Running Recap

I forgot to post some photos of Chris's run from the Chile Pepper two months ago. The Chile Pepper is a cross country festival that takes place on the UA Cross Country training grounds. We had to park at the fair grounds and then walk a mile to get to the start line. The only bad thing was that it started to down pour on us half way there. Needless to say we were soaked and the 10k was in rain delay. They kept pushing the start back because of all the lightning. It was suppose to start at 7:30 but with all the rain delays it didn't start until 10:30. They also changed the 10k runners to run the 5k because of all the rain delays plus the course was flooded in some areas. Chris took it pretty slow but he still finished in 28 minutes.

I didn't get a good photo at the finish line since it was still raining.

Last month Chris ran in the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis. His Achilles' tendon has been hurting him pretty badly for awhile. He's been icing it and taking it easy on his runs. He's been wearing my compression sleeve when he runs to alveait the pain and swelling. We bought him some new running shoes a month ago and his first run to break them in was the Jingle Bell Run. This course was extremely hilly and he said that it was the hardest 5k that he's ever done. But he finished in 26 minutes and was 2nd overall in his age group and 12th overall.

The next race he ran in was the Turkey Trot which was actually held on Thanksgiving.  Chris's ankle was still hurting him but he decided to run this race anyways.  He wanted to finish in 24 minutes but he finished in 25.  He was upset about this but considering his ankle was hurting him really bad he still did great.

He was scheduled to run the Fayetteville Half Marathon this month but they cancelled the race due to weather conditions.  His has been going to the chiropractor to try to get his ankle better and the doctor told him no running for awhile.  He just had a visit with the doctor a few weeks ago and he has finally been cleared to run. He's been taking it really easy on his runs and he's only increasing his runs just a little. He wants to start training for the full marathon for the Hogeye.  I'm hoping with all of the resting and treatments he's been doing that he'll be able to start back to running full time soon.

Merry Christmas

We hope that you all have a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year. If you didn't get a Christmas card from us this year, here are the photos that we used in it. When we went to do them we still had snow on the ground. So we decided to take advantage of it and I think that this years photo turned out the best that we've ever done.

Autumn Colors

My favorite time of year is fall.  I love all of the fall scents, pumpkins, sweaters, boots, and especially the fall foliage.  The last couple of years here in Arkansas we haven't had good fall foliage.  But this year the trees were gorgeous and I couldn't wait to go out and take some pictures of it. So last Sunday Chris and I took a drive down to Devil's Den to hike around the park and take some pictures.  We spoke with the park ranger who told us that the peak for the trees was the week before, but I still thought that the colors of the trees were amazing.  The weather was just right for hiking around and the water in the creek wasn't to cold so it turned out to be a perfect day for taking pictures. I was reading a list of fall quotes and this one was my favorite, "Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn." - Elizabeth Lawrence I hope that everyone got to go out and change the beautiful autumn colors.

Halloween Party 2013

Last week was our 8th annual Halloween party.  I can't believe this was our 8th party.  We've definitely seen a lot of Halloween costumes over the years.  It gets harder and harder to find costumes every year.  I really wanted to be Carmen Sandiego this year and I looked everywhere in New York City and at home and could never find a red trench coat like hers.  Thankfully one of our friends saw that one of the resale shops had a Star Trek Uhura dress for sale that was pretty cheap.  So I headed down to try it on and pick up.  The only bad thing was that I tried it on over my clothes so I didn't realize just how short the dress was.  I debated all week on whether or not to wear it but I ended up wearing it with leggings.  Hopefully I didn't scare too many people!!  Chris went as Bob Ross this year and I think that he costume was a hit.

I think the decorations in the garage looked pretty good this year.

NYC Day 6

One of our favorite shows to watch is The Chew.  If you haven't watched it before it's a cooking show that comes on at noon on ABC.  Chris got us tickets to go see a taping of it so we woke up extremely early to get ready.  We knew that we had to be dressed really nicely by all of the emails that we got from the show.  Since we were dressed nicely we took a taxi to ABC.  If you've never been to a taping of a tv show before it's really interesting on how they select who sits where.  Basically if you don't look nice or aren't dressed well you're placed in the back of the audience.  But since Chris and I were dressed nice we were placed on the front row right behind the tasting table.  The taping that we took part in happened to be a special taping and it aired the same day! We also got copies of the new Chew book.  Chris was excited because Michael Symon handed us our books.  I was stoked because I got to talk to Clinton Kelly.  He handed us our pizza and then he asked if I could pass out the plates to the rest of the row! Here's the link to the full episode that we were part of: http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/episodes/September-24-2013 we were on it quite a bit. After it was finished taping we took a taxi back to the hotel.

Waiting in line to get in to ABC.

The view from our seats.  You weren't allowed to take pictures while they were shooting.

Clinton Kelly was so nice and he came out into the audience afterwards to thank everyone for coming.

Michael Symon was just as nice!

Carla Hall came out into the audience during every break to dance.

We had bought quite of bit of stuff and we knew that we couldn't get all of it in our carry on bags.  So we took everything over to FedEx and shipped everything back home.  We then checked out of the hotel and walked to Shake Shack for one last meal.  We still had several hours to kill before our flight left so we wandered around Time Square and did a little more shopping.  We were so exhausted from all of the walking we did during our trip that we finally called it quits and headed back to the hotel to wait for our car to pick us all up.  We got a different car and driver who took us to the airport.  The car was even nicer than the first with it being a Mercedes but this driver was a little crazy!  I don't get car sick but I had to roll the window down because I thought I might be.  He also liked to use colorful language and not obey traffic rules.  But thankfully we all made it to the airport safely.

Our box we mailed back weighed 25lbs!!

My highlights from NYC are that people aren't overly friendly.  Don't smile at people on the subway you will get the stink eye back and don't apologize if you hit someone or step on someone.  Driver's in NYC like to use the horn at all times and it's totally acceptable to push your dog around in a stroller. We did have a great time in NYC but if we go back it probably won't be for quite as long.  Maybe just 3 days to check out a Broadway show and eat some amazing food, and of course do some shopping.  I did love that there was always something to do and that things stayed open until late.