I've heard that as you get older, time starts to pass quickly. I always thought, "How can that be?" After all, a minute is the same minute whether you are 4 or 40 and so is an hour, a day, a week, a year ... and well, you get the point. I can't believe I haven't blogged in over a month and Crystal hasn't yelled at me. But, I will try to update what has been going on.
Jeff & I went back to Birmingham to look at more housing, run the Statue to Statue 15K and attend the Spring game. The housing remains an issue and after evaluating our options, putting a writting budget in place and knowing more about the taxes, insurance, etc. that comes with home ownership, we have decided to rent an apartment. At Cumberland there is no discount for in-state vs. out-of-state tuition so it makes more sense financially to rent. We may have found an apartment, but have yet to look on the inside. The Statue to Statue 15K certainly earned its title as South's Hardest 15K. The hills were huge and there was no flat road anywhere on the course. I finished and wasn't last (almost!), so I'm happy about that. The race will be marked off my "To Do" list and probably won't return anytime soon. It was tough, took a lot out of me physically (I swear it shredded my quads from the constant uphill/downhill) and mentally. I've struggled on my long runs since that time, especially when I get to hills. I just want to stop. I'm working past that and hoping to get it pushed through before the Marine Corp Historic Half Marathon coming up this weekend. While we were in Birmingham, I received a letter from USC stating that I am on the waitlist.
On May 1st, I pulled off the ultimate coup and held a surprise party for Jeff's birthday. This had been in the works since February, so I was glad that he was completely surprised. We are so blessed to have such good friends and family surrounding us. Although he was in tremendous pain with his IBS, he was a champ and handled the evening so graciously and even had a good time to boot.
On May 2nd, I experienced a few firsts... I met up with Christina at Furman to run a new route for our 11 mile long run. Neither of us had run the Green Valley route and Jeff had printed off a map for us. The map was hand drawn and he went over with me some of the trickier parts. We stashed our water and took off. The first 3 miles were fast, but the humidity was very high and we agreed to slow down the pace some. We made a wrong turn, asked a lady if she knew the street we were looking for (heck, she couldn't even understand us! We were looking for Sweet Gum and she asked, "Furman"? ) and made up the one extra mile trying to find freakin' Sweet Gum street. Thanks to the couple of golf attendants who gave us directions and second-hand smoke! So we make our way up Sweet Gum and manage to find the rest of the way to Travelers Rest okay. As we came out of TR, it all went to heck. Suddenly we were faced with Highway 25, a 6 lane highway. I really didn't think it could be correct that we run on the highway, but know that sometimes race directors will close down a lane of traffic for races so we embarked on the shoulder of the highway, trucks passing us, cars whizzing by. There were times when Christina and I would just look at each other and laugh. I think my favorite line from that day was Christina saying, "If we weren't running on the side of the highway, they would never see all this" gesturing to her body. So see, we were doing the people a favor. How funny we must have looked! We got to a road that we at least saw on the map and were faced with another dilemma - which way to go. We crossed the street and took off. Soon into that venture, it was clear it too could not be right. We saw no people, traffic, animals. There was a church with a sign announcing Missions Week. I was tempted to go in and explain that missions begins at home and we needed a ride back to Furman. Undaunted and convinced we were close, we just continued walking. Finally, we decided to turn around. As soon as we got back to the initial intersection, I felt like a goober because I immediately saw the road we should have turned on. So, our 11 miler turned into probably a 15 miler and took 3 1/2 hours. Be aware - if you get the Green Valley Road Race map from the Track Club website and don't know where you are going, it's not going to help!
I finally broke down and called the University of Alabama Law Admissions Office last week. My application has been complete since November 4 and I've been pending since January. So to me, this equals more than patient. They were very nice and told me I should know something by the end of the month. However, they also said that there is early admissions so I may hear sooner. Huh? Early admission? Yes, I know that I had indicated an interest in that and still am very interested. However, that class begins on May 26. Yep, less than two weeks from today and here I sit still not knowing. Little stresssful? You think? You betcha! Jeff and I are trying to work out a plan so that if I do get the call and need to go pronto, I can do it. It helps that my position has been replaced at work and I can leave here when I need to.
The house is still on the market. A price drop and incentive offered has brought one showing. It is positive that 22 brochures are gone in about 10 days. We at least know that we have traffic and some interest. We are trusting and praying that it all works out and we know that it is going to. It may be crazy these next 2 weeks but buckle up and hang on to your fork, the best is yet to come!
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