i did it! (x2)

morning run success!

with a little help from kevin, i sprung out of bed with my 5am alarm on friday. yeah, friday is so old news now, but i had a busy weekend.

drawing an iphone is so much funner than taking a screen shot

mkay so maybe i didn't spring, but i did get up for an early morning run in the rain.

i got sprayed by a pepsi truck near the end of the run. don't drink pepsi 'cause they have mean drivers.

i've grown; i'm bigger than a pepsi truck

after the run i had to hurry and pack for the weekend. packing is stressful and i always forget something. i was late as always but eventually met up with a friend and began roadtripping to dc for a bachelorette weekend.

it was super windy and we got stuck in a traffic jam once for a tree that had fallen across the interstate somewhere around richmond, but otherwise it was a pretty smooth ride. we checked into our hotel, and relaxed before a late dinner (9-something pm) at cafe citron.

saturday morning i hopped out of bed (early again!) and went for a run! all by myself! this is a big deal because i struggle to run when traveling, especially when my travelmates are not running. i sort-of looked at a route on mapmyrun and figured i could wing it. i did pretty good, only got lost mixed-up twice. what's up with the 6-way intersections dc? do you know how hard it is to "turn left" when there are 3 lefts you can take?

eventually i made it to a paved-trail system. i was a little freaked at first because it looked like i was in the ghetto and there was no one else out and about. a half-mile later i felt relief as i started to see runners. and runners. and runners.

back home you only see this many runners at a 5k

this was a huge deal. do you know how many runners i see at home? zip zilch nada. here, i saw so many runners! groups of runners, pairs of runners, i was the only loser running alone. what a tourist. however, a lot of them were wearing more clothing than me (wimps).

i had no idea where i was, but eventually i came up on the zoo! i wanted to sidetrack but i figured they probably didn't have the animals out of bed yet and i needed to get back to the hotel at a reasonable time. i ran on.

some go to the zoo to photograph animals;
i capture the pizza playground

and then my bowels started rumbling. never a good thing when you have no idea where you are, but the trail was never far from civilization. i shamelessly walked into the four seasons on pennsylvania ave to utilize their facilities. the hotel workers were polite and didn't kick me out for looking homeless. so there's a plug for the four seasons in return for their clean bathroom and friendly doorman.

the trail met up with the potomac and i saw rowers! if only i had a shell... and a few more people... oh and a body of water. i kinda miss rowing.

i ended up at abe's memorial, turned and ran to "the pencil" (washington monument) before heading back on 17th. this time there was a sign pointing "left" to dupont circle and of course i picked the wrong left, but i figured it out. after 11+ miles (only meant to run 10) i treated myself to starbucks and went back to the hotel where i found my friends still sleeping.

the rest of the weekend was a blast. we went shopping in georgetown, trapeze lessons at tsny (you know i did not participate. heights, no thanks. it looked fun though), dinner at barcode, a night out on the town, and sunday morning brunch at perry's. a dc must-do.

male readers - you're welcome

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abc easy as 123

i saw this recently on shannon's blog, and then again on jess's, so i decided i may as well hop on the train:

(A) Age: 26
(B) Bed Size: king. it's become a necessity. do you know how weird it is to sleep on a double/queen now?
(C) Chore You Hate: [insert any chore here]
(D) Dogs? allergic. my mom has a schnoodle that used to be mine as well as a rottweiler.
(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: peeing
(F) Favorite Color: all of them except blue
(G) Gold or Silver? platinum. or both, if you want me to comply to the actual question. gold is kinda making a comeback fashion-wise. not that i'm one to get fashion advice from.
(H) Height: 5ft 7in
(I) Instruments You Play: i'm a hip-hop artist, duh. i played the piano growing up, flute in middle school.
(J) Job Title: internet explorer. just kidding. "materials manager". yeah, the phrase confuses me too.
(K) Kids: no thank you
(L) Live: socar aka south cackalacky as they like to say on the radio; i'm still not sure why.
(M) Mom's Name: grace
(N) Nicknames: lance, linds, z
(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? never even been for a few-hours-stay
(P) Pet Peeve: running out of m&m's
(Q) Quote from a Movie: "bend over and i'll show you" (christmas vacation)
(R) Right or Left Handed? right
(S) Siblings: 3 sisters, 2 brothers-in-law
(T) Time You Wake Up? as late as possible; 6:30 for work, 8-9 on the weekend. this is supposedly going to change when i start responding to kevin's 5am wake-up-and-go-run texts.
(U) Underwear: washed regularly
(V) Vegetable You Dislike: i like vegetables. bean sprouts are kind of weird. are they a vegetable? are they a bean? they also kind of look like sperm.
(W) What Makes You Run Late: what doesn't make me late is the real question. i am always late.
(X) X-Rays You've Had Done: chest x-ray (for pneumonia, 10th grade), teeth x-rays, brain mri
(Y) Yummy Food You Make: cookies, pumpkin or banana bread
(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: panda bears, pigs, elephants, hippos. i have informed josh i want to get these as pets one day. i just realized it appears i like fat things. except for josh, he's not fat. important disclaimer there.

feel free to play along. you know you need filler too.

ps: check out my interview on digital running! and other relays i want to run on the honeymilk blog!

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dancing for the presidents

josh found out he'd have to stay late at work so i grabbed clothes to runmute home. when i left work i realized i'd forgotten to grab one of our 374 spare keys, but i figured he'd beat me home anyway.

dum dum dummmm (doom music)

perhaps i should have taken this dead deer in mile 1 as a sign.

you're welcome

although the winds were whipping (20-38mph), i felt good and pushed the pace a little. i didn't even glance at garmin and just ran hard. since i was running with my phone (a precautionary when i'm runmuting) i decided to play some music for a change. i don't have headphones so i just turned up the volume as loud as it would go, although it was still a little hard to hear the music over the traffic.

too bad i didn't have one of these

i listened to hits by the black eyed peas, justin bieber (scream!), rihanna, lil wayne... you know, classics. it was a nice change though (i don't ever run with music) and i'm sure the beat helped me dance through the miles a little faster.

i arrived at home and of course, josh wasn't there. his dumb meeting lasted two+ hours, leaving me stranded on the front porch for over an hour. i was warm and sweaty at first, so i hung my shirt from the flag pole as i continued my dance party with flo rida, dj khaled, lady gaga, etc on the front porch. someone shot off fireworks a few houses down, either celebrating today's big holiday or approving of my white girl dance skills.

it's not easy trying to photograph yourself dancing

george, abe and thomas j were rolling over in their graves

it started getting chilly so i put my shirt back on, much to the dismay of the neighbors. they quit shooting off the fireworks. eventually josh came home from work and rescued me (and called me special).

monday (2/21) runmute: 9 miles, 1:13:33 (avg pace 8:10), 69*

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not quite marathon mileage

confession: the motivation has not exactly been flowing as freely as the m&m's have.

planned mileage

actual mileage

look at all those 0-mileage days. pathetic, i know! it bums me out to look back on, but i have been struggling to force myself out for a run after work. i need to kick the laziness to the curb, again.

since i haven't been hitting my target mileage, i am adjusting the remaining 12 weeks of training and admitting to myself that it won't get up as high as originally planned (now mid-50's vs. mid-60's).

i really don't know what the big deal is. all day at work i think about going for a run afterward, but once i get home i am no longer motivated. if i could just run at 5am like i used to... the alarm and i have not been getting along for quite some time now (cough, 2 years, cough).

sunday (2/20) afternoon run: 8.05 miles, 1:16:04 (avg pace 9:26), 56*
no motivation today either. josh talked me into driving somewhere and running there for a change of pace (usually i just run from the front door). i finally peeled myself off the couch around 2pm and drove over to an old 4-mile loop of mine. my body still felt sleepy, like it does when you first wake up in the morning, and my hamstrings were sore from lifting friday (hello deadlifts). i trotted along, slowly, not really enjoying myself. i knew i was just going to take this week easy to make sure i fully recovered from the plague but still, it'd be nice to feel more fluid.

so... who's going to call/text me at 5am and drag my behind out of bed?

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breaking news

dear (former) temp worker
thank you for providing me with entertainment from "8:00" to "5:00" (/whenever you felt like showing up) for the past couple of months. i thoroughly enjoyed hearing about your train-wreck of a life and all the random details you chose to talk about (loudly) all.day.long. you always came up with great excuses as to why you were late and/or had to miss work, and i admire that.

i hope you can keep up with the payments for your 22's. they sure are sexy, and certainly worth the fact that your car payment + rims payment > mortgage. you told us about your 6-year old threatening his teacher with a (supposedly non-existent) gun in his pocket, and i do hope you can remedy that behavior. i will always wonder what happened to your boyfriend and if he ever cleaned up his drug habit and landed a job.

i still don't know your real name but will forever call you "indigenous". it's not like you know what that word means anyway. thanks again for all the drama, work is quiet and boring now that you're gone.


in other news
some marathon changed it's rules or something.

my thoughts
the boston marathon? how long is that one?

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candy aisle clearance

i returned to work monday after failing to convince josh that the flu/plague lasts 5-7 business days and saw they had freshly salted the sidewalks. good thing! the high was only 72 degrees today. safety first.

i got this sweet gift in the mail from genesis! i just know i'm going to get excited about finding an m&m on my shirt at work one day and try to eat it. then i'll be a little disappointed, but hopefully won't break any teeth. thanks gen!

after work josh and i went for a valentine run. i still have a rumbly cough, but uh, i've run three whole days so far this month. i need to move. we did a short and easy 3 miler; i only stopped 3 times to hack up a lung.

the best part of valentine's day? february 15th.

cha-ching.

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d.n.flu

i thought i'd have a success story of a flu-five-miler (well, 8k) but instead all i have is my first dnf.

after suffering through work tuesday afternoon, i poured myself into my pj's and into bed with a fever, chills and aches. for the rest of the week, i shuffled from the bed to the couch, slept, and watched every single thing on netflix. except on thursday when we re-closed on the house (refi) or at least that's what josh claims. i told him he was tricking me into signing away all my money while i was delirious with the flu.

seriously though, i watched everything on netflix including classics such as "beauty and the briefcase" and "sorority wars".

anyway. my temp returned to normal and i've just been feeling a little "foggy" still, along with a rumbly rhinoceros cough. i'd signed up for an 8k a few weeks ago and i figured psh, 5-miles, so simple.

so i went for it, although at packet pick-up before the race i was tempted to get back in the car and go home. it was a brisk 28 degrees.

i ventured down to the race start where i spotted a "stylish" runner wearing leggings. seriously, wtc is that. these things went over her shoes and up over her thighs, and they were a sweater-like material.

like, omg we are so like running

of course i immediately think, no way can sweater-leggings girl beat me. no. way.

the race started and sweggings and her friends were in front of me. i felt kind of weird but hey i did just have the plague; i wasn't exactly eating buffets all week. my toes were numb, a first, and that was weird too. i caught up to sweggings before the first mile marker and spotted my pace, 7:38. oops.

i slowed down, feeling weak and coughing up more rumbly rhinoceroses. we came to a big hill and i gave up. i walked the hill. i felt weak and mentally checked out. at about 2.25miles when the 8k joined the 10mile course, i pulled over and removed my bib in between coughing fits. i was dnf-ing; i was so embarrassed. i turned and walked against the 10-milers back to the start/finish area where josh was waiting.

i was soo embarrassed, but josh kept saying i was just being smart, listening to my body, blah blah blah. i just hope i can feel "normal" soon - i definitely felt "off" in today's attempt to run.

you win today sweggings. but only today.

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frankenstein: an almost wordless wednesday

i know it's hard to read but it basically says that 10 cough drops = 1 serving of fruit

i couldn't even eat my m&m's

put myself to bed with a temp of 101.8

not a whole lot of running going on over here.

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ragnar relay florida keys 2011: leg 3

i'm so distraught. i had more hott stylish pictures of myself from ragnar that were erased forever when my phone wouldn't reboot after replacing the glass.

here's a replica of one i will miss the most:

getting my fair share out of the $12 boston sweats
i was posing with some christmas lights

anyway.

after my long, croc-filled leg, we piled in and out of the van for a few more exchanges before reuniting with van 2 at coral shores high school.

i went inside with daphne and hunter to find showers/a place to change while the others went to find van 2. i was hungry (again) so i went back to the van to munch on some crackers (ever so social of me). raffi came back and we discussed some random details of our lives.

eventually jim (our van's last runner) handed-off to van 2 and we were off duty again. we actually did not stop to get more food for once and went on to the next major exchange point (marathon community park) to catch some zzz's. we arrived at the park just after midnight and quickly separated into sleep camps. luckily i scored a spot in the van, i definitely did not have room in my suitcase for a sleeping bag to brave the outdoors. a quick trip to the restroom (and a pose with the flamingo lights, above) and danna, jim and i spread out on the van seats.

jim claims he didn't sleep too well because of danna's and my snoring. lies.

after about 4 hours of sleep, we rose with the roosters and began getting ready for our last rotation. my eyes were nice and dry after sleeping in my contacts. we found our teammates again as we waited for the exchange and i realized just how lucky i was in my first relay experience: normal running hours, a few decent hours of sleep, and extra time to clean up/eat before heading over to the finish line. (note to all: if you ever do a relay, insist on being in van 1).

taryn tagged brian and we shuffled back to the van, thinking we could get coffee during brian's 9-mile leg which included the seven-mile bridge.

um yeah there's nowhere to stop when you are driving on bridge, 10 feet of land, bridge, 14 feet of land, bridge... needless to say, we went coffeeless.

this made every single muscle-ache / motion-sickness / penny-spent worth it.

we soaked up the sunrise as we waited for brian; it was awesome. one lady finished a little ahead of brian and her teammate was asking her how the leg was, she simply replied "this is paradise" and pointed toward the sunrise.

we saw a team with t-shirts that said "the third leg is the hardest" that we'd seen a few times throughout the relay and some of us (finally) caught the "joke" (myself included).

brian came charging through, daphne took off with a sore hip and i ate some m&m's. we stopped to check on her during her leg and she was hurting, but she wanted to finish what she started. as we waited at the next exchange, i bummed some biofreeze from danna and took an advil (or something) from jim. i had a little headache going on and my legs were stiff. i popped a few more m&m's for good measure.

daphne handed off to danna and i was on deck for my third and final leg. i offered my tennis ball to daphne to massage/roll her hip and brian warned her that it would hurt, but it should help.

it felt warm (62*) and i almost considered carrying my water bottle again, but ultimately decided i could survive 4.8 miles without it. danna cruised in from her 2.6 mile run and i willed my stiff legs into motion.

this leg was not easy. my legs were tired, sore and stiff, but i continued to push myself knowing it would be over soon. near the end, i thought of how daphne ran through her aching hip and that motivated me to run a little harder. there weren't as many people to pass on this leg, but i did catch a few in the last mile (but have since forgotten how many).

oh yeah and that "4.8" clocked in at 5.2 miles per garmin. i'm not normally one to argue over garmin vs. race directors, but it had matched up to my first two legs so i'm giving it the benefit of the doubt that this one was a little longer.

leg 3 (1/8) - 5.2 miles, 42:44 (avg pace 8:13), 62*
forgot how many roadkills. oh well.

one more van photo at sugarloaf high

we finished up our 'shift' and headed to key west in search of the condo that most of the van was staying in. they were super nice and the owner let us in early to shower off and relax. be sure to check out townhomes on windsor for your next trip to the keys!

once we were clean for the first time in two days, we ventured over to the finish line party to wait for the rest of the team (and grab some more food of course).

after more eating, our teammates showed up and we awaited taryn's arrival. we victoriously crossed the finish line as a team in 30:47:15 (164th/292).

"why don't we get drunk ... and run"

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bringing the heat to michigan

one of my good friends got married this weekend. in michigan. brr. hence why i needed the shoe advice. i was amused how the red shoes won by a landslide. no need to recount votes here. thanks for all the input fashionable friends.

course by this time the shoes were long gone

i informed my mitten-dwelling friends of my travel plans and although someone forgot/ignored me (and then tried to blame it on me) the redhead did not let me down. morgan drove about an hour to run - that is some serious dedication; i don't even like driving 5-10 minutes to run. the weather was supposed to be a high of 19 degrees, but by the time i arrived the forecast changed to a high of about 30 degrees. heat wave; you're welcome michigan.

my old running buddy had guilted me into running a few miles with her as well, so we went out for 5 miles around 7am, had just arrived back at the hotel and morgan arrived a few minutes later. i scarfed down a yogurt since i hadn't eaten anything yet (and dairy products are always good before running) and headed back out with morgan.

neither of us knew the area so we drove part of the route first and realized we were just gonna have to deal with running 4-lane highways and narrow shoulders for part of the run. this wasn't a big deal to me as south carolina roads rarely have a shoulder so i'm used to running in ditches or having to stop and let cars pass. morgan kept apologizing for putting our lives in danger and making comments about death (we may need to stage an intervention).

she never did apologize for sprinting up all the hills and leaving me a half-mile behind though. her hill workouts are definitely paying off although it still doesn't make me want to do them myself. i told her she can brag to everyone that she was faster than me. seriously, she's the friggin' redheaded energizer bunny! :)

i had joked about running by michigan's finest scenery (closed down factories) and morgan managed to route us by the chrysler plant and test track. it was hard to see through the trees and 27403 feet of snow but technically we did run by it. we also ran by my future home, josh and i are hoping to close by the end of the month.

there will be plenty of room for everyone to visit

the snow/ice made it slick in a few spots but we made it. surprisingly i held up well considering i was jamming in 19 miles. morgan was kind enough to bring me a bottled water and spare power gel as i forgot to pack mine. it was a confidence boost to see i could handle the mileage and a decent pace with practically no food (yogurt + 1 gel). it was also nice to not have a bathroom emergency either.

the front of my right ankle was sore for the majority of the run so i'm not sure what's going on there. i'm hoping it's just from a few too many slippery steps on the snow. it's not swollen or bruised, doesn't hurt to point my toes, does ache when flexing toes back towards shin, aches when making circles with toes... and of course this was before wearing the heels, so i can't blame it on them. it doesn't hurt bad, just bothersome.

any ideas of google search terms i can use?
"front part of ankle hurts" isn't giving great results.

anyway, both runs were great and it was super sweet to 'hang out'/girl talk with morgan for 2 hours. after the run we went to tim horton's where i was tempted to eat the whole rack of donuts. i saved those calories for an extra piece of wedding cake instead.

saturday (2/5) am run #1: 5 miles, 44:40 (avg pace 8:56), 16*
saturday (2/5) am run #2: 14.10 miles, 2:07:34 (avg pace 9:03), not much warmer

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help!

alright. you know i'm not fashionable. please tell me which pair of shoes i should wear.

red peep toe? or black ankle boot?

my dress is gray as shown in photo. i thought the boots might be fun and funky but i don't know if i can pull it off. here's the rest of the dress for your reference:

on second thought, i'll probably be wearing the shoes for all of 0.000000004 seconds before either busting my tail or taking them off. but please advise anyway so i look stylish for those 0.000000004 seconds.

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i shake my butt

the scene:

tuesday evening, 5:30pm.
rainy.
39 degrees.
runmute home with 4-mi tempo.

i don't want to be a chicken.
i don't want to be a duck.


this stupid song. stuck in my head.

i think the slapping of my feet on the wet pavement made me think of the "clap clap clap clap" portion.

regardless, it was annoying.

stuck in your head now? you're welcome.


tuesday (2/1) am run: 2.75 miles, 25:02 (avg pace 9:06), 39*
i overslept my alarm and didn't have much time but i forced myself out the door for what little time i had.

tuesday (2/1) pm runmute: 7.5 miles, 1:01:59 (tempo miles 7:44, 7:52, 7:36, 7:51), 39*
you can clearly tell where the two big hills were. boo.

you like how i can pull doubles now and not before ragnar? i'm a planner.

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january 2011

january 2011
total mileage: 130.10
time spent running: 19hrs 15min
days off: 12
avg temp: 46.35
trip of the month: south florida for ragnar keys

not a bad month. i realized i'm doing well at recapping 2/3 of an event and then never finishing it up though (ie ragnar, wedding, honeymoon). maybe i'll make progress on those in february. i won't be making it an m&m-less february like last year, but get ready for march 1st as that is still national m&m day.

actually, it was a great month. i hit my target weight loss of 3.6lbs for the month! even with indulging in these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for a few days. yum. (i added some lindt dark chocolate instead of nuts)

soft, chewy and not overly sweet

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