Emma's Birthday Cake

I love Halloween. I'm obsessed with Halloween. It's my favorite. So, when Stacy's little girl was having a Witches' Night Out birthday party, I promptly invited myself, and assigned myself to make the birthday cake and cupcakes. I think it turned out pretty good...covering the cake with fondant could have gone a little better, but for my first effort, I think it turned out better than I expected.

Hi Boots...

So, I'm heading off to Ireland in a couple of weeks with my friends Janet and Robyn. We'll be staying in castles, like the princesses we are. I realized that Ireland in November is probably very rainy...and as I'm a silver-lining kind of girl...I decided that I must have these. I am actually looking forward to the rain and splashing around the Emerald Isle in these babies. Too cute.

Also...is drinking a Guinness while in Ireland really that bad? Maybe just a sip? I'm not really interested in drinking so much as experiencing the local culture...we'll see.

I'm taking shopping requests...so far I'm looking for candy bars, and a swathe of fabric...let me know if you want me to bring something back for you. I'm hoping to bring a cute Irish guy back as my souvenir...

Another weekend...another race...

I know it doesn't seem like I do anything but go to races, but I do...I promise...hopefully I will be able to prove it one day...

Anyhoo...over the weekend, I did the Pink Series Half Marathon. This pic is me with my fast friend Amber. She inspires me to run hard and do it with a smile. She's is a great cheerleader and always has a great attitude. We trained for triathlons together and it was always fun when she was around. She helped her friend to a new PR at the race. I didn't PR, but I had so much fun anyway.

It was such an awesome race! It was all about the women...lots of pink...awesome goodie bags...cute t-shirts...and cute guys handing us cute necklaces at the finish line. The race supported breast cancer awareness and research, and it was amazing to run with women who have overcome so much. At mile 7 I met a new friend...her mom died from breast cancer and she was running in remembrance of her. We spent the next 6 miles talking, and even though I ran at a slower-than-normal pace, I was really enjoying the opportunity to meet someone new, and before I knew it, the race was over and we were being pampered with post-race massages. Some days I like to run hard, and some days I like to take it easy, enjoy myself, and feel grateful just being alive. The weather was perfect for a run...the course was challenging but not horrible, and the fall colors were beautiful. Plus, you are close to the Park City outlets so you can do some post-race retail therapy. If you want to run a local half marathon in the fall, I give two enthusiastic thumbs up to this one!

St. George Marathon

Ah...too busy to blog! But, here is my 10th marathon race recap...I can't believe it's been 10!

Missy flew in from Chicago to run the marathon. Chad and I had been training together over the summer. We were all pretty excited!

We got up early and Mom was a trooper and drove us to the buses that would take us to the starting line. I was a little worried...it was pretty warm for being 5 in the am...

Chad and I started out pretty fast..typical for us...we can't seem to go with our game plan to start out slow...EVER. We were doing great til we hit the first hill, and then I felt a little blah for a few miles. I was just starting to get into my groove when the hotness got to me. It was a warm day to be running. I felt like the sun was beating down on me. The good news was that I got lots of compliments on my running top...

Chad was feeling slightly better than I was, and took off down the hill. I straggled behind, wondering why I keep signing up for these things! Chad did awesome, finishing in 3:48. I ended up finishing at 3:51;22...30 seconds better than last year. I was hoping to knock 5 minutes off, but with the heat, I am glad to get a new PR.

The finish line is always fun...and Missy finished with her new PR of 4:03...AWESOME! It was 30 minutes faster than her last marathon!

All in all, a good day, and I hope to be back next year!

The Dirty Dash

The Dirty Dash is a 10k (6.2 miles) through mud pits, over walls, over hay bales, through muddy swamps, and down a slip 'n' slide. It is hard, but tons of fun at the same time. Our team was the Dashin' Staches...and we took a lot of pride in our creepy mustaches. Classic. Jordan had this awesome action shot jumping over the wall...

I'm not sure which direction Chad was heading down the slip-n-slide...

The mud pit was definitely muddy. It was really the last chance to get really dirty.

Dixie kept telling me how much she hated mud. I'm pretty sure I told her that mud would be involved when I asked her to run with us...she has only herself to blame.

Team Dashin' Staches...looking creepy...

The Eagle Song

I heard this on the radio on Saturday, and I just had to share...
Here's the link if the video isn't working for you...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpKmFuOpshk

Disneyland Half Marathon

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...if you only want to do one half marathon in your life, pick the Disneyland Half. Super organization, easy course, entertainment along the way, running through Angel Stadium, ginormous finishers' medals...you just can't beat it. I ran it for the second time this year, and I talked my college roomies Melissa and Niko into running it, too. Since I was so lame last year and didn't dress up, I decided that costumes were a MUST this year. There were 3 of us, so I thought that going as Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty would be fun. Mom pulled out the glue gun and the tulle and did a fantastic job fashioning running-friendly outfits. We got to the start line at 4:30, and boy, were we popular before the race! (So popular that I didn't have time for my pre-race potty break and had to have a pit stop at mile 2). Random runners wanted pictures of us (this blogger got one post-race...kind of stalker-ish), and Disney online did an interview with us on-camera. I haven't located that online yet, but I'm sure looking. So, if you want to run with me next year, let me know. I'll bring the costumes.