FYTO 5K race report

About a month ago I signed up for a virtual race called the Freeze Your Thorns Off 5K  hosted by The Boring Runner.  Adam lives in Arizona and in January it could actually be around 50 deg!  The horrors!  So of course, all the wimpy thin-blooded people living in AZ would actually freeze with 50 deg weather.  Unlike us hearty Mainers who would wear shorts and head to the beach in 50 deg.  Hell, we even swim in 50 deg water!  It was 25 deg this morning on my car thermometer and I drove past a kid (boy, of course) waiting for the bus in sneakers and shorts.  It was snowing.  He is just dumb, but you get my point. 

Anyway, Adam gave us the weekend to get the race done.  I waited until Sunday to get my run in as Saturday was crazy busy with kids basketball.  Sunday the kids and hubs all went ice fishing so I got the whole day to myself!  I am so lucky!  I got to do the always fun and exciting grocery shopping in the morning!  The best part was, I was all alone so I spent the regular $140 rather than the $220+ that I spend when the family comes along. 

It was a beautiful day in Maine yesterday.  Sunny and 35 ish.  Just perfect for running outdoors.  The ice and snow had just about all melted away from previous storms so the road were clear and waiting for me.  I did my long loop around my house which is pretty hilly and 6 miles.  I over dressed a little because it was windy which sometimes made it cold but most of the time I was a little warm.  I'd rather be warm than cold while running so that was fine.  6 miles 56:56. 

Here's a pic of me with the race bib on my ipad.  The picture sucks because I took it with my ghetto phone because no one was home (see ice fishing above ^^) to take the photo.  So after about 15 shitty shots, I managed to get this equally shitty halfway decent one.

It was more of a sweat your thorns off run for me--I had a insulated shirt, then the under armour jacket you see, hat, gloves (which were stuffed in my pants for most of the run), capri spandex under long running pants and compression socks.  But it was awesome to be outside in the fresh air.  There is nothing like running outside in crisp weather. 

Did I mention that I was by myself?  All alone?  No one yelling Momma a million and one times in a row.  It was bliss.  I wish every winter in Maine could be like this one.  Or like yesterday specifically.

Thank you, Adam, for hosting.  Now please pick my name for some cool prize.

Ahhhh, grasshopper

I didn't watch the whole Nadal/Federer match the other day but I wish I had so I could have seen this live.

Awesome catch, young grasshopper!

I wonder who you have to know to get chosen as a ball boy/girl for the Australian Open.  Or if they are up and coming young tennis stars.  I would imagine it must be a pretty fun job overall.  Maybe I could apply....  I suppose I'm a little on the aged side. 

I was so bummed to see that I lost a follower this morning.  I have so few that I cherish each and every one.  Please come back, my missing reader.  I was so happy to see I had 68 followers (I gained a new one!) last night only to see this morning that I was back down to 67.  I must be pretty boring lately.  lol

Calves are slowly recovering from P90X and running.  I should be pretty normal by tomorrow, which is another run day.  Today is my swim day, so that should be pretty easy on the calves.  I have some new goggles to try out today as my other new ones kinda suck.  They fog up almost immediately and are pretty uncomfortable.  I bought 3 new pairs from swimoutlet.com so I could do a comparison.  I'll also do a short review so look for that in the next few weeks. 

Did you ever wish to be a ball kid for any sport?

Are you sad when you lose a follower?  Or do you have so many you don't even notice?

Quick Pic for Thursday

I saw this on FB this morning and wanted to share.  It is an actual picture, not touched up.  I have a friend from high school who verifies that it is real and he knows the guys.  I tend to believe him as ice fishing folks here in Maine are indeed, crazy.

And here is my husband's best friend, who is, in fact, another fool.

Returning from ice fishing.

Hey!  He's not completely foolish--he's wearing a life vest!

Have a great Thursday!!

Oh--forgot to share that doing P90x plyometrics one day and then running 4 miles the next day, is not advised.  I feel like someone cut my achilles today--I can barely walk!  This getting old shit sucks.

Calf Ripping Leg Cramp and more Lists

The night before last I had the most god-awful muscle cramp in my calf.  My scream woke me out of a dead sleep.  Even so, I still thought I was dreaming until I realized that my leg did actually hurt like a sunuvabitch.  It felt like my calf muscle was being torn off my leg.  Like that bad.  I woke in the morning thinking that I probably wasn't going to be able to walk.  Walking was fine, but it did hurt.  Still hurts today.  AND I had cramps in my toes last night!  WTH?  I have had one other leg cramp in my life and that was when I was preggo with Princess.  Like almost 9 years ago!  Now I have had it two nights in a row. 

Some suggestions from co-workers/friends:
eat a banana
put ivory soap in your bed (must be an old wives tale)
drink more water
stretch

Anyone have any ideas about why leg cramps occur?  I have a banana for snack packed today, I drink at least 32-48 oz of water each day--any other suggestions?


And now on to another rousing edition of Wednesday Listicles!  This week's topic is a choice--10 things you want to see before you die or 10 things that give you anxiety.  Anxiety please.  Here we go!

1.  Fighting with my husband.

2.  Conflict in general.  Any conflict with anyone.  I am not very good at defending myself and/or attacking others.

3.  Taxes.

4.  Aging and all the fun stuff that goes with it.  Chin hairs, grey hairs, big pores, sagging skin, dry and dull hair,  etc. etc. etc. Some days I just think whatever, and other days I just obsess about it.  Super glad I don't live in Hollywood or Vegas.  ack.

5.  Clutter in my house or a dirty house.  I'm not Suzy homemaker or anything but I get really irritated and pissy when everyone's stuff is scattered all over the house or when my house is beyond dirty.  I cannot think of anything else until said clutter/dirt is eliminated. 

6.  Loud noises and/or repetitive noises.  (There will be no drum players in my house.)  I am very sound intolerant so if there is someone tapping, banging, scraping, whatever--it just drives me mad.  Chinese water torture has nothing on me, someone tapping over and over--now that will send me over the edge. 

7.  OWS.  See THIS post.  Apparantly, I have an issue with unclear water.  Time will tell to see if I can overcome this--Rev 3 Oly tri in Old Orchard Beach 8/26/12. 

8.  Remaking glasses if a patient has a problem with the new prescription.  I always feel like they think I'm an idiot even though 99.9% of the time the problem has nothing to do with my prescription-writing ability.

9.  Family drama--see #2.

10.  Insomnia.  If I don't fall asleep within 20 minutes of shutting off the lights, my mind starts going nuts.  Here's what goes on inside my head:

12 a.m. oh shit.  still not asleep yet.  should I take an Advil PM?  no, let's give it a few.  clear mind.  count sheep.  quiet.  clear mind. 

1 a.m. double shit.  still awake.  wtf.  I'm going to be so tired tomorrow.  think quiet thoughts.  dream about being on vacation on a beach relaxing.  quiet. calm. 

2 a.m.  wtf?  still not sleeping.  I've got to get up in 4 freakin' hours.  how the heck am I going to function tomorrow?  f**k. 

2:30 a.m  f**k f**k f**k.  too late to take an Advil PM.  wtf.  should I get up to read?  watch tv?  f**k. 

<finally falls asleep at 3 a.m.> 

6:58 a.m. wakes up in a panic by husband leaving for work.  wtf!  why didn't you wake me up?  now I'm f**kin late!  f**k!

What makes you anxious?

Any ideas on how to avoid leg cramps?

Happy Hump Day!

Weekend Update and Virtual Race Report

The past week has been a crazy good week of swimming for me.  Winter has finally arrived in Maine and now the roads are icy and snowy and it's just plain cold.  Which means that it's a lot more fun and comfortable to take the kids swimming in the pool rather than to try to run outdoors.  Last Wednesday I got an extra swim day in because I had the closing on my house at 11 a.m.  I had to leave work early for that and it didn't make sense to drive all the way back to work to stay for just an hour (Wed. I leave early to bring Princess to dance).  So after the closing I got 2000 yds in.  Which meant that I could skip the crazy, icy, dangerous, cold run that I normally do while Princess has her class.  Pretty smart idea because that road I run on is a pretty busy route and the breakdown lanes were all icy. 

On Friday I had a pretty empty schedule that had me done at 10 a.m.  So I took advantage and ran 4 miles on the track and then swam 1500 yds!  I still had time to go home and do some cleaning before needing to head out to Girl Scouts. 

That 4 miles I wanted to get done for Toni's at Running, Loving, Living Virtual Birthday Run.  I ran the 4 miles in about 34 minutes.  You still have time to get in on this race.  She's giving away some pretty cool prizes so head over and check it out.  1/27 is the last day to run.

Even with the ipod, running on the track is unbelievably boring.  I was able to watch some tennis going on in the field house below, but still pretty frickin' boring.  It's also hard not to lose count of the laps.  You need 8 1/4 for 1 mile.  Some of the walkers have those counter things that they click each time they go around.  I so wish my Garmin would work in there--but it doesn't.  The Nike+ thing in my shoe used to work great, but now I don't wear Nike shoes anymore so there isn't anywhere to put the sensor.  Maybe I could tie it into my laces somehow...... I'll have to work on that.

Saturday was a much needed rest day.  I was still sore from P90x on Tuesday and continuous days of exercise after that.  Not to mention the kids had a million and one things to do on Saturday, it was nice to not have to squeeze in running or spinning too. 

Sunday I came in early to see a patient that had called me on Saturday.  Directly after that we had to head 70 minutes north to look at a used Volvo to replace the one hubs crashed in Dec.  He's pretty sick of using the truck and spending $80/week in gas when he used to spend $60 every two weeks.  So we drive all the way up there, I drive past the place and notice that the car is in the driveway and he has it running. By the time we turn around and get into the yard, the car has stalled and won't start again.  Good grief.  Hopefully, he can get it fixed so we can go back up to buy it.

I'll leave you with a photo of part of my lunch today. 

chicken finger??

How do you keep track of your laps on boring track runs?

Any unusual shaped pieces of fried chicken in your lunch lately?



Wednesday listicles

In keeping with my usual lateness, once again the Wednesday listicles (which is actually supposed to be Monday...) is a day late.  But not a dollar short.  Thank goodness.

Wednesday I was out of the office most of the day because I had to attend the closing on our house and bring Princess to dance.  So I didn't have any time to spend on the computer lurking on FB and writing my blog getting work done. 

This week's list is 10 things that we said we'd never do/say but have caught ourselves doing.  As a mom, some of these should ring pretty true with every other mom out there. 

1.  Talk about my kid until the person I'm talking to is about ready to explode with boredom.  I'm much better with not going on about my kids to anyone who will listen now that I have three and they are not babies anymore.  You figure out around kid 2 and age 5 that your kid is not the best at everything and that everyone thinks their kid is the cutest anyway so don't bother sharing.  Otherwise you end up in a "my kid is better than yours" pissing contest and that never ends well.

My kids really are better than yours so just give it up.  :p

2.  Call in sick to work when you aren't really sick.  I did this ONCE when I worked in Boston.  I was unhappy with the place I was working and they were not treating me right and I just felt taken advantage of.  It was the one and only time I have ever done that.  Truely.  I am a terrible liar.

3.  Snoop in my kids room.  I swore (as a kid) that I would never do this, but I have read text messages from my daughter's friends on her ipod.  (totally harmless, btw).  So far, I have no reason to do this other than being nosey.  She probably wouldn't care anyway.  She tells me everything and still likes me.  Soon to change, I'm sure.

4.  Drive my kids across the state to take fancy dance lessons/play on an AAU basketball team.  Not specifically those things, but I did always kinda of look sideways at those parents who drive their kid everywhere to be on the 'best' team or participate in the 'advanced' league.  Hmmm, enjoying that crow, Michelle? 

5.  Pay to send my kids to a different/private high school.  We haven't decided this for sure but it is certainly a consideration.  I am, for the first time, seriously thinking about what high school to send them to. 

6.  Run a half marathon.  I never in a million years ever would have thought that I could do that.  If you'd asked me 2 years ago, I would have said no freakin' way.  But I can and I did.

7.  Complete a triathlon.  Just a sprint, yes I know, but I never thought I could/would do that either.  A co-worker had been doing them for 4 years or so and I always talked with her about it, but said, no I couldn't do that.  I can't run or swim well enough. 

8.  Have kids.  I swore for years that I was never going to have kids.  My mother used to get all upset about it.  Not sure why but she did. 

9.  Live in Maine as an adult.  I swore I would never come back to Maine to live once I left for optometry school in Boston.  I thought I was going to live there (or somewhere else cool) forever.  I guess I decided that Maine was pretty cool after all.

10.  Let my kids get away with bad behavior because it's too hard to follow through on the punishment.  Guilty.  Not very often, but my middle child especially, just knows how to push my buttons and send me over the edge.  She gets away with REALLY bad behavior  1. because I don't spank (when my mother would have smacked my ass and been done with it) 2. because we are so busy that I just don't have time to make her sit in her room all day when I have groceries to get, the dump to go to, the other kid's basketball to watch etc etc.

So there is my listicles for the day.  Hope you enjoy!

Any to add to the list?

The Bad and the Good

The bad:  yesterday was Monday.  A holiday Monday.  Which means no school.  This is one of those holidays that I still work so a babysitter was needed.  Unfortunately, we only have babysitters that are overachievers and play basketball or whatever.  So they were not available due to practice.  ugh. 

More bad:  Sissy was sick as a dog Sunday night so hubby got to stay home.

The good:  no sitter needed.

The bad:  I made about 1/4 less money in 2011 than I did in 2010.

The good:  my quarterly tax payment for Jan is quite a bit less.  (woo to making less money!)

The bad:  I am not able to control myself around my peanut butter kiss cookies. 

The good:  I make some damn good peanut butter kiss cookies.

The bad:  all my computers hate me.  My home computer will not play music I actually paid for (for the first time in many years....).  It shows it on my playlist, but it skips that song and goes to the next song.  Really?  My work computer randomly just shut off three separate times yesterday while I was in the middle of composing a detailed email which took me about an hour to write.  Of course, nothing was saved.  WTF.

The good:  there is no good in that.

except I am the phone

The bad:  it snowed again this morning.

The good:  at least it looks like winter here.

The bad:  the first house I ever owned is being sold tomorrow.  I brought two new babies home to that house.  We have marks on the wall for each kid's height as they grew.  We redid about everything in that house.  It was right next to a mini-golf and ice cream stand.  I loved that house.

The good:  we close on our other house tomorrow!  We have made a nice profit on that sale and I look forward to a lower mortgage on our current house.  I am also happy for the new owner and her son to have their own house. 

The bad:  my ass is killing me from my first go around with P90X.  My spinning buddies are back and one of them has the P90X dvds so she brought them and her computer to the Y and we did it together.  We look ridiculous and are horrible at the moves but hopefully we will get better.

The good:  my ass is killing me from P90X!  What a hard/different/challenging workout.  We just did Core today.  Strangly, my ass is what hurts, not my core....

Anything good/bad going on in your life right now?



Finally Friday

Well, we finally have snow here in Maine.  The kids had a snow day yesterday, they called off school at around 6 am.  I looked out the window and there was not a flake anywhere.  Hmmmm.  No snow at all on my drive into work.  Finally at about 10  it started snowing and with a vengence!  I guess it was a good call after all, although I think they probably could have gotten a partial day in.  Whatever. 

I didn't have tennis yesterday but my spin buddies are back, yay! so Cheryl and I did spin and weights (and gossip!) for the whole hour yesterday.   I had been neglecting my weight training due to all the virtual challenges I had been involved with over the past two weeks.  I don't think I've done any weights for at least that long!  Well, my muscles sure told me all about it this morning.  Arms, abs and back are a little sore today.  That's a good thing, right?

I left work early due to the shitty weather and got home around 4.  The kids were already home with dad and they wanted to go swimming.  I called the Y and they were still open, but were thinking of closing the pool soon.  Come down now if you want to swim.  So off we went.  We got there and the lifeguard said that they kept the pool open just for us!  How about that?  We had the both the lap pool and the therapy pool to ourselves!  ha!  That was great!  I got 1500 yds in and the kids played in the therapy pool and hubs cooked himself in the sauna. 

Good news:  We are taking a family vacation to Destin, Fl in April.  I found a conference there during school vacation week and that means *tax deduction*.  We are also going to visit New Orleans, Panama City and our friends in Daphne, AL.  Any ideas of places that we should not miss?  Restaurants that we should visit?  Does anyone know of any road races in those areas during 4/13-22?  I want to do a race while I'm down there.

Bad news:  That week is the same weekend as the Nor'easter Tri.  That was my first triathlon last year and I won for my age group.  I guess I won't be able to defend my age group win this year.  Boo. 

Good news:  I just found a replacement sprint tri--the Polar Bear Tri.  Yay!  Hopefully, it doesn't conflict with any kids stuff.

Happy Winter! 



Wednesday Listicles

Lucky you, oh faithful blog readers!  You get two posts to read today due to the blogger gods hating on me yesterday!  Today's post is a fun one that I stole from Kim at (Just) Trying is for Little Girls that she stole from The Good Life.  I liked the topic, so I'm jumping on the bandwagon.  Yee haw!  She called it Monday Listicles, but I'm getting to it on Wednesday so it's going to be Wednesday Listicles for me!

wow! did you see how good I am with photoshop?  I should work in print design...

This week's list is about your top ten strange/funny/unusual/interesting jobs you have had in your life.  If you are too young to have had held 10 jobs, then write about ten crazy tasks within your job or just come up with your own job-related list.  I am most certainly just barely old enough to have held 10 jobs so I will do my best.

1.  My first job ever was a gas attendant.  Remember those?  Those people who used to pump your gas for you so you don't have to get out of the car?  Yes, that was my first job.  My step-dad was the area manager for the oil company so it was pretty easy to get the job.  I was 15?  Something like that.  When I started, everyone could wear shorts in the summer when it was hot.  For some reason, after I started working there, the company rules changed and we all had to wear long pants.  I'm not sure why....... hmmm.

2.  McDonald's drive thru queen.  Oh, yes!  I rocked that drive thru!  Crazy enough, I really didn't mind that job.  I loved working the drive thru.  When you were assigned to drive thru, you got out of all the stupid jobs like changing the trash, and restocking napkins. 

3.  Tennis instructor for the town recreation department.  Fun job.  Teaching little guys to play tennis.  Lots of chasing and tossing tennis balls.  But plenty of time in the sun. :)

4.  Work study job in college counting drosophila flies (aka fruit flies) in a biology lab. 

Holy freakin' tedious and BORING.  I learned right then that I wanted nothing to do with research. 

5.  Waitress for 3 summers in Bar Harbor at the Bar Harbor Inn.  This is the big Inn on the water with all the windows downtown.  The.  Best.  Job.  Ever.  No kidding.  With the exception of my current job, this was the best job I ever had.  Hands down.  I lived right there for $25/week taken right out of my paycheck.  My bedroom was the very top window just below and to the right of the flag on the roof.

Not too shabby huh?  Not to mention, if it were sunny and nice, I would make at least $100/day, up to $300 if it was a double.  I took every single shift I could and would work 3 doubles a week, if they let me.  I love Bar Harbor and I loved this job.  I waited on Pam Shriver one summer--they had two lobster rolls and two ice teas.  I held on to that credit card receipt for years because it had her signature.

6.  Sandwich maker for Pat's Pizza.  Pat's Pizza is a pretty famous pizza place here in Maine that originated in Orono, near University of Maine.  You could get a cheese pizza for like $2 when I was in college.  So, you can imagine that it was pretty dang busy.  Best thing about this job was we got to eat whatever we wanted.  No one cared.  Except my ass and my scale.  I think I gained 10lbs working there.  Worst part of the job--Pat was a dirty old man (like 90) who smoked cigars all through the joint. 

7.  Typist in college.  This was before the time when everyone had their own computer and could type.  I used to type up reports for people (mostly dumb football players).  I charged $1/page.  Pretty easy work really.  The football players got a bonus because I would basically rewrite their poorly written work.  I just couldn't stand to type grammatical, spelling errors or just shitty work.  I would fix it so it sounded normal.  I should have charged extra for that. 

8.  Optical sales at a chain store in the mall.  This job I didn't like very much even though it was part of my profession that I was studying for.  The main goal of this job was to sell glasses, with a high price, whether they needed it or not.  I hated that aspect of the job.  The Upsell part.  I just felt like I was cheating people.  Some of the crap they sold there was just crap and they made you pay extra for scratch guard but then didn't put it on.  Stuff like that.  One good thing--it was right near Cinnabon so I would have a Cinnabon and Mt. Dew for breakfast every time I worked.  Breakfast of champions!

9.  Cocktail Waitress/Waitress at a very popular bar/restaurant in Boston.  The job itself was just a waitressing job.  Give people food and drink.  But the exciting part of this job was that the place was a bar that had live entertainment on the weekend and it was packed--it was one of the fun places to go out to on a Friday.  So, it was like being 'out' but not spending money or getting drunk.  *bonus*  Oh, and I made good money too.  *double bonus*  The bartenters that worked there had been there for years.  Some of them were lawyers that stayed on after they passed the bar because the money was so good.  Those bartenders would make $300-400 on a Friday night.  EACH! 

I once waited on Jose Conseco there when he was doing a radio broadcast live from the bar.  He is an arrogant ass.  I did not like him at all.

10.  Optometrist!  My profession now and most days I love my job.  I get to be my own boss and help people too.  The 8-4:30 schedule isn't too bad either.

Now, go!  Make your own list and then you can link it up to The Good Life HERE.

Virtual Challenges Recap/New Threads

I just finished up two different virtual challenges this week.  The first one was the HBBC hosted by Amanda at Run to the Finish.  I don't know how I placed in the challenge, not the winner--I do know that, but that doesn't even matter.  I really enjoyed this challenge because it kept me active every single day.  Every day I wanted to make sure I had some points going on the board.  I never wanted to log a zero for the day.  How's that for motivation?  I may just keep this 'challenge' going on, but challenge myself to keep a certain number of points for each week.  I also liked this one because it gave you a bonus point for eating 7 fruits and vegetables each day.  I think I only earned that extra point 3 or 4 times, but it did keep me trying to eat more fruit to get to the magic number of 7. 

My last week of Holiday Booty Buster Challenge went like this:
--12/31 40 minutes of swim = 4 points
--1/1 8 mile run = 8 Double points for a run that day = 16 +1 (fruits/veggies) +1 (participating in Resolution Run) = 18
--1/2 1 hour of tennis = 6 + 1 veggies = 7
--1/3  1 hour of spin = 6 + 1 veggies = 7
--1/4  4 mile run = 4
--1/5  30 minutes spin and 60 min tennis 3 + 6 + 1 veggie = 10
--1/6  50 minutes of swim = 5

All in all a pretty good week. 

This overlapped with KDub's 70.3 Half Ironman Challenge which began 1/1 and ends tomorrow.  You had to complete a half Ironman in an 11 day period.  For those not in the know a 1/2 ironman is:
2100 yds swim
56 mile bike
13.1 mile run

I completed this challenge today.  Yay me!  The bike part was the hardest for me.  1 hour on the spin only equaled 16 miles so I had to get to the spin bike a bit more often than my usual.  Here is the total for how that went:

1/1--8 mile run 1:12
1/3--16 miles on spin bike 60 minutes
1/4--4 mile run 35:12
1/5--8 miles on spin bike 30 minutes
1/6--2100 yd swim in 44 minutes
1/7--10 miles on stationary bike 31 minutes
1/8--3.1 mile road race 24 minutes
1/9--8 miles on spin bike 30 minutes
1/10--16 miles on spin bike 60 minutes

I am an Ironman!

I know.  Not really.  Just let me wallow in my dream land for a little while...

Karen will choose a couple of random winners from those that complete the challenge so I have a chance to win something.  (probably the only time I will ever have a chance to win something by completing an Ironman...)


Lastly, I got some new running gear in the mail today!  I received an email from Running Skirts advertising a sale they were having on some of their skirts.  So, of course, I felt the need to make a purchase!  Ordinarily, because I am frugal (read: cheap) $72 for a capri skirt is a little high priced, but the sale price brought it down to $43 which is reasonable.  Here is the cute little number I purchased.

of course, that is me modeling it.....ha

I know!  Awesome, right? It is even better in real life.  The material is so soft and comfy and I love the pockets on the side.  I will be Miss Stylin' at the next race I run in.  I just need to find a cute top to match now. 

I also got just the skirt (with athletic shorts underneath) and a tank top.  This will have to wait until much warmer weather.

I got this one in the blue with yellow on the side and a yellow tank to match.  You should be able to see me from a mile away.  This should assure that I don't miss out on any photo taking at the finish line again.  Cute

bright outfit = good race photos, right?

I might have to start a Running Skirts Collection.  Do you suppose they take children as payment?  I have three.  I could spare one or two….  I kid.  I kid.


*Addendum*--this post was written yesterday but due to either blogger error or computer idiot error (or both), I lost half this post and had to rewrite it multiple times!  Then it wouldn't save what I rewrote.  Talk about an aggravating day!  So, I apologize if this post lacks my usual clever writing style and wit.  (Go with me.  I'm still in dream land.  You know, the place where I am witty and have completed an Ironman?)  It's hard to be witty when you've written the same thought 4 times.

Frozen 5K/Underwater Music

I ran in my first race of the year yesterday.  It was the Frozen 5K in Scarborough to benefit the local cross country/track team.  I had seen the race on coolrunning.com and thought I might try to make it if it didn't interfere with family stuff.  The hubs and the kids all went 4-wheeling with hubby's friends and they were going to be gone all day.  Fortunately, unfortunately, no wives were going.  boo hoo.  That left me with the whole day to myself.  So, I sent a text to my friend to see if she wanted to meet me to run the race.  It was about 80 minutes away from my house so I packed my stuff and headed, waiting to see if she could come.  If not, then I had a bunch of stuff that needed returning/exchanging and I would take care of that instead. 

I didn't hear from her for a bit and then after about 30 minutes she texted me back that she had just got to church and wouldn't be able to make it.  So I thought I would bag the race and just shop instead.  (All this while I'm driving toward Portland--where all the shopping is.)  Well, as I got closer, I thought about it more and decided that I was just going to do the race anyway.  What was stopping me really?  The kids and hubs were going to be gone all day.  Why couldn't I do the race AND the shopping?  So on kinda a last minute whim, I drove to the high school and signed up. 

It was a pretty easy course and the weather was pretty accomodating.  A bit more wind than I like but just the right temperature.  Mile 1 = 7:36.  Holy crap!  That's pretty fast for me.  But I felt great so I kept with it.  Mile 2 = 14:40.  Even better.  Finish = 24:01.  New PR!  Yay!

As I'm running, I am aware of a person behind me from about 1.5 miles in.  Sometimes she would be closer and sometimes she would be further back, but she was right there the whole way.  (I know this cause I need to spit a lot when I run, so I'm always checking that I don't spit on someone.  I know.  I'm nice and classy like that.)

So, anyway, we get to the final stretch and I look and she's right next to me.  All of a sudden, I'm pissed because she's not going to pass me right at the finish.  I say, "Oh no you don't" loudly and speed up to make sure she doesn't pass me.  Oh, yes.  I said that in my out loud voice.  Like this was the freakin' Olympics or something.  It's a stupid little 5k fundraiser.  WTH is wrong with me?  I totally felt like a jerk afterward.
but I did beat her.  neener neener.


On a less competitive note, we have this fabulous new pool at our local Y and there are speakers that are in the pool walls so that when you are swimming (if they have the music on) you can hear music underwater!  That was pretty cool, I do have to say.  But a very weird thing--I wear ear plugs when I swim because I can't stand water in my ears.  So, when my head was out of the water, I couldn't hear the music (even though it was playing in the speakers out of the ceiling).  But when I went underwater, I could hear the music clear as a bell!  Even with the ear plugs in!  I know there is some physics class that I must have missed that should explain this, but pondering that very concept kept my mind busy for just about 1000 yds.  In water = very clear music even with ear plugs in.  Out of water = muffled music through ear plugs.  Still pondering that.

Have you ever said something out loud running that was meant to just stay in your own head?

Any ideas on the underwater ear plug thing?

For New England Runners!

Just a quickie post today to share an email I got today.  I received an email to register for a group called running4free.com.  It provides information to local races and links to register directly, but more importantly, there is no extra fee for online registration!  It doesn't look like every race in our area is particiapting, but there were about 10 listed through April.  Maybe it will gain more popularity and more races will join in. 

I like the idea of everything being listed in one place, but more glad about the fees being the same.  It would irritate me when there was an extra fee for online registration.

Anyhoo, if you are interested, here's the link:
http://running4free.com/

Have a great Friday!!

Not keeping up with the Jones'

My heart broke a little last night.  I cried inside for my daughter.  My eldest daughter (who is 12) was sad and crying last night because of Christmas.  This was the first year that she realized that some other families get bigger, more expensive, and just more things for Christmas. 

You may or may not know this about me, but I do not like Christmas at all for this very reason.  Christmas has been warped and distorted and disfigured into something not at all what it is supposed to be about.  I refuse to participate in the disgusting consumerism and waste that is Christmas now.  I budget and plan to spend around $300-400 per kid on the holiday.  I think that is reasonable and doable and it's what I choose to do.  I know others do waaaaayyyy more than that and that is fine.  It is just not fine for my family. 

The kids were happy with their gifts this year, the big gift was a Wii.  This is a huge deal in our family because we have never had any video games.  My husband and I don't like what they do to kids and the time that is wasted sitting in front of the TV or screen playing.  The kids do have a DS which they use mostly for car rides and plane trips.  So the Wii was a huge step for us and the kids were super excited. 

That is until this week.  When everyone goes back to school and the first question out of everyone's mouth is, "What did you get for Xmas?".  I guess the big gift around this area was the Kindle Fire which multiple kids in multiple families each got.  And apparently the Wii is pretty unimpressive to those that already have them.

So she is crying to me, sad about all the other cool gifts that the kids at school were bragging about getting and jealous (she admitted this feeling to me) about what she didn't get.  --Here's where parenting is really hard.-- 

How do you explain that Christmas is not about things?  It's about family, and friends and spending time with them and giving to others.  (which we do, but I really feel now, that we need to do more.  And something more meaningful, like donating time rather than just money.)  Christmas is about being thankful for what you have.  And sharing your good fortune with others.  I went on with telling her that there are always people who are going to have more, and always people who are going to have less.  We choose to spend less of our money on 'stuff' and more of our money on experiences like taking trips, going to sports camps, boating, fishing etc. 
 
Even as adults we still deal with this.  That person who get a new car every year or two.  Or always has the biggest tv going, or the newest clothes, shoes whatever.  You just can't keep up.  Nor should you feel the need to. 

I'm sorry and glad that she is learning this lesson.  Sorry that she has to feel sad about the gifts she received.   Sad that she feels like what she has isn't enough.  When in fact, she has more than enough and is so much more fortunate than she realizes.  Glad that she was able to talk about her feelings with me.   Glad that I think she understands, even if she still feels sad. 

Do you keep up with the Jones'?

Are you the Jones'? 

Parents:  Have you had to have this discussion with your children?  How did you handle it?

Year End Totals

Even though I did my best to come up with 2011 totals, I'm sure they are off a bit as I didn't start this blog until 2/11 and I didn't keep a running journal until sometime in May.  Even still, I'm kinda happy with my milage this past year and will be looking to set new goals for 2012.

Miles Run in 2011--600 (approximately)  I had to guestimate for January so it's probably a little low.  However, I'm pleasantly suprised that it's higher than 500. 

Milage Goal for 2012--1000  This shouldn't be too difficult to obtain if I continue the routine I'm on right now.

Spin Minutes for 2011--2625  If you assume ~ 16 mph then that equates to 164 miles biked. There is definitely room to improve in the biking department. 

Bike Milage Goal for 2012--250.  That seems like a reasonable amount to obtain.  I need to actually get on a bike and bike on the road.  That would make this goal a lot more fun to reach.  Maybe I'll try the bike portion of the Dempsey Challenge this year.  That would be something new for me.  I've never done strictly a bike race before. 

Swimming Yards--47,800  (I put this number in yards cause the number is so high and sounds better... lol)  That equates to about 27.2 miles.  That's pretty darn good, really!  This is also taking into account that our local Y pool was closed until October and I had to drive 20-30 minutes to get to a pool for most of the year.

Swimming Goal for 2012--I think 50 miles is an obtainable goal.  That assumes at least 1 mile of swimming each week and I'm doing that pretty consistently lately.  I woud like to get into that 100 mile club sometime this year but I won't make that an official goal.  Doubling my milage is more reasonable. 


Some awesome firsts for me this year!

--First sprint triathlon with one of my best friends.

wonder twin powers!  activate!

I may have just dated myself.....

First in age group!  woot!

--First 10K

--First and most awesome trip to Grand Canyon!!

--First 1/2 Marathon

sorry no pictures because it was pouring like a son-of-a-gun and my family was at my daughter's basketball game and the stupid race photographer didn't get a picture of me.  But I'm not bitter.  Really.  Much. 



I can't wait to see what 2012 brings!

December Review and Resolution Run

December turned out to be a better month for me exercise-wise than I realized!  Even though the holidays were a stress-inducing nightmare really relaxing time, I was still able to keep my fitness and remain active.  Here are the totals for the month:

Miles Run--21.2 eek.  That is pretty pathetic.  This darkness morning and night has really put a damper on my ability to run.  Next month will be better.  I promise!

Minutes on Spin Bike--305  Way up on the spin minutes!  At least I am still getting some quality time on the spin bike.  I should really kick ass in the bike portion of my spring tris, right?

Swim--13,100 yards!  That is almost 10 miles!  Holy crap!  That is pretty good, if I do say so myself.  If I am sucking in the running department, I am really making up for it in swimming and biking.  Again, like November, the kids are just loving the new pool and want to go swimming all the time.  They are all old enough that I can just ignore them let them do their own thing in the pool, while I get my laps in.  In fact, my lap swimming is becoming infectious.  Two of my kids, Big Sissy and Manimal, are swimming their own laps and keeping track so they can join the 100 mile club too!  Sissy has somewhere around 40 laps and Manimal is at 20.  They may be out of high school by the time they reach 100 miles, but I am so glad and proud that they want to try! 

Tennis--7 hours played.  Pretty consistent with the previous month.  If she's holding the class, then I am there two times a week.  If you have a cardio tennis program near you, you should really try it if you are looking for something different to add to your routine.  It really helps with your quickness. 

Weight Training--110 minutes.  This is up a fair amount from last month as well.  If I can keep this up, I should be in pretty good shape for all my races this spring. 

Races--None this month.  I hope to do one in January but we'll see.  This is the one month that we don't have something every stinkin' weekend.  That all starts in February when AAU basketball starts.  If a race is convenient, then I'll sign up.  Not a huge priority right now.

Current Book--I never ended up reading Little Bee, so we will have to try again this month.  I'm also going to begin reading Trespassor by Jack Dorion.  I really enjoyed his first book The Poacher's Son as did my husband, so we bought his second book.  He is an author from Maine!  *bonus*  I love supporting people from Maine.

Current Song--no new music to report.  Still same old, same old.

Current Happy Thing--we have a closing date for our house!  Yay!  We are set to close on 1/18.  Right now we are trying to get last of the big things out of the house.  We (by 'we' I mean my husband and two teenaged boys) moved the million pound woodstove and my stairmaster out yesterday.  Maybe I will actually use the thing if I set it up inside.  Today the hubs is taking apart the swingset and hopefully moving that.  Then all that is left is some stuff under the deck and random paint cans etc. 

Current Healthy Food Find--I am so enjoying the spaghetti squash!  I add it to about everything in place of pasta.  You may remember my recipe here, that replaces the actual spaghetti with the spaghetti squash.  If you haven't tried it as a pasta substitute, then you should.  It is a super easy way to add vegetables to your food, and not really taste them. 


Lastly, I participated in the Resolution Run yesterday held by Amanda from Run to the Finish. ! You had to run at least 1 mile on New Year's Day.  Well, here in Maine, it was an unbelievable 48 deg outside.  And sunny!  Imagine that!  It was a Christmas New Year's Day miracle!  So I took full advantage of my family sitting on the couch watching the Patriots, and went for a run.  It was going to be a 5 mile run, but then I got going and it was warm so I took off my jacket and stashed in the the guardrail and continued on.  I got to my 5 mile turn around point and decided to just do the loop instead, which was 6 miles.  Once I got back to my driveway, I then had to keep going to retreive my jacket, which added another 1.5 miles!  So, I got a 7.5 mile run in!  Awesome!  My longest run since my 1/2 mary in October.  I am a little sore today, but it was great to know that I can still do it.  Plus, it gives me double points in the HBBC!  ha!  bonus!

I did take pictures which I will try to post later if I can get them off my ipod.  I don't have an email account linked up to the ipod so getting those photos to my work computer is a little trickier.  I'll work on it this afternoon.  Thanks, Amanda for hosting the race!

How was your December?  Did you accomplish what you wanted to?

Is your new year off to a good start?

Happy New Year to all my bloggy (and regular) friends!