2000-2009: the roller coaster years

I've noticed a lot of people writing not just Year in Review posts, but Decade in Review posts, so I think I'll bore you all with separate Decade in Review, Year in Review, and What's up for 2010 posts. Why be succinct when you don't have to? LOL

While I'm in a pretty good place now, this was a bit of a rough decade for me. I spent the first half trying to get pregnant/trying to stay pregnant/surviving an infant who woke every two hours until he was two and only slept a bit better after that/struggling with postpartum depression/trying to survive a second pregnancy while handling a child who was a REALLY difficult three year old. Along the way, I also got my "dream" job only to discover my boss was not as family friendly as she professed and that managing a HUGE budget while seriously sleep deprived was more stress than I could handle. I became a stay at home mom, which was quite honestly never on my "bucket" list and is still one of the more challenging things I've ever done.

That's not to say that the first decade of the 2000s was all bad either.

Good things that happened between 1/1/00 and 12/29/09:

• Jones was born
• Shoo was born (at home and was the most empowering experience I've had in my life)
• Beer Geek and I celebrated our 11th anniversary with an Elvis Renewal of the Vows in Las Vegas
• We travelled to Scotland, Belgium, and The Azores (Portugal)
• We also visited California, New York, Maine, Florida, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Minnesota, Colorado, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Delaware, Connecticut, Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, Mississippi, Texas, and Nevada (not to mention drove through a few other states)
• We visited more than 50 breweries (I think closer to 70) and attended multiple "beer events" (I'm pretty sure we hit a brewery or a brewpub in every place we visited, with the lone exception of the Azores, where I was too busy puking from morning sickness to care about beer.)
• We celebrated Beer Geek's 40th birthday with a day at a local beer festival with 15 of our closest friends
• I ran my first marathon
• I ran 4 half marathons, 3 10 milers, and numerous shorter races (not bad considering my first race was in March 2007)
• I ran races in 8 different states and came up with my goal of all 50 states by age 50.
• I started this blog so that I no longer bore my IRL friends with this kind of stuff.

Back tomorrow with my progress on my 2009 goals (only 3.9 miles left to hit 100 miles in December).

Yay for goals!

10 miles to go until I hit 100 for December. 11.5 until I hit 1050 for the year.

I didn't feel like changing to run today. I had no issues with not wanting to run. I just didn't feel like making the effort to get ready. Unfortunately, I'd only run 19.8 miles this week and I have a goal of 20 miles a week. I seriously considered going out in my jeans and boots and "running" .2 miles, but figured if I was going to count it, I needed to at least run it. I ended up doing 3.2 miles because that got me down to 10 miles left and four days to do it.

I've started looking at races for next year, but we have a lot of stuff up in the air. It's driving the planner in me crazy LOL. I've signed up for one half marathon so far and have three more penciled in (and a fourth that is a possibility if I'm visiting my parents at the right time.) I've looked at some running plans and am likely to combine Hal Higdon's Intermediate marathon or half marathon plan with one I found in Women's Running Magazine. Since I'm planning to run back to back halfs, I like Hal's pace run one day, followed by the long run the next day. However, I'm not sure my body (or my family) can handle me running five days a week every week.

Now I have a favor to ask of my RBFs. I didn't get any running gear for Christmas because Beer Geek feels those are things I should just get, not wait for a gift occasion. (Yeah, he's a good man.) Instead, he gave me an evening yoga class for the next 10 weeks. So, now I need to "just get" the running gear I need.

What do I need? A pair of running tights. I'm looking at the Sugoi midzero. Any opinions? Also, I need a running jacket. I like the idea of a "shell" that is wind and water resistant, but light so I can layer as needed. I tried some Sugoi, a Brooks, and an Asics jacket today and they were all cut the same way - for a tall, hipless woman with long arms. Seriously. I'm shortish and smallish and the mediums barely closed around my hips and the sleeves were inches too long. Larges made me look like I was wearing my dad's clothes. Anyone know of a brand that fits a more curvy figure? Finally, I want a pair of compression socks, partly to keep my legs warm on really cold runs, partly for the recovery aspect. Which brand are you guys loving?

Lastly (and way more important than all my rambling above), Heather at Run Faster Mommy is holding a raffle to raise money for the Ulman Cancer Fund. Go over and check out the awesome stuff and donate some money for an awesome cause. And if you donate and mention I sent you in her comments, I get extra chances. Go, now. What are you waiting for?

HBBC

Other than running and a wee bit of walking, I've done nothing, except eat cookies and I'm pretty sure that those don't count as a fruit or vegetable.

3 Things Thursday - Holiday Edition

1. Merry Christmas!!! In a few short hours, we'll be heading to church and then the boys will choose a beer and some cookies for Santa, sprinkle reindeer food on the snow, and head to bed with visions of Legos dancing in their heads.

2. This year, I participated in Morning Runner's holiday gift/card exchange. I was paired with Bethany from Our Love on the Run. I received my gift yesterday and it is the best gift I've EVER received in an online related gift exchange. EVER! (I've done a bunch over the years, mostly related to the kids).

Bethany sent me a Bondi Band that says "Marathon Momma", a homemade Christmas ornament, and a (written by her) Guide to New England races. The Bondi band solves my "how do I keep my hair out of my eyes" issue that I have on the treadmill! I have short hair, so I look totally goofy in it, so I may not wear it in public, but it's PERFECT for treadmill running in my basement. The ornament will join our collection of handmade ornaments on the tree. I only put ornaments on the tree that were handmade, gifts, or have sentimental value, so the adorable mitten will fit right in. Finally, the Beer Racing Guide is awesome! Insider's notes to races in New England with additional beer information included. She even found a beer race I didn't know about! I can only hope she enjoys her gift as much. I won't say exactly what it was since I don't think she's opened it yet, but it was the package that I had difficulty mailing. ;o) Thanks to Bethany for the awesome gift and to J for organizing the exchange!!!

3. Look what came yesterday. A very Merry Christmas indeed.

Have a Merry Christmas and I'll be back next week with some discussion of my plans for next year (the Year of the Half?), reviews of some of our Christmas beers, and some requests for recommendations from my faithful readers.

Winter Misery One Miler

Alternate Title: Try Not to Fall on My A$$ Four Miler

RunningLaur once again sponsored a lovely virtual race. This time, she chose a nice, winter friendly distance - one mile. When I first signed up, I planned to aim for a PR and possibly even try for a sub 7 minute mile. Winter, unfortunately, had other plans for me. Thanks to the 16+ inches we got on Saturday, the roads looked like this:

Since our roads don't usually look like that, I don't own yaktraks and I've certainly not "screwed my shoes" ala Marcy. And, as it turns out, there were significant sections of actual pavement (and a few spots of black ice). Between the slush, puddles, ice, and idiot drivers, I was happy with finishing my fastest mile in 9:27. I never fell (only came close twice) and it was a balmy 33 degrees, so thanks RunningLaur for giving me a reason to head outside instead of hitting the treadmill.

(4.1 miles done today, 28.9 left to run in December)

HBBC points

12/21

Walking - 1

Running - 4.1

F/V - 1

Shoveling/snowball fighting/playing in the snow - 4

Total - 10.1

Virginians just don't "get" snow

So, over the course of Friday night and Saturday all day, we got 16.5 inches. It's been years since we got a snowfall like that and people here just don't know what to do with it. Our house sides a busy street, so we got to see lots of people doing stupid things.

Take, for example, our neighbor. Just because you drive a big a$$ SUV, you are not going to be able to drive down a street that has snow up to your bumper. Really. See, here he is stuck at the corner.

He was attempting to turn off of a plowed road onto an unplowed road and ended up having to leave his car in the intersection overnight. We saw the police and a tow truck move it this morning.

And then there were the people who thought it was a good idea to only clean off their windshield and hoods. Do you really think it's a good idea to drive down the road with 16 inches of snow on the roof of your car? Really?

I, on the other hand, have used the time for a heck of a lot of exercise. As a Wisconsin girl, I know that when you are getting that kind of snow and you don't have a snow blower, you better start shoveling before the snow finishes. In fact, I shoveled our sidewalk and front steps twice yesterday.

Beer Geek thought I was insane, but I'm sure he appreciated it this morning when he did the final shoveling.

We spent today sledding, shoveling and playing in the snow.

Shoo took advantage of being four and got pulled the half mile to the sledding hill.

Jones only wanted to sled with me because he knew I'd bring the sled back up the hill for him.

See how lovely our street looks? We haven't had a snowplow down it. Beer Geek, myself and about four of our neighbors shoveled the street. It was a great workout, but I may not be able to lift my arms tomorrow. Can you tell my husband has had enough family time and wants to go to work tomorrow?

HBBC points

12/17

Walking - 1.5

Raking - 2 (counting it as toning)

F/V - 1

Total - 2.5

12/18

Walking - 2.5

Running - 7.4

Total - 9.9

12/19

Shoveling/sled pulling/snow playing - 6

12/20

Walking - 1

Running - 4.1

Shoveling/sledding/snow playing - 5

Total - 10.1

Total for the week - 45.5

(33 more miles to go for 100 miles in December; 34.5 miles to 1050 for the year)

Snowpocaplypse

So, they are calling for 10-20 inches of snow tomorrow. This is a southern state, so that means we could be snowed in for DAYS. Seriously. When I went to the grocery store today(to buy honey and flour for baking), there were no parking spots and the lines were outrageous. Everyone was buying EGGS, BREAD, TOILET PAPER, and MILK! Nevermind that where we live you can walk to a grocery store. Of course, the last time we had a snow like they are predicting, Beer Geek and some neighbors had to shovel our street becuase we don't get plowwed.

Speaking of, I am currently drinking an Alaskan Smoked Porter from 2001. We went out to dinner at a brewpub and are soon to bee heading next door to a Christmas Party. We are only awaiting the arrival of a babysitter.

And in continued "good parenting", I put Shoo in front of a couple of Backyardigans videos and ran 7.4 miles on the treadmill today. At least he was on the Mac in the same room as me...

I won't even pretend I can count up my HBBC points right now. All typos brought to you courtesy of Rock Bottom and Alaskan brewery.

Three Things Thursday

1. Are you familiar with the "Soup N.azi" from Seinfeld? The clerk at the post office today was totally channelling him. I accidentally got there 20 minutes before it opened (I thought it opened at 9, but it didn't until 9:30). It wasn't worth my time to go home and come back, so I was #2 in line. 10 minutes before the place opened, he came out and made sure everyone had all their correct forms filled out. Then he pointed to the sign that said "Please stand here until the clerk calls you" (or words to that effect) and told us to make sure we obeyed the sign. He opened the gate and then called the first person. When she was done, he continued doing stuff. I made sure to stand by the line and wait 'cause I knew if I stepped forward too soon, it was going to be "no postage for you".

2. When I got up to the counter, package 1 and package 2 - no problems. Package 3 had liquids in it. He asked what liquids and I (idiot that I am) said Beer. He said, sorry no postage for you. In my head I'm thinking, "did I say beer? I meant NONALCOHOLIC beer". Instead, I then took that package to Staples and mailed it UPS.

3. Next errand was to pick up coffee for the preschool Christmas party. I order, pay and go shop, telling them I'll pick it up at 11:30. I go back at 11:20 and the guy tells me "sorry, we have no lids". HUH? So, my next stop was Dunkin' Donuts...

I hope all of your errands have gone more smoothly than mine did today.

HBBC

12/16

Walking - 1.5

Running - 4

F/V - 1

Total - 5.5

Total for the week - 17

1000 miles and sore legs

Today I hit 1000 miles for the year! That's about two weeks earlier than last year and I didn't train for and run a marathon this year. I've also hit 51.5 miles for December, so I'm just over halfway to my 100 miles for the month.

Apparently, I haven't been pushing myself much lately. I very seldom get sore anymore. I might have tired legs if I run a lot of miles or run a lot of days in a row, but soreness just doesn't seem to happen. Today I was sore. When I ran on the treadmill on Sunday, I ran a couple of quarter miles and a bunch of .1-.15 miles at a 7:30 pace. At the time, it felt like a really good workout. Two days later, my legs are still complaining. I managed 7 miles, but I felt every muscle in my legs on each and every step.

Thanks for all the suggestions for weight type classes. I don't actually belong to a gym (we own a treadmill) and most of the classes are scheduled for when people aren't working (as opposed to when kids are in school). Our county does have a fabulous gym and you can pay by the day, so I'm planning to try to get there once a week starting in January. We'll see if that actually happens LOL.

HBBC

12/14

Walking - 1.5

F/V - 1

12/15

Walking - 1

Running - 7

F/V - 1

Total for the week - 11.5

Nothing to see here

I meant to write a post this weekend, but I had very little to say. I have a feeling that what follows will be a bunch of random thoughts. In fact, maybe I should just use bullet points...

• Jones had his first indoor soccer game this weekend. It is a totally different game from outdoor soccer! 20 minute halves of non-stop running. One of the moms is coaching the team, rather than our usual coach, and it took her, another mom, and myself to manage the "on the fly" subbing. I think we did a great job, but I have even more respect for our coach than I already did.
• We had a beautiful day on Saturday, but I didn't run. I didn't even go for a walk. Instead, I waited for the nasty weather on Sunday and was forced to run on the treadmill. Oh well, I needed a speed workout anyways.
• I've run 44.5 miles of my 100 miles for the month, so I'm still on target. I'm trying to front load the month, so that I can slack a bit around the holidays, but that's only moderately successful at this point.
• Shoo and I went to a different grocery store than usual today. They had the scanners that you carry around and scan/bag your own groceries and then check out. Shoo thought the "toad scanner" as he called it was the coolest thing ever, but it did take us at least twice as long as normal to shop.
• Beer Geek and I are going out to dinner on New Year's Eve and staying at some friends' house. This will be the first time in 8! years that we've gone out on NYE.
• I've totally slacked off on the toning again. I need to find some sort of weight workout that I actually enjoy. Even the HBBC can't keep me doing it. I am, however, rocking the fruits and vegetables.

HBBC

12/11

Walking - 3

12/12

F/V -1

12/13

Running - 4.5

F/V - 1

Total for the weekend - 9.5

Total for the past week - 38

Three Things Thursday

I'm not even sure who I'm borrowing this idea from as many of my RBFs are doin' it.

1. It's a good thing I decided to cut my mileage back. I ran six miles today and I could not have run a step further. In fact, Garmin needed charging, so I was running "old school" and I'm not sure I managed to complete a full 6 miles in the hour and six minutes I ran.

2. I've been a decluttering maniac lately. I've been selling/donating anything that the kids have outgrown. I asked Beer Geek about selling a specific baby gate and his response was that I could get rid of anything in the house but the tv, the computer, and his bed. OK, then. I'll take that as license to purge. ;o)

3. If you allow a 3 year old and a 4 year old to play upstairs by themselves, investigate immediately if it suddenly becomes very quiet. Otherwise you might find this:

In case you can't tell, they stacked Jones' games on top of

Jones' books in an attempt to climb to the top bunk.

Luckily, no Clone troopers were injured in the attempt.

HBBC

Running - 6.5

Walking - 2

F/V - 1 (I'm already at 5 for the day, so no worries about finishing).

Toning - hasn't happened yet

Total - 9.5

Total for the week - 28.5

Scaling back

Lately, long runs have become something I dread. Partly because they are long and a bit boring and partly because I have so many other things I could be doing with that time right now. They feel a lot like a chore. So, I'm not going to do them any more.

OK, at least not for the remainder of December. I'm going to take a step back and not run anything over 7 miles and most of my runs will be closer to 4. I can do four miles between Beer Geek getting home and the time I need to start dinner. Shoo only has four more days of preschool before the holidays (ack!) and Jones' last day is December 23rd. I haven't done our annual calendar yet. All the Christmas cards are currently waiting for mailing labels and stamps. I'm mostly done shopping for the boys and the grandparents, but I have nothing yet for the small number of friends with which we exchange gifts nor do I have a darn thing for Beer Geek. He and I don't really exchange gifts, but I need to find something from the kids at least. I also need to make the teacher gifts (sugared and spiced almonds and walnuts) and... and... and...

So, I'm dialing the running back a notch. Two 6ish milers and two 4ish milers this week and next will get me to 20 each week. Christmas week will be a challenge with one boy home all week and the other home most of the week and Beer Geek working, but worst case, I can manage five 4 mile runs. Then my dad will be here the week between Christmas and New Year's and he'll make sure I knock out the rest of the miles.

That takes care of December. Now if I could just figure out what distances, what states, and which races for 2010.

HBBC

12/7

Walking - 3

F/V - 1

Total - 4

12/8

Walking - 1.5

Running - 6.7

Toning (abs) - .5

F/V - 1

Total - 9.7

12/9

Running - 4.3

F/V - 1

Total - 5.3

Total for the week - 19

Blog? What blog?

I had one of those "my brain is full" weekends. Beer Geek and I went out on a date so that we could discuss such exciting things as our health plan and the boys' college accounts. Luckily, the discussion was accompanied by good beer and a piece of carrot cake the size of my head. Then on Saturday, we took the boys to breakfast with Santa. It was at Shoo's preschool and I was on the committee, so I was a little busy with it. Saturday afternoon we played in the snow. Sunday was church, snow playing, running, craft fair shopping, birthday partying. When we weren't doing those things, I was spending all my time online shopping for the boys. When I woke up this morning, I realized I hadn't touched my blog all weekend. Oops.

Friday evening I went for a quick run before our "date". The weather forecast called for freezing rain for Saturday and I pretty much refuse to run in 33 degree rain. Call me a wuss, but I won't do it. I only had 30 minutes to run and the first mile went great, so I decided to do some speedwork. I apparently can't plan speedwork, I just have to do it when my body is feeling right. Anyways, I decided to pick up to an 8 minute pace and hold it as long as I could or one mile, whichever came first. Success - one mile in 7:57. I ran a recovery half mile a little too fast, but picked it up again for another half mile of speed work - half mile at 7:48 pace. I was particularly pleased because I didn't feel like I was even close to the puke threshold.

Saturday was not as nasty as expected, but I was glad I didn't need to run. Virginia snow tends to be slushy and nasty and this weekend was no exception. It was particularly good packing snow, so Shoo and I did get to make a snowman and have a snowball fight.

Sunday was chilly and I was going to hit the treadmill, but Beer Geek guilted me into running outside. I way overdressed (I was cold before I changed into my running clothes) by wearing compression shorts under my running tights, my heaviest running fleece, and my heavy gloves. The run was just a nice, reasonably paced run only made exciting by the occasional black ice. I hit the first patch on a downhill and nearly wiped out. I quickly learned that if the pavement looked wet and it was in the shade, that it was likely to be ice.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Christmas shopping for the important people is pretty much done (just for the record, nothing has been bought for Beer Geek and myself - tells you where we stand LOL). I successfully ran 22 miles in the first week of December, so I'm on track for 100 for the month. The boys had a nice time playing in the snow and it's become apparent we won't be stuck inside much this winter. Shoo has reached the age where he loves to be outside, no matter how cold. I've decided not to race next weekend, so I'm officially done training and racing for 2009. Now I just need to work on some goals for 2010.

HBBC

12/4

Walking - 2 (love that a half point of this was walking to and from a brewpub)

Running - 3.5

F/V - 1

Total - 6.5

12/5

F/V - 1 (I worked really hard to get my F/V to prevent a zero LOL)

12/6

Walking - 1

Running - 3.5

F/V 1

Toning (upper/lower) - 1

Total - 6.5

Total for the week - 43.8

Let's talk veggies

So, I've been trying really hard to hit my 7 fruits and veggies every day and get a point in the HBBC. I'm making it most days, but it's taking a lot of attention to what I eat. For example, today I had an egg with veggies for breakfast, an apple for snack, homemade veggie beef soup for lunch with a couple of handfuls of arugula, an orange for an afternoon snack and dinner will include a salad and baked acorn squash. If it weren't for arugula, I'm not sure I'd make it. I have a serious addiction to the stuff. I eat it in salads, sandwiches, wrapped inside sandwich meat, wrapped around cheese sticks... Heck, I frequently eat it by the handfuls by itself. Yeah, I know I'm weird.

So, how are you getting your veggies and fruit in? I don't do smoothies, but I'd love to hear what's working for others. Either answer in the comments or blog about it and leave me a comment so I can go check it out.*

I had another wonderful run today. Five miles at a nine minute average pace, which was quite impressive considering mile 2 was 9:19 due to running uphill into the wind. Only 85 more miles to go in December.

*If you are a new follower or commenter, welcome and I will be by to visit soon. It's health care choice season here and I've been spending every free moment trying to figure out which plan is best for our family (not the one we have apparently), whether dental insurance makes financial sense (it does, thanks to Shoo's cavity prone teeth, sigh), and how much to put into our HCSA. I'm almost done, so pretty soon I can be back to my regular reading and commenting, just in time to start stressing about who's getting what for Christmas...

HBBC

12/3

Walking - 3

Running - 5

F/V - 1 (dinner is cooking now, yum)

Toning (abs) - .5

Total - 9.5

Total for the week 29.8

100 mile goal

I haven't hit 100 miles in one month since January. I had planned to hit in November, but having a week where I ran a grand total of 7 miles, thanks to the flu, meant I was happy to break 80 miles. In order to accomplish 100 miles in December, I just have to average 20 miles a week, which is totally doable, but will take some planning to hit the first week and the last week just right.

To start off, I went for a nice 10 mile run yesterday. Hey, down to only 90 more miles to go. I could just do 9 more 10 mile runs and be done with it. ;o) That's not my plan, but it was a lovely run. It was about 45 degrees and sunny and I tried something new: running slowly. I aimed for 10-10:15 miles and hit that goal right on for the first 5 miles. Mile 6 was a surprising 9:48, miles 7 and 8 were back in range and then I picked up the pace and did 9:41 and 9:35 for the last two miles. Can I just tell you how much I love finishing strong and not feeling completely dead? And I did it with only nuun. I had a gel with me, but I never really felt like I needed it! If only every "long" run could go so well.

HBBC

11/30

Running - 3.3

Toning (upper) - .5

7 F/V - 1

Total - 4.8

12/1

Walking - 2.5

Running - 10

7 F/V - 1

Total - 13.5

12/2

Walking - 1.5

Toning (upper) - .5

Total - 2

Total for the week - 20.3