26.2

I am wearing a necklace today that says 26.2. It is the distance in miles of a marathon. I completed my first (and last) marathon on Nov. 22. The marathon was exactly one week before my 1 year wedding anniversary. John and I trained together for an entire year so we could punish ourselves at the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa.

My mom bought me the 26.2 necklace. She gave it to me on the Saturday before the marathon. We ran the marathon on Sunday. It was such a moving gesture because Mom was pretty sure that I was going to die while running the marathon. She doesn't believe that someone's body should run for that long. After attempting it, I tend to agree with her! However, she did buy me the necklace. Wanting to actually wear the small pendant is what convinced me to finish the thing when at mile 20 I wanted to do nothing more than curl up in a little ball and cry.

I asked friends and family to send me inspirational quotes that I could read while I was running. It was really awesome and helpful. Some were funny, some were poignant, most were both. John told me if I didn't finish the marathon I was out of the family. That motivated me to keep going.

So, here's the story from my 26.2 mile adventure.

John and I got up early on the day of the marathon and drove to the close to the starting line. My cousin Heather met us there. She and I ran the first 9 miles together. I did pretty good for the first 13. It was nice to be able to talk to Heather. She's an awesome girl and she keep me in a happy place for a long time. Then around mile 10 my fancy schmany Garmin told me I was on mile 11. I was extremely happy about this. And, so I was feeling really pretty good. The marathon is a loop for the first half and then an out and back for the second half. I am a very slow runner and that tends to frustrate me quite a bit. But, I kept plugging along.

Around mile 15 I started walking because I was in a tremendous amount of pain. My friend Mary was waiting for me at 46th street (maybe - can't remember for sure) so I knew that I would have someone to talk to there. Lo and behold there was a crew waiting for me before I even got to 22nd! My uncle and aunt (Heather's parents) plus my cousin and Heather were all just hanging out waiting for me to come by. I saw my uncle shuffle across the street so he could cheer for me. I felt incredibly loved.

So I found Mary and she started walking for me. Then I heard more cheering and saw my mom, dad, 2 aunts, a cousin and an uncle all cheering for me. It was incredibly amazing. The only problem was that I still had so far to go!

I was in pain. I hurt. I was miserable. I don't like running. It was without a doubt the most miserable thing I have done. Friend Mary was with me though. She chatted with me. We looked for people we knew. Having her with me is the ONLY reason why I was able to finish. Writing this blog makes me feel even more loved and special. I've been emotional recently so I'm even tearing up a bit.

Friend Mary though had to leave me when we got back to her car.

I kept going because I only had 2 more miles to go then I was through. I was doing pretty well for about a mile but then the men came and took away the time signs - yes I was THAT slow. I started crying. A lot. Sobbing. So upset with myself. So frustrated for being so slow. You know in Junior High when you are pretty sure you are worthless and should not be allowed to even waste oxygen - that's how I felt.

And, then I looked up and saw my mom, aunt Phyllis, uncle Steve and John all walking toward me! John had on his finisher's medal. They could tell I had been crying. I was NOT in a good place. But, they were coming to get me! It was amazing. Absolutely amazing.

So, I started running again. I was a bit disappointed because I thought my dad had left. It was okay though because that's just my dad. But as I rounded the bend I could see both the finish line AND my dad and my aunt Denise and cousin Paige. It was absolutely amazing. I finished.

I got my shirt. I got my medal. I got hugs from John and the rest of the family. I finished. I'm still disappointed with my time. But, I did run a marathon.

Audio books

I love audio books. I'm listening to True Blue by David Baldacci. I think the cheesier parts stick out a little bit more when you are listening instead of reading. Nonetheless I really enjoy listening to books.

John and I were talking about what books we were going to take with us to Miami. We each gave the other one 5 books that the person should read. I'm going to try to remember what they were.

John gave to me
The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin; Wicked; Unmasking Administrative Evil; and Blood of Brothers. There's one more that neither one of us can ever remember.

I gave to John
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; Animal, Vegetable Miracle; Anne of Green Gables; The Notebook. Well bother. There's one more that I cannot remember either. I'll update the post if either one of us remember.

And ... I return

I am being very productive today. I’ve found that listening to a book on my MP3 player actually boosts my productivity. I’m listening to True Blue by David Baldacci. It is pretty good. Some cheesy one-liners but still good.

I snuck up on John last night as he was looking at my Christmas present. He was looking at multi-tools otherwise known as Gerbers. I would like to have one.

Christmas lights in Austin are a struggle. Some people just haphazardly through up lights in their trees and on their houses. It makes John and I laugh. One of our neighbors vomited Christmas decorations all over their yard. Seriously, I do not think there is an inch of grass showing because they have so many lighted things whirling and twirling. They are playing music and have a countdown to Christmas … all within a few feet of our house! The word tacky is not nearly strong enough!

Termits?

I just re-read some of my former posts. Every time you see the word termit - please change to termite in your mind. Silly me!

Former house owner

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a little while.
When we were closing we met with the man who owned our house for 30 years. He was a very kind soul. He was pretty adamant that he wanted to close at the same time we did. We all were at the title company and he told us stories about the house. His wife was the one who planted the roses and the mini magnolia bushes. Our lot is bigger than most of the other lots in the neighborhood because there is a finite amount of room in between the two streets. So, there is a road ... houses ... then road. There is not enough room for 4 houses, but there is way too much room for 2. Therefore, they put three houses in between the roads. It allowed for bigger lots for those 3 houses. We are the middle house. The neighbor to the east is a complete busybody. There are 2 fences between our yard and their yard. Not sure why. But, they've all ready peeked through both of the yards to look at McKenzie! Trust me, this is no small feat. They also knew exactly what we were going to be doing with the yard. How? They pumped the people we hired for the lawn for information! Anyway, back to our sweet old former house owner. Once we had closed. He stood up, shook John's hand, and then proudly handed over the keys to him. He came across the room to give me a hug. I felt like he was blessing John and me to take over his home and to be happy in it.

Popcorn

I love popcorn. I LOVE popcorn. I could probably eat popcorn every day for dinner. I do not love popcorn ceilings. Actually, I don't have anything against popcorn ceilings. They don't mortally offend me in any way. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for John. John is mortally offended by popcorn ceilings. Our new house (the very old house) has popcorn ceilings. So, we decided we would scrap off the popcorn. Aiyiyiah! On Monday night, life was wretched. We couldn't get the corn to actually come off the ceiling! It is messy. Stuff is constantly falling all over you. Its pretty rough. By yesterday we had figured out how to remove the popcorn. A combination of ammonia with water sprayed on to the ceiling plus a scraper pretty well removes the stuff. I'm listening to a fluffy novel on my Sansa clip so I actually have been enjoying the popcorn removal a little bit more.

The texture on the walls is a whole other story. The texture is HIDEOUS. It looks like dripping blood. There's no way we could add paint to it without being totally creepy. (We are thinking about a light, light gray with white accent colors.) Last night the walls defeated us. We spent a good deal of time sanding. We even have a rotary sander and the walls just laughed at us. Blugh!

I am taking pictures to document all of this just haven't had the time to upload them yet.

Closing Time

The end of the beginning has arrived. John and I closed yesterday. There was a wee bit of an issue with termits. We don't have termits. We have a silly termite inspector. $180 later and everything is going to be just fine. WE CLOSED ON OUR FIRST HOME!

So, last night John was mowing and I was just bee bopping around. At one point I sat down in my yard and just smiled. It was a beautiful evening. It was quiet. (John was in the front yard.) McKenzie was running back and forth as fast as she could. It was incredible.

Oh, but I should relay the following story. My moment of bliss happened after this story. For a wedding present John and I received a potato. The potato was supposed to bless us and ensure that our life together starts out plentiful and remains that way. So, as John was putting together the lawn mower, I went to plant our potato. I looked up and there was a little blue birdy chirpping at me. It was a bit scared. I couldn't figure out why it didn't fly away. About that time McKenzie spotted the little blue birdy and she started attempting to attack. The bird hopped all over the place trying to get away from her. I was trying to catch McKenzie before she ate the bird. The bird was squawking at the top of its lungs. John was yelling from the patio that the mama bird was getting ready to attack my head. The mama bird was flying down toward me. Finally I grabbed McKenzie and ran to the patio. I saw the little blue birdy over by the fence a little while later. (McKenzie was banished to the house.) John mowed but said he didn't see the birdy. I'm not sure what happened to it. It was pretty dramatic!

John is at the house right now. (I'm at work.) Tonight we have a KUT event so I'll be burning the 10 p.m. oil. :)