Run.

Well followers it's here! The weekend of my half marathon is finally here!! I couldn't be more excited, either that I am ready for it to be over or I am excited due to the fact that I LOVE half marathons! This is my absolute favorite distance to run. I am running the IMT Half Marathon. Last year I ran the full marathon! It was a challenging and very rewarding experience! My friend Lauren and I have been training together for about a year and a half now. We have run a few races together. Unfortunately, last year she was unable to finish the marathon with me but this year she is all healed and ready to run! I couldn't ask for a better training partner. She is so dedicated and has an uplifting spirit. This weekend our strategy is to run together at a good  fast pace and use this race as more of a run to train for the marathon rather than a half marathon race.

Our count down to our next marathon is less than a month! I could not be more excited for it. After my first marathon I knew I wanted to run more but it took me awhile to get back into the training mind set. It is a lot of hard work to train for a marathon. It takes time and effort. Once Lauren kindly reminded me early June that we had about 6 months to train, I finally realized it was time to get serious. We had been training since the last marathon and had some shorter races in the meantime so we were already on track to run a half marathon. It took us awhile to decide where we wanted to run our marathon. We settled on the Northface Endurance Challenge in Kansas City! There are a few Northface Endurace Challenges in various locations. Some are trail runs but the KC one happens to be a road run...Thank the Lord! Check out the website! http://www.thenorthface.com/en_US/endurance-challenge/kansas-city-mo-road/?stop_mobi=yes Doesn't it look like so much fun?!

After my first marathon I set a goal for myself... run 10 marathons in my life. Later I got to thinking when did I want to accomplish that by? I decided I would just run one a year until I reached 10! I'm well on my way to accomplishing that. After November 17th I will only have 8 left. That's 209.6 miles... :/ This number may change, meaning it will probably be higher coming off all the excitement of my second one! The feeling I got when I crossed the finish line is unexplainable. I just started crying. Either because I was SO glad to be done running for the day or I had just finished a marathon!! Running 1 was on my bucket list and now I've uped it to running 9 more at 10 total. Am I crazy? Possibly. Next years marathon is taking place in Las Vegas! Running the Vegas Strip at night with all the lights...Can't wait! Who wants to join?! I would love to qualify for the Boston and NYC marathons someday. Until then I will train a little bit harder and become a little faster. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it and stay focused on your goal right?! Here I come Boston/NYC 2014! If I ran the NYC Marathon I would get to see Katie and Josh!

I grew up in a very active family. My mom and dad are both avid exercisers. My mom has been my training partner since I was 15 and was somehow convinced, by my neighbor, to run cross country in high school. That is when I began my love affiar with running. I have had a great support system through the years which helps A TON. My family and friends may think I am crazy but they are always running beside me or cheering for me from the curb!

I got two of my friends to run the Dam to Dam this summer with Lauren and I. They weren't big into running but they did it for fun! During the race they said they were asking themselves "Why did I let her talk me into running this?" but when they both finished they were overjoyed and so happy they did it! If you are from the area and love to run but don't think you are cut out for long distance running you need to sign up for the Dam to Dam. I promise you will feel overwhelmed with happiness when you cross the finish line. It may open a door or two to a whole new you! It is in early June and it is such a fun run. The course is full of runners...ones that are out to win and ones that run just for fun! You run from Saylorville Dam to Downtown Des Moines. It's about 12.4 miles. There are bands playing at every mile marker and people are cheering you on the whole time! It would be a great starter race. I have run it 3 times now and I can't wait for next year!

Have an active day! Happy Running!

Slow Dance

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever
watched
kids

On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to
the
rain

Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a

butterfly's erratic flight?

Or gazed at the sun into the
fading night?

You better slow down.

Don't
dance so
fast.

Time is short.

The music
won't
last.

Do you run through each day

On the fly?

When you ask "How are you?"

Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done
do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores

Running through
your head?

You'd better
slow down.

Don't dance so
fast.

Time is
short.

The music won't
last.

Ever told your child,

We'll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste,

Not see his
sorrow?

Ever lost touch,

Let a good
friendship die

'Cause you never had time

To call and say, "Hi".

You'd
better slow down.

Don't dance
so fast.

Time
is short.

The music won't
last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere

You miss half the fun of getting
there.

When you worry and hurry
through your
day,

It is like an unopened
gift....

Thrown
away.

Life is not a
race.

Do take it
slower 

Hear the
music

Before the song is over.

Do you rush through life? Do you call a friend just to say "Hi"? This poem sounds like my life sometimes. I would love to be in more contact with some of my friends. Do you use excuses? I know I do sometimes. Most days I think my life is so busy and I couldn't possibly fit one more thing in my schedule when in reality I drive an hour to work which means I have two hours a day of driving... TWO hours a day when I could make those phone calls to those friends far away. I know I rush through my day. After reading this I am going to make that effort to call those friends if it's just once a week or once a month. It is relieving to catch up with friends and not always hear that voice in the back of your head "I should call... but I just don't have time". I am going to take things slow and not rush through life. I mean isn't that one of the reasons we are on earth... to enjoy life, the people we interact and encounter each day. To enjoy our surroundings? Here in the midwest, if you haven't taken a walk/run outside to enjoy the things of fall do it today.

Do it today. Don't wait until tomorrow.

Happy Friday Friends!

Best.Week.Ever.

We went from elementary friends to high school and college besties and now we are celebrating her wedding day! I want to say Congratulations! She got married last Saturday :) The day could not have gone any better. Not only did we celebrate her big day we got to enjoy the weekend with all our high school friends that live near and far. Lately we have seen each other quite a few times with all the weddings this summer. Boy do we LOVE weddings and the dancing that comes with it! We are on the dance floor all night!! The weekend was just full of fun! I was in the wedding so I don't have many photos from the weekend but here is just a few. I will post photos in a future recap post!

You know the feeling when your favorite shows start back? For all of you Revenge watchers out there... IT.IS.BACK. What did you think of the first episode? I cannot wait to see what this season holds. I love this show! I have 3 shows that I watch pretty religously and they are all back on now. Revenge is by far my favorite. Hart of Dixie is light hearted and cheesey but I love watching it! This is Gossip Girls final season. I got hooked on it in college and have kept up with ever since! Thanks Katie and Kristin for the persuasion. Katie provided me with Gossip Girl Season 1 and 2 on DVD and I am pretty sure I watched it every waking second, while I wasn't in class of course! Needless to say I do love the show.

The 3rd and most important reason why it was the best week ever. Joe and I celebrated our 7 years of dating! 7! My sister is a sophomore in high school and it's crazy to think that's how young we were when we started dating. I know, I know it's cheesey to celebrate dating anniversaries but it's nice to go out just us 2 for a nice dinner! We ate a great Italian restaurant in Des Moines called Centro. It was delicious! If you live around the area you must go! This year we found out we may not be cut out for big city living. We drove around the block once... okay maybe twice before we found a good parking spot. We normally take the first spot we see. We parked and starting walking to the restaurant. We only had a block to walk which is not too far right but we saw all these open spots that were litereally right in front of the door... so we thought. It took us a couple steps to realize we wanted to walk run back to the car and park closer before anyone else took our front row spots. We parallel parked AGAIN in a spot right in front! Come to find out they were 15 minute parking metors. So we drove around the block a little confused about the one way's and finally found a good spot and parked! It was about the same distance away from the door as the initial parking spot. We just laughed at ourselves and enjoyed the rest of the night. Needless to say we had a great dinner! The food was amazing!
You don't know how many times we've heard this... "When are you guys getting married?" or this "You guys are next." Joe and I were voted by our entire senior class to be the first to be married out of high school. Boy did we prove everyone wrong. :) Yes we have now been together the longest out of anyone from our graduating class but we are in no rush to get married. We are only 22 and 23. Yes, we have been talking about marriage for a few years now but we are perfectly happy with everything right now. Joe wants to finish up school and we both would like to become settled in our jobs. Don't get me wrong I can't wait to plan my wedding but it will be just as exciting when that time comes as it would be for me now!
Our relationship has had it's fair share of ups and downs but I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this guy. We always find something to laugh about. We know exactly how to push each others buttons and yes we do that on purpose every once in awhile. ;) No matter what we always go to bed happy.
 

 Our first school dance as dates! (way back in our sophmore year of high school)

Senior Homecoming Coronation

Senior Prom!

Getting crafty at after prom

High School Graduation

 4 year anniversary (and we thought this was a long time...little did we know!)

We love going to the Iowa State Fair and seeing Country concerts!

(we were early...we may have been just a little excited)

Cheering on the ISU Cyclones freshman year!

Halloween

We roadtripped to Kansas City to see one of Joe's favorite Country singers. Kenny Chesney!

For my 20th birthday Joe through me a surprise birthday party!

We love fishing on the boat!

Celebrating one of my favorite holidays St. Patrick's Day

Smelly and Stinky