Case in point – in the past three weeks, I have packed up and moved to a new home (still in Seattle in the lovely South Lake Union neighborhood), gone to Vegas for my bachelorette party, run the Eugene Half Marathon, and attended my bridal shower. I’m getting married in less than three weeks. Ahhh! So ready to become a Mrs., though. Promise to be back in more frequent blogging mode after the wedding.

Two weekends ago, Joe and I drove down to my hometown of Eugene, Oregon to run the Eugene Half. It was such a wonderful weekend! Along with beautiful sunny weather in the 70s, nearly 20 of my fellow Oiselle Team birds were running either the half or full.

The drive down to Eugene on Friday after work was pretty standard – 4.5 or so hours of driving from Seattle to Eugene. That’s the one thing that prevents me from visiting Eugene more often. We got in around midnight and promptly went to sleep as Joe was running the 5K on Saturday morning.

Bright and early on Saturday, we made our way over to packet pickup at the historic Hayward Field. Hayward is magical; there’s no other way to describe it.

Being at Hayward and on campus brought back great memories from attending the UofO. Once a Duck, always a Duck!

While awaiting the race start, we saw the Flapjack mascot (really elite athlete, Craig Leon, 3rd American at the Boston Marathon this year) and also the UofO mascot Puddles.

I rarely am a spectator at races; normally I’m running them. Being able to cheer Joe and all the other 5K runners on was so much fun. I need to so this more often. Anyone running a local Seattle race needing some course support?

Steph Rothstein, elite professional marathoner and cofounder of Picky Bars, honored the runners, the Boston tragedy with a moment of silence, and gunned the race start.

Can you spot Joe? He’s in the red.

For optimal spectating, I headed back over to the stands at Hayward right next to the finish.

Did you check out that form on the winner of the men’s race? Perfect and with a sub-16 finish. A total of 4 people beat Flapjack to win a year’s worth of Krusteaz pancakes.

Flapjack came running through the finish, slowing down considerably along the way to slap some high-fives, and still finished in 17 minutes. Crazy!

Loved cheering all the runners on especially Joe! Great job!

Gosh, I love my hometown.

Of course, in the finishers area, they were serving up fresh pancakes. Yum. My kinda finish food. Though I didn’t run, I insisted that Joe give me a bite.

After the 5K, we headed over to Hideaway Bakery, a favorite of my Oiselle teammate and pro runner, Lauren Fleshman, and met up with my bestie Becky.

It surely didn’t disappoint. So many freshly-baked goods, breakfast foods, and deliciousness galore. I had roasted potatoes and eggs with veggies. So good.

In the afternoon, Joe and I went to the Lane County Fairgrounds area for the expo and packet pickup. This was my first time meeting many of the teammates, particularly all the ones who live on the East Coast or outside of Washington. It was one giant fun meetup at the expo after Lauren Fleshman’s presentation. By the way, what a world of wisdom she has! It was refreshing to hear her tips on running, particularly how to have a positive mantra when it comes to difficult running obstacles.

The gigantic Oiselle team picture happened after LF’s presentation. So amazing.

After the expo, a few of us hit up Vero Espresso for some much-needed coffee and, in my case, chocolatey brownie. Group pic from JJ’s Instagram. Always so fun hanging out with these ladies!

Joe and I continued our nice lil’ afternoon at Ninkasi Brewery, home of one of my favorites beers — the Total Domination IPA. Yum! We paired our beer (I’m lame and only drank half of one beer) and pretzels. We only ordered one pretzel….. or so we thought.

We were super tired after the beer so we proceeded to take a nap. As soon as we awoke, I had a sore throat and tons of grogginess. However, dinner was on my mind and it had to be one of my beloved Cafe Yumm bowls. This is the Jazzy. So good, but dare I say that my constant homemade ones are even better?!

After a little while, my tummy got way bloated and I felt super blah. Painting my nails a race-ready Oiselle orange was in order and I proceeded to lay on the floor for the next bit groaning about how my tummy felt weird and bloated. Sorry for the TMI.

Unfortunately, that night’s sleep (well, the several hours of sleep that I got) was interrupted by multiple bouts of tummy issues. Not good, not good. I still wonder what happened. Was it the beer? The pretzels? My beloved Yumm Bowl?

At around 4:30am, I got up to eat my standard pre-race breakfast of oatmeal with peanut butter and raisins. Usually this includes chia but I forgot to bring it to Eugene.

My lovely fiance, bless his heart, attends and cheers me on at every race that I run. He also was a good sport and got up at 6am to drive me to campus for the start line.

Even though I was super sleepy, I was SO stoked to be running the Eugene Half Marathon because of my outfit – I was the runaway bride!! The lovely ladies at Oiselle HQ let me borrow the single Runaway Bride Dress that they had at the office. And it fit perfectly. I felt like such a princess and multiple people came up asking me about the dress and when my wedding was. Thanks, Oiselle!

My love and support system.

Me and my besties, Becky and Christy! Becky was an amazing cheerleader with the Oiselle squad at mile 9 and beyond. Christy was running the half and crushed it with a shiny new PR!

The race itself started right on time. My PR in the half is a 1:45 and so I started in the B corral which turned out to be quite sparse. There was no overcrowding like in the C corral. However, going into the race, I knew that I was well off my PR shape. In the past couple of months, my running mileage has significantly declined as I’ve focused on strength training with 3x/week CrossFit sessions and some running here and there.

In the month of April alone, I ran only 10 miles prior to the Eugene Half. One day I ran 7 miles combined between running at the track and also a Green Lake Loop with the Oiselle gals — a pillow baby shower run for Lauren Fleshman. Speaking of that, I am well behind on posting pictures! Need to get on that, stat. The other day that I ran 3 miles was just a few days prior to the half. Ummm………. lack of training. NBD, right? Wrong!

So, needless to say, running only 10 miles before a 13.1 mile race is not the ideal race preparation. Going into it, I knew that I’d be having an amazing time running in the bridal dress and racing for the first time in my hometown. I was going to have fun and embrace the experience no matter what!

The race map can be located here. From the Eugene Marathon website, here’s a half marathon course description for reference:

2013 Eugene Half Marathon Course Description

The Eugene Half Marathon starts alongside full marathon participants in front of historic Hayward Field – home of five Olympic trials, ten NCAA championships and countless national and world record breaking efforts. Starting on Agate St. the half marathon follows the marathon course through mile 11 at which point participants break off on their own after crossing the Knickerbocker Footbridge. “Halfers” head west and run parallel to Pre’s Trail, along the Canal path, back to Old Day Island Road and get a quick glimpse of Autzen Stadium on their right before turning left for their final mile. They cross the Autzen Footbridge and shoot down Agate St. toward the finish line.

In total, the 13.1 mile course takes runners and walkers through the University of Oregon, Amazon Park, Alton Baker Park East and across the beautiful Willamette River (twice!) on the way to a spectacular finish through the arches of Powell Plaza and the final stretch on the track at historic Hayward Field.

At the start of the race in corral B, I saw my Oiselle teammate Monica, who was running the full marathon, and wished her good luck. Off we went!

I can’t remember all the details of the course but I must say that it was absolutely amazing running through all the familiar parts of Eugene. My favorite part of the race was running down Agate St. past Hayward Field again.

Awesome was awesome seeing the Oiselle cheer squad at mile 9. Seeing all the girls plus my man, Joe, just made my race!

From JJ’s Instagram:

Oh, before I forget, I must say props to my new ProCompression Marathon Calf Sleeves which I bought at the expo. I’m big on wearing compression sleeves for my shin splints and usually do this instead of compression socks during races as I’ve had bad experiences with black toes and blood blisters. Yuck. These new calf sleeves worked well, although I did encounter shin splints in my right shin during miles 2-3. I need to go see a sports doc and see how I can rid of these shin splints for good — I don’t ever have them during training or regular runs. Only during racing.

Sadly, during the course of the race, I had to stop 4 times to rub my shins and from utter exhaustion. I guess lack of running/training really does make the race harder! (duh, my body tells me). There were a few moments where I just wanted to call it quits, but I trucked along. During the race, I saw both my teammates Holly and Meggie who were both running the full. Both of them rocked it and Meggie ended up earning her BQ!!

I saw Meghan in her hilarious chicken head, the rest of the Oiselle crew cheering, and even people along the course yelling my name whom I’ve never met before who has seen my tweets on Twitter. One girl yelled out “I saw your bride dress picture on Twitter this morning!” Isn’t that crazy? What a small world online is. I also briefly met Asia who crushed the full with a BQ! Good job, girl!

As soon as I saw Hayward Field in the distance, I ran my little heart out and, surprisingly, felt great as soon as my feet touched the track of Hayward. My little bridal dress flying through, I finished the race in 1:51:17. Well off my PR, but hey! For only barely running double digits that month, I am damn proud of this. I didn’t quit!

Check out the most amazing shot that Joe took of me at mile 9. That is also Lauren’s hand and Becky’s head.

This was such a fun course! So much support, wonderful spectators, a wonderful running town, and best of all — as soon as I crossed the finish line, I was surprised to see both Joe and my parents were right on the side cowbelling, taking pictures, and cheering! That very moment was so proud for me. It made me tear up instantly. It was the first time my parents have ever seen me run and to have them with Joe cheering meant SO much.

In the finishers area, I ran into my teammate Patty who had a such a strong race. You go, girl!

Me with my Texan teammate Kelli!

My running sista from another mother, Clarissa Chan!

And, of course, my biggest support system waiting for me at the finisher area exit — Joe and my parents.

Love that my parents are so cute with their cowbells.

Happily jumping in the Runaway Bride dress on the turf. Hooray for Half Marathon #13. Surely a Lucky ’13.

FYI, ladies and gents, the Oiselle Feather Spike Bag is not just for the ladies. My man rocked it during the race proudly…… carrying my essentials.

So glad that I didn’t have to check a bag. It was a complete crazy scene here with so many people frantically waving their bib and calling out numbers. So glad that volunteers were able to work this.

Of course, as soon as I went home, I had to channel JasYoga and put more legs up the wall. Learn about what “legs up the wall” is and its benefits here on the JasYoga blog.

Before leaving Eugene, I just had to try the popular Off the Waffle, known for their liege waffles. This one was a special waffle with sliced apples, brie cheese, bacon, and their amazing maple syrup. YUM!

Alright, folks, that’s a wrap. I highly recommend coming to Eugene to run the half or full in your race future. TrackTown USA is magical. It’s a unique, vibrant running town that will be surely fun for you!

Thank you to everyone for all the kind wishes for our upcoming wedding. Less than three weeks to go. Can’t wait for this big day!

I did want to drop by and recap a very fun contest that Oiselle ran in the past month by which lovely ladies put together their favorite Oiselle Spring ’13 and past season apparel into their very favorite looks.

I absolutely enjoyed submitting my favorite outfits for this and it was fun to see the creativity and love for Oiselle.

Below’s a recap of the looks I put together:

What are your favorite Oiselle apparel items?? Me? I have such a love for the Roga Shorts. But… as you can tell, I love it all.

Look who made it on the Oiselle homepage?! I’m so honored and so excited to be on the site modeling my favorite apparel brand. And I love how fun it was for myself and everyone who participated. All the women were so creative and beautiful!

Check out a wonderful selection of #oisellelookbook entries HERE!

Race packet pickup was located at the Super Jock ‘n’ Jill, my favorite local running store in Green Lake. With the race bib came a nice race tee.

As the race/fun run was a 10K race, and not a race in which I needed to carboload or follow usual pre-race traditions, Joe and I planned to enjoy a a nice night out with friends.

First things first, though, we went to downtown after race packet pickup to finally do our wedding registry. We were zapping away and quickly found ourselves overwhelmed with all the different categories and things to look throigh

After getting sufficiently tired, we proceeded to enjoy happy hour at Flying Fish in South Lake Union which has a fantastic happy hour daily from 4pm-6pm. During this, they have 50% off all of their small plates and some great drink specials. 50 cent oysters anyone?

We had the calamari, Thai crab cake, Manila clams, tilapia, and the oysters from above.

The Racer 5 IPAs x2 seemed fitting in honor of racing 10K the next day.

A little while later, we met up with Joe’s coworker Josh and his wife Brittany for dinner at The Whale Wins in Wallingford. I was very excited to try this restaurant from acclaimed owner of Walrus and the Carpenter and Boat Street Cafe.

The atmosphere and ambience was very quaint and nice and the food was delicious! In addition to an appetizer of Beechers Flagship Cheddar, pear jam, and Columbia City bread, Joe and I shared roasted local carrots and fennel and roasted Mad Hatcher half chicken. Yum.

On Sunday morning, we got up at a decent time (8am) and got dressed for the race. We were lucky with the start time of 9:30am and living pretty close to Green Lake.

Finding parking wasn’t too difficult to get to the start line located near the Green Lake community center.

We got to the start line and enjoyed performances by the Seattle Sounders FC band and the absolutely gorgeous, albeit chilly, weather.

Joe and I were pumped up to run in honor of his dad, Gary.

Promptly at 9:30am, it was time to cross the start line for the 5K and 10K runners. The start line was located near the basketball courts with the straight path down to the inner loop of Green Lake clockwise. The 5K runners ran one loop including a small incline path up to the outer loop of Green Lake. 10K runners did the course twice.

I felt great during the first two miles and by the third mile was wishing I’d only be running the 5K. In the past few weeks, I haven’t been running as much as we ramp up on CrossFit, so I wasn’t sure how racing would feel.

Luckily, my energy and stamina kicked in and I started feeling great. The only downside from the course is that the course is on a heavily populated walking path and I was constantly dodging people left and right, weaving through, etc.

Once I was half way through the 2nd loop, I zoomed in on an older gentleman who was also running the race but was flying!! Despite having 40 years on me, he kept a steady fast pace in front of me and helped keep me on my feet.

I crossed the finish line with a 48:06, a new 10K PR for me!

I have to mention that I absolutely loved layering the Lux Layer top underneath my race singlet. The lux material really is the most luxurious material. Plus the new Superfly cap made me feel fly.

Joe also did a wonderful job and finished just shortly after me. Great job!

After sampling some Theo chocolate, we went back over to the finish line to cheer on the age group winners for the 10K race.

To my absolute surprise, they called my name for winner of the 20-29 age group!! I couldn’t believe it. It was my first time winning anything. I received a neat race beanie. Super stoked!

Overall, the race was a wonderful time for a wonderful cause. I would certainly recommend running it next year.

Sometimes the best things end with not so good things though as that evening at 1am in the morning I awoke with the worst sharp shooting pains in my stomach, bloating, etc. lasting all the way until the next afternoon.

I even thought I might need to go to the ER; it was that excruciating. Coupled with some really nasty TMI occurrences, I was so glad to make it to the doctor who diagnosed me with viral gastroenteritis. Ugh. I was sick from Monday through Wednesday.

Good thing though is that I’m back to normal and ready to get back to running and CrossFit!

My birthday morning started off with a wonderful surprise – a sweet card and a gift in a nice, blue box containing a beautiful infinity bracelet. Love.

After going to work for the day, we packed up and headed out on a road trip up north through the Canadian border. By the time we got to Vancouver, it was late and we were ready to eat.

We stayed at the Hyatt in Vancouver and absolutely loved it. My favorite hotel in Vancouver is The Loden which is near the waterfront and the Olympic torch. It’s more of boutique hotel whereas the Hyatt was large, filled with amenities, and nicely situated in the middle of the shopping area.

For dinner, we headed over to one of my favorite restaurants, Boneta, located in the Gastown neighborhood. If you’re ever visiting the city, I highly recommend Boneta for fabulous drinks and food.

For food, I definitely suggest their deliciously rich poutine (French fries with cheese curds and heavy), and octopus chips. I swear the octopus chips are delicious!!

After enjoying some drinks and eats at Boneta, we walked a little bit down to the edge of Gastown to The Alibi Room which had great reviews on Yelp for its great selection of beer. They were preparing for a special beer week festival that started a few days later, so their selection was “limited” for draft beers. Umm. This was quite a selection and satisfied my love for IPAs. Well done, Alibi Room.

We retired back to the Hyatt soon after having some beer and a delicious molten chocolate cake. Yum.

The next morning, we slept in some and woke up to a sunny downtown Vancouver.

We started off our day with a fantastic 7 mile run along the Vancouver waterfront sea wall through to Stanley Park. Stanley Park holds a very special place in my heart as we got engaged there last May. The running path is quite possibly my favorite one I’ve ever run on. All of the runners, walkers, bikers, etc. are very courteous to each other, the scenery is beautiful, and it’s just a well-paved route.

The new Oiselle Lux Layer has become one of my very favorite running tops. The above is in the Heather Ribbon color. It’s definitely a lux, velvety fabric with plenty of moisture wicking superpowers. And thumbholes!! Can’t forget that. That, coupled with the Oiselle Lesley Knickers made for the perfect running outfit. 50 degrees or so was perfect, but I did get a little bit warm and has to roll up the sleeves.

After completing this fantastic run, Joe and I freshened up and made our way over to Meat & Bread, another one of our favorite eateries in Vancouver. We first heard of Meat & Bread from watching Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives featuring Vancouver. Trust me, though, this place is not any of the D’s. Here’s a link to the YouTube video episode.

They’re famous for their Porchetta sandwich with salsa verde. We had to try it this time as the last time we were there they had run out of the Porchetta meat.

The Porchetta sandwich was delicious! Though, personally, my favorite is their meatball sandwich and grilled cheese. Try anything there – you won’t regret it.

While out and about in the Gastown area, we decided to try one of the oldest bars in Vancouver — the Lamplighters Public House which opened up in 1899 in the Gastown neighborhood.

I enjoyed a sidecar and good ol’ beer.

I couldn’t get too full, though. We had a special day-after-birthday dinner to attend! I’ve wanted to try the world-famous Indian restaurant Vij’s. Check out their reviews on Yelp and other publications. The hype is real! I can vouch for this.

They don’t take reservations, but we arrived around 8pm and was assured that we would be served dinner that night. The entire restaurant was filled and there were people enjoying drinks in their bar/waiting area. The owner, Vikram Vij, was extremely nice and accommodating and offered us a suggestion of waiting with a drink or going down the street to enjoy a cocktail while we waited, which we took him up on.

After enjoying a delicious Delirium Tremens beer at the other place (forgot what it was called), we came back to Vij’s at 9:15 to see if a table was ready. I kid you not – this place is busy at all times. It didn’t slow down, but we never felt crowded or rushed at all.

We enjoyed a glass of wine and was happy to see that we were served a complimentary selection of appetizers in the waiting area. Seriously, what restaurant does that? Amazing customer service and food right off the bat.

Every dish that we enjoyed during dinner was superb. We had the curried chickpea/sweet potato “cookies” as an appetizer which were great, very flavorful.

For entrees, we shared the pork tenderloin and a vegetable dish containing eggplant, mushrooms, almonds, etc. Joe and I both agreed – the pork tenderloin was to die for! So flavorful, absolutely amazing. I enjoyed the vegetable dish too as a veggie lover.

Even though we were full, we had to try their rice pudding with edible silver specks on top. UMM. Yum. I’ve never been a big fan of rice pudding or pudding in general, but this was so tasty. I wanted to lick the bowl.

Overall, we found the service to be spot on – very attentive, friendly, and helpful. They also made sure that every group made it into dine despite it getting late. The 2 hour wait to eat dinner at Vij’s was well worth it. Having tried both Shanik, the new sister restaurant in Seattle, and the original Vij’s, Vij’s wins hands down.

Sunday morning, it was time to check out and explore the city one last time before heading back to Seattle. The weather wasn’t as nice as Saturday, but luckily the rain stayed away. Ominous clouds shadowing the Vancouver waterfront, though.

We came back to Stanley Park that morning to pay a visit to the exact bench where we got engaged in May 2012. Love.

We also took some time to stroll around Stanley Park and made it to this cool lighthouse.

Hunger soon called and we headed over to Cafe Medina which is highly rated for their amazing brunch. We had tried to eat brunch there at one point on a weekday but they had switched to their lunch menu.

This did not disappoint. We shared a small waffle with salted caramel sauce. Seriously, one of the best waffles and lattes I’ve ever had. It was good all around. For brunch entree, I had the Cassoulet which had eggs, baked beans, bacon, and sausage. Yum.

After our wonderful brunch, we had one last stop to make: Granville Island Market. Love going here. If you enjoy farmers market type environments, this is the ultimate. From fresh veggies and fruits to meats, cheese, pasta, and desserts, this place has it. It has a cool toy shop, brewery, and more.

We picked up a bottle of one of our favorite salad dressings made in Kelowna, BC – Little Creek Dressing – Okanagan’s Original Vinaigrette. You can also check out their site here.

And I scored some awesome bird earrings from a local vendor June Hunter Designs that specializes in her own unique photography, fine art, and custom jewelry. Love!

This was a fantastic weekend to celebrate my birthday. Thank you so much, Joe, for such a great celebration.

On our way back to Seattle, we stopped at Joe’s parents’ house to pick up Lola. She, of course, was wiped out as always after a visit to the grandparents.

This year definitely is a milestone for me — it’s the last Valentine’s Day as a Ms. Next year, I’ll be a Mrs. And I love this.

Valentine’s Day to me is still a special day even despite the commercialization of the holiday. I personally love cards regardless of whether they’re handmade, store-bought or e-card. The feelings behind them make it special.

I also love anything pink and girly such as my nail polish — Shopping Frenzy from Sephora by OPI.

Here are a couple of wonderful Valentine’s Day running inspired e-cards that Oiselle created. Seriously love these. Make sure to follow Oiselle on Pinterest.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Joe and I attended our second Crossfit session. This is a great decision for the both of us as a way to motivate ourselves to kick our butts in shape for the wedding. Only 3.5 months away. Ahhh!

I think that I shall do some blog posts recapping each session, the workouts, and the results. What do y’all think?

CrossFit Day 1:

A key component of any workout includes proper fueling and hydration. Before my first Crossfit session on Tuesday, I had to have my Picky Bars and also my beloved Nuun Hydration

At the first session, Joe and I (along with two other Crossfit newbies) covered the fundamentals of warmups, squats and barbell squats. We then finished our workout with the following:

I completed this in around 9 minutes and was dying at the end. The combination of squats and the ball slams made for the sensation of burning lungs. Despite being a marathon/distance runner, I have so much room for fitness improvement.

CrossFit Day 2:
In tonight’s workout, we learned the fundamentals of barbell overhead presses. I must say that I had quite difficulty with this. My arms are quite weak because I lack strength training, so I’m so looking forward to building up strength in the upper body.

We ended the workout with 3 sets of 500m rowing as fast as possible. Rowing is no joke. I was out of breath and energy by the end.

Wowza.

Of course, Joe and I finished off our romantic Valentine’s Day with Subway for dinner. Subway with Cafe Yumm sauce and Sriracha totally ups the flavor.

Joe and I exchanged a gift for Valentine’s Day and he surprised me with a Polar fitness watch! So excited. I squealed. I’ve been wanting a fitness/non-GPS running watch for cross-training workouts like Flywheel and Crossfit. This is going to make tracking progress of workouts so much easier.

Seriously so happy.

By the way, I suggest going to theOiselle website to pick up a few of my new favorite things. I treated myself to an early birthday present last week and was ecstatic when my goodies arrived!

And while we’re on the topic of love:

Handmade Shanghai noodles – we got this for takeout to celebrate Chinese New Year.

This Michael Kors jacket in Oiselle Greg green color at Nordstrom Rack.

Veggie Grill is the best as usual but even more amazing because they sent me a birthday entree coupon as part of the Veggie Grill Club.

NARS makeup and visiting Sephora = makeup heaven.

Sweet potatoes/Garnet yams with chopped turkey sausage and peppers. Topped with a dollop of Greek yogurt.

xoxo

I got up bright and early on race day Sunday at 5:30am to eat a pre-race breakfast. I normally do a bowl of oatmeal with chia seeds and some kind of fruit or the standard PB on toasted bagel. At the store I snagged some mini bagels and toasted 1.5 of these, topped with peanut butter and sliced half of a banana. Enjoyed this with a mug of coffee.

After dilly dallying a bit, I hopped in the shower to wake myself up. No hair wash, of course. Do you take showers pre-race? It helps energize me and wakes me out of my too-early-in-the-morning funk.

Woke up my sweet guy from his sleep and had him drive me just a mile or so down to the start line area. Yes, it’s just a mile but I didn’t feel like getting chilly and walking too much before the race.

The view as I got to the start line was so beautiful. It was perfectly cool for the race start.

I stretched, listened to music, and enjoyed the excitement around me. At around 7:45am, my corral 2 was off and running!

I’d recap this race by letting y’all know what my mile splits were, but nope. My Garmin 305 decided to die on me and lost the satellite signal. I think it’s pretty dunzo. Can’t wait for my Bia GPS Sport Watch to arrive this spring! It wouldn’t say that I only ran 251 feet.

In addition to the GPS disaster (I wear my Garmin religiously so running without paces, etc. was like running naked to me), I had severe shin splints for the first 5-6 miles. Sadly, I was wearing my Zensah compression sleeves like usual. They didn’t do me any good. I’m going to get some CEP sleeves instead for future races.

Into the first few miles, my Oiselle teammate, name & outfit twinsie, Sarah, ran up to me. Check out her blog recap of the race. I was in pain already a few miles in and waved her off to keep on going. There was no way, in my mind and body, that I’d be able to keep up with the way my shins wanted to keep me down. Picture snapped by Sheila and Instagrammed by me.

After 5-6 miles of running, I had my Chocolate Outrage Gu and felt better. I was holding my handheld water bottle filled with Nuun Fruit Punch electrolytes and steadily sipped away to stay hydrate during the entire race.

My legs felt better after mile 6 and I felt myself pick up the pace. The course was gorgeous with 9 total miles of oceanfront views. Definitely a scenic, beautiful place to be.

The race is said to be very flat, but I personally found it to have some unexpected hills/inclines. Particularly in the last few miles of the course, I found myself running what seemed like an eternity uphill. The sun started beating down with temperatures getting to above 70. My Pacific Northwest running body was not used to this and felt the heat penetrating me, making me sweat profusely.

I started taking my Honey Stinger gummy chews every mile. They definitely helped energize me for the last few. Kept running for what seemed like eternity… then, finally, the end was in sight.

I kicked it into gear as soon as I knew that I had only 1 mile left. With all I had left, I pushed forward and finished with an official time of 1:51:14 (8:29 pace). Around 6 minutes off away from my PR, but I’m still stoked about my unwillingness to give up despite the shin pain and temperatures.

Of course, my cheerleader Joe was there to cheer me on to the end. Love you! Also love that he spotted my teammate in the distance and snapped this shot.

My 12th half marathon pride.

After the race, Jay and Lindsay met up with Joe and I and we headed over to a popular place for breakfast called Sugar Shack Cafe. I scarfed down my eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast in record time.

We then proceeded to share a fish bowl filled with boozy cocktail at Sharkeez. Refreshing.

After this, we headed back to the house and hopped into the hot tub for some more refreshments before Super Bowl time.

The Super Bowl, as you saw or heard about, was such a boring disaster… until, well, the end. At least we watched it on two TVs in the living room! Seriously, who needs this many in one room? And….. I likely never need to eat another Doritos chip ever again. I ate way too many of those.

Check out my sweet Oiselle tat and Go Long Running Tank, perfect for layering.

The next morning, we packed up and headed back over to LA to hang out for the day before our flight left in the late afternoon.

On the way to Hermosa Beach for some early afternoon fun, we had to ride Lindsay’s sweet car with the top down. Oh, California.

For food, we made our way to Watermans, one of our favorite places for a casual bite or drink. I had seriously one of the best salads of my life there for lunch that day — The Hippie.

Party of 4:

After Hermosa, we headed over to Manhattan Beach for one last beer.

Right before we headed back over to the house to grab our luggage to the airport, I had an intense craving for ice cream. Well, this definitely fulfilled my needs. Best ice cream sandwich ever from Manhattan Beach Creamery. Seriously. The best.

It was such a wonderful weekend of racing, new friends, old friends, food, and fun. All that I could ever ask for.

Oh…. though at LAX, we spotted Pete Carroll who rode on the same flight as us back to Seattle. Two “celebrities” – Conan at Sea-Tac, Pete at LAX? Awesome.

Before I forget, can someone please get me this awesome beach cruiser? Totally matches my Oiselle race singlet, doesn’t it??

My race pictures usually turn out with a mixture of painfest and happy runner… proof:

Surf City, like I said, was awesome but unfortunate shin pain was not ideal. Nor was the significant runners toe pain I felt for a week after the race. My toenail will most certainly be falling off. Sorry, TMI.

Looking forward to Eugene Half Marathon at the end of April!

The weekend started off on Friday afternoon as Joe and I headed over to Sea-Tac airport. As soon as we got past the security check, I grabbed a few essentials like water and snacks. On my way back to the Virgin America terminal where Joe had been waiting, he waved me over quickly and pointed out Conan O’Brien. YES! The red-headed Conan. I never see “celebrities” of any sort, even when traveling, so this was awesome. I felt like such paparazzi.

Once we touched down into LA, our good friends Jay and Lindsay picked us up back to their place in Playa del Rey to finish packing up the Jeep. Of course, hunger called me and, as no California trip is complete without it, we headed over to In ‘n’ Out for a juicy burger and fries. Carboload me up, please.

After the In ‘n’ Out goodness, we headed over to Huntington Beach (about 40 minutes south of LA) to the house we were renting for Surf City weekend. This house was awesome:

• 3 floors
• 6 TVs (three in the living room… umm.. yes)
• Shuffleboard table on the 3rd floor
• Rooftop hot tub and fire pit
• 4 blocks walking to the beach

On Saturday morning, bright and early, I got up and walked about 1 mile from the house over to the Surf City race expo, located right off the beach on the Pacific Coast Highway across from the Hilton. On my way to the expo, I came across a cute cafe called Jan’s Health Bar and proceeded to order a very refreshing, freshly-juiced Carrot Ginger OJ drink. I’d highly recommend this place based on what I saw on the menu and the awesome 4.5 star Yelp reviews. Fresh, healthy, and delicious.

At the expo, I was very excited to finally meet Sarah, my Oiselle teammate and name twin. It’s always so much fun meeting teammates, new friends, and get to hang out in person! Photo borrowed from Sarah’s Instagram.

Have you gotten your Believe I Am Training Journal yet? If no, I recommend you check it out. It’s an awesome training tool and it’s also another awesome creation from Lauren Fleshman, professional runner, Oiselle teammate, and Picky Bars founder.

After walking around the expo with Sarah, we met up with Monica (Run Eat Repeat) and Sarah (Skinny Runner), both awesome bloggers and speedy runners. Again, so awesome meeting new like-minded runner friends! Picture borrowed from Sarah’s (Skinny Runner) blog.

By noon-ish, it was time to head back to the house as the boys were up and Lindsay was on her way back to Huntington Beach after having run The Color Run 5K in downtown LA. Check out the crazy hair post-race! (Picture borrowed from Lindsay’s FB)

The view of the beach on the walk back to the house:

Joe, Jay, and I were super famished so, after stopping at a place for more shuffleboard table wax, stopped at a restaurant called Big Belly Deli in Newport Beach. Their motto is “building better bellies.” How could we pass that up?

Big Belly Deli did not disappoint. The sandwich I ordered was insanely huge. I could only finish half.

After digesting a bit, we played some more shuffleboard and hung out on the rooftop. Of course, through out the day I was chugging my favorite hydration of choice, Nuun. The pink is Fruit Punch. Delicious.

Before I forget, here’s a shot of what I picked up at the expo: a couple of my favorite Gu in Chocolate Outrage, another SpiBelt since I forgot mine at home, Body Glide, and my first ever BIC Band per the recommendation of Sarah. The Gunmetal color was awesome. After having worn it a few times since then, definitely give it two thumbs up! No slippage, fashionable, functional, and comes in so many awesome colors and designs.

For the pre-race dinner, we headed over to a highly-rated Italian restaurant near where we were staying: Cucina Alessa. We all agreed that the food was fantastic! By the end of the dinner, all four of our plates were completely cleaned. I had their gnocchi. So, so good.

After dinner, I called it any early night while the rest of the group headed out for some Main Street fun. I had an early wake up of 5am to eat, so definitely needed some rest.

Coming up: race day and the day after fun.

I downloaded several new additions to my playlist including some tunes from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Justin Bieber (yes, you heard right), Tegan and Sara, will.i.am feat. Britney, and more.

Below’s the playlist I’ll be listening to when running the Surf City Half Marathon this Super Bowl Sunday.

Hope you get some ideas from this. Enjoy! And good night.

Hey, at least I’m blogging again on the last day of the first month and I find it fitting to do a favorites recap of the month.

Oiselle NYE Party
Well, ringing in the new year at the Oiselle NYE party definitely started off 2013 with a Big Bang! So happy to be a part of this awesome team and I can’t wait to see all the fabulous things to come.

JasYoga with Birds
Doing JasYoga with other birds at HQ was a lot of fun. I’m definitely not stretching enough and doing any yoga. Not good. The good thing is that they specialize in yoga for runners and athletes. The session influenced me to start stretching more and of course putting my legs up the wall. Do it. While you’re at it, check out their blog where they feature awesome tips!

Cheering on Fast K8
Cheering on ridiculously fast Oiselle elite runner Kate Grace at the UW Dempsey track for the UW Invitational this past weekend was so much fun! Many local birds came out to support her first-ever 3K race debut. Smoked it with 2nd place at 8:55:06. Don’t ask me how fast I could run 3K. Wow. Love supporting and cheering for my teammates!

MOH Bestie Run & Grub
Last weekend, one of my besties, fellow Oiselle teammate, and MOH for my upcoming wedding, Becky came up from Portland to spend the Saturday. She loves running just like me so we had a fun time running (despite the soggy rain) 8.5 miles. Luckily, we both had nearly matching outfits with our Oiselle Clearly jackets and Lesley Knickers.

We both also LOVE food so it was only fitting that we went with Joe to Tom Douglas’ Lola where we proceeded to demolish Tom’s Big Breakfast. So yummy and filled with octopus goodness. Yes. Then we all headed to the UW Invitational as mentioned earlier.

Celebrating Birthday & Bowling
Joe and I went to The Garage billiards bar where we celebrated our friend Kelly’s birthday. It was so much fun! I did much better at drinking beer than bowling. I didn’t even break 100 barely.

Poppy Catchup
Laura, one of my besties and Bridesmaid, and I caught up at Poppy a couple of weeks ago. There’s nothing better than catching up with good friends over drink and delicious food. If you haven’t vet tried Poppy, you just, they have a variety of Thalis which include several small potions of various complementary dishes. And the eggplant fries drizzled with honey and sea salt were divine.

Ravishing Evening
My friend Erika and I caught up over dinner earlier this week at Ravish, a very cool bistro and bar. In addition to a wonderful light cocktail, we enjoyed several bites including their Baked Brie and Pigs in a Blanket. Absolutely delicious!

Favorite January Runs
If you follow me on Twitter, it’s no secret that I’ve even battling a bad gluteal muscle spasm injury from early December at the RNR Vegas Half. It’s been tough through the beginning of the year, but I’m happy to say that it seems to be completely better.

I’ve had many quality runs with regards to mileage, though the speed is not where it was before. But, miles are miles and I’m just extremely happy to be back rubbing.

Pictures from some of my favorite run memories:

Eating Healthy & Joining a CSA
So far, I’ve done a fairly good job eating healthy this month! I just signed up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) in Seattle called New Roots Organics and received my first delivery last week. They specialize in delivering fresh and organic, local veggies and fruits right to your door.

Last week’s shipment was mind-bogglingly huge. This is a Standard Bin, perfect for two or more people.

The bin included items such as Lacinato Kale (dinosaur kale), red bell peppers, onions, crimini mushrooms, baby bok choy, potatoes, red chard, Braeburn apples, minneola tangelos, avocados, green leaf lettuce, etc. Amazing.

Some of the dishes I enjoyed with this bounty:

Company Holiday Party
Joe and I went to his company holiday party post-holidays and I was blown away by how huge the party was. It was located at the WAMU Theater and featured the band Imagine Dragons. So cool.

All of the above are very favorite memories so far in 2013… aside from our amazing trip to Maui for wedding planning.

Coming up tomorrow, Joe and I are headed down to LA and Huntington Beach, CA for the Surf City Half Marathon taking place on Super Bowl Sunday. It’ll be 72 and semi-sunny of Sunday. Have a feeling it’s going to be simply amazing. I have no time goals for this race due to mostly being injured in Dec, so this race will be a great race along the beach to me.

Looking forward to February! How has your January been??

I have much more to say about Maui, though. Joe and I flew out the Friday before this immediately previous one and stayed for four nights. The purpose of this trip was for wedding planning (yes, we’re getting married in Maui in May!) and to enjoy some beautiful sunshine.

Started off the trip right with my comfy Oiselle Boatneck Sweatshirt, new for Spring ’13. It’s so cozy because it’s made out of French fleece! Umm, doesn’t that scream comfortable!? Made for a nice traveling outfit.

As soon as we touched down, the first thing we did was find a place that served plate lunch. Hawaiian plate lunch usually consists of scoops of rice, Hawaiian mac salad, and an entree. This place we hit up called R.V.N. Deli Kitchen served a really delicious plate lunch consisting of teriyaki chicken. The portions were huge and the mac salad was especially good. We’re big fans of Hawaiian-style mac salad.

With our tummies full, we made our way over to the Kaanapali Beach area of Maui (west side of the island) to the Sheraton. Located at the iconic Black Rock, the Sheraton is a great place to stay for a resort atmosphere. It was our second time staying there and we weren’t disappointed. This is the view upon arriving:

As soon as we checked in, it was time for us to hit up the hotel pool for sun and piña coladas. Yum.

At sunset, the Sheraton has a daily cliff diving ceremony at the Black Rock.

That night, we had a couple more drinks and dinner at Leilani’s on the Beach Beachside Grill located at Whaler’s Village in Kaanapali Beach, just a short walk away from the Sheraton. I had an IPA and a delicious salad consisting of mixed greens, maui sweet onion, mandarin oranges, strawberries, and papaya vinaigrette. Delicious. I’m tempted to make my own papaya vinaigrette at home.

Oh, before I forget to mention, it was really unfortunate that I got a whopping case of the flu on the Tuesday prior to the trip. It completely laid me out on the couch for the day, unable to function, crazy body aches, muscle fatigue, and fever. Not a great way to spend the days leading up to the trip. I was sick and recovering until mid-way through Maui. Since I was sick, I hadn’t run since a 10 mile long run with Lauren and Lauren on Sunday.

Joe and I brought our workout gear to Maui in the hopes of getting in a run or two. Saturday morning, we did just that. We got in a 3 mile run along the Kaanapali Beach boardwalk and man was it hard! It was likely a combo of recovery from being sick, but the temps of mid-70s and humidity of 80-something percent made it feel harder than it would back at home. By the end of the run, we were both soaked with sweat. But very proud that we ran during a tropical trip.

It was time for more pool lounging for a couple hours before our first wedding planning meeting of the trip with our planner. At the pool, I had a refreshing “skinny” cocktail consisting of Stoli blueberry vodka, strawberries, blueberries, and lemonade. Super refreshing in the heat and less than 100 calories. Wow.

Oh, one big tip/reminder for sunny travel is to never forget your sunglasses at home. Yep, that was me. Luckily, there were plenty of shops along the boardwalk and also a Sunglasses Hut. It was a good excuse for me to get my first pair of Ray-Bans.

In the afternoon, we had a wonderful meeting with our wedding planner, Lori, and finalized a ton of details. If you ever plan on having a Maui destination wedding, I’m happy to pass along her information or any other tips. After our meeting with her in Makawao (Maui Upcountry), we headed to Kihei to Cafe O’Lei for wedding food tasting! Umm. You must try Cafe O’Lei as it’s one of the best restaurants in the area. They’ll be catering our wedding and we got to taste so many yummy dishes. Won’t be posting pictures of the food to keep it a surprise for the wedding. But, wow. Yum.

After our tasting/dinner, we headed over to Lahaina to walk around the Front Street strip. This is where there’s a ton of cool local shops, restaurants, bars, etc. We ended up at Fleetwood’s on Front Street, a restaurant owned by Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac. Pretty cool. What enticed us to go in was that they had a really sweet rooftop bar/lounge, and live music! The music was awesome. A local duo called Barefoot Minded played an awesome set of music and sounded very Jack Johnson. They even perform weddings. I would highly recommend hiring them if you end up having a Maui wedding!

Fleetwood’s also has a very expensive menu item consisting of a burger and a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Dang. And apparently they’ve sold 3. Deep pockets much?

Sunday came and we got to spend the whole day free from wedding planning. But, there was no sleeping in for us because the Seahawks playoff game was airing in Maui bright and early at 8am. Boo to the outcome of the game, so sad. But the only bright side was that we got to spend half of it poolside watching the game and enjoying Big Swell IPAs. The rest of the day basically consisted of this but was dampened by some sunburns.

We had a jam-packed agenda on Monday! Literally from 8am to 8pm we were away from the hotel. We headed out in the morning to drive 30+ miles away to Wailea/Makena area (south part of Maui) to view the private oceanfront estate that our wedding will be held at. It was absolutely breathtaking. FYI – my sweet tank top is the new Oiselle Go Long Running Tank.

And… Steven Tyler’s Maui home is directly next door. So cool. Per Becky’s request, maybe we can have him come over and sing ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing’?? Anyone have a connection to make that happen?!

After viewing the property, we headed up a few miles to Wailea to have coffee and chat with our photographer and DJ. The meetings went well and we’re sure excited for the big day. Any suggestions for must-play wedding songs?

Before we met with our cake vendor for our eagerly anticipated wedding cake tasting, we had to grab some lunch as our stomaches were growling. Per an amazing Yelp review for Coconut’s Fish Cafe in Kihei (500+ Yelp reviews and 4.5 stars), we knew that we had to try it. Umm, we were completely blown away by their fish tacos. They were quite literally the best fish tacos that we’ve ever had. Made with fresh Ono and Mahi fish and topped with a medley of mango salsa and coleslaw. Wow. I also love that they cater to fresh healthy ingredients. All of their ingredients including sauces and dressings are freshly prepared on a daily basis and even the fish is cut freshly daily. If you go to Maui, put Coconut’s on your list of must-try restaurants.

Don’t worry, though. The fish tacos were quite filling but we still had room to taste cake! The flavors will be kept a secret until the wedding, but we were very excited by what we chose. A bonus was that they sent us along with so much cake… which became a snack the next morning.

By the time cake tasting was done, it was about 3pm and time for our last meeting of the trip with our florist up north in Kahului (same town as where the airport is located). Choosing flowers can be a very difficult process, but luckily I had already had multiple conversations with her before the in-person meeting and she had a solid idea of what my vision was. I’m so excited for the wedding so that you all can see the finished product for the big day!

Kahului is nearby the town of Paia dubbed as Maui’s coolest little town. It’s a very quaint beach town with lots of local surfers, surf shops, boutiques, and good restaurants. In driving through the town, we stopped for a few minutes at a small beachside parking lot. I kid you not… this was the actual incredible view that I took with my phone of a real rainbow and people with a matching umbrella. So beautiful.

With all the meetings and driving that we’d done, we had worked up an appetite by 5pm and had to try Paia Flatbread Company Pizza which had incredible reviews from online and lots of friends who raved about it. They specialize in all-natural, wood-fired clay oven pizza. So much organic and fresh goodness.

We started off with some IPAs and shared an organic salad consisting of “Kula Farm mesclun and organic sweet leaf lettuces tossed with organic green papaya and carrots from Hale Akua Farm, toasted sesame seeds, organic Arame seaweed and our homemade Maui pineapple vinaigrette.” So fresh and tasty! Again, I think I need to find myself a good homemade papaya or tropical fruit vinaigrette recipe.

The flatbread that we chose was half Pele Pesto (“Homemade organic Maui basil, macadamia and garlic pesto with our own blend of Hawaiian goat cheeses, whole milk mozzarella fresh Haiku organic tomatoes, Kalamata olives and organic herbs”) and half Pa’ia Bay Ohana (“Our wood-fired cauldron tomato sauce, caramelized organic onions, organic mushrooms, premium whole milk mozzarella and imported Parmesan cheese baked on organic bread dough with homemade organic garlic oil, sprinkled with our own blend of organic herbs”). Absolutely delicious, not too heavy, and the fresh ingredients stood out. The rave reviews were right.

We strolled around the main street after dinner and came across a cool shop with a sweet fence outside made of multiple surfboards and cool colored walls.

Before we finished up Monday evening, we went on one more trip to Lahaina Front St. for an after-dinner refreshing dessert oh Hawaiian shave ice. It’s “shave ice, not “shaved ice.” And it’s not a Sno Cone. Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice is the absolute best shave ice. They use all pure cane sugar, purified water, and 95% of their flavors are premium purees, concentrates, and extracts. None of that high fructose fake stuff. And their shave ice is so creamy and dreamy. Ours consisted of coconut, Lilikoi passion fruit, and passion orange. A perfect way to end the trip.

Tuesday was the day of our return to Seattle. We hit up the beach for a short while before packing up.

Our last meal of the trip was eaten at a small popular cafe called Okazuya & Deli Honokowai in the Kaanapali area. Their Yelp reviews were outstanding and they featured plate lunches at good prices. My last meal consisted of panko crusted Mahi with their “famous” tartar sauce, rice, and mac salad. Really tasty and the prices were decent.

Alrigh, folks. Hope you enjoyed my recap of our Maui wedding planning trip. We’re so happy that we were able to make this short trip a reality and can’t wait to say our I Do’s. Four month countdown.