Ho, Ho, Happy!

Greetings everyone! I haven't even begun to Christmas shop and don't really care. I know I'll marathon shop this weekend and everything will all be wrapped and under the, uh, wait, we don't have a tree this year (no room in the apartment). Everything will be wrapped and strategically placed somewhere in the apartment where we won't trip over it!

I have several fun things to talk about. First of all, the 5k. I was SO nervous the morning of. My mom had read all this stuff on runnersworld.com, with hints on what to eat and how to act, which was very helpful because just like I have gym anxiety, I discovered that I also have 5k anxiety. I don't want to be the nerd who is doing something wrong! So, per the suggestions my mom had researched, I had a cup of coffee at about 6am, followed by a cheese stick and a banana. I had to pee about 20 times before we left and was really concerned as to whether I was dressed appropriately enough, as the thermometer at my parents' house said it was 17 degrees! Here is my cute mom (at her goal weight!) all dressed for the occasion!



And here we are together. There is just nothing you can do with short hair for working out. I think this is why I prefer it long. I need a ponytail! I tried my best with the top layer of my hair. I just knew I didn't want it in my face.



The race is on the new greenway in my hometown. We did a little practice run on it when I was home over Thanksgiving, but we weren't sure where exactly the race would start and end. The greenway is beautiful, and right next to a river. Yes, so that meant a good chance that it would be even COLDER. And sure enough....here is what my car thermometer said once we arrived:'

Yup, FIFTEEN degrees! Ack! There were definitely moments of, "do we really want to do this" and "are we crazy" being thrown about. I think I referenced the Polar Plunge a few times, saying that this was just about as ridiculous. What if our joints turned into ice. What if our snot froze inside our noses? Santa Claus was there, and he started the race for everyone. We were positioned at the "32 minutes and over/walkers" station, but about 3/4ths of the people seemed to be behind us, so my mom and I were afraid we were doing something wrong. Again, the nerd anxiety was coming out! I used my Indie Soup Runner podcasts to help keep my pace. If you are a runner, or even thinking about running, google these podcasts! They are free, the music is good, and the beat keeps you from overdoing it, which is mega-helpful when you are just beginning. I quickly discovered that the fast beats and angry rock that I prefer to use the elliptical to, or walk to, just gets me exhausted when trying to run. The headphones were a nice touch, as they drowned out a lot of the nervous chatter and silly banter around us that I know would have been really annoying. I can't imagine participating in any race that doesn't allow you the privilege of your iPod. My mom had hers too, so we didn't talk much, but we stuck together, helping keep one another from overdoing it.

And I hate to be an angry, snobby runner so soon after my first 5k, but with this 5k, you were allowed to walk the whole thing if you wanted to, and I was grateful for that, because with limited training, I wasn't sure that I might need to alternate walking and running. However, what was NOT cool, were the two ladies running/walking the majority of the race near my mom and I, who would sprint for about 100 feet, and then walk at a very slow pace, inevitably stopping RIGHT in front of us, so that we would have to run harder and faster in order to get around them. This must have happened 5 times before we eventually lost them. SO annoying.

I used my Nike+ to track my distance on the 5K setting, which was great and motivating. I tried to shout out how far we'd been to my mom a few times too. It actually said we were done with the 5k a few hundred yards before the finish line, so I recalibrated it (again). At any rate, it was close enough, and paced me at just a little over a 12 minute mile once I was finished. My official time was 37:30, with a pace of 12:05. I am beyond thrilled! First of all, I am SO PROUD of my mom and I for running the whole thing! There were many around us who took to walking at the end, and I have to say that hearing on my Nike+ that I had 1K left to go, made me say to myself that I wasn't stopping at that point! Santa was at the finish line cheering us on and it was truly a great feeling of accomplishment for both myself and my mom. We have spent a lot of our times together over the years lying on the couch all weekend, maybe shopping a little, all in between indulging on bad-for-you-food. We preferred to have slumber parties when I visited, as opposed to getting out and doing something active. I have to say, I definitely preferred the latter! I think, even as tired as we both were, that we felt like absolute rock stars all the rest of the day!



Next up, was my friend Jen's baby shower. We were a little late, due to the race, so I regret that we didn't get any pics with her. The brunch shower was a perfect treat post-run. Mom and I got to indulge in some yummy carbs, and some champagne punch. My friend Ginger was there, and after the shower ended, she followed us for the hour drive to the bridal shop that I wanted to visit (she also got her dress there). I walked in thinking I didn't want anything poofy and that I definitely didn't want anything strapless. Cut to thirty minutes later when I was trying on enormous dresses, 8 out of 10 were strapless. I really believe it when people say you have to be open-minded! I was very nervous about the trying on of the samples because of the sizing. Most of the samples I tried on were between a 8 and a 12, which is more like 4 and 8 in street sizes, and I am a 14 right now on a good day. I found that a lot of the ones that were not strapless were ill-fitting in the armpits and the chest, so it made it a lot harder to judge what it would look like once it was ordered in my size. Ultimately, I picked out a dress that was one of the first ones that caught my eye on the rack, but I didn't immediately pick it up because the sheath part of the dress was a champagne color, with a lace overlay, making it darker than most of the other dresses I tried on. In the end, I had it narrowed down to two similar dresses by the same designer. I had Ginger try on the other one so we could do a side-by-side comparison. I chose the champagne one because it was way more "me". It's not huge and poofy, but it is strapless, but with a scalloped edge on both the top and bottom in lace. It's so pretty, and I am thrilled to check that off the list without having to visit twenty more stores. I'm not going to post pics of the actual dress until after the wedding, but here is a teaser!