Say ‘yes’ ‘probably’ to the dress

I’ve spent the better part of the last 4 Saturdays shopping for wedding dresses, and although I don’t actually watch the show, from what I’ve heard, I’m getting the feeling that there are some serious editing liberties taken with the show.

Trust me, no one is trying on just 3 dresses and finding “the one.”

Or at least I’m not.

I’d guesstimate that I’ve tried on at least 50 dresses so far, and I’m still nowhere NEAR making a decision.

But, I reached a turning point on Saturday. After trying on at least 8 10 12 dresses, I took mercy on the poor sales associate and threw in the towel (at that store anyways.) And that is when she gave me some REALLY good advice…”stop torturing yourself.”

Data-whore that I am, I had this idea that trying on AS MANY DRESSES AS POSSIBLE would somehow help me find the *perfect* dress. But really, they’re all so similar, and yeah, I like some better than others, but I think I am at the point where I’ve pretty much narrowed down the style and there really isn’t all that much difference between all the front runners.

SO. No more trying on (new) wedding dresses. We’re taking a couple more trips to visit some of the front runners, and decisions will be made SOON.

In the meantime, tell me what you think:

(Photo courtezy of Gabriel Ryan here, sash/flower added by me)

(Photo courtesy of Ella Bridals)

(No, I’m not superstitious, and could care less if A sees the dresses I am choosing between. It’s so hard to make such a big decision without his input! Besides, he's already seen this...sitting right next to me as I blog.)

Please, PLEASE leave comments, and let me know what you think. I'm hoping to make a decision in the next few days.

One down, eleven to go

It’s hard to believe that I’m already a whole month into this running resolution. This month has reminded me, once again, why it is that I love running every day. It’s become a habit; my daily run is something that I look forward to from the minute I wake up until my feet hit the pavement (or treadmill).

I’ll be driving in the car and hear one of my running songs come on the radio, and I get the sudden urge to drop everything and go out for a run. On my short days, sometimes it’s hard to stop at just 15 minutes.

I’m officially hooked.

Now, that said, I do still have some crappy runs and just plain bad days. Like this Saturday. I’ve been feeling sorta under the weather and just generally run down for a few weeks now. This weeks’ ‘long’ run was a 6-miler early Saturday morning (before going to try on wedding dresses)!

From the first 5 minutes, I just knew something wasn’t right. It felt like someone was squeezing my whole torso with all their might. Slow as I went, I couldn’t get a deep, fulfilling breath. Man, did I want to turn around, walk, lie down in the middle of the San Vicente median (you get the picture). But I didn’t. I kept going, and eventually, I made it home. And truth be told, by mile 5, I was feeling pretty great.

(A couple pictures from some of my more recent runs.)

(Along the beach)

(At my hotel gym in Portland this morning)

(Saturday's long run)

And some good news to end on - I got my iPhone! Not only do I feel safer on long runs, I have 2 new running playlists, and I can take pictures while I am out running. I also downloaded this awesome running app that tracks how far you’ve run, pace and split times (in 2 minute increments) and elevation gains and losses.

I finally get the “there’s an app for that” marketing campaign. Oh so hooked on the iPhone.

Which one would you choose?

The sensible, more conservative and (most likely) more comfortable:


Or, the so-so-so pretty but my feet are screaming in pain just looking at them:


I mean, I do have a desk job, after all...it's not like I would be walking in them (much...)

Dear Stomach

Please accept my deepest apologies for the barrage of crap I made you digest today. I promise to behave better at the next Halloween party.

Sincerely, Betty.

P.S. Thanks again for waiting until AFTER our 4-mile run to remind me of the torture I subjected you to earlier today...

The one about the poop soup

Yes, you read that correctly. Tonight's post is all about the Camp Pendleton Mud Run.

A and I woke up bright and early Saturday morning (5:45AM to be exact...) to head down to Camp Pendleton. Along the way, we stopped off for a much needed pre-race pit stop, which just so happened to be at the Starbucks across the street from Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Pretty, no?

We finally made it to the base (t-minus 1.5 hours to race time) and drove around a huge circle for what seemed like WAY too long. When we finally found the race parking (t-minus 45 minutes to race time) A dropped me off about a mile from the starting line, and I got my warm-up jog in by running up to the starting line. (Note to the US Armed Services - a little signage is not going to threaten our National security - I'm just saying...)

My Firm was one of the race sponsors, and so we had a nice little booth set up near the starting line. My awesome teammates had my race number and official race t-shirt. Unfortunately, since A was still navigating the parking nightmare, no pre-race photos, but he did manage to snap a shot of all the runners en masse:

After avoiding the spray from the fire hoses during the first mile, another mile in loose sand, and a 2-mile uphill trail run, we arrived at the poop soup, lovingly nicknamed for its putrid scent and texture. Sadly, the marines standing guard on the sidelines forced 'encouraged' us to, "GET IN THE MUD PIT". Lovely.

Next came a a quick jog across the "lake" which, thanks to this lovely drought Southern CA has been suffering, was completely dry. Except for the goopy mud at the edges, courtesy of another fire hose.

Next up, another mud pit (complete with 5-foot wall to be scaled) a 30-foot tunnel crawl. Then we scaled the hill of mud. Thankfully, my teammates gave me a literal push up the hill, and the Marine standing guard at the top of the hill took mercy on me, and didn't try to wash me back down the hill with his fire hose.

After a steep down hill quarter-mile, with the finish line in our sights...

(see how happy we looked?!?)

...we arrived at the last obstacle:Poop Soup - part 2. I'm not gonna lie - I couldn't stomach getting face down in this goo. Luckily, the Marines had let down their guard by this point.

Once we'd all made it out of the pit, my teammates and I linked arms and sprinted through the finish line.


I'm so proud of my teammates. We stuck together for the whole race, and still managed to come in first of all the teams from our office.

All in all, an excellent way to spend a Saturday morning. It would've been nice if it were a little cooler than 85 sweltering degrees and two days later, my quads are still SORE (which may be, in part, attributable to the 2 hour bike ride we went on yesterday...) but, I'm still really glad I got to participate in the mud run with all these awesome folks:

One down, fifty one to go...

Week one was a success!

Despite a gluttonous weekend in wine country, I ran every day. I even managed to fit in a beautiful 4 mile run through downtown Morro Bay on Sunday morning. I ran from our cute hotel:



To the Morro rock:


(It was really cold - I was very thankful for the fireplace in our room when I got back!)

Tomorrow morning, I am heading to Camp Pendleton to participate in the YMCA Mud Run.

Next time you see me, I will look something like this:

(What was I thinking!?!)

Day 1

I have big news today.

One year from today, on 10/9/10, Albert and I will be getting married here.

Previously, I mentioned that back in June I had run every day for a month. Initially, when I completed that first month, I had wanted to extend it to a full year, but for many reasons, the timing just wasn't right.

So, today dear readers, the time is right.

Starting today, I will be running every day, for the next year, culminating in our wedding day.

A couple ground rules:
1. "Running" constitutes a minumum of 15 minutes, either on the treadmill or outdoors.
2. "Every day" does not include days that I am sick (as judged by whether or not I'd call in sick to work.)

This was my run this morning:

It was great. This is going to be an amazing year.

To mark the midpoint, I registered for the Pacific Half Marathon, on March 27, 2010.

And to the naysayers, who say it's, "not healthy to run every day, you need time off to recover" I'd refer you to rule 1 above. 15 minutes on my rest days is not going to derail my recovery. So, if you don't have anything nice to say...well, you know how this one ends.

I'll be doing lots of gmap-pedometer tracking of my longer runs, and I'll post those here along with photos (courtesy of my new iPhone, which will be accompanying me on all my long runs!)

Now, all I need is a partner in crime. Any takers for the half-marathon?