The Race

Saturday was the big race...the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville. I blogged about how much we were looking forward to it last week, not knowing how much fun we would end up having. It was a blast!

Friday, however, was definitely not a fun day. I noticed on Monday night that my neck was hurting a little bit on the left side, but I didn't think much about it. I figured I'd slept funny or something, and it would go away. Tuesday, it was hurting a little bit worse, and by Wednesday, I knew that I was in big trouble. Thursday morning, when I woke up, I could barely lift my head off the pillow it hurt so bad. I had to work all day that day, and right after I got off, I headed to the chiropractor to see if that would help. I ended up trying Advil, Tylenol, icing it, putting heat on it, Biofreeze, etc., and nothing helped. The pain was so bad that I couldn't turn my neck at all. I figured there was no way that I would be able to run if it didn't get any better. After barely sleeping at all on Thursday night because I couldn't get comfortable, I went back to the chiropractor first thing Friday morning, and after trying a few more things, he ended up taping my neck and shoulder to see if that would at least get me through the race.

My neck felt ok when we met everyone in Athens to leave for Nashville, but by the time we got to the Expo a couple of hours later, my neck was hurting worse than ever. It was literally the worst pain I think I've ever been in. It hurt to walk and even to swallow. I figured that I would just have to cheer from the sidelines the next morning because there would be no way I could run.

After we picked up our race packets (and a really cool t-shirt) at the Expo, we headed to eat dinner at an Italian restaurant called Mafiaoza's. I ended up taking some ibuprofen on the way there just to see if that would at least get me through dinner. It ended up helping some, and it was a good thing because the restaurant was super crowded, and we had to wait a while to get seated and then to get our food. I can see why it's a popular place because the food was awesome! My meal was probably was one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had. I'd love to eat there again next time we're in Nashville. Travis loved it too! He ended up eating 3 pieces of pizza and finishing my plate as well as Aimee's and Mollie's! Haha :) I have no idea where all that food went, but I guess it fueled him onto victory the next morning...

After we left the restaurant, we decided to drive the course so we'd have an idea of what to expect the next morning when we ran. By the time we got to the hotel, it was after 10 PM, and we had to leave the hotel at 4 AM! Luckily, I slept great (for the 5 hours that we had), and my neck felt decent when I woke up. I could turn my head a little bit from side to side. I decided then that I would at least try to run part of the race and hopefully I would be able to finish. We ate breakfast in the car on the way to LP Field where we had to park. Then, we took a shuttle bus to the starting line a few miles way. Everything was really well organized and ran smoothly for a such a big event with so many people. They announced that there were over 31,000 runners...not to mention thousands more spectators and volunteers. It was crazy!

Travis, Aimee, and I ended up starting the race in the same corral. Before it was our corral's turn to start, we turned around, and there was just a sea of people behind us. There were so many people that we couldn't even see the end of the line! Finally, the gun went off, and we started running. I decided from the beginning just to take it easy and try to run as far as I could, but not push it too hard. Travis and Aimee took off pretty fast, and I didn't see them again til the finish! :)

The first 4 or 5 miles were pretty easy. It was a lot of up and down...rolling hills, but nothing too steep. There were so many people cheering on the sidelines that it was easy to run without thinking about it. The music playing really helped too. Every time I heard a song that I knew, it helped me run just a little bit harder. I started my stopwatch when we started running, so I could see how fast I was going. From the beginning, I knew that I probably wouldn't make my goal of 2 hours because I was running about 10 minute/mile pace. I decided to change my goal to 2:10. For the first 5 or 6 miles, I was on pace pretty well, but by about mile 7 or so, I started fading. It was already pretty warm by that point, and a lot of the course was in the direct sun. I got water at just about every station, drinking some and pouring the rest on my head. I also ate some Gu around mile 8 or 9, and that gave me some more energy for another mile or two. The last few miles were difficult. Both of my arms started going numb all the way down to my fingers for some reason. I knew I was slowing down, but my legs wouldn't go any faster. I decided that as long as I ran the whole way without stopping to walk, I would be happy no matter what my time was. So, that's what I did. I RAN THE ENTIRE WAY!! It wasn't fast or pretty, but at least I finished. When I rounded the corner and I could see the sign for "Mile 13", I got this burst of energy that I had no idea was possible. I sprinted the rest of the way to the finish line, and I probably passed 10 or 15 people just in that last little distance. It was an awesome feeling to cross that finish line! I really can't describe it, but I almost started crying I was so happy and excited. That doesn't happen very often :)

My time ended up being 2:18:18, which I was happy with. I think I could've gone a little faster if I hadn't been worried about my neck, but I really was just glad to be able to run at all after being in so much pain the day before.

Travis ended up doing awesome!! He finished in a little over 1:51, which included a stop at the Port-A-Potty at mile 1 (haha!). I'm so proud of him! He really enjoyed the race and apparently told Aimee right after they finished that he wanted to do a full marathon sometime in the future!! I think he was still on his "runner's high" when he said that...lol!

Aimee did great too! She finished in about 1:49!! Her goal was to run in 1:50 or less, so she did it. I was really happy for her!

Mollie and Nate ended up finishing close to the same time (about 2:43 I think). They did awesome! Mollie didn't feel very well toward the end of the race (or afterward), but she still finished anyway. I was so proud of everyone!

Ready to head to Nashville!

13.1

5 AM and ready to run in a couple of hours!

We look surprisingly awake for it being so early :)

The sun was starting to come up!

FINISHED :)

Yay!

So proud of us!

Overall, it was much easier to run that far in the race than it was to do a long run at home. People cheering and waving signs, music playing, sights to see...it all made it so much easier than running by yourself through the same neighborhoods over and over.

I guess my adrenaline was going all day because my neck felt awesome when I finished the race. I could turn my head almost like normal without much pain at all. It was crazy! I guess if that happens again, I should just go run 13 miles outside and that will cure me :) Seriously, I have no idea what caused that pain! I guess my muscles just got really tight, but I don't know why. It's still been a little sore yesterday and today, but not nearly as bad as it was on Friday. I hope that never happens again.

I think I would definitely run another half marathon in the future. I think it would be hard to beat this one in Nashville with all the music and people and how well it was organized. But, it would be fun to try another one in a different city too. I'm pushing for the one at Disney in January, but Travis doesn't really want to do that :) I guess I'll let him pick one out...especially if he's going to do the full! Crazy!!! :)

As for now, we're going to take a week or two off from running to let our aches and pains subside. His hip has been hurting some since Saturday, so hopefully that will get better with some time off. I'd like to let my neck get back to normal too before trying to run again. But, after that....who knows! We may have another 13.1 or 26.2 in us in the future!! :) Never thought I'd say that!!

Insane

A year ago, if you would have told me that I would be all set to run a half marathon just a few days from now, I would have said YOU'RE CRAZY.

13.1 miles. That's a long way.

Travis and I have been training for the Country Music Half Marathon since the first week of January. At the beginning, running just a few miles was a struggle. I'd been running off and on since the fall when I ran the Liz Hurley 5K. Travis had been doing no exercise at all. I remember thinking...how are we ever going to run that far? 

 It's really amazing what you can do if you put your mind to it.

I'm convinced that running is mostly a mental thing. I really knew that from my days of running cross country and track back in high school, but I definitely believe it now. Of course, you physically have to keep going, but mainly it's a game in your head. Should I stop to walk or just keep going?

On our long runs, I've found this to be especially true. The first few miles are the hardest, ironically. Once you get past the thought of having 8 or 9 MORE miles to go, you're ok. At some point, usually closer to the end, you've been running for so long that it's not quite so bad. Physically, it hurts worse...your legs are killing you. But, mentally, you just keep going. You don't even consider stopping until the end. It's weird how that happens.

The longest training run I've done is 11.5 miles. (What's an extra 1.6 miles when you've already gone that far?...haha) I had to stop and walk a couple of times to drink some water, but other than that, I ran the whole thing. I think I finished in about 2:03. That's 2 hours and 3 minutes...lol. My goal time for the half marathon this Saturday is to finish in 2 hours or less. So, I'll have to pick up the pace a little bit. We'll see how it goes! The course is supposed to be pretty hilly, so I'm nervous about that, but I've always loved a good challenge when it comes to hills!

Travis's hip is feeling much better this week than it has been. He went to the chiropractor several times over the past few weeks, and I guess that really helped. His goal time is 2 hours also, but I'm predicting that he'll smoke me! I'm blaming it on him having longer legs than me... :)

High school running days

"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that." -Sam Mussabini

"Running is a mental sport...and we're all insane!" -Les Brown

“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” - Pre

Running the Liz Hurley 5K last fall...

Even though I'm nowhere near as fast as I used to be, I'm just happy to still be running and accomplishing a goal that I never thought I'd ever do. I've joked that I'm "retiring" from running after the race this Saturday, but I hope to keep running (after taking a short break)...but just not running quite as far as a half-marathon! 5Ks are perfect for me because they don't require so much training and time to prepare. But, who knows...I might have so much fun on Saturday that I change my mind. Running the Disney half-marathon would be a good excuse to go to Disney again!! :)

We're meeting Nate, Mollie, and Aimee (who are also running the half) in Athens at 3 PM on Friday. We have to pick up our race packets in Nashville Friday night at the Convention Center. Then, we're heading to eat some supper and going to bed. The race starts at 7 AM Saturday, but they recommend that you're parked by 5 AM!! EARLY!!! I'm sure we'll all be so excited that we won't even feel tired though. 

Here's to a fun weekend and accomplishing a big goal!!!

"I run because it's so symbolic of life. You have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles. You might feel that you can't. But then you find your inner strength, and realize you're capable of so much more than you thought."
--Arthur Blank 

The Bookshelf

Yesterday, I started a project that I've been meaning to get around to for a while now. We've got this bookshelf that (I think) used to be my sister's back in the day. I guess she wasn't using it anymore because it went with me to Tuscaloosa when I lived in the dorm until Travis and I got married. And, it's been with us ever since.

I remember staying in Tuscaloosa for the first spring break we were married. It was an awesome week with no class and pretty much no one else on campus but us! We spent the week walking around the Quad, throwing the frisbee, making snack runs to Publix (just a few minutes walk from where we lived), and just hanging out. That week we also decided to tackle one of our first "house projects" together. Repainting the old bookshelf.

It was lime green when I first took it to Tuscaloosa which worked out perfectly because it matched my bedding and accessories in my dorm room. But, unfortunately it looked TERRIBLE with the more "grown-up" look I was going for in our apartment after we got married. Our color scheme was chocolate brown, copper, and red...and lime green definitely did not look good with that! So, that spring break Travis and I headed out to Home Depot and bought some sandpaper, wood stain, and a paint brush. Our plan (ha!) was to sand all of the paint off of the bookshelf and then stain it a nice brown color. It was a nice idea...in theory. After carrying the bookshelf down 3 flights of stairs to a nice grassy area outside, Travis sanded and sanded and sanded and barely made any progress at all. He did uncover a peach color underneath the lime green, but it would have taken HOURS to sand the whole bookshelf down. Looking back on that, what were we thinking??? Haha!

Well, we ended up just "staining" over what was left of the paint. The result was not exactly what we had in mind! Instead of a nice brown color, we ended up with a streaky purple bookshelf with specks of green showing through. Wow! I think we debated over whether or not to just throw the bookshelf away at that point and buy a new one, but we ended up just going with it. It was definitely a unique-looking color, but I guess we got used to it over the past few years. It actually didn't look all that bad once we got it back into our bedroom...at least, it was better than the lime green.

The newly renovated bookshelf!

This was our first apartment together in Tuscaloosa

Fast forward a few years, and now the bookshelf is in our guest bedroom. And again, the color is all wrong. The walls are taupe, and the bedding is navy, light blue, and cream. Not exactly a great combination with our purpley-lime green bookshelf!

Guest bedroom

So, yesterday, I finally decided to repaint the old bookshelf again. This time around, I was smarter and didn't try to sand the whole thing down first! I lightly sanded it before painting it with some of the leftover paint from the walls we had. I'm pretty happy with the results! I may end up going over it with some polyurethane to give it a glossy finish, but so far it's a huge improvement!

The "new" bookshelf!

Painting has been one of my favorite projects that we've done so far in our new house. Probably because it doesn't involve sweating outside and a lot of manual labor! I really enjoy seeing the transformation that occurs in a room or on a piece of furniture just with a simple coat or two of paint. Even something like our old bookshelf can get some new life just by changing the color. Pretty cool.

Maybe I'm just feeling extra sentimental today, but I'm glad we've still got a spot for that bookshelf in our house. It's been with us the whole 4+ years we've been married and with me for 2 1/2 years before that in the dorm. It's moved as many times as we have...from our 425 sq ft on-campus apartment to our off-campus apartment in Rivermont to our basement apartment at Baugay's and finally to our house. It held our textbooks when we were in school and now our "just-for-fun" books since we've graduated. It's been there through all of the changes in our lives since December 2007. I guess it reminds me of college life when things were simpler...study, go to class, have fun on the weekends, go to football games in the fall, etc. That was basically our life until we graduated. Things are different in the "working world"...not necessarily better or worse. There are things I miss about being in college, but I also enjoy just working and staying busy around the house.

College days--ROLL TIDE!

 I'm glad to have little pieces of "college life" still around like that old bookshelf to bring back fun memories of our time in Tuscaloosa. Sometimes it feels like those days were so long ago, and things are really different now...living in a new place, working, and owning a home. But, just like we've changed some since we were in college, that bookshelf has changed too with a fresh coat of paint. It's definitely an upgrade from the old look! Hopefully, Trav and I are changing for the better too. It's a work in progress! Stay tuned :)

Life Outside of Landscaping

Just a quick update on our non-working-out-in-the-yard lives...

Us: Friday marked 6 years since our first date at Depalma's in Tuscaloosa. Wow!! Doesn't seem like that long at all. But, then again, it's been almost 2 years since Travis graduated and we moved to Madison. That's pretty crazy too!

House: We've now lived in our house for a year officially. I think we moved in on April 9th, 2011. A lot has changed around here in the last year. New paint colors, pictures on the walls, blinds up on the windows, etc. We're blessed to be living here...we love it!

Cats: Gabby and Felix are as lazy as ever. Right now, they are sleeping in separate chairs at the kitchen table next to me. I wish I could sleep as much as they do! 

It's a hard life!

Running: The half marathon is just over 2 weeks away. I guess if we're not ready by this point, we'll never be. Yesterday, I felt the best I've felt while running in a long time. Travis, on the other hand, has been having a lot of pain in his right hip lately. He went to the chiropractor yesterday and is going back this afternoon, so maybe that will help. We're supposed to run 14 miles on Saturday, so we'll see how that goes! My foot still hurts a little bit when I'm running, but not all the time and not as bad as it did. I just have to make it through the 28th, and then I'm not running for a while after that! :)

Birthdays: This weekend, we're celebrating Emily's and Tyler's birthdays. I'm looking forward to Alisha, Tyler, and Emily all being here at the same time. Pretty soon, Alisha and Tyler will be up here for good! Can't wait for that! :)

 Taxes: We are major slackers this year. We still aren't done with our taxes! Talk about waiting until the last minute. We've literally been outside every weekend for the past several weeks and haven't had time to get them done. That's on the to-do list for tonight! 

Mom: I haven't updated about Mom lately. She's still feeling pretty good after finishing up radiation treatments last month. She had appointments with two of her doctors on Tuesday, and they both said she looked great. She's going to be starting an oral medication soon that she'll have to take for 5 years. Her hair is slowly growing back. I haven't seen it in person yet, but she's going headcover-less now apparently! Yay Mom!

David Hartsell: He preaches at Northwood, where we went to church when we were in college. He recently had surgery to remove a brain tumor and hasn't been doing very well since then. Here is the latest update that I've seen on Facebook (from Tuesday night):

"Good evening. Thank you for your continued prayers on David's and on our family's behalf. I hope you will excuse the fact that this is the second update sent today. This is simply the best method for us to disperse information and answer the many questions we have received.

After hooking David up to the EEG this morning, the doctors believe there is some increase in brain activity from last week. It is unclear at this time what that means as far as his chance at recovery. He is still not awake, and the best doctors in the country in this field continue to be perplexed as to what is going on and what will happen in the days ahead. The plan in to redo the EEG on Friday morning to see if there are further improvements. The steps following that are unclear at this time. Also, David has had a fever for the past couple of days, and a lumbar puncture was performed this afternoon to rule out meningitis. It seems that the doctors do not believe meningitis to be a likely finding, but they must rule it out before proceeding. The results from that, I assume, will be available tomorrow.

While the doctors on this case are perplexed, there is one thing that we know: God has the power to heal David if He chooses to do so. That is what we are praying for, and request that you do as well. Thank you again for your love and, most of all, your prayers."

Please pray for his full recovery! And, pray for his family during this difficult time. Mr. Hartsell is a very special person and has been a great influence on Travis and me just in the few years we've known him. Please pray that he can continue to preach and touch other's lives in the future just like he's already done.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸ while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Curb Appeal: Before and After

As of Sunday afternoon at 4:35 PM, Travis and I finally finished our landscaping project!!!!! We are SO GLAD to be through. As with most all of our projects, this one turned into something bigger than we ever anticipated...both in how much money it cost and how much time we spent on it. I just hope it will be worth the effort. I know how much money we spent on the project, but there's no telling how many hours we spent researching plants, going to nurseries, digging holes, breaking up huge chunks of red clay, moving drainage pipes, lining rocks along the flower beds, planting flowers and shrubs, and mulching. It has definitely consumed most of our free time since mid-February.

Since neither of us had ever done anything like this before, we were pretty much just learning as we went along. That's half the fun of it, right? Here are some things we learned along the way:

1. Drainage pipes in flower beds are a hassle! We patched holes in it once and later rerouted it trying to move it to the best possible spot, and it still ended up being in the way! Note to self: The next house we buy will either need to have beautiful flower beds already or a different drainage system. Or, maybe we'll just live in this house forever :) I don't want to even think about moving after doing all this work!

2. Sometimes it helps to have a map. I laughed at Travis for drawing our flower beds on graph paper with measurements, but it really was helpful when we got to the nursery to know how much room we had for planting. Yay for an engineer husband!

3. Digging those holes is no joke. I never dreamed it would take as long as it did to get everything planted, especially the shrubs. We followed the directions for digging the holes (twice as wide and 1.5 times as deep as the pot), and that made for some MASSIVE holes. Poor Travis did all of the digging, and I was the measurer. He's gotten quite a workout since we started this project; I think he dug 17 holes this past Saturday alone.

4. Even concrete foundation can't stop a man on a mission. When we got ready to plant our cute little hostas along the side of the house near the front porch, it didn't take much digging to find out that the house's foundation was taking up most of the room where we were trying to dig. No problem for Travis. Since we don't have a jackhammer (ha!), he resorted to using the pickaxe to chip away at the concrete until we had enough room to plant our 3 little hostas. It took over 2 hours to dig those 3 holes. Now if our house starts sagging, I guess we'll say it was a bad idea...haha. But, for now, it seems to have been worth all the trouble!

5. Doing the job right ain't cheap or easy, but it usually works out for the best. I would say that "Do the job right" is probably Travis's motto for life. I'm always the one wanting us to get done faster, and he's the one saying "No shortcuts!". Well, even though it took this long to get finished, I'm really happy with the results. I guess we could have just gone to Lowe's or Home Depot and bought a bunch of shrubs and flowers without researching them beforehand, but hopefully this way, we've picked out stuff that won't get too out of control and will look good and grow well where we've planted it.

Now, without further ado, here are a few "before" pictures to show you what we were dealing with a couple of months ago:

Back in September....before our hard work began!

Little pitiful looking shrubs...and lots of weeds!

Back in October, we dug up everything!

A blank slate!!

And, now, the moment you've all been waiting for.....

HOORAY!

Side view (with the mailbox, trees, and driveway)

Now, for some close-up shots...

The mailbox!

Here, we planted two Daisy May Shasta Daisies...

What the daisies will look like! :)

Big maple tree with fresh mulch and new rocks!

The magnolia...where I'll be planting some day lilies later this spring/summer

The other maple tree!

Small flower bed by the garage door....our hydrangeas are really growing!

Left flower bed

Another view of the left flower bed

If you want to read about the shrubs we planted a few weeks ago, go here. Since then, we planted a Tropical White Canna on the corner by the green tower boxwood. Here's what it will look like in bloom:

Tropical white canna

We also planted 3 wolverine hostas in between some of the shrubs we'd already planted.

What the wolverine hostas will look like full grown

This past weekend, we planted some small flowers called Astra Double Blue balloon flowers in front of the shrubs. They won't bloom until summer, but hopefully they'll be really pretty and add some color to the left flower bed...

Astra Double Blue balloon flowers

Moving along...

The front entry area...ignore the dirty sidewalk! :)

You can see 3 small hostas on the right and 2 on the left...the right side near the house is where Travis went to town with that pickaxe!

Twist of lime hosta...one of our favorite things we planted!

Right flower bed

Right flower bed again

You can read about the shrubs and the Japanese maple that we planted a few weeks ago here.  On Saturday, we added some perennial flowers at the front of the bed. We picked out four different types. None of them are really blooming yet, so this is what they'll hopefully look like soon! :)

Arizona Sun gaillardia...also called a blanket flower

Professor Kippenburg dwarf aster

Snowdrop anemone

Tuscan Sun heliopsis

We tried to pick out flowers that will bloom throughout the spring, summer, and fall at different times, so we'll see how we did over the next few months I guess!

So, that's it I guess! I'm not sure the pictures do it justice, but it really is a huge improvement. And, hopefully it will look even better in a few years when the shrubs are bigger and more substantial. Right now, everything is still small, but even in just a few weeks, it's been amazing to see how much they've already grown!

Was it worth all the time and money spent? We think so!! :)

Travis says our next big landscaping project will be sodding the front yard, but that will probably have to wait until next spring. 

And, after that....maybe we'll be ready to tackle making some flower beds along the back of the house! At least we'd be starting with a blank canvas there!! Give us a few years and we'll have forgotten how much work this all was!! :)

Gabby and Felix

I love my daddy!! 

He's the best!! 

I'm getting so big :)

I like to lie on my back sometimes...

We're the best kitties around!!