Fun Stuff Friday

I finally have a chance to sit down at the table and write (despite the pool calling my name oh so invitingly), so this is going to be a long one. But don't worry, there are plenty of pictures too. lol. This week has just been a barrel full of monkeys [No, not the evil little ones that fling poo!]. I hadn't planned to, but I'm going to over-lap my last post a little bit since I didn't talk about everything.

Last friday night was a MUCH needed night out with friends. Whitehouse's Cherry Fest was Thurs/ Fri/ Sat so we took advantage of all the fair food and the beer tent.  We may have over-indulged just a little bit on all the fried goodness and alcohol [the more I drink, the better corn dogs taste], but we were enjoying ourselves. Sarah's husband's siblings were there too, which was kind of fun since I haven't really talked to Eric since high school [we graduated together]. Plus Eric's gf is a riot after a single long island ice tea. :)

Saturday was a little crazy. I had planned on waking up early and getting in my long(er) run before making the 2.5 hour drive to Columbus for my friend's baby shower, but the beer tent the night before caught up to me and I put it off for Sunday. Plus, another friend was out of town for the night and asked me to stop over and take care of her horses and that couldn't be put off. Lyd - You're lucky I love you. Who else would willingly clean out 4 stalls, feed and water, brush, and lunge/ ride your crazy gelding at 7am on a Saturday ... hungover (besides you)? lol.

I got back from Columbus with plenty of time to change clothes and RUN back into town for the Cherry Fest fireworks. Yes, I ran. It's about a mile from my house to the park. I was a little nervous [beer tent, it's dark, lots of people, etc.], but it was fun.

I love when I get packages. Don't tell my dad (he proudly drives semis for UPS and gets annoyed when something comes thru anyone but UPS or the postal service), but I was kind of loving our Fed Ex driver earlier this week. I won Morning Runner's ProFoot giveaway a while back (btw - great job on the marathon J!) and my goodies came! I've already stuck the Miracle insoles in my every-day shoes and OH MAN do they feel nice. I think I'll put the Plantar Fasciitis heel cups in my trail shoes next week and see how those feel. My dad was giving me strange looks because I was impatient to try them out so I was walking around the kitchen with them rubber banded to my feet. Hehe. I haven't had a chance to use the moleskine yet, but I'm sure I will. If not, my dad or brother will. The last couple summers, we've gone through the stuff like paper.

I've found 3 more Great Park Search Codewords ... Side Cut, Botanical Gardens, and Wildwood. I wasn't joking when I said this is helping me with my #RWRunStreak. On days I don't have training mileage planned, I find a clue for a codeword and will run a loop or out-and-back that takes me past the location in just over a mile. Whatever works, I guess. I didn't win Week 1's prize, but there are still 8 more weeks plus the awesome grand prize at the end. *crosses fingers*

I spent a little extra time wandering around and taking pictures too ...

I got lucky and he grabbed a fish just as I was taking the picture :)

I had another reason to spend some time at Wildwood this week too ... Packet pick up for Saturday's Happy Trails 5k! I'm more excited than I can express. This was my first 5k a year ago and basically marks 1 year since I got serious about running. Plus I get to benefit one of my favorite things, my metroparks. :) On a serious note, though - If they keep buying unisex Brooks tech tees, I need to start getting a size small! Or, I know a nice part of these tech shirts are the minimal seams, but I could always tailor/ alter the darn things so they're more comfortable for me. The sleeves are WAY long (like, down to my elbows) and the trunk could do with a couple inches less fabric too. lol

Last night's group run was more fun than expected. Suzy Favor Hamilton is in town for a race tomorrow so she came out to run with us and sign autographs! If you don't know who she is, seriously, go click on the link. Besides being a 3-time Olympian, she's a pretty big deal around here in Big 10 country ... even if she attended Wisconsin. Hehe. The Big Ten Network just picked her as the #19 athlete and the #1 female athlete in the history of the Big Ten Conference. And she really is a sweetheart! I was SERIOUSLY geeking out talking to her.

me and Suzy

And I got another fun surprise in the mail today ... My Target Style Summer Beauty Bag! I THINK you can still request one on Target Style's facebook page. The ADORABLE little bag is packed with fun samples and coupons to use in-store. I have one from spring too and it was just as awesome.

Ok, I'm tired of having my back to the pool and watching the reflected light dance on the wall in front of me. Time to go relax in the cool water and think about my play list for tomorrow morning ... until everyone gets home and chaos breaks out again. Haha. Have a great weekend everyone! :)

Larabar Yumminess and Boot Camp!

So, I won Stefanie @ Run On!'s Larabar giveaway a while back and I had a present waiting for me in the mail yesterday (I told you, I love our mail lady. She brings me fun stuff) ...

I have resigned to Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays being EARLY mornings for the next month ... no matter how little sleep I get the night before (maybe 3 fitful hours, broken up, last night) ... and how much hassle getting through those days are. First of all, I felt like I was packing my car for a weekend away, not just a random Tuesday. I had to have warm workout clothes, cold workout clothes (and my running shoes), normal day clothes, shower stuff, my laptop gear, my school gear, and about 3 meals worth of food since I'm going to be on campus late too. Somehow, I ended up needing all 3 of my research binders and 2 notebooks at school today too. Dad was leaving for work as I was loading my car and he joked it looked like I was going to start living out of my car like I did during rowing season in high school. I just glared and turned up the heater while I waited for the windows to defrost (it was 35 degrees this morning!).

There were only 3 of us in Boot Camp this morning, which was great since 2 of us were new (and it was only 6:15am, so I wasn't exactly a friendly ray of sunshine). The instructor seems nice (in a distant sort of way) and was able to quickly and easily correct any form flaws I had. Apparently I'm in much better shape than the other 2 women so he made a couple things even harder, just for me. Yippee. (Can't you just SMELL the sarcasm? lol.) Everything was set up in a circuit and we rotated "stations" every 45 seconds. I really liked the mix of cardio, strength, and drills. I even got reacquainted with a foe I thought I had left behind in high school ... burpies. Ewwww. Actually, the whole class reminded me a LOT of my old rowing days ... on the days our coach actually paid attention to our off-season cross-training (Sorry, Dave, you know I appreciate how much you did during racing season, but you were nearly worthless during winter conditioning). My arms were a little achey and my legs were a little shaky by the end of class. And I wore a grin all the way to campus to get in some extra cardio and a hot shower at the student rec center. I may change my mind later, but I kinda wish this trainer was cheaper so I could continue with him after my month is up. I have a feeling this month is going to be VERY good for me. I need to take some time after every class to write down (and describe) every exercise we do so I have a chance of replicating the workouts after my time there is up.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

I got an email last night from Toni of Running Loving Living letting me know I had won a pair dBLogic earphones from her birthday/blogiversary virtual run! Yay! Here's what she had to say about the earphones. I can't wait to get these and try them out. These earphones were one of the things I've been eyeing online lately and collecting product reviews to see if it was worth buying them.

Right there. Entry #156. Me. (:

I've been looking at this stuff lately because my current sony earbuds have been with me for much longer than I expected and it's just about time to retire them (or leave them in my laptop case for the days the construction crews on the floor above me are more than I can take). Honestly, it made me a little sad to realize the wire was starting to pull out of the right earbud because I've had these earbuds longer than any other pair of headphones or earbuds in my 25.5 years. No joke, I had these babies back in high school (little less than a decade ago) but I never really used them REGULARLY until I started running about a year and a half ago. Before I got these, I was a TERROR when it came to headphones. My normal headphones never lasted more than a couple weeks (though that could be because my parents thought the cheapest ones possible worked just fine) and I had a hard time finding earbuds that were COMFORTABLE. Yea, those earbuds that come with all your Apple gear? HATE them. I seriously have 4 or 5 pairs of them in a drawer at my house, only 1 pair unwrapped (the first pair I ever got).

Anyway ... can't wait to get these and check them out! :)

Total Randomness

First of all ... IT'S SNOWING! It's only supposed to be a couple inches, max, over the next couple days but it still makes me happy. I'm glad I had an appointment this morning and I decided to just come back home instead of going to campus. So I get to enjoy it. I have to be on campus ALL DAY tomorrow anyway because the department seminar is at 4pm (Who has a mandatory departmental seminar at 4pm on a Friday?! Ugh.).

Out the front door.

The back yard through my bedroom window. lol.

#2, I'm still on some kind of giddy "high" from finding grandma's ring. It was even in a dream I had last night. A certain someone who I haven't thought about in months was asking me if I would want to have it resized and have it be MY engagement ring (which I totally would, I love this ring). Weird. Oh, and this is a pretty decent shot of the awesome scar left behind after surgery #2 on this finger (the reason this ring actually FITS it). I had a spiral fracture from one end of the bone to the other. 2 surgeries, physical therapy, and a procedure to break up some of the scar tissue on my knuckle so I can bend my finger more easily and this is what is left behind. You can't see in this picture, but I also have "dots" on either side of my finger where the pins stuck out after both surgeries (3 pins from each surgery, all in different places = 6 dots, 2 on the left side, 4 on the right). All from playing intramural flag football and getting my finger caught in the other guy's jersey. Yes, guy. It was a co-ed league. And I enjoyed every second of it.

My precious.

#3, One of my pairs of Active by Old Navy compression running tights had a blow out in the nether region and I've been putting off fixing it, which is the other reason I let cold water laundry go so long. Since I HAD to do laundry last night, I HAD to fix the darn thing. It isn't a problem, I'm actually pretty handy with a needle and thread, but first you have to FIND THREAD that matches ...

That is the combination of my great-grandmother's, both grandmother's, and my sewing boxes. Actually, 2 more tins of thread and one of buttons aren't even in this picture. I have more thread in more random colors than I will EVER need. And needles. If you're ever in NW Ohio and want to check out the collection, let me know. lol. I DO have a plan for some of the buttons, though. My grandfather was a postal carrier for several decades and grandma's button box has a TON of his old uniform buttons. I want to find a frame where I can glue one of his army medals somewhere and then cover the rest with the buttons. I have the perfect picture of him and I at the circus when I was 4 to put in it.

Ooo! Ooo! The snow is picking up even more! Yippee! As soon as I'm done writing this, I'm going downstairs to pull up mom's rocking chair to the family room window with a hot cup of raspberry tea and a book. :D

#4, To celebrate the new year, the Rafflecopter team is giving away a 16GB Apple iPad2 and several Kindle Fires. The giveaway started Monday, January 9 and lasts for a month. To enter, simply tell Rafflecopter who referred you to this giveaway [um, that'd be ME! ;)]. You can receive additional entires by tweeting about the giveaway, following Rafflecopter on twitter, and giving feedback. Just use the widget below:

Knitted Home Giveaway!

One of the ear warmers! Cute, aren't they?

My good friend Annie (of Knitted Home fame) is hosting her first giveaway! She'll be giving away one of her fabulous ear warmer headbands each week of January (that's 4 total). You should really go check it out. She's a great person and makes some pretty awesome stuff! To enter, leave her a comment on the post {WEEK 1 FOUND HERE} telling what you would like to see in her etsy shop {RIGHT HERE} and/or which ear warmer you would like if you won! For another entry, check out her facebook page {CLICK ME! CLICK ME!} and leave the same info in a comment (after "liking" her, of course). Week 1's giveaway ends January 7th at midnight and she'll notify the winner on the 8th.

Or you could be even more awesome and go buy yourself one from her etsy shop! If you would prefer a different color, shoot her a message! If you ask very nicely, she might just work with you to find something you'll absolutely adore. ;)

Annie & I at her wedding in October! :)

I'm not being compensated in anyway for this plug (except by her friendship), 

I just love her that much. :)

runner ... maybe's Planet Gear Giveaway

Jen over @ Runner ... Maybe is giving away a $25 credit to www.planetgear.com! Planet Gear is wear I got my amazing new sunglasses (that I finally got to try out today ... more on that in the next post)

Go check out her post and enter!

http://runnermaybe.blogspot.com/2011/10/planetgearcom-pledges-and-giveaway.html

SUAR's Planet Gear Giveaway

SUAR has an AMAZING giveaway going on right now with Planet Gear! Go check out the blog post:

http://www.shutupandrun.net/2011/09/planet-gear-giveaway.html

and also go become a member and check out the deals at Planet Gear!

I have to admit, I've been searching for new "active" sunglasses for a while and fell in love with the Iron Girl Victorious C. It must have been fate or something because they sold out MINUTES after I ordered mine :) Here's hoping they live up to my expectations!

Hope everyone's having a great day. I'll probably have a post of my own later today or tomorrow. There's just so much going on that I'm finding it difficult to keep up on my blogging ... 1 1/2 weeks until one of my closest friends gets married!

Arctic Ease Giveaway

Dorothy Beal over at Mile Posts has a giveaway going with Arctic Ease (GREAT product, btw)! Head over here and check it out! You have until August 8th at midnight!

Oh, hello Tuesday

Tuesday is, so far, turning out infinitely better than Monday (watch me jinx it now). Like I said in my post Saturday, I didn't get to run that day and then I didn't run Sunday or yesterday either. I felt like crap from all the party food Saturday and Sunday and then Monday's weather decided to turn to crap just as soon as I got ready to pack up my computer for the day and head out to the trail. As I was driving home, I had every intention of running on the treadmill before dinner, but I sat down on my bed to take off my shoes and was woken up 2 hours later by dad banging on my door and yelling that dinner was ready. Oh well.

So, I set my alarm for the usual 5:30am today and got myself out of bed and out the door around 6am (when I judged it safe enough to head out on the streets ... I really do need to get some "gear" for dark running. The days are only getting shorter). I managed to get in my 3.77 miles looping up to Weckerly and then turning back on Davis and Obee, but boy could I feel my crappy diet and lack of exercise the past couple days. I met up with a woman who lives in the next neighborhood over on my run and laughed at her description of this morning's weather: "The temperature is like Carolina in the early spring, but good lord this humidity is like the devil's sauna!" The thermometer on our back deck was reading 72* when I got home, but I didn't think to check the weather sensors at the airport for the humidity. It was probably upwards of 75-80%. I had to wear one of my old cotton tee shirts with the arms cut off since all my tech tees are dirty (I can wear dirty shorts every day, but I can't stand to wear a dirty sports bra or shirt) and I swear I was wearing as much water as I had started off with in my water bottle. Ugh. At least it was a good run. I couldn't tell you 1 song I listened to on my iPod, other than Britney Spears, but I know I would have gone crazy running along the road if I hadn't had my iPod. Breakfast was kind of fun for me. I warned mom and Sean last night that I was going to make myself a smoothie for breakfast so when I left this morning on my run, I got a giggle seeing both bedroom doors shut tight and (obviously) pillows shoved along the bottom of Sean's door. Mom's blender is kind of loud. lol. Really, I may need to make breakfast smoothies more often. I just threw in some orange juice, banana, frozen mixed berries, and half a scoop of my protein powder. It turned out really yummy and lasted me pretty much until my oatmeal around 10am. It sure beats my normal breakfast of Diet Coke and a Snickers bar from the vending machine on campus. lol.

If the rest of today can hold out on the "good" side, I'll be happy. There's a storm rolling in again (yep, another one) and I'm hoping it will either hold off until I can finish this post, get a couple more emails answered, and get home, or just blow and pour like crazy and get it over with before I can leave. Either way, there's no point in my spending much longer in the lab today. Advisor-man is out doing fieldwork with one of the newer grad students and I can do just as much work sitting at home as I can in this dank little basement lab on campus.

Now for some fun stuff ...

Jen over at Runner ... maybe? has a great give-away going on with Spibelt. I currently run with a belt from Nathan's, but it is bare-bones basic (bought at the last second for my first 5k) and I'm always looking for better ways to carry my "gear" when I run (especially as I start running longer distances without my iPod/arm strap). Go check out the blog, follow it, and then check out Spibelt on FB and Twitter!