Two Training Plans - Part One

I'm the one with the purple elbow.

This past weekend, I had an awesome time running The Color Run 5K in Racine. It felt so good to get in my second 5K, and I have even more big races ahead. I am officially signed up to do the Brewers Half Marathon in September!

My running has been what you might call intermittent lately. As has my writing. I did best last spring/summer, when I stuck to a running plan with a prescribed schedule. I am thinking that will help me, not only for running, but writing as well. So here is my plan to make significant progress in both areas of my life, in two parts. Running first.

My initial goal was to be ready to do the Lighthouse 10 Mile Run by June 15th. When that didn't seem possible anymore, I signed up for the Rock N Sole Quarter Marathon. That gives me just a few weeks to get back to 6.5 miles. I also went through and registered for all of the races that I plan to do this summer. Committing to that payment makes it a lot less likely that I am going to back out.  

Running Schedule

Week of May 21
Run 1: 2 miles
Run 2: 3 miles
Run 3: The Color Run Racine 5K
Run 4: 5 miles

Week of May 20
Run 1: 3 miles
Run 2: 3 miles
Run 3: 2 miles
Run 4: 6 miles

Week of June 3
Run 1: 2 miles
Run 2: 3 miles
Run 3: 3 miles
Run 4: 4 miles

Week of June 10
Run 1: 2 miles
Run 2: 3 miles
Run 3: 2 miles
Run 4: Rock n' Sole Quarter Marathon - 6.5 miles

I am a few weeks (okay, months) behind where I would like to be at this point, but I am committed to sticking to this and making time for running.

Hope to see you out on the road. Let me know if you'd like to do a race together.

 

An Unexpected Purchase

Did you guess what I bought?

I have a wedding dress. And I love it.

I wasn't planning on looking for a dress this early. In fact, I was sort of planning to delay that step for quite some time. The thought of standing in a bridal store and trying on a whole bunch of giant pouffy gowns while a bunch of people sit by to give me feedback...well, it just might give me hives.

Up until this point, I had pinned some ideas on Pinterest, and I had been looking online at the gowns from J.Crew and Ann Taylor. Nothing major. But then both of those sites just happened to post major sales last week. Which made it reasonable to purchase a few to try, and then send back if they didn't work out.

I ordered them last Monday and they arrived at my mom's house last Thursday. On Saturday, my mom, sister, and I gathered at her house so that I could try them on. This involved draping a whole room in sheets, to try to avoid the hair from my mom's cat, Gigi. Naturally, she ran through the room twice while I had dresses on, creating a giant cloud of white fluff in the air. Party crasher.

I tried on three dresses. The first one I put on stole my heart. And all three of us agreed it was a wonderful choice.

The discounted price also allowed me a bit of a treat. Some awesome shoes to wear with it. : )

I would say that this has me even more excited for the big day.

Planning Progress

No joke, fortune cookie. No joke. (my actual fortune: 4/20/13)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, wedding planning. It is amazing how it becomes the major topic of conversation. I definitely get asked more about wedding planning than my dissertation progress now. Which is perhaps a good thing. So here is the update. 
 
Things We Have Set

• Date: Sunday, May 25, 2014 - yes, we are getting married on a Sunday. But it is Memorial Day weekend, so it is really like a Saturday. No worries.
• Location: The Milwaukee Public Market - couldn't be more excited about this! I love food.
• Colors: Black. White. Gold. Heavy on the Sparkles and the Stripes. In a way that is classy, not tacky. Because that's how I roll. See a few images below (which I will go back and mark for sources, when I have a moment). Pretty.

Please note that we have had this color scheme planned since long before The Great Gatsby came out. Every wedding blog seems to be making a Gatsby themed wedding post right now. Which is great for my Pinterest board. But I have a feeling we won't be the only ones doing this color scheme in the next year or so. We will not, however, be wearing roaring 20s attire. I'll leave that part to you. 

Things We Have No Idea About

• Who else is invited beyond Chris and I. Rough idea, but not finalized. It is surprisingly hard to plan a guest list when you are looking to keep it small. 
• Where, how, and with whom we will be doing the ceremony.
• What we are wearing. Clothes of course. But they'll be a surprise.
• What we are eating. Please note that I care more about this than the what we are wearing part. Food. Yum.
• Any of our other vendors. I will be soliciting feedback from a few friends who have planned recent Milwaukee weddings. At some point. Just not today.
• All of the little details. Do I have a Pinterest board? Of course I do. Do you even know me?! But I have decided to keep it private. Why? Because I realize that over half of the things I pin will likely not actually happen at the wedding. And I don't want our friends and family getting all excited for something totally amazing, yet implausible, like wedding pony rides, just because I pinned it, and then feeling totally let down. That would just be silly.

And that is that. Let's go back to talking about tv, books and movies now.