*Photos will be up later*
Paso Robles 5k - November 2009
While Jeff was on det in El Centro, I was still at home training for more 5ks. But I did find another couple who was interested in running the Paso Robles Wine Vine run with me - Leslie and Will Read! We met up with each other in Paso for a carb-load dinner at a very tasty Italian restaurant in Downtown Paso Robles. After we walked around the cute town square looking at all the stores, art shows, etc. It was so nice to be in such a quaint town. We got some rest and woke up bright and early the next day for our 5k. This morning for me was not the one I was hoping for. I woke up with this stabbing pain in my lungs and just couldn't shake it, but I told myself nothing was going to stop me from running the 5k and trying to reach my goal time of 34 min I had set after my last 5k. Well the race started and I definitely surprised myself by running a great first mile - 9:30 - the fastest mile I've ever ran! However, around the 1.5 mile there was a big hill which I've never liked, but I told myself I could run up it and I did.Now, to back track a little, when I signed up for the race, the description was mostly flat with one big hill. Which is why I attempted to run up this hill thinking it was the only one and boy was I wrong! As soon as I got to the top, I noticed another hill right in front of me -- ugh! So after that, my strategy became walk up the hills and run everything else. This worked for me and by the time I got to 2.25 miles the hills where behind me. So I get back into my stride and reach the 3mile mark - only .1 mile to go! I turn the corner to the finish line and what the heck -- a hill up to the finish!! I couldn't stop now so I just powered through it and crossed the finish line at 35:59 - not at all what I was aiming for but considering I was running with a stabbing pain in my side and all the hills, I was ok with it! Leslie and Will definitely did better than me - Leslie came in 3rd in our age bracket at her first 5k!
* I later found out the stabbing pain in my lungs was viral pleura - an inflammation of your lung lining. I was out for about a week on meds till it went away.
Thanksgiving 2009
This year we didn't have enough time to make the trek home back to Texas for such a short holiday, so instead we invited 2 other couples, the Read's and Chapelle's, that also didn't go home for a Thanksgiving dinner at our place. It was only my second time I've busted out the good china and cloth napkins and I loved it! Before the day got started though, Jeff and I and the Reads ran a Turkey Trot 5k in Fresno (I was determined to reach my goal 5k time). The race was packed with people and although it had a few small hills it was a good race. However I don't even know what my time was and didn't cross the finish line running. The finish was packed with people. It was a good race and a good day to start Thanksgiving when you are going to pack your stomach with food! Each of us prepared side dishes and since none of us wanted the time-consuming task of cooking the turkey, we let Marie Callander's make it for us and we picked it up after the race. It was such a fun night with lots of good food and good friends!TSO and Vegas
Jeff and I finally got to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra which is something I've wanted to do for years now. It was so entertaining and so much fun! We also had a chance to meet up with Ryan and Audrey and some of their friends in Las Vegas. This was our first trip to Vegas where we could actually gamble and enjoy the night life. It was a blast! We stayed at the Excalibur and spent most of our time gambling there, but we did do a lot of other things. The girls and I went to a Chippendale's show, we gambled - of course, walked down the strip to see some of the other hotels, went to a dirty hypnotist show, and gambled on Fremont - old downtown Vegas. There is so much to do there that we would love to go again!Christmas 2009
So we didn't get a chance to go home to Texas for Christmas either this year - so I got to bust out the Chirstmas china. However, Jeff's family came to us! His mom and dad flew in the week before and did some traveling along the coast and we met up with them in Paso Robles. We got to do some wine tasting and also visited Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Oh and we got to see the elephant seals lying on the beach too! Our hotel was right on the beach and there were fire pits set up on the beach and a fireplace in our room! There are way too many pictures to put them on here so check for a link on the right to my facebook album. It was such a great weekend! After that Jeff's parents went up to San Jose to pick up Jeff's brother and sister who flew in from Colorado and New York and then drove down to Lemoore. We did a little bit of everything while they were here. Jeff took his dad, brother and sister skiing, his mom and I went shopping, and we went up to Sequoia National Park to see General Sherman. Christmas day was lots of fun and I even got to see my family open their gifts through Skype. Gotta love technology!
Skiing at Sierra Summit and Tahoe
Pretty much every Saturday (and sometimes Sunday) in January and February, we hit the slopes at Sierra Summit and one weekend we went up the South Lake Tahoe. Sierra is only 2 hours away so it's a nice day trip. We got seasonal ski rentals and recently Jeff bought his own skis and boots. I've gotten so much better now that I've had time to build up my skiing muscles and have had the opportunity to ski every week. Tahoe was a lot of fun because at that point I finally worked myself up to feel confident on the blue runs. We've just had so much fun being so close to the slopes!
10k training
In January I decided that I was going to start training for a 10k. I recruited Leslie to train too! Jen had told me that if I found a 10k and trained for it, that she would make a trip down to California to run it with me. March 7th in San Francisco I'll be running my first 10k! Growing up I hated running. I only joined track in Jr. High (it was the only sport that you didn't have to try out) so that the coaches would notice me (I was introverted and shy) and they would put me on the volleyball team. I thought I would just do long jump or hurdles, but no...they stuck me in long distance because I wasn't good at either of those or anything else for that matter! So in 7th grade in the Texas heat everyday we did the same thing...run 2 miles. Which at that time I don't think I ever ran the 2 miles. I would run and then walk and the run, etc until I reached 2 miles. I definitely look back at that time now and I feel like I've accomplished a lot since then! I ran in 4 5k races last year and I'm only getting faster and my distances are just getting longer. Running is definitely something I never thought I'd be doing for fun. Thank you so much Jen for getting me started running and always keeping me motivated! Thank you Leslie for going through this with me and also motivating me! I want to get a few 10ks under my belt and then who knows...1/2 marathon training? I'll keep y'all posted!
New SUV - Toyota Highlander
So after searching for a new Highlander on and off for about a year and a half, I happened to look at cars.com and find my dream Highlander and just my luck - it was in Fresno! We always talked about waiting till the 4Runner finally bit the dust to get a new car, but we just couldn't pass up this opportunity. It was everything I wanted and more and it met all of Jeff's expectations too - this doesn't happen very often. So we did it! We bought our new Toyota Highlander! (If you know us well, you know all of our cars have names - Frita the 4Runner, Brittany the Beemer(BMW) and now Hannah the Highlander!)
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