Internet Down!

I have neither fallen off of the planet, nor neglected my blogging duties. Our DSL has been down since Saturday afternoon. Apparently, the good folks at AT&T are wiring up our neighborhood to go live on U-Verse soon and they just start cutting wires with no regard to which ones they are chopping. So, I have a lot to catch up on in bloggy world!

Let's see. Last Saturday was our last long run before the half. We went almost 8 miles at our best time yet! Problem is, my left shin is starting to act up again. I also ran alone on Monday for 4 miles and it did the same thing. I am hoping that by not running until this Saturday, it will be good as new. I really don't want to think about 13.1 miles with a hurt shin. I also don't want to think about causing a stress-fracture. 

On Sunday, we went to pick up our race packets in Roswell. I have to say, I LOVE the shirt!! It not only feels good, it looks great! Plus, we got really cool, glow in the dark "slap" bracelets. (You know, like the ones from middle school??) LOVE it!! We also drove the course. It doesn't look too bad. It's not as "flat" as they say it is, but it's definitely no hill of death! So, check out the swag:

My bib, the shirt and the bracelet!

Since the internet has been down, I have been passing the time reading a book. I really didn't want to start another book until the race was over, but out of sheer boredom, I did. I am reading, Little Lady, Big Apple by Hester Browne. It's the second book in a trilogy (of course) about The Little Lady Agency. It has been SO long since I read the first book that I feared not being able to follow along at first, but it was surprisingly easy to remember the main points once I settled in. I am currently about halfway finished. I probably won't finish it before Saturday, even though every time I say that, I end up finishing whatever I am reading!

I'm working tonight, all day tomorrow and Thursday and then I am "carb loading" aka, going to the local pizza buffet for the kid's spirit day for school on Friday and then going to work that evening. Don't expect too much from me until after the race is over. It's probably best that way so that you don't have to constantly read about my sudden panic and insecurities on the situation!! I can tell you that I will DEFINITELY breath a sigh of relief and relax once this race is over!

Next Up...

Last night after I published my post, I downloaded City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare to my Nook and started reading it. Not sure if you recall, but I wasn't thrilled with the way the previous book, City of Fallen Angels, ended. I am, however, hopeful that this book will put me back on track to happyville. I'm about 7 chapters in and, so far, still unhappy with the way the story is going. I understand that this is a young adult novel and that teenagers thrive on drama, (I'm not so old that I don't remember being one) but, come on!!! I actually didn't have a problem putting it down to fall asleep last night, which is the opposite of what happened when I read the first four books. I will keep you posted as to my thoughts for however long it takes me to finish it. It's roughly 350 pages and I'm a little over a hundred.

We went to the pizza restaurant for lunch today. I read in an article recently that I should avoid pizza until after the race, but it didn't say why. So, after I look up the reasoning, I may try to stay away from pizza for the next 12 weeks. I can't think of a single reason why that would be, though.

Since I had to write endlessly about my knees hurting while training for the 5k, I fear that I shall do the same with my hamstring pain. It still hurts!!! I'm hoping that with some stretching tonight and tomorrow and then a soak in some Epsom salts later, it will be ok during my walk tomorrow morning. It has to be ready for Tuesday's run. It's a 3 miler and it's nothing I'm not used to doing.

Hamstrung

I'm going to start this post with the story I didn't tell yesterday. It was National Kite Day and every year Gabriel's school celebrates by going to the park across the street and flying kites. It's always a fun event. Almost all of the parents take off and we bring a picnic lunch and blankets to sit on. It is a nice, relaxing time to socialize and let the kids play. Gabriel didn't start out by flying his kite. In fact, he played on the playground until almost everyone had left for the day and then he decided to fly his kite. It was actually great timing because he could keep it up for a pretty good stretch (Wednesday was not so windy).

See? It's up in the sky. I was so impressed!!

Since we had such a good day yesterday, we decided to take the kids to the local froyo shop. I ate more than I usually do, but it was super yummy and a lot less calories than DQ.

This morning, as planned, I had a parent-teacher conference at the school. We actually arrived at the school before any of the teachers did, so we waited around a bit. It's nice to hear how your child is doing academically because you never really get to see that side of your child. Aside from some attention issues and a recent string of behavioral issues, he is doing great super FANTASTIC in his school work. He seems to be very math-minded. That should make things interesting for me, because I am more language arts-minded (not that I have a hard time with math, it's just not my favorite thing). He is more than ready for Kindergarten and perhaps even first grade.

That being said, let's move on to the rest of my day. I stand 99.99% of the day at work. That is no fun when you've hurt your hamstring. I mostly hobbled about today. I'm going to read up on some stretches that might make it better. I iced the muscle yesterday after the treadmill and then, later, I took a hot bath, but it still hurts a lot. I really, really need this to feel better by next Tuesday when I start running again. I am aiming for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday runs with Saturday being both outside and the "long" run for the week. This Saturday, I am going for a walk. I don't know how long it will be, but I hope it's a nice one.

Oh, one last thing. We had some cameras on sale at work today in the clearance bin, so I bought a mini digital keychain camera. I am hoping that I can take more pictures to throw up here on the blog. I figure it will be easier if I always have a camera with me. I'm not guaranteeing that they will be high-quality pictures, but it beats none at all and it means that I don't have to run with my nice camera and risk it getting lost or broken. 

Tomorrow is the last pizza lunch for Gabriel's school, so at least I will have pizza eating out of my system until August, which is perfect for the half training!!

T-Minus 1 Week and the 12 Minute Mile

Wow. I can't believe it! Only 1 week to go until the 5k. I'm not sure what to expect. I have my dress all picked out. I think it will need to be pinned to my bra because I really don't need straps falling down while I run. I also need to figure out some way to get my tiara to stay on my head for 3.1 miles!

Speaking of 3.1 miles, Jenni and I did our run this morning on the "pretty" stretch of the trail. Are you ready for it? We ran it in 36:10 minutes!!! That is a 12 minute mile, baby! My knees held up alright and I had a band-aid on my heel. Despite being out of breath, I was pleased with the run. We ran harder and farther than ever before. I think I will run one more time on Wednesday after I have muffins for moms at Gabriel's school and then I will rest until Saturday. Hopefully, I'll get some time to take some pictures of everything.

Here lately, after I run, I have had some pretty insane cravings for carbs. I couldn't fight it today, so I caved and we went to Stevi B's Pizza and ate the buffet. I was amazingly not as hungry as I thought I would be, although I still managed to consume 1300 calories in one meal. (Good thing I skip breakfast before my runs)

Deadlocked is going well. I think I am on chapter 5 right now. Charlaine Harris has a tendency to have super long chapters and chapter 2 was especially long! I'm not sure how I feel about what's going on in it. I know that Ms. Harris has said that she will not be turning Sookie into a vampire, but I just can't imagine her with anyone but Eric. Sighhhhhh.

Oh, the new sporting goods store in town had it's grand opening today, so we stopped by since it is in the same plaza as the pizza place. They had an outdoor fishing hole for kids to fish with actual bait for 5 minutes. Evelyn caught a real catfish!!! She was excited until it came out of the water, then she was scared as hell! Gabriel was a little bummed because he didn't catch one, but at least he has now had the experience. Tons of fun!

Well, work tomorrow, hopefully uneventful!