Oh Hello Again - Running the Race

Hello again.  It has officially been 98 + 14 days since my last post.  Wedding planning and school did a fine job of taking every last bit of energy I had.  You probably would not have enjoyed my blogs had I attempted to write them.  They would have sounded something like this: Wedding planning - hard; Vendors - pain; Running - not enough; Spirituality - not enough; Becoming a house wife - sparse; School - how much longer again?  

Alright now if you're a fan of brief summaries you can stop there.  However, if you'd like to know a few more details and a retrospective view of these things keep going.  Oh how looking back on everything sure does put it all into perspective.  I'll devote this post to what first inspired me to start blogging: Running. 

I've done it!  I've completed my first half marathon.  Whew.  I guess I should start by thanking my running buddy Jared.  We started out running every Tuesday evening, but as soon as my semester started up realized this was not going to work.  I was tired when I finally got home and not terribly motivated.  We switched it to Saturday/Sunday morning.  This was a great move.  I was available more for these runs and it started to get me acclimated to running in colder weather.  

Okay I guess this is a good time to expand on Jared's patience with me.  I have this terrible tendency of not following through on plans all the time.  There were a couple of late Friday nights or early Saturday mornings where I would send an "ooo I'm tired" or "oops I forgot to tell you I was going to Houston this weekend" or "oh I just had my bachelorette party and am in no condition to run" text.  For a lot of people this would get old immidiately.  I'm not proud of this characteristic of mine.  It's something that having a running buddy has really brought to my attention, and something I'm really trying to work on.  Well, Jared was perfectly nice about it every time.  Instead of just dropping me to run by myself he would just respond with an "okay no problem!  Try and run X amount of miles sometime this week!"  I am so grateful for this.  And then later in the week he would text again asking how my run went.  Still keeping me accountable without making me feel like a complete jerk for cancelling.  

Alright so I'm cruising.  We are right on schedule with my training about to start the longer runs (9-10 miles) and start pushing the pace.  Or not.  Instead I go and injure myself playing basketball.  That's right Jason; I'm gonna put it out there, it was not Jason's fault.  I mean he did steal the basketball away from me in an unnecessarily rough manner, but it was my pride that then led me to chase after him and try to get the ball back.  In the end it resulted in a huge ankle and about a 3 week recovery time.

    So here I was, a month and 14 days out from running my first marathon unable to run.  I was bummed to say the least.  I think Jared sent me a text after he saw the photo saying something along the lines of "soooo you want to cancel our run this weekend?"  Umm yes perhaps.  Oh side note, this was also about two weeks out from my bachelorette party.  My second top concern after "oh no I can't run!" was "oh no what if I can't wear heels!"  It's the important things in life really.  

About two weeks to go before the marathon I start trying to push up my miles again.  I had gotten stuck on a comfortable 4 mile run.  Not good news when that is only 1/3 of the race.  I ran 6 miles while we were in Houston and another 6 miles in Denton.  On Thanksgiving morning, one week and three days before the race I decided that if I was going to do this I had better get in at least one long run.  So I strapped on my shoes and put on my nifty gift Jason had given me for my birthday.  It's a training watch with GPS and heart rate monitor.  It lets me know how far I've gone and my current pace.  I love it!

I had already mapped out my run so I knew exactly where my destination point was before I would allow myself to turn around.  In short, I ran 12 miles at a not so great pace, but I had done it!  I decided to save that extra 1.1 miles for race day.  I knew I was going to at least survive the race and that was all I wanted at this point.

Okay so race day arrives.  The night before I do everything I'm supposed to.  I have a bridal shower (relaxation and lots of gifts is always necessary before a race).  I loaded up on the carbs and water for dinner.  I went to bed at a decent hour and set my alarm with enough time to meet Jared at his apartment the next morning.  I was set.  

I get a text message in the middle of the night.  "Whyyy is someone texting me in the middle of the night!"  I figure I had better check it in case there's an emergency.  Oh wait it's not the middle of the night!  I missed my alarm!  It's Jared asking me where I am.  

Side note:  My first semester in college I slept through my calculus final exam.  It was the worst feeling ever to wake up and realize you've missed something very important.  This approximates how bad I felt texting Jared "Oh I just got up"

Okay so I get ready faster than I thought possible.  Original plan:  Eat half a Cliff bar and a banana; dink some gateorade; bring a water bottle.  Instead, I scarf down a Cliff bar and run outside to meet Jared.  As usual he doesn't even show a hint of being annoyed.  I mean come on!  I'm completely making this a stressful morning, when all a person really wants to do is focus on the race ahead.  Again, I'm so grateful for his patience.  

On top of all of this the weather is a mess.  Cold cold cold, windy and rainy.  Oh also I needed to use the rest room but by the time we got there we didn't have time to stop at one of the long lined port-a-potties.  Which is probably for the best because they are gross...oh except that then I had to run 13.1 miles needing to pee.  That was not so great.  Motivation?

So we're off.  I start out at a good pace, I'm surprisingly happy with how I'm feeling, except for the need to go to the bathroom.  Mile 1 done, 2 done, at about mile 3 I give up on trying to avoid puddles, mile 4 done, mile 5-6 check; mile 7 (ish?) oh look this is where the hills start; mile 8 oh my gosh I do not want to do this anymore, not because i'm tired now but because I know I have 5 more to go.  Mile 9 - thank goodness Jared is here.  I feel like dying and he is high fiving the crown, commenting on the signs, having a great time.  Oh and then one of the people in the crowd gave him a beer.  That was pretty awesome.  

Mile 10 ok I can do this, anytime now I'm going to see Jason.  We agreed that he would be somewhere along mile 10...Mile 11-where the F is Jason? Maybe I missed him, I'm going to feel bad if he was out there an I missed him.  That sucks.  Mile 11.5 - JASON!  Holding a sign for me :)  I give him a high five.  I'm feeling awesome!  2 more miles to go!  This is cake.  

Mile 13.1!  I did it!!  I may have felt like crying a little.  Best feeling ever.  Until you realize it's still cold and rainy and you are no longer running.  Also until you realize you still need to pee and the line is forever long.  I get through the line and find my way to Jason in the car.  It takes me at least the rest of the day before I start to feel warm again.  But it was worth it!

In the end I ran it in 2 hours and 52 seconds.  My orignal goal was 1 hour and 45 mins for my first half.  Following my injury that time was revised to 2 hours.  So I was a little over my revised goal, but considering the weather conditions and the need to go to the bathroom the whole race, I was pretty happy with the final result.  I'm excited to improve with the more races I do.  It's a great feeling to get the first one out of the way! 

Next month I'm doing a 15K with Jared called the Hot Chocolate 15K.  Yay for free Ghirardelli chocolate!  Then in April Jason and the Wagner's and I are all going to do Warrior Dash!  So excited!  

Also glad to get this first post out of the way.  Still to come: update on wedding planning and execution; becoming a house wife; spirituality; and more! 

The Blessings of Being Busy

July has been a busy month!  We made a trip to Houston, I reentered the world of going to school and working, I became an aunt, I started doing Insanity (twice), I became an aunt (!!!), and we went apartment/house hunting.

It is always so wonderful to go to Houston!  It's the perfect vacation. There are few places more welcoming and home feeling than my future mother-in-law's house. She came to know me so well in such a short amount of time.  I think by the second time I visited Jason at his mom's house she made sure to have the kitchen stocked with cereal and milk. I know this is a strange marker for how well someone knows you, but for me it is a loving gesture.  She has done and continues to do so many little (and big) things for Jason and I. Anyways, as always we had a great and relaxing time. Highlights of the weekend: seeing Paul and Tracy: we haven't seen Paul since New Years Eve; going to the beach with mama Fry; going to dinner with Cody, Jason's brother.   

Multi-tasking Rebecca is back in full swing.  On July 5th I became a working member of society once again.  I forgot how work + school often = exhausted Rebecca.  After I left Green Oaks I continued to wake up before 7 on a regular basis.  I had just recently begun to sleep until 9am when work rolled around.  It was a rude awakening (literally) having to wake up early again.  But I'd say it's well worth it.  I'm a job coach for students ages 16-19 with visual impairments in a summer program called REAL. My two "kids" are 16 and 18.  They are just wonderful.  Of course there are plenty of stressful moments; they're high school aged so there's lots of drama to go around. But as a whole I'm enjoying work. Job coaching is mostly me sitting in an office for 4 hours, so my favorite parts are when I get to just talk and hang out with the participants (breakfast, to and from job sites, after they get off work...).     

Along with work, I started my new workout program on July 5th. As I said in my last post, I received Insanity in the mail.   It's pretty awesome.  Insanity is for the most part centered around the idea of interval training. Most of the workouts are under 60 minutes, which is great for my constricted time schedule.  These DVDs are not joking, not that you need or want to know this, but the best way to describe my state at the end of the workouts is to say I feel like I'm melting. I finished one complete week of the workouts when my first week of "real" work hit (the previous week was training). I was so tired!  Also, I had a total of 6 papers and one test due that week. Needless to say, there was very little working out. So I had to start over this past week, and have done much better with getting a workout in despite time constraints. In addition, I reconnected with a friend from my graduate program and we're going to start running together once a week.  For some unknown reason we decided to run at 4 in the afternoon last Tuesday.  It. was. HOT. I about died...not to mention he's an excellent runner so keeping up with him was a bit of a challenge, but challenges are good.  Since then we have decided 7pm to 8pm is a much more appropriate time to go running. He assures me I'll be ready to dominate the December Dallas half marathon. 

On the morning of July 7th at 6:56am, in the middle of doing my Insanity workout for the day I received this text: "@ the hospital...6 centimeters"  I flipped out!  Nancy was in labor!  Baby Brooklyn was on her way! I started to get things ready, thinking how fast can I shower...how far is the drive to the hospital...oh wait, I have my last day of training for work today and then I have class until 9:30pm.  Ugh. I knew I couldn't miss training so I asked J Wag and my mom to keep me updated.  I was pretty upset.  I wanted so bad to be there taking part in the anticipation and watching my brother as he became a father.  I appreciate the moments of life and I was missing out on these. Around 12:45 I received another text message saying Nancy was starting to push.  I became extra antsy sitting in the conference room. I was expecting a "SHE'S HERE" text any minute. 1:00 came and went...2:00 came and went...3:00 came. I got out of training an hour early and had to make a tough decision, speed my way to Baylor Hospital in Downtown Dallas or be a good student and go to class. I hopped in my car and set off down I-35. About half-way there, at 4:18pm I received this text:

8lbs 13 oz 21 inch

Sidenote:....yes, that is almost 4 hours of pushing. Every time I thought "oooo I want a baby now!" I thought about 4 hours of pushing and decided I could enjoy a few years of married life sans children.

A flooding of emotions hit.  I was so excited!  Brooklyn was here!   Bryan and Nancy are parents!  I'm an aunt!  I'm not there.  But I would be soon.  I arrived about 20 minutes later, got lost trying to find the correct building, and then finally got to see the new family! As soon as I walked in the room I went to Bryan and gave him a giant hug!  It's hard to fully describe how happy I am for him.  He's a father!  It still makes me all emotional.  He is the most amazing brother: protective (although sometimes more than I thought necessary), loving, funny, encouraging, etc. Brooklyn is a lucky young lady to have him for a dad. And then I saw Nancy, holding her precious little girl, 100% in awe and in love. Nancy has also been a huge blessing to our family.  She has to be one of the sweetest and most self giving person I know. And then there was Brooklyn.  

Beautiful. My heart leaped. I thought back to just a couple weeks ago when I felt her rolling around in Nancy's tummy.  I thought back to when my cousin Gus was born, the first time I realized the miracle of life and child birth. I thought of a talk by Christopher West when he described the intimacy of a mother and child's bond; how the child spends nine months under the beating heart of her mother. And here she was, bringing a family together.  I will cherish this moment the rest of my life.  Sharing this moment with my brother and sister, the three of us standing together in the delivery room, my brother a father. We've spent countless hours, and my brother tolerated countless hours, of playing house. Planning our future lives, and here we were watching it all become reality.  So yes, I am overflowing with love for my little niece Brooklyn. I wish I lived closer so I could see her more  :)  

Jason met Miss Brooklyn last weekend.  As my sister said in her blog, it's really awesome to see my future husband holding and falling in love with her in his own way. I can't help but think of our future together and building a family with him. And then, I can't help but smile.  

We have made it to today...whew.  Longest blog post ever.  We went house/apartment hunting today!  Yay!  We have been toying with the idea of renting a house instead of moving into a new apartment lately.  But each time I find one I like and contact the agent, they already have a contract in the works.  So we decided to get serious about it today.  Our first stop was Coppell.  We like the idea of Coppell because it's still somewhat central to UT Southwestern and Denton.  More importantly it's close to our church, where we'd both like to become more involved. We drove around multiple apartment complexes and townhouses, and condos, and such.  Saw a couple of "maybes" and some "absolutely not's" and then we came to St. Marin Apartments. I had seen this one online and knew it would be a top contender. This was the only place in Coppell we actually went inside and talked with office about renting. The amenities are un-real for an apartment...at least compared to the places I've lived. It's kind of like a resort. When apartments go on the market here, they get snatched up real quick so I'm hoping we can make a final decision soon, cuz I want to snatch one of the openings up for us.  The plan is for Jason to move into the apartment when his lease ends and then I'll join him in January, you know, after we get married.  We also went and looked at some townhouses in Farmers Branch.  The big draw here is 1) they are close to Addison: we figured if we live in Addison maybe people will come visit us, 2) they have a little patio/yard area where Boots could go out for a little while and 3) they have pretty good prices.  We liked most things about these, but the living room was very small. So if people did come visit us, they may not have a place to sit.  Also, after all the amenities at St. Marin, a tiny pool didn't do it for us. 

And there you go.  It's been a very busy July!  But filled with so much joy and blessing!   If you made it to the end of this I'm quite impressed.  I had to take a break in writing it (to do laundry no less. domestication?  I think yes.), so I can't imagine reading it.  Thanks for stopping by I hope you have a fantastic week! 

 "For You formed my inward parts ; You wove me in my mother's womb.  I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.  My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth ;  Your eyes have seen my unformed substance ; And in Your bookwere all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them."  Psalm 139:13-16