Saying Goodbye

2 Big things happened today

1. I resumed my laser tattoo removal...

 You have get to wear these sweet goggles when you are getting lazered.

 

When I was about 18 years old and 1 minute - I did what most small town Montana girls do when they leave home - I ran out and got a dolphin on my ankle. 

I miss 1994 more than you can imagine!  But now would rather have the memories of being blacked out on jungle juice and trying to make it to class the next morning and gaining the freshman 20 30 than a permanent inked in memory.

I know, I know, I should have thought of this back then.  BUT - I didn't.

I had only been to the ocean once - was (and still am) pretty timid of the water - and had never even seen a dolphin in real life.  (I still have never seen one).  But I HAD to have this beautiful sea creature on my ankle to symbolize my freedom, duh. 

No disrespect to the dolphins out there - I still love ya, I hope I see you one day in real life but have no desire to swim with you or have you on my ankle.

Honestly, this feels like its my 100th treatment.  This has been a really long process.  I started getting laser tat removal in Texas in the summer of 2011.  I went around 10-12 times (at $70-90 a pop!)  The first several times it was SO PAINFUL but then it got easier and easier.  The laser basically blasts each layer of ink into tiny particles and then your body naturally sluffs it off until its gone.  You are supposed to get treatment every 4-8 weeks and they cannot guarantee that the tattoo will be fully removed.  Low and behold Green and Blue colors are really tough to remove.

Well, guess what....

A dolphin jumping out of the ocean on your ankle has lots of friggin' green and blue in it.  Who'da thought?

Well, because it was such a long process - I went ahead and took the last 9 months or so off.  #1 - I was sick of it and opted to spend my money on clothing and hair products & #2, I was living in the backwoods of Kentucky and didn't even attempt to find a reputable place to keep up with treatments.   

After being stuck with a half-ass removed tattoo for the past several months - I decided it was go time.  Time for the dolphin to go time.  I went to a place called Skin Specialists, PC.  www.lovelyskin.com They were really nice there and it was much like a legit Doctor's office. 

We opted to do a 'Stacked Treatment' which is 4 treatments at once.  They numbed my cankle with about what felt like 50 shots and went to town.  I didn't feel a thing.  Until now.  Eek - it hurts and I am afraid to take the bandaid off for fear of it being a dolphin-shaped scar.  I hope it works.  I'll keep you posted.

#2  This is random, but I feel like I have to share it because it was a big moment for me - 28 CD's and 33 1/2 hours later, I finally finished the Game of Thrones Audio Book.  Holy shit that took a lot of commitment and car time.  I NEVER would have read the actual book.  It is way too thick and definitely not enough toilet humor to keep me rolling - but the book on CD was fantastic.  The narrator even did voices!  I miss it already!  I am back to the boring old country station listening.  I would much rather listen to fighting over kingdoms.

I usually don't get into fantasy at all - but highly recommend it if you have some car time coming up in your near future.   I am debating wether or not to get the next one - I probably will.

On a side note:  I think Prince Jeoffery is a little prick for be-heading Edard Stark.

FINALLY - if you get a chance, watch Kanye's new video and tell me if you love it as much as I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr4HVom01T0

WTF was that? 

Cheers to being 18 and dumb - Castles and Kingdoms - and not to Kanye and Kim's video!
Happy Thursday - I'm off to the treadmill!

What? There's no Basement in the Alamo??

No -there isn't a basement in the Alamo.  (for all of you Pee Wee Herman fans out there)

After 12 short weeks of training....we made it to the San Antonio Rock n' Roll Half Marathon.

A half-marathon is 13.2 miles.  (not a 5k - to the guy on the plane who sat next to me on the way to Dallas)

I finished in 2:25 - not too great.  That is about 11 minute miles average and I trained for 10 minute miles.  It was so hot outside and I was really slow. (and more hills than I anticipated)  Also, lets face it, I didn't train hard enough.  Not enough long runs and definitely not enough strength training.  Either way - it was really a good time!  I am still a little sore today, mostly my feet and chafe, but I am planning on hitting the treadmill again tomorrow! 

Here is a race re-cap for you:

We started out in South Fort Worth on Saturday morning for breakfast.  My good friends from met up with us and we had a really nice visit, I was happy to spend time with them.  My favorite thing at the Old South Pancake house are their German Pancakes.  (I might have been more excited for the pancakes than the race, but what did you expect?)

We made it into San Antone on Saturday afternoon and went to the Race Expo and picked up our packets.  The expo was really well organized and it went pretty smoothly and we made it through without spending $100's on race gadgets - guaranteed to make you run faster.

We stayed in the Emily Morgan DoubleTree Hotel which is right near the Alamo and the Riverwalk.  Great location and a really cool hotel.

We had dinner at a restaurant called the Iron Cactus and it was delish!  We sat outside, right on the river and couldn't have asked for a better night out with my best Grass Range Gals!

We were good little racers and actually got our race gear ready to go the night before.  All of the running magazines say to do this...I'm not sure if it saved a ton of time for us on race morning, but it was fun to get everything together.  (note the Glide - btw, it worked for only about 6 miles before I completely sweated it off)

Early early the next morning, we made the mile trek to the start line - and I had to use the can.  There were no lines at all and the bathrooms were spotless.  HA!

I work construction and have seen some gross porta potties in my day - but race morning jons are probably some of the grossest that I have seen. Yuck.  They look like such a nice clean bunch - it's weird.

This is our usual before picture - lookin' good on race day.   So happy to go for a little jog and not yet experiencing the pain that 13.2 miles brings.  It was already getting warm outside and I am pretty sure that I started sweating before I even crossed the start line.

We were soaking wet with sweat!  Eek.  It was awesome having Katie there to support us in the race!  Tami and I have ran several races together and haven't had anyone meet us at the finish line before, it was really cool.  Thanks for your support, Katie!

Chocolate Milk is an awesome re-fuel, btw.  They handed it out at the finish line...nice job RnR San Antonio.  They also gave out Fritos! Again, kudos!

Once we made the walk back to the Hotel and rinsed off the gross-ness, we popped the top on a bottle of Champagne!  Thanks a bunch to my cousin Johnna for giving us the BEST CARE PACKAGE EVER!!  She thought of everything!

Finally - quite possibly the best race re-fuel that I have ever had:

God Bless Texas. 

While shuffle jogging through the streets of Old San Antonio, I got a lot of time to think about all of the things that I love about running.  I love the fact that there are all ages, sizes and shapes of people at the races AND I love all of the signs that people make and the support from fellow runners and strangers that you get along the way.  It's a pretty neat feeling.

The only negative I could really think of are the lines to the porta jons on race day...and I can live with that.    (unless I have an emergency 'situation' going on)

Cheers to making the most of it!  Cheers to another 13 miles with a great friend!  Cheers to many many more!

CARB-O Loading!

Welp - this is it! 

I am sitting in the Omaha Airport - on my way to Texas for the big Half Marathon!

While sitting here, I am doing what any other elite athlete would be doing:  Carb Loading

While I was carb-loading - I was looking on the www and came across this:

Shit

Yep - I'm screwed.  524 Burpees is nowhere near my wheel-house.  I am getting a headache just thinking about it.

I am pretty excited for the race on Sunday - I feel pretty good about my training this time around.  Last weekend I ran 8 miles and felt great afterward - that never happens.  I have gone up to 11 miles this time around - so 13.2 should be a cinch!  Haha!

Last night I carefully selected my running outfit and this is what I came up with:

Thoughts?

I thought it looked the brightest and absolutely the fastest.  I am hoping to find a cute yellow or green headband at the Race Expo tomorrow to complete the package.  ;)

I am really excited for this race - my bestie from way back is running with me (I will be eating her dust) and we are staying on the San Antonio River Walk overlooking the ALAMO.  The River Walk is such a neat area and there are so many things to do and see there.  Hello Texas heat in November - oh how I've missed you.

If you are thinking about running a 1/2 Marathon or, God forbid, a Full Marathon, I highly suggest starting in the Rock n' Roll series.  They are in several locations around the U.S. and are such a cool race to run in.  They have a very upbeat vibe and bands every couple of miles.  You never feel alone in the race and it is a great experience.

Have a great weekend everyone!  I hope your weekend is filled with good times!

Meanwhile - I'll be over here jogging it out and starting on my burpees!

Cheers!

Hot Yoga

Welcome to beautiful Omaha, NE!

This is my comfort zone - a nice outdoor jog.  I haven't found any trails yet - but there are a lot of senic places to run here.  (It's going to be really cold soon and I am going to take all of the outdoors that I can get in)

So far - so good in the Big O as far as the half marathon shuffle jogging training goes.  (these pictures have been taken on my runs, when I need a break)  I joined a gym this past week and have been really looking at changing up my workout routine though. 

SO today I took a great big step outside of my comfort zone and tried something new - HOT YOGA!  My sister and good friend went with me to One Tree Yoga (website:  www.onetreeyoga.com)  they have 2 locations in Omaha (East & West).  We went to the west location and as far as yoga goes - In my limited experience, I highly recommend it.  I can't actually remember when or if I've evervtaken an actual Yoga class other that DVD's.  Live classes are definitely the way to go.  The instructor was really helpful and made sure we were doing the poses correctly, which was great.  She was really nice and didn't make me feel like a big oaf because it hurt  to sit on my knees and I couldn't quite wrap my ankles around my neck.  (Just kididng - we didn't get that in-depth, or slutty)  We went through 26 pretty basic poses and did each twice.  Half of the time was spent standing up and the other half on the mat.

OK - Lets talk about the hot in HOT YOGA.  I've read some articles about it and how good it is for you and have been wanting to give it a try for a while.  It's really good for flexibility and helps with deep cleansing - and I love a good cleanse.  Plus it seems like all of the cool people are doing it.

#1 - I'm not sure why it's not called Hotter n' shit Yoga.  We walked into the room and it felt like it was 300 degrees in there.  I think it was actually about 105 - but it was HOT.  Being naturally inclined to sweat a lot, Big K immediately popped a few beads.  90 minutes later - I was soaked in sweat.  We're talking drip in your eyeballs sweat.  (I checked the room and even the cute little Yoga experts were sweating too - I felt better)

Which brings me to #2 - don't wear a heavy black concert t-shirt to Hot Yoga.  Next time I am going to wear my running shorts and a light and loose tank top.  Or go in a thong and bra.  (which would be ideal, but I don't think Omaha or anyone is ready for that) My yoga pants were actually stuck to me when we were done.  It was kind of gross. 

#3 - Bring a towel and a big ol bottle of water.  You will need it.

#4 - Don't crack up in class when you almost fall or during the weird breathing exercises.  You will be the only one laughing.  They are a pretty serious and centered bunch in there.

#5 - I had no idea that Yoga had digestive benefits!  Although I did fart once in class (SBD) - There are several poses that help your digestive system.  I thought that was pretty interesting.  So next time you see me crouched down like a rabbit in the middle of a public place - don't worry about it, I'm just in a 'code-brown' situation and using Yoga moves instead of the public bathroom.

#6 - Go with good people and treat yourself to a nice cup of coffee and breakfast afterwards.
 

Thanks for going with me today, ladies!  I enjoyed every minute of it and spending time with you!  Hopefully we can do it again soon!  Sorry that the picture doesn't show more of our 'shine'!

Have a great weekend!