Running and Wedding progress

Nick and I are continuing to prepare for our wedding while improving our running endurance. I am checking off things on the wedding checklists (provided by the knot.com) that will get me closer to being prepared for the wedding in September. I think we are fully registered, I have updated our website, Nick has gotten fitted for his tux, the bridal shower date is set, I have chosen the bridesmaid dresses, I bought my wedding shoes, etc. Can you tell I am excited?

Throughout all this planning, I have been trying my hardest to run daily. After boot camp finished, I had to take a week off from running due to some horrible shin splints. I purchased the new Kayano 16's and put in some new gel insoles. After running this last week, it seems that new shoes and insoles really help. I also bought Nick some new Asics, but not the Kayano's. We try to run everyday, at least 2 miles. It is slow progress, but hopefully I can stick to it.

The devil which is named STATISTICS

For the past 5 weeks of school, my class has been Research and Statistics. It's not bad enough that I have an extremely hard time understanding all the equations (remembering them or understanding how to do them), I also have had a professor that is no more than a robot. I say this because there is no teaching involved. Throughout my online school career, I have never once had to be in a physical classroom, but yet I have had teachers post weekly informational "lectures", provide responses to the discussion questions that request for you to think more deeply, and correct essays with advice of where you can improve. This professor's only responses to the discussion questions to everyone are 1) "You need to cite your sources" or 2) "Please provide more information". As for the assignments, all I get is a low score and the comment of "please refer to the syllabus for reason of this grade". The reason this response is so frustrating is because I did everything that was requested on the syllabus. Finally, I have had to do group assignments with classmates who are just as lost as I am! After countless nights of staying up until midnight, hoping the professor will answer our questions we asked 3 days prior, we all surrender to turn in a less than satisfactory essay or presentation. I am glad the 5 weeks with that professor are over. He really reiterated the fact that you can't always learn something you're not interested in by reading alone. I have to take another 5 weeks of Statistics that will add on to the previous class, but it looks like this professor is here to help us all out. I am crossing fingers that I will get some sleep over the next 5 weeks.

Boot Camp

For the past 4 weeks, I have been doing boot camp on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 6:30-7:30 AM. It is held in the San Mateo Central Park. The original idea came from Sarah who said that we should do boot camp to get me in shape for the wedding (since all I was doing was complaining about how out of shape I am but not truly doing much about it). Here is a quick break down of each week:

Week 1 day 1: Wow.. I was so out of shape that I was doing worse than anyone else. Pushups, squats, and running.. oh my!

Week 1 day 2 (Wednesday): This was fitness training. I did a 10:04 minute mile, 24 pushups in one minute, 54 crunches in one minute, and a 1:05 minute wall sit.

As the next 3 weeks went on, we did loads of ladder exercises, jump rope, squats, running around the park, bleachers, etc. The first two weeks were tough, but on week 3, I was looking forward to waking up to go to boot camp!!

At the fitness test on Week 4 day 2 (Wednesday): I did a lot better! I did a 9:40 mile, 36 pushups in a minute, 72 crunches in a minute, and a 1:42 minute wall sit. Much better!!

I must also applaud Nick who came one of the Friday mornings on guest day. After seeing what I had been doing for an hour 3 times a week, he definitely understood why I was always so tired around 7 PM.

Since I had perfect attendance and I turned in a weekly food journal, I was awarded $25 to use towards future classes. Sooo tempting, but I can't afford it at the moment. I have a wedding to buy stuff for!!

Done with wedding faires!!

I went to a wedding faire yesterday and realized I am done going to them! I originally went so I could get ideas on flowers, invitations, pictures, cakes, etc. Now that I have the venue, food, flowers (ideas), invitations (I think), and pictures figured out, I only went yesterday to look at hair, makeup and cake. Trying to avoid the other stations, however, seemed near impossible. I felt hassled as I told the vendors that I already have the service they were providing. Nobody would take no as an answer. I even got a "if your vendor fails, you can use us!" Way to scare me! So with new bridal magazines in tow, I left the faire within 45 minutes. I am officially done with wedding faires.

First race!!

Nick and I completed our first race yesterday (04/11/2010). We ran the 10K in Santa Cruz. Let me paint the picture for you. 8 AM we arrive at the race. 20-30 MPH winds, 4000 people all at the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk, dark clouds threatening rain. Our 4 friends (Adrienne, Dave, Jamie, and Sarah) ran the half marathon, so they started the race right at 8 AM. Nick and I started with the rest of the 10K runners at 8:15. The first two miles were alright. Nick and I were keeping a good pace. Pretty much around the 2.5 miles, though, I popped my ankle stepping awkwardly. Needless to say I experienced pain until I stretched my ankle. Near the end, the ocean waves were splashing against the rocks, spraying all runners with loads of salt water. Nick and I ran through the finish line at 1:09 hours. That averages out to 11:15 minute miles. Not too shabby for our first race. We were really thankful that we got finished before it started raining. While standing at the finish line while waiting for our friends to finished, a massive amount of rain came pouring down. I'm sure the people running in shorts and tank tops must have hypothermia by now. Nick and I are proud of ourselves for running the race and hope to continue "training" for our unplanned future race!

The pain of running

This weekend was a great weekend for us. The work week was standard, but the weekend is what really was a mile marker. On Friday, I cooked something other than spaghetti for my friends. I made stuffed manicotti along with garlic bread and caesar salad. We had our good friends, David and Jamie Orr, Sarah, and Liz. We were able to enjoy the beautiful weather and eat outside. From there, we went down the hill to sleep. On Saturday, we went on a 10 mile run... YES! A 10 MILE RUN... with Dave, Jamie, Sarah, and Megan (on her bike). I can't believe we actually did it, and it hurt so good. When we got home at 3, Nick slept for 6 hours while I iced my knee. we were able to watch one movie together, than went back to sleep.

Today, we went to Nordstrom (to return some very cute shoes that were too expensive for a soon-to-be bride) and then crate and barrel to update our registry. I hope to win the lottery and buy another house so we can have two houses to have all the cute crate & Barrel stuff. :) (one can only dream!) Then homeward bound to do another run. We were only able to go a mile since our legs are SCREAMING! :) I love spring weekends. If only we didn't get the sad news of little Claire Calhoon. :(

Engagement photos

This weekend was a beautiful weekend up at our house. It was in the mid-70's and sunny! What a great time for engagement photos. We are very fortunate to have Nick's uncle, Larry, be our photographer for our wedding! Larry has taken gorgeous pictures throughout the years. He has been on many hikes and captured the morning sunrise just right on the lake, morning dew on a fully bloomed flower, etc. He was thrilled when we asked if he would be our wedding photographer. On Sunday, Larry came over and had us do all sorts of fun and cute poses. Unfortunately, I did not have too many ideas for engagement photo poses, so we were all trying to think of past engagement photos we had seen and imitated them. I wore three different outfits: a blue dress, jean capris with a blue and white silk shirt, and a burgandy formal evening dress. The photos took a course of 5 hours, with a few breaks in between (dinner, watching of the health bill discussions), but I think we got some quality shots. I will post the pictures when we receive them from Larry. My total evaluation of the day: Nick looks awesome in blue, engagement photos are tiring, and I am so grateful that spring has sprung!