...And the Mountain Won!

Well peeps... I faced the Mountain and the Mountain won. Moscow Mountain that is... Yesterday I was slapped in the face with my very first DNF. I was a little sad but after 3 hours and about 9 miles, my legs were toast. This is what I was up against...

Let's start from the beginning...
I woke up at 6:40 after being up a few times in the night in fear of missing my alarm. I got ready and ate my chocolate protein oats. I watched the 9/11 coverage on tv and did a good job of fighting the tears.


I remember exactly where I was. I was in Miss Shattuck's AP English class. We turned on the tv and I'm pretty sure we watched the second plane hit the tower. I think the school was on lock down for a while and we weren't allowed to leave our rooms. I remember when I got home from school that Mom and I tried to go give blood to help but they were too crazy and turned us away. It was just a weird helpless feeling. I think I remember someone saying they saw the plane that crashed in PA fly over b/c we were in the flight path once they turned around. I thank everyone who did all they can on that day 10 years ago and thank those who have given their lives fighting for our freedom ever since. 


I left the house about 7:50 and waited for my friend, Monika, who I was following b/c she knew where to go and was volunteering for the race since she's hurt. While I was waiting, I took some pictures b/c I was bored.

Scared for my first half marathon

My itty bitty ponytail since I got my hair cut on Wed.

Monika showed up and we drove to Moscow Mountain. I got my gear on, got my number. Bought a commerative pint glass for $5 and walked it back to my car. Then we walked up to the starting line.

See the plate on the tree? That's the START.

We started and everyone took off. I knew I was in trouble when I was having to walk not even a half mile into it. It wasn't long when I couldn't see any of the other racers in front of me. I kept telling myself 'I didn't train for THIS!' I have done plenty of hill work around Pullman but nothing like this. I guess I was expecting a trail run to be like a gravel trail or logging road. Nope! Here are some pictures I took along the way...

small uphill

I still see people!

Pretty and some shade!

Enough of a trail for your foot to fit.

That's a downhill but you can't really tell.

A lovely uphill.

Fancy course arrows.

Those would be root "steps" built in. I think I was crawling at this point.

I made it to the first water station at about 1:45 and was pretty much out of fluids. They claimed that the water station was at 4.5 miles but my GPS said 6.5. I even had to stop and take a breather on a rock b/c I couldn't go anymore. I could  have crabwalked up some of these trails so I didn't tumble down them. I don't know how people ran up this crap!

When I reached the water station, I had decided that I was calling it quits then. After drinking some fluids and chilling for a minute, I felt better, filled my water bottle and took off for the next loop of a supposed 4.5 miles. It took me another 1:15 to do the next loop but I walked most of it at the end. I felt pretty good when I started out and even ran a bit. When I got to the hilly parts my legs just didn't have the juice. I even ate a whole package of cranraz shot blocks and it definitely helped me feel better but didn't perk up my legs at all.

I reached the water station again and officially waived the white flag at this point. I was the last one on the course and didn't want to either die on the way down the mountain or make the volunteers wait for me any longer. 3 hours was enough at this point. To make things even better, it was 90 here yesterday. SWEET!!


I rode down the mountain with the people manning the water station and their dog. They were super nice. I got a cookie and wandered my way back to my car. I got home about 1:50.

I plugged my dead phone in, took a shower and then packed Heif in the car b/c it was 'Dog Day at the Water Park'. The last day the pool is open, they hold a fundraiser for the dog shelter and open the pool up to dogs to swim in. Heif loved it!! He was afraid of going where he couldn't touch at first, but after falling in twice and seeing that swimming wasn't so bad, he would fetch toys out of the deep end.


We came home, we were exhausted and I ate my head's weight in taboule that was left over from the Frenchie's good bye party the night before. I also had some fruit salad and some candy before I fell into a run coma on the couch. I woke up and felt like I needed something. I texted Erin to see if she was down for Jamms. At first she said she didn't feel up to it but eventually cracked. I stopped at Zip's a local burger joint on the way b/c I was in despirate need for some meat! And a Mountain Dew. Duh!


I got my usual PB/ cake batter swirl with graham cracker dust, strawberries, raspberries, kiwi, mochi and marshmallow syrup! It was a good end to the night! I came home and put dishes away, loaded up the dishwasher and started a new load and worked on cleaning my kitchen and packing up my weird food stuffs that I'm packing to take home with me.


I have one suitcase pretty fully packed and another one to go with the last minute stuff. I have boarding passes and I'm getting antsy! I'm super excited to be going on vacation and seeing my family!! This time tomorrow, I will be parked in the Phoenix airport with a 3 hour layover and then on my way to Pittsburgh!!


How was your weekend?


Anyone else going on vacation or any fun trips?

So busy, I'm boring

Hello everyone!

I've kind of fallen off the map for the past few days, but I'm still working on figuring out my schedule with this whole teaching thing again.

Let's back up a little bit to Wednesday. I had a quickie group meeting b/c all of the major authority of our group is at a conference in Denver. So we did what we needed to get done and then we were outta there. I got home and had 2 veggie burgers for dinner. I had one with a bun thin with mustard and the other went bunless with SF maple syrup. I don't know why I like this but it's amazing. You should try it! That wasn't enough so I cooked up some mixed veggies and finished it off with a spoonful of peanut butter. I had a 8:45 softball game, so I left early and stopped for a tea on the way. It was perfect! And we won the game 18-12 and were done about 10pm. Erin and I opted for froyo, so off we went. I was good and got a little one (10oz.) with cake batter and pistachio froyo and teddy grahams, graham cracker dust, fruit, mochi and marshmallow syrup!

Thursday was an early morning b/c I started my first day of teaching labs. I had a pb english muffin and recycled my tea bag from the night before. I was at school by 7:45. I got my lab coat and everything else together and was in the meeting room by 8am. I'm usually packing my lunch at 8am, so this was different. I had lab from 8-11, 11-12 off to eat my lunch, office hours from 12-2 and another lab from 2-5. It was a busy day and I was exhausted by the time I got home. I crashed on the couch for 20 min, changed my clothes and headed to the gym for my BOSU abs class. It was good b/c I'm feeling it today but the instructor is definitely being easy on us since it's the first week. I can tell that I'm not as out of shape ab-wise as I thought I was b/c I could do pretty much every move for the whole time. I've always had to take some breaks in the past.

I went home and slapped together some chicken fajitas, sorry no picture, and had an apple with french smuggled Nutella and watched tv. I decided that there was nothing worth watching on tv so I sat down with my sister's Kindle that she mailed me to read on my trip home (and put as many good free books on it as I can) and a cup of tea. I'm reading the newest book of the 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' series. I LOVE these books. I kind of feel like I've grown up with the characters in the book. It's like my friends are back. Weird, I know. :)

This morning, I went into work a bit late b/c I had to wait for the Fedex guy to drop off my new iPhone. The old one's switch that turned the vibrate mode on and off stopped working and my phone was stuck in vibrate mode. Not cool! I got my phone, came to school, got my new phone set up and the old one wiped and in the box to go back. I put my music back on my phone and went to lunch with Erin. She's going to Vegas on a special mission. :) But next time she goes to Vegas, I'll be going too! I've been good and have worked on my Discussion section of the paper I'm working on and hope to work on it more this weekend. My goal is to have it to the Bossman before I leave to go home on the 13th. I think that's a reasonable goal.

This weekend is going to be crazy because it's not just Labor Day weekend, it's a home WSU football weekend. You should see the hoards of people that come to this little college town just to be here. They start coming in Thursday night and usually don't leave til Sunday but I will probably be stuck with them til Monday! Yuck! Wish me luck with dealing with the traffic. If someone gets hurt, it's not my fault!

I have my Moscow 1/2 marathon trail run next weekend! I'm considering it a training run for the real deal when I'm home with my mom. It should be fun. I'm excited already!!

Have you read any of the Traveling Pants books?


Have you ever experienced a college town on football weekend?


What are you big Labor Day plans? I'm hoping to avoid the crowds if at all possible and get some writing and running in.

Lame-o

I was hoping to run yesterday but my calves still hurt when I walked, so I figured that running was probably a bad idea. It makes me wonder how many "calf raises" I did while I was bouncing up and down at the concert for my legs to be THAT sore for 2 days! Geesh! Well, if you think about it, I was bouncing from 7:30-11. That's a lot of calf raises! :)

Instead of running, I took a nap on my couch and then a friend wanted to go for froyo and I couldn't say no. This is what I had.

Cake batter/pb swirl froyo with strawberries, graham cracker dust, raspberries, mango, kiwi, mochi and marshmallow syrup that I kind of overflowed it with!!!

After froyo it was 9:30, so I just went home and was old and a total lame-o and put on my jammies. I don't even think I watched any tv before going to bed. No I lied. I watched the end of Master Chef and Gordon Ramsey kissed the dude that they kicked off! I was surprised too!

I would like to run tonight but I think being an adult and buying toilet paper might be more important tonight. I hate how being an adult gets in the way of life. I would much rather go running than tool around the Walmart and make dinner. Getting old sucks if you ask me!

On a brighter note, Erin and some friends are going to STEAK NIGHT tomorrow! Sadly, Laura can't go b/c she's going to Seattle for some nerdy History conference but will be back in time for her Jackson Blue show on Saturday. Anyone want to come? It's at John's Alley in Moscow! :)

Did you watch any good tv last night? Withoug the BL and Parenthood, I feel kind of lost on Tuesdays. I'm ready for real tv to come back! Or that could just be one of the repercussions I have with only having 20 channels. :)

Fun was had by ALL!

Hello Everyone! I had a fun weekend and was sad to see it end when I woke up this morning and had an 8:00am appointment at the dentist. Boo! Let's get to the fun!

Friday: I was pretty lame tired from my early morning run experience and came home from work and chilled on the couch, watered my garden and sipped on honey/lemon tea all night to help soothe my cough. Friday Night Lights was pretty good! I just LOVE high school football games! And yet, I've never been to one in the 5 years I've lived in Pullman. Weird.

Saturday: This is where all of the fun began! It started with picking Laura up and going to the Farmer's Market and getting some apricots, cucumbers, and my lovely carbs! I ran into a few friends at the market too! I dropped Laura off and went home. I hung out my clothes to dry and then took a nap. I love the trees that are around my house b/c it's always so cool inside! I even had a blanket on for a little while!

I got motivated and took the clothes down, fed the dog, and went to get ready for the big show!! Laura's band, Jackson Blue, was playing their first bar gig! It was super exciting!! I even went all out as to curl my hair AND put hairspray in it! If you know me, you know I HATE hairspray. But the stuff I used smelled good and didn't make me feel like I should jump into the 80s. Here are a few pictures from the night.

It was a bit dark in there, so not the best pictures.

I had a great time and the band was as good as last time and even had some new songs!! I was tired but didn't get home til after 2am! I'm getting too old for this crap! But it was fun!

Sunday: I was a vegetable in my pjs on the couch til about 2 when I decided to put real clothes on and then I met Erin for some fro-yo at the new place in Moscow that just opened up that I have been waiting for months to do so!!

The Mothership has landed!!

There were about 12 different flavors to choose from and it was all self-serve and you paid by weight. There were little cups that you could taste the flavors before you decided on many one. I ended up with vanilla, peach and cake batter froyo with coconut, kiwi, mangoes and raspberries. All topped with marshmallow cream syrup! YUM!! I will be going back and can now join in the obsession with my fellow bloggers to the south!

3 froyo flavors topped with goodness!

Do you have a froyo place where you live? I think they are fairly new but I'm totally in love with the idea! I will be back!!

Congrats to all of those who raced this weekend. I was still coughy/congested and didn't feel like doing my 10 miles yesterday, so I rested on the couch instead and feel better today. I think it was a good choice!