Things are calming back into a state of erratic normalcy. That is to say that things are going back to normal for us. Collin is halfway through his final term, the move went fantastically, and we are two weeks away from the half marathon (which I am feeling pretty awesome about).
Last weekend we got everything moved in and mostly unpacked. The craziest part is that this place feels more like "home" than our other place did. Not sure why.... We have most everything unpacked; just a few odds and ends still in the garage that need to find their homes. Some of them will stay in the garage, we just need to invest in some shelving racks for them.
I have finally decided to upgrade from my laptop (it's only about six years old...), but instead of replacing it with another laptop I will be getting a new desktop. I will keep the laptop for its portability but truly a desktop makes more sense for the type of user I am. More often than not I use my laptop at a table or desk; I'm really not to keen on balancing it on my lap. The following is the specs for my new machine (she is yet to be named) for all the wonderful nerds in my life:
CPU: AMD FX-6100 Zambezi 3.3GHz Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6100WMGUSBX
GPU: XFX HD-657X-CNF2 Radeon HD 6570 2GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Green ST1500DL003 1.5TB 5900 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-880GM-D2H (REV. 3.1) AM3+ AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
She may not be the best or fastest ship in the universe but she is (will be) mine. There will most certainly be pictures once she is completed, and hopefully by that time I will have a name for her. And yes, she must be named... If I name my stapler at work I best name my machine at home.
Yesterday we completed thirteen miles only skipping a couple running intervals up the last hill or two (our calves were starting to cramp) and we did it within the time frame we needed to. This has me feeling very confident about my ability to complete our first half. It wasn't necessarily "easy" but it was doable. The only thing that really made me suffer at all was the idiotic compulsion to chug a half a glass of frigid, ice cold water right after arriving home. This made every muscle in my abdomen cramp to the point I almost vomited. I ended up having to lay down for about an hour for my muscles to relax and the nausea to go away. Today I am still a little sore; muscles tearing themselves apart and rebuilding themselves will do that I guess, but that's why I am taking in a ton of protein and water.
During our run yesterday we had a couple of awesome moments. One, I came up with an awesome t-shirt idea that I want to get made after we complete our first half marathon (sorry, but I am going to leave you hanging until after the race and the t-shirt is made). Two, we saw a family of ducks with the super cute, adorable, snuggly little ducklings. And three, Collin had that philosophical epiphany moment in our run that the last x distance beyond the furthest you've gone before is the hardest. I must say he is fairly correct in that.
If you asked me a year ago to complete a half marathon I probably would have laughed in your face. My, how things change in such a short amount of time. If it weren't for a couple of amazing people we are lucky enough to have as friends there is no way we would have come this far. They know who they are; they are the ones who invited us to "tag along" to their group and see what it was like. I think back to a year ago when walking five miles was insane, and then flash forward to the present and I am truly amazed and humbled by the experience and the change. I also have to give praise to the insane trainer/coach who thought we could do a half this soon... Still not sure how I let him talk us into this, but I am forever grateful that he saw this potential in us. I know we can do this.
In other adventurous news, Collin and I are planning a road trip for the first part of October. I can't wait! We are taking a week off from work and driving out to Nebraska, where we hope to spend a couple days visiting Collin's family. It is sure to be an emotional and exciting trip, but we are really looking forward to it. I plan to be posting like crazy from my phone. It is still a few months away, but me being me I am already planning the routes and figuring where we will stay. Due to Ricky's age and his tendency to chug versus sip his fuel we are looking into renting a more fuel economic car, possibly a hybrid. The cost of the rental would work out to be about what we would spend on gas in Ricky for one leg of the trip. Our goal is to leave here on a Friday right after work and be in Nebraska by Sunday afternoon; sleeping in Ontario, Oregon Friday night for a few hours and then spending Saturday night in Laramie, Wyoming. It should be quite an adventure (especially for someone who has never been outside of Oregon and Washington)!!
Phew, I am glad I finally took the time to post on here. My brain was beginning to overload with gunk that I wanted to post. Now that I have most of the big stuff out the other interesting stuff can start seeping out of my pores like awesome glowing ooze.
Hummus.
