Stuff I'm going to do, hopefully, and a thank you, with some preaching on the side

Plan for the week....

Last week:
Tuesday: 53 push ups, 170 sit ups, 2x30 sec wall sits, 3x30 sec plank; 3x1600 - goal pace 9:00, actual 9:00, 8:58, 8:47. 800 RI, 6 miles total.
Wednesday: 192 sit ups, 60 push ups, 2x30sec plank, 2x30 sec wall sits, 10 min arms.
Friday: 1mi warm up, 2@10:00, 2@9:45, 1mi cool down. Actual: 10:51, 9:58, 9:59, 9:41, 9:40, 10:30.
Sunday: 10 miles hilly.

I totally forgot to do my third day of cross training! Oops.

This week:
Monday: Cross training
Tuesday: 7 miles, 1 easy, 1 @ 10:00, 1 easy, 1 @ 9:45, 1 easy, 1 @ 9:30, 1 easy
Wednesday: Into the Wild OC Trail Run! I am SUPER excited about this
Thursday: 6 miles, 10x400 (also SUPER EXCITED about this, I love 400's!)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Cross training
Sunday: 8 miles

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The aftermath of The Steroid....

She's pretty unpleasant this week. Also, she's eating pepperoni non-stop. It's weird.





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Regarding Friday's video post....

First, thank you for all the kind thoughts. Honestly, before I posted it, I had a gchat conversation with someone, that kind of consisted of me cracking up at the video, and the hilariousness of it.

I really didn't intend for it to be sad, or whatever. I forget how NOT commonplace this is for most people.

Margot posted last week about being sad, and being cool with being sad.

This is kind of the thing, with me. I know I downplay a lot of this stuff - I get a lot of comments and emails about how "well" we handle things.

Really, I assure you, I have moments where I certainly DON'T handle things well. Sam posted last week, about hating autism. I know, it's like a no-brainer, of COURSE you hate autism. I hate cancer.

I don't want to put words in Sam's mouth, so just speaking from my perspective, it just becomes a part of your life, like going to the grocery store. It just IS. But sometimes, there's a bad day. Sometimes, I don't WANT to go to the uckfing grocery store. Sometimes, driving home, I melt down for a few minutes, with no catalyst - just because.

But overall, there's just not a ton I can do about it. So being sad, it just won't change anything, except then in ADDITION to the kid with cancer, I'd have a headache from crying. Not worth it.

What I CAN do, and hope I've done semi-successfully, is put a face to pediatric cancer.

A few weeks ago on Facebook I posted a link to an article about "chemobrain" in pediatric cancer patients.

I've bitched and complained about The Steroid over, and over, and over.

You guys, I complain about how unruly and unpleasant it makes my 5 year old, but just read about some of these actual, FOR REAL effects of the Dex:

• Patients exposed to dexamethasone had lower vocabulary, reading, mathematics, verbal memory and cognitive flexibility results as well as poorer emotional regulation
• they may be at risk for early-onset dementia and early aging decline
• [Dexamethasone therapy] has impacted how well they respond to and regulate stress
• association with the development of avascular necrosis of bone

The other treatment she received the day Friday's video was shot, was intrathecal methotrexate - this is delivered directly to her spinal fluid via lumbar puncture (the "procedure"). From that same article:

Children and adolescents suffer verbal learning and memory declines within 72 hours of receiving chemotherapy

It is unknown whether they recover from cognitive adverse effects

I'm not fundraising right now. I'm not angling for anything. But this stuff pisses me off, and apparently, the way I cope with being sad and angry is by trying to do things. Sam runs and starts a movement, Margot listens to Radiohead. I get fiesty about articles describing significant cognitive impacts.

None of these are right, or wrong, they just are.

I guess that's all I have. This isn't incredibly coherant, just some rambling.

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“Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances

Yesterday was procedure day for Gabby - lumbar puncture, tons of chemo, and the steroid is back.

Every time she has the procedure, she asks for no "silly medicine".

It gets good at 50 seconds in.



If I didn't laugh, I'd lose my mind.

WIAW. Kind of. But not really.

I am kind of perplexed by What I Ate Wednesday, and how it's posted on Wednesday's. I mean. Do you take pictures of the previous Wednesday's food, and save them for posting next week? Do you take random pictures of food all week, and post what you think looks best? I don't get it. Also, I would never actually do it properly, because I love food, and there's no way I'd be futzing around with it taking pictures before I ate every time.

No way.

Anywhos. Things I've Eaten and Took a Picture of in the Last Week or So......

Mmmm. Froot Loops.

Pizza. It's my favorite. I think I could eat this every single day forever.

Cool Lime Refresher. Not enough rum.

Quinoa tabouleh

Quinoa tabouleh is super easy.

 

Cook your quinoa - I always make a cup (dry), and it's PLENTY for us plus leftovers.

 

Let the cooked quinoa cool. Good idea to make it ahead - I try to remember to do it in the morning.

 

Chop up a boatload of fresh parsley, a bell pepper, one full bunch of green onion, one large cucumber (peeled and seeded).

 

When quinoa is cooled, add the vegetables, salt and pepper, and mix. Add about 1/2c lemon juice and 1/4c olive oil - eyeball these until it looks right to you, and taste it to adjust accordingly.

 

That's it.

 

Best served with heated fresh pita bread, trust me.

 

 

This summer nonsense can eff off.

For the last 3 months, while the rest of the country has been whining about The Hot, I've been sitting comfortably in SoCal's "hot" - 75* and sunny, cool in the mornings and evenings. Downright sweater weather at night.

Until last week.

I forget, every year, that summer comes to late SoCal - once everyone else starts cooling down, and I start seeing things about crisp mornings, and get all twitchy to plan some fall mountain getaway, SoCal decides, phawk, that's RIGHT. It's SUMMER! And suddenly it's a bajillion degrees, and even humid. HUMID.

It's so unpleasant.

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Plan for the Week!

Last week...
Monday: 4 miles; 3 mi easy, last mile fast (well, 9:20, fast for meeeee)
Tuesday: Cross training - sit ups, push ups, plank, wall sits, some yoga
Thursday: 6 miles; 6x800. Hard.
Saturday: Cross training - push ups, sit ups, plank, wall sits, yoga, 15 minutes arms (with weights!), stretching
Sunday: 8 miles; first .9 easy, sprint last .1. <--this felt really, really good.

Monday was my first run since SFM, and it felt not easy. My legs felt bleh and heavy and it was unfun. Thursday, also hard, but 800's are just hard for me. Sunday was magic - watched the men in the Olympic Marathon finish 16 miles in about the time it took me to finish 8. That's fantastic.

This week...
Monday: Cross training
Tuesday: 6 miles with 3x1600 <--this is not what I had in mind when I mentioned "easy August".
Wednesday: Cross training
Thursday: I'd like to meet some friends at the Run Like a Girl Fun Run hosted by a local Road Runner Sports. I have a training class at work that day, and hopefully I'll be out in time. Otherwise, 6 miles tempo <--also not on my "easy August" plan
Friday: Cross training
Saturday/Sunday: 10 miles, hills, gross


Next week...
Into the Wild Trail Run Aug. 22nd. Fingers crossed it's not a billion degrees.

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Semi (lies, totally) related to Friday's post, I'm semi-considering RnR St. Louis.

In what can only be described as the stars aligning:

• Only 2 Evan Dando shows have been announced.
• One of those 2 shows is in St. Louis on Oct. 18th.
• RnR St. Louis is Oct. 20th.

I know I recently swore off RnR forever, AND that I said I wanted to take training a little easier for awhile, but..........

So tempting.

I don’t get bored watching the tube

but holy bejesus, the Olympics are KILLING me.

They're on so, so late, and there's so much filler, and for REAL, what was that indoor cycling velodrome thing the other day? WHY?

I mean. I was super gung-ho about the whole deal before it started. I don't think I realized it was going to air until midnight every single day, and that NBC would stretch out all the good stuff so I was forced to not get enough sleep by staying up way past my bed time everydayeverydayeveryday.

Rude.

And the men's marathon is being aired here at, like, 3 or 4 am Sunday.

That's really early.
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For the first time in, like, 2 months, I've been following my PFTW.

Since I started tapering for Seattle (BACK IN JUNE), I kind of took my training schedule as a suggestion. Was I tired? Eh, let's skip that run. Does my shin feel wonky? Maybe. Adios, speedwork. Too hot out? Later, gator, long run.

It did not make for an easy return to 800's last night.

I did them, and I didn't die (clearly, but it was questionable for a few minutes....). Glancing back through my plan, it looks like my 800 pace now is a bit faster than it was the last time I was told to do them.

Not fun. Not fun a tiny bit.

1 mile warm up, 6x800 @ 8:40 pace, 400 RI, 1/2 mi cool. Actual intervals: 8:42, 8:42, 8:42, 8:36, 8:36, 8:30. 

It felt really, really hard. REALLY HARD. I know, I know, speed work is not supposed to be easy. But man. It wasn't a good time to be me. Also, my quads feel sleepy. Is that a thing?

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Do you know where I snagged the title of this blog today? No? Google tells me (shocker!) it's a Lemonheads song!

This is relevant today (I mean, don't be confused, Evan is relevant every.day.ever), because rumor has it, a fall tour is being announced any moment.

Well, that was the rumor yesterday. Which prompted a flurry of emails amongst a small group of people, typed entirely like this:

OMG DID YOU SEE THIS??!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe a little overkill on the caps and !!!!. Maybe.

I don't want to brag or anything (lies, I kind of do), but Evan and I are pretty chummy, thanks to the Twitter machine.

Oh, hey there, Becka.

Man, I love the internet.

Gab's Wish Trip Day 2: Animal Kingdom/1900 Park Fare/Magic Kingdom

{Yeah, I know this was a MONTH ago. I'm slow. Did you see my previous post about being lazy?}

Part 1: Give Kids the World Recap

Friday, while I attended our GKTW Orientation, The H took the girls and a cousin to check out the resort...










We picked up my brother-in-law (and father of said cousin) and hit Animal Kingdom first...






With the Magic Pass, we were able to get through Kilimanjaro Safari, Kali River Rapids, Everest, Festival of the Lion King, some of DinoLand USA, and Dinosaur, within a few hours.

AK isn't our favorite park, but I am a tiny bit in love with FotLK. As in, I could watch it every day. It never gets old.

WARTHOGS!

This....
Delicious. White Chocolate Elephant cupcake from the Kusifiri Bakery outside of Kilimanjaro Safari.

Gabby, running, to make her ribbons fly

After AK, we headed over to Magic Kingdom, and dropped of the BIL, while the rest of us headed to Grand Floridian for dinner at 1900 Park Fare.

With Cinderella

  And Prince Charming

  And Anastasia

I LOVE THIS PICTURE LOVE LOVE LOVE.

No idea what is happening here...

  After dinner, on to Magic Kingdom....


It was around 6:30 (and still a billion hundred degrees....) by the time we got in the park, and managed to breeze through Jungle Cruise, Aladdin's Magic Carpets, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Carousel, Tea Cups, Laugh Floor, and Space Ranger Spin.

Wow, I look pretty intense for just being the driver.

I think we left the parks around 11. Exhausting.

It's incredible how lazy I can be

BAM.

In my defense (I ran a marathon a week ago, hello), I did jog about half a mile Tuesday, and felt okay. Wednesday, I did some squats, and I woke up Thursday with a super pissed off right knee. So I didn't run.

It was pretty great.

Saturday, I felt like doing something (NOT RUNNING), so I talked The H into walking to Target with me. I swear I mapped this at some point and it was, like, 3 miles round trip....{foreshadowing}

Gab came with us, and we walked slowly/randomly sprinted/strollered her to Target {side note, we need to ask her doctor about her walking - she walks super weird, and it's only been since she started chemo. It seems to be getting more pronounced, or maybe I'm paranoid? Bah.}, then around the corner to Marshall's and Big 5, where, lucky day for her, we found a BARBIE SCOOTER WITH LIGHT UP WHEELS.

We spent the rest of the way home with her on the scooter, and me trying desperately to keep up with her.
KIDS ON SCOOTERS ARE REALLY, REALLY FAST.

Back down the bike path to Office Depot, then home.

The H: How far do you think that was, like, 4 miles?
Me: No way, it was definitely a little more. Maybe, like, 5?

We were off.

Since I did intervals on my way home, I called it good and didn't feel bad for skipping all the runs. And the knee feels fine now. Whatever.

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I've declared {so dramatic} August the Month of Sucking Less, and as such, reintroduced a new iteration of the Suck Less Program.

On Wednesday, Aug. 1, I did the initial tests, and holy bejesus did you know if you stop exercising arms and core, you lose a fuckton of fitness??? It's true.

Friday, I skipped the squats, and just did the first night of the 200 sit ups and 100 push ups programs, and 30 seconds of plank in between. Followed that up with some yoga and stretching, for a total of 45 minutes cross training. Not too shabby.

Last night, I did push ups, sit ups, 30 sec. wall sits, push ups, sit ups, plank, repeat x3. Followed up with more yoga, for another 45 minutes. Because I skipped the squats program I did some random leg yoga work out I found on an app, and it was HARD. HARD. I love yoga.

Plan for this week:
Monday: 4 miles, 3 easy, last hard
Tuesday: Suck Less
Wednesday: 6 miles, with 6x800's (BAH)
Thursday: Suck Less
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Suck Less, maybe a hike??
Sunday: 8 miles, easy .9, hard .1

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What doesn't suck?
My SFM pictures

I sure look peppy for mile 20.

And mile 23?

I loved this race. For real.
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On Sunday, I watched the women's marathon with a bunch of OC blogger friends (check their recaps here and here, because see title: I'm lazy). I love that we can hang out and be equaly geeky about this stuff.
The mimosas don't hurt, either.

Also, turns out, I think I'm an expert speed walker. I need to test this theory out further.

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Last thing.

WTF is with this chick?

I thought she seemed like the RUDEST ever, when I watched her the other day. But then I remembered these lovely shots of #2...

We didn't go on Maelstrom at EPCOT for, like, the SIXTH TIME THAT DAY.

In line to meet Buzz Lightyear apparently angered Her.

Zoinks. I guess she has missed ehr calling, as an Angry Russian Gymnast.

Sorry, #2, I've let you down.