Not everyone is an a-hole

I attended my very first Arizona Road Racers board meeting last night.

I'm so cool.

OK not really. But a lot of these people are. The meeting was held at a Member's fancy law firm downtown....20th floor with amazing views of the city. I would have taken a picture but I wanted to be normal for at least one meeting before they figured out what a spaz I am. We started off the meeting with a short intro to tell everyone a little about ourselves and our "running story". I laughed when it was my turn. I am the newest runner of the group.

At least no one made me feel bad (or they just secretly laughed and pointed when I left the room).

But really, most of these people have served  multiple years on this board. It's the biggest running club in Phoenix, running and managing multiple races a year. And they do all of this for nothing. For the pure love of the sport. I'm pretty excited to be a part of that.

When they asked me WHY I wanted to be a Director my reasons were this:

1. To become a better/faster runner.
2. To give back to the community. (I know, cheesy)
3. To meet new people with the same common interest. Running. (obvs.)

Being the VERY serious person that I am....I was a little apprehensive walking into this big board room full of people. I was having flashbacks of a neighborhood HOA meeting I once attended (not pretty, lots of angry people yelling and fighting about stupid shit no one cares about).  I was hoping I wouldn't fall asleep out of boredom or be stuck dealing with a bunch of boring drips for the nest year.

Opposite!

The room was full of funny, crazy, sarcastic and sweet people. All with really cool personalities and different abilities as far as running. The President is training for a 100 mile Ultra. Damn Gina.

So there are GOOD people in the world, that do shit for free because they aren't a-holes.

End of story.

Smoothie Queen

It was a smoothie breakfast kinda morning....

We woke up a little earlier than usual to get in our 8 mile run because Wade had to be in the office early. We started out running in the dark which was actually quite nice during the week. The school buses and teenagers driving to school isn't quite as peaceful and quiet as my summer runs were.

I drank A LOT of smoothies over the summer. They are refreshing and filling when it's warm out and also quick and easy. It's also a good way to get my protein in.

Here was my concoction for today:

Blend together the following ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup frozen mango
1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder (I use Muscle Milk)
small handful frozen raspberries
handful crushed ice
couple drops of coconut extract

Wade went for Chocolate and Banana tonight, equally delicious.

I guess I'll go shower now. Lame.

Hot & Cold

Temperature during last night's run: 95 degrees

Temperature during this mornings run: 77 degrees

So I allowed myself to sleep in yesterday and was punished by having to run in THAT shit. I almost barfed. I'm glad none of my neighbors saw me bent over my front yard...

Lazybones...

I've been a lazy blogger. Yes, I have.

I haven't done anything monumental or super exciting, so I thought I shouldn't bore the 3 people that read this. Plus, I've been pretty busy with that thing you call work, how rude.

So remember on Saturday when I said I was going to bust out a bike ride on Sunday?

I did.

And it was amazing.

It finally clicked with me. My bike and I figured each other out (thise damn 27 gears). And I even learned how to look behind me while riding, and not wobble all over the place. My fastest speed was 22.1 mph. I even yelled out loud/whooped at one point during the ride...I was grinning from ear to ear. I wasn't even scared anymore. Wade was patient and even hopped on my midget bike at one point to teach me how to properly shift. I went 22 miles. All hills. And I wasn't even sore. Guess all that running is paying off.

We had family day on Sunday. BBQ, wine, and homemade carrot cake.

I even hopped on my old horse and cruised around the pasture on her. She still remembers me every time I see her....and she's 25. We grew up together.

All is good.

ALMOST there...but not quite

I ALMOST hit my 30 mile goal this week, but came up short 1.5 measly miles. DOH!

30....you WILL be mine next week.

But, I'll make up for it tomorrow with beastly bike ride.

I started running today at 5 am. Pretty stupid if you ask me. I hardly slept the last 2 nights, but I had a running date with my girl Kara, so I had no excuses, plus I knew I needed to get a longer run in sooner than later. The longest runs I have done since the AFC half are a few 8's (besides double days) - whooooops! I ran the first 5 miles in the dark (that's why it was stupid) but I got to watch the sun come up, and it wasn't hot as balls out, and my pace was super without even pushing myself. It was one of those runs that really pumps you up and makes you confident in what you are doing.

Go me!

The rest of the day will be a little work, spending time with Wade, a lil shopping, a dinner date....and watching as much bad TV as possible.

Happy Weekend!

Tip of The Day

Don't eat hummus before sprint intervals.

Just sayin.

Finger Lickin Good

I finally caved Tuesday night.

We had Barbecue. But not just ANY Barbecue. Bryan's Black Mountain Barbecue.

Wade is basically obsessed with this place. He is obsessed with the ribs, the sauce, the fries, the salad, the selection of beer and how cool the owner is. Being business owners, we like to support the local restaurants and businesses....and if I let him, he would eat there 4 times a week. No joke.

You better hurry up with this stupid picture...

It IS the best barbecue I have ever had. Hands down. The owner has a seriously fierce background in the world of food....he isn't just slangin ribs. His food is classy and sophisticated and unique. And utterly delicious.

Of course, it is NOT healthy which is why we don't eat there very often, but hey...every once in a while you have to indulge a little, right?

Right?

P.S. Wade was totally irritated at me for making him wait 3.2 seconds to take a picture before mauling his plate. Geez.

Reminder

I know I beat myself up a little bit after my weekend submerged in beer and lack of exercise. Yesterday I felt fat and sluggish and like I sucked really really bad. 

But today, I started out the day my favorite way. Running outside, with Wade. We live in a lovely and physically active community that runs along a desert preserve....almost every morning hot air balloons are  rising up over the cactus as we skip our way along the pavement.

I ran 6 awesome miles. No knee pain....less sweat than usual (hallelujah weather Goddess) and I felt great.

Full of gratitude. 

Appreciative of MY body. My lungs, my legs, my feet, my core. I may not be fast but dammit, I can run.

And THIS is why I run.

Weekend Fail

So my dreams of running a 12 miler and riding a 20 miler were shattered.

Shattered by pure laziness and wayyyyy too much beer. Ugh.

God I'm an idiot.

I woke up late on Saturday...fortunately we were up North so I thought a later run could be done. And then we got stuck waiting for Larry The Cable Guy. He was at our cabin for like 5 hours. Rude.

 And by then, I was super irriated because he was making me miss "Oktoberfect". Turns out, we didn't miss much. There were like 5 people there and half of the vendors had packed up to go home by the time we showed up.

So we cruised by the local bar to grab a beer and get out of the house for a while. Whoops. 675 pitchers of IPA later, we were both drunk as a skunk and needed to go to bed STAT.

Still Sober

Naturally, I woke up with a hangover and of course, no desire to do anything physical besides nap and BBQ myself a hotdog. Lunch of Champions right there people!

 

We drove our worthless asses back to the Valley just in time to hop on our road bikes. We busted out a 11-ish mile ride. I felt good, but I think I went so fast on the way home (all uphill) because it was dark and I was scared of getting creamed by a car in the dark on a pretty busy road.

End of sucky weekend.

I'm not even going to post my workouts for the week becasue it's 12 miles short of what it should have been. I have 4 1/2 weeks until Ragnar Las Vegas....oy.

Well Hello Fall

Being up North at out lovely little cabin/home away from home has really launched me into full on Autumn Mode....I woke up to 50 degree weather and even had to bust out my Uggs to enjoy my cup-o-joe this am.

 
 I even removed my MUCH loved bright pink summer polish and went for what I call "Pumpkin"...

This has me thinking about a list of Fall Items that I NEED  -  list of coveted items coming soon.

We are off to Octoberfest....small town style. I'll try to be a ninja and capture some nice little photos...

Classy.

My Life is SO exciting.

I didn't blog yesterday or post my "3 Thing Thursday" that I have told myself to do each Thursday. Should I feel bad? I did. A little.

But that's OK, because like 2 people read this blog...and 1 of those is my BFF and she probably just reads to be nice.

I was a pretty busy little beaver yesterday. Working. Painting. And spending 672 hours assembling my new new desk. Now I know why I only paid $500 bucks for it. Manual labor ain't cheap. Good thing I have Wade.

So today is Friday...and let me tell you, my life is very exciting. I'm stuck at home this morning because our carpets are being cleaned (thank you very much to our dogs) and then off to the Cabin!

Anything else exciting happen over the past 2 days? Hmmm....I scored ONE thing from Target from The Missoni for Target line. As usual, I forgot and strolled in the next day. But I guess I should be happy I got one thing and I actually LOVE it, I heard it was nuts there!

I've put some miles in this week....did my longest weekday run ever on Thursday (8 miles - gangsta) and managed to bust out one strength training session as well.

Told ya I was exciting.

Operation: Office Makeover - Part Duex

My Shiny New Desk is arriving TOMORROW!

Paint has been purchased and bookshelf assembled. 2 large bags of trash dumped. Plastic storage bins bought and filled accordingly. Making progress.

Once it starts to come together, I'll post pics.

All Hail the Weather God(dess)

So initially I was totally pissed that I couldn't take out my sweet bike tonight for a ride because it's raining....and then I slapped myself.

 I mean, I technically could have tried to ride, but knowing me...I'd probably eat shit.

So I'm just going to sit here, drink a brewski and eat some Chicken Tortilla Soup and not complain about being far from dying of heat this morning on my run.

Hells Yes.

I-Did-A-Green Run Recap and My News!

Wade and I recently became members of the Arizona Road Racers. 

Reasons?

1. Become more involved and meet more runners.
2. Discounts on club races.
3. Free track workouts.

We have participated in several of ARR's runs and they are a great group and put on some fun and well organized races. I decided to throw a 10K into my plan and see how I did. 5K's are a little too fast and furious for me (I almost barfed after the last one).

The race was about 8 minutes from our house at the Reach 11 Sports Complex which was REALLY nice, we didn't even have to wake up at the ass crack of dawn. It rained the night before, so the weather was pretty nice to begin with and it eliminated some of the dust on the course....this was an all Desert Run.

PRO's:
1. Location to house
2. Cheap entry fee ($11 or free to ARR members)
3. "Green" Event - bring old shoes and get a raffle tix in exchange and free shirts from past races. (recycling)
4. Desert Course - was nice on the joints, but I had to be careful with the roughness of course and going through all the washes. Scenic and different.
5. Actual bathrooms vs. Port-a-Potties = awesome and not smelly. 
6. Well organized, fun group and smaller race.

CON's:
1. I accidentally went off course following a non-racer that was on the "course"...added about 30-40 seconds to my time before I realized what I was doing - idiot. Wasn't marked as well as it should have been.
2. Start time was 7:15am. Arizona in September is still hot and I was dying at the end of course with no shade.
3. Time clock said 8:59 pace and my Garmin said 8:51 - kinda odd. 

My tank was pretty empty at the end because I was so hot and I forgot sunscreen, so I jogged across the finish line...pretty lame.

However, I will do this race again...it was fun, fast and a nice run. Plus, I had my cute new purple shirt on. ;)

**************************************************************

I have been in talks with the ARR's about joining the Board of Director's and becoming more involved in the club. Voting was Sunday during and after the race and yesterday I was told that I was nominated for the position I was after!

Official Title: Vice President, Special & Social Events

I am REALLY excited for this opportunity, to be more involved, meet more people and give back to the running community. I lovvvvvve planning! My first event to plan will be for Halloween!

Weekly Work-It-Out

Here is a recap from last weeks workouts:

Monday-Sunday

Last week went well for my running...I slacked a little bit on the weight lifting side, only incorporating it into my week once. And apparently, I don't know how to do math...my spreadsheet from last weeks post said I had 31 miles on my week, hmmm, anyway. As I mentioned yesterday, I ran a 10K on Sunday...which was fun and I actually enjoyed the distance much more than 5K's!


And my week ahead:

Monday-Sunday

ALMOST ready to break the 30 mile mark for a week...this will be the most mileage for me ever. I decided to scale down a bit and only increase a half mile because I have had some knee pain the last week. We are heading back up to the cabin on Friday so I'm hoping I don't have a crappy run like I did last time. It should be cooler and I plan on starting earlier in the morning.


Wish me luck!

Run The World (Girls)

Yo B...thanks for getting me through my ARR race this morning, you are my idol. No seriously, she really is. I played this song twice at the end, it pumps me up!

I set a goal of a 9:00/mile pace...this was my first 10k so I was curious to see how I did. My Garmin said 8:51 but the "official" results say 8:59 - humpf. Either way, I'm happy and I came in 6 out of 24 in my age group. It was hot and I just busted out another 5.5 on the good ol' dreadmill so I'm heading out to my pool.

Race recap to follow...

Communication is Key

I am a true believer in the statement I have used as my post title. Communication IS key.

Reason for this post.

I have a good friend. Someone I consider a best friend, and has been for years. Someone who was just given back an engagement ring from someone who he thought he was going to spend his life with. Grow old with. Have children with.

The problem? Lack of communication. Being on different pages. Being on different maturity levels.

He is sad. His heart is broken, but he told me that he will be OK, and that it will make him a better person in the end. And that he deserves someone who is willing to be in a "big kid" relationship with him.

I am certainly not an expert on relationships. I am FAR from perfect. My husband and I fight. But over the past 6 years, we have learned how to disagree and to talk it through and for it to be OK to have different opinions on things. And then we move on. And eventually laugh about the stuff we actually get irritated at.  

But my friend, he was stuck. And he stood up for himself. I'm proud....really proud. To be able to walk away from the comfort and the familiar has got to be hard. But it just proves what I said above.

Communication is Key.

 

Hug your loved ones everyday.

OK, that was my "serious" post for the week (see I can be serious).

Bodyrock.tv = Scary

My husband pulled this website up for me one night a few months ago. He had met some dude (Geez, I can hardly remember what I ate for breakfast) who used this in his regular routine and apparently had quite the "bod".

I marked it into my Fitness/Running Category under my Bookmarks and never looked at it again. While stalking reading broke runner's blog a couple days ago....I came across it again. And I realized that I have to try it.

This chick is a total beast. I love the fact that most of the exercises can be done at home, with body weight and in a reasonably short amount of time. I like short and intense workouts. And of course, I'm majorly jealous of her body, holy crap. And she obviously works her ass of  for it.

Bodyrock.tv consists of Zuzana and her husband posting workout challenges throughout the week, Zuzana works out and Freddy does the behind the scenes. AND they are totally free and they look pretty intense..I'm up for the challenge if it means my abs will look like hers, ha! But seriously, I'm going to try it next week...

3 Thing Thursday

1. Professional Beer Taste Tester

OK, so I am not  professional for reals...but I like to think I have a taste for beer. Good beer. None of that Natural Ice crap either, blech. I prefer my beer in a bottle or draft style. Wade always tells me how he loves that I love to drink beer....classy huh? (I wonder if he likes my beer belly too?) But in all reality, it IS something we enjoy together. We like to check out new brewery's, learn about the process and where the beers come from...and of course, mass consumption of said beers. I like the last part the best.

2. Makeup Artiste

My first job out of high school was a pretty cool one. I got a job at the local department store and landed a position with Lancome. I have always been a girlie girl and makeup was something I always loved. Having a job doing this every single day only made my obsession and adoration for makeup grow. I still dabble, working as a Freelance Artist for MAC from time to time and helping out friends on special occasions. And of course, I've met so many cool and unique people though the business. It sure doesn't pay the bills, but it sure is fun.
 

3. Animal Lover

I wanted to be a Vetrinarian when I was growing up. I guess all the schooling and the dark side of it turned me off...BUT, I have always loved animals. Almost every size, shape and breed. I have 3 pets, and I love them all (except one at times who is particularly annoying...not naming names here Lowell). If I had no reason to work and actually make money because I was already super rich, I would do something with animals. And it would be awesome.

End of story.

The Boulders

I started my day off with a 4 miler, had coffee, breakfast and a shower and headed over to The Boulders Resort for a fun filled morning with my girlfriend Lynn. We took a 9am "bodypump" type class and a 10am pilates class. Both were really fun and I got a decent workout in on both!

We just had lunch poolside and I have my toes in the pool...

Heaven.

Operation: Office Makeover

Check out this sad little room we have in our home, I should be ashamed to be showing you this...

 
We call it an office, but really it should be coined "The Dumping Grounds/Cat Room/Fugly Shit Room". We have hauled off a few things up to the Cabin so at least it's cleared out now and ready for some REAL decoration. And I'm ready for a big girl office.

I work from home a lot. And I NEVER use this so called "office". I take over the dining room table or I prop my laptop on my lap in the living room and plug away. But let's face it, that's not efficient, and it's certainly not good on my ole' back and neck.

Wade is all for this little room makeover. He has offered to help and is letting me take the reins and make it MY room. So I shall.

A few things I have picked out so far...

Bookshelf (with baskets)

Accent Wall Paint Color

Desk with Hutch

Still debating on what type of chair I want....solid, zebra (or other animal print) or a patterned/bright/fun fabric. I have a few bright and fun chairs downstairs, so I might scratch that. We'll see what I find...I'm trying to keep a reasonable budget here, so that might make my decision a little easier.

A cute side-table, lamp and some sassy wall art will complete my "vision".

I'm pretty stoked. Update to follow....

Being a Lady is Hard...

So my reason for writing this post goes back to this one...when I mentioned pain and torture (guess I should post the 2 recipes I came up with, right?). I meant to circle back and talk about it, but I think I was so traumatized that I blocked it out of my memory.

You see, being a woman can be hard. And expensive. Men can go ahead and call us high maintenance for good reason. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to look good. To smell pretty. To be fit and thin. To have the latest trends in clothing, shoes and accessories. Shiny hair and manicured nails and toes. Perfect make-up. Hairless bodies.

Of course not all women feel this way, and that's OK. But keeping up with all of this....I like it. I don't mind it one bit. It makes me feel like a girl. And to be honest, Wade could probably care less if I wore makeup, dressed in clothes that trended 5 years ago and didn't polish my toes. He'd still love me. He'd still tell me I'm the most beautiful girl in the world. And we'd probably have more money in our bank account. But he knows these things make me ME. I like to be pretty and I like to shop. I like to be pampered and go to the salon. And I think most of my girlfriends would agree with me on this.

Enter body waxing. You see, I have always been friends with my trusty lil razor blade. It's all I knew. I shaved, lotion-ed, shaved again. Occasionally got a some sexy razor burn here and there. But that was normal. A couple weeks before our trip to San Diego, it dawned on me. If I waxed my lady bits, I wouldn't have to shave ALL week. I know, I'm like 10 years behind, whatever. So I consulted with the BFF. I made the appointment. I went.

I wanted to die. 

I think I said every curse word I know 27 times. I almost kicked poor Leona in the head twice and she had to pin my legs down while in an extremely compromising position. She laughed at me when I asked her if my vagina had swollen to the size of an elephant because, well that's exactly what it felt like. I told her I didn't think I'd be able to make it through childbirth if it's worse than this shit. Seriously.

But almost 3 weeks later. I am a believer. And now I have one more thing to maintain. 

Cheers to be being a women, hairless or not. We are ALL beautiful.

Weekly Work-it-Out

Here is a recap from last weeks workouts:

Monday-Sunday

 


The beginning of the week started off great. I was anxious to get back in the gym to work on my pipes. However, Thursday (7 miles) and Saturday (8 miles) were really off days for me...I'm not sure what made them so craptastic, but hopefully that's the last of them and I can put that behind me. As my BFF told me the other day, everyone has off days. She's right.


And my week ahead:

Monday-Sunday

I'm back! This mornings run was great...no GI issues, no heavy legs and my ass wasn't sore from my ride yesterday. Mentally I was 100%...I think that's my biggest struggle at times. This week I'm looking forward to Thursday's workouts. I'm meeting a friend at The Boulder's Resort and Spa courtesy of a client and taking a few classes there (following by lunch and the pool). Perks of the job I suppose! However, it is the first week I'll be doubling up on runs in preparation for The Ragnar Relay....which I've never done before. Hopefully I make it! My mileage is much higher that the week before, which is a training no-no, but that's only because I suck and cut my "long" run short by a couple miles on Saturday. If I feel tired on Sunday, I'll skip my 2nd run, or make it a little shorter.

I'm running in my running club's 10K this weekend, should be fun and I hope to have an exciting announcement when I'm done with it!

Back to the grind.

Labor Day Weekend, Here and Gone

This weekend flew by, as they always do. We headed up to our "home away from home" Friday night, truck full of food, odds and ends and of course, our dogs and cat. (yup, I said cat)

Luna the Traveling Cat. She's a BIG fan of being smooshed into this thing for 2.5 hours straight.

Pissed Off

We got there late. Ate late. Went to bed late. Woke up kinda late.
----> insert shitass run here <----

But then the fun began. As I mentioned before, we had a few extra house guests this trip. It was the first group of our families to join us up North at our new little cabin. We were excited to spend time with them. To laugh, tell silly stories and pretty much act like the idiots that we are. And fortunately no one can really afford to be judgmental up here in the sticks....there are some interesting characters in these parts, hillbilly USA, yo.  Wade's sister is funny. Really funny. And his bro-in-law. Equally funny. So ya, we had a lot of laughs. We took them to lunch, and fishing at the lake.This was a "first time" experience for the girls, and we honored to be a part of it. Proud Aunt and Uncle moments here....

 We BBQ'd brats and toasted smores in front of a big and beautiful campfire. We made a big family style breakfast on Sunday and then they were off to make the trek down the mountain. A great time was had by all. I sure love those little Princesses.

Wade and I spent Sunday antique-ing and shopping, and painting exterior doors and mirrors. Out with the boring old white, and in with green!

 We always go on a cabin style "date night" and it's typically filled with a big fat marg and some tasty chicken and shrimp salads at the local Mexican Joint. We watched a movie and hit the sack. Pretty rocking night if you ask me. Check out Wade's VERY serious model pose face, sexy.

And today, we took out the bikes. It was a little scary, not gonna lie. It was windy and there was a fair amount of traffic headed out of "town" and back to the Valley. I probably looked stupid hanging out for dear life as I whipped down those hills at 20/mph...but then again, the spandex probably made me look more stupid.

12.5 miles done. Hopefully my ass doesn't hurt too bad tomorrow.

Happy Labor Day y'all!

12 oz. curls

I am sooooo exhausted from my workout today...

Cheers to healthy living, it's rad.

3 Day Weekend

I'll be spending my weekend looking at this view...

With these goofs...

Eating, drinking, and being silly.

I ran this morning. I expected a lovely morning run in the Mountains. Nope. It sucked. I was hot. I was tired. I was thirsty. So my 10 miles turned into 8. But that's OK....tomorrow is a new day.

I Promise

I promise to never drink one of these.....

While my husband is stuck in the car with me for 3.5 hours in Holiday Weekend traffic as we are heading out of town. Turns out, they make me super spastic.

Increased Mileage + Heat Wave...

Pretty disgusting combo if you ask me.

I'm SO over the heat...I pretty much start whining every year come September when everyone (as in other states that aren't located in Hell) starts talking cool weather clothing and pumpkin patch picking, but this year, I'm REALLY over it. Running and training all summer long was great, I did pretty darn good and I'm proud I never missed a run. But my mileage is starting to increase...I'm leaving behind the 20's and will soon be approaching the 30's+, so ya, maybe dropping below 100 degrees would be super duper awesome. I'm sick of swamp ass and running in the dark on the weekends.

I am 7 weeks away from my next race and I'm really excited for it. But this time is a little different. I am running a relay race with 11 other people. Awesome people. So I am going to work harder, train harder, and be tougher on myself so I don't let them down. It also happens to the weekend of one of my Favorite's Birthday's....and he's turning 30. And he's married to my BFF, which means I get to be with her. And did I mention that we will be in Vegas? This is gonna be one for the books. And so so so much fun.

I better go start planning my outfit, hehe.

3 Thing Thursday

1. Chef Extraordinaire

Well not exactly...but I am proud to say I do know my way around a kitchen. I grew up with a Mom and Grandma who always cooked, and they passed their love of cooking on to me. When I tell people I typically cook dinner 6 nights a week, they are shocked and astonished! What? Don't people cook anymore? I love when a recipe turns out better than expected, leftovers, and the fact that I know what I am putting in my body. Bon Appetit!

Me and My Sous Chef, Christmas Eve 2010

2. Believer of Love

When I met my husband, I was NOT looking for it. I was 23, I was having fun and the thought of settling down was FAR from my mind. But as soon as I met him, I knew. I believe in fate, and being put somewhere because you were supposed to be there at that given time. And Wade and I were in the place we needed to be on December 9th, 2005. The rest is history.

Engagement Photos, March 2009

3. Lover of Holidays

Yup, I'm a sucker for a fuzzy Easter bunny, the sparkling lights of a Christmas tree and the aroma of Thanksgiving cooking in my Mom's kitchen (or mine last year, yum). As I get older, the more I appreciate the Holidays and the FAMILY I have to spend it with and the more I realize it isn't about gifts and shopping and stress. It's about cherishing the time we have together and the traditions we keep and continue to create.

Lowell The Easter Bunny 2010

OK, enough cheese and seriousness for the day.

Roadie

I caved. And now this is mine.

I wasn't 100% convinced that this was a new adventure that I was ready to take on. After all, I am still in the learning process of running and racing and quite frankly, I really love it. But my determined husband was not going to take NO for an answer. You see, my first ride on a road bike was not a good one. "The Bike Shop" (that I did not purchase from) put me on a test bike that were probably trying to unload on some stupid oblivious newbie. A bike that is made for racing. For people who know what the hell they are doing. And apparently women with iron vaginas. And that ain't me...except the oblivious part of course, wink. Soooo, I assumed all bikes were like this. And I wrote it off.

 I of course, encouraged Wade to pursue this new adventure and to get a bike of his own. He has a wild hair up hiss ass to train for a Triathlon, and I think that is super. We went to "The Bike Shop #2" on Sunday to check things out...and purchase something for Wade. Wellllllllll, I tried out some bikes more suited for riders like me. People who are riding for fun, leisure and exercise. And for scardy cats. (aka extra brakes and tires that are wider than a grain of rice) And how very sweet, Wade wanted US to try this new adventure together, as a couple. Something else to do together and something else to be excited about. He's right. We don't have kiddos, we don't have very many expensive habits (eating out, running, and traveling when we can) so I finally said "what the heck, let's DO this"

2 days later, I picked her up. Now she just needs a name. And I must admit, I'm pretty excited.