unexciting times

not terribly much has been going on in the last couple of weeks. i spent five long days in my "hometown" at my mom's house.

Day 1- I visited her first grade classroom, where I was hugged by nearly every munchkin there, and the topic of conversation among many as well "wow, she's tall!" Afterwards mom and i went to IHOP for yummy pancakes and a variety of breakfast meat. mmmm.

Day 2 (Thanksgiving) Drove up to Green Lake for mom to meet her 'walking group' I chose to run around the lake a couple times instead. However, I was still battling a gross cold and the freezing temperature was not friendly to my lungs. Mom had a couple friends over for the big dinner and I simply helped out by being server and busboy. It was actually a lot of fun though, I don't think we've ever spent so much time at the table.

Day 3- Mom and I headed into Seattle after breakfast for the Expo. Mom bought my Christmas present. A new pair of running tights that I have dubbed my "spidey pants" They're compression tights with web technology that supports the muscles around the knee, etc. Very cool. Leftovers for dinner and then to the gym for a brief workout.

Day 4- Mom and I headed to an early movie. I'm talking 11am. We saw Enchanted- so adorable. Of course, some more shopping and lunch at Panera. Delish!! Watched too much tv that evening and ate too many cookies. Early to bed for the coming day

Day 5- The morning of the Seattle Half Marathon. It was quite chilly, but we make it into town before 7am for the 7:30 start time. Plenty of time to stretch, hit the honey bucket, and 'warm up'. My whole goal for the day was to just finished. I hadn't run much the previous week and that darn cold was still hanging on. The weather turned out fabulous. I kept noticing that my time seemed faster than I thought it should be, but I was nervous for the second half- the hills. Well, when I hit the hills, I was feeling amazing, so I just took off. I finished well ahead of the goal that I had previously set. Yay! Except for after I put on drier clothes, I noticed that my left foot was killing me. I could barely walk.

So, here it is, three days after the run, and my foot is still killing me. I must have bruised the arch stepping onto a curb or something. Whatever I did, it's not fun! I just want to run!

So, I think that was my last event of the year. There's a couple 5k's that could be fun, but I've got that pesky 26.2 mile run in ten and a half weeks... and still a plane ticket to pay for.

I think I get to start having a life again though!

ninja cactus

well, i'm not sure what really happened this weekend. i've spent most of it laying on the couch whining. friday night erin, tiffany and i went to applebee's for some yummy appetizers. from there, tiff and i headed for sushi. where else? a short stay at a couple bars and I just needed to head home to bed. i crashed out early, and woke up pretty early saturday morning. to a cold. i felt like crap. joram and i hung out for a bit and then i finally went for a swim hoping it would make me feel better loosen me up. watched the Huskies and then we bought some pots and headed to Home Depot for some plants. this is where i proved my grace. they had this huge catcus that reminded me of the Taco Time cactus. so, i'm bending down getting a better look at the small cacti and the succulents trying to decide which would take me the longest to kill. and BAM! out of nowhere, this ninja cactus jumps out and attacks my head!!! okay, so maybe I actually walked into it. whatever. of course joram saw this event take place and was thoroughly confused as to how i DIDN'T see it. anyway.....

finally saw Knocked Up. if there was ever even a small inkling that i would have children, that has been erased. seriously. the unrated version... bad. very very bad.

today, i pretty much did nothing. went for a run. only 7 miles instead of 14. spent the rest of the afternoon watching football. and more football. hey, and more football. i don't even like it that much. but i was whiny and on the couch and eating. and eating. and eating. when i get sick, i don't drink liquids like i should, i just eat for about 48 hours non-stop. and now my gut hurts

first grade

my mom called me today to tell me about her horrible day. she teaches first grade. a relatively safe place- one would think. well, just after roll call today, the little girl that delivered the sheet to the office had a problem. my mom was helping another student and she heard a patient little voice "Ms. C. I think my finger is stuck" sure enough. my mom turns to look and the girl's finger is smashed and stuck in the classroom door. my mom was stunned at how calm this six year old was just standing there not crying, not yelling. so, the door gets opened and nearly a half inch of her tiny finger is hanging on by a small shred of skin. amazingly it's not bleeding yet. my mom grabs another kid and has her walk the girl quickly as possible down to the nurse. somehow, she didn't start bleeding until the nurse starting cleaning out the wound, and even more astonishing- she never cried out in pain, or whined, or complained. as she sat there with her finger half hanging off, only tears rolled down her face. even though she most likely went into shock as soon as it happened, it's quite impressive that she didn't freak out just by the sheer fact of what was going on!!! i know i'm not that brave.

yummy

Quite possibly the hottest three men out there. And they bike. Yum.

incredible athletes

Lance Armstrong ran the NYC marathon again this year, and dropped 13 minutes off his time. He was the 112th(?) man to finish, with a time of 2 hours 46 minutes and change. He's incredible.

Tim Borland just finished running 63 marathons in 63 days to raise awareness for a disease I can't spell or remember the name of. It affects the muscles of children and they usually die before reaching adulthood. I think The A-T Cure is what his quest was called. He average a 4:15 time. That's pretty impressive.

Dean Karnazes ran 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states last fall. The North Face Endurance challenge. He blogged about every race and that might have been one of the cooler things about it. Some days he ran a fast marathon, other days he kept it slow and ran with the group.

I know there are tons of amazing female runners out there, but it seems that they still aren't getting the recognition. Pam Reed. She runs Ultras all over the place, hold records, finishes before most of the men, and is the Director for the Tucson marathon. Deena Kastor, I can't actually tell you about any of her accomplishments, but she's a name to know. When will women start getting equal coverage?

I work with an amazing runner. Janet. I've googled her before and her name came up with more results and course records than anyone would have guessed. We all know Janet is one of "those crazy runners" but I don't think many people I work with get what it is to run an Ultra. 100 miles of running! Sometimes more. Of the people I sit around at work, few, if any of them run, and well, they basically think I'm crazy. But I don't think any of them gets the two sides of the coin. On one hand, it can hurt like hell to run. To the point where your brain gets fuzzy, you feel like you can't even put one foot in front of the other, breathing is hard, thinking is harder- but despite all of that you don't just stop. You push through. Most people wouldn't make it through that, but those who know what the other side of the coin is like will.

makes me laugh

I read this blog every day by Fat Cyclist. The guy is hilarious! He used to live in the Seattle area and now is in Utah, I think. Anyway, one of my coworkers sent me a link to a post I could totally relate to. A letter to triathletes. I won't repost it, but feel free to check it out:

http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/03/29/an-open-letter-to-triathletes/

Good times.

almost peed a little

i really shouldn't live alone. it's a darn good thing i'm back to having a roomie. however, said roomie is out of town for the weekend. so, i just got home and it's 1 in the morning. (or is it back to midnight? that whole daylight saving thing has me confused) i head to the kitchen and grab a bottle of gatorade from the fridge to start hydrating for tomorrow's 12 mile run. so, i'm taking a drink and looking over the bottle kind of at the kitchen window and suddenly i see movement out of the corner of my eye. holy crap. i nearly choked on my drink and fell off my three inch heels!! "what was it" you ask in suspense. oh, it was a tree branch. that's it.

i see fake ghosts.

i'll never be

i'll never be beautiful.
i'll never be thin
i'll never be as smart as you want me to be
i'll never be funny enough
i'll never be brave enough
i'll never be rich enough
i'll never be successful enough
i'll never be creative enough

i'll never be good enough for you. i'll just be me.