They're Gone! And some other stuff.

Did anyone else see today's Schwaggle deal before it completely sold out? 50% off a Fuelbelt Revenge R20 in electric lime, silver, or juicy o'reily (purple with lime green accents). The silver and juicy o'reily were sold out by the time I got on, but I managed to get a electric lime (probably the color I would have gotten anyway. lol). Woo hoo! I've been looking at these for a while now and have just been waiting until I had enough Amazon credits to buy one. Since I only had to pay $20 for the Schwaggle deal and then $7.95 for shipping, I'm not going to complain about spending real money. I probably will eventually buy another bottle or 2 to put on the belt (they're only 7 ounce bottles) and a bigger pocket, but I'm just glad I got what I did for such a greta price. As soon as the wind dies down a bit, I'm taking my bike to get fixed up and ready for the season and it doesn't have a water bottle holder on it, so this will be nice to use for that until I work up to running longer distances where I'll need more water. I can't wait to get my new Fuelbelt and try it out. :)

While I'm thinking about it (and since I never got an answer on twitter from anyone), at what distance/ time do you start carrying something OTHER than water on your runs? GU? Snacks? Hammer gels? My longest runs were my 2 8-milers and even with a good breakfast before-hand, I was STARVING when I got home. Even last night after the 3-mile group run, I INHALED a Subway foot-long like it was nothing. And it was healthy (a BLT with extra lettuce and green peppers), so don't give me that look. I think I've finally pulled myself out of my junk food binge earlier this week. Darn mom for bringing home a bunch of my favorite candy and then leaving all the leftovers from her Tastefully Simple party sitting out.

I DID enjoy mom's Tastefully Simple party, though. I got to see a couple of my favorite people, family friends, and mom's work friends (some who have known me my whole life). My friend Steph even brought her son. Xander is a 19-month old monster, but in a cute way. Some days he's horribly sick and won't let anyone but Steph anywhere near him. But Monday night, we were buddies, playing with (and breaking) one of my gnomes, eating everything we could get our hands on, beating on the garbage can like a drum, tickle monster, playing peek-a-boo around corners. I may not want kids of my own (for now), but I love getting to spend time with my friends' kids. :)

Oops! And ignore how my eyes look like they're crossed.

My parents are officially on their way to Florida. Dad and I worked into the wee hours of the morning on the trailer and getting the motorcycle situated (they're heading down to Daytona Bike Week after stopping at dad's aunt's place and our [Grandpa's] FL house). Being a smart-aleck (dad would say something else, but I'm TRYING to be clean here, lol), I left them a note on the counter to find this morning saying "Have fun, be good, and don't you dare wake me up. I can charge a plane ticket and rental car to your credit card and beat you to the FL house." When I came downstairs around 8am, there was an air horn and a note from mom, "You don't know how close you came to a 5am wake up call. Your father made it up the steps and halfway down the hall before I stole this and yelled at him." Haha. Yep, that's the kind of crap that happens in our family. Anyway, I spent the rest of my morning and early afternoon doing my normal "I'm going to be home alone for more than a couple days" ritual: laundry, run dishwasher, turn down the thermostat, check all the locks on doors and window ... check the gun cabinet and make sure the shotgun is cleaned and loaded. Hey, a girl's got to be prepared. Home alone in an apartment building where you're surrounded by other people and home alone in an un-attached house in a dark, "country" neighborhood (where your neighbors wouldn't know anything's wrong until the cops show up) are completely different. I'm not afraid to be home alone by any means (actually, I kind of like it), but it's better to be prepared. Call me stupid, but I'm more likely to meet an intruder with my shotgun than to call 911 and hide under my bed.

Yesterday was supposed to be my last speed workout before my 7k this weekend. Well, it didn't exactly go as planned. I knew if I wanted to do a real speed workout, I needed to get out earlier in the day and go run on the trail through town where I can count off distances on the electric poles, but that just never happened so I caved and went to Second Sole's group run. I originally decided I was going to take it easy and just focus on my form, but then I started off a bit faster than I would have liked and decided to just push the pace for all 3 miles. A 3-mile tempo run is almost as good as 3 miles including 2x800s, right? Right? *crickets* Oh well. I figured something was better than nothing and running that pace made me PAINFULLY aware of what parts of my body I need to take extra care of before Sunday. My mile times for the 3 miles were 10:35, 10:58, and 10:02. That second mile could have been much faster if not for the little "interruption". 

I was running with a "friend" (I mean, I guess we're friends. We run together at group and chat and get dinner after) and we had a car pull up to us and roll down it's window. We, being good citizens, stopped and let the woman ask us where **** Street was. Neither one of us had never head of it, we don't live in the immediate area of Levis Commons. The woman got annoyed and took off. After another half mile or so, she turns up again driving the other direction and slows down AGAIN. "Are you SURE you don't know where **** Street is? It's right by the high school." I asked WHICH high school since there are SEVERAL in the area and I actually DO know where most of them are. She couldn't tell me which one and we repeated that we were sorry, but we didn't think we could help her. I mentioned that someone at the hotel in the middle of the complex might know or have a map to help her. The lady started calling us several names I won't repeat here, rolled up her window, and SLAMMED on the gas and took off. My friend did her best Stephanie Tanner impression ("How Rude!") and seemed to blow it off. I, on the other hand, spent the rest of the run thinking about those 2 several-second interactions. I don't mind interrupting a run to help someone, but when you're rude and obnoxious and make me STOP my run TWICE to deal with you, it ticks me off. How am I supposed to help you find some obscure neighborhood road in a part of town I admit freely that I don't know well when you can't tell me a major road nearby OR the name of the high school it's supposedly near? And then you're rude and verbally abusive to us after we ATTEMPT to help you, despite our lack of knowledge? Those are the kind of people who really bother me.

Ok, rant over ... I need to get better at not letting that kind of stuff bother me. I hold onto crap for far too long. The dishwasher is finally done, so at least I can mindlessly unload that and then start another load of laundry.