one for me, two for you

haiku wednesday on thursday

Anticipating

Waves, sand, toes, sunscreen, smiles. Count

Down to a long drive.

{my moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Inspired by Soulemama

 
Happy Weekend Lovies!

Sunday Funday

I know a group of kids (=20 and 30 somethings) who gather for Sunday brunch and call it "Sunday Funday" which is usually a follow up (=sober up) to "Saturday Sin-day..."

This is not that kind of Sunday Funday; it's merely a Sunday I happened to decide I wanted to document in pictures. And so it begins...

We decided bacon, eggs and toast were in order for breakfast, but were out of two of those items, so Marc needed to make what is becoming a "customary" Sunday morning trip to the store. He usually asks all the kids if anyone wants to come.

Aidan was the only taker, and this is how he dressed himself. God love him.

Alec stayed behind to talk on his banana phone while I made coffee and got things started.Now, I'll say that on Saturday, which was NOT sin-day, the stars alligned and I made two of the most beautiful and perfect poached eggs you've ever seen. No gadgets, no gizmos, just a pan and water. I attempted the same thing on Sunday, and was not successful...they got poached, and were edible, but were not pretty. And took forever because I threw out about three eggs. So there are no sweet pictures of our delightful breakfast, because everyone, self included, was so cranky and hungry by the time it was served, it was just time to eat.

Can you guess what our first outing was? Yep, Bed Bath & Beyond to look for an egg poacher! Not only did we find that, we found some adorable little boys for sale. They thought this was incredibly funny.

Next, Garden Ridge to hunt for patio furniture. And might I say, for a garden stuff filled store, they have an attrocious collection of garden gnomes? Give me Big Lots any day. Not even worth a picture. We didn't find any acceptable patio furniture, but we did find a family's worth of recliners.
 
 
 
 
Alec wanted to push the cart. And push it he did...into everything he couldn't see.

 
 We may or may not have allegedly found the papazzan cushions and started jumping into them. But you can't prove anything...I wish I could have snapped this picture a second earlier though, because Marc did a killer cartwheel into the stack.
Next, stop by Bueno for some taco roll-ups, and off to Mod's for gelato, yeah! We LOVE Mod's for a lot of reasons, one being that they have a SELECTION (more than one) of vegan gelatos. Are we vegan? No, but Aidie is allergic to cow's milk and gets left out of all the ice cream having adventures. Except when we go to Mod's.

But someone (not naming any names...Missy) didn't take the time to figure out whether or not they're open on Sunday. I'll save you the trouble, they're not. But we still had fun romping around Boston for a few minutes! Here's Marc and Corrinne's Michael Jackson "wind" moment (yes, it was quite windy).

And the "This is It" moment.
 
And finishing our taco roll-ups.

And back in the truck to head home. Marc, what happened to your aviators? 
Back home, the kids adopted toads (apparently named Marc and Missy), 

Built them a habitat, 

took real good care of them, 

and we enjoyed the quiet inside. 
Then Marc and Aidan made a special trip to the store for dairy free ice cream and some regular ice cream for the rest of us, while I started sizzling some fajitas! 
Here's Aidan playing with his corn.

One of the many reasons he didn't get to enjoy ice cream and whipped cream with the rest of us.  
And Megan, I did NOT partake of the whipped cream or ice cream. I had a small scoop of no sugar added frozen yogurt, and stayed within my points.

Add a couple of munchkin haircuts,  

And you have one epic post, and an epic Sunday Funday.

Here's to wrapping up my Monday reminiscing about Sunday!

 

The Story You've All Been Waiting For

At least, I'll let myself believe that everyone's as interested in my life as I am...

So...you remember my list? #12 says, "Find a life partner that makes me insanely happy, on whom I can lavish all my silly affections."

Well, I've found him. My lobster (you know, you have to imagine two old lobsters in their tank...). He's mine and always has been. He's who I've been looking for my whole life, and at the same time, I feel like our souls have always been together. More about how insanely happy he makes me later, how about I tell you about the night I said yes to a very important question? You got it!

He's got two, I've got two, and between us we've got 4 kids, two exes, two jobs and an insane amount of laundry. We are thrilled when we have kid free evenings and weekends. Last week was a crazy week for all kinds of reasons, and before we knew it the stars aligned, we both got off work a bit early, baby daddy was able to meet me in Stroud an hour early, and baby momma wanted to keep the big kids for the evening, so Marc-alicious started planning date night! He called me at work and told me to grab something "kinda dressy" for dinner when I got home from work (I figured I'd just stay in my dress from work), and grab a change of clothes since we'd "probably be out pretty late and might want to crash somewhere."

Of course it sounds fishy. It's Marc!

We drop the littles in Stroud with their daddy, who Marc nearly mowed down pulling out of our parking spot because he was so anxious to be wherever we were going on time, and peel out headed...west.

Me: Are we going to Oklahoma City?

Marc: No.

Me: Are we going to Dallas?

Marc: No.

Me: Are we going to Kansas City?

Marc: Kansas City is five hours in the complete opposite direction.

Me: I know...just asking...how long are we going to be in the car?

Marc: *checking his phone* About an hour and fifteen minutes.

Me: I wish I would have changed clothes.

Marc: That's why I told you to bring a change of clothes.

Me: *Putting my head down, and shaking it while giggling.*

Soon he turns onto highway 177 and we are officially out in the middle of nowhere. I can't decide if he's taking me to an Amish bakery in the middle of nowhere or taking me out to the middle of nowhere to chop me up into little bitty pieces and feed me to the goats. We did see at least one sign for "show goats" now that I think of it. Did you know there were such things as show goats? I didn't. I've grown up in Oklahoma my whole life and never heard of show goats.

Anyway, fast forward, after stopping for a potty, Frappuccino, and a handful of homemade trailmix because I'm starving, we make our way to Sulphur, Oklahoma, and pass a sign that says, "Echo Canyon Spa Resort," and I think to myself, "Oooooh, self, that sounds delightful! We should go there some time!" Before I know it, we're turning off the road and Marc's on the phone telling someone we're here and punching in a code to a huge swirly iron gate...next to a sign that says Echo Canyon Spa Resort! We're THERE!

We had an AMAZING meal of steak, duck, twice baked potatoes, fresh roasted asparagus (my fave), garlic bread with homemade pesto, a signature salad with the sweetest watermelon I've ever tasted, and light and fluffy cheesecake for dessert. Oh, and their special peach drink, made from peaches from their orchard! Yum!

I'll have to fast forward through the HILARIOUS monologue from one of our waitresses about her in shop class wearing high heels, facial school where she's going to learn how to do a velvet peel that she's not real sure about but apparently it makes "old ladies" look ten years younger, and the "customary" dance of the last people in the dining rooms (they were sure to dim the lights for us).

Then we picked up a second bottle of wine and headed back to our amazing room. I went into routine and to the bathroom to start taking off my eye make up and wash my face. Marc rushed in and said, "Don't do that! It's like you're saying the night's over! Let's go out to the balcony and drink our wine." Okay, okay.

Once out on the balcony, I take a sip of wine and enjoy the cloudless sky, perfect weather with warm air and a cool breeze, and ALL the stars you can't see in the city. Then he says, "So, I've asked you before and I'll ask you again, what do you love about me?" Classic Marc. So I tell him a couple of things, blah, blah, blah. Then he says, "Well, you know I want to be with you for the rest of my life don't you?" I answer affirmatively. Then he tells me some very sweet things he loves about me. He gives me a couple sweet little kisses, which quickly become quicker and less romantic and I start to notice he's breathing a little more quickly too. And I'm thinking, "surely any minute he's going to get down on his knee..."

Then he says, "I'm going to ask you a kind of serious question, and you can answer honestly," and...gets down on his knee...and pulls out a little white box.

Yep.

And opens the box.

But before I tell you what he said next I have to say, when he opened the box there was a light. A beacon of light BEAMING from the box, the ring box. And at first I thought to myself, "he did NOT just open up a ring box with a built-in flashlight, cause that would be cheesy." Then I looked and the ring. The magnificent ring. And I remembered that it was dark outside, and I was really glad it had a light. We lovingly refer to that part of the night as the Mel Brooks moment of the evening; may the schwartz be with you.

It's gorgeous. He's gorgeous, though I couldn't see his face to look him in the eye to tell him, "Yes of course!" after I caught my breath and fought back my tears and took my hands away from my mouth so he could hear me. Then we went inside so he could put that beautiful ring on my finger (which the sneaky boy has had since JANUARY!) because I was honestly too afraid to take it out of the box outside on the balcony in case I dropped it off the rail!

My hands were shaking and I couldn't stop smiling. Our very special moment that will forever change our lives. I should have taken pictures of our meal that night, or the wine, or the road trip down, or the obligatory dance (which was very, VERY sweet)...but I must have known it was all too special to ruin with picture taking. Those will be MY moments, in my memory and heart. But I will share with you pictures from the next morning, when I woke up to sit on that sweet little balcony and admire the breathtaking thing on my hand that tells everyone,

"I'm taken!"

 
 
 
 

And here's a silly little video from my Marc.

Love you baby. What lovely memories from the perfect adventure. I can't wait to make a lifetime more of them with you.

You can go your own waaaaaayyyyy...

I grew up with an ex-hippie mother, like the kind where my parents actually met on a commune, grew their own food, and birthed my brother with a midwife on the farm.  Not that that has a WHOLE lot to do with this entry’s title, but she did listen to a lot of Fleetwood Mac, and…I dig ‘em.

Some time late last fall, I was on my evening commute home from work and came to the stoplight at 41^st and Sheridan.  You know the one that is notoriously long, and if you’re headed south, like I usually am, you end up sandwiched in between Home Depot and Night Trips?  Yeah, there. 

On this particular day, as I sat, indefinitely, with NPR in the background, something quite ordinary caught my eye: a flock of birds.  It was rather large, and seemed to be hovering right over the intersection.  What was not so ordinary was their flight pattern.  Have you ever noticed birds when they change directions?  Sharp turns with ripple effects that mimic a stream or school of fish almost seem non-directional.  It’s fascinating, even mesmerizing.

As I was caught up in watching this flock of birds flutter and flicker in the sky above me, my mind was taken up in thoughts and wandering.  I completely lost track of time and was baffled at how long I watched this pattern, and how many times they changed directions.  I thought to myself, “South is THAT way, guys!  Isn’t that instinctual?  Don’t you do this every year?  Every time you change directions, it’s that much longer ‘til you get some place warm for winter!”  I was also baffled that the light STILL hadn’t changed, but that’s another post…

Each time they changed directions, they must have changed “lead birds” too.  Are birds that hard up for smart cookies?  Or are there just too many cooks in the kitchen?  Either way, I felt sorry for all these followers flapping their wings, desperately wanting to land somewhere warm and tropical and catch their breath!  I wanted them to be free and get going in the right direction!

Something else interesting occurred as I watched enthralled by this nature play, seemingly staged for me only.  Every few seconds, two or three birds would break away from the group and head straight south, no wavering.  Even as they slowly peeled away, it barely made a dent in the mass of birds left in the lost throng still flitting back and forth like a giant pin ball.   It struck me, like the song Ants Marching by DMB, that we are all often like this, caught in the day to day grind of jobs, obligations, bills, and all the things that keep us captive to a life that’s really just dragging us around in circles.  The things that have us stuck in traffic during an hour long commute (second of the day) that keeps us away from our families, or the distractions of countless things that promise to bring us more happiness, health, wealth, time, gourmet food, and brighter, tighter skin.

I don’t want to be one of the birds lost in the crowd, counting on an unreliable leader to take me to some unknown happy place.  Or worse, not even know who my leader is.  I want to be one of the birds who goes his own way.  I want to be my own bird, and my little birds to be their own too.  Most importantly, I want to know where I’m going.

This is the year, kids.  This year, I crossed the threshold of my thirties and am looking ahead to many more changes and adventures.  This year I’m making a change.  I’m not sure what it is; I may still have a way to go before I’m out of the throng of confusion.  But this year...I’m getting out and I’m flying south.

Ten Days of Christmas - Day 10!

Day 10, the last day of vacation...

One last day of lyin' around in bed in the hotel bein' lazy and takin' our time before heading off to real life.  But first, back to the Picasso Cafe that we fell in love with the last time we were in OKC.  We were pretty excited to be there on a Sunday morning so we could experience brunch, which we'd heard was out of this world.

Vanilla haze coffee for me (Yes, this would be considered an adult beverage.  Hey, I'm on vacation!)!Next, the Artisan Cheese Plate, with three cheeses I literally don't remember the names to!

Sweet crepes, with bananas and strawberry sauce for moi.  Marc got eggs benedict, and I did take the picture, just can't find it.  You're probably getting tired of pictures of my food anyway!One last movie, The Fighter.  Excellent!Then pick up my little men to head home.  They zonked.The most perfectly timed, nap filled ride from OKC to Tulsa to date!Then, to Mimi's for Christmas over there!Then home for Christmas at Mommy's, finally!Say cheese!We're in love with the Pigeon books, thanks to Aunt Megan!One for each...So cute, Aidan was way excited about candy canes with Nick Jr. characters on them!And the gifts from Santa:  Star Wars Legos for Mr. Aidan.And a helicopter for Mr. Alec.  He's hugging it...awwweee!And he loves his new Yo Gabba Gabba nap mat!

All in all, a very sucessful vacation and Christmas, complete with wonderful, activity filled time with the kids, and sweet, memorable moments with my Love, kid-free.  I'm so very thankful for everything and every person in my life, and sweet Jesus giving us a reason for a holiday of giving and receiving.

And...on to the next adventure! 

Ten Days of Christmas - Day 9

It's interesting to wake up on Christmas morning in a hotel.  No tree, no kids clamouring to open their presents, just quiet.  You can lie around as long as you want to and leisurely make some mediocre hotel room coffee and listen to the birds sing.  We'd already planned on mimosas, so Marcalish got dressed to go track us down some OJ, and found a stocking at our door!  Yay!Ho Ho Ho!When we popped the cork, it sounded like gunfire!  We were really glad we didn't shoot a hole in the ceiling.  Or shoot one of our eyes out (which is doubly funny since A Christmas Story was on all day long on TBS)!

Cheers!Headed downstairs for an amazing Christmas morning brunch at the hotel cafe.  Smoked ham, bacon, sun-dried tomato risotto, ommelette made to order with swiss, cheddar, spinach, tomatoes, and onions!I think Marc got one of everything!  I love his grin peeking through in this pic.We walked over to the Harkins theatre in Bricktown for a movie.  This is no small adventure.  It was literally the second time we've ever gone to the movies together, just the two of us.  And the last time was our first trip to OKC!  Unless you count the drive in...

It was a frigid walk to be sure, but it was nice to get some exercise, and truly wasn't that far.  We saw True Grit, which was really good.  And no joke, there is a movie coming out about gnomes.  This is really becoming a hilarious theme in our lives.  I didn't get a pic, but here's the IMDb page.

On the way back to the hotel, we passed this shop I've never seen before.  Looks delightful!  Of course it was closed Christmsas day, but I plan to come back and check it out another time.  Reminds me of Ms. Sarah and her s'moregasm cupcakes and oreo balls.  She would be famous with a store like this!Stop off at the hotel for socks for me, bundle up again and off to walk to the ice skating rink behind the municipal building in OKC.  Burr!Christmas in OKC - love the lights!After we walked on dead downtown streets, into the wind, for what seemed like an eternity, we finally found civilization, Christmas music (which was skipping), and a big hunk of ice.Cheeeese!  Insert cute pic here!Let's just say niether of us had been skating in quite some time, and we were a little trepidatious, but we carried on like good soldiers.  I honed my ballet skills.And refused to put my arms down while skating.  I was DETERMINED not to fall on the ice.  Marc teased me, saying, "You're flying!  You're flying!"Marc honed his smartass skills and...well, at least he didn't fall.We skated just long enough for our toes to go numb and our ankles to start hurting, then opted for hot chocolate and a warm cinnamon roll (complete with a big glob of melted butter on top!), before heading back to the hotel.We spent some more time being lazy at the hotel, watched the end of Knocked Up and Grease, then got all snazzed up for our fancy dinner at Deep Fork!  Look at that guy!  He cleans up pretty nice!And there's my beautiful new coat I got for Christmas!We settled in with wine and bread, then had some great shrimp ceviche as an appetizer, and salads.Marc got the rack of lamb, which I tasted, but wasn't super excited about it.  He loved it!I got the serloin, which was delicious;  I was just so full from the bread and pre-dinner courses I couldn't come close to finishing it!  But everything was so yummy and it was a great experience!Our next plan was to pick up coffee and find some playing cards and head back to the room and play gin rummy, but we never found any cards, and our Starbucks did not keep us awake any longer!  We fell asleep on the early side of things, and have no shame in it whatsoever!

It was a Christmas to remember for sure!

Tomorrow, looking forward to a Sunday Brunch, possibly one more movie, then picking up my sweet little men and finally getting Christmas with them! 

Ten Days of Christmas - Day 8

Day 8 began as a slow going and lazy one.  Without my kids around, we didn't get up until about 8:30 - WAHOO!  Took our time with coffee, Marc and his kids had some skype action goin' on with Grandma and Grandpa in Florida, and I caught up on my blog.  Finally, around lunch time we all got ourselves cleaned up and ventured out for the afternoon.  Marc had some last minute shopping to do, so the kids had to go with me.  Headed to Utica Square to pick up my Scentsy order from a friend who works at J. Jill, and found myself a little more than Scentsy!  Uggs!  I know I'm about 13 years behind on the times with these, but I'm psyched.  She gave me a $50 off coupon, as well as an internet promotion discount, so that justified the purchase in my book.  Merry Christmas to me!  Is it wrong to purchase something for yourself off your Christmas list before Christmas?Sadly, the favorite lunch spot, Queenies, closed at noon on Christmas Eve, so we went around the corner to Peppers.  Hey, they have coloring sheets and free chips!These kids are so cute.  I think Carter kinda looks like an owl here.Corrinne asked why I didn't get a coloring sheet.  I remedied that!Next up: our little Christmas with the kids before they go to their mom's.  Marc's presents are there for them, but I wanted to give them a little something, and of course we had to do our stockings!They were psyched about the Tech Decks I found at Big Lots!  (Just don't remind us of the lost miniature nut that got lost in the shag rug shortly thereafter...)Marc got a surprise in his stocking!  At first, we thought it was just a little book about gnomes, But, Oh No!  It's a real tiny gnome!  They've found us again! S#%*@!!Don't forget the ambiance...Carter's gift - always a good feeling when they say, "This is just what I was wanting!"Corrinne ripped through the paper so fast you can barely see her arm in the picture!Yay!I've had such a sweet time having a whole week with Marc's kids.  We usually only have them for the weekend, and I don't always get one on one time with them.  I was a little sad to see them go when we dropped them off for the night. 

So, what do we do with no kids for Christmas?  Get out of town!  We made a stop at the liquor store before getting on the road.  I can't get over this face as Marc picks something out for himself...Something for mimosas in the morning...Something for Missy...And something to keep in mind for the future!Even though I still have a hard time saying the name of the convenience store out loud and don't know why anyone thought that was a good idea, thanks for the free coffee!Don't mind if I do!  My only option to get mocha was super charged with extra caffeine.Grab a couple snacks, get on the road to OKC, and bada bing, bada boom, we're there!  I landed like this on the bed and couldn't make myself get up to go down to the restaurant for dinner.  So much for the Mocha Charger, huh!

Oh well!  That's what room service is for! 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! 

Ten Days of Christmas - Day 5

Day 5 started with hauling out a LOT of trash and junk in the garage out to the curb, then the usual making of the coffee and feeding of the baby chicks.  Aidan requested chocolate chip pancakes and I couldn't say no.  Shortly the bigs and one little made their way outside to explore, and the last little decided to stay close to home.  He kept me company at the kitchen table with his work while I pecked away at the computer.  Mimi had just asked if I thought he would like a Play-dough fun factory hamburger shop for Christmas.  I think he'll be fine with that.As I worked on my blog for Day 4, I was distracted by the compost pile in the back yard.  The kids seem to find projects constantly that involve various forms of garbage for building forts and such, and it appeared they had dug into the old squishy pumpkins.  I know, ew.  Anyway, I stepped out just to turn the compost and gather the bits of veggies that had been dispersed and put them back in.  I was delighted to find a nice, rich, earthy-smelling pile of compost and soil underneath as I turned it - just as it should be!  I then raked up a few scattered leaves in the yard to add to the mix.  As I was raking, I found a little friend in an overgrown "weed bed" (project #45628 awaiting us).Whats HILARIOUS about this is several weeks ago, Marc and I ran across How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack at Barnes and Noble.  There is a whole chapter on recognizing whether or not you're at risk for an attack, and one of the risk factors is actually having gnomes in your yard.  Another is when you notice that something different is in your yard, or if a gnome is in a different place one day than it was on a previous day.  I will be sure to check his location today, and also search for any others that may have joined him in the night.

After my intruder discovery, I found the boys sharing their library books with some neighborhood friends.  I ADORE this about our neighborhood.  The kids all play together, outside, everyday.  The migrate from one backyard to another, riding bikes and creating adventures.  And as much as it drives me bonkers to constantly find debris in the yard from one of their latest projects, I'm overjoyed that they're using their imaginations building forts and acting out elaborate scenes.  Yesterday I was served a leaf and grass pizza in a mangled Pizza Hut box.  Love it!!Speaking of neighbors, shortly after a lunch of pigs in a blanket (for the wee ones) and homemade tomato basil pizza (for me), our neighbor from across the street knocked and asked if I would be home for a couple of hours and if I could keep an eye on his kiddo while he and his wife finished up their Christmas shopping for him.  Uh, duh, of course!  So, on our errands to Akin's and Wally World, we had a stowaway!Along with two happy littles and one disgruntled big in the back seat.While at Wal-Mart, Alec wanted to be the leader, so the others marched behind him while he sang, "We're following the leader, the leader, the leader..."We needed a few more supplies for oreo ball and crownie making, as well as projects for the kids, who, even with beautiful weather outside, can still get cabin fever on Christmas Break!

$3 Dino Dig for Carter (go figure):$3 Clay Art for the others:And $9 Apron Kit for Mom:I also bought Uno for the kids, which we'll work on teaching them tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

We took a break in the projects to meet Marc at Carl's Jr. for dinner.  He was pretty pooped from a long day, and he's growing out his hair; doesn't it look great?After dinner, we headed home to finish our art projects and settle in for a movie (Night at the Museum 2 from the Library!)

But before we started the movie, Carter finally dug out his dinosoar:Aidan made a cat out of his clay:Alec made...something...Corrinne made a bee and an owl, very impressive!And Cheeto (the gecko) got a Christmas present.  Corrinne found a kid's meal toy in the play area and decided to bestow it on him.  Merry Christmas Cheeto!

And I...am pooped...

Rt 66 Half Marathon (warning there may be foul language)

After running the 2010 Tulsa Run, I decided now was as good a time as any to run a half marathon.  The Tulsa Run is 9.3 miles and a half marathon is 13.1.  It's only 4 miles more, and if you can do 9, you can do 13.  I also was banking on the fact that I could very well get burnt out on running and training and I needed to take advantage of the momentum.  See, I have a history with running and marathons...

My last semester in college I actually decided to train for the Oklahoma City Memorial MARATHON, yes full marathon (26.2 miles).  As an education major at OU, my last semester was full with a teaching internship, and a graduate class.  I was also the coordinator for the Norman area Perspectives on the World Christian Movement class, as well as in leadership with my church, AND dating the boy who would later become my husband (and later become my ex-husband but that's a whooooooole 'nuther blog post!), SO it goes without saying I was pretty busy that semester.  Suffice to say I bit off more than I could chew and had a bit of a nervous breakdown in the middle of my second 10 mile run, and didn't engage in ANY form of exercise for about 6 months after that!  Since then I've secretly wanted to redeem myself, so I'm trying to do it the right way, slowly building up to that Mt. Everest of goals, the marathon.  One day we'll get there!

Here's my journey on November 21st.  After RUNNING to make it to the starting line on time, here I am, totally feeling like a fish out of water.  The marathon crowd is TOTALLY different from the Tulsa Run crowd.  It's hard to describe, but if you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. Feeling a little nervous...here we go! And a few miles down the road, it was time to start in on my run mix.  I needed it earlier in the game than I needed it for the Tulsa Run.
That was at about 3 miles.  A lot transpired between this and the next picture.  Like 7 miles.  I had several mind warps (or mind fucks if you wanna know what was REALLY being said in my head) during this race, and I psyched myself out a lot.  I was nervous about chaffing (never chaffed in my life until I ran 10.5 miles in training, so I knew I would in the race), about using gu for the first time (which you're not supposed to do), about taking my time to stop and stretch, about the weather (it was warmer and muggier than expected and not the most comfortable weather for long distance runs).  But the first real one was hitting the 15k marker and seeing the time.  The Tulsa Run was a 15k and I ran it in 1:35 this year, and by the time I made it to that mark, I was about 10 min behind my time.  Little discouraging, but I ate my gu, downed some water and kept going.

 
That picture was on Riverside, which is always a refreshing view.  That means, though, that I was already past 10 miles.  Mind fuck #2 happened right around the 10 mile mark when the route came back to the east side of the river and turned onto Riverside.  I saw a man on the ground receiving cpr from another race participant.  The terrible tragedy is that this 27 year old man, in incredible physical health, passed away.  It was a freak thing apparently, an unforseen heart condition and he died from cardiac arrest.  It was certainly jarring to see that as I ran by, and I felt panicked, not knowing quite what to do.  I heard someone on the phone calling for help, and saw an official race volunteer assure another runner that an ambulence was on its way, so I just kept going, and said a little prayer for the man in peril.

Thankfully, I knew encouragement was down the road.  The furthest I had run in training, and in my life was 10.5 miles, so I asked my brother to meet me on the route at that point.  My brother, the best big brother in all of history, rode his bike, with folding chair in tow, and raced along, meeting me at several different points on the route.  It meant so much to see him, my Marc, and others I hadn't expected, to cheer me on.  About the time I saw Jesse, I had Def Leppard on the run mix, got a hug, a drink, dropped my long sleeved shirt, got a hug, belted out some lyrics and got on my way.  I was definitely feeling the longevity of the race at this point.
Yeah, that face is partially because I was attempting to get a picture of myself while running, and also because I was just wanting to get to the finish line.  Not completely out of juice though.  And here comes mind fuck #3: seeing all those people pass you on the other side of the road, knowing they're that much closer to the finish line than you are.  I think it's pretty fitting that the picture is warbled because at that point, that's how you're feeling for sure.  Come mind fuck #4: seeing the 17 mile marker for the MARATHON participants.
Several miles back, the marathoners split from the half marathoners and we were running on our own.  At this point in the race they've joined back up with us, or will soon.  Even though I KNOW I'm not at 17 miles, I'm still thinking, "Shit!  Where the hell am I?  And where is the goddamn turn around?!!"  You start looking around you and making sure there are others with red bibs on (showing you're a half-marathoner), so you know you're still on the right track!

Thankfully this was just a couple of minutes before I reached the turn around.  "Ok, I can do it," I'm thinking, "just about a couple of miles left.  I can do this."  About this point in the race I saw my dear friend Brandi on the other side of the road, about to reach the turnaround herself.  We hugged and cheered each other on, and I felt energized.  At least enough to keep going to the end.  I stopped for a quick stretch and got on my way. 

Mind fuck #5, I hear sirens wooping, see motercycles go by, then a bicyclist with a flag ESCORTING the guy in the lead for the MARATHON.  Yeah, I still have at least a mile and a half to go to finish the 13.1 miles, and he's sprinting past me about to finish 26.2 miles.  Seriously? 

At this point I just want to FINISH, and I pass a sign that says, ".2 miles to go - how's that detour feel now?"  And I thought, "DAMN GOOD!!  I can do 2/10 of a mile!  Shortly thereafter I came to "Hard" by Rhianna on my iPod, saw Marc for the last time before the finish line, kicked it into gear, and sprinted across the finish line, singing, "I want it all!"

It felt good to finish.  It felt good to get my medal and know that I did it.  I did it because I can.  I was a little discouraged with my time and discouraged that I was so nervous and ended up not performing as well as I could have just because my brain was in the wrong mindset, but I finished.  I finished!  And not being satisfied just means I go for more.  I'm hoping to run the half marathon in the OKC Memorial Run in May of 2011, the one in which I intended to run the full marathon back in 2004.  Maybe one day I will, but for now I'll just focus on perfecting the half, and staying motivated in general.  Haven't done much (or any) exercise since the run, so I'll have to start by getting back on the band wagon!