The New Kid in Town

My name is Shelley and I love running and eating cupcakes.  (Is that obvious? Hehe)

 
Since this is my first post I wanted to give you just a teensy introduction to who I am, and the rest you can get to know from my posts.  I'm a somewhat beginner runner; I began really running on New Year's Eve 2012... not exactly as you'd imagine.  It had nothing to do with a new year's resolution, I just simply wanted to burn off some stress and I felt like going for a run (which was very strange since I didn't work out at the time.  At ALL).  I went for it and took off a mile down the street, loved the feeling during, and I especially loved the way I felt after the run.  I was hooked.   Now almost a year later, I'm still running strong and I just signed up for my first full marathon (the LA Marathon in March), and I am totally psyched.  Super scary, but I can't wait to experience this next step.  

Last week I did the Long Beach International Half Marathon in Long Beach, CA.  What a gorgeous course!!

It goes through their downtown, through Seaside Village, and down along the beach for a few miles.  It was much hotter that morning that I anticipated, and the heat definitely got to me, but other than that it was a great race.

The course is so scenic and really held my interest the entire way.  If you ever get a chance to run Long Beach, I highly recommend it.

The crowd in Long Beach was very encouraging.  So many people were handing out treats and high fives.  And there's nothing more motivating like a creative sign or two:

Unfortunately, I'd had a minor surgery a week and a half before the race so under the advisement of my doctor I walked the marathon instead of running.  That was really hard for me to do, but I know it was the right thing.  Nothing could keep me from that big daddy medal though!

Long Beach was our third race in the Beach Cities Challenge, a series composed of the Surf City Marathon, the OC Marathon, and of course Long Beach.  Here we are with our mega bling...  We runners love our bling!!  


And what is a race without some cupcakes afterward!  The day after the race we trekked a few miles up to Beverly Hills to the esteemed Magnolia Bakery. 

Their original location in NYC was made famous for appearing in an episode of Sex and the City, with Carrie eating a cupcake outside the bakery.  They say this episode put them on the map, and now they're always packed with a line out the door.

I've always wanted to go there, and we had to visit their LA location while we were in the near region.  I was not disappointed! They were yummy to the extreme.  Very sweet and rich but oh so good.  We left there with quite a haul of baked goods, but they are well deserved after a long race, right?!  ;)

 

- What's your favorite race course?

- What's your favorite cupcake flavor?