New Shoes

I’m super excited about this post because I get to tell you about my new shoes!

I have plenty of shoes already but yesterday Jon took me to get a new pair of running shoes! My last pair I bought at the beginning of 2009 as I was training for the La Jolla Half Marathon. Since that time I’ve run countless amounts of miles including training for and running the Nerstrand Big Woods Run last fall. I think it was time for some new shoes. So we went to The Running Room on Grand Ave and started trying on shoes. I think The Running Room is the best place to get shoes. Every time I’ve gone there to get a new pair they are so focused on getting me shoes that will fit my feet that they even bring me shoes on clearance. I really appreciate that.

These are the shoes that I got! Aren’t they pretty?!?!

Thankfully they were cheap too! So that makes them even better!

I went for my daily run last night to break them in and shaved 30 seconds off each mile! I’m giving all that credit to my new shoes considering all I ate yesterday was pizza, doughnuts and pop - those foods will not help me run faster.

Overall our trip was successful. Jon even got a great pair of walking shoes! We are all set to get outside and get some exercise!

Dad's Birthday

My Dad's birthday was a few weeks ago but we decided to celebrate last Saturday. Since it was his 60th birthday we decided to go all out.

We started the afternoon off with a matinee showing of "A Christmas Carol". The play this year was actually really good. They threw in more humor and the set looked awesome! The actors are obviously the ones who pulled the play together but it is still nice to have a good looking stage and props to make the play more exciting.

Since we had time between the play and dinner we wandered around the Guthrie and took some photos.

Then we headed to The Oceanaire for dinner. Jon and I were the only ones who had not been to this restaurant yet so it was a fun new experience for us. The food was amazing! Seriously. Usually there is one item that I could do without but ALL the food we got was awesome and full of flavor! This place is definitely in my top ten.

We stuffed ourselves full and then they brought out dessert...

It was a really fun night and Dad seemed to enjoy himself so I think we did a good job celebrating this year.

Portland

On October 17th, I flew out to Portland, Oregon to hang out with Jon. Jon was there for work and I like to explore so I came too. I explored the city while Jon was working and then explored with him once he was done working.

I would say that the most eventful time during this week was when I got off the plane and I had a call from a recruiter at Target. She was calling to offer me a JOB! So she offered me the job and I ran all over the city trying to get my drug test done within 24hours. But I got it in and then had to call my other job to put in my two weeks... that was a hard phone call and not the way I would like to end a job but I did what I had to do and now I have a fancy new job downtown and closer to home.

The rest of the week I relaxed, read a couple of books and drank a lot of coffee. Just my kind of week. Plus it was nice to get a vacation in before the new job. At night, Jon and I would walk around the city.

One night we found this really good bewery that not only had good beer but awesome food.

Of course we had to go to Voodoo Donuts too!

The last day we rented a car and drove outside the city and found a bunch of beatiful waterfalls.

Haha!

Half Marathon

I didn't get far in telling you how training was going for my half marathon and I'm not about to go into detail about it now. I'll just say that there were a lot of ups and downs and good weeks and bad weeks but in the end I did it and have no real injuries from it.

The race took place on October 15th at 9am. We live just over an hour away from the race so Jon and I got up early, packed up the car and headed there. I was really nervous because the longest run I actually run in my training was 8 miles and I was about to run 13! Also the 2 weeks before the race were super busy with Holly's wedding, friends and nursing injuries that we didn't really have the chance to train.

Jon was super excited for me and a great support through the whole process. He trained with me, cheered me on and was totally cool with sitting in the car for 2 hours as I ran. He also kept taking random photos of me...

and making me pose...

Since I was running by myself and didn't have a watch on me. I did my best to keep in pace with others around me who looked like they knew what they were doing. For the first 8 miles I kept close to some guys who I later found out were keeping pace at 10 minute miles! That surprised me, since I was pretty sure I would run about 11 or 12 minute miles. I figured if I've run this far with them already then I might as well try and keep running with them.

The course was hilly. Which I don't mind because for me going up hills is easy, it's the down hills kill my knee. From years of playing volleyball and falling on my knees, they begin to hurt when it's cold or I'm going downhill. So where everyone else speeds up on the downhills, I slow down and speed up on the uphills. There was one particular downhill that made me slow down so much that I lost the guys I was pacing myself with. At this moment I actually found myself pretty much running by myself through the woods.

It was beautiful.

This race has always just given me so much energy and excitement while running. Just seeing the beautiful colors and breathing in the fresh air. It's awesome.
I really wanted to stop and enjoy the view but I also wanted to keep my time and so I picked a woman wearing purple in front of me and made it my goal to catch her. But like I said before, going downhill hurts, I would start to get close to her and then we would go down a downhill and I would loose her again.

The last mile is on a paved road and I was still trying to catch the lady in purple. When I guy and girl ran up beside me. I told them "good job" and the guy said "We've been trying to catch you for awhile but you just shot up those hills!" I laughed and told them I was trying to catch the lady in purple and for the last mile the 3 of us ran together trying to catch that lady. I was nice to have someone to push myself against at the end.

As I neared the finish line, I searched for but could not find Jon and I realized that I probably was going to finish faster than I told him I would. I told him to be there after 2hrs and 20 min. and when I crossed the finish line I was at 2 hr and 15min. I crossed the line and turned around and there was Jon coming up to the road to wait for me. Missed me by a minute. He was super bummed about that but it was so nice to have him there because he had warm cloths, food and poweraid for me.

I felt really good after my race and even the few days after so that's a positive sign. The only thing that hurts is a nice big blood blister I've got on my toe.

Holly's Wedding

Jon's little sister got married October 7th! It was an eventful time so I'm going to try and sum everything up but I might miss some things and I'm sorry if I do.

The wedding was at the Profile Event Center in Minneapolis. It was a really nice venue and they were actually able to have the ceremony and reception in the same location, which I think was really cool.

The day started with me getting my hair done at the Aveda Insitute and then meeting Jon and heading over to the event center together. We got there, got dressed and ready and then went and took pictures at the Stone Arch Bridge area. It was an extremely windy day so we didn't stay out there long. We got back, took more pictures and then waited for the ceremony to start.

Jon and I walked out first and stood at the ends. The ceremony was only to last about 20 min - which should be easy right? Well do you want to know what happens when I don't get enough food or water in me?

That's right I fainted... twice. Never fainted before in my life. The second time I was apparently out for a little bit because I woke up and I was in Jon's arms and I was feeling extremely bad that I was causing all this commotion at Holly's wedding. They got me a chair and water and Jon stood next to me for the rest of the ceremony.

The ceremony, other than the part where I fainted, was actually really nice. The pastor talked about when you say "I do" you also say "I don't" to a lot of things. I had never heard it put in those words before so I thought he did a good job.

The food was really good (or I was just really hungry) and then there was ice cream and dancing. Jon was actually having so much fun and getting into it that he sprained his ankle.

Overall the wedding was a ton of fun but also hard on our bodies. Thankfully it was on a Friday so we had the rest of the weekend to recover.

A Larson Thanksgiving

I cooked my first Turkey yesterday! It turned out perfect... took a little longer than planned but it was perfect. All I made was a salad, a turkey and mashed potatoes. And everyone brought a side dish or dessert. This made things a lot easier for me and I think everyone liked being able to contribute.

Pictures!

Lutsen

**These next few posts are basically me trying to catch you up on all that's happened this month.**

3 weekends ago, Jon took me away for a relaxing romantic time with him!

Friday we left work early and drove a few hours north to Lusten, MN. Jon had gotten a great deal on a 2 night, 3 day package at the Eagle Ridge Resort. Not only did we get an awesome suite but we also got Dinner, Lunch, a gondola ride and Alpine Slide pass. We arrived at the resort just after sunset. We checked in and then headed straight to the restaurant since we had not eaten since lunch. The atmosphere wasn’t anything to brag about, neither was the food. But the service was awesome and so was the deal we got on dinner! We both ordered the most expensive meal. I got a cocktail and Jon got unlimited pop and all we had to pay was the tax and tip – came to about $15. My father-in-law would be so proud.

Now our suite was the ultimate relaxation suite I’ve ever stayed in. We had a full kitchen, fireplace, beautiful view overlooking the mountain (couldn’t even see any other rooms or people walking around) and a Jacuzzi in the sitting room! Basically we spent all our time sitting in the Jacuzzi looking out over the view and feeling the warmth from the fireplace. It was perfect!

Saturday we slept in and then decided to go exploring. We hiked a little and then decided to try out the Alpine Slide.  We each got 5 turns. To get to the top we got to use a chair-lift. It was Jon’s first time on a chair lift so that was fun getting to teach him how to get on and off it, and seeing him get excited when we would get to a high spot with a cool view. The slide was awesome! Jon went super fast and I could never catch him. But I think that might be because I’m a lot lighter and I would slow down around corners because I was afraid to fly off.

Around noon we took the gondola ride up to the top of the mountain and had lunch (with our free lunch voucher of course). The food was really good. Jon got a soda with his meal, then got up and got another one, then got up and got hot chocolate and then we went outside took some pictures and he went back and got more… and on and on. Haha I didn’t mind though cause it was keeping my hands warm while he went exploring.

It was the perfect time of year to go to see all the colors. Check out these pictures.