I'm going to go ahead and say we've established a new tradition. I believe the perfect end to any challenging triathlon and marathon season is some sort of unique 5K. Last year it was the Warrior Dash where we hopped over obstacles like beat up cars and 20-foot walls and crawled through mudpools. It was a blast, but not really for which you train (at least we don't).
This years fun 5K presented itself in the form of the latest 5K fad: a color run. The Color Me Bad 5K was held this past Sunday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. In a color run, participants run a normal 5K, but at different points along the route there are teams of people with colored corn starch or sprayers filled with colored liquid and their sole purpose is to make you as colorful as they can!
We started out so clean and fresh:
The benefitting charity was the Ronald McDonald House, so we took our pic with Ronald!
The sunglasses were part of the swag we got with race registration. Although it wasn't sunny that morning, it would soon become clear why they were necessary...
After the race, we met up with Justin and Clarissa at Taco Garage for a post-race lunch. We made sure there was room on the patio since we didn't clean up first!
After finishing the San Antonio Rock n Roll half marathon and other races, many times I receive a finisher's medal. They're often very attractive and heavy! For a long time, I didn't know what to do with them, so I stuffed them in a drawer with the intent of displaying them eventually. (You know, when we have that 5-bedroom apartment in a high-rise in the city and we dedicate one room to nothing but race numbers and medals?)
Then, back in May of this year, Ellie and I were sitting on the lawn of the JW Marriott after a triathlon and admiring our cute hibiscus-shaped medals when Ellie mentioned she'd like to put a magnet on the back of her medal so she could display it on the refrigerator. I looked at her with wide eyes and exclaimed, "THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!! CAN I DO IT, TOO!?" Now, Ellie is not one to withhold the rights to particular craft ideas, so she laughed and said "of course!" For the next few weeks that's all I could think about. I already had the supplies since at one point I had wanted to make these marble magnets for my bridesmaids. (Sorry that didn't work out, ladies.)
One day, I found some time and laid out some newspaper and heated up the ol' hot glue gun. I carefully removed each of the ribbons from the medals and laid out each medal face-down. I then applied a dot of hot glue to a small magnet and placed it on the back of the medal. Like I said, these things are HEAVY, so on many I put two or three magnets. Well, I soon found out hot glue does not work. Luckily I had some super glue and that worked really well.
If you'd like to display your medals as magnets, you'll need:
1) Super Glue
2) Small Magnets
3) Medals with ribbons detached (or leave them on if you want!)
These items can be found at any craft or office supply store
To assemble:
Place medals face down on newspaper or scratch paper to prevent mess.
Dab a small amount of super glue on magnet
Place magnet glue-side-down on the back of the medal
Add two or three magnets depending on weight of medal
Larger races tend to have larger medals! This one is from the Cowtown half marathon in Ft. Worth, TX
Let set for several hours or overnight (check glue package)
Once glue is dry, try sticking your new medal magnet on the fridge or other metal surface. If it won't stick or slides down, try adding another magnet or two.
Admire your accomplishments! (Crafty and athletic alike!)
I just so happen to have a big medal board from IKEA on the wall in my office so my medals can watch me work!
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!
Well, WE DID IT! Mike and I each finished our first marathon this past Sunday, February 19th, 2012 at the Livestrong Austin Marathon. That's 26.2 miles of running!! Here's a little recap for you:
On Saturday afternoon, Mike and I drove up to Austin (1 hour away) and checked in to our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Austin, on the south side of Lady Bird Lake (seems more like a river to me...). The hotel was one of the "official" race hotels and they were welcoming marathoners with open arms.
These signs were on all the doors at the front of the hotel.
There were also signs with details about the race and the Hyatt even offered a pasta buffet the night before.
When we got up to the room, we discovered we had a river view room and we had a great view of downtown Austin.
The view from our hotel room.
After settling into our room, we headed down the street to the Expo. Here is where we got our packet with our race number and "swag" (freebies). There are lots of vendors selling their products, including samples of energy bars and drinks. Some were very yucky! Lol!
Of course, there were also many clever accessories available for purchase:
T-shirt
After the Expo, we returned to the hotel to prepare for dinner. We ate at a fancy little pizza place in downtown Austin called Backspace. There were maybe 8 tables in the whole restaurant, so we were happy we had made reservations.
Our walk from the hotel to downtown included a picturesque view of the capitol building
After dinner we returned to the hotel to prepare for the next day's challenge. Mike spent the evening carefully laying out his running clothes, checking all of his gear and then reading the pamphlet that was given to us in our packet with information about the route, etc. I was in the middle of the Hunger Games and, because I couldn't stand it, I had to finish the book THAT NIGHT. And I did. Around 9:30 I laid out my running clothes and called it a night!
The morning of the race we each ate a peanut butter sandwich, put on our running clothes, pinned on our numbers and headed for the starting line. As we walked, I realized I had to go to the bathroom. Despite the fact that we were 5 minutes away from the starting gun, Mike and I hopped in line for the port-o-potties! With thousands of people in line to start, we knew we wouldn't start until maybe 15 min after the gun anyway.
I won't bore you all with the mile-by-mile, so let's jump to my favorite one: mile 9. At mile 9, the Livestrong group was there to cheer on the racers. Perhaps a hundred people, on either side of the road, all yelling, smiling, giving high 5's. The atmosphere was electric with support. There was music blaring, it was amazing. This was our first stop for water, fuel and to use the restroom again.
Our view from the mile 9 stop
I was actually saying "Why are you taking a picture of me in front of the port-o-potties?" but my face also accurately expresses my feelings toward port-o-potties in general....
The next several miles were a blur, though we enjoyed the creative signs:
"Half-marathoners: Almost there!! Marathoners: sorry...."
"Worst parade ever!"
"Toenails are overrated" (many people's toenails turn black or fall off during training for marathons...)
"Your feet hurt because of all the ass your kicking!"
At mile 18 reality set in. I still had 8 miles to go. A weekday training run stood between me and a nap, beer, food, rest, whatever. At mile 20 an old injury, Illiotibial Band (IT band) Syndrome reared it's ugly head. I needed to stop every mile to stretch it. My knees and hips were screaming. I realized I should have taken the Aspirin a woman at an aid station was giving out at mile 18.
In the last few miles, each walking break I requested caused Mike's muscles to seize up, making it harder for him to get started again and keep going. I knew if I stopped and he went on we wouldn't be able to finish together so I grit my teeth and kept going those last 2.5 miles.
About 200 yards from the finish we heard our names among all the cheers of the throngs of people lined up before the finish line. I looked over and there were Clarissa and Justin, our friends who had come to see us finish! Justin took a quick video of us as we ran past. (You may want to turn down your speakers...lots of screaming!)
We look really awesome and happy, but that is in no way representative of how we were actually feeling. It's just really exciting to see someone you know after 4.5 hours of running!
We finished the marathon in 4 hours and 41 minutes. We were hoping to be closer to 4:30, but that's still very good for our first!
Oh yeah! We did it!
Afterwards I was able to grab some ice for my knee at the medical tent. We grabbed some bagels and gatorade and headed back to the hotel with Clarissa and Justin. I'm so glad they were there to take our minds off the half mile walk back to our room! At the room we did our best to put ourselves together without actually taking a shower and then we all went down to the bar to have some lunch.
Gotta wear your medal at lunch....
Our friends left to go back to San Antonio after lunch and Mike and I took showers and laid down for a nap. Out of the allotted hour and 15 minutes, I only slept for maybe 20 or 30 minutes. My joints still hurt so bad I couldn't really sleep so I got up and had a snack while looking out our window to watch rowing teams go down the river. Occasionally a runner would go by on the path and my knees ached every time they took a step!
That night, Mike and I went to the Alamo Drafthouse to see a live sketch comedy show. After that we walked around 6th St. Not quite an accurate representation, but Mike hadn't been there at night before so I showed him some of the places I'd been.
I would have thought if anything could make you sleep well a marathon could, but I was wrong! Neither of us slept well and when my alarm went off at 6am I shut it off and rolled over to see Mike on his phone: "I'm Yelping places to eat breakfast." I told him about a place down the road that had good Migas and luckily they were open 24 hours.
Migas from the Magnolia Cafe: Eggs, cheese, bell pepper, onions and corn chips! :)
After breakfast we packed up our stuff and then walked downtown to Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop (a.k.a. Lance Armstrong's bike shop!). Mike looked around and bought a T-shirt and a couple stickers.
Mellow Johnny's also has a coffee shop called Juan Pelota. You can read here why he chose that name. Let's just say it refers to a part of his anatomy which he may or may not have had to have removed... Now that I know that, this picture seems a bit more awkward...
After returning to the hotel, we packed up the truck and headed back down to San Antonio. Here's a pic of all the "swag" we got:
I forget who I've told at this point, so we'll just start with that. I decided I wanted to run a marathon - my first marathon, as in 26.2 miles - shortly before Thanksgiving of last year. I decided that starting my training after Thanksgiving would be good if I planned to run the Austin Marathon on February 19th of this year. Mike jumped on board and, to be honest, I may not have kept with it had it not been for him doing it with me.
We've done amazingly well! We've found new running routes around town and each week we add on more milage. This past weekend we reached a real milestone - our longest training run: 20 miles. We've been planning out our 20 mile run for some time now. We knew we wanted to run to the Blue Star Brewery south of downtown and meet some friends there so they could haul our tired butts home. We knew we'd have to eat and rest properly before hand.
On Saturday evening, Ellie and Geoff had us and others over for a belated Chinese New Year Celebration. We had noodles, dumplings, and chicken wings.
We left around 10:30pm (after pavlova dessert, of course!) I had washed the sheets that day, so we tucked ourselves into the clean sheets around 11pm and set our alarms.
The morning of the run, I woke up a few minutes before my alarm. The birds were chirping. I had a huge bowl of cereal before putting on my "marathon" clothes. (The list of clothes that won't rub you raw gets really short really fast during marathon training!) My GPS watch was fully-charged and ready to measure the longest distance I'd ever run. We walked over to Geoff and Ellie's house to drop off a bag of clean clothes for them to bring to us at lunch.
The sun was shining and the air was cool. We were ready!
The first part of our run was sort of dull. I feel like I've run through Alamo Heights a million times in the last 3 months. Ugh! Once we got to the river at Pearl Brewery I was energized again. I LOVE running by the river! It makes me giddy to think about living in a city that has miles of path along a river in the middle of a bustling metropolis! By the time we got up to street level we were just blocks from the Alamo. It was like running while on vacation. We're rarely downtown, especially on a Sunday morning. We swung by the Alamo and grabbed a picture, just like the tourists!
The guy who took our picture would have laughed if he had known we live about 10 minutes away!
We arrived at the Blue Star Brewery with 10 miles still to go so we headed back north up the river and ran through the beautiful, serene King William area before arriving at the Riverwalk (I call it the Riverwalk with a capital "R" because that whole path is called the Riverwalk).
We took a picture with us in front of this, but our faces are too dark and you can't see the cute umbrellas well.
Running back south, past the brewery, there is a nice path but very little to look at. It sort of reminded me of Oklahoma. There were water fountains and shelters along the way. Mike and I took some gel blocks (like fruit snacks) with us and stopped to "fuel up" twice. Having water along the route was invaluable - another benefit to the Riverwalk!
Finally we returned to Blue Star (after passing it 3 or 4 times!) for lunch. Ellie and Geoff were there and we all grabbed a big table on the patio. Shortly after, Clarissa, Justin, Kristin, Onae, Thomas and Tater (Thomas and Onae's dog) showed up. We all had a delicious lunch in the South Texas sun.
Thank you all for meeting us for lunch and supporting us!!
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!
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!
My Aunt Rhonda recently had an opportunity to come down to San Antonio to visit Mike and I. My Mom was also available to come down the same weekend. We found this to be an excellent opportunity to be tourists in our own city.
Mom and Rhonda with "Hanna" wine they found at HEB
On Friday, Mom had some conference calls to attend to and Mike was at work, so Rhonda and I decided to check out the Botanical Gardens. I was amazed at all the beautiful flowers they had on the grounds - and all just 10 minutes away from our house!
me inside one of the many statues on the grounds
Rhonda poses in the Japanese Garden
Beautiful Orchid
That evening, KU was playing in the NCAA tournament. The game was actually being played in San Antonio, too! Ellie made some stuffed shells and brought it over to our house and we all watched the game together. After the Jayhawks won, there was a mandatory pilgrimage to get gelato.
Ellie and Geoff ready for a Jayhawk victory (note the clever sauce placement on the stuffed shells).
On Saturday, Mike and I competed in a triathlon and duathlon, respectively, at Lake Pflugerville near Austin. I was very proud at my performance at my first duathlon and I got 1st in my age group (out of 3!). It probably helped that I was mentally prepared for running 3 miles, biking 12 miles, and then running 3 miles when really the runs were only 1.5 miles each!
That evening, everyone was tired and getting cranky as dinner time approached. I suggested that we go to a nearby pizza place which is a certified "Pizzeria Napoletana" (one of only 32 in the US!). We had a bit of a wait to get a table but oh my goodness was it worth it.
Mom, Rhonda and I seated and ready for our Pizza!!
The food was great, of course, but we also had great service. We sat at the "bar" where we could overlook the kitchen operations.
Skilled chefs carefully prepare each pizza by hand!
We saw pizzas go into the oven (considered the heart of the kitchen/restaurant) and we even saw them create a s'mores pizza made with nutella! When we told our waiter we wanted one of those he looked hesitant and asked the chef. He looked hesitant for a bit and then agreed to make us one. Turns out it wasn't even on the menu. They only offered it as a special sometimes. It was AWESOME!
In awe of the S'mores pizza!
On Sunday we had brunch along the Riverwalk and then did some exploring.
Enjoying brunch on the Riverwalk!
There were many KU and VCU fans roaming the area as well.
Some crazy blue guys (we assumed they were for KU) were wandering the Riverwalk
And of course, no trip to San Antonio is complete without visiting the Alamo!
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