Halloween Weekend

Happy November ... I guess. It being November already just stresses me out. My paper isn't as far along as I NEED it to be. Yea, I'll just skip that rant. I spend enough time worrying about it.

So, Halloween weekend ... Friday evening was spent over at the newly-married-couple's house meeting their new feline addition. Bonus, D's sister and her bf were in town too and brought along their adorable new puppy. I'm a sucker for labs of any age but Baily is barely 2 months old and is FREAKING ADORABLE. I wish I had gotten pictures of the little fluff balls, but I was having too much fun laying on the floor and playing. lol. After we wore out the fuzzies, we went across the street to the mexican restaurant for some margaritas and shenanigans. It was a good evening.

Q and I ... too bad there are no pics of me with my
sword and hat ... or full body. lol

Saturday night was party night. I decided that even though I wasn't going to know anyone besides Q (which usually instantly triggers my "pull back and just watch" safety mechanism), I was going to try to enjoy myself. I was mildly successful. At least I (think I) looked cute. lol. I'll give Q this, I wouldn't want to live in that old rectory. It'd be an amazing building in its heyday, but MAN is it creepsville. To be honest, it wouldn't be as creepy if half the building wasn't used as storage and Q and her roommates didn't CONSTANTLY talk about how creepy stuff was. Oh well. I ended up driving home around 4am since I was pretty much sober and there was NO WAY I was staying there if a couple of Q's roommates' friends were staying there. They creeped me out almost as much as the basement of the rectory. Oh course, I had to wait almost 10 minutes before I could leave since my car was completely iced up and I didn't have my scraper in the car yet. It was a foggy, just-below-freezing night ... perfect for thin sheets of ice on stationary surfaces. Is it weird that I actually kinda enjoyed driving in the crazy fog on the ride home? It was a creepy but awesome drive down 65. Once home, though, I was glad to strip off my fishnets and throw on my sweats and crawl into my bed.

I spent all day Sunday lazing around in my sweats. I did get some cleaning done, but not much. I was just as emotionally and mentally exhausted as I was physically.

Monday was Halloween. I kicked myself into gear early and got a couple hours of work in on my paper. As soon as my mind started to wander, I went off and decided to decorate the front of our house for the trick-or-treaters. We never carved pumpkins this year, but we have a bunch of light-up fakes between mom and I. I arranged them out around the front porch to look like a little pumpkin patch. Again, I should have taken pictures but I just didn't think about it. I loved sitting by the front door with mom and watching the little kids in their costumes. Then, it was time to gather up my snacks and my glass of wine and settle in for Ghost Hunters Live. *giggles excitedly*. I know, I'm a complete nerd. I love this stuff. Don't get me wrong, if I ever found myself in any of those situations I'd probably $#!@ myself and then run away screaming and never be able to sleep again, but it's fun to watch. Do I think ghosts/spirits exist? Yes. I've seen and felt and heard too many things in my life to believe otherwise. On more than one occasion over the past couple years I've FELT my Grandmother's spirit with me when I needed her. I really do believe she was sitting in that room at Hospice with Grandpa, just waiting for when he'd be able to see her and join her on the other side. But enough of that ... I had a great evening watching the live investigation at Pennhurst, playing around on the interactive website, and tweeting back and forth with the other people watching. Ate WAY too much candy and carrot cake, too. Darn near perfect Halloween night, IMO.

As for today, I'm sitting here with my paper stuff spread out around me on my bed. My bedroom is slightly cleaner than it was yesterday. My Halloween decorations and costumes are boxed up and ready to head back to my storage unit the next time I leave home (tomorrow). Oh, and a Destination Truth marathon is on tv. :)

Dodge the caterpillars and acorns!

I'll get to today's run and the explanation of this entry's title in a minute, but I need to set the (mental) scene. I talked about my *spectacular* fall leaving the wedding reception in my last post, but what I never really touched on was HOW sore my knees, right ankle, and wrist are. I spent yesterday hopping around the house with my ankle brace on, but couldn't put my knee brace on because of where the bruise was. Think about where your knee touches the ground and takes your weight when you kneel down. Yea, RIGHT THERE. It's a little more colorful today than it was yesterday, too, but that could have been from the multiple times I kneeled down yesterday without thinking and instantly fell over sideways cursing and almost crying it hurt so bad.

So, needless to say, I didn't get a workout in yesterday like I had wanted, especially on pavement. I just didn't want to take the chance with my knees and ankle feeling the way they are.

And then there was last night. I was so jazzed about the incoming thunderstorm that I was having problems falling asleep. I finally dozed off a little before 3, right around the time the rain was starting. 3:15 on the dot, I hear my bedroom doorknob (it's kinda loud because it catches during the warm, humid months when the door swells). I figured mom or dad had been woken up by the storm and were just checking windows. That would have made SENSE. Well, it WAS mom, and instead of just LOOKING the extra 3 feet to see that my window was already closed enough that rain wasn't going to come in, she stands in my doorway and WAKES ME UP to ask if my window is closed. *headdesk* I ended up laying there watching the storm another 30+ minutes before I could fall back asleep which, of course, meant I slept in this morning and never made it to campus.

So, with not running in a couple days and (I guess) resentment towards my mother and my paper, I was desperate for some physical activity today. My knees felt a little bit better but I was still cautious of pavement or the treadmill. Thank goodness we have an amazing Metroparks system in this area with plenty of great trails. This being the middle of the week and the middle of the day, the dune trail was DESERTED. Well, deserted except for about a billion caterpillars ... and the acorns and mops of wet leaves falling out of the trees. I kind of felt like I was on one of those wacky game shows where you have to dodge things thrown at you: "Don't look up or you'll step on a caterpillar. Don't loop down or you'll get hit by something falling out of a tree." It was entertaining ... and the spongy ground felt good on my legs. I had to walk more than I would have liked, but I got out there and did it. Maybe now I can start getting back to my regular workout schedule.

Oh, and the best part of that run? Coming home and jumping in the pool (sweaty sports bra and undies, oh yea). The thermometer SAID 80*, but that was the coldest 80* I've ever felt. Of course, today was the first day back for the local K-12 and the afternoon bus with the younger kids was coming through the neighborhood just as I jumped in the pool and popped back up, cursing and spazzing over the temperature of the water. Oops. lol

And now ... the countdown is on to tonight's episode of "Ghost Hunters". I'm giddy like a little kid. Seriously, it's an addiction. Anyone else with me? :D

C25K W9D2

I didn't get to run yesterday afternoon like I had wanted. My stomach had been feeling iffy all day and by the time I got home I realized it just wasn't going to happen. I spent the evening laying in bed alternating between the Ghost Hunters marathon and True Blood.

I had also planned on waking up early and getting my run in before going to campus. Again, didn't happen. I woke up around 4:30 to the cool air coming in through my window and I threw my pile of blankets back on the bed and burrowed down in them. I never heard my alarm clock or the alarm on my watch. I even ended up working from home today (I'm just being responsible and saving gas and money... right? lol). I finally got up around 9 and got a couple hours serious work in (lord I hate synthesizing scientific articles) before deciding that I needed to get my run in that minute or I was going to keep thinking about it the rest of the day.

It went well. I've been doing more visualization while running than normal. My music is still nearly-essential, but the visualization is becoming more and more necessary to make me focus. I joke with some former teammates of mine that I feel like I still need our coach over one shoulder and my old coxswain over the other yelling at me. I ran the entire 30 minutes today at 4.4mph, which I'm happy about. I'm aware of how poorly this translates to when I get outside and run, but maybe that will change once I buy my Garmin (birthday present? anyone?).

For now, I'm thinking that lawnchair out on the back deck is looking mighty inviting. I'm spending some time outside in my new bathing suit top every sunny day to hopefully tan enough that any funny tan lines from the upcoming 5k won't be as noticeable. We shall see ...