Friday Five

(1) ONE (1)

It's going to be a low mileage week. I ran the minimum mileage for my #RWRunStreak on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday, I took my new tank top for a a 3.16 mile testdrive at Farnsworth in the gorgeous sunshine. I also got some fun pictures of myself. They aren't the greatest quality (and I'm no model), but let's see you do better with a fuzzy post-run brain and a sketchy self-timer on your camera. lol. I wanted to place the camera another foot or 2 to the right to get more of the old utilities bridge, but there was poison ivy. Dangit.

(2) TWO (2)

Wednesday was my first time back on the Ridge (Silver) Trail at Oak Openings since the tornado. It's been closed for a while so the damage could be cleaned up. Ever since the new park map came out earlier this year, I've been excited to get over there and check out the new re-routes. I knew about the one where the bridge had been taken out by a tree during the tornado (I made a quick trip right after the storm to check out the damage, but couldn't get too far into that part of the park). This sounds lame, and I say it at the beginning of every summer, but running in that part of the park felt like coming home. The Ridge Trail goes through one of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE parts of the park ... the OLD pine stand. I need to get pictures sometime. The abrupt change is shocking and awesome. After finishing off the Ridge Trail, I finished up my run with a quick loop of Horseshoe Lake.

After 4+ miles on the trail, I decided to get my road bike out for the first time this summer and take it for a spin (I've been giving all my love to my brother's mountain bike). My ex was giving me crap the other night because I call it "Roadie". lol. I had just planned on taking a couple laps of the neighborhood, but it felt great one I got out there and I ended up going over 7.5 miles. Believe me, my backside (caboose, behind, derierre, BUTT) is STILL paying for it. Stupid butt bone. lol

(3) THREEE (3)

The heat around here has been INTENSE this week. I begrudgingly acknowledged that my parents were in the right with turning on the a/c even though it makes my sinuses all kinds of horrible. No joke, my nose will run and my head will hurt and I'll be just plain miserable. Then, I go outside and I'm fine in 5 minutes. It's obnoxious.

Anyway, I've been continuing my runs in the heat. I just saw it as another experience to "toughen me up". I take precautions, though; I make sure I'm well hydrated and I carry water AND gatorade, I try to run in as much shade as possible, and I let myself go as slow as I need. That being said, I knew group run last night was going to be BAD, but I didn't know just HOW BAD. Even with being hydrated and carrying water with me, I had to bail out halfway. After being in the a/c all day, running in that heat (around 100*, even at 7pm) with even more heat radiating off the pavement, it was making me sick. In less than 2 miles, I felt as bad as I normally to after 7-8 miles. I DO have to give a round of applause to Second Sole, the store who sponsors and hosts our group runs. They set up a water table at the halfway point AND rigged up a sprinkler system on the sidewalk out in front of the store for after the run. We had fun with THAT. You can always tell when a running store is run by people who run themselves (ha!). :D

(4) FOUR (4)

Today was just plain nifty. One of our neighbors I "babysit" for occasionally called me early to see if her 7yo and 13yo could hang out with me for the afternoon. They normally spend the summer days with their grandmother, but she's been having some health problems and couldn't take them today. I love these kids, I call them "my munchkins" (much to their continued ire [evil smile]). To them, I'm like a big sister who takes them to do things their parents don't have time for. And really, we don't do anything special. Today, they drove around with me to a couple different metroparks to find codewords and we had a complete blast. I let them be in charge of my camera and they didn't do too bad of a job. I wasn't surprised in the least when I uploaded all the pictures and discovered they were fascinated with taking pictures of the "obvious" wildlife, just like me: deer, ducks, geese, squirrels, chipmunks, robins, rabbits, and random plants. Since I promised their mom a long time ago that I'd never post their pictures online, you'll just have to marvel at a sampling of their photography skills:

(5) FIVE (5)

Tomorrow is the Global Distance Project 5k. I have 2 goals. Well, technically 3. (1) Don't die. Run responsibly. (2) But still push myself. If I PRed on a trail race, what can I do on a good paved course? Too bad this won't be chip-timed. (3) And beat my cousin. This last goal has gotten a little shakier since he told me he wants to finish sub-30. Hrm. I guess all I can do now is be smart and run my race.

10 Days ...

... Since I last posted. How have I not made time to write this before now? Sheesh. And it's not like I've been super busy ... time just got away from me. Oh well. Let me esplain. No, let me sum up! (Name that movie!) I'll include some pictures to make up for all the text I'm about to blast you with.

Ready to go!

Last Saturday was pretty awesome. I ROCKED Happy Trails 5k. M decided to run it WITH me since he was in town for the weekend without the wifey (he hurt his hamstring so he's pouting about running "slow" while it heals). His wife probably isn't going to like this statement (sorry, E!), but I love that boy to death. He was one of the people who pushed me towards running when I was dealing with all that crap in my life and continues to be one of my biggest supporters. He knows EXACTLY how to push my buttons to make me run faster. He knew pointing out those teenage girls at the start line who talked through the National Anthem would tick me off and make me start faster to get ahead of them [proud granddaughter, niece, and friend of veterans and I've been raised to respect all symbols of our country: anthem, flag, etc.]. He knew telling me I couldn't do something would make me push that much harder to do it, even if it meant keeping me ticked off for all 3.1 miles. So thanks, M ... I think. lol. The best part? I beat my "old" 5k PR ... which was set on a relatively straight road course. ON TRAILS! I really think all the trail running paid off. I just FELT strong. You transition from pavement to sand/ dirt just past halfway and while others faded a bit, I pushed forward and felt "in my element." Is it weird that even though I felt like I was pushing my hardest during the race and almost threw up at the finish line (seriously, I was dry-heaving over a trash can next to a vendor booth), I walked away thinking "I could have run that even faster"? I haven't seen any pictures yet, but I'm sure I was grinning like a crazy person as I sprinted through the finish line. I'm pretty sure M and I scared the crap out of the people in the car next to us on the highway heading home because we were getting our dance party on, blasting LMFAO and whatever other crazy songs we could find on my iPod. :)

I hadn't been home more than an hour when I got a phone call saying I had won a door prize from one of the race's sponsors ... 3 canisters of Reliv's innergize (2 lemon and 1 orange). I'd never heard of it before, but I'm slowly learning. Maybe I'll do a review of it someday, but you can check out the link I provided for the product's website for details now. And, really, this little win came at an interesting time for me. Money is a little tight around here, so I've fallen back to my old friend Gatorade instead of spending the money on nuun or Zipfizz. Don't get me wrong, I love nuun and Zipfizz, but they just don't fit in my budget right now. I'm not particularly fond of how much sugar there is in Gatorade (especially with my family history of diabetes and my attempt to cut some sugar OUT of my diet lately), but it's worked for me for years. Our local Sam's stocks the big 76.5 ounce canisters of the Frost Glacier Freeze (the blue kind), my favorite, so I'm good to go for a little while (thanks mommy!). After a conversation with the Reliv product rep when I picked up my prize and a good friend who's a nurse and nutrition student, I decided to take my 8 oz serving of the innergize an hour or 2 before any runs or workouts (up to 2 a day) and rely on my gatorade to get me through the exercise. I've been doing this for a week now and everything seems to be going ok. We've had some obnoxiously hot days and I've done some seriously crazy runs in that heat (which I'll talk about more later), but I haven't gotten any dehydration headaches or muscle cramps. So, something seems to be working.

I had planned on Happy Trails being my last race before my September half marathon, but my cousin's wife messaged me about a 5k they they're going to be running this coming weekend for the church they both work for, the Global Distance Project 5k. My first inclination was to just go watch the hilarity of my cousin running a 5k, but his wife talked me into running it with them. So, one more.

We had 2 days of crazy thunderstorms at the beginning of last week, which of course I loved. Besides loving storms, I really enjoy getting out and seeing how rain water flows through our environment. It's the envrio science nerd in me, what can I say. :) I was out driving around when one of the biggest waves of storms came through so I headed to the nearest metropark, Side Cut. Boy, did I get a surprise!

Bench under water, broken pavement (already broken before storm, but had been
eroded and damaged even more), and  "bridge" about to go under water.

What I'm not showing you is that right above all this are 3 old canal locks. Normally, water barely trickles through them. That day, it was rushing. Somewhere up-run, there was a system that just wasn't able to keep up with the amount of water that was flowing. While I knew this wasn't a good thing, I was absolutely fascinated. I probably spent a half hour wandering up and down the walkways along the locks trying to take pictures from under my umbrella.

The ungodly hot and humid day after all the storms, I went for my normal run at Oak Openings. I should have known I'd find a tree down across my planned trail. *rolls eyes* And, because I was too stubborn to re-route my run, I decided to go THROUGH it (there was no going around it - the ferns were too thick). There was a fork in the branches that I knew I'd fit through, so I went for it. Stupid me. The branches scratched up my right thigh and ankle pretty good (which was really uncomfortable as my legs got sweaty later on the run), but it wasn't until the next morning that I noticed I had HUGE BRUISES striping my thigh as well. This really was the trail run from hell. Once I completed the Sand Dunes loop, I switched over to the Ferns and Lakes loop, which was an even bigger mistake. I really should have just called it a day and gone home. Besides almost stepping on a squirrel AND a snake (only the 2nd time I've EVER seen a snake ON a trail over there), the heat and humidity trapped in the woods just drained me and I had to abort the loop and run back to the car on the paved portion of the all-purpose trail. It ended up being about the same mileage as I would have done, but a LOT less stress and effort.

And, of course, this was also the day we couldn't get any relief from the heat at home either. We found out the a/c was broken when we went to turn it on (house actually got 5* HOTTER), and the chlorinator in the pool malfunctioned and the chlorine got so high your eyes burned just going NEAR it! We completely detached the chlorinator and it's JUST getting down to the level where swimming is comfortable again. As for the a/c? There was a wire broken on the compressor (we suspect dad did it when he decided to power-wash that side of the house 2 weeks ago). It took the repair guy 5 minutes to find and replace it. $85. Ugh. Let's just say everyone in our house was a little testy for a couple days. I pretty much holed up in my bedroom with my 3 fans, cups of ice, and movies when I wasn't freezing my butt off in my basement lab on campus. If I wasn't already intimately aware of the creepy crawlies and odd late-night sounds down there, I may have just brought an air mattress to campus and spent the nights down in the lab. The last time I bothered to look at the thermostat in there (it reads the temp but doesn't actually control anything ... how crappy is that?!), which was Thursday afternoon, it read 62*. I was wearing jeans and a long-sleeve tee all day.

Saturday is, of course, long run day for me. Since I had a 5k last weekend and another this coming weekend, I NEEDED to do a long run THIS weekend. I hadn't really explored the towpath trail between Bend View and Providence so I figured I'd run down to Providence and back, and maybe down to the Bend View shelter house and back depending on how I felt. According to the sign, it was 3.2 miles to Providence from the Bend View parking lot. To keep me from constantly watching my Garmin, I turned it on my wrist. The run TO Providence was pretty nice, actually. Even with the oppressive heat, I was in the shade and catching the breeze off the river for most of the way. Once I reached the dam, I looked at my Garmin. Almost 5 miles. Crap. This was already turning out to be a longer run than I had wanted. Since one of my fuel belt bottles was already dry, I tried to find a drinking fountain around the mill to refill it. No luck. I tried the water from the sink in the bathroom, but it was just plain nasty. I would have thrown up if I tried to drink that on a run. So, long story made WAY short: ran out of water around 7 miles. Walk intervals got longer and more frequent until I decided I couldn't run any more. Inhaled an entire bottle of Gatorade once I stumbled back to my car. My legs felt completely trashed all day yesterday and they're still a little tired today. I need to get better with my hydration and nutrition. Quick. But at least my first 9.5-miler is in the books :)

... And now I need to go because I'm getting trash talk texts about Saturday's 5k. I love that boy, but I'm going to kick his butt! I love my family :)

Happy First Day of Spring!

I'll be honest ... I totally forgot today was the first day of spring until I heard it on the news last night. Here in the Midwest, we had late winter/ early spring all winter and then just jumped straight to summer sometime last week. It's crazy. Saturday, I had to dig out the box with my (non-workout) shorts in it!

First off, someone asked how long my hair was BEFORE it got chopped ... since it's been in a perpetual bun or ponytail for the past 5ish months ... so here you go ...

Secondly, I found these lovelies over the weekend and decided I needs to make some cookies for St. Patrick's Day:

OF COURSE I'm not eating the cookie dough.
Who do you think I am, my grandmother's granddaughter? Haha

They spread out a little more than I would have liked (and were a little too soft), but they were pretty darn yummy. I bought some mint chocolate chip ice cream and Mint Bailey's at the same time I bought the m&ms. Talk about a mint overload! Between all the mint, the alcohol, and the emotional upheaval, Saturday night was interesting.

I DID get a run in yesterday, but it was a hot, short, miserable slog through the trails at Wildwood Metropark. The dune trail was great (despite the people traffic), but I decided to make a loop of the meadow and found the biggest mud ball in the park. Myself and another girl who was running the same route made use of the hose attached to the wall of the visitor's center to rinse ourselves off from the knees down before going anywhere NEAR our cars. Oh, and to the teenagers we interrupted: your "secret make out place" isn't so secret. You're right along the main trail for runners in the park. It's a gorgeous day, as people are getting off work. Don't be surprised when you get "caught". And don't be a couple pricks and start screaming and cursing at the runners going by who couldn't give 2 $#!@s about you hiding from your parents and making out. End rant. *rolls eyes*

A while back, one of the neighborhood kids I occasionally babysat when they were younger got a "real" mountain bike for her birthday ("It has shocks and everything, Jess!"). If you saw my post from last weekend with the picture of me laying on the deck after my race, same girl who took that picture. Anyway, I promised her back when she got the bike that I would take her over to Oak Openings and ride a trail with her this spring if she stayed up to date with her homework and she stayed out of trouble with her parents (she reminds me of myself at that age, defiant and moody). When she saw me come home from riding last week, she got really excited and reminded me of my promise. I remembered. And I reminded her of her part of the bargain. Today, she showed up with a note from her mom (no joke) and a copy of her weekly homework "report card". Since it was TECHNICALLY spring and she IS doing really well and it was a GORGEOUS day (it reached the low 80s!), I told her to go home and change into old clothes. She just screamed and ran home, excited. I was already changed and ready to go by the time she got back.

It's almost a 2-mile ride up to the park, so I had her ride in front of me and set the pace, mainly so I wouldn't be tempted to push the pace and tire her out too early. It gave me a good chance to watch her ride and get an idea of how her balance was and how well she shifted gears. I was impressed. She held the pace pretty steadily at around 10mph the whole time we were on the road. Once we got on the trail, she handled the mud and "hills" really well. I had to remind her to slow down a little bit through the standing water if she didn't want to end up COMPLETELY soaked, but I was really proud of her. She never complained and really seemed like she enjoyed it. She didn't even complain when I told her we needed to clean off the bikes before we put them away. According to my Garmin, we pulled out a little over 8.5 miles in 50 minutes. I consider that pretty darn amazing for a girl who has never ridden outside her own neighborhood (the girl, not me). I don't know if she'll want to go again or not, but I'm sure her parents didn't have any problems getting her to go to bed tonight :)

Oh yea, and we got a little muddy ...

I guess it MUST be spring ... mom's flowers are officially blooming. :)

Happy Spring! :)

PS- Happy Birthday to my big sister's (well, she might as well be) husband who turned 30! Luckily, he has coworkers and friends who have just as twisted a sense of humor as he does ...

Finally Friday Five

1. I cut my hair. 7-8" and the last of my old highlights, gone. I scared the crap out of my friend Ted by posting that on facebook. He spazzed, "I said Penny (from Big Bang Theory), not Ellen (DeGeneres)!" I just laughed. Ted hasn't seen me in a couple months so I had to explain to him that there really WAS that much hair there to get cut off and then texted him a picture to prove it. So far, the reaction has been positive. Either way, I like it. My head feels lighter and I swear my shower/ bathroom routine this morning was at least 5 minutes faster. lol.

2. I think I had a breakthrough last night at group run. I ran the 3 miles in 30 minutes and 3 seconds. That's a faster pace than my 5k PR, and only 0.1 miles shorter. The funny thing is, I spent the entire run thinking how hot I was and how hard the pace was after starting a little too quick (9:48 for the first mile). I didn't look at my Garmin until I got back to the store and hit the "stop" button. But when I did, I smiled. Its runs like that which make me think a sub-30 minute 5k before my 26th birthday in July IS possible.

3. I'm running aimlessly right now without a race to train for. If I'm still in the area, I know I want to run the Metroparks 5k again this year (it was my first race ever last June). There are a couple half marathons I'm looking at this summer, but they're all either too far away, too expensive, too soon, or I can't find any information on them. I guess I'll keep looking. I seriously stalk the stack of race papers at Second Sole every week after the group run ... and the Toledo Roadrunners website (though they aren't very helpful).

4. I finally caved and redeemed my livingsocial deal for BCOR Bootcamp. I start next Saturday morning. The gym owner/ instructor emailed me right away with my release paperwork, a weekly schedule of their classes, and some tips for next week. I'm nervous and excited at the same time.

5. We had a WICKED storm cell move through the area last night. There were confirmed tornados to the north of us, but we just got spurts of crazy-heavy rain and a spectacular thunder and lightning show. Any time I wasn't raining in, I had the back door open and was sitting by it with a book. I know we had a house in the next town over lose its roof to a lightning strike the night before, but I'm absolutely fascinated by nature's fury and I love watching it whenever I can.

A Hard "Easy" Run and V-Day Snow

Yesterday was just one of those days you wish you could fast-forward through. I woke up with a monster headache and it took FOR-EV-ER (who knows what movie THAT is from?) for the pain meds to kick in. I decided to just work from home since I didn't want to wait for the meds to start working, fight for a parking spot, and then sit in the lab and listen to the ongoing construction, possibly bringing back and making worse my headache. My stomach has been iffy all weekend too (since Saturday morning) and yesterday wasn't any different. Despite all this, I decided I needed to get in my 5-mile "easy" run. Another "new" route. This one took me past several friends' houses and barns. Kim @ (Just) Trying is for Little Girls has her cow running buddies and I have my horses. I slowed down and got off the road at the corner of 1 friend's property and went over to say hi to Joker since he was in the enclosure closest to the road. This horse cracks me up. He couldn't care less about people or other animals ... unless you whistle for him (yes, like a dog) and then you're BEST buddies. I whistled as I got up next to the fence and he immediately perked up and came over to get his nose scratched. When I took off again, he trotted the length of the fence with me and threw a whinnying and stomping fit when he couldn't follow me any further. [Maybe I'll have to bring him a treat or something later today.] Anyway, this run was SLOW and not exactly painful, but certainly NOT comfortable. I had a stitch in my side less than a mile into the run and it lasted the WHOLE time. But, I never walked (except when I was scratching Joker). I never found a comfortable breathing rhythm, and believe me when I tell you I TRIED. I chose not to look down at my Garmin because I was just concentrating on putting one foot in front of another and finishing the stupid run ... oh, and playing an obnoxious game of leap frog with the mail truck on the highest-traffic road on this route. SO fun. NOT. I realized my legs were loosening up during the 3rd mile, but I didn't realize I was picking up the pace:

Not too shabby, I guess. I was practically dry-heaving by the time I got home (sorry for the tmi ... my stomach REALLY didn't appreciate my determination to get in my run). I don't think I could have done it if I hadn't taken Sunday as a complete rest day. As soon as I got home, I scarfed down some oatmeal and a banana, showered in the hottest water I could coax from our pathetic water heater, and crawled in bed for the rest of the day with my laptop and remote control. At least I caught up on my Downton Abbey (ADDICTED!) and Big Bang Theory (also addicted). :)

I promise I won't rant about "Singles Awareness Day". I gave up hating the single life years ago. I'm just indifferent now. I've taken the path of "If it happens, cool. If not, I have plenty to do in my own life before I even think about settling down." My resolve seems to be tested on a weekly basis with all the people I know getting married and/or pregnant, but whatever. But Happy Valentines Day to those of you who ARE celebrating! My mom, as always, bought my brother and I V-Day cards. For the first time EVER, though, she's finally listened and nixed the insane amounts of candy in favor of gift cards. Panera (YUMMY!) and Kroger (grocery store) for me. I love my mom. :)

Another V-Day present from Mother Nature ... SNOW! There was almost an inch on the ground (and still coming down) when I went out to my car this morning. On a whim, I checked the tv before I left the house. My home school district had a 2-hour delay. So did the in-town districts (and it normally takes a MAJOR storm to delay them!). Lucky boogers. I understood why once I got out onto the road. I don't think twice when our neighborhood's road is crappy. Even when a plow truck DOES make an appearance, they rarely do a very good job clearing the pavement (we still have ice and packed snow from Friday night/ Saturday morning). Anyway, I didn't see ONE plow truck on my normally 25-30-minute commute or any evidence they had been out AT ALL. Now, I'm pretty comfortable driving in the snow. My dad took great care when I was learning how to drive to teach me how to react to just about any weather condition (Learning to drive from a semi-driver = best idea ever. Also, a wide open icy parking lot and purposely spinning yourself so you can learn how to pull out of one = SO much fun!). It's the people AROUND me who scare the crap out of me. There was no way I could have gone over 40 mph on this one road (I have all-wheel drive and I was still slipping around) and some a-hole rode my back bumper for over 2 miles and then passed me, wheels slipping and spinning and car not-exactly-straight. I passed him about another mile down the road with his rear end slid into a shallow drainage ditch next to the road. *rolls eyes* If the weather guy is correct (and that's a 50/50 chance), we'll be up in the high 30s/ low 40s by this afternoon and the snow will be gone by Thursday. Boo!

Ok, that's it. I'm going to go peek my head out of my basement lab and see what the weather is doing ... Being down here SERIOUSLY messes with my head. I can go an entire week without seeing sunlight if I'm working on a project and I bring my lunch every day. Another "fancy" coffee (according to my department chair/ professor) sounds pretty darn good too. Have a great day everyone!

Freeze Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k ... and then some

I had heard the weather forecast before I went to bed last night, but it was still a bit of a shock when I woke up to SNOW SHOWERS at 9am! I guess the snow hit us around 2am, and normally I would have noticed, but I was out cold by 1. The weather guys had said it would be over by 9am-ish, but they were off by a little more than an hour ... which isn't too bad in the scheme of things.

My training plan called for 5 miles and I knew (probably the last) 3.1 miles of it were going towards The Boring Runner's Freeze Your Thorns Off 5k. Just like the Twitter Road Race last weekend, I wasn't planning on being competitive, it just fit into my training plan and I enjoy dedicating miles of my run to certain things. It keeps my head on straight and gives me a reason to NOT stop early, no matter the conditions. My biggest decision ended up being what to wear. The snow showers ended right around the time I decided I REALLY needed to get out of bed and get moving, but I could tell there was still a decent breeze outside (the pine trees were shaking). I asked dad how windy it was outside since he went out to the back garage for something and he said it wasn't bad. *Snort*. Ok, dad. I ignored him and threw on my light windbreaker just in case. So I didn't get too warm, I wore my vented long-sleeve shirt under. I knew it was going to start warming up as soon as the storm passed, and I was right.

BOY am I glad I wore that windbreaker. As soon as I got out of the protection of the trees in downtown, I got SLAMMED. Almost the entire second mile of my run, I was getting blasted by gusts that were almost making me come to a stand-still. I heard later today we were getting gusts around 40mph in my neck of the woods, which I can TOTALLY believe. I hadn't PLANNED on resistance training today, but I guess Mother Nature decided it couldn't hurt.

I was trying to pace myself, even with the wind, without looking at my Garmin. It was a little more difficult this time around and I think I would have had a negative-split run if it weren't for the insane gusts of headwind during the second mile. Taking the times for the last 3.1 miles, my submitted time for the FYTO5k is 0:34:38. Sounds reasonable for my not actually RACING. lol. It was fun, though. I appreciate any day where I can get out on the trail, the sun is shining (at the end), blast my music, and enjoy running.

I guess we're ALL #1?

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

First of all, a HUGE thank you to Christy! I won her giveaway for a pair of Pearl Izumi Thermal Arm Warmers and they got here last week (in pretty packaging and everything!). I've been wanting to try these for a while (seriously, I stare at things on Amazon for MONTHS before buying them) but I was never able to justify spending the money. I'm excited to try them out!

See? I'm EXCITED to go run in the rain!

My training plan had me running an "easy" 4 miles today. I put quotation marks there because Running World's plan wanted me to keep a 12:37/mile pace. Not. Gonna. Happen. I left campus and headed home at lunch, debating the whole way if I was going to run outside in the wind and rain that was coming or if I was going to wimp out and jump on the treadmill in the basement. Well, the first wave of the rain hit just as I got home. I was leaning towards the treadmill since I JUST washed the stink out of my orange rain coat ... and then I realized I still had my old high school rowing boat coat in my closet. I LOVE this thing! I miss wearing it almost as much as I miss rowing. It was 48* and breezy so I just threw on my capris and short-sleeve Under Armor shirt. I wore my trusty ball cap to keep the rain out of my eyes and my new sauconys (just how long am I going to keep calling these my "new shoes"?) got their first introduction to running in the rain. I took a snack bag and cut a slit in either end of it for the wristband of my Garmin so I could wear it on my wrist like always without worrying about it getting too wet.

Since I was already going to run in the rain, I decided to make the run even more interesting: 1) No iPod. I was super nervous about this (how the heck do people run whole marathons without music blasting away in their ears?!), but I REALLY didn't want to take the chance of it getting water-logged or damaged. 2) I took a route I haven't taken before. I've been eyeing this route for a while since I drive it pretty regularly, and it's really convenient when I'm home, but 2 of the roads I would run down can be pretty busy. I would NEVER run this route after dark or any time other than the middle of the day when traffic is light.

The run itself was pretty great, actually. The no-iPod thing would have REALLY bothered me if I hadn't needed to pay such close attention to the cars and trucks whizzing by me. Cars going the same direction as me (but on the other side of the road ... I know enough to run INTO traffic) always seemed to cross the center line just as they were passing me, like a moth to the flame or something. Weird. You'd think cars on the other side of the road would be nearly oblivious. Cars coming at me either barely gave me room (which is just fine because the shoulder of the road is wide enough for breathing room even if they sit right on the painted line) or they got all the way over onto the side of the road (completely unnecessary, but whatever floats your boat). I didn't even get splashed by any cars until I was back in my own neighborhood (It was our next-door neighbor and she called me afterwards and apologized). I really enjoyed running in the light rain, though I can't say I'd still enjoy it if it was pouring. My legs felt strong most of the way except for when I had to avoid a break in the pavement and I stepped funky. My ankle twinged a bit there but it felt fine again after a couple normal steps. When I saw my time for my first mile, I freaked out a bit and expected to feel the pain in my side but it never really happened. I had to focus on my breathing a bit as I was running back up the other side of the Swan Creek basin on SR 295, but I never had to take a break and catch my breath.

Oh, and I got back on the wagon and make friends with Jillian Michaels this evening. Back to 30 Day Shred, Level 1.

Finally for tonight ... Rest In Peace, Joe Paterno. I didn't like Penn State and I'm still disgusted with how the sex abuse scandal was handled (hit a little too close to home), but he was an amazing man who will be greatly missed. No matter how much we made fun of him for his voice and his age, he was a legend in college football and the State College community. JoePa will never be forgotten. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

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:

Beautiful Day.

What a day. I didn't fall asleep until almost 4am so I let myself sleep in until around 11. I finally got up when one of the neighbor girls came around with her Girl Scout cookie sheet. As a former girl scout (technically I'm a lifetime member), I'm somewhat addicted to the Samoas (Caramel Delights). Yum. No joke, I can eat an entire box in 1 sitting and not think twice about it. I've actually hid a box of cookies from myself once so I wouldn't be tempted to eat them and then couldn't find them again until I moved out of the apartment 7 months later. Like I said, addicted. They're just SO GOOD.

Anyway, I knew I had to get outside for a run so I scarfed down a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries and got dressed. Thank goodness I looked outside at the thermometer before I headed out the door ... 20 degrees and SNOWING (with a heck of a breeze in any open areas)! My training plan had me running 4 miles @ 12:40 today so I headed for the W-C trail. Even though I was in an orange coat, I didn't trust any drivers to be paying attention to what was on the side of the road over the condition of the road itself. The thought occurred to me that I really need to go buy myself a pair of YakTrax (I've tried out a friend's pair and LOVED them).

Today's run was AWESOME! I decided ahead of time that I wasn't going to look at my Garmin unless I needed to check my distance (sometimes its hard to see the half-mile markers [who decided to paint those things brown?!]) so I just set off at a pace that was comfortable and let myself run. Yes, I had my iPod on, but I can't remember a thing I listened to other than Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville". And I only remember that because it started playing just as I was passing a couple young kids sledding down the hill into the ditch on the side of the trail and I joked that I didn't realize we had enough snow for THAT. My legs felt strong and I never felt any twinges in my knees or shins (yay compression socks). 

I tried running with my bargain-bin neck gaiter/face mask up over my mouth and nose but I pulled it down around my neck after about 5 seconds. I'm ok with my face being a little cold, but my neck CANNOT feel any wind or I will get cold. I always worried about what I would wear once it got this cold (this is the coldest I've ever run outside), but I was pleasantly surprised how comfortable I was in just a thin long-sleeve and my flimsy nylon windbreaker. I was wearing my glove/mitten things (I'll have to get a pic of these things, they're AMAZING) and they were SOAKED in sweat my the end of the run, but my hands were never cold or uncomfortable. I also decided I need to start running with my longer beanie or exclusively with my headband because THIS ONE kept sliding up on my head and exposing my ears (and letting my ear buds slip out). I didn't even have my hair tucked up under the hat or anything to keep forcing it up. Hrm. Whatever. I'm just happy I know what to wear now and that I had a nice run. It was the first time in over a week that I really ENJOYED my run.

A very happy Jess back home after 4+ miles.

I'm also counting the last 3.5 miles of today's run (39:37.9) as my entry for Toni's 34th Birthday and 1st Blogiversary Virtual Run. I hadn't planned on doing this until later in the time allowed (it is open Jan 12- Jan 27), but I felt today really embodied the spirit of the Virtual Run. I enjoyed myself and I really felt today was a bit of a celebration. So, Happy Birthday and Blogiversary, Toni! Here's to many more birthdays AND blogiversaries! :)

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't spent part of my run thinking about Sherry, but I chose to focus on the amazing woman that she was and not the tragic way that her life ended. I chose to celebrate her life, not mourn her death. As always, my thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends, and community.

Holy Guacamole, Rain Gods and HBBC Week 2 Summary

To use my darling cousin's phrase, "Mother Nature was PMSing again" Tuesday. [Oh, and I don't want to forget to mention that his using that phrase started a fb conversation between his wife, step-mother, and I that ended with him digging himself a hole so deep he had to cook his own dinner. lol] We literally had torrential downpours all day Tuesday and it is STILL making life a little difficult here in NW Ohio.

Yea, this is from the edge of my neighborhood looking north towards the village limits.
Of 4 ways out of town, 3 were flooded. Lovely.
And, yes, that is a car stuck in the flooded part of the road. Idiots.

Construction in our house is progressing. The dining room and living room have their first coat of green paint (which is still a bit of a shock, but I like the color ... I just don't like dad's idea to add the beadboard in the dining room) and most of the cracks and gaps in the drywall everywhere else are either filled or in the process of being filled.

And now onto the sum-up of HBBC, Week 2.

I didn't do 30-Day Shred nearly as much as I would have liked, and I included a lot of the time I spent packing boxes and moving furniture. I REALLY need to work on eating my fruits and veggies too. I guess I'm still learning.

Wish I had more time to write right now, but I'm just not feeling all that great right now.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend.

Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge Starts Tomorrow!

Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge starts tomorrow! Is it weird that I'm this excited? I already have 4 bonus points from the tweeting, facebook posting, and putting that lovely HBBC badge (you see on your right) on my little blog, but I want to get an early start. I'm planning on getting in an early morning run over at Oak Openings. It should be beautiful ... but a tad bit nipply. Luckily, the temperature will be right around where it was on my 11/11/11 run, so I know how to dress to be comfortable. I may even have some company. Annie volunteered her new husband, Dan, "BECAUSE he asked [her] if [she] wanted to, like he was excited about the idea ... and and he's been complaining about wanting to run since the beginning of this summer." Yep. Direct quote from the conversation on my facebook status. Haha. I warned him that I still run pretty slow, but he blew off my warning, so we'll see what happens. I want to do a 30DS as soon as I get back to the house after the run. If I don't knock it out right away, I know I won't find time to do it later in the day.

I'm still trying to figure out how to assign points to my workouts. JM's 30-Day Shred is a little bit of everything so I may just have to tally that up by week instead of day-to-day. Anyway, I plan on posting a weekly run-down of everything here (hopefully on Fridays) so you all can follow along and keep me on my toes. :)

Oh, Beautiful Day

Did you vote today? I sure hope so. Issues 1 and 2 got shot down here in Ohio. *happy dance* I was SOOO ready for today. If you're friends with me on fb, you may have seen my rants on the political telemarketers. I really should have posted more on the couple times campaigns were silly enough to make a REAL person call our house instead of a recorded message. I had fun. *giggles evily*

So, if I hadn't needed to be in the lab early this morning, I would have run to my polling location. It's right along the bike path were I like to run. But, I was expected on campus before 8am, so I had to just drive and put off my workout until later in the day. Sitting in the lab was a bit of torture. The construction continues almost directly over my head and we apparently had a mini waterfall going in the stairwell across the hall from my lab. *Sigh* Yea.

I finally gave up after lunch and headed home. The weather had turned absolutely GORGEOUS! Slightly overcast and in the high 60's? Yes, please. I didn't want to waste this, possibly last, opportunity to get in a good-weather run at Oak Openings. I busted through my daily dose of 30-Day Shred (more on that in a hot minute) and high-tailed it for the woods. I stuck to the multi-purpose trail since I was still wearing my road shoes (and I just wanted a nice easy run). It didn't seem like much of a PUSH to run the WHOLE loop. It was a continuous run of 3.5 miles. It was slow, but I was enjoying every second of it!

I had a breakthrough with my 30-Day Shred!  I was able to continue all the strength exercises for the whole intervals. I'm still only doing 1 arm at a time during the side lunge/anterior raise(?) interval (Cycle 3), but I don't stop any more! One thing, though. I've pin-pointed the point where my shin starts to bother me. Jumping jacks. Yep, you read that right. My shin splints rear their ugly head the second I start doing jumping jacks. It's a HUGE problem since they come up again and again in EVERYTHING Jillian Michaels does! Ugh. I'm going to look up more strengthening and stretching stuff and hopefully that helps because I really AM enjoying 30-Day Shred.

Dinner with the parentals at Nick & Jimmy's. I had a delicious cajun chicken sandwich. Oh, and I finally found something that makes DAD cover his years and yell "la la la la la" as he leaves the room (for those of you that don't know, that is the standard reaction around our house any time my parents decide to remind us how much in love they still are. I think dad does it o purpose sometimes just to watch the kid brother and I spaz). What is this magic trick, you ask? It started as mom and I discussing how much I enjoy corsets (seriously, I freaking love them!) and turned into me reminding dad of an incident where mom asked him to move laundry from the washer to the dryer and he had a revelation that he'd never seen the "sexy" underwear before, so it must be mine. We heard the cursing and spazzing from upstairs. It was hilarious. 

There IS a UT football game tonight, the last home game of the season, actually, but who in their right mind goes to a football game on a random Tuesday with an 8pm start time? To make it even better, it's being shown on tv (though only on ESPN U, which isn't carried by ANY network in the area), which means the game won't be over until after midnight. And then we'd have to drive the half hour back out to our little town. Needless to say, we stayed home and caught up on our taped tv shows (can I just say one thing? My dad is insane. He'd rather tape shows using 3 different VCRs than just pony up for a freaking DVR. Ugh). 

Now I'm just sitting in bed, watching Conan, typing this, and waiting for my brother to text me the final score so I can go to bed. Oh, and dreading the craptastic-ness that will be the weather from now on this fall. So, awesome day all-around. :)

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!

Where to run?

Yep, I'm procrastinating working on my paper again. I have my lunch in front of me (still hot from the microwave), so I suppose that's acceptable. If not, too dang bad. My mood is such that nobody really wants to deal with me (even if they gave a crap), and I'm ok with that. I need to make a decision to either start working 110% 24/7 on my paper and try to pull it out in the next couple days or just take the stress off and pay the f*#!@ing tuition for 1 fall credit hour. The first option seriously puts my sanity in jeopardy, but the second does serious damage to what's left of my savings, self esteem, and my relationship with my advisor. When you can't really afford, in whatever way, either option, what do you do?

My first instinct, as it has been a LOT lately, is to just go run and let myself calm down. Besides the fact that going for a run isn't going to even remotely help my problem, I don't know where I should run. I acknowledge the fact that I need to stop "worrying" about finding the Metroparks code words, so I'm not going to go way out of my way to run. I had thought about running on campus and the University/Parks Trail, but I just don't feel comfortable running here lately with all the crime going on. I lived on or near campus for 6 years and only felt the slightest bit uneasy a couple times (usually involving walking the neighborhood "behind engineering" late at night), but things have changed. I don't know if it's my perception of the area or things really are the way I see them. Yes, crime has risen a bit, but maybe my discomfort stems from the fact that I don't know the POPULATION around campus like I used to. During undergrad and early grad school, I knew people who lived EVERYWHERE around campus and I knew that if there ever WAS something wrong, I had someplace safe to go. I don't have that feeling of safety anymore. Yes, I could carry pepper spray (and I do have a canister with a clip that I run with occasionally, but that doesn't even seem to help my apprehension. I don't know. I love when campus is quiet during summer semester, but I guess the quiet can be just as (possibly) dangerous as the crowds. I can run trails in the darkest parts of the metroparks and not think twice, but running around campus and the city spooks me. Ugh.

Our advisor and JB are upstairs working on JB's thesis defense for tomorrow morning and I don't know how long that'll take. I really need to talk to advisor-man about what's going on, but just the thought of it makes my stomach twist and my heart rate skyrocket. I've never been nervous to talk to him before, even when the $#!% hit the fans on my data, so I don't know why this is so hard for me. I hate that I'm disappointing him ... and myself.

Rain or no rain ... I'm thinking this afternoon is going to be spent pushing myself through a long run on the towpath trail along the river ... with my iPod to distract me.

Happy Birthday to me and more ...

Happy birthday to me (a couple days late) ... wait, that means I'm 25 now. WHAT?! How the heck did that happen and how do I make it stop? I don't know if I like this growing-up thing! I LIKE being a Toys-R-Us kid. lol. I actually woke up with that jingle stuck in my head on my birthday. I had a nice little giggle before rolling over and re-setting my alarm for an hour later.

I was in a strange mood Wednesday. I wasn't exactly HAPPY, but I could call it almost-content (except for my paper stress, of course). It was one of those days where I was always waiting for the next "thing", but when it came, I just shook it off and smiled. I took off from campus right after lunch (I seriously don't know how I used to sit locked up in my tiny office all day) and went over to Farnsworth Metropark for my run, silently cursing myself the entire drive for not running that morning when it was a BIT cooler. Holy frijoles, Batman, was it hot ... and I made the mistake of not realizing how much of that trail is exposed. Yes, a large chunk of it is well-shaded (Jessie likey), but there were a couple large areas that didn't have a drop of shade and those KILLED my average pace. Anyway ... I knew it was about 3 miles from the Roche de Bout shelterhouse to the river overlook at Bend View. Silly me, I decided I was going to push myself (IN THAT HEAT?!) and go all the way down and back, all 6 miles of it. My average paced sucked a big one, but I did it. At least I had some eye candy on the first 2 miles of my run back to Roche de Bout. :) I challenged myself on the way back by re-setting my Garmin and saying I was going to beat my time from my run/walk out to Bend View. Maybe someday I'll be able to run all the way down to Providence and back, but it isn't going to be any time soon, and I'll just enjoy where I am for now. Oh, and I'm REALLY appreciating that metroparks has drinking fountains and bathrooms installed as often as they do along that towpath. lol. My water bottle was DRY by the time I got to Bend View.

After my run (and sitting in the air-conditioned car and guzzling water and gatorade until I cooled off a bit), had to book it home to shower and eat something. My friend Sarah was having a Pure Romance party last night (look it up if you don't already know). It was an entertaining evening. lol

After the "shenanigans" (and if ANYONE mentions the rest of the quote associated with that word, I'l pistol-whip them myself. lol), I stopped at the store to pick up some of my favorites ... Barefoot Moscato, Lonz Pink Catawba Wine (they don't have Heineman's and Anderson's was already closed, damnit ... at least they still use Bass Islands grapes :) ), a TINY carrot cake, dark chocolate with raspberry filling ... and my Brite Crawlers! I, of course, cracked open the moscato right away and took it straight up to my room with my carrot cake and enjoyed curling up in bed watching Pride & Prejudice. That, along with talking to Kyle online, made it a pretty good evening. As usual, Kyle was the first one to wish me happy birthday ON my birthday. It's a strange friendship we have, but I'm ok with that. I'm glad we've been able to stay friends. There are times when we're the only ones who understand each other's twisted-ness. lol.

My actual birthday was pretty quiet. I woke up early and went into campus. I worked until around 2pm and didn't see ANYONE. Around 2, I decided I'd had enough for the day and stopped to pick up Chipotle for lunch and took it out to Providence Dam to eat. I ended up spending a couple hours out there, just wandering, watching the individual waves roll over the dam, and reading bits and pieces of my book. I'm reading Emma now since I never finished it the first time I picked it up. I was surprised how many people were coming and going at the dam since it was so hot out. We were supposed to break a record, but I never heard if we actually did or not. I finally got tired of the crowd of people and wandered down-river to Farnsworth and the Roche de Bout shelter house again. I hung out there until it was time to head to the mall for my movie, mostly stomping around out in the river. You would think being out in the river on a super-hot day would be refreshing but that sure wasn't the case. The river was like bathwater all through the rapids.

I took myself to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Since I missed the showing that I had originally planned on, I saw it in "Real 3D". It was worth the couple extra dollars. It was too early to head home after the movie so I just wandered around the mall, enjoying the evening, texting and laughing with N. I'm a sucker for feeding ducks and fish, so I spent a little while over at the steps. There was a little girl I found hilarious. She was trying to get the ducks to eat out of her hand and would get furious when the fish got to a scrap of bread before the ducks did.

Since my brother gave me his Borders gift card as a part of my birthday present, that was the first place I went to yesterday (Friday) morning. Man, that place was a zoo. For all their crap about going out of business and needing to sell everything, the deals really weren't all that great. I ended up buying myself another book about running I've been hearing about I Run, Therefore I Am - Nuts. I'll add it to my pile. lol. I also picked up a new romance book, which of course I ended up starting the second I got home (that's 3 books in progress now ... yikes), and some more molskine notebooks. I seriously love those things. They are seriously the most perfect little notebooks.

I have 4.95 more miles until my goal distance for my birthday week. And it is looking like I may be doing it on the treadmill. The heat and the sudden, crazy thunderstorms are enough of an incentive to risk some shin soreness tomorrow. The storm this morning woke me up several times this morning, not an easy task when I was up so late battling my sinus attack (ugh).

Ugh.

I really want to go home and crawl back in bed. Normally, I'm almost awake by now, even when I wake up early to work out, but I'm physically and mentally dragging. I know I didn't sleep all that great, but I'm used to minimal sleep. Little miss I-can-sleep-through-anything, and everyone else in the house, got woken up at 3am by HAIL. The storm was pretty intense, but I would have stayed dead to the world if it hadn't been for the hail. My bedroom is exposed on the north and west walls of the house so I seem to get the worst of the weather, which is fine because I sleep so heavy, but this was almost as bad as the night a couple weeks ago when I woke up and thought there was a tornado on top of us.

I didn't have my daily Diet Coke either. I've been really successful over the past couple months with limiting myself to just my one DC in the morning for my burst of caffeine, but I'm trying to cut myself off completely for next Saturday. I know Diet Coke is horrible for you, but it's one of my biggest guilty pleasures. I can see my pop can from Tuesday sitting a couple inches behind my laptop on my desk and it's mocking me. Seriously. The joke is that I can't even get one on campus if I wanted. UT has a contract with Pepsi so it's the only beverage company on campus. Anyway, I'm cradling my glass of green tea and praying the little bit of caffeine in it will jolt-start my brain. I'm just hoping nobody really annoys me when I go upstairs to check my mailbox or I may get cranky.

Despite the storm early this morning, I hauled my butt out of bed at the normal 5:30am and laced up my running shoes. It was a comfortable temperature (high 60s), but you couldn't tell because the humidity was so oppressive and I felt like I was being eaten alive by mosquitos. I turned in a respectable 2.29 miles in 25:35. Saw the lady with the glasses and salmon-colored shirt again. She must run practically the same route as I do, just from the other end. I ran past a group of what looked like high school girls too. They all had reflective vests on so I don't know where they were running from or how long they had been out. If I run any earlier in the morning, reflective gear is something I should really think about investing in.

My Garmin and waist pack should be here Saturday! Yippee! I think I'll take Sunday morning and head up to Wildwood to check out the course a little better and put the Garmin through its paces.

Speaking of this weekend ... Cherry Fest runs tomorrow and Saturday. I still don't like having it this late in the year or having it Friday-Saturday, but Josh Torres goes whatever the heck he wants and damn what the village and residents want. I think it's kind of gone downhill since they moved it to June anyway. I'll go walk through the vendors tomorrow evening and meet up with friends at the beer tent (maybe), but thats about it. The rides are expensive and the parade just isn't the same anymore. They've added a 5k, but they don't publicize it very well.

Oh, and I just found out that my parents are leaving next Wednesday for their cruise. I knew it was coming up soon, but thought it was later in the month. While I love the idea of having the house to myself (you would think 3 adults wouldn't be that loud ... wrong), I had really hoped and wanted my parents to be around for my race Saturday. Dad keeps talking about it like he was planning on going, but they'll be in Vancouver getting ready to board this ship. Oh well. Just another part of my life I'm tackling on my own. It isn't the first and I'm sure it won't be the last.

Rest Day

I spent quite a bit of time last night contemplating a run today. I really did want to start running on the schedule I posted 2 days ago, but my body has other ideas. I couldn't sleep last night, so instead of just laying there in bed staring into the dark, I got up and got some cleaning done. The bad part is that this means I didn't get up early, either. By the time I woke up, it was already in the 90s and my legs were still unhappy with me. So, rest day for Jessie. I had planned on working from home today anyway so I'm not worried about someone on campus needing to talk to me.

Dad got the pool opened this weekend and has already shocked the crap out of the algae, half-drained the pool to get the nastiness out, and completely refilled it. I went out and checked when I got up, there is practically no chlorine in the water right now but the temperature of the water is still pretty cool and completely clear. Just how I like it. This sounds like a perfect opportunity to go haul a raft out of the attic, throw on my tanning swimsuit (remember, no funny tanlines!) and go crash in the pool for a while. :)

Morning Run, Upcoming Race, and UT's done it again ...

I guess I'm going ahead with the training plan I mentioned yesterday. I woke up early again this morning for a run. I wasn't particularly fond of the fact that it was already in the mid-70s (and climbing) and humid when I went out, but oh well. Aside from my normal warm-up and cool-down, I logged a respectable 3.14 miles in 36:48. That's a 11:43 pace, which is almost a minute/mile slower than yesterday, but I'm quite pleased with it anyway. It's been months (or possibly years) since I've attempted running several days in a row plus I'm proving to myself that I can be a consistent runner off the treadmill. I did have to slow to a walk to get drinks, but I think I'm getting better about how far I run each time. My shin seems to being holding up. They no longer ache when I'm running, just after I've had some time to relax. Abnormally, it's my thighs that are plaguing me now. They felt a little stiff during the third mile, but now they're outright sore and aching every time I have to walk up or down stairs. I'm going to be optimistic and say that my thighs just got a workout sooner than they had expected to and are cranky about it.


Apparently my mom decided she wasn't even going to TRY to deal with the heat and humidity this week. While I was off on my run this morning, she ran around the house closing windows and turned on the air conditions. I'm not particularly a fan of the a/c, but I get cranky when I'm too warm to sleep (hmm ... sound like someone else? Dad!!!). It's always a big decision to turn on the a/c in our house. Without it, we're miserable. With it, our sinuses (mine less so than when I was younger) go complete bonkers. It usually comes down to "does dad want to loose sleep over being too hot or so stuffed up he can't breathe." A fun decision, let me tell you.


Maybe I'll brave the heat and humidity tomorrow and get a trail run in? It'll be a short(er) one, no more than 2.5 miles, but the metroparks don't open until 7, and if I ran at the park closest to me, I'd probably run a trail that doesn't have much cover. In fact, it goes through sand dunes (one of my favorite parts of living on the Oak Openings Ridge)! I'd get to wear my new trail shoes, at least. I haven't had a chance to put those puppies through their paces yet!

Is my Garmin here yet? No? Dang. Is my Garmin here yet? No? Dang. Is my Garmin here yet? No? Dang.


Oooo! Big news! I finally registered for my first 5k yesterday. I will be running the Happy Trails 5k at Wildwood Metropark on June 18. I’m literally bouncing up and down excited now! The only thing I’m wondering about now is, besides am I going to be able to run the whole thing (I registered as a runner), should I put off playing with my Garmin until AFTER the 5k? Common sense says to stick with what I’ve been doing, but everything else tells me to use every tool at my disposal. I guess I need to decide if I’m just going to be happy with finishing or do I want to put the pressure on myself to finish in a certain time. Hmm. Deep thinking, here. Hope I don’t hurt myself. Lol.


The crap that happens at this university never fails to surprise me with its level of stupidity. I finally got to talk to Karen (the only person working records management for the grad school and clearing graduation for the ENTIRE university), last week and discovered that the reason she didn’t have my Plan of Study form was because it had been sent back to my advisor. It would have been SO much easier if someone could have just told me 2 weeks ago when I called. So, I went in early yesterday morning to track down David and ask if he had checked his mailbox lately (if you knew him, you’d know why THAT was the important question to ask. Lol). As it turns out, he had already had the form for almost a week and was just waiting for me to come find him and ask about it. Typical. He was “cleaning” his desk when I went up to talk to him. I’m lucky my form didn’t get lost again.


Anyway, the reason my POS got sent back was because I didn’t list Hydrogeology in my courses. If my eyes could roll any further back in my head, they would. I took Hydro as an undergrad and my committee filed the paperwork waiving that requirement for me! The prof I took the class from is on my committee, for pete’s sake. Right away, I asked mom to IM Karen and ask if I could come talk to her about the form, since they’re friendly. I used the excuse that my phone was dead (which it wasn’t) and we don’t have one in the lab (which is true, actually). I just didn’t want to call and pester the woman and lord only knows if the person at the front desk would even put me through to her! And I definitely didn’t want to walk over to UHall in this heat just to discover that she wasn’t in her office. I don’t mind using my mother’s connections on campus (and sometimes peoples’ memories of me as a kid) when it makes dealing with the university’s BS easier. It worked out, though. I went over and had a nice chat with Karen and it’s taken care of. Really, that was the only reason I went to campus yesterday.