LORIpalooza

Had a fabulous weekend. Ran 6.2 miles on Saturday morning (ok, I walked part of it, but I still averaged a 12-minute mile, so hooray for me), and then got to spend the day with the awesome Jen and the rest of the fam.

I spent Friday morning setting up for the Cancer Challenge silent auction, had lunch with Krista, a work party, then dinner with Kelly.

Last night I had dinner followed by fro-yo with Lori B. I have a couple of more celebrations to come--including a Tulsa trip with Krista this weekend--then it's back to days on end that don't revolve around me. Any more than they usually do, that is.

So now I'm 38 and, amazingly, I still feel the same as I did at 37. Except I need to pop a lot more Aleve. But that could be related to the beating my poor body took Saturday morning. LORIpalooza is over. Bring it on, July!

Rest of the weekend pics are here.

10K on my Birthday

It's time for the rubber to meet the road. In a mere 34 hours, I'll be running my first 10K.

If you'll recall, I couldn't even run a mile at Christmastime. And now, three races, one new pair of shoes and hundreds of miles later, I'm upping my game. On my birthday.

I'm not sure what possessed me to awaken at dawn on my natal anniversary. A saner person would sleep in on the rare year that her birthday falls on a Saturday. But not this chick. I've paid 25 bucks to sweat like a hog and punish myself on the hills of Washington County.

Don't get me wrong... I know I'm physically capable of this. But mentally? I'm not so sure.

Even my boss gave me Gatorade today and prayed for my safety and willpower. He knows it's only by the grace of God that I'll run the whole thing without CPR.

I wanted to peter out and register for the 5K instead, but I figure even if I have to walk a mile or two, it's time for me to suck it up and meet the next challenge.

After all, it's for a good cause. So when I want to give up, I'll think of my mom and all of the other people living with cancer and I'll try to keep running.

It didn't really register for me how very far I'll be running until my aunt Kathy said, "That would be like running from Hartford to Midland." Indeed it will be. Wowzers.

Give me strength. But at least I get to carb up with Kelly tomorrow night.

6.2 miles, you will be defeated.

The audacity of sloth

Eh. I find myself suffering from overwhelming apathy these days.

I'm not sure if it's the excessive heat and humidity or just my general propensity toward laziness, but I can't seem to get excited about anything this week. Granted, I'm having a bit of trouble with the big 38 looming over the weekend. And while no one likes to be the center of attention more than I, I'm not having fun planning birthday parties and festivities and find myself wanting to just take a nap.

For the past three days I've slept through my running alarm. My afternoon meeting was canceled today, so I just now brushed my teeth for the first time today. I fell asleep around 4 o'clock this afternoon and slept for two hours, which meant that I had to work when I woke up.

Now I need to exercise and grocery shop, but I don't want to do either.

This does not bode well for my 10K on Saturday. Running 6.2 miles in the best of conditions is challenging for me. Doing it when it's a thousand degrees on my birthday? Yeah, I'm not so sure about that.

Oh, motivation, would you please show up? I need some energy, please. And birthday cake.

5 mph

I'm not sure how I did it, but I managed to run five miles in an hour tonight. Outside. And I felt like a million bucks.

I caught myself grinning like a Cheshire cat as I finished. I am amazed that this former fat girl, who was unable to jog a half-mile six months ago, is now able to run for an entire hour.

Proud of myself, I texted Lonnie to tell him the news. His response: "What were you chasing? A donut or a handbag?"

Jerk. But every day he doubts me is one more day of motivation.

And I just agreed to run a 10K on my birthday. I feel absolutely fierce and invincible tonight. I just hope I can get out of bed tomorrow.