1 week before NYC Marathon, Sick :(

It is ONE week before the NYC Marathon, and I feel like this:

I started to feel a little sick on Tuesday and it got worse on Wednesday and Thursday, my whole body ached, everything hurt. I thought, from previous experience, that I had the flu. So, I made an appt. with my doctor so that I could get some meds to get this out of my system ASAP, with the marathon being so close. Normally, I wouldn't bother and would just let it pass in time. I was running a fever and just feeling like I got ran over by a car. My doctor said they have not seen any cases of the flu this year so she would be surprised if that is what I had, but she decided to test me for the flu as well as get a CBC and a blood test to test my electrolytes. This was Friday, the flu test came back negative and my CBC came back normal. She said it is a virus and just to take things conservatively and it will pass in time. My electrolyte test will come back on Monday.

Saturday I went out for a run with Chris and made it about 1.5 miles before I had to walk back home. My body just felt so weak to run. I decided I would leave my 8-10 miler for Sunday, and hopefully feel better. This morning, Sunday, Chris and I ran at Latta Plantation and I just felt terrible, still. My body felt so weak, it was just so hard to run. When we stopped at about 3.5 miles, I had a really hard time breathing, I felt like my chest was closing in on me. I then just kept coughing about the whole walk back to the car. Realizing that my body is just not ready to run still. Maybe tomorrow? Maybe just take it easy and get this out of my system and hopefully feel 100% on Sunday for the marathon? I guess the advice would be to cross train this week. Ride my bike, spin, swim. Ughhh. Oh, well. It is what it is. This girl just ain't cut out to run marathons. If it's not one thing, it's another. It is what it is.

I am THANKFUL that I can run, I get to go to NYC and RUN in the marathon...the ONLY marathon, I've ever really wanted to do, I'm healthy (minus this minor setback,) and I was able to get my 20 mile long run in a couple weeks ago. So, it's not so bad! :)

In other news, Chris and I did not make plans for the weekend, since I wasn't sure how I would be feeling, so Saturday we ventured out for a car ride in the mountains. We pulled off a couple places to walk around, the leaves are just beautiful right now! We saw a sign for the 'Bunker Hill Covered Bridge' off of I-40 West. I thought this sounded fun, so we followed the signs. They took us to the entrance to the trail for the bridge. It was not a very long trail, but it was pretty, so many trees with pretty leaves. We learned that the Bunker Hill Bridge was built in 1895 and is one of the two covered bridges left in NC. Pretty exciting stuff, huh? Ha. Yeah, there wasn't much to it. Here's a couple pictures.

We had to get back to go to the Latta Plantation Ghost Walk. I had never been to Latta Plantation before this, and have always wanted to go to one of their Civil War reenactments. It's a pretty cool place. Their ghost walk was very well organized and staged. Nothing real scary, many characters that jump out at you in the woods, but mostly it's funny. They got me a couple times!

This morning, I went to watch Chris run in the Monster Dash 5k (before heading to Latta to run,) put on by RunningWorks. Taken from their website: 'RunningWorks is a non-profit running program founded to encourage the homeless community to rediscover the power of teamwork, discipline, confidence and respect for each other one stride at a time.'

Good Event, great foundation!

I am going to sign off now since I took some NyQuil about half an hour ago. Trying to get some rest today while Chris is at his friend's house watching football. I've been taking Epsom salt baths everday, doubling up on my Greens and drinking green tea. Hoping to knock this sickness out of my system ASAP!

Disney World, new Garmin and Halloween Party!

This past week flew by! I was in Orlando from Tuesday through Thursday night for work meetings. I didn't know what was on the schedule while we were down there, but it was my second time ever in Orlando, and I still had never been to Disney World. I was very excited to learn that on Wednesday they arranged for us to be picked up from our hotel and taken to Epcot for the Wine and Dine Festival! We were there from 4-9:30pm, so we got to stay for the firework show, it was great! We only went on one ride, since the lines were so long, but the ride was awesome, it was 'Soarin' which is a ride that simulates hang-gliding over California. It is so cool, you even smell different trees as you fly above. Here's a link to check it out here. It was worth the hour wait for sure! We then walked around the Wine and Dine Festival. We ate at the pizzeria in Italy. There were six of us, so we ordered two of the large pizzas, assuming they were the big round pizzas we saw that everyone had. When they were delivered to our table we were very surprised to see how big they were. Between the six of us, we almost ate both of them! They were so good.

Saturday morning Chris and I headed to Mallard Creek Greenway for a 12 mile run. I was not at all in the mood to run. For some reason, I have not been into running this past week. I'm not burnt out, since I haven't been following any training plan in preparation for the NYC Marathon, and I have not been running high mileage weeks at all. I have gone over 30 miles maybe two or three times. So, I don't feel very prepared for this marathon, but feel comfortable that I will at least get through it and hopefully feel good at an easy pace. It ended up being a really nice day for a run and with all the leaves changing it was pretty, and enjoyable for the most part. I was able to use my new Garmin 405 watch. I ordered a refurbished one online for just $125.

When we came home we started preparing for our Halloween/housewarming party. We decided to have this party in part for a fundraiser for the Isabella Santos Foundation. We asked our guests that instead of bringing anything over for the party that they make a donation to our fundraising page: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/karinandchris/isabella-santos-foundation-5k-for-kids-cancer. We are so excited to say that we have raised $1,040!! I am so grateful to everyone who made a donation!!

The party was so much fun, so glad so many people made the ride up to the burbs to hang out with us! Here are some pictures below...

Okay, this little guy was not at our party, but him in his little pumpkin costume is too cute not to post. This is my nephew, Andy.

Chris originally dressed up as a mummy, but the costume did not stay on very well, so he changed into a Kill Bill costume that I had in my Halloween costume box.

This morning we were able to sleep in, and I enjoyed laying around for a while on the couch and catching up on some Modern Family episodes on Hulu Plus. Finally, I got up and Chris and I took a walk over to Birkdale Village and around our neighborhood. We even stopped by the playground on the way home!

The weekends are wearing me out...

Our house is finally starting to really feel like home. Boxes are almost all unpacked, pictures are going up on the walls, we're filling in empty spaces.

This weekend we had a busy day on Saturday, with our 5am wake up call to run and then LungStrong 15k. We were able to come back home and get in a little nap. We then went to a little arts and crafts festival by our house and then to pick out pumpkins. Chris's sister, Sarah, also stopped by for a quick visit!

On Sunday we got straight to work. Chris fixed the downstairs bathroom, when we had the new floors put in, they took out the toilet and pedastal on sink to lay the floor, but they did not put them back. Apparently they do not do this, but they never told us this to begin with. So, Chris got to put everything back together.

I got to work in the office, filing all our new home paperwork and going through a few boxes of 'office' stuff. This was a bigger project than it sounds! The office is now complete.

Chris's grandmother came by in the afternoon to help us with yardwork. She brought many, many plants and flowers to plant.

She was a great help, gardening is her hobby, she knows everything about every flower/plant out there. This probably wouldn't have happened for a long time if it wasn't for her help!

More pretty flowers and plants. We don't have a chance remembering what all is back there now! I know she brought us some roses, gerber daisies (my favorite,) azaleas, camellias, elephant ears, pansies, dragon snappers (I think that's what they're called,) and so many more!

After all the yard work, she taught us how to re-screen our window screens. Most all of our screens have holes in them or are just worn out. Three screens are all done, many more to finish.

It is all coming together though, slowly but surely!

OHHH, also a very big shoutout to my parents who are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary today in Chicago!!!

New Shoes and a 20 Mile Run!

For the last week and a half, I have been seeing Dr. Zimmerman, at Zimmerman Family Wellness in Cornelius, NC. We have been trying to figure out why my left leg always gets injured. I have been going to appointments every couple days and he gives me adjustments from my head down to my toes. He thinks that one reason is that my left foot does not have enough dorsal bend and he is working to correct that. This would lead to my calvese becoming tight from running. Since I have been seeing him, my leg has not hurt, so I am pretty happy with that! Last week I was able to run twice, 4 miles each time. This week I was able to run 4 days and I even got in my 20 mile run today! If I was not able to get that in, I would have been very nervous about getting through the NYC Marathon.

I went to Try Sports on Friday and got fitted (for the first time ever,) for new running shoes. Jinnie Austin fitted me, and I was VERY impressed with the detail they take in their fittings. She started with going over how much I run, my current shoes I run in, how long I have been running in them, and my goals. She then had me stand on a machine that measured my feet and my arches, then she put me on the treadmill to video my running form and analyze it. The next steps were to try a few different running shoes and walk around in them to see how they feel. I liked the feel of the Mizuno Inspires the most, they felt very light weight and a wide toe, which I need. I then ran on the treadmill with these shoes and she again analyzed my pronation and form with the shoes.

Jinnie pointed out one thing that I think is brilliant, and I am surprised that no doctor, or anyone has ever talked about this with me before. She pointed out that since I am in sales and am in my car, driving most of the day, that my left leg may be weaker because of this. Thinking about it, it makes total sense. When I drove home I paid attention to my left leg. The right leg is always engaged since it is the leg pushing the gas and brakes. My left leg always just flops over to the side in a comfortable position. It is never upright. I tried to keep it upright on the way home, and it was something I had to concentrate on, and not so easy. Jinnie did recommend to put a yoga block in between my left leg and the door, and I definitely plan to do this moving forward. I can't believe how much sense this makes, and how I have never thought of this before!

The Mizuno shoes correct my over pronation on my left leg, which was more than my right leg. Hopefully this will help. It also doesn't hurt that these shoes are pretty!

As for my run today, it went great! Chris got up at 5am to run a couple miles with me before I met Lauren Tilton, Siobhan Havlik and Holly John. Lauren and Holly are also running the NYC marathon this year. We were able to get in a little over eight easy miles in mostly complete dark! We picked up our chips for the Lung Strong 15k and then I met up with Emily Barrett and Jessica Bilbrey to run the 15k at an easy pace.

I am happy to say that my leg never experienced any pain! As soon as I stopped across the finish line, I got very tight and am pretty sore, but that is expected since this is only my 2nd 20 mile run, EVER. The last was two years ago. So I am happy and optimistic for the NYC marathon!

Halloween is in the air!

This week we have accomplished so much around our house, I love it! We are finally getting things done, unpacked, and it's starting to feel like home here.

Our friends Lauren and Brian let us have a couple area rugs they were not using, so we picked them up yesterday and one of them goes perfect in our living room. It feels much homier to have soft carpet to walk on when we're relaxing here. Since we had our tv mounted above our fireplace we had to find somewhere to put all of our media gadgets. While at Target one day, I came across a ladder desk which looked like it would work perfect in our corner. It was 70% off, score!

The colors in the carpet go great as well, thanks guys!

Chris painted our guest bedroom on Friday night. On Saturday I cleaned the room, and on Sunday we went and picked up a new mattress set. We put the bed together today and the room looks great. I even put some new flannel sheets on the bed...thinking of sleeping in there tonight since the weather is so cold! We just need to hang pictures on the walls.

The first guests we know of are my parents who come on Christmas day. We welcome guests anytime, so come visit!!

Ohh, Chris's friend James came by on Thursday night to help us with hanging our new chandelier. The entry way chandelier that came with the house was an out-dated gold one. One day at Lowes I walked through the lighting section and just loved one chandelier that reminded me of Tiffanys! It looks like diamonds to me, I love it.

Hard to see with the light on, so here is one with it off...

It doesn't hang as low as we would have liked it, but I still love it!

Here is a picture of James hanging this. I wondered how we could hang a new chandelier, being so high and all. James said he would put a piece of wood balanced on our railing and the high ledge above the entrance and just walk across in the middle to hang it. I was pretty nervous to watch him do this, but he was not nervous at all.

Just look, he is so high!

We also asked his advice as to how to light up our living room. With such a high ceiling we are trying to figure this out. He suggested a few options for us, which he will have to install :) That will be a project down the road. James is also Chris's best man, he'll be joining us in Jamaica with his wife and daughter, Layla!

I've also had time to add some Halloween decorations around the house, I love decorating for the holidays so I just had to start getting things up. I don't want to go too crazy since I plan to decorate much, much more for Christmas!

I picked up this little guy at Michaels, I named him Ghoulie, he is so cute, I love him.

Today we put up a spot light to shine on him so everyone can see him at night!

Here is a picture of the front of our house, I hung some spider webs out front as well as hanging some Halloween lights, banners, a flag and a cool skeleton given to us by Chris's grandmother (along with some other decorations we still have to use.)

Oh, I also decorated inside. Check out our fireplace, we have a visitor trying to come down our fireplace!

I think we've been pretty productive this week. Chris also spent some time in the yard this weekend, blowing away all of our leaves and cutting the grass. Chris's grandmother also stopped by on Saturday to bring us some plants for our backyard to spruce it up. Soon we will get to cleaning up the backyard, adding mulch and planting a couple tress she also brought us!

As far as my leg, I'm still trying to figure that situation out. My doc told me not to run until Sunday (he told me this on Thursday,) and only then run a short run. I ran this evening with Chris and I actually felt good! I hope this keeps up and my doc visits are helping! Fingers crossed for NYC!

Wineglass Marathon Weekend

We are up in NY this weekend for the Wineglass Marathon in Corning, NY. We left Charlotte after work on Thursday and drove to Morgantown, WV for the night before continuing on to Rochester on Friday morning.

Friday night we had dinner with my family at my favorite restaurant, Agatinas! I love this place, and make it a point to have dinner there every time I come home. (I am even getting my wedding meal from Agatinas--our wedding in Rochester, that is.)If you are ever in Rochester, NY, venture over to the west side, in Gates, it is worth the trip!

We made our way down to Corning on Saturday afternoon. It is such a beautiful drive, with all the leaves changing. My parents also came down with us to support us in our races. We quickly made our way through the expo and then looked for a place to eat dinner, was hoping for an early dinner. We saw Allen Strickland and Laura Gray at the restaurant, they had gotten there a little earlier than us, so they avoided the wait. We had close to an hour wait, and then when we got our food, it was pretty disappointing, more of a sports bar restaurant.

We got to our hotel around 8 o'clock and got all our belongings together and ready for the next morning. Early wake up call at 5am, yuck. I dropped Chris off at the start of the full marathon at 7am, and then I headed to my half marathon start. My parents met me there to drive my car to the finish and cheer me on at the start. I was very worried that I wasn't going to be able to finish the half marathon. My left soleus has been cramped up for about three weeks now. This past week it stopped me mid-run during an 8 miler on Wednesday morning. I went to visit Adrienne for a massage that day, and had not ran since. It was pretty bad, hurts to the touch and even an ache when I walk. So, the half marathon would be my first run to test it out. I felt the tightness from the beginning and it never went away, never really got too much worse, but it did not feel good, especially on the uphill portions (luckily there werent' too many of those.)

I was praying that I would just be able to finish the race, didn't matter what my time was, I just wanted to finish and not have to walk to the finish in the cold weather. Thank goodness I made it! I did not get a PR, but I finished. Unofficial time was 1:44:50. As soon as I got through the finish line I saw my parents and made my way to find the medic tent to get some ice. My leg was already swollen. I iced for a bit and then went to look for Chris finishing his race.

Chris did awesome! A huge PR with an unofficial time of 2:36:35! He got 4th place overall and won an engraved wine craft, a bottle of champagne and even some $$! Great day for Chris! Very proud of him!

Chris in the last tenth mile of the race

Chris getting his award, next to the 1984 US Olympic gold medalist, Joan Benoit Samuelson!

We have had a fun filled weekend. Unfortunatly, right now we are watching the end of the Bills game, not a very good ending to the game :(

Productive Weekend!

Everyday and weekend has been a blur lately with all our housework we have had going on. We had another fun-filled weekend of productivity! Luckily, I got my long run of 18 miles out of the way on Thursday morning. Chris and I got up at 5am and he ran 7 miles with me before my friends Amy and Lisa met me for a ten mile run. Then Amy and I continued on for one mile. The weather was perfect and the company could not be beat!

Friday night Chris and I tried to just relax a bit, we had a couple beers at the house and got in our newly emptied, cleaned and filled up-hot tub! It is so nice and peaceful in our backyard. It is so quiet and the backyard lights give it just the right touch. Check out the tranquility...

We got up early on Saturday morning for the Isabella Santos Foundation's 5k for Kid's Cancer.
Chris and I have been raising money for the ISF, we will be running in memory is Isabella, a local girl who passed away recently from a childhood cancer, neuroblastoma. You can check out our fundraising page here. Thank you to everyone who has given, each and every donation means so much, and is so greatly appreciated! Chris won the 5k and set the course record with a time of 16:27. I placed 2nd in my age group with a time of 23:00. I could not tell you if this is a personal best for me, since I very rarely run in 5k's. It was a great event, it was fun seeing everyone from TrySports out there as well! Chris won a free class party at Fly Wheel Charlotte. Stay tuned for the date he chooses, we will use this as another way to raise money for the ISF!

Now, onto our house projects. We have been back and forth to our old townhome, and have almost totally gotten everything out, and cleaned up the place. One more trip. I finally have all my clothes here and can't wait to start organizing my new closet. Ladies, this closet is phenomenol, I hope I can leave some room for Chris...

Today, Sunday, Chris's mom came over to help us paint (it is neverending!) She got to work in our master bathroom. This is a very difficult room to paint, there is also a separate toilet room in the bathroom. The finished product is great, we picked out the color selection from seeing a picture of one of the rooms in Rob and Joy Dietz's house. We love it! Chris also replaced the old gold lighting with a new silver one, picked at the Habitat Restore for just $5 (lightbulbs included!) We are slowing changing all of the gold in the house to silver. Chris hung Levolor wooden plantation blinds above the tub as well.

I had the pleasure of painting the dining room ceiling. This was no fun. I do not think I will ever paint a ceiling again. I did not originally plan on this, but since there was so much blue paint on the ceiling, I wanted to touch it up. I went to Lowes and tried matching the ceiling color up with a new paint, but it was too difficult to match the right color. So, I just decided to paint it all. Phew. I will not do that again, but now it is done.

Last, but not least, one of the new joys of home ownership is trying to figure out why a slug keeps appearing in our dishwasher. I have never heard of this happening to anyone, but it is gross. Twice in three days this has now happened. Yesterday, I ran my dishwasher twice with bleach. Then I ran it again with dishwasher detergent. This morning, no slug. I then put a bowl of beer in the bottom, since slugs are attracted to beer, for some reason. I keep checking, and no slugs have been back. Tonight will be the true test.

I will keep this posted with our new projects, there are many more on our list. Two more bedrooms to paint, more boxes to unpack than we can count, pictures to hang, cleaning to be done, the list goes on!

Loving our new house and neighborhood though, I think we found our perfect spot :)