Livin' the Dream in Lima

Saturday, I ran one of my favorite races in the whole wide world. Or at least the Midwest... I haven't really raced anywhere else. (Now, if anyone wants to sponsor me for a marathon in Hawaii or Oregon, that opinion might change...) The Steamboat Classic is regarded as the "World's fastest 4-mile' and "Illinois' Toughest 15km", so I knew I was in for a butt-whooping treat.  Last year, I ran the 15km with some of my college girlfriends , and we kept it easy at a conversational pace so we could enjoy the run.  This year, I was in it to race . Because it is so hilly, my only goal was to run at least faster than my half-marathon PR pace (6:54 average). Only 9.3 miles versus 13.1... should be a piece of cake, right? Talen came down Friday night to hang out and cheer me on at the race. She couldn't run because the Monday after we ran the marathon, she had some loose pieces of cartilage surgically removed from her knee. Ouch! She has only been giv...

School is officially out for summer! We had our last teacher workday yesterday, so I was all sorts of excited to sleep in this morning. What time did I wake up? Oh, ya know just 5:41am. So I ended up lacing up the shoes and meeting the running group down in the park for 8 sets of hills. Perfect way to kick off summer! (Well, maybe not more perfect than our ice cream trip last night...) Anyway, this past weekend my BFF Talen and her boyfriend Tim came to the Bean Town for the first time and it was such a blast. I love  when friends come to visit, especially when we haven't seen each other in forever! Talen & Tim Saturday night we headed down to Cincinnati to catch a Reds' game. Fitting with the theme of the night, we stopped at Red  Robin for dinner. (Hehe... that's a stretch.) The game was a bit roasty-toasty, but once the sun dipped below the buildings, it was quite enjoyable. Plus, we won! Proof we were actually there. Sorry Mr. Unsuspecting Man in ...

What a whirlwind of a week! The last week of school is always busy... throw on top of that two big dessert/cupcake orders and you have one jam-packed schedule! But I love it. Yesterday I got out of school at 2pm, woot woot for summer break! Although I do  have to go back Tuesday for a few hours to check out and clean up my classroom. But what better way to kick off the summer than to bake 10 dozen cupcakes? Hehe...  I headed straight home and got to work in the kitchen. 10 dozen wedding cupcakes plus an 8-inch topper cake all done in less than 5 hours. I was pretty impressed... I was fully expecting to stay up super late to get it done. I realized last night as we dined on leftovers from my Business Man's bbq lunch that I hadn't cooked dinner  once  all week. Well, unless you count the Little Caesar's pizza fundraiser kit we had on Tuesday. I finally understand when people say they are too busy to cook! We are desperately in need of a grocery stock-up....