We Went...

PARASAILING while in Cancun! Now, if you know me, this is a major thing because I am deathly afraid of heights! Seriously, the first time I flew, I couldn't even reach over to shut the window covering because I couldn't get near the window - once in the air, I'm mostly okay, but climbing, um..not so much!

I told hubs that I wanted to go parasailing on this trip. I knew it would be high in the air, but I knew that I would enjoy it, too! So, we signed up! This is a little different than your normal parasailing though - you'll see why in a moment. It was scary and there were more than a few moments that I questioned loudly why on Earth I was doing it and why on Earth there wasn't a seatbelt or harness....yep, you read that right - nothing was holding us in this little contraption!





Before going...
Up in the air! Can you even see our boat?! We're WAY up!

The beautiful water.

Apparently, hubs thought it was funny that I was holding on for dear life!!!

Up in the air!

You can see our parachute!

Afterwards. See?! Nothing but a seat and some life jackets! Scary!!!!

The Pools...

Today, since I don't have a ton of spare time... we're gonna talk a little about the pools! There were 7 different pools on the resort property. Which, btw, the resort was the only resort on "this side of the island." Meaning, there were no other hotels, condos, resorts - nada - near us (which was super nice). Anywho, back to the pools...

There were 7 different pools and then countless hot tubs as well. If the pool didn't have a swim-up bar, it had a staff member circling around asking us what kind of drinks we wanted. There were two "lazy river" pools - meaning, that there were two different areas we could go to that had a long, lengthy pool that we could float around on our rafts and the pools looped around different buildings. Also, along all of the pools were bed-like structures and chairs with coverings over the top. Some of the pools even had hammocks laying over the water (I really enjoyed those).

It seemed that whenever we were walking around, we'd always find a different pool that we didn't know about. It was really quite nice!


A large pool with swim-up bar & restaurant.


Me enjoying the hammock!

Part of the lazy river.


The end of one lazy river.


A "secret" pool.

The bed like things and chairs.





By the way, if you want more information on this resort or want to see what other locations they have, here is the link.

I Have A Secret...

Last week, I wasn't in Arkansas. Nope, I was in Playa Mujeres/Cancun, Mexico! Hubs and I took a week long vacation and stayed at the Excellence Adults Only - All Inclusive, 5 star resort! We had a very relaxing time and so this week, I'm going to share bits and pieces of our lovely vacation with you!


Today, I'm going to show you our room! Beware - picture overload! :)


Our Bed

The Mini Bar

The Mini Bar..mmm, candy!!


Some Chips :)

Our Very Open Bathroom


The HUGE shower

The Window in the Shower!!!

Looking into the Shower from the Bedroom


Our Radio


The Other Part of our Room


The Jacuzzi!!!!!



Part of our Balcony

The Other Half of the Balcony!!




As you can see, we had a very nice room! Everything in the mini bar was included and restocked daily (or once the big bottles ran out). There was 24 hour room service that was included with the room - and used a few times! ha! The service at the resort was outstanding! The huge shower had two shower heads in which you could control the temperature for each. There was a telephone in the bedroom and then another in the bathroom (I have no idea why!?). There was also a desk and flat screen tv on the other side of the room - I forgot to post that picture and it's not with me at work. The balcony was great to sit out on in the mornings and late at night and read or just relax. Hubs and I have already said that we will go back to this resort and would definitely recommend it to friends and family.

Splits

As promised, here are my splits from Saturday's 5k. I'm still pretty excited about my time. It just amazes me that this time last year, I was struggling to come in under 40 minutes! I can't wait to see how low I can get my time!







I don't have a whole lot going on. My grade should be posted around Thursday according to the school website. I'm pretty anxious to see what I made.

WCR 5k Race Recap

Ya'll, I did it again! I PR'd BIG TIME!!!

The official race results:
65 Mrs. Mess 338 34:47 11:13


I came in 65th in my age group and 338 overall. There were 1400 women registered. About half were runners and half were walkers.


Can you believe that I beat last week's time by 2 whole minutes?!


My main goal was to run for as long as I could and then take a 1 minute walk break. I did pretty well at that! I ran the 1st mile straight through, then ran for 1/2 mile and would walk a minute. It worked out pretty well for me!


There was a race photog, but I don't believe those race pictures have been posted yet. Instead, I leave you with 2 finish line pictures that a friend took. They are so awful that they're funny! So, I hope you enjoy! Also, I'll try to post my splits tomorrow - I forgot to grab that snapshot!





Ohhhh, they're giving me a ribbon! ha!




Now, who can we show this ribbon to?

Tornadoes

As I'm sure you've all heard, Arkansas and other southern states had some horrible weather this past weekend. Tornadoes ripped through states on Friday night and then threatened us again on Saturday evening. The above picture was taken in Scotland, Arkansas. I've been to Scotland many, many times. It's about a 15-20 minute drive from my mother's house in the sticks. Just a year or so ago, this same county was torn apart by tornadoes. It's a sad, sad thing to see.

I called my mother to make sure she was okay. She said that she was. The tornadoes had just missed her. She said she could hear the roar and her dog went crazy, but her home and everything was left untouched. Thank God.




This picture was taken by a friend. It's the funnel cloud we saw Saturday evening and this isn't too far away from our house.

Then again Saturday evening, we heard the threats of dangerous weather. Hubs and I were on our way back from Sam's Club when my stepmother called in a panic asking us where we were at. We told her we were near the Mayflower exit and asked why. We had no idea what was going on - we were listening to XM radio and had heard none of the warnings. She then informed us that there was a funnel cloud spotted at the Mayflower exit - right where we were. We looked up and sure enough - there was a funnel cloud rotating and trying to drop down. Our truck was being knocked around slightly from the wind. We took the exit, trying to get away from the rotation in case it did finally drop all the way down. Little did we know, we were going in the same direction as it was. We drove out to the middle of nowhere, listening to the live weather reports on the radio station, and calling my parents to get more info every 5 minutes. We couldn't go home - that rotation was going to go straight over our house! It's very, very scary to see something like that and be stuck in your truck and not a home near you to go into and hide. We drove through small towns and heard their sirens going off. We kept a look out to the sky - which was all shades of black and blue. Finally, we made it to my grandparent's house - where everyone was riding out the storm.
Thankfully, that rotation never touched down. They said there were at least 8 different storm cells that moved through our state that night. Each one, capable of producing a tornado. Thank God, we were all safe.

I just wanted to say Thank You to everyone who left me a comment wondering if we were affected by the storms. Thankfully, my family was lucky and untouched, but there are many who were not.

TS 5k Race Recap

I did it! I broke my PR!

My last 5k PR was 39:29. My time on Saturday was 36:45!!! I broke my 5k PR time by almost 3 minutes!!!


Here are my splits:

Mile 1: 10:34 <--my fastest mile EVER!
Mile 2: 12:12
Mile 3: 12:32
.14: 10:46 pace
Max Speed: 7:47 pace!

I sprinted the last little bit to the finish line, so that I could stay in the 36 minute range!!

A short race recap....

We were running late Saturday morning. I had told my friend N that we'd be there at 7:30 and well, we left our house at 7:20ish. Needless to say, we forgot the camera. Blah, blah, blah. It was hot and muggy. Friday night (and Saturday night) we had tornadoes and bad storms in the area (post for tomorrow). So, it was crazy humid. There were a little over 1000 participants. So, the first mile was a little crazy. I felt great and was trying to get around all the kids and parents - people were everywhere!! I ran the first mile straight through. The first water stop was at Mile 1 and those volunteers were teenage girls who didn't have a clue what they were doing. Needless to say, no water for me. But, that wasn't a big deal. A little after mile 1, the 10k and 5k runners split off from one another. Mile 2 was fine. I slowed down some - I always do, so no surprise there. I felt pretty good. I grabbed a tad bit of water at this water stop. I was running behind a lady and she dropped something and stopped directly in front of me. I dodged her at the last minute as she yelled she was sorry.

Then, came the rain. I didn't mind the rain, but I didn't like the thundering. While coming close to the 3rd mile, I was ready for this to be over with. ha! I knew I was coming in for a nice PR so I told myself to just keep running. The finish line is right after a lap around the track. I hate doing that lap around the track. I always feel so sluggish and I know people are in the stands watching. As I was coming into the track, a woman and her son stopped dead in front of me - causing me to walk for about 3 seconds.

Anywho, I made my way around the track - very slowly and then saw the finish clock. I looked at my Garmin and saw that I was in the 36's and so I booked it to the finish line. Then, of course, I forgot to turn OFF my Garmin - so my Garmin actually says 36:47, but I'm giving myself 2 seconds. LOL

Anywho, the official results online are completely jacked. It has me coming in at 37:04 which is completely wrong. I don't understand it because there was a starting mat and that's where I started my Garmin. But, after posting my frustration on Facebook, a few friends chimed in and said that the race results were indeed wrong. So, I'm going by my Garmin!