weekend rewind

Friday night we met up with our inter'l students that we're hosting at a nearby rec center for games and food. The organization that facilitates the hosting of students sponsored the event.

I played pool with the girls/we kept trying to hit the balls and made very little progress. The guys played 3 games to our 1, and we never really finished. I eventually just picked up the last ball and put it in. One of our girls kept calling the "striped" balls "the ribbons." way cute.

Our students were introduced to cupcakes and queso for the first time...i'm pretty sure they enjoyed all the goodies that night. it's so fun to watch them try new foods and discuss culture differences that sometimes we don't even realize are there. We have the best time with our students....they are so talkative and easy to get to know.

Saturday, Daniel had to work and i had to get my run on. I'm kind of training for a half marathon. Sarah, Mike, and Dad are running one in October that is pretty much the same course as the 15K. I'm on the fence about if i want to run it or not. I realllly hate running on gravel, which is what most of the course is.

Last Saturday I ran 8 miles and felt ok. Yesterday, I ran with music for the first time. Also the first time to ever run more than 4 miles by myself.

I started out with the new Ipod shuffle (which is way beyond tiny) and had the easist 4 miles i've ever run. Circled back, got my gatorade and water and headed out for the second loop. oh wait, did i mention that i PR'd every single mile yesterday??? yeah.....who knew?!?!

After the second loop in our neighborhood i had completed 8 miles and knew i needed more. I was hoping for 10. I knew if i had any hope of the half marathon i HAD to run 10 miles and not die.

I started the 9th mile and had a blinding pain in my lower abdomen-which i've never felt before. it wasn't like a side stitch or anything, it was more like my appendix was going to burst. Refusing to walk it off, I just 'shuffled' along for a half mile until suddenly it went away.

The 9th mile was very difficult. The 10th mile rocked my world. It was weird how good it felt and how much strength and energy i had for it.

I ran 10 miles for the first time yesterday!!!

Not only that, but i ran every mile faster than i EVER have before!! not to say that because i think i'm so great, but because if you've been reading, you know i've been struggling with my runs. I had this huge mental block i couldn't get past. Running 10 miles and feeling amazing during and after is not something i saw in my future. I'm so thankful for how good this run was. I'm needing 11 next week. we'll see!!

random:

-it was in the 50's when we got up this morning. Fall is coming. We have the windows open and i'm embracing (literally) my sweats. it's a truly wonderful feeling.

-i'm an interrupter. I do it a lot and i know it. it's very common for me to interrupt Daniel and then immediately say "sorry, go ahead." The other day, I actually interrupted myself to switch subjects then was like "oh sorry, go ahead." THEN i realized i was the one who had already been talking. ha!!

-we just had chicken ceasar salad and homemade bread for Sunday lunch. yum!! i like this meal.

hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!

love

laura