Blogging Hiatus

I'm so sorry for the blogging hiatus.  The past few weeks have been crazy.  This past week, a group of my friends were in town and we were having over-the-top fun times!  I'll definitely be writing posts all about it!

But I'm already so far behind!  I have a race post due, all of my Dumbo weekend posts due, and then this past week of fun.  Whew!  I'll catch up soon, I promise!

Orlando Ballet

The Orlando Ballet couldn't practice in their normal facility because of "environmental concerns" so Disney let the dancers practice at the Wide World of Sports.  To thank Disney, they allowed cast members to come watch an open rehearsal.  I love dancing so I took advantage.

It was so neat!  They performed several different pieces from different shows.

 

It was fun and I'm glad I got to experience it!

 

Recipe- Family Favorite Beef & Noodles

This is another recipe that's been in box for a while and I'm not sure where it came from :)

Family Favorite Beef & Noodles

 

Ingredients:

~2 lbs ground beef

~1 tablespoon margarine

~ 15-oz can tomato sauce

~ 2 cloves garlic, minced

~ 1 teaspoon sugar

~ 1 teaspoon salt

~ 1 teaspoon pepper

~ 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

~ 8 oz container sour cream

~ 3 cups fettuccine pasta, uncooked

~ 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

 

Directions:

1) Brown ground beef in margarine in a skillet; drain.

2) Add tomato sauce, garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper.

3) Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

4) In medium bowl, beat cream cheese with fork until fluff; stir in sour cream.  Set aside.

5) Cook fettuccine according to package instructions.

6) Layer ingredients as follows in a greased 13x9 baking pan: beef mixture, cooked fettuccine, cream cheese mixture, cheddar cheese.

7) Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes of until bubbly.

 

 



I always serve this with a Pillsbury crescent roll.  Perfect for dipping the sauce.  The hubby really likes this one and goes back for more.  And while I don't like tomato sauce, there's only a little so I enjoy it too.

Race #33- Drenched 5k

The Sunday after the Tour de Pain, I ran the Drenched 5k.  Well, more like walked it which was fine by me.  I ran with Kristin from A Mom on the Run and her son.

 

Thankfully Kristin had picked up my race packet the day before when she got hers.  There were also some water guns that I forgot to add in the picture.

The race was supposed to start at 10 but then last minute the night before I realized that in the very last email, they had changed the time to 9.  A little confusing. 

At the race, Kristin decided not to bring the jogging stroller, thinking B would be okay run/walking it with us carrying him some.

 

When we got there, B was ready to go. (My pictures are taken from inside a Ziploc baggie so it wouldn't get wet. So a lot of them are foggy looking..oops!)

There was a long line of people in front of us, but we could see the water spraying ahead and were ready to get wet!

B did really good for a while but there was one long stretch that didn't have any water or anything interesting going on it got to be a little long for him.  We took turns carrying him.

 













When we passed by the parking lot where the car was, Kristin decided to get the jogging stroller while I got us water from the event cooler.  Unfortunately, they weren't prepared and there wasn't any water left.  Boo!  We did score a few ice cubes though.  While B and I were waiting, a police officer showed up and asked if we were continuing since we were the last ones.  I said yes and she gave a big sigh and attitude like we were inconveniencing her.  Not cool!  We put B in the stroller and off we went.  I wanted to try pushing it while running some so I could see how hard it was.  I was surprised at how it was a lot easier than I thought.  I don't think I could run fast with it or for long distances but its not as bad as I thought. 

We got to the foam part and B jumped out to play.  There wasn't a lot of foam like we had seen in the ads, but we made the best of it.

The foam war was on!

There were a couple of more water hoses to run through and B seemed to get a kick out of that.  It was fun to see the race through his eyes.

When we got to the end, they had a bunch of bubbles right before the slip n slide.

I had done a race with a giant slip n slide at the beginning of the summer and I was telling Kristin how great it was.  They were watering it the whole time and Dawn (not big suds bubbles) on it so it was perfect slippery.  This one was shorter and the soap wasn't as good and there was all sorts of dirt on it.

 

B wasn't too happy with the soap in his eyes nor the dirt on him so we quickly rinsed him off.  We went over to get refreshments after but there was only water (which I don't drink) and bananas that had been ripped in half so they were all brown.  Not exactly appetizing.

 

While I enjoyed running with Kristin and chatting and seeing the race through a little one's eyes, I'm glad that I won this entry and didn't pay for it.  I'm not honestly sure that I'd say I'd do it again.  Oh well!

Five Things Friday- September 6, 2013

Last week was a crazy week so I didn't do a post.  So I'm making up for it by doing Seven Things Friday

1) I lost my wonderful grandmother on Tuesday.  It was a little expected and thankfully my mom got to be there for her at the end.  I flew up to Virginia on Wednesday night to be there for the service on Thursday.

2) I flew back home on Thursday night, landing at the airport at midnight and getting home at 1am. Then I was back up at 4:15am and back at the airport at 5am.  Everyone asked me why I didn't just stay the night at the airport but I wanted to switch out luggage.  But I was ready for the Dumbo Double Dare!  It was bittersweet because it was such a sad week yet I was so excited for the race.    After two races, we walked out with 4 medals!

3) Sunday was my birthday.  My hubby and friends had some wonderful surprises planned.  And I had to wear my special birthday shirt!

4)  My Kona Kase came in last week.

It included:
~BioTrust All-Natural Protein Cookie in Frosted Oatmeal Raisin
~ Justin's Classic Almond Butter
~Greenola in Raisin Coconut Flavor
~Rise Bar in Crunchy Carob Chip
~Krave Jerky in Chili Lime
~Quest Bar in White Chocolate Raspberry
~we were supposed to get San Franola but something happened so we got a Larabar in Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

5) I received my Camelback that I won from the Run Chat!

6) Bella's 3rd birthday was on Thursday and I spoil her so of course she needed a birthday pupcake!

7) Since I was out of town for my birthday, Kory took me to dinner on Thursday to celebrate. He took me to my favorite restaurant Melting Pot.  He hates it but I LOVE it!

Tour de Pain Wrap Up

I really enjoyed this race series. I thought it was a fun challenge to have 3 races in 24 hours, but it wasn't over the top.  It was doable.  And it was so great to run with Kristin, her hubby, and brother.

The medal!

I forgot to post a picture of the tech shirt.  And in the race pickup bag was a full-sized jar of Biscoff Spread.  Yum!

Here are my final stats:
4 Miler time: 42:11
5k time: 30:10
1 miler time: 7:47
Total time: 1:20:07
Overall place: 122
Overall class place: 20

Not too bad!  There is a Tour de Pain Extreme in March.  You do a 10k on Friday evening, a Half Marathon on Saturday morning, and 5k Saturday afternoon.  I just might want to do this!  I just did a 10k and Half Marathon on back to back mornings so it might be doable for me!

Race # 32- Tour de Pain 1 Mile Sizzler

We were back at the race at 4:30 Saturday afternoon.  This time it was at the Landing. 

There were 4 waves: Men's Masters, Men's Open, Women's Masters, and Women's Open.  We didn't start until 5:15.  And it was soooo hot!  I thought the heat would really affect my running, but luckily it didn't.

The boys went first.  Damian was so fast!  I think he was around 7:05 or something.  And Adam was up there too!  I wasn't sure what my goal was.  I'd love to beat my quickest time running a training 1 miler which was 7:54 but I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it.  And I was nervous!

We lined up and took off.  Each loop was 1 block.  It went pretty quickly.  They had a clock set up at a couple of places and I knew pretty early on that I could beat my time.

Coming down the home stretch!

I finished and was ready to collapse!  My official time was 7:47 so I had beat my previous training time.  I was 103rd place overall and 18th in my class.   Kristin and I relaxed for a few minutes before we got our refreshments.

  We had such a fun group!

 Free pizza and beer after a race?!?!  I love it!  (oh, and they had Propel flavored water which excited me!)

When we got back in the car, we were talking about our times and how we felt faster than our official time.  Then we looked at our watches and they all said that we had run more than just one mile.  My Garmin said I had run 1.10 miles.

Mile 1: 7:11
Mile 1-1.10: 6:11
Average Pace: 7:05

That was more like it!