One of My Favorite Things

I wanted to share one of my favorite things. This is my Marathon Charm Bracelet. It has a charm to represent every marathon I have completed. Yes-there are 11 charms...I am missing two and have one charm for my HIM. I don't have a charm yet for the Olathe Marathon or Ft. Collins. I'm falling behind! I plan on getting them this weekend at the expo. I think for Olathe I'll get a sunflower or stage coach and for Ft. Collins I think I'll get a beer mug (for the micro-breweries).

They are not in any particular order but I'll share with you what they are:
The cactus is for RNR Arizona.
The cow is representing Mrs. O'Leary's cow that started the Chicago fire of 1871-hence the Chicago Marathon.
The bridge is for the Golden Gate Bridge for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco.
The moose is for Anchorage.
The guitar is for RNR San Diego.
The rose is for Portland-the city of roses.
The banjo is for Nashville (part of the RNR series).
The race horse is for the Kentucky Derby Marathon.
Mickey Mouse is for the Disney Marathon.
The biker girl is for my Half Ironman in Iowa. This is the only charm that does not represent a marathon-but I believe it was a big enough event to be on my charm bracelet.
The peach-yes-it's a peach-not a butt, contrary to what Doug thinks-is for the Georgia Marathon.

Now...this weekend will be my first repeat marathon (as well as my first repeat state). I think I'm going to continue to get a charm for each marathon-regardless if it's a repeat. I think it's such a fun way to keep track of the marathons I have completed. I just may find a new charm instead of getting the same guitar as I purchased before. I think I going to buy another bracelet to get a second one started-this one will be pretty full once I get the charms on there that I need to get on there!

A Week to Play

I have a whole week to play! No work AND no school. Freedom! I thought the new semester for school started tonight. It doesn't! I'm so excited. There will be no class until we return from San Diego!

Okay-so not total freedom but much more fun then work! Today, I've been running errands, doing laundry and getting things in order for SD and school (as I now know it starts after we get back). It's hard to believe we'll be off again in 3 days. Gallivanting around the country can be very tiring. Whew!

Tonight, we're celebrating a very important birthday with triple chocolate cake, chocolate brownie ice cream and going to see the new Narnia movie. Should be a great evening with the family.

Today-I'm not feeling a run-so I'll do it tomorrow. I should run today AND tomorrow to work off all this chocolate we'll be having tonight...but not feeling it today. Rest is in order and that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Road Trippin' Part Deux

Well...the road trip on the way back wasn't quite as exciting as the way out. However, we did have some fun.

Molly hanging out.

The price of food is going up-or they are selling a different kind of cherry pie here!

This REALLY was taken at a McDonald's!

Windmills in Western Kansas.

Our 60 pound lap dog. Mols hanging out with Doug in the front seat.

I thought it may be pushing it to get a picture of the Nebraska Highway Patrolman who pulled me over. I was ONLY going 7 miles over the speed limit. 82 in a 75...come on! I did ONLY get a warning. I've been told I have a great smile and can bat my eyes like no one! Oh, I had my sunglasses on? Hmm...Whatever works baby.

A fun fact: Doug and I went through Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri in 4 days. Of these 6 states we went through 4 capitol cities (Topeka, Denver, Cheyenne and Lincoln) and actually saw 3 of the state capitols themselves...in Kansas, Wyoming and Nebraska. Not too shabby for long weekend.

It's nice to be back home. I have a lot to do this week. Good thing I'm off all week! WHOO HOO! The countdown to San Diego is on. Luckily we're not headed back to the altitude-even though I do love the mountains. This week we're headed to the Pacific Ocean!

Altitude and Wind and Hills...Oh My!

Medicine Bow Half Marathon Report

• The most scenic race I've run inland.
• The toughest half marathon I've run.
• The race started at 8723 feet. It's been a long time since I was that close to God.
• It was windier then the Olathe Marathon-just not in your face-it usually was a side wind whipping you around.
• The hills were crazy. One right after another. And the last mile seemed to be straight uphill.
• They started the races with a prayer and a moment of silence for those who have and do fight for our country-very cool.
• The race temperature at the start was 33 degrees. By mile two-I was sweating-very strange.
• The first 6ish miles, Doug and I ran together until it was time for him to continue on without me. Again...the course was tough. At that altitude I felt like I had another 50 pounds on me.
• We would be walking...and it felt like I needed to stop to catch my breath.
• You could smell pine trees everywhere. Ahhh...
• The 'trail' was a gravel road, not the rocky, rooty trails like WyCo or SMP which is way okay considering the other elements we had to deal with.
• Would I do this race again? Probably not. Is it worth doing once? YES! It's beautiful. The pine trees, the HUGE granite stone formations, the blue blue sky, the snow, the streams and so much more. It was worth every breath I did not get to take!

A granite monument of Abe at the rest area where the races started.

Granite formations.

The trail.

• I finished in just under 3 hours. I think 2:57 is the time they recorded when I came in.
• That's about an hour sooner then what I thought my finish time would be when we first got started!
  

One Wild Ride!

HOLY MOLY! Our road trip last night was horrific! We were cruising along singing to the radio when we came upon some storms that looked to be rather daunting. We turned the radio to a local station and they had tornado warnings out. Not knowing where we were, as we didn't pack a map, we had no idea how near the warnings where in relation to us. We (Doug) decided to keep on going so that's what we did. We kept watching the sky as close as we could to keep an eye out for tornadoes, but the sky was so dark, it was hard to see any formations. We continued to head down I-70 Westbound through the pounding rain, hail and wind. Off to the North, we could make out the sky was green. For those of you not familiar with tornadoes, green skies are not a good thing. We continued driving and the wind picked up, but not the side to side shaking you would get from a wind coming from South to North-in one direction. This wind was a swirling wind. A scary wind-very scary. It was also so loud, Doug and I could hardly hear each other speaking in a normal voice tone, we had to almost yell to hear each other.

There were cars everywhere pulled over on the side of the road-and some even in the middle of the road-stopped. Every overpass had a car that was hiding out underneath it. You could see emergency personnel and storm watchers at several ramps on the highway.

Doug and I looked over to the North of the highway to see a huge black mass just hundreds of feet from the car. At that time, Doug nor I said anything to each other about what we saw. We just booked it down the road. Not three minutes down the road, there were 3 semi trucks toppled over on their side. It was at that point in time, we both knew it was a tornado we had just witnessed.

It was then the radio had confirmed there was a tornado that had just come through Ellis-the exact point we were. They had no power, there were power lines down across the highway and emergency personnel was flying down the highway Eastbound to get there.

IT WAS ONE SCARY ASS RIDE!

Once we got through the storm, we continued on into Colorado. We pulled over at a rest stop to get some zzz's for a few hours and then continued on to Wyoming this morning. We went and checked the marathon course out. It's beautiful. 100% of the half marathon is trail and 77% of the full marathon is trail. I think for Doug tomorrow, running the full, the wind might be a factor-like the altitude isn't enough. It was windier then all get out today. There is still even some snow up at 8900 where the races start.

We just got back from the pasta party. The race director spoke and went over the 'rules' of there are no aid stations on the course-they are re-filling stations. He said he would be happy to listen to any whining anyone might have, but his motto is, "where the race director promises nothing, and he delivers!" He also asked for those that were doing the marathon to raise their hands, many people did. He then went on to say, "so you all are doing the fun run then huh?" Everyone laughed as besides the half and full marathon, they are having a double marathon. We sat with two people that were doing the double tomorrow. Good luck to them! Whew!

This race is held every year on Memorial Day weekend, and the back of our shirts are very fitting for the weekend. They say, "honoring all Americans who died for their country. Their sacrifice lets us run free". Amen to that.

So that is it for now. I am exhausted! I'm so glad I'm doing the half tomorrow!

A race report should soon follow as well as any adventures of our trip back as well. Hopefully it's not near as exciting as our trip out!

Another Life Lesson on My TNR

Two Thursdays ago I learned that clouds "look like mashed potatoes". This Thursday while I was running I passed...yes passed...okay...it was some girl walking...that had on a shirt that read, "It's not how you start, but how you finish." Isn't that the truth? The quote led me to think not so much of training but of life...

I'm not 'finished' with life by any means (God willing) but I am 'middling' up pretty well. I feel I have been blessed with a lot of things, but also know I've worked my tail off to achieve things I've wanted also. I learn so many things on my Thursday Night Runs!

Training-Uggg...I'm going to chalk this week up to a rest week. Yikes! I ran Saturday and yesterday. I did walk the dog several times this week. I know one time being 3 miles and another being 2 miles. I really don't count that as training-but I did do a little something.

After work (and probably/hopefully early!) we're heading to Wyoming. I hope everyone has a good weekend and great races! Have fun!

Life is a Highway

Or at least it will be in two days. Doug and I are road-trippin' to somewhere in between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming. Details...Details...those are for Doug. We're tossing Ms. Mols in the rented minivan with us and cruisin' West to the mountains. I love to road trip. It's so fun!

Been busy shopping for road trip food (twizzlers, beef jerky, Gatorade, all the nutritious stuff you need before running), doing laundry (where do the hangers go? We NEVER have enough hangers-could it be because we average bringing home at least 4 new shirts (if not more) a month from races we've been in?), learning the soundtrack from Wicked so I can sing it to Doug on the way up and walking the dog. She thinks she is entitled to a walk every night now and she usually wins. Last night we only walked two miles-she wasn't so much impressed with that.

So this weekend Doug is running the marathon and I'm 'just' running the half. I know, I'm whimpy whimpy whimpy. But...I'll be running the Rock 'N' Roll San Diego Marathon the next weekend-so does that nix my whimpiness?

I want to give Lily a GOOD LUCK on her FIRST marathon this weekend-the ING Ottawa Marathon! Have a GREAT time. Enjoy every minute!