This is what I wanted to blog about earlier.  I’m doing it now because I’ve had a nap and I’m feeling more positive.  Chris and I ran a 5k this morning.  (That bulge in my shirt is my gloves, stuffed down my shirt.  It wasn’t as cold as I thought. If I hadn’t just been trying not to pass out/throw up I might have removed them before we asked somebody to take our picture.)

It was Chris’s first 5k—he’d been training for about 4 weeks and was excited to test himself.  We were both ambitiously hoping to break 30 minutes, but it wasn’t to be.  I kept him in sight for most of the race, but each mile got worse (I guess my 9:30 or so first mile was a bit ambitious considering my training), and ultimately I finished in 32:41.  Maybe if I weighed what I weighed last year when I did this race I’d have done better, but I felt decent, my hip felt good, and the whole race was really hard (I always forget how much I hate 5k’s until I’m actually running the 5k).  Chris is on board for more races so that made me happy!  I’m hoping to cajole him into the half in April…

In other news, I loved loved loved The Hobbit.  We survived the midnight showing, got home around 3:30 am…haven’t seen that time on a clock while in the car in a long time.  (I feel really old right now.)

That’s a picture I took in the theater and then lightened it up on instagram.  Chris didn’t realize I was actually planning to post it.  (Does he NOT know me?)  Yeah, I know, we look great.

Midnight showing: we went with another couple (Vanessa and Russell, who have appeared here before!)who had bought their tickets separately.  We hoped we could switch around to be in the same theater.  We got to the theater around 10:40 or so and there was no line for the tickets.  The guy said, no problem, since theater 9 wasn’t sold out he’d just switch us to that.  We walked into the theater and there was a huge line…for theater 7.  And another huge line for theater 8.  I walked up to the usher and asked where the line for theater 9 was.  She said, oh theater 9 is already seating.  She tore our stubs and we walked right in, got seats towards the middle about halfway up.  It was AWESOME.

Anyway, I loved the movie.  I think we all did except maybe Russell who wasn’t as big of a Tolkien nerd.  I especially liked how the music absolutely fit in with the LOTR trilogy—when we were in the Shire or dealing with the Ring, or at Rivendell…the themes were still the same.  And there was a scene with a hedgehog, which cracked me up.  (Hedgehogs are totally hot right now.)

Sometimes I feel so lucky when I get packages in the mail.  And I mean that…after all, my sister tried to send me something for my birthday in June but somebody involved with the St Louis Post Office stole my gifts (tracking showed it got to St Louis, all she got returned was a plastic bag containing a cut off of my address and her address.)  So, when a gift or package shows up, I feel lucky!

The other day I got a couple of things.  One was a lovely surprised from my Mom—an ornament she made through Snapfish with my favorite wedding picture on it!

It’s not as “out of focus” as it looks in my instagram picture, but it is a little soft focused.  It’s very nice and sturdy, and as soon as we get our tree we will be putting it in a prominent location!  Thanks Mom!

The other package was a couple of goodies from Vitacost.  I blogged about the company the other week and they sent me a few random goodies.  (There will be a giveaway soon, so stay tuned!)

I may try the cleaning wipes tonight—I also think they’d be good for travel.  I generally don’t use shave gel when I shave so I might give that away, and allergy season is pretty much over, so I’ll hang onto the balm until spring, perhaps!

I flipped through the catalog they sent with the package and this stuck out at me:

Creamy pumpkin cleanser!  How awesome does that sound?  I might have to order some!  Or maybe if somebody wants to get me some for Christmas? 

Oh, are you bored of my talking about STUFF?  Let’s talk running.  Today was my first training run for the marathon (you’ll be REALLY tired of hearing me talk about the marathon soon, I bet.)  I was supposed to run three miles and I did (just a little under due to a time constraint, but close enough).  So, so far my training is a complete success.  I even foam rolled already and everything.  You’d think I was an adult!

I almost fell twice though.  Once I tripped over an uneven sidewalk, and another time I didn’t realize the sidewalk was covered in a fairly deep mud.  My shoes got pretty dirty from that!  (It rained last night.)  The pictures are from just now—after letting them dry a bit and knocking some of the dirt off.  I guess my “new” shoes are broken in!

I think of runs like today’s as “urban trail running.”  Gotta keep your eyes on your feet or you’re going to trip over something.

Oh, and I’ve chosen my cookie recipe for the party.  I’ll tell you about it after the fact though, and not a moment sooner.

I keep thinking today is Wednesday, but it’s only Tuesday.  I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.  This weekend will be fun with the cookie party and a friend’s birthday, but I don’t like to rush through life 🙂

I’m both excited and terrified about my plans to run a marathon in April.  Excited, because I think it’ll be a really great thing to do and Leslie (one of my sisters) will be running it too.  Terrified because, well, gosh, that’s an awfully long way to run and there’s a long training plan with really long runs on it TOO.  When the mid week run starts to be 8 to 10 miles, I start to get a wee bit terrified.  But…you build to that, right?  I can do this?!

Training starts next week.  I have chosen to follow Hal Higdon’s Novice 1 Program because this is my first marathon and my goal is simply to finish.  (And not die).  From talking with people and reading stuff, it seems like this plan will accomplish those things. 

Chris and I were talking about running last night…sidebar: now that he has started running he wants to TALK about running all the time, which is just fantastically delightful, because, as everybody knows, talking about running is either fascinating (if you are a runner), or the most boring thing ever (if you are not.) I’m glad we have this now. 

(Oh, and we were having this talk over dinner at The Shaved Duck.  We hadn’t been in awhile, since it had been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, and were delighted by how busy it was late on a Wednesday night.  Way to go!  We love their food.)

Anyway, he was saying that I should prioritize—sometimes things I do in the gym (deadlifts, usually) make it challenging to run for a few days, and that he feels that is a bad thing.  I have decided that my weight lifting is important to me, because I think it helps me in so many different ways, from lifting the cat, to having a stronger back for violin playing, to simply FEELING stronger, and I don’t want to stop OR back off. 

So that means this:  I am no longer allowed to complain about the negative effects.  If I do dead lifts and that messes up my training for a few days, then so be it.  That is the choice I am making.  Do you hear that, readers?  I am not allowing myself to complain about sore muscles.  That being said, I must also completely commit myself to foam rolling and stretching each and every day.  I expect you all to hold me to this.

(It’s easy to stretch when you have a furry companion nearby!)

I’ve also booked my ticket and signed up for the Rock and Roll Phoenix Half Marathon in January.  This will be part of the marathon training.  Leslie and I thought it would be fun to run a half in her neck of the woods while training for the full in my city.  I had so much fun the last time I ran this race, and I’m really looking forward to doing it again!

Just saw this on facebook.  I’ve said before, I’m not a huge mantra person, but I like this:

Now I have to eat lunch!  How’s your Thursday going?  Any advice for me? (I don’t usually take advice, but I welcome hearing it.)