Three Things Thursday

Right now I feel like my life is a little too boring to blog about lol… well… other than wedding stuff of course ;)   So.. following the crowd, three thing thursday it is ;)

1.  I’m ALL better!!  no more sick germs!! yay!!  Is anyone else a complete baby when they don’t feel well… or is that just me?!

2.  I decided I’m going to create a page solely devoted to all of my wedding posts… if you ever feel like you might have missed an all important announcement or wedding update, you can just click on the link to take you to the wedding page and it’ll all be together in one spot… yes, i am 100% doing this for all of you (not me) You’re welcome ;) 

2.b.  Yeah… don’t look for the link tonight… I’m lazy/tired so it’ll happen sometime over the weekend ;)

3.  I know that many of you might have read something about a movie coming out called
“My Run” … but many of you might not have heard about it yet…  so, here’s the scoop:

After tragically losing his wife to breast cancer and struggling to raise three young children on his own, real life super hero and modern day Forrest Gump, Terry Hitchcock seized on an idea. He wanted to accomplish the impossible: run 75 consecutive marathons in 75 consecutive days to bring attention to the incredibly difficult lives of single-parent families. He ran in spite of freezing rain and unbearable heat, in spite of chest pains and bone fractures that wracked his 57-year-old body. He just kept running - each day, every day - strengthening an unbreakable bond between father and son--- not stopping until he broke the finish line tape in Atlanta. MY RUN is more than a film about a guy running multiple marathons; it’s a film about the daily marathons we all run in life, a theme that’s extremely relevant and important in this day and time.

It’s a ONE NIGHT only premiere on March 31st, 2011!! Tickets went on sale February 18th!  If you want to buy tickets you can GO HERE.  If you want to read more about the movie or see the trailer you can go to the movie’s website!

121 days left!

Wedding Update: My Dress!!

ok.. first things first, why didn’t anyone tell me I was getting ahead of myself on Tuesday?! lol… I titled my post “Triple Tangent Thursday” lol… well… today is Thursday.. bummer… but it’s almost the weekend!! :)  Also, welcome to my newest bloggy friend.. Angie from Kansas Runner!! Thanks for following! :)

Now.. on to the wedding stuff!!!  Pretend like it’s December 17th ;)  CUZ that’s when I bought my dress!!! :)

I’m not one of those girls who has known from an early age what kind of wedding dress I wanted or what kind of wedding… Dont get me wrong… I daydreamed about getting married one day, but I never planned the details of a future wedding….  Not to mention that I’m not a very girly girl… I’ll wear the occasional dress, but usually you’ll find me in jeans or running shorts and a tshirt lol…

So, my mom and I decided to start out looking in our little town (which has 2 places that might have wedding dresses… 1 for sure) before we headed to the big city.  Neither of us knew what to expect but were looking forward to the big adventure!

When we arrived, we had to sign in and they took us back to a little sitting area to ask questions like “what’s your budget?”  “What kind of a dress do you want?”  “Do you have anything specific in mind?”  I told them the budget that I definitely didn’t want to go over and other than that, that I had no clue what I was looking for… just that I didn’t want a ridiculously long train.

After that we went through and picked out different styles of dresses that I liked so I could try them on… we had all sorts of things like Ball gowns and A-lines and Mermaid dresses… who knew there would be so many to choose from? ;)  Well I tried on the first one and absolutely LOVED it!!  But, I had about 8 more dresses to try on.  Every time I tried on a different dress we would compare it to the first… if I liked it less we put it back, if we liked it about the same or more we kept it in the fitting room.

After a while I kind of forgot what the first one looked like on me and we were down to the last two dresses which were a different style than the first one all together and I liked them both. They were over my budget by $100-200 but I had told her that was ok, if it was the one for me I would pay the extra mulah!! :)  I really liked the last one the best but forgot what the first one looked like so I tried the first dress on again…

As soon as I put it back on I started tearing up… this was THE ONE!!  I didn’t want to take it off, I was so thrilled!!  I never knew what it would feel like finding “the dress” but it was magical!  It was incredible!  I just knew it was the one! haha.. my mom joked with me that she had been looking forward to going to more than just one dress shop… but since we were both shedding happy tears we knew there was no need to continue searching!

This is the only picture I can show you because I have no clue if my fiancé
peeks at my blog every once in a while lol ;)  sneak peak!!!

After I committed to buying it they put a veil on my head and we took pictures and talked about wedding stuff… eventually they made me take it off ;) lol… I ordered my dress.. paid in full because if I did they would give me a discount… booyah!!   I was told it would be in towards the middle/end of May… hopefully I don’t need too many alterations!  I’m just so excited!!!  Now I just need to accessorize!! ;)

135 days left!!

Throwback Thursday

Yes, I’m stealing Q’s Move…. It’s late and I’m tired so no race recap tonight… tomorrow for sure though! I promise!!  I’m getting up early to go run with someone before I head to work…so that should be a fun time.  I’m sure you’ll hear about it at some point ;)

Throwback Time!!

This was probably taken around 1988-89… yeah, I was ballin’ way back then!! ;)  Little did I know that I’d play from 4th grade through college! lol

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In other news… we have 20 people signed up for the 2010 Christmas Card Swap so far and about 7 other people who said they are interested and want to join but haven’t sent me an email yet!  Don’t forget to send me an email because that is how you officially sign up!  It closes on November 30th, so get on it people!!

Also, Starting next week my work hours should go down from 45+ per week to about 13-25…. lots more free time!  BUT, smaller paycheck too lol… it’ll only be like that for a couple weeks or so before I take on more hours again, so let freedom ring! ;)

I guess I could’ve called this 3 thing thursday lol ;)  
I guess I just wanted to cramp Q’s style

Thursday Thoughts and Fuel Belt Winner!

First of all, wow!! 96 followers?!  You guys ROCK!!  Hello and thank you to all of my new followers!  I love making new friends! :D

I had 131 entries into my giveaway!!  I plugged the numbers into random.org and this is what it came up with:

Congratulations Alanna!!  Please shoot me an email with your address sometime this weekend!  I hope to get your handheld and GU to you sometime in the next week Lord willing! :D   runners.luck@hotmail.com

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Now onto the “Thursday Thoughts” portion of this post!  I’ve been thinking about a lot of things lately and don’t really have time to write about all my thoughts.  Of course, a majority of my thoughts are about running and blogging and everything else life has been throwing at me!

1.  I have been working extra hours the past couple weeks… 15/week to be exact and it leaves me with no time to do anything unless I stay up late.  Which I did on Monday.  4am late to be exact and mostly because I was too lazy to get up out of the recliner from watching tv with my dad to walk back to my bedroom to go to bed.  I can’t be the only one that does this right?!

2.  I’ve been feeling crappy lately.  I do believe it has to do with a lot more than just the late bedtimes.  It took me a week to get back to running after my half marathon… A WEEK!!  And still… I can probably count on one hand how many times I’ve been running since then!  It’s pathetic really.  It’s not that I don’t want to.  I really don’t like getting up early.. I’ve never made it a habit to because I didn’t have to.  My work schedule allowed me to run in the afternoons or evenings most of the time and now since I’m working more, the only times I have to run are early morning or late night… ugh!  So, that has a lot to do with why I’ve been feeling crappy PLUS I’ve been eating crappy too!  You are what you eat right?!  Ok, so I did have an excuse for last weekend because of the fair… but seriously… I  haven’t been eating any veggies or fruits and I’ve been eating on the go … ie: fast food!  GASP!!!  so… lack of sleep, lack of running/exercise, more hours of work, and a crappy diet have all come colliding down on me this week and I’ve felt like a bad human being lol…

3.  It’s not like I don’t have any motivation… ok, I don’t have any lol.  I do have a race on OCT 30th and my goal time for 5k is sub 25 right now and I really want it in my head lol… but I still don’t have any motivation… and its probably because of #2!  So I have decided to stop wallowing in my self proclaimed laziness and business and make some changes!

4.  Not only am I making healthy living changes, but I have thought a lot about changing around my blog.  First of all  I don’t believe in LUCK… I never have.  I believe that everything happens for a reason because God has a plan.  So… I have no idea why my blog is named “Runner’s Luck” other than it sounded cool and I had ZERO creative juices flowing the day I created my blog.  Also… I ran my half marathon on September 25th!  I think my blog needs a new tagline!  I also want to give my blog a little makeover starting with a cool picture header… except I have no idea how to do that … help?!  And maybe a new background?!  What do you all think?!  I would appreciate any opinions you guys have about changing anything on my blog or any help you can give me on creating a photo header!

So those are just A FEW thoughts I’ve had… I’ll save some of the others maybe for greater in-depth posts…  As always I love advice/opinions/comments from  you all! :D  I know a lot of you feel somewhat like I have after running a big race… I think making healthier choices will make a HUGE difference in the way I’m feeling though!  So starting tonight… I’m going to bed before midnight!! :D 

Random Things on Thursday

Well, I was tagged by Quinton, Q, The Guy who loves Jersey Shore, or the Sick Wuss (whatever you want to call him is probably ok*) over at Q on the Move.  I guess this means that I need to come up with 10 random things about me and then tag a few other people…

1.  I’m 23 and sleep with a teddy bear… my boyfriend got it for me for Valentines Day before we were actually dating and I was crushing on him majorly!  The bear’s name is Charles Peter II.

This picture was taken a couple years ago

2.  I have broken a total of 5 bones, all sports related! My 4 front teeth, yes they’re fake now (basketball), My toe (playing barefoot sand soccer, yeah… smart), A bone in the top of my foot (basketball), My collarbone (basketball), My finger (flag football)… yes, basketball was good to me 4th grade through college!

3.  I have major issues with my body… I think my butt is too big and I have never found a pair of jeans that fit like I want them to… If I get them to fit my waist they’re too small in the butt, If I get them to fit my butt they are WAY too big in the waist… you get the picture…

4.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Frank Sinatra music but REALLY LOVE Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly movies!**

5.  I have worked part time job #1 for 6 1/2 years and part time job #2 for 5 years… they took me through college DEBT FREE! (with the occasional side jobs like babysitting and assistant basketball coach etc…)

6.  When I was in Jr High, my orthodontist took an x-ray of my hand and told me I’d be 6 feet tall or taller… I made it to about 5’9” and was disappointed because I wanted to be taller.. I’m still tall for a girl.

7.  I have a twin… I’m 4 minutes older…we don’t look alike, and we don’t have a secret language.  I’m about 4 inches taller than her and have curly hair.

 This is the most recent picture I have of us

8.  I LOVE to knit and crochet!  My boyfriend likes to tease me and tell me I’m an old woman.  I have a blog that I started when I started teaching myself how to knit and crochet… BLOG HERE

     

I crocheted Charizard for my boyfriend and knitted a piano tote for my mom for last Christmas.

9.  I want a flex friendly body!! I get jealous when I see women with big, cut biceps!  Starting next week I’m going to start a more weight friendly workout plan!  (keep me to my word k?!)  We’re not talking HUGE biceps… but bigger than my skinny arms now.

10.  In high school, I was on the dance team and on the dance/kick squad for marching band… I dont see how I made either because I am VERY uncoordinated and very clutzy!  I end up with bruises on my thighs and arms from running into things and I trip over lines in the sidewalk a lot.

                                  

Wow… Senior year (2005)

People I tag are:

          1.  Tressa @ Track Coach &Adorable Wife (Coach, feel free to do it too!)
          2.  Rae @ 5k Rae (I’ll get you the info about the shorts sometime this weekend!)
          3. Pam @ Thirty Schmirty (Thanks for the kind comments on my blog!)

Now, go forth and create random lists!

Sorry for not naming everyone… You all are awesome, I just picked a random 3! So feel free to make random lists about yourself even if you weren’t named! :)

*******HEALTH UPDATE*******

I had my follow up cardiologist appointment today.  It went really well!  He came in and said he had looked at the results more in depth since my echo-stress test and my heart was really healthy!  Exact words:  “You are in really good shape!  Honestly, we rarely have anybody that goes as long as you did in that test!”  (ok…I may have added the exclamation points) but… that made me feel good that my heart was in such good shape!  He said I could run 30 miles this Saturday if I wanted to! haha! 

He said that he thinks it’s just a muscle sprain that caused all of these problems and that he would recommend taking Aleve not only when my chest starts to ache but he would go ahead and take a couple before my race on Saturday.  Does anyone have any opinions about this? 
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I also went shopping today as you can see in the picture! My grandma got me a gift card for my birthday (I think she forgot I was born in July)… it was to Kohls.  I usually don’t shop at kohls, but I did find the cute running shorts there!

 

I couldn’t pass up the Under Armour fleece at Dunhams!  It’s so soft and comfy… it’s like a hug when I put it on!  I also picked up the only running book they had in our local Borders… “Born to Run”  I figured I could read it in the car tomorrow on the 6 1/2 hour trek to Nashville. 

That’s right… I’M LEAVING TOMORROW MORNING!!!  That means 1 day and like 11 hours til my race!!  I’m so excited I could cry, puke, hug someone, smile, laugh… judging by those actions, I would say you can tell I’m pretty nervous too lol.  We’re going straight to the Expo and then heading to the hotel and dinner after that… So, with that, I bid thee adieu!  I have to finish packing!

Don’t forget to ENTER MY GIVEAWAY!!  I know I said you had til today to enter, but really… you have til tomorrow night by the time I get to the hotel for the night! 

 

* Q is actually a pretty cool dude… his comments usually leave me feeling motivated and like I can do anything… AND he thinks my 3D glasses are hot

**If you don’t know who these people are, please go google it or something!

Say What?!!

Last night I went to bed early but my mind was racing and I ended up not falling asleep until almost midnight!  My alarm went off at 7:45 this morning so I rolled out of bed and immediately noticed a difference in the way I felt.  My chest pain felt more like a chest cold now, which is kind of weird, and I had a slight cough.  I still had problems taking in a deep breath, but I just knew that today, no matter what the tests said, was going to be a good day! Don’t get me wrong, I was still nervous, I just knew that God has a plan and that all of you guys were praying for me!

So, my dad and I headed out the door and were signed in at the hospital at 9:15am.  When we finally got to the second place we had to sign in at it was 9:44 and the lady said “Hun, I don’t know who told you to be here this early, but your exam isn’t scheduled until noon so you don’t have to be here til 11:30!”  Seriously?!  At this point I’m getting really hungry and I always wake up in the morning dehydrated so I was rather thirsty…. My dad and I decided to just stay and wait it out.  I crocheted a little bit while my dad slept. (He works nights so he came with me on ZERO hours of sleep!  Love my dad!)

2 hours later and I am allowed to go back to the room for my stress-echo test.  Basically its an ultrasound on my heart at resting state, then walking/running on a treadmill to get my heart up to a certain rate, immediately followed by another ultrasound while my heart rate is still up. Like this:

 **Except I am younger and MUCH cuter ;) 

***Oh, and the treadmill I was on started at an incline lol.. and it just kept getting faster and steeper!

Well, I kept expecting to feel like I was gonna pass out or like I couldn’t breath…. and although I was breathing hard and I could tell my chest and breathing aren’t back to 100%, I didn’t have to ask them to stop the test.  My legs were a little tired, but they actually felt good after I started running.

After the test the doctor told me some good news

Awesome news really…

IT’S NOT MY HEART!!!

He actually said that I was in really good shape and that although he doesn’t have the official results, from what he could tell, my heart is really healthy!  The next words that came out of his mouth almost made me cry with joy!  “I want you to start running again… but cut back a lot this week leading up to your half and if it goes well, I don’t see why you can’t run next weekend! He did say that all the lack of sleep leading up to the chilly festival 5k a few weeks ago probably didn’t help matters any and that he thinks it may just be a chest cold.  Then he proceeded to ask me if I’ve ever been checked for asthma. I told him I hadn’t but I’ve never had any problems in sports and running growing up. So…

I don’t have to wear the halter monitor for 2 days now and I go back to see him Wednesday the 23rd (the day before we leave for Tennessee) for a follow up and official results.  And with that… I’m heading to bed… trying to sleep a lot more and take in more Vitamin C and Iron!

PS – look for a giveaway soon!  A little thank you of sorts for being so caring and supportive during this downer time in my life!  You guys are great! :D

Tidbit Thursday

1. I was orignially going to do a recap of the long run i had yesterday in todays blog post, but im feeling lazy and tired so I decided to save that til tomorrow probably.

2. I was going to do "Three Thing Thursday" like everyone else but decided I had more than 3 things to share and didn't want to follow the leader (i make my own rules) so... "tidbit thursday" it is.

3. Only 22 days and 8 hours left until my first half marathon! I am sooooo excited!!!

4. Did you know that I have curly hair? I think its a pain and can never get it to look cute like everyone else who has curly hair so i usually just throw it up in a ponytail... which still looks kinda funny (i think i need a new stylist)

5. my laziness is also effecting my punctuation and capitalization

6. I have a 5k race on saturday and the temperature is going from 93 degrees to 72 degrees in one day! (according to the always correct weather forecast here in ohio) I need to find a long sleeve running shirt fast!! I guess I could always wear cotton... I used to wear cotton to run in all the time... im becoming a running diva!! nooooooooo before you know it, I'm gonna start liking the color pink!! haha, sorry to running diva mom who is actually really awesome.. didn't mean it as a bad thing to bea running diva, just that it would be so unlike me lol ;)

7. I was a part of Tall Mom on the run's 80 miles in august challenge... we had til today to finish out our mileage which means i got to include my long run from yesterday! I finished the challenge with 76.72 miles!! :D

8. I've realized that I have no idea what Im doing when it comes to running!!! Yeah, I know to carb load before big runs and races (the night before) and to take something a long to drink and wear a hat or sunglasses for protection... but what about after my half marathon? what then? am I supposed to take a break from running? keep running 20 or more miles a week? cut down my miles til i have another big race? *sigh*

9. Grade reports came out today which means it seriously is official.. im graduated!! I still can't get over the fact that i have a degree! lol... so cool!! (thanks to everyone for the congrats comments!! thanks for helping me celebrate!) Now just to finish out my sign language interpreting degree and i'll be golden!

10. Im going with my dad to pick up my sister from college tomorrow for the long weekend... its a long ride so i'll probably start reading "Gone with the Wind" for the 100 day challenge from run, courtney, run or crochet some more leaves for my mom's afghan! You can read more about it (and all my other crafty things) over at The Start of Something New

11. Just realized that I probably could have named this post "Ten Tidbits Thursday" but now since I just had my eleventh thought, that title is now out of the question... goodnight all! Have a wonderful Friday!

Random Thursday - My Thoughts Are a Bit Jumbled

1. I ended up meeting up with M on Saturday to run... she just started getting into running... I got there at 9am. I had a sad face cuz she wasn't there yet... she didn't show up til 9:30 and we headed out and she ended up wanting to do more walking than anything but it was still fun none-the-less... we got to catch up on life since I haven't seen her in ooo... 6 years lol. We ended up running less than 1 mile and walking about 7 lol.

2. I'm drinking 7up right now... does that make me a bad person since I normally only drink water or gatorade?

3. My youngest sister is going off to college for the first time tomorrow... I made her a fleece blanket to take with her... it'll be like a big hug waiting for her whenever she needs it :)

4. Said youngest sister had a going away party with a few friends a few nights ago and someone wore these!! First time i've seen them in person, they are pretty sweet... im now intrigued haha... I restrained myself from trying them on for a few obvious reasons lol ;) (mainly cuz I didn't know the person and because they look pretty used tehe)

5. My boyfriend agreed to do a track workout with me so we headed to the track yesterday after we took care of some college things (which took longer than they needed to) my plan was to do 7 miles of a speedworkout but it was so stinkin hot... i ran in my sports bra which is major since i have some body image issues... especially in front of my boyfriend lol... I just couldn't take it anymore and neither could he so we only ended up doing about 4.5 miles

6. Challenge update: I've done lunges twice and hardcore stuff once... I'm planning on doing hardcore stuff tonight and then lunges and hardcore after my recovery run on saturday

7. I have a long run planned for tomorrow... my training plan says 8... but i kind of want to do 9... i ran 8 two weeks ago... should i go with 8 or 9? I may have to make saturday my long run day this weekend because i may have to drive some of youngest sisters things to her school for her.

8. I have exactly one week tomorrow to finish up my big paper so I can graduate... so far I have 2 pages lol...

9. Im starting to get excited for my half marathon!! :D Only 36 days left!! I'm starting to think about what i'll need to take for my mini vacation but especially for my race and what songs I want on my playlist.... any suggestions?

10. I keep getting emails saying "you won a $500 walmart giftcard" "pick up your $1000 walmart giftcard today" and while i want them to be real... they just aren't!

11. I won 2 blog giveaways!! I won sigvaris compression recovery socks from Erica at I Run Because... I Can and a Salonpas water bottle, pain relief patches, pedometer, and towel from Beth at Shut up & Run! :D

12. I was looking to get another part-time job (probably minimum wage paying) when I realized that I will officially have a BACHELORS degree in a week... so i decided to do something a bit more ambitious... I'm thinking about substitute teaching... maybe :)

13. Also, I am getting tired of getting almost bit, snarled at, chased after, and scared enough to pee down my leg by the dogs at the end of my road... I started carrying a long stick to beat them with if they dare try to bite me again... maybe I should call someone about them? They are allowed to just run around outside (all 4 of them) while their owner isn't home... and I feel very much threatened by them everytime I put my running shoes on... stupid dogs!

Well, I'm going to bed... tomorrow could be a very long day for me... we shall see! By the way... does anyone else really really really look forward to their long run days? (I do)