We all have skeletons in our closet...

Sigh.

Yes, it's true, we all have skeletons in our closet. Some are minor, some are major, some eat at us til we reach a point of insanity, some stay buried and forgotten for years. But we all have them. Most of us aren't political figures or celebrities who live in fear of our buried skeletons making reappearances in the public on a grand scale. But still, how many of us live in fear of our closest loved ones, friends, or enemies, even, finding those skeletons we've meticulously packed away.


And that brings me to my point. I'm tired of living in the fear that someone may stumble upon my skeleton. I'm tired of worrying what people will think, I'm tired of wondering who may already know, and what they will and/or do think of me once they find out. It's not a pleasant feeling...that feeling of looking over your shoulder, that feeling of hiding something away.



So.

What to do.

I choose to air it all out. I choose to unbury my own skeletons, and let 'em lay smack dab in the middle of my living room. Because I just...can't...hide it...anymore.



The Skeleton in my Closet.

There you have it. I dressed my kid up as a skeleton...to use her...as a pawn...in my own sick game...of procuring as much candy as possible.... for me... to eat all by myself... without sharing.

And I feel soooooooooooooo dirty. (and stomach-achey)

But so relieved to have it out in the open. I think I just solidified my standing in the UMC.

For Amanda...

SIL Amanda pointed out to my MIL that I needed to post some more Emma pics ASAP. So, here they are, for your enjoyment:)

The Marathon

Well, some of you have been asking about my race, so here it is!Mike made it to two viewpoints, and the finish line. Here we are feeling good, but still chilly at mile 7.7!

We caught up to and passed most of those people in the pack ahead of us!

Here we are rounding the corner not too far from the 19 mile mark.

Here we are passing some people just beyond that.

Here I am barreling down the hill towards the finish line as fast as my legs could carry me.

Here is my backside.

And here I am crossing the finish line! Woot!

Darin and I sitting on our sweet space blankets.

Here we are enjoying some yummy post-race pierogies.


And here I am in my sweaty, nasty, post-race glory.

So. We did it. In 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 44 seconds. But still.

Our goal going in was 4:30:00. However, there were some things we didn't take into consideration when making that our goal time. So overall I'm KINDA bummed about it, but not really bummed at all.

Things we didn't consider:

a) walking through aid stations. We went to the race expo on Saturday and heard some

professional runners give some "sage" advice. One tidbit was to get liquid at EVERY aid

station, and to walk through them to ensure maximum intake. So, considering that there

were 13 aid stations, that's 13 momentary pauses we hadn't thought about.

b) 7 pee breaks. It's one thing to have to stop and pee. But 7 times?? Referring back to a), we

had a much greater liquid intake than we're used to. And honestly, I think we overdid it

with the intake merely out of fear of dehydration. I think we could have cut back a bit to

save ourselves the pain of running with a full bladder, and the TIME SUCK that was the

potty break! I mean, based on our training runs I think we didn't need to drink quite as

much as we did! The killer about this one was that not only did we have the pause of the

break, but the pause of having to wait in line for a Port-A-John, and then the difficulty of

having to hover over a pee-soaked seat with quads that were aflame, and nostrils that

were trying desperately not to suck in the foul stench. So.

c) The downhills. Yes, we knew this was considered a "downhill marathon". All the advice we

received was to take it easy down the hill, lean back, shuffle, slow down, take your time.

We did that. It saved our quads, I think, since they were doing ok at the end. But following

that advice really did suck up a lot of time, because there were A LOT of downhill sections.

d) The Uphills. For all the pre-race talk of the need to train for downhills, the marathon reps

failed to mention that this course contained some SERIOUS uphills. I mean, SERIOUS

hills. Ridiculous hills. I did quite a fair bit of hills during my training, but hadn't counted on

too many of them when setting my goal time/pace. Mile 23 was the worst. We hit the mile

marker and then looked up and saw this giant pack of "runners"....walking. Darin and I

looked at each other almost simultaneously and announced that we were going to run it.

And we did. Mile 23 also sucked because Michael Scott WAS NOT there handing out jello shots, or free paper.

e) The weather. It was cooooooooooooooold. I mean, we knew it would be chilly, but the chill

lasted much longer than was expected. It was 37 degrees at the start, and by mile 20 or

so it was 44 degrees. It finally warmed up at the end when the sun came out.

So, ya know. It was a wee bit rough. BUT. It was awesome. I loved it. Even the parts I hated.

The best things:

a) Seeing Mike there cheering for me. It felt so great to hear my name and have that

support!

b) Seeing Darin's husband and kids there cheering for her. It was adorable. We didn't really

know where Dave was going to show up. But we were just approaching a turn that led to

the Rails-to-Trails section of the race and we heard them calling out, "Go Mommy!". And

then her youngest, Evanie, started to run out onto the course to see her! So Darin got a

hug and a kiss and a glimpse of her brood before we headed into the woods. It was such
a lift to the spirits!

c) The scenery! We started in Forest City, and the forest it was. The colors are changing in

Scranton and it was just beautiful. As I mentioned, we also ran along part of the Rails-to-

Trails. And while that part was challenging because it was narrow, quiet, and muddy, it

was absolutely gorgeous!

d) The locals who cheered for us. I heard more cowbell yesterday than at any other time in

my life. There were bands, and cheerleaders, and locals blaring music from their porches

or trunks. There were sections of the race where we were greeted like rock stars, and

every time it was such a boost for us. There were many cheers of "hey ladies you're

looking good! No, I mean, you're looking goooooooood!"

We couldn't pass through those sections without

huge smiles on our faces, and without a little extra speed in our step. I can't say enough

about how wonderful it felt, and how grateful I was for those cheers, because it carried

me through many a mile.

e) The Finish Line. With about .9 of a mile left in the race, we were faced with yet

another hill, about .6 of a mile, I'd say, was uphill. So we did all we could to get to the top

of the hill, and there it was, THE FINISH LINE! Between the adrenaline and the fact that

the last .3 of a mile was downhill, I just went. I couldn't hold back on the downhill

anymore, and I just went flying. I was really afraid I was going to fall, but thankfully I

didn't. As we hit the top of the hill, we could see that the finish was PACKED. We

finished almost 5 hours after the start of the race, and awards were given out over 2 hours before we crossed the finish line. But still, the
people were there packed around the chute, cheering our every step. There were people
calling out my bib number and cheering me on! It was such a rush of adrenaline! And I
was just so overwhelmed.

f) Darin. Darin is the reason I ran. If she hadn't asked me to train with her, I wouldn't have

done this race! She did all the long, hard training runs with me, and gave me the

confidence I needed to do this. With the exception of walking through the aid stations, we

ran every step of this race. It may have been slow, but we were there for each other.

When one of us hit a rocky spot, it seemed like the other instinctively took the lead,

picked up the pace, and carried the other. I could never have done this race by myself.

So, THANK YOU DARIN!! I hope you had as much fun as I did!

We also noticed some...unique...individuals:

a) The Pee-er. He was an old dude who felt it appropriate to walk to the side of the road

and just whip it out and pee. It was not pleasant to see. And it was even more disturbing

given that he was standing about 5 feet away from a heavy forest area that would have

provided adequate coverage.

b) The Spr-alker. I mentioned above that we received advice from professional runners

about taking it slow and easy on the hills, and then maintaining pace on the flat portions.

The Spr-alker (or, Sprint-Walker) did quite the opposite. We were doing a back and

forth thing with her until about mile 6, where she would come zooooooooming out of no

where, sprinting as fast as she could down the hills, and then immediately stop and

walk at the bottom of the hill. And she repeated this over and over again. I don't know

if she finished.

c) Loud Talker Guy. He was just loud. And annoying. And he had equally loud and

annoying companions.

d) The Spitter. He passed us, but wasn't very far ahead. And he felt the need to spit about

every 15 seconds. And I was trying to dodge his loogies.

e) The King. We didn't see him very long, but from what the guys said at the finish line,

he wore his BK crown for the entire race.

So. It was a memorable event. I really had a great time. A hurty time, but a great time:) So good, I'm about 95% sure that I'll be running another one in November:)

Cheers and Jeers

Cheers to Emma, for continuing to learn how to walk! I wouldn't call her a "walker" but she'll bust out and walk 5 or 6 feet across the room for a toy, or to Mike or I.

Jeers to the old lady at Giant who felt it acceptable to wipe her nose, cough into her hand, and then come up and without asking, grab Emma's hand and then her toes. Those fingers and toes make frequent sojourns to her mouth. So if you do that again, I will punch you in the throat.

Cheers to Darin and I for our fast approaching Steamtown Marathon. We'll be running 26.2 miles on Sunday in Scranton. For you "The Office" watchers, you may have heard that Michael Scott will be stationed at mile 23 with Jello Shots for us.

Jeers to Target for refusing to take my coupons this week!!

Cheers to the fact that I'm done nursing!

Jeers to the fact that I'm done nursing! (well, that should be a more specific jeers to those 8 sharp, pearly white demon teeth that are the reason why I'm done nursing earlier than I wanted to be)

Cheers to Emma, who sounds oddly like Donald Duck sometimes when she's jibberjabbering to herself.

Jeers to being brought to tears by mean people at church! Shouldn't that be the one place where people are nice?

Cheers to dear friends and all the wonderful birthday wishes that were sent my way, and also for those bday wishes sent to Mike!

Jeers to the 10 pounds I KNOW I put on at our birthday dinner.

Cheers to the wonderous glory that is THE MELTING POT. So. Worth. The. 10. Pounds.

Jeers to the wind lately, that has made it too cold out for our daily walks to the park.

Cheers to the plumber, for fixing our leaking bathtub!


I think that's it for my random list.

loooooove it

So, lately, we've been watching PBS kids at our house. And I have to tell you, Sesame Street has some of the best stuff ever. If you haven't seen the Pre-School Musical skit yet, please watch it!!

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGMB7Rn8KGE

May or May Not

Um, all yous guyses who follow my blog can probably tell that I really hate to complain about things, and I hate to call other people out on their bad behavior, and I really hate to judge others. You noticed that, right? RIGHT? Oh wait...

So anyway, I really don't want to do that now, so just so you know, this post is completely hypothetical. I may or may not have neighbors who live across the street from me. And they may or may not lack a backyard, causing them to spend all their time in their front yard. And they may or may not blare their radio at all hours of the morning, afternoon and night. Their taste in music may or may not rock, but still, it may or may not be really annoying. They may or may not play the music so loudly that we can't even hear each other talk if we've got the screen on our storm door open. The lady neighbor may or may not take ALL of her phone calls on the front porch, and may or may not feel the need to scream into her phone. And her friends may or may not be hilarious, as she laughs like a hyena incessantly during said hypothetical calls. And she may or may not talk about very personal, uncomfortable, awkward things. These neighbors may or may not park their cars in front of ANYBODY'S house but their own, regardless of the fact that parking on our street may or may not be at a premium. They also may or may not set off fireworks at least once a month, on really special days like July 22, August 13, or September 9. And they may or may not sit back and watch as their dog comes over into our yard and poops/pees, and then leave it there for us to enjoy. And they may or may not engage in lawn care and gardening chores (also at all hours of morning, day, night) wearing inappropriately skimpy clothing. And they may or may not allow their middle school aged daughter to traipse around the neighborhood in REALLY inappropriately skimpy/nonexistent clothing. And they may or may not engage in RIDICULOUSLY inappropriate PDA on their front porch. Even though they may or may not be "hidden" behind a large fern-type plant, that doesn't really hide them. And they may or may not have woken Emma up from her sleep multiple times with their hypothetical shenanigans.

And I may or may not plant my foot firmly in someone's behind.

Lazy

So. I've been feeling rather lazy in regards to the blog lately. Mostly because everything else has been keeping me rather busy. But here a few items, and a few pictures to tide you over for now.

1. I was at Target yesterday, and was pushing Emma in her stroller. An older woman was walking past me in the opposite direction and said, "Oh, isn't she DARLING?!?" And I about wet myself with excitement, because strangers refer to her as a boy about 99% of the time. So that made me happy:)

2. Dear McDonalds: I hate you. Your Bacon, Egg and Cheese McGriddle will be the likely cause of my future obeastity. (Yes, I said Obeastity. I won't just be obese. I'll be Obeast.) And for that, you suck.

3. Emma took her first steps on Wednesday evening! She was standing next to the couch, but was just far away enough that she couldn't hold on to it. So, she took two steps to get close enough to grab onto it. A bit later, she did the same thing, this time taking 4 steps. We haven't been able to get her to do it again since then, but still.

4. Emma's got her 8th tooth!

5. Emma has also started to mellow out. She does a lot of cute things, like sitting with me on the couch. This might not seem like much to you, but before, she would NEVER sit with us. She just never wanted to be still. But now, she'll sit on my lap for sometimes 15 minutes at a time! I haven't had that kind of cuddle time since she was probably 2 months old! She's also developed this really cute habit. She loves her boppy, and she'll crawl over to the couch, stand up, and it pull it down onto the floor. Then, throughout the day, she'll just crawl over to it, cuddle up with it, and lay her head down and just chiiiiiiill. I love it.

6. The marathon is one month away! I'm a wee bit nervous, because my body has been all out of sorts this week. I think there are a lot of factors in play. I had a really, really crappy run last Saturday. I felt worse after that run, than I have after any run since I started training. I don't think it's a coincidence that Monday morning I started to develop a cold. I didn't think much of it then, but by Wednesday morning I was in full-blown misery mode, so I think that may have played a role in the overall miseryness of that run. That said, I am feeling pretty confident about my impending race. For now, I have one more REALLY long run, and then it's tapering from there. I am just going to try to keep my body healthy.

On another note, Mike and I will be making the trip to Scranton for the marathon on our own. Mom will be staying at our house with Emma. I'm looking forward to it, but also kind of petrified. I completely trust Mom with Emma, and Mike has been away from her for a week at a time. But I, on the other hand, haven't been away from her for more than 4 or 5 hours at a time. And I'm a little worried that I'm going to have some emotional breakdown being away from her. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for it now, but it still kind of freaks me out. I just have to keep reminding myself that I'll be able to get a REALLY good night of sleep before the race, and that it will be worth it, but it still feels weird that we'll be there without her. Meh.

Ok, here are some pictures...



Those would be Emma's teeth marks, because apparently she's part beaver.

This is where she greets us every time she wakes up!
She's discovered that if she climbs into the laundry basket, she'll get a ride:)
She has also taken to using her car seat as a recline, and uses it to lounge in the living room.
She's also way into drugs. Who needs toys when you can play with a bottle of tylenol??
Oh, poor Emma. This is her crashed out in her car seat after the blood-draw debacle.

She loves to stand at the door and watch people/cars go by.
See, she's cuddly now! She'll even cuddle with the wall! She literally laid like that for about 5 minutes, just snuggling that wall!
She's not a fan of the gate.


She peed on my leg. And then LAUGHED at me.
Oh boy, I'm in trouble!