The best of us can find happiness in misery

I am always proud of myself for training. Because it's ALWAYS a struggle to go do it. I rarely think "oh gee, I just cant wait to go run/hop on my trainer/whatever". Once I'm out there doing it, I'm fine. It's just the getting out there part that is hard. I always have to have a little discussion with myself about the benefits of doing it, versus the negative aspect of not doing it. But some days I'm more proud of myself than others. Saturday was one of those days.

I had 12 miles planned, and I actually HAD been looking forward to it. Finally getting up in the higher mileage makes me happy. But, it was fuggin cold on Saturday. It was fuh-REE-zing. After my alarm went off, I stayed in bed for probably 20 minutes debating with myself about whether or not to go. Since it was the last run of the winter session, I figured I had better go though. So I got all bundled up and headed out. I'm not sure of the exact temperature, but I'd guess it was around 15 degrees. Oh, and did I mention the wind? Or the fact that it was a relatively hilly course? Fantastic.

We actually had a pretty large group because Eladio had opened it up to the Spring session participants, and a lot of them showed. Which was surprising, since it was so cold. My thought process during the whole ordeal went a little something like this....

Start-0.5 mile: Oh shit, I am going to get hypothermia and die, and probably frostbite on at least 50% of my body. I'm turning around now.
0.5 mile-mile 1: Ok, we're in the woods, there is no wind, I'm starting to warm up, this isnt so bad!
Mile 1-2: Holy mother of God! My ass is frozen and I'm going to die! I'm turning around now.
Miles 2-5: Ok, this isnt THAT bad, there are people to talk to, everyone is commenting on how badass my IM jacket is, I'm glad I showed up.
Mile 5-6: Fuck this half mile hill, fuck this wind, fuck running! I am turning around now.
Mile 6-7: Dear God, please let me die a quick death right this instant and put me out of my misery.
Miles 7-9: **laughing to self at all the lazy effers who stayed home in bed while I am out being a badass running 12 miles in the freezing cold on a Saturday morning**
Mile 9-10: Oh no, face is too frozen to talk without excruciating pain. Am pretty sure skin on cheeks is going to be cracked when I finish.
Mile 10-11: I am truly going to die. Right here on the spot. I hope someone notices my frozen carcas laying on the side of the rode and notifys my family of my untimely death.
Mile 11-12: Sweet Jesus, I am almost done! I love running, this is the best thing ever! I am going to run in the cold every night this week!!

Somewhere towards the end of the run, we were talking about what "runners high" is. For me, it is getting to the last mile of a long run and realizing that I am almost done and will be able to sit down and stop moving soon. Whoever said that acutally running gives you some sort of high was full of shit. Getting done is the best part. I'd also like to retract an earlier statement I made about liking to run in the cold. Because, I dont. I guess I had forgotten about how bad it sucks.

But, I did feel really good after I finished. I was really happy that I had drug myself out of bed to go run, despite the fact that it was 3 hours of sheer misery. After I got home, I stayed all bundled up, gloves and all, because I just couldnt stop shivering. It took me a good half an hour to get warmed up enough to stop shaking. It felt like the cold was just coming out of my bones. Then I felt like complete ass the rest of the day, even Chipotle didnt help me feel better. I dont know if it was the distance or the cold or a combination of the two, but I was completely wiped out. I better get used to it! We have this weekend off, then next weekend the spring session starts, and I dont have anything less than a 10 mile long run until the OKC marathon at the end of April. Cant wait!

I hate the gym in January!

Well, it's that time of year again. Time for all the New Year's resolution people to come out and make the gym hell to go to. I was being a puss tonight and decided I'd trade running outside in the cold for running inside on the treadmill. I should have known better, it being the first Monday after New Years.

I pull up to the gym and both parking lots are packed. I should have just turned around and gone home at that point. But no, I was thinking maybe everyone was there for step class, or something. My second clue should have been the fact that every single first row locker was taken. It pisses me off when people dont use locks, because I go around opening 5 million lockers, all of them full of someone elses shit before I find an open one. At least if you use a lock I know it's taken. Next time I'm stealing something.

So I lock up my stuff and go upstairs, and of course all the treadmills are taken. Half of which were taken by fuckers who were just walking. Perfect. And the "jogging" track is clogged up with a bunch of walkers walking 4 wide making it impossible for anyone to run. But, I figured I'd attempt to run a few laps while I waited for a treadmill to open up. I'm running, dodging fat walkers left and right, along with a couple other poor souls who just wanted to run, I come back around to by the treadmills, and some guy is getting off. Fantastic! So I go over and hop on, and some fat bitch comes up and goes "EXCUSE ME!!!! I was wating for that for FIVE MINUTES!!!!". I said "yeah, so was I, I was just RUNNING while I did it." I almost added "you should try it, it might help" while looking her up and down giving her my best "you are fat and ugly and disgusting" look. But I didn't. I also let her have the damn treadmill. I'm getting soft in my old age. But hey, she had a good hundy on me so I didnt want to start anything that I wasnt sure I could win.

I couldnt stand the thought of trying to run on the track anymore, so I just left. On my way back into our neighborhood, I passed Dan on his way out. I knew he was headed up to the gym, so I called him and was like "dont EVEN bother, it is too fucking crowded". I wasnt going to let the fat fuck resolution people keep me from getting my workout in, so I threw on my running pants when I got home and finished up outside. Luckily I only had 2 miles planned for tonight. Unfortunately, I was still so pissed when I left the house that I forgot my headband and gloves and I froze.

I FUCKING HATE NEW YEARS RESOLUTION PEOPLE AT THE GYM!!! Gah, they make it virtually IMPOSSIBLE for anyone who actually does give two shits about their health to get anything done. Maybe if you tried actually working out YEAR ROUND you wouldnt be in such a frenzy to lose a few pounds in January after you just spent the last two months stuffing your face. I am just going to have to forego the gym on weeknights for the next month or so. I guess I shouldn't complain, at least I have enough balls to run outside on a below freezing January night.

PS- I apologize for all the F-bombs, but as this just happened tonight, my rage still has not subsided.

House, and other randomness

Before I forget, let me add to the list of things my HyVee does not have:
Plain goat cheese, graham cracker and Oreo cookie crumbs, jalapenos (well they did, but only like 10 and I needed more), bite sized gold and flour tortilla Tostitos. GAH!

So, the past couple of weeks have been pretty void of any sort of training with all the craziness of the holidays. It has been a lot of fun, but I am definitely looking forward to pulling myself away from all the junk I've been eating and getting back to working out. But, it's fun for now. I was all set to go run 12 on Saturday, but I woke up at about 3am to 100mph winds (that may ben a bit of an exaggeration) and the power getting knocked out. Then when my alarm went off at 6:15, I woke to the sound of thunder and lightning and pouring down rain. I have had just about ENOUGH of running in thunderstorms, let alone thunderstorms at the end of December, so I decided to just skip it. So I just went back to sleep and rode my trainer for a bit when I got up. Apparently I wasnt the only one who didnt feel like running in that crap, in Eladio's weekly email he said that only 13 people showed up. Out of 200-some.

So anywho, after my second Saturday in a row of not running, I spent all damn day on Sunday giving the house a thorough cleaning. Usually I spend about 3 hours cleaning on Sundays, but we're having a NYE party and I wanted the thing spic and span. I live in constant fear of people coming over and thinking my house is dirty, and being that we'll have 30+ people in the house tomorrow night, I just couldnt risk any filth. It's a bad trait I picked up from my mom. I never understood why she cared what other people though of how clean the house was, now I do. I used to actually really enjoy cleaning. Having an apartment, and then a 700 sqft house made it pretty easy. And I might even venture to say, fun. But not now! It's not like our new house is a mansion of any sort, but it's much larger than what I'm used to and what I grew up in. So it takes way longer to clean. And it's pretty much all hardwoods except for the stairs and upstairs hallway and the master bedroom, and hardwoods are a pain in my ass to keep clean. Especially when you have 3 mongrels leaving their paw prints all over. But, it's better than having filthy carpet.

While I'm on the topic of the house here are some pics of it since not many people have seen it yet. We moved in Labor Day weekend, so have been here a few months. It still feels pretty empty to me though, I guess I need to go buy more stuff to fill it up!

All houses are ugly in the winter, so I didnt bother taking a picture of the outside. So here's one from the summer:
When you walk in, the living room is to your left. This room is still pretty empty except for our old couch and the Christmas tree. I havent painted this one yet or hung anything on the walls because I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do in here, and I dont know what color I want to paint it. Also, my parents are trying to pawn their piano off on me, so it would have to go in here which would affect what I can do.

Beyond the living room is the dining room. I did get this room painted, but I still need to get stuff up on the walls besides the one lone mirror. After I painted, we put up the new light fixture. The one that came with the house was UG-LY, so it needed to go immediately. I am also wanting to get the china cabinet that goes with my table, which would go on the wall to the right. When you walk in the front door, straight ahead of you is the family room. It has dark wood paneling, which I hate. Dan, and apparently everyone else that comes over, loves it. I think it makes the room too dark and makes it look like a hunting lodge. It is really nice paneling, I just dont care for it. I would say this room is the most set up of any of them in the house. I still need to get a couple more things up on the walls, something above the love seat and something between the mirror and the window. I ordered an area rug which should be here this week, so that will help warm it up a bit too.
And of course, no family room is complete without the huge-ass 50" tv. Actually, it looks kind of small here. Maybe we should have gone for the 60"!



And here's where all the magic happens! No, not the bedroom. Pervs. My kitchen! This is the main thing I would change about the house. It's not a bad kitchen per se, just outdated. And I really dislike the layout. There is a U-shaped area between the stove, sink and dishwasher, then you have to walk to the other side of the kitchen for the oven. Just not a very efficient layout. I told Dan our first major project is tearing the whole thing out and making it bigger and better. But, that's going to be an expensive undertaking, so it will be a while. This is livable for now though. I painted that color, it was yellow when we moved in. I want a green kitchen. I'm still not sure how I feel about this green though, it turned out a little brighter than I was planning. I'm in no mood to repaint a room I just did though, so it will just have to do. And your eyes do not deceive you, that is in fact a sweet vintage parquet floor!


See my fancy washer and dryer back there!? I love doing laundry now! This house has a gas hook up for the dryer, so we HAD to get a new one since our old set was electric. HAD to. There's also a half bath over there across from the W&D. Three toilets in the house is a luxury when you are coming from a house with only one tiny bathroom!

I'm saving up pictures of food to put on that blank wall, I think it should look pretty nice. I just need to get a couple more. The oven is just to the right of the doorway into the family room (see, far away from the stove and sink!), and it is the tiniest oven I have ever seen. We barely fit the Thanksgiving turkey in it.

The house is a split level, so you go up half a flight and there is the master bedroom and another bedroom, then up another half flight for the other 2 bedrooms. This is on the landing in front of the master bedroom to kind of give you an idea. To the left is one bedroom, behind me is the master:

So, the front bedroom I have no idea what to do with. The guest bedroom is upstairs, and we only have one spare bed at this point. We're thinking about putting another bed or a futon in here or something for the dogs, but right now my bike lives here and we keep the dog crates in here. Oh, and Dan uses this closet, which means I have my own closet all to myself! I'm painting this room next, I'm thinking red. I have always wanted a red room, so now I'm going to give myself one.

Here's the master, I really havent done anything with this room yet either. It took me a while to figure out what color I wanted to paint it, and I finally decided. So I'll do this one after I paint the front bedroom. I'm kind of dreading it though, because it's goign to mean painting all the trim and doors since the previous owner had the brilliant idea of painting them green. Can't wait!

Here's the master bath, exciting I know. Gotta love the original green tile all over everything. We'll eventually gut it, but for now it's livable.
Note all the room in front of the toilet. If you saw our old house before we redid the bathroom, you know that you had to sit sideways on the toilet because it was so close to the vanity and there wasnt enough room for your knees. So this bathroom is huge in comparison. You could put a footstool there and just stretch out.
I didnt take a picture of the guest bedroom because I hadnt washed the sheets since the last person had stayed over, and I didnt feel like making the bed just to take a picture.

Here is the purple office! Obviously, I havent really set this room up yet either. We got the computer hooked up, so that was a major accomplishment in itself. I'll paint this room after the master bedroom, so once I get that done I'll figure out how I want to decorate and arrange it.


Here is the guest bath. When we moved in, it was BRIGHT yellow. I dont know who thought that was a good idea, because it wasnt. At all. This is much better I think.

And, there's your tour. Oh, there's a basement, but it has orange utility carpet and is kind of ugly, so I didnt bother taking any pictures. There IS a bar down there though, which is kind of cool. It's a vintage 70's model with the padded edge and all. Pretty sweet.

Good thing I enjoy painting, because I still have a lot of it to do!

HyVee

I registered today for my first race of next season, HyVee. Well, it's not chronologically the first, but the first one I've signed up for. So Bryce, this means I'm officially coming with you. Tim, I'm guessing you'll be there too.

I did so despite my recent frustrations with my neighborhood HyVee. FIRST, on Sunday I was doing my weekly grocery shopping, and they didnt have crushed tomatoes. At all. I was making chili and I needed some damn crushed tomatoes! I like my chili thick, not soupy, so I just needed them. And HyVee didnt have any. Well, they had "Italian style', the kind with basil. That would not work for chili. So I pretty much went into an immediate rage, which I tend to do when I can't find something I want/need, and it ruined the rest of my shopping. Then I had to go to the WalMart Neighborhood Market across the street to get my stupid tomatoes. I despise WalMart and all they stand for, but I was not driving my ass all over town looking for crushed tomatoes.

THEN, last night I stopped at HyVee to get some white chocolate chips for the cookies I was going to make for our "neighborhood traveling goodie plate" (more on that later) and they didnt have any! They didnt have any fucking white chocolate chips! GAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! You can imagine the rage this sent me into, since that was the only thing I went to the store for. So again, I had to go over to WalMart. WalMart is directly across Metcalf, but it took me damn near 10 minutes just to get over there because everyone was driving like such a moron because there was a little bit of snow on the road. Then the damn cookies didnt even turn out that great and now I have to redo them. Fuckin'A.

So, the traveling neighborhood goodie plate. On Sunday, the neighbor girl brought over a plate of cookies. Great. Fantastic. It was only after we started eating them that we realized there was writing on the plate. I shit you not, this is what it says:

This is our traveling
NEIGHBORHOOD PLATE
To say "We love you! We think you're great!"
Enjoy these goodies we have for you,
then here is what you have to do...
Fill it with treats and pass it along,
Share love with your neighbor-
and dont wait too long!

So basically, I HAVE to make cookies and take them to one of the neighbors. Then the plate goes on to get a little more pushy and tells me to hurry the F up. I dont think I like this plate.

Double D's

I finally hit double digits on a run. Before I even got out of bed Saturday morning, I could hear the wind blowing outside. It was rattling the windows, and just generally making it sound like not a good day for a run. When I opened the front door to step outside to check the temperature, I truly would not have been surprised to see a damn cow blow by. It was that windy. But the temperature was actually really nice, somewhere around 50. So the wind could be tolerated.

For some reason, the 11:40 pace group is really small. Like only six of us. The 12:00 group is really big, and the 11:20 group is really big, but not ours. We started off at Ward Parkway Mall, I LOVE this route. We run up through Brookside, in the neighborhoods around Loose Park, and this day cut over into Mission Hills. I love running through these neighborhoods. There were two other gals in my group going 10 miles, so I had some company the entire way. About half a mile before we turned around, we were just running along chatting when a HUGE branch crashed down about 3 feet in front of us. This was no twig, it for sure would have caused some major damage if it had hit one of us. Thats how windy it was, the trees were blowing apart.

I felt really good the whole run, didnt have a problem keeping up the pace, even with the wind in my face the entire way back. My IT bands did start tightening up, so I guess it's time to break out the ol' foam roller now that my mileage is starting to get higher. And I know I said after my last run that I was going to start taping my toes, but of course I forgot. So I ended up with a couple of good blisters on my pinky toes. One toe hadn't healed up completely from last week, so it was blister on blister. Those are always fun.

Of course you all know that the Kona broadcast was on Saturday. Court came over to watch, and we had a good time discussing what a princess Macca is, and laughing at the footage of Stadler freaking out in 2005 that they will probably be showing every year until the day we die. Also decided that we need to be friends with Chrissie Wellington because she's just too stinking cute. Then we concluded the night by the four of us going down to Ponaks and going through about 2 and a half pitchers of margaritas. Tasty!

And this is completely unrelated, but I was telling Cout and Eric about how Norman Rockwell our neighborhood is, and this illustrates it perfectly. We moved into our house at the end of August, so we're not NEW new. But last night the people around the corner from us had a "lets welcome the new neighbors" party. There have been a couple of other families move in this fall, so it wasnt just us. It was actually really fun! I just cant get over how friendly everyone is and how tight-knit this neighborhood seems to be. A lot of the couples there were older, like 50's or 60's, but there were a few younger couples. One of which just moved in on Saturday and seem like the kind of people we would hang out with anyway. The old timers were talking about how they all go down to the neighborhood pool in the summer and drink beer, all the get togethers they have, taking their kids trick or treating while pulling a case of beer, and so on and so forth. We also found out that everyone thinks the lady we purchased our house from was a complete bitch, which was kind of funny since we got that impression when we met her. The people who hosted the party have the same layout as us, so it was interesting to see what they've done with their house and how completely different it is than ours, even though it's got the same floor plan. So yes, I live in some sort of movie where the neighbors actually like each other and hang out.

Oh, and has anyone ever heard of a cat having an "emotional eating" problem? Because apparently our neihbors cat does.

Life ain't a track meet, it's a marathon

I had to skip RE last weekend due to some family stuff, and didn't do a whole lot of running in the interim. I DID get up and run on Thanksgiving morning though. However, uh, that was the last time before Saturday. So instead of doing the 10 that I had on my schedule, I decided to just do 8. BUT! I moved up a pace group. That's right folks, I graduated myself from the 12 min/mile group to the 11:40 min/mile group. I know, I know. That is smokin fast. Try not to hate.

So, we set out, all 4 of us in our little pace group. I'm finding that I like the winter session of RE because the groups are much smaller than the spring and fall sessions. Anyway. We were just chugging along by the river in Parkville, having a nice conversation, and I was feeling good. It was probably 40 degrees, which is amazing for December. I didnt even need a jacket, just 2 layers. Got out to the turnaround, and it was just the pace group leader and I heading back. So we just set off at our own pace, we've got pretty similar strides so fell into a rhythm pretty quickly. We were just going along chatting it up, and her Garmin kept beeping because we were GOING TOO FAST. We were clipping along at about 10:45/mile! Now, I know most people wouln't be happy with going that "slow", but for someone me who, well, you've seen my race times, that was pretty good. And it felt good too. So, maybe there is hope for me to break a 30 minute 5K yet!

Sunday I was going to go to the gym, but had been out of the house all day so I just didnt feel like leaving again. So....I set up my trainer and hopped on that for the first time in, oh, since before IMFL. Man, I forgot how tough that thing is! I was laid out on my bike, getting into my grove, rockin' out to some JT (and maybe some old school Ice Cube - I mean, lets be honest. Is there any better song for spinning than "You Can Do It"? I think not. If you dont believe me, put it on your ipod and jump on the trainer. You'll see.) when drip, drip, drip, on my front wheel. I had sweat dripping off my forehead. And that was after like 15 minutes. I do NOT sweat. Well, not enough for it to be dripping off of me. So, I actually felt like I was actually DOING something for the first time in quite a while. I really miss long rides, so I'm looking forward to getting back out on my bike once it's nice out. Maybe this year I'll ride over to Lawrence and actually make it to Chipotle like I always planned!

Well whaddya know, I can run

So, I ran 6 miles on Saturday. My longest run in over a year. LAME! But it felt awesome! Like nothing at all. Oh, and did I mention it was like 25 degrees out? Well it was. I really do like running in the cold once I get acclimated to it, and apparently I'm acclimated. I love not feeling like my body is about to catch on fire, I love not feeling like I'm about to pass out from heat stroke, I love slathering my face in Vaseline to protect it from wind burn, I love getting frost all over the outside of my jacket from the sweat freezing (though it wasn't QUITE cold enough for that yet) and I love the feeling of realizing that my ass and thighs are completely frozen once I stop moving. Weird, I know.

Planning on 8 miles next weekend. If that goes well, 10 the following weekend. I can't wait to get back up into double digit mileage! I also fully plan on getting up Thanksgiving morning and getting a good 3 miles in before sit down and eat 5 lbs of food.

To the peeps at my gym

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No, I'm not dead

I'm back. For real this time. I swear! It has been a lazy, joyous year of sitting on my butt getting fat. Well, that may be an exaggeration. But it has been nice not doing anything. Obviously I wasnt ready. Moved into a new house, Court got married, lots has been going on. So it's not like I've been bored.

But for some reason, when it started getting close to IMFL this year, I started getting that itch again. Wishing that I was doing the race. Wishing I was in good enough shape to even THINK about doing the race. Plus, Court's wedding was that same weekend, and Robyn was back for it. So between Court and I reminiscing and talking to R about her experience at IMLOU this year, it got me excited about racing again next year. I had forgotten how much fun it is to have races to look forward to!

So I got my ass in gear and signed up for the winter session of RE. I picked a spring marathon, and made out a training schedule for myself. Last Saturday was the first day of RE and it was GREAT to be back. Lots of familiar faces, lots of new ones, and best of all....I finally got to wear my IM finishers jacket that I bought last year! Yup, I bought the damn thing and then never ran last winter so I never wore it. It's the little things :) I only went 4 miles, but I have been running MAYBE twice a week, like a mile and a half each time. So I felt good about that. It was a little frustrating because my heart and lungs used to far outlast my legs. Not so much anymore! I was having a hard time carrying on a conversation by the time I turned around at 2 miles. But I did it, and it felt good, and I enjoyed it. So that is the important thing. And I know my body knows what to do, so the fitness will come back quickly. I've also been lifting twice a week, which I love. I didnt life AT ALL while I was training for Florida, so it's nice to be back in the gym. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. So now the plan is to concentrate on running and lifting, then start adding in some biking and swimming after the first of the year. I'll be back to my old self in no time!

Without further ado, I present Julie's Tentative 2009 Race Schedule! Of course, I havent completely gone over this with the hubs yet. I think he enjoyed a summer of not being drug along to a race every weekend :)

April 26: Oklahoma City Marathon
May 17: Heritage Park Triathlon
June 6: QuarterMax Triathlon
June 14: Kansas 70.3 Triathlon (Alcatraz is also this weekend, and I considered throwing my name in the hat for the lottery, but that can wait!)
June 28: HyVee Triathlon
July 12: Shawnee Mission Triathlon
August 1: Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon
August ???: UltraMax event in KC - I am SO excited about this, now they just need to announce a date and venue!
September 12: OMC Women's Triathlon

I'm also kicking around the idea of the Chicago marathon, which would be mid-October. I'm still thinking I want to do the 50 States, so getting 2 marathons a year would be a good pace. And Court is trying to talk me into doing the Redman Full with her in Oklahoma on September 19th. MAYBE the half if they have any general entry slots (it's the Halfmax National Championship next year, another good reason to do it since UM is putting it on). Since I'm already doing the OKC marathon in April, I dont want to waste 2 races on one state since full IM distance races count towards the 50 States :)

Why I had to miss Kansas 70.3

My sister-in-law got married over the weekend in Colorado, it was lovely! I didnt, however, enjoy the 9 hour drive. But, I didnt have to do any of the driving, so it was OK. The last couple of times we've gone to CO I have checked out a book on CD from the library, but I think I missed half of this one because I kept falling asleep.

I also discovered that Colorado is a bit more rigid with their alcohol. We ate at a mexican place and they had a 3 margarita limit! Granted, they were some strong magaritas, but no stronger than Ponaks. They wouldnt even let us get a pitcher! But other than that, it was a nice time :)

The happy bride and groom

The reception location

And those of you who only know me through my blog probably think I always look like ass since the only pictures you ever see of me are from a race. So here is proof that I actually clean up nicely.