White Christmas

I don’t think I shared that I was going to Florida for Christmas…so if you didn’t know before, well, now you do! I got to fly out here Christmas Eve and go home tomorrow (technically today), Monday. I have enjoyed every minute that I’ve been here and am so blessed to have had the opportunity to be out here with my sister and her awesome family! When I got out here Wednesday afternoon I had told Erika to wait to go for a run until after I had gotten in so that I could go with her. Unfortunately my flight was delayed getting into Florida so by the time we ate, got home, changed, and headed out for our run it was dark out…but I think I found a new Christmas tradition that I need to start…running on Christmas eve! There were so many Christmas lights up and people driving all over checking out the lights with their loved ones. It was really perfect, well, until I started to slow down because of the awful gas pain and cramps that I started to get. I had to ask Erika to take me to a pit stop so I could relieve myself of the awfulness going on inside of my body. We totally hit up a movie theater where I proceeded to wreck their toilet! Erika said she will never be able to drive that theater without thinking about our stop there…I have that effect ;) Hehehe…Thankfully we didn’t have any trouble using their bathroom and all was so much better after I had eliminated my bowels. Afterwards we were able to proceed on our Christmas Eve Run and enjoy some more lights…we even got to snap a picture next to a snowman….in Florida…imagine that ;) We ended up running a 10k that evening!

Christmas 10K with Erika!!

Christmas day was so beautiful out here. After our morning together we decided we wanted to go check out the beach and throw around a Frisbee, football, and play a little volleyball. Erika and I did what any rational adult would do…and we ran to the beach. We enjoyed a 5-mile run to the beach. It’s such a cute/fun town to run through and I really enjoyed our outing out to the beach. I didn’t know that I was actually in for a white Christmas this year…and I couldn’t have imagined a prettier day. We threw the football and Frisbee around for awhile…then after a little while I gave up because I’m quite awful when it comes to those two sports…so Erika and I played some volleyball…which I’m also quite terrible at but thoroughly enjoy because it’s so much fun. After a while Drew and his best friend decided they were going to jump into the Gulf…and I decided it was way too beautiful of a day to not take advantage of the opportunity. So what did I do? I totally ripped off my shirt and jumped into the Gulf in my running capris and sports bra. Yeah, a year ago that would not have happened. When I was looking at the pictures later…that Erika had taken I was surprised to hear myself say, “I LOVE MY BODY!” Yeah, there’s loose skin, there’s still fat, there’s stretch marks, it’s not perfect…but it’s mine…and it is capable of more than I could’ve ever imagined. It was a great Christmas!

Check out that beautiful view!! 

Ander getting his run on! You can also see Andrik, me, Drew, and Andrew in the background!

Can't forget to get your hands in the sand!! Erika and Ander!

Running to shore! 

Hand-in-Hand with my little man...Andrik!

Enjoying the general splendor

The sight, sound, smell, feel...truly the hand of God is with us wherever we go

Yeah...that's me...laying on the beach...in my sports bra...who would've thought?

Who has the cutest nephews? This girl!!

Erika, Andrik, and Ander

Hahaha...we're related..can you tell?

Friday I had consumed my entire days worth of calories by about noon and told Erika I was going to need to run. The boys had to go to Lowes and they let me tag along on their endeavor and Erika met up with us on the run when we were about a third of the way into it. It was 3 miles to Lowes and then Erika and I decided to run back home, instead of ride home with mom who had come to pick us up after our run. We took the scenic route home so that ended up being 4 miles more for a total of 7 miles! On our run back home there was a segment where we had to run in the grass alongside the main road because there aren’t any sidewalks or enough shoulder to run on. The sun was so bright as we ran towards the west horizon but something crazy that we were able to see because of the sun was the ridiculous amount of spider webs that are in the grass! There were literally spider webs everywhere around us…I never knew/realized how many spiders there are on the roadside!

Me and my beautiful sister...Got sun?!

Yesterday Erika and I had decided that we were going to go on the longest run either of us had ever been on…15 miles! We planned to run from her house to a delicious little eatery here called Tucker Duke’s! So we set out on our run. Our goal was to run at a 12-minute mile pace. The first 5 miles were great…but I don’t know what happened at mile 5 except I just suddenly felt like I was being physically held back and not allowed to run. I felt like the competitors you’ll see on weight loss programs where they start to cry, stop, lay down, and throw hissy fits. I kept telling myself how ridiculous I was being and that I needed to pull it together…but I couldn’t. A) I felt like I was physically just being held back B) All that I could hear was, “you can’t do this” C) I couldn’t snap out of it. Erika kept telling me, “You can do this!” “You are stronger than you believe!”  “You can do this!” I wanted to scream and say, “NO I CAN’T!” But little does she know her words gave me enough strength to say, “yeah I can” even as that voice in my head kept saying, “no way, you can’t do this, you won’t finish, you suck!” I’d like to say this only continued for 2 miles…but no, it lasted until about mile 14.7 where I literally told Erika, “Let’s finish this Mother Fucking Run!” (sorry for the swear words…but you would’ve said it too) and we finished our run! 12:57 minute/mile was our pace and looking back I’m actually really surprised it was even that because it was a hard run…but even more than that I’m so proud. I never would’ve thought I could do a 15-mile run a year ago…and I’m so thankful Erika was there to run it with me because she literally kept me going!

Pre-Run! Feeling like this is a great idea!

 

Still thinking this 15-miles is a great idea

Acquiring Satellite on my GPS!

And we're off!

Yeah...we're really doing this aren't we?

Well, Ready or not here we go......

And then....15 miles later....

Still smiling!!! WE DID IT!!

15-Miles later...yeah baby!! 

Dry clothes make for happy women after our run!

Today I did not go on a run…we all played NURF guns outside in the front yard where I totally sweat more than I did on the 15-mile run because of the humidity. I didn’t even care though because it was so much fun! I got to eat a crap-load of smoked meat by Drew!! Then this evening I had some much needed girl time with my sister, mom, and Erika’s good friend, Haylee! I have been blessed so much by my sister, her family, children, and friends. My heart feels like it could explode with the love others have poured into me…and it could not have come at a better time. I want to put behind the past and move forward. I want to heal and allow the scar to form. I want to forgive and learn to not necessarily forget but be able to put everything into perspective and be okay with where I am. So with that said I’m working on my next blog post…so you’ll be hearing more soon. Until then enjoy all the pictures I have to share…I know there’s a lot…but it has been such a wonderful time! It's going to be hard to say goodbye...so I won't think about that now. Time to get some sleep and cross my fingers to catch a sunrise...but it's supposed to rain in the morning...so we'll see how it really goes! ;)