A MARATHON in 12 days...

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When I say what I'm about to say, you are going to think I'm crazy. And well, maybe I am...

On the weekend I signed up for the LA marathon which is happening in 12 days. Yes the FULL marathon. Why would I do that?

It all first started when I wrote this post with my marathon bucket list. And then months later after I finished my 1st full marathon this past September, I began considering my options for what's next and I wrote this post.

I really wanted to do the LA marathon in 2014, but it landed on the same weekend as an event my husband normally attends. I found out about a month ago that he wouldn't be able to attend for other reasons, but I dismissed the opportunity because it was far too late to up my distance to a full marathon... right? Never mind the cost of traveling to an international marathon and babysitting etc...

But as it turns out with the help of my ever-understanding family, I am headed to the LA Marathon!

I had only one choice this past Sunday to get myself prepared for this. The longest run I've done in the last few months has been 23km which is far from a marathon distance. So, this past Sunday, another friend, Jacki, who will also be traveling to the LA Marathon took me out for 32km.

The weather was also not unfortunately in our favor this weekend with a ton of snow which is fairly rare this late in the season on the west coast.

Nonetheless, off we went on our extremely long journey. And you know what? It wasn't easy, but it wasn't so bad. I know that I can make it to the finish line of the LA Marathon. I am not sure that I can PR, nor is that really a priority, but I know that I will get there.

Quite possibly the most exciting part of all of this is that my sister will be joining me for another racecation! Even though we live pretty close to each other now (since we moved in August), we don't see each other nearly enough. You might remember that we went to NYC together last March, almost exactly a year ago to the date of this trip.

Sisters' trip to NYC last March!

I'm so stoked to spend a weekend with her and to have her waiting for me at that finish line. Nikki & Jacki will also be racing LA and I look forward to spending time with them as well.

This is going to involve a "slightly" modified training schedule over the next couple of weeks to make up for all of the time lost but I am going to make it work. I've run over 50km in the last 3 days and even made some time to walk in the snow with my boys yesterday!

I am so thankful for my husband and his visa points which are flying us there, my wonderful Dad who is helping us get a hotel so late, and to my in-laws and favorite babysitters, you all rock!

So to those of you that know me, please leave your encouragement, your comments, and your love. I'm going to need it all to get to that finish line in 2 weeks.

New York! New York!

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"Start spreading the news
I am leaving today
I want to be a part of it
New York New York!" - Frank Sinatra

Okay so I'm not leaving today, I'm leaving in 7 but I can barely contain my excitement! In honor of our impending trip I decided to do a post purely about New York and our trip. I was thinking about how to lay this post out and I've decided to follow the 5 W's, did you learn that in school? Well, when I was in Grade 3 that's how our teacher taught us to do book reports, this isn't relevant at all but anyways...

The first "W" is Who?
Who is going to New York? Why me and my sister of course. Now my sister is in reality my "Step" Sister but for mostly my entire life, as long as I can remember anyways, I've called her my Sister so I never use the "Step" word. Besides, if there was every anyone in this world meant to be MY sister, Shandess is that person. When we were children our parents used to dress us the same so much that people thought we were blood-related more than that, they thought we were twins?!? I'm not sure how they got that though since we are two years apart.

Myself & Shandess circa 1993

 Griffin, Me making some strange face, & Shandess October 2012

The next "W" is What?

What are we going to be doing? EVERYTHING! I have never been to New York and neither has Shandess so I want to see everything! I am a total tourist, I want to take pictures on the Brooklyn Bridge, I want to eat a slice of pizza, and I want to go to the top of the Empire State Building! We have decided to take a bus tour on one of those awesome double decker buses. It will be epic. Shandess happens to be an amazing photographer so even better than experiencing all that we will have some great photos to remember this trip. We will be there for the famous NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade, did you know that New York has the LARGEST St. Patty's Day parade in the world? Pretty crazy! Do you think we should dress like this?

The next "W" is When?

Well we leave next week!!! 7 days and counting :)

The next "W" is Why?

Because I am running the New York City Half Marathon on March 17th!

The next "W" is Where?

Well I think that's clear, but if you didn't catch on we are going to NEW YORK CITY!

"And you bet baby
If I can make it there
You know, I'm gonna make it just about anywhere
Come on, come through
New York, New York, New York" -Frank Sinatra

The Giveaway

My GIVEAWAY is going to take place in less than 24 hours! Don't want to miss it? Follow my blog here: http://bit.ly/WxjtJQ

(Hint: It will give you a jump-start on entering the giveaway)

Care to take a guess at what's in this box?