I'm easing back in - to blogging, to running, to doing things other than scouring the Internet for the latest and greatest funny blog post to read or backsplash tile to ogle. I feel like I've been taking the passive, easy way out of EVERYTHING lately, and I'd like to stop. Or start, rather. So, onward. Seizing life, etc.
I jogged tonight. I felt like I was moving big lead rods through thick, goopy concrete. It was HARD, is what I'm saying. It's like I'm back at negative 20, not just zero. I also did three sets of eight "cheater" push-ups (where I lean against my stairs, removing about 60% of my body weight from my arms). It's a start.
In other news, we finished watching the new season of Arrested Development last night. Two episodes in, I was wondering if there was just no way for the show to live up to everyone's expectations. I was feeling very "meh" about it. But I must say, it got better and better with each episode. Two thumbs up from me - did you like it? I think the dark quirky humor is right up my alley these days. I heart Gob forever.
Am I the only one who seems to be struggling a bit to get into the carefree summer spirit? Blah.
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Maine! Vacation!
Lucy has cried every day since we've returned to our house. Well, of course she has cried, she is two. But what I mean is that she has cried to go to "Bumpa's Lake House" every day. And then we all say "Me, too" (after Finn reminds her that it's Grammy's lake house, too). Vacation was beautiful and wonderful and fun and why, oh why can't we still be on it?
The last time I visited my parents lake house in Maine I looked like this:
I was 8 months pregnant with Finn, and it was September 2006. FIVE years ago.
At the time, the house looked like this:
Now it looks like this:
Like me, who has managed to birth two children, among other things, the house has changed a lot. Like me, it's seen a lot of chaos and confusion during the past few years. And (like me?), the house has definitely improved with age (not to mention care and work and money). While I am ecstatic that my parents have this wonderful retreat now, I'm also sad that we live too far away to enjoy it very often (hence the 5 years between visits). So, we tried to cram in as much as we could in our week-long stay to make up for it.
Photo by Natalie
Lakeside fires and cocktails. Accompanied by lots of nerve-wracking child wrangling on the large, sheer drop off rocks. Probably resulted in more than one gulped cocktail to handle the stress, stress that I'm sure will go away as the kids get a bit older.
And late afternoon cocktail cruises on the water :-)
We have a lot of pictures like the ones that follow - happy, relaxing people on the boat. I think my favorite thing to do the whole vacation was to sit in that boat, no matter where we were going:
Lucy was our little peppy cruise director, waving "hi" to every person and animal we met with.
There was "fishing," an activity that Finn adored, though he didn't actually catch anything. Kind of hard to do when you are casting with a plastic Transformers medallion :-)
Can you believe this is the same kid that was in my belly in the first picture of this post? Because I'm having trouble.
On their way to a father-son fishing excursion
There were visits with cousins:
From left, Finn, Ned, Lucy and Penny
Finn and Ned getting a tube ride (pulled by hand, not boat - not ready for that much speed, yet)
Somehow things ended up a bit gender segregated, with the boys on one float and the girls on the other.
Me and the lovely, energetic, demanding Josephine
There was a too-brief visit with my grandmother, Mimi, and my awesome cousin Katie (not pictured):
There was even a blogger meet up, as I finally met Drew and her cute little boys (she's toward the back of the photo, holding the adorable James):
There was jet skiing (not me, but Finn, courtesy of his Uncle Andrew), beach-going, swimming in the lake, moose-sightings (admittedly as a nature reserve and not "in the wild"), a date night for me and M., sleeping (we slept!), stupid family joke telling, a "we'll be talking about this for years to come" crane crash, lobster-eating, and a little bit of shopping. Someone even managed to score a moose t-shirt from her Grammy...
And as for the 5K I ran with Natalie and my brother Andrew, well, it was a success all around. Natalie finished her first 5K with flying colors, I made my goal by running the race in 32 minutes, 9 seconds, and Andrew kicked both of our butts by finishing in around 27 minutes. It was fun, and we celebrated with an indulgent diner breakfast, hot-tubbing, napping, and cocktails. The Portland Raccoon Race 5K may have to become an annual tradition...
What do you think, do we look like siblings?
Me and Nat stretching before the race.
A post-race soak with Finn
Enjoying some relaxation and wine after a post-race nap (well, at least for Nat. I didn't take mine until the next day)
And a couple of bonus pics to end with, before my eyes cross from all this blogging (there must be a faster way to create a blog post with 3 million captioned pictures?):
Picture by Natalie
And that? Is all she wrote.
The last time I visited my parents lake house in Maine I looked like this:
I was 8 months pregnant with Finn, and it was September 2006. FIVE years ago.
At the time, the house looked like this:
Now it looks like this:
Like me, who has managed to birth two children, among other things, the house has changed a lot. Like me, it's seen a lot of chaos and confusion during the past few years. And (like me?), the house has definitely improved with age (not to mention care and work and money). While I am ecstatic that my parents have this wonderful retreat now, I'm also sad that we live too far away to enjoy it very often (hence the 5 years between visits). So, we tried to cram in as much as we could in our week-long stay to make up for it.
Photo by Natalie
Lakeside fires and cocktails. Accompanied by lots of nerve-wracking child wrangling on the large, sheer drop off rocks. Probably resulted in more than one gulped cocktail to handle the stress, stress that I'm sure will go away as the kids get a bit older.
And late afternoon cocktail cruises on the water :-)
We have a lot of pictures like the ones that follow - happy, relaxing people on the boat. I think my favorite thing to do the whole vacation was to sit in that boat, no matter where we were going:
Lucy was our little peppy cruise director, waving "hi" to every person and animal we met with.
There was "fishing," an activity that Finn adored, though he didn't actually catch anything. Kind of hard to do when you are casting with a plastic Transformers medallion :-)
Can you believe this is the same kid that was in my belly in the first picture of this post? Because I'm having trouble.
On their way to a father-son fishing excursion
There were visits with cousins:
From left, Finn, Ned, Lucy and Penny
Finn and Ned getting a tube ride (pulled by hand, not boat - not ready for that much speed, yet)
Somehow things ended up a bit gender segregated, with the boys on one float and the girls on the other.
Me and the lovely, energetic, demanding Josephine
There was a too-brief visit with my grandmother, Mimi, and my awesome cousin Katie (not pictured):
There was even a blogger meet up, as I finally met Drew and her cute little boys (she's toward the back of the photo, holding the adorable James):
There was jet skiing (not me, but Finn, courtesy of his Uncle Andrew), beach-going, swimming in the lake, moose-sightings (admittedly as a nature reserve and not "in the wild"), a date night for me and M., sleeping (we slept!), stupid family joke telling, a "we'll be talking about this for years to come" crane crash, lobster-eating, and a little bit of shopping. Someone even managed to score a moose t-shirt from her Grammy...
And as for the 5K I ran with Natalie and my brother Andrew, well, it was a success all around. Natalie finished her first 5K with flying colors, I made my goal by running the race in 32 minutes, 9 seconds, and Andrew kicked both of our butts by finishing in around 27 minutes. It was fun, and we celebrated with an indulgent diner breakfast, hot-tubbing, napping, and cocktails. The Portland Raccoon Race 5K may have to become an annual tradition...
What do you think, do we look like siblings?
Me and Nat stretching before the race.
A post-race soak with Finn
Enjoying some relaxation and wine after a post-race nap (well, at least for Nat. I didn't take mine until the next day)
And a couple of bonus pics to end with, before my eyes cross from all this blogging (there must be a faster way to create a blog post with 3 million captioned pictures?):
Picture by Natalie
And that? Is all she wrote.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Wednesday's Child is Full of Woe
I have lots to say, obvs. About vacation, and the kids, and the 5K I ran with Natalie.
And my plan was to sit down last night, after an inaugural "I'm back to attempting to be healthy" run, with a glass of wine, and create a photo-licious post for you all about our vacation.
But then, during my run, this happened:
Side view
Front view
View earlier today as I developed a lovely black eye
In trying to swerve around a large dog barking at me from the middle of the sidewalk, I managed to trip, scrape up a good portion of my body, and give myself a nice whack on the head with the concrete. Good times. I immediately developed a huge goose egg, and spent my painful walk home and a good portion of the rest of the evening alternating between crying and feeling sorry for myself. Nothing like a good injury to make me cry about EVERYTHING. By the time M. heard me come in to the house and came to tend to my many wounds (with appropriate amounts of concern, though I am well aware that much of that concern stems from not wanting to be left all alone with the children), I was combining my bad luck/inability to read the signs that I shouldn't go for a run (dark already. difficult bedtime with kids. many other things that should probably be prioritized) with tears over whether we were parenting Finn completely, absolutely, wrongly. Ah, the release of a good cry... once you start, you just can't stop.
Anyway, we checked with a neighbor who is a nurse, and determined that provided we were vigilant about detecting any signs of mental deterioration, I could put off going to the ER for the time being and wait for the swelling to go down. M. has given me about 20 pop quizzes to check my mental faculties, and I have passed with flying colors. He probably expected me to be able to name where we got married and the town we currently live in, but I surprised him by even being able to name his brother's middle name. A fact I'm not even sure HE remembers. I came to the conclusion that it was possible he had sustained a concussion at some point last night, when, before attending to a crying, nightmare-having Finn, he actually asked me which room was Finn's. Because he didn't know. He was apparently a wee bit sleep-addled and confused.
I worked from home today (and slept in) to recover, and am now left with a slight headache, some garish eye markings that might call for a purchase of purple and pink eye shadows, and plenty of muscle soreness that reminds me of just how unsuited my muscles are to taking the full weight of my body on as it skids across a hard surface. How do kids fall so often, and recover so quickly? This would not have phased Finn or Lucy for more than half an hour, but I was putting myself on driving arrest, limping around the house, and worrying about stray blood clots. Maybe because they are closer to the ground?
Tonight, I am enjoying that belated glass of wine (or two). Hopefully tomorrow I'll get around to those vacation pictures... ;-).
Re: title. I was born on a Wednesday. But I don't think I'm atypically full of woe?
And my plan was to sit down last night, after an inaugural "I'm back to attempting to be healthy" run, with a glass of wine, and create a photo-licious post for you all about our vacation.
But then, during my run, this happened:
Side view
Front view
View earlier today as I developed a lovely black eye
In trying to swerve around a large dog barking at me from the middle of the sidewalk, I managed to trip, scrape up a good portion of my body, and give myself a nice whack on the head with the concrete. Good times. I immediately developed a huge goose egg, and spent my painful walk home and a good portion of the rest of the evening alternating between crying and feeling sorry for myself. Nothing like a good injury to make me cry about EVERYTHING. By the time M. heard me come in to the house and came to tend to my many wounds (with appropriate amounts of concern, though I am well aware that much of that concern stems from not wanting to be left all alone with the children), I was combining my bad luck/inability to read the signs that I shouldn't go for a run (dark already. difficult bedtime with kids. many other things that should probably be prioritized) with tears over whether we were parenting Finn completely, absolutely, wrongly. Ah, the release of a good cry... once you start, you just can't stop.
Anyway, we checked with a neighbor who is a nurse, and determined that provided we were vigilant about detecting any signs of mental deterioration, I could put off going to the ER for the time being and wait for the swelling to go down. M. has given me about 20 pop quizzes to check my mental faculties, and I have passed with flying colors. He probably expected me to be able to name where we got married and the town we currently live in, but I surprised him by even being able to name his brother's middle name. A fact I'm not even sure HE remembers. I came to the conclusion that it was possible he had sustained a concussion at some point last night, when, before attending to a crying, nightmare-having Finn, he actually asked me which room was Finn's. Because he didn't know. He was apparently a wee bit sleep-addled and confused.
I worked from home today (and slept in) to recover, and am now left with a slight headache, some garish eye markings that might call for a purchase of purple and pink eye shadows, and plenty of muscle soreness that reminds me of just how unsuited my muscles are to taking the full weight of my body on as it skids across a hard surface. How do kids fall so often, and recover so quickly? This would not have phased Finn or Lucy for more than half an hour, but I was putting myself on driving arrest, limping around the house, and worrying about stray blood clots. Maybe because they are closer to the ground?
Tonight, I am enjoying that belated glass of wine (or two). Hopefully tomorrow I'll get around to those vacation pictures... ;-).
Re: title. I was born on a Wednesday. But I don't think I'm atypically full of woe?
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
My Super 5K Running Mix
Natalie and I are running a 5K this coming Sunday in Portland, ME - the Raccoon Run 5K. Signing up for this race was my way of making sure I didn't slack too much on running during the hottest weeks of the summer, and it will keep me "good" the first 36 hours of so of my vacation. No promises on the other 6 and a half days, though...
Anyway, Natalie and I each have specific goals for this 5K. For Natalie, it's her first road race, so I imagine that her goals are to a) finish, and b) not hate it so much that she never does another one. And I hope she achieves both, especially b, since I'm the one that talked her in to this. For me, I'd like to improve my 5K speed. On the treadmill, I've been able to crack 33 minutes a few times, but that's on a machine with no hills, no distractions, and a moving belt to make sure I keep my legs going at a good pace. I would love, LOVE to run the race in 31 minutes, which would be a 10 minute mile pace. But I don't think I'm there yet, and I also have absolutely no idea what the course will be like. I know it's in downtown Portland, and weather there is at least 10 degrees cooler than here (yay!). But no idea about hills, traffic, etc. So I'm setting a realistic goal (I hope) of running the race in under 33 minutes. That will put me somewhere in the 10 and a half minute mile range, something that would make me happy.
To encourage speed on this race, I've put together a new running mix - much shorter than my usual workout mix that has lots of great songs, but also several "meh/good" songs that I LIKE, but occasionally just want to skip right past. In a relatively short race like this one, every song counts. I need only the most motivating, awesome, favorite songs ever. Or, if not ever, at least RIGHT NOW. Because as you will see, my preferences run to whatever songs are popular at the moment, and not necessarily the high energy classics. My number one criteria is that I have to really, really like the song - that comes before a good beat and poppy/rockin' lyrics.
Ideally the playlist would last only 33 minutes, so I could easily judge my pace and see how close I am to reaching my pace goal. However, I found it really hard to cut the playlist to only 8 songs, so I included a few more with the excuse that I may not be able to time the start of the music exactly with the start of the race.
Without further ado, here is the list:
Paris (Ooh La La) by Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Rolling In the Deep by Adele
The Cave by Mumford & Sons
Just Dance by Lady GaGa & Colby O'Donis
Mercy by Duffy
Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons
Africa by Toto
Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine
All the Right Moves by OneRepublic
Love the Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna) by Eminem
Teenage Dream by Katy Perry
Runnin' Down A Dream by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
My first pass had 17 songs, not the 12 listed above. It was very hard to pick some to cut out, and I'm still a bit indecisive about it. At least one of the Mumford and Sons songs is a bit slow to start, but I just like them so much that I couldn't leave them out.
What are your favorite songs to run to? And not just any old song to provide background rhythm while you work out - what songs inspire you to move your legs faster? We don't leave the house (and thus the laptop with our iTunes library on it) until Thursday, so I am open to suggestions for change... :-)
Anyway, Natalie and I each have specific goals for this 5K. For Natalie, it's her first road race, so I imagine that her goals are to a) finish, and b) not hate it so much that she never does another one. And I hope she achieves both, especially b, since I'm the one that talked her in to this. For me, I'd like to improve my 5K speed. On the treadmill, I've been able to crack 33 minutes a few times, but that's on a machine with no hills, no distractions, and a moving belt to make sure I keep my legs going at a good pace. I would love, LOVE to run the race in 31 minutes, which would be a 10 minute mile pace. But I don't think I'm there yet, and I also have absolutely no idea what the course will be like. I know it's in downtown Portland, and weather there is at least 10 degrees cooler than here (yay!). But no idea about hills, traffic, etc. So I'm setting a realistic goal (I hope) of running the race in under 33 minutes. That will put me somewhere in the 10 and a half minute mile range, something that would make me happy.
To encourage speed on this race, I've put together a new running mix - much shorter than my usual workout mix that has lots of great songs, but also several "meh/good" songs that I LIKE, but occasionally just want to skip right past. In a relatively short race like this one, every song counts. I need only the most motivating, awesome, favorite songs ever. Or, if not ever, at least RIGHT NOW. Because as you will see, my preferences run to whatever songs are popular at the moment, and not necessarily the high energy classics. My number one criteria is that I have to really, really like the song - that comes before a good beat and poppy/rockin' lyrics.
Ideally the playlist would last only 33 minutes, so I could easily judge my pace and see how close I am to reaching my pace goal. However, I found it really hard to cut the playlist to only 8 songs, so I included a few more with the excuse that I may not be able to time the start of the music exactly with the start of the race.
Without further ado, here is the list:
Paris (Ooh La La) by Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Rolling In the Deep by Adele
The Cave by Mumford & Sons
Just Dance by Lady GaGa & Colby O'Donis
Mercy by Duffy
Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons
Africa by Toto
Dog Days Are Over by Florence + The Machine
All the Right Moves by OneRepublic
Love the Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna) by Eminem
Teenage Dream by Katy Perry
Runnin' Down A Dream by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
My first pass had 17 songs, not the 12 listed above. It was very hard to pick some to cut out, and I'm still a bit indecisive about it. At least one of the Mumford and Sons songs is a bit slow to start, but I just like them so much that I couldn't leave them out.
What are your favorite songs to run to? And not just any old song to provide background rhythm while you work out - what songs inspire you to move your legs faster? We don't leave the house (and thus the laptop with our iTunes library on it) until Thursday, so I am open to suggestions for change... :-)
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Why Can't Every Day Be A Weekend Day?
Good weekend for the M household all around. Finn continued with his trend of doing very well during swim lessons, and apparently graduated from the Minnow level to "Turtle I." He can now jump into the pool, turn over, and start floating on his back all by himself. I am amazed and proud, and a little sad that since I am always in the pool with Lucy during his lesson, I never really get to see his accomplishments in the pool. Though once our neighborhood pool is open for the summer, perhaps that will change.
He is mostly excited because he now gets to wear a red swimming cap instead of a yellow swimming cap.
That was Saturday morning, and later that afternoon I drove down to Washington DC to visit a friend with a newborn that I hadn't seen in about 6 months (since before her baby was born, and longer - too long!). The GPS decided to take me right through downtown DC which, while it added several minutes to my trip, gave me the chance to see all the beautiful cherry blossoms in bloom around the monuments and museums. My friend and I ventured out alone for coffee (adult conversation! coffee in a cute urban, non-chain coffee shop!), and then headed back to her house so that I could monopolize her adorable infant for a good half hour. I held her for so long that she ended up falling asleep (I've still got it!), and my arm got that "sore-muscles-from-bending-to-cradle-a-baby" feeling by the end. It was great - I got my fill of newborn, and it quite satisfied me. I had been having some baby pangs lately due to a plethora of pregnant women at work, most of whom have recently given birth. But this little jaunt helped me realize that I can get just the right amount of baby by visiting a house with one every once in a while, and then head home happily to my "babies".
It was early to bed on Saturday, and early to rise Sunday morning so the whole family could head out to cheer me on for the "Wild Woman 8K" race that I ran this morning. I have to thank my friend Karen for telling me about the race, because it was just perfect. Beautiful, sunny weather (it was chilly, but I was dressed just right), and a course that somehow, magically, was mostly slightly downhill. My absolute favorite type of running terrain! (BTW, a steep downhill usually creates problems with my bladder that suffered through two pregnancies and births - hence my preference for a slight downhill!) I don't know how they managed it for nearly 5 miles, but I am so grateful! I went to the race anticipating that it would take me about 56 minutes to finish - and that I would be pleasantly surprised to finish somewhere in the 55 minute range. During my treadmill workouts, I've been running a good 11-minute-mile pace that I can keep up for a 5K distance, so I thought that something similar for an 8K (accounting for that "race adrenaline" and the longer distance) would be about right. Color me shocked when I finish in about 51 minutes, 20 seconds!!! I don't have my official race time yet, but that puts me at around a 10 minutes, 19 seconds per mile pace. That race, it was an ego booster, that's for sure!
The rest of the day today involved errands, yard work, and family play time. And a lovely 20-minute cuddle with Lucy when she woke up a bit too early/too cranky from her naptime. She fell back asleep on me when I carried her over to the chair in her room, and even though she's about 10 times larger than the 3-month-old that I held yesterday, my arms were happy.
Some recent pics:
Bubble Beard #1
BB#2
Lucy and I snapped a pic of our feet one morning last weekend when we got up a bit earlier than the boys.
My mom got Lucy (and all her similarly-aged cousins) a book called "Everyone Poops" to inspire potty-training tendencies. While Lucy has not peed on the potty since we received the book, she absolutely loves it. One of these days I need to get a video of her impression of what a whale looks like while it poops for posterity's sake (spoiler, there is face squinching and grunting involved). It's the most adorable thing ever, seriously.
M. and I have been talking about buying an umbrella for our deck for a trillion years. Finally did it, and got a really good price at Kohls. Unfortunately, it's brown. Just like the outdoor rug, and the chairs. Looks like an awesome excuse to buy some bright, color-popping outdoor throw pillows if you ask me!
Before the squirrels ravaged our latest bird feeder, M. managed to get a photo of a blue jay snacking on our deck. Now we have no more bird food, but lots of squirrel poop on the rails of our deck. Stupid squirrels.
The start of my race this morning. I'm guessing there were about 400 people max that ran this race, a wonderful change from the tens of thousands that ran in the last one I did (Baltimore Running Festival). Yet M. and Finn still didn't see me when I ran past them at the start. Lucy did, though, and then sobbed heartily when I kept running past her. Good thing I didn't know that at the time! Not that I was going to stop - Momma was on a mission!
My friend Karen and I about 3 minutes after the race ended (well, for me - Karen finished about 4 minutes earlier than I did). We both had a great time - crazy that I am actually saying that about an athletic event where I busted my butt for nearly an hour! It was fun and rewarding, though - and I can't wait to do another one!
He is mostly excited because he now gets to wear a red swimming cap instead of a yellow swimming cap.
That was Saturday morning, and later that afternoon I drove down to Washington DC to visit a friend with a newborn that I hadn't seen in about 6 months (since before her baby was born, and longer - too long!). The GPS decided to take me right through downtown DC which, while it added several minutes to my trip, gave me the chance to see all the beautiful cherry blossoms in bloom around the monuments and museums. My friend and I ventured out alone for coffee (adult conversation! coffee in a cute urban, non-chain coffee shop!), and then headed back to her house so that I could monopolize her adorable infant for a good half hour. I held her for so long that she ended up falling asleep (I've still got it!), and my arm got that "sore-muscles-from-bending-to-cradle-a-baby" feeling by the end. It was great - I got my fill of newborn, and it quite satisfied me. I had been having some baby pangs lately due to a plethora of pregnant women at work, most of whom have recently given birth. But this little jaunt helped me realize that I can get just the right amount of baby by visiting a house with one every once in a while, and then head home happily to my "babies".
It was early to bed on Saturday, and early to rise Sunday morning so the whole family could head out to cheer me on for the "Wild Woman 8K" race that I ran this morning. I have to thank my friend Karen for telling me about the race, because it was just perfect. Beautiful, sunny weather (it was chilly, but I was dressed just right), and a course that somehow, magically, was mostly slightly downhill. My absolute favorite type of running terrain! (BTW, a steep downhill usually creates problems with my bladder that suffered through two pregnancies and births - hence my preference for a slight downhill!) I don't know how they managed it for nearly 5 miles, but I am so grateful! I went to the race anticipating that it would take me about 56 minutes to finish - and that I would be pleasantly surprised to finish somewhere in the 55 minute range. During my treadmill workouts, I've been running a good 11-minute-mile pace that I can keep up for a 5K distance, so I thought that something similar for an 8K (accounting for that "race adrenaline" and the longer distance) would be about right. Color me shocked when I finish in about 51 minutes, 20 seconds!!! I don't have my official race time yet, but that puts me at around a 10 minutes, 19 seconds per mile pace. That race, it was an ego booster, that's for sure!
The rest of the day today involved errands, yard work, and family play time. And a lovely 20-minute cuddle with Lucy when she woke up a bit too early/too cranky from her naptime. She fell back asleep on me when I carried her over to the chair in her room, and even though she's about 10 times larger than the 3-month-old that I held yesterday, my arms were happy.
Some recent pics:
Bubble Beard #1
BB#2
Lucy and I snapped a pic of our feet one morning last weekend when we got up a bit earlier than the boys.
My mom got Lucy (and all her similarly-aged cousins) a book called "Everyone Poops" to inspire potty-training tendencies. While Lucy has not peed on the potty since we received the book, she absolutely loves it. One of these days I need to get a video of her impression of what a whale looks like while it poops for posterity's sake (spoiler, there is face squinching and grunting involved). It's the most adorable thing ever, seriously.
M. and I have been talking about buying an umbrella for our deck for a trillion years. Finally did it, and got a really good price at Kohls. Unfortunately, it's brown. Just like the outdoor rug, and the chairs. Looks like an awesome excuse to buy some bright, color-popping outdoor throw pillows if you ask me!
Before the squirrels ravaged our latest bird feeder, M. managed to get a photo of a blue jay snacking on our deck. Now we have no more bird food, but lots of squirrel poop on the rails of our deck. Stupid squirrels.
The start of my race this morning. I'm guessing there were about 400 people max that ran this race, a wonderful change from the tens of thousands that ran in the last one I did (Baltimore Running Festival). Yet M. and Finn still didn't see me when I ran past them at the start. Lucy did, though, and then sobbed heartily when I kept running past her. Good thing I didn't know that at the time! Not that I was going to stop - Momma was on a mission!
My friend Karen and I about 3 minutes after the race ended (well, for me - Karen finished about 4 minutes earlier than I did). We both had a great time - crazy that I am actually saying that about an athletic event where I busted my butt for nearly an hour! It was fun and rewarding, though - and I can't wait to do another one!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Race Day
My day today started at 4:30 am. I managed to recognize my alarm as something other than a dream, and rolled myself out of bed. Brush teeth, wash face, throw on clothes, fashion a pony tail. I made it to my friend's house by 5:30 as planned, and we set off for Baltimore.
The sky was just changing from pitch black as we found parking in a lot behind the Raven's stadium. We met up with one of our other teammates, and huddled in the bathroom for a little while, chatting, fastening on our bibs with safety pins, and avoiding the chilly morning air. Finally it was time for me to catch the bus to my relay point, half an hour before the start of the race. I sat on a warm school bus, listening to nervous chattering all around me, as we zipped through downtown Baltimore and up north to our start point. I looked at our line of buses, at least 10 buses long, and the crew of police cars and policeman escorting us, blocking traffic. And I couldn't help tearing up, feeling emotional. Somebody thought what we were about to do was important enough for this, for the hoopla. I inwardly laughed at myself, and wondered about how emotional I'd be at the end, if I was already crying (spoiler alert: I was far too exhausted to cry).
Our route through Baltimore took me through so many familiar areas, places I had seen many times, places I had been, places I had lived. Our buses drove right past the driveway to the Department of Biology building at Hopkins, the place where I devoted many hours and made many friends. Right past the new-ish building where M. worked, toward the end of his grad school experience, after his department moved out of their old, rusty, cranky headquarters. I saw the Stieff Silver building, the Maryland College Institute of Art, the Belvedere building. We almost, almost made it up to my old apartment building, a beloved brick building built in the 1920's with few amenities but lots of charm, until each bus, one by one, made a 3-point turn to back track and drop us at the exchange point.
My first thought, upon emerging from the bus, was to find a port-a-potty to pee... and maybe, ahem, do more (nerves, what can I say?). Some busmates and I looked around for the facilities and saw... a line. A very long line, leading up to ONE port-a-potty. One port-a-potty, for hundreds of people. Pretty sure someone screwed up there. Perhaps some of the 100 or so port-a-potties at the finish line were meant to be delivered to Relay Point #2? Maybe at least one or two were wrongly directed? Figuring out how to handle this situation took up a good chunk of the time I would have otherwise spent hanging around pacing and fiddling with my iPod. Never fear - someone managed to get in to one of the locked Hopkins academic buildings, and a steady stream of runners (including myself) made good use of their very nice (read: far superior to a port-a-potty) facilities.
By then it was about 8:30, and the race had been underway for half an hour. The relay teams started at the same time as the full marathon runners. I was expecting my teammate right around 9:00 based on her predicted pace. I spent some time stretching, talked a bit with a friend who happened to be running the relay as well (this was nice, as I wasn't expecting to know anyone), and then watched the front runners for the marathon pass by. The wheelchair participants were crossing by us (at mile 5.7) by 8:30 or so, and the leaders of the runners began showing up by 8:45. I was blown away by how fast they were running - not only was it uphill at that point (and a steep hill at that), but they still had over 20 miles to go!
I nervously alternated keeping watch for my teammate and checking my cell phone to see what time it was. The race transponder would only record one time for our whole team, so the only way to know my own pace was to figure out what time I started, and what time I ended. I glanced at my phone at 9:01, and about a minute and a half later, I spotted my friend. She ran uphill for most of her 5.7 miles, and looked DONE. I'm pretty sure she was happy to see me :-). I grabbed the transponder from her, tossed her my sweatshirt and bag, and took off.
The race itself was a) fun, and b) exhausting. The fun part was the beginning. After a slight uphill, it was downhill for about 3 miles straight. And not a steep, bone-rattling/knee-jarring downhill. It was fairly gentle, just the kind of hill I like to be running down. As I neared the Inner Harbor, I began to wonder when I would see M. and the kids. He had gotten them up and out of the house by 7 am, drove to a light rail station south of the city (think above-ground subway), and took the train in so they could all cheer me on. Luckily, my leg of the race circled down close to the finish line, so he could pretty easily see me at about my halfway point AND at the end of my leg, and we were still positioned pretty well to get to the finish line to cheer on my last teammate.
I managed to spot M. and the kids - M. tried to video me, but apparently didn't actually have the camera ON. At that point I looked perky still. The kids saw me, but looked a bit confused and didn't really get excited.
Then I continued on, excited to end the race and hang out with them. I had figured that seeing M. would be about the mid-point of my leg, but as I continued running on a road that was supposed to loop back around, and I still hadn't looped around yet, I began to realize that M. probably hadn't been waiting at the midpoint, he'd been earlier than that. And I couldn't find a mile marker for the life of me (through the entire race I never saw one, though I imagine they must have had them) to know how much further I had to go. AND, I was suddenly tired. My legs were numb - they had been from the start (the cold, maybe?). But now they were also tired. I was slowing down, in the face of what I was sure was a lot longer to go. And we were no longer running downhill. There were some uphills, though they were pretty gentle (and I really can't complain about them, as I have seen a map of the course elevation and I know my teammates had some hills that were doozies). I kept grabbing cups of water and trying to gulp some down, though I wasn't terribly thirsty. I would have preferred food, I think - at that point, my Cliff bar and Cliff gels that I had gulped down earlier were no longer giving me energy.
We finally cut across and started back toward our relay point. I tried my best to find a couple of bursts of energy, to move my legs faster. Sometimes it's easier to run faster - if you run too slowly, your mind focuses on just how slow you're going and tries to convince you to just stop. So I pushed on, intermittently, running a bit slower in between. I never walked.
After the loop around, I wasn't sure how much further I had to go. My perspective was completely confused. But then I saw one of my teammates, the one who had run the first leg of the race. I saw her, cheering for me and smiling, and asked her how much more I had left. She told me I was almost done (still wasn't sure what that meant), and that my next teammate was all set to take over. She ran with me for a little bit, then ran ahead to let our teammate know I was headed her way. I realized, then, finally, that I truly was almost done. I saw the Relay banner, and the crowds of runners waiting to take over. And I saw M. and the kids again, cheering for me, waving at me, encouraging me. I picked up my speed for the last little bit, suddenly renewed, and made it to my teammate. I shoved the transponder at her, gave her a hug, and looked at my cell phone: 10:21 am.
78 minutes to run 7 miles. Boo-Yah!
Just before the end, when I passed by M. and the kids the second time. You can see my friend running just ahead of me, getting ready to alert our teammate that I was coming. Excuse the lengthy rear-end footage, please :-)
The kids waiting for me to run by
Me and two of my teammates, after the race (our fearless fourth had to leave just before this was taken)
The sky was just changing from pitch black as we found parking in a lot behind the Raven's stadium. We met up with one of our other teammates, and huddled in the bathroom for a little while, chatting, fastening on our bibs with safety pins, and avoiding the chilly morning air. Finally it was time for me to catch the bus to my relay point, half an hour before the start of the race. I sat on a warm school bus, listening to nervous chattering all around me, as we zipped through downtown Baltimore and up north to our start point. I looked at our line of buses, at least 10 buses long, and the crew of police cars and policeman escorting us, blocking traffic. And I couldn't help tearing up, feeling emotional. Somebody thought what we were about to do was important enough for this, for the hoopla. I inwardly laughed at myself, and wondered about how emotional I'd be at the end, if I was already crying (spoiler alert: I was far too exhausted to cry).
Our route through Baltimore took me through so many familiar areas, places I had seen many times, places I had been, places I had lived. Our buses drove right past the driveway to the Department of Biology building at Hopkins, the place where I devoted many hours and made many friends. Right past the new-ish building where M. worked, toward the end of his grad school experience, after his department moved out of their old, rusty, cranky headquarters. I saw the Stieff Silver building, the Maryland College Institute of Art, the Belvedere building. We almost, almost made it up to my old apartment building, a beloved brick building built in the 1920's with few amenities but lots of charm, until each bus, one by one, made a 3-point turn to back track and drop us at the exchange point.
My first thought, upon emerging from the bus, was to find a port-a-potty to pee... and maybe, ahem, do more (nerves, what can I say?). Some busmates and I looked around for the facilities and saw... a line. A very long line, leading up to ONE port-a-potty. One port-a-potty, for hundreds of people. Pretty sure someone screwed up there. Perhaps some of the 100 or so port-a-potties at the finish line were meant to be delivered to Relay Point #2? Maybe at least one or two were wrongly directed? Figuring out how to handle this situation took up a good chunk of the time I would have otherwise spent hanging around pacing and fiddling with my iPod. Never fear - someone managed to get in to one of the locked Hopkins academic buildings, and a steady stream of runners (including myself) made good use of their very nice (read: far superior to a port-a-potty) facilities.
By then it was about 8:30, and the race had been underway for half an hour. The relay teams started at the same time as the full marathon runners. I was expecting my teammate right around 9:00 based on her predicted pace. I spent some time stretching, talked a bit with a friend who happened to be running the relay as well (this was nice, as I wasn't expecting to know anyone), and then watched the front runners for the marathon pass by. The wheelchair participants were crossing by us (at mile 5.7) by 8:30 or so, and the leaders of the runners began showing up by 8:45. I was blown away by how fast they were running - not only was it uphill at that point (and a steep hill at that), but they still had over 20 miles to go!
I nervously alternated keeping watch for my teammate and checking my cell phone to see what time it was. The race transponder would only record one time for our whole team, so the only way to know my own pace was to figure out what time I started, and what time I ended. I glanced at my phone at 9:01, and about a minute and a half later, I spotted my friend. She ran uphill for most of her 5.7 miles, and looked DONE. I'm pretty sure she was happy to see me :-). I grabbed the transponder from her, tossed her my sweatshirt and bag, and took off.
The race itself was a) fun, and b) exhausting. The fun part was the beginning. After a slight uphill, it was downhill for about 3 miles straight. And not a steep, bone-rattling/knee-jarring downhill. It was fairly gentle, just the kind of hill I like to be running down. As I neared the Inner Harbor, I began to wonder when I would see M. and the kids. He had gotten them up and out of the house by 7 am, drove to a light rail station south of the city (think above-ground subway), and took the train in so they could all cheer me on. Luckily, my leg of the race circled down close to the finish line, so he could pretty easily see me at about my halfway point AND at the end of my leg, and we were still positioned pretty well to get to the finish line to cheer on my last teammate.
I managed to spot M. and the kids - M. tried to video me, but apparently didn't actually have the camera ON. At that point I looked perky still. The kids saw me, but looked a bit confused and didn't really get excited.
Then I continued on, excited to end the race and hang out with them. I had figured that seeing M. would be about the mid-point of my leg, but as I continued running on a road that was supposed to loop back around, and I still hadn't looped around yet, I began to realize that M. probably hadn't been waiting at the midpoint, he'd been earlier than that. And I couldn't find a mile marker for the life of me (through the entire race I never saw one, though I imagine they must have had them) to know how much further I had to go. AND, I was suddenly tired. My legs were numb - they had been from the start (the cold, maybe?). But now they were also tired. I was slowing down, in the face of what I was sure was a lot longer to go. And we were no longer running downhill. There were some uphills, though they were pretty gentle (and I really can't complain about them, as I have seen a map of the course elevation and I know my teammates had some hills that were doozies). I kept grabbing cups of water and trying to gulp some down, though I wasn't terribly thirsty. I would have preferred food, I think - at that point, my Cliff bar and Cliff gels that I had gulped down earlier were no longer giving me energy.
We finally cut across and started back toward our relay point. I tried my best to find a couple of bursts of energy, to move my legs faster. Sometimes it's easier to run faster - if you run too slowly, your mind focuses on just how slow you're going and tries to convince you to just stop. So I pushed on, intermittently, running a bit slower in between. I never walked.
After the loop around, I wasn't sure how much further I had to go. My perspective was completely confused. But then I saw one of my teammates, the one who had run the first leg of the race. I saw her, cheering for me and smiling, and asked her how much more I had left. She told me I was almost done (still wasn't sure what that meant), and that my next teammate was all set to take over. She ran with me for a little bit, then ran ahead to let our teammate know I was headed her way. I realized, then, finally, that I truly was almost done. I saw the Relay banner, and the crowds of runners waiting to take over. And I saw M. and the kids again, cheering for me, waving at me, encouraging me. I picked up my speed for the last little bit, suddenly renewed, and made it to my teammate. I shoved the transponder at her, gave her a hug, and looked at my cell phone: 10:21 am.
78 minutes to run 7 miles. Boo-Yah!
Just before the end, when I passed by M. and the kids the second time. You can see my friend running just ahead of me, getting ready to alert our teammate that I was coming. Excuse the lengthy rear-end footage, please :-)
The kids waiting for me to run by
Me and two of my teammates, after the race (our fearless fourth had to leave just before this was taken)
Monday, October 4, 2010
Different guilt, same distraction
I should be jogging/running tonight, not sitting on my rear end, drinking an Octoberfest beer (M.'s family may be interested to know it's a Leinenkugel's) catching up on Facebook and blogs. In my defense, it's cooooooold. Sure, 46 degrees won't feel cold in February, but it feels damn cold now. And it's daaaaaaaaaark. And the treadmill is broken, so there's that.
But I am running out of time, folks. The race I have been training for is less than two weeks away, and I'm maybe a leetle bit panicky about it. I should really, really be running right now.
It's a marathon relay, as I may have mentioned before. 26.2 miles, split up between 4 people. I'm running leg 2 (I think), a 7 mile distance. Not so bad, when you compare it to 26.2 miles. But I started out barely able to run a mile this past January, so it seems like a lot to me. I've worked myself up to regular runs (I aim for 3 times a week but don't always make that goal) that are between 3.5 and 4.5 miles long, and I've done a couple of "long" runs that are around 5.5 miles. I was hoping to be a little more comfortable in the 5.5 to 6 mile range before this race came around, just to have a little more confidence that 7 miles won't kill me. No doubt I will have major butterflies the morning of the race. Not just the distance (though mostly that) or the idea that my 12-minute mile pace will look like molasses in January compared to just about everyone else. Also the logistics (packet pick-up! parking! road closures! catching the bus to the relay point on time! figuring out how M. and the kids can cheer me on without leaving the house as the crack of dawn, but also so that I don't have to drive myself home on exhausted legs!). Except the carb loading. I think I have that covered.
So, to distract myself from my guilt, I give you... more cute photos of my kids!! These are from our adventures this past weekend, which included the family's first apple-picking outing.
Pumpkin painting
Mums!
Someone is SUPER excited about his brand new Halloween costume, and may have even insisted on playing outside and going to the grocery store in it...
Look, a spider!
Ew! (she's actually saying "ew" here, if you can catch the slight nose wrinkle - a girl after her mother's heart...)
Teamwork
Professional apple-picker
Professional observer (I had visions of Lucy scurrying around eating all the rotten apples on the ground, so we did not let her participate much in this part of the outing. She is not controllable/directable in the slightest bit yet.)
Look, apples!
Overly large piles of hay
Overly large tractor tires
Too much fun (as if there is such thing)
Creepy impaled witch (who now has the dubious honor of serving as masthead photo for the fall season)
Goats in the air!
Watching the goats on the ground (and picking up a few germs to boost the ol' immune system)
Feeding the goats in the air
Little piggies!
My attempt to get a picture of the kids (clear failure, as with all other previous attempts). Perhaps Finn is just smelling nature?
Back on the road tomorrow for some more running!
But I am running out of time, folks. The race I have been training for is less than two weeks away, and I'm maybe a leetle bit panicky about it. I should really, really be running right now.
It's a marathon relay, as I may have mentioned before. 26.2 miles, split up between 4 people. I'm running leg 2 (I think), a 7 mile distance. Not so bad, when you compare it to 26.2 miles. But I started out barely able to run a mile this past January, so it seems like a lot to me. I've worked myself up to regular runs (I aim for 3 times a week but don't always make that goal) that are between 3.5 and 4.5 miles long, and I've done a couple of "long" runs that are around 5.5 miles. I was hoping to be a little more comfortable in the 5.5 to 6 mile range before this race came around, just to have a little more confidence that 7 miles won't kill me. No doubt I will have major butterflies the morning of the race. Not just the distance (though mostly that) or the idea that my 12-minute mile pace will look like molasses in January compared to just about everyone else. Also the logistics (packet pick-up! parking! road closures! catching the bus to the relay point on time! figuring out how M. and the kids can cheer me on without leaving the house as the crack of dawn, but also so that I don't have to drive myself home on exhausted legs!). Except the carb loading. I think I have that covered.
So, to distract myself from my guilt, I give you... more cute photos of my kids!! These are from our adventures this past weekend, which included the family's first apple-picking outing.
Pumpkin painting
Mums!
Someone is SUPER excited about his brand new Halloween costume, and may have even insisted on playing outside and going to the grocery store in it...
Look, a spider!
Ew! (she's actually saying "ew" here, if you can catch the slight nose wrinkle - a girl after her mother's heart...)
Teamwork
Professional apple-picker
Professional observer (I had visions of Lucy scurrying around eating all the rotten apples on the ground, so we did not let her participate much in this part of the outing. She is not controllable/directable in the slightest bit yet.)
Look, apples!
Overly large piles of hay
Overly large tractor tires
Too much fun (as if there is such thing)
Creepy impaled witch (who now has the dubious honor of serving as masthead photo for the fall season)
Goats in the air!
Watching the goats on the ground (and picking up a few germs to boost the ol' immune system)
Feeding the goats in the air
Little piggies!
My attempt to get a picture of the kids (clear failure, as with all other previous attempts). Perhaps Finn is just smelling nature?
Back on the road tomorrow for some more running!
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