Back to it!

I have about a dozen unpublished posts I've been meaning to get to...oops! Life moves crazy fast nowadays!

Here's what's new.

(1) my son! He's awesome! He was born on May 18th. He is a very happy, friendly, and adaptable baby. Ray and I are so blessed to have him in our lives! I could talk about our wonderful little dude all day, but I'll resist. ;-)

(2) new job! I have a teaching assistant position at OU, teaching physical activity courses. I love it!

(3) I am am graduating in the the spring! Yay! Last year of school ever! Finally! (unless I, eventually, go back for a PhD) For my professional project (capstone, in lieu of a thesis) I will be putting on a race to fund a scholarship program for Camp Otterbein. It's looking like it will be a non-traditional triathlon: canoe or kayak, then run, then mountain bike through trails on camp property. More details TBA. 

(4) I did my tenth marathon overall/first postnatal marathon 2 days ago. I'll publish a race recap later this week.

(5) I'm planning on doing 1-2 more races this fall. For one of them I will be raising money for a family in need of assistance who has helped Ray and I a TON through the beginning of our parenthood journey. This will be my second ever 50k. Woohoo! The other is a trail marathon that a friend of mine is doing and invited me to join. Doing this race would put me at 3 marathons within 90 days and enable me to finally join Marathon Maniacs!


I will get back to making weekly (sometimes multiple times a week) posts on Sundays, Mondays, and/or Tuesdays. And of course I'll get back to racing and recapping. :-)

A strange 20 mile training run...and some crazy news!

Mid October I ran the last 20 mile run I will be doing for awhile. I was preparing to run the Bobcat trail marathon (my 10th marathon) and the Fuzzy Fandango 50k (my second ultra). I had been a bit frustrated with myself for feeling so out of shape lately (in spite of training just as much as usual): my times were ridiculously slow, I was running low on water and fuel a LOT sooner than usual, and my asthma was acting up a bit more easily. I knew the 20 miles would not be easy, and my goals for the races would just have to be to finish. However, I would finally be able to officially qualify for an elite group of crazy and awesome people, the Marathon Maniacs.

Fortunately, the weather was perfect and the gorgeous splendor of the southeastern Ohio fall foliage kept me feeling relatively decent. I planned my route to go near an extra water stop, brought extra Gu packs, and took opportunities to take pictures during the more often than usual walk breaks.

A couple of weeks later, only about 3 days before the marathon, I found out why I hadn't been feeling quite up to par. And I found out that I wouldn't be running any marathons for quite awhile.

"Um, you're pregnant," my doctor announced, bringing me the positive test.

I was shocked. And panic-stricken. I'm still a broke @$$ grad student: my husband and I can barely take care of ourselves much less a tiny human. And all of those awesome fall and spring race goals: not happening.

My doctor, who is a wonderful person and has helped me get through a couple of tough times in the past, talked me through it and helped me calm down.

A few minutes later, woman with a cart came in and did my first ultrasound. There it was: a living being that had taken up residence in my belly. I started bawling, uncontrollably. Never have I experienced so many emotions all at once. In addition to the anxiety and sadness, I started to feel happy things: excitement, a powerful love for the little being growing inside of me. I just could not stop crying.

So, here I am a few months later: there's still plenty of anxiety, but most of it has been replaced by excitement. This baby is a miracle, even if the timing is not at all what we had planned. With the pill, the odds of this happening were only 1%. With my eating disorder history and all the damage I did to my body (particularly my reproductive system: the reason I was on the pill in the first place), there was a good chance I would have fertility issues, likely making that percent even lower. Ray and I are going to have a child, a child who will be loved. A child who I can't wait to welcome into the world!

2014 in Review

2014 was an amazing and insane year! 

First of all, I finally got into and started graduate school. After a couple of years of taking classes part time, not working towards a degree on the chance that I could get into med school, then PT school, and actually not getting anywhere at all, I finally started finding direction in my life.

Not only did I start graduate school, but I successfully finished my first semester, only missing straight A's by one B+.

I got married, beginning my life with my true love. I know, saying it that way is cheesy. But it's true!

 

I finished the American Triple-T (that insane weekend long triathlon event, ending with a half iron) again, an awesome alien themed marathon in Michigan (giving me the ability to check another state of-yeah), and several other races: the Flying Pig relay, an 8 mile trail race, and the Heart Half Marathon. My time for the Triple-T this year was better than my 2012 time. :-)

I put in another awesome summer at Camp Otterbein!

Farewell 2014! Here's to hoping that 2015 brings wonderful things too!  :-)

Some of our official wedding photos! :-D

Here are some of our favorite wedding photos. They were done by Robert Gary Mihalko in Medina, OH: he did a great job! :-)  He happens to be one of Ray's former scout leaders too!



We were laughing because I have no clue how to do makeup. Hahaha!

 

the guys "getting ready"  ;-)



First look :-)

 

the wedding party, just missing the ring bearer

my favorite! :-D Haha!

 

:-)

 

first kiss as a married couple :-)

 

officially husband and wife :-)

with my big brother (on my father's side). I hadn't seen him in nearly 10 years, so before this pic was taken, we were both bawling our eyes out! Haha! I want a copy of that picture, from whoever may have snapped one!

favorite pic with Mom ever!

mother son dance

with Ray's family

 

with the Kelly clan (plus Darren); would've done one of these with all of Ray's family too, but there are just too many of them. Haha!

 

first dance

 

uncle niece dance

 

awesome close-up of our rings and the flowers, made by Ray's aunt Linda

 

Amazing cupcakes! Also made by Aunt Linda :-)  And Ray's mom put together the stand and topper :-)
 

And this is how the dance floor looked most of the night. Our DJ, Mindy, was the BEST! :-)

the ring bearer, Ray's cousin Levi. I love how excited he looks! Almost forgot to post this one!

 

Competitive ladies! Hahaha!

Ray ROCKED the garter toss!



 

There are so many awesome pictures, and this is only a few of them! Our wedding was amazing: everything we dreamed of and then some!  :-)

FREEDOM!

My first semester of graduate school was insane (but awesome)! In case you couldn't tell by my absence. Haha!

I turned in my last assignment for finals week at 2:30am last night/this morning. What a satisfying feeling!

I'll be posting a LOT of updates over winter break, so be on the lookout! :-)

Meanwhile, enjoy some pictures!  :-)

From my favorite place to run :-)

Pumpkin picking with my husband :-)

Old Man's Cave hike with a retreat group at camp



 

The Best Day Ever: Our Wedding

 We don't have our official/professional pictures yet, but I figured I'd go ahead and say at least something about this magical day. And we have some great unofficial pictures. It's already been a month and a half-ish. Crazy!

  The day, and the whole weekend, went great! The lodge was gorgeous, our DJ was the best, and everyone had a fabulous time! And (besides when we were all stuffing our faces with the delicious dinner) the dance floor was not empty for a single moment. That's the true sign of a great party! :-)






  

    We did almost all of our pictures before the ceremony, so the reception could get started right away after the ceremony (both were at the same place, in the same room). When I've been to weddings, the one thing I've always disliked has been waiting for hours after the ceremony for the fun and the food to begin. Being hungry especially is no fun. We didn't want to do that to our guests, and they seemed to really appreciate it. Yes, this involved breaking the groom and bride can't see eachother before the wedding, but it was totally worth it. Rules schmules. And the look on his face when he turned around was absolutely priceless!  I've never seen such a huge smile in my life! And he looked so amazing!

   The decorations looked awesome! Aunt Linda did an absolutely amazing job with the flowers and cupcakes! Our colors were blue, yellow, and silver and we had a sci-fi theme going.

  Overall, the day could not have gone better! I am incredibly grateful for everyone who helped make our awesome day possible and for everyone who came to celebrate with us!

   And hopefully, we'll have our official pictures soon! :-)

Fall Adventure #1: My Craziest Lifeguarding Experience Ever!

  Meant to post this awhile ago. Oops!

    The first weekend of September, I lifeguarded and volunteered for the Rev3 triathlon at Cedar Point. This race was a full Ironman (athletes also had the option to do the half iron), with the swim portion in Lake Erie. I lifeguarded for the practice swim on Saturday and the race itself on Sunday. My friend Hannah (who I met at the Triple-T) happened to be one of the other lifeguards! Small world! It was great to see her again!

  Sunday morning, I arrived and made my way to the beach before the sun even rose. We got our assigned areas, the sun started to come up, and before I knew it I was headed out by paddleboard-without a paddle. There weren't enough. That alone was an interesting experience!

   The waves were absolutely brutal. We had to remove a huge number of people from the water, and even more took breathers on our boards.

   One woman in particular stuck out in my mind. She got smacked by a huge wave and started to panic. I rushed over and assisted her. We talked for a little bit as she regained her breath. After calming down she was off again and I watched her very closely until she approached the next guard.

   Later, during my volunteer shift in transition as I was talking to another volunteer, she stopped and said "Wait, I recognize you! You saved me in the water this morning!" I looked closer, and sure enough, it was the woman who stood out in my mind from earlier! It turns out that she was doing the swim portion of the relay. She said she was able to finish. She was so grateful that she actually teared up a bit as we hugged. What an awesome feeling!

   Afterwards, they paid us on the spot, in cash. I highly recommend guarding for Rev3! Plus you get a generous discount on future race registration with them for guarding or volunteering. And they fed us really well.  :-)

  I'm planning on doing my first Ironman next year. I have been going back and forth between Ironman Louisville and Rev3 Cedar Point. After dealing with Lake Erie, I'm starting to lean towards Ironman Louisville. We shall see, though. In spite of Lake Erie's fury, the race organizers and other volunteers were awesome!