First Made by Me Skirt

Today I finished my first skirt, Simplicity 2451. I did view B (the one the model is wearing).

I haven't sewed anything since Christmas, and have never sewed a garment piece before. The pattern said "easy-to-sew" so I thought I would give it a go.

And this gave me the chance to break in my new sewing table.

I spent 2 to 3 hours cutting out the pieces and deciding which size I should cut out. According to the back of the pattern I'm a size 12, but I read that these estimates are not accurate. On the pattern pages it said I would be a 6 or an 8. I decided to go with an 8.

My pincushion given to me by Melizza

The next weekend I started sewing. The instructions were very clear and I was moving right along. And then I got to the waistband. I had no idea how to attach the waistband to the skirt without seeing any raw edges. I kept trying different ways and having to rip it all out when it didn't work. I decided to stop after about 5 hours of sewing and research.

I sent my friend Melizza at Pincushion Treats an email and she pointed me in the right direction. Today I spent 7 hours finishing the skirt. The waistband alone took a full Harry Potter movie, plus 30 minutes. It took me about 14 hours in total to make this "easy-to-sew" skirt. Whew! Since this was my first time, I had to look at a lot of youtube videos and tutorials. 

It's not perfect, but it's my first one so I'm happy with it. I need to work on lining up my seams, and next time I'll mark the pieces instead of cutting out notches. Since I'm short I need shorten the pattern in the middle, instead of  at the bottom. The size worked out well. Half way through I held it up to me and I was sure it would be way too small. To make it bigger, I gave the sides a 1/4 seam allowance instead of 5/8. To my surprise when I tried it on it fit. It could be a tiny bit tighter but it's not bad and it'll work well with a sweater.  I think next time I'll do a 1/2 seam allowance on the sides. 

I really like this pattern. I saw a lot of awesome variations online, and I'm excited to make a few more. I want to make a couple wool skirts for the winter. And I want to try adding lining.

Emmentaler-Halbmarathon, August 16, 2014

First off, I didn't miss spell the title. Half marathon is in German. If only all the German words were that easy.

Yesterday, Mike and I completed the toughest half marathon we've ever done. My Garmin calculated the elevation gain to be 2,770 feet. Which means that is the most climb we've ever done in a race. And all of that gain was in the first 7 miles!

The course was a loop. You ran up a mountain, ran around at the peak and then ran down the mountain. It was made up of single track trails, grass running along farms, and gravel road (with a little bit of asphalt). It had been raining the three days up till the race, so there was mud throughout the course.

It was a cool 56 degrees when we started, and it would only warm up to 61. I can't believe it's supposed to be August. We got to the start early to stretch and check out the competition. Everyone was in remarkable shape. There were no first timers at this race. I saw 2 women that I thought I could beat. After looking at last years finishing times and taking into account my limited mountain races, I set my goal time as 2:40. My road half time is usually in the low 1:50s, so it's crazy to think it'll take an extra hour for this.

The race started with a man banging two pieces of wood together. There were no timing chips or a marked start line, so I started my watch at the banging of the wood. The climb started right from the beginning. By mile 0.3 I was already walking. It was going to be a long 3 hours. I'm a really slow walker, so even though most people were walking they were speed walking right past me.  Most of the first 6 miles were through woods, with a small portion being on asphalt. During the first 6 miles, there was never a distance longer than maybe a quarter of a mile that was flat. And there was never a time where you could open your stride and run without concentrating on not falling. Oh and you can't forget about the mud. The mud was an added bonus. It was thick, deep and slippery.

By mile 4 I settled into my running pack. We didn't run together, but either they could see me or I could see them throughout most of the race. One of the people in my pack was one of the ladies I thought I could beat. She had horrible running form...I just wanted to scream for her to lower her arms. But she could speed walk up the hills and fly down them, so I spent most of my race chasing her. Before we got to the peak there was a sharp descent. I'm even slower at going downhill and my running pack left me. By mile 7 I caught them at an aid station and left before them. I needed to get a head start before we got to any single track ascents or descents. I hate holding people up, and sometimes there was no where to move over to to let them pass. We ended up being pretty much done with climbing (just a few rolling hills) so no one from my running pack caught up to me. The scenery was stunning. I didn't take my phone so I couldn't take any pictures. But it pretty much looked like this (minus the Alps because it was cloudy):

At the top you ran past farms. The farmers walk the cows to various fields and we were running along the cow path. Meaning there was cow poop everywhere. Cow poop mixed with mud made for some interesting obstacles. By this time I was so tired of trying to run around the mud that I just ran through it. I tried to avoid the cow poop, but who knows how much I stepped in. By mile 8 I passed 2 people that were ahead of my running pack. I couldn't see anyone else so I was happy with my place, I just wanted to try and not let anyone pass me back.

I was nervous of the descent. If it was a steep and in the woods, it would slow me  down and more than likely people would catch up to me. If it was steep and on asphalt, it would be slippery. But it turned out to be an amazing gradual decline on gravel. It was perfect. I finally got to run without concentrating on not falling or tripping. I was picking up speed and in the distance I could see more people. I turned it up a notch and ended up passing 5 more people before the finish line.

I finished in 2:43. Not my goal time, but I had no idea what to expect. I'm happy with my time considering this was my first mountain race. I need to work on my speed walking.

Once you finished you got your congratulatory block of cheese!

This was a no frills race. No shirts, no medals, and no timing chips. But this was a extremely well organized race. There were markers everywhere, and they had people standing at all intersections. There was never a time where I was unsure of where to go. They also had an aid station at almost every mile.

This race was hard, but it's only 45 minutes from the house and well organized so we would probably do it again.

Our next race is the Swiss City Marathon in Lucerne. And it will be flat. Hooray!

Other blog topics

I decided that I'll also use this blog to write about our running races and things I sew. I'm hoping that it'll encourage me to do both more often. I started to sew something, but it'll take a while before I finish. I haven't sewed in 7 months, so I have to brush up on the basics. I even forgot how to thread the machine! Today's post is about the half marathon that Mike and I are running this Sunday.

Picture from the Emmentaler Half website

We are running the Lucern Marathon on October 26th. It's the biggest marathon in Switzerland and should be flat. I haven't run a marathon is over a year and a half so I'm really excited. Last month I decided we should race a half marathon in August. There's not too many to choose from (that's within an hour of Bern). I found one, showed it to Mike and signed us up. We are doing the Emmentaler Half Marathon. A quiet half marathon over hills and through farms. It was that or the Inferno Half Marathon which has a 7,135 feet (2,175 meters) climb! No way.

But now that the Emmentaler Half is less than a week away I'm looking at it's elevation climb. There is 2,230 feet of climb. Which is way easier than Inferno's but coming from Texas that is a lot of climb. In Texas the hilliest race I ran was the Decker Half. According to this website Decker has a 937 feet elevation gain. Less than half of Emmentaler's elevation. Texas has plenty of trail races with impressive climbs, but I never did any of them. The most elevation I've done was in 2012 when Mike and I did the Chattanooga Stage Race . It was a 3 day event, and the 2nd and 3rd day had 2,506 and 2,696 feet of climb. But those climbs were also over 22 and 20 miles. So the Emmentaler Half has a higher elevation gain per distance running (if that makes sense). We also did the American River 50 miler. It had 2,200 feet of climb. But it was spread out over 50 miles so I don't think it compares to Emmentaler or Chattanooga.

Yesterday, we did a long run over a hilly course. It was 14 miles and it took us forever! I won't even post how long it took, granted we did get lost and ended up running through someone's cow pasture and crops. I was convinced someone was going to come out with a shot gun and scream at us for trespassing. The total elevation gain was only 1,575 feet. 655 feet less than what we have to do at Emmentaler. Uggh.

And after completing my toughest half marathon ever, I don't even think we get a medal. The entry fee was cheap, so I'll be surprised if they splurge on medals. But I hope so, I need some Swiss Bling! The website says we get a "typical regional product". I'm very curious what that is. We are predicting a basket of vegetables. Though I hope it's wine and chocolate or cheese.

It's funny because I wouldn't even call this race a mountain race. Races here are tough. There's no causal runners here. Years ago Mike said he wanted to run the Jungfrau Marathon. Now that's a mountain race at over 5,000 feet of climb. It's on our bucket list, but it will be a long time before we are ready for that race. Hopefully, one day I'll look back on this post and laugh at being nervous over only 2,230 feet. But this week I'm not laughing.  I'm wondering why I enjoy putting myself (and my husband) through this torture.

Munich, July 11th - 13th

Mike had to go to Munich for work, so we decided I would take the train and meet him there for the weekend. We visited Germany 3 years ago, but we only spent a couple of days there and didn't visit any of the big cities. Mike has been to Munich before, so he was my tour guide on this trip.

The only thing we needed to figure out was how to get Tucker to the boarder. Mike left on Monday and took the car (not that I would drive it), public transportation doesn't drop off close to the boarder, and taxi's are very expensive. We mapped it out and saw that if I went the back way along the river it would only be a 4.5 mile walk. Which would work out perfectly since I needed to do a 10 mile run that week. Unfortunately, on Friday morning it was raining. Switzerland has beautiful landscaping, but to get those lush green plants and flowers it has to rain a lot. And while I don't mind running in the rain, I can't make my dog walk in the rain for an hour and then deliver him to the boarder soaking wet. So in the end I decided to take a taxi to the boarder and back. The driver was nice but it was very expensive. If anyone visits Bern I would not suggest getting a cab.

I dropped off Tucker and got the noon train to Munich. It's a 5.5 hour train ride from Bern to Munich, with a quick train change in Zurich. Tucker's taxi ride cost about the same as a train ticket to another country. The train ride was uneventful (which is a good thing) and Mike was waiting for me at my platform when I arrived.

First stop was Starbucks. They were busy and my mocha suffered. If I had known there was about 4 other Starbucks nearby I would have gone to a less busy one.

Our hotel was about 10 minutes from the train station and another 10 minutes from the downtown area. It was a great location. On the walk to downtown we passed at least 6 casinos, 5 adult stores and 2 McDonalds. All on one road. They defiantly know how to saturate the market.

I arrived at 5:30pm, and after a quick trip to drop my stuff off in the hotel room we walked to the downtown area. It was Friday so it was busy out. Lots of old buildings, history, shopping, beer gardens and people watching. This is probably the biggest city I've been too, and there was a good mix of tourists and locals. Most people we encountered spoke English, which is always convenient.

We also walked past some kind of rally, it was a bit scary with armed guards, the crowd booing and someone taking the microphone forcefully away from the speaker. I couldn't understand what the speaker was saying, but I got the jist of it and I do not agree with her. I wish people could just coexist peacefully. We quickly walked past, and they were gone when we walked by later.

Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall)

We ate right in the middle of the Marienplatz (which is the city's main square) with a view of the Town Hall. We enjoyed picking out the Americans. It's not hard. :) We talked with the table next to us (mother and son), who were from Michigan....and liberal. She let us know her political stance within the first 30 seconds of speaking to us.....I'm sorry I'm on vacation and enjoying this beautiful view with my husband, can you not talk to us about your political opinions. She then switched to why none of her son's have given her grandkids yet. She was nice and entertaining but she needs to work on more appropriate topics to have with strangers.

There were lots of street performers and musicians out. 

These guys were amazing. They are pretty popular in Munich and defiantly had the biggest crowd around them. They have a website, cds and lots of youtube videos of them. They were equal parts talented, funny and crazy. They could combine songs (old and new) together seamlessly.

Ducktape fixes everything

It rained Saturday morning. So in the morning we went shopping. We are going to Oktoberfest at the end of September so we picked up some Lederhosens. Girls typically wear Dirndl dresses but I wanted a pair of lederhosen. I read later that women in lederhosen are popular with tourists, because they are sexier. But I feel like shorts with a shirt that buttons up to my neck is more conservative than a Dirndl with a blouse that shows way too much cleavage. I guess I won't blend in at Oktoberfest, I'll be a proud tourist in my Lederhosen. Maybe I'll also sport a fannypack.

The rain stopped so we rented bikes and went on a tour of the city. I'm not going to lie, I was nervous. I haven't ridden a bike in 18 years. Luckily, the bike shop was in a less busy area of downtown. The first 3 miles was a little tricky getting the hang of it and dodging other bikers. But after a while it got easier, though I still can't ride in a straight line. If I ever do a triathlon, I'll have to start the bike part alone because I'm all over the place.

We stopped at Nymphenburg Palace. You can take a tour inside, but we just walked around the outside. It was the rulers of Bavaria's summer home. I have to wonder what their main house looked like. Construction started in 1664 and finished in 1675. King Ludwig II was born here, we visited one of his castles on Sunday. Behind the house is a 490 acre "garden". The backyard was open to the public and you could see some runners out, how cool to have your daily run where rulers once walked. I'd like to go back and tour the inside one day.

The Garden

Our next stop was the Hirshgarten (translated to Deer Park). They had deer, a beer garden and restaurant, and a small carnival where I got a giant pretzel. 

They have bands and show soccer games here. It was pretty quiet when we went, I'd like to go back when all the tables are full.

Next we rode through Olympiapark. This was built for the 1972 Olympics. They give tours, allow you to climb to the top of the stadium and zip line down through the stands.

A festival in Olympiapark

We then rode through the Englischer Garten (English Gardens). The name came from the park design, it resembles an English landscape instead of the more geometric French gardens. There are 78 km of trails, a river, two beer gardens and lots of green space to relax.  There is also an area where you can surf, but we did not see this.

After we dropped off the bikes, we went to the Hofbrauhaus. This place is a must see if you visit Munich. It's one of Munich's oldest beer halls. It was originally built in 1589 . It was destroyed during WWII and rebuilt in 1958. The Hofbraushaus can serve 3,500 guests. They serve Bavarian food and have a Bavarian band playing. The waiters/waitresses wear Bavarian clothing and can hold 7-10 liter beers at a time. They were quite impressive.

Proper size = 1 liter

Lots of locals and tourists wear Lederhosen and Dirndls around town. These girls just happen to be having a bachelorette party (we saw tons of bachelor/bachelorette parties). Apparently, during bachelorette parties you sell cookies to raise money for the wedding.

Lots of peddie cabs in the Marienplatz

Cabbies drive Mercedes

St. Michael's Church

On Sunday we drove the 5 hours back home, but we made a detour to  Fussen to visit Neuschwanstein Castle. It was built from 1869 till 1886 by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He lived in the castle for 172 days during it's construction. After he died suddenly and mysteriously in 1886 construction on the 2nd floor was abandoned. His family also cancelled the PO for his throne. He designed every aspect of the construction and interior designs of the castle. It was amazing! We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but he had fancy taste.

The tour only took about 20 minutes, and you can only see the inside if you do a tour. When we arrived the line to buy tickets was at least an hour to an hour and a half long. It was insane. Mike bought our tickets early, so we got to skip the entire line and only waited 5 minutes to pick up our tickets. Score. You could also visit his parents castle Hohenschwangau Castle, but we did not.

The area where you buy the tickets has several restaurants, hotels and gift shops. Neuschwanstein Castle is a big destination. After you get your tickets, you have to walk up a mile long hill to get to the castle. You could take a bus or a horse and carriage, but the line was long. It was quicker to walk it.

A restaurant we passed walking to the castle

After the tour you can either head back down or walk up another 15 minutes to get to the Marien Brücke (Mary's Bridge). But when we got outside it was raining. It was so pretty when we arrived, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. But everyone had umbrellas and raincoats, so I guess everyone else was smart enough to check the forecast. We were the only people without umbrellas. 

We decided to run up in the rain and I'm so glad we did. The views were amazing.

King Ludwig II built Neuschwanstein next to his childhood home.

Hohenschwangau Castle

We really like Munich and can't wait to go back. We will go back in September, but for a very different reason. Oktoberfest!!