Is my day to go to Vegas!!! :-) So, I will be MIA for the rest of this week and will try to post a recap of my fabulous trip on Monday!
You all know I'm terrible at taking pictures, so I will try to take as many as humanely possible while I'm in Vegas!
Have fun without me here in blogland and enjoy yourselves this weekend! If you need a pick me up, think of me and what I'll be doing! :-)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Stellan
For now, I will be holding off on my post about what fun things are to come for the weekend because there are more important things to be thinking about.
Poor Stellan is not doing so well. I do not have kids, but it still breaks my heart to think of what this family has already gone through and what they continue to go through. It is remarkable how faith driven this family is, even after their heartache and struggles. This family inspires me to place my life in God's hands and whatever is His will, will be done.
Before I talk about my fun-filled weekend, I'd like to take a moment to say a prayer for Stellan and his family. His mother is so strong and so amazing and I pray that everything will happen the way God intends it to happen. We do not know those answers, but trust in Him we must, because as MckMamma so gracefully describes it, "But the facts are the facts: this world is not our home. Our forever home is in Heaven and my sights are set there. While we tread this temporary earth, I will do my darndest to focus on eternity. For that, my friends, is what truly matters."
This one's for Stellan in hopes that God will give him the strength to celebrate his 1st birthday, his 5th birtday, and many more years to come. Happy 9 Months Stellan!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Can you say....
Preoccupied!
I'm so not mentally at work today... I'm been dreaming of my Vegas trip and cannot concentrate at work. Tomorrow is my Friday, so that should help. I've never been to Vegas before, so I'm turning to my readers to give me some insight!
What do I NEED to see?
What should I pass up?
Are there any special things to do, see, taste, or experience while I'm there??
I'm not a huge gambler, so I will not be spending the majority of my time losing money. I need some ideas so that we can do it all and see it all while we are there!
Any ideas??
Monday, July 27, 2009
The Bix
So, as I said here my goal for The Bix was 1:10:00..... Well I am sorry to say that I failed on that one. I did however run "most" of the entire race, with the exception of two short walks up these two gigantic hills! I mean these babies were enormous! I was not prepared for the hills and those are what kicked my butt.
Warning: This next paragraph might be too much information for some of you, I'm warning you if you read on, I will talk about how I got sick during the race... Proceed with caution!
Before I tell you my real time, I must first tell you why I did not accomplish close to what my goal was.... I did great the first 1/2 of the race (at mile 3.5) I was at 36:06. If I would have kept the same pace throughout the second 1/2, I would have ended with a 1:12:12 which would have been A-OK with me! That would have been great.... However; because I was up at 5:00 am, I was not able to eat anything (I feel sick to my stomach when I wake up that early, weird huh? haha) so, around mile 4-5 I started feeling this "stuff" in my throat.... Well, I kept running and I kept grabbing cups of water as they were offered at about every mile marker.... (Bad Idea Kayla).... An empty stomach, running 7 miles, drowning yourself in water.... Not a good combination. You can see where this is going! So, here I am, I see the sign for the final mile!! I've almost made it I said to myself! I told myself I was not going to walk any of the last mile because I've almost finished and I can do this. Well, I see the sign: 1/8th mile to go! I can't believe I'm almost made it!! Then the "stuff" mentioned above started to continue upwards..... I thought to myself: "This is not happening to me, I'm almost finished! I can make it and finish at 1:12:00! I can do it".... FAIL! I had about 1/16th of a mile to go to the finish line and I had to make a B-line to the curb where I continued to throw up all of the water that was drank the previous 6 miles.... I spent a good 4-5 minutes getting sick, but I got back up and finished the race, that's the proud moment I had! haha I finished sprinting, because I felt so good after getting sick that I had all of this energy left!
So, I finished with an official time of 1:17:30 (or something along those seconds). Not too shabby and I feel that if I wouldn't have gotten sick, I really would have been close to 1:12:00 and I would have been proud of that. Especially since I was not prepared for this race and could not run for the last 3-4 weeks.
All in all it was a great race and I am "fairly" proud of finishing it. We've decided not to do the 1/2 marathon in October, because neither my hubby nor I have the desire to run 13.1 miles ever... 7 was good enough for the both of us. We are going to try and stay on track for the 1/2 marathon just to stay in shape and keep running, but we decided 3 hours post race that neither of us really wanted to do it... :-)
So, my goal for next year's Bix is to be under a 1:10:00 and I know I can do it this time! I will be prepared!
Thanks for all of the well wishes and good luck's! I know it helped, especially on that first 1/2 of the race! :-)
Warning: This next paragraph might be too much information for some of you, I'm warning you if you read on, I will talk about how I got sick during the race... Proceed with caution!
Before I tell you my real time, I must first tell you why I did not accomplish close to what my goal was.... I did great the first 1/2 of the race (at mile 3.5) I was at 36:06. If I would have kept the same pace throughout the second 1/2, I would have ended with a 1:12:12 which would have been A-OK with me! That would have been great.... However; because I was up at 5:00 am, I was not able to eat anything (I feel sick to my stomach when I wake up that early, weird huh? haha) so, around mile 4-5 I started feeling this "stuff" in my throat.... Well, I kept running and I kept grabbing cups of water as they were offered at about every mile marker.... (Bad Idea Kayla).... An empty stomach, running 7 miles, drowning yourself in water.... Not a good combination. You can see where this is going! So, here I am, I see the sign for the final mile!! I've almost made it I said to myself! I told myself I was not going to walk any of the last mile because I've almost finished and I can do this. Well, I see the sign: 1/8th mile to go! I can't believe I'm almost made it!! Then the "stuff" mentioned above started to continue upwards..... I thought to myself: "This is not happening to me, I'm almost finished! I can make it and finish at 1:12:00! I can do it".... FAIL! I had about 1/16th of a mile to go to the finish line and I had to make a B-line to the curb where I continued to throw up all of the water that was drank the previous 6 miles.... I spent a good 4-5 minutes getting sick, but I got back up and finished the race, that's the proud moment I had! haha I finished sprinting, because I felt so good after getting sick that I had all of this energy left!
So, I finished with an official time of 1:17:30 (or something along those seconds). Not too shabby and I feel that if I wouldn't have gotten sick, I really would have been close to 1:12:00 and I would have been proud of that. Especially since I was not prepared for this race and could not run for the last 3-4 weeks.
All in all it was a great race and I am "fairly" proud of finishing it. We've decided not to do the 1/2 marathon in October, because neither my hubby nor I have the desire to run 13.1 miles ever... 7 was good enough for the both of us. We are going to try and stay on track for the 1/2 marathon just to stay in shape and keep running, but we decided 3 hours post race that neither of us really wanted to do it... :-)
So, my goal for next year's Bix is to be under a 1:10:00 and I know I can do it this time! I will be prepared!
Thanks for all of the well wishes and good luck's! I know it helped, especially on that first 1/2 of the race! :-)
Friday, July 24, 2009
Show us your life.... My Wedding Dress
I went to two bridal stores in search of "MY dress". The first store was a flop, I didn't want to wear something that wasn't perfect. I had a few dresses that I thought "This could work, it's not my favorite, but it could work." The second place we went was in Manchester, IA at a small little boutique and off the top of my head I cannot for the life of me remember the exact name! Anyway, my dress was the 2nd dress I tried on that day. I knew I wanted strapless, little beading, and a small train. I'm only 5'0" tall, so a long train would only make me look shorter! I originally didn't want a veil because I didn't think it suited me, though I tried one on with my dress and decided it made it look complete. I actually looked like a bride! I took the veil off after the first two dances of the night (Bride & Groom dance and Father, Daughter dance) Make sure to head on over to Kelly's Korner to check out more wedding dresses!!
The Bix
Tomorrow is the big day! We're running in The Quad City Times Bix 7 race. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. This is my first big race since trying to start up running again... It's a 7 mile race and it's one of the most prestigious races in the country. People finish this race in under 32 minutes or better! (Mostly Kenyon runners who sprint the entire thing and win a new car and $25,000 for winning) I however, have my own goals for this race. I will not be running a 32 minute 7 mile race, so I hate to disappoint all of you!
Goals for the Bix:
1. I want to finish and I want to finish running
2. I will not walk any of the race, I refuse to. I don't care if I have to "run" the speed of a turtle, I will run the entire thing. It has been my goal since the beginning.
3. I say I don't care about my time, but my goal for a time is to be under 1:10:00. That's 10:00 minute miles which is totally doable. But since my LASIK surgery, I haven't been able to run much. At one time, I could run a 7.25 minute mile, but those days are long gone. Since LASIK I've only been able to run 4 times, so that's not a good sign.
4. I want to have energy after the race. I don't want to die after the 7 miles, because my next goal will be to run a 1/2 marathon on October 18th.
5. My last goal will be to not keep up with anyone. I want to run my own pace and do as well as I can without trying to run next to someone.
I will check back on Sunday or Monday to let you know how it goes. As far as after the race, apparently there is a huge Bix party that night, so I'm pretty excited to join in on the festivities.
Those also running the race with me are: my hubby, parents, brother, future-sister-in-law, her parents, her sister & boyfriend and a few others. It should be a good time! :-)
Goals for the Bix:
1. I want to finish and I want to finish running
2. I will not walk any of the race, I refuse to. I don't care if I have to "run" the speed of a turtle, I will run the entire thing. It has been my goal since the beginning.
3. I say I don't care about my time, but my goal for a time is to be under 1:10:00. That's 10:00 minute miles which is totally doable. But since my LASIK surgery, I haven't been able to run much. At one time, I could run a 7.25 minute mile, but those days are long gone. Since LASIK I've only been able to run 4 times, so that's not a good sign.
4. I want to have energy after the race. I don't want to die after the 7 miles, because my next goal will be to run a 1/2 marathon on October 18th.
5. My last goal will be to not keep up with anyone. I want to run my own pace and do as well as I can without trying to run next to someone.
I will check back on Sunday or Monday to let you know how it goes. As far as after the race, apparently there is a huge Bix party that night, so I'm pretty excited to join in on the festivities.
Those also running the race with me are: my hubby, parents, brother, future-sister-in-law, her parents, her sister & boyfriend and a few others. It should be a good time! :-)
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