ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

Casey recently gave me a blog award which I'm thankful for. I'm supposed to pass it on but I'm not good at passing things along on the Internet. You'll rarely ever see an email forward coming from me. And if you do, please take me to the hospital. But if I did pass this award on, Casey would most definitely be on my list for her prolific and funny blog about her life.



Here was the acceptance speech I left in her comments:

Shannon said...

Thank you, thank you. I'd like to take a moment to thank my family who allows me hours to take their pictures, to upload them and watch me spend countless hours online typing up my blog posts and other Internet-related things.

I'd like to thank Casey for being an inspiration for keeping a blog constantly fresh with new content. I can never keep up but your volume inspires me.

I'd like to thank Heather Armstrong for making it ok to not be 100% positive about parenthood...and being funny while doing it.

And of course, I'd like to thank God for creating the Internet.

Thank you all!

Me: Blake, do you want a Pop-tart before you go to the bus?
Blake: Is it regular or reduced fat?
Me: I'm not sure. [I knew it was reduced fat but wasn't sure if he thought that was a bad thing or not.]
Blake: Well, I don't want regular or it will hurt my heart.
Me: Ok, the box says these are reduced fat.
Blake: Eh, I'm not hungry anyway.

We do OK money-wise and never really have to worry much. We live well below our means, we don't have car payments, we don't have credit card debt, we do have savings, we do have some retirement and we have some college savings for Payton. But we haven't had a really good plan in place for where we want to go.

I recently considered calling a financial planner to help us sort things out and make sure we were ok and to help direct us on what we should be doing financially. Then I remembered that we usually disagree with what financial planners recommend.

I decided to get the book called Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. He has a radio show, is on TV and has written multiple books. I've never heard or read or watched him but I knew he was in alignment with Andy's general way of thinking so I bought the book. His general philosophy (and Andy's) is that you should be debt-free, not use credit cards and get to the point where you are paying cash for everything. Andy and I both read the book and we're ready to go now.

He has seven "baby steps" that he suggests for financial planning.

1.) $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
2.) Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
3.) 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
4.) Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
5.) College funding for children
6.) Pay off home early
7.) Build wealth and give! Invest in mutual funds and real estate

The book has many examples of families who have worked through this program who were in pretty bad shape but still did it. People usually take a few years to get through the first few steps but I predict it will take us 6-8 months. We're in a good position having already done much of it before now (we've always had step 1 in place since we've been married, for instance). I'll be discussing some of the steps here over the next several months as we make our way through.

This week will be establishing a budget (something we've never done as I really hate it), canceling credit cards and getting rid of unneeded expenses. The weird part is that I'm really excited. I love a good plan!

Well..........I ran a half-marathon yesterday and ran a total of 27.2 miles this past week. That's going to be it on the running thing for a while. I'm taking this week off from exercising which is good because my sore muscles can't take much right now.

Weight-wise, I lost 18 pounds overall this year. I'm happy with where I'm at but I expect I will actually lose a few more once I start Body for Life. I think my body has gotten used to all of the running and the change in routine will kick start me back into weight-loss mode. It's not my primary goal but I think it will happen. All I really care about is toning up.

Here's a slideshow of some of my favorite pics from Nick and Celeste's official wedding photos. They are such a cute, silly couple that my favorite pics tend to be the ones that show that. They have a lot of great photos to choose from!

Marcy and I completed the half-marathon this morning. It was tough. But we did it.

Race Results




The race started at 8 but I had read that they expected 1000 runners this year so we left a bit before 7 to get there a few minutes after 7.


The weather was great and after stretching and walking around for a bit, we got to the starting line and put ourselves at the back of the pack knowing that's where we'd mostly stay.

Miles 1 - 4 weren't too bad but Marcy had a couple of shooting pains in her knee that were particularly bad any time there was a down slope.

Miles 4 - 6.5 were long especially since the path looped around at the half-way point and when we were at mile 4, the leader was going past us the other direction at his mile 9.

Mile 6.5 was a drink station and everybody seemed to walk for a few seconds which is hard when your muscles aren't used to stopping and starting again.

Miles 6.5 - 8 were ok until Marcy's knee just wouldn't let her keep running. She told me to keep going so I did. I thought she would probably take one of the bridges across the river to shortcut back to the finishing area where we could meet up.

Miles 8 - 11 were long for me as I ran alone.

Miles 11 - 12. At mile 11, I just stopped running. My body didn't feel like it could continue any further and my legs felt like lead. Eleven miles is the furthest I had run prior to this race and my body knew it. I did a combination of running and walking during this mile to try to get through it.

Miles 12 - 13. At mile 12, I just wanted to get it done as soon as possible. I started seeing spectators again and could hear the crowds assembled at the finish line. My friend Carrie was up ahead right before the finish line cheering me on as I turned the corner. Then I saw Andy and Blake and then the finish line and ran through the arches. They handed me the medal and then I saw Payton and she was thoughtful enough to have a cup of water ready for me. I guzzled it down and had to find a place to sit.



Andy asked where Marcy was and I said that I wasn't sure but I thought she probably would take one of the bridges because her knee wouldn't make it. By the time I grabbed a banana and another water and found a place to sit, I saw Marcy coming and couldn't believe it. She was running and she was finishing. She was clearly in pain but she made it. Unbelievable. I didn't have any injuries and it was very hard for me. I can't imagine how hard it was for her.

Post-race, we came home and took the best showers of our lives and then ate the best pizza of our lives and then took the best naps ever. It felt so good to rest. The blisters and aching legs and feet are going to linger with us for a bit. Good thing we both have Monday off!

It will come as no surprise to anybody that I'm really glad the half-marathon is over. I haven't been in a good state of mind about running for about 4-6 weeks and had to go into manual override to get this far. In hindsight, I do wonder if it was a bit ambitious to train for a half-marathon within 6 months of being unable to run 1/8 mile. I think it was physically possible (obviously because I did it) but mentally it was probably what made me really hate running recently. If I were to do it over again, I would probably have taken it slower - train for a few 5k races, train for a couple of 10k races and then maybe do a half-marathon within a year instead of 6 months.

As I've said before, I plan to do 12 weeks of the Body for Life plan which will let me get back to lifting weights and doing just 20 minutes of cardio at a time. I'm told I will miss running. I can't see it right now but look forward to taking the time off to find out.