Running Highlights

I haven't blogged much lately about my training. That hasn't been for lack of running, just lack of blogging time. Back in Janaury, I came home from a run and immediately put fingers to keyboard. Now, I come home from a run, take my dog on a cool down walk (to keep my muscles from seizing up to the point of paralysis) and then do a "core muscle strengthening routine." By the time that's done, all I want is a glass of wine and to sit in a stupor, even if it's 7am.

I have been really regular on my last month of training. I have only missed one day of training in that time. I can feel myself getting stronger, gaining endurance and getting tougher mentally. This past weekend, I ran my first 8-miler. It was tough, but I was able to keep pretty close to an 11-minute mile. Honestly, I am not fast. I will be really happy if I can run the marathon close to an 11-minute mile (roughly 5 hours). I still walk about 20% of my mileage and don't know that I will be able to remove the walking completely before the race. That said, 8 miles was doable and I feel confident about my progress.

This weekend, I will be really challenging myself. Although it's another 8-miler, I have been running at 5100 feet elevation and this weekend I will visit my parents who live at 7000 feet. I think the 2000 foot elevation gain and a more hilly run will test my true progress, but mostly my mental growth and resolve.

I did put in a new playlist this past weekend and while I am not ready to reveal it in its entirety, here's a few highlights:

* Song that lights a fire under me: Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers

* Song that would most appall my mother: Lose Yourself - Eminem

* Song that was a hit when my mom was in college: Green Onions - Booker T & the MGs

* Slow song that seems to be working: The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel

Texas & Me

I confirmed today that I will be spending a large portion of my summer living out of a suitcase in Dallas. (I would really appreciate any positive views on this situation.) A woman in our Texas office is heading out on maternity leave in early July and will be out for roughly two months. In her absence, I am going to "help out". For me that means I will spend roughly 4 workdays there in June, 10-16 workdays there in July and 7 workdays there in August. If I weren't a total homebody, this would be no big deal, maybe even an adventure. For me, I love my house, my garden, my dog and my husband and don't see much reason to leave the house.

Good Things:

* Chipotle (we don't have those in NM)

* Frequent flier miles

* Better shopping (if I have time)

* Chipotle (I plan to eat there more than once)

Bad Things:

* Running in severe humidity (this could be a good thing since it will help me prep for the humid Kauai marathon)

* Living out of a suitcase

* Being away from my home

* Being away from my husband

Help me add to my lists...

A Great Dog

My parent's dog, Spiker, was a happy and enthusiastic dog. He was 12 years old. Although I didn't live with my parents for much of the time they had Spiker, I would describe him as a family dog. As a golden retriever, he had perpetual optimism and perpetual bad breath. I guess you take the good with the bad. He endured a lot of torture at the hands of grandkids and other family dogs, but he never snapped or got angry. As you can see (in the only grainy image I have), Spiker is letting my parent's other dog, Herbie, sit on his back. That was pretty much his life. He loved Colorado and hikes and being pet for hours on end and he especially loved dinner time.

Yesterday, it became obvious that age and a botched hip surgery were keeping Spiker from enjoying life anymore and he was put to sleep. If you have any pets, make sure to pet them a few extra times today. You don't realize how much they add to your life until they are gone.

Keep your fingers crossed...

but not double crossies, since I really I really don't need a jinx. On Wednesday we got an offer on our other house that we've had listed since Feb '08. We accepted the offer and with any luck, we close on June 12. Selling this house will open up a world of possibility for me and take a world of worry away. I am so grateful that something is happening and am looking forward to the day when we are not a real estate moguls. One mortgage is more than enough!

My 10-K Playlist

My 10-K Playlist Since mid-March, I have run almost exclusively to the following playlist. During that time, I have run two 10-Ks, a seven-miler this past weekend and a few other runs totaling 53 miles. The playlist has served me well, but as I gear up for my half-marathon in June, it’s too short for my long runs and I just generally need a change. You can see that my musical taste is generally poor, ranging from top 40 to the old and obscure. For example, I bought Earth, Wind and Fire’s “September” on I-Tunes last night as the cornerstone of the new playlist. You will see that many of the songs involve surviving, which is my only goal on my training runs and the songs repeated at beginning and end are meant to give me an extra added boost… (Boost=not crawling the last half mile.) I am always open to suggestions, so props to my friend, Jackie, for sending me a CD of suggestions a few months back. Two of her tracks appeared in the 10-K playlist (#8 & #15). 1. Viva la Vida … Coldplay 2. Stronger… Kanye West 3. Black Horse & the Cherry Tree… KT Tunstall 4. Young Folks…Peter Bjorn and John 5. Hey Ya…OutKast 6. Birdhouse in Your Soul…They Might be Giants 7. I’m Yours…Jason Mraz 8. Mr. Blue Sky…ELO 9. Gotta Get Thru This…Daniel Bedingfield 10. Bubbly…Colbie Caillat 11. The Safety Dance…Men Without Hats 12. Put Your Records On…Corrine Bailey Rae 13. Crazy…Gnarls Barkley 14. It’s a New Day…will.i.am 15. Foundations…Kate Nash 16. Yummy…Gwen Stefani 17. Stronger…Kanye West 18. Viva la Vida…Coldplay

Come Sail Away

I have been AWOL from the blogosphere due to illness and home improvement. I went to Phoenix for the NCAA tourney and got another cold. Ugh. During the climax of the cold, my parents (also sick from said Phoenix trip) arrived to help me redo my backyard while Daniel was out of town for work. I so appreciate their help, especially since we all just really wanted to crawl back into bed. We rebuilt my deck, my mom stained it and then we added some new plantings to the backyard. It's starting to come along, but it's nowhere near done and Daniel will get to enjoy many weekends of digging since I have put in my time. When we get a little further down the path, I will post some before & after picks.

Also since I last blogged, my dear Tarheels won another NCAA championship. It was great to see although the end of a season always makes me sad. I cry every year during One Shining Moment and spend about a week having withdrawals. We have some fantastic players leaving this year and I really don't have the same love for the NBA, NFL or College Football. At least our local Triple A baseball team had the home opener tonight, maybe I can get into that.

Tomorrow, I leave to meet Daniel in Santa Barbara. I would like to say that excitement is my number one emotion for this trip... In reality, it's fear. We are headed on a sailing instruction vacation. We will spend four days sailing around the Channel Islands and learning basic sailing commands and procedures. It's just Daniel, the instructor and myself on the 24' boat, so I am guessing I won't get to sit and drink wine while they work... It's not that kind of trip. This is one of my dreams and I decided to achieve it as an early 30th birthday present to myself. That said, I probably get a C- in general coordination, so hopefully that's not necessary. Maybe as I head into my 30th year, I will learn how to laugh and my shortcomings and just enjoy the adventure. That would be a great step forward for me!

Slightly Obsessed

I am sitting on a pile of sheer wonderment. In mere moments, I could be rich. My world may be about to change altogether. What prompts this bout of optimism? Albertson's Monopoly.

My local grocery chain is currently having a game promotion. They have done this in year's past and I have generally ignored it. I suppose that something about the economy and something about having no idea what I am doing with my life is prompting me to search for the "light at the end of the tunnel" and Albertson's Monopoly appears to provide an appropriate diversion.

The game started about a month ago. You get Monopoly game pieces for certain products you buy and then certain combinations of game pieces mean you win prizes. What I would now describe as an obsession started out as slight interest. When I did my normal grocery shopping, I would get a game piece or two and check to see if they matched my board. Somewhere along the way, I started altering my shopping so that I would buy brands that had game pieces instead of brands that didn't. Of late, I just buy things that have game pieces and refuse to buy anything that doesn't have a game piece. (P.S. We don't eat a lot of vegetables these days since those aren't included.) I have gone so far as to search the web for fellow addicts who might be willing to trade game pieces. Most of those sites are "mom blogs" and I do see that as a childless, well-employed, non-minivan driving person, I don't fit in with the normal "Grocery Gamer."

Today, I bought the following:

24 Powerades

9 Coca-cola 2 Liters

6 Hershey's Candy Bars

2 CPK Frozen Pizzas

3 Boxes of Cheezits

All in all, I walked away with 50 game pieces today. I will spend the next hour opening each piece and hoping I am a winner. The game ends at the end of March and I know that I am running out of time. At least if I don't win tonight, I can keep the faith alive due to the 40 individual Cruise Sweepstakes entries I sent in during the course of the game.

Tonight I told my husband that maybe we should go back and get more powerade tonight. Mind you, we have about 50 total in the house right now and before I started playing the game, I hadn't had a powerade in years. He looked at me with slight fear in his eyes and I said, "If I don't win something, I am going to totally freak out." He said, "More than you are freaking out right now?" He seems to think that my actions aren't "normal".

My greatest fear, besides not winning at all, is that I will win the $2 prize. I have bought about $75 in powerade since the game started and $2 seems like a "Bernie Madoff type return" on my investment. Daniel just asked me what I wanted for dinner. How does powerade, a candy bar and some cheezits sound? That's all that's in the house.