Giving Thanks 2012

This Thanksgiving, Mike and I decided that it would be best if we stayed in San Antonio. We let our parents know they were invited to join us for the holiday, but that we were unable to travel this year. Mike's mom and my mom RSVP'd for our celebration and we had a wonderful time!

Light the Way 2012

Man! I can't believe Valentine's Day is just around the corner!!

Wait, what's that?

It's not even Thanksgiving?

But just this past weekend I celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and the 4th of July!

My friend Kristin graciously planned out a wonderful evening for us at the University of Incarnate Word's Light the Way ceremony. Each year around the holidays they decorate their campus with about a billion colored, twinkling holiday lights and it's become customary for us (as I'm sure it is for others) to drive through at least once each holiday season. The Light the Way ceremony includes musical performances from groups around town before they turn on the lights. The ceremony was held this past Saturday and a group of us grabbed some hot chocolate at Starbucks and made our way to UIW. We were relieved that it was actually somewhat "cold" for the festivities. (Walking through Christmas lights in shorts and a t-shirt just isn't the same)

We didn't grab seats on the bleachers, instead we just stood by the fence and socialized while sort of paying attention to the show.

Kristin, Rhonda, Ellie, Veronica and Clarissa (AKA "The Ladies")

Eric, Chris, Mike, Justin and Geoff (AKA "The Dudes")

The ceremony ended with what I thought would be a few fireworks, but really this display rivaled many 4th of July ceremonies (and we were super close to it)!

And of course, since it's San Antonio, a Mariachi Band led the crowd through the lights!

After walking through campus a bit, we headed to a wine bar for more laughs as well as some good wine and good food! What an excellent way to kick off the Holiday Season! :)

San Antonio Rock n Roll Half Marathon

We did it!! You've all heard about me raising money for Spina Bifida while training for the San Antonio Rock n Roll half marathon. Well, this past Sunday we finished the race! I personally raised $650 dollars and the team as a whole raised 

$3,000!!!

Mike and I rode our bikes to the convention center downtown to pick up our packets. There's a bike ride associated with the race, so a local bike store had a "bike valet" when we got there! So cool to just hand over your bike and get a ticket! Packet pickup went smoothly and we filled up on free samples at the expo.

It was warm that morning, which led to a warm day for a half marathon, but that didn't dampen our spirits. Mike's co-worker, Will, Mike, Ellie and I rode the shuttle from the AT&T center to the starting line. It was Will's 2nd half marathon and Ellie's first! (I believe this was my 4th.) 

Will, Mike, me and Ellie. We're ready to Rock n Roll!!

 The race went well and it was extra motivating to hear cool bands as we were running. It was a very crowded race - I heard there were 25,000 runners!! For me, the crowd never really thinned out. I finished in a respectable 2 hours and 16 minutes. That's actually my slowest half marathon, but I think given the heat and all the travel I had leading up to the race, that's not half bad!

Lookin' good for completing a half marathon that morning!

We were very grateful to have our own tent with chairs and cold water. It was great to socialize with the team and a few supporters who came out to cheer us on. 

The Spina Bifida Texas team!

Professional photos can be viewed here. (In case anyone wants an 8x10 glossy of me checking my watch...)

Thank you to everyone who contributed to my fundraiser! I'm extremely grateful and I'm excited to see what Spina Bifida Texas can do with these funds!

October Foodie Pen Pal!

Last month I signed up for a cool new program: Foodie Pen Pal!! Here's how it works: You sign up before the 5th of the month, then you are assigned a recipient and a sender. You pack a box of $15 worth of "foodie" things (can be homemade or local flavors or whatever) and send it to your recipient (you connect with them to find out their preferences and/or dietary restrictions). The sender does the same thing for you!

I sent my recipient some Julio's seasoned corn chips, Native Texan salsa, Taste of Austin coffee, San Antonio Fiesta blend chili powder and habenero pralines!! She lives in Florida and she said that she shared many of the items with her family and they enjoyed all the Tex Mex flavors. She even ordered some of the pralines online!

The box I received was from a woman who blogs at Bake No Prisoners. It was delivered on my birthday, which made it that much more exciting! She did a great job decorating the box for Halloween.

Inside were lots of Halloween- and Fall-themed treats, some homemade, others store-bought.

The box included pumpkin granola bars, pumpkin seeds, Yogi tea (!), Halloween bark, and some cookies (along with the cookie recipe). Everything was awesome (especially the Halloween bark!) and I even used the pumpkin seeds in my homemade bread. The recipe says they're optional and I never had them before so I always left them out, but I was excited that I could include them this time!

I've signed up for November and already sent my match a box of South Texas favorites (very similar to the one I sent my October match). I'll be receiving a box from a fellow Texan from Houston this time! Can't wait to see what's in store!

Boomer Sooner Homecoming!

Way back in the spring, it was looking like we weren't going to be in Texas past Summer of 2013. Not knowing where we might land, I figured 2012 was really my last chance to go to an OU football game from within driving distance. (Turns out I was right!) So I told Mike I would be planning an OU football weekend. If he wanted to plan a trip to see the LSU Tigers play, I'd be on board completely, but I wanted to see the Sooners play on Owen Field this year!

Shortly after making this declaration, a friend mentioned on Facebook that he was selling two tickets to EVERY HOME GAME this season. I was ecstatic. I went to the OU Football schedule and strategically chose the OU/KU game on October 20th. It was Homecoming, 3 days after my birthday and since I'm from Kansas I have a special place in my heart for KU (even when OU is crushing them!). It was the obvious choice. So I mailed a check and a few days later, these bad boys were in our mailbox!

Hello, Beautiful!

We got in on the Friday night before the game on Saturday. Mike and I love a little pasta shop on Campus Corner called Victoria's. They have homemade pasta and their food is amazing. It's exactly what you'd expect from a small pasta shop in a college town: limited seating on a Friday night, grungy hipster servers, and amazing food!

We sat above the kitchen so we could watch them prepare our meals!

I decided there should be a birthday celebration at The Mont, a local establishment specializing in Swirls (frozen mix of margarita and sangria) and awarding drunk co-eds with t-shirts on their birthday! My t-shirts were a little worse for the wear (one survived the Warrior Dash and the other had holes in it) so I figured it was time for a new one. I was so happy to see so many friends including folks from my sorority, my meteorology class and work!

This year's shirts were kind of cute!

On Saturday, Mike and I got up and did a circuit workout at the hotel. We stayed at the National Center for Employee Development (NCED) where they train postal workers. It's really nice and has a lot of amenities since federal employees go there for weeks at a time for training. Mike and I also took in some ping pong and a game of horse in the gym!

LSU was playing Texas A&M that day so Mike and I caught the last part of the game at Louie's. It was an exciting game that ended up in a creative last effort by the Aggies, but the Tigers won in the end so Mike was happy.

Mike was really into the game!

Just as we were leaving Louie's to meet up with a friend for some tailgating, we came across the homecoming parade! We got to see the Sooner Schooner, the cheerleaders and the Pride of Oklahoma!

From there we met up with my friend, Chris, with whom I used to work at Weathernews. He and his friends shared with us some of their fajitas, beer and cookies! We were very grateful! We even met a nice couple from Kansas. He was a grad student at OU so he wore an OU shirt. She wore a KU shirt! Soon, it was time to go to our seats and get ready for the pre-game entertainment!

Chris and I

Our seats were in the south end zone. It was a gorgeous day for football in Oklahoma!!

IIIIIIIT'S FOOTBALL TIME in OKLAHOMA!!!

What a good LSU guy to wear an OU shirt for his wifey!

During halftime, I was able to meet up with my college roommate and her husband. They just had twins this year, so it was great to catch up and see what's going on in their lives. They live in Tulsa and we hadn't seen them since our wedding! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture. :(

The game was a bit of a blowout, as expected. The final score was 52-7, OU, but Mike and I left at the beginning of the 4th quarter to walk back to the car.

On our way back to Texas on Sunday, we made arrangements to meet Mike's Aunt Marcia, Uncle Earl and grandmother in Gainesville, TX for lunch. We had a great time catching up with them and were very glad we could stop and see them. Even though we live in the same state, we're still almost 6 hours away!

We had such a great weekend! Mike even asked if we could go to all the games! Ha! 15 hours of driving round trip probably isn't something either of us is up to, but I'd like to make this an annual thing for sure, perhaps switching between LSU and OU games so the Tigers get some Holtz Love, too!

I think I'll go to Boston...

So life changing things have happened over the past few months. I haven't written about it for several reasons, none of which include "I was busy" because I just wasn't.

Over the summer, Mike found out he will be deployed for six months starting in early 2013. We've done this once before, five years ago when we were living in Oklahoma and had been dating less than a year. It was hard, but ultimately showed each of us that we were ready to commit to one another. We know the routine: I can get a pass to see him off at the gate at the airport (as well as greet him at the gate when he returns), large flat rate boxes from the post office are $2 less for APO/FPO addresses, and he's got a code for free 15 min phone calls.

Another interesting bit of information we got over the summer was that the pool of funds to pay for my employment have dried up and, to make a long, complicated story short, my contract will be ending shortly after Mike deploys.


Many of you know that we'll be moving to Boston next year. Mike was offered a job at Hascom AFB. This is a really great opportunity for him so he accepted and his "Report No Later Than" date is next October. So obviously that is very far away, but Mike and I are planners who thrive on change so we immediately started researching neighborhoods, walk scores, grocery stores, public transportation, etc.

So with all this new information, we've been strategizing the best way to move to Boston. I've been looking at jobs, but it's just too early to start applying. The Air Force won't move us to Boston without orders which will come in June of 2013 at the earliest. We'd like to get the house on the market soon while Mike's here to fix odds and ends and just in case it sits unsold for months. However, we put in an offer for this house before a sign went up in the yard, so I'm thinking it'll go pretty quickly!

Last week we took a quick trip to Boston to visit friends and check out the city as neither of us had been there.

Mike's friend Jen and her hubby, Mike, were our hosts for the weekend. We attended their wedding in Albuquerque last April. They live in a cute little apartment in the Fenway area and yes, it's right next to Fenway where the Red Sox play!

On Saturday, Jen drove us around a few different neighborhoods to get a feel for each one. I knew there were a lot of universities in Boston, but the sheer number of students is mind boggling. It's like living in one huge, urban college town!

On Sunday, we took a Duck Tour around the city. We had a funny driver named "Airtime" (he was a motorcycle stuntman, too, I guess). It was a great way to see the city and learn a bit of history.

Jen, Mike and Mike waiting to board the Duck!

These folks were dressed up as Revolutionary War soldiers and
I believe they would tell people about Boston history

I got to drive the Duck on the water!

On Monday, Mike and I had planned to go on a long run, but we opted to walk around some of the neighborhoods near Jen and Mike's place. We learned an awful lot about the area just be wandering around for three hours!

It was a quick trip, but now we can at least say we've been there and explored the city a bit! I do feel more confident when looking for a place to live, now!

Happy November!

Well, it's time to change the calendar yet again! Here we are in November! Fall is great, isn't it? It just smells good!

Pants enjoying her fleece kitty bed now that the weather has cooled off.

Well there's this thing that happens in November called National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and it's for novelists who want that extra push to write more frequently. I  don't know the details and I'm not a novelist, but I do like to write and I find myself wanting to write, but not actually doing it. Why? I think there may be a little fear involved. It certainly doesn't seem like there's a lack of content or topics.

So, inspired by NaNoWriMo (how the heck do you even pronounce that?), I'd like to create a structured schedule for November. I'll be shooting for three posts per week. I have a backlog of topics, so that should certainly help, but sometimes you'll just get a photo and a paragraph explaining it, and that's really all you need, right?

A lot happened in October and the months previous and I'm overflowing with news and info I want to share. I look forward to writing more and sharing all this excitement with you!!

Feeding Friendship: Orzo with Caramelized Fall Vegetables & Ginger

This round of Feeding Friendship features the sweet potato!

I can't tell a lie, Feeding Friendship Followers. I did not enjoy this dish. It just felt like a random collection of flavors that didn't "mesh." I considered doing another sweet potato dish, but it just didn't happen. You may be able to save this recipe by tweaking it a bit. Perhaps leaving out the ginger? Anyway, let's just get it over with shall we?

I used this recipe.

Ingredients:
Salt
1/2 pound orzo pasta
Grapeseed, peanut, or vegetable oil 
1 large sweet potato (about 3/4 pound), peeled and diced into 1/4" cubes
2 medium onions (about 1 pound), finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3-inch piece fresh ginger — peeled and grated, about 1 tablespoon 
6 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps diced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 big leaves chard or kale, stalks removed and leaves finely chopped — about 2 cups
Freshly ground black pepper 


1) Cook the orzo according to the package directions until it is al dente. Drain and coat with oil.
2) Heat a dutch oven on high heat and add 1 Tbsp of oil (don't use olive oil due to a high smoke point).
3) When the oil is hot, add the sweet potato cubes in one layer. Brown for about 4 min an then turn.

4) Turn the heat to medium and push the sweet potatoes to one side of the dutch oven. Add the onions and sprinkle with salt.
5) When the onions beging to brown, add the garlic and ginger and mix in with the onion. Push all of these to the side of the pan with the sweet potatoes where they will continue to caramelize.
6) Add the mushrooms. Cook for ~4 min and then stir them. Cook for ~4 more minutes.

7) Whisk together the vinegar, soy sauce, and 2 tablespoons of oil. Pour this into the pan with the vegetables and mix everything together, scraping the bottom as you go. Cook all the elements together for about 3 minutes on medium heat. Then turn the heat up to high, as high as it will go.
8) Add the cooked orzo one cup at a time, stirring and scraping as you go. Once it's all in, let it cook for about 5 more min to brown the orzo.
9) Add chopped greens and cook for 1 more minute or until greens are wilted.
10) Add salt and pepper to taste.

Thanksgiving Road Trip to Wichita

I always enjoy going up to Wichita to see family and friends, especially around the holidays...

...but this may have been the first time I was truly sad to leave.

Mike, Ellie, Geoff, Rhonda and I all piled into Rhonda's van early Wendesday morning. We drove up I-35 and dropped Ellie and Geoff off with Ellie's aunt in OKC and then got into Wichita at about 7:30. Of course, the first stop was Il Vicino for some DELICIOUS wood oven pizza!

Thursday morning, Mom, Rhonda, Mike and I put on our running/walking shoes and went out to the GraceMed 1st Annual Say Grace 5K.

Before the race, at the starting line.

Mike and I both did really well (for us) and Mom and Rhonda successfully completed their first 5K!

YAY Mom! Good job! When's your next race?!

After getting cleaned up, we went to Dad's house for Thanksgiving lunch. Grandma Farney was also in attendance.

We picked up a pre-cooked meal from Dillons. I think this is how Mom was meant to cook Thanksgiving dinner:

Two microwaves, one glass of wine and an evil grin.

Mike carved the turkey. This is turning into his traditional role at our Thanksgivings.

We had a very nice meal where we discussed current events as well as past Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations in our family.

At Dad's house, even the kitties get Thanksgiving dinner...

Then, of course, there was the customary post-meal nap...

After lunch at Dad's we went to my Aunt Marlene's to see more family. That evening we went to see Tower Heist at the Old Town Warren. It was a good movie to see with the fam on Thanksgiving.

Friday was Mike's birthday. Also, LSU was playing Arkansas, so we all went to the River City Brewing Co. for lunch and Mom, Dad and Rhonda left Mike and I there to finish watching the game. LSU won!

That night we celebrated Mike and Rhonda's birthday...

This was actually the 2nd time they got candles. 

And we had a gift exchange and some more leftovers.

Uncle Terry even made it back from Colorado!

On Saturday we had a 2nd (3rd?) Thanksgiving celebration at Aunt Marlene's and got to see some more family. That night was my 10-year high school reunion. It was so great to see old friends again and catch up!

Although I was sad to leave, I realized that when we got home it was time to put up the Christmas tree and other decorations and I was excited again! I hope everyone had an equally fun Thanksgiving! It was so great to see everyone on our trip! Stay tuned to hear about our trip to Louisiana for Christmas!

I Am Thankful

A lot of people have been posting on Facebook one thing they are thankful for each day in November leading up to Thanksgiving. I didn't get on board at the beginning of the month, but not for lack of gratefulness. There are very few days that go by that I don't acknowledge internally how thankful I am for something, so I'd like to put it in writing and, after all, "'Tis the season." There are roughly a million things I'm thankful for, but let's narrow it down to the top 29, seeing as I just turned 29!

1. Mike.
   He makes me laugh. He works so hard for us. He's very kind. He's my favorite!
2. My family.
   You always hear horror stories about this time of year and dealing with difficult family members. My family really is awesome, both Mike's side and mine. I think our wedding best showcased this! :) Thanks for not screwing up the holidays every year, guys!
3. My friends.
   I have some awesome friends, here in South Texas and all over the country, even the world! You're the average of the 5 people you're around the most and you guys make me awesome! Thanks!
4. My job.
   The other day I wrote the phrase "Tornado Debris Signature" just as some less fortunate employee might refer to "TPS reports." I'm lucky to have a job in this economy, especially in my chosen field and especially in my circumstances. I'm grateful to WDTB for letting me work from San Antonio!
5. Our home.
   We have a great little home in a nice neighborhood that's close to all kinds of restaurants, stores and other activities. Mike did a lot of research before we moved down here and it paid off big time!
6. My health.
   So many people have to face challenging health problems every day. I haven't so much as broken a bone. I try to stack the deck by eating healthy and exercising, but I know that there's a chance I may be diagnosed with an unavoidable illness. Until then, I'm grateful for what I have!
7. Financial stability.
   With the economy as it is, many people have to make tough decisions about how to spend their money these days. The holidays can be especially hard on those who've lost their jobs or are underemployed. I'm thankful that we can afford all that we need to live comfortably. 
8. I'm an American.
   With all the talk about the planet reaching a population of 7 billion people, I can't help but think about how lucky I was to be born in America to a nice, well-educated couple who could afford to give me all I needed and then some. What are the odds? Probably not good. There's a lot of frustration in America, today, but at least we can express it freely without worrying about persecution. This happens in many other countries, too, but there are still so many where this is not the reality. We are so lucky.
9. My education.
   My parents started me out right with a great education at a great school. I then continued down that path at OU with a bachelor's and a masters. I'm very thankful that I got both degrees "out of the way" before marriage and kids. I will now have more doors open to me and also have the freedom to focus on raising a family when I'm ready!
10. My kitchen.
    Mike spent countless hours redoing our kitchen. It's beautiful and I love cooking in it. It really does make a difference having the appliances and equipment I need to make healthy meals for us. It also helps that there's an extra mouth to feed!
11. My car.
    The Runner turned eleven this year. Eleven! She runs like a champ, too. She just had her 150,000 mile maintenance and the mechanic and service associate were both impressed at what great condition she's in! She gets me where I need to go and looks cute doing it! My kind of car!
12. Modern day appliances.
    Many times when I throw in a load of laundry or toss a detergent capsule in the dishwasher I think of how these appliances allow me to live my life the way I'd like. Can you imagine if we had to wash our clothes and linens by hand? That would take all weekend!!
13. San Antonio.
    There is always something going on here. When we have friends and family visit, there's always a cool restaurant or attraction to which we can take them. There are plenty of races/triathlons/duathlons/etc. in the area, too. The weather isn't bad either. ;)
14. The cat and the chickens.
    Our animals provide a seemingly endless source of entertainment around our house. Whether its hearing the cat chase her toy mousey down the hall on the hardwood floor or going out into the backyard to be greeted by a bunch of noisy chickens, they'll bring a smile to your face. I've heard that people who own pets are less stressed than those who don't. I can certainly see why!
15. Travel.
    I was able to travel to so many fun places this year: Las Vegas, New Orleans, New York, Lake Tahoe, and Virginia Beach/DC. I was also able to visit friends and family in Wichita and Norman a couple times. 
16. Technology.
    Today's technology (cell phones, web cams, online social networks, e-mail, etc.) have made it very easy to keep in touch with friends and family. I can e-mail pictures to my family immediately after taking them. I can keep track of old friends through Facebook. Of course, it also helps me keep my friends and family updated through this blog!
17. Fitness opportunities.
    By this I mean races, fitness classes, a gym membership, roads and sidewalks to run and bike on, and the like. Being in the Austin/San Antonio area, there is no shortage of races (running, biking, multisport, etc.) Since moving down here I've completed 3 triathlons, 2 duathlons, many running races, and the list goes on. There's always something going on in the area every weekend and with a gym less than 5 min away and a nice neighborhood, green belts, and an ever extending Riverwalk there's plenty of places to train! 
18. Good grocery stores.
    This one seems silly, but it really isn't. When I lived in Norman, the grocery store options were pretty sad: Wal-mart, Target, Homeland. :( When I left there was talk of a Whole Foods in North OKC, but I'm not sure if that's happened yet. Even the Norman Farmer's Market had stuff shipped in from California. Here in San Antonio we're very close to Central Market and several nice HEB's. Food shopping is a lot more fun down here!
19. Good restaurants.
    Since moving to San Antonio, I've use Yelp.com and the Yelp app to discover great new places to eat here in town and when we're on the road. Mike and I prefer to eat a local restaurants as opposed to national chains. San Antonio has a lot of great local places, especially near us! 
20. Weather.
    The weather in South Texas is awesome (well, it is this time of year), but I'll be honest, it can be a bit boring. What I've always liked about severe and winter weather is that it shows us that we're not invincible. It's almost like another frontier to be tamed. We don't need to control it, but we still haven't quite figured out how to keep ourselves completely safe from it. Maybe we will one day, but until then weather (and perhaps climate) is nature's way of keeping humans in check.
21. Our military.
    I'm a very lucky Air Force wife. Mike works long hours (a 12-hour day is very normal for him) and I know it can be stressful for him, but he does come home every night. Many of our service members are frequently deployed and many to very rough locations. Many military families live apart for various reasons. I'm thankful for all our service members and their supportive families! 
22. Animal welfare organizations.
    I'm definitely an animal lover. So much so that I literally can't stand to see an animal in pain. So while I'd like to volunteer at a shelter or go rescue abused animals, I just couldn't do it. That's why I'm thankful for the many organizations that stand up for animals' rights. Sometimes I wish I could save all the kitties out on the streets and in shelters, but knowing that I saved one and gave her a good home makes me feel a little better.
23. Road trip to Wichita.
    I've driven up and down Interstate 35 countless times, mostly by myself. Norman to Wichita. Wichita to Kansas City. Norman to Kansas City. Norman to Dallas. Norman to San Antonio. San Antonio to Norman. San Antonio to Austin. The list goes on... This Thanksgiving, I get to do it with Mike, Geoff, Ellie and my Aunt Rhonda. We're going to be saving thousands in airfare by piling in Rhonda's van for a 10-hour trip from San Antonio to Wichita. Armed with snacks, trivial pursuit cards, iPhones, an iPad and laptops, it's sure to be a fun time!
24. Recycling.
    Mike and I only leave our trash out to be picked up every 2-3 weeks because San Antonio has such a great recycling program. We can throw paper, cardboard, plastic, steel, and aluminum all in one big bin! I hate making a lot of trash and we try to limit waste as much as we can, but it's hard to avoid it entirely!
25. Laughter.
    I laugh at a lot of stuff and I generally prefer comedies to drama. It warms my heart when I make people laugh. Anyone who knows Mike knows I married the right guy. :)
26. Cooking.
    I'm glad I enjoy cooking. I think it might be a control thing. I'd rather have whole, healthy meals than something fast or fancy. 
27. Warm, comfy clothes in winter.
    There are fewer opportunities to dress warmly in San Antonio, and for that I'm appreciative. I've never been a fan of wearing 5+ layers of clothing. However, I do enjoy relaxing on a cold evening in a nice pair of sweat pants, a sweat shirt and some comfy, warm socks and then burying myself under a blanket and watching TV or reading. That's what winter was made for!
28. New media channels.
    This summer Mike and I noticed we weren't watching enough television to justify our high cable bill. We decided that a HuluPlus membership in addition to our Netflix membership would be plenty. The only thing we'd really miss is live sports and we usually went to watch parties for those, anyway. We've saved almost $100 per month and we invested in an antenna that gets all the major networks in perfectly clear HD, so we can still sometimes get OU and LSU football games. Also, in the mornings, instead of watching local news and Good Morning America, I listen to NPR on my phone. It's so nice not to hear the latest on Dancing with the Stars or what Charlie Sheen or Tiger Woods is up to. 
29. My creativity.
    I've never considered myself an artist and I can't draw to save my life, but it turns out all those years I spent playing in Microsoft Paint meant something after all. I've been able to find some creative outlets with scrapbooking and, to some extent, this blog. I've even been able to make a niche for myself at work. Often times people will create content for our training and hand it over to me to "make it pretty." Which I really love doing! :) 

Warrior Dash and Natural Bridge Caverns Duathlon

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, this weekend seemed like as good as any to burn thousands of calories. First up was the Central Texas Warrior Dash near Austin on Saturday morning. It's a 3.01-mile run with obstacles strewn along the course. Things like climbing over old cars; traipsing through waist-high, muddy water; climbing 20-ft walls on a cargo net; and crawling through mud pits under barbed wire. Mike and I were pleasantly surprised at how challenging it was! We were in the 2nd of 10 or 15 waves that day so we were done early. We were awfully dirty afterwards.

Both of our shirts were white....

There was a big water truck where we could "rinse off"

Texas shower...

We brought old towels and a clean change of clothes to get us back to feeling normal. At the race, they have a location where you can drop off your muddy tennis shoes and a non-profit organization cleans and recycles them to produce affordable footwear for less fortunate people around the world. It felt good to help them out and not worry about transporting about a pound of mud back home with me via my shoes.

Donating my nasty running shoes for a good cause!

The best part was, when it was over, we got to hang out and eat turkey legs and drink beer while we listened to music, talked and danced with our friends. It's like a race with an outdoor music festival afterwards!

These hats are given to every race participant!

Kristin, Onae and I KILLED IT! WOO!

On Sunday morning was the Natural Bridge Caverns Duathlon. There were several different levels of duathlons available. Naturally, I picked the hardest and thought "Oh yeah, that shouldn't be too bad..." Obviously I didn't think that one through. The "T-Rex" consisted of a 5-mile run followed by a 26(!)-mile bike and a 2-mile run! The closer the race got, the more I realized it was going to be harder than I originally thought.

The cool thing about this race is that it starts in the cave! I got a bit claustrophobic in the cave at first, but I was talking to the woman ahead of me to take my mind off of it. The hardest part of the first run was getting out of the cave. There were some very steep parts on the path out! Also, at the turn around there was a very steep hill. I hate hills!! (Remember, I'm from Kansas!)

The bike was ok. There was a terrible hill at the turn around (again!) and during part of the last half I was pretty sure I wasn't on the route anymore. We were very spread out and we were on country roads so there wasn't always confirmation you were going the right way! When I finally got back to the caverns to start the last run, I was very angry at hills and wind. Mike was done when I started the run and came to cheer me on, but I waved him off. I'm not real social when I'm extremely worn out. I was cheering on the other runners (walkers) on the last 2 miles to help me stay motivated. When I reached the finish I was smiling big! I did it!

I immediately started shoving food in my mouth. I had eaten a granola bar on the bike, but that was it besides breakfast! Mike and I ate sausages and frito pies while they held the awards ceremony (they actually pushed the ceremony back to let more people, like me!, finish the race). They announced Mike's age group: He got 2nd place! My age group was next. I got 1st!!! Out of one! :) I was the only one in my group, but you know what? I'm still proud! That just means I was the only girl my age who was brave enough to attempt the T-REX! WOO!

I'm so glad I placed, because these are the coolest "medals" ever!!

We did it!

Next up is a "Turkey Trot" 5K on Thanksgiving morning. We're going to see if we can't get some of the family out there with us for a preemptive strike on the caloric intake!