Just Plodding Along

Whelp yesterday was Friday the most glorious day of the work week. I smuggled my magic massage the calf and everything that hurts stick into work and used it a few times throughout the day. Best idea ever. After 6 miles at a 10:11 pace (fast for me in this heat, only thing I could figure is that I was so happy to not be running hills I went faster) my calves needed a little TLC. After work I headed over to Fleet Feet for the running form workshop. It was put on by Newton shoes who had a rep there so we could try Newtons. The only down side was they didn't have any in size clown  W12 so I had to wear the men's version. They fit okay but were a little wide. But at around $120 to $175 a pop it was nice to actually try running in these shoes in case I win the lotto and want to purchase some (disclaimer: these shoes are supposed to last up to 800 miles which is about twice as long as your normal running shoe so really they are a pretty good deal. I am physically unable to hand ...

Today has been the craziest day. 1) Fun mansion, pretend I have money time is over. Back to the poor house. Unfortunately that meant schlepping my 18 tiny bags I had packed back home. Why did I not just pack one large bag? Sometimes I wonder about myself The trash bag suitcase takes the classiness of any situation up a notch Not pictured: 2 more tiny bags full of who knows what 2) I tweaked my knee at zumba. Too much bump and grind or something. I have been icing and stretching and cursing at it in an attempt for it to be all better by tomorrow's run. Never thought cross training would be the thing to take me down. 3) While out for a site visit for work (I currently work in community development and do some inspecting of work sites and projects) I was driving along the interstate with some coworkers when there was a pretty bad crash up ahead. It involved us jumping out of the car and aiding the people, one of which had been thrown out of the car, until hel...

I have killed two giant spiders during my time babysitting the mansion. I think it is time to head home. No, just no Flip flop/ spider eliminator- now what do I do with this shoe- burn it? It rained today It feels so nice outside, you know when it is not 107. After dinner I wanted something sweet and opted for watermelon over an ice cream bar... I began to wonder if I was ill or something, but gave it an hour and ate the ice cream bar too All is right in the world.  Run this morning: 3 hilly, hot miles (80 degrees at 5:30a.m.) Run tomorrow: 6 miles of hills (thinking that a 3 mile double loop might be in order, maybe the cool weather will stick around until tomorrow morning).

Random: The best thing about BBQ's is the left over fruit salad to eat. Yum! Moving on. Reading the latest edition of Runner's World has stoked the 'I want to run a marathon' fire. Especially because there is a marathon plan in there   and start dates for one marathon in particular I want to do, the Portland marathon . I have already pretty much done the first week two weeks ago so could jump in on week two and make the magic happen. Just three little problems: 1) As mentioned (whined about?) before our lives are kind of uncertain right now so committing to something so far in the future might be setting myself up for failure (failure= not being able to actually run this) 2) This race is pricey for #1 to happen, plus I would be super sad. 3) I have this fear of getting injured and throwing off my 30 before 30 goal. (and would Portland count for two 1/2s, one 1/2, no 1/2, hmmmm?) I think I will start the training program since it has hills, speed, easy ...

This weekend has been amazing. D & I both took Thursday and Friday off to have a little staycation at the house I am babysitting. For us having more than one bathroom in a house is pretty exciting. Throw in a pool and cable and we lose our minds. We BBQ'd with friends, I went on a fun long run with a friend, we ordered out and picked up food (yay no cooking) and just relaxed. Amazing. And then today D kicked it up a notch and took me here to get an early anniversary gift. Tiffany's have a collection of necklaces with bean charms on them. How perfect is that and D thought I needed a necklace that is such a perfect fit with my nickname. He is good, he is very good. I was freaking out and super excited but I think that happens a lot in that store because the salesman didn't even bat an eye and even wrapped up the necklace so I could open it again. How awesome is that. And then D took me to get gelatto because I had a coupon for a free one. Best day ever...

okay the 8 miles at the Saguaro East Loop were not that bad but man I really struggled. Poor Erica who ran with me had to deal with my whiny, hamstring B.S. the whole way. Sorry dude. But it was really fun to run and chat with someone for a change. (It probably doesn't help that if I am walking and chatting I get distracted and forget we are supposed to be running, whoops). We ran 8 miles of death hills through the desert in 1:29 which was pretty good for me. Erica barely broke a sweat. Hmmmm maybe I need to kick the fitness up a notch. But at least I had on a cute outfit so even though it was hard I looked good which we all know is the most important aspect of running. Yay awkward bathroom photos  After running I hit up the grocery store and then felt like I was dying of hunger so swung by Einsteins for coffee and bagel thin sandwiches. Delicious.  Now the rest of the day will probably look a little like this Lazy And if anyone saw the track & field tria...

Well I have finally caught up with the rest of the world and joined twitter. Not sure how it is going to go.  Can 140 characters contain all this greatness? We shall see. But I am interested in keeping up with my favorite runners and running brands so decided I needed to jump on the bandwagon and stop resisting progress. On the right hand side of my blog you will find a handy dandy button (that only took me like 30 minutes to figure out. It would have taken 60 seconds if D had been around, my computer co-dependence is getting out of hand) to follow me and all my wit in another format. I pinky swear to follow you if you follow me. Not so shocking news: Yesterday was Thursday, Muscle Pump day. Guess who was NOT in class, this blogger. I am with Jina , Thursdays just do not go well. Oh well at least I did some speed work. Instead of sweating it out in Muscle Pump I sweated it out at Kohl's I could not use this coupon.  I went with the idea that I was going to expand my ...

Yesterday I decided that I didn't really want to run hills again (that is happening again on Saturday) so to the track for some speed work seemed like an okay idea. At work yesterday I came up with this super inventive speed workout. Amazing I know. The house I am staying at is conveniently up the street from a track.....so of course I drove there. I was not really with it at 5:30 am.   And then I ran pretty hard for me. When I first got there a run team was using the track so I tried to stay out of their way and not get trampled. The fact that they were all over 50, way more fit than I am and throwing down probably 6 minute miles didn't make me jealous at all. Workout: 1 mile warm- up: 9:40 (pretty quick for me, motivated by the run team I guess) 8X800 4:11, 4:26, 4:32, 4:17, 4:17 (switched directions after run team left and had my own private track) 4:27, 4:28, 4:41 (apparently switching directions caused the track to get longer?) 1 mile cool-down: ...

to blog. Too busy hanging around in the pool and watching hours of HGTV and the E network. While we are on the subject anyone heard about this controversy?   former "House Hunters" participant Bobi Jensen called the show a sham. Jensen writes that the HGTV producers found her family's plan to turn their current home into a rental property "boring and overdone," and therefore crafted a narrative about their desperation for more square footage. What's more, producers only agreed to feature Jensen's family after they had bought their new house, forcing them to "tour" friends' houses that weren't even for sale to accommodate the trope of "Which one will they choose?" This does not sound like the network ethic that HGTV General Manager Kathleen Finch told Slate's June Thomas about in a February interview, during which she defended HGTV as "a network of journalistic storytelling, not dramatic storytelling," cl...

This week I am babysitting a mansion and it has cable and a pool and a hot tube and is complete awesomeness.  E! marathon involving the Kardashians? Yes please  Too bad the views are so horrible. Hello pool I will be visiting you often  It involves watching after these two but so far so good, all still alive, hydrated and fed.  My life is awesome.

Run: 13 miles in 2:24 Temp when I started running at 5 am= 74 degrees and humid due to monsoon rains yesterday  Number of hand held water bottles drank = 4 Reason I run on the Rillito River trail= water fountains I knew things would be slow this morning due to the heat, humidity and the fact that I wanted to go so far so I grabbed my camera on the way out to keep myself entertained along the way.  I give you photos of my long run run from my neighborhood to the Rillito River trail and back. And we are off Cutest house in the neighborhood beside ours of course. Heading towards the 'river' Stop to say hello to the fish in the pond outside a business On the river trail  The cool thing about this route is there are a ton of I guess what would be described as public art pieces. Some really comfy concrete recliners. Bridge art Another bridge, more bridge art Turn around (one of two) Life saving water fountains along the way and ba...