Half Marathon #2 Completed!

I finished my second half marathon (and the first one I actually trained for) this weekend! My dad was also along for the ride, coming out from Indiana to brave 13.1 miles at altitude. It was a small race, but it was a great course and a beautiful morning!

Dad and I left Park City around 5am. The race started and finished at different places, so you had to park at the finish and get shuttled to the start. We arrived before the sun came up in Draper City Park, hopped on a school bus and got taken to the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. After watching the sun come up over the canyon, we were off!

The course was much more challenging than I was expecting. The website had emphasized the fact that it was a fast, downhill course, so I wasn't too terribly concerned about hills. I was very, very happy that I had trained on hills, though, because despite there being a net elevation loss, there were definitely a lot of hills! By mile eight, I was starting to get blisters on my right foot and it was heating up (it was a rather hot day in the Valley). I was definitely struggling as I hit mile 10 and then, at mile 12, I somehow managed to follow the wrong runner and go off course for about a half mile. Unfortunately, that means my official time is above my goal time (2:32:40), but my actual time was within it! I guess that means I'll just have to run another half marathon for my wounded pride's sake :)

After the race, Dad and I had a leisurely afternoon. I'll write more about his visit in my next post! Today, two days post-race, I'm still pretty sore, but I was back at the gym today. I'm hoping to be running again by Thursday or so. I've always been bad about not sticking with running after a race is over, so I'm determined to not do that this time around. It's never any fun to start over with running from square one!

Memorial Day Adventures

This year, I had absolutely no plans for Memorial Day. I took a last-minute dogsitting job for Friday and Saturday since it appeared that my long weekend was going to consist of little more than an extra day of sleeping in. However, I ended up with a much more exciting weekend than I'd planned on!

On Friday night, I ended up going bowling with a big group of people. I only knew a few of them, but we all had a great time drinking and eating and bowling! However, I regret to inform you all that I still remain a miserable bowler.

On Saturday, my roommate Debbie and I headed to the Provo River to go kayaking! It's a pretty tame river, so there were very few rapids to mention, but we had a good time and got some sun. The water was freezing, but the weather was quite warm, so it was a nice combination!

After rafting, we decided to go to Provo (the city) because we were so close (the kayak ride ended about 10 minutes outside of Provo). Now, I was a little nervous about this because there's just something about Provo that freaks me out. It's a beautiful place, but the 90% (or something around that) Mormon population makes for an almost Twilight Zone-like 1950's environment everywhere. It even freaks out Debbie and she's Mormon! But I had heard about an amazing cupcake place there, so I was willing to step outside of my comfort zone for some amazing cupcakes!

And my goodness, were they amazing! It was well worth the trip! I stockpiled a few to take back to Park City with me.

Fun fact: I am holding hot chocolate, not coffee as I usually would with cupcakes. They don't sell coffee at this cupcake place because it's basically on BYU's campus and Mormons can't drink coffee! They make a mean salted caramel hot chocolate, though!

They had an ingenious take on the classic red velvet cupcake that perfectly resolved my issue with that flavor. To me, most places have a red velvet cupcake that is essentially a weak chocolate one with red food coloring. They lack any real, strong flavor. But - The Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe serves their red velvets with chocolate cream cheese frosting! Problem solved!

Fun fact: Those are the same kind of sprinkles they use at Sprinkles, my favorite cupcake place.

Anyways, post-cupcakes, we made our way back to Park City via Salt Lake (had to make a quick stop at City Creek for some shopping!) and I returned to my regularly scheduled weekend dogsitting.

On Monday, I headed down to Salt Lake to meet up with Korey and Ashley for an adventure up to Idaho! We left bright and early in order to make it to Twin Falls, Idaho, by lunchtime. After hours of driving through little more than desert and ranch land, we ended up at Shoshone Falls. It appears out of nowhere!

We hiked around a bit before deciding to head into town for lunch. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to choose from in Twin Falls, so we ended up at Sonic. Being deprived Utahns, we had to, of course, make a stop at the grocery store for some...important items.

Yay for avoiding state-run monopolies on alcohol!

Needless to say, I'm set on wine for awhile.

On our way back to Salt Lake, we took a detour through ranches and desert to Spiral Jetty, an art installation on the north end of Great Salt Lake. It is super remote, although we did go by a rocket fuel manufacturer on our way. Their campus looked straight out of the Cold War and had some rocket models set up for random travelers like ourselves who wandered by.

Finally, we made it out to the lake. We couldn't have asked for a better day to go! The wind wasn't bad, so the water was very still and allowed for some awesome reflections. There weren't many people around, so Korey and I (both of us like to dabble in photography) were able to snap a few dramatic shots. We each took turns climbing out as far as we could get on the rocks. Here's a few of the unedited photos...

Probably my favorite shot of the day

If you ever find yourself randomly in northern Utah, it's definitely worth the detour to check out Spiral Jetty. Make sure you check the water levels first, though, because it isn't always visible!

On our way home, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Ogden for a fantastic, hearty dinner. It was the perfect way to end a long day and cap off a great weekend!

Culture Redux

I had a conversation the other day that reminded me of a post I made in my study abroad blog. I made a comment about how much more nature-y stuff there was to do within a few hours of where I live in Utah compared to where I grew up in Indiana. The native Hoosier still residing in Indiana who I was speaking with got a little offended. I tried to explain that I wasn't knocking Indiana (after all, I'm a native Hoosier, as well, and think I had a great time growing up there!), but it didn't really seem to help.

So, I wanted to share again something I realized while living in Paris.

One of the things that everyone keeps asking me is, "So, is the USA better than France?" The thing is, we're talking about culture here. There's no such thing as a "better" culture. France is different, but it's not better and it's not worse. It's just different. The same thing goes for any culture, whether it be German or Japanese or Egyptian or Iranian or Thai. No culture is inherently better or worse than another. They are just different.

The same thing is true for Utah and Indiana.

While "number of nature-y destinations within 3-4 hours" is not exactly a subjective number (although I'm sure you'd be hard-pressed to find a list with that exact name), perhaps the difference is in my perception. Since I have more nature-oriented friends in Utah, they know of more places to visit. I didn't really have any nature-oriented friends in Indiana (or the ones I did have did most of their nature-y stuff outside of Indiana). Going hiking and skiing and mountain biking and on random camping trips to deserts is an integral part of the culture in Utah. It's less of a thing in Indiana, probably because there are no mountains and no deserts.

Again, going back to my France statement that cultures are different, not better or worse, Utah and Indiana are definitely different. There are things I love and things I strongly dislike about both. I love that nature-focused attitude in Utah. I love the ski culture. However, I don't like the fact that the LDS church has its hand in every single government decision that is made in the state (as I very strongly believe in the complete separation of church and state). I love the friendliness of Midwesterners and their strong work ethic. I don't like that political ignorance is very common in my home state.

So, fear not my fellow Hoosiers. I'm not disowning my home state. I always have a good time when I go home and I'm proud to be from Indianapolis. Just don't expect me to move back soon...well, ever. There's too many other cultures out there for me to experience!

Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival is a little shindig put together by Robert Redford that you may have heard of. It happens every January in Park City so, since I live here, I figured I'd check it out!

While I can't say I was the best Sundancer ever, I did make it to one premiere. I waitlisted (didn't actually buy any tickets despite signing up for the locals pre-sale) with my friend Julia and we made it into A.C.O.D., a comedy about adult children of divorce starring Adam Scott (from Parks and Recreation), Amy Poehler, Richard Jenkins, Catherine O'Hara and Jessica Alba. It was hilarious!! I highly recommend seeing it if it gets a wide release! To make things even better, I got to sit in the front row during the premiere...about three seats away from Jessica Alba!

 

Unfortunately, I got sick the second weekend of Sundance (and the first weekend was half-marathon/Las Vegas weekend), so I wasn't able to experience much of the nightlife. But, hey, that gives me something to look forward to next year!

Half Marathon COMPLETED

Despite basically not training, I did it! I finished my first half marathon this weekend in St. George, Utah!

It was super cold at the starting line (around 30 degrees), so the first two miles were pretty rough. I had a little bit of a hard time breathing and I couldn't feel my feet because of the cold. Finally, around mile 2, my feet had warmed up enough that I could actually feel them and my breathing had become more regular. Around mile 4, I started feeling fantastic. Miles 4-8 were awesome...great scenery, a good mix of uphills and downhills, a random person who I met and ended up running with for awhile.

When I hit mile 9, though, it got pretty tough. I could feel my IT bands tightening up and the bottoms of my feet were not feeling the best. The 2:30 pace group passed me right around that point, which suddenly gave me a new surge of energy. I was anticipating a time around three hours, so seeing that I was doing so much better than I thought was a huge encouragement!

For the rest of the race, I chased the 2:30 group, sometimes walking, sometimes running. Around mile 11, my feet hurt too badly to keep up with them, so I just tried to keep them in sight. That strategy worked and I ended up finishing in 2:33:40! I was pretty pleased with that! My training consisted of a few 3-4 mile runs on an indoor track and I've never run any race longer than 4 miles, so I was very happy!

I do have to say that my favorite part of participating in a half marathon was the pre- and post-race meals.

I NEVER let myself eat alfredo or fast food, so it was quite the splurge and I enjoyed every bite!

Also enjoyable was the trip to Las Vegas afterwards! My afternoon was spent sipping cocktails poolside at the Trump International.

All things considered...awesome weekend!!!

Keeping the Roads Hot

So, I realized the other day that I haven't remained in a single state in nearly a year (and I will be going a full year without staying in one state since I have travel plans through January). I thought it'd be fun to relive my travels a bit and preview those to come!

November 2011

Indiana and California

December 2011

Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and California

January 2012

Florida and California

February 2012 (my only one-state month!)

California

March 2012

North Carolina, Georgia and California

April 2012

Indiana, Michigan and California

May 2012

Indiana, Michigan and California

June 2012

Oregon and California

July 2012

Oregon, California, Georgia, France and United Kingdom

August 2012

California, Indiana, Georgia and United Kingdom

September 2012

California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah

October 2012

Utah and New York

November 2012

Utah and Colorado

December 2012

Utah, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida

January 2013

Florida, Arizona and Utah

The Great(ish) Amtrak Journey: Part 2

I've returned! My trip to Colorado went very well, but before posting about all of that, I figured I'd finish up my Amtrak story.

The rest of my trip to Colorado was pretty uneventful. After the sun set, there weren't many things to look at, so I watched more TV on my iPad Mini and slept off and on. We did go by a herd of elk at one point, though, and that was pretty cool. I attempted to get a picture, but the lack of sunlight made it a little difficult.

On the way back, I was planning on leaving from Glenwood Springs since I'd be coming from Aspen (Glenwood Springs is where the state highway leading to Aspen connects to I-70), but that ended up changing when I was offered the chance to go to a Denver Nuggets game with my friend Margaux! More on that in my post to come about the non-train portions of the trip.

Anyways, I ended up leaving from Denver. Their station is a bit bigger than Salt Lake's, but in need of some updating. There's construction all around the area, so it looks like that may be happening. I managed to snag yet another bulkhead seat (upon reading about train seating, apparently bulkheads aren't as highly valued as I thought, but they do indeed have more legroom and you always have a full window!) and promptly set it up as my home for the next fifteen hours.

Again, I got two seats to myself for the full duration of the trip. This trip made me very grateful for my height, as I was able to perfectly curl up into a ball on the two seats with the leg rests propped out. I wish I had remembered a pillow, though, although having two blankets made that a little better.

The highlight of this train trip was going through the canyons of western Colorado during sunset. The red rocks looked absolutely stunning in light! So, me being me, I snapped about half a million photos.

All of Colorado was very beautiful. There wasn't much snow, which was a bit surprising for this time of year, but it was still great to see. I highly recommend a trip on the California Zephyr if you're interested in the scenic route between Salt Lake and Denver! And now, I leave you with some Instagram photos...

Lone truck in western Colorado

Glenwood Springs

Colorado River in the mountains

The Great(ish) Amtrak Journey: Part 1

Greetings from Grand Junction, Colorado!

So far, the Amtrak journey from Salt Lake City to Denver is going well. It started this morning very early (or last night very late depending on how you look at it). I got to the station at 2:30am, mainly because it said online that you had to check bags more than 45 minutes prior to departure (departure time was listed at 3:30am) and I didn't want to lug my massive suitcase around. But, when I went to check in, they said the train would be arriving in ten minutes! 

The train did indeed arrive about ten minutes later, but it took 15-20 minutes for them to unload all of the passengers who were completing their journey at Salt Lake. The train still stayed at the station until about 3:30am, but I was glad to be there earlier so I could get a good seat. And I definitely did! I am in the bulkhead, so I have a TON of room. If you think bulkheads have a lot of legroom on airplanes, just wait til you see it on a train. I have a good foot and a half of space between my feet and the wall and I'm all sprawled out! I read that some people aren't fans of the bulkhead because the doors between train cars can be noisy, but I just popped in my in-ear headphones and played some Mumford and Sons and barely noticed the noise at all. I also had an eye mask (thanks, Gap Outlet clearance sale), so that blocked out any light.

I managed to sleep until about 8am. I didn't have anyone in the seat next to me, so I put both the leg rests all the way up and turned it into a little bed. Fortunately, since I am vertically challenged, that worked out well for me. I slept wonderfully, much to my surprise.

When I woke up, they were serving breakfast in the dining car, but I opted against that and watched some TV on my new iPad Mini. I think I'll go to the dining car for lunch, but right now, I am nice and cozy in my seat.

The desert scenery has been pretty cool...check out some of my Instagram pics below!

Colorado River

Utah desert

Shantytown in the desert

More desert

So that's part one. We'll call it the desert portion. Next up are the mountains...I'm definitely looking forward to the scenery for that part!!

Winter is Coming...

I didn't have ANY idea how anxious I'd be for winter simply by virtue of working and living in a ski town. Those of you who have known me for awhile know that, although I love winter sports, I'm not too keen on the winter/snow/cold part.

Park City had its first snow storm a little over a week ago.

Now, with the snow covering the ski runs...I CANNOT WAIT TO GO SKIING!!

BRING ON WINTER!!

Observations about Life in Utah

If you've followed my blogging for awhile, you know that I like to make lists of cultural differences whenever I go someplace new. So, here's some observations on life thus far in Utah.

Sunday has always been my shopping day. I love being lazy and leisurely in the morning, then heading off to get a late breakfast somewhere followed by window shopping at the mall and a trip to Target. In Utah, that's not entirely possible. Before going anywhere, you have to check to see if wherever you want to go is even open on Sundays. Yes, even malls are closed on Sundays here. The Mormon church owns the nicest mall in Salt Lake, so it's closed on Sundays. Even as I'm sitting here writing this, I'm thinking about where I could go get breakfast that's open today.

People CANNOT drive. This is primarily a Salt Lake City thing. I haven't noticed nearly as many awful drivers in Park City. But when I am in SLC? Count on using the horn a LOT. Last weekend, I swear I had to lay on the horn every 30 seconds! It appears that drivers just don't really pay attention to other people, which tends to be a bit of a problem.

Alcohol laws are just weird. You can only buy alcohol in state-run liquor stores (legal monopoly, apparently) unless it's beer that is below a certain percentage. But they measure the percentage differently than the rest of the country...instead of being measured by volume, it's by weight, I think? I don't drink beer so it doesn't really mean a whole lot to me. Other strange things...last call is midnight (a big change from closing down the bars at 3:30am in college!), free pouring of liquor is illegal (all liquor pours must be measured) and you can only have one drink in front of you at a time. Happy hour isn't a thing here, really, either.

Yes, there are lots of Mormons. No, you generally cannot pick them out in a crowd. Mormons are people just like anyone else. I live with two Mormons and they are very down-to-earth, normal people.

There's this strange sort of camaraderie among the non-Mormons in Utah. Aside from certain neighborhoods in SLC and Park City, non-Mormons are definitely the minority, so I guess it just brings people together like any other shared lifestyle choice.

Anyone out there got any other questions about life in Utah?

My Recent Life in Photos

New bedroom with a new duvet cover!

My first piece of IKEA furniture ever.

Another IKEA item that also caused me to throw out my back.

Sporting 2006 Olympic-wear to work

Mountain life

Wandering Park City's Main Street...what ski resort are you trying to find?

New World Trade Center building in NYC

Bright Uggs!

Still the best vanilla cupcake I've ever had!

Cupcakes for Margaux's 21st!

Taking notes in colored Sharpies makes life a little brighter.

Repping the U.S. Ski Team

Absentee ballot!

Nice day in Salt Lake City

More delicious NYC cupcakes!

Gotta work out since I enjoyed all those cupcakes!

Mountain morning

Hot air balloons by the office

My first Utah rainbow

AWOLNATION with Korey and Ashley

Delicious, overpriced cookies.

Truth.