Oklahoma City Marathon

I ran the Oklahoma City Marathon this weekend and believe it or not the weather was beautiful!  I really like this marathon for several reasons, one being it is close to home and I can go stay a night with my brother and visit the family etc.  Reason two being that I love the cause!  Those of us that are from Oklahoma remember the OKC bombing quite well and I enjoy being able to "run to remember".   This was marathon number 3 for me and was by far my favorite.  Running a marathon is mostly a "mental" obstacle and I had a good mindset with this one.  Wasn't worried about time or anyone else, just mainly wanted to stay away from hitting the "wall".   It worked great for me and am ready to start training for Chicago in October.

This is a really bad picture of the entrance to OKC memorial- if you haven't been there--GO 

Here I am at the finish line-  I'm not sure what I'm doing with my hands but it sure is weird.  

Larry has a picture of me walking at mile 24- I didn't notice he was there until he took like 4 photos- I'm not going to post those though, you will have to track that down on his Facebook page.

There is no shame in walking at mile 24!! Right??

The rest of the weekend we just took it easy--  Gave the dog a bath and tried to get rid of the 10 pounds of hair that is molting off him all over the house on a daily basis-

Went and visited this sweet little girl-

and cooked some dinner.  I had made chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and was hoping for some collard greens but I got this instead

Pretty strange uh?? who do you think I should contact about this??

Aquarium Half Marathon and Thunder up!!

What a great weekend.  I ran a small the Jenks Aquarium Half Marathon on Saturday,  it's a small race, mostly on Riverside but it is still fun. The weather was ABSOLUTELY gorgeous so I really had a gread time.   I train with a group from Fleet Feet and here is a great photo of us afterwards!

AND one with my friend Bridgette who rocked her first Half Marathon!

Afterwards, we went to the Bass Pro Shop!  That place is like Disneyland for Rednecks, I swear, we could have been in there for hours..... oh wait we were. They have soap dispensers, pictures, toilet paper holders and all kinds of things in the shape of Black Labs.  Larry kept wanting to buy them,  luckily I refuse to have a Lab toilet paper holder, even though we have a couch on the porch right now, there are certain levels of Redneckedness that I refuse to stoop to.  I have only my Mother to thank for that.  Also, saw these ridiculess things.....

yep--- red solo cup Champagne glasses----give me a break!

Saturday night I replicated a dinner my grandmother used to make for me on special occasions- chicken pieces.  The key to the perfect fried chicken piece is to start from a chicken breast, pound it out, and then cut it into appropriate sizes.  I have to say that these tasted just like my Grandmothers and everyone loved them.   Makes me happy?

Sunday was the Thunder Game,  you may remember that I got Larry tickets for his 40th bday last month, well Sunday was the day!!  We had and AMAZING time!! If I lived in Oklahoma City I would totally have season tickets,  we will definitely be going to another game!.

That night we all went to the Chinese buffet down the street.  I don't allow seafood in my house so this is what Larry looks like at a Chinese buffet

 Hello crawfish!!!!! BTW neither one of us was able to sleep afterward because we ate too much-- oh the trials and tribulations of getting old!!

What a Week

Well, I have had quite a week, which is why you haven's seen any blogs this week.  Monday night we went to Soul Bowl, which is our Temple groups celebration of the end of Passover.  Pizza, Beer, and Bowling, you can't get any better then that.   I bowled especially bad and that is all I have to say about that except that is was really fun.. as usual.

     Larry is home this week, so he has been trying to get the yard ready for two things 1.) the garden and 2.) planting grass seed so we can having something other then weeds in the back.  So, I came home to this one day this week.

and THIS

Oh MY!! It looks much better now and he assures me we will have lush grass in just a few weeks, but I am very skeptical.  

           I went to set up for the Oneg at the Temple today, we are always trying to get people to bake things and during the last meeting a request was made for Oreos on a stick.  We got them this week and it made me laugh.  

They are literally Oreos on a stick!!

I spent the rest of the day doing this:  

Putting together our long awaited drink menus for the restaurant.  I worked on it for 4 hours and my back feel like I did hard labor for 12 hours.  Not a fun day at all.

Running a half marathon tomorrow,  I feel excited about it and am going to try running without my watch.  I recently read an article that said that you can take 15 minutes of your time but not paying attention to a watch.  So, I figured I'd give it a try.

One last thing. This is a picture of my BFF and her son and our other super good friends little Baby---It's my favorite picture right now so I figure I would share.

CUTIES!!!

Grand Canyon, working cows, and Passover prep

 I have had and exciting week-  Monday I flew to Albuquerque and met Larry, who has been out there working, and drove to the Grand Canyon. Have you been to the Grand Canyon?  If you have not then I highly suggest that you go? Pictures do not justify the beauty,  it seriously brought tears to my eyes several different times.

 We got there about noon, and hiked to the very bottom of it.  It is one heck of a hike,  I have barely been able to walk all week.

This is Larry doing what he loves most at the Colorado river,  there is a white sand beach at the bottom of the Grand Canyon next to the Colorado River.  Who would have ever guessed?

This is where we slept.  Mainly because we were too tired to go any farther.  It was definitely not a designated camping spot but it worked.  I love to sleep outside- I think I sleep better camping then any other time.

This is was before the hike when I still looked like a normal person. I did not look like this at the end.  I equate this hike difficulty to my first marathon, where it rained the entire time and hailed twice!!!  It is NOT an easy hike. ( Do you like my Duck Dynasty hat?)  Anyway, we got home about midnight on Thursday night and I went ahead and took the weekend off. So, I got to have Shabbat dinner at home, which makes me Happy, happy, happy:)

Saturday, my legs were too sore to run the 18 miles that I was supposed to, so I only ran 5, and then we went to my Mom and Dad's to help him work cows.  This includes vacinations, dehorning, ear clipping, and castration( if necessary).  This is not an easy process, and Dad about sliced his finger off during a castration, so it was an eventful day.   We got a good dinner out of the deal and got to see my parents new kitchen, so a good day was had by all.   oh and my brother, nieces and nephew were there, they are some of my favorite peoples in the world!

Today, is Sunday and tomorrow is the first night of Passover, so I have been very, very busy.  Thoroughly cleaned the house and prepped for tomorrow.  Matza balls, knishes,charoset,boiled eggs,  tomato and mozzarella salad,and  asparagus, all ready.Tomorrow Larry will fix a brisket and we will be ready to go. 

Larry requested a blackberry cobbler, so I made one..... then the dog ate it.... end of story.

On a lighter note.  my good friends had a baby Friday and she is going home from the hospital today.  Super happy for them, What a cutie!!

Michael's Mop

I didn't take any pictures today and I am dissapointed.  I go out every Saturday morning for my long run with the intention that I will take a few pictures etc.  It never happens, I either start talking or I get tired and focused on finishing the run.  We did 16 miles today and the weather was really nice,  warm and overcast but no rain.  First 14 miles were awesome but the last two were a little rough. I think I might have gotten a little dehydrated with the humidity.   Went to breakfast afterwards and had the corn beef hash( it was awesome)!!  Corn beef and hash browns with two over easy eggs on top!!!  Afterwards, came home and took a nap,  and have been working on statistics homework so I'll be caught up when I go to the GRAND CANYON is 10 days!! Not exactly how I planned my day but, the garage will wait until tomorrow.  

     I thought I'd insert a Michael story, just a reminder that Michael is an employee who has worked at Chimi's for 23 years and he is very special.   So, he has been harrasing me about a new mop for approximately 8.4 months now, and I finally got him one.  Now, he talks about nothing else expect for how heavy the mop is! Can mops be too heavy??

Ok here's a few random pictures just to spruce it up

                              I'm gonna make this tomorrow

 Here is my puppy- he is super awesome! and very lazy!

 He also has really bad allergies and has been sneezing everywhere-- very gross!

Friday night!!

I don't know what has happened to me or who I have become but sometime in the last five years but I stopped even considering going anywhere but Temple and my couch on Friday night.  I would blame my long runs on Saturdays for this change but, I've only been doing long runs for two years.  Literally, it is 8:30 and I'm wondering how I am going to stay up until 9! Very, Very, sad.... or is it?

I was looking through my pictures for some stuff for this blog and I came across this.

It is obviously a picture from my car of the view while I was driving down Riverside.  The question is WHY would I take this picture.  The funny part is that I have four of these pictures, really what could I have possibly been doing.

Anyway,  my friend brought her little girl to work this week because she wasn't feeling well and couldnt go to school.  She is super cute and fun and we love it when she is sick and has to stay at the restuarant.  We are awful, but really, look how cute she is!

AND she has a mustache!! How cool is that!!

   I had to go to Sams this morning to buy fruit for the Temple and I got myself these..

Ok, so the Naked juice is good, but have you ever had the dark chocolate covered pomegranates???  They quite possibly be the best thing I have ever eaten... ever.   That is a two pound bag and I think I ate at least  a pound of them today.  

16 mile run in the morning. Shoud be fun? or something like that.  Hope the rain holds off until tomorrow night.  I'll let you know tomorrow when I am also sitting at home writing a blog post:)

Golfball Hill

It has been a long and busy week-Shadow( the dog) had a small surgery on Tuesday- and did not have a good reaction to it.  Kept me up all night Thursday night-  boo- made for a very long Friday.    Let me get back to the week though, Tuesday I ran Riverside and then had dinner with my friend Brooke and her new baby Logan--  I have two picture from the event- I was able to catch this little guy( and myself) making very funny faces.  so enjoy!

then here's a normal one

Is he not the cutest thing you have ever seen!!  I like him a whole lot:) 

Ran Turkey mountain on Thursday and took a couple of picture of the river.  

Northeastern Oklahoma is in an extreme drought-  I have NEVER seen the river this low and I DO NOT like it. After my run I went  and played  Maj with the ladies and had a great time.  Also, ate enough cheese to undo any excercise that I did that day.  Cheese is my downfall, cheese and chocolate, oh and bread, maybe I have a lot of downfalls.

Today I had a fourteen mile run with the first 7 miles being pretty much constant hills.  One of the largest hills to run in Tulsa is calles Golfball hill and I took my phone with me today with the intention of taking a picture as I was running up it, however I was too focused on actually getting up the hill to take a picture.  This is a photo of the top, it's a watertower that looks like a Golfball hence the name Golfball hill-

Spent the rest of the cooking and cleaning.  Chicken in the oven and bread in the bathroom-Life is good!