New Protecting Stuff!!!!

Lately I have been wanting to get into bike riding. My dad used to ride whenever I was little and he did races and such with it! He showed me this new route that I could take that was close to 7 miles and I really wanted to try it, but the only thing was that I did not have a helmet. The road that I have to go down is very busy and I was not going to ride on it without a helmet at all.

Well, today I finally got just that. I wanted my parents input since they have rode on a bike plenty of times. So I got this.....

I absolutely love it! I am about to try it out and see how it feels! I also got some gloves. I was not sure if I should get these or not, but my dad said that I should and that they will help protect my hands if I fall or if I ride a lot. So here are these....

It is so great! I feel more prepared and more protected now then I did before.
The next thing I got I am super pumped about. I have been wanting one of these since I saw them. Lets see if you can guess what it is......
It tells who you are if something was to happen to you......
You can put it on your wrist, ankle, shoe or neck......
It is very durable and if something does happen to it, the company will replace it for free.....

Do you know what it is?

If you guessed a ROAD ID, then you are correct. I finally got a Road ID for my ankle and absolutely love it!! I run on roads that are more country roads and am always worried that something is going to happen to me and somebody won't know who I am. You can put your name, town, emergency contacts, all kinds of stuff on it. It was only $20, and I think it is well worth the money. I like the ankle id because it does not even feel like I am wearing it at all.

Go by McCallisters today and get some free TEA!!!!

Thankfullness for Life

I had a conversation today with close family about some stuff. I have been down about taking my test and have been waiting on the results for it to find out how I did. It has kind of been draining on me. Today my sister-in-law and brother came down and helped me clean out my parents house that I am living in. It has been a draining, but good day. We have got a lot of work done and I am so grateful that they have come to help me with it!

I found a newspaper article today that made me really think about life in general. It was the article that showed my brothers accident whenever he was only 3 years old. I had never seen this before since he passed away before I was born. After I read the article about it and saw that based on the picture, nobody could have walked away from that accident alive. The drivers side was hit first and was completely compacted. My grandmother died instantly and my brother was on the other side. He died of complete internal injuries. My sister-in-law told me that he did not have a scratch on his body and you would have never know anything was wrong with him. The accident was at 8:30 a.m. and he did not pass away until 10:30 a.m.
It made me start thinking about my life in general. I would not be here if my brother had not passed away that day. My parents were done having kids and because of him passing away they decided to have another child. My mom said that she needed another child and I could imagine that after loosing one.
My sister-in-law also told me that in more ways then one, that I have probably touched and blessed more peoples life's just because of what happened then both of my brothers could have. I know it is not a competition, but in my mind, just knowing that I would not be here without my brother passing away means so much to me. My mother has told me that I acted a whole lot like him whenever I was little and would have probably been really close to him if we grew up together.

I am grateful for my family, friends and husband. After seeing that picture, I realized that you can not take your life for granted and the people that you have in it and the things you have. I have a wonderful life, home, family and friends. I have a faith like no other and am so grateful for everything that God blesses me with. I know that God provides and that if it is his will things will work out the way that they are supposed to in his will. I know it sounds horrible to say that I am blessed to have had a brother that gave his life and is not in Heaven, and I am here to tell his story and live through him and through God who put me here.

Inspirational Runner and Giveaway

My sister actually just blogged about this, but I saw the other day and was meaning to blog about it and just kept forgetting and not having the time. 

Helene Neville is a Nurse and Cancer Survivor and is Running Across the Country:

Quote by Helene: "My run is not to realize my own dreams, but to help others realize theirs. I hope to inspire not only nurses but anyone to try a new, healthier lifestyle .."

Some people from the Sea Rim Striders went and ran with her in Beaumont and they all said it was truly an inspiration to run with her. She has an amazing spirit and is running to show people that no matter what you are going through or what you are battling against you can do anything if you set your mind to it! She is truly a very inspirational woman. Helen came out and actually ran with the Sea Rim Striders group on one of their runs. I wish I could have went out and ran with them. It would have been an honor to meet her! When she finishes her run can you imagine how many people she will have inspired to go out and run and stay healthy for their own health not just to always win or beat somebody else.

I am still doing P90X. I am only doing 3 days a week. I actually did the first day the other day and I did the wrong day, so now I have to do another day (the correct one).

Check out this cool Road ID giveaway....Road ID

Patience through Trials

Since March I have been applying to work at different schools that are within a 45 minute radius around me. I thought for sure that there would be at least a few different areas that I have applied at. Let's see, I believe that I applied to at least 10 different schools. I have interviewed at many different schools, however most of the positions are for 5th grade positions. Many people do not want to teach upper grades because they have to worry about the TAKS test and whether the kids pass it or not. Especially being a first year teacher this is hard.
As I was driving to my brothers house the other day I was praying and just thinking, God I will go where you want me to go, but can you at least swing the door wide open so I will know for sure. I did not apply at places that were farther then about 30 minutes away mainly because of the drive, but I thought you know what, there are a bunch of private schools in that area I might try one of those schools. When I got to my brothers house I told my sister-in-law about everything and started crying because I was just a little bit stressed out over everything going on. I told her about applying at some of the private schools, or at least calling to see if there is any openings. She hands me a phone book and I go to the computer. The first private school that I see is the one that my brothers kids go to. I called them thinking, there is no way they have an opening....well....They had a 3rd grade opening. I told them who I was and what I was certified in and they told me to come pick up an application. I thought this is to good to be true.
I went there and met the secretary, Headmaster and the Assistant Headmaster and talked to them for a little while. They were so sweet and nice to me. It was awesome! I filled out the application and brought it back to them in two days.
Before I handed the application in, I talked to somebody who was going to put in a good word for me because their kids go to school there. She told me many different things about the school that I did not know. As I handed in the application I also handed them my portfolio hoping this would help some. Now I am hoping and praying for a call this next week.


I say all this to say that a friend of mine told me to pray for patience. As I started thinking about this I realized that I shouldn't really pray for that much patience because God puts these trials and hard times infront of you for a reason. He puts those in front of you so that you will have patience to get through them. You can not just earn patience by waiting for it to come to you. You go through the hard times to gain the patience on the other side. Patience is a virtue is what I have been told my whole life. I am learning patience more and more everyday this summer.

Check out this "Girls Sweat and that is Sweet" book giveaway

Jazz Half Marathon???? Yes or No??????

So I am debating about doing the New Orleans Jazz Half Marathon. It is on October 30, 2010 and it would be my very first half marathon!

If I was to do this, I would not set a goal for myself except to finish the race running.Now whether that meant running the whole thing, or walking some inbetween, I would at least run the last mile as hard as I could. It is in New Orleans and it is a fairly flat course. I would love to be able to run there, and since it is in October, maybe by God's Grace there would be a bit of cool air coming through. It is only $50.00 right now to run it and then it goes up to $60 after September. I am pretty sure that I could swing that right now.

I am still planning on running the Rock and Roll Dallas Half Marathon in March 2011, but I am very very tempted to run the Jazz Half. I would be able to get a training schedule in July or August and follow that to the T to train for the half.
I would not be alone on this race (hopefully). I would (hopefully) be running with my sister-in-law who I consider very experienced in half marathon's. She has ran two and is about to run another one in October. It would help to run with somebody instead of running alone. They always say that a running buddy is better than anything.

I am still debating, but I think I may just do it. I just have to talk to the husband and see what he says.

P90X- Starting Today

This program has gotten many reviews about it and my husband also completed this program while in the Academy. I saw how Brian became very muscular and I did not want that since I have worked hard to slim down my body. Well I found out with this program, that I can do that. I can tone my body verses bulking it.

I have decided to do this since it is so hot outside and it is hard to always run. I need to do something this summer to keep myself in shape since I will be training for a half in the fall/spring. I will try to post every 10 days or so about my progress and what it is like. I have heard it is not easy, but I know I can do it!!!!!

Wish me luck!!

Race Recaps and a new Running Skirt!!!!!!

It has been a while since I have updated here. Things have been crazy with the end of the school year, beginning of the summer and last races. In May I ran 2 last races. The first one was called the Athlete's Corner 3 Miler. 

I ran this one with my sister-in-law! This race was only 3 miles, so it was not a true 5K, but they were having sales after the race on running shoes inside the store. This race was very very very hot. I was having flashbacks from the 4th of July 4 miler. I had to stop once because of how hot it was and because I did not want to run myself ragged.

After the race Karen and I went underneath the shade to cool ourselves off. I was scared to walk inside right after the race because of how cold it was in there. I did not want my body to go into shock. It was a good race, but it was very humid and hot!

You can tell by my face how hot it was. My face was burning after the race! It was a great race to run with Karen! I love whenever we get to run together!
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Astro's Race for the Pennant 5K

We ran this race in Houston and it was a great race! We were not sure what to expect about this one. We knew that we were getting to run for Karen's favorite baseball team and a team that I like. We also got free tickets to an Astro's game and a great weekend full of fun family times!

We got to take a picture with Junction Jack. He had his friends there with him too! We got lined up for the race and we decided to stay together for this race because we both had not ran that much. As we were coming up on the .5 mile mark we noticed this huge hill. We not only was there that one hill but there were 3 MORE HUGE HILLS! Turns out we will running up and down overpasses. If you looked over the side you saw all the Houston traffic. Those hills were not fun. Infront of us, it looked like little ants with how many people were running the race.
We had to weave in and out a whole bunch, but it was not to bad.

We got to run into the tunnel into the stadium. It was a very steep ramp, but it was cool to run onto the field. Well....not exactly on the field. We were not allowed on the grass, but they had tons of water along the race route and it was very very organized! We found Brian and Jason in the stands. Thank goodness they found us too!

We decided to take some fun pictures after the race. Can you guess who is real and who is fake in this picture? We had Cheesecake factory, this race, Galleria, Disney store and fun times with families. It can never get better than that!
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I GOT A NEW RUNNING SKIRT!!!!!!!!!!!

My junior high teacher got this for me for my highschool/college graduation. I just graduated from college in 2009, but I graduated college in 2005. She said that since she missed my high school graduation as well as college that she would buy this skirt for me as a gift! I was so amazed, because I did not think I was going to be able to get one. I got it in today and tried it on! It fit so great and I loved it!
I can not wait to run in it! Hopefully sometime this week when it is not blistering hot outside.

Check out this giveaway for Wooha Gear . These shirts and other merchandise are great are great!