Holy Hell What Have I Done?! A full Marathon...in Hawaii!!!

OMG OMG OMG!!!  I mean did you hear me scream OMG?! I can't believe what I just did...I registered for my first full marathon!!!  I don't know what I was thinking but for my birthday this year I am going to run my first full marathon in Honolulu, Hawaii! 

I mean 26 point 2 miles.
From one side of the island to the other.
Going around Diamond Head...and back!
Again...did I mention 26 point 2 miles on my feet?!
I'm already tired thinking about this...but excited...but tired!

While I sit here and think that I am crazy as hell for doing this there are so many reasons why I know that I am going to be able to do this because of so many things that have changed in my life over the past few months.  I know that everyone says "...if I just train hard then things will fall into place and I can overcome any obsticle that I put my mind too..." {sure this is true but there is so much more to it in my opinion...nothing worth doing is easy and running a marathon or even contemplating the idea of running a marathon is EASY! F*^K You if it is a light Sunday afternoon stroll...actually could you give me some training points!?} but I find myself more motivated when I have a community behind me, when I am being motivated and I am returning that motivation back, when my words matter and actions speak volumes to show people that the impossible can happen...and let's face it the idea of me running a marathon goes right along the lines with the word impossible!

Okay so yeah, a marathon, what the hell am I thinking!?!?!  Look at this course map!

That's like the entire length of the island and back right?! No no, I know that it's not...but it is a long ways.  I am happy that I have until December to train for it, I'm thankful I know people going and will be rocking this out with me and I am speechless when it comes to those who support and cheer me on - people that I never expected it from, people I've never met but would love too and people that may not understand what I do but have an open heart.

Beyond running the full marathon on 12/11/2016 I am also doing the 1 Mile race distance the day before...and it is cracking me up because people are like "OMG you are running a race before you do a full marathon...I could never!" {OMG it's a mile...call me crazy if I said I was going to do a full and a half in the same weekend - actually if I ever say that then please come and lock me up because I am CRAZY!} ...but it is only a mile, I would do that walking around the city doing nothing at all so why not earn an extra medal {HEHE BLIIIIIIIIIING}.

The next 200-ish days are going to fly by, they are going to be here before I know it so I am thankful that I have amazing running buddies who have given me an amazing training plan to get me ready which brings me to another point...I am not scared to do it! That to me is something that I never thought I would say...mainly because each and every time I step up to the starting line of a half marathon I am so nervous I could puke...{Don't worry I never do, but the nerves set in none the less}.

Okay, so today is my blogging day and I just needed to make that announcement that you know I'M CRAZY AND RUNNING A FULL MARATHON!!!!  I'll be back again later with more...but while I'm away leave me a comment!  What was your first marathon? How did you train?  Any tips for this first timer?! ...any help is welcome :D

Meg
aka Nutmegz
HF 12033

A Girl Goes To San Antonio...And Leaves Part Of Herself There!!

So anyone who knows me knows that I am not a fan of Texas...but I was shocked when I came to San Antonio that I finally found a place in Texas that I not only didn't want to leave but also fell in love with; so much so I left a part of me there.

I was dreading going to Texas for work to the point where I would have done anything not to go...but I am so happy I did.  The day that I got in, Sunday 05/15/2015, it was hot...it was humid...and frankly I was instantly reminded as to the reasons why this Washington girl doesn't go anywhere near the south.  The whole trip started when I was leaving Jacksonville, FL and it took WAAAAAY TOOOOO long! There was a medical emergency on the airplane and what should have been only a 3 hour flight took almost 12!

 I got in to the airport so late that I BARELY made it to the rental car pick up location {and before I got any further can I please ask why, and I mean WHY is it that when I am in Texas the only cars that I can rent are Fords.  I am a Chevy girl...this was depressing choices at something that I love doing the most weekly when I travel - but when my only choices are Ford, Ford and more Fords it isn't much fun at all!!!} and then I was going to have to navigate my way through a new city, a new loation and on a hungry grouchy mood {again all factors that wasn't helping San Antonio}.  Okay so I was going to chalk the evening up to a loss and go to sleep and get up early in the moring and head out for a run before work.  Well let's just say that about the moment that I got up to the 17th floor that my room was on my suitcase decided to explode and my stuff decided to leave a trail down the hallway {So yeah I was done and the week hadn't even began}...I was going to sleep.

View From My Room

Okay so one of my most favorite things to do in a new city is to get lost in the city itself; to become

apart of it and fade away in to the hustle and bustle of the streets and be invisable to just about everyone; except those few people in life who can get past my wall and actually get me to smile at them and open up {and I can count the number of people who have done that in my life on one hand...it's not easy, but so worth it with me when it happens} ...but the opening up usually comes when I'm sitting at a pub or at a bar eating dinner by myself.  However the best hands downed way I found to see San Antiono in a way that I've never scene it before is to go running.  I headed out first thing Monring for a run down by the riverwalk since that is where my hotel was and throughout the downtown area including the Alamo.  Is there a better way to see history, culture and everything you didn't expect other than getting out there and being apart of it?! Nope, I don't believe so...which is why no matter how much I wanted to not run in the AM I knew that I would see something new each and every morning...and that made getting up worth it!!   My favorite part of getting up for an early morning run besides everything that I've already talked aobut is the ability to eat a great breakfast and eat coffee...however I am not a looker when I get done running, infact I look like a tragic mess - but at least I went out there!




Work was a bust that day because I drove across town for what was supposed to be a big meeting that turned in a big old flop...But I was so excited to get back to the hotel because I found out that there was a pub in the basement of the hotel called Dirty Nelly's {Or Nuckies as someone I met kept calling it...not sure they got Nuckies from Dirty Nelly's but I'm pretty sure they said it to make me smile and laugh each time!!  I crack up easily and all...}  and I was so excited to go because Ryan and I had just been in Ireland an in the shadow of the Bunratty Castle stood a bar called Dirty Nelly's that we fell in love with while there and never  in a million years did I think that I would leave a peace of my soul & heart in an Irish Pub in Texas...but I did; I left a big part of myself on that third barstool and can't stop smiling each and everytime I think about that bar.  Now, lets talk about the dinner that I had there.  I went in an ordered my usual Double Jameson on the Rocks with a Guinness back...and then couldn't decide on dinner - so I asked the bar tender...what's good here and I ended up with Irish fries and Sheppards Pie! {Holy. Mother. Of. God. That was one of the best meals that I ever had...} 

I sat at the bar and talked to so many different people that came and went as I was enjoying my beer and whiskey while listeing to some Irish Music...and the funny thing is that I can't remember most of the people that I talked to but there was this one person in town for a conference that was a blast to talk to...and it is amazing to have the nights when you lose track of time lauhing and making new connections.  At the end of the day in my book losing yourself in the people who are all around you is something that will change your soul and smile all at the same time {and left me thinking wow this week isn't going to be as shitty as I thought it would be...}.

Tuesday morning I was up adn running for my frist day of testing at work with my fruit salad, protien shake and Thrive patch on to help me through the day and I'm not going to lie as I was driving to work I was already counting down the hours until I got off work and was able to get a run in, dinner and see if San Antonio could shock me anymore and embed itself within me deeper {and yes it did in ways I can never explain} but alas I have to make it through a long day of looking at data and fielding the endless questions that I knew were going to come my way.  Once I was done with my annoying as he
ll day I was ready to run out of the door, hop in my car and get out of my work clothes and see what the River Walk had to offer...

I found myself at a place called Cafe Ole along the riverwalk and wow what a great time.  The margaritas were on point {although some might call them too "tarty" but maybe that's just because they are sissys and can't handle it...hehe} and the fajitas were so much better than anything you will find in Washington!  I didn't stay out that late Tuesaday night because there was something about laying in bed, watching TV and eating chocolate cake with berries from room service...and that is exactly what I did {and boy was it amazing}.  I loved the simplicity of getting lost in the doubet covers and falling a sleep with a big smile on my face!

The Riverwalk in Downtown San Antonio

So here we are, Wednesday morning, and I am not feeilng life in general.  There were horrid thunder and lightening storms and I wasn't sleeping to save my life.  I was up pacing my room so in the morning when my alar went off 2 hours after I had fallen asleep I just knew that it was going to be a ruff day {and the pic of my face proves that}.





I knew that my day wans't going to inlude any type of working out or anything exciting because I was spend...like almost dead spent and thinking at work all day long when you are fighting the tired makes you even more tired!  I ended up taking a nap, watching TV, sleeping more and watching a little more TV before I decided to go check out the Riverwalk at night and finally I was able to fall in love with it even more.  Around every corner there was something new to see, something new to expierence and something new to love.  The Riverwlk is amazing in the day and there is nothing like the energy flowing through that river with all the people who come to expierence it daily but there was something differnet at night...something that can't be explained other than a girl having falling in love witha city and the city loving her back as well.

I found my self at the Alamo again so I could see it at night and then at an old skool place called Pat O'Briens that served THE BEST HURRICANE that I've had yet in my life...and I slightly love them {Everyone in hondours knows that hehe}...but just look at the Alamo at night!  There was a silent peacefulness about it at night because all the tourists were gone, all the people pushing you for a photo were gone and even all the noice of the city was calming down...which gave me a moment to realize that when I wake up in the morning I was flying away from this city that I fell in love with, didn't expect it and felt heart broken about leaving - but it was better because I know that I would be back soon, and I would get to expierence more and more of what this city had to offer {that doesn't mean it didn't hurt because I am not a person who likes new places, who wants to stay and wants to expierence more and more but that was me with my last night in San Antonio and I didn't think that I was going to get a wink of sleep...but there could be chocolate cake hehe}.

Did I run as much as I wanted too while on this work trip? No.
Did I eat as healthy as I should on this work trip? Hell No
Was I ready to leave this city? No

Like I said in the begining, I am not a person who likes anythign about Texas but there was something about San Antonio that took over my  heart and soul that week and I had the hardest time gettign on that Airplane and flying home because it was so far away from my favorite running path, Irish pub, istes and etc...but knowing that I got to do everything that I've done so far and everything else I wanted to do but didn't have time and would be there waiting of me next time; it would just slowly kill a small part of me until I get back down there again.

I hope everyone has an amazing night & I hope tonight you can close your eyes and remind yoursel of your favorite person, place or expierence that you have taken lately...then go out and plan your next adventure.



Meg
a.k.a. Nutmegz
HF#120333

{05/19/2016} Two Half Marathons In Two States In Two Days Road Trip...Day 3 & Packet Pick-Up

Find out about the 1st day of our journey here: Crazy Road Trip...Day 1
Find out about the 2nd day of our journey here: Crazy Road Trip...Day 2



{The Events of this Blog Entry Happened on 05/06/2016}
Okay so here we are day three...and I was already tired thinking about the day that we had ahead of us.  Today was the day that we were going to be driving to the Grand Canyon and the MIL {aka Mom In Law...but that's a lot to type over and over again so we will just shorten it to MIL} and I were up early because of the fact that the Grand Canyon was not 5 hours like I thought it was from LA...NOOOOOO it was more like 8 and that meant 9 with stops because we liked to take our time.

We were up and ready to head out of the house around 0630 because we HAD to be in the Grand Canyon Village area no later the 1700 to ensure that I was going to pick up my packet and other stuff from the expo in time...but I wasn't worried about that!  I am not to proud to admit that I was totally jelly of the husband, daughter and puppy that were snuggled up together as I left because they looked sooooo comfy but I was about to start a road trip that at the end of it would mean that I would have ran a half marathon THROUGH THE GRAND CANYON!!

One thing that people tend to hype up in LA is the traffic and how horrid it is ALL THE DAMN TIME {and I totally don't get it because well I'm from Seattle and traffic happens so turn on some tunes and enjoy it!} but I will admit that I was blown away by how long it took us to get from Simi Valley to Pasadena where we had decided to get coffee - and well now I was in dire need of a potty break!

One of the things that I have always wanted to see in California, and more specifically Pasadena, is the Rose Bowl.  I see it every year New Years Day on TV watching the Rose Bowl Parade and never actually made it down there to check it out for myself.  Well, there happened to be a Starbucks around the corner from the actual Rose Bowl so of course we had to stop by and check it out!  It was even more beautiful in person than on TV {with the exception that all the roses around it were dead...} but the pic still turned out amazing and now I was able to say that I had been at the Rose Bowl.  {I am not going to lie when I say that going to the Rose Bowl Stadium made me want to register for the Inaugural Pasadena Half Marathon because the finish line is going to be IN THE ROSE BOWL...but Lordy I think my Hubby would murder me if I signed up for another race!!!}

Okay so here we were like 1.5 hours in to our journey and now we were on a hunt for Starbucks and gas...it was becoming more and more evident by the minute that whatever schedule I had created for today in my head was going to be thrown out the window in a matter of moments; if not already.  The thing about going on an adventure with me is that I am always down for anything so if someone says "OMG there is that thing I've always wanted to see..." I am the first person to help them get there because what are you going to do in your life...read about all the things you want to see, or see them when you have the opportunity? So gas was gotten and we actually got to drive down a famous neighborhood of Pasadena called the Bungalow District and it was awesome to see all the bungalow style homes being renovated and brought back to their original glory...something that the Pasadena area was famous for a few decades ago.  So after this tiny detour...coffee was gotten and gas was acquired and we were back on the road!

The drive itself out the Grand Canyon wasn't anything to ride home about...however, being a history nut like I am I thought that it was cool AF that we were driving parallel to the original Route 66 and everything that came along with that.  Because we were in such a hurry we didn't get a chance to stop in a the little towns and explore like we would have liked too but that doesn't mean we didn't find cool little towns to get gas in and/or pee in...because there was a lot of that happening {but then again I was downing a water bottle every 10-15 minutes} so why not find the neatest places to stop that we could.

One of the coolest things that we did was pull over at this Oasis of a gas stations that had a Dairy Queen built in {and a hotel that you wouldn't catch me staying in even if my skin was crawling off and rotting...oh god it was horrid} and it just seemed like the epitome of Desert America.  We decided about this point that we were hungry so we stopped here, ordered some chicken from Dairy Queen to thrown on our salads and were on our way to keep driving down the same stretch of road for about 56000 miles {okay okay fine...it was more like 300 miles but it seemed forever} and find the left turn that would lead us to the next long road we had to drive up.

Along the way we stopped in a city called Needles and it is right on the border of CA/AZ on the CA side...but it was cracking us up because the MIL and I were using gas buddy to make sure that we {Yes I know that hurt my head too...but thanks for hanging in}.

were getting the best priced gas we could find and this city was claiming to be "The Last Real Route 66 City" and I'll be dammed if it wasn't but it was also the town with FOUR DOLLAR GAS! Oh hell no...that is a budget breaker, so we pulled up gas buddy and found that four miles away was Arizona and they had gas for just over two dollars a gallon...WINNER WINNER WINNER.  So that was the first time that we saw the "Welcome To Arizona" sign, however it wouldn't be the last because you had to go back to California just to get back on the freeway to go to Arizona.


Okay so we border hopped and got gas on the cheap and now were back on our way...and then the rainstorm and stupid drivers set in and since I was not driving so I was hanging on for dear life as the MIL was trying to go around different semi trucks, cars and stupid Volvo drivers {apologies if you drive a Volvo but for the love of god if you are going to drive in the fast lane do not, and let me repeat, DO NOT  drive 30 under the speed limit because dear god - we will attempt to move you out of the way...} and then there was the Grey Hound bus driver lady...mmm she made the road rage come out full force.  The other lesson that I learned was that if you are going to pack everything in to a big ass SUV make sure that you have everything that you need near you because wearing booty shorts, a tank top {especially when you have specific um assets we shall say} leads to the truck drivers radioing each other letting them know a good boob shot is coming and lots of awkward waves! {I'm not a blusher in life but hell I was dying by the end of that supply gathering adventure throughout the Tahoe}

The last town that we were going to hit before driving north down a two lane road up to the Grand Canyon was Williams, AZ.  We were excited to find civilization again after many many many hours of nothing but tumbleweeds.  This was legit the cutest Route 66 town I've ever explored...and couldn't wait to get back there to explore more since we were still racing against the clock and we needed to get to the packet pick up.  Okay so nothing exciting happened between Williams, AZ and the actually getting to the Grand Canyon it's self so yey we have made it to packet pick up!!!

Now this was my first Vacation Races half marathon or event in general and I was really excited about this one as I won it from my amazing running group, The Half Twisted Runners, and couldn't have been more proud to be there repping for them with our other members...tho I was by far the slowest of all them I got the most fun for my entry! {Or so I am going to keep tellig myself and I'll come back to that on the next post...because holy hell!}  The packet pickup itself tho was the BEST reace expo that I have been to yet.  It was simple, well organizaed, and each and every person there was so happy to see you and meet you.  I was in and out of the expo pretty quickly and that was mostly because I needed to go pee, find out hotel and lord we needed food.

Okay so we decided to stay at the Grand Canyon itself at a place called Yavopi Lodge and it was like the most amazing little hotel that one could have expected for less than $150 per night.  Now one of the funniest things that happened is when we went to the Ranger station to get in the park we were told that we needed to spend $30 for a 7 day pass but I didn't want a 7 day pass as I was only going to

be there for 24 hours...if that; and so becaue the MIL was 63 she was able to buy a LIFETIME pass for $10!!  I mean seriously...that's a little bit of a price difference when you think about it...but a better deal for sure.  Now back to the lodge where we were staying...there is a more expensive option on their property but you have an Eastern view vs. the Western View that I had...and frankly I couldn't tell you the difference for almost $60 more!  The MIL and I checked in to the room, got flat me all laid out and decided that before we died in bed we would head back in to town for dinner.

Now, anyone who knows me knows how excited I get about stupid stuff and I was WAY EXCITED about taking the MIL to the Big E's steakhouse in town because the last time I was up at the Grand Canyon that is where my friends and I ate and it was wonderful!  The meal this time was no exception everything was wonderful...to the point where I had the best idea for taking my left overs to eat both Pre and Post race {...and holy hell it was wondeful even cold and eating it with my fingers because we forgot to get a darn fork.  But what are fingers really for if not eating with them, riiiight?}

Well dinner was over, we found the quickest way to get to and from the starting line and the hotel and now there was nothing left to do other than go to bed...however everyone was making fun of me because it was like 8PM and I was ready to crash but I'm thinking sleep is one of those vital things that will keep me going over the next two days. We did make one more stop before actually heading to hotel, well it was on the way, but the MIL wanted to see the Grand Canyon sine we were there...and it was sunset so there wouldn't be a better time to go see the big wonderful amazing hole in the ground.

Now, the funny thing about the Grand Canyon to me is that you drive all that way to get up there, and when you don't have a ton of time because you are on a schedule you find yourself wondering how long you have to stand there to make it worth it.  Well to be honest the MIL and I lasted about 4 minutes becaue it was so FUCKING cold!!  Like could it get anymore windy and cold...but lord I sure didn't expact it to stay around {because it is May after all...} but the view was breathtaking and I'm glad that we decided to check it out & then leave before the hypothermia set in!

The South Rim of the Grand Canyon

I litterally couldn't believe that when I woke up I would be heading out the front door to do something that I never thought I would be albe to do and that was amazing but the more and more I thought about it...Yup, I'm crazy...but sometimes it takes a little crazy to do awesome things!!!

Meg
aka Nutmegz
HF#120333

(<--- Lord I look like I need some beauty sleep!!)

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