I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll All Night...

Hello all, I'm sorry it has been a while since my last post, but a lot has been going on.  For the past two years I have been slowly but surely working on my Master's degree through UW, and this summer was spent finishing up my very last class.  Now it was an online class, so I was able to still enjoy my summer and not have to be suck in a classroom for hours every day.  However, it was an English class, so it felt like I was constantly reading books (6 full children's novels and over 20 different fairy tales) and writing papers (8 to be exact).  Well, I just turned in the 8th paper last week, and scheduled my final for the following Tuesday, which just happened to be last night.  I studied extremely hard, wanting to end my Master's program on a high note, and I was so nervous last night that I even arrived at the testing center over an hour early.  Thankfully, they let me start the test early rather than just sit there and stew.  So I got into the exam room, sat down, started to look over my 20 short answer essay test...and realized that I had studied all of the wrong things! :(  I did the best I could, but I have a feeling that my professor is going to go to grade my final and think that I simply read the Cliff Notes for all of the stories (which I categorically did NOT do, I diligently read every single story assigned).  There's unfortunately nothing I can do about it now, I just have to hope that I did better than I think, and at least get a high enough grade to have the class count toward my Master's so that I can finally be done!

Ok, on to happier things...as I mentioned in a previous post, in July, I celebrated my 28th birthday by running my first ever half marathon with my good friend Leila.  During the race I actually felt really good, even though the course was extremely hilly and 13.1 miles is a long way for most people to run.  And as I continued to think about the race after I was done running it, I realized that I really enjoyed the 13.1 mile distance...I felt like I could keep up a pretty good pace without hitting the inevitable wall that happens during a full marathon. Ever since that race, I feel like all I've been doing is looking for fun half marathons to run.  I've found several that look just awesome, and hopefully I'll be able to work a few of them into my schedule next year.

The first set of races that have caught my eye are several from the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series.  For those of us who enjoy running races in large part for the swag (finisher's shirts, medals, after parties), this particular series offers special finisher's medals for people who complete more than one of their races in a calendar year.  This idea intrigued me, so I started looking at their "Tour Dates", and happily found that they are doing an inaugural half marathon in Portland in May 2012.

I've always wanted to run the very first race of some kind, and it's a half marathon, so I'm sold...will be signing up for that one shortly!  I kept looking through the list and discovered that, a month later, at the end of June (in fact, it happens the weekend after the school year ends, so it's perfect!), is the series's half/full marathon in Seattle.

I have yet to run anything longer than a 10K in the Seattle/Tacoma area, and I've lived here for 6 years now, so this seems the perfect opportunity!  These races both seemed perfect because I wouldn't have to travel far (it's only a couple hours to Portland after all) and I wouldn't have any expenses for hotels (since I know great people in Portland) so really, the only thing I'd have to worry about would be the race entrance fees.  Done and done!  But as I continued to look through the list, there was one race that, no matter the travel expenses, just seems too fun to pass up...and that's the series's half/full marathon in December that is in Las Vegas...on the strip...at night!

How cool does that sound?!?!?!?!  Running a half marathon along the strip in the evening when all of the casinos are lit up, with drunken gamblers cheering you on the whole way...count me in!  And the best part is that, on top of the finisher's medals that I'll receive at each individual race, I'll also get the Triple Crown medal for running three Rock 'n' Roll races in one year!

So, all I want to know is...who's going to run these with me next year?

Also, what motivates you to run a long race?

My First Adventures in Cross Country Coaching!

This week was the first week of practice for Fall Sports at the high school I teach at.  And that could only mean one thing...cross country practice started.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous about the first practice.  The reason for my timid attitude was that I knew the head coach always went on the runs with the kids, meaning that, as the assistant coach, I would also be expected to go on the runs with the kids.  Now, don't get me wrong, I love to run.  But I love to run at my own pace (which trust me, much to my chagrin, isn't going to be qualifying me for Boston any time soon), and I don't particularly enjoy having others watch me struggle to keep up, especially when those 'others' happen to be my own students.  In the week leading up to the first practice, I even had nightmares about all the kids zooming ahead of me while I wheezed and huffed and puffed, trying in vain to catch up, but never getting even close.

I finally decided to use my 'glass is half full' approach, and figured that there were bound to be first-timers and slower kids who I could run with, while the head coach kept pace with the faster runners.  And if worst came to worst, I could always tell the kids that I was going to bring up the rear, and their job was to stay ahead of me, because if I caught up to them, we as coaches would know they were dogging it!  Ok, plan in place...until I showed up Monday morning and the only kid with his physical done, and therefore cleared to practice, is the fastest kid on the team.  So it's the head coach (a seasoned runner), the fastest kid, and me...grrrrrreeeeaaattt!  We start the run, and I'm assuming the worst, just waiting for them to leave me in the dust.  So imagine my surprise when, a mile into the run, they're still beside me and I haven't been left behind.  Granted, I think for the first practice with only one kid, the head coach decided to take it easy, but still, it made me feel a lot better about coming back for the second practice.  The next day, a couple more kids had cleared, so it was now the head coach (experienced), the four fastest runners on the team (experienced), and me (amateur).  We headed to one of the local parks to do a trail run, and I could at least console myself with the knowledge that trails are narrow, and odds were we would have to run in a single file line, so being at the back wouldn't be as big of a deal.

We got going, and to my supreme surprise, I was again able to keep up.  Now it is very possible that the head coach had a meeting with the kids informing them of how slow I was and that they were not allowed to make me look foolish by leaving me too far behind, but my ego would like to believe that it was just the fact that I'm not in as bad of shape as my mind thinks I am.  There were even several blackberry bushes along the route, and we had a good time randomly picking berries and snacking throughout the run to keep our sugar levels up.

Needless to say, these two runs had given me a little more confidence that I could at least keep up with the kids on the average day of practice.  I wasn't delusional enough to believe I had transformed into Nick Symmonds (Olympic runner I went to high school with)...

...but I was starting to at least believe that maybe I've turned into an ok runner after all.

Wednesday, we headed to Anderson Island on the ferry for a team building day.  I woke up thinking "this is going to be a fun little field trip", and I was so excited that I wore my new Brooks running shirt that Michael got me for my birthday (it's got the logo for the Rock 'N' Roll Marathon Series logo on it) and my new Asics Gel Nimbus 13 running shoes and Thorlo running socks.

Don't worry, I was also wearing pants, they just weren't new enough/exciting enough to mention or take a picture of.

Little did I know that those 10 words were about to jinx us royally.  The second we drove off the ferry and onto the Island, we immediately proceeded to get lost for 45 minutes trying to find the trail the head coach wanted the kids to run.  I swear we must have driven up and down the same road six or seven times, only to find out (when we finally stopped to ask for directions) that we kept turning around about 200 yards before coming to the right road.  Then once we started our run, both the head coach and one of the girls got bitten by wasps as we ran along the trail.  Thankfully, the kid who is deathly allergic to bees didn't get stung, so we were able to keep running and the trail wound us through the woods, and eventually ended at the beach, which was littered with hundreds of intact, whole sand dollars.  I decided to take home a few (the kids were nice enough to put them in their pockets so I wouldn't have to carry them all on our hike back to the van).

After the run, we drove to a little park to have lunch and play a few games.  The kids had asked me to bring a volleyball with me, and they proceeded to start up a game.  They asked me to join them, and when I agreed, one of them tossed me the ball so that I could have a turn serving.  There must have been a bee on the ball when she tossed it to me, because the second I caught the volleyball, I immediately got stung.  Now, this is only the second time in my entire life that I have been stung by a bee (the first time was almost 9 years ago), but both stupid bees managed to sting me in the EXACT same place: the side of my knuckle on my right middle finger.  My finger swelled to about twice it's size, and my entire hand throbbed until I went to bed that night.  You might be thinking that our quota for bad luck on one trip had been all used up...but you would be wrong.  As we were leaving the park to head to the beach, the head coach didn't realize that one of the kids was getting something out of the back of the van, and started to reverse.  Luckily, I had looked back and started yelling "stop stop stop stop", so he slammed on the brakes and avoided hitting him...scared the kid quite a bit though, and I doubt any of the runners will mess around at the back of any school van the head coach is driving again.  Oh the bad luck isn't over yet!  Once we got to the beach, so many of us had been stung/bitten by bees/wasps that the head coach decided he'd better acquaint himself with the epi pen (shoots epinephrine into the person so that they don't immediately swell up and you have time to get them to the hospital) for the runner who is allergic to bees.  He was trying to figure out how to use it, when he accidentally stuck himself in the thumb with the epi pen.  He pulled it out quickly, but the damage had been done.  The warning packet that comes with the pen said that if you shoot yourself in one of your digits, you should go to the emergency room immediately, but the head coach didn't want to ruin the trip, so he just continually swung his arm around in a windmill like motion to keep the blood flowing to his hand (he got enough blood flow back that we didn't have to rush him to the hospital).  Thankfully, karma had decided that we'd had enough bad luck for one day, and the ferry ride back to the mainland, and the following van ride back to the school were delightfully uneventful.

Tomorrow is the last practice for the week, and I have to say, it will be nice to have the first week of practice under my belt.  And while I enjoy running with the kids, I must say I'm looking forward to my runs this weekend where it will be just me, my i-pod, and the road!

Do you prefer to run on your own, or with others?      

No Bear Spray Required...But We Might Need a New Bus!

Ok, I know that I've been MIA for the past couple of days, but I promise that I have a great story to make up for it.  Along with being an assistant cross country coach and an assistant track coach at the school I teach at, I also somehow got suckered into being a co-adviser for the prom committee with my friend Jessica (who is also a teacher/swim coach at the high school).  You might ask why we agreed to take on as big a commitment as prom when we have so many other things we do at the school, and the only possible response I have to give is that we are stupid!  So, at the end of last school year, the ASB adviser came to us and said that we could have our own block of time to meet with the Juniors to get a head start for planning prom this year...if we came along and chaperoned the back to school ASB Leadership Retreat.  Now you might be thinking to yourself, they already do so much, they wouldn't give up a weekend in their summer simply to have a couple hours to talk about an event that technically isn't happening until sometime in May/June.  Well, as I mentioned before, we're stupid!!!  And so our story begins...

Friday, I showed up at school with all the items from my packing list (oh yes, there was a packing list...I was heading to freaking summer camp) trying to conjure up a positive attitude despite the fact that I was spending one of the last weekends of my summer heading to the middle of the woods with 22 high school students where there was absolutely zero cell reception for miles.  The smile was a little easier to plaster on my face when I saw Jessica, and knew that I at least wouldn't be alone in my misery.  The big yellow school bus showed up, we loaded up the kids and all their stuff, and away we went.

The Leadership Retreat was being held at Cispus Learning Center near Randall, WA, and we got to drive through some beautiful spots along the way, with Mt. Rainier in sight for a good chunk of time.  But as we got closer and closer to our destination, we started to get into some densely wooded areas, and that was the last of our cell phone reception.  It was at about this time that I pointed out to Jessica that the whole situation seemed like something straight out of a slasher movie...we were headed to summer camp in the woods with a group of high school students and there was no cell phone service; all we needed was for the bus to break down and we'd be goners.  Be careful what you joke about, you just might jinx yourself...

When you take school district transportation, you expect your bus driver to have looked up the place that they are taking you to so that, I don't know, they actually know how to get there.  Not so much in our case.  It wasn't until we were five miles past the road we should have taken to get to Cispus that the ASB adviser, Cozette, asked the bus driver if she had missed the turn.  Obviously, she had, and so she had to turn the bus around...easier said than done on a narrow, winding road.  While attempting to back the bus up into a small turn-off so that she could turn around, she snagged the pipe for the engine coolant on a rock and tore a hole in it, causing coolant to leak everywhere.  Since we were so close to the camp, the bus driver tried to keep driving the bus back down the road toward the correct turn off, but with coolant racing out of the pipe, the engine started to overheat, and both the yellow and red check engine lights went on, and she was forced to pull the bus over.  So we were in the middle of the woods, with no cell reception, and our bus had just broken down...bring on the slasher!

While the bus driver and the other chaperons were doing their best to try to fix the bus, I flagged down one of the lone passing motorists we happened to see, and asked if he would mind giving me a lift to Cispus so that I could get some help.  Now I know what you're thinking, umm, hello, that's how the slasher gets you in the movie, he picks you off one by one.  But since the driver was an adorable, friendly little 75 year old man with his adorable, friendly big chocolate lab, Hunter, in the cab with him, I figured I was alright.  He dropped me off at Cispus (safe and sound and not slashed) and I was able to procure a van to go back to start getting loads of kids.  In the meantime, the bus driver had been driving mile by mile down the road on a red engine light, stopping every so often to poor water (uselessly) into the coolant tank, and then getting going again.  So I was only able to get one load of kids from the bus to Cispus before the broken bus putt-putted its way into the parking lot.  Who knows how much damage was done to the engine by driving it for over five miles on a red engine light, but not my bus, so not really my problem.  My problem was realizing, once we got there, that the female chaperons had to share a dorm with the 18 high school girls along on the trip...meaning we were bunking in the same huge room as the students.  At that point, I was kind of wishing it was a slasher movie and that I'd been the first one killed off, just so that I wouldn't have to go through the misery of experiencing high school summer camp as an adult.

To add insult to injury, not only were we staying in dorms, but the showers gave me horrible freshman year of college bathroom flashbacks.

So, the main problem in bunking with 18 high school girls is that they come with 18 high school girl voices...and no off button.  Between the shrieking, screaming, laughing, yelling, stomping and slamming, the girls easily kept Jessica and I awake until 2 or 3 in the morning.  We were then woken by the same amount of noise at around 7 am because the kids had to be up for breakfast and meetings.  Needless to say, I was not a very happy camper that morning!

I was not in a good mood, and nothing releases aggression like running, so I went for nice trail/road run around the camp before heading to breakfast.  The run put me in a much better mood, and after a little bit of fruit for breakfast, I got to shower in peace and take a nice long nap since the students were off in meetings and we didn't need to meet with the Juniors until later in the afternoon.  And after a fun-filled day of playing cards out in the fresh air with Jessica and Bob (the token male chaperon), we even got to build a campfire and roast marshmallows!

Jessica and I triumphing over amazing fire we built all by ourselves!

Sunday morning finally came around, and a new (as in different from the bus we came out in, but it was actually an older bus than the first one) bus shows up...with the same bus driver (bad omen).  We were able to get everything packed up without incident, and we rolled out of the Cispus parking lot, right past our original bus, that was still sitting in the parking lot waiting to be fixed...yet another bad omen.  On our ride home, because we were going through the mountains and the bus we were in was a significantly older model, the engine started to overheat and, low and behold, the check engine light came on...AGAIN!  I don't believe in curses, but I do know that some things are just too freaky to be coincidences.  We were able to make it back to school in one piece (even though she kept driving with it on, luckily the check engine light eventually went off after we came out of the mountains), but I know that if that particular bus driver is ever scheduled for another field trip/sporting event that I'm supposed to go on, I'm getting off the bus and travelling to the place in my own car!
  

The Importance of Paying Attention!

It's easy to think that, if you are running in the safety of the gym, nothing embarrassing can possibly happen to you.  I'm living proof that this is most certainly not the case.  Allow me to share with you one of my more miserable experiences at the gym.  While this definitely can't be classified as one of my proudest moments, hopefully you will learn from my mistake...and have a little chuckle at the same time.

Back in the fall of 2007, I was in the thick of my training for the Portland Marathon...my very first marathon attempt.  I was very dedicated when it came to my training (this was my first long race and I wanted to make sure I was prepared) and I very rarely missed a run.  On one particular weekday evening, volleyball practice had run late (I was the assistant volleyball coach at the high school at the time) and it was starting to get dark out.  I didn't want to run outside at night by myself, but I had a 6 mile run to complete and I didn't want to miss out on the mileage.  So I did what any sensible female runner who is out of options does...I went to the gym.  The place was packed because it was after work and all the 9 to 5ers were getting their workouts in.  Luckily, just as I got there, a treadmill became available, and I jumped right on and got a-runnin'.

The gym I went to at the time had television sets mounted up above the treadmills.  I happened to notice that, while there was some silly reality tv program on above me, two treadmills down there was a football game on.         I decided I would rather follow the football game, so I would run a few steps, then take a quick peak over at the game to see what was happening, focus back on my running, then take another look at the game.  Now as most of us are aware, and have probably experienced from time to time, when you stare at something while in motion, you tend to drift toward whatever your attention is focused on...well, on the treadmill, it's no different.  And, unfortunately for me, human treadmills don't have protection walls like the doggy ones do.

So anyway, as I was running, I looked over at the game just as something exciting happened.  I don't remember exactly what it was...could have been a touchdown, could have been an interception, doesn't really matter at this point.  The thing that did matter was that my attention lingered on the game a little bit longer than I intended it to and, without realizing it, I started to drift to the left side of the treadmill.  What happened next was straight out of a slapstick comedy skit.  Before I knew what was happening, my left foot landed half on the stationary track, half on the moving belt, and my foot was twisted and jerked out from under me.  In what seemed like slow motion, I was pitched forward and slammed into the treadmill display, and I immediately started to ricochet backward.  I somehow managed to link my arm around the walking bar to keep myself from flying off the back of the treadmill, but I still lost my footing, and so my legs continued to drag along behind me on the belt until the machine realized that no one was running on it any more, and it automatically shut off.

The gym was so silent you could hear a pin drop.  Everyone was trying extremely hard not to laugh, and I was trying extremely hard not to die of mortification.  I pulled myself up to standing and almost immediately collapsed again...I had pretty severely twisted my ankle, and I was in a lot of pain.  But my pride was also hurt at this point, so I realized that I had two options...I could either limp away in pain to lick my wounds with people snickering behind my back the whole way out of the gym, or I could get back on the treadmill, continue to run, and pretend like nothing happened.  I, of course, unwisely chose option number 2, and continued to run for another 20 minutes until I had finished all my mileage.  As you can probably imagine, my ankle was pretty swollen when I finally got off the treadmill, so I figured my smartest move at that point was to get myself to an Urgent Care Clinic.  When I finally got in to see the doctor, he practically had to cut my shoe off my foot because my ankle was so big.  He looked at my ankle, looked at me with a weird expression on his face, and asked "Did you continue to run on this after you twisted it?", to which I promptly responded "Of course not, that would be ridiculous!"  I was outfitted with the following beauty...

...and told that I wasn't allowed to run for two weeks.  That pretty much put a damper in my training, but the doctor told me I was lucky I hadn't broken my ankle, so I counted my blessings.  At this point, the score is Treadmill:1, Reese: 0...but I'll have my revenge!  And in the meantime, I have to be content with the knowledge that...

What's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you at the gym?

Vineyards and hills and wine, oh my!

As promised in a previous post, I am now going to regale you all with my summer half marathon story...

Back in May, after running Bloomsday together in Spokane, WA, my friend Leila and I decided we had so much fun running that 12K that we needed to sign up to do another race stat.  Since both of our birthdays happen in July, we agreed that the best way to celebrate the big 28 would be to run a half marathon together (the first one for both of us).  We both did a little research, but Leila was the clear winner in the 'find us a race to run' game, as she discovered the Fueled by Fine Wine Half Marathon in Dundee, OR.

It was perfect, a half marathon that took runners through the vineyard of the gorgeous Oregon Wine Country, great swag for all the racers (a dri-fit finishers shirt, an insulated wine cooler bag filled with coupons from several of the local wineries, a finishers medal, and a commemorative wine glass inscribed with the race logo above), a free wine tasting after the race for all the runners featuring many of the local wineries finest wines, and best of all, it was being held in the middle of July, and was thus the perfect celebratory race for us to run. We signed up on the spot, and immediately began training for the race.  Unfortunately, since we live on opposite sides of the state, we weren't able to train for the run together.  However, we did both train on our own...and I'll be the first to admit that some days I trained harder than others, a couple long runs might have been missed here and there, and after months of training, even I can admit that my motivation to get my mileage in during the last few weeks started to wane.  But overall, when race day rolled around, I felt prepared, ready and raring to go!

When Leila, her coworker Rhonda, and I showed up at 6:30am to the start line to await the 7am starting gun, we were excited and antsy to get going.  Little did we know what was in store for us once that gun when off (insert menacing sounding 'dun dun dun' here).  Now I had gone to the FBFW website a couple times before the day of the race, and they had described the course as hilly, so I had trained by throwing a couple hills into some of my long runs, and doing cross country programs on the treadmill and elliptical any time I had to do my workouts at the gym, and called it good.  Needless to say, 'hilly' was a gross understatement on their part, and when the gun sounded, we immediately turned right and stared straight up at the first half mile, a HUGE hill.  Since it was the very beginning of the race, we powered up it, excited to get started and knowing that this first hill had to be the worst of it.  Boy were we wrong.  Once we got to what we thought was the top of the hill, we turned a corner, only to continue running up hill.  After a brief downhill run, we turned a corner only to find (you guessed it) another hill.  Since we were running on roads through neighborhoods, it wasn't all that riveting, but just when we were starting to get sick of all those hills, we turned a corner into a beautiful vineyard.  Boy were we excited!!!

(I took the above picture, and the one below, while running...am I a skilled camerawoman or what?!)

Racing through the vineyards was an amazing experience...don't get me wrong, there were still tons of hills, but since the surroundings were so gorgeous, we didn't mind them too much any more.  At one point, we even stopped and had one of the other racers take our picture in front of some of the vines.  You might think that another runner would be upset to be stopped during their run, but everyone was in such good spirits, and so many people were doing the exact same thing we were, she didn't seem to mind at all.

Now, we were having a great time running through the vineyards, but as I mentioned before, the course was still riddles with exhausting, long, steep hills.  The following doosy of a hill was the one we hit at mile 7...

...and no, that steepness is not in your imagination, or a trick of light with the camera shot, that hill went up at almost a 90 degree angle!  And to add insult to injury, once we got to the top of that hill, we took a slight right, and then went left up another hill, took another left only to continue climbing higher.  I believe it was somewhere in the last part of that particular hill that I turned to Leila and said something to the effect of "After all these hills, there better be a lot of f#$%ing wine at the end of this thing!"  Apparently I said it a little too loudly, and ended up giving many of the other racers around us quite a good laugh (someone who heard me on the course even came up to me at the wine tasting after party to ask if I had gotten enough wine...I told her 'not yet').  After that hill, it would be a lie to tell you that there were no more hills on the course, but after the 'hill from hell', none of the others seemed that bad.  I felt like I got a second wind, and Leila and I pushed our way to the finish line.

There were photographers all along the course, so they got a couple great pictures of us, like the ones above and below.

Another fun thing about the race (besides the gorgeous views and the wonderful fellow racers) were the hilarious mile markers along the course.  We didn't want to stop at every single one (it would have added at least 30 minutes to our time) but we did consent to take one toward the end of the race.

If you can't read it, it says "That last wrong mile brought to you by your friends at Crumbled Rock"...each of the 'wrong miles' was sponsored by one of the wineries at the event.  Once we hit this mile marker, and therefore the last mile, we figured 'hey, they're going to go easy on us, we only have one mile to go'...wrong again.  Up another hill we went, but luckily, the last bit of the race was downhill, and as Leila and I approached the finish line, we grabbed each other's hand, and crossed the finish line together, victorious!

It was an amazing feeling to cross that finish line...this was one of the hardest races I've ever run, but also one of the most rewarding.  We were given our finishers medals, and the victory was solidified.

Darn it, they weren't chocolate.  And yes, our Bondi Bands (which Leila's wonderful husband Tim got us for the race) say "Will Run For Wine"!  Hey, if you have a good motivation for doing something, why not embrace it?!  And embrace it we did.  We were given our commemorative wine glasses...

...and we took that wine tasting by storm!

What a great way to celebrate our 28th birthdays, and I wouldn't have done it with anyone else!              Love you Leila!

Don't we look happy?!?!?!  And why shouldn't we be?  Great wine, after a great race, does that for us. ;)

What motivates you to run a long race?

Everything's Coming Up Rosé (and also White)

Now that my time in Oregon is coming to a close (for the summer at least) I thought I'd devote a post to some of the best wines I've discovered from Oregon Wine Country.  As you read through this post (as well as future posts), you might notice that the only types of wines I discuss are are white wines, with the occasional rosé wine thrown in.  The reason for this is that I'm actually quite allergic to red wines, and since I don't want to be driven to the emergency room every time I have a glass of vino, I just steer clear of it.  And believe me, you wouldn't be the first to tell me that I'm missing out on the wonderfulness that is every kind of red wine.  But if the choice is sticking to white wines or having my throat close up, I think I'll gladly stick to white wines.

I have to start with one of my all time favorite white wines...Muller Thurgau from Montinore Estate.

If I'm being totally honest, many times, when I pick up a bottle of wine that I'm not familiar with, it is because I think the label is pretty (come on, you know you do it too).  I'll be the first to admit that it's not the most sophisticated way to pick out a bottle of wine, but on a couple of occasions, it has worked out extremely well for me.  This is one of those cases.  I was in Portland with Michael a little over a year ago, and I wanted something to drink with dinner.  I was in the white wine section of the grocery store, and happened to see label above, and realized that I had never tried this particular type of wine.  I decided to try it, and am extremely happy that I did.  The flavor is somewhere between a Pinot Grigio and a Reisling, and it is excellent.  The problem is, I've only been able to find it in Oregon (I think because this particular grape is only produced in Oregon), so I only get to have it when I go down to visit Michael, or when I remember to ask him to bring a bottle with him when he comes to visit me.  So if you happen to be in Oregon any time soon, I highly recommend you pick up a bottle (or you can order it on the Montinore Estate website that I have linked above).

A great wine that I discovered on my summer outings with Michael is the Pinot Noir Blanc from the McMenamins Edgefield Winery.

Michael and I decided to have lunch one day at the Old St. Francis School, the McMenamins Hotel/Movie Theater/Restaurant/Bar located in Bend (there are six other McMenamins located throughout Oregon and one located in Centralia, WA).  These are amazing places because they take old, uninhabited, rundown buildings, and renovate them into these amazing places that are so much fun to go to, especially since they try to do what they can to restore the building to pretty much what it looked like in it's hay day.  If you have a chance to eat, stay at, or watch a flick at one of these places, I give them two thumbs way up.  For our very first date, Michael and I met at the McMenamins Olympic Club in Centralia for dinner, a game of pool, and a movie, and it must have been pretty good, because I agreed to keep dating him. ;)  Anyway...back to the lunch.  I wanted something to drink with my food, and so I immediately went to the wine list and saw this little beauty on the menu.  Now since this is a rosé, I had to be careful the first time I tried it, because it is possible for me to have a reaction to this type of wine.  But thankfully, I was perfectly fine and able to drink this wonderful, glorious nectar.  It has the crispness of a Pinot Gris, with just the slightest bit of sweetness at the finish.  AMAZING!  Unfortunately, you can only get bottles of it at either the gift shop at the Old St. Francis School in Bend, OR or at the Edgefield Hotel and Winery itself in Troutdale, OR (those lucky enough to live in Oregon, Washington and California can also order bottles online at the McMenamins website above).

Now, I ran an amazing half marathon this summer in Dundee, which is in the heart of Oregon Wine Country called the Fueled by Fine Wine Half Marathon (I promise a post all about it in the next couple days...but today is just about wine).  The best part of the race was that, at the finish line, each finisher received a complementary wine glass and a free pass into the wine tasting tents, where many of wineries from the area were sampling several of their wines.  I got to try many good wines that morning, but two of them stood out for me.  The first one I'm going to talk about is Evolution from the Sokol Blosser Winery.

The Evolution is a crisp, fruity wine, and is just really pleasant to drink.  Since I've just discovered this tasty treat, I'm not actually sure if you can find it in stores outside of Oregon or not, but you can for sure order it on the Sokol Blosser website.

The other wine I was truly impressed with at the tasting after the half marathon was the Pinot Blanc from Winter's Hill Winery.

I was so impressed with it, in fact, that I ordered half a case of it right there in the tents at the half marathon!  It is an amazingly crisp, fruity wine, but it also has the slightest bits of woody, nutty undertones that (I'm told) are usually only found in red wines.  Simply put, I don't purchase multiple bottles of just any old wine, so I would highly recommend it.  Again, since this is a recently discovered treasure, I have no idea if it is sold in stores outside of Oregon or not, but just like the others, you can order it online at the winery's website above.

Well, that's my take on just a few of the fabulous wines put out by the vineyards in Oregon Wine Country.  Now, I'm off to enjoy a wonderful glass of wine with Michael on my last night in Bend.  The hardest part will be deciding which type of wine to have! ;)

So...what's your favorite type of wine?

Heck Yes for New Shoes :)

I've been spending a good majority of my summer down in Bend, OR...partly to relax and get away from everything I'm used to, and partly to spend a good chunk of time with my boyfriend, Michael, who goes to school in the area.  One of the things this has meant for me is that I've gotten to try different running paths than I'm used to.  I don't know about the rest of you runners, but if I run the same route too much, I get boooored!  When I have to look at the same things every time I go out for a run, I tend to let myself slack on my pace, and lots of times, don't go as far as I intended to.  The end result is that I'm not training as hard as I should be for whatever race I'm working toward at the time.  So for those of you in the Central Oregon area, if you have a chance, you should take a run through the Eagle Crest Resort.  

With over 11 miles of paved running/biking trails throughout the resort, and even more off-road trails, you will find yourself hard-pressed to run the same route twice if you don't want to.  The one thing about running in Central Oregon that I'm not used to (being from the Seattle/Tacoma area), is if you don't want to drown in your own sweat and despair, you pretty much need to get your run in before 9:00 am or after 7:00 pm.  As the sun seems to rise earlier than normal here, I haven't been able to sleep past 7:30 am on any given morning, so this has worked out for me for the most part.  There was, however, one unfortunate morning when I woke up late and went out for one of my long runs (not realizing how hot it was going to get when I started my run at 10 am), and after about 15 minutes wanted to drop dead and have the animals finish me off, just to put me out of my misery.  Let's just say, my run was a LOT shorter that day!

Another nice thing about being in a different area is that you get to experience all of the fun running stores that aren't in your area (or, at least in my case, that you didn't realize were in your area).  One day, after going out to breakfast, Michael and I stumbled upon one of my new favorite stores, Fleet Feet!

Talk about a wonderful experience.  Every single worker was so nice, and each person in the store was given the specific individual attention you would expect at a mom-and-pop shop, not at a chain store (was extremely excited to learn that they have a store in Bonney Lake...can't wait to go there once my vacation is over and I'm back home!).  I even saw an honest-to-God celebrity on my first trip into the place.

Dennis Haysbert, aka The Allstate Commercial Guy ('Are you in good hands?'), was in the store buying sunglasses and energy gels for a charity golf tournament he was competing in at the Sunriver Resort Golf Course.  He is a HUGE person...well over 6 feet tall, but seemed like a really nice guy, and I'm sure the glasses were just what he needed to win the tournament!

They have such cool things going on at Fleet Feet...one of the coolest being their FIT run analysis that they do for free if you come in with the intent to purchase a shoe.  First they measure the amount of drop you have in your arches when you go from sitting (with no weight on your feet) to standing and putting more weight on each individual foot.  Found out that my right arch doesn't collapse at all, and I only have an itty-bitty, slight collapse in my left arch.  Then they watch you walk bear foot so they can examine your stride, and bring out several different pairs of shoes for you to try, based on your stride and amount of arch support needed.  There is a treadmill in the store, with a video camera set up behind the moving belt, and you get on the treadmill in every shoe you try on, jog for about 10-15 seconds, and they record your steps so that you can watch yourself run in each shoe, and compare your strides from shoe to shoe.  I tried on several different pairs, and I was almost persuaded to switch brands to the Brooks Adrenaline (this was another thing I loved about the staff, they didn't pressure me to buy the more expensive shoe...in fact, the guy told me to get the Brooks over the Asics for better arch support), but in the end, I ended up with the Asics GEL-Nimbus 13.

This is the fourth version in a row of the GEL-Nimbus I've run in, and I can't seem to bring myself to run in any other type of shoe.  Something about the snug fit (it feels like a glove for your foot) and the amazing cushion throughout the sole of the shoe make it the idea choice for me, since I've become addicted to longer races (half marathons specifically) that put a lot of stress on your feet and knees.  And come on, look at those shoes, aren't they the prettiest things you've ever seen?!?!  I can't wait to take them on their very first morning run tomorrow!

So, what's your go to running shoe?

Hi, I'm Reese...Welcome to My Blog!

Ok, I'm probably the least technologically inclined person I know, and therefore one of the last people my friends would expect to start a blog.  But after watching one of my friends become a successful food blogger, I thought it could be a lot of fun to start my own.  All I had to do was figure out what I wanted my blog to be about, and how hard could that be, right?!?!

I guess that before I explain what my blog is about, I should probably share a little bit about myself.  My name is Reese, and I'm a high school math teacher in Tacoma, WA.  I am also the assistant cross country coach and one of the assistant track coaches (specifically, I'm the long, triple, and high jump coach) for my school.  I absolutely love what I do, and wouldn't change my job for anything in the world.  I received my Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics, as well as my secondary teaching certificate, from Gonzaga University (GO ZAGS!!!) back in 2005, and I just finished my Master's of Education Degree from University of Washington this summer.  I have an amazing family, wonderful friends, and now, I have a blog.

So, without further ado, I should probably mention what this blog of mine will be about.  In May 2005, after 21 years of successfully avoiding running in all forms, I ran my first ever road race, and I have been hooked on running/racing ever since.  Therefore, one of the two main subjects this blog will be devoted to is my recently found love for running, the races I have run/will run, my many adventures in running (some clumsy, some not), and the running gear I try along the way.  I'm not the most experienced runner in the world, so you can take my opinions or leave them, but hopefully you will at least enjoy the stories I have to share.  The other half of this blog will be devoted to my other love, wine.  I'll share the experiences at the wineries I have visited/will visit, talk about the wines I've tried (I'm allergic to red wine, so my stories will be limited to the white side of the vineyard), and best of all, the races I have/will run with the all time best motivation at the end of the race...the free wine tasting!  My other interests are extremely broad, and so I can't promise that there won't be the occasional post that deviates a little bit from the main focuses.  But I will do my best to stay on track...most of the time!