Day 1-3: It has started!! Post 4/15

Tuesday morning, for the VERY last time, Blake unloaded the dishes from the horrendous dishwasher that hasn't truly washed dishes or dried them in over two years and I used our very tempermental microwave, to cook the kids oatmeal.

Day 1: Nov. 1, 2011: 9AM - Our door bell rang on the dot and Gene, John John, Bruce (our electrician) and Sandra arrived together with drop clothes in hand and by the time I returned home at 4:30PM to check in on the progress, EVERYTHING WAS GONE, except the half wall studs. The ceiling needed to be reinforced before taking it down completely. The only surprises day 1 was the way the framers had framed part of the dining room ceiling over 10 years ago and remnants of a little furry friend in our kitchen wall. Gene thought there was a a little mouse living in the wall and we decided to call a pest control to come in while all the kitchen walls were open. I was amazed the first day at how overall clean the area was. Sandra's guys were constantly sweeping and really made it priority to respect the house and keep it as clean as they possibly could.

Taken, standing in the breakfast room looking toward the front door entry.

Looking from the entry into the house.

Standing in the living room near the back hall way door looking into the kitchen.

Day 2: Nov. 2, 2011: Gene and John John finished demo and reinforced ceiling and took down half wall. They also added the beams to drop the tray ceiling in the dining room so it would be flat like the rest of the house. The plumbers were there in the afternoon capping off the water from the original refrigerator place and ran a tube for ice maker to dining room, shortened the sink plumbing and put the water in for the new refrig. placement. Tony and Sandra were here first thing in the morning for him to discuss the floors. The only minor issue today was the plumber installed the refrigerator water supply about 3 feet away from where it should me. The house today was much dustier with the plumbers there but I was shocked to find out that Sandra and her daughter Beth, had come by the house after 6PM to lock up, as they do each day and stayed and cleaned all the floors. She was on the phone immediately with the plumbers letting them know her expectations with the house and clean up. It was AWESOME!!!

Day 3: I arrived to feed Smokey and Sandra was here with the cabinet guy, Hank - who was doing final measurements for cabinets and Bruce was here installing outlets all over the place. Tony's flooring guys were already there too prepping the floors and removing the strips that needed to be so they could integrate the new ones on Monday. Craig, with Texas Pest (recommended to me by my awesome real estate agent - Brigitte Perkins and Megan Perkins came over late this afternoon and GREAT news, the little critters living in our walls aren't in fact mice but rather lizards!! So we cocked up some holes he found between the stucco and foundation inside the walls and did a little dance we don't have a rodent problem!!!

My neighborhood community parking lot looks like my personal parking lot for a half dozen amazing workers at any one time over the last 3 days. But I am not complaining with the progress being made and lack of big (and expensive) surprises.

The Intense Pre-Process and Prepartion. Post 2/15

This is my journal of this process. This is probably insanely boring to 95% of people out there but it has been neat to see what has been accomplished on a weekly and now, daily basis. (I promise good pictures will accompany all posts starting withe the next one.) ;) So if your ready for a long journey, then come along with me for a couple of weeks and if not, you probably want to skip this blog for a while!!! ;)

So, in case, you couldn't guess what we are doing... we are remodeling our 10 year old kitchen and turning it into a large eat in kitchen by taking down the wall dividing the dining room and the kitchen.

September 19 (Week 9/16 of marathon training) -We had a meeting with Gene, the framer to find out which walls were weight bearing and to get an idea of how big we could safely make this project. Blake won a huge contest earlier this year at work so we a huge credit at CostCo that we are trying desperately to use for the remodel. So far, we have ordered the faucet, the new garbage disposal, the stainless steel hood and the wine refrigerator from there.

September 26 (Week 10 of 16), We met to look and start the process of choosing appliances at KIVA. Over the next 2 weeks, Blake and myself exhausted every other option to make sure we were getting the absolute best prices. We even were in every single Scratch and Dent place in the city, Sears outlet, online, etc... Sandra's discount at wholesaler KIVA couldn't be beat. The big decision this week was double oven or single oven with warming drawer. Do we want wall oven and a couple of weeks later, it evolved to, do we want to do cook top and wall oven underneath or go with the more commercial look of the 36" gas range. We did decide to change our cook top over to gas from electricity when we found out that it wasn't too bad of a cost with where the gas line already was in proximity to the kitchen. I even went over to Brigitte' Perkins to see her awesome layout of her appliances. Blake had his heart set on a range around this time but the cost of a basic 36" gas range was shocking and we quickly re-evaluated. Ultimately 3 weeks and multiple hours of thought and research later, we ended up going with a very sleek and industrial looking Viking 30" gas slide in range with convection oven, that we got from KIVA for half off. It was the floor model, just like the warming drawer, and they were making room for the slightly newer model, so we got it for 50% off their wholesale price! Blake and i couldn't be happier with the look and style and never thought we would have a Viking range, for less than what we would have paid for a cook top and wall oven.



October 3 - First evening meeting with our cabinet maker, Hank. We loved him. I had tons of pictures and lists of what I wanted. Sandra had awesome ideas for layout as well. Sandra also started bringing over counter top and tile/back splash samples. Blake and I are continuing to try to make big decisions about the appliances and are slowly realizing the cost of this project and specifically the cabinets. Sandra calls me early (8AM the next day) saying that she was on Overstock.com the night before and found the most amazing deal for me to get bar stools for the new island. They were the identical look that I had repeatedly showed her pictures of the look I liked. So I snatched 4 bar stools up for the price I would have paid for 2 at a everyday furniture place on sale.


October 7 (Week 11 of 16 of training) - Sandra met me at the house super early with her plumber so he could give bid on switching to gas, shutting off and re-hooking up refrigerator line and sink. She also had quote from her electrician, Bruce, who has done work at our house several times over the years, that we love. I am keeping a tight budget on all these numbers. I am starting to put pressure on myself about making some decisions on appliances because with out the selection of appliances, we can't move forward with cabinets. The cabinet bid came in late this day and Blake thought it was better than he thought it was going to be. We feel it's more than fair for all the work he is doing and the quality. We are having to plan this remodel around him now and his schedule. Sandra is pushing him to start by the 2nd week in November. That means now at this point, demolition starting around Nov 5. I need to talk to my mom about possibly moving in for a couple of weeks with them. This is just now registering to me that Blake and I are running a marathon in the dead center point of a MAJOR house remodel.... probably some poor planning on my part. But what can you do?!?! ;)



October 14 (Week 12 of 16 of marathon training) - Went back and forth on keeping the 59 bottle wine refrigerator when Blake and I will probably NEVER own and keep long term that amount of wine. Even though the refrigerator is in essence free with Blake's CostCo prize credit, we want to be extremely smart and practical long term for all our decisions. I just know that Blake is and ALWAYS will more of a beer drinking kind of guy and I found out they make "beverage coolers" that hold half wine bottles (around 25 bottles) and 60 cans. So poor Blake and our wonderful neighbor Corky got to load up the wine refrigerator and take it back to CostCo. Late this afternoon, Blake and I met, Sandra, her daughter and fellow designer Beth, and their two granite fabricators, Jamie and Little Bill with CSI at 3-4 different granite yards. Yet again, for the 5th time, Blake and I were BEYOND impressed with professionalism and knowledge these contractors that worked with her, were. Amazing and yet again, it reconfirmed how worth her fee is not mess with dealing with 5-6 different contractors that either don't know what they are doing, don't care or waste our time. We had so much fun with them and I really felt that they knew EXACTLY what look I was going for. They were on their cell phone's calling all the other gratintie yards not only in San Antonio but in the surrounding area to see if they had slabs I would be interested in. I know I am in love with WHITE QUARZITE - Luce de Lune, Quartzite Bianca, etc... I have spent probably 8 hours this week late at night researching everything about counter tops. I even have an appointment withe the CostCo Dupont counter people just to make sure I shouldn't save money and use them. Every major grantite yard in SA knows what I am looking for and now, we are just waiting for the right one to arrive.



October 16 (Week 13 of 16 of Marathon training) - Blake goes by more stores so we can finally decide on range or cook top and seperate oven. He goes by KIVA but our sales rep isn't there. The next day, I get a call from Sandra around 3:30PM, while she as at KIVA with another clinet. She was so calmly excited and told me Rae will sell me a industrial VIKING 30" range for less than the cook top and oven. God was on my side, beacuse I happened to be in a parking garage near Northeast Methodist Hosptial working and was able to get there in less than 10 minutes. Within 60 seconds, it was a done deal. Yet again, another example, of how Sandra's connections pay for herself!



10.18.11 - This afternoon, after I get out of a district meeting, I have time to run by 2 grantite yards. One new one that had a couple of maybe's and the granite yard, that I first went into - YoungStone. They took me to a bundle that they had just received. They had named this new white quartite - Quartite calcutta, since it looked stikingly similar to the highly desired Calcutta Marble. When in fact, since I know keep a HUGE bag of all my files with me all the time, I was able to show her the "Luce de Luna" I as on a mission for and we think we may have found it!!!! They offered to bring the 3 other matching slabs in from their Austin yard so I could have first dibs for the counters. I called Sandra and she knew to jump on it. She said she would call Jamie and head over there and make sure they were put on hold for us. She knows how sought out those peices are and knows what to do to get them. Yet another reason to love her!



So, the funny thing, is Sandra, is very laid back and has NEVER put pressure on Blake and I to make a decision about ANYTHING, which I love. I however, am not the same, I am always trying to think ahead and now the pressure I am putting on us, is finally deciding on the sink style and material. We have been all over the board with apron stainless, hammered silver apron (untill I got the price), apron porcelin. Undermount single large tub stainless or with smart divide.... so mant choices. So this week, with any free time at lunch time, I am trying to make 5 minute stops to figure out the sink we want. I also stopped by Lighting Inc yesterday, on the way to pick up the kids, and am really excited about lighting for the 3 seperate areas. I didn't see anything I love and ever since have been monitoring Overstock.com. It's amaizng how much great stuff they have there!

So that was my journaling from the planning process, the next week, I headed out of town all week to Florida and the very next week - TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1 has been officially deemed as demoltion day!!!

So from the first live meeting Sandra and I ever had to demoliton day was SEVEN weeks.

Decisions, Decisions (Post 1/15)

Just because we weren't at our breaking point, both working, raising 2 young children and deciding to embark on running a full marathon for fun, we decided to test ourselves and throw in a little project around the house.

Mid August (about week 4 of our 16 week marathon training,) Blake and I finally made the formal (out loud) decision that we weren't going to move. See, we had always said that if for any reason we were going to want to move, we wanted to do it before Carter started Elementary School. Blake and I both grew up going to the same schools with the same core friends and it was important for us to do this for Carter and Addie if we could help it. 

With this decision (which wasn't ever even a hard decision to make) behind us, we felt like it was time to make our house our longer term dream home.


I knew I needed the help of a designer and even though I knew one, I was nervous about making the first call. Really nervous. I called my girl friend Alli to get her opinion and she gave me the confidence to place the first call to Sandra.


I placed the first call the first week of September (week 6 of training) and it has been VERY steady progress since that point.



Sandra came over for a long meeting on September 12 (week 8 of training.) I had millions of pictures including at the time, a 15 page color print out packet of my overall look and feel I wanted. I am pretty sure I am the first client of hers to have this kind of detail on meeting #1. With the help of Pinterest, I was well on the way planning.

See, we LOVE LOVE LOVE, every single thing about our home and utilize each area in our home EXCEPT one. There is about 180 square feet that is prime real estate, however it is also the most under utilized area, hands down, of our home. For over 3 years, Blake and I had talked about what we would do if we stay in this house....

Let's just say, walls are coming down!!!!

The Aftermath Of A Marathon & Most Common Questions

On my current bucket list of 38 items, this one was PRETTY darn high up there...


1. Ride in a hot air balloon
2. Run a half marathon
3. Complete a full marathon - 11.13.11 San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon w/ Blake
4. Trip to South Africa complete with safari when kids are older
5. Trip to Australia as a couple


I will say recovery was difficult.
 
After crossing the finish line, I had a urge to take off my socks which were drenched with sweat. Once I looked down, I noticed 2 ENORMOUS blisters ballooned up nearly an inch above each toe. They didn't hurt but the sheer size of them told me I should get these things taken care of now at a Medical tent versus having to visit a doctor the next week. Once they were popped, is when the pain started. Nine days later, they are my only memento of my race. They finally seem to be beginning to heal. I have learned now that I should have used that Vaseline Blake was eating, on my toes, instead!!!

Body part wise, nothing specific hurt. I had absolutely NO knee or outer hip IT band pain.... hallelujah! I didn't even have a split second of calf pain, I can't even believe that!That was all due to the best item I purchased during my entire 16 weeks of training, the calf compression sleeves. What was debilitating for the following 3 FULL days was good ol' quad pain. I mean burning, on fire, even after a massage, 2 days later kind of pain. I wish I had full COMPRESSION pants... I swear, I would have worn them the entire race!
 
Recovery wouldn't have been difficult if it was just for the severe quad pain. The issues came when I decided, after 5 full days before and during the marathon, of chugging water and Gatorade like my life depended on it, to drop the ball and literally not pick up a drink for 24 hours. I was so sick of drinking water and holding a water bottle, I just didn't. This was HUGE mistake. Thank goodness I was off work both Monday and Tuesday because when Tuesday morning came around, I was a mess. I could hardly make complete sentences. I felt just mentally tired. I didn't understand why nearly 48 hours after the race, I was starting to feel worse and not better. By Tuesday night, I had figured out that I was having symptoms of dehydration so I decided to focus once again on good amounts of water and guess what happened.... Wednesday morning, I woke up feeling like a new woman! So KEY LESSON HERE: Don't forget the days AFTER a marathon to drink to fully rehydrate, especially when it was as insanely hot and humid has it had been this year.


In the last nine day, since completing the marathon, these are the most common questions I have received...

1.) You ran the full marathon or just the half? (the number one question I get!)
Yes, I ran the full. That is 26.2 miles. I heard there were 30,000 entrants and of that, only 4,040 completed the FULL Marathon.

2.) Will you do it again?
Honestly, I don't think so. For me, running 26.2 miles was more a of a personal challenge and now that I know I can do it relatively easily, I kinda feel like "been there, done that, got the t-shirt (and more importantly the 26.2 mile sticker) in this case! It wasn't the time of training that bothers me, in fact, I looked forward to that time each week, it's more the damage I feel like I'm doing to my body. I never had any injuries training until I started training regularly over 14 miles each week and I personally believe that God only gave me 1 body and I better take care of it. I don't want to be one of those 50 year olds always complaining about some nagging pain or injury, if I can help it. However, HALF marathons seem EASY and FUN, now in comparison. So, I can definitely see myself doing one or two of those a year!!!

3.) Are you happy with your time?
My official time was 4 hours, 48 minutes and 31 seconds.
HONESTLY, I have been rounding to 4 hours and 45 minutes when people ask. Simply because it's easier and I stopped for 6 minutes during the race, I don't think I should technically count the 2 minute bathroom break at mile 7, 2 minute bathroom stop at mile 19, and 2 minute stop at mile 21 to say hi to family and friends. So, then it technically took 4:42:31 to run 26.2 miles which is 10:47 pace per mile. This was my EXACT training pace time for ALL my long runs, which of course, included warming up and everything. So with a deep chest cold and nasal congestion, I AM BEYOND THRILLED WITH MY TIME!!!! Yes, I think I could have done it 10 minutes faster if I had been at 100% health-wise and perhaps I could have shaved another 7 minutes, if the weather had been perfectly crisp and cool... but it is what it is and I am beyond content!! NO REGRETS!!!

Our Pace Per Mile 

1. 9:58
2. 10:02
3. 10:14
4. 10:08 - I remember telling Blake 4-5 times up to this point to SLOW down, that we were pacing way too fast.
5. 10:20
6. 10:04
7. 10:12
8. 9:58
9. 10:03
10. 10:19
11. 10:21
12. 10:25
13. 10:26
14. 10:42
15. 10:31
16. 10:51
17. 10:48
18. 11:02 (including 2 min bathroom stop)
19. 11:22
20. 11:31
21. 11:26 (including 2 min stop to see family and friends)
22. 11:29 - The HARDEST part
23. 4:42 (walked about 3/4 of a mile) THE HARDEST
24. 12:03
25. 11:56
26. 11:06
27. last .2 = 2:09 or about a 10:36 pace. (Man... it felt like I was pushing it way harder than that!!! ;)

4.) Did you hear about the guy that died?
Yes! And it honestly, freaked me out. Besides the 6 GU's I consumed in just 2.5 hours time, this breaking news at 5:30 PM on Sunday shook me to the core. This was in part why I couldn't sleep for 31 hours until Monday around 2PM. This guy was my age, a surgical nurse, a long-time runner who had run the half the previous year and ultimatley, they couldn't find any conclusive issue. Yet, another reason, I value my life and don't want to press my luck on multiple marathons. ;)

What did I learn from this whole experience? (No, no one has asked me this, rather, I continously asked myself this question during the entire process to make sure that I was really getting the most out of it.)
I learned that what I put my mind to, I can achieve. Even the biggest physical stretch goal imaginable, with dedication and commitment, it can be done. I have learned that I am stronger than I ever thought both physically and mentally.

Getting To The Finish Line.

Let's just start this journal entry with the best and most true tip I heard while preparing for a full marathon: "A marathon's half way point is not 13.1, it is mile 20."

Mile 22-23 was BY FAR, THE MOST DIFFICULT. I don't think we "hit the wall," because I never once doubted we would ultimately cross the finish line. But with the excitement of seeing our family at mile 21, all that was ahead of us for the next hour was hot pavement.

I started getting chills and feeling a tiny bit nauseous, so we stopped in at a medical tent to grab a bag of ice. We decided to walk briskly for about 3/4 of a mile keeping the bag of ice on our head, around our neck or under our arms trying to cool down our core body temperature after four STRAIGHT hours of running. It worked, so with in a few minutes, when we saw the 23 mile marker, we felt motivated again to run knowing we were about 30 minutes away.

We didn't know at that point, we had not one, BUT 2 more surprises waiting for us to give us the perfect amount of motivation to pick up the pace. Just before getting back into downtown, I looked up and saw my good girlfriend Cindy Sebek and her boyfriend Dirk, waiting for us, cheering us on! Wow... talk about unexpected lift at mile 23.5!!!

Then about a mile later at 24.5, I heard a familiar voice and up ahead cheering on the runners in front of us was my good friend of 7 years, Dr. Stephen Ramirez. He had been the one that had come through for me just 24 hours earlier, giving me the tools to be able to heal my body and be able to even attempt to run this race. And there he was, surprising me and standing at the perfect point in the race, cheering both Blake and I on to the finish, which was just down the street. For him not to even know what pace we had trained at or what time we had started, was amazing. Blake and I both had a great burst of energy after seeing him. I was ready, at mile 25 to pick up the pace. Blake, on the other hand, was hurting.

Let me remind everyone, before I move on with the story, Blake trained literally 50% of what I did. He hardly ran the last 4-5 weeks except maybe one medium size run a week. He told me he was having some back pain at that point but he was keeping up. I told him, "This is it, everything that we have worked for within 15 minutes of here... can you pick up the pace because we will never have to run again if we don't want to." He said he needed to get in the zone, he did and for about a third of the mile he was sprinting up ahead of me but then he stopped to a walk and I knew he was in severe pain. But I also knew, how close we were. I felt really torn. I knew how close we were and how strong and competitive my husband is. 

We did run and at about the 25.5 mile marker, I felt like I knew him well enough, if I ran up a little ahead of him, he would catch up! So we turned north on the access road of Interstate 35, along side the Alamo Dome and I kicked it up to a fast run and kept looking back to see what he was doing. Blake was trying to keep up and was nearby. I kept it up and turned right to go along the north part of the Alamo Dome, down a nice hill, shaded by a bridge, at mile marker 26, I was in a full sprint and Blake was trying to. I will always remember Blake had nearly caught up to me after 26 and yelled a at that point, "WHAT THE HECK.... where is it??? (referring to the finish line.) The finish line was no where in direct sight and that had to be one of the most demotivating moments in the entire race. Not only was the finish line around another corner of the Alamo Dome (on the east side) it was up a BIG HILL (the steapest of the entire race.) I remember people along the sides, yelling my name and I was searching the crowd for our family and friends. I kept looking at people who were yelling "Megan" and remembered, I had my name on my shorts. (Several people had told me to do that for the finish line because you will have people cheering you on!) It worked but I was SO confused... too funny.

I kept looking back at Blake who was sliding a little farther back. Once we had the finish line in sight, I took a chance again and put it back in to high gear with a sprint hoping that Blake would do the same as he had done before, now that he could see that it really was the end this time. Poor guy was in a ton of pain.

Our group patiently waiting for us just past the finish line.

Megan crossing the finish line...

Blake just a few seconds behind...

Getting my medal.

Our fans at the finish!!!! Love each one of them SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!

My mom helping me cool down with ice!

During The Race Up To Mile 21.

The first ten miles went by in a snap. Seriously. We were so busy watching the other runners, taking in the sights of down town and watching the amazing crowds filled with hysterical signs like, "Run Your Race Better Than Perry Has Run His," "26.2 Because 26.3 Is Just Crazy!" "My Wife Ran 26.2 Miles This Morning, What Did Yours Do?"

I loved the fact that I was taking in everything... not focusing on me running or my body, but yet my surroundings. The volunteers were AMAZING and every mile there were some lined up just before water stations holding sticks and packets of salt, yelling "SALT!" Blake and I had talked earlier in the run and even though we had never trained taking salt, we decided we should do it with the extreme heat and humidity that morning. Blake ran ahead and grabbed some salt and we met up a few minutes later after getting some water and he said while repetitively spitting, "What kind of salt is that? It's like jelly." I told him the sticks had Vaseline on them for chaffing." He had EATEN Vaseline.... as I guess the SALT packet guy was yelling louder than the Vaseline guy was standing next to him. It was too funny and provided a funny moment around mile 7.

I did get so carried away in giving the kids along the sides high fives and telling the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers thank you, that I nearly twisted my ankle in our city's wonderful selection of pot holes a couple of times. Running this race had been so amazing and so easy. Easy until the heat set in around mile 16 or 17 (10:40ishAM), that's when Blake and I both realized that this wasn't going to be that easy to the end. By that point, we were way south of downtown on Mission Rd probably in front of one of the missions.

I think this was around mile 19!!!

We slowed our pace and I was confident that the tortoise would win this race. See I had never trained in the day light hours, much less the extreme heat advisory we were in with the humidity in the air. All my runs were at 5AM and even the longest ones, were over soon after the sun's arrival. Even with a hat, glasses and SPF 40 on my face, I looked like a tomato the following day.

We kept running because we knew what we had waiting at mile 21 - OUR BIGGEST FANS!!! I can't tell you how much it meant to have BOTH our MOMS, our kids, my sister - Erin, The Perkins and The Putnicki's there waiting on us and cheering us on.

Everyone had their eyes peeled looking for us.

The girls assumed their positions on the side of Mission Rd at Southcross.

They told us later, they thought they saw us a dozen times before we actually got there.

Everyone had spent an amazing amount of time and energy making us signs that we will always remember.

For some reason, I have a tear in my eye, looking at this one, even a week after the fact...

Carter with the sign he and his teachers made for me that week before at school.

I spotted my mom way far away and when she saw us, she ran to the others to let them know, we were really there! I love this picture of her trying to alert the group...

We had smiles on our face at mile 21!

I love Addie's smile here. I pray she will always see that she can achieve ANYTHING she sets her mind to in life.

Thank you to Megan Perkins for documenting this amazing event in our life and we are off... only 5 more miles to go!!!