My Route 66 Roadtrip

So last week one of my BFFs came to visit.  Carly used to work here many moons ago but now is back in her hometown of Minneapolis... but I periodically convince her to come back to Tulsa to visit. 

This time when she came we drove to Oklahoma City along Route 66... if you follow me on Twitter you've seen these pics... if not... enjoy.

Happy Burger in Sapulpa.  Love this sign.

We checked out the abandoned TeePee Drive in also in Sapulpa and I stole this C from the old marquee letters. 
Carly also snagged a letter for herself.

We stopped at the Rock Cafe in Stroud for lunch.
I went off the vegan for the road trip so I had a grilled cheese.
Delicious.

An original gas station along Route 66.

Carly in action snapping photos.
You can't take the photog out of the girl.

The Round Barn in Arcadia.  So cool. 
I also bought a bitchin' squirrel vase while I was there.

Made it to OKC and found the Banjo Museum.  I want to go to there with Steve Martin.

Flaming Lips!

Vince Gill!

Pops!  Stopped for ice cream and soda.  Amazeballs.

Route 66 Marathon #fail

So as many of you know... I was training for the Route 66 Marathon, feeling good about my time and had even run a practice 5k without injury... so the morning of the actual run I was excited and anxious to get going.

I met up with my running buddies and headed to the race, a little tired from the Brad Paisley concert the night before... but super excited to finally hit the pavement.

Look at us... so hopeful... full of promise...
 
Then we started running and Adam and I took off and I ran a little faster than I normally do cause I let peer pressure impact my pace at races.  I'm lame like that.
 
After the first mile my calf started cramping... not a good thing.  We stopped to stretch out my leg and walked a bit to straighten out the kink, but it didn't work and I started walking funny because of the cramp... which then made my knee start hurting.. which made me feel like a gimp... and in the end I stopped.
 
I knew I couldn't run two more miles on a cramping calf or with a popping knee, so I turned around and made my way back to the starting line pissed off and whining to Mems on the phone about it.  But there will be other races.. and I'll keep at it. 
 
So the positive... some pics I posted after I got back to the start of the race.

Adam dancing to Lady Gaga on the speakers while he and Andy shot his story for the day.

A can of Four Loko tossed aside after a runner guzzled it along the route.

A little girl proudly holding her medal after finishing the 5k.

An attractive man in orange shorts bending over.

The same attractive man bending over from a different angle. 



Adam walking past an attractive man in shorts.

I was back on the treadmill again last night and my leg was okay... knee a little creaky but I did 2 miles and stretched out... will be back on in the morning to keep at it.  

One thing I know I need to work on is not trying to keep up with the pack on a race day... but to run at my own pace... even if it's a slow fucking pace.

Hopefully a winter of treadmill running will make that happen.

Surprising Myself

I'm not sure if you guys have noticed, but I haven't been running too much lately. I've mainly been working on my diet and doing Body Pump and walking. But I decided to sign up for a leg of the Route 66 Marathon with my peeps at work.

So now I have to run a 6k in about 10 weeks. I decided to guage my running readiness before Body Pump class. I had 20 minutes and hopped on the treadmill and just started running to see how my endurance held up. Surprisingly I ran the full 20 minutes with no pain and no stopping. Typically my knee starts to kill me and I have to alternate with walking.

So I'm chalking it up to Body Pump helping my knee by working the muscles around it more. Or I just overnight became a running fiend. As long as it makes me look better in jeans I don't really care.