There are so many things that I wish would happen.  Or not happen.  Plus I started watching new things…this has been quite the day.

If we can make dinosaurs come back to life in Jurassic Park why can’t they bring the Jackalope back?  That was the one funny thing that America’s Funniest People gave to the Nation.  And while they are at it, why can’t they start making whole foods with less calories?  Really…I think chocolate is the first thing they should work on.
And then marshmallows and clear liquor.

I just started watching Veep on HBO tonight.  I have to say that I am fucking hooked.  Holy fuck, it is a funny fucking show.  I fucking love it.  Did I mention that they seem to say fuck an average of 30 fucking times per episode?  Well, fuck, how do you compete with a show like that?  You fucking don’t.  You just watch it.
And fucking love it.

Is it possible to be in love with an outfit?  I had one of the best shopping days ever today.  I randomly found a maxi dress that fits.  This is amazing to me because I am mega short and no one makes maxi dresses for the mega short.  I have an extra 5″ of fabric that I’ll never need or use typically.  But I found a gem in a sea of extra fabric today.  Plus, I had a brilliant idea regarding my wedding outfit.  Jeff and I are doing a lot of wedding planning and he has decided to wear shorts.  So I decided to wear shorts.  Why the hell not, right?  This is a second wedding for both of us so why shouldn’t we be comfortable?  I am seriously excited about my outfit and I cannot wait to wear it on August 18th.  Yup, August 18th.  Probably one of the hottest fucking days possible that we could have picked.  How stupid are we??  Either way, we are getting married, we picked a date, and we’re both wearing shorts.
I love second weddings.

I just bought a 30 day bag of Shakeology.  The chocolate flavor.  I really hope that I like it or else I am out more money than I spent on the outfit I am wearing for wedding #2.  Have you ever tried it?  Like it?  Did it do anything for you?  Hopefully you tell me that you lost weight because that is why I ordered it.  To make weight melt off of me.
I think it would be pretty sweet if it really did melt off, like, into a puddle on the floor.  Then I hope that the person I hate most at work would come and slip and fall into my puddle of excess weight.  Which would be like, 15 pounds at this point, that is a substantial puddle people.  Plus, there would be chunks or something, I’m sure of it.

Did you hear that Cheez-Its are now a food group?
Nope?
No?
Really?
You must have missed that story, I’m sure.
Cheez-Its are totally a food group.
At least in my house.  No wonder there wasn’t a story about this.

Nevermind, you didn’t miss a story.  Just the facts.

Any Shakeology help?

As I sit here eating Bosco Sticks and watching My 600 pound life on TLC with Carah I am constantly reminded that I have not worked out this week at all.  Not even once.  Isn’t it amazing how watching a 40 pound flap of stomach skin removed makes you want to eat a Big Mac and a chocolate shake?  And thinking about food never makes me want to work out.  I know that I should get up and MOVE, but it just isn’t happening right now.
Jeff and I leave for our vacation in only 14 days…and I am totally not bikini ready in any way.  In order to make myself feel better I like to watch people on television who are drastically heavier than I am.  Then I feel thin.  Isn’t that a horrible thing to do?  Am I a seriously mean person?  Ugh, either way, it works for me.

After taking 4 weeks off of running I finally signed myself up for another handful of races.  I was serious about that 30 while 30 thing…I think I have 10 more.  Not too bad in my opinion.

5.28 – Kip Boulis Memorial 5K
6.9 – Cherry Fest 5K
6.12 – Yogurt Run
6.16 – Happy Trails 5K
6.30 – Distance Project 5K
7.8 – Dam Trail 1/2 Marathon
7.14 – Maumee Rec 5K
8.1 – Soul to Sole 5K
8.22 – Miles for Missions 5K
8.25 – Wabash Cannonball 5K

What kinds of races do you have coming up?

*Is it horrible that I am in love with this? Like, actual love?
My love of organization is drooling over this and figuring out which room I can have this in my own house.  There is something about a bench that you can store things in that gets me all worked up.
*Weddings.  Oy.  Weddings.  I remember how anal organized I was the first time around, with this being the second time around I am already starting to pick up some of my old habits. Note to self: stop.  Now.

* Only 28 days until Jeff and I are whisked away to the Dominican Republic where we will take full advantage of everything that the all inclusive has to offer us.  Namely: snorkeling, alcohol and food.
Did you say swim up bar?

I am in Houston today but I thought I would give you some inspiration…or at least give myself some inspiration to get off my ass a bit while I am on this work trip!

When the hell did it get to be May already?  Wasn’t it just Groundhog Day, like, yesterday or something?

Are we jumping through time just a bit quick for anyone else?

Since I obviously have absolutely nothing of value to say today I wanted to let you know you can check me out on Running Rachel today!

See, I told you I have nothing to say today…this week has been too busy for words.  And to top it off I fly to Houston on Monday and Dallas on Tuesday for work.  I don’t have time to think this week let alone put sentences together that make sense in any way.

I hope you have a great weekend!

It has not been almost 2 weeks since I ran my very first marathon.  I knew that I wouldn’t feel like running for awhile after the race so I wanted to prepare to still workout as I started eating less since I wasn’t running so much with training.  Did that sentence  ake any sense at all?  I didn’t think so.  Basically I ate a lot because I was running a lot.  Now I want to eat less and still workout, just not 18 mile runs, more like 30-60 minutes per day.

Enter Jillian Michaels Body Revolution.

Yes, this is the one from the infomercial on tv.  I like all of JM’s other dvd’s so I thought this would be a natural fit.

After I could walk normally again after the marathon I started this program.
I am on week 2 and while I have not seen any significant changes to my body I feel stronger with all of the exercises she has us doing.
Every 2 weeks you get 2 new dvd’s to follow, keeping the workouts interesting.  You have 4 strength/cardio days per week and 2 days of straight cardio and 1 rest day each week.  I made Monday’s my rest day because Monday’s are always huge whores in my house, and I hate working out on whoreday.

Next week starts week 3 and I am really looking forward to seeing what this 12 week program brings me! I’ll keep you updated of any significant changes I see from use of the dvd’s.

Have you ever bought something from an infomercial?  This is my first info purchase and I am pretty happy with it so far!

Things I learned in Raleigh….well, I really didn’t get to see much of Raleigh besides the Hilton Garden Inn and the Hibernian Pub. I’m sure that Raleigh is a fabulous place but I won’t know on this trip.  And everything will be the same in Charlotte and also in Atlanta.

People always assume that business travel is swanky and a life of luxury.
It. Is. Not. Swanky.

Business travel is filled with waiting.
Waiting at the airport.
Waiting on the plane.
Waiting for your luggage.
Waiting for your cab/shuttle/rental car.
Waiting in your hotel room for your event to begin.
Waiting at your event for the people to get there.
Waiting for the event to end so you can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Waiting  until the time you can finally leave to the airport without it being obscenely early to arrive at the airport.
Waiting at the airport….

So you see how my typical day ends up going when I am on the road for work.
If I am really lucky I have time to hit the gym (if there is a gym), take a nap (if I have time) or watch horrible cable movies.

Today I opted to hit the hotel’s gym and I kinda feel like a badass for my decision.  Especially since I opted for a salad at lunch instead of a burger and fries.  Small decisions start to add up and while I have to have a pasta dish tonight at dinner for work, at least I know I made smart choices earlier!  Yeah, I’ll think of those smart choices as I scarf some dessert.  MMmmmm.

Happy Raleigh Friday!
What are you up to tonight?  Something more fun than killing time in a random hotel room?

I really don’t even know where to start with this.  I am still so overwhelmed by everything that happened on Sunday that my mind is just racing. In order to not miss anything I’ll just run through my day from the start.
I did my normal morning routine of oatmeal, playing with Bo (who now shoots lasers out of his eyes) and wondering why the hell I enjoy getting up so early for races…
 Michele and I lined up at the starting line, which was PACKED!  There were about 6,000 runners this year and only 850 of them were signed up for the full marathon so the half was the popular event it seems.
After the start of the race it took us 5 minutes to get from our starting point (in the back) to where we actually cross the starting line.  We ran through some beautiful neighborhoods…

We saw Santa Claus with what appeared to be an apostle or an angel, they were not clear on that issue…

And then we hit the park, which was beautiful with the early spring that we have had!
After we split from the half marathoners you could tell that we were in the back of the pack.  We barely saw anyone at all!
Plus, the race course started to get boring at this time, a lot of straight shots and nothing to look at really…
Once we made it through the first part of boringsville we hit the Sylvania neighborhoods, and luckily that came at a great time to give us something to look at.  You really have to condition your mind to not have anything to look at or focus on during this race I have noticed.
I got bored (surprise!) so I took a few pictures…

And found some ducks and geese who were obviously cheering us on…
 Luckily we were close to the mile 21 marker.  I had been looking forward to mile 21 for over 10 miles by this point.  Mile 21 was where my loving family was coming to cheer me on as I ran past them!
We ran over the boardwalk of death and LSD inside the park so that I could find these sweet people waiting for me…

Then the real issues began.  I said my goodbyes and realized how loving my family is then I started to have some knee issues.  My knee was hurting every time I ran on it.  Walking = good.  Running = jolting pain.  Since my knee has always dictated my pace, marathon or not, I was not going to ignore it now so I walked.  And walked.  AND walked the last 5 miles.  Took for-fucking-ever, but those 5 miles passed.  Here are the glorious views of the last 5 miles:
Yes, it was hideously boring!
But we finally made it back to the campus of UToledo and we were in the home stretch.
I ran into the Glass Bowl (football stadium) and saw my amazing support system waiting for me.
They had signs that read ‘YOU CAN DO IT NANA’, ‘YOU ARE A MARATHONER’, ‘GO AMANDA’.
And those signs really do help people, make signs for your runners!
Then the next time I looked up Jeff had gotten down on one knee and flipped his sign over.
It now read ‘WILL YOU MARRY ME’.
I stopped running and was speechless.  SPEECHLESS!
Michele yelled to me ‘FINISH THE RACE AMANDA’.  I had stopped before the tag readers and hadn’t even finished the race yet I was so preoccupied!
Of course I said YES once I crossed the finish line.
And yes, Jeff is almost the same height as me when he is on his knee and I am standing up.  He’s tall.
And here is a hideous picture of the 4 of us!  Isn’t my Jeffykins just the best!!!
 So there you have it.  My first marathon and then my surprise engagement!
My goal was to finish around 5:30 but with the walking I was forced to do I didn’t quite make it.  I didn’t even make it for the ‘sanctioned’ time limit on the course.  My information:
 Haha, but I wasn’t last!  That was my second goal and I hit that one!
I don’t know if I’ll do another marathon in the future, I really like the half marathon distance for me.  It doesn’t hurt my knee and it is still a challenge to get to the finish line…but I will never say never to another!
Happy Tuesday!