If you aren't into weddings, hold tight, I'll be back after I'm all hitched! For tulle and glitter, click HERE.

Lots o' smooches,

Penny

...which I do.  I am nothing if not a booty shaker.

Anyway, so this is 33. Bossyboots surprised me with flowers, which is always very fun! We're going out for birthday dinner after the marathon because if we went out right now, I'd be carb-loading a bagel with egg whites.

Yesterday, not one but two people called to wish me a happy birthday... (NOT my birthday, for the record.) One of them was my dad - who also jumped the gun last year. I think he's really a little too wrapped up in being first. It's all those triathlons he competes in - makes him overly competitive. This is what happens when you are one of 22 kids... getting the birthdays right is really just gambling. Also, how to spell certain people's middle names, but let's not go there TODAY. ;) 

In the year to come...

I want to:

• Get hitched (I realize that this is not character development - I have no excuse for putting an event on this list. I am explaining so you know that I'm not an idiot, just a plebian.)
• Be more compassionate
• Become a better writer
• Become a better painter
• Become more open
• Only be cranky when it's the funny thing to do
• Eat more cheese, French sheep cheese specifically.

I do NOT want to:

• Run any more frickin' marathons. . . . . (extra frickin periods to show that I'm extra frickin serious)
• See above, highlight, emboss, tattoo it on my face.

Hello, 33! Let's have a party.

I do have a small bit of exciting news.  I recently purchased a new camera setup that involves this:

A 5D Mkii. The title scares even me!  I've been thinking about upgrading to a full frame for a solid year. It was really scary, but I took my time to think it through, saved up my dollars, and did it. There may or may not have been barfing, but I did it.  Photography is a hobby for me. A really fun hobby that challenges me, and a way for me to remember all of my favorite memories. I love it.

The 5D is really too much camera for me right now; I have no idea where anything is on it... starting by reading the manual!  I'll grow into it though... verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry slowly! I considered waiting for the Mkiii, but since this is just a hobby for me, I decided that the Mkii sounded amazing to me.

That right there is one of my top reasons for learning how to shoot - to remember my favorite people over the course of my lifetime. Also, it's really good rationalization. :)

So now you all know I'm alive and kickin'. I've been reading and enjoying all of your blog posts - I will be back with a few of my own soon!

Every week, it seems like I have a new "issue" in the running department.  One problem will go away, only to be replaced with a new one.  This month has been super weirdo - out of nowhere my speed has tanked.  I am usually pretty solid running a 9:30-10 minute mile, then taking walk breaks every 8-10 minutes (every 5 on my long runs.)  I generally bang out 5.5 miles per hour, no problem at all.

For some reason, over the past few weeks, I really struggle going any faster than 12 minute miles.  My short 5-milers were killing me!  I can't explain it.  I decided not to obsess about it, but just keep with my training.

Since I got my wakeup call in the injury department, I've started incorporating regular weight training (which I should have been doing since the beginning!!)  I also bought new running shoes (I was due, plus a new shoe often helps when you have Achilles strain like me,) and I've started foam rolling like a beast.  If you're new to the idea, this is what a sports foam roller looks like:

Pretty boring, huh?  :)  However, it's been helping me a ton.  My left hamstring has been locking up at times and just generally getting really sore mid-run, and I've had zero issues in this department now that I've started foam rolling regularly.

Anyway, all this to say... I *cautiously* think I have my running legs back!  I ran a 16-miler last weekend with none of my regular issues. Then I ran a 12-miler this weekend in 2hr 16min, and I felt fan-freakin-tastic.  Well, maybe not quite that exciting, but I was a supersweaty smiley person.  I haven't had any of the scary tendon strain tweaks that marked my July and early August... Is it because I'm weight training, the new shoes, foam rolling???  Who knows, but I'm glad for it.

Although this weekend I have an 18-miler, so.... let's see if I'm as happy as this praying mantis come Saturday.

Or... "Penny Plays with her new Gouache Set." :D

Bossyboots and I [somewhat] quickly got dressed in our racing gear, ate a yummo breakfast of eggs, toast, and my favorite pre-race fruit: bananas!  I added my necessary outfit accessories...

...and we locomoted to the train!  Getting downtown to the start took us a full-on hour.  At 5a, Chicago trains are few and far between, so we definitely got in a little bit of hangout time.  Going into the race, I knew I was trained... I had completed several runs that were longer than the half marathon distance, I was hydrated - I felt ready!  The only thing I was scared of is the fact that I've been running away from several "almost" injuries.  I say "almost" because I am ok, but I am feeling some strain behind my knee and then in my right achilles.  Ice baths, weight classes, and foam rolling have become a new part of my regular routine, but I know I'm not at 100%.  At this point, I'm so close to the Chicago full marathon, that I'm kind of just hanging on until October 9th.  Doing my best here!

Anyway, so at the start, I was ready to make the most of it and enjoy my run.  We had fantastic weather for our race!

The National Anthem rang out... and we were off!

My hope had been to finish in under 2hr 30min.  I had finished a 13.1 in 2hr 36min two weeks prior, so I thought this was totally reasonable!  Alas, it was not to be.  My right Achilles got super cranky at mile 10, and the ensuing limp sloooooooooooooooowed me down big time.  There may or may have been a few tears.

As I ran down the finish chute, I reminded myself that 13.1 miles is nothing to sneeze at, even if I didn't snag the time I was hoping for.  Bossyboots met me at the finish and he reminded me that I deserved the medal I hung around my neck, and I should be proud. 

So, I adjusted my attitude.  :)

I look really crazy in this photo, but that's ok.  I couldn't hide the fact that I was so happy to have finished!!!

Afterwards, Bossyboots and I took the best showers of our lives and treated ourselves to a milkshake:

This milkshake may or may not have been followed directly by a cheeseburger and french fries lunch with Wrigley-T and Senor Diamondback!

My first thought after I crossed the finish line?  "In 8 weeks, I'll be doing this all over again. Twice." (!!!)

Want more?  Click HERE!

Happy Wednesday!

All instruments played by Alison May, recorded in Carbondale, CO with Jeff Price under Misery Loves Company

Somebody's going to have very cute, talented kids with lots of personality!  For purposes of internet anonymity, I have henceforth dubbed my friend Firecracker.  I met this girl in college.  We were roomies.  There were a few hilarious boyfriend breakups that we helped each other float through on a sea of vodka.  Firecracker = appropriate blog pseudonym.

For purposes of propriety, let me be clear that Firecracker and I have matured since college and no longer float on seas of vodka. Well, we no longer float on seas of vodka VERY OFTEN.

Anyway,  the wedding was amazing, and I was so glad that Bossyboots and I got to go!

I've only visited the East Coast a handful of times, and my boytoy has never been, so we made the most of it.  Firecracker guided us in the direction of yummo brunch and Maryland crabs (not THAT kind, unless you're on The Wire, which we weren't.)

Stringer Bell approves.

Stop drooling. He's mine.

Moving on - Since Washington DC is only an hour's drive from Baltimore, Bossyboots and I took the next day to go get our history on.  How many landmarks can you name?

How did those space shuttles get in there?  Well, let me tell you.  We also toured the National Air and Space Museum.  I die!  Look at this nerd - clearly in heaven:

If you've never been to the Air and Space Museum, do not miss it if you're ever in DC.  You get to see just about every important piece of aeronautics from world history, including nuclear shells - which was scary but crazy.

Finally, we visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Korean War Memorial...  I'm proud of my military family heritage.  From just the past three generations of my family, we cover the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, and the Army - World War II, Vietnam, and the Korean War.  Visiting the memorials was really emotional, as it is for almost everyone.  It's easy to lose the humanity in the statistics, but every soldier who dies was a person with a family.  Military families pay such a big price in every way - whether through deployments, physical injuries, mental injuries, and sometimes death.  Even soldiers who return whole have spent months and years away.  It's a huge sacrifice, and I'm grateful to them all.

Now, we had exactly eight hours to see everything we wanted to see in DC before driving to the airport.  At this point, you'd think we were headed home.  Hey, so did we!  In actuality, we were embarking on The Incredible Journey.

See this?  This photo was taken at about 1a in our hotel.  In Baltimore.  Not Chicago.  What's that you say?  I should have been snug in my Chi-bed by then?  That's what the lady in the photo below thought too.  World, this is what disaster and despair looks like - don't be fooled by the maniacal grin.

We had a Sunday 8p flight out of Baltimore that should have set us in Chicago at 9p.  I arrived in Chicago on Monday at 12:42p.  That's right - 19 hours later.  We could have driven there faster than that.  Mechanical failure, timed-out flight crew, fire alarm (in the traffic control booth), typhoon weather, running out of jet fuel.  Good god, it was a comedy show.

Regardless, we had an amazing time, and we just had to laugh [with a tiny tear] about the trip home.  I was so happy to see my friend and her lovah, see historical sites that I've always wanted to see, and then stay in the Baltimore airport Wyndham.  You know what the highlight was.

OK, this blog post took eight years to write.  Comment, or I'll give you the stinkeye.  And not the virtual kind, either.  

We shopped at our neighborhood market and came home with fixins...

Besides the requisite bread and cheese, I went with ham, muenster, basil, hummus, and tomato.  Bossyboots selected prosciutto, basil, tomato, and giardiniera.  We rubbed rosemary-infused olive oil into the grilling plates and fired that bad boy up!

Look how cute they are, grilling away!  We felt like we were waiting for Christmas... eight whole minutes.

Once our sandwiches were golden and melty, I paired them with peaches and a Corona Light.  So ridiculously delicious.  

Sidebar Timeout: a buddy of mine sent me these organic peaches from Frog Hollow Farms as a present... good lord, they are the best peaches I've ever had in my life - and I grew up with a peach orchard in my backyard.  Super duper spendy, but they'd make a great gift for a colleague or someone who you'd know would really appreciate them.

Every night should be panini night!