just do it

ooh breathe, just breathe...

"i went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now theres gum in my hair and when i got out of bed this morning i tripped on the skateboard and by mistake i dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and i could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." -alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day

although i didnt go to bed with gum in my mouth, nor is there gum in my hair... and i dont ride a skateboard and its not yet cold enough for sweaters, today was still a bummer sort of day. i worked last night so i need to sleep during the day, which isnt always an easy task when its beautiful outside and you just want to be awake enjoying the sunshine. my alarm was set for 4:30pm. the landlord decided 3:30pm was a good time to mow the lawn. outside just my window (at least it felt that way).

i got up to shower and eat my cheerios. no milk. i felt like having a huge meltdown and crying while getting ready for work so i called my mom, who usually makes me feel better. she didnt. i hung up. moulin rouge was on tv and i just wanted to sit on the living room floor with my multi grain waffle and blueberries and not get out of my sweatpants until next wednesday.

i contemplated calling out sick. why not? oh yeah, night bonus. stupid. cant call in sick. so i got ready and made my dinner and got an iced coffee on the way. mocha. tasted more like coconut. i again thought about the pending meltdown and tears were now forming. so i called my mom again, and this time i tried desperately for her to see my side. she did. and she said "dan, just breathe". she must have just been reading my blog. one of the many reasons why i love my mom. if the first call doesnt work, just try again. she gets me, most of the time.

ooh breathe, just breathe...



im just feeling sort of lost and not in control. of everything. i recently posted on twitter that i have an 'i dont care attitude... about everything'. and thats still kinda true, but im starting to feel it more and maybe im not really liking a lot of it.

in the next three weekends i have three weddings to go. im in one. my brothers is another. throw in the reach the beach 200 mile relay, working nights, sleeping during the day, wedding planning, marathon training, trying to make time for my fiance... trying to breathe...

i feel like im suffocating.

i know im just in a rut. i hate working 6 nights in a row and i started this weekend with a poor attitude about it and now i cant shake it. im also contemplating backing out of the full marathon and just doing the half, which makes me mostly disappointed in myself. its not that i didnt try to train for it, i just honestly havent had the time. and with 4 months left til the wedding i suddenly feel overwhelmed. lots of stuff going on and for once i just feel like i cant do it all.

im happy to know i have super supportive family, fiance, and friends who will stand behind me in any and all decisions i make. and i love them all. xoxo.

end rant.


on a fun note, when i got to work on thursday evening, i found this little button/gift tucked inside one of my work shoes in my locker. with love from linda, one of my favorite special care nurses

...and ice cream... and french fries... and ranch dressing...

NYC top 12

this past weekend my girlfriends and i traveled to the big apple to celebrate krystles transition into married life. needless to say we saw some ridiculous/awesome things and took tons of pics of the experiences we had. heres my top twelve things that i thought were fun enough to share.

12. i think i found my new triathlon bike...

this is probably what my bike will look like after i attempt a tri

11. roadside 24 hour fruit and veggie stands

i may look excited but i would never buy anything!

10. our dinner at a greek restaurant

i couldnt even pronounce the name of this place... could i find something id like to eat?

i obviously found something i would like to drink!

the waitress reminded me that the portabello mushroom "burger" did not contain a "burger". yeah, thanks

rachels sandwich had french fries IN it. awesome.

9.. i can now say i know someone who owns a shake weight

i couldnt figure out how to turn it on. fail.

8. the taco truck... apparently its a huge deal

7. love the name of this bar.... one of my favorite songs by nickel creek

flow gently, sweet afton, disturb not her dream

6. union square park and its funny signs

the other side said "what i look like when im lying"

rather disturbing yet still so funny

my favorite! with my college roommate xoxo

5. battery park, statue of liberty, and obama condoms

a truly unbelieveable site to see

this guy moved and really creeped me out

4. world trade center site and 9/11 memorial

3. creeping on a wedding photo shoot in grand central station

2. modeling it up outside of subway and johnny walker red shots

1. the most amazing roof top city view


and an extra... traveling miss piggy and kermit

wedding fail #1

im sure this wont be the first wedding fail we have (lets hope its the most expensive of them, since this wasnt too bad overall)....

cant figure it out? ill give you a hint... were not having sloppy joes/taco meat for a dinner option. supposed to have been "top" sirloin. (although tacos would be kinda sweet!)

fail.

pink tu-tu and local radio dj

i randomly happened to find out that the pic in the post below of the sweet chick in the hot pink tu-tu was one of portlands local radio morning show hosts Eva (from the coast 93.1 morning show)!! i emailed her to let her know she made it to my famous (read: super random, read by maybe 5 people) blog and i sent her the pics, and she posted a link to my blog from the radio website!! this might be my 15 minutes of fame....

here comes Eva (i had no idea who she was when i snapped the pic, i just loved the tu-tu!)


if i remember correctly, she stopped on the rock next to mine to stretch out her legs, and thats when i told her how much i loved her tu-tu. then i snapped this pic of the back of the tu-tu


and Eva, youre not the only one that wears pink tu-tu's during races.... heres a sweet shot of Danica from the malibu marathon! (directly stolen from her race report, hope she doesnt mind!) the trend might be catching on!!

tri for a cure!

i signed up a little over a month ago to volunteer at the maine cancer foundations tri for a cure all womens sprint triathlon. i had spent about 10 seconds pondering the thought of signing up to race this triathlon back in february when registration opened up, and then i remembered i still hate swimming. and i dont have a bike. so why not volunteer? all the money went to trying to find a cure for cancer. and cancer really sucks.

i had the night off on saturday but had to work sunday night, so i went to bed early and slept in late (aside from my mother calling me at 7am ((i ignored the call)) then calling again at 7:45am ((had to answer cuz i thought something might be wrong)). "oh are you sleeping? i thought you had to work last night" (this coming after i had been at her house for dinner the night before and told her i was going home to go to bed and trying to sleep in so i wouldnt be tired at work sunday night..... gotta love moms).

the tri didnt start until 2pm.... a seemingly strange starting time for a tri in the middle of august, but understandable when you have to swim in the ocean and wait for high tide. dont want to go losing swimmers! (please note: i will never, EVER do an open water swim tri. pool only for this girl, thanks).

my volunteer check in time was at noon, so i packed up my marathon hunting orange bag and started walking (we only live about a half mile from where the race was... which is a good thing cuz traffic sucked). on my walk down to the volunteers tent i snapped some pics of just some of the many bumper stickers i saw:




i checked in and got my volunteer shirt and assignment, then realized i had left my engagement ring on the bathroom sink when i had been putting my sun tan lotion on. i knew if ty got home and saw it he wouldnt be too pleased, so i ran back home to get it. this did not make my legs very happy coming off my long run from the day before. but i got my ring. shut up and deal, legs.

volunteer check in

ever heard of the "epic man"? check him out. pretty epic. and here he is:

trimaine "epic man" will thomas

im pretty sure that one of my new years resolutions for next year (yes, there might be a few) will be to do a sprint tri. that being said, i will need a bike. having little to no money means no bike. having no bike means no sprint tri. so how psyched was i when i saw this raffle for a road bike!! i bought 3 raffle tickets for $10. im still waiting for the phone call....

(i dont think i won the bike)

but i was very excited about my pink shirt and cowbell!

and look who i just happened to find along the transition area.... andrea, hard at work for trimaine! (yes, surprisingly her job was to stand around and look pretty!)

if youre happy and you know it take silly pics of yourselves

and really, what would a danielle post be without some goldens

i roamed around for a bit before settling into my assignment. i had a pretty sweet volunteer spot, and stood on this rock for close to five hours. we became pretty close bff's.


i took this pic for jeri cuz she enjoys the color accent option on my camera about as much as i do


this sweet pink arrow was strategically placed right at my rock incase i forgot to tell runners where to go. phew!


the race ended up starting about 10 minutes late since there was a huge traffic jam to get to the start. people were actually getting out of their cars and biking to get there in time. (note: i would FREAK OUT if i was running late to a race because of traffic. would.not.be.happy.camper). so finally when the gun (was there a gun? maybe a bull horn) went off to start the triathlon, a simultaneous duathlon also began and they ran by me first. over 1000 participants in all (85% of whom were first time triathletes)... here are the pics:

duathlon runners-

swimmers getting ready and taking off (1/3 mile)- (1st photo courtesy of kevin mitchell, i told him i would give him credit for this awesome shot. the pink swim caps signified survivors)

swimmers transitioning to their bikes.... i love these pics

bikers starting out (15 miles)-

run (3.1 miles)-

i told her i loved her pink tu-tu

shortly after seeing the pink tu-tu lady, i started getting a little crazy (i think the sun/heat had something to do with it). i had my cowbell going, i was screaming... it was like reliving the boston marathon all over again. my arms were so tired! but i had to keep these ladies motivated so i worked really hard to try to do so. i just kept trying to make everyone smile, and most people did. i got lots of thank yous, and got some funny quotes as well.

someone ran by me and told me they couldnt breathe. well, thats probably not good! (she was really alright, but little did she know she was telling the right person if she really did have that problem... yay respiratory therapy!). i also had someone tell me their legs felt like concrete. probably not a good thing to be feeling during the run portion of a tri, legs are pretty important at that part i think.

one of my favorite parts was seeing/meeting elizabeth, the sister of one of my brothers friends. id met bobby (brothers friend) before, but had never met elizabeth. so im just standing up on my rock, clanging my cowbell and screaming for everyone to smile and telling them all they love it, when elizabeth stops right in front of me. heres how the conversation went:

e- are you a speckman?
me- ummmm yeah?
e- do you know bobby?
me- ummm yeah (thinking- arent you doing a triathlon right now? why are you stopping?keeeeeep runnnning!!!!)
e- im his sister! thanks for volunteering!
me- oh cool! thanks! great job! (thinking- start running again! KEEP GOING!!)

haha i had no idea what to say but it was so awesome of her to stop and chat with me for a sec :)

and while watching the bikers i heard one of the ladies say "i am so glad that $**t is over!!!" thanks, really makes me want to do a tri now!

then you see something like this.... brings tears to your eyes. everyone is out here doing this for a reason.

blind triathlete and her co pilot

me hard at work!

andrea on her radio trying to figure out when i could leave and go eat

at one point andrea left me to go and get us some food since we thought we were going to miss our free volunteer cheeseburger meal.... she scored us some carbs with a side of sugar. and this is what happened to said food. fail.


shortly after our food fail, the finishers arrived at our spot. we cheered like we had never cheered before, then promptly ran to the cafeteria to get our burger and make it to the finish to watch them cross.

the last two women coming up on our spot

meredith (a survivor herself) volunteers to be the very last person to cross every year. the support this woman got and the strength she showed was so awesome.


there are really no words to adequately express all of the feelings i had throughout the day. watching this event gave me a whole new perspective on what it is to be a woman, an athlete, and (although im not one myself, but my step father is) a cancer survivor. i must have cried at least ten times throughout the day for various reasons. the strength of human will is amazing, and i was able to see it first hand. congrats to everyone who competed in this remarkable event. over $900,000 was raised from this one event. heres to finding a cure.

and last but not least, i swear i put sun tan lotion on (remember? i left my ring on the counter?) guess i should have reapplied at some point. glad my wedding isnt this weekend!

.major.sun.tan.lotion.fail.