mud stash.

This morning Dan ran The Mud Stash- a 4.5 mile race at Perfect North Slopes, weaving up and down the ski slopes and through multiple mud pits, water tanks, a zip line, climbing walls and more. He was pumped for the race and already signed up for the next one this fall. I love races a LOT, but I do not love mud so I think I'll be sitting these ones out and watching from the sidelines where it is nice and clean. 

flying pig 2013.

This morning I ran the Flying Pig Marathon Relay- my leg was just under 7 miles. 
It was painful. But then incredible. 
It's always like that for me when I run. 
I sort of hate it while I'm doing it but then when I realize what I accomplished I can't wait to do it again. 
Oh, and I'm sore. Really sore. 

I'll also mention how emotional it was at points in the race- there were a lot, a LOT of supporters, signs, running gear all paying tribute to Boston. Pretty incredible really, to see how many complete strangers can all come together to support people they don't even know, to lift each other up. I think maybe that's why I love running so much- there's nothing political or dramatic about it, just one foot in front of the other, competing against yourself and cheering for everyone around you. 

Time seems to be moving even faster than normal and this week was no exception. Between a last-minute trip to NYC, trying to squeeze in final training runs for a 7 mile race this weekend, soaking up Jackson & Audrey time and enjoying some of the most beautiful weather.... life is so crazy and it is so good. 

I was only in NYC for about 24 hours, but I'm not sure you can ever really visit that city without at least one somewhat random story. For us, this time, it involved our dinner location. We had been given the recommendation to go to a restaurant in SoHo called "La Esquina" which was supposed to be the best Mexican food in the city. 

So, before dinner I ran to the hotel to check-in since I hadn't yet had time to do that and was then going to meet my team at the restaurant. So, while I was at the hotel I looked the restaurant up on Yelp because I needed to figure out where it was located exactly. I found the address right away and then started to read a few of the reviews. Every review came with a story about how insanely hard it is to get into the restaurant, how there are these crazy door men who decide if they want to let you in or not, how the place is frequented by Beyonce and how- get this- the restaurant itself is hidden. 

On the street level it looks like a taco stand on the outside- and there is a taco stand there, but if you go inside and around the corner there is a "hidden" door to the basement. If you can get by the door men, they will let you downstairs where you are led through the kitchen, around a maze of hallways and finally to one of the most beautiful restaurants I've ever seen. I have no idea how we got in, but we did and the food was amazing. Only in New York...

By the time I got home I was exhausted- I had been up by 4:30am two days in a row to catch flights and by mid-Wednesday morning I had already been in 4 states: New York, New Jersey, Kentucky and Indiana. But, luckily these two are always ready to welcome me home- in exchange, of course, for treats from "the big city" which were actually Skittles from the airport, but JP thought they were the best thing ever anyway. 

PS: Not that it was planned to be this way, but given La Esquina's status (voted multiple times as #1 in the city, I have deemed it worthy of crossing off another 30 by 30)