Space-baby

OMG. I am completely crashing right now - and it feels so good. I'm a little space-baby. It makes sense in my head.

So this was yet another week in our "let's not do shit" plan. We did so much stuff the first year we lived here, it's nice to feel like we can enjoy our city without frantically trying to cram stuff in. Having said there, there is still SO MUCH STUFF left that we want to experience - NYC never gets old. Something is *always* going on here.

Literally, we did nothing this week. We didn't hit up our bar, we didn't go out for St Patrick's day, we didn't go out to eat. Home-boundness got into us.

Work was hard this week - about 6 months ago, I got put back onto projects that are specific to my old division, and trying to run these projects from 3000 miles away is turning into a real eye-opener about this role. I had a bad day on Friday, one that caused me to lock the door to my office, and cry for 10 minutes. Then I had to keep the door locked for another 30 minutes until my face cleared.

Um, what else? Thursday we watched UK WIN! And more importantly, Lousiville lose! We had talked about going out, but I've had the stress sleeps again (4:45 am wakeup time? Why not!) and I was crashing hard on Thursday night. Plus, the combination of St Patricks day and the start of March Madness and a gorgeous spring weather day led to the craziest bar scene I've ever witnessed. Every bar I passed on the way home was filled to overflowing.

Friday was another beautiful day - 70's and sunny. It was also a day I got stuck at work until almost 9 pm. It was still nice on my walk home at least, but it did suck.

I felt bad because Mr Pooh texted on Friday night - he was in a really good mood, and just sharing some good vibes, and I texted back "wah wah wah, my life sucks! I want a beer!" He was very cool though, and told me to take it out on my run today.

So today I was back up at 4:45 am, and was messing around on my computer in the living room when I wracked my neck - I twisted it hard. I went back to bed around 6:30 am and could only get to sleep by cramming my arm under my head, which put my arm to sleep. I woke up around 9:30 am, and told Blondie I was worried about the run because I was both stiff and sore as all get out. We headed out anyway, into the wind, for a 7-miler. And we rocked it out. My neck pain was non-existent while running (it's back in full-force right now), and I managed to get the whole 7 miles without stopping, in a 11:39 min pace. This is the *exact same pace* I ran last week, and while I would like to be 9 sec per mile faster, keeping the same pace for a mile longer run is awesome.

Blondie rocked his run out in a 11:21 min pace, and he discovered a new path to keep us from having to play "dodge the crowds" for a section of the course that's close to our house. So I'll be doing that next weekend.

After our run, I got myself a bright red pedicure - my toes were a wreck from all the running, and the athlete's foot (which finally healed). Then Blondie came and met me for ethiopian for lunch, before we hit up the liquor store for some scotch and wine. I plan to lay on the floor until 6 pm ish before packing, and then we are going to split some wine while we watch Wisconsin win. The Wildcats won again today - so it's been a good day all around.

Tomorrow I have a bright and early flight back to good old California. I intend to land, workout and then meet up with my good friend KT to see how her new job is going. The week is going to be packed with running, work, and happy hours. Every night is already booked solid.

This was week 6 of training. Monday was a rest day, Tues and Thurs I did 4 miles on the treadmill (Thurs run was at 10:49 min pace), Wed was a 2 mile hill interval run, Fri I did my 30-day-shred level 3 along with bootcamp level 2 dvd's, and today was 7 miles. Tomorrow I have a 50 min cross-train, so I'll either do a walk with hand weights, or hit the precor up.

Have a great week everyone.

--K

A hot mess

The gross parts first - I have athlete's foot under 3 toes right now, with one toe actually having it so bad it's extended down between the toes. I feel somewhat like a bad ass in that "woot, I sweat so much I have bad athlete's foot under, count 'em, 3 toes!" and somewhat like a disgusting slob in that "wow, I can't keep my feet clean enough that I don't get athlete's foot". On top of that, it's starting to get into the 50's and 60's here (WOOOOOOO HOOOOOO) so it's getting time for cute shoe season as opposed to snow boot season, and I NEED a pedicure. However, I'm not about to subject my pedicure place to the disaster of my athlete's foot at this moment in time.

On top of the athlete's foot, I've been running so much that I have permanent raw marks where my pants rest on my hips, and under my boobs where my jog bras hit. So on top of having to spray my feet down 3-4 times a day, I also have to have Blondie neosporin the crap out of my skin. I feel pretty, oh so pretty.

That's the disgusting parts. The other parts of the week were okay. Monday was a typical Monday, and I'm always so relieved when it's over. Tuesday was 11 years that Blondie had told me he liked me (11 years ago on Fat Tuesday is when he first hit on me - I don't remember the exact date and while I could google it, I'm lazy. So we just go with Fat Tuesday). I texted Blondie to tell him, and he said we should go celebrate. I came home that night and we headed to the bar for a few drinks - we've been through a lot, and neither of us thought we'd make it, but we have. To 11 years - we did it hottie!

At the bar, we met up with our good friend - her fiancee lives overseas, but had flown in that day and so we got to meet him. We've skyped him before from the bar, which makes me laugh, but meeting him in person was so much fun - so it was double good that we went out that night. The bar wasn't serving food that night due to a private party taking place there also which was a catered event, but I happened to notice on their special list that they had meatloaf which is the bomb diggity let me tell you. I pointed it out to Blondie, and then when I came home on Wednesday night, Blondie was all like "I need meatloaf!" so we headed back to our bar again for dinner.

On Thursday I had enough. My coworkers and I had done "lunch" and a couple of frothy beverages later, my defenses were lowered. My feet are a wreck, my skin is a wreck, and then I noticed that I had like an inch of dark brown roots - so I went in and got my hair dyed to a brownish-reddish color (auburn I guess). I love it! It's like dark shiny chocolate - it makes me want to eat it. After my hair appt, I met up with Blondie and one of his friends from college whom he hadn't seen in 15 years. The friend was in town for fun, and the 2 of them met up for a bit, and then we all headed out for pizza. It was a good night and the friend was a lot of fun.

On Friday night, I came home and wanted pizza - we had split pizzas on Thurs night and I had only had 1.5 pieces; so Friday night, I made Blondie order in some more pizza. It was tasty goodness, and the carbo loading helped, because Saturday we got up and headed out for a 6 mile run. I was nervous as we walked out to Riverside Park as I felt my head was not into the run. We started out and my body was also not into the run, but I managed to keep telling myself "just a few more steps" and before I knew it, I had settled into my rhythm. I felt like the time was dragging for the first mile, and then I flew from 1 miles to 3 miles. We turned around at 3 miles, and hit an enormous head wind, but I stuck with it. I made it all the way back without stopping, and did an incredible 11:39 min/pace per mile. It's only 9 secs more than I wanted, and it's only my 2nd outdoor run of this training program!

After our runs, we headed up to the barber shop so Blondie could get a haircut and straight edge shave. His skin feels like butter right now, and his haircut is a really good one - he went in looking like "Wild Blondie" and came out looking like "Sexy Blondie". Although he still is sexy even when he's wild. :) After the haircut, we both had cravings for "bad for you salads" so we hit up the bar - I got mixed greens, grilled chicken, goat cheese, grilled onions and apple; Blondie had the kitchen sink - avo, tomato, grilled chicken, cucumber, mozarella. Both were tasty and the beers were on special due to March Madness.

We got home yesterday afternoon and both just crashed out - no more energy to do anything. We ordered in peruvian food last night (so f'ing tasty), and I was in bed around 9:30 pm. Today I've alreay been down and done cross-training on the precor, and now we are waiting for our groceries to be delivered. No plans yet for the day, and it's a good feeling.

This was week 5 of training (12 week program). I took Monday off, ran 4 miles on Tuesday, 2 miles with hills on Wednesday, 4 miles on Thursday (in 11:03 min/pace!!!!!!), did an hour long stretching DVD on Friday (I was a bit sore), did 6 miles outside yesterday and 45 mins on the Precor today. I'm excited for my run. Blondie is doing really good with his training also, and Mr Pooh is race-day ready already.

I've also started making lists of things we will do when Mr Pooh gets to town - so much stuff to do (and no, it's not all food and beer lists). Blondie and I wanted to take Mr Pooh to a pro sports game, but the only team playing in town is the Yankees, and Blondie is a "no way" to seeing them. But the rest of the list is coming along nicely.

I'm off to CA a week from today - and will get to do all my training runs that week out there along the bay - I'm excited about it, assuming the weather cooperates. And Slick and PFunk will be flying in for a visit that Friday that I get back, soooooo happy to see them again!

--K

The Best Laid Plans

Blondie was doing a month without drinking, from VDay to St Patrick's Day - he was doing this because half marathon training has kicked in, and we are both trying to lose the last few pounds that have been hanging around since last August when we plateau'd.

I came into our apartment building on Monday night after work, and was digging in my bag for the keys to the mailbox when I noticed my phone had a message on it. It was Blondie, and it turns out that Blondie's old roomie was in town for a few days! This guy was awesome, he was Blondie's roomie when I first met Blondie, and I have a very embarassing story about it all (embarassing for me). Anyhow, I turned right around and headed to the bar. It was so good seeing him and getting caught up on his life now (husband, dad), and then just being at the bar and seeing all of our friends made Monday feel not so much like Monday.

Tuesday, my BFF from work had a very bad day, so we headed to a bar on the UES for some drinks. Some drinks turned into about 7 beers and a scotch, and then it was back to my hood to meet up with Blondie and his roomie again for another late night at the bar. Our walk home at 1 am led us to CVS where I left with a giant bag of M&Ms and a frozen pizza. Go me!

Wednesday I went to work feeling like ass - I also thought I looked like ass, but ironically, everyone stopped to tell me that they loved my hair that day. I had it in a high ponytail with a small headband wrapped around the front part to keep my bangs off my head - it's my typical workout look, but I hadn't washed my hair on Wednesday so I just threw my hair up instead.

Thursday was a lot better - it wasn't Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday which automatically makes it good, and I had one hell of an awesome run! I did my 3.5 mile run in 10:37 min pace, which for me is like FLYING. I'm typically a 11 min to 12 min pace, so 10:37 min pace was elating to say the least.

And then Friday was pretty good - my girlfriends were going out drinking after work, but I knew I had my first long run outside on Saturday, so I declined. I came home and ate some pasta for dinner with Blondie and was in bed pretty early. OMG. Could we be anymore exciting? All I know that 2 late nights on Monday and Tuesday threw the rest of my week off. But still, I could've done that at 25, and then still partied Wed-Sat. Old. Lame. Old. Tired. Old. Le sigh.

It was worth it though - the begging off of drinks. As Blondie and I headed out for our first outdoor run of the training on Saturday morning. I've been treadmilling it because it's been really cold here, but yesterday it was in the 50's and sunny, so we decided to just go for it. We both did 5 miles, Blondie in an 11:30 min pace and me in an 11:46 min pace. I'm aiming for 11:30 min pace for my half. I know that the first outdoor run always is slower for me, and that within a week, my pace will be back up to what I want, so I was just ecstatic to get the whole run in a reasonable pace from the get-go.

After our run, we both had major runner highs. We headed out for lunch for burgers - some of the best burgers I've ever tasted. 5 Napkin Burger in our hood - I had the original and Blondie had a bacon burger. We split an order of onion rings, and I had a side salad and a beer with mine, while Blondie had fries and a cider with his. It was so relaxing - we had done our 5 miles, we had some good food, and we had each other. Awwww, sappy! After lunch, we did our grocery shopping and bought out the fruit section of our farmer's market, before heading home to collapse. I never have pain after treadmill running, but my legs were SORE yesterday. It was worth it though because I slept the sleep of the dead last night. I'm normallly up 5-6 times a night for various reasons (pee, I thought of something, Blondie rolled over, etc - just a light sleeper), but you could've landed a jet beside me last night and I wouldn't have heard it.

Today it's raining like crazy - I need to go do 40 mins of cross training, either bike or precor. But other than that, nada. Cuddle a cat, maybe a husband, watch some bad TV. It's shaping up to be a good weekend.

I'm back to SF in 2 weeks for some more workadoodle, so I have that on my radar. And just a bunch of training in the meantime.

A couple of notes - the bean craving has not gone away, and I literally had chili 2 nights last week, and a bowl of black beans one night, and a black bean taco another night. It's getting slightly ridiculous.

This was week 4 of training. I took Monday as a rest day, did 3.5 miles in a good time on Tuesday, took Wednesday as a rest day (oops, that wasn't planned - thanks beer!), did 3.5 miles in a SUPER time on Thursday, did 2 workout DVDs on Friday (Bob and Jillian DVDs) and did 5 miles outside on Saturday. I'm getting excited to run the race with Mr Pooh and Blondie, show Mr Pooh my new city, and rock this half!

--K