Heading into Martian!

I haven't posted in a week?!? A week?!? Things have, admittedly, been busy. About three weeks ago my parents called and said they wanted to visit during their spring break. We explained that if they were OK with the fact that we are never home and work constantly and could not be their tour guides, then sure, we'd love to have them visit. They readily agreed and bought plane tickets. So on Saturday (a week+ ago) I picked them up at the airport. We wasted no time. There was a room to paint!

That's Dad in his "Diva Pants." When we told them to bring painting clothes, we thought he still had pants here. Turns out they were Mom's. Brand: Diva. Oops.
{sidenote: I am LOVING having some direction on interior decorating choices. It took a while to figure out what I wanted my "grown-up house" to look and feel like. And it was equally fabulous having help from the parentals!}

On Sunday we basked:

And just in case you can't tell, that's SPRING there under my Mom.

And then the week started again. Even with my hectic work schedule, I was able to meet them for lunch twice and we had a lot of fun. Then Saturday rolled around and we got this craptastic news:

I called my SIL, in freaking Detroit, where there was NO SNOW. I LIVE IN MISSOURI. What is this crap? She said it snowed just to piss me off. Eleven miles later, and still snowing and slushy out, I felt a renewed appreciation for the treadmill.

So all that brings me to the running portion of this post. Yes, I ran 11 miles on Saturday. Yes, my toe hurt when I was done. I thought I'd given it enough of a break. I took y'all's (I get can away with a double contraction like that because I'm from WV) advice and XT'ed until Wednesday of last week then cautiously tested it. The toe was fine after the Wednesday run (which I nailed--good confidence boost pre-race), so I thought I was in the clear. I think my choice of work footwear is part of the problem. I'm forcing myself to wear flat shoes (or at least shorter heels than normal) to work this week and keep the miles easy.

Am I ready for Martian? Yes. More ready than I've ever been for a half. Am I nervous? Yes, because I *really* want that PR. Am I excited? YOU KNOW IT!! To meet a bunch of you, see family (& let the kiddo see family!), and hopefully post a great race. I LOVED racing in Detroit in 2009--hoping for another great race!