Got my race on - finally!!

This weekend I ran a 5K!!  It was my first race in almost a year, my first race since having a baby, and my first race  since moving to the continent of South America. 

 

 

It was tough!  Considering I really only trained for about a week I guess it went well enough.  I actually had to stop and walk a couple of times, which is something I used to never have to do.  I finished in 38:47, way behind my husband, but as usual he was there at the finish line waiting for me with a smile and a hug.

 

  

Our oldest daughter and nephew were also there waiting for us because they had gotten up early to go watch us run.

 

 

Just a few observations:

1. The starting line is like a wild horse stampede with people practically running each other over coming out of the start area.  I’m used to races with a little more calmness at the beginning.

 

2. Three point one miles is a looooooong way to go when one has only been running for about two weeks after almost a year of no running.

 

3. There is a running community in Santa Cruz!!!  And I can’t wait to get more involved with my running and racing periodically like I did in the states.  Awww, that makes me miss my old running partner – hi Amanda!!!

 

4. Four words – water in a bag.  Coolest thing ever!  See, like I wrote about last week, there is one more random thing that comes in a bag to add to the list! I thought it was so cool I saved one and brought it home.

 

5. Despite sucking eggs from pretty much the start of the race, it was FUN!  It felt good to get the pre-race jitters again, to feel the anticipation of the race, to wake up early and get ready to go, to run with the cool morning breeze in your face, and the sweet feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment one feels after the race is over.  Even the post-race naps are the best as you rest your weary bones and sore knees!

 

After the race we went out for Salteñas.  Salteñas are like empanadas, or meat pies, but they are made with the most delish sweet dough and then are baked to perfection.  I LOVE them, especially the spicy beef ones! 

 

We also had Maracuya (passion fruit) smoothies.  I CANNOT get enough of this stuff!  Maracuya smoothies, ice cream, and mousse are my favorites! Maracuya was a rare find in the states.  There were only two places I had ever had it before moving here.  The first was in College Station, Texas, in my good old Aggieland.  There was this little smoothie place in the food court and every time my friend Cristina and I went to the mall, we had to have our Passion fruit and strawberry smoothies.  Awww, remember the good ole days, Cris??  The second place I had Maracuya was in Houston at a Columbian restaurant called Mi Pueblito.  I pretty much drink it everyday here, and at the market where we shop for our fruits and vegetables every week, the vendor and his wife see me coming and pack up some Maracuya fruits for me.  But I digress.

 

We had our post-race breakfast of champs and then headed home.
 

 It felt good to be back in the racing saddle again and I can’t wait for the next race!

It's been a great month, there's no comparison, and everything comes in a bag

Yesterday marked one month to the day since we arrived in Bolivia.  After having officially been a resident of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia for one month, I have much to talk about!  Over the next few posts I want to talk about some observations I have made since living here.  I think the easiest way to do it, so as to attempt to cover as much as I can, is to do it in list form and then to go more in-depth as it occurs to me.  I don’t want to miss anything and I want to get it all out before I forget!!!  In my absence I seem to have gotten kind of rusty with this blogging thing and it’s going to take me a hot second to get back into the swing of things.  I’ll be back to jotting notes and taking pictures everywhere we go in no time!  The truth is that I have missed blogging, and have sincerely wanting to go back to it since the day I stopped.  However, the last fifteen months have been one roller coaster of a ride (that’s a whole other show, as Oprah would say…more on this later), and life never permitted me the kind of time commitment it would need. Nevertheless, I promised myself (and my friends) that I would start blogging again once we moved here.  I’m doing it in part to document our adventures while starting our new life in a new continent and in part to allow my friends and family to keep up with what we are up to.

My first impression of Bolivia is definitely a positive one!  I LOVE it here!  I love my beloved United States of America and while I absolutely loved living in Houston, the only thing I genuinely, truly miss with all of my heart is the people I left behind: my Mom, my friends and my family.  I especially miss this lady…I love you, Mom! 

 

Mom and I.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are certainly other aspects about the motherland that I am going to miss as well.  I miss the creature comforts, the overabundance of EVERYTHING, the clean streets, and the excellent customer service at restaurants.

Before I continue,* turns down the music* I want to take a second to talk about something a little more serious. A disclaimer, if you will.  I do not, and I repeat DO NOT, want this blog to turn into a “Bolivia vs. USA” thing.  I want to make that clear from the start!  Obviously I will be comparing life here to life in the USA as part of the sharing of my adventures but I don’t want this to turn into any kind of competition.  If I share experiences while living here it is strictly for entertainment purposes.  What I don’t want this to turn into is a “it’s better here than there or better there than here” thing.  I enjoyed living in the United States, and it will always be my home.  Period.  End of story.  But I see absolutely no reason why I cant fully embrace and enjoy living here as well, and sharing my stories as I go along.

Now, with that being said, let the fun begin. *cranks the music back up*



La familia: this is what I live for. :)

Back to what I was saying.

 

One of the first things that made me want to start blogging again is the fact that everything here comes in a bag.  The most random things are bagged here!!  Ever since we got here and I first started noticing, it has become my personal mission to seek out as many random things that come in a bag as possible.  The mission is going well up to this point.  I’ve discovered many things that are sold in a bag so far.  Everything from mayonnaise to milk to salsa (which, incidentally, is not called salsa here – that is the Mexican in me talking – but is called “yahua” instead) to yogurt is sold in a bag here – even Coca Cola!  I’ll never forget the first night we were here we went to Fidalga, one of the main grocery stores here, and I saw, for the first time ever, mayonnaise in a bag. 

 

I thought it was the coolest thing!  That is, until we went to the dairy aisle and I saw the milk in a bag.  They don’t sell milk in plastic gallon jugs like they do in the states, or even in cartons like Mexico – although they have those here too – here, it is bought/sold primarily in bags.  And it comes in all flavors: plain, low-fat, chocolate, strawberry, banana, peach.  And the flavored milk tastes like a milk and fruit smoothie, not like milk with sugary, artificial strawberry flavoring like the one we have back home.  And don’t even get me started on the drinkable yogurt, which is very popular here…and which comes in tiny bags perfect for kids’ lunchboxes.  It’s like the Bolivian version of a juice box; it’s like Capri Suns or Sunny Delight or Kool-Aide…only healthier.

 

One night while still in our first week here, our oldest daughter came home from having walked to the little neighborhood store with her friends.  In her hand she had a little sandwich bag halfway filled with coca cola with a straw sticking out.  It was so funny to see her drinking a soft drink out of a bag!  What a genius use of a sandwich bag!  

 

Now, if I walk into a bar and get served a stiff drink in a to-go bag then I will consider my mission complete.  Until then, the search continues…

Hi everyone!  After a lonnnnnnnng break...much longer than intended…I am back.  No need to worry, I am fine.  Better than fine, actually!  In the last year and three months since I stopped blogging, I have still been running around hungry.  Okay, okay, I must admit, I’ve been doing a whole lot more hungry and not as much running.  To make a long story short, during my absence, I ran around hungry at school, ran around hungrier while pregnant, ran around hungry enough for two after having the baby, and am now running around hungry in Bolivia.  Yep, you read correctly, Bolivia.  My husband and I recently moved our little family to the South American country where my husband is originally from.

 

Man, do we have a lot of catching up to do!!

 

It is my hope that you haven’t completely given up on me and that you will continue reading.  I have so much to show and tell you!!  I promise to not disappear for such a long period of time again.  It is also my hope that, from this point forward, I can provide you an entertaining glimpse into my life as I RUN AROUND HUNGRY…IN BOLIVIA.

 

Please stay tuned!!

Friday Favorites, 8.10 - I'm baaaack!!!

I’m baaaaaack! 

So much has been going on this week and I have so much to fill you in on!  I do have to say, I MISS my daily blogging therapy and promise to never take such a long break again!  Today is Friday, and I normally do Friday Favorites, but honestly, these are going to be more like tangents since I have so many random things to fill you in on!  Umm, yeah, this is gonna be a bit of a long one! J

Here are my Friday Favorites (a.k.a. tangents).  Let’s start from the beginning!

***

 On Tuesday I had a couple of people who deserved TROPHIES in my book: 

1.     Rachel, the bestie!  She received a HUGE promotion at work, and is going to be a big boss at her school now.  Wooohooo!  So proud of her and I know she is going to do a fantastic job!!!  We went to the school board meeting to watch her get officially announced in her new position and then went out to dinner at PF Chang’s afterward to celebrate.

2.     Javier, the hubby.  He receives a huge trophy for being so thoughtful!  He met us at the restaurant because he was coming straight from an appointment that he had been at all day.  And when he walked in, guess what he had in his hand?  Flowers.  For the bestie on her special day.  That’s one of the things that I love about him, his attention to detail.

3.     Who doesn’t get a trophy?  Me!!  I hurt myself during my workout on Tuesday.  I know this may be a silly question, but do women have groin muscles like men do?  Well if we do, I hurt mine!  I went to an earlier class than I normally do on Tuesday’s because I needed to make it to the board meeting on time to see my friend.  The class that I go to on Wednesday’s with the instructor that totally kicks my butt…well, that same instructor gives the same class on Tuesday’s too, and that’s the one I went to.  When I walked in (about ten minutes late) they were already fully into the workout!  So of course, I did the smart thing and instead of taking a couple of minutes to warm-up off to the side, I jumped right into the workout!  This is the instructor that I told you recently got certified in CrossFit and has since changed the structure of his class to make it straight CF.  I definitely ain’t complaining!!!  We were standing on steps with 3 rizers under each side doing lunges, forward and backward, and I had a 10 pound weight plate in each hand.  On one of the lunges backward, off of the step, I felt a pop in my muscle at the top of my leg where the thigh meets the hip.  The pop was weird; it was so shocking and quick!  That’s when I did smart thing #2 and kept going full-force for the rest of the class instead of stopping.  Oh, and then I ran 2 miles on it later too.  Needless to say, that was noooooot the smartest thing I’ve ever done!  It took me back to my high school days when I continued to play basketball after I had torn my ACL and when it popped out I would just pop it back in and kept going like nothing was wrong.  Ouch!!  #craziness 

***

A quick Run streak update:

RUNstreak: as of tonight, 70 days and counting…

My “groin” or whatever it is that I hurt is feeling much better after taking it easy during my workouts for a couple of days.  I continued with my runs, though so as not to break my run streak.  I have to admit, though, that Tuesday night’s run and Wednesday morning’s run were ROUGH.  I was hurting sooo bad that I had to stop and walk some.  Way more often than I would have liked!  And while I was able to finish the two miles each time, I did end up having to walk quite a bit, and being that I don’t normally do this, my anal-retentive self is having a hard time calling those real “runs.”  My hubs tells me that I should give myself a break and give myself credit for even trying to run while injured.  I guess I’ll listen to him!  I may have  had to stop and walk some but I still did more running than walking so I’ll still count it!  I felt muuuuuch better during yesterday’s run and am feeling almost back to normal today!

***

The “Greatness is ours” Nike commercial.  The Pr and Marketing people at Nike are amazingly good at their jobs!!  They are right on the money. Every. Single. Time.  This latest commercial, in two words?  Inspiring and motivating!  I read a little bit of background about the young man who made the commercial and his story is great!!  You can read about his story here.  What I love most about this campaign is the fact that it lets us believe that there is already greatness within us all.  In a time where we are all inspired yet humbled watching the Olympic greats, Nike tells us that we may not all be Olympic athletes but we all have miracles within us.  It’s beautiful, really!

***

Friday favorites – OLYMPIC edition:

-         Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings win gold – love, love, love them and have been following them since High School!!!  I know I mostly talk about Basketball, which was undoubtedly my favorite, but I played (and loved) Volleyball too.  They were my favs then and they continue to be my favs now…and I WISH they would go for Gold in Rio in 2016 too!

-         Alison Felix – 200m gold FINALLY!!

-         Kenya’s David Rashida setting the World Record in the Men’s 200m race – love his story because he is such a nice, simple man from humble roots…and he runs to make his country and fellow tribesmen proud!

-         Women’s Soccer team wins the gold…and gains redemption from losing the World Cup to the same team last year

-         Ashton Eaton winning gold in the Decathlon – although no one really doubted he could do it, it was nice that he actually did do it.  I love that he’s so down-to-Earth, and in an interview I watched with him and the silver medallist, Trey Hardee, whom he considers a friend, Ashton credited him Hardee with helping him train to be more successful.  Talk about humble, which is an unknown concept for some athletes celebrating their Olympic success.  I don’t wish to take anything away from Usain bolt because his athletic accomplishments are impressive to say the least, but it’s nice when an athlete doesn’t’ feel the need to toot his own horn.

***

And my last favorite and something you GOTTA TRY – I made this crazy simple crockpot Bar-b-que chicken earlier this week and it was thebomb.com!!!!  I can’t take credit for this recipe; I didn’t make it up myself, I actually saw it somewhere, I just can’t remember where!!   Here’s my version of the recipe:

 

“Crazy good” Crockpot Bar-b-que Chicken

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts

1/2 c diced red onion

1 cup diced pineapple

1 bottle bar-b-que sauce

Preparation:

1.        Place the chicken breasts at the bottom of the crockpot and put the onion, pineapple, and sauce over the top of it.

2.      Put the lid on, turn it to LOW and cook it for 6-8 hours.  Enjoy!

That’s it.  So easy and delicious, my favorite two things!  I made drop biscuits, homemade coleslaw, baked beans, and corn to go along with it.  We had lots of leftovers of the chicken and I froze it for a quick meal sometime next week.  I’m thinking next time we’ll make pulled-chicken bar-b-que sandwiches.  I will definitely be putting this one on the menu rotation!

Five questions for you:

1.     What are some of your favorite things right now?
2.     What was your favorite workout this week?  When you get injured, do you take it easy like you should?
3.     Have you seen the Nike commercial?  What are some of your favorite inspiring commercials being played right now?
4.     What are some of your favorite Olympic moments so far?
5.     What was your favorite meal that you made this week?

Love is in the air...

Sorry I’ve been kind of m.i.a. from blogging the last couple of days.  I have a confession to make.  Every time I sit down to do something (like write a post), I remember the Olympics is on and well, then it’s all downhill from there! J I have the fever, and have defintely been bitten by the Olympic bug like everyone else, and absolutely cannot get enough!!

This weekend we went to a wedding and it was the most fun we had had in a long time!!

The couple that got married was Victoria and Trey.  Victoria is my good friend (and co-worker) Kelly’s little sister.  Victoria is an Aggie like me, and I have known her for a while because every time she would come visit her sister Kelly, they would come by to say hi to me.  I still remember meeting her for the first time, about seven years ago, while she was still in college.  She’s the cutest, sweetest thing, and I (in a sense) have gotten to watch her grow up.  Therefore, it was such an honor getting to watch her take the “big” step.

The wedding ceremony was at a pretty church in a small town outside of Houston, and the reception was held at a ranch a few miles away.  When we arrived, the first thing we saw were beautiful peacocks roaming the grounds. 

The reception hall was gorgeous and as soon you walked in you could smell the Cedar because the entire hall was made of Cedar wood. 

We found a table waited for everyone to arrive.  Seated at our table were: my hubby, our daughter and I, my boss (who was the wedding planner), her husband and their youngest daughter, and Patrick, the wedding photographer who also happened to be one of my husband’s best friends. 

Once the wedding party arrived and were introduced, we were served dinner.  Dinner was a salad appetizer, and the main entrée was a chicken breast in a cream sauce, cheesy mashed potatoes, green bean almondine, and a roll.  It was delicious!!    

After dinner came the toasts, the first dance, and a traditional Polish Wedding dance that everyone was invited to participate in.  It was like one big Conga line and was so much fun!!



Then it was time to get our DANCE on!!!

Now, for those of you reading that are new, GETTING MY DANCE ON is one of my favorite things to do!! I took ballet/tap/jazz throughout my childhood and have always loved to dance.  I got really into Salsa dancing after I moved to Houston, and was actually out dancing when I met my husband in the summer of 2002.  He was a ballroom-dance instructor at the time and by the end of that summer I knew how to Merengue, Bachata, Tango, Rumba, Fox Trot, Samba and Quick Step too!  Plus, I had dropped one boring boyfriend and had gained an awesome new one! J 

The DJ played an excellent variety of music and once we got on that dance floor, we did NOT come back off!  Even the little one stayed on the dance floor!  One of the things that I love about my boss, aside from the fact that she’s like family to us, is that she is so much fun!! 

When I say she’s like family, I mean it!  We go way back - matter of fact, she interviewed me when I was still in college!  I have only ever worked for her and can’t imagine working for anyone else.  Her best friend was my daughter’s daycare provider when she was a baby, and her daughters would always babysat the little one when we had Open House nights at the school. 

My boss (she hates it when we call her "boss" LOL!) and her husband were getting their dance on too and their beautiful daughter, Alex, was kind enough to hang out with our little one all night!  She even taught her how to wobble! I have known Alex since she was eight – my daughter’s age – and have watched her blossom into the beautiful young college lady that she is now!! J 

I have to brag for a moment, so please forgive me!  Halfway through the night, as my hubs and I took a rare break from the dance floor, we were approached by a lady who complimented us on our dancing.  She said that she and the rest of the people seated at her table (who happened to be the groom’s mother’s side of the family) were really enjoying watching us dance and how beautifully we moved together!  She switched into Spanish and started telling us about how much her and her Cuban family loved to dance too.  It was such a flattering compliment; although I must admit it’s not the first time we’ve gotten that.  But I guess that’s what happens when you are dancing with a pro!  That’s one of the first things that I loved about my hubby…the sexy way he danced (think Maksim on Dancing With the Stars!) and moved around the dance floor!!  I’m not going to lie, though; it’s nice to know that I've still "got it" too! ;-)

At the end of the night, we bid farewell to the bride and groom with sparklers, and then called it a night.  We came home with lots of party favors, including a mason-jar mix to make “Cowgirl Cookies,” which I can’t wait to make!  We also came home with lots of Peacock feathers that Alex and my daughter collected after walking around the grounds earlier in the evening.

It was a perfect summer “love-is-in-the-air” kind of night, complete with good friends, good food – and LOTS of dancing!!  Does it get any better than that??

The family that plays together

They say the family that plays together stays together. 

 

This saying is definitely true when it comes to my father’s side of the family, the Murphy’s.  This weekend was the annual Murphy Family Reunion in College Station/Bryan; it’s held every third weekend in July.  This was the hubs, bambina, and my second year attending.  Here is a picture of my brothers and sisters from my father’s side of the family.

James Jr. (T), Eric, Bernard, Me, Dorena, Jarlene

Although I wasn’t raised around this side of my family, we have come together and bonded like we have always been in each other’s lives.  It was just me growing up; I was an only child on my mother’s side and while it had it’s advantages, I was kinda lonely!  The good thing is that I now have all the brothers, sister, cousins, nieces and nephews that I always wanted! 

Since there were so many years when we weren’t together, we’ve decided to not waste any more time and fully embrace being one big (and I do mean big) happy family!

Just a small fraction of the family.

This was definitely another successful family reunion and I look forward to maaaaaany more years of these annual summer get-togethers in one of my favorite places of the world!

View from one side of campus.

 

We arrived in College Station On Friday afternoon and went straight to lunch with one of my favorite family’s ever: Rachel, one of my girlfriends from this group, her husband Luis, and their precious son!

Rachel, Luis, and their handsome boy!

Friends for twelve years!

Primos (cousins)!

After lunch we got checked into the hotel and rested up because the Fish Fry started at 6:00pm at a park in Bryan.  After the fish fry we came back to the hotel, I went for a night run on campus and then we went and hung out by the pool with the family.

Saturday morning I got up and went for an early morning run around campus again.  This time, I went all the way down University Drive to the Northgate area, which is right across the street from the dorm I lived in the first two years in school.  I ran 3.5 miles but took it way easy because I was stopping along the way to take pictures.

View from University Drive.

 

Saw this view everyday because I lived in the first dorm on the right (Hobby Hall).

Administration and Meteorology buildings.

Kyle Field (on the left) from afar!

I came back, got cleaned up and met my brother for breakfast.  Is there anything better than hotel waffles?!?!  There’s just something about that turn over waffle iron!  My home-made waffles never quite come out like that!

After breakfast, I took a nap with the hubs and our little one and then we got ready to go the Lincoln Recreation Center for the bar-b-que.  It was the perfect place, since we had picnic tables set up for everyone to eat at and the gym area where the kids played for the entire day.  Well, not just the kids because at one point there were dodge ball games where my brother and husband joined in on the fun!

We enjoyed lots of delicious food and family time where we all sat around and got caught up on the past year’s activities and happenings.  It was nice to see everyone, including some new faces that we hadn’t gotten to meet last summer. 

Later, we headed back to the hotel, rested up a little more, and then went out to the pool again where we all spend the rest of the night.  The adults sat around chatting, cooking, drinking…and the kids were in the pool.  It was a lot of fun!

Eboni (neice), myself, Shar (cousin).

There was no early-morning run for me the next morning, however!  I was too tired because all of the weekend’s excitement and movement finally caught up with me.  We all met at our annual meet-before-heading-out place, my cousins’ Blynthia and Chuck’s house.  We had summer sausage, cheese and crackers and got our last chats in before we all headed our separate ways.

From the lunch with one of our favorite families on Friday, to the reunion and family time on Saturday and Sunday, overall it was a beautiful weekend!  If the saying is true, and the family that plays together stays together, then this family is one that will definitely continue to prosper for many years to come. J