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!

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!

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!

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!

Yes...running AND champagne

My friend, running buddy and roommate often laughs at me when my pre- race dinner consists of a glass of wine.  I am convinced that this is a great idea and continue to stick with the tradition :) 

Crossing that finish line at the end of a race is one of the greatest feelings.  You feel free, accomplished and strong.  I've often thought, this can't get any better, and then I read about the See Jane run series.  Not only do you get some awesome bling (see below for 2011 medal), you are awarded champagne and chocolates at the end of the race.  I love me some champagne :)  This race has been on my race event list for the past two years, and I am determined to make it happen.  I have emailed the race officials at least two times to see when registration opens.  This is one I definitely won't miss.  I hope that you will be there too.  Enter this contest for a chance to win a race entry for you and a friend!
See Jane Run

I survived- Warrior Dash 2011

I had been wanting to participate in Warrior Dash for some time.  I registered 1/26/11 right when registration opened.  I did not have anyone doing it with me, I just knew that I was going to do this.  Warrior dash ended up going on Groupon in September of this year and luckily my friend Angela and several of her friends signed up.  Yay, a big group!

We woke up on race day and decided have a last minute effort a painting our faces, day of the dead skeletons.  We had great intentions of dressing up as smurfs or something else, but life and work got in the way.  With the short time and limited supplies, we did a pretty good job, I must say.

I was slightly nervous, and as the course progressed, rightfully so.  I am pretty terrified of heights and they had several tall climbs.  I had to skip one and climb back down another.  Maybe next year I will be brave enough to tackle them all.  Nonetheless, this was fun!  My favorite part was going through the mud pit at the end.

Me swimming through the mud pit

Jumping over fire

It was a great day.  Despite the air and elevation giving me asthma issues, our team "left no man behind"  Got to meet new people, some new friends. :)