As My World Turns

Okay kiddos, buckle in, because this is a Costco-size post.

See, I've been pretty neglectful of ye ole blog as of late - I'm working like a dog, trying to marathon train (how the heck did I ever find time to train for Ironman?!), and fit in all sorts of family events.

But I've been steadily photo documenting many of these events in the last few weeks, and since I don't when I'll post again, I figured I get all ambitious and whatnot and do it all in this one post.

So here goes....

While my nephew Brody hangs in Tennessee and we don't get to see him all that much, my brother keeps us in the loop thanks to camera phones -

Don't you just want to eat his little face up?!?!




(learning how to sit!)


MAWHA!!!! (that's kisses auntie M style)


A NEW RUNNER IN THE FAMILY
Way back a few months ago, my sister Ellen decided that she wanted to see what all this running fuss was about, and signed up for a half-marathon in September. She asked me if I could help her train (YES!!!!). Halfway through, she decided she wanted to bump up the race to the late July Rock and Roll marathon her in Chicago. We kicked up training a bit, and when the race rolled around, she was ready to go.


Pasta dinner at my house - guess who was recently weened off the breastfeeding?


Lookin' all sessy with her pals.















Needless to say, I was super pumped. Ellen made it clear ahead of time that she was not going to let herself walk, no matter what happened. She didn't really set a time goal, and instead just wanted to complete the distance. AND SHE KILLED IT!! I ran with her the last couple of miles and was so proud to be by her side as she complete this race - right before she hit the last uphill, I got really teary and thought I was going to lose it, but managed to pull it together - it's kinda hard to run when you got the tears in your throat. I was just so happy for her, and for how she hung through all the training - heat, humidity, and two kids in a stoller - to cross that finish line.

It was a very proud day!


FORD FRANCIS
And then, on August 23, we were blessed by this precious little girl, Ford Francis.






Does someone have baby fever? Methinks so...






Proud aunt






Pucker up, buttercup!

I now am the proud aunt of three amazingly gorgous nephews and a niece!! I am finally comfortable enough to actually hold her without feeling like I will drop her. She is super tiny, and a total blend of her parents features. We all love her like mad!

HAIR
Okay - if you know me on Facebook, you know we had a bit of a catastrophe here yesterday.

See, I had this school reunion tonight which I was really on the fence about. I couldn't decide if I wanted to go or not, so yesterday I thought, "Well, if I do go, I should probably try to get my hair cut." It's been a while, my bangs were in my eyes, and the length of it went down to my boobies.

So I went to my lady who has done a good job the last few times, and said, "Listen, nothing drastic, I just want you to trim two inches off the bottom, clean it up a bit."

The next thing I know, I was staring in the mirror at someone with shoulder-length hair.

Well, at least shoulder-length in the front.

Ignore my sour face in this - I know its hard but try to stay focused on the dead animal on my head. And let's remember that, two hours before, my hair fell down to my tatas.

And while it's all business in the front...


It's a party in the back!!

Oh hell yeah - I got me a Lady Mullet!

Can't really see it that well? Here's another -

I know - ridiculous right? Like, what the fuck is that? I mean, it's a like a solid 4-5 inch difference - who the hell cuts hair that way?!?!

I thought I was crazy, perhaps overreacting a bit, until Cheese came home and I made him look.

Eyes wide, mouth hung open, he finally stammers, "What happened to your hair?" (from the guy who has probably never once noticed a haircut of mine). "Why are there, like, levels? That doesn't even make sense."

Ya think?

And then he adds, "You know what that looks like? It looks like when that Sally kid from 'Mad Men' cut her hair in the last episode."

Really? Because "Sally" is 10, and took a Fiskers to her locks in the bathoom out of spite for her whore father, while I actually paid money to have this...this...butchering.

Personally, I thought it looked like I belonged on the hood of a car in a Whitesnake video-



Fuck.Me.

And the worst part is that it barely fits into a ponytail so until it grows about a bit, I am forced to walk around looking like a cast-off from a Prince video.

Guess I'll have to wait until the next 20-year reunion to catch up with old classmates....

In the Meantime...

(I am slowly loading pictures from my last race, which was like, a long time ago. Hey, Procrastination is in the title - there's truth in my advertising....)






WOW!!! What a weekend!!

I don't know about you, but my weekend was filled with babies and triathlon.

I figured it was bound to be some sort of foreshadowing into my future.

Between my besty's baby shower on Sunday (and the fact that everyone in my life is either preggo or new mommies), and the Chicago triathlon (which I was unable to attend this year due to said baby shower, but the Tri For Life guys were town gettin' their triathlon on again!), and all the Ironmans this weekend (Mark Mason and Dennis from RunBubbaRun abd Michelle's husband earning their IM medals), there has been a lot going on.

I'll tell you what - its really hard to watch these IMs and not get teary-eyed. Even now, I get so overwhelmed with the enormity of it, and I can still feel all the emotions that ran through my body that day in 2008, now as I watch these athletes make their blaze their own way. I love it, I love it.

So congrats to all the finishers from yesterdays races, and with IMWI right around the corner, there are plenty of cheering to still be had!!

And if you stay tuned in, there might just be a little IM surprise in a day or two...

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In other random news....

As if personal training didn’t destroy and humiliate me as it is, I was about halfway through my third blocks of moves and could see the finish in the near distance, and what do ya know?

My lady friend creeps out to say “Hi.”

I sensed she was acomin’, but I was hoping against hope she wouldn’t pull into town until maybe, say, once I got home and wasn’t caught…off guard.

Completely mortified (thank GAWD for my black running tights), I silently prayed that I wouldn’t have to do anything that required me to sit or lay on a bench.

Throw in some kick-in-the-gut cramps and sanity-destroying back pain, mix it all together and you get a sick-to-her-stomach 33-year-old just fighting to stand up and keep down the Kashi bar she ate about an hour previous.

But true to my form, I refuse to admit defeat or let my semi-pro basketball trainer see weakness, so I swallowed my vomit and did my plyos and lunges with a grin on my face.

It’s been an awesome morning, and it’s only 830.

Sigh.

At least I get to go to Ravina tonight.

Yes, again.

Carrie Underwood, bitches.

You heard me.

My hairbrush-turned-microphone is already packed in the picnic basket, ready to make it's big Ravinia debut.

What? You didn't think I actually used it to brush my hair, did you?

So silly.

So three cheers to getting my workout done for the day, and three more cheers for the Tylenol 3 I’m going to have to medicate with just to deal with these cramps.

And three cheers for Underwood! Ms. Carrie, if your nasty!

Big kisses and hugs, y’all.

Personal Training

For my birthday, my sister Devin and her husband got me 2 hours of personal training at my gym.

Similar to the personal training hours I am trying to win with the new contest.

(Update on that contest: I am almost through my second punch card in order to get my tee-shirt, so that means I only have one more punch card to go through to enter the personal training raffle. All in all, I have about 18 more visits. Now, you may think to yourself, "My goodness, M, have you even gotten off the couch AT ALL this summer, with that many visits left?!?!?" And to that I would say, "Well, with the addition of my swim workouts in a separate 50-meter pool now, and my rides done outside or on a trainer, I am getting my workouts in, just not always at the gym." Sigh. If there were only a way I can make that hour I spent on my trainer watching New Jersey Housewives Lost Footage count toward a punch on my card!)

Anyfatty, I had my first session this morning with my personal trainer.

Holy Kick-My-Ass.

Good news: My fitness enabled me to stay upright even when my mind was trying to ignore my quads screaming, "Get down! Take cover! Stop, drop and roll yourself out the door and back home!" So I wasn't totally humiliated at my strength level.

Bad news: My strength level. As in, I sense he may have taken it easy on me today, which is why I didn't, in fact, collapse in on myself.

I imagine what I went through is sort of akin to what people are doing with this whole Crossfit thing.

In fact, I read one of Andra's comments on FB about Crossfit saying she was a bit "barfy," and found myself a little barfy on the way home.

So that's good, right?

Do we have a win?

I'm gonna say yes. I am a true believer that pain (unless its of the knee/herniated disc variety) is weakness leaving the body.

And I felt that today - like I had gotten too comfortable in my own routine that my body has gotten soft and lazy. It needed a wake up call, a fire in the belly.

Even if that fire is only 30-minutes long.

Oh, and I solved the "barfy" problem by annialating everything in the fridge when I got home.

So next sessions goals?

1. Don't die.

2. Wipe the snot from your nose BEFORE it hits the ground during lunges.

Anything else is just a bonus.