Nice Long Weekend

I had a very nice FOUR day weekend and I'm sad to say it's almost over! I took Thurs and Fri off to go wedding dress shopping with my friend Shannah. She currently lives in Zurich (Switzerland) and she is getting married in Tuscany, Italy in May 2008. I know Shannah from college and she got a job in Zurich 4 years ago. She decided she loved it so much, that she stayed out there, met a nice beau (who is English) and now she is getting married! She was very lucky and she found THE DRESS at the very first bridal shop we went to. The dress is just gorgeous and it is very fitting for the 'Italian' wedding. Because we got her dress in a timely manner, we decided to spend the rest of Thurs and most of Fri shopping for bridesmaids dresses. I have attached a few pictures of the favorites, Jessica and I were the guinea pigs! We couldn't tell when Shannah was snapping photos, hence the blank looks on our faces :-) Shannah hasn't decided 100% yet on our dresses, we didn't get the same 'wow' factor that we did with her gown. So we will keep on lookin! And then there is the coloring, which is an entirely different decision!


Last night we went to Shannahs mom's house for dinner - she cooked up a ton of ribs, potatoes, corn, beans, fruit salad and we even had cake! It was like Thanksgiving in September! Today we went over to Ryan Arnold's house and watched the Bronco's lose their first game - it was a bummer....they had a few chances to come back and they blew them!


Back to work tomorrow, I wish I could have another four days - it's been so nice and relaxing for my brain!

The big 2007 10K!

Well I finally did a race today! It was just a 10K, but that's big-time for me this year :-) The race was in Buena Vista, Colorado. One thing I learned about Buena Vista - the locals actually pronounce it BUNA (U is like YU) Vista - I still am not quite sure why!

The run was the 'Autumn Color Run' and I did it with Michelle. To start out, the website for the race wasn't very clear, I also didn't take a ton of time to try and figure out the details before race day. Turns out there are actually 4 different races that all start at the same time, but at different places - and they all have the same finish line: 1/2 marathon, 10K, 5K and a 1 mile fun run. The website talks up the 'race' saying it's a one-way, downhill course, people generally have their 'best times'....I assumed the 10K fell into that nice description...boy was I wrong! The website was speaking specifically on the 1/2 - whoops! The 10K was uphill for the first 3 miles...then rollers for about 1 mile....and the last 2 miles were relatively flat...oh and this is all at 8,000 feet!! It was rough - I'm trained for a 10k, but I hadn't really done much elevation training! Michelle was also having a hard time, especially during the first 3 miles. I got ahead of her during that time and we ran our own races the rest of the time. I am very happy and proud to say however - we both finished! and we were just 5 mins apart...my time was 64, hers was 69. And the best part - we weren't last! :-)

I've realized today no matter how big or small the race, there are 2 things I ALWAYS run through my head as I run, swim, bike, walk, etc: 1 - at some point in the race I will wonder if I can finish - will I bonk, will I be able to sustain the pace, will I meet my goal...I question if I can really do it. I have done a ton of races, and I'm happy to say I've never once quit! Still the question always pops into my head - and it's usually during the first 20% of the race. Then without a doubt -thought number 2 - there is a point (always after I've finished a big portion of the race) that I realize, I am actually going to finish this thing! Today, thought #1 came at about mile 2.5....thought #2 was just after mile 5. And of course, as I sit at home the night of the race - I am always sooooooooooo glad I did it !

The biggest race I've ever done was exactly one year ago this weekend - the Harvest Moon Half Ironman. I think back to that day, and I clearly remember the turnaround of the run - I realized my thought #2 exactly at that point...even if I crawled to that finish line, I was going to make it! I cannot believe that was 1 year ago - this year has flown by. A co-worker told me last week that time starts going faster as you get older - I AM almost 30 you know!

OK this old chick has to go to bed!