Latest Race Update

 
Hey everyone, not much new and exciting happening but I did want to share some info from our most recent race. We ran in the MDHA Help the Homeless 5k. It is part of a help the homeless week in Dallas and was held at Fair Park which is where the State Fair of Texas takes place, and the location of the Cotton Bowl Stadium. We weren't sure how well we would do because for the past several weeks our running schedule has been pretty empty for various reasons, but the race is just about the running and having fun with friends so we plodded along and ran it. We ran with several of Richard's coworkers and made several new friends as well. Running is a great way to meet people in case that becomes your motivation. Here are the wonderful before and after pictures!!

 

Here you can see our overall race finishing places. Richard was #67 and I was #68. I like to think that this is pretty damned impressive for not having run in about a month. My personal favorite part is when we look at the results by age group. In the second picture you can see that Richard finished 9th in his age group which is awesome!! And below that you can see my age group and I placed 4th!!! I missed a medal by about 36 seconds. Had I know while the race was going on that I was that close, I would have pushed thru those rough patches and just paid the price after the race.  Damn you hindsight!! Thanks for taking a minute to read this and for letting me brag just a little. As always I welcome comments and feel free to follow my blog. You never know what craziness you may find here next.

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Here is a fun continuation of all the Halloween displays that I posted previously. I am guessing this will be the only Thanksgiving one that I find since everyone seems to already have the Christmas displays built. You can look forward to a post that includes those coming up soon. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!

Running, it isn't just for exercise anymore!

Hey everyone, I have been bad about keeping this updated for a while, but here is where we start up again!!! Yes yes, your thundering cheers and applause are inspiring! Well, let's get right to it, here we go. As I have talked about before, we have been running 5 days a week and have recently started doing actual races. We did one in September for Wipe Out Kids' Cancer and then this past weekend we did Race for the Cure.

 
It's great, you donate money to a cause you feel passionate about, you get some good exercise, and who could pass up FREE T-SHIRTS!!!!!

What a whirlwind...

So let me start this entry off by saying we get to see her again. Yes it's time for our annual weekend with Chelsea Handler!! Ok, settle down, we won't actually be spending the weekend with her, although I'm still hoping I can convince her. She will be back in town for her new comedy tour and will be doing a book signing at A Real Bookstore in Fairview, TX. Quite a strange name for the store but if it is anything like the last time we met her, it will be amazing. I really enjoy the full service bar they have available, *HIC*. Come on though, it's Chelsea Handler, it would be a slap in her face if we didn't have a little Belvedere while we waited. This all takes place on June 18th but since I got my ticket early, I figured I would mention it now, don't worry there will be plenty of follow up posting on this one.

This weekend was full of adventures as well, we met our friend Sarah out on Saturday night for drinks and dinner. Gotta love drinks on the patio at The Grapevine when it is a gorgeous day out. Headed to Oaklawn for a bit after that and finished it up with dinner at Panda's on the strip. This is a great little sit down Chinese restaurant that capitalizes on people having been drinking all night and since you don't have many food choices, they charge a little more than they probably should. This being said, the food really is amazing. It could however just mimic the 2am Taco Bell runs after a night out, because that food is always amazing too, but I am giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Great advice for the new trail

Sunday morning we got up early and drove to the Chisholm Trail up in Allen, TX and did our 3.5 mile run. It was a great little trail with lots of friendly people, a river, wildlife, wildflowers and great people watching. It was a little windy and a little cool for most of the run so that made it even better. Always nice to have new scenery to run through. It sure beats the neighborhood houses we run around during the week.

After that wonderful workout we totally erased all its benefits by driving a little further north to the new In-N-Out Burger that opened earlier in the week. I'm sure by now, some of you have seen news clips of crazy Texans either crying or thanking Jesus for the opening of this establishment. While I know Jesus listens and answers prayers, I am gonna have to guess that getting a burger joint built is nowhere on his to-do list. And I'm going to assume that the crying lady probably has a few too many cats and too much free time. I lived in California for a while and got to regularly experience the In-N-Out goodness, but never felt it was worth crying or praying for. However, now that it is here HOLY SHIT it's amazing!!! Thankfully this location is way too far for any sort or quick stopover so until they open the Arlington location I should be in good shape.

Having gorged ourselves on burgers and fries, we arrived home and got started on the yard work. We did the usual mowing and edging but then did a bunch of sod removal and planting of pampas grass in our newly created planting bed in the backyard. It is about 25ft long and about 3 ft deep and is wonderfully mulched with my favorite red mulch. This is just stage one of the total backyard renovation and we still need to place the actual permanent edging on the bed, the old hose won't hold up forever. We still have quite a bit of work to do back there but once it's done, it will be the envy of the neighborhood! At least in my mind anyway, and really that's all that matters. Enjoy all the pics!! Talk with you all soon.

Year of Change!

Hey everyone, quick break from the amazing Mongoose so I can talk about me again, not that I'm vain or anything. This last year has held quite a lot of historic milestones for me and I figured I would recap the old and update the new! So hold on tight, because here we go.

The first and most exciting item on the list would be quitting smoking. Did it almost 8 yes 8 months ago. After smoking for over half my life, it seemed like it was finally time. Thankfully I had my partner in crime as my partner in quitting so we were able to help each other through the process. We used the patches and in about 3 weeks I was off of those too. Quitting actually ended up being way easier than I thought it would be. I am sure it had a lot to do with having a great support system, a great b/f going through it with me and finally just actually really wanting to quit. So kudos to us, almost 8 months strong...and growing!!

As you can imagine, after quitting smoking, food became quite a nice replacement and we began fanning the flames of foodie-ism (for lack of a more dramatic word). You can follow the fun over at my other blog, www.foodiefoodiebangbang.blogspot.com. GO ON, you know you want to check it out. We have been having a blast trying new things and trying old things in new ways. It really gives you a nice way to relax and unwind from the day. Plus it is just really amazing to eat crazy things that you made yourself. When was the last time you made pasta from scratch?? OR made your own teriyaki sauce? So you really should take a minute and sign up for the food blog and this one if you aren't a follower already.

Those of you who have known me for any length of time know that I am never without a Dr. Pepper in my hand. Always always always had a soda. I drank the stuff like it was water for as long as I can remember. But guess what?? Since this blog is all about change, I can now report that I have broken the hold it had on me as well. About a week ago I really cut down and was just having a tiny bit in the morning and then again after work. But now I don't even have any in the house at all. Now I will say that if I go out to eat or I am in a setting where there is soda, I may have one, or I may not. But now water has replaced soda as my constant companion. GO ME!!

Rounding out the list is something that I always swore I would never do...running.
Between quitting smoking and finding a new love for food and probably a little bit of getting older, my last trip to the doctor revealed that I had broken the 200 pound barrier. YIKES!! I'm 5ft9 on a good day and apparently 200+ isn't where I need to be. Richard and I have been doing walks most nights for quite a while now and whenever he mentioned running I always laughed just a little. But now, in the spirit of change, we have switched from walking to running. I'll admit it took a couple days to be excited about it, but it is funny how most days I look forward to our run. Like cooking, it is a great way to relieve stress and talk about your days. We aren't breaking any speed records yet, but the fact that we keep doing it and are now running over 3 miles with no walking breaks is quite exciting. Gotta give Richard total props for bringing it up until I went for it. I think he made me think it was my idea and it tricked me, but however it happened, I'm glad it did. Can't wait to do an actual 5k run!! Should be amazing.

Well thanks for reading my retrospective blog entry today (blogging is a new addition this year too) and keep on reading and I will keep on posting. Leave comments and feel free to share links on your favorite social networking sites. I won't discourage more exposure.

MIG