Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving is always very special to me, but I never could have imagined just how much I would cherish Thanksgiving 2014.

I got into Dallas just in time for the Southwest Holiday Craft Bazaar, which Zach was able to get us special access to.  He even trusted us enough to leave us on our own for a while to continue shopping and checking out such a cool place to work.  Seriously, I've never been in a work environment quite like it.  TVs everywhere, lounges to take a break in, a paper-football table, fun pictures all over the walls.  Work hard, play hard!  Then we got to steal Zach away for a delicious Thai food lunch.

Of course it's always tradition to run the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.  I've even lost count of how many times I've run it.  Since Zach had his own place near Dallas, I decided to spend the night at his house the night before. It gave us a chance to hang out, go grab dinner and a movie with dear friends - Candiss and Taylor, change a flat tire in the middle of a major highway split (okay maybe that wasn't the highlight of the night but memorable nonetheless), and get to enjoy some good brother-sister time.  It was kind of weird to be spending the night in his place; that had never happened before.  He always stayed with me at my place.  But it couldn't have been a more fitting place for him.  My personal favorite decoration was this adorable wall hanging from a friend.

He had the guest room all cleaned and ready for me.  I felt quite special.  I got a good night sleep before getting up early the next morning to join Candiss and Taylor for the big Trot!

It was another beautiful morning for a run.  I felt great and enjoyed it as always.  The route was a little different this year, but I don't really care.  I just look forward to a sunny run with lots of people.  Then after a good run, you're ready for all the delicious Thanksgiving food!

The rest of Thanksgiving was filled with delicious food and fun with wonderful family.  We finished off the day playing Fish Bowl, with made us laugh so much that we hurt.  I had always played with 3 rounds, but Zach taught us a 4th round - trying to say the word with your mouth shut.  It didn't strike me as something that would be a super great addition to the game, but we decided to give it a try anyway.  Oh my did it make us laugh!  It was hilarious to watch everyone's attempts at being a ventriloquist.  If I didn't think everyone would be really mad at me, I would post videos.  Fish Bowl will forever be so much funnier with round 4 added.

Friday was our annual Eastup bonfire/fire pit night.  I look forward the event so much every year.   We sat around concocting new marshmallow and s'more ideas.  We tried to think of names for my future, imaginary marshmallow business and had some great laughs.  You have to be careful what you name things in Colorado if you don't want it to be taken the wrong way.  There's something special about sitting around a fire roasting hot dogs and making s'mores under the stars with people you love.

I will hold on to these memories and treasure all the laughter until we're together again in our eternal home.

Kooky-Spooky Half Marathon

My running buddy, Alyssa, runs one half marathon every year.  I hadn't even realized how long it had been since I ran one, so when she started talking about picking one for this year I told her I would join her.  I let her do all the researching, and she decided on the Kooky-Spooky in Golden, CO.  The main attraction?  Breakfast burritos and chocolate milk at the finish!!! :)

So we continued doing our long runs together on the weekends in preparation for the race.  She lives up north and I live down south, so we have our usual Saturday morning meeting place in the middle to hit the trail.  I am so thankful to have such a great running buddy because it makes the runs so much more enjoyable.  Plus it's quality time to talk about whatever you please.  Unfortunately she ended up with an injury that made it hard to run long distances.  She switched to doing the 10K and I stuck with the half, but the race was just as fun.  The best part is having someone around for the pre- and post-race fun.

Alyssa grew up in the Denver area and her parents still live there, so they were kind enough to let us stay there the night before the race and feed us the oh so important night before meal - homemade chicken pot pie and a gooey brownie.  That's some good running fuel!

The morning of the race was beautiful!   A little chilly but great running weather.  I couldn't race without something mango, so I made sure one of my race morning fuels included mango.

Apple Mango Strawberry - tasty!

We met up with another one of her friends who was also running the 10K.  Once we were checked in and warmed up, we were ready to go!

The race was very well organized, so we started right on time.  The half runners were put in the shoot first.  After the singing of the national anthem, the gun fired and we were off!  I took off feeling great and running with the pack.  What I didn't realize was how fast the pack was running.  I passed the first mile marker, looked at my watch, and knew I was in trouble.  That was not a pace I could hold for 13.1 miles.  But I was feeling so good, I just kept going.

Feeling great, but I will not let girls
in tutus beat me! ;)

The other problem was the the entire first half of the half was downhill, so of course I was feeling great.  Then we turned around to come back, and oh my.  I paid for running too fast.  My legs were done and I still had unbelievable hills to conquer.  One thing that helped was that the half course did join up with the 10K, so at least there were other people to run with and push me on.  But the hills and the heat really got to me.  I think the looks on my face will tell the story.

"I'm so hot!!!"

Trying to smile like I'm okay

Am I done yet?

Despite the mental battle that was going on as to whether I could make it, I did finish.  I haven't been that happy to see the finish line in a long time.

Hallelujah! 

I made it!

 I must have given it all I had because my legs were a little wobbly after that.  Thankfully the poles of the finish tent were there to hold me up while I recovered.  Haha!  And thankfully it was a great post-race.  The chocolate milk hit the spot!  And the breakfast burrito was just what I needed to refuel.  They also had water, Gatorade, Naked Juice, bananas, bagels, and Muscle Milk.  I was happy to take it all!

The race organizers had also done a great job of getting lots of prizes for everyone.  They did a raffle for each distance, and I was very impressed by how many things they had to give away. Surprisingly,  none of us won a raffle, but we did stick around for the race awards.  It turned out that Alyssa and I both placed 1st in our age group.  We were shocked.  The great thing about running smaller races!

I certainly can't say I felt my best that day, but it was fun nonetheless.  There's something about the adrenaline and the thrill of racing, being surrounded by fellow runners, and enjoying it all with good friends.

To round off the day, I came home and made homemade pizza with my roommate.  I would argue that pizza is the best post-race meal, especially when it's homemade!

Mmm.mmm!

Mango Escapades in San Diego

The Mango Escapaders were reunited in October for a fun-filled weekend in San Diego!  Last year we did the CityScape Adventure Race in Denver and won a free entry into a CityScape Adventure Race in 2014.  We decided not to do Denver again, but instead make a little trip out of it and pick another fun city that they do the race in.  They had lots of great options but we ultimately decided on San Diego.  Such a great choice!

So Maria flew from Texas and I flew from Colorado to join up in California.  My flight experience could be a whole story in itself, but I'll just say that I am so thankful for my brother being such a great travel agent and making sure I got to San Diego somehow.

I got in a little late, but that didn't stop us from starting the fun right away.  We found a little restaurant within walking distance and set out for dinner.

As soon as we walked in, we knew it was exactly where we were supposed to be.  There were mangoes sitting on our table like they knew we were coming!

Not only that, at the top of the drink specials that night was a mango drink.  Then we looked at the menu and saw that they had a mango chicken salad, which the waitress said was one of her favorites.

We couldn't have picked a better place if we tried.  We were surrounded by mangoes and the trip had only just begun.

It was already late and it had been a long day of travel for me so we headed back to the house we were staying in.  This was the first time I booked a place through AirBnB.  It was a great experience, really good deal for a great location.  I know that AirBnB experiences can probably be hit or miss, but we got a really good one.  We were staying in an old house (owned by a celebrity in the 50's) within walking distance of Little Italy, the ocean, the Gaslamp District, Balboa Park with the San Diego Zoo, the train, and so much more.  If you ever need a place to stay in San Diego, I can give you specifics on the place.

Big comfy bed in the Green Room

Private Balcony

Our nighttime view

Our daytime view

The next day was our race, but it didn't start until noon so we had plenty of time to walk around and explore that morning.  We happened upon two more great finds!  We decided to walk through Little Italy on our way to the Gaslamp District because Maria had heard something about a festival that weekend.  Little did we know that they have a farmers' market in Little Italy every Saturday.  It was the best farmers' market I have ever been too!  It went on and on for at least 6 or 7 blocks and was packed with so many great things!

We also came upon a juice shop that was doing it's soft opening.  Everything on the menu was 50% off!

They have a lot of things going for them: cute shop,
good location, very friendly people, and one of the best
smoothies I've ever had.  I wish them all the best
as they start their business!

It was so good that we went back every day that we were there, and actually wanted to go back multiple times a day but refrained.

We did eventually make our way down to the Gaslamp District where the race was taking place.

A good friend had recommended that we try a cafe down there that had been featured on Food Network.  Restaurants featured on FN have yet to let me down plus the recommendation from a friend who knows good food, we had to go.

Cafe 222

Quite the popular place to grab breakfast or brunch

The item featured on Food Network was the peanut butter and banana stuffed french toast.  Who can say no to that?

When in Rome, right?!

It was delicious!  And I think it gave us extra energy fuel for the race.  Right after this was race time!

It all began at Whiskey Girl

 We got all checked in and were ready to go. We were equipped with maps, iPhones, pens, Camelbacks, and the most important Mango Escapade matching outfits.  I know they're hard to see, but Maria got shirts made for us that say Mango Escapades and have two girls running up a mountain to a mango tree.  How great is that?

Promptly at noon we were given our first password, which unlocked the first set of 6 clues on our phones.  We worked diligently through those to unlock the next 6.  After we figured out everything that we needed to do and all the locations, we plotted them on the map to make sure we did everything efficiently.  This was clearly not our first adventure race ;)  With our plan set, we took off running through the streets of San Diego.

1st task: Take a picture in front of this fountain that
had some significance that I now have forgotten

2nd task: Perform the plank challenge
in a Starbucks coffee shop

3rd task: Take a picture on a train with three people doing the
"hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" 

These teens were perfect for the task.  Just before this
picture, they had attempted to get the whole train to
sing "If You're Happy and You Know It"

4th Task: Do the yoga pose adho mukha svanasana

(aka downward facing dog) in front of this
flagpole in old town

5th task: Take a picture in front of the jail
in old town

6th task: Take a picture at the haunted house in old town

7th task: Play on San Diego's splash pad

Really going for it!

8th task: Visit this gallery where the
artist who created Marvin the Martian is
being featured

9th task: Take a picture with someone wearing
a Chargers shirt

10th task: Dress retro

Lookin' really good with those tie-dyed socks!

Our final tasks included creating a tiara and wearing it back to the finish line for check-in.  We ended up using a tree branch to make a pitiful looking tiara that apparently wasn't even picture worthy.  It met the requirement though because we passed all tasks on the first try.

Finished!

 As we waited for the results, they had some games for the teams to play for a chance to win prizes.  I ended up doing the stacking cup challenge.  I beat my first opponent no problem, but I gave away my secret so my second opponent creamed me.  Oh well, it was still fun.

Then it was finally time for the results.  We came in 3rd place!  We had no idea what the prizes would be for those who placed, but we ended up getting $40, free t-shirts, and a free entry into another race in 2015.  We were so excited!  That was dinner money and an excuse to do this again in another city next year.

Woohoo, 3rd place!

Like I said, that was dinner money, so we cleaned up and headed to Old Town because some good Mexican food was what we needed after a day of running all around town.

We picked a place that sits atop a hotel and was advertised for its great views.

Fish tacos!

Seafood enchiladas!

You can kind of see the rooftop view

Old Town is a cute little place that you can tell has some history.  It was fun to just walk around, hear some live music, and check out the shops.

The next day we had big plans!  When in San Diego, you have to check out the zoo!

Lots of ground to cover

Koala

Jaguar

Can't get enough of anything elephant

The real elephants!

Selfie with an elephant

So many of them!

Good lookin' stripes on that zebra

Comfortable?

Probably my 2nd favorite animal

Such interesting creatures

King Kong!

She's quite the social orangutan 

We can now say we've been to the famous San Diego Zoo

Still can't get enough :)

That night we jumped on the train and bus to La Jolla because we needed to see the beach, hear the ocean waves crashing, and check out the seals.  We accidentally jumped on the wrong bus, which we figured out when the bus driver kindly informed us that we were at the last stop and we weren't in La Jolla.  Luckily we were able to just hope on another bus and continue on our merry way.  We made it just in time to see the sunset!

The seals are down there

Going...

going...

going...so beautiful!

Seals up close starting to make their way to the
water since the sun went down

 I forget how much I enjoy the ocean and the sound of waves crashing.  I didn't want to leave!  But we did start getting hungry so we headed back to the streets and shops in La Jolla.  When by the beach, you should get seafood.  We found a great place for super fresh seafood!

El Pescador Fish Market
Fresh fish right there that you can pick out for whatever you
want them to cook up

So fun to be hanging out and enjoying a new city!

Great atmosphere

I'm a fan of the community tables down the middle

Seafood burrito - Local Yellowtail & Squid
So delicious!!!

When we were in line, I was telling Maria that I have been wanting to try soft-shell crab, but I didn't see it in the case or on the menu.  But when we sat down at the community table, the guy across from us had one.  We debated over whether to get one or not; we were already really full from our big burritos.  Maria decided to just go see if they still had any, and lo and behold there was just one left.  She felt like it was just for us and shouldn't be passed up, so she ordered one to be cooked for us.

Thanks friend for giving me the opportunity to try one!

Feeling like adventurous eaters that night

You would think that after all that, we wouldn't have room for another bite of anything.  But we walked around town for a while to give our food a chance to settle because we had not yet made time for any dessert on this trip.  It was time for...

Gelato!!!

That really hit the spot and topped off a great day and
fantastic weekend.

It was such a great trip, getting to spend time with a good friend, exploring a new city, soaking in the warmth of southern California, and being by the ocean.  I'm already looking forward to next year's trip.  Where will the Mango Escapades be in 2015?  Portland?  Seattle?  Chicago?  We'll have to wait and see!