Dallas Fort Worth Trip Part 1

I got up super early Thursday morning to head to the airport. I had a really short connecting flight in Chicago, and I was super nervous about missing the flight. I talked to the flight attendant when I boarded (of course I was in the very last row of the flight) and she said as long as we didn't have any delays, I should be able to make it as long as I was wearing my running shoes.

check!

And then we sat around for an hour waiting for a de-icer to come de-ice our plane. Ugh. I figured I likely wouldn't make my next flight but luckily there were a lot of flights heading out of Chicago to DFW for the day, so I was pretty confident I'd be fine. But I'd never missed a flight before. PANIC. When the flight landed, I had 20 minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave. And it took forever to get off the plane. I sprinted my little heart out from one side of the airport to the other and arrived at my gate approximately 2 minutes after they had closed boarding. The gate attendant was less than friendly as I stood there with sweat pouring down my face, but the gals sitting in the gate area were super impressed with my sprint up and felt bad I had missed my flight. Thanks for the sympathy votes ladies! Luckily customer service was super pleasant and easy to work with to get me on the next flight. And that gave me a few minutes to de-sweat while I waited. Photo heavily filtered so you can't see how sweaty and red-faced I am.

I got in just an hour and a half later than previously expected, and I was starving so we made our way to a cute lunch spot. We had a short lunch since we needed to get home to meet Dom's kids on the school bus. They beat us home and were super bummed that dad was there to get them instead of Jeri. Hah.

 Again heavy filters because I look like I had woken up at 4 am and sprinted through an airport. After some time at "home" we got ready for dinner. Tex-Mex for the win at Fuzzy's with a nacho plate as big as my face and a delicious marg. If you need us, we'll be eating all the tex-mex that DFW has to offer before I leave. After we got home the kiddos went to sleep and Dom and I stayed up to watch an obnoxious Christmas movie before calling it a night.

Friday morning we got up, and I dilly dallied about going for a run before eventually opting to skip it. My left glute was really bothering me (I think it was from trying to sprint up the escalators in Chicago, but who knows). So I opted for an extra rest day. We made our way to the expo in Dallas.

But first a stop for brunch at Pressed Cafe. Super excited to wear my official bRUNch club apparel, even if I was missing my brunch buddy, Melissa!

  

I had a delicious egg sandwich that was the messiest thing in the world to eat. 

 

After brunch, we made our way to the expo, which I'll chronicle in a post soon! We came home to see the kiddos and eventually got ready for dinner at Mashed. I had looked at the menu before I left South Dakota and was super excited to try it. The food was delicious veggies and the drinks were phenomenal. Two of the best drinks I've ever had probably. Mmmm.

 

 

 

After dinner we went to an outdoor ice skating rink and we had a blast. The girls hadn't ice skated for a long time, so it was a lot of fun to help them learn how to skate. Cheyenne graduated from holding on to the side of the rink, to skating with me holding her hands, to holding on to just my pinky so she could learn to use her arms to catch herself and balance, to skating on her own and even attempting to learn to skate backwards. We had so much fun. Even Dakota was skating on her own by the end of it. I tried to get in some speed skating to attempt to loosen up my tight glute but also tried to be pretty careful so I didn't hurt myself before the race. I did finally perfect my forward to backward turn which usually results in my spinning uncontrollably and/or falling.

Late Fall Race Plans

A couple of weeks ago, it was my favorite Ft. Worth running buddies birthday. In wishing her a happy birthday I was reminded that we had tentatively made plans for me to come visit in the late fall. Her birthday got my wheels turning again, and I checked to see the date of the Dallas half marathon. And then I checked on flights for that weekend. When I saw that flights were $180 (!!!!) we started making plans immediately. So I signed up for my 6th half marathon of 2018, and will run one more just prior to moving into a new age group in late December. 

Plus I get to have a fun race weekend with Dominique. I can't wait!!!

DFW Trip Day 2

After we left the race I hobbled into Starbucks for a delicious latte treat. I saw hobbled because I had terrible chafing on my legs because I sweated off any body glide I had.

 

My brother had to come to Fort Worth for a brief work thing, so he brought the kiddos along and we met up for some drinks and family time. Here are my lovely nieces and me. I failed to get a single picture of me and my nephew or me and my brother. Oops.

Lolo was obsessed with my race medal, and tried to take it with her. No way kid. Haha.

 
Me and Dom's post race beers.

We got back from our afternoon of delicious food (seriously one of the most amazing burgers I've ever had) and I somehow forgot about dinner. Weird. We had a super early night because early wake up + race in the sun + beer = sleep. Plus the girls had school the next day!

DFW Trip Part 1

I arrived in DFW after monstrous delays. Never have I been so thankful for a direct flight and not having to be concerned about missing my connection. I was treated to a gorgeous sunset as I arrived, and the iphone photo through a misty/dirty window doesn't do it justice.

Dominique was at the airport to pick me up and since it was several hours after dinner, she rushed me off to a delicious mexican restaurant and we met her husband there.

We went to bed pretty early and Dominique let me know that if we wanted to get in a shake out run on Saturday morning we'd have to go by 6am. Gulp. It's my vacation gurl! Somehow I got up and at 'em and she took me on a (HILLY!) tour of her 'hood. It was pitch black the whole time and hilly (did I mention hilly?). My legs felt like garbage and I called it good at 2 miles. Shake out run CHECK. Confidence boosting run.... No.

We loaded up the kids after a shower and breakfast to head over to Dallas. We met up with my family to have some lunch before my nephew's basketball game. Oh just normal aunt activities, catching my nephew's weekend basketball game, look at me! The food was good, and it was great to see my family, and apparently my phone stayed in my purse the whole time because I have zero photos. Fail.

Harrison's team won their basketball game, and it went down to the wire. Uff da. My brother lives right next to the race start and packet pick up so he was a gem and grabbed all of that fun stuff for me.

After that Dom trekked us back to Fort Worth to take in the Water Gardens.

So beautiful! But disorienting. The way they were falling down the stairs gave you that weird impression that you were somehow falling, or rising? I'm not really sure. But they were pretty. We had a lot of fun taking pictures with the kiddos.

I'm pretty much obsessed with Dom's kids. I think I even asked if Cheyenne could come back to South Dakota with me. She's the sweetest. We played a math game together on Sunday night! She loves dresses! We're too peas in a pod man.

After our water garden tour we went downtown Ft. Worth (I think....) to find some dinner.

 

Me and my new bestie Chey.

A beer and some pizza later...... I was carbed up and happy.

 

But we still had to stop and grab a mix and match six pack so I could enjoy a nice sampling of Texas beers throughout my visit. We'll not discuss the price tag on this six pack because #vacation, nor will we discuss that I left it on the trolley we took back to our vehicle, and had to wait at the trolley stop for 20 minutes with Dom's too small children late into the evening (9ish, but still!) while hoards of people were jumping on the trolley to head out and party. We won't mention that. Or the fact that I got them back, but a dude totally tried to say they were his. Turkey. And the children definitely weren't chanting, "we got the beer!" once we were successful in our venture. Remind me not to be a parent. Sorry Dom, and kids. :/

My Next Goal Race

I have been itching to get on a plane going anywhere. A couple of months ago, I had the crazy idea that I should go down to Dallas for the Dallas Marathon, take my dad along with me so he could see the family, and I could have a race weekend, see my fam and spend some much needed time with Dom! I'd priced out flights and was all ready to go, until I realized that the Dallas half registration fee was $130 this late in the game. Uh... what?! That's almost $10 per mile. Pass.

I put the idea out of my mind until I thought of the Cowtown Marathon, knowing that was one that Dominique had done previously, and it fell on the weekend before my nephew's birthday! But then I realized that race was ALSO over $100 for registration. WTF Texas. I guess everything really is bigger in texas, including race fees. Give me my $35 South Dakota half marathons any day I guess!

I accepted defeat on my southern race plans until I was bored one day and started looking through more halfs in the Dallas area. And that's when I found the Too Cold to Hold half the end of January. The flight was really reasonable, and when I approached my dad with the idea, he didn't completely turn me down. Wahoo! And the coolest part is that a good portion of the race is on White Rock Lake which is walking distance from my brother and family. Instant spectators!

Having a race in the middle of winter really helps my running motivation in the cold. Bonus points for a weekend getaway, and time with friends and family!

My fastest half in Dallas (09).

My slowest half in Dallas (12).

Easy Run + Texas Ya'll!

Monday I had to wake up early to get my run in before taking off to Dallas for a work conference.  I was supposed to get in 8 easy miles, but a) it was atrocious weather out b) I didn't want to wake up before 7am (I normally get up at 7:30-7:40 for work, 7 is EARLY! :P) c) I'm really embracing the taper.  I decided 6 would be just dandy.

I put on capris, a long sleeve, and a jacket for the first time in a LONG time (thanks for being nice lately, SoDak weather).  I love running running in the rain.  It's actually my favorite weather to run in, however, I loathe running in the cold while it's raining and the wind is gusting.  When I reached the 3 mile turn around spot the wind smacked me in the face.  It was SO COLD.  (Once I got home, I realized the wind chill was 33 degrees; that explains it.)  I tried to fit my hands into my light jacket's sleeves, but they were beyond numb by the time I got home.  Also my legs felt like they were at least 1200 lbs. a piece.  Clearly the lactic acid was still a-chillin' post 20 miler.  Holy cow.  Oh well, heavy legs equate to the easy pace I *should be* running my easy runs at. :)

I did 6 miles in 58:50 for a pace of 9:49.

After rushing around to get ready and pack it was off to the airport.  I arrived at the airport *as* my flight was boarding (oops!) was the 2nd to last one to board.  Arrived for my connecting flight as my 2nd flight was boarding.  Of course it was in Chi-town so I had to run all over the airport.  Made it, had terrible turbulence and almost barfed on the plane, and finally arrived in Dallas. :)

My brother came and picked me up shortly after I checked into my hotel and brought me back to his place so I could see my little nephew.  Being the adorable 3 year old that he is, he had to show me how he could do EVERYTHING.  And I snapped a gazillion pics in the process. Enjoy.

We're #1 obvs.

My bro and Harrison. H is literally a mini-Keith.

We both smile showing *ALL* of our teeth.  Love it.

Brings new meaning to cheese, huh?

Had to play w/the editing on this one.  He's just so cute. :)