finding joy in the little things

Posted on April 29, 2013 by HHRunner

Happy Mondayyyy!!

I had an exceptionally stress-filled, unhappy week last week. Do you know what happens when you come home in a bad mood every day? Your husband rips out the horrible, awful, no-good porcelain white kitchen sink that you’ve been loathing since you moved in and replaces it with a beautiful, shiny, clean new stainless steel sink:

My mom told me I needed to stop letting things get to me so easily. I told her that I needed to have at least 4 more horrible weeks so that Sean would replace the rest of our outdated kitchen appliances in an attempt to boost my spirits. She was not amused. It made perfect sense to me though.

I was so incredibly busy last week that it is a small miracle that I managed to fit in workouts. The only day that I came home directly from work was on Wednesday and I had a small meltdown when I did. I was exhausted, stressed out and emotional – it was a real winning combination. Just ask Sean. I know he loves nothing more than when I yell at him for no good reason, then lay on the floor in the gym and wallow in self pity while I pretend to do ab exercises. Just kidding, I actually did do ab exercises. I also wallowed in self pity.

I’m not saying all of this to elicit some sort of pitying response from whoever is reading this though. I’m saying all of this because I needed a serious attitude adjustment. So I spent the weekend finding joy in small things. Like my new sink. And that I finally used a curling wand with moderate success.

This was yesterday. My hair is still curled today. THAT NEVER HAPPENS. My hair has a knack for being curled and then immediately falling flat 10 minutes later. The fact that I have achieved beachy looking waves a day later is unheard of in my world. I’m not sure what kind of magic the curling wand has, but I’m a fan.

I also got to spend the day yesterday with two of my favorite people.

Happy birthday to my sweet nephew!!

These guys. They fill my heart with happiness. Watching Sean interact with my nephew is just precious.

Sean and I headed to Crawfish Festival after my nephew’s birthday party and ended up staying there much later than either of us intended. When I woke up this morning I was regretting that decision. Right up until I kissed my husband goodbye and he told me he had a lot of fun hanging out with my yesterday. That makes it worth being tired today. Having fun with the boy > getting enough sleep.

Anyway, to recap how last week’s workouts went, they went something like this:

Monday: 30 minutes incline walking, 10 minutes sprints, shoulders I did this. 30 min inclines, 25 minutes of shoulders, 11 minutes [1.4 miles] of sprints.

Tuesday: 20 min run [easy] + back This happened as well! Things are going good! Probably because I wrote my workouts for the week after this happened. 2.27 miles on the treadmill before 20 minutes of back. Then I hurried home because I was tired of not seeing the boy.

Wednesday: Jillian Michaels Kickboxing, lower body + 5 mile run + Triceps Jillian’s kickboxing lower body happened. I felt very meh about it. Probably one of my least favorite of her DVDs that I own. Likely because I don’t like kickboxing [go figure]. After work I ran 2.5 miles, did abs, and then ran another 1.5. Insert meltdown after 2.5 mile run, before abs. 4 miles instead of 5.

Thursday: 20 min run with 5 30 second pick-ups [AM] + easy 3 miles [PM] + Biceps I did not get up and run in the morning. Nor did I run in the evening. I did do 20 minutes on the stairmaster of death and then 35 minutes of biceps and triceps though.

Friday: OFF YUP.

Saturday: BodyPump + 6ish miles I neglected checking the weather before heading out for my run and I spent almost 5.5 miles dying. Then I checked my phone and realized that it was 93% humidity out and felt a little better. BodyPump happened as well, and I’m not really sure what I did differently this time, but my legs are still sore.

Sunday: Spin class Check. I spun my little heart out for an hour Sunday morning.

This is going to be another busy week for me. Actually, most of May is going to be ridiculous. So the workouts will happen as they happen and I’ll try to scrap together some sort of plan by tomorrow and then hope for the best. I have come to terms with the fact that until life slows down a little bit it’s ok that I’m not running as much as I want and that things aren’t going exactly as planned. I’m a very type A, list-driven person, and it’s easy for me to get stressed when I feel like everything is out of my control. Until things calm down, I’m just going to keep looking for the small things that make me smile.

Here’s to kicking off Monday on the right foot Smile

3 years.

Posted on April 17, 2013 by HHRunner

3 years ago today, I was marrying my very best friend. I couldn’t ask for more in a husband, and I know I’m incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful marriage. I could wax poetic about how phenomenal I think Sean is, but words wouldn’t really do justice to how I feel about him. Instead, I’ll just give you a small glimpse into Sean and I throughout the years Smile

One of our very first pictures in college together, back in 2005. I had very blonde hair and a very big crush on him. Luckily, it didn’t take too long to figure out that he felt the same way

Two years later, in 2007, we were dominating beer pong tables and spending every spare second together. Since this picture is at Sean’s house in college, I can only assume that beer pong was happening. And that we were winning – if we were on the same team – if we weren’t, I was winning.

2009. Ringing in the New Year together. I actually still have that shirt and it looks like it might be cute, so maybe I should pull it out of the closet…

By 2011 we were a married couple, celebrating the marriage of two of our very dear friends in Vegas. It was my first time to Vegas. Actually, I think it was his too.

2013, 3 years after we said “I do” and we’re still just as happy – if not happier – than the day we exchanged vows and wedding rings. I really, really like him.

And since no anniversary post would be complete without a wedding photo…

April 17, 2010, we made the best decision ever.

Monday Moves… on Tuesday

Posted on March 26, 2013 by HHRunner

Another week, another plan in place. I had a really bad day mentally yesterday. You know those days where you just all around don’t feel good about yourself, but there’s really no good reason for why you feel that way? That was me. Everything was getting on my last nerve.

You know what makes a bad day better? Having a ridiculously awesome mom + husband. My mom listens to me lament all of my problems all the time. I just don’t know how I got so lucky. And my husband? He just rocks.

When it comes to our interests, Sean and I are decidedly different, but the same. I love working out in any way, shape or form. Sean loves motorcycles like I love working out. We both love being outside. Yesterday when I got home from work he asked me if I wanted to go for a bike ride. For anyone who doesn’t know us personally – we have a grand total of 6 bikes in our garage – two regular bikes, one motorcycle, two dirt bikes and a mini dirt bike. It was a beautiful day, so I enthusiastically agreed. I went and pulled on jeans, boots and my jacket and went to meet Sean in the garage. He was wearing workout shorts and Nikes. We both looked at each other like the other person was crazy.

He thought we were going on a regular bike ride. I thought he meant a motorcycle ride. Miscommunication at its finest. In case you’re wondering, we went on a regular bike ride. [Pointless story of the day – check.]

Moving on… This week is [hopefully] going a little something like this:

Monday: Run 15 minutes [AM], BodyPump (heavy) [PM]

Tuesday: Run 15 minutes [AM], 6 mile run [PM]

Wednesday: Run 15 minutes [AM], 2-3 mile run + Happy Hour Spin Class (doesn’t that just sound fun? Put “Happy Hour” in the title of anything and I’ll probably think it’s a good idea) [PM]

Thursday: Run 15 minutes [AM], Jackie Warner Total Body Circuit Training [PM]

Friday: Run 15 minutes [AM], Friday 5k [PM]

Saturday: 10 miles. I haven’t had a solid double digit run in a while. It’s time. + BodyPump (light)

Sunday: REST DAY = the BEST day.

Two things I’m obsessed with right now: easy runs and BodyPump. I’m trying to hit around 30 miles each week, but I’ve realized lately that I’m not even really sure why. I think I’ve gotten so used to feeling like I have to hit a certain mileage during training. On the other hand, I really want to up my strength training. It’s put me in a strange place where I’m not really sure what to do. Suggestions?

The Post I Never Thought I’d Have to Write

Posted on December 10, 2012 by HHRunner

I’ve been trying to formulate this post for days – actually weeks now, if I’m being honest. I’ve written it in my head over and over again, and every time I’ve sat down to type it out, I’ve ended up closing out LiveWriter and moving onto something else instead. But I’m tired of putting it off, so I’m just going to word vomit this up on the page and post it.

For those of you that have been longtime HHR readers, you know that I’ve been dealing with a pretty nasty knee injury for the past 11 months. One that took five months and several doctors to diagnose.

knee

Dear Knee, I hate you.

For any new readers, a very short synopsis of what happened was this: I ran the Houston Marathon in January of 2012. It was [mostly] glorious. Four days after the marathon I experienced my first round of knee pain while running. That snowballed into me going on a very expensive emotional roller coaster for five months as I visited doctor after doctor trying to figure out what was wrong with me. I finally met my current sports doctor [who has been a serious bright spot in a very bleak year] and we went to work together on making me get better.

dr.

Dr. Hinson!! Whaaat uuuupppp!

Things have been [mostly] good since I started seeing him. The recovery process has been slow, but I’ve made serious strides forward – I even PRed at a 10k race – and I’m [mostly] physically pain free now when I run. The operative word being physically.

You know, just running with awesome form. No big deal.

Back in June, I registered for the Houston Marathon for 2013. I was pissed off and defiant towards my injury, and I wanted nothing more than to run the 2013 marathon in January as a big EFF YOU to my knee. I wanted to come back strong and proud, and I wanted to run a PR race. Lofty goal? Maybe. But I was determined.

What I didn’t take into account, however, was not my physical state, but my emotional one. Emotionally, I am completely wiped out. I’ve been trying for months to force myself out on the weekends to get in long runs, and – like with any marathon training cycle – it’s had its ups and downs. I suffered through a particularly nasty 20 mile run a couple weeks ago where I spent over four hours out trying to get through a run… and only three hours running. If you do the math on that one, there’s an entire hour in there where I was sitting on curbs trying to talk myself into finishing. An entire hour where I sent out text messages to Sean, who was an angel and tried to talk me off a ledge, and to my doctor, who assured me I was going to be A-OK.

When I finished that run I figured all I needed was to get past that one huge road block. Accomplishing running that 20 mile run, no matter how desperately I wanted to give up, was going to be the switch that turned the remainder of this training cycle into a breeze… or at least gave me the push I needed to power through it.

Except it wasn’t. The next weekend I had a pretty great 15 mile run, and I was feeling confident going into the next 20 miler I was going to tackle.

And then last Saturday came and I got a mile – ONE MILE – into my 20 mile run and I quit. I never quit long runs. But it was fine, I was just going to run Sunday instead. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday… So Sunday morning I got up early and hit the pavement, determined to get in 20 miles.

By mile two I was mentally done. I struggled through two more miles before walking back to my house, feeling defeated and miserable.

Once I sat down on the bed next to a sleeping Sean and woke him up to talk, I knew exactly what I was going to say.

I’m not running the Houston Marathon in 2013.

I still haven’t decided entirely if I’m going to defer my entry or if I’m going to drop to the half. All I know is that my heart isn’t in running the full.

Running long has become a chore for me right now. I don’t look forward to it and I mentally spend every single step trying to convince myself to just take one more, and then one more. I never ran because I felt obligated to. I never wanted to cross a marathon off my bucket list. I ran because I loved it. Looking back at last year’s training for the marathon and this year’s training there is one marked difference: last year I was excited about every. single. long run. They may not have always gone how I wanted them to, but I was stoked to run them. This year, I dread them. And I don’t want running to be something that I dread. I don’t get paid to run, and as such, I want it to stay something that I do because I love it.

I’ve been pretty nervous about admitting that I’m not going to do the full. I feel like there have been so many people that have offered up their support to me, giving me encouragement to do all 26.2 miles, and I hate feeling like I’m letting them down or copping out of something I committed to. Sean has spent DAYS worth of time listening to me go back and forth and comforting me when I’ve cried my eyes out, each time letting me know that he supported me no matter what. When I proclaimed that I wanted to run it, he told me that was great. When I moped about having a crappy run, he reminded me that marathoning isn’t easy. When I cried because I wanted to love running and I just didn’t, he hugged me and told me that I needed to make sure that I loved it again. Dr. Hinson is another person who has unequivocally offered me his support and assured me that I am more than capable of running the 2013 marathon. And honestly, I think I am physically capable of running it. I just am mentally burned out. And anyone that marathons knows that having your mental game is half the battle of running 26 miles, if not more than that.

So when I alluded to having something to tell you guys last week, this was it. I can’t say that I’m 100% happy with the decision – in fact, I’m pretty bummed about it – but I also think it’s the right one for now.

While I won’t be running 26 miles in January, I will be looking for my passion for running. If you have any tips on where to find, let me know

Happy Monday!

Midweek Motivation

Posted on October 24, 2012 by HHRunner

I don’t know if this actually counts as motivation… maybe motivation to be a better spouse or a better significant other?

My coworker posted this blog post on her Facebook page earlier this week and since then I’ve seen it pop up all over Pinterest and other social media sites. I mean, the post has 1,671 comments on it, so I guess it’s popular or something. I’m not sure.

If you haven’t read it or seen it yet, it’s called 16 Ways I Blew My Marriage, and it – you guessed it – goes through things that this guy would have done differently in an attempt to keep his marriage(s) from falling apart. But I think everything on the list is applicable to any relationship, really, and that maybe reading this now will help people from taking for granted those they care about the most. I’m not going to repost everything on the list, but I am going to share my three favorites:

A couple years ago Sean and I went to the rodeo with a couple that we’re friends with and as we were sitting in our seats waiting for the show to start I remember watching the guy interact with my friend. He couldn’t stop touching her in little ways – a hand on her knee while he talked, his arm around her shoulders, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears – he just wanted to be close to her, to know she was there with him. It was the sweetest thing. Sean and I still hold hands, albeit not as often as when we were first dating, but I think those little interactions are just as important as the big ones. They show your significant other that you still care.

I’ll be the very first to admit that I fall victim to this a lot. I am really good at pointing out when Sean didn’t do something. It’s not something that I’m proud of, but it’s something that I don’t even realize that I’m doing a lot of times. When I read this I really had to step back and go, “huh. I do that. all the time. I should probably stop…”

I emotionally shut down at a certain point when I’m upset. I pretty much just turn off and fold into myself and I try to ignore things until I end up just blowing up. It’s a super healthy way to deal with things, in case you were wondering. I can’t stand when Sean emotionally shuts down on me, however, despite the fact that I know I do it to him.

Here is an unrelated picture from our wedding. It may be 2 1/2 years old, but we are laughing and having the BEST time even though we were being forced to stand in the prom pose. You know, because we just got married and all.

One thing that he mentions in his article that I think Sean and I rock at is always having fun. I have the most fun when I’m with Sean, and he is my absolute best friend and partner in crime. So we win there. Winking smile

Also an unrelated picture from our wedding. Except look how much fun we’re having!! We are dancing and laughing and being BEST FRIENDS FOR LIFE.

I’m not really sure what the point of this post is, I kind of went off on a tangent. I guess it’s all to say, you should always take your relationships seriously. And Sean, if you’re reading this, feel free to comment away on how great of a wife I am. I won’t mind at all.

Catching up with pictures

Posted on October 10, 2012 by HHRunner

First, thanks for all of your comments on yesterday’s post. They are VERY much appreciated.

There is absolutely no way to fully recap what I’ve been up to for the past, well, month because Sean and I have been on the go every. single. weekend. To say it’s been exhausting would be a massive understatement. I seriously don’t think we’ve ever been this busy. And honestly, it’s showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon. We have something going on every weekend for pretty much the rest of the year. So to try and do a mini catch up without actually rambling about every little thing (well, let’s be honest, I’ll probably ramble too), I’m gonna catch up with pictures Smile

Louie’s been sick on and off for about a month now. He’s mastered looking pathetic in the crate when he has to visit the vet. Don’t let this sad face fool you though, the vet called me one afternoon to tell me that he managed to terrorize the entire place and poop everywhere in protest at having to give a urine sample. Awesome. Proud mama right here <—insert sarcasm font.

The boy turned 27 last month. He’s getting old. We celebrated with sushi. It was delicious

Also, I feel like we might have gotten ripped off with our fortunes. I could be wrong though.

Sometime in September I stopped drinking coffee every morning and started having tea instead. I’m not really sure why. I go through phases. My favorite is the outrageously overpriced yogi tea. Mainly because of the wise advice they offer with every tea bag.

I’ve been running. I discovered a new-to-me trail on my way home from work one day. It looks like this. I love it because it’s right between two very busy roads but you once you step onto the trail you can’t tell at all. It’s very peaceful. Also, it goes on for days. I am a fan.

Here is a picture of Louie in a tiny box. If you’re wondering where Leo is, he was getting ready to pounce.

One of my friends from high school is getting married soon so we got to shower her with gifts during a recent bridal shower. She pretty much rocks. Also, I really like my dress. I got it on clearance at GAP outlet.

We’ve been hanging out with friends a lot. I love each and every one of these girls. I also will never be styling my hair like that again or wearing that outfit. The things you learn through pictures.

One of my best friends (the one standing next to me in the last picture) got married a few weeks ago. We had rockin’ bridesmaids outfits. You can’t really tell in this picture, but you can see the BEAUTIFUL Kendra Scott earrings she bought us. Also, I had my makeup airbrushed for the first time and decided that I want someone to come airbrush my makeup every day. Ironically, I am wearing zero makeup today.

In addition to running, I’ve been trying to do some crosstraining too. I’m not very good at it. Also, I am convinced that the people on the cover of Shape aren’t real. No one really looks like that, do they?

Sean has been racing motocross. Here is a picture of him dominating. Last weekend he raced twice and took 2nd and 3rd. He’s pretty much a badass.

I bought new shoes!! My Nikes had a million miles on them and I wanted to try a different type of minimalist shoe, so I decided to try out these Brooks. They look fast, so I assume that they will make me fast. Also, they were $10 cheaper than the Nikes. #priorities

To end, here is a picture of Louie in the microwave. I don’t know why he’s in there. I went to grab food out of it and while I was stirring it up he jumped in. He hung out there for a good 15 minutes while Sean and I laughed and took pictures. We have really exciting lives, promise.

And now you’re caught up, because Louie in the microwave was last night. Exciting stuff, huh?

What have you all been up to? Anyone run in Brooks Pureconnects? Any favorite minimalist running shoes?

A History of Harley – Infographic Friday

Posted on September 21, 2012 by HHRunner

Longtime readers know that if there’s one thing that my husband loves – other than me, of course – it’s motorcycles. He races motocross in his spare time and we currently have three different bikes (not including our road bikes) sitting in our garage right now, one of which is a Harley. You might say he’s a tad obsessed. So when the people over at Motorcycleinsurance.com contacted me about posting this infographic, how could I say no? Be still my husband’s motorcycle-loving soul.

Do you ride motorcycles? Love them? Hate them? I grew up around motorcycles – my dad has a Harley too – so I’ve never been afraid of riding one. One of my favorite things is getting up early on the weekend and taking the motorcycle to get coffee with Sean – it’s so peaceful!

Today is the BEST day!

Posted on September 19, 2012 by HHRunner

…because it’s my sweet husband’s birthday! Everything else is going to have to wait right now because I’m busy celebrating the fact that he was born.

After all, if he wasn’t born who would I go skydiving with?!

and who would carry me after my marathons?!

and who would I be just be all around ridiculous with?!

Yeah. He’s pretty awesome and he deserves my undivided attention today. So happy birthday to my very best friend! You, and all your ridiculousness, are fantastic!

skydiving

Posted on June 5, 2012 by HHRunner

workout: rode 10 miles on the bike

I like to think I am a pretty adventurous person that isn’t afraid of pushing my limits. to solidify my adventurous streak, for years now I have unwaveringly told sean that skydiving is on my bucket list and that I 100% wanted to go. that being said, you can imagine my extreme excitement when he texted me this last week:

“…Saturday at 11am, Eagle Lake airport Winking smile “

I knew we weren’t taking any trips anywhere, which could mean only one thing…

we were going skydiving for my birthday!

I was pretty much giddy with excitement after that, and saturday couldn’t come fast enough. and while I knew that I was in for something majorly awesome, there’s no way I could have ever fathomed just how truly exhilarating of an experience it would be.

we were signed up for an 11am reservation at Skydive Houston, but once we got there we ended up waiting around for hours before actually being able to skydive. the initial thrill of what we were doing started to wear off as it got hotter and hotter… and even hotter outside and we were stuck sitting around in the Houston heat and humidity. but the second they called our group to gear up it all came rushing back. we got our gear on and ran through a few instructions from the skydiver we were being strapped to and then it was time.

p.s. skydiving gear is really flattering, I know. also, I wore my marathon shirt to remind myself that I could run a marathon so I could skydive. oddly enough, I was never nervous about jumping, so I think it worked out.

they took 3 different groups with 4 people in each group out to the airplane loading dock (dock? whatever) at once and sean and I were in the last group. this means we had ample time to watch the other 8 people before us parachute down to the ground and talk amongst ourselves about if we were scared, why we were doing it, etc. and every.single.person finished with a big, sh*t-eating grin on their face, which only fueled my desire to get in the plane and then jump out.

I kept waiting for being nervous to hit, but I was so amped up that I didn’t have room for an ounce of nervousness. not even when I saw our tiny plane. (ok, in reality, growing up my dad had a tiny plane that I flew in several times with him, so these planes are not scary at all to me, they are fun.)

that is our tiny plane that we jumped out of! look how cute it is!

somehow when it was our turn to load the plane sean was the first person on and I was the last… you know what that means?

I was the first to jump!! and I was absolutely beside myself excited about getting to jump first.

if you’ve never skydived before, then basically what happens is this: you are strapped to someone that knows what they’re doing, and once the plane levels out at a certain distance in the air (in our case it was 11,000 feet) they open the plane door and you scoot over to the opening and hang your legs out of the doorway before you jump. oddly enough, looking at my legs dangling over the edge and seeing the ground soooo far below with the wind whipping around us is what is cemented the most clearly into my mind. so they opened the door, we scooted over to the edge, I dangled my legs…

and then we jumped.

and it.was.amazing.

for a minute we were weightless, hurtling toward the ground, and I couldn’t stop shrieking in joy. I was so freaking ecstatic at that very moment.

and then it was over. there was a jerk, and the parachute opened up. and we slowed down and began floating.

while freefalling through the air is the biggest rush I’ve ever felt in my entire life, floating down to the ground after the parachute opened was easily my favorite part. the air was cool up in the clouds, the day was flawlessly beautiful, and we were drifting so seemingly slow (in reality, it probably took us about 5 minutes to get to the ground) down to earth that it was peaceful and calming. and naturally, I couldn’t stop talking. I must’ve told my tandem jumper at least 15 times that he had the best job in the entire world. after a minute or so he let me steer the parachute around, and then we were preparing for landing and touching the ground, complete with sh*t-eating grin.

a few minutes later sean touched down and just like that it was over.

but I will never forget that feeling because it was the one of the best I’ve ever experienced.

hi! there we are! officially skydivers, and I can’t WAIT to go again!

have you ever been skydiving? would you ever?

what’s the coolest birthday present you’ve ever gotten? this was easily it.

Monday CELEBRATIONS!

Posted on January 24, 2012 by HHRunner

I know, it’s Tuesday. But last night Britt and I were talking about the awesomeness of wine (clearly, this is not only a fact, but a Monday necessity) and I told her that I was having a glass of champagne in favor of wine because we have an excess of the bubbly stuff left over from New Year’s Eve.

Sean and I typically have a few friends over each New Year’s Eve instead of going out (if you know Sean, you know why) and somehow we ALWAYS end up with extra bottles of champagne at our house. Sean doesn’t drink champagne at all, and while I occasionally will indulge in a mimosa or two I’m not really a fan of the stuff either, but one of the bottles was already open (we have one of those vacuum sealer things which has kept it bubbly) and it’s taking up too much space in our fridge, so I’m trying to finish off the bottle (I’m kinda weird about not throwing things out…)

That was a very long-winded explanation all to say that when I told Britt that she said it was like I was celebrating Monday. Since Mondays are typically so blah, I thought that was a nice way to look at it Smile

There was no real point to that story, sorry.

In other news…

I’m not running right now and I am absolutely losing my mind. I’m having this weird knee pain that I’ve never experienced before every time I try to run, so I’m attempting to take it easy. But seriously, that’s hard.

I took an entire rest day on Sunday (MUCH easier said than done, I had to force myself to do things other than work out) and yesterday my knee felt back to normal. Then this morning I hopped on the treadmill to test it out, got 2 miles in, and had to call it quits because even though I hadn’t even broken a sweat yet my knee was telling me it was time to end the run. My legs, on the other hand, feel amazing!

If anyone would like to self-diagnose me before I go spend entirely too much money at the sports doc this weekend, I would greatly appreciate it. It kind of feels like something is pulling and I get a sharp pain every time I move it, but only when running. It kind of sporadically comes and goes when I’m walking, but generally is not an issue.

And just in case you were wondering…

I seriously have the best husband ever.

Last Wednesday at the end of a painfully long day with too many things gone wrong I came home to find Sean locked in one of our guest bedrooms. He told me I could under no circumstances come in that room and that he was working on something for me. I had not a clue what it could be, but the boy is crafty at times so I was definitely intrigued.

Thursday when he got home from softball he presented me with this:

Naturally I am just now realizing how terrible of a job I did taking a photograph of this, but in my defense I was balancing myself on my treadmill trying to get the whole thing in the picture and using the big fancy camera which I’m still not very good at.

How awesome is he? He made a shadowbox collage to commemorate my marathon experience, complete with course map, bib, and several pictures he took. You can’t see it, but the tiny picture in the middle shows the marathon clock immortalizing that I finished under 4 hours (he specifically pointed that part out to me, hehe).

Yeah, he’s awesome. I know it’s not easy at all living with a runner, and he really is top-notch about it.

Do your significant other’s or friends and family support your fitness endeavors?

Oh and please, fix my knee. I’m going through endorphin withdrawals.