MIMM: GOTR/STRIDE 5K

Hello Hello! Can you believe Christmas is only 9 days away?! I have ZERO shopping done and I am starting to panic. I like to use the excuse that I fly home for the holidays and therefore can't bring a lot of extra "stuff" with me, but the truth is I could've been picking up little things or buying gifts online. I just cannot come up with anything creative to get anyone besides my Brother-in-Law. Super excited about his present btw! More on that later!

I had another Marvelous weekend and this Monday is extra marvelous because I did not have to go to lab or worry about studying for once! Here is a look at my marvelous weekend...

Friday started with an amazing 5 mile run on the beach!

 

It then continued with a party with some awesome friends to celebrate being done with school. It was also a last get-together before a lot of us head home for the holidays!

I may or may not have stayed out much later than I planned... which made for a very hard time waking up for my 5k on Saturday. I think I might have shed a few tears when my alarm went off. But once I got my butt out of bed and started to wake up I was fine and excited! Saturday was the 5k for Girls on the Run and Stride, the last time for my kiddos to strut their stuff and show what they've been working for the whole season. 

Picture from my Instagram

They all did so well and I could not be more proud of them! I'm not going to do an official recap for this race since it was purely for fun so here is a little mini recap: There were 1200 people total and about 550 of those were the boys and girls participating in GOTR or STRIDE. The course was not the best course I have ran on, but also not the worse. I don't think they expected that many people to run. They only had one lane open for everyone to run in and it was VERY crowded. I spent a lot of the race zig-zagging around other runners/walkers and never really got into a steady pace because of this. They let the boys start first and then the girls started in 2 different waves. I was in the last wave with my GOTR team. Around mile 2 a lot of my boys had already reached the turn around so I got to cheer them on as they headed towards the finish! I also caught up to a couple of them and got to run with them for a bit which was so much fun! I also ran with a lot of my girls. Anytime I saw any of my kids I would run over and stay with them for a bit and cheer them on. I've never ran a race with more than about 5 people I know so it was cool seeing a bunch of familiar faces! When I reached the finish 4 of my speedy boys had already finished so they got to give me high fives and cheer for me as I crossed the finish line- the best way to end a race! My official time was 32:40 a 10:34 pace. I then got to wait with my boys for the rest of my kids! Seeing their faces as they crossed the finish line and received their medals was so rewarding. I've said it once and I'll say it again, being a coach for these AMAZING organizations has been such a blessing in my life and I encourage anyone who has time to volunteer to be a coach at least once! I promise it is life changing!

After the race I went straight to work for 7 hours and then went straight home where I watched Netflix and was in bed by about 8! Such a crazy Saturday night!

Sunday started with another 7 hour shift at work woo-hoo! And ended with this amazingness...

Holy crapper snappers! If you guys haven't tried this you need to! It is also life changing (not as life changing as coaching)

I'm heading back to Ohio this afternoon for a couple of weeks of family time! My mom sent me this picture of my cat today. Apparently he's been driving her nuts ruining the Christmas tree! (hehe) For those of you who know me you know I'm more of a dog person than a cat person but I love all animals. One day I went out to buy a new pair of shoes and came home with a kitten. I'm a sucker for the animals in the pet shops and couldn't bear to leave this little guy. I used to have him at school with me, but due to multiple reasons he unfortunately had to go back to Ohio to live and has since bonded with our dog so I would feel too guilty taking him back. For as much as my mom complains about him (her nickname for him is Meeko Monster) I know she would miss him too! His name is Meeko, the Disney lover in me had to pick a name from a Disney movie of course! Anyone know what movie/character? I call him Meeko Bubba, not sure why but it fits!

 

So excited to see this cutie later today! Once again here's to hoping all of my flights are on time and I make it home! Apparently we have a lot of snow! 

I hope your Monday and the rest of the week is just Marvelous!

Questions of the Day

• Are you a cat or dog person?
• Where is your favorite place to run? (road, park, beach, etc)
• Is anyone else as behind on Christmas shopping as me?!