No Shave November is Finally Here!

This means I have less than a month until my big race. Let's just say, at this point, I'm more scared and ready for it to be over than excited but I'm still chugging along. The last several weekends I have been running a 15 mile course, that I still enjoy. I start and end with roads and hills, but I have grown very fond of Columbia's trails.

Two Saturdays ago was Missouri's Homecoming, which was a bigger deal than usual because ESPN decided to make it the location of their GameDay! We played OU, who was #1 in the BCS polls and I believe Mizzou was #11, but we were still undefeated, so they knew it was going to be a good match. Since Joe, Bess, and her parents always come into town for Homecoming, I decided to take off work on Friday. It was my first paid vacation so I made the most of it by sleeping in until 9, running my 15 miles which takes right around 3 hours. After that, I renewed my plates at the DMV (I'm not sure why everyone complains about it. I've never had any trouble.) and went to AGAVE with Zach. Considering we didn't eat lunch until about 3:30, it was empty, but the fish tacos were incredible as always!

Joe, Bess, Kelly, and Kevin got in about 8:45 and we went out to eat at Stadium Grill before heading downtown to the piano bar. Of course there was a good crowd there and I did run into a few girls I knew from college, but I don't see the thrill in paying $50 to the piano guys to play your fight song over the other teams... save your money for something that is going to last more than 1.5 minutes! However, one of my favorite parts about going out the Friday before game day is that the Mizzou Marching Band goes around to all the bars and plays a few songs for the crowd. I've always wanted to just follow them about one time, but never have!

There was a pretty good storm Friday night, which we got to sleep right through. Mizzou had its fair share of crazy fans (several of my friends) line up at 3 to get up close to the GameDay tent, but we didn't get down to the Quad til about 9:30 and still got the experience! The parade was pushed back to noon, which gave up plenty of time to get over there before it started, grab seats, etc. We cheered for the trumpets, 'boo'ed the Republicans, and drank some beer. It was a great time! After the parade, we wondered over to my friend's tailgate, over to Bess's friend's tailgate, and back to the car. Even though it looked like it most of the day, we never got rained on. We ended up watching the game with all my friends at The Deuce. The game was AWESOME! After our win against Oklahoma, my friends went downtown to get sections of the goal post. Even though I came home with my family after the game and avoided the mayhem that was Harpos downtown, I still have my slice of the post sitting on my end table! Thanks friends :)

This past Saturday was Halloween. We got to dress up for work on Friday and we decided to do an 80s theme because our department was doing a skit, reenacting Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love. The skit won 1st place so we get a catered lunch sometime in the near future!
I pride myself on cute, non-slutty costumes, and I think this year was a hit! As a semi-last minute costume, my California Raisin came together. And I got to stick with my 80s theme I had going on Friday with crimped hair and pink earrings! I decided to DD Saturday night because I'm trying to cut WAY back this month with my run coming up. With the usual, Happy Birthday sung to Matti Mo at midnight, it was a great evening! Sunday, I slept til 12:30! Then got Addison's for lunch and grabbed pumpkin beer at Flat Branch before heading to the Blue Note to see Rocky Horror with Melissa and Kyler. I hadn't seen it before and didn't really know much about it other than what I saw on Glee the Tuesday before :)




My runs are really starting to hurt. It seems like each time I've run my 15 miles, I strain something else and end up walking the last few miles home. This past week, I went into the trainer at Columbia College to have him look at my achilles. Basically he said I need to constantly be stretching, heating, icing it throughout the week, especially before/after my runs. This past Saturday, I got a lot further in the 15, but it hurt pretty bad. And now it's my left ankle instead of the original pain in my right. I'm switching back to my old shoes for awhile longer, though I did go to the gym last night and ran 5 on the treadmill while watching Star Wars. My calf got pretty sore, but other than that, I could go forever. I guess that's a good sign...

Oh... I also want to make a shout out to my friend Jose! When you black out as Mario and say things like "John wants to get a tattoo on his asshole!" in your Mexican accent, you can't help being the favorite!