February Hot Chocolate Race Report

This post actually belongs in February....so it's about time to get it on the blog.

Way back in October, my sister-in-law in Dallas, Laura, asked a few of us other sisters-in-law if we wanted to come up and do this Hot Chocolate Run with her, happening at the beginning of February.

Since I'm always up for chocolate and some cool race swag, I agreed. Joy, my Austin sister-in-law, also signed up.  We were going to do the 15k, and Laura (who would be about 7 months pregnant in Feb) was going to do the 5k.

Alia, Christa, Joy, and a giant mug of Hot Chocolate

Then, just a few weeks before the race, my oldest/bestest friend Alia-in-Tucson told me that she was coming to the race also!  I was pumped--purposely ignoring the fact that I'd done hardly any training at all in the last few months. 

The morning of the race dawned perfectly cool and overcast.  Joy, Laura, and I managed to do some tricky, back-road maneuvering to miss most of the crazy traffic and get Laura to her start on time.  We managed to find Alia (due to a small miracle) before the race, snapped a few pictures and got ready to go. 

Alia, who had been doing a LOT of training for this race, was going to run ahead and try for a new PR.  I was going to stick with Joy and hope she could distract me enough to make it through 9.3ish miles. 

Posing with our post-race "hot chocolate" bowl: some melted chocolate w/ various dippers, and a cup of hot cocoa. 

Unfortunately, and totally unfairly, Alia ended up not being able to finish her race b/c of a back injury, while I cruised through, having a blast asking Joy stupid questions like if she HAD to get a tattoo, what would it be and where?  (Answer: "Tattoos are stupid and I would never get one.")

Joy eating her hard-earned chocolate dipped banana

Post race I paid for my lack of training with some SERIOUS soreness that had me wondering if it would be better to just amputate my legs above the knees.  But all told, I had a great weekend in Dallas.  I just wish Alia had been able to finish her race! 

Sharing with my bowl with Lily to thank her for coming and waiting for us in the cold, windy weather

The Rodeo, round 2

March seriously FLEW by here in the Ellis household. And April is set to be even busier. So here is some catch-up!

Last year was my first experience with the Houston Rodeo. And anybody who knows me knows that the most important part of an event like this is...the food. Definitely.

Last year we didn't go in with a very organized plan, not really knowing what to expect, so we used up some valuable tummy space on a few less-than-amazing eats (e.g. a giant turkey leg).

Next year I'll come up with a more flattering corn dog eating pose...

This year I had a plan. We were driving down to meet up with some of Rob's old co-workers and boss, so we weren't going to have too much time to wander. My check-list was 2 items long: a GIANT, most-delicous-corndog-ever; and deep-fried-cookie-dough-that-tastes-like-you-died-and-went-to-heaven. 

My mostly devoured deep-fried cookie dough, and Rob's deep-fried Reeses

 We came, we ate, we conquered. And, as we sat and watched the rodeo munching on some kettle corn for dessert, I was one happy lady.

As a side note: I don't have a picture of the mutton bustin' event, but Rob and I are already thinking about buying a sheep so Savannah and Lily can start training.   Man, I can't WAIT until they're 5!