Spring Game

April 14, 2013April 23, 2013 ~ meh ~ 1 Comment

Go ahead and add the Spring Game to chicken livers, mudding, frog giggin, and everything else on the growing list of Things In Kentucky That Don’t Make Sense To Me.

This Saturday was the Spring Game, or the football team’s first intramural scrimmage of the year. This is how it works: people start tailgaiting around 9am. Then, at 7pm, 50,000 people file into the stadium to watch UK play…itself. And when there is a first down, or a touchdown, everyone cheers. Even though we are also defense, and just got scored on.

It makes no sense to me at all. And every time someone dropped a pass, everyone was like, “Whelp, good thing they’ve got another 7 months of practice before the first game.”

Whatever. I guess the life lesson here is: never turn down an opportunity to tailgate.

Go Cats.

Okie dokie artichokie

April 9, 2013April 9, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Someone else is happy that the sun is out.

In addition to the garden and general happiness, this time of year is usually when training starts ramping up for the season. Obviously, not this year.

So apparently now the baby is the size of an artichoke.

This explains why my training has been super limited the past 4+ months. And why there have been no posts about beer. And why, with my last half marathon, I had to stop to pee 5x. And why Vanessa and Emily were kind enough to join me for the second half of NYC.

And this:

I was preg during the Smokey Mountain half and didn’t know it. I’m blaming the baby for that sufferfest.

So what’s the plan? Whelp, no more Ironman races for me this summer. Or triathlons. Or half marathons (my abs after NYC were sore for like a week).

Aside from lifting the ice cream spoon to my mouth, I’m going to keep wogging (walk/jogging) as long as I can. And I cannot wait for the outdoor pools to open next month. That is where I plan on spending most of the summer.

Oh, and I have been booted from my yoga class, per the instructor’s request, until August. So long, peacock. We had a good run, I’m sure we’ll be back at square one when I return.

EEEEEEEE!!

April 8, 2013April 8, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Finally.

Everything is better in the spring. Feeding the chickens, walking the dog, going for a run…even waking up at 4:45 to go coach is less painful when you don’t have 4 inches of ice to scrape off the car. We have the windows open. It’s supposed to be 79 tomorrow.

Paul attempted a greenhouse this weekend, using scrap wood and an old, moldy shower curtain (yum). But the shower curtain didn’t quite fit, and after about 20 minutes the whole thing blew into the garage and broke. We’ll fix that this week.

HORRRRAAAYYYYY

…and then there were three.

April 3, 2013April 24, 2013 ~ meh ~ 3 Comments

…or 7, depending on how you count.

Yes, that’s right. This August, Spike is going to have some competition on his hands when it comes to attention from the mo-in-law. And he has no idea it’s coming.

P.S. Big thanks goes out to Lisa, who is my savior and mailed me a huge box of maternity pants for work (yeah, fat!) as well as some baby clothes…which Paul promptly put on the dog.

Spring Garden

April 2, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

…or not. This picture was taken on Thursday.

This is a battle we have every year: how to get the garden growing before the weather warms up enough to plant anything in the ground (here in Kentucky that magical date is Derby weekend, or the first weekend of May.) Historically, we have tended to take the greenhouse route starting early March, and have experienced about 50% success rate (see: here and here.)

Generally in March/April the biggest hurdle to overcome is high winds. This year, it’s straight up lack of sun. Days have been cloudy and dark and cold, and those that are clear haven’t ventured much higher than 40 degrees.

Effing. Miserable.

BUT! I figured why not take advantage of the lag and put some real thought into what we plant this year? Right? Right!

Our yard has two garden boxes, one in the front by the garage where we plant tomatoes and peppers, and one in the back against the back fence.

Both face the same way, so we figured would get comparable sun.

Wrong.

Garden box #1 has been amazingly fruitful, giving us more tomatoes and peppers than we know what to do with. Garden box #2, as you can probably see, ends up in the shade as the trees fill in and has continually failed to produce much of anything. The only marginally successful crops we’ve planted back there have been beets two years ago:

…and kale last year, which got eaten up by bugs.

I am determined this year not to let that whole back box go to waste. Also want to have a SUPER successful herb garden. None of this.

Poor cilantro.

More of this:

Basil! (We had more than we knew what to do with and ended up drying it. We’re still using it for sauces and stuff).

Last week a coworker gave me the UK seed catalog which, in addition to providing all sorts of instructions for how to grow things in Kentucky. also discusses local bugs. Talk about excitement. I’m in the early stages of review. Update to come.

I can’t wait for spring.

New Exercise Regimen

March 25, 2013March 26, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

phone-streaking

A simple 12-step plan that ANYONE with the right attitude can follow:

Step 1: Since you’ve been a lazy bum the past week, decide to get a good solid swim in before work. Set alarm for nice and early the next day.

Step 2: When the alarm goes off at 5:30, decide that in order to really benefit from any exercise you’re going to do that day, you need more sleep. Decide you’ll swim after work. Re-set alarm.

Step 3: While at work, realize there is a March Madness basketball game in the arena next to your office at 6pm. Traffic! Make strictly objective call that getting stuck in traffic is really not worth the swim, decide to get home stat after work to avoid the worst of it and do a really good hour of TRX to make up for your lack of swimming today.

Step 4: Arrive home. Eat crackers. Eat goldfish. Eat ice cream.

Step 5: Sit on couch for just a few minutes to “unwind” (read: watch just one or two episodes of Weeds).

Step 6: Realize that it’s almost 7, you’re still in your work clothes, and you haven’t even thought about what you’re making for dinner yet.

Step 7: Frantically dig through dirty laundry for 10 minutes because you have no clean sports bras.

Step 8: Do 20 min of half-assed TRX, because now it’s like 7:30 and you’re starting to stress about how late it is. Barely break a sweat.

Step 9: Change into your PJs with no shower, because people who don’t sweat don’t deserve to shower. Ignore the fact you just spent 30 minutes wearing dirty workout clothes.

Step 10: Eat canned soup for dinner because now it’s 9pm and you have to go to bed early because you…

Step 11: Plan on swimming the next morning before work, since you’ve been a lazy bum all week. Set alarm nice and early.

Step 12: Repeat.

Neew Yooooooork

March 22, 2013July 29, 2021 ~ meh ~ 4 Comments

Last weekend I headed to the big city for the the NYC Road Runners Half Marathon.

The reason I signed up for this race was first and foremost to run with Emily…who, incidentally, did not get a spot in the lottery. Crap. Secondary reason for running it: to stay on a training schedule through the sad, cold, depressing months of late winter (which, up until about 3 weeks ago, I did). And because it’s freaking in New York City. And when you live in Kentucky, you grab onto any chance you get to go see your friends in NY.

Margaret! One of my New York friends, who was there for my last half in New York 2 years ago (when I wasn’t 5+ months pregnant).

This year was extra awesome because people who do not live in NY, including my sister and Joe, came out to play. It was a mini reunion. Which made the weekend so, so great.

269295_10151356636067196_1300496509_n An NYC weekend visitor all the way from LA, dealing with the cold and wearing one glove

But aside from me, most people probably don’t want to hear any more about how great my friends are.

Race Prep:

The night before the race we went to Buttermilk Channel in Brooklyn (fun fact: Buttermilk Channel is an actual place in NY Bay, sounds delicious), and my god it was good. And we may or may not have sat at a table next to Seth Green, results were inconclusive.

That night I stayed with Emily, who lives on the upper west side, about 3 blocks from the starting line. Clutch.

The race info said that the starting corrals would be closing at 7, with a start time of 7:30. That is a long time to be standing around in the corral in your running gear. Plus we didn’t get to bed that night till 11:30ish. So I decided I was going to chance it, sleep a little longer, and get to the starting line a few minutes late. 20 minutes of standing around in the cold sounded like enough for me.

The Race:

St. Paddy’s Day!! Alarm went of at 6, got up, drank a little coffee, ate some oatmeal, took care of business, and was out the door by 7. I was at the start by 7:05.

…and cold it was. 23 degrees. When I arrived the sun was just starting to come up and the corrals were totally packed with people wearing green (I wore black and pink, oops). And everyone was absolutely. freezing.

They let me into the corral, even though I was a little late. Plenty of people were still showing up.

Race went off at 7:30. I crossed the starting line at 7:40 (and I was in the front half of the crowd.) The course was one lap around the park, spitting us out around 64th Street and into downtown, through Times Square, all the way down to the tip of the island, cutting east, and finishing on Wall Street (I can’t find the map online, too lazy to keep looking).

the starting line

The first 6 miles through the park was mostly spent defrosting. Cups of water at the aid stations were frozen over with a layer of ice, and spilled water and gatorade on the ground around the aid stations was also turning to ice. Cuidado.

My toes were numb the first four miles, and my fingers didn’t fully get feeling back until mile 8. Fortunately, Superman was there to save the day.

As we left the park I came across the best gift I’ve ever received mid-race (even better than the DJ blasting Pitbull at mile 8 of the run in Hawaii): Emily and Vanessa waiting to join me for a few miles.

I was so, so happy (if you can’t tell from the above picture). Needed the moral support. We ran out of the park and straight into what was probably my favorite part of the run: Times Square.

Very Vanilla Sky. And yes, 29 degrees over an hour into the race.

Once we got out of the park, the course flattened out which, for someone who hasn’t been training in over a week (me), was awweeeesome. Emily and Vanessa stuck it out along the south part of Manhattan, then hopped out as we approached the Financial District.

IMG_20130321_083740 the chute

And then it was over. The finish line was a madhouse.

Those are just runners. It was also windy and really, really freaking cold.

I’ve never been so happy to be hit in the face with the hot, piss-flavored subway air than I was when we entered the Wall Street station. The rest of the afternoon was spent in sweats and compression socks, in the heat of Emily’s apartment, eating baked goods from Levain Bakery and watching Bravo.

I flew out that evening. Sad.

Thank you to everyone who housed me and/or came and supported me on the run. It was such a wonderful trip, these runs are always such a good time. Can’t wait for the next one.

Spring!!

March 21, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Happy first day of spring from my office window. And yes, that is snow.

March Sadness

March 19, 2013March 26, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

You may have noticed a certain topic that kind of dominated this blog last spring has been conspicuously absent this year (see: here, here, here…)

Kentucky got off to kind of a rough start this year, but by mid-season had really started to pull themselves together and play like rockstars. Then, in one unfortunate incident, things came crashing down.

Because about a month ago, Nerlens…

(this Nerlens, not

that Nerlens)…did this:

I know, that is so gross, I almost didn’t post it. But for those of you out there who are unfamiliar with basic human anatomy, he really messed up his knee. Tore his ACL. And at the same time, the soul of Kentucky. Right in half.

I love the camera man’s face in that picture.

And last week, it was finalized. Kentucky didn’t even make the tournament this year.

(I have no idea where that picture came from).

And so, while UK sits in mourning, and Louisville continues onto the tourney as the #1 overall seed (which is absolutely KILLING Paul), and the people of Lexington drown their sorrows in bourbon, talk of next year’s recruiting classes for both basketball AND football (?!?) is already flitting through the air giving the Wildcat Nation a thread of hope to cling to in this time of dire straits.

There’s always next year.

Austin, Massachusetts

March 14, 2013March 21, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Got back yesterday from the first awesome trip I’ve taken for work (besides Harlan, Kentucky): SXSW (just the multimedia/tech part, not the music.)

It was in the 70s and sunny, there were tacos and BBQ, some of the talks were really, really awesome (Elon Musk, Tina Eisenberg, Joe Peacock, Matthew Inman…) and they showed us some pretty awesome stuff (like this), and one company had bananas you could play Ode To Joy on like a piano (you just touched the banana and it played a note.) I mean really, what more could you ask for.

IMAG3095-2 Guess what my favorite food truck was.