Pulling out the big guns for NYE... only the best for my friends :)

In the process of cleaning up my house this morning, I came across a couple bottles of alcohol that I forgot existed (is that a bad sign? I have liquor stashed in unknown places)

This is what I came across...


The two bottles to the left are what I brought back from Costa Rica. The bottle to the left is a bottle of yummy yummy yummy rum.

But the bottle in the middle.

Oh the bottle in the middle.

That is what we can guaro, which can be roughly translated as hootch. It is the cheapest liquor you can find in Costa Rica and is distilled from sugar cane. I remember long days at the swim up bar drinking some drink called a "Banana Bongie" made from guaro but cannot find any remnant of the recipe online. Memories... this is where I met the craziest Texans in the world drinking out of their Bubba Kegs (run... don't walk... to Walmart if you do not have a Bubba Keg) and I almost got kicked out of my scuba lesson for swimming over to the bar in full gear for a cocktail (peer pressure)

Here is the scene of the crime... I will be back there soon. Alberto will be waiting at the bar with a Bongie in hand.


My friends will loooove that guaro! :)

The last bottle on the right is a wedding favor from my cousin's wedding a couple years ago. I happened to be the one responsible for their meeting and was in the wedding and blah blah blah. She told me I have dwindling time remaining to drink the wine before it becomes as potent as the guaro... and before her divorce is finalized.

CHEERS!!!

Rain rain GO AWAY!

You know that wonderfully peaceful, serene, and happy feeling you get when you wake up in the morning and hear the tip-tap of rain on your roof... and then BONUS!... you realize it is Sunday and you can sleep in? All the cares in the world just slip away because you can snuggle back up into bed and go back to sleep.

Yeah, I don't feel that when I know I need to get up and run.

It RAINED pretty much all of last night- yeechh. Therefore, the trails at the Greenway are crappy and muddy and not what I want to deal with today. I am sure the bikers are in heaven. I feel pseudo-guilty for rubbing in our beautiful weather just a few days ago. Wait, no I don't. Come the 100+ degrees, 100% humidity days of summer- I will be heading for the hills!

So, I am debating... head downtown and run through the streets there (assuming they are not flooded ha ha) and have to dodge all the tourists and out-of-towners for the New Year or just resort to a neighborhood run with the MP3 player by my side. Today is 9 miles so I might just suck it up and jaunt around here- lots of new construction and houses going up. Fun scenery, eh?

I went to go pick up my NYE dress at the dry cleaners yesterday. After she brought it out, I said, "Well, I guess I will be bringing this thing back Tuesday. I am running a race in it on Monday morning after New Year's Eve."

She looked at me with a weirdly concerned look and responded, "No, you cannot run race in this dress!!! You will ruin it."

I thought for a sec before responded and blurted out, "How is me running a race in it any different from me spilling beer and bourbon on it and people smoking around me? Besides, I need to win a bet."

She shook her head and I almost expected her to give me the "would you jump off a bridge if..." talk but I just paid my money and left.

Amateurs.

Graphs are FUN! (with the Garmin)

So, I finally downloaded the Garmin training center thingy. I just so happen to looove all types of graphs, maps, charts, etc. I could analyze this crap all day long.

Here is my last 5K race- what the hell happened to me around the 1.7 mile mark? Yea, I don't know either. I am hoping to beat this time (28:12) at the New Year Resolution 5K on Monday but then again... I also agreed to run it in my black cocktail dress that I will be wearing the night before!

Tiff's Reindeer Run pace chart

Just for a laugh or two, here is the elevation breakdown of the Cooper River Bridge (starting on the downtown side) running over to Mt. P and back. The below sea level portion is an area of Mount Pleasant that I tacked on. And to think- this is the largest hill you can get in Charleston! :)

Below is the pace chart and elevation for the Kiawah Half Marathon that I did several weeks ago. The spikes on the pace chart are when I stopped to take clothes off and to stretch.... I wanted to keep my time running. Lots of room to improve!

Kiawah Pace Chart

Kiawah Elevation- quite possibly one of the lowest races you can find!

I am mixing it up tomorrow and doing my long run on the West Ashley Greenway, a 13 mile stretch of trails with beautiful views and nice terrain. It should be a nice deviation from my normal roads I have been running... my neighborhood is starting to look really, really boring so I am open to any and all new route ideas!

Happy trails!

Great duos in history....

• Bert and Ernie
• Thelma and Louise
• Knight Rider and Kit
• Tiff and her Running Shoes

And for the inquiring minds...... they are Asics. Asics 2110. They are light blue. The running shoes that started this debaucherous blog.

Well, today was a sad day for the Asics. I went to put them on and realized there is a gaping hole in the top of one of them, by the toebox. I tried to mess around with it and made it exponentially worse. To further ghetto-fy the situation, I tried to duct tape them because it looked like it might rain.

Run temporarily derailed.

But hey! What better day to peruse online running sites for new shoes and watch football. Go Boston College! Go Texas Longhorns!

What a jackass...

This would never happen to me....

:)

Charleston Area Woman Reportedly has, “The Best Day of Her Life”

AP- CHARLESTON, South Carolina

A local 26 year old woman, known to her friends as “T-FAN", reportedly had the best day of her life on Friday, December 29, 2006. Said T-FAN, “I usually just assume that Fridays are going to be pretty damn good, but I just had a special feeling this morning… like the sun was shining a little brighter, birds chirping with more gusto, that this might be the day I hit the Tiffany Trifecta.”

For those unfamiliar with the Tiffany Trifecta, it includes a USC Gamecocks win, a Clemson loss, and Tiffany beating everyone at the Bimimi Ring game out by the beach. The ring game is just that, you hook a ring on a string on a hook by swinging it. T-FAN has spent many hours perfecting her form at home and training with professionals.

Lo and behold, T-FAN got her Trifecta on Friday. She excitedly watched Clemson fall to Kentucky, the Gamecocks beat Houston, and got her ring game title, earning the name Mutha of the Ringmaster among the locals. T-FAN quipped, “I was not sure I could beat that last opponent, those 7 year olds really have the height advantage for the ring game. Good thing I practiced those extra hours before the competition. Can I get another beer, please?”

Eyewitnesses state that T-FAN was spotted jumping into the ocean later in the evening and then apparently she took a short recess to shower and appeared downtown at Tommy Condon’s, dancing the shag with a man in a kilt and then buying the entire bar a round of $1 PBRs at Big John’s. Her final stops of the evening included Henry’s and the bar at Oak Steakhouse for a Woodford Reserve Manhattan.

Sources say that traditionally, someone’s best day of their life is often followed by a not-so-good day.

In an effort to follow up on T-FAN’s wonderful day, we caught up with her this morning at Martha’s Beauty Salon. Vickie, T-FAN’s regular stylist, spent several hours this morning with the local celebrity. Said Vickie, “For some reason, T-FAN is especially quiet when she has early Saturday morning appointments. This morning was the worst we have ever seen. She worn an eye mask the entire time, sunglasses on top of that, and chugged several bottles of Gatorade. When I asked what she wanted done to her hair, she just murmured, ‘Jetaukuninckkoffff’. I could not comprehend what she was saying and she just waved her hand at me when I asked her to clarify. Oh well. Hopefully she will appreciate the new sideswept bang I gave her.”

And there you have it, folks.

bowl games bowl games bowl games bowl games bowl games bowl games bowl games

C...A...R...O...L...I...N...A...

Less than four hours til the GAMECOCKS play- I am pumped! GOOOOO GAMECOCKS!!!!!!!!

It's a beautiful 71 degree day and we are gearing up to go watch the game out at Off the Hook on Sullivan's Island. Yayy...I love it out there. And OTH is right across the street from Dunleavy's Pub, the site of our Polar Plunge on New Year's Day. Amazingly, weather.com states the ocean water on our coast is about 72 degrees? Doesn't seem right... but we may have to practice our plunge today if the Cocks win!!!

And as a special bonus feature today (mostly, because I am 3 beers deep already), here are my words of wisdom:

1. Just say NO to Clemson fans, they wear orange overalls. Hell, I grew up in Kentucky and they are just as red as the best of the Clemson fans. But Clemson SUCKS. Go Cats! Come to think of it... how did UK even get a bowl game? Oh yeah. They beat Georgia! Ha!

2. Beer is good.
3. I am packing my running shoes in the case of an impromptu Sullivan's Island pub run after our victory today. Yeah, we are winning. Yeah.
4. Beer is gooder in the afternoon.

5. OMG- UK has not won a bowl game since 1984. Geeezzz
6. Beer is gooderest in the morning.

My first run with the running group…

So, I took the sage advice of someone here in BlogLand and joined a running group here in Charleston. Boy, am I glad I did! I am starting to see that this is going to the best (and most enjoyable) way to improve my times and running.

Miles: 5.88
Time: 53:13
Weather: a chilly 58 degrees

I felt like it was the first day of school driving there to meet them at a local running shop. I had spoken with the gal that owns the shop earlier this week to introduce myself and inquire about the run. Apparently, there are all different types of groups that run throughout the week so I am planning on running with several different groups and hopefully (fingers crossed!!!) finding someone within my pace range to accompany me on my long runs over the next couple weeks- I am hoping to squeeze in some 10-14 mile runs in prep for 3M. I also have upped my weekly mileage goal to 25 miles.

I pull up to the store and see several people looming around- and they look like serious runners. I jump out of my car and introduce myself, wondering what I had got myself into. Everyone is super nice and seems happy to have a new face in the group. This particular group meets weekly for a 5-7 mile run. Perfect. They ran the bridge the last couple weeks- would I mind running through Mt. P and Old Village? Absolutely not! I had run the bridge earlier this week and usually try to mix it up.

We set off and I immediately realize they are running a tad faster than my usual 5K race pace- and we are scheduled to do around 6 miles. Plus (and this is something I am not used to), we keep the conversation flowing the entire time. I have to admit- running with a group is such a nice deviation from my lone runs. We talk about everything- races, work, the one gal that owns the running shop also is a running and biking coach. She tells us an inspirational story about a gal training for a marathon. The miles just seem to fly by, despite the fact that I am really pushing it past my normal pace…. And I feel surprisingly good!

We get to the 5 mile mark and I pick up the pace, even taking the lead. We run past one of my fav bars on Shem Creek and I jokingly say, "Are we not stopping for a beer?" They all laugh and ironically, the conversation turns to hashing. For several minutes, they start trading comments about what they’ve heard, the vicious rumors, what type of crazy people do it, how hashers drink during running, and they are a rowdy crew. One of them looks at me and says, "Tiffany, do you know what hashing is?" I couldn’t keep a straight face anymore- telling them about my hash experience out in Colorado. Several of them seemed interested in checking it out- possible recruits!

So, all in all- it was a great run. I will definitely be back next week (we are going to stick with Wed night runs in lieu of Thursdays next week) and think this will definitely help me!!

As a side note- Charleston's newest resident, Ms. Reese Witherspoon- is on TV now (or not- I don't know how things work in any other time zone besides mine) in Sweet Home Alabama, a cute (chick) flick. However, The Office is on at 8:30 PM tonight so that will definitely take priority!

C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A....

Less than 26 hours to kickoff in the Liberty Bowl...

Gooooooooo Gamecocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(and please, please, please... let Kentucky beat Clemson)

Relaxing on vacation... a little basketball commentary!

DISCLAIMER: the thoughts, opinions, and comments expressed by Tiffany are completely true and non-debatable. Therefore, if you have a problem with her and her opinions- go ahead and shove it because you are a total amateur with no idea what you are talking about. Have a nice day! :) (Go Tiff, Go Tiff... Go Go... Go Tiff!) Muwahahhahaaaa....

So, I was just taking a look at the clusterfuck that is the Top 25 for men’s college basketball and could not help but comment.

Seriously- Ohio St. is STILL overrated at #6 in the AP and USA Today polls. Am I the only person that thinks this? And I grew UP an Ohio St. fan (mostly football though- my dad would take me to all the home games up in Columbus). I thought they were overrated right from the get-go (coming out of the gate at #1? Riiiiight) when they dropped their first loss to UNC back in late November. Yeah, yeah… the “Thad Five” or whatever they are calling them… they got schlacked by Florida! 26 points? Eeeekkk… I might be eating my words come March… but come on.

Speaking of Florida- it was interesting to see them kill a ranked team by such a margin (even if it is Ohio St.) They started off the year with a very weak schedule up to this point and have done fairly well, with the exception of their narrow loss to Florida State. I don’t see them going all the way again this year. Just don’t.

Maaaann… Wichita State is hanging on… beating LSU and Syracuse… I would have surely wrote them off for a Cinderella holdover from March Madness! Now- SHOCKER- they have lost two in a row… Fortunately (or unfortunately) for them, the rest of their schedule includes mostly middle school rec-worthy teams.

Ooohhh- those North Carolina freshmen are tough. Yes, freshmen… Wright, Lawton, and Ellington. It is always interesting to see how freshmen react come tournament time though.

Butler? They would be better suited as a 13 seed somewhere- getting their ass kicked by some crappy 4 seed that should have been a 9 seed. They also are looking down the line at a very, very weak post-New Year schedule.

Still waiting to see how Pitt comes up against an actual Big East team. They snapped that 2 game losing streak with a 30 point cake walk… now is the time to step up though! They look good…

Clemson blows. It just burns me up to see them in the top 25 for ANYTHING. Grrrrr…

Feels kinda weird to not see Kentucky or Louisville anywhere in the polls. I won’t ever forget the infamous game- the Laetner jumpshot that ended UK’s dreams of a run at the title back in 1992…East Regionals in Philly… at least my mom allowed my bro and I to stay home from school the next day because we were all mourning the loss.

Ironically, most of my friends are scared of me come March Madness time. The night before the brackets are announced, I run to the store and buy a bunch of posterboard to make my own brackets, keeping one at home on the wall, one at the office, and a couple extra pieces for any screwups. I pour over the brackets and analyze my picks. After all, it is all done electronically and I need to keep face with all the loser dudes I work with that think they know the first thing about basketball. During the day games of Round 1 and 2, I am basically worthless at work. I get ESPN live streaming for the scores and sneak down to our employee cafeteria to watch the highlights and any close games. That is what the TVs are there for, right?

Basketball is in full swing- It is gonna be a good winter!!!!!!!