I need your help!!!!

I need your help!!!
Ok, so my daughter's photographer entered Tatum into an Image of the year contest. There are eight photos and Tatum's is #8.
You can vote once a day/per email address (so if you have more than one, then vote away) everyday til the 4th.
The winner of this contest will receive a free 16x20 picture pre matted. I WANT THIS PHOTO!!!!
Vote early and vote often.

http://melissamillerphotos.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/12/my-entry.html

On another note, I cannot wait to see you all again. I will see you all New Years Eve at the run.

Im the new guy

It's official. I just steped down as the Chaplain of the FOP Auxiliary and took up the new office of Vice President. This is very exciting to me. My first fundraiser as VP is now officially the Race into the new year...that I have been plugging shamelessly for the last month or so ...to anyone who would listen......and some that would not.
Anyway, Now that the position is official, I will be pushing harder for you all to sign up for this race. The proceeds go to Tulsa Police Officers Memorial Fund. Kathy at Runner's World Tulsa has been working het tail off (as always) to make sure this thing is TOP NOTCH.
So get out there and sign up. I don't want to look like a failure with my first act as VP.

Here is the website to sign up: http://www.tatur.org/RINY.html

So do it. "Do It"

Missing my beaners

Ok, as some of you know, I have suffered a bit of a knee injury from the marathon. NO, NO, NO, this isn't a complaining session about that. I haven't run one day since the Route 66. I am getting ready to start packing on the lbs but worse than that...I miss running with the Runners world group. I miss my beaners. Kim, Lisa, Jason and Deon...don;t kick me out yet. I promise it's getting better.

these are a few of my favorite things

Crazy Eights Cont...

8 shows I love to watch
1. girls next door
2. Rock of Love
3. The hills
4. Run's house
5. Glenn Beck
6. Law and Order SVU
7. Law and Order CI
8. Greys Anatomy

8 places I love to eat
1. Arizonas
2. Chilis
3. Bueno
4. Ron's Hamburgers
5. taco stand at 31st and Garnett after 9PM
6. Texas Roadhouse
7. Texas Land and Cattle
8. Braums (ice cream Only)

8 things I did yesterday
1. Played with my daughter
2. painted kitchen cabinets
3. HOMEWORK in 1st math class
4. HOMEWORK in 2nd math class
5. HOMEWORK in science class
6. it (lol)
7. Showered
8. went to bed

8 things I look forward to
1. Being done with school
2. Race into the New Year (have you signed up yet???)
3. tatum speaking in sentences
4. my kitchen being finished
5. My den being finished
6. My bathroom being finished (remodeling is a biotch)
7. Being healed enough to go for a run
8. Seeing my runner world friends again

8 things I love about fall
1. colors
2. jumping into a pile of leaves (i have a ton of leaves...if you want to play too)
3. winter and snow are soon to come
4. Thanksgiving
5. Chili...I love me some chili
6. Soup...I love me some soup
7. Long sleeved tee shirts
8. no more swimming suit body on the brain

8 things on my wish list
1. Peace on Earth...J/K
2. Good will twards man...ha
3. For real, a finished house
4. a new house
5. glock 27- 40c.
6. healthy family
7. my dog to quit licking the carpet
8. my dog to stop barking
I pretty much love my life. I don't work and I get to play with my daughter and husband all the time. I don't need much else on my wish list

I now tag...1. Ken
2. Tatur Dave
3. Eddie
4. Bobby
5. Lisa
6. Kim
7. Cassy
8. Neon

Crawling to the finish

Ok, I stole this pic from the marathon foto people, but here is a pic of me crawling the finish

Sunday Bloody Sunday

I was really suprised I didn't see even one bleeding nipple. I was however promised that I would see at least one person broken down on the curb crying...He never breaks a promise. I did see that person. I was truely ecstatic that it wasn't me. I hit my wall early. It nearly defeated me. But I pushed through that styrofoam and at mile 22 I actually felt fresh again. I was in uncharted territory and I knew I was nearing the end. I kissed my daughter who was waiting at the 26 mile marker and then with everything left in me I sprinted to the finish. As I got to the blue rug I stopped, got down on all fours, and crawled across that sweet finish. I really just wanted the pics of me crawling across. You can check them out at marathonfoto.com Just pick route 66 then enter bib number 1523. They were quite funny. I think there are more crawling photos than upright photos.
I am proud of each and every runner that showed up to tell that marathon his/her name and then spit on it. We kick that marathons butt. Good job guys.

Pizza, pizza and cheesecake

Ok, so tonight was THE LAST training run in this round. We ran an easy three miles and came back to headquarters to get tips from the "great ones". I will heed their advise and use every bit of it. I also ate my weight in pizza and cheesecake.

I have kinda not been trying to place too much hype on the huge race at the end of the week. The one that will change my life. I used to laugh about that little saying. Run a marathon and change your life. But now as we draw near the end of this round, I am coming to realize just how true it is. Not only are there all the health factors, and might I say I have never looked this good in my life...you know curves and now smaller curves. (lol) But I started think abou the friends I have made here at runners world. I have a new set of 30-40 people I can talkto that I never have before. I have a set of 5 people that wish I would not talk as much as I did before. I really enjoy and look forward to meeting up for the group on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I cannot wait to get to the end of the chapter...I am not going to skip right to the next one, I will relish in this for a while. Matter of fact, I think I will wear that medal for a week straight. I may...or may not take it off to shower. I will though look forward to continuing this book with you crazy runners at Runners World. Thank you.

I don't do sentiment, so don't ever talk about this post with me in person. Just read the post and go on with your lives, never mentioning it again.

Now you're it.

I forgot to tag someone in my post, so now I tag Kim, the vanilla bean herself

I've been tagged.

Sorry it's been a while since I have been able to write. SOOOO much has happened. I ran 20 miles...then a couple weeks later I ran 22. It sound much easier in that sentence than it actually was. You know, in the moment or many moments I feel like I have been beat, I have hit a wall, i have to walk...oh the dreaded walking. But each time I finish a run of this magnitude I feel like I have just defeated a dragon. Not that I truely know what that feels like, but other words cannot describe.

On to the tagging...lets see here, 6th folder 6th picture. Well here you go...ok, I guess it wanted to go to the top of the page. So scroll up for the pic. HA! Deon took this pic aftera day of fun playing paintball. This was actuallu the day after the 20 miler. Our legs actually held up pretty good with all the crouching. Thanks for playing D.

See you all at the finish...THIS WEEK!!!

mirely a flesh wound

I thought that my leg blew up today. Other than being a little chilly, this was a great run. However at mile 5 or 6, I felt something like a charlie horse in my calf. ((Is it spelled like the animal?) weird). I walked for a min then it was fine so I ran again. But the little booger came back. I felt a weird pop and then a pain that I haven't experienced since I lost my knee cap in wrestling. I am still not sure what happened. I will go and visit my sister the PT on Monday if it still hurts, but as of now it still hurts.
Wonder how much it will affect my paint balling skills tomorrow?
Good runs today folks. See you all on Tuesday.

Long time gone

The title applies to both parts of this post:

Wow, I am not sure if anyone missed me but I was on vaca last week in Cancun MEX. It was a totally awesome time. I was able to go repelling, zip lining, kayaking, jet skiing snorkeling, and so much more. I was only able to get one 3 mile run in the whole time, but it was to some ancient Mayan ruins then up the tallest Mayan temple in the Yucatan peninsula and back. It was amazing. Travis and I truely got lucky getting in on this trip.

Now on to the run for this week. Again, I will start out with a big fat WOW!!! Who would have thought in the beginning of this training that they would have made it to twenty miles? I knew this day would come. Let me tell you my friends, this one was rough on me. I felt great to about mile 15, but things went down hill rapidly after that. My hammies started tightening up and aching. My right knee hurt only when I stepped with it. And i was cheering on Aaron using the name Mike for the LAst 7 miles. I was quite emabrrassed when I found out.

But I made it. Lisa and I even mustered up the last bit of energy in our bodies to finish strong.

I think the thing that made the day the absolute best was seeing my husband, daughter and dog at the park in the desert. They came up and met me on the trail.

Number of pee breaks on the run---2

Number of poo breaks on the run---1

number of times I walked---????

crossing the finish with your friends---Priceless

Thanks Team Bean

Thrusdays are the best

I am not sure why, but I always feel great on Thursdays. I thought I would finally snag a pic of Team Bean before the marathon was all over. So here we are.

Ok, they I felt I needed to show the three hotties in the group.

Then I caught mr paparazzo himself.

My two cents

Well it's in the books. I logged my mileage for Saturday. 18 miles. Let me say that again...18 miles.
This run was sooooo much better than 16, and I finished 20 mins faster than when we did 16mi. Crazy. The first loop was 1:15:06 and the second was a dicouraging 2:31:50. I really thought that I had sped up that second lap, but I guess not. Then the third lap Jason and I led out a little ahead of the group. And we had an awesome pace going. We had to nearly sprint to make it out before the "walkers for obesity" group on the west side of the river. We barely made it too. Then we were moving across the pedistrian bridge and the beginning of the midland valley trail too. I felt like we were boooking it. Then I needed to stop for water at the last stop, but Jason kept going. He was ready to just be done. Of course there was no water. I watched a FF chick and dude stop and get some water and the chick had two hydro packs on her belt. (I wanted to tackle her) But I had to save the rest of my energy for the last mile and a half. I gotta tell you...this is where I hit my wall. I had to stop and walk. Deon caught up to me and I ran with him for about a mile, but then he left me too. But I did see my breath of fresh air in the last half mile. Travis (my husband) walked to meet me and then finished my run in with me. He is the best. When I came up on the clock I really thought it was going to rip me a new on for all the walking I did. But it didn't. I finished in 3:42:08. The last lap was a negitive split. 5 mins faster than the previous two laps.
At the end, I told Travis about hitting the wall. And he offered up some great advise that I will share with those of you who read this.
He says:
"The wall is always going to be there...you just have to remember it's only made of styrofoam."
Thank you Travis

Hodge Podge

Ok, so I haven't run since last tHURSDAY,

I am eating like a mad woman,

I am scared about 18 this weekend,

and I added two new pics to my blog for all those who wanted to see my little girl. I had these taken this week. They are near the bottom.

Peace....erin

Let me just slip this in...

I feel like it is a little late to rant about sixteen and that you can probably get the gest of what I would write by reading the other posts about the LONG 16 miler.
I will however look forward. My husband says, you cannot have all your long runs be good runs. I reflect back to my half training and remember the same happening. All my long runs were awesom except the 10 mile long run. It took place the week before the half. I truely thought I might have made a mistake, that my body wasn't the type that could go that far. I laugh now cuz our tamered down long runs are now that 10 mile length. LOL anyway. I say all of this in preperation for our 18 miler. I look forward to it going much smoother now that I have a bad run under my belt. I isn't even that it was bad, I just felt physically defeated afterward.

See you all Thursday.

Hurricane Ike

I am kinda looking forward to the 16 miles this weekend, but I sure do wish Ike would leave us alone. I am totally fine with it starting to rain after I have started my run, but I do not like starting in the rain.
Does anyone know any rain go-away dances? Or bring the cooler weather dances? Just wondering.
6 miles was a little rough tonight. Many thanks go out to Lisa for sticking around with me. I am just glad I didn't have to ask if it was clean. Only a few will get it.

BTW, Ken...Kim Thurman has a new blog. SHe needs to be added to our group.

Songs of the 90's

How much fun was the run this morning? BTW, I took role and was missing several faces in the crowd. Maybe they looked at the weather channel...not me. I was there.
Anyway, this morning was nice and chilly. I decided to run with my light jacket. Well, about two miles into the run I realized I would have been fine just to leave it in the car. But then the sprinkles came. It got a little chilly again, but not enough to throw it back on. I was laughing when I came to the third hill by about mile 3. This is because I knew most of this course, and I KNEW there were going to be a few more than 3 hills. I think the coaches just didn't want to crush our spirits before we started. Fear coupled with the thought of rain at 5:45 AM doesn't make for a big crowd.
So I quit wearing my IPOD when I run. I still like to hear music, or as most of you know sing along with my never ending song list in my head. This morning if you were anywhere close to me you probably heard a little 4 non blondes and even a little vanilla ice. there is nothing better than running and singing. I am a bit bruised by the sticks and rocks that people threw to get me to quit. But if you know me...it only got louder. I do take requests, but if you want to hear them you have to run my slow pace.

I don't get it

I do not nderstand how 14 miles can go so well. Almost easy. ANd 4 makes me feel like I am going to die.

That's all I got today. See you all Saturday.

Half marathoner no longer

Well, as most of you know I was truely excited about this run today. 14 miles is no the farthest I have ever run. Today marks the day I am no longer a half marathon runner.
Now this is not to discredit anyone in the half group. That is a lot of hard work to get that far. Today however, I broke an ER. That is "Erin Record". I am so stoked.
I ran the first part of the loop with my Team Bean fellows. The first half of the second loop with Tatur Dave and the second half of the loop with the Trail Zombie himself. It was fun getting to run at a faster pace than that of which I am used to.
We will see if 16 feels this good.

Adding Hills

I am so excited to see Coach Kathy is spicing things up a bit. If you weren't there on Tuesday, then you don't know we ran up the hill on 71st to T.M. It was a good change of pace. Plus other than the last like mile or less...isn't the last of the Route 66 course uphill?
Couldn't stay, so I only got in a teaser of about 2 1/2. I could have totally run 2 1/2 at my house. Matter of fact I have a 2,3,4,5,6, and 7 mile course mapped out at my house, complete with hills. But I would rather drive the 10-14 miles out of town to meet up with my group. I love my Runners World group.
Hopefully we see more hills.

Do or Die

Ok, so up until a week ago I was NOT going to do the triathlon I got my friends all pumped up about. I was struggling with knee issues so I decided to drop the idea and try another one later...in life. Well I was talked back into it. Now it comes time for this thing to happen. Lets forget for a moment that I have not stuck so much as my toes in the pool for a month. Lets look at the fact thatI have minimal time on a bike this month...NO time on the bike that I am riding in the race. And I have a new type of clip shoes that I am not used to.

I am pretty much relying on the running I have been doing with the AWESOME Runners World group to get me through the endurance of the whole race. I truely think I might die.

Well I am going to have to cut this blog short, I am getting ready to write my living will. If I never see you runners again, I want you to heed this one last piece of advise...Please prepare and train yourselves for events. Don't be a dumb*$$

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't

Ok, I know all of us have them, but there are days when I feel like I could run forever. I don't. But I feel like I could. Then there are days where three miles feels like up hill both ways, with no shoes.

Well because today was such a good running day, I decided to meet up with my friend afterward to go to her dance class. Please let me tell you...these girls, while in pretty decent shape, truely thought this was the best workout EVER. They were all complaining about sweating, and needing to turn on the fan, and feeling the burn. I laughed. I probably offended them, but I kinda was thinking it was a great cool down to my 6 miles that I just ran.

I told them that I had a great time, but regretfully, that I would not be back. But only because I am afraid that next week it will be back to 105* and I probably wouldn't feel like a nut. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't.

Lazy Dayz

What is the big difference between 8 and 9 miles? Well, the biggest difference is the complete lack of energy I had after today's nine mile run. Last week I went shopping all day after I was done with eight. Today, I slept. Then I was groggy so after lunch I slept again.

For those of you who don't know me very well, I am called the nap nazi at home. I think naps are a waste of the day. But the nap nazi could not keep her eyes open today.

Is this a dehydration issue? Or was nine my first brick wall?