Home from Vacation!!

Hello everybody! The last time I posted, I was getting ready to go to Myrtle Beach for a family vacation--yes, the family vacation that included my strange family set-up. We had 2 condos, and in condo #1, it was my dad and stepmom, and her son and his girlfriend (both awesome and hilaaaarious!!!), and in condo #2, it was my big brother and sister-in-law, my mother, and myself. My baby brother didn't come this year, since he and his wife just had their baby a couple months ago.

The cutest munchkin ever!!!

So yes, the family vacation....An entire week of hanging out with the coolest people ever, and every time we get together, it's like a comedy club--the whole family is freaking hilarious, so every day (usually before 9am) my face and abs would be aching from laughing so hard!

There are some major highlights of this vacation:

 

Not sure if this will play right, but it was the beach when we first got there, the most peaceful sound and sight in the world as far as I'm concerned.

Second, this was the first time I've run with anyone else. Big brother, sister-in-law, and I ran in North Myrtle Beach's Beach Sweep 5k on Saturday, September 17th. I initially thought that we'd be running on a boardwalk or something. Surprise of all surprises, we ended up running along the beach, in the sand, with the tide rolling in (or out? never really did figure that out, just that it was gorgeous!)...So, first time running with people, first time running in sand, and  FIRST TIME RUNNING IN THE VICINITY OF SOMEONE WITH A GARMIN!!!! Can I just say a few things about all of these firsts: 1. I loved running with my bro and sis-in-law! They kept pace with me, which was cool, and we talked the whole time and I only walked twice, very briefly. It really passed the time and made it seem like so much less effort!! 2. Running in the sand is different. Not harder or easier, just different. Luckily, we were running on a harder, packed sand (unlike later in the week run on soft sand, which is much harder!!) and 3. THE GARMIN IS FLIPPING AMAZING!! My brother wore his that I'd gotten him earlier this year, and it really kept me going-he'd tell me how much time I had left for each mile in order to PR!

Sis-in-law, bro, and me before Beach Sweep 5k

AND IN CASE ANYONE WAS WONDERING--I PR'D, AND IT WAS MY BEST SINCE I STARTED RUNNING!!! I think we can all remember that I was doing really well (in my humble opinion) with running prior to my car accident:

Janked-up old car

In my first 5k, I was at 40+, and after the accident, my best was 43+. Since then I have been working it out, slow and steady just trying to keep moving. So (TAA-DAAAH!) my PR at the Beach Sweep 5k was 39:45, which is @ 12:49 minute/mile (and I've been up in the 14+ range)!!!! I am so stinkin' proud of myself! So cool too, to get to share that with my family!

A couple days later, I took the Garmin out for a spin by myself, and ran on the beach 1.5miles in 20:45 (@13:51m/m) in midday heat (from the condo to the pier and back). And promptly went back to the room and ordered MY GARMIN FORERUNNER 305!!!

Hopefully this will take you to a link....

 So I am waiting (not so) patiently for a sweet little package from Amazon that I am soo excited about!!!!

Other fun vacation things:

THE BEACH

From the Apache Pier, looking towards the condos--ours was the 4th one--gray and white--Wyndham Seawatch Plantation, Myrtle Beach, SC

Apache Pier

Sexy, huh? Mid-way through daytime run, gettin' my tan on

At least I don't look scary in this one...too much!!

 And when I was gone, I got two things at home waiting for me!

1. ChiRunning video

To try and keep my back in good shape (and there was a discount through Schwaggle!)

and

where i got this

 

2. FLEAS----GRRR!!! As soon as I got home this morning, at 6am and after driving all night, I came home to fleas, so I had to go out, drive to WalMart, get flea shampoo and spray,and  flea collar for the cat, come home, spray the house down, bathe the dogs, vacuum everything, and do laundry all day!!! And amazingly, I am still glad to be back...

--Marge

Almost Vacay Time!

In 3, count 'em 3 days, I will be leaving Ohio for the warm sandy beaches of Myrtle Beach, for a week-long family vacation! I cannot tell you how excited I am to go, and to spend that time with my family, but geesh! there is a lot of planning to do still...
I have to get books to read on the beach, finish cleaning and packing, meet the dog-walker-lady, work at work, work at the jail, shop for food to take, and on and on. I feel like I've been going nonstop!

On Saturday (the 17th, I think) I will be running my first 5k with anyone besides myself. I think I've mentioned that none of my friends that live here run, so I have not had a 'buddy' to go with. I had joined the Facebook group for the local running club, hoping to do some group runs, and it turns out that most of those happen at 5:30am (not a bad thing, just interferes with work, like leaving me hanging around work 2 hours early...NO THANKS!)....
Anyway, I digress...so I will be doing this 5k with my brother and sister-in-law. So far none of the other family members have agreed to do it. I don't remember if I've said this before, but one of the reasons I started running was because my brother *CHALLENGED* me to run a family 5k on the family vacay. That was at Thanksgiving, and I started running in December. I am super-excited to run WITH other people (or at least have someone to come back and run me in!)


And in fantastic news: The Chiropractor doesn't need to see me for 2 more weeks, and is going to "wean" me from intensive physical therapy! He wants me back to doing my normal workouts. So I will be *KICKING ASS AND TAKING NAMES* (I did my gym rotation last week--35 minutes on the treadmill, 30 minutes on the elliptical, and 25 on the recumbent bike; over the weekend I weedwhacked the whole yard and did a few rounds of resistance band exercises. Hoo-rah!) And I only hurt a little bit the next day.


Good luck on your upcoming fall races!!! 
--Marge

I'm Alive and Kickin'!!

I have not written about my life in the past month because, well, I've been depressed with the whole "things I can't do yet since the car accident." I feel over-dramatic even posting this, since it's only whiplash and will get better. Things have been very 'blah' for me---going to the chiropractor, coming home from there, going to work, coming home from work, dogs dogs dogs dogs...well, OK, so the dog part is never 'blah' but the rest is. So I have not wanted to bore anyone with that.
But things are looking up! I recently ran my first 5k since the accident--the Columbus Humane Society's Defend Your Friend 5K (OK, it was really the same day as my last post!) to benefit the Cruelty Investigations Unit. I think there were about 300 people there, and a bunch of dogs. It was about 90 degrees out with ridiculous humidity--at one point I was following a woman that was carrying her collie and running because it was too hot for the dog!

Sweaty and dying at the end of the race! I hate how red I get!

I'll be honest, I was mostly miserable because of the heat, and because of a lot of tightness in my right hip (I think that because my back's still a little off, my muscles are working in ways they haven't had to), and I ended up finishing at 43:00 exactly, which I was happy with (mostly because it was DONE and there was ice-cold water at the end). One really cool thing about this one was that it was an out-and-back, and there were 2 water tables, so really it ended up being 4, which was great with the heat. Since then, I have been going to the gym and running after work every couple of days or at home on the treadmill.

Day 1 workout

Day 2 workout

I also went to visit a bunch of the girls I went to college with at the annual get-together--we did not get pictures this year, so here is a picture of Bella, very proud of herself after busting a kid's float-ring:

"Look Mom, I killed it!!"

While visiting the girls, I took one of the dogs for a 2 mile run, and I didn't time it, but I know we went faster than normal for me--he was just having so much fun, I didn't want to slow down unless I had to! So overall, I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things.
And two weeks from now, I will be running a 5k with my older brother and his wife to kick off the Annual Family Vacation at Myrtle Beach. This will be my first time running with them (or anyone, for that matter!) and I am super-excited! I'm working on catching up with everyone's blogs too!!


--Marge