Well, I did it....

I can't believe it. $50. Signed, sealed, and almost delivered. I registered for my first half marathon. Yikes! The date is October 31. Although I have plenty of time to train for it, I get butterflies in my stomach every time I think about it. So, since I'm already invested money-wise I think I have to go through with it. It will be something I can cross off my bucket list.

By the way, I got my best 5k time ever last Saturday in my hometown, no less. 26:52! Not bad for a short girl!

Just dropping in to say hi!

Okay, I would first like to apologize to all of you for leaving you hanging the past couple of months. I reflected on my life and everything I was involved in and realized that my priorities were way out of whack. I decided to take an unannounced break from blogging and reading blogs. I wanted to devote any extra time that I have to my family. I want to start blogging again and I will do so when I feel like I have got everything in its proper place and order. On top of all of that, its the end of the school year and you ladies who have kids know what that means! Field trips, field days, end of the year parties. May is the new December for sure.

As far as the 500/50 challenge goes, I'm up to something like 316 miles. Crazy I know. Between the spin bike at the gym and actual running miles, I'm getting a lot done. I competed in my first 5k of the season 3 weeks ago and took 2 minutes and 10 seconds off my time from that same race last year! 28:33 was my time. I was very happy to say the least. I did another 5k last Saturday and came in at 28:30 in the pouring down rain! I have a 10k on Memorial day and another 5k the last Saturday of the month! I am so loving running right now!

For some reason Blogger will not let me upload pics! It hasn't for a while. However, if you are on Facebook you can befriend me. Drop me an email at cariepage@yahoo.com and I will give you my name on there. You can see pics from the Heart Ball, current pics of my kids, race pics, and the Junior League end of the year party!

I hope to get back to this blogging thing soon! Hang in there with me okay!

The update...

Yall, I'm serious when I say that I will not volunteer for anything new next year. And I use the word "volunteer" loosely. It's more like 'get talked into doing one more thing'. This week I am wrapping up 2 major events, 3 if you count EC's research project on Sally Ride (seriously? Research in second grade. They have to know that the parents are doing all the work). The Heart Ball is this weekend and I feel like I am getting ready for the prom. Dress, tux, shoes, jewelry, nails...oh and I have to be there at 8 a.m. Saturday morning to decorate. Upward cheer leading is wrapping up this weekend. I will not coach next year. Write it down. I'm having fun but its time consuming and the parents aren't taking it seriously.

So 500/50. Well, miles are good. Exercise has been my stress relief so I'm up to 85.4 miles and still at 8 books. I knew I couldn't get into a new one right now. I plan on starting one on Sunday afternoon. After these last couple of weeks it will be sheer bliss.

So what's your story? How do you handle the craziness of life. I know that I am longing right now for my life to be simple. I want to teach my Wednesday night class at church and work with Junior League. That's my goal for next year. I hope I am able to make it happen!

Hold on there sisters!

I promise, promise, promise I will give you guys an update on my 500/50 challenge tomorrow! So, that means you gotta get your stuff together and give me your update too. It's been 2 weeks so I expect some progress.

Now, I have to get off here and do a report on Sally Ride cause I can't ruin my second grade GPA. I rock.

Today...

Its cold here. I'm sick of it. I want to go to spin class but I hate the idea of getting the little ones out. But I want to go to spin class.

I am addicted to Facebook and that's not a good thing since I don't need one more thing to occupy my time.

I haven't been reading much this week and that stinks. (maybe because I've been on Facebook!)

I got really petty this week. I know, bad. But I feel a little justified by it. It seems when you get on Facebook everyone finds you. People you haven't seen in like 15 years find you. A high school friend found me. I went to her page and looked through her photos. There were several from high school, one of which had my face blacked-out and listed my name as "the shadow". Hmphf. Oh well, we haven't stayed in contact and that's fine. But as I was looking through the rest of her photos I noticed pictures of her and other high school friends together recently. It seems they've all gained 40-50 pounds each. ( Oh and here comes the pettiness..I warned you so don't judge me!) I thought to myself "It seems shadows stay small..."

Good morning, sunshine! (roll call!)

I had to say that because we haven't seen an entire sunny day around here in a while and if it was a sunny day it was paired with biting wind and very low temps! Ugh! I am ready for spring and mild weather! I call it pure torture to have drag my poor seven year old out of her warm nest of blankets every morning for school! We all have super dry skin and chapped lips. I bought us all new tubes of Carmex this week and labeled each with a Sharpie so we are not spreading germs!

So how have you all done this week on the 500/50 challenge? Pretty good here. You may have noticed that my sidebar has not changed. For some reason blogger hasn't allowed me to change it this week. It's driving me crazy! Blogger also hasn't allowed me to add pictures to my posts for sometime as well and I need to figure that out.

I've done 55.75 miles and read 7 books and started with number 8 last night. I finished "Breaking Dawn" last weekend and read "Multiple Blessings" by John and Kate Gosselin in one day. Its a good book, a quick read and it shares her testimony unlike she is able to do on the show. I sometimes don't like her on the show but I think I understand her more now that I've read the book. I read "Blue-eyed Devil" by Lisa Kleypas this week and started "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee last night. I was inspired to re-read that book by Lisa and to re-read some classics by Rachael. I hope to maybe re-read "Wuthering Heights" sometime this year as well. I wasn't a big fan of it in high school but a friend and I discussed it recently after reading the "Twilight" books (because it is referenced in them so many times) and she told me that reading those inspired her to re-read "Wuthering". She agreed that she had not loved it in high school but found that after growing up and experiencing true love herself that she understood the characters like never before and actually loved it. I wonder if I will feel the same? I think sometimes in high school and in college when you are forced to read a book for a grade you aren't going into it with the attitude of gaining pleasure from reading a really good novel. I remember just trying to get through it because I knew I had a test on Friday! Now that I'm not going to receive a grade on it I wonder if I will have a different view of an old classic?

As far as miles, I've done 55.75! Not too shabby! Most of those miles are done in spin class though. I'm not counting the full miles on the bike though. I don't think it would be the same. There is no way I could run 20 miles in one hour like I do it spin class. So I'm counting 10 miles for a 1 hour class and 5 for a 45 minute class. I think that fair!

I'm going to that spin class I did last Friday with that bulldog instructor. I told my husband who it was and he actually went to high school with her. He said that she was an athlete then and in college as well and he knew of guys who were afraid of her! Ha! I actually can't wait to go today! I love leaving a workout drenched in sweat and totally exhausted and I would LOVE to work out for just one day with Jillian Michaels. Seriously.

Okay, so its your turn! What do you have to brag about this week?

Sore doesn't even begin to explain it.....

What do you get when you take an over-stressed mom who hasn't been to the gym in 3 days and mix it with an entire day without one single meeting or doctor's appt.? You get a woman who may or may not have got completely out of her mind.

The setting: 10:50 a.m. the local YMCA

Mom walks in thinking "Hooray I get to exercise today, and maybe burn off some of the weeks stress!" Then she sees the class schedule. "Oh!" she says "Core class starts in 15 minutes followed by spin class! It must be my lucky day!"

She goes to the fitness room since she has 20 minutes to kill before core class begins. The treadmill calls her name seeing as how she just loaded some fresh tunes onto her hot pink ipod, she decides this will be the best place to start her stress detox. "I'll just walk briskly for a few minutes." Soon the music is going and she just can't stop herself. Before she knows it, she's running. One mile down and she calls it quits not wanting to get herself too tired before the classes start.

Core class starts and she's lying on the mat doing simple crunches. "Not too hard." she thinks to herself. But as the minutes tick by she realizes that the simple crunches were just a warm-up for the torture the instructor has in store for the class.

Thirty minutes later she hates the instructors guts but is determined to stick around for spin class. She grabs her water bottle and gets seated on her bike to warm up. To her utter agony she realizes that the same bulldog of an instructor that taught the core class is also teaching the spin class. The instructor is muscular and well, a little masculine.

The class starts and fear rises in the the woman's chest as she realizes that the pumping rhythm of the music is hard and fast. And then with screams that would make Jillian from "The Biggest Loser" blush the instructor starts barking out commands. "Push, push, go, go, go!" "Turn up the tension!" "Don't let me see you turn the knob left! I said push!" The woman keeps up, determined to not take the walk of shame by stopping before the class ends. Forty five minutes later, the counter on the bike says 15.5 miles. The woman is exhausted , but proud that she didn't quit.

The next morning comes and well, you've read the title.