The Boston Marathon!

The Boston Marathon was finally here and I was so excited! I had been training hard, running my hills and long runs and felt ready. My friend Susan and I were both running in it this year for the first time. This was the 113th Annual Boston Marathon - the oldest and most prestigious race in the world. The Boston Marathon is the only qualifying race so every runner at Boston had to run a previous marathon at a certain time to be able to run. For my division, I had to run it in 3:40 and I made my time in Philadelphia this year finishing in 3:37. So ever since then, I've been training and preparing for this day to arrive.

The race is on Monday every year on Patriot's Day, which is always the third Monday of April. We left on Saturday morning. Susan picked me and Philip up for our four-hour journey to Boston. When we arrived we met one of Susan's best friends, Marie, and checked out Marie's apartment in the city where Susan would be staying and the post-marathon party would be held. Her apartment was adorable and on the famous Commonwealth Avenue. You could even see the Green Monster (Fenway Park) from the bedroom window!

Right away we grabbed some lunch at U-Burger and then headed to the Marathon Expo to get our bibs, t-shirt and goodie bag. I absolutely love expos! You're surrounded by all these runners and get to check out all this running gear and Boston Marathon attire and lots of free samples! Here's a photo of me picking up my bib - #15350. I couldn't believe it! All the official Boston Marathon merchandise was bright yellow and blue so you could spot all the runners walking around the city. We all had this special bond - we had all qualified and were running Boston on Monday! It was pretty cool. During the expo I also got to meet the famous Kathrine Switzer, the first girl to officially run the Boston Marathon! Here's a photo of me, Kathrine and Susan after she signed the book she wrote, "Marathon Woman".

It was also me and Philip's first time to Boston so we were excited to explore the city. The first thing we noticed was how young iit was. It is such a college-town with so many universities in Boston. Our hotel was in Cambridge so we were right by Harvard. And it was just like you would picture, very New England and with all the crew teams out on river in the morning.

That evening Philip and I decided to walk around Cambridge and have dinner in Harvard Square at this large brew house and then we walked around the square looking for a place for dessert. We circled twice and almost gave up until we found the absolutely

BEST dessert place! It's called Finale and the place only serves desserts! We couldn't believe we'd found such a perfect place. We were so impressed with the menu and since I had no guilt knowing I was running a marathon in two days...we decided to get the sampler platter. Here's a photo of us with all of our desserts. It was so delicious! We are really trying to find a place like that here in New York, but we haven't found anything like it yet.

Sarah's Wedding in Florida

On April 3, 2009 my really good friend from elementary school, Sarah, was getting married in Florida. I couldn't miss her wedding and I was excited to visit her again in Florida - my sister and I had visited her two years ago and had a blast! It also so happened that Philip had a wedding that weekend of a college roommate in Cincinatti. What are the odds?! I was pretty bummed he couldn't go with me, but it turned out almost better because my mom decided to go to the wedding so we got to hang out in Florida together! I hadn't seen her since she came and visited me in December so it was a good time to see my mom.

We had such a WONDERFUL time. It was so great to see Sarah and her family and to catch up with everyone. Sarah looked absolutely beautiful and so happy. I really like her husband, Joel. He's a great guy - very fun and definitely adores Sarah. About two years ago my sister and I visited Sarah in Florida and had a blast with her and Joel. It was also nice to have a little beach time too! My mom and I stayed in Seminole at this Holiday Inn Habourside. We were a short walk from the beach and they also had two pools. We both want to go back! It was cold in both New York and Omaha when we visited, so we really appreciated the Florida sun.

Here's a view of the beach - beautiful!

Omaha Party in NYC!

One day I received an email from my friend Kiersten who I went to high school and college with, about this Omaha Party in NYC. Neither of us knew who was organizing the party or anyone on the email list...but it was forwarded to her and then she sent it to me...so we HAD TO ATTEND! I invited Courtney and Philip told some of this work friends including his friend Ken who also lived in Omaha for some time. The gathering was at this bar on the lower east side and we had the entire basement for all of us Omaha folks! It was pretty fun. I also invited friends Paula & Mike who both went to Creighton. I didn't really meet any new people or see familiar faces, but it was fun to go to this Omaha Party here in NYC.

There are Nebraska people everywhere in the city!

The photo above is of all of Philip's fski and work friends. From left to right: (back row - Ken, Chris, front row - Kenta, Danny, Philip)