Laughlin Trip

I am back from Laughlin! Jeremy, Megan, Sky, and I... had a blast! I do believe that Sky was the biggest winner last weekend! It was his birthday and anniversary celebration of the happy couple Megan and Sky for 1yr dating!

We ate a lot of food... hitting the buffet twice. We didn't go to the restaurant mentioned in a prior post! It was too expensive and we ended up getting a buy one get one free buffet coupon while shopping on Saturday which totally SOLD me to going back to the buffet.

The drive was nice! Traffic was low (5hrs to Laughlin and 4.5hrs home for 300 miles each way) and when we entered into Nevada state line we saw a beautiful light show (lightning in daytime)... that was a first for me. Lightening continued through the night and into Saturday morning. Sunday morning we left at 8am and got home in time for my much needed hair appointment before the bowling league! Boy am I recouping! I realize that when I am not in my OWN bed, sleeping in is impossible! I did sleep pretty good but nothing beats your OWN bed!

Friday night before we met up with Sky and Megan, Jeremy and I went to the buffet and then took the boat cruiser to the Riverside for a nice walk to help digest our food. The Riverside hotel had a car show with the majority of them being classics. They were really cool... even if you weren't a car fan... it was neat! We ended up walking back to our hotel which is a LONG walk!

Now to Saturday (the bulk of our mini vacation) We all didn't drink that much, surprisingly... I think my stomach was so full with food that anything else was just WAY to much! We had breakfast of champions in the morning "McDonalds" and then took the boat cruiser to one of the hotels and walked across the street to the outlet mall and movie theatre... We ended up watching the movie "Eagle Eye" and then shopping! After we were loaded with new clothes... we took the boat cruiser back to our hotel and had dinner... eating TOO much food led to a long walk around the river... A thing Jeremy and I did the night before "Friday"! We took the boat cruiser to the first hotel "The Riverside" and walked to the "EdgeWater"!

Our gambling consisted of:

• Jeremy: goldfish penny slots, Wheel of Fortune quarters, and Keno
• Me: Wheel of Fortune dollar slots, goldfish penny slots, video black jack, and Keno
• Megan: I got her hooked on the goldfish penny slots, she played Wheel of Fortune, Hitchcock game, and Keno!
• Sky: Played so many slot machines including the ones mentioned above but had the highest return on video black jack!

The only downside to our vacation was the bugs! Nats (sp?) were all over the place... grasshoppers were too! So at night when they were swarming around... we didn't talk much, instead we hummed our words, because you know I can't keep quite!

Good times!

Vacation mode

I am getting into vacation mode and have started to book my calendar to get all my necessary things done before my trip to Tennessee. This weekend is Laughlin and I am pretty much ready for it since it is only 3 days! I have VERY little free time on my hands from here on out though.

My hair is starting to get long... for me! So I booked an appointment to get it cut before TN and the only day I could do it is this Sunday so before bowling and after the 4+hr drive home from Laughlin I hope to make it to my 2pm appt. I won't be getting highlights until after my trip because #1 it is too expensive and #2 takes too long and I am too busy!

That is the jump start into my preparation for TN. It doesn't end their as I will need to do much needed laundry on Monday (after Laughlin) and then do laundry again on Thursday to pack that night for TN. As for my workout routine it will be normal with Monday & Thursday attending my tap class and Tuesday & Wednesday running around back bay for my midweek mileage! Friday is my travel day and then Saturday is the Stump Jump run in TN.

I ran 8 miles yesterday and plan on doing 6 today. I am sore but it's a good sore! Jeremy made cookies last night so I have plenty of yummy snacks to get me through the rest of the week. I am running 9 miles on Friday morning before we depart to Laughlin... I don't want to run their by myself I am not much of a late sleeper anyway! This will take care of my goal of 23 miles this week... as I am getting back in the swing of things in training for my Marathon 1/18/09!

Warning: I don't think I will be posting much until mid October due to my traveling arrangements... so be prepared for lots of posts and pictures upon my return!

Please pray that we have a great time this weekend... the weather is good and for our safety while we concur the 300 mile journey to Laughlin on Friday and back home on Sunday.
All that being said... thank you for tuning in for some Melissa LIVE!
:::Signing out:::

1st day of Autumn "Fall"

I am celebrating with my heater under my desk in my office and a sweater on... My office always is set to the "ice berg" setting....

I am loving life! My hubby is off work from his evening job this week so we are making Waffles for dinner tonight after my tap class... which he is going with me to watch me tap and to watch the whole class as a whole! Then tomorrow I am running 6-8 miles the Back Bay with Paul and then I will be home for some time with my hubby before he goes to Atomic to dance that evening. On Wednesday I am running 6 more miles with Paul at Back Bay, then I will be home with Jeremy... (after my shower) we are going to have a Netflix movie night and watch "Leatherheads".

Thursday will be fun... Jeremy may go to a swing dance place after work and I am ditching my tap class for my mentees... we are going to The District in Tustin and working on getting as many raffle/auction items for our event on October 25th. I hope my sacrificing tap class will get them closer to their fun-raising goal and gear them to get more items on their own for the raffle/auction portion for the event.

Friday will be a wonderful day... I am getting up early to go for an 8-miler while I let Jeremy sleep in a little bit. Then around 10am we will begin our road trip to Laughlin, NV... we plan on arriving their in time to settle into our hotel at Harrah's and having a nice dinner at the Mark Twain restaurant. Later that afternoon/evening... Sky and Megan will be arriving to join us for a fun-loaded weekend.

::: Happy Trailing:::

A Happy Friday indeed!

Can I just tell you how much I love Friday's

• Next Friday I will be heading to Laughlin.
• Then the following Friday I will be on a plane to TN... I am so looking forward to the race, family visits, and of course the food!

I hope you enjoy the pictures from the last post! This is my official last Friday to work until Oct. 17th!

:::Peace::::

Recouping

This week has been a WEEK! I got some sort of bug on Tuesday and I have been recuperating ever since. I think it was a mild case of food poisoning and am finally on the road to recovery. Of course this hit me at about mile 4-5 on my Tuesday Back Bay run... which caused me to walk the rest of the way to my car to finish my 6-miler!

Ever since then I have been eating soup, cereal, and now graduated to steamed rice. I have had cake and cookies too...

Saturday I plan on running 7-8 miles with the team and I hope to help some teammates with their milestone be it their first 7-miler or 8-miler! On October 4th I will be running my 11 mile trail run and I will do this thinking about my team and their first Double Digit Day. My team will have hit their first 10 miles on the day I run my first 11 mile trail run just 2,000 miles away.

Other than that I have been resting, relaxing and recouping.

I will be back to the swing of things starting Saturday! YIPPEE!!!!!

As for my team... I have 4 mentees and they are doing great! I have the least number of mentees out of all the mentors... but our ROAR is stronger!

The whole winter team is planning an event on 10/25 and it is going to be a swing style thing with yummy chinese food. Amantha has donated her time to teach dance and my friend Peter K. who if the founder/owner of Back In Time Entertainment has donated is time to DJ for the event. Jeremy is going to step in and help with the lead portion of the swing class!

How exciting!!!!!

The count down is on. I leave for TN in two weeks from tomorrow morning. I can't wait. Also tomorrow will be my last Friday working for 3 weeks straight! I am leaving for Laughlin next weekend and then TN for 10 days! I so need a break from my daily routine! It will be great to do this SO soon!

My plans are mainly to learn how to rest and relax... I thought R & R mean't run and run some more....

Thanks for checking in... I am going to post some links below for Disney Pictures. I haven't bought any yet as the price to download or get a CD is $79 each and their is two of us... Jeremy and I! YIKES!!! $158 to come up with! Their are great ones so check them out....

• PIRES, JEREMY
• PIRES, MELISSA

OK I am heading to bed. zzzzzzzzzzz

Dancing with mice!

Surprise appearance on the dance floor at Carnation Plaza in Disneyland:

• Amantha leading Minnie Mouse... picture 1 & 2
• Melissa "Me" following Mickey Mouse... picture 3 & 4
• Jeremy leading Minnie Mouse... picture 5 & 6

lots of firsts!

How do you like the new look, I am going for a Fall theme and some Good'ol Tennessee colors... Go Univ. of TN!!!!

Yesterday I ran 6 miles with Coach Paul and today after work I plan on doing 8-9 miles... we will see how that goes since I am working all day too...

I started a new tap class this Monday and I love the the song. My tap teacher's parents wrote the swing piece. It has no words but a lot of Spunk!

I am getting really excited for my trail run this October 4th! My first 11 miler in an uncharted path... I have only been on Signal Mountain once! My Cool Cuz lives their with her wonderful hubby and 3 kids. .

This race is going to be special on so many levels: My family out of state can see me finish a race (even my dad), my first long distance trail run, my first race out of state, and of course my the fact that I am actually starting the race at my oldest second cuz elementary school... is way COOL!

After the race I have no idea what they have planned for us to do. I am just so excited that in 3 weeks I will get to see them all again! I love them from over 2000 miles away!

This Saturday I am running 6 miles with TNT and then off until Tuesday on the running front.

Miles accomplished this week will be 20 if I do 8 today. No bowling this week but the new league starts up next week!

On the home front, Jeremy is signing up for the Surf City 1/2 Marathon on Feb.1, 2009. We are doing wonderful and enjoying life. My dad's right arm is healing nicely - per doctors... dad thinks he needs a 2nd opinion! Pray his hand heals and is cast is off before our trip on Oct. 3-12!

That's about all that is going on here.
:::PEACE:::

The lovely story

First... I am letting my body rest and not working out on until this Saturday for the 4-miler with TNT!

Now the story you all have been waiting so patiently for!

Jeremy won... yep I got beat by him... fair and square! As I said in previous posts... if I beat my own past record time of 2:18 I would be happy and if I beat him too... that would be icing on the cake! I am very pleased with my new record of 2:01... who needs icing anyway, lol!

With my help, Jeremy beat me! He did say I was hard to beat and he couldn't have done this without me...

The morning of the race we made it to Disney at 4:30am and they let everyone get into their corrals around 5:15am. The race was awesome... as always Disney out does any race I have been too. Mickey and Minny had their running gear on... they don't run but they sure looked cute. The monorail stopped on West St. with all of Mickey's friends sticking their heads out and waving at all of us as we started the race... 14,000 of us out their. The well organized race had three waves and each had their own start time. I was in the first wave at 6am and Jeremy was in the second wave at 6:10am.

Off I went before him... in order to beat him I had to finish at least 10 minutes faster than him... although are start times are different the race is based on when your foot crosses the first pad at the starting line and ends when your foot crosses the finish line (aka: chip time).

Speaking for Jeremy... he did great the first half of the race. He started to feel as if he couldn't finish at about mile 7! I gave him Sport Beans by Jelly Belly with Caffeine in them and a shot blok... these things help supply the things you lose in an endurance event... like salt, electrolytes, etc. So at mile 7 he began with a shot blok and it did nothing for him... then from their to the finish line he would pop a sport bean at every mile... that got him to the finish line in 1:56!

I did finish the race first but my time was 2:01! This means although he started later than me he was able to make up 5 minutes... and if I was 5 minutes slower he would have passed me or we could have finished together!

I didn't know where he was on the course or how he was doing. I did know that he hadn't passed me, because I kept a good look out for him. I was in front of the 2:00 pace group... that help people finish at that time. I ran with them when they caught up to me for a few miles and then they ran past me around mile 10 but where in my visual the rest of the race unless their was a turn ahead. I high five'd a bunch of people throughout the course (Girl Scouts, Cheerleaders, High School bands, spectators, Police officers... you name it they got a high five)! I always appreciate the cheering at a race... it keeps me up to speed!

When I finished... I felt pretty good! I was pooped but good! I never ran so fast in my life for that long and it took alot out of me! I had a chance to eat a banana real quick and hit the port-a-potty! When I was done and walking back to the finishing location... their he was... more pooped than me but with a few minutes that had passed... I knew I was finished and that Jeremy won! I was hoping for some miraculous chance that I was the winner but soon it was confirmed online!

It was funny because we both had our cell phones on us to find each other and we never needed it! It was easy for us to spot each other after the race and we were together from their on out! Then when we went to the finishing stretch of the race to cheer others on... Gwynne's hubby Joe... was leaving the restroom as I was walking to the woman's restroom! Joe and Jeremy talked... we ended up running into him without the need of our cell phone yet again! Gwynne would text Joe on her mile marker every time she passed one. When we saw Joe... she was at mile 10! We did see her finish and I high five'd her too! She Rocked at 6 mos pregnant with a time of 3:19!

We also ran into our Team in Training friends Suhkraj, Diana, Paul, Dennis, and Shari! It was a blast.

Later that evening Jeremy and I were getting sorer by the minute... and I had to bowl for my league! The first game I did well but we lost by 23 pins... after that my games went down hill... I was tired and I think even today I am still recouping from lack of sleep on my 3 day weekend! We won the second game and lost the rest so we are out of playoffs! No trophy for us but their is always next season, right! I believe we are keeping our name... "Streaking Strikers" and the next league begins on 9/21!

The next day we were pretty sore... I bounced back by Tuesday and Jeremy bounced back by Wednesday. He and I are registered to run two 10K's by the end of the year:

• Turkey Trot... Thanksgiving Day in Long Beach
• Make Room for Santa... Dec. 14th in Irvine

I plan on running with him until he passes me :) I have come to realize that he will be faster than me but I hope to one day beat him! I think the 6'2" Jeremy and me at 5'2" is like watching a chihuahua and a golden retriever run together!

I hope this made sense to you guys!

:::Hugs:::

Melissa