Ropes and planks and snow, oh my! (Vigor 5K) and Meg's Birthday in Utah!

***** Meg just educated me on Mormons and Christianity. My apologies if I offended anyone by what I said below. I honestly didn't know and I was raised without religion. I just didn't want to assume that everyone prays, because I don't. Meg is an awesome friend for being so patient with a heathen like myself :-) *****

What a trip so far!

I am exhausted! Meg has SO much energy! I wish I could bottle it up and sell it! She's still going strong and out on the town while I lie here in my hotel room bed, hopped up on Midol, and blogging about what has happened in the last 24 hours or so...

Last night, we went to Rio Cafe for dinner just after landing in Salt Lake City. I was told by Meg and Amanda Tyson that this restaurant was bomb.com, but I think I "healthed up" my salad a little too much. It tasted ok, but it definitely tasted healthy and looked NOTHING like the scrumptious salads I saw others enjoying. However, meeting Meg's friends was lots of fun! She seems to know everyone in this state! Everywhere we go, someone she knows just happens to be there! And it's no surprise, but they are all happy to see her. I thought for a moment whether this could ever happen to me, then I had to chuckle... I definitely have a few people from my past that would not be excited to see me during a happenchance meeting! But, then again, Meg is much nicer than I am on a consistent basis :)

The bottom left pic was a funny moment, but you had to be there. Someone left his coat behind - size Medium. Meg decided to wear it. Haha! The bottom right pic is Meg and I trying to do our best "Courtney" pose! She knows what we're talkin' about!


I began my morning today with a little yoga to ensure I was stretched well enough for our race today. Then, I donned my crazy cheetah hat and bundled up just in time for room service to arrive with my scrambled egg and bowl of oatmeal with skim milk. Yum!

I was proud of myself for starting the day off right, but quickly realized yoga did very little good for me in the freezing cold. As we were driving to Park City, we learned that the temperature was around 5 balmy degrees at the race site. Ummm... what? My poor muscles are going to freeze and seize! I'm gonna be a Heathercicle. This Cali girl had no idea what 5 degrees felt like and wasn't so eager to find out! By the time we arrived, the temperature had doubled...which meant bupkiss. Still seriously cold. I'm glad we all had our crazy hats to keep us warm! Isn't Meg's birthday hat the cutest?!?!?


The Vigor 5K was a lot of fun and in such a beautiful setting! The race was well organized and the obstacle courses were challenging but doable! We scaled walls made of wood, rope, planks with chains... we shot wrist-rockets at clay pigeons... we tobogganed down a hill that we first had to run up... and we crawled through a maze of rope in the snow. "The chicken" (Jen - AKA girl wearing chicken hat) and I scaled the plank wall twice! I'm shocked at how much my upper body and core have increased in strength from P90X and Yoga! What a difference! No way I would have been able to conquer those obstacles three short months ago! Fist pump!

The night before, I attempted to run a few miles and my lungs were on FIRE because I wasn't acclimated to the holy-mother-it's-effing-freezing weather. But, my lungs held up during this race! The other pleasant surprise I had was that it wasn't as difficult to run in the snow as I had anticipated. In the powder, it felt like Malibu beach all over again, but in the packed snow, it was kind of fun! I really felt that core working! My feet started to freeze by mile 2, but it was still an enjoyable jog! Utah really is beautiful in the snow!

We did have one mishap. As our friend, Joni, was scaling the rope wall, her shoe got stuck in one of the squares and she fell backward to the ground. Her head hit with an audible THUMP on the packed snow.


It was scary at first, because she looked like she was hurt pretty badly. The paramedics came and looked her over. They suggested she ride back with them, but she insisted on finishing the race - dizzy, in pain, and enduring a massive headache. I was totally worried the whole time and kept thinking of Liam Neeson's late wife and her ski accident. I know I got a little preachy, but head injuries are nothing to mess with.




Joni made it to the finish line and true to our plan, we all finished together. It felt good to take the final photo at the finish line! So much fun! Meg's Bodybugg registered more than 20,000 steps and almost 3700 Calories! Incredible! I would really love to do the Vigor 5K, or some other snow race, again!

The race took longer than expected and we were all starving, so we headed to a little cafe called "Chick's." The funny part about this portion of our day is that we drove up and down the "main strip" of a little Podunk town, trying to find a place to eat. When Meg asked, "What do you want?" I said I didn't care as long as it wasn't fried food. Turns out that Chick's was a good ol' down-home country fried diner. We had no idea until we were walking inside! I resorted to ordering breakfast: two scrambled eggs and a slice of ham. The center picture on the left is what was served to someone else dining at the table... look at all that BUTTER and grease! Ugh! I could hear the arteries clogging with every bite!

After our so-unhealthy-it-should-have-been-featured-at-a-state-fair lunch, we headed back to the hotel to dress for Meg's birthday celebration. We met her family at a little restaurant called Cocolito's. As we walked in, the entire restaurant sang Happy Birthday to Meg! I was in shock! How did they get the whole restaurant to sing to her when she walked in AND they all sounded like they've had extensive choir practice!!! My jaw dropped! As it turns out, every last one of those people were members of Meg's family! HUGE family! Holy cow!!! It looked more like the number of guests you'd find at a wedding reception, not a night out for someone's birthday! Instead of introducing me to everyone individually, Meg let everyone finish singing, then announced in her best announcer voice, "Everyone, this is my friend, Heather from California!" I got about what seemed like hundreds of hellos in return! At the end of the night, even though it was Meg's birthday, she gave her little niece a gift and it just lit up that little girl's face! Isn't she cute? She looks a lot like Meg!


It was so nice to be a part of this day with Meg and to meet her friends and family! They all seem like such nice, wonderful, genuine people who care for her tremendously! It's refreshing to see that much love in one room!

I'm heading to bed a little early so that I can get up in the morning and head to the gym before Meg takes me out to my first Mormon church experience. I just pray (do Mormon's pray?) that I don't get kicked out of the church or spontaneously burst into flames when I walk through the doors. I'll be on my best behavior, I promise.

Before I go, though, the night wouldn't be complete without at least one Fitsperational Quote:

See you on the fit side!

-Heather