Putting in the miles

I love to run.  Love.  This hasn't always been the case, but that's a different story for a different post.  This amateur love seed was planted when I "trained" for my very first race, a half-marathon, last fall.  That seed began to blossom as I trained {this time I actually did a training program} for and ran my second half-marathon with one of my best friends this past June.  The training program we were doing, however, wasn't for a half-marathon.  No, no the training program I was talked into doing {by said friend} was for, everyone hold your breath, a MARATHON.  Man that word is scary.  Don't remember how, why, or who, what, when, or where for that matter, that I agreed to train for a marathon.  I had plans to run a marathon in March 2012 with my dad, but never once did I think I would be running one in two and a half weeks.  

According to many fitness experts, a person only needs to train up to 10 miles to know they {their body} can and will finish a half-marathon.  A person training for a full marathon likewise only needs to train up to 18 or 20 miles to know they can and will finish a full marathon.  Last wednesday, I completed my longest run in my training program.  I ran 20 miles in 3:05:15, averaging a 9:15min/mile pace.  How did I feel when I finished?  Incredible.  I was thrilled, I couldn't believe it.  It was a great feeling of accomplishment and it gave me energy and hope for future accomplishments.  On a different note, I was also incredibly hungry and sweaty.  I couldn't wait to make my protein shake, stretch, and take a 25min shower!  Following a nice relaxing shower, I unfortunately had to take an ICE bath.  Ever heard of them?  They're wonderful and you should be jealous you haven't taken one.  Kidding.  Step 1) fill up a tub with the coldest water possible until it will cover your thighs when sitting in the tub.  Step 2) Once in the bath, dump bags of ice into the bath. Step 3) grit your teeth and just dump the ice in already! {you are allowed to scream while dumping the ice}  The ice bath is taken to help prevent injury.  And, believe you me, I have a testimony of ice baths {all thanks to my Aunt Lydia who made me do it}.  I'm convinced they help more than I may ever know, and I'm glad I won't have to find out how my legs would've felt otherwise.  I even decided to share the picture taken of me freezing my buns off in the ice bath {no worries, I have shorts on}.  I was just starting to dump the ice in...

The day finally came

Well, before I give you the punch line and tell you "what finally came", I'll tell you the story leading to my obligatory actions...

I was driving through town {population about 27,000 people} north down a road that was 25mph.  Now, the posted speed limit was 25mph, but miss speed demon over here was driving 27 or 28mph...I know, I'm beyond daring.  When miss speedy notices a cop driving south down the same road, she panics a bit, stomach rolls once or twice {I don't have a guilty conscious, promise} and she slows down to EXACTLY 25mph...  Then, suddenly, sadly, and somewhat surprisingly, the cop turns around and gets behind miss daring speed demon.  Annnnnd...can you guess what happens after that?  Nope, he doesn't immediately pull me over...he WAITS.  I was a mess the entire minute and a half he casually drove behind me.  And THEN...he pulled me over.  I know, he's heartless isn't he?  My first thought was that he saw my dog sitting on my lap and for some reason it is inconveniently illegal to have your dog sitting on your lap while driving...  I soon learned my thoughts were completely unreasonable because he never mentioned my dog let alone acknowledged she was even in the car.

Long story short {let's be honest, it is extremely difficult for me to keep stories short}, the officer ended our 'traffic stop' by reminding me of a few things... 1. Watch my speed  2. Fix my back tail light  3. Renew my vin number  4. Get new license plates because mine were beyond 'just expired' and were now approaching disciplinary action {an apparently "pretty hefty fee" he claimed} for 'neglect of registration'  5. Do not delay registration of my vehicle...or else.  

The obvious question here is, why did I neglect to register my vehicle all this time?  The officer asked me the same obvious question, especially after seeing my Idaho driver's license with Texas license plates.  I embarrassingly, but honestly, answered that I "forgot".  Initially, after getting married a few years ago my husband joked that I would eventually have to surrender my Texas license plates for Idaho ones and I joked back that I would NEVER switch over in a pure act of rebellion.  No, I didn't tell the officer that story.  But as some time passed, I was not still consciously thinking about my act of blatant rebellion, I had simply forgotten and hadn't made it a priority.  Besides, I liked my Texas plates...  Lesson learned and I have now suffered the consequences.  

Once I left the DMV with my shiny, new IDAHO license plates, I sent a text to a few people about the sad news and this is a reply I received from my dad...

me:  "Our mazda officially has Idaho license plates...  It's hard not to be sad... {sad face}"

dad:  "Traitor.  Can't believe you've finally turned your back on the lone star state."

The first of many

Hello!  This is the first of {hopefully} many, many blog posts.  I wasn't sure how to begin a blog, let alone "blog" at all..  So, this is me beginning my blog and confiding in you {my non-existent audience} that I am still in the very early beginner's stages of blogging.  Let's join hands and spin in circles celebrating my first blog post!  And of course wishing me good luck in my endeavors to record many moments and memories of my life so I may savor them always.  Thanks for stopping by!

p.s.  why the choice of photo and who is it anyway, you might ask?  It is me and the love of my life and if you must know,  I couldn't think of a better way to start things off--that's why!  :)