HERE I AM AGAIN….complaining about another race… WHY do I even do them when I complain so much???? Because my “complaining” is actually my way of “LOVING” them!!

I wasn’t too thrilled to be doing a “winter race”….as you will notice, I NEVER do winter races (and yes, anything below 40 degrees is considered a WINTER race to me)… however—- I have a friend who used to live here, MoPo (Melissa Poznanski) but now lives in Seattle and she asked me if I would run in a race with her….her FIRST RACE EVER! HOW COULD I REFUSE THAT???? The Poznanski’s are here visiting for several days and I LOVE helping people get started into running….. I TRIED to get her into it when she lived here but … the timing was not quite right back then.

I am SO PROUD of her accomplishments…. she is now HOOKED on races (and my five hour energy shots!!)… here are the pics… BD (Brian Dishon) is always up for a race…. he runs like a rabbit…and I’m not even kidding! CHECK him out too!! We actually had SO MUCH FUN!! Sure did miss my BFF’s! Well, there is always NEXT YEAR!!

ME, BD, MoPo

ME, MoPo, BD… GETTIN READY!!

CRAZY BD!!!! 23 MINUTES STRONGER THAN US!! Gotta love that hat though!!

MoPo coming to the finish line!! 30 MINUTES STRONG!!!

SLO-POK coming to finish line…teehee… 37 MINUTES WEAK…but still UNDER 40!

AND BTW, YES that little girl AND her mom beat me!!! LOL….

WHEN’S THE NEXT RACE????? I believe it’s the COUNTRY MUSIC HALF MARATHON….who’s in peeps ??????????

I LOVE CHRISTmas!!!

So this year… I am doing something different for all you bloggers/FB’er’s our there..

For the next two weeks (for ANYONE who wants to participate) please leave a comment on what YOU want for Christmas this year (WITHIN REASON PEOPLE)… I will RANDOMLY pick one of you and get you the gift you would like and mail it to you. JUST BECAUSE. Also, if you feel the need to…please explain why you want this particular gift.

Don’t look at it as “selfish” (as I know there are MANY people out there who do not receive gifts….let God take care of that too~ He’s taking care of this) just look at it as something GOD wants me to do. DO NOT BE A “BB”…. that means “Blessing Blocker”…. PLEASE!

And even though I can only choose one….for the rest of you who leave your comments/wishes….look at it as therapy for ya!! Pretend like I’m Santa and you’re sitting on my lap—–get in touch with your “inner child”….

Make sure I have a way to contact you too (blog, email, fb..whatever)…

YAYAY!!! I’m SO EXCITED!!

SO…WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR, FRIEND…

PS: IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU HAVE TO WRITE SOMETHING OR YOU CANNOT LOG OUT.

This is what I got Karl for his bday (Oct. 24th)…

DO YA KNOW WHAT IT IS??

Can you see him laying in there???

It’s CALLED a “Lay-Out Blind” and its for duck hunting. You lay in this blind (supposedly disguised so the ducks can’t see you) and when the ducks are flying overhead and come in for the landing…you WHIP OPEN the blind and start shooting..

Here’s what that looks like…MINUS his precious Benelli

I think he’ll be SLEEPING in there…. he’s waving out of the side of it:

HE’S SO HAPPY!!

DUCK HUNTING OPENS TOMORROW!! Guess I won’t be seeing much of my husband for awhile…but that’s OK…. we get along better that way! (love you honey)…

This will be his coffin one day. Cheap, easy and that’s the way he wants it…. I finally found something (hunting related) that has a mulit-purpose to it. And in between hunting and dying, he can use it for when we get into arguments….no more sleeping in the dog house!! LOL (just kiddin)..

HAVE FUN ALL YOU AVID HUNTERS OUT THERE!!!

Today was my annual Boulevard Bolt Race… It was FREEZING out at 6:30a.m. this morning, but I endured! BD and Angie Dishon rode down to the race with us (BD participated, Angie stayed w/Karl as a spectator), plus we picked up my annual running partner, Lori Horner…OFF TO THE RACE!! This is a five MILE race…WAY out of my normal 5K (3.1) races that I do..but WELL worth it!!

The three of us …

LORI, ME, BD

HERE COMES BD (which is Brian Dishon, for those of you who don’t know him well enough)-HE IS UBER-FAST!

LIGHTNING FAST BD! HE DOES 7min XXsec miles...AMAZING!

ANDDDD….HERE I COME…. (One HOUR 7 min. later- HOWEVER, just like the 1/2 marathon, I had to GO TO THE BATHROOM DURING THE RACE….so yes, I made a pitstop…took away from my time, but I still had a FABULOUS RUN!!)

MOI

I sure did miss my friends, JEFF & KAY MOORE…it just was NOT the same without them! PLEASE come back next year! And lastly, I could NOT do ANY of my races without my faithful manager/photographer/PR person/HUSBAND, KARL!!! He is absolutely the BEST at doing things like this… always holding everybody’s STUFF(jackets, cell phones, goody bags, etc)….always taking ME (and ANY of my friends who want to ride with us) to ALL of these events instead of HUNTING (which is where he’d rather be)…always taking the BEST pics (most of the time) and lastly always keeping the paparazzo at bay for me…(that’s a BIG one)…LOL

NEXT RACE: The Jingle Bell 5K.…. COME JOIN ME!!! Our friends from out-of-town will be here and joining in…Rob and Melissa Poznanski.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY FAITHFUL READERS.… I know I’ve been so lax on posting lately!!

I LOVE THIS RACE!! I’ve been supporting it (running in it) every year since 1997!! Yet, some how, every year I manage to get SLOWER~~ LOL

PRE-RACE Jitters… -oh wait, that’s cuz I took my five hour energy drink…LOL

PRE-Race JITTERS

MY FRIEND and BEST RACING BUDDY who does this EVERY YEAR WITH ME~NO MATTER WHAT… LORI HORNER

LORI AND ME...PRE-RACE

COMIN INTO THE FINISH LINE…. HAPPY- 37 minutes later…

FINISHING!!

LASTLY…. I ALWAYS go back to get Lori and help her finish strong!!!

Lori finishing up strong!!

UNTIL NEXT YEAR….. (well, GOD WILLING)

WELL….not for ME…but it is for my hubby! Let me give a SHOUT-OUT to Karl because today is his 47th BIRTHDAY… he got up early and went out hunting and this is what he got!!

KARL’S BIRTHDAY BUCK!!

He’s actually crossed the line from Deer Hunting to Duck Hunting… so now I have to start buying him all kinds of duck stuff for his bday, Christmas, Father’s day… so today, I got him an Avery Lay-out blind…. looks more like a coffin to me!! YIKES…..

ENJOY YOUR BIRTHDAY HONEY!!! MWAH!!

That’s the way all stories begin isn’t it??

Oh to go back to our childhood days! Life was much simpler – but God calls us to a higher calling…NOT simple. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like the phrase “Life Is Good”…. life isn’t good… GOD is good but life is not. It is only because of God that life is BEARABLE. When I hear that phrase, (LIG) I want to say to that person, tell that to the children who are being raped, beaten and starving all over the world, do you think they’d say Life is good??? But I keep that to myself because MOST of the time people don’t mean it that way and I would never want to offend somebody’s “good day” –

My husband, Karl, loves to go hunting. He says that’s the time he gets to communicate with God and really FEEL his presence- Myself, I feel Him through music…..isn’t it funny how each of us “feel” God in our own ways? I’ll be posting some pics on here of Karl and his duck hunts.. .. .. all his duck hunting buddies… and the dog they take with them.. its a sight to behold! The only thing missing this year is my bonus-son, Kyle. It’s a sad situation and those of you who know are praying and have been praying for him…. THANK YOU! We KNOW God has it….. and this story does NOT end with “and they all lived happily ever after”

How do you “feel” God….??

SOOOOO….yeah, I’m one of those bloggers who blog and then quit and then blog and quit…sorry… but THINGS need to happen in order for me to blog about it… or do they?

LIFE AS IS… …. …. I’m done with all my 5K’s, half marathons, FIVE MILE runs…till FALL. Then it will start all over – but for now, I’m CHILLAXIN it. I love FaceBook, have met some new friends on there, some old friends and TONS of family. Now I’m into this FARMTOWN on FACEBOOK….UGGGG…..if you haven’t started it, DON’T. It’s HIGHLY addictive but OH SO MUCH FUN!! (well, go ahead, try it)

Our church, CROSS POINT COMMUNITY is opening up a new campus, our NORTH CAMPUS which will be in Goodlettsville/Hendersonville area so we’re pretty excited about that.

The 4th of July is upon us and we (Karl, Kyla and I) will be venturing over to St.Louis to visit my family for a few days and then on to Karl’s family in Buffalo NY for a few days…YIKES… that’s a lot of driving with a TEEN in our car!! PRAY FOR US… LOL.

OTHER THAN ALL THIS…. life is exactly where God wants it to be with us….and we are BLESSED and THANKFUL.

I’ll try to post a little more often, but I’ve probably lost all three peeps who were my “true followers”…. so now I’ll just ramble on for MY sake.

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT A COOL IDEA!!! This is a 5K race that I signed up for through active.com… I don’t know “Scott & Erin” but they really are getting married right after this race…. Scott ran the race (as you can see by my pics below) not sure where Erin was, probably over at the other tent getting ready for her wedding. It was a cute race…. if you pre-registered you received a t-shirt that looks like a tux… they also had wedding cake after the race…something I did NOT WANT after running 3.1 miles!!

This was held at Centennial Park and it was HOT HOT HOT out… AND quite hilly…more so than I thought it would be. Saw a fellow CrossPointer there, Andy Youssi (which for those of you out there who have little ones, Andy does voice characters in VEGGIE TALES!!) So Andy and I took a pic w/SCOTT. My friend Lori Horner ran it too…I had to PEER PRESSURE her into doing it… she hasn’t been able to run w/me on a consistent basis since she had her second child, TWO YEARS AGO…and she did FABULOUS!!

YUP…. I tend to start going crazy once I’ve gotten the taste for PAID RUNS! You’d think after doing the HALF MARATHON that I wouldn’t run again….and that’s what I said upon completion of the half marathon….however, I tend to forget the pain (UNLIKE CHILDBIRTH…which is why I only had ONE child….I can STILL remember every single vivid detail….but that’s for another post)… HERE are the pics of this Music Row Road Race, which helped out St. Jude’s Children…

I’ll be doing ANOTHER 5K on May 30th… called “Scott & Erin’s Wedding”…. can’t wait to see what this is going to be like!!

Here we all are….JEFF MOORE, LEANNE MATTINGLY, ME, KAY MOORE, LESELY VAN D, and Lesley’s little one, DYLAN

HERE COMES JEFF MOORE!!!! (check out his time!!)

I know it LOOKS like I was walking, but trust me….I was NOT!

Our “Y” friend, Leanne Mattingly….she had not run in a YEAR before this race…LOOK AT HER!

We are all cheering on little Lesley…it was her FIRST RACE EVER!!!!

Kay and I…. CHEERS TO OUR PHOTOGRAPHER, KARL!!!!!

ALL OF US… Jeff, Kay, Leanne, Lesley, me

WHERE THE HECK IS JEFF??? Oh, taking the pic…..

OBVIOUSLY this last pic was AFTER the race…. we did have a LOT of fun!…comments?????

YESTERDAY was the actual day … but I’m just now posting about it today. It took me all day yesterday to recoup!!

We did TONS of training since January and I thought I was really ready….till we got down there and started feeling the HEAT…. As if that wasn’t bad enough, my “system” decided it wasn’t going to “work for me”…until the race began and I was already at MILE ONE…so I have to run into the closest place, which was a McDonalds…with quite a few other girls…I waited IN LINE for 20 minutes…then my “process” took 20 seconds… done…now back on the asphalt..only to realize my GARMIN wasn’t running!!!!!!! YIKES!!!! So as I was running, I kept piddling with it till about the 2.00 mile mark and I just decided to turn it off and turn it back on…RESET… which it then began to work. OK, now can I have a FUN RUN???!!!

It was fun…till about 2.15 miles when a very young lady (I’d say about 24 yrs old) next to me just dropped to the ground and started having a SEIZURE!! About three guys immediately picked her up and layed her on the sidewalk yelling for someone to call an ambulance. I literally wanted to cry… I had never seen something like that and I could do absolutely nothing… it tok a good mile to get over that. NOW CAN I HAVE A FUN RUN??

It was fun…. till it started getting hot…not just hot, but VERY hot…. I wore a skort…and my legs were sweating bad… rubbing and rubbing… I didn’t put anything on my legs… I thought they were going to bleed they hurt so bad…. so I ran over to the Medical set up and got some vaseline…AHHHHH…. relief……and ready to continue on. NOW CAN I HAVE A FUN RUN????

I don’t even remember what mile I was in… the whole thing has now become a blurrrrrr…..at some point I saw my friend, Kay Moore (be sure to check out KAYS blog, more and better pics on there) so I just jumped over and started running w/her – not much of a loss there, abt a half mile…. but still…I kept going but had to stop at all the medical stations (more vaseline) and I saw, at least, 20 people (all young) passing out and getting carted off my ambulances… it was so scary. At the end, I was SO delirious… I got very nauseous and thought I was going to get sick…I just kept asking for Karl….who couldn’t come in the runners corral….so I had to WALK MORE just to find him.

It was definitely an experience….don’t know if I’ll ever do it again. But IF I do, things will be done a bit differently!! HOWEVER, I very much enjoyed my training months with my peeps…JEFF MOORE, KAY MOORE, RHONDA COLGAN, TIRSA PAGONA, AMANDA MILLER, BRIDGET and DANIEL MENG, HOLLY SINGLETON, ASHLEY WARREN and JENNI CATRON…. NOW THAT WAS FUN!!!!!!!

I NEVER HAD A FUN RUN…. But here are some FUN PICS…The first one is of all of us .. the SECOND one is of me crossing the finish line and you can see Kay over to my side SMILING at me w/her white hat on and her MEDAL on….the THIRD one is of Kay, Rhonda and Me…..the FOURTH one is of all the peeps at the race, the FIFTH one is of Jeff Moore, he is wearing the GREEN shirt w/ a multi-colored buff on (headband)…the SIXTH one is of me coming into the finish line but I’m pretty far back…(I have on the blue buff).

You can go to CMM to see race results.

This 1/2 marathon is getting closer and closer… to see more pics, go here…

I ran NINE miles this past Saturday (actually, 9.05, but who’s counting!!) and I wasn’t BROKE DOWN!! Just the week before I ran nine miles and I couldn’t even run the whole way…I was DELIRIOUS and disoriented by the time I made it back… it was not a “warm and fuzzy” feeling. Then, I didn’t want to run again….AT ALL! I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me! I was distraught!!

This entire week all I did was my spin classes at the Y and a couple of sculpt classes… I STILL could not run… thinking…. it’s creeping up on me, oh no, here it comes, it’s the dreaded SATURDAY LONG RUN again…can I do it? Will I make it?? Will I be this discouraged again???????

All questions answered… I FELT FABULOUS… a little anxious, but nonetheless, fabulous. I kept thinking (on my way BACK on this long run) am I going to run out of energy? Will I make it?? I had a little “patrol bicyclist” (ie; KAY MOORE) following both Jeff and I… she was A LIFESAVER!! Maybe that’s all I needed, was a little UMPF… that I got from Kay…

Sure wish she could do that for me on RACE DAY!

I LOVE all my blogging friends and Facebook friends and “Y” friends who CONSTANTLY encourage me.. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (especially Jeff and Kay Moore)

And now…. I have THIS SATURDAY coming up… GONNA TRY FOR TEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

pray for me…..teehee…

TIME IS TICKING AWAY!! I’m right in the midst of doing some heavy duty training for this 1/2 marathon that will be taking place the end of April… that’s NEXT MONTH PEOPLE!!

I’ll admit it…I’m a ENERGY JUNKIE…. if something promises to deliver “energy” to me, I’m taking it. Below are a FEW items I take on a regular basis… don’t lecture me, because I LOVE every single item that I consume….ESPECIALLY my FIVE HOUR ENERGY SHOTS….orange flavor (or berry)… but I am open to ANYTHING you have to offer me during my training time!!

So what do you do for ENERGY??? (besides the whole eating properly….I do that too)

I KNOW…. it’s been FOREVER since I’ve posted… sorry. My time has been CONSUMED with training for the Country Music Marathon and 1/2 Marathon. WHO KNEW I’d ever commit to doing this. But I gave in to PEER PRESSURE. You can really keep tabs on me at this website.

HOWEVER, the post for today is just to wish my bonus-son, KYLE a very HAPPY 19th Birthday!!!! We have ALWAYS wanted Kyle to come live with us (he’s from StL)… ALWAYS… he never did….FULLY….till NOW. Well, 19, guess we’ll take that – for now. HOWEVER, Kyle will be (prayerfully) going into SOME type of Armed Forces sooon! Again, we are praying!!!

Here’s a good pic of him and his daddy….DUCK HUNTING..

A very good blogging buddy has assigned me a LETTER and I am to think of 10 things I like that begin with this letter….MY LETTER IS “N”.. so here goes:

1. NICE – I am FOREVER saying this… “JUST BE NICE”… even when my car got hit by a very stupid woman, and she got out YELLING at me, as her duct taped car was now sticking to my car, I am yelling back – “JUST BE NICE”… my then, 10 year old daughter said to me, “mom, we are not in daycare”…. hhmmmmm…

2. NEIGHBORS – But NOT nosy ones!

3. NASHVILLE – My home.

4. NUTS – All kinds…cashews, peanuts, almonds YUM

5. NOODLES – Again, all kinds…whole wheat, macaroni, rigatoni, spaghetti

6. NAVALS – I love bellybuttons…I think they are cute on EVERYONE, especially babies.

7. NIGHTIME – The stars, moon, knowing GOD is there… I love that feeling-it’s romantic!!

8. NOISE – Only the good kind….kids playing, laughter, whispers, music…so much more!

9. NEWS – Gotta watch it every chance I get.

10. NIGHTCAP – WHO doesn’t enjoy one of those every now and then!!

Whew….I didn’t think I was going to be able to come up with 10 “N” words…..

If you’d like to do this, hop on over to her page and ask her for a letter…..it’s fun!

Well, SOMEONE has FINALLY DONE IT!!!! WOOP WOOP… take a look!

It’s the NEW DOVE CHOCOLATE!! It’s called BEAUTIFUL and it has SKIN-NOURISHING VITAMINS C & E PLUS the natural goodness of cocoa flavanols to help promote beautiful-looking skin!!

SISTERS…. I am ALL OVER THIS!! FYI…you can buy these at Walgreens!! (A little plug for the store where Kyla now works!!)

That’s what I think of when my BOYS go “hunting”… hahaha… here are some pics of their duck hunt…REALLY??? I don’t see any “birds” anywhere in these pics…. however, that dog is TOO CUTE!

WHAT’S THAT GUY LOOKING AT????

And this one TOTALLY cracks me up…. he can’t get a SUZIE to save his life!! But here is he with his OTHER LOVE, the Benelli!!

AND THAT IS HOW WE SPENT NEW YEARS….. (well, my boys anyway!)

WHAT DID YOU DO???????

Happy Hannukuh-Happy Kwanzaa…and all the other “HAPPY’S” and “MERRY’S”-

Nothing more, just the fact that I am VERY thankful for all that God has and has not given to us this 2008 year.

I look forward to seeing what He has in store for us in 2009!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY BLOGGING FRIENDS!!!

I LOVE THAT CHRISTMAS SONG….and the way today looks, the song is appropriate! We don’t have any snow, but it’s gloomy, rainy and looking a lot like Christmas.

Speaking of which…. I LOVE to send out cards to people… so, to all the peeps who are reading (or have read) my blog, if you have or know of someone who needs/wants a Christmas card this season, I would LOVE to send them one! I’d actually love to send them gifts – but due to this SUCKY economy, that’s not feasible (UNLESS God wants me to win the lottery – then I would send gifts and TONS of them!)

So drop me an address or two or three, and I’ll gladly send out some Christmas joy!! You can leave the info on my blog OR send it to my direct email!!

THE CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN BEGINS…. (well, it’s already begun!)

RUNNERS, JOGGERS, WALKERS…. whatever you want to call yourself…. this item is a MUST for you.

It’s the GARMIN FORERUNNER 301.

I started out with the GARMIN 101 (which I’ve heard they are no longer making) and once I used it, there has been NO TURNING BACK! This little “toy” tracks your mileage, pace, distance- it will even take you back to where you started, in case you get lost! It does a TON of stuff! One major difference between the 101 and the 301 is the heart monitor. I JUST bought this one (for myself for XMAS.)

It’s going to be PERFECT for training for the Country Music City 1/2 Marathon!

SOOOOOOOOOOOO…. tell your loved ones you want one of these for XMAS!! You won’t regret it!!