Sunday Details

What a race! Here are the details of the half, starting with Saturday night, and a video of pictures is below. If you don't want to read it, I had a great time, couldn't have asked for better weather, and am proud to say I ran the whole thing.

-I went to bed around 10:30pm. I had no problem falling asleep, but I woke up about 3:50am to go to the restroom and then I couldn't fall asleep for about another 45 minutes or so. That was frustrating. I kept thinking about the race and how excited I was to run in it.
-We left at 7am and about 6 minutes into our drive to the AAC, I realized I had left my Gu at home. So...we turned around. That was not good b/c I wanted to have enough time before it started to walk around, use the restroom, etc. Josh was good at keeping me calm. We still had plenty of time when we got there, so in the end, it was okay and I was very thankful to have the chocolate Gu.
-The weather was perfect: 50 degrees and cloudy.
-At about 7:50am I lined up in my corral. There were 5 groups, A-E, and depending on how long you thought it would take you to finish the race, that is which corral you were placed in. All half marathoners and marathoners lined up together. I was in group B.
-The guns went off at 8am and there was smoke and confetti that shot up in the air. That might have been one of the most memorable moments for me b/c everyone started cheering and the adrenaline was pumping. It definitely put a smile on my face.
-And I was off. Luckily, after about 50 yards, I saw Josh. I was so happy that I got to see him in the beginning. He makes me smile.
-I felt like my pace was good but that I needed to control it so I didn't get tired too fast. We started off downtown and made our way to Uptown.
-At mile 3, I saw some familiar faces. Stacy Mitchell and Lara Pringle (Aggie Chi O's) were cheering me on and had made a sign for me. That was motivation I tell ya!
-After that I have to say miles 3 and 4 were pretty much a blur.
-Then I got to mile 5 and as I'm running I hear "Jamie!" It was my wonderful husband. I had no idea he was going to try to find me during the race; I just knew I'd see him at the start and finish. He had driven and parked his car near the course that went through Highland Park, walked to the street we were running on, had only been waiting for about 4 minutes, and then he saw me. Good thing I was wearing hot pink.
-At that point (mile 5), I saw the clock was around 47 minutes, so I knew I had a good pace. I also took the time to enjoy my first Gu.
-Then we crossed 75 and headed toward Greenville and the M streets.
-I can't even begin to tell you how many people were lining the streets (throughout the entire race) to cheer on people they knew and didn't know. It was so awesome that so many strangers were there to support you and they definitely helped me push through it.
-I felt like we ran on Matilda for 2 miles. It may have been close to that b/c when we crossed back over 75, we were into mile 9. At this point, we had run on a few hills, but it wasn't that bad.
-Around mile 10, I took my second Gu, and I am not sure if it had anything to do with this, but I got this wave of adrenaline and started running faster. From there on out, the rest of the run was on Katy Trail, which is flat land.
-As we were approaching the finish, there was Josh again, with his smile on and his camera out. You'll see a lovely picture of me in the video.
-I finished strong and entered the Runner's Village. It was so good to be done, and I will never forget it.

My final running time was 2 hours and 1 second, which means I averaged about a 9 minute, 9 second mile. I am thrilled with that time. My goal was to be around a 9:30 mile, so to beat that makes me appreciate all the hard work I put into it for 12 weeks.

This is it

Tonight is my last workout before Sunday's race - running 3 miles. Friday and Saturday are both rest days which I am more than happy to do. I can't believe it is THIS Sunday. I am gradually preparing myself: I bought a new shirt to wear, bought my chocolate Gu (which by the way is the most bearable flavor so far), made my list of things to do, and am ready to go to the Expo to pick up my bib. According to The Weather Channel, Sunday's low is 50 degrees. If it stays that way, it will be perfect weather.

The Trot

Every year I look forward to Thanksgiving day not only b/c of the food and spending time with family, but b/c of the Turkey Trot. This year marked the Dudowicz/Womack 5 year anniversary of running the 8 mile race. This year we made the horrible mistake of waiting in line for the bathroom about 15 minutes before the race started. When we were all done and went to line up, we were in the way back with the 3 mile runners and walkers. It took us about 10 minutes to cross the start line and when we did, we were still walking b/c it was so crowded. That's when we had to start weaving in and out of people...that's always interesting. This year was also the first time Josh ran with us (he ran the 3 mile). About a mile into it, he decided to stop, so we took advantage of that and gave him our jackets. Thanks pack mule! Even though we got off to a slow start, we still did really well and I am so thankful to be able to run with the Dudowicz sisters every year! Here's a pic Josh took - Shelley (a friend of Leah's in the Texas gear) runs the 3 mile each year so meets up with us before the race.









I also wanted to share with you that the half is less than 2 weeks away. I am ready for it but am anxious. I've been very diligent in my workouts and know I can run the 13.1 miles, but I still get so nervous before the race begins. It has been so much fun and so rewarding training for it. What I've enjoyed the most is running around White Rock, yoga on Mondays, and the challenge of getting better and better with each run.

Honey Stingers

Last week I went shopping at REI for Gu replacements to try on my long run yesterday. I decided to try energy chews - I got a couple packs of Honey Stingers and a pack of Luna Moons. I took the pomegranate flavored Honey Stingers with me to the lake and they were delicious! You are supposed to have 5-10 chews every hour, so I had 5 at :45 and 5 again at 1:15. I am not sure if they had the same effect as the Gu, but I do think they gave me a little kick. The only problem with them is the size of the bag compared to the size of the Gu packet. If you are looking to try something new, I highly recommend these - even if you're just going hiking, biking, etc., it's good to have that boost of energy.

My next step is to buy a running belt so I don't have to carry my chews and energy drink whilst I run.

Goal Achieved

Yesterday I finally accomplished a goal I've had for a while now: I ran around White Rock Lake. The weather was perfect and it was crowded. I love seeing other people exercise whether on foot, on a bike, or in rollerblades. The course is about 9.1 miles, and being that I had to run 9 miles, it worked out perfectly. It was also my first time to try Gu. I wouldn't say that was a good experience. I had the tri-berry flavor, but couldn't finish it off - I probably had about 75% of it. But that 75% really helped me push through and finish. I think this weekend I'm gonna try the Gu Energy Chomps instead. Hopefully I can stand it and it has the same effect.

Another thing that got me through the run was the whole wheat bagel and banana I ate about 2 hours before I ran. I highly recommend eating these before your next long run. Last week before I ran 8 miles, I tried just having coffee and a protein bar and my stomach was not happy with me.

If you have any running routes that are 8+ miles, please share. I like to change things up.

Stinky

Our nephew, a.k.a. Stinky, was a skunk this year for Halloween. We got to have lunch with all of the fam on Saturday for Josh and Jason's birthdays. Happy 30th to my old, wise husband and happy early birthday to Jason!

Here are some pictures of Noah is his costume:

Squnchy Face

I am taking the week off b/c this has been a very busy year and it seemed like the perfect week to spend some time with family and at home. So, my mom and I drove to Denison today to hang out with my sister and nephew. While we were at Target this afternoon, I just had to snap some pictures of Noah. The last one is his best face of all time - his squnchy face (you can see his 2 little teeth coming in). He is 10 1/2 months and I love how entertaining he is.

Very Important Locker Update

I stole my old locker back tonight at the Y! I felt guilty, but at the same time, the mysterious locker lady's lock was right next to my old locker, so wouldn't you have done the same thing? It's better than what I almost did one night when her lock was on my old locker, but it wasn't locked. I almost took it off and moved it, but in my heart, I knew that wasn't the right thing to do.

Training + Mimi

My half marathon training is off to a good start. It officially began on Monday of this week with some Pilates, followed by running, running, and more running. This weekend I'll be running. Today is a good day b/c it is rest day. A lot of people don't understand how good rest is during training. It's good to have your muscles rest so you have better long runs over the weekend and limit your risk of injury. So, I like Fridays. If you're interested in training for a half, I highly recommend Hal Higdon's programs. Last year I trained using the Novice program. This year I decided to step it up and try out the Intermediate program. I think I am going to really enjoy it and I hope to increase my race pace.

On another note, Happy 80th birthday (on Sunday) to Mimi! We will be celebrating Mimi's birthday tomorrow with the family. Here's a picture of Mimi and Bill. Aren't they the cutest?!?!

Recent excitements

I am excited about the following:

1. My birthday celebration with the Womacks (Josh's parents) tonight. I like it when birthdays last longer than 1 day.

2. The Biggest Loser. This is one of my favorite TV shows, besides Friends and The Office. I don't like to get into too many TV shows b/c of how much time it takes up, but I make time for 2 hours of TBL each week. Last night didn't let me down either. It is going to be a great season and I can already tell who I like. I definitely sobbed during Abby's story.

3. 78th Pioneer Reunion. This is a 4-day Clay County reunion in Henrietta, TX where Josh's parents grew up and where his grandma lives - population: 3,286. We'll be there just this Friday and Saturday, but we are both ready for a break from work and house work - no computers, no hammers, no cleaning rags. We'll go to the parade on Saturday then walk around the courthouse lawn where people set up tents and sell all things Brighton and Texas. We're excited to spend some time with his family.

4. Training for the Dallas White Rock Half-Marathon. This officially starts on Monday of next week. I just printed out my schedule that I keep in my purse. I like to cross off each day's "activity" b/c it helps keep me on track and motivated.

5. Keeping up with Aubrey Michael! Jenn started a blog so we can see Aubrey grow up and hear about her life as a Navy wife.

I am not excited about the following:

1. The lady who has stolen my locker at the Y. I think she is there to stay and I am not happy with this unknown person - I was very used to that locker and now have to find another one.

A big thanks to the Leifestes

Today I (Jamie) celebrated my 28th birthday, and I wanted to share the most meaningful card I received. It came from our bfs in Austin, Gretchen and Aaron Leifeste. It is hard to explain our relationship with them, but basically you know how when you talk or sing to your animals in private, you have different voices? Well, we know each other's different voices. Basically, we are just REALLY comfortable with each other. This won't be as funny to you, but I had to share it.

Here's the picture of the front of the card:

















Here's the card's message:
Once upon a birthday in a bright, delightful world...a happy dream come true was wished for you - the birthday girl!

And here's the personalized message Gretch wrote as Aaron narrated:
Dearest Big Chunk (lovely nickname I know) -
Thou arst the finest maiden in the land
Thou arst so fair and so enchanting
Thine hearts beat for your bosom
We wisheth you the gayest of all days of birth.
-Count and Princess Leifeste

P.S. Thanks to my wonderful husband and family for a great birthday celebration and to everyone for the birthday wishes. To the Womacks - I am excited to celebrate with you this week!

One Day

I am the type of person who has always thrown away anything and everything, if it had no meaning or no space in my room. My mom used to take birthday cards out of my trash can that my grandparents sent me. I am still like this today, and probably even more-so now that we have our own house. I am even this way on my computer - I only keep emails in my inbox that I need to address, and I try to keep that number low so that I can see all of them on 1 screen and I don't have to toggle down to get to more. You should see my folder organization. BUT, today I was going through my hotmail account and remembered that I started a Josh folder back in 2003, and I'd save an email from him every now and then. Some of them were sweet and gushy and I won't share those with you, but I found this one he wrote to Mark Cuban and thought it was worthy of sharing. It made me laugh, and it will make you laugh too, if you know my husband. The subject line was: One Day.

---
Mr. Cuban,

Sure I am a 24 year old, 6'2" college (grad) student that never played college ball, BUT...one day I think I will play for you Mr. Cuban. My question was whether or not you have 'try-outs' for walk on players, and if so, when/where are they? My offense is streaky at times, but my defense is what I pride myself in. After watching my (literally your) team for quite a while, I have come to the determination that I can play better D than anyone we have on the Mavs. I am seriously saying this with a straight face.

So, when/if tryouts come, I'll be there and I'll show you. In my high school ball days at Coppell High School, we were taught that nobody comes in the lane for a 'free' bucket. The Mavs don't seem to grasp this concept. When someone comes in your lane, it should only be on the rare occasion that you just got shook, and if that does happen, your boys should be there waiting in the lane ready to punish the person driving. You make them not want to drive to the bucket anymore. That is how it should be. I can and will bring that mentality to the Mavs if given the opportunity. If this does not work out, then I'll fall back on my Auditing career with one of the big firms in Dallas, but I'll give that up in a second for a chance to make the Mavs better.

Thanks for your time Mr. Cuban,

Josh Womack
---

Unfortunately, he did not get a reply and he did not try out...yet.

Ruby

I have a new addiction: Ruby. (This is Jamie by the way, not Josh.)

Have you seen this show on Style? It's about a woman named Ruby from Savannah, GA, who used to be 700lbs and is down to 333lbs. More than half her weight! There is something about her personality that I love. Maybe it's because she says "I'm so asited" instead of excited or maybe it's because she says "helicopter" for hell (that one took me a while to figure out). The show is about her journey of losing weight and becoming a new Ruby. It's inspiring b/c she really wants to lose the weight and she is able to do so much more now that she has lost so much. I highly recommend you jump on the bandwagon. I know 1 other person that has.

Womack Update

Well again, it's been a while since we've posted anything - I'm just a bad blogger and don't like to spend any time after work on the computer. Here's an update if you're interested:

1. Josh got a new job at an oil and gas company in their accounting department. I'm so proud of him b/c he did a lot of networking and research to find a job and was able to land one quickly. He's going to learn a ton and be able to see a lot of new things.

2. This year has been extremely busy for me at work, but it has finally slowed down. Being that it is now summer, I love the down time. I am very fortunate to work here and to work for 2 wonderful people (my bosses, the Jeffs).

3. We have a wedding this weekend for a friend, Rebecca Smith, from high school. It will be a fun reunion and I get to spend some time with Leah who is coming in town from Chicago. Can't wait - I love weddings.

4. Our trip to Vegas with our supper club is near! We leave on July 11 and come back the 13th; it will be a short but fun trip. We've booked tickets to see Wayne Brady at the Venetian, so I hope that it is money well spent. Besides that, we know it is going to be very hot. Good thing Dallas weather is preparing us for that.

5. Noah's dedication at the church is this weekend. We will be driving up to Sherman to support my sister and Jason and Noah's walk with Christ (once he is old enough to understand - he's only 6 months old). I love that little guy and can't wait to see him again.

6. Liz, if you're reading this, you need to update your blog now.

Crazy 8s

I've been tagged by Elizabeth Griffin to do this silly tagging blog.

8 things I look forward to:
1. Our 5 year anniversary on Thursday
2. Spending time with Gretch and Aaron this weekend
3. This big project at work to be over mid June
4. Seeing Noah soon
5. Our postponed trip to Hawaii
6. Our trip to Vegas in July with our Supper Clubbers
7. Wimbledon
8. Finishing last Harry Potter book

8 things I did yesterday:
1. Ran outside
2. Pulled weeds
3. Went to the mall with Josh
4. Cleaned
5. Finished laundry
6. Worked
7. Watched LA/Denver game
8. Went to bed before midnight - a big accomplishment

8 things I wish I could do:
1. Sing
2. Work with animals
3. Live closer to my extended family
4. Live in another state for a year or two
5. Not be afraid of heights
6. Run a full marathon - maybe one day
7. Take a year off and travel the world with Josh
8. Play a sport professionally (vball, tennis, running)

8 shows I watch:
1. Friends
2. 24
3. The Office
4. LOST
5. Biggest Loser
6. Today Show
7. The Hills
8. anything HGTV

8 bloggers I tag:
I won't put you through this pain.

Confirmation #: 40669475-052109104351

That is my confirmation number for the Dallas White Rock Half this December 13. Back last year, if you recall, I trained for 2 months, not realizing that the Half had sold out and I didn't register for it. That was fun. So this year, I decided to register early. Let's hope the reverse doesn't happen: I forget I've registered and don't train.

Also, we have decided to postpone our trip to Hawaii for a couple of months b/c Josh is in a career switch and my job is too busy right now. We'll both be able to relax more in the future. So instead, we are headed to beautiful and sunny Austin, Texas where we'll stay at Hyatt Lost Pines one night and spend the rest of the weekend with our teammates, Gretchen and Aaron. We're very excited about our trip away from our busy lives and can't wait to spend time with the Leifestes and their pups.

Stinker Bean

I had to share with you how stinkin cute our little Stinker Bean nephew is! Noah is now 5 months old and I don't want him to grow up. He is going to like cars just as much as his daddy and Josh do.

Sparkman Club Crew

So...we seriously lucked out when we bought our house. Little did we know that we were going to be virtually surrounded by super-cool neighbors. Well we are, and for quite a while now we have been doing a Supper Club dinner once a month, rotating houses that host. There are four couples that participate, and we have hosted twice now. This past weekend we had an impromptu BBQ get-together (did not count as our monthly dinner), and concluded with a run to I Heart Yogurt for the group. A fun night was had by all (except for Kristin, who was working in Chicago...bummers)!

This is us at the yogurt place after it was in our bellies.

My Little Runner

Well, this past weekend was a fun one. Saturday morning bright and early, the Womack's got up to go to 'Jog With the Frog' 5K race in Fair Park. A good friend/neighbor of ours is a volunteer with this group, that benefits Educational First Steps (a daycare/school for under-privileged kiddos), so we went in large part to support him as well.

I just wanted to brag on my little wifey, as she did GREAT, and I am so proud of her. She averaged an 8:39 mile for the race, and she finished 3rd in her division (25-29 Female)! There were 60+ females overall that ran, and she was 12th OVERALL for females...and out of 100+ runners, she was 33rd overall. She was awesome, and after the race looked like she had just finished a brisk walk.

Below is a picture of her bringing it home to the finish line!

HI 5

That was my creative title for the place we have chosen for our 5 year anniversary this May: Kauai, Hawaii. We are following in the footsteps of the Wolfords and the Edwards, who both went there on their honeymoon. We've been wanting to visit Hawaii for a long time, so we are excited and anxious for May to get here.

P.S. I've finally updated Fuel Fact. Found this interesting from Runner's World Magazine.

Sexy Jack

If you're not from Dallas or you don't listen to Kidd Kraddick, then go back to work...

I had a VO session yesterday for a website we're working on. We needed a British male voice, so we decided to go with Jack. So I go to our recording studio and met Jack for the first time. I was mostly excited about sitting back and listening to a British voice for half an hour. After I met Jack, we were just chatting and he mentioned that he wakes up everyday at 3am b/c he works on the Kidd Kraddick show. After about a 2 minute delay, I realize that he is Sexy Jack! I don't listen to Kidd every morning but I have heard Jack several times so I was excited to meet him.

And that's the most exciting thing that's happened to Jamie this week.

We've been absent

So we realize that it's been quite some time since we've posted something to our blog. We hope to never let that happen again. Here's what's been happening in our lives:

-work
-work
-work

Since we got back from Vegas in January, Josh started his audit busy season and I was working non-human hours. February was a nightmare! For the most part, things have died down for me, but Josh is still in busy season and has been occupied managing a house we purchased (as part-owner) to flip/rent. Other than that, we've been trying to work on our house and spend some quality time together.

Case has been to Dallas a lot recently, so we've gotten to play Noah. He's so much fun to be around and is really starting to get a little personality. I love that little guy more and more every time I see him. (Oh and it's been fun hanging out with you too, Case and Jase). Here's one of my favorite pictures:








The next big thing on our list is to plan our 5 year anniversary trip in May...that is what I look forward to the most every year with Josh. It's been a tradition for each anniversary so I'm excited and anxious to see what we choose this year.

The 2 other things I've been excited about: the time change and the weather. Hope everyone is enjoying those as much as we are.

I caved...

I caved into Liz's 32nd time of asking me to get on Facebook. So there. I'm on.

Vegas Photo Reel

Back to Reality

Darn...
-our flight to come home on Monday was canceled.
-we had to stay an extra day and night in Vegas.
-we went to 4 more casinos to make our total number of casinos visited 30.
-we got to stay at the Bellagio on Monday.
-we got to watch the fountains from our hotel room.
-was in line to see Snoop at Planet Hollywood but didn't get to see him.
-we are home from Vegas.

Pics and videos to come.

Vegas!

Tomorrow we leave for Vegas! This is our first trip there and we couldn't be more ready; we're going with 2 other couples so Josh and I are going to be following them around like baby ducks. This has been one of the top 3 cities on our list to travel to, so I am excited to cross it off. We'll be mostly sight-seeing during the day and gambling away our money at night. Josh and I are going to go see Cirque du Soleil "O" by ourselves on Saturday night - I hear it is a great show and something we'll always remember. We've always wanted to stand where the Ocean's 11 cast stood in front of the Bellagio fountains - that was such a great ending to a great movie.

Wish us luck!

Pecha Kucha

This stuff is spreading like wild-fire, so you may already be well aware of this very interesting phenomenon. Simply put, Pecha Kucha is an event where people gather and watch presenters talk about anything...the catch is each presenter has 20 PowerPoint slides (no more, no less) and exactly 20 seconds for each slide. The presentations flow, and there is little room for rambling on. Audiences tend to enjoy this.

My good buddy Stu set up a Pecha Kucha evening at The Crooked Tree CoffeHouse (www.crookedtreecoffehouse.com), which is owned by one of our good friends Kristyn. The event was fantastic and several interesting topics were covered. The point of this post was simply to make our readers aware of this great little event known as Pecha Kucha, and to encourage others to participate and/or help set up one at a coffeehouse or other place of business near you.

Learn more about Pecha Kucha at www.Pecha-Kucha.org. This last paragraph was needed because I think I was taught in middle school that there should never be two paragraphs...either one paragraph, or if more than one is required there should be three or more. Maybe I just made that up, who knows?