Random Updates with pictures

We were up in PA this past weekend for our niece Sophie's 1st birthday party and christening! She is too cute, and because of this overabundance of cuteness, we didn't take a picture of ANYTHING ELSE other than her. Oh well. you know kids. She's at such a cute age, so fun to be around. Though I will say, Scott and I came home exhausted. Note: all comments that read "Ohhhh, just wait" will be deleted. :) So, Happy Birthday (Tomorrow), Sophie Monster!


And this is me, mid 25 weeks. Fall has arrived in NC, and it's a freaking blast! It's almost noon and still not 70 degrees here. I'm LOVING it! So this morning I got all ambitious and decided to go for a little run, but remembered, oh yeah, it's cool out! What does one wear to run in 60 degree weather? And once I zipped up the jacket, I had to take a pic bc... my oh my, it was tight. Also, as soon as I went outside I ditched it and went with short sleeves and pants. And ran 1.5 miles. Cause I'm still a rock star.

Things are going well with the pregnancy, this past weekend was the first few days where I really *felt* pregnant... like I had a belly that was observable and I've started this thing where I can't get up out of a chair or sofa without saying "uuuuuuugh." It's adorable, really. Stuff like that. It just felt more real and different this weekend. (Again, comments saying "Just you wait, missy" will be deleted. I. Know.) :)

After a really long weekend, I was kind of irresponsible and put off a lot of schoolwork, which I'm catching up on this week. School is going pretty well, and surprisingly hard with only two classes this semester. I love what I'm studying though, I was just thinking this morning about what my *favorite* class has been within my program and I'm not really sure! I'd have to pick at least 4 or 5, and I've only taken 9. So yeah, good choice, good investment, good use of time.

I love this semester also because with two classes and no job, it does give me time to keep up with life... like keep the house generally cleaner than I've ever been able to do before, and read! I'm enjoying it while it lasts :) Cause, you know... juuuust wait. I just read The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb and, though it was long, I ended up LOVING it. Absolutely love and recommend it.

One more random thing - I am getting a seasonal flu shot on Friday and have already started dreaming/nightmaring about it. I'm such a shot wussy, I'm screwed.

My changing relationship with Running

The day before I found out I was pregnant, I ran ten miles the Philly Broad Street Run. And that's the most hardcore thing I've done "during my pregnancy." :) It has always been a goal of mine to remain active during pregnancy and though it's been hard, I've been able to maintain some level of fitness. Not *nearly* what it used to be, but that's pretty much what they tell you to do.


Running while pregnant seems to be a vastly misunderstood thing. It's okay, and I'm going to do it for as long as I want to and feel good doing it. I realize that at some point the belly will interfere, and I'm down w/ that. But for now I'm still enjoying it, just in a very different way. For instance, last night I ran 2 miles at an average pace of 11:30. It has taken me a few weeks to come to terms w/ these numbers. I kind of had to abandon the way I used to think of the numbers - constantly wanting to get a good pace or go farther - and think of them as merely a gauge that I am putting forth the correct amount of effort and hitting a time threshhold (run for 30 minutes) rather than distance threshhold. It's different. In some ways, it's not as fun, but in others, it's a lot less pressure. I'm just going for a leisurely run with my child. :) The new challenge is getting myself out there!


I've been going to the gym at work too, which is good because, let's be honest, it's hot as crap outside in July here. I've been doing more on the treadmill than I typically like over the past few weeks, but it is helpful because it keeps me at a respectable and advieable pace without requiring much monitoring on my part. And it's climate controlled! I've been doing *some* lifting, but that's not my favorite. But the upside is of all the geeky nerds that work here, very few workout. ;)

I'm going to transition to using the gym at Scott's work in the coming weeks. They have a POOL! I'm kind of excited to start swimming again. Should be fun and it's a highly recommended way for pregnant women to work out.

Broad Street Run Training: Commence

So, it is time. I have been equivocating all over the place on my running intentions. I WAS going to run the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon on the 28th, but seeing as we're moving that weekend I decided to scrap it. Which I am okay with, but like clockwork as soon as I made that decision, I dropped off the running bandwagon. All of the sudden stuff like "it's too cold" or "I just don't wanna" were excuses that I let myself use.

No more, my friends. I am rededicating myself to training. We are going up to Philly in the beginning of May for Ginty's wedding, and spending the weekend in Philly w/ some of my friends (like I did last year!) And I loved the Broad Street last year, so I'm officially officially doing it now. I think I'll be using the same plan I did last year: Hal Higdon's 15K plan. It worked well for me (and it's less intense than the half marathon training as it only requires 3 runs a week, not 4.) I think I'm one of those super fun and non-uptight people who need to have a PLAN at all times. (Scott's nodding his head because he's known this for years.) I'll be jumping in a few weeks into it, since I have run maybe 2-3x a week (okay, 2x a week) for the past few weeks. Anyway, I feel like I can handle Week 3 this week, and might skip Week 4 (it's for pansies).

It's good to have a plan :)

Halfing Fun

Yes, that's a cute title, and yes, I thought of it while running 13.1 miles. You get bored out there... Here's "the girls"! These fabulous girls are the ones I've been running with every weekend and some weeknights for the past 3 months. Sometimes I seriously wonder how people train for a half all by themselves - it was so nice to have their company through all the mileage! And of course, you recognize the "tall one" - Nikkkki! We had a great time, even though her first trip to the Outer Banks wasn't quite leisurely :)

Some more pics...


Jockey's Ridge - not that these pictures do it justice :) It was way cool.

A shadow running pic, we're so awesome.

And a "love" pic...lol. At least we have each other...

Here's the Pasta Dinner - it was so delicious! A bunch of the girls got a BIIIG house and then they made us a BIIIIG dinner, so pretty much an awesome set up! :)

does it look like we're sucking it in big time? Bc that pasta is hard to hide... :)


They got us cake! Bill's (Kathleen's husband) birthday was Sunday, and mine is ...coming up tomorrow. So technically, that's a week long celebration, if you count this cake as the beginning... not too shabby!

And here is another post race pic with our medals. Yay! I was so proud - I finished in 2:05:41, which is a 9:36 pace and I remained pretty constant at that. Seeing as my goal originally was "not walking", I kind of amended that once I realized I could do it to under a 10:00/mile... so I'm really pleased with how I did!

Off to the OBX!

I'm so excited! Nikki arrives in a few hours and we're leaving tomorrow morning to the Outer Banks! We're doing the half marathon on Sunday... and I can't believe I'm going to type this, I can't wait to run 13.1 miles.

I should add that I am MOST excited for the pasta dinner tomorrow night with my running buddies and the massages Nik and I are getting Monday morning. All around, a pretty exciting weekend!

If only it was a cash prize.

I kept wanting to title this post "Hold my trophy while I kiss your girlfriend." Anyone remember that obnox No Fear tshirt? I remember kids wearing it in elementary school - anyone from my generation who says "kids these days are awful" needs to remember that tshirt! Good morals.

Anyway, here's the story. You know I'm training for a half marathon now... and last weekend my "long run" was replaced by a 5K according to the schedule. I was in Myrtle Beach with my friend Amy & her bridal party for a getaway weekend, so I googled it and lo and behold there's a race in N Myrtle! I registered that morning... it was very small. VERY small - my bib # was 70. It was fun, low key, ON the sand. I did pretty well time-wise so it was good. Well, they happened to give out trophies to the top 3 in each age bracket (which, if you think about it was the vast majority of runners in an 80 person run.) It was fun - made me feel like a winner.

I owe the blog some pics of Maine...I've been super busy with school. Though I'll be honest right now I'm watching The Hills and rolling my eyes. It's gone from vapid entertainment to absolutely pointless. Why can't I turn it off? Ugh.

A Run Down Memory Lane

So, back in Etown this weekend, I took part in a 10k! It was the Nike+ Great Human Race, which I must say is a really cool concept. It was a virtual race - all you had to do was log a 10k on your nike+ system. I'm doing a 1/2 marathon training program, and doing 6.2 miles was a little preemptive, but I survived.

What was fun about it though was that I got to run around my old hometown, and since it's pretty small, I got to see all kinds of things that reminded me of the old days! I ran to Briarcliff Ln, past the first place I lived where I have real memories (which, btw, it looks like it's empty - no landscaping and looking abandoned...I digress), to my first grade bus stop, through the college where I had God knows how many swim practices and where I graduated (from HS, I realize this will confuse most ppl) and the gazebo on the lake... It was a nice nostalgic run!

On to the 1/2 marathon on the OBX - November 9th! I am so excited - Nikki is coming down to run it w/ me! Woohoo!

The drive home was fun - I ended up reading out loud from my Linguistics textbook to Scott the whole time about language acquisition and how babies learn sounds, meaning, grammar, launguage, etc. We were both really interested... and I turned to a random page in the book, and it turned out to be a "case study" in regional dialects concerning Lancaster, Lebanon and Berks counties. OMG, we laughed so hard. I mean, we always knew there were weird things about the way we talk, and I've seen random email forwards like "You know you're from Lancaster County when..." but to hear if from experts was pretty funny.

Here's what we do:

• Add "awhile", meaning now. Like "I'll go get the pizza awhile" Funny story...Scott never realized this little gem of PA dialect...he said he's said it to co-workers on numerous occasions which he now thinks they thought he meant he'd do it "in a while"...like, later. So due to his "heritage" he's now a slacker...
• Omit "to be" from certain sentences, like "The car needs washed" instead of "The car needs to be washed" like normal people would say it. We're totally guilty
  
• "All" as in "The salt is all"... meaning the salt is all GONE. I find this one sad bc I remember saying (or maybe hearing my sister or another baby saying) "Allie All!" when their bottle was gone. I feel like a fraud, my first words are junk.

It makes me happy on some level that Scott and I both do this though... maybe we can keep our accents and weird talking habits...

Race for the Cure

So, one week late, here are some pics from the Race for the Cure last weekend! My sister and I decided to do this 5K a few months ago - it was her first race and she did a great job! I also ran with a few of my NC running buddies. And of course we had our all-male cheering and photography squad to support us!!

Sister shot! Me & Ash pre-race. Oh, and the race STARTED at 7 so this was maybe like the earliest picture ever taken of the two of us together.

The crew w/ the runners - Scott, me, Dad, Ash & Rob. It looks like we're at the circus w/ the tents and stuff, but it was a race, I promise.

My runner friends! We did the Jingle Bell run together in December and do some training runs sporadically. Me, Jackie, Melora, Amy & Kathleen.

Me & Ash right at the start on Hillsborough... all energy at this point.

Here we come... nearing the home stretch and looking a little less energetic, and a little more sweaty.

I kinda like this one... I was veering off for water. I think I said something like "Uhh - need...wa...ter...uhhh" Sisters understand disjointed syllables like this, you see.

Then we headed to my parents' house where my mom prepared a delicious breakfast for the champions :). Even though it was really early (wake up time was 5:00am), the race was really good!

Broad Street Run Pics!

I finally got my official time for the Broad Street Run (a few weeks ago, actually, but I never really posted about it)...1:41.03! Go me! I'm really proud of my time, it's right around where I wanted to come in, in the 10 min/mile pace neighborhood.

So, here are some pics of the run and the runners... it ended up being a gorgeous day after all was said and done, though it was cloudy and muggy for the start. I keep thinking back to what a fabulous time I had and hope I can do it again in years to come! Luckily Nikki's parents came out to support us and to photograph us :)

Nik running with City Hall in the background. If you look *really* hard you can see the outline of me, in the blue shirt and orange hat behind the girl in the white sleeveless shirt. IDK what I'm doing w/ my hands.


The race, at about the 9 mile marker. I remember bc this is where they were playing the Rocky music and where I wanted to die.


Me, post race, feeling like I pretty much own the world!

Sarah & Eric - they really kicked butt in the race! Those Millers are good runners!

The whole crew of runners!

Morgan and Nikki!

The Etown runners - pretty funny, huh? I'm still waiting to hear back from the Chronicle for getting a Smile of the Week placement. LOL...no really. Nikki, me, Eric, Sarah, Morgan and Heather - Go Bears!

And in related running news - I got new shoes yesterday and a new lease on my running life :) I am so excited to give them a try this afternoon and hopefully my knees won't hate me like they have been the past few weeks. Stupid Nikes!

Low-Key Saturday Night

So, unforch Scott is down with a cold. I think he was going-going-going so much the past week and with all the travel and stress of interviewing it all caught up with him and a cold is the manifestation of it. He's out of it. We were supposed to go over to Casey & Amy's tonight but unforch, not gonna happen.

Well, so far the holiday weekend has been beautiful here in NC. I went for a 4.5 mile run this afternoon and though it was a little warmer than I like to run in, it was def doable, and I wasn't that person you pass when it's 90 and humid that ppl in their cars were like "What the heck is that person doing outside, no less RUNNING in this heat???!" I don't doubt they were exclaiming about me, but hopefully it wasn't about that. I have started running w/ a bottle of water as well... out of necessity. I also noticed a real change in the energy I'm able to maintain throughout the run as well if I stay hydrated.

I think I decided that my next big challenge is a half marathon this fall. I am going to wait until the whole "where will we be in the next phase of our life" decision is made until I decide which one, but I really think I can do it and when I have something bigger to strive for, it gives me direction and keeps me on track training wise. After the 5k in two weeks, I'm going to get new running shoes so I can stop using the crappy Nikes as an excuse for all the aches and pains. I'm pumped for that too.

Also, I think I've heard that to establish a routine, you need to do something for 2 weeks. Well, starting Monday (err, prob Tuesday) I'm going to establish the Workout Before Work routine. I figure the Komen race is in 2 weeks, and I for sure need to keep up my running regimen until then, and why not? With the heat, I really think it's the most realistic time for me to run. And it is cool because it gives me my evenings to do fun things with Scott or make fun foods. Or read. Or do nothing, and do I love freedom? I'm American, duh.

Alright, on to chilling with my man, reading and hopefully watching some movies. :)

Recap - Weekend in Philly

Friday evening and Saturday, I got some quality time in with some of my best girlfriends in the world! Erica, Kelly, Sara, and Lisa were all able to make some time to come to Philly and visit while I was there which was sooo fun! :) We hung out all day on Saturday too just kind of bumming around Philly and stuff. Sarah & Eric Miller came up too and we all went over to the Expo together to get our packets and whatever free stuff we could find... I'm really wishing I had bought this:
http://thestick.com/
Scott was making fun of it last night, but OMG, I would die for it now with my legs being all sore and stuff. Though, I'm not sure I could have carried on my bag with that in there! ;)

Sunday - The Broad Street Run was faaaabulous. It was so much fun and so overwhelming I don't even know where to start... First off, to break your heart, I don't have any pictures at this time so I'll just yank some off the internet and you can pretend I'm in them.

Running through Philly: (this pic is from not this year - the sky was not that blue when we were running...)

Cool slideshow to see the crowds and winners and stuff. :)

I totally Hi-Fived PA Gov Ed Rendell at Mile 6.

We had so much fun! Nikki and Kevin, Sarah & Eric Miller and me ran, with Kevin's brother, Nik's sister Morgan and her friend Heather and one of Kev's co-workers... so we had a pretty decent sized group! Including a whopping SIX Etown HS grads... [saving this spot for the pic Mrs. Rodgers took.] We're crossing our fingers it get's chosen for the Etown Chronicle's Smile of the Week ;) .

So, we started out super early Saturday, and drove down to the finish, parking near the Phillies' stadium. Then we took the Subway to get to the start with ...23,000 strangers. It was pretty crazy. We ended up getting to the start of the race 10 min or so before the start. The sheer volume of people is something I just couldn't prepare myself for. I don't think I've ever done something with that many people at once... and it's kinda neat when you think about it that that many people can run 10 miles. It seems like sometimes all you ever hear about is how fat and lazy America is. Just sayin.

I ran with Nikki pretty much the whole time - until Mile 8 or so when I got some sort of adrenaline super-human burst...which was further fuled by the Mile 9 mark when they were playing the Rocky theme and I just had that in my head till the end. I'm not sure what my time was - they have the results up but don't have mine :( I called and she said there were a bunch of people calling in who aren't listed so the good news is it'll be up I just have to be patient. My fave pastime! :) I think it was around 1:41/1:42ish - which is prob around the same pace I had in my 10k, and that makes me really happy. A shade over a 10 min mile, which is what I was shooting for.

10K this morning!

Dear North Carolina,

Love you, for real. But I just have to ask you something. I loved you so much this week when it was in the 70's and even 85 on Friday afternoon. For real, that was awesome. So my question is why the heck is it 40 degrees on the day of my 10k? It was frickin' freezing, and I'm just curious as to why you're doing this to me. Was it something I said? If it was something related to sneezing and sniffling, that was more directed at the tree pollen, not you.

Coldly yours,
Jamie

....

So yeah, other than the crummy weather, the 10k was really fun! I did pretty well, I think. I *felt* awesome the whole time and didn't have to walk at all! And Scott was a good sport and woke up early with me and stood in the cold to cheer me on. I'm not totally sure what my time was bc the big clock by the finish line was on the 1/2 marathon time (which started before us) and I forgot to stop my watch, but based on when I looked at my watch a few minutes after I finished, I'd guess it's around 1:02 or so. Not bad for my first time! :)

Onward to my next race, which is the Philly Broad Street Run - 10 whole miles! I found a couple runs that were recommended for Italy, so hopefully I don't get in too bad of shape during the week and a half out of the country!

Oh - this picture is when I was ALMOST done, I don't know what's up w/ the face I'm making. I think it was supposed to express "I'm so super strong and awesome, I ran 6.2 miles. Raaaaah" But in Scott's defense, it's a hard expression to really capture. :) You won't see me trying out for America's Next Top model. Not bc I'm 5'4" or anything, pretty much just bc of my inability to take a good photo. Tyra would not be proud of this.

5 miles this morning!

So, big accomplishment, I ran 5 miles this morning. Maybe it's weird, but I feel the biggest accomplishment is actually getting my butt out of bed to do it... It was kind of slow pace-wise, but Nike+ told me I still burned 523 calories! Not too shabby. Of course I then proceeded to eat 2 breakfasts and down some Gatorade, so we'll call it even. :)

I was thinking I'd like to start working out in the mornings more. It's such a fabulous feeling to have it all done with for the day right now. And I feel really awake and alert. The sun rises here at 6:40 now...and only while out in the glorious NC 55 degree morning did I realize that'll change with Daylight Savings this weekend. Dang! I guess the flipside is we get more evening daylight... which is also good.

Jamie's Spring Race Schedule and Thoughts on Running

So, I have finally settled on my spring race schedule. I'm super excited, going to be running more challenging races and using it as quality time w/ friends and family too.

10k - 3/30 - Cary, NC

**big challenge here will be staying in shape while visiting Italy 4/5 - 4/15...**

10 miler - Philadelphia, PA - 5/4! I'm so excited for this one, I'm doing it with Nikki Rodgers and her entourage, and any of my friends from PA who are man enough!! :) It's the Broad Street Run, expecting 17,000 people. So yeah, it'll be pretty big. I'm hoping to place (haha, jk, actually I'm hoping to finish w/out walking!) Plus it's also a fun weekend w/ friends in the city.

5k - 6/14 - Komen Race For The Cure in downtown Raleigh! I roped Ashley and Dad into doing this w/ me too...

I've been really enjoying running through the winter in NC (which is mild enough so that most weeks I get at least 1 run in where I get to wear shorts - don't hate.) I've been running over my lunch break too, which is admittedly a little crazy, but I like it. Yesterday I got downpoured on, which was not as good as it could be.

I am loving the Nike + bc it motivates me so much. I just got to a big milestone - I've run 100 miles!! Since my birthday! Do you want to view my certificate from Nike +? I know you do.

Oh...and Happy Valentine's Day! :)

Turkey Trot - Done!

I survived the 8K - and finished in 49:20 (just under 50 mins, which was my goal...)! It was a lot harder than the 5k, by the way. Scott was a good sport and came along to support me and take pics!

But today (so far) is absolutely gorgeous - 70 degrees and windy! We're getting ready to go fry up a turkey at my parents' house in a little. It'll be nice and laid back, but if we could be two places at once, we would most certainly do so because it's hard not to be in PA with the rest of our family and friends! Miss you guys!

My Sweet Present from Scott

I got a Nike + running system for my birthday from my wonderful husband! Special shoes you put a chip in that talk to your ipod and tell you how far and fast you run! I'm so excited... even though the race I'm doing next week doesn't let you use headphones.

Also, a cute pic of Smarty & Scott :) This is how she's been sitting on the couch lately, and we find it completely hilarious. Scott usually doesn't sit like that though.