I finished a 1/2 marathon today!!!!!
I will write all about the marathon later b/c I can barely type right now. It went well, I ran the whole thing with 9 min. miles, and my finish time was 2 hours and 1 minute. I unfortunately decided to go to El Torito happy hour on Friday night and got food poisoning. Totally sucked and I can’t believe I was even able to run. I don’t even remember Sat. b/c I could not even stand up w/o intense stomach cramps and yesterday was the first day since Friday that I was able to eat or drink. Yesterday, I tried to eat and drink as much as my stomach could handle but I could tell during the race that I was really dehydrated. I know it really affected my time. I have never ran that long of a distance before, 13.1 miles, but it wasn’t really too hard until mile 12 and then my legs became so stiff I thought they would just collapse beneath me. Chris and my Mom were there and that really helped me get through the race. They cheered for me and they both woke up at 4:30am so that was special.
1 comment May 26, 2008 bohlken
My New Running Group
So I have joined a new running group and it is really exciting. I have always been a long distance runner since I can remember. My mom was a runner and I would always watch her run since I was little so I guess I followed her footsteps. Well, she ran the L.A. marathon like 10 years ago and she always holds it over my head that I have not ran it yet. So I thought joining a running group would motivate me to train harder in order to run that long of a distance.
So when I showed up for the 1st day of the running group I guess I was prepared to be out ran by marathon/tri-athlete people but I was wrong. All of those years running 4-6 miles every other day had paid off because I was leading the running pack. I was even faster than this girl who was 17 and that made me feel great.
They all are almost OCDC on their running times which was funny. They wear these big wrist bands that track their distance and running speeds. I haven’t timed myself since high school and I am really just glad that I can still run long-distance. They actually have “fun” races where you try to guess how long it will take to run a certain distance and then you actually run that distance to see if you were right at your guess.
Another funny thing is that you have to wear “team uniforms” to run in the races you enter and they are in the same colors of my old high school colors which were Black and Gold (awful). Plus, the uniform is really skimpy and I am more into wearing soccer shorts and a t-shirts than booty shorts and a sheer tank top.
The great thing about the group is there are a lot of inspirational older folks who are in their 60’s and 70’s and they are still running marathons!!! Last night I went to a 70th birthday party for this running group guy who has run all 22 L.A. marathons and is still running in marathons to this day. He looked like he was 50.
My 1st of many races to come is in two weeks. I am going to run the Laguna Beach ½ marathon. Chris is going to go to give me water on the sidelines. Wish me luck!!!
1 comment May 16, 2008 bohlken
The Wedding in Redlands
This weekend I went to a wedding in Redlands. It was my mom’s best friend sisters’ son. He had just gotten out of jail for a 3 years stay in the state prison for armed bank robbery. I used to play hide and seek with this kid growing up. The girl who he is getting married to is his brother’s long-term ex-girlfriend. They didn’t start dating until he was already in prison. She is 26 and a nurse and he is 23 with a felony and no chance of getting a great job. They waited 2 weeks to get married after he got out of prison. So you see why I had to attend this event.
The actually wedding was nice. It was at a 100 year old castle house called, Kimberly Gardens, and it was a beautiful location. The reception was 30 miles away in a place called Beaumont. Half of the houses were boarded up and it was a very bad neighborhood. I guess the reception was in some community center with over grown weeds and a dirty swimming pool. The music playing had cruse words in it and there were small children running around. Some of the small kids got into the keg and no parents were telling them not to drink the beer. The food was disgusting. The only thing the maid of honor said was can somebody please return the brides’ purse because it is missing. People were serving themselves cake even before the bride and groom cut the cake. They did not have a first dance. It was so windy outside that all of the table setting blew off. The groom left the party for a while to pick up one of his friends. People moved their tables into the shade because it was so hot. The father of the groom left the party to do drugs. Then when they finally had a chance to thank everyone before the toast they left out my mom’s best friend, Cathy, who paid for a lot of their wedding and was the ordained minister who married them. They finally cut the cake, shoved it into each others faces, started making out and ended up making out on the ground in front of the whole wedding party. Everyone left right after the cake cutting including the mother of the groom.
When I asked the mother of the groom why they want to get married so fast she said that they want to have children right away. Why would anyone want to bring a child into this type of family? I guess the pattern of bad parenting will continue for this family.
Just a side note drugs do horrible aging effects to people. For example, this one girl I used to know was at the wedding. I used to envy this girl because she was older than me and was super skinny with long straight hair. I saw her at the wedding and she had a pot belly, a shirt on that said “I Love Dicks” (sports shop), her hair was all frayed, her face was drooping, and she was now dating the grooms father who was 30 years her senior. That should be an anti-drug commercial.
1 comment April 15, 2008 bohlken
Hogan’s Dilemma
Hogan has had a bad week. Our place has a fenced in porch which I love and Hogan hates. He is so fat that he can’t jump over the 6 foot fence and my cat Austin, being in top shape, spings over that fence like it wasn’t even there. Since Hogan is so protective over Austin this drives him crazy b/c he can’t watch what his brother is doing. So in Hogan fashion he throws a fit. He meows loudly until either Austin comes back home or , oh ya, until Austin comes home. Now, Austin is an explorer and he could take hours to come home. Thus, Hogan’s dilemma is now defined.
Add comment March 13, 2008 bohlken
The Engagement
Chris and I are finally engaged! I couldn’t be happier blah, blah, blah. I hate those boring sentimental ways of saying things so I will spare you from that. It was a perfect way to get engaged though and I wouldn’t have wanted any other way. When Chris and I first met my mom got a puppy named Shasta from up north. So we have been taking Shasta to the beach since the beginning of our relationship. We went ring shopping a month before this event and I had told Chris that he had to ask my father before he asks me. So I found out later that Chris went to my father’s house for a week straight trying to ask him but he was never home. The day of our engagement we went to breakfast with my father (how convenient) and I guess Chris asked my Dad’s permission while I was in the bathroom. That same day we went to the dog beach with Shasta. It was a very overcastted day and we kept walking back and forth along the beach. Finally, Shasta and I were so tried I was ready to go home. Chris wanted me to take a picture of Shasta and him before we left and he handed me the camera in the case. As I opened the camera case I saw the ring box and he kneeled on his knee with his dog by his side and proposed. He said that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and would I marry him? Of course I said yes and as I turned around and looked at the ocean the sun came out and shined upon us for just a moment and then it disappeared again behind the clouds. What a hallmark moment. The engagement might be short or might be long depending on how much money we can come up with. We have been together so long it doesn’t matter how long the engagement will be. I want a simple wedding and my gay guy friend said, “You are allowed to have a simple wedding but that doesn’t mean that it has to be tacky or I’m not coming.” Chris in trying to make this 70′s rock band come from Vegas and that is a whole other blog. I just am so lucky to have Chris and our wedding will be fun and not tacky!
1 comment December 2, 2007 bohlken
The Infamous Car Crash
My car crash that occurred 5 years ago will never be forgotten by anybody that hears it. I was very tired one night driving to Long Beach State. The exit off the 405 is called 7th street and it turns into a mini 2 lane bridge going over the Santa Ana river bed. I was driving rather fast and probably thinking about how much I don’t want to spend my night in the library when all of a sudden I come out of my daze and I am about to hit a mini van in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and made a sudden turn to the right to get out of the way. Maybe on a freeway you might have enough space to correct a mistake like that but at 70 mph on a bridge it doesn’t work that way. I ended up swerving back and forth out of control until my car headed straight off the road. I hit a small curb and flew into the air into a huge willow tree. I took off my seatbelt and tried to get out but I realized that I was suspended in the air over an embankment. The more I moved in the car the more the tree branches started to give way. Somehow, people actually saw my car go off the road and stopped to help hold my car from slipping down into the ditch. The police were notified to help but there was another accident at the same time as mine on a freeway nearby and they couldn’t get to my car right away. It took over 1 hour for the fire and police to come and help. By the time they got to me my car was on its side and I was holding on to driver’s seat suspended in the air (I couldn’t get my seatbelt back on). They told me that I had another 10 feet to drop down the embankment if the tree gave way so they secured my car first before they could get me out. They kept asking me if I was on drugs or if I had been drinking? I told them that I managed to do this all by myself!! When I went back to the site during the daytime I had only another 10 feet up the road before I would have plunged 20 feet down into the Santa Ana river bed! The best news is that since the tree caught me in mid-air I was not injured and my car had minimal damage. My guardian angel was on full alert that night.
Add comment November 29, 2007 bohlken
Austin
I grew up with a cat that lived for 22 years so when Chris asked me if I wanted a cat I’m not sure he knew what that meant to me. Well, I guess the story of Hogan is for Chris to tell so as I am sitting here with my cat, Austin, on my lap I thought it is time to tell everyone what a lovely cat he is. Some people know that I was very mad at the misrepresentation my cat was given on Chris’s blog so my cat and I are here to rebuttal. When we first got Austin he was as small as my hand and Hogan was about 4 months old and well on his way to 10 pounds. Chris and I thought there wouldn’t be too much conflict between the cats but we were very wrong. For the first 2 weeks Hogan tried to kill Austin every time he had a chance by literally biting the underside of his neck so I had to carry him everywhere. I guess that is how Austin became my cat and Chris continued to work for the enemy. My cat grew up to be a very petite and soft spoken compared to the loud 20 pound cat that we attempt to justify is a cat. My cat plays little games with me and Hogan just walks around the apartment meowing and eating. There now I feel satisfied and Austin and I had the last words of this argument.
Add comment September 30, 2007 bohlken
