the single life.

i know i have disappeared a bit over the last month or so. oops! while ive been tryin to figure out where to take this little blog of mine, ive also been working on myself. when one gets out of a 3+ year relationship in which they lived with the person for 2 years it takes a little time to get the new swing of things. and oh, ive been gettin my swing back:)

i forgot how much being single can be! not that i want to do forever, trust me, but ive been havin a blast! to get off work and decide to go for a run then do some errands just because you feel like it and not have to tell anyone where youre going, amazing. i dont have to feel bad about going out after work with friends while others go to work at night anymore. if i want to pick up and go to a soccer game with my parents on a friday night, i can, and there is no one to make me feel bad about going when they cant. i can meet a friend for coffee at the drop of a hat and talk about running for hours with her:) if i want to get out of the house for awhile and walk around town square by myself, i totally can. ive even reconnected with old friends i never should have really lost touch with. and sleep. oh beautiful sleep. i can leave the tv on as i fall asleep, or sleep until 1pm on sundays and not have anyone say a word. oh and i have flannel sheets on my bed again. they.are.glorious! i love them. 

heres a few of the things ive been enjoying, to say the least hehehe, the last few months...

you can get tattoos without explaining why.

welcome new little ones!
taya breyon rivers 02.10.2013

start playing indoor soccer again
with some of your old teammates!

go to a preseason mls game with your parents:)

have tequilla shots on a tuesday during the rebel game!

run with people who love it as much as you do

pedicures with your mom on a sunday,
just beacuse you want too

you can run away to flagstaff!

because your best friend needs you,
and you want to play in the snow:)

celebrate st pattys day on fremont street.

and get to party with new friends!



run away to san diego for a race.

and go to the beach even if it was chilly:)

single kb (as a friend coined for me) has definitley been having a good time. its been awesome to find myself again and do the things that truly make me happy! who knows where this will all take me...but i cant wait to see what new adventure i get to go on next:)

the saints & sinners 1/2 marathon report.

so i got a little crazy a few months back and decided i wanted to see how far i could push myself as a runner. that got me thinking about something called the half fanatics, a group dedicated to crazy 1/2 marathoners. this is the one i pursued...

NEPTUNE

1. 2 Half Marathons within a 16 day time frame.

2. 3 Half Marathons within a 90 day time frame.

_______________________________________________________________

there are lots of other options that just get crazier and crazier as the levels go up, like doing 12-18 half marathons in 365 days. wow that makes my body cringe just thinking about it!

anyway. i hadnt really told very many people that i was going to do this in case it didnt really happen number 1. then i didnt want someone to try and talk me out of it so i kept it kind of quiet until friday night when i posted this pic on facebook and twitter...

right away most of my running friends liked it, thank goodness. so i headed off to bed for a very early wake up call at 430am! the race was out near the hoover dam so it would take about 45 minutes to get there plus i was budgetting for traffic just in case. it was set to be a small race, 1st year, small company, and not tons of press. after all the craziness at nike i was more than excited about a small race. it was also right before halloween so they were really encouraging people to dress up for the event. i had found a great set of ladybug wings awhile back at target and decided thats what i would dress up as. so i bought a red team sparkle skirt to complete the outfit. but by the time i went back to get the wings they were long gone and i didnt know what to be! luckily some twitter friends had great suggestions, superman, a red m&m, ladybug, superwoman, and mrs incredible:) i still really wanted to be a ladybug but would use superwoman as my back up just in case. somehow my mom and i found wings just in time in the baby section at a halloween store and antennas to match. phew!

back to the early wake up call, sorry, tangent. i was out of bed pretty quick knowing that i needed to start the fueling process and secure the wings of my costume since my tank top was finally clean. both went smoothly and we were out the door just about on time. the drive was easy even though the sign they kept talking about at packet pickup for the turn was barely visible. my mom came with me and we both huddled in the car as long as possible since the wind was blowing like crazy plus the sun wasnt up so i was freezing. finally deciding to get out and hit up the bathroom we went at the perfect time for just a little bit of a line, but a monster one when i was finished.

mission accomplished!

soon it was time to head to the start line and that meant taking off my jacket, yuck. the start line began at bootleg canyon then winded across to the 6 tunnels and back to the finish line at boulder beach (where i finished my triathlon!). i took my inhaler and lined up with the under 2 hour group. the course was supposed to be super flat and mostly downhill so i was going with my dream goal of breaking 2 hours, but lined up in the back of the group just in case. we sang the national anthem and were off! talk about a downhill mile, whoa. i actually hit a 7:45 minute mile for the 1st one! after seeing that i knew i needed to slow down otherwise i would never make it 12 more, but it was soo hard with all the downhills. there was a pretty good size uphill that slowed me down a little. after that it was pretty flat for awhile.

we weaved our way over on the mostly flat straightaway to the tunnels and passed the relay point which meant we were also halfway! i got to see sandy there since she was handing out glowsticks so people could see each other in the tunnels (ps we really did not need them at all). i kept checking my watch at this point as i had set a goal for my self that in order to hit the under 2 hour mark i needed to be at the 10 mile marker when my garmin said 1:30. this way if I totally bonked i only had 3 more miles and 30 minutes to do it in.

now to get to the tunnels you need to run up a slight gradual hill. its really not bad, gives you a great view, and we ran it last year at the turkey trot so i knew what to expect. the suckiest part is that this portion is all gravel. i mean loose gravel. i hate trails, im not any good at them and am clumsy enough on solid ground, i don't need big rocks to help me take a tumble. luckily we hit the 7 mile marker as we went in and i was still feeling really good. now once we got to the tunnels the terrrain is really packed in there and much finer dust so it's was easier to run on. before i knew it we were at the turnaround to go back through and down to the beach!

i grabbed a gu (that tasted awful) because i knew I couldn't finish 4.5 more miles without some kind of fuel. on facebook the race people kept posting they would do "saint" tables with water/fruit and "sinner" tables with gatordae/donuts. i kept waitin for those darn donuts and never saw 1! anyway when we came out of the tunnels my garmin kept disconnecting of course, so now my mileage was off a bit. but the stopwatch was right on target so i went with that instead. i hit the 10 mile marker at about 1:28 and knew i only had 3 more miles, i could break it.

the last 3 were all downhill and on pavement, thank god. it all looked familiar as it was the same path I ran in april. this time I knew what to look for and knew when I was getting closer and closer. finally I hit the 12 mile marker at 1:48 and could feel myself start smiling. I just had to keep it together for 1 more mile. in the past few miles I had started really feeling how hard I was running and it began catching up with me. but there was no way I was giving this up or letting it slip away in the last mile.

as i turned down the final path i saw my mom who jumped up and started cheering while rounded into the finishers chute. i was able to pick it up that last bit and saw a clock that blazed 1:57:xx and my name as i crossed that line!! i had really broken the elusive sub-2 hour. wow. i got my medal from a super cute girl and hobbled down a bit to find my mom. bonus of a small race she was right there and i was able to celebrate with her right away:) i found sandy close after and then ran into a few other runner friends where we all compared notes as usual lol.

1/2 marathon #10!
1:57:15.

finally ready to refuel i headed over to grab some water and chocolate milk everyone was drinking (yes!) to find it all in a bit of a different container. one of the big sponsors for the race was a mortuary in boulder city and so instead of the standard ice chests keeping things cold, everything was iced down in a coffin. weird. and very halloweeny haha.

my mama:)
such an awesome support team!

we stayed around for a few minutes and the beginning of the awards, just in case, ha! then the hunger hit. my mom and i headed back into town for breakfast at the cracked egg, one of our favorite places and were greeted with this...

pumpkin chocolate chip coffee cake.
YUM!

the next morning/afternoon i woke up super super sore. way more than i was after nike for sure, i think because i didnt walk around nearly as much as we did in san francisco. but i walked downstairs to find these waiting for me:)

soo sweet.

the numbers game.

recently i have been thinking about numbers and what they really mean.

for example:
*i have run 388 miles in 2012 so far!
*i only have 3 classes left to complete for my masters degree, whoa.
*it was 97* on my way to work today at 830a. welcome to the desert.
*i have completed 7 half marathons in the 3 years with another 2 on the way.

numbers often lead me to countdowns oddly enough:
*there are 96 days to my dream race, the nike womens 1/2 marathon!
*i will finish school in 186 days, omg.
*only 4 more days until payday!
*in 25 days i might see a ufo at the et midnight race hehe.

now that is a lot of numbers and just a sample of all the ones i have running through my brain at any given moment. (dont even get me started on my work numbers, phew.) the last few weeks have been pretty hectic and completely overwhelming in my job, my family life, school, my relationship, my body, my friendships, and my training. there have been a lot of changes recently in all of the above, some i have responded well to and some i havent. it seems as if the age old philopshy is true...



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while change and numbers seem to be happening at an alarming rate these days, there is one thing i need to remember...


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 i know this sounds simple but it can actually be quite difficult when you really try. if i keep going at full speed ahead and only worry about getting to the countdown days i am going to miss the fun things in between. like the 2 super fun bbqs i have gotten to go to the last 2 weekends with great friends. they werent big productions or things i counted down to, but low key where i actually got to take a step back and have really fun nights. or the phone call i got from my brother from another mother (my brothers bff from preschool) that said he was in town and  i needed to meet them for dinner on friday night so i could have a milkshake, when the plan wasnt to meet up until sunday. and the student from chicago who only gave a few word answers on the phone, but enveloped me in a huge hug with mom and dad the moment i met them face-to-face on campus for the 1st time. plus the sunday i finally got to sleep in as long as i wanted without an alarm (glorious).

they will come, the countdowns will all eventually fall to zero, but what did i miss along the way just to check off one more day? these are just a few things i need to remember to treasure on the way to those big planned days.


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the christmas story.

after great anticipation all year long christmas weekend had finally arrived!  this year christmas fell on a saturday so we had an instant 3-day weekend without even trying.  with all the running around and work that richard and i had been doing we hadnt had a lot of time to do the few traditions we had started the year before.  we also hadnt been able to spend much uninterrupted time together either.  so we decided to squish everything we could into the weekend. 

we started by sleeping in friday morning, that alone is an amazing start to any 3-day weekend.  richard had told me the night before that he a had a last minute thing or 2 he had to pick up that morning.  while i giggled a lot-last year he had waited until christmas eve to buy all of his gifts-i decided i would get up and go for a run that morning then.  feeling very accomplished when i returned i decided to reward myself by registering for my next 1/2 marathon in nashville, tn!

richard hadnt gotten back quite yet and i needed to run over to the grocery store to pick up our 2 last minute things for breakfast the next morning.  as i headed out to the store i called my mom to see if she needed anything since she was cooking the next day, bad idea.  30 minutes and $25 later i returned home to spend the rest of the day with my love. 

later that evening we made the trek to the las vegas' north pole at the speedway for the gift of lights.  we had both gone for the 1st time the previous year and totally fell in love, definitely making it a tradition for us.  this year there was no line, hooray, so we drove through right away.  it was beautiful.  not nearly as good as the year before at sunset park, but it was fun to just be together with the 2 of us.

we headed back into town towards the conservatory inside the bellagio, one of my absolutely favorite places on the planet.  i still had not seen tiffany to give her, her christmas gift and we were trying to make it happen that night.  we ended up meeting in a del taco parking lot because we couldnt figure out anywhere else, weird i know.  after getting back on the road and getting closer to the bellagio, we accidentally picked the wrong lane and got boxed out of turning in.  of course it took forever to turn back around and make it through all the lights, by now which richard was getting pretty frustrated.  we made our way into the garage and it literally took almost a 1/2 hour to find a parking spot!  just as we were about to give up, one opened for us finally.  and of course it was worth every minute of wait...

 by this time it was darn near 830p and i had originally planned to cook that night once we got home.  fully prepared to go home and make fajitas, richard kept hinting he didnt want to wait that long.  so we did the most logical thing instead...pick up raisin canes.  its not richards favorite place, so anytime he wants to go i am so on board.  we made our way home to watch one of my all time favorite christmas movies, the family stone.  i had finally convinced richard to watch it with me.  we sat down to watch and before i even knew what happened richard is yelling and damn near throwing his food out the window, asking me if i like the canes sauce.  apparently he didnt see that it came on the sandwhich and he likes his things super plain, not even ketchup.  he stormed off into the kitchen after i told him no, not knowing, to turn on the oven to make something else.  i kept saying that i would eat the the sandwich with the sauce, i just put ketchup on top anyway and he kept saying you said you didnt like the sauce.   finally he slowed down long enough to listen and let me take the sandwich he didnt like and let him have my strips.  between the traffic and the order mess up it was not going well, it was better, but he still seemed so mad.  we finished the movie, i of course cried, and was ready for bed.  richard wanted to stay up because he always went to bed late and he still had to wrap all of my presents.  we decided to set an alarm for the next morning at 1030am to give us plenty of time to get up, make breakfast, take our time opening presents, and hang out for a bit. 

however, long about 9am i was ready to get up and open presents!  i mean it is christmas.  instead i decided to go in and make breakfast to keep myself busy.  that lasted about a half hour and i decided it was time to wake up richard, that didnt go too well.  he was not excited about me waking him up to open presents at all, he kept trying to convince me to go back to bed, i was wayyyy too awake for that.  so i let him sleep and went to try to upload pictures from the night before.  he came out a few minutes later and told me he was awake enough, we could open presents.  so as i started to bring the breakfast stuff over i found him curled up on the couch under the blanket barely willing to even open his eyes.  so not ok.  instead i made him sit on the floor with me and the bacon that didnt wiggle.

we began with stockings, something i struggled with the most to fill.  turns out we bought each other the exact same thing, silly candy and beautiful cards!  we continued on to more wrapped boxes filled with cartoon character t-shirts, flasks, and electric toothbrushes for him.  and minions, disney character mugs, ladybug girls, and sparkly earrings for me.  both of us were beyond excited about our gifts!  we ended up opening a little faster than we expected and once finished just looked at each other like now what?  so we cleaned up breakfast and decided to go back to bed before heading over to my parents house.

a few hours later we loaded up my car with the gifts and made our way up to my parents house to have christmas part 2.  we had to make sure we came over before erik and his family got there so we could do our family christmas.  it was so fun!  we had multiple gifts for all of us and they were all really thought out, the best was my minnie mouse seatbelt wallet.  as we were leaving the apartment we had to make sure we grabbed the last of my dads tools to take back, and i made the joke, wouldnt it be so funny if the presents under my parents tree were tools.  i told him though, thats how you really know you made it into the family because thats what we always bought my dad. 

erik and donna came over a little while later to help finish making dinner and so we could finally eat.  we had very entertaining dinner conversation that kyle holding me back at one point and richard defending me at another point.  after that i tried to drive moms car to the movie, it didnt fly well.  quite a few years ago the four of us started going to a movie together on christmas.  we had gotten old enough to not have lots of toys, so we would get bored with nothing to do.  last year we picked a boy movie in sherlock homes, this year we picked a girl movie in tangled.  it was really cute, very disney, very cute.

richard and i made our way home after going back to my parents house for pie, we had been there most of the day and were ready to go home.  or so i thought.  richard ended up deciding to go to matts house after we got home for a few hours.  i was tired anyway i guess and just wanted to spend time on my couch, while thinking about such a successful day.

this was our first christmas living together.  we got to start our own traditions and do them the way we want.  it was like a real grown up christmas, our way:)