Friends...

Making friends was very important to my 'survival' out here in CA. Fortunately, a couple girls that I work with found me to be fun and interesting, so they've agreed to hang out with me outside of work on the condition that I... Okay, just kidding. I do have friends and their friendship is unconditional. : )

You saw Meghan in a previous post...and here's Jenn (she's such a sweetheart!):

This was take at a wine bar in Midtown (trendy grid of lofts, shops, bars, and restaurants in Sacramento) called 58 Degrees.

Mac and Julian coming to vist!

MacKenzie and her boyfriend, Julian, will be visiting me next week. They get in on Tuesday night and leave the following Wednesday. I think we'll try to drive to Santa Cruz or Monterey for the weekend. : )

It'll be nice to have them around and I hope they enjoy the vacation!

13.1 miles?

Yes, as most of you are aware, I did something pretty crazy this past Sunday.



Back in March of this year, a few friends of mine from work signed up for the San Francisco Marathon, wanting to run the first half of it (13.1 miles). I thought this was insane, but decided to sign up, too. We had plenty of time to train becuase the race wasn't for another 5 months and managed to run at least 3-4 times a week, training...that is, until June when vacations started and running wasn't something we wanted to do while in, say, Costa Rica (which, I did run on the beach one of the 6 mornings!). After June, we lost most of what we had accomplished in the past months of training, but we managed to jump back on the wagon and we were up to almost 8-mile runs by a couple weeks prior to the race.



Grace, Meghan, Meghan's husband, Peter, and I all piled in the car on Saturday afternoon to head out for SF in order to pick up our 'packets' on the day prior to the race. We got hotel rooms and loaded up on some carbs that night--something that you're supposed to do, I guess.



The next morning, we got up at about 5am and were downstairs to catch a cab to the starting line by 5:20. Our start-time, according to how long we thought we would run the half-marathon in, was 6:25am.



It was still dark out at that time and the temperature was about 55degrees--cold to us at first, but we all knew that we didn't want to have too much clothing on because the sweat would start rolling very soon.



We started out very slowly--probably a 13-minute mile pace--knowing that 13.1 miles was a lot more than our 8 that we would run once in awhile just to see if we could. After a few miles, we picked it up a little and then the hills set in! Imagine that! Hills in SF! : )



Our path led us over the Golden Gate and back, which was 'hecka' cool! ('Hecka' and 'Hella' are a Nor-Cal thing..haha!) They shut down two lanes of traffic to accommodate the 12,000 people in the race. There were water stations scattered throughout and I think we only stopped at two of them...one was my excuse to walk a bit, as I was having trouble recovering from the last hill, which Meghan had to pull at my shirt one time to keep me from stopping. She couldn't say no to my plea (excuse) for water, though! Hehe...



Altogether, I think I only walked about 45 seconds of the full 13.1 miles! That still amazes me... After the bridge, we hit a huge downhill and did some catching up on our time. Thinking that this was great, we had no idea what was to come. Our last few miles were nothing but up-hill killers! It never really went flat enough or flat enough for long enough to allow for recovery, so I was dying and ready to throw-up at any minute. Oh!...just thinking about it now makes me cringe.



Anyhow, we made it and managed to get a time of 2 hours and 25 minutes. That was exactly what we thought it would be and turns out to be an 11:11 minute mile. That doesn't sound that great, but next time I'll do better! (Yes, I hope to run another in the coming months!)



After the race, they gave us space blankets, food (bread, bananas, gatorade), and a medal. : )



Here are some pics that Peter (the best cheerleader anyone could hope for!) captured of our fantastic, memorable experience:

This picture is of Grace (left), Meghan, and I the day before the race--getting our packets.

This was the morning of the race, putting on our numbers.

the Bay bridge in the background:

See me with my hand up in the air? This was at the very start of the race.

Of course, Peter couldn't be anywhere but the beginning and the end, so this was taken after 13 miles...exhausted! Notice that my feet are pretty much both touching the ground? Well, its weird, but EVERY picture shows the same--do I ever increase my stride? : ) I'm smiling, but its all for show...I was ready to be done after the hills I just encountered!

Here, we're finally done and freezing because we were drenched in sweat and the temp was still about 60degrees with a slight wind.

This picture is more like how we felt, but honestly, its probably a little worse. I was very, very sore and tired!

All in all, a good experience was had by all and I think that we will all keep running two or three times a week and maybe do some 10K's when we can.

If you want more pics, see the following link: http://www.marathonfoto.com/index.cfm?RaceOID=27892008M1&LastName=EDWARDS&BibNumber=17238&Mailing=16254

Don't forget to notice the feet--both on the ground...weird!

New Links

I added a couple new links to the "Links You Should Check Out" portion of this blog. One is called Spoofee, and it is a listing of really good deals in the online marketplace. For example, they have coupons for Joanne's, listings of hard drives that are on sale for a really good price. They have free offers, like one that I took advantage of was for a free razor (the kind you use to shave your legs...hehe). You should definitely check this one out if you are always looking for a 'good deal.'

Another one I added was a link to the Boston Globe's "Big Picture" blog. Every couple days, a new set of pictures is posted. They are amazing and likely the kind you see in National Geographic sometimes. It's just neat and one of the sites a visit on a daily basis--along with my bank account website in Missouri where I'm awaiting a fat deposit from the Dutch government of my tax overpayment from last year!

If you haven't been to the PostSecret site that I've listed there from the beginning of my blog, you should click on that one, as well. It is updated with new secrets every Sunday afternoon.

Check them out! You won't be disappointed! : )

Visit from parents and the sister...

My parents and sister came to visit me a few weeks ago in the big state of California. It was nice to see them and to be the host for the week in my apartment. This is the first time they had seen it.

They hung out at my apartment, laying by the pool and just relaxing, for a couple days while I worked. I got to take off Friday and although we didn't make it to San Francisco (it was cold and rainy), we had a good time One night we treked up to Tahoe for the evening. We did a little sightseeing, ate lots of crab legs at the Harrah's buffet, and gambled away our life savings. Okay, no losing of the life savings...and actually, I think we all came out about even.




Dadd and Mac had to leave on Monday morning, but Mom got to stay until Friday. : ) We had a good time just hanging out...and best of all, she had my house clean and my laundry done by the time I got home from work. hehe... Okay, just kidding again,...it was great having her around and I'm looking forward to everyone's next visit!

Speaking of next visit, MacKenzie and Julian are arriving in Sacramento a week from tomorrow! I think we will make one big trip to Monterray or Santa Cruz and then they might possibly go to SF for the day. Other than that, they are on their own! I, unfortunately, have to work. There's lots to do around here, so once I show them what there is, I'm sure they won't be bored. (hopefully!!)

I hope everyone is doing well and thanks for checking this blog for the updates. I know that I am not very good at it these days.