Baby, We Were Born to Run!!!

Run a half marathon. - Check.

Well, I did it!  Last week at this time I was a bit apprehensive about the whole event.  Now, I'm so excited and proud of myself for finishing that I've been researching other half marathons.

It was such a great run!  A little warmer this expected but I made it through...  Each Pittsburgh neighborhood was so welcoming with throngs of spectators, cheer teams and bands.  It helped take my mind off the heat, pain and realization that I still had six, eight or 10 miles left.

Thanks to Amy for encouraging me to run and participating with me. Thanks to my fabulous boyfriend for taking Amy and I downtown at the crack of dawn, cheering me through the finish line and treating me to lunch.  Thanks to Amanda, Barb and Meg who also came to cheer me on. 

Three days later I'm still running on adrenaline and waiting till I'm able to run again.  The blisters, sore muscles and exhaustion are slowly dissipating.  It was so worth it!

Congratulations to all the other runner!  It was an amazing race!

Happy Graduation, Boog!

“Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

I'm not one for shout-outs in my blog but this one is necessary because my little sister is graduating from college tomorrow.

CONGRATULATIONS BOOG and the entire Class of 2012 at University of Mount Union!!!

I'm not one to express my feelings either in person or in my blog but I can honestly say I am very proud of my sister.  I may kid a lot but she has worked really hard to earn her degree.

So, it wouldn't be a graduation post without some advice for the graduate:

* Don't fret that you don't have a job the day of graduation.  These things take time.  Believe me.  The perfect job will come and you will be glad you waited.

* Dream big!  Anything is possible!  I never would have imagined that I would have a Master's the day I graduated from La Roche College.

* Accept failure.  It may happen but it makes you stronger.  I've had my share and it hasn't been easy but in the end I think I am a better person.

* Make the time to keep in touch and see college friends.  These are the friends that became family.  Unlike high school, these friends will be your forever friends.  Start your own beach weekend!

* Live life to the fullest.  This is a bittersweet time but it will get better.  Make the most of your twenties.  It will be over before you know it.  Work hard but play harder!  Live without regret!

* Learn the alma mater and fight song.  It's sad that your sister who didn't even graduate from Mount Union knows them off by heart.

 I love you Boog and will always be here for you!!



1 Day. 10 Hours. 36 Minutes. 31 Seconds.

As the Pittsburgh Marathon weekend commences I am overcome with a range of emotions...

...fear, worry, excitement, hope.

I've trained since January.  I've bored all of you with my posts about training.  I survived my long run and all of my short runs leading up to that and this weekend.  There is really nothing else I can do now except rest and hydrate.

This race is one of the goals I would like to check off my five year plan.  A marathon is also on my five year plan but the ending of that five years is fast approaching, so that may need to be added to my bucket list.  I CAN DO THIS! I am ready for 13.1!

So...

...for the next 32 hours, I am determined to prepare myself physically and mentally for this challenge.  I know I'm not fast.  My goal is not to win.  My goal is to finish.  With future races, I will have room for improvement in the time category.  Here's to 13.1 miles of Pittsburgh!

Good luck to all my fellow runners!

Happy Palm Sunday!

I love Palm Sunday! I think it may be my favorite festival day of the church year. And for one reason:

THE PALMS!

The rest of the choir hates it and my dad hates it but I absolutely love it. It's like the Hallelujah Chorus, once you sing it, you never forget it. It makes a great shower song too! And it definitely takes some adrenaline to get though but it is so beautiful, especially when the sopranos take the descant.

I also like singing "All Glory, Laud and Honor" but "The Palms" is the main reason I love Palm Sunday. This year I got smart and recorded it during church, so I don't have to wait until next year to hear it again!

The Good and the Bad

Well, I had my official training run today with the Steel City Runners Club.

I wouldn't call it a successful run but I wouldn't call it a failure either.

The Good News: I had my fastest five-mile time. It was a small group of runners today because of the race at North Park that I had originally intended to run but registration was full. We were divided into groups by the mileage we had signed up to run. I registered to run seven. No one else had though; they were either running smaller or higher mileages. Two other runners offered to run their four-mile loop first with me and then run their five-mile loop while I ran a three-mile loop. It ended up that five of decided to run five miles together and figure out afterwards what loops to do next. I'm not going to lie. It wasn't easy but I pounded out five miles and recorded my best time.

The Bad New: I was so exhausted from the five-mile loop with my new running friends that I couldn't do two more miles. The rest of the group didn't continue either. I attribute my inability to run further to be a combination of my faster pace this morning and the fact that I probably should not have run six miles and lifted yesterday. I was so sore. Needless to say, I was pretty discouraged and mad at myself for not getting the seven miles in. Later at lunch with my boyfriend, he reminded me that I had only wanted to run five miles today and I only ended up with seven miles because I clicked too fast during the online registration. That made me feel a little better.

It was a good experience. It was nice not running by myself or at least talking with other runners. I guess slowly I am becoming an official runner. I love when you pass other runners multiple times on a run and you give them a wave or a smile. And I must be crazy but I joined the Steel City Runners Club today. I'm running again with them in two weeks and maybe once before that.

For now, I'm just going to try to stay motivated and not get to down on myself because of my pace. I just want to finish my first half-marathon!

I think I can. I think I can.

Sometimes I surprise myself.

Today's training plan, according to my half marathon guru Hal Higbon, said I needed to run four miles. Plus I need to make up for a strength and stretching session that I missed earlier in the week.

Well, I ended up completing both but I ran 6.1 miles instead of 4 miles. I was pretty impressed with myself.

Granted, I know my pace time wasn't the greatest. I started out pretty fast. I blame Pandora's poor song line-up and too many intersections for my bad time.

Maybe one of my sisters or friends with an awesome collection of music on their iTunes would want to load my phone or iPod with some sweet running jams. It would be much appreciated!

Tomorrow is my first official training run with the Steel City Runners. I'm a little nervous. I'm not a runner. I'm a wannabe runner. It's 7 miles. That will be the most I have done so far.

Plus, I'm a little lost without my running partner who is in London getting married this weekend. OK, that's a good excuse but I miss you Amy!

Positive thoughts. I can do it. I might just be slow.

So, here's to 7 miles!

"I want to be Gracie! I want to be Betty!"

When I was little, my late grandparents would babysit my sisters and I on Thursday evenings while my parents were at bell choir rehearsal. We had special bedtime rituals with our beloved grandmother - we watched airplanes from my bedroom window, listened to stories from her childhood, sang "White Coral Bells" and then gave each other butterfly kisses - her signature. These traditions were preceded by another treasured memory.

My grandma had seven older brothers and sisters. The three youngest were very close - Betty, Billy and Gracie. (When my grandma was seven, she became an older sister after my Aunt Margie was born.) As my sister and I prepared to get ready for bed, we would pretend we were her and her older sister. I always wanted to be Betty, maybe because we were both the older sister. My sister, Annie, was always Gracie. She was and to this day still is the spitting image of our grandmother. There would be happy cheers of "I want to be Gracie!" or "I want to be Betty!" and we would run up the stairs to bed.

From those early days I had nothing but love and admiration for my grandma and her sisters. Of my great aunts, I was the closest to my Aunt Betty even though she lived on the other side of the country in Sun City, Arizona. In the eighth grade, my Aunt Betty and Uncle Ed came to visit. Thinking it would be a nice surprise for my grandma and her sister, my parents asked Annie, Meg and I to sing "Sisters" for them. We fought it but in the end we sang for them (some persuasion in the form of $10 bills from grandpa helped our resistance) though honestly I would have done anything for both my grandma and aunt. They loved it of course!

I loved hearing stories of their youth and adolescence. Most of the stories starred my grandma and Aunt Betty and could make me laugh until I cried and my stomach hurt. The two of them were crazy. They dropped and broke a watermelon once and thought no one would notice if they pieced it back together. They had a bond that couldn't be broken though, no matter what life brought them or how many miles separated them. When the bickering and fighting between my own sisters and I got bad, I remember my mom, grandma and aunt saying..."Be grateful you have a sister." I am. My sisters are my best friends and I know that is how my grandma and her sisters felt even when they stole each others clothes or played pranks on each other.

When my grandma died in 2004, my Aunt Betty helped me through a very difficult time, which I know was also a hard time for her too, losing one of her younger sisters. We wrote letters once or twice a month for the next seven years. I have all of those letters tucked in my precious books and each one holds a special place in my heart, especially now. My dear Aunt Betty died on Monday. The last time I saw her was 2007 and we hadn't written in a few months due to her declining health. It's hard because her death makes me not only miss her but my grandma as well.

The two of them were amazing women, as were all of the sisters. I used to be an awe when looking at old photographs of their beauty and style. I am blessed to have had my grandma, Aunt Betty and all of my other great aunts in my life. They helped to shape the woman I am today.

My memories of these remarkable women will stay alive through the fabulous stories I have of us together and them during their childhood; the photographs - old and new; and all of my wonderful cousins (nine kids makes for a lot of cousins!).

RIP Aunt Betty

I love you! Butterfly kisses!

“Perhaps they are not stars, but rather
openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down
upon us to let us know they are happy.”