Lets Get This 2012 Ball Rolling!

So here we are, almost a week and half into 2012. So what is going on? Well just a few things actually...

First, in major news, I have posted the proceeds from our TNT Lousy Medal Virtual 5k, it was just over $2500 and both Heather and I have exceeded our fundraising goals! We have less than 3 weeks before we head to the West Coast and run in the Inaugural Tinker Bell Half Marathon!!! I am so excited to see Heather, meet our TNT team and run for a great cause. It's been a challenging road but we stuck with it, and it feels wonderful to have accomplished what we set out to do.

Next, I have joined Team Tough Chik which celebrates the strength of women in athletics, while maintaining our identities as women (or at least that is what I get from it, so I'm running with that!).  Designed by women for women, this awesome line of technical gear is not just stylish, but embraces the adventurous, fun loving and sometimes rugged wear and tear a woman can bring on. So Team Tough Chik is a seriously supportive, charitable and bad a$$ group of ladies, not afraid to work through blood, sweat, and tears, and do it all with style. I have some new gear coming, so keep an eye out for my reviews!

Also in blogger heaven, I have been selected as a FitFluential Ambassador! I am not sure if it's my candor, my realism, or my love of everything (well almost everything, I will never love a burpee!) fitness... Maybe it's my dream to be a triathlete? Or my on going desire to improve in running... who knows - it could be my new found love for knee socks!?! Whatever the reason, I am thrilled to be a part of a far reaching collection of fitness enthusiasts!

On the local tip, the Myrtle Beach Race Series continues, with The Digitel Myrtle Beach as my gracious sponsor. The next event on the old calendar is "Pressed for Time" which incorporates a bench press component to a 5k the following day. Now, I will admit, I should have been benching weeks (maybe months) ago in preparation but I thought I had 70% of my weight in the bag! Sadly, I found out last week, I need to press 105lbs, please refrain from doing any math to figure out my weight please...

Currently, I can do 85lbs, see my problem? By Friday I will have had to accomplish one of two things, drop 25-30lbs, or be able to bench 20 more pounds than I can currently. Each rep is 30 seconds, so I would likely need oooohhhh 10-15 reps!!! Hey, I am willing to give it a shot, see if I can press at least 1... might be my max rep but in a run, every second counts right? So if you haven't already, I urge you to register! The race series is fun & all the cool kids (like me) are doing it!

Coming up on the 21st is the 29th Annual North Myrtle Beach Winter Run, which is apparently the longest running event on the Grand Strand - very exciting! I've been doing this event since 2008 and it was my FIRST ever 5k race so I do it every year. This year I am switching it up and instead of doing the 5k, I am going to do the 15k! It will be my last long run before the 1/2 in Disney and what better way to log it than at the race that started it all...

So the rest of January will be filled with work, interning (boo! It really is cutting into my family time...), racing, and a little travel... but more on that later. First events first... Pressed for Time is on my radar, tonight, more weights!!!

Typically January is that month that most resembles a Monday but for me it feeling kinda Fridayish!

2 Races, 1 Day, 0 Regrets

We are in trouble - she's on the move!

 Ringing in the new year, well honestly I was fast asleep when the ball dropped, I am assuming it did. Gabriella was sick with a fever on Friday, and well I think she shared. Saturday, after being at the fitness center from 645am-3pm, I really started feeling so blah. So for New Years Eve, it was an exciting night of herbal tea, pj's and asleep by 930pm.

I really didn't know how I might feel for the first day of 2012. When I woke up the next morning, I was still not 100%. I debated whether or not I could or more so, would take my sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching runner butt to this Prediction Run 5k. The event started at 10am, so admittedly, I had a few hours to go through the pros and cons.

Pro: I have paid my money to the Virtual Run Against Cancer, and I have bought the canned goods for the Prediction Run.

Con: I feel like a dirty sock... I want to sit in a hot shower until the feeling of fever dissipates

Pro: If I get out and run, I will ultimately feel better

Con: If I sit around the house, I will likely feel worse and then guilty and regretful for not just putting on my big girl panties and doing the run...

Go! Go! Go! Gabby!

So that is what I did... I got dressed to include my latest hot pink Bondi Band, adorning the phrase "One Hot Mess", I thought it fitting given my situation...

My predicted time was 29:15, my actual time was 30:29, so I was 1:14 off... I guess if I was 100% I would have been closer but honestly, it was more about supporting the Running Club and the local food bank. I was hopeful that I'd get an AG award, but it was by closest prediction time and apparently there were many in the 30-39 group that had a better grasp on their own paces...

The run itself was 3 loops around the lake, which can be discouraging, like when you get lapped. I struggled with my breathing as Tonya and I fell further and further behind an 8 year old girl. I really can't decide which is worse, I suppose neither are bad... for them...I guess I am happy to see kids out running races and I will always be lapped by a dude with legs longer than my entire vertical existence. I dragged my tail around the lake, each time reminding myself that I am almost done, it's only 3.1 miles... short run, no biggie, just a warm up...lol It wasn't an awesome run, I didn't get that light as a feather feeling, but I got it done.


After I finished the race, Stephen & I took Gabriella to the park and she got in one of those little cars, but the one swing she could use was broken and the slides were too big... but it was enjoyable to just be outside, since it was freakishly warm for Jan 2nd... who wouldn't want to be enjoying 70 degrees? The sun was shining, the ghetto doves (pigeons) were out seeking scraps from the tons of people out and about taking advantage of the warm new year day! It really is refreshing to see so many active people out, especially the kids...

My Cheerleaders!

My second race, well it really wasn't like I ran two separate races, just supported two causes in one day. The Virtual Race Against Cancer supporting a fellow Team in Training member who was also working with Relay for Life. If she reached her fundraising goal (which she did), she is going to shave her head in May...Oh I cannot wait to see that!

So by the end of the day, I had run to support 2 causes, taken down the 6 window wreaths, 5 inflatables, 4 spotlights and we finally moved Gabby's playhouse from the in-laws to our Carolina room. We also flipped the carpet so my office is now defined as the wooden space and Gabby's space & house has wall to wall carpet!

I really couldn't ask for a better way to kick off this new year than to spend most of the day, outside, with my family... and I did end up feeling much better!

Fruit Flies, Tequila & Bananas

Anyone else love bananas? I do, and so does my baby girl. She is absolutely demolishes a banana. We've never had issues with fruit flies (I thought of gnats but I guess they are different) but all of a sudden, they were everywhere and we couldn't get rid of them. I mean we have quarterly pest control dudes that come and spray in and out. So to the Internet for a solution...

I found 2 interesting facts, well 3 really... 

The first, when your bananas are completely yellow, you can put them in the fridge and they will last longer and stay firm on the inside...I mean not for a week or anything but 4 or 5 days. I am ecstatic to find this out (how I didn't know that until know baffles me!)

The second thing, Tequila. Fruit flies love it, and coupled with the fact that they are not the smartest insect to ever roam the airwaves, if you put a funnel in a glass of tequila, they will fly in BUT they are just lacking the problem solving skills to fly back out... pretty cool but does it work? Well I had to put it to the test. Now, I don't like Tequila... I have had it twice in my life, and neither time I could get past the taste. Fortunately, when I got married, the venue had given us a margarita gift basket with 2 glasses, 2 packets of mix, and 2 mini bottles... So I rigged up this contraption and waited...patiently...

Those guys just hung out around the top just chillen. I was not hopeful at all. Wouldn't you know it, by the end of the night there were quite a few suckers just floating in the tequila... It's been sitting out for a few days now. Stephen thought he'd put out another glass with a funnel in case they caught on to the trap by seeing all their friends floating in the drink but my theory, they just don't have the capacity for that kind of reasoning...

The third thing, Ammonia is good for cleaning out your pipes... and I am talking like kitchen and bathroom plumbing - not your internal plumbing - just to be clear. Apparently these little pests like to hang in your sink pipes, especially when you have a garbage disposal. Who knew?

So there you have it, keep your bananas fresher longer, and while I don't like tequila, the fruit flies do... It seems like the new year is starting off on the right foot!

Oh and I am using the auto clean feature on my oven for the first time ever... When I bought my first house in 2000, I got a new oven. I sold that house in 2004, having never cleaned the oven - admittedly only using it a handful of times anyway. So in 2004 I built my house, and this is the first time I am cleaning it... yes, I don't cook much and now my house smells - I guess if I can get another 7 years before the next cleaning, I might just get out of having to do this again...lol