December Recap/Stats

And so ends another year. The numbers this month are so far off from what I had expected for this, my return to running month, but between a family emergency consuming the first few weeks, traveling to Florida after that, then getting horribly sick, followed by straining an intercostal muscle, and then of course the holidays... it ended up being a bit of a wash. It is my hope beyond hope that going forward in to 2012 that all the crappy, no fun things are behind me and I can focus on getting back to 100%! Now on to the numbers:

Miles Ran: 3.1 COLLECTIVE MILES!!!

Meters Swam: 0 m - Whoops!

Miles Biked: 0 M - Another Whoops!

Miles Elliptical'd: 7 M

Miles Walked: 8.05 M - Least amount of walks since my boot days! Add another whoops up in here!

Flights of Stairs Climbed: 104 Flights

Rest Days Planned/Taken: How ever many needed / 15

Current Reads: (Reading) Atonement by Ian McEwan; I just got started on this book, so no real formative thoughts on it yet.

(Finished) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett; I had a hard time getting in to this book but once all the characters were established and the story line picked up, I couldn't put it down and the ending blew my mind. Beautiful and tragic love story. Bossypants by Tina Fey; Entertaining. Fast Read. That's about it.

Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: I'm still addicted to reading all the drama on the wedding boards, it's better than Reality TV!!!

Current Obsession: See above.

Current Drink: Always with the water.

Current Song: "Ave Maria" has been stuck in my head for weeks!

Current Wish-List: No wishes needed over here, I am absolutely blessed right now.

Current Need: See above.

Current Triumph: The triumphant R2R!!! See also "Miles Ran" above. :)

Current Bane of my Existence: NOTHING! No more linking to that horrid injury page! YES!!!!!!!!!!

Current Goal: To make 2012 "The Year of the Redhead!!!" LOL!

Current Indulgence: Christmas Cookies. Mmmm....

Current Blessings: Being able to spend time and support those we care about during a difficult time and the continued love, encouragement, and support from my family, friends, all of you, and especially, le Spike.

Current Excitement: Tomorrow's fun run/walk and the impending new year! SOOO ready to put 2011 behind me for good! Bring on 2012!!!

How'd your December shape up?!?!

Running is what you make of it, make it an Adventure!™

3 Things Thursday

1. How the Grinch Stole from a Charity Race...
   
   THIS. <- Please click.
   
   For those of you that have been following me for awhile you'll remember that I got involved with Operation Jack back in August of 2009. In December of 2009 I posted about why it was a cause important to me and I went on to raise over $1,000 with your help while training and going sub-4 at the Gasparilla Marathon in February of 2010. This year, because of my injury I wasn't able to do any of the Operation Jack events but it is still a cause I wholeheartedly support. Sam, the founder of Operation Jack and father of Jack, is an amazing person and I consider him a dear friend. I am so disappointed that the Houston Area Road Runners Association, part of the bigger running community that I consider myself a part of, would shut down a small fries charity event like this and cost the charity $500 in returns, it's just unacceptable. Shame, shame, shame on you HARRA!!! I really hope they step up to the plate to fix this and host the event next year, that is really the only way to make this right. Are you man enough HARRA?!?!?
   
   
   
   
2. Hard at Work or Hardly Working? This week has been the quietest week at work ever! There's a skeleton crew holding down the fort and I feel like I've hit "refresh" more times then I ever have, ever. Thankfully I was able to get caught up on a bunch of stuff, get to some things that have been on the back burner for awhile, and cleaned my desk which is big because that thing never gets cleaned! Yuck!
   
   
3. New Year's Eve Plans... Our last few NYE's have been all sorts of fun with a road trip to Chattanooga (2009/2010) and Spike's sister having an amazing NYE wedding (2010/2011) so this year had a lot to live up to. We finally decided on having dinner with friends earlier in the evening and then heading down to Jackson (my old hometown) to join Sun Runner and The Engineer for a NYE 5k walk/run called "Eve on the Ave," it starts at 10 pm. I can't think of any better way to end this year of injury than by walk/running my way through a 5k with my future hubs and some of our fav friends!
   
   What are y'all getting in to for NYE!?!?!? Whatever it is, I'm wishing you all a great and safe one!
   

{Mostly} Wordless Wednesday

So excited to earn my "manly" name when I become a part of Spike's family next year!

3 Things Thursday

1. Back on the Sidelines... After only one short week of half milers I'm back on the sidelines but thankfully, not because of my leg. No, this injury is from coughing too hard and pulling/straining an intercostal (rib) muscle. Everything I've read says that running will only further aggravate this injury so I'm just going to play it safe and shut things down until the new year. Only me right?
   
   
   
2. I'm Dreaming of a Wh...Wh...Where's the Snow? Everyone seems to be up in arms about not having a white Christmas here in the mitten but I personally could care less. I'm not particularly a fan of driving in the stuff and after living in Florida for 11 years, I don't need it to celebrate the holiday. Does that make me a Scrooge? Anyone else a-ok without the white stuff?
   
   
3. Festive Festivus! Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, or Fesitvus, here's wishing you and yours a happy one! Catch y'all on the flipside of holiday goodness!
   

3 Things Thursday

1. Florida Fun... As y'all know, I headed down to my beloved O-town this past weekend for the Girls Annual Christmas Dinner/Ornament Exchange/Ugly Sweater Party. I had a blast spending quality time with all my favorite Florida ladies (and bridesmaids!!!) and the weather was absolutely perfect. 70* in December!! Why did I move to Michigan again? Spike who? LOL! I kid, I kid. Sorta.
   
   
   
   
   Love these ladies!
   
   
   
   Engaged Girls!
   It was so fun talking weddings with Rixy & Linds.
   
   
   
2. Running, Running, and Running, Running... So can I just say that I simply can't get enough of this whole running again thing? I know that it's only a half of a mile of running but after nine months of no running at all, I just can't get enough. Tomorrow is my last half miler of the week and then I get to move up to an entire mile next week! Woo hoo!!!
   
   
   
   
   U of M Track; i.e. running in enemy territory.
   
   
3. Down With The Sickness... So I'm fairly certain that I currently have either the Bubonic Plague or African Ebojawabee Disease. If you don't hear from me for a couple days it's probably because I've crawled under my desk and died. Ugh.
   

Wedding Warbling

Alright ladies (and gents, just in case any of you guys care to peruse this all-things-wedding post) here's where I give you the scoop on the wedding deets. This could be the first of many posts on the subject, or the only. Spike and I really want to keep things under wraps for obvious reasons, but I can share a few things...

• Venue... Check! We're heading over to Grand Rapids, {hopefully} marrying in Spike's sister's church, and then hitting downtown to boogie down for the reception. The reception venue is catering the event so that's one less thing we have to worry about! Score!
  
  
• Date... Check! The big day will be Saturday, October 13, 2012, which just so happens to be the three year anniversary of our first date! We picked this day because it conveniently fell the weekend after Art Prize (so there may still be art up around the city to enjoy without the crowds) and the weekend before the Michigan vs Michigan State game (for all our diehard football fans cough *Spike and the groomsmen* cough) and also the Grand Rapids Marathon (so half the city won't be shut down come Sunday when our guests try to leave). Not to mention the first few weeks of October are drop dead gorgeous with perfect temps and beautiful foliage epitomizing a fall wedding, plus the whole of October holds many special firsts from our relationship.
  
  
• Save the Date's... Check! We used an old copy of "Pride and Prejudice" scavenged from a book sale for the inside of the envelopes and I put my own spin on the library cards when I laid them out, adding a timeline of some of those key October dates from our relationship. We finished them off by date stamping in red ink the big day.
  
  

  Obviously only our friends will get the "Spike + Red" cards.
  
  
• Colors... Check! We had long talked about using yellow and gray, as they are both featured on our flag, so that is what we are going to do. It was actually the first thing we decided on.
  
  
• Wedding Party... Check! I won't discuss Spike's groomsmen because he is not quite done asking yet but here are the bridesmaid deets: I always knew this would be a very hard decision to make because I have so many wonderful ladies in my life, but in the end I chose my Beaker Luv as maid of honor, my dearest Rixy, my beloved B.o.B., and my cousin Michelle. With that figured out I wanted to do something special to ask them and decided on giving each a scroll and "quest", playing off our engagement. The "quest" being a lighthearted poem I wrote about being my bridesmaid (email me if you want to read it), written on a scroll that was then wrapped around a piece of chalk that they would use to "accept" by picture texting me with the words "I DO".

I used paint samples in our wedding colors from Home Depot for addressing the packages and also enclosed another sample they could keep in their purse to use for inspiration as they look for dresses.

It was so fun getting all the "I DO's"

• Dress... Check! So let me preface this by saying I had no idea I'd find a dress as fast as I did. My step-mom set up an appointment to try on dresses while I was visiting my family in Colorado over Thanksgiving and I went in thinking it would be mostly just for fun. I wasn't sure what I really wanted so I just let everyone pick dresses for me to try on and lo and behold the very first one I tried on, picked by the sales girl, was it. When I came out and saw the looks on my family's faces and then looked in the mirror myself I knew it was the one. My heart skipped a beat and the fam exclaimed "It's a 10!!!" rating all others less and saying they didn't compare. I tried so hard not to order but I couldn't, it was "The One". I cannot wait to wear it for Spike next October!
  
  
  
  Via
  NOT "the one" but one of the rejects.
  
  My lil sis insisted I try it on, it's called "Rapunzel" from the Disney line, I could not keep a straight face wearing it! The sales girl said I was the only person to ever have tried it on since it came in. Def not my cup of tea.
  
  
• Photographer... Check! Thank you weddingbee.com for serving up a ton of great recommendations in the local board sections. Spike and I love the work they've done and look forward to shooting our engagement photo's with them in the Spring and discussing the fun shots we want to do for the wedding day.
  
  
• Odds and Ends... Getting there! The creative juices have been flowing for all the other fun stuff, it's been so much fun bouncing ideas off each other and then working together to see those ideas transform in to reality! DIY Wedding FTW!!!
  

And that's all I have for you today. We're so excited and can't wait for October to get here so we can say "I do!"

So, any words of advice or stories to share from your own weddings? We'd love to hear them!

Like I Never Missed A Beat

Back in September Spike and I were chit-chatting about my injury and how long it had been since my last run (early March). Knowing it would be at least December before I would run again, he says to me,

"If there was snow on the ground during your last run and it's on the ground for your next one, well, it'll be like you never missed a beat!"

He was kidding of course, nine months is hardly "not missing a beat", but there ended up being a bit of truth to that statement; Last night when I set out for my first run in over nine months it was 30*, windy, and there was in fact some snow on the ground. I'd have laughed at the irony if I weren't already brimming over with so much excitement.

It felt so weird to have Hermes on my wrist again and a pair of running shoes on my feet. I had underestimated the weather and ended up being under-dressed for the amount of time we'd actually be out, it's one thing to wear a single layer in 30* temps when you're going long, it's another when you're only going a collective mile, but I didn't care. After managing to flash the U of M track team my new sports bra on accident and then getting scolded by Fabulous for not demanding they show us theirs in return, we got to the track. I fumbled with Hermes to get him going, "How do I reset again?" "What do I push to turn on the light?" and after a quick refresher tutorial we were off. Fab started running laps while I began my .25 M warm up walk, within minutes I had lapped the track and it was time to RUN!

What a weird feeling it is to know you can run after nine months of not being able to. As I neared the mark where I could start running my stomach knotted up and I actually had a moment where I thought about not doing it. I got over that quick enough and it was go time. Fabulous ran by my side, stride for stride, as we both screamed like 13 year old girls having a Justin Bieber sighting that I was RUNNING!!!... for two glorious laps of the track or .5 miles.

ZOMG!!!

Before I even had a chance to get warmed up or break a sweat I had to slow to a walk for my cool down lap. All done and said it was the most exhilarating 12+ minutes / one collective mile I've done for a workout in a LONG time. My legs were fresh and it felt right, I was grinning from ear to ear the rest of the night.

I can't wait for my next half miler tomorrow with B.o.B as I'm headed down to Florida tonight for the "Girls Annual Christmas Dinner" this weekend. (The trip they all chipped in on for my birthday) So far so good on not having any residual pain at the fracture site, just some muscle soreness that was to be expected considering how long its been since these legs have endured any kind of impact.

I can't thank you all enough for enduring my many months of being injured and especially for the support you've provided along the way. As each excited comment popped up on yesterday's post my heart swelled to know that I had, had so many people behind me this whole time. I am eternally grateful to have always had a shoulder to lean on during all of this and many times that shoulder came from one of you.

Alright, enough of this sappy stuff, how awesome is it to not hear me whine about being injured anymore?!?!? :)

To end this post I want to share two hilarious things that were said to me after discussing my return to running (R2R) yesterday:

Sun Runner: "One might say you full term gestated your stress fracture and birthed a healthy, fully healed bone!"

Harold: "See all the good things that come when you stimulate a bone?"

More to come next week, have a fantabulous weekend rocking those races and runs my friends!

CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF!!!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled "3 Things Thursday" with a very important announcement:

The Redhead has been cleared for takeoff!!!

I have waited nine long, never ending months to say that my friends and it feels even better than I thought it would!!!

I'm going to keep this short and sweet because I need to get to it here at work but in a nutshell; the MRI and x-rays showed a cleanly healed fracture site and after a few hop/jump tests and a promise not to even think about attempting to run a marathon for at least a year he cleared me for takeoff! Half mile increments every week, running only three days per week, until I get up to at least 5 miles. Then I can start thinking about any kind of real "training." I cannot even begin to tell you how much I needed some good news this week!

My first run bag packed in over 9 months!
Can't wait to hit the track for .5 M with Fabulous this afternoon!!!