Smoke Free in NC

Come Saturday, all restaurants and bars will be smoke free in North Carolina. This is a huge deal since tobacco has always been such a big part of this state's economy - and I am SO happy that the no smoking law was passed! Florida passed it several years ago when we were living down there, and it was weird to move to a state where smoking was still allowed. We forgot that when you walked into a restaurant they still needed to ask, "Smoking or non?" Well, not anymore!

This guy isn't as happy as me. What an idjut.

"Starting Saturday, Albert Brown will be forced to alter a cigarette habit he picked up at 9 years old. No more Marlboros over breakfast at the Toot-N-Tell Family Restaurant.

The state's smoking ban doesn't sit well with Brown, now 67, who shows a chest scar to prove his loyalty to tobacco. After heart bypass surgery in 2000, Brown kept smoking.

"The first thing I did when I got in my car was light a cigarette and puff away. Is that stupidity? Of course it is. But I love my cigarettes."

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Christmas Catchup

I had to work Monday through Wednesday of last week, and it was surprisingly busy, even with a lot of people taking PTO. It went fast at least. Marty and I saw Avatar in 3-D and you can ready Mr. Cynical's review on his website. Thursday we drove to Virginia where we would be spending the holiday at my sister's house.

Christmas Eve we had our now traditional dinner at Outback.

I'm on the nice list and Shana's on the naughty list:



Christmas morning was filled with lots and lots of presents.



Nice jersey! Tassie somehow managed to get in most of our pictures, too.



Tassie also made time to get her hair did.



And in keeping with the theme, Shana and I wore matching shirts for Christmas dinner.



Christmas dinner is always lasagna. Don't get me started on you people who eat Thanksgiving again on Christmas.

The day after Christmas Marty and I found a park where there was a 1.5 mile trail around a lake. Neither of us wanted to run at the Dismal Swamp again (BORING), but we didn't factor in all the rain, so the trail we found was beyond muddy. And yeah, we did have to do a bunch of loops, but at least it was interesting. Tassie ran about 6.5 miles with us. The first lap was spent trying to get her to not run through all the mud puddles, but we quickly realized this was futile. She got a bath when we got back to my sister's house.



When we got home yesterday, Marty and I went out for a short mountain bike ride. It was sunny and 50-something degrees and there were families and puppies and babies all running around the local park. If it were any cuter we would both have been puking rainbows.

And it wouldn't be Christmas without catching some sort of cold, so now I'm all hopped up on some over the counter medicine and have a big box of Puffs Plus to help minimize the red nose from blowing too much.

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Longest Run Ever?

I think I may have just set a new pr for myself in running for my longest run. I realize most of you readers out there are triathletes and runners so this is not going to be too impressive to you all, but for me it's pretty big. 14.1 miles in 1:46 - it had some warmup, some tempo, and some cooldown. We ran on the American Tobacco Trail which is about as flat as you can get around here and still run on a soft surface. It does have some net downhill/uphill but the uphill is only noticable when you're nearing the end of the run and you're tired, then it's like "where the f did this hill come from?!" My tempo portion is nowhere near where I want my race pace to be so I really have no clue how that small miracle is going to pan out. Ah well.

My sister and her yellow lab drove up and will be staying with us for the next week and a half or so. Now Tassie not only has another human to shower her with attention but also a dog to keep her company and play with. As you might remember, Shana also doubles as my personal shopper so she came bearing some new shirts for me which I promptly paid her for. I'm telling you, you guys need to get one of these - I don't have to worry about spending time at the mall which I don't really like doing, but I end up with good clothes that always fit. Yay for sisters who like to shop!

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We Just Can't Help Ourselves

They were calling for a wintry mix here today, and we're getting it! So of course we had to video and document the snow - I know, I know, we can't ever get over the novelty of it. We are such Floridiots.

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Tassie & Running

Tassie has been putting in some good miles so far this winter. Yesterday she did a double! Sometimes in the morning I'll do a short little wake-up jog (like 15min) and Tassie loves coming along. It's good because Marty likes to roll over and go back to sleep. Although I can't complain too much because I've been very guilty of this same act with morning swims the past couple of months.

Anyways, Tassie also ran with us last night which consisted of some 1min pickups. We didn't end up doing them all because she got a little too tired. I tried to do an extra but she was having none of that and pulled so hard she was practically frothing at the mouth trying to catch me.

I always get worried when she starts falling behind and trotting more than running. I'm paranoid since she has a heart problem (even though the vet has assured us that running is GOOD for her heart). 10 times out of 10, it's because she has to poop. And me being the apparently rude dog owner can never remember baggies. And seriously, Tassie, kicking up grass and dirt afterwards in an area that is not even remotely close to where you just laid a grumpy* is not helping.

Yup, maturity is through the roof tonight...

*Term Marty likes to use because, duh, you look kind of grumpy when you're pushing it out!

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Jolly Elf Trail Run 5k

This past Saturday Marty and I did a local 5k in Bond Park. If I’m being honest, I need to admit that I totally tried to talk Marty out of doing this race. And only because it was going to be hella cold in the morning. I really have no problem racing – I think doing road races is an excellent way to get feedback on how the training is going as well as get in a great effort for a hard workout. I don’t get all tied up in pr’ing or any of that. I know some people only want to race if they’re going to race well, but I can compartmentalize and race for fun when I want to.

Anyways, Marty wasn’t budging and I grudgingly got up the next morning. I immediately checked the weather and the feels like temperature was 23 degrees. Awesome. We dressed in many layers and then jogged over to the park, much to the dismay of Tassie who watched us from the window as we took off. Since we were both running and weren’t taking a car, we couldn’t take her with us. So I was warm I guess on the way over and even took off a layer before the start because I didn’t want to overheat. I still had on fleece tights, a short sleeve base layer, and long sleeve shirt that had a little turtleneck, warm hat, running gloves (that were not thick enough), and smart wool socks.

The other fun thing about this race is that it’s mostly cross country – trails and hills and even a big wide open field for the start (about 150 yards long) with a sharp turn at the end. There is some greenway pavement mixed in. So the race went well – it was cold and my hands went completely numb, but I was pleasantly surprised to run an 18:54 out there. Unfortunately, even though once again I was signed up as Bri, the results have me as Brianna. I guess I’m entered into their database incorrectly. Marty sent a strongly worded email asking them to fix it – something I would never do since I’m too much of a coward at confrontation. Although, complaining about it to the world on here doesn’t seem to bother me.

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I Know I Know

I know I'm slacking when I get an email from Marty telling me "your blog is lonely for updates." You'd think my own husband would know what's going on with me and not have to resort to reading my blog, but what do I know. So here are some random thoughts for Friday:

• We did a track workout this past Tuesday and it was dark, cold and rainy. There were only a few other brave souls out there. The traffic was horrendous and we may just have to cut the cord on that track until we change time and can get to the one that is slightly closer.
• I really like the people at Master's. Although I hate having to get up early, I'm always glad to see everyone and push myself to the point where I feel like my lats are going to burn off.
• In the locker room, one of the girls told a Tiger Woods Christmas themed joke: What's the difference between Santa and Tiger Woods?..........................Santa stopped after 3 ho's!
• Ho ho ho! :)
• Tassie made an update last weekend.
• Marty and I did a tempo run last night. I hate how dark it gets so early which means we can't run on trails (I get home too late). I'm so lucky he'll wait and run with me when I get home.
• 7 years ago on Dec 7th, Marty proposed to me in a swan boat in the middle of Lake Eola.
• After not having a Christmas tree the past 3 years, we have 2 this year? Why, you may ask? Well, Marty was at WalMart and saw a really cheap deal on a tree and bought it as a surprise. I was surprised. And then he was surprised when I said, did you forget we bought one last year? No matter! They're both going up!
  

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Weekend in Virginia

I drove up to Virginia to my older sister's house to do a little pre-Christmas festivities with some of the fam, as well as celebrate my nieces 11th birthday. She is a huge Twilight fan so we had tons to talk about ;) No one wanted to take her to New Moon so I sacrificed myself and went to see it again with her yesterday afternoon. She LOVED it.

After the movie we watched the Gators fall to Alabama - now I know it's sacrilegious for me to cheer for Alabama since I did go to Auburn, but the one team I will always cheer against is Florida. So ROLL TIDE! I definitely enjoyed myself watching that one.

This morning I ran 12 miles at the Dismal Swamp Trail. Seriously, who decided that would be a good name? It totally reminds me of The Swamp of Sadness where Artex died (anyone else out there fans of The Neverending Story? I loved that movie as a kid, but always cried during this scene. Okay, and what the heck was the name Sebastian yelled out at the end of the movie?! That's like the mystery of the century).

Here's a funny picture of me and my sister - both on the computer sitting practically on top of each other. What can I say, we like each other. Here's how ridiculous this is, we were actually looking at the same website, pointing funny parts out to each other. It was www.fmylife.com in case you were wondering.

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Feeling Off

Did you know that there are bowling alleys that don't sell beer? Because I sure didn't. We met the Lovgren's out for some bowling fun on Friday night and we were all WTF when we realized that no beer was to be had. But we don't need beer to have a good time! It would have just been a nice little addition to the beverage selection. I bowled a 71 and a 109. Did I mention I am awesome at bowling?

On Saturday I woke up not feeling so great. I was tired, sour stomach and all around blah. Lots of lying on the couch watching football while Marty and Tassie lived it up our friends house. Sunday was not a whole bunch better. My training has suffered over the past few days. I just haven't felt like myself and I'm getting worried and might be re-assessing my goals for the Disney half marathon. I'm definitely no where near where I had hoped at this point in time.

My sickness or whatever has morphed into some sort of head cold. I'm still tired but at least my stomach feels better.

I see that Marty has put up a race schedule on his blog. I guess I know what races to plan for myself next year now ;)

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Happy Thanksgiving!

It's just Marty, Tassie and me for Thanksgiving this year. We're going to be doing our own dinner tonight, although we bought a baked chicken instead of a turkey...same difference, right?

I got in a good 11 miler this morning, the middle of it being the Inside Out Sports 8k Turkey Trot. I averaged 6:23 so a good effort for the long run! I felt ok, nothing special, but I wasn't exactly trying to target this race. Tassie ran to the race and back with us (it's a little shy of 3 miles to the race) and of course had a great time. Marty ran the 1 mile race and stomped on all the little kiddies with a smokin' 5:25.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! There sure is a lot to be thankful for!

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Mountain Weekend

Gotta love abbreviated work weeks! And it’s so dead at the office that I’ll be working from home tomorrow :)

As many of you won’t be surprised to find out, I saw New Moon Friday night. My friend Brooke is a big fan of Twilight/RPattz too, so we met for dinner and then braved our way into the theatre full of shrieking 15 year olds. Okay, maybe we shrieked once or twice, too. Haha, I’m totally kidding on that one.

Saturday after a long run I drove Tassie and myself to Maggie Valley to spend some time with some of my family. We had a great time and lots of good food. Marty and I made our way into Asheville on Saturday night (one of our favorite little cities).

And here’s a picture of Tassie drinking the last few drops of some Tasmanian beer the other night (her namesake).

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Dangling the Carrot

Nothing like a cliff hanger. I wasn't going to tell this but I'm easily swayed by peer pressure. Anyways, Marty wrote it --- as a play. It's not really as funny as you are probably hoping for, but at least you can all get on with your lives ;)

I'm going to go hide now.


The Scene: The Flying Saucer Pub in downtown Raleigh. It is 3 PM. Sunny. Cool. A nice Autumn day. Bri is relaxing on the outside deck with a pint of Sea Dog Blueberry. She just finished 2nd in a 5k running race. She is enjoying pretzels and beer.

Her tummy hurts. She has to go to the bathroom. One of those post-running workout issues all runners have experienced. Time to go potty.

Bri: “I have to go potty,” she tells her husband, Marty. “You know.”

Marty: Nods his head. He has been there.

Bri gets up from the table and walks inside. It is dim and smoky. There are people sitting in groups, laughing, chatting, having fun. She proceeds to the bathroom. As far as bar / pub bathrooms go it is not bad. Not too clean, not too dirty. About what you’d expect. She walks to the stalls. There are three. One of them is taken. Bri takes the stall farthest from the door and enters.

Bri gets prepared to do her business. There are a few loud, pre-emptive strikes.

Three year old little boy in the stall next door: “HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!”

Little boy’s Mother: “No, Timmy, be quiet!”

Bri shakes her head and continues onward. The bathroom fills with the terrible smell of a post-hard run poop.

Little boy: “STINK!”

Little boy’s Mother: “No!”

Little boy: “STINK!”

Little boy’s Mother: “No!”

Bri tries to hide her head but no one is looking. She is not sure if she should laugh or cry. Perhaps she’ll just hide in the stall until they are gone.

Little boy: “STINK!”

Little boy’s Mother: “No!”

Little boy: “STINK!”

Little boy’s Mother: “Timmy! If you don’t stop I’m going to wash your mouth at with soap!”

Little boy: “Why? STINK!”

Little boy’s Mother: “Because you’re not being nice!”

Time passes. Bri has to wait them out because she clearly can’t face the little boy so immediately. The little boy finishes his doodies. The mother helps him wash his hands and they leave.

Bri waits some more. She washes her hands. She exits the bathroom. She tries not to look at the little boy she can see out of the corner of her eye. Is he waving and pointing? Is he holding his nose? Is that mom smiling at her?

Bri sits back down with her husband. “You won’t believe what just happened in there.”

Marty: “Tell me.”

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Spot On

And now for a little training talk. A lot of times I don’t like to go into specifics because then that gets people to compare one another, and that is not always a good thing. I also don’t want any readers to think, “oh she just thinks she’s so fast” or “god she’s self involved.” But you know what…my blog! :-)

I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get any other comments about my dirty comic below (except from Bella Swan herself). I guess sometimes my humor is out there. Marty keeps begging me to tell the story of what happened to me after the 5K on Sunday on here, but I won’t because then you all would think I’m even more demented and gross.

Oh yeah, training talk. So last night was track night at the oh so lovely cement lit track. I purposely did not say well lit – it’s not, but at least it’s not pitch black. I wasn’t feeling super motivated for the track but that’s why you run with a group because the work still gets done. The workout was 2x2mile with a ¼ jog in between. Lovely. Goal pace was somewhere between 10K and half marathon pace. I decided 6:20 per mile would be good and tried to settle into an even cadence.

1st 2 mile – mile one: 6:20, mile two: 6:16
2nd 2 mile – mile one: 6:19, mile two: 6:18

I was able to click off pretty much even laps the entire time without too much difficulty. I mean, it certainly wasn’t easy but I got into that rhythm and stayed there – you all know what I’m talking about. That place where you don’t even have to think you just click the laps off.

Afterwards Tim and Angela went with us to the Fox and Hound Pub & Grill making it a very fun school night.

Oops, forgot to get up and swim again this morning ;)

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Nov 20th! New Moon!

hahaha, just a joke, people :)

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End of another weekend

Just a quick weekend wrap-up. We ran a swim clinic yesterday and everything went smooth and we had another good turnout. Marty is so good at these and everyone seemed to get a lot out of the information we provided. Although I don't really like getting up and speaking in front of people, Marty has me doing one of the presentations so he can have a little break. I know it's good for me, but I still don't like it!

This afternoon we ran the Old Reliable 5K. It was warm out and they changed the course so it was quite hilly. I didn't have very good spring in my step, but I was able to keep all my miles within about 8 seconds of each other which I think is a good sign of strength right now. I ran a 19:06 for 2nd place female.

Afterwards, we cheered for the 10K runners then headed to our favorite bar, The Flying Saucer. We scored a table outside and had a fun time with some other runners that decided to partake in the frosty beverages.

It was a great Sunday.

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Dropping the Kids Off

As Marty mentioned on his blog, we’re adding another swim to our Open Water Series next year – it will have a 1 mile and a 2 mile option. We were talking about this on our drive down to Jacksonville the other weekend and we were trying to come up with names. I am proud to announce that I was the one who came up with The Big Deuce for the 2 mile. Marty laughed and probably called me gross or something and then we dismissed it saying it might not be a good idea, but after running it by some friends we said screw it – The Big Deuce it is! Marty came up with the Little Uno for the 1 mile option.

The remnants of Hurricane Ida have been swirling here for the past 3 days making our weather super crappy. It’s been windy and cold and raining non stop – this is like no hurricane I’ve been in (and I’ve been in several, thank you Florida summer of 2004). We got in a good track workout on Tuesday night before the rain got too heavy. There is one middle school track in the county that turns on its lights, so at least we have an option. It’s not a nice track but I’m not a beggar. Last night, though, I had to resort to the treadmill at work with my trusty i-pod.

This Sunday we’re running the Old Reliable 5K – hoping for a good time there! The forecast is for 75 degrees – crazy weather!

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Slacking in Blog World

I've been a slacker here. I know. And since this is how my family keeps track of me (hi mom!) I figured I'd better write something. But since I'm lazy, I'm going to do a Kari and bullet list this awesome.

• Last week ranks in the bottom 5% of bad work weeks for me. Friday culminated into one of my worst days ever.
  
• BUT the weekend was great! We drove to Wilmington Friday evening to watch the Beach 2 Battleship full and half iron-distances races.
• Watching the races was very, very fun. I love cheering for people and seeing them accomplish their goals. Our friend Michelle stayed with us and it was nice to catch up with her after not seeing her for over a year.
• We also screamed for Tim, Angela (who totally gave me the stink-eye upon my very exuberant "YOU DID AWESOME!!" when she finished. Hey, a 33 min pr IS awesome!), Kathy (nicest lady in the world), Ashley (who we yelled for from our car - she yelled back AND was booking it), Karen (full finisher!) along with numerous other peeps.
• Sunday was Marty's 38th birthday! We started the day off right with an 11 mile long run around Wrightsville Beach.
• Speaking of running, I logged over 30 miles last week which is huge for me. I looked back at my log during the summer and I avg about 21 miles during the tri season. I'm feeling like a runner again - I love it :)
• Sunday night we met some of our friends out at the Flying Saucer for some birthday fun. Then Marty and I went to see Dane Cook at the RBC Center. Not bad for a school night.
• Work week has started off better - positive attitude!
  

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Weekend in Florida

Marty and I drove down to Jacksonville, FL to visit my sister and her husband who moved there in August. She scored us some tickets to the Florida/Georgia game which has been held in Jacksonville for quite awhile. It’s a big party and even though it was hotter than Hades on gameday we still had a fun time.

My oldest friend also came up and stayed with us – she is getting her MBA at Florida so is now a stinkin’ Gator fan, but that’s more because her undergrad, Michigan, is hardly football worthy right now :) Katy and I have known each other since we were 7 years old and we both laughed/grimaced when we realized that we had pictures together from over 20 years ago. We can’t possibly be that old! She is a stud runner and we met each other doing youth triathlons – she has finally decided she will do some tri’s next year after a very long break from them. I’m sure she’ll tear it up if she can remember how to ride a bike.

We got to the game nice and early for some tailgating which entailed lots of food and beer. And sweat. Did I mention it was really hot on Saturday? Funniest shirt I saw from a Georgia fan: T-bag Tebow. Hahaha.

I’ll skip the game. Blah blah blah, Florida won again.

We were all sweaty, tired messes after the game. Marty and I had a nice run on the beach Sunday morning, though – it was much, much nicer on Sunday than the previous day.

I have a deep love for doritos.

2 Harrington's and 1 Radkewich - missing the other Rad (although she's an even bigger Gator fan, ugh). We were all coated in a nice sheen of sweat already.

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Answering Some Questions

Dawn, an occasional commenter asked what the heck is a bunhugger? It's the name given to the tighty little shorts collegiate and fast runners wear in races. Here I am in a track meet in college in some bunhugger glory.



I drew the arrow lest you think I'm the tiny little blonde thing. I do remember outsprinting her at the end - giant versus the petite girl.

Truth be told, bunhuggers aren't a whole lot different than what a lot of people wear in triathlons, but if you are wearing them at a road race you'd better BRING IT. And another truth be told, there was only one girl who was sporting the true bunhuggers at the 5K this past weekend. The other two were wearing the slightly cuter, but you still better have a rockin' body to pull them off, boy shorts.

And here I am in the race, un-bunhuggered. Sorry mom, the pink shorts were in the wash so I had to resort to some black ones. Again, I drew an arrow lest you confuse me with a man.


And Courtenay asked for at least a description of the spider lady from the fair. It was a woman whose head was sticking out of this hole, and surrounding her head was a very bad spider costume. The trick was that the space below the spider body was completely empty, so it was just a really good optical illusion. That we all wasted $1 on.

Since I'm in a drawing mood, this is not really what it looked like but I gave it my best 6 year old effort.

So this Friday Marty and I will be traveling to the great state of Florida to attend the "Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" also known as the Florida/Georgia game. Except you're not supposed to call it the cocktail party anymore because some kids got drunk and died or something a couple years back. Anyways, we WILL NOT be cheering for the stinkin' Gators. Go Dawgs!

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5K

Marty and I were planning on doing a 5k on Sunday afternoon called the Monster Dash and people supposedly dressed up in Halloween costumes. I was pretty excited and was going to wear a genie costume I’ve had for years since it seemed like it had enough flow to run in. Although I would have to come up with something to keep the little headdress/handkerchief thingy in place. Marty has superman pajamas so that would be his costume. Don’t think too much on why a soon to be 38 year old man has superman pajamas.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, we were informed that the awards banquet for the NCTS was Sunday afternoon. Marty and I had both assumed it was Saturday night – but everyone knows what assume means. And we would’ve proven that definition had we shown up at the North Raleigh Hilton on Saturday night.

So we signed up for a 5K Sunday morning instead. There’s a bunch of road races in the area at this time of year (there was actually a 3rd one right by our house at a park but that one was also in the afternoon). Although some people don’t agree with us, we both like to do road races even if we feel like we’re not in tip top shape just because it’s fun to go out there and hurt a little bit. And haha to those of you who told me there wasn’t any reason why I still couldn’t dress up in my costume for this race.

Marty signed me up for this race and he definitely knows how to spell my name. I was so annoyed when I got my number and BRIANNA was typed on the bottom. Gah! That’s not my freaking name! 2 syllables – BRI-ANNE. Sorry, for this mini rant that I realize shows up on my blog about once a year, but after 30 years of having my name mispronounced I’m weary.

It wasn’t a big race but the fact that they had a bit of prize money meant that there would be some fasties showing up. We have too many good universities in the area and the post collegiates like to mop up any money that might be floating around at the road races. Sure enough, I saw the bunhuggers lining up before the start.

The start was typical – everyone goes off sprinting and I’m left behind thinking “You all just wait! Once I get up to speed I’ll hunt you down!” :) I ran my way into 4th place after a few minutes and the bunhugger trio was way up the road. I went through the mile in under 6 minutes and they were so far ahead I can’t imagine what they went through at. Just after the 2 mile mark bunhugger #3 was coming back to me. I passed her around the 2.5 miles and was in the money for about 15 seconds, before she unleashed that “I’m still 22 and can kick for 600 yards old woman” on me. And the $50 slipped away. Still managed to run 18:45 which I’m stoked about. The course was not hill-acious, but it was also not flat.

And anyways, I got me a nice little check later on in the afternoon at the banquet. “The Man” Dave Scott was handing out the awards and gave an interesting speech. Maybe I’ll use my winnings to buy some bunhuggers.

Not likely.

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State Fair

It's that time again when people all across North Carolina flock to the fairgrounds in Raleigh in search of the grossest fried creations imaginable. Besides the very typical fried candy bars, ho ho's, pb & j's and mac n cheese, this year they also had chicken fried bacon and fried butter. Disgusting.

Here are some pictures I stole from Kari's fb. Thanks, Kari!


We paid $1 to see spider girl, but they wanted another to take her picture. Kari tried to take one on the sly but it didn't come out, so I guess you'll have to come down and see her for yourself.



They wanted me to buy this t-shirt, but seriously people, if I get a Team Edward shirt it will be classy. This is not it. Duh.


Kenny can fry it, but he ain't that good of a spellur.



I brought my A-Game and decided to step it up a notch by dipping my fried oreo in cheese. It was really good.



Future Farmers of America. Or as Kari captioned this picture on fb "what did you do last saturday night? i showed my cow."



This was the one "ride" we did. I'm on the far right, Alysia is next to me and Kari is next to her.



And I totally kicked it's ass. I win.



Seriously, I love my friends. They are too much fun. We got there nice and early for the pig races (you have to get there 1/2 hour early to get a seat) and it was worth it. The last race of the night are the pot-bellied pigs and the owner (very big old redneck) picks old women from the audience to cheer for one of the pigs, and if your pig wins you get a prize AND you are named Pig Queen. Kari and I shot our hands up high in the air when he came to our section and he started making fun of us for being too young and not knowing which end is the right end of the pig (or something, honestly, I didn't get some of his jokes) but he pointed a finger at me and said "You!" So I jumped up all excited and he says, "No, not you, YOU!" and is pointing at Kari. I totally got dissed by the racing pigs owner. Oh how low can you get in your life?!

Here's Kari trying to become pig queen.



And a very funny video.




I rallied this morning and had a good 9 mile run at Umstead but was totally overdressed since I'm not used to cold weather.

And then it was lots of football today. Marty comes home tomorrow night. I miss my other half.

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Goings On

Into another week already! October is flying by and we actually had to turn the heat on this morning (a little different from my Florida readers I suppose - after hearing the grumbling from my family about how HOT it’s been down there).

Marty and I drove down to Pinehurst on Saturday to cheer fellow athletes and clients on. It was extremely humid and both of us were very glad we weren’t racing after just doing the run course. This is a nice race, but it’s very challenging and the elements didn’t help much. Every single person I talked to after the race had pretty much the same sentiment: “Ugh, that was really hard.” October is a difficult month to predict the weather here; sometimes that race is freezing and other times, not so much. It was not so much on Saturday, although Sunday was crisp as Marty and I headed out for a run and a little mountain bike ride after. The running was training, the biking was just ‘working out.’ Its fun to go on nice bike rides and just enjoy the scenery.

Saturday I was also pretty intent on watching IM Hawaii, tracking one of my good friends and reading her husbands facebook status updates. Brooke was solid throughout the day and ended up 5th in her age group (podium!). I am so happy for her!

I also just started to read the books that the HBO show True Blood is based on, to help satiate this new found vampire appetite I have. Marty is thrilled because he’s always loved anything and everything vampire, and one of my favorite quotes from him early on in our relationship was him trying to convince me to watch some horrible vampire movie: “There’s vampires in it! How bad can it be?!” (it was bad). But these books are pretty entertaining and we rented a couple of the episodes since we don’t have HBO, and they are also interesting.

And now for some Tassie antics. Last night when I was giving her her dinner (as she patiently sat and waited for me to pour the food – she is very obedient like that), I accidentally dropped a kernel into her water dish. This happens frequently but I just didn’t feel like getting my hand all wet to dig it out so I just left it in there. A little while later I heard bubbles being blown, and sure enough Tassie was dunking her head into the water bowl trying fish it out. I didn’t even know dogs could blow bubbles!

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Ironman Hawaii

It seems like these days almost everyone is talking about the Ironman World Championships taking place in Hawaii this Saturday. I was lucky enough to accompany Marty out there in 2005 and it was quite an experience. For those interested, here’s his race report. I always enjoy reading Marty’s race reports and I realize I may be a bit biased, but they’re not full of flowery language and “oh I learned so much about myself out there”, but more “this is what happened” with a mild sarcastic drip. I wrote a novel detailing our entire trip but it doesn’t seem to be on the old website anymore.

I’ve mentioned my dad before on here, and some of you have met him at the races – he’s on the board of directors of USAT and is kind of a big deal. Haha, just kidding, I just felt like getting a Ron Burgundy quote in there. Seriously, he has been around the sport for a looooong time and knows a lot of people, but this is his first time ever out in Hawaii to watch the big show. He left me a message last night saying he just found out that he, along with the mayor of Kona, gets to shoot off the cannon for the start on Saturday! It also pays to be nice to Marty and I because he was able to hook up some of our friends with some VIP passes which gets them all sorts of swag, entrance to pretty much anywhere, free tickets to the banquets, and who knows what else. It’s all about who you know. We accept cash, checks, bribes, and gear :)

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Lake Royale Spectator Report

I'm the proud wifey :)

This morning, Tassie and I cheered Marty on at the Lake Royale sprint triathlon. Truthfully, I cheered and Tassie whined when she saw Marty, apparently wanting to run and bike with him.

So Marty kind of sucked pretty bad at Wilmington and it was totally not indicative of his current fitness. He just had a bad day and really didn't taper which didn't help him at all. I knew he was going to do better at this race - way better, and he proved me right :)

I ended up missing the start because Tassie and I had to move the car to a parking lot that ended up being 2.5 miles away. We jogged back in, and saw Marty heading out on the bike in first place. Then we hung out with Angela and watched the mayhem that ensues when there is a hill immediately out of transition. I know I shouldn't laugh so much but people do the funniest things sometimes. I swear that is always the best place to watch a triathlon if you want some entertainment. We did inform a guy that he was missing his helmet (He touched the top of his head and then had a surprised look on his face after we told him, which made me laugh more).

Marty was still first coming into T2 and I yelled at him as he was running out that he'd better run fast! The run course was hilly (I know since I ran part of it from the car) but Marty stayed tough and ended up winning wire to wire. I'm so proud of my hubby :)

His races were all over the place - yeah I may have beaten him at Wilmington, but I'm sure if I had raced today he would've gotten me by several minutes. The good news is, we should now see a turnaround in the recession.

It was fun to hear some of the athletes later on talking about the race: "Did you see that guy who had that huge lead in the swim?" and "Man, that guy leading the bike was FLYING"

Here are a couple of pics from the race:

Marty coming in off the bike.



And heading out on the run.



First place!



Tassie chillin' before the awards.



Tassie's twin. Actually, that's a labradoodle. His name was Rufus.

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My Lucky Day

Track
Last night, Marty and I hit the track group. Angela and Tim come out now and it's nice to chat with Angela on the warmup and cooldown. We even got a few hi's and smiles from some of the other members which is a big step - this is not the Downtown Orlando Y Runners Club!

I stupidly left my sunglasses hooked to the fence and completely forgot about them until very late that night. Cue stomach drop. No no no! Those were my prescription sunglasses and those things aren't cheap! The track is not close to our house and I wasn't going to drive back there right then. I really hoped either someone from the group saw them or they were just still there - they certainly wouldn't do anyone any good if a random took them thinking they had just scored some new shades.

I got up early and was out the door quick (jeans and a messy bun do not a financial analyst make, but that's what they got today) so I could drive across town to see if by some chance they were still there - I got lucky!! Still hanging on the fence and no worse for the wear. I did get to see some of the local high schoolers - really, a pink mohawk, sandals and knee socks?! What is going on with these kids.

Cross Country
After work I went for a little run to the park near our house. I didn't realize that a cross country race was going on; they didn't have any markings or anything that would clue me in. So I found out when a stream of girls came running right towards me on the trail. Oops. I ran in the bushes to get out of their way and then high tailed it the other direction at my first opportunity.

I made my way to the other end of the field where the paved trail is and thought it was clear to go back in that way. There wasn't anyone on that part until all of the sudden several stragglers came out of another trail in the woods. Crap, I was totally blocked in and these girls were not running fast - I was catching them quickly. This is weird. Then around the bend - and there's now a line of spectators on BOTH sides of the paved trail! I had nowhere to go and I was still passing these poor girls. I'm such a tool! In the middle of a high school cross country race again! Thank god I opted out of taking Tassie with me, that would've been very interesting.

As you can see, I was pretty freaking embarrassed. I took the first turn I could to get out of that mess.

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Blah Blah Blog

The Gaal’s enjoyed a nice weekend at home – finally! Training has taken a backseat to everything in my life right now…ahh the off season. I don’t feel the need for a big break (I only did sprints since June, which is I think a big part of it), so I just kind of slept in and did whatever I wanted. This included nothing, an easy 30min run, more nothing, a short bike with a friend tapering for Kona and a lot more nothing.

We had some houseguests for the Duke Half and went out to dinner with them on Saturday night. Tassie got all sorts of loving from them, too, including the requisite foot massages she so dearly loves. Marty and I made our way out to the course on Sunday to watch the athletes come in off the bike and start the tough half marathon run. I once again had no feelings of ever wanting to do that race – more power to you all who do :) That afternoon we grilled out with some friends before we met another friend out for some celebratory beers (he raced that morning). Dang, we are popular.

Throughout the fall I plan on doing some of the local road races but the big event will be the Disney half marathon in January. I’m going to try and train specifically for it and actually race my first half marathon. We’ll see how it goes. Marty’s spectating since that race has an astronomical price tag associated with it, and we didn’t think it would be wise to spend $260 for both of us to do a half marathon. Even worse for our Aussie friends who are also running, because of the exchange rate.

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