The Gold's Gym 1/2 Marathon and a week worth of illness and poor diet

Renae finishing her 1/2 marathon

Me a little over half way through the half.

Renae and Bethany before the start of the races. Bethany ran the 5K.

Well last weekend which seems so incrediblly long ago Renae and I ran the 1st Annual Gold's Gym Half Marathon. I had been running in the gym for the most part since it got really hot in June so this aside from the Durango half was my first run outside. I am attempting a new tactic which I had hoped would make me faster. That is running 9 min and walking a minute. But since I hadn't ran outside for a while I had a hard time pacing myself. So my first mile was like an 11 min mile and my second mile was like 10.39. So needless to say I wore myself out pretty fast because I was planning for between 12-13 min miles. So by the time I was 3 miles in I was really out of whack and was walking more. I couldn't find any sort of rythem so I'd walk really fast when I was walking and run hard when I was running. After passing the second aid station I was able to run longer stretches. Till I hit the hills. I was at mile 5 before I met the person in first place which meant that they were only 2.5 miles ahead of me. The nice thing about hills is eventually they go down. The turn around point was connected lakes in the Redlands and it was a downhill trail to the turn around. I was flat out flying down the hill with these big bounding strides which helped me make up some time. I kinda skipped/hopped back up the trail on the return and then ran down the hills that I had walked up. By the time I hit mile 8.5 I had a delusion in my head that I could if I pushed myself come in under 3 hours. This pushed out of my head a mile later with my feet hurting ( don't know what the foot issue is but one would think that my feet would be toughened up by now). So now I started this walk 2min run 3 min strategy which got me to mile 11 by 2 hours and 40 mins in. Then I started thinking I could do this I can do this and started pushing myself a little harder. But on the way back they rerouted the course to add some distance and it kind of took the wind out of my sails. I let the pain in my feet control me. The last 3/4 mile was pure agonizing pain but I made it and Bethany was there at the last turn and ran with me to the finish line. I averaged a 14.47 mile but I know I can do much better. I decided I will start running outside at least twice a week to get my groove back. I waited for Renae and she came in about 20 min after I did (maybe not that long). I ran with her to the finish. This was the first run that I got salt (sweat) in places that hurt so bad it stung and I couldn't sit down. That was mucho mucho painful, when I got home immediately took a shower and then another one. By the end of the day I had 3 showers all with attempts to remove salt. Later that afternoon we had an hour long massage that was a gift from Taysha for doing so much for the wedding.

Kristen and Kaily came into town later that day, and unbeknownst to us, carried the death bug from hell. I got sick Monday morning with it hitting out of the blue like a ton of bricks. Because Kristen, Kaily, Roby, RJ, and Cheryl were all staying at the house Monday night I got a hotel room so I could be sick with no interuptions, lol. Cheryl brought by some soup because I was weak and hadn't had anything to eat all day. I was able to drink the broth but that was about it. Around 7pm there was a knock at the door and it was Renae who was now also sick. Needless to say everyone got sick including Katie and Kaleb who was only exposed for a couple of hours.

Even though that first day I wasn't able to eat hardly anything the second and third day of sickness I just wanted comfort food and ate like I hadn't eaten in weeks. This kinda put a kabosh on my weight loss. Luckily it only affected me for a lb. But I wasn't able to work out either until Thursday and I was able to do one round of circuit training.

Renae was really industrious on Friday night and cooked like three different meals for the week, so there shouldn't be any need to eat out this week which is sweet.

Today I made it to the gym even though I had hoped to run outside. Pretty much ran a warm-up to get ready to get back into the groove of things ran 2.5 miles and then did a little bit of circuit training. Will also get the dogs out to the desert for a walk, so figure that is pretty good.

I'm really hoping to do the Air Force Marathon in the time between 2:30 and 2:45. There were only 34 people who ran this last 1/2 so as far as being motivated by the event it didn't happen. However there are 5-7,000 people running the half for the Air Force, coolio.

4th of July Weekend in Crested Butte

River on Blue Mesa Cut-off Road.

I believe this is the East Elk river that ran through the valley where we were running.

Bird Man of Gothic wearing, yes, Skunk Cabbage and nothing else.

Pretty flowers along our run route.

Crazy dog, Kyrie.

Elevation we came down to before running down to town of Crested Butte.

Flag attached to cool looking wood.

Me catching up to Renae.

A couple of weeks ago Renae signed us up for this run in a little village outside of Mt. Crested Butte called Gothic, the run was RMBL Gothic to Crested Butte Run, Walk, or Crawl 1/3 Marathon. It was advertised as an all down hill run, I wasn't sure I would want to do it having done 3 runs in a row on the weekends. But eventually I agreed because I thought it might be pretty. We decided to drive the jeep with the two dogs so needless to say space was at a premium and we packed three days worth of clothes for both of us in one small suitcase that could fit in the spare space in the jeep. We headed out on the 3rd of July over the Mesa to Cedaredge then to Crawford along the back side of the Black Canyon down to Blue Mesa and then into Gunnison. We were staying in Gunnison for the weekend but drove on to Crested Butte to pick up our race packets, approximately, 23 miles away.

I went into the Visitor's Center to pick up the packets and change Renae's registration to early walker instead of runner due to infection in her toe that had surgery. This was actually the first race in which we got consecutive numbers until I changed her status. Side note, we generally register at same time in one swoop but we always get numbers that are up to 60 numbers apart this time we were 16 and 17 until she got number 539. Then we decided to head up to Gothic to check out the "down hill course". The paved road ends outside of Mt. Crested Butte and turns into a gravel/dirt road that runs basically the back side of the Maroon Bells. We hit Gothic within 3 miles and we were in awe of the wildflowers that were in bloom. We decided to drive on past Gothic and were amazed at how many people were out hiking and camping in the area. We drove about another 9 miles until snow pack blocked the road.

We headed back to Gunnison, checked into the Rodeway Inn and ate at a little Mexican eatery that was in front of the hotel. The service sucked except the bus people the food was alright. The didn't have their liquor license so no margarita's, :(. And they had a door that when swung open sounded like a donkey. At first I thought it was Zeus out in the jeep howling, but then Renae said it was the door, but I looked every time I heard it. Earlier we had timed how long it would take us to drive to Gothic as I would be dropping Renae off with the dogs as dogs would not be allowed on the buses that would transport us from Crested Butte to Gothic. Then I would drive back to Crested Butte and get on the bus. So knowing that it would take 58 min to get from Gunnison to Gothic we decided we would need to leave no later than 0550 in the morning.

I set my alarm for 0520 but had a hard time motivating. We left the hotel around that time but realized in order to get me on the bus we would have to do a little speeding. So picture this open jeep, mountain driving, 35 degrees or so, wearing running attire. Needless to say going 60-65 miles an hour it didn't take me long to reach a hypothermic state in which I no longer shivered and I couldn't bend my fingers. I got Renae to Gothic around 0640 and she took the dogs and she would start at 0700 am. I turned around and headed back to Crested Butte. I found a parking space next to the Visitor Center and used the bathroom and loaded the last bus. We headed up to the start of the race. When we got there they only had two porta-janes so people were going out into the weeds and just dropping trousers and peeing right there. Needless to say I stood in line for about 15 min waiting to use the facilities. I was still standing there as the race started and nearly got run over. I was able to stand my ground and used the bathroom and then started off.

The first mile had a few rollers in it but I caught up and passed most of the walkers that started at 0800. The first water station was at mile 1. As I started towards Mile 2 the up sections were increasingly difficult so I would walk during these sections. I knew that at Mile 3 we would hit pavement and it would start going downhill. I was following a lady who was run/walking and her husband was driving a golf cart with their elderly Irish Setter was in the back. I kept the dog in sight because it helped motivate me. Once we hit the blacktop there was another water station and then downhill. People were walking back from their morning coffee breaks and sitting out on their balconies and they were awesome cheering people on. I hit Mile 4 and the degree of downhill increased to the point that I was easily running a 9 min mile until Mile 5 where the next water station was. When I hit Mile 5 I could see Renae with the dogs about 3/4 of a mile ahead of me. I texted her that I could see her, I know I'm amazing that I can text and run at the same time, at least until they make it against the law. It took me about 7 min of running to catch up to her. Both the dogs ran to great me and I stopped to walk for a minute or two and checked on how Renae was doing. She said her toe was a little bothersome but she really had to pee. Unfortunately there was only one porta-jane's along the route but it was at Mile 7 1/2, which neither of us knew about.

I started off running again and got about 2 min from Renae and I heard her whistling so I looked back and both the dogs were bounding down to me. I caught them and gave them a good rubbing and got them headed back to Renae. I was still following the lady in Red with the golf cart husband. We reached Mile 7 and were actually in the town of Crested Butte. We started heading to the downtown area and as I rounded the corner for the last 3/4 mile and apparently it was a farmer's market and then ended up on the parade route for the 4th of July Parade. This was a bit bothersome as either people didn't realize there was a run going on or just didn't care. People would walk right in front of me or stop their bicycles and talk so it was frustrating. I caught up and passed the lady in red right at the finish line.

I finished my 8.56 mile in 2hr4min29sec. Not bad for some up hill and at 9500 feet of elevation. I was hoping to do it about 20 min faster than that but it is what it is. I got something to drink and turned around and headed back to meet Renae. She was rounding the last corner when I reached her and she ran the last 1/4 mile with the dogs.

After she crossed the finish line and got something to drink we headed back to the jeep. When we got there all the parade entries were lined up behind the jeep so we were stuck. We sat down on the ground to watch the parade. As the last entry passed we backed out and followed them. People were clapping and cheering as we passed. It was funny.

We headed home Monday morning and decided to take a few detours. We found some really pretty country that was really bumpy. I had to pee 4 times during a 2 hour period. We also stalled the jeep twice coming down a one lane road near Lake City. We made it home around 2pm.

Goings On in Durango Colorado June 19th and 20th 2010

Renae climbing in Mesa Verde!

Me saying you want me to climb this, how old is it?

Renae ascending the carved steps out of the Balcony House.

Renae finishing her first half marathon!

Renae looking more chipper before the start of the half, lol.

Acting foolish on the Durango Silverton train.

Train taking on water, it is a steam engine you know.

Renae getting ready to set off from Durango.

Reflective Lake outside of Durango.

Well I had some outreach to do in Durango a couple of weeks ago and then needed to head on down to Chinle, AZ for some outreach. So I asked Renae if she wanted to come and then found a 1/2 marathon to run in Durango between the two outreach events. Man was it ever a packed 6 days. So we drove over Lizard Head Pass to Delores and Cortez and did a little bit of outreach on the way to Durango. We got into Durango around 6pm and felt like eating Italian so went to Mama Boys', I can say I wouldn't recommend it, it was overpriced and not very tasty at all. (As a side side note this was the day that RJ had told Renae and I that if we hadn't heard from him, as he was backpacking in Denali, that we should contact the Ranger Station) During our meal we started calling RJ and Cheryl to see how they liked backpacking in Denali, but we were unable to get a hold of them. So we called and talked with Aunt Ethel Faye and Frank, they were fishing. Both said they hadn't heard from them, I could tell that this bothered Renae, but I said it was RJ so we would wait another hour or two. We headed back to the hotel and began the two hour process of trying to figure out how to report a hiker that hadn't checked in to the Denali National Park Rangers. One might think that this should be an easy process, however, after hours all you keep getting is the message, "If this is an emergency please hang up and dial 911". Well it wasn't an emergency in Durango it was an emergency in Alaska. We must have called 30 different telephone numbers until we located a telephone number for search and rescue outside of Denali who connected us with search and rescue inside Denali and that was around 1030 pm Colorado time frame. They said they would initiate a search starting in the morning. So now both our imaginations started going about Cheryl being dehydrated and shriveling into a small bean and RJ fighting off carnivorous animals with a .45 that he's never shot, etc etc. RJ texted us at 0130 in the morning, probably because we left like 30 messages on both their phones, that they were fine and had been out of the National Park for like 5 or 6 hours. Damn it. So Renae had him call the search and rescue and call off his search. So the point of this little side jaunt into our reality of this weekend is if you tell someone that if they don't hear from you by a certain time to call for help trust that the person will and if you get out and don't have a phone to call that said person find one. So after finding out that all the little peeps were safely tucked away I fell asleep, again.

The next day was outreach to Cortez and Mancos for me and Farmington for Renae, but not for outreach. During my outreach I found a cool little food place tucked away that sold awesome fry bread. If you've never had the opportunity to eat fry bread it is deadly and addictive. So Renae meet me and we returned to this little gem and ate lunch before heading to Mesa Verde. We were running a little behind schedule so didn't get to look around much on the 30 mile drive through Mesa Verde but it seemed much like the rest of Colorado. Our ranger for the guided tour of Balcony House was prior service Marine Corp so we struck up a conversation while hiking down treacherous steps. I think we both enjoyed our little tour but were in a hurry to get back to Durango to pick up our race packets at the brewery for the 1/2 marathon the next day.

We got back into Durango with 10 min to spare before they stopped giving out the registration packets. The bag was like a miniature recycled bag with our timing chip and t-shirt and a bunch of paper crap that just got thrown in the trash. We then walked down the street and had an overpriced but very tasty dinner. I believe Renae had a Buffalo Rib Eye and I had some sort of Red fish. We then drove to where the race was to start so at 6 am there was no mistake. Off to an early bed we went.

The next morning when we woke up we got geared out in our race clothes grabbed what little they had out for the breakfast buffet at the hotel and headed off to the races. When we got there it appeared to be mass confusion but we knew we were to load the slow bus, not the short bus, but the slow bus because we would be 3 hours or slower for this run. I was hoping, hopes that were quickly dashed at the start of the race, that I would shave at least 20 min off my previous 1/2 time. Our bus came and we sat and sat and sat then eventually got started off for the start line. They had three porta-janes for 40 people at the start line and we had 5 min to get to the starting line 1/4 of a mile away. So let me break this down for you, slow people would start 45 min before all the rabbit runners, load a bus drive to the "start line", get dropped off not at the start line but 1/4 mile from it, have 5 min to get to the start line, 3 porta-janes 40 people 5 min. Needless to say when Renae and I reached the actual starting line my head had already deflated me. And were off, Rabbit Renae pulls out with a fast crowd and Turtle Julie tells herself not to start out to quickly. Within 1/2 mile I catch up to Renae and finally pass her at 1 mile, only because she stopped to walk just had toe nail removed week before. I'm thinking to myself this won't be bad....I can do this. Mile 2 whew glad there is an aide station here...........that isn't staffed and has no flipp'n water.....WTF. Mile 2 1/2 camera person smile for the camera. Mile 3 realization that they hadn't stopped traffic down this two lane county highway and that I have been running on a slant. Mile 3 1/4 defeat.....shit(not literally). So at this point I start run walking. For some reason they have orange traffic cones set out along the side of the road we are running along. So I walk for one section then rabbit for one section until like Mile 6. That is when the first real runners pass me. The third person past me is a female and I cheer her on while she runs like a 5 minute pace. By the time I hit Mile 7 I'm pretty deflated and my feet hurt so I start texting Renae she is like 1 1/2 miles behind me as far as I can tell. At this point we start hitting the bigger rollers. I try to keep my run walk up as when I hit Mile 8 I was like a little over two hours so I delusionally thought that I might still be able to come in under 3 hours not realizing that that was 5 miles in one hour, lol. I hit Mile 9 and started walking more than running as my feet really hurt at this point running on a slant while dodging not only traffice but trying not to get in the fast runners way was taking it's toll on me. By this point I think Renae was within a mile of me, she was awesome. Some where between Mile 10 and 12 my soul departed from my body and watched this poor wretched person attempt to be an athlete. At Mile 12 I was snapped back into reality because I faced a straight uphill run that was 3/4 of a mile long. I reached the top and there was a group of women saying you are almost there it is to the end of the block and just around the corner. So I managed some sort of run shuffle thing after asking if she was lying to me. I some how ran (I use that term loosely at this point) to the finish line, lifted my leg for the poor lady to remove my timing bad (but felt bad because I could only imagine the smells I emitted), receive my medal and pilsner glass, headed to the car to put said items in it and back out the other side of the parking lot to find and run with Renae. Thank GOD that she was already on the straight away for the finish line. She had made up a 1/2 mile on me. I had to run to keep up with her walk. I took pictures as she finished her first 1/2 marathon. Then I wanted to puke and collapse. But I went and got Renae's flip flops and then collapsed at the side of the pool, making sure first to remove my shoes and socks, landing so that my feet and lower legs were soaking in the cold water. They were serving hamburgers and beer but I couldn't move. Renae was awesome and stood in line. I must have been really dehydrated because I couldn't keep my head upright without feeling like vomitting. I laid in the shade beside Renae as she moved her way up the line. After getting some water and food I felt a little better, but we were ready to go. Renae got back in line to get one more beer and me a root beer it was yummy. We then headed back to the hotel. We did manage to walk to the car later in the afternoon to go get Sonic ice cream, but pretty much rested the rest of the day.

The next morning we awoke and wasn't to stiff or sore, but could tell we had done some physical exercise the day before. Off to the train station we went to ride the Silverton Durango train. It was pretty cool. It was like a 3 hour 20 min ride to Silverton. We saw where they dropped off for the Needles Crestone hike and decided we would try that sometime. We got to Silverton and disembarked from the train and looked for the Brewery so Renae could watch some of the world cup. I walked around town a bit and then we prepared for the ride back to Durango. Tourists crack me up, on the way back, we rode with a different group, they were a church group. Apparently they don't have prairie dogs or cliffs or rivers for that matter in Arkansas. On the way back we were flipping through one of the Durango magazines and saw a Melodrama Dinner Act and decided to go that evening. I called as soon as I got into cell range and ordered two tickets, but it was to late to add the Dinner on it so we just walked in and ate at the place. More tourists inquiring as to why someone (the bus boy) would put holes in his ears or put studs in his lip. I laughed all through dinner. The Melodrama was well there is no good way to describe what it was.....we ended up leaving right as it was over and I do mean right as it was over.

Overall it was a wild and fun trip to the four corners area. Off to Chinle I went and Renae returned to Grand Junction to work.

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

Picture from after the ceremony. Everyone looked so good.

Wedding cake that Taysha had picked out.

Mike (air force) being a play'r with the bridesmaids.

Cheryl being goofy at the rehearsal lunch.

Brian showing off his mad basketball skills, lol.

Well last weekend was the big weekend in which Brian and Taysha got married and I was to officiate my very first wedding. I left work early on Friday the 28th so I could get to the Bachelorete party which was to start at 6pm. The drive over was somewhat uneventful although the wind was gusting up to 60 mph in places so both hands on the wheel. I listened to the audio book "The Lovely Bones" most of the way over I'm on the forth disc now. I got into Denver around 4pm and checked into the hotel as I learned that I would be transporting not only Renae and Kaily to the party but Taysha and Brenda (should have a bigger car). So we got to the condo in which the party was to be held. The girls weren't quite ready to start but I was starving so went up and got some food and talked to Cheryl. Norah wasn't feeling well (side story Kristen wasn't feeling well the weekend before up until about Wednesday, Renae thinks that then Kaily had it Thursday and Friday, Norah had it Friday, Renae had it Friday and Saturday, Taysha had it Saturday, I got it Sunday and Monday, now Roby, Kaleb, and Clayton have it) so she went to lay down for a while. Needless to say the bridal shower got started and Renae and I took Kaily back to the hotel. She did awesome and we had lots of fun with her. We got up on Saturday morning and went to eat with Kaily at Rosie's. She walked all the way from the hotel across the parking lot to Rosie's.

Anywho we were on-time in getting to the rehearsal as was Brian and half the grooms man despite our intention of getting there early. Apparently there was some apprehension that there would be friction with the entire family being there but everything went well and introductions were made to new parts of the family and renewal's of family that hadn't been seen for a while. Since we were on a time schedule I herded everyone into the back to get started with the proceedings. We got to run through the ceremony twice making some adjustments and then we walked through the venue. I have to say I wasn't impressed with the Miramonte Lodge, but I was not well on Sunday and all that matters is that Taysha and Brian are married. We then went to C.B. Potts for the rehearsal lunch which was fun. It looked like everyone had a good time. Herb got a bunch of drink tickets but because of parties the night before there wasn't a lot of drinking going on. We stayed there for a couple of hours and then checked into the new hotel near the venue. I laid down for a nap and then we went and ran some last minute errands. By the time we were done both of us were beat and ready to hit the rack. I got up the next morning at 0630 and Renae hadn't been feeling well still so continued to rest while I went for a run....5.5 miles and my knee was good. When I got back I got ready to head to breakfast and Sams. Still last minute stuff that hadn't gotten done on Friday. Breakfast was at IHOP and Sams only had one bouquet of white roses. Huh who would have thought that there wouldn't be white roses available on Memorial Day Weekend. So on the hunt we went. We stopped at 5 or 6 different places looking for white roses which of course where essential to tie together things for the wedding. We put out an APB to family to gather whatever white roses could be found. Renae and I dropped some appetizers off at the venue with what white roses we could find and then went to try to nap before going to the venue at 130. No such luck the phone rang like every 15 min so we just got up and I ironed my robe. It was at this time that I noticed I wasn't feeling very good that my stomach was starting to churn. I kinda chalked it up to nerves but knew that wasn't it and I was getting what everyone else had. We were off to the venue and got there around 130. I started doing some of the last minute things and the longer I was on my feet the worse I began to feel. At some point I went out to sit in the car because everyone was try to make decisions that they really had no control over and it was driving me nuts. I watched Roby and Kaleb outside throwing a football and really enjoyed watching, they were being funny. I came back inside around 330 and just kinda watched the chaos that ensued. At 4pm I put on my robe as the ceremony was to start in 30 min at some point I started sweating and knew I had a fever and I kept taking deep breaths trying not to crap my pants or vomit. About 15 min till start time Herb (Brian's dad) apparently thought I looked like death warmed over and asked if I wanted to be moved in front of the fan, thank God someone was looking out for the High Priestess. Sitting in front of the fan helped and then quite a few people came and asked if I were all right because it looked like I was actually praying. 430 came and went and Herb said it would be about 15 more minutes then he came and got me. I walked down the aisle and we started. Everyone looked so pretty and all grown-up in their suits and gowns. Katie and Kaleb did awesome and looked really good, Kaleb with his goofy smile and Katie all of a sudden realized everyone was looking at her and became shy. The Taysha and Randy. Thankfully the had chosen just a ceremony without a candle or rose ceremony and no extra stuff in it. I made it through the ceremony without vomiting or shitting on myself. Brian gave Taysha a really big mussy kiss, yeah Brian, and I pronounced them Mr and Mrs. Wishing everyone would hurry back down the aisle so I could go inside. At some point I went in and laid down on the couch in the girls dressing room. Then proceeded to get sick multiple times to the point that my ribs hurt beyond belief. I got the damn marriage license signed by everyone and left (damn because it was a process in which no one apparently cared about but if it didn't get signed then all this was for not). I headed straight back to the hotel and was miserable in pain and vomit for about 6 or 7 hours. Renae got back in around 1230 in the morning and left again at 3 am to take Brian, Taysha, and Mike to the airport. I was sleeping off and on but more off and was ready to get in the car to drive home to sleep in my own bed by 0630. We left Broomfield around 0845 and headed home. I had to stop about every 1 1/2 hours to allow the virus to pass through me from one end or the other. So it took a little bit longer to get home. I wish I had felt better but twas not the case nor did I want to stay and infect people with what had gotten passed to me. Had no regrets about my contributions to the wedding and would have done it all over again (maybe a little differently but in the same capacity). By the way second time in a 30 day period in which I have worn a dress and no one has taken a picture, sorry you lose.

Trying out New Long Boards

I'm going to fall......

Speed Racer

Well I'm not exactly sure how it happened maybe Venus was in alignment with Mars, but Renae and I ended up buying Never Summer Long Boards from Board and Buckle in Junction. We actually went to that shopping center to go to Nature's Way but walked over "to just look" as we have never been in the store. It was bad news though once we found out they had Never Summer as we both like their snowboards. I talked with the 18 year old who was selling them and he was funny. After we got them we did some other stuff and then went to a parking lot to try them out. It was like learning to snowboard all over again. Here is some video.

Renae long boarding.

Me long boarding.

Reno Nevada, Half Marathon, and various other topics of the last week.

Renae getting ready to run her 10K

Getting my medal after finishing the 1/2 marathon.

Posing at water station with 1 mile left.

Getting ready to cross the start line.

Sitting in the grown up chair before the race.

Ahhhh. Where to begin. I think we packed 4 weeks worth of stuff into just 5 days. It all begins last Friday when I got off work to head to Reno for the Half Marathon and RCS National Conference. Renae and I finished packing said goodbye to all the animals and headed to the airoporto. Unbeknownst to us we had locked Salem (kitty) downstairs, thankfully we had someone watching the animals. So we checked in and listened to all the commotion going on about how the plane was over booked and was over weight and these women had to be on the plane. For some reason I so enjoy sitting at the airport watching people they fascinate me. We took off for Denver and I nearly lost my lunch as we were landing due to excessive side to side motion and up and down motion of the very tiny airplane. I had to sit with my head between my legs for some time before deboarding or disembarking. The flight to Reno seemed pretty unremarkable. We picked up our rental car and I listened to the direction to get to the EL DORADO pronounced the Spanish version not the Kansas version. We had a slight disagreement in the authenticity of the directions and took a small detour seeing what was on the other side of town. For those of you who enjoy the Vegas/Reno nightlife/lifestyle I am terribly sorry for what I'm about to say.....but it would be alright with me if a big assed flood came along and took out casino's, their drunk assed patrons, and the sleazy people that hang around outside like pedophile stalkers. With that said....the lights were pretty. Forgot to mention that the rental car place upgraded Renae to a SUV......ha more like a luxury liner.....they gave us an 8 passenger Ford Expedition. I thought I was driving my 77 Monte Carlo. Not to mention that like most places the casino makes the parking garage maximize space to the 10th multiple making it quite difficult if your are driving the Space Shuttle. I was quite tired when we got in but we decided to walk around and check things out. I took a 5 dollar bill with me in case I felt the need to stick it in a slot machine. I'm glad I did because I won 82 dollars and that was my playing money the entire time I was in Reno. Saturday we got up and ate breakfast at Trevlo or something like that and decided to wait around until registration began so we could pick up our race packets. We walked around a bit and found the Salon/Spa. I had mentioned that I wanted to get my haircut and we discovered they did facials. We thought it would be fun to have a little pampering and so each signed up for one. For my first facial it was absolutely fabulous. I was just sorry that I hadn't yet showered because we had only just come down to eat breakfast. Then I had my haircut and they brought me a mimosa (didn't like it but now I know what it is). By the time we had finished it was nearly noon and so we went to pick up the race packets. The race tee was just blah but we got to try on some vibrams which was way coolio.
We got something to eat from somewhere and then showered, ate lunch, and headed outside the casino to walk around and look at stuff. We were connected via skywalk with the Silver Legacy and the Circus circus. Don't exactly remember what we did the rest of Saturday afternoon and evening but we ate at a pub for dinner and turned in early. I made Renae get up at like 5:15 in the morning on Sunday I don't think she was very appreciative, lol. But the marathon started at 0630 and the half started at 0700 and 10K at 0730. Renae had decided to run the 10K since her doctor put her on Antibiotics and Steriods three days earlier and told her not to run, what is it about health care professionals. Anywho, I showered and we headed down to a coffee shop to get some yogurt and Renae got a coffee. I'm not sure how she can drink coffee before running I would be stopping at every single port-a-jane they had. We got to the starting area right around 0630 and watched the marathon runners take off. It is super exciting feeling right before a race everyone is all jazzed. Me I had butterflies floating around because this was my first half marathon and I really hoped I finished. I wanted to start close to the end because I didn't want to get run over but I kinda got bunched in the middle and still got run over. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt that I could toss off as it got warmer (a tip from Kristen).
And we were off..........they didn't have chip timers so I used my stop watch and my Nike Plus on my I pod to monitor my time. For the first mile I was just having fun watching all the people and trying not to start out to fast. After we passed through downtown we started following the river. It was amazing the number of people that were lining the streets cheering people on and the police were awesome blocking traffic and friendly. Between mile 1 and 2 I was listening in on peoples conversations. I had fallen in between the slow runners and the run/walkers. As we were passing through a park near mile 2 I was passing an older lady and I slowed to have a conversation. She was a teacher at one of the schools and her school had joined the pound for pound Biggest Loser Challenge and this was also her first 1/2 marathon (she ended up beating me by like 5 min she was run/walking). As we neared mile 3 I had to go pee and luckily there was a park bathroom so I ran inside and there were three other runners using the facilities which had no doors. I did my business and continued running. I was feeling good and having fun. As I approached the water station at Mile 3 I thought I heard one of the volunteers yell out "Warm Banana's" so then I started joking about warm banana's with her. As we passed mile 3 we ran along a bike path that went under the HWY and along the river to a sub division. We headed into the sub division and along lovely tree lined streets up a hill (advertised as a flat fast course, not so, not so). We turned back onto a major street for a mile or so. I started using my gel packs around mile 4 as I was at 52 min in. I was able to use a gel pack about every 30 min or so and felt really good. After passing Mile 4 we headed down into another park area along the river. I texted Renae that I had just passed 5.5 miles or so and took a picture of me running with my phone. Unfortunately I happened to have the sun behind me so it didn't turn out to well. But I looked good in my new contacts and sport sunglasses. I was starting to tire a little and had stopped passing people but wasn't getting passed either. We went up and down these little rollers for a while until Mile 6. I decided to take a small walk break and was going to empty my shoe from the rock I obtained after mile 4 but never stopped to do that. I walked for about 5 min and the walk/runners started to pass me so that motivated me to start running again. For the next 1.5 miles I was in a continuous battle with about 5 different run/walkers. They'd run and pass me as I was running then just stop right in front of me so I would pass them and so on. After I started running again after Mile 6 I made a decision to run for 20 min and walk for 5 because I wanted to finish this race. So I ran battling the run/walkers till we hit the water station at 7.5 miles and I walked for 2-3 min and started running. I caught up with a runner that was doing an airborne shuffle type of run and stayed with her for a long time. But she would catch sight of me and kick it up a notch so I would to, then she'd slow down, so I would, then fast, slow, fast, slow until she decided she wasn't going to loose me and we ran side by side till about Mile 9. It was then that I knew I could make the next 4 miles. I walked for 2-3 min and my little buddy was a bit ahead of me so I ran my pace and caught back up with her and we restarted the whole speed up slow down routine until around Mile 10.5. I walked again and some run/walkers passed me and started to pass her and she kicked it into gear and sped up. We all started laughing. this whole time I had been texting Renae where I was in my run. She had just finished her run when I hit Mile 9. She said she was headed back onto the course to meet me and run with me. We connected around Mile 11 as we were headed back into the first park we had come through. I was glad to see her because my energy was draining and my feet were starting to hurt. She ran with me real well considering she had just run 6.2 miles. I walked another 2 min or so and then ran the last mile in. As we rounded the last 3 blocks or so onto S. Virginia St Renae left and started running along the sidewalk catching photos of me. I kicked it up a notch and ran the last little bit super dooper fast. I was so happy to cross the finish line. They gave me a medal but I have yet to really look at it. We walked around a bit so I could cool down and then we signed up for massages but they said it would be about 30 min so we walked to the hotel and showered. Renae went back out for her massage and I slumped down in a couch at the reception desk at the hotel with all of our luggage, taking a much needed 20 min power nap.

We then headed over to the Nugget Casino and hotel to get the room for the conference. We walked in and there were like 50 people in line to get their rooms. Ugggg. I think we took a short nap and then went to the pool and stopped by the Spa to see if they did massages. Luckily they had a foot pampering massage and we both signed up for the next day to get one. We soaked in an awesome hot tub and then got ice to put our feet in to reduce swelling. The next few days were somewhat of a blur with conference stuff. A couple of firsts on this trip; facial, 1/2 marathon, staying in Reno, and winning 82 dollars, wearing a dress for first time since graduating AIT in 1993 (sorry no pictures of that).

Almost bought a long board but wasn't sure how to get it back to Junction and how much I'd get to ride it with all the running we have planned. Ate at Grimaldi's Pizza and wasn't worth the calories, money, or energy. But have video.

Boarding at Breckenridge

Me being cheesy before the 10K.

Renae crossing the finish line.

Boarding at Breck.

Renae after getting off the lift.

Cheryl posing ready to pounce.

Last weekend Renae and I headed over to Denver to run a 10K, doing some wedding shopping, and to board with Cheryl and RJ. We got into Denver at 7pm and met Taysha and Brian at the movie theather in Greenwood Village next to the Elephant Bar. We watched Date Night.....hilarious.....then we went to the Elephant Bar...naturally. We didn't get till bed until a little after 10pm and got up around 0545. We weren't sure where exactly the race was so we left in plenty of time to get there. We found the high school and there were lacrosse games and soccer practice as well so the joint was pretty crowed. We got our registration bags, timing chip, and t-shirts then headed back to the car to put them all up. It was freak'n cold out 33 degrees and I was dressed some what inappropriate for that temp....fearful I would have to run in my sweatshirt...but thankfully the sun came out a little and I tossed the sweatshirt before the race started. We got off right on time and headed up Hell's Hill as the locals call it. I started off running but became so out of breath that I walked all the way to the top of the hill as did Renae. She kept saying I can't relax. Once we hit the top I started running and ran through what looked like what I sometimes run in Junction. After about 2 1/2 miles we came to the road and started running on the road UP the HILL. I ran about 1/2 up the hill and passed another runner but then needed to walk but made sure to walk faster than the runner was running. Once I topped the hill I was able to start running again. Thankfully I was listening to my Ipod and a running cadence came on.....I immediately relaxed my gate and started calling cadence. At mile 5 we took a turn off the trail to add more distance and I was like crap really. I walk/ran the next 1/2 mile until the runner I passed was starting to get close. I started running again and when I came back to the turn off I started running hard and came in just under 90 min. I waited for Renae at the finish line and she came in about 4 min behind me. She did awesome for being tight and her back bothering her.

The next day we headed to Breck to board with RJ and Cheryl. It was some unusual snow that soft powder it was like boarding in mashed potatoes. Here are some movies from the day.

Board Dancing with RJ and Cheryl.

My first attempt at a big air jump.