Breath In, Breath Out, Eat Lunch.

There is a long half-marathon post with pictures coming soon, I promise!

I just haven't had time to write it. In fact, I've barely had time to sit down and breathe, or sleep, or do laundry, or eat lunch. "Breath In, Breath Out, Eat Lunch," has been my mantra this week. And yes, I know it's only Tuesday. See below comic, sent by my Dad:

But it will all be worth it when I go to California tomorrow to visit my very dear friend [and to work a conference...but that's a means, not the end ;)]!

And the benefit to you is that flying to California means at least 8 hours of sitting in airports, on airplanes, no internet, no friends, just me and my handy little netbook. And pictures of my half-marathon.

It's coming.

I pinky-promise.

Phones in the Hands of a Clumsy Girl

When I dropped my cell phone on the floor for the fifth time in 3 weeks the other day, I had three thoughts, in this order:

"Drat! Drat! Drat!"

"Thank you Lord for protecting my phone! It survived!"

"Survive, Survived, Survivor. Hey! My phone could win a reality TV show! Survivor: Cell Phone Edition. Survived: Cell Phone Horror Stories. Survival: In Chrissy's Hands."

And then I had a fourth thought. But it's not really related.

"Gee, if I had an iPhone, I could get that nifty case that you can drop on the floor anytime without worries."

ANYWAY, back to the TV show! Great idea, right?? A reality TV show about cell phones that can survive anything??

Ok, maybe it'd fare better as a documentary, if it had really gripping music.

Or maybe my phone is connected to my brain...and I've dropped it one too many times in the past three weeks...

And here's a preview from the past weekend! Full half-marathon post coming soon... :D

"Finisher."

Tomorrow, I am running my first half-marathon.

Just a few weeks ago, while pounding the W&OD trail from Leesburg to Purcellville, I was ready to quit at the 11 mile mark. My brain could grasp only one word, repeated with every step:

Finisher.

A few months back, Runner's World had an article on creating mantras to help oneself through the toughest part of a workout or race. It was great, if mildly bemusing. And as you can tell, it's helped.

I'm excited about tomorrow's race. It will NOT begin with snow (as did my last long race).

Tomorrow WILL start early (as in, 5am early--blargh!).

And I have a feeling it will end with me looking even happier than my last big race:

Because at the end of tomorrow's half-marathon, this crazy guy will be waiting for me.

Yup, my brother is flying in at the last possible minute to see me race!! And I didn't know anything about this until about 24 hours ago!

So not only do I have a mantra, I now have a whole three-to-five person cheering squad. All the more reason to be a

Finisher.

To be last stay late.

It's official: I was the last person to leave work tonight! Just look at that lovely empty parking lot! Too bad I didn't have any roller skates with me.

Days of May

Inspired by my friend Cossette, I set 11 goals for April. I accomplished 6 of them and postponed 1, so that gives me a 64% success rate. Maybe I should work on my goal-setting skills, to remove that 'oldest child habit' of setting too-many, too-hard, or too-many-too-hard goals.

Eh, I'll postpone that to June. May is a fine spring month to accomplish things! Nevermind that I'll be gone for 5 days and my family will be here for 4 days...that still leaves 22 days to reach my 8 goals!

Hence, without further ado or wavering or self-judgement, I present to you the goal list for May 2011. Let the aspiring commence!

-Memorize Psalm 112

-Finish through week 41 of my 'read thru the Bible in a year' program (of which I am currently entering my 15th month...)

-Get halfway through my Group Strength Continuing Education Credit book (so I can stay certified as a fitness instructor!)

-Finish my photobook from Uganda!

-Get a new camera (pending budgetary approval)

-Update my resume

-Read Margaret Thatcher's biography

And my personal favorite and the goal I am MOST excited about:

Run a half-marathon!

Hoping for Mass

I went to New England this weekend.

Specifically, to Worcester (which, for all you southerners, is pronounced "Wuss-ter") for the MASSHOPE homeschool conference, where my co-workers and I proceeded to tear down, blast apart, and smash previous sales records. Ooh yeah!

But while Worcester was fun (had my first taste of Uno's!), the real highlight was probably the little side trips we took to Boston, since we flew in and out of there. There really is nothing like eating Italian food in the North End, listening to Italian TV during lunch on Hanover Street, Italian waitresses saying "Whaat, do these people think we are a public restaroom!", cannoli from Mike's Pastry with only a 15 minute wait, and our version of 'clubbing.'

Oh, and the view from our hotel at sunset over Boston (thanks to friend who took this on his iphone):