We won!

We had so much fun at last month's Discovery Run that we definitely didn't want to miss the next one!

Last night, we gathered around the giant map outside the Tualatin Road Runner Sports store.

At 6 p.m., they revealed the checkpoints, and we had one hour to hit as many stops as possible, collecting raffle tickets along the way.

We ran around town, hitting all but the two farthest spots (E and C) and clocking more than 4 miles.

We collected 43 tickets, spread them out and waited for the raffle.

And we won - twice!! We got a free haircut from Bishops Barbershop and a shoe bag and certificate for a reflective vest from Road Runner ($25 value!)

Dec. 5 is the last Discovery Run of the year. JOIN US!!!!

:)

Fall fun

Usually I'm the one all excited about doing holiday things. But this time, Brad suggested we spend last weekend getting out and about.

Saturday's first stop was the French Prairie Gardens pumpkin patch in St. Paul.

We got there nice and early and checked out all the free attractions, including the corn maze. It was kinda lame, but also kinda fun. I was a bit scared that we might not make it out, but I kept my claustrophobia in check, and we survived.

Then we paid $3 each to see the pig races. Totally worth it!

From our front-row seats, we watched the actual farmer do his schtick, first giving impressive stats about his 500-acre farm and then hamming it up with the pigs. (See what I did there?!?)

There were three heats with pigs and a heat with ducks.

The ducks were really slow:

Farmer John had to hop onto the track to help them along:

This little girl next to us was SOOOO excited!!

Then the reserves raced. The white ones were much faster:

So fun! 

Then we had to sample the food offerings, Brad opting for a hand-dipped corn dog and me "settling" for an apple cider doughnut. (No veggie options) We split some fresh apple cider - yum! We also took home some apples and corn.

Next up was a bike trip to the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta in Tualatin.

The weather was beautiful, and it was fun to see people who had no idea what they were doing paddling around the lake in giant gourds. We will always remember Kelsey who never gave up, even though she probably set the record for the slowest paddle! :)

But the coolest thing was running into cousin Amy and her kiddos, Andrew and Ryan! RANDOM!

ACTUALLY... what's really random is that we ran into this same cousin family two years ago at the same lake during a farmer's market. Freakin' me out!

Thanks for hanging out with us, guys!!

We topped off the sunny fall Saturday with a bike ride to dinner with family. YAY! :)

Baker John

John is a super-cool guy. He's kind and giving and a very hard worker. And now, he's a baker!

He recently got his own place and, inspired by my recent batches of banana and zucchini bread, decided to learn to bake. He started with my trusty recipes from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and brought them in yesterday to share with CE2.

YUM!

This morning, John was searching the Internet for quick-bread recipes... and asking about sifting and egg substitute and such. It's fun to learn new things!! :)

Ginormous apple

Sue and Jen brought me this apple from their Hood River trip. Looks nice, right.

Well, what you can't tell from that picture is that it's ginormous!

Here it is next to a regular apple from the grocery store:

See how my hand is actually cramping trying to hold it up??

Weighed it on Brad's gear scale... it's more than 1 lb 9 oz!

Yay for giant fruit! :)

Run Like Hell - PR! (10/20/13)

Sunday was a great day for a race!

The cool fog made ideal racing conditions downtown for the annual Portland Run Like Hell.

We did the 10K race last year, Brad pacing me to a PR just two weeks after his marathon debut. That PR of 56:38, a 9:02 average, stood for a year. Then yesterday, I demolished it :)

This time we added Tim and Tera to our group (team discount for the win!!).

Dressed in our Halloween colors, ready to leave the house about 7 a.m. (Brad's shorts were black with orange stripes):

All the races (5K, 10K, Half, Miler) started and ended at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Chilly!

The 10K course is fairly flat, with lots of opportunity to go fast. But because it was just two weeks after my Portland Marathon, I didn't know what to expect. My plan was to see how I felt and push for a 9:00 average if I had it in me. Otherwise, I'd just enjoy the show. (Portland costume races are the best!)

Well, my lungs felt great and my legs loosened up after about the first mile. So I pushed toward 9:00 and told myself I only had to maintain to PR. 

But I still felt good, so I geared down and kept pushing... steadily dropping time until I kicked up the hill at the finish (uphill finishes suck!)

My awesome friends were all waiting for me at the end:

Brad totally destroyed his PR, running 7:16s. WOW - so proud!!!! Tera and Tim also kicked butt... it was definitely a PR day :)

Besides sharing our time triumphs, we also commiserated over the train that stopped almost the entire race at about 3.85 miles.

Apparently, the freight trains kinda just move whenever. There's no schedule. So downtown races (and bike rides) are often interrupted. Boo :(

Brad was stopped for almost 11 minutes. So while he got a rest in the middle of the race, he also cooled down and lost his momentum. Super bummer. I was only stopped a couple minutes and cooled down just a bit. Not too bad, but I wish I could have kept moving. Brad, Tim and I did get to have a chat while we waited :)

My Garmin had me at 54:59.58, an 8:47 average! SWEET! My official time was 54:51, an 8:50.
(I had the course just a skosh long)



But check out my splits... I'm SO EXCITED:

1 - 9:29 
2 - 9:03
3 - 8:58
4 - 8:54
5 - 8:28
6 - 8:10
.23 - 7:14

Now if that ain't impressive, I don't know what is. Perfect negative splits. YIPPEE! 

Usually I end up right in the middle of the pack. But yesterday, I came in 239th out of 1026, 18/119 in my age/sex and 105/700 in women. NICE! (Training long sure makes those short races easier!)

Can't wait for my next races...
And I can't wait to run with Tim and Tera again - so fun to have more runner friends :) :)

PS - My Portland Marathon recap is coming... :)

No. 44

Last night I finished No. 44: Sour Grapes by G.A. McKevett.

It was a good, easy read about a female PI investigating a death at a beauty pageant. Light, but a good mystery. My favorite!

Time to pick out another book from the library :)

Pink out

You know how kids are allowed/expected to wear unconventional things? Clothes that make them happy. Clothes at that fun. My personal favorite is girls with striped tights.

You know how, at some sad point in our lives, we're suddenly expected to "dress like an adult" and wear boring, conventional clothes?

One awesome thing about working in a high school is that it's acceptable (encouraged, even!) to dress crazy sometimes. Friday was one of those fun days.

For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the student body does a "pink out" dress-up day at school and at the evening's football game. Many students go all out, wearing head-to-toe pink. I love that I'm totally allowed to participate!

Eryn and I matched!

Last year's pink out game:

As I write this, a male student is sitting in front of me wearing pink tights and women's pink Nike Tempo running shorts. In the morning, I saw a guy sporting a hot-pink boa and a girl in pink PJs.

I loved dress-up days as a high schooler, and I still love the chance to be creative :)

Bonus - full moon rising over the football stadium at the football game (I wish you could tell how orange it was!):