TerrificTuesday!

Peaches forth bark box!!

Trying to get a picture of our Christmas tree!!

Guest Bedroom Bedding Change

OUT WITH THE OLD

AND IN WITH THE NEW

The Voice 3rd live eliminations

The top eight!

Doug - 5
Christina - 1
Blake - 2
Jennie - 3
Ceelo - 3
Adam - 2

I'm going to follow up with my original prediction that Ceelo is coaching the winning team!

On this episode of:

Why I love the weekends!

I have time to cook!

When Doug and I visit a new restaurant our first question is "May we see the wine list?" And it's shortly followed by "do you offer a molten lava cake for dessert?"

We are serious, because we love them! And we know they have a special prep/make time.

I impressed myself tonight!

Bundt pan roasted chicken and vegetables, Pillsbury crescent rolls, and chocolate molten lava cake!

All eaten and enjoyed!

Will bookmark the recipes and make again! All recipes found at iowagirleats.com - I think!

The Voice 2nd live eliminations

Ladies and gentlemen - Jennie is still surviving!!

Doug - 7
Blake - 2
Christina - 2
Jennie - 3
Ceelo - 3
Adam - 3

The Voice 1st live eliminations

Well, after the first round I am going with the catch phrase "quality not quantity!"

Doug - 8
     Christina - 3
     Blake - 3
Jennie - 4
     Ceelo - 3
     Adam - 3

2012 Animile featuring Peaches!

Well, I'm not sure where to start on this one.

The Animile, its a local one mile race for you and your pup.  Proceeds go to the local animal shelter.  It's a great cause.

The unique one miler is ran just before the Kingsport Christmas Parade.  So everyone dresses up in Santa outfits, and even puts costumes on the pets!

Honestly, this year, I registered because:
1) we've never done it before
2) Peaches loves to run with us
3) It's a great cause
4) The logo on the shirt was a fun yin/yang with a paw print/sneaker print

So I registered us and told Doug it was okay if he didn't go, but I would go with Peaches.

Saturday came, and Doug decided not to run it, but he was going to take his girls.  No big deal.

We made it to Kingsport, got into the downtown madness, found a parking spot, got our bibs/swag bags, and wandered into the madness.

It was interesting.  Lots, and lots of puppies.  It was loud, lots of yappers.  We huddled on the sidewalk near the start and waited, watched.  The sun was bright, it was about 60*, and we tried to keep Peaches in the shade.

The human mile started.  And we waited for our turn, still in the shade.  We were parked at a spot on the sidewalk, that Peaches and I could just jump over into the crowd and start.  The organizers said "15 more minutes," so we waited.

A co-worker of mine had run the human mile, he caught up with us.  He had actually gotten bit by a dog at the beginning of his run.  He said the dog just jumped out of the crowd and grabbed his hand!

Finally, it was go time.  Everyone got in stance, ready, set, go!  I kissed Doug and started to get Peaches into the pack.

We walked right over into an opening, the barking only got louder, there were retractable leashes, and then two dogs in front of us started growling and acting less than friendly towards each other.

Doug said Peaches looked at him like "WHAT is Mom making me do Dad?  PLEASE HELP!"

At this point I looked at Doug and said "F*** THIS!," Peaches and I left the pack, and we went home.  The total time it took us to get out of that pack was 18 seconds.

Never again will we register for that race.  There were too many misbehaved dogs and irresponsible parents for me to trust running any distance with that group.  I should have known better!

Oh well, at least we looked cute!

2012 YWCA Turkey Trot

Late Friday night I received some very sad news from a friend, she had just lost her brother.  This led to a sleepless night of praying, thoughts, mourning, thankfulness for our blessings, and just plain uneasiness.

I easily woke Saturday morning to head off to the YWCA Turkey Trot 5k.  Peanut butter sandwich and coffee in hand, I was off to the YW.

Upon arrival I got my bib and swag bag.  Rushed back to the car to drop everything off and sent one last text to Doug.

The weather was perfect.  It started around 35* and sunny and by the end of the race was 50* and sunny.  Absolutely perfect running weather.

The gun was slow to go off as there was a lady who read a bunch of stuff.  I couldn't hear because everyone around me kept chatting.

But then we were off.  The majority of this course I run regularly, so again, its like a "home field" for me.

The first mile was good - when I heard the time I was shocked.  8:35.  WHAT?  WHO?  HOW?

I glanced at my watch and sure enough it read 8:45.  Despite not feeling well last week, and a rough night, I was doing AWESOME!

The second mile was good.  I felt beat down a few times.  There is a good hill on Melrose, but I'm used to it.  Got some water at the water station and continued on.

Then came the big hill of a bridge right before the finish.  I told myself it was okay to walk some, but I didn't. I slowly and steadily ran up that bridge.

At the top of the bridge/hill I looked at my watch, 26something.  I could see the YW with the finish line in the parking lot.  Holy S**** I thought!  I gotta go, this is a huge PR!

I finished strong in 27:23!!  After recovering I looked more closely at my watch. . . the course was 2.96 DUN DUN DUN.  After asking a few questions, I found out it wasn't certified, they *thought* it was 3.1.

Classic Garmin Picture

I was bummed.  But either way I had an awesome run and would have been on track for a good PR even if the course had been 3.1.

An attempt of getting a pic with me AND my garmin's PR.

Place Name                   Bib# Age Div/Tot  Time    Pace  
===== ====================== ==== === ======== ======= ===== 

27 Jennie Barron             3  31   5/23     27:27  8:50

Results from SFTC

Needless to say, on this run, I ran for those who can no longer put one foot in front of the other and enjoy that majestic feeling of running with the sun rising on your path.

The hardest question I've had to answer in a while. . .

Today at work I was asked "What do you do for fun?  You seem like an active person, but you never talk about what you do for fun."  This was coming from our lead trainer at work, I've worked with this gentleman since spring of 2011.

It never dawned on me that I don't discuss these things at work.  I guess when I'm at work, I work.  Who knew?!

It baffled me when he asked, and he was like "I hope that's not too personal, its just we've worked together for so long and I don't know much about you."

Well then I went to answer him and this was my response "I run, yeah I run, I ran this weekend.  I have my husband and puppy.  Oh my friend and I dressed up when we ran this  Halloween run."

Do I really JUST run?!  What DO I do for fun?

Sure I watch television, but that's not a big part of me.

We have GNO's - but I'm not telling that at work!  *wink*wink*ladies*

I drink and eat, but let's be honest, I am in no position to announce my love of wine while at work!

My husband and I travel.  Boy do we love to travel!  But that's not something you cannot afford to do very frequent.

This just got me thinking: what DO I do for fun?

The Voice Tournament of Champions: DJ's Team Selections

Watch the full video here!

Recapping:

Jennie has:

Debora

Devyn Delora

Adriana Louise

Terry McDermott

Julio Castillo

Liz Davis

Melanie Martinez

Joselyn Rivera

Diego Val

Cody Belew

Doug has:

Dez Duron

Sylvia Yacoub

Michalea Page

Cassadee Pope

Bryan Keith

Loren Allred

Amanda Brown

Trevin Hunt

Mackenzie Bourg

Nicholas David

Trying to keep up with the choices!

Now all we can say is: GOOD LUCK!

2012 Haunted Half Marathon

 2012 Haunted Half Marathon

Going into the Haunted Half this year I was excited and nervous.  This is the first half Kristen and I ran.  It was the beginning of our running friendship too.  My goal was a PR, I wanted a big PR, preferably around 2 hours… but deep down I knew I didn't train for a 14 minute PR.  Any improvement would be a joyful occasion!

My training plan was nonexistent to say the least.  My goal all year has been to increase my mileage, speed work outs, and basically just go out and get the miles on my feet.  That being said – since last year’s Haunted Half I have completed four half marathons!  (Santa Hustle, Scenic City, Varmint, and Bluegrass)

The week leading up I almost psyched myself out getting so worked up.   Hurricane Sandy didn't help either.  But through Doug and Kristen I calmed down.  If it was meant to be it would be. 

My running buddy AKA Captain Hook!

Kristen and I dressed as Captain Hook and Peter Pan this year.  Costumes are always fun!  It adds another level of excitement to the race. 

We found out midweek that our friend Kristina would be on bike patrol.  This was great – we knew we’d see her at least twice on the course and I’ll never turn down a friend cheering me on!  Turns out our other friend Sybil was on bike patrol too – yay for two friends on bike patrol!

Race day came, and before I knew it we were lining up at the start.  The start was a little discombobulated this year, but oh well.  Hurricane Sandy showed up too – she brought along some nice winds.  We got started a tad late, there were no starting corrals so it made the first half mile to a mile congested.  At one point I looked at Kristen and said “we are doing 10:30, this is unacceptable, let’s go” ha ha and I took off.  The trouble with that is – it took me 10 miles to slow down! 

Mile 1-4 I felt great, I ran into a co-worker at the mile 4 water station and then knew I’d see Kristina and Sybil on Industry Road around mile 5-7.  When I saw Kristina finally she cheered me on and even snapped a few pictures!  It was a great boost!

The goal had been to gu every 30 minutes or 3 miles.  I stuck to this routine fairly well, until the end and gu’d at mile 9 and 11.

Back into downtown I still felt good.  Around mile 8 I saw Kristen’s family and that was fun to hear her kids cheering me on!  Those boys are too cute!

The weather post race.

Mile 7-10 have always proven to be a stumbling block for me, and this time I tried to push through.  It was hard but by the time I got to mile 10 I was spent.  If this had been a training run I would have thrown in the towel and been done with it.  I kept telling myself to keep running, no walking.  Yet I did walk some.   Then I’d see my huge PR going down the drain and knew if I kept walking I’d be so mad at myself.  I even saw Kristina around mile 11, she was so nice and encouraging, and I was so angry!  (Sorry friend!)  I think the conversation went something like this:

Kris – Go girl, you are doing great, looking good!  Kristen’s doing great too!  Keep it up!

Jennie – No I’m not, I’m mad, this is horrible.  I hate this.

Kris – umm you are looking great!  Keep it up!

Then she turned and rode the other way – ha ha!

There was a water station around mile 11, it was out of water.  Gesh people, it was even the Army guys!  They said “we are all out” and I replied with “you should have planned better!” (Like I said, I was angry!)

Then around mile 12.8 I saw a water station!  At that point I was delirious.  Another lady runner and I had been pulling each other along and I stated “let’s get some water, walk a second, and finish strong!” and she said “no, we are almost finished, keep running!” so I agreed but told her if I didn't make it she was responsible!  The lady runner was behind me and I have no idea who she was!  But thank you to her for helping me PR!

THEN THERE WAS A HILL!  This is claimed to be the flattest, fastest (wicked fast) course in East Tennessee – what the heck guys!  We finished up hill!  So we are chugging along, reminding myself this is what all that speed work was for, when some cheerleader yelled “go, run, the finish is just around that turn!”  I got so excited to only find out we had ANOTHER TURN after it! 

Happy Peter Pan!

Well, I finished strong.  I sprinted that last .1-.25ish and got a great PR!  Almost a full 6 minutes!

Look at those splits!  And to see that I walked almost 3 minutes... : (

My very first half marathon at the Haunted Half was 2:13:59 – this year I improved on that time and finished with an outstanding 2:08:22!!!

At first I was upset with myself, but now, I’m ecstatic!  I cannot wait until next year, maybe third time’s a charm and I’ll break that 2 hour mark then!

My wonderful brother and his great fleece coat!

Afterwards I hung out with my family, brother, mother and little Landon.  Landon was all about the bouncy slides and kids adventures.  But once I cooled down it was COLD!  Thanks to my great brother who froze and let me use his jacket!  He might be a good guy after all!

My Celebratory Dinner Outfit - Proud of that shirt!

Back at home, I showered and realized other than feeling tired, I felt pretty good.  No blisters!  Woot!  Woot!  That’s now 6 half marathons without a blister!  Holla!  Doug took me to dinner to celebrate my PR at the Troutdale – always a great meal!  I even splurged with a couple blackberry martinis!  Yum!

Another form of celebration was GNO on Monday!  We had dinner and drinks at Machiavelli’s!  It was the classic group of Kristen, Kristina, Brandie, and me!  We laughed, laughed, ate some great food, drank some great drinks, and laughed some more!  GNO is never a quick event!

Pictures by Allen Greene Photography

Video by someone

Results by SFTC  

Race Management 

Thirsty Thursday!

           Here's a classic civil war debate. . . what do you order soda or pop?

           I'm in the neither category and this is how our ordering goes:

Waitress:  So what can I get you guys to drink?

DJ:  two beers please

or 

DJ:  May we see the wine list?

or 

DJ: double jack and sour with a splash of sour and a stoli martini, shaken, not stirred, dirty, throw an extra olive in there, k?  *wink*

Oh and two waters to wash our food down with please!

So how which side of the war are you on?  Or do you order complicated like us?

Wordless Wednesday

Flash Back Friday!

Here we go again!

Remember this time last year?

Tonight I'm resting up for year two of the Haunted Half!

Training has went okay.  Had some good long runs, and increased my speed work.  It was a slow start after the Bluegrass Half in September.  But overall there has been more training throughout the year.

This week was a busy one at work, but I did manage to finish my last week of training.  We entertained the Paul Ryan Victory Rally at work this week.  That translates to a lot of meetings with Secret Service, a lot of "secret" meetings, early mornings, and late nights.  It was a very successful event.

After the rally rolled out of town I started fueling, hydrating, and resting.

The last dinner was another great spaghetti and meatballs from my favorite Machiavelli's!

Now off to bed, to rest tomorrow, and run my little heart out!  In costume of course!

Stay tuned for an update!

Bark Box Number Two!

What I'm drinking Wednesday!

It was Jennie, in the shower, with the shave cream!

Yep, that is the answer to yesterday's murder accident mystery.

Yesterday morning in the shower I dropped the shave cream canister as I was placing it back on the shelf (above my head).

It slipped and bounced on the shower floor.

I "jumped" and moved my foot, in hopes of it not hitting my toe, SUCCESS!  

The canister did not hit my toe BUT it did bounce back and hit my knee.  Like the soft part between the knee cap and that bottom leg bone.

The injured spot immediately whelped up, red and blue.  I got out of the hot shower quickly so I could ice it but now have a nice knot on my knee and bruise.

Yet, I did run 5+/- miles last night and it did not deter me.  Awesome!

Wordless or Worded Wednesday?!

The Voice Tournament of Champions: Team Coach Selections

Here is the video of us making our Team Coach selections for the Bonus Kicker!

A bottle cap was flipped this past weekend, I got to chose first.

Doug did present with me with an option to take his first second round picks in the individual selections process for my first Coach pick.  I opted to stick with my first selection of Team Coach.

Recapping:
Jennie has Team Ceelo and Team Adam.
Doug has Team Christina and Team Blake.

Announcement: The 2012 Barron Household The Voice Tournament of Champions

For season three of The Voice we have decided to have a tournament of champions in our household.

It will play out as follows:

After the teams of 16 are cut in half, we will chose our teams.  Number of team members is yet to be decided.

First pick will be determined by best two out of three, coin or bottle cap clip.

Selections will be done using the "snake method" of picking.

Grand Prize is a Saturday of the Winner's choice.

Kicker:  We will chose two Team Coaches.  If your coach wins the entire Season Three, then you get a $100 bonus.

Bluegrass Half Marathon 2012

In an effort to prepare myself for the eventual 26.2, I am increasing the number of 13.1's I run.  Also, in preparation for beating my 2011 Haunted Half time, I registered for the Bluegrass Half Marathon.

Okay, enough defending my reasoning!

Training went well enough.  I had a few long runs, a lot of speed work, and one week of no runs.  Thank you sinus infection!

Race week I felt good.  I stressed about the elevation for a day or so, then told myself that it was no where near as difficult as The Varmint.  After that I was ready.

Until 5:30 AM on race day!  That is the worst!  It is always when I am dragging my lazy butt out of bed that I think to myself "this was a HORRIBLE idea!"  But this time I was picking Kristen up.  We'd decided to ride to Johnson City together, so I HAD TO GO!  I zombie'd around and made my way to McDonald's where they never can figure out "black coffee iced one creamer."  Then on to get Kristen.

We had no traffic into Johnson City and parked fairly easily.  Then it was time to find pre race bathrooms.  There were no port-o-potties to be found at the start/finish line, so we waited in line inside the Carnegie.  This took us the majority of our thirty minute pre race stretch time. I then got a sweet phone call from my wonderful husband wishing me well, always nice to hear his encouragement!

Then it was time to make our way into the pack of other crazy people and off we went!  It was a chilly morning so we'd wore "sock arm warmers" to knock the chill off.

Here I am around mile 1 rocking my sweet arm warmers!

The route was a very pretty one.  Through the VA campus, ETSU's campus, the tree streets, university parkway, return through ETSU, and onto the finish.

Mile 1-7ish were great.  My goal had been to keep sub 10 minute miles for the first 6 miles.  That felt great, so I attempted to keep it up as long as possible.  Mile 7 I started to feel the difference in a 10 minute mile and a 10:30.  Then came the more complicated hills.  Miles 9 and 10 really slowed me down.  Then I tried to pick it back up for the last few.

Still having fun at mile 2!    

 

Look at these fast splits!

How about a strong finish ladies and gentleman!

Normally I don't hang out for the post race events.  But this time we opted to check it out!  Kristen and I enjoyed all the race foods and even got leg massages.  It was a great after party!  I think in the future I might check a few more after parties out!

Overall I had a great run, and great experience at the Blue Grass Half Marathon.  I'm already looking forward to next year!

Oh and P.S. I should mention that I did have a lucky bib number!  It was my brother's lucky soccer number - thanks brother!

Kingsport Oktoberfest 2012

It was Oktoberfest.  Not much more to say so I'll leave you with these:

What Oktoberfest is about!

Pretty early in the day.

We found the photo booth!

Embracing the hairstyle of Oktoberfest!

Another trip into the photo booth!

Last meal before the Blue Grass Half!

Elton John and his band concert

Mom and I were lucky enough to score two tickets and dinner to see the legend himself ELTON JOHN and his band!!!  So of course we went!

The tickets!

My beautiful Mother marking a wish off her bucket list!

We are happy girls!

The seats - great view!

He's still got it!

Bristol Rhythm and Roots 5k

Bristol Rhythm and Roots is one of our favorite weekends of the year!

This 5k is the first 5k I ran Doug drug me through.  So if at all possible I like to run it, just to keep a yearly tab on my progress.

If you recall I was sick for some time before this race, remember my Eastman Road Race - no race?!  Yeah, I was sick for about 10 days before the BRRR 5k.

Unfortunately, Doug opted out of running it this year.  But I found my friend Amy and we ran together.  She is faster than me (A LOT FASTER) but is pregnant and under doctor's orders has to watch her heart rate.  I thought this would be a good time for slow poke Jennie to have a great pacer!

It worked out well!

Our first mile was great at 9:04!  FAST FOR ME!  It even felt good!  Amy and I chatted for a bit and probably drove some other runners mad.  But no one tripped us, so that was good!

Mile two was just as great at 9:29.  There might have been a decent hill in there to slow us down!

We looped around by the start line about mile 1.8ish and Mickey Baker snapped this photo of us!  See we were still smiling!

I'm now disappointed to say that I did walk for about 50 seconds around mile 2.4.  I mean come on, I was about finished.  But the combination of "hacking a hair ball" and no water stations just got to me.  

After that small recovery period I went on to finish strong and walk away with a  29:26 5k!  My best BRRR 5k yet!  

And I got this nice email from SFTC:

Thanks for taking part in the Bristol Rhythm & Roots 5K.
Here is your finish place, time and pace:

Jennie Barron
Place: 287
Time:   29:33
Pace:  9:31
Age Group Place: 25
out of Age Group Total: 49

Full results are now posted at www.runtricities.org

What happened to wordless Wednesday?

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: Peaches first Bark Box!