Friday - Let the vacation BEGIN

April is my month of vacations. Sweet! Maybe I'll be coming to a town near you.

Exercise!: Last Friday I woke up around the crack of dawn and headed to the gym for a light workout of the rowing machine. (It's called I need to go the gym a certain number of times each month and last night I ran up big hills and then had beer. I'm doing my best.)

Provisions: Next was a quick trip to the Co-op when I realized I had no real food for breakfast and I'd probably need something for lunch as well.

Dentist - oh fail! No one knows why I scheduled a dentist appointment today. It was a quick one though. He just had to polish the fillings he put in earlier this year so they stop shredding my dental floss. Thank you!

More provisions: Clerk at Walgreens - no we don't have a travel section. Me: Yes you do; it's right here.

Airport: Thanks to Bonnie for leaving her family long enough to take me to the airport. Gramma called while I was about to go through screening so I called her back once I was through security and talked for a while. I enjoyed my gadgets and listened to all kinds of music. I snapped this photo of a fellow passenger. It made me smile that her wardrobe and the way she carried herself it was like she was already in New York.

Musical gates and musical planes: We started at C22, all ready to get on a flight that appeared to be on time. Then the gate agent made this announcement like the plane just accidentally went to another gate and would we all walk down to C16 and boarding would be basically on time. At that gate they announced the plane we were scheduled to take needed some maintenance and we'll have to use the plane from the next inbound flight which is a few minutes away. A few minutes later gate agent kindly asks us to haul ourselves back to gate C21. We were delayed like 45 minutes I think. (Good thing I had a nice lunch!)
Final announcement from Gate Agent was "plane side checking luggage is not an option. If we hand you a pink tag and advise you to check your luggage you must do so or step out of line so we can board other passengers". Hilarious.

Welcome to New York - Mark came to pick me up at the airport. We headed back to the apartment and stayed in for the night. I got to meet Little Cousin and hang out with everyone. Fantastic.

This guy thinks he's the welcoming committee.

Here's the other welcoming committee!

Music Tuesday

I spent most of the day asleep (vacation: WIN for Lizzo!).  Happy Passover to all who know what I'm talking about.

I did make it out briefly.  I purchased provisions for Crispy Roasted Chickpeas and sesame kale salad. I made them both and am hoping they freeze well.  I think there may be too much honey in the sesame kale salad.  I can't be sure yet.

The rest of the day has been spent listening to some great music courtesy of Pandora and some great songs I heard on vacation.  It's been a very acoustic kind of day. Take a listen:

• Peter Bradley - The Longer I Run.  Thanks to Pandora for this one.
• Are You Alright - Lucinda Williams.  Apparently Irmghard sings this to Little Cousin.  I think it's a beautiful song.
• Poco - Keep On Tryin because I saw a rerun of that Bones episode on vacation.
• Marc Cohn - One Safe Place because I love Marc Cohn.
• Let My Love Open the Door - M Ward which is less like the original and more similar to the Steve Carrell version in Dan in Real Life.  This version is full of awesome.

I just saw a Blue Herron! Ask me about Spring!

5:00am: Why did I think going to the gym at this hour would be a good idea?  I reset my alarm.
6:50am: This hour is only minimally better than the 0500 hour.  Got up, took a shower, ate some oatmeal (yum) and started work at home.
8ish: Drove to St Paul and started the work day in earnest.
2:00pm: Two meetings and two home visits later I finally arrived in the office.
2:01pm: I hate coverage.
5:30pm: Bar Girl (shortened from "Girl the other girl met at a bar") and I ran up big hills.  We named the hills "Papa bear" (miles 0-1.5), "Mama bear" (miles 2.2-2.8) and "baby bear" (short hill right after mile 3).  It was a blast.  Bar Girl liked the route and was even willing to entertain the idea of running up all of Montreal Avenue, from the bottom.  (Just to see if I can.)
7ish: To the bar.  We went to this little neighborhood dive in the West 7th neighborhood.
The moment I turn around: Bar Girl is talking to a semi-retired history professor who wanted our table and was giving us a fascinating look at the history of St Paul.  I love hanging out with extroverts.

Photo from here.

On the way home: That's a Blue Heron!!.  Nothing says warm weather like shore birds.  Just saying.
Now: Doing laundry and drinking another beer.
I don't have to go back to work until next Thursday.  Niiice!

In which my leg hurts and other random thoughts

Thought process for the week: "I need to do at least a 10-miler this week.  Sunday and Monday are out for recovery days.  Friday and Saturday are out becuase I'm busy both days.  Thursday is out because I have an 8:30am meeting.  Wednesday it might do the r-word".

Those of you who could follow my thought process: good job!  For everyone else: Tuesday is the only day I could've done a long run.

I have this issue where the night before long runs I have a hard time falling asleep.  All I can think about is my route and how early I'll have to wake up and what snacks I should bring (Gu: yum) and so on.  To calm myself down last night I practiced a new technique: don't think about the run, just think about the outfit.  I also made an agreement with myself that I could do 10 miles on an elliptical instead of running if I wanted because of some of the other mileage I have planned this week.

At 5:20am the elliptical sounded better than outside so I headed over to the gym and spent quality time on several ellipticals.  (Thanks to the YWCA for straightening out your billing issue by the way.)

Work was fine.  At the end of the day I ran with a member of team:work who is also now GymBuddy.  Because I avoid the Y during the 'after work gym rush hour' at all costs, we ran outside tonight and had a nice time.  Other than my right leg which hates me.  I'm experiencing the 'this is more than stiffness or a little ache' ACHE in my quad (which happens sometimes) and my ankle (which is new).  It started during the run and is finally being alleviated now by ibuprofen.  Mercifully it is the kind of pain that responds quite well to one dose of ibuprofen and won't come back after the drugs wear off.

After elliptical, work, and running, I headed out with Crazy Kat Lady (is that her name now?) for Punch Pizza.  I was happily surprised that I like the Neo style pizza despite the picture of the tomato on the menu.  Yum.

Before I go, let me tell you about one of my new favorite songs.  How had I not heard this before?

Hill training

Last night I got this text - 'wanna run tomorrow' from Neighbor Bok who is apparently a new running buddy as well.  Neighbor Bok said to text with other new running buddy, 'girl I met at the bar' (they need better nick names; open to suggestions) and figure something out.

Since these are new running buddies, I didn't feel I could say no despite having run 11 miles.  Maybe it'll be a recovery run?
The fact that I only own three running bras meant I had to do laundry last night as well.   (Not that many guys read this; it's fine.)  Running Saturday quickly turned into chore-and-productivity Saturday.  (Nice that's it's done now though.)

This morning I woke up and headed over to 'girl I met at the bar's' house with Neighbor Bok.  We ran down an awesome hill; and then we ran back up it.  New running buddies are faster going up hills than myself so they're good training partners, even better practice for my next race.  You may have heard me mention before, this race has quite the uphill.  The half-marathon (my race) has a fairly technical descent as well.

I think I won't see Neighbor Bok again until next week.  I will see Girl I Met at the Bar for a Thursday night hill run I think.  Perhaps I can convince her that this route will be a good idea.

I also need to pick an early day and go see the St Paul runners whom I have not seen since the day I had to stop running because I nearly hacked up a lung.  (See; that was so bad I didn't even write about it.)  And I need to find a day before Friday to either run 10 miles (ha!) or find a time to spend quality time of the elliptical.  Wish me luck!

Running Saturday - 11 miles in the books!

I decided it was time to actually start doing long runs again since the Flying Pig is actually coming up pretty soon and I did pay all that money.

Last night:  I was thinking to myself, 'huh, the only real 10 mile route I have is underwater at the moment.  I guess I'll have to come up with something else.'  I have a couple twelve mile routes over the river or involving some combinations of the lakes but 12 was too long.  The closest I could come was either a nine-miler involving a weird lap-and-a-half deal at Lake Harriet or an 11-miler likely to involve a large hill.

This morning: Why is it still dark out?  Must be too early to get up

A few hours after that: Ok, I'm awake.  Don't think about the run, just think about getting dressed.  It seems to be how I get myself going in the morning.  I picked out a cute outfit and then gasp got out my fuel belt and loaded it with some water and a gu pack.

 Here's the route I took.  Ultimately I chose the hill because I need the practice. 

The run itself was uneventful the first seven or so miles.  I was able to go a little harder than I'd originally anticipated and felt like I had lots of energy.  I saw a Bolder Options pair training at the lake.  (I know my people.)  Then I headed back down to the creek.  A vague sense of dread *panic* set in around this time because I was thinking about the hill I'd have to scale to get home.  Dynamite (Taio Cruz) came on my iPod at what is literally the low point of the hill.  The song had a fantastic calming power and I made it up the hill just fine.

The run down the hill could've gone better.  ::Side note to the toenail on the big toe of my right foot - you are the only part of my entire body that hates my new shoes.  You only seem to hate the new shoes when we run down big hills very fast and you bang into the shoes for some reason.  I'll work on solutions, I promise.  Let's make peace before the Pig.::

Once my toenail stopped protesting:  Running back along the creek towards home is always where I loose my mind.  I just want to be done and can't seem to calm my body down.  (Seriously, slow the hell down, there's a couple miles left.)  Plus there's this hill coming up from the parkway to 46th street.  (Who puts a hill that big at the end of a run like that?)  I made it all the way up the second smaller-but-still-full-of-suck hill and even better, past the 10-mile mark before I started throwing in walk breaks.  (Seriously, it's 11 miles and my longest run before that was 6.7; it's fine.)

Post run: I have several thoughts post run.  Here they are in no particular order.

• Gotta find headphones that don't pop out of my ears.  Sadly, noise cancelling headphones are unacceptable for road running because they'd fit the bill nicely.
• That huge blister/cut I get on my back from the Fuel Belt - it's like seeing an old friend.
• My calves hate me.  This forefoot striking thing is not for sissies.
• My arches hate me.  These shoes are not for sissies either.
• I wonder what's going to happen to that toenail?  My one toenail on my big toe; it's not going to fall off I don't think.  It just hurts when I run down hills and me toe slams into the front of the shoe.  I'm experimenting with ways I can trim the toenail to reduce pain on impact. 
• These shoes are PINK
• I need more Gu.
• There should be a little man who cooks me breakfast after these runs.
• Speaking of breakfast.  Mmmm. Bacon and eggs.  At 12:15pm.
• It's 3:30pm.  I'm hungry again. 

Whoamygosh I can run!

Great success.  I got up this morning and went for a run around the lakes.  When's the last time I did that?  I honestly have no idea; long before the snow fell I'm sure.  (Winter has been rough.)   I was a little on my guard still this morning looking for snow and ice patches but it was all unwarranted as I found none.  Even the running path along the creek was open, meaning the creek went down a few feet.

I ran tonight with team:work as well, we 2.8 miles and used the intervals from week 3 of the couch potato plan. A new member joined team:work and we will call her the "fastie in sheeps clothing" 'cause she's got some speed.  She's still building up the endurance and getting used to running but she's got a great level of fitness to start with.

I'm starting to anticipate my next race (the Flying Pig Half Marathon) with excitement.  I should probably start working in some longer runs.  Sadly one of my favorite training spots, Ft Snelling, is under water right now so I'm looking for a different place for 10-12 mile runs with hills.

While I'm figuring out a 10-12 mile route with enough hills to prepare me for Cincinnati, here's what I've been listening to from my Kansas trip play list.

• Summertime - New Kids on the Block.  I am precisely the right age to like New Kids and this song.  I feel no shame.
• Spoonman - Soundgarden.  I believe that was playing whilst I was running in 91* and 50mph wind gusts.
• Dynamite - Taio Cruz.  For some reason this song plays louder than all the other songs on my iPod and it makes me want to run fast when I hear it.
• Hey Hey What Can I Do - Led Zeppelin which is a better running song that you'd think at first.
• Misguided Angel - Cowboy Junkies.  This is not a running song but I did listen to it on the car trip and a few nights before falling asleep.  And it's fantastic.

Vacation Kansas - Day 4: The Drive Home

Monday is driving home day. The paint reared it's head today. It survived the 90* heat, a rain storm and hail the day before and continued putting up a fight today.

The ride home was uneventful.  I did eat more cheese balls.  So did everyone else.

We kept trying to find a car wash.  Reality: vans may or may not be appropriate for an automatic truck wash but Beth was not willing to pay the $25 it would've taken to find out.

Vacation Kansas - Day 2 (Saturday)

Sun is shining in Kansas.  In Minnesota it's dreary and cold. 

Saturday Kansas rolled out the welcome mat for me and I totally enjoyed it.  It was 75* and sunny.  Niiiice.

In the morning we went to Khol's because Beth had a coupon burning a hole in her pocket.  (Actually it was a wild combination of multiple coupons that could only be used that one day.)  I got the orange jacket featured above.  It's almost as bright as the sun.

Beth's family dropped me off at home for my nap while they visited some old and new family friends.

Then they came and reclaimed me so we could go to a place called Yello Sub.  Beth said it's a great place to eat and I enjoyed my meal thoroughly.  I maintain that Beth and her mom only wanted to eat there so we could hear Beth's youngest daughter say the word "yellow" several times.  (It comes out 'lellow' and certainly added to the experience.)

After lunch we headed home and did some light yard work for Beth's mom.  Everyone helped.  Snow shovels double as a nice dust bin for leaves.  Just in case you need that information.

Snow shovel and flip flops.  

Then we all walked to the park at the end of the street.  The park has a 'spinning thing' which is very fun and not exactly what you think it is, but similar.

The park also has some fantastic static cling which Beth's older daughter demonstrated.

Magnolias.  In bloom.  Kansas has rolled out the welcome mat nicely.

Beth and I left the girls at the park with her mom and headed into downtown Lawrence for packet pickup, general tourism, and to meet all of team Bringing Up the Bok.

Kathy sporting the team uniform.

Cotton candy: $3 as big as you want it.

We met at the Free State Brewery (if you've been to Lawrence, you know what I'm talking about) for beer and planning.  Then we went over to Bob's (he's the only guy in these pictures) place for pre-race pasta dinner and van decorations.

That paint plays an important role in the rest of the trip too.  Much like the cheese balls.

Vacation Kansas - Day 1

This is a Minnesota swimming pool in April.  It's still cold here.

Friday morning: I woke up and finally came to grips with the fact that I need to run a relay on Sunday and should run outside without stopping at least once before then.  The running outfit was tights and fleece pants, a winter running shirt and vest and wool socks.  (Just for reference.)

It took me all morning to pack.  I finally just had to pick about five different running outfits because the weather predictions for Lawrence had been so unbelievable up to then.  I also did some cleaning around the house so I'd have a clean place when I got back.

In the afternoon I headed over to Beth's and we started the trip.

Cheese balls were very important to our trip.  We had a container of cheese balls roughly the size of a five year old.  It was more or less the perfect size.

Friday was mostly driving but we did stop a couple of times and have some fun in the gas stations looking at all the candy they have in those places.

Anyone who's been to Iowa knows this is a gas station chain there.  Everyone else just thinks I have a dirty sense of humor.

My car buddies modeling hats at the gas station.

We arrived in Lawrence around 10:30pm and went to bed shortly thereafter.  I was in the 'tv room' at Beth's mom's house.  The TV room features a sofa-bed that is was surprisingly comfortable.  (Sorry Amanda.)

Vacation: Kansas - Day 0

It all started when a friend called while I had a high fever and would've agreed to anything and was possibly delirious .  Apparently I did agree to anything.  I still haven't figured how we're going to get the horns on the van.  Today (soon), I am going to be a member on a relay team running this race.  So I was trying to pack and I thought, "I'll look at the weather down there".

For reference - this is Minnesota weather

This is Kansas weather.

Eighty-four degrees! Are you kidding me? How does one even dress for that? Today I ran in running shorts, sweat pants, wool socks, a winter running shirt and vest. Where are my shorts? Do I even own any shorts? Followed by the best thought of all: I can wear my flip flops!.

Vacation Kansas - Day 3 In which we RUN

Why is it so early?  I feel like that's a question I ask every time I run with Beth.  Today was no different.  We got up around before the crack of dawn so we could meet at Bob's house at dawn and head to Kansas City.  In uniform.

Yes.  I did run in my horns but only for the first leg.  

The race starts off at a brewery (as it's called 'Brew 2 Brew) and the pre-race festivities did not disappoint.  Sadly, I could not partake as I was running the first leg for the team.

WANT!  Sadly, I must run instead.

Baby Bok in the Pink Shoes.  (They're not pink anymore after those gravel roads in the country and 50mph winds)

Team Bringing Up the Bok - sharing pictures on Facebook and getting me ready to run.

We started running at 7:30am.  Hilariously, the first 10 minutes of the run were up a hill.  Yes, I really did go up that long.  Then I had to stop in the middle of the bridge and go down this huge staircase.  This is where the real obstacle course began.  Because I had to follow surveyors tape through the pilings (and makeshift dump?) under the bridge over to the levy.  Then there was a concrete wall at the base of the levy and they had a little step ladder (here, use this) to accomodate runners to get up on top of the levy and keep running.  Then there were all these bridges blocking the path across the levy so we had to climb down what were now boulders to go under the bridges, then run back up the other side and back over more boulders.  I so wish I had my camera because it was unbelievable.

This was my favorite leg I'd run in any relay because I kept passing people.  By the time I passed the sixth of seventh person I was thinking "this is way less serious than Ragnar". By the time I passed like the tenth person I was thinking, "hell yeah, I'm really good at this".

It's almost Beth's turn to go!

I have no idea how I made it look like Bob is in a funhouse mirror but the effect is nice.

Anyone who's run Ragnar knows: The Wisconsin State Patrol would never have allowed this in that race.  Like I said, this race was way less serious than Ragnar.  And it was a total blast!

As the day progressed it got hotter and windier.  The first leg was really windy, mostly a crosswind, but not so hot because it was early.  My second leg was actually leg nine of ten.  By then apparently it was 91* and winds in the 30mph range with gusts up to 50mph.  It was only predicted up to 84* but like I said, Kansas put on a show.  My second leg was on a gravel road and the hills did not stop. Mercifully, I didn't know it was 91*, I thought it was still somewhere in the 80's.  (Hey, it's 50* warmer that in Minnesota, I can only gauge so much here.)  I legitimately ran the first two miles and started walking after that.  I ran all of the downhills because running fast down hill is my favorite thing ever and used telephone polls as landmarks to help me gauge how much of the up hills to run.  I did run up some of every hill and averaged about a 13:00 mile.  I met Beth at the end and just wanted a hug.  Sadly she had the same look of dread I'd had on my face 4 miles ago and she was not in the hugging mood.

Because of a weird parking situation at that exchange, runners get into whatever automobile is there dropping off a team member so I headed into Lawrence and the finish line with some girls from Topeka. I lost my other three team mates due to not having a cell phone with me (good thing too or I would've called for a ride at the bottom of one of those hills) so I waited around the finish line and ran Beth in the last 100 feet.  She was barely speaking to me after the race.  Luckily I had a big bottle of water for her and that helped.

After the race we headed back over to the brewery for our free beers and to hang out and celebrate.  Random piece of information - my hair was caked with sweat and dirt and was totally immovable.  Not even hair spray could've made that effect.

Yum.

Still smiling after running in 90*

We had three 50-year-olds on our team.  They drank me under a table.  (Not quite that much, but they put me to shame.)

Last call!  Almost time for a shower and clean clothes.

After the beer was gone we found out Team Bringing Up the Bok (that's us) won second place for 'best name' and Kathy got our prize for us.  Then we headed back to the car to drop everyone off and I got my last look at downtown Lawrence.

This is the guy who told us we got second place for our team name.  Watch as Kathy dances around in the background. 

One more for the road.  Note the sunburned shoulders.

In addition to the Magnolias, the Pear Trees are wonderful.

Beth's mom got us all Chinese food.  Beth drover her mom over to the restaurant to get the food and I stayed home with the girls.  (Probably good since I couldn't move.)  While at home, I got an impressive Hannah Montana concert from Beth's youngest.  Fantastic.  She really does know all the words.

This is the longest she stayed still for me to take a picture.

Now: Apparently not the time to get up early

Not the time to get up early - because I haven't successfully done it since last Friday.  So, not a whole lot of running going on right now.  I did 'run' 9 miles tonight, 3.2 with a teammate from team:work and the rest on an elliptical.  Now I'm sitting on the couch drinking a beer and it's the first time all day I've felt relaxed.  Let me tell you about some nice music that could relax you too (since I don't have much else to say)

• When I Fall - Lizz Wright.  I feel like I mentioned this one before once.
• Hit the Ground - Lizz Wright, apparently I have a new favorite artist.  Not sure where I found her, I think a song played at the end of some TV show I watch and then I found more on GrooveShark.
• I'd Rather be With You - Joshua Radin.  It almost sounds like a country song but is pleasantly not.
• Undiscovered - James Morrison, my current anthem.  I'm not lost, just undiscovered.

Firefox: Why?

Someone explain to me, when I'm using Blogger in Firefox and I go to add an image, I get this:

Just look for a minute

When I go to add images in the Chrome browser, I get the correct dialogue box, looks like this:

See how there's a button to "choose files" so I can tell the dialogue what to upload to my blog?  Don't you think that would work much better.

Seriously. Someone explain why Firefox started to fail. It used to work fine. (For those of you who are real nerds, it was in both Firefox 3.* and Firefox 4, with and without some Greasemonkey scripts running on that page.)

In which you can take your snow and STUFF IT

I am so over this winter, it's 82 inches of snow, and the record flooding that is and will continue to ensue as a result.  You know why?  Cause I can't freaking run!  This last snow fall was "it's 31* and this snow is wet, heavy, and icy" kind.  And the residents of the Twin Cities, along with MnDOT and plows from most municipalities just decided not to do snow removal of any kind.  Seriously.  So there's no running outside.  Happily, almost without me noticing it, one of my Team:Work teammates has become my running buddy at the gym.  (I think I've mentioned a time or two how the track is like the pit of despair but it's not so bad with company.)

Tuesday was the busiest day of my life, possibly the most productive I've ever had at my current job.  (Hilariously it was the day that proved my heart is made of stone.)  At the end of the day I ran my co-worker around the track and sang to her.  (That's kind of a joke, when she gets out of breath I sing songs to take her mind off things.)

Wednesday morning I woke up to this:

Just why?  It took minutes to get the snow off my car.  It was that wet and heavy.

Here's what the suck will look like for the day

And a close up shot of the suck in the Twin Cities

Wednesday was also the day they thought it would be fun to do Laughter Yoga at work. So not for introverts. It was like an hour of torture.  Although with the best of intentions.  Then we had lunch to celebrate Social work month.  Things got even crazier.

Live long and prosper!

Shortly after that I left work because between 8am and 1:30pm, my car turned back into this:

Today, I worked a full day. It was fascinating to see what our plow guy did to our lot at work. When you see where he put the snow piles it was like "yeah, that's one place you could have left the snow but it's in like four spots now". I did run tonight.

The plan for tomorrow is go to the gym, come back home and log onto a webex training and conference call, then let the weekend begin.