Paul ate some of his salsa on his eggs on Sunday. And he’s still alive.
He did say that it didn’t taste right, he thinks he used the wrong kind of vinegar. Rice vinegar next time.
Month: December 2011
Streak Report–Part I
So, I could lie and pretend like I’ve run every day of the streak. But I won’t.
Started out on the right foot (ha), but the shins and back pain kicked in after a run I (apparently) pushed a little bit too hard followed by a weekend of increased cycling hours, and I didn’t want to aggravate it all too much. So I haven’t been running every day. Fail. But I have committed myself to exercising every day! (I missed one day out of the last 12). And I plan to do so through the first of the year.
Report thus far:
Day 0: 5.4 miles with the morning group (this was the day before I heard about the streak, but thought it should count since I ran)
Day 1: 1 mile (ouch…had a work event, it was dark)
Day 2: 5.4 mucusy miles with the morning group (it was 26 degrees outside)
Day 3: 2 miles with Spike, the squirrels were out in force, I wanted to kill him (+90 minute ride on the bike)
Day 4: 1 mile on my own (+ 5000 yard swim + 1 hour on bike)
Day 5: 3 miles easy running with Paul and Spike (this weekend was where the back and shins started getting bad)
Day 6: ~.5 miles (1-minute sprints with Allison in between our TRX circuits)
Day 7: 5.4 miles with morning group, avg 7:40/mile (+ 1hr yoga…my back was KILLING me, wanted to stretch it out)
Day 8: 0 miles run, but 1.5 mile walk with Spike (and we put our new couch together…I wasn’t feeling super great)
Day 9: 4 miles (25 min run + 6 x 30 sec strides)
Day 10: 0 miles, shins hurt and had long run planned for next day (+ 1hr 30 min on bike + 1500 yard swim)
Day 11: 8.4 miles by my lonesome, had to throw my emergency mix on my ipod to get me out of the house (1hr 10min)
Day 12: 3.4 miles nice and slow (+TRX with a few sprints)
Total miles: 40.1. Weak sauce.
There you have it. The (first) 12 Days of Streaking.
…and while we’re riding the Confession Train, I might as well go ahead and announce that at some point last week I actively dove headfirst off the wagon and started eating chocolate in my office again LIKE IT IS MY JOB.
I’m ready for break.
P.S. Someone put a ceramic duck wearing a Christmas sweater right outside my cube. Totally necessary.
Kentucky Goes Global
An email from Margaret, who is currently working over in London for a few months (lucky):
So my friend Susie is doing what I”m doing work-wise, but in Osaka, and for a year. She goes to visit a friend in the burbs outside Osaka and writes me this – (and see attached pic)
“then today we went to this hilarious (but good) place called U.K. diner. i figured it was british food but instead it was a university of kentucky themed restaurant! UK gear all over the place and a motorcycle inside and american food!”
i mean that’s amazing. i have no idea what the link between japan and U Kentucky is, but it’s strong. Meg – I wonder if they televised the NCAA game there and all wore jorts???!!!
Attached picture below:
Yes, those are NASCAR cars, trucks (I just learned there is a NASCAR truck series), and big rigs lining the walls and a Camaro chair in the forefront. The allure of Kentucky culture knows no bounds.
Deck the Halls
Christmas has exploded in our office (I am going to apologize in advance for the quality of these pictures, they were taken quickly and with my phone.)
A 360 view of what I see as I walk out of my cubicle:
To the left (of course, I’ve mentioned this before):
To the right:
To the front:
To the side (outside my neighbor’s cube):
To the other side (my neighbor’s file cabinet):
And to the back (inside my own cube, thanks to a coworker who hung it there):
A departure from my previous place of employment, where we weren’t allowed to have flowers on the counters because one of the managing partners thought it made the office look like a bank.
I should note, all of these are provided by a single employee who is letting the office “borrow” them for the season. She also has three inflatable Christmas-themed decorations in the front yard of her home (a manger, noah’s ark…with flamingos…, and barn with all 9 of Santa’s reindeer sitting in their respective stalls. She showed me pictures on her phone.) Can’t help but admire people who embrace anything with this amount of passion and just run with it.
P.S. And what else to do when you’re sitting in a glittercloud of holiday than listen to some seasonal music. Favorite this week: the She & Him Christmas Album.
Time to STREAK!
As I’ve mentioned in a few other posts, I’ve been having trouble getting back into the groove this winter. The cold and raging holidays and insane work and my growing waistline…it is not easy to resume/maintain a regular training schedule. Enter: the Runners World Holiday Running Streak (which I read about on Skinny Runner.)
Run at least one mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Years (I know, it’s late, but whatever, starting today it’s still a 25-day streak.)
Stay moving.
Advent
At 8:15 this morning one of my coworkers came bounding up to my desk, big box in hand, smile on face, and giddily told me, “Just FYI, we set up an advent calendar on this file cabinet here right by your desk every year, so for the next 24 days people will be gathering here every morning to watch it get opened.”
Sure enough, everyone and their mother came by my desk this morning to admire it and get REALLY EXCITED. The theme this year? Star Wars Legos. Because what says preparation for the Nativity of Christ more than that.
So every day has a little bag of lego pieces that build something. And because I’m the newest one in the office, and because this daily event happens just outside the door of my cube, I was chosen to build the first one:
I think it is some sort of ship (?)
I won’t lie, there were a lot of little pieces and with everyone watching me try to figure out how to put it together, I did experience some performance anxiety. But in the end, I prevailed.
Hello, December.
Rambulatory Ambulatory 