kate, I think it's just a warning...

After reading Rach's blog about her nice fine from some sort of reckless driving, I thought I would enlighten you all with my recent luck with parking enforcement.

A couple of weekends ago Dustin (that's a name from the past now isn't it?) was having a house warming party and because I hadn't seen him since before Christmas I decided that maybe I would be a good friend and drop by. Of course I made Ben accompany me so I didn't stay the whole night and well, I just usually drag Ben everywhere I can get him to go. Anyways, we go to this apartment, which I'm sorry, it is a really nice apartment, but in a scary little neighborhood. Ben and I are pleased with our close parking and head up to the apartment, where we stay no more than 25 minutes, please note 25 minutes. We make nice and give Dustin a little house warming something something and decide to take off.

We get in the car and I notice a paper that is attached to my windshield. A little irritated I get out of the car to get it and then look to see that some little parking enforcer decided to write me a little ticket saying that I was not parked in a stall, and was blocking the unloading zone for the handicap stall. Ben, being the optimist that he is, says "Kate, I think it's just a warning." In his defense, there was no apparent amount attached to this mistake that I had made and for a brief moment I hoped to believe him...until I saw the code for my sweet ticket. Don't worry, I was written up for the largest parking ticket possible. $100 for blocking a handicap loading zone. The lines were not clearly marked, it was 10:45 at night, and it was raining...therefore, Ben and I thought that it was a legitimate parking stall. After a few pictures, a plea to the one man jury at the court house, and a $70 reduction...the ticket has been paid. I feel that pleading my case was worth getting $70 knocked off.

Too bad this is not the end of my story...I think the Zions parking people are out to make a living off of parking violations. Saturday night Ben and I went to see a play at the Off Broadway Theatre and since there is no parking around there we thought the most logical place was to park at Wasatch. In normal Kati and Ben fashion we were running behind and thus to speed up the process I decided to park in the open lot instead of the covered parking. Well, who knew that the Zions parking enforcement would be working on a Saturday night? Not me...thats for sure. All of the Wasatch stalls were taken and so I used the "Reserved Parking" which I have done so many times before. This time...I have a nice $10 ticket to show for it.

The feet are screaming!

So I'm told I don't write on here enough which is probably true, but I don't want to bore everyone with the mundane routine of a twenty something student with no life outside of her world of numbers and occasional (I use this term loosely) stop at the gym. But...you asked for it so here I go again.

On Saturday I progressed one step further in my quest for the marathon distance. I made it 14 miles in pretty much exactly two hours. I was making exceptional time until about mile 12 when my feet were aching so bad I wanted to scream. I told myself I had to at least get to 13.1 and by that point I thought "if you just make it to the 2 hour mark you won't be as disappointed in yourself." I was saying this because I had planned 15 miles, my mind was ready for 15 miles, my heart and lungs were ready for 15 miles...but my feet weren't. I think the feet were screaming for me to get new running shoes and I don't blame them, it has been a while and therefore, I am on a mission to find new shoes. Here is my plug on running shoes, Asics are the way to go...light and comfy, works every time :)

And They're at it Again!

Yep, it's true. Ben and I have been up to some pretty exciting new adventures as of late. We have cooked up a fun new recipe and started a new workout program. Okay, that may not seem that exciting to everyone else, but the new diet and exercise is changing our lives up a bit.

First, last Saturday I was feeling the urge to cook something new and when you don't eat sugar, you have to think of an appetizer or some side dish to make...I know, how lame. So, Ben had been mentioning this sausage bread that sounded good from his mom's taste of home recipe collection. We had discussed doing it for weeks and finally while he was judging a debate competition I went to the store and bought all the necessary items to finally make it. The whole Roos clan that was home were a little reluctant at the sound of "sausage bread" but those that tried it said it was pretty good. Dad even had little suggestions on how to make it even better, which I thought was kind of funny. Taste of Home Recipe for Sausage Bread: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Savory-Sausage-Bread

As for our new diet and workout regime...Ben and I were watching television one morning while we were making breakfast for ourselves and became intrigued by this infomercial (don't judge, we were surprised we got sucked in too). Anyways, we couldn't stop thinking about this P90X program and thought that if we split the cost then we could justify buying it...so we did! This is our first week of doing the exercises and honestly I think it is going to work out great! I don't know how many of the workouts Ben has actually done, but we are going to look awesome, have no fear. I would post the before pictures, but I'm a little self conscious over the my day 1 photos and so if you're lucky you will be able to see day 30...definitely day 90. Here is the website http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/best_sellers/p90x.do so you can see my best friend in the videos, his name is Tony...which I've decided that at least 75% of motivational speakers/fitness gurus are named Tony. Regardless, we will see how this all works out and I will definitely keep you updated!

13.1

I finally did it! I ran 13.1 miles aka a half marathon! I did it in about an hour and 50 minutes. I accomplished this goal last weekend and was so excited! I felt so great and can't wait to continue on to 26.2. How exciting :)

The Relaxing Weekend with a Moose...

This weekend Ben and I were invited to join Mr and Mrs. G at their cabin along with Ben, Amy and Koree. Come to find out my Ben's family had actually owned the cabin next door and so it was kind of a nice walk down memory lane for him. We went up there to have a relaxing weekend because that is exactly what I was looking for and I sure found it! I don't think I have slept so much in a long time, which is great :)

Also, I couldn't justify to myself not running at least a little while I was on vacation because after all Saturday is my long run day. So, I bundled myself up and ventured out into the snowing Idaho weather hoping to find a little break from life with a fun run. I guess a giant moose was looking for a little escape as well because he seemed to follow me around the island. I had several people stop on their way off the island to inform me that a moose was running around and they thought I should go back home. As long as I stayed a safe distance away from the moose I was not worried about him. After about 5 miles or so I was happy to get back to the cabin. Unfortunately for me I took a wrong turn as I re-entered the island and then spent the next hour looking for the cabin and running from the moose. I'm not going to lie, I was a little bit worried as I wandered in circles around Bills Loop. I stopped every 50 feet or so to listen for moose noises. Call me crazy, but I got my exercise in and now I can say that I ran with a moose.

Besides my eventful run, we spent the weekend building snow caves (yeah so Ben and I act like 12 yr olds), playing settlers and getting ourselves lost in the first season of 24. We even listened to Lord of the Rings on cd on the ride. It was really fun and Ben and I hope that Mr. and Mrs. Gold don't think that we sleep too much and/or didn't pull our weight because we would love to go again.

Here is a link to Mrs. G's blog that has our pictures and a little more explanation of our exciting weekend! http://thegoldelement.blogspot.com

12 miles and a lack of sugar...

Alright so I have made it to 12 miles! Only 1.1 miles to go and I will be to the half marathon mark. I am not going to lie to you, I never thought in a million years I would would be able to run that far and I surprise myself constantly.

I accomplished this goal after a weekend of a not so good run. The week before my 12 mile run I was all excited to get to the 12 mile mark and had the mind set and felt that I had the physical capability of doing so. Little did I realize at the time, I had eaten 2 cookies before I went for the run and spent the 7.5 miles in pure agony. This was the point where I decided that it was really time to lay on the sugar. Therefore, Ben and I are doing a competition among ourselves that we will not eat sugar for 6 months. On August 4th we will both get the prize that we have designated for ourselves. If one of us loses and eats any refined or "fake" sugar, they must forfeit their right to the prize and hand it over to the other person. Ben has decided that he will get $100 gift card to Amazon and I chose a plane ticket to Arizona. Let's hope I don't lose because Rach and Boo will be spending some quality time with Ben and his Amazon giftcard if I do. :)

Let's play catch up...

So, usually it seems that when I don't post forever, I try and think of all these things to say and nothing comes to mind...this is not the case today.

Let's start with Ben and Kati's fun adventures.

A couple of weeks ago was one of our good friend Nick's birthday's and Nick felt that turning 26 was reason for a "birthday party" at the Salomon center in Ogden. Reluctantly Ben and I decided to go and see what exciting things were in store for us. We actually had a really great time surfing! Who knew that you could surf in Utah? Not me...but regardless, we spend $20 for an hour in the surf center and learned some pretty cool tricks (which includes me not falling off the board as soon as I reach the wave). Here is a link to the surfing thing that we did. Definitely a great idea for a date or just for a bunch of people. http://www.flowrider.com/ ...I may have some surfing video to follow...maybe.

Last weekend Ben and I decided it was high time for me to use my christmas gift and therefore, we went snowboarding for the first time this season. I struggled the first few runs and was starting to get seriously frustrated with myself until Ben told me he wasn't having fun because I was so pissed off. I shaped up and it turned out to be quite the productive night. The only downfall was leaving Brighton at 10pm trying to get my boots off to drive the jeep. I felt like Kate Winslet in Titanic when she is in the ocean and you can see her breath every time she opens her mouth. I could not feel most of my limbs, but by the time we got down the canyon I started to get that slightly painful sensation signaling that I was still alive and all body parts were reactivated.

Just after Christmas, we went to one of Ben's friend Lisa's wedding and so here are a couple pictures from that just so this post isn't completely lame and pictureless.