March Madness and Updates

Just to show how selfless of a person I am ... despite the fact that my brackets would have been TOTALLY screwed given that I picked Kansas to win it all... I was really pulling for Davidson to win. There's nothing I like more than a good underdog story and when I see a small college that no one has ever heard of (OK, I had never heard of) make it to the Elite Eight and play with so much heart, how can you not want them to win?? I always wonder if these moments truly change people by having that period in the spotlight, thousands of fans cheering for you, making you believe you can win despite the odds. Even though you'll never likely play after college, that confidence might propel someone into a different trajectory in their life all because of that one tournament where they were a part of a Cinderella story. At least I like to think it does.

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An update on my friend Beverly who was kidnapped. Her car was used in a drive by shooting two nights later which likely confirms my suspicion that the perpetrators were gang related (though nothing like that has been mentioned in the press). The car was later abandoned. It is currently being dusted for fingerprints. I saw Beverly on Thursday night and she is still quite shaken, but very thankful to be alive.

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oh, and I did take my little walk with brief periods of jogging. I forgot how good it feels to get the heart pumping, and even though I'm ridiculously out of shape - you have to start somewhere right??

Negativity is Thy Name

I'm going to make myself go for a run ... jog ... perhaps walk mixed with a touch of jogging here and there??? ... when I get off work. I've become a pathetically lazy couch potato as of late and I have some serious negative energy that I'm needing to burn off.

My personal life is pretty awesome, I mean I have a fabulous husband who adores me and sends me flowers for no particular reason (like this week), how great is that?? I am however sorely lacking in the social circle given that all of my close friends live in states far away. I haven't really been able to make a lot of friends since moving here, and the night shift schedule makes it particularly tough to even coordinate something if in theory I had a local friend. I do think it takes a while to find your niche when you relocate, but it's even worse here because I'm so different from most of the people I meet. I'm a flaming, open-minded liberal who doesn't go to church, while most people here .... aren't.

The other big issue is that I am suffering from serious job dissatisfaction at the moment. Unfortunately I'm making such good money that I can't afford to do anything else, but it is really starting to wear on me. I haven't decided if it's working in the NICU in general, or working in this particular NICU. I am so tired of dead beat, neglectful parents and jacked up babies with no chance of a quality of life. There's always a certain element of this in any unit I've worked in, but it seems to be the norm as opposed to the exception where I'm at now. I can't even tell you the last time I had a patient where the parent(s) showed up or even called routinely, it's been over three weeks for sure. It just blows me away because if they show no interest in their sick, hospitalized child, why would I think they're going to give a crap when they're home and healthy?? At some point, I'm guessing that the hospital will not renew my travel contract and I'll have to figure out what to do. It's going to be rough because no matter where I staff at, it's going to be a HUGE paycut. I'll also have to decide whether it's time to try something different and if so, what that will be. I'm kindof looking forward to the opportunity to work in a different realm, but the almost 50% cut in pay??? Not so much.

So yes, I think a walk sprinkled with moments of jogging is definitely in order ... if it stops thundering and lightning that is.

Disgusting!

I'm a little disgusted at the moment. Tonight, I learned that one of the very sweet nurses that I work with who helped plan my work wedding shower was kidnapped at gunpoint. It happened at a local Super Wal-Mart and thankfully they drove about 12 miles then shoved her out of the car. I can't imagine how terrifying the ordeal must have been, but she is very lucky to be alive.


About 10 years ago, the sister-in-law of my uncle (we weren't related, but I knew her from family gatherings at my aunt and uncle's house over the years) was carjacked. Unfortunately, the perpetrator chose to drive a few miles, shoot her in the head, and dump her body in a wooded area off the side of the road. She had a son and daughter in college and a young son at home, obviously their lives were never the same . The bastard was caught trying to cross the Canadian border in the car; then tried, convicted and sentenced to death, though I doubt that gave anyone much comfort. Especially when Gov. George Ryan commuted everyone's death sentences before he left office as an attempt to make his legacy be that of "the compassionate pardoner" as opposed to the scammer and crook that he was. Did I mention former Gov. Ryan is in prison now?? Interestingly enough, the state of Missouri wants a piece of the scum who murdered her for another murder he committed .... maybe he won't be so lucky to avoid the lethal injection this time??


Anyway, I'm just thankful that Beverly escaped with her life, though I'm sure she'll never feel safe again.

Bangin' in the Rock

So apparently gang activity is alive and well in Little Rock .... or at least random acts of retarded graffiti.

We have a trail that runs along our back fenceline mainly used by school kids walking home from the elementary school three blocks away, and people in the subdivision walking their dogs. Sometime last week a hoodlum (or two who knows) created this lovely piece of art on our fence.

**edited: photo removed given that it is gang affiliated and I do not want to encourage or incite**

I walked down the trail and didn't see anyone else who was lucky enough to have received such careful attention to their fences. We called the clubhouse (we live in one of those gated communities) and apparently this has happened in the past but not lately. BJ sent it to one of his law enforcement friends involved with local gang activity to see if it's random graffiti or not (mainly out of our own curiosity). I guess we'll have to sand or paint.

Stupid hoodlums!

Houston, We Have Steak!!

After weeks of staring at our pretty grill sitting alone and gas-less on the deck - we HAVE GRILLAGE!!!

The plumber who visited last week came in with an exorbitantly high estimate so we called two others for comparison. Both plumbers 2 and 3 were quite a bit lower, so we settled on one who came this morning to put in the gas line as well as cap off the leaking unused gas line to the fireplace (we're opting out of a gas insert as opposed to spending hundred perhaps thousands in finding the leak and then repairing all of the brick work).

So tonight, we had yummy steaks and baked potatoes on the grill and they were DELICIOUS!!!! What happy meat eaters we are!

SuperSonic!

Yesterday afternoon as I was watching basketball (Jenn LOVES March Madness!) I was contemplating my love of Sonic. You know, the drive in restaurant where you can get such delicious concoctions as cherry chocolate colas, a chocolate malted, slushes and tater tots. My recent favorite is Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke, cherry Limeaid and raspberry sweet tea (not sure if that's available everywhere or just here in the South) either of which you can get for 50% off during happy hour!! Woo Hoo!! And did I mention there's a Sonic conveniently located at the entrance to my subdivision??!?! Score!!

While thinking about a cool, refreshing Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke - I started musing on how my relationship with Sonic began. It was waaaay back in 1992 during my first trip to the University of Missouri - Rolla to visit my buddy Kevin. I quickly learned that being a non-fat, relatively hot chic AND visiting an engineering school populated by often drunk frat boys = LOTS of attention for Jenn! Did I mention how much I love Rolla?? Some of my best times in college were at the St. Pat's celebration at Rolla (ahh, to be young an a desired minority once again!)

Anyway, while visiting Rolla in '92 - I looked up Ed who was also a student there. I knew him from marching band and he was always a super nice guy. Kevin and I picked up Ed and he suggested going to Sonic (WHERE?) for cherry limeaids (WHAT?). At the time Sonics were not the ubiquitous sight along the highway that they are now and I had never seen a drive in where you actually .... you know "drive in." I was dubious about ordering this cherry limeaid concoction because I'm not even a fan of lemonade, and limeaid? Sounded gross!

Well I was wrong, from the first sip to the last maraschino cherry bite - it was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted!! In college, when traveling to Rolla (or through Rolla to visit my family in SW Missouri) I always stopped at Sonic for a cherry limeaid and a corn dog. It wasn't until several years later that Sonics started to pop up in parts of Illinois and a cherry limeaid was as easy to get as a Frostie from Wendy's. The love affair has never ended .... long, live Sonic!

Honeymoon Hike

We really didn't do a "traditional" honeymoon - just wasn't my thing. We did stay an extra night in Eureka Springs and got massages on Sunday which was pretty cool, but then just came home to an agenda of nothingness which is a vacation in itself.

While out fulfilling a hamburger craving that I had (and I hardly EVER crave hamburgers) we saw a new outdoorsy shop opened in West Little Rock. We went in and found that all of their shoes and boots were 50% off and we had *just* been talking in Eureka about how both of us needed some light duty hiking boots since I hate dayhiking in my heavy, stiff backpackers. About 10 minutes later we were both outfitted with new day hikers (I'm ashamed to say they are a matching style) and we got them for a steal!! When we got home I immediately pulled out my hiking guide to find a trail we could explore the next day.

We ended up choosing a 4 mile loop in Lake Ouachita State Park which was a little over an hour away. The hiking guide said "moderate" but I've learned that these guides are usually totally overblowing the effort so we were expecting a nice leisurely jaunt. The Caddo Trail was actually quite scenic and had some nice uphills and downhills as it traveled along the bluff of the lake shore. Though it was posted as a three hour hike, we cut that down in half. The best part was that a group had set off about an hour before us, so if there were evil spiderwebs crossing the path, they were the unfortunate souls to walk into them.

The new hiking shoes were great, and we can't wait to use them on some more challenging terrain.

Scary Swiffers!!

Both of my dogs have always been afraid of the vacuum cleaner .... well perhaps not afraid but more believing that it is their sworn, mortal enemy. This started when Tosca was a puppy and she would bark and attack the vacuum, I can only guess that when Oakley was added to the household she pulled him aside and said, "that thing that sucks and makes the noise? It wants to kill you!"

Oakley has always been quite overt in his vacuum attacks, silently skulking behind me and out of nowhere lunging forth and biting (there are teeth marks to prove it.) On more than one occasion he has happily walked into a room only to encounter said evil vacuum, quiet and alone in a place he was not expecting it, then tripping over himself and howling to escape. I confess I have found these moments pretty damn funny, except the one time I was living alone and he started freaking out barking in the middle of the night and I was sure someone had entered the house to murder me, only to find that he had gotten up for a drink and been frightened by the vacuum in the hallway.


Today I got out the Swiffer - you know the non-powered broom with disposable cloths - to dust the wood floors. Well apparently his fear is not of vacuums but of any device used to clean, sweep or remove items from the floor. Seriously, what's scary about a swiffer?

My dog is such a pussy.
**the picture doesn't show the fear as well, but his tail is tucked between his legs and he sniffed it then very slowly backed away.**

Here Comes the Bride

**For more wedding pics than you would ever want to see, click here**

And now, without further adieu ... the wedding recap.

Don't think this will be an interesting episode of Bridezillas or My Big Fat Redneck Wedding, just a simple, sweet little wedding without drama, the need for Xanax or even an embarrassingly drunk loudmouthed guest!

Wedding week started with my having a slight cold (aaargh!) and doing a three night stretch in a row which always wears me out. On the last night, some kind co-workers were sweet enough to plan a surprise shower complete with purple napkins, punch, and a white sheet cake decorated with purple icing. Being a mere traveler in their midst, I was very touched by the gesture and the $250 they managed to collect for a Lowe's gift certificate (hello new carpet in the master bedroom!).

Thursday was very stressful because despite needing to sleep after work, I had tons of errands to run given that we were leaving early on Friday. In typical Jenn fashion I left things to the last minute like picking up my wedding dress, getting mascara, underwear (seriously - even left this to the day before and for you men out there women do NOT go "commando"), a pedicure and of course packing. It turned out that the winter storm of the century was preparing to hit Central Arkansas (an area where a dusting of snow causes complete and utter panic) so we were wondering what the drive would be like the next day.

Friday we got up relatively early to some serious snow fall the likes that I have never seen in Little Rock. It wasn't really cold and the roads didn't seem too bad yet so we decided to just take it slow and head out. The road to Eureka was a major highway (though not interstate) and we figured we'd be OK. Before heading out of town we stopped at Kroger (supermarket) for flowers. I refused to blow tons of money on some silly florist bouquet when I could tie up some flowers myself. I found some purple mums and white roses that I thought would do the trick and off we went.

The first 45 minutes or so was snowy and then we hit roads that had been snowed on previously but were clear. By the time we made it to the North park of Arkansas it was bone dry- they hadn't got a lick of snow or rain. Kindof sad because winter photos would have been cute. We checked in to the Bavarian Inn, an adorable little hotel with a fabulous room! A king bed, fireplace, couch, two chairs, balcony and massive two person jacuzzi for $99 - just $10 more than the Best Western and definitely a good choice. For those who have never had the privilege of going to Eureka Springs, it's an adorable little mountain town that was formerly an artist colony and place where people came in the late 1800s to "take the healing waters." Now it's populated by hippy sorts, bikers, a large gay community and full of antique shops, interesting stores, spas and massage therapists and has more bed and breakfasts and hotels than a little town of 2400 would EVER need. There are several wedding chapels and most of the B&Bs do weddings as well so it was the perfect place for a hitching. Friday night we had some excellent BBQ at Bubba's and went to bed early.

Saturday we went a great breakfast place - The Mud Street Cafe recommended by the hotel staff and ended up eating there every day. We walked around town a little bit, enjoyed the sunny but frigid day and hoped to take a nap but alas! I had a hair appointment at 2.

Though I'm a pretty low maintenance girl, I figured my wedding was one occasion for nicer hair. I decided to just go with a "please curl my hair" approach. I'm not one for big updos since I never wear my hair like that normally. I'm a big believer in the fact that a bride should still look like herself - just maybe a bit fancier. After about 50 minutes of curling iron work ... curly hair had arrived!! I then drove my car through an automatic car wash because it was filthy from the road and I just didn't think that was appropriate for such an occasion. I made it back to the hotel around 3p.m. and the wedding was for 4 - so luckily I just had to put my makeup on and throw on my clothes. In the end, I don't think I looked too shabby. My only problem was that the spaghetti straps on my dress were just a wee bit long and kept wanting to fall down - guess I should have gotten those sewn shorter ... oh well.

I arrived at the chapel first, met the photographer we had hired (she was very sweet) and went over final ceremony details with the JP. The chapel had a stock ceremony that was a wee bit too hippy-dippy for us so I basically rewrote the whole thing with lots of help from the internet and some great forums like IndieBride. The photographer snapped some shots before BJs arrival, and I hid in another room when he showed up.

The song we had chosen, Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole was played as the intro and my sauntering into the room music. You've probably heard it before, it's a gorgeous interpretation that I think is full of hope. This video shows the artist who died at a young age and is highly revered in Hawa'ii, it doesn't have the part where he transitions into "What a Wonderful World" which was on the track we used.

The ceremony went off without a hitch. I had a pretty big cheesy grin on my face, giggled a bit (as I do when I'm nervous), and BJ blatantly stared at my cleavage which was apparently just in his line of sight.I won't bore you with lots of details but we had one reading from Madeline L'Engle (children's author of A Wrinkle In Time) a funny poem by Ogden Nash, and the vows I found online and thought they were awesome ...

"you are my companion in life and my one true love. I will treasure our friendship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I will trust and honor you, I will laugh and cry with you. With unfailing love I will stand by you through the best and the worst, through the difficult and the easy. As I have given you my hand to hold so I give you my life to keep."

and we finished the ceremony with the Blessing of the Apaches
"Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness for you,
For each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two bodies,
But there is only one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place,
To enter into the days of your togetherness.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth."

It was beautiful and everything truly reflected us and we had our song on again as we finished up and took our pictures.

We did most of the pics outside and it was COLD!!

One shot shows my AWESOME purple Guess heels but there is absolutely zero blood in my goosebumpy legs so I look albino!! I also should mention my purple pedicured toenails!! I think it confused the Korean woman at the nail shop, "you sure you want purple?"

And for the record, my $15 of flowers from Kroger turned out just fine. It turns out that my Hobby Lobby ribbon looked good on the spool but was a completely different shade of purple once I used it, but since I don't worry too much about such things it didn't bother me at all.

Afterwards we ate at The Bavarian Inn (where we were staying) they have a Czech-German restuarant that is considered one of the best ethnic places in the state. The Inn and restaurant had just opened for the season the week prior and since BJ is a lover of all things German - it was a nice place to eat. The food was delicious (I had a green peppercorn steak, BJ with the goulash) but we were sure to leave room for the cake!

Umm, it was good, good cake!! It was orange sponge cake with "hummingbird" filling which is a raspberry lemon concoction. Many thanks to Sarah V. at work for turning me on to this cake shop in Springdale, AR. It was gorgeous and purple and I can't wait to eat the top tier in a year!!! We did do the traditional, let's feed each other cake thing, and we both played nicely with no cake smashage or smearing.













Though BJ does have a habit of licking my nose sometimes just because he knows it irritates me!!

After being completely stuffed with excellent food and cake, we called it an evening. A fabulous wedding, just the way I wanted it!!

(edited to add: I cannot get the pictures and text to wrap like I want. Stupid blogger!!)

Boy I'd sure like a nice grilled steak!

One of the sad things about moving into the new house was that we had to leave grilling behind - at least for a while. The rental house had a natural gas grill attached to the patio and the new house does not have an exterior gas line. For some reason, people around here are all crazy about natural gas grills and not as into the LG ones with the tank that I'm used to seeing. After we moved, we planned on waiting for tax refunds to purchase a grill and hire a plumber to run the line to the deck.

Well we've had a grill for about three weeks now. Just sitting all lonely and covered by itself on the deck. Our problem?? Dead beat plumber!!

I should mention that my Mom works for a wholesale distributor of plumbing and HVAC parts and she deals with plumbers everyday and loves them. When I visit her at work, she's always introducing me to one of her customers and sadly probably telling them stories about me all the time (I think the latest is the wedding pictures she's showing EVERYONE ). So I'm inclined to like plumbers.

When we first moved into the house we had a water leak, then a clogged drain from the washer that dumped water all over the floor, then a gas leak - all requiring some plumbing action. Our home warranty company sent over Larry and we loved him! He was friendly and during one of his visits my Mom was here and they got to talk plumbing and she liked him too. We even asked him about a gas line during one of his visits and it would be "no problem." So when the grill was purchased it was time!!!

We booked Larry and BJ took off work to anxiously await his arrival. He even promised to go shopping for steaks that night!! Well Larry never showed up, and when his office was called the woman said, "Oh I'm so sorry. His daughter went into labor! I guess I should have called you." Since we are understanding (though wishing someone would have called since BJ stayed home specifically for this) we rescheduled for early the next week. Again, BJ stayed home and we had a no show. He called and this time the office said, "there was an emergency water heater problem he had to take care of today. I forgot to call you YESTERDAY AFTERNOON." So they knew the day before that they were cancelling the appointment? And didn't call? BJ was highly miffed at this and much to my surprise allowed them to re-schedule again, but there was no time available until the wedding, so we were going to try again this past Saturday.

And of course, a No Call. No Show. I was sleeping (I worked nights all weekend) and apparently BJ left a very unflattering message on the office phone, and when he went to run errands a stern note was put on the door (in the event Larry showed up very late) stating not to knock or ring the doorbell since I was sleeping. We were disappointed because we had really liked him and are not sure if he has complete idiots working his office?? He didn't seem like the type to be so irresponsible. I just know that if the situation was reversed and we weren't there, the plumber would have charged us for the time.

So our poor grill still sits all alone and untouched. My poor belly craves a medium rare steak or a nice grilled breast of chicken. And now we are keeping our fingers crossed that the plumber we hired from a billboard at the entrance to our subdivision will actually show up today.

Thursday's Trip Down Memory Lane

First of all, I promise to have a wedding recap sometime next week. At this point, I'm waiting to get all of the pictures back and I just haven't had the energy to give the subject justice. I'll chalk it up to having seven nights off in a row which always seems to bring out my inner sloth!!

In honor of "wedding week" why don't we travel back about a year to a magical time in Jenn's life, a momentous occasion, an event that changed two people's lives for better (at least we're hoping) ... the first date of Jenn and BJ.

I didn't post effusively about the date because I had learned in the recent past that sometimes it can bite you in the ass if you gush about a blossoming relationship. I think I played it coy and just said "it went well" or some other nonsense .... but now you'll get the full story.

BJ and I (or should I say hogshtrbug and GennX) were introduced on match.com in February '07. He winked at me (matchspeak for "hey you look kinda cool") and sent me a message, but by that time I was embroiled in a blossoming relationship with Bachelor #1 (henceforth to be known as "He Who Dumped Me By Never Calling Me Again"). Since I'm an honorable woman ... seriously I really am ... I let hogshtrbug know that I was currently dating someone but thank you for the interest.

Fast forward about 6 weeks and I put my profile back up on match. Pretty quickly I got a message from BJ to the effect of "Hey you're back!" We ended up talking on the phone, getting along quite well, and planning to meet for lunch. After he cancelled on me THREE TIMES, I was getting the feeling he wasn't really interested. It was no skin off my bones because I was leaving for an assignment in Colorado in 5 weeks - a fact that I told him of upfront. I sent him a text (don't you love this new high tech courting?!?) and said, "if you don't want to meet me, that's fine." Apparently that lit a fire under his ass, because he scheduled another lunch date for Friday, April 5th at 11:30 a.m. at Vino's - a local brewpub/pizzeria. Of course in the back of my mind, I was waiting for a 10:00 text cancelling because of "work" or some other rubbish.

We met at Vino's and I WAS ON TIME (just for the record) and my first thought was that BJ reminded me of my friend Spooky's younger brother. We got our pizza and beer and commenced to talk about everything under the sun. We quickly found that we had similar tastes in movies and TV, were both fans of Star Wars and Buffy (something I normally reserve for later dates) we hit on politics, religion ... basically all taboo subjects. The hours flew by, the beer continued to flow, BJ called his office and took off the rest of the afternoon and we stayed at that lunch for FIVE hours.

At this point he suggested that we just change clothes and go out to dinner ... but I actually had another dinner date already planned (remember BJ had cancelled on me numerous times so I wasn't planning on it really working out) so I said, "I'd love to but I have other plans." BJ replied, "Well if your other date doesn't' work out, I'll be out at Sticky Fingerz ( a local restaurant/live music joint) with friends and you should join us."

Long story short, I did end up at Sticky Fingerz later that night. The local paper was shooting pics of the crowd and we actually have a photo to commemorate the first day we met (near the top of the page) .... I like to call it Date 1B since BJ refuses to allow it to be Date 2. I got home at an ungodly hour but still managed to get up early and run a 10K race the next morning. Obviously things went marvelously from there!!! It was the best first date I ever had.

HITCHED!!!

No Beer for BJ :(

I can't believe it's taken me until Wednesday to post about this past weekend ... I am really becoming a delinquent blogger!!! Bad Jenn!!

This past weekend was the Little Rock Marathon and I have to say, that for a relatively small race (about 1200 for the full and 2200 for the half) they really put on a class act. I did the relay last year and I was struck by the very enthusiastic volunteers and how friendly everyone seemed to be. Of course the medals are envious, the half marathon medal is fancier than any I have and the full medal?!? They are the largest in the world and just GINORMOUS!! I personally think that you get a lot for your money in the race. I registered back in November during early registration and paid $55 which would have gotten me the big medal, the traditional cotton race tee, as well as a technical finisher's tee ... assuming I finished. Shoot, I paid $80 to do that half in Denver and just ended up with a really cheap, see through cotton shirt.

Anyway, I was a little bummed that I wouldn't be participating in any events, but I took the opportunity to have some fun and cheer for my man!! On Saturday we both volunteered at the Expo, BJ handed out timing chips and I handed out race shirts. I was amazed at the diversity of people running the races, enjoyed talking to out of towners, and could see the excitement of people clearly running their first long distance event. I will definitely take the opportunity to volunteer again, though BJ was thinking it had been a bad idea for him to be standing on concrete for four hours the day before his first half ... didn't think about that when I encouraged him to volunteer with me ... sorry :(

Race morning was just beautiful! I couldn't have asked for better weather with temps in the low 60s. When we arrived downtown at the River Market the streets were flooded with anxious people. I was a little sad to not be wearing one of my signature racing skirts, but it was fun to be a part of it. BJ met up with his training partner Merk who is a co-worker that runs right on his pace. She's a former Marine, Mom to a three year old, has a hubby in Iraq and I honestly don't know how she does it all. I was glad that he had her to run with because it's nice to have company when you're on the road a few hours. I kissed him good luck then disappeared into the crowd so he could get his game on.

The start had been moved since last year and was ridiculously crowded. BJ complained about all of the walkers mixed in with the runners and I noticed in the paper that there were obvious walkers (they had W's on their numbers) mixed in next to the 3:30 pace group .. WTF? So from what I hear the first mile or so was pretty miserable with walkers right smack dab in the middle of things and runners having to head for sidewalks to get around. Of course I'm a big fan of how walker friendly the course is, but just wish they would have ensured they were well behind the runners.

The course was very spectator friendly and with just a little hustle, I was able to catch them at the 1 mile mark (they didn't hear me given how thick the crowd still was), 3, 6, 8 and then I scoped out a great place at the finish. All along, they both looked great!! I also got the chance to cheer for some of the Hot Legs runners along the way as well as just use my junior high cheerleading experience for the greater good of complete strangers.

BJ's goal was to beat 2:30 and he ended up at 2:25 which was just awesome!! To think that when we met, he was just talking about running! I gave him the link to the Couch to 5K, he did his first 5K in August, 10K in October and then a very respectable half finish. He was very excited and the best part was he just had a little residual soreness ... nothing like my extreme inability to move after the first half!!!

The only downer to the whole day was that BJ has seen my pictures and heard about my love of the post-race beer. Even if I only take a few sips, it's always like manna from heaven after a race. Well, we walk over to the beer area (he was even sure to have me carry his ID that day in case he got carded) and ..... they wouldn't give any out to participants until noon!!!! Stupid Bible Belt!! It was just after 10:30 so there was no reason to wait around that long, besides it wouldn't be the same. He was quite dejected, mad about living in Arkansas, and of course we had no beer at home, and it's not sold at all on Sundays, so he was just screwed.

Poor planning on my part. Next time I'll throw a fat tire in the cooler just in case!! But congrats to BJ and Merk on an excellent race!! Can't wait to join you next year!!