Merry Christmas!

Fashion!

I'm no fashion icon. I would describe my style as "safe" with a side of "mostly put together if occasionally un-tailored." Case in point in the photo below you can clearly see I am wearing a white button down (safe!), that's not ironed (mostly put together!) and a mustard yellow cardigan (safely daring!).

So imagine my delight when Corporette featured not one, but TWO items of clothing in the TPS Report aka "The Personal Shopper" that I once owned but chose to return for things that are better! Bonus because both came from Nordstrom which is of course fancy!

 The TPS report for Friday, November 18 featured this knit pencil skirt from Nordstrom's Halogen line.

To be fair, the blogger hasn't necessarily wear tested each item, the purpose of the column is more to highlight good deals or beautiful (usually work appropriate) pieces avaialble.  That's where the comments come in. I would say that 50% of the value of Corporette comes from the writer starting the conversation and the other 50% comes from readers chiming in with their thoughts in the comments section.

So I chimed right in with this comment:

 

My mom had purchased this for me for me birthday in September, but it wasn't quite right. If I had a need or a place to wear skirts out on the weekend with fun shoes, this might have been useful, but as far as office attire, it was too casual, too tight and not nearly safe enough for button down shirts!

There was general consensus in the comments agreeing with my statements and loving on the seamed pencil skirt I exchanged it for, so obviously then I was feeling REALLY stylish.  Did I mention I got the seamed skirt in "yellow raisin"? That's right, whose playing safe now?! Gettin' wild!

This morning's TPS report featured the very sweater my mom bought me to go with the returned skirt. Too funny. I also returned the sweater because it was cut seven kinds of wrong for me. I felt a little bad about returning all the things my mom picked out for me (she knows, I told her, and this is theonly miss she's had in buying me clothes since I was mmm, 12? It just happened to be a double miss), so I felt stylish AND less bad when several commentors agreed that the sweater was not good for the tall, long or chesty and would probably be better for someone who is short or at least petite.

Phew, I'm not picky, I just have fashion sense.

True Story

Today I wore my camisole inside out AND backwards! Not that anyone could tell other than me, but it gave me a nice chuckle and I thought it might amuse you as well.

 

It's good to be reminded that we all put our pants on one leg at a time...or our shirts on backwards or whatever.

Advice for a Sick McV

Hallelujah, I made it through high sinus infection season (for me) with out even a tiny little bit of sickness. This is a major achievement for me as this is the first year in several where I didn't even have a hint of a sinus infection.

However, I am sick with a sore a throat now, and while I'm a PRO, like basically a board licensed MD, when it come to sinus infections, I have no idea what to do with a sore throat. My nose is a little runny, my throat is a little scratchy, I feel ok, but not the best. I tried to drink some wine last night and couldn't taste a thing.

I'm drinking green tea and orange juice, but am unsure how else to combat this. I can't even think of what over the counter medications might help.

So help me out! What are your go-to remedies when you feel under the weather?

This Post Is Not About Facebook

So I was looking for my post about how I quit Facebook because uh, I unquit Facebook recently, and I couldn't find it.  BUT I did find this post about Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies, which reminded me that I did actually test out this recipe.

Here is the photographic evidence. 

Exhibit A. Cookie inside of a cookie.

Exhibit B. In case you missed it the first time/wanted a closer look.

They were about 50% delicious and 50% just novel.  Certainly worth making when the occasion calls for this sort of over the top decadence.  Actually I could see this being a good party favor since it's both novel and an excessive amount of sugar.  Can you see it in a cellophane bag with a pretty bow? I can. I can see it.

I will caution you though, a single batch of cookie dough is only enough to wrap about a half dozen Oreos. So you are going to end up with Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies, PLUS like a whole package of Oreos you will have to eat.  You've been warned.

Blog Housekeeping

Well I brought my own lemon pledge last week and decided to spruce some things up here on this blog.

I got Photoshop Elements from [Husband] for Christmas last year and haven't made much headway in learning it, but I found some online tutorials written by other bloggers about making Blogger headers and voila, what you see before you is my first creation. It was relatively easy to put together and unlike my last header, which I made in Gimp, it actually fits in the headers space and seems to be centered.

I would list out the tutorials I used, but honestly, I had to cobble together directions using about four different sets of instructions because either things will left out or I had a different version of Photoshop than the writer did, so the directions weren't quite right. I guess I'll have to write my own set of directions sometime.

Besides the picture, my favorite elements are the font, "Riesling," which I downloaded here for free (found via Pinterest), and the brush tool in Photoshop which let me sweep those fun purple leaves all over the header. It's so fancy!

I'm also slowly tweaking the fonts and colors on the sites (suggestions/comments welcome, I could tweak fonts until the end of time...). I like neutrals and I'm very into plummy shades of purple right now if you couldn't tell.  I bought napkins from World Market for Thanksgiving in a shade called "Crushed Violet." I love it. I want to live in a crushed violet world. And now, at least on my blog, I can.



(If you get the reference in the first line, leave me a comment. You deserve some extra awesome points.)

Staying Motivated After the Marathon

I ran my first marathon in the fall of 2008 and my attitude afterward was, "I just ran a marathon! I never have to exercise ever again! And I didn't.

Until 2009 when I ran my second marathon and then got married two weeks later. I deserved to not workout anymore, right?

In 2010 I spent hundreds (yikes, that's embarrassing) on entry fees for races I did not run because I was injured.  I think you know what I wasn't doing in my spare time (ok, to be fair I did do a lot of biking that year...)

On Christmas Eve 2010, I decided I was going to run a spring marathon and 2011 would be the year I REALLY, like FOR REALS YALL made exercising a habit, not just part of a training plan.

I ran two marathons this year, and while I took a break (ie, I focused on 10k and 5k races for about 8 weeks in the summer), I never really exited training mode.

After the Richmond marathon, I was really happy about my time, I was really confident I could probably train for a spring race and go sub-four, but my heart wasn't in it. I didn't feel any excitement about signing up for another race. I felt content with what I learned in 2011, my race performance, and what my potential to get faster, and I felt good about moving on to other things.*

One of those "other things" is exercising with no goals in mind. It's really freeing now to go to the gym and literally be able to do WHATEVER I WANT because I don't have the voice in the back of my head saying, "don't lift too much, you don't want those squats making you sore for you 18 miler" or "you should really be out running 8 miles at tempo, not here doing ab work."  Over the last couple weeks I've been enjoying short runs of 3-6 miles, lifting as heavy a weight as my little muscles desire and feeling good about a work out even if it was only a speedy 20 minute circuit sesh.

I've managed to be pretty consistent, doing something or moving for at least 20-30 minutes every other day. But I've still been searching for something, a mantra or a little workout fairy dust to keep the momentum going.  And I think I finally hit on it: "Choose to be a runner today."

I have long loved (since I discovered it six months ago anyway) the Bart Yasso quote, "I often hear someone say I'm not a real runner. We are all runners, some just run faster than others. I never met a fake runner," We are all runners. Anyone can be a runner. I am a runner, and it's something I take a lot of pride in and gives me a lot of confidence. 


So lately I've been telling myself, "Choose to be a runner today."  And asking, "What will you do to be a runner today?"


It's very much along the lines of Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point's "Healthy Intentions." I don't need to worry about tomorrow, I don't need to worry about last week or last night. I'm not staring down a 16 week training plan, I just need to choose today what I will do. 


Someday it's a 60 minute run, sometimes it's choosing to drink extra water. Other days it's a really ambitious treadmill interval workout with circuit training mixed in or just an extra lap around the block with the dog.


I don't know if exercising will ever become the kind of habit I wish it would be -- I don't think it's ever going to be something that's such a habit, I don't even notice it like, uh, breathing...oh well-- but the right choices aren't always the easy ones, right?  But I think this perspective, how did I choose to be a runner, really just to be myself and be good to myself today, helps make it easier.


*Not to say I won't run another marathon, I will just probably not in 2012.

Wednesday Pet Peeves and Nasties

Since it's hump day and everything I'm going to take this opportunity to complain about some stuff I don't particularly care for.

PET PEEVES
Poor Elevator Etiquette: It drives me NUTS when people try to get on the elevator before you can exit. NUTS I tell you.  And then they usually give you this dumb stare like, oh, did you want to get off? Wait is this not my personal elevator?

Poor Phone Etiquette: I thought it was a generally accepted principal of phone etiquette that when placing a phone call you tell the recipient who you are and the purpose of your call up front. Based on my experiences this week, it is not. Why are you calling me and immediately launching into your spiel which, btw usually doesn't even make any sense because you didn't give me any context? Why do people think this is ok? I think it's rude, not to mention inconvenient. 

OccupyDC: The ridiculousness at McPherson Square this week was just really silly.

I JUST DON'T LIKE IT
Having a Tassimo/Keurig and a regular coffee pot (I'm sorry if that is anyone reading this): I personally don't care for the quality of coffee that the "pod" machines make, but I'm an admitted coffee snob. I really just don't get it though when people have a regular coffee pot AND a Keurig. Why?

The nonsense that is traffic on days when it's raining lightly: It's just a drizzle. It's not reason to freak out or reduce speed to 17 miles an hour. Just pretend it's not raining! See? So EASY! No wonder everything goes to hell when it snows.

Sharing: I just prefer not to. I'm a bad sharer, but at least I'm honest about it.

That's all for now. Surprisingly, for those of you who know me, these lists are rather short. 

The Totebag Miracle

I had a fairly busy morning today. I got up at 6:30, had the dogs out the door to doggie daycare at 7:30, got gas and then waited for my mother-in-law to pick me up and drive me to work (this isn't normal, she exhibiting at my office craft show so it just made sense. By 8:30am I had engaged in multiple counts of commerce (dog treats to coax a dog into daycare, gas), gone back to the house twice for forgotten items and traveled in two different vehicles (neither of which was a metro bus, yay!).  Per usual on a weekday, I carried my purse and a tote bag loaded up with lunch, my travel mug of coffee, and a few other items. I moved them car to car and wrangled both bags while also wrangling two energetic dogs. The miracle? the coffee mug was open the whole time and not a drop spilled.  Although know that I think about it, perhaps I have just solved the mystery "water spots" on my green satin skirt...sigh.

Justin Timberlake > Seabiscuit

I'm not a parent (yet) but I know some of you are. And if we have anything in common, which I'm pretty sure we do, you to are worried about that day ahead in the future when you'll finally have to have the talk. Yes, THAT talk. The talk about the nineties and what happened there.

Fear no more my friends, for here is a guide to covering all the serious and tough to answer questions your children will one day ask you.

You're welcome.

Kicking Off the Christmas Season

There's nothing like going with the fam to cut down your own Christmas tree in 70 degree weather. Enjoying a caramel apple while your husband and brother-in-law lash both trees to the top of the ol' Griswold, I mean S family station wagon, only to realize that not only have you tied the trees to the roof, but all four doors are also tied shut.  All four of you will then exercise your gymnastics skills by climbing in the car through the open windows.  It is also the windiest day in EVER.  Nothing like scooting down I-66 with two trees on your roof in high winds, fearing to drive over 55 mph and getting the evil eye from every country squire in a dirty Mercedes. And every yuppie in a Prius.  If a Christmas tree flies of the roof of your car and into the windshield of the car behind you, whose insurance is responsible?

It was a lot more fun than I jut made it sound, but precisely as comical.

In Lieu of My Own Race Recap

Since I know it will be awhile before I wrote my own recap, I want to link you to a great story and race recap from another Richmond Marathoner's blog. Go read Dori's Shiny Blog about how she ended up running Richmond and crushing it!

You can always live to run another day and sometimes that's just the way it's supposed to be! :)

4:12:33

This is a little late, but YAY! I did it. I met my race goal of 4:14:50 and actually crush it by nearly 90 seconds, finishing in 4:12:33.

I'll try to write a race recap sometime this week or weekend.  A little dog chewed the AC adapter for the home laptop so it's out of commission at the moment.

Thanks to everyone who followed me via text message. It was great to think of all the little text messages shooting out into universe everytime I crossed a checkpoint. :)

Race Day Duds

I got a little off track today and didn't get to do the post I wanted to.
But, I'm relaxing in my hotel room now and with 30 minutes till lights out I have just enough time do paint my nails and fill you in on what all the stylish 4:14:50 marathoners are wearing tomorrow.
BEHOLD:

The key items here are the dark pants light top and purple hat. Looking out for a "silhouette," if you will, usually makes it easier to spot your runner. Screaming loudly from your predetermined spectating point makes it easier for your runner to spot you. :)

I have a navy fleece to wear until the race starts and a navy mock turtleneck long sleeve shirt (yeah!) and hot pink gloves to wear for the first couple miles. It's supposed to be in the 30s tomorrow so I'm also going to carry a "just in case" long sleeve tech tee to the start.

I wrote my name in glitter paint on the front of my shirt so I can be sure to get  a few shout outs on the course.

Its tough to include more than one pic in these mobile posts so I'll tweet a pic of the back of my shirt. (nemesisgal).

Have Fun, Have Fun, Have Fun: Race Goals for Richmond

I went to my final PR Training Track Practice last night and did the last running I'll do until Saturday morning.

I'm just going to let that sink in a little bit.

At track practice, I talked with our Coach and the three other runners going to Richmond about what's weighing on my mind at this point:

• I've only run three times in the last three weeks (I was sick). 
• What's the worst that can happen if I burn out in the middle? I'll walk to a water stop and get a ride to the finish.
• I want to cross the finish line feeling like I gave it my all, like I could throw up. 
• I'm ready to run. I have a LOT of pent up energy.

Coach T assured me that a three-run, three-week taper just means I have all the more "run" built up in me ready to claw it's way out. I won't burn out, but ok, nothing bad will happen if I did, but I won't burn out. Run the first half without thinking too much. Don't start racing till after 13.1 and then wait til the last 5k to really turn it on and give a 5k effort at that point. That will guarantee that I will feel like I left it all on the pavement.  And above all, HAVE FUN, HAVE FUN, HAVE FUN.

Coach T also recommended focusing less on pacing mile to mile and pacing more milestone to milestone. Richmond is sort of a rolling course so my pace if going to fluctuate depending on the section course I'm in.  She explains much better in an email she sent us this afternoon:

Focusing on the limited mile markers is really a great way to keep in check without putting yourself into panic mode mile after mile.  The course will ebb and flow as will your pacing -- using this model will really allow you to keep pace but have fun and really enjoy the miles as you go. 

Using all these great words of advice and encouragement, I did my marathon arts and craft project today and made myself a pace band.

 

I grabbed some advice and words of wisdom from around the blogosphere, did a highly technical analysis to determine the times I wanted to hit for each milestone (really, there was a spread sheet and formulas and data extracting and comparison from multiple races...runNERD) and compiled it all in one awesomely packing tape'd together, inspiration and motivation packed pace band. 

So let me now breakdown my goals down for you:

"A" Goal: 4:14:50 finish. Why 4:14:50 and not 4:15? Because it's more fun. I don't care if you disagree or don't understand. :)

"B" Goal: Anything under a 4:27:31. Anything even one second fast than that finish is a PR for me. I'll really be cool with anything under 4:30.

"C" Goal: My C goal all along has been to have a succesful taper. Despite not have a "textbook" taper period (I missed runs, like more than a couple), I still ran, the runs I did were solid, I stayed off my feet and rested, I didn't get atrociously tanked at any point in the last three weeks and kill my momentum, and I didn't overeat. This is a win in my book. So frankly this training cycle, and hence this marathon, is already a success in my book. Hurrah!

I still want a 4:14:50 though. 

Stay tuned. Tomorrow I will reveal my race outfit. Try not to get too excited. 

And thank you to everyone who responded to my email to track me. I will be on my own in Richmond, not sure if I'll see any familiar faces in the crowd, so knowing I will have a bunch of virtual supporters (don't forget to play the at home drinking game!) means a LOT.

Follow Me!

If you'd like to follow my progress on the marathon course this Saturday, you can do so from near or far!

• If you're in town, here's the link to the spectator info page listing out the "party zones" and good spectating areas.  I'll post a picture tomorrow of my planned race get-up so you can find me.  There's also a pace chart so you can generally predict when you runner will arrive at different miles. I don't think it accounts for the delay crossing the start, but I should be somewhere in the 4:15 to 4:30 pace neighborhoods.

• If you're not local, leave me a comment and I can sign you up for the text message runner tracking. The race starts at 8:00am, so I can only guarantee no text message updates will rouse you from your slumber before 8:30am or so! You've been warned.

I'm planning to go to 8 1/2 in The Fan for dinner, unless anyone has better suggestions.  I like some noodles with red sauce as my pre-race meal.  And bread, lots of bread.

Family Photo Session

Back in October, we had a "family photo session" with a professional photographer.  We went back to the Hendry House where we were married, brought the dogs with us and spent an hour or so hanging around the grounds with our amazing photographer, Meredith Hanafi.

I loved, my wedding photos, but damn, I wish I'd found Meredith before we got married because I am just thrilled with how these turned out. We had such a good time too. I hope she doesn't move (like the photog who did our engagement photos) or dissolve (like the studio that did our wedding pictures) so we can work with her again in the future. It would be really fun to have the same photographer document our family through the years.

I'm really pleased we did this! It felt like a splurge, but it's wonderful to have these photos.

Check out the slideshow, password is "dogs."

Full-On Freak-Out Mode

I am officially, as of yesterday, in full-on freak-out mode re: the marathon.  I feel down right jittery.  I'm obsessing over the course, I'm making google maps of every pre-marathon step I'll take in Richmond, and checking, double-checking, and triple quadruple-checking that my hotel confirmation lists the right hotel and the right day.  Yikes.

I know that there is a lot I didn't do in preparation for this marathon (missed workouts, bad workouts, weeks at work where I couldn't get away to run -- or sleep -- for love or money), but I also know there is a LOT I did do.  Every go round of marathon training is exciting because I learn something new, try something new and my training gets a little more comprehensive and sophisticated.   As a dear friend once told me, in the end, race day is just a celebration of the hard work you put in during training.  I might have missed a workout or two (or fifteen), but there is still a LOT, like a LOT a LOT, to celebrate this Saturday.

I plan to go for a short shake-out run at lunch today, but as they say, the training hay is in the barn, so I'm not going to think or read too much in to how that run goes.  Today, I'm just going to focus on hydrating and making my packing list because at this point these are the only concrete things I can control right now.

Oh, and I just realized I can check the 10-Day weather forecast now...off to weather.com.

And That's When I Picked My Jaw Up Off the Floor

Actual conversations that have happened in our house over the last few weeks.

Scene 1: 6 days before we have "family photos" taken with a professional photographer.  Kitchen.  Our house.

[Husband]: So I guess I can't get a haircut this week.

Me: What?

[Husband]: I'm already inside the two-week window before I'm be in professional photographs.

Cue jaw on floor.

Background: Whenever [Husband] gets what he alleges is a trim at the barber, he ends up looking like a Marine recruit.  It takes about 2 weeks for his hair to lose the "freshly chopped" look.  Before our wedding, I marked on the calendar the absolute drop-dead last day he was allowed to get a haircut because "you will not appear in my ${too expensive} professional wedding photos looking like we're shipping you off to boot camp next week."   In defense of my shallow behavior, there was also a drop-dead date for my last eyebrow wax and a reminder to me to shave my legs the day before the wedding.  What?  I practice equal-opportunity ridiculousness.

Scene 2:  Weekend morning.  Kitchen.  Our house.  Husband returning triumphantly from grocery run for breakfast goodies.

Me: So what'd you decide to get?

[Husband]: Oh, blah, blah, breakfast items, blah...and turkey breakfast sausage.  I just couldn't bring myself to buy the regular sausage.  It has such high fat content.

Me: Ok.

Cue jaw on floor.

I take this all as proof that he is actually listening to me when I think he's not.

We Were the House That Gave Out Pretzels

I'm mildly ashamed. Last night we turned off the porch light and we didn't give out candy. Some kids did come to the door, mistaking our kitchen being lit as "we're open for Halloween business," and we had to give them mini-bags of pretzels. For shame.  I usually aspire to be the house that gives out full-size candy bars or at least "good candy."

Oh well, we decided this year, since I've been sick and the dogs are a handful, and frankly, I didn't want any candy in the house, we wouldn't do trick or treating this year. We're curmudgeons. How did we arrive at this place? We didn't even get pumpkins!

As I mentioned, I've been sick and on a cocktail of antibiotics for the last week. The good news is that it's been perfect for tapering -- I've been resting my legs like whoa, definitely not wearing heels (not going to work for 3 days helps), definitely not drinking, and the antibiotics are curbing my appetite...nothing even tastes good.

I missed the 14 miler scheduled for this last weekend, but I'm not going to worry about it. I'll just pick  up tomorrow with whatever I'm supposed to do. Less is more at this point, and better to be healthy and well-rested than have those extra miles.

For the Duration...

The miles are more or less in, I do still have a 21 miler, a 14 -16 and another 10, but the heavy lifting and most of the physical work is done.

This week, I've started doing a few things to get myself mentally prepared. This things are somewhere between sensible preparation and ritual superstition, but I think on race day they are going to give me some comfort that I prepared every way possible for this race.So for the duration of marathon training here's what I'm doing:

• No high heels. Heels. Love 'em. The higher the better. I'm an extremist with shoes. When I'm not in running shoes, I'm either wearing non-supportive flats or 3" - 4" heels.  High heels cause tightening in your calf muscles and put undue stress on your knees, toes and ankles, among other things (but they're so pretty...), so I'm trying to limit wearing them to 2-3 times a week max. The last week before the marathon, I'll probably wear running shoes all day unless I absolutely MUST wear other shoes.
• The 9:30 to 5 grind. That's 9:30pm to 5am. I have struggled in this last training cycle to get up and out on time. I'm fine rushing everywhere and being late, it only takes a sec to through on running clothes.  But now that I have a better understanding of fueling and am familiar with how much better I perform when properly fueled, it's disappointing to realize I stood in my own way of having a good run or race. Richmond has an 8:30am start, so I want to get comfortable with rising at 5am so I have plenty of time to eat, drink, use my hotel room bathroom, and still get in a long warm up and some port-o-potty breaks at the start line. I'm also trying to condition myself to be ready for bed by 9:30pm too because it's no good going to bed early on race eve if I can't fall asleep because I usually go to be at 11pm.  This is coming along well. I'm getting up between 5:30 and 6:30 and I think by next week, I'll be in a better groove and up at 5am. BTW, it's dark at 5:30! Daylight savings isn't til November 6!
• Lose the Booze.  I have never, NEVER given up alcohol in prep for a race. Everyone has a different philosophy on this and mine has always been to do as I normally do. I know that I can't drink a whole bottle of wine the night before a run or race and expect good results, but I don't restrict for the sake of restricting. But this time I am. I'm cutting back to one drink a night max* just to keep my body on a fairly even keel.  I drink coffee before I run to though, and I know a lot of people don't do that. I think I'm just special. :)
• Hitting the gym again. Usually by mid way through training, I give up on the gym altogether. Not good, but not unheard of for runners. I'm back in the gym doing some light weight lifting, stretching and ab work. Trying to get in there 2-3 days a week for the remainder of my time before Richmond.

While some of these things are fact based and rooted in sound reason, I'll admit that I'm mostly doing them as extra mental insurance for confidence on race day. I figure it can't hurt, it can only help!


*I do have a girl's night, Halloween and a wedding between now and November 12, so there may be some slight exceptions happening those days. I can't act like I could actually go to someones wedding and only have one drink. I mean that would just be rude...

Trust the Numbers

We have a saying in my office that we pull out when the going gets rough: trust the numbers. My job requires some basic statistical analysis, and basic though it is, it's what we base a lot of our decisions on. And when things are looking shaky, we go back to our historical analysis and show ourselves again and again the the numbers works, we just have to trust them.

I've been thinking about this a lot as I transition into crazy, full-on, marathon mode.  With the headway I've made in speed over the last year and half, I feel I'm really struggling to figure out the right marathon pace for me. I do my speed work at one pace, my long runs at another, and somewhere in the middle is my marathon pace, I'm just not sure what it is exactly.

In races past, of all distances, I go out conservatively (blasting through the first mile has rarely been my problem) and then cross the finish feeling like I still have a good bit left in the tank. After running the National Half with my WMATA safety blanket, and frankly, shocking myself with my time, I've been trying to wrap my mind around a more ambitious and bold race strategy. I still believe going out conservatively is the best strategy for me, I believe you can't bank time, but I'm embracing the idea that maybe I'd rather throw up at the finish* because I put in such a hard effort than feel like I shorted myself playing it safe.

I've been playing around with a lot of ideas for pacing Richmond and what my plan will be. The last two nights have been somewhat sleepless because I get in bed and run race strategy over and over in my head. I've got a map of the Richmond course with elevation chart taped just to the left of my computer at work, and I gotta tell you, it's DISTRACTING. I just thinking about my plan for the hills and down hills and the flats and the tough miles (16-18, 23-25 are usually pretty mentally tough for me) and suddenly 30 minutes later...Don't tell anyone, internets, shhh!, but yesterday, I put together an excel spreadsheet analyzing my paces over different portions of National Half and Oklahoma. Nerd Alert!

Right now I'm leaning toward an A Goal of 4:14:59 (it just seems more fun than saying 4:15!), but I'm still fine tuning the pace plan that will get me there. I'm 99% confident I have this race in me and even though my training hasn't been quite what I wanted it to be, I know I've put serious miles and effort in the bank and I'm engaging in some non-running prep work to reinforce what I have done and help me think less about what I (think) I didn't do. I'll write more about that later.

I'm also really enjoying MilePosts blogs about keeping the doubt out and choosing to believe instead. She's in my blogroll and worth checking out if you haven't before. She's my inspiration that even as a 4 hour + marathoner, I can one day run a sub 4 marathon too!

I have more to write about my marathon plans (I'm so excited!!)m but for now, I'm just going to keep repeating to myself this line from the PR Running email today:

Rest now is more important than miles.  You've done those.  The miles ARE in the bank.  Trust that and trust me when I say that less is more now until race day.

*I mean that in a general way to emphasize my point about effort...I promise I don't actually want to vom at the finish.

Beast Update

Here's a little update on the dog and dog show that lives at our house. 

 

Barksdale has grown by leaps and bounds since we adopted him in early July. He was about eighteen pounds when he came home with us and he's now weighing in somewhere in the mid-forties. The pictures above are from about 6 weeks ago. Here is now.  Look at that glossy black coat!

Barksdale is enrolled in Puppy Basic at Woofs! Dog Training Center. He is very food motivated and all the teachers think he is cute and smart (obvi!).  I highly recommend Woofs! if you're in the area and need training classes.

Griffin is still a fat beast, but she's a fat happy beast. She's a good dog and we love her. I tell her she's my favorite little brown dog.

I know nearly all these pictures are of both dogs sleeping and snuggling, but it's tough to get a picture of the big rolling ball of dog when it's up and active. Video would be a better medium for capturing that, you know, if I had a free hand to do so.

Check out Olive Our House, recently added to my blogroll.  She has a great story about their dog Basil and how they adopted him. It's a very sweet story.

Things I didn't do this weekend:

• Laundry
• Meal plan for the week
• A real grocery trip (I bought milk at target and a half case of wine at HT, not real shopping)
• Tackle the seemingly endless list of painting projects
• Dishes

Things I did do:

• Take pictures of the dogs
• Take the dogs to the dog-park (twice!)
• Stay home with the dogs so [Husband] could get a bike ride in
• Look at old pictures from college, re-read our wedding cards, sift through my scrapbook box
• Look through the family china from my Dad
• Donate to goodwill
• Spend time with lots of friends and family
• Snuggle on the couch and watch 30 Rock with [Husband]

We might have to have wine and cereal for dinner this week, but that's ok. It was a rare (relatively) quiet weekend, the weather was beautiful, and wine for dinner actually sounds pretty good right now.

A Major Mystery of the Universe: SOLVED

Oh, Jill. I can only hope for a life in which the greatest challenge I face is folding a fitted sheet. You're a nice lady though.

I Heard There Was a Pumpkin Shortage...

...so Tuesday at the grocery store, I bought 10 cans of pumpkin. Just wanted to stock up in case the rumors are true. We cannot POSSIBLY have Thanksgiving at our house without one of [Husband's] pumpkins pies (bottom right of the photo below).

 

 Today, I heard about a recipe on Pinterest for homemade pumpkin spice syrup. A small amount of detective work (aka going to Pinterest and typing in "homemade pumpkin spice syrup") yielded 246,500 pins, presumably all linking back to recipes for homemade pumpkin spice syrup. I very scientifically determined that the prettiest picture must indicate the best recipe and sent myself the link so I can give it a try this weekend.

The recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of canned pumpkin and fortunately I have about 300 tablespoons of canned pumpkin in my pantry right now. 

Here's the recipe I picked in case you would like to try it too.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup from Cook Like a Champion via Pinterest
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 cinnamon sticks or 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon*
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons pumpkin purée

Directions:
Combine water and sugar in a medium pot over medium heat. Cook until sugar has completely dissolved. Whisk in remaining ingredients. Cook for about 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Do not allow mixture to come to a boil. Strain syrup through cheesecloth into a large glass measuring cup. Transfer to bottle of your choice and store in the refrigerator.

*A note in this blogger's post said that the cinnamon sticks yield a smoother texture and thinner syrup. She has Annie's Eats in her blog roll, so I'm thinking she's pretty legit.

"You Show Me a 99 Percenter, and I’ll Show You a Kid Who Would Do Public Relations for Halliburton Faster Than You Can Say 'The Name is KBR.' ”

A small collection of interesting blogs on the OccupyDC/WallStreet/Philly/what have you movement. Obviously slanted toward my personal bias. Interesting nonetheless.

ATL:   "[I]f this collection of people could get their act together, they wouldn’t be occupying Wall Street. They’d be occupying K Street. They’d be occupying First Street...asking questions of the people who help “the banks” get around any regulation the overmatched SEC can come up with." (Title of my blog comes from this article on ATL).

Economix:  Touche, 53-percenters.  I'm like half-way there with you, but you know, not quite.

Ezra Klein/Wonk Blog:  "What’s more the “53 percent” Tumblr also implies that there’s a certain mantle of responsibility that paying taxes confers upon people...That’s an unusual message coming from conservatives who’ve pushed so mightily for an anti-tax agenda."

Rational Irrationality: Well, I got my buzzwords right.

You may recall that when I ran Oklahoma back in May I committed a MAJOR rookie mistake by not checking the weather closely leading up to the race and packing only the bare necessities for race day.  I mean, I squeaked by relying on my wits and foraging things from the streets of Oklahoma City, but I'd just as soon not repeat that experience (except for the PR part, please, let's repeat THAT).

In order to avoid such mistakes when I travel to Richmond on November 12, I did a practice round of traveling and running by spending the night at my sister and brother-in-law's place to run a 10-miler in their neighborhood.  It was a total failure.

 Let's start with the list of  things I forgot:

• My contact lenses (not the end of the world, but really inconvenient)
• The top to my hand-held water bottle (really?)
• Body Glide (ouch!)
• There was a fourth thing, but I am forgetting it right now (do you see the theme here?)

I also overslept, didn't really eat breakfast early enough, etc. etc. and the weather was gawdawful. I ran in some humidity this summer, but that Sunday really took the prize for hot and wet.

My original Richmond plan was to try and car-pool with some folks from my training group, but after that race I realized I might need to have my own car so I can make an emergency 8:57pm visit to a Sports Authority when I realize I have forgotten my shoes!

This morning I did a Google search for "Marathon Packing Checklist" (what ever did we do before Google??) because I need professional help!

 I especially enjoy the return at the bottom for the London Marathon packing list, "english version."  Do the English pack different things than Americans or do you suppose they just mean the English language version of the list?

As you can see there is a lot of professional assistance out there for me to choose from, I can't wait to start vetting the lists and select one or perhaps compile the best parts of several lists and type up my own complete with check-boxes and fancy fonts. I do love a good list.

Generally, I think I'm going to take a page out of Sweaty Emily's packing guide and bring the full complement of running gear at my disposal, just in case.*

What do you not leave home without when you travel (to a race or otherwise)?

*seriously though, it's Richmond. It could snow or there could be a hurricane or it might be 90 degrees. This is Virginia in the fall. It's a crap shoot.

Griffin Butt

Poor little Mr. Barksdale has a tendency to get car sick. Like when we take him to the dog park. Which is about 300 yards from our house.  We have to drive them because crossing the major thoroughfare between us and the park is dicey with two ill-trained, overly curious dogs who like to stand about in the middle of the road. 

Griffin does NOT like it when Barksdale is car sick and will very often launch herself into the back seat from the trunk to get away from him.


Yesterday we driving back from the park and she had her little head and paws up on the back seat looking at us. We didn't realize until we opened the hatch to let them out of the car, that Barksdale had thrown up and Griffin had wedged herself up on the seat to get away from the vom.

This is what we saw when we opened the trunk.

We almost died laughing, but we were able to get a picture first. Lucky for you. 

On the Other Hand...

Have you all heard about this "Occupy Wall Street" thing that's going on? According to the movement's website, OccupyWallSt.org, it is

[a] leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants.

Yes, I had to look up Arab Spring as well. Here's the Wikipedia link.

Anyway, basically it seems that lots of people who are angry about the credit crisis and student loans and I guess anything else generally, are occupying the physical (yet symbolic!) space of those of those viewed as the oppressors, i.e. the "1%".

There is also an "Occupy DC" movement. They do not have a website, or rather they do, but it's is under maintenance -- how typical DC.  It's taking place about 3 blocks from my office and consists of a tent-city filled with people who are angry about the credit crisis and student loan debt*, etc. and trying to make a point about it to Congress and the White House I guess.

I knew Occupy DC was happening, but I didn't realize there was a whole tent city thing happening until I saw it on the news this morning. The Park Police just granted a four-month permit extension to this leaderless resistance movement, so there will be people camped out on Pennsylvania Avenue into the winter.  (I'm thinking the Park Police must have a lot of student loan debt too). The Channel 8 reporter interviewed a few folks who said they'd Occupy DC as long as it took. What is it exactly? Til they wipe your student debt? Give you a house for free or at least under market value?

My initial thought was "where are these people going to go to the bathroom and shower?" (The Regan Building?). My next thought was, maybe you should get a job instead of camping out in Freedom Plaza for four months. That might help you solve your problems (yes, I know the job market is still terrible).

These thoughts aside, I do sort of admire these people. They are actively doing something to change what they feel are problems in this country and that is admirable. It's the same kind of admiration I feel for people who quit their jobs to pursue something they love like blogging full-time, or running a start-up company -- paths I see as requiring huge leaps of faith to follow.  Paths that I am far to risk-averse and enamored of my health insurance coverage to traverse. 

But you know, on the other hand, though I find the drive to take political action honorable, I don't get the sense this group really knows what they want or what they want to accomplish.  I can't really get behind that, so I'm back to wondering why they don't get a job....I think [The Husband] is whispering Republican propaganda to me in my sleep.

*a lot of these people seem angry about debt from college tuition, so student loan debt is going to be my catchall for describing what the protesters are angry about.

Anthem Great Pumkin 5K: Smoked.

Last year I ran the Anthem Great Pumpkin 5k with a friend on the day before her wedding. It was so much fun, I decided to do it again this year.

With my brother-in-law, Mark, in tow, I smoked the race this year. I can't get over the difference in this years race versus last year's:

2011:

 52  12/126  28 Arlington VA     26:08 25:25  8:11 

2010:

 373  79/147 27 Arlington VA     31:12 30:25  9:48 

I was the 52nd woman overall and TWELFTH in my age group. Awesome. 

I Want a Do-Over

Seriously? I only spent TWO YEARS looking for this exact shoe. I want a wedding do-over.

How to Save Money on Manicures

My advice for saving money on manicures:

Bite your nails and pick at your cuticles like a crazy person until it would be absolutely too mortifying to go into a nail salon because you know the little Asian lady nail technician will judge you and then offer you arm waxing services at a major discount.

Voila. $25 a month back in your pocket.

My First World Problems and Me

There's a twitter hashtag I see pretty frequently that always makes me laugh: #firstworldproblems. I know how lucky I am to have the really nice life that I have, but somehow that doesn't keep me from finding stuff to whine about. Anyway, I was thinking about it this morning and then I started signing the above title to the "My Buddy" tune (which doesn't really fit the phrase, but I found it entertaining nonetheless).

I can already tell today is going to be a craptastic one for my department at work, so in honor of that here are my sad, sad  first world problems.

-Our cleaning lady comes way to early, can't she wait till at least 8am to show up?
-Well, I really prefer craft beer, but if Bud Light is all you have, I guess I'll drink it.
-It's so annoying when the doggie day care doesn't open right at 7am.
-I hate it when they only have 2% milk instead of skim on the coffee bar!
-Ugh, I'm so busy at work I didn't have time to go to lunch!
-Oh man, the salon is out of my travel size Bumble and Bumble products again?!
-I'm SO behind on the Harry Potter movies that I can't go see the Deathly Hallows II yet. :(
-White truffle salt? But I wanted black truffle salt!

Hope you have a great Tuesday, void of all problems, first world or otherwise!

Young Women of the World...

..Let's make a pact. Right here, right now. Put your hand over your heart and put up your three finger "scout's honor" sign and repeat after me:

I do hereby, solemnly swear to give it my best effort, the best ol' college try I know how to give, to eliminate the word like (except where properly applicable) from my vocabulary, to refrain from ending sentences on high note such that they become questions instead of statements; to be assertive when speaking, and if I in fact do not know what the hell I'm talking about, I will say so instead of beating around the bush with phrases such as, "well, maybe, if everyone thinks it ok, I would just suggest that perhaps..." 

For the sake of the public image, perception, and intellect of myself, my generation of women, and future generations of women who, though currently emulating Jersey Shore, but will surely snap out of it one day, will need a role model for conducting oneself in public, I do hereby promise to mend my ways and speak well from this day forward, forever and ever. Amen.

That is all.

Friday Night Thoughts

• I just can't decide what's worse: tourists on your public transportation or tourists in your work lunch places. I have mowed down some families this week trying not to get stuck behind them in the line at Potbelly. 
• Ke$ha TOTALLY wrote this song for Pref Night. Ke$ha, I'm sorry you can't deny it. And yes, I'm 27 and still think about this stuff.
• We all know what Avril Lavigne really means when she says "So what if I go out on a million dates," in What the Hell. I'm sorry you're divorced and you have to date Brody Jenner now. That is sad.
• I'm kind of obsessed with the 'Til The World Ends Remix. Especially the Niki Minaj rap.
• Speaking of terrible pop, you know who has a shockingly high tolerance for terrible pop? [Husband]. Can you believe this? We have always acknowledged that he is the movie guru in our house and I am the music person, but it still surprised me. He will listen to Hot 99.5 for at least 20 minutes longer than I can handle it. And I just said I liked 'Til the World Ends. It's the remix, but still.
• And speaking of Friday Night, who loves Friday Night Lights? MEEEEEE!!! Who loves Tami Taylor? Ohhh me!! MEEE! Who wishes they were Tami Taylor (and thus married to Coach Taylor? OOOOOH MEEE PICK MEEEEEE!!!! I love this show. If you have not seen it, you need to park yourself in front of the tv and get to work. The writing and character development are so beyond network TV.  This is HBO quality.  If you do watch and you love Tami, you need to check out this montage of her Yalls (yall).
• Yall, I am TI-URD. I don't know how you people with babies do it because the puppy is seriously still killing me. Up til 11pm, up at 6am...tired. I think I'm just a wimp. 

• So I'm not a creeper, but...everyone once in awhile I'm curious about people I used to know.  The father of an old friend of mind is peripherally in the same professional field that I am. I came across his name in a document today, so I decided to look up my friend. Turns that after college she worked for The Knot in NY editing wedding images and then decided she wanted to be on the other side of the camera, so now she has a wedding photography business in Charleston. Her pictures are really great. I dropped her a line through the contact page on her website. I'm curious to see if I hear back from her.
• The last three books I read were a little heavy: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, True Grit by Charles Portis,  We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates, and now I'm reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. Anyone have any suggestions for something happier and lighter that's not 1) by Emily Griffin or 2) The Help?  By the way, the titles I recently read, I do highly recommend.  I just need to move onto a new theme that's not crime and/or murder.
• We're going to Napa in March! This deserves it's own, post, but Yay! I'm excited!
• Yesterday was 100 days til the Richmond Marathon.
• We have a wedding to go to every month through November. I kind of want to get invited to one in December just to keep up the 6 month streak. 

Happy Weekend!