What's Your Dream?

Run run run as fast as you can! That was the theme of this entire run for me, strangely it started way earlier than the race did. My friends and I all carpooled to the race however, none of us thought to look where to park. Why? Because we thought there would be signs directing us to park, and there were... except we parked in a parking lot dedicated to another race that was happening that day and we had no clue.  We arrived about an hour before the race was to start because we had to pick up our race packets and we wanted to have enough time to get settled in before the start. We piled out of the car and wandered towards the race start (so the signs indicated), about a mile of wandering we found a group of race volunteers and they directed us towards the race start. After about another mile and half we realized that we had be misdirected by a group of volunteers for the wrong race! We found yet another group of volunteers and they were the correct ones this tim...

Tricia and I partied hardy last Friday evening in Capital Hill, Seattle. She invited me out for a Seattle Food Tour , something that I had never done before and I thought it sounded like fun (after I figured out what she was talking about.) So I arrived at Bar Cotto, the start of the tour, and I thought we were going to two places and Tricia informs me that we were going to five! WoW!  So after I get the confusion out of the way we are greeted by our tour host Coral.  Bar Cotto  is owned by Ethan Cole and is a small Parma-style salumeria and cocktail bar with pizza, Italian vegetables, bruschetta and a daily selection of both local and international cured meats. We had the pleasure of enjoying  Bar  "torta fritta" (fried dough breads) with Prosciutto Cotto, Mortadella and Salami paired with a Lambrusco sparkling red wine, the bubbles in the wine help you salivate more which in turn helps wash down strong or salty foods. The second stop on ou...

Anthony and I put Merry Marathon's Christmas on hold yesterday and attended his company annual holiday party instead. Which, for us, is the event of the year. Anthony dressed in a very nice suit and bow tie and I wore a black evening dress, my favorite compliment of the evening was "You two look like you are from a James Bond movie!" That really made me feel good! Nintendo sure knows how to throw a part! They have tons of food catered by Tom Douglas, he himself was even serving at the party, live music and of course, open bars, yes, several of them!  This year Anthony and I spent most of the evening playing in the mock casino, which neither of us had planned on doing. Anthony placed his bet in roulette and lost but I only played a small bet. I wanted to bet a bit more so I told Anthony to mingle and when he came back that we would go dance. Well when he came back I still had "$400" so we placed the bet on "24" the day of our first date and wo...

I would like to introduce Bonnie Davis a 45 year old Rock Star from Livonia, MI. She started running when other high impact workouts just weren’t enough and she wanted to see what else she could do. She started running in 2013 with the help of her sister who works for New Balance and was able to get her the hook up on running gear, how wonderful! This is her running journey. What inspires you to run? “I am inspired to run because it seemed like such an impossible feat for me. I used to lie in freshmen gym class, saying I had asthma to get out of our pre class run warm up. I have always hated it, but longed to do it. I have had dreams that I'm running and running, but it's like flying. I also am inspired by older runners I see at races who look fantastic. I want to be like that someday.” Where do you prefer to run? Trails, treadmill, road, etc.? “I definitely prefer to run outdoors. My neighborhood is pretty flat and boring but it's laid out for easy routing a...

This weekend I ran in Seattle half marathon and it was 26° at the start which is the coldest temperatures I have ever run in but I went prepared. I wore my running leggings like normal with an extra pair of sweatpants on top which were meant to be donated at one of the water stops if I warmed up enough. And then I wore to longsleeve running shirts and then a sweater that was also meant to be donated if I became warm enough during the run, which I ended up donating at mile two.  I also wore my light weight running gloves and a light weight headband just to keep my ears covered and ended up being perfect not too much not too little.  Last night I went out for a run with Anthony and it was 30°. I just wore my running capris, two long sleeve running shirts, gloves and my headband. I was a little chilled but I quickly realize that was because the sun wasn't out versus on Sunday the sun was shining bright. But overall for running it was just right. Anthony beca...

Chocolate medals! Cupcakes anyone!?                                               Today I had the pleasure of volunteering at the Mud and Chocolate half marathon in Redmond, WA! Not only was I able to volunteer but I got to do the best part of the whole race, I was able to hand out medals to the finishers! I got to hand out the chocolate medal with a chocolate bar to each participant. My friend Shannon handed out that the actual metal medal to the finishers. I felt that I have become a taker instead of a giver when it comes to doing things that I love and in this case that means races. I have run close to 50 races and I have never volunteered until today. It was really something special to watch each participant cross the finish line and complete their own goal for their own reasons. One particular lady was overwhelmed with emotions and fell to her knee...

What a day! It started off by me going to the store to to pick up the ingredients for French onion soup, which I have never made before so this was a whole new experience for me! Including a new ingredient that I've never used before either, rainbow chard. The recipe itself is pretty easy to make but it takes quite a while to make,  it says on the recipe it takes two hours, it took me about 2 1/2 hours.  Recipe found at Cooking Channel TV, Not My Momma's Meals, Light French Onion Soup . The first step is to get eight onions, then peel and slice them up.   (After making this recipe, I'd first recommend wearing swim goggles, sounds silly but it'll save your eyes! And then when slicing the onion use a thin slice, nothing wider than half an inch, and break them all apart Before putting them in the frying pan, it'll help the caramelizing process.) Then put them in frying pan and caramelize them.  Once that is done you simply add The roughly choppe...

As you may or may not know I am from the Midwest and I recently made a very quick trip back to the "homeland" to visit my family. By quick trip I mean almost crazy quick! I left Sunday morning after getting off work at 6:00am and arrived at my final destination Clever, MO at 8:04pm! A long day after completing a 12 hour shift at work, but I made it! Then Headed back Wednesday evening for my turnaround. I booked last minute so I didn't get the best deal on the airfare like I usually do but I still researched all the flights the best that I could before my flight. I flew Frontier and the only thing that I have against Frontier is that you have to pay for everything! From the soda and chips to even your carry on! So let's say you pay $300 for the round trip flight, but then there is the $20 baggage fee both ways, then if you don't want to be in the back with no leg room another $40 additional both ways. So that up to $520 already! No soda, no chips or whatever you mi...