Marathon Update and Countdown - 10 days away

Just wanted to check in and keep yinz all updated with my Pittsburgh Marathon status.

The marathon is exactly 10 days away!!

Wow! AMAZING!! After these past few months of training it almost seems like it is coming wayyyyyyy too fast. I am getting nervous!! This is my first marathon. I ran the half last year and decided that I need to do the full this year.

I M SOOO SCARED!  My family is going to come out for support and I am SOOOO worried that I will not keep up with the time constraints and will have to be scooped up on that bus. How embarrasing to have to ride the bus to the finish!!!

Actually, I am more worried that after these MONTHS of training - I will not finish?!?! No medal?!?!?!

Oh well, relax is all I can keep telling myself...it will be what it will be!!!

Here is the completed training so far....

So far since my training has started 15 weeks ago, I have logged a total of 375 miles of running (really jogging and walking - hee hee).

WOW!!! Please, Lord, let me finish!!! I NEED that Runner of Steel medal!!!!!

Easter 2014 Recap

Time for the weekend recap!!!  I figured I should actually write a post for a change instead of just lurking around and reading all of yours!!! HA

Sorry for the post absence AGAIN, but I have been engulfed in this marathon training and could not find the time or effort to write a post - lazy really!

 I hope you all had an amazing Easter - from the posts it appears that you have!

Mine started off right with ice cream from a place near my parents house. The whole family made it back to Mom and Dad's for Easter!!! I was soooo happy that we could all be together for the Easter weekend!!!!! I went up on Friday along with my older sister and her two girls. We made a trip out to Amish Country for fun before everyone else made it up there. We went to this amazing place in Walnut Creek, Ohio called Walnut Creek Cheese. It has EVERYTHING including the best ice cream on the planet! I get my chia, flax and hemp seeds there in the bulk section and they are soooo CHEAP compared to at home! LOVE that place!!! Also, have the best jellies, fruit, etc. YUMMO!!! Here is a picture of my salted caramel fudge swirl after one bite-ha....so delish!!!

After we got home, my niece Jessica and I took a little golf cart ride down the street from my parents to see the llama's. This is our selfie in the driveway!

 I made her wear the helmet for fun!!! The golf cart does not go more than 5 miles an hour even down a huge hill so she was about dying when I asked her to wear it. It was really for fun when we passed cars I would wave and embarrass her - they are used to this from me - ha ha! I think she actually started to enjoy it!! HEE

This is a shot of the cute little farm ....  it is a house down the street that has llamas, chickens, roosters and donkeys.

 

And this is a donkey close up!!! HA HA

I absolutely love the llamas!!!! They are soooo cute!  They have these adorable little bangs....this was my favorite of the three llamas!!!

I am still two weeks out from my first marathon so I had to do a training run on Saturday morning. I am tapering down for the next two weeks so at least it was only 9 miles this Saturday (last run of week 14). 

Here is my time...I am sure it looks really slow to those that are REAL runners but I am a very slow runner and I actually got a little faster for that amount of distance...yea me!!! My sister and mother came with me so I did not have to run alone. Because they live on a lake that is ALL huge hills...the only place to get my 9 miles in was a park near their house. The track was 1/3 mile each lap so I had to complete 27 laps. They did about 9 laps with me and then left to shop and were picking me up in an hour or so. They came back with donuts!!!! Only my family!!! And ate their donuts while I finished my run!!! LOL - Love those people!!

After that morning run everyone started arriving...

It was so beautiful out that we decided to get worms and take the kids to fish in the backyard.  We tried to dig out own worms but only found one skinny one after digging for 15 minutes so it was off to the store we went!!!  Here are the kids displaying the worms!!!

 

This is Aly (our little Diva) fishing...

And Ryan waving while getting a worm on his hook by Poppy!!

And this was the only fish caught the whole day! It was actually pretty big and Ryan was terrified and did not want to even get this close for the picture - ha ha!

Later that day we started with all the food prep including mom's famous deviled eggs - YUM!!!!!

Then that night it was onto egg decorating! The kids had a blast! The older girls helped their little cousins and all the eggs turned out GREAT!!!

It was a very serious process!!!!

I forgot to take pics of the Easter egg hunt after church but I am soooo happy that we managed to get this awesome picture of everyone!!! This is my parents, all of us kids and spouses, and all their grand-children! I LOVE this picture!!!!! Everyone looks sooo happy and it truly was an amazing Easter!!!!

Last, but not least, my siblings gave me this awesome wreath for my birthday!!! It is not for another month but they thought it was so cute I could use it early!!! I LOVE IT!!! Thank you so much - it is adorable!!!!

I feel sooo blessed by this holiday and having my whole family together!!! Thanks for everything wonderful in my life goes to God and Jesus!! He is risen!!!!

ABC's of Me

I have seen this one going around quite frequently lately and thought it would be fun.  So here I go!!!!!!!!

Lord knows my postings have been lacking lately – HEE HEE!
A is for age - 45 (but I feel like 20ish!!!!)
B is for birthday – May 25th (yes, I will then be 46)
C is for color – purple!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE everything purple!!!
D is for drink – without a doubt has to be COFFEE!!!! My absolute favorite!!! Hot, cold, night or day!
E is for eyes - brown
F is for flashback – I miss high school!!! Crazy I know - but I truly LOVED high school!!!

G is for gent – There is not one currently! L  I wish I had one but I am just not willing to settle and the right one has not come along yet L
H is for hobby – running and Zumba and crafting! Oh, and Facebook…Is that a hobby?!?!? LOL
I is for indulgence - currently Cadbury Eggs (holla!) I ate a whole bag last night!!!!!!!! NOT GOOD!
J is for job – I work in IT – billing
K is for kiddos – only furry ones and scaly ones – two cats and LOTS of fish!!!
L is for love – family and friends!!!!!!
M is for music – any and all! I love everything from country to rap to my favorite which is Kidrock!!!
N is for nickname – Annster is my nickname…although no one calls me that but me! HA HA  Also my relatives all call me Annie so I guess that would really be it. HEE
O is for one wish – Do God’s will more than my will – some days are better than others

P is for pets – cats and fish – answered under children! Same thing for me!

Q is for quote – one day at a time

R is for residence – the great state of Pennsylvania

S is for siblings – two sisters and a baby brother

T is for temperature – the hotter the better!!!

U is for university – Graduated from IUP but attended CUP and Community College too

V is for vehicle – love my little Honda Civic!

W is for worst habit – eating when I am upset or stressed out

X is for xrays – no clue what I am supposed to answer here! HA HA (My last x-ray was of my back at the chiropractor if that is the question)

Y is for yuck – SPIDERS….soooooooooo yuck!

Z is for favorite zoo animal – I would have to say the penquins...I love them!!!!!!!!!!!

Tekko 2014

Time for my first (and probably only ever) TEKKO post.

I had an interesting experience this past weekend in Pittsburgh. I was invited to go with a good friend of mine to TEKKO 2014 at the David Lawrence Convention Center. It was a convention for people that enjoy Japanese Amine cartoons, etc. As you will see in my pictures, EVERYONE showed up!!! My friend Jenna loves Attack on Titan which is a popular comic series. She was dressing up as Hanji Zoe from that comic.

First, this is me and my friend Jenna (I am on the left)

This is Jenna dressed up as her character (Hanji Zoe)...hee! We actually made those boxes that she has on each side of her and the swords out of foam. It took many a lunch hours at work!

And another...

And now onto the pictures. This is how you know you are at a comic book convention...boys (Men) actually buy these pillow cases to sleep with...cant get a woman???...then sleep with a pretend one on a pillow?!?! Whatever works for you! HEE

This was waiting for us when we were in line...and yes, it is a man. His chest looked really, really real!!!!!!!!

These people looked amazing - I think Jenna said they were Star Trek people.(They were actually Star Wars people - this has been edited thanks to a reader- thanks for the information Jacquie!)

This person is supposed to be from Dead Pool...I have no idea what that is...this is all according to Jenna.

 She swore to me that furries would not be there. I have heard of furries at conventions here in Pittsburgh and they have a pretty scary reputation (sleezy, etc.) so I try to steer clear. Well, she lied! There is a furry!!!

Here is the Hobbit! They looked awesome!

And another of the Star Wars group - pretty neat!!!

And lastly, Jenna ran into someone that was dressed as a different character in Attack of Titan so we had to get a shot of them together. Cannot remember this person's name. Awesome, hugh?

It was interesting and I am glad I went. I will try everything once. The only downside was that you could not get a one day pass for this thing! You had to pay $50 for the entire weekend!! Little steep for someone like me who was just going to check it out. So, I would never go back again unless they did a one day pass for $20 then the people watching would be worth it. But, for this one time, Jenna was worth it!!! We had a fun day all in all!

Pish posh of information

Lets start today's post off right!!! Who knew that this awesome man would be singing last night on the Basketball Game!?!?!? I HATE basketball and it came on in the background when I was occupied doing something else.  All the sudden I heard this awesome voice sing two songs and it made my ENTIRE night!!! WHOOT WHOOT - LOVE KIDROCK for life!!!!!!!!!!

Here is an update on the marathon training schedule...I am officially into  week 13 and I have my longest run this Saturday and then I get to taper back for two weeks!!! YEA ME!!!!

 I did the 18 mile run on Sunday instead of Saturday this past weekend. This is me after the run below.  I live in Pittsburgh and it was sooooooo windy and cold Saturday and I knew it would be 50s and sun on Sunday so I switched it. No biggie except that 5 mile run on Monday suffered because I was soooooo sore and tired with no rest day between the long run and the next week training.

 This is where I did my 5 miles on Monday - fun right?!?! It was rainy and it hurt soooo bad and I was so tired but I powered through and finished 5! Yippee!! Today is my off day and I have a massage scheduled!! Cannot be happier!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

 This is just a small sampling of what I planted this past weekend! Only one of the seven planters I completed this weekend!  I love flowers and herbs and COULD NOT WAIT to get things planted this year! I did tulips and daffodils and all kinds of herbs. After spring when the tulips die I will dig them out and add more herbs!!!!!!! YEA!!!!

And finally I will leave you with this shot below. My sister got my nephew a pet tadpole (to watch grow into a frog) for Christmas. The frog was delivered and lives in the clear box on the counter (see by the cats tail). As you can see, their cat discovered the tadpole this AM. My sister is hoping the cat leaves it alone and allows it to grow and flourish...time will tell!!! HA HA  PS - my adorable nephew named his tadpole "Tad Bunny Boy"....how cute is that!?!?!?!?

Hope yinz all have a wonderful day!!!

5 on Friday

TGIF!!! That means its that time again!!! YEA!!

Time for 5 on Friday with  Christina, Darci, April, and Natasha and you should too! 

Here we go!~

ONE:  My run yesterday!! I am sure that this time looks slow for a lot of people that run but for me it is actually pretty great! Especially since I have been icing my knees lately because of slight pain. Not horrible pain but enough the really be annoying when training for a marathon!! The entire run was completed without any pain - yippee!!!  Two more weeks of long run and then two weeks of shorter runs till the marathon - I GOT THIS!!!!

TWO:  Speaking of icing...this is my ice pack at work!!! HA HA!!! Wont be eating these edamame beans anytime soon!!!

THREE:  I built this bathroom shelf unit last night! I got it from Amazon at a great deal! They had it on sale for $119 and I ended up scoring one that was "used". From the description it said the box it came in had some damage and it would be sold for half that so around $60. If you know me at all, you know I am CHEAP!!! I got the beat up one and it came yesterday! One tiny chip on the top and one tiny crack on the INSIDE of the door that you cannt even see! SCORE me...saved over $60.
It took awhile but it is sooo sturdy and thick - I love it!!!

FOUR:  I am absolutely obsessed with our Pittsburgh Bald Eagles nest! The bald eagles built a nest (over 6 feet wide) in Hays right outside of the city of Pittsburgh. A camera is attached to a nearby tree and zoomed in on the nest.  The bald eagles laid three eggs and within the past few days all three have hatched. It is sooo cool to watch via live stream - it is up on the internet 24 hours a day and is free!!! I love this sooo much! You can watch real time as they feed the babies and scare away predators (one archived video of dad scaring away a racoon) - it is soooo cool! Here is the link to the LIVE FEED. Check it out - if you love nature you will thank me! My nieces and nephews are as obsessed as me!

FIVE:  This is my night tonight! I am heading down to the Pittsburgh Convention Center with a friend from work for the Tekko 2014 Convention. It is a comic book convention where adults dress up in comic costumes and visit. My friend is dressing up as a character and I actually helped her make parts of her costume (Swords, blade holder, etc.) all of out foam and spray paint. I PROMISE I will take pictures for you guys and she PROMISED me that there will NOT be any Furries here! I have heard rumors about those conventions and hope to not run into any of them! HA HA

Hope yinz all have a fantastic weekend!! ENJOY SPRING!!!

Injury?!?!

Hi yinz!!

Figured I better write a post and check in.

I have not posted but I am reading all of your posts daily. Just nothing happy to talk about.

I am still training for the May Pgh Marathon.  I am currently a month away and I think I am now nursing an injury :-(

I started having pain in my left knee a few weeks ago. After about a week I decided I better quit all the extra stuff like Zumba and just focus on the running and training. I have been doing that for over a week now.

It has not helped :-(

I think the knee actually hurts worse!!!

I was supposed to run 8 yesterday. I ran 4 after work and it hurt so bad that I decided to quit and go home to get my knee wrap. I went home and ate dinner and went back hours later to finish four more. That run hurt worse!!!

I am supposed to run 5 after work and I am going to see how it goes I guess. I have it wrapped at work and it has even hurt a little bit today just walking so this should be interesting! I am going to be really ticked off if I cant run after 12 weeks of training!!!

But, I will keep you all posted! :-(

I went to Starbucks today to grab a coffee...little treat a few times a week and look at my crappy, defective cup!!!

 

UGGGGHHHHH! Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!!!

HA!