A Decision Has Been Made

First of all, I want to say thank you to my devoted readers. I started this blog when I started training for my first half-marathon.  I had planned to keep this blog devoted to fitness, working out, being healthy, and documenting all the ups and downs of training for a long distance race.  After I trained for my first half-marathon, I was injured from training so fast that I was not in the mood to run another race anytime soon.  Then one year later, I ran in my second half-marathon.  I wrote about training some of the time but my blog was mostly filled with posts about my boring life.  And yet you all continued to follow me and my obnoxious I-Know-All blog posts.  Thank you for continuing to read!

Today, I write to inform you all that I will be following my title and topic a little bit more closely than you are use too.  This blog was started with one goal in mind: to one day run a full marathon.  With polite bragging from some of my crazy running friends, my competitive spirit got the best of me and I have decided I too am capable of running a full marathon.  Since I have moved to Washington, DC my miles have decreased but my heart has gotten stronger for the love of running.  If I wanted to there are races every weekend within driving distance that offer all different distance races.  It is hard to not want to join in on all the fun (for me, at least).

The marathon I have committed to running is the Rock N Roll Marathon in Washington DC on March 16, 2013.  Yes this is far away, date wise, but it is right around the corner with the 22 week training program I have decided to train with.  This is going to be a long, grueling road.  I will start training in October with this 22 week program.  Until then, I need to build up to the mileage it starts with in order to keep up with the program.

I have read a Marathon Training for Dummies book twice now.  Along with millions of running blogs, running articles, and many more running tips.  The first rule of thumb when training for a marathon is support.  You have to have support from your family, friends, and loved ones in order to complete this journey.  There is only so much the runner can do for his or her self to keep their mind, body, and soul into running 26.2 miles!!  It will take a lot of personal time to run the distances required of the training program.  That time could be spent with family and friends but instead I'll be running.  Since I am in DC, mainly by myself, I think this is the perfect time to do it.  But I will need your help.  The more I put my end goal out there, the more likely I will be able to complete it.  I wanted to write this blog post so you all know 1. where the direction of this blog will be for the next year and 2. to ask for your support while I strive to do what less than 1% of the US has already done.  Thank you in advance for your support.  I hope you will follow my journey and share with your friends.

Family Time

The holiday's are filled with Christmas parties, family get togethers, and being taken out of your normal routines and put into situations that you just aren't always use to.  This holiday season was a little different for me because it may be my last Christmas with my family.  Next year, I could easily be working on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. (The perks to working in the service industry. Not!)

This Christmas I was lucky enough to get two weeks off to come home and spend time with my family.  Four years ago, you couldn't have paid me for those two weeks off with nothing to do but spend time with my family.  As I get older, I am starting to realize what is truly important to me.  My family.  I am lucky enough to have two great-grandmothers still living! I am extremely grateful that my grandparents are walking distance from my house.  I took that for granted in high school... a lot! 

The one thing that I never thought I would say only a few short years ago, but I have thoroughly enjoyed spending two weeks with my parents.  My Dad and I have taken long runs together and my Mom and I have shopped and enjoyed baking/eating together.  Who would have thought that my parents would be some of my best friends? Like my Papa always said, "One day you'll realize just how smart your parents really are" and I have come to realize that very quickly.

This year I was lucky enough to be roommates with my brother.  In high school, I would have dreaded this situation but it has helped us develop a stronger brother/sisterly bond.  Spending time with him as been a blessing this holiday season as well seeing as he has a bowl game to get to tomorrow.  He as only been home three days but it has been a lot of fun having the whole gang together.

My little sister Jaime has had an exciting two weeks (when does she not?).  She was accepted to Auburn, she's had dance/band practice almost everyday, she went to her last DD Dance, and still managed to keep a social life and see the family (a little bit).  I have given her a hard time these last few weeks because I don't see or talk to her that much because I'm in Auburn and she's here in Oxford.  But I know she is still being the social butterfly she's always been.  I can't fault her for being herself.  

My mom mentioned yesterday, "there is something about having everyone together" and there really is.  I'm not a mom (and won't be for A WHILE!!!!!) but when we are all together, yes we drive each other crazy sometimes, but it's like the puzzle is completed.  All the weird, unique pieces fit together to make this crazy family and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Merry Christmas everyone,

Kayla

Is It Always Necessary to Say How You Feel?

I wanted to write a different blog today but had some emotions on my shoulders.  Yesterday, Auburn beat Florida! WAHOO!  The game was amazing because 1. it was Florida 2. they are in the SEC which always makes for a fun game and 3. it was a night game! The only thing not enjoyable about the game were this two guys sitting in front of me bashing Auburn the entire game.  And might I add, they were Auburn students.

I'll start from the beginning (sorry if you have already heard this story): The first kick of the game, Florida receives.  The two guys in front of me begin... "Trotter sucks.  I hope he realizes what he's doing to us.  I can't believe they would let him start this week."  Let me remind you, we are on DEFENSE!!! Trotter is not even on the field.  So I bite my tongue.  We get on offense and Trotter has a few bad plays but everyone makes mistakes.  Let's move on.  Oh no! These two guys insisted on yelling and screaming about everything he did, every play the coaches called, and everything else that could have possibly been good or bad on the field (If we scored, they didn't like how we did it).  By this time maybe 5 minutes has passed in the first quarter.  I am not going to be able to enjoy this game unless I say something to these guys.  I tap the biggest one on the shoulder (because he was making the most comments) and yell with my shaker pointed at his face "Listen, are you a full time athlete and a full time student? I don't think so.  You couldn't do any of that even if you wanted to because you are a fat a**!!" So he yells back and me and his friend gets involved and says "We went to high school with Trotter so we are allowed to talk about him like this." EXCUSE ME! No you are not! He is a human being and is busting his butt at practice and in school and you think you can just put someone down like that? No! All of this happened right in the middle of our first touchdown.  This makes me mad because I can't even enjoy the touchdown because I am shaking with furry! This guy has made me miss the touchdown and I can't believe he is dogging our players and coaches like this.

After a few plays, Trotter throws a completion and I realize I am not going to be able to sit like this for the entire game.  So I politely tap him on the shoulder again and apologize for calling him names and calmly explain how it infuriates me that people put down other people to make themselves feel better.  He says he appreciates my apology and he shouldn't have gotten that worked up.  But for the rest of the game, his friend continued to dog cuss our players and coaches every move they made under his breathe.

Now if Brenden would have been at the game with me this whole situation would have been avoided because he would have never let me get in someone's face like that.  I am so embarrassing.  haha But it happened and I am glad I did it because these players go through a lot of crap.  Whether they are on scholarship or not these players put in long hours, get yelled out by the coaches, get dogged by the media, and still have to go to school and live their lives as normal as possible.  I don't know how they do it.  I hope these players know that a true Auburn fan would never put them down like those two guys and half of the student section does.  A true Auburn man or woman stands up for their family and would never consider them any lower than themselves.

          "...I believe in a sound mind, in a sound body and a spirit that is not afraid, and in clean sports that
          develop these qualities... and because Auburn men and women believe in these things, I BELIEVE IN
          AUBURN AND LOVE IT!" ~Lines from the Auburn Creed, George Petrie

Family Matters

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family." -Anthony Brandt

Family. They are the people that know you the best.  They are the ones who will always be there no matter what.  They are always going to love you no matter how stupid your choices may be.  Yes, you having falling outs with family members and may not speak for years at a time.  Sometimes you may never speak again and other times the distance made your relationship stronger. 

Sometimes your family drives you crazy.  Sometimes you don't want to be anything like them.  Sometimes you wish you could be as far away from them as possible.  But without family, what would you be?  

Family isn't just your mom, dad, brother, and sister.  Family is the people that raised you and the people that cared for you when no one else would.  Everyone's family is a little different.  Rather it be in the people or the characteristics of their family.

Don't take your family for granted.  You never know when the last time to see them might be.  Even if you are trying to be selfish and do your own thing, make time for your family.  They make you a priority, so you should too.

What happens when you add people to your family? How does the puzzle fit? I'm sure it's a complicated situation and not everyone ends up happy.  Compromise seems like the best option but I have no experience in this situation.  Thinking further in the future, I think about combining holiday's, not having favorites, balancing my time, and making sure everyone's happy.  I have plenty of time to think about these things but I just had these thoughts rolling through my head.

Main point: don't let your family go without letting them know how much you appreciate them and how much they do for your life.  You wouldn't be where you are today if it wasn't for your mom giving birth to you, your dad helping make you, and your family members raising you, you wouldn't have gotten very far without those precious people.  Every person you come in contact with has an effect on your life but family makes a huge dent in the whole picture.

Kayla

Holiday Joy

I love the holidays! December is probably my favorite month and this December could possibly be my most favorite December of my entire life. :) A lot is going on in my life right now and I'm trying to grasp how wonderfully everything is going.

First things first.  My favorite things about the holidays.  I love buying gifts for people.  While it is a huge hole in my bank account it's so much fun trying to figure out, "Well, will they like this?" "Is this too cheesy?" "Do they already have this?".  Buying the gifts is the fun part but the hard part is definitely the holding out until Christmas to give it to them.  I think I gave three of my gifts early this year because I just couldn't stand holding on to them anymore. (haha)  The one thing everyone hates most: wrapping.  You may say I'm weird, but wrapping is another one of my favorite things.  I wrapped all of the gifts I bought, all the gifts my Mom bought, and anything else that wasn't mine and was laying around was wrapped.

I am a huge fan of baking.  I'm not very good at it right yet, but my mother bakes the best goodies around this time of year.  Last night she made her annual homemade cheesecake that she gives out to her friends for Christmas "Thank You Gifts".  Tonight she made my favorite, that we normally have on Christmas day for breakfast but I'll be gone this year, cream cheese braids.  These are for very special people.  She use to make tons and tons when we were little and we would take them to my parent's closest friends and family.  When I was in sixth grade, my grandfather passed away; my mom's dad.  She stopped making them for quite some time but has brought back the tradition and makes about four a year.  It's amazing!! and because Santa needs cookies, we always bake snickerdoodle cookies to put out on Christmas eve.  Oh the holidays! So much for working out. :/

My family has a ton of traditions but we aren't obsessive about them.  We just love (I just love) all the joy the stuff we do brings to everyone around us.  On Christmas eve, we always go to the church service and have the Lord's Supper as a family.  Afterwards, we head to my grandparents house (which is literally .025 miles from our driveway), to eat pizza and open the presents our grandparents bought us, our pajamas from our parents (we get a set every year), and my grandparents open all the gifts they got for each other that night because they always said Christmas day was for us kids. :) My other grandmother lives across the street from my Dad's parents so she normally comes over and joins us.  Luckily, I still have a great-grandmother that lives about an hour away that my grandparents drive her over so she can spend the holidays with us! But that night, Jaime (my sister) and I, set out egg nog & snickerdoodle cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. ;) We sleep in my room, which is upstairs, in our new pajamas, and talk about what we want for Christmas until we doze off.  Christmas morning, my sister gets us all up SUPER early, even now-a-days.  We are allowed to open our stockings without our parents but the gifts we have to wait until both of my grandparents come up, mom cooks sausage balls, breakfast casserole, apple cider, and that amazing cheese braid bread.  After we have a some breakfast, we all sit around the living room and open up gifts.  It's so great to see everyone's reaction of what they got.  After all the gifts are opened, we disperse and play with all the new gadgets we got that year.  Then around 1pm or 2pm we have the usual Christmas lunch/dinner with steak, baked potatoes, salad, and whatever else gets cooked. Sounds pretty routine, right?

Well this year, a lot of my family's traditions have been moved around because, once again, I'm the rebel of the family. (ha) Well, this time, I think they are just jealous of me.  I'm leaving for Jamaica on Christmas morning with my boyfriend and his family. :) We are staying for five days and will be back just in time for the new year.  So all the Christmas day activities are getting moved to Christmas eve and Mom & Dad are driving me to the airport on Christmas day at 6am!

The reason this December is going to be the best December of my life is because: 1. I started out the first few weeks getting my final grades for my first semester of my junior year and got a 4.0 GPA! 2. Christmas is by far my favorite holiday and you saw why :) 3. I'm leaving for Jamaica ON Christmas day! 4. We return from Jamaica on the 30th and on December 31st I will finally turn 21! 5. I am having a 21st birthday party and my parents are coming to take me to lunch.  6. This isn't in December, but it's close, Auburn is in the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!! Hip hip hooray!  So anybody can see why this is definitely going to be the best December of my life.

I know this post is lengthly but I hope it brought you some joy and high spirits for the holidays. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, and a HAPPY NEW YEAR! and Happy Birthday to anyone with a birthday in December! ;)

-K