Rainy Sunday

Source: The Telegraph (view)

Yesterday it rained all day here in Syracuse. Tim and I went over to a friends house and we layed on the couch watching Harry Potter all day. I can't remember the last time I had such a lazy Sunday. I did need to go running, though. Around 6pm the rain started slowing down, and I headed outside for a 10 mile run.

It was a pretty miserable run. I don't mind running in the rain, but it was cold and windy, and my allergies had been bothering me all day. I had planned on running about 7 outside and finishing the last 3 miles on my treadmill, but I pushed through.

At the end of my run, the rain started to clear up. The sunset was beautiful. The clouds were all pink, and at one point, I saw a rainbow that stretched across the whole sky. It was enough to make me stop running for a minute just to stand and look. It made the whole miserable run seem not so bad. 

Source: Flickr (view)

When I got home, it was completely dark outside. Tim was about to get in his car and come looking for me! Does anyone else have best/worst workout experiences?

Green Thumb

For some reason, the previous owners of our condo planted garlic chives in the garden. I can't imagine why anyone would do that. The garden area is located near our back door, and it was completely overgrown with this:

 

Now, I am not a gardner, I don't have a green thumb, and when people give me plants, I tend to forget about them until they die. The chives, though, needed to go. It looked like a jungle behind our house. I went to the garden store, and bought pansies, and a Rose of Sharon, which will look like this when it grows: 

 

After buying the plants, I returned home to attack the chives. Since I'm not a gardener, I don't own any gardening tools. So, I tried to rip out the chives with my bare hands. It was ROUGH, but I did it. My hands still smell like chives. It's disgusting. 

Once the chives were gone, I covered the area in white stone:

I still need to plant the pink Rose of Sharon, but the pansies are all set:

I plan to buy more brightly colored pots and put flowers in them.

After I finished I was ready to relax with a glass of wine!

Does anyone else have a garden?

My First Half Marathon

Source: Syracuse.com (view)

13.1 Miles... Check.

Today I completed my first half marathon. I started training about 4 months ago, and have just been  waiting for a chance to get out and run one. Today was the day!

I left my house at 7am. I didn't have anyone to run with, but I didn't mind. I'm kind of a solo runner anyway.

The run started at 8am went pretty well. I don't have my exact time yet, but according to my clock on my iPod, I was running approx. 10 minute miles. I was feeling really good for most of the race, except for getting really hungry around mile 6 or 7. I tried one of those gel thingys that they were handing out at the water station. It was disgusting. I got the blackberry flavor; maybe the other kinds are better. The texture kind of grossed me out, though. It was a thick, oozy sugar.

Around Mile 10, I was starting to feel a little sore. My legs were starting to hurt a little, and I was getting bored of the music on my iPod - I had already listened to Nicki Minaj's whole Pink Friday Album, a sampling of Lil Wayne, and a whole bunch of other random artists.

Needless to say, I was quite excited to hit mile 12. When I got close to mile 13, I was kind of hoping that my husband or my parents decided to come meet me at the finish. The race was a little far away, so I had told them not to worry about coming. I was thrilled to see Tim on the sidelines taking a video as I approached the finish. See the video below. We hung out while I unwound from the race.

My parents stopped by our house when we got home and brought me a congratulations card and a gift card for fro-yo - My favorite :-) I spent the rest of the day resting my legs - so sore!!

All in all, a great experience.
 

Night Golf

Source: dvidshub.net (view)

Last night, Tim and I teamed up in a night golf tournament. We lost, of course, since I am not really a golfer, but we had a great time!

Night golf is more of a social event than a serious tournament. When we arrived, we played around on the practice green, then headed up to the clubhouse for drinks and dinner. They had a great buffet set up - ribs, salmon,  roasted veggies, salads, pastas, and more! We ate with Tim's parents and met a bunch of fun new people.

Then it was time for golf! We were all given glow stick necklaces and a golf ball that had a glow stick in it. We hit the course, and played four holes. Our score was 26, which is terrible for four holes. The winning teams had scores of 18, 17, and 16. Either way, it was a blast, and I recommend night golf to golfers and non-golfers alike :-)

Half Marathon Weekend

Well, it's time. I've been training for a half marathon, and I'll be running on Sunday.  I'm feeling pretty good about it. Now, I can run 10-12 miles no problem, so this shouldn't be too hard. My only concern is that I woke up this morning with my sinuses completely clogged. I'm going to take some allergy medicine and keep my fingers crossed.

I've decided that I'm going to keep training and go for a full marathon.  It seems very do-able, except for the whole running 20 before the actual marathon. Can I just skip that long run and wing it on the day of the marathon?

Love this photo; very appropriate for a runner's weekend :-)

Source: Ken Illio (view)

Girl Talk Girl Talk Girl Talk

I went to the Girl Talk concert in Canandaigua, NY, on Wednesday, and if you like to dance, you should have gone too. Really, just going to any Girl Talk concert is a real must. Girl Talk is actually a DJ, Gregg Michael Gillis, so the concert is basically just a dance party with confetti, balloons, and glow sticks. 

Some people have criticized Girl Talk since Gregg Gillis works off of computers, rather than traditional instruments, and mixes songs by other artists. I'm a believer that music is about the listener's experience as much as it is about the artist's musical talent, and trust me, the listener's experience is straight party :-)

 

Vacation Recap

I've completely neglected my blog for the past few weeks. I've been too busy traveling to think about blogging.

First, Tim and I went to Rhode Island. Vacation highlights included visiting Watch Hill with our friends Dave and Veronica who just moved to Rhode Island.

On the Beach with Dave and Veronica

Watch Hill, RI

Tim and I also went to Newport. We spent the day visiting the Tennis Hall of Fame, touring the Breakers Mansion, and eating dinner at the Black Pearl.

 Last weekend we went to a wedding in Portland, Oregon. It was my first time visiting the Northwest, and I thought it was beautiful. Portland is a really eccentric city. It seems like everyone there is a hipster, even the middle-aged people. The advantages of visiting a hipster city include:

• Great boutiques
• Tons of vegetarian options at restaurants
• Tater tots (for some reason they were on the menu at every restaurant)
• Frozen Yogurt
• Art - everywhere! Sculptures, Gardens right in the city, and paintings everywhere.

The wedding itself was beautiful. The ceremony was on the lawn of an Italian restaurant on a river. 

Loved the bride's dress!!

I finally got to wear the dress Tim gave me for Christmas!

 Glad to be back on the blog!

Is anyone else going on vacation or to a wedding this summer?