1/20/12

7 random Rants

1.  I saw MJ cirque- It was was Legen...wait for it...dary (thank you Barney)

2.  I am addicted to Pepper Plant hot sauce.  It has no calories and it is great on everything.  Egg whites and cottage cheese are my top picks.
3.  I signed up for the Disneyland half marathon this year!  I will be running with a friend and can not wait.

4.  The 2012 Shamrock'n marathon in Sacramento just sold out.  I am excited that I signed up in time!

5.  This photo below showed up in my facebook feed.  I decided that meant that the holidays "yummies" were over (ding ding ding- it's almost February).  I have been eating clean all week, and intend to stick with it.
The holidays are OVER
6.  I have been actively trying to find this shirt.  I was finally told by Nike that it was recalled due to too many complaints.  If anyone finds it, let me know!
7.  I'm itching for a new tattoo

1/13/12

OMG I'm seeing MJ Cirque Du Soleil on Sunday!

I can not wait for this weekend, as I am going to see Michael Jackson Cirque Du Soleil.  I love the cirque shows and try to see all of the ones that come into my area.  I am amazed with each show and all of the performer's talents.  Check out my new page Love Cirque to see recaps of all the shows that I've seen.

I originally thought that this show was sold out, but my Dad, Aunt and Uncle bought some awesome tickets that they gave me for Christmas.  I am beyond excited and can not wait for Sunday to arrive!

1/10/12

7 Random Rants: Rats, Voluspa, Nbc's The Office and more

I'm borderline OCD with the number 7.  I was born on 7-7 and although that may or may not be the correlation, it is all that is the only explanation that I have been able to come up with for my obsession.  The number has proven to be mildly lucky in Las Vegas, but equally detrimental.  Anyway, I have decided to weekly post "7 Random Rants."  .

7 Random Rants
1.  I think my fear amplifies my exaggerations.
 A long story short (and after a few weeks of disbelief) we have rats, in our attic.  One day I went into a hall closest (which occupies the crawl space under the house) and saw that my foam roll had been gnawed at.  This was the first time that I chose to believe we had some rodents among us.  

Then, as if out of no where.  I saw something.  To me it looked like this:
We shortly after had an exterminator come and set up some special traps with pheromones, but we caught nothing.  A friend placed some small traps up in the attic just in case.  After about a week he went back to collect them.  We had caught something!  
Clearly not the same as the photo above
One if three explanations: 1- my fear exaggerated what I saw, 2- I am blind as a bat (yes I wear glasses and they were off that night AND it was dark), and 3- The life threatening, ugly, scary and huge rat is STILL at large.  I am voting for anything other than the latter.

2.   I love Voluspa   Best.Candles.Ever.

Santigo Huckelberry is the best scent

3.  I am finally admitting that NBC's The Office isn't nearly as good since Steve Carrel left.

4. I hate reading but have not been able to put down The Hunger Games trilogy

5.  I'm addicted to Starbuck's, The Perfect Oatmeal.  I need to start making this at home

6.  Grilled cheese and tomato soup can be eaten 4 times in a weeks span and is still enjoyable

7.  OMG I'm going to see Michael Jackson Cirque du Soleil on Sunday!

1/6/12

The Big Apple- NYC marathon lottery

I told myself that 2012 was going to be the year of today.  For the last few years I have felt like several of my goals and accomplishments have been waiting on "someday" and this year I decided to start making this happen today. 


This attitude lead me to register for the lottery for the New York marathon.  Only 8-12% of runners that sign up for the lottery actually get into this race.  Fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed that I get in~!

50/50/50

50/50/50....what does this mean?  I have decided that I want to complete 50 marathons or half marathons in 50 states by my 50th birthday.

I actually cannot recall who or what got this idea into my head, but the more I began to research, the more excited I became.  I read about a girl named Laura who had completed this task and she was 24!  Extremely impressive. (About Laura)  Since I am turning 28 this year (and the year is basically shot due to a committed California 2012 run schedule), I have 22 years to complete this.  I figured that was well enough time to travel to each state.  I would love to finisher sooner, but I wanted to be realistic.

My first step was to look online for other runners online who had completed this task, and see where they had run.  I checked the 50 States Marathon club site for the "favorites" and recommendations.  Yes, if I complete this, I get to be in this club too! 50 states club.  Technically the fifty states half club would be my club, as I will be running a mixture of half's and fulls.  50 1/2 club.
Next I began to look up each race.  Here were the points I used to make my selections:
  1. Certified race- with course marshall (per fifty states club rules)
  2. Race must provide finisher medal (I am not returning home without bling)
  3. Race of course is pretty or challenging
  4. Race is for a good or meaningful cause
  5. Race is near landmark or icon in that State that I want to see (killing two birds with one stone)
I am really excited about my list.  I even have a few Rock n Roll events on there.  I am going to plan them to run them in the same year so that I can collect some extra Heavy Bling!

There are a few states in which I want to complete two races.  Luckily they either mean a lot, or are fairly close to California, my home state.  The only state without a selected race is Alabama.  Nothing has jumped out to me yet.  Here is my working list.


State Town Race Name
Alabama
Alaska Ankorage Humpys
Arizona Phoenix RNR
Arkansas Little Rock Little Rock
CA San Francisco NWM
Colorado Boulder Heart and Sole Half
Connecticut Hartford ING Hartford
Delaware Wilming Delaware
Florida Orlando Walt Disney World
Georgia Atlanta ING Georgia
Hawaii Kauai Kauai
Idaho Idaho Falls MAD marathon
Illinois Chicago RNR
Indiana Idianapolis Womens Half
Iowa Des Moines IMT Des Moines
Kansas Olathe Wickedly fast
Kentucky Louisville LSC Half
Louisiana Baton Rouge Lousiana
Maine Portland Portland
Maryland Baltimore Under Armour Baltimore
Massachusetts Boston Boston
Michigan Detroit Detroit
Minnesota Minniapolis 13.1
Mississippi Jackson Mississippi Blues
Missouri St Louis Go St Louis
Montana Missoula
Nebraksa Omaha Omaha
Nevada Las Vegas RNR
New Hampshire Hamptons Smuttynose rockfest
New Jersey Cooper Norcross Run the Bridge
New Mexico Chips N Salsa 
New York NYC New York
North Carolina Charolette Thunder Road
North Dakota Fargo
Ohio Cinncinnati Flying Pig
Oklahoma Tulsa Route 66
Oregon Portland RNR
Pennsylvania Philadelphia Philadelphia
Rhode Island Newport Amica
South Carolina Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach
South Dakota Run Crazy Horse
Tennessee Nashville WHM
Texas Austin Livestrong Austin
Utah Salt Lake City Salt Lake
Vermont Colchester Vermont City
Virgina Arlington Marine Corps-Full
Virginia Richmond Richmond Suntrust- Full
Washington Spokane Windermere
Washington Seattle RNR
West Virginia Williamson Hatfield and McCoy
Wisconsin Kenosha Wisconsin
Wyoming Casper Casper


I also found a blog online where a girl mentioned how to save money when traveling to all of the races.  She would often rent a car and sleep in the Walmart parking lot.  I am not sure if this will be my route, but 2-3 races per year and lots of planning should make things more manageable.  I also plan to let all my friends and family know what I am up to and ask that they support me by recommending a relatives or friends "couch to crash on" in any state that I might be visiting.  With me working a full time job, several of these will be long weekend turn around trips.

I am also going to be starting an interactive race calendar until it is full.  Here is my progress thusfar.
A long way to go, but here's to 50!

1/3/12

2012- A year of running and no excuses

I couldn't be more excited to start 2012 and to get back on my running wagon.  These legs have gotten a little rusty in the past two months.  Between working two jobs and being tired, I made excuses not to train.  2012 is the year of no excuses.

My mom knows how excited I am about my race Bling and gave me a very appropriate gift for Christmas.
She knows me quite well...7 knobs to hang my medals from and I couldn't be more excited to start hanging!

I already have a lengthy race list for 2012, which is still growing:
Surf City
Bay Breeze 10k,
Shamrock'n half
Go green 10k
Since St Patrick's day is one of my favorite holidays, and green is my favorite color, I snuck in two races with have equally exciting green clover medals.
Hollywood Half
Big Sur
OC marathon
After the OC marathon I will have complete my Beach Cities Challenge!
See Jane Run
SF marathon
Although I did not get chosen as a SF marathon ambassador, I am still looking forward to this race.

Below are 2012 races on my calendar that I have yet to sign up for:
Terrain Mud
Bay Area 1/2
Disneyland 1/2 or Tower of Terror 10k
Giant Race
NWM (fingers crossed that I get in!)
Iron Girl

Happy 2012 and Happy Running!