And now for a commerical break....

Things have been pretty crazy lately.
Elorapalooza 8 (5K race) was about 2 weeks ago. Ron and I both won 3rd in our age group.

Last weekend, Ron's brother got married.

Today we are having granite counters installed in the kitchen. We are also leaving for Florida to celebrate the marriage of my best friend then we are leaving for a 6 day cruise to the Caribbean....

But don't worry because once we get back to the 'burgh, we are back for about 5 days before we fly off again to San Francisco so I can run the Nike Women's marathon.


I promise we will be back soon with updates on everything that is going on.

But for now, I'm on vacation!

10 marathons later....

Looks lime I never posted this.... Better late then never right?

Wow, 10 marathons.... I almost can't believe it. I spent the last few miles of the Erie marathon holding in all my emotions. I didn't want to have an ugly cry face as I crossed the finish line!  I was also in pain as I was dealing with some hamstring tightness that has plagued me for the last couple months.

During 26.2 miles, you have a lot of time to reflect. This race was perfect for reflection too. The race course consists of 2 laps around Presque Isle State Park. The marathon begins 30 minutes before the half marathon. The course is pretty vibrant for the first lap. My spirits are flying high as I chatted with other runners. The volunteers at the water stops were working hard and full of energy.

Then the second loop starts.... There are a lot less people out on the course now. The volunteers are starting to feel the early morning wake up call and have lost some of their energy. They still have lots of encouraging words and those do mean a lot. Most of the other runners aren't chatting anymore. It is just you and your thoughts. I had made the decision to speed up my pace after the first lap and start 'picking off runners'. This was my attempt to keep my mind in the game.

That lasted until mile 22. For anyone who has run a marathon before, Mile 22 is when your body starts to hate you. My hamstrings were so tight and my stride had shortened significantly. My mind and body were in a constant fight over whether to run or walk. I kept telling myself that I just needed to keep running. I was allowed to walk through the water stops because at this point I couldn't drink and run.

This is where the reflection starts. Why didn't I train more? Why did I think I could actually PR today? Why do I do this? I'm not even GOOD at running! Wow this is going to hurt tomorrow... That is when I have to dig deep. I remember telling some of my fellow runners as I passed them (yes I was still trying to 'pick off' runners) that we were almost to the finish line and this was the time to dig deep. But what does it mean to dig deep? What is motivating me to push through all this pain and keep running?






I want to be strong.

I want to inspire others.

I want to do something impactful.

I want to look back on my life and be proud.



I'm doing this for those who can't. For those we have lost and for those who are still fighting the terrible disease of cancer. I'm willing to push past my comfort zone and keep fighting even when my body doesn't want to. I want others to know that anyone can complete a marathon and that we will find a cure for cancer. Those all all the things that help me push through those last tough miles.

At this point, I'm close to the finish line. I see my cheering squad and I'm throwing my hands in the air as I cross the finish. It wasn't the PR that I hoped for. But it was a gorgeous day and a fantastic race. This race definitely taught me a lesson or two along the way. I'm proud of my performance and I'm SO VERY grateful to have the opportunity to do what I do every day.

"Unless a you faint, puke or die, keep going" - Jillian Michaels

#10 is in the books and #11 is 32 days away.

Virginia Super Spartan

Official race photos from the Virginia Super Spartan were posted today! 

Enjoy!

 

Katie

Homemade Trail Mix

As you can probably tell, Ron and I are on the go all the time. We always need some type of snack on hand just in case we need something to hold us over until are next meal. One of our favorite snacks is trail mix. Since most prepackaged trail mix are high in fat, we like to make our own. Plus this allows us to make our own custom mix of ingredients.  We always have a variety of nuts, seeds and some dried fruit. We skip the chocolate for this recipe.

We usually just throw together whatever we have. Here is today's mix

1 cup almonds
1 cup walnuts
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup Craisins
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup raisins

Normally, I would add some seeds such as sunflower seeds but we don't have any right now.  I will mix all these ingredients in a plastic Ziploc bag for easy mixing. Then I will portion the mix into individual serving bags.

What's your favorite trail mix ingredients?

Enjoy!

Katie

Admitting you have a problem is your first step to recovery

I love thrifting.

I love Craigslist.

I love going to garage sales and estate sales.

There I've said it. I have an addiction. Mostly to second hand furniture. I just love find fabulous well built furniture and, of course, getting it for a steal of a price. Many of the pieces in the Coperich residence is second hand. Some of it comes from our grandparents but some of it comes from things I pick up here and there.

Here are some of the things I've picked up recently.

Rolling cart that will be Ron's bar cart

Goodwill find

Got this massive mirror for free!

Gorgeous dresser

Gold Mirror from an estate sale

Farmhouse buffet. It needs work but it is beautiful

Cherry dining table with 6 chairs

I also picked up some gold candle sticks, 2 ornate mirrors, a twin mattress & box springs (for my mom), a sewing cabinet, 2 brand new lamp shades and a small gold eagle mirror.

The only problem with my addiction is that we have more furniture than our 2 bedroom ranch should have. Oh well. Ron will appreciate it some day when we move to a bigger house and don't need to buy much!

So what is on deck for this weekend.... Well, we don't have any races but we do have a 20 mile training run tomorrow. I'm hoping we can get our miles in before it gets too hot. Second, we have lots of home projects on our 'to do' list that we want to get done. Priority number one is a patio. Yep, we are putting in a patio all by ourselves. I can't wait to see how it turns out.  But I'll post more about that later.

Katie

Just a typical Saturday at the Nuthouse

Many of you don't know but Ron and I are big DIY'ers. Call us cheap thirfty but we would much rather get our hands dirty then to wait for a trained professional to fit us into their schedule and get the work done for us. Most of the time, we plan out our projects ahead of time. But sometimes we (or I mostly mean me) decide to do things on a whim. For example, we (again, I mean me) decided to paint our dining room Saturday night. I was taking the extra leaf out of the dining room table and doing a little cleaning when I decided to move the china cabinet to the other side of the room. Nothing major right? Well after I emptied it, I realized that it would be super easy to just go ahead and paint the walls. We don't have much in our dining room and the china cabinet is the most immobile piece in the room.

So I gave Ron a call and asked if he wanted to help me paint the dining room. Mind you, it was already 2:00 PM on a Saturday afternoon and Ron had just spent the last 4 hours helping someone move. Luckily, he said yes. So I quickly got my act together and went to get paint. The local paint store closed at 3:00 so I needed to be quick. After another stop at Lowes for a few supplies, I was home and ready to paint. I had most of the prep work done before Ron even got home.

Sounds great right? Well lets just say that Ron wasn't too thrilled with my paint choice. It was a steel blue gray color and he was worried it would look off next to the turquoise kitchen. We decided to go ahead and paint the room anyway figuring that I already bought the paint and technically we woulc always repaint the kitchen. (We liked the dining room color more than the kitchen so we figured that would be the room to repaint).

Five hours later, we had a brand new dining room. We didn't paint the ceilings because they looked pretty good already. The baseboards could probably use a new coat of paint but neither of us felt like it was a 'must do right now' project. So we will hold off until we can paint both the dining room and living room together.

And that's how it works. Sometimes the only way to get stuff done is to cram a little DIY project into an otherwise relaxing Saturday evening.

Katie

PA Spartan Spint Official Race Photos

So here are some official race photos from the July 13th race at Blue Mountain resort in Palmerton, PA

Hope you enjoy

Katie

Just another one of God's blessings

Over the weekend, our little pooch Molly was struggling to use her hind legs. She was pretty wobbly and could only walk a few steps before sitting down. After 2 vet appointments (1 with the emergency vet & 1 with her regular vet), we took her to the animal hospital here in Pittsburgh. She was immediately admitted then transfered to their neurology department. She underwent x-rays which uncovered a ruptured disc in her spine. After a MRI confirmed the rupture, she was sent directly into surgery.




The surgeon told us that she had a relatively mild rupture even though it was large. The surgery was a success and she is in the process of recovering. She is still unable to walk normally but her mobility will return as she heals. She has a month long recover ahead of her. Her activity will be restricted which will be a challenge. She is a very playful and rambunctious little dog but we will do our best.


We feel so blessed that our little munchkin is on her way to recovery and thankful for all the wonderful treatment at Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialist. They have truly exceeded our expectations. It is comforting to know that they are there if anything would happen in the future. We thank God for keeping her calm and relaxed. Molly has a bit of anxiety but seems to be doing very well through this entire ordeal.

She will be weened off of IV meds today. If all goes well, we will be bringing her home tomorrow.

Thank you to everyone who kept Molly in their thoughts and prayers over the last few days. It really meant a lot to Ron and I.


Katie