Marine Corps Half Marathon vs. Erin Brown

So, as promised, here is an update on my experience with the Marine Corps Half Marathon this weekend.

Diane and Me before our races! - Notice the super cool headbands!

The race started bright and early – and I mean really early. We stayed in hotel very close to the starting line, and at 4:45am the music started blasting. (If I were just a normal hotel guest, I would have been angry!!) Since we were running, it wasn’t too big of a deal. The race started off right on time at 7am. It was extremely well organized, and I was over the starting line in about 5 minutes. I was in corral group time 2:30-3:00, so I was pretty far back. It was impressive how organized the event was. I was doing great until about mile nine. I wasn’t overly winded, even tho the course was challenging with lots of hills, and I was actually thinking I might beat my PR, which is 2:34. That was, until I stopped for a bathroom break…surprise surprise (ha, not!). Not exactly sure what happened, but once I stopped and restarted I got really bad cramps right above my knees. This is something I’ve never experienced before, so I didn’t really know how to handle it. I continued a run/walk combo for the rest of the race. Basically I would run until my legs started to buckle, stretch for a minute to two, walk it off and then try and run again. As you can imagine, beating my PR went out the window. In fact, I was happy I was even able to finish it (for a while it wasn’t looking good)… Matt and Diane were waiting at the end cheering for me, even tho I was moving really slow, so it ended on a positive note!
All in all I was a little disappointed with myself. I’ve been training a lot and was hoping to do better. But that’s OK, next time I will do some alternate training for hills and I will make sure to stretch the muscles I must not have this time.

Like I said before, the race was extremely well put together. I think we all had a really great time, even if beating PR’s didn’t happen. I would absolutely recommend this race, but be sure to train for hills!

Marine Corps Half – 1
Erin – 0

Next year, watch out!

Busy…(Such a bad excuse!)

I haven’t really blogged much recently (as you can see).  The only excuse I have, and it’s a poor one at that, is that I’ve been pretty busy. Back up to April…

Matt and I went to Mexico for vacation.  We stayed at a very beautiful, all-inclusive, resort.  The resort was very nice and relaxing. Lots of time to sit and enjoy the beautiful sun, ocean and the nice poolside.  If you know Matt Brown – that’s like his worst nightmare come true, lot’s of time to sunburn.  My bad.  For some reason I was thinking an all inclusive resort would be full of activities, like a cruise. Not really.  So, we made our own activities.  We made it a point to do something off the resort everyday.  We did a scuba class (refresher for me and beginner scuba for Matt) which was a lot of fun.  So much fun actually, that we decided to go back for a second dive on another day! I’m so excited Matt loves diving as much as I do, it is such an amazing experience. This trip we saw a sea turtle and a sting ray – Now he just needs to get certified! We also did some beginner golf lessons.  My dad has been egging me to play golf for a number of years now, and since we had some resort credits to use up, we decided to give it a shot.  We had a ton of fun with that too, and we have since started playing golf together. (That’s been keeping me busy as well)  Because we were visiting Playa del Carmen, it was a must to see the Mayan Ruins.  They were very nice and the trip was very informative.  All in all the vacation was very nice.  Matt managed to stay out of the sun (and use about 80spf sunscreen) so we left with no sunburns.  I think it was just a little too slow for us tho.  Clearly we both have the attention span of an eight-year-old, so next time I will plan a little better.

Other than that, April was pretty uneventful – there goes my excuse about not having time to blog…Once we came back from vacation, we moved right into the May wedding festivities for Tasha and Ryan.  The Bachelorette party was tons of fun.  I mean come on, you can’t go wrong with a bus full of girls, a clothesline of lingerie and tacky light up accessories! The Bachelorette weekend was immediately followed by the wedding weekend.  Their wedding was absolutely beautiful, and I think everyone had a good time from start to finish.  I think I may have had just a little too much fun… whoops! I’m actually a little sad it’s all over.  I made some great new friends...and I think Matt did too!

It’s amazing how quickly weekends fill up in the Summertime. (ahhh I how I love Summer!)  This weekend I’m running the Marine Corps half marathon in Fredericksburg.  I’m pretty nervous tho, as I’ve heard it has a killer hill at the end and I’ve managed to hurt my ankle.  Hopefully I’ve trained enough that I can make it. Then comes Memorial Day weekend.  As of yesterday, my plans to spend a quiet relaxing weekend at home have been changed.  The girls (Me, Shelly & Hope) are headed to OC - I just can’t get enough of the beach! Then the following weekend, Megan, Matt and I are going to see Eric Church!

So now that I’ve outlined the past month and next few weeks of my life, I should have some more content for my blog…no excuses not to follow up on the half marathon, OC weekend and concert, right?!

Need Inspiration

I’ve found myself recently lacking ideas for things to blog about. Not that anyone really reads my blog anyhow, but still…I said I was going to try and write at least one post a week, and clearly, that has not happened.

So, for lack of better things to share, here’s what’s new.

I completed my first half marathon. (You probably already know that if you’re reading this tho, since I couldn’t stop talking about it all last week!) It was a great experience. I had some serious doubts about my ability to run the entire thing, so it felt great to actually do it. And there are some really funny photos of me running. Maybe I’m not as graceful as I thought. Regardless of my bad form, I’m now sporting a new 13.1 bumper sticker. It’s pink, as per usual. Next half marathon is in May. Maybe my goal can be to beat my previous time, rather than just crossing the finish line!

Matt and I are headed to Mexico soon. I know we just went on our honeymoon, but we have lots of plans this summer so we decided to go on vacation sooner, than later. Plus, after the outage (sort of the equivalent to a security audit) at the Power Plant, I know Matt has got to be ready to get away. Personally, I’m really looking forward to some scuba diving!! Matt is even going to take a beginner course. I hope he likes it as much as me!

Over the past weekend, Matt and I spent some time fixing up the front yard. If you’ve been to my house, you know that all the lawns look dead on our street. There is continuous sunlight on the front side of my house, so keeping anything alive (including the tree) has proven rather difficult. We specifically asked the woman at a local nursery for plants that will be able to survive the intense sun (and the black –not green-- thumb I inherited from my mom). Right now, the yard looks good, and I actually really enjoyed gardening…hopefully the plants and my enjoyment makes it through the summer.

On another note, Matt is about to tackle crown molding. I’m SO excited. I think it is really going to take our house up a notch. With a little help from his dad and uncle, we’re hoping it goes smoothly…. If all goes well, maybe we can demolish our problematic bathroom and put in a giant rain shower?! (That might be overly optimistic wishful thinking.)

Other exciting news…all worthy of exclamation points…

Christine is coming soon! (I get to meet Oscar!)
Megan is going to have a baby!
Tasha is getting married!
Shelly got a cool new job!

Funfetti!

Everyone loves Funfetti cake! (If you don’t, then just stop reading because FunFetti cake is pretty much the best.) I recently discovered Funfetti Oreos, which I thought were pretty fantastic as well. I did have a few differing opinions on them, but since this is my blog, and I thought they were fantastic, I’m going with it.

However, if you haven’t tried real Funfetti cookies, you’re really missing out. I feel like these cookies are little hidden gem. So if you haven’t had them, you should treat yourself and try them! They are super tasty and the recipe is right on the side of the cake mix box.

Pillsbury had this great photo, so I decided to add it in so you could see how yummy they look!

Best Dad, Ever!

It’s funny how the minute I set foot in my parent’s house, I revert back to my teenage self. Somehow, my ability to pick up after myself disappears, I need someone to make food for me and I expect someone to be waiting up for me when I come in at night. After a weekend at my parents, it amazes me that I can still function as an adult in “real life.”

I was already planning to head up to my parents house this weekend (I do that a lot when Matt works nights) so when I found myself needing help making a bean bag toss for a work event, I knew exactly who to ask for help. After a quick briefing on what I needed to be done, dad and I headed up to the Home Depot to get the supplies we (I use the term loosely, since he did most of the work) needed to do my new project.

Being that my dad is really good woodwork projects, I knew this simple project would be a breeze for him. Only took him a few hours to put together this nifty children’s game. I must say, he did a great job!

Dad putting together the game :)

He sent me home to do the painting myself…hopefully after a few more coats it will look really good!

I'm not the best painter... haha

Lacing Up…Let the Countdown Begin!

So, if you don’t already know…I’ve signed up to run a half marathon this spring!  I’m really excited to be training for a longer, more intense race, but honestly it’s hard to stay motivated this time of year.  During the fall it was easy to go out and run.  Coming out of the humid summer months, going out for a 4 mile run was no big deal.  The days were still fairly long and the weather was beautiful.  Now that we’re in the middle of winter (and yes, I know it hasn’t been too bad) I am really finding it hard to go out and run more than a mile or two.  Maybe on a weekend I can force myself to go out and run further, but after work, it’s just not happening.  I have found myself really procrastinating those long runs…it’s ok, I can get to it next week.  But here I am, less than 2 months out, and I’m totally not ready!!  I know I still have time, but it’s becoming a little nerve racking!

The race is on St. Patty’s day (the most awesome fun holiday ever!) so I think it’s time to start a double count down. 

Regardless of how I do at the race… only 43 days until it’s time for a Green Beer!

Hello of Shame

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has decided they didn’t like someone (pretty much for no reason) and then realized some time down the road that maybe their initial judgment was off base.  I find myself in that situation.  A few years ago I decided I didn’t like someone, and although at the time all of my feelings seemed perfectly justified, now I just feel silly.  The worst part? She actually seems really nice…

So I find myself in that awkward situation, where I have to introduce myself to someone (who is very aware of how I feel about her) and basically apologize for being rude and obnoxious for the past several years for no apparent reason.  I keep asking myself is this is just another fun part of being an adult, you know, fixing mistakes you made when you were younger…but I have a feeling (especially with my personality) that I should just try and learn from the situation and remember it next time I  jump to conclusions about someone I don’t even know.

So here’s what I’m thinking “Hi, I’m Erin. I’m not sure we ever actually met, but I wanted to apologize for being a total B for the past few years…”  I can’t imagine this is going to be fun, haha.