Tag Archives: racecation

#GivingTuesday

Hoping all my American friends enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday! Also hoping everyone survived Black Friday, gave some love on Small Business Saturday, and got some gonga deals on Cyber Monday!

We had a very quiet Thanksgiving with just the 3 of us, but it was wonderful family time. I cooked (close your mouth)… and the only thing that could have been potentially disastrous was I forgot to put the ham in the oven. About an hour after putting the chicken in, James looked at me and asked, “How long is the ham supposed to take?” Oops.

I chose not to partake in the madness of Black Friday and went to the gym instead. James opted outside as well. We are headed to San Antonio this coming weekend for the Rock ‘N’ Roll race and he will be attempting the half-marathon (by my side? behind me? in front of me? lol). He has come a long way from 2 months ago when he couldn’t even walk to the end of the block without excruciating pain.

Anyway… today is #GivingTuesday. It is the Global Day of Giving Back. It is time to help out those nonprofits who selflessly try to help make the world a better place with so little funding. Please consider giving just a little bit to your favorite charity… even $5 makes a difference.

And in honor of #GivingTuesday, I am doing a fun little giveaway to support MY favorite charity and to say a big Thank You to You for all your support of me and my blog. One lucky winner will receive 1 eco-friendly tote bag, 1 holiday ornament with card featuring our Patient of the Year (the cutest little porcupine you’ve ever seen who looks fluffy, not prickly), 1 set of 8 blank wildlife cards featuring 4 patients from our center, and 1 wildlife calendar featuring our patients which has all kinds of fun animal facts on the inside.

If you are interested, please leave me a comment below. I’ll leave it open until next Tuesday, December 5th, whereby AJ will draw a name out of his Happy New Year hat to announce the winner.

Until then… I hope you have a great week!

We Have Arrived…

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… in Reno, that is. I probably mentioned it like once a long time ago, but we are here for the Reno 5000 Series Downtown River Run. I may have even possibly mentioned (or not) that both James and I have dropped down in our categories… him to the half, me to the 10K… this won’t count towards our 50-state goal for either of us. James wants a PR this spring, so we’re holding out for a race closer to home… the North Olympic Discovery Marathon and Half in Port Angeles; one that is at sea level as opposed to 4800 feet. (Reno is in the mountains… I never knew!) We’ll go to Las Vegas to eventually conquer Nevada, but for now we’re just here to have a good time.

We’re staying at Harrah’s Downtown, right at the start line and super close to the river. After getting off our little propeller plane (I kid you not) and checking in, we took a lovely walk to see what the downtown had to offer.

I’ll say this… Reno is clean. The only other downtown that I’ve seen this clean is Tulsa. But downtown Reno is a happening place. It’s beautiful, and it’s so refreshing to see people and government officials taking pride in their city (as opposed to Seattle which… never mind, don’t even get me started).

Anyway, the river overfloweth. A dam floodgate near Lake Tahoe has been released to allow for melting snow over the next couple of months; therefore, the river is flowing high, fast, and furious. Wouldn’t want to be on it, but it is a beautiful sight:

#spottedthebird! He was patient and posed nicely for me until I was done taking his picture. I’m out of my element, so I don’t have a clue what he is… where is my Sibley bird-watching book when I need it (and if any of you actually know what that book is, you’re my new BFF)!

As for news from the home front… the child is leaving Sunday on his first trip without Mom or Dad. He’s going with a friend to Maui for the next 2 weeks. I think I forgot to tell him he’s not allowed to grow up.

Now I’m off to go explore Reno and the raging river some more. After two leg cramps in the middle of the night last night from being poorly hydrated, I’m sucking down the Nuun and water, and need to stretch out the tightness. I logged 4 miles yesterday… we’ll aim for another 4 today, then the race tomorrow. Should be a great time!

#spottedthehusband 🙂

Missoula Half-Marathon

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Many of you know I just completed the Missoula Half-Marathon this past Sunday and James completed the full. What a great little racecation! It was a whirlwind, but totally worth every moment we spent there and on the road.

To recap, we left the Seattle area on Friday afternoon and drove to Spokane to stay the night, meeting up with fellow blogger Renee on Saturday morning. We then drove the rest of the way to Missoula, just in time for the expo and to see Jeff Galloway. Dinner was at 7 and sleep for me came at midnight.

Rocks! In a river!! Apparently great for fishing!

RACE DAY: We woke up at 3:30 for a 6 a.m. start time… mind you, this was Montana time. In Seattle time, it was only 2:30 a.m. Ack! And we all know sleep doesn’t come easy the night before a race.

Logistics were easy… we walked across the bridge right behind the hotel and there were the shuttle buses hauling people to the start line. Once at the start line, it was port-a-loo heaven! And I’m not kidding. They were everywhere. No one had to suffer or stress. Kudos to the race director on the potties! (For those who don’t race, port-a-loos are a super important part of the start line, which is why every runner will report on them!)

As well, they had fireworks going off about every 6 to 7 minutes. Okay, that was a little unnerving and unnecessary, but it was entertaining.

Then at 6 a.m., the cannon fired (yes, a booming cannon, just in case the fireworks didn’t wake you up) and the finale of the fireworks were set off (for those of us who had to wait a couple of minutes to cross the start line). By the way, Jeff Galloway was running the half with his 90-year-old friend. How’s that for inspiring?!! If I would’ve known they were behind me, I totally would’ve backed up and ran with them.

THE COURSE: Gorgeous. Farms, trees, rivers, historic neighborhoods, and basically flat. Loved it. I ran out of air at about mile 9 or 10, but that’s what happens when you train at sea level. I’m thinking James and I probably need to go hike up one of the mountains here to get some practice with breathing at different elevations.

An entertainer playing a violin on the side while we went past. There were also bands, drums, people with stereos to keep us going.

THE PEOPLE AND VOLUNTEERS: So very nice, so friendly, so helpful. I didn’t run into one single person who wasn’t encouraging and uplifting throughout the race. I wasn’t too impressed at mile 11 when people were saying, “you’re almost there” (because I wasn’t anywhere near the finish line), but that was my emotional breakdown, not theirs, so I really appreciated their support regardless of my state of mind.

THE FINISH LINE: Again, fabulous! For recovery food, they had a lovely quinoa salad, bananas, oranges, watermelon, frozen fruit bars, nuts, bagels, fig newtons… a great spread! At the family meetup area, all racers got a free beer and a free finisher picture, and they were selling fry bread and other things, just in case the food at the finish line didn’t quite get it done for you.

A moose with running shoes on the bling… too cute.

POST-RACE CELEBRATION: I think I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. After sleeping for a couple of hours, we went out and enjoyed. Our eyes were much bigger than our stomachs, but it was nice having a sample of everything.

Chicken strips, quesadilla, and nachos.

James and his father Rick, who came to watch and celebrate, and who also brought AJ back after he spent the previous week in Boise.

This was a fabulous race and a fabulous time, and I felt it was very well organized. Thankfully we didn’t run into even one snafu, and that’s always bonus. This race may actually have moved to the very top of my favorites list, so I highly recommend it if you’re looking to run in Montana!!

I think this bike totally works for the treasure hunt!

Be sure to stay tuned to 50 in 50 Marathon Quest to see his full race report. He had a nasty mountain to climb that forced practically everyone to walk…

Time To Rock and Roll!

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We have arrived at Missoula! And it’s been a great day!

We left Lake Stevens Friday afternoon and stayed the night in Spokane, ate at one of our normal gastropubs and had a nice walk around the downtown.

Saturday morning before we left Spokane, we were very lucky to meet up with Renee (The Revenge Wogger) and her husband Keith for coffee. This lovely lady has been through so much the past 6 months… double mastectomy, chemo, and another laparoscopic surgery that she just barely had on Thursday. I was amazed she was willing and able to meet up 2 days after her surgery. What a strong woman, and such a positive attitude! Her and I became friends last year through our blogging. We discovered we had the same sense of humor and attitude, then we discovered we both are from Arizona… and the list goes on and on. She used to be totally anonymous… but not anymore. I introduce to you Renee, The Revenge Wogger, who is now a cancer survivor! (yay you!) What a beautiful smile!

After driving another couple hundred miles, we finally arrived in Missoula. We only had until 4 p.m. to pick up our bib and race packet, and we arrived around 3. The expo was outside under tents, quite small considering the popularity of this race. Still, I have no complaints. I wasn’t really in the mood for a big expo. We took a walk along the river while we were out and about.

We also got to see Jeff Galloway speak. And we ran drills with him! I actually got coached by one of the best running coaches ever! So now I have a plan for tomorrow! Total score!

And in about 5 hours, I get to wake up and head to the start line for my 5th half-marathon of 2016. When I see you next, hopefully I’ll be one bling richer!

For Slow Runner Girl… looky what I found today!! Does this count?!! (treasure hunting while running… it’s a great thing!)

Salt Lake City Half-Marathon

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I’m not that great at giving a race recap, so if you want the full 4-11 (do people still say that?), you might want to check out Jamesy’s blog for his race recap later in the week. In the meantime, I’ll give a brief summary of the weekend from my perspective.

If you caught my pre-race freak-out post, you’ll know that we had an extremely bumpy flight thanks to a snow storm. This is us on Thursday not long after that incident… celebrating being alive.

You might have also caught the part where I met up with some family on Friday where we toured Temple Square. A bit of history: My father graduated from Bountiful High School around 1947, so my family “base” is in Utah. I hadn’t been to Temple Square since before my grandmother died in 1981, and it was great to be there. When I was a kid, my sister and I would spend most summers with her in Bountiful. Utah was as much home to me as Arizona was.

The above was the morning of the race. The bright lights in the middle represent the start line. And it was cold. Luckily, James and I had brought a couple of space blankets from a previous Rock ‘n’ Roll event, so we didn’t freeze too much. Starting temperature was 38 degrees F.

The elevation of the course looked like this. While, yes, there is a huge downhill section, there were very painful uphill parts as well. Four of the most notable hills were two in mile 1 (not nice), the one from mile 5 to mile 6 (total energy suck), and a complete ass kicker in mile 7 that was comparable to my Mo-Fo Hill across the street. The marathon and half-marathon runners split up at mile 9, and when James made his turnoff, he went straight uphill yet again; thankfully, I went down. Not only that, we train at sea level, and I’m seeing that this course was between 4300 to 4800 feet. It took a little bit of breathing effort to go up those hills. By the 12th mile, I was knackered. I wasn’t hurt in any shape or form and my feet were fine, no blisters (yay Brooks!), but I was indeed tired. The finish line was such a sweet sight!

Post-race festivities were fabulous. Pancakes with boysenberry syrup. Creamsicles. Yogurt. Beer. Music. They did not, however, have chocolate milk, so we headed to the nearest coffee shop afterwards to get some hot chocolate. It was still cold, but I was thankful for not getting overheated.

Total miles logged for the weekend: 27.59
Total steps: 63,288
Total number of toenails lost: One (literally… it came off while I was slipping on my shoes after the race)
Number of celebratory drinks post race: 4
Post-race dinner: Mexican food.

It was a fabulous weekend and a fabulous race. I’m not hurt, so training begins right away for our next adventure… Rock ‘N’ Roll Seattle in just a mere 60 days! And we are completely primed for that lovely hilly course! I have a beautiful set of rolling hills I’ll be training on to get my quads in shape for it, not to mention I’m going to attempt Mo-Fo Hill a couple more times.

Meanwhile, the karaoke celebratory night is this coming Saturday. Maybe I’ll set up the GoPro and get some random video…. hahahaha, not! Have a great week!

Pre-race Freak Out? Nahhhh….

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Considering it’s the night before, I’m actually not suffering from my typical pre-race freak-out right now. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t be more relaxed. Which is odd. Especially given how I felt last week. But that could be because I totally lost it last weekend, and maybe once I resigned myself to “whatever will be, will be,” that totally wiped all my fears away. It’s a great feeling!

James and I took a selfie on the plane. About an hour later, we ran into the worst turbulence we had ever experienced, in the history of ever! Apparently we flew right into a snow storm, and wow, wow. We were thrown all over the place. We were totally ready for a drink when we landed, so that’s where we headed… straight to happy hour! At Squatters!

I have a lot of family in the Salt Lake City area, so today was a mini family reunion for me. I spent the entire day in Temple Square with a few of my aunts and a couple of my cousins. (I’m 5th from the left)

It’s extremely cold here to me, so I won’t have any heat issues tomorrow on the course, which I think may be a good thing. But the flowers are out and around the temple, looking so beautiful. I was told that last weekend was spring-like, and next weekend is supposed to be spring-like, but this weekend is supposed to be winter-like… and it is indeed that. Still, the flowers add warmth.

Have you ever seen the SLC Temple up close? A fabulous piece of architecture. I went to a building across the way and got an eye-level picture of it. The sky was gorgeous.

We then finished up the evening at The Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square for our last major carb load before the gun goes off.

As for Jamesy and I… mentally we’re doing great! No need to really post the picture of Bill the Cat as we are ready to rock and roll!! Next time I see you, I’ll be one sparkly bling richer and sore as hell!! 😉

Have a great weekend!!

We Have Arrived!

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It has been a long and tiring day, but we have finally arrived… happily and joyfully… in Maui! Even the child, who got up at the unholy hour of 5 a.m., is feeling happy-happy-joy-joy!

Things started off great! Traffic cooperated in Seattle, so we were able to get to the airport with enough time to eat some breakfast before the plane left. Yay!

When we finally arrived in Maui around 3 p.m., we went directly to the rent-a-car place. Did you know chickens run wild and free here? I kept hearing a rooster crow, and I couldn’t figure out for the life of me where it was coming from. So I had to go investigate. Indeed… they were just hanging around the parking lots waiting for people to feed them (tourists are so very kind)!

After that, it was off to the store for supplies for a few days. And we went on from there to our hotel.

We were so happy to get to our room finally!

And yes… James and I are still streaking. Shortly after I took the above picture in our suite, the two of us were kitted up and on the treadmill, making sure we got in our runs today no matter what (it was too dark to run the outside and unfamiliar territory, although the weather was just gorgeous). And yes, it was semi-painful to have to streak today because we both wanted and were more than ready for our Friday Happy Hour, but we couldn’t start happy hour until after our run.

So, we’ve landed, arrived at the hotel, completed our daily run, and guess what we’re doing now?!! You know it!! Cheers!!

Never A Dull Bling

The trials and tribulations of a 40-something novice runner

Tag Archives: racecation

#GivingTuesday

We Have Arrived…

Missoula Half-Marathon

Time To Rock and Roll!

Salt Lake City Half-Marathon

Pre-race Freak Out? Nahhhh….

We Have Arrived!

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