Resolutions? We don't need no stinking resolutions!

I don't make resolutions, they're dumb. People break them. In case you were wondering today is break your resolution day. And now you know, go break that resolution and I'll wait...I have made goals for this year and they are as follow:

1. Turn 35. What? It's a goal, in fact I could totally be in denial and say I'm only 28! Seriously, it's a number. Sometimes it seems higher than it should be, but I'm still good with it! I plan to turn 25, I mean 35 with a very sparkly tiara, lunch with Cinderella and drinking my way through Epcot!

2. Finish a 1/2 marathon. I still can't believe I'm doing this. I have a 7 mile run on Friday and honestly I'm not the fastest running but I just keep moving! I know I won't be running the whole thing straight, I mean after all there are photo opportunities! I am so very thankful for my 2 running buddies Kelly and Deanna. All I said was I want to run the Princess 1/2 marathon and next thing I knew they were signed up too! I'm also very thankful for my awesome parents who are making the trek and getting up at O'dark thirty as my father calls it.

3. Conquer Math and Stats for Business. This class got the best of me when I took it the first time and I had to drop it after 5 weeks, this year I'm armed with a better sense of what is going on and a kick ass teacher/tutor (Matt, cupcakes for you and Elly for LIFE!) and anyone else who knows 2+2=5!

Nothing else, just to be happy, drink good wine, smile and laugh as often as possible. And you never know what else 35 will bring, guess we'll all have to wait and see..

Today's mantra: BAZINGA~Sheldon, Big Bang Theory

52 days and counting!

Happy New Year! I cannot belive the ½ marathon is next month. I can’t believe I’m going to be 35 next month too. It’s all kind of hit me now. I started this journey February 7, 2011 when I made a decision to take back control of my life and my weight and everything else just kind of fell into place. I couldn’t ask for a better running team too! Kelly and Deanna are the motivation I need to keep running when I want to quit! I have a 7 mile run coming up and it’s a mental challenge to get past it. I know I can do it just to see 7 miles and run for 90+ minutes is hard to wrap your brain around. But I CAN do this! Doesn’t hurt to be running at the happiest place on earth. It’s like the Disney Princess ½ marathon was made for me! I’m not dressing up but I’m going to have a custom shirt made…well I’m getting shirts for Disney but I want something to remember this race. After all it’s the pinnacle and end of my running career! I kid but it is the pinnacle and I will probably continue to do 5k races, but please don’t ever look for me in the Boston Marathon!

Jingle Bell 5k

Last race of the year. If you’re keeping count it’s #11 in 7 months of running, not too shabby! Another cold one and I have never seen more people in all of my life. There had to be 6,000 people running this race. Kelly was back and her and I positiioned ourselves further back as I couldn’t get caught in the crowds running fast. We decided before we every started there were not personal records to be set but just a fun run. It took almost 5 minutes for us to get to the starting mat! I had Christmas music on my Ipod and we were watching all the fun costumes go by. We were outfitted in our leopart print Santa hats. There were some very creative people. My favorite was the skiier that was followed by giant snow balls who kept yelling avalanche! There were also serveral sets of Santa and his reindeer. The hill at the end was tough. I mean really who puts a hill at the end of a race. A sick individual that’s who. But one step at a time! Got my second wind at the end and decided Kelly and I needed to race! I know she loves it when I do that! We went and got our obligatory beer and reflected on our races and thought it was a pretty good year.

There is only one thing to focus on now…The Disney Princess ½ marathon!

Winter Classic 5k

I wanted to beat 35 minutes. It was 28 degrees when we started. I didn’t pace myself well mile 1. Mile 2 is usually my best mile. I struggled to get my breathing under control for a while too. I could see the finish line and I knew it was close to beat 35 minutes and I had Deanna running next to me cheering me on, but I had absolutely NOTHING left. I had to find the positive in that I finished the race and I had a great time of 35:19 but you always want to beat yourself. I’m so competetive sometimes I beat myself in my head before the race ever starts. Gotta get better at that! Still I got a fun long sleeved shirt I will actually wear!

PS I know some of these are short, but really what can you say about a 5k you haven't said 9 other times!!

Fisher Cat Thanksgiving 5k

I signed up for this race since my parents wanted to see me run. Luckily Deanna was close by and signed up with me! I also ended up running into my friend Dave from work so good times! It was really cold and I haven’t done a lot of cold weather running yet so I had my gloves with me as well as a couple of layers. Here’s the thing I have 10 years on Deanna so I chase her for about a mile and that’s it. My little almost 35 year old legs are that fast. It was a really nice course there is only one slight hill and once you’re over that you’re at mile 2 and then it’s mostly downhill. We ran into Fisher Cat staduim and you run along the warning track. I was hoping to not find Deanna being detained by police for running on the field and luckily she was on her best behavior. I finished in a personal best time of 35:10. I felt awesome after the race, it was awesome to see my parents waiting too! It also made the giant mimosa I made when I got home totally worth it!

Firefighter Memorial 10k

Crap, how the HELL did I get talked into a 10k? That’s 6.2 miles incase you didn’t know. That’s 2.2 miles further than I had ever run. This is NOT going to be pretty! Kelly and I had a REALLY tough time acutally getting out of our pajmamas since it was kinda chilly that day. We had to run with our shirts tied around our waists since they had no bag check and the car was pretty far away.
Race started and I was feeling really good, until mile 2 when my hip started killing me. I was running way too fast for my own pace and having fallen the week before at Renegade I don’t think I was quite healed. I spend the next 2 miles contemplating quitting. I was done. Had it not been for Kelly running right next to me I would have quit. She truly kept my legs moving. I was feeling okay around mile 5 and we were running pretty slow. We had our own EMT escort too!

So the end of the race you turn back down the street you started on so I knew we were close, but all I kept telling Kelly was I couldn’t do it. At that point she was telling me to keep looking forward and just keep moving my legs. I was never more happy to cross a finish line in my entire life. I feel accomplished but I also felt so much pain and wanted to sit (apparently that is the WORST thing to do) so we stretched out had some water and an orange. After seeeing we didn’t win a medal, I mean come on no medal for last place? We headed out to brunch. I use the term brunch losely since it was just really just a lot of drinking and in my case falling. But hell I just ran 6.2 miles I think it was well deserved! So I have now completed ½ of a ½ marathon!

Renegade Playground Challenge

If I could marry the renegade playground challenge I would. Kelly, Deanna and myself had such a blast at this mud run. It was SO much better than Warrior Dash. The heats were smaller and the obstacles were actually challenging! Of course we had to go with a theme and we deciced on Sesame Street. Kelly was Elmo, Deanna was Big Bird and I was Cookie Monster. This involved tutus again but this time we added hairbows! They were super easy to make and well when you have a super helper like Bill you can whip them out in no time.

It was a beauitful sunny day, I almost couldn’t believe our luck! The weather was perfect! We got all checked in and suited up and it was off to the start line. We got several compliments on our outfits and as cute as they were we were ready to WRECK them! We had to run for a while in the woods but once we got out in the open you could see some of the obstacles. The was a hill and the best way to get down a hill is on your ass, we all know that!

There were so pretty deep marshes that were EXTREMELY cold! And it seemed like every time we got muddy the water cleaned us off! Funniest part was a dark tunnel you had to crawl through and they were playing the dirty dancing music. In typical Erin fashion we went over a creek and there was a rope to use and Kelly yelled to me to use the rope and I was like I don’t need a stinking rope and that moment I tripped! Classic!

Best part was at the end you get to jump out the back of a bus into a pit of mud! So much fun! I went with the flying leap! There was no saving our tutus after that! Once we managed to get outselves out of the mud we rant to the finish line where Bill was waiting with flowers that matched our outfits. There’s a reason why I keep him around! He always drives…oh wait and yeah he’s a really good friend!

I can’t wait to do the race again and we’re already brainstorming ideas!

Urban Dare Challenge

This wasn’t a race, well it was. It was like a 1 day amazing race through Boston. I ran with my friend Lam and it really was a learning experience. Had we not gone all the way over to Fenway Park at one point I think we would have had a fair shot at finishing on time. But we ended up in Little Italy, got pizza and finished our own personal race and headed back to Southie!

Next year I would make sure that I have a complete T schedule and a map and actually plot out everything. We spent too much time back and forth when we would go the wrong direction, but in any case I totally want to do it again! Also, stripping in the cab and then dressing in an alley...Priceless!