Rock N' Roll

So remember when I said that Joseph and I were going to run another marathon?

Well due to some injuries throughout the winter that just wouldn't go away, we weren't able to train as much as we wanted.  So we made the decision to just run the half.  We didn't see the point to further injure ourselves by pushing us to far.

Overall, I was really happy with our decision.  The half-marathon course was beautiful and ran down the mall and through the nice areas of the district.  We were able to enjoy ourselves.  The weather was perfect, it was warm and sunny.  Apparently the second half of the marathon course ran through the ugliest parts of DC, so I really don't think that we missed anything.

Getting to the race was almost a disaster though.  We decided that it would be easiest to take the metro in to the district, so that we didn't have to worry about road closures and lack of parking.  The closer that we got to the start line the fuller the train got, until at one point it was to full, the doors wouldn't shut and they kicked everybody off the train.  We had to wait for the next train, and we were packed in like sardines for a couple of stops.  It was horribly claustrophobic.  It also made us late to the start line, I heard the race start while I was in the porta potty.  Fortunately there were so many people that it didn't really matter, we were able to get over to the start and jump right in and start running.

There were so many people in the race, they had bands that played music along the course, which was pretty cool.

The last time I ran a half-marathon was in 2008, right before we got married.  At that point it was the furthest that I had ever run, but it was an all downhill course.  My goal for Saturday since I really hadn't run much at all the last two months was to just beat my time from 2008, and I did.  By about 3 minutes.  I was pretty happy about that.

Joseph and I ran together until around mile 10, he decided he was going to sprint to the finish, and I was not.  He finished the last three miles way faster than I could have, and beat me overall by about 4 four minutes.  I was happy about it though because it forced me to suck it up and run strong until the end.

Thank you to my parents who woke up bright and early with us to cheer us on, and take some pictures!

Pondering Vegetarianism

For the past year or so I have been leaning more and more towards the veggie only wagon. Joseph and I already don't eat very much meat, we don't eat it every day, we have tofu as our protein of choice at least one dinner a week, so overall I don't think it would be an incredibly hard transition. Plus the more and more I think about the source of meat and the processing that goes into it, the more I shy away from it. I feel like, more so that with other foods, meat is just much more contaminated. For fear of grossing any one out I will stop my rant, but this is really something that has been on my mind a lot lately.

I don't think that I will ever make the official leap, mostly because I don't ever want to be a burden on someone else. Also, I really like seafood and I just don't know if I could give it up for good. Declaring myself a vegetarian just seems like way too much work. However it is stories like these that make me want to make it official.

http://chicagoist.com/2012/03/07/pink_slime_meat_rejected_by_mcdonal.php

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/is-pink-slime-in-the-beef-at-your-grocery-store/

http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/seven-million-tons-8220-pink-slime-8221-beef-180500764.html

So overall, I will still consume meat, but I will continue to have caution and try to be as mindful as possible about where it is coming from and what it actually is.

Any thoughts or opinions, all three people who read this blog, I would love to hear them.

Public Service Announcement

Dear Friends, I would like to tell you about something that I have recently discovered that has made me a much happier person.

My mother-in-law suggested using this when we were in Kansas for Christmas to combat our dry skin.

I started using this is place of lotion and my life has forever been improved.

Until earlier this week, when we ran out.

There is conveniently a slightly trashy looking place right across the street, aptly named "House of Beauty"

I told Joseph that this place has to carry Queen Helene. Stereotyping at it's finest folks.

It not only had the one product it I was looking for it had a whole row of Queen Helene products for all of your skin care needs. Also, the House of Beauty, is huge and carries everything you could ever want. I am mostly disappointed that I hadn't wandered in there before, and that I have been living my life without taking advantage of this store.

Neon

Neon Orange Nails

Yea. That's happening.

Wow

Just realized I could blog from my phone with a blogger app.

This makes me very happy.

Posting has just been made even easier.