Demographics
White dude
Iowa resident
First gen, rural (population of 700), and underserved background. Likely low income as well, not entirely sure.
Academics
cGPA (with dual enrollment included): 3.3
cGPA (only undergrad): 3.47, upward trend, 3.6-3.7 GPA in last 3 semesters with REALLY rigorous course load
sGPA (everything included): 3.32
MCAT: 508, even distribution, nothing below 126
Registered for Preview, will do casper as well
1 gap year, starting a 1 year master's program at my state school in the fall that is basically the first year of medical school. That is why this is kind of a fuck it we ball cycle, if I dont get accepted this year and dont fuck up, my chances at my state school are genuinely REALLY good next year.
Extracurriculars:
Hours are approximate but very close, I havent gotten to doing the exact math yet, but I did track hours for most things.
Research: 1500+hrs, 1000 in organic chem and 500 in Orthopedic surgery. One first author pub submitted for the ortho research
Clinical Volunteering: ~350hrs as coordinator for free mobile clinic for unserved communities, managed all of the supplies and lab equipment, trained over 300 student volunteers in lab tests and vitals. Clinics legit could not run without me, and that will be included in a rec letter
Leadership: ~100 hours as a fraternity VP and standards chair
Work experience:
2000+ total in a bunch of stuff
~500 hours as a peer mentor for first-generation college students
~100 hours as a private tutor, biology and chem at all levels
Other weird jobs I have had, mostly manual labor: Farm Hand, DNR State Park groundskeeper, tour guide for local architecture attraction, and working in warehouses.
About to get a patient care tech position
Other Misc ECs:
SHPEP Scholar
~30hrs working with a physician on a men's health initiative, targeted school's frats and athletic teams to educate young men on men's health
~30hrs social media manager for a Instagram page educating HS and younger prehealth students on the realities of healthcare and the opportunities at all levels
Hobbies: backpacking, photography, cooking and baking, computers, fitness, and reading
Other relevant info:

• Most of my extracurriculars, personal statement, etc., revolve around my rural, first-generation, and blue-collar background
• Really trying to leverage the fact that I am from a rural area, and would probably do rural health
• My lower GPA can also be explained by my extreme over-involvement in my earlier years and slower-than-average adaptation to college.
• My rec letters are pretty solid

School list so far:
Note: You're gonna notice I'm not applying DO. I know everyone's gonna lose their shit over this. 3 reasons why:

1. Im broke, I can't afford 30+ schools.
2. DO schools financially exploit the fuck out applicants even more so than AAMC already does, and I just don't wanna deal with that.
3. Like I said, I'm getting a master's; if I get straight rejected this cycle, I'll be in a much better position to apply across the board in the next one and will apply for DO then.

In no particular order

1. Iowa Carver (please god just let me in)
2. Nebraska (where I did SHPEP)
3. U of Minnesota
4. UW Madison
5. Michigan State
6. Mayo Alix (No shot but I'm still a strong mission fit)
7. Medical College of Wisconsin
8. Yale (my one absolutely fuck it why not app, I really like new haven and pizza)
9. Ohio State (considering removing, outside 10th percentile)
10. U of Cincinnati (considering removing, outside 10th percentile)
11. U of Miami Leonard (Consitering removing, outside 10th percentile)
12. Oregon health and science
13. Indiana (considering removing, regional bias and outside 10th percentile)
14. Rutgers, Robert wood johnson (SHPEP is RWJ sponsored, again just trying to leverage anything I can)
15. Geisel at Dartmouth
16. Robert Larner at Vermont
17. University of Missouri - Kansas City
18. Virgina Tech
19. West Virginia
20. University of South Carolina Columbia
21. Toledo

I really did try to pick schools where my stats were at least on the bell curve and OOS acceptance was above 25%. My concerns overall are that I generally have no idea how to put a school list together and that many of these schools might be super low-yield for OOS. I am also worried that I might have skipped over a lot of schools that I'd be a good mission fit at.
I have had pretty much zero guidance on applying outside of this subreddit, so I really appreciate any and all advice. Be harsh if you have to, I get it.

Hey y'all,
Lifelong NYer (41 years) here returning for a two week tour through my old stomping grounds in Brooklyn/Queens & Manhattan to celebrate my 50th with some of my closest friends. I've been in Oregon wine country since 2015, and on subsequent visits, I've found a lot of my old haunts have either vanished, become too hip/busy, or I've simply aged out of them. Many of my remaining friends in NY have started families, and decamped to the outer boroughs, upstate, NJ or Long Island, so they're not much help regarding recommendations. I'll be staying at a friend's in DUMBO, or another spot in LIC for most of the trip.
I'm mostly looking for recommendations for live music venues (used to love Rockwood, Mercury Lounge & Arlene's). My musical tastes range from heavy rock (Soundgarden/FNM/QOTSA) to Motown to singer-songwriter. I also love a great Irish Session! I'm a musician, & I love collaborating on 'one off' recordings when traveling, if the opportunity presents itself.
Any old school gyms or yoga studios you'd recommend in the downtown BK/BK Heights/Dumbo area with a daily or weekly rate?
As for dining, I plan on getting my fill of good NY pizza & bodega breakfast sandwiches while there. Otherwise, a great pub burger recommendation (med-rare, not smash) from a newer spot would be awesome. Not Melons, Clarkes or the Corner Bistro. Nothing against them, just been to those spots plenty. Is the burger at the Minetta Tavern worth it? Best steak tartare in the city? A sushi joint that doesn't break the bank, and maybe a good spot to enjoy a glass of wine or a whiskey without paying $30 per ounce/glass. I love old, Irish dive bars, and a good wine or cocktail bar in equal measure.
Any and all help/recommendations are greatly appreciated. If any of your are thinking about visiting the Willamette Valley, I'm happy to reciprocate with recommendations of my own.
Thanks all!!

Hey All,
So I've lived here (or at least in the Willamette Valley) basically my entire life. One thing that has always bothered me is compared to other cities/regions I feel like Oregon/Portland doesn't really have a cohesive food identity.
As an example, when you think of NYC you think of bagels, pizza, jewish delis, and some really stand out specific restarants. When you think of Texas you probably think of BBQ, Florida, specifically Miami, you might think of Cuban cuisine, the other Portland you think of Lobsteshellfish. Heck even Seattle tends to be more associated with salmon than we do.
I watch a lot of food content and one video I saw recently where the youtuber ate 'food from every state in America' and Oregon got Marionberry pie (and don't get me wrong, I like a good Marionberry pie but when people visit here my first thought isn't to immediately say "You have to try our Marionberry pie). Is that really the "best representation" of uniquely Oregon/Portland food?
Don't get me wrong, we have some AMAZING food options here and I'm not trying to belittle them at all, it's just they are all rather eclectic rather than there being one specific thing we are known for.
Any thoughts? Are we just an amazing melting pot of great spots to get good tastes of a ton of different food styles or is there a specific thing I'm just not thinking of that we are known for?

I apologize, the reason this is so long is because 1.) I suck at summarizing 2.) backstory of some sort is needed to understand this excuse of a man and/or human being. 3.) I’m not a good storyteller, but you are, Charlotte, and I know you can take this mess of info and turn it into a beautiful, long-time-coming, petty revenge story for your channel. Because what is more petty than an herbal, flowery Trojan horse no one knows about?
Cast: OP-me Swister- my older sister Mom - mine and my sister’s mom, grandmother to Trish/Patty BIL- exactly who it says, and a huge butthole. Patty/Trish - the same person, a four year old little girl, product of union between BIL and Swister.
Some (bit rambling to explain some stuff) backstory:
Last winter, to get out of the horrible, freezing, painfully striking sleet (it would not pass over our town, was just there, stuck in a vortex, for what seemed like eternity) of January in our hometown (we were always just a couple degrees away from it being snow, and quite a few times we got lots of hail, some as big as softballs, and could damage cars and punch through windshields, etc. I know this sounds like ‘The Long Winter’ by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but both me and my mom (I’m disabled and have to live with someone to help in every day life, I’m not a high school dropout living in mommy’s basement playing fortnight or assassin’s creed and have memorized cheat codes. The only video games I’ve ever played were duck hunt, which my grandpa actually got for himself bc he loved to hunt, so I only got to play it in turns with my five other cousins when we visited him); and N64’s Zelda:Ocarina of Time. I hope those titles illustrate for you the last time I played a video game. Oh! And the Oregon Trail, but I always died of some disease that doesn’t happen today or is curable with fluids, rest, and maybe some penicillin. But I digress.) but both me and my mom and my older sister (who was pregnant at the time) and BIL moved about 15 minutes down a little used two lane highway. And when my niece was born late 2019, we named her Patricia after my grandmother. (Patty or Trish for short).
My BIL claims he can smell everything ten times better than any other human, ‘probably because I’m an Alpha Male, and I need heightened senses to protect my pack, my family.’ Okay, I won’t deny he is sensitive to scent, but if his food doesn’t come out smelling right (almost always made special order bc of his ‘allergies’ (that’s what he tells the waitress; in reality, he just doesn’t want stuff he doesn’t like on his plate, and is too fucking lazy to just take the single pickle chip off the McDonald’s cheeseburger. If half of America can do it, why not him? ‘I might smell and taste it with my superhuman olfactory senses.’ He said with a very sincere, serious tone and face, like I was in special education and couldn’t understand it was 1,2,3, not 1,3,2. He is an arrogant misogynistic asshole. My sister could have done sooooooo much better. Idk y she chose him to marry (for a general idea of all what he looks like, speaks like, and sounds like (minus the slight lisp) is the video of the ‘dating coach’ who took the video in his car, opening it with ‘you do not have to accept her rejection, say things like I’m the best, why wouldn’t you want me, you should see my basement with ropes and pulleys and hooks, and do you know what a did with her that night? Well, it’s not appropriate to talk about on this platform”… yeah, that guy, except for the lisp, could be my BIL IDENTICAL twin. Anyway, now you know BIL is a creepy, asshole, bastard with no sense of boundaries or personal space, who think women are lesser than him. Moving on.
I also suffer from anxiety, insomnia, and a few other things that require me to take meds that can slow down your breathing, so if I can take care of my pain, anxiety, and insomnia without having to take a narcotic or benzo, and it works, I choose that path first. Some of these ways are ice packs, heating pads, a special herbal tea, aromatherapy, yoga, sleeping surrounded by pillows like I were in a nest, making sure to do a little bit of some exercise and always taking my daily walks (I don’t want the pain to get so bad from being sedentary I will require a wheelchair before I absolutely have to) and don’t always want to be popping clonapen or oxy or morphine all day and falling asleep, especially around my niece. I don’t want her to ever believe pills fix problems.
So to escape the horrible winter in our new home environment, my mom decided to use her saved-up reward points and book us all a ten day trip to Disney Aulani Hawaii, specifically Disney bc of my niece. My mom and I had been there before, in 2020, right when resorts opened back up at much less than capacity because of COVID rules, and we had gone for a week, so I knew they had an awesome spa I could spend my saved vacation money on.
The minute we step into our two bedroom, two full bath (each with both a shower and separate tubs!), an ok sized but capable kitchen, and a nice, big, comfy furniture filled common room/living room. All of my stuff I put in the room I’d be sharing with my mom, then took my niece to go and get her first Shirley Temple (they are a virgin cocktail I have loved as a kid, still do, that are super easy to make the ghetto way - diet 7up (diet taste better in the cocktail, idk why, it just the way the Gods have decreed it so), grenadine, and maraschino cherries (as many as you want, but kids usually get two and adults one. I think this is unfair) and tada! You have a Shirley Temple.
So I’m walking back to the room, both of us holding our reusable drink cups for our stay (if you bring the cup with you, you get any non alcoholic drink for free during your stay. Coolcool.) And I open the door and hear my mom and sister begging BIL to just stop it, let it go, just enjoy the ten days here. BIL is in MY room, going through MY things, yelling at mom and sis to leave him alone, he has to find it, it reeks, etc. I’m like, GTFO of my stuff, this is extremely violating, sister, are you not concerned and pissed he is pawing through my bra and panties right now, ‘looking for hidden pockets’?
Finally, he grabs this 15 or 20 mL vial I have, a pain relieving roll on I use for my migraines and tension headaches, about $55 after tax, not including S&H. I had left my almost empty one at home, and this was a brand new vial, safety wrapping still on. He blames me, said I was trying to ruin ‘his hard earned vacation’ (he has no job, only looks after my niece enough to feed her (most of the time) and my sister had to find a high -enough paying job so she could work from home so she could do every job like she were a single mother. The only chore he does, and only like 65% of the time (they love to eat out and/or order in) is cooking, and as much as I hate him, sometimes his dishes are good. Not phenomenal, like he practically requires everyone to praise it as, even if he just added sage basil and oregano to a frozen pizza.
So I ask, “how the hell can you smell that? There is the outer plastic seal and the inner lid seal?” And he goes off on being an Alpha Males and olfactory nonsense. Then he takes the vial and runs out of the room with it. He takes it to a housekeeping services cart several doors down and spikes I into her trash can, which by the thunk sound the vial made told me not only was her trash nearly or almost nearly empty, and that he had broken and wasted a valuable medical tool because he is batshit crazy and doesn’t see me as a person outside of how I interact with his everyday life, like I’m a NPC who doesn’t exist or say anything until a real person player comes into my field of awareness. He pawed through every item I owned, including underwear and opening my tampons one to sniff (I especially bought no scented for this trip, and he went and ruined a whole box of them (I’m not putting a previously opened and practically stuck up my BIL’s nose tampons! It’s not just unsanitary, it’s gross on so many levels! I also save up what little money I have leftover from my SSDI monthly checks, so over several months, I had saved up to buy that, bc it worked where others just smelled good but didn’t take the tension headache or migraine away. He has never had to pay for things with his own money, so has no concept of it, of saving money, of worth.
I stewed and stewed and I knew I had to be as petty as possible and still not get caught. I was still thinking these thoughts on our third to last day while I got an unusual massage at the Aulani spa. First is usual deep tissue massage, but then they rub your back and skin with tingly oils and take what looks like the contents of a bag of tea (very heady and fragrant in that small room) and rub it all over you, wrap you up for 15 min, scrape it off you, also taking excess body oil and dead skin cells with it as it goes. And then, smelling all those wonderful scents, I had a genius thought. As she scraped the herbs and stuff off my skin into a bowl, I asked for a to go bag for the herbs, and pretended I wanted to put them in a foot bath I was giving myself tonight in my room. Shockingly, they agreed, and gave me all the scrapings, herbs, essential &body oils, and dead skin cells, in a linen drawstring bag they said I could just toss the whole bag into the hot water.
Now, when I travel, I always pack duct tape in my checked baggage. To make sure shampoo, conditioner, lotion, stuff like that, wet and messy? So it will stay in the bottle with the top duct taped both on shut and to the top of the bottle. Nobody was in the room; they were taking a hike my physical disabilities made very challenging (like an 7-8/10 for me, and a 3.4.5/10 for them) over broken terrain and off trail a bit to climb to a waterfall, so I had said ‘I’m going to the spa. Peace!’ So nobody was back from the hike yet, but I had no idea when they would be, so I acted fast. I grabbed my duct tape and went into sister and BIL’s room and squished and squiggled my way as far under the bed as I could, an duct taped the linen bag of herbs and scrapings right under where he would lay his head to rest at night (according to his ‘Alpha Wolf’ status, he was always on the side of the bed between the door and the rest of his collectables in his room.
We had that day, two more days, and three nights left. BIL did not sleep a wink during that entire time - he had housekeeping change the bedding (including duvets and their covers) several times in that small frame of time, and demanded of my mom to rent him (on my moms dime, not this 40 y o mans money, the mooching leach, but her carefully budgeted money and visa card points hoarded over years.) his own, just perfectly sanitized room, obviously something had been left here by a former guest that was rotting. Finally, FINALLY my mom and sister had HAD IT. He whined and moaned more than my four yo niece. They finally ripped him a new one, saying he had been acting like an entitled baby man with delusions he is more important than he is, that we as women should fawn over him, and that he had already ruined all of ours, but especially my vacation by tossing my personal property and screaming at me for wearing perfume when I didn't even pack any. At one point I even piped up, ‘I didn’t put up with my father treating me like this, what makes you think I’m gonna take it from you?’ (AN/OP: my father abused me and mom and sister our whole lives. Lots of verbal, emotional, psychological abuse. Sister had it pretty literally; mom had it worst. But when my dad had 100% custody of me at beginning of divorce, my sister went away to college and moved out within the following two weeks, and I was his sole remaining target. For three years straight. Other, even more horrible disgusting things he did to me I’ve only just started to talk about, and don’t want my whole life blasted online while I deal.
So i got my silent, sweet-smelling revenge. For those 3 days and 3 nights, he didn't sleep a wink, which meant he couldn't keep his 'good guy' image up, and everyone saw how he treats me, and I'm no longer a liaexaggerating. I hope some act of God, or him driving around while completely wasted, as he does every single freaking day. He a waste of space, a waste of oxygen.
Again, the reason this is so long is because 1.) I suck at summarizing 2.) backstory of some sort was needed 3.) I’m not a good storyteller, but you are, Charlotte, and I know you can take this mess of info and turn it into a beautiful, long-time-coming, petty revenge story for your channel. Because what is more petty than an herbal, flowery Trojan horse type thing?
PS: he never did repay me for the OVER $300 worth of MY STUFF he upped and just tossed, or first broke then tossed, because it either offended his nose or him, personally, even though he begrudgingly promised to do so, and my sister promised he would. I only had like a 10% belief he would, but he has no money of his own, how was he gonna do that? Yes, I admit, I keep a record of anything I hear about him doing something negative, so one day if my sister even starts to consider divorce, I can whip out journal/notebook and show her his patterns, and he has always been this way, and he won’t ever change.

I saw a post here about a year ago asking about Pizza Hut locations that still had dine-in. I fed the replies to AI and got a list broken up by State. Feel free to respond with additions or corrections; I'll update the list.
Heads up, this list is user-generated, so if you know for a fact that Pizza Hut has dine-in, comment below, and it will be added.

Alaska

• Fairbanks
• North Pole
• Wasilla

Alabama

• Andalusia (Has a buffet)
• Birmingham
• Brent
• Tuscaloosa
• Wetumpka
• Foley

Arizona

• Apache Junction
• Bullhead City
• Chandler
  • Arizona & Ray
• Coolidge
• Cottonwood
• Florence
• Glendale
  • 43rd Ave & Glendale
  • 43rd Ave & Olive
  • 59th Ave & Bell
• Globe
• Holbrook
• Kingman
• Lake Havasu City
• Mesa
  • Gilbert & Baseline (Closed)
• Nogales
• Payson
• Phoenix
  • 1st Ave & Van Buren
  • 36th St & Thomas
  • 48th St & Broadway
  • Cave Creek & Bell
• Prescott
• Safford
• Show Low
• Sierra Vista
• Tucson
• Willcox
• Winslow
• Yuma
• Maricopa (No buffet)
• Sahuarita
• Flagstaff (East location closed)

Arkansas

• Arkadelphia
• Ashdown
• DeQueen
• Dardanelle (No buffet)
• Jonesboro
• Russellville (No buffet)

California

• Anaheim
  • 301 S Magnolia
• California
  • 12373 Glenoaks Blvd
• 10540 Sierra Ave, Suite A, Fontana, CA 92337
• 3317 S Bristol St, Santa Ana, CA 92704
• 1227 Fresno St, Fresno, CA
• 31736 Casino Dr, Lake Elsinore, CA 92530
• 4750 La Sierra Ave, Riverside, CA
• Carson
• Torrance
• Cathedral City
• Laguna Hills
• Montebello
• La Puente
• San Bernardino (Full bar)
• Bakersfield
  • Auburn Street
• Hayward
• Simi Valley
• Sylmar
• Eastvale
• Perris
• Paramount
• Fallbrook
• Victorville
• Ridgecrest
• Indio

Colorado

• Brighton
  • 2210 E Bridge St
• Greeley (10th St)
• Denver

Florida

• Daytona Beach
• Dunedin (Closed, now a Chinese restaurant)
• Homosassa
• Inverness
• New Port Richey
• Quincy
• Spring Hill
• Tallahassee
• Live Oak (Has a buffet)
• Belleview
• Cocoa Beach
• Kissimmee (Old Town complex)
• Okeechobee
• Port St. Lucie (Has a buffet)
• Windermere
• New Smyrna Beach (Has a buffet)
• Eustis
• Leesburg
• Ormond
• Saint Cloud
• Green Cove Springs
• Jacksonville (6140 Merrill Rd)
• West Palm Beach
• Orlando (9100 International Dr)
• Lake Wales (190 SR-60)

Georgia

• Buford Hwy
• Dahlonega
  • 1352 South Chestatee
• Greensboro
  • 2270 S Main St (Has a buffet)
• St Mary’s
• Cairo
• Camilla
• Thomasville
• Bainbridge
• Augusta (15th Street)
• Commerce
• Ringgold
• Cartersville
• Waynesboro
• Lafayette
• Colquitt

Hawaii

• Honolulu

Idaho

• Idaho Falls
• Caldwell
• Lewiston
• Twin Falls (Addison Ave)
• Post Falls
• Coeur d`Alene

Illinois

• Chicago
  • 4350 S Pulaski Rd
• Cicero
• Crete
• Crown Point
• Griffith
• Lowell
• Munster
• Pittsfield
• Portage
• Schererville
• Belleville
• Beardstown
• Belvidere (Has a buffet)
• Canton
• Casey
• Elk Grove
• Eureka
• Freeport
• Galesburg
• Havana
• Joliet
• Kewanee
• Quincy
• Robinson
• Tuscola
• Washington
• Yorkville
• Batavia
• Benson
• Elgin
  • East side (no wait staff)
  • West side (carry-out and delivery only)

Indiana

• Delphi
• Ft. Wayne
• Lafayette
• Lebanon
• Monticello
• Plymouth
• Scottsburg
• West Lafayette
• Valparaiso (Has a buffet)
• Madison (Has a buffet)
• Brownsburg (Has a buffet)
• Fishers
• Terre Haute (2 locations)
• Bluffton (Has a buffet)
• Decatur
• Portland
• Noblesville
• Warsaw (Detroit & Lake City locations)
• Angola
• Auburn
• Columbia City
• Crawfordsville
• Kendallville
• Muncie
• Frankfort
• Shelbyville
• Anderson (Has a buffet)
• Washington (Has a buffet)

Iowa

• Clinton
• DeWitt
• Mason City
• Osceola
• Knoxville

Kansas

• Osawatomie
• Sabetha
• Garden City
• Scott City
• Leavenworth

Kentucky

• Lawrenceburg
• Columbia
• Williamsburg
• London
• Greenville
• Central City (Drive-thru)
• Winchester
• Lexington (Richmond Rd)
• Mount Vernon
• Fulton

Louisiana

• Abbeville
• Bunkie
• Pinhook Rd Lafayette
• Sulphur
• Shreveport (Bert Kouns Ind. Loop)
• Jonesboro
• Winnfield

Maine

• Ellsworth
• Sanford
• Westbrook
• Presque Isle
• Houlton
• Newport

Maryland

• Elkton
• Pasadena
• Fairless Hills
• Havre De Grace
• Hyattsville
• Westminster

Massachusetts

• East Springfield
• Brockton
• Dartmouth
• Framingham

Michigan

• Warren
• Ludington (Has a buffet)
• Houghton
• Brookville
• Clarion
• Greenville
• Charlevoix
• Hudsonville
• Fremont
• Traverse City
• Belleville
• Dearborn
• Sandusky
• Sault Ste Marie
• Grand Rapids
• Grand Ledge
• Canton (Closed, moved location)
• Mount Vernon
• Willoughby
• Ottawa
• Galion
• Muskegon
• North Muskegon
• Plainwell

Minnesota

• Detroit Lakes
• Thief River Falls
• Wadena (Has a buffet)
• Forest Lake
• Winona
• Bemidji
• Spring Lake Park
• Cambridge
• Litchfield
• Park Rapids
• Shakopee
• Lakeville
• Fergus Falls
• Baxter (Has a buffet)

Missouri

• Columbia (3 locations)
• Fenton
• St. Joseph (2 locations)
• Arnold
• Bethany
• Independence
• Joplin
• Springfield
• Fredericktown
• High Ridge
• Marshfield (Has a buffet)
• Bolivar
• Carthage
• Chillicothe
• Neosho
• Brookfield
• Pacific
• Washington

Montana

• Bozeman
• Livingston
• Butte
• Anaconda
• Billings
• Lewistown
• Libby
• Dillon (Has a buffet)
• Hardin

Nebraska

• Lincoln

Nevada

• Dayton
• Carson City
• Henderson
• Las Vegas (2600 W Sahara Ave)

New Hampshire

• Rochester
• Nashua (Has a buffet)

New Jersey

• Jersey City
• Toms River
• Woodbury

New Mexico

• Gallup
• Albuquerque
• Santa Fe

New York

• Albany
• Auburn
• Brockport
• Canton
• Liverpool
• Malone
• Massena
• Mohegan Lake
  • 1751 East Main Street
• Ogdensburg
• Oneonta (Closed)
• Plattsburgh
• Potsdam
• Queensbury
• Rochester
• Rome
• Scarsdale
• Watertown
• Sidney
• Saratoga Springs
• Ozone Park
• Liberty
• Colonie (Wolf Rd)
• New Hartford
• Fort Edward (Has a salad bar)

North Carolina

• Apex
• Bryson City
• Charlotte
• Dunn
• Greensboro
• King
• Lillington (Has a buffet)
• Smithfield
• Hickory (Has a buffet)
• Madison (Has a buffet)
• Yadkinville
• Fayetteville (Has a buffet)
• Belmont (Has a buffet)
• Asheville (Has a buffet)
• Marion (Has a buffet)

Ohio

• Vandalia
• Wauseon
• Cambridge
• Gallipolis
• Mansfield
• Toledo
• Portsmouth
• Twinsburg
• Middleburg Heights
• Sandusky
• Waverly
• East Liverpool (Has a buffet)
• Wellsville
• Saint Clairsville (Has a buffet)
• Bridgeport (Has a buffet)
• Willoughby
• Ottawa
• Mt. Gilead
• Galion
• Urbana (Has a buffet)
• Oberlin (Has a buffet)
• New Lexington (Has a buffet)
• Hillsboro (Retro/original store)
• Chardon
• Middlefield
• Warren (Elm Rd, remodeled into a "classic" with buffet and salad bar)

Oklahoma

• Duncan
• Checotah
• Hobart
• Carnegie
• Tulsa
• Muskogee

Oregon

• Klamath Falls
• Albany
• Lebanon

Pennsylvania

• Brookville
• Butler
• Chambersburg
• Clarion
• Hanover
• Masontown
• Mechanicsburg
• Shippensburg
• Tunkhannock
• Uniontown
• West Mifflin
• White Oak
• Johnstown (Has a buffet, salad bar)
• Oil City
• Gettysburg
• State College
• Meadville
• Harborcreek
• St. Marys
• Punxsutawney
• Fairless Hills
• East Norriton (new)

South Carolina

• Camden
• Goose Creek
• Moncks Corner
• Summerville
• Myrtle Beach

Tennessee

• Alcoa (Has a buffet)
• Carthage
• Crossville
• Jackson
• Knoxville (5 locations, all have buffets)
• Maryville (Has a buffet)
• Sweetwater (Has a buffet)
• Trenton
• Athens
• Centerville
• Kingsport (Has a salad bar)
• Jonesborough
• Jackson
• Donelson

Texas

• Belton
• Brownsville
• Corpus Christi
• East Texas (multiple locations)
• Harker Heights
• Kaufman
• Killeen (Trimmier)
• Kingsville
• Port Isabel
• San Antonio
• San Benito
• South Padre Island
• Temple (west adams, general bruce)
• Alpine
• Haslet
• Houston (Chimney Rock)
• Denison
• Greenville
• Fort Worth
• Pharr
• Sharyland
• McAllen
• Edinburg
• San Juan
• Luling
• Hallettsville
• La Grange
• Bastrop
• Azle
• Roanoke
• Grapevine
• Dallas
• Wichita Falls (Jacksboro)

Utah

• Roosevelt
• Eagle Mountain

Vermont

• Rutland
• St. Johnsbury
• Barre (No buffet)

Virginia

• Dumfries
• Fredericksburg (2 locations)
• Bluefield
• Louisa
• Manassas

Washington

• Yelm
• Bremerton
• Graham
• Puyallup (Has a buffet)
• Enumclaw (Has a buffet)
• Kent
• Centralia
• West Olympia
• Lakewood
• Spokane Valley
• Moses Lake
• Everett

West Virginia

• Bridgeport
• Cross Lanes
• Kanawha City
• Summersville
• Elkins
• Buckhannon
• Clarksburg
• Fairmont
• Westover
• Parkersburg (2 locations)
• Glenville
• Weston
• Spencer
• Oceana (Has a salad bar)
• New Martinsville

Wisconsin

• Dodgeville
• La Crosse
• Menomonee Falls
• Waukesha
• Whitewater
• Burlington
• Fond Du Lac
• Oshkosh

Alabama

• Andalusia (Has a buffet)
• Birmingham
• Brent
• Tuscaloosa
• Wetumpka
• Foley
• Montevallo

Alaska

• Fairbanks
• North Pole
• Wasilla

Arizona

• Apache Junction
• Bullhead City
• Chandler
  • Arizona & Ray
• Coolidge
• Cottonwood
• Florence
• Gilbert (Closed)
• Glendale
  • 43rd Ave & Glendale
  • 43rd Ave & Olive
  • 59th Ave & Bell
• Globe
• Holbrook
• Kingman
• Lake Havasu City
• Mesa (Gilbert & Baseline Closed)
• Nogales
• Parker
• Payson
• Phoenix
  • 1st Ave & Van Buren
  • 36th St & Thomas
  • 48th St & Broadway
  • Cave Creek & Bell
• Prescott
• Sahuarita
• Show Low
• Sierra Vista
• Tucson
• Willcox
• Winslow
• Yuma
• Maricopa (No buffet)
• Flagstaff (East location closed)

Arkansas

• Arkadelphia (Closed)
• Ashdown
• DeQueen
• Dardanelle (No buffet)
• Jonesboro
• Russellville (No buffet)

California

• Anaheim (301 S Magnolia)
• 12373 Glenoaks Blvd
• 10540 Sierra Ave, Suite A, Fontana, CA 92337
• 3317 S Bristol St, Santa Ana, CA 92704
• 1227 Fresno St, Fresno, CA
• 31736 Casino Dr, Lake Elsinore, CA 92530
• 4750 La Sierra Ave, Riverside, CA
• Carson
• Torrance (2208 Artesia Blvd)
• Cathedral City
• Laguna Hills
• Montebello
• La Puente
• San Bernardino (Full bar)
• Bakersfield (Auburn Street)
• Hayward (15099 Hesperian Blvd Unit C San Leandro, CA 94578)
• Simi Valley
• Sylmar
• Eastvale
• Perris
• Paramount
• Fallbrook
• Victorville
• Ridgecrest
• Indio

Colorado

• Brighton (2210 E Bridge St)
• Greeley (10th St)
• Denver
• Colorado Springs

Florida

• Belleview
• Cocoa Beach
• Daytona Beach
• Dunedin (Closed, now a Chinese restaurant)
• Eustis
• Green Cove Springs
• Homosassa
• Inverness
• Jacksonville (6140 Merrill Rd)
• Kissimmee (Old Town complex)
• Lake Wales (190 SR-60)
• Leesburg
• Live Oak (Has a buffet)
• New Port Richey
• New Smyrna Beach (Has a buffet)
• Okeechobee
• Ormond
• Palm Bay
• Port St. Lucie (Has a buffet)
• Quincy (Closed)
• Saint Cloud
• Sanford
• Spring Hill
• Tallahassee
• Windermere
• West Palm Beach
• Wauchula

Georgia

• Augusta (15th Street)
• Bainbridge
• Buford Hwy
• Camilla
• Cairo
• Cartersville
• Colquitt
• Commerce
• Dahlonega (1352 South Chestatee)
• Greensboro (2270 S Main St) (Has a buffet)
• Lafayette
• Moultrie
• Ringgold
• St Mary’s
• Thomasville
• Waynesboro

Hawaii

• Honolulu

Idaho

• Caldwell
• Coeur d’Alene
• Idaho Falls
• Lewiston
• Post Falls
• Twin Falls (Addison Ave)

Illinois

• Batavia
• Beardstown
• Belvidere (Has a buffet)
• Benson
• Canton
• Casey
• Chicago (4350 S Pulaski Rd)
• Cicero
• Crete
• Crown Point
• Elk Grove
• Eureka
• Freeport
• Galesburg
• Havana
• Joliet
• Kewanee
• Lowell
• Moline
• Munster
• Pittsfield
• Portage
• Quincy
• Robinson
• Schererville
• Tuscola
• Washington
• Yorkville

Indiana

• Anderson (Has a buffet)
• Angola
• Auburn
• Brownsburg (Has a buffet)
• Columbia City
• Crawfordsville
• Decatur
• Delphi
• Fishers
• Fort Wayne
• Frankfort
• Kendallville
• Lafayette (2 locations)
• Lebanon
• Madison (Has a buffet)
• Monticello
• Muncie
• Noblesville
• Plymouth
• Portland
• Scottsburg
• Shelbyville
• Valparaiso (Has a buffet)
• Warsaw (2 locations)
• Washington (Has a buffet)
• West Lafayette
• Terre Haute (2 locations)
• Bluffton (Has a buffet)

Iowa

• Clinton
• DeWitt
• Knoxville
• Mason City
• Osceola

Kansas

• Garden City
• Leavenworth
• Osawatomie
• Sabetha
• Scott City

Kentucky

• Alcoa (Has a buffet)
• Carthage
• Centerville
• Columbia
• Crossville
• Fulton
• Greenville
• Lexington (Richmond Rd)
• London
• Mount Vernon
• Williamsburg
• Winchester

Louisiana

• Abbeville
• Bunkie
• Jonesboro
• Lafayette (Pinhook Rd)
• Shreveport (Bert Kouns Ind. Loop)
• Sulphur (Closed)
• Winnfield

Maine

• Bangor
• Ellsworth
• Houlton
• Newport
• Presque Isle
• Sanford
• Westbrook

Maryland

• Elkton
• Fairless Hills
• Havre De Grace
• Hyattsville
• Pasadena
• Westminster

Massachusetts

• Brockton
• Dartmouth
• East Springfield
• Framingham

Michigan

• Belleville
• Canton (Closed)
• Charlevoix
• Dearborn
• Fremont
• Grand Ledge
• Grand Rapids
• Greenville
• Houghton
• Hudsonville
• Ludington (Has a buffet)
• Muskegon (2 locations)
• Plainwell
• Sault Ste Marie
• Traverse City

Minnesota

• Bemidji
• Baxter (Has a buffet)
• Cambridge
• Detroit Lakes
• Fergus Falls
• Forest Lake
• Lakeville
• Litchfield
• Park Rapids
• Shakopee
• Spring Lake Park
• Thief River Falls
• Wadena (Has a buffet)
• Winona

Missouri

• Arnold
• Bethany
• Bolivar
• Brookfield
• Carthage
• Chillicothe
• Columbia (3 locations)
• Fenton (Has a buffet)
• Fredericktown
• High Ridge
• Independence
• Joplin
• Marshfield (Has a buffet)
• Neosho
• Pacific
• Springfield
• St. Joseph (2 locations)
• Washington

Montana

• Billings
• Bozeman
• Butte
• Dillon (Has a buffet)
• Hardin
• Libby
• Lewistown
• Livingston
• Missoula
• Helena

Nebraska

• Lincoln

Nevada

• Carson City
• Dayton
• Henderson
• Las Vegas (2600 W Sahara Ave)

New Hampshire

• Nashua (Has a buffet)
• Rochester

New Jersey

• Jersey City
• Toms River
• Woodbury

New Mexico

• Albuquerque
• Gallup
• Santa Fe

New York

• Albany
• Auburn
• Brockport
• Canton
• Liberty
• Malone
• Massena
• Mohegan Lake (1751 East Main Street)
• Ogdensburg
• Ozone Park
• Plattsburgh
• Potsdam
• Rochester
• Saratoga Springs
• Scarsdale
• Sidney
• Watertown

North Carolina

• Apex
• Belmont (Has a buffet)
• Bryson City
• Dunn
• Fayetteville (Has a buffet)
• Greensboro
• Hickory (Has a buffet)
• King
• Lillington (Has a buffet)
• Marion (Has a buffet)
• Smithfield
• Yadkinville
• Albemarle (Has a buffet on Wednesdays)

Ohio

• Cambridge
• Chardon
• Columbus
• East Liverpool (Has a buffet)
• Fairborn
• Gallipolis
• Hillsboro (Retro/original store)
• Lancaster
• Middlefield (Has a buffet)
• Mount Vernon
• New Lexington (Has a buffet)
• Oberlin (Has a buffet)
• Ottawa
• Portsmouth
• Sandusky
• Sidney
• Twinsburg
• Urbana (Has a buffet)
• Wauseon
• Wellsville
• Waverly
• Willoughby
• Middleburg Heights
• East Liverpool

Oklahoma

• Carnegie
• Checotah
• Duncan
• Hobart
• Tulsa
• Muskogee

Oregon

• Albany
• Klamath Falls
• Lebanon

Pennsylvania

• Brookville
• Butler
• Chambersburg
• Clarion
• Coal Township
• Hanover
• Hermitage
• Masontown
• Mechanicsburg
• Shippensburg
• Uniontown
• West Mifflin
• White Oak
• Hummel’s Wharf
• Johnstown (Has a buffet and salad bar)
• Oil City
• Natrona Heights
• Punxsutawney
• State College
• St. Marys
• Fairless Hills
• East Norriton
• Tunkhannock

South Carolina

• Camden
• Goose Creek (Closed for dine-in)
• Moncks Corner
• Summerville
• Myrtle Beach
• West Columbia

Tennessee

• Alcoa (Has a buffet)
• Carthage
• Centerville
• Crossville
• Donelson
• Jackson
• Kingsport (Has a salad bar)
• Knoxville (5 locations, all have buffets)
• Lebanon Pike, Nashville (Has a buffet)
• Maryville (Has a buffet)
• McMinnville
• Sweetwater (Has a buffet)
• Trenton
• Athens

Texas

• Alpine
• Bastrop
• Belton
• Brownsville
• Carthage
• Corpus Christi
• Dallas
• Denison
• Fort Worth
• Greenville
• Haslet
• Houston (Chimney Rock)
• Kaufman
• Killeen (Trimmier)
• Kingsville
• La Grange
• Luling
• McAllen
• Pharr
• Port Isabel
• Roanoke
• San Antonio
• San Benito
• San Juan
• Sharyland
• Temple (West Adams, General Bruce)
• Wichita Falls (Jacksboro)
• Dallas
• Grapevine
• Sharyland
• Edinburg
• San Juan
• Luling
• Hallettsville
• La Grange
• Bastrop
• Azle
• Wichita Falls
• Galveston
• Kaufman
• Greenville

Utah

• Eagle Mountain
• Roosevelt

Vermont

• Rutland
• St. Johnsbury
• Barre (No buffet)

Virginia

• Bluefield
• Dumfries
• Fredericksburg (2 locations)
• Harlan
• Louisa
• Manassas
• Pennington Gap (Has a buffet)
• Winchester
• Woodstock
• Alexandria (Buffet)
• Norton

Washington

• Bremerton
• Centralia
• Enumclaw (Has a buffet)
• Everett
• Graham
• Kent
• Lakewood
• Moses Lake
• Puyallup (Has a buffet)
• Spokane Valley
• West Olympia
• Yelm
• Mountlake Terrace (Red Roof Dine-In with Salad Bar)

West Virginia

• Bridgeport
• Buckhannon
• Clarksburg
• Cross Lanes
• Elkins
• Fairmont
• Glenville
• Kanawha City
• New Martinsville
• Oceana (Has a salad bar)
• Parkersburg (2 locations)
• Spencer
• Summersville
• Weston
• Westover

Wisconsin

• Burlington
• Dodgeville
• Fond du Lac
• La Crosse (Rose Street location closing, avoid Mormon Coulee location)
• Menomonee Falls
• Oshkosh
• Whitewater
• Belvidere (Has a buffet)
• Burlington
• Milwaukee (S 76th St)
• Racine (Main St)
• Oshkosh (Has a buffet)
• Wausau
• Appleton

Wyoming

• Cheyenne
• Cody
• Rock Springs (Buffet on select days)
• Green River (Full service dine-in, buffet on select days)

What’s the best fried rice in the south?
The west coast of the US has amazing tasting food that seems to be made of high quality ingredients. If any one has been to Portland Oregon, their Chinese food is on another level.
I love Chicago pizza, but the toppings used at pizza places like amalfis in Portland far exceed what I’ve tasted in Chicago in the decades I’ve been around.
That said, I never eat Chinese food here (greater chicago) because it just never really tastes up to par. But I constantly want Chinese. So… what’s the best fried rice you’ve had in Chicago area? I’m in the south suburbs but will travel. I’ll be testing multiple places in the comments.

Tried it for the first time. I wasn’t impressed with the presentation and smell just opening the box. Two red flags! Seriously, one of the worst pizzas I have ever had! I ordered the America Beauty and it should be named American Puke! It was disgusting! Ended up throwing that $40 pizza away. I heard about this place on some food channel claiming it’s the best pizza place in Oregon. One of the best in the United States as well. What a way over priced shit show to boot! It’s so irritating for a place like this to be so busy and high prices with a license to rob people with crappy pizza. The next day I ordered some Mountain Mike’s to get my pizza fix. I highly recommend Mike’s over that other garbage. Shoot, even Little Caesar’s is much better than Kaleidoscope. That is a pretty low standard….

I’m a wedding planner in Portland, Oregon, who had a wedding in 2019. At that point, I’d been planning weddings professionally for three years. I used that experience to help plan ours.
A few important details about the wedding budget breakdown below:

• My partner and I had 19 people (including the two of us) at our wedding. We opted to do this because a lower guest count is typically the most effective way to save a lot of money quickly. If “only” having 19 people at your wedding simply isn’t possible, don’t wander away just yet. Much of the below can be scaled to whatever your headcount is.
• It was important to my partner and I to also host an event related to our marriage where our friends could celebrate with us. We opted to host a “friend reception” a month after our wedding. I’ve included pricing for that below in an “optional” section alongside a few other items. If you include these items, are wedding cost above $10,000.
• We got married in November. This is considered the start of the slower season for many wedding vendors in my part of the world (Pacific Northwest), which helped lead to lower prices and better availability.
• This pricing is from 2019 and yes, prices are higher post-COVID. I’ve seen this change most in the pricing for the house where we got married (more below).

What my wedding cost

Venue: $3,057.32

This was for the ENTIRE HOLIDAY WEEKEND of our wedding (Thursday evening to Monday morning). We got married at a private home on the Oregon Coast.
The ceremony was hosted in the living room of the house. After the ceremony, the caterer “flipped” the room into the reception space by setting up dinner tables and moving the ceremony chairs. After we ate, the caterer removed the tables and chairs and the living area became our dance floor area.
Before we hired the caterer, I made sure to ask if they would order, pick-up, set-up, and clean-up all rentals as it was important to me that this labor be done by someone who wasn’t a guest. (Though guests did end up helping straighten up the house before and after the wedding.)The venue is where I’ve seen the biggest raise in prices post-pandemic. It’s now closer to $4,500 for the same length of time over the same holiday.

Catering (including rentals and 20 percent tip): $3,314.64

This was our biggest line item because it was also our most important (we wanted really tasty food!). The catering order included:

• a salad, roasted veggies, dinner rolls, roasted chicken, and a charcuterie and cheese display ($1,452)
• a keg of caterer-made apple cider ($79)
• plates, spoons, forks, glasses, gold Chivari chairs, wine glasses, white tablecloths, three folding tables, and gold napkins ($391.20)
• three staff members (a chef, a lead server, and a server; $840)

We also elected to do a tasting with six people including us as a thank-you to those people for their support of our wedding. We paid for this separately; I can’t find the cost but know it was under $200. I didn’t include the tasting cost in the total below as it was pretty optional.

Dessert: $119.50

We ordered 10 ice cream pints from our favorite ice cream shop and had one of our guests pick this up on their way to the wedding.

Decor: $51.95

For us, this meant a box of gold votives ($31.98, Amazon) and thank-you notes ($19.97, Amazon). A couple of guests also created a “light curtain” (i.e. a step-and-repeat frame with tulle and fairy lights) to hide the TV that was mounted on the wall in the room where we got married. I don’t have pricing for that but estimate it cost $25 to $35 to make; I didn’t include this number in the total.

Dress: $1,050

This includes the (very minimal) alterations I needed.

Dress accessories: $106.19

This was mainly cute hair stuff and four pairs of shoes for me (two I didn’t use and two I did).

Favors: $64

For favors, we bought individual jars of locally made honey for people to use at dinner. The favors also served as place cards. Each jar had the name of a specific guest, as designed by the business where we bought the honey.

Flowers: $385

We bought our flowers “à la carte,” which is an option many florists offer where you “just” buy the flowers you need. This works best if you don’t need extensive decor flowers and “only” want flowers you wear or carry.For us, that meant:

• a bouquet for me ($140)
• a boutonnière for my partner ($10)
• three bouquets for our wedding party ($150)
• some lengths of eucalyptus and long-stem flowers to use as ceremony decor ($85)

The four bouquets became the centerpieces on our long banquet-style dinner table, using the vases that we bought from the florist.
We traveled to our venue the Wednesday before our wedding and picked up our flowers on our way out of town (the wedding was on Saturday). To keep the flowers fresh, I:

• told our florist the length of time between pick-up and the wedding so the florist could prioritize using flowers that have a longer shelf life, and
• we kept our flowers in a cool area (the garage of the rental home; could also have been a fridge if the weather had been warmer).

I don’t know if the guest who paid for this vendor tipped them, which is why I didn’t include that information above.

Hair and/or makeup: est. $150

I can’t find the actual cost but I did a one-hour tutorial with a makeup stylist and then did my own hair and makeup on the wedding day as did all of our wedding VIPs who use makeup and/or wanted to style their hair a certain way. I was very happy with the results!
The number above also includes my rough guess for how much I spent on new makeup I bought especially for the wedding (but also used after the wedding, too).

Photographer: $375

We hired a photographer for their “elopement” package even though we weren’t technically eloping. (You can 100 percent do this as long as you’re honest with your vendors about your guest count, i.e. the main metric they use to decide if your event qualifies for any elopement pricing they offer.)
This choice meant we had the photographer for two hours (vs. the more standard six to 12 hours people hire photographers for on a wedding day).
To make this work, we prioritized having the photographer on-site starting 30 minutes before for the ceremony and leaving once post-ceremony photos were done. This meant skipping a first look and instead seeing each other for the first time in our wedding clothes at the start of the ceremony.
The photographer was also not on-site for any photos of us getting ready or for any reception programming. Instead, if anybody wanted photos of us getting dressed, having dinner, doing toasts, dancing, and/or eating dessert, they took them with their phones. This worked very well for us! We don’t feel that we missed any moments.
I don’t know if the guest who paid for this vendor tipped them, which is why I didn’t include that information above.

Suit: $150

My partner bought a suit at H&M and had it tailored. This price includes those alterations.

Wedding rings: $899

We elected to make our own wedding bands with a local metalsmith who offers this option. This price included the half-day workshop where we made our rings as well as all materials. We had very simple designs and used the most affordable gold with no stones or engraving. This price does not include my engagement ring.

Wedding license: $61.20

I’m fairly sure this includes us electing to buy three certified copies of the license for our own records.

Vow writing workshop: $77.54

This was a fun wedding thing I knew about through my job that we did with a professional officiant.
Total: $9,861.34

Additional add-ons

Premarital counseling: $1,000

It was challenging to find a secular option for premarital counseling but find it we did! This was three to five visits (can’t remember the exact number) with a coach who helped us articulate what we loved about our relationship and wanted to carry into our marriage.

Honeymoon: $288.44

Our honeymoon was two days at a hotel in the town where we got married. This was the cost of the hotel.

Friend reception: $250

We rented the backroom of a local pizza place for four hours at $250. This included pizza, salad, and non-alcoholic drinks (which we paid for) and bartender service (our guests bought their own alcoholic drinks at a bar that was in the same room).
Total including these three items: $11,399.78

Common wedding vendor services that I did NOT hire:

Alcohol

Two of our guests gifted us wine for the wedding as their gift to us (very generous, I know). We didn’t serve beer or hard liquor. The caterer provided apple cider (our non-alcoholic option in addition to water and whatever soft drinks we had from the rest of the weekend).

Ceremony and/or reception music and A/V

For the ceremony, we downloaded our processional and recessional songs onto a phone and had a guest play it through a Bluetooth speaker. For the reception, we downloaded a wedding dance playlist and played it off our phone to the speaker. We didn’t use a mic for the officiant or for toasts (a benefit of having a small group, all indoors).

Invites and other paper goods

We combined a save-the-date and invite into one Paperless Post Flyer. We used a free option so this cost $0. We didn’t have any programs and our caterer printed menus for us as part of their fee.

Officiant

One of our guests was our officiant. We didn’t pay him.

Transportation

We got to the venue using personal vehicles and didn’t travel anywhere outside of the house for the wedding so we didn’t need to pay for transportation on the wedding day.

Videographer

We thought about it but ultimately decided this wasn’t for us.

Wedding coordinator or planner

Perhaps ironically given what I do for a living, I didn’t hire a coordinator or planner. Do I regret this? A little. It would have been nice to have someone who wasn’t a guest help the caterer with set-up and clean-up as well as manage things like the ceremony and photos.

There was a jambalaya one too

I moved to maryland five years ago but im constantly missing some ohio stuff, mostly food lol. I just had a hard craving for Frisch's. I miss Cassanos and Joe's pizza soooo bad. The Wright Patt museum, the Pine Club, the Oregon district, Youngs Jersey Dairy and just Yellow Springs in general. That's it. Just random rant of things I miss.

Race Information

• Name: Eugene Marathon
• Date: April 28, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Eugene, OR
• Website: https://www.eugenemarathon.com/
• Strava: https://strava.app.link/alQSSzGziJb
• Time: 2:57:16

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Sub 3:00:00	Yes
B	Sub 3:05:00	Yes
C	PR (Sub 3:14:27)	Yes

Splits

Mile	Time
5	33:43 (6:45/mi)
10	1:07:29 (6:45/mi)
15	1:41:21 (6:45/mi)
20	2:15:30 (6:47/mi)
26.2	2:57:16 (6:46/mi)

Background
This was my 5th marathon (6th if you count a virtual one I did by myself in May 2020 during lockdown), the first official one I'd run since 2016. Before this race, I'd never set any time goals for my marathons; the only goal I ever set was to finish the race. That changed towards the beginning of 2022, where after making some major fitness strides, I began to see a path to qualifying for Boston. I registered for the March 2023 Myrtle Beach Marathon, aiming for a sub 3:00:00 finish. The training cycle went well until early January, when I became completely overtrained. I still attempted the marathon, but I dropped out of the race around mile 12 after my legs totally gave out.
Several factors contributed to me becoming overtrained, namely running way too many miles at too fast of a pace, but one factor played the most significant role: I couldn't stop drinking. It had gotten to the point where about 4-5 times a week, I'd be putting down something close to a fifth of vodka throughout the day. You can imagine the physical impact: constant dehydration, improper nutrition, zero quality sleep, stomach issues, etc; all of these things preventing my legs from getting adequate recovery, leading to my body completely breaking down.
For months afterwards, I went through cycles of having a week or two of sobriety, followed by week-long drinking binges. My Strava history is a perfect reflection of this: you'll see a 50 mile week, followed by a 10 mile week, followed by a 45 mile week, followed by a zero week, etc. Somehow, during all of this, I managed to crawl my way out of overtraining syndrome and began performing at the level necessary to attempt a sub 3 marathon again (in the weeks when I wasn't drinking). I decided to attempt the Myrtle Beach Marathon once again in March 2024. However, by November 2023, my drinking had spiraled me towards rock bottom, and it became apparent that if I didn't do something, I was going to die. On November 26th, I checked myself into a 6 week inpatient rehab program, and canceled my race plans.
Training
During my time in treatment, my access to technology was severely limited. No phone, no watch, no computer, no internet, etc. My ability to run was also limited. I basically had two options:

1. Use the treadmill for 30 minutes in the morning before the day's packed schedule began, or 2) run on the facility's trail system during a short window of time mid-afternoon.

This trail system was extremely difficult - about 2 miles of unique trails that were entirely comprised of incredibly steep rolling hills, zero flat stretches. Great for ultramarathon training, not great for a regular road race. As such, I had very little way to measure my fitness while in treatment, as well as no way to truly emulate the type of running I'd be doing once I was back home. Nonetheless, I ran as much as I could during my 6 weeks of treatment, and once I completed treatment early January, I got right back into training.
I wasn't planning to do a spring marathon when I first got home. Because I had no way of measuring where I was fitness-wise for 6 weeks, I had decided it was best to just fully reset my training, rebuild my mileage base, and aim for a fall marathon. However, to my surprise, I hadn't lost nearly as much fitness as I thought I had. I was able to quickly jump back into 40-45mpw, with a tempo workout + MP workout each week. The second week of February, I ran 50 miles, ending the week with a 15 mile long run at marathon pace. After that, I decided a late April marathon might be doable. I'd already signed up for a half marathon on March 2nd, and I decided if I ran a sub 1:25 that day, then I'd go for sub 3 at Eugene. I ran 1:23:46, then signed up for Eugene later that day.
What followed was a chaotic training cycle.
Week 1: 25 miles, including a few days of rest after the half.
Week 2: 62 miles, including a 20 mile run with 11 miles @ tempo pace (why??)
Week 3: 16 miles, after feeling overtrained from the previous week (shocker)
Week 4: 51 miles, with 19 miles long, 10 @ MP
Week 5: 56 miles, with 23 long, 17 @ MP
Week 6: 46 miles, with 20 long, 6 @ MP
Week 7: 36 miles taper
Week 8: 12 miles taper (raceweek)
Pre-Race
Took the Friday and Saturday before the race off, stayed off my legs as much as possible. Flew into Oregon from the East coast, so gaining a few hours helped with sleep. Pounded a large Papa John's pizza to myself the night before. Slept in a dinky motel a couple miles from the start line.
Race
As others have posted, weather conditions were a dream come true. My girlfriend dropped me off near the start line around 6:30am. Didn't eat anything morning of. I drank a 2/3 dose of Hyde preworkout powder, downed about 30 ounces of water after. Got a solid pee in at 6:56am, then quickly headed over to Corral A just in time for the race to start. Took an ibuprofen right before the race started.
First couple miles were frustrating as it was very congested. Brushed/bumped into several people. I started behind the 3 hour pacer and was chasing him for a good while but finally caught up around mile 2. My pace settled in around 6:45/mi, which I felt good I could maintain throughout the entire race. There were a couple tough hills in the first few miles, but I'd done plenty of hill training so it didn't phase me too bad. The final major hill was somewhere around mile 7/8, after which the rest of the course was a breeze.
Mile 13 anxiety started to hit. Legs were feeling heavy for the first time, and I started thinking to myself "it's too early in the race to be feeling this way" and wondering "should I reduce my pace?" However, around this time I started a convo with a guy running beside me, who turned out to have lived in my hometown of Davidson, North Carolina. Talking with him raised my spirits, and helped me realize that I was just psyching myself out. Mile 14, I took another ibuprofen.
Around mile 17, I began to feel confident that I had sub 3 in the bag. It was a reserved confidence, I didn't want to jinx myself, but I could just tell that my legs definitely had 9 miles of this pace left in them.
Mile 21: I was no longer having fun. Ready for it to be over. Legs entered a new phase of heaviness, and I felt perilously close to bonking. Miles 21 and 22 were probably the low points of the race for me, feeling like it was never going to end.
Hitting Mile 23 was a major boost for my spirits. After that, I kept telling myself "It's just a 5K, it's just a 5K." At this point in the race, I feel like I'm just falling forward endlessly. My quads in particular are completely shot, anything downhill made me feel like I was going to fall over. Kept pushing through.
Mile 26: entering Hayward field at the end of the race is almost indescribable. That's a magical moment I'll never forget. Seeing all the fans in the stands, and then seeing the clock read 2:57 as I rounded the final turn, wow. So awesome.
Post-Race
You know what's even harder than running a marathon? Walking two miles back to your motel afterwards. Terrible planning on my part. Still had an amazing rest of the day - my girlfriend and I drove to the Oregon coast, did some sightseeing at Thor's Well and other places, and then spent the night at a lovely Bed and Breakfast in Newport.
So many things have improved in my life over the past 5 months of sobriety, but this - this was incredible. This was the manifestation of all the work I've done on myself since November. It also showed me that I have so much to look forward to in this new journey of sobriety.
Still riding the high of going sub 3 - now the question is, with a proper training cycle and continued sobriety, what could my ultimate PR be?

1994
------------------------------------------
News:
South Africa opens universal elections leading to The Nelson Mandela Presidency
Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to leaking CIA info
Jack Kevorkian found innocent
Movies:
Satantango
Crumb***
The Favor
PCU***
With Honors
No Escape**
TV:
Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song "The Simpsons"
"Seinfeld" The Raincoats
Columbo: Undercover (TV Movie 1994)
Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story
Eurovision Song Contest ... and Riverdance
*Alex Jones show premieres (discussed in 2004 section)
Games:
Lamborghini American Challenge
Pizza Tycoon
Sports Illustrated for Kids: The Ultimate Triple Dare
Reelect JFK PC GAME
Music:
I'll Remember Song by Madonna
------------------------------------------
2004
------------------------------------------
News/Other:
2004 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Abu Ghraib Prison Photos Leaked
The end of the Oldsmobile car line
Celeste Holm marries Frank Basile
Book: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Book: A Hat Full of Sky
Ten new countries joined the European Union
The Story of Shrek the Sheep (60lbs of wool)
Movie:
Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius
Envy
Godsend
Laws of Attraction
Mean Girls***
TV:
TBS network rebrand
The District finale
12 Days of Terror
"South Park" Goobacks
10.5 (miniseries)
"SNL" Lindsay Lohan with musical guest Usher. Debbie Downer First appearance
Music:
"Rip Her to Shreds" (Blondie cover) song by Boomkat
Portland Oregon Song by Loretta Lynn
Games:
kkrieger
Beyond Divinity
City of Heroes
------------------------------------------
Diana's Classic Corner
------------------------------------------
Seven Samurai****
------------------------------------------
2006
-------------------------------------------
News Other:
Boko Haram kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in Nigeria. And March for Awareness
Clippers stage silent protest to owner Donald Sterling
TV:
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Premiers
Playing House premiers
Movies:
Decoding Annie Parker
Walk of Shame*
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Games:
Kirby: Triple Deluxe
Mario Golf: World Tour*
Sir, You Are Being Hunted
Child of Light
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014 video game)
Gardening Mama 2: Forest Friends
Music:
"It's On Again" song by Alicia Keys
-----------------------------------
Deaths; Richard Scarry, Bob Hoskins
Birthday Quiz: Jerry Seinfeld
Outro Music:
I Alone Song by Live

I got a one month trial for Paramount Plus (thanks, Pizza Hut.) I don’t watch much network TV outside of crime dramas, but I had a very stressful weekend and needed some fluff to distract me. After watching the latest episode of Elsbeth, So Help Me Todd automatically started playing. I was hooked. I ended up binging the whole show and I’m almost caught up. It’s so fun and lighthearted. I love the dialogue and always look forward to what crazy stuff will happen in the next episode. Omg the scene where Susan was reading Todd’s texts to Margaret made me laugh so hard. “Mom mom I need $18 for a sandwich I’m serious.” Or the scene where Lawrence wanted to fly over Oregon with his big scratchy tongue that’s not attached to a cat. 😂
I was so sad to learn it was on the chopping block. What the hell?!

Race Information

• Name: Eugene Marathon
• Date: April 28, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Eugene, Oregon
• Website: https://www.eugenemarathon.com/
• Strava: https://strava.app.link/YVPqiluHcJb
• Time: 2:42:26

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Sub 2:40	No
B	Sub 2:45	Yes

Splits

Mile	Time
1	5:54
2	6:02
3	6:01
4	6:01
5	5:57
6	5:54
7	5:56
8	5:58
9	6:02
10	6:02
11	5:56
12	5:55
13	5:54
14	6:00
15	6:06
16	6:12
17	6:06
18	6:11
19	6:13
20	6:21
21	6:35
22	6:35
23	7:04
24	7:04
25	6:33

Training

I'm a 27 year old male. History of basketball growing up throughout high school and recreationally beyond. Also some cross country running when I was 13 and 14.
I've ran on and off very casually over the years. Trained for a few months in 2019 with no speedwork and ran a half in about 1:30 and change. Messed up my IT band and didn't run consistently again until 2022.
In September 2022, I decided to get into it a bit more. I started with about 20-28 mpw (30-45km) relatively consistently. I also started doing some speed workouts for the first time ever (somewhat inconsistently) and ran an 18:38 5km in November 2022.
I transitioned to more serious running and more consistent speedwork at the beginning of May 2023 and trained more seriously for 5kms to begin with. In terms of 5kms, I ran:

• 17:41 in June 2023
• 17:04 in July 2023
• 16:35 in October 2023

Decided to up my mileage in Mid-November 2023 and train for a half marathon in early February 2024. I upped my mileage to generally around 50-60 mpw (80-95kms) and peaked at a couple 65 mile weeks. Ended up running 1:16:35 in the half and then set my sights on Eugene.
Grinded out a 10 week marathon build after my half with generally around 50-65 mpw. I did shorter workouts on Wednesdays. I did big workouts on Saturday.
A small sample of some of my big workouts were:

• 8km (MP) / 8km (MP) / 6km (MP) off 1km jog
• 2km (Thresh) / 8km (MP) / 2km (Thresh) / 6km (MP) / 2km (Thresh) / 4km (MP) off 3 min jog
• 6km (MP) / 5km (MP) / 4km (MP) / 3km (MP) off 1km jog
• 3 x 5km (MP) off 20 min Jog

A small sample of some of my small workouts were:

• 6 x 5 mins Threshold off 30 secs rest
• 10 x 3 mins at Threshold off 30 secs rest
• 3 x (4 mins / 3 mins / 2 mins / 1 min) off 1 min jog after every rep.
• 12 x 1 km off 1 min rest
• 7 x mile off 1 min rest
• 20 x 1 min on at Threshold with 1 min jog rest in between reps.

I was optimistic heading into Eugene that I could break 2:40. I had calculated my general threshold as 5:45/mile (3:34/km) (and marathon pace as around 6:04/mile (3:46/km),

Pre-race

Week before the race was full of anxiety for me. I raced a 10km the Sunday before at what was supposed to be threshold and was worried I went too fast. Also felt like I was coming down with a sickness which was definitely in my head.
Drove down to Eugene from Vancouver, Canada on Friday. It was a long drive and took about 10 hours with traffic and stops. Had a solid 15 min marathon/threshold pace final session on the track before the drive and I felt good.
Woke up earlyish on Saturday as my girlfriend ran the 5km at 8am on Saturday morning. Biked about 4km to get to the start at Hayward Field, then biked about another 4km back at around 9am.
Chilled for a couple hours and then biked about 10 mins into town to grab my bib and check out the farmers market. Was planning on a 15 minute shakeout that day, but skipped it figuring it would be too much with all the biking / time on my feet.
Pre-race dinner was a ham and pineapple pizza from Tracktown Pizza at about 6pm. Fell asleep at around 9:15pm and was up at around 4:30am. Had some coffee and a blueberry bagel with PB and banana.
Got to Hayward Field (start line) at around 6:20 and started a 10 min warmup at around 6:45. Had a maurten gel and 150ml of water at 6:45, finished off with some strides and off to the start line for my first ever marathon!

Race

Miles 1-5
Gun went off and I went off a bit faster than marathon pace. I wasn't expecting such a big crowd, but there were a LOT of people doing the half and going out as a similar pace to me. It was hard to gage how I was running, but managed to settle into my goal pace after 5-10 mins. The course was very hilly to start. Mile 1 saw a hill out of the gate. We wove through some Eugene neighbourhoods, up another big hill, and then we were able to let loose down a long down stretch.
At around mile 2, we headed down a very long southbound straightaway. The crowds here were great and the race was crowded at this point with half marathoners and marathoners all running together. The long straight away ended in an uphill, a turnaround and an immediate downhill straight into the mile 5 marker
Hit mile 5 at 30:08. Definitely faster than my goal pace but I felt good at this point.
Miles 5-10
These miles seemed to fly by and I picked up the pace a little bit. It was hard not too as this part of the race had many people cheering. We were also looping back past other incoming marathoners coming in on the out part of the out and back straightaway. There was a lot of excitement and some excellent signs. My particular favourite was the pet Chihuahua sticking through the posterboard. At around mile 8, we took a turn back to the Hayward area and endured what I thought was the longest hill of the race. I pushed up it and was rewarded with a nice downhill. We would pass Hayward at mile 9 and head down to the Williamette River.
I think I picked up my pace to around 5:55/mile (3:41/km) for a lot of these miles. I was trying to stick with a group that I thought were a similar pace to me.
Hit mile 10 at 1:00:04.
Miles 10-15
I was very pleased seeing that my first 5 miles were so even for my next 5 miles. I started re-arranging the game plan in my head. I thought to myself if I can stick with this group doing 5:55/miles (3:41/km), I'll have time in the bank and even if I fade a little bit at the end, I can come out of this with sub-2:40. And if I don't fade, then that's a bonus!
The plan seemed to be working during miles 10-15. We split off of from the half marathoners after mile 10 and the packs really slimmed out. I ran with a pack and we all seemed to be doing about equally. We trucked on through the main street of Springfield (really cool street with some awesome crowds). I remember hitting the 13.1 mile (21.1km) point and briefly thinking I can't believe I have to do this all over again.
Nonetheless, I continued on with a little pack of four. We headed west along the roads and past the Oregon football stadium. Just after mile 14, we headed onto the bike paths that line the Williamette river.
We went through mile 15 in 1:30:02.
Miles 15-20
Miles 15-17 were just okay. I was still feeling alright, but the guys who I had been working with had gone ahead of me, and I just wasn't feeling as strong before. The crowds had thinned, the bike path had some rough surfaces at points, and it didn't feel as special as when I was running along the roads.
I saw my girlfriend at mile 17 and told her I felt like I was fading. I could never have prepared myself for what came next. Managed to gut out three difficult miles between miles 17-20, but was not feeling amazing. Was running alone and I was getting passed.
Went through mile 20 in 2:01:03.
Miles 20 - 26.2
The most painful experience of my life. Just after mile 20, there was a spiral turn that led us onto a bridge back over the Williamette. For me, this was the breaking point.I had already been running on a lonely, lonely bike path for miles, I was blowing up, and I had six more miles to go.
People were passing me left, right and center. Both of my quads were in agony, I saw my pace falling before my eyes, and I knew I still had 10km (6.2 miles) to go. I knew we were heading back towards the finish but the bike path never seemed to end. Twisting and turning and twisting and turning. I'm not familiar with Eugene so I had no idea where I was. It just kept on going and my legs kept on getting worse.
Sub 2:40 fell definitively out of the cards at mile 21 and by mile 23, I was doing mental math at how I could maintain sub-2:42. Eventually, I realized I didn't have that in me either. My quads were tight, my calves were tight and my hips were tight. I gutted it out thanks to some amazing people on the course shouting words of encouragement. The course opened up at mile 25 and we converged with the half marathoners. People were yelling "200 meters to Hayward. You got this!", but that 200 meters was the longest of my life. There's something special about getting into Hayward though and seeing people cross the line on the other side of the track. I gave it everything I had to finish fast.
Came into Hayward and crossed the line at 2:42:26. Must've been a little wobbly as a medic came over to me.
Shout out to the little kid at the finish line who handed me a lemon lime soda. That hit different.

Nutrition Protocol

Maurten Gel 15 mins before race + 150 mls of water.
Maurten Gel every 30 mins during race + 150 mls of water.

Post-race

Waited for my friend to finish with my girlfriend and his girlfriend. Enjoyed cheering everyone come into Hayward and eventually took an Uber back to the Airbnb for some rest. Decided to stretch out the legs a little later and biked beside my girlfriend on her long run (though I only lasted an hour on my bike). Went out for beers and burgers (falling sky brewing), and ice cream to celebrate later. Marathons are truly amazing accomplishments and no matter how you do or what you pace is, finishing it is a feeling that no one can ever take away from you.
Next goal is definitively sub-2:40. I am not letting that slip away from me. I'm tentatively thinking Houston or Chicago next year. Any recommendations for fast, flat courses?
Made with a new race report generator created by u/herumph.