Saturday, October 31, 2009

32 Things Update

What better way to procrastinate than to update my 32 Things to do before I turn 33 list! Let's see what I've been up to!

1. Travel to a country I've never been to before. In September I visited Krakow, Poland.

2. Run (or walk) a half-marathon. I am officially signed up for the Princess Half Marathon in March. Where else but Disney World!

7. Start consistently doing a weight-training or strength-training program. I have been staying for the weight class after kickboxing.

17. Take a wine-tasting class. While this wasn't an actual class, I did go wine tasting at Ste Michelle and Columbia Winery.

18. Go to an acupuncturist. My appointment is next week!

19. Go to an outdoor movie. Diane, Nikki & I went to see Sex and the City at Redhook.

22. Treat myself to a facial. Sally & I went to get a facial a few weeks before her wedding.

24. Get a manicure every couple of months. Not very exciting, but I have gotten a couple of manicures.

27. Get the most out of my annual Walt Disney World pass. I went in May for my triathlon, in July just because, in October for the Tower of Terror Race and I will be going in March for the half marathon (#2 above).

28. Buy a new camera. I am now the proud owner of a Canon SD960.

31. Go to the podiatrist. Done - I went a few weeks ago.

32. And one I'll keep to myself for now. This was actually two different things and one is complete and the other is in progress.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Tower of Terror

My poor, sorely neglected blog. I still haven't finished up my trip report from Krakow & Paris and now another trip to WDW is waiting in the wings to be chronicled.

But to whet your appetite, I ran the Tower of Terror 13K last Saturday!! It was a lot of fun. Despite falling apart on the last the mile, I managed (barely) to finish under my goal of 2 hours - 1:56.01! Yippee!! And with that under my belt, I am now officially signed up for the Princess Half Marathon in March.

And a joke for today:

Why did the chicken cross the road?
To get to your house

Knock, knock
Who's there?
The chicken!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Last Training Run

The Tower of Terror 13K is a week from today! Which means today was my last "big" run. The forecast for this weekend? Rain. Alrighty then, let's go. Ever wondered what goes through my mind during a run? Today you get to join me...

The alarm goes off. Snooze!

The alarm goes off again. Is that rain? Ugh.

Windshield wipers are on low, it shouldn't be that bad.

Made it to the park with the windshield wipers still on low, maybe I don't need the raincoat.

No, I need the raincoat. Stupid hood won't stay in place. Oh, I have a hat in the car. With the hat on top of the hood it is staying in place, but my head is getting warm. We'll see how long this lasts.

It lasts about one song. It isn't raining too hard. Hat and hood come off. Maybe I didn't need the jacket. (As an aside, I know running with an iPod isn't always recommended, so you can better hear your body and your surroundings but right now I don't have enough self discipline to run without it so it goes with me)

Stupid jacket. I am hot. Okay, I can think of it as simulating hot weather. After all the weather also did say Orlando would be 80+ degrees.

Wow, those girls ran past me as if I was walking. I need to get a jacket like hers with yellow. Which she is taking off and wrapping it around her waist. Well if she can take off her jacket, so can I! Except not as gracefully. She didn't even pause, while I am slowing down to walk.

Isn't it a walk song yet?

Woohoo, a walk song! (Another aside - my pattern lately is run 3 songs, walk 1)

Not much longer until the park and the bathroom.

Ooh, I like this song!

Made it to the park. And the bathroom.

And off we go again.

Why did it start raining again? Jacket back on. Hood back on.

Okay, its not raining too bad. No more hood.

Keep going. Just think, tomorrow you get to have gelato with Diane. Yum, gelato. Ge-la-to! Ge-la-to!

I hate this hill. At the top of the hill the jacket is coming off.

Top of the hill aaaaand jacket off!

Go left. If I were to go right it would lead back to my car and I could go home where it is warm. Except I still have to go to hot yoga after this.

Smile at the runner coming towards me. "Morning"

Did it get darker? Yup it sure did. That is one big dark ugly cloud. Please don't rain on me cloud.

And its raining. Pouring down rain.

Rain, rain go away.

Here comes the couple I saw last week, with their golden retriever. "Hello"

What's the point of putting on the jacket? I'm soaked, regardless.

If I can just make it through this straight-away, I'll be under the trees for awhile.

Yay! Tree cover.

Ugh, this is not my favorite song. I need to take it off my shuffle.

Ge-la-to! Ge-la-to! It is going to taste so good.

My shoes are so squishy.

Here comes a group of runners. They look as wet as I feel. Paste a smile on your face. "Morning"

Wow, even with the torrential rains people are still out and friendly.

A dad and his two girls are coming towards me. The dad tells me I'm hardcore for being out here. I don't know about hardcore. I have a race in a week!

Rain, rain, go away. Watch out for the puddle.

I pass the runner I passed earlier. She throws her hands up, "what is this?" I know. Stupid rain.

Okay, keep running just a little big longer. Then you can walk up the rest of the hill.

Aaaaand walk. Yes!

Here comes the group of runners again. Still smiling. One of them calls to me "its still raining".

Yup, still raining. Still pouring rain. Squish, squish. Top of the hill and I get to go right! Woohoo!!

Wow, how did so much water accumulate in such a short period of time? Go around the puddle.

There's my car. Whew. Off to hot yoga.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Random Thoughts

It has been a long few weeks between work and getting over my cold.

I should be doing a lot of things right now, my pictures, my trip report, at the gym - the list is endless. But I am vegging in front of TV. And thinking random thoughts...

Happy Birthday Kyle! Happy Birthday Bailey! I hope you both had good birthdays and I hope to come down and see you sometime soon.

Whenever we order pizza at work I usually have the thin crust, thinking it's not as bad as the regular kind. And then I slipped up and had the normal crust. Wow, it was really good! That was such a bad decision on my part! How am I going back to thin crust now?

I was following the Ironman Championships this past weekend. Wow, that is a crazy, insane race. While a little tiny part of me wondered if I could do that someday, it was quickly quashed. I never feel the need to do a marathon, especially after swimming and biking! However, a half Ironman isn't out of the question, or at least out of the question yet. And maybe the next progression will be an Olympic distance... But for now I'm sticking with sprint distances!

Fall is here. I love fall - football, the leaves changing, the crisp air. And don't forget pumpkin spice lattes!

Speaking of caffeine and things that I don't normally have, I had some Diet Coke and Diet Dr Pepper. I had forgotten how good they are! I gave up caffeinated sodas for Lent a few years back and don't normally drink them anymore, except on vacation - until last week when I gave in to temptation. And it was good. Now that things are normal again, I should be able to resist.

Note to self: it is a good idea to stagger your running / gym shoes. That way, when you need to get new ones you aren't breaking in two pairs at the same time.

Friday, October 02, 2009

Five Senses Friday #8

Seeing:
* I switched my High School Musical calendar to October and it is a Troy month!

Hearing:
* The incessant thump and whirring noise of the treadmill. As much as I love fall, the one part I don't is that by the time I leave work there isn't enough daylight left for me to run outside so I am relegated to the gym.

Smelling:
* Still not a lot, as I haven't quite shaken the cold. I think at this point there are just a lot of different strains of germs cycling around. Get rid of one and the next starts.

Tasting:
* Chocolate chip cookies that Jessica brought in to work. And peanut butter cookies that someone else brought in to work.

Feeling:
* Frustrated. Not with one thing in particular, but with a lot of things in general.