Getting faster

No, not while I'm running. We are getting FIOS today. Soon I'll be able to read your blogs at a screamingly fast rate. Or not, 'cause I'm pretty sure it won't make me actually read faster LOL.

Not a whole lot going on here. We've discovered that Jones is willing to cover a lot of miles on his scooter, so we've been doing family walks again. They'd been somewhat curtailed by Jones being to big for a stroller and too whiny and slow for a long walk. Yesterday we walked to the library and the grocery store, instead of driving. I love that we are able to do that.

Despite the typical gorgefest that is Thanksgiving, I'm back in my comfort zone for my weight. I'm at the high end, but at least I've hit the zone again. Last night I did abs and lower body again. I thought my abs would really hurt today as I was still sore from a couple of days ago when I did my workout last night, but today I feel pretty good. I'm still having a little discomfort when I lift my arms above my head, but it's that good "I've used my muscles" soreness.

Going dark shortly... hopefully will be back online by the end of the day.

HBBC

11/29

Walking - 1.5

Running - 3.3

Toning (abs/lower) - 1

F/V - 1

Total - 6.8

Total for the week - 46.8

Umm, ouch!

I think I may be taking the HBBC too seriously. Not as a competition with other people, but I can't stand the idea of earning 0 points one day LOL. Yesterday I knew I wouldn't be running and would not have time for a walk, so I figured I'd better do SOMETHING so that I wouldn't have a 0 for the day. I ended up doing 15 minutes of ab work. Since I haven't done any toning/strength exercise in months, I really felt my abs this morning. In fact, they even hurt when I walk.

Today, I was feeling a little stir crazy. We drove an hour each way on Thursday for T'day with the family and then two hours each way on Friday for a second celebration with friends. The drives, combined with standing around chatting and eating, left me feeling a need to move (and left me with two little boys who were bursting at the seams with energy.) We decided to walk to a park and let the boys play. Then we walked to another park, walked to a local place for lunch, walked and picked up Jones' friend, and then the boys and I hit one more park. After the boys got tired of the park (or more accurately, mom got cold LOL) we walked home and I went out for a 5.5 mile run. As an added bonus, in the time between when Shoo goes to bed and it's lights out for Jones, I did 15 minutes of upper body work, including the test to start the 100 pushup challenge. Judging by how my arms shake when I lift them now, I may not be able to comb my hair tomorrow!

HBBC Points

11/27

15 minutes of Abs - .5

7 F/V - 1*

Total - 1.5

11/28

Walking - 3.5

Running - 5.5

15 minutes of upper body - .5

7 F/V - 1*

Total - 10.5

Total for the week - 40

*I've found the 7 fruits and vegetables pretty challenging, but it's been really good for me. Last night at dinner, I chose sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, and spinach instead of mashed potatoes and a roll. Today at lunch, I chose to have my chili over a salad, instead of over pasta or corn chips. Unfortunately, even though I've always eaten a lot of veggies, the increase has made me rather, um, fragrant LOL.

Turkey Trot

I look like I'm enjoying myself, don't I? Yeah, well, it hurt a lot more than it appears.

This morning dawned gray and foggy. Thankfully, it wasn't cold. As I headed out the door to my third running of the neighborhood turkey trot, the volunteer at our corner commented on my short commute. Yeah, this was my kind of run - start line is a half mile from my house and the race runs right past the house so the kids can always cheer me on.

I took the long way to the start of the run so that I could get in a mile warm up. They hit their max of 2000 runners this year, so the start line was seriously crowded. They also totally changed the route, so while it was not quite as hilly as before, it was still hilly and it had a ton of turns. The turns ended up not being a lot of fun thanks to the crowds and wet leaves. I forgot to start Garmin, but I think the first mile was about 8:20. Mile 2 was harder on me, but I got to wave to the kids and still managed to pull off 8:29. I hoped to pick it up and still PR, but mile 3 was a less than stellar 8:36. I did, however, manage to kick butt in the last .1 at a pace of 6:05! I picked up speed in order to chic a couple of guys and then I noticed a woman next to me, so I sped up. So did she. So I sped up some more. So did she. We ended up in a flat out sprint to the finish and she barely beat me. I gave it my all though, as I seriously thought I might puke right there at the finish line. In fact, I postponed my planned two extra miles for a while until I could breathe again. Finally, after checking the board and realizing that my measly 26+ minute run was nowhere near the AG winners (all right at 21 minutes), I ran another mile home, for 7 miles for the day.

The best cheering crew ever!

Just a wee bit foggy out...

All in all, it wasn't a bad day, just not a PR day. Oh well. At least I got 7 miles in for the HBBC and as calorie expenditure for dinner LOL. We went out to Beer Geek's dad's for dinner, where his stepmom cooked a wonderful meal. Tomorrow we'll be doing Thanksgiving with friends from college. I have a feeling I'll be eating even more there, so maybe I should find another race tomorrow morning.

Happy Thanksgiving!

HBBC Points

11/25

Walking - 1.5

7 F/V - 1

Total - 2.5

11/26

Running - 7

7 F/V - 1

Total - 8

Weekly total - 28

(Good thing I've done well so far - tomorrow may be 0 points, unless one considers beer and wine my fruit and veggies LOL)

Relay training?

Yesterday, Beer Geek called me from work to let me know he'd be late getting home. I nearly cried because I had a four mile run on my mental schedule and there was no way I could get it in during the day. I did a mental shuffle of my running plans for the week and moved on. When he got home, he told me to disappear until time to put the kids to bed. Woohoo! Gotta love a man who works late and then immediately takes over kid duty. I headed to the basement with the laptop and ordered our Christmas cards. Suddenly it occurred to me - I have forty free minutes and a treadmill. Duh! I ended up knocking out 4.1 miles in just under 36 minutes.

Today, I wanted to run 8+ miles, but Shoo's school was having their Sharing Feast and I really needed to hit the wine shop beforehand. So, I dropped off the boys and figured I'd run as far as I could manage in an hour and call it good. Well, I was moving really slowly today, probably because it had been only about 14 hours since my last run. Midway through my rainy, slow run, Beer Geek called and said he'd be home on time. Again with the cheering! So, I bailed after 4.3 miles that took me 45 minutes to run.

This evening, I headed out again. I knocked out a fast first mile, stopped at the local running store to pick up my Turkey Trot race packet, and then ran three more slow miles. Surprisingly, the evening run felt much better than the morning run.

So, three 4 mile runs in a twenty four hour period! And all because I've got mileage goals for the year and because of HBBC!

HBBC points

11/23

Walking - 3.2

Running - 4.1

Total - 6.6

11/24

Walking - 1.5

Running - 8.4

7! servings of fruit/veggies - 1 (that was HARD!)

Total - 10.9

Weekly total - 17.5

Just in time for holiday eating

Beer Geek was out of town last week. He was in San Francisco, which meant he left here early on Monday morning and didn't get back until Friday evening. When Beer Geek is gone, my eating goes to hell. I don't fix meals for me, I just snack while I do chores. The boys eat in front of the tv (I mostly fix them real meals, although last week did include pancakes and pumpkin bread) and I eat standing up in the kitchen. One night I went out with a friend for tapas and wine. Add in the fun of PMS in the early part of the week and the number on the scale this morning was one I hadn't seen in a while. I knew it was going to be up as I'm even feeling "fluffy" right now. Bleh.

I hate starting the holiday season at my chubby weight. Even if I don't gain any weight (and really, who doesn't gain weight over the holidays?), I get to spend the whole season feeling uncomfortable with my body.

So, I'm working on a plan. First step, get back to eating normal meals instead of constant snacking. Second, start drinking water again. Third, remember that Thanksgiving day is only a day (or in the case of this year, two days) and then I have almost a month until Christmas. Every event between them does NOT need to be an excuse to overeat and eat junk. Finally, the Holiday Bootie Buster starts tomorrow and I'm going to be a walking/running/weight lifting fool. So there, fat cells. The fight is ON.

TIART: Unconventional races and some thoughts on mileage

Today in Take It and Run Thursday over at the Runner's Lounge, Kate asks:

What's the most unconventional race you've ever run? Have you run a race like North Carolina's "Take Pride in your Hide" naked race? Does your local running group have "prediction runs" where everyone guesses their finish time, and the winner is the person who has the closest guess? How about a Mud Run? If you could make up a wacky race, what would the twist be?

In reviewing my races, I realized I've never done a race that could be considered unconventional. Heck, I've never even done a trail race. Sheesh. I need to get out there and find something fun to do. I'm running a Jingle 10K in December where you wear bells on your shoes. Wacky!

There are a bunch of slightly unconventional races on my "love to do some day" list, but even that list doesn't currently have any naked runs or mud runs on it. My list includes "beer runs" like the Dogfish Head Dash, the Boilermaker, and the Harpoon Brewery run; a wine tasting race, races that cross borders like the Detroit Marathon; and races that take advantage of cool locations, like the Sandia Peak run, running up Mt. Washington, or running over the bridge in Charleston. See, I'm boring.

As you might expect, if I were to create a run, it would involve running from brewpub to brewpub. The ease and distance of this run would depend on the location. It would be a fair distance if we did one here that encompassed DC and Virginia. It's be a short little run if we were to do it in say, Eugene OR where Beer Geek and I once hit 5 brewpubs in one evening. In fact, a brewpub race might be the only race I could EVER get Beer Geek to run.

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Earlier this week, I hit 900 miles for the year. Assuming continued good health and no injuries, I should have no problem hitting my bare minimum of 1000 miles this year or surpassing my maximum number per year of 1010. I'm on track to hit my goal of 1030 that I set a few weeks ago, but my stretch goal of 1111 looks to be a little too much of a stretch.

Ok, need to get this posted. I paused for a moment to run upstairs and ended up moisturizing my face, remembered that I needed to do a load of laundry, headed to the basement, paused in the kitchen to start the dishwasher, grabbed the shredder basket to return to the basement, discovered a load of laundry in the washer, moved that to the dryer, realized there was a enough for a load of laundry already in the basement, started that, grabbed dry running clothes off of the treadmill, headed back up to put on make up, and fill the laundry basket... Then I remembered I was in the middle of typing a post LOL.

Semi-Wordless Wednesday: Inappropriate use of a treadmill

In many houses, treadmills become a de facto drying rack because they are not being used. Thankfully, mine being used as a drying rack means the weather is nice enough to run outside, thereby creating lots of running clothes that need a place to dry. (Ignore the vacuum. It's not seeing much use either.)

I had a lovely 8.4 mile run today after a nice 5 mile run yesterday. I was quite pleased with the run, despite having a mental block about long runs these days. If I'm planning to run 4 miles, I'm totally relaxed and into it. If I plan more than 6, I start stressing. Why? I have no idea. I played mind games today and ran my 4 mile loop and then just kept going. Mile 3 was a bit faster than I meant to go, but I still managed to do mile 8 in 8:58. All told, it took me 80 minutes to do the 8.4 miles.

After my run, I got a little shopping in. Barnes and Noble and the Container Store had deals where if you buy $100 in gift cards, you get extra gift cards. I bought a few to give as gifts and a few that I'll use to buy gifts and got $10 and $25 respectively. I also stopped by Ann Taylor Loft because I have a friends and family 30% off but just didn't like anything there. Bummer. (if you want the coupon and don't have it, email me) Oh well, I've made a small dent in Christmas shopping. The only negative of the day was the guy at the apple store told me that the iphone doesn't work with Verizon's system and won't unless they change the phone, so not likely that they'll ever switch to Verizon. That leaves me deciding between an Ipod touch to carry in addition to my cell or getting on of the "droid" phones. Any opinions?

Now to go grab a kid from preschool and do some cross training in the form of raking.

What do you get when...

you combine PMS and a husband who is currently working too many hours?

Pancakes for after school snack, grilled cheese and pumpkin muffins for dinner (in front of the tv), and crustless pumpkin pie for dessert. Hmm, I'll be standing over here waiting for my "Mom of the Year" award. No?

In my defense, the pancakes were because I bought some maple syrup today from a friend whose family makes it. We had to try it out. The pumpkin muffins were the most recent egg and dairy free version of a recipe I'm tweaking for Shoo's Thanksgiving feast at preschool. And when you have leftover pumpkin, you have to make pumpkin pie, right?

Today I ran a pathetic 2.2 miles. I walked Jones to school and had a half hour of kid free time, so I thought I'd run a quick 3 mile run. Apparently I should have stopped at the potty before I left his school. 'nuff said. It was supposed to be a rest day anyways, so I'll just add it to my grand total for the year and call it good.

The busy week ahead will include some volunteering in Jones' school library, a couple of random volunteering meetings, praying that our 1995 Jeep passes inspection, and hopefully about 20 more miles. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for continued good weather!

HIll hell or is that Hell Hill

The weather here today was amazing! Nearly 70 degrees and sunny! In November!

Of course, I needed to take advantage of that. Beer Geek watched the boys while I headed out for a four mile run. Since he was with them, I felt comfortable leaving our neighborhood (when they are at school, I try to stay within a mile and a half of home in case the school calls). My legs felt a bit off, not really heavy, but more like things weren't quite properly aligned. It was a strange feeling and certainly didn't lend itself to speed, so I decided to do a little hill work. I headed over to one of the more challenging hills around (which is really saying something around here). The hard part is about a half mile in each direction - it starts with a slow decline, followed by a seriously steep incline for about .15 miles (mapmyrun says it's a 9% grade going up!) Then I turn around and go back down and then up the less steep but twice as long hill (and then I have 1.5 miles to get back home). I felt pretty good going down, but that 9% grade just about killed me. If thighs could throw up, mine would have! Coming back up the lesser incline was hard and then I about died on the 1.5 miles home, as it was pretty hilly as well. I actually contemplated calling Beer Geek to pick me up LOL.

And what did I learn from this? That I need to run this hill more often. ;o)

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Beer Geek and I had an awesome dinner out last night. We went out to the Liberty Tavern, where I got to gorge on Rock fish over lentils and mushrooms and he had a bratwurst, frankfurter, and spaetzle platter. We thought about wine, but couldn't resist having Bell's Stout and some Belgian Leffe. We even got to have a conversation where we could each complete our thoughts.

Today we took advantage of the lovely weather and went to some of the open houses in our neighborhood. We went in one that had more bathrooms than we have bathrooms and bedrooms combined! Then we went in one that would almost fit on one level of our house. The two houses were almost a million dollars apart in price! While these happened to be a few blocks apart, around here it would not be shocking for them to be right next to each other. What can I say, we live in an eclectic neighborhood!

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Tomorrow I start my warm up week for the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge! Go on over to Amanda's blog and join in. You know you want to...

Friday the 13th

I know some people are not so fond of Friday the 13th. Some even really like to pretend the day doesn't exist.

But 13 has always been my lucky number and Friday the 13th is a particularly good day for me. Why? 15.5 years ago, Beer Geek and I went out on our first date on Friday, May 13th. A year later on Saturday, May 13th, we got married.

So, even though it's another cold, grey, rainy day and Beer Geek just informed me of his work travel schedule for the remainder of the year (not pretty) and I'm a bit PMSy, I'm gonna call this a good day.

And even better we have a babysitter tomorrow night, so we can actually have a conversation where we complete our sentences. Guess maybe I should let him know he's taking me someplace nice for dinner?

TIART: Favorite races and Swine Kitty

It's Thursday, so that means it's time for Take it and Run Thursday from the Runner's Lounge. Today's host is Joanna and she asks:

What is your favorite race? Do you live for the marathons or crave a 5k? Would you rather race in the morning, afternoon, or at night? Do you like big races with tons of people and encouraging crowds or do you prefer the smaller hometown races?

My answer: my favorite race is any race I can walk to from my house. I'm really lucky because throughout the year, I can run a 5K, 10K, half marathon, or 5 mile race, all without going more than a mile from my house. Extend that to about 3 miles and I can add a 10 miler, a 12K, and the Marine Corps Marathon. I love to run races that I don't have to worry about parking or bag drops or being away from the boys for huge amounts of time.

I have recently discovered a love for the 10K though. I've been a big fan of the half marathon for a while and will definitely run that a lot this coming year, but the 10k is awesome. It's long enough that I don't have to run at "puke threshold" the whole time, but short enough that I can really push myself and not worry about having to walk at the end. Even on a bad day, I can finish 10K in an hour and be back home to my family, feeling like I've gotten a great workout and not encroached upon our family time on the weekend.

I don't have any real strong opinions on size. The Army 10 miler and the Marine Corps Marathon are both huge and overwhelming, but well run. They take a little more stress and planning, but I still enjoyed them. But, I've also run some races with only a couple hundred people and enjoyed those just as much. For me, the perfect size means there's at least one person to "chick" at the end. ;o)

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Today's run took place on the treadmill. The weather was an awful combination of cold, wet, windy and dark and I just wasn't feeling the love. I ran a decent 4.5 miles. I'm still trying to make up for the measly 7 miles I ran last week, so I've been adding in as much extra mileage as I can on each run.

In totally unrelated news, I think my cat had H1N1. He has asthma, but for about a week, you could hear him wheezing with every breath. He also started spending all of his time on the basement couch, rather than his usual underfoot behavior. Then he stopped eating much for a couple of days. I was just about to take him to the vet and suddenly, he was back to normal. He's an old cat and we've made the decision to keep him comfortable, but to not take drastic measures to keep him alive, so I'm thrilled that he seems to have at least one more kitty life in him. What a strange week we've had...

Some days you have it...

Some days you don't.

If you'd asked me at mile 4 today, I would have said I absolutely did not have it today. The plan was an easy 6 mile run. I'm still recovering from whatever I had last week, so I figured 6 miles was a good number to shoot for on my long run this week. Speedwise, I just wanted to finish in an hour.

I took my amphipod full of nuun (I am SO addicted to that stuff) and one Gu Vanilla (just in case I felt up for some extra miles BWAAAHAHAHA). Mile 1 was an utterly unimpressive downhill mile in 9:59. Mile 2 was an incredibly difficult uphill in 9:53. So difficult, in fact, that I walked and ate my Gu. I don't think I've EVER needed a Gu before 5 miles before. I think the combination of this being the fourth day in a row of running and eating a very early, small breakfast caught up to me.

Mile 3 took 10:05 because of the Gu, but I managed to pick it up for mile 4 and hit 9:20. It was all downhill (and not in a good way) from there. 4 miles was my absolute minimum and once I hit it, it was all mind games. Run to the next car. Run to the next street. Run to the next driveway. 5 miles done, but oops, at least a half mile from home. Oh, heck, trudge another couple of blocks away from home.

I finally manage to finish a total of 7.2 miles in under 72 minutes.

So, did I have "it" today? Not in a physical sense as there was nothing easy about this "easy" run, but I figure if I could finish more than 7 miles when my body was done at 4, I definitely had it mentally!

Near miss

Yesterday I managed to go out for a "run". It was one of the few times when I felt like I was a jogger, not a runner. What's the difference? It's not speed. You can be a slow runner. It totally had to do with form and energy. I barely lifted my feet off the ground and my arms didn't really participate in the run at all. I was glad I did it, but it wasn't a real run for me and it did not have any of the benefits that I usually expect from a run. I didn't feel energized from it, in fact, it just wore me out.

I realized last night how desperately in need of a real run I was. It had been a week since I last ran. A week of fighting the flu, not getting enough sleep, and generally just feeling crappy. When we went out to dinner, I'm not sure I said a single conversational to the boys or to Beer Geek. In fact, I think I said nothing except to correct the boys' behavior. I could feel the "grey" hovering just outside my thoughts. It hit me - I needed a run and I needed one soon or I was going to continue the downward slide into depression. *

Thankfully, today was absolutely beautiful. Run in shorts and a t-shirt beautiful. I got in a very nice 4 miler (9:23, 9:47, 9:44, 9:09) before lunch. I've got a ways to go physically (I was pretty wiped out at the end of the run) and I'm not quite back in the game mentally (my temper is still pretty short), but I feel so much better. It's amazing what a difference 40 minutes of endorphins make!

*When I suffered from postpartum depression, every day seemed like a grey day. In my mind, Jones' first months were made up of grey, stay inside days. In pictures, it was a beautiful, sunny fall. When I start to slide into that mindset, I stop wanting to run. The more I need to run, the less I want to. Yesterday's run was definitely a forced run and did not make me want to run more. I really needed a day like to day to remind me that I love running and to start pulling me back up to normal for me.

Cross Training

Some call is raking leaves.

I call it cross training.

Shoo calls it an opportunity to pilot your own ship and take out the Clone Troopers.

I still haven't gone out for a run. One whole week of no running! Ack! I'm running tomorrow, even if it's just short and slow. I'm just hoping not to have a cough attack. After all, I've delivered two children...

Umm, not sure I meant to do that....

As you can see, my hair was a bit overgrown (please ignore my weird expression LOL).

I went in today for a trim. I swear the picture she showed me was at least an inch longer than mine turned out! I like it, but I don't usually go this short right before the cold weather starts...

I am totally jonesing for a run right now. Beer Geek was supposed to be out this evening, but has decided he doesn't feel up to it, so I may take a slow spin around the block when he comes home. I'm not coughing much anymore, just lots of lovely goop coming out of my nose. All the better to snot rocket with, right?

Kinda Wordless Wednesday: Shoo's cake

Remember the cake I did for Jones? Yeah, well if you're the second child with a birthday in the same month and mommy is exhausted, you get a cake like this...

In my defense, this is actually what Shoo wanted and who am I to argue with a now 4 year old? He was happy, the cake was easy to make (I made my mom do it for me), and it tasted good. Win/Win as far as I'm concerned.

As far as "Swine Watch '09" is going, Beer Geek is feeling better but still coughing. After 36 hours in bed, I'm finally starting to feel a little more energy. My symptoms are milder than Beer Geek's were, but the exhaustion coupled with nausea pretty much wiped me out. I haven't run since Friday and I won't be running today. It's a beautiful day and I'd love to be out there, but I'm still getting dizzy every time I go up or down the stairs, so it's probably best to wait. So far *knock wood*, the boys are swine free.

My first DNS

Beer Geek came home from work travel last Tuesday night and promptly came down with what is likely swine flu. My parents were here, so we quarantined him and they helped me deal with all of the various things I need to do. On Thursday, my parents and the boys carved pumpkins and decorated the house for Halloween. On Friday, my parents and Shoo and I went down to the mall and visited the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial. My dad had been wanting to do that for a while and it was nice to get out of the house and leave Beer Geek in peace.

Friday evening, Dad and I ran over to get our race bibs. We had a GREAT run. 3.1 miles in 26 minutes and it felt wonderful. We had checked out the course and figured we'd have a really good chance of PRing.

Saturday was Halloween and we had a busy day with the boys. Beer Geek was still feeling whipped, so my parents and I took the boys on a short little Trick or Treat jaunt. Luckily, neither of the boys is particularly in to T-o-T, so we ended up only being out for about an hour. We then celebrated Shoo's birthday with cupcakes and the boys handed out candy until bedtime.

Sunday morning dawned rainy and cold. I'd been sleeping on the couch for the last few days, since Beer Geek was sick and my parents were in the guest room. The nagging cough I'd had for the last couple of weeks kept me up most of the night. When I looked outside, I decided I just didn't have it in me to race. I was pretty sure that I'd end up with a DNF, so I opted for the DNS and went back to sleep. We had Shoo's birthday party in the afternoon and I wanted to be rested for it. The party went great and Shoo had a wonderful time.

Unfortunately, yesterday evening, I came down with a fever and am now spending most of the day in bed. Beer Geek took a day off work to watch Shoo and to take Jones to and from school. I don't think I'm quite as bad off as he was, as I don't have the horrid chest cough he has, but I'm exhausted and only seem to be out of bed for a couple hours at a time.

Hopefully, I'll be back with pictures of all of last weeks fun soon!