Stretching it out.

Okay I have a lot to catch up on but for now, I'm just going to tell you about my new obsession... yoga.

On Friday, my friend and teammate Hannah had a fundraiser called "Get Bendy for a Cure". I was SO excited to hear this, I had always wanted to try yoga and this was the perfect chance. I attended the 6am session and absolutely loved it. A friend that Hannah introduced me to a couple months ago, Nickki, was the instructor. She went at a slow pace, explaining all the poses as she went along. It was perfect.

Sure enough, yesterday I found myself at the Yoga studio taking a flow class with the owner, Adrian. Golly, I looooved it! At the beginning of the class, he told us it was over 90 degrees in the room. You can only imagine how sweaty I was by the end of class. The class was the perfect length, 70 minutes, with probably about 10 other students. I was kind of nervous walking in, because well first of all, it was my first official yoga class. Second, it was with the head honcho so I was scared I wouldn't be able to keep up. And third, I was by myself. But I was just fine! Nickki did a great job introducing me to all the concepts so I had no problem catching on and keeping up. I am probably one of the most inflexible people alive, so I definitely think yoga would be good for me. Yep... I'm pretty much the new yoga freak in town.

Ha... someday.

Do any of you do Yoga? (I know a lot of you do, from reading your blogs) Have you noticed any major differences in your running?

P.s. One month until marathon day!!!!

Fabulous Weekend.

As the title implies, this weekend was fabulous.

On the running side of things, it was a pretty easy Saturday. Last week was our slower week, so our mileage for Saturday only called for 12 miles. Wow, I never thought I'd say "only" 12 miles. Anywho, woke up Saturday morning and it was raining. UGH! I have never been one with the rain so was kind of apprehensive about getting out there and running for 2 hours in it. But really... it wasn't so bad! I was definitely not feeling on top of my game though, with a headache that pounded with every step, yuck.

Holy moly, Seattle is getting soooo close!! A little over a week and a month! SUPER excited. Hannah and Madison have started talking about what to wear, what to pack, what to eat... goodness I don't want to start thinking about that already!! AH!

In other news, I graduated Saturday! I officially have my Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, woot! I didn't walk at graduation, but did have a small celebratory dinner with the family followed by a night on the town. It was a blast. I invited my friend Madison to come along to dinner with me then met up with some more friends to go downtown.

All dressed up ready to go to din!

Could that box be the size of the box of the Garmin I want??!

I think so!! Thank you Mom and Dad!!

Super excited! Running while at the dinner table.

I have a Garmin: I'm a real runner now!! I can't wait until Saturday to try it out on our long run. I plan on actually reading the Owner's Manual to figure things out... something I rarely do. I'm sure you will hear all about my Garmin experiences after Saturday!

Quality time.

Of course another week has flown by and here I am, trying to remember everything I want to post! Probably not so much about running... and more about pictures and fun. Sure why not!

First of all, I have super exciting news.... I met my fundraising goal!!!! As most of you probably know, I'm doing the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll with Team in Training and set out to raise $3,600. Right now... my page says $3,614.76 with more donations to be added soon! WOOOOO!! I am just so amazed, touched, speechless, happy, and excited by this. Thank you SOOO much to everyone who helped make this happen. You are all amazing.

Sheesh. I could go on forever about how excited and thankful I am.

Now onto the quick running part of this post... 10k River Run. With 16 miles on the schedule for Saturday a 10k obviously wasn't going to cut it, so Madison and I met up with Hannah and Yvette for 10 miles then headed off to finish our training run at the River Run. I just love the atmosphere of races. Everyone cheering for everyone, people taking fun pictures, the excitement of crossing the finish line and getting a medal... love it!

After the race, we ran into our friends Nickki and Janelle and of course had to pose for a quick pic with our medals! Madison and I finished in 1:02:47. Not our best time, but considering our 10 miles before... I'm okay with it! Especially since the 10k River Run was not the race I'm training for... Seattle here I come!!

Saturday night, my friend Kari talked me in to going out with her and some other ladies. Okay, maybe she didn't have to talk me into it that much... I was definitely ready for a night out on the town with the girls. Clear my head before cramming all week for finals.

Us girls about to go downtown and start a riot.

Then of course Sunday was Mother's Day so I headed to Sedgwick to spend some time and cook dinner with the family. Pretty flowers for a pretty mom...

She was SO surprised!

At the beginning of the year, I set my vacation for this entire week... to study for finals. I did this last semester and it helped a ton. Kept my stress down, had plenty of time to study, to rest, to think. Well, my vacation got approved... but studying for finals? Ummm...not so much. My closet was in dire need of summer clothes, other clothes, summer shoes, other shoes, summer purses, other purses, ha you get the point.. basically everything. So I had this grand idea that I wanted to take a shopping trip to Kansas City. I loooove shopping in Kansas City, beats the heck out of shopping in Wichita. But when would I do this? What better week than finals week?! So.. long story short... I talked my mom into going with me! Oh my golly... we had a blast!

We set out Tuesday morning at about 7am (after an early morning workout of course, can't miss those runs!). I love road trips. Jammin out to music... pretending that I can sing.

We arrived just as there stores were opening, ready to do some damage!
First mall... check! Legends was definitely a success! Woot!

After Legends, we ventured over the the Plaza... which was another success! Beautiful day for Plaza shopping.

By the end of day one of shopping, we were exhausted! We ate dinner then headed to the hotel and basically crashed right away... had another full day of shopping adventures ahead of us.

Wednesday morning, I woke up and ran a quick 4 miles at the hotel workout facility. A "quick 4 miles" was actually a grueling, overheated longest 4 miles ever. The workout room did not have a fan! No air flow whatsoever! I had plans do to 6 miles, but thought I was going to pass out of heat exhaustion so decided to call it quits at 4. I'm actually really proud of myself for waking myself up and trucking out those 4 miles. I remember back in the club volleyball days... I went to a tournament in Texas with my coach, she got up and went for a run in the morning and I thought she was absolutely nuts. And now there I was, doing the same thing.

Anyway, after we got ready we actually headed back the the Plaza... I just had to get this shirt that I couldn't stop thinking about. After a quick stop there, we stopped at this place...

The coolest coffee shop ever! I've seen this place a few times but never had a chance to stop. I'm a sucker for cute little coffee shops. Wish we had more in Wichita.Look at the middle of the menu. French Press coffee??! No way!! I was JUST talking about how I wanted to try French Press coffee a few days before. So excited! The verdict? Amazing! Fresh, black, and delicious.

After enjoying my wonderful coffee, we headed to our last destination... The Oak Park Mall. More shopping, more fun, then a long ride home... in a storm.

Was skipping studying for finals to go shopping worth it? Definitely! This is not even a valid question. I had a blast spending time with my mom, got a lot of awesome new things, and I'm really not too stressed about my finals. Actually took one last night and breezed right through it. Only one more to go!! Woot!

Truckin.

Goodness! I haven't posted for over a week, where did all this time go?!

Thank you everyone who has left encouraging comments, advice, or anything on my posts. I get so excited when I get a notification of a new comment!

Anyway, I don't even know where to start. Basically, I've been trucking out paper after paper the past week so by the time I finally have a chance to blog I'm all typed out!

Good news though... only one paper, 2 assignments, and 2 finals away until I graduate with my Undergrad Degree in Accounting. WOOT!! The official graduation date is May 15, but I've made the decision that I'm not walking... for a lot of reasons. First and definitely most important, I would have to miss a Saturday morning team run. Um, not happening! I look forward to Saturday team runs all week. I've already asked off work for that weekend due to graduation... soooo instead of walking like originally planned, I will just take my day off and enjoy the a nice long run with my Team. Another reason is that I will be graduating again in a little over a year with my Master's Degree in Accounting, so I will walk then. Another WOOT!! I'm so excited to say that I can finally see an end to all this madness. Basically... 2 semesters, 2 summers, some studying for the CPA exam, some domination of the CPA exam... and I am donezo! I would woot again, but that might be a little excessive.

Okay on to the running...
Last Saturday, Yvette and I met at 4am to run our long run because we both had to be at work early so couldn't make it to the team run. Actually, Yvette didn't have to start till about 5:30am but she sacrificed her sleep just so I didn't have to run alone... do you see why I'm always saying how much I am SO thankful for these ladies and TNT? They are seriously awesome. Anyway, we had a really good 17 mile run. The entire time I couldn't stop thinking about these bad boys...

www.recoverysock.com

Okay, these things seriously are amazing. Hannah talked me into getting these after she swore about their amazingness. Not gonna lie, I was a little skeptic... I mean, come on.. they are socks, and an expensive pair of socks at that. But nope, not just any sock.... I now believe they are magic socks. I put them on about 30 minutes after our run and left them on basically the rest of the day. The next day... my legs felt almost brand new! The week before was my 20 mile run and my legs hurt for 2 days after! This week I felt like I could run the next day. I can't wait until my next long run, just so I can wear these again! Have you ever tried these?? If not, you should.

Pretty much a random post and I have lots more I'd like to share...but it's getting late and I have a running date in the morning so I must get some sleep.