut Butter Cups. After hearing what she says and reading the recipe, I soooo cannot wait to make them.

*Matt had to work late last night so I decided to order some Papa John's. I love that stuff but man oh man does it make me THIRSTY! All day today I'll be guzzling water to recover from that stuff.

*My good friend Beth just got engaged a couple weeks ago and called to tell me she's getting married in Florida in October. Sweet! Road trip!!! Matt probably won't get to go but it'll be nice to have a girls weekend, or I'll just be a third wheel to some other couple. I'm so happy for Beth and I love beach weddings! It'll be awesome.

*Got my car back...$3,000-ouch to my pocketbook but I took it well, probably because I put it on my credit card. Now when I have to take the money out of my savings to pay off my credit card THEN I'll break down and cry.

Happy Wednesday everyone!!!

Your Bra Size Please...

...Friday night I'm driving to dinner when my phone rings. It's my mother-in-law so I answer. Here's our convo:

Me: Hi Star!
Star: Hey, are you alone?
Me: (heart sinks) Yeah...why?
Star: Like are you alone where you can tell me your bra size?

WHAT!?! She was helping this lady who loved to shop and had some really nice bras with tags still on them. She seemed a bit disappointed when I told her my bra size (how embarrassing!) as she said, "OH, these are DD..." Not sure how to take that...thanks for thinking I'm bigger than I am? I really wanted to say, "Oh no but I'm sure your son would enjoy that!" I refrained. Is it odd that this really didn't phase me?

Twice as Nice...

...and double the trouble! Our friends, Jeff and Josie, had their twin girls on Thursday, April 15 (tax day!!!). Miss Sophie Marie arrived first and her little sister Ryleigh Jo arrived about 8-10 minutes later. Everyone is doing great!

We headed up on Saturday to visit and when we arrived around 5:45ish with McDonald's in hand (their request), the Cards game was in the 11th inning. I kept thinking we'll leave when the game is over, well...at 8pm and bottom of the 16th we decided it was time to go (FYI Cards lost in the 20th inning 2-1).

Here is the proud momma and daddy with their girls (surprisingly the girls look nothing alike), picture is missing big brothers Cody and Nick. Yes, that means FOUR children and yes, both these two are under 30!!!
Here I am with the girls, Ryleigh on my right and Sophie on my left. Jeff asked after about 20 minutes if he needed to take one of them, I said nah, at this age they don't move too much so I was soaking in my baby time. A few minutes later though, my arm did go numb and Matt rescued me by taking Sophie.

Matt with both the girls. Suprisingly, he wasn't a freak this time like the past couple times we went to visit babies in the hospital. I think maybe because the girls' dad is one of his good friends so he figured if Jeff's doing it, I sure can!

They head home on Monday so we'll be checking in on them and helping out however we can. I know we're planning on taking the boys a couple nights just to get them out of their hair. Twins are so exciting but I'm sure they'll be a lot of work! Congrats Jeff, Josie, Cody and Nick and welcome Sophie and Ryleigh!!!

Random Friday...

...surprisingly, I haven't done a random post in awhile so here goes!

*Finishing up week 5 of my half training, things are getting easier and hardier at the same time. After one official month of training, the aches and pains are finally setting in. My shins have been killing me this week, thankfully only when I run and my right hip/right buttocks is KILLING me!!! Ugh...I've stretched and stretched and stretched and no relief. I'm going to try a foam roller later today.

*Monday night, I had an awesome 7 mile run (and then all the above aches and pains started). Matt and I went to Fleet Feet to buy me some new running shoes. You know for running to be a sport that requires just you moving your legs and running, all the stuff you can buy for it really adds up! So far I've only spent money on the new shoes and race fees. Anyways, since Matt has to be as cool as me and I set the bar high, he *had* to get a new pair of shoes too-you know for that one 5K a year he runs in. *insert eye roll* I don't know about your husbands but my husband likes to think he knows EVERYTHING about ANYTHING and in actuality, he doesn't. The lady at the store was really nice and didn't call him out on anything even when he told her he currently ran in Sketchers (FYI-he doesn't and I had to explain to him what Sketchers were), he wanted to run the 5K in 20 minutes (umm...yeah right!) and then listen to me maybe freak out when he spelled my name wrong (really? almost two years of marriage, going on 4 years together and you STILL can't spell my name right!?!). Anyways, it made for a good office story the next day. Adie and I have been calling them Matt's princess shoes.

*Wednesday, I got in my car to go to work and my car wouldn't reverse. Yeah...turns out it's something in my transmission so now my car's in the shop for a week and I'm having to foot a $3,000 car bill. Really? If it's not one thing with our cars, it's another! Matt told me that night that he was proud of me for not freaking out about it. OH! And Linda (best man's mom and our good friend) is letting me borrow her Sebring convertible while my car is in the shop! SWEET!!! Top down ladies and I'm cruisin' the town! Funny, Matt and I carpooled for over a month and the one week my car's in the shop, we both work this weekend, opposite hours and since his truck is a manual, carpooling/sharing isn't an option.

*Wednesday after we dropped my car off, I missed my walking date with Sarah so I decided to go for a run around the neighborhood (bad run from the bad day not to mention hips and shins screaming at me). I was sitting in the backyard pulling on my shoes talking to Matt while both dogs were in my face asking if they could go with me. I look down at Shadow's belly and freak out, "AH!!! There's a giant tick on him!!!" Shad and I walk down to the garden and he rolls on his back for us to look at it, I look again, "Oops! Sorry, it's just his nipple." My bad!

Okay, hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll be working all weekend so feel free to drop me an email or leave me a comment to keep me entertained. Tonight is a hot date with my sis and niece...H and I have to sneak off to make her Mother's Day gift! If we finish it, I'll post about it next week. Bye!

Statistics & Numbers...

...some numbers to think about.

*Since January 1, I've lost 24 pounds. I haven't lost a single pound in the past four weeks even though my workouts have really increased.

*Since January 1, I've worked out 51 days out of 104.

*Since March 15, I've ran/walked 80+ miles.

*Since March 15, I've powered over 150 televisions.

*Since March 15, I've burned over 50 doughnuts (really? That's it!?!).

*In less than 10 days, I'll be running in my first ever 10k (6.2 miles). My goal is to finish in 1 hour and 15 minutes.

*In about 15 days, I'll be running in a 5k. My goal is to finish in under 35 minutes.

*In about 50 days, I'll be running in my first ever half-marathon. My goal is to finish.

Giveaways-Thoughts and Opinions...

...there's a great giveaway over here for the Nicholas Sparks book "The Last Song." So jump over and sign up to win. Now that I've informed you of a giveaway, I want to know your thoughts and opinions on them.

*Have you done a giveaway? If so, for what and why?

*Have you ever won a giveaway? If so, how many people were entered and what did you win?

I really wanted to do a giveaway for my 313th (my birthday) post but I missed it, oh well but I'm thinking about doing one at some point. For what is a good reason? A certain # of posts? A milestone in my life? How do you pick a winner? What's the deal with the random generator thing? What is a good giveaway? Please leave me any thoughts or feedback you have on giveaways.

Okay, here's my whine fest-boohoo! I never win anything and I have to work ALL weekend, SO not looking forward to it. Okay, glad I got that off my chest.

I'm A Real Runner Now...

...yep, check that out! I'm a proud momma of my huge, gigantic blister because it's a sign that I'm a real runner (and that I need better socks!!!). I know you're all jealous but you really shouldn't be. I already subjected you to this gross nasty picture (sorry for the chipped toenail polish) so I won't tell you about the self surgery I performed on it!

The Great Golf Outing...

...so the Saturday before Easter, my dad, Matt and I went to play golf. Matt has never played, I haven't played since before Matt...3-4 years ago and my dad hadn't played since the fall. Let's just say after the horrible first hole, we all agreed to NOT keep score.

Here is Mattie and I at the golf course, don't we look like professionals? HA! We fooled you!!!

Here is me trying to focus, I found out that the more pissed off I was, the better I did.
Here's my daddy teeing off. We shared a cart and it was nice to have some time with him.
Sometimes the boys took too long teeing off so I played with the camera, here's a pretty pic I took.
Mattie teeing off.
Okay, so Randall, do NOT tell this story to Nick-I'll be soooo embarassed! So as we're getting started, my dad and I are explaining to Matt about the different irons. Keep in mind, it's been a few years since I played! I pull out my S club and I say, "Dad, when would I use my S club?" He looks at it and answers, "When you're in the sand." Me,"Oh, I thought it was my starter club or something." They gave me so much trouble about that for the next 9 holes it wasn't even funny! It was a good time but made me realize how horribly bad I'm going to embarrass myself at the golf tournament in May! Oh well, it's for a good cause, right?

I Won! I'm a Dutchess...

...well, my friends, March Madness is over. After many people read up on teams, followed them during their season and made very precise, analytical guesses...I WON THE EMPLOYEE BRACKET!!! All of my choices were made off of where I would prefer to be...Vegas or Utah, Florida or Washington. Also, all funny names were picked like Gonzaga and last but not least for the past 5 or so years that I've been doing a bracket, I always pick Duke to go all the way because I know the one year that I don't, it will be the year they win. So to prove that I won, here are pictures of the results. The girls really did well at my work.

Then we did Employees vs Members and I lost by one point to a member.

So how did your teams fair? I wish I'd put money on my bracket but I didn't. I'm pretty stoked that I won if you can't tell. Everyone have a great weekend!!!

The Half...

...that's how it's referred to: "The Half." It's the one word I dread and yet I get excited about at the same time. I started training on March 15, the first two weeks I...ROCKED...IT!!! Hard core rocked it, I enjoyed the running, I was getting great times, I was really getting the hang of this whole running thing. Last Monday and Tuesday, I felt like things were going good...getting all my miles in, staying within my pace, just felt awesome and felt like I was doing good.

Then Wednesday I signed up "The Half," I committed to it. I paid my money and I announced it to the world. Both Friday, Saturday and Monday nothing but crappy runs!!! Like last Friday, I was supposed to run 6 miles but for the life of me, I couldn't go further than 5.7 miles...really Alyssa? You couldn't suck it up for .3 miles? Nope, I couldn't...I hit the stop button and had to get off the treadmill.

On Monday, some old lady was on my favorite treadmill that I like because it's pretty basic to use and right in front of Ellen. So I decide to use the updated new fancy treadmill but I couldn't get it started then all of the sudden it kicked on at 10 MPH!?! WAY OVER MY SPEED LIMIT!!! So I said screw it, got on one of the old school ones and sucked it up to no Ellen. I get to 17 minutes and all the sudden the water I'd been drinking to rehydrate myself kicked it and I was running like a little kid to the bathroom. I hopped back on to get a total of two miles in, which was what was on the schedule for Tuesday so I just switched the days.

Tuesday I got all six miles in barely under my 12 minute/mile pace I'm shooting for. Wednesday I was supposed to be meet Sarah to run but it was threatening storms all day so I got in a quick 1.5 at lunch then luckily the ran held off so I ran a mile to the park to meet her, walked 3.5 with her then walk/ran the mile back home. Today is another six miles and then tomorrow is finally a rest day. I'm definately going to kick it into high gear and rock out the miles today.

So now that I've had really crappy runs since I've signed up, I'm totally freaking out about "The Half." A seasoned half-runner, who I've never met-gotta love the support from the Internet and fellow runners, volunteered to pace me and run the entire half with me. Now I really don't want to let her down or myself! Hopefully this is just a mental block and I'll get over it but as I said, I'm totally freaking out now!

Good 'Ole CHS...

...ever since my dad moved out of our childhood house, I've been asking for my high school yearbooks. Almost three years later and we haven't found them. Saturday we walk into his house and he's like, "Here, Lyss, these are your yearbooks." I get all excited, "You found them???" Umm....no, he went to my high school and bought them for me. Aww....thanks Daddy!!! Too bad he bought an extra one at a hefty fee for a year that I didn't go to the school. Jess, Beth, Kristal-that's the white one below.
The one bummer thing is that these yearbooks have a very heavy price tag. Really?!? I mean they're just taking up space, wouldn't you think they'd just want to get them out of the school? Not to mention, anyone that knows me would know that I bought these the first day that they were on sale for about $20 LESS than what he paid today for them. So my poor daddy had to buy these things TWICE for me-thanks Daddy! You're the best!!!

Random Yearbook Trivia:
1. The purple book pictured above says "Principal's Office."
2. My senior year, I was voted, "Most Likely To Say Hi" which hubs finds hilarious these days.
3. I was the senior spotlight athlete for the girls soccer team even though I only played in 8 games my senior year since I tore my ACL.

So please leave a comment with your random yearbook trivia!!!

The Great Egg Dying Party...

...Saturday evening, we had a big egg dying party at my dad's house. Since we're the "babies" we played with the camera while my sister, dad and grandma set up the dye stuff. Sometimes it's better to have less "cooks in the kitchen."
You should be careful when the newspaper covering the table gets wet because you might end up with random words on your arm like "EGG."
This was my creative attempt at an egg.
In our family, it's customary to always make the watermelon egg.
This is what happens when you use white crayon to decorate your egg. Dad writes on it then puts it back in the carton, then Sha writes on it and dyes it. It then comes up a big jumbled mess. Ta-da! All of our handiwork and breakfast for Sunday morning.
Egg dying is serious business in our family, look at those faces.
But when it's all done, we're happy egg dyers!!!

Hope the Easter bunny left some fun eggs for you too!

Our Easter Lunch...

...I hope everyone had a GREAT Easter!!! We had a busy, fun-filled weekend down in the Cape followed by a quick meal with hubs fam late Sunday night. Our Easter Sunday started off with a great church service with my mom and David then I did a little basking in the sun while trying to finish the book I started in Florida (yes back in DECEMBER!!!)

We decided to eat lunch outside, the sun felt great, the scenery was beautiful and, oh yeah, the doggies joined us too.
Surprise! No ham for us! My mom prepared some fresh shrimp she brought back from Florida and being the wonderful momma that she is, she prepared me my own course of Chicken Devan since I don't eat shrimp.
Shadow was guarding the ground, helping us clean up anything that might have dropped on the ground.
Emma took the other side of the table for scrap clean up.
And here's me, yes I chopped my hair off. I may not like shrimp but I'm a good sport and help everyone peel.
Hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter spent with good family, friends and good food!

Happy Birthday to the One I Love...

...happy birthday Mattie! Today you're the big 28!!! Who knows where we're headed but as long as we're together, that's all that matters. I love you for lots of reasons...

I love you because of those baby blues and because you're a deep, pensive thinker...

I love(d) those long curly locks and that cute cute smile!

I love how you take fish off the hook for me and don't chase me around with the gross, wet fish (I think you know better than to do that)...

I love you because you love Twinkies!!! And get excited over the small stuff...

Pretty low key birthday this year since we're headed to Cape first thing tomorrow morning for Easter. Dinner at the Ameristar Buffet, he's been begging to go FOREVER!!! Hope everyone has a great Easter!!!

Against ALL of Your Advice...

...so against all of your advice that told me to stick to 5Ks, I signed up a half-marathon. The Hospital Hill half at that!!! The race is going to be June 5 in Kansas City. Not only will I being running in the half marathon, which is 13.1 miles for those that don't know, but I will also get to see Candace's baby!!! As of right now, a couple other of my sorority sisters are running this event with me.

The course has a three and a half hour time limit, which equals 16 minute miles. I've been training for three weeks (well three weeks specifically for this event and working out before that). My longest run so far has been 6 miles which I completed in 70 minutes and 37 seconds, so I'm right on pace for 12 minute miles. If I run 13.1 miles at 12 minutes then I should be done in 2 hours and 37 minutes but throw in the hills and the continuous running and I think I'll be right at 3.5 hours. My main goal is to finish, my push it goal is to finish in under three hours. Sixtyfive days from today is the big race...

You might be asking, Alyssa-what the h were you thinking??? Well, if you can't tell by some of my posts, there's a lot of stuff going on in my life right now which is really, really hard to comprehend and deal with. I just wanted something to take my mind off that and to have a goal that I can actually reach on my own. Like it's my own will pushing me through, I don't have to depend on anyone else, if I fail it's my fault...that sort of thing. Plus I get kind of excited to think that when it's all said and done, I'll be able to say, "I completed a half marathon!!!" Not too many people can say that, well actually where I work at a lot of people can but you get the idea.

Here is the training plan that I'm *kinda* following. I'm doing all the same distance but trying to do more running than walking. This is also only an 8 week program but I started 12 weeks out, so I'm repeating the first four weeks twice. I'm excited because starting today, my friend Sarah and I are picking up our "walking dates" which I'll be using for my cross training day. I'm also logging all my workouts at http://www.dailymile.com/ It's been very helpful and the people on there are great. It's kind of like Facebook for working out.

So there you have it...I've lost my mind and signed up for a half marathon. I'll post on my training throughout.