Going halvesies

Half marathon training started today. Thank God it didn't start before Abby's wedding, because I didn't run a single day when I was at the cabin for that. I had the best intentions to run on Friday morning, but it was pouring rain, and I am just not that hard core. I probably need to get over the whole 'running in a down pour' because if it's pouring on October 31st (please God, give me 50-60 degrees and sunshine), I am going to have to do as Tim Gunn says and 'make it work'.

Day one went well. I switched it up a bit. Hal told me to stretch & strength train, but it felt odd to not run on the first day of a training schedule for a running race... So I got my 3 miles in and they went ok. I have somehow lost some of the speed that I had gained in July. Not sure if it's the heat or what.

I don't really have a goal for this 1/2 marathon. I am kind of treating it like a first 1/2, even though it is my 3rd. The other 2 were ran in 2006 & 2007, and that was so long ago.

I guess if I have any goal, it is to erase the memory of that last 1/2 I did in 2007. I had ran the marathon that fall and foolishly got a little cocky. I thought - eh, I ran 26.2, I can run 13.1 So I didn't really train. I was in a new relationship and there were just so many other fun things to do besides putting in those miles.

I learned my lesson. Big time. I did finish the race, but it took about 2:30 and I was HURTING. Like, I got sick multiple times during the run and basically wanted to die when I got to the finish line. I had signed up to run it with my friend Nicole but was only able to stay with her for the first 6 miles or so, so I felt bad that she had to run most of it on her own.

Oh well, lesson learned. I won't make that mistake again.

If this 1/2 goes well, I will probably train for another one in the spring and maybe look at doing a full in the fall of 2010. But that is a BIG maybe since I know how much training will consume my life! So we'll see.

So here's to a successful, injury free training season.

PS I am working on a series of wedding weekend blog posts. There is too much info to cram into one blog post! But those will come later this week as I have tons of fruits and veggies to cut up for the week. Because I basically ate to my heart's delight all weekend - so I need to get back on the healthy, balanced eating wagon again! But I sure enjoyed all the delicious food I ate this weekend! :)

Learn from me

The day is almost over. Thank God. I had an absolutely craptastic day at work. Boy am I glad I have a nice 4 day weekend - I need a break from that place.

I survived my hair appointment with the strangers. It went fine. Definitely not as good as what I am used to, but oh well. The color looked fine when I was in the salon, but in my lighting at home, it has a reddish hue to it. I have nothing against red heads, but it's not a complimentary hue for me. Oh well. As the stylist said when she was cutting my hair - 'I'm not the bride'. So in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter. I'll have to go back and get it fixed in a month or so.

I should be packing right now. Instead I am sitting her with Vaseline smeared all over my chest & neck, with a layer of saran wrap over that - sort of an at home 'extreme moisturizing skin treatment'.

Why the moisturizing regimen? Remember how I got those funky blotches of white from the misapplication of spray on sunscreen? I tried to fix them 2 weeks ago at the lake, but apparently didn't get enough sun. So on Sunday I headed out to the pool at my condo association to catch some rays and get rid of those pesky blotches.

Yah, I got a sunburn. Not a slight one either. Sort of lobsteresque.

Good news - the blotches have been obliterated.

Bad news - there is a risk of me peeling.




So there I am, sans make-up, covered in saran wrap, with my reddish hued hair. Fan-freaking-tastastic.

You'd think this was my first time as a bridesmaid. Not my 8th.

So learn from me, all you future bridesmaids. a) Don't fix faint tan lines - just roll with them. b) Don't schedule a hair appt for your last night in town.

My bridesmaid dress is already at my parent's cabin, so I know I will avoid that mishap. I am hoping that my bad luck has run out.

Regardless of whether I am peeling on Saturday, or if my reddish hued hair looks terrible, I am going to have a blast at this wedding! I'm sure I'll be back with a recap & lots of photos next week!

Just my luck

Rant time.

I haven't had a haircut since this past March - this is probably the longest I've gone w/out getting my hair cut since I did Locks of Love back in 2007.

Abby's wedding is on Saturday, so I schedule a hair appointment for this evening - I wanted to get it cut & colored as close to the wedding as possible because guess what - I am prematurely graying. Yep, I have more gray hair than my mom who will turn 61 next week. Thank you, genetics, thank you.

So anyways, I was feeling quite smug about this whole set up - getting my hair cut & colored is so relaxing since I finally found a hair person in Minneapolis that I know and trust. Up until this last year or so, I was driving to Moorhead, Minnesota to get my hair cut! Yep, I was driving about 4.5 hours to get my hair cut.

I have some trust issues when it comes to hair obviously. But I finally found someone that I know and like and that knows my hair and doesn't butcher it when she cuts it.

Yah, she called in sick today.

I am not blaming her - I understand that people get sick and have to call in. I am just feeling a little bit whiny about the fact that she called in sick TODAY of all days. I have so many grays right now, not getting my hair colored is NOT an option. And it is in dire need of a trim.

So now, some random person will be coloring it. And another random person will be cutting it. Because they don't have one person who can do both. I wasn't exactly flexible on time since this is my last day in the office this week and I have a report that is due before I leave. And oh, the data for that report isn't available until around 2 today, due to some network issues (seriously, I have the worst luck apparently). So taking a half day to be more flexible on availability for my beautification isn't a possibility.

So for a control freak like me, this whole last minute switcheroo of the hair person is not good.

I am just praying that the hair cut & color goes ok.

Tuesday's To Reads

I have been a little slow on the reading and book review posting front. I feel like this summer should be entitled: Summer of the 700+ page read. I started with Anna Karenina (around 754 pages) , read a short little murder mystery to cleanse the pallet, and just started Outlander, which is 850 pages. I won Outlander through a book giveaway on Amber's blog earlier this summer and am finally getting around to reading it! She raved about it so I am sure I will also love it since we have similar tastes in books.

I haven't done a "Tuesday's To Reads" list in a long, long time, so figured I would share some of the books on my to-read list on goodreads.com.

The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy - This book is about the 'romantic and comedic adventures of a young American who heads overseas to conquer Paris in the last 1950s.' Since I'm a Francophile, I am confident that I am going to love this book! I love reading books set in cities that I have visited - makes it so much more accessible for the reader when you are familiar with the setting of the book! It's the September selection of my Books and Bars book club*.

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall - This book caught my eye for two reason. The first one is pretty obvious - running is a huge passion of mine. The author 'sets off to find a tribe of the world's greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.' The second reason this book caught my eye is because the author shares a name with my cousin who passed away 3 summers ago. McDougall is my mom's maiden name, and not a very common one, so it was interesting to run across this family name.

City of Thieves by Benioff - My friend Adrianne recommended this book to me, but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. The main characters of the book, Lev and Kolya, are in jail during the infamous siege of Leningrad. 'Instead of the standard bullet in the back of the head, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful colonel to use in his daughter's wedding cake.' Adrianne said this is a page turner - I can't wait to check it out!

There are 210 books on my 'To-read' list on goodreads, so I could go on. And on. And on. But I will stop there! Let me know if you have read any of these or plan to check any of them out! After I publish this post, I am going to reserve a copy of "Born to Run" from the library. That's right - I started using the library for the first time in about 6 years!! I am going to attempt to not buy a single book between now and Christmas. I'll let you know how successful I am!

*By the way, I'm attending my first meeting next Tuesday - we'll be reviewing 'The Time Traveler's Wife.' I'll definitely let you know how it goes!

Weekend Review

Another fabulous weekend has come and gone. August is off to a good start! The weather was decent this weekend - still unseasonably cool, but it was nice and sunny, so I really can't complain.

My friend Alissa got married on Saturday - her wedding was a blast. I can't believe how fast it came - it seems like we were just celebrating her engagement. Speaking of which - when I was saving photos from this weekend, I started going through the photos from the night of their engagement party in November. That was when I started to work on losing weight. Check out the photos from that night, compared to how I look now!

Crazy, huh? I'm nearly 30 pounds lighter than I was then, and it really shows!! Looking at those pictures make me sort of very sick to my stomach, but the important thing is that the weight has come off and my lifestyle is now conducive to keeping those pounds off. I am about 15 pounds from my goal and am hoping to be at my goal by the time I run my 1/2 on October 31st.

The rest of the weekend was a blur. I have a short week ahead of me since I will be heading to my parents cabin on Thursday morning. I'm going to love having a 3 day work week! I'm not going to be around much in the evenings this week, so I made a big taco salad - I love taco salads. They make the best leftovers. I like mine with kidney beans - great way to get some more fiber into your diet.

Doesn't that look delicious? Mmm... can't wait to have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

PS - I hate the dishes the salad is plated on. I bought that set of plates/silverware for super cheap when I graduated from college, and I only bought them because the price was right. If/when I get married, I look forward to picking out some dishes that I actually like.

So my question for you, reader, is this: If you are married, what was your favorite thing you registered for (or received as a gift if you didn't do a gift registry)? For my unmarried readers, what do you look forward to registering for? I'm definitely pining after some fun plates - and if I'm not married/engaged by the time I am 30, I'm going to buy them as a 30th birthday present for myself!

Have a fantastic week everyone!

Sometimes running isn't fun

Good morning & happy Friday! Another week has come & gone. I heard on the news today that we never broke 90 in July. This is a rarity. I really hope August has some good weather up her sleeve!

The cooler weather hasn't been great for my weekends at the cabin, but it has been nice for running. A few posts back, I talked about why I run . A few of your asked how I got into running and how I've stuck with it. For someone who is thinking about getting into running or back into running, it's important to know this: most days I love my runs and get a little runner's high afterwards, but sometimes my runs just really, really suck. Like all the runs I've done this week. Especially last Saturday when I gave up at 2 miles. I just couldn't keep going. I am blaming the fact that I had donated blood the day before, but who knows. None of my runs this week have been particularly enjoyable - I've had to really push through and tell myself not to give up and walk. I tell you this because if you are going to try to get into running, this is going to happen to you, and you shouldn't give up or think that runs like this mean you are not a runner or will never be a runner.

I'll start my 1/2 marathon training the Monday after Abby's wedding. I finalized my little training grid this week and am excited to start training (I love me some spreadsheets!). I get butterflies in my stomach when I look at the schedule and wonder - can I really start stretching my weekend runs to 7, then 8, then 9 miles, and so forth until my longest training run, which will be 12 miles the week before my 1/2.

But I did it before, and I can do it again. Hal Higdon won't let me down! He got me through my first half & full marathons, so I am sure when October 31st rolls around, I'll be ready to rock this 1/2.

Does anyone have any big plans for the weekend? One of my best friends from college is getting married on Saturday - I'm so excited to see my college girlfriends. We are sort of spread out now, so don't get to rendezvous nearly as much as we'd like. Other than that, I need to finalize my maid of honor speech, shop for my sister's bachelorette party, and start packing - I'll be heading up to my parents cabin on Thursday morning for Abby's wedding weekend festivities. I can't wait!!! All 7 of my mom's siblings & all 3 of my dad's siblings will be there! It's so rare for me to get to see ALL of my aunts & uncles, so I am pumped!

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

Summer of Me

Nora's post about finding her summer song really got me thinking. Her posts do a lot of time - she's working full time & also working on her masters, so a lot of her posts really hit home for me. I feel like I could have written some of them, actually!

I've been done with grad school for almost 4 months now and let me tell you - I do not miss it one bit. You should know that I am a lover of school. I adored my college years - they still stand out as some of the best years of my life so far. I missed undergrad after I graduated, and thought I might feel the same about grad school, but that is so not the case. At my graduation party, people were teasing me and saying that I'd be getting another degree; I boldly proclaimed that I was really done with degrees for good. But a little voice in the back of my heads said - Really? Are you going to eat your words on this little topic?

Well, it's been 2 months since the grad party and I am more confident than ever that I am done-zo with degrees. Maybe I will take a language class some day, but that's where I draw the line.

As much as I tend to moan & complain about grad school - I am glad I did it. It's going to further my career and because of that degree, there should be some changes on the horizon for me.

I am just really glad it's over. Because I kind of lost myself in the process of getting that degree. I let go of hobbies I really enjoy, like running. I put on weight. I really didn't see much of my friends. All of this was exacerbated by the starting and ending of my relationship with Ryan.

So this summer has been about getting back to the me I was before I started grad school in the fall of 2006. I've started running again. I tackled a book I never thought I'd be able to get through. I've shed almost all of the weight that I put on during grad school (note: this did not happen overnight. I've been working on it since Thanksgiving!)

And while I haven't proclaimed this as the 'Summer of Me', as others have, it definitely has felt like that.

And I still have about a month left and have so much to look forward to, including the wedding a good friend & my sister's wedding.

So here's to finishing out the summer on a high note.

Now, if we could just get some summer weather, that would be fabulous.