I work nights and try to be a rational parent in the daylight hours. My kids see me as the "bringer of the donuts" when I come home in the mornings. I'd like to think I'm more than that ... I'm also an out of shape 40-something former triathlete and jogger living a progressive life in a very conservative part of the country.
This past weekend BJ and I were invited to a 2nd birthday party for one of his good friend's son. Now BJ is quite a fan of this little dude, but in all honesty we weren't thinking that it would be a swell time for us given that we're pretty much the only ones in the crowd without munchkins of our own. I assured him that we could show up, give our present and sneak out early if we were bored to tears and his friends would not take offense. When explaining this train of thought to another couple who were going (with their munchkin of course) we were told, "oh no, you'll love it! That place is fun!" Apparently the party was being held at one of those playland sorts of places with inflatable bouncy things - we were told most explicitly to wear socks or we wouldn't be allowed to play (seems a bit Fascist to me, especially considering the types of filth children carry about on their hands, but whatever)
Despite being still a bit skeptical about the fun factor, we put on our socks - I made sure BJ's had no holes, and I picked out a cute hot pink argyle pair from my dresser to go with my "Red Hair Gives Me Super Powers" tshirt. We arrived fashionably late at Party Central and that's where the fun began!!
We immediately started bouncing in one of the bounce chambers and it was a good one!! With all of the adults in there, I was getting some good air.
You can't see me well in this video since I'm in the back corner ... and falling down but we (me, BJ and two of BJ's friends) are totally doing the YMCA as we jump.
There was also a cool slide that you had to climb up .... whee!! and since when do BJ and I stand around and talk in a super hero stance??? Seriously, what's up with the Superman poses?? (though my pose is a bit more slouchey) and the most tiring part was the obstacle course. You climbed through tunnels, over small walls, between moving posts and then had to haul yourself up a wall to go down the last slide. This is me hanging "precariously" ... I think I was yelling "Save me, save me!" and BJ was trying desperately to save me from falling off the cliff (seriously, we have some good imaginations!) By the end of it, we were thoroughly exhausted, and the next day my arms and abs were sore. I'm guessing from pulling myself up things and stabilizing myself whilst bouncing.
I don't know what the birthday boy (pictured here) thought of the whole thing, but we had a blast!!
I can recall the exact moment when I first decided that I needed to lose weight and start to work out, it was after I saw this picture from my 32nd birthday and realized that my jeans hadn't shrunk, my ass had just gotten larger :) Of course that was September and it took me two months to actually take action, hire a trainer, meet with a dietician and get at it, but this was when I finally realized that what I saw in the mirror was not reality.
Yes, blog readers, I love you so much as to reveal my most unflattering picture. Don't say I never gave you anything.
There's no point in pretending, I have fallen off the training wagon ... again! I've had such a hard time motivating myself to run lately, despite the fact that I always feel so good after a nice workout. Instead of being something that I look forward to, it's just one other area where I feel like I'm falling short. I think part of it has to do with not getting together with my running club lately. My work schedule has conflicted with most of the group runs, but there have been nights where I just haven't gone. I was running well in the Spring when I was meeting up with the Hot Legs at least once a week - I think that I should really try to incorporate that into my running regimen.
Another thing that I've been pondering since moving back to Little Rock is getting back into cross training and back into tris. I had such a good thing going when I lived in Columbia and had the awesome university swimming pool and rec center at my disposal and areas to ride my bike right outside of my door. My travel nursing gigs have totally killed my cross training because of the constant moving and inability to get hooked up with a pool or a place to ride my bike where I feel safe. Now that I'm staying put, I really need to get back at it. I'd like to do some races in the Spring and I promised a friend of mine that I'd do a women's tri with her in Chicago next summer. I think that if I had a more rounded exercise plan, I'd be happier and more fit.
For the immediate future, I'm needing to find a goal to work on. I'm planning a half-marathon with BJ the first week of December, but since I've blown off most of my training thus far, I'm really not going to expect to PR or do anything exciting. I've learned the hard way that you can't "catch up" on your training and mileage - last time I did that I ended up with a sore IT band. So now I'm pondering a little more long term. The Little Rock Marathon is exactly 19 weeks from today, and my training plan is 20 weeks long. I wouldn't have to play catchup, I'd just be starting at week 2. I'm thinking that I need to just go for it and take it one week at a time. I just know that if I'm going to be serious, I need to put in my four runs a week and stop making excuses. Ever since I saw the big ass medals they hand out at this marathon (they're the largest in the world according to Runner's World), I knew that I had to have one. Since it's in my own back yard, I'd be silly to not take advantage of it. We'll check back in next week and see how my first week of honest training has gone.
This trip takes us to a time not so long ago .... me and BJ's first date part 2. (There was some controversy as to whether we had one or two dates the first time that we met, I still firmly believe that there were two separate and distinct dates). There is no photographic evidence from our true first date which was a lunch that ended up lasting SIX hours!! Later on that evening, I met up with BJ and two of his friends at Sticky Fingerz to hear an all girl's band that does a lot of 80s covers. There was a photographer there from a local "social" website that took our picture so now for all time we will have a picture of the first day that we met. This was of course before BJ nearly got us killed by taking me to a gangsta' bar where my presence was most definitely not wanted! But that's another story for another time.
In other news, the home inspection went well so it's full speed ahead to mortgage land!
I'm not a fan of football - never have been. I was raised in a town where the high school didn't have a football team so basketball was the major sport. I understand basketball, I was a cheerleader for basketball, I GET basketball. Now football is an entirely different animal. When I changed high schools I suddenly found myself in major football territory, as a matter of fact I would have been shocked if our men's basketball team could have beaten most of the women's teams in town. I spent four years in the marching band on the sidelines and in the half time shows at football games, but I never understood or cared what was going on. I cheered when others cheered, exclaimed in disgust when others did and basically just chatted with my girlfriends the whole time.
In college at Illinois State, football was not a big thing. I think I went to one or two games as part of a sorority/fraternity mixer but honestly I was in it for the tailgating and beer. In nursing school at Mizzou, I often had clinicals on the weekends as part of my program or I was working so again - no football, no care.
Now I find myself in the midst of football fanatics and apparently I'm marrying not only BJ, but his season tickets to the University of Arkansas Razorback games..... yippee for me ... NOT! Now before you give me grief, let me make it clear that I did NOT misrepresent myself in regards to sports. I am certain that we covered sports in our first lunch date which lasted 6 hours and my thoughts on football were not sugar coated. The only sport I enjoy watching is college basketball, if I'm plied with liquor I can watch hockey or go to a baseball game (I'd rather put my eyes out, however, than watch it on TV), when the Olympics come around I can sit and watch various sports for hours, but that's it. I have had many opportunities in my life to care about football - for example, my stepdad coaches my former high school team, my stepbrother played college ball for four years, I've been to more Super Bowl parties than I can count and still I don't like football.
All of that clearly has to change now because I'm in love yadayadayada and marrying into a family that not only watches their own personal teams, but has to watch ESPN and see highlights of every other important game going on in the country - UGH! Since I do want my marriage to work, and I was told that nothing gets a guy hotter than seeing his main squeeze dressed up in his team's colors and loudly disputing a crappy call, I boldly went to my first Razorback game this weekend. Let me be clear that I still don't really understand football, though I was making a concerted effort to make some sense of the madness on the field. I'm a pretty sharp gal so once I actually *sigh* started to pay attention and care, the downs, yards, penalties and strategy were starting to make some sense.
For those who don't know Razorback football, let me just say that these people are nuts! Grown women and men were passionately cheering for this team, booing the opponents, exclaiming loudly at the "unfair" penalty calls. I seriously would have feared for my life if at a quiet point in the game I decided to shout, "I think the Razorbacks suck ass!"
Another distinctly Arkansas tradition is to call the hogs. This is done prior to the team taking the field and as a type of cheer at all of the kick offs and other special moments. It had been demonstrated to me half- heatedly by BJ once and very enthusiastically by my future brother-in-law prior to the game (who interestingly enough is an Auburn fan). After seeing what it means to call the hogs, I told BJ outright that I was NOT going to do that, but I did compromise and wear a ball cap with the "hog call" on it.
So picture this, tens of thousands of men, women and children at the beginning of the game .... standing up wiggling their hands in the air "spirit finger" style yelling "WOOOOOOOOOOOOO PIG SOOIE!" Seriously the first time I saw it, I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee. This video clip gives you an idea ... seriously the ENTIRE stadium was participating!
In the end, the football game was not a horribly painful experience, by the end of it I felt like i had some vague understanding of what was going on. I wouldn't mind going two or three times a season but I don't know if and when I would ever feel so moved as to want to call the hogs.
One other fun part of the weekend was getting to meet BJ's sister and her husband for the first time. She's a dyed in the wool Mizzou and Georgia fan while he can be found wandering around aimlessly shouting "War Eagle!" (click here for reference) They flew in for the game to sit in the Auburn section and we all had a rousing weekend of football together - and thankfully there was plenty of beer to dull the pain for Jenn!!
This weekend BJ and I were up in Fayetteville to frolic with the family and the Razorbacks so we decided to participate in the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival. This unique running event is held on the University of Arkansas cross country course and starts with a 10K run open to the public then a morning and early afternoon of men's and women's cross country races at the collegiate, high school and finally junior high level. Several dozen collegiate teams were there from all across the south and there were masses of youngsters. It was a little chilly when we arrived, but once the sun came out and we started running, it was about as perfect of a fall day as you could ask for.
I've never run cross country so it was a very interesting course. Most of it was on grass with an occasional portion on a gravelly road or path. There were a few little ups and downs but nothing out of the ordinary when you run on Little Rock streets. The hardest part was staying sure footed on the sometimes uneven terrain, nothing outrageous like single track trail, but just required a bit more attention to detail than mindlessly running on pavement.
The course was three loops so the fast ass leaders looped us pretty quickly. Originally BJ and I had talked about running together and making it a pace run for our half marathon, but let's be honest, he's faster than me. It doesn't make me mad, but I also can't stand seeing him get irritated when I'm not keeping up and he wants to pull away. I kept saying, "take off and run, no seriously, just go" and he eventually did. There's no point in me holding him back when he can push harder and besides, I have no problems racing solo - I've been doing it for over a year anyway :)
We both were doing a 4:1 run/walk ratio and once I found my groove, it worked great. I wasn't pushing super hard because I was using this as my weekly long run for my half mary - the schedule was 7 miles but I figured 6.2 was close enough. I was just enjoying the people around me, watching the collegiate men warming up on the course as I was making my third loop, and the cheering of the crowd. In the end I was slightly behind my only other 10K race time and finished in 1:08:19 which is a 11:01 pace per mile. This put me 12/19 for my age group and 434/472 overall (yes, the people running in this race were very fast!) BJ had a 10K PR of 1:04:42 and finished 412/474. After the race, there was the typical post race fare of bananas, water and cookies, as well as tacos and sandwiches catered by a local Mexican restaurant. We didn't feel like staying around and watching the collegiate races (we didn't bring chairs or warm enough clothes) but it was interesting to note in the results how incredibly bunched all the racers are in the collegiate division. Also of interest was how fast the high school and junior high kids run their 5Ks, essentially all of them kick both of our asses which is just sad!! :)
I missed last week and almost missed this week because let's be honest, if I forget to blog my "regular feature" then it's not very regular is it??
This week's trip involves sports since I am being forced into .... ahem happily going to a Razorback football game this weekend. Despite my recent adult onset athleticism regarding running and triathlon, I've never really cared for sports and as a child I participated in the requisite team sports because it was a small town and everybody did. Of course I wasn't particularly good at anything and I spent more than my share of time on the bench, but there was ONE time where I shined!!
When my Dad built our second machine shed one half of it was paved and a regulation basketball goal was installed for my older brother who played. We have a free throw mark and everything. I decided to start shooting free throws (it was the country, there wasn't much to do) so I would spend several hours in there lobbing up balls granny style through the legs since I didn't have the arm strength to shoot "normal" style. This trophy was when I won first place in my age group (and yes that included boys as well) at a local free throw contest. I don't remember how old I was ... 10 or so??? But I was quite proud of my trophy. Of course by the next year I had long since moved on to some other obsession as is common with my short attention span, so it was the last free throw contest I ever participated in!
I've heard that buying a home can be a stressful process full of emotion and angst, causing sleepless nights (or at the very least sex-less nights amongst fighting spouses) and tearing apart families. Well, I guess we'll just have to save the angst for the packing, moving and "so where should we put the wagon wheel coffee table??" debates because WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!! Or more specifically we offered, they countered (with exactly the deal we were expecting all along) and we agreed. Of course there's always the possibility of our home inspection uncovering a meth lab, smuggling operation for illegal immigrants, tiny gnomes in the rafters etc, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
It's exactly the kind of suburban paradise I was wanting in a first home .... a 2 car garage, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen that looks like it was built AFTER I was born, and a nice fenced yard for all of the four legged children to enjoy. It'll add a good 15 minutes to my drive to work, but in the grand scheme of things I would much rather have that than the 1950s era homes we could afford in the city that made me want to cry when we toured them.
After reading all the horror stories about the Chicago Marathon all I can say is DAMN! I'm glad I didn't run that race!! Even had I in theory trained like I was supposed to, it really doesn't sound like an ideal situation for a first marathon. Not to mention, it would have hacked me off had I trained so hard and then been forced to walk. I mean I totally understand why the course organizers did what they did, it just would have been hard to stomach the disappointment.
All of my friends and fellow Hot Legs who did the race finished safe and sound, and have interesting stories to tell about the constant sirens, people collapsing, general craziness once the helicopters started telling people to walk etc.
So in the end I'm out $120 for the registration fee and the priceless opportunity to say, "yeah I was at the Chicago Marathon that they shut down half way through."
Maybe I'll have better luck debuting at the Little Rock Marathon. I mean it'll involve winter long runs (of course winter here is laughable at best for someone used to the bitter prairie cold in the Midwestern plains), some hill training, and it's exactly a week before I get married. What could be wrong with that situation???
BJ and I participated in our first race together yesterday, the Tyler Curtis Memorial 5K, and it was also my first 5K in 6 months (did I mention I'm slow and I don't really like 5Ks???). Even though the 5K distance is not my favorite, I do like participating in local communtiy events, especially for a good cause. I also knew it was going to be fun to race with BJ even though I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to keep up with him the whole way.
The race was in an adorable neighborhood southwest of Little Rock that we actually liked so much we added it to our list of places for our realtor to investigate. The course was run on paved streets and had "rolling" hills which is a very appropriate description. It wasn't horribly hilly, but just enough here and there to really challenge you. We both planned to do a 4:1 run/walk strategy and he was hoping to keep the run sections at 8 min miles, while I thought of staying more at a 9 minute pace. Of course in the heat of the moment and the excitement of the race start, I just ran with him for the first mile and a quarter .... then got a horrible side stitch and had to drop back. He was able to bring it in for yet another PR of 28:45 - an excellent time given that both of his prior 5Ks were on flat as pancake courses. And I was able to put up a respectable (for me) 30:47 which I'm not going to complain about given that my side stitch continued the whole last mile and a half of the race.
I'm pretty sure that had I paced myself better in the beginning, I would have been able to break that elusive 30 minute barrier, but hey - you win some, you lose some, and sometimes you learn to just let your husband-to-be run faster than you.
The best part of the race was the chance to catch up with my Hot Legs running friends and meet some new ones!! My work schedule since moving back to Little Rock has prevented me from joining the group runs, so it was awesome to see everyone who came out to volunteer and run the race.
BJ and I also stuck around for the door prizes and were stoked when he won dinner for two at a fancy restaurant in the Heights and I won two rounds of golf. BJ also ended up with second in his age group, so all in all it was a most productive day of racing!
Apparently my blog is read by dozens of traditionalists as evidenced by my poll results. 30/46 voters (65%) believe I should take BJ's name, while only 3 measly people (6%) think I should retain my own identity. Of course I do happen to know that my readership does consist of several members of BJs family ... so I am slightly suspicious to say the least :) 21% said go with the hyphen, while another 3% said it really doesn't matter.
After receiving a bribe from BJ (yes I'm weak, I can be bought with pretty baubles) I agreed that I would change my name. I plan on hyphenating because first of all I think it sounds good hyphenated (he agrees) and second I could not live with just taking his last name. I would become Jennifer Jones, or Jenn Jones, or YIKES Jenni Jones!! It would create alliteration which I am opposed to and it makes me sound like a porn star ... or an infamous talk show host ... at the very least a blonde and I am none of the above.
Of course in the end, as long as you don't dare call me Mrs. BJ Jones we'll all get along.
It's amazing that I've made it to the age of 34 but never have bought a home, so yes I'm a mortgage virgin. BJ and I discussed buying a house before I even moved back to Little Rock, but both of us can be exceptionally adept procrastinators so we're just now getting around to starting the process. Thankfully one of BJ's friends is a realtor with both charm AND savvy, so we have someone to help us navigate the treacherous waters of the market. We contacted two of the mortgage lenders she recommended and now have good faith estimates coming our way. I really liked the guy who understood when I explained that yes I know we make enough to qualify for a ridiculously expensive mortgage, but we want a starter home with a low payment so we can pay off existing debt, then move up in the future. His response. ... "well that's not very American of you!" I mean sure, we could get a $250K home, never pay off our debt and continue to feed the pocketbooks of student loan and credit card companies - I mean I know that's the American way, why pay for now what you can finance and pay for forever?
As long as we've got something to call our own and it's not in the 'hood (near the 'hood I'm fine with, in the hood not so much) or out in the middle of redneck territory I'll be OK with it. Now if we can just shop for and agree upon a house without killing each other in the process - did I mention we're each strong willed and slightly stubborn individuals?? - then life will be good.
and since when do BJ and I stand around and talk in a super hero stance??? Seriously, what's up with the Superman poses?? (though my pose is a bit more slouchey)
blast!!
