Another 2010 Goal has been accomplished!

On Saturday I participated in the Mermaid Series 5k run/walk. My friend Shannon did the 10k version (and she totally rocked it!!)

The days coming up to the event, I wasn’t nervous at all; I thought for sure I’d be nervous AT the event – but I wasn’t. It was pretty laid back. Adam and I got there early and met up with Al and Shannon and chatted as we waited for the start time. I had made sure to bring my iPod with me, something that apparently isn’t always acceptable for run/marathon-esque events. I looked around and saw other people with iPods and headphones and thought to hell with it, I’m taking mine. I use it when I run on the treadmill at home and it often gives me that boost of energy when a certain song begins to play.

Fifteen minutes after the half-marathoners have started, us 5k-ers got ready to go. Ok, annoying moment here. I was standing on the left-hand side of the path; mostly because I told Adam I would and he was instructed to take photos as I started my run. However, in front of me (between me and the starting line) the Mermaid people had stacked packages of water bottles along the side– but at least 3-4 deep! So basically anyone around me and behind me had to run around the water. Lame. Why couldn’t they have lined it up against the side? Pfft. Also bigger annoyance.. there was a group of people who had a bunch of kids with them – which is great, I’m all for that.. but they all decided to cut in front of the 5k group. There were a lot of people mumbling about how they were planning to start running and now would be slowed down – because yea, most of the kids didn’t totally run at the beginning. It’s one thing to go to the side, but to take up an entire 2 “rows”.. pfft to that. But whatever, the hardcore people were in the front so I’m sure it worked out for them in the end.

The run started and once I was able to break away I started to jog. I jogged for as long as I could and then walked a little bit. I kept this up as much as I could; pushing myself just a little bit more. 3.5 miles wasn’t much, I’d tell myself. I had checked the map prior to attending the event and was familiar with where I’d be turning around and had a good idea how much further it would be. That helped, and the music. I listened to my favorites as I ran. If I got tired and found myself walking, I’d power walk, then switch to a new song – one that would always pump me up, and would take off again.

When we got to the turn around we were given a cup of water and I slowly sipped it, a few sips, as I walked around the marker. I don’t think you’re supposed to gulp a bunch of water while running but what do I know. Well I’ll tell you what I do know, I can’t gulp a bunch of water. That would have been bad. It’s a stomach no-no. So I sipped enough to make me feel better and then tossed the cup. I felt horrible for doing that. LITTERBUG!! But it was what we were supposed to do. heh.

On my way back I ran past Shannon, waved and smiled and I think I missed a high-five but I didn’t know we were going to high-five! I missed the memo on that one. I continued my running and walking; every now and then someone I just passed would pass me. Oh no they didn’t! I’d use those people as mini-goals– must get past them! When the finish line was in sight I change my iPod to play my little anthem, Break My Stride. A mix of that song, the silliness I associate with it, my adrenaline hitting me as I knew I was about to finish my first 5k, thinking about everything I’ve been doing the last 6 months, the new me and what I have to look forward to– all of that, I almost had a few tears in my eyes as I ran over the finish line.

Someone gave me a water bottle and a little necklace for finishing the race. I held my chest because I swear my heart was going to jump out. I walked around and calmed myself down a bit and wandered around to Adam and Al (who, by the way were cheering me on as I ran past them). I checked out some of the booths and one of them was for a massage place and they were giving out free 5 minute massages to runners. SIGN ME UP. I’d never had a massage before (body image issues) and thought hell, if I had ever deserved one now was the time. Plus, um, FREE?

The massage was awesome. I told Adam I found yet another thing to spend money on (haha).

So we waited for awhile and saw Shannon running in to the finish! She ran the whole 10k, I’m so proud of her!

I’ve been wanting to post this for a week now! On Saturday April 10th Adam proposed to me while we were on our anniversary weekend trip in Mill Valley.

He had planned the trip in secret (well, I knew we were going somewhere, just didn’t have details) and obviously had other things planned as well.

We arrived at our Mill Valley Inn room; fireplace in the room, lovely furniture throughout. I immediately pulled my camera out and started to snap photos. Adam checked out the rest of the room as well.

At one point I had my laptop out and was sitting on the bed- we were trying to decide where to go for dinner. I like to check menus before heading out now because it gives me more of a chance to find something I can/want to eat. So while we were searching there was something I had to get out of my bag. I don’t remember what it was really. So I get up and head to my bag across the room. Adam then follows me and he says, “Well, before you do that, I have something to ask you.” I turn around and he’s standing there with a box.. and he opens the box.. and hey is that a ring?!

He was nervous and it was super cute. I later asked him why would he be nervous after so many years but he said he didn’t know, it’s just one of those things. So after some typical disbelief/shock/surprise kind of responses (like “really? are you sure??” haha, go me) I said yes.

So I’m engaged now!! The planning has begun.. and as things progress I’ll post some fun updates here too.. but for now it’s about securing some details and saving money.

For some reason I’ve been saving my coffee sleeves from Starbucks thinking I could do something crafty with them.

The first idea I had was to do something stitchy. I’ve been meaning to get back into stitching (embroidery or cross-stitch) and tonight I thought I’d get started. This specific idea (stitching on coffee sleeves) is by no means something new; I probably got the idea from some crafty site. Thank you random crafty site and the many other people who’ve done this before.

I just sketched a very simple design I’ve seen about a bazillion times (in books or online) and went at it. This is what I came up with:

This was nice practice for back-stitching and french knots. I’ll try out other stitching styles my embroidery book (Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray) covers on other sleeves.