So for those of you who I haven't talked to recently, here's the update.

The Marine Corps Marathon didn't go too well. I was fine up until about the halfway point, then all hell broke loose and my body was in crazy pain until about mile 21 where I finally gave in and dropped out of the race. Poor Brian had to finish on his own with two very painful knees. He ended up walking the last 3 miles or so, luckily his parents were there to take care of us. His mom walked with him for the last few miles and his dad took care of me by picking up their van and retrieving me from the ambulance where I was shaking uncontrollably with an IV in my arm. Luckily the fluids were doing the job and I didn't have to go to the hospital or anything. My parents, Naomi, Becca and Jamie all came out to cheer us on, thanks guys. It was a bummer that I somehow missed my parents along the course.

Last day of work Nov. 14th, sad I'll miss all those guys at AIBS, but at least I didn't have to go to the December meeting, it sounded like hell.

Went to visit my Bro in sunny LA. It was beautiful, and I had a lot of fun wandering around in Hermosa and seeing a few sights in the city.

Thanksgiving saw 39 people at my parents’ house for dinner; it was crazy but a lot of fun as well. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!

Two days after thanksgiving I attempted my second marathon. I was so bummed about dropping out of the MCM that I decided, with some encouragement from Brian, not to let 6 months of training go to waste. I ran the Northern Central Railway Trail Marathon in 3:51:41. I was so happy to finish with a good time, only 12 minutes off Boston qualifying.

I then spent most of the next week getting ready for my move to Denver. I went out with Jamie, Becca, Naomi and Brian on Thursday night to see Double Down at Murphy's. It was a great time but also rammed into my head that I was actually moving. I miss you all a ton already.

Friday night Brian threw a party at his place for me. Thanks to everyone that came and to those brave souls that I convinced to take a shot of artichoke liqueur with me. I got drunk rather quickly and in my screwdriver addled brain it made perfect sense that if I didn't want to be sick then I would have to stop drinking and in order to stop drinking I should go to bed. Fortunately, Jamie and Naomi were there to jump on top of me and get me out of bed. Brian had apparently tried earlier, but got very little response from me.

This finally brings me to the drive out to Denver. Jamie and I left Monday morning and drove to Chicago, where we hung out with Catherine and roamed Chi-town until Wednesday morning. Both Jamie and I decided that we really liked Chicago and that Catherine lived in a very cute little neighborhood, unfortunately parking left much to be desired and I ended up having to move my car twice a day. Also, Chicago is the freakin' coldest place on earth. I seriously saw frozen puke on the street, I kid you not.

Wednesday, Jamie and I drove through Iowa and Nebraska, both very flat cold and incredibly boring states. I don't think I would have been able to make it without Jamie, who kept me entertained the whole way with gossip, Glamour and our trusty friend, the Map of the USA. Jamie studied the road atlas front to back keeping a constant eye on our progress across the frozen wasteland, she weighed the merits of it seems every american city big enough to merit it's own downtown map in the atlas and came up with a list of about 30 possible travel nursing destinations.

We made it to Denver at about 11 o'clock and soon collapsed on the spare bed in the basement. The next day Jamie and I went to see the Coors brewery, a tour it seems I'll never grow tired of since they give you 3 free drinks at the end. Then had a wonderful lunch at the Buffalo Rose, a cute little bar in Golden. Later Kim took us to meet Ted at the Rock Bottom Brewery just below his office and then we headed back to their place for dinner, wine, talk and knitting.

The next day (I swear this is almost over) Jamie and I went to the Hammond Candies Factory where there is a lot of expensive sugar and screaming children. But it was really cool to see how they made all the hard candies by hand. After lunch I took Jamie and Kim to the airport, amazingly enough it turned out that they were both on the same flight. I then got DJ all to myself for the next couple hours until Ted got home from work. It was a little rough at first since by the time we got back it was past time for his afternoon bottle but this soon got sorted out and I was soon back in DJ's good graces.

I've spent most of this weekend at my cousin Rick's place wandering around uptown and capitol hill areas of Denver and battling Mr. Kitty for yarn while watching TV. It took a while but I think that Mr. Kitty is finally warming up to me, at least there has been considerably less hissing after I cleaned out his litter box. Though he did knock a pint glass of water over twice in the middle of the night. I'm taking that as a sign of protest to my continued presence in HIS house.

I do have a few pictures but they are not uploaded quite yet. Soon, I promise.