Week 6 – Chicago Marathon Training / Wedding Week!!

Let’s see how it went…

Monday – 4 miles / Lower Body

Today we are flying to Las Vegas, we get married on Wednesday!!  But first, we run!! We were up early and managed 4.37 miles and then a jump in the pool!!  We were flying out of New Orleans and knew we wanted to leave early enough to spend a few hours in the Big Easy before we would see the Bright Lights of Vegas!!

We showered, loaded the car and headed out.  We were stopping in Daphne to have cawfee with our friend Jenny then on to NOLA!!  It was fun talking about all the things with Jenny, we last saw her and her husband, Erick, at the Rock n Fly Half Marathon back in March where we shut the race down because we had so  much to say!!

So, no we are on the road and our 3 hr road trip turned into a 5 hr road trip!!  Traffic was  stop and go for over 10 miles near Pascagoula, MS.  This was frustrating, very frustrating!!  We still made if with about an hour to explore, but we were hungry and knew with our 3 hr flight that we wouldn’t be eating until LATE!!  So we ate… at District Donuts!!  We shared 3 sliders, but each had our own donut… uhhhhh YES!!!  We had the Salmon Slider, The Avocado Slider and the Cheeseburger add Egg Slider.  I totally enjoyed  my Cookie Butter Bruder Donut… YUM!!

We made it to the airport, checked in with a little time to spare before we boarded… Next stop Las Vegas!!!

 

And we learned today… we are Ambassadors for the Chattanooga Marathon, March 2-4  2018!!  Use code JLTHORE 20% off for any distance EXCLUDING the Kid’s Fun Run.  I will add the code to the Race Discount tab as well!!

 

Monday isn’t over yet… We landed, taxied to the Polo Towers, checked in, dropped the bags and headed to the strip for In-N-Out Burgers!!!! So off we went!!  We were being tourist and walking Las Vegas Blvd aka, The Strip.  We walked to the fountains at the Bellagio, snapped a few other pictures, ate our burgers and headed back to get some sleep for a full day on Tuesday.  We walked a little over 3 miles round trip in Vegas on Monday.

 

Tuesday – Rest and Stretch  Walked 14 miles in Las Vegas!!

Today started with an 8:30a appointment to pick up our marriage license and our final consultation at The Vegas Wedding Chapel.  This time we were shuttled by limo to the chapel and then walked the block to get the license and met Rebecca, she was so the best knowing that she stays pretty busy at her job!! She was thorough in her job, there two items of my information that needed corrected and she was on it!!  Thank you Rebecca!!  We had our license and were back at the chapel for our final consultation with our planner Danielle.  We went over the order of events for the ceremony, viewed the venue and signed off that everything was what we wanted!!

Now it’s time to walk all the miles… Our driver Bob dropped us back at the room and we ready to scope out The Strip, it looks sooooo different in the day vs. night!!  We knew we wanted to go up in the  Eiffel Tower, but before we made the trek that way, let’s eat!!  We ended up at Shake Shak, cuz there is no way we could get in if we visit New York, and we shared the Hot Chicken and the Shack-cago Dog with Bacon Cheese Fries!!

Now we are fueled and ready for the day!!  We headed down The Strip for Paris.  Honestly, I had no idea that you could go up in the tower, thanks to Eric, an friend that we just happened to bump into on the MGM bridge, now we know.  The views were awesome and it was a cool 82 degrees with a light breeze at the top of the tower.  We also indulged in a Key Lime tart after the adventure.

We then headed back to the room, I needed a nap before we headed back out for dinner and lights!!  We ate dinner at the Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill in Caesars Palace.  We enjoyed the Truffle Fries, Chicken, Kale and Bacon Pot Pie and Shepherd’s Pie.  We then ventured through the shops and fountains of Caesars Palace.  I only managed to take a picture of my dinner, the Chicken Pot Pie!!

Wednesday / Wedding Day – 5 miles 5.05 miles

We were up and  out to beat the heat for our run this morning!!  We ran to the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign and beck to the Towers!!  We had Red Velvet Pancakes and a Breakfast Burrito at the MGM American Cafe, which didn’t look like the picture, so I didn’t take a picture!!

We spent most of the afternoon in the room resting up for tonight’s events… I had my hair and makeup done by Glam Squad 702 and then it was a short time until we would head to the ceremony on The Terrace!!

 

We ended up having a few friends attend our ceremony and from all the texts and postings, we had a few Live Stream viewers as well!!  Hope and Allison are friends that used to be stationed in Florida, but were transferred to Nevada a few years ago and this was their FIRST Vegas Wedding!!  Stephanie and her husband, Joe, we met through Instagram!!  They were in Vegas for a conference and we told them to come on down!!  You can’t beat the Military and Running Communities!!

Favorite Picture…

Thursday – 4 miles / Upper Body   4.20 miles

We went for a run to the Vegas sign again before we headed to our appointment to view our ceremony photos, which you can tell from above that we had some really good photos!! I was trying to make my wedding hair last through tonight since we were going to a show!! I also ran in my wedding makeup which was a big mistake, my eyes were burning and felt all gummy by time we were finished.

 

We headed back out to The Strip for something to eat and a little shopping. We shared the Bacon, Egg and Swiss Cheese Crepe from 48th and Crepe in New York New York… this really hit the spot.  We had bought the Double Chunk Cookie with Peanut Butter Buttercream Filling from the Hershey store, we each had a bite and that was it… too rich for our liking!!

Next up… Cirque Du Solei O at the Bellagio… sporting the wedding hair!!

 

Friday – Rest and Stretch Travel

It was an early wake up to get to the airport and head back to the FL!!  We had our cawfee fix while waiting for a plane!!  Fifteen minutes before takeoff they took our aircraft out of service and told us it would take some time to find us an aircraft!!  What the What??!! Well, Southwest was on their game, it only took 30 minutes for them to find the aircraft and an hour later we were on our way!!  We landed in New Orleans and stopped for cawfee and food with our good friend Erica.  We got to catch up about her recent trip to England an of course… The Wedding!!  Once we left Erica it was a 5 hr road trip home.

 

Saturday – 11 miles Rest and Reset

I had to swap my weekend days this week.  I was just sooooo tired from all the weeks events that I wanted to sleep in.  We used Saturday to unpack, do laundry and catch up on chores!!  Exciting, I know!!

Sunday – Rest and Reset  12.29 miles

And today we ran… It was a rough first 4 miles, but once we found a bathroom the run got better!  I was still tired and at mile 9.77 we stopped at the marina store for a baby Coke and I convinced Ricky G. to sit on the bench for a few minutes.  Those last 2 miles seemed to take FOREVER, but that we got it done!!  We spent the rest of the day trying to catch up on social media from all of the week’s events and I am still behind on IG comments!!  I did not food prep today which means I will need to make GOOD choices this week!!

 

Did you notice the time on the clocks??  It took us 2:34 to run those miles, however we farted around A LOT this morning!!!

And there you have it…

Let me know…

When you travel do you have a plan or just wing it??  If married, did you have a ‘destination’ wedding??  Do you run during your travels??  Do you pack your fuel/hydration of do you purchase on the go??