Hiatus

Writer's Block.

Taking a break until the New Year, unless inspiration strikes before. See ya in 2012.

Whew.

Well. That was a whirlwind. Christmas 2011 in the books.

The last few days, bullet style:

• Christmas
• Relatives
• Food
• Running
• Cooking
• Eating

Aaaand, going forward, bullet style:

• Errands
• New Years Eve prep - headcount wise, we're somewhere between 6 adults, 3 kids, and 12 adults, 7 kids. Gonna be awesome.
• More running
• More eating
• More cooking
• Laundry

Hopefully something more substantive soon.

Overdone

I might've overdone it a little this week on the exercise. On Tuesday, I ran 5 miles. Last night, I ran 3 more miles at a fairly rapid pace. Then I played a singles match against a junior player who kicked my ass all OVER the court. This morning? I hurt. You'd think I would know better than to run before playing singles, but sometimes I'm not so smart.

The best part of this? I have another tennis match in an hour. At least this one is just doubles, thank god. I'm not sure I'd survive another singles match.

Unrelated

I'm SURE the following two truths for the day are unrelated:

1. My chocolate chip cookie recipe did not make as many cookies as usual.

2. I have no appetite for dinner at all.

Holiday Craziness

Fast and furious:

• Finishing last minute shopping, taking care of last minute errands, doing all the things that need doing.
• Finally about over the cold from hell.
• Looking more and more likely that work is gonna happen starting in early January. Holy crap I've got a lot of stuff to do before then.
• Need to get back to exercising - we're all better off when I work out.

Blood Sugar Low...Danger Will Robinson...

Scene: Kroger parking lot.
Time: Yesterday afternoon, 5pm, approximately 2 hours after I finished my 10 mile long run. 

Me:  You know, my friend and exercise guru Anne told me that about two hours after a long run, your hormones peak and your blood sugar is at its lowest. This might explain why I turn into a bitch from hell for a little while, regardless of what I eat or drink after a long run.

J:  Huh. I didn't realize you ran so many long runs.

He barely survived.

Bookishly Different

I went to a new book club last night. Well, the club itself isn't new, I'm the newbie - which means I was playing "what's your name again?" all night. But that aside, I had a good time. Most of them are avid readers, which totally rocks. We also spent a solid two hours talking about the book, and not much else. The conversation didn't devolve into other topics until folks started leaving, which was a bit unusual from my book club experience. We also only killed one bottle of wine and a 6 pack of beer among 8 of us - whaaa? That is definitely unusual from my previous groups!

I knew exactly one person there, the hostess, whom I've only met a few times but is absolutely lovely (this is the perfect word for her, trust me). And she's a redhead, so yay for that too! But that aside, I have no idea what most of the other seven women there do for a living, whether they work, what their backgrounds are, etc. I gathered that most of them have kids, which of course is familiar ground for me, and caught a few slices of life here and there, but for the most part, we talked about the book (State of Wonder if you are curious).

What was most entertaining to me about the evening, though, was that my viewpoint seemed quite a bit different from most of the others. There were other professional types there, though, so it wasn't a job thing. And there were folks that had lived in big cities (or at least, bigger cities). So it wasn't that. I just felt the most... I dunno, "nontraditional" in thought.

Granted, this is after exactly 2 hours of conversation, during which not everyone spoke a lot, and I absolutely know I'm making a generalization here. But I think I was the only one who wasn't crazy about the book (it was good, it just wasn't that good), and I had some very different opinions on some of the events. One of the things I've always enjoyed about book discussions is hearing how other peoples' opinions and interpretations are so different from mine. Now I'm wondering if I'm gonna be "that" one - the one who usually has the differing opinion.

On the plus side, I've been invited back, so at least I'll get a chance to find out!

NOISE!

Holy cow. I do NOT know how teachers do it. I spent about 2 hours at the kiddos' school this morning, playing ping-pong between their two rooms, and I'm beat. I didn't even do any of the hard work; I just showed up and did what I was told. I know teachers are grossly underpaid for what they do, and a day like this completely confirms it. I'm sure it's a bit out of the ordinary, but wow. Crazy crazy stuff, insane noise levels, excited kiddos, and a good bit of chaos.  Whew.

And what's even better? Now we have two - two - weeks out of school, while the weather is cold and it's difficult to get outside and run around. Woo freakin' hoo. It's almost enough to make me miss Texas weather...ALMOST.

Early Riser?

I don't know what the magic age is when kids start sleeping in, but I do know that we haven't hit it yet. Benjamin is close enough to it, though, that he remarked the other day, "Mom, why is it so easy to get up on the stay home days, but I just want to sleep on school mornings?" I told him he had discovered one of the universal truths in life. I'm kinda sad for him that he's already figuring it out. Poor guy, that's a lot of disappointing mornings.

This morning, though, he came downstairs looking a bit miffed. He walked up to my bed (please note: I'm taking advantage of the whole 'slacker' situation for a bit longer and staying in bed as long as humanly possible in the morning) and said that he was upset. He didn't wake up until 6:47.

Me:  Ummmm...isn't that what time your alarm goes off?

Him: Yes, I wanted to get up earlier than that.

Me: *blink*

Me: Why, exactly, do you want to get up earlier than your alarm?

Him:  So I beat Alyssa to the bathroom!

Ahhhh, the beginning of the bathroom wars. I'm thinking Irish coffee may be the morning drink of choice when they hit the teenage years. Can you hear me rolling my eyes?

Elves...

Yesterday, a friend of mine posted a link to an article lambasting the Christmas Elf. Now, we don't have an elf. I've thought about it occasionally, but never acted on it. You guys know my feeling on Christmas cards; what on earth would possess me to purchase an elf, right?

So I was tempted to click the "like" button agreeing with the article, but it occurred to me that I might be a wee bit hypocritical with that one. After all, for some folks, that truly is great fun. And some kiddos will have some wonderful memories from their Christmas Elf. It's just not my deal.

Yesterday morning, I went to the kiddos' school to ostensibly 'help' with a Christmas program going on there. I showed up late, so pretty much all I did was stand around and chat. And I really didn't even do that very well - I just listened. I didn't feel like I had too much to add to the conversations, and despite the folks all being very nice, it's just not a group I seem to fit in with. I'm thinking these must be the Elf moms. I'm not sure how it happened, but that gene skipped me.

Now that I think about it, I'm apparently missing a lot of helpful 'mom' type genes. The arts and crafts gene, the 'manages to keep a house clean' gene, the 'has neat ideas and carries them out for her kiddos' gene, the 'never raises her voice' gene, the 'my kids always have matching socks and clean clothes' gene - sheesh. It's a good thing there wasn't a test I had to pass to become a parent, because I would've failed. The Christmas Elf would've just been the beginning.

What is the World Coming To?

This morning, I've been out of the house, on an interview, at the kiddos' school, back home, and eaten lunch - all by 11:30. What is the world coming to???

Not so much on the interesting stuff today - I doubt you want to hear about the cold from hell, lack of sleep, and general irritation I have with being sick.

The interview seemed to go really well, though, despite my appearing to have the plague. This is the same firm I interviewed with a few weeks ago, just a different partner with whom I'd probably be working closely. I did spare the partner I met today a handshake - figured it might not get things started on the right foot to shake her hand and then sneeze my head off and blow my nose through the entire interview.

Anyway. From all accounts, things seem to be going really well. I'm actually excited about the prospect of going back to work and re-engaging my brain. With the exception of trips to Houston, I've been pretty much by myself during the day for the past three years. I've gotten used to the quiet, and I'm sure I'll miss some of it, but it will be SO nice to have other people around again. Who knew - apparently I've lost my skills as an introvert!

REALLY???

On my way to volunteer in the girl's class this afternoon, I went by Sonic. I figured that since I was voluntarily spending 2 hours in charge of 17 kindergartners, I would need a bit of fortification. I ordered a burger, some tots, and a large vanilla diet coke. What? You haven't had Sonic's diet coke with vanilla in it? You are seriously missing out. It is a staple in my small indulgences arsenal, and at one point or another might have gone terrifically well with a bit of rum. But I digress.

I ordered my food this afternoon, and got the following response:  "Um, our drink machine isn't working. The only thing was have is orange juice and Dr. Pepper."  SERIOUSLY? You're sending me into a classroom of 5 year olds UNARMED?  Just shoot me now.

Notes from the Race

As I said, the race was actually really well run, well organized, and well supported. There were plenty of aid stations, more energy gels along the course than I ever expected, and they got lucky enough to have a fantastic day for a race. My time from my garmin was 2:17:35, which is a 10:26 average pace.

I had been planning to run this one with a couple of friends, so I didn't really intend to make this a "hard" race or go for time or anything. I just wanted to get a nice long run under my belt and see what the hills were like. As it turns out, though, I'm not really too good at running races "slowly." I ran with one of my friends until mile 5, where we separated (mainly because I had to stop for "over hydration", and she was able to keep going). Here are the first five miles:

Mile 1: 10:12
Mile 2: 12:02
Mile 3: 10:13
Mile 4: 10:42
Mile 5: 15:03 <------- see the break there????

Average over the first 5 miles: 11:38 (although with the 15 minute lap, it would have been closer to 10:45 average). 

The second part of the race was me attempting to catch up with my friend, and the proceed to leave her behind when she had to stop for nature's call. Once I did that, I decided to give it a go and see what kind of times I would have if I ran hard.

Mile 6: 9:46
Mile 7: 9:39
Mile 8: 10:11
Mile 9: 9:14
Mile 10: 9:25
Mile 11: 10:04
Mile 12: 10:02
Mile 13: 9:06
Mile 14: 9:19 (average over .2 mi).

Average over the last miles: 9:41 pace.

I felt really good about the last half of the race. I'm going to have to figure out a better scheme for pre-race hydration (you know, like actually taking care of things before the race starts???), but I'm very happy with the last 8 miles of that run. I actually felt so good finishing this race that the idea of a marathon didn't frighten me as much as it has in the past.

Of course, I am now fighting an evil cold, but I feel less like death warmed over than I did yesterday. So I guess that's progress, right? And I'm not having too much trouble getting around (read: not very sore), so I feel like my base is strong. So yeah. Good race, good friends, good time. Same time next year?

Quick Update

Fayetteville Half Marathon, in the books. My time was not stellar, but it was better than I expected. The weather was cold but really perfect - around 23 at race time, probably just over freezing as we finished, with a nice warm sun. It was a well supported race, with some amazingly beautiful scenery. My time was somewhere around 2:17 or 2:18 - certainly not the fastest, but not the slowest either.

I'll probably post a little more in detail once I get a chance, but I managed to catch a cold over the weekend and am still attempting to recover from that, as well as get all the stuff ready for this week that isn't yet ready. And really...Christmas in two weeks? Jeez. Guess I should consider making a list to check sometime soon.

Bulletin'

Whew, it's about to get crazy(er) around here. The next few days, somewhat randomly:

• Run like mad to get the house in order and errands taken care of today.
• Tennis and 3 miles also on the agenda.
• J is out of town, so I'm flying solo. I don't really mind this, but it does mean I have to think things through a  little more than normal. See: dinner plans, reading before bed, etc. 
• Get guest room ready - I have a good friend who will be staying with us Sunday night. I pick her up at the airport tomorrow morning and we go straight to Fayetteville, where we'll run the half marathon up there this weekend. So I won't have a chance to get anything else around the house done once I drop the kiddos off at school tomorrow.
• It's supposed to be in the low 20s when we start the run on Sunday morning. HOLY CRAP THAT'S COLD. I revise my former statement from saying that it's going to be just cold to saying that it's going to be ass-freezing cold. BRRRRR.
• Race goals - I don't really have one. I'll be running with other folks most likely, and I imagine we'll run a 10:30 or so pace. I need to look at the course elevation to figure out how hellish it's gonna be. Last time I remember looking at it, it seemed like there were 3 miles of uphills to 1 mile of downhill. That ought to be fun...

Optimism with a Side of Cynicism?

From my fortune cookie tonight:  "Hope for the best but prepare for the worst."

Huh.

Snow, Already?

We got snow last night! Not enough to cancel work or school, but enough to snarl traffic and make travel around here hell for the morning commute. Fortunately, that's not something I need to worry about just yet.

The girl came downstairs first this morning and had no idea it had snowed. I told her to go look out the window, and she looked at me in disbelief. She ran to the window, then yelled up the stairs to Benjamin that it had snowed, and he should come down and see. Of course, feet immediately pounded down the stairs, and their voices rose about two octaves in pitch and several decibels in volume.

I love the reminders of how much fun snow days used to be. This wasn't exactly a snow day - they still had to go to school - but they got outside and played in the snow for a little while this morning. It'll all be melted by this afternoon, so I'm really happy they got to enjoy it for a little while.

From what I've read, Little Rock has had one of the snowiest years since they started keeping records. That's pretty cool, but it also sets the bar pretty damn high for the kiddos. They are going to expect lots of snow every winter - good luck with that, kiddos. Chances are, it ain't gonna happen. But enjoy it when it happens. 

Rhythms

I've said before that I am not a dancer. I have very little rhythm when it comes to a dance floor, and prefer to leave that stuff to the much more capable folks around me.

That said, I feel like I see a lot of dancing in my life, lots of different rhythms. When I lived in Houston, the morning commute felt like something of a dance - the cars, the predictability, the traffic flow. It was a familiar pattern, and the idea that it was a dance often occurred to me as I drove to work in the morning.

Today, I played a doubles match with three other women - I'd never played with this particular combination of individuals, and it was pretty evident that there were some personality conflicts. However, if your goal is to play tennis, you don't have to like everyone you play with, and that worked just fine today. It was a faster paced game than I'm used to (very little stopping, very little smiling or chatting), but once we all settled into a rhythm, I was again reminded of dancing. Everyone knew their role, the balls made their way around the court in a pattern, and the players moved to where they needed to be. Very little conversation was made, but it wasn't necessary. It was still some damn good tennis, and it was very nearly automatic. It was therapeutic. Of course, it's always therapeutic to hit the crap out of something, but it was quite nice to be on autopilot today.

On the court next to ours were four elderly gentlemen who were also playing a game of doubles. That court had the feel of a group that had been playing together for years. There were bent backs, wrapped knees (well, my court had that one, too), shorts hiked up way too high with shirts tucked in way too far, and various ailments. But they had their own rhythm going as well. It was much slower than ours, but it was well timed for them and they were having a great time.

A friend of mine, one who has just started running, told me recently that running felt incredibly hard to her. However, one day recently, she ran farther than she'd ever run before, and it had started to smooth out. My own experience tells me that I have to hit somewhere north of half a mile before my body even begins to settle into any rhythm and feel comfortable. Other friends I've talked to have the same experience - the beginning is a pain in the ass, but once you find your rhythm, it get so much easier.

Seeing rhythms in life, places were people 'dance', is fascinating to me. Thinking about in the context of running is a good reminder that beginnings are often rough, but that the way smooths as you get farther along. To me, this is a good reason to not give up at the beginning of something; sometimes the start is just plain tough, but the benefits - the dance - that comes later is completely worth it.

Expiration Date?

I'm not sure why I bother to look at the expiration date on a gallon of milk anymore. Between the girl and I, we manage to knock out a gallon of milk every 2 to 3 days, if not sooner. We've gone from a half gallon that sometimes expired to this - amazing.

Death of a Friendship

I've recently managed to kill a friendship in my life. That's always fun, isn't it?

It's not one that holds much meaning in my life any more. Its time has passed, and I suppose I've gotten what I needed from it, learned my lessons, and moved on. There are always people - friends - who are peripherally in your life. I can think of several friends off the top of my head who were around for critical periods of time, only to later drift away without fanfare or even any realization that it was happening. There are unfinished relationships, too - the ones where you'd like a chance to say a few more things to whomever it is that is no longer in your life. And there are the relationships with people who you talk with once a year, if that, but you always seem to be able to pick up where you left off.

This isn't any of those, though. This is one where I've said everything that needs to be said, I've done everything that needs to be done, and it honestly is just complete. The circle has closed, and if it ever opens again, I'd be surprised. I think that somehow makes it easier. That's not to say I won't miss it; it was extremely important at certain times in my life. But I'm at peace with it. And I'm not sure I could possibly ask for anything else.

12 Miler

I didn't quite manage 14 miles on Saturday - I started the run too late, so I had to cut it short at 12, but it was an excellent 12 miles. At one point, I was deep in the doldrums of some depressing line of thought, and as I ran past another runner, he sent a smile my way. It was amazing how much that helped lift my spirits and put a spring back in my step. It reminded me to keep smiling at folks that I passed - some of them might need one a lot more than I did.

I managed 6 miles on the NLR side of the Big Dam Bridge, then crossed over to the LR side and met up with a friend to run the rest. We're both doing the Fayetteville Half this weekend - I'm a little concerned about the hills, but the weather is at least looking good. Cold, but not ass-freezing cold (yes, there IS a difference), and no rain/sleet/snow in the forecast right now.

There are 5 of us running the race on Sunday morning, and I expect that 4 of the 5 will probably be pretty close to each other in terms of finish time. J will probably blow us all out of the water - that's what long legs will get you, I suppose. Guess that's something I'll never know!

A Learning Experience

One of the many things I learned this weekend: never ever chase a glass of good wine from the end of one bottle with a glass of fresh wine that is nowhere nearly as good as the wine you just finished. It can only result in disappointment.

Slow Mover

I've got a 14 miler on my schedule this weekend. I really REALLY don't wanna do it today, but I have a window of about 4 hours this morning / afternoon where it needs to happen. After that, it won't happen (see: rain and cold starting later tonight). So I'm trying to psych myself up for it.

On a different front, the yearly ratings for tennis came out this past week. I was bumped from a 4.5 to a 5.0 this year, and I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, yay that I'm still getting better. On the other, though, I lose the big group of people I've been playing with the last few years and graduate into a much smaller group of folks. There isn't as much tennis at the 5.0 level, and I'm not very good about drumming up matches and practicing on my own.

So it looks like I'll be focusing on my running for the foreseeable future. I guess that's ok, but I'll miss some of the camaraderie and competitiveness that came with my tennis league in the spring. But who knows. Maybe I'll end up finally running a marathon this year...we'll see. First, I have to get this 14 miler out of the way though. Joy.

Professional

 Ya know, it is so much better to interview when you have nearly 10 years of experience under your belt in your chosen profession. Nerves weren't even a factor yesterday - so much so that I was damn near late to the thing. Oops. And I have to say, it was extremely nice to be in a professional setting again. Over time I've gotten pretty used to an office setting, and it felt a bit like home to be wandering around corridors and offices yesterday - not to mention hanging out in conference rooms.

So the interview went very well, I think. I was up front about what I want (flexible schedule, non partnership track, etc.), and they seemed very receptive to it. In fact, I think they expected it. The partners I interviewed with were easy to talk to, and I don't think I committed too many gaffes. Not that I could tell, anyway. The main partner I talked with walked me around after the interview to meet various folks at the firm, and I can't help but think that that is a good sign.

There is one more person they want me to speak with, the partner with whom I'd probably be working the closest. Once that is done, assuming she likes me, maybe we'll talk specifics. Who knows, I might find myself working again come the new year. Ahhh, to bid adieu to the world of a slacker...it's probably for the best. I haven't eaten a single bon bon or watched a single second of daytime television - I don't even have pink fuzzy bunny slippers or curlers in my hair. I'm probably not a very good slacker.