TNT Week 2

It was my weekend to work, so I missed the group "team" training this past weekend. I hit the gym bright and early before work to run 4 miles on the dreaded treadmill. It's so much easier for me to run outside. Running on a treadmill is so boring and takes FOREVER!!! I successfully finished and arrived at work still red-faced and sweating. I'm glad I got it out of the way before work because after standing on my feet for 9 hours the last thing I want to do is go run!

Team In Training

I've always wanted to say I ran a half-marathon. I told myself by the time I was 30 I would do it. Then it was 31. Well I still haven't done it. There are many excuses I have come up with as to why I haven't finished....lack of training, lack of time, no motivation, the weather, etc., etc., ect. I came across Team In Training. I had received flyers in the mail in the past, but just tossed them in the trash. One of my technicians at work had mentioned Team In Training and was thinking about joining the group. We went to an informational meeting and signed up on the spot. Team In Training (TNT) supports the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and raises money for the organization while training for various events such as hikes, marathons, half-marathons, triathalons, and bike races. I will be training for the Rock-N-Roll Half Marathon in San Diego in June. What a great way to reach my personal goal and supporting a great cause at the same time! We have weekly workout schedules that we do on our own and then meet early on Saturday mornings for long "team" runs. This will be tough, but I can do it!! The toughest part for me will be the fundraising. I've never really done this before. I am needing to raise $2900!! I have a few ideas in place, along with the hounding letters, emails, and facebook posts. If anyone is experienced in fundraising and can pass along any ideas please let me know! If you would like to donate or check the status of my progess please visit http://pages.teamintraining.org/mid/rnr10/ezacharias. I will try and update my progress and share my experiences as often as I can. I'm so excited for the event. I am now committed!!!.....Committed to myself, committed to my team, and committed to a cause!! Our training has just started. We've had fundraising and fitness workshops and our first Team training run was this last Saturday. Here's me during my 3 mile run! I don't think I'll be as happy when I'm running 10!!

This is our running coach Helen. She's there to make sure we know the route, water stops, potty stops, ice, mud, ect.

This is the group before our first run. Can you tell we were all freezing????

Some Christmas Photos

Despite the cold and snowy weather my family was able to make it to my house for Christmas. I am so glad everyone was safe and we were able to celebrate the holiday together.

Halloween

Some of my favorite Trick-or-Treaters!!

Ren Fest

Last weekend my sister and I went to the Renaissance Festival. I have never been before, so I really didn't know what to expect. We enjoyed walking around, watching the characters and shows, and eating turkey legs and kettle corn! They even had a petting zoo!

AZ

We returned to Arizona last week for the first time since we moved. Gosh we sure did miss it! The weather was perfect! The trip wasn't long enough and there's never enough time to see everyone or do everything we had planned to do. One of our main objectives was to check on my house. My tenant lost his wife earlier this summer and he is really struggling. There were some issues with the house that needed addressed so that consumed most of our time. I was disappointed in the condition of my house, yard, and pool, but nobody takes care of your home like you do. It's all fixable and he pays me good rent ON TIME every single month so I shouldn't complain, right?? Here are some more of the highlights:

My dear friend Genella had a baby in July. Here's me and little miss Mia. She's so precious and a little "diva" as her daddy says!!

Of couse we had to hit some of our favorite eating spots! In-N-Out Burger is the bomb!

The other main reason for visiting AZ was for the wedding of one of my former technicians from Walgreens. It was a beautiful day and is was so good to see some of my former co-workers. The pictures are in reverse order, but you get the idea!

They had sparklers at the end of the night which I thought were pretty neat.

Devin was lucky enough to catch the garder. They made him do a dance and put the garder on the girl that caught the bouquet. He was a good sport! It should have been me in that chair! I had the bouquet in my hand and then she came and robbed me of it! I was left with only a few petals in my hand......boo.

My Melissa and I

The bride and groom!

They had an outdoor wedding that was just beautiful!

Genella and I. We stayed with her and her husband Eric and they were great hosts! We miss them. They are awesome friends.

Kansas Wineries

This past Saturday a group of us toured some wineries in the Kansas City area. It definitely wasn't Napa Valley, but we all had a great time learning about Kansas wines. The wines were quite tasty and we all took bottles home to enjoy later.
Our first stop (and probably our favorite) was Bluejacket winery in Eudora. The people were great!

Their grapes were so pretty!

They use black flags to scare the birds away!

Our next stop in Eudora was Davenport winery (probably our least favorite). There's really not much to say about this one. I didn't find their wines tasty at all.

From there we headed up north of the Legends to the Wine Barn. This was a great winery to visit also. They are new, but had lots of wines to try and great snacks!

Our final stop was Holy-Field winery in Basehor.

My favorite things about this stop was their big huge dog on the floor!

I would definitely do this again! It was such a fun day and not many people think about wineries in Kansas!