Monthly Archives: May 2012

Google Has Some Kinks to Work Out

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So, at this exact time one year ago, I was here:

Soaking up the sun, enjoying life in Jamaica.  As you can imagine, I would really LOVE to be there right now.  I’d take any beach right now, actually.

But what’s really funny to me is that even now, people searching for all things Jamaica make up a significant amount of my blog traffic (as do people searching for pictures of westies).

Considering I write about something running related just about every day, most people don’t visit my blog to search about anything that has to do with running.  In fact, I’m wondering how google managed to connect some of these search terms to my blog at all.

I also feel bad because about 75% of the time, the poor person came to my blog under the impression that they would find what they were looking for, and I don’t think I lived up to their expectations.  I hate not having the answers.

So, I thought I would take this opportunity to answer and address some of the more popular search terms that have brought people to me.  Hopefully I can be a better resource now!

1) what to pack for Jamaica in june

I actually wrote a whole post about it! Thinking back, the big things I remember are sunscreen, Dramamine, and enough swimsuits to wear 2-3 per day.

2) bridesmaid tragic/keira knightley bridesmaid dress

I think most people are looking here because they are considering this dress.  Please don’t do this to your bridesmaids.

3) sandals concierge service is it worth it

Another Jamaica question.  The answer is YES.  In fact, we’d even say save up for a couple more months and get Butler Service.  You won’t regret it. Who regrets having someone get your drinks while you lounge on your own personal beach bed? You can read more about Sandals HERE.

4) my dog is very tired

Mine too.  He’s even more tired in the summer when it gets hot.

5) God is a gael

Obviously.

6) cough syrup young the giant

Hmmm… I had to do my own google search for this one.  Apparently “Cough Syrup” is a song and “Young the Giant” is a band.

 7) amy freeze

I do.  Quite often actually. For example, I’m pretty frozen right here.

8) use less plastic

No problemo!

9) steve perry won’t stop believing

He sure won’t!

10) nice man

Here’s one for you:

11) “don’t touch that dial” pirate

Yeah…I don’t know.  But here’s a regular pirate for you!

12) sex on the boat

I’m *hoping* they meant this drink found in my overview of Jamaican drinks

13) cupcake beautiful nice

They were obviously looking for pictures of my amazing vegan lavender earl gray cupcakes!

14) mixed dwarf bunnies 9 weeks old

I know that there are dwarf bunnies and I think we can safely assume that many of them have been 9 weeks at one point.

15) hot tourist girls on Jamaican vacation

Do they get any hotter?

16) spoiled westies

What makes you think my puppy is spoiled?

18) Jamaican hot girls in yoga pants

Um….sorry, I can’t help you there.

19) Amy Lavender Denver

As far as I can tell, there is no Amy Lavender in Denver, however someone searched for this right after I was in Denver.  Maybe someone saw this super sexy picture of me, and wanted to know me better…?

20) Edinburgh Marathon Penis Medal

Only funny because Raquel put it in my comments section yesterday as a search term that came up in her list! Sorry, friends, I can help you with this one, but check out Raquel’s post for pictures!

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So, considering the randomness that is my search term list, I asked other bloggers what weird terms had brought people to them.  Turns out I’m in somewhat of a minority because, except for people seeking out pictures of hot girls in Jamaica, it looks like my blog is relatively perverted creeper free!

Some quality ones:

“Cleaning in the buff” from Erika who made some commentary about a maid service.

“Edinburgh Marathon 2012 penis medal” from Raquel who could write a book on her crazy search terms.

“Charizards belly” from my cousin Bryan…apparently this is a cartoon character? I don’t know?

“Birthday porno mom” from Danielle on a post about her mom’s birthday (as far as I can tell, her mom isn’t involved in pornos).

and ““affymetrix genechip wheat” (among some other choice ones that made me laugh and cry for humanity at the same time) from Jon who knows more about genechips than most people and who still has no idea what this means.

So, you never know who’s looking at your blog.  Perhaps we are all more helpful than we ever knew, or perhaps there are people cursing us for not answering the queries.

Wine Cases, Valedictorian Speeches, and Tacky 21st Birthday Presents.

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I hope everyone had a lovely long weekend! (unless you live in a country that didn’t celebrate a 3-day weekend…in which case…sorry.).

Another frantic lunchtime post here! I’m hoping that after today, life will get back to a normal schedule that doesn’t involve extensive overtime and lots of birthday cake (though that birthday cake is quite yummy).

Things were pretty busy around here for me this weekend.  As the designated event coordinator for a non-profit, I had a fundraiser on both Friday and Saturday nights, so last week I was in full on event-coordinator Amy mode, and I spent a large chunk of holiday weekend working.  Aaron, as the husband of someone in event coordinator mode, also spent a large chunk of his weekend working at the fundraiser! Love him!

The good news about all of this was our silent auction winnings.  The silent auction consisted of cases and cases of spectacular Argentinian wine at fabulously discounted prices.  I love me some dry red!  Aaron and I left with 4 cases, which should hopefully last us until the end of the week!

{Half of our big winnings}

On Saturday, in between events, we went up to Taos, NM, about a 2 hour drive north, for my youngest cousin’s high school graduation.  It was ridiculously hot and windy, but we are so proud of him for graduating and having such a great post high school plan of action!

We also learned how to give a stellar valedictorian speech.  And by spectacular, I mean, WOW, homeboy, simmer down.  In between the standard,  ”this is only the beginning, thank you everyone, blah blah blah” that goes on in these types of speeches, the valedictorian threw this stinger in there : “And thank you to Ms. Bennett who took time between her smoke breaks to teach. If she were here, she’d be glad to know that not one person in this class will ever go into economics because of her.”  Maybe not the best way to express feelings, but so amazingly entertaining.

Sunday we finally got a chance to put in a few running miles (it felt awesome!) and then we made a quick stop by Lululemon in between brunch and errands and #runchat to experience the new store.  I walked out with a Run: Tame Me tank.  I love every bit of it! I’ve always thought that Lulu was much better at designing yoga tops, but this run tank is very cute and functional!

Yesterday Aaron and his friends celebrated his 30th by riding their bikes to different breweries while I hung out at the winery with one of my old co-workers before heading to my parents house for a Memorial Day BBQ.

(I feel like I should insert something profound about Memorial Day here, but my gratitude to fallen heroes cannot be adequately expressed within this post).

This weekend was also the 75th birthday of my favorite landmark…The Golden Gate Bridge! I firmly resolve to one day have a house with a GGB view, though I would just settle for being back in the Bay Area.   Happy birthday, Golden Gate!

Today we are celebrating my sisters’ 21st birthday! I really can’t believe that the twins are turning 21 since I can’t believe that I’m not still 21.  It also brings back fond memories of heading to Safeway at midnight to buy my first bottle of booze (Alize if you’re wondering!) only to be turned down because of my out of state ID.  Lame sauce.  Hopefully the twins will be able to get their tropical drink on this evening.  And if they don’t, at least I will!

Happy birthday, Renee and Cheryl! 

{We’ve been asked if we were triplets before}

I was debating gifting them with a bottle of silent auction Argentinian Malbec, but I figure at 21, the palette isn’t quite developed enough to appreciate fine wine.  I think this would be more appropriate.  You’re welcome, mom.

http://www.zazzlemaniac.com

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is the strangest search term that has brought someone to your blog?  I’m curious.

HAPPY SHORT WEEK!

What’s Trending?

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Who’s Racing?

Raquel has her half marathon this weekend! Run, Raquel, run!

Shannon, a fellow Albuquerquean, is heading to New York to run the Buffalo Marathon.

Good luck ladies!

(and apologies if I missed anyone.  Monday inevitably always brings a race recap from someone I accidentally left out!  This week has been particularly busy with work stuff and birthday stuff, and blog stalking has taken a back burner to things like sleep and eating cake…and an insane amount of work).

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Danielle, my favorite Canadian living in Scotland, tagged me in her “Trending” post kind of a long time ago, and I have been slowly building this list one item at a time, probably a bit to her dismay! The point behind it is to list  the top 7 things trending in your life.  Usually I’m pretty good at this type of thing.  I never have met a survey that I didn’t like (except for those blasted “self-evaluation” ones).  But for whatever reason, I was having a hard time coming up with good stuff.  And when I did,  a few days would go by, and I’d realize that it was not as good as I thought.  But, I can’t put this off any longer!  One of these days I’m actually going to make it to “Pizza Friday” on the other side of the pond, and I don’t want to be kicked out on the account that I didn’t finish my 7 things post soon enough!

So…as of today, here are the top things TRENDING in the life of Amy.

1) Lululemon grand opening

We’ve had a showroom here for a couple of years (open 3 days a week with a very limited selection), but Albuquerque is finally getting our very own full Lululemon store! It doesn’t matter that I actually have to save up before shopping there.  The clothes are just absolutely amazing, and the customer service makes me want to take the Lulu girls (and now boys) home with me to add pep to my daily life.  I probably won’t get over there until Sunday, but I am so excited to have full access to Lulu!

2) Our Little Veggie Garden

I can take no responsibility for this.  The garden is completely Aaron’s doing, and he treats it very well.  I’m looking forward to some homegrown, organic goodness in my future!

3) Mad Men

This is one of those items that I put down here a while ago.  I actually haven’t seen the last 2 episodes, but when I left off, my bff Rory Gilmore was hanging out in 1960′s land.  I love Mad Men.  I love Rory Gilmore.  Forget the fact that Rory is carrying on an adulterous affair with Pete, a new father, I still love her (but seriously, Rory….you couldn’t go for someone better looking?)  For all I know she isn’t even guest starring anymore, or she’s moved on to Don or something, but I’m loving her on that show!

4) The sunshine

I love the weather! For the most part, we’ve had a perfect spring, with minimal wind, and almost no rain.  Just glorious sunshine! (UPDATE: Today is windy and super smokey because of a wildfire burning in the southern part of the state.  There is a health advisory warning not to be outside for the next few days because you will feel like a chain smoker).

http://www.zazzle.com

5) Upcoming marathon training

Coming up here soon in the next week or so, we will start training for our marathon! I know that there isn’t any reason that I can start now, but I really like the “kick-off” feeling.  I’m excited to be dedicated to this, I’m excited to reach goals, and I’m excited to run a race and not get all emo about the results.  And I’m ready to reestablish those runner’s calves that have disappeared somewhere.

6) New York Times Crossword Puzzle

I downloaded the app on my iPad, and it is quite the time consumer.  I’ve never been into crossword puzzles, so I never knew how out of the box your thinking has to be to get some of these.  Right now I’m averaging about 3 days and 20 lifelines per puzzle, but I kind of feel smarter now.

{This is a stock photo…please don’t judge me if the answers are wrong!}

7) This guy

and this guy.

Most of the time I can’t even believe how lucky I am to be married to such an awesome person, and we’re both always amazed at how incredibly amazing and well-behaved our puppy is.  They are trends in my life every minute of every day!

There was more to this post (tagging other people to participate), but I have officially run out of time on my lunch break, and with 3 big events going on before the weekend is through (2 that I’m organizing), I will see you all on Tuesday! So, please feel free to do your own 7 trending things post, and pretend that I actually tagged you! (I also don’t have time to spell check or re-read through, so I apologize in advance for the misspellings!).

Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day Weekend, everyone!

Lots and Lots (and Lots) of Durango Pictures

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So, I know everyone knows we went to Durango (and everyone is thinking, seriously, it’s not Paris, stop talking about it), but for such a small vacation, we took an insane amount of pictures that will sit forever in my computer, unloved and neglected.  I hate making anything feel unloved and neglected.

I love our camera (and Aaron LOVES our camera), so between us we take a lot of pictures with lots of different settings, often of the same thing over and over.

So, if you are interested in looking at a ton of pictures of water and trains (and a few other things), here is our Durango weekend in 87 pictures.

And then we will move on!

Trail Running in Colorado

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I’m always surprised with the little ways that running has changed my life.

For example, a couple of years ago, I never would have thought to bring running clothes along on a trip.  It’s vacation…from everything.  Including working out. Why would I spend valuable nothing time running around?

These days we always bring workout clothes, and I kind of even look forward to our morning runs around a new place.  Something about exploring a city on foot without the usual distractions of a map or a bulky camera is just so exhilarating, provided you don’t accidentally take a wrong turn into the Tenderloin…

So it goes without saying that when we were in Durango this weekend, we took some time on Sunday morning to explore one of the trails for a trail run.

I will be the first to raise a big hand in the air and say that I’m not a huge trail running fan.  For one, I’m deathly terrified of rattlesnakes, and I’m always convinced one will slither right in front of me.  I’m also afraid of twisting my ankle on a rock or tree root.  I’ve seen Aaron go down hard twice while trail running, and the last thing I want is to break my ankle in the middle of a mountainous area with rattlesnakes slithering nearby  (but without easy access for emergency personnel).

And typically I go really slow.  Like, 15-20 minute miles slow because I am spending so much time avoiding rocks and rattlesnakes.  And enjoying the scenery. And, you know, stopping to take pictures for the blog.

But Aaron LOVES trail running.  And I will admit that the constant switch up of muscle groups makes for a great workout, and it is a lot less boring than running around the golf course. Again.

So we get out on the trails every couple of weeks.

Aaron randomly chose a trail through google while we were in Durango, and it turned out to be a great one that ended up taking us on an aerial tour of the valley.

My Garmin died at about mile 1.8 (I swear I charged it!), so I don’t have a good picture of the elevation climb, but our legs were both pretty tired from running uphill.

Everyone was so friendly on the trail as well! Every single person smiled and said hello to us as we made our way around. Nice people, those Coloradoans.

It was beautiful!  Aaron, who is obviously much faster, hid behind bushes and took pictures of me running down.  He was probably trying to catch me walking, under the guise of being a nice husband helping take pictures for his wife’s blog.

{Don’t trip on that rock!}

If you participate in #runchat, you may know that May’s challenge was to run someplace new.  Running in Durango was a new experience for both of us, and if we had spent that time sleeping in, I never would have enjoyed these views! And hey, we didn’t even run into any rattlesnakes!

Birthday Weekend Getaway to Durango

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Aaron (who reads my blog but only comments in real life), sends a 30-years-big THANK YOU to everyone for the birthday wishes!

He also thought that I had an “interesting” choice of pictures in the post yesterday, so I thought I’d throw another one in the mix!

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SIDENOTE: We have had non-stop birthday action since Friday, so this will be a short on words post with a lot of unedited pictures (I’ll actually share about 10 million train pictures another day)

We celebrated Aaron’s birthday with a quick weekend getaway to Durango, CO (home of Zuke’s dog treats…thanks Ellie for that tidbit of information!)

Durango is a quick 3 hour-ish drive from Albuquerque, but pretty much a whole different world.

Durango is a small, ski resort town with an old western feel, and as a college town, almost everyone is 22 and beautiful (and drunk).  It is also pretty affordable and unpretentious unlike some of the other Colorado ski resort towns like Telluride, Aspen, and Vail.

We started off the drive on Friday afternoon, and immediately encountered a traffic jam in the first town out.  Fun.  We also ate potato chips for dinner because we had no other options in the middle of nowhere.  (I know it doesn’t sound like it, but I actually eat pretty healthy most of the time!).

After an uneventful drive, we pulled into Durango.  I hadn’t been in about 12 years, so I was pleasantly surprised to see an adorable town appear in front of the bug-gut covered windshield.

Despite being such a touristy spot, hotels are kind of hard to come by (condos, cabins, and vacation house rentals are plentiful however).  Low-budget options like Econo Lodge and Best Western were available in the north end of town, and the two options downtown (where all of the restaurants and action are) are really old.

We opted to go with really old to stay within walking distance of the action and chose the General Palmer Hotel (The Strater is the other, far more expensive option).  It was very cute, very convenient, provided free breakfast, had Keurig coffee machines in room, and real keys (as opposed to the magnetic swiper ones).

Even though Durango is a ski town, there are plenty of things to do during the summer including white water rafting, zip-lining, mountain biking, hiking, and…THE TRAIN!

Without getting into too much of a history lesson, the Durango-Silverton Line was a pretty big deal back in the day.  These days it is quite the experience, with authentic trains chugging customers through the mountains from Durango to Silverton, an old west mining town revamped into a tourist destination.  The 45 mile trip takes about 3.5 hours, but the time investment is well worth it because of the amazing mountain views! Also, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was filmed along this stretch of railroad! Paul Newman and I have been to the same place!

We opted for an open-air car which allows for better viewing (though we did get cold, and soot covered).

Silverton itself is about 2 streets worth of restaurants and shops (apparently the mines were active up until the 90′s, but now the only thing supporting this town is the business from the train passengers).  You get to spend about 2 and a half hours exploring (or saloon patronizing) before getting back on board.

After the 3.5 hour ride back into Durango, we went exploring the various microbreweries and bars that Durango had to offer.  Durango actually has 4 microbreweries in town, two within walking distance to our hotel (more on that later).

Sunday morning we got up for a trail run (more on that tomorrow) to explore the amazing landscape that Colorado has to offer.

Sunday also happened to be the Taste of Durango event where local restaurants give small samples of some of their food in exchange for tokens.  I guess the token sales go toward Charity, but you are essentially paying $4 per sample portion.  It was ok, but we didn’t spend too much time there.

We opted instead to eat at this adorable French restaurant!

On our way out of town, we stopped at Ska brewing company.  I don’t know if it is as widely distributed in other places as it is in Albuquerque, but the brand is completely comic book themed.

But…it is closed on Sundays, so all I could do was take pictures of the sign.  Bummer.

So, even though it was just a quick getaway, hanging out in Durango was relaxing and fun, and at such a close distance, a destination I wouldn’t mind going to a couple of times a year.  Sometimes, just escaping to a different place can make life a little more exciting.

Happy Birthday, Aaron!

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Today is a big day in Casa de Lavender.

Today my husband crosses over to the other side.

Today is Aaron’s 30th birthday!

30 seems like such a big deal.  We’re talking full-fledged adulthood.  None of this twenty-something nonsense.  No more child-like antics, no more immature jokes (thank goodness!), no more partying til dawn because we just can’t stay up that late.  And a whole new (less competitive) racing age division!

{Check out that incredible display of maturity!}

Yeah…not so much.

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.  ~Chili Davis


I think it goes without saying that I love every second of my husband’s silliness, and I would never imagine trying to squish it out of him now that he’s at such an advanced age!

We celebrated a last few days of immaturity this weekend in Durango, CO (more on that tomorrow).

Happy birthday, Aaron! 30 is just the beginning! 

Weekly Race Shout Outs and LOTS of Excuses

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Weekly Race Shout-Outs:

Allison is running the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon with myTeamTriumph, an amazing organization that helps people with disabilities participate in endurance events!

Kait (who I just found out is a fellow hypothyroider), is running her marathon in Maine!

Jack is going for a big PR at the Rockford Half! I know he’s going to do amazingly!

Raquel is running the Baker Hughes 10-K in Scotland as a warm-up for her half next week! Lately she’s been making 10-Ks her bitch, so she should do great!

Hyedi is running a 5K with Girls on the Run, another fantastic organization that encourages self confidence and an active lifestyle for girls!

Whitney will be running the Rugged Maniac Mud/obstacle run which looks like it will be a blast if not sanitary!

Good luck to you all! Lots of love and fast thoughts heading your way! 

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So, last week I was boring.  This week I haven’t been as boring, but I’ve been crazy busy.  Pretty soon this here blog is going to up and leave me on the grounds of neglect.  And I wouldn’t blame it.

May is turning into the craziest of crazy between graduations, 3 people with birthdays in my immediate family (a BIG 30 for Aaron, and a BIGGER 21 for the twins), vacations, two big work events, Mother’s Day, and trying to squeeze in some runs all while trying to figure out the new iPad (apple newbie here).  And the New York Times Crossword Puzzle is hard (I downloaded the app on my iPad).  My brain is getting a workout trying to think of things in really out of the box ways.  It took me 3 days to finish Tuesday’s puzzle with Aaron’s help and multiple google searches.

I’m actually looking forward to June when life will slow down and I can jump into marathon training.  Is that weird?

But excuses are like….well, you know how that goes…and I will try to be a better multi-tasker next week!

SIDENOTE: If you are in Albuquerque, or even if you aren’t and you would like to come visit me (I’m a fabulous hostess!), and you are wanting to do the Dirty Dash (the muddiest race in the world), use the promo code ADELANTE for 15% off, AND a portion of your registration will go to support people with disabilities in New Mexico! I’m not sure, but this might even work for events in other cities.  Doesn’t it look like fun?

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend! 

Dear Amazing Race, Please Cast Us, or How We Won The Great Bus Race

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I want to be on the Amazing Race.

I have never actually seen the show, but a few years ago there was an open casting call in New Mexico that Aaron and I went to.  After waiting for hours to get called up, we had to leave so I could go to my wedding dress appointment, and our dreams of Amazing Race contestantmanship were over.

However, after this weekend, I am a little more convinced of our reality adventure show qualifications.

Saturday, in a huge promotional effort, the city of Albuquerque’s public transit system hosted the Great Bus Race. 30 couples had to go on a city-wide scavenger hunt using only public transportation and the ability to walk/run.

I think this is a FANTASTIC way to market public transportation.  Before Saturday, I had never been on an Albuquerque City Bus. Buses are scary.  My car is less scary.

I’m not sure if it was purposeful, but about 90% of the contestants looked to be middle/upper class professionals,  in other words, people who don’t take the bus (nobody we talked to had ridden before). If this was their plan to introduce a different set of people to public transportation, then they succeeded in recruiting (I signed up after seeing a press release in our Business Weekly paper, and you had to have smart phone to participate).

They divided couples into three teams, and each team was given a different first destination.  All of the destinations were city owned landmarks (a museum, a skate park, a library, etc.), and you had to prove yourself by scanning a QR code with your phone.

{Pre-Race, ready to go…that coffee was not a good idea}

Our first destination was the skate park…only about 3 miles away.  We, along with a few other couples, decided to start running instead of waiting for the bus, at least for the first mile until we hit the bus changing intersection.

Turns out this made no difference because we got to the bus changing intersection at the same time as the people who waited for the bus initially.  Bummer.

As a group, we realized the next bus wouldn’t come for another 25 minutes.  Since it was only about 2 miles away, several of the couples started running, because 2 miles should take less than 25 minutes to run.

I knew we’d be doing some running, but I was thinking it would be minimal, so I didn’t really prepare adequately.  I didn’t eat a good running breakfast, I wasn’t hydrated, my Friday night dinner/imbibing wasn’t conducive to a morning run, and I brought my Ray Bans which are the worst sunglasses to run with (I ended up just carrying them in my hand). Luckily I wore my running shoes and sports bra, otherwise it wouldn’t have turned out so well.

To say that I felt like sh** during that 3 mile run would be an understatement. BUT, we still easily left the other people in our dust. Thank goodness for running.

I was looking later at the event twitter hashtag, and found this:

I’m not positive that she was talking about us, but, cool if she was and thought we were marathon runners!  Soon enough! (She’s also a senior reporter with New Mexico Business Weekly, so her twitter is pretty public).

So, we made it to the skate park, scanned our clue, allowed ourselves to be followed and filmed by the city’s videographer, and made it across the street to the bus stop just as everyone else approached the park gates.

And then the bus came. We were at the bus stop.  No one else was. 

This shall go down in history as the point in time that I was most thankful to be a trained half-marathon runner.  Our ability to run that stretch made the difference between us making that bus and having to wait half an hour for the next one.

{Bus Rider!}

We were obviously ahead of everyone on our team, but we didn’t know how the people on the other two teams were doing.  We continued to hustle just in case.

We made it to our second destination after a bus transfer, and our friend the video man was there to greet us again.

Turns out, it would probably be pretty annoying being on a reality show, and I give kudos to all those people who don’t act completely awkward in front of a camera.  Because I was awkward.  If this video ever surfaces, it will be of Aaron scanning QR codes, annoyed that homeboy was right in his business, and me looking confused at the camera saying, “Hello!”

{Hanging out at the bus stop}

Our next destination, the Albuquerque Museum was way across town, so we jumped on a bus and headed to a transfer point that was in a neighborhood formally called “The War Zone.”  We survived without getting jumped, and made it to where we needed to be. We ran from the bus stop to the museum (half a mile), then to the next destination, The Botanic Gardens (another 1.1 miles).

It was close to noon, so it was pretty warm, and I had maybe 5 sips of water in addition to my coffee (less water means less trying to figure out which gas station in the ghetto might have the cleanest bathroom).  This is not the way to run.  But sometimes, the will to win The Great Bus Race is so great, that even heat and dehydration can’t stop you.

Of course our friend the videographer was there at the Botanic Gardens waiting for us (he told us he was pretty sure we were in 1st place).  After a 25 minute wait for the train, we thought everyone would surely catch up to us.  They didn’t.  We hopped on once the train came, chugged along to the zoo, scanned our QR codes, and then ran about a mile to the next destination.

{Train rider!}

We were right in the middle of downtown (lots of people), I was disgusting from running all over the city during the middle of the day, and so hungry and so in need of water.  I’m sure we were judged.  When we scanned in the clue, it told us that we only had one more destination, and it was a few blocks away! Food and water and victory were in our future! (Altogether we ran about 6 miles).

We sprinted toward the finish line after a scattered search trying to find it (it wasn’t really in plain sight), and we finished in a rather anticlimactic end because the event people weren’t expecting anyone to cross that early and hadn’t finished setting up.

So… WE WON!!!

In fact, we broke all event records! We were even interviewed for the news, but I don’t think they actually aired it (thank goodness because the awkwardness is too much).  UPDATE: My coworker just said she saw me on the news.  I still can’t find evidence of it anywhere though. Our ability to run 3 miles in a row helped us clinch the title of best little Great Bus Race riders in the land!

I think the next couple in was about 20 minutes behind us.

They told us we could do whatever and be back in about an hour for the awards ceremony, so we celebrated with pizza and beer!

{WHY do I feel the need to geek out every photo???}

It was a really fun experience, and a really creative marketing tool for the transit company.  The buses were very clean and very efficient. One of the lines even had library books for little kids to read while they ride! (GREAT detail!).  For a $2 Day Pass, bus riding is much cheaper than driving the SUV around town.  As promised, just about every landmark is minutes away from a bus stop! I didn’t ever feel unsafe (though, I was with Aaron the whole time).  The only part I’d be worried about is waiting at some of the bus stops which lack the security and cleanliness of the buses themselves, but we didn’t have any problems at any of the stops we waited at.

You can read the press release HERE

So, in conclusion, Albuquerque buses aren’t so bad.  And being a trained runner can come in handy in the strangest situations.  And if anyone knows the folks who cast the Amazing Race, please let them know that the Lavenders would be willing participants!

Short, Unrelated Thoughts, and HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

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Weekly Race Shout-Outs.

Erika is crossing the crazy looking Coronado Bridge in her Bay Bridge race.  Don’t look down!

It seems like after a couple of race crazy weeks, things have slowed down, unless I’m just completely overlooking people?  Good luck if you’re running!

It also seems like blogging activity has gone down, not just for me, but for everyone.  I know I’m having a hard time focusing long enough to sit down and bust one out.  The problem with having a running blog? When you aren’t doing anything exciting run-wise, what on earth do you have to talk about?  I’ve already determined through the Have Fun Everyday Challenge that I’m the most boring person alive.  I did accidentally make my coffee too strong this morning, but that hardly seems blog worthy, though it may explain the erratic nature of the following paragraphs?

Danielle even tried to help by providing a prompt to talk about my 7 favorite things of the moment (which I WILL finish, I promise, Danielle!), but my current lack of motivation to write something interesting is only rivaled by my lack of motivation to do dishes.  I’d rather clean toilets than wash dishes.  YUCK.

Also, notice how I write a blog post about not having anything to blog about.  CLEVER!

I also realized this afternoon that my head was in some weirdo bubble on Tuesday when writing my Run for the Zoo race recap.  I was thinking my half marathon time on Sunday was a full 20 seconds faster than my miserable race two weeks ago.  Turns out it was only SIX SECONDS faster.  Even bigger bummer. But, I am going to stop whining about it because 1) I think I’m getting annoying and 2) it’s not like I trained for it.  I need to get over my belief that I can have the same result whether I train or not, because it just doesn’t work that way!

I have run exactly 1 mile since Sunday plus some sprints yesterday (my little tiny Giuseppe pretty much left me in the dust).  I’m trying to fully enjoy 3 weeks of not having to run before the craziness starts in a few weeks.  I am however being subjected to evil Aaron boot camp torture again.  We just acquired some new weights.  No, I can’t pick up the big ones in case you’re wondering.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that the ability to run 13.1 miles is not a  guarantee that you can do 15 jack-knifes in a row.  Those suckers are rough.

In other news, Sunday is Mother’s Day (hoping that this isn’t a surprise to anyone).

Both Aaron and I are blessed to have wonderful, loving, strong mothers who have dedicated their lives to making us successful people.

{My grandma, my mom, and me at my college graduation 5 years ago.  One of my most favorite pictures ever}

We’re also lucky to have both moms in town, so Sunday will be a full day of mom-spoiling.

Friend Amity is celebrating her first Mother’s Day with her two-week old little girl, and friend Katie is crazy close to delivering her little girl.  Happy First Mother’s Day, Ladies!

And Happy Mother’s Day to all the other hot mamas out there including some of my favorite blog friends: Erika, Adri, Laura, and Martha.  I hope you are all sufficiently spoiled this weekend! Also, Martha recently wrote a wonderful Mother’s Day article featured in Genius Moms!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!