Chicago Recap

So, Chicago was super duper amazing. Which I believe I said the other day ... but you know, it's still true. d.a.r. has some amazing recaps HERE and HERE if you wanna check them out! For some reason, Blogger is refusing to post some of my photos tonight, so I am missing some super cute ones from Friday night. Hopefully I can get those to upload tomorrow!

Anyway - on Friday, I picked up d.a.r. from the airport and we had some awesome sushi for lunch. Yums! Afterwards, we headed back to the airport to get MTM and then we went to check out our hotel, the Palmer House Hilton. So fancy! That night, we walked downtown and ate some superfantabulous pizza at Lou Malnati's. So delicious ... I can almost taste it. It was the perfect night - girlfriends, pizza, and a pitcher of Blue Moon!

Okay, these photos are out of order, but ... this was from Saturday afternoon on the way back to the hotel after an 8 mile walk - er, shopping trip. This is one of my favorite photos from the weekend!

Unfortunately, the weather on Saturday morning was kinda crappy - we made it about halfway to Navy Pier to head to the race expo but then gave up and cabbed it the rest of the way. We were freezing and soaking wet from the rain - ICK. Before we gave up and hailed a cab, we had to take the obligatory bean self-portrait. Clearly.


Saturday night, we had some AMAZING sushi - man it was so good! MTM totally approved of her mini spring rolls. Yums.
More food, more booze ... we basically ate and drank our way through Chicago. It was awesome.
Race morning came WAY too early ... we had to get up at 4:30am in order to catch the shuttle to the start! Ridiculous. It was cold - really cold. Here is a lovely photo of us huddling together for warmth in the hotel before heading out into the cold. We look so happy and awake, no?
Loooooong line of school busses for us. The shuttle left at 5:30 despite the fact that the race didn't start until 8! So, needless to say, it was a reeeeeeeally long morning.
MTM, trying to stay warm - and awake - before the race started. What can I say ... it was kinda tough.
Finally, hours later (and still before the race started!), MTM and I enjoyed some pre-race cokes. Tasted like heaven.
We're ready to run!!!
And ... ta da! We're done! With our finishers medals ...
... and some free cookies. DELISH. I am STILL so excited about my 32:37 PR!
We had a great time relaxing after the race ... at least, I THINK we had a great time. It's kind of hard to tell. :)

Afterwards, we boarded the shuttle back to the hotel. It took EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS. Okay, maybe not, but it was a really long ride and I think we all had a little trouble staying awake. It was tough. Really tough.
Thankfully, we crashed afterwards and enjoyed some down time!
Aaaaaand once we got out of bed again, showered and checked out of our hotel, we had the most deeeeelightful brunch at Southport Grocery and Cafe. Yummmmmmmmmy.
One last pose before I had to take these wonderful girls back to the airport. Sads. Oh, and yes, we DID wear our medals all day. :)
The weekend fun didn't end there! I headed over to stay with Lisa on Sunday night, where we watched the RHONJ reunion and ate some good bbq. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos. Except this one, of Lisa's dog, Bacon. Bacon tends to steal things. I walked into the guest room and found him enjoying his new favorite toy ... my bra. Sad.
Anyway, that's it! I realize that this recap kinda sucks ... but it has taken me about 2 hours to upload the photos and pay attention enough to write it up. So basically ... go read what d.a.r. wrote. :) All in all - Chicago was great. It was SO nice finally "meeting" d.a.r. and MTM - two girls I talk to ALL the time. d.a.r. has really helped me through some deployment downs and I think we have talked pretty much every single day since Matt got his deployment orders last July 2009. MTM and I met more recently ... but still, we talk pretty much every day too!

The best part about blogging? The amazing friendships I have made. The worst part? NONE OF THEM LIVE BY ME.

That being said ... I am already counting down the minutes until I get to see these girls again!

Chicago!

Well my darling readers and friends, my weekend in Chicago with d.a.r and MTM was SO AMAZING! The best part? It's not even over yet. I've been hanging out with Lisa since yesterday afternoon, and we're heading to brunch this morning before I head home.

I wish I could put this weekend into words ... but frankly, it was so fabulous that I'm not even sure words would appropriately describe it! Spending the weekend with these amazing women was fun, fabulous, and exhausting. And that was just the shopping! Ha. I don't really have any photos yet - we let d.a.r. take all the photos with her fancy camera. But yeah, just know that we had a really great time.

Oh, and the race? The reason we went in the first place? We all had our best 5k race! My official chip time was 32:37 (beating my previous 5k time of 37:44 ... wow!!!!) and I couldn't feel better about it. Now, one day later, I'm only regretting that we were all so happy/excited/exhausted afterwards that we basically just sat around and never stretched. I can't move. Oh well! Totally worth it.

I will definitely be blogging more about this weekend ... still trying to come down off of this high! :)

Chicago bound!

Well friends, I'm off! I am leaving in a few hours for Chicago ... CANNOT WAIT.

I wish I had some profound things to say about the weekend, but to be honest with you ... it's 4:45am and I woke up this early to do laundry and pack before I get on the road around 9. Because I went to bed at 8:30. Because I was sooo sleepy that I couldn't possibly GET READY TO GO. Because I am totally ridiculous.

So, here it is, before 5am, and I'm awake and getting ready to put a load of laundry in. Sigh. Sometimes, I wonder if I will ever get the hang of packing ahead of time ... ? Any other last minute packers out there?

Anyway - to say I'm excited about heading to Chitown today would be a gross understatement. I cannot wait to get there, see Lisa and d.a.r. and MTM, and just have a really fabulous girls weekend. Because you know what? I really need it. Oh yeah, and I think we're going for a run in there somewhere, too. :)

So on that note ... off to throw in some laudry. And I guess tidy the place up a bit. And maybe I have time to color my hair? Hmmm. Have a GREAT weekend!

Deployment in Review: Month SIX.

I'm a few days late with this, but hopefully you don't mind. Cannot believe it's already been six months (and 26 weeks!) ... but also, I definitely can. At this point, it seems like Matt's been gone for forever. I don't like it! The good news? We should only have approximately four months to go. Thank goodness. I'm to the point where I think about him coming home nonstop ... which is probably not helping anything! On the one hand, it seems like four months is nothing and he should basically be home tomorrow. But on the other hand ... it's still four months. It's NOT tomorrow. Blah.

Not that much has happened this past month - since I'm on my summer schedule, things have been pretty relaxed. Work is pretty fun over the summer, but over the last couple of weeks, all I've done is make what is adding up to hundreds of phone calls to the parents of incoming freshman, trying to set up meetings over the summer. I have probably left about 60 some voicemails at this point. And guess how many people have called me back so far? ZERO. I am getting extremely frustrated ... but I guess people just don't want to think about school in the summer. Ugh!

Anyway. Over the past month, I have ...

-Spent the weekend at my parents' house and saw my Granddad and his lady friend Doris, who were in town for a visit. While at home, my mom helped me plant a pretty potted plant that is now on my patio. One month later ... it's still alive! Which is very impressive. I don't think I ever posted a photo of my pretty plant ... I'll do that soon.

-Saw my good friend Adrienne from grad school, who came into town with her mom to visit some of her cousins who live in Bloomington. It was great to see her and talk about the old times! Not only did we go to grad school together, but we also both moved to DC after school and worked together at the hospital. Lots of memories!

-Lisa came to visit! We had a great weekend of, well, watching a lot of Real Housewives (both the 3-part NY reunion and NJ!) and some bad movies and enjoying the Taste of Bloomington. Fun times were had by all!

-I discovered that I love eggplant ... and have made it about 800 times since that day. Seriously people - EGGPLANT IS DELICIOUS!!!

-I have NOT been good at posting my CSA share contents each week, but know that I am still getting amazing stuff and loving it! I will try to bring that back ... well, as soon as I can remember. This week, I received eggplant, zucchini (okay, enough with the zucchini already!), a cucumber, some tomatoes, green peppers, potatoes, and a jar of locally made pasta sauce. Delish!

-I also discovered that I LOVE BEETS! I have been getting them at the farmer's market and roasting them to throw in salads. Seriously delicious. I cannot believe I have always assumed they were icky!

-I got out my bike after years of having it in storage, only to discover that biking is hard! But it gets easier every time. And I was happy to hear from so many of you who agree with me ... I thought I was alone! :)

-My half marathon training has gone up a notch, and I am running longer distances than I EVER have before. From here on out, I won't run less than 4 miles, I believe. Even though I rarely feel like an accomplished runner, and it always feels incredibly difficult to me ... I keep thinking back on 1-2 years ago, when I really couldn't run. At all. Now, knowing that I can run FIVE MILES - even if I struggle to do so - well, that's a huge accomplishment!

-My amazing husband gifted me with a Garmin 110 - which is now helping my training each and every day!

-My mom and my grandma came to visit last weekend, and we had a great time just relaxing.

-My class started, and it has taken over my life like crazy!!! I spent the majority of this entire weekend doing reading and assignments for school. This is a big class with a ton of material to fit into a 6 week summer session - whew!

Well, I guess that's it for the month - hey, it looks like I was pretty busy after all! I never really think so until I write it all down in a blog post. :)

Coming up in the next month:

-I'm headed to Canada this weekend to hang out with Lucy!!! I haven't been to Canada in a long time. L, I'll be sure to pack my winter parka and snow boots. I am bringing Oscar along to pull my sled. Hehe.

-I'm going to go to Holiday World with some of my SILs, nieces and nephews, which should be fun! I haven't been to any sort of amusement/water park in a million years. Can't wait!

-I also can't wait to head up to northern Michigan, where I am going to spend a week with my parents at a lake house they rented on Bear Lake. It is pet-friendly, so Oscar is coming with me to frolic in the water. I am really looking forward to the relaxation, and I can't wait to spent some time "up north." It's been awhile!

And then, before I know it - the school year will start back up again and I'll be busy seeing all of my kids. The relaxed summer schedule is great, but to be honest - I much prefer the school year. I love seeing my kids and doing my job, and it's really hard to check in with my kids over the summer.

Anyway! This ended up being a much longer post than I was intending. Are you bored yet? Are you even still reading? If not, I don't blame you. Happy Monday, everyone - time for a workout!

In praise of early mornings

I don't really consider myself a morning person, although many people (including my husband and Lisa, probably) would disagree with that statement. I'm probably more of a morning person than others, though - I often wake up early on my own. I just hate being woken up by an alarm! Without the alarm, I will likely wake up by myself at around 6:30 or 7 with the sun. However, now that I've been getting up early to run, 6:30 or 7 just doesn't cut it. It takes me a little while to wake up, stretch, splash water on my face, etc to get ready to run, and all of that usually takes me around 30 minutes. And then sometimes (like yesterday), I will walk outside for my run (after 7am) and realize that it's already too hot/humid/miserable. Annoying!

So like I blogged last night, I got in bed early (8pm!!) to read and turned off the light at 9:00. Was YOUR Saturday night that exciting?! Ha. I set the alarm for 5:45am. It was definitely hard to get up when the alarm went off, but I splashed my face with water (trust me: this is a definite MUST if you are waking up early for a workout!), checked the weather, got dressed, stretched, and was on my way.

On the agenda for today: 5 miles. I was a little nervous (okay, a lot nervous) because I ran 5 miles for the first time on Wednesday and it was SO SO hard. I had taken d.a.r.'s advice to split it up into two different runs. I ran about 2 miles, stopped to stretch and rest for awhile, then ran 3 more miles. This didn't work out as nicely as I was hoping, as it was incredibly hard for me to start back up again after the break. I ended up walking from around mile 3.5-4.5 and I just felt like I was dragging. In the end, I finished in 1:04:11, but I kinda felt like I cheated by walking so much. Of course, I didn't just walk that mile in the middle - I stopped to walk several other times.

Because my training schedule got so whack this week, I skipped my short runs (2 x 3.5) and then headed out this morning for another 5 mile run. In theory, this should have been a terrible run: I didn't drink enough water yesterday and spent half the day frolicking in the sun. However, today's run felt (almost) great! I took things slow (I always feel the need to say that ... even though you and I both know that I never take things "fast") and explored a new neighborhood.

OH WAIT. I haven't yet blogged about my new, amazing, incredible, superduperfantastic toy!

*image found here*

That's right, folks. I have been the proud owner of a Garmin Forerunner 110 for about a week now. My absolutely wonderful, loving, supportive husband surprised me with this to help with my 1/2 training. I love you, M!

I am completely and utterly obsessed with the Garmin. It does so many fun tricks. But perhaps the thing I love most is that I can just take off and run - I don't have to spend time planning out my routes ahead of time. Seriously, the Garmin is probably the most amazing training tool you could have - I am beyond thrilled to call this baby my own. :) I LOVE to upload my run info and analyze it online. I also wear it to walk and bike - I just love knowing how far I have gone, and how long it has taken me!

Soooooo anyway. I had a tentative route planned out in my head this morning, but at the spur of the moment went straight instead of turning and went a completely new way for awhile. It was great! I ran 2.5 miles before stopping for a quick walk break, then continued on for another mile, took a quick walk break, and then finished the 5 miles in 59:23 - about 5 minutes faster than the other day.

And the best news: my last mile was the fastest! Here is my info. Please don't laugh at how slow I am.

Mile 1: 11:54

Mile 2: 12:10

Mile 3: 12:05

Mile 4: 12:38

Mile 5: 10:34

Woot! I kinda kicked ass on that last mile, right? My goal is to be able to run every mile in around 10 minutes. I used to be able to do that on my shorter runs (you know, a few weeks ago) but for some reason 10 minute miles seem like I am reeeeeally pushing it these days. I guess that speed is something that comes with training.

For the Chicago 1/2, you have to maintain a 13 minute mile, or they send a little bus to come around and pick you up. So, my goal? RUN FASTER THAN A 13 MINUTE MILE. I refuse to be the person that they have to collect on the bus! :)

Overall, I'm very happy with today's run. It was also cloudy and overcast the entire time, which helped immensely. With a slight breeze, it was almost enjoyable out. Afterwards, I chatted a little with Matt on gchat, walked the dog, went to the pool to swim a little (read: float around) and read. When I got back home, it was only 10:15am. I can't lie ... setting the alarm for 5:45 any morning sucks - and it especially sucks on a day you don't have to get up early. But you know what? I feel great. It was totally worth it!

Nice little Saturday

Well even though it's only 7:15pm, I am already in my jammies, curled up in front of the tv, winding down to go to bed early. :) I got up early this morning to go for a run, but it took me awhile to get out of bed. I didn't get outside until 7, and by then it was already too late. The humidity was out of control! So instead of running, I took Oscar for a nice long walk and then settled down to do school stuff ALL MORNING.

I read, worked on a group project, read some more, read a little more, and then took a quiz. Wah wah wah.

Then, I put on my bathing suit, loaded Oscar in the car, and drove down to my SIL Meleah's! They just got this big inflatable water slide type thing that looks almost exactly like this:

*image found here*

I then proceeded to spend around an hour playing on the slide with my 5 y/o nephew, Cooper. I can't lie ... it was probably the most fun I've had in awhile. Meleah took some photos but I don't have them yet, so ... stay tuned.

After awhile, my SIL Micah came over with my nephew Jarrett and nieces Jaylanne and Jessie. I let the kids play in the slide while I socialized with my SILs, and Oscar spent a good couple of hours herding their horses. Oooooh Oscar. Between the horses, the pig pond, and several trips through the woods, he got absolutely FILTHY disgusting. And smelled like manure. I gave him a quick bath outside and then we hopped in the car to come back home! Oscar is fast asleep on the floor, and to be honest ... I will probably be heading to bed on the early side myself.

PLUS ... I have to get up early tomorrow for a 5 mile run! For real, this time. My training schedule got a little wonky this week and I basically skipped my short runs. But oh well - that's okay. Tomorrow morning: 5 mile run, then a walk with Oscar, and then MORE READING FOR SCHOOL!

For all of you out there that went back to school after taking several years off - I take my hat off to you. This is only ONE class and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. Whew!

Biking = hard!

Wow, I actually feel like I have a lot of things to blog about! Neat, right? These things involve visitors, working out, and food. Naturally. So, the usual stuff. I wanted to blog about food tonight, but I am having some iphoto issues so instead I'll tell you about how bike riding is hard.

Cross training is, apparently, an important part of training for a big race. An important part that I ignored for awhile before I finally coerced Kyle's husband to come over and wrestle my bike out of our outdoor storage closet. When I set out for my first bike ride last week, I envisioned a happy little evening stroll with the breeze flying through my helmeted head. Imagine my surprise when I could barely bike up the tiniest of inclines!

Before last Tuesday (or was it Wednesday?), the last time I had been on a bike was probably about 2 years ago. My parents had brought my bike out to Virginia, and Matt bought a cheap bike from Walmart. We headed out for a bike ride along the GW Parkway bike trail for all of 20 minutes, and it was glorious. I think. That trail is mostly flat, so I'm not really sure. Before then, it was probably ... high school? I think?

So anyway. When I started my little bike stroll last week, I passed a girl out walking. I went down a long hill and then turned to bike up around the junior high we live near. Wow. I could barely get through the PARKING LOT. Muscles in my legs that I apparently do not use for running were screaming at me. Wow - I was shocked! I made it up the, um, hill (okay, it was a slight incline) and went around the track a couple of times. Then I went out through the neighborhood, down a big hill, and (you know what's coming, don't you?) then I had a very large hill (okay, it was a moderate incline) to bike up. The same girl was walking up the hill. I passed her, and then - yeah. I couldn't make it up the hill. I had to stop about halfway for a rest, at which point the walking girl totally passed me. Embarrassing!!! I totally pretended that I was playing with my watch or something so she wouldn't know I couldn't make it up the hill (sidenote: I walk up that hill pretty much every day). And then I just turned around, went back down the hill, and biked home. Total minutes spent riding the bike: 15.

It was really hard, and I was so surprised. I really didn't think it would be that hard, especially since my legs are so much stronger now. But, like I said before, biking seems to use TOTALLY different muscles. I decided once and for all that I was going to conquer the damn bike. I took it out Sunday morning for an early bike ride - I made it 35 minutes and biked a little over 4 miles. Yes, that is pretty darn slow still. Yes, someone passed me ... while running. But that's not the point. The point is that I did it! And I am going to bike twice a week, every week. My bike needs some work - it's making a clanging noise that probably woke some people up on Sunday morning. Oh, and the seat is in the wrong place. And it needs to be lubed up or something.

That's what she said. Sorry, I had to put that in there for Lucy.

4, 3, 2, 3, 4 ...

These numbers represent the mileage of my last five runs. Last Sunday, I ran 4 miles for the first time ever (although "running" is kind of an exaggeration - it was so, so hot and sunny that I probably walked 1/3 of it). Then on Tuesday, I ran 3. Wednesday, 2. On Thursday, I was supposed to run 3 again but I was out late the night before (and I've been setting my alarm for 6am on running days to try to beat the heat). So I put it off until Friday morning ... but on Thursday night, I was out late enjoying a few (several) cocktails with my friend Patty. So I put it off until Friday night. But Friday night, I was sucked into one of USA's marathons (I think it was Royal Pains. Or maybe NCIS? Can't remember...) so I put it off until Saturday morning. FINALLY, I woke up early on Saturday morning and ended up running 3 miles in JUST over 30 minutes (30:58, I believe) which was a HUGE PR for me (can you have PRs during training??). In comparison, on May 1st I ran a 5k in 37 minutes. Yesterday, I got up early and ran 4 again - and this time, I mostly ran. I did have to take several walk breaks, and ended up finishing in around 46 minutes.

My running is clearly improving, but I am in a major rut - which is why I am typing this all out to you. I need help! Since I started my *official* 1/2 marathon training a couple of weeks ago, I haven't been able to run without stopping for walk breaks. And most of the time when I stop to catch my breath or rest my legs, I realize that I didn't really need to do either. It's all in my head. I get this feeling that I NEED to walk for a couple of minutes to "rest up" for the rest of my run, and I have the hardest time NOT stopping once I get that idea in my head. I talked with my friend Kyle about it last night, and her suggestion was to mix things up - change out the songs on my ipod, just do stuff differently. I am going to try this for my run tomorrow, but I know I will still struggle with my BRAIN telling me that I CAN'T. As I told her last night, part of it is that I'm not a natural athlete ... and the other part is that I keep telling myself I'm not a natural athlete.

I need your help/advice/thoughts, please! And any motivators you use to get to the proverbial finish line, even if it is just a training run. There are no more short runs - I start at 3.5 tomorrow and on Sunday, FIVE. FIVE MILES. Anything you can offer me would be much appreciated!!!

Deployment in Review: Month 5

I have been in what seems like an incredibly long blog funk. I'm sure I'll snap out of it ... eventually. I think. I hope. I just realized that this is only my 2nd blog post for June ... and it's already the 18th! Oh dear. I told Matt the other day that I didn't have anything to blog about ... his suggestion was to "make some shit up." I feel like that seems just as difficult as having real, actual blog fodder, so ... I promise everything I tell you is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Etc. :)

So without further ado ... can you believe Matt has been gone for five months? I can. It feels like the first few months flew by, but lately it's just been feeling slower and slower and slower. Maybe that's because nothing much has happened?

I have very little to report for Month 5.

-I went to Michigan for Memorial Day to celebrate my Mom's birthday

-I celebrated the last day of school and am currently enjoying my summer schedule (I only work 24 hours a week over the summer)

-I went to Michigan this past weekend to celebrate my Dad's birthday (late) and Father's Day (early) and to see my Granddad and his lady friend (they were in town visiting)

-Aaaaaand I guess that's it. Hmmm. Oh, also Matt moved to Baghdad a couple of weeks ago and is currently at the Embassy.

Clearly, it's been boring around here. Sorry!! So instead of talking about stuff I've done, let's talk about stuff I'm looking forward to:

-Lisa is coming to visit today! We have a fun weekend planned.

-It's almost July!!!! If things worked out as kind-of-planned, I could be seeing Matt in 5 months! Oh dear. That means we're only halfway. Okay. Stop thinking about that.

Hmmmm okay, that's all I can really think of. My official 1/2 marathon training starts on Monday - up to now, I've been working up a baseline through 5k training. I've really been enjoying it, although I basically took a week off from running this week. It's been so hot and humid - even at 6am! - that I just ... let myself have a some days off from running. I've been doing lots of walking to try to get used to the humidity (seriously. weather.com says we have 99% humidity right now! blech!!!) and then I'll get back to running on Monday. I am a little intimidated about next week's workout - just because it is a definite step up from what I've been doing. Here's the plan:

Monday: Stretch and strengthen (I'll do yoga and strength training)

Tuesday: 3m run

Wednesday: 2m run or cross (I think I will go for a bike ride)

Thursday: 3m run and strength

Friday: Rest (yay!)

Saturday: 30 min cross

Sunday: 4m run

Whoa - did you see that?! 4 mile run! I have never run more than 3 miles, so this will be a pretty big deal!!! I will try to keep you posted. And until then ... I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

This is what a run in the rain looks like.

Hmm. Matt's t-shirt makes me look like a real linebacker. Time to wear some more flattering running clothes!

Running Update

A couple of weeks ago, I decided it was time to start my 1/2 marathon training. After all ... when I registered for the race, I had about 11 months to train. So I did nothing. And then, suddenly, I only had 5 months. How did that happen??! Anyway, I went through the Hal Higdon novice 1/2 marathon plan and the Hal Higdon novice 5k plan and wrote out 19 weeks of training in my calendar. IN PEN. Every single day from May 3rd to September 12th has some sort of workout (or, you know, rest day). So far, I have stuck to the plan every single day!

I started very slowly - at around 1.75m. I am now up to 2.25m runs. Like I said - starting slow. But I have been feeling great, and strong, and I'm staying steady at around a 10 minute mile - which is HUGE for me. Last summer when I did the running training group, I was at a pretty solid 12 minute mile. I know it might not seem like much difference (I know - they are both SLOW!), but for an incredibly un-athletic person like me ... it's a big deal. :)

That being said, I think I'm going to run a neat trail run 5k at Brown County State Park in a couple of weeks. My friend Becky told me about it this morning, and it sounds pretty neat and different than my usual runs around the neighborhood. I have a 2.75m run scheduled for that day, so it will just be a little more of a stretch at 3.1m. I'm a little intimidated by the description of the course - the first mile is apparently uphill, then some rolling hills, and a gradual one mile downhill. Whew. But the biggest challenge to me is that headphones/ipods are prohibited. I NEED music when I run - it really gets me through. So I'm definitely a little nervous about running without music. I think I'll give it a shot on my run tomorrow. For those runners out there - do you run with or without music? What are your strategies for non-music running?

Last but not least ... the Garmin Forerunner 110 is on my wish list (in grey and pink, of course!).

This is the newest Forerunner - it's pretty basic, but I've been told it still has everything I need. Sidenote: why is the basic Forerunner still $250??? Not cool, Garmin. Not cool. They are literally brand new - I think they came out at the end of April. Or March? Can't remember. I'm hoping that after a couple of months, they'll start popping up on Ebay. Fingers crossed!

So anyway, that's what's going on with running. I'll keep you posted as my mileage increases!

Randoms

I've been meaning to blog all week, but ... for some reason it just hasn't happened! So, here is a bunch of random stuff that's been happening this week.

1. I'm way behind on my tv watching this week (too much walking and reading, bad Shaina! ha!), but can I just say how much I LOVE Parenthood? And Glee. And Modern Family. And Cougar Town. And Parks and Rec. These shows are all really really fantastic. Do you watch any of these? Which one is your favorite?

2. I guess it's been awhile since I've updated you about Matt, but he's currently in Kuwait and has been there for about a week now. We have been able to video Skype once and talk on google chat a few other times. It's a little crazy how far away he seems ... plus there's the whole 7 hour time difference. Communication is definitely a little challenging, but I think we'll be able to get used to it. There's still a possibility that he may be able to get R and R in August, but it's not for sure. Think some happy thoughts that I will be able to see my husband in another three months!!!

3. My 1/2 marathon training has officially begun, and I'm feeling great. I had a great run today and I'm really feeling confident that when September 12 comes, I'll be ready!

4. I went to a hippie babycatcher the other day (one might call her a midwife) because I have been looking for a new ob/gyn-type, one that I would feel comfortable with delivering my as-of-yet-unconceived baby. I have been really unhappy with the two ob/gyns I have seen since moving to Bloomington, so I thought I would go in a different direction. The doctors I have seen have been very negative about my endometriosis and my chances of getting pregnant. They have admonished me for not trying to get pregnant two years ago - when I was neither married nor ready to even think about babies. So anyway, a lot of people in Bloomington recommended this particular midwife (perhaps because everyone here is a hippie?) so I thought I'd give her a shot. Turns out, I love her and she is my new "doctor." She was very positive about me getting pregnant, and suggested a couple of dietary changes to help things along. First of all, she suggested cutting down on dairy - and making sure that whatever dairy I eat is organic. I love milk - and I refuse to cut down on that. So I'm currently drinking organic milk and trying to cut down on cheese and yogurt. She also recommended that I cut out all gluten/wheat/flour - and informed me that there is a strong connection with gluten allergies/sensitivities and endometriosis and infertility. I looked it up on the interwebz - it's supposedly the real deal. Now ... cutting out gluten seems extremely difficult to me, so I'm not going 100% gluten-free. But I am going to try and make a serious effort to avoid gluten when possible. We'll see how it goes!

5. Tomorrow is Friday, thank goodness, which means that it's time for CSA Box #2! I can't wait to see what we get. Although I'm pretty sure we'll get more salad stuff, since it's kind of like ... salad growing season. Or whatever. Either way, I'm excited for new fresh veggies!

Well, that's all I can think of right now. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Shaina's Christmas List: Forget-Everything-Else-Because-These-Are-The-Only-Things-I-Really-Want Edition

I'm so sorry...I know I've been neglecting the blog lately. I'm not even sure why...just a combination of work being busy, and home being busy, and just generally feeling...you know, busy. But I thought I'd throw together my LAST and FINAL Christmas list.

Okay. I know, this looks ridiculous. But I have been wanting YogaToes for awhile now. Every time I wear heels or tight shoes, I daydream about how fantastic it would feel to stretch my toes out at the end of the day. And every time I get back from a run, and my feet feel all weird and crazy, I wish I had some yoga toes to stretch them out again. I have a lot of foot issues with running...my toes, my arch, my over-pronation...and I would just love to pamper my feet a little bit with these bad boys. :)

Now that I am working on becoming a serious runner, I would LOVE to have a Garmin Forerunner. This is the 405CX. It is SO COOL. Over the winter, my runs will become longer and longer, and I'm really going to need to have a good way to track everything. This is at the top of my list for Christmas/Birthday/whatever. I'm also so happy the Garmins started looking less like crazy wrist computers and more like watches. :)

I am dying, dying DYING to have a Nikon DSLR camera. There are so many, and I'm really not sure which one is best for me...but I would really love to get back into photography again, and I'm going to need a camera while Matt is gone (he'll be taking our digital camera with him). I have so many friends who have this amazing camera, and wow...the quality of the photos is amazing.

So, now that you know what I'll be asking Santa Claus for....what's on YOUR Christmas list this year?

Goals

Hello, friends. I haven't posted about running or working out or anything here in awhile, mostly because I have a separate outlet for that right now. I have a great group of encouraging girls that help with workouts, food, accountability, everything. I am making my way through the C25K program (just started week 4 today!)...running 3x a week, doing weights and abs 5x a week, and just generally starting to feel like my body is firming up in all the right places.

I am feeling great with my runs, but have really wanted a good goal to keep me on track. I plan on running the Coach Hep 5k that I ran this past May...but, um, that's in May. 6 months away. I will be done with my C25K program in 5 weeks...and I need something else. A different goal. A bigger goal. Something...you know, scary and life-changing.

After lots of discussions, emails, tweets, and gchat marathons, Jenn and I have signed up for the 2010 Chicago Half Marathon! We are excited/scared/nervous/thrilled/you name it. The race is on September 12th, 2010...so we have LOTS of time to train. Our plan is: finish C25K, then move on to a 10k training plan, and then...1/2 marathon training! Whew! It is just far enough away that it seems completely doable, and even though running 5 minutes at a time is still stressing me out, I know we'll be able to do this.

I'll keep you updated periodically on our training and our progress...I think we'll need all the support we can get! Go us!

A few items of business

First and most importantly...Michigan football was amazing today!!!  I haven't seen that suspenseful of a game in a long, long time.  The best part - WE WON!!!  Against Notre Dame!  Have I ever mentioned that Matt is a big ND fan?  We are "a house divided" whenever Michigan plays ND.  Thankfully...I usually end up the happy one.  :)  I think that Fortier is really going to pull our boys this season...whew!!!

Okay, sorry.  I had to get that out there!  Second...I hate hate HATE our new neighbors.  They started moving into the apartment directly above ours three days ago...but I've never seen them.  Why, you may ask??  Because they only move in around 3am.  This is not an exaggeration.  Wednesday night/Thursday morning, some loud moving noises woke me up.  I looked at my phone - it was 3am.  It went on for FOREVER...going up and down the stairs (which are oh-so-inconveniently located outside, right on the other side of our bedroom wall), jumping around upstairs, moving furniture, the whole nine yards.  Whatever.  Thursday night/Friday morning...the same damn thing.  3:15am.  Running up and down the stairs, banging crap around upstairs, everything.  Ridiculous.  Today, they let me sleep in a little longer...the moving noises started at 5am.  What the hell??!  Who moves in solely in the middle of the night??!  I don't want to make an enemy right off the bat, but I would also love to inform them that some people work and need their beauty rest.  UGH.

THIRD...I went running yesterday!  You were probably wondering what's been going on with that, right?!  Well, yeah.  Not much.  I realized yesterday that it had been about a month since I had gone running, and that was clearly way too long.  And then...I sat and thought about it a bit more.  I hadn't been running since Matt got his deployment orders.  To be honest, my body has really reacted far more than my mind, if that makes sense.  To his deployment, that is.  I think everything is fine, but I feel terrible.  And for some reason, I have really been deciding to curl up on the couch and cuddle with Matt when possible instead of going out running.  

So, then I realized that Matt got his orders right before my cousin Julie's wedding...which was on July 18th.  I hadn't been running in TWO months, not one.  Oh dear.  I couldn't believe it had been so long.  And then, yesterday, the weather was perfect.  Warm and sunny, without humidity.  It was beautiful.  I got home from work and curled up on the couch with Matt, like every other day, but then...I got up!  I changed, and I went outside.  I decided to start slow, with the Couch to 5k program.  Yesterday, I successfully ran Day One of Week One and I felt fantastic.  Tomorrow is Day Two!!!  Wish me luck!

New Shoes! And...an annoyance.

I am happy to announce that I am the proud new owner of the above pair of running shoes...the Saucony Progrid Omni 7 Moderate.  Yes, I know they sound super fancy.  No, that's not why I bought them.  

My friend Becky and I went to the IN Running Company to hang out with my trainer, Derek, around lunchtime.  We both walked out with new running shoes!  Derek watched me run again in the store today, and then brought lots of shoes out for me to try.  As soon as I tried the first pair of shoes on, I felt a HUGE difference.  In everything, not just while running.  I felt great just standing around in the store!  It felt so great to have that support in my arch.  All I can say is - WOW.  

I'm supposed to take it easy for a few days with the new shoes, so I plan to run on the treadmill tomorrow and Saturday for just a short time.  The Running Co has a 10-day return policy, so I thought I'd run indoors a couple of times just to make sure they are completely right for me.  Excitement!

In other news...I had to run over to Macy's the other day to pick up a new bottle of my Clinique cleanser.  You know how I feel about Clinique - I am a loyal customer for life.  I love their products, and my skin has never felt or looked better.  

But why, oh why, must the Clinique ladies constantly try to push other products on me??  Without fail, every time I need to pick something up at the Clinique counter, they ask me "what other concerns" I have about my skin.  Please, lady.  My bathroom cabinet is filled to the brim with Clinique products.  You have already covered all of my concerns!  Ugh.  For some reason I get really annoyed with those nice ladies.  Sigh.  

Also...I have lost one follower for the last three days.  Oh dear.  Am I getting boring?  Sniffle.  

Running Fail

Man oh man.  After months and months of pain while running, I finally talked to my running-group-trainer-guy, Derek, about what on earth is causing this.  The verdict:  I am an over-pronater.  And yeah, I'm really not sure how to spell that, but you get the general idea.  When I run, my feet are turning in and collapsing my arch, causing all sorts of leg issues.  The more I run with these shoes, the worse it will get (and don't worry, it's gotten pretty bad already!).  It can also start to affect other areas of my body - especially my bad.  

Blech.

I started into the run tonight, and I don't know if it was primarily physical, psychological, or both, but...I just didn't make it.  I ran the warm-up mile and then called it quits.  In addition to my legs hurting in that weird spot, I apparently strained (?) the tendon that runs through the arch of my right foot.  This happened a couple of days ago somehow, and I have been trying to stretch it out and massage it regularly...but it still feels all crappy.  So, after running the warm-up mile, I said my goodbyes and headed to the car.  

When I got in the car, I sat there for a few minutes and drank my water before noticing a nasty, green, slimy bug going into some sort of convulsions on my finger.  Gross.  I quickly opened the car door and flung it out into the grass (don't worry, I was still parked!).  Suddenly, I felt something cold and wet in my lap.  I looked down and realized that my water bottle was open and pouring out all over my crotchal area, which then proceeded to drip down into a pool in my seat.  

That's right.  It looked like I massively wet myself.  I then noticed that something (possible the other half of the nasty green slimy bug???) had died all over my leg.  AHHHHHH.

I gave up and drove home immediately.  Matt and I took a walk, and now we're watching Jeopardy.  We watch Jeopardy every night these days.  I just looked down and realized that I still have nasty brown and green bug guts all over my leg.  LOVELY.  On that note...Happy Tuesday!!!  I'm headed to the bathroom to wash whatever this is off my leg.  

Oh, and tomorrow, I have a date with Derek, my trainer, at the running store so that he can find me some new shoes.  He promised to find something on sale, PLUS I get 10% off of anything in the running store while my training group is ongoing.  I'll let you know what happens!  

Packing...Again...

Happy Wednesday! Today is my last work day of the week. Have I mentioned how much I love working part time?

Tomorrow morning, I'll be on the road, driving 9ish miles to Charlotte, NC. I am so excited! I can't wait to see my friends Anna, Tim, Cassie, Dave, and the newest addition to Cassie and Dave's family...baby Charlie. Yippee! Things I'm not excited about: the 18 hour roundtrip car ride. But whatever, I'm not going to think about it. :)

Yesterday was a total wash as far as working out. I skipped the Shred in the morning because I had my running group in the evening. Since I had really, really pushed in on Monday, I thought I should rest up so that I wouldn't hurt myself.

Well, then...our running group got rained out. So I missed both workouts. And at that point in the evening, I had absolutely no motivation to do anything active. Oh well. This morning, I got up and Shredded. It sucked. My calves are soooo super tight from my Monday run...I literally felt like I could barely move. And you can forget about all those damn jumping jacks. Blech.

This evening, my "exercise" will be running around and packing for my mini-vacation weekend! I HATE packing, but not as much as I hate unpacking. I actually started packing last night, which is very out of character for me. I'm the type of person who likes to wait until the very last minute to pack. In fact, I rarely have any motivation to do it ahead of time. But last night, I did a bunch of laundry and then just threw all my clean stuff in the suitcase. Score! Now, all I really need to do is decide what to wear in the car tomorrow, and pack up my toiletries. Totally doable, right?

Okay. Well, I'm off. I'm not sure if I'll be blogging this weekend or not. If you don't hear from me...well then, have a great weekend! I'll be back Monday night and will attempt to start going through my Reader on Tuesday morning. xoxo!

Totally, Completely Exhausted...

I have decided that I have a definite fear of the unknown.  Case in point:  tonight I had my first "group run" with my training group.  Every Monday and Thursday, the running store in town has these group runs - so it's not exclusive to my training group.  I missed both group runs last week, so I didn't know what to expect.  All day, I dreaded going.  Even 5 minutes before I got in the car to drive to the store, I just stood around my apartment morosely wishing I didn't have to go.  I was worried about the format - I didn't know what we were doing.  I didn't know who would be there.  I started worrying I would be the only slow runner.  Yadda, yadda, yadda.  You know the drill.  All those mind games we play with ourselves.

But, I went anyway.  And I ran my little heart out.  Seriously.  We left from the store and ran two miles to the IU soccer fields.  I ran most of the time but stopped to walk up a couple of serious inclines.  At the soccer fields, we did one mile of strides.  Whew.  Then, two miles back to the store.  That's 5 miles, people.  Obviously, I took several walk breaks on the way back...and my calves are KILLING ME.  But - I sure am proud of myself!  And I am totally, completely exhausted.  

The morning started out with Day 6 of the Shred.  I cannot WAIT to get to Level 2...I am getting seriously bored.  Thanks for all of your suggestions, but...I already do all of them.  I have had Jillian muted since day one...because I cannot stand her yelling at me.  I listen to my ipod.  My dog even joins in the fun sometimes - he especially likes when I'm on the floor doing abs.  I'm still bored, though.

After the Shred and after a nice cool shower, I went to my friend Patty's house to ride horses!  My friend Becky brought her two little kids, aged 2 and 3.  None of them had ever been on a horse before - including Becky!  I never imagined that someone born and raised in Indiana could go their entire life without riding a horse!  Anyway - Patty has a beautiful house, 12 acres, 4 horses, 2 goats, and 3 dogs.  We had so much fun!  The kids LOVED the horses.  Even the big kids (i.e. Becky and me) had a fantastic time.  

I have two favorite moments from our time with the horses.  Both involve Becky's daughter, Jenae (3 y/o).  The first:

Shaina:  Jenae, I love your pink sparkly sandals!

Jenae:  These aren't called sandals.  These are called flip-flops.

Shaina:  Oooh!  Oops.  My mistake.

Seriously.  Aren't kids the cutest?  But this one takes the cake - a great discussion between Jenae and I while she was up on the horse with me.

Jenae:  How old are all of you?

Shaina:  You want to know how old we are?  How old I am?

Jenae:  Yeah.

Shaina:  Well, I'm 27.

Jenae:  What about the other one?  Patty?

Shaina:  Patty, Jenae wants to know how old you are!

Patty:  Well sweetheart, I'm 44.

Jenae, excited:  Wow!  44!  That's how old Mommy is!!!!

Becky/Mommy:  NO, Jenae, I'm not 44!  I'm only 34!!!

Jenae, to me:  Well, they're both old.

Hahahahaha!  I nearly died laughing.  It's so true, though - when you're a kid, anyone over 18 seems ancient, right?

Anyway.  After horseback riding, I attempted to go to work.  But the offices were locked, and I don't have a key.  Also, the school was completely deserted.  Work day aborted.

So I sat around for a few hours, and then picked up S for an afternoon of fun!  I still haven't written an S post, I promise to do that soon.  After S, I went to the running group.  And there you have it, my extremely detailed day of activities!

I'm thinking there's a good chance I skip the Shred tomorrow morning.  I'm going to wait and see how I feel in the morning.  Tomorrow night, my running group is back at the IU cross country course...and that course is no joke.  I want to make sure I don't hurt myself.  I may wake up and just do some weights or pushups or something, and save my legs for the evening.  

Okay.  So now it's 10:15 and I am ready for bed.  Have a great night, everyone, and we'll chat tomorrow!  

Day 3 = Not So Great

Day 3 of my super duper fitness project started out great.  After the crazy storm that kept me up for awhile in the middle of the night, I slept in until around 8, then finally rolled out of bed to Shred.  Which went well!  It's crazy how quickly I notice myself getting stronger, you know?  I have read so many ladies' blogs who say the same thing.  This morning, I could do way more than I could just two days ago.  

For breakfast, I measured out a cup of Fiber One Honey Clusters (yum!) with 1/2 cup skim milk and around 1/2 cup of strawberries.  

Then, I went to work...and had the most fabulous lunch ever, a Kashi frozen meal called the Mayan Harvest Bake.  And then, I wrote a huge blog post about how fabulous that meal is and how all of you should run out and buy it...but, my computer went a little crazy, and the whole post got deleted.  And now I don't feel like rewriting it.  So, go pick up this meal, seriously.  You will LOVE IT.

I headed home with every intention of doing nothing but reading Eclipse until it was time for my group run at the running store.  But...disaster struck in the form of a migraine.  Blech.  I haven't brought this up before, but...when I get a migraine, I get a major salt craving.  I started noticing this a few months ago.  When I have an especially bad migraine that makes me throw up, I have a really strong salt craving afterwards.  If we don't have saltines in the apartment, I go crazy!  After some Google research, I read that migraines can be caused by a sodium deficiency.  I don't eat a lot of salt, so I thought this was interesting.  Over the last few weeks, I've been trying to eat salt when I feel a migraine coming on.  I'll start popping saltines and drinking water, and frequently, this seems to do the trick.

So, when the migraine came on this afternoon, I started popping saltines and drinking water.  Saltines = not WW friendly!  I rested for awhile, but got up to go to my group run.  Halfway there, my migraine kicked in at full force.  I turned around, went back home, and crawled into bed.  And I drank a vanilla Coke.  Vanilla Coke = not WW friendly!  But a caffeine kick is a last resort.  

After a nice little rest...the migraine is almost gone!  And I made a nice WW-friendly crockpot meal (ham and potato au gratin - let me know if you want the recipe!  It was pretty tasty!).  So, the day is not completely lost.  But I didn't get my second workout in, so I kind of feel like a bum.  Tomorrow morning, I need to Shred AND run!  Whew!

Happy almost-Friday, everyone!  I'm off for the weekend, thanks to my summer part-time schedule.  Tomorrow afternoon, I'm hanging out with my Little Sis, S - we're watching a movie and I'm making her mac and cheese, her fave meal.  I know I haven't talked much about her in awhile...I think I'll do an S post sometime this weekend.