AM~Erica is QT Trippin'

So anyway...

Today was our first Sunday back to church after a couple of weeks off for "vacation." (part of it HERE)

On this first week back, I had to step up in some promo: in less than 5 weeks, we will be taking part in the DeFeet Hunger 5k Run/Walk. I stepped up promoting it, last minute, last year...so, with me being the "champion" for our church (the one designated as the go-to for race info leading up to the race), and being the "Champion of Champions" (I'm actually the one who is giving the other champions ideas on how to promote at their churches), I needed to step it up!

With how I dress for races (some of my cosTUTUmes HERE), and how last year's race went (reminder HERE), I knew I needed to create excitement, kind of like I do for Trunk-or-Treat promo time. (some of that HERE).

Also, check out the wrap up video from last year, too!

Oh yeah...I'm the crazy tutu runner

So, of course I had to go over-the-top!

Oh yes...tutus (there are two tutus - with the top one lighting up), striped leggings, last year's t-shirt, and bright running shoes. This was going to do it!

It did draw attention, as hoped, and I looked delightfully ridiculous. But it was reminiscent of what I'd wear on the race course, so that's what I wanted to do.

Yes. There were a lot of comments, and it took some a little bit to realize the tutu lit up AND blinked. There was a lot going on.

But I did show up to church like this. Made sure to get pics of my set up, my outfit, and definitely my "shoefie" (shoe selfie) to have put on the De-Feet Hunger Facebook page (HERE). A thing we're trying is to get shoefies on the Facebook page once anyone registers. Register, take a shoe selfie, post it on the page.

My #shoefie for registering to do DeFeet Hunger

Well, after church, I knew I had to stop to get petrol for my car to get home. So, I stopped at QuikTrip to fill up. Yes. In my striped leggings & fluffy tutus. Pumping gas.
But it's OK. I don't mind. I think I got some odd looks, but I was prepared. This part is never a big deal to me. Work the weirdness. Ya know?

Then I realized...I try to get a newspaper every Sunday! You know...for coupons & sales papers (mostly for price checking & such), so I was going to have to suck it up & waltz into that QuikTrip like nothing is off kilter, in my tutus & striped leggings, to go inside to get that paper!

I pulled myself together, walked across the parking lot, and tried to keep an eye out for a vehicle that looked like it was about to head out. It was parked close to the middle of the parking spaces, so it was by the slightly inclined mini-ramp. You know the thing? Where it's painted off as a walk way, not a parking space, and you don't have to step up to the sidewalk? Yeah...that.

So I headed to step up on it while seeing if the vehicle was going to pull out. Well, I ever-so-slightly misjudged where I was not stepping up, caught part of the lip of the mini-ramp with my toe & tripped a little...

...I tried to catch myself. You know, a little trippage. Just enough to give myself a small heart attack...

...but I couldn't catch myself, so I double tripped...

...then I STILL couldn't catch myself...

...and I stumbled toward the door about 3ish-5ish feet more of sideways shuffle steps...

...and I could see this guy holding the door open for me as he watched in horror...

...as I hit the ground like a giant sack of bricks...sliding ever-so-slightly toward the unopened door, but stopping about 2 feet short. In my red & white striped leggings and the fluffy red tutus.

The guy just looked at me stunned & asked if I was OK. I picked myself up as quickly as I could, told him I was fine when I entered the door he held open while I thanked him.

I began to realize there were about 3 people out there who witnessed the ridiculousness. Awesome.

But then I realized there were probably some on the other side of the glass doors who watched what happened. I did what I had to by just pretending it's what I meant to do. I could feel the sting on my palms from catching myself, as I landed on the concrete, along with the banged-up feeling I had on my hip. But just get the paper like it's part of your everyday, Erica! Geesh!

I picked up my paper, waited my turn, payed, and I could feel odd eyes on me. I'm sure it was just the witness of my fall & totally not the crazy getup I was in. Amm-i-rite?

But, alas, I realized I couldn't find my keys. *GULP* I was going to have to find them outside. So I looked on the other side of the glass door that I narrowly missed when I went sliding toward it, and I could see my keychain & keys laying close by.

As I started to open the door to get them, another guy opened the door for me & right on top of my keys. I excused myself & mentioned the keys were mine. He bent down to grab them for me, noticed the Ford keychain on them, and he asked, "Oh, is it for the Ford Focus right there?"

I said nothing. I took my keys & hurried away from the very closely parked Ford Focus to Bessie, the car I drive that used to be my grandmother's, and tried to get in as quickly as I could to head home with my full tank of gas & newspaper.

Oh how entertained those around me must have been! Oh the story they got to take home with them!
Then a friend brought up possible video.

Wait...What?? Oh man!! There might actually be surveillance video of the weird chick in striped leggings & fluffy red tutus that looks like she may have escaped from somewhere, forgot her helmet, and needed someone to tie her shoes for her as she couldn't step up on a sidewalk without looking like she might be on something.
*FACE PALM*

Well, I'm definitely feeling that story. The soreness of the fall has in. But I'm still giggling at the looks of the people around & the horror on the face of the poor guy when he watched me hit & slide when all he was trying to do was just hold the door open for me.

I do believe my tutus have superpowers, but they did not save me today. They are more for speed...well maybe they cushioned my fall a bit. YAY for tutu superpowers!

I'm going to bruise. I'm going to be sore from tightening up my muscles in anticipating the fall. I'm going to feel where I actually caught myself in the fall. However, my ego is in tact. It was pretty hilarious.

If there's video, I will share it. Until then...I'll let you imagine what craziness might have looked like in your head. Go ahead & giggle.

This is when truth is stranger than fiction.

And don't worry...I'll have a different cosTUTUme next week. Maybe it won't be nearly as eventful though. All for the sake of promoting this race coming up.
Intrigued? Go ahead & register, too!

Teen Boy took this pic & loved how my right fist turned into a ball of light

Come join me & then you can post a shoefie, too.
REGISTER HERE to run, walk or volunteer!

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Took in a Wee Bit o'the Irish

So anyway...

Yesterday was one of the biggest international holidays. It's a religious holiday that has become quite secular. And it's a holiday that comes out of the Emerald Isle...but has been turned into an insane spectacle in the United States. This shouldn't be a shock.

Only if you live in a cave would you probably have no idea that yesterday was, in fact, St. Patrick's Day.

Parades breaking out everywhere, folks dressing like leprechauns & crazy people in all green, downing corned beef & cabbage with a green beer...

Ugh.

Oh! And it's a day when everyone seems to find Irish heritage in them, whether it's there or not.

I do come from some Irish decent. This honestly shouldn't surprise anyone.

And I am quite proud of the Irish that runs in my veins.

Also, I do try to always tweak what foods we consume & how to dress as part of a more authentic celebration. I have yet to take in a parade. I try to catch the big KC one when it's aired on TV, but haven't been able to work going.
(Hey, Dad...maybe we should consider being in it for the Shanahans? Just a thought.)
Part of how the parades started was when Irish immigrants used the day, in New York, as a political statement. They were looked down upon & they wanted to show their pride in their people...and to show that they were people, too.

I have been having several conversations with people who have been going thru some of my struggles (reminder HERE), as well as those who have loved ones they have lost or who are struggling. Not sure what's in the air, but it seems to be a lot...or...more people are willing to step out to discuss it. Between that being a little overwhelming (in a good way), and then reminiscing my Irish heritage thru my grandmother...I had a great wave of emotion come over me. It's been really difficult for me to do regular running lately, and I'm behind. But I just needed to run. So much on mind, it needed my mind cleared. I was not fully prepared or fueled properly, but I needed the run. So, to lift my spirits a bit more, of course I needed to put together an Irish-inspired cosTUTUme that I had planned to wear for an Irish race...that I never got to run due to schedules.

Yeah...I did a short run around the neighborhood like this. And, it did help. I did feel better. Good thing, I had food to prepare!

Now then, you know I had to go as all out as possible while I celebrate...even if it's by myself.

I did begin the day, of course, with coffee. I even saved enough to enjoy an Irish Coffee:

Isn't it beautiful? I have a confession about it, though: it contains no whiskey. It was early in the day & I needed it to actually help me function! So there's brown sugar, coffee, Irish Creme creamer, and some whipped topping with a sprinkling of cocoa bean/coffee bean/sugar ground together on top along with a pinch of green sugar. And I have about 8 of these Irish Coffee glass mugs that I found at the dollar store!

Originally, I had planned to enjoy some Irish oatmeal for breakfast, but I found St. Paddy's Day specific Lucky Charms!!

Uh...yeah. In original AND chocolate! So I mixed the two together for some fun to start the day with. Never hurts to have a bit of craic.

As I got ready, I know that green is the typical color...but...blue was actually the color of St. Patrick! Most Irish won't wear green...it's actually more of an American thing. Go figure. (So is the pinching thing, too.) I have several Irish sweaters & hoped it would actually cool back off enough to wear one of them. With it being around 70 & 80 degrees lately, I was a bit concerned. It did, however, cool off to be in the 50's...so an Irish-style sweater it was!

A navy fisherman's sweater with an old green broomstick skirt seemed to be perfect! Topped off with my Irish-like shawl/wrap & pinned with my grandmother's tiger eye brooch made for a pretty fitting Irish outfit. I may have to wear it when I go to Ireland! Well...someday...

I did fix some lunch that worked in the Irish oatmeal & some Barry's Irish Breakfast tea!

The oatmeal included some buttermilk, honey & a bit o' brown sugar; the tea had milk & honey added to it. It was delicious!

As I had the KC parade tuned it on the television, I decided to start prepping some of the dinner I had planned.

First, I want to keep getting the lesson out there that corned beef & cabbage is NOT Irish!!
You could say it's Irish-American. See, a staple meal for the Irish was bacon & cabbage (Irish bacon is more like Canadian bacon, not the strips we tend to fry up)...but when the immigrants came over, they found they couldn't afford their bacon & had to go with a more affordable option (at that time) of corned beef...which they bought from Jewish markets. They didn't want corned beef...they had to make do. And right now, beef is at an all-time high. So having the corned beef & cabbage...or even a Reuben...is not accurate. There's even an article from History.com that says that corned beef & cabbage is as Irish as spaghetti & meatballs, and as American as apple pie. BOOM.

OK, now that I've had to put that out there AGAIN, and since our non-pork eater would not be with us, we could have a much more authentic meal! Typical meats for the Irish are pork & lamb. Lamb is not as easy to get a hold of around here, but pork can be found in abundance! So...I roasted up some pork loin with Irish herbs & served it up with Colcannon, Irish Soda Bread (which I added a little thyme to for the meal...but will definitely stick to the most simple from now on), cider glazed roasted carrots & onions, plus some potato cakes for the boys.

It was SO good, people!! I still haven't had time to make my Irish Creme Apple Cake. So there was no dessert...but we were so full, it didn't even matter! But I'm still planning on making it.

The day was hard to plan. My hubby had a day full of meetings, even having to travel to a meeting; Teen Boy had to stay after school for a bit; Lil Guy was staying late at school for chess club. We didn't even know if my hubby would make it home for dinner. But we had dinner late as I was trying to work around schedules as a chauffeur for the boys while trying to make dinner late enough in case hubby was home for it. Turns out hubby made it home & we got to enjoy the feast together.

We didn't get to take in an Irish movie again. I'm always going to be optimistic about future celebrations, though.

Now, it's time to plan for St. Joseph's Feast tomorrow...and then cardigans & sneakers to honor Mr. Rodger's birthday on Friday.

Busy, busy with celebrations!! March is full of 'em!

Hope you had a great St. Paddy's Day! And next year, I will try to start getting some of these lessons of St. Patrick's Day out sooner.

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Hustles for Halloween

So anyway...

As we all should know by now, we are on countdown to my favorite holiday! Just one of the few reasons I love October. And since Halloween comes for me nearly everyday, it seems to be less of a big deal when I dress up more often in October!

I love costumes! Almost to a fault...but not really. At least I don't see it that way! (check out some of my previous costumes & cosTUTUmes HERE)

When October rolls around, I know I get start promoting our church's Trunk-or-Treat event on Sunday mornings in the front lobby. We set up an information table, and I want to draw attention, so I dress up! It's a new character every week!! This year has been no different!

Trunk-or-Treat Info Table, Week 1: Tim Burton inspired

Trunk-or-Treat Info Table, Week 2: Pop Art Comic

Trunk-or-Treat Info Table, Week 3: Carlola

Oh, I do like to have fun with it, if you couldn't already tell...

Now then, if you have been paying attention...or even playing along...you might know I would have to work in a run to this, too. Amm-i-rite?

Well, I'm not gonna lie to ya. As much as I love Halloween, planning, and getting it all thought out...this year has not been as great in lines of thinking. I've been way to slow getting my thoughts together. I like to have much of this holiday with at least a good idea or 2 in motion about 2 months ahead of time. It hasn't happened this year. Much like the Halloween run(s) being planned...

Several months ago, hubby & I decided we would do one or 2 Halloween runs. As October began to fill up our schedules, the more difficult it was to decide if a run would even be possible! The last one we did was the DeFeet Hunger 5k, HERE. It been a while. Even though I did the Out of the Darkness walk at the beginning of this month (HERE), it still didn't help the lack of decent training I could get in for this month.

Finally, last week, hubby & I decided we would take in the Halloween Hustle 5k & 10k (we decided on the 5k distance). The costumes we thought about doing were no longer feasible due to timing. I can't say what they are since we may use it in the future...but just know it was gonna be GOOD!! But still a no-go. So were trying to figure out what we could do for costumes we could run in for the Halloween Hustle. And the wheels were turning...

In the meantime, we went to get our race packets the day before the run. As we went in, we gave our names to the employee at table, we got our bibs & info for the race. We also took in 4 canned goods, each, to get into a drawing for a running store gift card. As the other employee (who is also the race coordinator) took our canned goods & got our names for the drawing, she looked at me and asked if I was the one who blogged on the Firecracker Flight. In fact, if you remember, I did do a blog post about our Firecracker Flight experience, at the end of June! (reminder of the post HERE) She couldn't remember how she got to it, but said she loved reading it since it was from the runner's point of view!
Whoa! That was so awesome! Weird for me...but totally killer amazing!

And, as I was blown away from that bit of info, we went on with our day...still wondering what we were going to wear to run in...

Sadly, it was hard for me to think. I was suffering from a bad migraine that I was trying so hard to keep at bay. Not. Good.

However, I had just gotten new running shoes! They were SO needed as I wore out my other running shoes big time! This was another layer to my yucky training this month. But I did get this fantastic pair of Saucony Kinvara 5's!!

There's a runners' adage that says: "The brighter the shoe, the faster the runner."
BOOM! Get your sunglasses, peeps!

Since these shoes are obviously yellow...I wanted a cosTUTUme to go with the shoes. After a few fleeting thoughts, I made a decision! All I needed was ears. Well, also, another tutu that went perfectly.

I decided to be Minnie!

Ears & tutu to go along with the long sleeves, top, leggings (not pictured here), and headband I already had

Had to get the perfect makeup, too! Even for running!

Now then...since I had a migraine yesterday, I could not partake in usual my night-before-race routine to help insure a PR. So my equation to a PR was thrown off. I would just have to focus on the morning ritual to at least help...

Once I was together, and so was hubby...we headed off, fairly early, to the race. Like...before the bright of early set in. Plus, there was fog. An awesome start for a Halloween run...but not so good trying to see the road since it was still before the bright of early. Remember?

We got parked, valuables locked up, bananas consumed, water taken in, bibs on, necessary electronics in hand...and we were off to where it was all to begin...

And as the sun was rising, more people were coming in. Not a whole lot in costume...but still several.

Pre-race selfie/ussie/runfie after the sun started waking up

Before things got started, there was a costume contest...
...as usual, I just want to be in a class to seem competitive whether I win or not:

Here I am standing with my running friend, Sandy (from the Firecracker Flight),
as we wait to be costume-judged...

OK, so there was some pretty good competition out there...and there was only one winner for each of 3 categories: kids, adults, group. I wasn't in the kid category, and it would be weird as a solo entry in a group...so I was grouped in with a large group of costumed adults...
...and the winner is...
...a guy who dressed as Paul Bunyon!
OK...he did look really good. But it's OK! I loved my little cosTUTUme!

Soon after that, we began to gather at the start line...

The national anthem was sung...the drawing for the running store gift card had a name announced (bummer...not me or the hubby), and we were OFF...!!

Hubby's start of the race...

My mo-cheese-mo start to the race! Cuz...photo-op! Duh!

Like I've said before, I'm not gonna lie...this course was difficult. Absolutely beautiful fall scenery, fog-infused sun rays thru trees...but there were some tough hills! Oh...and a surprise stretch of trail running...with hills! Yikes!
Did see a guy bite the dust on the trail portion. He was OK...but it was scary to see!

And as the race went on, right around mile 3 was recorded for posterity:

Hubby killing the course!

When you don't plan on a PR,  just cheese it hardcore for the camera...

And we came up to the finish line...

BUMMER!!! They missed my signature leap!!
And you know I did it...

After we both finished...and we got our pics with our finisher medals!

No, I did not PR, but I still felt pretty good about my run! I still finished in under 30 minutes!

Heck yeah! I still did pretty OK, I think! Still averaging under a 10-minute mile. That's crazy to me! And 7th in my division? And 33rd overall female; 76th overall?? I'll take it all!!

And you know what? I'm married to a stud! He finished 6th overall & earned 1st in his age division! Plus...he got a PR!! His day was HUGE!!! So proud of my Prince Charming!

Before the day was over, we did get a chance to have a couple of fun pics in there, too:

Yeah...we're cute. We know.

I also had the privilege of meeting a fellow Run JunkEe!! There's an online running group I'm part of that is so encouraging! And there's those of us who do post in there pics, questions, tips, encouragement, milestones, etc. And I remember a couple of recent posts from Melinda. And there she was standing in the parking lot! I went & see if she was a fellow JunkEe...and then introduced myself. She was doing the 10k & I tried to give her some pre-race encouragement.

I saw her again after the race...right after she crossed the line! I was so proud of her!!
Everyone...wave hi to Melinda!!

What a great morning for a run! Overall, I had a lot of fun. No...no PR, but after the crummy training I've had, I was happy to take in the 3.1 miles in a Halloween cosTUTUme!
Plus, I got to meet a fellow JunkEe...and totally root on my stud of a hubby!

Oh...and just in case...
The race coordinator from Bodies Health & Fitness may read this blog again.
If that's the case, everyone, wave hi to Jen!

Now...onto continuing to root on the Royals to World Series victory! And more race planning, too! Oh...and getting together my final Trunk-or-Treat promo costume, plus Halloween costumes...

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica