Long overdue vacation post, #3 - Amsterdam

On the bus ride to Amsterdam, we got the chance to get to know our tour group a little better.  Everyone took a turn to answer the following questions:

• Name
• Where you're from
• Traffic light color (Green, Yellow or Red)
• What you're most looking forward to seeing 
• Bad joke or most embarrassing moment (I opted for embarrassing moment)

It was a cool way to get everyone chatting and get some quick and dirty background information on who was who.  Of course, we didn't really know many names until later in the trip, but its hard to keep track of that many people.  Other than that, the bus trip was uneventful.  We had a couple of rest stops before we arrived at our hotel - which was nicknamed "Hotel Slut".  Ha.  We "de-bussed" and made our way up to our room, where Nick decided to do some impromptu laundry, since our luggage was still hanging out in NYC or London.

Lucky for us, we heard that there was decent shopping in Amsterdam - H&Ms galore, so that was on our agenda for the next day.  But for now, we were ready to get out and see a little bit of Amsterdam, so we signed up to do a canal cruise (all you could drink beer and wine, how could we NOT have signed up?) with the majority of our group.  It was very cool to cruise the canals of Amsterdam, looking up at the houses and into the awesome buildings.  Apparently IKEA is just as popular there, as it is here, because I saw a lot of pieces that I recognized, since people in Amsterdam apparently don't believe in curtains.

After the cruise, Nick and I decided to hit the town and do some exploring.  A couple of our friends from the group joined us to check things out.  We stuck to beer since it was so early in the vacation, but it was so strange to walk by some of the coffee shops and get a whiff of what makes Amsterdam so famous.  Fun fact:  Coffee Shops = weed, Cafe's = coffee.  Who knew?  Anyway, in our typical vacation fashion, this turned into a bit of a bar hop, as we tried different beers and explored different places.  This was definitely a place that we'd love to come back to, but we were lucky enough to get a taste of what Amsterdam nightlife has to offer.  It was definitely a "chill" type of atmosphere, and one that we really enjoyed!

Long overdue vacation post, #2 - London to Amsterdam

We left off as Nick and I, luggage-less in London, were about to embark on our two week tour of Europe, starting with Amsterdam.  We arrived at the coffee shop to meet our fellow travelers.  Surprisingly, we were the first to people to arrive.  This is very unlike me, but since I had no other wardrobe options than what I had with me, my getting ready time was drastically reduced.  As we waited, we began to meet the other people in our group.  It came as a huge relief that they all appeared to be around our age.  We found out later that everyone was dreading being the old married couple, suck on a bus with 48 18-year olds!

First things first.  Everyone's luggage got weighed, to make sure it was in line with the requirements for the bus.  No problem for us though.  However, it should be noted that our luggage WOULD have passed with flying colors, had it shown up on time.

Once that formality was over, we all loaded up onto the bus to begin the journey to Dover, as in the White Cliffs of:

Here, we caught a ferry to Callais, France.  This was exciting for many reasons.  1.  We got our passport stamped as we were leaving England and heading over to the EU.  2.  There were DUTY FREE SHOPS ON THE BOAT.  Duty free meant that I could buy some toiletries to tide us over until we were reunited with ours.  3.  Nick gets a little nauseous on boats, meaning I was able to run amok, by myself, in the duty free shop, without that nagging voice of reason following me around.  So, I got a new purse AND the passport holder of my dreams.  4.  They had bacon sandwiches.  Yes.  Bacon.  On a sandwich.  I added a latte and fell in love.

All in all, a successful ferry trip.  Once the announcement was made, we went back down to the bowels of the ship to board the bus and continue our trip to Amsterdam.

Long overdue vacation post, #1 - London

We've been back from vacation now for almost a month now and I've been MIA on this blog.  My dad called me out this week for my lack of updates.  I've been busy, catching up on work, DVR and cramming for a 1/2 marathon, but before I can jump into everything else that's been going on lately, our trip deserves its own post, better late than never.

First, lets start with Contiki.  Contiki is a tour company that caters to our people - 18-35 year olds, not necessarily interested in 4-star accommodations, but more interested in sight seeing and fun.  Early on, we settled on this as our company of choice so that we avoided a bus load of retirees as traveling companions.  With a company that caters to younger people comes some "aggressive" itineraries.  Ours was:  London, Amsterdam, St. Goar, Munich, Innsbruck, Florence, Venice, Rome, Lucerne and Paris.  Woah, right?  This crazy list of places began with my mandatory:  Paris, and Nick's mandatory:  Rome.  It then evolved into a  bit of "let's see how many places we can see in two weeks, while including both mandatory places."  Our thought was that we'd get a little taste of each place so that we can see where we'd like to come back to and where we could skip the next time around.  If you want to see the places that we saw, please check out my pictures on Flickr.  I think its more important to capture the EXPERIENCE that we had, rather than narrate the places that we visited.  You can see those for yourself, and believe me, they are pretty much...awesome.

So.  Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?  Let's shall.  For some reason I was having a hard time with the concept that WE WERE GOING TO EUROPE FOR TWO WEEKS.  I blame a number of things on this state of mind, including, but not limited to:  hormones, work schedule, a daunting to-do list, and a disbelief that we were actually about to embark on such an adventure.  Thankfully, Nick really stepped up and helped with the laundry and the pre-vacation check list.  I don't know what I would have done without him.  After piles of laundry and a few to-do lists, the bags were packed, the light timers were set and the plants were watered and we loaded everything into the car to drive to my parent's house.  (We decided to fly out of Pittsburgh because it was a little cheaper and it included free dog boarding and parking.  Who can beat that?)  The drive was uneventful except for a near-incident involving Chino demanding to sit in the front seat at the same time that I was holding two drinks and two value meals.

After a good night's sleep, we were off to the airport.  Unfortunately the trip started out a bit shaky with a delayed flight to JFK, followed by an extraordinarily long flight.  Unfortunately the delay and the extra long flight resulted in us missing our connection to London by FIVE MINUTES.  Missing that flight caused us to have to wait in a line for two hours with some equally disgruntled people.  Thankfully, I chose to kill the gate agent with kindness and we were re-booked on a British Airways flight for the next morning.  Unfortunately this also resulted in a night at the Holiday Inn Express and our luggage staying in JFK instead of joining us in London.

I'm not going to lie, I almost cried when I found out that the luggage didn't make it.  Don't get me wrong, I was pretty excited that WE made it to London, but really bummed that my carefully packed and coordinated bag didn't.  We filled out our claim form and then made our way to the hotel, determined that this wouldn't ruin the trip.  However, I must apologize to Nick because my mood on The Undergroud was so awful, that I wouldn't entertain any of his "Cockfosters" jokes throughout the entire ride.

We did manage to check two items off of the list.  #1. Nick wanted to try a Guiness in London (not quite Ireland, but close).  #2.  Fish & Chips in a British Pub.

Next:  some sleep before we met up with our tour group in the morning to make our way to Amsterdam!

The Arnold 5k

We got a little bit of a shock to our systems on Sunday morning.  Not only were were running outside for the first time this year, but we had some sunshine along for the ride.  Nick's goal was to complete the race in under 30 minutes.  Here are his official results:

My goal was to complete the race in under 40 minutes.  The last time I ran this 5k, I did it in approximately 45-47 minutes, with bronchitis and with little to no preparation, but still that's a piss poor showing.  I was determined to get it done this time, and I did!

Its not the fastest time, but I didn't come in last.  I'm so proud of the both of us for coming in UNDER our respective goals.  After this race, I'm not AS scared of running the 1/2 marathon.  I'm pretty sure that I can finish in less than three hours.  After my 10k in April, I'll have a better gauge of what I can expect.  I do know that I need to work harder to build both my cardio and mental endurance in order to run through the pain and through my perceived hyperventilation.  For now, I'm going to bask in my small victory of a 5k in under 40 minutes.

P.S.  To celebrate our respective "victories", we headed down to Betty's for brunch and some post-race Bloody Marys, which did taste as good as they look!

1/2 marathon update

A quick little update on 1/2 marathon training.  Nick and I have been sticking to a regular training schedule.  I'm very proud of us.  I think that part of it is because we're already registered for the race and don't want to bitch out or look like complete dumb asses.  I'm on my third (YES, THIRD) pair of running shoes.  I think that these will be the ones that will carry me across the finish line.  After two failed relationships with Saucony shoes in two different support types, it seems that I'm meant to be a Mizuno girl.  Don't get me wrong, I still love Sauconys (especially when they're on sale), but they just aren't cut out for long runs.  Now that I seem to know a little bit about what my feet need for such a feat, it appears that I need to wear a neutral shoe.  Too much support, and I end up getting blisters on my feet in a weird spot.  My self-diagnosis is that when I walk, its fine, but when I run, I land on the support and somehow push off so that it rubs.  The spot that its rubbing on is right below the ball of my foot and is pretty random.  I felt the need to document it for you.  Click here for my post about my first pair of ex-running shoes and the havoc that they wreaked on my precious footsies.  The second pair of Sauconys had the same issue and aren't worth a separate post.

Also cut from the training program are Champion sports bras.  C9 by Champion, sold at Target is the exception to my new anti-Champion policy and are my one true love when it comes to running.  No matter how much support is promised in the Champion catalog, their bras all continue to disappoint.  Unfortunately, it seems as though Champion and I have been in an abusive relationship for years.  I buy the newest bra, hoping that it will perform as it should, only to be let down and up and down and up and down and up (hahaha get it!?), over and over again.

Nick has been doing well - nothing special and not nearly as much bitching as I've been doing.  This is to be expected.  He's had no shoe drama or bra drama and just gets it done.  He runs without stopping and sweats a lot.  The only hiccup we've had is the time I made the mistake of running on a treadmill that was downwind from him.  Believe you me, I will never make that mistake again.  I pretty much gagged.  I'm actually surprised that I was able to hang on like I did.  I ended up sending him a text message to STOP FARTING because I was GOING TO VOMIT.  He responded by making the fart sign on the back of his head.  The best part of training with him is that he's there with me to listen to the bra drama and the shoe drama and continues to cheer me on when he knows that I'm ready to give up.  He gives me high fives on the treadmill and constant encouragement. 

Currently:  Nick is up to 6 miles running and I'm up to 6 miles wogging, but more jogging than walking.  Go me. 

Looking ahead:  Arnold 5k on Sunday

Making the most of the winter

Saturday was a cross-training day, so instead of another 60 minutes on a treadmill or on an elliptical machine, we saddled up our mutt and headed to the park.  Our intention was to hit the pet trail at Highbanks, but we found that it was open to cross country skiers only.  We ignored the sign, but quickly realized that the deep, slushy snow would be no fun for anyone, so we turned around and decided to just take a walk.  I had the camera with me, so I captured some photos of the day.

A view of the trail by the river.  I'm kind of proud of this shot.

Playing with the "blurry background" feature on my camera.  I liked how it looked like these two leaves were holding on for dear life.  The bit of color against the gray-ish background caught my eye.

Looking down river.

 This sort of looked like a heart.  I think that Nick was rolling his eyes when I snapped this one.

"Mama, where did that snowball go?"

Chino in action.

The rest of my pictures are up on Flickr.  Enjoy!

The gear

After deciding that yes, I would run a 1/2 marathon, I decided that I needed to go get some running shoes.  Not clearance rack DSW shoes, real running shoes from a real running store.  I had heard about places that fit you for shoes after watching you walk and run on a treadmill.  Off to RoadRunner sports I went, Nick in tow.  I did the treadmill and the balance and then the walk across the Wii Fit thingy to see how I distribute my weight.  After all of that, I tried on some brand spankin' new shoes followed by a custom insole fitting.  I figured that if I was going to do this, I might as well do it right?  Right?  Wrong.  Time for a do-over!

 Here is a picture of the culprits.  How can shoes that look SO GOOD treat my feet so bad?