Wedding Weekends...

Falling in love – again. Its wedding season, and I believe every year there are more and more weddings to go to. Is this part of growing up, or something to do with the population boom? This past weekend Steve and I were lucky to be a part of Fred and Kassi’s wedding. Fred is Steve’s childhood buddy, and as best man in our wedding and Steve in theirs (tit for tat), Steve had the honor of not only giving a speech, but also reading during the wedding. It’s a little ironic I guess, but my friend Mara told me (at her wedding earlier this year); weddings are usually more sentimental and meaningful to the people who are already married. When you get down to the vows, and the readings and the speeches… it all means a little bit more when you can put them into context with your own experience and relationship. That is definitely true – but it was something else about this wedding that made me realize how lucky I am. I think in the day to day rituals of life, you see your partner in a certain way. I see Steve on the couch, or mowing the lawn, or going off to work. I see him at soccer games, playing with the dog, or going out to eat. When you see something new and interesting that little part of your brain goes “oh yeah, I forgot about that… he really is great!”. Steve gave a wonderful reading and speech – pausing at the right moments, smiling at the crowd. When I confessed that I was impressed with his articulation Steve simply said “um, yeah – I was the “reader” in high school ‘cause I’m so great at it.” (back to typical Steve – I guess the star can only burn so bright for so long). I don’t know if it’s the season, or the weddings, or perhaps its just settling into the routine of an old married couple (we’ve started playing games of Scrabble at night, and I’ve quickly become out-matched- Steve got 87 points off the word Booze the other night!) but whatever it is, I realize how very lucky I am to have someone so funny and caring in my life. Oh, and the other really fun thing about the wedding this weekend – they had a photo-booth. I highly recommend this to anyone thinking about it. Photo-booths rule!

The old High-school gang at Mara and Eric's wedding.

26.2 Marathoning Miles

Everyone runs [walks, crawls, jogs, suffers through] a marathon for a different reason. For some it’s the purple shit. The masses that raise money for a cause greater than themselves… Some run for time, or glory, or money (um, not me). For some the run is to prove – I am capable, I can do this. Guess which runner I am? I AM capable. I did it! On May 31st for about 5 hours I ran 26.2 miles in San Diego, California. I got to finally cross “run a marathon” off my list. But crossing it off hasn’t taken future marathons off the radar. I haven’t resigned myself to gym classes or yoga and soccer as my only outlet. Quite the contrary, running a marathon has instead made me more determined. I’m hooked!

So, I finished and survived that one… now I need to do the next one faster! Sure, I went out and made a bunch of rookie mistakes. Things I knew I shouldn’t be doing but couldn’t stop because of the excitement and nerves of the day. First half too fast – weaving in and out of all these purple shirts and walkers in the middle of the road. Getting frustrated by a leg cramp on a hill at mile 18; thinking those last 6 miles after running 20 were the longest miles I’ve ever run. I bumped up my training by a month when I found out Seattle was sold out and parking was the disaster they said it was going to be, almost making me late to the start. Port-o-potty line does indeed cause me to miss the start! But these aren’t excuses for my time, just events and lessons to help me in my next race. October 18th in San Francisco! So the training begins again, and this time I’ll be a little smarter, a little more prepared and hopefully a little faster. But, like John Bingham, a contributor to Runner’s world wrote “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”

John Wayne and I before the big race at the OC Airport.

Also, a special shout out to AnGayle Vasiliou - who was

the best support crew over the Marathon weekend!

Flight of the Conchords - Red Rocks

May 16th, 2009 - Steve and I went to one of the best concerts of our lives. First of all it was at Red Rocks, which is this incredible geologically formed, open-air Amphitheatre. Its gorgeous with spectacular views, despite the hiking involved in getting there. The atmosphere is very laid back, and everyone is always super chill and in a great mood. Secondly, we went to see Flight of the Conchords. (Note the super cool concert poster by Guy Burwell!) Now, unless you watch the series on HBO, you’re probably not very familiar with the parody rock band from New Zealand. Brett and Jermaine are pretty funny themselves… but their songs are endearing, hilarious and a little tongue in cheek. If you get a chance to see them live, I highly recommend it. And if you don’t – check out this great rendition of “The Humans are Dead” from Red Rocks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4yvhQXW6kU

The Concert Views at Red Rocks.