Half Marathon...less than 48 hours away!

This is a picture of me at my first half marathon in April! It has been that long since I've run 13.1 miles...SHAME! Race report to come soon....here I come Hamptons Half Marathon!

Here are my hopes:

1. That I beat the marathoners!

2. That I don't get sick

3. I'm not coughing up flem (sp?)

4. Blisters will be minimal

5. I don't get discouraged

6. 2:15

Brian has made me promise not to over do it...I haven't run in over two weeks because of stresses in life/sickness (I think I may have had the flu...swine flu anyone?!), and I'm still not 100%...perhaps 90%. So I've made various promises to walk if I feel sick, and there is no shame in resting. I'm leaving directly from work tomorrow with my friend Alyssa, who is GRACIOUSLY hosting us with her mom at their house in South Hampton! Her mommy is a GREAT cook and is preparing us a FABULOUS prerace meal! Yummy!

Wish me luck! GAH I'm so excited to get back out there!

Serving Saturdays...

So here's a quote from one of Bri's tables today (I had no entertaining stories)

Guest: "We'll have bbq wings and jerk wings."

Brian: "Ok."

Guest: "Aren't you going to write this down?" (With a LOT of attitude)

Brian: Pretty sure I've got it.

Word of advice: When ordering, even if it's complicated, don't mess with your server. Chances are we know what we're doing, or we can fix it if we make a mistake! ;-)

P.S. The wings came out without any trouble.

100th post! Giveaway winner! I'm alive! Big News!

Wow this is going to be a great post! Ha, it's bigger than I thought it would be...a few weeks AFTER the original deadline! First of all, congratulations to Melissa W, winner of the giveaway! I put all the names in a hat, for lack of a better system (I know some of you other bloggers had some site or something but I kept forgetting to look it up on your past posts!) and my New York City friend won! Melissa, your prize is coming!!!

So here's some big news...

WE'RE MOVING! Currently Brian and I live in a studio, which is subsidized by the school he works for. However, due to strange but true circumstances, Brian was laid off from his teaching job. Therefore, we lose our apartment...October 1. We found this out right before the Thursday deadline of the giveaway, hence the craziness of my life up until now! First of all, Brian began working full time at the restaurant we've kept as a part time job, completely a blessing and he's happy to have a break from the regular grind for now. Then we began apartment searching, which we started and ended the day we found out we had to move (Thanks, God!), then I began teaching and night school (3 classes), thus my absence from blogging! I've also been absent from running. I will now go through each of my distractions:

APARTMENT SEARCH: We found a great place. It's in Astoria, just 25 blocks from where we live now. Top (third) floor of an individual apartment building. The owner is a dentist, who has her office on the entire first floor, her family's apartment on the second floor, and two apartments on the third floor. We got the bigger of the two, a one bedroom with a balcony, nice size living room and open kitchen. Lots of windows and sunlight! I really like the area, it's halfway between where Brian and I each used to live, so we're very familiar with area. It's way more "city" than where we live now, which is more like a neighborhood. We're also looking for a dog to adopt...stay tuned!

SCHOOL: I don't really like to blog about my job because people can look me up, but everything is going well. I'm currently testing all the kindergarteners with my AMAZING ESL TEAM, basically to see if these new little kiddies speak enough English to not need ESL services. LOTS of official paperwork. We've probably killed a forest x2.

COLLEGE: AGH it's ok. Mulicultural Education, Theories of Second Language Acquisition, and Developing Your Thesis Question. Yes that's 3 classes, 8 credits total. YUCK! Multicultural class is actually turning out to be good, Theories is AWFUL, and Thesis Question is stupid. But this means I will be DONE this Spring! All I will have is the "Executing Thesis" class next semester!!! That's AMAZING! My master's degree completed in May...I'm so close it's RIDICULOUS! That's the only thing that's keeping me going right now.

...and my absence from running. No bold title here. My 1/2 marathon is next weekend, and I have run in 2 weeks. Ugh. I'm nervous to say the least. I ran a little here and there but nothing of substance. And now I have a cold. TRIPLE UGH. Thankfully I have the cold now and not next weekend. Brian has made me promise to take it easy and to not aim for time...and I've agreed to it. This is going to kill me, because it's in the Hamptons, and I know my friend Laurie is going to do an AMAZING job, but training in the summer was NOT for me. The heat negatively affected me numerous times.

So, that's all for now. I've been thinking a lot about blogging, but never got around to it. I will be doing a couple of different things, including Tales from the Subway Tuesdays (Anyone watch The Soup? Tales from Home Shopping???), and Serving Saturdays (Table stories when I wait tables...). I figured I needed to get some sort of consistency and use my HILARIOUS NYC moments to entertain the masses.

99th post!

YES! It's true! Giveaway time is upon us. I will write more about the past few weeks below, but first things first: GIVEAWAY RULES AND PRIZES! Get ready for...

THE ENDLESS SUMMER GIVEAWAY!

Note: This picture is only a graphic, has nothing to do with the giveaway! ;-)

Included in this giveaway are some of my favorite things; a good movie, good recipes and good wine! Now, if you don't prefer wine/alcohol, included will be recipes that you can COOK with the wine, therefore burning off alcohol etc (See I think of EVERYTHING!). Here is what you have have to do to get entries and BONUS (duh duh dunnn) entries:

1 Entry: Comment on my blog


2 Entries: Become part of my little army; also known as a Follower


3 Entries: Go to my friend's AWESOME gift basket blog and comment: http://gift-a-cupcake.blogspot.com/


4 Entries: Become a Follower on gift-a-cupcake!



Now, you will need to inform me about your entries etc...please leave a comment telling me what you did, aka followed my blog, gift-a-cupcake's blog, etc! This contest will run until midnight on Thursday, 9/1/09! GOOD LUCK!

Now on to bloggy things...

I've been all over the place this summer. Connecticut, Rochester, Virginia, Catskills, (Brian climbed Mt. Washington in NH! SO PROUD!), so much going on and so little time! This has been a nice long summer; however, my running is not so nice. Notice how I haven't blogged? Half of it is from being en route somewhere and not having time to blog, and the other half is being EXTREMELY discouraged. The heat got to me on my long run. Twice. I was supposed to do 9 miles and only did 8. I was supposed to do 11 miles and only did 10. My speedwork is non existent. My times are HORRIBLE. I HAVE A HALF MARATHON ON SEPTEMBER 26!!! I also begin work September 8, and I start my three class (Yes, THREE CLASSES) grad school night schedule next week. I need to get committed and get committed FAST (Literally and figuratively). So here are my commitments thus far:

- Healthy diet. Traveling was NOT condusive to this. Brian and I are going on a healthy diet. According to the USDA I should be on a 1500 calorie diet, which I've been doing for 3 days. It's easy to stick with because there's so many online tools to check calories and meal ideas. Why the sudden interest? Runner's Diet Mistakes (A MUST READ!) showed me that I was guilty of at least 3 nutritional no-no's.

- New Gym membership. I'm joining a national gym I think (Planet Fitness) which I can go to even when I travel. Therefore, when I go to Connecticut and feel lazy, I will have no excuse if it's raining or cold!

- No potato chips. EEK I know! I eat chips and salsa so much, it's just not cool. I'll do pita bread or baked pita chips, but I'm stearing clear for now.

- Drinking more tea and less coffee.

- LIMITED dairy. (Just enough for calcium)

- After half marathon is over, more cross training and better running. I want to just be better. I'm sick of 11 minute miles...yes, you read this right...11 minute miles :-/

- Sticking to working out in the midst of my classes. I will be going to school two nights a week: 1 class Wednesdays till 7:30 and two classes back to back Thursdays till 9:10. This is going to be hard, but I'm aiming for 4 workout days in the week.

That's all for now. School begins again soon. EEK! And the child running around in Panera is reminding me of how insane these said children can be. However, I love them still!!!

HAPPY BLOGGING! DO THE GIVEAWAY! I'll even give hints about the movie....

Summer Reading Reviews...

So, I've been running, but I'm also on vacation in the LOVELY VA beach! (Past posts from April will show you what it looks like around here!) I was in Rochester Last week, tons of pics to post, that will come later. I figured I'd do a fun little post about some books I've been reading and give them some reviews! My opinion of a good book is one that is decently clean, a little love, a little intrigue, and many changes in a character! So, here goes nothing!

BFF Forever was a really good book. It really made me think of my past childhood friends, and how strange it would be for those I've lost touch with to come back into my life suddenly; how much I've changed, how little we now know about one another despite having once shared EVERYTHING. An interesting aspect was that one of the main characters was formerly obese, so being inside her mind and thoughts was an interesting espect and hopefully eye opening for people who have never dealt with weight. I've never been obese, but I've been 20lbs overweight and often people just don't understand, even when you've lost the weight, it still feels like you have it sometimes. It was an easy book, decently clean and still though provoking.

Dune Road was a pleasant surprise. Jane Green has been one of my favorite authors for quick fixes and quick reads, but I DID NOT like her book last year, The Beach House. It felt rushed and silly. I didn't even finish it. This book was well thought out, many overlapping characters and plot twists but wasn't "heavy". I still figured out stuff before she wrote it, but it was ok because it was a good way to write the book. It is definitely geared more toward her age range (middle aged women), but I liked it because it spoke about friends, love relationships, and how typical materialistic behavior can bite you in the butt. My kind of lesson! The one thing with Jane Green you must know is that she never gives a definitive ending. I questioned her at a book reading in Manhattan about whether or not she would write sequals or why she doesn't give complete endings, and she said she likes to leave things open to interpretation like her life and real life; more often than not there aren't clear cut answers etc. Alright Jane Green, I'll try to comply.

Barefoot might be my favorite book of the summer. I cried, I laughed, I identified with how the main character was feeling, it was a great beach book. It got a little dicey with the love stuff, but I enjoyed it all the same. (I don't need to read about people's love lives, I HAVE ONE OF MY OWN! Ha ha) The premise is a woman has cancer and wants to have chemo in her favorite place, Nantucket, with her two young boys and her sister and a friend. All their lives are dysfunctional in one way or another, and Hilderbrand REALLY develops the four main characters evenly, while still surrounding them around the mom who has cancer.

Summer Reading is not for Summer Reading. I did NOT like this book, but read it because I had nothing else to read and it was only 250 pages. The characters were underdeveloped, they were spacey, nothing was really cohesive, and nothing was really solved or discovered. It was a silly book that really read like a smart person wrote it with hopes you would interpret a deeper meaning, when there was none. I didn't know enough about the characters to even think about what they might mean. Sigh.

Well, that's all for now! Tell me about any good books you've been reading this summer! These are my current conquests for the rest of my vacation while laying lazily on the beach after early morning runs (It's going to be in the 90's the rest of the week!):

TRAIL RUN!

THE TRAIL! The iPhone case looked like a cool camera trick ;-)
The end of the 8 mile run...MY THIGHS WERE BURNING!

Decided to do an 8 mile run in a trail in Connecticut...it was EXCELLENT! It was really hot out but the trail was completely shaded and kept me from the heat. It was 89 degrees when I was running...smart Kristin, REALLY SMART! Ha ha ha. I had a powerade and a bottle of water, and I stopped at my brother's house on the way back to refill! IT WAS HOT but great. I saw a group of three horseback riders, but unfortunately my mapmyrun app was working on the iPhone at that moment, so I didn't want to take a picture...and then it ended up stopping shortly thereafter! GPS signal is a killer in these rural areas! But it was wonderful.

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! My daddy saved my ring yesterday...it's true! Brian is away camping on Mount Washington till tomorrow (He's been gone since Monday...ugh I miss him SO much!) and I dropped my ring down the sink! My dad got it out for me thank GOD, I almost fainted/threw up/cried but I was too in shock. It happened in slow motion. I can't imagine being a parent if I'm that dramatic over a piece of jewelry! Ha!

Off to watch HGTV...I should just read Sarah's blog because she is doing AMAZING renovations!

MY HUNDRETH POST IS NEXT! I may do a giveaway, but I don't think a lot of people read my blog. It's a combo giveaway/promo for a friend who is starting a business. It'll be my experiment for marketing on blog! Ha give me feedback. I can't do it if no one is going to participate. DO YOU READ MY BLOG?! LET ME KNOW! Pass the word. It's going to be a CUTE giveaway, a piece of me if you will!

Rainy Sunday wake up in the late afternoon

First, a letter to my Fuel belt.

Dear Fuel Belt,
I left you in New York City. I know I know, I always bring you, and often don't use you, but just having you around is always nice. This trip, however, I have run a lot. I have been in Connecticut for over a week, which means, yes, you guessed it: a long run. Plus it's been super hot. FUEL BELT I NEED YOU! I don't know how I survived before you came into my life, wrapping yourself around me, keeping me safe and hydrated. I miss you so much. I can only imagine you, collecting dust on my counter in front of the coffee maker, your cousin. Today I did a 10 mile run carrying a water bottle...A WATER BOTTLE. Singular. You give me FOUR water bottles. I can't believe I was distracted enough to leave you behind this trip, but I promise you: It will never happen again. NEVER AGAIN!

Sincerely,
The Waist You Go Around

But seriously, my Fuel Belt has left me lonesome! I had to carry my bottle, but thankfully at the 5 mile mark there is a Panera, so I drank the whole thing and when I got to 5 miles I filled up at Panera...hey, I've purchased enough coffee from that place to deserve a free refill on water! DON'T JUDGE! 10 miles was ok though, I ran 11 minute miles, but I wasn't trying for time. Honestly, on my long runs I could care less how fast I go, as long as I finish. I hope I burned calories though ;-) This run was great, it was sprinkling when I started but I said to heck with it, it's now or never for this thing! So I bit the bullet and set out. It sprinkled for about 4 miles and stopped. The humidity was at a minimum, and it was extremely overcast, but it wasn't sunny and blazing hot, so I survived! Best part of the run: A teenager in his souped up truck (I ran in a ritzy town next to mine!) said "Hey Baby" to me...through the loudspeaker on his truck! I would've flipped him the bird but it was so funny I started laughing! (If you don't get why it's funny, imagine a police speaker system saying hey baby...except no police car! I was caught off guard I guess!) All in all it was a good day. I haven't weighed myself in a while and I don't think I'll like what I see, so I'll just wait a little longer. No matter how much you exercise, some weight just doesn't want to budge!

BTW (And yes, I say those three letters in everyday life...) I want you to check out this giveaway! It's ladies only!!!