The Less Loved One

This is how I feel when I bring the boyfriend to Houston. Not only does he get more respect from the family but my friends love him more than me as well. One of my best friends told me that if the BF and I broke up she would break up with me. Great - no pressure! Anyway, the trip was a blast - we had a very successful 60th birthday for my dad and a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Race update and photos will come tomorrow when I upload them to the computer. It has been a busy week of catching up on all the shows I DVRed over the vacation and playing with my new juicer.

Oops I crapped my pants....

Last night my family went out to dinner. This was the wine bottle we finished off. I have never seen a wine bottle this big. Apparently this is what my dad ordered. And here is my grandmother trying to finish it off.



This is my dad after the wine was gone. I have no idea what he is doing or why he has only one ski glove. It is not snowing in Houston.



Wednesday night is a big night in Houston. Since noone has to work on Thursday it is the only night while I am in town that everyone is able to go out together. However, tomorrow is the big race. The TXU 10K turkey trot where Chris and I will debut our outfits. A 10K on top of almost zero sleep after a late night out will lead to trouble. We might all need some of these:



It is always a craps shoot to see who all shows up to struggle through the run, but as of now we have 15 friends and family members signed up (Polly signed up twice so she counts as two). I will give a complete race report along with photos tomorrow.

And since it is Thanksgiving tomorrow I guess I should post up what I am thankful for..

1) oops I crapped my pants

2) A wonderful family that is so competitive we all show up to the turkey trot and try and beat everyone else no matter how bad we feel.

3) The food in Houston. Every meal is delicious and will cause me to gain some lbs while I am in town.

4) The vet who is watching my little monsters while I go home and race my family and eat until I cant fit into my lululemon pants anymore

5) My mom and Mrs Smith – the two people who are completely responsible for feeding all of us. We have the same meal every year (and it is incredible) with the same two families and I look forward to it all year long.

6) A job that transferred me to Hawaii from Houston so that I am not exposed to this food year round saving me a life of obesity.

7) The fact that I haven't gained 5 lbs in 3 days like Chris has

8) Thanksgiving – it is the perfect holiday. You aren’t expected to do anything except to show up in a clean outfit and eat and drink as much as you can.

Last night my brother and his wife finally got into town. We met up at a wine bar and then headed on to round two for my fifth meal of Mexican Food.

Here is a picture of the whole crew after stuffing our faces with pomegranate margaritas and tacos al carbon



During dinner my brother used my iphone to bring up a video he and his business school friends made. It is pretty funny, but apparently all you get from an MBA from Stanford is the ability to upload a video to YouTube.

10 down and uh....

One of my favorite things about coming home for Thanksgiving is the thought of running in cold weather. We dont get real fall weather in Hawaii. In Houston we get it in spurts and it is highly unpredictable. Last year we had 30s and 40s. I love to run in the cold and have been looking forward to these long cold runs for a while. However this year we have weather in the high 70s, not my ideal running weather. So when i set off for my 14 mile run I was very upset when I started sweating. I got in 10 miles before I had to rush home for a conference call. I was supposed to finish the last 4 miles after the call, but the piggy boyfriend who has to eat 4000 calories a day just to stay his weight was hungry, and then errands got in the way. So hopefully today and can finish those up. Does that still count?

I have been asked to help my sister in law set up her facebook page. My brother still refuses to set one up for himself, but he has some of his work buddies invite me to be their friends so he can see my page. Usually the message to me will read "Hi Rachel, I work with Alex and he asked me to be your friend so he can stalk your page." It is FBF like these that can get you in trouble. This past weekend I went out with some friends to a local bar that I have been going to since I was 17. I was ordering a beer and the guy next to me said hi and seemed really excited about it. I asked him who he was and he said we were facebook friends and asked when my brother was coming in town. I talked to him for a bit, and still cant figure out if I was supposed to know him or if he was one of the guys my brother has stalk me on facebook. So now I am looking at facebook from pictures of last night that people posted trying to see if I can find out who he is. There has also been the occasional foot in the mouth like the time my friend said she was engaged and i posted a congratulations note on her wall, but apparently the guy she was dating three weeks before was not the guy she was engaged to. I imagine when she got the post saying congrats to you and the guy I thought she was engaged to, it might have been a little bit odd.

I'm all taped up

Apparently sleeping like this causes problems in your neck....


I went to my chiropractor (who has been working wonders on my neck and IT band) before boarding my flight on Friday, and he told me had a surprise for me. Really? Is it candy?? Uh, no. It was kineseo tape. The stuff Kerri Walsh wore in the olympics.

It is supposed to work wonders. The jury is still out for me, but I am happy to report that my neck feels far better after an 8 hour flight than it ever has, and my IT band didnt bother me at all during my short tempo run yesterday. So I will keep wearing it.



And here is a photo of me before I got on the plane loading up on my "meds" to get me through the flight. It was a good thing I did this because the pilot came on the PA and said we were going to have severe turbulence for a couple of hours. I freaked out a bit, but it would have been a lot worse had I not consumed some wine beforehand.


And here is baby Liko wearing Chris's boxers. Chris wouldn't let me post him in his boxers (he has a speedo only rule), so I have the next best thing. It was taken during my tapering for the NY Marathon when I had to come up with exciting, and in this case, not so exciting ways to entertain myself.

Houston Bound

Chris and I are getting on a plane in less than 12 hours to head to Houston for Thanksgiving. I hate flying, but am adequately prepared with sleeping aids, xanax (which only take when I fly) and if that is not enough, and entry pass to the president's club for free wine. Hopefully I can sleep a little bit of the way there. My entire plans when I go to Houston are based on where I am going to eat each meal. Hawaii is lacking on the food factor, so I have to get my fill of all the foods that Houston has to offer (there is a reason that we are the fattest city in the Nation). As soon as I arrive we are heading straight to have a Mexican Breakfast with my mom at Goode Company Mexican food.



I also have the rest of the meals planned out, and most likely will be posting photos from each one so that i can remember them all. Chris, the anti-planner, is the perfect partner in crime for this because he knows I plan my trips to Houston for every minute I am there. It is a good thing that we are in Marathon training because we will hopefully not gain too much weight from this eat fest!
I also get to spend some QT with two of my favorite people in the world - my bro Alex and his wife Polly

Since it is a holiday week for me, there will be very little training updates, but I will have a post of Chris in his weenie bikini racing outfit. And I will leave you with a picture of Alex and Polly at Waimea. Just after they caught their first wave boogie boarding on ABC store boogie boards. Long story but it ended with two old people clapping because the two of them finally caught a wave. It was mildly embarrassing to say the least

One down

It took me a while to figure out what I was going to post for my race report. Two weeks out from the race, and I am ready.
The day started out great. I woke up in time, had my bags packed and walked to the bus that was to take me to the starting line. Everyone on the bus was excited and nervous and talking about their experiences with marathons. This being my first one, I had very little to contribute, but I was a good listener! We got off the bus and it was FREEZING. I am from Hawaii people!! 40 degrees is C-O-L-D! Anyway, I met two of my friends who came in from Houston and were running the race. We sat huddled up until it was time to get into the corral. I started to tear up and get really excited and then we were off!
Miles 1-2
I crossed the starting line and ran up the bridge. I felt great, like better than great. The sun was up, the weather was perfect and I was loving every minute of this. I was running a little too fast, but I always start out fast until I get my nerves in check.
Miles 2-13 - Brooklyn. I LOVE BROOKLYN! I have watched this race many times from Manhattan and the crowds were amazing, but nothing compared to what I experienced in Brooklyn. Everyone was out high 5ing, handing out food and drinks, cheering and making this whole event exciting. I was having a blast. I was still just under my pace, but I was feeling great and was almost halfway there, so I thought maybe I can keep this up.
Mile 13 - Bridge to Queens. Uh-oh, something really bad was happening. My hip and knee hurt so bad I can barely stand it. I ran/walked a mile to see if I could go on. When I got into Queens I stopped at a med tent. I got checked on and apparently my IT band was tight. What??? I have been running for ages and have never had this dreaded piece of tissue ever bother me. I guess it is now my time.
Mile 14-15 - I was in PAIN, i was doing the walk/jog thing and hating it. But I knew my family and friends were at mile 18, so I had to keep going. To make matters worse, we were inside the Queensboro bridge with no crowds and nothing to keep you going but your own thoughts.
Mile 16 - coming out of the bridge into Manhattan was amazing. There were tons of people there and the transition from the silence in the bridge to the noise on the streets just gave me a huge pump of adrenaline. This is where I usually watch the race and it is such a great feeling as a runner to see all these people cheering you on.
Mile 18 - I saw the family. I was hurting, but their cheers kept me going. I was still running a little bit and walking more than a little bit and visiting every other med tent. At mile 19 they asked me if I wanted to stop. Um, I am at mile 19 of the New York marathon, and I traveled thousands of miles to get here, and my family is waiting for me at the finish. NO I AM NOT STOPPING! This med stop was my last because I thought if they asked me to quit again I wouldnt be as strong.
Mile 20-23 - The Bronx and Harlem - I was told this part would be the hardest as there were fewer crowds and it was towards the end, but I thought it was the easiest. I knew that I could finish and I knew that if I ever thought about pulling out I was still going to have to walk back to Central Park, so I might as well run it and finish. I was in pain, but the crowd really kept me going.
Mile 24-26.2 - Central Park. I dont remember a lot of this. I was hungry and in pain. I realized about this time that I had not eaten anything other than water - BIG MISTAKE (I fainted about 10 minutes after crossing the finish line and ended up in a med tent for an hour). But I knew I could finish. I saw my family and stopped to talk to them. By this time my finish time didnt matter, all I cared about was finishing. I savored the crowds and the fact that I was completing my first marathon. I was still walking a lot and in a ton of pain, but I couldnt have been happier. Crossing that finish line I forgot about all of my fears and pain and just enjoyed the moment. I didnt finish near the time I was hoping, but I finished and with the amounts of time I wanted to pull out and have an DNF because of an injury just finishing is a huge accomplishment. And I cant wait to go back and do this marathon next year the way I know I can!

I learned a lot during this first marathon - I have to take in calories, I cant start out too fast, etc, but most importantly I learned that I can do anything when I set my mind to it. I have always heard that you sometimes learn more from races you dont do well in vs races you excel in and after this painful marathon, I am starting to believe that.

After two weeks recuperating, I am back at the training for round 2 in Honolulu with the boyfriend. But before that we have some turkey trotting to do in Houston!