Best Bachelorette Party ever!!!!  I’m allowed to say that because to me it was, because it was my one and only.  I actually think that all Brides to Be should have their own bachelorette party as their first because there are no major expectations, there are no comparisons, there really is nothing to be let down by.  My friends are awesome and threw me such a great day and I truly do feel so special.

After a very fun cocktail party and impromptu dance party at the Dodd’s on Friday with our FareStart friends, I was loosened up in the dancing category and the drinking category to truly enjoy Saturday.  Marika met me at Cortona for coffees and then chauffeured me to the Washington Activities Center at UW to meet the three other girls joining us to rent some canoes.  We were on the water early in the morning and setting “sail” for the Arboretum.  I had never rowed into the Arboretum before and it was actually AWESOME to paddle through the lily pads and dodge fallen trees.  We saw some turtles and tons of ducks.  We made our way to a picnic spot to have the lunch that Marika had packed for us.  Caprese sandwiches, salty snacks, and mimosas drunk out of pineapple cups.  We all had t-shirts made for us and I also had “Bride” sunglasses to wear and a coconut bra.  We made our way back to the boathouse in the full and glorious sunshine and piled into the car to head to my house.

The canoeing crew.

Love this photo. Successfully made it under the downed tree.

Bridesmaids in a boat.

Woopsie #1:  Locked myself out of the house

So I desperately called Bryan six times like a needy chick and Marika and I met him at Seward Park to get his keys.  Solved and in the house we were.  The three of us showered and got dressed up for the night.  Marika and Polly had decorations for the house and the other girls started arriving.  All the girls were wearing black and I was supposed to wear white.  I had a veil to wear, a sash, and a ring shot.  Polly made a rum punch and shortly we settled into a few bridal gifts and then the fantastic game that Polly made and Bryan starred in.  Everyone found it extremely entertaining, for me pretty embarrassing but I didn’t mind and I was pretty much laughing hysterically the entire time.  Once the game was finished we all filed out in three Ubers to Teatro Zinzanni.

Arriving at Teatro Zinzanni in fashion we all regrouped in the lobby to order some drinks at the bar and take a few group shots that came out amazing!  Around 6:30 pm we were seated at our table and the show began.  It was a 3+ hour show complete with a 5 course dinner that was actually really delicious from start to finish.  Each course came out separately so we were all pretty hungry when our sirloins (for most of us) were served at 9 pm.  Especially with having had so much to drink.

Nice photo.

Silly photo.

Masked photo.

Woopsie #2:  I forgot my ID in the jacket pocket from the canoeing.

Of all people to not have their ID, it was me.  Teatro wasn’t cool about it either and literally took my beverages away from me.  Not happy and Angela transitioned into mission mode.  Angela took care of the whole thing, texting Andrew and Bryan to get the key and get my license to bring to me.  They were knights in shining armors and even left their man date to obey Angela.  By the salad course I was back into business, catching up quickly, and back to enjoying the show without attitude.  We had a smoked salmon profiterole, a delicious spicy seafood bisque, a strawberry salad, a great steak with sweet potato cake, chimichurri and asparagus, and a chocolate and raspberry cake to conclude the meal.  The show was very entertaining.  There was a magician, two aerialists, an operatic singer, another famous singer and dancer, a jokester, and the servers who also put on a show.  The theme was antics occurring at a Parisian hotel.  It’s cabaret and they were not afraid to be a bit risque.  We had a good time and upon the completion of the show we were all pretty tipsy and ready to hit the club.

Three more Ubers to Capitol Hill to drop us off in the insane atmosphere of the Pride Weekend festivities.  We all headed to Havana and actually made it in without much line.  This is where I remember dancing and having a great time but drink after sugary drink were handed to me and I started to really get loose.  Most everyone stayed out up until the end, including Valerie who is due for her first child in only a week.  What a trooper!!  Just before closing I called it quits and we all got cabs back to my place.  Polly ended up sleeping over in the guest bedroom and I don’t really recall anything that happened once home.  I was ready for bed.

Sunday morning was a beautifully sunny morning and although I certainly woke with a headache and symptoms of a hangover I wasn’t feeling too bad.  I was up around 10 am and Polly and I found Bryan asleep on the couch.  Marika brought us over more coffees from Cortona and Bryan made us bacon and eggs that really did help with the hangover.  The girls stayed over and reminisced for a couple hours and around noon helped clean up the house and then said their goodbyes.

Five minutes after they left you would have found me lounging on our chaises on the back deck.  Bryan joined me for a little while but then we had to shower and head to Capitol Hill for our private dance class.  I was very unsure of how the bopping around would feel to me but we actually had a successful lesson, learning an entire minute of choreography.  After class we decided to get cold beverages and take a walk through Seattle University.  It was nice strolling in the fantastic weather without really a destination or a need to go anywhere.  We strolled through the Capitol Hill farmers market and Cal Anderson Park before heading back home on the scooter.  We spent the afternoon relaxing more or less and then set out to Luis and Carina’s for the season finale of Game Thrones, complete with tons of snacks and meat pies and a short time spent on their rooftop deck.

It was a phenomenal weekend.  I got to see so many of my good friends and totally feel like we are in wedding mode now.  We have a fun week planned out and a long weekend coming up.

But I do want to give a shout out to Bryan as my hero because I really don’t know what I would have done without him on Saturday!!!  Woopsie!

Chelsea

Has it really only been just under a week since this happened?

It seems like it has been a year.  And I am having post-race blues.  But I’m also more sore than I have been since the beginning of training three months ago.  Crazy sore.  I’ve been getting a fair amount of both luxurious treatments and pain-causing workouts in this week.  I’m very balanced.

• Monday bike ride to and from work followed by Chef Bryan’s ribeye steak and the last week of dance class.  We sweated up a storm in class thanks to the hot room and the quick speed of class.
• Tuesday SEAW end of year social dinner, treating me to a buffet of foods, lots of sweets and a sweet presentation on Seattle’s interesting history around it’s topography.  I now want to read the presenter’s book Too High and Too Steep.

  

• Wednesday morning Fitnessblender arm workout.  Yeah, these arms haven’t done diddily in the past 90 days.  After work I got a great haircut at Gene Jaurez for a grand total of $5.  Dinner came a la a Yelp Elite event on the Eastside.  Actually in Redmond, WA where I have never stepped foot before.  We tried a few cocktails, appetizers, entrees, and a dessert at the Indo-Chinese restaurant called Inchin Bamboo.  The jalapeno cocktail was my favorite thing of the night…followed by the spicy shrimp.

  

• Thursday morning Fitnessblender leg workout = four types of weighted lunges, squats, deadlifts, and other horrible things that have led me to not being able to walk normally.  But to reward myself I got a facial with my first ever microdermabrasion and brow wax, for the grand total price of $10!!
• No Thursday FareStart 🙁 because we had taken our name off in anticipation of Nisa visiting.  We missed out on the James Beard winner Renee Erikson and instead dined the two of us at Vios Cafe in Capitol Hill.  The Greek dinner was delicious and fresh with a tasty beet salad with skordalia, a Greek salad with a block of feta, grilled octopus on a Greek bread salad and a lamb gyro plate with Greek fries.  Lots of food!

  

  

   

I am now preparing myself for my Bachelorette Party.  I have been mentally preparing myself all day, for my first ever Bachelorette Party, ironically being my own.  And I will be physically preparing myself tonight with a FareStart friend’s cocktail party at the Dodd’s.  Having not been drinking much but wine the past three months during training I’m a little bit scurred for tomorrow night’s festivities!!  But it will be a blast I’m sure.

Chelsea

So our weekend was a success!  Bryan and I kicked some booty in the Seattle Rock N’ Roll Half Marathon and ended up having a great time doing it.  We both beat the goals that we had set out for ourselves and were happy people post race.

Friday night after work we met at Centurylink for the craziness that was the Expo.  Picking up our bib, our t-shirt and gear bag, and strolling around the many vendors in search of snacks and samples and anything of interest was a difficult mannuevor.  The place was a zoo.  After some time we set out to get some dinner in the form of carbs.  We thought of hitting Tavolata for pasta but when we arrived there were no reservations to be had.  A few other places we called wouldn’t be able to get us in until late.  With our heads on Italian pasta we realized where we had parked and decided on the short walk to Ti22 for Thai pasta, a la pad kee mao.  We hadn’t been in awhile and it felt like home.  We each got our own dish of noodles and split the tom kha soup for extra nourishment.  I was stuffed to the gills as we walked out of there.  We had to pack our bag and prep our clothes for the race and did make it to bed on the relatively early side.

With three alarms set for 5:00 am we were ready to roll early in the morning.  We had a quick snack at home, dressed, and then headed out on my scooter.  With the scooter we found easy parking close to the Seattle Center for free and made our way over to the race start with a quick stop at Caffe Ladro for a coffee for me.  We checked our gear, got bananas and waters and sat with time to spare in the cool temps of the morning.  The race was supposed to start at 7:00 but got pushed back until 7:15 so we were waiting even a bit longer.  Bryan started in corral six and me in corral 13 started about 15 minutes after him.  But by the time actually came for us to begin the race I was more than ready, and cold, and my joints felt the cold and ached.

The first mile was achy joints and lots of people.  Through lower Queen Anne we ran and then mile 2 and 3 felt like even more people that I had to dodge in tighter spaces.  These miles were along the Viaduct tunnel and then on the Viaduct with views of the sound and downtown.  I just couldn’t enjoy these miles though because I had to be so careful of where I was running.  I was very annoyed with the slower runners that did not start in their appropriate corral.  We turned around on the viaduct before heading up to 2nd Avenue and coasting down through the Internationational District, up Dearborn St. and then hitting Rainier Ave.  Rainier Avenue was much too long of a stretch of nothing.  This nothingness was also slightly downhill, however, I was finally able to zone out with more room to run and I started to slow down.  I caught myself about a mile and a half down Rainier and woke myself up.

Me on the viaduct around mile 2.

Bryan on the viaduct around mile 2.

Another shot of Bryan on the viaduct.

The race didn’t route us off of Rainier until nearly mile 8.  I was looking forward to mile 8 to get to our familiar Lake Washington Blvd and to get some race-supplied Glukos energy shots.  This helped a lot as I was just starting to feel a small drop in energy.  On we went, with about a mile and a half on Lake Washington and then climbing a short but sweet hill to enter the I-90 express lanes tunnel.  This was the worst part of the run in my opinion.  Tunnels are trippy.  First, the entire length of the tunnel was a steady slight uphill but that is hard to see in the dark.  Then there is the dark which is a little claustrophobic feeling.  Then you just don’t have great airflow in the tunnel.  It was warmer and stuffy and I was ready to get the heck out of there.  There was almost an entire mile in the tunnel.

When it spit us out we were at mile 11 and this part might have been the best in my mind.  We were now still on the freeway ramps but with views of downtown in the clouds and fresh air and a steady downhill I was feeling good.  At this point I also started passing passed-out runners.  There were three in total and each time I took an exhale when I knew they weren’t Bryan.  So we were downhill for much of miles 11 and 12.  The last mile came and the stadiums were in sight already.  We followed the ramp right by the stadium but then unfortunately had to climb a curly-que ramp up before descending one last time to the last straight away.  I know Bryan and I were both at a sprint at this point.  I gave everything I had in that last 1/4 mile (and even a little further out too) and crossed the finish line feeling strong.  Never did see the camera man to strike a pose for him before I finished.

Me sprinting to the finish line. I tried so hard to find Bryan’s crossing the line but I think he was too fast.

Happy to get my medal.

I spotted Bryan pretty quickly in the crowds but had to get my metal, my heat blanket and all of my post race snacks and drinks that they were handing me.  I finally caught up to Bryan and we shared times, hi-fives, and stories of the race.  It was right at this time that it started to rain, and started to rain hard.  We partially wanted to stay and explore the post-race concert and grounds but we were also sweaty, starting to get cold and didn’t want to be in the rain.  We walked to the ID and grabbed a cab ride home.

My results

My results

Bryan’s results…so fast!

Bryan’s results

For nearly an hour after we got home we sat in front of the fire, drying out and warming up and with our feets elevated to the ceiling.  Then I was hungry, very hungry.  We picked up some mediocre at best (but I was too hungry to care) chicken shawarma sandwiches and a falafel salad.  We ate at home, drank a bunch of water, and shortly thereafter we were both asleep.  The rest of our day was spent not doing much.  We did work up enough energy to make a dish to bring to our friend, Anita’s, Asian-themed potluck party.  I ended up making a crispy sriracha chili cauliflower dish that won an unbeknowst-to-me cooking challenge at the party.  For winning I received a really awesome bottle of wine with a cute wine bottle cover from China.

Winning sriracha cauliflower heading over to the party.

We somehow went from not being able to move…to party time.

I was feeling good and the food and drink made me feel better.  There was delicious cranberry mojitos and Chinese cane sugar spirits.  Then there was shumai, stirfrys, spicy tofu, fresh spring rolls, braised eggplant, and cucumber salads with peanuts.  Everything was delicious and I helped myself to plenty.  We also met some really cool people at Anita’s party that we conversed with until nearly 10 pm.  I didn’t even think we would last that late.  Anita broke out her slideshow from her recent travels to China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam and we had some mango ice cream for dessert.  Finally we had to call it a night, along with all the other guests.  Bryan and I shared a very big bowl of ice cream again when we got home and had some amazing sleep Saturday night!

Sunday night was a day of rest and relaxation.  We made it to church for a great service on the power of words.  After church and heading back home we walked in the gorgeous sunny skies to the last brunch EVER at Harvest Vine.  Coffee, two huevos a la flamenca, pan a la tomaquet, fried padron peppers, a vanilla cinnamon bun and a super custardy almond torte with pickled cherries made us happy customers.  I spent a grand total of 30 minutes on our chaise loungers in the sun on the back deck talking to Dad on Father’s Day.  Lounging was cut short because I had to get to my massage appointment back in Queen Anne.  Heaven on Earth!  By far the best massage I have ever received and an actual deep tissue sports massage to work out all of the pain and stress I did on my body the previous day.  I left feeling like royalty.  Bryan’s massage was next and his was just as good.  90 minutes spent letting someone else basically mutilate your body in the best way possible.

Sunday night was spent watching the NBA Finals, making a dinner of grilled chicken and a salad of avocado and mango, eating more ice cream and watching the first few episodes of the series The Americans.  Bryan and I are thinking that we could do it again and want to.  We both feel in great shape right now but I think we are also proud with how smart we trained for the Half.  Nothing showed that to us more than the last few miles of the half marathon when both of us were holding our pace steady and passing everyone around us.  We both even had so much in us left to sprint to the finish.  This shows in the results too when compared to all of the rest of the racers.

Wow!  What a weekend?!?  I’d do it again!

Chelsea

Bryan and I have finally made it to the home stretch…to the half marathon that is, we’ll be celebrating another home stretch when we close out the month of July.  But it still feels exciting to be nearing the completion of a goal that Bryan and I set out for ourselves back in…December?!?  And that is even amidst all of the other things we’ve had on the calendar and on our to-do lists.

While we finished our last few short runs in the morning early this week we had the evenings booked and a very strong desire to go to bed early, which didn’t really happen.  We had another week of dance class and even though we were both dragging our feet to get there on Monday, a filling wholesome dinner of spaghetti at home and a scooter ride there rebooted us enough to get through class.  And enjoyed it!

We finally got to check in with our friends Billy and Valerie on Tuesday night at our house for dinner.  We had many things to accomplish during this night.

1. It is quite possible that the next time we see them they will have a baby Tung in tow.
2. We needed to repay them for hosting Firly for the weekend we were in Chicago and touring her around Seattle (and probably still owe them more).
3. We needed to work with Valerie on what music we were thinking about for her to play for the ceremony at our wedding.  Per usual wedding tasks, I reached a stage of confusion,  indecisiveness and silence, followed by resolution and happiness.
4. And finally, we just really needed to talk and laugh with them.  It was so good to have them over.  I even attempted to make a peach semifreddo dessert for the first time.

   

Wednesday we had our last night of counseling, trying to cram two sessions into one after we skipped out on the previous week to go the Mariners game (a good choice I stand behind).  This session was a good one incorporating talks on finances, spiritual journey and needs, and a little on each of our own personality makeups and how differences can work or hurt.  I think Bryan and I have both gotten something out of the counseling that has made it worth it and actually enjoyed them for the most part.  The couple who counseled us apparently really enjoyed us and said we are probably the easiest couple they have worked with yet!

Wednesday I also had my annual Tauber Alumni, Student and Staff networking dinner.  This time I did not organize the event, which was a good thing, and it was a more casual affair.  The majority of the group went on a half-day tour of the Amazon fulfillment center which everyone was raving about but there was just no way I could leave work for an entire afternoon to go so I just met up with everyone at 5 pm.  It was good to see a few familiar faces, the staff who I always enjoy speaking with and the current students to hear what they are currently working on at Boeing, Amazon and Microsoft.  I actually had a really fun time with the whole group!

And Thursday night at FareStart we had another sold out night but for good reason.  Ballard Annex Oyster House brought a very refreshing summery dinner to the table of an oyster trio (or salad for non-oyster fans…we are rarities in Seattle), salmon with a panzanella salad and basil sauce, and of course, panna cotta with a strawberry basil salad.  It was a spectacular night with the FareStart board members working as the servers and a group of our 10 friends all came in to dine for the night which meant so much to us.  Knowing that they were coming in, per Bryan’s invitation, we brought them two bottles of wine to thank them.

And today officially starts the anticipation and events of our 1/2 marathon.  We are well under 24 hours away from the start time.  We are visiting the Health and Wellness Expo at Centurylink tonight to pick up our race packets, gear, and as many samples as we can manage from the 100+ vendors.  We then are going to try to get an early-ish carb dinner in so that we can attempt to get to bed at an early hour.  We will be setting at least three alarms to make sure we wake up by 5 am tomorrow morning.  I’m praying that it is not going to rain like it says its going to.

I’m ready!

Chelsea

I was on my own this weekend and got a lot finished but so glad that Bryan is back from the bachelor party weekend in Denver.  Although, his flight got delayed, he got home late, and I did not get enough sleep for work today.  Bryan’s weekend was eventful with white-water rafting, breweries, brew pubs, steak dinners, a short hike, a walk through Boulder, roof-top bars.  Here’s a rundown of my super exciting weekend (slight exaggeration):

1. Shopped for my shoes and undergarments for my dress
2. Had my dress alteration appointment that went amazing
3. Bought a potential rehearsal dinner dress
4. Also bought a few swimsuits just because
5. Ran 12.15 miles for my last long run of my half marathon training
6. Volunteered for a Thai cooking class at Hipcooks
7. Collected the Wusthoff knife that I won from Hipcooks
8. Went to Lululemon for a yoga class that ended up being pilates unfortunately
9. Volunteered at the Pacific Tower for a donor event for FareStart
10. Vacuumed the house…so exciting
11. Made my cream cheese and berry stuffed french toast that I haven’t made in ages
12. Hacked away at some of the front overgrown bushes
13. Cleaned the master bathroom
14. Stretched my legs on a nice walk Sunday night
15. Made some fantastic peanut butter, protein powder and chocolate chip energy balls
16. Got my top ear-piercing replaced with a small diamond stud
    

    12 Mile run done!

    

    I’m okay with this!

I know, I could write a book about my weekend because it was so interesting.

Chelsea

I am becoming a fortune teller.  I foresaw getting slammed with work around this time and BAM, it has happened.  I’m not complaining though because it much beats being slow and that was what the past month or two has been leading up to the release of a few project starts.  Even though this week has felt short (I’m thinking because Bryan’s actually was with his leaving Thursday afternoon to fly to Colorado for Philipp’s bachelor party) it hasn’t been short, or event-free.

I’ve mainly spent the week seeing friends I haven’t seen in awhile, which is GREAT!  I’ve been in a great mood because of that too even despite still being a bit under the weather.  I managed to have sushi and drinks with Marika on Tuesday at Sushi Samurai in Queen Anne and then enjoyed the Mariners vs. Indians game at Safeco with Polly, Ryuhei and Bryan on Wednesday (thanks to my company’s tickets).  Mariners won, 5-0.  I also finally got to try something from Ethan Stowell’s centerfield empire “The Pen” with some super delicious fried fish tacos to have during the game.  Additionally, Bryan got dinner with Rachel, Max and new baby Quinn at Tutta Bella before their flight to Alaska on Tuesday.

Beautiful presentation! Dinner with Marika.

Fun times at the Mariners.

Group shot.

Some very delish fish tacos at the game.

Our Lindy Hop class on Monday was SO much fun.  We learned a new move that was a blast and we sweated away in the 82 degree heat.  We also sweated our way through our last heavy week of half-marathon training with a 6 mile run on Tuesday and a 5 mile run on Thursday and Bryan was an overachiever and even did a 7 mile run on Wednesday.   We have only 19 miles left of training before the Half is finally here!

Since Bryan’s departure I spent Thursday night volunteering my little booty away at FareStart.  Lecosho brought quite the dinner with a salad adorned with cornichons and soft-boiled egg, a hearty braised short ribs on carrot farrotto with spinach (which was enjoyed in the cooler temps we are now experiencing) and a dessert of summery huckleberry panna cotta.

And today has more or less been difficult to get any work done as we had our monthly staff meeting, several other meetings, and my head full of what shopping I NEED to get done tonight in preparation for my alteration appointment for my dress tomorrow.

I will miss Bryan so but I do have quite a bit to do that I want to get done this weekend when I have a chance.  Ugh, but I still have to run 12 miles tomorrow…by myself.  Help!

Chelsea

This past weekend Bryan and I spent in Austin, Texas for Bryan’s 10th Anniversary of the legendary Texas 4000 ride.  The 2006 team had a great turnout and I think a ton of fun this weekend.  I’d like Bryan to give his take on the weekend, being that this is his team and this event means a ton to Bryan, his experience with his friends also probably warrants a different experience from my own and a different summary of the weekend.  But here is my version of the weekend.

Hers:

I jinxed myself.  Something I was really worried I had done with my last entry about having not gotten sick during all of our training.  But I woke up Friday morning to a major sore throat and wasn’t too happy about it.  It was sunny and warm in Seattle and after finished packing up our bags Bryan and I departed for the airport via bus and light rail just before nine in the morning.  We had plenty of time, given that we were able to use TSA precheck for the first time and we weren’t checking bags.  We had awesome views of Rainier, a brunch of Burger King and Starbuck’s, while we waited for our plane.  The flight was uneventful and around 5:30 pm Austin-time we were picking up our rental SUV for the weekend and heading to downtown Austin.  First stop was Mellow Johnny’s for my luxe rental bike for the ride.  Then we headed to Torchy’s Tacos for some amazing taco and burrito amazingness for dinner.  Bryan enjoyed his burrito and bites of my three huge and expensive tacos of baja shrimp (favorite), pork chile verde, and barbacoa beef.  We surprisingly ran into one of the alumni riders from Bryan’s year at Torchy’s too which was funny.  We checked in at our hotel, changed shoes and then made our way to Ky and Sue’s for the welcome/kickoff party.  This was my first introduction to most all of the team members.  I had only met Paul and Kate, Ky and Sue, and Nate previous to this trip.  Lots of faces, many names, some plus ones, snacks, drinks, downpouring rain and thunderstorms pursued.  We all stayed until about 11:30 when we realized that we were biking early in the morning the next day and needed to get our rest.

But I didn’t rest too well.  My sore throat I think prevented me from sleeping well and I only got about 4 hours of restless sleep.  But at 6:15 am Bryan and I were awake and readying ourselves for the ride.  I was lucky enough to get to wear one of Bryan’s two bike jerseys from the ride so I actually fit in with the team.  I was also donning my very first padded bike shorts which I was happy to have.  I was one of the few riders without clip-in shoes but I had a super nice bike to help me feel confident.  Bryan and I arrived with time to spare.  We picked up our rider packets, got some Dunkin Donuts coffee and munchkins (I miss DD!!!) and waited for the other 06ers to arrive.  They finally reached the start line after all the other riders had started out.  Our group all started the ride together with tremendous amounts of adrenaline.  The first 17 miles to the first checkpoint were super easy.  They went by fast and everyone was conversing to make the time pass.  First rest stop was a long one as we waited for the whole group to arrive, including some late risers.  All rest stops included: bananas, oranges, watermelon, oreos, pb&js, pickle juice, Kind bars, and my new favorite Nuun energy drinks and water.

Second stretch began and this one felt like the longest but was only 12 miles.  I think this had some to do with a constant mist messing with my vision and then shortly after the sun finally coming out and the temps rising.  The second checkpoint came and went with bathroom breaks and more snacks.  The third leg began and I could feel my muscles were starting to feel the distance.  This was the best portion of the ride and also the hilliest.  For the next 14 miles it was pretty much rolling hills with a few water crossings on the road thanks to the heavy rains that precluded the race.  Once we reached the last checkpoint my legs were tired and my butt seat was more or less numb but unfortunately not numb to the pain of the seat.  Our last snacks were had quickly before we hopped back on to hurry up and get to the finish line.  We had 10 miles left and they were SLOW ones for Bryan and I, because of me.  I took my time but made it up every hill and kept close to a 10 mph pace.  Crossing the finish line and getting off my bike did not come soon enough.  It was now hot out with full sun and little shade but a good amount of headwinds.  It was also almost 1 pm so we had been more or less on our bikes for somewhere between 4 and 5 hours, including our rest stops.

The after party treated us to a Texas BBQ with chicken and sausage (no ribs or brisket), potato salad, coleslaw, beans, and pickles.  Oh the pickles tasted so good after the ride.  I also had a fair amount of iced tea before cashing in my rider vouchers for a free Michelob Ultra.  We all hung out eating and talking and listening to the live band for awhile.  The team got their photo taken altogether before we headed out on bike three miles to the house the group had rented.  There were over 20 people that went in on an Airbnb ranch in Lampasas, Texas, where the ride ended.  The house had tons of beds for our group, a great socializing area inside, a deck outside, large fire pit, and a great pool that felt good to rinse ourselves off in after the ride.  The pool was naturally where everyone headed.   The sun was out, the snacks were out, and the keg was tapped.

Now begins the never-ending stories, memories, photos and whatnot of the trip.  From pretty much 3 pm until 9 pm that night the team reminisced.  I sat and listened and generally they made me laugh.  It was a long night though and after the ride and spending time outside in Central Texas I started to really feeling tired and sick.  Apparently I now have allergies in my old years.  I was sneezing and stuffed up and had a horrible headache.  I managed to last through the group getting takeout of fried chicken, fried okra and more BBQ side dishes and even lasted through the giant Costco sheet cake with Happy Anniversary spelled out on the cake.  I managed to swing outside in the hammock for a good while and then decided I needed some good rest.  Bryan and many others continued on outside at the fire pit but even with how much I love a campfire I was in bed and not moving.

Sunday morning we woke late, lazy, and slow.  The group assembled a breakfast of breakfast tacos, fruit and leftover cake that cured me some and then we moved back to the pool.  Everyone was moving in slow motion and we generally just lazed around the pool until about 2 pm when we had to start packing up the house.  We packed up and moved out for our drive back to the starting line of the ride.  Man, we went a long ways.  It took us what felt like an hour to make our way back to the beginning of the ride and in that moment I felt really good about the ground that I covered on the bike.  We said our goodbyes to everyone and got back in our rental car.  We had two bikes to drop off which we did without trouble.  We then parked near UT’s campus for Bryan to show me around a bit on foot.  We walked through a few buildings, including the Aerospace building where Bryan spent much of his time.  He showed me the tower, the main “malls” and the union before we had to start making our way to the airport.  I was glad to see his campus and more parts of Austin.  We made it to the airport fine and again had a bunch of time to kill.  Bryan stood in line for a Salt Lick sliced brisket sandwich which he really enjoyed but my head was about at its worst and I still didn’t have the appetite for it.  We flew from Austin to Dallas with no problem.  In Dallas our flight was delayed an hour and so I had plenty of time to get Chinese dinner from Manchu Wok and then split a large Wendy’s chocolate frosty with Bryan at our gate.  Our second flight was again without any problems, except for the delay, which delivered us to Seatac after 1:30 am.  Fortunately, we split a Nyquil packet and both of us slept well on the plane and again once we got home so fortunately neither of us are hurting too bad our first day back to work, except for paying the $54 taxi ride home.  Ouch!

Happy to be home and still letting my head clear of all of the nonsense.  It better fast because training presumes Tuesday and right now I can’t imagine running a mile!

Chelsea

As Bryan realized in this past weekend’s run, I can go through some major emotional swings on my runs.  While Bryan, on the other hand, zones out and stabilizes throughout the run.  Just like the ups and downs I can experience in one long run, I also have experienced these ups and downs throughout the process of our training.  The past 10 weeks of training have been mostly positive but with a few snags along the way.

But first I would like to say that I am EXTREMELY proud of Bryan and I that we have not missed one day of scheduled runs on our schedule.  And I think we have only missed two cross training days with viable excuses; coming home from Chicago and the day of Valerie’s baby shower day.  Other than that we have been regimented and reliable for every other day.  That is saying a lot for both Bryan and I and definitely not something I think either of us would have said had we not been in this together.

Additionally, I am very thankful that in the past 10 weeks we haven’t really fallen sick, gotten injured, been rained on, or any other sabotaging event has happened to us.  That is truly amazing and I really am appreciative about that.

Okay, so training has been a learning experience for us both.  Here are some of the things that we have learned:

• Stretching is so important.  We have become diligent stretchers post-run.
• Your body’s recovery process has a difficult time catching up in the middle of training regime.
• We might be constantly hungry throughout the day and feeling ravished before a meal but then we have a hard time finishing large meals at times.
• There is no amount of water that would make me hydrated I believe.  We have both swapped some of our water we drink on run days for electrolyte-water (I bought a huge box of Nuun tablets and Bryan mixes his Powerade mix in his).  I still find that I can’t keep up.
• My body knows when running days are and I swear wakes up mad at me with an upset stomach that persists as long as it takes me to get out the door.
• Salty snacks are often craved.  This has been true for me for awhile now but it’s now starting to catch up with Bryan too.  Our body just generally craves salt more often.
• I now way under-dress for our runs.  Mom was right that you need to dress 20 degrees colder than the weather truly is.  Being super hot and sweaty for a 1+ hour-long run is miserable.
• Eventually your body and its recovery process does catch up and you stop feeling sore or super tired.
• We can way more easily tackle hills, be it running or walking (or biking!).
• You get wimpy looking arms but I swear I feel like my calf muscles might bust through my skin sometimes
• Your weight actually increases, or at least mine has, thanks to more muscle, more glycogen stores and thus more water retention.
• Looking at the race course, which I find myself doing more and more lately, is truly nerve-wrecking.

Bryan and I are both running faster than we did at the beginning and obviously capable of doing lengthy runs with way less impact or stress on our body.  Before training my longest run had been 7 miles.  Each week I am running a further distance than I ever have before…which makes me nervous every time.  My speed improved a lot in the middle of training too and held at about 9:05-9:10 a mile.  I was very happy about that when I actually realized the speed I was running.  And the 9:10 pace is spot on with my goal of breaking two hours for the half marathon.  However, the past two weeks my pace has slowed slightly and some of the runs have felt like more of a struggle but my watch says that my average heart rate is also going down.  I think that I need to take a reality check and realize that the 9:13 or 9:15 paces that I am running are literally only seconds slower than what I was doing and my heart rate is going down.  Seconds are nothing to worry about and I am still confident that I will make my goal when race day comes.  And even if I don’t, I used to think just completing the half marathon was a goal in of itself so I shouldn’t forget that.

But its been fun and I can’t believe in two weeks the training will be over.  Well, kind of.  Bryan is already signed up for another in mid-September and there is a good chance that I sign up too, but I’m not doing that until I get through my first.

And it will also be good to free up a little bit more time with everything that is still going on.  This week, even being a short three-day work week for us, included an industry-sponsored happy hour for me, marital counseling, mani-pedi (because I had to have one, running doesn’t do wonders for your feet!), a late dinner at Eastlake Bar and Grill after counseling, and volunteering at FareStart for another nearly sold-out night featuring Wild Ginger Restaurant and an awesome Thai meal.  Bryan is also slammed with work and getting a new intern.

Training:  6 Mile Run, 10.5 Mile Bike Ride (Plus 3.5 Miles to Work), 5 Mile Run

And this morning we are flying to Austin for the ten year reunion of Bryan’s Texas 4000 bike ride to spend some time with his friends, meet most of them for the very first time, ride a 50-mile bike ride (what?), enjoy some BBQ and hopefully just chill out.

Chelsea