Road Trip!!! Part Three - The Marathon Route

The Pre-Race Photo Tour
So, when you're running a marathon - or any race really - it's no fun to have your camera sloshing around in a fanny-pack. Runners do it all the time - I've done it before. I don't like it. So, the day before the race we took a little drive along the course. Really, we wanted to see what I was in for - rumor has it that this is one of the most challenging marathons in existence. It's also been said that if you could only do one marathon in your lifetime - this should be the one.
Here I am! This is the staging area for the starting line. Don't be fooled by the downhill start or the lack of wind - those things go away in a few miles....

The first several miles of the course run through forested areas like this. So completely nice. I'm glad the sun was out for the photo-tour. For the race it wasn't.

The first half is sort of rolling hills. Hills that were more long than steep and hills I could totally run up. At mile 6-7 the wind picked up. The marathon runs from south to north. Sadly, the prevailing winds blow from north to south.

I think this is a photo of Hurricane Point. I wish it was better. At mile 10 you have to run 2 miles up a 5% grade. The top is called Hurricane Point. Of course, I walked some of that. Earlier in the race someone said that they thought we would run into fog. Yeah, they lied. We got wind. What was AWESOME were the Taiko drummers at the bottom of the hill just before you start your climb. So, the problem with this section of the race isn't so much the incline as it is the environment. The higher up you get the colder and harder the wind blows. At the top there were hats and sunglasses flying off all over the place. There were a few runners wearing wind breakers and they blew up like a puffy nylon balloon. The wind was blowing all the way through the mesh in my shoes - It was SO COLD!!!! But then you get to run down the other side and as you get lower it gets warmer and, after a while, less windy....

At the bottom of Hurricane Point is the Bixby Bridge. I LOVE to run on bridges - especially cool ones like this! This bridge sits at the half-way mark for the race. SO cool. This thing is gigantic! As you come off the bridge there is a guy in a tuxedo playing a black grand piano. Super Cool!

How many ways can you say GORGEOUS!!!!!! Time went by really fast in this race because there was so much beauty surrounding you every second.

Carrie and I at one of the 'scenic overlooks'. See my hair blowing in the wind. Yeah, I ran in that.

This is the Rocky Creek bridge. I forget where this falls in the race. Probably around 18 where I lose the ability to count. Isn't this spectacular?!!!

More pretty things.

FABULOUS!

See the road in the top. See how it's going down. I got to run down that. See how far down it is from the camera's vantage point? That's a hill I got to run up.

The second half of the course was tough. There were more hills. Shorter but steeper hills. By the end if I even tried to run up any sort of incline my hamstrings would SCREAM at me to 'please not do that again'. I did a lot of walking up hills.

My finish time was 5 hours 4 minutes. Not my fastest, but not my slowest by any means. Really, this race wasn't about a time - just about the experience. I felt so grateful to be out there running in such an amazing place.

TOU 2003 - 5 hr. 8 min.

SLC 2004 - 5 hr. 5 min.

St. George 2005 - 4 hr. 55 min.

TOU 2006 - 4 hr. 32 min.

Sanfrancisco 2007 - 4 hr. 53 min.

TOU 2008 - 4 hr. 30 min.

RNR Phoenix 2009- 5 hr. 14 min. (untrained)

Big Sur 2009 - 5 hr. 4 min.

Road Trip!!! Part Two.

Girls Week - Day Two. Race expo & packet pick up. At every race you have GOT to have a gigantic balloon arch. They are AWESOME. Part of the reason I like them so well is because they are cute. Seriously, who doesn't like to see a huge balloon creation? The other part of why I'm a fan is that they are visable from a long way off. Even if you're standing a quarter or half mile back from the start, you know where the start is because you can see a column of balloons floating in the distance. This is the best balloon arch I've seen yet. It's small because it's inside, but the mylar butterflies are super cool and the balloons on the sides are done up like little flowers and vines. And guess what, never mind the signs telling the runners where to go - as soon as I saw the balloon arch I knew which way to head :)After the expo we went to the Aquarium and all I have to say is "WOW"! I've seen some pretty cool aquariums and this one is in competition for the top spot. The other one that is really great is in the Bahamas Atlantis resort. I really can't decide which one I like the best.

White plummed sea anemone. The ocean's dandelions.

These are my favorite of the anemones and I cannot remember what they are called. I should start photographing name plates and descriptions.

Sea Dragon or something. Really beautiful.

Jellies!

The exhibit behind me is a tidal pool demo. So about every 30 seconds a huge wave of water crashes over this glass into the display tidal pool. Pretty cool!

This is the coolest! It's a kelp forest. They didn't have one of these in the Bahama's. I think I read that it's the only one. It was spectacular! There is something hypnotic about watching the kelp drift back and forth with the tide and watching the school of sardines swim around together.

ROAD TRIP!!!! Part One.

My friend Carrie and I have been going on "Girl's Week" road trips at least once a year since 2003. And if I do say so, we are AWESOME at it! The planning of these road trips begins with one simple question: What race do you want to run? This year, I'm pleased to bring you the chronicles of the Big Sur Marathon/9 miler No Boys Allowed Road Trip :)

Now, on any given adventure, there are certain things that we have come to expect. For example, we almost always get lost. At least once. Never on the way to our destination (distracted mabey, but that's not the same thing). No, really, we get lost - like when we were coming home from Sanfrancisco and ended up in South Lake Tahoe. Don't ask, it's a long (yet entertaining) story. We also know where the absolute worst places to eat are. I'm talking 'get Chef Ramsey on the phone, this is an emergency' BAD. We are currently buoycotting Elko. We also know some unbelievably good places to eat. Another given is that we know where all the good trucker stops are. Like, the one's with the best bathrooms and hand dryers. On this year's voyage we (and by we, I mean 'I') found the worst bathroom EVER. I've been to Mexico 4 times and this California pit stop is the worst thing I've ever seen. It was so bad I took my camera out so I could make snarky remarks about it on my blog.

So this is the sink. It looks like someone kicked in the little doors and then ripped them off. Remarkably, water did come out of it. That silver thing on the sink is the 'key-ring' for the key to the door. Yeah, I had to ask for a nasty key and then walk around to the side of the building to use this bathroom. I HATE that, it's so archaic. Not photographed: the quarter inch of dust on top of the soap dispenser. It did have soap - no paper towels.

This is the floor just inside the door. Yes, that is light shining through the one inch gap in the door jam. In fact, light was shining in around most of the flooring.

This is the door. Can you believe this thing has a lock? So, this is basically two pieces of scrap ply-wood that has been STAPLED together. Note the window that has been broken, covered over with ply-wood and the broken glass left in place. Note the one inch gap that goes all the way around the door. Note the 'employees must wash hands' sticker on the wall.

Toilet that was last cleaned, like, the 12th of NEVER. Yikes!

You may be wondering just how one stumbles across such a gem as this. Well, we were running out of gas. We didn't know where the next gas station was. All we had seen for miles and miles were acres and acres of grape vineyards and orange groves. So we took and exit in search of a gas station and bingo - this is what you get.

The Hunt is ON....

With the Easter season come a lot of things. Warmer weather - sort of, plants and trees waking up, grass turning green, Cadbury mini eggs (yum!), more attention to the Resurrection of our Savior and The annual Easter Egg hunt at my parent's house. I love Easter - I love it more when it falls in May. Why?
Warmer weather and more flowers for my Easter Egg Hunt photos. This little tulip was the only flower blooming in my mom's backyard. Oh well, I can't control the weather - yet. Inspite of the imperfect environmental conditions this was the best egg hunt yet! My dad, husband, two brothers and sis-in-law hid 72 eggs for 3 kids and one baby to find. They did an awesome job of hiding the eggs. There were plenty of 'no-brainers' for the little ones and some tough ones for the older girls. What was really hysterical was my dad standing on the back porch giving the girls hints as to if they were 'hot' or 'cold'. It was even better when he stood there saying how cold they were as they picked up an egg he couldn't see.

Little Miss Talia was SUPER excited about the plastic eggs. My new sis, Julia, helped her find a few and she was in HEAVEN!

Bowen was all over the egg huntin'. Gave those girls a run for their money, he did!Jade actually found more eggs than Kenzie did and Kenzie was NOT happy about that!

My brother, Aaron, hid this one. I don't know how long it took to balance it on it's end like that. It was so funny to watch the girls try to find this one :)

This wasn't hard to find but I thought it was clever.

This one was in the drain pipe. Personally, I wouldn't have hid an egg in there. Spiders. I also wouldn't have fished an egg OUT of there. Spiders.

Bowen turns 4!

My little guy is 4 years old! I can't believe how FAST life on the planet goes by. Bowen is a laugh a minute. He says the craziest things. His current loves are: playing with 'the girls', Thomas the Tank Engine, tormenting my cat, playing games on nickjr.com, and his mom.

These pics are a little blurry because he would NOT hold still! He was bouncing up and down while we sang 'Happy Birthday' and he was jumping around while he tried to blow out his candles - not the most effective candle-blowing-out-technique.