Wedding Website.

May 21st has officially become our wedding date. Yep, that was decided nearly 3 weeks ago, or maybe four...I don't know where time has gone. Between work, planning...note to self I NEVER want to be an event planner, and training I have truly been MIA. As said before, I am THEE best procrastinator EVER so I figured I would just bust out the planning. And it is nearly complete! Dj, photographer, dress, venue, shoes (well, I am on my third pair now, but this is normal right?!), flowers, fittings, tuxes, candy bar, bridesmaid dresses, veil, invitations, cake, hummer limo, jewelry, check, check, check, check....

Check out our "needs a lot of work" wedding site.

P.S....none of this stuff would be complete without my wonderful mother!!! Thanks Ma!

Happy reading!

Bikini Ski 2010

People often wonder why I blog, often, I wonder myself. And then little things remind me of why I do this....this is one reason that I stumble across the other day while lurking on Bree's blog.

What: Bikini Ski 2010

When: Feb 20-21

Where: Monarch Ski Resort

Why: To raise money for the Crohns and Colitis Foundation. $300 raised = one ski run in a bikini, $1000 = two ski runs in a bikini

How: Visit the blog pedestrian runner, and click on the donate button. Leave your name and visit the site for some fun after photos.

In this case, I want to help someone out that I have yet to meet. However, I 100% relate to what she and her family are going through. Had I never entered the blog land I would have never met the few people I know that share the same medical condition.

Here is an opportunity for you too to help someone else along this challenging process, but too, witness some fun pics along the way.

Postal Swim

To add to our training fun, or more add to the rigorous Sunday training Laura and I somehow convinced ourselves, or guilted ourselves into participating in the USMS postal swim. We awoke early. Our wave was to begin at 7am sharp. Warm ups started at 6:30...so I showed up at 6:53. I am glad I did not understand the magnitude of this nation wide competition until the day before when email strands started flying like crazy amongst the group of athletes participating. Once again, arising the controversy of speed suits and how this was the last "competition" they would be legal. Mind you I italicized participating in the beginning sentences of this post. My speedsuit is so far tucked in some drawer until my next warm weathered race, and I have months to search for it!

All I knew was that I had to swim 1 hour, as far as my little heart and arms would take me, and I would have my friend Laura at my side. There was one person per lane, 5 people in each heat, and someone taking each persons splits for every 50 meters (1 counter per person).

The swim began....7am, on the nose. By 1500 yds I was B.O.R.E.D. To myself I started talking (just like in the ironman run). I decided every 1500, I would do a 25 back stroke. So I did. And it was the perfect mix up and then I just kept swimming, la...de...dah...de...dah! The digital clocks appear at both ends of the 25 meter pool. I decided to maybe start checking my splits, it didn't really matter because my effort level was not there, in fact we still had a half an hour to go. After one split check, I threw that out the door. All I could think about was the long ride and run ahead. The swim looked and felt something like this:

(one flip)

(two flip)

(three flip...can you feel the excitement?!)

Then something happened. You can see it if you look closely. I am getting ready to flip but to my right (left in the photo) is a racer, getting ready to lap me, he came up on my feet and lit a fire under them. My body went into "flight or fight" mode. I swam a little harder, a little faster, and pulled out all my stops to prevent the pass and ended up only 25 meters behind him.

(see how ecstatic the lifeguard was to be there too!)

Post swim and pre-Krispy Kreme knock out.

(still looking delirious in all post swim events)

I am so glad we were somehow bullied into doing this swim event. It reminded me that sometimes just keeping your head in the game and have a little fire at your feet is the little "extra" that can be missing at times. Thanks friends (and Tom...he...he) for the little extra push!

PS. We were not crazy enough to do this ALL butterfly like some of our training counterparts.

Smile.

Do you ever get that super magical smile while training. Not the smile and laughter of that when running with friends. This is the solo training smile that glows around you, the one where you just find yourself truly enjoying every single moment. The happy to be alive, the happy to run, the everything feels great and I am going to smile and hope the world can see it!

The last two runs have been fantastic and I am finding myself with the grin of joy (okay, maybe not during the tempo portions). It started on the treadmill late last night (not my favorite place in the world by any means). I had not run with an ipod in ages and was having the time of my life the entire 45-ish min run. I thought maybe people were looking at me, maybe even laughing a bit, but nothing matter because it was 100% delightful to be doing what I love.

Today, the sun was out...like spring time. There was enough beauty to make anyone smile alone, but the beam I had included a magical feeling too, undescribable. The tempo run was only a glimpse of what I can remember about the fabulous run.

Of course this was not the first or second time I have felt the love of sport and was not afraid to express it, but for some reason today it hit me a little more than it ever has before.

Make your training smile contagious and enjoy every moment!