The Final Push

We had a busy weekend, full of friends and activities. On Friday night, we went to see Christopher Titus (a comedian) perform live in Escondido with Eric and Millie. Dan knew Eric back on Long Island, NY and hadn't seen him in at least 15 years! He and Millie and their two sons were recently stationed in San Diego (he's in the Marine Corps), and we were finally able to connect with them. Christopher Titus was hilarious and his comedy act was almost 2 hours long! That's a long time to keep an audience engaged & laughing! Dan & I liked the fact that he had a real message in addition to being just plain funny. He threw some serious issues out there, like racism, parental responsibilities, abortion, etc. There was quite a bit of language, but his topics were pretty clean, although controversial.

On Saturday morning, we helped our friends Paul and Ann move out of their condo (they just purchased their first house!), then went straight to a farewell party for my friend, Amelia, who is moving to Ohio this week. Amelia and I have been in a Bible study together for the past couple of years, and when my company moved to a building that was close to her workplace, we started meeting up for lunch dates on a regular basis. I'll really miss her!

Dan, me, and lovely Amelia

We had time to take naps late that afternoon before getting ready for PROM! Dan's favorite event of the year - haha. Actually, since prom always falls so late in the year, it's a good indicator that Dan's in the final push towards the end of the school year. In other words, he is s-t-r-e-s-s-e-d. I'm sure all the other staff & students feel it, too. They only have two more regular weeks until finals week, and then graduation is on May 27th! No pressure!

Anyway, prom is always a fun time because at Dan's school, there are clear expectations & guidelines that keep everything innocent and fun. Lots of parents & staff get involved and attend, and the kids don't seem to mind at all because they're all like one big family. They just want to be together and have fun, and it's a breath of fresh air to not have to watch out for indecent dresses, alcohol, drugs, kids sneaking off to have sex, etc. One teenager even danced with his mom during a song, which got me all choked up because it was so sweet and it would've NEVER happened at my high school. Private Christian school payoff right there, people. I'm sure it's now worth every penny of the thousands of dollars that mom has paid over the years. :)

Our grown-up prom duds

Dan bought a brand-new tie for the occasion, and I battled valiantly to accomplish something pretty with my hair before admitting defeat and pulling it back in a bun. Note to self: Hairspray is a non-negotiable. Buy some next year.

On Sunday morning (after about 5 hours of sleep), I dragged my tired butt out of bed at 6:15 to get ready for my half-marathon practice run! I've been slowly working up to the full distance during my training, and I decided that when I got to my 13 mile long run, I was going to simulate race day as much as possible. Hence the early morning, and actually the terrible night's sleep was probably good too, since I'm sure I won't be able to sleep much the night before the race. I wore all the clothes I plan to wear on race day, ate a peanut butter & banana sandwich, drank plenty of water, stretched, and took off. I ran a route where I'd have to confront a few hills and I took the shortest breaks possible to drink at water fountains along the way. And two hours & nine minutes later, I had run 13.1 miles! I was really happy with the time, since on my registration packet I said I'd finish in about 2:20. So I hope I'll be able to keep the same pace on race day! They have official "pacers" who run the race as guides to help other runners finish at the time they want, so I plan to follow the 2:10 pacer during the race if I can.

So now I'm in the final push to my first half marathon on June 5th! I'll cut back the mileage on my long runs for the next few weeks to give my body a breather. Apparently, tapering during the last couple of training weeks is supposed to help you perform better during the race. And I will cheerfully accept any advice that tells me I don't have to run that far again, because it hurts. For days. But at least I know I can do it! This is actually a pretty recent revelation for me since I was never an athlete in school. I stayed in shape, but stuck to aerobics, weights, the elliptical machine & walking - things that didn't involve competition, bruises, or ice packs. But about 10 years ago, I decided to run a mile. Then I eventually worked up to my longest run of 3 miles. When we moved to San Diego 5 years ago, I saw recreational runners everywhere and we moved close to the beach, which is the most beautiful place to run & bike. Dan & I cheered on the runners during the Rock 'n' Roll marathon one year (it went right past our neighborhood) and I saw people who looked a lot like me running 26.2 miles. Who knew you didn't have to look like a distance runner to be a distance runner? And at this year's Rock 'n' Roll half marathon, there will be a girl at the end who looks just like this:

Red-faced, sweaty, and smiling! Dan took this picture before I jumped in the shower & hobbled to church. Then I put my feet up and watched movies for the rest of the day. :)