Friday, March 30, 2007

Nothing to see here, move along....

Ok, so I am not quite sure why I haven't been motivated to post more regularly. I suppose it's because there's not been a whole lot to say since the new year began. Now that Spring is here, I am out of my funk and feeling more post-worthy, so here you go....

Let's see, not much happened in January. In February, I went to Tybee Island and ran in the Memorial Health Half Marathon. I started out with a goal of running this race in 2:45:00. But during practice a few weeks before that, I ran it in 2:40:00 without much effort really, so I revised my goal to a rather ambitious 2:30:00. Well let's just say I had a really good day. It was cold, in the 40s, it was flat (YES!), and I had the race of my life! After about the first 2 miles I noticed that there was a guy running about the same pace and we began to talk. After the first 6 miles, neither of us could believe how strong we felt so we decided to pace each other and try to hold on for the whole race, which we did, and both of us had our best races. I ended up finishing in 2:15:13, which was about a 10:17 pace. A far cry better than my marathon pace of 14:59!!!

After that race, I decided I wanted to get serious about getting better, and I set my sights on competing in the SC Half Ironman on Sept. 30th. To get there, faster and injury free, I decided to hire a coach. So I did. Katie Malone of Malone Coaching (www.malonecoaching.net) is now working with me trying her best to make me a better and faster Suzanne. So far it's been fun- speedwork is not something I have ever concerned myself with in the past, but I can tell she's made a pretty big difference in the quality of my workouts. So, I've got a pretty good line up of races for this season. Of course I may add some, but right now I am planning on:

Clemson Sprint on 5/12
Festival of Flowers Olympic on 6/10
Greenville Sprint on 8/19
TriAmerica Long Course on 8/26
SC Half Iron on 9/30.
I may add another sprint on 6/2, not sure yet.

The weight loss is still coming, albeit slowly. I am losing about a half pound a week tops, but I only have about 12 more to go. So far I've lost about 60 lbs. I feel great, and shopping is more fun now. I am having to completely re-do my wardrobe. I am about 3 sizes smaller than I was last summer, so clothes I wore then look ridiculous now... It's a good problem to have!

The wait for our little girl is creeping by. We've come to terms with it though, and have decided to embrace our last summer as a couple. We plan to do lots of fun things and just enjoy being with each other. Summer is my favorite time of year anyway, and it always seems to go by faster than I want it to. Football Season will be just around the corner, so the fall will be full of good times, and then the next thing you know it will be Christmas, and I have a feeling we will get our referral anywhere from Dec- Feb. While I would love to have our daughter here tomorrow, I know that God has given us this wait for a reason. We can either choose to be happy and patient or we can choose to be angry. I would rather be happy....

Also, I do believe that unless we just feel totally different after our daughter is home, she will most likely be an only child. I would love to have a sibling for her, but to be honest, I am not sure I want to put all of us through this long process again, and of course we are not getting any younger. I am an only child and I had a very happy childhood, so I know it would be ok. We have such a small family my only concern is that when we are gone, she will be alone. I hope that she will grow up close to her Savannah cousins, and I hope that those relationships will be strong and enough to sustain her as an adult. I do know that as an only child I grew up super close with my parents, after all, I didn't have to share them with anyone. My mom and I are 2 peas in a pod, and I truly feel like my dad and I were kindred spirits. I want that same kind of relationship with our daughter, and while I know that can be achieved with many children in the family, I think one may be the right number for us. And, if, by some miracle, we happen to get pregnant (we never stopped trying to prevent this) then we will know that God meant for us to have more than one.

I'll leave you with some pictures from the half mary...