Weekend Recap

Finally the nice warm weather has arrived in Maine!  We had a really warm and nice weekend and it was just great!  Unfortunately, with the sun comes the black flies.  They were deadly this weekend and our family took a beating. 

Bug bite directly under my eye!

Close up in case you couldn't see!  Please ignore the wrinkles and face without makeup.....

I was not the only victim of the bugs.  My poor middle daughter got one on her eyelid.

Looking good, huh?  Poor girl, she is allergic to the black flies and swells right up with every bite.  Same daughter when she was 1 with a similar bite.

This one was a little worse.  It was swollen shut for a week!  Same eyelid though...that's kinda funny that it happened to the same eyelid.

Yesterday we had the Memorial Day parade and my Girl Scout troop marched in it.  They are so cute!

Well, one more week to go to my Sprint Tri!  I can't believe it is this Sunday!  I was able to swim on Friday and had the lifeguard time me so I could be placed in the correct wave.  I swam 500 yds in 9:56.  Not sure where that puts me, but I'm pretty happy with the time.  Hopefully, I can do that well on Sunday.  I don't think I'm going to get any awards for this race because they only give out an award to the first finisher in each age group.  I'm pretty sure I won't be first.  I could try for third but unlikely to get first.  Oh well.  I'll do my best and we'll see where the chips fall.  Looks like the weather is going to cooperate for the weekend though.  Temperatures are finally climbing a little here in Maine.  Just no rain, please!

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend.  Let the summer begin!

Winners!

So sorry I didn't blog yesterday, I had taken a sanity day off from work.  It was great!  I brought the kids to school and then went for swim at the pool.  I had the lifeguard time me for my 500 yds as they wanted a time so that they could put you in the appropriate wave for my sprint tri next weekend.  I swam the 500 in 9:56!  Yay me!  I was pretty happy with that time.  I thought I was around 11 or 12 so being closer to 10 was really nice.  I did 500 x 3 total and then hit the showers. 

After swimming at this pool for the past few weeks, I have figured out a nice way to avoid the gaggle of hens that are in the locker room after their water therapy.  (They are all lovely women, I just prefer to have quiet and privacy.  Oh, and my shower of choice.  Somehow, one of the is always in my favorite shower....)  Anyway, there are two separate locker rooms, one for women (over 18) and one for girls.  This week I had the brilliant idea of going into the girls locker room as the "girls" should be in school still (it was Friday at 8:00 a.m.).  What a super idea!  It was empty!  And there wasn't smelly carpet on the floor like there is in the women's locker room.  It was tile.  I had my choice of where to change, choice of shower and only one other woman was in there after my swim.  I decided she was smart too.   Unfortunately, my super idea is only going to last for another two weeks until school gets out and then the locker room will be full of summer camp kids.  Oh well, I can look forward to September.

After my swim,  I headed out to Freeport for some retail therapy.  I purchased a few things at the Nike outlet, Banana Republic and Reebok.  Then on to Portland to meet BD for a run around Back Bay.  The sun so kindly made its appearance and it was actually warm out!  We had a great chat and almost did the loop twice, which would have been 7 miles.  I was the party pooper on that though, I was tired from my swim that morning and my legs just didn't have it in me to finish the second loop.  We ended up with a total of about 5 miles.  Still an excellent day! 

Ok, so enough of all that blah blah about my day off.  What we really want to get down to is the winner of my first giveaway!  Well, I was able to get another voucher for the Xperio Polarized lenses so I actually chose two winners.  I didn't have many entries so the chances were pretty good for those that did enter.  S my eldest child chose the winners out of a hat and the first winner was Jenn of milesmusclesmommyhood!  Yay Jenn!  I know you really wanted these lenses so that was great!  (She actually chose your name again, but we picked another since you had already won... ) The second winner was Bobbi (aka Joshua under the entries)!  Yay Bobbi! 

Send your mailing address to bouchard at midcoast dot com and I will mail you out your voucher.  You can redeem it through my office or any other independent eye doctors office.  You will need an ophthalmic quality frame to put these lenses into.  (That's eye speak for a good pair of glasses.)  Congratulations and enjoy!

Have a super Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Runner's Survey

Today is a good day.  I know it.  It just started out that way.  First of all, the sun is out.  Kinda.  Well, at least there is some blue sky in between the puffy clouds and it is not raining.  This is pretty much the first time I've seen the sun in about 14 days.  Really.  Secondly, blogger is working today.  Yesterday, I could not get on my blog page or read anyone's blog all day.  It is funny how unbelievably aggrevating that is, it is almost like my addiction to Facebook, in that I was kinda having a panic that I couldn't blog or read blogs.  Very unimportant in the grand scheme of life, I know, but I do like reading blogs.  Anyhoo, all is back to normal now AND the sun is out!  What more could a girl want?

I read this on another blog and liked learning about my bloggy friends so I thought I would share as well.

What is your favorite type of cross training?
I love them all, because they all offer different things for me.  I like spin class because my friends are there and we chat and sweat and laugh and gossip.  I like swimming because it really feels like a whole body workout and makes me tired afterward.  Tennis is just completely different and I love it because of that.  (Also it was my favorite sport in high school and I still wish I could be a professional tennis player.)

What is your favorite song to run to?
Anything that is fast and upbeat.  Right now I like anything by Ke$ha, Tonight tonight by Hot Chelle Rae, Dirty Bit by Black Eyed Peas, and a guilty pleasure is Mean by Taylor Swift.

What brand of shoes do you wear?
I love my Nike Lunar Trainers.  I am on my second pair.  They were on the discount rack at the Nike Outlet and I thought they were the ugliest things ever, but they were sooooo comfortable.  Nothing hurts ever. 

Do you wear a hat when you run?
No freakin' way.  I sweat enough already without a hat.  I can't imagine how hot I would be with a hat on.

What is your favorite temperature for running?
I think between 60-70 degrees is just right.  Although I have perfected the running attire for comfortable running at 20 deg, 30 deg and above.  Just the right amount of layers makes all the difference. 

Do you have any big races coming up?
I am doing a sprint tri June 5 and also the Warrior Dash June 25.  I am also considering a 10K sometime in the summer and another sprint tri in September depending on my daughter's field hockey schedule.  I'll probably add 2-3 other 5K races here and there as they come up.

What is your favorite distance?
I have only raced the 5K distance as I just started running last year and my main goal was to do a sprint triathlon.  However, as I get better at running, I am running longer without any problem.  I now feel like I'm taking it easy if I only run 3 miles.  About 5 miles right now is my favorite distance.

Do you run solo or with a buddy?
I mostly run alone but I would love to have a buddy to do longer runs with.  My daughter (11 yo) comes out with my occasionally and she is great company, but when I'm wanting to train or race, I really prefer to be by myself.

Are you a morning, noon or evening runner?
Evening for sure!  I am never awake enough to run in the morning.  Noon I could do but I'm at work or in the summer it's too hot. 

What's your favorite post run snack?
I'm not sure I have a favorite snack after running.  I usually don't feel like eating until 1-2 hours afterward.  Mostly I just want water with the Propel Zero packet in it.  Oh, and a Mt. Dew if it's after a race in the morning.  Love me my Mt. Dew!

What is your favorite race?
I'm not sure I've raced in enough races to have a favorite.  But so far my favorite was the Nor'easter Sprint Triathlon because it was my first tri and I did well.

Do you wear a Garmin?  If not, how do you track your runs?
I do wear a Garmin, however, every run I do lately gives the milage as 5.15 miles even when I know it was 4 miles.  I think it is on it's way out.....(I bought it on eBay used and think I got a lemon.)  Before that, I used the Nike+ iPod thing in your shoe.  Which wasn't that great either as far as accuracy.  It got better when I figured out that I needed to calibrate it first..... duh.  The lady talks to you when you reach a certain distance--"you have completed 1 km", "you have 2 km to reach your goal".  I think it would be more effective to say things like "pick up the pace, fatty.  I don't have all day here", or "my grandmother could run faster than you".  Again, here I go with getting off topic...

What race is your favorite race medal from?
I don't have any race medals because I haven't done any 1/2 or full marathons.  But I do love my mug from the Nor'easter Tri when I placed first in my age group!  I think you get a medal for the Warrior Dash so I'm looking forward to that being my first!

Who is your running idol?
I don't think I have a running idol per se, but I do admire a few folks' accomplishments.  A local doctor in our area is running 50 marathons before he turns 50 (or is it in 50 states?  not sure).  Anyway, he has 4 kids that are high school aged to pre-school aged and he finds time to go all over the country to run marathons.  He is also an Ironman.  Kudos to him.  I admire that he is able to do that with such young kids at home.

I think EMZ's running 100 miles in 24 hours during her charity run is pretty awesome too.  I was thinking with my 10-12 mile/week pace, I would have to run 10 weeks to do what she did in 24 hours.  Not to mention she raised a lot of money for the women's shelter. 

I used to think that Lance Armstrong was the most amazing thing ever with all his Tour de France wins and comeback from cancer.  Until we find out he's a cheat.  (Obviously not a running idol, but a biking god.)  I wish he hadn't ruined his greatness with cheating.  Just the comeback from cancer story would have been amazing all alone.  But now it's tainted with his doping.  He's still amazing--I just wish he wasn't a cheat too.

How long have you been a runner?
About a year and a half.

Do you run with your wedding ring on?
Yes, always.  If I'm awake, it's on my finger.

What's your favorite workout? repeats? long runs? tempo? fartleks?
Ok, I'm not even sure what that question means.  lol  Occasionally, I do fart during my run.  But only if I have gas.  I like the run when I get to to outside in the sun, by myself, after a day at work and be alone with my ipod for 40 minutes when no one is asking me to make something for them or tie their shoe or help with homework or 'where are my pants?' or make dinner or look at the dirty house that no one else is cleaning.  That's my favorite run.

Only two, yes TWO! more days until I choose the winner for my giveaway!  You'd better hurry up and enter!  Now that the sun is back, those polarized lenses are going to be useful!!

And thank you to Christi from Pedestrian Runner!  She showed me how to change the color of my words.  (I know, I'm a computer idiot... but I can be taught!)

fiddleheads

So it is spring here in Maine (really?  well, the calandar says so...) and with spring we get that local delicacy called fiddleheads.  I'm not sure you are a true Mainer if you've never had fiddleheads.  A fiddlehead is a baby fern before it has uncoiled.

And it is yummy!  Tastes a bit like asparagus/spinach.  We have a few spots around central and northern Maine that we find fiddleheads to pick every year.  We eat a bunch right away, freeze a whole bunch and last year we tried pickling them.  Any way you have them, they are good. 

This year I wanted to try something different--cream of fiddlehead soup.  I figured it would be kinda like cream of broccoli soup, which I love.  And it was.  I made a batch yesterday and it was wicked good!  (in perfect Maine-speak)  I am not known for my cooking skills, so I was pretty proud of myself that I made something that tasted really good and was not from a box!  yay me!  Fiddleheads are pretty good for you as well and the only thing that was fattening in this recipe was the 1/2 c heavy cream (for which I used half & half) and the 1 c sour cream (for which I used 'light').  Well, the butter to cook the onions and fiddleheads in.   But that doesn't count because you can't eat fiddleheads without butter.  But I digress...

I had a really big bowl for dinner after my 4 mile run and sat down to watch TV, all proud of myself for a making and eating a (somewhat) healthy dinner.  But like many greens, if eaten in larger quantities, you may notice a somewhat unpleasant side effect.  It's affectionately called "the trots".  This soup seemed to have the same effectiveness as a colonoscopy prep. 

On the bright side, I weigh two pounds less this morning than I did yesterday....  

I'll send the recipe to anyone who wishes to lose weight quickly.  Any unusual food recipes you care to share?

end of the world?

Apparantly tomorrow is the end of the world:

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/05/a_conversation_with_harold_cam.html

Been nice knowing you all, thanks for reading my blog.  What a bummer I won't be able to achieve my goal of doing the sprint triathlon or the Warrior Dash in June. 

Should I bother paying my truck loan today?

good news/bad news

I should have titled this post bad news/good news cause I'm going to give the bad news first and the good news second.  But I thought good news/bad news sounded better than bad news/good news.  Anyhoo--on with the post.

1.  Bad news--my cat of three years is gone.  It has been over a week and she has not come home.  This is not a good sign.  :(  Anyone that knows me will know that 3 years is a record time for keeping a cat at my house.  We have had around 8 cats over the past 14 years.  We live in a rural area so they either get eaten by wildlife, run over by cars, lost or stolen.  It is right around the time that I have finished spending $200-300 on the cat getting it's shots/fixed/whatever that it goes missing.   In fact, I kinda wonder why the animal shelter keeps letting us adopt them.  Which brings me to me good news....

We have two new kittens! :)  (The odds are against these poor cuties..)  We went to the shelter, *just to look* and voila!  two kittens were headed home with us.  They are super cute.  I will post pictures later.  The girls named them Jake and Lily. 

2.  Bad news--it is STILL raining, foggy, shitty here in Maine.  Good news--we don't have to worry about a drought.

3.  Bad news--grey hairs are beginning to show up again.  Good news--color and cut scheduled for Saturday.

4.  Bad news--the world finds out the Arnold Schwarzenegger is a pig.  Good news--I am not married to him.

5.  Good news--school is out on 6/15.  No more getting kids up early, packing lunches, homework, after school activites, band concerts, book fairs, notes from the principal etc etc.  Bad news--school is getting out so childcare bill rises to at least $350/week and more if there is a sports camp involved.

Hope your day involves more good news than bad news! 

monday, monday

Monday.  My least favorite day of the week.  And.  It's raining.  Again.  With temps in the 40's.  Again.  Good God.  Will it ever get warmer?

Exercise fail yesterday.  It was raining (suprise!) all day yesterday so I had told the kids we would all go to the indoor pool in the next town to swim and burn off their crazy energy have fun.  So we all put on our suits and clothes over them and pack all our stuff and head out.  Only to arrive to an empty parking lot.  Closed for summer hours.  Ok, plan B.  Drive 12 more miles to the next YMCA and swim there.  We arrived there to, guess what?, an empty parking lot.  Really?  Since when does summer actually begin in May in Maine?  Grrrrrr.  Instead we went grocery shopping.  

On the plus side, my husband and I are signing up for the Warrior Dash!  It's the first one to be offered in New England and I am SO FREAKIN' EXCITED!  It looks like a blast and I can't believe B is going to do it with me!  Yay!  We need some great costume ideas cause I don't think we will be close in placing for time.....  You get free beer and a viking helmet--what more could you want in a race?  It should make for some really interesting photos, so stayed tuned.  It's not until the end of July.  Has anyone done a Warrior Dash in your area?  Do tell!  I would love to hear about it.

Middle daughter, C, had her dance recital this weekend.  Talk about cute!  They all did such a great job!  I hope she sticks with dance, I just love going to the recital and seeing her shine on stage! 

Before the recital



Duet with BFF

Tap duet with BFF



So freakin' cute!!!  Not so much in step on tap, but I loved watching them anyway.  :)

On the agenda for this week unless the endless rain interferes:

Mon:  spin/cardio tennis

Tues:  spin

Wed:  spin/strength class/run at night if no rain

Thurs:  spin/cardio tennis

Fri:  swim

Sat:  run

Sun:  run

Have a good Monday!