Warrior Dash 2011

I ran in the Warrior Dash this weekend. I was nervous as hell. I was originally going to run it with my friend Tina but her doctor ordered her to drive me there and wait in the sun for 3 and a half hours instead. I selected the 9 AM run because I thought it would better to just go first and not see anyone cut up and bleeding before I go. The guy below is the attitude I had before I arrived. Note how kick ass his attitude is:

This is my real attitude after picking up my packet. Meh. Can I, like, totally leave now?

Setting Up:

They line us all up and introduce our celebrity announce, Sione from The Biggest Loser. He was entertaining. Then it was time to run. Please note awesome bee guy. He was third! There were people running in all sorts of costumes. When they released us from the run there were about 3 dudes in full suits running past me. Show offs (please note the jealousy).

The race consisted of 12 different obstacles:

1. Over and Under: 4 walls about 3 feet high to go over and 4 walls of barbed wire to crawl under.

2. 3 dirt hills: Seems easy, right? The dirt was super loose and steep and with the crowds of people standing at the top scared to go down it was pretty tricky. I had to dodge them and keep the momentum so I didn't get skeered.

3. Junkyard: This consisted of tires and cars to run through and go over. 20 feet of tires then cars, 20 feet of tires then cars, 20 feet of tires then cars, phew. Getting off a car and stepping into tires was a little more difficult than I would have thought. The varying tire size barely held my size 11 feet.

Run some more through the farm fields.

4. Rappeling: This was a what it sounds like, rappel down a cliff (They put up some mdf). I want to thank my gardening gloves for saving my hand.

5. Hay Fever: Huge bales of hay. Wish I had a camera for this. Not too difficult but they were huge and went up about 20-25 feet. More scratchy than anything else.

6. Cargo Climb. Whoo boy. I had to tell myself to just climb and not look at anything else. That works until you get to the top. Then you have to get your leg over without kicking anyone in the face/get kicked in the face. On the way down I thought, "I'd rather give birth every day this week then do this again".

7. Single Track (?). This was a skinny board about a foot width and six feet long. that went up and down with a flat narrow part in the middle. Just balance and go. Just balance and go. That's all! Ignore the flailing and screaming from other participants.

8. Wall climb: A 12 foot wall with ropes on one side. Climb up and climb down. Woot! I was sick to my stomach thinking about this one. It was much easier after doing that damn Cargo Climb.

9. Chaotic Crossover: This was a complete surprise. This consisted of 12 feet of cargo net suspended about 6 feet off the ground. Ouch. Just ouch. Everyone tried a different tack to get across. They were all horrible and consisted of bruising.

10. Web: Easy, annoying. Bungee cable set up like a web. You had to use your inner spy to get through.

11. Fire! Whee! We get to jump over fire! It was hot and taller than I thought it would be. Onto the last.

12. Mud pit. The mud pit was deep and had barbed wire stretched across the top. I wasn't worried about this. This is where most of my injuries came from. There were tiny shards of rocks cutting up my knees the whole time (thanks again, gloves!).

I look good.


I made my way to the "showers". A fire hose to the face isn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be. I had to go back a couple of times because I didn't realize how much mud was stuck in my undergarments. Whoo boy.
This is what happiness looks like.

I finished 371/479 in my age group and 5361/6378 overall. Total Time: 58:34:05

Paella

I made paella for the second time ever this evening. The first time I made it didn't work out too well. The rice never fully cooked and the flavor was somewhere along the lines of "I guess this could be good???". I found a vegetarian paella recipe on epicurious. The only struggle I had was finding frozen artichoke hearts. In the end (read three stores later) I used artichokes hearts bottled in water.




I made Steve cut the onions up for me. I'm the perfect customer for the onion goggles.




Things went a little better this time, I don't know if it's because I actually followed the recipe. I usually like to do my own thing after getting a general idea from one. By this point the onions and red pepper smell amazing. I've still got about half an hour until dinner so I busted out the Triscuits.




Here's the final outcome. It was fantastic. After serving it up for everyone else I added some crab for myself (I picked up king crab legs at Costco). I enjoyed it with and without the crab-the flavor is great either way. I highly recommend this recipe. If you don't have a paella pan, you may also use a large frying pan.

Chicken Fart

We went to Sophia's friend's birthday party this weekend. It was really fun, the kids decorated gingerbread houses and were generally raucous for hours.



Sophia grew tired of working on the house and decided to eat hers within 10 minutes. What an angel.

Following gingerbread house time the kids all got on adult shoulders. One parent said "I wasn't expecting a chicken fight!" and it was GAME-OVER. The kids (okay, Sophia) started screaming CHICKEN-FART over and over for the next hour. There was a brief interlude where we called out BIRTHDAY CAKE but it didn't really catch on. Chicken Fart is all the rage and is sweeping the nation...Just like Baby Fish Mouth.

My dearest Tasha, I'm so jazzed

It's your birthday-CELEBRATE!

I want you to start out by choosing to have the best year EvAr! I know that you can be the best Legal Assistant, Kwilter, SugHo Krew Cyclist, Person With Better Plans, Scrapbooker, Rollerbladerer that you ever set your mind out to be. Let's do it, girl. Kick some ass! I can't believe how incredible it is to have you as a tier-one-friend. It was destined to be..we can't leave each other....don't let Steve and Rich know.

I'm reusing this pic. I love it.

Awwww!

Wuv! Twue Wuv!

Hand Dryers!

They are so awesome! As shown here:

3rd Half Marathon of 2010!

I did another half-marathon this weekend, The Other Half in Moab, Utah. I did this with my friend Tina and also Leslie (although Leslie is a rockstar and ran!). I convinced Tina ten weeks before the race to actually sign up. She hadn't been running or training, but I thought she could do it...and she did!

We drove down Saturday morning. This is the first time that Steve and I have driven down since having our kid, Monster. This is also the first time that we have driven down during the day (another story!) We honestly didn't realize what a short drive it was, just 4 hours. Whoodathunkit?

The drive was beautiful. I was really sad that we haven't done this more. Just more proof that the people who live an area don't always appreciate it. We stayed at the Red Stone Inn. It's a great Motel on Main street close to everything. There is a winery and a brewery in town that we didn't visit this time but I would highly recommend it.

Tina arrived around 5:30 pm so we had about an hour to pick up our registration packets, have our spaghetti dinner (delicious!) and go to bed. Nighty-night!

6:00 am the alarm goes off...put on shirt...put on pants...answer text message...Leslie is go-getter and already there...why is it so early...and cold...how can 47 degrees in Moab feel so different than 47 degrees in Boise?

I walk to the hotel next door and got on a bus. Sit down and we get moving. The ladies behind me are talking a mile a minute. I'm not awake yet so I barely acknowledge the woman next to me. The bus keeps driving and driving. About half an hour in the lady behind me says "here's the finish line!". What? We've been driving FOREVER. "How much further?" I'm thinking-because it's so early I don't think "duh, 13.1 miles". The sun starts peeking over the park. My God it is glorious. I only had my iPhone so I couldn't get any pictures from the bus.

I get off the bus and it's colder than before! I might not make it. Why didn't I bring a drop bag? Why didn't I wear the long sleeve tech shirt they gave us? Too late now, just grab a coffee, (there is coffee at the Moab runs, Angry Runner)mix it with hot chocolate, stand by one of the fire pits and look around for Leslie. When I can't find Leslie I decide to use the DJ to my advantage. I ask him to page Leslie. There she is 4 feet away from me. Yay! Hugs and more fun and freezing.

We get in line for the potty. Start to freak a little bit, how are we going to get this done walking? I didn't mention before that we were walking since I convinced Tina ten weeks before to do this and she hadn't been running. There is a 3 1/2 hour time limit. There is a sweeper van. OMG!! THERE IS A SWEEPER VAN!! I don't want to get swept up!

We start-we are running-Leslie is on her way! Go LCP! I'm crossing my fingers that she gets her best time yet. This is the third half we have done together. She was my inspiration at Riverton and Salt Lake so, GO GIRL!

We run past the Start line and slow to a 15 minute mile walk. This is how we are going to make it before the Sweeper Van. SWEEPER VAN!

It's beautiful. It's so freakin' beautiful. We are walking along the river and it's gorgeous. I get passed by Grandma. A GRANDMA! A fer-reals, 80 year old, curved spine grandma. She is kicking ass and taking names. I look at Tina and she looks at me. We pick it up. We are then passed by a woman about 35 to 40 and I tell Tina that's the woman we are going to keep up with-not Grandma because she's too fast.

There are aid stations at every two miles. It's great! They actually have water unlike the Salt Lake Marathon (I did the half there)
where they ran out of water. Repeat-RAN OUT OF WATER-I was running that one and at the 6 mile aid station (loosely stated there) they ran out of water. A kind woman was filling bottles with her filtered fridge water. Thanks, Kind Woman!

We stop at the 4 mile aid station for another potty break. We lose our advantage. Ack! We need to catch up to yellow shirt and Grandma. We get moving. A pregnant woman passes us. This really gets us going-also Dr Feelgood comes up on my shuffle. We kick it up and pass the pregnant woman, pass the group of four wearing all black, pass another person and now we are passing Grandma. Kick ass!

Grandma passes us.

Mile 6 I hand out Shot-blocks. It's starting to hurt. Mile 7 there is a guy and his son with a cow bell-Go us! Mile 7.5 there is a hill. If you've looked at the course the elevation gets serious at mile 7 and it doesn't stop. The beauty of the park keeps you going though.There's a woman with a bell who tells us that it's all "down river" from here. Get it! Down river and not down hill!

Mile 10 and Tina stops talking to me. I warned her ahead of time. I offer her a Shot-blok and keep going. Mile 12 and the drummers are in full force! Yay for drummers! Tina takes the last Shot-blok. I had warned her that she needed them when she really wanted to cry. No crying yet.

Mile 12 and the police come by and tell us to go single file so we don't get run over. They had opened the roads. Oh dear. Just have to make it. We can see the finish line! We can see it. I can't wait! We turn in, we are on our way. The people wearing all black run past us-Grandma's friends are waiting and start walking with her. We are doing this. It's taking forever! Final turn. Steve is there with Monster! He made it! We start running! Go! WE CROSS! (3:32:Something they took the overall down)So great...so great...I can't believe that we did it. I'm waiting for Tina to cry-no crying. The medal is great. Free beer is great. Seeing Leslie is great!

I forget how you can't do anything after this. I would love to talk to Leslie (2:43:04!)but I can't. Monster is making me push her up on a rock, Steve runs the 1.5 miles to the car and we head home. NAP.