29 Until Jer is All Mine!

The clock is frantically ticking and with less than a month to go it's crunch time! I haven't gotten as much done on the to-do list this past month because things were still at a peak school/job wise, but with only 29 days to go there isn't a whole lot of procrastination time left.

Wedding To Do List…

Invitations to the wedding

Invitations to the engagement party

Dress Alterations

Dress Shoes

Wedding Cake

Marrying Man

Wedding Favors

Flower Bouquets

Registry

Book Honeymoon

Plan for the rehearsal lunch

Formal wear for the guys

Update Wedding Website

Wedding night hotel room

DIY Photobooth

Marriage Contract

Jer’s Ring

Get my rings resized

Guest Book

Music

SlideShow

Food at Reception

Drink list

Ring Bearer/Flower Girl Items

Garter

On the plus side of things I received some terrific news today. Jer and I asked my grandpa, Charles Coogan, if he'd do us the honor of officiating our wedding and he said YES! I didn't even think it was possible having a loved one officiate until I went to Alicia's wedding where she had her brother-in-law performing the ceremony. Apparently it only takes 3 minutes to become a certified minister. Who knew? I couldn't be happier having one of the greatest men alive marrying me and my best friend.

PS: Liz threw me an amazing bridal shower this weekend which I will post soon! We've also got an engagement party this coming weekend hosted by my lovely parents...so many awesome parties to look forward to this May!!

Ra Ra Ra Race Recap

My goals for this spring season were both of the following: to race freqently and well, and to PR in any event I attempted shorter than a marathon. The idea behind all of this is that if I can go into next fall as a low or sub 15 minute 5k runner, rather than the 15:26 guy that I've been, I might have sufficient speed to run a faster marathon, which for me means something more like 2:25-2:28. Now let's leave aside the questionable logic implied there (there are plenty of women with faster marathon PR's than me who I could take 9 times out of 10 in a 5k), those were my goals, and I just wanted to get fast, fit, and tough, and race like the gritty SOB that I imagine myself to be.

I've already accomplished part of my goal: I've notched PR's in the 5k and 10k, and I've raced 12 times since starting this “season” in December. Numbers 11 and 12 of that total came yesterday.

Part one of my double came at the Castle Hills Fiesta 5k, which was what I would generously term a “small” race. More accurately, there were about 50 people at the race.

Really wasn't joking about the 50 people thing

It was old school, which is just fine with me – cover whatever distance faster than everyone else, anything else is secondary. I ran 15:48 for first, roughly a minute and thirty seconds ahead of 2^nd. Was the course accurate? No idea. I just ran pretty damn close to all out until I got to the finish line. I look at it as the best training you can do – there isn't much that's more specific to racing a fast 5k than racing a 5k. And if I can continue to find awesome race directors who will let me in for free, I will happily substitute these semi-time-trials for workouts.

This pretty much sums up the race

Race #2 was the Fiesta Fandango 2.6 mile run. Why 2.6 miles? The race just follows the parade route for the Fiesta Flambeau parade, part of Fiesta, which is a pretty damn big deal here in San Antonio. The race went off at 6:40pm, with the parade to follow at 7 pm, and the crowds gathered in bleachers along the downtown streets having been there for several hours already. Which is to say, man those people were drunk, rowdy, and loud.

I struggled mightily to keep up with one younger guy for the first half mile, but thankfully was able to gap him not long after. Once I got a few seconds on him, I was so overcome with relief that my legs (which up to that point had felt shit-tacular) were holding up, I decided to savor the moment, and the crazy crowds, and goof around a little bit.

It was really awesome to be in a race and not feel stressed out about competing all the way to the finish – I just picked it up when I felt capable of doing so, slowed down when I felt taxed, and waved to the onlookers along the way. My final time was 12:45, which if the course distance is to be believed is 4:54 pace, or 15:14 5k pace. I have some doubts that I ran that fast, but again this was old school – just get to the finish before everyone else, and that I got done. All in all, a successful day, and it gives me the confidence to go after my 5k PR at Rice this Saturday, assuming I haven't procrastinated so much that I can't get in to the race. I don't know if it will work out, but I do know that when this fall rolls around I will have the confidence to attempt to take more than a few minutes off of my marathon best.

2 Months Until People Realize I Can't Dance!

Well it's actually a little less than than two months, but life's been a little hectic. Things are slowly getting checked off the list thanks in large part to all the help I'm getting from some amazing people.

*Some of the items are only half way crossed off because they aren't quite done

Wedding To Do List…

Invitations to the wedding

Invitations to the engagement party

Dress Alterations

Dress Shoes

Wedding Cake

Marrying Man

Wedding Favors

Flower Bouquets

Registry

Book Honeymoon

Plan for the rehearsal lunch

Formal wear for the guys

Update Wedding Website

Wedding night hotel room

DIY Photobooth

Marriage Contract

Jer’s Ring

Get my rings resized

Guest Book

Music

SlideShow

Food at Reception

Drink list

Ring Bearer/Flower Girl Items

Garter

I was also finally able to send off bridesmaid dresses awhile ago. I hope all my lovely ladies like 'em!

Jer's been amazing through this whole process. He always seems to know the right thing to say or the right mood to be in when I'm just about to go over the edge. He's helped to make so many decisions where I'm stuck in the middle. He also did an AMAZING job of picking out where to go on our honeymoon too! 

 Drum roll please............

EXCELLENCE Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic!

Take a peak!



Doesn't it take your breath away?



The honeymoon picking was all Jer and I couldn't be more excited!! He was also Mr. Fabulous when it came to trying on his tux as well as the groomsmen attire (so we could see if it was the right color choice).



Contrary to what you're thinking he's never done professional modeling

 

I was a little under dressed

So here's to hoping that we're able to cross more items off the list before we're down to a mere 30 days!

Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my soon-to-be brother Karl! 21, woo hoo!!

↓ in Iron = ↓ in Performance

Last Wednesday I finally went to see Dr. Karrh. For awhile now I've noticed an extra level of difficulty in my workouts and even on easy runs. I thought it was weird because my mileage hasn't been very high either. So two things came to mind, either my asthma meds needed some adjustment (since I was have a VERY difficult time breathing during workouts) or my iron level was low.

So at 4:00PM on Wednesday I got 2 1/2 tubes filled with my lovely blood and waited. Luckily Dr. Karrh works faster than any doctor I know and called me the very next morning at 10:00AM with results! Now that's fast. He checked three different things...my hemoglobin level, my ferritin level, and my thyroid level. Hemoglobin was 14, normal, and my thyroid level was normal too. However, my ferritin level was 8! Crazy low. So he put me on prescription iron supplements and told me it'd take about 2 weeks for them to really take effect.

This was honestly the best diagnosis I could've asked for. Iron deficiency is one of the easiest things to fix instead of attemping to get a new cocktail of asthma meds or whatever else could've been wrong with me. It explains so much with how training has been going and racing.

So how could I have possibly been so iron deficient? No, I am not a vegetarian..I LOVE MEAT, I EAT MEAT, and I CRAVE MEAT. Well here are some things I've learned over the past week that prohibited my iron absorption.

1. Ground Beef is not a good source of iron since it's so well cooked. Unfortunate because I have lots of meals with ground beef. LAME!

2. Caffeine inhibits iron absorption. So all those meals that I wanted some delicious Dr.Pepper to wash down all that good wholesome iron with was no bueno. Also my consumption of coffee has increased over the past year. Having a cup a day in the morning, either with my second breakfast or right after turned out to be a bad idea too.

3. Calcium and iron cancel each other out. So keeping those two separated is important. Having queso at a lot of great restaurants right before eating my amazing steak or chicken was not a good idea.

4. Iron is best absorbed with orange juice (rich in vitamin-c), but obviously avoid the oj with calcium.

I wish I would've known these things prior to my iron level taking a toll on my running performance, but I found out the hard way. Luckily it was soon enough before my hemoglobin levels dropped too much leading to anemia or to me developing a serious injury.

This whole process has gotten me really excited about the future. I wasn't terribly pleased with my recent race performances, but the fact that I still hit the times I did with a seriously low ferritin level lets me know that I'm in great shape and will hopefully get back on track before the weather really starts heating up!

Spring Stress

Spring break was anything but a break. My long list of To-Do's was basically about to explode if I didn't get some things done. Unfortunately on the way to checking those items off I was STRESSING big time! But in my defense there was a ton to get done...wedding stuff, job application, and a grad school research paper that was due. All in the same week?!

Wedding stuff was planned and organized throughout the week. Big props to my mom for being so helpful and making all those excel sheets with time lines and due dates. I'm so grateful she decided to spend some of her time off dealing with lots of wedding planning!

Next up was taking all the necessary steps in making sure I have a job for next year! Who wouldn't be stressed? The application for another NCAA grant was due on Friday and my co-workers and I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday plowing through all those lovely questions. I couldn't be more thankful to them for spending their free time to get the application done. Now it's just a waiting game to see if we actually get it : )

Last major thing I got to stress about was my graduate research paper. The first draft was due this Monday. Basically, if I didn't get it done by then there would be a 0% chance of me graduating this semester. Seeing as how I'm ready to be done with my masters degree I figured I should probably get on this stat! 21 pages were sent off Monday night to my professor. For that, I have Jer to thank. He helped look over the paper. Luckily I chose a topic that he has a huge interest in so it wasn't quite as painful for him as it could have been (I think).

I'm a lucky girl to have so many people who are looking out for me. I also lucked out because we only had two games to work throughout the week so I was able to take some time off to get my stuff taken care of.

Double (Triple!?) Race Recap

Saturday, March 5, 8:30AM:

Jer wins Alamo Heights High School Band 10k 40:12. As you might’ve guessed from the time this was not what we would call a “maximal effort”.  Some of Jer’s work friends were doing it and he heard there were gift cards on the line, and Jer is nothing if not a sucker for gift cards.

Gift Card Acquired!

Saturday, March 5, 6:15PM:

I won the Incarnate Word Invitational 800m run in 2:19.56. This was a little over a 3 second PR for me from my freshman year of college. I haven’t raced the event in over 4 years so I was going into unknown territory. I had a blast. Lining up with my Roger Soler singlet that has 13.1 and 26.2 written on the front (because we’re waiting for our official ones to come in) was amusing to me. As soon as the race had started I was already in dead last the first 30meters and immediately started questioning whether entering in the race was the best idea. However I caught up to the group by the 200m mark and found out most of the girls had taken it out in 32 while I was a second behind. I got excited and passed on the curve, I know, a rookie mistake (jer note: that's not that bad of a mistake), and eventually took the lead before the last lap. At this point I was feeling great and was planning my awesome kick for the end, but as soon as I got to the 600m mark I immediately started to feel the lactate burn. I don’t really remember a whole bunch after that except looking behind me a couple of times, again rookie mistake (okay, this one was pretty bad), and just swinging my arms as hard as I could. I ended up winning by two seconds. It was a ton of fun and I look forward to doing more short races this season.

Crazy Arm Swing!

Saturday, March 5, 9:00PM

Jer takes seventh in the Incarnate Word Invite 5000m race. He lined up with roughly 40 other guys for what has become in the last couple of years a consistently good race, both in terms of competition and conditions. The wind had died down by this point and they were left with high 40’s and no humidity, near perfect for racing. The gun went off and Jer settled in at the back of the front back of guys. He looked amazing coming through the first 1600m at 4:50. The front pack started to pick it up and Jer’s group started to string out a little more. He was looking pretty grungy (see below) during the second mile and I started to get a little worried. I tried getting his splits, but trying to take pictures and splits at the same time was not working out so I missed the 2^nd mile. Later I found out his second 1600m was 4:54. All he had was a little over a mile to go and noticed he was starting to catch guys one by one. His grungy look started to fade and a more determined expression came on his face. I was in the dark time wise as I started to make my way over to the finish line. Once I get there I see Jer  passing the guy who had been leading the first half of the race. As soon as he finished I find out he just knocked 10 seconds off his 5000m PR set his senior year of college for a new PR of 15:16.41!

Grungy!

Looking a little more solid

Congratulating Pancho after his massive PR!

Telling these guys how awesome they are!

Back to work slacker!

Saturday March 12, 8:00AM

We both headed over to Houston to race the Bayou City Classic 10k. Unfortunately the overriding factor in both of our days was the fact that we didn't get to Jer's parents' house until after 11pm the night before the race, and then our beloved dogs (again, see picture below) were so excited they felt the need to run around like maniacs +and bark all night. In the end, we both got less than 4 hours of sleep, and felt like crappola when race time rolled around. In the end Jer came out pretty much unaffected, running 32:01 for 5th place and (officially) a 2 minute PR. I had a tougher day, maybe from the lack of sleep and maybe from the lack of leg rubs (ahem, coach!) but I hung in there for 3rd place in 37:08. Obviously not what I was hoping for, but some days you just don't have it, and at least I picked up a little cash. Jer and I have both raced 3 weeks in a row now, so now it's time for a weekend off to recharge the batteries and get geared up for what comes next. 

PR!

Attempting to take a group photo : )

Don't let these puppies fool you, they are true terrors!

3 Months Until I'm a Daum(inator)!

90 days...just 90 days until I'm officially Mrs. Emily Daum. Time has decided to take the fast track apparently. Planning a wedding is definitely a little stressful and at the rate these days are flying by it'll be a miracle if everything gets done. But I'll admit, I haven't been very good about making sure I stay on top of things either. I feel like when I cross one item off of my To-Do List I remember 5 more things. I checked theknot.com website which has a really detailed to-do list and although it was overwhelming it helped me remember some things I had forgotten which were added to my ever so growing list.

Wedding To Do List…

Invitations to the wedding

Invitations to the engagement party

Dress Alterations

Dress Shoes

Wedding Cake

Marrying Man

Wedding Favors

Flower Bouquets

Registry

Book Honeymoon

Plan for the rehearsal lunch

Formal wear for the guys

Update Wedding Website

Wedding night hotel room?

DIY Photobooth

Marriage Contract

Jer’s Ring

Get my rings resized

Guest Book

Music

SlideShow

Food at Reception

Drink list

Ring Bearer/Flower Girl Items

Garter

Jer is trying his best, as always. Since he has a more rigid work schedule he's taken the reigns on planning for our honeymoon! He's really excited and so am I! Here's to hoping time slows down just a little bit.