Natalie and I took a Saturday field trip to Stillwater Minn (of course it was for the chocolate malts there...it always evolves around food). Stillwater is on the Minn/Wis border and is one of my favorite just-outta-the-city locations. We found a fantastic store that only sells olive oil and balsamic vinegars...who knew they came in like 50 different flavors! It was amazing...but not as amazing as this gem we found in an antique store:
I think being a deer would pretty much suck. I mean the entire world is basically against you and chances are things are not going to end well. I think being a deer that was taxidermied would suck even more. But being a deer who was taxidermied into a coat rack would be the suckiest suck of all sucks! I hope this critter goes totally ape shiz on resurrection day and kicks whoever did this to him. Poor thing.
Speaking of Wisconsin, they are die hard believers in fractions, I mean, whole numbers are so overrated.
So this year's big race was Grandma's Marathon. It's an amazing 26.2 miles that follows the North Shore of Lake Superior to Duluth. It's no secret that I loath running, LOATH. But I keep signing up for races. Unfortunately my lack-of-training peaked in April when I started to develop a stress fracture in my foot and could barely stand, let alone walk. The doctor told me to stop training for at least a month (didn't have to twist my arm there) and to pull out of the race if I felt pain (yeah right, I start a race, I finish a race).
Of course I didn't check the weather report before we headed up to Duluth which meant a late night stop at Target for some super sweet leggings and long socks (which I hacked apart with some medical scissors and turned into arm warmers). I was looking pretty darn amazing:
Natalie looked equally as sweet...but all of the pictures of her are on her camera.
We hopped on the bus to head to the starting line during a torrential downpour, nothing like running a marathon in a hurricane. We were lucky enough to grab two of the last ponchos that Target had (looks like more than just Natalie and I weren't prepared for the weather)
We sat in the wheel chair accessible, old man with a cane row of the bus
The race started out AWESOME. As soon as we got off the bus the rain turned into a lovely little drizzle. It was cool and cloudy and I was running with a sweet group of peeps. Around mile six I started to feel like I usually do around mile 20: light headed, slightly dizzy, and like I'm about to hallucinate. At that moment I decided I shouldn't have spent the week prior to the race on a calorie restricting diet...and I should have eaten more than 1/2 a bagel before starting out.
By mile 10 I was convincing myself to not just lay down and sleep...I guess skipping sleep for a week to 300 cupcakes for a wedding wasn't the greatest idea.
During mile 11 I started to feel a slight tinge of pain in my stress fractured foot. I swore in my head that it was nothing. By mile 12 the pain was only getting worse. During mile 13 I broke into tears and realized that I needed to pull out before I did some serious damage, the visual of a snapping metatarsal overpowered my pride to finish. I was so sad and mad and just plain upset. I finish races. I may be gimping across the finish line by the end, but I finish. This is the first race I've ever pulled out of, for any reason.
I'm officially a quitter :(
Natalie finished with a personal best and did AMAZING (as always)...at least I don't hang out with quitters
I had a pleasant surprise visit from my favorite girl Sarah, her husband, and little monster.
I love monster, and monster was loving Snoopy
At the end of July I found myself at another race, The Warrior Dash. My roommate Melissa decided back in January that we needed to do this race. I couldn't let her do it alone so I signed up and off we went. The Warrior Dash is a race that incorporates running hills (locals call them mountains) and random obstacles like walls, barbed wire, fire, ropes, and mud. The weather was perfect when we started:
I'm pretty sure Melissa was checking out some dude in a Vikings helmet.
The race was awesome and I discovered that I really, reaLLY, REALLY LOVE swimming through mud under barbed wire. If it wasn't such a health hazard I'd build a mud pit in my back yard and swim in it every morning (I'm fairly certain I was a pig in a previous life).
Happiness really is being covered in mud
Up next...Part Tres: Home
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