Wine Cork Trivet

A couple of years ago I decided to make wine cork trivets to give as Christmas gifts.  My husband made the base out of extra wood we had and I glued in the wine corks. The perfect gift since it was home made and both of us had a part in it. I still had two more bases left and decided to make another one.

First you need the base:

I have been collecting wine corks for a long time. Last weekend we went to a new wine bar in town and  they gave us a bag of corks for free!

I practice by arranging the corks in the base until they all fit nicely. Then I glue gun them in!

So Fun and easy! They can really be used as a trivet or a decoration!

We are still in the middle of re-modeling the basement will post pictures soon! We had some issues with the tile guy so that bumped us a week or so back ugh.....
Running is going great. I hope to get in 24 miles in this week and plan to keep building from that. Just base building now and have a hard course half in May and a full in the fall.

Olympic Trials, Houston Marathon, George H. Bush and First Class...

MLK weekend 2012!!

Wow!! What an amazing weekend! It started with a 7am meet up at my friends house on Friday morning. We drove to the airport and for the first time I flew on a buddy pass...a little stressful but what an adventure! I also flew with just a carry-on and it was pretty easy! We got on the direct flight to Houston, picked up the rental car and headed to the hotel. Traffic in Houston sucks! Way worse than Denver. We made it to the hotel and then headed right back out to the Expo. It was pretty surreal seeing a bunch of the trial runners in the hotel right next to the Expo...had some dinner and went to bed.

Saturday woke up early and headed down to the trials area. So cool! We saw them all warming up etc. I even got a close up of Kara! Then we tried to find a good place to watch the race. The course was laid out that if you got a good position you could see the runners up to four times! So we tried to get on some bleachers and they were guarded pretty heavily and we didn't have any fancy VIP tags on so we didn't get in haha. Then this media type looking lady walked up to us and asked if we were looking for somewhere to sit. We said YES! Well she needed people to fill in her stands I guess for TV or something. So we got prime seats and were able to watch both starts see both finishes and see them run through three more times! This is about the coolest thing I have ever experienced. My husband and I aren't big game or concert goers so this was a pretty neat event.

Then we relaxed Saturday...watched the Broncos lose :( and had a 4:15am wake-up call.

Some of you may disagree and that's fine and I respect that but I ran under someone else's name. So for me not having run a marathon in over 6 years and having minimal training since this opportunity came up about 6 weeks ago I went in with no expectations. I had to get her in under 5 hours. So I wasn't really nervous and I just got up and got to the start. For this big of a race I was really impressed on the organization. I never felt like a sardine. I also never had more than 2 people in line ahead of my for a bathroom bonus!!!

Started out decent all under 9 minute pace up to the half. My half was a 1:57 and was like right on keep this up! Then my legs just couldn't keep up! My breathing was fine just my legs cramped and tightened up big time. I just kept pushing on even though I was slowing down. I ran a 4:06. My 6th marathon and my worst time but ya know I was totally OK with this! It was almost a relief to get it over with knowing I can do it and not even that bad of a time with minimal training. Now back in my 20's I could have run faster on that training but at almost 36 my body just can't big lesson learned Sunday : need to train!

One thing cool about this race unlike others was that a lot of church groups were out cheering. There was a priest spraying holy water on us and at one point there was a group that looked like that just got out of church and were cheering. There was a man in a wheelchair and throughout this race I was hi fiving people so I went up to him and shook his hand and was just grateful to be able to run and not be in a wheel chair. Come to find out I had just shook George H. Bush's hand!! How cool was that!

Trying to get back to Denver on buddy passes was an adventure1 We flew Houston to Aspen and I was seated in first class! The first time in my life! It was pretty awesome! Free wine and snacks galore!

Got in to Aspen and then flew into Denver. Whew what an amazing weekend!

A few thoughts....in 2005 when I ran a 3:55 I was bored and wanted ot get it over with this time I never was bored and am thinking I can totally manage some ultra/trail runs in my future. I also want to run another marathon again :)

The End

Enjoy the pics and video!!!

EXPO

All over the expo

Kare before her amazing race!

The Women's start

Start

Cool Video...2nd lap.

2011 in Review and 2012 Goals

Running:

I joined the Arvada Running club in late 2010. 2011 was just great for my running by being a part of this club. I got rejuvenated and felt like I was on a cross-country team again! The love and support I get and can give to all these different runners in the club is contagious. I began running track workouts and long runs consistently. I had some minor injuries but overall a great year.

I ran many races in 2011 and had some disappointments but overall am so happy to be racing again!!

January:
 Frosty's Frozen 5M 39:48

February:
Snowman Stampede 10M: 1:27

May:
Lincoln half marathon 1:47
Colfax half marathon 1:47
Run with Rocky 5k 23:33

June:
Taste of Louisville 5k 22:21

July:
4M on the 4th 18:44

August:
Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half marathon 1:51

September:
DSG 5k 22:57

October:
Denver Rock n Roll half marathon 1:44

December:
Rudolph's Revenge 23:37

In Career:
I am trying to challenge myself more in my career as I have been a high school guidance counselor at the same high school for 8 years. So this year I took on an intern and that was a great experience to train someone to become a counselor one day.

In Home:
We are in the process of re-modeling our basement and should be done soon so I can post pics! We textured all the walls by ourselves and painted. Just need some tile work done and bathroom.


2012 Goals/Resolutions:

One marathon a year

A race a month...last year I missed March, April and November

Try one new recipe (once every 2 weeks)
Explore new running trails in the Boulder area

Finish re-modeling basement

Fun craft projects - one a month minimum!!

Be a good wife

Plan summer vacation 2012

Blog once a week minimum

Comment on other people's blogs

Compete with myself but encourage others  (I've had my competitive days back in high school and college)

No excuses...

Well my holiday break has ended and I am now back at work after having 2 weeks off. The perks of a job in education. The last days of vacation were awesome because my husband bought me a treadmill for Christmas.  I ended up with a sweet commercial grade treadmill as my husband really researched and actually knows a lot about this kind of stuff. We ended up getting a TRUE treadmill that had been used at a gym at one point. It's very durable and a BEAST! I LOVE it!!! I actually have wanted one for a long time. I now have no excuses to get my runs in, which is OK with me.

The Treadmills....

Loaded up!

In the garage...but now it's set up in the basement...it weighs 396 lbs!!! I didn't have to carry it down there thanks goodness!!!

New Years Day 3 hr run

The Houston marathon is 2 weeks out and I ran 3 hours on New years day (almost 20). I ran on a trail so it was a little slower than road but am feeling good for the race with minimal training.