Two Differences Between Utah Races and Texas Races

Carrabbas half marathon- San Antonio, TX.

1. In Utah your head and armpits may get a little sweaty. In Texas you have to hang your 10 pound clothes up in the bathtub before putting them in the hamper to be washed. Not a dry spot on my body when I finished this race. Actually, there's not a dry spot on my body when I finish any workout here no matter how big or small it might be.

2. Post race refreshments include just as much alcohol as water. I've never had alcohol, but it seems to me that having that as a post race beverage would make me puke. I looked around after finishing, feeling nauseous as usual, and was surprised to see most of the runners washing down ice cold beers. Wasn't that making them sick? I guess I'll never know.

I did the Carrabbas half marathon in San Antonio two years ago when Scott and I lived here for his internship, and I was happy to beat my previous time by about 13 minutes this time around! Wahoo! I haven't really gotten that much better in two years, I just wasn't 2 months pregnant this time around. It wasn't my fastest race, but it was the farthest I've ever run in Texas so far! I ran it in 1:47 and was happy with that time. I went out really conservatively because I was nervous about dying later on in the race because of the heat. I felt like I could have pushed harder, but I was happy to still feel good when I finished. I don't think I'll be too sore either, so that's a plus too.

I think this race is a lot of fun despite it being in the middle of June in Texas. It's at a nice park that has a lot of trees (as you can see from the pictures), so that helps keep the heat down. It doesn't do anything for the humidity, but at least the trees keep the sun from blazing down.

This race is actually designed to be a four person relay, so if you do the half marathon as an individual you run the same loop 4 times. This makes it really easy for spectators (like Scott and Boston) to see me and cheer me on. They sat in the same spot the entire race under a tree and were able to see me pass 4 times. The delicious Carrabbas meal they feed you when you finish the race is another reason I think this race is fun! Yum. I love that restaurant. There aren't very many of them, but lucky for us we just moved from the only city in Utah that had one to the only city in Texas that has one!

I think I'm getting used to this weather, but that doesn't mean I'm not excited for some winter running! We are still loving it here. We go to Sea World a lot when Scott gets home from work. It's so nice how easy it is to drive over there for a quick visit since it's so close to our house.

Scott has recently made one of the best purchases of his life (in his words). It's a big red cup from Sea World that has unlimited free refills of soda and frozen lemonades for the entire year. It was only $20 and we get at least two refills every time we go, so I admit it was a good purchase, especially because I'm a huge frozen lemonade lover. Boston dropped his cute little sunglasses in the Alligator Ally last time we went there, so I'm bummed about that. The special animal workers weren't there to rescue them for us. Darn. I was telling Scott the other day that I feel like I'm just on a vacation. It's weird to think that we actually live here now! The frequent trips to the pool and Sea World are making it feel like a vacation, so I wonder when it will sink in that this is home now.

Well, Scott is up at the apartment waiting for me, so I better go. It feels like heaven out here by the pool though. It's starting to get dark and there's a heavenly cool breeze. I wish I could stay here all night, but once little B goes to bed we are kinda stuck in the apartment. We looked in to getting super baby monitors that would reach to the pool. I still don't know how I feel about that. Anyone have any opinions on that? (I mean going to the pool with a baby monitor after Boston goes to sleep at night.) Any opinions you have I would love to hear. I don't feel totally safe about it, but I admit it's a little tempting.