The Melting Pot Birthday Dipping

Marti, Rochelle, Jonelle, Me, Andrea, Christie, and Abby

Jonelle organized a "surprise" ladies' night at The Melting Pot on Thursday to celebrate my birthday. It's always nice to get out with the ladies and get away from the kids! Thanks ladies!

Visit to Idaho

I went to Eastern Idaho for a job interview. I love visiting Idaho. My favorite part: family members that own a small military arsenal :) Note the NINE extra clips (just in case). I know where I'm leaving my food storage if I ever need help...



I also got an invitation to see Collin Raye in concert and visit with lots family. There was a job interview in there, too. I promise.

The Birthday Present(s)

With the help of his talented Mom and brother Kevin, Brian spent the last month-plus putting together these frames to highlight my running accomplishments from the last year. I'm glad he also included his huge running accomplishment in the center marathon frame!

These took the place of our BYU diplomas on the wall in the main hallway. I said that was okay since it's our most recent big accomplishment!

My favorite thing is that we have the exact same finishing time on the plaque. Perfect. I'm so glad we did that together.




Frame one.




Frame two.


Thanks Brian! (And Mom Hanks and Kevin!) :)

My 28th Birthday!

We started the birthday last night with a traditional birthday trip to Red Robin for my free birthday burger (Bonzai Burger sub Gardenburger), strawberry lemonade, sundae and balloons for the kids.

This morning, I wished my legs, heart, and lungs a happy 28th birthday by taking them for a 5 mile run with my M.F.F. (marathon friend forever), Jonelle!

Then, while Wes went to preschool, Jonelle watched Sydney, and Brian and I went out to breakfast. Ann Arbor has a ton of free birthday deals around town so we went to Angelo's since they had a B1G1 free meal. It was yummy! Then we stopped by Zingerman's Deli to get my free half dozen bagels. Then we stopped by Cake Nouveau to get my free cupcake! (The owner, Courtney Clark, has done multiple Food Network Challenges and won TLC's Ultimate Cake-Off.)

After my fun morning with Brian, we picked up the kids, put them down for naps, then Brian took a nap and I made my birthday pumpkin cheesecake! After everyone woke up, we celebrated!

Opening presents! Wes got me a garlic press and Sydney got me a mini whisk. Just what I wanted! (Pictures of what Brian made me to come!)

To top it off, I got a bunch of emails, cards, Facebook messages, texts and calls from friends and family. Thanks to everyone! It's nice to feel so loved!

Cowtown Countdown - 11 Weeks to Go

This week was really rough. I didn't do a single run. Why? It wasn't for lack of desire or motivation. It was because I had one of the worst colds of my life (or that I can remember). I kept thinking I'd wake up, be fine and could hit the road, but no luck.

I miss my running shoes! I got new ones last week and have only been able to run in them twice. They are the newest (December '09) version of my Nikes. The Structure Triax 13s. I debated on getting the shoes I already had (the 12s) because they'd be a lot cheaper, but then I compared the weight of the shoes. My first pair of running shoes (Pearl Izumis) weigh 10.4 ounces, my Nike 12s weigh 10.1 ounces, and the Nike 13s weigh 9.3 ounces! I was sold. A difference of .8 ounces might not seem like much, but over 26.2 miles, it matters. And honestly, I was surprised I could tell a difference just holding the shoes in my hands.

I think one benefit of having to take this week off is realizing that I really have come to enjoy running. I want to run. I missed running this week. What? Yah, I know. There have been times in the past where I haven't worked out for a week (or a month, or multiple months) and just kind of felt gross and lazy, and wanted to get back into it to remedy that feeling. That wasn't how it was for me this week. I genuinely wanted to run. So, even though I'm still not 100% (which is so frustrating since it's been over a week now), I will be running tomorrow. I need it. I'm addicted. (Plus, it's my birthday week so I should get what I want, right?) :)

In an effort to not look like a total lazy loser who skipped all her training this week, I won't post what was actually on my training calendar this week. Jonelle and I have swapped things around (she was sick this week, too, but did a 12-miler on Saturday) and I think we'll be okay. I just hope this coming week won't be too rough since I'm still congested (but finally coming out of it, sort of) and since last week I did zero running. So sad. It'll be okay though! We still have 11 weeks to go. That's plenty of time!