Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon RECAP

Yesterday was my first Half Marathon. If you recall, I decided one day to train for my first 5K before my 40th birthday. Running was NOT something I ever did. EVER. At the time, I had a 3 and 6 year old. I worked full time. I was just getting into the swing of things juggling those boys and my life. I never, ever thought that one day I would be running a 1/2 marathon.

Well, this year, I started running with Black Girls Run, my running group. These women were so much fun. They were encouraging. They pushed me to keep going further. I went from 1 mile to 3 miles. From 3 miles to 5 miles. One day, I ran 7. Then, they signed me up for my first ten mile race. I conquered the Broad Street Run. I started training with a crew of ladies who were training for their first half marathons. Team 13.1 is what we started calling ourselves after the number of miles in the race.

Every morning at 5am, we trained hard. Some mornings, we ran hills. Some mornings we did boot camp. Some mornings, we did speed intervals. Once a week, we ran a long run. We did this for about 12 weeks. Finally, two weeks ago, one of the ladies asked me if I was running the 1/2 marathon with them. To tell the truth, I was scared that I couldn’t do it. It just sounded so crazy. In my head….I DON’T RUN HALF MARATHONS.

Finally, I realized the deadline had passed for me to register without paying a gazillion dollars. One of the teammates, pulled out of the event due to injury and I ended up with her race bib. Suddenly, I felt like the universe was conspiring to propel me to run this race. I drank the Kool Aid and got ready.

Saturday night, my stomach was killing me. I was so anxious. I think I got four hours of sleep.

I woke up on Sunday morning and started getting ready. When I got there, I found my training crew. We were all anxious but we had run the distance once before. We hugged each other and encouraged each other.

PRE-RACE laughs with my training crew….

During the race, we talked and felt good. We passed miles and enjoyed the race waving to friends and family all the way. We saw an elderly gentleman running in a POW-MIA shirt while holding an American flag on a long flagpole. It brought tears to my eyes. Around mile 7, one of my co-workers who had been reclaiming his health ran up and hugged me. He was running his first race too. We high fived and joked that we would see each other on the finish line.

Our running team had cheerleaders at every mile marker. They were awesome. They had signs and cheered for us by name. They were so uplifting. I cruised into mile ten feeling good.

THE BEST PEP SQUAD EVER!

Right around mile 10-all smiles

At mile 11 1/2, my body started to hit the wall. My breathing was not labored thanks to all of my swimming and endurance training. For an asthmatic, I used to worry about gasping for air but I have great breath control now. However, my legs were starting to feel it. My body started talking to me.

My knees said “Look here. Didn’t we have a talk not too long ago? Didn’t I tell you to sit your old azz down and rest? Why do you have me out here doing this?”

All of a sudden, I looked over and saw one of our coaches. This woman. WHEW. She was not running today but she knew that on training runs, we had all started to struggle at the end. She positioned herself right at that mile 11.5 marker and what did she yell out to us? “There you guys are. I have been waiting specifically for you.” Then she ran into the street and started yelling (with love) MOVE IT LADIES, THIS IS THE HOMESTRETCH. YOU ARE 2 MILES AWAY. LET”S GO! She then started to run next to us and push us. I told her I had to go slow at this point cause my legs were shot. She told me to “stop making excuses and keep moving.” LOL…gotta love it.

She ran the remaining two miles in with us before turning back to go run in with more of our team. BGR had almost 60 runners in the race. Amazing. She helped run in most of us. What an angel.

CROSSING THE FINISH LINE WITH OUR COACH NEXT TO US (she is on the right with no race bib on)

What was great was that we stayed next to each other for the entire race. We all finished within seconds of each other. Here we are right after we all received our post race medals. Minutes after finishing.

POST RACE PHOTO

I really did it. It is now starting to sink in.

It was a great experience. On a personal note, I also got to compete and train for all these weeks with my sorority sisters. We love each other and pushed, coached and held each other up. We all purchased special shirts to commemorate our 13.1 miles. To find them in pink and green was perfect. We showed up to our post race brunch rocking our AKA pearls and our shirts.

TEAM AKA/TEAM 13.1

Yup, Thirteen point freaking one…your girl is a RUNNER.

Only me.

Our widowed neighbor is away on a church retreat. Mr. 1969, is the best neighbor on the block (unless you are the Wu Tang house) so, of course, he volunteered to take care/feed her pets while she is away.

This morning, as I sit here and work on my computer banging out a report, Mr. 1969 calls me from his office “Babe, can you go feed the pets next door? I forgot.” They have a cat and a guinea pig. I can’t remember if I shared this but the last time I went over to feed her cat earlier in the summer, the cat escaped and I had to wait 30 minutes to track down and touch an animal that causes me to sneeze profusely.

I grabbed her keys and took the boys with me and headed over there. She has an alarm system on the house and a small key fob for it that looks like a remote control for a car. One of the buttons looks like a man going through a door. I clicked on it and entered the house.

One minute later, I hear the alarm saying INTRUDER, FRONT DOOR MOTION DETECTED and then the ear shattering alarm kicks in. *sigh* The phone rings and I pick it up and calmly let them know that I am here to feed the pets. They, of course, can’t track the neighbor down. They managed to shut off the alarm but had to call the police out to verify my story.

Two handsome members of Philly’s Finest rolled up, verified my photo id, checked the house and then started laughing at me. I told them it was Mr. 1969′s fault. They agreed and wrote out a nice little “faux” citation for me to give him.

How has YOUR morning been?

Kryptonite

Mr. 1969 has started a rigorous new job. He is in hardcore training for a year, at the end of which, he will own his own business.  I fully support him in this endeavor and know that the long term outlook for our family could be huge. I never blogged about it but the last year has been a challenging one for our family. My hubby was laid off from his job last year. While we weren’t affected too hard financially due to a good package and unemployment, it was a hard adjustment for him personally. I didn’t share it on the blog because some family stuff is simply private and I didn’t need my hubby’s business out on Front Street as he dealt with that transition.

I can’t lie, I was so spoiled having him home for that time. Our house was immaculate, he dropped and picked up the boys every day so I could work, train, etc. All I did was cook dinner. With him undertaking this new endeavor, my life of leisure has come to a screeching halt. SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH.

Mr. 1969 has to now leave the house by 7:30am. The boys have to be at school at 8am. I have also started the Triathlon training schedule. Most mornings, I am up at 4:45 and at the gym by 5-5:30am. I swim laps or run or bike for a good hour then roll back in at 6:30am. I have to come back, get the boys dressed and make breakfast and then drop them to school. After which, I come home and get ready to work.

While I do work from home, I usually have appointments and sales calls daily. I now have to be back by 4pm to pick up the boys, do home work, make dinner, etc. Mr. 1969 works till 6pm most evenings and till 8pm two days a week.

Right now, I am doing EVERYTHING. While I am not complaining because I am so excited for my husband to have this opportunity and I will support him 100% in this endeavor so he can focus on what he needs to do to be successful…..can I just share that Superwoman is TIRED?

Yesterday was the 2nd day of my training calendar. The first day I swam 1,o00 yards and biked for 30 minutes. Yesterday, I swam 1,250 yds and then got out of the pool and ran 3 miles. I worked all day. I came home and whipped up a Valentine’s dinner for the men. I also baked red velvet cupcakes. When I finally stopped moving, I laid in my bed and stared at the ceiling and realized I was completely and utterly exhausted.

I know that two weeks from now, I will be used to the flow. You know me, I will just make it work. I have been spoiled for months by a great hubby who did everything for our family. Getting back into Superwoman mode is taking longer than I thought.

As I type this, I am about to get ready to head into the city for a lunch appointment and a meeting with my boss. *sigh*

I take on too much. Usually it’s because I want to. This time, I have to.  This is what sacrifice is all about. I am focused on the long term goals for my family and when my hubby comes home late and still has homework, I know that it’s worth it to have his back and keep our house running smoothly.

I just needed to tell someone….I really am tired.

There, I said it. Off to work. Somebody get my cape!

Gone Fishing!

I am officially on vacation until 2012. Somehow, I am still waking up at the crack of dawn, still working out early, still running errands like a crazy woman. There is no leisure time in the 1969 household.

In the last three days, I have baked mini cheesecakes for the Tali’s Holiday events at school. I have been doing my VERY LAST MINUTE holiday shopping. I finally got my cards in the mail. I did the Holiday meal shopping (Prime Rib Roast, Grilled Salmon, Roasted Asparagus and Potatoes). Whew, vacation is wearing a sister out!

I have managed to swim twice this week and both times, I completed 41 laps of a 25 meter pool.That’s 1,025 meters. I need to be able to swim 860 meters for my race. Of course I stop and take some breaks but I am at least now able to swim that distance pretty consistently. I am the dolphin!

I also finally got a chance to run with Black Girls Run, the Philadelphia Chapter. What a great group of ladies! We ran at the track near my house and did 3.45 miles yesterday. The women were just like me, moms, working women and they all were trying to get their fitness together. If anyone lives in Philly and wants to start running, I highly recommend you join the Facebook page and get started. The ladies range from walkers to runners and no runner is left behind.

I am about to run back out to look for stocking stuffers to complete my Santa’s TO DO LIST. I plan on spending tomorrow ice skating with my boys and taking in some of the holiday sites downtown.

Have a safe and Happy Holiday everyone….from our home to yours!

 

Losing the battle……

Yesterday, since we were snow/iced inside, we spent the afternoon watching lots of football. During the game, the commercial for Ed.die M.ur.phy’s new movie came on. The promo showed a scene where he was talking about lesbians. The line was pretty funny and Mr. 1969 and I laughed out loud.This led to Tali 1 asking me,

“Mommy, what’s a lesbian?”

I, of course, had been waiting for one of these moments all of my life. I was prepared and answered with the quickness: “ASK DADDY!”

Mr. 1969 replied without a beat “Well, Tali 1, you were born in April so your zodiac sign is ARIES, Tali 2 was born in May, his zodiac sign is TAURUS. Mommy was born in July and her zodiac sign is CANCER. A lesbian is one of those signs.”

All I could do was stare at him with my mouth hanging open. Tali 1 said “OK” and promptly went back to whatever he was doing as Mr. 1969 looked all smug and pleased with himself.

I need reinforcements people. Send reinforcements.

 

The Point of it All….

When people ask me how it is that I haven’t killed and dumped the body have stayed married for so long, I always feel like they are looking at Mr. 1969 and I through rose colored glasses. I will tell anyone that marriage is far from easy. Living with one person, forever, is like being in jail with a roommate. You either need to figure out how to make your peace with the situation fast or you will both need to sleep with one eye open at all times.

We have many differences. He is neat. I am *cough*comfortable cleaning things on my own schedule *cough*. He is hyper and cannot sit still for one minute. I relish nothing more than peace and quiet, a good tv show, fuzzy pajamas and my couch. He loves to visit every single family member, even ones that are like 3rd cousins once removed. I like my immediate family, my cousins around the Holidays and uh, yeah….that’s it. He is nice, always happy and uber friendly. He always looks at the positive side of every situation. I can be evil.

They say opposites attract, and they do. However, you may not want to live with your opposite for life. Having this relationship takes work. I have to pause and stop myself from saying the first evil thing that springs to mind. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail miserably. I have to try and not be so selfish at times. I have to stop being upset about the things he does wrong and try to focus on what he does right.

It requires maturity. There, I said it. Healthy, adult relationships require maturity. Not just from one party…from both people involved. I fully believe that as long as both parties are committed to having a healthy relationship, things can work. The minute one side starts to waiver, you need to start working on fixing the problems. Issues fester when not addressed and you cannot always address things by arguing.

Too many folks are in love with the “idea” of getting married. You need to spend time getting to know someone. Be honest with yourself. Are you both good at working through problems together? When bad times hit, do you see yourself sticking with this person? There are always huge signs when you’re dating. Don’t ignore the signs.

A woman that always looks good, tight outfits, nice shoes and bags will want to keep living her life the same way when she is married. There will be shopping!  As a man, you need to recognize and understand that. She won’t magically stop shopping now that she is your wife. The key is, will she also learn to curb some of her spending to invest in your future together. Will she put your needs above hers?

A man that likes to hang out with his boys will still want to do so after he is married. You met him that way, it will not go away. The key is, is he willing to cancel those plans with the boys if there is something you want to do with him? Does he put your needs first? If he won’t do that now, what makes you think he will do it when he’s married?

I think people rush into relationships out of fear, lonliness and peer pressure. There is nothing wrong with moving slow, dating and understanding what your needs are before you can expect anyone else to understand them. Self love leads to true love.

Date responsibly my friends!

 

 

Stuff that only happens to me

I pulled up to get gas before driving to go meet my friend to see Harry Potter (and yes, I saw it without kids…GEEKS UNITE!) As I was filling the tank, a young man about 19 or so comes up to me and asks me for change to catch the bus. Now I live right near a University so I felt bad for the kid. He was well dressed and looked harmless so I gave him a dollar.

Instead of walking away, he then said “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Uh, no but I do have a husband.”

The older gentleman filling his truck up next to me bust out laughing. Then he said

“Boy, if she needed a boyfriend, do you think she would want one that had to borrow money from her for the damn bus. You better go sit down somewhere son!”

As the boy walked away, the old man shaked his head and laughed. “These young boys need a good azz whooping.”

I laughed all the way to Harry Potter!

Tri update

How is training going? Glad you asked! With about 6 weeks to go, it’s going as well as can be expected.

SWIMMING

I have been swimming twice a week. No more trainer, I learned all of my stroking techniques and now I am working on building up my endurance for the 1/2 mile. I think *gasp* I will be in decent shape for the race. The key is to learn different strokes so when you are swimming and you get tired of freestyle, you can switch to another stroke with ease and keep moving. The key is to never stop swimming. I was extremely anxious and I still am. I think it will be the toughest part of the race but I will feel so good when I complete it. Last week, I swam with my friend The Good Dr, who is training with me. We hadn’t done any swimming together since the very beginning when we first started. Back then, I would swim 1/2 the length of the pool and stop. We swam 20 laps last weekend and she was amazed at my progress. Now, I am still no Michael Phelps but I am sure I won’t be the worst swimmer out there.

BIKING

I was doing spin class and biking on a stationary bike for much of the winter. I have started the outside riding now. 15 miles should take me about 45 minutes or less. Trust me, when I first got on a bike, it was not a pretty sight. I haven’t been on a bike since I was about 12. When the bike would pick up speed, I would get panicked like I was going to crash. Riding in traffic gives me heart palpitations. However, on open road, I am straight. I actually enjoy the bike. Now, running after biking? *cough* That’s another story.

RUNNING

While I have never run more than 5 miles. Last week, I ran two 5Ks. I ran one on Friday morning up Kelly Drive. I ran on Sunday in the Susan Komen Race for the Cure. I am not worried about the run portion. I am confident I can run a 5K and if I get super exhausted, I can walk. My goal is to not have to walk at the end. I seriously want to complete it but as long as I cross that finish line, that’s all that matters.

On a positive note, I have lost 12 pounds (which is exactly what I needed to lose) and I am down a complete dress size. I feel strong. I feel like I can do or try anything. I know that I am open to new challenges and that’s so important to me as I get older. At the 5K on Sunday, my boys were at the finish line with a sign that said “Go Mommy Go”. That’s exactly what I intend to keep doing.

My future’s not so bright…

A few weeks ago, I shared with you how Mr. 1969 took down the Wu Tang Christmas lights right? A week ago, he couldn’t sleep so knowing I had to drive to Princeton the following morning, he decided to go out and fill up my gas tank (yes, he can be sweet when he wants to be) and since he was out, he decided to hit up the Mac machine and get some cash, then swing by the library and drop Tali 2′s book in the bin.

When I woke up in the morning, I got in the car and started driving to New Jersey for an early morning sales call. I glanced in the back seat and noticed a Razor scooter. Tali 2 has a scooter but I knew it was in the garage. I called Mr. 1969 and he told me that when he went to drop off the library book, there was a scooter in the parking lot. Since it was midnight and it seemed unclaimed, he brought it home for Tali 1.

Flash forward to yesterday, I found out that he found an unclaimed case of water at the tennis courts when the boys went to play tennis and brought it home.

Why do I have a vision of him being 65 and my entire garage is filled with stuff he found? I told him he has hoarding tendencies and he denied it.

I swear he is going to be one of those old men….

“Babe, look what I found, someone threw away a perfectly good suit and I brought it home. I can wear it to church on Sunday”

“I found a nice velvet chair, only missing one leg, it will look great in the living room!”

“Honey, did you say you needed some new shoes? What size do you wear?”

Pray for me people. Pray for me.

Happy ValentiNe’s Day Contest

Sending you all lots of love today! We were writing out Valentine’s Day notes for the boys’ classmates last night. We came across a special name.

I will send a Starbucks gift card to the person that can correctly pronounce this name. (Write it out phonetically for how you would pronounce it).

Ready?

                                                          Juwayriya