Random Notes

A few random things from the weekend.

• Saturday, I ran 6 miles at an average pace of 11:00 per mile. I was tired, and it was around 90 degrees when I stopped, but I wasn't completely exhausted. This bodes well for increasing mileage in the near future.
• Sunday morning, I played doubles with some friends. On the plus side, I wasn't in the least bit sore from the run on Saturday. But on the negative, even though I didn't use my left hand at all during the match, my wrist still hurts and is swollen. Suckage.
• Tonight I baked a couple loaves of bread for lunches this week. Have I mentioned how much I love the smell of fresh bread and yeasty dough? So yummy.
• My kids totally cracked me up tonight. Benjamin has such a fantastic sense of humor, and he has his first loose tooth! And he ate 3 hot dogs for dinner tonight, two of which were chili cheese dogs. Even though he looks nothing like you, J, this PROVES that the boy is your son! The kid can EAT. And Alyssa, even though she was tired, hammed it up enough at dinner that I had a hard time trying to stop laughing. She was snorting like a pig, and for some reason, it was funny as hell. And before you ask, no. I wasn't drinking at dinner.
• I might be a bit tired from all the activity this weekend, but I'm having a hard time settling down tonight. Go figure.

Friday Randomness

Friday Bullets:

• The snow is nearly gone, but the schools are all closed.  Fortunately, aftercare is open and my kiddos actually wanted to go!
• I managed to get in 3 miles last night, which brings this week's total to 14 miles.  I'll take it.  Planning on the following runs for the next 3 weekends:  8 miles, 10 miles, and 12 miles.  That ought to have me ready for the half marathon, right?  *fingers crossed*
• I'm trying to decide what to do for the weekend - I'm thinking a shopping trip is in order for the kiddos.  Both of them are outgrowing their clothes right now, so I suppose I need to suck it up and get out there.  On the plus side, they both like getting new clothes, so I guess that's a good thing.
• It was 15 degrees this morning driving the kiddos to school.  By Sunday it's supposed to be 60.  That'll be good for an 8 mile run - that would totally suck on a treadmill, regardless of how good the playlist is.

Sunday Night

Ahhh, tail end of the weekend.  In bullets:

• Went to bed way too late last night, so the 7am wakeup call was a bit painful.
• Got up, fixed chocolate chip pancakes, debated a run.
• Got my ass in gear and got out for a run.  6 miles, about an 11:40 pace overall.  Slow, but steady.  It was a good run, but the last half mile of the run was all uphill, and I was DONE by the end.
• Got home, ate lunch, turned into a complete and utter bear for about an hour. 
• Realized I needed to take a nap or I was going to kill someone.
• Took a half hour nap.  Much better, thanks.
• Grocery store run.  We are now stocked up on milk and bread and enough food to keep this house eating for the next week.  Of course, that's not really that different from our normal routine.
• J made homemade guacamole as an appetizer, and baked taters with chili for dinner.
• I can't believe tomorrow is already Monday...here we go again.

Bullets

Wow, what a crazy few days.  In bullets ('cause my brain is a little fuzzy this morning):

• Got up yesterday morning and did a little shopping with the fam - Chick Fil-A for breakfast, Sam's for some necessities, Park Plaza for some mysterious errand J had to do, eye appointments for J and I, and then back home.
• Fast and furious lunch, then I headed out to a doubles match to knock the ball around a little.  Holy crap, I thought the running I've been doing would have kept me in decent enough shape to play doubles, but after 2 solid hours, I was completely beat.  I am sore all over today, and I'm supposed to run 8 miles...heh.  Really, though, it was the first time I'd hit since September, and I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it came back.  I somehow always forget how freakin' good it feels to wail on a tennis ball; I grinned like an idiot for the first 10 minutes we were out there. 
• Raced back to the house after tennis, got cleaned up, got the kiddos packed up and took them to my parents, and then J and I headed out for dinner at Ristorante Capeo's in Argenta.  We had a table in the front so we got to people watch all through dinner, and the food was excellent.  It was so nice to have a little quiet time after the crazy busy day.
• After dinner, we headed down to Cregeen's to have drinks with some friends we hadn't seen in a while, and much hilarity ensued - a good time was had by all, I believe.  I had a few glasses of vino, but apparently I kept the right balance of water, food, and wine, because aside from some slightly fuzzy thinking this morning, everything seems good.  And really, some might say I have fuzzy thinking going on all the time, so is that really any different from normal? 

Today, well, I'm not sure what the plan is yet.  J has to work (boo!), and eventually I need to go pick up the kiddos from my parents.  I may take the kiddos to the cheesy mouse place today, but that remains to be seen. The kiddos are off school all week this week, so I need to plan out some activities and figure out what we're going to do, assuming I don't get sucked into work too much...

Time to get the day going.

Working Weekend

I ended up having to work down in Houston this weekend, which means it is a weekend away from the fam.  It's a very strange feeling to wake up on a Saturday without hearing little feet and loud voices running up and down the hall. I'm not quite sure what to do with myself...

At any rate, here's the weekend as it is shaping up so far:

• Work today until mid afternoon.
• Hopefully get in my 10 mile run at Memorial Park this afternoon.  It's supposed to be 80 here by the afternoon - ick.
• Head to a party tonight with a friend I know from our time down in Houston, although he is originally from Arkansas. His band is playing at a party and I've been wanting to hear them play, so the stars finally aligned.
• Sleep.
• Sunday? I have no idea. If I'm smart, it won't involve a headache, but I never claim to be all that smart.

Time to get the day started.

Tuesday Craziness

Another crazy Tuesday. Random stuff pinging around in my head today:

• We're supposed to have some new furniture delivered today. 
• I need to get in a 3 mile run at lunch.
• Work is crazy busy.
• I have The Drive to Houston in front of me tonight, with the prospect of looking at a solid week and a half down there (weekend work is not out of the question right now). I'm trying not to feel too guilty about it - a few days doesn't bother me too much, but when I start looking at being away from the fam over the weekend, I get a little sad.
• I stayed up too late reading a new book last night (Joshua Ferris, The Unnamed), and I managed to pull a back muscle hauling a mattress upstairs a few days ago, so I'm a wee bit grumpy.
• On the plus side, my morning caffeine was perfect this morning. Diet Coke is my morning "coffee", and this morning it seems to have sat in the freezer for just long enough, 'cause it had that nice frozen slushy stuff on top. 
• Even better, I have some new music to listen to on the way to Houston tonight. I had a friend recently recommend Leonard Cohen's music, and after seeing several references this week to his music, I decided the universe is trying to send me a message. I can't believe that I am completely unfamiliar with his work, but I only vaguely recognized one song when I was perusing his albums. So I downloaded a Live in London album and plan on enjoying that on the drive.
• It's going to be a good day.

Bullet Friday

Not enough time to crank out a full post today, so in bullets:

• Got in my 3 miles last night. Can't remember the last time I ran 3 days in a row; my legs were feeling it towards the end.
• Listened to an interesting podcast during my run about The Happiness Project - basic conclusion seemed to be that we are happiest when we are totally focused on the task we are engaged in. The more mind wandering that occurs, the less happiness is seen. Probably have a post on that, but not enough time to write it today.
• Mostly packed for the trip today, although the car remains to be loaded and I need to tie up a few loose ends.
• J and I split a yummy bottle of La Crema chardonnay last night while packing for the trip. Although I wished we'd had some sushi to go with it, I still managed to down my fair share (salmon and this chard are one of the best flavor combinations in the world, at least in my opinion). So now I'm paying for it this morning...stupid headache. Or maybe stupid me... 
• We'll be traveling for the next few days, so I'm not how much posting I'll be doing.

See you on the flip side.

Running Randomness

Another week almost over, I can't believe it's already Thursday. Just a few bullets about the week and a couple of musings on running.

• Ran 3 miles last night, it's the first time I've run back to back days in several months. Have one more 3 miler tonight before I run the "long" one this weekend of 7 miles. That'll put the weekly total at 21 miles, Sunday to Saturday. I'm good with that.
• Started trying to get our music library organized last night. Holy crap is it a mess. Duplicates all over the place, even duplicate songs within folders. It's a long term project. Ugh.
• Heading to Houston this weekend with the whole family; we've been trying to get down there for a while, but the stars appear to have finally aligned and we're headed out tomorrow. Now, as long as the dreaded stomach flu that's going around doesn't take us down...

******
It's good to be back on a training plan for running. The schedule I posted a few days ago, assuming I follow it, will take me right up to the LR Marathon. I started running consistently (using that term rather loosely) in June or July of 2009, and J and I did a training cycle for the December 2009 Las Vegas Marathon. Well, I should say that J finished the cycle and actually ran the marathon; I ended up in trial around the time that training was the heaviest, and I dropped to the half. But even doing the half was fantastic - running 13 miles at once is still sort of mind boggling.

I tried to start another marathon training cycle in January of this year, but almost immediately got injured after ramping up too fast. Then my tennis season hit (my first love), and I focused on that until September or so. I really let the running slide during that time. So here it is November, and I'm hoping to throw together a decent training cycle for the 2011 LR marathon in March.

It sounds strange, but one of the things I miss the most about being in a training cycle is the long runs. Not the 5 and 6 milers - those are sort of run of the mill - but the 10+ milers. For these, you really don't have a choice but to drop into a sort of meditative, almost hypnotic state. You know you are going to be out there for two hours or more (I'm slow), so you switch your brain off and just let your body do its thing. It's not a matter of trying to rush to finish, because it's not possible to "rush" 10+ miles - at least, not for me. You just have to get through them. And when you are done, everything feels sort of husked out and gritty, and you have this sense of satisfaction that your body covered that kind of distance. You develop an awe over what the human body is capable of doing, and not just in the abstract. This was your body that covered that kind of distance, even though a few months ago it seemed laughable. So you go home, take the best hot shower in the world, eat everything in sight, possibly catch a nap for an hour or so, and hope that you won't be too sore the next day. And sometime in the next week notice that your legs have muscles they've never had, your body feels stronger all around, and you feel really good about what you are doing. 

Don't get me wrong, I've not done that many "long runs" in my short running career - I think my longest run to date was somewhere around a 16 miler. I've done far more 3, 4, 5, and 6 milers, and right now, the idea of the 7 miler scheduled this weekend sounds a bit daunting. I don't think I've run anything longer than 6 miles since the Little Rock Half back in March. So it's not like I have a terrific baseline for starting this cycle. At the same time, I really do want to knock this monkey off my back one of these days. Maybe I just want to shoot the middle finger at all the times in my life I mocked my "running ability." I may not be very fast, but dammit, I am a runner. Now I just want to be a runner who has finished a marathon - that's not too much to ask, right? It may or may not happen this training cycle, but it certainly can never happen if I don't give it a try.

Friday Bullets

So let's see, it's Friday. In bullets,

• The plumbing issues from Wednesday have been either fixed or at least identified for future DIY fixing - this is a good thing. How we ended up with two different water leaks from two different sources is beyond me, but at least we can fix it now. Now to the hardware store get some caulk...
• I ran yesterday for the first time since Sunday, just a quick 3 miler while the girl was at gymnastics. J is talking about a half marathon in December. I'm sort of tempted to ramp it up and try to run it with him, but that might be begging for an injury. Sigh.
• The only thing on the agenda tomorrow is a fundraising event in the evening. I can't remember the last time I had a Saturday completely open - I'm not sure I know what to do!
• I'm probably looking at a trip to Houston next week, so I'm sure part of the weekend will be spent getting ready for the trip. 
• J gets back tomorrow from his week long trip - yay! His route back from LA includes a stopover in Las Vegas tonight. Totally unplanned, of course. His last trip's winnings from Vegas put him in the black, so I fully expect this one to involve major collateral damage, even though he'll be there less than 24 hours. Yay. 

Well...

More bullets - it's one of those days:

• It's another Monday in Houston, where it's still HOT.  The high today is near 90, and we're at the end of October.  Crazy stuff.
• Just popped the second diet Coke of the day.  I went to lunch with some friends and ate a ton of excellent Mexican food.  The downside is that I now want a nap in the worst way. 
• I'm planning on a run later today - somewhere between 3 and 4 miles.  The run was supposed to happen this morning, but I can't seem to haul my tail end out of bed most mornings.  Laziness.  I need to figure out how to find my motivation in the morning.
• I need to make a Wally World or Target trip for some necessities, including a little something to take back to the kiddos.
• The project that I'm in Houston for is stalled today.  I'm hoping the logjam will clear so I can wrap things up and go home tomorrow.
• I can't believe Halloween is almost here.  We are already sliding towards the holidays, and that's just frightening. 

Saturday, in Bullets:

Quick synopsis of the weekend so far:

• Last night, fell asleep somewhere around the 7th inning of the Texas / Yankees playoff game.  Woke up just in time to hear that Texas won, then went back to sleep.  Just pitiful - it wasn't even 9:30pm.  This probably resulted in:
• Woke up at 6:30 this morning with more energy than necessary for a Saturday.  Going back to sleep wasn't going to happen, even though the kids slept in until 7:30. 
• Took care of some household crap this morning (read: finally tackled the kitchen).
• Loaded the kids into the car and had lunch at Five Guys.  It was such a gorgeous day, we sat outside and enjoyed the fall weather.
• Spent wayyyy too much time looking at furniture (sofas, chairs, etc.).  The kiddos pretty much ran amok throughout the furniture stores - I'm sure they loved us.  At the end of the day, it was a no decision. 
• Flagellated myself in a fast 3 mile run.  All three miles were under 10:00 miles, which is pretty damn fast for me.
• Cleaned up, getting ready to head out for a pizza party for a friend's birthday. 

Bullets

Not a lot of time to write today, I have to head out in a little while to catch a flight back to LR.  Didn't get my run in this morning, but I'm ok with that.  I'll get one in tomorrow if I don't get one in later tonight (doubtful).  I've got a tennis tournament this weekend, so we'll see if I actually get a long run in over the weekend...  The official training schedule starts next week, so I'm in my last few days of slackerhood, might as well enjoy it. 

Anyway, things on my mind in bullet format:

• Astros won again last night, they've really put together an impressive last quarter of the season.  Maybe they'll be able to keep it up next year for the entire season! 
• I need to figure out a way to organize my digital photographs.  I've been putting that little task off for a long time, but I'd like to put together some albums for my kiddos since they don't really have a baby book.  Crafty I'm not.
• I'm ready to get the flight tonight over with.  I really am not crazy about flying, I much prefer to drive if it's possible.  I know lots of people who don't like to drive, but really - what's not to like about several hours by yourself, in total command of the radio???  It gives me time to think, and I enjoy it.

More substance tomorrow.