New York State of Mind

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Ann

The rest of the story in a somewhat Wordless Wednesday (anyone remember the last time I did one of those? Me neither).

Because I missed it last time, here is the most awesome picture of the large pizza the fiance (!!!) and I finished off at Grimaldi’s.

Delicious.

And now? Our engagement weekend in pictures.

Stadium 13!

They never would have kept this up at Busch Stadium with that kind of rain.

Saturday brunch in the West Village!

Highline in Chelsea.

Cupcakes at Billy’s!

Central Park, and obligatory stop by Strawberry Fields.

Quidditch!

Matilda on Broadway

Times Square

Rockefeller Plaza

South Tower Memorial Pool

And then possibly the best part. When we got home, he took me to the place where we had our first date, Ted Drewes. Waiting for us were friends and family ready to celebrate our brand new engagement.

This part was supposed to be a surprise as well, but my sister Melissa kind of spilled the beans before I was even off the plane. Granted, this is a good thing as if it had been a surprise, I would have burst into tears when I got there, and no one would have gotten a word out of me for an hour.

Emotion + exhaustion + excitement + THAT surprise = Ann’s meltdown.

We’re going to ignore that there were moments of meltdown, like when our friends from Springfield (3 hours away) walked up. Like hugging my best friend and nearly asking her to be my maid of honor right then and there (I did wait to ask….for a day). Like showing the video clip of the actual proposal to my mom and future mother in law.

Yeah. Tears.

Ted Drewes! Where we had our first date.

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Hey Baby, I Think I Wanna Marry You

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Ann

So this happened.

The story!

Friday morning, I was woken up at 450am (ick). I was really confused because Adam was waking me up, and I was kind of worried that I was sleeping through my alarm. Then I noticed that it was the four o’clock hour, not the five o’clock, and I was confused. Adam goes, “How much do you trust me?” which is not something to say to a not-quite-awake person. I, in my ever so eloquent state, mumbled, “Um, a lot?” So he told me to put my glasses on and handed me two half sheets of paper.

It took me a second to realize that it was a boarding pass. Then I registered that it said LaGuardia. Then I registered that my name was on it. AND THEN I registered that the date was for that day.

And then I flipped a little bit.

I asked about whether I needed to call into work. He told me it was taken care of. I reminded him of plans I’d had with April and Ali for the weekend. He told me they were fake plans, and that it was taken care of. He told me that I had one hour to pack and get ready (he did apologize profusely for me having to pack, but he wasn’t sure what I’d want, etc).

So I packed. Kind of. It took me a bit to figure out what I needed to take since all he would tell me is that I needed walking shoes, comfortable stuff for walking, and then something a little fancier for Saturday night. Do you know how difficult it is to pack multiple options into a tiny carry-on bag? Difficult. Mostly because of the shoes.

Anyway, as we drove off to the airport he played two songs for me. Sinatra’s New York and Jay-Z/Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind. I started teasing him about missing opportunities. Where was “Uptown Girl”? Where was “New York State of Mind”? Heh. As we were driving, I googled which baseball team was home because I know him, and obviously we were going to a game since I’d never been to either stadium.

After getting through security, he told me he had a surprise for me and handed me a little bag, out of which I pulled a fancy new camera. He said, “We are NOT taking just cell phone pictures while we’re in New York.” And then he handed me an envelope containing tickets to both a Yankees game (see?) and Matilda on Broadway.

People keep asking me if I had any idea this would be coming, but because he pulled out the tickets immediately, I really didn’t. I figured it was just a fun surprise since I’m trying to get to all the stadiums and have always wanted to go to NYC.

When we got there, we took our bags to the hotel and headed off to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

He said he wanted to take me to a pizza place that came very highly recommended. As we were walking across the bridge, he was telling me how there were a ton of locks locked on the bridge, as people would write/engrave names/dates/etc on them and then leave them on the bridge. I thought this idea was awesome and was really bummed I didn’t know since I had an unused lock at home.

Here’s where I have to interject that in hind sight, I was incredibly blind to just about everything once I figured out we were going to NYC, but during everything, I was just happy to be there.

We ate at this place called Grimaldi’s (omg, YUM), and after we finished off a large pizza (yep) we took a walk down to the Brooklyn Bridge Park. We were just kind of walking along, and I sat down to just look at Manhattan, as I was still marveling that I was there in the first place.

I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and figuring he was getting up so we could keep walking I started to grab my stuff, but then froze as he was on one knee in front of me. My jaw just dropped as he slid the ring on my finger and asked me to marry him. I don’t even think I fully was able to choke out “of course I will” before I was crying and kissing him all at once. He told me later that he had been looking for a somewhat secluded area so it could be a private thing between the two of us, and for NYC he did ok. There were, though, six people who were walking behind us who started clapping and cheering for us, which I was surprisingly ok with.

We started walking back to the bridge to cross back over into Manhattan, and we hadn’t gotten more than 20 feet when he told me there was just one more thing and handed me a hunk of tissue paper, which contained the lock in the very first picture of this post. And then I cried again.

Shortly after, we stopped so I could call my family, and then we took a deep breath, knowing our phones were about to die, and put the picture on facebook and twitter.

And then our phones exploded.

We talked to his mom for a little bit as we walked back to the bridge, and then shoved the phones into bags and pockets to give us time to find a place to put the lock.

As we walked by one place, we realized that there weren’t too many locks and that we’d be able to get ours on pretty easily. It took us just a moment, but THEN we realized that the light post we were standing next to looked directly down at the bench where he proposed. So there we left it.

And there we will go back to find it over the years. I will never see the Brooklyn Bridge, whether in pictures or TV/movies or in person without feeling very fluttery in my stomach, remembering the absolute apex of happiness in my life so far.

I Am Woman

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Ann

Today I am struggling. Well, I suppose I’ve been struggling this week, truth be told.

You see, if you hadn’t heard, Ohio has gone ahead and attached anti-abortion, anti-birth control, anti-woman riders to their budget bill. Let me repeat that. TO THEIR BUDGET BILL.

Under the guise of “balancing the budget,” Ohio lawmakers have taken steps to make it nearly impossible for a woman to make her own reproductive choices, very similar to the ones I make daily since, like so many women I know, I am not ready to be a mother. GCB and I are not ready to be parents and have jointly and consciously made that decision.

I am at a loss here. I do not understand why such things were added to a budget bill. I do not understand how taking away access to birth control will do anything but cause more unwanted pregnancies, the results of which will be subsequently forgotten about by the state due to, you guessed it, budget cuts.

I do not understand how something can be signed into law that blatantly ignores the science of pregnancy.

I do not understand why an ultrasound is needed prior to obtaining birth control.

I do not understand how a law could consciously deprive a woman emergency health care. Have women become so loathed that if they choose to have an abortion, they deserve potential death themselves?

I do not understand how those who are anti-abortion are also anti-birth control as one leads to the prevention of the other. It seems that wanting to prevent abortions would push people to throw as much birth control to anyone and everyone. Fewer unwanted pregnancies = fewer abortions. It’s simple.

But it’s not really about that, is it? No. It’s about depriving women of making their own reproductive choices, about punishing their sexuality.

I will tell you that I have been utterly sick to my stomach at the image of multiple old, white MEN writing into law something that will rarely affect them.

And what kills me? Is that it’s not just single women who utilize birth control. I know MANY married women whom employ the use of IUDs, which could be deemed an abortion in and of itself by these new laws. I know some women who have said verbatim, “Our marriage would not have survived another child.”

How is it so easy to ignore half the population?

At this point, I’m sick and worried and sad. Ohio is a blue state, yet they signed these laws into being. My state? Well, my state nearly re-elected Todd “legitimate rape” Akin.

Why? Why do they hate women so much?

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Ann

Well, it’s official.

In just eight short months I’ll be heading back to Orlando to run through some Disney parks. This time there will be quite a few more people and definitely fewer miles.

Kind of.

I’ll be short by 7 miles or so. Basically the same amount I walked in January. Works for me.

10k Saturday, half marathon Sunday, and the whole weekend with some absolutely incredible ladies!

I can’t wait!!!

Check out some of those awesome ladies!!! Lo, Kelly, and Angela.

Ready to Run

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Ann

Earlier today I got to spend some time texting back and forth with my aunt Melissa about our upcoming Tough Mudder. I’ve got to say, it is infectiously exciting to talk about upcoming races.

This is the part of running I’ve missed. This is the part that has been coming back full force, which has caused some sort of crazy spurt of committing to races, of finding new things to read about running, of spending most of my time just talking about running. It’s awesome.

One year ago at about this time I was getting started on my final leg of Ragnar Chicago. Last night I got to go grab ice cream with my buddy Dan, the captain of that Ragnar team as he was on his way to Kansas for a half iron man. It reminded me how much I loved that atmosphere, how much I have MISSED that atmosphere.

So on Tuesday I’m signing up for the Glass Slipper Challenge, which happens during Disney Princess weekend in Orlando. 10k one day, half marathon the next. Kind of like a tamed down Goofy Challenge. I think I’m going to have to make a Disney race a yearly tradition, as running through the parks is pretty amazing. It will be a girls’ weekend with a bunch of fantastically awesome ladies. I really can’t wait.

It’s become incredibly evident lately how many friends have turned into running buddies, and how many people who started as running buddies have become great friends.

Even in the blog world this is true. My latest blog crush is Janae from Hungry Runner Girl. Can I just tell you how much I adore reading her stuff? She’s super adorable, her baby makes my ovaries explode with every picture, and her positivity and dedication are absolutely admirable. She’s also CRAZY fast, which is just fun to witness.

Now comes the hard part. Now comes the getting my body to cooperate with running.

Over the last few weeks, my runs with GCB have been cut short because of a very mean left knee. One quick search of Dr Google leads me to believe that the IT band issues I had post-marathon have worked their way south to bother my knee. If it’s not one joint, it’s the other. Boo.

But that’s that. Work hard, train hard, race hard. More than all of that? I want to have fun with all of this. I want to wear tutus and laugh through races and enjoy the times with some pretty amazing friends.

Oh man it’s going to be a good year.

Obsession

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Ann

It’s been almost a month. I’m a jerk at this. I know (hi, Miranda!).

So let’s chat. Let’s chat about my newest obsession. Here, let me show you.

That’s right. My name is Ann, and I have become addicted to Pinterest. Specifically, looking up new, healthy recipes and new, muscle-busting challenges. I knew there was a good reason I held off signing up for so long, considering how much time I’ve spent on it in the last few weeks.

It has been nearly a month since the last time I updated, and I’ll be honest. I’m sore, I’m tired, and I’m not seeing improvement. GCB has. I know this because we’ve had this conversation:

Me: I’m not noticing anything different.
Him: I can. Your butt is lifting.
Me: How can you even tell? It’s not even been six weeks.
Him: Those compression capris don’t leave much to the imagination.

Touche, boyfriend.

Anyway, May was a much better month for working out than April was. I got into a bit of a rhythm, thanks to the Mean Abs Challenge, and was doing really well until I went to Baltimore to visit family. Oops. That kind of killed momentum for me, as well as put me behind on the challenge. (But I saw Camden Yards, so that was awesome!!)

However, I’m nothing if not bull-headed, so I’m finishing the thing. End of story.

This month I’m trying something new, though. For the last few years, my workout schedule has been in a google spreadsheet, easily accessible from my phone anywhere I went.

I’ve been ignoring that pretty little, painstakingly prepared spreadsheet for the last year. Creating it, filling in the upcoming workouts, and then ignoring it.

So instead, for June I’m trying this.

Yes, I’m very Type A. Yes, those are little pieces of paper for every single day of June, complete with a full list of the exercises I plan to do, blurry though this picture is. Yes, I will be crossing the “rest days” off as well.

It is June 1. Today I already noticed something about myself.

I can be VERY overzealous when I’m just writing down workouts. I say this because after the Iron Strength plus the Mean Abs Challenge, PLUS an extra few tricep dips, just for funsies, I went right on ahead and took out five other exercises that there was no way my body was finishing.

Granted, it’s only 9pm, and I don’t have to do anything tomorrow, so I may very well do them later just because.

See? Obsessed.

This month is going to be something of a personal challenge. To see how much I can accomplish, how much I improve just by following a schedule I put together by taking bits and pieces from all sorts of places.

For July, I have a different plan. You know, compare and contrast. Hi, I’m a scientist. Comparing and analyzing is my job.

July will be a full month of HIIT, in the form of this 30 Day Challenge. This one scares me a little. I’m not even going to think about this one for another few weeks.

My running update will have to wait for a different post. There are lots of new things and awesome things and less than stellar things and not nearly as much progress as I’d have liked to have seen by now, and today? Today I don’t feel like talking about it. So. Soon.

How’s your training going, if you’re doing any? Any big races coming up?

This is How you Remind Me

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Ann

A good reminder

(Just Like) Starting Over

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Ann

I know, I know.

I don’t know if I’d so much call what I’ve done a giving up situation as I’d moved past something to train for, but I definitely stopped, and now I’m DEFINITELY starting over. And you know what? It hurts.

It hurts mentally because, well, shouldn’t this be easier? Ha.

It hurts physically because of course it does. Because on top of the Mean Abs Challenge from the other day, on top of building up my running, I’ve added the Iron Strength Workout.

Can I just say that it should be illegal to read other blogs and look at Pinterest and even talk to my aunt (seriously, Melissa, OUCH) for workout ideas? Not even joking. Iron Strength, Mean Abs, squat challenges, arm challenges, butt challenges, and I’m still at a point in my training that I’m going, “YAY PLEASE GIVE ME MORE!!!”

Masochism at its finest.

At times, at a lot of times, it would be so easy to go back to endless naps and Oreos and doing all of nothing, but to be perfectly honest, I cannot STAND what it has done to me physically.

I already knew I felt far from my best. I’m slower, weaker, my cardio capabilities aren’t where they could be, I just don’t feel good. I knew that, and it bothered me, even with a boyfriend telling me I am beautiful every day.

And then. Ugh. And then there was the trip to the doctor where I found out that not only do I feel less than stellar, I have actually gained ten pounds in the last few months and am officially the heaviest I have EVER been. On the same day that I moved my belt to the next loop out.

I’ve always been the type to ignore the number on the scale as long as my clothes were fitting properly. Now they’re not fitting properly, plus the scale, and ugh. Just ugh.

If anything will strengthen your resolve to keep at the whole working out/training thing, it’s seeing the scale past THAT number. You know, the personal arbitrary number that you are NOT ok surpassing. It’s different for everyone, obviously, and I’ve surpassed mine.

I’m not ok that I surpassed it. SO not ok.

And now it’s on me to fix it. So I’m fixing it. Getting back to where I am comfortable.

New motivation to eat better, to keep running, to get on the floor and do the sit-ups when my abs are already so on fire it’s difficult getting off the couch.

It’s going to be difficult. Of course it is. But then again.

Nothing in this world that’s worth having comes easy.

Hot Rockin’

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Ann

The other day my aunt Melissa, who’s running Tough Mudder with me, and I were texting back and forth. She was telling me about this squat challenge she’s been doing and moved on to telling me about the ab challenge she was getting ready to start.

This ab challenge.

Yes, the month we are heading into is May, not June. Guess what though? May has 30 days as well! In fact, it even has a 31st day where a big ole REST can be planned. Convenient, right?

I think I’m most intrigued to see what kind of an effect this actually has, combined with the running/circuit training involved in the already set up TM training.

Melissa asked if I was going to take before pictures, and I plan on doing so, if for nothing but my own feeling of accomplishment, of “look how far I’ve come.” I’m fairly excited about that.

What is even more exciting has been the reaction on the social media platforms. People coming out all over facebook and twitter to say “I’m in!” I love that one tiny challenge can bring out so many people, some of whom I haven’t even spoken to in months/years.

And you know? It feels GOOD to be excited like this. To be looking forward to the type of soreness headed my way, to the miles and blisters and probably sunburns.

So. The challenge has been set forth. Are you in?

Here We Go Again

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Ann

Let’s talk about Tough Mudder. You know. This Tough Mudder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv7noBHZ4mo

Yeah, THAT Tough Mudder.

Can we talk about the fact that it’s only four and a half months away? And that training started for it this week? And that the thing I’m looking forward to most about it is, masochistically enough, this?Right. That Tough Mudder.

Like I said, training started this week. I have a beautiful training schedule for this one. I know, I know, you must be thinking, “Dude, does this chick ever NOT have a training schedule?” Or better yet, “So, you think she’ll follow it this time?”

As to the first, no. Meaning, yeah, I’ve always got a schedule, save for the past three months. And the second? Well, I hope to.

You see, this type of training is SO different from any other kind of training I’ve ever done. Mostly because it’s not just running.

It’s….CIRCUIT training. Not just running. Not even running and lifting weights. CIRCUITS.

And I have got to be honest. First time through the first circuit? Abysmal. Wretched. Just plain bad.

Apparently my body forgot how to do pushups. I love pushups. I cried when the hand doctor told me I couldn’t do pushups with a pin in my finger post-surgery for finger break number one. This makes me sad.

You know what’s crazy? Remember this girl?

Taken in my living room, October 2011, the day before my first half marathon. Courtesy of my lovely mama.

Yeah, her. The one who ran 13.1 miles in just about two hours flat. The one who was so cocky about her abs that she PUT THEM ON THE INTERNET. Multiple times. The internet. The never-dying, will-be-here-FOREVER internet.

She’s…..buried. She’s buried under a layer of calzones and Berry Burst Ice Cream Oreos. Buried with complacency and an unsatiated love of naps. Buried, but not lost.

Glimpses of her show up every now and then. She shows up in the smile that appears realizing that I’m SORE again. She’ll show up in the absolutely JACKED heart rate that I get every time I watch a Tough Mudder video. She’s not even slightly forgotten during a quick run when she shows up in the huge smile on my face.

Last year I forgot who that girl was.

This year I not only remember, I bring her back.

Tough Mudder 2013, watch out. I’m coming for you.

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Unrelated, but no less important, for more pictures my awesome mom took, check out her photography blog (phoblog? Anyone else want Vietnamese food reading that?).

Are You the Gatekeeper?

I am the keymaster.