Friday, April 28, 2006
Finally Friday!!
Geez - I thought this day would never come! Some weeks seem to go fast, some seem about 5 days long, but some, like this one, seem to last at least a month! All week, I've been waiting for Friday and it just seemed to take forever to get here! Yippee - it's finally here! Now what am I going to do with it? For starters I'm going to clean the house before my mom gets here tomorrow from Florida - vacuum and sweep the living room, clean the dining room, pick-up the Boy Room, do laundry and dishes, finish cleaning the kitchen, see if I can get at least one bathroom clean and at least part of upstairs. We'll see. . . . maybe I'll just have a beer and take a nap instead. :)
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Not Quite. . .
One more post. Remember when I said on Monday we had our plane tickets to the World Cup? Turns out we didn't (thanks a bunch you-know-who!). After deciding on dates and specific flights we all argued over whose credit card to put the tickets on - oddly enough we were all arguing to have it put on our own card. That's the beauty of cash/bonus back deals. Cody gets Discover 1% cash back, I get Amazon.com points and Person #3 (who will remain nameless for this post) gets a bit more then 1% cash back, so we all agreed we would be best putting it on his card. So he agreed to get the tickets Monday. But didn't get around to it - figured what's another day when we've waiting this long (not to say I wouldn't have done the same thing but since it wasn't me I have someone to "blame" - the beauty of responsibility). So, as our luck goes, the tickets we were going to get were $200 more on Tuesday. So since then we've been frantically searching every airline, search engine and major airport in Europe for some decently cheap flights. . . and there haven't been any. Cheapest we could find was $1200. We finally found some we had settled on this afternoon - they were $150 more then our original tickets and crappier flighs but they would get us there. But then Cody on a whim decided to check the "Multi-destination flights" - I hadn't even looked at them thinking they would be way more expensive - turns out they were cheaper! So he got me searching those until I found one for $900 (cheaper then our original tickets) that flys into Paris (leaves STL at better times too) and flys out of Brussels (better times). Only one lay-over each way (in Chicago) and no changing airports in NYC (like the old ones)!!! The great thing is now we can fly into Paris, see it, do the World Cup thing, travel some more, and then go to Brussels, see it and fly out of there. No going back to where you started to see a city you've already seen!! PERFECT! Okay, so Person #3's not in so much trouble with me anymore - though I might just give him another bloody nose just for kicks and giggles. :) GERMANY HERE WE COME!!!
Website Update
Okay, I figured that while I already had the ghetto computer open and propped up, I might as well get as much out of it as I could in it's working moments, so I went ahead and updated our lovely website. There's a wedding page update (though if you read the blog you already know the update) and three new event/picture updates - the Half Marathon, Easter and the Water Tower. Nothing momumental but some cool pics nonetheless. Enjoy.
Ghetto Computer
Check out our ghetto comptuer! The stupid hinge broke - not just not working properly, but the top of the computer (where you see the duct tape) physically broke off from the hinge. So, in the interest of saving money (to spend in Germany and on the wedding) and prolonging the life of the computer until we can afford a new one (which could be a very long time), I hot glued the hinge back on the frame and then put enough duct tape on the darn thing to even impress my brothers (Bo made himself a wallet completely out of duct tape and I think David made a pair of shoes out of duct tape - I guess we're a duct tape family). The only problem is that it really doesn't provide enough support to open and close the monitor much or hold the screen up so we have to prop the monitor up when we want to use the computer (Cody uses a big jar to prop it open when it's on the table and I just put a big pillow behind it when I'm sitting down with the comptuer on my lap). Ghetto? No, Ingenuity. So that's why the updates have been sparse lately on the website and the blogs have been fewer - harder to use the ghetto computer (not to mention the constant business and lack of sleep). 
Monday, April 24, 2006
Exciting Developments
Two rather exciting developments today, in no particular order:
First - We finally picked (and bought) our tickets to Germany. We've been debating this for months now -when to leave, how long to take off, what airline to fly, when to best buy tickets for cheap prices. Well, we finally bit the bullet and got the tickets. . . . and boy were they not cheap. Granted, you expect to pay a lot to go to Europe in the summer. . . . but this was just ridiculous. We could fly over there any time last month or this month for about $500, which I consider expensive for the spring since I paid about that for a summer ticket a few years ago. This summer, we can't find anything under $1000. I don't know if it's the economy, the gas prices, general inflation of maybe The World Cup, but that's insane. Most tickets were around $1300, but we managed to get one of the $1000 ones. We fly out of here, into New York LaGuardia, then out of New York JFK (yup, we have to change AIRPORTS in New York - they give us 5 hours to do this though) and into Brussels. At least that's another city we'll get to see. Now we just have to mull over all the possible city options and pick our top few to really concentrate on (top of the list right now are Auschwitz, Krakow, and Prague)- outside of our whirlwind World Cup tour of Germany, of course. Looks like we'll be eating a lot of Ramen Noodles until we leave and a lot of tunafish sandwiches when we get there. :)
Second, we think we finally found a place to have the wedding! I must admit I can't take any credit for this one, considering if it were left to my devices we probably wouldn't have gotten around to picking a venue until sometime in November. We have Cody's mom to thank 100% for this one. She has been an absolute gem with this whole wedding planning process. When I finally realized that I can't do everything and certainly can't do all the planning from 800 miles away and finally got around to asking for (and accepting) help, she has so graciously stepped in and been such a help! She's taken so much of the stress out of this whole ordeal - I'm thankful because I'm not stressing and Cody's happy because he doesn't have to deal with me stressing! She's been on the phone calling the places we were already considering (Armory, Women's Club, Mary Brogan Museum) and even found a new one that we never considered or would have even ever known about - Homewood Suites. I guess it's owned by Hilton and relatively new to Tally (at least it wasn't there when either Cody or I lived there). Anyway, none of the places we had found so far really fit what we were looking for or our budget - until she found this place. It's in hotel so all our friends and family can stay there and be together - a real plus for us with so many people from out of town. They do their own catering, which while it may seem more expensive at first compared to finding your own caterer, everything is included in the price, rather then charging extra for dishes, servers, linens, salt and pepper shakers (no kidding - one of the caterers we found make you rent salt and pepper shakers). The big thing is they let you bring your own alchol and bar!! That saves us a ton of money off paying per drink at the other hotels or reception places! Anyway, his mom and sister went to look at it and took tons of great pictures to really show us what it looked like (I'll put them on the website later for everyone to see). From the photos it looked great and it seems that they liked it so the deposit was placed! The great thing is you can still get your deposit back within 90 days so before that we'll try to make a trip to Tally to check it all out and make final arrangements (not that we forsee having to move it at all)! How exciting!! I really can't explain how grateful we are to them for their help - I keep telling everyone I'm marrying into one of the greatest families ever! Too bad I can't talk them into finding me a wedding dress. . . . I trust their style more then mine any day. :)
First - We finally picked (and bought) our tickets to Germany. We've been debating this for months now -when to leave, how long to take off, what airline to fly, when to best buy tickets for cheap prices. Well, we finally bit the bullet and got the tickets. . . . and boy were they not cheap. Granted, you expect to pay a lot to go to Europe in the summer. . . . but this was just ridiculous. We could fly over there any time last month or this month for about $500, which I consider expensive for the spring since I paid about that for a summer ticket a few years ago. This summer, we can't find anything under $1000. I don't know if it's the economy, the gas prices, general inflation of maybe The World Cup, but that's insane. Most tickets were around $1300, but we managed to get one of the $1000 ones. We fly out of here, into New York LaGuardia, then out of New York JFK (yup, we have to change AIRPORTS in New York - they give us 5 hours to do this though) and into Brussels. At least that's another city we'll get to see. Now we just have to mull over all the possible city options and pick our top few to really concentrate on (top of the list right now are Auschwitz, Krakow, and Prague)- outside of our whirlwind World Cup tour of Germany, of course. Looks like we'll be eating a lot of Ramen Noodles until we leave and a lot of tunafish sandwiches when we get there. :)
Second, we think we finally found a place to have the wedding! I must admit I can't take any credit for this one, considering if it were left to my devices we probably wouldn't have gotten around to picking a venue until sometime in November. We have Cody's mom to thank 100% for this one. She has been an absolute gem with this whole wedding planning process. When I finally realized that I can't do everything and certainly can't do all the planning from 800 miles away and finally got around to asking for (and accepting) help, she has so graciously stepped in and been such a help! She's taken so much of the stress out of this whole ordeal - I'm thankful because I'm not stressing and Cody's happy because he doesn't have to deal with me stressing! She's been on the phone calling the places we were already considering (Armory, Women's Club, Mary Brogan Museum) and even found a new one that we never considered or would have even ever known about - Homewood Suites. I guess it's owned by Hilton and relatively new to Tally (at least it wasn't there when either Cody or I lived there). Anyway, none of the places we had found so far really fit what we were looking for or our budget - until she found this place. It's in hotel so all our friends and family can stay there and be together - a real plus for us with so many people from out of town. They do their own catering, which while it may seem more expensive at first compared to finding your own caterer, everything is included in the price, rather then charging extra for dishes, servers, linens, salt and pepper shakers (no kidding - one of the caterers we found make you rent salt and pepper shakers). The big thing is they let you bring your own alchol and bar!! That saves us a ton of money off paying per drink at the other hotels or reception places! Anyway, his mom and sister went to look at it and took tons of great pictures to really show us what it looked like (I'll put them on the website later for everyone to see). From the photos it looked great and it seems that they liked it so the deposit was placed! The great thing is you can still get your deposit back within 90 days so before that we'll try to make a trip to Tally to check it all out and make final arrangements (not that we forsee having to move it at all)! How exciting!! I really can't explain how grateful we are to them for their help - I keep telling everyone I'm marrying into one of the greatest families ever! Too bad I can't talk them into finding me a wedding dress. . . . I trust their style more then mine any day. :)
Weekend Update
Another fun filled weekend in Missy and Cody Land. Thursday we checked out a Guinness "Legacy Event" thing at Growlers. Cool - if you like Guinness. I think it's the nastiest beer known to man and Harps and Smithwicks are right behind. So, all you can drink free beer - if it's one of those three. The guys made use of the promotion while I had to make a concerted effort to finish one Harps.
Friday we just hung out - I ran (5.65 miles), Cody changed the oil in the Jeep and the motorcycle, and we worked in the yard. Saturday I went to the Soulard Farmer's Market and cleaned house while Cody helped a friend with his sink. We, of course, ended up going out - to Harry's. Good time though a bit chilly on the patio.
Sunday we had lunch at a cool 50's diner with a friend and then went up in the Water Tower (the old on on Grand for you STL folks). Very cool! I took tons of pictures (shocking, I know) so I'll try to get them on the website as soon as possible. Great views of the city! Afterwards, more cleaning, and then soccer. Won the game 5-1! A great victory - though Dude ended up with a bloody nose - I told him I'm going to spread the word that he got hit by a girl. :)
All in all a good weekend, a nice mix of work, play and relaxation. Next weekend Mommy comes to town to visit so that should be nice to show her around the things we haven't seen yet and hang out.
Friday we just hung out - I ran (5.65 miles), Cody changed the oil in the Jeep and the motorcycle, and we worked in the yard. Saturday I went to the Soulard Farmer's Market and cleaned house while Cody helped a friend with his sink. We, of course, ended up going out - to Harry's. Good time though a bit chilly on the patio.
Sunday we had lunch at a cool 50's diner with a friend and then went up in the Water Tower (the old on on Grand for you STL folks). Very cool! I took tons of pictures (shocking, I know) so I'll try to get them on the website as soon as possible. Great views of the city! Afterwards, more cleaning, and then soccer. Won the game 5-1! A great victory - though Dude ended up with a bloody nose - I told him I'm going to spread the word that he got hit by a girl. :)
All in all a good weekend, a nice mix of work, play and relaxation. Next weekend Mommy comes to town to visit so that should be nice to show her around the things we haven't seen yet and hang out.
Weekend Update
Another fun filled weekend in Missy and Cody Land. Thursday we checked out a Guinness "Legacy Event" thing at Growlers. Cool - if you like Guinness. I think it's the nastiest beer known to man and Harps and Smithwicks are right behind. So, all you can drink free beer - if it's one of those three. The guys made use of the promotion while I had to make a concerted effort to finish one Harps.
Friday we just hung out - I ran (5.65 miles), Cody changed the oil in the Jeep and the motorcycle, and we worked in the yard. Saturday I went to the Soulard Farmer's Market and cleaned house while Cody helped a friend with his sink. We, of course, ended up going out - to Harry's. Good time though a bit chilly on the patio.
Sunday we had lunch at a cool 50's diner with a friend and then went up in the Water Tower (the old on on Grand for you STL folks). Very cool! I took tons of pictures (shocking, I know) so I'll try to get them on the website as soon as possible. Great views of the city! Afterwards, more cleaning, and then soccer. Won the game 5-1! A great victory - though Dude ended up with a bloody nose - I told him I'm going to spread the word that he got hit by a girl. :)
All in all a good weekend, a nice mix of work, play and relaxation. Next weekend Mommy comes to town to visit so that should be nice to show her around the things we haven't seen yet and hang out.
Friday we just hung out - I ran (5.65 miles), Cody changed the oil in the Jeep and the motorcycle, and we worked in the yard. Saturday I went to the Soulard Farmer's Market and cleaned house while Cody helped a friend with his sink. We, of course, ended up going out - to Harry's. Good time though a bit chilly on the patio.
Sunday we had lunch at a cool 50's diner with a friend and then went up in the Water Tower (the old on on Grand for you STL folks). Very cool! I took tons of pictures (shocking, I know) so I'll try to get them on the website as soon as possible. Great views of the city! Afterwards, more cleaning, and then soccer. Won the game 5-1! A great victory - though Dude ended up with a bloody nose - I told him I'm going to spread the word that he got hit by a girl. :)
All in all a good weekend, a nice mix of work, play and relaxation. Next weekend Mommy comes to town to visit so that should be nice to show her around the things we haven't seen yet and hang out.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
The End of an Era
Well, it had to end at some point. As sad as it is, I suppose I must put myself back together and move on. They finally took my ufl.edu email address away. Mind you I last graduated that school in 2003 and you're supposed to lose the address after 6 months, but after begging them not to delete it then, they are finally done hearing my pleas, and have deleted my email address. I first realized it on Saturday when Cody's mom was trying to email me a recipe and it wouldn't show up on in my inbox - nothing would. So I tried WebMail and it said my email wasn't working - mind you, this has happened before and it was just a ufl glitch - so I waited and waited and still this morning I could not get onto my email. I finally emailed them and was informed they have once and for all deleted my address. Problem is, that's the only address anyone I know has ever known. I've had the address since 1997! So, now I have to have it forwarded for a few months until they even delete the forwarding capabilities. On the bright side, that email address was getting about 150 spam messages a day so now at least I can start fresh again. Right now I'm signing up for a alumni.ufl.edu address which will forward to any address I pick so I can change it over time. I think it's going to be missy@alumni.ufl.edu. Anyway, I must go back to my mourning now.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Thankful
Okay, I know it's Easter and not Thanksgiving, but today was one of those days where I realized how lucky I am and how many things I have to be thankful for. First I'm thankful for finally having green leaves and spring. I never realized how great spring is until I lived somewhere with such a miserable winter. It's just amazing watching green leaves pop up on trees and the grass coming back.
I'm thankful I have friends and family to give me recipes and that I have the ability to make the recipes (though maybe not as good as they can make them). I'm thankful to have to ability to make a big dinner and have friends to come over to eat it. I made a huge lunch/dinner this afternoon and we had some folks over to eat - great people, decent food, and good times. I'm so thankful that even though we live over 800 miles from our families we have friends that have become our St. Louis families.
After the meal (and two deserts), Cody and I played a game of chess - I lost again, but I realized that I'm thankful to have such a smart guy and thankful that I can almost hang with him in chess - I haven't beat him yet.
Then I ran around the park and watched the leaves, the ducks, and felt the cool spring breeze -I'm so thankful for all those things and the ability to run. Just being able to be out there and run fast (for me) in the breeze and watch the scenery is amazing.
I'm thankful I have friends and family to give me recipes and that I have the ability to make the recipes (though maybe not as good as they can make them). I'm thankful to have to ability to make a big dinner and have friends to come over to eat it. I made a huge lunch/dinner this afternoon and we had some folks over to eat - great people, decent food, and good times. I'm so thankful that even though we live over 800 miles from our families we have friends that have become our St. Louis families.
After the meal (and two deserts), Cody and I played a game of chess - I lost again, but I realized that I'm thankful to have such a smart guy and thankful that I can almost hang with him in chess - I haven't beat him yet.
Then I ran around the park and watched the leaves, the ducks, and felt the cool spring breeze -I'm so thankful for all those things and the ability to run. Just being able to be out there and run fast (for me) in the breeze and watch the scenery is amazing.
Happy Easter!
Easter morning. I thought I would be spending this time in Tally after looking at wedding reception sites, but my weekend has turned out remarkably different. First, obviously, I didn't go to Tally -for a myriad of reasons, the first being Cody found a nail in my tire when changing my oil Thursday night (he's a oil change Nazi, which in this instance was great since he found the nail). So instead of fretting about the wedding and stressing out, I've put aside the event for the weekend to concentrate on life as it is, now and today. I even managed to ask for help with the planning of said wedding - a hard thing for me to do since I've been a "do by self" person since I was born (that's what I used to say when my mom would try to put on or tie my shoes - hence the reason I wore velcro shoes until quite late because she didn't want to wait around for me to tie my shoes - I was slow). So I asked Cody's family if they could check out some wedding reception sites for us. They are wonderful folks who we know we can count on and I trust them completely. I really couldn't be getting better in-laws. At least we've narrowed it down to 3 or 4 places. :)
As for this weekend - yesterday we got some of our chores done (taxes, laundry, cleaning, etc.), went grocery shopping for Easter lunch/dinner, cooked a great dinner together (pork chops w/ onions and mushrooms, scalloped potatoes and broccoli/cauliflower mix), got the bikes down from the garage and went on a wonderful bike ride in the park and then went out with friends. I really couldn't have asked for a better day - both weather wise and clear-your-head-and-relax wise. The bike was really cool - we just rode around Forest Park checking out new trails and routes - we even found some new things we didn't know where there - even though we live across the street from the park - mind you, it's a few times the size of Central Park in NYC.
Well, back to preparing lunch/dinner - we're having ham, two types of sweet potatoes (w/ marshmallows and w/ nuts), mashed potatoes (because Cody doesn't like sweet potatoes), green beans, asparagus, rolls, deviled eggs, strawberry shortcake and lemon-jello cake. YUMMY!
As for this weekend - yesterday we got some of our chores done (taxes, laundry, cleaning, etc.), went grocery shopping for Easter lunch/dinner, cooked a great dinner together (pork chops w/ onions and mushrooms, scalloped potatoes and broccoli/cauliflower mix), got the bikes down from the garage and went on a wonderful bike ride in the park and then went out with friends. I really couldn't have asked for a better day - both weather wise and clear-your-head-and-relax wise. The bike was really cool - we just rode around Forest Park checking out new trails and routes - we even found some new things we didn't know where there - even though we live across the street from the park - mind you, it's a few times the size of Central Park in NYC.
Well, back to preparing lunch/dinner - we're having ham, two types of sweet potatoes (w/ marshmallows and w/ nuts), mashed potatoes (because Cody doesn't like sweet potatoes), green beans, asparagus, rolls, deviled eggs, strawberry shortcake and lemon-jello cake. YUMMY!
Friday, April 14, 2006
Crazy Person
I think wedding planning makes people crazy. At least it does me. Why can't these things be simple? I have a few comments to illustrate.
First our biggest dilema - the element of ourselves. We want a casual, laid back, fun wedding. Did you get the "laid back" part of that? Because every wedding place in Tallahassee wants to put us in this little box of "semi-formal" - not terribly ritzy but not what we really want either. I'm not a ritzy, fancy, froo froo person - neither is Cody - for God's sake his favorite outfit include an obnoxiously large red animal print pimp-looking hat and velcro shoes! It's literally painful for me to "dress up" for work - I can't wait to get in jeans and a t-shirt. I have no desire to be a "princess" or any of that stuff. Some people love it - but it's not me. I don't want a "semi-formal" wedding - I want our wedding our way but Tallahassee insists on fitting you in this box - the reception places do it, the caterers do it. I don't want an elaborate layout of shrimp and something else I can't prononce - I just want some food that tastes decent. I have a perfect rehersal dinner planned - Sonny's outside (in either a park or backyard), paper plates, a big Moon Walk thing for the kids, a keg and a good time. For the day after since it will be Easter, I would like to do an Easter Brunch in my mom's backyard. But it's the wedding part that's driving me crazy. Agg...
Second, I don't see why everything is (a) so expensive and (b) there are so many hidden charges. One caterer I talked to even charges for salt and pepper shakers. They're like little varmits picking at you everywhere and before you know it a $15 meal is $22 with linens and plates, etc.
Okay, enough of that. Off my soap box. I promise to write more happy stuff about how life is good, rather then about my utter frustrations with the wedding industry! :)
First our biggest dilema - the element of ourselves. We want a casual, laid back, fun wedding. Did you get the "laid back" part of that? Because every wedding place in Tallahassee wants to put us in this little box of "semi-formal" - not terribly ritzy but not what we really want either. I'm not a ritzy, fancy, froo froo person - neither is Cody - for God's sake his favorite outfit include an obnoxiously large red animal print pimp-looking hat and velcro shoes! It's literally painful for me to "dress up" for work - I can't wait to get in jeans and a t-shirt. I have no desire to be a "princess" or any of that stuff. Some people love it - but it's not me. I don't want a "semi-formal" wedding - I want our wedding our way but Tallahassee insists on fitting you in this box - the reception places do it, the caterers do it. I don't want an elaborate layout of shrimp and something else I can't prononce - I just want some food that tastes decent. I have a perfect rehersal dinner planned - Sonny's outside (in either a park or backyard), paper plates, a big Moon Walk thing for the kids, a keg and a good time. For the day after since it will be Easter, I would like to do an Easter Brunch in my mom's backyard. But it's the wedding part that's driving me crazy. Agg...
Second, I don't see why everything is (a) so expensive and (b) there are so many hidden charges. One caterer I talked to even charges for salt and pepper shakers. They're like little varmits picking at you everywhere and before you know it a $15 meal is $22 with linens and plates, etc.
Okay, enough of that. Off my soap box. I promise to write more happy stuff about how life is good, rather then about my utter frustrations with the wedding industry! :)
Monday, April 10, 2006
Numbers
6 - number of my scarfs found around on the floor (in various rooms) while cleaning
1 - number of scarfs on the coat rack (where they belong)
2 - number of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers I went through wiping our cabinets, walls and stair rails (only where needed)
2 - number of milk cap rings found while sweeping the dining room (where Cody eats cereal every morning)
2 - number of dining room chairs without paper stacked in them, before I started cleaning
0 - number of dining room chairs without paper stacked in them, after I was finished cleaning
2 - cans of wet food I had to give the cats to keep them off the floors I was moping
3 - number of cats that couldn't resist walking on my still wet, cleanly mopped floors
12 - days worth of mail currently stacked on the dining room table
6 - number of tax returns we have to file (one each for federal, state and city) -yes, Florida people, we pay a lot of tax in Missouri
1 - number of tax returns we've finished (my federal)
4 - days until Tax Day
One not number related point of interest:
Air Bear - Cody's name for his new golf club (his 3 wood)
109 - Cody's first golf score last year (on 9 holes)
49 - Cody's goal this year in golf (on 9 holes)
1 - number of scarfs on the coat rack (where they belong)
2 - number of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers I went through wiping our cabinets, walls and stair rails (only where needed)
2 - number of milk cap rings found while sweeping the dining room (where Cody eats cereal every morning)
2 - number of dining room chairs without paper stacked in them, before I started cleaning
0 - number of dining room chairs without paper stacked in them, after I was finished cleaning
2 - cans of wet food I had to give the cats to keep them off the floors I was moping
3 - number of cats that couldn't resist walking on my still wet, cleanly mopped floors
12 - days worth of mail currently stacked on the dining room table
6 - number of tax returns we have to file (one each for federal, state and city) -yes, Florida people, we pay a lot of tax in Missouri
1 - number of tax returns we've finished (my federal)
4 - days until Tax Day
One not number related point of interest:
Air Bear - Cody's name for his new golf club (his 3 wood)
109 - Cody's first golf score last year (on 9 holes)
49 - Cody's goal this year in golf (on 9 holes)
Sunday, April 09, 2006
13.1 in 2:07
I finished. In 2 hours and 7 minutes. In my last post I said I ran a 2:15 last year - I double checked that online and it was actually 2:18, so this year's goal was to simply run 5 minutes faster. I actually ran 11 minutes faster - which, while it's still not incredibly fast (I think it's a 9:45 pace), is almost a minute a mile off of last year's time. That's pretty substantial, especially considering I typically run a very tight 10 minute mile on my training runs. I was pleased, but beat by the end. I don't think I could have run another 2 feet since I really pushed it at the end. Currently I feel like I was run over by a bus - a very large bus full of very heavy people. But it's worth it I suppose. I feel accomplished - now on to the marathon - after I let my sprained ankle and shin splints heal from my current training regime.
A few notes (more for my personal record and log book then reader enjoyment):
It was cold, but once we got downtown (always hotter in the city), in the group of people and in the sun it actually warmed up quite a bit. I ran in lined track pants and I really could have gone for shorts - I didn't necessarily overheat, but I would have been more confortable (and faster) in shorts. I started off with a long sleeve running shirt, a t-shirt and sweater, with gloves - by the time I saw Cody at about the 1/2 mile mark, I handed him the t-shirt, sweater and gloves. After seeing Cody at the 1/2 mile mark, we ran through Soulard, to the Brewery and back - over the bridge on Tucker (bridges not fun = big hills). After being converted to the joys of Gatorade at the race last year, I opted for Gatorade at all the water stops. While it was energizing and refreshing, I think it was the new Gatorade Endurance which is more syrupy then the regular stuff - syrupy not good on tummies (at least not mine since I don't drink soda which I think is syrupy). I ran the first mile in 9 minutes and realized I needed to seriously slow it down if I was going to finish. I was much better at hills this year after training in Forest Park instead of Creve Coeur park - I actually powered up them and passed a lot of people there. After looping the brewery, I passed Cody again at about mile 6.5 near the starting line. It's always encouraging to see people you know - you look forward to it and it really mentally helps you through a while afterwards. After that it was a long stretch out Market Street all the way past the interstate, to Taylor (a few blocks from our house). I swear the entire way out seemed uphill - no joke. Which made the run back easier but really wore me out going out. I was doing pretty good by mile 9, I knew I was going faster then I expected. At mile 10 I started to pick it up a little since my goal was to finish with nothing left. Last year I felt so great when I finished I could have run a few more miles - the goal this year was to give it all and finish with nothing. By the time I hit 11 miles, I was no longer watching the crowd and totally ignoring water stations, I was just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other - and quickly. About mile 12 a crappy song came on my mp3 player and I didn't even have the energy to lift my arm and hit "next." I was going for all out. Cody met me at mile 13 and run with me as I sprinted towards the finish line. I though I was going to fall down after stopping. I was spent. I got my chip cut off my shoe (instead of just doing the race clock they put a chip on your shoe so your "chip time" doesn't actually start until you cross the starting mats - and since I didn't cross the starting mats until the three minute mark it gives you an accurate time for those not in the front (there are 8000 trying to cross the start line at the same time - I was in the middle of that bunch). I was excited to get my bagel and cookies at the end (they were great last year), but the bagel was hard and the cookies were not present. I, of course, was disappointed since I had just burned approximately 1300 calories and I wanted a cookie! :)
So that's the story of the race. Now it's nap time and then go to Cody's soccer game at 11:20 pm. That's the latest game he has this year - of course it just has to be on the day I run my race.
A few notes (more for my personal record and log book then reader enjoyment):
It was cold, but once we got downtown (always hotter in the city), in the group of people and in the sun it actually warmed up quite a bit. I ran in lined track pants and I really could have gone for shorts - I didn't necessarily overheat, but I would have been more confortable (and faster) in shorts. I started off with a long sleeve running shirt, a t-shirt and sweater, with gloves - by the time I saw Cody at about the 1/2 mile mark, I handed him the t-shirt, sweater and gloves. After seeing Cody at the 1/2 mile mark, we ran through Soulard, to the Brewery and back - over the bridge on Tucker (bridges not fun = big hills). After being converted to the joys of Gatorade at the race last year, I opted for Gatorade at all the water stops. While it was energizing and refreshing, I think it was the new Gatorade Endurance which is more syrupy then the regular stuff - syrupy not good on tummies (at least not mine since I don't drink soda which I think is syrupy). I ran the first mile in 9 minutes and realized I needed to seriously slow it down if I was going to finish. I was much better at hills this year after training in Forest Park instead of Creve Coeur park - I actually powered up them and passed a lot of people there. After looping the brewery, I passed Cody again at about mile 6.5 near the starting line. It's always encouraging to see people you know - you look forward to it and it really mentally helps you through a while afterwards. After that it was a long stretch out Market Street all the way past the interstate, to Taylor (a few blocks from our house). I swear the entire way out seemed uphill - no joke. Which made the run back easier but really wore me out going out. I was doing pretty good by mile 9, I knew I was going faster then I expected. At mile 10 I started to pick it up a little since my goal was to finish with nothing left. Last year I felt so great when I finished I could have run a few more miles - the goal this year was to give it all and finish with nothing. By the time I hit 11 miles, I was no longer watching the crowd and totally ignoring water stations, I was just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other - and quickly. About mile 12 a crappy song came on my mp3 player and I didn't even have the energy to lift my arm and hit "next." I was going for all out. Cody met me at mile 13 and run with me as I sprinted towards the finish line. I though I was going to fall down after stopping. I was spent. I got my chip cut off my shoe (instead of just doing the race clock they put a chip on your shoe so your "chip time" doesn't actually start until you cross the starting mats - and since I didn't cross the starting mats until the three minute mark it gives you an accurate time for those not in the front (there are 8000 trying to cross the start line at the same time - I was in the middle of that bunch). I was excited to get my bagel and cookies at the end (they were great last year), but the bagel was hard and the cookies were not present. I, of course, was disappointed since I had just burned approximately 1300 calories and I wanted a cookie! :)
So that's the story of the race. Now it's nap time and then go to Cody's soccer game at 11:20 pm. That's the latest game he has this year - of course it just has to be on the day I run my race.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Pre-Race Jitters
Well, it's finally here. The half-marathon is tomorrow morning - and I mean morning. Starting at a bring and early 7am I run 13.1 miles. I don't even wake up at 7am on a work day - much less wake up at 5am, eat breakfast, get dressed and shower to leave by 6am and get to the starting line by 7am!
Not that I'll be at the starting line anyway - in marathons and half-marathons you sort of line up by the time you expect to finish. Since there are so many people (thousands) they don't want the 5 hour marathoners up front slowing the 2:30 hour marathoners down. So I'll be towards the back of the pack because I run slow. They actually have pace teams with signs up so you can run together with a group that expects to finish around the same time. This year they're even starting the walkers after the runners as opposed to last year when the walkers started an hour earlier and we were dodgeing then for the first half of the race - walkers like to walk 6 across and won't move for anyone -so this year they start after the runners to avoid frustration.
So at 7 am I start running 13.1 - I shouldn't even call it a "race" because I'm not racing anyone - I'm just trying to beat last year's time. It's more of just a run then a race. Last year I ran it in around 2 hours 15 minutes. This year's goal is to shave 5 minutes or more off that time. Since last year's goal was only 2.5 hours, I was doing pretty okay by my standards. This year will be much harder though - I'll thank the weather for that.
Last year the entire run was partly sunny with some clouds and in the 60s - I wore a sweatshirt to the race but left it with Cody before the run so I actually only had to run in shorts and a tank top. Perfect weather to run. Tomorrow at 7am the temperature is forecast to be 32 - at 9am around the time I expect to finish the temperature is forecast to be 34. That sucks. That really sucks. All year I haven't run in temperatures that cold. My general rule is not to run outside if it's below 50 degrees - for my long runs if it's cold all weekend I would just leave work early and run on a weekday when it was warmer. Not only do I not like to run in the cold but I really don't know how to well - over dress and you get overheated and sweat and then get really cold - under dress and you're cold and uncomfortable the entire time. I really believe there is no way to be comfortable running in those sorts of temperatures. But I paid for the race, so I'm going to run it - maybe not as well as I'd like but I'll at least try.
Thinking about the run tomorrow has me excited about the marathon this fall. I'm determined I'm going to finally get the training done to run the Chicago Marathon in October. It's one of those "things to do before I die" type of goals so might as well strike while the iron's hot.
Well, off to sleep so I can wake up at FIVE AM and run in the freezing cold. Speaking of, did the weather guy not get the memo that it's APRIL and winter is over. Oh, one more thing, all week the weather has been perfect - low to mid 70s and sunny - all next week we are forecast for the same - it's only today and tomorrow that are forecast to be cold. Go figure.
Not that I'll be at the starting line anyway - in marathons and half-marathons you sort of line up by the time you expect to finish. Since there are so many people (thousands) they don't want the 5 hour marathoners up front slowing the 2:30 hour marathoners down. So I'll be towards the back of the pack because I run slow. They actually have pace teams with signs up so you can run together with a group that expects to finish around the same time. This year they're even starting the walkers after the runners as opposed to last year when the walkers started an hour earlier and we were dodgeing then for the first half of the race - walkers like to walk 6 across and won't move for anyone -so this year they start after the runners to avoid frustration.
So at 7 am I start running 13.1 - I shouldn't even call it a "race" because I'm not racing anyone - I'm just trying to beat last year's time. It's more of just a run then a race. Last year I ran it in around 2 hours 15 minutes. This year's goal is to shave 5 minutes or more off that time. Since last year's goal was only 2.5 hours, I was doing pretty okay by my standards. This year will be much harder though - I'll thank the weather for that.
Last year the entire run was partly sunny with some clouds and in the 60s - I wore a sweatshirt to the race but left it with Cody before the run so I actually only had to run in shorts and a tank top. Perfect weather to run. Tomorrow at 7am the temperature is forecast to be 32 - at 9am around the time I expect to finish the temperature is forecast to be 34. That sucks. That really sucks. All year I haven't run in temperatures that cold. My general rule is not to run outside if it's below 50 degrees - for my long runs if it's cold all weekend I would just leave work early and run on a weekday when it was warmer. Not only do I not like to run in the cold but I really don't know how to well - over dress and you get overheated and sweat and then get really cold - under dress and you're cold and uncomfortable the entire time. I really believe there is no way to be comfortable running in those sorts of temperatures. But I paid for the race, so I'm going to run it - maybe not as well as I'd like but I'll at least try.
Thinking about the run tomorrow has me excited about the marathon this fall. I'm determined I'm going to finally get the training done to run the Chicago Marathon in October. It's one of those "things to do before I die" type of goals so might as well strike while the iron's hot.
Well, off to sleep so I can wake up at FIVE AM and run in the freezing cold. Speaking of, did the weather guy not get the memo that it's APRIL and winter is over. Oh, one more thing, all week the weather has been perfect - low to mid 70s and sunny - all next week we are forecast for the same - it's only today and tomorrow that are forecast to be cold. Go figure.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Quick Pre-Weekend Update
Not too terribly much going on here lately. We started German 2 on Tuesday. Went and saw our Florida friends Meghan and Danny on Wednesday and got to see their absolutely adorable baby girl. She does this cute noise by pursing her lips together and blowing - almost like if you stuck your tongue out and blew but without the tongue. It's funny - I think she knows it's amusing because she giggles when everyone looks at her. Yesterday we did some wedding planning - more discussion then planning, but at least a move forward. I just don't know how poor people have weddings. Everything is so damn expensive - if it's for a wedding it's 50 times the normal price. That's just crazy. We just want something casual, laid back and fun with our friends and family. A casual spring party is our ideal. I don't need a string quartet or a diamond tiara or white fluffy doves or anything remotely fancy. Just a nice gathering of friends and family. I would be happy with Subway or Sonny's catering it but everyone says that people expect more from a wedding - I would think anyone who knows me would know better to expect more but I guess the word 'wedding' just changes everyone's perceptions and expectations. I love my friends and family and want them to have a good time and enjoy themselves but I figured if they love me then they would prefer I not spend $50 per person to feed them and go into debt for years to come and not be able to do other things I love just so I can feed them all one very expensive (and usually not particularly good) meal. Go figure. Enough of my wedding soap box.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Gators are National Champs!
GATORS ARE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!! Yep, we did it - we drove back to Indy on Monday for the Championship Game. Yep, we're crazy - especially after I had to be in Columbia at 9 am (and Columbia is 2.5 hours away - to the west). So I woke up early, did my cases in Columbia, drove back to St. Louis, picked up Cody and we were off to Indy for the second time in as many days. But man was it all worth it! The Gators were awesome, the game was awesome, the atmosphere was awesome - it was in a word, awesome. Watching them tear apart UCLA like that and watching the fans just go crazy the bigger the margin got and as more time passed was just amazing. It's Wednesday and our throats are still insanely sore from all the yelling and screaming we did! After the game the confetti came down and they handed out the National Championship trophy - then we got to see the players cut down the net. We're so used to watching all this fanfare on TV it was almost surreal watching it in person. I felt like pinching myself because it was hard to believe we were actually there and actually watched the Gators win the National Championship. After the game, walking the streets of Indy and randomly yelling "Go Gators!" and having everyone cheer and then chanting with hundreds of people you don't know "It's great to be a Florida Gator" is just indescribable. I apologize to all the non-sports folks out there that won't understand a bit of this madness, but the best I can analogize the experience to is watching your favorite band live for the first time (like when Breeze and I skipped out of high school to watch Bad Religion in Jacksonville). It was just such a priceless, wonderful experience. . . . Until we had to drive the four hours home in the middle of the night. :) Luckily Cody was able to take off work on Tuesday and I didn't have any cases set until 10am, but we're still dead tired and catching up on sleep from the festivities. On another note, we had our first German 2 class last night (precluding my plan of coming home after work and going directly to bed). It seems likes it's going to be a really good course. Hopefully we'll learn a lot and have at least some understanding of the language by the time we go over there - I don't believe it's only two months away!!
In closing, it's great to be a Florida Gator (at least in basketball). :)
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Priceless
Well, in case you haven't gleaned by now (either from the news or my prior posts), the Gators made it to the Final Four. Well, Cody and I, being the mildly insance couple we are, decided to drive over to Indianapolis and see if we could find tickets to The Big Dance. Turns out Indy is only 3-4 hours away so it wasn't going to be too bad. So, here's how adventure goes:
Well, I'd better start with Friday. . . . that's when the rest of our friends left to go over there, but we had hockey tickets so we hung around to watch the Blues stive for the worst record in the NHL and #1 draft pick. As usual, they lost - but it was a fun game, nonetheless.
So Saturday morning came (a bit early for Cody who I woke up at 7:30 am - but for a good cause) and we headed off to Indy. A drive across the entire state of Illinois, a quick trip for gas and Arby's and we had arrived. Goal #1: See the games. Goal #2: Do it cheap (we're poor because we're saving for the big Germany trip). Parking was obnoxious around the stadium ($30) so we managed to find a free metered spot a few blocks off. Score 1 for us. We met up with friends at a Gator Gathering hosted by the Alumni Association. Score 2. After that fun, it was off to make posterboard signs for the game. Mine said "I 'heart' Noah" (he's a guy on our team who I fondly refer to as "Fuzzy Head") and Cody's said "Corey Brewer Show" for CBS. Score 3. Then it was off to find tickets. After an incredibly long saga, ending in us buying tickets (which we later realized were not together), then selling those tickets (to a ticket broker who I then got in a rather heated verbal altercation with - he called the cops on me [who sided with me] and then treated to sue me - bring it on buddy), and buying better tickets together (for cheaper since it was close to game time and there were may more sellers then buyers out there) we made it in the game!! What an experience!!!!
There is something to be said about watching your team in a game as important as the Final Four. Something comes over you and it's as if the rest of the world doesn't matter for those few short hours. I was so nervous I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Well, of course the Gators won by a pretty significant margin and are on to the Championship game. We stayed for part of the LSU v. UCLA game but it was such a blow out we decided to leave early to get back on the road. Unfortunately we had a ton of stuff to do today and I have to go to Columbia on Monday for some cases, so we drove back last night - have soccer for Cody and running for me today (and I have to go into work) - then tomorrow Cody's going to work and I'm going to Columbia for my cases - on my way back from Columbia, I'm going to pick up Cody from work and it's back off to Indy for the final game!! After the game, it's back to STL that night for work on Tuesday. Like I said, we're mildly insane. . . . but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Well, I'd better start with Friday. . . . that's when the rest of our friends left to go over there, but we had hockey tickets so we hung around to watch the Blues stive for the worst record in the NHL and #1 draft pick. As usual, they lost - but it was a fun game, nonetheless.
So Saturday morning came (a bit early for Cody who I woke up at 7:30 am - but for a good cause) and we headed off to Indy. A drive across the entire state of Illinois, a quick trip for gas and Arby's and we had arrived. Goal #1: See the games. Goal #2: Do it cheap (we're poor because we're saving for the big Germany trip). Parking was obnoxious around the stadium ($30) so we managed to find a free metered spot a few blocks off. Score 1 for us. We met up with friends at a Gator Gathering hosted by the Alumni Association. Score 2. After that fun, it was off to make posterboard signs for the game. Mine said "I 'heart' Noah" (he's a guy on our team who I fondly refer to as "Fuzzy Head") and Cody's said "Corey Brewer Show" for CBS. Score 3. Then it was off to find tickets. After an incredibly long saga, ending in us buying tickets (which we later realized were not together), then selling those tickets (to a ticket broker who I then got in a rather heated verbal altercation with - he called the cops on me [who sided with me] and then treated to sue me - bring it on buddy), and buying better tickets together (for cheaper since it was close to game time and there were may more sellers then buyers out there) we made it in the game!! What an experience!!!!
There is something to be said about watching your team in a game as important as the Final Four. Something comes over you and it's as if the rest of the world doesn't matter for those few short hours. I was so nervous I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Well, of course the Gators won by a pretty significant margin and are on to the Championship game. We stayed for part of the LSU v. UCLA game but it was such a blow out we decided to leave early to get back on the road. Unfortunately we had a ton of stuff to do today and I have to go to Columbia on Monday for some cases, so we drove back last night - have soccer for Cody and running for me today (and I have to go into work) - then tomorrow Cody's going to work and I'm going to Columbia for my cases - on my way back from Columbia, I'm going to pick up Cody from work and it's back off to Indy for the final game!! After the game, it's back to STL that night for work on Tuesday. Like I said, we're mildly insane. . . . but I wouldn't have it any other way.
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