newbie. probie. amateur.

So the half marathon has been had by me. A bit anticlimactic at this point – as I am sure you can imagine. It was something that I really needed to do and did and now I feel so good about it. My main reason for this was I had already really enjoyed running and I wanted to accomplish something for myself that I loved - you know – before it is time for Baby No. 2. However, after the drive home from Waco to San Antonio, I am reconsidering it, since Ben was and is still being a handful from too much activity and not enough rest. (At the moment he is still awake in his crib and fighting sleep even though he's tired.)

I titled this installment "newbie.probie.amateur." mostly because that sums up my first experience of running and also my first introduction to the world of runners. It is a strange cult and I certainly learned a couple interesting things. For instance – the petroleum jelly that they supply is for the insides of your legs to prevent chafing – not your hands or lips. I only found this out by asking the person in front of me if that was for your hands….she laughed and told me what it was really for. My slight embarrassment could have been spared, if they just put a sign saying "hey newbie, this stuff is to prevent leg chafing – unless you're skinny Barbie girl and your legs don't rub together" I had to stand in two lines…one was the chip line – not the edible kind. The second line to get my chip verified. Then you attach the chip to your shoe laces. I thought it would be cool to have that as a souvenoir of my race, but they take that back at the end, too. It's really a neat little system, because there are these mats that you have at the start and finish of the race. Once you step on them your time begins and once you step on them at the end your time stops. So make sure you step on those mats, to get credit for your accomplishment. It's quite accurate, too, because when there are a ton of people, it won't start your time until you cross the starting mat. I also learned that marathons are a lot like trick or treating, except you don't have to work for it. Every mile or so people are holding out drinks and bananas and lemons and oranges – and even candy! I carried two Tootsie Rolls given to me at one of the stations. Another similarity is that there are some interesting trick-or-treaters. All sorts of getups. Some people have utility belts fully loaded with water bottles, energy gels, and all sorts of stuff! I even saw a man and woman with matching hats with horse heads on them. Then you have people who want to match each other and wear the same shirt emblazoned with their group name on them. It's really quite a sight. I suppose we all want to make a statement at times. What that statement is, however, sometimes uncertain….

The run was a lot of fun. There were a couple downers during the run. The race was an "out and back", so at one point when I am still on the "out" part, I start to see people running toward me down this huge hill and then eventually past me. "What?!" They have already reached the turnaround?! So, I'm like, "OK be positive, so they are already on their way back. It must be up here somewhere soon." Um, not unless you think a mile and a half is soon! The second bad part of the whole race was the last two miles….about 5 people had passed me over the course of a couple miles, and then these 3 girls pass me with fraternity and sorority shirts! I was yelling in my head, "Yeah?! Well, I squeezed out a baby! All you have to worry about it keeping off freshmen fifteen or something like that. The only thing hard about this race is that you couldn't drink the night before!!! So there!" Then comes, "OK Jenny, don't be bitter. In fact, you were once there in college, and definitely NOT running and doing races for good causes, so you have no reason to talk!" When you're running and there is nothing else to do it's amazing how vivid your thoughts become.
When I had about ½ mile to go, I saw Rob up the distance, and he ran the remainder of the race with me. What a good guy, huh? He even ran out of the way before I hit the finish line. He wasn't going to take that away from me, he said. I finished pretty close to my expectations at a time of 2:00:11 – which was a 9:11 pace. I am very happy about that – it wasn't freakishly exceptional, but it wasn't turtle-slow either! After competing and walking around the zoo afterward for the sake of my brother-in-law Matthew and my son, Ben….I am DONE for a few days! Thankfully, all those rich people and businesses who want to advertise their support donated all those park benches to the zoo. I don't know what I would have done then, because I utilized pretty much every bench as we toured the zoo!
You can imagine WHO took this picture - my husband....me pretending trying to stretch right, cuz that lady up on the platform keeps trying to get us all to stretch!
















The amazing CHIP.


The START.


3 miles in - passing by the starting point.


My super husband running the last 1/2 mile with me....about 15 minutes after the mean thoughts about the sorority girls passing me.


The FINISH.


Ben and me enjoying sno-cones.


The Results.


Check me out.

marathongs.

OK - sometimes I fear that I will run out of things to talk about. Does this make me uninteresting? Aw well...what are ya gonna do. I guess that's why meeting new people is an important and good thing. If any one person was interesting enough - we wouldn't need other people and MySpace would definitely not exist. I met an interesting person yesterday the "old fashioned" way - not on MySpace. This leads me to write about it, in turn forcing myself to confess something.
I run. Yep. Sure do. My feet are uglier than before. I have two bruised toes. The middle ones – they're twins. Ben points at them and says "ow". I have removed some monster calluses. I'm pretty sure my boobs are smaller after nursing a child, and running so much. Thank goodness for Victoria's Secret bras. But, hey, I got some pretty tight abs out of it. And I am pretty sure that I could outrun any rapist or serial killer if they tried to chase me in our gated apartment complex.
I met someone Sunday night that also runs. She is very cool. This mom of 2 teens has run FIVE (count 'em) FIVE marathons. (ha - I almost typed marathongs!) The funny thing is that she looked like a runner, and I wanted to ask her if she ran. Having just met her, I didn't want to sound weird, and what did I know about running? But now, after having an intuition that she was a runner, I feel I have achieved a higher Mecca in the running world! Add that to my long list of aches and pains, ugly feet and bruised toes!
I will tell you more about her when I get done talking about myself....how selfish does that sound? Gonna do it anyway. About a month ago - I signed up to do a half marathon. I have been so scared to tell anyone for fear of me failing at it and everyone asking me about it, and then me telling them that I failed. Pretty bad, huh? I have kept it a dirty secret - the only reason I told my mom was because Rob started telling me to tell her. That's how afraid I was. So here I am - signed up. The sad part is that I had been thinking about running and marathons nonstop. I found myself thinking about them randomly, then I found reasons to think about them more. So and so on TV is running one. Lance Armstrong is running one. I found out my friend signed up for one, and I got jealous! Jealous. The whole reason I was jealous, was because here was a person who decided to do a half "Mary" as the pros seem to call it on what seemed like a whim, and I, who had been running for quite some time, was TOO CHICKEN to make a choice. Instead, I would play wishy-washy ol' Jenny and drive my husband crazy because I was all talk and no action. Yeah, guys don't like that. Pretty bad, huh? I quickly squashed that jealousy for the simple reasons that I shouldn't be jealous of a person that decides to do something GREAT! So I threw my check in the mail, and Rob found us a hotel since it is up in Waco, TX.
Meeting this person proved to be a good thing. She inspired a renewed confidence in myself and meeting someone who has run multiple marathons – not to mention the Boston Marathon – which after meeting her learned that it is, like, the crème de la crème of marathons. You have to actually "qualify" to be able to run it. You can't just be Joe Runner and go and participate. The half marathon is on October 29th at 7:30 a.m. I am also happy that it just happens to be daylight savings time. Extra hour. Yeah. It is called the Miracle Match Marathon – and it is a fundraiser for bone marrow donors here in the state of Texas. Please pray for me on this day!

double whammy - two birds one stone - whatever.

Yes, the category 'pets and animals' will do. My subject title seeks to accomplish a couple of things...I call it 'double whammy' because this is my 2nd blog in a day, and 'two birds one stone' is what seems to have happened today - except that it was my car and not a stone. I did not hit two birds - it was only one bird - and 'hit' isn't the word I'd used, but more like ran over.
As if I wasn't already saddened and left with a lump in my throat after I heard and felt the thump under the car's tires, I was even more upset to find out that it is two types of birds that I hit. Read below this statement I pulled off a doves website (who creates these sites, BTW?!):
Question: What is the difference between pigeons and doves?
why you might ask - cuz I hit one today! ran over, whatever.
Pigeons are biologically part of the dove family and are actually descendents of the ancient Rock Dove. The dove is smaller than the pigeon and does not have the ability nor instinct to fly home. (or in my case, the instinct to get out of the way.)
Now the reason I chose to google this was because I felt bad. But then I have always wondered what the difference between the dove and pigeon is. I especially wanted to find this out today, to maybe make myself feel better about ending a life today. The bad news: the pigeon is part of the dove family. This made me feel more awful, because you always think of the dove as being a peaceful, innocent creature. It was a promise from God to Noah that there would never again be a flood like the one he endured. Doves get released at weddings. OK - so those are the only two I can come up with. If you have any more examples, I would love to hear them. But here's the good news for me: the pigeon is the dumber of the species - so I don't feel as bad. (Read above factoid) And if they are the dumber of the species, than chances are they are overpopulated. Doesn't it always seem like there are more dumb people in the world than smart? Overpopulated. You get what I mean.
Geez - I am trying to make myself feel good, and all I am doing is slamming dumb people and pigeons. And now that I think about doesn't the music trio, TLC, bash men by calling them pigeons in the song titled "no scrubs"? There must be a correlation here.
I have successfully made myself feel better. After all this bird didn't even fly away, and since I thought it would dodge me and fly away, I didn't even try to drive around it, b/c I thought if I did it might just find my tires regardless.
So, while I have thoroughly and logically relieved myself of all guilt, I still do feel really bad. Really. Isn't it biblical that we are to protect the "weak in spirit" the "meek at heart"? Who am I to say that this stupid bird had it coming to him? That he deserved it through his stupidity and simpleton nature? Take care of the poor, the brokenhearted, regardless of our low opinion of them? Thankfully it's only a pigeon, but I am afraid there are times where I/we/others feel that ill will towards people because we can justify it in our hearts and minds that it is their fault while continuing to hold our judgments. And that makes us feel better. And it is definitely much easier. Let's bring compassion back!

Required number of flair.

I have been thinking about what I am about to write for a day now, but it is definitely a topic that we all deal with throughout life and throughout circumstances. Every time I think of the movie "Office Space" there are many scenes that come to mind. Beating a fax machine to pieces with bats and clubs. The white guy named Michael Bolton who listens to gangster rap in his car to work, but is fearful "brothas" may catch him in the act. Then there are many quotes that come to mind, such as "pc load letter? What the f--- does that mean?" Now the one that has come to mind recently because of an exchange at our local Starbucks has brought me to the keyboard. (Note: And I am quite proud to say that we do in fact HAVE a local Starbucks!) Anyway the quote has to do with the required amount of flare that is necessary for one to work at the infamous Schlotkey's….not an actual venue of course, but quite obviously similar to one we all do know. Whatever, not important. I don't know of any person that has not viewed this cult classic turned mainstream pop culture movie, so I know you all remember how Jennifer Aniston's character is chastised by her chummy, nerdy loser-of-a-boss. He rattles on about how so-and-so exceeds the required amount of flair on his work uniform, while Jennifer's character sticks to the basic amount of flair that is necessary to be an employee of Schlotkey's.

So, I was ordering a Frappaccino – Pumpkin Spice for my sweet-pumpkin-of-a-husband and a coffee for myself. I inquired about the Ethiopian blend, only because I don't like coffee that is too strong that it can't be weakened with a little cream and sugar. This young kid (probably in college) doesn't necessarily look like the avid coffee drinker and I hate to judge a book by its cover, but he just didn't look like much of a coffee drinker, unless it's blended with ice and suffocated with lots of flavor (ie. sugar). But none the less he blows me away with this explanation involving many adjectives that I am not sure anyone would use in explaining coffee. I was so stunned that at this point all I remember are bold, citrus-ey, floral. So I asked this young man if he was a coffee drinker. Startled by my question, he mumbled something to the effect that he drank coffee on occasion mentioning that he worked at Starbucks and that he was a student and it helped with studying. Blah, blah. Then he adds, "I have also taken this class through Starbucks, that, well, you know, it's suggested you take if you want to move up, you know." I kind of smile/smirked and said, "Well, I suppose a lot of life is like that, huh." Not really a question, but a remark.
I have certainly learned a lot in life, and through my experiences I know that many people I know have learned a lot too, but completely different things. I have a friend through MySpace that is my age (26) and has 4 girls and has just completed her Master's. I have a friend who seems to travel all the time and still manage a full time job. I know another friend who is so completely random in his life that he up and quit his civil engineering job and decided to go back to school for an MBA. Same friend who has run with the bulls, ran a marathon, and helped build houses in Mexico. I have a friend who is a special ed teacher and the passion in her actions is undoubtedly apparent. I have countless other friends, but these are the ones that come to mind at the moment. I admire all these friends for their own uniqueness in the world, that if I were not careful, my admiration could turn in to something more detrimental to me. Jealousy, envy, all those ugly things in a person. But I'm not, and I've realized that the important thing is what you do with the cards you've been dealt. I look at my husband who is a fighter pilot and has accomplished so much and is such a strong person in body and spirit, but even there are times where he doesn't feel he adds up. This just shows me that it is a common thread in all of us.

Do I feel useless at times? Heck yeah. Some days all I've felt like I've accomplished is that my child is still alive, breathing, fed, etc. As for me and what's left of it, I can't say I've added much to my character. As a mom it's easy to let that happen because you're always 2nd and if there are more children you're even further down the list. I try to take advantage of my position and the fact that I don't have to earn any bread for the family and build myself. I work at doing things that I'm not good at. This builds so much confidence in me.

So today, do you know who I saw on Sesame Street? I am sure that is not a question any of you are used to hearing! Ha! Well, I saw Ruben Stoddard singing the ABC's with Elmo this morning. I got to thinking, "Wow, that sucks. He was the winner of American Idol and he's on Sesame Street co-starring with Elmo…a muppet!" As I started thinking, though, I thought maybe he is fulfilled. And if he is, then it doesn't matter if he sells millions of pop records or not. What is most important is if you feel fulfilled as a person. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

Lately, it seems that whenever I can bring a smile to Ben's face, I feel more accomplished than any rich, successful person. When it comes to required number of flair in life, I believe that if you are satisfied with the number of pieces of flare on your Schlotsky's vest, then that is all that matters. THAT is the required number. You can only exceed in accomplishments on your own will and motivation – not any core value listed in any company's mission statement.
You are your mission statement.

it's all over when someone poops in the pool.

So, I started with this title to get your attention - but it really DID happen....It all began on a Saturday afternoon when in the middle of a hot San Antonio afternoon, the pool was completely empty. Hmmm...that's weird - Rob said, "oh it's probably cuz it's too hot". I looked at him incredulously - did he just say that?! You don't run outside when it's too hot....you don't take your child outside to play when it's too hot....you don't go outside when it's too hot AND THERE'S NO WATER. But you don't decide to go outside and swim in a pool when it's too HOT. Whatever....this brings me to a point I'd like to make spontaneously, seeing as I hadn't intended on this next subject. Men have to have an answer for everything - even if it doesn't make sense! If I can get any resounding amens from women out there who know from experience, please qualify my statement! Even if you don't and decide to support your husbands, it's OK, cuz it's still TRUE. Even my husband knows this, cuz one day, he says to me out of the blue, "You know, I need to be better at saying 'I don't know' to something, rather than always trying to have an answer." This was a statement made with no female prompting, I assure you. But to give some credit to my husband and perhaps a few smart men out there.....a lot of times he ends up being right. Always? No, but occasionally.
Anyway...so I really wrote this blog to tell you that our coffeemaker broke and it was a sad thing in the Brooks' household. There was much verbal lashing, snide remarks, wrinkled brows, frowns, crying, and much more. All this heartache because some one had to go and poop in the pool.
But, I am joyful to report that, not only is the pool open again for anyone else who would like to drop a loaf in it - we do have a brand new shiny coffeemaker.
Let this be a lesson to you all, that when someone poops in the pool, your coffeemaker will break. I learned this in a Philosophy class in college. If A, then B. Don't say I didn't warn you.

MySpace Detox Program

After successfully completing the MySpace Detox program for a full week(OK, so I fell off the wagon a few times and found ways to get my fix), I have determined that I am not an addict. So, in all seriousness, we are finally settled in one place for the next few months, have cable and internet again, have beds and best of all - MULTIPLE ROOMS (!)...now that we are out of the La Quinta and in to an apartment here in San Antonio. It's a great complex, full of great ammenities. Nice fitness room, pool, refreshments in the leasing office. So it's a great place to grab a bottled water since it's so dang hot! And quite a bit more humid than we're used to. The move went well, and it is just really nice to be here so far. When we first arrived here we went through a bit of sensory overload with all the retail venues, restaurants, and the...ummm...Starbucks! All of these available within a few minutes of driving! I can hear the angels singing every time I scoot myself into a Starbucks! So you might think I am crazy and overreacting - but you live in a small town 90 miles away from any sort of large city, and let me know how it works for you. (I still miss Clovis, though.) We, however, are going to have to tone down all this consumerism, because I have found out since unpacking our scale, that it is, in fact, NOT broken, DOES NOT need calibration, but that I have indeed added about 3 pounds more to love...so I guess if you want to lose a few pounds - go live in Clovis!! Maybe I should go back there for a little bit.
All in all - we are doing well, and adjusting to a bit of normalcy while we're here. We intend on enjoying the benefits of a large city - Sea World, Six Flags, etc! We hope this finds each of you well and content in all you do!

From the mouth of Ludacris himself!

As I sit here amidst all these boxes as we begin to put our house in to a box, I am beginning to get nostalgic and a little sad. But before I do, for some bizarre reason all I can hear in my head is "Roooooooolllllll out!" from the lyrical rap genius, Ludacis hmself!! And to be entirely honest, the only thing keeping me from belting it out and throwing some 'bows, is the simple fact that my son, Ben, is STILL napping! As we embark on this move in the next few days, any 'bow dropping while rapping a little "Roll out" would definitely be felt by each individual in our clan as we gear up for the next few weeks of resettling! Even an enthusiastic "Word!" will surely be felt by us! :) And if I am still in the mood for "throwing some 'bows" I know that my enthusiasm will reach all who read this wherever you are!
OK - in all seriousnes...we're moving! And it has really surprised me at how much I am beginning to miss this quiet little town, we call Clovis. Some call it Cowtown, but around here that name does not stand out much as everything in the "High Plains region" lives and breathes cows and dairy. Literally. Anyway....(gosh it's sad how once you're out of college and no longer have papers to write, that the only transition word I can think of is 'anyway'.) Yeah, so anyway, we're doing great here - Rob had his fini flight yesterday. So he got hosed down with water and champagne poured on him (well, in his case, sparkling grape juice) as he landed the Viper for the last time for a while. I swear, they're like a fraternity. And we're supposed to be grown ups! This is about all the insight I really have for today, but please keep us in your thoughts and prayers! We would really appreciate it!