Week 6 - Meals with Friends

It's funny how once you know exactly when you're leaving, every day until then suddenly becomes so much more precious. So both because I only had two weeks left in the office and because I'd hung out with my coworkers enough times to call them friends, I got to enjoy some seriously great meals this week.

For lunch one day, Compliance and HR joined forces to explore Bar Cycle an Austin-esque bike shop/Italian restaurant right on the harbor.

Spaghetti lunch

cafe in a bike shop

pedal while you drink at the bar

my lunch

Later that week, I met up with my American friends, who recently returned from a trip to Portugal, for a very belated Oktoberfest. Finding German themed snacks at the grocery store was far too challenging, so we drank German beer and wine and dined on authentic Australian snacks. Wedges with sour cream and sweet chili sauce, meat pies, and sausage rolls. But we had good German mustard and Bavarian cheese!

our feast

New friends! Who knows where we will meet again!

the view from Nina's rooftop

loving the rooftop views

One huge difference between America and Australia is the style of coffee. Australians take their coffee very seriously. More than Portland, Austin, Seattle, or any coffee-loving town. Even after six weeks, I haven't fully figured the menu out. But here's what I do know:

• Long Black = as close to American black drip coffee as you'll get, except it's far stronger, richer, and bolder. This is usually what I order from coffee shops first thing in the morning.
• Flat White = a shot or two of xoffee with warm, frothed, milk. Sort of like a latte in the US but in a smaller cup. I'll order a skim flat white around 9 or 10am, after I've already had my first cup of the day.
• Cappuccino = similar to that in the US except here they will only put foam in it and dust the top with cocoa powder. And it's in a smaller cup. This is my afternoon goto and I will really miss it. Beautiful latte art below from the coffee shop in our building, Espresso Room.

The Garbage Truck Incident

This year, I am thankful for not being crushed by a garbage truck.

Because I came close.

Chris and I had a wonderful trip to see my friends and family up in Kansas this past week, however we also nearly got smushed by garbage. It’s a sucky story, and I wish it hadn’t happened. But it did, we are fine, but the miata is not.

This was taken while the car was on the tow truck. According to the police, it was not drivable. The steering and the front left wheel weren't communicating correctly. The police officer gave the garbage truck driver a ticket for an improperly executed right-turn, so technically I was not at fault. But still, be careful out there.

Besides wrecking my mom's car, our Thanksgiving break consisted of visiting with lots of people I love, eating many delicious foods, and seeing tons of Kansas.

We toured the Boulevard brewery.

Made a trip out to Lawrence

Feasted with the Kapka/Farris family.

And made it back to Austin in time for Nate's deep-fried turkey.
The weather was perfect for most of the trip (we had one 20 degree day) and I got to see most of the people I wanted too. It never feels like there's enough time to see everybody. I should be back there around Easter, but for now, cheers to the rest of 2012, sure is flying by.

one day more

It's crazy to think that I'll be completely done with this by tomorrow morning. When I got my coffee from the kitchen at work today, I thought to myself, "at this time tomorrow I'll be running 13.1 miles!" It's almost here.

On Wednesday I ran 4 miles inside on the treadmill. It was raining. I thought about just sucking it up and going outside, but I decided the only way I could start a run in the rain was if it was for a real race. When I got home I started to feel some tightness in my right quad/groin/hip muscle. Ha, shows how much human anatomy I know. Yesterday, I ran 2 miles without any pain during the run. The "upper thigh area" really only hurts when I get up from a seated position. Like, when I put all my weight on the right leg to stand up.

Oh, but before my 2 mile run (last training run!), I had to go pick up my race packet from Luke's Locker. The journey was incredibly annoying. I realized I wasn't going to make my 5:30pm yoga class at around 4:30pm when I was at a complete standstill on Mopac and 45th. My car was completely stopped in the far left lane when BAM, I am shaken forward, confused, and surprised. I look in the rear-view mirror and see the front of a gigantic SUV. "Omgosh some idiot just rear-ended me." Yes, that is what happened. I get out of the car and some kid, probably around 17 years old says to me, "I'm so so so sorry."

I am still pretty shocked by all of this. This has never happened to me before. I quickly pull over, thinking how annoying we are for the rest of the rush-hour commuters. I get out of my car and we both agree that there is seriously, no damage. Maybe some light scratches? But they totally could have been there already. The kid continues to apologize. As we get back into our cars I say, "It's okay, but be careful!" Suddenly I have become some all-knowing adult passing on my wisdom to the younger drivers of the world.

My journey continues for another 30 minutes when I finally make it. Race packet obtained. It even included some sweet free stuff!

Zooma running shirt, bib, four safety pins, Lemon Zest Luna Bar, SunRype Fruit Strip, Garnier shampoo/conditioner sample, and Dole real-fruit pineapple bites . Not bad!
I'm saving all the goodies for after the race tomorrow. And at this point, all I can do is go to bed early and hope for the best. My goal is to finish having felt like I did the best that I could.

I've found several other blog posts with descriptions from the 2011 race. Per their advice, I'm going to try and really enjoy the experience. One mile at a time. I'll try to take in the scenery, the other runners, and the feeling of accomplishment.

So, today after a 25 minute stationary bike ride to get rid of some energy (and listen to my favorite podcast, thanks again Natalie!), I've been pretty freaking lazy. I feasted on some leftover pasta, some of Johnny's Favorite Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, and sooo much water. Oh, and I did this:

Something about hot pink nails makes you want to run faster. Right?

And get a load of this awesome tongue-out cat pose.

Oh Khyra, always entertaining.

If anybody is awake from 5:30am-10am tomorrow, please send lots of good thoughts my way. I am almost there!