oh lawrence

or as the arabs called him orence.

this movie was ridiculously long. almost 4 hours.
it took me 3 days, i believe in order to watch the whole thing.
the first hour and a half, i HATED
big time.
however, once i got over the awfulness that is peter o'toole (maybe?) and his creepy eyes and shit, i realize it's a pretty great movie.
maybe.
or maybe i just feel that way because i invested so much time in it.

Welcome to Miami- Buen Venedo a Miami

I have no idea how to spell that stuff in Spanish-

Regardless, going to Miami was clearly not on my list of 101 in 1001.
What was however, is #43. Train for a destination half-marathon

And that, good sir, is what brought me to Miami.
The ING Miami half marathon.

I trained this winter with Chicago Endurance Sports (CES) Winter Warrior group. We did group long runs on Saturday mornings along the lake front in the most wintery of conditions.
I have to say I really enjoy running in the winter, when bundled correctly.
I'm a sweater, so while you do still sweat in the winter, you can cool off much quicker.

A group of 4 of us trained together regularly, and then 2 more joined up with us in Miami for the race.

I was told this was really a spectacular race in terms of views. It was. Sadly, the best view, being the sunrise, was missed due to an overcast day. But I will say I was thankfully for those clouds as the race wore on.

Having trained primarily in the winter weather, my body was really not used to the heat, even if it was just 70's, or the humidity.

I felt good to start, but by about mile 8, I started getting the symptoms of fainting. Because I didn't want to end up on a stretcher, I had to walk for sections. I'm a fast walker, and this wasn't a race that I was doing for time, so I was mostly OK with this.



how adorable does my sister look?
like a real runner.
She rocked at this, her first ever half marathon.
This was the farthest distance she'd ever run and she was amazing.
We ran the first 8 together, and when I had to stop, she kept on going. I was really glad! The agreement should always be, every man for himself.

Here she is with her finishers medal, which not only had bling, but also spun!


and here she is at our celebratory brunch with our gracious host Denise.

cabins and horses and snow...oh my!

This was a good weekend for getting stuff on this list done.
Sadly, it wasn't all good.
But really, can it be?
At least when it's bad, I still have the consolation of it having served a purpose. To further complete this here list.

First:

I took a picture of this really cool tree that is near my house.
When it has snow on it, I think it looks like a woman being dipped.
I tried to capture it on film, and I think sadly, it doesn't do it justice.
I had a hard time getting just the right angle without being in the middle of the busy street.





Second:
This past weekend we celebrated Chrissie's birthday.
Last year we had gone to a cabin in Michigan and this year was a repeat.
This place can hardly be called a cabin, in th roughing it kind of way, and I am more than fine with that.
It is log cabin looking with a wonderful gas fireplace which requires just a flip of a switch to turn on. And this year, unlike last, it was actually cold and snowy, making it feel like a winter getaway to a cabin in the woods.







It was beautiful, and restful. We read a lot of trashy magazines and books, watched (500) days of summer, drank wine, ate good food and good crap food, took walks and naps and laughed...a lot.

Third:
This same weekend, because the cabin is on land that also has a stable and horses, we decided to go horseback riding.
The morning of, I didn't feel much like doing it, but shit man, it's on the list.
I have to say, I didn't enjoy any of the 30 minutes I was there. From being in the stable with the horse, to walking into the ring and then worst, having to be on it riding it. No.
We finally made our way outside on the horses to begin our trail ride when Chrissie's horse freaked out, laid down and rolled over. Thankfully Chrissie was able to get off just in time and wasn't hurt physically.
Things just kinda got crazy from there. The other horses started to freak out, bucking and running. I was done at that point. I asked immediately if I could be done. Amanda, being the awesome girl that she is gave me permission to stop right away. Even if I didn't need the permission, it was nice to hear it.
We headed back to the stable, I got off my horse and went on a LONG walk to work off some of that nervous energy I was feeling. THe rest of the crew, including the brave Chrissie, proceeded to go on an hour long trail ride on those crazy horses!
Never again.

this was taken the day before on one of our walks.
to the best of my knowledge, none of these horses were involved in the next days incident




I suppose this sign should have served as warning in addition to amusement.
Don't ride your horse where you get your hair did, and vice versa.

if it weren't for the movies...

i would be getting very little done from my list.

I have now seen two more.



Dr. Strangelove- soooooo weird. I think it was supposed to be satirical, ok, actually I know it was. I just don't really enjoy that type of humor. It all made me feel really uncomfortable. There were a lot of famous people in it though, which was fun to point out.




And, the first movie I've really really enjoyed and would vote in the top 100 myself, All the President's Men.
Deliciously good. I love anything presidential, which is why the only book I've ever returned late to a library is about presidential campaigns. This movie also made me fall in love with Robert Redford. I finally get it! Swoon.