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8.30.2012

Week 2 : Run 2 & Week 2 : Run 3

I slacked a little on the blogging!  Things have been a little crazy around here!
Regardless....I'm still training!

Run 2 for this week was Tuesday night.  It was supposed to be Monday, but after our crazy weekend, let's just say I didn't have it in me to run on Monday.  But, I think it might have paid off!  My run on Tuesday night was AWESOME!  Everything felt right.  My breathing, my feet, it was all in rhythm.  It feels so good when you get in that groove.  It's not so easy at this beginning stage, but when you're there, you want it during every run!

Yea, you WANT it during every run.  That doesn't mean you have it during every run.

Here we are, Thursday.  We woke up early to hit the pavement.  I have already said I'm not a great morning runner, but with Sean having volleyball on Thursdays, I knew I had to get it done!  What a terrible run!  Nothing felt right.  Everything was off.  We had a slammed packed day on Wednesday moving furniture around and being out in the heat and just a long day.  So I am thinking this had a lot to do with how it went for me this morning.  I finished my last run for week 2.  That part of it feels good, but what I hate is how hard it was!  And now I know week 3 is coming and that's even HARDER!  AH!!

Must.  Push.  On.

"The essential thing in life is not so much conquering as fighting well."
-Baron De Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games.

8.28.2012

Small Town Saturday Night

Saturday was my 4-year-long college roommates wedding day!  SP and I got up early Saturday morning, did our run, then got ready to hit the road!

We arrived in Shreveport around 1:30.  When we got there, SP had to get ready for his fantasy football draft.  I needed a little siesta.  I plopped in my brother's big chair and turned on the TV to find the SATC movie playing.  YAY!

After about an hour, I went shopping looking for a necklace to wear with my dress that night for the wedding.  I must have walked into 10 different stores, and I finally found one that was okay. 

After shopping I went to visit my friend Lauren (also old college roommate) who welcomed her second baby boy into the world on Monday (Aug 20th)!  I was so excited that I was able to go by and meet baby Sylas Austin while in town.  I don't get to Shreveport very often, so it was good to catch up with Lauren and her little family.  Sy is just soo cute!



Once I left her house, I was hungry and had 2 more hours until the wedding started, not to mention what time we would get to eat dinner!  So I went to get an old Shreveport staple, A humphrey yogurt!  Plain yogurt, granola, honey, and lots of fruit!  It's SO GOOD!


By the time I got back to Adam's house, SP was just finishing up his draft, perfect timing on my part!

We headed to the wedding at 6.  It was in the beautiful church downtown.  First United Methodist.  The ceremony was really nice.  It was short, sweet, and to the point :)  We were out of there in 30 mins and on to the party!  It was crazy getting to see so many old high school and college friends who I hadn't seen in years!

The reception was at the Petroleum Club, which is where my parent's had their wedding reception, 40 years ago!!!

Here are some pictures from the night...

First dance for the newlyweds!

Old roommates have so many stories to tell :)  Julie, Me, and Emily

Dance floor time!

Pretty bad pic, but the only one we got of us together :(

This is a picture of James & Emily at mine and Sean's wedding last summer, ha!

After the reception ended, Sean drove the 2 of us, Julie and her husband Andy, and Emily's brother Scott and wife Nicole a few blocks to the Hilton hotel.  It was a tight squeeze in the car, so Julie and I jumped in the trunk!  Julie thought she was taking a picture of us, put quickly realized she was shooting video...


Apparently I had a cramp in my foot!!!

Adam came and met us for a drink at the hotel bar before we headed back to his house for the night...

Siblings :)

Hotel lobby, one last quick photo before saying our goodbyes :(

Julie eating her bar crack as she likes to call it!

Last but not least, a pizza at 2 am to finish off the evening ;)

 It makes me nauseas looking at it!

Sunday AM we sat around and visited with Adam, then hit Superior for an early lunch.  We got home around 4:30 and were completely exhausted.  We had a great weekend and wish James and Emily a lifetime of happiness!  SO happy for them :)


8.25.2012

Week 2 : Run 1


Rise and shine!  6:30 am (which is not a time I'm used to seeing in the mornings) the alarm went off!  I'm not sure if I was more motivated by the fact that I really needed to hit the toilet (uh-hem, urinate) or the fact that it was time for my first run in my week 2 of training.  Either way, SP and I rolled out of bed and quickly scurried out the door.

We covered ourselves in delicious deet filled OFF (no west nile virus for us!) and we were off.

All day yesterday I was psyching myself out knowing I had more running to do today, just when week 1 was starting to feel good!  By the time I went to bed last night, I realized I was freaking out over nothing.  It was only 30 seconds more for each run.  30 more seconds, I can do this!

So, this week goes like this:
5 min warm up walk
90 second run
2 min walk
alternating for a total of 20 mins.
5 min cool down walk

By run 4, my mouth was so dry, we decided to swing by the house for a quick swig of H20 (no, I didn't cheat, I paused my training while on my water break!).  Ok, back out...halfway there :)

All of a sudden I hear my podcast say "time for you second to last run."...People, this was music to my ears!  I thought I had to do 8 runs (like week 1) but instead, it's only 6.  Once I heard that, I powered through and finished my run!  Yay me!  HA!

Oh, and I might add, this is my 3rd time "starting" this C25K training, and this is the farthest I've ever gotten with it!  Normally I'm over the idea of running at the end of week 1.  Must. Keep. Going!

Off for a shower now and then we are hitting the road!  Heading to Shreveport!  I get to meet one of my dearest friend's new little bundle of joy and also see another dear friend say "I do!"

Have a great day!


8.23.2012

Week 1 : Run 3

Thursday evenings SP has volleyball.  I knew going to bed last night I was going to have to get my final week 1 run done in the morning.  I am not too comfortable with running by myself at night, but during the day I am ok.  So knowing that, we strolled out the front door around 8:30.

This run was a complete mess!  It was too late in the morning.  I felt good at first, but 2 runs into it I was distracted by the following:

1. Dog getting off leash and owner chasing him, SP and I trying to stop the dog running towards us to help owner out.
2.  Rounding a corner, a little mut terrior dog running happily towards us, no owner but a collar.
3.  SP stopping to call the dog's owner from her tag, as I ran and walked in circles in the street until he was done.
4.  While SP is sitting on curb holding dog, and I'm running circles around them, we hear a loud rumble.  There are 2 people on the street trying to break up a dog fight b/t a little dog who instigated a Doberman.  SP quickly scoops up our little dog and we dart off around the corner.   
5.  Getting off track to get the dog home, all while still trying to stay focused on my training.
6.  SP gets dog home while I take off up the street b/c it was time for another run.
7.  I turn around to come back to SP, who is now nowhere to be found.
8.  I give up.
9.  I find him after another run, helping the neighbor fix where the dog got out, sheesh!
10.  It's HOT!

Needless to say, somehow I finished, on schedule.  My breathing was off the whole time and I wasn't focused on running.  WHAT A MESS!  But, it's done!

Week 2 is triple the running I've been doing!  So far, it's been:

5 min walk warm-up
60 second run
90 second walk
alternating those for a total of 20 mins
5 min cool down walk

Week 2 will be 90 sec runs and 60 sec walks!  YIKES!

Week 1 : Run 2

We went after dinner settled.  Around 9pm.  Perfect time for me!  I think I am much better in the evening than in the AM.  Which is no bueno for race day b/c that will be early in the morning.  I'm not sure if it's b/c it just gets so hot here, or what, but something mentally happens to me on an evening run that always helps me to stay strong and push through.

I had a GREAT run!  I felt good, my breathing was steady.  I was actually...dare I say it, enjoying myself!

The worst part was when I accidentally hit my iPod shuffle and started my entire podcast over!  I meant to turn the volume up, and instead, started my entire training over.  I quickly scrambled it back to where I was (so I thought), with a little extra walking between runs b/c of my malfunction.  My podcast tells me when I'm on my 2nd, 4th, 2nd to last, and last run (there are 8 total).  I knew I was one run short from where I stopped it, so rather than try to fix it again I just went with it and did an extra run, for a total of 9 runs!  I was feeling good and thought I should push myself a little further, and I did!!  It felt great!

On to the last run of week 1 on Thursday, YIKES!

Oh, I should add, on my off days, we have been walking w/o any interval running.  Just to keep moving.  Last night we took a total rest day, and it was nice :)

Week 1 : Run 1

Sunday was beautiful!  We woke up and hit the Keller Trails for my first go at the C25K!  Unfortunately SP has a knee injury that prevents him from running.

So, the run:
Not a bad run, considering it was my first time to get moving in quite some time (shh, don't judge!).

We decided to go the full 30 minutes instead of turning around at 15 minutes and head back to the car.  By the time my last run was over, I realized that was a bad move for our first day of exercise.  My legs were so tired and I was completely parched!  Not to mention that beautiful, cool, Sunday AM had turned into a warm/steamy late morning and I was ready for my yummy ice water waiting for me in the car!

One run down, 2 more to go for this week!


PurpleStride Austin 2012


It wasn't until this past May when my dad was diagnosed, that I began to learn about Pancreatic Cancer. It is truly a scary disease, and definitely not the one you'd want to pick off a shelf.  But, regardless, my dad is fighting with vengeance.  No way is cancer bringing this TEAM down without a serious fight!

I have joined the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.  What an awesome group of people I have come in contact with so far.


I am training for the PurpleStride Austin 5k. Only problem is I don't have 8 weeks like my C25K program needs. I have about half of that! Yikes! So I will train the best I can and run the best I can. The rest I will walk. Walk with honor, while supporting my dad - a current pancreatic cancer FIGHTER! The race is September 15 down in Austin.  So far I have put a great little team together to support TEAM TRAYLOR! Really looking forward to being a part of such a great cause.

If you can donate anything towards this great cause it would be appreciated!  You can find our team page here!  THANK YOU!

8.17.2012

Escarpment Weekend

We spent last weekend on the Escarpment (i.e. the mountain, i.e. my parent's house).  We had so much fun and did so many things!  The easiest way to tell the story is through our pictures and video!  Here it goes....

We didn't know until late Thursday night that SP's parents were going to get up Friday and leave at 5:30 AM!!!  We were not on that plan, however :)
We are always scrambling trying to get out of the house and hit the road!  We made it out the door by 11!  A little late for us, but not too bad! 


We made it in time to relax outside for a bit with a G & T enjoying the fall(ish) weather before warming dinner up.  I made Tikka Masala for dinner on Friday night.  I don't have a picture of the actual meal, but here it is slow cooking away in the crock pot.  This is one of those comfort food meals that smells your whole house up (in a good way).   I didn't want my mom to try and worry with planning dinner on Friday since she had been at work all day. 


Saturday morning, we met Jack and Sheryl on the square (downtown Bentonville) for the Farmers Market.  There is a crêpe food truck that Sheryl was DYING to try!  We stood in line for what seemed like FOREVER to get a tasty treat :)   

Making the crêpes, oh my!
Sean + Me + His parent's (Sheryl + Jack)

SP enjoying his crêpe :)  We split a Crêpe au Jambon avec Fromage. 
We missed you DC family, SCT + AZT :(
This is a project Team Traylor has been working on in honor of my dad's battle with Pancreatic Cancer.  Once launched, I will be back with more info, and hopefully you too will be wearing one of these bracelets proudly!

Journey into Tranquility bracelets.  GEAX TEAM TRAYLOR
After satisfying our bellies, we headed to the little neighboring town of Rogers, AR.  The girls went shopping while the men found the nearest restaurant/bar for a nice cold beer and some Olympic watching (little did they know what was on air was the baton twirling, HA!)  After hitting up a few antique stores, we met them for lunch.  Pizza, wings, and salad :)  What a combo!  After lunch, it was time to get the grouch  my dad :) back to his chair for an afternoon siesta.  

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and prepping dinner in celebration for SP's birthday which is this coming Saturday!  The men all took naps, Sheryl read her book on the front porch while watching the hummingbirds and other creatures.  And my mom and I got dinner in the works.  
Shrimp be a boilin' in da pot

I couldn't resist the temptation of trying a few!  They are my favorite!
We made an apple pie from scratch!!

Pie filling

My mother very proud of her pie crust.  She is not usually very successful w/ crust from scratch.  No, I'm not being mean.  She says it herself!
She was a little excited about her accomplishment!  Can you tell??...




Before dinner, we got the itch to drink some vino and play a board game!  It's called The Logo Game.  SO. MUCH. FUN!  


FLT + Adam + Me 

Good times for everyone!
Time to eat!  We had John Besh's Boiled Shrimp with Remoulade Sauce (I will post this recipe later.  It's seriously the best!!) steak, potato and salad.  It was a feast!  And a quite tasty one!

We ate them all, minus 6, which SP and I fought over in the kitchen Sunday afternoon!

My mouth waters every time I look at this picture!
After dinner, SP opened his gifts from everyone (except me b/c I'm making him wait until tomorrow, his actual birthday).  My dad and my husband have a very strange idea of gift giving.  Only their sense of humor can really grasp, so it works out great for the 2 of them!  The video I took is way too long to post, but I have shortened it a bit.  This was my favorite part!

This was attached to the box

His loot.  A tacky pillow, a pair of flashy shoes, a bowl, 2 figurines, and a sippy cup.  WOW, Dad!


Next up was my brother Adam, who is known as the Poet Laurette.  He always writes awesome poems to keep our team full of energy during Tiger Season!  



After all the gift giving, it was time for the Rustic Apple Pie!!!


SP doing another jig! 
The whistle that he continued to blow all night long, was a silly gift my mom gave him.  He LOVED it!

Nothing better than birthday pie with a scoop of blue bell ice cream on top :)
Whew.  I'm exhausted just writing about all of this!  We all slept really well after all this fun on Saturday!

Sunday AM, we had delicious locks and bagels that Jack and Sheryl brought.  Then they hit the road, and Adam followed shortly behind.  SP and I stuck around for one more night.

Yes, one more story...
My dad wasn't feeling much like socializing on Sunday, so my mom, SP and I got out of the house a little bit so he could have some peace and quiet.  We went to a Flea Market that my mom had been eyeing and had never been to before.  Of course, after all the things my dad got Sean the night before, SP's wheels were turning on what he could get my dad back with!

Well, here it is...

A COW!  But not just any cow....
 THE CANCER ASS KICKING COW!!!!!

SP had a hard time handing this one over.  He became quite attached. 

The instructions with this cow are, my dad is to take his cow down to Houston when they leave in a week for radiation.  It is to rest on his nightstand through this next step of our fight!  Why you ask?  Because this cow is going to KICK CANCERS ASS!!!!!

Great weekend, family!  
XO :)





8.09.2012

On the road again!

I love that Willie song :)
Ok so I'm not officially on the road again, but this time tomorrow I'm hoping to be almost to Bentonville!  Sean and I are driving up tomorrow to spend the weekend with my parent's.  My in-laws and my middle brother are also coming!  The only thing that would make it sweeter would be if the rest of our family was joining.  But we will take what we can get :)

Every time we plan a trip to AR (basically once a month) all of our wheels start turning wondering what are we going to cook??  You see, the best part of us all gathering together is the yummy food we love to prepare.  This weekend we are celebrating SP's 36 birthday (Shhh...I think he still thinks it is his 35)!!!  Saturday night will be his birthday meal.

With everything that is going on with my dad, I didn't want to put all of the menu planning on my mom who has a whole lot on her plate right now.  SP and I sat down Tuesday night and brainstormed.   Before we went to bed that night, we had our whole menu planned out!  It goes as follows...

Friday night:
I will prepare Chicken Tikka Masala (my favorite Indian dish), with basmati rice and naan bread.
My mom is going to make homemade pistachio ice cream
--- - - Side Note --- - -
I am in the process of making the masala right now and gawsh does it smell yummy!!

Still early in the cooking process :)
Saturday night:
We are going to have my SPs favorite dish... John Besh's Shrimp with Remoulade sauce, along with some steak, potato and salad!  YUM!  I went ahead and made the remoulade sauce also.  The long those flavors sit and meld, the better it will taste.  SP loves this sauce so much he swears he would eat it on his breakfast cereal.  YUCK!  Oh, and I plan on making a very pretty apple pie for his birthday cake.  

SP and I will be the only ones sticking around Sunday night, and my dad said he wanted to prepare leg of lamb.  And he said if not, his backup would be waaangs (in the words of my father).  Either way, sounds good to me!

I also made this bit of deliciousness for people to snack on over the weekend.  It's delicious in the morning for breakfast or even in the afternoon with a nice cup of hot tea :)

Blueberry Loaf

I am so excited for tomorrow to get here.  I love a quite, relaxing weekend on the mountain with my family.  The weather is supposed to cool off some which means we might even take a moment to enjoy the swing my dad made :)  I also hope to get some quality time with him in the barn!

SP and I on the swing at our wedding reception




8.07.2012

Birthdays and Chicken Shit



We had such a fun weekend!...here it goes....

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Friday night we went to Dallas for Alison's 30th bday celebration.  We went to Vino 100 and had wine, wine, and dessert :)  Sean and I got to see lots of people that we enjoy hanging out with, but don't get to see very often.  The drama of the night came when Alison went to open her birthday present from me.  I found her a real, framed butterfly at a flea market in Ft. Worth a month or so ago.  She has started collecting these and when I saw it, I knew she had to have it!  We sit down on the sofa with the gift, but then she sees someone she needs to get up and say bye to.  In the process, the gift falls off the sofa!  I hear it smash to the ground and I think the glass in the frame is broken.  Nope, even worse!  The entire center part of the body of the butterfly was laying in the bottom of the frame :((  I think I almost cried!  But we were laughing hysterically!  I didn't get a picture of this tragedy, but she said it's now hanging in her bathroom and she loves it!  Bodiless and all, HA!

SP + I

Me and the birthday girl

Really fun group!
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Instead of Sunday funday, we had a Saturday funday!
This is what we did....

Chicken Shit Bingo!

Our neighbors, Cole & Shemele, invited us to the Ft. Worth Stockyards to play the above mentioned!  OhMyGoodness!  It was hilarious!!!  Shemele and I got there a few (ahem) hours early to get a table for our crew.  When we got there, we found out in order to get a bingo card, we had to rack up a $15 bar tab.  Beers @ $2.50 each, that's too many for me!  Luckily they let us use one tab until others got there to help us :)  Here is how the day went...

Shemele and I drank beer

More people showed up, and we drank more beer


They brought the chicken out, and we waited for it to...you know....
The band was so much fun!  They were extremely interactive.  They played everything from John Anderson to The WHO.   I was hoping the chicken was going to (you know) on the 2 of Diamonds b/c that was the card I picked, but instead, he did his biz on the 4 of Hearts, which meant the whole bar got a shot!

Cheers!
It was nice the hubs took a break from working on the weekend :)

After the 3 round of chicken you know bingo...it was time to go.

We headed to the Cowtown Chow Down food truck park!  It was so fun and tasty.  It was BYOB, so on our way, we stopped by the convenient store to get some more beer.  Shemele and I waited in the car while Cole and Sean went in.  Next thing we know, they came out with THIS for us....

WATER!  
I have a feeling they were probably right : // 
I didn't get a picture of us at the food truck park, I'm pretty sure I was only focused on one thing at that point, and it was eating.  Not picture taking!   We ordered some street tacos and a chicken fried steak panini wrap.  Oh gosh, delish!
  
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Sunday....we laid on the couch :)


8.02.2012

Chemo Round 5

My dad is sitting in a chair, in a clinic, in AR getting chemo pumped into him as I sit and type this.
In the words of my mother, "Pray that the chemo will get in there and rage WAR!"
It is a helpless feeling not being able to be there.  I feel like I could at least sit and keep him company.  Although between his leg constantly shaking and my leg constantly shaking, I'm not sure I'd calm him much by being there, ha!  We are both pretty impatient.  I know I know, it's a virtue!
I will be traveling back to AR next weekend and I can't wait!!  I always love going up there, but now more than ever.

SP's birthday is coming up.  He and I, plus my in-laws will head to the mountain next weekend to celebrate.  I always love a good road trip.  And this time we will be pulling a U-Haul.  No, we aren't moving.  We are giving them one of our queen beds b/c SP and I are upgrading to a KING!  YAY!!  This way, when the whole family is up there on the holidays, etc., only one person has to have an air-mattress instead of 2!  Imagine :)

I know my dad will be completely wiped this weekend after all the medicine in his system, and as much as that sucks, we all have got to keep reminding ourselves this is the road we must take in order to get to the next one.  We believe.  We have faith.  We have prayer.  We have strength.  We have each other.  We are TEAM TRAYLOR!

Traylor kids...FIGHT DAD FIGHT!

TEAM TRAYLOR
Adam, Dad, Mom, Me, Sean P, Anastasia, Shawn, Ian!!!