April in Review

Before I check in with my 2014 goals, here are a few highlights from April. We crammed a whole lot of fun into one month. :)

We started the month out by attending our neighbor's wedding at the Aria. We were the only two guests, but it was a blast!

I attended a group run to kick off the Rock 'n Roll Marathon in Nov. #LVKickOffNight

Jeff and I got a somewhat disappointing couple's massage.

We volunteered at GreenFEST.

I ran the Mustang 50th half marathon and met up with some fun Twitter friends.

I ran 2/3 of Ragnar Trail Zion before it got canceled due to the weather. I still need to write a recap, but it was a blast hanging out with the team - especially since we happened to have a cabin. :) We've all decided to redeem ourselves next year. :) I can't wait!

On the way home, George, Rochelle, and I stopped a few places in Zion National Park and had some fun stopping at Fort Zion Trading Post.

Like I said, April was a ton of fun! And you know what they say about time when you're having fun! IT REALLY FLIES! I can hardly believe that tomorrow is already May! Lots more fun to come in May, too. :)

Ragnar Zion. Here I Come.

Super quick post this morning, as I'm already in the car heading to Ragnar Zion! Whoo hoo.

Except for this.

High of only 50F tomorrow? 100% chance of rain overnight?

And I thought it was cold last year.

What doesn't kill you, right? :-) 

If you want, check out my posts about Ragnar Zion last year, while you wait in anticipation of this year's recaps.

The Experience
The Running
Other Things

Ready or not!

Depending on service, I'll try to update social media.

Also be sure to follow Katie at from Ice Cream To Marathon as she tackles 100 miles. You can also follow her on Twitter.

Who else is racing this weekend?
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I'm linking up with Jill today for Fitness Fridays.
Go check out how everyone else is celebrating fitness today.

How Runners Can Help Save the Earth

Happy Earth Day!!

What a great day to take a moment to reflect on the beauty of the earth and what we, as runners, can do to help preserve it. My very first half marathon was the Earth Day Half Marathon in St. Cloud, MN back in 2002. I had the best time running that race, and it will probably always rank as one of my favorites.

I always say that I can only do what I can do, so here are some very simple ways that we runners can do our small part to help save the Earth.

Image courtesy of watiporn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Mustang 50th Half Marathon Recap

If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or if you read yesterday's post, then you already know that I had a great time at the Mustang 50th Half Marathon on Saturday. :)

In a nutshell, I was simply out there enjoying the course, but I also pushed myself several times throughout the race. I enjoyed the scenery and the fact I was running on the speedway! I enjoyed the conversations I had with some of the other runners on the course. No PR, but I wanted to finish around 2:15, and I came pretty close. A PR would have been 2:11.

Overall, I'm very happy with the day and the race I ran.

What's for Dinner? Week of 4/20

OMG! I can't even tell you how great I feel after yesterday's half marathon. I'll do a full review of the race tomorrow, but let me just say, that I'm feeling so energized after the race. I can't wait for the next one! Lots of times after a race, I have to kind of force myself to get back out there.

Not this time!

Which is awesome news, since I have Ragnar Zion coming up this weekend. :)

I took it pretty easy last week. I think it was what my body needed.

5 Ways to Prepare for Race Day

Tomorrow is the much anticipated Mustang 50th Half Marathon. I'm super excited to be able to participate in this ONE TIME ONLY event! You may remember that I signed up for this way back in November at the Rock n Roll Las Vegas Expo. It's part of a celebration commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Ford Mustang, one of America's greatest cars. It's seems kind of monumental but not really.

Training-wise, I'm feeling pretty decent about the race tomorrow.

But there is still plenty I need to do today to prepare for a great race tomorrow.

It's National High Five Day!

Did you know that TODAY is National High Five Day? Yep. The 3rd Thursday of April, since 2002.

Image taken from their FB page. You can also follow them on Twitter.

So, let's raise our hands today and give everyone we know (and strangers, too) a big ole HIGH FIVE!

4 Tips to Relieve Stress

Let's face it. We all have stress in our lives.  Kids, work, school, finances are just a few of the common things that may spike our stress levels.

Since we can't really avoid it, here are a few ways I like to de-stress just a bit.

Image courtesy of Janaka Dharmasena / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What's for Dinner? Week of 4/13

Remember how I met my 100 miles goal is March? And then 2 days later I got a 5k PR? Well, somehow accomplishing those two things kind of drained my running mojo.

Does this ever happen to anyone else?

So, let's just say this past week wasn't exactly up to par.

Fitness Friday 4/11 - Race Updates

HAPPY FRIDAY!! Anyone else ready for the weekend?

It's going to be a great one! I'm hoping to get in a couple runs tomorrow, and then Jeff and I are volunteering at GREENFest. We'll be working in the Green Vehicle area from 10-2, so if you're around, come and say hello.

And then, I may join  a few girlfriends for a  GNO. :)

Definitely a fun and exciting weekend ahead.

Here are a few other things that are exciting me this morning...

Around Vegas...

April is off to a great start! No waiting until the last day to check off some of our 2014 goals. :)

On April 1st, we attended our neighbor's wedding. It was a fun little wedding at The Aria. That, in itself, could probably count as something New in 2014 (our first Vegas wedding), but after the wedding, we went to Kaya Sushi to check off our 2nd New Restaurant instead.

If you like all-you-can-eat sushi, this is the place for you!

Of course, if you know Jeff and me at all, you know we don't like fish or seafood, so sushi isn't exactly on the top of our list.

Instead, we ordered a few non-sushi items, like lettuce wraps.

Which still had fish or something in them, but I mustered my way through.

We also had a beef bowl (Jeff), teriyaki chicken (me) and bacon wrapped asparagus (Jeff). The food was pretty good (for us non-seafood/fish lovers).

I can't forget to mention the Strawberry Soju. I'm still not sure what it was - other than delicious!

We were in our own private room for the wedding party, but I got to check out the rest of the restaurant when I went to the bathroom. It was super cute and cozy looking! Almost made me wish I loved sushi because the restaurant just had a feel to it that made me want to come back again and again.

On April 4th, we headed to Ageless Ascension Day Spa. We'd bought a Groupon back in January, and thought this would be the perfect time to redeem.

Now, we've definitely had massages before, but this was our first time ever getting a couples massage.

Unfortunately, we were quite disappointed. Boooo.

We arrived 15+ minutes early for our appointment, and then had to wait for 30+ minutes after our appt time for anyone to come and get us. They did put us in a little waiting area, and that would have been fine for 10-15 minutes. But after 45+ minutes it was just annoying and kind of soured us to the whole experience.

The room was set-up nicely, and the massage therapists were nice enough, but the massages weren't nearly as good as we'd had in the past. :(

I guess not everything we try in 2014 will be winners.

We might try another couples massage, but we'd definitely want to check out a different spa.

Do you like sushi?
Ever had a couples massage?
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What's for Dinner? Week of 4/6

Last week flew by so quickly! I think it's because I had plans Mon, Tue, and Wed evenings after work, so suddenly it was Thursday! And then Friday!! :)

A week that flies by is certainly better than a week that drags on. Am I right?

With all the craziness of the week, my running did take a small hit. Here's how it looked.

Stewart & Ogden at the Downtown Grand

If you read this post, you might remember just how fast March flew by! Suddenly, it was the end of the month, and Jeff and I hadn't done anything new!

The easiest solution would be to check out a new restaurant. It would not only count for something New in 2014...

But also checks off a new restaurant (our goal is at least 3 this year).

So, on 3/31 (nothing like last minute) I jumped on Yelp and searched for nearby Hot New Businesses. Stewart & Ogden in the new Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino sounded perfect!

#LVKickOffNight 5k recap

TGIF, my friends! Actually, this week really seemed to fly by! I could hardly believe that yesterday was Thursday, and now it's Friday already. Woot woot!!

Wednesday night after work, I headed straight to Red Rock Running Company for the #LVKickOffNight 5k fun run. I arrived just in time for the group to be heading out of the store. :)

I met up with George, and we were off!

The guy leading the group started out with a much faster pace than I'd expected, but I did my best to keep up with the group. Every time I glanced down at my watch and saw sub-9:00 paces, I couldn't help but smile just a little. Turns out this was going to be a tempo run.