spicy snow cones and wine

Last weekend our very amazing friend Trisha came to visit from Minnesota. In less than two years of friendship, she drove eight hours to our wedding, drove me to urgent care when I thought my sinuses were going to explode and made us puppy chow that we devoured as we moved our life to Kansas City.

Upon five minutes of arriving at our apartment, we realized that she was allergic to cats. Luckily she had a Plan B. The highlight of her visit was discovering Kansas City's best (and definitely most unique) snow cones.

{Cart placed in random park}

{Trisha's flight of sample flavors}

Flavors included blackberry lavender, green tea pear, pineapple serrano pepper, watermelon basil and Mexican cane sugar/espresso and chocolate mint. I got the espresso with sweetened condensed milk on top. YUM.

Later we found a cute little winery where the three-year-old belong to the owner didn't like that we tried reds again after our whites. Her favorite wine was the blush because it's pink and has a butterfly on it. A classy wine drinker in the making.

That's always the best part of visitors - discovering new places in your own city. Come back soon, Trisha!

cabin bound!

We're off to Minnesota for a relaxing weekend at a cabin and a friend's wedding. I'm EXCITED!  I don't so much like the lakes next to cabins but I'm a big fan of fresh air, silent evenings, hot dogs and s'mores. Plus great time with our friends Justin and Jess who we don't see enough.

I have also developed a love for other people's weddings because we get to dress up and dance! Plus this is the first wedding since ours where we have no responsibilities except showing up, crying when the bride walks down the aisle, eating and having fun. All things I do well.

{James Bond style}

The downside is we'll spend over 20 hours driving in five days. Luckily I have two unread issues of Real Simple and a few books to get through. Plus a large box of GRE words for Shea to memorize. Though we usually end up talking because our busy schedules and my generally less than friendly disposition after running gets in the way of terrific conversation. We're way overdo for some laughs and eye rolling.

So we're off to celebrate the end of summer, the great beginning to a marriage and my love for blackened marshmallows. Enjoy your weekend!

the fantasy life

My fantasy would include things like big bowls of popcorn, another seven seasons of Gilmore Girls, tank tops and sweatpants, iced mocha and Shea agreeing to make the bed for the rest of our lives.

Shea's fantasy includes spending countless hours on ESPN.com, waking up early to make sure a line up is in place before the Sunday games begin, analyzing injury reports and watching real games all in the name of fakeness or as you know it, fantasy football.

Imagine my self-disappointment when I received this email: "c martin has invited you to join an ESPN Fantasy Football league: Mystery Inc.." Nothing against Cmartin, I agreed to this activity without real acknowledgement of what I was getting myself into. The endless discussions about rushing yards, sacks and trade deadlines. It does not even remotely resemble a Gilmore Girls revival.

Steps to a successful fantasy football team for someone who prefers reality:

1. Creative team name. Check.  

Bend and snap

It's funny, you like it.

2. Find super secret source to create draft strategy since husband is in league and refuses to come to the rescue for fear I will destroy his team.

I can't tell you who it is because he's obviously super secret hence the disguise. But I will tell you he's been doing fantasy football for 20 years (he's obviously old and bored) and writes sports for a living. And I hired him once so he's obviously indebted to me forever. Plus he sends me Excel documents to lead me to drafting success. That's the kind of nerdy help I need.

3. Follow injury reports. I followed some Twitter people. That's as far as I am willing to go. Seriously, I can't believe I cared enough to take the time to read about someone who twisted their knee at training camp.

Our draft is Monday. Silly, I tell you. Just silly.

new running challenges

Seven weeks til half marathon time! I've felt pretty good about my runs despite the fact I can get quite lazy during the week. I don't do all my small runs but I usually reach the correct mileage (give or take a few) and have so far stuck to or exceed my long run plans.

This weekend I got up to 9.2 miles on Sunday. Despite feeling like my calves would explode in the first five minutes, my body worked it out, and I finished feeling good. I didn't even give into the temptation to steal lemonade from a little girl's stand. (Sarah 1, Devil 0) I then spent the entire day pretending to not be incapacitated by super sore butt and hips along with razor sharp stomach cramps. Running, how I love thee.

I have changed my plan to include longer long runs as my confidence wanes. I have one more 9, three 10s, 2 11s and then a tapering 8. Oh the havoc my stomach will reap.

With less than two months to go I am getting nervous. Suddenly it's now darkish when I get up to run. Despite my self defense techniques, I'll soon have to eliminate morning runs. We have a lot of evening activities so finding the time for weekday runs is going to become increasingly challenging. I can't even imagine being my full marathon friends.

My other big challenge is trying to keep on track with eating healthy. All I want after the weekend is food, and a lot of it. We had a friend in town this weekend (pictures to come), and it's back to school week at my work meaning a lot of tempting lasagna, pizza, sub sandwiches, cookies and donuts. Plus this weekend is the cabin and a wedding - deadly combination.

I've gained five pounds since I started running, which is still in my optimal weight range. And I've read that training for races 5-10 pounds of weight gain is common. A lot of it is muscle and water weight. Some of it is chocolate milk, spoonfuls of peanut butter and cookies. Some if it also discovering that my metabolism is no longer 22 years old. Sad.

So it's back to paying more attention to protein and avoiding the work break room. In the time it took to write this post, three different caterers walked into my work with bags of food. I'm hiding behind my computer screen.

random friday: life changes and joe mauer's thighs

I got a haircut yesterday with my new favorite stylist Amy. We talked about what our husbands did for jobs. How we met them. When we got married. What it's like for her to have her son attending preschool for the first time and if it's wise to buy him a backpack. (I voted yes and choose this one.)

Then we talked about who my ob/gyn was, mostly the "gyn" part for me. She told me to switch clinics to the one a floor down from my current doctor. We talked about The Business of Being Born documentary and how she was in labor naturally for 50 hours. FIFTY with no drugs!

We talked about the cost of daycare. Budgeting and living with no cable. Plus what good kid shows are on PBS and instant Netflix.

As I left to pay, I thought "wow, really?" Five years ago my conversations with my hairdresser were about things like what I wanted to be when I grew up and how I thought I could live in a crappy apartment in NYC as long as on weekends I could visit Central Park.

I wouldn't change my current life for anything. But wow.

In other news:
- Running has been hard. For the first mile, my legs always feel stiff and heavy. And it's really really hot. I've run a few times on the treadmill and realized how much easier that is and how unprepared I'd feel if I didn't train outside - an activity I used to thoroughly hate.

- The six-day heat advisory ends tonight! Hallelujah!  Correction: The heat advisory was extended ANOTHER day through late Saturday. We're supposed to expect "even more oppressively humid day." I'm mad but I am not sure at who. We'll be in Minnesota next week where the high is only supposed to be 72. Possibly even chilly!

- This weekend we have a friend visiting from Minnesota. I love having an excuse to explore and try new restaurants.

- Turns out, the Yankees baseball team works out at our gym when they are in town. So do the Twins. What?! I'm totally skipping work one day to lift weights with Joe Mauer and his massive thighs.

- Links for you to check out because that's what my Friday blog posts are for:

• Life lessons on a chalkboard
• Luckily I have changed my running route otherwise I would have most definitely ran past this.
• Insanely beautiful new high school. This is what happens when your taxpayers are rich.
• If you haven't seen it already, watch this kitten video.
• And of course, a yummy recipe.

Have a wonderful and fabulous weekend!

combat ready

Maybe it's the guy behind you at the grocery store or sitting at the bus stop. Maybe it's your next door neighbor or your best friend's new boyfriend.

One in six women are raped. 

Scary but unfortunately it can happen to you. Or me.

The Ali Kemp Foundation sponsors self defense training in memory of Ali, a K-State student who was murdered at a neighborhood pool where she worked. I was in college when Ali was murdered and covered the story for my college newspaper. I've been wanting to participate in the foundation's training, and finally did this weekend with my friend Johanna. The course was taught by a black belt karate couple. The husband is also a corrections officer.

We learned about awareness. More than just the usual "hold your keys between your fingers" tricks. But things like asking the company coming to do work at your place if they do background checks on their employees. (Guess where felons and sex offenders can get jobs after prison?) When to run from a gun and when to stop and listen. How to keep your car from looking like a woman's car. Criminals know we're the trusting gender, and they take advantage of that.

Then we learned combat. Not just scratch your eyes out, but real combat. I can get out of a choke hold three different ways. I know what to do if an attacker grabs my hair from the front or grabs my hair from behind. If I am on my stomach, I can roll over on my back. And then roll someone off of me even if they double my weight. I can poke out their eyes, punch them in the nose or throat and knee the heck out of their groin. We practiced on our partners and then really practiced on dummies.

I do hope I never have to use it and that awareness of my surroundings will be enough. (Plus a lot of loud screaming.) But I feel more empowered knowing I have the tools to fight to survive.

Behaviors I am changing immediately:
1. Remove the girly items from my car to make it less of a target.
2. Write down my running route, my outfit and time I left every morning.
3. Never go anywhere for more than 15 minutes without letting someone know where I'll be.
4. Pay more attention to people around me. Especially those who enter my bubble.
5. Participate in a TAKE class once a year to review techniques.

Police estimate it only took 15 minutes for Ali Kemp's attacker to beat and strangle her to death. In the middle of a summer day.

Would you know what to do to save your life?

full of letters

Dear tourists and law-breaking neighbors,

There are crosswalks with lights every two blocks (at least) on our street. When you cross in the middle of the road and expect me to stop for you as you lollygag in diagonal formation it makes me want to hit you with my car. It is especially maddening when you STOP in my lane to look at your map or swig your beer from a paper bag. Knowing I still have to stop for you, even though you are in my car's space, makes me want to cry.

Dear long runs,

You are kicking my ass. My pace is getting a tiny bit faster and my confidence soaring as I am running farther each week than I've done in my entire life. However, the sore muscles in my back, hips, hamstrings, and bottoms of my feet on top of the fact my intestines turn into a Boy Scout-quality knot after each run, is making you way less fun to party with. Catch up, please!

Dear Johanna's apartment pool, 
Thank you for such sweet relief this past weekend. I wish we were closer.

Dear Kansas City summers,
I really really love you. But lately you've been acting a bit unlovable. Lows in the mid-80s and heat index of 115? For more than four days in a row? Pushing your luck a bit don't you think? Don't make me wish for fall. I beg you. Please. Just stop.








Dear people who smoke along the jogging path,
SERIOUSLY? Do you see what I am trying to do here?