Sunflower decorated cake – my favorite!

Happy to have great co-workers

yummy

After we had some yummy cake, we played a game where you had to guess wedding traditions from different countries. We are a very mixed international group of people and it was fun! Interesting though, the wedding traditions they found on the internet, which are supposed to be common in certain countries were not known by the people who are from that country! That made it even more fun!

LOVE the initials

wedding advice from the team

Also, they gave me a scrap-book style wedding advice book. I love this idea!!! Everybody wrote amazing things and this is very special to me!!

The last months were super busy at work, I didn’t really get a chance to think to much about the wedding. But today it started to sink in. We have a few days off and then on Wednesday we are flying to Jamaica and on Friday is the big day. In exactly one week from today!

]]> http://dreambigrunner.com/2013/05/17/my-surprise-bridal-shower/feed/ 0 dreambigrunner DSCN2321 DSCN2324 DSCN2325 2013-05-17_21-04-56_171 2013-05-17_21-05-13_680 http://dreambigrunner.com/2013/05/15/wedding-wednesday-9/ http://dreambigrunner.com/2013/05/15/wedding-wednesday-9/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 10:01:00 +0000 Christine http://dreambigrunner.com/?p=2872 ]]> We decided on our first dance and I couldn’t be more excited!!  It’s not a traditional song and I wasn’t sure if it fits for a wedding in Jamaica, but the song means a lot to me and it just fits perfect to me and Mike

• The singer is from Germany and I was listening to his music growing up. He is the German Usher
• His name is Xavier Naidoo, born and raised in Germany, but also lived in the US. He is a mix, Sri Lankan Tamil dad and South African Arab mother.
• The song is a love song and bi-lingual (English and German).
• The name of the song is translated: I don’t know anything as beautiful as you!
• The other guy is RZA, he is born in Brooklyn, just like my fiance

My only concern was it is not as “beachy” and might not fit a Jamaican wedding, but once I talked to some friends, they say it’s perfect. If you would like to listen to the song, click HERE.

Not sure how we dance to this song, but I guess we will figure it out!

Which songs did you have at your wedding?

I still need a song for walking down the aisle and also a song for Mike dancing with his mom.
Any suggestions are welcome!

After a quick flight we landed around 7pm at the Cincinnati airport and immediately were welcomed by a PIG!

Piggy hug @ CVG

The best part about this trip was, we were planning on meeting up with soo many friends! 3 of my running friends drove from VA to OH and we met up at the hotel and went for some yummy dinner. The restaurant had great food, the service was “different”, which just made it even more funny!

Saturday morning we woke up, grabbed some breakfast and headed to the 5k start since the husband of one friend ran the 5k. We chatted a little bit and then headed to the expo where I FINALLY met Jill from Fitness,Health and Happiness  

I coach Jill for a year now and I was soo excited to finally meet her!!! It felt like we’ve known each other for a long time and we cruised through the expo with her wonderful 2 kids. Afterwards we headed for lunch to Chipotle. It was AWESOME! We had tons to catch up and had a blast!

In the afternoon we did some sightseeing/walking in downtown Cincinnati and finished with a nice dinner along the river at the boathouse.

Downtown Cincinnati

Beautiful path along the river

My running buddies and I with the lucky pig

Germans are every wear!

Great restaurant

Ready for our ribs!

love this picture

Last stop: Ball park

We were back at the hotel around 8pm and we were tired, a lot of walking today! Soon after I went to bed since the alarm went off at 4:45am!

Things you do at 5am!

After a few bath room stops we meet with the ladies in the lobby.

LOVE my running friends!

We then walked to the start line and were happy to see it didn’t start raining yet. The weather forecast changed hourly the days before, but on race  morning the forecast showed 90% chance of rain.

Beautiful sunrise

corrals

start area

I got a little nervous because it was A LOT of runners and it started to get crowded. Luckily Jill stayed with me and (she probably didn’t realize) she calmed me down. We lined up and saw a wonderful sunrise! So Beautiful! Soon after we went off and from the beginning the crowd support was amazing!

The first 5 miles were supposed to be super flat (compared to the mile 5-10) and I was a little concerned because I knew there are 3 bridges within the first 5 miles. Flat and bridges didn’t seem right. But I have to say it wasn’t that bad. I could also be that Jill and I talked a lot and we forgot about the hills! We had a great time and by mile 2 we decided to run an ultra relay with the other ladies one day!

We knew around mile 5 our support crew would be, so  we kept our eyes open and it was soo nice to see them!

LOVE seeing my support crew!

I knew shortly after, the hills would start and well, they didn’t disappoint. It was many steep but short hills and with the amazing crow support and always changing things to look at and of course running with Jill, the hills weren’t to bad. I was still glad once we reached mile 10 and from there it was downhill to the finish!

Sprinting to the finish

The weather was perfect, it didn’t rain during the race at all and it was even warm enough to run in a t-shirt. Cloudy and 50′s my favorite running weather! Once we finished, the downpour began, we were soo lucky!

It was a fantastic race and even though I’m not a fan of large races, this was perfectly executed. I would totally recommend this race!!

Happy Finishers

Pros:

• having my running friends with me!!!
• beautiful, scenic course
• AMAZING spectators, they were everywhere along the course, never got boring
• Even Elvis was there!
• LOVE the medal
• nice,large Flying pig cooler in addition to race shirt
• expo with tons of free samples

Cons:

• not many, but one of them was the water. It had a weird taste, so I ran with a bottle of water
• parking seems a little difficult, if possible stay downtown
• 6:30am start, a little early, but it allows you to take a shower before checking out

]]> http://dreambigrunner.com/2013/05/10/cincinnati-and-the-flying-pig/feed/ 11 dreambigrunner IMG_4112 IMG_0706 IMG_0713 IMG_0717 IMG_0721 IMG_0724 IMG_0726 IMG_0727 IMG_0741 IMG_4115 IMG_4118 IMG_4122 IMG_4136 IMG_4157 IMG_4183 IMG_4197 IMG_4194 http://dreambigrunner.com/2013/05/08/wordless-wednesday-22/ http://dreambigrunner.com/2013/05/08/wordless-wednesday-22/#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 09:54:02 +0000 Christine http://dreambigrunner.com/?p=2837 ]]>

Highlights:

• Dr didn’t find anything wrong with my GI issues -> started to focus on hydrating as this always seems to be the cause for all my issues. I felt MUCH better this month! Not sure if hydrating was the cure, but hey I’ll take it.
• Spring is finally here!!
• Planting flowers in the front of the house
• We started with the “get rid of the carpet ” project and bought new laminate floors for the 1st floor and tiled all bathrooms. They will be installed in May.
• All races this month felt awesome! Looks like I’m over this stomach flare up (knock on wood)
• 2 movie date nights with my fiance (“A good day to die hard” -> good movie! , “Pain & Gain” -> fiance loved it, I thought it was really bad!)
• ran a spontaneous half marathon and even though it was one of the hilliest I have ever ran, I had fun, felt good and ran much faster than I did all year!
• Work is crazy busy!
  • I still haven’t found a new supervisor for the production, but we had a promising interview.
  • On top, I had to let somebody go, which is always stressful, but at the same time I love to see how more comfortable I am in this role. I really improved over the last year.
  • Also the co-worker who always gave me trouble gave his notice, so we are restructuring and this will be good. I will be able to provide my suggestions and hope they will be heard and I will be more happy in the future.
• bought meat from the local butcher (grass fed, “healthy” meat) – yummy!

Wedding Updates:

• 2nd fitting for the dress and it was perfect! Decided to get push up cups sewed in
• received the travel documents for our weddingmoon in the mail and my friend personal made my “something blue” – it’s all coming together!
• My future sister in law and mother in law came from NYC to VA for a weekend to finalize wedding stuff. It was fun! Read more about it HERE.
• Countdown: 23 days until the big day!

Not so good:

• A/C in the car broke, luckily it was a quick fix
• Boot camp started and I did good the first week, ok the 2nd week and then “didn’t find the time”. I know excuses…lame

Horrible:

• Boston Marathon Bombings

Travel: none

Races:

• Apr 6: Brian’s 15k
• Apr 13: Stafford Hospital 5k
• Apr 14: HIS Half Marathon

Books:

• finally finished “Fools Rush In” by Janice Thompson. It was ok, kind of boring. I had to force myself to finish.
• my sisters recommended “Before I go to Sleep “ by S.J. Watson and I’m hooked! Great book!

Goal check:

• Run 13 half marathons in 2013: 6 half marathons done, 7 to go
  
• Run the local race series (finish with more than 940 points): (current points 904) – 3 done, 4 to go
  
• enjoy wedding planning (simplify and do not stress): going well this month, can’t believe we have less than 30 days!!
  
• write a wedding blog and turn it into a book: going well so far
• rent out my condo by the end of the year: we decreased the rent a little bit, but still no tenant.
  

Favorite pictures:

Finish Strong at a local 5k

Seen on my commute

Awesome medal, my new favorite!

My “Something Blue” will be sewed inside the dress

My sister in law made us our guest book

My “Something Old” – my sister and I

My fiance surprised me with a family picture wall

Great Half Marathon with my running buddies

]]> http://dreambigrunner.com/2013/05/01/april-2013/feed/ 5 dreambigrunner profil 2013-04-24_18-31-17_279 IMG_20130414_124230 IMG_20130417_204407 IMG_20130424_123425 IMG_20130424_143859 IMG_20130425_193147 IMG_20130426_213137 http://dreambigrunner.com/2013/04/30/three-things-tuesday-support-boston/ http://dreambigrunner.com/2013/04/30/three-things-tuesday-support-boston/#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 00:38:49 +0000 Christine http://dreambigrunner.com/?p=2822 ]]> Instead of writing about the horrible Boston bombings, which still leave me speechless, I decided to post about 3 ways to help families and runners who were affected by this tragedy:

1. Buy T-Shirts

There are many places to buy shirts, just make sure you buy from a reliable source. Unfortunately, there are places out there, who try to make money off of it.

http://www.adidas.com

Adidas, the official footwear and apparel sponsor of the Boston Athletic Association and the Boston Marathon, launched a limited edition “Boston stands as one” t-shirt. The t-shirt is available at adidas.com with 100 percent of the proceeds going to The One Fund Boston, Inc. in order to help the people most affected by Monday’s tragic events. The One Fund Boston, Inc. supports those affected by the tragic events that occurred in Boston.

http://www.toughchik.com

I prefer a tech shirt and found above one at Tough Chik. Great website, women only business, who I fully trust! Can’t wait for this shirt to arrive.

2. Buy #BostonStrong Lace Medallion

http://www.saucony.com

In an effort to inspire runners to honor and support the people most affected by the tragic events that occurred in Boston on April 15, Saucony has created the #BostonStrong Lace Medallion to be offered as a fundraiser for The One Fund Boston. The two-sided medallion features the viral hashtag and unity motto #BostonStrong on one side and a custom-designed, laced-up heart icon on the other. For every pair of medallions purchased, Saucony will donate 100% of sales to The One Fund Boston, established by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino to help the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.

3. Donations

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino have announced the formation of The One Fund Boston, Inc. to help the people most affected by the tragic events that occurred in Boston on April 15, 2013.

Find out more here.

Saturday morning we met up and car pooled to the race. We arrived there an hour before the start just to be on the safe start. This was the first time the race was held and we were careful. Many times the inaugural races are very chaotic. For us it was not about time, we used this race as a training run anyway. Parking was easy (we were the first to arrive) and also race day pick up was a breeze (nobody but us was there).

Before the race

race packet pick up

I like the race shirt design, but unfortunately it is a cotton shirt. I guess I will be using this as a sleeping shirt. It was freezing in the morning but sunny and it looked like it will be a perfect day to run!

The race was held in Prince William Forest and I love running there, it is hilly and we were all prepared for that.

visitor center

Slowly we walked towards the start line and noticed there are not many runners here. They offered 4 distances, the 2k, 5k, half marathon and full marathon.

start

They set up the timing but had issues so we had a little late start. Also, we had to run around the timing mat, was kind of weird. But oh well. You can see right at the start it is a nice incline and the first 3 miles of the race were hilly. I was happy and felt great and ran with one of my running buddies. Lacey stayed the whole race with me and we chatted along. We felt  good all the way. We had a great time and enjoyed the scenery.

early on the in the race

There was an out and back section and we counted the women in front us, it was 20 females. With a race being that small (estimated 50 people at the start) we thought we might have a shot for some AG awards. Later on we realized we got passed by some of the females, who were ahead of us. That seemed strange!

around mile 4

2 of the water stations were unmanned, there was water and cups and all still packed but no volunteer there. At one of them we stopped and poured some water for us and also another runner that came by. It was no big deal for us, but that would definitely by annoying if your try to run for time during this race.

beautiful place to run

The last 2 miles were very hilly again and we stopped talking and focused on finishing strong. And we did! My finishing time was 2:07:31 and I was SOO happy! I felt fine the while time during this race AND ran much faster than I did in at least 6 months. Not having to deal with my stomach was the best thing that could have happened!!

hugs in happiness

LOVE the medals we got

When we finished we heard they misdirected the lead people (that’s the reason they passed us later on) some of them ran an extra 5 miles!! Especially the ones running a marathon were not happy and there was definitely some cursing at the finish line.

running buddies are the best

Online results: my finish time: 2:07:31

• 40 people ran the half marathon
• 21 females: I was 8th
• in my AG (30-34): 1/5

Oh and in regards to awards. They didn’t had any! No AG win for me The timing was messed up anyway since only 2 of my 3 friends show in the results and many others ran way more than 13 miles.

Either way, I had an awesome time and loved the race and medal, however I’m glad I didn’t race this race. I hope they improve this for next year.

The rules for The Versatile Blogger award are:

1. Add The Versatile Blogger Award photo on a blog post

2. Thank the person who presented you with the award and link back to him or her in your post.

3. Share seven things about yourself.

4. Pass the award along to 15 favorite bloggers. Contact the chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

So, here we go! 7 things about me:

Table dancing at age 1

2. At school my worst classes were chemistry and English, I always said I never take a job where I would need any of it. Well, I work now for a chemical company in the US. Who would have thought!!

3. I have this weird habit that I like to separate my food on the plate. I don’t like that different food touches each other, so my sides are in one corner and the meat is on the other side

Beer garden in Germany

 5. I’m a planner and like things organized . I love checklists and plans, especially during training!!

6. I’m addicted to CHOCOLATE!!

On April 13 I ran the Stafford Hospital5k race as part of the local race series. I ran the race twice before and even once one an AG!

2010:
Weather on Race day was 55 degrees, cloudy.
Time: 27:26 (8:50 pace)
AG place: 9/22

2011:
Weather on Race day was 53 degrees, rain.
Time: 25:49 (8:19 pace)
AG place: 1/16

Even though this is one of the races it seems easier to place I decided to take it easy this year. 2 days before the 5k I spontaneously signed up for a half marathon, which was the following day. So the goal was to take it easy and have fun!

The start

I ran with my friend Renee and she recently signed up for the Dopey Challenge! So we had a lot to talk about. It was fun and we just cruised along.

LOVE this picture!

Fun fact: After the race when I looked at the pictures I saw my friend Bobby (in orange) right behind us. I had no idea she was following us! Love how we all wave to the camera!

final sprint

I couldn’t resist and had to sprint the finish, I felt so good! This was the first time in a long time I ran without any stomach issues and felt soo good! The weather was beautiful and we stayed for a little bit, talked with other running friends. Fun day! After the race I got a large Muscle blaster – a protein smoothie and took a nap.

Official stats:

I finished the Stafford Hospital 5 km on April 13, 2013 with a time of 30:04. I placed 147 of 340 runners, 58 of 205 Female runners and 10 of 21 in the Women’s 30-34 division.  My pace per mile was  9:41. I scored 886 Grand Prix points in this race. Weather on Race day was 52 degrees, sunny.

Next up: a half marathon the next day!

Last weekend my future sister in law and mother in law came from NYC to Virginia to help me with wedding stuff. Thanks to Sandals and a destination wedding there is really not much to do. We still had an awesome day!

First Rebecca and I went to the alteration place for my final fitting and everything looked good. Rebecca even teared up a little! Since the dress Rebecca initially bought was not available in her size anymore, we decided to check out if they had anything. The first dress we saw was just perfect! Rebecca tried it on and it was made her for her! Perfect color, hardly any alteration needed and totally fitting for a fun wedding in Jamaica! She tried a 2nd dress, which looked great as well and she ended up buying both!

After that we had a nice lunch at the water and since it was so nice weather, I even got a little sunburned! After that we headed to the mall where we bought my jewelry and also some little accessories. Final stop was Michaels where we bought supplies in order to “pimp” a picture frame. My something old is a picture of me and my sisters, which was taken and developed (no digital cameras then) in 2000.

I will attach this frame to my bouquet, that way they can be with my on my wedding day! I will miss them soo much!!

Also Rebecca created our guest book and it is amazing!

It was such a fun weekend and I’m soo blessed to be part of this family, who so openly welcomes me!!