Festivus For The Rest of Us

Last night I celebrated the first annual Masterson Household "Festivus: For The Rest of Us". Festivus as I've read stems from a Seinfeld episode, in which traditions are like no other. A bare aluminum pole represents a Christmas tree. Traditional activities include a hearty dinner (we had spaghetti and numerous desserts), feats of strength (we played billiards instead of wrestling), and the infamous "Airing of Grievances". As we entered the house dressed in our most awful holiday sweaters (I had to get one from Goodwill hours before), we got our picture taken with the pole tree. That picture was placed on a dart board, which we attached to the pole tree. We each got one dart to hit a picture, and thus had a chance to say our grievancesabout that person. If you didn't know the person, you could make something up. The person that hit my picture didn't know me, and dramatized the fact that my shoes didn't match my holiday sweater. Haha.

Jingle Bells 5K

I ran my second 5km for charity this morning for the 20th anniversary of the Jingle Bells 5K run supported by M.A.D.D. For this run, I was officially time at 26:33.2, which was an improvement of my unofficial time from the prior week at the Trail of Light 5K. I'm pretty happy with my time, which was 125th out of 298 timed racers, 8th out of 15 in my age/sex group. I felt as if I could have done better, but my first mile was hampered by the cold air, and I couldn't get my muscles to loosen up. Even though 50 degrees really isn't cold, living in Texas for a few weeks makes it so. I liked this run compared to the Trail of Lights because we got to run through downtown Austin. It started by Towne Lake and marched up to the Capitol building and back down through the streets to original starting line. An uphill battle halfway through meant an easier downhill run the second half of the race. Even though every race is different, I hope to improve on my 26:33.2.

Trail of Lights

Yesterday, I ran my first 5K. The event was called the Trail of Lights 5K hosted at Zilker Park. This annual run at Zilker Park in Austin commerates the opening lighting ceremony of the Trail of Lights. Though it was not an official a timed run, I did the math, and finished in approximately 28 minutes and 30 seconds. I spent most of the first mile running laterally trying to weave my way through traffic of over 4,000 people at the event. The second mile was where the lights began. And the 3rd mile is up and down. The most I've ever run was 1.5 miles, so to finish was a huge accomplishment for me. My first two miles felt fine, but by the time I got to the third, I was definitely slowing down. But I never stopped to walk.

Next week, I might run the Jinglebells 5K in downtown Austin so I can get an official time. My next goal is to run in 26 minutes or less.

Mexican Martinis & Breakfast Tacos

Last night, I went to Trudy's for a few Mexican Martinis with my friend ,Varsha, and her friend, Leena (I think that's her name). Supposedly Trudy's serves the best Mexican Martinis in town. If that's the case, I've probably set the bar a little too high. If you've never had a Mexican Martini, it takes the best of parts of a margarita and the best of a martini combined into one drink. At Trudy's, you are only limited to purchasing two of them, but that's because it's like 3 drinks in one martini shaker. I'm not a margarita fan because it's too sour, which upsets my stomach. And martinis are usually too salty for my taste. But the combination of the two somehow makes it 10 times better.

We sat on the patio of the bar because it was 70 degrees out last night. Yes, 70 degrees at night! The entire day was amazing. I took advantage of the nice day to do yardwork. Spent 2 hours raking leaves. And another 2 hours trimming the 18 bushes in my front yard. Then topped of the sunny day by getting dominated by my friend, Jethro, in disc golf at the Brushy Creek course near my house.

But probably the best part of yesterday was going to La Mexicana Bakery after the bars. Just a few miles south of downtown this bakery stands alone in residential and light commercial neighborhood with it's vivid neon signs (except it just says "cana" at night because the other lights are burned out). Anyways, I wasn't too sure what were going to order at a bakery in the middle of the night. But Varsha recommended getting some breakfast tacos. Not ever having a breakfast taco, I just ordered one. Big mistake...I should have ordered like 6 because it was so good. I highly recommend the chorizos egg breakfast taco (only $1.00), composed of chorizo sausage and scrambled eggs in a tortilla, topped off with some salsa. Mmmm, muy bueno.