Happy New Year!

We just got back from our New Year's Eve dinner. We went to the Melting Pot, which is a fondue restaurant. We go almost every New Year's Eve to this restaurant, and even though we love it, this is the only night of the year that we go there. It's such a production to eat a meal there.
They bring all of the food to the table raw, and there's a little hot plate like thing in the center of the table that they put a pot of boiling beef stock based liquid onto. You skewer and cook all of the meat in this pot of stock before you can eat it.
We had lobster, fillet mignon, chicken, beef tenderloin, shrimp and a couple of kinds of ravioli. They also bring a cheese fondue to start the meal and finish it with a chocolate fondue for desert. We gorged ourselves to the point of feeling like we're going to explode.
As for the rest of the night...who knows? Some of our neighbors are planning a get together, but that probably won't start until around nine...and the way I feel now, I may be sleeping by then. I know, how lame am I?
We're not to keen on going over there anyway, as the men hang out in the garage playing darts and the women sit around the kitchen gossiping. I like good scoop as much as the next gal, but after a while it gets old. Can't the conversation have some substance already?
So, if we make it to midnight, great, but if not oh well, it'll still be 2007 tomorrow morning either way. Although if we stay home, I'll probably feel a lot better the first morning of 2007 than I would if I went out anyway, right?
Hope everyone has a great evening!

Bad blogging monkey...

So I've been AWOL for the last week or so. Between work, dentist and doctor appointments, and trying to get my house back in order; I've just not had time. Every night I think "Self, you need to blog today" and every night I manage to convince myself that sleeping is more important. Who'd thunk it? I've been exhausted all week. But after an early to bed on Friday and late to rise on Saturday morning, I'm feeling a bit better. A repeat performance tonight and all should be well in my world, I hope.
The short version is:
1. I haven't been running. Doc's orders. I either have a ruptured spring ligament or a stress fracture. Nothing shows up on x-ray, but that's not necessarily conclusive. The Rx: Rest, immobilization, and revisit the issue in six weeks. Ughhhh, that throws a spring marathon and probably a spring half marathon out the window. So perhaps we'll be looking at a summer race? Or just waiting until fall. On one hand I'm disappointed, but on the other I'm okay with it. Do you know how much more time I'm going to have?!?!? I'm sure extra time will lose it's novelty in a week or so.
2. I'm finally getting to where I feel like I've recovered from Christmas. I took the tree down today, and dear husband helped get the outside stuff down and put away. I was particularly glad to get this done, as it's slated to start raining here and continue for something like a week (which really means two or three weeks) and I hate to be one of those fuckers that still has Christmas shit up at Valentines day.
3. I've sufficiently gorged myself on cookies, candies, and cake that I think I've cured myself of my sweet tooth. Just typing those sweet delights out makes me a little nauseous. This is a good thing, as I weighed in just over four pounds heavier this morning than I weighed last Saturday before Christmas. God knows, I gotta get on the clean eating bandwagon if I'm not running, those extra calories aren't going to burn themselves.
So, that's the summary in a few short paragraphs. I'm getting myself back on track with the blogging business, effective now.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming

Christmas is over...finally. I cannot possibly begin to describe how glad I am to have this holiday over with. My husband's family spent the weekend with us, which actually went better than I had expected it to go. I sometimes hook horns with my father in law, as he subscribes to the school of thought that women should be seen and not heard and I, of course am extremely outspoken. I managed to bite my tongue though, and he was actually on pretty good behavior so it went okay.
The only dull spot in the weekend was my husband's mother (his parents are divorced). The background is that she has been somewhat wrapped up in the drama which is my sister-in-law's life as of late. So much so that she never asks how we are, but immediately jumps into the latest update on his sister's story. I'll spare the gory details, but it would not be remiss to say that we choose not to be around his sister because of the bad decisions she routinely makes.
So anyway, fast forward to this weekend. We had two options open for her to see us. She knew that Saturday early afternoon or today afternoon were the two options. She waited until late Saturday afternoon to call us and see "what we were up to" and then chose not to call today until almost seven...and then it was to tell us that "she was sick, but we could still come over".
Uhmmm, thanks but no thanks.
It's kind of lame that she was so focused on his sister and her kids that she couldn't make any time for us at all this holiday, but I guess that this is one of those things that we should just get used to.
Anyway, at least it's over with, so on to the next holiday. Have I mentioned that I love New Year's Eve?

Uh oh

Small catastrophe, or maybe it's a large one. Today I was scheduled for thirteen miles. Want to guess how many I made?
Try three. Then my right foot started screaming at me. I'm a pretty tough cookie. I usually have to be bleeding, puking or otherwise almost dying not to finish a run. I just could not finish though.
I've been having foot pain on and off ever since Chicago, but figured that I'd be okay, as I usually am able to run through it. Long story short, my foot has been hurting along the medial (inside) aspect, right near my navicular (that sharp pointy bone on the inside of your foot. I figured I had either sprained my spring ligament or developed a little posterior tibialis tendonitis. It hurt like hell when I curled my toes, and let's not even talk about curling my toes and plantarflexing (pointing my ankle down).
This morning I started out with medial foot pain and about a mile in started having lateral foot pain and anterior calf pain...no bueno (to quote Little Miss Runner Pants.)
I couldn't figure out a way to push through this...which is probably a good thing, so I cut my run short, will take tomorrow and Monday off and hopefully be able to sweet talk my orthopod into squeezing me in on Tuesday. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this is nothing serious.

I love me some ranch dressing

Best condiment ever. Red Robin has the best ranch in the world. Hands down, this stuff is the best. Tonight we headed there for dinner and somehow managed to get the waiter started talking about their ranch and how much I loved it.
He sent me home with a big ol' vat of the stuff. Gotta love that.

Why are my Thursday runs so much slower than my Tuesday runs?

Is it because I'm so much more tired by the time the end of the week rolls around? Or just cause I'm a lame-o? My ten miles today went well, although the pace was a full 32 seconds per mile slower than it was on Tuesday. I try to run my Tuesday and Thursday runs at the same pace, and I run in the same area, I just can't seem to pick up the pace at all on Thursdays though. Oh well, at least I got it done.
I was exhausted when I got done though. I've decided that part of the reason I didn't do so well in Chicago this past fall was because I wasn't really prepared well enough. I can tell a huge difference between my last training plan and this one, and I'm only two weeks (not even two full weeks) into this plan. I think it's going to make a big difference running fewer days but more mileage, I hope.
I kind of think that maybe I got a smidge dehydrated on the run today too, as I've felt like ass pretty much all afternoon since I got back. I didn't carry my fuel belt and it was fairly close to sixty degrees today. I know, what's up with that? You've gotta love these warmer winters. I've got it on good authority though that the niceness won't last forever though, so I've got to enjoy it while I can.
On a different note, I tried to make my coconut creme pie for Christmas Eve today. It's cooking as I type. I'm less than convinced that it will turn out well, so I may be making an emergency trip to the grocery store tomorrow for a store bought one that I can pass off as my own. I know, that's cheating, but trust me, it's worth it.

Can it be?

That my catchphrase...that I've been using all freakin' year came from Grey's Anatomy...which I've never watched. Damn you People magazine's year end recap, for pointing this out to me! So seriously, this is the last post during which I will use the word "seriously" as a transition. So be seriously prepared, as I'm seriously going to use the hell out of this word to take away the shiny attraction that it holds over me.
I swear I've never watched the show, I may be the only adult in the nation who has seriously never seen Grey's Anatomy, so I seriously did not jack the phrase from them...but seriously, why must they use my vernacular? That blows some serious goats.
Today is the official middle of the work week for me. Unlike some of you lucky ducks, I seriously have to work all damn week. Makes me mad. I seriously hope that many of my Friday afternoon patients wake up and realize that it's the day before a holiday weekend and that they are seriously too busy to come to therapy. Sad, huh?
I've got a light day scheduled tomorrow, and I'm planning on trying to hit the library and the grocery store at some point tomorrow. I'm also planning on trying my handing a baking the coconut creme pie for our big dinner on Sunday tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. I may find myself making another serious trip to the grocery store for a backup dessert if this one goes seriously wrong tomorrow.
Okay, I think I've broken myself of the "seriously" habit. Notice I only used it twice in the above paragraph and then I really had to try to get it in. You all now have permission to whip me if I use the word again. Seriously. (Okay, last one...I promise)

What a great run

Today I did 8 miles with 10 x 100 meter strides. It went well. Much better than the workout last Tuesday went. I completed the mileage in just under 72 minutes, which put me right in my target pace zone at a 9:00/mile pace. I ran the same course that I ran for my two weekday runs last week. I never realized exactly how many hills there are in my neighborhood until I started running them regularly.
My only complaint was that it was slightly colder out this week than it was last week. My face still feels chapped from running into the wind during the first half of today's run. I'm always shocked when I go outside and I get cold while running, as I've been completely spoiled by the higher temperatures so far this winter. It's got to end sometime, so why am I so surprised when it does?
Doctor Stephanie tagged me today, so with no further adieu: The game is this. Go to the closest book, type it's title and author into your blog entry. Then turn to page 123 and find the fifth sentence on that page. Type the next three sentences. Tag three more people.
What is the point of the game? Got me. But I'm a sucker for a chain letter game, so here goes:
The book is Mary Mary, by James Patterson. My lines are as follows: Late that same day, the Storyteller was driving north on the 405, the San Diego Freeway, which was moving okay at about forty or so, and he was working over his "hate list" in his mind. Who did he want to do next, or if not next, before this thing wound down and he had to stop killing or be caught? Stop! Just as suddenly as it had begun.
Yes, I love me some serial killer fiction. The more gruesome the better. I'm a sick puppy. But the book is very well written and extremely entertaining. I highly recommend it. Thanks to the good Doc for the tag.
I'm tagging Firefly, Sonia, and Arcaner. Come on, you know you want to play!

Fastest way to end an argument

Call your significant other the devil. As in: "You are the devil, woman." Guarenteed end of the argument right there. Possibly because your significant other will be laughing so hard that he or she will not be able to fabricate a snappy retort.
The holiday stress is catching up with us at my house, we spent most of the weekend at each other's throats. Hopefully after next weekend things will get back to normal.
Today was a cross training day. I got up early and rode the stationary bike. I don't have patients until nine today, based on that I thought this week would be pretty light, but the rest of the day looks like a mad rush and most of the rest of the week looks busy too. Even Friday. Damn that 5:30pm patient...don't you realize it's the day before a holiday weekend and I don't want to stay late. Curse me for being so flexible with my schedule.

Who knew?

That recovery runs would almost be harder to pace then regular long runs and aerobic runs? I sure didn't. I did a four mile recovery run, and I thought that I'd just run on the treadmill this morning. It was sprinkling a little when I thought about getting started this morning, and I wasn't really feeling the outside run anyway.
I figured it'd be easier to pace on the treadmill, as you can just set the speed and go...but I kept feeling the urge to turn the speed up, as the 10:00/mile pace that I'm supposed to run for recovery runs felt really, really slow to me. I forced myself to stay at the pace, but I really struggled to not go any faster. That's a good thing, right?
Last night's neighborhood Christmas party went well. We had great food and a pretty good time. It's nice to get to see that crowd, but after spending a few hours with them I'm pretty much done for a few months. They sure know how to party. Every time they get together it's a drunken lovefest full of smack talkin' and dirty joke telling. There's one guy who ends up taking at least some portion of his clothing off every time he gets drunk...fortunately we left before this took place yesterday. It's an interesting crowd.

A quick recap of the weekend thus far

This morning I got up at five thirty...yes, that's five thirty in the AM, on a weekend. I wanted to get some things arranged for the family Christmas dinner that I was hosting this afternoon before I headed out for my twelve mile run. I got a few things done, went out and had a great run. Met up with a group of six regular runners on my way back and had a nice time talking to them for about a mile...until we hit the mother of all hills. (I need to take my camera with me sometime and take a picture of this hill for you all. Words do not do it justice) I was keeping up with them very well until this hill, at which point they proceeded to completely school me. I got my ass kicked, and then some.
Then I came home, got cleaned up, ate a quick something (string cheese, powerade, and gummy bears...three of the four major food groups, right?) and headed out the run Kristi's taxi. I had to pick up my two grandmothers and my godmother. None of whom really get along, so you can imagine how much fun this trip was. I brought them back to my house and then scrambled to finish dinner. Fortunately I left detailed instructions for my husband and he follows directions very, very well. He got the meat started. I had done most of the prep work last night, so really all that needed to be done was potatoes boiled and casseroles/stuffing warmed up.
We managed to get dinner on the table by one, and then sat around letting food digest for awhile. We then opened some gifts, had dessert and I made the rounds taking old ladies home again. Overall, it was a pretty good time, and by doing it this weekend it will take some of the stress out of next weekend. Next weekend we'll have my husband's dad and stepmom in town and we'll have to find time to go see his mother at some point.
In about twenty minutes we'll be heading out to one of our neighbor's homes for the neighborhood potluck. With any luck, we'll be home soon from that, as I'm dragging already. The holiday's just wear me out.

I am so tired...again.

Today was nine miles per the Pfitz plan, a nice steady pace around 9:00/mile was my goal. I managed the first half at that pace, but slowed down to almost 10:00 miles on the way back home. That wind was brutal...even though it was almost sixty degrees here today! I ran in shorts! How awesome is that?
I am totally and completely beat right now though. My legs feel good, although I do have some shoulder soreness, leading me to the conclusion that I must have been shrugging towards the end of my run.
So far, I'm loving the Pfitz plan. The whole idea of only running four or five days a week is really appealling to me. I've been finding a lot more time in my mornings this week. I'm used to getting up early and running every morning before work, but with the longer runs I'm having to do them in the afternoons on my shorter days, which gives me that much more time in the mornings...which I'm loving so far. We'll see if I still feel the same about it in three or four weeks.
Tomorrow is a rest day, followed by 12 miles on Saturday and Christmas with my side of the family...at my house. I'm currently baking pies and cakes for this weekend, and tomorrow I'll do all the prep work for the dinner. It's going to be a busy weekend.

First Real Running Day

Today was the first "real" day of the Pfitz plan. I had seven miles with 10 x 100meter strides on the schedule. It actually went great. I was a little fuzzy on what exactly my pace should be because I hadn't yet managed to ask for some serious help from those in the know. I ran the seven miles at a 9:00/mile pace, which after emailing back and forth with Leah, I think is pretty much right on target.
Let me just add how much Leah rocks to this post. I was so incredibly confused and she managed to get my paces all squared away and making perfect sense for me! I am amazed at the talents of my fellow RBF'ers every day.
I'm feeling much more confident after today's run. I ran a good course, it was an out and back of 3.4 miles and then I finished with my striders in the street in front of my house. I actually ended up doing just over seven miles, because I miscalculated how far 100meters translated into in tenths of a mile. I'm so not good with numbers.
I thought that I was going to have a beautiful day for running outside, as I had been out running around all morning while doing some marketing to physician offices with one of my coworkers. Alas, by the time I got home and scarfed down a smidge of lunch, the temperature had dropped. I was cold at first in my shorts and a long sleeve tech shirt, but I quickly warmed up. I was not counting on the wind though. I'd forgotten how much more work it is to run in cold weather with wind than it is in warm weather with wind.
Tomorrow is a cross training day, and then Thursday has 9 miles general aerobic on the schedule. Hopefully that will go as well as today went.

Day One: Pfitz plan

Day one was cake. All the schedule called for was some cross training. It's weird not to run on a Monday. The only times I've not run on a Monday were the two Monday's after my last two marathons.
I did some light stationary cycling today. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Tomorrow's schedule calls for seven miles at a comfortable pace. I'm thinking this means at lactate threshold, which if I'm interpreting my charts correctly means should be around my 1/2 marathon pace...which would put me just under a 9:00 mile. That's what I'm going to shoot for at least. Hopefully this will go well.
I'm still just a little sore from my long run on Saturday and my race yesterday. My hamstrings were screaming last night. I'm hoping if I stretch a bit tonight that'll loosen 'em up a bit.

A much better outing

Today's run went fantastic. Now granted, it was only a 5k race, but it still felt good to have a decent run despite the cold weather.
I ran a 24:22, which won me a third in my age group. I was the fourth female to finish overall, and the 31st finisher out of the entire field of 100 or so. I'm so comfortable with the shorter distances now, hopefully in eighteen weeks I'll be as comfortable with my marathon as I am with the 5ks...and hopefully, this time around, I'll actually be able to do as well as I think I'll do. (Unlike Chicago, where my physical preparation did not measure up to my mental preparation.)
Last night was my work Christmas party. Lame-o. I work in a small office which is part of a larger company. Although I know everyone who works in the other offices, because I don't interact with them daily I'm very much on the outside of their inside jokes. There's definitely a clique of "cool" kids and I kind of feel like the band geek out of the group...not that there's anything wrong with being a band geek.
At the end of the night, I was just glad to go home. I made my necessary appearance to keep the gossip-mongers at bay. We all know how those folks work...the second you don't show up somewhere that they think you should be they come up with some fantastic rumor about you. Gotta love that junior high behavior. I'm just glad it's over with for another year.

Uhmmm, I thought I was ready

To start training again. Today's run just proved to me how severely my running skills have diminished over the past six weeks of three miles a day, six days a week and no long runs. Not good.
I went for a ten miler today, although I did not meet my goal of getting back out at seven on every Saturday morning. I was really on a roll there for the past two marathons. Today, I rolled over and looked at the temperature gauge...it said 24 degrees and I said no thank you to running that early. This is a very bad habit to cave into.
I was going to blow off the run entirely, but managed to give myself such an amazingly heavy guilt trip that I went out this afternoon. It did not go well.
I ran five outside and five on the treadmill. I just flat out gave up after the first five outside. I managed to convince myself that five was enough for the day. Then I gave myself another massive guilt trip and forced myself to finish the last five on the treadmill. Yet I'm still not happy with myself.
Although my pace was good (around an 8:40 average) I just didn't feel good about it. My lungs hurt, my face felt totally windburnt, and I just felt sluggish. Not very good for building up my confidence regarding tackling a higher mileage training plan than I've used in the past.
I'm going to still try it (I think) but I'm very uneasy about it. I'm not sure if it's the ambitious plan that's got me spooked or if I'm just burnt out. There were a couple of times today when I actually thought about not doing a spring marathon, and maybe just aiming for a half instead. That sounds so weak to me though.
I'm hoping that I get my head in the game a little bit more in the next couple of weeks. I'm ready to physically I think, but mentally I'm just not there yet.

Dear Insurance Company:

I follow your instructions, I complete your mindnumbing, idiotic busy work to get my patients' visits paid for, and you repay me by sticking your head so far up your ass that you won't ever be able to pry it out again. Thanks a lot.
I love that I need preauthorization to treat your patient because their group number isn't on your magic "exemption list" that includes all of three companies in the country, including one that only has one employee, another that employs trained gorillas, and a third located in the beautiful backcountry of Alaska. Seeing as how my practice is located in Missouri, that list really does me a lot of good...but I appreciate how generous you are to have offered an exemption list.
I also love that I faxed paperwork to continue my patient's care on the 22nd of November and here it is on the 8th of December and you still haven't authorized additional visits. What, you're not sure if the visits are medically necessary? Of course they are, I'm telling you they are and so did the doctor who wrote the damn prescription. What, your degree in marketing or accounting qualifies you to make decisions about what is "reasonable and necessary"? Exactly how long is that program? I see, four months of business school means you must know more than me about how I should do my job. Fuckers.
So, now I've faxed my paperwork to you no less than five times. You were supposed to call me when you recieved it...yes, I'm speaking to you Robert...as this time I was smart enough to ask for you name and "direct fax number". I'm going straight up the chain when I don't get satisfaction from you, and I'm naming names when I do.
How silly of me to assume that when you said "I'll call when I get it" that you would be calling me right back. How convienent of you to wait until five minutes before you left for the day to call and tell me that you "never received my fax". And how insane of me not to understand why you couldn't possible walk over to the fax machine and stand there for the thirty seconds that it took me to refax my paperwork...for the tenth time. Your excuse of "it's in a part of the building I don't have access to" tells me why your system doesn't work.
You might want to send out a search and rescue party, as I'm pretty sure that the backlog of paperwork that you all have steadfastedly been ignoring for the past two plus weeks has finally overtaken your "fax receiving department" and they're either buried under a pile of faxes desperately trying to claw their way out, or they've given up all hope of ever catching up and are now cheerfully filing my paperwork in their shredder.
Perhaps this is where your "system breakdown" is occurring. Fuckers.
So now that I've decided that either a bunch of poorly trained circus animals or extremely slow fourth graders is running your company, I'd like to know what time you'd prefer for me to have the patient that you denying care to's surgeon call and ream you a new one. Because rest assured that I'm not going to be the only one getting bitched at...if I'm going down, you all are going with me.
Here's a tip...if you do what I need you to do, which isn't unreasonable (it's only your crappy job) than perhaps "that bitch from Missouri" will stop calling and interupting your valuable nap time. Psst...for those of you that are slow (which is everyone employed at your fine establishment) that means that I'll stop bothering you.
Have a nice day.

The disgruntled therapist

It's decided

I've decided that I'm going to train for the St. Louis marathon. Even though I've run St. Louis twice already, I can't pass up the home court advantage, nor can I pass up the chance to train on the actual course. Plus, it's a financial decision at this point as well. I'd like to take a nice vacation at some point this year, and unfortunately Nashville, Louisville, and Cincy don't really fit my definition of nice too well.
Training starts the week of the tenth...Holy Crap, that's next week. I'm going to use the Pfitz plan, which is kind of scary, as it's singificantly more mileage than I'm used to running during training. I'm going to have to fine tune/adjust the schedule a bit though, as there is no freakin' way I'm running eight or more miles on the dreadmill during the week.
I like to get my training runs done before I go to work, and since I work from seven to six three days each week, I'd pretty much have to get up at four every morning to get some of those midweek longer runs done. I've got Tuesday and Thursday afternoons open right now, so I'll probably try to shift the schedule so that my longer runs fall on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
I'm a little concerned that tweaking the schedule is going to make me more prone to injury, but I guess that's one of those things that only time will tell.

This is the part I don't like

The sitting around waiting part. Of course it was nice that it snowed a ton last night. What wasn't so nice was that there was at least two or three inches of ice underneath the snow. Of course, since I only live a few miles from my office, I really didn't have any excuse for not making it into work.
I loaded my crap into the car and headed out. It took me almost thirty minutes to drive the less than five miles to my office. And now that I'm here, I'm just sitting, and waiting...and waiting. Apparently people aren't really sure if they're going to make it into their appointments today, so they're waiting until ten minutes before they're supposed to be here to call and cancel.
In three hours, I've seen one whole patient. I have however talked to eighteen of the twenty patients that were scheduled. Twelve of them have cancelled, and several of the others have decided that if they come in, they'll come in early.
There is no freakin' way that I'm going to sit here until six o'clock this evening waiting on people to come in.
Okay, the first half of this post was written while I was sitting around waiting for something to do. As it turned out, I only ended up seeing four of my twenty patients today. I was home by one this afternoon. Not such a bad deal.
As I was driving home I met the world's biggest jackass. I was driving along, at a nice slow fifteen miles per hour when out of nowhere, this dumb bastard in a suburban gets right on my ass. And by right on my ass, I mean so close to my rear bumper that I could not see anything other than his windshield and about an inch of his hood. We were driving down the highway access road, which is one lane in either direction, covered in ice, and goes up and down two or three big hills. Apparently, I was driving too slow for his liking, as the first gap in oncoming traffic that he found, he floored it around me...and promptly spun out into the ditch. Serves you right, genius. Perhaps you've learned that just because you have four wheel drive, doesn't mean you're a winning Indy driver.

Winter is officially here

I'm not quite sure how it can go from a high of 70 degrees on Wednesday afternoon to a high of 32 degrees today with freezing rain and snow. It was less than 24 hours people! Amazing.
I had a very uneventful day. I went in to work this morning, as I only live about four miles from the clinic. It was just raining when I got to work, but I'd only been there for about fifteen minutes when the freezing rain started.
Needless to say, all of my patients cancelled. So I went home. Unfortunately, my secretary was not able to get into work this morning, so there wasn't anyone in the office to answer the phones, so I had to forward the phones to my cell phone so that I could answer calls all day. I only got about twelve or so calls. Even though I was in my comfy clothes and at home, I felt like I was still working.
So the original forecast for today and tomorrow called for an inch of ice followed by 8 to 12 inches of snow. That's a lot of freakin' snow man. Last I checked, the forecast has now been revised to only 1 to 3 inches of snow. How can there be that much variation? I'm stumped.
I was planning to start my long runs up again this week, but if there's several inches of snow and ice on the ground, I'll probably be delaying it for another week. Formal training doesn't start until the week of the 10th, but I would really like to get two longer runs in before starting to ramp up my mileage.
I've got a 5k race on Sunday, which I'll still probably run, even if there's snow on the ground, as I'm already registered and I'd hate to back out after I've paid my entry fee. I know, how cheap am I?

Ha, ha...funny

I'll admit it: I 'heart' JT.

So I like the new layout with Google...

But I really don't like this having to sign in through a different home page, which I can never find bullshit. Really, is it that necessary to add a whole nother step to my log in process? I think not. I do like that the sidebar tracks how many posts I've done over the past several months, and gives the month by month breakdown for me. While it's nice to see exactly how much I've blogged this month, it kind of is a slightly bad thing for uber-competitive me.
I really enjoy seeing that total posts this month number climb higher every day. It's almost as good as the warm fuzzy "they like me, they really, really like me" feeling that I get after a particularly popular post generates massive amounts of monkeys jumping on the bed feedback.
Back to my regularly scheduled programing...I bought the Advanced Marathoning guide over this past weekend. It looks like it's got a lot of good information in it. And seeing as how I'm going to have to start training pretty soon, I'm going to have to actually be reading it pretty soon, like tomorrow maybe.
I'm going to restart my long runs this weekend I think. I'm planning on joining up with the usual suspects down in St. Charles for the five out and back course that I trained for Chicago on. I love that course so much, it's kind of ridiculous. I'm not really sure why I love it, other than the fact that it's so hard going out, it makes going in that much better. Anyway.

Deck the halls...

I am officially ready for Christmas. I put my Christmas tree up today and decorated the house. I'm glad that I've got it done, but am not looking forward to having to barricade it off from my dog. He gets so excited when we put the tree up, it's like a doggie smorgasbord. Every year we put the tree up, and every year while we're hard at work earning money to pay for the lavish doggie lifestyle that he leads, he repays us by selecting a few tasty ornaments off the tree and chewing the crap out of them.
I have multiple ornaments that are missing parts. I have a three legged camel, a handless Curious George and a tailless Scooby Doo. Then there are the ornaments that are MIA at the end of the holiday season. I'm pretty sure those have gone to wherever it is that ornaments go to die.
So, let the chewing commence!

It's decided.

I've chosen a training plan. I'm using the plan that so many of my fellow RBF'ers spoke so highly of following the Chicago marathon. I'm going to use the low mileage Pfitzinger plan (55 miles a week for 18 weeks). Now if I could just decide which race to run. I'm leaning towards St. Louis again, even though I've done it twice already.
It's really a financial decision for me at this point, as there are several things in the works over the next year or so that are going to require a bit more saving in the budget (like a nice trip or two) and unfortunately travelling for a marathon doesn't really fit with that budget too well. I've also considered the benefit to knowing the course and having hometown support available as I make yet another try for a BQ time. Of course, I may change my mind between now and next week...my own self imposed deadline for choosing a race.

Thanksgiving recap

Yesterday went by way too quickly. I started the morning out with a 5k race. I did not set a new PR, but that's okay. I only missed my 5k time from last week by 35 seconds, and the course was hell'a hillier. It was a beautiful morning. The sky's were clear and the sun was shining brightly. The temperatures were in the upper forties to lower fifties by race time, and the crowd was well behaved. There was no pushing and shoving like there often is in our local races.
I finished in 24:33, which placed me at 7th in my age bracket. There were 101 women in my age bracket for those of you who might be interested. I had fun, despite the almost full blown asthma attack at the half way point, which I kept running through. I do not walk, unless I'm dying. As those of you who have gotten to know me know: perseverance is my greatest attribute, but it is also my Achilles heel. I just don't know when to quit.
Anyway, the almost full blown asthma attack was the first breathing difficulty I've had in about a year and a half...the last was triggered by fine granular dust from hanging a drop ceiling in my basement without a mask on. Smart, I know. What can I say? I managed to get myself under control without too much difficulty, but it was still kind of scary.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing, going to see a movie, and at the family dinner. Let's tackle the family dinner first. It wasn't too bad. Most people know that my family doesn't really get along that well. We are the ultimate in dysfunction, what with a manipulative matriarch, a verbally abusive sibling, his mail order bride, and parents who believe in "biting your tongue for the sake of keeping the peace". And this is just my side of the family. Surprisingly, everyone was on their best behaviour yesterday and we escaped at the end of the meal unscathed, for once.
We went to see a somewhat lousy movie yesterday as well. We saw Borat. It blew. Even though this movie got stellar reviews in People and the newspaper and people were raving about it, I wouldn't recommend it. In fact, this is one of the few movies that I think might have been better had I been completely intoxicated while viewing it. Now granted, there were a few parts that I thought were hysterical, but there were so many more scenes that made me cringe and kind of sink down into my seat with sheer embarrassment that we'd paid to see this garbage.
At the end of the day though, we thought we'd had a nice time overall. It was only spoiled by having to go back to work today.

Per Firefly's tag...

20 Things to be thankful for (the unserious version):
1. My fuzzy orange fleece hat and gloves, insure that I will never again be hard to pick out of a post-race crowd.
2. Getting faster with age. I'm talking about my running speed, sheesh, get your minds out of the gutter will ya?
3. Virtual friends. Even if I never meet you in real life, it's nice to know you've got my back. Plus I love sitting at my desk laughing like a maniac. My coworkers think I'm possibly insane.
4. Thanksgiving only coming once a year. Too much togetherness is a bad thing.
5. The post-turkey triptophan lull. Is it possible to OD on this chemical, can you really truly get high from poultry? I'm thinking yes.
6. Being done with Christmas shopping, and not having to be in line at a random store at five o'clock in the am tomorrow. Instead, I'll be working...wait, that must be a typo, I can't really be thankful for getting to work tomorrow, can I?
7. Mashed potatoes. 'Nuff said.
8. Bubble gum pop, you know the kind that gets stuck in your head and makes you hum along all day, thus insuring that people think you're on crack or maybe turkey (see number 5).
9. Pajama pants. The perfect post-gluttony attire. Drawstring waistbands are your friend.
10. Black toenails finally growing out, six or seven months post marathon.
11. Good smelling doggies. Maxie just came back from the groomer, he smells all cherry-vanilla-cococonuttie.
12. Cheap Wal-Mart lotion (Bodycology to be specific). This shit is the bomb. It's just as good as the Bath & Body variety, but a 1/4 of the price. It's a win/win situation. I recommend gardenia.
13. Choosing a training plan for your spring season. Not that I've done this yet, but I'm getting closer, maybe by Monday...
14. Beach vacations. Complete with the tropical drinks. Including the Dirty Monkey.
15. Knock knock jokes. Seriously, who doesn't love a good knock knock joke.
16. The Jerry Springer show. I love me some other folks drama. It makes my life seem so much more normal.
17. Inside jokes. Not the kind that come at someone else's expense, but the kind that are just triggered by an innocent phrase from someone not "in the know".
18. A good thunderstorm. Rain on the roof just puts me right to sleep.
19. Snow days. Although since I only live four miles down a totally straight road from the office, I guess I really don't have an excuse for not being able to make it in, but all my patients have an excuse, and I'm really not staying if you're not coming in.
20. Any excuse to make a list.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed their turkey or in some cases tofurkey.

Unbelievable.

Wow. Every year it's the same old story in my neighborhood. Let me set the scene for you: It's a balmy November day, a day like any other day, a day like today in fact. The temperature is soaring for a late November day, it's probably one of the last truly nice days we'll see before the temperature dips into frigid.
Me, being the smart cookie that I am, go outside, as I do every year to do my outside holiday decorating on a warm day. Nosiree, you will not find this monkey freezing her coconuts off this weekend when the procrastinators of my neighborhood are out hanging their holiday lights and cursing their misfortune. Instead, I'll be sitting all snuggled up on my couch, drinking a hot cocoa with a little sumthin' sumthin' in it...and laughing at their dumb asses for not having the foresight to see that it was getting cold out. Get that shit up already.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Today I'm outside after work, hanging the lights on my bushes and wrapping the "candycane-esque" ribbon around the white columns on my porch. I'm minding my own business, when my dumbass neighbor comes home from work (read drinking beer and ogling waitresses at the bar).
We never talk to these neighbors, despite the fact that they live immediately next door to us, so imagine my surprise when he attempts to strike up a conversation with me. For a minute, I am at a loss for words, then I realize that we're having the exact same conversation that we had last year when I hung up the outside decorations. Seriously, word for word the same. And yes, I remember last year's conversation verbatim, as it was the dumbest, most asinine conversation I've possibly ever had.
Conversation consisted of DANG (dumbass neighbor guy) telling me it was too early to hang outside decorations up, and that I was making him look like a slacker to his kids for getting it done before December 15th. Yep, that's right, it's all me making you look like a slacker. It has nothing at all to do with the fact that you don't have a J-O-B and spend all day drinking beer in your pajamas and watching television in your garage. Don't ask what's up with that, cause I don't have a clue.
What's even funnier about the situation is that I am by no means the first person to put up lights and outside decorations. A lot of the neighborhood was doing it last weekend and several people already have their lights actually turned on. Isn't the holiday season fun?!?!

Only two more days of work this week!

Yes, that's right, two more days, not one. I am one of the unlucky saps that has to work the day after Thanksgiving. Thus the second reason that I have already completed my holiday shopping. Fortunately, tomorrow is a semi-light day, and when I left the office today, my schedule was empty after three thirty tomorrow. (And my 3:30 patient is one who is always 30 minutes early and only is in the office for forty five minutes, so theoretically, if the cosmos align just right, I could be done and on my way home by four tomorrow evening. How much would that rock?
I have very little to report on the running front, except that my lazy ass could not get out of bed this morning (despite having gone to bed at 9:00pm last night) so I had to run when I got home today, which is something I always dread. But I finished it, so yea! for me.
I also went to get a haircut today. I love the salon, really I do. I would like nothing better than to be a kept wife and have nothing to do all day except take lunch, get manicures, and have my hair blown out. Seriously, best thing ever to have someone else wash and style your hair. The salon I go to is a fairly upscale salon, I figure I've earned the right to a decent hair cut every six or eight weeks after years of paying my due at Custom Cuts.
Besides, my stylist does an awesome job and always seems to know exactly what I want. As much as I like the girl that cuts my hair, she kind of scares me. She's a bit like a Barbie doll, only smarter. She's always perfectly poised and looks like she just stepped out of a magazine. I was shocked as hell today though, as I was discussing her holiday plans with her, when all of the sudden she started slipping the occasional f-bomb and shit into her speech. Amazing. Here I thought that she was all high society, when really she's just like the rest of us. There's a lesson in here somewhere for me...

It's done...

finally. I got so much stuff done today. My Christmas shopping is done. I'm starting to feel kind of like Jayhawk, getting stuff done early. Although, I'll admit none of my stuff is wrapped yet, so she's ahead of me on that.
I also got my application to volunteer with Girls on the Run finished. I've only been working on that for about a week now. I never really know how to answer the questions on things like that. What exactly are they looking for anyway? Now I kind of feel like I felt when I ran for student government. Will they call me? What if they call me? What if they don't call me? Do I really want to do this?
Then I ask myself, if it's run strictly on volunteers, do they ever really turn anyone down? Then I realized that even if they don't want me to work with them, it's their loss, not mine, and thus the waiting commences.
I also got my Christmas cards addressed today. (If I don't have your address and you'd like to get your card, better send me the address of yo' crib) Now, before you all start bashing me, I did not say I actually made out my Christmas cards, just that I addressed them. Although, I do think that I'm going the slacker route this year, and saying that if I've spoken to you on the phone in the past month, you're just getting a card that says "Love the Johnsons" inside. I'm so past the write a novel in my cards stage. Who's got time for that shite?
Last topic for today, I promise. The photo from yesterday has brought up some interesting questions. In short: There was more to that photo than just my leg, however, as I looked especially yucky in the rest of the picture (since I was about three seconds away from ralfing when it was taken) I chose to crop the ucki-ness out of the pic so that you could all focus on the extreme gnarliness that was my leg. I also chose to zoom in on said gnarliness so that you could appreciate it even more. Despite it's gross factor of 10+, whatever it is that was going on with my leg did not hurt, or if it did, it was severely overshadowed by my almost puking all over the shoes of the person who was handing me my medal.

Check out the gnarly knee

This picture courtesy of my husband. It's from the Kansas City 1/2 marathon last month. Check out the popped out veins or muscle fibers (?) in my left knee. It's gruesome.

I am a super stud!!!

Yes, yes I am. I just finished one of the two Turkey Trot runs that I'm doing this year. I wasn't going to run this one, but one of my patients is the father of the kid that organized this year's race and yesterday he told me that the kid was doing this as his Eagle Scout project. And, since I'm a sucker for a kid with a cause, and I wasn't doing anything today anyway...I showed up.
I'm glad I did, as I rocked my age division. That's right kids, I totally won the 20-29 year old women's bracket. I'm a total stud. I might also add that I also won third female overall. The two girls who beat me were high school track and cross country stars, and they only beat me by 1:30 something, so I'm good with that.
What's the winning time you ask? Try 23:58. That's right ladies and gents, K-Jo officially has broken 24:00 in the 5k. Reason number three that I'm psyched that I ran this race. I just barely squeaked in under the 24:00 mark, but nonetheless I still get credit for getting it done in time.
I convinced my mom to run this race, and she also won her age division. She also took home the 20 pound turkey that they held an attendance prize drawing for.
Overall, even though it was cold, it was a nice run. Part of the course was on gravel roads, which are not my friends, and it had rained for about three days straight this past week, so it was muddy and slippery, and really cold. All in all though, it was a good time.
My splits for the race were 7:28, 8:01 (that's the gravel part there), and 7:39. The last 1/10 of a mile or so was straight uphill, so forget about a finishing kick...
I'm just excited to change my PR list over in the right sidebar!

100 posts already?

That almost doesn't seem right. I feel like I've been blogging forever, but in reality have only been doing this since June. It's amazing to me how much has gone on in the past six (almost) months.
We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog entry for a giant WTF!!! Sorry, I just need to let you all know that the radio station I am listening to at work just aired the first Christmas carol of the holiday season. Are you freaking kidding me?!?! Don't get me wrong, I like Christmas music...but this seems just a tad early. My husband loves Christmas music and has been known to listen to it in June or July; while I, on the other hand only like a very small amount of "seasonal" music. By only a small amount, I mean I only like Christmas music the day of Christmas. Does this make me a grinch? Maybe, but oh well.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. I've been pretty busy this week, what with meetings, work, and trying to run a bit. I"ve also been feeling less than stellar this week. I don't know if it's just the quick change in temperature that's screwing with my internal thermostat, or if I'm really sick. But I've been feeling kind of run down and ucky all week. Hopefully, I'll get some extra sleep this weekend and that will help to recharge my batteries.
I'll admit, this morning I was so tired that I skipped my run. Perhaps I'll complete it on the treadmill tonight while watching some quality Thursday night television programming. Or maybe I'll just skip it completely. I don't know why I've got this idea in my head that I need to run six days a week when I'm not training. If I only run five days during training, then why should I run more days when I'm not training?
Today I've got a packed schedule. Patient care until 11:30, then a meeting over lunch time, then the dog to the groomer. I've got the afternoon off like I normally do on Thursday, but I've got to come back to work to see my evening patients, as I wasn't here last night because of a meeting. Might I just inform you that meetings suck. So of course, since I have to come back to work tonight, I won't really get much done in my afternoon at home, as I don't really like to start something and have to leave it half finished when I have to go back to work. I'm kind of neurotic about finishing what I start. That's a good thing, right?

So much to do...

so little time. I've been plenty busy with work and short runs lately, so much so that I've been a less than stellar blogger. I've not been able to keep up with reading all my online buddies entries, and I don't feel like I've posted on my own blog in a long time.
Despite this, I'm going to try adding one more thing into the mix. I learned a little bit about Girls on the Run at the last race I did. I really like the idea of the program, which is to teach girls how to be physically fit, while encouraging them to "think outside the box" with regard to gender stereotypes and roles. The end result is that I think the program is a great idea, and I'd like to get involved with it in some capacity. I'm not sure yet that I've got the time to commit to two practices a week, but I know that there are other roles available such as Running Buddies for the races.
I'm in the process of trying to complete/start my application to volunteer with the group. It's a hella tough application, asking all sorts of deep questions like "what is your coaching style" and "how do you maintain balance in your life". Well, maybe the last one is a bad example, because of course...I just run for balance.
I'm obviously going to have to spend some serious time on this questionnaire...perhaps I'll do that at the talk I'm attending tonight. One of the doctors that we've been trying to market pretty heavily is speaking tonight on acupuncture. He's a nice, down to earth guy and the talk should be interesting, as he's done a lot of research and sees quite a few difficult, chronic pain patients...but I'll take my volunteer application along, just in case.

I got so much done today!!

We started Christmas shopping today...finally. I've been telling people for the last three weeks that I was getting ready to start my Christmas shopping, but this weekend is the first weekend that I've really had time to actually get started.
I managed to get my entire family done today, so that just leaves my husband's family left to buy for. Fortunately, we don't buy for everyone on his side of the family, just his dad, stepmom, mom, and grandma, so it shouldn't take much longer to knock the rest of the shopping out.
What this means is that we may be done by Thanksgiving! I like to get finished early, as I hate crowds when I'm shopping, and we all know that every store in the free world is busy during the month of December.
I'm not really sure yet what we're doing for Christmas, as it's recently come out that my father in law and stepmother in law really "don't like my family" and "don't want to do anything that would include my side of the family." We run into the same problem in some form or another every year. Wouldn't you think that people could put aside their differences and make an effort to get along for four or five hours?
On the running front, I did three miles on the treadmill this morning, as it was extremely cold here this morning. It was seventy five yesterday around noon, and by the time I left work at six last night it was in the low forties. They were predicting snow flurries last night and today, which fortunately seem to have missed us.
I picked up entry forms for two more 5k races this afternoon. One is next weekend. It's a race to benefit the track and cross country teams from the local high school. I think I'll run this one, as it includes a long sleeve tee shirt and I'm familiar with the course. I'd love to place in my age division again.
The other is the Arthritis Foundation's Jingle Bell run. This one is the weekend of Thanksgiving and it just sounds like a lot of fun.
I'm really not sure that I should be running either one though, as my right ankle is still giving me fits. I'm pretty sure I've sprained my spring ligament (the one that supports your arch), and yesterday after working all day I had visible swelling in my medial foot. This is not good...but I'm somewhat obsessive and am hard pressed to convince myself that this is a stop running and rest injury.

Final results for last Sunday's race just posted

And I finished third in my age bracket!!! How much does that rock? I was so excited. I've been steadily moving up the rankings since I started racing seriously a year ago, but this is the first time I've actually placed in the awards. I was even more pleased to see that the two women who finished ahead of me in my age bracket beat me by less than a minute. It's nice to see progress with my racing.
Overall I finished 20th out of 81 women, which is definitely not too shabby. I'm glad I decided to go ahead a run this race.
This morning's run went well, even though I was exhausted and didn't really want to get up and get going. I did a three miler on the treadmill. I've pretty much decided that I'm only going to do three miles a day from now until December. I've not yet picked a spring marathon, but I'm probably going to go ahead and start training anyway come December.
I figure I can always pick a marathon as I get closer to the spring racing season. I may just be a big sissy and run St. Louis again. I love running out of town races, but sometimes it's just so much easier to run here in town. More people that I know personally are able to show their support, and it's definitely more cost effective. If I do decide to travel, I'm considering Flying Pig, Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon, or who knows what else might peak my interest. I think that St. Louis is the earliest out of the three of these, so I'll be okay regardless of how things go.
I'm hoping that by cutting my mileage back a bit, my legs will get to feeling normal. I've been having some right foot issues lately. I'm really not sure what's going on or why it's going on, but I hope it stops soon. I'm having issues like I normally have when my shoes are old, but my shoes are less than a month old, and only have about 100 or 150 miles on them. Hmmm, maybe it's the running faster that's causing my issues?

Sometimes I can be such a nice person...

Today when I got home from work I went out for a short run. I did three easy miles through the neighborhood to the park and back. On my way out, just before my turnaround point, I passed an older guy in an electric wheelchair. I wasn't really sure what he was doing, as he wasn't sitting in the chair, he was instead standing and holding onto it. After I turned around I was headed back towards him, and noticed that it looked like his dog's leash was all tangled in the undercarriage of his chair. So, being in a relatively good mood and feeling particularly generous and benevolent, I stopped and asked him if he needed some help. Of course he did...
It took me a good ten minutes of working at the tangle to get the dog unknotted, and of course the fella was talking the whole time. Bless his heart, he thought I was 24 years old. Little does he know that this made my day. I think the poor guy was lonely, as during those ten minutes he told me not only his name, but where he lives, how much money his wife makes, why he doesn't like living where he does, his ethnic background and that he was retired from the GM plant across the highway...I left the situation feeling pretty damn good about myself though for stopping to help a stranger.
Plus, my run rocked. The weather was perfect, not much of a breeze, not too cold, and no sun. I averaged and 8:08 pace, and my last mile was actually under an 8:00 mile.
On a slightly different note, please welcome my college roommate to blogland...Angie's blog is going to track her training as she and her husband prepare for next fall's Ironman Wisconsin. Go say hello....you know you want to!

What a weekend

I'm wiped out from this weekend. Friday I rushed home from work, only to turn around and leave again right away, as I had to pick my husband up from the airport. He spent all of last week in Chicago for business. We stopped for dinner on our way home, and then pretty much went straight to bed, as we were both exhausted from last week's work schedule.
Saturday morning I had forgotten to turn my alarm off, so it went off at the regular scheduled time...5:00am. I had a tough time falling back asleep, so I went down to the couch to watch a little television, and promptly fell back asleep down there until almost nine. (This is really sleeping in for me!) Saturday night was my spa party, which was a raging good time.
I ended up with seven guests out of the fifteen that I invited. I was a little pissed that some of the people who had said they were coming called at the last minute to cancel and/or just flat out didn't show up. (Easily my top pet peeve of all time there). I think the people that did attend had a really good time though.
This morning I got up early to head into Clayton for a 10k race to benefit the Special Olympics. It was perfect running weather. The temperature was only in the upper forties, but there wasn't any wind. The race itself was nice. Two laps of a 3.1 mile course, about three hundred runners. The local chapter of Girls on the Run was using this as their "final" race of the fall season. Those little kids are so stinking cute, and talk about nice kids. They were all encouraging each other, and almost all of them had something nice to say to the one older gentleman who always runs these races, but never finishes very quickly. It's nice to see polite kids for once.
I ran a 53:30, which is a new PR by five minutes. I was pretty happy with that. I'm still waiting on age division rankings but will post them once I've seen them. It feels good to race again, even if it is just a short race.

I just couldn't wait

Alright all you OC fans...and I know you're out there, even if you don't openly admit that you're addicted to this show. I'm not too proud, I'll be the first to admit that I love the OC...even though it really is just a prime time version of a cheesy day time soap opera. I think it's even in my top five current television show list (which also includes Prison Break, Rescue Me, CSI, and House).
There's just something about all those pretty people gallivanting carefreely in the California sunshine...don't these people ever have jobs? Seriously, why do you never see anyone working on this show? But, I've digressed...back to the topic at hand, which is live streaming video on demand. (Best, no second best invention ever-go 'head, ask me what the best invention is)
The local Fox affiliate now offers live streaming video of some of their more popular shows. That's right, all your favorite Fox shows, anytime you damn well want them. Never again will I be forced to choose between the OC and CSI (like I ever make that choice anyway...that's what God invented Tivo for-which for those of you playing along, is the aforementioned best invention ever.) I almost crapped myself when I learned about live streaming video, as I immediately realized that the television networks just put ME in charge...and you thought I had a god complex before....mmmwahahaha!!!
You can watch tomorrow night's season premiere RIGHT NOW! Seriously, what are you doing still reading my blog?!?! I'll admit, the video quality was less than stellar, and the audio did not quite mesh perfectly with the video, but it matched well enough for you to get a pretty clear picture of the plot line and exactly who's doing what or who.
It's probably pathetic that I was so excited for this season premiere that I couldn't wait the last twenty four hours to watch it...but I prefer to think of it as enhancing my time management skills. Now it's just one more thing that I don't have to do tomorrow because I am so efficient that I was able to work it into my schedule today.
Now, I'm going to have to pursue this new enhancement of my television watching a bit more...I know I saw Prison Break listed there. Does it mean I'm mentally ill or just addicted if I try to stay up all night to watch the rest of the season?

My candy is gone already...

All 120 pieces...by 7:30. (Well that's 120 minus the five or six or so pieces I helped myself to early this month.) Trick or treating in my hood happens early. The little rugrats are out knocking on doors by 5:30 every year, and this year was no different. The good thing about this is that they're also done early, it's not even eight right now, and I've already given out all of my candy and shut my light off...much to the delight of Max dog. I can't complain though, being done early means fewer interruptions when I sit down to watch House in a few minutos.
I remember Halloween differently when I was trick or treatin' all those years ago. I remember going out early, but I'm pretty sure that it was after ten when we finally came back in. I also remember always having a joke ready to tell the nice candy giving adults.
You know how many kids had a joke for me this year? Amazingly enough, one child did. I gave him five or six pieces of candy as a reward. Why don't more kids realize that this is a smart way to operate? Adults love corny jokes, and when they're told be a pre-teen in facepaint they're just that much better.
Tonight's trick o' treat crowd consisted of almost sixty little ghouls, pirates and brides...plus one hooker (you wish I was joking). Every single kid that came to the door wanted to pet the Maxie (who I might add, thought he had died and gone to doggie heaven due to this). And out of all of the kids who came to the door only one was an infant who was represented by an almost teenaged mother...in costume, who insisted that she was "collecting candy for the baby". Yeah, I buy that, your kid doesn't even have teeth yet...no candy for you.
I'm a big weenie when it comes to saying no to the older kids though, I usually just go ahead and give them candy. I figure that's safer, as obviously, since they're knocking on my door asking for sugar they know where I live. I'd rather not wake up to eggs on my garage door tomorrow morning.
Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

So I'm stressing...

I'm supposed to be having a home spa party this weekend. (Think Pampered Chef party, but instead of cooking it's grooming). The representative brings a bunch of facial products, lip peels, and instant manicure/pedicure products and everyone gets to try them out.
I sent the invitations out a week ago today and so far have only heard back from three of the fifteen people that I invited. (All three people I've heard from are coming though, so that's good, right?) I guess the idea of RSVP'ing is somewhat foreign to a lot of people. Which really isn't a problem under normal circumstances, but since the product representative needs to know by Thursday night how many people to bring supplies for...I guess I'll be making a lot of phone calls on Wednesday night.
In all honesty, I'm kind of a bit worked up about this party. I'm going to have to get up early on Saturday, as I have not yet done anything for this party. I haven't made a menu, purchased "favors" or really thought out where exactly I'm going to set this whole thing up at.
I've pretty much decided that since the party doesn't start until seven thirty, I'm going to only do dessert appetizers. The product line that the rep is bringing is chocolate themed (chocolate scented, flavored, colored, etc) so I'm thinking that all of my food will have chocolate tie-ins. So far I'm thinking of cake, brownies, cookies, some kind of fluffy pastry treat, chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, and marshmallows, and chocolate martinis. Anyone have any good ideas (easy too, please) for additional foodstuffs?

What the heck did I do to my shoulder?

This simply does not make sense. I ran a marathon...this activity is predominantly strenuous on your lower body, so why the heck does my right shoulder hurt? I've always had weird issues with my shoulder, including a bout of tendintis ten years ago when I was on the drill team in high school, and what we think is torn cartilage from "circus school" at the resort we honeymooned at three years ago in the Bahamas. Seriously, there was a circus school on the beach in front of the resort every afternoon ...and I love me some trapezee acrobatics.
Anyway, long story short, my right rotator cuff and biceps have been hurting pretty much constantly since last Sunday afternoon. I'm sure I've aggravated it some with work all week, as I've got a crapload of low back and neck pain patients right now (meaning I'm doing lots of manual work with this population), and I've been extra sore every night after working all day.
I'm going to give it until this Friday, and if it's still not better I'll break down and see the doc. (I'm one of those people...you know the ones that work in healthcare but don't ever think they need to see the doctor.)
Now that we've discussed my shoulder in great deal (and thus you've drawn the conclusion that I won't be lifting weights today...oh darn.), let's move on to other topics. Such as my run today. Today I went to Creve Coeur Lake park. This park is one of the hidden gems in the St. Louis area. It has a huge lake, which they do not allow motorized boats on, only sailboats and row boats. There are several trails to choose from, most of which are paved, but one of which is gravel. The trail I chose runs around the perimeter of the lake and is very pretty. This weekend was supposed to be the peak of the fall color in this area, and fortunately the weather here has been beautiful all weekend. I decided that I would do a nice three miler at a comfortable pace, which surprisingly enough was just over an 8:00 mile for me today. Where were these legs last weekend?
I took my husband to the airport this morning. He's headed back to Chicago for business for the entire week, so I'll be on my own all week with our dog and my parents' dog. Fortunately I've got a busy week planned, so it should go fairly quickly.

I did my first run since the marathon this morning

It was nice. It was cold out, but it didn't seem as bad as last week, as it wasn't windy or rainy. I only did three miles, but it felt good to get back out of the roads. I tried to take it easy, but was so glad to be back running that I ended up going a bit faster then I really wanted to run.
I ran the normal route that I usually run for my long runs, but I cut it significantly shorter. It was kind of nice, as the rest of the St. Charles Runners Club was also out there, but I chose not to run with anyone else, so that I could focus on just running.
Then my husband took me to the IHOP for breakfast. I had an omelet, hash browns and almost two pancakes...with butter pecan syrup. Let me just say, the butter pecan is the best syrup ever!
This afternoon we went to catch a movie. We saw The Departed, with Matt Damon, Leo DeCaprio, and Jack Nicholson. Awesome movie, but lots of gratuitous violence.
It's been a nice relaxing day so far!

Feeling good!

It's now four days after the marathon, and I am feeling pretty much 100% normal. I guess I did something right with my training. I have one small sore spot along the shaft of my fifth metatarsal that hurts if I turn my foot just right, and I've still got some slight discomfort from the bruise on my shin, but overall I'm doing great.
I started light stationary cycling on Tuesday night, and did a bit yesterday and today as well. I'm planning on resuming running on Saturday morning. I'm only planning on doing three or four miles, depending on how I feel once I get going.
My parents are leaving on Saturday morning for a two week cruise of the Hawaiian islands, and since I have to take them to the airport early on Saturday morning, I figured I should stop on my way home and get my run out of the way. I'm kind of eager to get back into gear, my legs are feeling very antsy!

So now what?

I'll admit, I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do with myself now. I have absolutely no idea what to do with the extra time that I've now found since I'm not running again yet. It's kind of anti-climatic to train so hard for so many weeks and then to just be all of the sudden done with it.
I've not yet picked my next race, and honestly, I don't feel like I'm ready to commit to anything just yet. I'm not sure if I'll keep running marathons or if I'll drop back to shorter distances. I love distance running, but mentally this race took a lot out of me. More so than any other race has ever done. I feel like I'm much more successful at shorter distances, but the marathon and I...we've got some unfinished business still.
I'm a very goal orientated individual and I love competing. I think I need to revisit my roots and relearn how to run just for the sheer sake of running and the joy of doing something athletic. I need to forget the competition with others and learn how to compete with myself.
I also need to learn to hold my head up high when people ask how my Chicago race was....4:11 is nothing to sneeze at. And I'm an idiot for not being proud of myself for this time.
I'm planning on starting back into my regular, non-training running next week, which should help shake the cobwebs out of my brain. I'm going to try some easy stationary cycling (just to get the blood moving again) this afternoon. So we'll see how things work out over the next few weeks.

Chicago marathon recap

Today's race was a tough one. Although it never snowed and only misted lightly during the sixth and seventh miles, it was extremely cold (it never got above 43 degrees all day) and very windy. The aid station volunteers kept saying that it was all downhill after that part and that the wind would be at our backs as soon as we turned the corner, but every corner we turned put the wind in our faces. How is that even possible?
I did fantastic on the first 1/2. I rocked the first 13.1 in 1:56. Then I hit the wall. (Early, I know.) I slowed down drastically on the second half, it took me 2:15. My total time, per Garmin was 4:11. Needless to say, I didn't meet my A or B goals. I improved on my PR by eight minutes though. I'm not really happy with this result, but I think I'll be satisfied with it once I get over my disappointment of not breaking four hours.
I really thought that I'd be faster, since I did so much speedwork this season. I'm convinced that next time around I'll have to use a program with higher mileage, and maybe choose a marathon that isn't in a city with a reputation for being windy and cold.
I was not prepared for the sheer number of participants in this race. I knew that there would be 40,000 runners, but I don't think I really understood exactly how many people this was. My husband and I met up with Laura (who ran a 4:07), Tiffany (who ran a 3:38), and Sam (4:09) before the race started, and I made my way to the start corral with them. This calmed my anxiety a bit. (I was really nervous all day yesterday, I felt like I didn't have any clue what I was doing).
Laura and I decided about thirty minutes before the race started that we needed to use the Port-A-Potties one last time. So we jumped the fence out of the start corral. When we jumped the fence back into the start corrals, we couldn't find Sam. So she was on her own from the beginning. I then lost Laura less then two miles into the race.
The crowds along the course were fantastic. There were only a few sections that weren't packed with spectators. I really enjoyed the drill teams and cheerleading squads. My husband rode the El to three different spots on the course to cheer me on, but I only saw him one of the three times. There were just so many people.
After I crossed the finish line, I started looking for my friends or my husband. We hadn't talked about where to meet up (logistical error number 3567) but I figured that he'd be looking for me around the I-J marker (since our last name starts with a "J"). We never could find each other, even though he was standing next to the giant J, so after an hour of unsuccessful searching I just started walking back to the hotel. I was soaking wet, freezing cold, starving, and I had to pee. Needless to say I was not a happy camper. Especially since my husband wasn't at our hotel yet.
I think, no, make that I know that I had a mini-meltdown at the front desk of our hotel. I went up to the check-in desk and told the girl that I had a huge problem. I said "I have no ID, no money, no room key, and no cell phone. I can't get into my room, and I have no idea where my husband is." She told me that she couldn't do anything for me, so I started crying. (I almost never cry) Finally she took pity on me and had a security guard let me into our room where I was able to use my cell phone to find my husband.
I think I've learned my lesson. Next time, I'll be including cash and a cell phone in my gear check bag.

Are we there yet?

We are currently in transit from the Lou to the Windy City, gotta love the wireless internet connection. By the math, it should be just over 500 miles, which will take us about five or so hours. So far, the drive has been pretty boring. Lots of flat farmland, unidentifiable road kill, and slow drivers. It's pretty sad when the highlight of the first hour of drive time is seeing a department of corrections prisoner transport van.
We should arrive in Chicago right around lunch time, which will give us plenty of time to get checked into our hotel, find the expo and pick up the race information. I'm definitely planning on driving the race course, just to get an idea of what to expect tomorrow.
The good news is that when my husband checked the forecast this morning, it was slightly warmer than they were predicting earlier this week. There's still a high (60-70%) chance of rain until 11:00am tomorrow, but at least they've removed the snow flurries from the forecast. Rain looks pretty appealing to me when I consider the alternative idea of snow.

You might be a runner if...

1. Your day isn't complete until you've put your run in.
2. You have a list of all the races you plan to run...for the next twelve months.
3. You get upset about injuries because they keep you from running, not because you have actually damaged your body.
4. You drink twice as much water as any other liquid.
5. The thought of signing up for a 40K doesnt' make you quiver with fear.
6. You finish a marathon, say you'll never run another one, and in a week are looking for another one to train for.
7. The Atkins diet seems preposterous to you...who wants to give up carbs?!?!
8. You can convert kilometers to miles in your head.
9. Your blood pressure is 92/56 and you're conscious.
10. You're first post week recovering, haven't ran yet, can't explain your bad mood, but are miraculously "cured" after a five mile jog.
11. You call all other sports "cross training".
12. You consider running three miles to be a warmup.
13. Your major goal in life is to qualify for Boston.
14. You tell people: "I only ran 10 miles today because I was tired."
15. Your running shoes have more miles on them then your car does.
16. People ask you "When's your next race?" at least three times a week.
17. You've ever been pleasantly surprised to see that you still had ten toenails.
18. You've ever been asked: "How long was that marathon that you ran?"
19. You're convinced that your running abilities are seriously impaired because you missed a day of training.
20. Your sport is other sports' punishment.
21. You have more blisters on your feet than you do toes.
22. You know a marathon is 26.2 miles.
23. You're embarrassed to be seen walking, even if it's just up the street.
24. You count your time spent running in hours.
25. You're a "few" pounds overweight, so you rationalize: "I'll have to add a few miles to my weekly mileage."
26. You know the location of every public drinking fountain and restroom within twenty miles of your home.
27. You mentally measure junk food in terms of miles rather than calories.
28. Your fridge is fully stocked with bottled water, flavored water, and sports drink...but lacks staples such as milk, eggs, and "real" food.
29. You know who Hal, Deena, Dean, Pre and Meb are.
30. Your recreational drug of choice is Motrin.
31. You have/had ITBS or plantar fascitis and actually know what those terms mean...without looking them up in a medical dictionary.
32. Even your Ipod skips during interval workouts.
33. You restart the treadmill after it automatically shuts off because the mileage says 2.92 miles instead of 3.00.
34. Thinking of BioFreeze makes you smile.
35. You wear out new running shoes faster than new work shoes.
36. Your thighs are only slightly bigger than your calves.
37. GU on toast sounds like a good idea.
38. Your running club smells so bad at Satuday morning post long run brunch that the three tables closest to your crew ask to be relocated...and you think it's funny.

Well, that's it

The last run until race day is completed. It was only a two miler, but it was really tough to find the motivation to get it done. I'm excited for the race, but I'm just so done with this whole training thing. I'm ready for a break from high mileage.
My alarm went off at five this morning, and I spent a good ten or fifteen minutes laying there trying to convince myself that I really didn't need to get this run done before work. I was really surprised that it was so hard to find the desire to get it done this morning, as it was the shortest distance I've run since my last marathon taper....six months ago.
Anyway, long story short, I got up, did the run, legs felt like lead, but at least it's done and now I can move on with my day.
Today should be an okay day, I'm only seeing patients until noon. I have the afternoon marked out as a reschedule with our marketing guru and I was supposed to have a four o'clock meeting, but it's been cancelled, so instead I have a four o'clock patient...and then I'm done for the day! Yeah for me. Of course, since I'm done early tonight, I'll be working late tomorrow night, which is not so good.
Good news though: according to MSN weather, Sunday is now only cloudy in Chicago. They've taken the rain out! Thank goodness for that. Keep your fingers crossed.

So, yesterday's work drama...

Yesterday I had to "let someone go". I have a girl in my office who's sole job was to socialize with patients, clean up after me, and retrieve supplies (weights/hot packs/whatever)...in general she's supposed to help faciliate smooth function of the office. Yeah, for the past three months her attitude has sucked. There's been quite a bit of eye rolling, heavy sighing, and just general unwillingness to do her damn job. I've been very patient, as I know there's some stuff going on in her personal life; but quite frankly I've had enough. So with the boss' blessing, I got rid of her.
Technically, I dropped her from part time status to PRN, but what I didn't tell her is that I also hired someone else to work the hours that she had been working. I'd never let someone go before, so it was an entirely new, stress inducing, anxiety filled experience. I handled it professionally, I think. When I explained the decision to her, I framed it as a "financial" decision...it just didn't make sense to keep her on part time when the census is low. Apparently she then called several other clinic directors and informed them that I was a "stupid bitch" and that she would now be working only for them...at which point they told her that they didn't need her either. Such fun.
On a good note though, I did come home to find my "Run Around the Town" medal in my mailbox. Fleet Feet does a program every year where you get a third medal if you complete an event at both the Spirit of St. Louis and Lewis & Clark Marathons. I'll try to post pictures of the new medal tonight if I can figure out how to work the digital camera. It's pretty cool.

It's almost here!!!

Marathon day is just six days away! I'm so excited. I'm excited to run the race, I'm excited to get out of town, and I'm really excited to have a three day weekend. I only have two short runs and a cross training day left before this marathon. We're officially into the homestretch!
This morning I did a quick three miles on the treadmill before heading to work. Amazingly enough, I did not have a bit of trouble prying myself out of bed for this run, as I knew how astonishingly short it was.
I will admit that I was somewhat dismayed though. My husband checked weather.com this morning and informed me that as of this morning the forecast for Sunday in Chicago is for RAIN! Please no...this is a contingency that I was not planning for.
Would you believe that not once during the entire eighteen weeks of training have I worried about what if it rains? It even rained during two of my long runs, and I still didn't worry about it. Now I'm panicking that it will rain on my parade, quite literally, and that this inclement weather will keep me from my elusive PR. Someone do the no rain dance...quick!

I just finished my last long run!!!!

I am so glad to be done with these long runs for a little while. I only had eight miles scheduled this morning, but I did not want to run even one or two miles. I allowed myself to sleep in until seven, which meant that I missed the entire group that leaves at seven (which I was planning on running with). Sleeping in put me down at the starting point pretty close to eight o'clock, and you might think that it would be just a bit warmer at eight in the morning than it is at six in the morning, but then you'd be wrong. It was a whole 34 degrees out when I left the house this morning. This convinced me to not only wear tights, but also a jacket and gloves...all of which I was glad I had once I felt the breeze coming off the river. Trust me, this outfit will definitely be in my bag for next weekend, just in case.
I felt pretty good this morning, despite the total lack of motivation. My legs felt strong, and thankfully, there was not a repeat of last week's killer bout of nausea. I managed to run a negative split again, with my first four miles run in just over 36 minutes and my last four run in just over 34 minutes. The splits looked good too:
Mile 1: 8:43
Mile 2: 9:00
Mile 3: 9:03
Mile 4: 9:14
Mile 5: 5:57
Mile 6: 8:54
Mile 7: 8:30
Mile 8: 8:23

Total run time was 1:10:55. I'm pretty comfortable with that and feel like I'm positioned pretty well for under 4:00 next week. My tentative plan is to go out with the 8:30 group and settle into a slightly slower pace as I get warmed up and more comfortable. I'm convinced that the course is flat, and I know that I can comfortable run an 8:30 if I'm running over flat ground. There's no way that I can run an 8:30 pace for the whole race, but if I can pick up an extra minute or two at the start, it'll only benefit me later.
I'm shooting for around 1:50 for the first half, so that would mean that I'll need to run slightly under 9:00/miles for the first half. That'll give me a little wiggle room if I get tired as I'm going through the second half.
Now that I'm actually thinking race strategy, I'm starting to get pretty pumped up!!!

Well, that was inconsiderate...

I only work 1/2 days on Thursdays normally. This week, since my census has been low for a couple of weeks, I arranged to meet our marketing guy to help fine tune my game plan for getting out to new doctors. I have one big group of orthopedic surgeons that are really tough to get into, and I thought that maybe he could help me get past the front door with this group. So, we had arranged to meet at 1:00 this afternoon.
I hadn't heard from him all week so I called to confirm that we were still meeting today. He acted like he had forgotten that we were going to get together but said that he could still fit our meeting in. So, I finished treating my patients and then ran an errand and got some lunch. At five minutes until one, he called and said that "he'd gotten hung up at another clinic and needed to reschedule."
This would have been an okay excuse, but then he kept talking and said that he'd been in a previously scheduled meeting and that he hadn't thought that he'd be able to make our meeting, but that he wanted to keep our meeting on the books anyway "just in case". Great, so now I've wasted an entire hour of my time...so not cool.
On a brighter note: yesterday I got a nice card from my friend April. She was confused about when the Chicago marathon was and thought that I had run it last weekend. So she sent a card saying congratulations on another successful marathon completion. Hopefully this is a good omen for next weekend!

See what I mean about dumb injuries?

From now on, I shall be called Grace, as in full of grace, as in one who is poised, as in one who watches where she is going and successfully avoids all environmental obstacles which leap into her path.
Yep, those weird injuries I was so paranoid about? Apparently that was a reasonable concern for me, as today I managed to earn another one. I was walking along, minding my own business at work today. I was talking to a patient and looking a her chart when all of the sudden out of nowhere, the treadmill jumped up and bit my foot. Keep in mind, I wasn't using the treadmill, nor was the patient, nor anyone else in the clinic. I'm firmly convinced that I was at least ten inches away from this pyschotic, diabolical death machine. (Those of you who hate the treadmill, feel free to plagiarize that phrase). If I wasn't the clinic director, I would probably have fired myself for the words which came out of my mouth immediately after the treadmill attacked me.
I was firmly convinced that the treadmill was at fault, but the accident reconstruction team (which consists of me and my three imaginary friends) has determined that the treadmill was actually not at fault. I figure what happened was that I cut the corner near it a little too close and managed to slip the toes of my left foot under the back corner of the treadmill deck, so that when I went to advance my left foot, I cracked the top of the foot against the underside of the deck...which is very sharp and pointy.
So pointy in fact, that it cut a lovely gash in my leather shoe and left me with a bruise that is roughly the shape of Idaho...or maybe it's Utah, I always get those two confused.

I think I just ran my last fall speedwork session!

I haven't decided yet for sure, but I think that tonight was my last speed session for the fall season. Most likely, I won't run a speed session next week, as the big race will only be a few days out at that point. I'm afraid that if I chance another speedwork session next week I'll get hurt and be totally screwed.
I kind of get paranoid at this point in the training program and start thinking about all the random ways I could get hurt and mess up my race. I'm somewhat accident prone, as most of you have probably determined by now, so for the next two weeks I'm seriously contemplating bubble wrapping my entire body.
Anyway tonight's workout: I ran 1200m repeats, and I must say...I smoked them. My goal for each repetition was 6:03 and I ran all four repetitions well under that (5:18; 5:31; 5:49, 5:39). I averaged out at about a 7:15 pace when I did the math. Disclaimer here: that may be slightly inaccurate as math was never my strong suit...hence the reason I'm a physical therapist and not an accountant.
I really thought that I was stinking the place up, as I felt like crap. I'm so allergic to all the fall pollen. I felt like my chest was in a vise and my sinuses were draining like crazy. I kept telling myself just to finish the repetition that I was running and then I could cut the workout short. Knowing all along as I told myself that I could quit early, that I wouldn't. Everyone knows that I am the queen of guilt trips and I'd make myself feel so awful about missing mileage that I'd have to find a way to make it up...even if it was only 3/4 of a mile. I know, that's awful.
Long story short, I finished the run, all of it. I'm really glad that I made myself get out there and do this workout tonight. All day long they've been forecasting rain, and I kind of had my fingers crossed that we'd get it so I could just get a nice leisurely treadmill run in today instead. The whole time I was running, I kept thinking (and hoping) that I was feeling rain; but alas, it was not to be.
Now that speedwork is out of the way (or is it?) I can focus on finalizing my pace goals for Chicago. I've decided that my ideal goal is a Boston qualifying 3:40, a more realistic goal that would satisfy me is under 4:00, and my just okay goal is anything that is an improvement on my previous PR of 4:19.
Now I just have to figure out how to plan to achieve my ideal goal so that if I don't make it at least I'll be in a good position to meet my acceptable, realistic goal.

Only 13 days to go!!!

And 27 more miles before race day. That's the exciting part for me, when there are almost fewer miles left in the rest of your training than there are in the actual race itself. I ran my last five miler this morning. That means everything from here out is short and sweet, discounting that eight miler this coming Saturday. But, I figure eight miles is nothing. I can do in my sleep.
Speaking of sleep, does anyone want to do a dream analysis for me? I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamt that I was running a race in downtown St. Louis, and that I felt like I was running at a comfortable pace. I decided to stop and tie my shoe with only a short distance left in the race (sorry I couldn't quite see the mileage sign in my dream). I was pretty sure that I was somewhere in the middle to front of the group that was racing. Anyway, as I was tying my shoe, my college roommate (who does actually run) passed me.
When I got to the end of the race, the course organizers congratulated me on my second place finish. Apparently, by allowing my college roommate to pass me, I screwed myself out of the first place award. However, I did get the second place award....and this is where it gets really weird. The award for second place was an iguana.
Not just any iguana either, but a really big iguana, with a broken off tail. They also gave me the broken off tail, and I asked them if I really needed the tail. If it would reattach itself I'd take it, but otherwise...Anyway, they told me that it wouldn't reattach itself, but apparently the iguana needs his broken off tail to go wherever he goes, as it helps his self esteem?
So, long story short, I took my "iguana trophy" home and it proceeded to piss all over my house. Then I woke up.
Moral of the story: Don't drink Diet Coke before going to bed. In fact, don't drink Diet Coke at all, as it will give you some whacked dreams.