Dress Shopping - Take One

Remember how I said I was going to eventually write about my wedding planning process...well the time has come. Over the course of the next month or so, I will put up one maybe two write-ups each week that will be wedding related. I will continue to update my blog as usual with running related postings as well in case weddings are of no interest to you. I know they were of no interests to me until I had to plan my own. Okay, here we go...

Let's go back to early 2012 or perhaps it was even late 2011, I was randomly at a David's Bridal one day with my sisters helping my mom look for a dress for my other sister's wedding. I wasn't even dress shopping at the time but at the urging of my sisters, I threw on this dress just for fun. I really liked this dress and especially the ruffled neckline. At the time, this dress was a high contender for being "the" dress. When I came back months later and looked at it again, I didn't like it as much and so the search continued.

Last summer was when I officially started dress shopping.

We went back to David's Bridal because for some reason it seemed like a good place to start.

My little niece was not even walking by herself at the time. I remembered being really worried because I really wanted her to be the flower girl at my wedding and wasn't sure if she will be walking on her own by then. Look at those little chubby thighs!

To make a really long story short...I did not have a very good experience at the David's Bridal that day. I remember calling the shop on a Monday for a Saturday appointment and all they had that day was a late afternoon appointment so I took it. I came in that Saturday with my sisters during my scheduled time. Before I go on, I just want to say that I am a patient person most of the time but this day really pissed me off. It was supposed to be a fun day but we waited for almost 30 minutes before a consultant came to greet us. The staff is not very friendly because they always overbook.

Anyhow, after the consultant finally came out to greet us, she led us back to the dressing area and asked us to have a seat...for another 20 minutes before she came back again. She was helping 4 other brides at the same time. WTF! I was really upset by this because if they were already booked up, they should have just told me on the phone when I called that they did not have any openings. I would have gladly came back on another day when I could be properly helped. Instead, they jammed me in a timeslot with 4 other brides to be assisted by one consultant.

Of course this was a formula for diaster because she was so busy that she was not really even paying attention to me the whole time. I needed help because I had no idea what style of dresses would work on me. All she did was go grab an armful of dresses, hung them up in the dressing room and left to go and help the other brides. She wasn't there more than half the time to help me get the dress on or pin it up and if you have ever had to try on wedding dresses you know what I'm talking about. They are not like regular dresses. It's like a puzzle to get it on correctly and tie/button everything up.

After not helping me much during the consultation, the consultant had the nerves to try to pressure me into buying a dress that I thought was just decent. I didn't know any better at the time and almost gave in because I was afraid of having to go through another day like that again. It was 4+ hours of dress shopping hell! Luckily, I decided to sleep on it before making my final decision. Needless to say I never stepped foot back in that place again. Oh and don't make the mistake of giving them your name or info because you will start to get mysterious calls and mail from wedding vendors far and wide. You've been warned.

I'm sure not everyone goes through this with this place but they treated me terrible and I'm glad I didn't spend my money here. So this was the dress that I almost purchased and yes it looks fine but to this day I am so glad that I decided to sleep on it. This wasn't the best start to my planning process but things definitely got better from here on out.

2013 Angels 5K - Race Recap

Date: March 30, 2013

Location: Anaheim Stadium

Start: 7am

Finish: 23:52

I ran a 5K this morning! Yeah can you imagine? I am so rusty at this distance currently. I'm pretty much rusty with all distances at the moment but this...yeah I wasn't expecting much of myself today. Some coworkers and I signed up for this race a couple of months ago so this morning I got up at 5am and got ready to head out to Angel Stadium.

Packet pick-up was pretty effortless except when I went to get my shirt they informed me that they did not have any more smalls. I never understand how this happens. I registered months ago and asked for a small shirt. Did they just give my shirt to someone else?!? I hate that!! So I ended up with a race dress. But check out my bib number!

The course was pretty flat except for a slight incline towards the end followed by a shape downhill ending on another incline into the stadium. Running on the circular track inside the stadium made it difficult to sprint the last part. There was a shape turn out of the stadium to the finish line and it was kind of slippery because of the gravel/sand that lined the stadium track.

So I have to say that the best thing about entering into a new race age bracket is that I came in second in my age division. Imagine that.

Logistically, this was a very convenient race. I found parking right away when I got there a little before 6am. Aside from them running out of small shirts, the packet pick-up was quick and easy. There were some pretty good vendors on site. Lots of giveaway items. I even won a free evening of Galaxy bowling from Boomer's. Plus, Melissa's produce was a sponsor of the race so look what they were handing out after the race. It was a good little race to get my heart pumping fast again. I think I'm going to sign up for another 5K in a couple of months just to gauge the progress.

That Time I DNS

I wasn't sure how to write up this post but here goes.

It finally happened...my first DNS. I didn't see it coming. I had every intention of completing this race the day before but on race morning I woke up feeling extremely tired. I did my normal pre-race routine. I got up, brushed my teeth, washed my face, stretched a bit but my motivation level to get dress and go to the starting line was zero. I've only had this feeling once but I still ended up going to that race. It wasn't pretty but I still went. Anyhow, I'm a little bit disappointed in myself that I didn't just suck it up and go. I wasn't sick or anything. I just felt fatigued. I keep telling myself that I did just ran a marathon last weekend but that did very little in providing any sort of comfort to myself at all. The only comfort I can extract out of this experience is that I listened to my body and did what I felt was right for my recovery and performance at my future races.

Aside from the DNS thing, I otherwise had an amazing weekend hanging out with my family down in San Diego. The most fun being playing with my niece at the San Diego Zoo!

How Sweet It Is!

Happy Friday everyone! I am so happy that the freakin' weekend is here. The week is done and I'm heading down to San Diego this weekend for some zoo time and a sweet little race.

Yeah I know, I had signed up for another race a week after the LA Marathon. Clearly I wasn't thinking straight. A couple of my coworkers threw the idea out there a couple of months ago and I just 'ran' with it. Turns out I think I was the only one that made good on my promise to sign up. It's okay because I like San Diego and chocolate so this should be fun. This is my first Hot Chocolate race so I'm excited to try something new.

The marathon last week was the start of my Spring race schedule. I think I have a race every single weekend for the foreseeable future. I'm pretty excited to get back into the swing of things. This time of year is just about my favorite. Hello Spring!

2013 Los Angeles Marathon - Race Recap

Date: March 17, 2013

Location: Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica Pier
Start: 7:25am
Finish: 04:28:27
Elevation:

This race has been sponsored by Honda for as long as I can remember but this year Asics is the title sponsor. I really like Asics gear and wonder how the new sponsorship will differ this year.

I made a very quick trip up to the LA Convention Center on Friday with some coworkers to pick up my bib. It was such a quick trip that I didn't get any photos of anything. They've moved the expo back to the Convention Center this year and the expo is sponsored by Nutribullet. The expo use to be held at the Convention Center before they changed the course/management company.

Neon Asics green shirt in honor of Saint Patrick's Day which happens to fall on Sunday.

This was my carbo-loading meal. We went to a new to us restaurant that was amazing! I hope to post about that soon. I had not had much of an appetite since returning from vacation. Maybe I miss the island or just being on vacation mode, not sure what it was because I love me some pasta.

Woke up at 4am on Sunday morning to get ready to depart for Dodger Stadium at 4:30. I didn't get much sleep the night before due to noisy neighbors and only maybe 3 hours on Saturday night. I was tired as heck. Luckily, my honey was dropping me and friend Darren off. Even though I was untrained and sleepy, there was no denying that it was going to be a beautiful day for running. You can even say that it was ideal running weather. It was not too cold even in the early morning hours and stayed overcast for most of the morning. This time, I could not "blame it on the rain." This must be running weather karmic repayment for CIM. I'll take it and run!

Shortly before starting time, on our second trip to the potta-potties, Darren and I got stuck in some slow a$$ moving lines and ended up in the open corral which was fine in the end. We started out pretty slow due to the congestion and eventually settled into a pretty good pace. It was way too fast in my untrained condition but it was a good pace. We ran together until about mile 8.5, at which point I could no longer keep up.

I slowed down a bit and the 4:15 pace team eventually caught up to me. I ran with them for quite a while, until about mile 18. I was really starting to fade in a very bad way. I was feeling the way I normally would feel around mile 22. Again, due to wedding planning and honeymooning, I had not trained for anything over 10 miles at a go since CIM and it was starting to haunt me early. I mentally threw in the towel at this point and just went into survival mode. I sat down at a bench in the VA grounds feeling defeated and just really sore all over. After sitting there for maybe 5 minutes, I got up and started a run/walk thing to the end. It was painful for sure. It could have been way worse. I remember one year, it was actually my second LA Marathon, I had not trained for it and it took me 6 hours to complete. I'm guessing those couple of years of running experiences that I had under my belt somehow toughen me up a bit. It's all good though because yesterday's experience once again ignited my desire to train because frankly I would rather hurt a little bit during training than a lot at a race.

Despite my lack of training, LA is just one of those races that I will always love. Even when it hurts so good. I have two more years to go until I hit my goal of running this race 10 consecutive years in a row.

Glimpses

I spent most of this week adjusting back to my regular daily routine. It's been a busy week but for some reason it has dragged on. I had hoped to post more than once this week especially with everything that has gone on this past month but that didn't happen. Before more times passes, I want to at least put up some photos of the past couple of weeks. It's been crazy but amazing! I hope to be able to go more in details about my wedding and honeymoon but for now here are a few glimpses.

Wedding day!

Our honeymoon to the Turks & Caicos Island! This place is just spectacular! I will definitely go more in depth of the trip for those who are interested.

Finally, I am running the LA Marathon this weekend. It will be my 8th LA and my 21st marathon. I'm really nervous about this one as I am severely under-trained. I spent most of January and February finalizing details for my wedding and did absolutely no running while on vacation. I got back in town just in time for taper week. It's strange to call it "taper week" since I have not been running much. Poor planning on my part for sure. All I have to say is that sh%$ is going to hit the fan this Sunday. I'm going to use the race as a training run for Boston which is coming up in about a month. I have a couple of races in between the two which I am also not prepared for. I must have been nuts to think that I could pull this off. This is definitely not ideal but as always I will make the best of the situation or die trying.

Team Gab Second Annual Virtual Race - Race Report

Hello hello! So I'm back from my honeymoon and ready to blog again. I'm about a month behind on my blogging so let's just start here and see how things go.

This past Saturday, Heather of 365 Days of Awesome hosted the 2nd Annual Team Gab Virtual Race benefiting Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation. This year's race was also in celebration of Gabby's last chemo treatment. Yay!!

I signed up for this race about a month ago and since I had just returned from vacation I was in no condition to run anything worth talking about. I did a spectacular 3 miles and called it a day. Good thing that running was only a part of the event and not the event as a whole. Heather did a wonderful job of putting together a fun-filled day for the whole family.

Heather commented that she had never planned a party before. I don't know about that because it looked pretty nice to me.