Birthday Shenanigans

I’m having a pretty fantastic birthday so far, thank you friends!!!
From all the texts, posts, and messages…I feel the love!! 🙂

We started celebrating Saturday night and haven’t stopped yet! A quick recap of my weekend:

A warm Saturday night (it was in the 60′s) meant we ate dinner at a local restaurant on the patio before we hit the bar to dance the night away to one of my favorite bands. I dig the Rocker Chick/Biker Chick vibe I’ve got going on here. 🙂

There were test tube shots of “Shark bait”, (it tasted like grape kool-aid) dancing and singing along to great songs with my friends. It was a pretty fabulous night.

Sunday morning I woke up with a migraine (boo) but spent the day with my family. My mom and dad made one of my favorite meals: Pot Roast! (So freaking good). I opened a few presents, hung out with my parent’s dogs, and even took a nap! All in all, a pretty solid Sunday. I also totally skipped my Easy 5 miler. No regrets. It was 80 degrees and sunny here so I took a walk to compensate.

Today I walked into my office to discover my co-worker Rob had outdone himself with decorations. I love it! I’ve gotten gifts from all of my co-workers and my favorite card has sparkles, has a tiara and says “I. am. the. birthday. Princess.” Yup. That’s me! 🙂 My co-worker brought in things to make your own yogurt parfait because she knows I’m not a cake person. (I think cake and cupcakes are kind of dry. I much prefer ice cream!) Please note the Jr. Mints. My FAVORITE.

It’s going to be close to 90 degrees here today! (I don’t think it has EVER been that warm on my birthday!) So I dressed accordingly. I plan on enjoying it with an easy run later today.

Also, when you’re signed into Google, they make your own special Google Doodle for your birthday! How great is that??!?!

Anyway, Thanks for the birthday wishes friends! I’m having a pretty fantastic day! Here’s to 33!

Lincoln Half Marathon training W11, D6. Long 10. I switched tomorrow’s long 10 and today’s easy 5 because it’s supposed to be crazy windy tomorrow and I just don’t need another failed long run.

My quads and hamstrings are so tight it’s not even funny. I just tortured myself with my foam roller. It made me scream, it hurt so bad. I’m glad no one else is home! Pain is gain, I suppose

I’m currently grilling Turkey burgers and then tonight some friends and I are going to a bar to see one of our favorite bands play for my birthday celebration! It’s a pretty perfect start to my birthday weekend!

Have a great Saturday guys!

I had a crap day. So I took it out on the pavement.

Lincoln half marathon training W11, D5 easy 5. Please note the appearance of my new shoes! They felt AMAZING!

I nearly got hit by a car and then about a mile and a half later some random dude whistled at me as I ran past him. So win-win?

Time for a quiet evening at home. It’s been a very long week.

Have a great night friends!

Sunshine, shades, and bare legs

It was warm enough for me to wear a skirt and NO TIGHTS today so I had to get outside over lunch and enjoy this weather…even if it just meant sitting on the front steps of our offices and soaking up the sunshine.

Because it’s Nebraska and it’s windy here, we are in a Red Flag warning this afternoon–high fire danger with 20-30 mph winds (that should make for a fun Tempo Run!).

Fun Fact: My birthday is on Monday!! I’m trying to decide what to do to celebrate. Is it sad that I’m at the point where I’d just like to do dinner with friends and then drinks somewhere? That sounds like a pretty great night to me! Anybody have any suggestions for low-key, fun things to do? I’m all ears.

Happy Friday Eve Cats!

Wednesday Weirdness

First of all, look at my gorgeous new shoes! My old pair of Brooks Ghost 7′s had over 550 miles on them and I could feel it. So I hit up the Lincoln Running Company (my locally-owned store) for these beauties! They were on sale and I had a gift card. $87 later, they were mine. I was in and out in less than 5 minutes. Total win in my book.
Are you wondering why I’m wearing my winter coat when it’s 70+ degrees here? (That’s about 21 Degrees Celsius). Well, as usual, there’s a story behind that!
I took my shoes on a little jaunt around the block, but, as I was only about 3 houses away from my house, a man’s voice called out to me and said, “Excuse me, but do you own a red pea coat?” I stopped walking and told him that I did, and asked why he wanted to know. The man and his wife walked up to me and said that they see me in the mornings and evenings out by my car, wearing that red coat and they think that I “look stunning in it.” I blushed and told them thank you. They went on to say that with my long dark hair and pale skin, it’s a really striking combination with the bright red of the coat. Ok. Now this conversation got weird. I mean, are they going to kidnap me and keep me in their basement now or something? Also, thanks for pointing out how pale I am!!
While this weird conversation about my coat was happening this woman came up to us. She’s running for school board and wanted to put her signs in our yards. I told her it was fine after I googled her and realized I supported her. As we were walking and talking I found out she works for an organization that gives money to educational non-profits.
WHAT A COINCIDENCE!!! I WORK FOR ONE OF THOSE!! I told her I’d be calling her about sponsorship for our conference this fall! Random networking on a Wednesday night!
Today was a rest day. Tempo miles tomorrow. I’m already tired thinking about it.

Have a great one, friends!

Well, that sucked

Lincoln Half Marathon Training W11, D2. Strength 6X1M with 400 recovery.

The wheels completely fell off on this run. I don’t even know what happened to me. It was quite warm today, (72 degrees!) sunny, and a bit windy, and my quads were killing me. I know the treadmill hasn’t done me any favors in terms of strengthening my quads. Ugh. But this run was absolute crap. I’m glad tomorrow is a rest day.

I am happy to report that I did not feel scared on today’s run! Thanks for all of your concern. I really appreciate it!

Other than today’s crappy run, things are actually pretty great around here! 🙂

Hope they are for you all as well friends!!

Because it’s not all corn and cows here in Nebraska

Monday-Runday!

Easy 5 and I ran outside after work! A much better run than yesterday!
Hey two-o-nine, I finally connected my Garmin to my computer!! I’m still trying to figure out how to build my workouts in there…baby steps!
However! Please note my NEGATIVE SPLITS from my run tonight!!!
I love, love, love this running shirt. I do run this body.
This forecast is PERFECTION. I’m in my happy place. Sunshine and warm temperatures put me in such a good mood.
As I was walking home for my cool-down, I was texting Brooke and walking. I managed to a). run into a low-hanging tree branch with my ponytail, and b). barely avoided a large puddle that formed from melting snow piles. Way to go, Mel, way to go. Sheesh. I’m a klutz.
A scary moment tonight: I like to run along major streets as I’ve done too many stories on women who have gotten assaulted on Lincoln’s trails. Call me paranoid, I say I’m just being careful and going where the people are. Anyway–this truck drove next to me, quite slowly. The 2 men inside whistled at me, and made kissey noises. Normally that wouldn’t freak me out, but it felt almost aggressive. They were quite close to me (less than 5 feet away!) and were going slow enough that I could see their faces very well. My instincts kicked in and I turned the corner away from them and started running again. Not cool, dudes. Not cool at all.

Have a great week Friends!

Sunday Scenes

My Long 12 turned into a long 10.37. The wind was soul-crushing and even though I tried to do this run in 2 parts, it was still awful and cut short. Whatever, dude. I’ll get ‘em next time. The 2nd picture shows a bit of how windy it was–those flags were pretty much standing straight out the entire time.
My big brother fixed my bumper! Shaniqua (that’s my car’s name; she’s a Ford Escort) no longer looks like a Dinosaur took a bite out of her booty.
My 3 nephews decided it would be fun to all pile on Emmie (that’s me!) Those kids are the best. Combined they weigh less than I’ve lost, weight-wise, but they felt incredibly heavy. Weird how that works out, huh?
Tomorrow we are celebrating my co-worker’s 50th birthday and we’re bringing treats, so I made my famous Banana Bread.
Fun Melissa Fact: Whenever I bake, I wear an apron. I’m awesome at spilling things on myself while I’m baking. I should probably wear it while cooking too! My mom got me this apron for Christmas. It’s from Hawaii and has a cute, flouncy little skirt. I dig it.

I hope you all have a fantastic week ahead friends!!