Pumpkins

This was only my second year to carve a pumpkin. Will found it hard to believe I never did this as a child. But to your credit mom, I am not sure carving pumpkins is something I would have enjoyed, the whole pull out the slimy stuff really bothers me. Will did most of that for me. Going over to Erin's was fun. It was nice to have some place to be and someone to interact with. Now that I am unemployed again, the days all just run together.

I have been attempting to stay busy. Apply for jobs, knit, work out, continually search Hulu for any shows I may have missed. I really loved the volleyball job because it gave me some place to be everyday, but obviously was not the biggest time commitment. I have inquired about several other jobs. Such as, a paper deliverer (until the reality of delivering papers at 4:30 am in blizzard conditions set in), a princess for child events (I am still interested in this job, but Chryssy from Chryssy's characters has not gotten back to me. Hey, for $15-$50 an hour, I will gladly put on a ridiculous costume and let little children wipe their snot on me.), a dish washer at the Food Co-Op (still waiting for a reply. Will is more excited about this job because then we can get discounts. But a 5% discount on a $20 loaf of bread is not all that great.), a substitute teacher (I am officially on the system to be called to substitute. Unfortunately, the system only calls your phone once and I got to the phone a split second too late and missed the call. Super lame). There are some more but those are the most interesting.

I have gone through this job to no-job cycle several times since being in Bozeman. I also go through the same emotional cycle. When I have a job, all I could think about was how great it would be too not have to work there. When I do not have a job, I feel worthless and like a big, fat piece of lard. However, the past two weeks, I have had quite a lot of time to spend with Will. I know we spent tons of time together as it is, but it has been fun. Like today, we are going to go hike in the middle of the day on a Thursday. The past few days we have been able to go to a coffee shop and study (ugh, GRE!). We have been able to go every night to the climbing gym and spend several hours there. Those are all great things. Things that I do not want to take for granted. Because I know there is a time, in the not so distant future, that real life is going to hit. He will have a full time job, I will be swamped with graduate school, and life will be different.

This morning when I was reading the bible, I was looking up verses that pertain to having a purpose. I came across this one, "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

I find myself making plans all the time. Plans of how I think my life should be going. Plans of what I would be doing if I was not in Montana. Plans of when we should have children. Plans of what job I should have. Plans of what I think Will should be doing instead of studying statistical analysis of wildlife patterns. You get the point. They are silly plans because I can only see so far, but the Lord has already seen it all. He knows. So I need to trust in His plans, even if I can not see them, and enjoy these moments He has given me.

That is all. Sorry for the rant. My doggie oggie is demanding to be taken out. Try ignoring a jumping, twirling, 90 pound, uncoordinated dog.

Marathon Pictures

I was in a lot of pain after I finished. I have been kicking around the idea of doing another one in the next few months. I really do not want to do the training again, but I want to try do the actual race again. It is much easier to stay in marathon shape, but I am not sure how to do that when the sidewalks are pretty much ice rinks. I went running on Friday and had major hip pain the rest of the weekend. I am anxious to start feeling active again, but my body is still healing.

This week will probably consist of job hunting and knitting. I just learned how to knit mittens. I am already on my second pair. I think that mittens might be what I give the sister in laws for Christmas. I love being able to make Christmas presents instead of spending money on silly things.

Elk Bugling

We are still slowly recovering from the marathon. We have not attempted to run yet, but I think today might be the day. We went rock climbing on Tuesday because Will said it would be good "active recovery."

Yesterday, I was feeling overwhelmed with the overflow of junk that seemed to be taking over our studio. When you live in a studio, anything out of place is magnified. After we hit up the Gap (hello, 40% off regular price items), I made a donation pile and began to organize my knitting paraphernalia.

I bought a striped shirt (as seen below) for $6.99 and a green cardigan for $26 (regular $49). I also convinced Will to buy a plaid, flannel shirt. He looks mighty fine in it. I have a rule that every new item I buy, I must get rid of something. This is a great way to give back and also to make room in my two drawer dresser for ALL my clothes.

Since the air is getting colder by the minute, I decided to bring the rest of my "summer" clothes down to the cellar. I had seen this window in the back corner of the cellar for a while, but finally decided to act. After a few screams due to the massive amounts of spiders, I brought the beauty up to the sunlight and scrubbed her off. I then hung her over the cute buckets I designated for my knitting. Since I have a goal of knitting all my Christmas gifts, I need the knitting accessories easily accessible. I think at some point, I will paint her, but right now that was all the work I had the energy to do.

We then went to Yellowstone for the evening. That's right, we are free to visit a national park any time we feel fitting. Our mission was to see the Elk Bugling. This is when the males who are all hyped up on spreading their seed, fight each other and sing songs (well, bugle). We did not see any fighting, but we did hear our first Elk bugle. I am pretty sure he only bugled because he did not appreciate Will flashing camera lights on him. The picture below where his neck is outstretched with his mouth open is an action shot of him bugling. We also saw a coyote casually stroll across the road when we were heading back. It was a fun, little date.

Family Portraits

26.2 Miles Later

Let me start by saying that the race was hard, extremely hard. But let me back up to the start of the weekend.

We arrived Friday night in Denver and then drove over an hour to visit Will's sister in Greely. We went out to eat and spent the night with her. Unfortunately, it was a rough night because a dog she was pet sitting may have peed on Will in the middle of the night and thrown up on my feet. Then it was morning and we headed to back to the airport to pick up the mothers.

Saturday was a jam packed day. We check into the hotel (which was pretty sweet), went to pick up our race packets at the race expo, and finally ate some food. Luckily, Will and I were able to take a nap that afternoon. But then we went out to eat to the Old Spaghetti Factory, it was an hour and a half wait. We did not get back to our hotel until around 10 pm. Um, I was pretty much hoping to be IN bed at 9pm. Well, Becca had come in to stay with us that night with her doggie. It turns out it is fairly difficult to fall asleep with three other people in the room and a dog that is bouncing off the walls. So I probably fell asleep at 1 am and was up at 5:15 am. ( I had not mentioned it yet, but I was a complete nervous wreck all weekend. So not being able to fall asleep was awful, just awful.)

Race Day!! I was very hopeful. Everyone had told me that I was more than prepared with the amount of training I had done, blah, blah, blah. However, for the past two weeks, during my tapering period (where we cut back on the miles we are running), I hurt every. single. run. I pretty much hurt non-stop. I thought that this would fade by the time race day was here, but apparently I was wrong.

I did not just want to run a marathon, I wanted to run a marathon well. I wanted to not skip out on the training, push myself, and reap the benefits of all those months of incredibly hard work to pay off. Because of those goals, I was very upset with the results. I hurt from mile 1. There was no difference in my mind between mile 10 to mile 23, they all ached terribly. I usually reach a point in my runs, where I am actually enjoying running. I can look around at my surroundings, take everything in, its almost effortless. I never reached that point in the race. Every mile, I had to mentally push through. Will says that this is what I should be proud of, that I never gave up and pushed through until the end. I guess I am prideful (well, I know I am) and wanted to finish in a time worth bragging about. A time that shows I trained a killer amount for this race and owned it.

Even though I was frustrated with how the race turned out, I am thankful for it. The race brought our an opportunity for us to see our family again. It was so awesome to have them there supporting us along the race. It was also nice to have someone else to cry to besides Will (sorry, mom). They bought all our meals and took care of us just like only moms only know how.

And, Will. He was beyond words. He stood by my side the entire months we have trained and never once left my side during the race. He encouraged me every mile (every step actually) and helped push me through to the finish. He knew how defeated I felt and had a constant word of affirmation through out the day for me. He also kept his laughing to a minimum when I was hobbling through the airport.

I am trying really hard to be proud of the fact, I RAN A MARATHON!!! I went from not being able to fathom running that far, to taking on the training, and running in the race. I should be proud.

All the pictures are on my mother's camera. When she gets them to me, I will post them.

I am off to spend some quality time with my pup who could care less if I run or not. All she cares about is that I am home and can give her all the belly rubs she desires.

Volleyball Season is Over

Today was my last practice with the girls. They actually have a tournament on Saturday, but due to a prior engagement (you know that marathon I have rambled on about) I will not be there. They were such a good group of girls and I gave them my two cents on how to navigate through life. I created awards for each one and they all brought sugary treats for this morning's practice. I finally took a picture with the girls, it is a bit blurry.

It seems that I must start the job searching again, but first I need to get through this weekend. We leave at 5 pm tonight for Denver. We will then drive to see Will's sister, Becca, and her new puppy wuppy. We will spend the night with her and head back to the airport to pick up the mommas. I have been trying to rest, eat lots, and watch motivational videos to get me pumped for the race.