Saturday, November 29, 2008

A Photo Essay - Race Style

Less interesting titles for this post: "My First Race" or "The Drumstick Dash"

If a picture is worth a thousand words this post should get you up to speed. For those who don't know, on Thanksgiving morning I ran my first race. The race is called the Drumstick Dash and it is a 4.5 mile run/walk though Broadripple with over 7000 participants this year. What makes it even more cool is that all the proceeds go to The Wheeler Mission Ministries which is a homeless shelter that provides food and lodging for the homeless in the Indianapolis area.

It seems like a lot of work to rehash all the details of the race and you know I'm inherently lazy, but luckily I (with much assistance - photo credits to the Boyfriend unless otherwise mentioned) documented the whole thing with photos for your viewing pleasure. Oh yeah... the best part... I'm not the only crazy sap who decided to run a race on Thanksgiving morning. Nope, I suckered a couple friends into it too....

Packet Pick-up: Wednesday night before the race Simmonds, Will and Myself head down to pick up all of our stuff for the race and gleefully show off our bib numbers. (photo credit to random lady in the tee-shirt tent)

The Race started at 9am on Thanksgiving morning. We thought, what better way to prep and celebrate, than with a tequila shot...
... At 9pm the night before. Doesn't everyone do tequila shots before a race? I'm pretty sure this is standard protocol.

The next morning we arrived at the event location and headed into the Running Company. Here's us with our bib numbers and crocheted hats courtesy of Simmonds. (Photo credit to Mr. Brown - see next pic for explanation)

While meandering around the store, we ran into my old high school principal, Mr. Brown, and his wife who has worked with Simmonds. We figured that needed a picture too! (photo credit to Will)

We don't all run the same pace, so this was our last pic together before the race. Check out the scads of people behind us. Also, how adorable are our hats?!?! Did I mention Simmonds bought the yarn and cranked out Will's hat the night before the race? She's so cool!

Okay, I know a 10 minute mile isn't really terribly impressive, but had I run this race a year ago, I would have been in the 12 minute mile group and I would have ended up walking part of it, so... I was pretty geeked to line up next to the 10 minute mile sign.

This is me crossing the finish line (sort of). The ever dedicated boyfriend came out and waited at the finish line to take our pictures as we crossed. Unfortunately he didn't realize that my camera had an auto shut off feature. So the finish line is actually about 20 feet behind me. But... YAY I finished!! Distance: 4.5 miles. Official time: 45 minutes 22 seconds Pace: 10 minutes 4 seconds per mile. Finishing my first race at a record pace (for me) PRICELESS!

Simmonds crosses the finish line! This girl kicked ass. She ran the whole thing with no walking breaks. The farthest she's ever run before. AND... she did it in less than an hour. Official time: 59 minutes 18.5 seconds. Way to go Simmonds!

Will crosses the finish line! He did the event as a walk/run and while he opted out of a timing chip so while we don't have an official time, we think he was around an hour and 17 minutes.

Post race banana!! WOOHOO! You must eat a banana after you race. It's a rule.

Back at home, we wanted to show off our free t-shirts. And of course.. those awesome hats we'd been running and sweating in...

Well, they had to come off sometime! How sexy are we!!! Yeah baby!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Countdown to....

.... Finishing Twilight.

Negative 55.5 hours. That's right... somehow I got sucked in (no pun intended). I ended up reading Twilight. When I started it was basically enough to hold my attention, but not a huge page turner. Saturday night, I told Brad I was going to go read in bed until I fell asleep. Around 4am he came in shocked to see me still curled up reading away. Around 4:30am I finally finished and went to bed.

.... Seeing the Twilight movie.

Negative 41 hours. Yeah, I'm that much of a dork. I finished the book at 4am and went to see the movie at 7pm. I won't give anything away for those who haven't seen it. Overall I thought it was alright. Book was definitely better though.

.... The Drumstick Dash.

45 hours! I'm TERRIFIED!!! I can't believe my first race is less than 2 days away. 4.5miles!!! Not that I don't think I can do it! But there will be people! and timing chips!!! and a six-foot turkey. Reason to be terrified!

.... Turkey Day.

48hours. Well, that's the time 'til our first Turkey day meal anyway. Holidays are always crazy. This year is the boyfriend's mom's side of the family at noon. My fam at 4pm. And then the boyfriend's dad's side on Saturday. CRAZY!!!

.... Black Friday.

72 hours. That's when it will start for me anyway. I refuse to participate in that crazy shopping crap. I worked retail tooooooo loooooooong for that. I'll wake up around noon and probably spend some time cleaning the house or maybe just reading a book.

.... Shopping wine down.

79 hours. While I don't participate in the crazy shopping, other girls I know do. So we are having a post shopping "wine" down party. Wine and girlie movies. YAY!

.... Company Christmas Party.

14 days. Let's just say... it should be interesting.

.... Christmas!!!!

30 days! OMG! Christmas is a month away. Who let that happen? Wasn't Halloween last week?

.... Will's B-day!

30 days!! Poor kid has to share his birthday with Jesus. Tell me that ain't a rough gig!

.... MY BIRTHDAY!!!

32 days! WAHOO!!! No idea what I'm doing for my birthday yet. But I was born... that's cause for celebration.

.... 2009.

37 days. I can't believe another year has almost passed. How does this happen??? I don't understand!

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

You can vote however you like

Ok, I wish I had found this before the election, but I still think it's relevant (and cute). It's kids from the Ron Clark Academy performing a parody of T.I's "Whatever You Like." Here the link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxlwYP0HNdc


And because the sound isn't great, here's most of the lyrics (I can't find any where that has the first couple verses... sorry)..

Obama on the left
McCain on the right
We can talk politics all night
And you can vote however you like
You can vote however you like, yeah

Democratic left
Republican right
November 4th we decide
And you can vote however you like
You can vote however you like, yeah

(McCain supporters)
McCain’s the best candidate
With Palin as his running mate
They’ll fight for gun rights, pro life,
The conservative right
Our future is bright
Better economy in site
And all the world will feel our military might

(Obama supporters)
But McCain and Bush are real close right
They vote alike and keep it tight
Obama’s new, he’s younger too
The Middle Class he will help you
He’ll bring a change, he’s got the brains
McCain and Bush are just the same
You are to blame, Iraq’s a shame
Four more years would be insane

Lower your Taxes - you know Obama Won’t
PROTECT THE LOWER CLASS - You know McCain won’t!
Have enough experience - you know that they don’t
STOP GLOBAL WARMING - you know that you won’t

I want Obama
FORGET OBAMA
Stick with McCain and you’re going to have some drama
We need it
HE’LL BRING IT
He’ll be it
YOU’LL SEE IT
We’ll do it
GET TO IT
Let’s move it
DO IT!

Obama on the left
McCain on the right
We can talk politics all night
And you can vote however you like
You can vote however you like, yeah

Democratic left
Republican right
November 4th we decide
And you can vote however you like, I said
You can vote however you like, yeah

I’m talking big pipe lines, and low gas prices
Below $2.00 that would be nice

But to do it right we gotta start today
Finding renewable ways that are here to stay

I want Obama
FORGET OBAMA,
Stick wit McCain you gone have some drama
MORE WAR IN IRAQ
Iran he will attack
CAN’T BRING OUR TROOPS BACK
We gotta vote Barack!

Obama on the left
McCain on the right
We can talk politics all night
And you can vote however you like, I said
You can vote however you like, yeah

Democratic left
Republican right
November 4th we decide
And you can vote however you like, I said
You can vote however you like, yeah

I wouldn't be a hoosier if I actually Mattered

I know that most people are probably more than over the election by this point. Enough with the debates, the nasty commercials, the he hangs out with so and so, but he's gonna raise my taxes. It's finally done! Some people are thrilled, some terrified, some indifferent. For me, it's kind of bitter sweet...

Living in Indiana it's always been a little hard to get excited about the Presidential election. Since 1964 Indiana has voted red EVERYTIME! Now, I don't consider myself a republican or a democrat. In my opinion both parties are way to screwed up for me to associate myself with them. None the less, Indiana has always been completely ignored in the Presidential race. Republicans don't visit here, because they know they have our vote so why waste the money. Democrats don't visit here because they know they can't get our vote so why waste the money. Basically every campaign just assumes we are a red state and always will be. Heck, Bush beat Kerry by 20 points in Indiana in 2004!

I'd like to thank Hillary Clinton for changing that. While most people think that Senator Clinton should have dropped out of the primaries loooooong before she did, by staying in, she forced Barack Obama to come to the Hoosier state. Once he got here he must have realized that hey, there are people here who care. There are people here who want to see change. There are people here who more than likely have voted Republican their whole life because that is what their parents did and no candidate ever made the effort to come here and say... "Hey, How 'bout me."

Typically, the polls close at 6pm and Indiana is called at 6:01pm (even though the polls in some counties don't actually close till 7pm because they are on central time). Last night was different though. We weren't the first state called, or the second. It looked like Indiana mattered. CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC.. they were all talking about us. It seemed as though our vote might actually matter. It was AWESOME!!!! Then we hit a snag....

It was soooo close, that they refused to call our state!!!! Sometime around 11pm MSNBC declared that Barack Obama would be the President Elect. While I was excited, I still wanted to know about Indiana. I finally came to terms with the fact that once again, our little state didn't really matter much and went to bed. The Boyfriend informed me that around 2am they FINALLY called Indiana. BLUE!!! IT WENT BLUE!!! That's historical for us! So... in the long run I guess we still didn't matter (not that votes don't matter - but we didn't truely affect the outcome) but for a little while at least, we had the nation watching. And because of what Obama was able to do, I suspect future candidates will stop writing us off. AWESOME!

One more thing... favorite quotes of the political seasion... First, I guess this isn't really a quote because I can't remember what was said exactly, but Hillary Clinton at a rally in Kokomo said "incentivizing." I had to come home and look it up to make sure it was a real word. I was a little disappointed when I discovered that it was. I like it when people make up words and use them like they are real. Ok... #2... From my dear Lizzie Jane with whom I always have fascinating conversations (we seem to agree on very little, yet get along wonderfully.. it's awesome!) "I lived in Florida for the last one [Presidential Election], so my vote counted twice." HAHAHA!!! Score one for Lizzie Jane and her endless wit. And finally, my own quote, and the title of this post... "I wouldn't be a Hoosier if I actually mattered."

Happy end of election season!!! (Indiana counts!!! ... well... sort of.)