Monday, May 17, 2010

Weekend Adventure and House/Wedding Update!


Just to prove that we do not live up to our team name "High Maintenance" I will share these awful pictures!

About a month ago, friends from work invited R and I to join their marathon relay team. At first all I heard was "marathon" and I thought "NO WAY!" Sadly, after completing 26.2 miles only 4 months ago, I have not maintained that level of fitness and 3 miles may or may not be tough to complete at times, especially in this lovely hot, humid weather. Then I heard the "relay" part and that the team consists of 6 people - which averages each leg of the relay to be only about 4.4 miles. Much more manageable. So we decided to start training... then we got engaged and wedding planning took over my life, so I didn't do quite as much as I would have liked.
Nonetheless, we headed to Corpus Christi on Friday for their 35th annual Beach to Bay Relay Marathon which is held on Armed Forces Day each year. The rest of the group planned to leave at 1pm, but I had to work so we were going to try to leave at 3... of course I ended up being stuck with work until about 4pm. Once I got home, I hadn't packed, hadn't eaten lunch... so we didn't end up leaving until about 4:45pm. I was not looking forward to Friday afternoon traffic on southbound 59, but that ended up being minor compared to the deluge that we encountered. Who knew a 60% chance of thunderstorms meant a tropical storm class rain was on the way?!?! Richard, ever mindful of my safety, decided to stop at the Target in Rosenberg to kill a little time and buy some supplies (read: junk food) in hopes that the rain would let up. It seemed a little better, so we got back on the road. Didn't take long to realize that R was putting his precious cargo in danger, so he suggested stopping at my parents' for a bit since it was only a couple exits south. Mom and Dad happily hosted us for about 45 minutes before we set out again for our destination. The rain was better, but pretty steady for the majority of the rest of the trip.
We arrived about 10:45 that night, exhausted, but assuming that was the end of the rain. Everyone got up the next morning and it was overcast but no rain. R and I were legs 5 and 6 respectively so we didn't have to be at our start points until after the others. We left around 8am and it was super windy. Leg #1 was already completed and our teammate had a good time, so we were looking forward to getting to our parts. Again, still didn't realize what was coming. Started raining on our drive but kept hoping it would get better. He dropped me off to stand with the other several hundred people waiting for the shuttle to our start. So I stood there for oh, 15 minutes in the POURING DOWN rain, which I thought was bad... until we got picked up and dropped off to wait for over an hour in the POURING DOWN rain, no shelter, for my teammate to pass off the baton to me. We had all brought our phones so we could communicate with each other so I stood with the other fools running my leg and texted Richard, hunched over trying to keep my phone dry and warm myself up, keep some rain off (impossible). I was trying to come up with an escape plan while simultaneously praying that someone would cancel the run since it was lightning all around us. Had 5 other people not been depending on me to do my part, I would have hightailed it out of there. A little girl behind me was crying, begging her mom not to make her do it. I felt like crying, too!
Anyway, the rain finally let up right before Lisa handed off to me. It misted/rained lightly for my entire 4 miles, but I kept a good, consistent pace with the promise of shelter and seeing R ahead of me! We finally met up with the team and I realized it could have been worse - I didn't have to run in the intense wind or when it was pouring (would have busted my butt) like some of the others. All in all, it was a success (our team's time was much better than I expected!) and we definitely made some memories. And I learned that I CAN be tough when it comes down to it :)
Now we have to find our next event to train for!

In other news, the house is progressing very nicely!! Still hoping to close mid-late June - only about a month away!

The kitchen! This was Friday, before it was stained.
Mid-staining Sunday afternoon... also, there is paint on the walls and trim around the doors!
Up close view of the stone I almost didn't get to have! (Sunday)
This was Friday - the brick is done!
The stone and brick are done! Pretty much all the exterior to the house was done before the horrible weather hit Friday evening/Saturday morning. I am thankful that God withheld the rain until my house was prepared to take it! I'm sure the rest of the homeowners in the area aren't quite as happy about it.

Finally, for wedding news, we have set a date - November 6th! As of today, we have 5 months and 20 days to go - not that we're counting! The ceremony will be at Calvary Baptist in Rosenberg and the reception is going to be at the Golf Club at Cinco Ranch. We went to a Marriage Prep seminar at Second Baptist with good friends Debi and Jeff last weekend to hopefully help us start off on a good foot. I have signed a contract with a photographer http://www.melissakuchar.com/ so now the biggies left on my list are bridesmaid dresses/groomsmen tuxes/suits, flowers, cakes, and deejay. If you have suggestions, please leave them in the comments!

Love, B


4 comments:

  1. Hip hip hooray for all of your progress!!

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  2. Wow I'm jealous of the house! Out here that would be a cool mil in my neighborhood. Well, maybe only 800

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  3. And crazy weather story! Glad you didn't float away...

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  4. Haha, that's almost how much I paid for it Eva ;) Good thing I don't live in LA!

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