a porta potty adventure + a late race + a terrible time = a great weekend!

We had a great trip to Charleston! I loved spending time catching up with Cindy, my cousin that lives in too-far-away-Charlotte. Okay, she's only about half an hour away, but that's just too far! It was also fun to meet her new roommate, Britney. The three of us drove down on Friday morning and spent some time bumming around the expo, and then downtown Charleston.

We were stuck in traffic for awhile on the way into Charleston (something about 40,000 people running the race causes traffic. Odd, eh?), and I REALLY had to potty. Bad! So, as we were stopped beside some porta potties lining the road (for the following morning's race, of course), I hopped out to potty really quick hoping to get back out to the car before the cop at the light decided to let our lane drive.

Well, half way through my, uh, potty break, I heard cars moving. Sad times. I came out to new cars in front of the porta potty parade, and my cousin's car nowhere in site. I wonder what the people in the cars thought about the girl that randomly came out of a porta potty with a confused look on her face. Anyhoo, I ran down the sidewalk trying to find her car, and thought that maybe they just went on to the expo, which was only about a block or so away. So I give them a call, and finally found them (yay!). They had pulled up on a sidewalk the next block down and was waiting for me. Apparently Cindy tried waiting for me at the porta potties, but multiple cops came running towards her car in an attempt to get her to move, so she had to drive on. Of course, this all happened in a span of maybe 3 minutes. Fun times!

Oh, and I can officially say that I've used a sparkling-clean porta potty! The seat even had plastic wrapped around it, saying it was newly sanitized. God bless the porta potty sanitizer people. I couldn't do it, I'm afraid. But I'm glad someone did!

I had another interesting porta potty experience the next morning before the race. This one included me wearing a tutu in the teeny tiny porta potty. But we won't go into that experience. *shudder*

Anyways, the run was fun, however not my best at all. Lack of sleep (I randomly woke up at 1:15AM and didn't get back to sleep), starting the race an hour late (yes, they started an hour late - more on that in the next paragraph), standing around for almost 3 hours before the race ever started, not eating for 4 hours before the race, a crazy sharp cramp, and some lady issues didn't make it my best time at all. At. all.

Remember how I said they started the race an hour late? Yeah. Apparently there were some issues with the shuttle buses taking people from the Charleston side of the bridge (finish) to the Mt. Pleasant side (start) and people were still on buses at like 7:30 (30 minutes before the race). Then, the buses had to clear the bridge before we could start. So, instead of starting the race at 8:00, they started at 9:00. Which means since we got there round 7:30, we had to stand around for an hour and a half before we started. We also stood in line for the buses for about an hour before we loaded our bus to be taken to the start. I think I was mentally done before we ever started. lol

So, my time. My goal was under an hour. Last year, I did it in 1 hour and 3 minutes. This year, not so much. I finished 1 hour and 10 minutes (+ some seconds). I am honestly proud that I was able to run and finish the race in the time that I did. However, I am so competitive with myself that my time totally bummed me out. But that's okay! I'll do better next year. :)

Okay - done complaining!! I really did have fun, and although it wasn't my best run, I most definitely will do this race again next year. The experience is always completely worth it.

Cindy did an EXCELLENT job during this race! This was her 2nd 10k, but I don't really count her first one since she had a broken tail bone. She ran it in an hour and 18 minutes! Yay!! So proud of her. :)

-Cindy and I finally made it on the bus, after waiting forEVER! All smiles here though. :)
-Everyone was wondering what was taking so long to start. The people behind us were making jokes like, "I never practiced standing around for an hour before running 6 miles before! I'm not prepared for this!" I decided it was a good sit down and rest your legs time.
-One of my favorite pictures from the weekend! Cindy and I are waiting for the race to start. And the guy standing behind us totally photobombed our picture. Nerd! Funny nerd though.
-LOVE the bridge!! This picture makes the race totally worth it. Such a pretty run!

Lesson learned? God can humble us even through regular life experiences. I was so pumped up about running the race in under an hour, yet I was completely knocked on my rump with everything that lead up to the race. I don't exactly deal well with failure, but I'm learning to slap on a smile and clamp my mouth shut! Not sure I did a great job at that this weekend though. lol

How was your weekend? :D



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time to beat my time! ... and some precious promises (52 in 52)

It's Spring Break for me now!! Yay!

That also means I run the Cooper River Bridge Run in 2 days! Woo!! :D I looked up my time from last year. I ran it in 1 hour, 3 minutes, and 38 seconds.

My goal is under an hour. Think I can do it? Yeah. I have my doubts too. lol

My cousin Cindy and I are going down together (with her roommate Britney) and staying at a hotel tomorrow night. It'll be a fun little getaway for the evening, and we'll have plenty of time to catch up on the juicy cousin news! Can't wait. :)

Have you watched the new show Touch that started last week? I'm hooked! Jake, the little boy in the show, is absolutely adorable. His hair just melts my heart! Maybe I'll have a little boy with curly hair like that one day. ...maybe.

I was also watching the other new show Awake, but I'm not sure I can watch it anymore. It's become a bit too scary for me. But I may just be a wimp.

My grandpa's birthday is on Saturday. I'm not sure I'll have time or enough energy on Saturday to work in my yard, but I'm planning on doing some planting next week to celebrate his birthday.

I miss his smile and his blue eyes. And his voice. Such a rich voice.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

2 Peter 1:3-4

I'm drawn to this verse for some reason. I can't quite put my finger on it though.

God's very great and precious promises. Promises that some day, we will be able to see our loved ones again. We'll be able to see our Savior face to face. Promises of a life without tears, sickness, pain, or sorrow. A life filled to overflowing with worship and praise to our Father. Promises of life with Him.

Maybe I just put my finger on it. Promises of seeing my Uncle Mike, Grandma, and Grandpa again. Thoughts of that day are certainly very great and precious in my mind. 

It's almost midnight. I better hop in the bed before I turn into a pumpkin! I'll let you know if I beat my time on Saturday! :)



2020

some randomness

For some reason, I feel like today should be Wednesday or Thursday. Maybe that's because I'm taking Friday off to drive to Charleston for Saturday's Cooper River Bridge Run.

Did I mention that I'm running the Cooper River Bridge Run on Saturday? Well, I am! I'm so excited!! I need to look up my time from last year so that I can try to beat it.

I saw The Hunger Games last night! It was an EXCELLENT movie!! My friend Bekah went with me, and we're both itching to see the second one now! She hasn't read the books, so she wasn't expecting the movie to just stop mid-story. Keeps you wanting to see more! (PS - Just in my I-don't-have-kids-yet opinion, if you're thinking about taking your young child - aka not in HS - to see it, I would rethink it. It is pretty rough in some spots with the "game" scenes. Just my $0.02 though!)

1. I got to hold little Mr. Toby during church on Sunday morning. (Having nursery does have it's perks, eh?) i. love. him. seriously.

2. I'm hooked on edamame! I found it in the frozen section of Aldi, where I do 90% of my grocery shopping, so I snagged several bags. I've now eaten about a bag and a half since Friday. Yum!

3. I did some more planting last week! I now have some of Grandpa's daffodils around my mailbox. I'm pretty certain that I did not inherit his green thumb. Sad times.

4. I locked us (a 9 year old, a 2 year old, and myself) out of the house while I was babysitting last week. It wasn't so terrible though. We had fun!

I was supposed to run 5.4 miles yesterday, but the movie plans definitely trumped those plans.

I was planning on running the 5.4 miles today since I didn't run them yesterday, however I have been sitting here on my couch like a bump on a log all evening. I can't seem to get going.

So, I'm watching The Biggest Loser (which I normally don't watch), and they mentioned Zumba. Think that's a sign? heh

Spring break is 2 days away (well, really 3...but again, I'm taking Friday off! Yay!). What are you planning for Spring Break with your kids, or if you don't have kids, what about Easter with your family?

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