Jen and Meg's Excellent Road Trip Recap: The Grand Canyon

Wowza, talk about getting sidetracked.  I started posting about Megan and I's roadtrip, unfortunately, less than a week later, Mike and I headed out on a short road trip of our own for a meetup with some of my family near Charleston, South Carolina (that post is coming soon).  So, without further adieu, I'll attempt to get back on track recapping the big road trip, starting with our visit to the Grand Canyon.

THE Grand Canyon

News flash: The Grand Canyon is big, real big.   Walking up, I didn't know what to expect from only seeing pictures in history or travel books.  But man, it is bigger than you could ever imagine.  At one point a park ranger commented that if you were a bird (or plane), it is just 10 miles across, but to drive around the whole thing is several hundred miles.  Don't quote me on that exactly, but hopefully you get the idea.  The Grand Canyon is so big that it make the Colorado River look like a stream.  In fact, in many places, it was barely visible from the top of the canyon.

The best view of the Colorado River from top of the Canyon

We chose to experience the scenery by walking the popular 'Rim Trail' along the South Rim of the Canyon, which is by far the most popular part.  The Rim Trail is about 5 miles round trip, and a pretty easy hike overall, as most of the path is paved.  Even so, most people seemed to stay within the first half mile of the trail - it was much less crowded as we proceeded further down the trail.  Below, and right, are a few pictures I took.  As the markings on the trail pointed out, the Grand Canyon is billions of years in the making and you can't mistake the distinct layers of rock no matter where your viewpoint.

I remember telling Megan the next time I visit the Grand Canyon, I would take advantage of the numerous hikes available.  I can only imagine how beautiful the view is within the Canyon looking up.

We camped overnight in the Desert View campground several miles outside from the main Visitor's Center, which had modest accommodations (no water), though it did have flushable toilets.  There was a fire ban in effect because of the dry conditions, so no campfires either.  Our one night there was pretty uneventful.  We each had a sandwich and a few beers, and laid our heads down shortly after the sun had fully set.  The next morning we woke up as early as possible and started our drive to Zion National Park in Utah.

Chicago Marathon Training Update: Week 9

I can't believe its only week 9 of the Chicago Marathon training program.  It feels like we have been running FOR-ev-er.  Of course, as my friend Michelle reminded me the other week, we only have about 10 weeks left until the marathon.  The good news is that I am feeling really good about where I am in terms of training.

Things have been going well these last few weeks (despite the lack of posts about my progress).  The night before we headed to South Carolina, Mike and I did a 12 mile run on the lake.  In South Carolina, we did one early morning run on the beach of 3 miles.  That was the only run we did that week, unfortunately, but we also went kayaking one morning, which we rationed was some form of "cross training."

Then last Saturday, while Mike was out of town, I did the longest run to date of our training - 13 miles.  I got a bit of a late start, but luckily the temperature was supposed to be pretty mild, and even a bit cool for most of the morning.  I attempted to change my running form a bit to make my steps/strides a lot easier on my knees, and it seemed to work.  I was a bit sore later in the day on Saturday, but all things considered, I felt really strong after the 13 miles.  Granted it was almost 3 years ago, but I remember being a lot more sore after some of the long runs when we trained in 2009.

This week is a roll back week - not sure if that's the official term - but it means our long run is only 10 miles.  You know you are training for a marathon when you can say things like only 10 miles.  As a result, we should have done some long-er runs during the week - 3 miles on Tuesday, 7 on Wednesday, and 4 on Thursday.  Well, we didn't quite hit that goal, but I personally ran 3 of the 3 days, I just didn't do all the mileage.  On Tuesday, Mike and I did 3 miles at a pretty good pace (see image below).  Wednesday I did just over 3 miles on the treadmill, again, at a pretty fast pace, and finally, I ran a 5k race (3.11 miles) last night with a few friends.  I averaged under 9min/mile, which all things considered, I was very happy with.  Had the weather been a bit cooler, I may have been able to push that more, but oh well.  After the race, I got to catch up and have a few beers with my friends Kate and Roni.  Today is an off day, so I'll spend most of the day watching the Olympics and doing some reading.  Lately, I've been reading a lot of articles/posts on the Gatorade Sports Science Institute website - everything from nutrition advice, how to improve sports performance, the best type of strength training, etc.  Its not just a big advertisement for Gatorade, its a sports performance virtual library. 

Another thing that has been invaluable in our training is the Nike+ running app.  So long as you have a smartphone, it replaces the need for the Nike+ iPod software that is still widely used by some people.  The old version involved a small sensor that tracked mileage based on steps, not unlike a pedometer.  It was linked to your phone or iPod, as the name suggested.  Unfortunately, as I learned recently, the sensor has a certain battery life, and once it dies, the only remedy is to buy an entirely new sensor.  At $20 per sensor, its a big waste of money.  The Nike+ running app was a budget friendly $1.99 at the iPhone App Store.  It remains the only app I've ever paid for, but has definitely been worth it.  It uses the GPS technology of your phone to track mileage (it is very accurate) and plays audio feedback during your run, if you choose.  The audio feedback includes your miles, total time, and per mile pace, which is a must when training for a marathon.  Finally, once you complete a run, you can sync all of your data to the Nike+ website, and not only view the information, but also link up with your friends to "compete," or just to get some extra motivation.

Nike+ running app tracks our mileage and other run info

In other exciting news, I got a new pair of running shoes!  For years, I have sworn by the Asics Gel Nimbus as my main running shoe.  It got me through the marathon last time without any major injuries and I've always found them oh-so-comfortable.  However, they are one of the more expensive shoes on the market, so I usually try to buy the previous year's model at a discount.  I mean, really, who cares if you are wearing last year's colors?  Since I've worn these shoes before and know my size is very consistent, I can also shop for them online and try to find the best deal (free shipping or % off and so on).  All in all, I think I came away with a pretty good deal, and some sweet looking shoes for the marathon.  It should make me a little easier to spot, right?!

New shoes! Asics Gel Nimbus 13 in black/green

Jen and Meg's Excellent Road Trip Recap: Albuquerque

Leaving Oklahoma City left us a short drive across the remainder of Oklahoma, a small part of North Texas, and then just over half way across New Mexico to end up in Albuquerque, which was our next city.  To break up the 8+ hour drive, we agreed to stop for lunch about half way, which put us in Amarillo, Texas, a pretty good sized town, and one you may have heard of thanks in part to its mentions in many country music songs (Amarillo Sky by Jason Aldean, for example).  Our predetermined lunch stop was going to be the Coyote Bluff Cafe.

This place was on our radar because it was featured on Man vs. Food.  I got a little nervous when we pulled up and I saw a crowd of abut 10 people waiting outside.  We walked up and some nice folks let us know about the informal line policy - you basically just find out what group is before you and when they get called into the restaurant, you know you are next.  While we waited, we headed inside to get beers from the famous "beer tub."  That alone made this place awesome.  Its pretty much an honor system with the beers - you take your empties inside and pay with your meal...nice!

Coyote Bluff Cafe in Amarillo, TX

 It couldn't have been more than 10 minutes before we were seated. We immediately eyed the "Burger from Hell," but why stop there?  Megan and I each ordered a burger with the intent to split them so we could sample more.  I got the 'California Burger,' which also sounded interesting.  The burgers came about as quickly as you could expect, and were promptly devoured, along with a plate of fries that we also split.  For getting the burgers done medium well (my request), they were SO juicy!  Seriously, one of the best burgers I've ever had.  With that, we were ready to finish the drive to Albuquerque, or ABQ, as referred to locally.

Burrito from Frontier Restaurant in Albuquerque, NM

While in Albuquerque, I was on a mission to find some 'Breaking Bad' filming locations...just kidding, though I did find a website dedicated to such a thing.  As per usual, we got settled in around dinner time and set off for the K&I Diner, which was yet another featured restaurant on Man vs. Food.  This time though, we were hoping to try their food challenge, which is the 'Travis on a Silver Platter,' a MEGA burrito covered in green chile and french fries, and served on a silver tray.  Unfortunately, they were closed when we got there, so we headed to another spot for good Mexican food, Frontier Restaurant, located on the campus of the University of New Mexico.  Frontier was setup more like a cafe where you order your food at a counter, then pick it up when you number is displayed on a video screen.  Both of us stuck with the burrito theme and got their signature burrito.  This was more or less "normal" sized but covered in green chile (just about everything was covered with green chile).  I was a little disappointed in the burrito, but perhaps unfairly, as I was really hoping to try the Travis Burrito at K&I.

After dinner, we wanted to check out some breweries, so Megan put together a list of three to four breweries.  The first one we visited, Bad Ass Brewing, was just opened up by a longtime homebrewer, and had a kind of odd strip mall location.  They had a lot of beers on tap, but more than one of them just didn't taste right to me.  In fact, I think I disliked more than I liked.  But, as a fellow beer enthusiast and homebrewer, I gotta give the guy credit for following his dream.  Hopefully he can refine his methods a bit and start putting out better quality beer.

Bad Ass was an OK start, but once we sampled the beers at La Cumbre Brewing, you could easily tell the difference in quality.  I was really impressed by nearly their entire lineup at La Cumbre, including a couple of Pilsner style beers that I normally wouldn't order.  They had a few awesome pale ale's/IPA's as well.  To top it off, since it was a Saturday night, they had two bands playing bluegrass tunes, so we had some entertainment with our beers.  On recommendation from a few locals we chatted with, we finished our beers and headed around the corner (literally) to Il Vocino brewing.  Il Vocino was different in that they had a large indoor space, but a HUGE outdoor patio as well, part of which was covered.  It also appeared they had a stage area, so perhaps they bring in live music from time to time.  Il Vocino had some different styles than La Cumbre - they had more variety overall, but I think we both liked the beers equally as compared to La Cumbre.  I'm definitely glad we found these two places, and I can't wait to come back to try their beer.

Beer sampler at La Cumbre brewing in Albuquerque

To round out the night, as had become another custom, we made a stop for late night eats, this time choosing Del Taco, a fast food restaurant not unlike Taco Bell.  We figured since there weren't any Del Taco restaurants near us, we'd try to eat "local."  Sadly, Del Taco was disappointing, and I might even put Taco Bell above them in the Mexican fast food category.

Albuquerque was a cool city, and I wish we had a chance to spend another day there - my initial impression was that it seemed very old and dirty, but as we drove around and talked to people, sampled some of the local fare, etc. I developed a much more favorable impression and will hopefully return sometime soon to explore what we missed.

Jen and Meg's Excellent Road Trip Recap: Oklahoma City

The second day of our road trip involved us heading from Memphis to Oklahoma city, by way of I-40 through the heart of Arkansas.  We left Memphis around 9am ish(?) and had somewhere around a 7-8 hour drive.  I remember it actually felt a lot shorter than that, thankfully!

I wasn't feeling super well from the night before, but Megan really wanted to see part of Arkansas so when we started seeing signs for "Arkansas Wine Country," we figured this was as good of a stop as any.  I personally had NO idea Arkansas had a wine country, and we were surprised to see how hilly the landscape was in Altus, Arkansas.  I refrained from doing any wine tasting, but we did check out a few cute wineries - Chateau Aux Arc, and Wiederkehr Wine Cellars.  Wiederkehr is apparently one of the oldest wineries in the United States, founded in 1880 by a Swiss immigrant named Johann Andreas Wiederkehr.  Megan picked up a few bottles of wine to take with us for the remainder of the trip, and we made ourselves a little picnic lunch on the Wiederkehr grounds.  

The "Presidential" T bone at Cattleman's Steakhouse

By the time we got settled into our hotel in OKC, it was pretty much dinner time, and it was clear that Oklahomans preferred one thing for dinner: steak.  There was no shortage of steak places in the city, but we heard one noteworthy place was Cattlemen's Steakhouse, located in a part of town known as Stockyards City.  It was a throwback to some kind of old Western town - very strange to see this so close to a big city.  Cattlemen's was a trip - the place was jam packed with just about every type of person you could imagine, including guys with big cowboy hats (score!).  We were told the wait was 45 minutes but we could head upstairs to a waiting room/lounge and grab a beverage.  The upstairs lounge felt like we were at a wedding reception, so we grabbed a beer, and when all was said and done, we couldn't have waited more than 20 minutes.  For dinner, I ordered up the "Presidential" T bone, as George H.W. Bush reportedly ordered this steak when he dined there in the past.  The steak sounded menacing at 20 oz. but I was a bit disappointed. I easily finished the steak, and felt the filet part of the steak was small.  In other words, I'm sure I didn't get the same steak the former President Bush did.



After dinner, we headed out to check out the nightlife in the Bricktown neighborhood.  This is the same area where the Chesapeake Energy basketball stadium (yeah, I had to look that up) is located - where the OKC Thunder play.  Anyways, our first stop was the appropriately named Bricktown Brewery.  We tried a sampler of their house brews, plus their summer seasonal.  The beers were average, but the venue was very cool.  It was huge - two floors, each with a dedicated bar, and the upper level seeming to be more of a pool hall.  Either way, I'm sure it was a great place to watch sports, but there wasn't much going on this particular Friday.


After Bricktown, we walked a short ways to TapWerks Ale House, which has close to 100 beers on tap, in other words...paradise!  We chose first to stick with local brews, and had a sampler of four Oklahoma beers, then Megan and I each ordered one of our favorite beers that happened to be on tap, Cuvee des Jacobins Rouge (a sour beer).  While at TapWerks, we chatted up a guy who lived in town and gave us a few places to check out on our drive to Albuquerque the next day.


To round out the night, we decided to get MORE food.  I read about a taco place in a local food blog that was recommended by Chicago's very own Rick Bayless.  So, we drove across town in search of Big Truck Tacos, and Megan and I each ordered 2 tacos.  The tacos were pricey, but very flavorful and stuffed full of goodness.  We sure didn't need to eat after mowing down steak just a few hours before, but when in Rome...

The outside of Big Truck Tacos...looks like it could have been a Sonic previously

Jen and Meg's Excellent Road Trip Recap: Memphis

Hello!  I am fresh off my recent two week, cross country trip with my best friend Megan, and wanted to share some of the sights and sounds we encountered, as we covered 5750 miles over 16 days! I'll be doing an entry for each stop, which will hopefully make it much easier to read.


Also, I have posted many pictures to my Facebook page, which you can view here.  Be sure to also check out Megan's blog - she was much better about keeping up with writing each day, so her recaps may be filled with a tad more detail than mine.

Plate of barbeque from Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous

Day/night one of the trip found us heading from Chicago to Memphis.  We were on the road by 7:30am, and surprisingly, didn't hit a ton of traffic!  We touched down in Memphis, aka "land of the delta blues," (yes, we had 'Walking in Memphis' on repeat) around 4:00pm.  We unpacked our things and figured what better way to start our vacation than to seek our some famous Memphis barbeque!  Our hotel was only a short drive into downtown, and we parked a few blocks off the famous Beale Street.  Our dinner destination ended up being Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous, which was listed as one of the 7 Best Memphis Barbeque Joints by Travel + Leisure Magazine.  Rendezvous is apparently known for their ribs, so we each ordered a combo plate of ribs + brisket (in my case), and ribs + chicken for Megan.  To wash down the bbq, we also had a pitcher of a local brew, Ghost River Golden Ale.  The beer was nothing to write home about, but as you know, we like to seek out local beer, and it was a nice, cold, complement to the ribs.

After filling our stomachs, we headed out to walk the other famous Memphis attraction - Beale Street.  At first glance Beale Street is not unlike any other, bar/club/restaurant lined street you may find in another big city, but apparently the scene can get pretty crazy, so most nights the local police close off a 5 block stretch of the street to cars so people can walk (stumble) freely.  This also allows you to purchase and walk around with your chosen beverage(s) without fear of ticket.  Being a Thursday, we could tell right away Beale was not going to be hopping as it might on a weekend.  Regardless, there were still a fair amount of people out, especially as the night wore on.  Megan and I bar hopped a bit, trying to take in the city. We made an obligatory stop at BB King's Restaurant / Blues Club, and heard a short set from the band, while enjoying a beer from our new souvenir glass.
Almost every bar we went into had a band playing, which I thought was pretty awesome.  We met and chatted up few random folks in some of the bars, but in the end, we called it a night a little before midnight, knowing we had a long few weeks head of us.

Beale Street by day

Beale Street at night

Chicago Marathon Training Update

Not surprisingly, my marathon training regimen took a bit of a hiatus while I was on my two week, cross country road trip.  Though for all of the days we camped - at the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and Yosemite National Park - we were active, in terms of doing anywhere from a couple mile hike to our Half Dome hike, which was 19 miles, I didn't really keep up with the daily running like I had for the 3 weeks prior to the trip.

I attempted to do one of my long runs (9 miles) while in Albuquerque, but I ran into difficulty finding a suitable (safe) location, and by the time I located a high school track (one that ended up being only a few minutes from our hotel), I was only able to get in 4 miles before it was time to head back and shower up.

I was a bit disappointed at not sticking with actual running, but for as much time as we spent in the car, I'm glad we were still fairly active.  When I got back into town, I was glad to hear that Mike had been keeping up with his running, and we managed to get in a long run of 9 miles yesterday to get things back on track.  With our vacation coming up this weekend, we'll need to do another long run sometime on Friday or Saturday morning, and if I can successfully make it through that, I'll feel like I'm still on track.

Chicago Marathon Training: Week Two

Monday:  Monday is supposed to be a rest day, but its hard for me to take a day off once I get into a workout routine, especially since I kind of let myself go the past six months, fitness wise.  I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the elliptical, some ab work, some pull ups and triceps dips, and then 10 minutes on the stair climber.

Tuesday: According to my Training Peaks schedule, I was to do 3 miles at an easy 10:30 pace. I'm not one who enjoys running on treadmills for any length of time, but since Mike has been going to the gym pretty consistently, its nice to have the motivation of a workout buddy.  So, I sucked it up and completed the miles on the treadmill.  I did some ab work, too.

Wednesday: Scheduled to do 4 miles at 10:00 min/mile pace.  I found a nice 4 mile loop thanks to gmap-pedometer.  Mike and I finished it in just over 36 minutes, which obviously means we were hauling at close to a 9:00 min mile pace.  I've never claimed to be good at pacing, but somehow I usually end up running a fairly consistent pace around 10 min/mile.  Next time, I'll trust my gut to slow down.

Thursday: Same as Tuesday, at least for this week.  We were much closer to a 10:30 pace this time, but still clocked in a little fast.

Friday: Rest day!  I actually rested, too, well resting in terms of not working out.  I was, however, busy running errands for most of the day, so I wasn't exactly kicking my feet up either.

Saturday: I had a CPR class that started at 9am, so I wasn't confident I could be up and moving, log our run, shower and get to my class by 9.  I intended to get the run in later in the evening, but that never happened.  I rode my bike to and from the CPR class, as well as a first aid class I had later in the afternoon, so technically that could qualify as the "cross training" I would normally do on Sunday, the day after my long run.

Sunday: Mike and I made up our long run (5 miles at 10:30 pace) today instead.  We basically flip flopped the Saturday/Sunday schedule.

Two weeks in and I'm feeling really good.  I've had some mild knee pain after running a few of the short runs - not sure what to attribute that to - but even though its been mild, I've been good about icing them for 10-15 minutes afterwards, just in case.  It seems to help, as I don't have any soreness the next day after any of these workouts.

The real challenge will be keeping up any semblance of a running/training schedule when Megan and I are on our vacation.  I haven't quite yet figured out how I am going to do my long runs, let alone the weekly short runs.  We'll be active on our trip, no doubt, but it won't always be the same as actually running and getting that type of cardio activity.  My upcoming long runs the next two weekends are 9 miles and 10 miles, and for the first one we'll be in Oklahoma City (traveling to Albuquerque) and San Diego.  In San Diego, it might be nice to find a route along the ocean, but in Oklahoma, I'm not as sure where to go - perhaps I may be able to find a high school or the University track to run around.  As I start to pack some of my gear, I'll look into my options.  I would hate to get two weeks behind with the good start I have!