Everything went fabulously and I could not have imagined a more awesome day. I’ll get around to posting more pictures later, but for now, I’ll focus on enjoying our honeymoon in San Francisco (I already had a yummy In-n-Out burger and strawberry milk shake…MMMM!).

We made it to Spearfish, South Dakota late last night and found a hotel room to crash at. After 13 hours of driving (or, riding, in my case) and 800 miles, I was eager to get some good sleep and realign my back.

Highlights from the day of driving include, but are not limited to:
-Crossing the Clark Fork river 15 times.
-Winning another bet against our friend Erin for not seeing any signs for hamburgers for over 30 miles.
-75 mph speed limits!
-Getting to listen to the K-State football game while driving through Montana State country, the team we were playing and eventually beat 69-10. It’s not often that K-State games are broadcast out in Seattle, so that was a pleasant surprise.
-Being a couple weeks too late to attend the Testicle Festival in Montana. Thank goodness!

We’re getting ready to hit the road again and make it through South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and 7 miles into Kansas, where I’ll finally feel like we’re ‘home’.

Todd, Goldie, my dress Bella, and I are making the long haul back to Kansas City for our wedding (also our luggage and about 5 boxes of wedding stuff).  Yes, my dress has a name–she has a personality all her own and she’s taking up most of the back seat.

Our road trip will be a quick one, as we’re eager to get back and get things ready and rollin’.  We left Seattle this afternoon and are currently driving to Todd’s parents’ house in Idaho where we’ll have yummy greek food for dinner and spend the night.

Tomorrow we’ll drive through to Rapid City, South Dakota and then Sunday we’ll drive to my parents’ house in small town northeast Kansas and then rolling into Kansas City on Monday.  I’m excited that we are able to include stops at both parents’ and spend a little bit of time with them before things get too excitingly hectic. 

Should be fun.  I’ll probably post more during this trip than I have the past month    Enjoy.

We’re off to our homeland before the sun even rises, catching a 4:30am bus to the airport. Ugh. Who planned that?

Oh yeah, I did.

I had to, in order to get the most out of our short visit, packed with wedding vendor meetings, a couple’s communication class at the church, tux/bridesmaid dress fittings, and squeezing in as much time as possible with family and a few friends.

That’s the bad thing about going back home. I love making the trip, but it’s impossible to see everybody I want to, or even try to see everyone with all the other items to check off the to-do list. And this time more than any previous, it seems like there’s a gazillion to-do items.

It’s a weird mix of fun and stress, but I’m excited for it and wouldn’t want to spend the next four days any other way.

My brother said we can play Nerf gun war

Pop Quiz:

Dallas was _________.
a. a nice change from Seattle’s weather
b. sunny and warm
c. cold

The correct answer is C. Dallas was cold.

Who would’ve thought? I packed my bags Friday night based on the forecast that it will be warm and humid, with a chance of rain.

WRONG.

While I was glad to not be running in warm and humid weather, I wasn’t *quite* prepared for 40 degree temps. In hindsight, I probably should’ve packed some old gloves and a long sleeve shirt to wear before the race. And some warm pants would’ve been nice too.

But despite the weather surprise, it turned out to be a great race and a fun weekend with my cousins Leann, Ryan and his wife, Lindsay.

The course was flat and fast, the scenery was good and the crowds were impressive considering the ‘not-so-pleasant-to-be-standing-outside-for-hours’ weather. Ryan made an excellent running partner and pushed me at a faster pace than I normally run, but it felt great (up until the last mile).

The most exhilarating part of the race was running through downtown Dallas at Mile 12, the band was playing, the fans were cheering and the announcer shouted “Go Katie! You rock! One more mile!” My legs moved faster, my eyes teared up, and I pumped my fist in glee. But….that last 1.1 mile was the LONGEST ever. I kept trudging on though because I didn’t want to slow Ryan down. (we talked after the race and he felt the same way about not wanting to slow me down. talk about good silent motivation!)

And when it was all over, we both walked away with a PR of 1:47:19! (This even despite our back-of-the-pack start and a 10:00 first mile.)

To top it all off, Leann and Lindsay (who ran the full marathon) both qualified for Boston!

I’ll have more pictures to post soon, but now I’m just wrapping things up and heading back to Kansas City for a good ol’ family Christmas time! Let’s just pray the ice doesn’t interfere with our fun.

It’s my cousin Ryan’s first half marathon and our plan is to run it together, so I’m really looking forward to having an entertaining run.

More details on the flip side!

Saturday morning I was able to get in a 3 mile run down by the river, but after the previous night’s delicious, yet very garlicky Greek dinner, my stomach just didn’t have the gusto to do much more than that. We all drove about 45 minutes north to the quaint little town of Sandpoint, ID where they were having an arts festival along Lake Pond Oreille. I never knew Idaho was such a vacation destination, but after spending some time at their mountain lakes, it’s easy to see why.

Who would ever guess this is in Idaho?!?

On the way back to Seattle on Sunday afternoon, we stopped in Spokane to walk around the riverfront area and took a gondola ride above the waterfalls.

It’s looking to be a very busy week, I have a couple interviews and my parents are flying into Seattle for a 5 day visit. I’m super excited to show them around. But just my luck, my tire has severe damage and i have to take it into the shop tomorrow, manage to find my way downtown on the bus in time for my interview and hopefully meet up with my parents sans car. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. Good night.

i’ll post more later, but just for those keeping tabs on me, i have safely arrived in the northwest. and it is hot here.

Going in to the half marathon, my only goal was to finish under 2:00. I wore my GPS, but didn’t even look at it once during the race. The primary concern was to just have fun and enjoy all that Oklahoma City had to offer us. We ran at a comfortable pace, singing songs, dancing (as much as you can while running) along with the music and just having a grand old time.

Finish time– 1:57:24

I was certainly glad i did the half, because shortly after we finished, the temperature skyrocketed, leaving us concerned for our friends out on the marathon course dealing with the heat. But they all did great, and there’s nothing quite like being rewarded for running a marathon than with a fresh-from-the-grill Carl’s Jr Cheeseburger. mmmmmm.

And the main reason I enjoyed the weekend….running in remembrance of the 168 victims of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Before the race, the running crowd of 15,000 reflected during 168 seconds of silence. And we started off running past the Memorial. It was extra motivating during the run to see the 168 banners that lined the course, displaying the names of the innocent lives lost and seeing all the ‘In Honor Of’ signs on runners during the race.

Afterwards, we took some time to visit the Memorial and pay respect to the 168 victims. I’m really glad that I was able to finally visit the Memorial and get a better sense of Oklahoma’s spirit of survival.

I admit, i’ve never been a fan of anyone who calls themself a Sooner (bad past experience at a KSU/OU football game).

My opinion has been completely changed.

The city was welcoming and had a clean, vibrant downtown area. There was also a Festival of the Arts going on Saturday evening that we went to. The supporters all along the race course were amazing and i’ve already deemed this as my favorite half marathon. I’d love to return in the future, maybe even run the full marathon.

Thanks OKC, you were great.

now, off to my trip to Seattle…..this is a long story, but then again, so was my day.

i got up at 5:15am wednesday morning to go to the gym since i knew i wouldn’t have time after work, since my flight to Seattle left at 8pm. if i would’ve known what lay ahead of me, i probably would’ve slept longer.

i’d been watching the Weather Channel during the flight and they kept mentioning the snow and ice in the Pacific Northwest, so i knew the conditions were not ideal. but we landed safely in Seattle, where i got a voicemail from Todd saying that he drove two blocks from his apt and couldn’t make it any further up the hill. great. he’d called rental car companies, nobody had any 4 wheel drive cars available, he called limos, shuttles and nobody had availability to pick me up. it was almost midnight, i was exhausted, dehydrated and my cell phone battery was dead. i just stood in the airport and cried.

luckily, my luggage finally got there and i was able to charge my phone and call him back. i really didn’t want to have to stay in a hotel, so my last option was to see if any taxis would drive me out to his apartment in Sammamish, which is normally a 30-45 minute drive. i went to the taxi pick-up area and got in line behind about 70 other people, where i waited for about 45 minutes. i talked to a couple who were headed to Issaquah, a town near Sammamish, so we planned to get a cab together.

all the police officers there told us to just get a hotel, the roads off of the interstates were horrible and we’d probably end up getting stranded since our destinations were in very hilly/mountainous areas. i just wanted to go to sleep and the other couple was determined to get home. a taxi pulled up and out stepped a driver whom i could barely even understand and who didn’t even know where Issaquah and Sammamish were. luckily, the other couple said they’d direct him.

We left the airport around 1 am (think 3am kansas time). there were hundreds of cars deserted along the roads, people just couldn’t go any further and left them there. thank God this taxi had good tires, luggage weighing down the back, and a taxi driver determined to get us home. we got to Issaquah, and i was left to direct the cabbie the last 5 miles. we kept going and every hill we made it up, i just thought ‘thats one less hill i’ll have to walk my luggage up when this car stops’. fortunately, we finally arrived where Todd was waiting for me. i’ve never been happier to see him. so $80 and a nearly 2 hour cab ride, i was safe. poor cabbie though, he had no clue where he was so we gave him the best directions possible and wished him luck.

i got to bed around 3:00, so basically i had been up for 24 hours. it was definitely one of the scariest travel epsiodes i’ve ever had, but i made it here. and other than the ice and inability to drive anywhere, it’s really pretty. with the help of two good samaritans, we finally got Todd’s car back home. but we’re riding the bus everywhere now.