Which house to pick?

In the past few weeks, I have been attempting to find houses for Philip and I to live in (rent) when we arrive in Denver. As you might imagine, it's been quite difficult since I have four dogs. It has been incredibly frustrating. I mean, my dogs aren't destructive or mean. They are cleaner than children! So, I was bummed out for a while.

I talked to Philip and we decided to have a little bit more give in our budget for the house (and pray that I find a job IMMEDIATELY).

Today, I have the best sort of problem. :) I have SEVERAL houses to look at when we go on vacation (which is now 9 days away!!). I am trying to schedule them. It's a bit crazy, but I am super excited because the more houses we have to choose from, the more likely it is that we will actually have a house to live in! lol

*sigh of relief*

So, life continues to be great in Tara's world. :) Keep your fingers crossed that one of these houses is livable and doesn't break our bank!

The South

I was born and raised in Plymouth, Indiana. I spent the first 19 years of my life living at the same address. Then, I moved to North Carolina. I've spent the past 6 years living in the south. I really love the south. I love the accent (which I have picked up... not a STRONG accent, but a southern accent nonetheless). I love the people (friendly and welcoming). And, I love southern gentlemen. :) (haha... despite the fact that I came to the south only to end up with a northern man, he's still a southern gentleman).

I love to have doors opened for me. I am fairly certain that the only doors I open for myself now are when I'm by myself or with another female. And, I adore that fact. It is probably one of the biggest things that I will miss about the south (it throws me off when I go to Indiana and men do not open car doors or hold doors open for me when entering buildings).

A feminist once told me that it is oppressive for men to hold doors open for women. It insinuates that women are incapable of holding the door. I am a feminist. I don't believe that for a second. I know that I am perfectly able to open a door by myself. I did it for the first 19 years of my life.

Despite my capabilities, I love having the car door opened for me. I love having the door held open for me when entering a building. It makes me feel like I'm in an old-fashioned romance movie. I feel truly special. Like a lady. I still get the warm-fuzzies about it.

I will miss the south for many reasons, but that's definitely towards the top of the list. ;) Luckily, I am taking one fine, southern gentleman with me to Denver. :)

My Gloriously Fantastic Life :)

My life is wonderful. Sometimes I am just in complete awe of it. I have the most wonderful man in the world as my partner in life. I have four beautiful pups. I may be jobless right now, but I know that it will look up. I have amazing friends. I have a slightly crazy but incredible family.

Vacation is in 2 weeks now. That's 8 days in Denver and then coming back to go to the beach for a few days. Two full weeks spent with Philip without him having to go to work. That's hiking, exploring, swimming, and wonderful bliss. :)

We are moving in 64 days. That's a new start in a new state 1,600 miles away. That's new friends and new places and new experiences. And it will all be shared with the love of my life.

My life is absolutely amazing.

Too much?

Well, I think I may have pushed a bit too hard. I went for my run tonight even though I've been sore all day today. Typically, the running helps my muscles. It seems to loosen them up and ease the pain a bit. However, tonight when I was running, my left leg was in some worse than normal pain and it was difficult to run on it. I thought that I could just run through it. I occasionally get an ache in my leg and I just keep running until it goes away. No pain, no gain, right?

Well, this pain didn't go away. It just got worse. Every time I stepped onto my left foot, pain shot down my left leg (the lower part... not my calves exactly because it was the front part). I'm sure I looked ridiculous on the treadmill because I was half-limping while running. It's probably also not very safe to do on a treadmill... ;)

I couldn't make it past 1.1 miles on the treadmill. It just hurt. So, I got on the bike again. It still hurt, but I adjusted myself so that my right leg was doing more of the work and not jarring my foot against the pedal. That seemed to be okay. It hurt, but not like it did on the treadmill. I did 2.9 miles on the bike.

When I got back to the apartment, I did a search to figure out why my leg was killing me. I think that I may have shin splints. If that is the case, I probably should not have pushed myself too much... oops! The websites that I've seen say that I've probably just pushed myself too much in the previous weeks and that my calf muscles are pulling too much.

So, I'm going to ice down my leg take a break for tomorrow. Then, I'll get back to it on Wednesday without pushing myself too hard (and run on Friday as well for this week to make up for missing a day).

I feel kind of like a slacker knowing that I won't be running tomorrow, but I also don't want to hurt myself (any more than I already have!). So, I think I'm going to have to accept that I am not going to be able to reach my goal for this week. But, I will slowly work up to it. :) Wish me luck!

Running...

Long time no blog, right? Well, I actually went on "vacation" to visit my family in Indiana. I had a pretty nice time, but I slacked on running. I decided that I was fine with this because it's supposed to be vacation. However, I did feel a little bad and I didn't want to ruin everything I had worked for, so I did about 2 miles on the elliptical for each day that I was supposed to run (I'm supposed to run every night, Sunday through Thursday).

Also, I didn't get to blog before I left about Monday and Tuesday's runs (March 30th and 31st). I finally found the keycard for the fitness facility at the apartment complex. So, Monday night, I went to the facility to use the treadmill. And, it was HOT. I'm used to running outside at night where it's cool and there is a breeze, so indoors with no air circulation was quite difficult. But, I did very well.

I like the treadmills because I can time myself more easily and know exactly how far I ran and how many miles per hour I'm running. I did 1.91 miles without stopping on Monday. And then on Tuesday, I did 2.15 miles. And that, my readers, was over my goal for the week (my goal was 7 laps... that translates to about 2.1 miles)!

Then, I left on Wednesday. I did the 12 hour drive and didn't get to do anything Wednesday or Thursday night, but I made up for it on my normal night off (Friday night). I did 5 miles on the elliptical. Then, I did about 2 miles on the elliptical for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. I drove back Thursday... and, I didn't honestly do a workout. But, I did get a little bit of a workout on Saturday afternoon by playing d-ball with some old college friends (it's a game we made up... a cross between dodgeball and baseball).

Unfortunately, I forgot my running shoes (I normally only wear flip-flops unless I'm going to be working out). So, I had to run in my bare feet. I've had to do it before, but I pay for it. It kills my back and hips. I think it's because there is no support and it's just jarring my body. So, needless to say, I was very sore today. And, I REALLY did not want to run tonight. Especially since it's been over a week since I actually ran.

But, I did. I was so sore that I only ran for one mile and then did two miles on the bike. And, whoa, I felt the burn in my buns! But, the bike seemed to be easier on my back and hips. It's not as jarring. And, tomorrow, I hope to be able to run at least 2 miles. My goal for this week is basically just to build myself back up to where I was, and hopefully excel a little beyond that. So, I'm going to push myself for 2.5 miles.

Eventually, I would like to work up to 3 miles per day. And then, I'll start working on my speed (if I haven't mentioned it already, I am incredibly slow). And after that, I will run a 5K and cross one of my life goals off of my list! :D Wish me luck!