Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Waiting, waiting, waiting...
House update: We have a verbal acceptance from the bank and are just waiting on signatures to make it official. Then, and only then, can we start the lovely process of escrow. If all goes well, we should have keys by Easter. We're praying!
Friday, February 13, 2009
House Hunting Chapter 2
The first house countered our offer way over the asking price so we are onto bigger (2,054 square feet) and better (forclosed houses as opposed to short sales) things. So, this is what we are trying to get now. I love it. Our offer went in this morning and now the house shows as "pending". But we only want it if this is what the Lord wants for us. Tons of pictures!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
26.2
It's over. Eleven months of training. Non-runner to marathoner. It's crazy how it just stops. Heather said it reminder her of the night before a wedding when she and Amy saw me the night before the run. It totally does feel like that. You do all this planning and prep, it consumes your thoughts and your schedule for months, and after a few hours of the event, it suddenly comes to a halt. Only, when I got married, I went to Hawaii for a week with Nick. This time, I hobbled around for 2 1/2 days and got to ride in a car for 7 hours.
We drove down Friday morning to Irvine to stay with my brother, Trevor, and his wife, Amber. But we detoured a little to have lunch at Wings To Go in Bakersfield. This is the only one in California and it's the best wings place ever. This was my payment to Nick for supporting me through all of this- he ran the 1/2 marathon that weekend with me too. We also had lunch there on the way back home! Tori brought down her black nail polish for me to wear. I read in Runner's World about a girl who painted her nails black before running marathons because it made her feel hard core. I'm totally hard core- but the more you have to say you're hard core, the less hard core you become. Friday was the night I needed to get a good night's sleep so we all (my parents and little sisters came down too) retired early for the night.
Saturday started out great. Nick got up with the boys and let me sleep in. We went down to Huntington Beach to the Expo so we could pick up our shirts and numbers. Jeremy, Lollie, and their girls met us down at the beach so we could play a little. Adam loved it but Sam tried to pick up his feet whenever they touched the sand! Trevor was in charge of the carb load and made such great baked ziti that I had 3 helpings. I laid out everything I could possibly need for the morning out on the table and checked it through four times, set the alarm, and went to bed.
Sunday, February 1, 2009. Marathon day! I wake up before my alarm. I feel good. Refreshed. I'm ready. It's dark outside but it's probably 5am- time to wake up. I check the clock...12:32am. Oh.
I wake up before the alarm goes off. Check the clock before I think too hard. 4:56am. I love it when that happens- right before the alarm. I feel good. Ready to go. I put Glide on every part of my body that might ever even slightly touch another part. Oatmeal. Aleve. Socks, shoes, etc. We're good to go.
Then we hit the traffic. I guess I didn't really think about the impact 18,000 runners and their friends would have at six in the morning. I start to get a little nervous as the traffic cops direct us away from where we want to go. I tell Nick that I'm getting out of the car. I have utterly no concern for anyone else- all I know is that I start my race in 17 minutes. I'm not the only one who's running today. Nick and Amber are doing the half marathon, Jeremy, Tori, and Alicia are running a 5k, and Adam and Bella are running in the one mile kids run. Nick, Tori, Alicia, and I hop out and Amber, bless her, ventures off to find a parking spot.
It's beautiful weather. A little cold but it's 6:49...in the morning...at the beach. The guy on the mic up at the start line asks for a shout out for all those doing their first marathon. Woo-hoo! I cheer with the rest. Then he asks who's doing their last marathon. My lone voice yells out from the crowd. Everyone else just doesn't want to admit it. This is hard. And time-consuming. And really not very good for you body. And it hurts afterwards.
6:50am. The Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA" song blasts through the speakers as they let the sub 4 hour runners go. And three minutes later, it's our turn. I've been training on a run/walk program where I walk for a minute out of every mile. Eleven minutes in, I start to walk for my minute, and a spectator looks at me and asks, "What happened?" I smile and let him know it's all part of my plan. The first 8 miles were great. I was keeping up with the 4:45 pacer and somehow lost him in the park. Dozens of kids were lining the park paths, cheering us on. It was so great. They were full of energy that we were running out of. Just past mile marker 7, a lady was cheering on the side "You're doing great! Almost there!" Are you kidding?? We have 19 miles to go!!
Somewhere around mile 9, the half marathoners merged with us. It totally killed my morale because the batch that came through then were running at 8 minutes per mile. I've been running comfortably for over an hour and a half and all the sudden, hundreds of people are passing me! It might have actually been good, though, because it made me run a little faster to try to keep up. I see Nick running up the hill as I'm running down and yell at the top of my lungs to him. I'm pretty loud but that was a pretty big hill and he was focused.
We turn back onto the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and head north. There were so many switchbacks on this course. I see people running south and know that's where I will be in about an hour. I feel like I'm going the wrong way! I finally make it to the turn-around and on my way back down, I search for Nick in the oncoming runners. He was so excited for me. So encouraging. He ran over and said, "There's my girl!" and then he tried to catch up. I passed my 13 mile marker and said, "Praise the Lord! I'm halfway through." I'm slow so he did catch up and we were able to run together for about 3 miles. That was great. I'm so blessed with him.
Nick left to finish the half and I still had 9 miles to go. This part of the course was beautiful. A paved path right on the beach. I played games with myself to catch a certain person up ahead or run at least to the flag and then I could take a walk break. Up to this point, I thought I was going to break 5 hours. I've been very consistent in my training. 12 minute miles. I expected to finish sometime between 5:20 and 5:30. My hope started to dwindle. This is hard. "Eye of the Tiger" came onto my ipod for the third time as I rounded the turn-around. I ran the last four or five miles near a 80 year old man. I mostly ran a little behind him because his shirt had Isaiah 40:31 on it.
"Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
Thanks, I needed that. I saw my dad, camera in hand, at mile 25. So close! I ran down to their pier, and back up onto the PCH. I rounded the corner and saw thousands of people lining the street. My bib had my name on it so people cheered for me by name. I saw my husband, my kids, my family, my friends, and complete strangers cheering me on to the end. I crossed the finish line at 5:07. What a beautiful day! I felt great. Heather and Amy, who drove all the way down to support me for the weekend, hugged me even when I was sweaty and smelly. They were so genuinely happy and proud. I love my people. Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with these people.
Back to the house for the Superbowl party where I indulged in every snack that I wanted. Hey, my ipod told me that I burned over 3,600 calories that day! Thank you to everyone who has put up with my running stories. In a very small corner, in the back of my mind, I think that I would like to try again to break 5 hours but I'm trying to ignore that corner. Maybe a triathalon, though!
We drove down Friday morning to Irvine to stay with my brother, Trevor, and his wife, Amber. But we detoured a little to have lunch at Wings To Go in Bakersfield. This is the only one in California and it's the best wings place ever. This was my payment to Nick for supporting me through all of this- he ran the 1/2 marathon that weekend with me too. We also had lunch there on the way back home! Tori brought down her black nail polish for me to wear. I read in Runner's World about a girl who painted her nails black before running marathons because it made her feel hard core. I'm totally hard core- but the more you have to say you're hard core, the less hard core you become. Friday was the night I needed to get a good night's sleep so we all (my parents and little sisters came down too) retired early for the night.
Saturday started out great. Nick got up with the boys and let me sleep in. We went down to Huntington Beach to the Expo so we could pick up our shirts and numbers. Jeremy, Lollie, and their girls met us down at the beach so we could play a little. Adam loved it but Sam tried to pick up his feet whenever they touched the sand! Trevor was in charge of the carb load and made such great baked ziti that I had 3 helpings. I laid out everything I could possibly need for the morning out on the table and checked it through four times, set the alarm, and went to bed.
Sunday, February 1, 2009. Marathon day! I wake up before my alarm. I feel good. Refreshed. I'm ready. It's dark outside but it's probably 5am- time to wake up. I check the clock...12:32am. Oh.
I wake up before the alarm goes off. Check the clock before I think too hard. 4:56am. I love it when that happens- right before the alarm. I feel good. Ready to go. I put Glide on every part of my body that might ever even slightly touch another part. Oatmeal. Aleve. Socks, shoes, etc. We're good to go.
Then we hit the traffic. I guess I didn't really think about the impact 18,000 runners and their friends would have at six in the morning. I start to get a little nervous as the traffic cops direct us away from where we want to go. I tell Nick that I'm getting out of the car. I have utterly no concern for anyone else- all I know is that I start my race in 17 minutes. I'm not the only one who's running today. Nick and Amber are doing the half marathon, Jeremy, Tori, and Alicia are running a 5k, and Adam and Bella are running in the one mile kids run. Nick, Tori, Alicia, and I hop out and Amber, bless her, ventures off to find a parking spot.
It's beautiful weather. A little cold but it's 6:49...in the morning...at the beach. The guy on the mic up at the start line asks for a shout out for all those doing their first marathon. Woo-hoo! I cheer with the rest. Then he asks who's doing their last marathon. My lone voice yells out from the crowd. Everyone else just doesn't want to admit it. This is hard. And time-consuming. And really not very good for you body. And it hurts afterwards.
6:50am. The Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA" song blasts through the speakers as they let the sub 4 hour runners go. And three minutes later, it's our turn. I've been training on a run/walk program where I walk for a minute out of every mile. Eleven minutes in, I start to walk for my minute, and a spectator looks at me and asks, "What happened?" I smile and let him know it's all part of my plan. The first 8 miles were great. I was keeping up with the 4:45 pacer and somehow lost him in the park. Dozens of kids were lining the park paths, cheering us on. It was so great. They were full of energy that we were running out of. Just past mile marker 7, a lady was cheering on the side "You're doing great! Almost there!" Are you kidding?? We have 19 miles to go!!
Somewhere around mile 9, the half marathoners merged with us. It totally killed my morale because the batch that came through then were running at 8 minutes per mile. I've been running comfortably for over an hour and a half and all the sudden, hundreds of people are passing me! It might have actually been good, though, because it made me run a little faster to try to keep up. I see Nick running up the hill as I'm running down and yell at the top of my lungs to him. I'm pretty loud but that was a pretty big hill and he was focused.
We turn back onto the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and head north. There were so many switchbacks on this course. I see people running south and know that's where I will be in about an hour. I feel like I'm going the wrong way! I finally make it to the turn-around and on my way back down, I search for Nick in the oncoming runners. He was so excited for me. So encouraging. He ran over and said, "There's my girl!" and then he tried to catch up. I passed my 13 mile marker and said, "Praise the Lord! I'm halfway through." I'm slow so he did catch up and we were able to run together for about 3 miles. That was great. I'm so blessed with him.
Nick left to finish the half and I still had 9 miles to go. This part of the course was beautiful. A paved path right on the beach. I played games with myself to catch a certain person up ahead or run at least to the flag and then I could take a walk break. Up to this point, I thought I was going to break 5 hours. I've been very consistent in my training. 12 minute miles. I expected to finish sometime between 5:20 and 5:30. My hope started to dwindle. This is hard. "Eye of the Tiger" came onto my ipod for the third time as I rounded the turn-around. I ran the last four or five miles near a 80 year old man. I mostly ran a little behind him because his shirt had Isaiah 40:31 on it.
"Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
Thanks, I needed that. I saw my dad, camera in hand, at mile 25. So close! I ran down to their pier, and back up onto the PCH. I rounded the corner and saw thousands of people lining the street. My bib had my name on it so people cheered for me by name. I saw my husband, my kids, my family, my friends, and complete strangers cheering me on to the end. I crossed the finish line at 5:07. What a beautiful day! I felt great. Heather and Amy, who drove all the way down to support me for the weekend, hugged me even when I was sweaty and smelly. They were so genuinely happy and proud. I love my people. Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with these people.
Back to the house for the Superbowl party where I indulged in every snack that I wanted. Hey, my ipod told me that I burned over 3,600 calories that day! Thank you to everyone who has put up with my running stories. In a very small corner, in the back of my mind, I think that I would like to try again to break 5 hours but I'm trying to ignore that corner. Maybe a triathalon, though!
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