solar squirrel

Quick pic before heading out for the evening - notice my crimped hair!!

Today finishes up my 2nd week of marathon training for my 16-week program which ultimately will end with me getting a PR at the Fargo Marathon on 5/21. My goal is to do Fargo in 3:30 or better and I am confident that by following a training program I will have no problem doing just that! I have been reading ‘The Competitive Runner’s Handbook‘ on my new Kindle (thanks, Todd!) and using one of the training programs from it.  Bridget is also doing this same program.  It’s more mileage that I’ve ever done - which I think is a good thing.  Most of the runs are at an easier pace, which makes them more do-able.  I’m targeting 5 days a week running, plus my 2 days a week with Larry as well as fitting in swimming and spinning whenever possible and bootcamp once per week.  It’s not easy, especially with the snow and frigid temps we’ve been having.  I hate, hate HATE the treadmill, but I’ve had to resort to using it for several of my runs during the week.  I’m fortunate enough to have Lifetime Fitness right down the street from work which definitely makes it easier.  Still, it’s really tough to do well at training, friends, relationship, work, and family.  Something has to give.  I wish I could do it all, but I don’t know if it’s possible.  Add to that the fact that 2+ hours of my day are spend driving and it makes my days so tight on time.  I guess you just have to decide what your priorities are and go from there.  Which sucks if things are all high on the priority list.  Maybe I should think of my life as an operating system and I’m the processor…only one task can have me at once…unless you’re talking parallel processing, which is getting too nerdy for a blog post about marathon training. ;)  [Nerdy friends, feel free to comment on this one!]

When I don’t have the motivation to get my workout in I think about my awesome friends who are doing it - some of them with husbands and children AND jobs and I stop feeling sorry for myself and suck it up (cupcake).

Here is how the past 2 weeks have played out:

Week 1:
Mon - bootcamp
Tue - 8 * 2-min of 7:00 pace.  1-min recovery (6 miles total) [TREADMILL]
Wed - 6.5 miles easy [SAND RUN PARK]
Thurs - 5 miles trails w/ CRTR
Fri - 5 miles [TREADMILL]
Sat - 4.5 miles [SAND RUN PARK] sucked - too snowy, bad grip. & 1-hour workout w/ Larry
Sun - 15 miles 8:17 pace

Week 2:
Mon:  2 easy miles & Zumba Class (1 hour)
Tue:  5 long hill repeats 2 miles warmup and 2 miles cooldown. [GARFIELD RES]
Wed:  PT w/ Larry (wanted to run…ran out of time)
Thurs:  5 miles w/ CRTR on trails
Fri:  9 miles [SAND RUN PARK]
Sat:  1 hour with Larry & 6 miles @ 8:47 pace (felt tired)
Sun:  13 miles @ 8:15 pace [RIVERVIEW RD]

In other news we decided last minute to go to Mega 80’s this past Friday and had a blast (even though the band wasn’t very good).  Highlights of the evening included me screaming at the top of my lungs that the band sucked and booing at them (!!) then acting like every song was my FAVORITE song and freaking out - everyone was laughing at me and people were staring…oh boy…, getting photos with the back of some bald guy’s head, crashing a 21-year old guy’s B-day party and riding in their limo, pigging out at Paninini’s after a night of dancing and then crashing at our $39 hotel room downtown.

For some reason I really liked this guy's head!

Bridget, Me, and Brittany being crazy girls...

Last night was this year’s Scrooge’s Night Out.  I hadn’t gone out partying for quite some time and decided to just get a hotel room downtown so that I didn’t have to worry about driving after the festivities.  Todd and me met up with Brittany, Bridget, and Steve at the hotel.  Of course there was the usual girl banter about our outfits, feet, arms, butts, (lack of) boobs, giant ribs, etc.  Brittany was already having wardrobe malfunctions before she put her dress on, and I was trying to remember how to put on panty hose since it probably had been more than 5 years since I had worn them…not joking.

Practicing our flexing before leaving for the evening

We were able to take the hotel shuttle to Grays Armory, where the event was held this year.  The last time I went it was at the Galleria and it sucked.  This year at the armory was really neat - definitely liked it a lot more with the new location.  There was all the wine and beer you could drink and lots of tasty appetizer-type food included with the ticket.  If you’ve never attended this event, I HIGHLY recommend it.  It benefits the Ohio Canal Corridor / Towpath which I use at LEAST once per week.  Scrooge and Santa were there, as well as a host of other interestingly dressed people.

Highlights of the evening included me walking into the woman’s bathroom and seeing a guy peeing into a urinal (yes - one of the designated woman’s bathroom had urinals…); The photo booth picture of me, Brittany, and Bridget where EVERY picture of Bridget looks EXACTLY the same (I will try to find a link / get the photos posted).  I start to crack up every time I look at it!  LOL!!; Pinkie in the air fanciness while drinking wine from plastic cups while wearing a yellow chicken eraser on your finger (don’t ask); Me being so out of control that my bracelet flew off (but someone found it and gave it back); me loosing Brittany’s wallet (but some nice guy finding it on the floor and returning it); dancing like a freak with my awesome friends; spilling my drink on people’s headS (and they were SO nice about it!!!); Running into several friends that I didn’t intend to see…I HAD A GREAT TIME!!!

Here are some more pictures from the night:

UPDATE: Here is the picture from the photo booth.  I scanned it because it is too funny not to be shared digitally.  We tried to do 2 serious poses and then 2 crazy poses.  Notice that Bridget looks EXACTLY the same in EVERY picture.  Dude - too funny!! 

Todd and Me

I have the most tolerant friends!  LOL!

Me and my crazy girl Brittany

Tee hee!!!!! Bridget and me

I look like I just won Todd as a prize in a gameshow!!!

After we were at the Armory for a few hours we decided we wanted to change out of the dresses into our normal clothing so we took the shuttle back to the hotel and changed.  Then we were on an excursion going from the Blind Pig to Wonder Bar to crash a friend’s Birthday party.  On the way we met some people who were getting out of a cab and talked them into going with us to Wonder Bar.  Then the group of us traveled to the Barley House where I lost Brittany’s wallet (I swear didn’t know she handed it to me!!  I accidentally dropped it on the floor…but luckily we got it back).  We were dancing like freaks until the placed closed and then we headed to Paninis to finish off the night.

The gang - Brittany, Todd, Me, Steve, and Bridget

I can’t wait until next year!

Three Sisters: Me, Gretchen, Ashley (friend), and Katy

Friday was my sister Gretchen’s 20th birthday.  Thinking back I can’t even remember my 20th birthday…I must have been right in the middle of some crazy semester at school, trying to work and handle a full-time CS undergrad load.  I do remember my 21st birthday, though.  I had a huge test the next day - I think in either Calc II or DSAII (Data Structures and Algorithms — good lord, it could have been both I took them the same semester…)  Anyway - I remember being incredibly frustrated because I had to spend so much time studying and working on programming assignments when it seemed like a lot of the other majors were going out and having fun.  I remeber thinking - that’s ok - after I have my degree it will all be worth it.

Since then I have realized that sometimes it’s just best to live in the moment.  Who knows what would have happened if I would have partied through college (I would have probably failed a lot of classes and had to graduate later.)  Certain things require dedication and responsibility, but there isn’t this binary black and white border.  There are some greys that I really missed out on because I was so dedicated to school back in the day.  (I was valedictorian of my high school class, too).  Who knows what my life would be like now if I would have spent more time doing ‘fun’ stuff…  Things are different now - even though my GPA is pretty good at Case (3.7), I know I could have a solid 4.0 if I really tried.  I don’t care that much about it anymore, though.  What good is it to spend that extra time?  If it’s between hanging out with my family and friends or having a 3.7 vs. a 4.0 I’m taking the B every now and then!  Getting laid off has really taught me that success means more than job title, grade point average, and your salary.  It’s your overall LIFE that matters; your health; your happiness; your satisfaction with your accomplishments both career and personal.  It’s too bad that it took me a while to realize these things, but I feel like I know a secret now…one that’s so obvious but so hard to realize.

So - we went to the Melting Pot for dinner.  If you’ve never been there I recommend NOT going there for dinner, but instead dessert.  Dinner is overpriced and not very good (they give you raw meat/seafood and you cook it in this pot of broth on your table).  The dessert is also overpriced, but the experience is fun and it’s very tasty.  We decided to do this thing where you get an appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert.  It was $88 per couple.  (I told Gret she could get whatever she wanted).  Here are some pictures:

Spinach and artichoke cheese appetizer

Entree plates (each couple gets one) with seafood and meats

Dessert! 2 pots of different flavored chocolate and plates with strawberries, marshmallows, rice crispy treats, brownies, bananas, and cheesecake!

And yes, we did eat ALL of it!  I may have eaten more of the dessert plate than Gretchen did!  It was nice, though, because going here is more of an event than most dining.  We were there for close to 3 hours.  It was fun to have tons of time to talk and have fun in-between the courses.  We took lots of pictures of each other and at one point were being really silly and taking fake myspace pictures.  (If you have a myspace acct you know what I’m talking about — the over the head self-portrait where you’re trying to look good - yet another reason to make fun of myspace.)  Oh - and no, I won’t be posting those. 

I was out pretty late, but decided I really HAD to get in a long run and there was no way I was doing it by myself so I decided to run w/ SERC .  Daisy and Espeed are too fast for me and Barb was only doing 10, so I joined Dawn and Rich at the 6 mile mark.  They were planning on doing 20 and they weren’t going too fast for me so I ran with them.  They are great to run with because they talk most of the time and made the miles go by pretty fast.  Towards the end I was pretty tired though and barely made it up the big hill in the park.  Luckily Rich gave me one of his gu’s or I would have likely died because I was expending so many calories trying to stay warm!  Man it was frigid!  The wind was crazy and it was snowing pretty steadily so my fleece was soaked from the melting snow.  My eyelashes were covered with snow and ice and I could barely see!  Rich said my ponytail was like a barometer or something because it had so much snow on it that it was an indication of how long we had been running.  I know neither one of them read my blog - but they are such great runners and I’m really appreciative that they ran with me.  (They’ve both done many ultras including hundred milers).  I’m so happy to get that 20-miler over with.  Now I feel like I’m really training.  Let’s see where the rest of the weeks take me!

It’s that time again for me to spend the evening dancing and having fun.  It’s the appropriate time since my summer class starts Monday.  Soooooooo if anyone is up for a fun time you should join!  It’s girl’s night and there’s no cover before 11.  Sounds good to me.  I’ve never heard of the DJ, but it’s supposed to be trance.   Here’s the info from their website:

“Come join us this Friday for the ultimate Ladies night out.  Ladies get half off all drinks….sponsored by All American Karate.  Complimentary Sushi from Shinto’s and ginger prime rib, chicken satay and spring rolls from Waterstreet.  Jon Swink will be spinning the best progressive trance in the VIP Lounge and DJ King will be mixing videos from T-Pain to Timberlake.  $2 Bud & Bud Lights all night long.  See you there! “

Yesterday afternoon (4pm) I’m staring at my computer screen trying to figure out the SRU code that I generated for the DSP that I’m working with.  It is super exciting, let me tell you - and Marcus sametime’s me (sametime is like an instant messenger).  He tells me about this Hermes race that is going on for Cinco de Mayo at the Blind Pig downtown.  It looked fun - there was no predefined ‘course’ because it was like a scavenger hunt, and you had a ‘green card’ that you had to take with you to different checkpoints.  The person who got to all of the checkpoints the fastest was the winner.  It started at 7pm and we still had time to register, so we decided to leave work and meet there.

I registered us and got our map and our ‘green card’.  There were 3 checkpoints - to get to all of them and return back to Blind Pig was about a 4 mile run.  At each of the checkpoints you had the choice of either doing a shot, drinking a beer, or doing a Mexican hat dance (wtf is a Mexican hat dance??).  At 7pm they lined everyone up and then let a new team start every 10 seconds.  When we were up Marcus takes off at like a 6:30 pace (I was wearing my Garmin) towards the first checkpoint - “Tower 230″, I think it was named.  Marcus thought he knew where it was, but as we ran past some people sitting outside they were like “where’s your stuff?”…eventually we realized that we had passed wherever it was we were supposed to go - and we ran back - it took us a while to find the place, but we finally did and when we got there - without even thinking - we each did a shot of tequila.  Yea.  BAD MOVE on my part.  My stomach was burning as we raced out and headed towards checkpoint #2, The Clevelander.  (Did I mention that we  each got a fake mustache at checkpoint #1 - we must have looked SO RIDICULOUS!!!) We FLY there - go in and I basically KNOW that I will throw up if I do another shot or drink beer - so I’m like “I don’t drink” and they put this sombrero on me and give me some maracas and made me to a “Mexican Hat Dance” for 30 sec.  Omg - I am so sure I looked like a complete freak!!  I was wearing pink running shorts and a sombrero (and a fake mustache that I stuck to my shirt so it wouldn’t fall off) - need I say more?  Hell no.  Marcus does the shot - probably because he realized how ridiculous I looked and didn’t want to do the same!  Checkpoint 3 didn’t require drinking but we got a sombrero to carry back with us to prove we were there.  We hauled back to the Blind Pig and were greeted at the finish line with, of course, a Corona!  Ha!  I just wanted some water!! 

It was actually really fun now that I am writing about it - but my stomach felt awful.  Both of us were just like - uuuuggggghhhh.  The Spazmatics (sp?) were playing and it was a pretty cool time!  We stayed for another beer (and I asked a midget for a lime!!) and then headed out at about 10 pm. 

When I got home I took 2 tums and went to bed.  Tequila shots and road racing seriously do not mix.

My friend Joe who used to work at Philips with me (and was my running partner at work) mentioned a few weeks ago that Kenneth Thomas was going to be at Traffic Nightclub the last Fri. of Feb. (Yesterday). I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to go out dancing with my good friend or miss out on some good trance music so I said HELL YEA! We had a blast! Since E-Speed didn’t have a husband for the night, she decided to tag along too, so it was the three of us.

We met at Joe’s house at 9:30 and then all drove together in my car downtown. First of all - E-Speed looked HOT! She was wearing this cute scarf on her head and a black tank top with jeans that made her look perfect (note to self - try to tone up butt and thighs so I can wear cute pants like that). We should have gotten a picture! (There was this chick there who was taking photos for this spotted cleveland website, but who knows if those pictures will get posted…besides it was dark and foggy in there so you couldn’t really see us.) When we got there it was pretty much empty - but hey we had to get there before 11 to get in for free, and I am all about free! I ordered a $10 martini (yikes!) and got E-Speed one, too. Joe was drinking a glowing gin and tonic. (tonic water glows in black light - it’s pretty neat!) We were freezing cold and I happened to notice that the VIP room had something that looked like the flames of a fireplace, so we headed in there. We stood by the fireplace and chatted and drank our drinks while we waited for the music to speed up so we could get our dance on. I decided to get a beer (my second and last drink since I was the D.D.) and while I was standing at the bar this gross drunkard stumbled up to me w/ 2 red bull and vodkas and tried to give me one - yea right. I shot him down quickly (and nicely, no need to be rude to the poor idiot) and he left. We hung out in the VIP room a bit longer and then headed out for some dancing!

The music was pretty good and it didn’t take long before I was a sweaty mess. (I am SO glad I wore my hair up). Oh - haha - one other funny thing - I wore running shoes so that I could dance without having my feet tire out after an hour - E-Speed attempted to make fun of me but I know I looked good! (well, in my own mind…). It was pretty funny because it seemed like there were way more guys there than girls but the girls that were there were a good mix between the usual buffy-bud lite drinking- marlboro-lite smoking -let me dance on the pole with my friend so guys will look at me - kind and actually girls that looked and acted more ‘normal’. At one point this guy that had been dancing next to us brought me over a drink (yet another red bull and vodka) and I politely told him that I was the D.D. so he proceeded to give it to Joe! He seemed cool, though, he wasn’t trying to hump me. A word of advice, guys - do NOT under ANY circumstances EVER try to dance with a girl like that. If she’s a girl worth actually dating she will deny you immediately hence ruining your chances to further any relationship. Plus - that is not how you dance to trance music. (Go next door to the velvet dog if that’s what you’re looking for.)

After dancing non-stop for about 3 hours we decided to go. (I think we left at about 2 a.m.). Man, I really needed that. I think I’m going to have to try to go out once a month so I don’t forget how fun it is! Next time I think I’m going to rent a limo and get all the running girls to go. Oh - and bring a camera!