Miles and Miles of Marathon

I ran and finished my 6th Houston Marathon on Sunday. Our neighborhood running group meets up in the George R Brown to get all our gear on & do our bag check.



We stash our stuff, make one last bathroom break, bundle up & head out to the start line.



I gave in & went with the disposable trash bad this year. It was about 40 at the start line, but luckily there was not much wind.



I was so excited to be running with my best friend- we've never ran together before. The first mile or so is on this elevated bridge heading north out of downtown.



We spent the night downtown, but H met us at his usual route stops to provide kisses & food. Here we are around mile 5 in the Heights.



Next stop was mile 10 around Rice University.



Time for a PB&J and to lose that outer layer.



The infamous "Houston Hill" (ie an overpass) around mile 14 is one of the most boring & ugly parts of the course with all the freeways and utility lines around.



There is about a mile & half stretch in West University where we counted approximately 475 American flags lining the road.



H's next stop was in the Galleria around mile 16...still looking good!



We ran though Tanglewiled without seeing former President George H.W. Bush, but Stephanie was soooo excited to see him sitting down & greeting runners around mile 20.



Our final meet up with H was on Allen Parkway around mile 22 & Stephanie was practicing her finish line jump.



In the home stretch with downtown Houston in our sights!



We made it all 26.2 miles together at a rather leisurely pace- finishing in 5 hours & 7 minutes.



Yes, Stephanie ran rouge & ran using H's bib since he failed to do the proper training.



My step-mom and training partner finished in an awesome 4 hours & 47 minutes- maybe next year we can run it together.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: 70 and sunny here- gotta love Houston winters.

Disney Princess Half-Marathon

So I'm almost embarrassed to post this, because I probably could have run this half-marathon in 2:15 or faster if I didn't run with my friend and we didn't stop to take photos of all the characters and Magic Kingdom. Either way- we were just out to have fun & there were still several thousand people behind me even though I was walking big parts of it!



If you stayed at a park resort, there was a free shuttle to the start line, but you had to go very early! Because of the time zone difference and the daylight savings time switch, my watch said 2AM when I woke up on Sunday morning! We sat around almost 2 hours waiting for the race to start.



Each mile marker was a scene from a Disney Princess movie & a time clock. There were some pretty long, straight, boring stretches of road, but they had put out dozens of signs with various Disney Princess trivia to keep us entertained.



We started out *near* Epcot, and then ran towards the Magic Kingdom before turning around. It was at least 5 miles of running through boring roads before we had about 1 entertaining mile as we ran through the actual park itself.



Running down Main Street in Magic Kingdom, we were greeted with lots of park guests and supporters cheering for us.



One of my favorite parts was running through the Castle itself.



There were TONS of characters in costume out all along the race route. They were mostly Princes & Princesses, but we did see a few other characters.



It was a game to try to remember which movie each of the characters were from. Anybody know where these fancy ladies came from?



All the princes made an appearance together on the mile 10 marker.



We ended back up at Epcot, but didn't do a lap around the World Showcase. Instead we turned around just past the giant globe & headed towards the finish line.



And all the Princesses were on the very last mile marker, just 0.1 miles from the finish line!



Most of the characters had lines to have your photo taken, but we got lucky when we spotted Aladdin & Jasmine.



Beauty & the Beast



Pocahontas & John Smith



Alice & the Mad Hatter



After the race, they had several characters that you could have your finisher photo taken.



One of the great things about the race was the other 8,000 women running. They were there to have fun & many came fully decked out in some great costumes.



I didn't get a chance to get many of them, but many of them had on full Disney character costumes from Halloween. Many had their hair done & abundant glitter all over. Lots of crowns & tiaras, sparkly hair clips and fun dresses.



It was very entertaining to see all these women having so much fun & running.

There were even quite a few that I was amazed they could run in their "costume".

A couple of photos from the official photographers

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Back from camping & we had an awesome time with our friends!

Thursday Tidbits

I've got a few things that belong in the random pile. I'll start with this as my favorite guacamole EVER. I know you can make it from scratch, but this simple mix from McCormick, with some fresh avocados, is better than anything I've had in a restaurant. We eat this about once a week in the summer and I can't wait for avocado season to arrive in full force!

I just discovered broccoli. I'm not a huge veggie fan, but was hungry the other day and it was on my plate. I had an adult-revelation and discovered that I actually liked it! We've had it once a week since I can steam it in the microwave in 90 seconds.

We attempted to grill our own lobster at home a few weeks ago. It came out pretty good, at least for lobster from Sams, but not nearly as good as some of the delicacies I've had at fancy restaurants. Anybody have any good lobster cooking tips?

A few weeks ago, we headed to mid-town to try another wine bar, The Tasting Room. Bonus feature of the night was eating some yummy sushi at Fish.

Also last month, I had a Friday happy hour with the moms. It was a perfect afternoon to sit outside, snack on chips, salsa & guacamole and talk about men!

I finally bought a display rack to hang all my marathon medals (plus a few half-marathon and a triathlon). I ordered it from here & they have lots of different ones for various sports.

This was H and his mom out a few weeks ago at dinner for a friend. She's off right now on our first big international (besides Mexico) trip as she cruises the Mediterranean.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Most of Texas is getting some desperately needed rains and some enjoyable cooler weather.

2009 Houston Marathon

Another year, another marathon down! 2009 was my 5th finish in Houston & 6th overall marathon, but it was only the 2nd time I finished in under 5 hours! I actually felt great almost the entire race, despite the 70+ degree temperatures and blazing sun.

This is our neighborhood running gang- we had 6 of us running the full, which is quite a bit smaller than usual.

I ran the first 14 miles with my running buddy from the Rocky Raccoon Race earlier this year.

There are some nice scenic parts of the marathon- especially miles 3-12, which go through some fun neighborhoods with nice trees.

It's much better after the half-marathoners turn off & the crowd thins out considerably.


It's a mostly flat course, and the biggest hill is this giant over-pass. It's the not-so-scenic part of the run....

Nor is this part, where you run along a major interstate and between a sound wall. It's only about a mile & then we head back into the swanky parts of town.

I felt great & ran quite a bit the last 6 miles. It always feels so good to turn that last corner & see the finish line.

You can see me on the far right just under the banner.

This is the first place I landed after standing for about 6 hours! I needed to rest, drink and wait for my hubby to come find me.

After getting on some more comfortable shoes & a dry shirt, I was anxious to head home & get rested before our big trip to DC that night!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Feet are almost healed, I ran again this morning (7 miles) and I'm getting a massage tomorrow.