Checking In and Checking out

Oh where oh where have my friendies gone? It's Runner Girl Yee HAW (HAM?)

checking in for duty!

Hello? Hello? Anyone home?

Well. Guess I'll talk to myself then.

I had a really deep discussion last night with Miss KT Bags, but neither of us can remember it. Not a lick. I remember she was teary on the train to work. I was psyching myself up and talking myself down from panic of future workouts. Then I was asleep. I suppose you can add sleep talking to the list of odd side effects of Ironman training. On the not-so-odd IM effects...hunger. Always. Hungry.

Seriously.

I almost had to eat my dinner (pizza) in the bathroom last night. I'm surprised we haven't thought this earlier....combining the true pillars of running - crap and food. (Eww. Gross) Either way - I was so hungry last night I almost couldn't go to the bathroom without eating. Logistically challenging, because I couldn't manage to eating without "going" first. Luckily Mr. M. wasn't around for this huge dilemma. Anyyyyway.....


I'd intended to post on Sunday evening after one of my Most Incredible Runs Ever. Miss Cornbread and I had taken advantage of Saturday's warm, dry weather to get our bike TT in, which left all day Sunday for running. The thought of more CP loops had me loopy and I was really, really hungry. The Mr. and I decided to head down to Sea Girt for a nice boardwalk run and dinner at Rod's after.

Scene: 4pm, temps in the high 40's, breezy, but not unbearable. The ocean: perfectly smooth, sapphire blue reflecting the cloudless sky. I quickly settled into a nice,smooth pace, said farewell to the Mr. as he cruised ahead of me and just checked out. I ran for a while listening to the strikes of my feet and eventually added my headphones to listen to my newest run mix.

The longer I went, the better I felt and suddenly my 45 minutes was up. Time to turn around. Now the wind at my back, the beginnings of sunset streaming onto the sand and my legs getting lighter and lighter I head back to the car. Knowing Rick was headed my way, dinner at Rod's awaited, the music carried me through some old memories and helped to tie the moment to future ones.

It was over all too soon. Snapped by to reality by 2 high school girls on a walk. No longer was I flying, being chased by my love, soaking in a sunset. I was another sweaty middle aged (sort of) runner with sore knees and a growling stomach.

The "Top 3" run ended perfectly with a dinner at Rod's. It was St. Patrick's Day in Belmar, so the place was bursting at the seams. Seated at the bar, scarfing guilt-free nachos and clicking Guiness glasses with my husband listening to blaring Irish tunes - I realized the reality wasn't much different that the run....


Perfect.

New Additions

An even newer addition! (A revision to yesterday's post!)

We were blessed with a giant, mess of a snowstorm which allowed us to meet for dinner & celebrate. We were blinded by shock as our friend formerly-known-as-Eve announced...

SHE'S PREGNANT!

Congrats to the mom and dad-to-be. We are so happy for you! A recap of last night - in Jenny's words...

One more thing as I sit here smiling about last night...

I just keep remembering how I kept looking around the table last night and was so happy everyone had something to celebrate...honeymoon, new job, engagement and new baby - how often do friends have so much to celebrate and share with eachother....now that is a great memory! I cant wait for many, many more.

_______________________________________________________________

I have a few minutes to spare before heading off to a quick friendie dinner. It felt appropriate to announce *officially* that the friendie family is making some new additions. We expanded by one last month and celebrated by having a friendie fiesta in Miami! (Has it really been a month already? Married life flies!)

Our good friend Katie Bags anxiously awaits the arrival of her new nephew, Nolan Riley. We can hardly believe he's almost here. It's a good thing too - his mom's boobs are enormous. (That's the subject for another run.) Let the countdown begin!

Finally, we are thrilled to add Mr. Cornbread to the family. Some of you might know him from guest appearances on our long runs. He often shys away from such lady-like topics of poo and sex, but contributes so much to the rest of our runs, that we are glad he's going to be around forever! A HEARTY congrats to the soon to be Mrs. Cornbread! Your mom is so proud - you did an Ironman, did another Ironman and are training to do yet another Ironman! Whew!

I'll sign off with the toast that never was....Mrs. Cornbread's toast. How appropos in light of the joyous occasion! We can't wait to see what the Cornbread wedding adventure has in store for us and have just the right number of miles to cover in order to do so! Strap on the fuel belts kiddies! It's gonna be a long run!

____________________

Hello friends,

I was never able to give my toast to Heather and Rick at their wedding so I thought I would email it to you all.

When I started to think about what I wanted to say at the wedding I thought of the quote: "Life is a Journey Not a Destination". How fitting that quote became as I started to think of my own journey that led my to such a BEAUTIFUL destination wedding.

My journey started during the 2003 Team in Training marathon season. That is where I met Heather. She was this fun, super energetic girl with a smile and a laugh that was contagious. So contagious in fact, she was coined the nickname HH (Happy Heather). While I was her mentor that season, she quickly became my teammate, confidant, cheerleader, friend and sister. I started the season hoping to finish the NYC Marathon and raise money for a great cause. I came away from that season season with a network of friendships that have grown exponentially throughout the years.

It was through that network of friends, a birthday party, a dinner for 12 and a night of mojitos and dancing that brought Heather and Rick's journey to the same path. I would never have guessed that night would eventually lead me to what I consider my city family. At the heart of that family is Heather and Rick.

I feel blessed with the journey I took to Miami and I am sure many of you can relate. Heather and Rick...your wedding was a true celebration of love and friendship with family and friends. I cherish all of the laughter, tears, miles and experiences I have shared with you all and look forward to the next journey we take together.

Congratulations Heather and Rick! I am honored to have been a part of your special day.

Much love always,

Keri

Cocktail Hour

Work style cocktail hour anyway. A diet coke and trail mix. Mmmm...salty, sweet goodness.

I have too many balls in the air & I'm afraid that if I stop today, they're all going to come crashing. Nothing scary, just don't want to miss some important detail. I've actually caught myself with inside-out underwear TWICE in a month. A friendly reminder to myself- the cotton square faces UP! If I die in a car crash with inside out underwear, they'll think I was re-wearing dirties and I'd be embarrassed. Mr. M. does a great job of keeping up with our laundry, for the record. (And AER too!)

But I digress....

Items recently crossed off my to-do list:
-Save the Dates (sent)
-30th Birthday party for KAS (planned)
-Pants that used to be too tight (fit)
-Honeymoon to Nevis (booked)
-Wedding flights (booked)
-Bike (clean)
-Invites to NJ party (ready...almost)
-NJ Party planned (getting there)
-Rehearsal dinner (location decided)
-Ironman LP 2008 (registered)

I'm tired. QUICK CHECK- all items currently being juggled are still in motion- WHEW!

Yes, tucked in there at the bottom. Ironman. Just 7 measley letters that will rock my world. For 10 months. And 13 (if I'm lucky) hours. SO. In addition to the mundane wedding details, thoughts on running, poop, food, please note IM to follow.

Well. My mini happy hour is over. 30 minutes to clean off my desk, 2 and a half hours to friendie dinner time, 17 days until Timberman, 5 months 11 days until the wedding and 11 months 19 days to IMLP.....

...but who's counting?

I'm BACK!

YAY! After spending the past week with both my parent's and my in-laws (they're crazy), I was finally able to get into see a sports medicine guy. Great news...I won't be cleaning my deck anymore, and I am clear to start back running. Apparently, nothing is wrong, my knee was just inflamed due to age related deterioration of my knee cartiledge. Even better news, the husband now realizes how crazy his parents are!!!

So one mile at a time, I will be able to run again. No surgery, no torn meniscus. YAY me!

Mad Lib & A Milkshake

"Are you ready?" you mother calls from the hall, "you have to be at miami in three hours, and you still haven't picked up the creme brulee! Hurry up! We're gonna be late!"Without another thought, you scarf down your breakfast of popcorn and martini and head for the door. As you catch yourself in the mirror, you notice how hairy you look.Oh well! you think to yourself, No time to worry about it now! Besides, I look as light as a feather!
In the blink of an eye, you're behind the wheel of your 1998 rolls jamming to limbo. Zooming 4 MPH down the road, you pass by the creme brulee shop. "dammit!" you scream as you do a U-turn and almost run over some toys who are running in the road.After some arguing with the big smelly guy named rob, you pick up the creme brulee, get in the car, and head for miami. Upon arriving, A.and K., the bridesmaids, are wearing matching ballerina costumes. They are singing conga and reek of beer and pizza. You walk by pretending you've never seen them before and desperately search for bob, your soon-to-be mate-for-life. (You realize that it's bad luck to see each other before the wedding, but at this point you just don't care anymore)Finding bob naked except for a bowler hat, high off something other then life, you call the whole thing off and decide a spoon named rick would be better company.

I've only got about 4 brain cells firing today and that mad lib still has me laughing. I spent a few hours yesterday reading Kristin Armstrong's blog on RW and was so inspired to write today. Unfortunately I was sideswiped by a late night with the Yankees and then had my sleep rudely interrupted by our fire alarm. I don't understand why the battery would suddenly DIE at 2:37 a.m. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a 9 volt battery at 2:30 in the morning!!?? Not a pretty sight I assure you.

I could really use a few hours of run therapy with my girls to clear the cobwebs out of my brain. Instead here I am slurping on a Burger Joint milkshake and recovering from this afternoon's news that my high school best friend is pregnant. Please help....

Hit and still can't run.

So after I saw my trainer on Friday, she sent me to see her husband who is a chiropractor. He did ultra sound on my knee, and it felt better - although I think I'll have to go back again because its still bothering me.

So after IMing with KM (we can call her Tri-bags) today, I decided that I would go to the pool to do some deep water running. I've never done this before...I'm usually more than happy to take a break when my body hurts! The actual opposite of our friendie SC. So on my way out of fleet feet, where I picked myself up a Aqua Jogger, I hit someones car pulling out of my parking spot. Oh yeah, here's the worst part, I was driving MC's car. I was doing him a "favor" today and took his car to get the oil changed. I wish this was the first time this happened. I've actually hit the side of the garage, the side of our house, and my neighbors car, not once but twice.

So I went to whole foods on the way home, picked up mint chocolate chip ice cream, 2 New York Strips, tomatoes & mozzarella, and mashed potatoes - and he asked if I was trying to butter him up, and I said yeah.

None the less, I aqua jogged for an hour, and when I got out of the pool, my legs felt like bricks. Has anyone done this before??? I guess it was a good work out, and my knee feels better - although still not 100%. Thoughts on my rehab??

I'll be in NYC next Week!

Hi to all my nyc running chicas!
MC and I are coming to NYC next Thursday. So before "ya'll" head out to the hamptons lets get together!!! WHEW WHO!

On another note...I feel like starting this blog has somewhat jinxed me! Memorial Day Weekend completely sucked. Saturday I went to the "minor emergency" room, because after a week of self medication, I still was pretty sick. And after a shot of penicillin in the rear, and a rx of vicadin [i didn't fill it]...talk about putting out a match with a fire extinguisher...I still am having alot of difficulty swallowing and my neck still hurts. Oh and I can't get in to see my new Dr until August 21st! Oh yeah, and Scouters woke me up at 6:45 this morning to poop and pee, She had so much poop in her fur that I had to cut some out! She then guzzled down some water and threw up in our bedroom!

So sick of not being able to run, I ran Tuesday and Wednesday - and today the knee is freakin killing me...I think its my body telling me that I'm over-doing it. So I'm taking today off, and I'm supposed to meet my trainer tomorrow to lift.

Hope your runs have been better than mine!