Whistler ski/snowboard trip!!!

Our annual ski trip was Feb 2-6 and we had a blast! We chose to go back to Whistler this year, which turned out to be a good decision because they had more snow than a lot of other resorts. We flew into Vancouver on Thursday, then enjoyed the 2 hour scenic drive to Whistler. This is a typical view on the drive:

We had three full days on the mountain, with Justin skiing and me snowboarding. We went with a group of friends and rented a NICE house, which meant that we could cook most meals at home and enjoy time hanging out at night. Sunday night when we came off the mountain, we watched the Superbowl and loaded up on junk food! The only complaint about the Superbowl was that they don't show American commercials in Canada!

We had gorgeous weather all three days on the mountain, which resulted in BEAUTIFUL views and great pictures! Here are some of the best.

Justin, me, Jesse, Kelli and Will

Justin was really into taking pictures, which was great, but he'd shout to me "ok, now stop right there and turn around" when I'm going down a fairly steep blue slope. Anyone that snowboards understands how difficult that simple request can be! So in most of the pictures I look like I'm about to fall on my butt (because I am).

Since Justin was the keeper of the camera, most of the pictures of him were with him holding the camera out in front of him. He's pretty good at it, though!

Clear skies as far as you can see!

GORGEOUS backdrop for a picture

I loved the fog in the mountains on the second day. We woke up and it looked like it was overcast, but the first lift took us out of the fog into the sunshine. It was awesome!

Virginia and Michael in the house (with me, Jesse and Rich in the background)

This is me and Justin in the Olympic rings in the Village. They expanded the Whistler Village for the 2010 Olympics. 

Wanna-be bobsledders

This bird was trying to take everyone's lunch! I generously shared my PB&J sandwich for the sake of a picture (just a tiny bit, though. Lunch is precious on the mountain!)

It was a great trip and I can't wait 'til the next one! Once a year isn't nearly enough! :) 

St. Jude Half Marathon

I had so much fun at the St. Jude Marathon today! Of all the marathons I've run, it's my favorite event because it's local and for a fantastic cause, but mostly because there are SO many friends out there running and watching!

I "only" ran the half this year, which was a perfect distance for me today. I hate when people say they are only running a half, because that is still a long distance and a HUGE accomplishment. However, now that I've run plenty of full marathons, I came into today's race with a little bit of an "only a half" attitude. Even though it's still hard, and if you do it right it's still going to hurt, the anticipation, pre-race planning and nervous jitters are so much less intense for a half! If you've trained for a full marathon, you know you can make it through 13 miles even on your worst running day, so there's a little less to worry about.

Anyway... when I signed up for the half I intended to run it as fast as I could, trying to walk away with a clear answer to the question "What is your half marathon PR?" Prior to today, my "real" PR was around 1:54, but I ran a 1:47 split in the St. Jude full last year. Unfortunately, I didn't look that time up before the race to know what to shoot for! I went out fast and maintained it until around mile 8, then gradually slowed down. There were a couple (ok, several) times that I walked when I didn't really need to, or mentally gave up, but all in all it was a pretty good race for me. I finished in 1:48:29, which I was really happy with, given my level of training and current fitness. I wish I'd pushed through some of the times that I stopped to walk, but that's ok!

Justin was a GREAT spectator, watching the half around mile 7 at a friend's house. Before the race I had chained my bike close to the finish at Autozone Park, so after the race I grabbed the bike and rode over to watch the full marathon's pass my friend's house at  mile 22. We had a great time cheering, and I was really glad to do it because the last stretch of the full marathon is LONG and BORING with few spectators. It was a fun day and I'm glad I ran it! I'm also amped up to train harder and hopefully pull out a good time for the New Orleans Marathon in March!

Thanksgiving and our Holiday Running Streak

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with many reminders of how blessed we are and how much we have to be thankful for. We spent the weekend in Nashville with my parents, but got to spend time with Shelby, Alex and Justin's dad Frank too.

Much of the time when we were all at my parents' house we also had all 4 dogs, which led to some interesting times! They mostly get along ok, but every now and then Cooper decides to growl at Riley and kinda jump at her like she wants to fight. Cooper would lose, but neither he nor Riley know that, so we have a boxer that is scared to death of the westie, and a westie that has no idea the danger he is putting himself in! One major point of contention between the two is where they each get to sit. Everyone likes to be in someone's lap and sometimes they don't share this nicely!



Kelsey doesn't like the excitement, so she hides out in the bedroom and won't come out most of the time.


The dogs are entertaining, at least!

We spent Thanksgiving day with my dad's side of the family, pigging out on DELICIOUS food, playing cornhole and just sitting around. It was a great day!

Friday we took a Christmas card picture with all 6 people at 4 dogs... It was challenging but fun, and successful!






Justin and I completed day 3 of our holiday run streak, where we have vowed to run at least one mile a day and to take our dogs with us. We know they need exercise and will be better behaved and healthier if we walk them daily, but it's so hard to motivate ourselves to take them. So, between now and New Years, whether we want to or not, we are going on daily walks/jogs. I'm hoping to get Kelsey under a 10:00 mile and teach Cooper to pace himself! The highlight of the runs so far is that Cooper slept until 7:45 this morning... That is unheard of! But, then again, it was a tiring weekend for everyone!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

New York Marathon and vacation

Justin and I had a wonderful vacation in New York! We were there for the marathon, but got to see and do many other touristy things as well. Here are some of the highlights, as well as my thoughts on the marathon.

First, the "vacation report" followed by a race report:

The Statue of Liberty

9/11 memorial

On the way to the Memorial we stumbled upon the Occupy Wall Street protesters, so I had to take a picture of them too!



Times Square, and the Toys R Us in it!






Spiderman on Broadway. The critics didn't love this show, but I thought the stunts, music and set design made it very entertaining!



Central Park




Macy's. It has 11 floors and had already started decorating for Christmas!



Grand Central Terminal. This was the first place we attempted to ride the Subway. For NYC subway novices... This is not the place to go! We eventually found the subway lines and ended up where we needed to be, but it was overwhelming for a minute or two. :)



"Top of the Rock" - the lookout point at the top of the Rockefeller Center. We got there right before sunset, which was perfect to see the views in daylight, at sunset and at night.


Central Park in the background!




Of course, we ate well while we were there! Yes, we finished this entire piece of cheesecake... But we did have to take it back to the hotel. We also ate pretzels, roasted chestnuts and giros from street vendors, and plenty of other great food!



Two of the best things about that trip was that we got to meet up my friend Ashley for dinner one night, and my cousin Margaret for dinner and to watch the UT/MTSU football game, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that!

Carlo's Bake Shop, from The Cake Boss, in Hoboken, NJ



New York City Marathon Race Report:

Everything about the race was over-the-top, but in a good way! It was HUGE. This was by far the biggest marathon I have run, which has pros and cons but makes for a pretty cool experience.

Packet pickup was really well organized and went smoothly, for such a big race. I love these welcome signs in all different languages.



It was really appropriate, as 22,000 of the finishers weren't from the United States. Everywhere you turned someone was speaking another language as a reminder that it truly is an international marathon. It made me even more excited about running the Paris marathon in April, where we will be the international runners. It's cool how running brings people together.



We went to the expo with our friends Chris and Jessica, which was fun. After doing plenty of shopping and buying a Motoactv GPS music player and some compression calf sleeves, we watched a video about the marathon that gave me chills and made me even more excited about the race.

Race morning, we had to catch a bus in Midtown Manhattan at 6:00 am, even though the race didn't start until 9:40. Luckily I had friends to hang out with, or I would have been bored out of my mind! We took the bus to Staten Island and camped out in the grass on Mylar blankets for a couple hours, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds!

After the Staten Island bridge, the next 13 miles were in Brooklyn, where I think every resident came out to watch. There was never a section without spectators. I had a blast trying to slap hands with every little kid on my side of the course for about a mile, but it was impossible there we so many! We ran up Manhattan Island, then did quick little sections of the Bronx and Queens before heading back to Manhattan. The quietest part of the course was the Queensboro Bridge, around mile18 or so. We were on the bottom of the bridge, and it was a brutal uphill followed by a downhill that actually hurt a little too. It went on and on. There were no spectators, since it was a bridge, so all I heard was the sound of feet on the pavement. As we neared the bottom of the bridge we could hear the crowds in Manhattan. We turned the corner and went from near silence to the loudest cheering I've ever heard in a race. It was the coolest experience! The rest of the race went down 5th Avenue to Central Park, then the last two miles were in the park. I'm sure it was pretty... I didn't notice at that point. I just wanted to be finished! I gave it all I had the last couple miles, but it wasn't enough to finish under 4 hours. My time was around 4:01, but I don't know for sure because my timing chip didn't work.

Overall, the race was a wonderful experience that I'd recommend any marathoner do once, but I probably won't do it again because of the cost and complexities of a race that huge. It was a fun time and I'm extremely thankful for Justin coming with me and cheering me on and supporting me in all my marathons!

Location:New York, New York