Beautiful Biarritz...

Sunday, July 14 was a day of extremes...I was happy to leave the drunken crowds and filthy, smelly streets of Pamplona behind for a bit of glitz and glamour in Biarritz, France. Our original plan had us heading to San Sebastián, Spain following our time in Pamplona, but as K worked on the logistics of getting us to our next destination in the French Alps, it became more apparent that we were going to have to sacrifice time in San Sebastián for the convenience of a French airport that could facilitate the next transfer. So, Biarritz, here we come! 

Within minutes of arriving via bus from Pamplona, I knew I was okay with the decision. In fact, once we arrived at our hotel, which was only steps from the beautiful beach (and beautiful people), I declared myself happy to K and asked that we stay here rather than making the day trip to San Sebastián the following day that we had tentatively planned. He reluctantly agreed. How can you argue with a view like this...

After a nice dinner overlooking the beach, we headed back to the hotel for an evening nap (5:30am wake-up in Pamplona, remember?). We woke up in time to stroll out to the beach below for fireworks at 11pm to celebrate Bastille Day. We have been lucky enough to spend one other Bastille Day in France - that time in Paris with fireworks at the Eiffel Tower. So, I knew it was pretty special to celebrate another at the beach.

Monday, July 15 was all about fun in the sun. We enjoyed a leisurely afternoon at the beach (La Grande Plage) soaking up the rays, people watching, and all around relaxing (which was a nice change of pace following the frenzy of San Fermin).

We headed out to the Rocher de la Vierge shortly before sunset to catch some views of the beach from a different perspective and to have dinner.

We woke up to cloudy skies with a chance of rain on Tuesday, July 16, so we had to forgo our planned beach time. Instead, we walked along the beach promenades, as well as the narrow streets in the city center that are filled with shops, shops, and more shops for the wealthy to spend their money. The famous landmarks in Biarritz include the Hotel du Palais, which was the former villa for the empress of France, and various churches: the Eglise Orthodox Russe, a Byzantine-style church built by the Russian community; Eglise Sainte-Eugenie, located off the promenade; and La Chapelle Imperiale, which was built by the Empress.

And, with that, it was time to catch a flight to Lyon that evening so that we could start making our way to the next party - Le Tour!

Fiesta de San Fermin...

We arrived in Pamplona via a 3-hour train ride from Madrid on Friday, July 12. Immediately upon arriving at the train station and working our way through town on the bus to our hotel, we saw people dressed in the traditional white garb with red kerchief and sash. We were finally here! Unfortunately, K's bag STILL had not been delivered up to this point, which was quickly moving from an inconvenience to an interference with the trip as his carefully selected white attire and running shoes were in his suitcase. Boo!

Our hotel was on the outskirts of Pamplona, which turned out to be a minor hassle in terms of getting to/from the festivities in the center of town, but at the same time we were just lucky to get a hotel in the first place as most places book up 6-12 months in advance of the festival. And, a lot of people just end up sleeping in the city parks and streets (and, believe me it smelled like it!).

So, after checking into the hotel and dealing with the luggage drama some more, we headed into the city center to get our bearings. As you might imagine, it was simply one non-stop party with people everywhere, sangria and other drinks flowing, and in general revelry. 

We unintentionally stayed out late enough to catch some of the nightly 11pm fireworks show as we headed back to our hotel for the night. We had an early morning ahead, but ended up staying up super late anyway and only got about 3-4 hours of sleep. A lot of the true party-going folks just don't go to sleep at all until after the encierro (bull running), which happens promptly at 8am. 

Most of the advice that we had gotten from various sources indicated that we needed to be in position along Calle Estafeta by 6:30-7am to run and earlier for a good place to watch, so it was a 5:30am wake-up call for us on Saturday, July 13. K had originally planned to run on Saturday, but because he didn't have his running shoes from his suitcase that was a no go. So, we used Saturday morning to scope out the scene. We made our way over to the start of the encierro at Museo de Navarra and were able to see the bulls resting peacefully in their holding pen before the madness that was to shortly ensue.

We were quickly told to move along though, so then it became a matter of trying to get in a position where 5'1" me could actually see something among the crowds that had already amassed. We ended up settling in nearby where the police were actually pushing the runners back to start running from. 

The runners started chanting 5 minutes before 8am, then a rocket is set off at 8am indicating the start of the run. The runners have a slight headstart before the bulls are let loose, but most are quickly overtaken by the thundering pack of charging bulls. 

Here they come...

There they go...

And, just like that it was over from our vantage point. Another rocket is set off when the first bull enters the bullring, Plaza de Toros. And, a final rocket is set off when all of the bulls are safely into the corral. We found out later that morning that this running had been exceptionally long (4+ minutes for the 1/2 mile course) with multiple injuries. We heard multiple ambulance sirens as we were walking back from the start area. Apparently, one of the gates into the bullring was not fully opened which caused a massive pile-up and stampede of runners trying to enter the stadium. After hearing about the number of people injured, I was more than skeptical about K running the next morning.

We slept the afternoon away in true festival-goer fashion, then headed back into the city center for the festivities on Saturday evening. We lucked into last minute tickets to that night's corrida (bullfight), which I was really excited about. However, that excitement was short-lived though once we actually entered the bullring and I saw firsthand the animal cruelty that is the essence of the event. K asked if I thought the matador and bull were just "going to dance" around one another. Well, yes, something like that.

I'll admit though that we did get more engaged in the event once we got over our initial shock and horror. Unbeknownst to us at the time, a corrida actually has several stages:

First, the matador and his assistants use their capes to test the worthiness and discover the tendencies of the bull. 

Then, the picadores enter the ring on horseback. The horses are protected by a suit of thick padding, while the picador uses a lance to strike a directed blow to weaken the bull. 

One or more bandilleras then use barbed sticks to further weaken the bull.

Finally, the matador assumes center stage now that the bull has been weakened and is unable to lift its head as high and charge the matador. The matador has up to15 minutes to perform a series of orchestrated passes and make the final blow between the bull's shoulder blades with a special saber in an attempt to pierce its heart. The bull then drops to its knees and the death blow is made. The bull  is then carried out of the ring by horses.

Meanwhile, the presidente is evaluating and scoring each of the moves, which he makes known by placing 1 or 2 white ribbons off his box.

The crowd loved the matador known as "The Pirate," while the President's box seemed to tolerate his antics.

The bullfight lasted 2.5 hours then K headed out to enjoy more of the party on the streets, while I opted to head back to the hotel since we had another 5:30am wake-up call ahead of us.

So, Sunday, July 14 was K's big day as his luggage had finally arrived the day before so he had his necessary gear for the running. I was terrified when we went our separate ways that morning - me into the bullring again and him onto the streets. I was in a great position directly across from where the runners (and bulls) would enter the arena. As we counted down until 8am, a band provided entertainment for the crowd in the arena, then pictures were shown of the bulls resting in their start pens along with their names and weight - the larger bulls drew the loudest cheers from the crowd. And then we heard the rocket go off at 8am and runners started trickling into the arena (including some who entered before the bulls had even gone off and they were promptly booed by the crowd). For the most part, all of the bulls made it quickly into the arena and then on into their corrals without incident (today's running lasted 2+ minutes compared to yesterday's 4+ minutes). 

After all of the bulls had entered and the gates were closed, I was surprised to see that they then began letting out younger bulls into the arena one at a time for amusement of those in the ring. Stupid idiots playing with baby bulls.

I quickly left the arena and went to my meeting point with K, as I was fairly certain by that point that he hadn't made it into the arena before the gates were closed after the bulls entered. I have never been so relieved to see him waiting for me there. Apparently, he had fallen pretty early on and walked away with scrapes and bruises, as well as a close encounter with an oncoming bull when he tried to get up prematurely. One of the rules of the encierro is to wait until the herd passes before trying to get up if you fall. 

And, with that, our fun in Pamplona for the Fiesta de San Fermin came to a close. The actual festivities had a closing ceremony at midnight later that night, but we had a bus to catch to the French coast to celebrate Bastille Day. Moving from one party to another!

Madrid...

We arrived in Madrid mid-morning on Wednesday, July 10 only to find that K's suitcase hadn't made the journey with us from Atlanta onward. We were assured that the bag would be sent out on the next flight from Atlanta that day and should be delivered to the hotel tomorrow. Nothing to be done about it at that point so we moved on with getting to our hotel, cleaning up, and settling in for an afternoon nap. We are usually pretty bad at managing the jet lag on the first day (at least), so I was fairly proud of us for actually making it out to a museum later that day.

Our first stop was a visit to Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia during the free general admission hours of 7p-9p. However, we clearly weren't the only ones with the same idea, as the line to get in had us initially concerned. 

Thankfully, the line moved quickly and we were able to get in after a brief delay, although the limit had been reached for the special Dali exhibition right before us. No matter because (a) we had plenty to see in the permanent collection in a limited time frame, and (b) I'm not a huge Dali fan. The Reina Sofia showcases primarily modern art, notably Spanish artists from the 20th century. So, plenty of Picasso to be found here. 

As we headed back to our hotel off the city's main street, Gran Via, we strolled through Puerto del Sol, the starting point for all road distances in Spain. 

We stayed up way too late thanks to our afternoon nap and slept in until noon on Thursday, July 12. So, we got a late start to the day, but again, not too unexpected for us. We started out with a visit to Mercado de San Miguel located just outside Plaza Mayor. What a fun place this was! There are a variety of food vendors selling everything from olives, cheese, meat, seafood, ice cream, beer, wine, etc. in a beautiful restored building. It was a great place to sample a variety of foods in a quick and inexpensive manner. I had the most amazing mozzarella roll and Greek frozen yogurt there!

What follows from here I do not necessarily recommend doing all in one day, but K stubbornly wanted to do everything he was interested in during the limited amount of time that we had in Madrid. After our lunch at the market, we walked over to the nearby Royal Palace (Palacio Real) and Catedral de la Alamudena. Overall, I found the Palace to be much less gaudy than Versailles and, as K noted, with much less art than the Doges Palace in Venice.

Then, it was back to the museum triangle for more art. Our first stop was the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, which housed primarily European paintings from the 13th-20th centuries including some by the French Impressionists. My favorite painting though turned out to be one from a collection of American artists because I was absolutely stunned when I learned who the artist was...(see if you can guess):

At first I thought it was Magritte, but I was clearly wrong as the artist is none other than Georgia O'Keefe! I have to admit that I really enjoyed the selections from the other American artists just as much...Rothko, Hopper, Pollock, etc. 

We then rushed over to catch the free 6p-8p hours at Museo del Prado, which we knew going in would not be enough time to fully appreciate the works here. But, again, K stubbornly wanted to fit everything in that we did for the day. I didn't argue too much though because I knew that El Prado was not my preferred art museum. Nevertheless, I found a few pieces I really enjoyed: Las Meninas by Velazquez of course, The Adoration of the Shepherds by el Greco (the colors were electrifying!), and Goya's "Black paintings." There was also a version of the Mona Lisa, which is said to be an intermediate version of the final painting that was done by one of da Vinci's students.

After a late dinner Spanish style, our whirlwind tour of Madrid ended as we had a morning train out to Pamplona the next day. We had originally planned to spend a bit more time in Madrid, but then we found out the last weekend of the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona is this weekend, so we cut our Madrid time short in favor of catching the festivities of San Fermin. Overall though, I'm glad we did because I was honestly a bit underwhelmed with Madrid. Other than the quality and quantity of the art museums, I really didn't think that there was much unique about this Spanish city. Nevertheless, I wouldn't be surprised to find us back in Madrid for a day or two as an intermediate point for other cities in Spain.

Next up: Pamplona. Ole!

And so it begins...

As we are starting our journey for "K & m's annual European summer vacation," I figured it would be smart to test out how my new blogging setup works for this trip (although it's really too late to do anything about it at this point).

We left Austin bright and early this morning, and we were taken aback at the lines of people everywhere at the airport - waiting to drop bags, to get through security, and to board planes. All at the wee hour of 5am on a Tuesday no less! TSA Precheck certainly saved us because we would not have cleared security otherwise in time for our flight. Hello, summer vacation travelers!

We have a looong layover in Atlanta before catching our flight to JFK then onward to Madrid. Big thanks to my brother for the last minute surprise of day passes to DL SkyClub where we are currently enjoying the amenities and fresh air at the new international terminal.

We have an ambitious itinerary for our trip, with lots of transfers and go-go-go which is fairly typical of our summer European trips:

Madrid->Pamplona (Running of the Bulls)->Biarritz (and, hopefully San Sebastián) for some beach fun->Alpe d'Huez for Le Tour of course!->Paris->Cinque Terre->Pisa/Lucca->Lake District->Zurich

We are fortunate to have 3 full weeks this time around compared to our prior trips of 2-2.5 weeks. Kurt is on sabbatical from work for July and, well, I am enjoying the benefits of being self-employed. 

We really made an effort to "pack light" for this trip because we are notorious overpackers. With that in mind, we're doing some things a bit differently for this trip - first of all, I'm trying a large travel backpack instead of a suitcase this time because a large suitcase is difficult with all of the transfers-bus, train, plane, subway, and on foot. I'll weigh in on the outcome of this attempt at the end of the trip. We also opted to leave the laptop at home in favor of the iPad and portable keyboard (hence the new blogging setup). We're also trying one of the budget European airlines for one of our transfers in France for the first time. I've heard horror stories, so I'm hoping everything goes smoothly. And, yes, we learned a few things from our disaster in December when my purse (including our passports) was stolen in the Canary Islands. Copies of our documents have been made this time around!

I've been looking forward to this trip for months, and I'm so glad that it's finally here!

Here we go! 

Musicfest highlights...

So, there's a little music festival every January here in Steamboat Springs called Musicfest featuring Texas country artists. My brother first told us about it in late 2010, but it had already sold out for last year as it apparently always sells out rather quickly. We were ready though when reservations opened up for this year, and we were all excited to check it out. It turned out to be a great value and offered something extra to enjoy beyond just the usual skiing on these trips. We caught some great shows by folks that we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise, despite the fact that many of them play in Austin on a regular basis. The crowd was undoubtedly a Southern crowd looking to have a good time-lots of cowboy hat and boot wearing, beer drinking fools. Like Shooter Jennings said last night, it's like being in Texas vicariously through Colorado. Here's some highlights via pictures:

Kevin Fowler acoustic show

Cody Johnson joined Kevin Fowler for a few songs

Charlie and Bruce Robison

The crowd went wild when Shooter Jennings joined the Robisons

Acoustic Jack Ingram

Shooter Jennings rockin' out

Jack Ingram and band played an afternoon outdoor show at the base of the ski area

Success on the mountain!

What a difference a year makes (remember this?)!

We flew into Denver yesterday afternoon and met my brother and his girlfriend at the airport then headed toward the mountains. We hadn't made the drive to Steamboat before, so we were a little uncertain about what to expect. Thankfully, the road conditions were good and the route K chose was the least scary option (taking the pass up to Winter Park wasn't even an option without some Xanax!). But, it was still a long drive and we pulled into town just before 9pm.

Everyone else headed over to pick-up their equipment rentals bright and early this morning, while I was able to catch a few extra zzz's since I have my own gear. We hit the slopes a short while later, and I was definitely unsure of how things were going to go especially given our last outing a year ago. But, I definitely wasn't in freak-out mode, so I think I had a better handle on my anxiety this time. We started off on a short "preview" run, and I knew pretty much instantly that my ankle was okay. Whew! With that out of the way, we headed further up the mountain, but still hanging mostly on the green runs to get started with a few blues thrown in. I definitely felt that my ankle was stronger this year and I had better control of it. For the most part, I would say that I was nearly back to my pre-fracture ski level (which was never really great technique anyway). But, I was definitely not going to push it today, especially since we're here skiing for four days. So, I packed it in after lunch, since I know that I'm always more tired anyway after lunch and more prone to make a mistake.

While the others enjoyed some afternoon skiing, I checked out a few of the early acts playing for MusicFest in different venues around the resort. Later we grabbed dinner downtown then tried to head up the gondola to see one of the nighttime shows on the mountain, but the venue was maxed out. So, we ended up ducking into a few shows here and there and heard some good music. And, we get to do it all over again tomorrow...and the next day...and the next day.

Goals for 2012...

Let's not call them resolutions. I like "goals" better. As a psychologist, I know all about the importance of goal-setting, so I will take the opportunity of January 1 to set some goals for the upcoming year and put them out there for greater accountability.

1. Say "no" more often in my professional life (at least for the foreseeable future).
2. Say "yes" more often in my personal life.

Let me stop here and explain. I have been working waaaay too much in the past 4 months or so. While it's great that my practice has taken off so well, I am working far more than I want to be working, especially considering how it has negatively impacted other areas of our lives (see goal #2).

3. Nourish relationships with others - old and new.
4. Visit at least 3 new countries.
5. Run trail again. Run a trail race (doesn't have to be big distance).
6. Get to the start line of the New York marathon healthy and well-trained in November (provided that my ankle can handle the distance). I have a guaranteed entry this year, so this will probably be my only shot to run it.
7. Train with a group again.
8. Fit into my size small running shorts.
9. Get some of my house projects completed (paint the front door and window shutters, take better care of our front flower garden, get all of our pictures framed and hung, finish "unpacking" the garage).
10. Have a party in our "new" home.
11. Share more-email, call, blog, etc.
12. Procrastinate less (mainly with writing psych reports).
13. Organize our photos. Finish the photo book from our Europe trip last summer.
14. Learn how to use our "nice" camera and take better pictures.

I like KJ's idea of choosing a word for the new year. "Reconnect" is mine...reconnecting with my social side and OCD-cleaning style, trail running, training with a purpose, and balancing everything better.

Welcoming in 2012...

We welcomed in 2012 in Dallas this year. It was a far cry from our London adventure last NYE, but the familiarity of home was nice in its own way.

We drove up to Dallas on Friday afternoon in time for a nice dinner at Victory Tavern before the Mavericks vs. Raptors game at American Airlines Center. The game itself was pretty underwhelming for what you'd expect from the NBA champs, but it was still fun (and, yes, Khloe K. was in attendance).

The new championship banner

On Saturday, we had lunch with my mom, aunt, and cousin. It was great to spend time with family.

We started out the evening at Highland Park Theatre for an intimate Jackopierce concert. Those boys are one of my few ties to the culture of SMU and tolerating the fan base is always a challenge for me. As K observed, it was "trophy wife central" from 15+ years ago.

We watched the ball drop in NY then made a quick dash over to Beauty Bar in the Knox-Henderson area for midnight.

We had lunch today with great old friends from my Dallas days. It had been too long! It was wonderful to catch up on everyone's lives and enjoy the familiarity and comfort of old friends. K even observed that there's obviously a lot of history between us.

2011 in review...

2011 was very good to us, so it's somewhat bittersweet to see the year end and welcome in a new year filled with possibilities.

Since I clearly haven't posted much this year, here's our holiday card for 2011 for a year in review:

It's been another great year for K & m that found us enjoying more travels around the country and the world. We started the year off with a big bang in London! We then had a few visits to Ohio in the Spring for weddings of Kurt's childhood friends. We were also excited to welcome Melissa's brother to Austin in March for South by Southwest, a popular musical festival. In April, we enjoyed a getaway to one of our favorite locales in California to run the Big Sur Marathon Relay with a friend. We headed off to another favorite destination, Colorado, for Memorial Day where Kurt got his first taste of Pikes Peak and decided he was up for the challenge of running it in August. We had an enjoyable day of rafting on the Royal Gorge while there, even though Kurt nearly took a spill into the chilly waters after hitting the rocks on the aptly named rapid, Wallslammer. We headed back to Ohio in June for a vacation with Kurt's family in Hocking Hills. Then, we took another grand summer vacation to Europe where we visited 7 cities in 4 countries over the course of two weeks. While there, we watched the final three stages of the Tour de France since Melissa got hooked when we went last summer. After a few weeks of getting settled back in at home, we took off for Colorado again so that Kurt could run up Pikes Peak, certainly one of the more challenging things he has done. While there, we were lucky enough to see another professional bike race, which Melissa enjoyed. Shortly after that, we went to visit Melissa's dad in southern Florida where he recently moved and celebrated our third anniversary together. We just returned from a holiday trip to Barcelona and are getting ready for a pre-birthday trip to Seattle.

It's not all play and no work though! Kurt has taken on more responsibilities in his position at AMD, and Melissa's practice has continued to grow in her second year of independent private practice. We're still getting settled into our new house, even though it doesn't feel quite so "new" anymore after moving in last year.

Melissa has slowly made a comeback to running after breaking her ankle last year. It's been tough for her at times, but being active together remains an important foundation of our relationship. We're looking forward to running a half marathon together in Houston in January. There might also be a triathlon in Kurt's future, as he has recently added swimming and cycling to his repertoire.

We are already busy planning our travels for next year. Wherever the road may take us, we are excited to approach it together. And, if the road ever finds you in Austin, then please let us know as we'd love to see you!

Where in the world are K & m?

Well, last time this blog found us in Zurich many, many months ago. (And, of course, a lot has happened since then, but maybe I'll get to that another time.) For now, I'm happy to say that we are back in Europe visiting our 6th European country of the year...Spain. We arrived in Barcelona this afternoon after an overnight flight from Dallas and a layover in London. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am so very thankful for all of the travel and adventure that we have been fortunate to share this year. So, how exactly did we find ourselves in Spain for Thanksgiving? Short answer is that I've been working my tail off for the past couple of months (which has been a mixed blessing in a lot of ways when you work for yourself) and I needed to reset, which is so very important in the work that I do to avoid burnout. I also wanted to cash in on what exactly I am working for and travel is a big part of that. So, I told K that we needed to plan another trip, and Thanksgiving seemed like a good time for me to take some extended time off based on my client's general vacation schedules too, as well as to maximize K's vacation days since we are already plotting next year's trips and allocating vacation days accordingly. And, well, here we are for the next week....stay tuned.

Guten Tag, Zurich!

We arrived in Zurich this morning (Wednesday, July 13) after spending much of the day in Atlanta yesterday waiting for our connecting flight to get us on our way. We zoomed through immigration and customs, as the airport wasn't that busy when we arrived. It might also speak to the general efficiency of the Swiss, though. After a short train ride from the airport and a local tram, we made our way to our hotel on the Western side of Zurich. We were thrilled to find out that we were able to check-in to our room when we arrived at 9am (thank you, Platinum status!). A shower and nap were welcome treats at that point. Our "nap" turned into a full day affair thanks to trying to compensate for 2 nights of minimal sleep though. We hadn't necessarily been counting on doing much today anyway when we were planning our trip, as we are pretty accustomed to the first day being a wash after we arrive. The weather didn't really help matters either, as it was raining all day. We watched the end of today's stage of the Tour then finally ventured out to get dinner at a nearby pizzeria where K started his sampling of the local beers. We started to walk around to explore the nearby areas, but the intensifying thunderstorms put a halt to that. Oh, well, that's what tomorrow is for. So, where did we spend our first night in Zurich tonight? On the treadmill at the hotel fitness center like good runner boys and girls. I was pleased to find that wearing my compression socks (or silly socks as we dubbed them because I did indeed look silly wearing them with my outfit) during the flight had a significant impact on reducing swelling of my post-fractured ankle. Hopefully, I can keep the swelling to a minimum from all of the walking, climbing, etc. that we'll be doing over the next 2 weeks.

Road vs. Trail...

We are in Ohio visiting K's family for a few days, and my runs the past two days while we've been here truly illustrate the dichotomy in my running. K's family is quite large and they rented a lodge in the Hocking Hills area for everyone to stay at and use as home base for a variety of outdoor activities.

Yesterday, K dropped me off at the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway, a 19-mile paved path from Nelsonville to Athens. I started my run at the Nelsonville trailhead which ran next to the local railroad for the first portion of the route. The path eventually entered the Wayne National Forest, which provided some welcome tree cover during my run. Overall, the run was crap. I can't really think of anything positive that came out of that run. Yes, it was warm and humid (but not Texas hot), but I have been covering the same distance that I ran easily on the treadmill so it shouldn't have been nearly as difficult as it turned out to be. One huge realization that I have had recently with running is that my mind is what is limiting me right now much more than my body. For example, yesterday, countless times I looked down at my Garmin to get a sense of my pace and immediately stopped - not slowed down, but came to a dead stop - upon seeing times in the 8:45-9:15 range. My body wants to (and, I think can) run that pace comfortably, but my mind says that is faster than I can/should be running right now. I've got issues, I know.

Today was a totally different story though. Still anxiety-ridden about running on trail, I decided to join K on his run through the nearby state parks. He scouted out a good route yesterday and identified a good section that he wanted to run again today. I was a bit nervous, but more eager to give a different kind of running a try again. And, I'm glad I did. I was sure to clear with K beforehand though that the route was fairly free of rocks (compared to Texas), especially since it had rained and the trail was wet and muddy. We ran a nice stretch of trail of about 5 miles that connected the Cedar Falls area to Ash Cave. Other than losing K during the run, it was great to be out there. I enjoyed the scenery, the cooler temps in the woods, and the easy pace that I settled into based on what the trail allowed.

K & m at Cedar Falls

Dublin Dr. Pepper 10k...

Most folks who know me well know that I love Dr. Pepper. So, naturally, the Dublin Dr. Pepper 10-2-4k is a race that I have wanted to do since I first heard about it several years ago. And, when we decided that we were going to Dallas this weekend to celebrate my mom's birthday, I thought this seemed like the perfect time...except for one small detail. I mistakenly thought Dublin was just outside of Waco so it would be on our way up to Dallas. Um, not quite, mel. It is about 160 miles northwest of Austin and then still over 100 miles to my mom's place in north Dallas. So, the timing of things didn't quite go as I had originally intended this weekend.

After realizing where Dublin is (and our hotel in Stephenville), I was pretty ambivalent about whether or not we would make the trip for the race up until the very last minute because it meant a long drive after a super long day and week for us. But, we did, and I'm glad we did.

We got to our hotel around 10pm on Friday, got settled, and quickly crashed as the busy week had taken it's toll on us. We made the short 15 minute drive from Stephenville to Dublin on Saturday morning for the 8am race start. The 10-2-4k races were just one part of the day's festivities celebrating the DP bottling plant's 120th birthday. For example, there was also the Tour de Pepper bike rides of various distances.

DP bottling truck that led the lead runners on the course

Welcome to Dr. Pepper, Texas!

DP is the Nectar of the Gods

The theme for this year's celebration was "Our big fun Greek birthday"

The race started and finished behind the Dr. Pepper building in downtown Dublin. The course itself was rather uneventful with lots of turns up and down the neighborhood streets. I told K before the start that I was not "racing" or running fast - I just have one speed right now and that is slow and easy. I started out feeling fine and was thankful that my recurring shin/calf pain didn't make an appearance in the early miles. K was out on the course just before mile 3 and I told him to come run with me once I saw him. Bad idea, mel. Having him with me made it way too easy for me to stop and walk and whine about the heat. There wasn't much shade on the course and the 8am start meant that things were already warming up a bit, especially since I have been doing most of my runs lately indoors on the treadmill because the heat had been killing my running mojo. K realized that his presence wasn't helping me, so he ducked out on me at mile 5 and it was for the best because I went on to finish it off without whining (or walking).

Afterwards, we enjoyed some DP of course, checked out the local art vendors, and picked up some souvenirs. Free tours of the museum and bottling plant were offered all day, but we didn't have time to check them out since we needed to get going on our way to see my mom. The whole scene was a pretty neat event though, and it's definitely worth checking out again.