Black Friday


Say what you want about the people who wake up at 4am to stand in line in the freezing cold on Black Friday. Call them crazy or obsessive. But I saved over $500 by giving up a few hours of sleep and warmness that day. Five. Hundred. Dollars. No joke.

And I loved every minute of it!

Repeat!

I ran Jordan's Journey 5K this morning. I won my age division last year and was hoping to defend my title this year. But with my injuries this year, I wasn't sure that would happen. I really wanted to break 25 mins. But my speed hasn't been very good since I've been back to running.

There were about 100 runners all lined up in the church parking lot. At 9:15, the firetruck sounded it's horn to signal the start of the race and we were off. I felt great, no Achilles or hip problems. I started off fast, which is so easy when you're running with a group. But by 1/2 mile, the group spread out and I found a good pace. I settled in behind the Ben Davis HS XC coach who goes to our church. The man is a serious runner, has finished every Indianapolis Mini Marathon there has been - like 35 of them! I run past a volunteer who shouts out to me and the 2 girls near me "You're 2nd, 3rd and 4th for the girls." I hadn't thought about finishing in the top 3, just winning my age division. So now I'm thinking, ok, don't let any girls pass you! One of the girls who was near me dropped back about a mile into it and her friend passed me. She was young, easily still in high school and seemed to just keep getting further in front! But I kept right behind the XC coach and relaxed into the run. My Garmin read 7:48 for the first mile, I knew I was flying at the beginning, got to slow down some. I pass the water stop at 1.5 miles and was still feeling good.

Mile two comes and my Garmin says 15:50, so mile 2 was 8:02, still a very good time. I figure I can hold on to this pace. About 2.5 miles my stomach starts to feel bad, I figure, ok, you can't puke here, in someone's yard. So I work on my breathing and some positive chanting and the sick feeling passes. I pass the first volunteer who yelled "You're number 3 for the girls!" I turn a corner and see the finish line so I push a little at the end to finish. Hit my Garmin when I cross the finish line - 23:57!! 7:58 pace, very cool and very fast! Woo-hoo! I do some cool down stretches and head into the church for a banana and Starbucks.

They hold the awards ceremony and I was pretty happy to hear "And in 3rd place overall for the females - Mary Nabb." I won a pecan pie and a $8 gift certificate to a running store. Cool! I checked the on-line results when I got home. The two girls who beat me were both 16 years old and probably on the cross country team. And there was another 34 year old who finished 15 seconds behind me, good thing I kept up the pace.

So, pretty darn happy that I could race fast again, felt really darn good too.

Kylie's 6th birthday celebration!


Brett and I were pulling out all the stops to give Kylie a very special 6th birthday. She's been asking for months for an American Girl Doll. They are $95 so we wanted to make sure that she was ready to be responsible enough to take care of one. She did prove herself responsible so we decided to surprise her with a trip to Chicago to go to American Girl Place on her birthday. Here she is reading the card Brett and I gave her, telling her about the surprise.Kylie was thrilled and very surprised! Step one accomplished. Matthew was a good little boy, of course and was excited for Kylie as well.


The next morning, her actual birthday, we drove up to Chicago. The trip went smoothly, other then issues with the Ipass, which happens all the time - so frustrating. We get there and get parked. Then we head into the store and Kylie picks out Kirsten, the pioneer era girl. She loves her, I love her, everyone is happy. Kirsten is being retired this year so there weren't a lot of clothes to pick from which was too bad since Kylie had a lot of money from her b-day and her allowance. So she picked out a few outfits and then went upstairs with Brett to look for more clothes (the upstairs is the non-historical girls area). Matthew and I did some shopping and returned the Kirsten doll that I had ordered on-line as a precaution, in case Kirsten was out of stock. After making our purchases and finding Brett and Kylie, we left the store and walked around Water Tower Place for a little while.

We were fortunate enough to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa Mathews for lunch at the 95th Floor of the John Hancock tower. Such a fancy place. Food was ok but the view was excellent. We were happy to see them and they were happy to be able to see Kylie on her birthday. After lunch, we walked around the area for a little while. Kylie and I were going for tea at the American Girl Cafe so we said our goodbyes and went back to the store. Matthew and Brett walked around, found a park to play in and then waited for us in the store.
The tea was very elegant. They served plenty of food, little scones, breads, finger sandwiches and cinnamon rolls. Kylie had hot chocolate and I had water. Kirsten, who had her own chair at the table had air. There was a harpist playing beautiful music and many, many excited girls and their moms. Seemed like every girl was celebrating their b-day.
We also had dessert that was pretty yummy too. And the waiter and I sung to Kylie.
After tea we found Brett and Matthew and started our drive home. Kylie thanked us many times for "the most wonderful birthday of my life!" I hope she remembers this day forever!