Catching up!

Time sure does fly!  I can't believe it's already been almost a month since my last post.  Sorry about that!  It's been busy (warning: long post ahead), with a Mariner's game:

::Making pizza and hanging out with Kris and Sarah at our place::

 {OJ really wants to try it too}

::The last of Nik's birthday celebrations - a cooking demo/class by Mark Bitterman using salt and salt blocks::

{one of 6 kinds of salt to try on our popcorn}

{salmon cured on a salt block}

 

{scallop cooked on a salt block}

{a piece of the salt that encrusted the beef}

::A trip to Vancouver for my first (and only!) full marathon::

 

 

{caramel apples at Granville Market} 

 {day before race breakfast at Medina Cafe}

{day before race dinner: pasta bolognese at Il Nido}

{day before race dessert: tiramisu at Il Nido} 

 

::And a trip back to Virginia/D.C. to see family and friends and celebrate my 30th birthday::

{birthday key lime pie at my mom's}

{W hotel roof top}

 

Whoa, time flies

I can't believe it's already been a few weeks since my last post. I've been working on a new post, but it has lots of pictures, which are all on Nik's laptop, so it's taking me a while to get the post done. I thought that with the purchase of his iphone I would get a little more laptop time in the evenings, but somehow he manages to occupy both at the same time....

On another note, my half-marathon is 3 weeks from tomorrow, yikes! While in Seattle this past weekend (another post to come on that trip), I got in a 9.25 mile run, all on my own. Seattle is just as hilly, if not more hilly, than Cincinnati, so parts of the run were a little tough. But, it was nice to run around a lake and enjoy some new scenery. Tomorrow morning the running group is only doing 8 miles, but I'm going to plan on doing an extra 2.5 miles to get in a 10.5 mile run, my longest yet since joining the running group. I'm really enjoying being back in the running groove, but am looking forward to having the half-marathon done and being able to run on my own schedule (and 6 miles or less runs!).

Slacking on my New Years resolution....

Yes, I'll admit it, I'm not sticking to my New Years resolution like I was hoping. I have a few more garden pictures that I forgot were on the camera that I want to add this weekend, in addition to a new, exciting post (topic TBD). Also, Kevin (the other post-doc in Nik's lab), Nik, and myself have begun a blog on our "quest for the best pizza in Cincinnati." You can find it at http://cincypizzaquest.blogspot.com/. Hopefully that one will stay a little more up-to-date than this once since it has 3 people working on it (although, it's not off to a good start!).

On another note, my half-marathon training is going well so far, I'm up to almost 6 miles. I've finally gotten used to running in the cold, but definitely not the snow and ice. We were hit with snow last Friday/Saturday, so I skipped the running group last Saturday morning so that I could shovel the driveway and sidewalk and allow for other people to do so too. It was still a tough run Saturday afternoon, with probably only ~25% of the sidewalks shoveled. We got hit again Monday night/Tuesday, so I skipped running group again Tuesday and ran on the treadmill at work yesterday. Running 4-5 miles on a treadmill is incredibly boring (but a little faster and easier). Needless to say, I'm so ready for spring!

It's official!

I signed up for my second half-marathon today! Nik's older sister, Katherine, and I will be running the Kentucky Derby mini-marathon on April 24th. It will be the first time visiting Louisville for all of us, so we're all super excited. And it's nice that the race is on Saturday morning, so that we'll give a chance to check out the city Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning. Nik's definitely hoping to get some bourbon tasting, and possibly distillery tours, in while we're there.

Considering it's been almost 3 and half years since I ran my last half marathon, I'm a little nervous/scared/excited. I started training last Saturday with a running group I joined. We meet Saturday mornings and Tuesday evenings. I'm also running 2 other days on my own as part of the training program. The fact that I'm actually part of a training program this time around, instead of just making up a program for myself like I did in NC, makes it a little less scary. So, Saturday mornings aren't going to be too much fun for the next 3 and half months, but at least tomorrow will be ~25 degrees warmer than last Saturday.

"Running Just as Fast as We Can..."

Saturday I competed in the first annual Raise the Roof 5k for the Cincinnati Habitat for Humanity Young Professionals. Although it was quite a bit cooler than I would have liked, it was nice to get outside and enjoy a pretty fall day. It was also nice to place first in my age group!

This actually isn't much to brag about if you look at the times, but I was quite proud of myself. I just got back in to running a few months ago, after we moved to Cincinnati. About 3 years ago I ran a half-marathon, which further screwed up my knees, making it too painful for me to run for about 2 years.

Once I graduated and moved back to Durham, I started going to the gym. I would work-out on the eliptical, but I never felt like I was getting as good of a workout as I did when I ran. I really enjoyed the kickboxing class, but so did about 70 Duke undergrad girls. After getting kicked in the head one day, I decided I had enough of that. So, when we moved to Cincinnati, I decided to go to the running store to pick out a good pair of running shoes. Luckily, that seems to have helped with my knee problem quite a bit.

I did finish Saturday's race under 30 minutes (barely), which was my only goal. The course ended up having far more hills than I expected (and hoped). (In high school cross country we would have practices that were soley running up and down the same hill over, and over, and over again. I still hate running hills to this day.) Cincinnati is suprisingly hilly, and we managed to find an apartment in an area where I can avoid running up any hills.

Although I didn't run as fast as I could have, I did run. And I finished. And now I want to run more races. Perhaps the Flying Pig 10k in the spring...