Tons of Stuff Tuesday

Man, blogging seems like it is becoming harder and harder.  I have stuff to share, I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and write it.  So here's what's going on with me...in a nutshell.

The dress I finally decided on

1.  I turned 40.  Yep, the dreaded 40.  I had a lovely Birthday party surrounded by friends and family.  It was perfect.  I had wanted to do something "epic" for 40...but just never really got around to planning some big thing.  No big deal, the Birthday party was really quite perfect.  I stressed over my outfit for weeks.  I bought four dresses before finally deciding on one.  We ended up getting some bad news shortly before the party, and then Jim had a flat tire on the way there and I was late to my own party.  It was stressful and I was having so many mixed emotions...but everyone was so great.  It's times like these that you realize just how important family and friends are.

2.  I ran a half marathon a week and a half ago.  Nothing big to report.  It's the Rock the Parkway half marathon here in Kansas City.  It is my half marathon PR (3 years ago)....and I haven't been able to touch my time since.  In 2012 I ran a 2:23 (PR), 2013 a 2:34 and 2014 a 2:32.  So I guess I was 2 minutes faster than last year, but still my finish time is somewhere around my "average" for a half.  I'm usually between 2:30 and 2:35.  The weather was nice though a bit warm at the end, and we did have some strong winds, which you had to fight the entire 6.5 miles back.  I went out to fast.  I had a good 8 or 9 miles and then totally crashed at the end.  But it was fun...as always.

The finish line at Rock the Parkway

3.  I have another half marathon this weekend.  This is my 2nd in a series of 3 over 5 weeks.  It's called the Heartland 39.3 series.  It includes Rock the Parkway, Garmin, and Running with the Cows.  All fairly local though different areas of the city.  You get a special shirt for running the series and then *I think* you get a special medal at the end.  They've been doing the series a few years, and the stuff you get only gets better if it's your 2nd or 3rd year or whatever.


Me & Jim at my Birthday

4.  I withdrew from the Boulder 70.3 race last week.  As I said above, my family got some bad news about a week ago.  I was in the critical part of my training with only about 8 weeks to go and I knew I couldn't miss a workout and needed to be mentally "fit".  With everything going on, I realized it would just be too much.  Plus I'll probably be taking at least one or two week long trips over the next month or so that would keep me from being able to train pretty much at all.  I've had to drop out of races before and I've always been pretty upset by it, but this one I'm totally at peace with.  It's the right thing to do for me and my family right now.

5.  I finally rode my tri bike again.  If you've been following my blog for awhile, then you know I purchased a new tri bike last May.  On basically my first ride I had a very near miss with a car and threw myself over the handlebars of my bike breaking my wrist (among lots of other scrapes and bruises).    I have been a big chicken about getting on it again.  Honestly, I have felt so dumb, but I have been scared to death. On Sunday, I finally put on my big girl pants and went for a ride.  I only rode about 30 minutes, but I survived.  It will take a little getting used to but I know I'll be fine.  I just need to get over the mental part of it.  Now that we are finally having warm weather, I should be able to get out for more rides this week.

Jim took this picture this weekend of one happy dog enjoying the warm weather.  I guess we all love Spring!

That's probably enough for now.  How are you????  Anything new and exciting going on in your world?