February 10th was Brenden's birthday. He turned 22 and like any college kid just wanted a relaxing night not to worry about college and life. Well, on Friday Brenden accepted an offer from a company in Arkansas and has an official start day for May! I am very excited for him and proud that he secured a job way before graduation. And I might be a little jealous. :/ Before the job offer, Brenden kept telling me he has always wanted to see Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw in concert. The first few weeks of January, I found out Kenny and Tim were touring together this summer and just had to get tickets for him for his birthday. So I did. But the concert is in Atlanta... and he just accepted a job in Arkansas. Let's just hope he can some how make it there because he was very excited about the tickets (at least he acted like it!).
After a fun night with friends, we made our way to Birmingham were I was running my second half-marathon on Sunday. We made it to Birmingham and had the opportunity to hang out with my family and see my friend that set Brenden and I up. It was so great to see her and spend the night at her cute little apartment in Birmingham.
Sunday morning, bright and early, in the freezing cold, my Dad, Katherine, Allison, Allison's little brother and Dad and I ran a half-marathon in Personal Record (PR) times for all of us. I cut 23 minutes off of my time from last year and was able to keep up with my Dad which is an accomplishment in itself. Allison, Jacob, and Katherine completed their first ever half marathon in 20 degree weather with a wind chill of 15 degrees! It was such an accomplishment for all of us and I, for one, could have never cut that much time off of my first one if it hadn't been for the love and support from my family and friends. Also, I never could have kept a 9:17 pace if it wasn't for my Dad's competitive spirit and drive to push me to be the best he knows I can be.
After running two half-marathons, having support is definitely a key component in running the long distances. You don't realize how big of a factor that little emotion has on someone. Knowing that people want you to succeed and do well makes a world of difference when you do anything but particularly long distances. Now I am trying to decide, "What's next?" Another half-marathon, a full marathon, or a sprint triathlon? Decisions decisions. As my sister would say, I am mentally ill!! :)
After running and driving back to Auburn shortly after the race, Brenden and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary of dating. This sounds silly as I type it (like I'm in high school or puppy love) but to me it was something to celebrate. I'm not big on Valentine's day so our celebration was just on Sunday night. I got a gorgeous watch and stylish sunglasses from Brenden and I reminded him of the two tickets I gave him on Friday. :) Brenden made an excellent steak dinner and we were able to talk about all the changes that are soon to happen to the both of us.
In all of my classes, we are reminded constantly "there should be an action plan for any event, it should be updated regularly, communication is vital, and recapping is of the utmost importance". That's kind of how our talk was on Sunday night. What's going well, what can we/I improve on, and what is coming up that we need to plan for. The past two years have been a growing period for the both of us (he is going to be so mad I'm writing about this on the Internet). We have developed as young adults and are about to embark on a big step into our adulthood. We still have a lot to learn about each other and we continue to do that everyday. I've heard before, if you can make it to the two year mark, you can make it forever. I don't know how true that is but I sure hope it is. :)
Until next time,
Kayla
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