For the rest of your life

Love this!

Tomorrow I have a 6-miler on the books.

What are you doing this weekend to work for it?

The kind of run that makes it all worth it :)

This morning I had one of those runs where everything just clicks and feels so right.  I reminded me why I love to run.

I woke up this morning feeling more refreshed than I had in nearly two weeks.  I drank some water, laced up my shoes and walked out into the darkness.  There still was no trace of the sun, and the air was crisp, cool, and dewy…fall is in the air.  I took off nice and easy, and I felt like I was gliding.  My breath was steady, my feet were light, and I just cruised.  Halfway through my planned 2-miles, I decided to run another mile because I didn’t want that feeling to end.  Everything felt so right!  I hadn’t had a run like that in while

Runs like these are the reason I love to run.  We all have tough runs, runs that may beat down our sprit and hurt our motivation, but it’s the runs like this that make all it all worth it.

Tomorrow I have a 5-miler planned, then my fabulous and creative cousins are throwing me a bridal shower!!!!  All I know is that there will be lots of pink (my favorite color!) and I have to wear white!  They are so talented and I can’t wait to see what they have in store!!!

Happy Friday!

First Race as a Mrs!

I just signed up for the 2012 Surf City 1/2 marathon on Super Bowl Sunday!

I ran this in 2010 as my first half marathon with my cousin, and I'm so excited to train for it and run it again!  I'm especially excited because this will be my first race as a married woman!  Woohoo!!!!


Do you guys have any races coming down the pipeline you're super excited for?

My Bachelorette Weekend!!!

I don't even know how to explain how much fun I had during my bachelorette weekend!  My bridesmaids, mom, sis-in-law, aunt, cousins, friends, and I all went to Vegas Friday for my bachelorette weekend.  It seriously was the best weekend ever, filled with so much laughter and fun.  I am so grateful to everyone who came, and so blessed to have such giving, loving, and kind people in my life.  I felt so special the entire weekend and I can't wait for the big day!!

My incredible maid of honor, Lisa, completely outdid herself with everything this weekend!  We stayed at the fabulously chic Cosmopolitan in a suite on the 58th floor overlooking the Strip and the Bellagio water show!  It was breathtaking and we could even hear the music from the water show!

My MOH, 2 bridesmaids and I flew early Friday morning...8am flight to be precise!  We started with mimosas and bagels at 6:30am pre-flight!

Mimosas at 6:30am, my dad blasting music for us in the background!

Let the bachelorette festivites begin!!

Lisa got us "Bride" "Maid of Honor" and "Bridesmaid tanks to fly in, and then she made everyone who came with us tanks for Saturday night's lingerie shower in our suite and the party!

 The top Lisa made for everyone as one of the favors :)

Koko, Lisa, Me, Kelly in our Bridal tanks having just landed in Vegas!

@ the Chandelier Bar drinking a "Buzz Button" (weird but so good! you eat a flower

that makes your mouth tingly then drink a margarita-like cocktail)

with my mom, sister-in-law, and bridesmaids

It was incredible!  I also received a bridal crown with a veil, a shot glass diamond ring, a shot glass necklace, Bride pin, a couple different sashes to wear over the weekend, a lei with fun things attached (use your imagination), and we all received personalized martini glasses with pink and black polkie dots, dice wine stoppers, and so much more!

Thank you Lisa, for the amazingly awesome and generous favors you gave us!!!

 My incredible Maid of Honor, Lisa you are the BEST!

Me and Koko...I've known this girl since 3rd grade <3

 Kelso and Maggle Rock

Me and my Sis-in-law :)

Friday night we had dinner at the delicious Sushi Samba at the Palazzo.  If you love sushi, you will swoon over this place.  It was sensational!

@ Sushi Samba at the Palazza

This is where I received my Scavenger list...it was a list of about 30 things to do like ask a guy for a condom, get a guy to buy you a Blue Moon then tell him it's your fiance's favorite beer, get a picture of a guy's gf or wife from his wallet, etc.  There were some pretty hilarious things on the list!!

The rest of the night was spent at the pool club Marquee at the Cosmopolitan, and trying to check things off my scanvenger list and hanging with my girls.  I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time!

Saturday was a blast!  I got us all a cabana by the pool so we lounged and laughed all day before going back to nap and get ready for the night of Festivities for Mags.

Me and my cousin Rachel wearing our custom swarofski

swimsuits designed by my dear friend BritB, BeachCandy Swimwear

Lisa threw me a lingerie shower in our suite complete with catered dinner and a signature Maggie Cocktail!  We all drank "Maggie's" while I opened my presents :)


Of course the night wouldn't be complete without quizzes!!  Lisa quizzed everyone about me, leaving no category uncharted, and she quizzed me about my fiance!  Damn I know him well ;)  Better than anyone he says.  Speaking of my fiance, I saw a Star Wars slot machine and HAD to take a picture for him:

I won't divulge every little detail, but the entire weekend was without a doubt the best bachelorette ever!  I had the BEST time of my life and won't ever forget it!  Thank you to Lisa, for going above and beyond, and to my bridesmaids (Viv and Ali we missed you!!!*), my dear mommy who is a rockstar!, my aunt and cousins, and my friends for making my bachelorette weekend one to remember!!  I love you all so much!!

*Two of my five bridesmaids live in NYC and are throwing me an east coast shower/bachelorette this coming weekend!  I'm so looking forward to that!!!


Love,
Mags

September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

It's been 10 years since that horrific day in September.  Just as people never forget where they were when JFK was shot, I will never forget where I was on that fateful morning.


I was a sophomore in high school, and at 6:00am, my dad woke me up saying, "Maggie, someone crashed into the twin towers.  Wake up."  Still sound asleep I brushed him off, "Five more minutes dad."  "Maggie, wake up,  we're being attacked."  I sprung out of bed and ran to my parents room where they had a live news feed.  I remember being flooded with emotions and I just froze.  My mom was at LAX where she was due to fly back east.  Dad called her and she immediately jumped in a cab and headed home.  My parents kept me and my younger brother out of school, since my high school was near the Port of Long Beach and San Pedro (one of the largest ports in the US) and all day I spent watching the news, frozen with shock, sadness, confusion, and so many other emotions.  I can't explain it, but watching it happen was terrifying.


Three years later I moved to New York for college.  There I spent four of the best years of my life, living with seven girls, 5 of whom are New Yorkers.  Their recollections from that day (and days that followed) are insurmountable.  Even though I wasn't in New York when it happened, I still to this day am overwhelmed with emotion when I think of it or see pictures.  It brings tears to my eyes and sadness to my heart that we were attacked like that.  Thank you to all the brave men and women, police officers and firefighters, medics and civilians, who risked their lives that day to save others; and to our brave men and women over seas who have fought for the last decade.  I will never forget.

Chance to run the Women's Nike Marathon from Somersault Snacks!

Do you want to run the SOLD OUT Nike Women's Marathon?  Even though it's sold out there is still an opportunity to run it!


I was recently approached by Somersault Snacks, which is a company that produces delicious, healthy snacks baked with sunflower seeds and toasted grains (who doesn't love a tasty snack?!).  The Company has an awesome opportunity for 6 lucky winners to train and run the Nike Women's Marathon with them in San Francisco on October 16th!


It's so easy to enter!  All you have to do is:


1.  Like Somersault Snacks on Facebook and complete the sentence:  "I run to be_____" and tell them why you should be picked for Team Somersaults!
2.  Tweet about the contest referencing @SomersaultSnack in your tweets!
3.  Enter the contest via Facebook here!


It's an awesome chance to race in one of the most fun Marathons, and don't forget, you get a Tiffany's necklace at the end of this race.

Disneyland 1/2 Marathon Recap!

I had so much fun this past Sunday participating in and finishing the Disneyland ½ Marathon!  I must confess, I wasn’t sure how my body would handle the 13.1 miles since I hadn’t trained at all.  Literally, I hadn’t ran or walked more than 3 miles in months!  But I told myself I was going to have a great time, and that some silly stories about myself might come out of it (blisters, stomach issues, muscle cramps, ya know…things that happen anyways but have increased probability without any training).

To my surprise, I finished in 3:20 which was much quicker than I thought considering the circumstances.  Actually, I was very surprised with everything!  I had zero blisters (I usually always get blisters under a toenail or a few), I had no muscle cramping (my calves started to tighten near the end, but no cramps!), and I was shockingly not sore the next day (I was expecting to not being able to move on Monday!)  My best guess to my why my body held up as well as it did is because I’ve been working out, despite my complete lack of running and increasing mileage like a normal runner-in-training would do.  But I’ve still been lifting weights, practicing yoga and pilates, and taking some fun fitness classes.  Just being in shape helped me tremendously.  I will say, though, that being surrounded by runners and feeling everyone’s energy and adrenaline strongly made me realize that I do want to train for another half marathon.  I love the 13.1 distance, and I want to do it again and this time be prepared.

On to a quick recap of the race!

My friend Sara and her fiancé Dave were also running Disneyland and were kind enough me a ride with them.  After a brutal 2:30am wake up call, I got ready and Sara and Dave were at my house around 4am.  We made it to Disneyland with plenty of time to be in our assigned corrals by 5:30am.  The gun went off at 6am and my corral didn’t cross the starting line until nearly 6:30am.  While waiting, I made friends with Rapunzel and Minnie Mouse (almost everyone was dressed up or had some kind of Ode-to-Disney-character trinket).  We finally crossed the starting line and I fell into a light run.  I was feeling quite good and continued to run until we reached the mile 1 marker where I began to walk.  I knew if I kept running, my tank would exhaust before we hit the half way point.  I ended up walking nearly the whole race with some light running here and there.  The first 6 miles ticked by so quickly as we snaked our way through California Adventure and Disneyland.

We came out to Ball Road which was kind of a pain in the butt because the sun was rising in our faces as we ran up a hill.  Fun stuff.  I walked.  Good times.  We finally came around the Honda Center and into Angels Stadium!

I love the Angels and being able to run the bases is so cool!  The last few miles were pretty dull until we hit downtown Disney and the finish through which I sprinted.  (No matter what, I have to finish strong.)

After crossing the finish, I was rewarded with my giant Disneyland finisher’s medal and quickly proceeded to the Coast to Coast Challenge booth where I picked up my C2C medal for running a Disneyworld race and a Disneyland race in the same calendar year (Sean and I ran the Disneyworld ½ Marathon in Florida back in January).

The medals are HUGE!  As I walked to meet Sara and Dave, my Disneyland and C2C medal clinked together and I felt so proud of myself for getting out there and accomplishing the un-trained 13.1!  And I’m so proud of Sara and Dave who both PR’d!!!!

I had a great time and I can’t wait to pick my next 13.1 :)

Love,

Mags

Disneyland 1/2 Marathon???

About two weeks ago I received an email from Run Disney..."FINAL RACE INSTRUCTIONS."  Final race what?  "Oh crap!" I thought.  I had completely forgotten that I signed up for the Disneyland 1/2 months ago, partially because I can't believe September is here.  Where did the summer go?  Where has the year gone?


So tomorrow morning, I will be waking up at 2:30am (ugh), leaving by 4am to be lined up in my corral by 5:30am of a race I have not trained for at all.  I could get all stressed and worried, but I'm not.  I'm actually looking forward to it!  Honestly, who can say they've gone into a 1/2 marathon untrained?  Only a dumbass who forgot she signed up, i.e. me hahaha!  I am going to go out there tomorrow and have fun!  I will probably get super tired, sore, hit a wall, build a thousand blisters, BUT IT'S DISNEYLAND, and it will be so much fun!!!!!  Training or not, let's do this thing and have fun!!!!


Wish me luck!  :)


PS-I get my Coast to Coast bling too after finishing!  My fiance and I ran the Disneyworld 1/2 in Florida back in January which was so much fun!!!