Every once in a while, I stumble upon a race I want to do someday. I've decided I'm going to start a series of "bucket list" races so that I don't forget about them LOL. This is not a sponsored post, just me talking about what I love: traveling, racing, and beer. And this race has them all. Here's my first one... Spokane to Sandpoint Relay We all know I love a good relay and this one looks like it would be awesome. Like many relays, it's about 200 miles, broken up into 36 legs. It's on the smaller side with fewer than 100 teams, but every leg is timed and volunteers are plentiful. Speaking of volunteers, S2S offers a "hire a volunteer" program where you can hire volunteers (each team must provide 2 volunteers) from local charities. The … [Read more...]
DC to Cape Cod or Bust
Happy Monday! I'm sitting in an inn on Nantucket Island this morning. It feels like way more than a few days since I left home! I'm doing my usual Monday linkup with Tara and Erin today to tell you about the fun I'm having. Wednesday morning, after we got the kids off to school, Beer Geek and I headed to the airport for a quick flight to Boston. Everything went smoothly (how often does THAT happen?) and we were heading to Hull by early afternoon. We checked into the Nantasket Beach Resort, which I highly recommend if you are ever in that area, as it was lovely. It's also a short walk from the start line of Ragnar Cape Cod. This was the view from our room: … [Read more...]
Five awesome things to do in DC in the winter
I love living in the DC area in the winter. Generally, the weather is cold, but bearable, so it's a great time to get downtown without the huge numbers of tourists that we see during the summer. We tend to hit a lot of the museums during this time period, but it's also a great time to visit some outdoor attractions that only come around once a year. [Tweet "Looking for fun things to do in #WashingtonDC in December? Here are 5 kid friendly things! #kidfun #lifewithkids #fitfam"] … [Read more...]
5 Tips for racing in a foreign country
When I read today's topic "Goals" from Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney, I couldn't come up with five things that I wan ted to talk about. I mean, I have a few goals right now: Ragnar - finish with a smile on my face, Wisconsin half marathon - finish with a smile on my face, this summer - survive… Nothing particularly worth talking about. I have a lot swirling in my head right now, but I need to focus on some non-blog related things for a bit before I can figure out what options make sense, financially and time commitment wise. So, I picked my own topic! 1. Carry all of the important things on the plane with you (and when you are packing use a list or pretend to literally dress yourself for the race.). We did not lose any … [Read more...]
My five favorite things about Ireland
Ireland was amazing. There's really no other way to describe it. With the exception of our flight back (which actually went smoothly once we took off), the trip went as perfectly as one could imagine. So, I'm going to take the Friday Five topic that Cynthia, Mar, and Courtney came up with and spin it a bit. 1. The weather!- I've never hidden my dislike for Virginia in the summer. I'm not a fan of heat and humidity. Ireland was a lovely moderate temperature every.single.day. There were periods of rain most days, but with the exception of one overnight downpour, the rain was either light or shortlived or both. I didn't wear shorts the entire time I was there! LOVE! 2. The beauty of the country - Everything was so … [Read more...]
Five places I’d love to race!
Today my buddies over at the DC Trifecta (Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney) are talking about places they'd love to run. Since I'm kind of race obsessed, let's talk about places I'd love to race. Obviously, since I'm planning to run a race (and hopefully a half marathon) in all 50 states, I could easily list any state I haven't raced in yet, but there are definitely places that rank higher on the list than others. One of the places that might have been on the list is Ireland. I'm so very excited to not only get to vacation there this summer, but to also get to run a half marathon there. My first international race! (Just for the record, I had a really hard time only listing 5. I'd pretty much be up for traveling anywhere in the US and many … [Read more...]
Apera Tech Bag review + Lucky 13 Giveaway #2
Half marathon #2 is done! I ran it way faster than I expected. I need to learn how to not race every race LOL. This was my first "away" race in my 13 in 79 days. It wasn't far and we only went up for a night, but it did mean I had to pack a ton of running stuff, plus I had some work I wanted to get done in the car. Luckily, I was recently approached by Apera Bags to review one of their bags. I tend not to do fitness activities that require a duffle or other type of gym bag, so I chose their Tech backpack. As I head out on my adventures over the next few months, I need to have my shoes and my computer with me wherever I go. Short story: I LOVE this bag. I put so much stuff in it this weekend. There was a section for my … [Read more...]
There’s no place like home
We just got back from a week long vacation in Kentucky. I've never been so happy to roll up to our front door! Of course, that probably has something to do with the fact that we put more miles on my Pilot last week than we usually put on in a year. I'll do a post about everything we did, but I'm sure you are wondering "Why Kentucky?" Well, why not? Growing up as a military brat, I saw a lot of the U.S., most of it from the back of our station wagon or van. My dad was stationed in California, North Dakota, Alabama, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Virginia while I was growing up. I didn't go on my first plane trip until high school. So, guess how we got everywhere? Yep, driving. I have been to every state at least once and most of … [Read more...]
Tourists in our own town: National Museum of Natural History
The Natural History Museum has always been one of Jones' favorite museums. It was his favorite even when we had to sneak past the elephant. Yeah, this elephant. It used to scare the crap out of him. Luckily, now he finds that amusing, so he's more than happy to walk past the elephant in pursuit of his favorite display: the dinosaurs. He's been begging to go this summer, so we finally did it today. We parked at the Pentagon City Mall because the weather was iffy and I didn't feel like walking in a rain storm. We hopped the metro and quickly got to the Smithsonian stop and it was a short walk from there. Our first stop was to pick up tickets to the Butterfly exhibit. (Tip: it's free on Tuesdays, but get there early and … [Read more...]
Tourists in our own town: Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum
This summer has been... different. Not only have the boys chosen not to go to camp, but it has rained nearly every single day. And it's not a refreshing rain - it just makes everything feel humid and oppressive. We are feeling a little stir crazy because of it. After a nice 3 mile tempo run (went surprisingly well considering the humidity), I decided we needed to get out of the house. We headed over to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum. We've probably been there at least once a year (or more) since it opened, but it never gets boring. Like most of the Smithsonian museums, Udvar-Hazy has free admission. Unfortunately, they charge $15 to park. Since it would cost me close to that to use the metro and it's way cheaper than the … [Read more...]
Half Marathon #7 for 2013: Frederick Running Festival
If I had to pick one word to describe my running this weekend, it would be "perfect". Seriously, this was one of the best running weekends I've ever had. Both boys had overnights on Saturday, so Beer Geek and I headed alone up to stay at my boss' house (Beer Geek's fraternity brother and Shoo's Godfather, so obviously also a close friend.) He lives right in the middle of the Frederick half marathon, so we invited ourselves up LOL. A few days ago, another mutual friend trash talked my boss (E) into running the 5k (his first race!), which led to me signing up as well. The bright side of that? Nut Job AKA the extra medal for finishing both races. I had no intention of racing the 5k. None. But at the start line, there was a … [Read more...]
Escape to Chincoteague
No, that's not the last book in the Misty series. It's what we did for the last four days. And it's the real reason I didn't run the Army 10 miler. Our county schools always have two days off in October for elementary school conferences. Normally this coincides with Columbus Day, but this year it was later. I didn't even realize it until well past the Army transfer date. (And, for the record, I was not the only parent in our county who was caught completely off guard by the change.) Anyways, we rented a small cabin (at Dove Winds, if you are curious), packed my Pilot full of kids, clothes, and food, and headed to Chincoteague Island. And it's been pretty much nothing short of amazing. Seriously. The weather was nearly … [Read more...]
