Just Plodding Along

I worked out three times today so there has been a lot of this today I also found this to put in our kitchen since this seems to happen quite often to both D and I and lord help us if it hits us at the same time. The parents have been here visiting so much food has been consumed. We hit up Minnie's on my friend Kendra's suggestions and it was delicious. Southern home-cooked deep fried deliciousness. Do yourself a favor and try caramel cake. It is magic. We started last Saturday off right by heading to Oktoberfest on base put on through MWR (or the Family Morale, Wellness and Recreation Program). It was very well done with a lot of activities for the kids.Since D and I are a kid free zone we were in it for the food.   You had me at freedom fries (they taste more patriotic than the french version)  and ice cream. Cheesecake flavor to be exact.  The last few days have been nothing but fun and eating (well and working out- trying to stick to Pilat...

This weekend we got to take the family on a big adventure to the big city. We rode the train into the city. After and hour and a half and 22 stops we arrived in the Windy City.   We hit some key spots  Magnificent Mile  Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop  Millennium Park  We of course had to stop at the Bean  We walked by the Bank of America Theater where The Book of Mormon is playing. I want to see it so bad but it is sooooooooooo expensive for tickets. Well maybe if I win the lotto. Overall a super fun day. We walked so many miles. We also stopped for deep dish pizza for refueling. This week I did really well sticking to my training plan even with family visiting. Not gonna lie when I hit the treadmill for my 9 mile LSD on the treadmill (due to iced over roads) it took all my will power not to jump off after 3 miles to go have fun with the family. But I stuck with and am glad I did because it was one...

Family visiting is the perfect excuse to head to the Jelly Belly factory up the way a bit. The most magical place in the world.   You can take a tour around the facility- which is actually just a distribution center. I feel comfortable knowing there is a large quantity of jelly beans within a ten mile radius of my house. We got to ride a train. A tiny train. Jelly Belly art The best part of the tour was the end where we got a free bag. It lasted about a minute. This weekend's runs have been fueled by Jelly Belly. Nine miles tomorrow which might be in sleet but will not lack carbs. 

First thing- family is here to visit for the weekend so I am pretty excited to hang with them and do fun stuff! Second thing- I have somehow magically (okay it wasn't magic it was nice run blogger Falon  who was kind enough to invite me) hooked up with an amazing group of run bloggers who are planning to do the Chicago marathon. The general idea is to coordinate lodging, eating,  and expo and geek out on running and races and medals I hope and carb load- lots of carb loading please. I am about to lose my mind with excitement. I was excited about the Chicago marathon before.....now- oh my gosh, freak out. It is going to be so much fun. So if you are thinking of doing the Chicago marathon let me know because you do not want to miss this fun! Third thing- with above mentioned family we celebrated a late Christmas and I scored pretty big. Believe I am journal  I have heard great things about this running journal and can not wait to get some goals down and start track...

For memorial day my parents came to visit and it has been fun city. Lots of eating, shoe shopping and more eating. Perfect vacation. Vacation fun in pictures: A visit to Total Wine where we found the best vodka ever: Whipped cream. Buy some, mix with orange soda and thank me later. Birthday shoe shopping: fun new shoes for me! Lost of eating out and a gelato stop that resulted in a coupon for free gelato next time. Yippee Visit to the Titan Missile Museum  Fun not pictured: Trip up Mount Lemmon Grilling out Graduation celebration dinner A trip to Sam's club to stock up on bulk items like I have wanted these forever and now I have them. Must label everything. A great couple of days! Don't forget to try for some Nuun .

This weekend was supposed to be all about D, graduation and fun. Instead it was about me getting admitted to the hospital. I guess I thought D was just pulling too much focus. Had to bring it on back to me. Things started out fine. Picked up the parents-in-law, had fun at lunch and went to a friends party. But throughout the day I was feeling  kind of funny and by the time we left our friend's party I knew I had a fever. So got some thermaflu and crossed my fingers that with some rest and drugs and I would wake up all better, bright eyed and ready to scream my head off at graduation cause I am classy like that. Didn't happen. Temp of 104, passing out and generally feeling like death meant no attending graduation for me (I made D and his parents go which he did not thank me for since he was worried about me the whole time). D got home from graduation and took me to an urgent care place who sent me to the ER when all their test came back negative except for a high white blood...

Today I went back to the social security office. I came prepared this time. I had made peace with the fact that hours of my life would be spent in a plastic chair at this office and brought reinforcements. Kindle, Magazine, water and a snack (wasabi peas, weird and random but all I could find in the cabinet). And then I only had to wait about 20 minutes. Pretty painless this time. No bomb threats, no mass crowds of humanity. Never, ever go to a government office on a Monday. Lesson learned. The D is graduating from the U of A this weekend so family is coming to town. This meant I had to go to the grocery store to stock up and came away with this It seems bigger in person, this picture is not doing it justice. Largest bottle of champagne I have ever seen. We are going to celebrate hardcore this weekend. I also had a coupon for cliff bars and guess what happened again Look at the one on the far right. Ahhhhhh how do I keep  ending up with oatmeal raisin walnut in my c...

Things have been pretty non-runny around here lately. That is not entirely true. I ran 16.6 miles this week but I wanted to run between 26-29. But no my hip had to be a big old baby and was like:  'hey, hey head case who just ran up Mount Lemmon the day  before yesterday and is not forcing us to run five miles followed  by strength training involving squats and lunges. This is not happening.  And for your stupidity you get a sore groin and hip and a weird butt  pain that just won't quit. Now face palm yourself.' But no oh no I still had to go on an 8.6 mile run and a 4 mile run before my brain registered the fact that my hip was very, VERY unhappy. So today no long run. And we shall see about the running this week. I have become very close with my foam roller, stick and baseball in my effort to roll away the pain from every part of my body that might be contributing to it. So at least this has resulted in stronger bonds with those torture devices. It...

Yesterday I arrived in Colorado and my sister and future BIL (brother in-law) came by and slowed the car so I could jump in. Then I made them head to Chick-fil-a so I could get an ice cream cone (there was a salad involved but that was just an ice cream appetizer).  This morning we woke up to beautiful warm weather. I like to think I brought it with me from AZ because I am nice like that. The sister and I headed to the CSU campus so she could show me where she goes to vet school. I like that she is so smart and dedicated to helping animals. I also plan on getting free vet care for the rest of my life. For some reason she just smiles and nods when I mention this but no verbal confirmation that this plan is going to happen. Weird. CSU sculpture art CSU Spring time! Green stuff- what is it? I love that there is grass and green trees here, nice change from the constant color of beige in AZ Vet cubical: smart people alert Hard science: buildings I tried...