Kasha & Kiwi Visit Their New Year's Resolutions

2013 is halfway finished!

We like halves!

'is not a race, Kiwi.

Oh. Okay. 

Yeah. So. 2013 is half done. We made resolutions. Well, I made them and put them on the To Do List. Kiwi made sure they stayed there. So here's our progress report:

1) Keep the blog going
Probably the closest we've come to failing. Some months we're way on top of things, but lately we leave town and race, only to make it back in time to fling ourselves back into life in Savannah. But the fact that this post is happening is proof that we're still in it!

2) Credit cards paid off- DONE
Yeah. That was really pretty easy, even with race fees and hotel costs, and we knocked it out in the first half of the year.

3) 24 pinterest projects completed
We've finished 20, and have 2 more set to go. A major part of this was "Craft Week With Kiwi."Kiwi moved a bunch of fun pinterest projects to one specific board and we tried to see how many we could accomplish in a week. So we're ahead of schedule. You can check out Craft Week With Kiwi here.

4) 3 items from 43 things completed- DONE
43 Things is a website that serves as my Someday/Maybe List. This predates bucket lists, but is the same concept. This year, I got a henna tattoo, ran a half marathon every weekend for a month, paid off the credit cards, and a few other things.

5) Finish 12 months, 12 races
There are 3 more races in The Year Of Marathons that began last October. If we stay on track, this goal will take care of itself.

6) 365 books in 2013
Sooooo not going to happen. But I've adjusted the original book-a-day goal into how-many-can-we-read-in-a-year. As of this posting, the total is 45. Not bad for 6 months.


So we're chipping away.
...anyone else still going strong?
Let us know in the comments!

Kasha's Race, Kiwi's Hangover

Place: Dawsonville, Ga
Characters: Kasha & Kiwi
Event: The Bootlegger Half

Dawsonville, Ga is north of Atlanta and the sight of our June race. Kiwi and I headed to "the racing capital of Georgia" on Friday night with the intention of making this a quick run and return to Savannah. Packet pick up was at the Racing Hall of Fame, aka City Hall.

I love multitasking... even in buildings

Check out those trophies!

From Savannah to pack pick up and then to Mel & Rob's place was over 9 hours. But that's okay! I was ready to run and Kiwi was determined to hang out at "base camp."

....yeah. I didn't know we had a base camp either. But a certain little iphone set himself up for the day here:

Yes. Kiwi Taper spent the morning talking distillery tactics and still cleaning methods with a bunch of somewhat-toothless men who were pretty upset that he had to leave at 10 in the morning. I think they were just getting going. I was only able to get him in the car because he was that far gone by then.

A Kiwi-sized site.

Oh. Yeah. And I ran a half marathon. Dawsonville was wonderful! The hills were challenging, but not the horrors of Atlanta. The aid stations were well-placed and the volunteers were thoroughly prepped. Police offices kept traffic running on one side of the road so we had a full lane to ourselves. The medals were fitting to the theme. But since returning home, Kiwi took mine; claiming I owed it to him since I dragged him away from his calling as a "'shiner" and I "only" ran a 2:26:08.

Kiwi stole this. I haven't seen it since.

All finished!

We left Dawsonville and headed South. I ached and tried to make it south of Atlanta before stopping. I'd changed clothes in the parking lot, but the crystallized salt and miles of driving & running wore me down. I knew I needed to stop, so I headed for Lyons & my parents' farm. I pulled up and unlocked the little house to take out my contacts and pass out on the couch. I slept in the heat for an hour before getting up to make it the rest of the way home. (Another 2 hours.)

So then this happened:

At races, future event notices are often left on cars. I found one for I Race Against Diabetes. Another virtual! You could choose your distance, 5, 10, half; and run the weekend of June 21. That Friday I set out to do a treadmill half at the gym. I made it to 8.5 and needed to leave. Things were going on and I needed to get out of the way. So I showered and went to sleep, getting up the next day to run the additional 4.6 miles for a combined time of 2:15:43. When I got back, this was waiting for me!:

Yeah medal! I love medals.

So Dawsonville was a win. Anyone notice a distinct lack of Kiwi in this post? He has spent the past month boomeranging from his backyard still to sleeping in a rocking chair and mumbling about getting back to "where he belongs in the hills."

...don't tell him we're going to Roswell in August. The excitement may just be too much.