Lately and Mother’s Day Weekend 2013

Last Thursday, I graduated from the Provisional Status in our local Junior League chapter. I am excited to be an active and to participate as a co-chair for a night of the Holiday market. They gave us a service award and a small bouquet of flowers to say congrats!

 

Sometimes you just have to celebrate with some wine and cheese!

This weekend was pretty low-key which was fine by me! Friday afternoon after school, I met my friend Jennifer for a 15 mile bike ride. It felt great to be back on the bike, well, except my tush! It felt as though I was sitting on a concrete slab! I really need to get a seat cushion.

Saturday I got up pretty early and hit the pavement at 7:45 for a 10 miler. I have been doing 10 miles for my long runs lately just to keep a base. Although I have not been running nearly as much as I was, I do not want to loose the base of 10.

After I ran, my sweet baby and I headed to the pool. I snapped this of him as soon as we got home Saturday afternoon. A full day of sunning and swimming got the best of him!

 

Sunday I headed to church and to celebrate my wonderful awesome mom! We had a wonderful day celebrating her and how much she means to our family!!

We often get told we could be sisters! I so see it in this picture!

I also am a doggie mom and my baby had the perfect shirt to wear. He sported it proudly! He loves his mommy for sure, especially when she gives him treats and takes him to the pool and to doggy daycare!

It was a fun, relaxing weekend!

Cheers, Britton

Blog Sale Link-up

Hi Friends! I am going to link up with Ashley at Let’s Get Bananas for the blog sale!

I have tried eBay and our local face book group to sell stuff but I have not yet tried to sell my items through the blog land! So, here it goes!

I will ship all items for $5. Please feel free to email me with any questions and to purchase items. I will not accept returns. All items come from a smoke-free home. I will only use PayPal as a form of payment!

Eliza J One Shoulder Dress – Size 8 – worn once to church for easter $40

NWT Kensie dress – Size 8 but ran very small!!! $30

Nike Dri-Fit Tanks – Size M – worn but still in very good shape – both for $12

James Jeans High-Rise Flare Leg Denim – worn a few times but in excellent condition – Retailed at $178

$50

Sanctuary Cropped Pants – Size 8 – Never worn but does not have tags – just didn't fit me right

$20

Email me at itsabeautifulthingthislife@gmail.com !

Weekend Re-Cap

 

This weekend was pretty low key. Friday night we did our usual dinner with family and friends at Stefano’s.

After dinner, we headed home to spend some time together and to give the fur baby some snuggles. The husband is going to Beijing, China for several weeks. So we spend a little extra time together.

Saturday after we saw the husband off, I headed out for an 11 mile run. It was unusually cool and very windy Saturday morning. Although the weather wasn’t ideal I got it done with an average of 8:38 per mile.

After my morning run, I did the usual Saturday chores and then headed out for lunch with my mom at The Clay Pot. I had been once before but only to grab a latte. It exceeded my expectations. It was such a cute little shop and my tomato pie was delicious!

We ran a few errands around town and then I headed home to spend the evening with Jillian Flynn’s Gone Girls and sweet snuggles from my baby.

 

Sunday I got up and went to church and then spend the rest of they day inside. My planned bike ride with friends was canceled due to the nasty weather. I haven’t been on my bike in several months and I am itching to ride! Better luck next weekend!

It’s Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week at school this week. I got to school to find this in by box and we get Sweet cupcakes at lunch, ice-cream social tomorrow, massages Wednesday, and giveaways all week! It’s going to be a great week!

 *britton*

Divas Half Marathon Race Recap

 

Last weekend I made my way to Myrtle Beach, SC which is about an hour and 20 minutes from out home.

We spend a lot of time at the beach with friends so every opportunity to run at the beach I always jump on it. I registered for the Diva half sometime last year before the price increase. All you had to say was champagne and shirtless men at the finish and I am there!

My running has been less than stellar recently. I have not been running as much or near as fast. I think over the past 3 1/2 years I have completely worn my body down with a ton of running and no rest.

So, I have used CrossFit as an alternate workout and decreased my mileage for a while to give the body some recovery time from running.

With that being said, I didn’t train much for this race. I didn’t set any time goals or set any expectations other than I would be thrilled to be under 1:45.

We arrived at the beach house around 11:00 and met up with Michael and Lauren. They boys stayed to do yard work and we headed to the Expo.

The expo was awful. There were too many booths and too many people and space that was just too small. I don’t usually get claustrophobia, but I think I caught it in that expo. Lauren and I got our stuff, snapped a few pictures, and got the heck out of there!

After we ate lunch at McAlister’s we headed down to the beach to meet the boys. The weather was a little cool but still a beautiful afternoon to sit on the beach and enjoy being with friends. We hit the showers after that and then headed to Market Commons to eat at Travinia Italian Kitchen. We live at Market Commons when we are at the beach and surprisingly we had never been here. It was delish!

Sunday morning the alarm went off at 5:00. We had to drive to the aquatics center to park and take the bus to the starting line. There was plenty of parking, plenty of buses, and a perfectly clean restroom inside the aquatics center! Halleluja!!! I made note of that bathroom because the seat was still up from where they had cleaned it last. That would be a first for me as far as clean race day bathrooms go! Y’all know how that is!

We got to the start line about 45 minutes early and I had to hit the bathrooms several more times. I really hate when this happens to me but it ALWAYS happens to me. Everyone says it’s because I over think the bathroom thing too much and it makes me have to go. I don’t know if I believe all that!

And shortly thereafter, I lined up behind the 1:44 pace and mapped out my game plan. I wanted to stay with or right behind her the whole race. (That did not happen.)

Right before we started we bowed for a moment of silence for Boston. I shed a few more tears and thanked God for giving me the ability to race the Diva race that morning.

Then I put my gameface on and took off. Might I add I took off way too fast like I always do! I ended up way ahead of the pacer.

I started with a 7:58 mile, then a 7:51 mile, then a 7:45 mile. I knew it was come back to bite me in the butt….and it did about mile 6.

I started getting really hot and couldn’t get my breathing right. After about mile 5 I never ran another sub 8.

I ended up running an official time of 1:46:02. That was good for 68th place overall out of 3,300 people and 9th place in the 25-29 age group. I am not disappointed with this but it is nowhere near my best or what I am capable of. I think my body is still in “take a break from running for a while” mode.

Right before we turned the final corner to the finish there were volunteers passing out pink boas and crowns. I did not like the fact that I had to slow down to grab and then situate them on my head and around my neck. Although that was kind of annoying, the photo opp was too good to pass up! It is not everyday that you have a good excuse to wear a boa and tiara, so I took advantage of the opportunity!

At the finish a seriously hot shirtless hunk handed me my medal, congratulated me, and gave me a high five! That was totally worth running! I then received a rose, champagne, and some delicious cookies and water.

Overall it was a great race that was well organized! I would definitely do it again! Hopefully next year I can convince my mom and sister to do it with me. I am still working on that!

Is anyone there?

Hi friends!!! It's me, Britton. Do you remember me? Is there anyone still out there?

I am still here, believe it or not! I love, love, love reading blogs and being a part of the blog world but I haven't done such a great job keeping up with my own little space!

I've been working like a crazy person, running, taking care of my fur baby, spending a little time with he hubby, and my newest addiction...crossfit!

I am determined to get back to the blog and update once every week or two! I am going to try at least! So for now, ill leave you with a few photos from the last few months!!

Busy little bee...

A busy little bee is an understatement for the way I have felt the past few months! I have been crazy busy but  I have enjoyed every minute of it!!

1.First thing is first...I finally landed a J-O-B! 

I am working as a school counselor in a high school about 20 minutes from my hometown. I started working in August two weeks before school started. 

I never thought I would want to be at the high school level but so far I have LOVED it! 

2. I just finished the 37th Annual Marine Corps Marathon. It was not my best time by any means and it was a very tough run for me but I am so glad that I participated. 

I finished in 4:27:33 but I am not worried too much about my time because I ran on a sore and swolen left foot and my training was lacking due to the new job. 

Hopefully when I am ready to do #4, I will be completely healed and well rested and i will be able to get my time back down in the 3:40's!

For now, I think I am going to concentrate on shorter, faster distances and try to get another half-marathon PR! We will see!

3. Furry Baby Update: My baby is so big and he is so sweet! We love him to pieces and he is such a big part of our little family now! He is a little over 9 months old now, still full of energy, and never ever meets a stranger! 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that he is obsessed with all of his toys!!

That is about all I have for now! I will probably not be updating the blog as much from now on but I still love reading enjoying your blogs!!! 

Backtracking to Memorial Day Weekend

I have been such a slack blogger so I am trying to play catch up! Let's backtrack to Memorial Day weekend! We went to the beach for the weekend with Michael and Lauren! We had a fabulous time hanging out on the beach and eating fabulous food!!

 Snapping a pic or two before heading to dinner!

On Sunday we headed back home to get some rest because we had plans on Monday to go ziplinning!!! My mother-in-law gave us all ziplinning passes for Christmas and we all finally found a time that worked and we headed to Asheboro, NC!

Richland Creek Ziplinning Tours was an awesome place with great staff! We had such a wonderful time!!! 

Cheers!,

Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon Race Weeked & Recap

The weekend of June 2nd, I piled in the car with some of my girlfriends and we headed to Virginia for a weekend full of running, wine, good food, and great company!!

We left Thursday around lunchtime and arrived in Loudon, VA! It was a pretty uneventful trip with only a few stops along the way! We grabbed a bite to eat, had a few beers, and hit the sack! 

Friday morning we got up and went for a short 4 mile run around the hotel we were staying. We hopped on a run/bike trail which was very nice and pretty. I wish our hometown had more of these and respected runners and cyclists more than what they do!

We went to the expo and picked up our bibs and waited for the rest of our group to arrive and then we hit Panera Bread for lunch! We also detoured to the outlets by our hotel to get in a little shopping!

Waiting around at the expo at Landstowne Resort. It was such a beautiful place!

We went to an early dinner and then got in the bed pretty early for our 4:45 wake up call! 

The race was about a 20 minute drive for us so we all piled in the car. It had rained on us a good bit the day before so the winery parking was flooded and very muddy. This held up traffic and backed things up a bit. We were nervous we wouldn't make it to the start. Thank goodness we are planners and left early enough!

A few of us before the race!

The race was delayed about 30 minutes because of the traffic back-up and late shuttle buses from the hotels. This made me pretty antsy I will admit.

The race finally started and my first two miles hovered at around a 7:30 pace. This was right where I wanted to be. There were hills in this race. I knew there were going to be hills. I was not prepared for the whole race to be rolling hills, which it was. I started to really feel the pace getting to be at about mile 8. I few miles around this point too were on gravel roads. I hate running on that type of surface. I blame the gravel for slowing down too.

I kept thinking as I started getting towards the end of mile 10 that I could not wait for this race to be OVER! I don't know that I have ever felt that way, not even during my first marathon. 

It was a tough course. I didn't run my best. It was my first time traveling that distance (7hrs) to a race. I had a terrible upset stomach that morning. These are all the things I blamed my not so good race on! 

Official Time - 1:42:35

We all have those races and we are not all perfect! This was one of mine. After the race was over, we waited for everyone to finish, went and got our super cool wine glass and hit the wine tasting area!!

Our crew after the race!

After we left the race, we hit up this local pizza place and it was delicious. I drowned my sorrows into this huge veggie calzone that was out of this world good!!

We got back to the hotel and hit the hot tub with snacks and beer in hand!

We hit the town for dinner and dancing for a while that night and sadly I did not take any photos! :( 

We got up early on Sunday and had breakfast and then hit the road back to Flo-town! It was a great trip!