Travel Thursday- Where I WANT To Go Round 3 ABROAD EDITION

You may be counting this as Friday-eve, but since I have to teach skiing both days this weekend it's more like Monday to me...ugh. Oh well! The end is in sight and I have next weekend completely off! YAY! We are traveling to Denver next Monday-Thursday for the Outdoor Retailer Show, so my running schedule will be a bit funky. I have an easy 6 miles on the schedule today and an 11-hour workday ahead of me...I can't wait to have a free night off again! I hope you have a wonderful day and get to get outside even just for a few minutes...

OK, so far we have Big Sur & Seattle on my travel bucketlist, but I have also been dying to travel abroad! I've only ever made it to Italy, so there are so many fantastic places that I want to visit, but Paris is definitely at the top of my list (helllooo RunDisney Disneyland Paris ! #bucketlistrace). I think my fascination with Paris began when I started taking French lessons way back in 7th grade. We would read books and look at photos of Paris and from then on, I was HOOKED! 

TOP 5 THINGS I WANT TO DO/SEE THERE:

1. EIFFEL TOUR...duh...

2. DISNEYLAND PARIS...another obvious one...

3. MUSEE DU LOUVRE

4. NOTRE-DAME CATHEDRAL

5. ARC DE TRIOMPHE

What is one place that is on your abroad bucket list to visit?

Ever been to Paris?

Where would you recommend if visiting Europe?

RunDisney Disneyland Paris- yay or nay?

Rock 'n Roll Las Vegas Day 4/POST RACE!

Running at night is great, but also really terrible for your sleep cycle. I was so elated from my run, but also exhausted= so I hardly got any actual sleep the night after my race. Oh well, the runner's high was strong. We went out to breakfast at New York New York at Tom's Urban and got the BEST iced coffee I've ever had. You MUST go there if you're ever in Vegas. Afterwards, we decided that we would walk the strip to go to Cesar's Palace to show my Grandmother (who had never been to Vegas), but too many stairs for me= I needed to rest and ice outside of Cesar's (with a mimosa of course) and we never made it there. It was perfect weather outside and much needed to just rest in the sunshine for a bit. 

Afterwards, we headed over to Krispy Kreme and my mom got a new tattoo!! 13.1 on her foot- it looks super cute (I'll need to get you a photo)! Then we proceeded to go to the M & M Factory Store (my gram's favorite) and I loaded up on chocolate. 

We made it back to the hotel to pack up our things and get ready for Cirque Du Soleil Michael Jackson's ONE/ dinner at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. Dinner was OK- it took much too long to get our food (mine was cold) and we were crunched for time to get to the show 15 minutes before it started. The show was also OK- we had high expectations from seeing the Beatles' LOVE show last year (definitely GO SEE IT). They also continued to have technical difficulties throughout the show, which was a bummer. 

We gambled for a bit afterwards, then headed to our hotel to get a few hours of sleep before our 3:30AM wake up calls (we had 6AM flights home)!

I'm still loving re-living this trip and probably will be for quite some time! 

Ever been to Vegas? Favorite thing to do there? 

Rock 'n Roll Las Vegas Day 2/5k!

After Cher, we didn't end up getting back to the hotel until AFTER 11pm! Wayyy past my bedtime, so I took a melatonin (my savour during traveling/racing weekends to make sure I still get a decent nights sleep) and woke up around 7:30. We decided to rent a car for the day to go check out the scenery and save our legs/feet for the 5k!

We went to Panera first, where I like to stock-up on bagels (at a place that I know) and began the carbo-loading. I normally take in extra carbs/proteins/less veggies 1.5 days before the start of the race and load up on electrolytes/ Gatorade/ water the entire WEEK before a race. After we were full of deliciousness, we drove to see the Hoover Dam (my Gram had NEVER seen it before!). The weather on Saturday was perfect- 70 degrees with hardly a cloud in the sky. 

After Hoover Dam, we stopped by Ethel M. Chocolates to pick up some treats to take home (splurged on a coin chocolate they were handing out) and checked out their Cactus Botanical Garden. 

We stopped by Chipotle to get a later lunch (I love their chicken burrito bowls before races) and headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit before leaving for the 5k at 4pm (it starts at 6:30). 

Note: If you plan on running the 5k, either plan to take an Uber or stay at a hotel at the beginning of the Monorail. We stayed at the Excalibur and got on at the first stop for the Monorail and every stop the monorail made after ours, NO ONE else could get on because it was so full. Definitely a bonus to stay on the end of the strip. We arrived at the start line with a little over 40 minutes left (perfect timing) and I headed to my corral #7 when there was 30 minutes prior to the 6pm start. 

The 5k had A LOT of congestion and the hassle getting there really put a damper on the race, but once you got out a 1/2 mile it was MUCH better. I took it really easy (~10:00+ per mile) for the first 2 miles of the race then alternated every 0.10 with 8:10-8:15 strides and ~10:00+ easy pace. I finished with a 9:40 overall pace and it felt pretty good to pass a lot of runners when I was doing my strides! It was also a great way to get used to the race atmosphere and practice holding back my pace. We also stayed for a few of the Goo Goo Dolls songs- they were pretty good (but not as good as I expected for a live performance...). 

Overall 5k recommendation: Do it if you want a safe place to do a shake-out-run. Don't do it if you aren't ready to deal with the crowds and hassle of traveling to and from the race venue.

Also CONGRATS to my Gram for doing her first 5k!! She totally ROCKED it! Super proud : ) 

Travel Thursday- Lake Powell, Utah

Lake Powell is definitely one of the premier natural wonders that Utah has to offer! I had no idea how stunning the majority of Utah is, until I moved to Colorado! If you haven't been there yet put it on your bucket list (and at the TOP of your bucketlist). The amount of natural canyons, rock formations, hiking, boating, rock climbing, biking that this state has to offer is incredible.

I traveled to Lake Powell over July 4th a few years ago and as a group, we had rented a house boat (DEFINITELY do.this. if you can). We were there a few days and it's such a large body of water that you feel alone (at times), also the fireworks on the water remains one of the best I've experienced (besides those that I saw in Florence). It does get really hot there (I'm not sure about the weather come late Fall/winter), but because you are surrounded by water there's no better way to cool-off!

Ever been to Utah? Favorite part?

If you HAVEN'T been to Utah, what is on your bucket list?

What other spots are on your must-see? -->I'm dying to go to the PNW, Seattle and Vancouver particularly! 

Travel Thursday- Lake Placid

Lake Placid, NY is possibly one of my favorite little mountain towns. I've trained there for several summers when I was younger (for figure skating) and every season there is fantastic. 

If you can also manage to be there during the Ironman-Lake Placid, it's a definite must-see! It was so inspiring to watch the swimmers take off together and the camaraderie during both the bike and run portions is amazing. 

I'd also recommend visiting in the winter (when the Olympic Games were held) to get a real-feel of how the town was during the Olympics (it really hasn't grown-up too much). There is so much to see and do there, that you really don't need a car once you get there. The only thing that is really out of town is the ski mountain or ski jumps, but I think there are buses that will take you to both!

Soul Shine Bagels, Lake Placid Pub and Brewery (great atmosphere & beer selection!), Dancing Bears (the best breakfast with a view of the lake), and Fireside Steak (their steak tips are perfection) are my favorite food spots!