I hate it when....

You spend 30 minutes writing a cunning and witty post about wour fabulous upcoming wedding and include amazing photos and website links only to accidently erase it after it is complete....errr.

Stay tuned for when my patience returns and I find time to write again!

Here is a small preview...

New Year, New Blog

Sooo, I know this blog has been a bore for the past several months/years but I will make a sincere effort to start entertaining you again with my witty life updates. There is a lot going on with the wedding coming up, volleyball, work, and all that fits between. Plus I am jealous of Lora and Emily's blogs so I am going to try to keep up!

I am at work, so I will keep this first post back short and sweet and leave you wanting more.

See you soon!

Well Hello there...

Sorry it has been forever....I swear I have been terribly busy..which is nothing but the truth. I can't believe it is already August??? WTF?

A couple things....the last post talked about my current job situation which isn't my current job situation anymore. At the end of May, my boss pulled the 5 remained production staff at my old firm into his office and let us know he was finally going to have to let us go!! Perfect timing....Summer vacation. ha! We all knew it was coming. So from 33 people a year and a half ago to 4 still there. Sorry, but the economy is not all to blame.

Soooo I moped around for a few hours...Ben was out of town and I was staying at the house for the first time by myself that night...great timing. And it was my dad's bday...go figure. So I went and got some greek food by myself for dinner and came home and started a "To Do" List. Things around the new house like finish painting the basement...yard work, etc. Also, preparing my resume for both architecture and a volleyball coaching position, because seeing at this point that there are a bazillion ( I am not exaggerating) unemployeed architects in denver, I should probably get a non architectre related job to hold me over for a little bit. Oh and one last thing, maybe I should email my old boss that now works at RNL.

Ring Ring....literally 5 minutes after I emailed Brad (old boss) he called my phone and said " I think we might have aposition here for you...oh and maybe Sarah and My DO too!" This is literally 4 hours after I just got laid off. SERIOUSLY!!! Awesome...don't burn your bridges is all I can say. So I had a week off to enjoy my "summer vacation" and then started at RNL the following Monday! Oh and Sarah and My started with me! AMAZING!!

Anywho so that was a contract job that was supposed to last until June 20th...no bad, except for the fact that I am still there going strong. We finished the proposal that we were working on and then got put on antoher project already in CDs. We are paid hourly of course and it is okay to work overtime...so I am raking it in right now. Now come tax time....i will owe a ton, but i am living it up while I can.

So that is that. Other things that are going on are Ben and I are doing a lot of crazy things for birthdays and anniversaries...main thing is we got back froma week long Alaskan cruise a couple weeks ago. Amazing. We went hot air balooning and ATVing the past week, we are also headed to a Kings of Leon concert tonight. AND...I am going to see Michael Bolton in Beaver Creek in a couple weeks!!!! ahhh! I am sooo excited about that.

We went whale watching in juneau, AK, and ziplining in Ketchikan (sp?) We have been rafting, which we do every summer. Also I am a new Godmother to my high school and childhood friend's new son Jace! Awesome. I have been to a couple weddings a baby showers, and now some more weddings are coming up. Also some Bachelorette parties, which needless to say I am excited for!

SO all in all, i think I have proven that I have been one busy bee. I have started painting again now that I have some actual space for it. I will write again sooner than later I promise!

Ciao!

And so it goes...

I think I have mentioned before that I don't talk a lot about work. But...at this point there is good enough reason. We are down to ten and a half people. We were as high as 33 people in the last year and a half. Sarah and I are still going strong, but it is all a bit scary.

We both have maintained second jobs that definitely help. All the remainging employees also recently got a pay cut as well...so the second job is key. Sarah of course is a Denver Broncos cheerleader and I coach a 16 year old girls club volleyball team!

Anywhooo...just thought I would make my comments on the economy.

In other news, for those of you that watch the Bachelor...i watched the last hour of it with my hands to my face in amazement of what I was seeing. Good tv...(entertaining that is) but probably bad for the soul. ha!

Okay back to work. I am plenty busy, but nothing around here surprises me anymore. I think the downturn in the economy has caused me to be cynical about work...another downfall.

oh. and we are in the house now! An update on that. Getting unpacked and just bought a closet, yes a closet.

A Great Day...

I just had my day made by 2 things....

Free Ice Cream....and yes that is two things

1 being the "free" part

and 2 being the "ice cream" part!

the end!!

People watching....

So just a random few instances of my beloved people watching from lately...



-Wednesday night of this week we went out to Home Depot and bought a bunch of paint,etc for the new house..yippe...anyways we had a late dinner at Falafel King (love Greek food, probably my favorite now) and we were sitting at our typical two top when a man started to walk in the door...it took him about 10 minutes (not exaggerating) to get through the airlock...the whole time talking to himself....so we kinda glanced at the other 2 patrons in the place (it was late) and they had the same look....was he drunk or homeless, probably both? But it isn't an area where there are a lot of those. Anyways so the lady behind the counter came to him and asked if she could help him and he just asked for water (quite clearly and without slurring) and went and sat down at the stools facing the window. The whole time, non-stop talking to himself. So anyways the real point to this story is I saw the lady from behind the counter go in the back and bring out something in her hand and then she proceeded to buy the Man baklava from with her own money. Ahh....I love Falafel King and that was a good deed to see!



Same night...reverse people watching...apparently people people watch me as well. As I was sitting there trying to decide between Squirrel gray and Pueter finish....i held up many (okay tons) of paint samples up to the white column near the paint samples. I did this continuously for approx. 20 minutes before the guys behind the lumber counter came up and said "you are cracking us up over here...if you need any help, ask Jan....she is great!" ha...thanks! Didn't think anyone was paying that much attention except for me! Who knew!



Now it is time for a bus story. It is random sometimes what people talk to each other on the bus but I thought this was cute. There was a guy that looked like this.... and a guy that was physically handicapped and was quiet and timid until the other guy got on the bus....and they were having the most in depth friendly conversation....it reminded me of one of those posters that have have the dog and cat with their arms around each other. Another good people story!

Anywhooo...just some random thoughts. Also Ben and I close on the house in 4 days. Next Tuesday and have the movers coming next Saturday. Ahhh it all came ups o fast, but we are really excited and we are pretty sure we are going to get a tax rebate of 8000 dollars with the what Obama signed in Denver this past week, so we will keep our fingers crossed!

Happy Friday!

Fast forward...

Well hello!?

So the "fast forward" title refers to the quickness of this whole home-buying thing. Last Monday we met with our agent, (enter plug here ) Randi Goldberg from LiveUrban Real Estate in Denver, and spent two hours going over the process and what to expect and what we were looking at, etc. Then looked on her database online for places we were interested in seeing.

So we spent Saturday looking at 7 homes in the Highlands and Sunday looking at 6 homes in Capitol Hill/Uptown area. And guess what...we found 3...yes 3 that we really liked/loved. That wasn't supposed to happen inteh first weekend. The one we really liked and we very curious about was this one.
http://www.liveurbandenver.com/search/property_details.asp?ID=720011&ds=METROLIST
It is huge and awesome for the price...so we, as well as Randi, thoguht there has to be something wrong with it....so we walked around and found some small stuff...cleanup and touchups and cosmetic thigns that needed to be done, but the comps in that area go for at least half a million and we were just thinking what a great investment it would be. So she ran the history and called the seller's agent and there are 5 offers already on the table...the lowest being the askign price...so thats a no-go. But we are glad that made our decision easier, that would have been hard to give up.

So the next 2 our the ones we are still consdering...close to each other and within 5000 price range, they are both great.
http://www.liveurbandenver.com/search/property_details.asp?ID=731517&ds=METROLIST

http://www.liveurbandenver.com/search/property_details.asp?ID=731590&ds=METROLIST

They are both brick bungalows in Highlands and they both have their perks...so we are waiting a little bit to make our decision.

We are looking at 4 more tonight and then will discuss what we want to do. Those two are pretty hard to beat though so it wil be tough. Ben was ready to make an offer on the Emerson house before we found out it had 5 offers...so this whole thing might be fast forwarded a little bit.

Who knows, we could be in a new house within a month or two....eeeeee!

I will keep you posted!

I apologize...

for the last post...I was having a bad day. I am back to normal, don't worry.

Today was the first time in a LONG time where I sat at home all day and did nothing. It feels good and bad. Good because I haven't had the time to do that for a long time...months...maybe 6 months. Bad because I feel worthless...but I think I deserve it.

Also new news....Ben and I are officially starting to go through the home-buying process. We have been casually looking for about a year, but we think the timing is right now. The market is great for buyers...we think we can get an interest rate as low at 4.75%. And we think some of the sellers are getting desperate and will accept lower bids.

So we are going to start looking with an agent and also get approved for a loan. So....that is crazy. Our lease is up at the end of May so we have about 4 and a half months. I will try to keep you updated.

Anywhoo....that is about it for now. I have my first volleyball tournament tomorrow in Colorado Springs with Amy and the girls. I hope all goes well.

Ciao for now!

WTF?

Ummm...something must of happened somewhere in the universe to make today happen. For some reason, people that are in my life or have been in the past are finding it appropriate to tell me what is on their mind and what they think of me. Good and bad, but still why all today? 4 people...seriously...I am just sitting at work doing my job....

and they come to me.
wtf?

getting to know me

So....I have been tagged by Nicole....aka Life of Nickle to write 6 random things about myself. This shouldn't be too difficult seeing as it is my life, but narrowing it down to which 6 random things could be the hard part.

The rules are:
-link to the person who tagged you.
-post the rules on your blog.
-write 6 random things about yourself.
-tag 6 people at the end of your post.
-let each person know he/she has been tagged.
-let the tagger know when your entry is up.

So, here you go!

1-in regards to Nicole's random thought number one, I too have had hardships in figuring out words to songs. For example, I used to believe that "Secret Agent Man" was "Secret Asian Man" (not lying) and that the Bee Gees "Staying Alive" was "Stay in a line." That must of stemmed from my childhood goodie tooshooness (yes I made up that word) anywooo...

2-I just started eating stuffing at thanksgiving umm maybe 2 years ago. The reason for this was because my mom had always put oysters in half of our at Thanksgiving and therefore i thought all stuffing had oysters, which grosses me out. Also with weird food relations, this is a true story, ask my mom, I didn't eat Buffalo wings until after i was in college because yes, I thought it was buffalo meat. i know, very Jessica Simpsonish of me...but if no one ever tells you otherwise, why would you know. Ironic seeing as now that I live in Denver they serve buffalo a lot of places, and it is very good. Buffalo meatloaf at Wynkoop Brewery is amazing!

3-Okay, enough with the things that make me look silly and on to making someone else look silly. :) My middle name is Gail, named after my mother's deceased father. He died when she was 6 weeks old. But my mom spelled it wrong. He spelled it Gale. oops.

4-I use to want to be a nun. I am sure it is solely because of the movies Sister Act and Sound of Music. That only lasted for a few years when i realized you had to be catholic...that didn't work out, and i am pretty sure they wouldn't accept me at this point.

5-I have an OCD complex when it comes to turning off lights and shutting cabinets in my apartment. Also with putting stuff away as you are making food instead of afterwards. It drives me crazy...just ask Ben, he knows.

6-i have a weakness, and it is called ex boyfriends. (this is newly released top secret information, but it is true)

Okay, I tag:

-Mackenzie
-Laura Indihar
and that is all I have. Sorry. Mackenzie you can tag 3 more for me since I am a slacker. Also I don't know how to link people, so i will just you guys know!

All i want for Christmas is You!

Sorry it has been a while, but I have been severely busy with work and life and everything else that fits in between. Let's see. Since last time, I have:

Started coaching volleyball again for a 16s girls club team. I thoroughly enjoy coaching volleyball. if it paid enough I would make it my only job! :) But I am not that lucky.

I went to Sand Diego and Beverly Hills for two days for work. it was a blast. I went with my boss and another associate principal. I love San Diego. great city! And not to mention the meetings there went very well too.

I went to Jenna Brown's (now Watson's) wedding in Topeka and it was great to see her and everyone else. I can't believe she is the first of the 1229 Crew to get hitched. Who'd have thunk?

I am trying to figure out ways to save money and additionally make money. We had lay offs at work again. From 32 at our highest point, we are down to 18 i think. Sarah and i are still here, but it is getting scary. I am just trying to make myself indispensable at this point. it has worked thus far. I am the office BIM Manager, LEED coordinator, and Party Planner. Not to mention intern architect.

Back to the making money part, I am working 2 jobs and thinking about a third. I have also thought about selling my paintings...soo.

For Halloween Ben and I were a monk and a pregnant nun, very classy, I know. We weren't the only ones who had a halloween outfit.

Hmmm. Other than that I just can't wait to get home for the thanksgiving holidays! To see the family and have the first annual Beardmore Drinking Games event. Should be entertaining to say the least.

Also, regarding the title of this blog, I have been listening to Christmas music straight for the past week, and I can't get enough. Our Christmas tree, stockings and decorative door bow are already up in the apartment thanks to my mom's lovely hobby lobby donation (see below in previous post)

Anywhoooo, I'll see you after i have ingested loads of goodies!

I could call this post "Shopping" but then guys wouldn't read it...

Shopping! :)

So I got a Halloween card inthe mail the other day from my mom. it had a Hobby Lobby gift card in it for me to buy Christmas decorations with. (Last year, she sent me a REAL freaking Christmas tree in the mail...seriously?) Guess how much is on that gift card...just guess. Two Hundred Dollars.

My mom is ridiclous (this is similar to the time she sent me 100 dollars to the Yankee Candle store) I don't think she realizes I live in a tiny one bedroom apartment. I don't haev room for a hundred dollars worht of candles and two hundred dollars worth of tinsle and stuffed santas!

Dad, if you still read this thing...don't tell mom you know she sent that to me. She would kill me and then proceed to never send me anything. (thats a lie, she will always send stuff, but you get my point)

Oh and I bought my dog a pumpkin outfit! She loves it!

Oops!

It has been a couple weeks since I posted. Could be the craziness going on and the work schedule. But nothing too new.

Next week will be hectic. My Parker project will be done finally. And by "done" I mean we are supposed to be complete with 100% CDs. but that is not happening. So eithe we will be getting some more time or our CA will be pretty hectic. For being a small building it is complex and has several detail issues that still need to be designed and worked out. We will see. So I am on to Palomar which is an 11 story 4 star hotel in DTC. So far the exterior consists of precast paneling and PT slabs. A pretty importnat project so I am glad I am on it. Kimpton Group os good to work for. The Monaco that we did for them is awesome....so I can onyl expect the Palomar to be.

Anyways I hardly ever talk about work, so there you go. Next week is full, even after work. Monday and Tuesday I am have interviews for my assistnat coach. I hope I can get someone that is easy to work with. That way it is still fun. Tryouts are in a month or so and I am excited. Who knew I would be excited about a second job? Wednesday I have an "appointment" and if you know me, you should know for what. And then Thursday is our office's First Annual Art show. I am putting ion a couple pieces. A water color, an oil, and a nude sketch fromwehn I was in Europe. So that will be fun.

This weekend though I can't wait for. One because I have worked too much this week but also becuase Julianna, Laura, and ERIN KAY are comign to visit. I can't believe Erin is actually finally coming. Can't wait! Julainna and I are going to the Bronco's game on Sunday and get to wave the big flag on the field before the game. So look for me! Other than that just partying and showing them what Denver is all about. My boss offered me ticketrs to the UT CU gaem on Saturday, so that is a bummer I can't go...maybe next time.

Alrighty..thats it for now. Oh and since I now have guitar hero...I am working on perfecting me Rocker skills. I will keep you up to date on that!
Ciao!

Here I go again

A couple of things...

I found out today that a guy at my office (TOM) read my blogs last night. haha. So I should probably sensor them a little more. Ha, just kidding Tom!

I am going out of town AGAIN this weekend for yet anther wedding! Pete and Mal's, Bens college roomate. I am glad to be going to KC, but if you recall, Ben and I aren't really together and I will be staying at his parents house with him. Flight cancellations coast $150 plus the change in fair...so i wasn't really excited about paying that. Plus it is a chance to see Caitlyn! :)

Thirdly, I got accepted by the HOA for the condo I was wanting to live in. No I am not buying, but I am renting from the owner. 12th and Humboldt. RIGHT on Cheesman park, and there is an indoor Pool. SWEET! Winter swimming parties. Not to mention the closet space is huge! So...I am moving out of the apartment Ben and I will have shared for a total of 4 months (that lasted long) and will be moving in to my new place at the beginning of October where I will finally be LIVING ON MY OWN. Ahh I can't wait. I have wanted to do this for a long time. Oh and Ema will be there too, but she doesn't count.

Thats it for now.
Ciao!

I'm going to Wichita?

So, short blog, but I may be headed to Wichita this weekend to watch my little sis (she is actually taller than me) play in her first season of Division 1 Volleyball.

I can't decide yet if I should go. It would be a 7 hour drive tomorrow (Friday) after an 8 hour work day. But my parents and g-parents will be there and it would be fun.

So i will most likely decide tonight on a whim if i am going or not. Most likely I will say....1, 2, 3, GO and be off like that driving through oh so scenic Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas.

Woohoo!

Random Thoughts

So a few of these things are just things that I always said I would like to write, and others are just...well...random thoughts that pose questions to which you should respond.

Are you a reader? I feel as if there are those who love reading and books and going to the bookstore, and there are those that don't do it at all. Even in relationships, it seems there is one person who is a reader and the other simply is not? What are you?

Random thought uno...this is more like an observation, but seeing as I ride the bus to and from work (most of the time) I have come to find that people observing is the best on a 15 minutes ride to my house. There is the Subway guy that gets on at Colfax and smells of meatballs. (seriously) Then there is the girl my age who reads and smiles to herself the entire time. There was also this one time where a man in a wheelchairs got on and his wheelchair was rather large, so he literally had to do an "Austin Powers" and go forward, backward, forward, backward, a little bit at a time. i felt bad for him because the bus was full and everyone was waiting. A little humourous still, even though it shouldn't be. There was also this Santa looking guy who talked to himself the entire time and one of the first sentences ended with a loud "suck my nuts." Glad there were not any kids on that bus, or they might not look forward to Christmas anymore. Anywho, there are several characters and it is entertaining to pay attention. But those are some of the good ones I remember.

Also, my friends and I had a RAD 80s party the other weekend and I truly enjoyed dressing up and doing my hair. I decided I should have lived through more of the 80s. I think I should go back. It may be my favorite decade.

Also on the verge of everyone I know getting engaged, my thought of when it would happen for me keeps getting postponed and pushed further and further. Not that this is a bad thing at all, I am actually in no way ready to settle down, but if you would have asked me when I was 18 when I would be getting engaged and married, I would have been terrifed to hear that I would be 24 and single and not looking. WTF Allison? I would prefer to have kids before I am 50, but i have plenty of time!

On a similar topic, with my recent life changes, what do you think happens more often. or what is your experience from friends and yourself? Do people ned up with someone they expected to and imagined they would be with, or do they end up with someone completely different. I have now been with someone whom i thought would be perfect for me, but just isn't. So now what? I can only imagine who i will end up with next, and if you know my past significant others, you can only imagine as well. They have been as different as care bears and godzilla. (you figure out who represents who)

Okay, well I think that is all for now. Respond to my questions if you'd like. It is Wednesday and I can only hope that teh weekend gets here SOON!!

Loves and Kisses!

Let be truth be told...

So I have always been honest with this blog, so i don't feel the need to hide anything at this point. But things will be changing shortly. If you know me at all, then you know I don't do serious and I try to be optimistic in what i do, but some people change and some people don't.

The situation simply put is Ben and I are over after 2 years and I am moving out of the apartment that we have only lived in together for 3 months. We never should have moved in when things were rough before, but there definitely was a defining choice that made this decision concrete.

So...as much as I would love to stay in our apartment seeing as most (90%) of the stuff is mine, I can't afford to stay here myself, so Ben is staying and I am moving out. I let him know last night that I was signing a lease and moving out, and although I had mentioned it before, I am not sure he actually thought I would do it.

Sometimes as much as you want something, it isn't meant to be!

The size of an Egg!!!

What? I know, that was my reaction, but before I get to the best part of my story, I will start from the beginning.

So as I think most of you know (ha, mac and Nicole), I had surgery Monday. For the two lovely lady lumps that I had in my right breast. So here is my run down of how Monday and the following day went.

I got to the pre-op office at 8:30. Here is where I would be getting a wire placed in my boob to guide the surgeon's way to the smaller of the two "lady lumps. This is the same office and room that I had my ultrasounds and biopsy's 9 months ago, so nothing new. They cleaned me up and numbed the right breast and started by taking the ultrasound to find the lump that needed the wire. Then they proceeded with the wire placement. AAhhh! My breast tissue is particularly dense (it is cuz I am tough) so they had a hard time and had to (what I like to call) jam the wire down into it. ahhh! I couldn't feel anything but the pressure, but just knowing what they were doing is bad enough.

So then I had to go get a mammogram with the wire in there. Boys, that is where they put your breast in between two flat plates and press in order to make your breast a pancake. Only I had a wire in there....again. Ahhh! So pretty shortly after that, I sat down and was waiting for her to print the images and I started to feel woozy and nauseous. So the next thing I know, i am ont eh ground and have the 4 nurses around me with a wet cloth on my forehead. I never pass out....ahhh! So I got to ride in a wheelchair down to the hospital area where my actual surgery would take place and for the rest of the day, the nurses and doctors kept referring to my "earlier incident" which meant I passed out.

So they don't let me wait in the waiting room for the 2 hours until my surgery. They go ahead and put me in my bed and attach my IV. Fluids which I needed seeing as I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything this morning. So I wait out the rest of time watching new patients come in and go out. I talk to several nurses and my anesthesiologist, and my surgeon. They all check to make sure I am the correct patient and we are doing the correct procedure.

Oh forgot to mention, at the wire placement, they all thought it was my LEFT breast...WRONG! I had to keep telling them it is my right. The one with the big X on it now.

So finally they wheel me in on my stretcher to the operation room. Ahhh, bright lights. And my Anethesologoist tells me she is going to give me the "magical cocktail" now, that is what she actually said. So as I am awaiting the drowsiness to kick in....

I wake up and the surgery is done. Ahh, I love drugs! ha! I look at the clock and realize it is 2 something and that Ben has been waiting for over an hour and a half. oops! I am covered in several blankets and can't really feel much. So the nurse sees me and realizes I am waking up, gets me some juice, etc. The doctor comes by and says everything went well and that the big lump...here it goes, was the size of an EGG! What? There went half my boob. Take it all if you want. I was hoping they would take a little out of the left one too. No such luck!

So anyways, Ben comes in and they wheel me down to the car and I have no problem scarfing down an entire schlotsky's sandwich within and hour. Oh and a chocolate cookie! oh and a fudgecicle. (sp?) I was hungry, what can I say?

So I felt pretty good the rest of the day. By the time I got home it was around 3 and I lounged around and took it easy. I didn't even have to take my vicatin until i went to sleep that night. And really no pain so far. I DO have to wear this ridiculous 1950's grandma support bra for 2 WEEKS. 2 WEEKS! ahhh!

It is awful i sware, I have actually taken some pictures of it on, so if I get enough courage I will post the picture of it. I am going to have to plan my outfits for the next two weeks around it. Today it is a turtle neck. Not to mention I still have tons of gauze (sp?) in it. HOTT!

And I can't shower or drive for 48 hours. Gross! I took a bath last night and did the whole sink hair rinse too cuz I couldn't take it. I am just kinda drowsy now. And trying to actually get some work done. So it is interesting.

Yup, but that is about it. I get to take the gauze off tonight and see it. Ahh! I will let you know how that goes. As for now, just trying to make it through the work day without falling asleep at my desk. And did I mention I forgot my pain pills today. bummer!

Signing off,
One egg short of a dozen,
Alli

I survived, although my joints

There should really be two separate blogs today for what has happened in the past week or so, but we will just stick to one.

So my trip to San Fran was a success. Fun, good weather, and the race on Sunday morning wasn't as bad as I had built it up to be. I took my camera ont he run with the thought that i would take a picture every mile. That lasted for about 2 miles before I realized I didn't want people to actually see these photos. I did get a small picture of the de Young Museum in the Golden Gate Park while I was running though.

So as I promised I am going to give my mile by mile recap and see how it compares to my pre-race expectations. Here it goes!

Mile 1- Kinda chilly, good thing I have this jacket on. Found my good pace and can still see Mac and Sarah.
Mile 2- The park is pretty and is keeping me entertained, I should have taken that short cut back there.
Mile 3- oooh a refuel station and some good music...Kanye west, make me stronger...Gatorade and water and gel...ummm vanilla, this tastes like pudding.
Mile 4-5 - kinda a blur but more park running and still haven't stopped to walk! Oh I ran past the finish line for the first half of the marathon and wish I had decided to go with that because I would be done already!
Mile 6-7 - ahh the edge of the park! yeah! Still running and half way there! The altitude thing definitely helped. I am not complete out of breath yet, but the legs are getting a little tired.
Mile 8- okay some exhaustion and boredom and out of shapeness is kicking in. My legs are starting to feel funny, more or less the joints and stuff.
Mile 9 - BOYS DON"T READ - i started this morning (WTF, are you freaking kidding me?)and now my cramps are killing me. I think I need to stop at a porta potty and go, but I don't want to stop. My ankle joints are getting stiff. Oh crap that is a huge slope down hill...awkward!
Mile 10-11 - these and the previous mile are the worse miles. tired and still aways from the finish line, not to mentionthe cramps in my stomach and joint stiffness in my knees and ankles.
Mile 12- getting close, I can see the stadium and know I am soo close...this helps not to mention the guy next to me running that just passed by and said "your so close, keep going" that helped, honestly
Mile 13- ahhhh almost there, so many people! I think i will pick up the pace, oh shit there is the 3:00 hour pace runner ahead of me, I need to pass him....HERE I GO!
Finish line....sprinted past the 3 hour guy with all the energy I had left...stopping running was awkward my feet wanted to keep going. ahh water, banana, and Gatorade...sweet. Now where are Mac and Sarah? ahh getting massages!

I DID it! and finished under the time I wanted too. I can proudly say I am glad I did it...and what, i think I could and would do it again! What city next?

SO that was it. The people that stood by the side of the route the whole way cheering us on helped tremendously, not the mention the refueling stations and the music in my ipod. Michael Bolton was lovely to hear. Someone said my name once and I got confused and then remembered it was on my bib. Bib number 24384! sweet! My final finish time was something like 2:55 I think but I subtract like 3 minutes for the potty break and the time I had to stop to stretch my tight calves. So not horrible for my first one and not great but I was never much of a long distance runner.

I could sprint with the best of them. Next time I will shoot for under 2:30 and hopefully make it. So that was it for the race. We had to hurry back to our hotel to shower and get out before check out time and then hung around the park next to the Modern Museum of Art until our flight at 8pm. We got a lot of free stuff too which was nice!

Next blog: when I got back Sunday night from all of this, i had some unfortunate news which is changing g a lot of things and deals with the relationship status change on y facebook profile! Stay tuned...

Countdown begins...

So...here I am, a day before I leave for San Francisco and excited and nervous both. For the run of course. If there was no half marathon, then I would be nothing but excited to get away with the girls for a much needed vacay!

Here is how I see the race going. (Oh and by the by, I am going to attempt to take my camera so I can document my slow and tortuous death, mile by mile, so be awaiting those photos.)

Mile 1- good, feeling good about myself and glad I trained at a much higher altitude
Mile 2-3 - About the same. By now I have found a good pace and I am still in the park!
Mile 4- Getting a little bored and probably no longer see Mackenzie and Sarah. (my pace is slow) plus my excitment and adrenaline is running low.
Mile 5-6 - getting a little tired and which I was a lot closer to the finish line than i was
Mile 7- contimplatine stopping and walking for a quarter of a mile because I have made it half way, but i won't...yet!
Mile 8-9 Really thinking I might not make it but trying to not focus ont he excitement of me seeing the each Mile marker pass.
Mile 10- my slow pace jog has become a REALLY slow pace jog but I only have 3 left to go!
Mile 11- Thinking I might need to throw up of fall down or pass out or something, my body is telling me this is not right, you didn't prepare me for this. I also stop caring about all the people passing me.
Mile 12. one more to go, but I am afraid my legs and knees will give out on me. Right now I am concentrating on making my legs work correctly!
Mile 13...ahhhhh .4 left to go. I might make it. I might beable to say I did this. Oh look there is the Giants Stadium!
Finish line- I am predicting a collapse or a fall because my legs won't know what to do once I stop. Now it is time to find my compadres and take a gross but congratulating picture of our first half marathon. (and maybe last) we will see how it goes.

So anyways...I plan on keeping a mental record (and a photo of myself and surroundings) for every mile so I can blog about the actuality of it all when I am back, so look for those! And we will see how unrealistic I was about things.

So if I don't seriously hurt myself I will be on a plane Sunday night (late) flying back to Denver and probably have a severly hard time going to work on monday morning! At least Sarah and I will be together on that one. Hope no one expects me to produce anything for Monday!

In exactley 72 hours I will be preparing for the race and probably already be at the start location. I might start to pray! (and well I don't do that often)

Wish me luck!