We got to take a Boise Trolley Tour. It was fun riding around Boise and learning fun facts and enjoying the nice day. I think I might have to do that again come Christmas time and see all of the lights.
We also took a tour of the State Capitol. We didn't arrange a guided tour (you apparently need a minimum of at least 5 people), but we did the do-it-yourself tour. And we totally rocked the scavenger hunt that took us to all of the floors.
On Saturday, Karen and I ran in the FitOne 10K. I really don't know how I got roped into that. (Running of any sort was not on this 101 list.) I did the FitOne 5K with Karen last year, and another friend (Celin) said we should do the 10K together next year. I said sure and didn't think much more of it. Unfortunately, Celin has a really good memory and the day registration opened this year, she called me and made sure I was still doing the 10K. I then convinced Karen to come back up and run it with me, as I knew there was no way I could do it on my own. As I was starting to train for the 10K, I realized I was having a super hard time training and just didn't see how it'd be possible to complete it. I then remembered the Galloway group that Karen had been a part of and talked so highly of and reached out to the program director for Boise (Louise) and joined.
The Jeff Galloway Training program is a run/walk program/group and it's totally doable for anyone. (Trust me, if I can do it, anybody can.) I never understood why Karen got up so early on Saturdays to run with the group, but I got really into it. The comradery with the group is awesome and Louise always plans out really pretty areas to run in (so much better than the boring mid-week runs I do the in the neighborhood across the street from my complex). Your pace and intervals in Galloway are based on how fast you run a mile... my interval was (is) 10 seconds running, 30 seconds walking, and my training pace was (is) 21:30/mile, for a race pace of 17:25/mile (I told you anybody could do it). I know those times aren't super impressive to some people, but I'm not in running to beat everybody else. And as one of the signs at the race said, "No matter how slow I run, I'm faster than my couch." Regardless of my time, I completed a 10K and got a medal! Plus, because of my training with Galloway, I was able to do even better than I anticipated on the 10K, cutting a bit over a minute on my average mile pace than was predicted (guess I am getting faster) and ended up not terribly sore the next day. However, somehow I'm now considering doing a half marathon. And I may have been recruited to be a pace group leader for next season. Yikes. What's gotten into me?
Anyways, I feel like I could talk about Galloway forever. But returning to the race... it was great! It's a pretty course and it was a beautiful day and it was so fun to catch up with Karen. (Another thing that's great about Galloway is you're always going at a pace and intervals where you can still talk, even while racing). It was also fun to cheer in Louise as she completed her 65th half marathon on her 65th birthday. She's amazing.
After the race, Karen and I went to the Discovery Center with Celin and her kids. It reminded me of a mini Exploratorium...a magical place that I have so many fond memories going to while I was growing up (thank you first Wednesday). The current exhibit was about electricity and that was fun to play around with, in addition to their standard exhibits. And I got a smushed penny, which is always a win in my book.
As we left the Discovery Center, we saw people on paddleboats on the little river/pond next to it and before I knew what was happening, we had rented one. Maybe not the best idea after having run a 10K a few hours before, but it was such a pretty day to be out on the water.
That night, we went out to dinner to celebrate our friend Jenna's birthday with her and her husband, and then went back to her place and watched X-Men (and now I just need to watch a movie that starts with the letter Y to cross another thing off my list).
I saw Karen and Stu one more time before they left to head back to Utah, as I made them a bit of breakfast before they left on Sunday. It really was fun having them in town and being able to cross some things off my list. Hopefully they will come and visit sometime again soon. :-) (Also, I promise Stu was around and he does exist, even though I didn't get any pictures with him in them.)
Oh. And as one random side note because I forgot to put this in any other blogs, I did cross off another thing from my 101 list back in June... Get a makeover and buy at least some of the make-up they use. Thank you BareMinerals. I know I'm still not the best at make-up, but it is fun to have some more supplies now and work on that aspect of looking awesome.
