We have windows!

I believe all our windows are in at this point. Framing is done. Next is drywall. Yippee!!



After much thought and consideration, I will not be running the Detroit Freep Marathon this year :(

For a couple different reasons.

First, this whole house building thing is a little more involved than I thought. Every night we have something to do. Whether it's running to Lowes or meeting with a contractor or walking through the house, there is always something. Time-wise, it's demanding. On top of just time, it is crazy stressful. Thinking of every detail and trying to plan what we want, where we want it, in what color. The process has definitely taken a toll on me. Then there's the whole living with the in-laws thing, which is a whole 'nother post... but the combination of everything is making out for a for a very unsuccessful training attempt.

Oh, and on top of all that my foot is still jacked. Last week I resumed training and my achilles is definitely not fully healed. I ran just under 20 miles, total, last week and iced and stretched but it still gave me issues. I figured I could try to push through but then my voice of reason (i.e. Chris) says something along the lines of "right now you're pushing through just enough to not do serious damage but what if during the marathon you get hurt and get a big fat DID NOT FINISH!" Which is worse? By far, hands down, the DNF.

I want my first marathon to be a grand celebration, not just a few hours on a Saturday in the midst of a thousand other things going on.

So this is me swallowing my pride and doing what is right for me and my family right now. Honestly, it's a little bittersweet. This has been such a heavy load on my shoulders. While I am sad that I am not (atleast in 2011) completeting something I started that means a lot to me, I am relieved I can fully concentrate on this little home of ours (which I hear is kind of a big deal).

N

Coming on up

We knew the framing was in progress but honestly had no idea how quickly things would be happening. We went to the house Saturday night to find out we are so much farther than we thought possible. Framing started last week Monday, so here's a weeks worth of work...

Side-loading garage and upstairs hall window

Looking out garage

Stairway to heaven...or, upstairs

Fireplace and built-ins

Looking out the slider into our backyard

We are pretty excited :)

House update!

The house is coming up pretty fast. Concrete has been poured and the framing is in progress. Of course it apparently is also hurricane season here in Lansing as we have been having monsoon rains. Apparently, we're having a pond in our backyard, too...

That will be great for the boys. Wet, muddy, stinky dogs in new house...awesome, no? Stupid rain, go away. Normally I love rain, but that's enough, really, knock it off.

I'm telling myself big storms are a token of good luck when building your home, kind of like rain on your wedding day. I say this because our friends Josh and Candi who are also buidling endured some pretty heavy rain during their framing and everything else has been smooth sailing ever since and their house is looking beautiful. First stages of denial? Perhaps.

Here are a couple more of the framing. Here you are seeing the front of the house. Front door, little entryway window and living room window.

And a direct frontal ;)

I love the backdrop in this picture. It looks surreal :)

I have yet to personally see the framing but the boyfriend has. He gets to check things out while doing his community policing.

Playmakers is the DEVIL!

Just as I had previously thought before my lapse in judgement and bought a pair of shoes from them. They weren't willing to work with me at all and pretty much had a "tough luck" attitude towards the situation. They SUCK and I will be purchasing all running shoes from Gazelle in Grand Rapids from now on. I won't be buying anything from Playmakers and I encourage you all to do the same! (Yes, I realize the two people reading this live in Phoenix and Grand Rapids, so this doesn't even apply but still...)

Apparently everything on the house front has to be chosen by the end of next week so I have had zero running time this week. I plan to at least get in a long run this weekend, hopefully.

Back to it

Saturday 7/23 was my first day back to running. I still felt a little tightness in my left achilles area but figured/was hopeful that since I took off 20 WHOLE DAYS I would be good and strong. I ran these at the Y because I didn't want to run away from home then have awful pain a few miles out and end up having to limp my sorry bootay home.

I started out nice and slow, around an 11:00/mile. It felt good. I felt strong. I wasn't running at my normal pace but that's ok, I was just happy to be running again. I did 4 miles and called it good.

What I think the issue is is my shoes, again. My last shoes I ordered online and ended up ordering a size too small. This is what I think originally caused all my feet issues. With my next pair, my current ones, I went to our local running store Playmakers. He fitted me and we did the treadmill video analysis yada yada yada. He seemed like he knew what he was talking about so when he put me in a pair that fit a little loose he reassured me I wanted them to feel like that. Considering I put myself in way too small of shoes, I trusted him and went with it. Ended up purchasing them, a hundred buckaroos later. They're return policy is 30 days. Well, in those next 30 days I didn't get much running in and didn't get a chance to test them out properly. My bad. Since then, I have determined they are WAY TOO BIG and I think this is causing my current achilles pain. I even tried inserts and they still just don't feel right. I am going to Playmakers to try and work something out. I don't need to return them but a deal on new shoes might help. Let's see what kind of business Playmakers really is, and see how important customer satisfaction is to them. I will report back.

Last night I ran in my old brooks. These were the shoes that changed the running game for me. My first loves, if you will. They're filthy, worn out, and old but I love 'em. I felt like I was running on clouds. It was amazing how easy it felt. I think I am sticking to my trusted brooks from now on. We get each other, like not many couples do. For Dances with Dirt coming up in September I need a few pairs of shoes anyway, that helps soften the pain from spending yet more money on running STUFF.

House stuff is CRAZY right now and kind of stressful. Cement has been poured and framing is in process. Pics to come!

Ground Breaking News!

Approximately 8 minutes ago we broke ground! Yippee!! "We" is used loosely as Chris and I are clearly uncapable of such a task.

Happy 3rd of July!

Our festivities took place Sunday the 3rd instead of Monday the 4th. My fam - Mami, Dad, June, Anna, and the Gabs all came to casa Kuhlman for the day. My mom brought all the fix-ins for a Mexican feast to celebrate this wonderful country I call my home. Mexican on Independence day is totally acceptable, after all America is a melting pot folks. 


The day consisted of a little bit of this...

A beautiful day with family, good food, good times.... making memories that really count!

Quartz or Granite

Sure, picking out ALL the details in your home sounds like fun but man can it be a little overwhelming?! It seems like we are meeting with a different contractor for the house every night. I mean, obviously not every night because Chris works nights so that would be impossible but you get what I am saying. I think we are set with the cabinets. White, shaker style, full overlay <--- don't I sound like I know what I am talking about. It's funny how the internet works like that. They look something like this:

And our kitchen will look nothing like this:

We will opt for darker floors and more of a greige wall color. Also, our countertops won't be fugly. We will have stainless appliances as well as the recessed lights.

Speaking of countertops, my ideal is a play on Carrara Marble. I don't want marble because it isn't practical in a kitchen and isn't practical for our bank account. We hear quartz is the new thing, with its' maintenance free rep and built in microban. Quartz and granite run about the same, so it's basically just a matter of preference. Here is the quartz version of my dream countertop:



Me-ooow

This color is from the Zodiaq brand and all the countertop and cabinet people have told us if going with quartz, Cambria is the way to go. Cambria doesn't offer this color. So what to do? Go with the lesser brand in order to get the right color or forego quartz all together and attempt to get this color in granite? Decisions, decisions....

A Cambria rep came in to town and met with us to show us some of their new colors. Nothing really sold me. I figure if I am going to spend the extra moolah I want to love it. I want it to whisper sweet nothings in my ear. I want it to... you get the idea.

On the housefront, we have YET to breakground. Waiting on some stupid permit. Doesn't Eaton County know that I am living with my in-laws...get with the program EC!

Bad News Bear

Just when I was finally starting to get my groove back the running injury Gods struck me down.

The past week I was loving running (which I hadn't really been since I started training). I was actually looking forward to my runs and was feeling pretty dang strong throughout them.

Saturday morning I woke bright and early naturally, around 5:23 a.m. Had a cup of coffee, got my gear on, and mentally prepared myself for the 7 I was about to take on. Before I started my left achilles was a little achey, I didn't think much of it.

So I was off. Around mile 2 my left achilles was pretty achey. Nothing happened, I didn't trip or step wrong or anything like that but BAM! right around the 2 mile mark it hurt BAD. I thought to myself "this might be bad and maybe you should stop" or "maybe you're just being a wuss and this is a mind game your head is playing just to stop running". Obviously, I went with thought #2 and ran another 5 miles. The pain was so bad it caused me to change the way I naturally run. They always say "if an injury forces you to run differently - STOP RUNNING. So I made it a point to not let it change the way I run and pushed through the pain and tried my best to run the way I always do.

Once back home I filled a bucket with ice and stuck my whole foot in. Iced it for about 20 minutes. After I iced I was immediately limping and knew this wasn't good. All day Saturday my foot/achilles/ankle was pretty tender and I couldn't put all my weight on it. So that was Saturday.

Sunday I woke up and it was bruised and super swollen and now I could put even less weight on it. Needless to say, I called off the 3 miler I had planned for that morning. I iced on and off all day, kept it elevated, and wrapped it nice and tight. That night a friend of Veej's came over, Lindsey who is an RN. She felt me up and said I definitely sprained/strained (can't remember which, one is muscle and one is tendon) my achilles and need to stay off it. Not so much surprised, I asked for how long - perhaps a day? or two? To which she responded at least 4 weeks!!!!! She went on how it's better to treat an injury at this level and be off for a short time versus keep pushing my body and end up rupturing my achilles and not be able to run for a LONG time...BLAH BLAH BLAH :(

4 weeks! Are you crazy? I have a marathon in October. I thought to myself maybe this whole Registered Nurse thing is a fluke and she doesn't know what she's talking about. But as I limped away in disbelief I thought maybe she was onto to something.

I am super bummed. I am going to ice, and stretch, and strengthen, and get better. I am giving myself two weeks off and we will go from there.

Chris is ready to kill me, he already thinks I push myself too far and now with this...YIKES! Although, this morning he did tell me "Babe, even though you have a bum foot I still think you're beautiful" :). Doesn't get much sweeter than that!

Our house but not our house

Today we visited a home, the same model as ours, that is just about finished. This is the same home we first walked through when it was barely just a frame. It's amazing how fast these babies go up! These people chose some interesting paint colors and pretty much everything besides the layout (mostly) will differ. 

Living/Dining/Kitchen

Nice size legdes, perfect for a plant

Master bath

Chris in his "office"

Me pointing out that we need a non-slamming toilet seat

Yay!

We are trying to decide on outside color schemes, what do you think of these two?

MT - Day 24

Another early morning run under my belt. 4 miles,


Mile 1 - 10:06
Mile 2 - 10:20
Mile 3 - 10:19
Mile 4 - 9:56
Mile 5 - 10:17 


Total time 40:43


This mornings' run was a little different, the street critters of Lansing were out and hot. First there was the skunk couple who gave me the stink eye (pun intended!), even as I crossed the street to get out of their way. If that doesn't make you run faster, I don't know what will. Oh, well maybe almost getting attacked by a momma raccoon. Yes, it almost happened. I heard a little rattling near a tree and figured it was a squirrel or chipmunk, you know a normal outside animal. Then I see it's glowing eyes crawling up the tree, a baby raccoon. Baby wasn't so scary but then I looked down and saw momma ready to pounce and scratch my eyes out. I thought then and there being attacked by a raccoon would be my karma for all the making-fun-of-Chris I have done, for him having to get rabies shots as a kid (from a dog bite, it's still kind of funny though). My speedy legs got me out safe and sound though! I saw a ton of cute bunnies that were obviously annoyed I was interrupting their quiet time. Let's see, what else... Oh, the 100+ lb dog that was in his front yard on a little, teeny, tiny lead that came charging at me. Luckily, my dog whisper skills put him at ease and I again escaped rabies shots. WINNING!

Geez, what should I expect from the country running I will soon be faced with? Cows and horses? Hopefully they don't attack.
Disclaimer: Dimondale is technically a village, therefore in my book it qualifies as country.

I also tried out my new handheld water bottle.

Pretty spiffy

It will definitely take some getting used to. My hands are so little that holding anything feels intrusive. I drank the entire bottle however so it I was happy I had it.

On the home front

The hole for the basement is expected to start being dug this week! Eek! I can't believe it's happening. Chris and I drove by the lot the other night just to check things out. Here is where our future home will lie...

We're on the corner of...

To our left...

And to our right...

We couldn't be anymore excited!

MT - Day 23

Today I am scheduled to run 3.

As of late, I have had a hard time finding the motivation to run. For me it's always easier to run in the a.m. but being to work by 7 a.m. doesn't allow for too much free morning time. Well last night I made sure to be in bed by 9:30 a.m. and set my alarm for 4:35 a.m.! No, that is not a typo.

I set out all my running gear (shorts, sports bra, T, garmin, headband, hair-tie, socks, shoes) the night before so I wouldn't fret and give up when it took me more than 60 seconds to find it in the morning. I was on the road by 4:50.

I ran sans music, for safety reasons and it felt very peaceful. Just me and the beat of my own breaths.

I ended up running 3.65 and it took me about 37 minutes.

I love morning runs. They are the best start to my day and I now have my entire afternoon free. Yay!

"Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs.  Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger.  If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves." ~Dale Carnegie    (my marathon plan in a nutshell)

MT - Day 18, 19, & 20

This week I was scheduled to run 5 for my long run. Because this weekend was pretty jam-packed I decided to run these on Friday. My next week long run calls for 9, so even though my training schedule only called for 5, I hoped to run 7. I started around 11:00 a.m. and just wasn't feeling it, at all. My left calf was really sore and pretty painful throughout the entire run. I ended up running 5.75 in about an hour and called it a day. 


I took Saturday and Sunday off, and hopefully todays' run will be better. My plan throughout this training is to listen to my body first and foremost. I don't want training to consume my world and want to avoid injuries at all costs. I'm trying not to work myself up about taking a few days off, but mentally it's pretty hard. 


Onto fun stuff. This weekend was a lot of fun. I got to spend time with people that mean a lot to me, and got to know a couple others that I foresee being dear friends. 


It started Friday night with a little birthday celebration. Deej is 36!

"Happy burthday Uncle Deej! Can I have your cake?"

Saturday we rose bright and early because Chris and I were in a golf scramble. It was us two and a sergeant and his wife from Eaton County, benefiting a retired East Lansing police officer who recently passed away from cancer. 

I have been to the driving range twice so needless to say I wasn't great. The boys were very gracious though and applauded my efforts. We even used two of my balls. 

The boys stretching it out

Merrells rock!

I'm no pro but I'm pretty sure this isn't proper golf course ettiquette

We had a blast and I even won a prize during dinner, 2 18 rounds of golf...not too shabby. 

Sunday was Father's Day so again we rose bright and early. We had a wonderful breakfast here in Lansing with Vic & Sher, then headed to GR to see my dad. I also got the spend time with the Gabs, which is always a win. 

naked baby!

playing aunt Nancy

High-five uncle Chris!

"This is my uncle Chris, he's cool..."

That my friends, in my book is a perfect weekend.