Happy Birthday! Happy Monday! Happy Graduation!

First of all, Happy 30th Birthday to my sweet boyfriend who is once again stuck in the field!

Annnd, Happy Monday to all of you! I had the most amazing run this morning (despite the rain and slushies) and can already tell it's going to be a fabulous week!

I have some other exciting news, I graduate from my BCIT program this week! I have my last final to do on Wednesday and then my many years of part time classes are over! I still obviously have my nutrition program, but it's just nice to be done one chapter! So, I guess I'm a qualified business manager and leader now? Haha.

As a graduation present to myself, and partly as a Christmas present from my loved ones, I bought myself a MacBook Pro! I couldn't be more thrilled! I ordered it online (whyyy I didn't just go to the Apple store is beyond me!) but I'm practicing patience, or trying to, and awaiting its arrival in 8 short days! Until then I will just stare at it longingly...

I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Boundary Bay Moustache Half Marathon!

Oh boy, I'm SO glad that is over. This half marathon was filled with learning experiences. Let me share those with you.

1. Always charge your iPod the night before. I was so focused on making sure my Garmin was charged, I totally forgot about my iPod. I could have used my iPhone, but I updated it last week on my new laptop and have yet to transfer music over. First fail.

2. The first 5K were great. At that point, I stopped for some gatorade/water. The gatorade did not agree with me at ALL. I felt awful and sick to my stomach for the remainder of the race and many hours post race. In the future, I will stick to water only.

3. I will not sign up for long races past August or warmer months. It was freaking cold. Thankfully, I went to the Running Room and bought gloves, but my muscles had a very hard time warming up. Not to mention the course was right on the water so that added to the cold.

4. I will also not sign up for small races. The Chicago Rock 'N Roll Half was obviously huge compared to this one. There is something to be said for the energy the crowd and fellow runners bring to such an event! The location for this race was beautiful so there are definitely no complaints there, but it's hard to maintain motivation when you feel like you're running alone! If it wasn't for the pylons/markers, often times I would have thought I wasn't racing at all!

Before the race!

Home stretch!

I'm so glad I went and ran it. I got my cute, little moustache medal!

First major event down for November!

November Excitement!

Blog friends, I feel like I'm bursting with excitment due to November's arrival! I used to loathe the Christmas season. I'm not sure why, but that is no longer the case. Over the past few years, I have grown to adore Christmas and everything it brings - warm, hearty foods, Peppermint Mochas from Starbucks, advent calendars, decorations, gingerbread, and family time.

Things have been busy around these parts, but while procrastinating from studying, I've managed to start my Christmas shopping and even wrapping? *gasp* I know. Productivity is at an all time high. (PS. My grades have not suffered so it's all good.)

Anyway, I thought I'd share my exciting November events with you! I know my presence has been fleeting lately, and I can't promise that will improve over the next couple months but bear with me.

This Sunday, November 6th, I have the Boundary Bay Moustache Half Marathon. Part of me thinks I should give myself a break and just bail on it since I haven't had time to train, or even run for that matter, but I miss it. If it's frosty and rainy like it was this morning, I can't make any promises, but if it's sunny, I'll give it a go! I don't need to be a superstar - I just want to finish get my moustache medal (so cool!).

After another week of school madness, I leave next Friday to go to Detroit for my friend Jamie's wedding! I couldn't be more excited to be there for her special day!

Other November events are my mom's 50th birthday, Dan's 30th birthday, and Dan finishing up his course on November 24th and making his journey home! So.freaking.excited. Approx. 28 days!

That is my month in a nutshell. I'm looking forward to everthing this month brings! I will do my best to document the events to share with you!

Happy November to you!