This past Sunday, I ran my very first half marathon. Christian has been running this one for a few years now and I was always on the other side of the tracks playing photographer, trying to capture his big  finish. In fact, here’s his first half marathon finish:

This year, I decided to give it a shot. I trained like mad, creating a habit of running 6 days a week (I really needed to cross-train, but ended up focusing on a steady run routine instead – next time, next time). I wasn’t sure how I would do, seeing as how 13.1  miles is a buttload of miles to conquer by someone who really just doesn’t enjoy the act of running. Christian, the most  supportive and patient husband in the world, trained alongside me throughout the course of several weeks, listening to my complaining and huffing and puffing and it really made all the difference in the world to me.

The Race

Me before the race - no sweat, no pain.

On race day, it felt odd to be among the runners. It was pretty awesome that I felt like I finally belonged there, but it was really crazy to think about how just the year prior, I decided that I’d never be up for completing a half marathon; I just wasn’t that dedicated to running to do it. Well, I’m glad I proved myself wrong. I started the race with Christian and our good friend Amy (who has participated in the San Jose Rock ‘n’ Roll Half every year since its inception). Amy’s husband Mike ran it too but he’s like a rocket, so the guy got to start ahead of us. As we approached the official starting line, I felt a brief moment of emotional overload where tears started to well up in my eyes and I was overcome with happiness in the thought that I was about to do this… thing. This huge thing that I never thought that I would ever be able to do in my life. It was nuts.

Our buddy Endorphin Dude - Uber-amazing runner and overall guy!

I won’t lie. The race was hard. I was feeling really good for the first two miles. The first band that the runners come across less than a mile in every year is the Independence  High School Band directed by my old high school band teacher, Ken Ponticelli. That guy rocks and so does his band – it was such great motivation and I was so happy to know that I would be seeing him, I decided to run ahead, pull over, and give him a huge pre-sweat hug. It was great. After that, I was still feeling pretty good, checking out all the neighborhoods and people with their displays of doughnuts and beers out in front of their yards for any runners who dared to indulge mid-race, listening to Amy and Christian chat a bit (I’m not much of a chatter when I run – just don’t have the lungs to do both). As we approached mile 3, it was getting a bit harder for me. I was warmer than usual, thirstier than usual, and developed a cramp on my side. From that point on until the end, it was cramps off and on, water and Cytomax walk breaks whenever I could get them, and heat. During the last half mile of the race, my feet felt like they were on fire. I mean, ON FIRE!  It was the strangest sensation and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I usually try to  push at the end of my runs and finish strong  with a light sprint, but there was just no pushing for me on this one; it was a keep-moving-forward-and-don’t-pass-out deal for me. Well, I finished. My awesome Christian ran alongside me the entire race. Our chip time was exactly the same, down to the second (2:24:53). I grabbed my medal, a water, a banana, a muffin, a bagel, a marathon bar, and I was off to go stretch out the pain. It look me about 15 minutes to recover down to a manageable level of tired, but I felt so much better than I thought I was going to. I was also so uber-proud of myself for finishing when I did. It also made my day to be able to see my good friend Kat and her family there afterwards; they’re good peeps & I love them to pieces.

The Aftermath

After Christian and I went home and got cleaned up, we went out for mexican food and a walk around the Great Mall. I was feeling really tired, but great! Later that evening at home, I started feeling really nauseous and took a nap, hoping the feeling would go away. It didn’t work and I felt sick the rest of the night. No puking; just unsettled yuckness. I Mortal Kombatted my evening away and went back to bed.

The next morning, I was sore beyond sore all over. My back, my shoulders, my calves, my quads. You name it,  it hurt. The nausea was gone though, so I couldn’t really complain. Aside from the soreness, I was back to feeling good again. Now I’m able to continue feeling proud of myself for my huge accomplishment and plan for the next half marathon. Woohoo!

Thanks for reading and sharing in my big  moment. Means a lot

VOILA!

So pretty

Over Labor Day Weekend 2011, I made Oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies. This is the fourth time I’ve made Oreo-stuffed cookies; the first two times were with Mini Oreos. Regular-sized Oreos definitely have a better taste to them. The Oreo-to-chocolate Chip cookie ratio is just better. These are now one of Christian’s new favorite cookies. My challenge for the next time I make these is to make them look prettier…

At least they tasted awesome! I will be making them again

First toy drop was at the Promenade in Santa Monica.  I left it next to a triceratops sculpture.

An hour after dropping it off, I went back and noticed that it was picked up (yay!)

Later that same day, I dropped off another crochet cupcake in a geocache* on the beach by the Santa Monica Pier:

This one was picked up the next day and the receiver left this comment on my blog (on my toy drop #2 post):

“I found this cutie-pie in a geocache at Santa Monica Pier, CA on May 16, 2011 (if you don’t know what a geocache is, go to www.geocaching.com – it’s very cool)! As soon as I saw its pink sweetness I knew it was special and immediately knew what I would do with it. Just 2 days previous I had witnessed the birth of my good friend’s first baby, Ruby Rose. My friend had made and brought to the hospital pink cupcakes, to celebrate the birth of her baby girl. This sweet toy reminded me of those celebratory cupcakes and the wonderful event they represented. I gave this crochet cupcake to my friend, as Ruby’s first geocache. Thank you for such a special commemoration of a baby girl’s birth-day! ”

How cool is that?!

*Geoocaching is my new obsession.  I LOVE it.  Don’t know what it is?  www.geocaching.com

Special thanks to Justincomedy for turning me on to this awesome new hobby!

Crochet Easter Bunny Peeps – I found the pattern on Ravelry.com (Thanks, Amanda – I forgot I had signed up!)

I dropped these little guys off on a bench inside of the Great Mall in Milpitas near a kid’s play area.

Hope they find a nice home soon!

Hope someone takes this little one home and sends a snapshot of its adoption…

As I was checking out and taking photos of the progress of our home addition in the backyard tonight, I saw this creepy lurker’s hand pulling down a palm frond from our tree outside of our side yard as if he was using it to leverage himself to peek over our fence:

Like an idiot, I shouted, “HELLO?!” and scared him away instead of waiting for my money shot of him popping over my fence since I had my camera pointed right in his direction.  I shouted to Christian and had him look over the fence as the guy ran away and hopped in his car.  I threw my arm with camera in hand over the fence that I couldn’t see over and shot the picture in hope of capturing his ugly mug.  Well, the above was all I got and it was dark.  Thank goodness for  the magic of  Lightroom, but it still isn’t a clear shot of what this creeper looks like.

I don’t know what he was doing for sure or what his motive was for even being by our side yard fence, but whatever it was, it was not for any good purpose because the dude scurried away because he knew he was doing something shady.

See a creepy guy driving an old, white CRV? Slash his tires and get that money shot for me, would ya? Thanks.

Sleeplessly  Yours,

sleepyeve

It was fun and it made me feel good.  Great way to end my weekend

Check out Christian’s video (and my baking adventure), the ART of the CUPCAKE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1cEhymWoqE and enjoy!

When you’re done with that, watch our latest 48 Hour Film project, Polar Opposites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFWsuvX2GCk

And if you feel like doing a little reading, check out the latest posting on Lock It Down TV titled “It’s a Cruel Summer” written by yours truly.

Off to lunch, then a play, then some work for work. Happy Sunday, y’all!

Enjoy the rest of my several hundred shots here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleepyeve/sets/72157624387801337/

Slide Show: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleepyeve/sets/72157624387801337/show/

Don’t forget to get out and support these guys as well – get out and enjoy some live theatre!

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