Christmas In July...in Texas

July in Texas feels nothing like Christmas.  It is just too dag-gum HOT to inspire any sort of Christmasy type feeling. So all the Christmas inflatables at the Stonebridge Methodist Church parking lot on Saturday morning sure did make for an odd sight.  However, if you ask me those inflatables are one of the WORST holiday decorations ever created...and I personally have created some pretty god awful Christmas decorations.  I am hoping people forget the 6-pack holder wreaths and the soda can angels! 

Anyhow, the attempt to create a Christmas feel in July was for a great cause.  A 5K race to support the McKinney Food Pantry and to help spread some of the Christmas cheer mid-year!  Even better it was close to home, a flat course and I needed a goal to keep me motivated to run in the heat of Texas summer.  Yeah, I know...I'm crazy.

I knew it would be much more fun to be crazy with friends. So I sent out an e-mail to some of my gal pals who like to do a bit of running.  Well, they don't ALL like to, but they are doing it anyway.  I wasn't sure if I would get any takers as the over night lows were heading toward 75 degrees...can you really call that a low?  Much to my delight, 5 of us all registered to run together! 

So Saturday morning we all met at 6:45 ready to go.  I wore my current favorite shirt that says, "Will Run for Margaritas."  HA! It's true and it makes me smile....I think it even made me go faster.  The last 5K I ran was this same course back in February.  I ran with a friend and stuck with her to cheer her to the finish line in her very first 5K.  It was awesome...and it was NOT HOT.  This time I decided that although I had four fabulous gal pals running also I was just going to do this one at whatever pace I felt comfortable.  So I took off..

I took off pretty fast too and there were people in my way.  Had to bob and weave a bit to get around a few.  Once I got some space I knew I was going fast, but I felt pretty good, so I decided not to worry about it.  I found my "Purple Lady" fairly quickly.  That's what I called her in my head anyway.  Usually I try to find someone ahead of me in a race that I think it going at pace I can keep up with or at least not lose sight of entirely!  For this race it was " Purple Lady."  I kept in her my sights and even passed her at one point, and then she passed me and so it went.  Actually, funny thing is I think I might have been ahead of her at the finish, but I was so worked up I lost track! 

See the finish was an interesting moment for me.  I knew I was booking...well, booking in the world of Kim at least.  My handy dandy RunKeeper lady had given me my pace at the 1 and 2 mile marks and I knew I had a shot at finishing this race under 30 minutes.  I had been secretly hoping that I could break 30 with this race...well not so secretly... as I can't keep any secrets from Joe, but I think he's the only one I told...I think.  Anyhow, I was closing in on the finish and my adrenaline kicked in and strangely I felt a little nauseous ...that's new for me.  And then "87 Chevy" by Zane Williams comes up as the song I am going to finish too.  I love that song. I love Zane. I am happy. I am thanking God for all my blessings and now instead of feeling like I am going to throw up... I am about to start crying...BIG TIME.  Then, I come around the corner and Joe and Joshua are there to cheer me to the finish.  So NOW I am trying to run as fast as I can without throwing up or starting to all out bawl....all the while having massive amounts of adrenaline rushing through me.  OMG!  It was the most bizarre thing and it really caught me off guard.  Needless to say my official chip time was 30:09.  ALMOST!  I think I could have done it if not for the wildly strange experience of the last half mile or so.  It was the best time I have had in my adult running career so I will take it!  And did I mention it was HOT!  Maybe next year they can arrange for some Christmas snow to fall in July.

HOV, 635 & The Dallas Galleria

Only took 5 years of living in Texas to venture 24.3 miles from Bluebonnet Ranch (our house) to the famous Dallas Galleria mall.  An adventuresome 24.3 miles I might add!  Well, only the last 3 miles were really all that adventuresome. 

Joshua had his second and final day of O'Flaghtery's Irish Youth Music Camp this morning and for reasons not worth going into now he was only attending for 3 hours.  So, it only made sense that after having battled morning rush hour and even dared using the HOV lane on the 75....not being a 100% sure when I could actually escape the HOV trap...that I should simply stay in the general vicinity.

I will wholeheartedly admit that were it not for my Iphone and GPS voice navigation I would never have tried such a wild adventure!  My destination of choice was the infamous Dallas Galleria and it was after all just a little over 3 whole miles away from Joshua's camp!  Luckily for me the nice lady in my phone got me there with ease...even with the construction chaos that surrounded me from EVERY angle. 

I grabbed a quick breakfast while I waited for the Galleria to officially open.  Then, I made my way to the orange parking garage.  Parking garages are creepy....that is all.  I don't care if I can park right in between Nordstrom and Sax Fifth Avenue...still creepy.  I very carefully noted the creepy spot in which I parked and made my way to the mall via the Nordstrom entrance. 

I remember when Nordstrom first came to Oakridge Mall in San Jose, California.  We were so impressed with the grand piano!  Of course, I don't think I can even count on one hand the number of times I have actually bought anything in Nordstrom.  It's just out of my league.  Did you know they have special screened off pre-sale sections for the Nordstom card holders?  Those were creepy too...and as I walked quickly by I snuck a peek inside and saw a sale sign...know what is said?  The rack was labeled $129.00-$429.00!  Nothing about those prices says SALE to me! 

The rest of my little field trip went much of the same way.  When the sale racks are additional 40% off and everything is still going to cost $70.00 I am not in the right place.  I didn't even go into Sax Fifth Ave or Tiffany Co. , but I can now say I have seen them at least!  I did venture into Forever 21 and I even tried on a couple of cute sundresses...needless to say I am NOT forever 21.  Left with nothing.  I also took a look in Lulumom.  I have been hearing about their workout clothes from a few different sources so I thought I'd see what they have.  They have cute, expensive workout clothes.  Again...not gonna happen.  So I left with nothing.  As a matter of fact all I left with from the Galleria were a few photos I snapped with my Iphone just to show I was there!

To tell the truth... the best part of the adventure was using the HOV lane without incident!  Yeah me! 

Blogging Smogging

I have clearly been out of the loop.  The Blogging loop that is.  Sure I knew about Pioneer Woman and Drudge, but HOLY COW there are a lot of bloggers out there.  Some pretty darn interesting ones too.  I have been sucked into the world of running blogs this week.  I have spent a goodly amount of time reading about other people running....probably more time than I have spent running myself...not how it's supposed to work I don't think.  

Some of them are hard core...well, it's not too difficult to be hard core compared to say...ME!  A few of the ones I have found have a gazillion half marathons under their running shoes...not to mention the occasional full marathon too.  Do you know how far that is????

The blogs I am enjoying most are by gals who found running later in life.  Either as an aid in weight loss or just choosing to be more healthy.  These are a little easier for me to relate to than the ultra fit 20 somethings who have always been able to just go!  

Anyhow, the running blogs are inspiring my running and also showing me that there is a lot more to this blogging thing than I first realized.  Some of these bloggers actually make money, are given free product to review and invited to special events even....just for having a blog!  Wow.

I clearly have a lot to learn about both running and blogging.  Who knows, maybe I will get better at both?

Of Course I Can Help

So I used to consider myself somewhat technically literate....well, not compared to Joe, but to everyone else!  After all, I was one of the first teachers to have a classroom webpage and actually keep it updated with weekly newsletters, student work and other meaningless stuff!  And that was in the 90's! 

However, those days are long gone!  I can do Facebook (tough I know), but Twitter??  Not a clue.  How does one Tweet?  Why does one Tweet?  I simply do not understand the whole hashtag thing either! 

I have managed to figure out Pinterest....which of course is simply a reminder of  the fact that people have too much time on their hands! Oh and that I need to get busy!

I have also participated on a message board for 10 years! I have a cute little badge to prove it...of course my post total in that time is still under 1,000, but I am getting there. 

And then there is blogging....I have of course heard of blogging and I have even read a few blogs.  I only recently learned how to subscribe to a blog....at least I think I did.  Something to do with RSS feeder...maybe?  Anyhow, in order to help a friend who does have a blog and has some fabulous things she can share on  her blog....if only she knew more about how to blog.  This is where I come in.  I say, "Sure I can help you with your blog!"  I mean how hard can it be?  Remember, I had that really cool web page back in the 90's.

So here I am typing what I think will be my fist blog post.  So that I can actually be of some help to my dear friend.  It seems there is MUCH I don't know about this blogosphere, but I am going to attempt to figure it out.  Trial and error baby!  And hopefully, it will be less confusing than Twitter.