When I Grow Up

Listicles topic this week is Things I Thought I Would Do/Be When I Grew Up.  This kind of topic can either make you feel good or bad about yourself depending on what you have done with your life.  Or, I suppose, it can make you reevalute the direction your life is going and change course to maybe do or be some of those things that you wanted to do or be.  There's still time, right?

1. Gymnast
I always wanted to be an Olympic gymnast.  It was the time of Mary Lou Retton and the world was transfixed on her 10 score.  Her cute face.  Her bubbly personality.  And her talent.  I started dreaming when I was 10 and then it just intesified with the 1984 Olympics.  I was 14.  Almost over the hill for gymnastics, but I thought with hard work, there's still time for me to be good at gymnastics.  Ahhh, the niavity of youth.

2.  Ice Skater
Those stupid Olympics just made me want to dream and dream about all I could be if I just had an ice rink nearby and could take some lessons.  But like gymnastics--it never happened.  Although, I can finally skate backwards now! :)

3.  Jacques Cousteau/Marine Biologist
I dreamed of being a dolphin trainer at Sea World and everyone would come to see my fabulous shows.  Or diving on the Great Barrier Reef and studying clown fish.  That desire was squashed pretty quickly at University when I had to take Vertebrate Biology.  We were required as part of the lab to identify fish by using this identifier book.  They all looked the same and you had to count gill rakers and spines and know their common name and the scientific name.  wtf.  Impossible.  I dropped that lab faster than a fat kid at a cake buffet.  Loved the class though, but I knew I was going to fail the lab.

I guess that worked in my favor though, since I wasn't drowned by Shamu.

4.  Single and Not A Mom
As a kid, I never wanted to get married and I never wanted kids.  Hmm.  Guess I changed my mind somewhere along the line.

5.  World Traveler
See #4.  Since I never envisioned myself having a husband or kids, I also envisioned myself traveling the world seeing all the sights while I saved Nemo or skated my triple axel.  Still waiting to visit a country that doesn't touch the US.  <someday>

6.  Dancer
I guess that kinda goes along with gymnast and ice skater though, doesn't it?  Really though, what little girl doesn't want to be a dancer with all those cute costumes they get to wear?

7.  Veterinarian
I had always, always wanted to be a vet.  Always.  When I got to college I found out it was harder to get into veterinarian school than it was to get into medical school.  Less need for vets and less schools + many applications = many rejections.  So I switched gears and decided to choose from the 4 disciplines that didn't require medical school:  podiatry, chiropractic, dentristry and optometry.  The eyes won.

8.  Confident
I always assumed that once you were a grown-up you were automatically confident with everything you say and do.  How disappointing to find out that isn't true. 
 

What did you want to be/do when you grew up?

First Speed Workout on the Track

Friday I wanted to run but had limited time and the temperature was 0.  As in ZERO.  Like no degrees at all.  I decided that this might be a little too cold for what I felt like that day so I was going to run on the track at our Y. 

The thought of counting out 40 laps on this track for 5 miles was just overwhelming--I just knew I would lose track around 23 and then not know where I was.  So I googled track workouts and found this one:

10 x 400 with 400 rest intervals

I went ahead and assumed one lap around our track was 200 since 8 laps was a mile.  (That's kinda correct, right?)  So two laps would equal the 400 that the workout was calling for.  I did the math for what time I should shoot for based loosely on my average 5K time.  The directions were to find your 5K pace, divide by 4 and subtract 10 seconds.  Basing on 26:00 for 5K, I came up with 1:56 for my time to complete the 400.  I have run faster 5K's than 26, but haven't run one in almost a year so I thought I wouldn't make my goals too lofty.  So this is what actually happened:

1:45
1:46
1:44
1:46
1:48
1:45
1:49
1:52
1:50
1:45

When I saw what my first lap was and I wasn't full out sprinting (which I wouldn't be able to maintain x's 10), I knew I could keep that pace.  It was faster running than I do for a regular run, but not sprinting. 

I have no idea if this is fast, slow or otherwise.  I wonder what my 5K time should be based on this workout...  I cannot be bothered to work to the math backward.

Pros to indoor track workout:
~not cold
~went by fast--keeping track of splits and rest laps kept my mind occupied
~I wasn't bored so I didn't need music
~5 miles in 40 minutes--not too shabby!

Cons:
~weaving around the walkers
~needing to clear my nose and not being able to...
~high fiving the mentally challenged adult EVERY time I passed him.  I was down with it the first few times, but after about 20 laps, I was over it.

I do think our track is based on yards and not meters and this workout was in meters...  does that matter?  Did I still do 5 miles?  Gah.  This math is killing my head.  I should ask a 5th grader.

Do you do track/speed workouts?  Do you like them?

Is this fast or slow or average?  I really have no idea.

what's in my closet--listicles

Stasha at Northwest Mommy hosts Listicles every week and I usually pick and choose which ones I participate in.  This week sounded good--10 things in your closet.  Oh gosh!  Do you really want to go there?  Scary stuff.  But I did.  I went there and here are the good, bad and the ugly things in my closet.

1.  My wedding dress.  Yes, I still have it.  I have no idea if I still fit into it or not.  Probably.  I also have the veil, earrings and necklace I wore.  It didn't have it professionally sealed so it's a little ercu colored instead of it's original white. 

2.  Guns.  Technically not mine, but they are in my closet.  You never know when you might need a gun.  No idea where the bullets are though. 

3.  Also seen in the above picture--a box of clothes my husband hasn't even unpacked since we moved in this house almost 4 years ago.  I suppose that means I should bring them to Goodwill, right?  But no.  This is the husband that keeps everything.  Gah.  Oh, and the dress shoes that he wears only to funerals.

4.  Coach purses that I don't use anymore.  I had another black Coach purse that when I stopped using it, my husband stole it for his ammo.  It's the nicest bullet holder you will ever find.  He is one stylish hunter.

5.  A screen from the window that we took out to put the air conditioner in.  But never put back once the air conditioner came out.  Thankfully, it tucks up nicely against the closet wall and isn't in the way at all.

6.  A box of arrowheads and paint rocks I bought for Girl Scouts and never used and then was going to use it for geocaching but that never happened either so there it sits, 6 years later, in my closet. (The cardboard box on the left.)

7.  Also seen in above photo--my excellent housekeeping skills. 

8.  Two bins of summer clothes that haven't seen the light of day in close to 2 years.  Again, I should just bring the whole lot of it to Goodwill and start over.

9.  Sweaters lining the top shelf that I never wear anymore because it's always too hot at work.  There used to be a kid's guitar that some really nice babysitter gave to us when she was cleaning out her stuff.  yes, thanks.  The kids drove me crazy strumming that thing for about a day until I finally stashed it in the top of my closet.  There it sat for 2 years until I finally donated it to the school music program a month ago. 

10.  In that hanging shoe rack are a really cool pair of cowboy boots I got when I was in Dallas 17+ years ago.  I paid way too much money for them but I love them.

And that, my friends, is what I have in my closet.  No skeletons.  Just a lot of crap.  How about you?

there's no place like home

Last Friday I took the day off to get down to Portland to see my dermatologist.  I have the rash thing on my face and the medicine was 7 years old and didn't seem to be working.  Hmmmm,  I wonder why?  Once I knew I was heading down for the appointment, I set up a run date with my friend, Danielle, who lives down there.  Little did I know that it was going to be 7* out that am.... 

But, being the badasses that we are, we went anyway.  5 miles around Back Cove, mostly on the roads because the run path was snow and ice covered and being the preggo that she is, we didn't want any falling mishaps to occur.  Surprisingly, 7* didn't seem all that bad once we got going.  In fact, I was almost a little too warm when we were finished. 

Danielle has been my 'pretend friend' for awhile on twitter and via our blogs but I had only met her for real just last month when we did the Operation Jack 10K run.  It's weird, but I felt like I already knew her even though we had never met.  You would think it would be weird to spend an hour running with someone you've only met once, but it wasn't.  I think that's partly because she's just so nice and someone I would have been friends with anyway, but just hadn't met.  The other reason is that there's just something about running and runners that overall, they are just a nice group of people who are welcoming and genuine.  All of the running folks that I've met via this blog have been really great--Jen, Carrie, Danielle and Jen.  I think it's easier to find friends among runners because you already know you have something in common.

Anyway, after our run I had about an hour to get to the local Y and get a shower before heading to the Dr.  I thought the doc might appreciate me washing the stink off before I showed up to see him.  Danielle got me to the Portland Y and then headed out.  I had to drive around a bit before finding street parking and then I had really about 40 minutes to shower and get to my appointment.  I rushed in and checked in with the desk lady to ask where the showers were because I had never used this Y before.  She said all the keys were out already but I could just knock on the door and it was down that hall blah blah blah.  Keys?  The locker room is locked?  Oy. 

So I knock and someone lets me in.  Let me just say, that I must be really spoiled by our really nice, new Y facility in Boothbay Harbor.  I have no idea why they would need to keep the locker room locked.  This locker room was shaped like an O, with the showers in the back and the changing area was like a narrow hallway.  Gah.  This means that in order to find the tiny spot in which I could change, I had to squeeze my way past 7 70 year olds in various stages of undress to the way back of the 'hallway'.  I brushed boobs and butts and just tried not to think about it. 

The showers were 3 shower heads in a gang style shower.  Didn't gang showers go out in the 70's?  I opted for the one shower that had a curtain--I guess it was the handicapped shower because it also had a stool.  Screw it.  There weren't any wheelchairs in there so I was taking the curtain.  Honestly, I don't think a wheelchair could have even fit through that hallway locker room anyway.  Fastest shower ever and I was out of there. 

Never will I ever complain about our YMCA again.  It is the Taj Mahal compared to this Y.



Sissy had playoff games for her 7th Grade Busline League Friday when I got back from the doctor.  They won that game so they got to move on to the Championship on Saturday--which they won also!  Sissy had a great game with some great foul shooting, ball handling and 12 points.  They finished the season 16-1 and won the regular season trophy and the championship trophy!  Such an exciting day for her and us.

Follow this link and you can see my kiddo eating that girl up.  #33 white team.  Or here.

My kiddo is in the front middle holding the trophy on the right.

Have you ever visited another gym and been grossed out?

Don't you agree that runners are the nicest people?

normalcy, lockdown and vassholes?

The strangest thing ever happened last night.... we all were home at 5 and had nothing to do that evening.  Gasp!  Imagine it!  An evening free of scheduled activities! 

Because of the snow we had during the day, everything was cancelled.  So we went from having a playoff basketball game, jiu-jitsu class and son's basketball practice to having, well, nothing.  It was a little strange. 

I was home at 4:30, made dinner, ate dinner, did dishes twice--before-dinner dishes and after-dinner dishes, homework got done and it was all before 6:00!  So we made chocolate chip cookies and muddy buddies.  I even managed to get some laundry done.  Younger kids were in bed by 7:45 and older kid in bed by 8:30.  Craziness.

I can't imagine life like that every night, but I have to say, it was really nice to have nothing to do. 



Today the kids are having a lockdown drill at school.  Yes, like practice for if a person with a gun comes in their school to shoot them.  It's a sad day in America when we need to have this kind of drill.  I'm happy that they are practicing it and will be prepared for such an event in case it ever happens, but at the same time really sad that my kids have to know about it and practice for it.  The doors will all be locked, shades pulled, and the kids will hide in cubbies.  If they are in the bathroom when it happens, a teacher will lock them in, and they must stay in the locked stall scooching on the toliet so no one can see their feet under the stall.  Once everything is cleared by police or authorities, everyone will be unlocked. 



Funniest thing I've read on the internet in a long time.

Read here.

Have you ever had a activity-free evening?  Did you know what do to with yourself?

Do you have a vasshole? 

must read above link to understand.

I do not.  Thank you 3 c-sections.

Some Pretty New Shoes!

So so so excited!  I swear, I knew if I were patient and looked long enough, I would find what I want.  Isn't that how it works?  Good things come to those who wait?

For at least 6 months now, I've been searching around for some new bike shoes.  The ones I have came with the bike when I bought it used.  I was so happy to have some that it didn't really matter that they were 1.  ass ugly 2.  a size too big and 3.  did I mention they were ass ugly?  But they functioned and were free.  So who's going to complain?

U G LY right?  And a size 9.  Holy Shrek foot.

Many folks offered their advice and said that the Pearl Izumi brand would be the way to go.  However, those shoes brand new are close to $200.  Yikes!  Which I would spend (if I had to), but I have no problem buying things used or on clearance or off craigslist in order to get a deal.  I'm not a professional triathlete, it's just a hobby, so I don't mind waiting to get what I want.

So I found a brand new pair of Pearl Izumi Tri Fly IV on ebay in approximately my size.  Now I've never been fitted for bike shoes before.  The shoes I have say they are size 42 and I bought them from a man so I'll assume they are men's shoes.  Which I think is around a 9 womens in US sizes.  And they are pretty darn big for me.  The Izumi's that I found were 41.5 womens.  So I figured around an 8.5 womens.  Should be fine.  I wanted them a little big so I can slip them on and off quickly. 

I thought I was taking a little bit of a chance buying the shoes without trying them on but the price was right.   I put them on my watch list and then....oops forgot about them.  The auction ended and no one bought them.  So in my scheming little mind, I contacted the seller directly and offered to purchase them outright or when he relisted them.  Bam!  $66 for brand new, never worn, never even tried on, Pearl Izumi Tri Fly bike shoes!  Boo ya!

aren't they so pretty?

And the best part is, they fit freakin' perfectly!!  Like they were made for me! 

They came with brand new Shimano clips which don't match at all the pedals I have on my bike currently.

Thankfully, with a little digging of the dirt out of the hex nut, a little bit of unscrewing and screwing (that sounds a little dirty...), and voila!  Old clips are on new shoes. 

I'll keep the new Shimano clips in case I want to get new pedals someday.  But for right now, I know how to clip in and out of these ones pretty easily so I'll just go with the ones I have. 

Have you ever scored a super deal on something on ebay?

Do you have preference between types of clips and pedals?

Post-Holiday Crazy

We are starting to get back in the swing of things--back to work, back to school, all activities back on schedule.  Can you imagine I have to work an entire FIVE days in a row this week?  I think it's been at least 3 weeks since I've worked a full week.  Friday can't come soon enough.

Strangely, even with all that time off, my house isn't any cleaner.  It still looks as though a bomb went off in it.  I think I've gone beyond the kids:clean house ratio.  With more than 1 or 2 kids, it is virtually impossible to keep the house clean/laundry done/floors washed/bedrooms neat unless that is your only job.  And no one ever comes home.  Or wears clothes.  Or eats.

I did manage to clean out the fish tank this past weekend.  This poor fish has been swimming in the same water since he came home from school last June.  You would not believe the amount of fish poo on the bottom of that tank.  It was pretty foul and I half wonder if PETA might not be calling soon. 

In fact, the tank was so dirty I think the cats couldn't see the fish in the tank anymore.  Because as soon as I had cleaned it out, this is how I found the cat:

 

Lying behind the fish tank watching the fish.  Watching. Waiting.  Wishing. 


I did manage to get in some runs once I got past the dirty house, piles of laundry and dirty dishes.  Somehow, I don't see any of that once I start running.  Instead I get to look at this:

Beautiful, crisp sunny day.  Snow, ocean and sun.  What more can you ask for?

A clean house.  But that's not gonna happen.

You might notice I'm wearing two of my favorite Christmas presents I received.  That headband has headphones right in it!  It is awesome!  The family found it at Old Navy (of all places..), on clearance--for $10!  You can't beat it.

The peacock InkNBurn shirt is the other.  Love it!  It matches perfectly with the blue warm tech shirt and my neon yellow Brooks running jacket that I have around my waist in this pic. 

I also have a blue pair of leggings I got from PV Body that match it perfectly too. 


Other totally random thoughts:

--Thumb holes are the best thing ever.  Every shirt should have thumb holes.

--I should probably not eat garlic-y green beans for lunch.

--Two girls playing club field hockey means leaving for a tournament at 6:30 a.m. and not getting home until 5:00 p.m.  At least it's in the same arena.  Thank god for small things.

--You can have results or you can have excuses.  You can't have both.  Just read this quote and it really rang true to me.  It's my new motto.

--I have so many gift cards hanging around that I forget to use.  Somehow, I just never remember to pull them out when I'm in that store.  I also get some from the office for buying certain products and I never think to use them either.  Right now, in my possesion, I have $120 in amex cards, $50 Dicks, $50 gas card, $40 to the local car wash, $50 to a local gift shop and a $10 McD's card. 

--When you wear skinny pants, socks need to go on before the pants. #holytightankles

--I have a new race on the agenda this year that I want to do with my good friend, Bobbi.  The Maine Women's Ride out of Freeport, Me.  I want to do the 50 miler.  Good practice for an Iron Half-Full. 

Is your house ever clean?  If yes, do you have kids?  (I thought not.)

 

Do you have any new races on your agenda?