Cruisin the Eastern Carribean

As many of you know, we visited the islands of St.Maarten, St. Thomas, and Nassau with Norwegian Cruise Line Thanksgiving week. It was Eddie's first cruise, but he says it definitely won't be his last. We flew to Miami, FL and braved a subway ride at night to sight see - not much to see, but after making a wrong stop, we were glad to return to the hotel with our lives. The Epic was built in 2010, and is the largest ship of NCL. Our room was steps from the gym and spa, which was much larger than I expected. Running 11 miles on a treadmill and staring at nothing but the ocean was blissful. We ate at the Garden Deck buffet for breakfast and lunch most days, but opted for dining options at the many speciality restaurants in the evening. No wins on bingo or Deal or No Deal, but we can't put a price on fun.

Highlights of our trip:

• Cagney's Steakhouse - the best steak ever
• Legends in Concert - a medley of artists including Michael Jackson
• Our ubiquitous cruise director Matt- he seemed to be everywhere at all times, boarding the ship, leaving the ship, wearing wings at the White party, singing at the cruise staff talent show
• White Party - Eddie catching a glow stick for me at the premier dance party on the top deck of the ship with choppy waters and winds at night
• Beach Rendezvous - a beach excursion on St Maarten with a guided bus tour and lunch on the beach
• Turtle Bay - Eddie's first snorkel excursion, our first with turtles
• Spa - the largest hot tub/pool inside a spa we've seen
• Murder Mystery Lunch - the actors were very talented and part of the Second City Troupe

View of Miami from our balcony

The LED chandelier changes colors - waiting to take professional photos.

A rabbit greeted us upon our return to our room

Lunch at our Beach Rendezvous - steps from the water

We scored front row patio chairs

Calm waters

Eddie with Michael Jackson after the Legends in Concert show

Elephant

On the Cat (the ship), drinking pineapple juice with rum after snorkeling with turtles

Lobster

Nassau - our last port

On our way back to the ship

We ordered room service this night, but the food was meh

Baby Bear

Eddie kept telling me to close the balcony door during our stay, but there were never any birds, until this day, and he wouldn't leave

And we're back - Eddie said, "I hate to see it end"

A Very Merry Christmas

We began our holiday with an evening mass on Christmas Eve. The next day, I awoke to a stocking full of goodies and of course Eddie had many surprises for him also. Fortunately, my gift selections this year were a hit, including cuff links made from the original Yankee stadium seats. I love my Nook, watch, and single serve coffee maker. We decided to head out for a 4 mile Christmas run by the ocean, hopefully a new tradition. It was a perfect day with slightly overcast skies and nice cool breezes. Thanks to my slow cooker, we were able to enjoy a hot bowl of chili with fresh baked cornbread when we returned. Perfect after being outside. We have dinner reservations tonight at a hotel nearby where we'll enjoy a 3 course meal. A delicious ending to a great day.

Our tree looks a lot better this year. We're starting to get the hang of it.

Post Christmas Dinner

Our Christmas Day lunch - homemade spicy chili with cornbread

·        Prep: 15 min. Cook: 4 hours

· Yield: 8 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground extra lean turkey
• 1 hot chili peppers of your choice (optional)
• 1 can (16 ounces each) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 green pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoonscider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoongarlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoondried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoonpepper(add more to taste)
• 1 can (14-16ox) diced tomatoes with green chilis
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper (Add more/less depending on your heat preference)
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes (optional)
• 2 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup water

Directions

• In a large skillet, cook turkey over medium heat until no longer pink. Transfer to a slow cooker. Remove seeds from the chili peppers if desired; chop peppers. Add to the slow cooker. Stir in the beans, ½ tomato paste, onion, green pepper, seasonings and 2 diced tomatoes with juices.
• Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until heated through, add water if needed to achieve desired thickness.
• When I made this on the weekend, I saved ½ the can of tomato paste and then added the ½ cup water when there were 20 minutes remaining so you can alter the thickness of the chili. If it's too dry, just add water. If it's too watery, add more paste.

 

Hot Buttered Run

It was a packed weekend - first, our company holiday party Friday night with Eddie winning a complimentary night stay at the host hotel. With the rain and leaving work late, we arrived at the party around 7pm, but enjoyed a night of food, dancing, and taking silly pics at the photo booth til 1am. Saturday morning, we head out for race packet pick-ups and were very pleased with the cool long sleeve technical shirts that we received. Quick stop home to pack again, and we're off to Paradise Point Resort & Spa, the location of the race. A massage at the spa and then dinner at Baleen, where Eddie swears he had the "best lobster bisque ever". Hot dog, we have a wiener. Since our first room didn't meet our cleanliness standards - we'll spare you the details, the hotel upgraded us to the bridal suite - a huge room with the main lagoon, ducks and geese outside our door. Greatly appreciating the race start time of 10am, we shared our blueberry muffin with our feathery friends. Looking forward to doing nothing next week - well except for an 8 mi run with our running group! No rest for the weary.

Hot Buttered Run Reviews:

Pros
Well-organized
Cool shirt!!!
Close to home
10k short distance
Great post-race snacks and plenty of it, pretzel chips, naked juice, bananas

Cons
Hot Buttered Rums tasted like water and a little bit of rum
Loop course - not a fan
More water stations
Scenery was a tad monotonous
10am - a late start and it got hot

Outside our suite

Why do we run? For the medals and shirts! Proudly donning our scwag.

Our fine feathered friends

Training for Surf City Half

Proposed Schedule 1

12/22/2012	8 miles	35 min easy	55 min - 2-3 3:00/3:00 or hills	50 min - tempo
12/29/2012	11  miles	35 min easy	60 min - 3-4 3:00/3:00 or hills	55 min - tempo
1/5/2013	12 miles	35 min easy	60 min easy	55 min - tempo
1/12/2013	9 miles	35 min easy	60 min - 4-5 3:00/3:00 or hills	55 min - tempo
1/19/2013	9 miles	35 min easy	60 min - 4-5 3:00/3:00 or hills	55 min - tempo
1/26/2013	6 miles	35 min easy	45 min easy	30 min easy
2/3/2013	Half

Proposed Schedule 2

12/22/2012	8 miles	35 min easy	55 min - 2-3 3:00/3:00 or hills	50 min - tempo
12/29/2012	9  miles	35 min easy	60 min - 3-4 3:00/3:00 or hills	55 min - tempo
1/5/2013	10 miles	35 min easy	60 min easy	55 min - tempo
1/12/2013	11 miles	35 min easy	60 min - 4-5 3:00/3:00 or hills	55 min - tempo
1/19/2013	12 miles	35 min easy	60 min - 4-5 3:00/3:00 or hills	55 min - tempo
1/26/2013	6 miles	35 min easy	45 min easy	30 min easy
2/3/2013	Half

Santa To The Sea

Our fourth half is complete! We're very proud of our efforts. Despite being under prepared, we scored some decent times and had a lot of fun. It was our first time visiting Oxnard, and everyone was so friendly. Our hotel was situated on a very quiet beach. With nothing but  the ocean and farm land around us, we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. We walked to the Parade of Lights our first night, a parade of boats with lights - a bit of disappointment but we were glad we checked it out. The second night after our half, we drove by Candy Cane Lane, a showpiece of homes decked in lights. It was quite a scene complete with Micky Mouse in a Santa outfit. With so much Christmas cheer in Oxnard, it was impossible not to get into the holiday spirit. We listened to Christmas music all the way home. A brief visit to the Camarillo Shopping Outlets, a stop for a lunch of dim sum and my bakery, 85 Degrees, and we're back in SD. Below are our comments about Santa To The Sea.

Pros
Well Organized
Fun
Cute kids at each station cheering us on
Wonderful volunteers
Flat course
Great location
Free massage/stretch
Fun Medal - Santa in running shoes
Immediate race results
Easy access to food post race - gotta love Chipolte
Shuttles left on time and there were plenty of them

Cons
Mile Markers need to be more clear
No XL shirt sizes even though we ordered one
Post-race food a little light
Unclear where food and water was located post race



Wohoo - we did it! Bonus - a farmer's market right next to the finish line

Eddie with a palm tree on top of his head

A park by our hotel

Retired for now, see you next year!

Gorgeous sunset

The iconic Oxnard Santa - where we dropped off our toy donations

Santa came to Oxnard




 

10 miles welcomes cool temps and wind

It was a great day for a 10 mile run and the first day we had strong cool winds, which reminded me of my runs in San Francisco. The cool temps make this a great time of year to train. We did our 10 miles easy. We have some great things planned for the holidays including our Santa to the Sea Half which includes a jaunt down a street called Candy Kane Lane, and a Hot Buttered 10k (what's more fun than a 10k followed by a hot buttered rum), Christmas Parade and Kringle Mingle, a collection of vendors, food, and music, and a Christmas dinner as well as a family reunion in Santa Ana. All of this occurs before the end of the year. Eddie always says he likes to have things to look forward to and this holiday season, we've got a lot in store. Also, I've got a little surprise planned for his birthday. More to come.

9 miles - A Breeze

It was tough getting out of a warm bed this morning. The cool weather was perfect for running though! Eddie ran strong and felt like he could have done 10 today. I ran a comfortable pace and enjoyed the run, but today, I was more so looking forward to breakfast and relaxing the rest of the day. We've decided to take on the Beach Cities Challenge with Long Beach behind us and Surf City and the OC half ahead of us. On a side note, we're very glad the NY Marathon is not taking place. As runners, we recognize that running is a luxury and whether it's attached to raising money for charity or even generating revenue for a city, more pressing matters should and deserve resources in times of crisis. We hope that our friends and family are safe and continue to have their needs met.