La Jolla Half Marathon

Yesterday, I ran the La Jolla Half Marathon.  It was the second of three races, that I need in order to obtain the Triple Crown medal.

(Triple Crown Races:  Carlsbad 1/2, La Jolla 1/2, and in August America's Finest City 1/2)

My friend Wendy and I have been much better with running a lot before a race, so I was not concerned about this race at all in the aspect of our abilities.  However, there were rumors of a giant hill and that did freak me out quite a bit, because who likes running hills?  Not me.

I had to get up at 3:45 am in order to be to the race finish in La Jolla Cove by 5 am.  Wendy and I got to the finish on time and then we were bussed to the start line at the Del Mar racetrack.

It was a bit unorganized, which is funny since this was the 31st time they held this race.  They didn't build the start line until after 7am and the race was to start at 7:30am.  They only had two waves.

Wave 1:  8 minutes and under
Wave 2:  Everyone else

No one even made way for those who needed to get to their proper spots, so basically it was a mass of 6,000 people all trying to fit through the start line.  Argh.

The course was really pretty and the weather was fine... a bit humid though, which I did not enjoy.

The negative things about the course, were the hills, people walking/ running on the course, cars on the course, surfers and beach goers running through us in order to get to the beach and a lack of water.  At the last water spot in the race, no one handed me a cup so I grabbed one myself... but it was empty!  Ahhh!

The end of the race was chaotic.  Usually only race finishers are allowed in the area immediately after the finish line.  Here it was family and friends mixed in with racers.  I was lucky enough to be handed a cup of water after being handed my medal (still wrapped in plastic, by the way).  I looked for snacks or fruit... nothing.  There were some 'scones' but they were nearly gone and the line of racers before me were sticking their post race racing hands in the bag themselves.  Ewww.

Believe it or not, I did enjoy myself and I had a pretty good pace the entire time, but I lost any chance of a personal record on the last two hills within the last mile.

I ended up finishing at 2:52:50, which happens to be 3 seconds faster than my best time of 2:52:53 from my first 1/2... Long Beach October 2010.  So, I got a PR afterall... even if it is only by 3 seconds.

Do you see this zig zag?  When that ends, it goes up to the right for a while and then back to the left... it ... was... not... fun!

Colortastic!

Do you like color?

Let me rephrase that... do you like being doused with color?!

Then you have to find The Color Run in a city near you.  I signed up for this race about a month ago and boy am I glad that I did.

I ran the race yesterday and it was so much fun!

As you are running, you go through color stations, where cheery volunteers throw, squirt, toss, splash dyed corn starch at your face, your armpit, your ear canal, etc.  Ha ha.

As a 1/2 marathon runner, I know the pressure that comes along with running races.  Well, the pressure is off here.  This race is designed purely for the love of color and fun. I loved that there was no timing going on.  You were forced to forget about setting a record.  You simply had to run joyously through clouds of color.

Sounds great right?  Well, if you need more convincing, look at the photos below!


We started out so clean... and boring...

The best after party!

We finished as a beautiful canvas of color and joy!

(This is but a glimpse of the amazingness!)

My friend Wendy and I loved it so much, we already signed up for the San Diego run!

www.thecolorrun.com

The Color Run

Pen Pals

When I was a young girl, I had a few pen pals.  I have always loved writing notes and letters.  I enjoy sending cards for all types of occasions, big or small... happy or sad.

My best friend Stacie moved away in the 6th grade and we kept in touch with letters, drawings, and coloring book pages, over the years.  We ended up going to the same university and were roommates 2 out of our 4 years there.  We are still best friends to this day.

In high school, my friend Brittany moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and we also chose to be pen pals.

There is something so fun about receiving mail at an unexpected time.  You never know when a surprise will show up in your mail box.

I believe that the writing of a letter is something that is quickly fading from many of our lives.  I also believe, that this is something that we will regret.

So, in honor of pen and paper, cute stationery and really expensive stamps, I asked an old friend to be my pen pal.  Luckily, she said yes!

Now, I will be spending some spare moments to catch up and keep up with my good friend Fran in Alaska.

I hope that you will take some time out of your day or week to remember the significance of a time honored tradition, the hand written letter.

photo from www.inspiredbythis.com

Carmegeddon

I don't know what it is about this week, but cars are going crazy... or perhaps their drivers are.

On Tuesday, I was almost to work when I saw a car ahead of me veer off of the road... literally drove off of the freeway, down the embankment... bounced around.  It came back up further down the road and almost made it back to the slow lane, but then plummeted back down to who knows where.  It was all quite crazy!

Yesterday, on my way home from a run, there were emergency response crews at the train track.  I am pretty sure the train hit a car.  Yikes!

Today, on the way home from work, I saw a car (that was traveling in the opposite direction) heavily on fire... I mean engulfed!

What is going on here?!

Dancing with the Stars

Goodbye Gavin DeGraw on Dancing with the Stars.

It was fun while it lasted.

You are amazing.

You are nice.

You have a great sense of humor.

See you at the Greek in August.  ( I hope.)

Marry me?  Ha ha, j/k... but really.

Hip Hop, Hippity Hip Hop, I Don't Stop

When I turned 27, I made a list of 28 things I wanted to accomplish by the time I turned 28.  Remember that?

Well, one of the items was to become a hip hop dance master.

I signed up for Hip Hop dance lessons at the Temecula Dance Company in December and have been going since then.  I am sad to say that April is my last month with them because I moved an hour away from the studio and I am just not willing to make that commute at this time.

But, as a treat, I thought I would show you what we were up to last month.  This routine was fun!  I rocked it before the video was rolling.  I guess I have a bit of performance anxiety, ha ha.

Enjoy!

Kodak Theater: Iris

On April 7th, Saturday, my mom and I travelled to Hollywood for the first time in a long time.

We did not go, just to go, oh no!  We had an agenda.  First things first, we of course had to eat.  A doctor from my mom's work is a Foodie (yes, my mom used that term).  She told us that we had to eat at Loteria, a Mexican restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard.  So, we took her for her word and tracked it down.

Loteria

It was a pretty nice size inside and even had a nice selection of outdoor seating.  I liked the open kitchen, but what I enjoyed the most, were the giant cards that decorated the entire place.  They had a picture of something and the Spanish word for that thing.  They were fun for conversation.

My mom had the chicken suiza enchiladas and I had the same thing, sans the chicken.  They were good (just not as good as Oscar's suizas) and they had a cute little white cup of black beans and a mound of rice, to complete the meal.  I think I would go back, if I had the opportunity.

After dinner we walked back down the boulevard to Kodak Theater.  We had a little time to fill, so we were going to take a look at the shops just outside of the theater.  And that is when we saw it...  Crumbs Baker Shop! Yes!  When my friend Zach got married in NYC last year, he got colossal cupcakes from Crumbs, for each table. Each in a different flavor.  They were so fun and just a really great idea, in which I have been in love with for a few years now (a cake at each table, that is).

We popped inside in Honor of my good friend and my mom and I each got a cupcake.  I got one called 'The Good Guy'.  It was a vanilla cupcake with a marshmallow? filling.  It had a buttercream frosting, drizzled with white chocolate and doused with a rainbow of sprinkles!  My mom got their red velvet cupcake.  It had a butter cream frosting and had a rim of white sprinkles and the center had red velvet crumbs.

(I will post photos later.  I still do not have the internet at my place.)

While we were ordering our cupcakes, a man walked in and ordered an iced coffee.  He was in a yellow shirt and jeans, and it appeared that he was wearing quite a bit of eyeliner.  This did not seem odd to me, because just outside the door there were people dressed as transformers, Marilyn Monroe, Elmo, etc.  But, I did notice him.  Also, at this time I was telling the Crumbs worker about my friend's wedding cakes and she did not care one bit.  Sad.

The man paid for his coffee and left, we paid for our loot as well and scouted out a good location to eat these massive cupcakes that cost $3.95, by the way. Once a bench was located, my mom dug in and I took photos, of course.  Talk about a sugar rush!  My cupcake was so good, but I couldn't finish the last few bites, for fear of going into a coma.  Ha ha.

We made our way to the theater and we sat down in the second row... the second row!!  Now, Iris is a Cirque du Soleil show and I had never seen one before.  To be honest, I was quite excited, but I didn't really have a true understanding of what to expect.  Once the show started, I focused on some of the dancers a mere three feet from my face.  And to my surprise, who did I see on that very stage, but the man I saw in the coffee shop!  He was without his yellow shirt and was then donning a suit of armor.  All throughout the show, I tried to find him.  Just before intermission, I noticed another face... none other than Mitchell from 'So You Think You Can Dance'!  I really enjoyed him on that show.  He is a very good dancer and I am happy to know that he is getting to do something that he loves.

During the intermission, I was telling my mom how I wish that I was amazing at something in my life, like these people were at dancing, stunts, and performing.  She had no ready response of something that I am good at.  So, I think I am not very amazing at any one thing... which means, I should now devote my time to becoming amazing at something.  However, I did suggest that I am a very observant person and that I am good at placing people, even if I have only seen them once in my life... even for seconds.

I don't think that is much of a talent, but I was grasping at straws and I'll take what I can get.  Ha ha.

Anyway, back to the show!  It was spectacular!  How these dancers move, how they fly in the air, how they twist, bend, fold, leap!  It truly was something to see.  Some guys would climb up other guys and then they would all stand up on each others shoulders... just when you think that is cool enough, the top guy would jump off and do a series of spins and things.  Wow!

Iris is an homage to film.  It is funny and fun.  There is audience interaction (quite entertaining at that!).  Just a great show overall.  It is only showing at the Kodak, so if you want to see it, you are going to have to make your way to Hollywood.  And if you take anything I say as truth, you ought to start packing your bags now!

P.S.-  I found photos of the cupcakes at Crumbs Bake Shop.  I was pretty spot on with the description of the cupcakes, but I cannot believe that I forgot to mention that 'The Good Guy' cupcake was funfetti!!  Also, it was actually filled with more of the frosting.  You can read about all of their cupcakes by clicking on Crumbs Bake Shop, within the first sentence of this paragraph.

Yeah, so good!

A Wedding and Another Move

Well, after a year of helping my best friend Tamara plan her wedding, it has come and gone.  It was a good Sunday wedding and Tamara was so happy... she also looked fabulous.

I moved the day after she got married, which was kind of hectic, since I was a maid of honor and had duties to fulfill.  Luckily, I had packed everything up early, so when moving day came along, things were ready to go.

I'll post more about the wedding and the move once I get settled, as I have no internet currently.  Thank goodness my mom's place is only a few blocks away, now.  Her internet is really nice, but I will be glad to use it within my own home... if my neighbor ever moves her van out of the way, so that the cable guy can set up my service.  He came yesterday, with no luck.  :(

See you all soon!