Comic Con, 10K, Magic Mike, July Favorites and More!

Happy July everyone! I am in the process of writing up a little blurb about celebrating (even acknowledging) the 4th of July in London. Needless to say it's an interesting experience. I figured I would doing a little write-up here in addition to my other fun activities. Other items in this posting is about my experience at London Comic Con (*spoiler* it was awesome), British & Nike+ 10K, Magic Mike and a few favorites I have captured for the month!

4th of July
Celebrating 4th of July in London could only be compared to breaking up with a controlling boyfriend and then going to a party he is hosting with a bunch of his ex-girlfriends and celebrating the break-up. The ex-girlfriends being other American friends I chose to spend the evening celebrating in typical American-style eating hamburgers & drinking wine and lager.

To be fair, all of the non-Americans in town were very supportive, even bringing in Krispy Kremes into work to celebrate the occasion. I think everyone felt slightly sorry for us Americans having to work knowing our overseas family and friends were out watching fireworks and sleeping in. Unfortunately, I am not a donut-lover and to be honest I would prefer an Apple Pie or BBQ but was nice to see the old college try by friends and colleagues.

A pic from our night on the town with tiny sparklers. A fun time but looking forward to the American version!

Comic Con!
Comic con is a little, okay a LOT smaller here than in the states. Though I did see quite a number of people dressed up, etc. and plenty of fabulous celebrities including cast members from Star Trek TNG, Farscape, Stargate SG1 &Firefly. I was able to go to a panel with Jewel Staite and Adam Baldwin talking about Serenity/Fire Fly. I was impressed how much Jewel knew in terms of episode details and behind the scenes information. Adam Baldwin did stress that he was massively jet-lagged but he provided the comic relief. Couldn't believe how relatively calm I was about seeing everyone - minus Christopher Judge. Wow, he is amazing looking in person. I couldn't believe how great and huge is in person. It was a cool experience but it was a bit annoying that final schedules were not released until very late and so you had to buy tickets for a day not knowing exactly what would be happening. It worked out on some level but the Game of Thrones panel was really early AM so we were not able to see that which was a bummer.

I plan to make a stop at San Diego Comic Con in the next couple of years - definitely a dream of mine. Seeing all of the tweets about how great it is makes me so jealous.

Link to London Film and Comic Con for reference: http://www.londonfilmandcomiccon.com/

 Christopher Judge (Teal'c from SG1)

Adam Baldwin and Jewel Staite (Firefly and Serenity)

 Lucy and I at Comic Con!

Panel with Jewel and Adam - VERY popular panel!

British Nike+ 10K
I had raced a 10K only once before, during the Philadelphia Triathlon. I had done really well the on the swim and then pretty well on the bike but had been struggling with a hip problem for some time and when I got to mile 3 in the run I was having a lot of problems. Thankfully, I had a chance to run a new one with this race. I was in Croatia the week before so I didn't train the way I normally would have but did okay. The experience enough made it worth it. It was the most amazing feeling being out there with 30,000 other people just running through the streets of London in the rain with thousands of people clapping and cheering us on. Cannot express the feeling in words. Go do it yourself and you will see. It is an amazing race and well worth it!

 

 On my walk to the bag area - was a little tired and nervous. Mostly because I was very sore from weight lifting from the day before but it all worked out!

 The sea of runners. Play on words because it was raining quite a bit throughout which I loved!

The route as shown on the http://www.thebritish10klondon.co.uk site

 

Post-Race and after lunch. I think I took a shower and then went straight for a mini nap after this photo. Finished the race in 1:12.

Magic Mike
Went and saw Magic Mike yesterday and it was really enjoyable. Ate dinner at good ol' Prezzo for the third night in a week. They have this light option of salad and pizza that I pretty much get everytime I go. It's quite reasonably and right down the street. I am still working out and eating healthy and haven't lost any additional weight from the huge weight loss from the last few months but I think this next week with the additional miles I keep adding will help. So, if you are looking for a dinner and a movie experience with some girlfriends I would definitely suggest going to this show. It's great! Might be a bit uncomfortable for the shy-type of girl but still, go! Break free a bit!

July Favorites
RUNNING:
Now using RunKeeper and Fleetly to capture all of my running activities and track with friends. I have a goal of 150 miles by the end of August. Might be a tough one cause I started later than I should have but going to really give it a go! I really enjoy having something I am accountable to and they also include routes to use so that I know how far I am going while I am outside. If only it didn't rain every second of the day in London during the summer so I can go out more. Everyone here says this is more rain than usual but honestly, I don't know if I believe that anymore.

Fleetly and RunKeeper - get the apps and check them out online!

VIDEOS:

Kate Winslet in the movie store - definite favorite!

New favorite band: Keane

New favorite advert: Olympics/Lotto - tearjerker alert

Barcelona, Glasgow and home again - jiggity jig

Hola! It's been a couple of weeks since my last post but I have been a busy bee. Since my last post I have traveled to two (technically 3 new places), submitted my side project to an incubator for an analysis (and potentially support!), entered and started training for a 10K and celebrated (after today) two birthdays! Plus all of the normal work/life stuff. Travels: *Barcelona - Fun trip with friends over the weekend *Glasgow - work trip for a conference *London/Berhamsted - back home for ice bar bday celebration and country bday celebration Starting off with a trip to Barcelona with some friends last weekend our group of four girls (an American, Polish, British and Scottish girl group enter a Ryanair plane...) took a plan from Stansted and landed in Reus. It's about an hour and a half away from Barcelona and requires a bus as you can see from the map below.

The Ryanair travel was quite different than I am used to. EasyJet, Ryanair, etc. sell very cheap tickets with the idea that their are no frills. You are allowed one small bag (not a purse plus bag; just 1 bag per person) and it's a bit of a free-for-all as there are no assigned seats. Just need to make sure you line up early enough to sit with who you want and where you want. I didn't really mind this too much; at the end of the trip if you arrive on time or early they play a little song. The song is the same as at the beginning of a horse race, right before Trevor Denman would say "and away they go." So we arrived early and the little song played and everyone clapped. Kinda fun. Then we were off to go through customs (extremely easy as this is a super small airport) and find our bus. We were worried we would be late. This is a tad laughable knowing what I know now. The credit card and money counter machine broke. Plus, our bus driver had no calculator and couldn't really handle money exchange. He had a LOT of difficulty providing the correct change to each of the passengers and so it took about an hour just to get on the bus! We were a bit tired on our way to the hostel, Casa Gracia, which is located in the centre of the city. I was meeting my friend Dimitri there as he lives in South Spain but is moving back to the states. We arrived and our rooms were not ready which was quite annoying. I hadn't seen Dimitri in a long time so it was great getting to see him but we all just wanted to change, brush our teeth and get some food. Yummy tapas to be exact. Visited parks, cathedrals, la Sagrada Familia. Saw a lot of the Gaudi buildings which are really quite cool. A couple pics of a cathedral and the park!

We even played some flip cup which apparently is not common in Europe? This was a pretty big past time for me and my college friends. Apparently in Europe there are not a lot of games to go with drinking - everyone just drinks! haha Next up was Glasgow; for a work trip. Glasgow reminds me of a super small San Francisco (read: lots of hills) but where everyone speaks very difficult-to-understand English. I had the most amazing red bean and sweet potato burger at O'Neill's Irish bar. Seriously, amazing! I had the most hedious travel and spent a LOT of time waiting on an airplane or at the airport. We even had to change planes at Gatwick airport and take a bus to go about 20 feet to ensure that no one got injured. Quite crazy but all of the staff were very pleasant and I would rather be safe than sorry! London: Saturday night I took my friend Lucy out for her birthday to the Ice Bar. Had visited this bar with Drew when he was here and I love it. They have such amazing food. Took a couple pictures as well. Recommend (highly) the goat cheese starter. Also, I think choosing three small plates versus one large and 1 small is the way to go! The drinks are overpriced but the delicious food and ambiance makes it worth it.

Bad news was that someone stole my wallet. Kinda common here but still bummed me out. As that was my last night to drink alcohol for the next month it was a sour note to an otherwise lovely evening. I have been training for my upcoming 10K which isn't until July 8th. Also, would love to lose about 10 pounds before our Croatia/Brussels/Brugge/Amsterdam family trip at the end of June. Cannot wait! Now off to Berkhamsted since we have a Bank Holiday - yay for May Day! :)