Long Run Friday: A nice time at Lake of the Isles

Long run preparation really started Thursday night when one my neighbors had her screaming kid with her in the laundry room, courtyard, too-close-to-my-window, why aren't you in bed, please make your kid stop.
Sorry.
It was ridiculous. Of course the kid was screaming and bonkers, it was 11:00 at night, he should have been in bed. We don't have too many kids here at the condos but with the economy and general ridiculousness of real estate, there's double or triple the number from when I moved here.

Eventually I fell asleep, although much later than I wanted. Because the alarm went off at 5am. I did, in fact, turn the light on and start my day then.

I had some dark chocolate peanut butter before the run. I've decided not to do that anymore. It's upset my stomach and made me all puke-ish the last couple of times. I'm thinking I might have to get some real "peanuts are the only ingredient" peanut butter and have that.

My fifteen-miler took me along Minnehaha Creek, around Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun and (not my happy place) Lake of the Isles. (I'm having issues with Gmaps, so let me know if that map doesn't work.) It was really humid. Like gross, sticky, humid. But gorgeous. The milk weed and other plans are coming out and the flowers smell awesome. The sailboats and Harriet and Calhoun are always nice too.

Because of the heat, I hydrated liberally. I also tried a new nutrition plan which worked well. I took half a Cliff Bar and ate that first. By the end of the run, I don't want actual food. My mouth is so dry it just doesn't feel good to eat it, but early on, I need really food with good protein. I also had two gel packs (yes, I've made peace with the gel) and had those for my second and third food stops.

And I had a surprisingly nice time at Lake of the Isles. Lake Calhoun too, my last run there was horrendous.

The shortcut home, across 40th street (which I didn't know about for all of last year) is my favorite part because it's downhill (not noticeably changing elevations, just a gentle grade) for like a mile. And it's downhill at the end right by my house. And it's so much shorter. (Ha, I'll pay for that later.)

After the run, I headed out to get pooky bear her birthday present. (Luckily I read her blog because someone already got her my original idea). I found some nice things, actually wound up feeling better about them than my original idea anyways.

I had to work for a little while (like 3 hours, I love Fridays) before heading back home where I finally laid down on the couch and took a nap.

I was woken by a teenager calling me. She needed a ride. It's a good thing I said no because a few minutes later my party planner *ahem* Amanda called me and she needed me to stop and get bread on my way. Which I did. I was already back to my car when the heavens opened up. I turned off my iPod in favor of the radio, because I had a feeling the National Weather Service would be needed my attention any minute. I found out just how fast my windshield wipers can move. It wasn't fast enough. The rain was coming down so hard and fast, I could barely see.

Luckily, that only lasted a few minutes. (It lasted from 42nd St and Hiawatha to Marshall Ave in St Paul at 15mph). Even after the rain stopped, the roads were still underwater in some places. At Marshall and Cleveland there was one such sewer-backup-makes-new-lake issue. I watched the car in front of me drive through the lake before making sure the light was green and trying it myself. Once I was on the other side I thought, 'hmmm, I guess I was lucky it wasn't high enough to come in the doors, I wasn't watching for that'. It's ok, I got another chance when there was a similar (ultimately smaller) lake formation on Selby that I drove through after a truck.

The rain was such an event (seriously, there are no words) that several people wound up not coming to the birthday bash. Several of you did show up and I was thrilled to see you. Amanda cooked to win, won, and then drank to win. She won that too. Our birthday cake was 12-layers, homemade, with homemade butter cream frosting.

I did not drink to win, I drank to always have a beer in my hand but not puke. I met my objective.

The Chef showed up with some friends and they all hung out for a while. (Ok, 'the chef' is not the best nickname I could've come up with. Although at least he can laugh about it now too.) Apparently I'd met most of those guys the night of the catfish incident. It's not at all shocking that I don't remember them.

After most people left, Amanda, Kathleen, Julie and I went for a walk on Summit and Grand Ave. (Remember when I said Amanda was drinking to win?) We came home and I put myself to bed on the torture rack. Like Lake of the Isles, this was the most pleasant experience I've had on the rack. I woke up at 7am and fell right back asleep.

I woke up at 9am to Amanda getting water ('ohh, my head'), coming to my bed, curling up and sucking on her water bottle moaning. Kind of brings me some insight into the night Amanda got me that drunk. We got up and had Tex Mex and lots and lots of coffee.

Then I came home, planted myself on the couch and have been here pretty much ever since. I watched the USA - Ghana game, on and off. Sad that the USA lost but a big part of me loves that an African team is doing so well.