Holidaze

It happened so fast.  Before I knew it Christmas was in sight and we were in full fledged holiday season.  Shortly after we got back from Chicago, Paul and I stayed pretty low-key and decided to go to one of his clients "ROCKTOBER FEST" Halloween parties instead of a bigger bash.  It was an easy costume for two people who were out of ideas!  Rockstar party it was.

Rockstar Jules ;-)

Then I was very consumed with the Junior League Ladies Night Out benefit and auction.  I had been soliciting items for several months and all the hard work came to a head on November 11th and my committee hustled around the Plano Centre like crazy women.  The event went off beautifully and everyone had a wonderful time!  Most importantly, we raised a lot of money for our projects and programs in the community! After that night it was the holiday market for the rest of the weekend - Neath the Wreath and we were a very tired group of junior leaguers!  We treated ourselves to a little Twilight indulgence the following weekend ;-)

Tina, our HOT FIREMAN and me at our Ladies Night Out event

My fav Junior League girls with some HOT FIREMAN! oh la la!

At the Studio Movie Grill for Breaking Dawn, Part 1!

Eyeing my fav - TEAM JACOB! ;-)

Before I knew it we had Thanksgiving upon us!  I love this holiday and everything it represents.  I am so thankful for our friends, family and the love we share.  We were lucky enough to have our friend, Joel Smith, visit us for the weekend.  We kicked it off going out for "the biggest bar night of the year" on Wednesday.  And, we surely made an impression at the Shops at Legacy... Then we got up early to take part in what has become our annual Turkey Trot run downtown Dallas.  I ran the 8mi and the boys ran the 5k.  I was impressed that they did so well given the recent events the previous evening...  We were invited over to my dear friend, Tina's for Turkey dinner where we ate ourselves to death!  Tina and her folks put together an amazing meal!  We had a lovely afternoon celebrating with the Darons.  The rest of the weekend the boys went to Top Golf, a game at Cowboys Stadium and out for more Tex Mex.

Joel, Paul and Jules before the 74th Turkey Trot downtown Dallas

Cheers!  Enjoying some mambo taxi's -- that's where the night took a turn...

Thanksgiving at Tina's house -- Only Tina would label all the food for us.  She's the best! so funny.

Here's all of us at Thanksgiving -- Tina was really ahead of holiday decorating and had her tree up!

With Christmas less than a month away you would of thought I would of got my house decorated...but nope.  With us going out every weekend to parties, me getting ready for another half marathon, and leaving for Michigan in 2 and a half weeks it hardly seemed worth it.  So, call me a scrooge this year!
After wrapping up in Texas we headed into the winter wonderland in the midwest to celebrate with family.  It was great seeing everyone -- especially my nephews!  But, as always, I was very ready to come home to some normalcy.  We rang in the New Year party hopping around Dallas .. happy 2012!

Girls holiday soiree

Couples Cocktail Party

Me and my baby under the mistletoe!

Here's me after running the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon. These were the WORST running conditions ever!  But I finished.

Ringing in the NEW YEAR! 2012!

Girl Time

With summer patio weather in our rear view mirror our LADIES NIGHT OUT slowly turned into "night at RA" and we found ourselves eating A LOT of sushi!  It eventually turned into Saturday nights and we dragged the hubbies along too.   It may not be Thursday night margaritas with the sun shining down on our shoulders -- but we didn't care!  We put the hubbies at one end of the table to talk sports and we gossiped over pomegranate martinis all night!  This became our Fall/Winter routine -- so much in fact, that we haven't been to RA since February!  We wore that place out!

But everyday I thank God for good friends and the wonderful people he has brought into my life.  I am incredibly blessed with true friends and a great group to call "my girls!"

All my JLCC FAVS ;-)

Look at that HOT group? 

Jules and Jenn

Julie, Tina & Jennifer

Kelly, Julie & Jennifer

Whoa... it's been sooo long since I've last posted that I don't even know where to begin?  I heard once that as you get older time begins to go faster.  Well, I am starting to think there is some truth to that.  But, I am going to try to pick up the pieces to this blog and fill in the last couple months.  Here it goes...

Let me start with my biggest accomplishment to date AND one of the best days of my life.  The day I ran the Chicago Marathon and qualified for Boston.  It was a warm October day, October 9th to be exact! And I had been in Chicago since Friday spending time with friends and family with barely anytime to be nervous.  Paul attended the Health and Wellness Expo with me where I bought some fun race tees and thought I over aggressively signed up for the 3:40 pace team.  I thought, I really need to push myself this race.  I want to make my Coach Jason proud and I want all the hard heat training, all the early mornings, tempo runs, mile repeats, etc COUNT! So, even if 3:40 was a stretch I wanted to try. We planned my pre-race carb meal at at yummy Italian place near Leahey's condo and all my dearest friends and family came to support me.  I felt on cloud nine.

The next morning Paul and Leahey dropped me off at the corrals -- Paul looked at me and jokingly said, "don't disappoint ... there are a lot of people here watching you!" That really spoke to me because that's exactly what went through my head throughout the race... I don't want to let everyone down who is here to see me race!  I found my way to Corral C and we were off fast... actually I was off fast... TOO FAST.  Rookie mistake and I knew it.  I was running in the 7:50's -  yikes! (It's a marathon, not a sprint! ha) But I eventually settled into the low 8mins.  But that was still too fast according to my race pace from Jason.  So, eventually, somewhere around the 10k mark I finally settled into the 8:10's.  I felt really good and I told myself now you have to hold this...

I had some rough patches along the race.. around mile 13 my IT band started to pull... "oh no" I thought-- this is going to be bad!  But God was looking after me that day and while it hurt the entire time, it didn't get any worse and it didn't take me out, phew!  Also, around mile 18 I ran out of GU -- I always end up having way too much during races bc I barely take the stuff.  But this time it was HOT out and I was sipping it almost the entire time (I water it down in a bottle and hold it)  -- So I went mile 18-26 without much nutrition.  Also, don't let me forget to share that I completely wiped out in a full out somersault -- yes, at one of the aide stations I collided with another guy and we went flying forward.  I didn't even feel the pain -- it was weird, the adrenaline was pumping and I JUMPED up and started running forward again?  Just a few scrapes ;-)  And then I did hit the 20mile wall...  I slowed down to 8:40 at one point and I looked down and thought... crap.  Then I thought, "no, I'm not going to be one of those people who LOSES it at mile 20!"  So, I grabbed a GU from an aide station, said a prayer and tucked in behind a guy in an orange shirt and paced off him till the finish, we ran 8:12's.  I still can't believe I did that?  Who runs 8:12's after running 20miles and can hardly walk??  I have never had kids, but I can image that's what labor feels like -- such an intense pain that you can't even feel it anymore.  It was something amazing.  It was something great.  It was my moment.
Crossing that finish line I knew I was about 2mins behind clock time and saw it just cross over 3:36... I had a pretty good idea that I qualified for Boston.  I was too exhausted to feel emotion -- but my heart was smiling inside!
Upon finishing I had to walk about a mile to the 27th mile party where I would be reunited with my friends and family.  That. was. the. longest. mile. of . my. life.  I physically couldn't walk.  I begin to cramp and could barely put one foot in front of the other.  I clasped upon seeing my family.  I tried to get up and walk again and I was back down.  The cramping was out of control.  After a little Gatorade and banana I was able to stand again.  My official time was released and it was confirmed I qualified for Boston.  Off to lunch to celebrate.  My sister got me a Chicago Marathon orange shirt to remember my last six mile surge pacing after my orange shirt friend!  One of the great memories of the best day ever.

here are my splits...I averaged an 8:10 mile.

My besties coming out to support me! Love you Mel & Ash!

Family - I love you!

Dad & Mom :-)

Paulie, My biggest support and loudest cheerleader.  I love you.