nebraska

June 20, 2017

11th Annual Biker B!tch Run | July 2016

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The 11th (E.L.E.V.E.N.T.H) annual Biker B!tch run happened July 2016.   Can’t believe it’s been 11 years!

Also can’t believe it took me almost a year to get a post up about it.

Better late then never??

Ya, let’s roll with that, mkay? 🙂

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The 11th goes down in the history books for probably the most unique B!tch run to date.  But, we came, we saw and we conquered.

…And Pep is still smiling that bright and shiny beautiful smile of hers.

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We had a few bonus girls with us manning the Jeep and it was GREAT to have them along.

The Jeep came in handy as you will find out in a few more scrolls down.

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The day started in Council Bluffs at a bar that has since closed down, but hey, we appreciated their hospitality while it lasted.  Their parking lot was prime real estate!

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Heidi’s bike on the other hand didn’t treat her so kindly.   High-five to Tyree for saving her.

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After I did my best bossy-pants photo set-ups…

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It was time to rollllllllll…

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First stop: Twisted Tail in Beebeetown, IA; where the food was delicious, drinks were cold and the fan clubs were in full paparrazi mode.

These young girls above wanted pictures taken with them, so of COURSE we obliged.  And then the beautiful ladies below were next in line.

We were feeling famous for about a minute. 😉

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Thanks to Jenn and her continuous drill seargent fitness instructor ways, she challenged Jessica to some weighted squats.

With her as the weight.

Damn, Jess.   You’ve got great form…

… And a graceful fall.

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And before we knew it, it was time to roll on out again.

Want to see us in action?

↓ Click on the photo below ↓

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Dunlap, IA to Lampe’s Pub we went.   And also where we hunkered down for the better part of the day.

Sadly, we had a bike that needed some medical attention.  Flat tires and riding do NOT go hand in hand.  Fortunately said flat didn’t happen until we were at a significantly reduced speed creeping into town.   Hello road angels. Liz felt your presence, as did the rest of us. ❤

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Thank to a local Dunlap towny, we got Liz’s wheel off,

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drove it down to Woodbine, IA to see the Motorcycle Medic for some TLC

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Then back to Dunlap for the local patron to help us get the wheel back on.

Like I said… it was an adventure!

Thanks Dunlap man.

If we can remember your name, I’ll give you full on credit next time. 🙂

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Meanwhile back at the bar during the bike medical assistance…

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Rumor has it the Sheriff rolled through three times.  Apparantly our prolonged presence was making the town folk nervous.

Funniness aside – we thank our men and women in blue for all they do to keep us safe.

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And on that note with bike wounds healed and everyone accounted for, it was time to roll.

Thanks, Lampe’s for the good times.

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On to Pop N Docs for a quick drink by the river.

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Tyree and her cowgirl hat hotness.

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And before we knew it, we were rolling on to the Cottonwood Marina in Blair, NE.

But not without the required lollipops first.

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Blair provided us with some dancing, mingling and some goodbyes as a few of us seperated ways as this was technically one of the last stops.

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And with that, our whirlwind of a day was over and the 11th annual was a wrap.

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I am truly thankful for all the strong, empowering, beautiful, full of LOVE females I know.

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What a beautiful ride it is.

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And what a beautiful ride it will continue to be.

❤

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Cheers!

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Special Thanks:

Anytime Tees – Council Bluffs, IA

The Twisted Tail – Beebeetown, IA

Lampe’s Pub – Dunlap, IA

Motorcycle Medic– Woodbine, IA

Pop N Docs – Decatur, IA

Cottonwood Marina – Blair, NE

June 8, 2014

The Blogettes, E-Money, Mud Wars and Beer

I don’t know about any of you, but I keep looking at my clock wishing it was bedtime already.   Man I need some serious zzz’s.   Why not take a nap, you ask?

Because, I don’t do naps.

Lame, I know, but they just make me feel worse, so I fight the sleep in true toddler fashion until my actual bed time.

So, how about a recap?

 

weekend-recap

 

Friday:  Our friends Cyndi and John came to town.   First stop- dinner at Quaker Steak and Lube.

 

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And a giant Lube Tube of ice cold Bud Light.  Clint always wants to get one of these babies when it is just the two of us out to dinner.   Eh… I’d be a hot mess trying to get all that down.   FINALLY someone to help fulfill that dream of his.

Weekends with these two are never dull.

Case in point:

 

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Oh man, I don’t know who the owner is of this little gem, but it keeps finding its way back into our lives.  Exactly one year ago, this same picture happened with this same exact car.   Seriously.    It’s like destiny for these boys.  What are the odds that we’d see this car on the weekend they were in town?

Thank you to the owner of this masterpiece.   You made their day.

Again.

After the car hugging, we made our way into the MAC  to see Eddie Money and Rick Springfield.

 

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Thanks to the connections made with the Omaha Bloggers group (specifically Katie!) I received tickets for me AND to giveaway.   You can find the Concert Recap here.

There were several of us Blogettes (<—- yep, John.  I’m using it) at the concert, so we all got together for a photo opp between sets!

 

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Left to Right you’ve got:

Erin from Girl Gone Veggie – Angel from Positively Angel – Lisa from Midwest Mammas and Sweeties Freebies – Leslie from Mom on the Rocks – Yours Truly – Lisa from The Walking Tourists – Megan from Smile Like You Mean It

It was so great to meet a few more Omaha Bloggers.   This makes 10 that I’ve met so far.  The other gals I met this night and one other, Jess, I ran into at a YMCA event.

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Saturday:  Warrior Dash, Nebraska!

This is the second year Clint and I have run the Warrior.   The 2013 Dash was actually the last time J and C were in town.

The Pre-Dash Walk.   Isn’t Clint’s outfit just precious?

Oh, that man of mine….

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I was able to meet up with my YMCA family prior to the race start as well!   Such a GREAT group of peeps.  LOVE them all.

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And look who else I found?!?!

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JEN!  I was so excited to see that chick.  She is a freaking machine.   Jen and I met at a former place we occasionally called work and we’ve managed to keep in touch.   We really need to meet up more though.  We have sucked at that.

When are we going to schedule an actual happy hour, Jen?  As in, a real one.  Not a “let’s just talk abut it” one.

By the way, Jen owns a little piece of the blog-o-sphere too, so y’all should give her a shout at Red Lipstick and Sneakers.

Ok, back to the Dash.

The obstacles were awesome this year!  I conquered my fear of heights multiple times thanks to obstacles titled Deadman’s Drop:

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and the Cargo Climb:

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In addition to the climbing, we did a lot of crawling, sliding and swimming.   The last obstacle course required all of those components:

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No control on that slide.  Hella fast.   The water (shit water, mind you) at the bottom was FREEZING and thanks to no control on the slide, there was no way to bypass going all the way under.   Shock to the ol system, my friends.

What a freaking blast.

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Team Y also living it up:

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Thanks, Carrie.  I swiped a few pics. 🙂

I’m so ready for the next one!  Any of you in?

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Saturday night we headed downtown to the Old Market.  Dinner at Old Chicago and a little bar hopping.   Surprisingly, we were all well behaved last night.

Shocking.  I know.

Sunday: besides a trip to the gym for a quick lifting session, our day can pretty much be summed up from this pic:

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Cheers to another great weekend!   Now, if Monday-Friday will just hurry on by, I’ve got another good weekend ahead!

🙂

May 4, 2014

Lincoln Half Marathon- 2014

You guys…

SERIOUSLY on a high right now.

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Completed my second ever Half Marathon today.

 

And you know what else?

I hit my PR!

2:05 

 

That is 5 whole minutes FASTER then last year.

And you remember how I trained this go around, don’t ya?  Weekends.  I ran on the weekends and cross-trained by teaching during the week.

To say I am elated is the understatement of the YEAR.

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To anyone in the Lincoln, Nebraska area….  Thank You!  You guys know how to organize a race.

I have never seen so much support for runners IN. MY. LIFE!

There were people cheering, bands playing, kids giving high-fives, water, gatorade and kleenex every step you took.  I am not kidding when I say every last stretch of that 13.1 miles was filled with someone or something.

 

Lincoln- you made that 13.1 miles seem like 6.   It was fantastic.

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This morning started off in a little bit of a cluster.   My 4:30AM alarm didn’t happen.

Nope!

What happened was my 5:21AM internal alarm clock that was FREAKING OUT!

Race-7am.  Drive time- One Hour.  Parking time and walk to starting line PLUS last minute bathroom break – OMG I am gonna be late!

Ninja like moves happened and somehow my race clothes made it on, my teeth got brushed, my lucky hat made it to my head and my race bib made its way into the car.

And off we went.

No water.  No fuel.

Usually I eat a Clif bar before a long run.  Sometimes I even have a little caffeine.   Clearly THAT wasn’t happening this morning.

Thankfully, I calmed down once we were on our way.

It was going to be ok.

We made it to Lincoln just prior to 6:30am.   Found a spot to park relatively quickly (miracle in itself), hit up the porta-pottys (a must, if you know what I’m saying…) and made my way to a spot in the middle of the pack.

In the middle of 10,500 other runners, that is.

 

And then the wait.

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The race started at 7.  It was 7:32am by the time I made it up to the starting line.  And off I went for the most enjoyable, exhilarating, hyped up 13 miles I have EVER run.

I paced myself at around 9:30 the entire way.  Sometimes I was little faster, sometimes a little slower, but I never broke that average pace of 9:30ish.  Thanks to MapMyRun, my trusty GPS sidekick.

The final results?

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Finishing inside the Nebraska stadium was pretty fantastic as well.

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And my sis-in-law Jamie ran her FIRST ever Half-Marathon.  She did SO great!  Very proud of her for committing and conquering.  Way to go, Jamie!

 

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And of course, a shout-out to my #1 supporter for getting up at the crack of dawn to drive me down to Lincoln to just ‘hang-out’ for two hours while I ran.  He’s pretty awesome.

 

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And THAT my friends, is the end of my Lincoln Half-Marathon recap.   Will there be another?  Not sure.  Time will tell. 🙂

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April 28, 2014

The Weekend in Review

A weekend full of two wheels, friends, small towns, watering holes, ice cold drinks and a little 5K fun.

Friday night found us in Waterloo, NE at the Dog House Saloon.  I had a craving for their Watermelon cocktail as soon as work was over.   These babies are just simply the best cocktail around.

 

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While at the Dog House we ran into a few people we met while out riding last season.  We quickly found our original plans of a short ride out West and maybe a little dinner turning into a late-nighter.  Which is a-ok by us!

Our party of Two turned party of Six chose to head on over to Gretna, NE  where we hit up a small watering hole called Brag N Rights.

Brag N Rights

We all took over the back patio, grabbed a bite to eat and enjoyed some cold Bud’s, good music and easy conversation.

Next up: The Waterfall Lounge in West Omaha.

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Pretty sweet waterfall set up behind the bar.   If you live out in the Millard, Gretna, Elkhorn area, I’d definitely recommend swinging into this place.

We stuck around this location for a few hours before calling it a night after the midnight hour.

 

This is yet another reason why I love my two-wheeled lifestyle.

You never know who you will run into, where you will ride or what you will find out on the road.

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Saturday morning had me up and going fairly early as I had a 5K to run.

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The Color Me Rad recap can be found here.

 

The afternoon quickly slipped away and soon enough we found ourselves back on the bikes for an evening out.

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Dinner at our local Hy-Vee!

Now, before you make fun of us, we should tell you that this is not your normal Hy-Vee experience.  “Our” Hy-Vee has gone under some serious construction within the last year and they recently opened up the Hy-Vee Market Cafe.   You get the full experience of a restaurant right inside the grocery store.

And what’s this about a bar?

Yep, full bar service.

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Chinese and Beer.

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Drinking beer at the ol’ Hy-Vee

Who knew?

Next stop: Two Fine Irishmen to meet up with a couple friends for a little conversation and live music and then closed out the evening at the 21st Saloon where we met up with two more friends.

21st

The 21st is owned by a good friend of ours, Scott.   If you like Blues music, then Thursday night is your night to hit them up.   If you are into 80’s metal, then head out to see 3D in Your Face.  They are a staple on Friday evenings!

Sunday?   A no make-up, ball cap, running shoes, grocery shopping, laundry kinda day.

And sadly, the weekend is over.

Already.

Seriously.

I need more weekends in my life and less week.

Who is with me on this?

This is also my last week before the Lincoln half-marathon on Sunday the 4th.   Most people taper their workouts leading up to big races, however, I have 8 fitness classes to teach this week, so this girl is going full force!

Just a day in the life!

I LOVE it!

Cheers