Why I Run

Hey!

I'm featured on Another Mother Runner today, talking about Why I Run... Click here to read all about it!

#1 and I just got back from volunteering at the Operation Jack Marathon this morning... recap tomorrow

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas, Happy Chanukah, mellow weekend, whatever.

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 Things Thursday

I ran 5 miles, slow and steady, Tuesday night. Nothing exciting to report. Not the best run. Not the worst. 5 miles more than 0, though, so there's that...

UNO

Let's discuss gym etiquette. All of my gym time is done in the tiny fitness center in my apartment complex. There are three treadmills, a stationary bike, 2 ellipticals. All in a row - treadmills nearest to the door. Tuesday, while I was running, I was on the first treadmill - right next to the door. I left the door open, because, hello, that room gets to be a JILLION degrees if it's closed, and the AC's aren't running, and since it was cold out, it makes sense to leave it open. Right?

Apparently not, if you're the dude who wants to play on the elliptical (not exercise, PLAY), while talking LOUDLY on your phone. Because consistently, that dude comes in and shuts the door.

Sadly for him, I was feeling extra pissy Tuesday night, during a semi-crappy run, and opened the door back up. I mean, who DOES that? Rude.

He was NOT a fan of me. But the other woman on the next treadmill over, she sure was.

Solidarity.

DOS

Thanks for all the well wishes for Gab. That's the thing with leukemia, and chemo, is it's kind of a roller coaster. Some days really, really suck, and some days, it's like there's nothing wrong. We seem to have figured out the right cocktail of meds/food/sleep to put a stop to the puking, so far, fingers crossed, knock on wood.

And she's feeling a bit better. Her hair is a little challenged, though :D

TRES

Christine at Oatmeal in my Bowl posted yesterday about words to inspire her in the New Year. I'm not really a big fan of resolutions - the way I see it, life is so fluid. Things change. I love the freedom of being flexible and not tied to something if circumstances change.

But I love her idea of 3 words to inspire her in 2012.

If I had to pick 3...

• Health
• Gratitude
• Generosity

“A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?”

I actually completed TEN races in 2011: 2 5K's, 2 10K's, and 5 half marathons.

Crazy, since I didn't run a single mile until October 2010.

I was going to say that 2012 would be a bit mellower, but.... let's be real.

Races already registered and/or committed to:
Tinker Bell Half Marathon, Jan. 29.

Mermaid Half Marathon, Feb. 12.

Race on the Base 10K, Feb. 25.

RAGNAR!, Apr. 20-21

PCRF Cinco de Mayo Half May 6, with Team Gab

Corona del Mar Scenic 5K June 2. *

RnR Seattle FULL MARATHON, June 23 -- did you know that's 26.2 miles????? WHO DOES THAT?

San Francisco FULL MARATHON July 29 *---no, but really. WHO DOES THIS TWICE?


Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon, Sept. 30 (?) *

Holiday Half Marathon, Dec. 12* ----I want that damn snowflake

Phew.

But that's not all.

Potential races, that I'd like to do, but I'm not committed to yet, or that I am planning on fitting in....

Orangeman Running Series 10K at Caspers Wilderness Park, 3/25.

And... IF the weather looks good, I plan on registering at the expo... Long Beach. Full? Half? Undecided. Oct. 7.


Things I'm DEFINITELY NOT RUNNING, but plan on spectating....

Operation Jack, 12/26 - I'll be volunteering at the 2.5 mile water stop! If you haven't already registered, sorry 'bout your luck. It sold out!


The Southern California Half Marathon, Jan. 7. This runs literally 20 feet from my house, so if you'll be there, I'll be there cheering you on!


Carlsbad Marathon, Jan 22

If you will be at any of these (and, seriously, HOW COULD YOU NOT I'M AT ALL OF THE RACES EVERYWHERE), let me know!

*still need to register

Plan for the Week....

Oh, running.

So glorious.

To recap last week...
Wednesday: 2 miles!
Friday: 4 miles!!
Sunday: 6 miles!!!

All of it pain free.

Like magic.

For this week...
Monday: Rest (and dinner plans with my favorite OC bloggers)
Tuesday: 5 miles easy
Wednesday: yoga? (<--I keep saying, so one day it might come true...) Thursday: 5 miles easy Friday: Rest
Saturday: 7 miles easy

I have to say, I am SHOCKED that I was able to run those miles last week with no trouble. Of COURSE it was a bit slower than I was in October, but... I definitely could have kept going. I was sure I lost all endurance, but apparently not.
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I was sent these Celliant socks a few months ago, before Jerk Shin, but didn't have a chance to really test them out before now.

And I pretty much love them. I'm not sure about the technology they profess to have, because I'm not super sciency, but from their website...

Celliant is a revolutionary technology that harnesses the body's natural energy through the use of minerals and fibers. Products containing Celliant have been clinically proven to increase blood flow and blood oxygen levels in the tissue and help balance temperature.

They FEEL great. I've never noticed how my feet felt before, so I can't compare these to regular socks, but my feet didn't feel tired, or hot. They are SUPER comfortable, too, which is unusual for me, because I am stupid picky about my socks.

Bottom line: Highly recommended!
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Um. Did you see there's ANOTHER RunDisney announcement? Bah. At least it isn't preceded by ridiculous clues, I guess..... (but, seriously, RD, please stop. You know I can't resist you....)
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Weekend photo dump!

Christmas shopping is OFFICIALLY done! Wrapping, less than done. Oh, and stockings. Also not done. But so close.

Next year, I swear it, we are taking a vacation instead of this presents business. It is SUCH a hassle, and we are powerless to cute things we see while shopping for paper towels at Target (and hence how we wind up with too many things for #3, and scrambling to up the ante for 1 & 2). It's just not how I want to spend my holidays.

Or maybe I just need to be more organized, and stick to a damn list.

You know. Either one.

Anyway, after months and months of scheduling conflict (aka, laziness), I made it down to the Irvine farmer's market (if you're local, it's on Campus, in the Trader Joe's parking lot, every Saturday).

Gosh it's glorious. I love shopping here.

We ended up walking out with

• purple cauliflower
• heirloom tomatoes
• parsley
• satsumas
• golden beets
• green onions
• radishes
• lemons
• purple potatoes

....and some other stuff I can't remember off hand.

All under around $20. Shall we discuss again the expense of eating healthy? If you're in SoCal, at least, there's no good excuse why you can't.

Somehow, I've missed this, but Gabby's been decorating our Christmas tree with...

Leaves. In the ornaments. Of course.

She spent the first half of Sunday just about like this...

the last few weeks have been not so great for her. For the most part, she's had very minimal side-effects from her chemo - occasional sleepiness, nausea, general blahness. But man, since her last lumbar treatment, she's been pukier than normal. One of the chemo meds we give her at night has to be given on an empty stomach, but before she sleeps, because it makes her nauseous; but now she's waking up in the mornings puking. We have an anti-nausea med that we can give her, but she hates it... so I guess it's like picking the least awful option for her - meds at night that she hates, or puking in the morning.

Stupid choices that a five year old shouldn't have to make.

Man, it pisses me off.

/rant

The Confessional... Friday Funnies included

Looking for more ways to find balance during the holidays? Click HERE for 281 FitFluential Tips!

1. Hey, remember MONTHS ago when I went to a concert? Rest assured, world, my Evan Dando obsession lives on. This song is my current repeat fave:


Lyrics HERE. (Confession: I play an Evan Dando mix on youtube all.day.long.) (Confession 2: Man, he's pretty) (Confession 3: I just gave him his own tag. ON MY BLOG. TOO MUCH)

2. We're 9 days out from Christmas. Have you finished shopping?! (Confession: I haven't)

3. I'm very, very excited to run tonight. (Confession: I'm equally feeling like I might lazy-talk myself out of it... it's been 6 weeks since I ran regularly!)

4. I haven't really posted about this much, but! Gabby is being granted a wish through the Make a Wish program. I talked about our meeting with the Wish Granter's briefly HERE. We heard back from the document coordinator this week, and they are hard at work on her wish.... TO DISNEY WORLD! Her official wish was to "meet Cinderella in the giant castle far away, because Cinderella is so beautiful". So, pretty much the cutest thing EVER. (Confession: I tried very, very hard to not influence her wish with my very obvious bias towards all things Disney - I succeeded, but #1 may have been busily showing her youtube videos of Disney World....)

Yeah, those are patent knee high boots. I don't know. (Confession 2: I obviously need to clean out our pile o' shoes, but I won't)

5. My mom flew away last night. The girls had SO much fun with her visit.

(Confession: I did more in the last 10 days in SoCal than I've done in a year. Lame)

6. I love that RunRacing lets you customize your bibs... I may have done this to the H...

He's just about as pleased as he seems in that picture.. (Confession: None, I don't feel bad) (The bibs made more sense when I was Mrs. Awesome. #1 was Awesome #1. I wrecked the whole party with Jerk Shin)

7. Yeah, she's sleeping like that. No commentary needed.

(Sorry, #2)

Three Things Thursday

I ran 2 miles Wednesday night, and it was glorious. 2 mi, 21:51. 10:55 pace. Interesting....

My mom has been visiting, so instead of resting my Jerk Shin last weekend, I spent 4 days playing tourist and showing off all the glorious reasons I live in SoCal...

1. Hiking... We spent Friday afternoon hiking at Caspers Wilderness Park

2. The Beach!! Saturday afternoon was spent tide pooling in Laguna Beach...

Best of three attempts.....

3. And Sunday? Joshua Tree. I adore this place.