How to start a Sunday:

1) Wake up at 7:44(ish). Check Facebook. Be amazed at the people awake before you, and the fact that you naturally woke up at this time. Blame work for the fact that you naturally wake up by 8:30.
2) Go back to sleep. You know you want to.
3) Wake up at about 10:14 to your husband rifling around in the kitchen. Realize that it's after 10, and that you just had a dream about running the WDW Marathon... Excited, or nervous about not being well-prepared?
4) Laze about for a bit. Contemplate reading after blogging about your running dream.
5) Take the clothes out of the dryer.
6) Look up races, and daydream about doing them. Include your own little cheering squad in said daydreams, as you look up two marathons.
7) ... Decide to go for a run today. Three weeks ago was exhausting, putting in over 40 miles. Two weeks ago had a little bit in my new Saucony Ride 6 running shoes. Last week had next-to-nothing, and my skin recognized (and complained!) about the difference. Why not start this week off with some miles, and get used to your new shoes? Contemplate before or after work, and decide that both might work if you get your butt in gear. Feel disappointment/discouragement over the lack of a fan in in the apartment complex's workout room.
8) Check the runDisney training schedules for Dumbo and Dopey. Exhale in relief that you're ahead of schedule, and not behind.

Yes, ladies and gents, that is my morning to right now (11:25 AM CDT).
It's so amazing that a year and a half ago, I was contemplating running. Vaguely. I think I started in either late February or early March of 2012 - I don't remember which.
Back then, a 5K sounded reasonable, yet intimidating. A 10K sounded scary as hell. A 7-miler, for one of my dream races, sounded like, well, a dream... And a nightmare all the same. No way I was ready for it! A half marathon was, at best, hilarious. A marathon? Shoot me in the foot.

Now it's July 7. 23 days until I'm 23. I've done 4(?) 5Ks, a half marathon, a virtual half marathon, 4 virtual 10Ks, 2 virtual 1-milers (and still have one to go!).
Oh, and all of those virtual runs were in that exhausting week two weeks ago.

Can anybody say "Learn to balance"? That's what I'm still working on.

In the next 3 months I have... that virtual 1-miler... 5K or 10K for my own virtual run. I have another virtual race on the 25th (I forget what distance, though...). 2.3 miles for a virtual birthday run for me. A virtual 10K for Harry Potter's birthday.

Yes, you read that right. I'll say it again: A 10K for Harry Potter's birthday.
Yes, I know when that is. It's the day after mine (and 10 years before - holy geez, Harry Potter is going to be 33!! LOL)

Anyway... Not too much in August, other than THE START OF THE DUMBO DOUBLE DARE!!!!

Yes, that was important enough that it needed to be in all caps.
Be glad I didn't bold, underline, and italicize it ;)

So I have the 10K on August 31, and the half on September 1. A virtual.... Some-distance-or-other  (Nerd Herd Running's Banned Book run). The Prairie Dog Virtual Half. And I'm waiting to see what else I cram in these next few months, or in October. Hoping to add a couple more half marathons, or a marathon in there somewhere.
...
Must consult with the hubs. One of my biggest cheerleaders, he also brings me back down if I start having race mania - that is, trying to sign up for every race I possibly can.
Sometimes I'm not the practical one. Go figure (insert eye-roll).

Now, as far as that WDW Marathon dream... It was definitely one of those that first made me think I was worried about being unprepared - which I am, but I wasn't expecting to dream about it! Haven't had a running dream in a while.

I dreamed that everybody was ready to go, and I... Was still in my pajamas. At the start line. And all of my stuff was on a school bus... And the school bus had driven away. So there I am, running and looking for the school bus. I find the bus, and have to dig through giant piles to find my bag of clothes. I even found my sleeping bag! After a while I finally find my clothes... Found my running shorts, but couldn't find my sports bra or a shirt.
As I was about to give up, I found my sports bra. Nevermind shoes or a shirt, because I don't remember how those cropped up. So I run back to the start line, and my dad's waiting for me! Weirdness number one (well... Yeah...). Next weirdness, my husband is nowhere in sight! My dad is wielding my DSLR, looking super confused.
...
And the last wave has already started. Nevermind that I should've been in the second-to-last corral. I crossed the start line about 30 seconds after everyone else... And joined the group in getting lost in this little catle-like-thing that depicted the homes of different Disney characters, and you had to find your way out. Included running down stairs (or jumping down small holes, if you preferred that to the stairs).

Then I woke up. Anti-climactic, I know. But the husband was moving around in the kitchen, and it was after 10, so it was definitely time to get up.

Well, looks like it's time for yours truly to get moving. Hope everyone has a great day!

For the love of virtual racing!

I just did my first virtual race yesterday! :) I don't have the info right off hand, but 6.2 miles in `1:23:58 (that sounds about right).

I'm starting to really take an interest in virtual races, partly as a motivator and a training technique for Dumbo and for Dopey.

The hubs has been really supportive about the whole virtual race thing - which is cool, because I've signed up for a BUNCH. Motivation has been down lately, due to a combination of the heat, work, being tired, etc. etc. etc. And I was ok making excuses. Too tired, it's too late, I just don't want to, my hair will get all sweaty and gross, it's too hot...

Ok, that last one is decently acceptable, because I'm mainly a treadmill runner. I use the treadmill in our apartment complex's fitness room, and in the last, oh, 7-8 months or so, they put up signs that they don't want us to open the windows. And running on a treadmill without any sort of cross-breeze to help you keep cool is, well, not cool.
Part of me wants to ignore it, because that room gets absurdly hot and stuffy, and they don't have any fans in there (safe/healthy? I think not). The other part of me acknowledges that they put the signs up for a reason. Whether it's pest control or not wanting people forgetting the windows are open, or maybe the windows have been broken in the past, I don't know.

Although, in all actuality, this is good motivation for me to get back to the base to work out. Yeah, it involves driving to get over there and all, but at least there are fans.

We call this the contemplation stage. I'm aware I need to make a change, I'm just not quite ready to do it.
Heck, I've thought about just bringing my own fan into the fitness room, but that either involves lugging a fan back and forth (like I want to haul that up to the third floor after a long workout...) or donating a fan... There IS a Goodwill right down the road, though...

Anyway, back to virtual runs.
Like I said, I completed my first one last night! Now let's see what all I have left...

Before the end of the month I need to do the Moon Joggers Full Strawberry Moon Half Marathon, 10K, and 5K. I'll be doing the half.
I've also got the Pluto Virtual Race (think Disney's Pluto) for... Maybe a 10K, I'm undecided. The hubs will be doing the mile.
Then there's the Mickey Mouse Virtual Run, for which I'll be doing 10k the hubs will be doing 5k.
The Donald will be available in the coming week, and I'll do another 10k for that, and the hubs will be doing a 5k.

(Note: Anyone interested in the Pluto, Mickey, or Donald virtual races... the proceeds go to the ASPCA!)

Next month is the Birthday Run, which I plan to do on my birthday. 2.3 miles, for turning 23.
Immediately after (or any time during that week) is the Nerd Herd Running virtual Happy Birthday Harry Potter 5k and 10k.

I admit it, my birthday is the day before Harry Potter's.
I admit that I know this.

His birth year is also 10 years before mine.

Yes, I'm actually aware of these facts. Hence the run ☺
I missed their May the 4th (be with you) 5K, but I do want to hit the Banned Book Week 5k and Half Marathon in September... Which is right after the Prairie Dog Half Virtual... As in, they're in the same week.
Obviously I didn't plan that one out too well, but what are you gonna do about it except run?

So, that's 8 virtual races between NOW and the end of September (not including the one I did yesterday). Hopefully they'll help get me ready for Dumbo over Labor Day Weekend, and Dopey in January!

Also, speaking of Dumbo! Since I'm raising money for the A-T Children's Project, one of the things we'll be doing is putting on a virtual run! It'll be the first one from the A-T Children's Project. Stay tuned for more info! It sounds like it's going to be super fun, I'm just hoping we'll get people to sign up for it. We're having a number of options available for registration, anywhere from just wanting to donate up to anyone wanting to run more that 26.2 miles! Still working out the kinks to the price points and all. And to make sure all of the money goes to the ATCP, there will be virtual medals instead of the traditional running medals.
Hopefully we'll have the page up and ready to go soon! I'm really looking forward to it.

On that note, I think I'm going to try talking my husband into a run! Wish me luck ☺

The joys of adulthood

I've been MIA in blogging, I know. I mean, HARDCORE MIA in blogging. As in, I don't remember the last time I made a post.

There have been plenty of things that have come up that I could have posted on... But haven't. It seems I'm to that lovely point of adulthood where I work 40-50+ hours a week... And then I sleep.
DH even jokes about my routine. I get up, have a bowl of cereal, go to work, come home, sometimes take a nap, sometimes read... Go to sleep. Add a shower in there somewhere, maybe add in a run - which is lovely for someone who has a number of long-distance runs coming up in the next 7 months, I know.

Nobody tells you that growing up means working a lot and sleeping instead of having a life, do they? (yes, I just rolled my eyes)

Let's see... I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but I'm kind of lacking pictures at the moment.

• Just over a month ago (on May 4th) I graduated with my M.S. in Community Counseling :D
• On May... 12th I completed the Runway Run. I was either 5th or 6th from the end, but I did it! Other than the Princess Half Marathon, THAT was the event that got me interested in running :D 7 miles in 1:29:06... I admit to being a little miffed that it was 3 second slower than I thought, but I beat my goal of 1:30:00! :D
• On May 29th, the hubs and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary.
• Two days later my hubs celebrated his birthday. No clue why I married him so close to his birthday. Shopping for gifts was a pain! :P
• Two days later was our 6-year dating anniversary. See above, but this time no gifts.
• Aaaaaaaand, good ol' June! On the 6th I apparently was issued my PLMHP (Provisionally Licensed Mental Health Practitioner). Got it in the mail on the 7th, started supervision this week to work toward a license that DOESN'T say "provisional"!
• Lacking running motivation. I think part of it is related to the heat.
• What I lack in running motivation, I make up for doing three walks a week with my clients at work to improve physical (and hopefully mental!) health. Nothing like getting out and getting moving!
• Speaking of which (see also: reminder to self) I've got clients who often pace due to not being able to sit in a group/class for 45 minutes... I need to invite them on the walks
• Today... I realized that I have walked and run at least 280 miles this year. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay less than I'd hoped to have achieved at this point, but let's face it... I'm doing better at this than I ever have. I may not reach my Moon Jogger goal of 2,013 miles this year (and I still have 6.5 months to go!!!), but I'm doing so much better than I EVER thought I would have done as far as running, walking, and overall exercise.
• Speaking of which, my ILs and DH got me registered for the Dopey Challenge as a graduation present!! SO excited. NEVER would I have thought I'd be doing a marathon. But in 7 months time, I will be sticking it out there and trying my best - and doing it. I won't be the first to finish, but it'll be a first for me. And I'm excited.

Random blurb, that I may have mentioned before: After the Boston Marathon events, I had a friend text me to make sure I wasn't there.

Let's face it, there's no way I'm getting a BQ - at least, not any time soon, not without a whole lot more effort and all.

But, HELLO, love and support. I know she doesn't know a person has to qualify, but the feeling was "She thinks I can BQ!" Add that to the other supportive people in my life, and it's all golden.

So, being an adult is busier than I thought, considering I have pretty similar hours the ones I kept in high school - only difference is I'm in bed by 11 usually. Or at 9:30 I'm asleep on the bed until DH pokes me and tells me to get ready for bed. LOL.

Oh, the joys of being an adult.

And yes, I am surprised that it's just barely 9. I thought I was 22, not 222! haha

"If there's a prize for rotten judgment, I guess I've already won that"

Note to self: Blogging inspiration may strike, but doing it while tired probably isn't the greatest idea. Hence the title coming from a Disney song.
"I Won't Say (I'm in Love)" from Hercules, if you hadn't figured it out.

And yet I can guarantee it will happen again.
Nothing says dedication like writing a blog and then dozing off in the middle of a sentence, right?

DH and I got up today and, after seeing my dad for a little bit (me getting the usual Holiday Barbie of the year, DH getting a tie chain, my dad getting some landscaping gloves and heavy work gloves) before he and his go out of town, I felt it: the inspiration to run. The desire to run.

Granted, I felt it a little last night, but I've been so tired lately that it just wasn't gonna happen.

So I got up, got ready... Realized I hadn't eaten at ALL, despite having been up for a couple hours already (see: not good), had a bagel thin with peanut butter, digested for a little bit... And I ran :)

I don't know what it was today, but hitting that 4.01 miles on the treadmill (yes, that "dreaded" thing for some people - I rather like it)... It wasn't bad. Really. Considering my last run was 2 weeks ago and I don't think I even made it to 3 miles, and before that I think it had really been over a month... It was pretty dang good.

I keep telling myself to not be disappointed, that 13.1 will come sooner than I know it - and it will, as long as I keep working toward it.

It has come to my attention that, with the exception of a few months ago where I hit somewhere around... Honestly, I don't remember. According to my watch it was 6.79 miles, so in reality it was probably between 6.25-6.5 miles?? But basically I'm normally somewhere around 4-4.5 miles, on average.
I think maybe part of it is related to the training program I've been using, seeing as when I hit the 6+ miles I was also doing the longest run of the current program.

By the way, I don't regret these compression calf sleeves. Not for a minute. It's been a couple weeks, so I was expecting a little bit of the awful itchy leg... Nope. Not a bit. I am so psyched about these sleeves that I would love to go get another pair, but for now I'm going to see how these shape up.

Bonus for the day: The hubs will be running with me quite a bit more in the future, starting tonight :)

Cross your fingers I don't fall out in that run! (Kidding! Well, sort of)

I am... Nothing If Not Determined.

I can't even begin to say just how tired I am. Although I am taking a moment to evaluate if it's a "good" tired or a "bad" tired. Let me explain.

I ran again last night. W10D1 of the 10k Runner iPhone app. Just over five miles total (including approx. 20 minutes of walking, give or take about 2 minutes). 20 minutes of walking (plus about 2 extra minutes) and 50 minutes of running (... MINUS about 2 minutes. Oi)

I have NEVER gotten to five miles at one time when doing straight running or a run/walk combination. EVER.

Well, at least not that I'm aware of :) Sure there were the days in school where we had to do 2-3 laps before band, and doing the miles in from elementary school on up for PE and doing the mile for ROTC. Then there were the days in the months between high school and college where hitting the gym daily or nearly every day got me able to run at least a decent distance (probably half a mile to a mile) at one time.

It was a huge accomplishment, and I felt, well... Badass. Amazing. Awesome.
Horribly sweaty and smelly, exhausted, annoyed (that's another story!), and desperate for a shower, but definitely awesome.

And then I got up 4 hours later for a full day of work photographing little kids. What the heck was I thinking?? Well... That there wouldn't be an afternoon class, but there were two that we didn't know about. But the kids were good. The staff was wonderful. And I want a nap like you wouldn't believe :)

I'm contemplating running today - a short one. Or maybe using the stationary bike or going for a walk.

It's ridiculous how much this Nike+ SportWatch GPS watch can motivate me. I hope it doesn't wear off when I get used to it... Although the whole thing of a sweaty wrist... Not that attractive. LOL.

Goal: Disney Princess Half Marathon in February 2013.
I don't know if I'll be able to 13.1 miles, but I won't know until I try.

8 more days living the single life

(not like "the single life" really means anything to me. lol I haven't done that in nearly 4 years)

I feel kind of bad. I haven't posted in nearly a week. But better late than never.

Earlier this week (Monday, I believe), FH and I went and picked out a couch! It's this really pretty lighter green. I'm super excited for it to arrive on Wednesday!

It's wonderful when we find things that appeal to us both. We walked through so many couches, saw so many potential ones, a lot that we hated, and WAAAAAAY too many that were seriously overpriced. But eventually we found something.

That said, the wedding is in 8 days. Dad told me to tell the caterer to prepare for 100 people when we only had 75 on the list. Well, I decided to save him $100 (give or take) and tell them 90. Well now there are 77 on the list - but we're still doing rather well! That allows for random people form church to show up, which I'm sure will probably happen. And if not, well, our guests can...

Oh crap. I just realized that I bought a wedding cake that feeds 160. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH THE EXTRA PIECES?????

I need to call the cake place and see if it's too late to scale the number down or something... The whole thing is already paid for, though... At least everybody will be able to get 2 slices per person. But who's seriously going to eat that much?
...
I think I need to go buy some little cake slice boxes to people can take pieces with them.

Well, as I was saying before I thought about the cake problem, if there are slightly fewer than 90 people, at least everybody will be able to have extras if they so desire. And if there are more than 90, well, somebody better not be eating because they should've told me they were showing up. Ugh.

I hate to admit it, but I had to request this coming Friday off of work.
The reason: I'm exhausted.
And it's not even from wedding stuff! What's even worse is that I'll only be getting about 34-35 hours of work this week! Which makes me feel like a total chump, until I remember that I'm probably trying to recover from my near-60 or 60+ hours last week. I don't remember which... I think it was about 58.

I can't be an effective CAREGiver if I'm exhausted.
So I took Friday off. I'm going to try to sleep in, maybe paint my toenails, and take one of my aunts shopping for shoes for the wedding if she hasn't found some by the time they fly in late Friday afternoon.

I'm also going to do all I can to avoid the relatives. Nothing says stress like "Victoria, I can't BELIEVE you're getting married! Are you nervous? Excited? What's your dress look like? How are you doing your hair? I can't believe it! Are you ready? Do you have a veil? Where are you guys going on a honeymoon? I'm so happy and excited for you!"
I love my relatives, but WOW. hahahahahaha. I wouldn't trade them for the world, but recently the "are you nervous" question is actually making me nervous! What the heck?

I've heard "Are you nervous?" so many times that I think my brain has started going "They're asking if you're nervous... Maybe you're SUPPOSED to be nervous... Hello, this is a life-changing event! Granted, you've had over 2 years to think about this, BUT STILL!"

And then comes Saturday! (That is, not today but a week from today.)
I'll work that morning, get off at 2:30, and head back to the apartment to get things ready for the rehearsal and dinner. Then after the rehearsal/dinner we're gonna go play LASER TAG!!!
I still have to get the passes for that, but I'm excited because instead of paying $25 for every five people, it'll only be $10!
After laser tag the girls and I are just going to chill back at the apartment. Maybe paint some nails, watch a movie, have some snacks... And CRASH. Cuz there is no freaking way that I want to be up all night after a day like that.

While I'm thinking about it... I'll have to see if the girls would like to go out to breakfast the next morning or if they'd rather me cook at the apartment or what. At least a year ago when I was living with 3 of them we'd talked about going to IHOP or Village Inn the next morning. Looks like it's about time to see what's on the agenda!

I still need to get place cards and a seating chart done, and take the cake decorations to the cake place. And buy some more ribbon for our favors. We're meeting with the DJ on Monday to discuss songs, and hopefully I'll have a processional picked out by then. Other than that... I think that's it. And if not, well, we'll get it taken care of.