Picture Saturday

Minnehaha Creek - moving waters melt

Possibly the brightest thing I saw all day.  Winter seems to wash out all the colors in the city.

On Minnehaha Parkway by Lake Nokomis - cool view of downtown between the  trees.

On the beach at Lake Nokomis - still waters are still frozen

Another view of Minnehaha creek, where I spent most of the day

Giant puddle on the way home - Minnesota means "sky tinted waters", just saying.

Best lattes in the world.

An unavoidably large pothole at Nokomis Ave and Minneahaha Parkway.  I thought it was the biggest one in the world.

Until I saw this impressively large and deep pothole on 15th ave on the way home.

Just glad I didn't fall in that last pothole.

On the road to back to humanity

The plague has hit my office.  Seriously.  It's been bad, some people with fever recurring after it's been gone for a day or two, some who've lost their voices, and today a social worker told me, in all seriousness, "Liz, you've lost weight since you were sick" (with the implied 'that's not an acceptable method of weight loss).

My colleague is correct.  I have had no appetite.  None.  It's all the gunk draining out of my sinuses making me mildly ishy inside.  Monday I worked eight hours.  (Good job.)  Tuesday I made it six hours and then came home and laid in bed the rest of the day and night.  I called it relapse prevention.  The problem was I didn't want to eat lunch so then I just felt weak and tired.

Today I knew I needed to eat, and I needed to eat actual food with vitamins and minerals.  I had a bowl of yogurt and granola with a banana for breakfast.  I ate about half of it.  (No, that's good.)  I had a burrito for lunch.  (Beans and corn and rice.  Good veggies no matter what you say.)  I ate over half of it.

Then I went for a run with Team:Work.  My boss asked me how it felt to be out.  "It feels like home".  It also calmed my stomach down.  When I got home I tried a raspberry smoothie.  I did not make it half way.  Oh well, breakfast and lunch were good at least.

I am still coughing a lot, a little nervous for a grown up run tomorrow morning.  There may be a 'save yourself' moment in this run where others go on ahead.  Running tonight felt good so I'm hoping for the same treatment tomorrow.  I also want you to know that my PINK shoes feel fantastic.  It just feels like I finally have the right shoes for the way I run now.  Nice.

Here's some music for you to enjoy since I don't have any pretty pictures:

• Stay the Night - James Blunt
• Ladies and Gentlemen - Saliva, strictly a running song.
• When I Fall - Lizz Wright, possibly one of my new favorite artists; she's been heavy on my playlist at GrooveShark.
• I'm Tore Down - Eric Clapton, recently reminded of the awesomeness of this song.
• Fountain - Sara Lov all that anyone ever has for you are the things you reflect back to them.

Observations from my first trip outside in four days

I haven't been outside since last Wednesday.  Seriously.  That's how sick I was.  And lucky that Amanda brought food.  Today marked 24 hours of being fever free so I went to the gym, just so they could scan my card for the good behavior discount and then got Chinese food.  Here's what I noticed

• Some of the snow has melted
• More snow has also fallen, as I observe a thin but pristine white layer of snow over all this stuff
• Some potholes were filled in, including some of the monsters along 31st street.
• More potholes seem to have formed, 42nd St and Chicago Ave, and other monsters along 31st street come to mind.
• There sure are a lot of people at the gym. Why?!?
• My ears are still clogged and I find hot wonton soup to be the best antidote in the world.  My stomach is still refusing medicine.

Taking a pause while recovering from the plague

Wednesday: Longest day ever at work.  I had to go to a training that was, um, irrelevant.  Then I had to lead a training.  I got a really nice compliment on the training I lead though.  All through the day I'm thinking why does my throat hurt?  By the end of the day I was also thinking I swear I have a fever.  I was so tired and felt so crappy that I didn't even take my temperature, I just went straight for the nyquil.

Thursday: Very early in the morning I realized that one dose of nyquil wasn't going to get me through the night.  Sometime after that, whoa, 102*, this thing is for real.  I spent most of the day on the couch.  Amanda brought rations including jello, oranges and popsicles.  Sometime Thursday night I had to take more drugs which my stomach didn't like.  The only thing my stomach would tolerate was the jello.  Thank goodness for Amanda.  I hate jello.  Never thought there would be a time it was acceptable. 

Friday: Oh good.  I'm still sick.  At some point I called work and got someone to water my plants.  Also, I swear I agreed to run some race in Kansas.  I'll find out more about that later.  I have no real memory from the fever frying my brain. Also, it burns my chest every single time I cough.  This shit is in my lungs.

Saturday: Woke up and took ibuprofen.  My stomach hates me.  No, seriously.  I think my stomach would like me to be drug free and suffer the fever pain for a little while.  The ibuprofen helped though because I felt well enough to load the dishwasher and take a shower.  Still left to do is strip the bed and put on new sheets.  I'm saving laundry for tomorrow.  I'm coughing less, believing more in the power of jello.

More snow - so we don't run out

Let the snow continue.  Remember last March when we had a drought?  All the puddles dried up and there was all this awesome running?  Yeah, me neither.

Land of 10,000 Puddles

Saturday morning brought the sobering realization that I hadn't been grocery shopping and had no food for breakfast.  Luckily I wasn't really hungry so I had pretend food and called it good.  Don't ask.

The forecast called for clouds all day, but the temperatures were supposed to be much closer to freezing than they'd been most of the week.  Remember the second day of March when it was -10*?  Once I opened my curtains (well after breakfast) I realized the 'clouds' portion of the forecast was completely incorrect.

Around 2pm I headed out for what I meant to be a 5 mile run.  (Where the hell can I go that will be five miles and not suck due to snow and ice?)  Ultimately it turned out to be about a 7 mile run, thrilled that I didn't die somewhere around mile 6.  I actually didn't realize how long it was until I got back and measured on a website.

I went on side streets around Lake Hiawatha to Minnehaha Parkway.  The Parkway was actually the biggest suckfest of the run because it was the only part I had to be on sidewalks that were shoveled by homeowners (the other sidewalks on this route are city park responsibility).  There were some big iceflows and some big puddles.  BIG.  I headed by Minnehaha Park and decided to stop and turn around when I got to the river.  (Who knew it was that far away?)

On the way back, instead of taking the parkway I took the actual Minnehaha trail which is maintained by the city.  Hilariously the first part of the trail was basically only groomed for snowshoeing.  (Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what 'groomed for snowshoeing' means.)  So I was back in the road for another little while but the road was nice and clear so I was fine.

I had a couple moments of "oh, that's a new song on my iPod.  Nice."  The best surprises were Forever Young - Rod Stewart which always reminds me of being on this bus near the Vietnam/Cambodia border and It's a New Day - Will.i.am which made me think of the most recent presidential election and my current life.

I wished I had my camera on the run. The creek is starting to melt.  Between the ducks (not even the stupid Canada Geese but actual ducks) and the sun glinting off the water, it was gorgeous.

I looked like a crayola crayon today.  There's just no other description for it.  It's a nice yellow hat though.

I'm wearing my new shoes.  There's no good words for exactly the degree of PINK they are.  I assure you, this photo doesn't quite do them justice.

After running I headed over to see my pooky bear.  She took me to Target so I could run errands (meaning so I could get Diet Pepsi) and then we headed over to Chili's so she could kill her gift card. A good time was had by all.

Not all of that alcohol is hers.  Apparently classic margaritas are always (meaning "every time we go") a two for one special.  Nice.

Friday - work

Friday was my last day of working on Fridays.  I'm switching my four day weeks back to Monday through Thursday.  Working so late I was the last person at the office on Fridays was more than I could bear.

Practicing my stealth skills - see how the Pepsi logo obscures the reflection of my face

Friday morning was a training - clearly I had some free time to take photos of pepsi cans and my shoes

I did actually make it to the office on Friday between training and a meeting at an agency about two blocks from said office.  After the meeting I badly needed food.  I headed up to Punch Pizza and finished up some paperwork while enjoying some awesome food *ahem* carbs; while enjoying some awesome carbs.

This place has the only pizza on the planet that I actually want.  Mmmm.

My pizza had arugula, goat cheese and prosciutto

My pizza is gone.

As per my usual, after work on Friday I was completely exhausted and didn't want to do anything. I could've gone to the gym, could've gone grocery shopping, could've done a few other things and chose to done of them at all. Instead I laid on my couch until moving to bed.

Bolder Options Thursday

Thursday morning I woke up and ran with the St Paul girls.  Have to get out before the weather starts right?  When I got back to my car, I saw these drops on the windshield and thought: Seriously.  Was it snowing while we were running and I didn't even notice?  Apparently so.  That was about all we got that day.

After running I had the longest day ever at work.  10.5 hours is a really long day. 

Then I headed over to Summit Brewery for a Bolder Options volunteer mixer that was doubling as a team Ragnar reunion and 2011 planning session.  Did I mention we were at a brewery?

I'm a Pilsner girl most of the time.

Let the scheming begin...

They have this thing called an 'oatmeal stout'.  I swear it's like a latte meets beer in a totally awesome way.

Beer goggles - literal interpretation

I am a Runner-Sicle

6:55am: Why is my alarm making noise?
7am: Start working - from my living room
8ish: Leave for a non-mandatory training in downtown St Paul.
Shortly after that: There was a train crossing the tracks on Shepard so I couldn't take a left in the normal place.  I went up one intersection and discovered the underpass was closed.  Why?! 
1.5 miles later: Do you know how far you have to go on this road before there's another place to turn around?  Turning around was ultimately a fail because everyone else had the same idea.
Some time later: I abandoned the training and headed in to my office.  Where I worked forever.

Sprout greets me at my office.  He looks really good.  Here's how he looked last week for a point of reference.

1130am: A walk to the Co op would be nice.
1135am: Arrived safely at Co op after realizing several homeowners and business owners on West 7th have failed to shovel their sidewalks.  Fail for me too right?
Work a bunch more
5pm: The happy revival of Team:Work.  Wow!  That wind is really something.  We ran intervals. It was COLD.  I had no plan today, other than a route that would allow us to safely run on the road.  Today will help me decide what to do for next week.  I think we need intervals and a race to work towards.  My goal for the entire year is to make the Monster Dash Half Marathon our A-race for the year.  I'm not sure I have them all convinced.  I mean it's March right?  Look at all the time we have to train.

See that sunshine up ahead?  Me too.

Winter running in Minnesota - how many layers do you wear?

After 6pm Home.  I want to watch old episodes of Bones and not think about anything.

Productivity Monday

Wake up: Love it when it happens without an alarm.

Exercise: I headed into the gym and did the "hill" routine on the elliptical.  I tried to also do the rowing machine but every time I did a 'stroke' my Achilles tendon freaked out and I have no idea why.  It was only on the machine, not walking, not on the elliptical, not up and down steps.  I've decided to not worry.

Bakery: Win!

Taxes: Even bigger win.  The  first return is done and eFiled.  I didn't realize what a big relief it was going to be to get that done.  I'll do the state return in a little while.

Shopping: I headed over to my friendly Apple Store.  (They are actually pretty nice there.)  Because of life I had to consider any combination of a new battery for the current laptop, a new laptop, or an iPad.  I played with the iPad for a little while.  I really like the display and the size of the thing.  The onscreen keyboard feels pretty good too.  I ultimately decided the iPad is not the thing for me until it can play nicely with both Firefox and Flash.  And someone tell me why the new laptops don't have the higher resolution display?  Obviously, I just bought a new battery for the current computer.  I am also considering an iMac desktop. 

Laundry: There was a lot today, three loads.  It was another 'let's take an hour to hang everything up' kind of day.  I drank coffee and watched Pirates of the Carribean (my laundry folding movie).

Now I'm waiting for the start of TV Monday.  New episodes of both  House and Castle.  Sweet!

Picture Sunday

The size of some snow banks in Minnesota - Note how the snow is several feet above the trucks in this photo.

This is what I saw when I got back on Tuesday.  It wasn't neighbor Steve's fault.  Apparently plow guy was having an off day.

The pile of snow after my car was removed.  Yes; that is a shovel sticking up there.

How I left my car after removing it from the snow drift.  Happily all that snow just melted off the roof.

How exhausted was I after shoveling and moving my car.

Stopping for a moment because that just looked like a cool picture.

Signs of hope: Sprout is sprouting.

Amanda has a flower too. (That little bud on the top left is her version of a flower.)

Will this winter ever end?

Trying to view this as the best thing that's ever happened - 'I've lived through a record breaking winter...'  Still trying.

Vacation Monday: In which it is too rainy for pictures

Cincinnati is awesome in the fact that it didn't get a foot of snow like my other home town.  (Sorry guys; I'll be back soon to get my share of it.)  It seemed to get about the equivalent in rain today.  I drove across at least one puddle and though "hmm, wonder how deep is this water and how much ground clearance does this car have?"

Morning: Mom woke me up and took me to Jazzercise.  I found myself unable to make excuses since it was so freaking wet outside.  There was no way I could run or do any other kind of activity.  The class was fine although probably not my thing all the time.  Mom was glad I went (which I should remember for later).

Lunch: Still Skyline time.  Just saying.

Vacation Monday afternoon: Mom and I headed over to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.  I liked it but I find the movies easy to follow since I've read the books.  The trick is to not read the books for a while, go see the movie and then re-read the book.  Don't re-read the book to put you in the mood for the movie.  No good will come of it.  The Danburry Dollar Saver on Glenway was filled with every bit of ghetto that I remembered and some additional suck when the GPS on my phone had a its own fail.  I can see the building but I'm in the back of it and there's no freaking driveway here.

In which I see a very old friend: After the movie I deposited Mom, safe and dry, at home and went over to see the girl who grew up in the other family of this two-family house I grew up in.  Our parents owned the house together but there were separate living spaces.  (It was an unusual childhood, looking back now.)  We grabbed coffee at a cool place over on the Northside.  Em and I hadn't hung out the two of us in many years and I had a really nice visit.  It's kind of nice to be able to find our own way to be friends now without living in the same house or our parents putting their expectations on anything.

Where is the food?  It's time to eat again?  We tried to go to the Green Dog Cafe which I support for its local and organic efforts.  Sadly, it's closed on Monday.  (I knew that from trying to buy a gift certificate there once but try telling Dad he's wrong.)  We wound up at an Indian restaurant near home which was nice too.

In which I teach my Mom about TV Monday: I made some joke about Monday being TV night in my house.  It usually is between House and Castle.  Tonight in between loads of laundry Mom and I watched both shows.  She was saddened to learn that Castle is a two-parter.  She is unlikely to stay up next week and see how it ends.

Planning for travel Tuesday:  I'm mostly packed now.  My running gear is drying downstairs since it is not dryer friendly.  I'll get up in the morning and fold that.  Dad was trying to have me at the airport several hours before the flight but I think I've got him talked down to about two.  I did call and talk to Bonnie so I have a ride home from the airport.

Vacation Sunday - Rain is better than snow

I woke up this morning to rain and cold.  I decided I could handle one or the other but not both for running.  Thus, I stayed in bed for another hour, woke up and cooked breakfast.

After breakfast Mom, Marge and I headed up to the Krohn Conservatory to look at the pretty flowers.  It was way less busy than the last time we were there.  It was nice to see Marge because I usually miss her when I'm in town.

For lunch I headed over to see Alicia.  I was thrilled to find her boyfriend is now a cook at the Lav O Matic and Alicia was thrilled to find out I knew how to get there.  We had a nice lunch.  The black bean burger was a little disappointing but the fries and beer were awesome.

Alicia wanted to take me out to see her parents new farm, and to visit with her parents.  Alicia's parents always supposedly referred to me as "quality people" and when Alicia was with me she had no curfew and no rules.  I must have been 'quality' because we never got arrested.  Or even pulled over. (Boring.) It was nice to see them again. I even got to hang out with Alicia's now 13-year old nephew whom I'd last seen about 10 years ago.

This is where I was when it was snowing 10-15" in Minneapolis.

The farm was beautiful and reminded me why I think Kentucky is the prettiest place on earth.  (I've been more places on earth than most people my age.)  The farm comes complete with a slave fence (no, seriously, they're really called that) and an outhouse her dad made.  I'm not sure if that was a joke.  This farm is actually even hooked up to city water.

The tractor is from 1942.  I was given more information about the tractor (like the model and manufacturer) but I do not recall them now. 

Alicia - outhouse in the background!

Vacation Saturday - doing all things Cincinnati Style

Running hills - Cincinnati Style I debated about what to wear (how do I dress for this temperature again?) and then headed out for a hill run in the neighborhood.  Proof that the Flying Pig is just around the corner: all of the Ronker's training groups I saw running the opposite direction (that means down the steep ass hill I was running up).  There sure were a lot of people but I love seeing them all out there. (I should really get registered for the race.)

Breakfast - Cincinnati Style  After running I came home and cooked the family a breakfast of eggs, toast and goetta.  I don't know where all in the United States you can actually purchase goetta.  So far Cincinnati is the only place I've found.

Shopping - Cincinnati Style  I've been in the market for a new pair of running shoes since, well, I probably should've replaced them before the marathon so it's long overdue.  We headed over to the running store so I could get fitted.  A note to my not-from-Cincinnati readers: I waited until I came back to Cincinnati so I could have these guys fit me for a new pair of running shoes.  We actually headed over to Target after the Running Spot and I helped my mom pick out some new Jazzercise clothes.  We placed the "try it on anyway" game.  My pooky bear taught me that game.  Someone always wins.

Friends - Cincinnati Style After shopping and 'lunch' which was toast with peanut butter and a banana I headed up to see Jenny and Doug.  They apparently have two dogs now.  We headed over to park near their house for a walk.

I'm not going down that hill -we're just going to have to come back up

My directive for the day was "I want to be outside"

The walk was nice.  We were up north of the city near what could have been the Little Miami River.  Although I was so totally turned around we could've been just south of Michigan and I wouldn't have known.

We were walking around sunset which means dinner time.  (Plus you read how small was my lunch.)  Dinner - Cincinnati Style

Hell yeah it is...

Grocery Shopping - Cincinnati Style, sort of  Another thing I wanted to do was visit Jungle Jim's.  It's easily the most bizarre, wild, fun grocery store I've ever been.  They get food from all over the world.  The packaged food is less interesting to me but I love looking at all the produce.  They had a lot of Asian fruits like the mangosteens and lychees.  Plus they had passion fruits which I crave constantly and can never find.  If I ever live in a tropical country, Passion fruits is all I will eat.  Ever.

To understand the experience - these are the bathrooms and yes, you really do go in there

Desserts - Cincinnati Style  Last on our agenda was dessert (duh) and obviously we went to Grater's.  There were way too many kids there.  I got three mini cones so I could have all my favorites: mocha, black raspberry chip, and dark chocolate chip.  Yum.

Tomorrow on the agenda I think will be playing with bats *ahem* seeing Alicia.  I mgiht get to see one or two other friends too.