My apologies blog followers (again all 3 of you) for not posting in quite a while, however; the holidays have kept me extremely busy and while I thought about posting many times just never got around to it.
While at home over Christmas (in the great state) I went out with my cousin who I had not seen since May and while chatting with him I began to reflect back on this past year. As 2010 comes to a close I decided to publish my reflection on my year which can only be summed up as "The best year of my life...so far"
The year 2010 was rung in with my very good friend at the Playboy party in Downtown Chicago, a wonderful night and a great way to start a great year (with good friends, good music and really good drinks)
I went on many many trips this year, some would call it the year of travel for me. I visited many friends and family all around the United States and went on numerous short weekend trips with friends and family. Each trip I enjoyed greatly and was very happy to get to not only see and spend time with my friends but also to see many new cities.
I also challenged myself quite a bit physically this year by completeling not only my first half marathon but my first full marathon as well. As many of you are aware neither of these were easy accomplishments especially when I attempted to give up alcohol for 12 weeks as part of a training regiment. This will not be attempted ever, ever again. Training for these races challenged me greatly and made me realize that if I can train for a marathon I can do absolutely ANYTHING!!!! This made me feel very completed in life at the ripe old age of 24.
My grandfathers estate that had been up in the air for quite some time was finally settled and my family and I were able to finally have some closure.
Lastly I celebrated my 1 year anniversary at work this year. Not only was this a celebration in that I didn't get fired in a whole year, but also in that I didn't have to move. As I have moved every year for the past 4 it was very nice to feel somewhat stable and not have to try to recruit my father to carry all my stuff up and down multiple flights of stairs.
I met a lot of people this year and made many new friends. I was able to pretty much do everything and anything I wanted to and for this I am very thankful. I was also able to learn a lot about myself as an adult this year and have been very happy with what I have learned.
As I prepare for 2011 I can only hope that it as nearly as wonderful a year as 2010 was, and I can safely say that if my New Years Eve plans have anything to do with what is in store for me next year, it is going to be one rocking spectacular year!!!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Florida!!!!
As you may or may not know I enjoy traveling as much as I possibly can. I'm not sure why this is exactly but perhaps it comes from the fact that the city i live in gets cold in October and doesn't warm up until typically June, just a possibility. I'm very fortunate that I have many friends around the country and therefore have somewhere to stay in many areas of the country. I choose to go to Florida on my latest trip to visit my very good friend Ashley from college. I have a rule that vacation begins as soon as you get to the airport therefore I can eat whatever I want and spend as much money as I want to. This was going to be a very quick trip Friday evening to Sunday evening because as I am now an adult and have a big girl job where they expect me to work Monday thru Friday (crazy I know I must find a way to turn these work weeks into 3 or 4 days rather than 5).
I began my trip at Midway airport where I proceeded to enjoy a tasty treat of combos before getting onto the plane. This plane had XM radio (my favorite) and I was able to listen to Dr. Laura Berman (another favorite) the entire way to Atlanta. Unfortunately the topic Dr. Laura decided to talk about was very close to home for me and I spent the majority of this flight fighting back tears for fear that my fellow passengers may think I was crazy or suicidal or both. Didn't stop listening to the show however because I feel a little punishment in life is necessary. Once I landed in Atlanta I attempted to find a McDonald's so I could enjoy some delicious french fries while I waited for my flight. However apparently terminal D in Atlanta's airport doesn't have McDonald's and I had to suffer through a medium Burger King Fries, they were very difficult to force down but somehow I managed. Landing in Tampa I was very excited to see Ashley so I rushed down to the pick up area thinking it's 10:30 at night no one will be here. Clearly i was wrong not only were there other people there I am pretty sure the entire city of Tampa had gone on vacation that week and was returning at this exact time. Ashley was traversing thru traffic that had to be made up of Florida's most moronic and I was climbing over people to try to get to her car. Having traversed what felt like the worst obstacle course of my life I finally got to Ashley and off we went to Bradenton.
As it was quite late we decided to go grab a casual drink and get some food. Ashley took me to the most happening place in Bradenton, the local Applebees. Interesting I thought that Applebee's in Chicago get very little patronage yet here in Bradenton it was clearly the place to be and be seen!!! We met up with a friend of Ashley's there who was very nice but clearly was a little taken aback by my choice of conversation topic and openness about my life, I believe he may have asked Ashley later if I was drunk. After enjoying quite a few Sangria's and checking out all the locals we headed back to Ashley's to go to bed and get ready for a fun filled weekend.
The rest of our weekend was made up with a lot of sleeping in, manicures and pedicures complete with wine, some sun worshiping by the pool complete with a canadian man friending us, checking out some yachts (at which point I told Ashley she is no longer allowed to date any man that doesn't own a yacht) and drinking bottles and bottles of wine. The peak of the weekend had to be our outing to The Lost Kangaroo bar where we did some great people watching including some folks that looked like they were straight off the Beverly Hillbillies set and a wedding party that had apparently chosen this wonderful establishment for their wedding reception.
This trip concluded with my flights home, among which both were oversold and I witnessed one man throw a "Meet the Parents" esk fit in the aisle of the plane because his fiancee didn't have a seat. As I stood outside the airport in Chicago waiting for my cab I was deeply saddened to be back in Chicago where it was sleeting and feeling a little blue that my adventure was over. Then I got into my cab and listened the whole way home to the cab driver as he informed me that he had come up with a cure for diabetes and was currently working on a cure for cancer too, give him about 2 months and that would be done too.
This is when I realized even at home my life is full of daily adventures and interesting characters.
I began my trip at Midway airport where I proceeded to enjoy a tasty treat of combos before getting onto the plane. This plane had XM radio (my favorite) and I was able to listen to Dr. Laura Berman (another favorite) the entire way to Atlanta. Unfortunately the topic Dr. Laura decided to talk about was very close to home for me and I spent the majority of this flight fighting back tears for fear that my fellow passengers may think I was crazy or suicidal or both. Didn't stop listening to the show however because I feel a little punishment in life is necessary. Once I landed in Atlanta I attempted to find a McDonald's so I could enjoy some delicious french fries while I waited for my flight. However apparently terminal D in Atlanta's airport doesn't have McDonald's and I had to suffer through a medium Burger King Fries, they were very difficult to force down but somehow I managed. Landing in Tampa I was very excited to see Ashley so I rushed down to the pick up area thinking it's 10:30 at night no one will be here. Clearly i was wrong not only were there other people there I am pretty sure the entire city of Tampa had gone on vacation that week and was returning at this exact time. Ashley was traversing thru traffic that had to be made up of Florida's most moronic and I was climbing over people to try to get to her car. Having traversed what felt like the worst obstacle course of my life I finally got to Ashley and off we went to Bradenton.
As it was quite late we decided to go grab a casual drink and get some food. Ashley took me to the most happening place in Bradenton, the local Applebees. Interesting I thought that Applebee's in Chicago get very little patronage yet here in Bradenton it was clearly the place to be and be seen!!! We met up with a friend of Ashley's there who was very nice but clearly was a little taken aback by my choice of conversation topic and openness about my life, I believe he may have asked Ashley later if I was drunk. After enjoying quite a few Sangria's and checking out all the locals we headed back to Ashley's to go to bed and get ready for a fun filled weekend.
The rest of our weekend was made up with a lot of sleeping in, manicures and pedicures complete with wine, some sun worshiping by the pool complete with a canadian man friending us, checking out some yachts (at which point I told Ashley she is no longer allowed to date any man that doesn't own a yacht) and drinking bottles and bottles of wine. The peak of the weekend had to be our outing to The Lost Kangaroo bar where we did some great people watching including some folks that looked like they were straight off the Beverly Hillbillies set and a wedding party that had apparently chosen this wonderful establishment for their wedding reception.
This trip concluded with my flights home, among which both were oversold and I witnessed one man throw a "Meet the Parents" esk fit in the aisle of the plane because his fiancee didn't have a seat. As I stood outside the airport in Chicago waiting for my cab I was deeply saddened to be back in Chicago where it was sleeting and feeling a little blue that my adventure was over. Then I got into my cab and listened the whole way home to the cab driver as he informed me that he had come up with a cure for diabetes and was currently working on a cure for cancer too, give him about 2 months and that would be done too.
This is when I realized even at home my life is full of daily adventures and interesting characters.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Current Events (Camping, Dating, and Spinning)
For those of you who are loyal followers of my blog (which I believe there are exactly 3 of you, but I shall continue) I apologize that it has been a while since my last post but I have been quite a busy woman the past few weeks.
I'll begin with camping. As many of you know my family has an annual camping trip that occurs in the fall. This camping trip consists of all my uncles and my cousins. I have a very large family so at times this group can make up anywhere from 10 - 20 people. This year one of my cousins decided that we should go camping for Friday and Saturday night rather than just Saturday night. I agreed because why not...so I packed up Thursday night and headed back to the great state immediately following work on Friday night. My cousin who lives about 90 minutes north west of me and I decided to car pool. After packing up her car stopping for a brief McDonald's dinner in which the idiot working the drive thru shorted us one order of french fries we were off. On the way we managed to open every single bag of snacks we had brought to eat for the weekend, stalk one of our uncles by calling all the numbers we had for him until we finally were able to sufficiently harass him and read through one entire issue of Cosmo magazine (very educational for those of you not familiar with it). Friday night out on "The Land" was very uneventful, we drank sat around a fire and retired to the very comfortable trailer inside which we slept on a sleep number bed, we were really roughing it. Around 4am I heard my cousin in a very panicky but trying not to panic voice say "Morgan, Morgan are you awake?" "Yeah I'm awake, what's up I reply?" "there is a lump under my sleeping bag that I am pretty sure is a mouse!!" With each word the steadiness of her voice got less and less. I agreed to investigate the "mouse" with my flashlight which revealed that there was not in fact a mouse and that my cousin was in fact hallucinating. Saturday was a fairly relaxing day which consumed of running to the local Wal-Mart 45+ minutes away and driving back with the top down on the convertible while blasting the heat, pretending to help the rest of my uncles and cousins unpack their vehicles when they arrived and eating and drinking a lot. That evening was actually one of the calmest evenings ever had out on the land minus my cousins presentation of I'm drunk and now am going to be mean and throw things at you midnight show. Best line of this show was "In the morning I am going to allow you to apologize to me" How gracious I thought as I not exactly being the poster child for sobriety passed out. That pretty much sums up my camping trip this year but as always it was quite a blast and can't wait to return next year as we never really know what to expect!!!
Since completing my marathon I have been contemplating what I might want my next physical challenge to be. I have fallen upon a half ironman triathalon following the logic that I used to be a competitive swimmer, and I just ran a marathon so really all I have to pick up is cycling. So I decided to begin attending spinning classes at my gym. I went to the second class last week Tuesday in which at one point I really thought I was starring death in the face. The class began innocently enough a little warm up a little standing run etc. Then as we got into the meat and potatoes of the class I realized the teacher had to be some sort of spawn of Satan's. Each time I thought we might be done with this set and back of the intensity she uttered these horrible words, "Increase resistance if you can please" and so politely too, please, please shut up I thought. So I continue spinning my legs wishing for the end, then suddenly eminem's "I'm not afraid" comes on and the music just speaks to me, I get a second wind I am flying I am EMINEM and I - am - not - afraid. Then the song ended and I was back in my own personal hell. By the end of the class I could not only wring out my clothese there was a little puddle of sweat on the floor, "thats hot" I thought as I walked out of the spinning studio.
Finally I had the enjoyment of going on a second date with a very nice gentleman in the past few weeks. I enjoyed the first date with this individual hence the second date but I had a few reservations among which was the fact that he was 13 years my senior. But I thought oh well just go have a good time see what happens. Well by the end of this date I had drank a pitcher and a half of margaritas discovered that he was divorced and had two adorable children that he sees daily. Not only is he divorced but has been divorced for less than 6 months. Oh well I figured this was a cue for me to drink more heavily and turn into "Amber" because who doesn't love Amber???
So as you can see I have been quite busy living life to the fullest, meeting as many new people as possible and making sure no drink out there goes undrunk!!!!
I'll begin with camping. As many of you know my family has an annual camping trip that occurs in the fall. This camping trip consists of all my uncles and my cousins. I have a very large family so at times this group can make up anywhere from 10 - 20 people. This year one of my cousins decided that we should go camping for Friday and Saturday night rather than just Saturday night. I agreed because why not...so I packed up Thursday night and headed back to the great state immediately following work on Friday night. My cousin who lives about 90 minutes north west of me and I decided to car pool. After packing up her car stopping for a brief McDonald's dinner in which the idiot working the drive thru shorted us one order of french fries we were off. On the way we managed to open every single bag of snacks we had brought to eat for the weekend, stalk one of our uncles by calling all the numbers we had for him until we finally were able to sufficiently harass him and read through one entire issue of Cosmo magazine (very educational for those of you not familiar with it). Friday night out on "The Land" was very uneventful, we drank sat around a fire and retired to the very comfortable trailer inside which we slept on a sleep number bed, we were really roughing it. Around 4am I heard my cousin in a very panicky but trying not to panic voice say "Morgan, Morgan are you awake?" "Yeah I'm awake, what's up I reply?" "there is a lump under my sleeping bag that I am pretty sure is a mouse!!" With each word the steadiness of her voice got less and less. I agreed to investigate the "mouse" with my flashlight which revealed that there was not in fact a mouse and that my cousin was in fact hallucinating. Saturday was a fairly relaxing day which consumed of running to the local Wal-Mart 45+ minutes away and driving back with the top down on the convertible while blasting the heat, pretending to help the rest of my uncles and cousins unpack their vehicles when they arrived and eating and drinking a lot. That evening was actually one of the calmest evenings ever had out on the land minus my cousins presentation of I'm drunk and now am going to be mean and throw things at you midnight show. Best line of this show was "In the morning I am going to allow you to apologize to me" How gracious I thought as I not exactly being the poster child for sobriety passed out. That pretty much sums up my camping trip this year but as always it was quite a blast and can't wait to return next year as we never really know what to expect!!!
Since completing my marathon I have been contemplating what I might want my next physical challenge to be. I have fallen upon a half ironman triathalon following the logic that I used to be a competitive swimmer, and I just ran a marathon so really all I have to pick up is cycling. So I decided to begin attending spinning classes at my gym. I went to the second class last week Tuesday in which at one point I really thought I was starring death in the face. The class began innocently enough a little warm up a little standing run etc. Then as we got into the meat and potatoes of the class I realized the teacher had to be some sort of spawn of Satan's. Each time I thought we might be done with this set and back of the intensity she uttered these horrible words, "Increase resistance if you can please" and so politely too, please, please shut up I thought. So I continue spinning my legs wishing for the end, then suddenly eminem's "I'm not afraid" comes on and the music just speaks to me, I get a second wind I am flying I am EMINEM and I - am - not - afraid. Then the song ended and I was back in my own personal hell. By the end of the class I could not only wring out my clothese there was a little puddle of sweat on the floor, "thats hot" I thought as I walked out of the spinning studio.
Finally I had the enjoyment of going on a second date with a very nice gentleman in the past few weeks. I enjoyed the first date with this individual hence the second date but I had a few reservations among which was the fact that he was 13 years my senior. But I thought oh well just go have a good time see what happens. Well by the end of this date I had drank a pitcher and a half of margaritas discovered that he was divorced and had two adorable children that he sees daily. Not only is he divorced but has been divorced for less than 6 months. Oh well I figured this was a cue for me to drink more heavily and turn into "Amber" because who doesn't love Amber???
So as you can see I have been quite busy living life to the fullest, meeting as many new people as possible and making sure no drink out there goes undrunk!!!!
Monday, October 18, 2010
What Does Age Really Mean????
So this week I decided to write about something that has been perplexing me for quite a while. What does age really mean when it comes to relationships? That being said I question people, what is the ideal age difference, what is too much of an age difference? This has come up in my life lately as a young single lady living in a city full of very eligible bachelors of quite varying ages. I have been dating quite a bit as of recently and this issue continues to come up time and time again.
I recently went out with someone who is 13 years difference in age from me. He was charming, nice, enjoyable and all around wonderful person. However at the end of the night in the back of my mind I know that there is a big elephant in the room (the elephant being our age difference in case you hadn't caught that). So even though I really enjoyed myself had a great time and would love to continue seeing this person is it irresponsible of me being that we are at very different places in our lives?
This forced me to think about this more and in the end the real question this presented me with is, where are all the decent young men? I am sure in writing this I am going to enrage any young men who read this (which I don't actually think there are any so I'm not too worried), so here is my disclaimer if you are a young man who is respectful, polite, charming and and all around gentlemen then you are not the one I am talking about...also if you are single drop me a line we should talk. For the rest of the world where is the man who will pay on the first date no question, who will drive 30 plus minutes to meet you, and who will gladly walk you to your car no matter how out of the way it is to make sure you get there safe and sound?
Now I am not saying that I think all male female gender roles should be kept up forever more, but I do believe a little chivalry is necessary. So is it true that to get these things I must only date men much older than me? Or is there hope that there is the young man out there who was raised properly and knows how to treat a lady?
Many many questions involved in all these issues and maybe there are no right or wrong answers, but for now I am going to continue to ponder these things, continue to date anyone no matter what their age and know that at the end of the day ageism is not a part of my life!!!
I recently went out with someone who is 13 years difference in age from me. He was charming, nice, enjoyable and all around wonderful person. However at the end of the night in the back of my mind I know that there is a big elephant in the room (the elephant being our age difference in case you hadn't caught that). So even though I really enjoyed myself had a great time and would love to continue seeing this person is it irresponsible of me being that we are at very different places in our lives?
This forced me to think about this more and in the end the real question this presented me with is, where are all the decent young men? I am sure in writing this I am going to enrage any young men who read this (which I don't actually think there are any so I'm not too worried), so here is my disclaimer if you are a young man who is respectful, polite, charming and and all around gentlemen then you are not the one I am talking about...also if you are single drop me a line we should talk. For the rest of the world where is the man who will pay on the first date no question, who will drive 30 plus minutes to meet you, and who will gladly walk you to your car no matter how out of the way it is to make sure you get there safe and sound?
Now I am not saying that I think all male female gender roles should be kept up forever more, but I do believe a little chivalry is necessary. So is it true that to get these things I must only date men much older than me? Or is there hope that there is the young man out there who was raised properly and knows how to treat a lady?
Many many questions involved in all these issues and maybe there are no right or wrong answers, but for now I am going to continue to ponder these things, continue to date anyone no matter what their age and know that at the end of the day ageism is not a part of my life!!!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Speed Dating...
So last night I went to speed dating for the first time. This was quite an interesting experience and not just because of the variety of men I met. When I arrived I was informed that there were 20 men and 12 women, so clearly the odds were in my favor. They changed up the rules a little and rather than the men moving from table to table, the women had to. I was not happy about this moving from guy to guy as they sat back and relaxed like Kings. Oh well I decided to make the best of it and drink a little more than I have in a long time, seeing as I am done with the marathon. As I carried my long island from table to table I met quite a few interesting men.
There was the Russian immigrant who was 25 years older than me but kept telling me age doesn't matter and even though I am closer to his sons age than his love knows no age. The mechanic who I decided to spend the 3 minutes we were supposed to be "getting to know each other" asking him if he thought a sound my car was currently making was something I needed to get checked out and if it would be pricey (he told me yes and could be very expensive...balls). A UPS driver who showed me pictures on his phone of all sorts of different dishes he could cook for me, describing in detail how he would do all the preparation in front of me and that we could be something really great. A ripped Physical Therapist who lifted up his shirt so I could see and feel his amazing six pack, which was pretty impressive I must say. There were many more men, some noteworthy others not so much.
By the end of the speed dating I had enjoyed two long islands and was half way through my third. Things do start to get a little hazy at this point but the rest of the evening is too entertaining to not share. My ex, who was also in attendance at this speed dating, and I decided that this was a great time to have a very serious conversation, because when I have had 3 long islands it's always a great time to discuss serious things with me. After this serious conversation dancing sounded like a fabulous idea and a small group of us went to the dance floor and began to get our groove on. Very abruptly as tends to happen with me I decided it was time for the fun to end and for me to go. I left the bar to go sit in the backseat of my car and wait for my friend (whose house I was staying at) to get home from a concert she had gone to. I vaguely recall getting into my car and the next thing I know its 5:15am. I wake up in a full on panic, whose car am in, how did I get here where am I parked, was I abducted. Slowly I looked around oh this car has a bike rack in it, I have a bike rack in my car I think to myself. Hmm this car has a parking pass on it, my car has parking passes as well. After about 5 minutes of very critical thinking I am able to deduct that yes I am in fact in my car. I also as I am looking around notice that someone has puked all over the backseat of my car and all over the floor. At this point I call my friend and walk the 20 feet to her front door so she can let me in to sleep.
All in all a rather exciting and eventful night, while today is very unpleasant and will be spent on the couch it was almost worth it to meet a bunch of new people, celebrate the end of my marathon training and of course another chapter for the memoirs!!!
There was the Russian immigrant who was 25 years older than me but kept telling me age doesn't matter and even though I am closer to his sons age than his love knows no age. The mechanic who I decided to spend the 3 minutes we were supposed to be "getting to know each other" asking him if he thought a sound my car was currently making was something I needed to get checked out and if it would be pricey (he told me yes and could be very expensive...balls). A UPS driver who showed me pictures on his phone of all sorts of different dishes he could cook for me, describing in detail how he would do all the preparation in front of me and that we could be something really great. A ripped Physical Therapist who lifted up his shirt so I could see and feel his amazing six pack, which was pretty impressive I must say. There were many more men, some noteworthy others not so much.
By the end of the speed dating I had enjoyed two long islands and was half way through my third. Things do start to get a little hazy at this point but the rest of the evening is too entertaining to not share. My ex, who was also in attendance at this speed dating, and I decided that this was a great time to have a very serious conversation, because when I have had 3 long islands it's always a great time to discuss serious things with me. After this serious conversation dancing sounded like a fabulous idea and a small group of us went to the dance floor and began to get our groove on. Very abruptly as tends to happen with me I decided it was time for the fun to end and for me to go. I left the bar to go sit in the backseat of my car and wait for my friend (whose house I was staying at) to get home from a concert she had gone to. I vaguely recall getting into my car and the next thing I know its 5:15am. I wake up in a full on panic, whose car am in, how did I get here where am I parked, was I abducted. Slowly I looked around oh this car has a bike rack in it, I have a bike rack in my car I think to myself. Hmm this car has a parking pass on it, my car has parking passes as well. After about 5 minutes of very critical thinking I am able to deduct that yes I am in fact in my car. I also as I am looking around notice that someone has puked all over the backseat of my car and all over the floor. At this point I call my friend and walk the 20 feet to her front door so she can let me in to sleep.
All in all a rather exciting and eventful night, while today is very unpleasant and will be spent on the couch it was almost worth it to meet a bunch of new people, celebrate the end of my marathon training and of course another chapter for the memoirs!!!
Monday, October 4, 2010
My Marathon (The day I thought death was upon me)
As many of you know this past Sunday October 3rd I participated in the Milwaukee Lake front's annual Marathon. This has been something I have been preparing and training for since May. As the weekend neared I didn't have an overwhelming sense of nervousness or fear that some would anticipate, I have since decided this was due to complete and utter denial. However on the eve of this marathon as my cousin, uncle and I gathered at my parents home to eat spaghetti and prepare for the event denial seemed to become a thing of the past and complete fear began to set in.
My uncle being the paternal type that he is decided to help calm my nerves by showing me some "inspirational" YouTube videos. I sat down expecting to see people crossing the finish line with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes at the overwhelming feat they had just accomplished. I quickly realized these were not the type of videos my uncle had in mind. The first one entitled women collapses 20 yds from finish showed the details of what would happen if your legs gave out right before the finish. Showing me video after video of women collapsing then crawling through the finish to be greeted by endless numbers of emergency medical personal my uncle's idea of inspirational I came to believe is slightly different from mine.
We then left my parents house and headed up to the hotel we would be staying at that night approximately 26.2 miles north of the city. As we drove and drove and drove I began to realize that 26.2 miles is a long way in a car, so how was I going to run that in the morning!!! I crawled into bed that night with my uncles words in my head "remember Morgan if you collapse at the finish remember to crawl!!" wondering if that really was my fate.
When morning finally came and I got dressed ate breakfast and headed over to the start line denial began to settle in once again, this isn't anything major just going for a little run I told myself, and for the first 10 - 15 miles that's exactly how it felt, just like any other run. Only a few bumps along those first 15 miles, forgetting to start my watch and ipod at the start, spilling water all over my face and up my nose at mile 3, dropping my ipod at mile 7, 10 and 12, and losing my gum at mile 7 (still not quite sure where it went and hope it didn't end up on somebodies back).
However, at mile 17 I began repeating a mantra over and over in my head, "9 miles you can do 9 miles you've done this how many times before" by mile 17 and a half that mantra changed into lets take it 2 miles at a time, just 2 miles at a time get to 20, then 22.... A good friend of mine had told me when it starts to hurt just keep smiling, so like the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland I plastered a smile on and kept trotting along.
Around mile 19 the relay exchange took place and those people who were smart enough to complete the marathon in a relay switched with their last leg and I secretly cursed each and every one of them for getting to be done. The miles became longer and longer after that and all I could think was that the finish had to be getting closer. Pain radiated down both my legs and I had to remind myself over and over again that I voluntarily signed up for this, that when it was all done I would be glad I did it, this wasn't somebody torturing me it was me torturing me. Crossing mile 22 and knowing I could run home to my parents house in less than half a mile rather than continuing became a really great idea.
Finally I crested the large hill at mile 23 looked down at the lake in front of me and realized I was going to do this, I was going to finish a marathon. Mile 25 and a half, less than a mile to go and all I wanted to do was stop I rounded a bend and my aunt popped out scaring me and giving me the last boost of adrenaline needed yelling "you're almost there, this is it!!", I sprinted down the chute crossed the finish line and thanked the lord that this thing was over, smiling the entire way.
While I can't say I'm about to sign up for another marathon tomorrow or ever for that matter i must confess that it wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. In the end I was glad I got to accomplish it and become a member of a very elite club, now able to refer to myself as a Marathon Runner.
My uncle being the paternal type that he is decided to help calm my nerves by showing me some "inspirational" YouTube videos. I sat down expecting to see people crossing the finish line with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes at the overwhelming feat they had just accomplished. I quickly realized these were not the type of videos my uncle had in mind. The first one entitled women collapses 20 yds from finish showed the details of what would happen if your legs gave out right before the finish. Showing me video after video of women collapsing then crawling through the finish to be greeted by endless numbers of emergency medical personal my uncle's idea of inspirational I came to believe is slightly different from mine.
We then left my parents house and headed up to the hotel we would be staying at that night approximately 26.2 miles north of the city. As we drove and drove and drove I began to realize that 26.2 miles is a long way in a car, so how was I going to run that in the morning!!! I crawled into bed that night with my uncles words in my head "remember Morgan if you collapse at the finish remember to crawl!!" wondering if that really was my fate.
When morning finally came and I got dressed ate breakfast and headed over to the start line denial began to settle in once again, this isn't anything major just going for a little run I told myself, and for the first 10 - 15 miles that's exactly how it felt, just like any other run. Only a few bumps along those first 15 miles, forgetting to start my watch and ipod at the start, spilling water all over my face and up my nose at mile 3, dropping my ipod at mile 7, 10 and 12, and losing my gum at mile 7 (still not quite sure where it went and hope it didn't end up on somebodies back).
However, at mile 17 I began repeating a mantra over and over in my head, "9 miles you can do 9 miles you've done this how many times before" by mile 17 and a half that mantra changed into lets take it 2 miles at a time, just 2 miles at a time get to 20, then 22.... A good friend of mine had told me when it starts to hurt just keep smiling, so like the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland I plastered a smile on and kept trotting along.
Around mile 19 the relay exchange took place and those people who were smart enough to complete the marathon in a relay switched with their last leg and I secretly cursed each and every one of them for getting to be done. The miles became longer and longer after that and all I could think was that the finish had to be getting closer. Pain radiated down both my legs and I had to remind myself over and over again that I voluntarily signed up for this, that when it was all done I would be glad I did it, this wasn't somebody torturing me it was me torturing me. Crossing mile 22 and knowing I could run home to my parents house in less than half a mile rather than continuing became a really great idea.
Finally I crested the large hill at mile 23 looked down at the lake in front of me and realized I was going to do this, I was going to finish a marathon. Mile 25 and a half, less than a mile to go and all I wanted to do was stop I rounded a bend and my aunt popped out scaring me and giving me the last boost of adrenaline needed yelling "you're almost there, this is it!!", I sprinted down the chute crossed the finish line and thanked the lord that this thing was over, smiling the entire way.
While I can't say I'm about to sign up for another marathon tomorrow or ever for that matter i must confess that it wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. In the end I was glad I got to accomplish it and become a member of a very elite club, now able to refer to myself as a Marathon Runner.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Marathon Training (aka: pure hell)
As I am approaching the date of my first (and quite probably only) marathon I felt a reflection back on my training was needed. As I look back over the past 3-4 months multiple runs come to mind.
There was the 9 mile run that I had to attempt multiple days in a row as for some reason this was impossible to conquer. In the end the only reason I did accomplish it was through pure fear of massive embarrassment at the idea of having to go to work and tell everyone that yet again (3rd try in a row) I was not able to complete the 9 mile run.
There was a 16 mile run that can only be described as the worst run of my life. This run included stopping at two separate CVS's to buy water and gum, as well as multiple stops at gas stations to use their restrooms, walking 3 -4 miles and ending in tears wanting nothing more than to hear my ipod tell me 16 miles completed.
A simple 5 mile midweek run that turned into a near disaster at 4.75 miles when I fell (in my defense it was dark out) skinned both my knees, injured multiple muscles in my chest and arm and alarmed a bystander who repeatedly asked me if I was okay because "that looked really bad miss." However refusing to not complete the 5 miles I got up and ran the last .25 miles with blood running down my legs and multiple people watching me wondering "what the hell happened to that girl"
Finally as my training peaked the 20 mile run, ran with my friend who I have been training consistently with. People have told me this is the big Aha moment run, that after you do 20 miles you realize that you really can conquer the marathon. This is not how this run went for me, rather that when my ipod said those magical words "20 miles completed" and I began to walk I couldn't help but moan and cry from the pain radiating from my legs!! All I wanted to do was sit down, but knew that sitting down would only make the pain worse. I then contemplated some sort of leg amputation to just make the pain go away as I cursed a few more times thinking that would definitely help. I would say I felt this way for a solid hour.
I have taken massive amounts of Ibuprofen, gone through ice like crazy, eaten more gels and cliff shot blocks than I even thought possible, bought two fanny packs to carry water in, lost a toenail, and gone to the doctor 3 times all in the name of training. All I can say is that if I finish those 26.2 miles next week it will not only be a miracle but an act that might really convince me there is a higher being out there.
One thing I can guarantee is at the end of that marathon I will be cursing the Uncle who convinced me to sign up for it, crying out in what I can only anticipate being some of the worst pain of my life, and feeling more full of pride than I have ever felt before.
There was the 9 mile run that I had to attempt multiple days in a row as for some reason this was impossible to conquer. In the end the only reason I did accomplish it was through pure fear of massive embarrassment at the idea of having to go to work and tell everyone that yet again (3rd try in a row) I was not able to complete the 9 mile run.
There was a 16 mile run that can only be described as the worst run of my life. This run included stopping at two separate CVS's to buy water and gum, as well as multiple stops at gas stations to use their restrooms, walking 3 -4 miles and ending in tears wanting nothing more than to hear my ipod tell me 16 miles completed.
A simple 5 mile midweek run that turned into a near disaster at 4.75 miles when I fell (in my defense it was dark out) skinned both my knees, injured multiple muscles in my chest and arm and alarmed a bystander who repeatedly asked me if I was okay because "that looked really bad miss." However refusing to not complete the 5 miles I got up and ran the last .25 miles with blood running down my legs and multiple people watching me wondering "what the hell happened to that girl"
Finally as my training peaked the 20 mile run, ran with my friend who I have been training consistently with. People have told me this is the big Aha moment run, that after you do 20 miles you realize that you really can conquer the marathon. This is not how this run went for me, rather that when my ipod said those magical words "20 miles completed" and I began to walk I couldn't help but moan and cry from the pain radiating from my legs!! All I wanted to do was sit down, but knew that sitting down would only make the pain worse. I then contemplated some sort of leg amputation to just make the pain go away as I cursed a few more times thinking that would definitely help. I would say I felt this way for a solid hour.
I have taken massive amounts of Ibuprofen, gone through ice like crazy, eaten more gels and cliff shot blocks than I even thought possible, bought two fanny packs to carry water in, lost a toenail, and gone to the doctor 3 times all in the name of training. All I can say is that if I finish those 26.2 miles next week it will not only be a miracle but an act that might really convince me there is a higher being out there.
One thing I can guarantee is at the end of that marathon I will be cursing the Uncle who convinced me to sign up for it, crying out in what I can only anticipate being some of the worst pain of my life, and feeling more full of pride than I have ever felt before.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
The Beginning
Welcome everyone to my blog!! I must warn you if you are going to be a regular follower do not expect this blog to educate you on much of anything, become a thought provoking entity, nor a really child friendly or appropriate place. This blog is for pure entertainment purposes only and really nothing else. As you will learn through following my blog, or perhaps you already know if you know me my life tends to take lots of random twists and turns and there is always, always something exciting and interesting going on. For this reason I felt a blog would be a great way to share all my stories with the masses.
So I encourage everyone to come again to see whats happening in my life, and if you think it's boring oh well don't read it then, life is really too short to waste time on things that bore you!!
So I encourage everyone to come again to see whats happening in my life, and if you think it's boring oh well don't read it then, life is really too short to waste time on things that bore you!!
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