"Karl, I think we're getting old"

That's what I said to my husband tonight as we left Memorial Stadium at approximately 9:00 p.m. and both of us agreed the only thing we wanted to do was go home and relax. No crazy shenanigans at Nick's, no staying at the IU-Ohio State game for the second half to see the rest of the slaughter, absolutely none of that. All we wanted to do was go home, put on "comfy clothes", relax on the couch, and watch something on our DVR. And that is exactly what we are doing right now. (A Chris Rock comedy performance is on the DVR, by the way. He's hilarious.)

I am going to set a goal of writing a new post at least once a week, though that might be tough. I was thinking about this the other day and I really don't think anyone realizes how much I work except for Karl. I'm not in a job where I go to work at a certain time, leave at a certain time, and that's it for the day. It's more of a "lifestyle" job. I go to the office at a different time basically every day, leave at a different time every day, and almost 100% of the time I continue doing work as soon as I get home in the evenings until right around the time I go to sleep. Saturdays are almost always my "day off" and Sundays I'm usually back at it for at least six hours of the day. I love what I do, though, so most of the time it doesn't really feel like "work". It really has become a part of my lifestyle and if I wasn't so darn busy I might just go nuts. The point is, well really there are two points: 1) I just sort of felt like writing about my work, and 2) I am going to try to write more posts but most of the time lately I've just completely forgotten that I even have a blog! Unfortunately I think Karl has forgotten he has a blog too...but I'll encourage him to start writing again. :)

We've been up to a lot since the last time I wrote, so here's a quick synopsis in no particular order:

1) Running races. I ran the Persimmon Festival 5k in Mitchell, IN last weekend and ran my best time since 1999 (yes, that means it was my best time in 10 years!) I ran the 3.1 mile course in 21 minutes, 24 seconds, which equates to a 6:52 per mile pace. I was shocked with that time, but it felt great the entire time I was running so I didn't see any need to slow down. I ended up being the 2nd place overall female in the entire race, which was also a surprise. Today I ran the Bloomfield Apple Festival 5k and once again placed 2nd overall for the females. I took off way too fast and then died the second half of the race. I am really itching to win one of these things as the overall female winner. We'll see...maybe it will happen one of these days. Karl told me today that he never realized how competitive I am until we started running these races. I think I try to hide it, but yes, I would say that I am pretty competitive. We are running another race tomorrow, although I am not expecting a great time or place since I just ran one today. I've never run back-to-back races like this, so I'm going to just see how I feel and plan a strategy based on what my body is telling me.

Karl with his second place age group award at the Persimmon Festival race.

Me with my first place age group award at the Persimmon Festival.

Hanging out with our friends Claire and Justin after the Apple Festival race.

Claire and me admiring our Apple Festival awards.

2) Evansville Half Marathon is next weekend! I went on a great 12 mile run on a very hilly course this past Monday and still felt like I had energy at the end, so I'm not too worried about the half marathon. I would ideally like to beat my best-ever half marathon (13.1 miles) time of 1 hour, 50 minutes, and 19 seconds. That's an 8:26 overall pace so we'll see. I ran my 12 mile run at an 8:14 per mile pace, so as long as I don't have any little injuries or get boxed in at the start I should be on track to beat that time. Fingers crossed.

3) My friend Kasey got married last weekend. I met Kasey Craig our freshman year at IU. We had philosophy class together and became fast friends...we studied together, went to see Dave Matthews Band in Cincinnati that November (1998), and went to Panama City Beach together for spring break that year. We both also ended up in Kappa Delta so we hung out a lot over the course of our four undergraduate years at IU. Her wedding was in Shelbyville, IN, and she was a beautiful bride! It was a great chance to see her, along with several of our other KD friends that I don't see nearly enough.

Kasey and Brian leaving the church.

Karl and me at the wedding.

Most of the KDs at Kasey's wedding.

4) I visited my friend Erin in St. Louis on September 19-21. Erin is now a Sport Management Professor at Fontbonne University in St. Louis, and we had a wonderful visit together! We had a lot of great conversations, went shopping at the Galleria mall, ate great sushi and deep dish pizza (who knew how good deep dish could be in St. Louis!) and saw our beloved Cubs play against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium (Cards won, boooo). I got the tickets way back in June as a birthday gift for Erin. We had a lot of fun despite the loss.

Erin and me at Busch Stadium, sporting our Cubs gear of course.

5) We held our first tailgate of the season. Since today's IU-Ohio State game was a night game, we had plenty of time to tailgate before kickoff. We have a "new and improved" tailgating setup, with a table, new lawn chairs, baby Weber grill, and IU cornhole boards thanks to our good friends Nick and Dana. My friend Beth and her boyfriend John contributed some great food today and we had friends stopping by all afternoon. Despite the new setup, we proved that we haven't tailgated in over a year, as we forgot to bring ketchup and mustard. :/ Luckily there were some nice IU fans just a few cars down who let us use theirs. We'll be out there again for the Illinois game and the Purdue game...now if only the Hoosiers can win those games, all will be right in the world.

Beth and I always like to take silly photos...she's warming her hands and I am grabbing some imaginary meat with the grilling tongs.

We introduced my friend Katie to IU style tailgating. I can't believe she had never been before!

Isn't it considered abuse to make ANY living thing wear the "Buckeye" necklace???

Karl going crazy for the Hoosiers at the IU-Ohio State game.

6) It's getting cold. I'm in for a rough winter...although the Bay Area of California wasn't exactly "hot" all year long, I can tell that I've become accustomed to a bit of a warmer climate than the way Indiana weather is right now. Gloves, scarves, and a heavy coat are definitely in order for this winter.


That's all for now! I'll try to write an update after the half marathon next weekend!