Safety Dance

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

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This is what happens when it’s icy and dark until 8am and the sun doesn’t shine for 3 weeks (literally).  Fuzzy Xmas socks that I normally sleep in, worn to work with my narsty old flats because my feet are too cold without them.  Awful.  On so many levels.

Despite the nastiness outside, I have refused to go back to running on the treadmill.  Partially because every time I run on the treadmill my headphones shock me, so the whole time I am on there I’m in a state of perpetual anxiety.  But mostly because the treadmill is boring.  And inside.

So what does that mean?  It means I’ve been breaking my hard rule and about running alone in the dark.  And I justify it by bringing Spike.

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I’m not sure how I convince myself that he will protect me, or at the very least deter someone from attacking me.  Because a 15 lb mutt in a tiny jacket with a blinking light on his back is probably about as useful as a butter knife.

I do have mace, but I’ve been hesitant to bring it because I would guess, with relative certainty, that given enough time I’ll end up spraying myself or the dog  or some innocent child walking to school in the early morning.  I do, however, always wear my Road ID, so when someone finds my body at the very least they’ll know what allergies I have and who to call.

It’s time for me to re-evaluate my safety system.  And for the days to get a little longer.

I’m ready for summer.

Glass Trees

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Because of where we sit geographically, Kentucky is prone to ice storms.  Last night they were predicting nasty weather, so of course that’s all anyone was talking about in the office.  I started saying that I thought the ice storm I experienced the first winter we moved here (2010) was the most beautiful thing ever.  My co-workers were like, uh, we haven’t had an ice storm since 2009 (and it was bad, people lost electricity for over a week, trees were falling on houses…).  Apparently what I had experienced was just freezing rain (which, btw, is different than sleet).  Stupid Californian.

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Anyway, we had more freezing rain last night.  Despite that, the roads and sidewalks weren’t too icy, and the air actually wasn’t too cold (in the 30s), so this morning I headed out for a run into a glass wonderland.  Everything is covered in a perfect layer of ice.  In the dark, with the street lights illuminating the twinkling trees, it’s kind of magical.

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I’ll tell you who doesn’t think it’s magical.

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And they let us know by laying another rubber egg this morning.  Eff.  We need to figure out what’s going on.

And, totally off topic, I’ve been watching this video over and over and over this week.

The Lull

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The post-holiday hangover.  Dead Christmas trees littering the sidewalks.  Holiday lights and ornaments still hanging in windows seem like desperate hangers-on.  And on my run Saturday morning (first real run of the new year…whattup!)…

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Snowman carnage.  Misshappen, anorexic-looking snowman families with missing limbs.  Everywhere.

Fortunately, I had my new running shoes to keep things bright (another pair of Mizuno Wave Riders).  6 miles, no music, no podcasts, no buddies, in the cold.  And it was nice.

So, a new year.  New races?

So far this year I am signed up for one race: the NYC Half Marathon.

I signed up to run with a friend, who wanted someone to pace her to break 2 hours.  It was a lottery.  I got in, she didn’t.  I mainly signed up for the trip to NYC, so I’m still going.  We’re still figuring out who will actually use my number.

But in terms of BIG races, nothing on the docket yet.  I was a little burned out after Hawaii, and to be honest don’t really have the $$ to do another race of that magnitude.  But I’m giving myself until March to make a decision about another 70.3.

I would really like to improve my running speed, finally do a real half marathon PR, and maybe sign up for a few fun open water races (that, hopefully, I would actually get to race.)

Other than that, work is busy, just putting my head down and hibernating until spring arrives.

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Hello, 2013.

Home for the Holidays

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Yessir, back home for the holidays.  It’s true, you don’t get a white Christmas if you spend it in southern California, but you do get a little bit of swimming outside in the sun…

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…and a little bit of running outside in the sun…

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…and a little drinking with friends outside in the sun.

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So, I mean, it’s a trade off.

Not to bore everyone (too late), but I was kind of in love with some of the gifts I gave to family this year.  First up:

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The Roo (gifted to my mother, modeled by Paul).  I originally saw this on Garden Betty, it’s a frickin great gardening/fruit picking/any sort of harvesting tool.

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The MonkeyLectric M210 LED Wheel Light.  For Paul when he rides his bike to the breweries at night.  He tested it out last night, works great.  A driver may feel compelled to pump up the disco music (or seize) when they see his bike, but they will most definitely see it.  Plus you can program it to be any number of different patterns and colors.  WHEEEEEE

In addition to an emergency hand-crank tornado radio courtesy of my mother (who also insisted we go over how it works before we left…she’s worse than I am when it comes to bad weather), Paul and I also received an anatomically correct chicken model.

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If you take the plastic off you can see all of the innards, including an egg.  Paul spent about 45 minutes painstakingly putting it together.

And for a special gift to me, NY Road Runners decided to award me a lottery slot in the NYC Half Marathon in March.  Horray.

Trying to enjoy these last few days before the new year kicks into gear…

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Family Photo

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

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Like every year, the holidays roll around and I start going through pictures from the year to find one for a card and realize that we haven’t taken a single normal picture together all year.

Time to rally the troops for a family pic.

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Last year there were only three of us.

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The weather was nice, the sun was shining…easy.

This year, there are more.photo

And in addition to having our dog wear a bow tie (thank you, Marsha), Paul decided he wanted everyone in the picture.

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Um.

This probably goes without saying, but trying to look not just calm, but happy while having a dog, cat, and chicken(s) sitting with you on the same bench is…yeah.

It was also about to seriously storm outside (it hailed again yesterday), so we were on a tight schedule.

Aside from one minor incident where everyone got loose (Spike went after Romy and clamped down on her butt feathers and wouldn’t let go, the cat just laid there and watched while chaos ensued)  we managed to get something.  I may look a little special, but at least we’re all (minus Michelle and Tom Brady) on there.  Success on some level.

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Happy Holidays.

Ho-Ho-Horrifying

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

gross

If I’m going to suffer, I’m going to make sure everyone who is subjected to this vision of me running by suffers too.  Oh my god.  Where did my chin go.

Work has been super busy this week, so I’ve had an extensive “recovery” for a race that really shouldn’t have required a lot of recovering (I’ve run a total of 2 miles).  Fortunately today is our holiday pot luck at work, which means a heart healthy lunch is just around the bend.  Last year people brought chitlins and chicken livers.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Holy Smokies

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Welcome to Pigeon Forge.

Yesterday I ran the Smokies Half Marathon.  I signed up for this race for 3 reasons:

  1. It was nearby (3 hours from home)
  2. It was the right time of year (I love fall/winter races)
  3. I once read on article about how beautiful the Smoky Mountains are in an airplane magazine and have wanted to go there ever since

The race webpage described it as a run “in the hills of east Tennessee in mid-December, just north of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”  I envisioned a small-town run through the misty foothills.  Sounds good to me.

Originally Paul and I were going to head up early and rent a cabin for a nice relaxing weekend, but then work exploded all over my life and we couldn’t leave early enough on Friday, so we just got a room at a local hotel and drove up Saturday.

Someone wanted to come with.

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The morning of the race we woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the mountains.

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The weather was very warm, but nice in the early morning.  The pre-race scene looked something like this:

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Santa hats everywhere!  (Hi Mom!)

Since he forgot to bring his running shoes and couldn’t sign up to run last minute, Paul decided to volunteer.  He donned his volunteer uniform with pride.

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There is one road that runs the 13 or so miles from Sevierville (race start) through Pigeon Forge (where we stayed) all the way down to Gatlinburg.  It is a busy road lined with tourist attractions.  The course was an out-and-back along this road.

The fact that when I was originally looking for rental cabins in the area I had trouble finding one that did NOT have a heart-shaped tub probably should have tipped me off that where we were heading was not what I had envisioned when I signed up.  It didn’t.

At 8am sharp we took off, a sea of Santa hats and beards (I didn’t wear mine, too itchy.) One by one we ticked by the wonders of the Smoky Mountains and Pigeon Forge.

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Not exactly what I had expected.  Will have to make it back to the mountains some other time.

Physically, the run was kind of awful, and for no particular reason.  Despite the fact that we were in the Smokies, the elevation wasn’t bad at all (mostly rolling hills, which is what I’m used to training on).

The first few miles seemed longer than usual, but I was keeping a (mostly) OK pace and figured I could hold on to it/bring it down as I warmed up.  Miles 5-9 I got into a groove and felt good.  Mile 9 the verping started.  Mile 10 started a downhill to flat to the finish line, but the verping got worse and I started to really feel it in my back and legs.  Mile 10.5 I blowed up real good.  …and the rest was ugly.  Tunnel vision, borderline vomiting…it took me a good few minutes after the finish before I could talk.  I just felt awful.

Final time: 1:50:20.  What.  Way too painful for that result.  But sometimes that’s how it goes.

The good news is by the time I finished, Paul had made a new friend and really found his place in the volunteer village.

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Attractions we missed on this trip included: the Dixie Stampede Christmas Show, the Biblical Times Christmas Dinner, Lumberjack Feuds, and any of the many, many indoor water parks lining that strip.  But the (more) good news is…we can always come back!

And yes, that is the Titanic museum from the pictures along the route, shaped like the Titanic colliding with an iceberg.

More detailed race report (about the course, aid stations, parking, etc) to be posted here shortly.

P.S.  I placed 8th in my AG.  That is a personal record for me on any run ever by like an order of magnitude. Maybe I should consider entering more races with less than 800 people.  The sad news is if I were a dude, I would have placed 5th.

RIP

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At 6:43pm yesterday, my co-worker’s abandoned fish who has been living in my cube for the past 5 months went to visit the big fish bowl in the sky.  Final diagnosis (my husband is almost a doctor) was ischemic stroke coupled with something else really weird that made him spin in circles whenever I shook the bowl to make sure he wasn’t dead.  He went quickly and quietly via commode.  I will miss his enthusiastic greeting every morning when I enter my cube.

RIP ol buddy.

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What the Shell

~ meh ~ 8 Comments

More chicken drama.

A few days ago, after a week of successes with the new penthouse, I went out back to let the chickens out and found one of them pecking at something inside the coop.  At first I thought she was just eating her own turds (weird and gross), but upon further inspection realized that it was actually an egg.  With no shell.

What.

I scooped up the gelatinous lump with a very obvious yolk in the middle with my little shovel and, after a lot of gagging, threw it in the trash.  I then got online to make sure that what I had found was actually what I thought it was.

During this process I learned way more about the chicken reproductive system than I ever really wanted to know.

But I also found out that these shell-less eggs, aka “rubber eggs”, do in fact exist.

There were numerous reports of shell-less eggs showing up in both chickens that are beginning their laying cycle (younger chickens) and those who are ending it (older chickens). It can also be caused by stress, poor nutrition, or a calcium, phosophorous, or vitamin D deficiency.

I also learned that some people EAT THESE COAGULATED BLOBS.  They’re like, “Oh yeah, just throw it in some boiling water and let it boil like a normal egg.”

Um, no.

While I’m really hoping our chickens aren’t getting towards the end of their laying cycle, the general consensus across chicken forums seemed to be: don’t freak if it only happens occasionally, because sometimes it just happens.  And so far, for us, it’s only happened once.

So I’m not freaking.  Yet.