Adventures in Ageing and Marathon Training

I've never really been someone who fears growing older. Truthfully, I've enjoyed ageing - becoming more secure in many facets of my life, drinking wine that cost more than $5 a bottle, embracing my love of hanging out at home some weekends, and now, I'm excited to move into the next phase of my life - marriage and starting a family.

But when it come to marathon training, ageing, for lack of a better word, sucks.

I've read about how after a certain age, your metabolism slows down, and that is definitely happening to me. In my early 20's, I would eat tons of junk and drink like a fish, and I was fairly thin. Now, I don't have that same leeway - even though I love candy and chips, and I will have a piece of chocolate or two often :) But now I am learning the importance of fueling my body properly during the week, not only to deal with my slowing metabolism, but so that I don't feel disgusting during my mid-week and long weekend runs.

My training pace group leader has been talking about the importance of eating and drinking properly during the week, and I am believing in this much more than last year. I don't know if I was just lucky last year, but I felt pretty good throughout the majority of my runs. This year, I am feeling fine - but I want to feel great.

For the rest of my training, I am aiming to do the following to improve my marathon experience:

- Be in bed by 10:00 each night. I can stay up and read (not on my phone), but I think I would feel a little more rested if I actually started lying in bed early. I would love to do my mid-week runs in the morning, and I'm just not there yet.

- No alcohol Sunday evening-Thursday night. I don't drink much during the week, but I do go to the occasional happy hour, and I use that as an excuse to skip mid-week runs sometimes. This will keep me on track with my mid-week runs, and it'll probably make me feel better anyway.

- More veggies in my diet. I have improved my eating habits slightly, but I really don't eat enough veggies (I do eat plenty of fruit).

- More yoga and pilates. I have a couple of pilates and yoga DVDs that I can do quickly in the mornings, so that my body can bounce back quickly from my longer training runs. Plus, I keep hearing about how a strong core can help your body run more efficiently, and I haven't seen my abs since 2000.

We'll see how this all works out...wish me luck!

The Vegas, Marathon Training, and a Proposal

Well, these past couple of months have been a whirlwind. Let’s see if I can break it down for you….

1.      Vacation to The Vegas….

Many of you know that for my birthday, Tom planned a vacation for the two of us. In the almost three years that we have been dating, we have never taken a vacation by ourselves, without a wedding or other activity attached to it. For the past couple of years, we’ve been talking about taking a real vacation and relaxing together, and I was so excited that we were finally going to get a break from the grind of our everyday lives. We planned to take the trip a week after my birthday, and I began counting down the days.

Except I had no idea where we were going.

Laid back and Type B, I am not, and I kept peppering Tom with questions these past few months. Where are we going? Is it a beach vacation or an adventure vacation? Do I have to buy a swimsuit? (I would typically ask that last question while stuffing Cheetos into my mouth. No shame….)

Two weeks before my birthday, Tom let me know that we would be going to The Vegas. For The OC fans out there, I am like Sandy Cohen in that I LOVE The Vegas. Buffet is my favorite word. Glitter is my favorite color.  On my actual birthday, Tom let me know that we would be staying at the Bellagio (fountains! Chihuly sculptures! BUFFET!) and that we would be seeing Ka by Cirque du Soleil. I was super psyched.

And completely oblivious to Tom’s master plan.

Tom had promised to take me out for a nice dinner our first night in The Vegas, something I deemed as completely not necessary (he had planned the vacation, after all), but I was excited about going out to eat anyway. The last time I went to The Vegas, I was 21 and completely broke – my memories of food include an amazing buffet and daily trips to Burger King. Now that I was a full-fledged grown up, I was looking forward to some good meals.

Dressed up and ready for some Vegas-quality food, Tom and I headed to the Eifel Tower restaurant at the Paris hotel – what I thought would be the last surprise of the trip. While we sat at the bar waiting for our table (Tom is always early….and sometimes I am early as a result…), Tom commented on the tables for two next to the windows. The restaurant has huge windows, and these tables overlooked the Bellagio fountains and the rest of the strip. I agreed with Tom that those tables seemed fabulous, and turned back to my glass of wine. We ended up being seated at one of those tables, which I thought was simply lucky.

And then Tom started talking.

You have to understand that Tom is just a nice person and says sweet things often. We are vocal people and I strongly believe that we should constantly communicate our feelings, so I didn’t think it was weird when he started saying how he’ll always be supportive of me and how he appreciates that I support him, and did I know how he knew we’d always support each other?

Wait a minute. My context clues kicked in and I finally realized that OH MY GOD THIS WAS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. Tom’s hand moved towards his jacket pocket and I said, “Wait a minute, are you doing this right now? Are you being serious right now?” He nodded and asked that big question, and for just a minute, I was cool. I said that I would marry him, and then I decided to express my feelings in the most articulate, calm way…..

“Shut UP! SHUT UP! OH MY GOD SHUT UP STOP IT I CAN’T EVEN WITH YOU RIGHT NOW SHUT UP! When did you plan this?! How did I not know about this? WHERE DID YOU HIDE THAT RING?! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!”

(I know what you’re thinking. Tom is the luckiest man alive.)

It was a truly fabulous night. Tom had worked with the restaurant on planning this, so there was a photographer to capture the entire proposal. Our server brought over a bottle of champagne and roses after the proposal, and we leisurely enjoyed our food and wine. If you have seen the pictures, you can see that I’m staring at my hand for most of them. I didn’t even look at the ring until I stopped my “Shut up” tirade. Once I did, I couldn’t stop staring at my hand. It’s been three weeks, and I still can’t stop staring at my hand.

After dinner, we called our immediate family and some good friends, and went out to celebrate. The rest of the trip was fantastic – we went to the Michael Jackson Cirque de Soleil show and Ka, checked out some fun restaurants, went indoor skydiving, and explored the shark reef at Mandalay Bay. I think we will try to go back to The Vegas at least once every two years!

Thanks to everyone for all of the support, love, Facebook “likes”, and general awesomeness. This has been such an exciting and wonderful time, and we are lucky to have such kind friends and family around us!

2.      Marathon Training

I’ve officially started training for the 2014 Chicago Marathon. For some reason, I thought that training would be a breeze the second time around – and maybe it would be, if I had run regularly during the off-season. This brings me back to D2: The Mighty Ducks, when Gordon Bombay is watching his reunited team play for the first time in a year, and asks Averman, “Haven’t you guys been training in the off-season?” Averman replies, “I knew we forgot something…”

I’m the Ducks, basically. I tried to keep in shape during the off-season with occasional runs, barre classes, and CorePower yoga, but I failed a bit. And while I’m fine with my extra padding, it’s not making my training any easier. I now have extra motivation to be in great shape (since I have to fit into a dress next year), so I will be super committed to my training this time around.

I’m training with Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA) again this year, making the long runs bearable because of the company/pace groups. I am trying to figure out which pace group to run with, as my old pace group leader Robyn is leading the run/walk group again this year (and I love her!) but I am debating kicking things up a notch. We shall see….

3.      Bravo, Pretty Little Liars, and Books

Can we talk about my favorite Bravo shows? Is anyone watching Real Housewives of Orange County? I am loving the new women (Shannon and Lizzie) and though I love Heather Dubrow, the ladies are correct in that she totally comes across as if she thinks she’s above them. Make no mistake about it – she IS above them – but she could stand to loosen up a little bit. When Vicki “Woo hoo!” Gunvalson is becoming the show’s voice of reason, you know that everything has turned upside down.

I'm also completely obsessed with Ladies of London. It's my new goal in life to somehow move to London and become BFFs with Caroline and Marissa. Those women have the most fabulous lives and I'm enjoying them so far.

PLL is back for its fifth season, which somehow is not nearly as outrageous as seasons past - in a good way. Tom and I continue to scream at the TV on a weekly basis, of course, but at least now the show is moving somewhere. I also continue to scream every time Toby comes on screen, and my precious Caleb is returning for this week's 100th episode. Clearly, I am going to be freaking out during the entire episode.

Lastly, I have been reading a ton. A friend started a book club at the beginning of this year, which meets on a monthly basis. I've never been part of an actual book club before and it's fantastic. I've been reading a lot of books I wouldn't normally pick up, and the meetings have been so much fun. It's awesome meeting interesting and fun people, but it's even better that they like to read too! My high school girlfriends started a book club as well, so I've been able to read even more. Some favorites have been The Fault in Our Stars, Where'd you go, Bernadette?, Orange is the New Black, Labor Day, Wonder, and The Happiness Project. I've read some other books on my own, and am always game for new suggestions!

That's all I have for now. I'll be back in the next few weeks - off to keep looking at wedding hair and makeup ideas and to read my new book...