NCAA First Round ~ March 21, 2010

On March 19th, Steve and I made our way to South Bend, IN where we would watch the #15 Cleveland State Vikings face-off against #2 Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon. It was an exciting time for us and the four hour drive was a piece of cake.

The college football hall of fame was across the street from our hotel and Steve simply couldn’t resist the Heisman pose. The 12-pack of Bud Light seemed to be a suitable replacement for a football.

We soon headed to Corby’s, a nearby bar featured in the movie “Rudy.” That seemed fairly appropriate since we were in South Bend.

On Saturday, Sean & Alex met us to watch some college basketball games. We found a great sports bar called “Between the Buns” where we watched a bunch of games, ate & had a few drinks.

Papa Smurfs were the specialty at Between the Buns. We love specialties!

Later in the day, we met the rest of our group and headed to a CSU Pep Rally at Legend’s Bar and Grille located on the Notre Dame campus. My mom & Rich made the trip from Cleveland, while Alex’s sister Meredith drove down from Chicago.

On Sunday morning we went to another CSU party at Main Street Pub. There was a very impressive turn out ranging from alumni, friends, family, staff, and even CSU President Dr. Berkman. We were very happy to be a part of it!

It was finally time to head over to the Joyce Center! During the first game, we saw #7 Wisconsin fall to #10 Vermont 64-55. It was finally time to see the Vikings take the floor…

Despite an incredible first half performance by senior Kailey Klein, the Vikings were down 25-34 at the end of the first half. Kailey scored 21 straight points to lead the Vikings…the other 4 points were scored by senior Stephaine Crosley. As expected, Notre Dame adjusted their game plan and offensively went inside to exploit their size difference, while defensively they shut down Kailey Klein. CSU was outscored 52-33 in the second half and finished with an 86-58 loss. Klein finished with 31 points and 8 rebounds to lead the Vikings.

Rich's 65th Birthday ~ March 16, 2010

On March 16, a few of us went to Players on Madison to celebrate Rich’s 65th birthday! The usually six (Mom, Rich, Sean, Alex, Steve and I) went, but were also joined by my sister Tracy. As usual, it was a really great time.

Rich's birthday dessert! Wow!

Horizon League Championship ~ March 14, 2010

March (and the beginning of April) Madness is one of the best times of the year for basketball fans, and Steve and I are no different. It's the best college basketball concentrated into just a few weeks. It's awesome.

When the #4 Cleveland State women's basketball team traveled to Green Bay, WI to face-off against the #1 Green Bay Phoenix in the Horizon League semi-finals, I was confidant that they had the talent, drive and desire to win, but I was still keeping my fingers crossed. Afterall, we had fallen 0-2 to Green Bay this year, with the last loss coming only 6 days prior on Green Bay's home court. As a matter of fact, GB had won 27 straight Conference home games with their last loss coming on March 14, 2008...when Cleveland State beat them in the Horizon League semi-finals that eventually took them to their first-ever NCAA Tournament game. Let's just say, crazier things have happened.

So on Friday night, Steve and I set up our laptop and watched the game via the Horzion League Network and we watched amazing happen. We watched as the fourth-seeded CSU Vikings knocked off top-seeded Green Bay in overtime to earn a berth in the league title game on Sunday. It was the second time in the last three seasons they've accomplished this feat and it was fantastic. 

Shortly after the game ended, I started planning my trip to Wisconsin so I could watch CSU play Butler in the Championship and hopefully claim an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The cost of flights was outrageous and my night-driving capabilities are quite scary so I opted to use frequent flyer miles. On Sunday morning I flew into Green Bay and after a cancelled flight, a delayed flight and a missed connection, I finally arrive in Green Bay at 11:40 am, just in time for tip-off.  

The Vikings held a comfortable lead for much of the game and led by as many as 15 points (45-30) during the second half. Butler wasn’t going to go down quietly...The Bulldogs made a second half run and pulled to within 4 points (47-43) with 7:31 left. Some big plays by our seniors held them off and Cleveland State won 66-57 and were crowned Horizon League Champions.

Lorelei Natalia Horan ~ March 5, 2010

We are proud to announce the newest member of our family! Steve's younger sister Karen & her husband Andrew welcomed Lorelei Natalia Horan on March 5, 2010 at 7:01 pm. She weighed in at 9 lbs (even!) and measured 21 1/2 inches. Steve and I boarded a plane on the evening of March 6th and headed to Providence, RI where we were met by Gretchen and then headed up to Boston to visit with the proud new parents and meet little Lorelei.

Karen, Andrew & Lorelei

Mommy & Baby

The Schur kids with Lorelei...Karen, Gretchen & Stephen

Aunt Gretchen & Lorelei

Aunt Shannon & Lorelei

Uncle Stephen & Lorelei

We stayed at Gretchen & Scott's house during our stay in Connecticut (missed you Scott!) and were joined by Paul & Sue on Sunday for some lunch, champagne, birthday pie, college basketball and a little walk around Mystic.

Stephen & I posed for a picture during our walk. It was a beautiful day and Mystic is a beautiful area so it's hard not to soak in and enjoy the surroundings.

Although our trip was short, we were so happy to have the opportunity to meet Lorelei during her first days. We look forward to watching her grow and can't wait until we get a chance to see her again!!

Cavs Snuggie Night!

On March 5th, my mom and I were part of a sold-out crowd of 20,562 Cavalier fans to set the Guinness Book of World Record for the "largest gathering of people wearing fleece blankets." We donned custom-made Cavalier snuggies for the first five minutes of the Cavaliers game versus the Detroit Pistons to set the world record.

LeBron in his Snuggie!

A Guinness World Records Adjudicator was on hand to officially certify the new record and we received a commemorative magnet certifying our participation in the record-breaking event.

Mom doing her Snuggie fist pump.

Stephen's 37th Birthday!

I love having a birthday celebration go on for days and Steve’s 37th birthday would be no different. Due to a Cavs game on Monday, we had to get the party started on Tuesday, so we headed to Players with Sean & Alex and let the celebrating begin!

It’s become tradition for all of us to go to Players to celebrate anything so after some martinis, wine, appetizers, pizza and dessert we were joined by my mom and Rich before heading home.

Wednesday was another fun-filled day as Stephen and I headed to Five Guys in Lakewood for his birthday lunch. Delicious.

For dinner we went to Crocker Park to partake in some happy hour specials at Hyde Park where we enjoyed some fabulous martinis (the grapefruit martini was awesome) and appetizers before heading to the movie theatre to see Avatar in 3D.

Thursday was Steve’s ACTUAL birthday and he chose Pepper’s Restaurant for dinner…it’s a tiny “mom & pop” Italian restaurant in Lakewood that we’ve been eating at since we started dating almost 9 years ago! Every time we leave there, we wonder why we don’t come back more often…

Following dinner, we were met at our house by Sean, Alex, Mom & Rich. We sang Happy Birthday, ate some ice cream cake and drank some chocolate caramel martinis. Yum!

This isn't the first time this has happened. Sean gets a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for his birthday EVERY year (he is so spoiled), but on more than one occasion, we haven't gotten around to actually eating his cake so we eat it on Steve's birthday. I guess it's because it's next in the line of birthday's. Not only is football season over, but Sean's birthday was on January 28th! Oh well, it still tasted delicious and I thought I did a pretty good job of writing Steve's name on it :) There is still half of it left and Rich's birthday is March 16th...We'll see if we can make it last.

Isn't that cute? Ha ha ha...

As if the celebrating hadn't gone on long enough! While in Connecticut for the weekend, Stephen's parents presented him with this decadent chocolate and peanut butter pie in honor of his birthday. We sang "Happy Birthday" and then happily indulged!

Last Chance for Boston Half Marathon ~ February 28, 2010

I am a solo runner and I don’t want to talk, so if you ever happen to go on a run with me, please don’t expect a conversation :) In addition to accessibility, solitude is my favorite part of running. What I also love is that it’s never about first place. I think it’s pretty amazing that winning a race is never an option and 99% of runners will never win, yet we keep on going. I’m a competitor, trust me, but I’m also a realist. If I ran to win, then I would have already quit. I don’t have the genetic or physiological make-up to be an elite runner (no offense mom & dad). Instead, I have the drive, desire and compulsion to be an adequate long distance runner. I don’t run for first place. Instead, I run for personal satisfaction and pride. I sign up for these races so I have the motivation to run each scheduled distance during my training, log it, and then check off another goal met. Let’s move on to my first race of 2010…

On February 28th, Stephen and I drove to Dublin, OH so that I could run the "Last Chance for Boston" half marathon. The race is given this name because when it started in 2000, the Boston marathon operated on a “qualify by a certain date” requirement and this event was held as close to that date as possible. A few years ago, Boston switched to a maximum registration limit, but the Dublin race committee liked the name of their little race, so they decided to keep it.

Anyway, we began the 2+ hour drive following the CSU men’s and women’s games on Saturday afternoon and it snowed the ENTIRE drive down. I had to keep reminding myself that I was in Ohio and not South Carolina and a foot of snow was not going to keep the race from being held. I was right :) When we woke up the next morning, the roads were clear and it had stopped snowing. The race was on as scheduled!

Overall, it was a fairly small race with less than 700 runners in five different races (marathon, half marathon, relay, 10K and 5K). The course was interesting…I guess that’s what you can call it. It’s a simple one-mile loop that I ran 13 times (+0.1 miles). I didn’t mind it since I’m okay with repetition and it also allowed me to see Steve 14 times throughout the race! He was very brave and stood out in the cold for the entire 2:17:53 that it took for me to run. It was a very cold day with temperatures under 30 degrees. It was impossible for me to keep my hands warm, but otherwise it wasn’t too unbearable. It was a great race and I bettered my previous half marathon time by 15 minutes.

Following the disappointment in Myrtle Beach, I was happy to find a race near home that I could run instead. I was hoping to use the MB race to qualify for the D.C. half marathon in March, but have instead used my “Last Chance” time…I guess I can call it my “Last Chance for D.C.” I have set high goals for myself in 2010 and running these races will put me in a position to reach those goals.

Until next time…March 20, 2010…National Half Marathon in Washington, D.C.