Thanks to all of you who supported me through 3 grueling months of training. I feel like a million bucks – well, except for my legs, which have seen better days. This certaintly  makes up for the lackluster season of tennis I’m having!

I wrote a blog post about my experience with race weekend on GOTR’s Why We Run blog today. Check it out here!

http://gotratlanta.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/ing-georgia-weekend-one-gotr-runners-story/

This being said, I’d like to be able to update my blog at least 3 or so times per week – and right now that’s just not happening. I have so much to write about over the past few weeks, but no time or energy for it. So here are the highlights:

• The tennis tournament was a total blast. I and my partner won the Women’s Doubles 8.0 bracket after a really tough final that we lost the first set 1-6 and had to battle back. My mixed partner and I choked in Round 1, but lucky for us the tournament is double elimination so we had another chance and ended up making  the consolation finals and losing it in a tight 3rd-set tiebreaker to some friends.
• I’ve lost the fire for running, ever since the Saturday morning when we attempted 12 and my legs only allowed for 9. I tried another 10-miler at Kiawah on the beach but again, the legs locked up after mile 6. Since then I haven’t run more than 6 miles. The half-marathon is this Sunday – I repeat, this Sunday. I feel my goal slipping away, but I’m planning to get out there and do my best regardless.
• We had a surprise visit from Michael’s brother Patrick and his wife Marie-Luise this weekend – all the way from South Africa. While it was slightly stressful to quickly pull the house together into a somewhat visitor-friendly condition, I’m happy now that we worked so hard because now a lot of the work is complete! We had a great time hanging out with Patrick and Marie-Luise – played some tennis, showed them the church where we’re getting married, ate good food, etc. I can’t wait to see them again in July!
• I visited Lindsi, Tyler, and little Ty down in Macon last Saturday. It should be illegal for a newborn to be that cute! He looked so teeny tiny in his big crib, just curled up like a little roly-poly…it’s crazy to me that Lindsi is now a mom! In addition, the story of her delivery is enough to make any soon-to-be-married person reconsider the whole process…either no one else has told me the truth or her delivery was especially horrifying…
• Oh, and as if I could forget…we did not win the Lucky In Love engagement story contest. We had a wonderful evening of food, drink, and hearing all of the amazing proposal stories. We also won a couple’s massage, which The Major is simply thrilled about… There were a few stories that we would have been fine with losing to, but the story that ultimately won was, pardon my rudeness, pretty lame. Generally not sore losers, The Major and I have been nursing the wounds of losing to that story all week long…

Well, those are the highlights. As I mentioned, I’m considering signing off for a few months, or making some very minimal posts, while I get my life back under control. I will write on Sunday about how the half-marathon went and if I achieved my under 2 hour goal – if you get a chance and are willing/able, please consider donating to my GOTR SoleMates campaign – I haven’t reached my goal yet, but there are still a few more days left! Check out my fundraising page: http://www.active.com/donate/SoleMates2010/Nadine 

In the meantime, I, along with fellow bloggers, are still doing the GOTR Why We Run blog, so don’t forget to check me out there – www.gotratlanta.wordpress.com.

Until next time…whenever that shall be…;-)

I squeezed in a workout at lunch both yesterday and today – since the mornings weren’t really working out I am grateful for a slightly slower week.

Tuesday: Upper body

• 5 sets of dumbbell chest press and 3 sets of DB flye
• 5 sets of DB pullovers and 3 sets of lat pull machine
• 5 sets of Gravitron tricep dips and 3 sets of tri machine
• 5 sets of rope curls and 3 sets of DB concentration curls
• 5 sets of shoulder press machine and 3 sets of reverse DB flyes

Wednesday: Treadmill Cardio

Ran into colleague Kristy at the gym. We chatted over an easy 3-miler then did about 10 minutes of intervals – 30 seconds on at 8.7 pace, 15 seconds off. Cooled down with an easy one-miler.

I feel good! Still need to update you on Kiawah and my tennis breakthrough!

So I had a great vacation. Obviously. Once again The Major and his partner Beth pulled off a flawless event; he’s already received dozens of thank-you emails from various participants – thank you to those who have thanked him, it means a lot  to hear that you appreciate all the hard work that goes into an event like that. I’ll write more about the vacation later. It’s the aftermath of vacation that I am here to vent about today.

Before vacation, I was loving the job. Now, I’m just annoyed by it. People seem hell-bent on sabotaging my attempts at an orderly, efficient, and crisis-free set of events and weeks leading up to said events. For God’s sake, did someone seriously decline a meeting invitation because it was at lunchtime? When we’re FOUR WEEKS out from this event!? How many voicemails do you think I receive from people who “desperately” need to speak to me because they feel that 20 minutes is simply not enough time to cover their all-important topic? Because no one else’s topics are important. Obviously. Not to mention that I really COULD CARE LESS about anyone’s audiovisual needs.

Whew, that felt good.

Next item. The Major and I have been exhausted due to a severe lack of rest and overconsumption of beverages and unhealthy food. Needless to say I didn’t wake up for an early morning exercise either yesterday or this morning. It’s a Catch 22 though, because I feel like a fata$$ due to the aforementioned lack of exercise (and doubles tennis does NOT count as exercise, I’m sorry) and unhealthy food. To top it all off, as I was driving to work today – later than usual due to my laziness – I got into a fender bender. My fault. Great. Just dropped over $1,000 into my car and now have to deal with external body damage. Perfect.

And finally. Yesterday evening was pretty much the nicest of 2010 thus far, and according to weather.com, the nicest we’ll see for the next week. I had a singles match scheduled. A singles match would have been nice – I’m playing good tennis and it may have lifted me out of this rut of slugglishness. But since I didn’t confirm with my opponent IMMEDIATELY upon her emailing me last Friday (despite that I had already told her I’d be out of town and not that responsive), she made other plans and now wants me to fit the match  in on her schedule, namely this weekend. Here’s what I have to say to her and people like her: Don’t Mess With Me Today.

Wow. I feel a lot better. Thank you friends for listening to that rant. I will do my best to rise from the depths and be positive for the rest of the day. On the first positive note: my MOH had her little baby last week! Tyler James Pearson! Check him out on her blog: http://lptfamily.blogspot.com/2010/03/quick-update.html. Against all odds, I am finally an aunt!

I hope to write more later this evening about Kiawah and my tennis prowess.

• Church
• Reception site
• Dress
• Bridesmaid Dresses
• DJ (Hal Mealor, highly recommended by my unofficial wedding planning DR)
• Rehearsal Dinner
• Photographer (Scott Wang photography, booked them last night, they also come highly recommended and I could not be more thrilled!)

Now, of course we plan to do more than this – flowers, favors, hair/makeup, jewelry, cake, blah blah blah – but really, at the end of the day I could have this wedding as is! So now my friends, I will take a deep breath, relax, and think about these little things AFTER my vacation.

To celebrate these achievements, The Major and I splurged after our meeting with the photographer at OK Cafe. I got…sigh…a burger…and we split a hot fudge sundae.

Totally worth the calories.

The Major wasn't so excited about capturing his splurge on film...

Another big piece of news – The Major and I have been selected as finalists in the Lucky In Love engagement story contest that I entered several months ago. As most of you know, our story is pretty incredible; when I saw the contest I knew we had a strong chance of winning. I got the notification last night that we are top finalists and have been invited to a wrap-up party where they will announce the winner next Wednesday! Wish us luck!

In other relevant news, I took the day off of training to focus on work since it’s my last day in the office this week. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this on the blog, but my job right now is essentially meeting planning – and this is my first time. Enough said. I’m overwhelmed. Luckily my mind is wired like a meeting planner, with checklists and priority items constantly running through it, even in my sleep. But unfortunately, this results in chronic lack of sleep…and peace of really any kind. BRING ON THE VACATION ALREADY!

I enjoy running, to an extent. About half the time I enjoy the process of running. About 40 percent of the time I despise the process but love the end result of accomplisment and strength. And then there’s that 10 percent of the time when the process not only stinks, but so does my attitude at the end for feeling that I failed. Thus describes my feelings after the long run fiasco from this past weekend.

At this point in life, I want to be done with longer-distance running. It hurts and it’s not fun. I keep trying to tell myself that I had ONE bad experience and that getting back on the horse is critical. But when the alarm rang this morning for my early-morning outdoor run, it just wasn’t happening. I still wanted to work out, but couldn’t risk doing too heavy weights due to the tweak in my neck from last week. So I put together an hour superset program that got me sweating, my heart rate up, and what do you know – I enjoyed it!

• Superset 1: Stability ball hamstring curls and Stability ball wall squats (4×15)
• Superset 2: Stability ball chest presses (8 lbs.) and Stability ball accordion crunches (4×15)
• Superset 3: Stability Ball Y&T’s and Stability ball side crunches (4×15)
• Superset 4: 21′s (15 lb. bar) and Stability Ball passes (4×15) 
• Superset 5: Overhead dumbell tricep presses (10lbs.) and Bicycle crunches (4×15)

I’m hopeful that I will have a refreshed attitude about running either tomorrow or Wednesday. Wednesday should feature my traditional running on the beach at Kiawah, so maybe the changed environment will get me excited about it again. Until then, UGH!

This baby shower hosted about 25 women, 4 of whom were either pregnant or had given birth in the past 2 weeks. That’s 16% percent of the women at that shower!

Meanwhile, in another part of the state, Matron of Honor Lindsi sits in extreme discomfort and counts the minutes until she goes into labor.

It doesn’t end there. Two out of the 15 women on my tennis team are pregnant. Maybe more, these are just the ones that I know about! My cousin just had a baby, as did two other close friends, including ANOTHER bridesmaid. Not to mention that two of the 18 members of the Girls on the Run of Atlanta board are pregnant, as is one of the volunteers who works on GOTR’s social media.

Needless to say, I’ve become more familiar with Boppies and onesies than anyone planning a wedding should. The good news is, these ladies will be well versed in child birth and rearing by the time I catch up. This seems to be how I roll. At the ripe old age of 27, I am FINALLY getting married (what was I thinking waiting until my late twenties in the South???), and thus have the benefit of every other friend’s experiences. In fact, I will gladly admit that my friends are truly the ones planning this wedding. During a phone conversation today with my unofficial planner Danielle R., I realized that I have yet to choose a vendor that she has not recommended. She came up with the idea for my reception venue, cakes, favors, centerpieces, and flowers. My MOH Lindsi is helping me pick out invitations, is designing my program and guest book, took my engagement photos, and will likely design my wedding album. Another bridesmaid Danielle essentially found my bridesmaid dresses online. And I must give The Major props for finding the church. And what have I done? Basked in the glory of their ingenuity and found the perfect dress of all time. Not bad – so why am I so stressed out?

In other news, the long run did not go well at all. We chose a 12.5-mile route, and I started feeling rough at about mile 0.5. I ran 9 miles before the gas ran out, thus forcing The Major to endure with me my own personal hell of walking 3.5 miles in the biting, freezing wind. It’s amazing how much worse winter feels while walking. I know I shouldn’t feel discouraged – it’s not like 9 miles is something to be scoffed at. It’s just that I’m beginning to question not only if I can achieve my goal, but if I can even complete the half-marathon. My knees hurt so badly, and the rest of my legs ache and throb after about the first 5 miles – including my ankles and the balls of my feet. As we speak, I am soaking my feet old-lady style. I’m supposed to run outside first thing tomorrow, and know I need to get back on the proverbial horse, but am just not feeling it at all.

The good news is: VACATION IN TWO DAYS. The Major runs an annual tennis tournament in Kiawah Island – www.tennisescape.com – and we leave for the beach on Wednesday morning! Five days of tennis, drinking, friends, and relaxation. I think I may be more pumped about this trip than any of the exotic trips I’ve taken. I’ve just never been this strung out and in need of decompression. At this point I question my ability to make it through the next two days with my sanity intact…

I’m quite pleased to have pulled off any physical activity at all this week:

Monday

• 5 sets of dumbbell presses and 3 sets of dumbbell flyes
• 5 sets of dumbbell pullovers and 3 sets of dumbbell upright rows
• 5 sets of rope tri press and 3 sets of cable tri overhead extensions
• 5 sets of hammer curls

Tuesday

• 5.4 mile outdoor run
• 2 hours of singles tennis (I lost 4-6 4-6…boo.)

Wednesday

• 5 sets of bench press and 3 sets of girl pushups
• 5 sets of row machine and 3 sets of Gravitron pullups
• 5 sets of Gravitron tri dips and 3 sets of overhead tri dumbbell extensions
• 5 sets of EZ bar curls and 3 sets of hammer curls
• 5 sets of Arnolds and 3 sets of reverse dumbbell flyes. I pulled a neck muscle doing too much weight on the Arnolds and am praying this doesn’t set me back….

Thursday

• 5 mile speed workout on the treadmill (45 minutes!)

Friday

• REST!

Tomorrow is another long run – somewhere between 12 and 15 miles!

In the meantime, I plod on in life with my endless to-do lists. The weekend was actually quite pleasant and didn’t seem too overloaded. The biggest accomplishment was a 14-mile – that’s right, 14 – run on Saturday morning. The Major and I were planning on 12, but the courses that were being offered out of our group run at West Stride were either 10 or 14 – so we went for the gold. It was tough, really, really tough. But I had appropriately fortified myself the day before, so didn’t really hit a wall until about mile 10. The course was also beautiful – we ran through all the swanky neighborhoods in Buckhead – and the springlike weather didn’t hurt either.

After the run, we headed up to Jones Creek for Graham’s book signing.

It was so cool to see him sitting there all celebrity-like. Also great to see Katie and her two boys, Nicholas and Nolan, who I don’t get to see nearly enough. While at Borders, I was tempted to forget my Lent promises and dive into some boxed candy…

But I persevered, with the help of the hospitable Borders staff that provided mini cups of coffee…poor Major, he gave up coffee for Lent… strangely he feels that I should also have to forego coffee…that is clearly not happening.

After the book signing we enjoyed some guilt-free Chick-Fil-A (a 14-miler will do that for you) outside in the sunny, warm, fresh spring air! Followed by The Major’s tux fitting…can you tell he doesn’t look pleased by the color? According to The Major, anything that is not earth-toned is “too bright.”

I spent Saturday night catching up with one of my bridesmaids, Danielle, over Mexican and margaritas.

Can I just say that Sunday has been GLORIOUS! My tennis team lost in the first round of playoffs yesterday (I didn’t play as I had the run and the book signing) so it was a FREE DAY! We went to Mass early, then idled over a coffee (well, I had a coffee, The Major had a tea…) and bagel sandwich at Einstein’s.  Followed by….3.5 hours on the tennis courts! Yahoo!! We took the pooch and a picnic and headed over to the Dobbins courts, where we spent the entire glorious afternoon. I needed that 3.5 hours so badly.

Afterwards, I was refreshed and relaxed enough to tackle some light cooking for the week and some CDC work…I’m in training all week so will have to be working odd hours to keep up with everything. I don’t mind so much though because it’s nice to be needed and feel that I’m actually doing something concrete and worthwile for a change.

Now I’m off to engage in additional David Sedaris envy…hopefully his hilarity won’t keep me up too late as I’ve got a 5:30 a.m. wakeup call and a LONG BORING day of federal contract training….

Then we’ve got to cram in another visit to the tuxedo shop and to BrandsMart – alas, the new refrigerator that we agonized and exulted over last week and that was supposed to be delivered today  is probably not going to fit into its designated spot…so back to Square 1.

Next on Saturday is some fun stuff – heading to my good friend Graham’s book signing! Graham recently published Hero’s Tribute  and let me tell you, it’s a good read.

I knew it was good when I forgot in the middle of the book that it was written by a friend – do you know what I mean?? Anyway, this book signing is super exciting for him – I also hope to pick his brain on writing a book and getting it published…as this is my lifelong dream…if only I could come up with an idea…and I have a small idea…more of a series of humorous essays actually…but I’m currently reading David Sedaris and his books are really nothing more than a series of essays…so there’s hope for me right!?

Speaking of writing and world-wide fame and notoriety…I’m considering a name-change to the blog. I’d like to start trying to expand my readership, right now it’s just friends (I think) but I get a fair amount of readers every day, so this must mean I have potential. ?? I read tons of health and fitness blogs every day, and I think I could do it. It took most of these bloggers a year or more to get noticed on a broader scale, so I’ll have to be in it for the long haul. I won’t decide right away, after all, I do still have 3 months left in my 27th year, and it’s not like I have the time to design a new blog right now. Just food for thought…