Where does the time go? I am having a total crisis wherein I have completely lost touch with the world due to my acute lack of time in the last month. And now the holidays are upon us and the next thing I know I will wake up and it will be January 2010. And I will have accomplished nothing.
OK, maybe 'nothing' is a bit of a stretch. But I really am one of those geeky types who loves to be on the computer spending hours reading up on what all my friends are doing and finding out what's going on in the world... or at least my favorite online stores. And lately I haven't had time to do any of that. Just the occasional moment to check email and jot a few responses. Every day the SkirtChaser asks me, 'Have you read so-and-so's blog?' And inevitably my response is "no". I am missing out on everything! So this weekend my goal is to get caught up on my life and have a moment to breathe. So what have I done in the days or weeks since my last post? Well just a few things...
...I won the beer mile. Did I already mention that? OK actually I came in second behind SkirtChaser, but I won the women's division. I was really nervous going in. I am soooo not a drinker so I didn't think I'd be able to actually drink 4 beers (turns out it's really easy!). I chugged the first beer and started into the first quarter mile in about 6th place. Heading into the transition area for my second beer, I chugged quickly and to my surprise I left for the second quarter mile in second place. From there it was easy. It was all about maintaining 
my lead. All in all I finished 4 beers and 4 x 1/4 mile in 10:40. Not bad. Not bad. At that point, being completely intoxicated, I can't recall details from the rest of the afternoon but I do remember something about another game involving drinking more beer and running laps on a football field beaming your opponent with said football. Really? Who makes up this stuff? And then we popped in on SkirtChaser's place of employment where we continued to drink, I ate an entire bag of Oreo's and my SC fell over in the parking lot trying to pull pants over his running shorts. The alcohol stopped at that point and we headed to our favorite (or my favorite anyway) NYPD for pizza. The next day I got up and managed to run 9 miles on trail before I had to go back to bed for the rest of the day. I am too old for this.
my lead. All in all I finished 4 beers and 4 x 1/4 mile in 10:40. Not bad. Not bad. At that point, being completely intoxicated, I can't recall details from the rest of the afternoon but I do remember something about another game involving drinking more beer and running laps on a football field beaming your opponent with said football. Really? Who makes up this stuff? And then we popped in on SkirtChaser's place of employment where we continued to drink, I ate an entire bag of Oreo's and my SC fell over in the parking lot trying to pull pants over his running shorts. The alcohol stopped at that point and we headed to our favorite (or my favorite anyway) NYPD for pizza. The next day I got up and managed to run 9 miles on trail before I had to go back to bed for the rest of the day. I am too old for this. ... and then this one time at band camp Oh woops. Wrong story. And then, the next weekend I flew to Vegas and got married! That's right! SkirtChaser and I are no longer living in sin. The weekend started off a little rocky when all my expectations of Vegas were dashed the minute I stepped onto the strip. But after overcoming my initial disappointment, we had a wonderful wedding day. We flew in on Saturday morning and took a cab straight to the courthouse to pick up our marriage license. License in hand we hopped back in the cab and went to check into our hotel. We met up with my sis and her beau and hung out for a bit before heading over to the marathon expo. We did all the usual pre-marathon stuff, had a quick meeting with the wedding party and then had a brief dinner before heading to bed.
Sunday morning, December 6, my alarm went off at 3:30 am. My wedding day. Today's prerace routine involved getting the tiara to stay put in my hair which is the longest it's been in 5 years... but is still quite short. After getting dolled up (as my mom would say) in my wedding "dress" we hit the road to walk to the start line. We had instructions to meet at 5 am to be escorted to the corral with the wedding party. On the way we met up with my sis and h
er beau, and TriBabe and her hubby all of whom were running with us. We took quite a few photos with the photographer though I have doubts that I will ever get my hands on them. We were having a lot of fun. Before we knew it the race had started. We were 14 corrals back and could watch the race on huge electronic billboards in front of the hotels. It took FOREVER to get to the actual start line and once we crossed we were anxious to get to mile 3.5. We stopped several times to take photos, SkirtChaser and I were both running with disposable cameras. When we finally reached our destination (The Eiffel Tower, Paris Las Vegas Hotel) we were met by our non-running crew. We passed out champagne and toasted to long life and happiness. We took a ton more pictures and it seemed as though our group attracted quite a bit of attention.
er beau, and TriBabe and her hubby all of whom were running with us. We took quite a few photos with the photographer though I have doubts that I will ever get my hands on them. We were having a lot of fun. Before we knew it the race had started. We were 14 corrals back and could watch the race on huge electronic billboards in front of the hotels. It took FOREVER to get to the actual start line and once we crossed we were anxious to get to mile 3.5. We stopped several times to take photos, SkirtChaser and I were both running with disposable cameras. When we finally reached our destination (The Eiffel Tower, Paris Las Vegas Hotel) we were met by our non-running crew. We passed out champagne and toasted to long life and happiness. We took a ton more pictures and it seemed as though our group attracted quite a bit of attention. 
The ceremony was brief but wonderful. Pastor Jamie had many beautiful thoughts to share with us. We said our vows, exchanged our rings, and kissed our first married-couple kiss. Beautiful. Memorable. Fun. Perfect. After the ceremony, most of the runners hit the course immediately. Not us! We stuck around for a second glass of champagne and were interviewed on television. (Apparently the next morning when they aired our segment they left out all the nice things we said and just showed us kissing, with the newswoman commenting that we should get a room. But hey, it's Vegas! Do you really expect more?) We said good-bye to the non-runners and hit the course, now dodging thousands of walkers.
The remainder of the race was uneventful. We got lots of cheers as SkirtChaser had changed from his tuxedo-T into a white tank with "just married" on the back. I carried my water-bottle-bouquet the rest of the way. It was officially our longest half marathon ever as they don't stop the clock for you during the ceremony. I think our official time was 2:42 and change. We held hands as we crossed the finish and scurried through the finish line banquet before running back to our hotel.
Later we met up with everyone who had come to Vegas with us for a champagne brunch. We ate (a lot!) and drank some more champagne. Afterwards we retired to our room for the day and intermittently slept, watched movies on TV, talked to family on the phone, and did other married-couple-things of which I will spare you the details. (wink)
So that's it. Beer Mile. Vegas Half Marathon. Run-Through Wedding Ceremony. My head is spinning. And now it's work, and try to get caught up on chores, holiday stuff, etc. Tonight marks the first night of a very busy week ahead. It will be fun and I love to celebrate with everyone, but man am I exhausted! I actually told SkirtChaser that I want to stay home on my birthday this year because it's the only night that we don't already have plans! Anyway, I wish you all health and acorns (as they say in Italy)!
1 comment:
Congratulations on, well, EVERYTHING!! It sounds like you have really been enjoying yourself and I am so happy for you!
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