Fifth Annual 29th Birthday Run

Saturday, May 26, was my 33rd birthday. Or my fifth annual 29th birthday. It's a joke that kind of took off on my 30th birthday and never died around here :) I always do a run on my birthday, so I decided to take my camera with me, just so my friends who don't live near me can kind of see where I live. I made a birthday mix of songs for my iPod. I went with country music in honor of my redneck Pasco County home ;) Hope y'all enjoy!

Our house. There used to be a big-ass camphor tree in the hole in the middle of the lawn, but it was cracking the driveway, so my folks had it taken out. And we took the shutters off the windows so we can get the hurricane shutters up if need be (let's hope we don't need them...)

My mom, Carol (in the middle) and our neighbors across the street, Jim and Lydia (the Nicest People EVER.) Jim is a retired Army captain from Boston, and Lydia is from Argentina. My mom threatened me physically if this photo of her showed up online. What she don't know...hehehe She was doing yard work. She cleans up good ;)

The 17th green of the Beacon Woods Golf Course, aka, Jim and Lydia's backyard

Our hibiscus

Ain't they purty? They look so tropical...

I'm 97.5% sure these are azaleas...

(Update 6/2: These are actually oleander. Thanks, Linae!)

I was pretty far away from this guy, and the picture got all blurry when I zoomed in. These dudes run amok around the neighborhood.

Hill. It's worse than it looks. We'll call it a bad camera angle. Or we can call me a wuss ;)

I love this little condo area. One of these babies will only set you back $250,000 with an in-ground caged pool. $230,000 without the pool. They're about 1200 square feet. Being a Midwesterner, I find that slightly insane, but whatever...

I'm not sure if these are ibis or egrets. I get the two mixed up. I want to say ibis, because egrets have longer, more 'S'-shaped necks. I think.

(Update 6/2: These *are* ibis. Thanks Ellie!)

Yep, we're in Florida :)

Magnolia. It smells absolutely heavenly around here between the magnolias and the gardenias

Two and a half years and I still have only seen one...

The road leading back to the house

Brown anole, one of several who live in our grill. We have to shake it before we fire it up, the little bastards...

My birthday cake. It was soooooo gooooood. My eyes still roll back when I think of it

My dad was on his way to California for work, so he wasn't able to be here. He called me while I was running and sang a birthday song he made up :) Mom and I went to dinner at a little Mexican restaurant, Estela's. Excellent food. And great margaritas! (I wanted to get a picture of me drinking one, but I forgot my camera, and I have the only cell phone in North America that doesn't have a camera in it.)

Then I had a Will Ferrell movie-thon: "Anchorman," "Old School," and "Talladega Nights." So I worked off some of the calories I had ingested by laughing my fool head off.

So nothing fancy, just a nice, quiet day :)

Random

I'm bored. I don't wanna do anything. I think I may skip out after lunch. Too bad I can't skip out of work tonight. I can't think of anyplace I would like to be less than the Hellhole today. However, if I keep up with the trend of no motivation, I will never complete my program and I will be stuck at the Hellhole for the rest of my life. It's a vicious circle.

Forgot my sunblock yesterday and got a farmer tan (burn) on my arms.

I now have incontrovertible, real-life, actual-experience proof that I am socially retarded when it comes to guys/relationships. My fate as the Crazy Cat Lady is all but sealed.

I'm about ready to start running again. I've had just over a week off completely. It feels wonderful to not have to keep training for yet another marathon. Of course, training for Marine Corps starts in July (when the weather is just lovely in Florida...) but I'll probably have forgotten how friggin' long a marathon actually is by that point ;) Anyway, I'm planning on running Tuesday morning.

Well, that's all I've got in the way of pointless, random thoughts this morning. Except for the ones about Keith Urban, but nobody wants to hear those...

I hope all the moms out there had a great Mother's Day!

And now--I'm out!

Flying Pig Photo Report

Marathon, and state, number 10! I finished in 6:04:03, which I'm pleased with considering I ran three marathons in three months. We had a great time, and it was fun to meet Jo and her Toronto contingent, and Barbara from Boston. And, of course, it was wonderful to see *jeanne* again!

Downtown Cincinnati, taken from a bridge

Courthouse in Covington, Kentucky

Who's your daddy? I was mighty tempted...


Hey, maybe it's Ocho-Cinco (Chad Johnson) in there!

Water stop just past mile 8. Cincinnati Parrothead Club

Mr. Incredible, aka Mark Carlson of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Pete Rose Way. Any 'bets' on whether I'll finish? bwahahaha

Considering it was near mile 26, the odds are very good ;)

Finished! Jo from Toronto, *jeanne*, and me

Statue just past the "Finish Swine"

It's all about the bling, baby! Medal and technical shirt

Four Days Pre Pig

This morning, I went out for an easy three mile run. It was already hot and humid at 8 AM. Aaaaand we're back to the days of having to get your run done by 7 AM to beat the heat. Oh well, it's only for another eight months :-P

Then I did some laundry, mostly stuff I'm taking with me, including my beloved Bermuda shorts. Girls, bring your sunglasses, because I'm unleashing my brite white legs on Cincinnati!! But, being the Midwest, I probably won't even have the whitest legs there, seeing as how mine have been exposed (although properly lubed with SPF 36) for the better part of two-and-a-half years now.

Painted my toenails a bright coraly-red (OPI Cajun Shrimp, thankyouverymuch), because, as PR Goddess Nancy T. told me in Panama City Beach, "Red is fast!" My toenails were papaya-colored in Atlanta, and look what happened to me there. We only THOUGHT it was the lack of water, killer hills, and searing unseasonable heat wave that was responsible for my demise. No, my friends, it was the pretty peach nail polish. So I'm back to red, and all shall be right in my running world again ;)

Tomorrow is packing and a bit of cleaning, maybe another easy short run, and then lots of nothing.