Overheard

Before marrying Jordan, I had no experience with boys who played video games. My brothers didn't play video games, and I never dated any boys who played (I also hardly dated, but that's a discussion for another day).  It was strange at the beginning, but over the past three years of marriage, I've gotten more used to this rather odd (to me) hobby. Now, understand: I'm not completely used to it, but I'm getting better. At least, I like to think I am.

But one thing I don't know if I'll ever get used to is the randomness of a startling eruption of shouting followed by a strange sequence of dialogue as Jordan and his friends try to avoid the calamity of certain video game death. (The dialogue, in case you didn't know, occurs because they all have microphones and talk to each other during the game. Jordan wears  headphones, though, so I only ever hear what he says.)

The following is a verbatim transcription of one such exchange (at least Jordan's side of it). I was sitting calmly in the living room answering emails, when all of the sudden I heard...
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The ghost. THE GHOST. (<---He seriously shouted this so loud that it scared me, and I choked on my sip of water, which is when I decided to open up a Word doc and type out everything else he said after that.)

You've got to shoot him, man. Well, he teleported. All right, we've gotta go get our crap.

Crap.

Awesome. 

That's good. 
We've gotta run and get them. 
It's gonna take all three of us. We're gonna have to do it one at a time. 

No, wait. Three at a time.

Snipers!

He's down.

I need help.

TASER COMING DOWN.
We gotta hurry! Come on.

Oh crap there's a lot of them.

Coming.
There's another one over there, but I'm almost out of ammo.

I have five rounds left.

Out of ammo.

I'm getting tased!
The taser, dude! He's three feet from me!

I'm down.
This is over.
___________

The end.
So... I guess he died? Those boys and their video games. Am I right?

P.S. 5 Funny Things I've Heard Jordan Say
P.P.S. Are you linking up for Runners Tell All on Monday? Get all the details here.

A Currently Coffee Date (Where I Order Tea)

Some scenes from our trip to the zoo on Saturday!

It was giraffe feeding time.

***

If you and I were meeting for a cup of coffee, I'd say, "Heck no! Coffee is gross. Chai tea for me, please!" Then we'd get our drinks and find a cozy spot where we could have a nice chat, and I'd tell you what's been on my mind lately...

I used to never understand what people meant when they said, "There just aren't enough hours in the day." I always thought that was kind of silly. There are enough hours if we just use them wisely. 

I mean, I prioritize everything I do, so if I don't get something done, it's because I chose to do something else first. I can't blame the fact that I don't have enough time. I need to just be okay with the decisions I made about how I spent my time. Right?

But I think I get it now. Lately I've been feeling like there really aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I either want to do or need to do.

I want to go running and do my arm exercises.
I need to work on freelance editing projects.
I want to write blog posts.
I need to cook dinner.
I want to read books for fun.
I need to go to sleep.
I want to watch TV and crochet.
I need to do the dishes.
I want to hang out with Jordan. 
I need to go to work.
I want to respond to blog comments.
I need to respond to work emails.
I want to read other blogs.
I need to read my Bible. 
(And I want to read it too.)

Each of those things are valid needs and wants that realistically do not all fit into a twenty-four-hour period. And I don't even have a baby or a dog to take care of! Although I do have a husband, which some might say is the same thing. (Just kidding, Jordan!*) 

I also used to wonder why bloggers quit their blog. But I think I get that now too. As my list of needs and wants gets longer and longer, I find that blog-related ones are the easiest to set aside for another day. Most of the time I'm going to choose sleeping over blogging. Running over blogging. Hanging out with Jordan over blogging.

At this point in the conversation, you might set down your cup and eye me suspiciously. "Just where are you going with this?" you might ask.

And I'd say, "Don't worry! I'm not quitting my blog." And you'd say, "That's so good, because if I couldn't read your blog there would be no point in waking up in the morning." Or, you know, something equally as dramatic.

But, I would tell you, I have noticed myself slowing down a bit. I've never been a seven-day-a-week blogger, but I feel like lately I'm slipping into more like a two-day-a-week blogger. I'm not apologizing for it, because it is what it is. But then again, maybe I am apologizing. I do wish I could have more content for you to read lately.

So I guess this is me not apologizing.

After I got that off my chest, I would realize that I've just rambled on for a while, and you haven't gotten to say anything. Then I'd give you the long story short of what's been going on in my life currently.

Listening to the radio on my drives to and from work, and I am annoyed as can be by the insane number of repeated songs. Let's get some variety in here, people! I try to switch stations, but it's the same song again. What is happening? Do people even listen to the radio anymore? How about CDs? Maybe don't answer that.

I need to get another audio book from the library. After The Help, I picked up Lauren Graham's Someday Someday Maybe (narrated by the author) and finished it just last week. It was pretty good!

Reading The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, the second in his trilogy. You can read my review of book one by clicking here. Basically, these books are good, and you should read them.

Wearing jeans to work EVERY DAY. Hashtag my job is better than yours. Also wearing $80 worth of clothes from my shopping spree at Banana Republic outlet. That store is my budget's kryptonite. 

I mean seriously. Check out this shirt I got last weekend. Originally $60. Got it for $17!
In a word: holler.

Eating all the ice cream. ALL OF IT. I bought a half gallon of Breyer's mint chocolate chip on Sunday, and it's already half gone. It's Tuesday. I don't want to talk about it. Why do people snort crack when a bowl of creamy mint goodness is just a short walk to the kitchen away? One of life's great unanswered questions.

Loving my Saturday morning run with the OKC running group! Is there anything better than watching the sun rise on a morning run? I really think not. Although when my alarm goes off at 5:30 on Saturday, I do wonder what the heck I was thinking.

Anticipating so many awesome things coming up this year. Running a 5k with my mom, my brother's wedding, missions trip, our anniversary, our birthdays, Tough Mudder... Those are just a few. 

I have a sneaky feeling my time is going to get squashed even more. I hope you guys stick around with me for all of it! And just bear with my random posting frequency. I'm way too deep into this blogging thing to quit now.

*But seriously.

***

What's one thing you're anticipating?

What would you tell me if we met for a coffee date?

P.S. Read my first coffee date post

[10k Race Recap] Spoiler Alert: I Ran Really Fast

Running marathons messes with your mind.

The moment you start saying things like, "It's only a 10k," do yourself a favor, and punch yourself in the face. Seriously, who says that?

Stupid marathon.

I went into this race (my first of 2014) having zero expectations except the hopeful dream of a PR (personal record, for those of you non-running folk). In my case a PR would be anything better than 56:21, which I clocked during this same race in 2012.

Thanks to the Great Freeze of 2014, I've been running mainly on the treadmill, and when I do run outside, I haven't been taking my Garmin. As I've mentioned multiple times, last year was an intense twelve months of running for me, and I have been greatly enjoying the luxury of basically no schedule at all except that I go when I want to.

That all being said, going into this race I had no idea how fast I should expect to be able to run 6.2 miles. Heck, I'll be honest and tell you that I hadn't run farther than 6 miles since my marathon on December 31. I wasn't all that nervous (it was "just" a 10k, after all), but I did want to at the very least better my time from two years ago.

I was completely alone for this race, hence the pre-race selfie.
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I started with the 9-minute/mile group, thinking I could stay with them for sure and have a good chance of a PR. But then the gun went off, and I broke the cardinal rule of running: Don't start too fast. What can I say? It was my first race of the season! I got excited and said to heck with it and sprinted off. (Do not try this at home, people!)

I'm not positive, but I honestly don't think I got passed by more than 2 or 3 people the whole race. I was feeling really good and just kept getting faster and faster, as evidenced by my mile splits. I don't know what came over me.

Mile 1: 8:37

Mile 2: 8:27

Mile 3: 8:21

Mile 4: 7:56

Mile 5: 7:47

Mile 6: 7:36

Around mile 4 is when I really started to feel it, but by that point I was pretty much almost done, so I powered through and kept picking people off one by one. 

Then, around mile 5, the end-of-race shouts started. Have I talked about my shouting yet?

Basically, near the end of a race, when I'm really tired, I yell things. If you happened to be running next to me during a shouting phase, you'd hear a lot of, "LET'S DO THIS!" and "BRING IT HOME!" and "YOU GOT THIS!" I'm very intense. 

When there's a hill, I usually shout something like, "I LOVE HILLS!" This is a lie, obviously, but for some reason I find this encouraging. People are probably staring at the crazy shouting girl, but if I've started shouting then I'm usually just trying not to throw up everywhere, so I don't care what anyone thinks of me.

With the finish line in sight, I started sprinting. I also kept shouting and passing people, because, well, once the shouting starts, I'm unable to control it. 

There was just one guy in front of me, and I decided to pass him before the finish. Except when I came up behind him shouting, "COME ON!" he shouted back, "YEAH LET'S GO! LET'S SPRINT TO THE FINISH!" It kind of startled me, to be honest. I'd never gotten a response before. Then he sped up real fast, and I had to speed up my already fast sprint to keep up. Dying.

So that's how I ended up crossing the finish line almost stride by stride with this guy: 

I love this picture because it looks like I'm flying!
Also, confession: I'm a creepster and looked up that guy on the race results. Dude is 47!
I can only hope I'm still this fast in twenty years.

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After we crossed, we high-fived each other, and then I almost keeled over. I saw on my Garmin later that I'd run the last quarter mile at 6:45 pace! Holy speedy. It blows my mind that people run faster than that for an entire marathon.

My official time was 50:20, almost exactly six minutes faster than my time two years before. I finished 8th in my age group and #35 out of 547 females! It really is encouraging to look back and see how much faster I've gotten just with consistent running. I know some runners don't care about time, but I can't lie to you guys. I totally care about the time. No shame.

Even though I've run four times as far before, that does not make this medal any less special. Each race is so different and so fun, and it reminds me all over again what a special community running is and how fantastically awesome it feels to cross that finish line, no matter whether it's 1 mile or 6.2 or 26.2.

Anyone race recently or have any races coming up?

Anyone else shout random crap while they're running, or is it just me?