August and What Nots!

My apologies for not updating in OVER a month! Thanks to the 3 of you who have brought my lackadaisical blogging habits to my attention... so here goes:
August has been a pretty crazy busy month but I have somehow managed to keep up my running, for the most part (which I'll explain later.)

The last weekend in July, I went to my friend's Bachelorette Party in St. Louis. I had to meet up after dinner, but it was a great time! The party bus picked me up right before we met up with the stripper...In the TARGET Parking Lot! It was so ridiculously trashy, I couldn't stop laughing. The whole time I was just waiting for Target security to come out and tell us to leave. And to make matters worse, the windows on the bus were not tinted AT ALL, so everyone driving by could see EVERYTHING. Bahaha :) After that, we went to a few other bars before we got dropped off at our hotel and after much convincing, walked to the bars downtown. I made some new friends that I can't wait to see again at the wedding in a few weeks! That Saturday, back in Columbia, my friend from high school's band was playing a show so we got to reconnect after about 6 years! Josh, my 6th grade boyfriend and Junior Prom date, seems to be doing great and I'm so glad I went out to see him and his band!



The first weekend of August was my first real long run of training, and the first time I really came to appreciate the MKT trail in the mornings. Since I was house/pet sitting 2 little dogs and 1 GIANT cat...I got up Saturday morning around 6, took my time waking up, preparing myself, and got to the trail around 7. It took me about an hour and a half, but I ran from Scott all the way downtown and back which is a little over 9 miles. After my first long run, I felt great and got ready for the festivities of the day. We had a pool party over at Jim's and had dinner at Flat Branch with my sister, Jessie, who was in town visiting a friend. We had a great night showing them around Columbia. Tin Can had a great live band with a washboard...so of course I found a stranger to dance with :)


I have run that same course the past few weekends on Saturday mornings. For some reason it takes me much longer to get to Providence than it does to get back. I think my body just needs to get through the first 5 miles before it can kick into distance mode. I can actually feel my posture change into that of those water bottle/fannie-pak runners you pass on the road that you can tell mean business! I am always relieved to get back to the parking lot to find my car still there since I leave it unlocked with the keys in it.

The second weekend of August was Lake Weekend. I decided to stay in Columbia Friday night so I would actually make myself run before I played. After my 9 miles, I drove down to Jon's house at the lake. We played at his condo pool for awhile before we grabbed lunch and headed to Lazy Gators. This place has as great of a view as you can get in Mid-Missouri! Cabanas (which no one paid for) and huge white chairs were set up around the zero-entry pool with a walk up bar etc. It's not really my cup of tea because, well... it felt like I was taking a bath with 75 strangers that think they are on Spring Break 99 in Cancun. Yuck! We stayed there most of the day, trying to keep our frozen drinks out of the luke-warm piss water so they might have a chance of staying cold, but everyone else was enjoying themselves, so I couldn't complain too much. At about 6, we went next door to Shady Gators, which was much more my style! Other than the $6 beers (I'm so spoiled by Columbia prices,) it was very chill and the food was decent. Around 9, the band came on and we didn't sit down until it was time to leave. The Chubby Carriers (I think that's how you spell it) played kinda jazzy, bluesy, swing music that was perfect for dancing. And now that I think about it, dancing was pretty dangerous because we were sweating like crazy and I very easily could have been dropped! Once we got back to Jon's we ordered pizza, slept in, grabbed Panera, and drove home to start the week all over again.

Work is going well. I feel like I"m actually contributing to the office because I can work on actual files and cross them off the list. I've been on my own, with our trainer double checking my work the past few weeks and will be until we start to learn about military students in early September. Apparently that is going to be much more difficult than what I've been doing, but bring it on :) Our department is playing intermurals this fall and we just picked our name. Not to brag, but it's one that I came up with. We are the Eval KenEvals!!! Get it?! Not sure when softball starts, but it should be fun. I'm also on a kickball beer league that will play on Friday nights, which I'm really excited about.

The third weekend of August was our 2nd Annual Float Trip. We camped at a place just past Bennett Springs and had 30+ people this year. First night is always more chill which involves just hanging out around the campfire! Oh... and it POURED Friday night. Luckily, our tent stayed dry, but not everyone was so fortunate. I've been in charge of breakfast both times and we had breakfast burritos, which worked out great this years! The other half of the group comes Saturday morning after breakfast. We had 6 rafts this year and decided to take the short float, so we still had time to hang out before dinner. We also played in the river that runs right by our campground. There was a rope swing and deeper section that we played in for hours. Not surprising, this is where most of the injuries came from!

And now... to start my "What Nots." DON'T TAKE AN ENTIRE WEEK OFF THIS FAR INTO TRAINING! Not sure if it is the weather change or what, but I've been sick this past week. Started with head, then throat, then nose and I got really lazy and couldn't make myslef do anything physical this week, even when I started to get better. While running my 10 miles this morning, I realized that all my calluses I've been "building" over the past few months have practically healed, which means my feet and my inner thighs are KILLING me right now. AND it took me 2 hours to run what usually takes me about an hour and a half. Oh, and I want to throw up :(

I'm actually starting to like my lazy Friday night routine. Most of my nights have been pretty lazy, to be honest. I've been working my way through The Office DVDs and my Netflix with a guy I met at work, which is another reason why it's bearable to stare at my screen all day. Things are going pretty well so I won't jinx it with details ;)

And this pictures is because I CANNOT wait for Football Season. One of the many reasons I LOVE Columbia!