San Diego Getaway

Todd and I went to San Diego over Labor Day weekend. This was my first time and Todd's second. We got into San Diego on Friday evening by plane. I don't know if any of y'all have flown into the San Diego airport, but it was pretty cool. I've never been so close to buildings while in the air. From the plane we had an awesome view of the city! Once we got to the hotel we dropped off our stuff and headed over to hang out with the John & Frances Malley. They were there for the Ann Marie and Alex's wedding as well. A side note about our hotel .... the Porto Vista looked super modern and hip on the outside and main lobby. As soon as you get out of the elevator it was a whole different story. It looked like crap, it was basically a motel. The center was completely open and we had a nice view of the parking garage while walking to our room. The room was a little odd to me too - I think its just because the whole motel thing. Inside the room was nice with a huge picture of 2 women on the wall. I think these women were the theme of the hotel for some reason, I have no idea why though. Unfortunately I have no one to blame but myself for the hotel.

Saturday morning Todd went to move our car (to avoid getting a ticket) and came across a local farmers market. He brought back some pita bread, hummus, and a salmon burger. They were all delicious! Once I finally got moving, we left our hotel and walked down to the port area. This weekend was actually the Festival of Sail so there were all kinds of boats on the water. I guess that might be pretty normal for the weekend, but I honestly have no idea. Either way there were tons of boats in the water. There happened to be one sailing that reminded me of a small pirate ship. It even shot cannon balls which was pretty cool. After we watched all the boats for a little bit we walked on over to meet the Malley's at Kansas City Barbeque. This place is pretty famous because this is where the bar scenes of Top Gun were filmed. Apparently the original Kansas City Barbeque was burnt down so really isn't where they filmed Top Gun. But by eating there you'd think it was the original. They have all kinds of memorabilia. I will say that I wasn't really impressed with the BBQ, I think it would have been sufficient to just go there and have a beer. Too late now though. As we were walking back to our hotel after lunch we came across a blocked off street that was acting as a street stick ball tournament. I was pretty amused by that and it reminded me of some of the Auburn Christian Student Center. We finally made it back to the hotel and relaxed until it was time to get ready for the wedding.

Ann Marie & Alex's wedding was on the North Island Naval Base on Coronado Island. They had the sun shining and the beach as the background. Ann Marie looked beautiful!! We had a great time at the reception, the food was great and Todd actually cut a rug on the dance floor with me! We had so much fun that we took a taxi home! Another unfortunate thing for me is that I don't have a single picture of Todd and I from the wedding.

It was very hard for us to get moving on Sunday. Once motivated we walked down to the Coronado Island Ferry. We hitched a ride over to the island, walked to base, walked on base, and walked to our car (on base). I think we ended walking over 5 miles just to get to our car. While we were on base we went to Coronado Beach. The water was freezing which we expected. Todd did some body surfing, but I would only go in up to my ankles. It was just too cold for me!!! After only spending about an hour at the beach we left and went back to the hotel. As if 5 miles wasn't enough exercise we decided to go for a run. We drove to Balboa Park by taking the roads that seemed as if they were straight up and down. The scariest one was Laurel St. It probably wouldn't be so bad if we weren't in a little Volkswagen Bug. Although I don't think I would have been a fan of it in any car going up or down. Anyways, we ran both in and around the park for a total of 3.6 miles. Once back at the hotel we made reservations for dinner, turns out they were booked until 9pm. Our dinner was at The Oceanaire and even though it was really late, it was well worth it!! The food was incredible!! Todd ordered an appetizer of steamed clams. This was my first time to ever try them and you know what ... I liked them. Who would have thought!?! For dinner Todd had some kind of spicy fish something that he said was great. My dinner was the Maple Glazed Wild B.C. Steelhead. It included a cast iron skilled country croutons, caramelized California peaches, and a blackberry gastrique. I obviously just looked the menu up online, there is no way I would be able to remember all that or really understand what it means. The only thing that really matters is the whole thing was awesome!!! We ordered a side of mash potatoes to complete the meal. For dessert, it was a strawberry mint ice cream with chocolate cake covered in something that they set on fire. It smelt like roasting marshmallows. Its a shame I was so full that I couldn't eat it all. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone!

We spent all day Monday at the San Diego Zoo. We got there around 930am which wasn't as early as we were hoping, but turned out to be plenty early. Once we got there we were standing around the ticket office wondering about admission price. As luck would have it we didn't even have to pay! We knew Todd could get in free, but before we even had the chance to go to the ticket office a guy came up to Todd said he had a pass and could get 2 people in for free. He was supposed to be meeting some friends, but they weren't going to make it and offered to let us in on his pass. We made sure to tell the guy thank you many many times and then we were off our on way to see the zoo. We saw absolutely everything at the zoo, well unless you consider the Reptile House something to see. I didn't want anything to do with that part of the zoo. I had my Nike+ iPod run tracker thing with us to see how much we were walking. By lunch I think we had already walked about 3.5 miles. My iPOD ran out of batteries so I'm not sure what our final mileage was, although I'm guessing around 8 miles. We were done looking at everything around 3pm so we decided to go back and looked at a couple of animals again (pandas, lions, and orangutans). Some of my favorites were the pandas, hippos, some of the monkeys, and the gorillas. There were 4 gorillas - baby, 2 medium, and one that looked older. Shortly after we got there the baby gorilla went over to a shut door and would bend over and try to peak to see whats behind the door. He/she kept doing it and then one of the medium size gorillas came over and did the same thing. Next thing you know they are all going crazy for the feeding time. The 2 medium size ones were the funniest - one would hold his hands up in the air while on his back legs. I'm sure if he could speak he would say "Hey over here, throw me some food!!!!". The littlest one thought he would be sneaky by stealing from the biggest one and running away. One thing that I didn't realize until the zoo was that Mountain Lions are HUGE!!!!! I always thought they were smaller - turns out they aren't. I was scared of them before, but now I'm really scared of them. Not only do they stalk their prey they can also jump 30 feet. They are easily the biggest cats next to lions and tigers. I liked it better when I was ignorant of how big these beasts really are.

After the zoo Todd and I went to a local brewery - Karl Strauss. We each had the beer sampler. They had some pretty good beers. We ended up getting a growler of their red beer and taking it back to the hotel with us for dinner. For dinner we went to Filippi's Pizza Grotto. We didn't really know anything about it except that the day that we went for a run in Balboa park we drove past the restaurant and it had a huge line out the door. We figured if people were willing to wait in a line that long it must be good food. Turns out it was just as delicious as I expected it to be.

Tuesday was our last day in San Diego. Before we left we went for a run that Todd mapped out. We started running from the hotel, ran up the huge hills to Balboa park, ran through the park, by the space museum, over a bridge, by a high school, down to the Gas Lamp district and kinda back to the hotel. By me saying kinda back to the hotel I mean we got lost. It was only supposed to be 4.5 miles, we finally quit at 5.5 miles only because we didn't know where we were. I think I could have easily run at least another mile or two due to the only 27ft above sea level.

To end our trip we made a food stop at In-n-Out Burger. Delicious! Like my sister said, you can't make a trip out there and not eat there.

For some reason I can't seem to get pictures up on this post. I've tried a couple of times to add pictures to this post and it won't let me. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, who knows. I'll add some pictures when I can figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Alone Again

You guessed it ... Todd has left again. But, the good news is he is only down in Montgomery. This time its only for 5 weeks. Some other good news, I get to go down to see him and the fam in a little over a week!! I'm super excited. It could also be because the day I leave for Alabama is my last day of work. But, most importantly I'm taking Todd to Auburn!!! I have plans to show him around campus, tailgate, and go to the Auburn/S. Carolina game. Its a double triple whammy of awesome!!!

I will be posting about our San Diego trip soon.

Lately

First, and most important, Todd made it back from Afghanistan!! We didn't think he would be home until Sept. 2 or later, but the plans changed and they were scheduled to make it home on Aug. 28th. The real kicker to this whole thing is they actually made it home ON TIME!!!! I've heard stories of other people making it home on time, but I didn't really want to believe it until I saw it first hand. This is Todd's fourth deployment to either Iraq & Afghanistan. This is this FIRST time he has ever made it home on time. Who knew it was possible?!!?

The fly over before the landing

Getting closer

Just getting off the plane

When Todd made it back on Saturday he came back with an extra addition .... a MUSTACHE. Todd and half of his crew decided to grow mustaches the whole time they were over there. The other two guys shaved theirs off before they made it back. Todd didn't. The good news is that I knew to expect it and this isn't the first time he's come back with one. The bad news is that it wasn't the most well kept mustache. I mean it wasn't really bad, but he did have a few hairs that seemed to have a mind of their own! I will say that I told him that I didn't care how long he kept it for as long as it was gone by the Auburn/S. Carolina football game - Sept. 25th. I didn't think it would be very amusing to show him Auburn for the first time with a mustache. I think the Sept. 25th was pretty nice, so consider me a good wife. Luckily he shaved it off before we ate dinner the night he got home (without me asking him too).

Some other tidbits ...

Co-ed softball season is finally over. I kind of feel like it dragged on even though it was only a month long. I believe we played in division 2 again. Our record was 7-2. Not too shabby considering I thought we were going to get killed after seeing how we played our 2nd & 3rd games (are only 2 loses). I believe we got first place. I'd like everyone to be impressed by that, but considering there was only 4 teams including us in the division its not likely. If I'm not impressed how can I expect anyone else to be impressed. The end of the season ended up being a lot more fun then the beginning. In the beginning we were always looking for people to fill in for our regular players. It just wasn't very fun ... even when we won. I'd still like to say for the record that I was the only person out of 11 people that didn't miss a single game. .

I'm still training for the half marathon. I ran my longest run on Sunday, 6 miles. Around mile 5, I'd about had it with a nasty stitch in my right side. At that point Todd told me a good breathing technique. It worked well to even out my breathing and especially getting rid of the stitch. I was as good as new after!! Thanks Toddy!! My run total for this week so far is 14.5 miles. Awesome!

We have about a month & a half until we move to Little Rock, Arkansas. I've been trying to go through stuff and decide if we can reduce what we are taking to Germany. Our spare room is pretty much an organized disaster. Overall I think most of everything is going to Germany which means it can't get packed up until the military comes to do it for us. Getting the military to come here and do that is a whole other super complicated story that I don't even know how to begin to explain so I won't. Anyways, back to the point .... the stuff that we are taking to Germany is in piles upon piles. Then there are boxes of crap that we are probably going to store at my parents house in Alabama. Like I said its pretty much an organized disaster.

Its a day late on the blog, but its ok since I called my mom yesterday .... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Lastly, today we leave to go to San Diego. I've never been and Todd has been there for a super brief trip. We get to start the weekend off by celebrating the marriage of two of our good friends - Alex & Ann Marie. After that we are going to the San Diego Zoo, eating seafood, and hanging out in the Gas Lamp District among other things. I'm super excited!!!!! I'll make sure to post some pictures after we get back.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Labor Day!

Farewell Big Tuna

Sunday was a very sad day. My ad on Craig's List paid off (literally). Big Tuna is no longer our boat. We sold her to an older man who is retired. The man and his wife have another larger boat. That statement doesn't really mean much to me considering Big Tuna is 13 ft. long without a motor. To me it seems like you can't really get any smaller than Big Tuna. Anyways, I didn't get to meet the guy (I was at work), but it sounds like she is going to a good home. He came prepared to pay, in cash, which was nice. I'm sad that I didn't get to say goodbye. But even more upset that I never painted her name on her. Oh well.

Farewell Big Tuna, it was fun while it lasted!

Big Tuna For Sale!

I finally broke down and put Big Tuna on Craigslist. Its a very sad day for me. She is a great little Sunfish, we just can't take her to Germany. Hopefully someone will want her & give her a good home. If anyone knows anyone who is interested please let me know. Here's a copy of the Craigslist ad.

http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/boa/1918279835.html

short stack & syrup

This weekend I competed in the Muddy Buddy in Boulder, CO. I had an absolute blast, but it was super exhausting! My buddy for the race was Sue Engels. Our team name was short stack & syrup. We didn't have any thoughts on what to do for a costume so on Friday before the race we went to Wal-Mart. As we started down the craft aisle we came up with an idea ... we were going to TIE-DYE our shirts. We also decided that Jackson (Sue's husband) to draw on our shirts - a short stack of pancakes on mine & a syrup bottle on Sue's. We bought some gold glitter shirt paint to use for whatever. After we got done at Wal-Mart we went back to Sue & Jackson's house, had some dinner, and then got down to business. It all started with Jackson drawing on our shirts. After the shirt designs were finished we started to tie-dye. The next morning we unveiled our t-shirt designs. They were awesome!!!! Once they were washed & dried Sue got to work on painting with the gold glitter. Later that day we put our names on the back. Here's the final product ....

You have to admit, they are pretty awesome!

Sue & I weren't alone in doing the Muddy Buddy, we had a couple of friends participating too. Sarah & Colleen were partners as well as TJ & Abbi. TJ & Colleen had both already done it before, so the rest of were newbies. We had a good idea of what to expect, but that definitely didn't stop the nerves!!

Here's what happens during the Muddy Buddy .... according to me ....

They put you in categories based on you & your buddies' combined ages. Sue is 29 & I'm 27, together we are 56. From there they have larger divisions based on combined age. We were in the grouping 56 to 65. Then, they have it divided into males, females, and co-ed. Each different division is assigned to a particular wave. I believe were 7 waves total. We were in wave 3 along with Coed 96 & Over and Female 76-85. Everyone lines up according to their wave with bikers in front and runners behind. Bikers are always released first within their wave with the runners released 60 to 90 seconds later. Sue started the race as our biker.

Sarah & I were waiting for our turn to start running.

Once they said go, Sarah & I were off running the first leg - 1.3 miles. At the end of that there was a high climbing wall. This was a really easy wall to get over because it had hand/foot grips. Once done with the high wall we switched - Sue starts running, I took the bike. This leg was 1.1 miles long. From the get go, this leg was a slight incline. Then to make matters worse, there was a pretty steep slope that was about 15 ft high that I had to run up with the bike. When I started making my way up my foot slipped and I fell, along with the bike. Once I got back up (with the bike) I tried it again. Failed attempt again. I don't know if it was too steep or the lack of traction on my shoe. Either way it sucked & it was kind of embarrassing. As I was trying to get back up the second time some guy who was running that part felt sorry for me, picked my bike up, & took it all the way up for me. Who says chivalry is dead?! I made sure to tell him thank you. Turns out even when I was running up that thing without my bike I still almost fell. Whoops. Immediately after that we had to go straight down about 15 feet. If there was anyone watching me on my way down I'd be willing to bet they were pretty entertained. I was that awkward. At that point I think I started question why I signed up to do the Muddy Buddy. Clearly biking is not a strength of mine!! Once done with that leg, I passed the bike back to Sue. The obstacle this time was to crawl underneath netting that was horizontal about 1 foot above the ground. After finishing that I took off running - I had another 1.1 miles to go. At the beginning of this leg there was this watery/muddy area, lucky for me I only had to run through it. Sue had to carry the bike through it. That would probably have been another disaster for me! Obstacle 3 was walking the balance beams. That was super easy as well, they were about 4 or 5 feet off the ground and you just had to walk across them. Sue did a really good job of placing our bike. A side note about the bikes ... people like to decorate them too. We didn't really do much, we added some ribbons & tennis balls to the handles. Turns out the tennis balls on the handles were key. No one else had done that so it was really really easy to spot the bike among a lot of bikes. Now back to the course .... I saw the bike immediately and took off. This bike leg was 0.8 miles. It was a lot easier than the first one, the whole ride was flat & followed by downhill. Perfect for me. Once done with that leg, the obstacle was a giant inflatable wall. After climbing up 20 or 30 feet (I'm really not sure) by rope, you climbed over to the other side and slide down. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous right before I went down the slide. But it turned out to be quite fun! I was finally starting the last leg, a 1.9 mile run. At the end of the run we came up onto the Boulder Reservoir, this part of the run was sandy and hard to run in. We ran a little bit on the sand and then had to run through another water patch (in the reservoir). Immediately after that we finished up on the beach and ran through where all the buddies were standing. Sue, Colleen, TJ, & Abbi were all waiting there for Sarah & I so we could go through the mud pit together.

This picture has me in the lead then Sue, Colleen, & Sarah close behind in the pit.

I climbed in & was blazing a trail crawling through it. I was going so fast Sue yelled at me to slow down! After that we ran & crossed the finish line!! We were 18th out of 75 in our division with a time of 55:27. Overall we placed 270. Not too shabby I think. I have no idea how many teams there were, but I did scan the results sheet - the highest I found was 696. So we did pretty well.

Just after we crossed the finish line!!

The group shot - Sue, Me, Abbi, TJ, Sarah, & Collen

After the race was over we rinsed off, went back to the car, changed clothes, & then went back for all the freebies including a nice cold beer.

Here's another group shot minus a couple

If you ever get the chance to do this or something like it, I would totally recommend it. It was a lot of fun & different from just the normal running race. I think that all of my friends would agree that it was an awesome time!

Training

Its been awhile since I've updated the blog, so I thought I would give it a go.

Somehow I was convinced into signing up for the Denver Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon. I think I might have been temporarily insane when I did that. But, since then I've been pretty committed to this training program. Since the beginning of August I've run just over 19 miles. I don't know if I've ever ran that much in my life!! But, soon it will be even more.

My biggest problem with this new found activity is that I absolutely HATE to stretch. Well, hate is a strong word. Its more like I just don't like to do it. There's no real reason behind it, I just don't want to bother with stretching. For some reason I've never been one to stretch when doing physical activity on my own. Growing up when I did some sort of organized activity (volleyball, softball, ballet, etc.) I would stretch, but because it was forced on me. I know that you should always stretch, but I never really did until now. I've been reading a lot of articles about running and I came across one that was about different stretches. I decided to try them. The stretches that I did turned out to be pretty good. I'm not even sure I got half way through them until I found one that I didn't feel anything stretching (OR maybe I was doing it wrong ... this is probably more likely). Once I came across that one I stopped doing the stretches. (I'm making myself feel better about stopping early by saying "Lifestyle changes don't happen over night.") I will say that I found the hip flexor and hip adductor stretches to be awesome. My right hip on occasion feels funny. For lack of a better way to describe it I call it being "ajar" or simply out of place. I have absolutely no idea what the specific trigger is expect its something to do with physical activity. It also likes to pop a lot. I blame all of my hip weirdness on 13 some odd years of ballet. Anyways, now that I've just rambled on and on .... here's the website for the stretches:

http://running.competitor.com/2010/08/features/running-101-stretching_12081

I've always heard that as a runner you should watch for cars because they don't watch for you. I generally try to run on the sidewalk against the flow of traffic. If I'm even unsure that a car doesn't see me I ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS run around the backside. Yesterday was my first encounter with almost getting it by a car. I was lucky enough that the car was stopped to begin with and I was watching out for myself. I don't even think I was half a mile into my run when it happened. It was the Domino's delivery guy as he was leaving Domino's. I thought he had seen me so I started to cross. Turns out I was wrong. I figured this out when he was slowly rolling his car into the intersection. Considering that he was close to hitting me, lets hope that he delivered the pizza in the 30 minutes or less!! Unfortunately for me I saw him turning back into Domino's, thank goodness he beat me with about a block in between us.

Besides all my training I haven't really done my else. I've mostly been rotting my brain by watching too much tv. I'm still trying to catch up on my All My Children. I've just made it to August ... finally.

Some other exciting news ... Todd should be home in less than 1 month!!! And I'm done at work in 41 days (total) with only 25 more of actual working, but who's counting.

Lastly, the Muddy Buddy is this weekend on Sunday. I'm super excited. I should hopefully have some pictures to post!!