Debating racing

What race have I been debating??

Oh boy.

Remember that race report, or more correctly, reports?

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

I won't spoil too much, but let's recall I finished last year in 6:17:06, a little over an hour past my original time goal. YIKES! Originally I swore I'd never do another Marathon unless it followed 2.4 miles of swimming and 112 miles of biking (yes, that means I haven't counted out possibility of an Ironman one day), but after that hellish day at the most wonderful place on earth, I needed redemption. The question was when/where. 

I didn't think it would be Disney, then I saw the medal....

Question was, did I want to head into Marathon training immediately following 70.3?

S worked on me, she really wanted to do it. She's been in a running funk lately & has been trying to work her way out. She decided to drop the Hartford Marathon and look to Disney to regain focus. So I did the smart thing, made a pros & cons list:

Pros:

The medal

Marathon redemption

Motivation to workout/run

Having scheduled/planned workouts

More time with S (sunday long runs again!)

Trip to Disney!

Having my knee feeling better for a big race

Going out for a big breakfast for our post long run tradition

Cons:

Lengthy, time consuming long runs

Cold long runs

Cost: race, flight, hotel, etc

Risk or re-injury with increased mileage

Focus on training, not weight loss

no break between 70.3 & marathon training

The truth was, I wanted to want to do Disney.

But I just didn't.

I need a break after 70.3 to focus strictly on weight loss, and toning up.

Know what, S decided the same thing.

Plus...

I may have a different marathon on the brain

Which marathon do you think it is?

Do you think I made the right decision?

Enter to win free race entry to Boston 13.1 HERE!

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Week One Success = Treats at the Big E!

So, week 1 of my training for my very first marathon is completed! Not all the workouts went as I would have hoped, and my nutrition wasn't the best, but overall I'll call it a success. Here's a recap....

I'm following the Run Less, Run Faster Program

Monday- OFF

Tuesday- 1 hour bootcamp, 20 mile ride in 1:40. I got to go riding in the rain with the Green Girl!

Wednesday - Speedwork day: 3x1600m @ 6.4mph with 1 min rest intervals. My legs felt heavy & sore, but I plunged through with only a couple small rests on the last one!

Thursday - 1 hour bootcamp

Friday - Tempo day: 2 easy, 2 ST, 2 easy. Last 2 miles were definitely rough. My legs were wicked sore still.

Saturday- 15.76 ride in 1:15. A buggy, muggy ride with Kevin. Pretty much I wished we had stayed home.

Sunday- Long run 8.21 miles in 1:38. Rough run overall. My legs were heavy, my breathing short, and I just wanted to be done, but my body didn't want to go. I let Shelley go ahead the last 1.5 miles, and I struggled to the car with a million walk breaks.

Nutrition- Overall, not horrible. Biggest problem is that its fall, which means that my favorite beers are in limited supply. Which obviously means we have bought several cases and I'm enjoying 1 or 2 almost every night. I HAVE to stop this.

Today we went to the Big E, ever hear of it?

Pretty much its New England's biggest fair, and we had to go!

I managed my food smartly with a corn on the cob from the New Hampshire building, organic flatbread pizza from American Flatbread in Vermont, Sam Oktoberfest, Opa Opa Oktoberfest, and my favorite, the mini cinnamon donuts!

My donuts and my many purchases!

I'm also a huge sucker for those 'as seen on TV' kind of products. I ended up with a ceramic curling iron,  floor mats for the house, back cushion for my car, and an amazing grater. Pretty excited to curl my hair tomorrow!

Like the pink zebra? Don't mind my crazy eyes!

Since next weekend is the Diva Half Marathon, I'm going to get my key runs in on monday and wednesday, so I don't run 7 miles 2 days before the half. Shelley and I are excited for a long girls weekend away in Long Island!

Anyone else racing at the Diva Half in Long Island?

Anyone know any fun things to do in Long Island?

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Everyone will run a marathon

I am watching my DVRd Biggest Loser from Tuesday and dropped my jaw when they announced what would be the final challenge the contestants would compete in at the end of the season.

Everyone will run a marathon.

From 300+ pounds... to 26.2 miles

Crazzzy.

Every year I love the marathon episode (except last year when it was stupidly left out). It's my favorite episode of the season, it makes me feel like I can do it too. If people who weighed 300 pounds 3 months ago can run a marathon, then I can too. Especially with the years of training I've put in, and the weight I've worked at losing. Marathons however, are not for everyone, so I'll be interested to see how it all plays out. Maybe this time they'll focus a little more on the training and nutrition required to accomplish this feat.


This week has been right on track with workouts and mostly with nutrition. I have adapted a new eating attitude for this training cycle. I need to fuel my body to perform my best at this marathon. I do not want to be held back because of poor choices I made with food. I've decided that at the end of the week, I'll give you a recap on my training and how all the workouts went for the week.


I also want to check with my mom and see if she would write a recap of her training every now and then as she goes from couch potato to half marathoner! She has her Jeff Galloway walking plan set out & is working with a trainer at the gym and I couldn't be more proud of her! I love to spread the running bug to my family and friends!


Tempo run tomorrow!

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My Triathlon at sea .... and a winner!

I am back from my amazing vacation!

We were lucky to avoid Hurricane Irene, and have absolutely gorgeous weather for 95% of the trip, which resulted in some beautiful beach days, shopping, and relaxing days at sea. We made some new friends, and enjoyed the time relaxing together.

My plan to workout religiously did not go as planned. While days at sea are perfect for getting a workout in, the days at port, we wanted to get out & explore the islands, which left little time (or desire) for the gym. I did manage to getting a little triathlon & running work in....

I had a killer treadmill long run last Sunday in San Juan at our hotel

I did a little recumbent biking since the spin bikes were full. And lastly, I even practiced some open water swimming!

Ok, it may have involved a life vest & a snorkel, but I was out there in the open water. I even did a few good strokes for practice.

I attempted another run on the outdoor track our last day at sea, but the heat & heavy winds (practically blowing me over), had me head inside after 2 miles, then at 3 I was bored to death and stopped.

I was very disappointed in the fitness offerings on the ship.  All the equipment was very "old school." They didn't even have any foam rollers, bosu balls, resistance bands, or (my favorite) the TRX. The classes offered were few, and boring. They did offer a bootcamp for $30/class (ridiculous!), but the moves looked not very intense. I had to make up my own strength training circuits with some handweights and other things I found since I HATE using machines for my strength training.

As far as my nutrition goes, I tried to stay smart most of the time, but lost resolve toward the end of the trip.

I promise to do a whole vacation recap soon!

While I was away, did you check out my amazing guest bloggers??

In case you missed them...

Monday was Feeding a Meat Eater

Wednesday was Running with Aches, Pains & Injuries

Thursday was my post on Endurance Racing & Body Image

Friday was 13.1 reasons to Run a Half Marathon

Sunday was Do you Need a Coach?

A HUGE thank you to all my amazing guest bloggers!!

And my Multivites gummy Vitamin & b12 giveaway winner??

Jen @ Eat, Sleep, Run Disney!

How have I not found her blog before today? Its fabulous, make sure to check it out!

Jen email me at sgrigely at hotmail dot com to claim your prize!

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Its freakin HOT here!!

This week has been crazy with the heat & humidity.

Wednesday night it was 90 out, but a coworker and I decided to go for a ride on a bike trail she heard of in Southwick. Lucky for us, it was shaded and flat and felt much cooler than it really was. We did 14 miles, then called it a night.

Thursday morning I had bootcamp and sweated more than I ever have. TRX, Battle Ropes, Rip trainers, slam balls, it was an intense circuit. 

Friday morning, I figured the heat wouldn't be too bad to run outside at 5:30am. WOW was I wrong. 83 degrees with an insane humidity. 5 miles was the plan, and I went through 3 waterbottles on my belt, and ran through every single sprinkler I saw. My plan was for a 10:45 pace, but that went out the window with the heat. Stepping into my air conditioned house was like heaven after that run.

Saturday morning, Kevin and I got up for a long ride. Lucky for us, the clouds were out. So even though it was almost 90, the sun wasn't beating down on us as hard as it could have. We went 24 miles, got a little lost since I didn't know the route as well as I was hoping I did, but we managed to make it home, then out for a delicious (organic!) breakfast. The rest of the afternoon was spent baking in the sun and cooling off in the pool at my friend's little girl's birthday party.

This morning, Shelley and I had our last long run before tapering for RnR Providence. We started a little before 8, hoping to beat the later in the day heat. It was 82 at the start, and wicked humid. My goal for this run, was to push the pace a little. We've been fading the pace part way into the run, so I tried to keep an eye on the Garmin and push it a little. Mission accomplished.

Goal pace was 11:15, PHMP + 20 seconds. We have NEVER come close to that pace with our training runs, but this time, we came pretty close. Some miles were not as pretty, with big hills,  or stops at traffic lights. Around 9.5, we stopped at Shelley's mom's for more water, then worked on picking it up to finish. On our last killer hill, there was a girl out ahead of us and we made it our goal to pass her. We did on the hill. She passed us back after the top, then we passed her again later. We sprinted like mad to the finish with a crazy fast pace. Even our average pace was awesome, pretty close to our goal. It sprinkled a little through the run and more at the finish, which was fabulous.

My post run Panera tasted especially delicious today.

What have you done in this killer heat??

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Bootcamp and weigh in...

Bootcamp yesterday morning was a fabulous workout. 

We started with a basic assessment of how many pushups, squat jumps, burpees, jumping jacks, mountain climbers we could do of each in a minute. Then we did circuits with the TRX, jump rope & running. There was a good size group (about 11 of us), and the next group had 20! I'm glad fewer people like waking up early for a 5am workout.

The Burpee: I'm certainly feeling it today!

It was also weigh in day yesterday. I had done really well this past week at eating healthy, working out, but was feeling bloated & puffy. I think from Monday's dinner of Sloppy Joe's. I was praying I wouldn't have a gain, because I worked really hard this week! I knew it would probably come off when I'm better hydrated and have the sodium flushed out, but sometimes a gain really screws with my head. Luckily it was a bust, no gain, no loss. I turned it into motivation to stay on track and drink 3 gallons of water.

Had an easy day at work (what?), then came home to make a yummy dinner of grilled shrimp, asparagus, and quinoa. My energy level was so great (and I was so motivated to have a loss next week), so I decided to work on some hills after dinner. So at 8pm, I drove over to Forest Park and did what I think a hill repeat is. I've heard people talk about hill repeats, and I figured it just must mean repeating a hill over & over. So I would run up the hill, then walk back down. I did it for 20 min before heading home. Is that how it works?

I have a pitcher with lemon water in the fridge, a new workout schedule made to accommodate bootcamps, and was super pumped to see a 2 pound loss on the scale this morning. I guess I successfully flushed all the bad stuff out!

Now I need to keep things consistent!
How do you keep your motivation consistent?

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Three Things Thursday!

1. I got in an awesome run today. I skipped my run in the morning, but after a great day at work (so unusual to say), and getting home a little early, I decided to give it a whirl before dinner. I was scheduled for a 5 mile tempo run, so I mapped out a loop that was almost 5, and headed out for a nice rainy run. Normally, I hate running in less than ideal running conditions, but for some reason I couldn't wait to get out in the rain to run. My planned mid-tempo pace is 10:45 on my training schedule, and I kept it pretty close...

I started a little fast, then settled in. I remembered that this route was the one I did for my first post surgery outdoor run, and thought of how far I've come since then.

2. I did it! I joined the Half Fanatics!

I am now Fanatic #1184 at a Neptune (1 moon) level. I am hoping to upgrade to Saturn (3 moon) status in the fall with 4 half marathons in 4 states in 51 days.

3. With my vacation now booked, I have continued to stay focused on my eating and exercising. I had an intense bootcamp session last night with a heavy focus on TRX, which I loove. My 2x/week bootcamp starts on tuesday morning, which means I need to adapt my training schedule since tues/thurs are typically running days. Krystal also gave us some great nutritional advice (separate post about it later), which I think is a great focus to help me with my weightloss. Overall I am feeling so much healthier and starting to notice little changes in how my clothes fit, hooray!

Don't forget to enter my Kushy Foot giveaway HERE, it ends 6/25!

Soooo Happy its friday tomorrow, even if I am working saturday. 

Next triathlon is Sunday at the Wilbraham YMCA!

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Sunday long run

O.M.G.

I am exhausted.

We had 12 miles on the schedule, but I was having trouble mapping out an even 12, so I went with 12.5. I decided to change up our scenery a little bit and have us run through Forest Park, the big beautiful park in our area. We even decided to leave at 7:30am instead of 8, since we knew it was going to be a HOT day.  What I was not prepared for, was the amount of sweating, killer hills, a moments of "I just wanna stop!!!"

We started of doing well, but it was our first long run in the heat. Instantly sweating, and even with a visor to keep it out of my eyes, i had to wipe it away from my face. Our usual route was changed up a little, and we were glad, because this meant we hit my dad's house around mile 5.5. We refilled our bottles, had a little to drink, wiped the sweat off of us, then headed toward the park.

Now the one thing I did not know about Forest Park, was that there were killer hills to climb leading into it. Not just any hill, but I think the steepest hill I have ever seen. Well, maybe not that steep, but pretty bad. I wish I could show you the elevation, but my Garmin is acting ridiculous and I can't upload the workout. Not only were there hills, but I think we missed the loop we wanted to take, and we ended up with an extra mile tacked on to the route.

So after the hills, we returned to our regular route which was a struggle. My legs were literally wanting to die. We hit Shelley's mom's house around mile 11, and stopped for more water. I took an ice cube to my neck, chest, face & arms, and it melted immediately.

The last 2.5 miles were torturous. At one point Shelley said "Is it wrong that I want to throw myself into oncoming traffic?" I had to stop for a walk break up the last hill, then we powered through to the end with thoughts of Panera on my mind.

stats (from what I can remember, stupid Garmin)
13.54 miles
2:46:02

Post-run treat?
Low fat Mango smoothie
Egg & Cheese sandwich on a honey wheat bagel
1/2 a chocolate chip cookie

After a much needed shower, I spent the day resting, grocery shopping & doing laundry, and cleaning. Unfortunately I do NOT have tomorrow off (hospitals don't get holidays), so I'll be stuck working until 4:30.. booo! Since the gym isn't open tomorrow morning, I may try an early morning bike ride.

And if anyone knows how to transfer my workout from my Garmin, which is currently frozen on the time screen with no buttons working, please let me know. Thanks!

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Three Things Thursday!

1. I got in a killer run this morning. 2 miles short though since I ran out of time. I need to either start running faster or wake up earlier! 1 mile easy, 2 mid tempo, 1 easy, 1 mid tempo. Felt AWESOME! Ran the whole time, paused once to get more water. Maybe running feeling easier has something to do with my improved eating habits??

2. The Run to Home Base 9K is this weekend! Race outfit is almost decided, and the weather is supposed to clear up and be gorgeous. I am also wicked pumped to see my friend Lindsay, who recently got home from the  AirForce in Afghanistan.

3. I am a BIG Road Runner Sports girl. I order all my shoes from there, sometimes clothes or other gear too. I usually place my order online, but I had a giftcard to spend and had to call to use it. Not only are my favorite Asics GT-2160s on sale ($74.95 for VIPs), he gave me a 2nd pair for only $60! & dropped the price on some new socks for me! fabulous.

TGIF!

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Rockin workouts

Remember my anxiety over going to the group ride on monday night?

I sucked it up, and went.

The people were very nice, and helpful. However, I would not recommend increasing your max mileage from 9 miles this training cycle to 25 miles overnight. Especially over killer hills, with a bunch of people who know what they're doing. I was the last one up the hills, and ran out of water with 6 miles to go. I was struggling beyond belief. There were points when if I knew where I was, I would have called Kevin for a ride, or gone a shorter route without them. I had no idea where we were in the farm lands of Somers, CT, so I sucked it up and tried not to get left behind. They were awesome about waiting for me and helping push me along. Almost 2 hours later, we were back, and I was exhausted. My Garmin lost satiliette part way through, so I only clocked 21. I was dying of thirst, and collapsed on the couch while Kevin made dinner.

wished I was riding this!

Was it hard? Unbelievably. This is what I need to get better though. If I want to be a better cyclist, I will go. No matter how much it sucks. Because eventually it will get easier.

This morning I managed to even get up for my speedwork run. 5 x 1K of awesomeness @ 6.1mph. I felt fast and strong. My legs felt good, even after the crazy ride the day before. I killed it, and had a good stretch afterwards.

My nutrition has been better, and my scale should be arriving soon, so I feel like I'm on the right track! Wish me luck for a pool workout tomorrow!

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Almost race ready

I started laying out my gear, and thankfully the crazy dreams stopped.

Today, I decided to shove my bike in the car and head over to the bike route of the race course for sunday. My original goal was to finish in under 37 min, but really I wanted to finish around 35.

guess what??

Under 35. And that was having to stop at 2 stop lights. And my legs felt awesome after, I wished I had brought my running shoes. I am so ready to kill this race on Sunday and hopefully take over the Athena category!

And my Optimum Nutrition winner is...

 Baby Weight My Fat Ass

email me at sgrigely@hotmail.com with your address!

Happy swimming, biking and running!

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Getting there...

I am happy to report this weekend has turned around.

The yucky weather yesterday did leave me to skip my ride. What is awesome is that I had an amazing 9 mile run (1:43) today with Shelley. I didn't stop to walk the entire time and felt awesome at the end. We both felt like we could go another 5 miles if we wanted too. But we were looking forward to a change in our post race ritual.... a trip to Panera instead of Starbucks!

mine was minus the bacon

We had breakfast sandwiches and smoothies, which were fabulous. I had the low-fat black cherry smoothie, YUM! During our run, Shelley revealed her big news to me....

She is signing up to the run the Disney Marathon with me!!

I couldn't be more excited! Especially now that I will have someone to motivate me for long runs through the cold fall & early winter. sweet!

After doing some laundry, tv watching, and blog reading, I went out for a ride with my tri buddy Deb. She just got a new road bike, and wanted to show me the bike portion of the triathlon in 2 weeks. We didn't do the entire route (7.56 miles in 33 min), and she is a little slower than me, so overall I was satisfied with the time we made. The course was scenic and not too hilly. I know that for race day (and possibly one more practice beforehand), I can totally kick it up a notch and be ready for the run.

The best part? My legs feel fabulous! Not sore at all (knock on wood). The bad part? I can't figure out what I want to do with my hair for race day. My layers don't stay put with a low pony, and I can't wear a high pony with the helmet. Any suggestions?

I started reading...

Im hoping it gives me some motivation and information to loose some of these pounds to get myself in better racing shape. 

On the personal side of things, stuff may be turning around for the better. Right now I'm not holding my breath that he will make the changes he promises that he will.

Don't forget to check out my giveaways!

Run to Home Base HERE

Optimum Nutrition HERE

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Temptation & a winner!

todays quote

"The less food in your face, the less tempted you'll be to eat when you're not hungry"

So true for me. If I can see it, then I'm tempted to eat it. This is why I cannot keep items like Ice cream & Stacy's Pita Chips in the house regularly. For me, its an out of sight, out of mind thing. The closer it is to me, the more I crave it. So what do I do? I don't buy trigger items. I hide trigger items to only have a few at a time. I buy smaller portioned bags (like cadbury mini eggs) so I don't inhale 10 serving sizes.

What do you do to stop the temptation?

The Winner of the Pay it forward book giveaway is....

Lisa @ Because I Can!
email me at sgrigely at hotmail.com with your address!

Don't forget to enter my Moving Comfort Giveaway HERE, which ends Monday night!!

I'm happy to report I'm still on track with my eating, and workouts. I bought a cadence sensor for my bike to use with my Garmin and spent almost 45 min figuring it out. 3 you-tube videos later, I was sucessful. I hopped on for a 97 min ride, but I'm not sure if it was working right. For some reason it said I burned over 2,600 calories, but had a super slow 9mph pace. Help??

Today was long run day with Shelley, and whoops, I forgot to charge the Garmin after the ride so it died halfway through the run. We killed our 8.5 miles in about 1:30, and I ran up the entire hill at the end. Awesome. My legs feel great, especially after my massage I had today. Bring on the Cherry Blossom next weekend!

Early morning at the pool & weight training!

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8 miles and a Tutu!

Today was a gorgeous day for a run!

A little chilly to start, but a million times better than what the weather has been like. It was wonderful to finally get outside for a run with Shelley! We planned for around 8 miles, which may or may not have been a great idea, since this was really my first real run since Disney. I felt great most of the time, but the last 2 miles I was getting exhausted. I guess thats what slacking on my workouts and inhaling girl scout cookies will get me. With 1.5 to go, I told Shelley to go ahead, and come back to pick me up. I spend the rest of that time running/walking, and ended up at the car not far behind her anyways! We finished 8.33 miles in 1:43.

After our usual stop to Starbucks, we headed to my house to start our St Pattys Day 10K Tutus!

We spent some time watching a video on you-tube, then off we went, cutting tulle, and tying it to the elastic.

Starting out....

We started with a pattern of white, green, white, green, green sparkle, repeat. We worked with the elastic tied around my kitchen chairs, took them off to try on a couple times, and finished up with a fabulous result!

Finished product!

So cute for next weekend!

Now that I'm feeling accomplished about my run & Tutu, its time tackle other important things like shopping & laundry, and posting my workout plans later!

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This is how my weekend is going so far..... (plus a giveaway winner!)

After many of your words and encouragement, I have decided to register as an Athena.

To those of you who are not sure what that means, Athena is a category for women 150 pounds or over. I've only been able to enter the Hartford Half Marathon & 5K as an Athena (I won 1st place once!) for running events, but it seems like the sport of triathlon cares about us heavier girls. So my plan is to register Athena, train hard, and try to take first place!

I mapped out some training for the next 14 weeks or so, and I will be spending a lot of time in the pool, which I have only been in once since my triathlon last fall. I recently bought the book Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way To Swim Better, Faster, and Easier. Now I just need to read it... hmm maybe while I spend time on the bike trainer. Which reminds me I did get in a nice 60 min ride after work today! Tomorrow is a long awaited long run outdoors with Shelley & Tutu making our St. Pattys day 10K next weekend!

I almost forgot to draw a winner for my raffle for this week!

Jess @ Running Between the Lines!

Please email me your choice of prize!

There are still TONS of fabulous prizes to win! Please check out my Run to Home Base Raffle HERE to make a donation to a great cause and win some great stuff in the meantime!

Also, have you checked out my Arctic Ease giveaway yet (HERE)? Entry is easy & you have until 3/16!

Now.... I was literally writing this blog post, when Kevin went down to the basement to hide girl scout cookies on my roomate. I hear, "Stephanie, you need to come down here.."

Shit.

Not again.

Last year, Easter weekend, my brand new home (constructed Sept 2009, 2 months before I moved in), only 6 months after being built had the basement flood. It ruined many of my christmas decorations and boxes. My house was still under warranty and they told me that the water wasn't from outside, it was from the furnace condensator. Despite the water marks along the edge of the basement, and water stained cracks. They put in window wells and gutter tubes "just in case." With all this snow melting, and rain we've been having, I went down to check the basement thursday. Nothing. Not a drop. Now it looks like this....

1/4" deep!

See my soaked bottom boxes?

So Kevin just left for home depot to buy a wet vac because towels are just floating in the water, and not even making a dent in the amount. I am pissed because they *promised* me that this would never happen again. And I'm pissed because my home is no longer under warranty, although my mom thinks that since this was a problem they claimed to take care of while it was under warranty and clearly failed to do so, that they should be responsible. My mom says we will hire a lawyer if we need to. damn, lawyers are expensive.

So Monday I guess I will either be calling "Mike" the horrible contractor who built my house whose number I found, or the real estate lawyer I used to see what I am entitled to. Needless to say my good mood, and healthy habit went out the window and I have worked my way through 1/3 of a 6 pack of beer, and have a pizza on the way. YUCK!

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