This month has been oh-so-very busy. Exceedingly busy. Extraordinarily busy.

My husband and I own a duplex that we rent out. Both of the tenants we had moved out this month – the same week, in fact. That means I had to clean, complete minor repairs, coordinate big repairs, and do yard work for basically two houses. Not to mention keeping my own household running. Oh yeah, and running my business…

Besides that, there was also the search for new tenants. Our duplex is quite nice and in a great neighborhood, so we typically fill it in short order. Thankfully, this time was no different – I got both sides rented out within a week – but what a week it was! Placing ads, answering phone calls, responding to emails, and giving tours takes up a ton of time and energy.

It’s exhausting really.

By the end of the day, I have had very little energy left. This has not boded well for my physical fitness (or keeping up with my blog!).

We’ve been eating out far more than normal (or rather, eating in, but with food that’s been magically brought to our door…) and far more than is healthy. To make matters worse, many of my workouts have also been sacrificed in order to keep up with everything else. In fact, besides the Race for the Cure, I hadn’t run a single time since the half marathon two and a half weeks ago until I forced myself to get on the road again this past Wednesday. That run felt really good too – I should make a note of how much I like running, because it’s so easy to forget when you’re warm and cozy on the couch watching reruns of The Office.

I’m happy to say that I have made time for the Total Body Workout class at my gym on Monday nights. I had to skip it for the entire duration of my hip hop class since they are (were) held on the same day, so I’m making a definite point of going now that I can. It’s such a great workout – I can’t believe how much I can sweat and hurt in one short hour.

I’ve also been playing softball, but our last game was this past Thursday, so that’s a bummer. Of course, as much as I love playing, it’s not much of a workout, so it’ll be good to get back to spending that time at Kung Fu and getting a more intense exercise session that way.

With just a few more tasks to complete at the duplex, things should be getting back to normal before long. I can’t wait to have more energy so I can return to the days of home-cooked meals and 5-mile runs.

And blogging on a regular basis, of course.

I woke up this morning feeling reasonably normal. Then I remembered what I did yesterday and a surge of pride ran through me – 13.1 miles is a big deal for me! Hell, it’s a big deal for ANYONE, but it feels particularly momentous for me. Let me explain:

Three short years ago, I weighed over 260 pounds, and couldn’t run to the bathroom without getting winded. After I changed my eating habits and lost some weight, I started walking for exercise. Then, in August, I started running, little by little, using the Couch to 5k program which was great, but I didn’t complete the whole thing. (Boo, former Kimberly!) By the time I ran my first 5k race on Mother’s Day, 2008, I still wasn’t able to run the entire thing.

I finally ran 3 miles straight outside – without walking – for the first time in September of JUST LAST YEAR. I then cranked up the training a notch to be able to do 5 miles on Thanksgiving, and then again to be able to do a 10k December 1. That’s still only 6.2 miles – which is a lot, but it’s a far cry from 13.1 – not even half!

It blows my mind how quickly I was able to progress once I finally gave it an honest, consistent try. And to think that I couldn’t do much of anything 3 years ago – Wow! This really is a huge accomplishment! My biggest physical feat to date. And I’m proud :)

Physically, I feel pretty darn good today, too. I thought I would hurt more, based on how terribly I felt immediately after the race. But no! I’m a bit sore today, but no more than I was the day after any of my other long runs. Honestly, the thing that hurts the most is the chafing I got under my arms and on my waist from my wet clothes rubbing against my skin for 2.5 hours. It feels better today than yesterday, though, so hopefully that will go away completely in relatively short order.

I’ve already been asked two questions over and over: if I’ll ever run a half marathon again, and if I plan to start training for the full now.

Will I ever do another half marathon? Probably, yes, but I’m not thinking about that just yet. For now, I’m going to bask in the glory of my latest triumph, and enjoy getting back to a more well-rounded workout routine. For many, many weeks now, I’ve just been running, running, running. I’ll continue to run, certainly, but will likely drop it down to 3 days a week and max out my long runs at 6 miles, instead of double-digit runs. That will leave more time to add back in a little strength training, something I feel like my body has really been missing. Hip hop is over now, too, so that will allow me to get back to my Total Body Workout class at the gym, which I’ve missed as well.

Do I plan to start training for a full marathon now? Hell no! That’s not to say that I’ll never do a full marathon – who knows what the future holds? Especially considering nine months ago I couldn’t run more than 3 miles… For now, though, that’s not in the plans. Training for the half took up a ton of time and was very challenging. Of course, I liked the challenge and I’m glad I did it, but to do double that distance? Wow. Not sure about that. I’d love to SAY that I’ve done a marathon, but I’m not convinced I actually want to DO one. We’ll see, though.

If it’s okay with you, I’m just going to sit back and enjoy my victory for another day before moving on. Because this was a huge win for me.

A Quick Note: THANK YOU to everyone for your encouragement and applause throughout the training process and then event! It means a ton to know that you care and have faith in me – more faith than I have in myself sometimes! Honestly, it has kept me going at times I’ve wanted to stop. So thank you. Give yourselves a big hug from me!

My husband is really good at his job. I only kinda know what he does because it’s quite technical, but I know that it’s important and that he’s good at it. Case in point: He recently won a big engineering award and his company flew us out to Phoenix & put us up in a swanky resort for the weekend so we could attend an elegant awards banquet.

When he told me about his award and the banquet that went along with it, he told me to “go out and buy a fancy dress.”

This was both exciting and nerve-wracking.

First, I don’t often wear dresses, and when I do, they’re typically long and fairly casual. “Fancy” dresses are completely out of my comfort zone. Second, this was also clearly going to be an extravagant event, filled with a bunch of big wigs and incredibly smart people who work at my husband’s company, as well as their wives (all of whom I imagined to be Perfect Tens). I was a bit nervous about the whole thing, but obviously, immensely proud of my husband, and therefore wanted to look my best and turn on the charm to the best of my ability.

Dress Shopping

I went to the mall by myself with a general idea about the style of dress I’d get: Something classy and a little sexy, but nothing over the top or too ‘loud’ since this is a work event. I made a bee-line for White House | Black Market; for some reason, I felt like they would have the right dress, even though I had never shopped there before.

I went in, browsed everything, and found nothing. I was about to leave when one of the salespeople asked if she could help me find something. I hesitated for a minute (usually I don’t let salespeople help me find clothes) but then figured I probably could use some help. I told her what I was shopping for and she took me around the store again.

She pointed out a number of dresses that she thought would look good on me, and I did my best to have an open mind. I only said no to a few while they were still on the hanger. For most of what she suggested, I told her I’d give it a try. One of the first ones she pointed seemed promising, but they only had two of them in stock: Sizes 10 and 2. I’m a size 12, but she said I should try it anyway.

I got to the dressing room and started trying them on – 5 or 6 in total. I really liked the first; she did too, but her fondness for that one waned as I tried on the rest, whereas at the end, it was still my second favorite. Some of them were awful – they just didn’t flatter me at all. She did a lot of accessorizing (which I basically know nothing about) and that improved some of them, but not enough. I ended up buying one that I never would have looked twice at – and definitely never would have tried on – without the urging of the saleswoman. (I guess they’re not all bad.) AND the one I bought was the size 10! I didn’t even notice it was smaller than the rest until I was paying. I thought for sure when I got to the 10 in the stack of 12′s I’d notice the difference, but nope!

Incidentally, that’s me in the winning dress in the top corner of the blog – the new ‘during’ photo. Nice, right?

The Banquet

As I said, I was nervous about the event itself, too – though it was lessened since I had a dress I felt would help me fit in better. There was a cocktail hour, followed by dinner and an awards presentation. I knew 1 person (besides my husband), and I only knew him a little, so it was all about small talk and mingling.

I got all dolled up*, gave myself a pep talk, and walked down to the courtyard on my husband’s arm. I figured that as long as I didn’t embarrass him, all would be well.

I don’t think I embarrassed him – at least he didn’t seem embarrassed. This is going to sound awful, but the wives weren’t quite how I had pictured them. They were just… normal women. For some reason, I elevated these wives in my mind to the level of a Botticelli’s Angel or something. While they were all lovely, they were just normal, real women. After talking to them (and drinking some wine), I started to feel more comfortable and relaxed a bit, and then I was actually able to enjoy myself! It was a good night – very successful.

And my husband really did call me his “trophy wife.”

I love him.

*This is how bad I am at über-womanly things: I had a strapless dress and no strapless bra. Whoops! Thank you Target!