Hooter Hider

I suppose it's never a dull weekend when you decide to travel. This past weekend my destination was El Paso, TX. I went there for my cousin's baby shower. While I did hope to have a good time, I wasn't expecting the idiosyncrasies I encountered. Where to begin? How about on the small prop plane that teetered us over the big state of Texas to the brown city of El Paso. In case you're 6" or taller, I would not recommend you getting on one of these planes. In fact, I dare say it impossible. My hair practically touched the ceiling of the plane when I stood up in there. And no, my hair is not that big. We landed by the grace of God and perused through the airport terminal. We had not gotten out the door when we had passed THREE Mexican restaurants. Clue #1, they eat a lot of Mexican here. We hopped in our rental car and followed our beloved Google map. The map was right, but the street names were not. I should clarify. Apparently this city uses the same name for multiple streets. This is very confusing to a newcomer who wants to BELIEVE Google, but is torn by the street names in front of them. After several u-turns and consulting another map, we determined we should head for the NEXT Mesa St. Actually, it turns out that this ONE street winds around some how and crosses the same highway TWICE. Another thing we noticed is that all of the street names either start with 'El' or end in a vowel as in 'El Dorado' or 'Escondido.' And yes, you will need to work on your Spanish accent to properly pronounce these streets. What a way to get things started. We were thankful to make it to our 1-star hotel. There was a big Wal-Mart just across the street and since it is one of my favorite places to shop (sarcasm at its best), we made a quick trip over there. It looked the same as the one across the street from my house, except for the colorful pinatas hanging from the ceilings, that is.

The shower was Saturday evening at a local country club. The place was set on a hill, so it had a beautiful view. The sun was setting when we arrived which made for some beautiful pictures. The room was colorfully decorated as was the life-size stork on the gift table. We enjoyed an authentic Mexican dinner and I even won a prize for guessing the right number of safety pins in the jar! Hard to believe I could do so well at this game. I've only played it 100 times at all the other baby showers I've attended. If I ever get to have one of my own, we'll be sure to play this game too. It's just tradition at this point. My favorite hour of the night was gift time. My cousin received many beautiful gifts, but there was one that remains imprinted in my mind. As she was pulling out what appeared to be a colorful cloth of some sort, she holds up the cloth and then says, "wait, let me practice" and she proceeds to drape the cloth on her chest. She next exclaims, "it's a hooter hider!" A what?! I had never heard of such a thing. Apparently, she wasn't making this up. The cloth that nursing women drape over themselves so as not to show off their milk-bearing appendages is called a hooter hider. I had no idea. I learned a new vocab word. I love just saying it as my tongue gets twisted. I enjoyed many giggles out of that one.

Needless to say the weekend was filled with quite a few surprises and a lot of fun. I am not sure that I am ready to run back to the dry, brown hills of El Paso, but I definitely made some lasting memories there.

My Fifth Marathon

A short five weeks ago, I shared my trying story of running a marathon while having the flu. In retrospect, yes, that was a bit crazy. At the time, it seemed very logical. About two weeks after that fiasco, I decided I would do another one. I really wanted to find out how well I could do under healthy conditions. This proved to be a bit tricky as I didn't want to travel far and wanted to do one relatively soon. I hose the Mardi Gras marathon in New Orleans. Though it is a small race, it boasted a flat, fast course. My plan was to do one long ~20 mile run before the race and just try to maintain my speed as much as possible. One week out, I felt strong and ready.

I was monitoring the weather by the hour almost starting 7 days out. I could sign up the day before, so I decided I would only run if it was a good weather day. For a marathon, this means, temps in the 50s or below, no rain, and no wind. This is pretty much what they were forecasting, so by Wednesday I decided I would run for sure. The plan was to leave early on Saturday to get to New Orleans by early afternoon. I took my fan club with me (like they would stay home) and we made it to New Orleans a short 6 hours later. I'll spare you the details of the road construction, accidents, and standstill traffic conditions along the way. We went straight to the expo, signed up for the race, and then headed to our hotel. We ended up eating at the Hard Rock Cafe, an unlikely choice in the French Quarter. The grilled chicken salad was great, but I would have much preferred the scrumptious hamburger my parents ate. I figured I could have one after the race. Our hotel was conveniently located near the Superdome, which is where the race began and ended. However I didn't realize that it was also right next to an all-night dance club. Little did we know. Apparently there was loud music just outside our window all night. I don't know because I managed to sleep through all of that. I did hear voices of people laughing and talking when I awakened at 5:15 the next morning. They were just leaving the night club at that point. Nice.

I felt good that morning. The weather was perfect and I was excited to race again. There were about 1500 marathoners, so I was able to get a good spot near the front for the start. We lunged forward as a group when the gun went off. I sailed through the first few miles at a fast clip. A bit too fast, I admit. I was caught up with the crowd and feeling good and seeing all the sights of the French Quarter. By mile 5, I realized that I was keeping at 8 minute/mile pace. That is just a bit too fast for me. My goal was to average an 8:24 pace in order to qualify for Boston. Really, I just wanted to improve my time from last year, which was a 3:52. So, at that point I tried slowing down a bit. But every time I looked down at my watch (a Garmin that gives me sort of accurate pace information as well as distance via GPS), I was still holding close to 8 min/mile. Well, I thought I'll just hold on for as long as I can keep this up. The sights were beautiful. We ran through two parks. There were plenty of spectators for the first 16 miles. Every one from the all-nighters on Bourbon Street to grandpa in his pajamas came out to cheer us on. It was quite entertaining. I started to wane around mile 16. I climbed a mountain at mile 17 (really just an overpass). I almost twisted my ankle at mile 18. I took a last swig of Gatorade and downed some jelly beans at mile 19. I was starting to think that maybe I could hit the 3:40 goal. My calculations indicated that I just needed to hold a 9 min/mile pace in order to make that. Easier said than done. My energy quickly left me and I had to fight for every step in the remaining 6 miles. I was just done and wanted to stop badly. I kept telling my self that stopping was not an option! Unfortunately, I got slower with every mile. I wasn't able to pick it up until the very end when I finally saw the Superdome again. I turned the last corner to run the last ~200 yards in. I looked up and saw 3:41 on the board. I took a deep breath and charged to the finish line. Every thing in my body hurt and I felt like I could pass out at any moment. But alas, I crossed the finish line, arms in the air, victorious once again. I was overcome at finishing in 3:41:48. While I just missed the qualifying time of 3:40 I was ecstatic at shattering my previous best by 11 minutes. Praise the Lord! It was awesome.

In the after glow of such a race, I am sore and content. I know now that I have 3:40 within my reach. I don't know when I'll attempt it again, but for now I am okay with taking a week off and enjoying the sweet victory.

Stretching before the race.

My loyal fan club.

A very happy finish.

Toys that make you laugh

I don't often go out with my dog. I should more often. It brings much adventure and laughter. Let me explain. I have a small, white bichon frise. In case you're not familiar, that's him in the picture. Cute, right? Well, he thinks so. His name is Snow. So, we took him to get some ice cream. Okay, let me re-phrase, we went to get some ice cream, he came with us and ended up eating some too. While we were sitting outside with Snow, a woman and small girl walked up to us. The little girl was about 5. Her mom (I presume) said, ask the lady if you can pet the puppy. Snow is beyong puppy stage, btw. So, the little girl starts petting Snow. He behaves very well and even blesses her with a couple of doggy licks. The little girl seems to be enjoying all of this. And then out of nowhere, poses the question. "What is that on his belly?" At this point, I freeze, thinking "surely she doesn't mean his male-piece, does she?" But what else is on his belly? I stay silent as she asks the question again. At this point I am fearful that my mom is going to explain to the little girl just what is on his belly. Thankfully, the mother jumps in and says, "Honey, that's just a toy. Come on now, it's time to go." Well, as soon as they walked off, my mother and I bust out laughing! A toy! Yep, I suppose it is a toy. I never quite thought of it that way. What's worse is that poor little Snow never got to use his toy (was that a TMI?). But at least the mom didn't lie to her daughter, she just didn't tell her the whole story. Not sure what I would have said. Maybe I will use that line one day.

Houston Marathon

I learned a lesson this week. Your first goal when running a marathon should always be to finish. It is too big of a physical endeavor for anything less. I spent the 3 days before the marathon sick in bed. I came down with the flu on Wednesday at work. While I tried my best with lots of rest, it apparently took a lot out of me. Even yesterday I was still plagued with serious congestion. I couldn't breathe out of my nose at all! Thanks to my friend Rhonda, who suggested I try Claritin-D. It worked liked magic and I realized around 1:30 this morning that I would be able to breathe normally again. I awakened feeling refreshed and energized (lots of adrenaline was pumping). As I began the race, I felt fine. But by mile 3 I knew I was in trouble. I was trying to keep my original goal pace, but it was just too fast. I was already tired. Too keep this short ( :-) ), I'll tell you things came to a head at mile 13. I thought I was going to pass out if I had to run up this overpass, so I walked it. A blessing in disguise! I felt much better and decided I would just take it slow the rest of the race. So, I finished the race at a nice trot. It was a struggle every step of the way. It's too bad I was not able to enjoy the run as much this year. But I am extremely thankful for my 4 hour finish. I couldn't have done it without the Lord's strength as I had none of my own. Thanks for all your prayers and support.

I'll let you know when my next one will be as I haven't decided that yet. :-)

You never know

I suppose when people look at me they don't automatically think to themselves, "I bet she speaks Spanish." In high school, I used to battle with friends and other students trying to convince them that yes, in fact, I was fluent in Spanish. Well, just recently a couple of events have happened which point to the notion that perhaps you shouldn't just talk about someone right in front of them in another language. They could understand you!

The first incident was at work. I was there late as usual and it was trash day. Now typically they come by, empty your trash can, and vacuum your office (if you're not there). If you are there, they ask if you want your office to be vacuumed. Of course, this assumes that you are in an office, which I am no longer, but you'll have to wait until the next post to hear about that one. So, back to the story. There was quite a bit of scrap/trash in the hallway because everyone was cleaning out their offices. Three people come by to pick up the trash that day. Does it really take 3 people to do this? Anyway, they sort of ask if the pile in the hallway is trash. Three of us in the offices right around there respond yes. But for some reason they look at me as if I am the one deciding this. I repeat (in English), yes this is trash. So what does the little crew proceed to do? They look at each other and one of them says in Spanish, "she doesn't know what she's talking about. That's not trash." Now at this point, I was already seated back in my chair. If I were a bit more confrontational or cared at all what these people thought, perhaps I could have shot back, "Si, yo se de lo que estoy hablando y eso es BASURA." But no, Holy Spirit in charge, I held my tongue. Personally, I think it was an easy out that resulted in less work for them. But what do I know?

Now lets shift the scene to the car wash place. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon. I got the afternoon off and decided to run some errands. It was so nice to sit outside while I waited for my car to be washed. Once the two ladies drying my car were done, they waved the towel in the air and beckoned me over. I soon got up and started walking toward them. I look at the one extending a receipt toward me and smile big. I get a smile in return while at the same time she says to the woman next to her, "Asi quiero estar yo. Quiero estar haci de flaca." Translation: "That's how I want to be. That's how skinny I want to be." Now while this comment about me was more flattering than the previous, why do they assume that I won't understand what they're saying???

It's really a strange thing. I suppose that it would be less probable walking into a nail salon and expecting to understand the Vietnamese flying around me at record pace. But Spanish is a pretty common language. And even if you're not from a Spanish-speaking country or have parents that are, there is still a good chance that you speak it. So, my little advice to those out there. Be careful of what you say. You never know who understands what you are saying.

High School Musical 2

I can't say that I spend much time watching the Disney channel. And before last Friday, I had no idea what High School Musical was. Well, I got a crash course in this latest craze. I heard about it first on the radio. They were announcing the release of the new movie that evening. I heard that teachers across America were planning movie parties for their students and that kids everywhere were going to be glued to their TVs that night. I wondered what all the hype was about? It's just another Disney movie, right? On Friday night, I went to church to help out with our Girls Night. This is basically an all-night retreat (like a lock-in) we do for all the junior high and high school girls. The kids were excited because someone was going to be DVR/Tivo the movie and then bring it up to the church so they could watch it later that night. Well, I didn't stay for all the into-the-wee-hours-of-the-morning activities, so I didn't actually see it that night. Bu fortunately for me, Disney decided to air the movie multiple times throughout the weekend. I finally saw it Sunday evening. I was only going to watch so that I could stay in the loop with the latest craze in the lives of high school students. Therefore, my expectations were pretty low. But I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. It was a cute movie, funny at times, and had some catchy tunes. The movie was totally clean, which was nice to see. I was pleased to see some quality programming on TV. Now, of course, I want to learn the cheesy little songs. And I want to see the first movie (High School Musical). It comes on in a couple days, so I'll definitely have to DVR it! By the way, my favorite song was "You are the music in me."

Google's Street View

I recently discovered one of Google's latest inventions. It's called Street View and is available on the Google Maps webpage. It's nice in that in contrast to Google Earth, you don't have to download anything to your computer to see it. For cities that have been photographed, you can see real photo images of streets and intersections. It looks like Google goes around and takes pictures at every intersection and along every street. You see everything from buildings to sidewalks to people and cars. So far only NYC, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami, and the great city of Houston have been photographed. It is very cool in that it allows you to see a 360 view of any particular street. You can also traverse the street in any direction. But the funniest thing I have discovered about this is a blog that keeps track of funny pictures that get posted on Street View. Here's the link to that site:
http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-06-03-n48.html
My personal favorite is the guy "caught taking a leak." There's just no privacy anymore! ((-*

Enjoy!