Goodbye 2014...

 There are just a few hours left of 2014, so what better time to be nostalgic about the year that has passed then now? No big plans for the evening, except a few extra teenagers, a little take out, and a midnight run planned for later.

There has been a lot of baking this year, but how about everything else?

There has been some running...

1. Chicago Marathon, definitely a bucket list race, I got stung by a bee, and I'd like to do it again and run stronger.
2. OKC Marathon, the last time I ever run the full in OKC, it was brutal.
3. National Running Day, that day that I didn't actually do any running.
4. Route 66 half marathon, the horrible half that turned into an upper respiratory infection and pneumonia
5. Sooner State Games trail run, the day I seriously thought I was going to be last.
6. Strides of March half marathon, my second fasted half ever, and the reason I decided to run the full at OKC. What was I thinking?
7. Birthday running, I love birthday running with the girls.
8. Walking the Turkey Day 5k, got Josh out of bed to walk that with me.
9. Scorcher half marathon, the wettest race I've ever ran, and my last race in the 35-39 age group.

 And some other fun stuff...

1. My 40th birthday, when my aunts and great aunt flew in to surprise us.
2. Joshs's 41st birthday and one of those times he did a shot of tequila on his birthday.
3. Rochelle's birthday celebrating at Blu.
4. The girls' birthday at the Melting Pot in Dallas
5. Food basket deliveries for the Elks Lodge before Christmas.
6. The tailgate after the crappy OU game Josh and I went to.
7. The Daddy Daughter dance, only one year left...
8. Spring break in Branson, or that time we tried to go to Silver Dollar City and it freaking snowed.
9. Birthday celebrating for Sarah and Rochelle.

By the numbers:

• 1,047 total miles
• 7 100+ mile months
• 2 marathons
• 3 half marathons

I think I ran my most miles in a month in October with 147 total miles, and my least amount of miles this December when I logged only 9 miles. That is quite a drastic change. Two marathons in one year is a lot. 

I am looking forward to a fresh start that the new year brings. Time to get back on track, set some new goals and decide what comes next. I can't wait!

Another Route 66 Half Marathon…

It has been crazy busy the last three weeks! That paired with the fact that I feel like I have had the plague the entire time it has been hard to keep up with everything.

I ran the half marathon in Tulsa again this year. I love this race, it’s the fifth time for me to run it, and even though I was didn’t feel prepared to run a strong half this year I still registered for it. I have been less trained in the past and it’s been fine. Spoiler alert! It was a very hard day for me. Probably the hardest of all the previous years.

We got lucky and it was not 19 degrees this time, there was no ice storm two days before the race, and it was not raining. My luck pretty much ran out.

There were pictures before the race, but they seem to have happened on someone else’s camera and I have not managed to get them.

My goal was the same as last year, just run by how I feel and go with it. No goal times or pace. I’m really not sure what happened but it was just so hard to keep running. There were many walk breaks and there was a side stitch that nagged me in the second half. I just felt tired. I had done an almost 11 mile run the week before the race and felt fine, not great, but almost good, so I had been confident I could go run 13.1.

I was again plagued by guilt at knowing everyone else was waiting for me at the finish line. I really need to get over that, but it’s hard when you feel like your forward progress is slower than a snail’s pace. I did keep moving forward, and if there is one positive from the day it is that I didn’t quit.
They changed the route AGAIN this year. This is one of my favorite races, but seriously they need to pick a route and stick with it. I enjoy the six miles of hills at the start of the race, but in the past you always know that it’s going to level out when you get by the river. Not this year. It was like they wanted to have as many hills as possible, and they managed to get in a lot.

I must say that the little out and back on the bridge once after running by the river before you headed into downtown was probably my least favorite part of the whole race. It seemed so pointless and stupid and I am not a big fan of turning completely around like that in the middle of a race unless it’s an out and back and you know it’s half way and you get to go back the same way you came. Might just be me, but it’s hard on my legs/knees/feet.

Anyway, the finish was the same place it was last year, and while I like that you don’t have to worry about taking a bus back to the start to get in your car, I kind of miss the finish in Veteran’s Park. It just seems so crowded when we finish downtown.

I finished up, running my slowest half marathon to date and found my super speedy friends for finish line pictures.

Tiffany, me Sarah, Lauren, Rochelle, Lauren and Kara.

Aside from the actual running it was a great weekend. We got to hang out with the in-laws and celebrate Josh’s birthday with Mexican food on Friday night.

Some of the best fish tacos I’ve ever eaten, and the guacamole was amazing.

And they gave Josh a shot of tequila for his birthday.

We drove home after the race and by Sunday evening I knew that I was getting sick, I just didn’t know that I would still be sick three weeks later. But more on that later.

More Birthday Running…

I think that almost everyone I know has a birthday in November! There is no better way to celebrate a birthday, in my opinion, than to wake up early and meet your friends for a run.

Last Thursday was Sarah’s birthday.

Me, Ro, Cornelia, Anne, Britney, Lauren and Sarah.

Today it is Rochelle’s birthday.

Again with my mad photography skills! Me, Anne, Rochelle and Britney! We had a hard time finding enough for this group selfie, we parked in a spot that has very little light at the crack of dawn.

It was a bit chilly.

The air temperature was 7 or 8 degrees colder than Tuesday, but the winds were only about 13 mph instead of 25 mph. It felt colder today. It was not an easy run. My legs felt cold and heavy. It was nice to not feel like a wind gust was going to blow us off the I-35 overpass though.

We ran, what I assume will be, our cold weather route. Only run east and west, that’s how we beat the cold weather her in Oklahoma.

How about a little #tbt?

Rochelle and I ran on her birthday last year. I don’t think it was quite as chilly last year!

Happy Birthday, Rochelle!

Birthday...

I was excited to be able to run, after my two weeks off, on my birthday Tuesday. 

Sarah, Rochelle and Anne  all agreed to meet me for my birthday run. And they let me take their picture. 

Looks pretty dark out. Can I just say that true friendship is when your stay-at-home mom and teacher friends will still meet you at 5:15 am in the summertime to run. How did I get so lucky?  Might not be me though, might be the Oklahoma heat. 

So we ran, to Target and back, which is just under 4.4 miles, which happens to be my shortest weekday run in AGES. Man do I feel like a wimp. 

I threw in an extra walk break while everyone ran on, but they came back to meet me when they ran past a car that appeared to be broken down on a less traveled road that takes us back to the Y. They wanted to avoid a Ted Bundy-like situation as it all looked a little suspicious. Might have been the lighting. 

Even a less than spectacular run is still a good birthday run when you have been sidelined for a couple weeks following a month of absolutely horrible running. 

I did get to try out my compression shorts, or running Spanks as I like to call them. 

Sure wish they made me look like the girl in the picture, but sadly they aren't that flattering on me. It's gonna take some getting used to wearing them under my running shorts. 

I had a very in eventful day at work, until the girls in my office gave me some amazing treats for my big day. 

In case you were wondering, yes these were all eaten on Tuesday. I didn't share one truffle or the cupcake, but I shared the other three with the girls and with Josh. 

Camy had a softball game, so we spent some time at the ball field. I felt bad that we chose our spot based on the amount of shade more than the amount of the girls we could see. It has been damn hot. With the shade and the wind it was very nice. 

I will talk more about softball in my next post. It has been an exciting couple of weeks. 

So happy birthday to me. One more year in my current age group and then I will get an extra 5 minutes on my BQ time. I'm still thinking I will be 80 before I can take that race off my bucket list. 

Birthday Cookies...

One of my favorite kiddos celebrated a birthday on Saturday.

I was so excited to make cookies for her to take to her party at school on Friday. What would be better for a four year old's birthday than sparkly sugar cookies shaped like the letter 4?

I started with a batch of my go to sugar cookie dough.

I baked them up on Tuesday night and then got up early on Wednesday morning to decorate them. The beauty of frosted sugar cookies is they can be made a couple days ahead of time. I prefer to give them atleast one day to set up, so there's no worries about messing up the decorations.

If you are going to decorate sugar cookies, this is the meringue powder you should use. I buy it at William's Sonoma, and it makes me very sad when they run out. Don't waste your money on the brand from Hobby Lobby, it doesn't taste as good, and the texture is not always the best.

Start with the outline.

Then flood with thinned out frosting, and then add the rainbow sprinkles.

I love making sugar cookies, it's even better making them for someone that is going to be so excited to get them. I am loving getting back into baking again.

 

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Another Birthday...

Last night we got to celebrate another birthday with my friend Kendra. I won't divulge her age, but it was a pretty big milestone birthday.

Kendra and I at the Fall Classic Duathlon in 2010

The party was at her house, the last time we had a birthday party at her house it was quite a bit crazier. It was great to have an evening just relaxing with friends.

Of course there were pictures...

Kim, me and Rochelle

 

Rochelle, Kendra, Kim, me and Erin

Somewhere there is a picture of us, without Rochelle, at the last party. I am very sad I couldn't find it.

We weren't out too late, but it was late enough to learn a valuable lesson. You should not fuel your Saturday morning run with chips, salsa, wheat thins and cheese dip. Hydrating with wine would also not be recommended.

This morning it was hills, brutal , spirit killing hills. Okay, that is a tad exagerated, but it was hard. I would love to know how you calculate the amount of exertion on 8 hill miles and convert it to the amount of exertion for a flatter longer run.

In all it was 8 miles in 1:12, so the overall pace was not horrible. My splits reflected the fact that I was dying. Sub 9 paces in the first half lead to a few walk breaks in the second half. It was nice to not feel pressured to run any farther then 8. I was very happy when I got home at 8:30.

 

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A Run and a Birthday Party...

I was up bright and early yesterday morning and ready for a nice long run. I slept horribly Friday night and woke up long before my alarm went off at 6:15 am. I feel like that is the story of my life.

I was excited to try out my second pair of Ravenna 4s.

I actually have a pair of Injinji socks to match this pair.

I wasn't sure how many miles I was going to shoot for, I just thought I would go out and see how far my legs wanted to take me. I was pretty happy with how it all went.

No problems with my ankle, and 11.18 miles in 1:42 minutes. It was drizzly the entire time, and the roads were a little slick, and it was windy at time, but you know this is Oklahoma. We ran towards the flats, but took a little different route that we got a bit lost on, but it was good.

Honestly, my legs felt horrible the rest of the day, and I have been pretty sore today. It was nice to get back out there though.

Last night we headed to Edmond for Hailey's birthday party. Pizza, cake, ice cream, cheese puffs and lots of kiddos.

And of course, Haden took some pictures of himself.

On the way home there was a bit of excitement on I-35 in Moore.

It's not too often you see a care fully engulfed in flames on the side of the road.

 

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Birthday Celebration Continued...

I took the day off from work, don't you love birthdays that fall on Fridays? My niece, Hailey, was spending the weekend with us so she wouldn't miss the slumber party on Saturday, so I took the three of them and Caeli to Andy Alligator's water park.

Let me start by saying that I had bought a Groupon a few weeks before, or this little outing would never have happened. The Groupon was for four people so I only had to pay for one of us. They don't price it by age either, so the one extra person was $20.51 with tax. (Tickets to White Water are $25.99.)

Anyway, I had to get a picture before we went inside...

After they went through our bags and made us dump the water out of our water bottles, seriously. You can't take in any outside food or drinks, a fact that I couldn't find on their website. We went inside and discovered that they had two big slides, three little ones, a play area with the smaller sides and a lazy river. Really, no pool?

Luckily, we were able to get free ice water at the concession stand to refill our water bottles, and the girls liked the pizza we got.

Carson and Caeli.

Camy and Hailey. Camy has decided she wants to be called Cam from now on. I am having trouble getting used to that.

The white girl is me. That grassy spot behind me would be perfect for a pool.

We ended up,staying for about five hours, and only had minor drama. Thankfully, we found a shady spot to sit so I got to hang out and read part of the time. I was reading a book called Night Road, and it is hard to read a sad book in public without crying. It was so good I just couldn't put it down.

After a couple more pictures we packed it up and headed out. We had to go by the store for slumber party supplies and we had planned to go out for a birthday dinner. More on that in a bit.

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Birthday Celebrating Begins...

My babies were born on August 10, 2000. They aren't babies anymore. We celebrated their 12th birthday this weekend. It turned into a four day celebration. It started on Thursday when their Gammy came down and took them back to school shopping.

It's always nice to have a last minute lunch with this group. Plus we meet at Pepperoni Grill in Penn Square Mall. When we lived in north OKC Josh and I used to eat there all the time.

Later that afternoon,mthe girls came and hung out with me at work for a little bit.

I posted this pic on Facebook and a friend of mine thought Carson was holding a tazer. I think Cam (she doesn't want to be called Camy anymore) is way too cool to have her mom take her picture now.

Then before we knew it, it was Friday and my babies were twelve.

First picture as twelve-year-olds, it was not easy getting them to smile, or pretend to smile for this one.

Next up, the water park...

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WIAW #9...

The WIAW posts are quickly becoming some of my favorites. While most of my food choices are the same old things I have been trying to make an effort to change it up some. It's been crazy around the Craig house, with swim practice for Camy, Kumon for Carson and cross training for me and regular working out for Josh it's had to get motivated to get in the kitchen to try new things.

The fact that Josh is dieting for the latest biggest loser contest at his work and that my kids are the pickiest people on the planet, no one wants to eat much of what I would be willing to cook. One day I think my kids will want to eat the foods that I love. *sigh*

This was the Father's Day breakfast I whipped up and burnt the shit out of my hand in the process.

There were plenty of leftovers that I turned into a breakfast sandwich on Monday morning with some toasted wheat bread and a little Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb cheese.



So convenient. I took the picture in my car because that's where I ate it on the way to work.

I overslept yesterday morning and missed my morning run. This is complete insanity for me. I never oversleep. Seriously. I am that girl that is usually awake when the alarm goes off. I never snooze. Never. If I say I'm gonna meet you for a run or workout I'm gonna show.

Anyway, because I missed my run I packed my stuff and hit the Y for my favorite kick-your-ass spin class. It did just that. When I got home I was starving and craving some carbs.

Again cooking for no one but myself I made some penne with some tomato sauce. I decided to add some sauted mushrooms and zucchini to change it up a bit. It was yummy.

I had some garlic bread to round it out. I like to think the veggies in the sauce balanced out the excessive carbs. It sure hit the spot.

Finally, I broke out my new favorite wine glass on Saturday night.

I think I'm going to only drink wine out of this glass from now on. It'll be like my birthday every day. Incidentally the wine in the glass is my new favorite Middle Sister Wicked White wine. I also love their Smarty Pants Chardonnay.

It was a pretty yummy week. Vacation starts on Saturday when I hit the road with my sisters and our seven kids so there should be some good eats next week.

 

Happy Birthday to Me...

Tomorrow I will be 38.  Man, I remember when my parents were 38 I thought they were so old!  I sure hope my kiddos don't think of me like that because I don't feel old.

It has sure been a great weekend.  After getting cleared by my doctor to run again last week, I met up with my girls on Friday morning for a run and it was BEAUTIFUL outside.  They ran 4.5 and I did about 3.5. It was slow and there was walking but it felt so good to be outside doing what I love at 5:15 in the morning.  Saturday morning we met up again and I did about the same distance while they did six miles on one of my favorite out and back routes.  I never thought I would say that I can't wait to run some hills again.  We followed up the run with weights {shoulders and biceps I think it was} and some sauna time.

Afterwards I headed home for a nap.  We were heading out for my birthday Saturday night and I wanted to rest up.  First I had to make some peanut butter dog treats for a very special dog.

Lance was turning 10 on Saturday.  I had to bake up some love for a fellow Gemini.  Lance works at OK Runner, my favorite running store.  He seemed to like the treats I made him.  I have to remember next time to make them bigger.  I think he might have swallowed one of them whole.  His mouth is a lot bigger than the ones we have around here.

Afterwards I got some errands in and then got ready to head out to Local for dinner with friends.

Kim and Rochelle

Rochelle and I

Abby and Patti

The girls.

You might be wondering where all the boys were during all these pictures.  Well we had the girls on one end of the table and the girls on the other and it worked out fabulously.  We had drinks...

This is a free glass of wine our waiter brought me, it was yummy.  It is also the Thunder Up that I ordered.  It was also delicious.

Then there was the food.  I had the...

RATATOUILLE // 10

seasonal roasted vegetables in tomato basil broth, toasted bread, soft poached egg 

Josh had the...

MEATLOAF CUPCAKES // 14 mushroom sauce, goat cheese biscuit

Dessert was the cheesecake I have been dreaming about.

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE // 6 pistachio crust, caramel and pistachio brittle

But we couldn't get just one dessert so we also got the...

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE // 6 vanilla gelato, fresh raspberry

As we were leaving Josh took the opportunity to make himself look taller than me for a change.

I don't know who he thinks he's fooling.  Afterwards we headed over to Kim and Dwight's house to hang out by the pool and continue the festivities.  There were some firsts that happened, but I won't go into them.  Let's just say it was a great birthday.

Tomorrow morning I get to meet everyone for a fun to celebrate my birthday.  We are meeting up at 5am, so I better get some sleep.