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Three (3!) Things Thursday

Aug 25th, 2011
by gazelle.
5 comments

1. As a person who has been rather generously endowed and who is also a runner, sports bras interest me. I often see people running and think, “oh honey, no! They make sports bras for a reason! Let me take you shopping!” Today, I was driving to work, and from a distance saw a person who had a little more bounce than would be comfortable. I felt so bad for them; that is such an uncomfortable feeling! As I got closer, I realized that said person was a man, and probably wouldn’t feel comfortable buying or wearing the support he so obviously needed.  BUT, good for him for getting out there, right?

2. I had a routine doctor’s appointment yesterday & logged into my computer medical chart this morning to see if my test results were in yet (still watching those protein levels!), and in the chart, I noticed that I was now 67 inches tall!  You guys! I have grown 5 inches since my last doctor’s visit in January!  Can you believe it? I am a GIANT! It’s odd I notice my sudden growth spurt, but I have been pretty busy lately.

The person on the left is a dramatic representation of how tall I am now.

3. PLANS! I am such a planner! The architect & I had talked about going somewhere warm & beachy for Christmas…we’ve never really done a vacation-vacation that didn’t involve visiting other people (which we like to do! We love our friends & family), and thought it might be nice to just have a trip for the two of us. I’d originally said I wanted to go somewhere warm & beachy and we’d talked about Mexico or Hawaii, but it turns out that I am cheap. CHEAP!  (Also, my student loans don’t cover the last portion of my capstone, so I have to pay for that out of pocket, which helps with the cheap feelings.) Now I am thinking maybe just beachy, but not warm. Maybe a B&B on the Oregon Coast; a room with a view [of the ocean] and fingers crossed for a winter storm.

* All photos were found by searching my 3 things key words for Creative Commons licensed photos at Flickr

Marathon Training Update

Aug 8th, 2011
by gazelle.
5 comments

I am halfway through marathon training, and am feeling good. I think that if all continues to go as well as it’s been going so far, I will be all trained up & ready for those 26.2 miles!

I did have a not-so-great run yesterday that I ended up cutting short, but am okay with that, because I was out there!  Better a short run than a skipped run, amiright?

One thing I’m doing differently this training cycle is that I decided a couple of weeks ago to give up alcohol for the duration of training to see if it would have a positive effect on my training. It’s been ~two weeks, and I’m feeling pretty good!  There’s been a couple of days when I wanted to reward myself for a hard day’s work (of running or bathroom demolition) with a frosty beer, but really haven’t even been too tempted.  Eight more weeks until the marathon! I’m sure that frosty mug of beer at the end of the journey will taste even better then, right?

This week’s plans include a 4 miler tomorrow, a 6-8 mile trail run on Thursday, and 18 (eep!) solo miles on Saturday morning. I’m thinking of doing a triple out-and-back type run (probably more like three mini-loops) so I can stop by my house for more food/water every six miles.

Later this week, I’ll talk more about the bathroom remodel and all that excitement!

Happy Week!

Toesday – now with 95% fewer shoes pictures and 0% more foot pictures

Jul 19th, 2011
by gazelle.
4 comments

I have no shoes for you today. I am too depressed for shoes. Why, you might ask?

Because of these:

They do not fit well. They hurt. And while pre-surgery, I was willing to put up with some pain in the name of beautiful shoes, not anymore. Especially not when they cost that much. So, back to kate they go. :(

Also, Nordstrom’s is all “buy your fall shoes!” and I’m not ready yet! (Unless you are – let me know – I take requests.)

*le sigh*

So, I am going to talk about feet instead. Because it’s still thematic.

My feet have been pretty good. I’ve been half-assedly doing my PT exercises, which is way better than the no-assed previous commitments to PT. (In fact, last night I even got my exercise sheet out and put it on my desk and looked at it!)

The running is going reasonably well. I hope. I am running 14 miles on Sunday. I need more biking & swimming, but am getting a little of that in, too.

What I really need more of (besides time) is strength training. That is my big FAIL in the exercise world.

I have been interrupted by actual work about a half dozen times since starting this post, and the idea of doing a fall shoe preview is growing on me (since I keep accidentally clicking on the Nordstrom boot browser). BUT – I will hold strong. No boots ’til after Labor Day (we have to have some standards, right?)

So – anyways, thanks for reading super stream of consciousness blog post of the day.

In summation: shoes = good; my kate spade shoes = bad; fall boots in July = bad but something to look forward to; feet = good; my performance of PT exercises = D+; this blog post = F.

(Did you like how I switched to a letter grade system at the end?)

 

Lovely Long Weekend

Jul 5th, 2011
by gazelle.
5 comments

I had such a great weekend, but am sad to be back at work. Sad and tired!

I took Friday as a vacation day, and after a busy morning of homework and grocery shopping, I headed out to pick up Jen for our summerific afternoon! We headed up to Washington Park and parked at Hoyt Arboretum and then walked down to the International Rose Test Garden.

It was so beautiful. The sun was shining. The roses were blooming. The breeze was perfumed.

July 1, 2011: Mt. Hood from the Rose Garden

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After hiking back up to the car (much steeper up than down, for some reason), we headed back to Jen’s and sat in her garden and drank lemonade before meeting up with Alisa for an outdoor swim at a public pool.

I have a mild paranoia about public pools, due to the large number of children and other people who may potentially be peeing in the pool.  BUT, I survived. And, by the time we were done swimming, two out of three husbands had magically appeared at the pool. Unfortunately, mine was not one of them, so I hopped in the car and headed home.

The architect and I went out to dinner and then home to rest from my super exhausting day.

Isn't he awesome?

Saturday, I got up bright and early (10 am. Seriously. I don’t even know what happened) and got ready to run. I decided to run in Forest Park since it was so ridiculously hot already. However, I managed to pick the sunniest and steepest loop EVER! When I got back to the car after my 6 mile run, I seriously felt like there were little heat waves rising off my head. I doused myself with my water, and only then realized I hadn’t saved any to drink.

I went back home, and after a cooling off period, got started on homework and housework.

I waxed some cheeses (my parmesan wedges and my new cheddar).

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And then made the architect go to Leisure with me. He’d been working hard on my beautiful tomato cages all afternoon, and I had been working hard on drinking champagne, so we totally deserved it!

Tomato Cages on the left

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Sunday morning was a bit earlier. I hopped on my bike and rode downtown with the architect to pick up my half marathon race packet, and then hopped on MAX to meet Sarah & Michael for brunch.

After returning home, I fired up the smoker, stuffed my hotdogs and waited.

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While smoking the sausages, I gardened. I dug up a large circle around one of my fir trees, the better to mulch around it (and get the grass further away from the tree, thus preventing any lawnmower accidents). When I lifted the bag of mulch (which only weighs like 30 lbs or something), I did something weird and managed to hurt my left shoulder and neck. :(

The architect took off about 5 to head to my cousin’s house for her boyfriend’s birthday bbq (her boyfriend and the architect, in addition to being cousins-in-law, are also co-workers), and I stayed behind to monitor the hotdog situation.

I dug another tree circle (around my Japanese maples) and FINALLY, the hotdogs were done!

I hopped on my bike and rode to the party, only then realizing that I could not turn my head. Good thing I didn’t have to ride home!

We stayed for awhile, the architect played some horseshoes, and then I finally had to go home.

I woke up the next morning and was already hot. And sore. And so I did not do the half marathon. Everyone else I knew that was supposed to be running had already canceled, and I didn’t want to be the only one suffering from heatstroke and quad cramps at the party later.

So, instead I just made party preparations.

I made sangria. And guacamole. And basil lemonade (which, by the way, is a great base for a French 75; just add gin & top with champagne. DELICIOUS!). And strawberry-infused water. And burgers (beef AND turkey) and got everything ready. I took a bunch of pictures, and even brought my camera to work to download them today, but grabbed the wrong usb cord, so no pictures for us!

Except for this one:

Sangria

A lot of people asked for my mojito recipe, so here it is! This was definitely inspired by Maris at In Good Taste.

I made a large batch (not pictured, but about 64 oz of mojito mix prior to adding the club soda).

Strawberry Mojitos

25 LARGE strawberries
LARGE handful of fresh mint leaves
40 oz simple syrup (I made mint simple syrup – I just heated the water and sugar with another large handful of mint)
60 oz rum (I used Bacardi silver)
10 oz fresh lime juice (10 limes!)

Muddle the strawberries, lime rinds (after juicing) and mint leaves together. Stir in simple syrup and rum.  At this point, I removed the limes, left everything else, and put out the (beautiful) jar of mojitos. I instructed everyone to fill a glass with ice, fill the glass half full with the mojito mix, and top with the chilled club soda placed conveniently nearby.  I feel that this worked better than adding the club soda to the mix ahead of time, and also, I didn’t have room in my jar for such things! :)

 

It was really, really good.

 

After the awesome barbecue (where the architect served as grill master), we had pie! and S’Mores! and a firepit! And fireworks!

 

And then, all too soon, it was time to clean up and go to bed (and to try to ignore the fireworks that just kept on going for hours!).

 

I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth, too!

Marathon Training 2011: Long Run #1 (12 miles)

Jun 26th, 2011
by gazelle.
5 comments

Today was the first official long run of marathon training. My marathon training buddy Sarah & I had 12 miles on the books. We decided to run part of the marathon course, from ~mile 12 to ~mile 24.

Due to the anticipated heat and her softball schedule, we decided to meet at 6:30 am (actually, she bribed me by telling me she’d buy me coffee and breakfast after). I had a great night’s sleep the night before, and felt ready for this run, especially after the success of last week’s 11 miler.

I picked her up about 6:25 am & we drove a mile to our start. The first couple miles seemed hard as I tried to convince my legs that yes, we were totally doing this again, and yes, it IS a good idea. We were running along St. Helens Road and headed towards highway 30. That early in the  morning, there was (fortunately) not a lot of traffic. About mile 2, I needed to stop and stretch out my Achilles – pretty much the story of EVERY run I do, ever. I wish I could make it stretchy BEFORE running, but apparently not.

Miles 3 & 4 were mostly on highway 30 – running towards traffic. Not the prettiest or best part of the marathon route, that’s for sure. At mile 4, I took my first GU. Almost immediately after, we started the climb up to the St. Johns Bridge.

Mile 1: 10:49
Mile 2: 10:43
Mile 3: 10:31
Mile 4: 11:08

That climb sucked. I can’t believe how hard it was. I used to kick ass on hills. I definitely need to do more hills and add some hill repeats. I also never need to take a Gu immediately before a climb again. I honestly thought I was going to barf over the side of the railing.

FINALLY, I was at the top. AND, I didn’t barf. I stopped my watch & we walked it out a bit, until there was no more danger of dying.

The St. Johns Bridge is awesome. It was so beautiful. We could see hazy Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt Adams. When it’s less hazy (like when I was driving home after our run), you can also see tiny Mt. Ranier poking up!

We ran down the other side of the bridge, and up the weirdly-angled incline up to Willamette (rhymes with dammit!) and through a long neighborhood section. At mile 6, Sarah took her Gu, and then I took my 2nd at mile 8. This was a really nice stretch of road – so many nice houses, nice landscaping, and so many people out & about for their morning exercise.

Mile 5: 14:15 (long, long hill)
Mile 6: 13:21 (recovery from hill & trying not to barf)
Mile 7: 11:48
Mile 8: 11:49

After the neighborhoods, we were again on a long section of running on the shoulder of a road (Greeley!) into traffic. Now that it was getting later, it was starting to get a little nerve-wracking.

Finally, we made it to sidewalks again, but I was dying. This run seemed waaaaay harder than last week’s 11 miles, and I kept having to fight down the urge to cry/walk/apologize/curl up in the fetal position and die (CRAAAMPS!). Fortunately, I did very little walking/apologizing and managed to avoid both crying & dying, so I guess that’s a win.

Finally, in the long approach up to the Broadway Bridge, I heard that wonderful sound – the mile beep from my Garmin signifying that we had run 12 freaking miles.

I yelled “WOO!” and jogged up to Sarah. We’d done it!

Mile 9: 10:56
Mile 10: 10:33
Mile 11: 11:50
Mile 12: 12:08 (definitely faded out towards the end)

Total – 12 miles in 2:19:56 (11:39 pace). That is not much faster than last week’s 11 mile TRAIL run.

After we hit mile 12, we walked across the bridge and stopped at a coffee place for iced Americanos and egg & fontina breakfast sandwiches (yum), and then walked back to Sarah’s car. She drove me to my car, and then it was over! I ended up driving the exact route we’d just run for almost 6 miles, and it was weird to see by car all the places I’d just seen running.

I definitely need to do that portion of the route again to gain a little more confidence on the course.

Oh yeah, and hill repeats. Lots and lots of hill repeats.

 

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