Well, they say rain is good luck....

Bryan and I were practicing for married life already this past weekend as we sat at home on Friday and Saturday night working together on projects that hopefully will add some special touches to next weekend's events.

But first, the weekend kicked-off with a Wedding Shower for us at Bryan's office. I wasn't quite sure what to expect as I had never met many of the people in Bryan's office, but it was actually really nice! Everyone in the office had chipped in and gotten us lots of loot from Bed Bath and Beyond. I'm happy to say we are pretty much officially pimped out in the kitchen - although I did remind myself last week that although someone bought our crockpot (months ago, it seems!), we still haven't received it. The anticipation is killing me...will we get it next week? I don't know! I can't wait to find out!

So what projects were we working on this weekend, you ask? The major undertaking was the finishing and printing of our table cards. I know, I said I was going to have this done weeks ago, but I definitely didn't do it. This ended up being a good thing, though, as Bryan had plenty of input on this task. They took a really long time, but overall, I'm happy with how they came out.

We also got to work on unpacking some wedding gifts. We weren't going to do this due to superstition, but Bryan agreed that things could be taken out and just not yet used. I'm proud to say our guest bedroom looks habitable again! We're not even remotely close to finished with this part of the project, but we're as far along as our kitchen space will allow for now (with all of our older kitchen stuff in there too!). A total kitchen re-vamp will have to be done one day that Bryan is at work so he can't tell what is missing. When he sees it in a trash pile, he says, "I use this!" but if it just disappears, he'll never miss it. Why do men do this?

After a Saturday of hard work, we watched the movie "The Killers" and called it a night. We were up bright and early around 5am for the 13.1 Half-Marathon. A little background on this: when Bryan and I ran the ING Half in March, we had trained together for about 3 months. This time, we ran independently and whenever we had time (Bryan was much more diligent about this than I was). Going into Sunday morning, I was worried. My longest run as of recently had been 7 miles and the course we were about to undertake through Brookhaven has exponentially more hills than the ING course. To add insult to injury, Saturday night I realized that stupid me hadn't brought my running shoes home from my locker at the gym! So Sunday morning, I laced up the shoes that I wear every day (my retired running shoes) and crossed my fingers that my feet wouldn't feel the pounding too badly.

We parked a good mile away from the start of the race at Oglethorpe University. So Bryan and I had a brisk mile walk to cover before ever getting near the starting line...trepidation had set in on trying to get a good time, and instead I set my sights on 1.) not dying and 2.) not breaking any bones or teeth.

The scariest thing? Lining up I noticed everyone had lined up in corrals that only went to 2 hours and 20 minutes. I immediately concluded I was also going to place last at this race. I made peace with this fact, told Bryan what I figured out, and he mentioned that he would stay with me the whole time only to sprint ahead the last 20 yards or so to beat me. That's Love - what can I say?

Shockingly, as we began, I took in the crisp Autumn air and chatted with Bryan through our first 10K easily. Nearly half-way done, I told Bryan to go on ahead of me to try to get a good time (the 4000th time I told him I had my iPod and would not be offended if he went ahead - he had trained longer and harder than me after all). Finally, he complied and took off up a hill on Peachtree Rd. At mile marker 7, I realized I was on a 2:10 pace. At mile marker 8, still on pace, I was nearly in tears with the possibility (it's also possible my brain was glucose-deprived and I was getting deliriously emotional). The course was beautiful. At one point, as the sunlight was streaming through the trees on our path, a few leaves fell from above. I love the Fall so much, why have I never done an October race??

At mile 9, we were trudging up Ashford-Dunwoody Road. I say "we were trudging" because everyone around me had stopped running (including myself) and was just trying to make it up the stretch. At mile 10, I began cursing the people that laid out the course as we went up a long, steady uphill. At mile 11, I had relinquished the thought of 2:10 and instead focused on sub-2:20. And I made it!!! At 2:19, I had completed this half 6 minutes faster than my last - with minimal training and crappy shoes!!! Bryan had finished 7 minutes ahead of me in 2:12 (he would've done it way faster if he hadn't insisted on keeping me company for so long). And I'm happy to say we were nowhere near the back - as we walked the mile back to the car, there were still people making their way to the end of the course.

While Bryan had said prior to this race that this was his last half, he mentioned that he desperately wants to run "the one at Disney" which is in January. We're in talks on that one. I definitely am in for the ING Half again in March and I'm gunning this time for a sub-2:15 PR.

Ok, back to the wedding, a few logistical notes: it is truly Fall here in Georgia. So if you're traveling down, make sure you bring some heavier clothing for the crisp mornings and evenings. For example, this morning when I left for work (about 8:15am), it was 46 degrees. The high for today is expected to be 70 and tonight, it'll drop back down in the 40s again. It's supposed to warm up early next week, but right now, Accuweather is forecasting some rain Wednesday through Friday of next week. Of course they are! And then Saturday, it's going back to being gorgeous again. Fantastic. But, regardless, I wanted to give you all the heads up. So some warm clothes for early mornings and later evenings, it'll be comfortably warm during the day, and possibly rainy at times - so bring an umbrella.

It's back to work for me, as I've taken way too long to write this whole update...but wasn't it so worth it? I'll post again later this week with any other advice on traveling down that I can think of. Until then, have a great week!