Maroon 5 Concert

 I've been wanting to see Maroon 5 for about two years, since I first learned about the group. Finally, they came to Fresno and I was able to listen to their music LIVE!

Great concert! Adam Levine, front man, has tremendous energy that he displayed throughout his set with dashing from one side of the stage to the other. His cute, skinny chicken legs were like rubber bands as the seemed to fold on themselves and do high jumps. The band sounded great live and did some of their music a bit more acoustic at a certain point.   Adam did a lot of sing-a-longs and rounds with the audience  to get everyone involved and feeling the music. Tif and I had a great time and I was able to visit with Jen and Jacqui between sets.

Bruno Mars and One Republic opened for Maroon 5 and I'm digging Bruno! Just got done downloading his Doo-Wop and Hooligans cd. I already had his song Nothing On You he did with B.o.B., which is my favorite song. Just the Way You Are might be soon be second on the list. His song Count on Me has a Jason Mraz feel. Check him out!

Tiff's Shower

The Loot!

Breakfast With Tiffiny

The tables turned out so nice! We had black table cloth with Tiffany blue cups, napkins and plates. I "sprinkled" hershey kisses around the white flowers in a clear cylinder vase.

I actually put Tiff to work at her own shower!

I could not have pulled off the shower without the help from Rebecca & Miriam!

Me & Tiff

Me & Rebecca

By the time all the guest arrived, the table was laden with gifts and I was putting them on the ground!

A hooded towel that all the guests signed and added their well wishes.

All the guests wrote their address on the envelopes for Tiff's thank you notes. I then drew an envelope for a gift.

             The only game! How many words can you make from Francesca's name? The winner was 21 words. Rebecca, the Scrabble Queen, stopped at 30 words.

Best idea ever! Order a cake from Costco, not decorated, and add your own embellishments!

10k Success!

Goal 1 - Finish the race - Did it!
Goal 2 - Beat my half-marathon time of 14.45 average pace - Did it! I finished the 6.33 miles in 79 minutes! My first mile had a 10.31 average pace. Lots of people and going down some hills probably contributed to that pace. The next two miles were in the 12's and the next three miles were in the 13's, but faster than 13.30. I wanted to beat 13.30 for an average pace and my pace for this race was 12.26! Awesome!
Goal 3 - Run the whole way - Did it! I ran and mainly walked the half-marathon and I really wanted to run the whole way for this race. This was the first time I've run 6 miles straight! It was slow, but I ran!!!

I'm looking forward to running around Central Park in early November and found out there will be a Turkey Trot at Woodward Park on Thanksgiving Day. Planning for that race next.

It's Time

The 10k is next Saturday and I think I'm ready for the race. Yesterday was another 5 miler and my time was significantly faster than last Saturday as I did the run with a 12.75 avg pace. My last mile was faster than the fourth mile, which is what's suppose to happen. I usually just get slower and slower. My foot is hurting a bit, so I hope that doesn't hamper me. I think it's because where I run, the road slants and my foot doesn't like that. So probably two more runs this week and then rest for the race.

Look what I found for next year's goal!! City to the Sea half-marathon! The race starts in San Luis Obispo and finishes in Pismo Beach. If they do the race at the same time every year, it should be October 9, 2011. What a perfect birthday present!

5 Miles

Today was a five mile run and while I'm getting more used to doing that type of distance, it is still a stretch for me to run that far. Last week's five miles seemed really hard and so I wasn't sure how today's run was going to pan out. Well, it was a good run, if you can say any run is a good run lol. I didn't feel so exhausted during the last mile. As I neared home I decided I needed to go a little further, so my "head" would know I can go past the five miles I've been doing as I'll need to do six in just a couple of weeks for the race. I ended up running 5.10 miles with a 13.23 average pace. I'm really hoping to run the 10k with a 13.30 average pace. Luckily the gps tracker I'm using broke down the miles, so I got a picture of my average pace for each mile. Mile 1 was 12.43, mile 2 was 12.38, mile 3 was 12.55 (starting to get tired), mile 4 was 13.58 and the last mile was 14.26. That last mile is my problem. I'm worried that if I add another mile and I'm slowing down even more, that my time will dip past the 13.30 pace. Although when I run with Camie my pace is much better, so I will project that running with her and my other peeps at the race, I'll be able to keep my pace up and finish at least a 13.30 average pace :)

This is probably not very interesting for most people to read I realize. A bunch of numbers and times and miles. Who really cares? Well, the thing is, I've never done this before. I've never had goals that take such a long time to achieve, that I've had to put such effort into them and that I've had to commit long term to them. This is new ground for me and things that I learn are transferring into other areas of my life. Sometimes the best thing you can do is just put one foot in front of the other and just keep going. Not stopping is the accomplishment. That's what I do when I run, one foot in front of the other. I appreciate those of you who read my blog and please leave a message every now and then. I like"hearing" from you.

Improvement, One Step at a Time

It takes time and distance to gain improvement in running and it's a good (and sometimes inspiring) idea to look back on previous workouts to see how far you've come.

Camie told me our average pace for our first 3 mile run on August 11 was 12.31, which actually means, she had a 12.31 pace and I had a 12:45ish pace. She's faster than me :) Since I downloaded the mapmyrun app on my phone, I've been tracking my runs and recording my times and I've gone from 13.35 minute mile (I run slower without Camie), to a 13.16 minute mile, then 12.24, 12.05 and last Wednesday we broke the 12 minute mile! I ran 3.5 miles with an 11.52 minute mile average (yes, Camie was faster)! Holy cow! Who would have thought I could do that?! Certainly not me. I guess that just goes to show you, don't say you aren't able to do something until after you have put forth time and energy in achieving the goal. When I ran the half-marathon in June, my time average pace was a 14.46 minute mile. I'd say I've made huge leaps so far in my training. I'm very happy and proud of that accomplishment as running is not something I've done all my life or is even a natural occurrence for me. You know I'd rather be sitting on the couch reading a book lol.