Jacksonville Beach

Last week my mom and I headed down to Jacksonville (I think I am going to call it JAX from here on out for fun) to find a new place to live, which I will write about at some point. We made a point to head out to the beach twice. I am so excited to live near the ocean and when we were looking at places close to the beach we had to pop out there are see it.

We walked out this long pier to see the guys fishing and just to see something. I was too lazy to take my sneakers off and I didn't want to get sandy before I looked at more apartments. When we got out to the end a guy caught a shark... it may have only been 3 feet but it was still a shark. After they brought it in, at this point my mom and I cannot look away, the guy that caught the fish took it by the tail and essentially shot putted the shark back into the ocean. I wish I had taken some pictures of that but I was too fascinated by the shark to get out my phone. It was so pleasant to stand on the pier and hear the waves and feel the breeze. I am so looking forward to sitting out there and catching the sun soon.

The next day after dinner we headed back out there to walk on the sand. It was super hard to find parking down there, people live right on the beach and the majority of the water front appears to be private. Anyway we took a few minutes to walk on the sand. It is so different from the Gulf of Mexico, where I have vacationed for years. The sand was harder and not really fluffy, also the tides are crazy different from one another. But it was refreshing to walk along the beach and relax.

I am so excited to hit the beach, although I will have to figure out the best times to go since they are pet friendly before 9 and after 5. I cannot wait to take Lily to the beach!!

 I would almost put money on the fact that Lily will hate the beach but it will be fun to take her out there a few times. Who knows, she could become a beach babe!

Apartment Hunting: Before I left town

Before I headed down to JAX (Jacksonville) I put together a list of requirements for my new apartment as well as a list of apartments. I did finally hire an apartment locator who was clutch in this process. In many cities you have to pay for this service but here it is a free service and it is worth it. I loved that I could tell her what I wanted and she would send me a list of places and would be willing to call them and figure out information that I needed. She was also able to tell me about the locale amenities and the differences between the two markets (for instance no where in Jax have W/D hook-ups).

Anyway back to the list of requirements:
-2 bed, 2 bath
-Pet friendly, with a walking path for Lily
-Good kitchen: lots of cabinets, sprayer for cleaning out large pots
-a place to hang my pot rack
-able to open the dishwasher while washing dishes
-walk in closets
-no sliding glass doors (this is for real)
-washer and dryer (apparently in jax there are no complexes with hookups)
-patio
-linen closet
-carpet
-prefer first floor apartment
-fans in all rooms
-close to work
-a place to run nearby
-Gated community
-storage


Here is the list from the last time I apartment hunted (dream apartment), looking back those lists are very similar. It was hard to figure out what was important and it was nice to be able to tell someone all of these things and have them give me a list. I will admit that I still had to sort through the list and decide if I liked those properties. Looking at apartment complexes takes time even if it is just online, so annoying.

I love looking back as those lists and realizing what was important and what is just a bonus. I am so excited to move to a new place and start a whole new adventure.

Friday's Fun Foto's

I have been pretty busy with work and getting things together for my move to Jacksonville, that I thought that I would just share a few of my favorite recent pictures.

I got a chance to hang with my nephew, obvi we make funny faces.

I got a chance to check out an event for DFN (*media)

 I love this pic because I look really thin... I mean amazing. Ignore the hair it was windy.

I've been getting lots of snuggles from this girl

This is Lily's spot every morning she lays in the sun and watches people walk by

No idea if this type of post will become a regular thing but I thought the name was catchy and it is a post that doesn't require something exciting. Also, I love some of these pics and thought I would share them with you.

April Recap and May Goals

I cannot believe that the month of April is already over, where did the time go? I set out 7 goals for the month of April (April Goals), I think I did really well this month. 

1- Run the capital 10K, make an awesome run mix: 

          I ran the race, and it was great. My run mix somehow didn't make it on my phone, not sure how that happened but I still had some music so that was good. 

2- Take all of the donate stuff to goodwill.
          I did this, I have another small pile started but it was nice to get so much of it out of the house.

3- Spend more quality time with Lily:
         I didn't do so well on this one, we didn't make it to the dog park as often as I wanted but I did make a point of finding time to be with her. 

4- Fitness: 

        I got the miles in and was really close to the number of strength training days that I wanted. 

5- Read 5 fiction books and 1 non-fiction: 
      Definitely hit the number of fiction books and I am close to finishing the non-fiction books

6- Submit 1 manuscript and be close to finishing the second: 
      Sent the first out and haven't heard anything back yet (which is good). I haven't looked at the other one recently.

7- Apartment things:
      I hired a locator and I am working on my Excel sheet for the Jacksonville visit. 

May Goals
This month is going to be pretty busy but I found that laying out clear manageable goals allowed me to know when I had finished the tasks.

1-Manuscripts: Finish the paper that I am currently writing, the review, and hopefully submit it. Hopefully we will get reviews back from the one submitted and be able to resubmit or get it out for publication. It is a long process but I want to stay on top of it.

2- Fitness: I want to try and run the 30 miles again this month, without a 10K that might be difficult. I also want to keep up with my strength training, I am shooting for 20 days this month.

3- Find an apartment: My mom and I are going to Jacksonville in about 2 weeks and the goal is to find an apartment and put down the deposit.

4- Hire movers and a moving truck: once most of the place details are locked down I want to start working on the remaining details. I am pretty sure that I have finalized the use of a moving truck as opposed to movers or PODS (this could change).

5- Quality time with Lily: Sometimes I feel like I get so busy I just assume that she will be around when I finally get home. I want to make a point of choosing her first, I decided that I wanted to have a dog when I got her and I need to make sure that I am being accountable to that. I am also going to try and work on not getting frustrated when she just wants to smell all of the things when I want to be done with the walk. I am shooting for 4 visits to Mutt's this month. 

6- Read more: I loved making a point to spend time on my reading, whether it was before bed or early on a Saturday morning. I was reminded that I very much enjoy that. The goal is 5 fiction and 1 non-fiction. This seems like a good balance of fiction and truth. 

7- The schedule: I would like to figure out the dates that I am traveling in the next two months before the move. I am planning trips to St. Louis, San Antonio, Jacksonville, maybe a girls weekend, packing, a possible trip down to see my folks again (not sure on that one yet), going away parties here, and who knows what else. I just realized that I have so many things that I am trying to do that I have got to get a plan. 

8- Start reading my new textbook: I also would like to start spending some time on planning out my whole new classes thing. 


I am going to stop here on this list, it is starting to make me just a bit on the crazy side. If I actually think about all of the things that need to get done I am going to panic and not actually do anything for the rest of the day. I cannot do that. I am rocking the to-do lists these days, if they are detailed enough they can keep me on track otherwise I get a little lost in the day. What are your goals for the month?

Packing for the Capital 10K

So the Capital 10K (you can read about my race and training) is held in Austin, Texas which meant that I had to pack and couldn't decide what I wanted for the race at the last minute. I am a pretty good packer most of the time but I wanted to make sure that I got to the race with all of the things that I need.

In the picture:
Sports Bra (Moving Comfort, Rebound Raced): I have searched long and hard for one that keeps the girls in place and doesn't feel strange. This is it, my girls feel secure and stay in place.
Socks: These are amazing, super expensive $15 but feel so good.
Tank and pants: These are both pretty seamless and super lightweight. These pants feel like I am not wearing any pants at all.
New Balance Shoes: I love these shoes I have several pairs of them now, these are so comfy and are good for my feet.
Hot pink FlipBelt: This is a life saver, I got this for Christmas from my folks and I love it. I thought it might be like a fanny pack but most of the time I don't even feel it. My iPhone6 fits in there, just barely, and it has a clip for my keys.
Accesorries: Shades and some headphones
Products: EOS lipbalm, I always want chapstick during the run but this stays on for most of the race. BodyGlide, this prevents chaffing, you rub it on kinda like deodorant. Sunscreen (not shown), I did use this but it was shady so I didn't really need it but I didn't want to burn.

Lily wanted to come too and was ticked that I was packing

The Cap10K gave out a running shirt as their race shirt. I am not a huge fan of running in T-shirts anymore, I get way too hot, so I wasn't sure what to do with the top. At the race I noticed that one girl had cut hers into a cute running tank, so I did the same.

This awesome new running top

All in all it was a great 10K, I am looking forward to my next one. Also, cutting this shirt up was kinda difficult since it is not made of cotton but more like a wicking fabric. I can't wait to run in this one. 

Capital 10K: The Race

So the weekend of the race finally arrived and I was both super excited and terrified. The forecast had been calling for 100% rain for race day for a week, so it looked like we were going to run this race in a Texas storm. But as we got closer to the race the rain had held off so I began to hope that I would be running on a beautiful Texas morning, however I wasn’t that lucky. The race is run in downtown Austin, near the capital, very early in the morning. We left the house around 545 so that we could get down there and find parking. We got lucky in that we found an open business, at 7AM, to hit the potties before we went to wait in line to start running at 815. Since we had so much time I took a few minutes to stretch and enjoy the morning with my BFF Stacee.

As we got lined up at the start, there was lots of excitement and some anxiety about the rain. Mostly we chit chatted and tried to keep limber. It wasn’t a crisp morning it was relatively cool, maybe mid 60s, and humid as all get out. There was some low lying clouds that were super pretty to look at.

Eventually 8:15 arrived and we were off… since it wasn’t a super bright or beautiful day it was slightly a struggle to get into the grove. I am not a super fast runner and we were at the front of the pack for our time group, so I got passed often in the first mile or two. I really stuggled to keep it together at that point but I finally realized that this was my race and it was just me and the pavement. I was able to keep it together and pace the race really well. Somewhere between mile 2 and 3 it started raining… that made it extra hard to keep going. Also, the entire first 5K was up and down hills so I had to walk a portion. I struggled on this part, it went up and down and then there was another hill so I had to walk it up.

Eventually I passed the marker for mile 6 and I was so close I could practically taste the finish and smell myself. It was drizzing pretty steady at this point so I was so ready to get to the finish line. Apparently Stacee was watching me cross the finish line and she said that I was so focused I didn’t hear it. I was just trying to make it under 75 minutes. I got close it took me 76 minutes, but I did stop at all of the water stations. I will say that the post race center was sub-par but I think some of that was due to the rain. It wasn't well organized and I was not about to wait around in line for a banana. 

The runners

At the end of the day, I am so proud that I ran the race and I am currently looking for more 10Ks to run in the near future both in Florida and in other states. I think I may start traveling for 10Ks and having my friends meet me there for a run. This is a great run, I think that some better weather would make it just a bit better but I would totally run this again if I could.