Ultimate Coffee Date - February 2015

It's time for another Ultimate Coffee Date! Whoo hoo!!

So, grab a cup of coffee (or tea) and join me!

I just finished re-watching my January coffee date, and wow! Was that ever long and boring. Hopefully this month's will be a little better. :)



I don't really have a lot to share today, so this will probably be kind of a quick date.

If we were having coffee today... I'd tell you how bored I am with our coffee cups. There are just 4 of them. All the same solid green. It kinda makes me sad, and I want to get some more to add some variety. I'd ask you to tell me about your favorite coffee mug.

If we were having coffee today... I'd tell you how I got up super early this morning to not only pickup our Bountiful Baskets, but to volunteer with the set-up. It felt great to volunteer, and I'm super glad that I did it, but I'm not going to lie, I'm probably going to go back to bed right after this. Yawn! I'd ask what you like to do to volunteer.

If we were having coffee today... I'd tell you that I didn't ride my bike to work even once this week. I have a goal of riding at least 4x this month, which would have been once a week, but now I'm going to have to do some doubling up. Hopefully I get in one bike commute next week. I'd hate for the last week of February to roll around with still 4 rides to go. Hope I didn't just jinx that!

Speaking of time slipping away, I have a feel that February is going to both drag and fly! It already seems like it's flying, but at the same time, it also feels like it should be much later in the month than it is. Weird!

If we were having coffee today... I'd tell you how much fun I had having a drink with a co-worker after work last night. We each only had one drink, but we talked for hours. It was so fun and SO needed! Work has been a little crazy lately, and it was fun to gossip a little a lot.

That's all I've got today! Why not head on over to the Ultimate Coffee Dates hosts (Deb, Coco, and Lynda) to catch up with everyone else, too!

Have a great weekend!
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New Look

Did you know that it's my birthday weekend? OF COURSE you did! I've only been talking about it since June. :) With my birthday streak and everything. Only a few more days of my streak, and I'm so happy that I've been able to stick with it for all 37 days (well, except that one day that I only did yoga. Oh, and I kind stopped the yoga around day 25 or something). It's so liberating to do a run streak. At least for me.

To continue the birthday celebrations, I decided to give myself a new look as I officially enter the late-30s. Yikes! How did that happen?!

I went blonde.

I've dyed my hair many, many times over the years, but never have I gone blonde.

It's been nearly a week, and it's been lots of fun so far. Lots of co-workers didn't even recognize me when I came into work Monday morning.

I've now been likened to Marilyn Monroe, Patricia Arquette, and Brittney Snow.

Last night, N9NE Steakhouse at the Palms had a Tweet-up just for my birthday. OK, not really, but it was a doubly good excuse to start the celebrating early. Who am I to pass up free cocktails and hors d'oeuvres?

Plus I got to meet up with the lovely Katie from @itsjustKatie on Twitter and Chase This Skirt. She made me a skirt for the E.T. Full Moon Half Marathon on Sunday, and so she hand delivered it to me at the Tweet-up. Fun!

So, is blond better? I don't know, but I'm liking it so far. :-D

Have you ever changed your hair to where people didn't even recognize you?
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
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Long Weekend Recap

Well, my long weekend has come to an end. :( Back to a regular routine this morning. It's okay. The memories from this weekend will last a long time. And if not, they'll be recorded here, for good measure. ;)

Obviously, the biggest highlight of the weekend was running the Tri-States Marathon with Katie.

Katie and me at the Start Line

Missed my recap of the race? Check it out here.

Besides running a marathon, the weekend was filled with delicious food and drinks.

And walking around the Strip.

Katie had never been to Vegas before, so we had to do at least something Vegas-y. But it was so cold! And we were both tired from a day of travel Thurs - Katie flying from KY; me circling the McCarran Airport for 20+ miles - that we just grabbed dinner at FIREFLY and called it a night.

So, before heading to Mesquite for the marathon, I had to at least show her the Vegas Strip. We parked at Fashion Show mall. I got some nail appliques on my ring fingers; Katie got her hair straightened AND bought the hair straightener. I decided that maybe it hadn't been the best idea to stop at the mall first. LOL.

We walked from Fashion Show to Aria, popping in and out of the casinos to hit the tables warm up.

Since we went during the afternoon, none of the free shows were going. I, at least, wanted to show her the Conservatory at the Bellagio.

It was between shows. #thwarted

It was still fun to see glimpses of the holiday show.

After walking around for a couple hours, we were both getting hungry! I saw I had a Starbucks reward for BOGO food, so we decided to grab sandwiches at Starbucks.

Unfortunately, we had to go to THREE locations before I could redeem my reward. Apparently rewards don't work in casinos. #lessonlearned

Katie and I got along fabulously! It was so much fun getting to know her in person and chatting about blogging and running. I so rarely get to do that in real life, so it was lots of fun!!

Come back anytime, Katie!

The rest of my weekend was spent watching movies and TV. And blogging a bit, too.

My legs were feeling pretty good on Sunday, but the DOMS definitely set in as I lounged on the recliner. Walking seemed to get more and more difficult as the day went on. I spent quite a bit of time massaging them throughout our movie marathon.

When I went to bed Sunday night, I was definitely happy about my decision to take Monday off work as well.

Thankfully, my legs were feeling much better yesterday. I even took Sallie for a 2-mile walk. They felt so good in fact that I think I'll even try going for a short, slow run before work today.

How was your weekend? Do anything particularly fun?
How long after a marathon until you're walking 100% normal again?
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Marathon Monday: Tri-States Marathon Recap

Ok. Since I didn't get this posted yesterday, I guess there will be one more Marathon Monday. :)

On Saturday, I ran my 3rd marathon. My first in 10 years. It really was an amazing experience!

After walking around the Strip for a couple hours Friday afternoon, Katie and I headed to Mesquite, NV. We checked into our hotel, settled in, and then met up with George for a carbo-loading dinner. I ordered the Chicken Parmesan, and it was mediocre at best.

I headed to bed early - only to awaken around 11 pm with a stirring in my tummy.

**TMI alert** I had to spend some time in the bathroom; it wasn't very pretty. I was so afraid the smell would wake up Katie!

Luckily, I was able to fall back asleep, but I was nervous about the race. Would I be able to make it through the race without any more tummy issues?

My alarm was set for 5 am, and when I woke up at 4:30 I laid in bed until the alarm went off. I was excited, but I wanted as much sleep as possible. Finally I crawled out of bed, got dressed, and we headed down to breakfast. The fine folks at the Holiday Inn Express were kind enough to open their continental breakfast a couple hours early for all of us crazy marathoners. I had a bagel with cream cheese, and it was delicious!

The marathon was a point-to-point course, so we hopped on a bus around 6 am to take us to the start line.

Ready to run!

THANK YOU to everyone who offered me advice on what to wear for a cold weather marathon, but ultimately, I chose adorableness over warmth.

Adorable, right?

It was COLD, but I wasn't miserable. True, I might have appreciated another long sleeve layer and/or a turtleneck layer to cover my neck and maybe another layer covering my bum, but I definitely didn't freeze. I was more afraid of overheating, and that definitely didn't happen. :)

Besides, it was super fun to get all kinds of comments on my outfit. When you feel cute, you run cute. LOL.

As you can tell, there was snow on the ground at the start, and YES, there was the slightest of flurries falling from the sky. Combine that with the mountain in the background, and the start was absolutely gorgeous.

It looks a little dreary here, but it really was so pretty.

We did our 1st mile in 9:39. Whoo hoo!! I wasn't tired, but I decided I wanted to take a walk break. I hadn't set a timer for 10:1 intervals, so I decided I'd walk one minute at every mile. Katie had never run intervals like this before, but she decided to give it a try.

Since I had those tummy issues in the middle of the night, I didn't want to take any chances, so when I saw the first port-a-potty around mile 6, we decided to wait in line to use it. SEVEN MINUTES LATER because of the line, not because I was in there that long we were back on the road. Ugh! In all reality, I probably could have made it another 3 miles until the next port-a-potty, but once the decision had been made to wait, we decided to wait.

At least the scenery was pretty while we waited!

Just past mile 9, we crossed the state border from Utah to Arizona.

Whoo hoo!! One state down, two to go. Little did we realize that we'd really only be in state #3 for less than 1/2 mile. AZ was the bulk of our race, for sure.

Katie and I were just enjoying the course - chatting here and there, taking in the scenery, having a great time.

My first little wall came at mile 12. There was still so much more to go. I was cold. My legs were already getting tired. We weren't even halfway there yet!!

And then all of a sudden, we crossed over the 1/2 marathon start line.

Pretty classy start line, right?

It totally took me by surprise; the first half had just flown by! The time isn't exactly accurate, because I had to turn around to go back and snap the pic.

My intention had been to start my music at the 1/2 marathon mark, but around mile 11, Katie had attempted to turn on her ipod and it wouldn't come on. I didn't really need music, and I felt a little guilty turning mine on, when she didn't have the option of turning on hers, so I continued just enjoying the course.

Just after we passed the 17-mile marker, we were faced with the first huge hill.

Me: Why do most marathons have a nasty hill around mile 17 or 18? And by most, I mean the two I've done. But I do think I've heard others complain about hills at this point in other marathons, too.

We walked up most of the hill, and therefore, most of mile 18. Little did we know, that was the first of many treacherous hills to come. What?! I thought this was going to be a mostly downhill, flat course?!

At mile 20, I started to get really excited. ONLY A 10K LEFT TO GO!! I couldn't believe it! I'd exceeded my longest training run (19 miles) and still felt relatively okay. Pretty much everything below my waist was sore, but without any pain, and time was flying by!

We were getting so close to the finish, but the thought suddenly came to me around 20.5 miles that I could turn on some music without headphones that we could both listen to. Yay!!

I turned on the Fit to Fight mix that I'd downloaded from RockMyRun. This is a great mix filled with lots of run-inspired songs that get me pumped up. A few minutes in, Break My Stride started.

Me: Katie, this song is making me cry!
Katie: Why? What's it saying?
Me (singing): ♫ Ain't nothing gonna break my stride. Ain't nothing gonna slow me down. Oh no. I've got to keep on moving. ♫
Me: I ♥ running to this song. I usually belt it out loud and run as fast as I can. So. Much. Fun!!

With almost every following step and every mile marker passed, I got a little more emotional. This was really happening. I was almost a marathoner. Again.

We'd done pretty good with our race strategy up to this point - taking minute walk breaks at every mile. With a few extra walks sprinkled here and there. We gave that up after mile 22, and just walked whenever we needed.

At mile 22, there was an aid station with a very peppy volunteer. So peppy that she inadvertently (I hope) lied to all the runners. There always has to be one, doesn't there?

Her: Only 4 more miles to go! Not really a lie. This is the last long hill. Big, fat, HUGE lie!

With every hill, we not so silently cursed that volunteer.

Thankfully, Katy Perry's Roar came on to help us up one of the crazy hills.

Me: I'm going to sing it for you. ♫ YOU got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire 'Cause YOU are a champion and WE'RE gonna hear YOU roar. ♫

Kind of dorky, I know, but singing it like that to Katie, really helped motivate ME to keep on going.

Finally, we made it to the 5k start.

The end was near. So exciting!

Until we hit mile 24.

Me (screaming): WE'RE SO CLOSE YET SO FAR AWAY!!

But seriously, no one gives up at that point, right? Even if we walked the entire rest of the marathon, we would definitely finish.

Just past mile 25, we saw the biggest hill of the marathon or so it seemed looming in front of us.

Me: Do you think we'll have to tackle that hill, too?
Katie: Yes.
Me: We're so close to the end, and it looks far enough away. I bet we turn off before it.
Katie: No, I bet we'll have to go up it.
Me: No, it's too far away. The finish would be halfway up the hill. We must turn off before it.

We watched the guy in front of us to see if he turned before the hill. Nope. He started trekking up that damn hill.

Me: Oh, I really didn't want you to be right.
Katie: I didn't want to be right, either.

So, we slugged up the hill from 25.5 to 25.9 miles. Booo. Who plans a hill that close to the finish?

We picked up the pace at mile 26, and when I saw that finish line, I gave it my all and finished strong. It felt great!

WE DID IT!!

I couldn't help it. I broke into tears after crossing that line. I had done it. I'm a marathoner again. And I'd do it again!

I paused my watch at 5:21:44.

There weren't any sensors at the start, so everyone had the same start time. Apparently, it took us 13 seconds to get to the start.

Official results:

We didn't get Katie a sub-5, but we did get her a 13-minute PR. Definitely a WIN!! You can read her recap here.

Overall, I really enjoying this race!

It was really well organized.

The aid stations were nicely placed, every 2-3 miles. They always had water, and some sort of candy - from Red Vines to M&Ms. Some of them had pretzels, and usually there were gels or Hammer Heed energy drink. There was always something that I needed right at that moment. Honestly, I probably could have easily run this without my hydration vest.

This was definitely not a marathon for spectators. It was really small, so there was no point along the course where there were crowds cheering you on. In fact, the course was on an open highway. Sometimes, the drivers at least waved as they passed by. :)

I'm mostly a solo runner. I was a little nervous to run with someone, but it turned out to be amazingly fun to run this with Katie. We ran a lot of it in silence, but it was nice knowing she was there if I ever need to talk or walk or whatever.

The course was absolutely gorgeous. Even when the sun was just peeking through the clouds far in the distance instead of shining on us, we were still surrounded by majestic mountains sprinkled in snow.

The second half of the course was tough, but it was worth it, and I'd definitely consider running this one again. Next year, it will be in November, so hopefully it will be much warmer.

Did you race this weekend?
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Viva Las Vegas!

Note: I began writing this post at the end of June, when it was still fresh in my mind. I'm disappointed with how long it's been since my last post, so I wanted to publish something today when I discovered this in my drafts. Hopefully I can do the rest of the trip some justice - and get back to regular posting.

Fifteen years ago, I graduated from a small two-year college in SW Missouri. Instead of going back for the official reunion, a few of us decided to meet up for a little reunion of our own in Las Vegas.

So, in the midst of Traveling with Liberty, we made a stop in Vegas.

The fun and festivities were supposed to begin on Tuesday June 19th, and they did for my friends, but Jeff and I took a little longer than expected driving from the Portland area. I finally joined my friends by mid-morning on Wednesday.

But before I could settle into enjoying Vegas, we needed to find a place for Jeff and Sallie to stay, which meant we needed to park the van while we searched hotels.com.

Parking the van turned out to be quite an ordeal.

The parking ramp at the Cosmopolitan we didn't actually stay at the Cosmo, but the condo Katie's parents hooked us up with had shared parking in the ramp is actually quite nice. Each spot has a sensor, so when you drive in, you can see just how many spots are available on each level.

One problem: The sensors hang down so low, that the clearance of the garage is greatly decreased. When we drove into the ramp, it clearly said CLEARANCE 8'2". Liberty measures around 7'5", so we figured we were good.

Wrong.

We *may* have hit a few signs/sensors, but I'm totally blaming the Cosmopolitan. I mean, seriously, update your signs!

Once parked, we still had to find a hotel room. A BIG THANK YOU to my friends for hanging out with Sallie while we searched, booked, and noted directions.

So, I kissed Jeff good-bye and settled into my room on the Strip with the girls.

Where I enjoyed this view from our room.

After showering and primping, we hit the Strip and headed north. We found ourselves at the Fashion Show Mall, where we shopped and ate at the food court. Nothing spectacular, but it was very fun.

Once back at the hotel, one of us crashed. Hard.

So, we left her to catch up on some sleep and headed to the Hash House A Go Go. Twisted Farm Food. The portions were ridiculously huge.

Seriously. Who can eat a pancake the size of one's head? Plus scrambled eggs? Plus bacon, sausage, or potatoes? I think the three of us could have *easily* shared one order.

The next day, we took a free shuttle to the Las Vegas Outlet Mall, where we shopped and shopped and shopped some more. I tried on a gorgeous, summertime dress at Banana Republic. It fit perfectly, and was only $40 (60% reduction), and yet I still talked myself out of buying it.

After shopping our little hearts out, Kate found so many amazing deals! we rested a few hours in our hotel room before getting all dolled up to catch a show, grab some dinner, and party at a Vegas night club or two.

We went to see V The Ultimate Variety Show. It was great. Better than I expected. The MC Wally Eastwood was hilarious. Plus, there was something for everyone. Sexy acrobatic men. Sensual female magicians. Lots of comedy. If you're in Vegas, I would definitely recommend this show.

From there we ate at one of the restaurants near to the theater. I can't remember the name now. Dinner was included in the price of the tickets. Sort of. There was a special menu that we could order from or we could order off the regular menu for a discount. The food was good, but the service wasn't the best.

After finishing dinner, we headed over to the Aria. Earlier in the day, we had gotten some tickets to a few different nightclubs and had decided on going to Haze. While in the lobby of the Aria, we were approached by a nicely dressed man. He suckered us into buying tickets to Gold to enjoy that club while we waited for Haze to open. It wasn't exactly the scene for all of us, but we all went. For $20, it was all we could drink, which didn't turn out to be much. Are we getting old?

From there, we finally made it to Haze. It. Was. LOUD! Maybe we really are getting old? Again, not the scene for everyone, but I was determined to drink, dance, and have some fun. My concept of time that night is gone, but at some point, one of the girls headed back to the hotel. The rest of us stumbled back (ok, only two of us were really stumbling) around 2:30, I think. I thought it was a fun enough club - if not for being super crowded and loud.

After sleeping and lounging, we got off to a later-than-usual start Friday morning. After breakfast, one of us really wanted to head to the Cosmopolitan pool and one of us wanted to shop some more, so we split into twos and went on our way. I went with the shopper. Hindsight being what it is, I probably shouldn't have. Or I should have changed into flip flips. I ended up getting huge blisters on my feet. I didn't think I'd ever walk normally again.

I had to relax for a couple hours in the room before I could hobble my way to dinner.

For dinner, we all headed to Beso Steakhouse in Crystals at City Center. Jeff even joined us.

Up to this point, we had collectively been pretty disappointed by the level of service we'd received in Vegas. It either slow or the server wasn't very personable or both. That all changed at Beso. The service was great, but even better, the food was fabulous. So good in fact that I shared the following on twitter the next day.

Just thinking about it again makes my mouth water.

Saturday morning, we started the day off at PBR Rock Bar and Grill at the suggestion of Katie's mom. I was not disappointed! I shared a plate of breakfast potato skins with Katie, and they were very tasty!

Katie's parents picked her up shortly after breakfast. After saying our good-byes, the rest of us checked out of our room and headed back out to the strip to walk through a few other hotels/casinos. It was a low-key, relaxed way to end our trip.

Molly and Dayna hailed a cab and headed to the airport, and Jeff picked me up to take me back to where he'd spent the week.

What a great stop on our travels of course, if you follow me on FB or Twitter, you know that we now call Vegas home! It was so fun to see these lovely ladies again. We walked, we shopped, we talked, we laughed. Great fun - even if I was exhausted and could barely walk by the end of it all.

Hopefully we'll be able to get together again sometime soon!

**I didn't take hardly any pictures, so most of the pictures in this post are from what my friends posted on FB. Thanks for covering me on the picture taking and sharing, ladies!

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C'mon Weekend...You're going to be such fun!

I have got a jam-packed weekend, and I. Am. So. Excited!

Here's the rundown.

Friday
5:06am Roll out of bed. Feed the dog. Eat a couple homemade (just last night) cookies for fuel.
5:43am Warm-up. Run 2 miles (sub 10:00pace. whoo!). Cool-down.
6:30am Shower. Get ready for the day. Leave to catch shuttle.
7:10am Shuttle to downtown. Walk to work.
8:00am Work, work, work. Booooo.
9:47am Make everyone's day by sharing my delicious homemade cookies (peanut butter, oatmeal, choc chip. Yum!)
4:30pm Walk to shuttle. Shuttle home.
5:45pm Get ready for dinner!
7:15pm Dinner with friends. Whoo hoo!!!

Saturday
6:00am Wake up.
6:30am Bike 9 miles to get to 5K in Roseville.
8:00am Run for the Roses 5K. Whoo hoo!!!
10:00am Probably rest and relax. I'll be honest. I'll probably take a nap.
3:00pm Head to Whole Foods and then to a park for a picnic with friends. Whoo hoo!!!

Sunday
Sleep in as late as I feel like!
Possibly bake bread and/or a cake for my niece's birthday celebration on Sunday.
2:30pm Bike to my parent's house (weather permitting)
4:00pm Dinner/birthday fun. Whoo hoo!!!

I'm exhausted after just writing all that out.
But I'm also really excited!

Dinner tonight is with some rather new friends.
Tomorrow's picnic is with some college friends. We haven't gotten together in close to 1 1/2 years! Since then, one has had baby #2 and another is apparently "very pregnant" with baby #3. It should be lots of fun to see them all again.

What are your weekend plans?