Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner!

Who? ME? I guess so! Stacie at Impossible is Nothing thinks I’ve got style, got some class, got it goin’ on…thinks I’ve got junk in the trunk…wait, not that…

Thanks Stacie!! I am honored!! If you haven’t checked out her blog this is a good time to do so…she is hosting a sweet giveaway, an Allied Medal Display HERE.

So here are the rules:

Here are the rules.
1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award. (And true confession here….someone else tagged me with this too but in all the craziness that is my life I HAVE NO RECOLLECTION WHO IT WAS!!!!?!??? So please let me know, so so sorry!!)
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 7 other bloggers. Sorry, gone with 5….
4. Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award

So Here is goes…

Thing 1

Today as I was running s.l.o.w.l.y. on my 3 mile treadmill run I kept imagining, visualizing if you will, my half iron. Visualizing athletic performances is something I started doing in High School with my mom’s help. I truly believe it can help. I visualized myself giving The Hubs the task of counting the green swim caps that come out of the water, so I would know how many in my age group were ahead of me. In this visualization there were only 10! Woot woot!! Then, I came off the bike and there were 8… (yeah, this is daydream territory) and then the run….I hit a PR of 1:50 half marathon and finished 5th in my age group. Afterwards I got interviewed by the local news as a New-To-The-Scene athlete. “Where did she come from?” “Who is her sponsor?” I left that race with a few sponsor offers….See? Visualization can be fun. But then I came to and realized I was dying at a 9min/mile pace on the treadmill….

Thing 2

I kind of want to go back to school to get my Ph.D. I secretly hope my hubby gets in to Georgetown Medical School so I can go to Johns Hopkins and pursue my PhD in Play Therapy. I want to work with kids and allow them to express their experiences and feelings and cope with tragedy through the most natural way for them: play. I can do that without my PhD but if The Hubs becomes a Dr. then I must be a Dr. too…M.D./PhD…either way when someone says, “Excuse me? Dr. Brandon?” I can turn, at the same time as The Hubs and say, “Yes?”.

Thing 3

If I had anything chocolate in the house RIGHT now I would eat it…I love chocolate. Anything chocolate. Anytime of day.

Thing 4

Call me cruel or the Grinch or not normal (I already admit to that) but I can’t stand Disney. Pretty much HATE the thought of Disney Land or Disney World; lines, commercialization, high price of water or lemonade…ridiculous. And the movies too. Yes, there are a few movies I like but I can’t stand princesses and Snow White, and the singing…blah blah blah YUCK. I just find it all terribly annoying. I can see my followers dropping like flies…

Thing 5

I used to be a nail biter. Then one day I got tired of being embarrassed by my fingers so I stopped biting all but one. Now I rotate a “biter” nail. Sometimes I don’t have a biter at all but if the mood strikes me to bite I just bite one nail. I have since taught LB to have one biter on each hand. It is working for him so far.

Thing 6

We are done with credit cards. The Hubs and I decided to put the credit cards away after paying them off in November . We haven’t used them since and wont be unless an emergency, HUGE emergency comes up, like a Kona Iron Man entry emergency…wait, not that….

Thing 7

I miss Washington. Everything about it: my friends, my small house, my green landscaped yard, my fish pond, my running routes, The Hill of Death, Satan’s Spawn, the grocery stores, Tacoma Boys, Point Defiance, Seattle, Ruston Way, my routine, the YMCA, the little old ladies from my H2Ox (water aerobics class), the corner gas station clerk that I always spoke Korean to, Mandolin Café, the Forza Coffee shop around the corner, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, all my local races, the rain, the beautiful Mt. Rainier…it is so weird how much I miss it. I knew I would but I had no idea how much or what it would feel like. It is strange to miss so much. I am used to missing people, but not a ton of other things too. It feels wrong for me to say I am homesick for Tacoma, WA since my home is and always will be Oklahoma, or at least I feel like I should see Oklahoma as my home, since that is where I was born and raised and my family is there….See? I am conflicted. The incongruence is difficult to handle.

So the 7 people I tag (and you have been tagged already then sweet)

Breaking Pace-I’ve known her for a while now, long before my move (back) here to NC. She is my partner in crime for this half iron, thank goodness!! I’m so glad she is here and helping me with my adjustment (back) to the south from the West…she’s a Cali girl, she gets it.

Silly Kristal Swims, Bikes, Runs Arizona-This chic has hard core written all over her! She ran RnR Phoenix, her first marathon, and rocked it with a torn meniscus. OUCH. And she did awesome through the pain finishing in 4:04. She is speedy fast! She is also my TFF’s (total friend forever) cousin. I have had the pleasure of practically being her cousin through Jessica.

Danielle at And I Ran…This chick is mourning the loss of practically all her girlfriends to the M word…(marriage). =) I have invited her here to swim with me on the Army Post where I share a lane with, on average, 4 dudes who are so muscly they can’t swim…She may take me up on it.

Kurt at Becoming An Ironman has confirmed my biggest fear…yes, you just pee on yourself and your bike while in the biking part of the Iron Man. This dude has set a goal and is plugging away at it. He will be an Iron Man and it will be awesome!

Carmen cracks me up…she is also a neighbor, kind of! Same state counts, right? I have enjoyed following her training on DM and I look forward to meeting her (if not sooner) in May at the White Lake Tri!

And finally, Jake from Broken Hearted Runner gave me this award:

WOW?! Really? That is pretty nuts! I am honored!!

Anything unexpected happen to you today???

Aside from being #11 on The Broken Hearted Runner’s list I found $3 in my coat pocket. That is pretty unexpected and AWESOME!