A Very Productive Weekend

Happy Sunday Funday y'all. I'm checking in to brag about how much I've accomplished this weekend. Really, sit back, because you're going to be super impressed.

My awesome boss let us slip out of work early on Friday (which was obviously a sign that it was going to be a really awesome weekend) so I met up with the roommate for an extremely girly happy hour at our favorite sushi place ever.

We were a little excited. I mean like "tears-being-shed, epiphanies-being-had, what-was-even-I-living-for-before-this-meal" type excited. 

(If you are thinking that you have seen that polka dot dress before, you would be right. I have a really shocking announcement to make: I am poor and I repeat outfits. You will probably see it again very soon, so get used to it.)

The most fabulous thing about happy hour is probably the fact that you can enjoy yourself for a good three hours and still be home and in your bed wearing yoga pants by 8:30pm. I promise I'm not usually in bed that early on a Friday night (seriously usually I make it until at least ten), but I had an earlier than usual Saturday and this week kicked my ass so just forgive me for being lame, ok?

Saturday morning I was up at six for an awesome day! My company has kicked off it's community involvement campaign for 2013 and we've partnered with an amazing charity in the Fort Worth area. I met up with a few co-workers to head out to Lake Tawakani for a volunteer work day with Our Father's Children. (OFC is an amazing non-profit organization that provides free week long summer camps, retreats, and mentoring programs to children of abuse and neglect.) We had an absolute blast and and spent the whole day working our tails off clearing out an area that will one day be a football and baseball field that these sweet kiddos will get to play on! It was such a blessing to be a part of, and on the way home my awesome boss even bought us blizzards, which as you know are the absolute light of my life.

OMG MINT OREO YOU CAN DO NO WRONG!

(I know you're supposed to do charity work for the deep self-satisfaction of getting involved with a cause greater than yourself, BUT, if they keep this up, there is a chance that the blizzards might become my primary incentive. I mean I'm only human, y'all.)

After that long day, I'd worked up quite the appetite, so I met up with my friend Madysen (you may remember her as awesome pink-sign friend) for a delish dinner at Chili's. I have no pictures but I can assure you that it happened and it was in fact, delicious. After our nice little dinner I came home and crashed. Hard.

Sunday morning I had every intention of waking up early for a long run. What I did not account for was the extreme old lady soreness from my intense Saturday of raking, bending over, moving logs, and playing with a hatchet (yeah, that happened and it was awesome.) Turns out I'm not in near as good of shape as I have convinced myself that I am. I swear to you I could barely move this morning. So I gave myself the "Hell, I ran a half marathon last weekend" excuse and decided to skip today's run. I know, for shame. But I haven't had any dessert today so that might balance it out. Oh wait, I lied. I forgot I ate cookie dough earlier. Oh well.

This afternoon I met up with the best friend for lunch at Freebirds 

Freebirds, you are alright. But not as good as chipotle.

It was a blast. She talked about wedding planning and I talked about how obsessed I am with Born to Run. By the end of lunch she wanted to borrow Born to Run and I wanted to try on wedding dresses so if you were wondering how our friendship works-that's how.

After our lunch date I ran all my Sunday errands (i.e. Target, bank, car wash), did two loads of laundry (we're talking washed and folded here people), and signed up for my next race (Lone Star 10k).

Some other productive randoms:

• I gave money to not one, but TWO homeless guys today. I'm basically implementing my very own economic stimulus plan. You're welcome America.
• I planned out all my meals for the upcoming week. 
• I deep cleaned my  bathtub. Been meaning to do that for ohhh, I don't know...about a month. Yep, I'm gross. 

And some non-productive randoms:

• Yesterday marked exactly three months until my birthday. I'm actually surprised none of you said anything about it, but I'm willing to look past that and forgive you. Because I'm mature. 
• I made my first swimsuit purchase of 2013. I say "first" because I can assure you I will end up buying at least five more by the time this year is over. I have a problem. 
• Every time I take that first bite into an apple there is a tiny part of me that winces because I'm afraid of biting into a worm. It's completely irrational, because that's never happened to me. But I just ate an apple (worm-free) and thought I'd share. 

So there you have it. Someone pat me on the back.

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

Big stall superiority complex

Let's talk about some weird stuff.

I'm a big stall snob. I play favorites and refuse to go in any stall that can't also accommodate my car. I don't know what took place in my life that caused this weird and unnecessary preferential treatment, but it's become a problem. When did I become such a snob? Why do I care? I am just one tiny person. The middle stall provides me with more than enough space to do my thirty seconds worth of business. I just love the big stall. I know that they are supposed to be reserved for the handicapped but the fact that I've chosen to go on for an entire paragraph about a damn bathroom stall is certainly evidence of a mental handicap of some sort...

OMG look at all that room. It's like a spa. 

I don't really know where I was going with this topic. I'd apologize but it's my blog.

I've been taking it easy this week since I had a pretty eventful weekend, so I used Monday as a rest day which means that I drank a lot of wine and watched The Bachelor, where we said goodbye to AshLee who was really starting to let her crazy show. Even though I loved her for a hot minute, I'm glad she's gone because if she'd stuck and gotten dumped next week I'm pretty sure she would've cooked Sean's rabbit.

By Tuesday I was feeling stir crazy and was ready to get moving again, so I headed to the gym and hopped on the elliptical for 45 minutes which was super boring because the entire time I was just staring enviously at everyone hopping on and off of the treadmill. But being the creeper at the gym makes time fly by pretty quickly. Plus it felt good to get my legs moving again and shake some of the stiffness out so I guess I should stop complaining. Last night I decided to take advantage of this gorgeous weather we've been having and went on my first post-race run!

Representin' in my Cowtown tee!

I did a very easy and slow 4 miles on the trails. It took me about three miles to get in the groove of things, but it felt so good to be out and running.

Today was a really really really awesome day because look at all the goodies that came for me!

(I almost had a panic attack when I opened the Amazon box because I realized that I will now have to choose which book to start first. And that's a tough decision that's going to require almost as much brain power the above essay on bathroom stalls. I don't know y'all, I'm so weird.)

Earlier this week I sucked it up and used some of what was left of my tax refund to order a few of the books I've had on my wish list for awhile. (Also, speaking  of good books, check out the awesome giveaway going on over at Allison Jean Photo!) Placing that may have been a stupid decision because it's not like I have an abundance of free time on my hands. I can already tell you that this is going to affect my 9:30pm goal bedtime. UGH. What a rough life. 

I really really wish it was possible to run outside and read a book. Because after tearing into my package I really just wanted to throw on my yoga pants (who have coincidentally never made an appearance in a single yoga class) and curl up with awesome new books. But instead I went for a perfect 6 mile run, which turned out to be an awesome decision. Just like yesterday I felt like it took me 3 miles to get into the groove of things but once I did it felt awesome. I didn't realize that my next race is just in three weeks! I'm in the process of convincing my awesome roommate to run it too because races are funner (not a word) with friends DUH. 

Instead of my normal donut-nap-redbox themed weekend, I've actually got a pretty busy couple of days ahead of me. But I will probably still manage to sneak a donut or two in there, so I think I'll survive.

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

THAT JUST HAPPENED! (Cowtown Half Marathon Recap Part 2)

(If you missed the prequel of this delightful two parter, you can read about the pre-race-day weekend happenings here.)

The Cowtown had a 7am start time, so I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed (total JK) at 4:30 to be ready to leave the house by 5:40ish. I was really really surprised at how easily I fell asleep. I definitely had pre-race jitters, but I was also exhausted, so I guess that helped. My stomach was in major butterlies, so I stuck with my generic breakfast of an english muffin and a banana. After I ate the majority of the butterflies went away.

Because I'm as type A as they come, I set out all of my race day gear on Saturday so that I could wake up and have it all ready to go the next morning. I'm obsessed with knowing all the details about people's run gear so I'm sharing for those of you that may care:

Clothes: Nike tempo shorts, Old Navy Active sports bra and GoDRY running top, 

Shoes: Mizuno Wave Precision 12's

Accessories: favorite Experia black running socks, ProCompression marathon calf sleeves, FuelBelt 22oz palm holder pocket water bottle, Yurbuds (aka best headphones EVER, they never fall out!), Cytomax Energy Drops (AKA best fuel ever!), BodyGlide, cheap Iphone band from TJ Maxx, and cheap black headband that I've had for a million years. 

Back in December I was talking to Taylor's friend Tyler about how I was planning on running the half. He mentioned that he ran it last year and by the end of our chat he decided that he'd sign up again this year. We ran together once over Christmas vacation (he kicked my ass and forced me to run an 8:00 pace the entire time) and before we could meet up for another run, he broke his collar bone on a ski trip. Can you say OWW? To top it off, by the time his collar bone healed up, he came down with a bad case of runner's knee. So I was honest to God shocked when he texted me this week all ready to go, acting like he hadn't already been injured TWICE in 2013. I mean, seriously. Insane. So around 5:45, Taylor, Alli, Tyler, and I all piled into my car and headed over to the race. 

When we left the house it was a cold 38 degrees. I had to keep reminding myself to suck it up and that the forecast predicted it would be warming up to a nice 70 degree day. But still, BRR. We headed inside the expo area of Will Rogers and hung out, stayed warm and tried to stay loose. 

That's my bossy face.

While we were hanging out inside my sweet friend Madysen showed up with this awesome sign!

We hung out inside until about 6:30, when we headed out to hit up the porta potties and wait at the start line. 

 Once we got outside and into our corrals, the nerves subsided and I was just ready to run. Right after 7, the gun went off and we headed out! 

The half marathon, marathon, and ultra all started at the same time, so there were a TON of people, which made it congested for the first few miles (which was expected) but it also kept the energy so high! I wanted to wait awhile before I started my playlist, because the energy and the spectators were so awesome at the beginning of the race that I really wanted to soak it in. Going into the race, I told myself I would really really really really like to come in around the 2 hour mark, and would be ecstatic if I could come in at 1:58. I told Tyler and he agreed that we would try to stick with a solid 9 minute pace, and really pick it up in the last couple of miles. To be totally honest, miles 1-3 absolutely flew by and I hardly remember them at all. I kept thinking holy crap, this is going by so quickly. Around mile 3, Tyler turned to me and said he was plugging in his ipod, and so I did the same. My race day playlist was AWESOME. I put it on shuffle and the first song that played was Young and the Giant's "My Body." Can you say perfect? YES. 

Around the 5.5 mile mark, we hit the first big hill. It was a steep, but short hill that was difficult for about 30 seconds and then it was done. That's my kind of hill y'all. My kind of hill. I was feeling really good and really strong and knew I was keeping up a sub 9 minute pace and really just felt like I was flying. I knew that somewhere between mile 6 and 7 I would get to see my awesome cheerleaders BFFs and I was SO excited for that. That awesome hot pink sign gave me something to keep an eye out for, so when we ran through the Stockyards and I saw them, I started jumping up and down and waving like a crazy person and almost tripped Tyler. Oops. 

We did not love running on that cobblestone. 

Running through the Stockyards was my favorite point of the race. It was right in the middle, mileage wise, and there were so many people screaming and cheering and I got to see my friends and the Stockyards  are so cool and scenic and MAN. It was so awesome. My adrenaline was at an all time high as we ran through there. I knew that our last couple miles had been right around 8:30-8:40 and I just felt like I was flying. 

I started munching on my Cytomax drops as right as we began running through the stockyards, and was sipping on my water about every half mile. I always carry my own water when I run, because I get crazy thirsty and I just really suck at hydration stations. Me running, reaching for a cup and trying to drink always results in me being 100% soaked and 0% hydrated. I'm simply not that coordinated. 

Around mile 8, I started to get a little tired. I knew all too well the hill of death that awaited us at mile 9 and I was genuinely terrified. Up until then the hills we'd encountered had been a challenging, but quick, which I can handle. The hill at mile 9 was a half mile long constant incline. 

This is a really really crappy internet picture that does NOT do it justice. It was MASSIVE.
If you don't believe me  then you came come to Fort Worth and run it with me. Any takers?

Oh and just when you think you're at the top, it goes up AGAIN.  What was even worse is that mile 8 was so straight and flat that the entire time you're running it you are literally staring into the distance at the beast of a hill that's about to kick your ass. Talk about intimidating. As we started up it, I told myself I was just going to slow down, lean into it, and not look up. Well after about a minute and half I had to look. BAD idea. We were not even close to the end. At one point I seriously considered throwing myself off of that bridge but decided to keep going instead because I'd heard there was ice cream at the finish. Once we got to the top I seriously felt like I was crawling. I kept staring at my shadow on the ground and thinking, "Am I even moving???" I was, but it definitely didn't feel like it. 

I finally started to get my energy back around the 10.5 mile mark, where Tyler decided he'd had enough of my slow pokeness and ditched me. I didn't realize how much it helped to be running next to a friend until he was gone. Those last three miles seemed like an eternity. More hills kept sneaking in and made me want to curl up into a ball and die. When I reached twelve miles,  my mindset switched from "Tell my mom I love her!" to "HELL yes only one more mile until I get to see my friends!!" (I'm just going to go ahead and say, I have no idea how people get through these longer races without people there to cheer them on. No idea. That requires some type of inner mental strength that I simply do not possess. So to sum up, I love my friends.) The last half mile had some of the best spectators EVER, and it was also where I saw my FAVORITE sign of the event:

Brilliant.

Once the finish line was in sight, I started frantically searching the crowd for my awesome hot pink sign and all of my favorite people. I was feeling SO emotional and did not want to miss out on seeing them as I crossed the finish line. I also had an awesome surprise when I heard someone shouting my name as I neared the finish line and I looked and saw my sweet roommate! Reason number 373948173298 why she is awesome. Right after I gave her my giant dork wave, I realized I was just a few strides away from the finish and that's when I saw that AWESOME PINK SIGN!

Hallelujah hands!

Final chip time was 1:53:28!

The Cowtown was awesome because the second you crossed the finish line people were shoving all kinds of goodies in your face. I mean fruit, power bars, ice cream, bagels- RIDICULOUS amounts of food. I took one of everything (even though the ice cream was the only thing that sounded good to me at the time), and now I don't have to go grocery shopping for the rest of the week. After I grabbed my medal I headed inside to find my family. Earlier this week I'd signed pretty much everyone I know up for live text that would alert them of my time at different mile points during the race. I had no idea what my final time was and so as soon as I heard Taylor say, "You made it, you did that in 1:53!" I started jumping up and down with excitement. 

And then we took some pictures. Duh.

That's great, Mom. Now can we sit down please??

Trying to steal my ice cream. RUDE!

Once we sat down I didn't waste any time filling everyone in on every single detail of every single step. They are sweet and pretended to be super interested. 

We also found Tyler and turns out I wasn't as far behind him as I thought! He finished in 1:52:52.

After I'd finished the ice cream, we figured maybe a real breakfast was in order, so we all headed over to Einsteins for some victory bagel sammiches. YUM. 

And the rest of the day consisted of this... 

+ french fries + naps.

All in all, my first half marathon was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Running just makes me feel so strong. And running while surrounded by that kind of energy is just so unbelievable. 

It's funny to me how during a race you tell yourself you're absolutely insane and that you will never again put your body through so much pain and agony and then approximately 4 seconds after your cross the finish line you're already thinking of the next race you can sign up for. Kindove ridiculous. My next race is the Lone Star 10k on March 23, and I'm already thinking of ways to kill my last 10k time. And of course, I'm getting hyped up for my next half in June. But I'm really looking forward of taking the next two weeks to run just for the fun of it. I'm going to try my best not to set any mileage goals or pay attention to my time and just enjoy it. 

I'd like to take this time to apologize to those of you who don't give a rat's ass about running. My bad. But if you come back tomorrow I promise to delight you with all kinds of talk about the Bachelor and what I had for lunch. I'm keepin' it real y'all. 

MAJORLOVE&HUGS,

Natalie

THAT JUST HAPPENED! (Cowtown Half Marathon Recap Part 1)

HI! I'm a little high on life right now because if you haven't been paying attention, today was RACE DAY! I'm gonna save all the hairy the details for part 2, but first I have to fill you in on the pre-race festivities. Ready? 1, 2, 3, GO!

Friday after work, my roommate and I planned to meet up near Will Rogers and drive over together to pick up our race packets  and check out all the swag that the expo had to offer. (She smoked the 5k on Saturday and the group she ran with dressed up like Where's Waldo! Greatest race costume EVER right!?!) I got off work a little early and headed over to Montgomery plaza (a popular area with bunch of little shops/restaurants) and parked and waited for her to meet up with me. We weren't a hundred percent where we were going and where we would be parking so we figured it would be a good idea to meet up somewhere we were familiar with and then drive together.

Let me just say right now. BAD IDEA. 

As I pulled in to park at Montgomery plaza, I noticed lots of signs in the parking lot saying "Montgomery plaza shops and restaurant patrons only, TOW ZONE." Well, Montgomery Plaza is a pretty big area, and I didn't think much about it. I mean who was really going to watch and pay attention to whether you walked into a store or not? And while I was sitting in my car waiting for my roommate, I even saw lots of people park their cars and walk across the street to bars. No big deal, right? WRONG. Fast forward through the barely half hour we were gone and at the expo and BOOM. This happened...

Oh that would be my car. In a TOW YARD. 

Just in case the $300 it took to get your car back wasn't enough, I also want to talk to you about how they very strategically place tow yards in the most shady and dangerous part of town. This is obviously to scare the piss out of you and teach you a lesson and make you never ever park illegally ever again.  

Lesson learned folks, lesson learned. 

But here's a happy pre-tow picture...

The expo was pretty nice. I've never done a big race with an expo before so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but there was plenty to look at. I picked up my packet and headed over to check some things out. We browed a little bit, and I grabbed as many freebies as I could and only wound up buying two super cute hippie runner headbands. THANK GOD, because turns out I was going to have to pay an arm and a leg 15 minutes later. 

After I paid the ransom and picked up my car (you better be glad I love you Corolla) I took the long way out to Taylor's house to drive off my tow-induced migraine. After I got out to Taylor's house we decided to use one of my Cowtown packet goodies and had buy one get one free Chipotle for dinner, which was delicious as always. Duh. I also used this massive brownie fudge sundae dessert from Sonic to cope with the tow trauma. 

And no, I did not share. 

I passed out pretty early on Friday night (what else is new?) and we stuck with our weekend ritual...

SHIPLEY'S!

Cute, huh?

It's gotten to the point where every time I wake up at Taylor's house I sit up and just expect Shipley's. I told Taylor that it's pretty obvious that he's been working very hard at training me to get to that point. Very Pavlov's dog. He confessed that I'd caught him red handed. I started to get upset but someone rang a bell and I got distracted by my chocolate sprinkle craving.

My only goal for Saturday was to be as lazy as humanly possible. I'm gonna go ahead and say mission accomplished. I showered, and ate, and that was pretty much it. Around three my sweet friend Alli came out and we ran to Target where she bought New Girl season 1 (OBSESSED). Taylor finished up a day of golfing and met us back at my apartment where we watched TONS of new girl and only took a break for our carbo loading dinner!

They took one for the team and ate the most delicious carb loaded dinner ever. 

 Mmmm, cheesy bread.

And  massive and delicious pesto chicken sandwich. 

I'm really on that pesto kick lately.

Dinner was followed up by even more New Girl. We finally hopped in bed around 11 in preparation for an early morning race day...

Check back later for part 2! 

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

First world problems and RACE DAY PLAYLIST!

I have a huge, massive, earth shattering, larger-than-life problem...

WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO WEAR THIS WEEKEND?!!!!??!

I know, I know "My wallet's too small for my fifties, and my diamond shoes are too tight!" (If you don't get that then you don't watch Friends and I think it's best if you just leave. Leave now.) I knew you would be equally as concerned. It's taken me all night, but I've finally narrowed it down to three outfit options. I think I'm going to wait until the night before (Saturday) to decide. I'm nervous. I'm excited. And I'm slightly bi-polar.

However, I have really fantastic news. Pro Compression is having this amazing sale right now. So last week I got online, used an awesome 40% off discount code that I picked up on this lovely lady's blog and I ordered the marathon calf sleeves in hopes that they'd arrive in time for the half this weekend and they came in TODAY.

Happy happy happy calves. Don't you pay any attention to my freckly knees.

With the sale and discount code I only paid fifteen bucks for these! Re-dic right? I know. These normally go for anywhere from 40-50 bucks. I seriously felt like I was ripping Pro Compression off. I am already head over heels and am really confused as to why I only bought one pair. Obviously I was not thinking clearly.

I want to introduce you to my new favorite snack that is actually not very clever at all and I have no idea why I am such a moron and didn't think of doing this sooner.

Greek yogurt with actual fresh fruit on top.

Mind-boggling isn't it? 

Not as good as my favorite snack of thin mints with a side of potato chips, but it will do. 

I'm putting the finishing touches on my playlist right this very second. As of now it's at a little less than an hour and a half worth of music. Here's what I've got so far...

Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel

Sweet Nothing - Calvin Harris feat. Florence Henderson

Don't Wake Me Up - Chris Brown

Bang Bang Bang - Christina Perri

Titanium - David Guetta feat. Sia

All I Do Is Win - DJ Khaled feat. T-Pain, Ludacris, Snoop Dog, and Rick Ross

Some Nights - Fun

It's Time - Imagine Dragons

Tip Toes- Jayme Dee

Broken Record - Jayme Dee

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up) - Fall Out Boy

My Own Worst Enemy - Lit

Thrift Shop - The Heist-Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis

I Can't Lie - Maroon 5

Va Va Voom - Nicki Minaj

Little Talks - Of Monster And Men

Kiss You - One Direction

Tonight is the Night - Outasight

Don't Stop the Party - Pitbull feat. TJR

Best Love Song - T-Pain feat. Chris Brown

50 Ways to Say Goodbye - Train

Don't Stop the Music - Pitch Perfect Soundtrack

Best Song Everrr - Wallpaper

I'm shooting for anywhere around the 2:00-2:15 mark for this race, so I still need to add a little bit more to the playlist tomorrow but my brain is fried and Grey's Anatomy is calling my name. 

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

The greatest invention EVER and I love getting mail

Feast your eyes on what I believe to be the most spectacular things ever to be invented by mankind. EVER. Actually woman kind. Because there is no way I buy that a man could ever think of something so brilliant. These things could only be the product woman's perfect combination of genius and desperation.

Just sayin'.

TMI? 

Guess what? I don't care. 

My projects for this week are 1) trying really hard to "rest" up for this weekend 2) installing this awesome towel bar in my room to hang clothes up on via this brilliant pin...

This is going to enhance my quality of life by like 30%. I'm sure of it.

My roommate did this in her room and I've been saying for a month that I'm going to put one up in my room too. The plan was to make Taylor install mine tonight (he's handy), but instead we did this...

 

And this...

Sorry we're not sorry. Not even a little bit. 

My third and final project is to create the perfect playlist for this weekend! I'm brainstorming like a crazy person to find the perfect combination of songs that will keep me pumped up for approximately 13.1 miles. So here is my request. EVERYONE who reads this (and yes I mean you, you're not fooling anyone) has to leave a comment with your song suggestion. I'm not just saying that because I'm comment hungry. I pinky promise. I need songs people. Lots of 'em. Bring it.

Also-side bar, this Halle Berry 911 movie looks SCARY. I mean "when the commercial for it comes on I mute the TV and hide beneath the covers" kind of scary. 

I'm going to reiterate that it is obvious that I am a fake grown-up  because getting mail is still really exciting to me. But today I got the best piece of mail EVER...

So, I told her I'd have to think about it. Gotta make 'em wait it out. Like playing hard to get. 

Just trust me.

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat

PS: Seriously people, song suggestions! K. Bye for real now. 

You are going to be so jealous

Just a heads up, I am blogging while watching the Bachelor. So if I have a case of Sean Lowe induced typing turrets, you know why. You have been forewarned.

Guess what? 

PERFECT RACE DAY WEATHER FORECAST!!

Sunday, Feb 24

Updated: Feb 19, 2013, 8:07pm CST

Times of sun and clouds. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the mid 40s.

DayFeb 24

70^°FHigh

Partly Cloudy

Chance of Rain:

10%

Wind:

S at 13 mph

Humidity:

54%

UV Index:

6 - High

Sunrise:

7:03 am

Moonrise:

5:36 pm

Moonphase:

Waxing Gibbous

What's most exciting is that waxing gibbous. 

JK I slept through third grade and I have no idea what the hell that  means. 

I'm having a little bit of a hard time taking the taper seriously, because I've been feeling SO good on my runs lately. But I'm doing my best to take it easy this week and just enjoy my runs. Last night I did 3 miles at an 8:30 pace, and I threw in some random hills on the treadmill which I actually had a lot of fun with. Tonight I did a steady 4 miles at a 9:00 pace. Y'all I am SO EXCITED for Sunday! I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm thinking about running in these...

What?????

Okay yes, I bought new shoes. No, I didn't need them. This is America, no one ever needs new shoes. They crawled into my basket and begged for a new home. And I obliged. 

That's not the only reason you should be jealous of me. I also had a really delicious dinner. 

(I'm going to do my best to convince you that the white blobs you see piled atop my english muffin are just a result of faulty lighting and poor iphone photography and not, in fact, butter.) My eggs started out as an omelette and wound up as delicious scrambled egg/spinach/cheese mush. That happens to me way more often than I'd like to admit. Flipping is just not my strong suit. Damn. There goes my lucrative dream career as a Holiday Inn breakfast buffet attendant. Sorry mom. 

4 DAYS!!

LOVE&HUGS,

Nat