Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I'm Back!

I'm back!  Did you all miss me?  I know I missed checking in with all of you on a daily basis, I'm sure I've missed a ton since last Wednesday!  Last Thursday my family and I headed up to Oregon to see my little niece graduate from High School!  Even though we were wicked excited to see her and my little nephew (little being relative, he's 6'3" and 17!) it was a stressful trip since we were forced to see my brother's horrid ex-wife in the midst of it all.  Just a little background with out going too deep, but she and my bro had a bitter divorce which ended with his ex taking the kids away and moving to Oregon when the kids were 1 & 2 years old.  It has always been very difficult to be a part of their lives since she was so good at brainwashing the kids into thinking we were all horrible people.  The good thing I can say is that my bro never stooped to her level.  He never let the kids hear him say bad things about her.  He kept his dignity through it all.  And even during this crazy weekend, when she was still pulling her usual tricks, he kept cool.  Needless to say, it was an interesting trip!

We were right on the northern coast of Oregon, in a little vacation town called Manzanita where the kids live.  Let's just say, it's a bit "oakey."  They're mountain folks up there!  But the views and scenery were beautiful and we could see why the kids are in love with living there.  We were about 40 miles south of the Washington boarder and about 30 miles north of Tillamook, you know, where all that cool cheese is made!

Aside from all the crazy that was while we were there, I got dragged my sister to go running every morning while we were there!  It was so beautiful to run along the beach.  It was perfect running temps, and it even rained on us one morning!  If you have ever seen the movie "Goonies," and can remember the scenery, that is exactly what it looks like!  Just breath taking!


Erin looking a little sleepy out there!

I was in runner heaven with the weather!

You can tell she just loves being out there!

She would pretty much last until about four miles each day so I took it, and didn't press too much!  She actually kept a really good pace the whole time, too!  We ran between 8:30's and 9:00 miles.  I wish she liked running more, but since there was no gym in sight she had to make do!

We also made our way up to Astoria, OR to see where they filmed the "Goonies!"  Yes, it was hoakey, but really there isn't much to do in there!  It was very comical because they were having the Goonies 25th anniversary party in that little town.  People were dressed up as the characters and they were giving tours of the house.  Yeah, we opted out of that, but you could still drive up and see the house and the views.  Also, the school where they filmed that crappy movie "Kindergarten Cop," with Arnold Schwarzenegger is just down the road from the Goonie house.  We were in nerd heaven :)  They even had the whole cast there, including Corey Fledman, making an appearance, LOL!
Erin and I in front

Erin, my nephew Charlie and my SIL Suzie at the Goonie House
The Goonie House!

All in all, we all survived and had a really nice time celebrating my niece Amanda.  She is headed off to a small college about an hour away and we're really excited for her.  We all played nice, which we weren't too sure was going to happen!  It was nice to finally see where they grew up.

I got some smaller runs in while we were there and came home yesterday early to get my long run in.  12 miles in the warm heat!  Apparently the Bay Area had some nasty weather while we were gone - heat and humidity! Ugh! 
12 miles  1:42:46  8:34/mi pace
Another marathon training week in the books.  I'm feeling pretty strong and am really enjoying it this time.  I'm just going to keep rolling with the punches and see where I end up.  October, I am sure, is going to come fast!

I'm off to catch up with all of you!  You all had some busy weekends of racing and running!
Happy Tuesday and Happy Running peeps!

20 comments:

L.B. said...

I love Kindergarten Cop! I can watch that movie any day. Goonies is awesome.

Sounds like you had a fun trip, even if the folks there were oakey :)

Katie said...

you had me at "where all the cool cheese is made."

and I think the goonies is awesome, not nerdy. so there.

AND HEY! I took off my word verification but YOURS is still on! i'm sending all the spammers to your house.

Katie said...

OH HI!

Jo Lynn said...

Boy, your family genes run deep.
Nice to have you back my friend. ;)

Sarah said...

Mmm cheddar cheese, running and Goonies, sounds good to me! Glad you had a fun trip despite the drama. :)

Jen Feeny said...

What a fun trip!!! Congrats to the niece on her graduation! Miss you!!!

Anonymous said...

Oh man, that running weather looks fantastic! Glad you had a good time!

Denise said...

LOVE goonies! it was just on the other night b/c of the 25 year (i think that's how long) anniversary. you were there at a very special time. ;-)

Shellyrm ~ just a country runner said...

That was awesome. S'ghetti girl and I just watched the Goonies a few weeks ago. She thought is was a cool "spy" movie. She is into being a detective.

Looks like you had great weather! Always nice to run on vacay!

Anonymous said...

Goonies never say die!!! I LOVE Goonies. My friends and I quote it often!

Your brothers ex-wife sounds like my dad's ex-wife. 33 years he has been married to my mom and she is still pulling dumb crap with their daughter...who by the way, is 40!!! No joke! Ridiculous some people are!

Tricia said...

sounds like a great trip!

Jill said...

Hey sweet girl...so glad to see you back and VERY happy that your weekend away was successful in so many ways. Yay. I never saw the Goonies (and I'm not even sure I heard about them????) but it sounds so cheesy-like, and so something you would totally do. Hahah. That's what make's it so much fun.

Ok, it's been like 6 weeks since I talked to on the PHONE, girl!!!!! Miss you tons and tons. We need to catch up. I just finished a 16 miler and thought I was going to die at the end....and my heel hurt like hell. Can I make it 10 more miles in SF in less than 7 weeks? Well, I'm going to certainly find out!!!!

xoxo

N.D. said...

sounds like a fun family vacation - definitely brutal divorce situation though! :(

Kristen said...

Looks like a runner's paradise with the weather up there!! Luckily you missed the nasty humidity here.

So glad that things went smoothly with the family - those things can be rough.

Char said...

I love Goonies too. I saw it with my husband on our honeymoon - 24 years ago.
Sounds like you had a great trip despite the wicked step sister-in-law.

Heather said...

Interesting weekend . . . good for your brother for keeping it classy through everything. You and your sister look a lot alike - cute pics!

MCM Mama said...

Color me jealous! I LOVE that area. We even stayed in a B&B in Astoria many many years ago. Glad the visit went well.

Christy Ashley said...

SO jealous that you got to go to the goonie house! That's amazing!

Thanks for the advice about my knee! I'm going to make an appointment for early next week with an ortho but in the mean time I'm going to rest it up with heat/ice/elevation and pending how I feel, take it for a test run next week!

And I also love baseball season! I've been to AT&T Park but I've got to get out there at some point again for an Oakland game! We'll have to plan a game and a run (or a race!)

RunToTheFinish said...

yeahhh for great vacations!! and especially for having fun new places to run.

I was so busy working in KC this week I barely got to read anyone's blogs too and it's weird! i like knowing what's going on.

Angela and David said...

Oh, nothing like divorce to make all family functions full of drama. My parents hate each other so it's always a good time when they are forced to live together.

And this is sad, but I've never seen Ghoonies.