solar squirrel

I’ve had this stupid sore throat for over a week but I think I’m finally getting better.  I managed to get in a few workouts, but nothing substantial.  Again I have gotten buried by work, mostly because everything is new and it takes me twice the time to figure something out because I have to ask questions and do independent research on things.  Luckily as time goes on things will get easier because I will be more comfortable with the industry.  It’s still incredibly exciting and I’m LOVING it!

I am leaving Sat. for San Diego for a water conference.  Basically I’m going to man our product booth and explain our technologies (yikes!).  It should be a fun learning experience.

Workout-wise I’ve been a huge slacker, but I am going to start training for the towpath marathon like - today.  E-Speed told me that I could do an 18 week program, but I’m already behind so I’ll have to pick it up in week 16…or whatever week I’m on.  Can you tell I’m not awake yet?  (Still drinking coffee - I realized that I could start keeping my blog up to date if I did it in the morning while drinking my morning coffee and waking up)

In other news Todd’s parents are here visiting from Oregon and he has put them to work remodeling his bathroom…which has caused there to be several new holes in places where we didn’t used to have holes (to get to the pipes).  It’s been disappointing because we wanted to get a bigger shower but because of the location of things we’re going to have to stick with the same size; and hot and cold water pipes are in locations which require punching holes in walls, etc.  I can’t wait to see it complete, though - it’s going to be very fancy!

Thanks for keeping me on my toes, Ben R. - this blog post is dedicated to you!!

I feel like I’ve been moving forever.  I started on Saturday, packing up everything and getting ready for the moving truck on Sunday.  I worked ALL day Sat. cleaning and packing, then moved ALL day Sunday, and did unpacking and finishing up today.  I have about an hour’s worth of work left for tomorrow and then I’ll finally be done!  Sheesh.  I know that the following will be unthinkable for most of my running friends - but I haven’t ran since THURSDAY.  Yes, that’s right - it’s been 4 days sans running for me.  I have been so sore and tired from moving that there is absolutely no way that I could have brought myself to go running.

Friday I went mtn. biking at Ray’s indoor mtn. bike park - what a fun time!  I was so scared at first, but then I just forced myself to go over stuff and go through certain sections.  The part that scared me the most was the fact that the ground is concrete, and that there are lots of people riding around.  I didn’t want someone to crash into me and cause me to go flying into the hard floor!  When I took the shin guards off my pants were soaking wet from sweat!  It seriously was such a good time, I just wish it wasn’t so out of the way to get to, or I would go there more often.  Definitely a fun place to hit up after work during the winter, though.

Tomorrow I’m getting back to running and heading to the Solon track with Bridget.  I should be feeling pretty good since I’ve had 4 days ‘off’.  (Trust me, moving is a tough workout).

Yesterday was a cold, rainy, yucky day.  I told myself if I went running in it I would reward myself with a new pair of running shoes (which I needed anyway - I’ve been running on the roads in my trail shoes because I didn’t want to spend any extra $).  I bought some cute pink Asics which have tons of support.  I’ll wear these at Boston.

So I forced myself to go out in the rain and run.  You know - it wasn’t so bad!  I wore shorts, technical Tshirt, and a light fleece and gloves.  I was cold for about 20 seconds when I first walked outside and then I was perfect.  The rain wasn’t too bad at all, and I was out on the towpath by myself.  I like running on the towpath when no one else is around because you can hear the river.  It sounds really neat splashing along.  Plus you can hear the birds now that the weather has warmed up a little.  I didn’t wear my watch, but I felt like I was running pretty fast.  I only ran like 5 miles because I didn’t have much time so I was running a bit faster than I normally would.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful words of encouragement and congratulations on my new job.  I’ll be posting info about it once I officially start on April 6th.  I’m so excited!

Tonight I’m going to Ray’s indoor mountain bike park.  I’m a little nervous as I haven’t been on my mountain bike for MONTHS!  Oh, well - it will still be fun!

First my training:

Monday:  Swam w/ Brian (we talked a lot but managed to do a ladder)
Tuesday:  Track workout - 2 * 800 and 4 * 400 with ~2:30 rest.
Wednesday:  7 mile trail run.  Fell hard and scraped up my knee and leg.
Thursday:  Rested after falling
Friday:  Swam w/ Kristin and Sharon
Saturday:  No working out - worked on school stuff basically all day
Sunday:  ~17 miles w/ SERC at 8:20-ish pace.  Laid tile in Todd’s basement.  Exhausted.

I need to get on the bike ASAP if I think I’m going to be doing any triathlons this year!  I am so excited about spring and outdoor cycling (road and mountain).

Now a super awesome update:
Last Sunday I got an email from the HR director at Aclara RF telling me she was in the process of putting together an offer letter for me!  This is precisely the type of job I wanted AND in the industry I wanted!  (Product Marketing Manager in the AMI - advanced metering infrastructure - industry).  I of course accepted the offer and I am scheduled to start on April 6th.  If you were wondering, no, I was not working with a recruiter to find this job.  That’s because recruiters told me that I wouldn’t be able to make a career shift into marketing.  Well, I refused to work for an industry I didn’t believe in doing work that I’m not excited about, so I went off on my own and found a growing company in an exciting industry.  I can’t wait to learn all about their products and help them become more successful.  After I ‘officially’ start I will provide more details and updates.

*It was actually 19, but I’m calling it 20.

What a great day for running yesterday was!  I planned to run w/ SERC again yesterday since Dawn showed me a really nice 20-mile route that goes out to the Polo Fields off of Chagrin River rd.  Bridget needed to get in 20 so she and I planned to run together at a pace that was comfortable for both of us.  I honestly don’t care too much about the pace when I’m doing anything longer than 12, I just want to get in the miles.  So her awesome hubby stashed gatorade and water for us at the 8/16 mile marker (that’s mile 8 and mile 16 - same spot) and we were set!

I was really impressed with our pace - which was sub-9 almost the entire time.  We had intended on 9:30’s but seemed to get into a groove at about 8:50 so we stuck with that.  I felt awesome until a little after the turn around.  It could be because we stopped for a while - had gu, drank water, used the bathroom, stretched - I think for next time I need to keep my rest time to about 3 min.  When we started back up I felt like I had stopped for too long and it was hard for us to get back into a rhythm.  (That was ~mile 12).  By the time we were at the top of the hill at 91 I was DONE.  Sore legs and super super super super SUPER hungry.  I was dizzy I was so hungry.  When we were back at the bagel shop I realized I had only done about 19 but at that point I either stopped and ate something or passed out.  Bridget had another mile in her and she kept going!  She’s out of control!!!!  She set out to do 20 and that’s what she intended to do!

I need to remember - one gu for 20 miles isn’t enough.  I need something w/ protein like a cliff bar or I just can’t do it.  Also - thank goodness for the water/gatorade that Steve left for us.  It helped break up the run because we used that as a target to get to.  My legs feel great today - no muscle soreness at all - just a little stiff in the ankles when I got out of bed.  (Which reminds me I have to buy some road shoes…I’ve been running in my trail shoes because I am trying not to spend any extra $, but road shoes are an essential item so I will maybe buy some today - and I may have some super exciting news about a job - you’ll have to stay tuned for that!!!!)

I also have some great news about my ENTP project.  I’ll save that for another post - check back soon!

Sunday was our SERC running club banquet and the Youngstown Half marathon.  Last year I did pretty well - finishing 10 min faster than the year prior.  I approached this year knowing that I would probably be slower due to the fact that it’s been difficult to get a regular running routine down since being laid off.  I know that doesn’t make any since at all, but it’s really hard when each week is different than the last.  I’m balancing an incredibly intensive course-load this semester - 3 classes that all require TONS of work outside of class.  Adding to that are random interviews, career fairs, networking events, etc. that require prep. time and travel time.  I never know what my schedule is going to be from week to week.  It makes it difficult to plan a regular workout schedule.  I’ve been putting tons of miles on my car driving back and forth to school, interviews, networking events, presentations, lectures, class group meetings, class interviews, and class presentations.  My time on the phone has also increased.  I had to increase my monthly minutes from 450 to 900 because I’ve been on the phone so much trying to nail down things for my class projects and getting tons of calls from recruiters who I wish would not bother me.

Side note on recruiters:  I hate you all.  You don’t care one micron about helping me find a career - you only care about getting your freakin’ money.  You are worthless and don’t understand software.  You mispronounce industry terms and don’t say acronyms correctly.  You are totally and completely without credibility or tact.  You are nothing but a poorly trained telemarketer who is lacking social skills and industry knowledge.

Anyway - needless to say I’m having issues staying focused on training.  Sunday at Youngstown I was reminded that I need to start putting more miles in.  I was only a few min. slower than last year - but I was really sore afterwords.  I’m still sore today - 2 days later.  My finish time was 1:47:13 (8:11 pace).  I’m not too terribly disappointed with this, but I would have like to have been faster or equal to my time last year.  In order to do that I need to run more - but I DREAD running by myself.  I just can’t do it.  I’ve only gotten better as a runner because of running with others.  Running alone is like running on the treadmill - I don’t like it one bit.  I used to religiously run Tue and Thurs with work friends at lunch.  I don’t have that anymore and boy do I miss it.  I can’t tell you how much I miss it.  It’s like a part of me is missing.  Ugh.

So here’s the good news:  It’s going to stay bright later now that the time has changed so I can start going to the track again Tue nights.  I’m planning on going tonight.  Bad news is that I’m moving out of Solon because I don’t have an income and my sister and I both don’t have jobs.  Solon is a great place to live if you’re a member of SERC because that’s where the Sunday runs are and we do track workouts at Solon High School.  What am I going to do in April when I don’t live there anymore?  I guess I’ll just enjoy these next weeks that I have while I still have them.  Hopefully I’ll get a job near solon so that I can at least still do track workouts after work without a long drive.  I know I won’t do them if I don’t have anyone to do them with.

So I made a promise that I would keep track of my workouts…not sure what happened but I didn’t stick with it.  Here’s a recap of the past week:

Monday:  Rest
Tuesday:  Ran 4 miles w/ Bridgette
Wednesday:  Swam ~1600 meters
Thursday:  3.5 mile tempo run
Friday: Elliptical and bike (30 min); swam ~1600 meters
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Ran 8 (pine lane) + 4 on towpath. 12 mi total.

When running yesterday I tripped on a root, fell hard and hurt my shoulder.  The trails are seriously dangerous in the winter.  I am really looking forward to some spring and summer weather!  Pine Lane was so bumpy my ankles were sore after only 8 miles!  Thank goodness Bridgette ‘forced’ me to run 4 more.  Brian wimped out after only 8.

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!

We're not wearing fake eyelashes people...it's ICE!

As planned, I ran with the South East Runners Club this morning in Solon.  My car said the temp. was 4F so I was preparing for a blustery run.  I wore 2 thick technical shirts (the purple one I’m wearing in the photo has built in mittens and a hood) and a pair of medium thickness running pants.  Of course as always thick smart-wool socks.  Really the only thing that was cold was my face and my butt.  The face makes sense, but the butt doesn’t.  I thought fat was an INSULATOR!  My butt was so cold that I couldn’t feel it!  I ran with Mr. Skin for a while and then Daisy caught us (she was running 2 min late and they leave at 8 am SHARP!) and I started talking and running with her - accidentally leaving Mr. Skin.  (Sorry!!).  Daisy was running too fast for my out of shape self so I slowed it down a bit and was running by myself till the 6 mile mark.  Then I caught them at the ‘water’ stop (no water today) and finished the last half with them.  I did the 12 mile loop minus the parking lot so it was more like 11.5.  I’m fine with that, though.  I need to make sure I don’t over do it since I’m just now ramping up my mileage for Boston.  I was supposed to do 20 today, but I’m just not ready for 20 yet.  I’ll try for closer to 18 next weekend.

It was really weird having all that ice on my eyelashes - it made it hard to see - it was like I was looking through some type of filter.  I wiped it off at the half way point, but it just built up again.  I didn’t realize my eyes and hair could develop so much moisture!  We looked like 3 old ladies running!

When I got home I took a really long hot shower and then headed to Todd’s.  We went to lunch and then went to this pet store called ‘One of a Kind’.  It’s awesome - they have about 20 cats just hanging out and puppies out in the open for you to pet.  They are all rescued animals and they are all so LOVABLE and FRIENDLY!  Here is a pic. of Todd testing out a cat toy he was planning on buying for his cats.

Game plan is to try to run w/ SERC every Sunday until Boston.  We’ll see how it goes!

The DREADmill

So I’m getting over a cold which I am sure would have turned into pneumonia or worse if I would have done the 50k.  I am so so so happy that I listened to my body and rested.  Nevertheless - there is still this small matter of TRAINING FOR BOSTON that I seem to have been avoiding lately.  Yesterday I decided to try the treadmill again since I don’t think I’m quite ready to run outside.  (I don’t want to risk getting too cold and subjecting myself to getting sick again).

I went to the Severance Bally’s since I was already in the area (had a meeting at Case for school).  That place is really nice!  I’ve only been there a few times, but it’s really clean and the locker room is HUGE and has high ceilings and tons of lockers and bathrooms and even seperate changing stalls.  They have TVs hanging from the ceiling and it’s really open and big.  The other nice thing is that they have like 20 treadmills…maybe more, so you never have to worry about not getting on one even during the super busy times.

This time I brought my MP3 player in hopes that it would make running more enjoyable - it actually did help a lot!  (But still wasn’t the best running experience).  I did a 1 mile warmup at 1.5 incline and a speed of 9:03 min miles.  That felt really easy so for mile 2 I increased the speed to 8:12 pace.  That felt pretty good but soon into the 3rd mile I was already getting side stitches!  ARgh!  So I changed the speed to 8:19 and did miles 4 and 5 and then decided I had enough and did the last mile at 9:03 again.  So I did a little over 6 miles.  The music definitely helps A LOT.  Still, I have a hard time knowing how to move my arms because I’m scared they’ll hit something and I also can’t seem to get into a good rhythm.  At least I did it - I was thinking that I was just not capable of running on the treadmill after my last try.  I couldn’t run for more than 4 or 5 min without having to stop and walk.  Must have just been a bad day.

I’m definitely not planning on making a routine out of this - but it’s good to know it’s an option when I’m getting over being sick or when there is freezing rain, 10 ft. of snow, etc.

I’ll be in Solon Sunday morning - hopefully I’ll be able to run with someone!