Merry Christmas Eve!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas with family and friends... here's something to get you in the mood :D

The longest week

Even though I've been super busy this week, I feel like it's draaaagggggeeeedddd on :( Finally the end is in sight though... tomorrow is Friday!!

After a busy weekend things have not slowed down at all. Monday night I celebrated my birthday (yes, AGAIN) with Ms. Lindsay. When I first left work, I wasn't sure I wanted to do anything... a nap sounded awfully good to me. But after a nice relaxing pedicure, I was up to a little more celebrating. Lindsay and I went to dinner at La Fogata, this little Mexican restaurant in Walnut Creek. Afterwards we hit the new Walnut Creek hot spot 1515 for some drinks.

Tuesday I squeezed in a little more Christmas shopping after I left work, and before I had to be at Sports Basement for our TNT Spring 2008 Mentor and Captain training. I've been through this training MANY times over the year so I don't really learn anything new, but I do like meeting all the new mentors/captains who are going to be on the team with me. I think we have a really good group and I'm excited about captaining with Ms. Jeanette!

Wednesday I went straight from work to Alameda to do a little MORE Christmas shopping. That didn't take me too long so I met up with my coworker Ann for dinner and drinks in downtown Alameda. The food was very yummy but the Pomegranate Margaritas were even better. They serve them with a stick of sugar cane, which Ann did not know wasn't edible! Thank god I was there to stop her from eating more than a couple of bites of it! I don't think it sat too well in her tummy :(

Tonight I have MORE errands to run after work and then I'm dropping off some Christmas gifts before I can go home, put a load of laundry in and finally start packing!

Birthday fun

Wow, what a weekend! After all the activity, I feel like I could happily hibernate for the rest of the winter (and with all the food I ate I think it would actually be possible)! Friday night was my company Xmas party. It was a smaller group this year because a couple of people already had plans for the evening. My absent coworkers were missed, but it was easier to talk to everyone at dinner! My boss and his wife put on a wonderful dinner, as usual. We has yummy appetizers, and a dinner of pork loin with a pomegranate rub, string beans, salad, rice and the best desert ever. At my first Xmas party with this company, Nancy made the most delicious desert-- Godiva raspberry white chocolate ice cream in chocolate cups drizzled with Chambord and topped with fresh raspberries! I ate 4 servings. Seriously. So every year since then, we have the same thing :D We all had such a fun time chatting, eating and drinking wine, I didn't get home until around midnight!

Saturday morning I woke up and right away started to get the house ready for the birthday/holiday party. I moved one of the couches into another room, set up the tables, decorated them, and started preparing some of the food that I could do ahead of time. I popped Tex and Rex into the oven around 12:30 and then made the brushetta and stuffed shells that I was cooking later. Funny thing about the tables... I had borrowed two card tables from my mom, and then rented a 6 foot long table from the party store in WC. I figured that would make a nice square table for us to eat at. Problem... all the table were different heights. Solution... books :D I raided my bookshelves for a bunch of books (thank god I read a lot) and then spent at least a half hour figuring out which books to use under each table to make them all the same height. It worked out and during dinner no one knocked the tables off their book perches :D

Between 4 and 5, Claudia, Rocky and Lindsay showed up to help me with the final touches--putting out the wine/glasses, making the hot cider, putting out the last few decorations and making the salad. At 5:00 I got dressed in my party clothes and was ready for everyone to start showing up! The party was a blast! We went through most all the wine I had (at least 9 bottles... eeek!) and of course had too much food, but I think everyone enjoyed it! For desert we had this amazing cupcake cake that my roomy Christina had gotten. She knows how much I love cupcakes! THANK YOU!! And THANK YOU Claudia for everything you did... the cooking, cleaning, and general helping out :D

Because I had done a lot of cleaning up Saturday night, I thankfully didn't have too much to do Sunday morning. I just had to take down the tables, do a little vacuuming and put away some dishes. :D The left the rest of my day free to do some Christmas shopping. The combination of the crowds, no parking, a lot of walking, and two late nights made for one tired girl. Once I got home I plopped on the couch for the rest of the night, watched some TV and did all my Christmas cards!

Missing Man

A couple of weeks ago my coworker Ann told me that her sister's boyfriend's best friend in New York was reported missing. Tony Devine was out visiting a few Manhattan bars with his best friend, Andy, on November 30th and since then no one has seen him or heard from him. :( Tony is a recent transplant from Ireland, and didn't have any identification on him. Andy and Tony's family have been working with local authorities and a private investigator but haven't gotten any solid leads yet. How scary to think that one minute you're out hanging with your friends, and the next minute you're gone. Just vanished. Tony's parents and a couple of siblings are still in Ireland-- I can't imagine what they're going through right now being so far away :(

Everyone keep Tony and his family and friends in their thoughts and prayers during this holiday season...

Beef brisket... It's what's for dinner

Last night Amy hosted a Stitch N' Bitch get-together at her house. Because of all our crazy running schedules, we hadn't gotten together for quite awhile. Even with many people not able to come due to holiday committments, it was fun to get together for the evening to enjoy some good food and wine. Notice I left out the knitting part? That's because I didn't touch ANY of my knitting :D Once we were done eating, I didn't want to even bother with the hat I brought to knit on. I think I'm going to rip it out anyway since it looks like it may be too small, and start over with something else! I'll probably start something easy so I can bring it on the plane with me to Hawaii. It'll give me something to do for those 5 hours, AND I can torture my brother with the knitting needles :D

Before we left Amy's, Claudia gave me all the fixen's for the beef brisket that she's making for Saturday's shindig. She got two BIG pieces of meat, and all the ingredients for the marinade. It has to soak for 24-48 hours so we thought it'd be easier to let it marinade at my house since that's were we'll cook it. We have already named the briskets... Tex and Rex :D (I know, it's wierd, but funny too... after all, we have to continue the tradition after Betsy and Patsy, the sister piggies). I took Tex and Rex home and now they're soaking in a yummy bath of soy sauce, lemon juice, and LOTS of garlic!

Birthday countdown

I know, I'm a dork. At 30 I really shouldn't be all that excited about my birthday anymore. For the past few years I've joked that I'm going to start counting back down the years, instead of up. Despite that, the kid part of me still gets excited about celebrating my birthday! I love getting together with my friends and, of course, I LOVE the cake!! And now the countdown has started... my 31st birthday is less than one week away!!

This year I am departing from the usual birthday celebration tradition (usually involving braving the holiday crowds to go out to dinner somewhere) and I'm hosting a small birthday/holiday party at my place. This means that my time lately has been spent planning, making lists, obsessing about the planning, cleaning, shopping and, of course, making more lists :D Thankfully Claudia is helping me out with some of it... THANK YOU!!!

This past weekend I spent mostly participating in the above mentioned activities, but I also managed to squeeze in some fun. Saturday Claudia and I spent the early part of the day wine tasting in Livermore. She just joined the wine club at Tamas Winery and since they were having a little reception/party we decided it would be a nice excuse to go out there for a little wine tasting and restocking of our wine stashes. I haven't been wine tasting there before and I really enjoyed it! I didn't LOVE all the wines (some were VERY sweet, I guess due to the soil there) but it was still fun. Claudia dropped me back off at home in the afternoon so I could get ready for Brandy's company Christmas party that night. She had invited me as her "date" for the night. It was a fancy shmancy party at the St. Francis, complete with a cocktail hour, really yummy dinner, and dancing! I had such a fun time... and even came away with one of the gorgeous centerpieces! Boy did my feet hurt though!

Finally I took some pictures of my Christmas Tree and the wreath that I just got... Enjoy!

Happy Happy Friday!!

I'm so happy it's Friday :D I can't believe it's already Dec. 7th... it seems like Thanksgiving was just yesterday!

Last night I went to Havana's and met my co-worker, her cousin and a friend for some dinner and drinks. Traffic was AWFUL!! It seems like there are just more people on the road now, and the rain didn't help matters :( Thankfully the evening's company made up for the frustration on the road and dinner was yummy as usual :D

Tonight I'm looking forward to taking it easy. My winter allergies just kicked into high gear so I'm going to rest up so they don't get any worse... I don't have enough time to get sick right now! Tomorrow I'm heading out to Livermore for a little wine tasting with friends, and then I'm my friend Brandy's date to her company Christmas party in the city!! I know, those aren't very restful activities but I don't have any plans on Sunday so I'll have plenty of time to rest then!

Other going-ons...

I was so excited to post about my Christmas tree earlier this week that I forgot to mention much else! It's been a pretty busy week so far...

Monday night I met Pam and Amy for a short run. We did their short, short route and the weather was just perfect-- not as cold as the week before! I started out feeling a little sluggish and trying to keep up with Amy, who was setting a pretty good pace. Once we turned off the streets and onto the trail, she slowed down, and I sped up :) I must have finally warmed up, or I just wanted to hurry through the darkest part of the trail :) Amy and Pam were right behind me, even though afterwards Amy complained that I had been running too fast :)

Tuesday night Claudia came over for a crab dinner. I had opened an unchilled bottle of white wine last week on accident when Linsday was over and I was complaining to Claudia that I didn't want to drink it alone, or let it go to waste. She said she would help me drink it and we threw in dinner too :D The local crab we had was SOOOO good :D It was very sweet, and MUCH better than the crab I got a few weeks ago from Whole Foods. We also stuffed our faces with some rice, salad, rolls and peppermint bark for dessert. Yummmm :D

Last night I just relaxed and took it easy but tonight I'm off for dinner and drinks with my co-worker and some friends. More yummy food :D With all this eating, I need to do a little more exercising!

Oh Christmas Tree...

I'm so excited... I now have a pretty (if I do say so myself), fragrant Christmas tree up in the corner of my living room! It's all lit up and decorated and there are even some presents at the bottom of the tree!

This past weekend was filled with lots of fun activities... Saturday I was suppossed to meet my friend Katie for lunch in Redwood City but she was on call at the hospital and got called in :( I was bummed that our lunch date didn't work out since our busy schedules prevent us from getting together often but it did give me a chance to do some errands.

Saturday evening I went into the city with Claudia and Rocky to see Kathy Griffin's show. We had dinner early at a Japanese place and then headed over to the Masonic Center in Nob Hill for the show at 7:00. Man, the city was PACKED!! We parked near the restaurant, and then drove over to the theater a few blocks away but all the parking lots were full. Rocky ended up dropping us off (so we wouldn't have to climb Nob Hill in our big heels!) and parking pretty far away :(

The show was a lot of fun, despite a rocky start due to some sound problems! Before I started watching Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, I didn't really find her very funny. But then I caught an episode of her show, and I've been hooked ever since! During her comedy shows she talks a lot about celebrities and reality tv. On Saturday she covered Marie Osmond, Oprah, her mother, her new BF Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple), Britney and a bunch of other poor celebrities! After the show we didn't feel like going home to we headed out on the town. The night ended with a yummy grilled cheese at Mel's Diner :)

Sunday morning I recovered from the night before slept in and then went to pick up my tree!! After spending a fortune on a chopped down, soon-to-be-dead tree, I went home, drug it up the stairs, put it in the stand and started decorating. It didn't start out too well... I had a little problem with the lights but finally got it figured out. Last time I had a tree was when Claudia was my roomy... with our two sets of ornaments we had enough to cover the tree. I don't have enough of my own to do that, so my mom had lent me her stash of snowman ornaments. I improvised a tree topper with some gold ribbon and a gold sequined star, and my tree skirt is actually a $10 red fleece blanket draped around the bottom of the tree (I couldn't justify buying a not-so-inexpensive, but cheap looking one from Target)-- I think it works though! :D Now it looks so pretty and the house smells so nice! I keep forgetting to take a picture of it so I can post it... I'll try to do that soon!

Winter Weather

I think the cold weather is here to stay. We had a warm spell a few weeks ago and I got to bust out the flip flops again but I think winter has now arrived :( All this chilly weather makes me want to put my jammies on as soon as I get home from work and sit on the coach all night. And that's basically what I did on Wednesday night! Last night though I resisted the urge :) My friend Lindsay came over for some pizza, wine and venting... we both had a crazy week at work and needed a little destressing!

The 1st post NY run

Yep, I did it... I actually went out for a run on Monday night just like I said I would. I'm so proud of myself :D I was actually looking forward to getting a run in. Things have been very crazy right now at work and a nice run on a brisk evening was just what I needed!

I met Amy and Pam for their usual run. We did their short short route... which I think comes out to around 3 miles. Even in the cold, with the cruddy air quality, it was a nice run. We even managed a little sprint towards the end :)

I'm not running again until next Monday... Amy has a fancy shmancy work function on Thursday night so we won't be running again this week. I'll have to figure out some other kind of physical activity to do between now and then so my holiday food baby (aka belly) doesn't get any bigger :D

Last night I ran some errands and then came home to watch the 2 hour finale of Dancing with the Stars which, I forgot , started at 9:00, not 8:00 :(. They dragged it on for way too long, as usual-- why do they make us wait 2 whole hours to see who wins? Don't they know how important my sleep is? Anyway, Helio won... this year I didn't really care who won, as long as it wasn't Marie Osmond. :D

Here Comes Santa Clause...

... okay, not for another month, but with the Christmas carols already playing, the trees already for sale, and the Christmas decorations already out on the shelves, it feels like Christmas is right around the corner!

Thanksgiving at home was a lot of fun. I spent a lot of time with the fam, and with the doggies :) Thursday my mom, dad and I went to Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt's house. There were about 10 of us total-- the perfect sized group. We had all the usual food and it was yummmm... especially my mom's pumpkin pie :D After eating we hung around my aunt's house visiting and then went over to my great aunt's house to get together with more cousins for our traditional slide show. Most every time our whole family gets together, there is a slide show involved... usually featuring pictures from the latest far away travels. This year we saw some gorgeous pictures from a road trip my cousin Rich took through Nevada. We also saw a number of slides from when my mom and her cousins were all young and growing up on the ranch north of where my parents live now.

Friday my mom, dad and I braved the early afternoon Black Friday crowds at Target to look at some digital cameras. We escaped with our sanity intact and our arms empty of bags :) That evening I went with my mom, aunt, and 7 year old cousin Lizzie to see Enchanted. My movie pic was August Rush but unfortunately it hasn't reached the local movie theaters. :( So Enchanted it was. I have to admit it was actually a cute movie. And fun to see the scenes in New York City. In fact, there was one scene that was shot right across the street from the hotel I stayed in while I was there... I recognized the fountain in the little plaza.

Saturday and Sunday was spent mostly relaxing. Saturday my mom and I got pedicures, and then spent a couple hours going through OUR slides from the ranch for another slide show at my great aunt's that night. Sunday my parents went to church and I spent the morning packing my things up and playing with the doggies.

All in all it was nice to get away for a few days and relax! Now it's back to work again :( BUT, now I can start the countdown to Hawaii... 26 days to go!!

Gobble Gobble!

Happy Turkey Day Eve!! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving... don't go into a food coma from all the turkey and fixings, don't get trampled by crazy shoppers on Black Friday, and don't knock over any elderly relatives in your mad rush for the last piece of Pumpkin Pie!

May your stuffing be tasty,

May your turkey be plump.

May your potatoes 'n gravy

Have nary a lump,

May your yams be delicious

May your pies take the prize,

May your Thanksgiving dinner

Stay off of your thighs.

May your Thanksgiving be blessed!!

Is it turkey day yet?

I am SO ready for Thanksgiving. Two days off from work and a pile of yummy food awaits me! Yesterday at work things were just super crazy... we had one girl gone for the week, one girl sick, and a new one to train. I felt like I was 4 people at work :( BUT after work I got to meet up with my old college roomy Viv. I haven't seen her for awhile, probably about a year or two, so it was nice to see each other and catch up! She was up for the day in Walnut Creek for work, so we met up at Havana's for some dinner and Mojitos :D By the time I got home a little before 8:00 I was pooped. I fell asleep on the couch during Dancing with the Stars and totally missed Heroes :( Thank god for Tivo!

This past weekend was a lot of fun. On Friday I met up with my coworker Ann and her cousin at my new favorite place in Walnut Creek, Maria Maria. I was early, and they were running a little late so I hung out at the bar watching all the Friday night chaos starting up-- man, that place gets super packed very quickly! We had a yummy dinner and some VERY yummy drinks! Afterwards I met up with my friend Lindsay at Sushi Groove a couple blocks away. I was just going to meet her over there to pick up a gift she had for Brandy but in true Lindsay and Olivia fashion, that turned into a night out on the town!

Saturday I met up with Claudia and Rocky in Emeryville so we could carpool over to Brandy's birthday party in Mill Valley. We had a great time eating more yummy food (do you sense a theme yet?), drinking some yummy green apple martinis and visiting around the crackling fire. (HAPPY BDAY BRANDY!!!) Sunday I got to sleep in a little bit and then I went out to Pt. Isabel for Patch's 2nd birthday party. Hmmm.... another birthday celebration and MORE cake! Patch and Daisy were joined by some other TNT doggies for some special doggie cake and a nice long walk. I think all the doggies were pooped afterwards, and so were the humans :) Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Blog Makeover: A New Look!

Yep, you're in the right place. It's the same blog, just a new look :D The best thing about blog makeovers is that they don't cost any money :D Change this, change that, all at a touch of a button! I wish everything was so easy :)

I'm looking forward to this weekend-- it should be a perfect balance of rest and fun! Tonight I'm off for drinks with a co-worker to my new favorite place Maria Maria, tomorrow is Brandy's birthday shindig in Mill Valley and on Sunday I'm off to Pt. Isabel to help Patchie-poo celebrate his 2nd birthday (that's 14 in doggie years)!

Here's Patch at last year's bday celebration... this boy loves his cake:

What do I do with myself now?

The marathon is over. The running shoes were left at the hotel-- there were no more miles left on them. I'm recovered-- no more sore muscles or stiffness. No races planned for the future. What do I do with myself now?

Before I did the marathon I told myself that afterwards, I'd take a LITTLE time off and then start running again during the week with Amy until I either joined the team again, or started training for another race. Usually after months of training, I'm sick of running and end up taking a few months off-- back to being a couch potato! This means that when I start up again, I'm pretty much starting all over with my training and I don't want that to happen. Right now I'm actually excited about running again-- this is my favorite season for running... nice and cold!

So I think I'm going to take it easy until Thanksgiving and then start things up again. I've even been roped into joining the team again in Spring and after feeling a little iffy about it, I'm starting to get excited! Now I just need to pick another race to do... mostly likely it will be a half or maybe even a marathon relay!

Monday-- Last day in NYC

All things considered, I didn't sleep too badly the night after the marathon. Sure, for the first few hours I would wake up everytime I rolled over because my sore muscles and hips were barking at me, but after a few hours I realized that things were starting to feel less sore. The true test though is that first step out of bed. I've made many hunched over, halted, holding-on-to-the-bed-for-stability walks to the bathroom the morning after a long run! I swung the legs out of bed... no problem so far. Up on my feet... still no problem. First few steps to the potty... STILL no issues! Yeah!

Phil and I got up, got ready and got packed up. We met everyone down in the lobby of the hotel and then headed over to the in-hotel buffet/restaurant. Sure it was typical expensive hotel food but my body was happy with just plopping down at the closest restaurant and my belly was very happy with my waffle :D After breakfast Phil and I went back up to our room so we could finish packing up-- Phil was off to visit a friend in Boston so we had to check out of the room and I parked my bags in the hotel bag check closet.

Jeanette, Rocky, Claudia and I said bye to Phil and then caught a cab up to the Tavern on the Green near the marathon finish line to check out the Finisher's Store. At this point it was only about 10:00 am but there was a huge line to get in. At least the weather was gorgeous. In fact, it was the first, and only, day I busted out my sunglasses! After standing in line for awhile we were told that the line was actually to get your medal engraved and if we were going to the store, we could just walk back in. I was excited to see what kind of "Finisher" gear they had and I was planning on buying something since I didn't get much at the Expo. Unfortunately, the store was pretty bare. It looked like a lot of the items had sold out and they had only limited sizes for the remaining ones :( Foiled again. I did end up buying a "I finished what I started" jacket... it's a men's style but I'll still be able to wear it :)

After we checked out I got a call from my mom... they were just getting to the Finisher Store (she had wanted to marathon items and thought they may have something at the store). There really wasn't anything for her to get so we all left. My parents went on their way and Jeanette, Rocky, Claudia and I headed back to the hotel. Jeanette decided to head over to the airport to see if she could get an earlier flight. I was meeting my friend Ruben who I saw during the race for lunch a few blocks away from the hotel at Dishes. Claudia and Rocky walked over with me and they ate lunch across the street us. It was a lot of fun to catch up with Ruben... we haven't seen eachother for about 10 years since we graduated from college!

After lunch I joined Claudia and Rocky for a beer and we spent the next few hours traipsing around the city. I swear we walked in circles! We finally ended up at the Carnegie Deli for some yummy cheesecake :D They we decided to head back to the hotel to wait for our ride to the airport. The hotel was PACKED with convention attendees all dressed up in their suits so we found a quiet spot downstairs to relax and then went up to the bar to join Amy and Bree for a (very expensive) cocktail.

The ride to the airport was very uneventful. I was exhausted, grumpy, sore, stiff, and done with New York. Once at the airport we breezed through check in and security and then stocked up and food before getting on the plane. I got the BEST (yes, from an airport) salami sandwich from Boar's Head in the food court. YUMMM :) I spent the whole flight watching tv. I think I took about a 15 minute nap. :( Maybe my lack of sleep had something to do with the pain medicine I took earlier... I only had migraine headache medicine which has caffeine in it... whoops. 5 hours later at 12:30 am we landed in Oakland. 2 hours after that I was FINALLY in my nice snuggy bed :D Ahhh... sleeeepppp :)

Sunday: 5 Bridges/ 5 Boroughs... it's RACE DAY!!!

Sunday was a LOOONNNGGG day! My alarm went off at 3:50 am. I got dressed in my 3 layers of clothes, made sure I had everything I needed, and headed down to the lobby to meet Raji, Jeanette and Claudia. We took a few minutes to take some pictures (of course!!) and then it was off to the Subway for the first leg of our long trek to the start line :( We JUST missed the 4:30 train down to the ferry terminal near Battery Park so we ended up waiting for about 15 minutes for the next one. The subway system in New York is SO confusing... at least compared to our easy 5 line BART system in the bay area. We did manage to get on the right train (in the nick of time since I managed to piss off some homeless lady sleeping upright on a bench nearby-- she vehemently flipped me off a couple times and told me to get away from her stuff. Ummm, I'm about 10 feet away but okay... at least she provided us with a little entertainment!).

Our chips... they said New York City Marathon 2007 (I kept mine :D)

After the subway, we walked over to the ferry terminal and were first in line for the ferry leaving for Staten Island at 6:00. The ferry can hold 5,000 people and it wasn't even close to being full. I had been a little nervous about there being huge crowds lining up to get on the ferry but I had nothing to worry about. It was a nice relaxing ride across the bay to Staten Island. We even got to see the Statue of Liberty up close in the emerging sunlight! Very exciting!

On the subway

At the ferry terminal... I'm getting yelled at :(

On the ferry

After the ferry we were all shuttled on to a bus that took us through Staten Island to the staging at some military base (I forget the name). By this time it was probably around 6:45 or 7:00. We weren't starting until 10:10 so we had a few HOURS to sit around and wait. We knew this was going to happen so we all wore extra layers that we could leave at the start line (since we'd have to check our bags about an hour before we actually started). We also brought some food and liquids so we could stay hydrated and eat breakfast while we waited. It was pretty cold out but with all our layers, some handwarmers and the $5 blankies we brought, I was pretty comfortable. Slowly everyone else started arriving too... Lindsay, Monica, Amy, Bree, Sandy and Lael.

Walking to the staging area

Around 8:45 or so we decided to start packing our stuff up so we could head over to check our bags. That was a nightmare! Everything up to that point had been very well planned... plenty of porta potties, food, water, etc. But the bag check situation was chaos. There were all these people shoving and pushing their way down a narrow little driveway to the UPS trucks that would take our bags to the finish area. I usually don't have a hard time in crowds because my head sticks up above everyone else, but even I was starting to get claustrophobic. Finally we were out of the mess and after one last potty stop we headed to our corral. Monica, Lindsay, Jeanette, Claudia, Raji and I had managed to stay together... Amy, Bree and Sandy were in a corral behind us and Lael was off with the other speedy people :D

We're ready to go!!

IT'S TIME!! I didn't really hear the starting cannon but we could see across some of the buildings to the bridge we'd be running across and people were already running. But before we could get to the start line, we had a little walking to do (and dodging all the clothes that people were throwing to the side of the corrals). There were three corral areas-- orange, blue and green-- and they were trying to get us all up on the bridge... the orange and blue runners (we were orange) were sharing the top deck, and the green runners were on the lower deck. Pretty soon we were heading under the orange balloons and we were off!!

Heading to the start

Approaching the Verrazano-Narrows bridge

Jeanette and I had agreed that we were going to try to stick together during the race. We had such a fun time running Nike together and we wanted to make this a fun experience too. I knew that with so many people running, and the hilly/incliney (hmmm, I don't think that's a real word) course, I probably wouldn't be PRing here so I wanted to just make it an enjoyable experience. Jeanette's training had suffered due to some injuries so she wasn't going to be setting any records either. The sun was out, the weather was beautiful and we decided to just have fun, take pictures and walk up the many bridges/inclines-- our only general time goal was to finish in around 6 hours.

Our first big hurdle was the Verrazano-Narrows bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn. It's a pretty long bridge, but because you're so pumped up, you don't really notice it! We jogged a little and walked when the incline was steeper. On the other side of the bridge we were dumped into the street of Brooklyn and met with crowds of cheering spectators! Of course one of the first things we see is a runner lying on the side of the road, going into convulsions. She had people around her helping her so we kept on going, trying to get that picture out of our minds :( By mile 2 it had really started to warm up. Luckily Sandy's hubby was waiting for her around mile 3 so we handed off our long sleeve shirts and jackets to him.

Bridge #1 of 5

The view UP the bridge

The view back DOWN the bridge

Spraying ING colors... white, blue and orange

Of all the 5 boroughs, we were in Brooklyn the longest and it was really interesting to see all the different areas. Every mile after mile 3 there were water and gatorade stops. I had visions of horribly crowded aid stations with people crammed up again the table trying to get water, kind of like it was at Nike. In fact it was just the opposite! There were plenty of tables lining both sides of the street and no one pushing, crowding or shoving-- I loved hearing the New York accents: "Wadah hear... get your wadah!!" I think it helped that the runners were spread along three courses, and we each had our own aid stations. Even at the porta potties there weren't many lines. Jeanette and I stopped at one point so she could potty, and I could stretch and there were just a few people in line in front of her! The only that sucked was all the cups all over... the wax rubbed off on our shoes, which made them slick, and then when the wax rubbed off it was all sticky from the gatorade. Ewww :(

First we ran through a kind of retail area with lots of shops and businesses. There were lots of people cheering, and LOTS of cute firemen :D Around mile 8 the three different groups of runners (orange, blue and green) who had been following slightly different course merged together so it got a little more crowded. We also hit this long incline through a really cute neighborhood along Lafayette Street... it reminded me of the neighborhood where Bill Cosby lived in the Cosby show. We ran through Williamsburg, which is a predominately Jewish area. All the building signs were in Hebrew and we saw lots of very traditionally dressed Jewish men, women, and adorable little girls (but NO little boys). It was definitely quieter in this neighborhood... not a lot of cheering but still VERY interesting to run through! We ran through some pretty sketchy neighborhoods (that were filled with people cheering and music blaring).

Brooklyn

Jewish men in Williamsburg

Somewhere in Brooklyn Jeanette and I ran into Bree and Amy. We leapfrogged with them for a little bit... they'd walk and we'd get ahead, and then we'd switch. We saw a runner with a lighthouse costume on (standing at a hot dog cart)... we saw a woman with a sign that said "Make this course your bitch" (I LOVED that!!)... a man with another inspiration sign (see pic below)... we saw LOTS more cute firemen who seemed more interested in the attention they were getting from us... Jeanette saw lots of doggies, and went to pet them... and still LOTS of cheering spectators.

Amen!

At mile 13.1 we crossed the Pulaski bridge (also fun to hear people say with a NY/Brooklyn accent) into Queens. My back was starting to hurt a little and Jeanette's hip was giving her problems so we used a little of Bree's BioFreeze and stopped for a quick stretch along the bridge.

Over the Pulaski bridge... I think

We were only in Queens for a couple of miles before we hit the Queensboro Bridge... the LONGEST. bridge. ever! It's really not THAT long... only a mile, which is half the length of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge... but it seemed SO long! It was much more incliney, so everyone was walking, it was darker because we were on the bottom deck, and it was really quiet because there were no spectators. The only thing that kept us going was knowing that at the other side of the bridge we'd be in Manhattan with more crazy crowds and our friends and family waiting. (I was also STARVING and had heard at some point that Rocky had peanut butter pretzels!!) I texted my parents to let them know I was on the bridge and would see them in a few minutes (ummm, more like 20 but close enough!). I also got a text from Brandy telling us that she hoped the marathon went well (ummm, we're still running it but THANK YOU for thinking of us!!).

Jeanette and I came off the bridge, went around a sharp turn and saw Rocky, Phil, Carolee (Lindsay's mom) and Lakshman (Raji's hubby) waiting for us! Yea... biofreeze and food!!! Rocky applied the Biofreeze and Jeanette and I shoved some pretzels in our mouth. They told that Raji was ahead of us looking really good, but they had missed Lael. I know my parents were still ahead of us along 1st Avenue so off we went!

Coming off the bridge

Yummm, preztels!


Along 1st Avenue with my folks

Along First Ave. we ran into Bree and Amy again. Amy had taken a little spill but was running well despite that. We ran with them a little bit before Jeanette and I peeled away to hit the potty and do a quick stretch. Even in the craziness of Manhattan, with all the crowds, there were NO lines for the Porta Potties! 1st Avenue stretched on forever and this is where Jeanette started feeling not so hot. I think everything was just starting to hurt... no specific problems, just getting worn down. I wasn't feeling to bad, just the normal worn out feeling, but I didn't want to leave Jeanette... we had come this far and there was NO way I was leaving her! Plus, I needed her good humor and emotional support the further we went. We walked on and off as we needed to, not worrying about our times.

At mile 20 we had reached the end of First Ave and were crossing the Willis Ave. Bridge into the Bronx. This is where most runners hit THE WALL, where the race ceases to be a physical one, and become a mental challenge. I never have a problem hitting the wall... my problem miles are usually 10-20 (the black hole where everything just blurs together)... once I hit 20 I know I'm golden... only 6.2 more miles to go!!! By the time Jeanette and I got into the Bronx we were getting a little delirious, making stupid jokes and posing for the cameras.

After just 1 mile in the Bronx, we went over the Madison Ave. Bridge back into Manhattan. We ran through Harlem and I was looking at the people cheering us on and all of a sudden I see a face I know... RUBEN!!! I ran over to say hello to my college friend Ruben who I hadn't seen in probably about 10 years. He lives about two blocks away and just happened to be walking down the street when I was passing by!! We chatted for a few minutes and then Jeanette and I were on our way. I was feeling totally jazzed after seeing Ruben but Jeanette wasn't feeling so hot :( After Harlem we were running along 5th Ave., another incliney section of the course, so we did a little walking. It was really pretty with Central Park along the right side of the road, although at this point it was starting to get a little dark... and cold :( The crowds had also really thinned out at the point... people who had been out cheering for hours were now on their way home, or to dinner. Poopy for those of us still out there who need those cheers! :(

While we were run/walking along the park, I had talked to my brother and parents who were trying to find eachother around mile 24. A little past mile 23 we left Madison Ave. and headed into the park for the final stretch. I knew my parents were up ahead so I told Jeanette I was going to run up to where they were, and then I'd wait for her to catch up. Shortly after leaving her, I ran into Rocky and Phil. They had seem Amy and Bree in front of us, and were just waiting for Monica, Linds and Claudia to come by behind us somewhere. I ran on ahead (down a nice downhill section :D) trying to find my parents. They weren't where I though they would be at mile 24 but I saw them shortly after. I ran up to them, dropped off my bottle (I didn't think I'd need it the last couple of miles) and only had time to say a few words before I see Jeanette coming down the road. She had gotten in a groove and didn't want to stop so she waved me forward like "Let's GO!!"






The last couple of miles seemed like the longest miles ever. You know you're SO close, but you're really not THAT close! After Jeanette kicked my butt for a few hundred feet, we went back to our run/walk. We reached the end of the park, and then turned right along W. 59th, aka Poop Alley. This is where all the horse carriages are usually lined up waiting to take people on a scenic tour around the park. This is also were they poop. Even though the horses weren't there, you could still smell the poopie... not exactly what you want heading into your lungs while taking deep breaths. We were also running up an incline (again) and we were just ready for this race to be OVER! At the edge of the park we went by Columbus circle, saw ourselves on a big screen, grabbed eachother's hand and then ran uphill by the empty stands and non-existant crowds to the finish line!! WE'RE DONE!!! Our official time was 6:25:15.

You can see in the pictures how dark it was starting to get. :( It was wierd to be coming across the finish line in the dark, with hardly anyone around. Jeanette and I got our medals, got our picture taken and then started the LONG trek up another damn hill to the UPS trucks. I called Rocky to see if Claudia and the girls had come by yet and he said he was with them and they were on their way in. They had told us in the information that we would be given a food and liquid bag with stuff to eat and drink. I was looking forward to it because again I was SO hungry. Yeah right, we got a bottle of water and a bagel. I was starving but didn't even want the bagel. Jeanette on the other had DID, but was having a hard time getting it down. I told her she better not choke because I was in NO shape to help her! We were still working our way along the baggage trucks, walking from #1 to #23 (Jeanette) and then #34 (me).

GIVE ME FOOD!!

Once we got our bags I got a call from Claudia... she had just crossed the finish line and was doing okay. We were so far away from her at this point that we decided we'd make our separate ways back to the hotel. Jeanette and I still had to walk up aways to get OUT of the park, and we met my parents at 81st street. We figured it would probably take us forever to find a cab so we went down to the subway system to try to catch a train the would put us close to the hotel (the subway was free for runners :D) We got on a very crowded train and got off a couple stops later... we were closer to the hotel, but not super close. We had no luck getting a cab so hoofed it back to the hotel. Jeanette and I were so tired, and sore, but it probably helped us to do all that walking.

We finally got back to the hotel a little after 6:00 pm and my parents and brother came up to my room with me. I did a little icing (I didn't have a tub for an ice bath :( ) and then took a shower. We had reservations with our family friends for dinner at 7:30 at a place nearby called Toloache. There was no way I was walking to the restaurant, especially not in the high heels I had brought to wear for dinner, so we stood in line downstairs for a cab. I don't think my legs were too happy with me, OR the heels, because they were shaking away while we were standing in line! I knew once we got to dinner I could just sit down and relax!

The Lamon and Nichols clans at dinner

Dinner was SUPER yummy! OMG, it was just what I needed after that race! We all had margaritas, yummy guacamole, and I had the grilled grass-fed skirt steak :) My belly was happy! We even got this yummy dessert wine free with our dessert. Yummm :D Once we got back to the hotel I went up to Jeanette, Claudia and Rocky's room to hang out... they had stayed in and got room service. By 10:00 pm I was pooped and headed back to my room, but then ended up staying up another hour and a half chatting with Phil!

All in all, I was pretty happy with the race. I didn't get the time I had been aiming for but I had a FUN race, at least as fun as a marathon could be! At no point did I want to quit, feel overwhelmed by the race or feel discouraged, which is usually how I feel during a marathon. The challenges I had anticipated--crowds of runners on the course and at the water stations--never appeared... instead I was challenged by things I hadn't given as much thought to-- eating the right amount of food before the race (I didn't) and the incliney course (even more challenging than the 20 miler I did on the Nike course in SF). Right when Jeanette and I were running into the Bronx I told her I'd never do another marathon... this was it. But now I think I've changed my ming :D I had my "fun" race, now I want a new PR!