Friday Fifteen...

5 miles again last night. Still slow and steady. Infinitely better than Tuesday, though, so that's good. It took all of my willpower not to play with the speed on the treadmill and finish sub-55, but alas. I refrained, and finished 55:23. SO CLOSE. Stupid restraint.

1. I'm having some friends over for Christmas dinner (with their pinch-able-cheeked baby), and we just pinned down a dinner menu yesterday: Fried goat cheese (for her and me), roasted brussels sprouts, pull apart cheesey herb bread, mini scalloped potatoes (again for her and me), duchesse potatoes (for everyone else), rib roast, and some sort of pear dessert, because I have a ton of pears.

2. Thank you, Pinterest, for having lovely pictures of all of these things. Are we friends on Pinterest? We should be... Click HERE.

3. Deciding this was no easy matter....

4. In retaliation for denying duck (I'm assuming...), her husband sent me this beautiful thing...

But. Why? The only explanation is they hate me now.

5. I checked in with my little brother this morning (okay, he's, like, 23, so not SO little, I GUESS).

6. I still have one more piece of shopping to do. That will be done today after work. Hopefully.

7. And even after that, I have food shopping to do. Bah.

8. Plus wrapping.

9. And decorating. I mean, we're decorated, but not for dinner with guests. And normally I wouldn't, but now that I got all geeked up on some fancy dinner party, I feel like I need to decorate.

10. Do you see what I did just now? Created my own stress vacuum in my head.

11. I've lost 6 lbs since early November. That includes Thanksgiving, so we're clear. And I didn't NOT eat anything I wanted. I ate all the things that I dreamed about. And it was all glorious.

12. Take THAT, holiday chub.

13. I feel like kind of an asshole. Everyone in my office is exchanging gifts and giving me things. I had NO IDEA they did this here, so I have... nothing. I mean, I brought hummus and pretzel crisps to the pot luck, so there's that, I guess..... Sorry, folks.

13.5. Plus, I fired three people in the last week. Yeah. I'm an asshole.

14. I am SUPER DUPER excited about the girls' Christmas gifts. And The H's.

15. I am SUPER DUPER MEGA excited for the gift the H got me (WEEK of AWESOME coming up...)

Three Thing Thursday

1. My job has big fat blocks on ALL outside websites, with very few exceptions. That's literally the first time in my career that I've been restricted. Dislike.

1a. It really makes blog reading difficult.

2. But the view from my office almost makes up for it. (Fruit Fly, we'll be running on that exact trail in.... 16 days!)

3. Have you checked out See Mom Run Far's giant NYC/Team Meb giveaway? Click HERE to see all of the great prizes she's got left. You really should be reading her blog. I hear she's BFF's with Dean and Meb....

Dear New Job,

I hate to set you up for disappointment later on, but I showered, did my hair, put on make up, and am wearing fancy (read: non-running) clothes.

But there's a running/biking path that is directly adjacent to you. I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before I decide to test it out.

Fair warning.

Please be kind,
Me

Friday, Friday....

Welcome back, Running Mojo. Man, I missed you.

Last night I did 5 miles total, 2 (4x400), 2:10-2:16, with 100 RI, 800 between sets.

1 mile sloooow warm up
1 - 2:23
2 - 2:10
3 - 2:25
4 - 2:17

1 - 2:15
2 - 2:14
3 - 2:19
4 - 2:15

.75mi cool down

So, not quite where I wanted to be. But it felt GOOD to run again.

Welcome back, indeed.

Today was my last day at work, and man.... That felt good, too. Sometimes it's just time to move on.

Tomorrow, I'm volunteering at the Team Gabby water stop for TNT. I seriously love volunteering, it's such a rewarding feeling. If you've never done it, do it!

Aaaaad, to round out my Fresh Start, I'm heading to the farmers market tomorrow for the first time in ages. It was a lot of fun eating fried Mac and cheese for lunch today, but... Really, me? Knock it off.

It's a new day, my friends.

Three Things Thursday

1. I'm a bit (teeny) of a Disney nut. Since registering for the Princess half, and booking airfare, I've determined that I'm now free to unleash my planning freak, and obsess over every teeny detail - like dining reservations. I want to make ADR's now now now! :D. Madness.

2. I totally thought, yesterday, that it was Tuesday. I was complaining to a couple of my co-workers about how I just don't feel like working the rest of the week, and I'm just blah. One of them said, "But we're leaving early tomorrow, it's like a Friday! Only a few hours left!"... And I totally said, out loud, "OH, we're working half days on Wednesday AND Thursday?? Awesome!".... Right. Except yesterday WAS Wednesday. My mind, she's lost.

3. I'm shopping for a new couch. The ones we have are a little creepy, I bought 'em in a hurry on Craigslist almost a year and a half ago, and my kids have wreaked some SERIOUS havoc on them. Which was fine, 'cause it was $50 and that's really about all I care to spend when I have a bunch of kids still. But these Craigslisters, in Orange County, they must be outside of their minds. True excerpt:

"$400. Notable physical damage caused by small hungry dog. Besides this it
is in great condition".

Really?? $400? Notable Physical Damage?

Right. I think we're going with this one from Ikea:


*************************
Christms plans, anyone?

Last year, we took kidlets to Laguna, and spent the day on the beach, then went hiking. All of that is out of the question now, thanks to the rain. For Easter, we took them rock climbing in Joshua Tree... I was told, in no uncertain terms, that there was ZERO interest in either the beach or Joshua Tree. What is wrong with them?! I mean. What kid DOESN'T want to spend Christmas on a beach or rock climbing?? Sigh.

Things currently freaking me out....

1. My run last night was outside.
2. It was cold, and I don't like cold.
3. I still am not crazy about running outside, but it certainly does get better each time.
4. My shins started hurting again yesterday.
5. I had been pre-emptively icing after runs, but stopped because everything seemed to be under control. Apparently... Wrong choice.
6. I haven't received my bib number for Tuesday's race, even though H has.
7. The website does say I'm registered, so I probably shouldn't be putting that on my list.
8. I still need to buy socks for Thursday. No way I'm racing without Socks.
9. The weather Thursday am? 36*. Yikes.
10. I don't know if my Black Friday promos for work are going to actually happen, and I don't like working with incompetent folks.
11. I was hoping to bust out of work early tomorrow. I got a meeting scheduled at 1. Sigh.
12. I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet. None.
13. I don't even know what I want to get my kids.
14. I've been toying with the idea of not buying them anything. Crazy, right?
15. I'm inside. It's 55 outside. I'm wearing yoga pants, a thermal tee, and wool socks. I'm still cold. 36 looks rough.
16. I have a big project at work to inish, but I've spent the las two days doing (a) a project that is not anything CLOSE to my job (but it's certainly fun), and (b) in a 6 hour meeting.
17. I'm racing in 35 hours and 25 minutes.