The Pink Ladies Strike Again!

Less than two months after my first half marathon, I ran my second. Today was awesome! I was not as meticulous in following my training schedule this time around and was therefore worried that I would bomb and fall flat on my face around mile 7 or 8. But, I held it together and followed my strategy, which was to ride piggyback with the strongest man, or woman, I could find, and made it to the end. This time, I ran the half with Tirsa and Nichole. The other Pink Ladies ran the 10k, some for the first time ever! My regular early morning running partner is Ginny. She is so great to run with because she is always up and waiting for me, so I know I have to get my buns out of bed at 5:20 every morning! She is a huge cheerleader and has so much energy! I love it!

So we met this morning at about 7 am. This is the crew that rode up together.

Ginny, myself, Wendy, Tirsa and Amy all enjoyed a nice ride up. And we even left on time! Now, the funny starts right away. I told everyone about my dream where I had accidentally been given the wrong drug by the pharmacist, which whacked me out for the half marathon, made my friends call my husband to come watch out for me, and made me walk naked from one shower to another with no memory of any of it, offending an old woman along the way. Thank goodness that was just a dream! I'd hate to offend an old woman.

Then as soon as we get dropped off by Amy, Tirsa and I start walking towards the registration table when I realize I left my running bib in Amy's van...the one that was driving away to the beginning of the 10k race! I turn heel and high tail it across a bumpy meadow trying to intercept the van. In my hands I'm holding an energy gel pack and my gps watch. I'm thinking, as I'm sprinting, that I'll throw the gel pack at the van first, and then if that doesn't get their attention, I'll have to sacrifice the gps watch and chunk that next. I finally flag them down as they are making their way to the exit and am able to grab my bib and pin it on my shirt. There are no pictures of that escapade.

Then, we spend 30 mins warming up inside the hospital, trying to empty our bowels and bladders, and stretching. We meet up with Nichole and the race begins. Somewhere around mile 4 or 5, some girl pulls up alongside us and starts asking me where I got my running pants, what kind they were, etc... She tells me that I look great in them and she just can't get over how awesome they look on me! We all had a great laugh at that and everyone decides to go buy a pair just like mine so they can have awesome butt when running. Then my friend Amy takes a picture as I'm crossing the finish line of my butt and guess what, it's not so awesome, so I don't know what this woman was talking about! And no, you will not see that picture here! Although if you were unlucky enough to catch a glimpse of it today on facebook before it was kindly deleted, you'll know what I was talking about. Anyway, I digress. So, we keep pace with each other at about 10-10:45 mph until about mile 7.5 when I have to slow it down and Nichole keeps going. I never saw that speedy demon again until the finish line! Thank goodness Tirsa already made her goal of running without stopping at the last half marathon and she stayed by me like I was her faithful old running dog! I only walked for a minute and then we carried on. Tirsa is awesome to run distance with because she can keep talking and telling you all sorts of stories and all I have to do is nod and acknowledge that I really am interested and listening and she keeps on chatting! Thank goodness for that! Finally, at about mile 11 I send her on her way and I walk for another minute while sucking down my energy gel pack that almost made an early demise and it gives me the kick I need to pick it back up and run to the end! I don't know about ya'll, but I think I look much healthier in this picture than I did in my first half marathon finishing lap! But I must confess that I made a concerted effort to look chipper this time around!


Now what really made this awesome was the fact that my 10k buddies were already done and waiting for us to cross the finish line. I'm telling you, there is little else as motivating as having your loved ones cheering you on across that line. Right before the last bend, I look over and see my friend Ginny watching for me. That cheered my heart right up and as I got closer, she ran with me to the finish. You can see her black legs in the grass and she was telling me all about how awesome I was. Made me choke up a little that she loved me that much! But the cool part was that after I looked at the pictures and saw Nichole crossing, and then Tirsa crossing, I realized that Ginny was in both of those pictures, just waiting for me to make an appearance! Truly a great friend!

Wendy comes running up and tells me that the announcer will call out my name as I get closer to the finish line and how awesome it was to hear that! And guess what, she was right! He says, "And now we have number 480, Jennifer Fryer! And what a cheering section she has!" Or something along those lines because my friends all started whooping and hollering for me as I got closer!

It was awesome! Here we all are at the end!

Here we have Wendy, Ginny, Joy W, Amy, Tirsa, myself, and Nichole. Then we decide to do a goofy pose because that's what grown women do, and I thought we were all doing the stupid one I did for my last race where I pretended to be ready to take off? Remember that one? Well, they were all showing off their muscles and I was pretending to run again... Here, just take a look for yourself.


So cool, right? I'm still not sure what Nichole was trying to do...

The awesome peeps who ran the half marathon got a medal! But really it was because our registration fee was $15 more... But we liked them so much that we tried to make out with them.


Now ask me if I will do it again and I'll tell you that yes, I will most definitely do it again!! I love it, even though I still haven't ran one without stopping all the way through. That's going to be my next goal. Until then, happy day to you all!!!!!

Love,
Jenny

This is no lie, baby!!! I ran a half marathon yesterday!

Okay, now I haven't posted here in a while and I'd like to rectify that. I have become an addict. I know many people will balk at this. Please stand by me. I need all the support I can get. While I have kicked my addiction to phonics, I am now hooked on running. I finally made it to my half marathon goal yesterday in Buena Vista, CO! And, on top of making it there, I made it to the finish line! It was so so so great! I was dying for the last 4 miles where there was no shade, lots of hot sun, the switch from dirt to pavement, and NO AID STATION! I think the last of only three aid stations was somewhere around mile 7. The first part of the run was so gorgeous. I ran through the golden aspens of Colorado as they start changing colors for the fall. Here, I'll post a picture for you:

Oh, wait...turns out this was the wrong road that we found as we were scouting out the trail the night before. Needless to say we were a little scared. Especially after we drove up this:

So here's the real path I started out running on:
But here's a better picture where you can see more of the trail:
I also had 6 awesome running companions who completely inspired me in one way or a million.

So we all go up the night before and spend an awesome night in a motel laughing and swapping sob stories, crying and bonding and trying to eat some delicious pasta that turned out not so delicious. After sitting for almost an hour, we still hadn't gotten any food. But here's a fun picture of us anyway.
Some of you might want to know their names, so from left to right they are as follows:
Nichole, Joy, Tirsa, Michelle, me, Allie, Wendy

After we complained about the food and got some pizza instead, we went back to the motel and there we laughed until we passed out, each of us waking up intermittently throughout the night due to various stages of nervousness. But here we were in the morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed sucking our guts in to look as skinny as possible in our hot pants.
Before the fabulous bus ride to the top, it was a tad chilly. We liked our new running jackets so much that we wore them even when it wasn't really THAT chilly. But dang it, we were counting on it being super cold!


We can't say for sure, but some of us believe that Allie, who is a super runner, went up somewhere to the front of the line and missed this fabulous photo op.

Now tell me that this isn't a gorgeous view to be able to run in. I felt like I was in the mountains. Wait a minute, I WAS in the mountains.


Now, counting down from 5

4

3

2

1

GO!
Now for a lesson in stark contrast 13.1 miles later:
Now I know it looks like I may be dying in this picture, but I assure you I was only close to dying. Right before this I had been walking and running the last two miles and praying for a miracle. The finish line is around the corner and I look over and see my big white ugly suburban parked at the intersection waiting for me. They had JUST driven up...my beautiful children and my amazing husband who made the 3+ hour drive that morning just to see me cross a finish line. I rallied all my muscles, encouraged my lungs to cooperate, screamed at them (my family, not my lungs) that I loved them, punched the air with my fists like a huge dork, and ran for the finish line. When I rounded the corner here, I hear my name being screamed like I was a rock star and my friend Wendy, pictured above in the other stunning black jacket, came out to push me on.


I sprinted for the finish line that was down this road, around a corner, over a bridge, and down a path to victory!! I didn't even look at my time because all I remember seeing were some water bottles with someone's hands attached to them being held out to me like a saving grace. I tore off my tag, handed it in with my left hand while my right hand grabbed that bottle of liquid gold and my legs sort of carried me around random spots while I stumbled around guzzling water and running into things until I finally settled on a large boulder somewhere near Wendy and Tirsa. It was amazing. And I finally had a normal look on my face once we all made it across. My time was somewhere around 2:20 or 2:25 but I'll have to wait and see the official posting of the results. Either way, I made it, alive.

I'm finally going to do it!

I'm going to run a 1/2 marathon! I've wanted to do that for so long. Well, actually to run a full marathon, but that is coming! So one of my friends invited me to join her running club, (thanks Wendy!!) and they are starting to train for the 1/2 marathon in the fall. I am so excited! Now, if I could only run...
Ahhhhhh!! It's been so long since I've actually ran! Wish me luck!

Oh, and this is no lie!

Lie #15: I am not eco-friendly

I think I was insulted by someone yesterday. Because someone doesn't recycle their trash at home, does that make them a bad person? Do people really think that is the only way to make a difference in the world? How do people know what I AM doing to help the environment just because I don't want to walk around with a t-shirt that spews anti-gas propaganda? And I'm not talking about flatulence here, although apparently that can be harmful to the environment as well. So everyone just better learn to hold it.

Lie #17: Summer is Coming!

I love living in Colorado. The mountains are amazing, the air is crisp and clean, the folks are super friendly, and my kids can go outside without sweating to death. With that said, I am not sure if summer is really coming or not. It's May 10th and we still have a chance of snow this week! I naively thought Oklahoma was the only place where weather could turn on a dime. I think I can say with confidence that Colorado is worse! Either that, or I don't really know what it's like to live near the mountains where the summer season isn't as warm or as long as the Midwest!

I'm kinda bummed because the kids and I are swim junkies and wait all winter and spring for warm weather so we can don our suits, spray ourselves down with sunblock, pop on swim diapers (well, Jessica anyway!), slip on floaties - on our arms...not actually slip on floaties floating in the pool, sport sunglasses and flip-flops and hit all the fun pools we can find. Let me just say that last summer stank big time for us! I think we maybe went swimming 6 or 7 times and of those times, we got rained out a few times, froze to death in the cold water only to get out and freeze to death a second time from the wind a few times, or showed up and found the pool not what was pictured online. We never had a day where we just bathed in the warm water and basked in the glory of the sun. I'm hoping this summer will be much brighter. If we can only get through this weird weather.

Lie #4: Old people don't know what they're saying

Here's a pretty big lie, right here. How many times have you joked about old people just rambling about nothing? Or, just blown them off because something they said didn't make sense to you? Well, I've come to believe that the older you get, the more you feel you have earned the right to just say what's on your mind. Think about this. If you suddenly started spouting a thought you had exactly the way you thought it, it might come out sounding a little off, right? We often stop ourselves from saying something we think because of where we are, who we are with, or just because it wouldn't sound so nice. Well, I take that back. There are some of us, ahem..myself included, who do just say it anyway. Nevertheless, for the sake of my hilarious blog entry, let's lump myself right up with every other tactful person.

So, with this in mind, I have a funny story to tell. There is the use of the S-word in here, so I'll warn you when it's coming up but I will edit it. I was sitting in the dentist's office yesterday in the waiting room. When I arrived, I noticed a little girl with her very proper mother who was 9 months pregnant (I know because of her conversation later on) and the woman's elderly father. After I sat down to wait for my name to be called, they continued a conversation they had apparently been having before my arrival. He wanted to change assisted living homes and go back to his old one. He kept asking his daughter why he couldn't move back to his old one. She very patiently, but very loudly because he was hard of hearing, kept repeating that the old home was full and didn't have any available beds. He told her to call back and to keep calling back every day until they did. She said she couldn't do that because she had too many other things to do during the day. He kept telling her to do this and she very patiently replied she would not. He asked for the number so he could call and she said she would not do that. So he said, 'Then you call every day for the next week.' She again said she was too busy to do that. He looks at her and very bluntly and angrily tells her, 'It'll take less than 2 minutes to call them so give me the number if you won't do it.'

She just looked at the wall and studied the pictures, waiting for him to forget about it. So after a few minutes she asks him what's the difference between where he is now and where he used to be. I'm thinking in my head, 'You're asking for trouble, Momma.' Meanwhile, her little 3 or 4 year old daughter is playing quietly nearby. There are a few other people in the waiting room and remember, she is talking very loudly to him. He looks pissed and (WARNING: BAD WORD COMING UP!!) looks at her and says, 'A whole lotta sh!*, that's what!' She looked mortified and didn't say anything to that but looked back at the pictures and studied them intently for few minutes. I start smiling as I'm 'reading' my magazine, and look up to see him staring at me. I am still smiling and give him a little wink and go back to 'reading' my magazine. I am dying laughing inside! So a few minutes later she goes back to repeating the same conversation again and this time, during a lull in the conversation he says to her, 'My roomate farts all night long, too.'

I could've fallen out of my seat right then and there, but I composed myself and thought twice about it. Ahhh, sometimes I wish I were a little more like that old man at the dentist!

Here we go!!!

I love this picture. It's from last Fall at Joel's birthday celebration. While I love seeing my boys have so much fun, Jonah's rear end is always cute and I think Jerry looks extra handsome here, it is Jessica's little bitty, teeny tiny, eensy weensy face in the background - stuffed full of cupcake and frosting that really makes me smile!

Lie #59: You can't handle the truth!!

Okay friends and fam. A new me will soon be making her debut. I decided that in order to feel happy and productive, maybe I need to pretend to be happy and productive. Then the old adage, 'you are what you eat' will still not apply to this situation. Get ready, cuz I don't think you will be able to handle my happiness!

But first I think that an hour nap to catch up to the "real" time might be in order.

The Biggest Loser? Right Here...

I've been thinking about human nature and there are a lot of different things that have come to mind. First, I hate it when people assume they are smarter than others and then make those others feel inferior to them. I've seen it on Facebook a lot lately in others remarks. Then I wonder, do I do that? The answer is, of course I do. We all do, whether we admit it, or are consciously aware that we even do it is another story. We like to feel good about ourselves. We take cheap pot shots at others and feel like we are funny for doing it. Now a simple correction never bothers me. Those are no big deal. It's the ones that are meant to be hurtful that I'm talking about.

Another thing that has struck a cord with me is gossip. I've always been told that gossip is something I should avoid. Problem is, I like to talk and hear the dirt, the scoop, whatever. It's not because I am a vicious person, or because I want to see others in pain, or hear their heartaches or learn about something stupid they did. It's just interesting to hear some of these things and try to fit yourselves in there somewhere. Am I better than that? Have I been guilty of that? Am I learning about how it feels to be the victim of something I've done to others? We are all also guilty of this as well. I heard about someone who was talking about me. I thought they were a friend. I was floored by the content of their spew. I mean, really floored. I was angry, hurt, dejected, dperessed, furious, belittled, all those nasty feelings we don't want to have. But then after a few days, I thought, have I said something like that about someone else to a friend before? Not realizing how hurtful it was? I'm sure I have at some point. I can be opinionated and mean at times. I try not to be. But we are all guilty of it at one time or another in one form or another. I mean, I can't exactly cast stones here. But the problem is I SO BADLY WANT TO!!!!! That's the biggest problem I am having now. I'm over the anger and I've even come to terms that I have been a bit of a gossip at one time or another myself. If I'm one thing, it's that I'm honest with myself about who and what I am. But I hate that I have this feeling and wanting her to know that I know! I mean, come on!! What good will it do?! Not a bit, is what.

Another issue I've been noticing is the desire we have to know what others are thinking of us. On Facebook, there are these applications, granted some of them don't really work but that's beside the point, where you are able to track who visits your profile and status updates. I am puzzled by this one. I understand the desire to know what people think of you, who's looking at your pictures, etc. But the failure to realize how actually applying these applications might make your friends feel is confusing to me. I mean, privacy should be a big thing for everyone on facebook. My sister-in-law's account was actually hacked into! It's a real problem. But the idea of tracking your friends movements and then making it public knowledge doesn't frighten these people?? The very idea that the clicks I make on my laptop in my living room in CO are being tracked by some of my friends on Facebook and then posted on their walls for all their friends to see makes my stomach turn! It's not so much that they are telling everyone that I like to comment on their status's that bothers me, but the fact that they have the ability to do so! And why would someone actually do that to their friends? Is it a lack of self-esteem? Do they want to feel popular? What's worth invading your friends privacy? Then I wondered, is there another area in my life where I have been guilty of doing this and not known it? Maybe. Does wondering why someone never comments on my posts count? Not so much because I don't make that public. Hmmm, I don't know about this one. I mean, we all want to feel liked and loved and 'popular' or whatever. But I guess some of us go to greater lengths than others.

I guess I'm just ranting a little. I know my grammar is atrocious to some. I know I may sound like I'm waxing philosophical to others, and I know my spelling can be off occasionally. But I really hate it when others try to make themselves feel superior at my expense. And I hate realizing that I may have been guilty of that myself...just makes me feel sad to think I may be guilty of any of the above things. I just want to be a good person and make good choices but do you ever just feel like a big fat loser? Am I this easily dejected by another's words? I know I am unreliable, I know I don't remember people's birthdays, I know I can be lazy sometimes, and I know I fall far short of being perfect. Hell, I'm hardly even decent sometimes. But what I hate the most is that I am so easily deflated by someone else's thoughts of what I am or am not. And I hate that I've made others feel that same way as well. How do you apologize for something that you aren't even aware of but are certain have probably happened? It's one of those catch 22's where you don't know how bad it hurts until it's happened to you. I'm really not saying this to get people to tell me how great I am, although please...feel free! It's just observations in human nature..anyone else see these things?

Lie #2: I am NOT a dog person!

I have a dog. His name is Mont. Well, actually it's Beaumont Byron Bordeaux. But we call him Mont, for short. He's a Dogue de Bordeaux. AKA: French Mastiff. He's turning 2 sometime this week, I think. I learned something from Mont this past week. I learned that I am a total and complete blubbering, slobbering, ridiculous and pathetic dog person. More specifically, a Mont person. I am so crazy in love with him and I have never, in my whole life, liked dogs all that much. I inherited it from my dear mother. She HATED (with a capital CAPITAL H) dogs and always talked about them as being dirty, gross, smelly, disgusting things and thought lots of people let their dogs have too much freedom in their houses and with their guests.

When we had kids, I knew I wanted them to have a dog because I always wanted a dog. But not really, because I had too much of my mother's feelings about dogs. But I didn't want to pass that on to my kids I guess is what I'm trying to say. But I didn't want a dog for myself. Problem is that you can't have a dog just for your kids. We all know who really ends up taking care of the dog. For the first year, he was raised by my mother-in-law because she took care of my kids while I taught school. Then he was sent to CO with my husband while I stayed in Tulsa to finish the school year. Then when we finally moved here, he was like an annoying slobbery thing that kept getting in the way. Trouble with that is that he was 100lbs of a thing getting in the way. So I wasn't really very nice to him. I had feelings of affection for him, but I was like a bi-polar mommy to him. He wasn't ever sure if I was in an ILOVEMONT kinda mood or an IHATEMONT kinda mood. With my crazy household of kids, having a big jumpy dog in the mix was sort of like having a spinning tornado in my mind. While I wanted to love him and make everyone happy, he was the least important. Not that I ascribe putting animals needs above those of humans, but he wasn't viewed as a part of our family by me and because of that, by my kids as well. He was a pet. Our dog. He barked a lot, pooped A LOT, ate a lot, slobbered his water from his water bowl everywhere, scratched our floors all to heck, pushed the couch and rug all over the living room and chased the kids up the stairs.

We, well...I decided to turn him over to the Humane Society so they could find a home for him where he wasn't put in the laundry room every time a visitor came over, walked regularly, and wouldn't be yelled at for being a dog. I was so frustrated with him that I just knew this was the best solution. Well, as I started gathering his things together, I started crying. I was bawling when I filled out the application, I sobbed all the way home and went through boxes of kleenex, or my sheet, at night and extremely early in the morning and random times in between for two days. I had no desire to do anything. I prayed to feel better about it. That feeling never came. Instead, all the kids cartoons talked about losing things you love, Scooby Doo decided to have a marathon, and every time I looked out the back door, my heart twisted up inside me. I smelled him in the utility room when I went to do the laundry. I swept up all the dog hair, leaving tear drops on the floor in their place. Jonah told me I was the worst mom. He said he will never feel better about it. He said I took his best bud. It was a secret, but they used to play together all the time and he was his best bud and I took him from him. I was a bad mommy. "And what if he were a baby and he was biting you and being mean to you? Would you give it away? No, you would not."

Forty-two hours later, I called the Humane Society, for the 4th time and begged to get him back. They all had fallen in love with him there and they said, "He has stolen the hearts of everyone in the office." Well, at least he was loved while he was away, but we all went to pick him up and bring him back. It was a very happy day. Our home felt complete again. I felt like God was pleased with me for doing the right thing. And that's always a good feeling. While life isn't going to change overnight with Mont, I did. Amazing, I know. But I learned that I needed to change more than Mont needed to change. It was a total mind shift. He's definately the messiest and strongest of my kids, but he is more than a pet to me. He occupies 1/6th of my heart. Without him, it was an empty, lonely sector. Few times in my life have I made a fundamental change, but they do happen. The night I brought him home, I layed in bed awake, not crying, but smiling. At 3 AM, I walked down to him sleeping on the rug in the living room, (no more utility room) and lay down next to him. He stood up, looked at me, turned around a few times and snuggled himself down closer to me and fell back asleep. I stayed there with my arm draped over his huge belly for an hour. Then quietly stood up, (I'm sorry it's not as dramatic as falling asleep next to him all night...my hip was killing me!) went to my bed and slept like a baby.