Friday, January 9, 2009

a week of mondays

Seriously! It's Friday people! The day of anticipation for the weekend, wearing jeans to the office, and happy hour. Yet it still feels like Monday and it has every day this week. Monday felt that way just because it was Monday, and funnily enough, they tend to do that. Tuesday, I started my day by exploding oatmeal all over my stove. It seems that in my sleepy stupor, I turned the burner to high instead of low, and well, we all know what happens when water gets really, really hot. Along the same lines of food mishaps, I made a giant pot of delicious tuscan white bean, kale, and smoked bacon soup the night before for weekday lunches only to discover through a mouthful of grit that I didn't wash the kale. I hate waste, so I've been eating fantastically flavored, yet, very gritty soup all week. Yesterday Henry (my super-cool, but extremely curious dog) found a yummy little treat in the grass that he deposited right in the middle of my living room a short time later. He's not delicate when he gets sick, either....it's like he's trying to turn himself inside out or something! And finally, this morning I wake up and my oven timer is going off! It's this constant "eeehhhhhhh" sound, much like "the most annoying sound in the world" from that movie Dumb and Dumber! I first heard it at 5:00 a.m. and when I left for the office at 7:30, it was still drowning out the voices in my head. Hopefully they were able to fix it before I get home otherwise my sanity my permanently be in jeopardy. I won't bore you with the office-related "Monday incidents," as they are meaningless to someone who doesn't work here.

Tomorrow is our second group run for the marathon training. It's only eight miles, for which I'm thankful because the temp is going to be low and the winds high....very Oklahoma-like. If only I had time to go get the heated gloves before tomorrow.... Maybe I'll try to hang with the fast guys again. The quicker we finish the quicker we get coffee.

I started the FIRST training plan this week, as well. It's that three-runs per week plan (speedwork, tempo, and long) that many runners have used to qualify for Boston. I'm not concerned with a BQ at the moment....just something to mix up my runs. I'm pretty loose about it, though, as I've already added an additional run this week. I am following the prescribed speeds, though. Just for the record, this week my runs have been:
Tuesday morning: speedwork - 6 miles
Tuesday evening: running off the "Monday" feeling - 3 miles
Thursday morning: tempo run - 6.5 miles

Anyway, this post is becoming rather boring so I'll sign off. More will come your way later!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

wishes and dreams

I just got home and Sleepless in Seattle is on. The little kid has just called into the radio show and that particular episode was titled "Wishes and Dreams," so that's where I nabbed the title of this post from. It's fairly appropriate because I was just attending a Sneak Peak Open House for some good friends of mine who are FINALLY opening their own gym. It's been a goal of theirs for several years, but you know how much time and money these sorts of ventures take. In any case, they are seeing their "wishes and dreams" come to fruition so we're all really pleased for them.

This morning started the 2009 OKC Memorial Marathon training. We had around 125 runners show up for a six mile run! I'm really proud of this because a) we have one of the greatest marathons in the country, b) this training group started and grown in 2001 by a hero, and c) I'm honored to be on the newly formed committee to keep the training up to that hero's standards. The Oklahoma wind notwithstanding, it was a beautiful morning! Sunny, clear skies and a relatively mild temp of 49 started us out. Of course I was running with three friends who are significantly faster than I am, so my focus was more on the voices in my head screaming "what the @#$%@$# do you think you're doing?!?!" I could have easily dropped back without anyone giving it a second thought, but pride and curiosity to see if I could hang wouldn't let me. I kept up, but sweet mother! By the last half mile, I was contributing nothing to the conversation because I decided that breathing was slightly more important than talking.

Afterward, a few of us jetted over to another area lake to do an annual trail run organized by a friend of mine. He has a 50K and 25K route marked, but you can run whatever distance your legs will take you. Mine only took me seven miles. I started out with the same speed demons from the road earlier, but we grouped off fairly quickly. I ran the last half alone on the trail, and as much as I love running with others, it was rather enjoyable being talked to only by the trees. I'll never be one that only craves solitude when running, but it's a nice change from time to time. I ran back to the start (after turning the wrong way out of the trail head and tacking on an extra hill... I have no idea why I can run the trails with perfect direction and get turned around once I get out!), and waited for my coffee compadres to get back. We headed over to the nearest Starbucks, which, by the way, is NOT just across the interstate as the sign says, and replenished the depleted coffee supply in our bodies. I'm convinced that I need to be at least 98% coffee in order to be fully functional. Medical doctors would argue water, but you know how studies are always contradicting themselves....

While sitting there, we got in a conversation about wine - how bad Oklahoma wines are, how good wines in the rest of the world are, and the joys of Missouri's cotton candy flavored wine. I kid about that last part..... not about the fact that they have cotton candy flavored wine, because they do, but about them being joyous. They are only joyous in the sense that you have something to laugh about, not joyous in flavor. Well, it just so happens that there is a swanky little wine store just a few doors down that custom blends wines for you and will even customize labels! What better way to end the morning than a little bit of wine tasting! We walked over to discover some very interesting blends, such as black currant merlot, raspberry zinfandel, and a nontraditional ice wine (can't remember the flavor of that one). He also let us try a FANTASTIC old vine zin and an incredibly bold barolo. He teased us with the description of a Chilean rioja before telling us that it was no more....sold out at Christmas. Anyway, the place is called Vintner's Cellar and it's on 15th and Bryant in Edmond. Check it out if you get the chance.

So with 6 miles on the roads, 7 miles on the trails, good coffee, and an impromptu wine tasting, it was a great first day of OKC Marathon training and I'm looking forward to next weekend!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

resolution running

Well, I ran it, although it was about a minute and a half slower than my normal 5K time. I'm guessing, anyway, as the link to the results isn't posted yet. I did place second in my age group, but I don't think that my age group was well-represented this morning. Truthfully, it wasn't that bad. The wind was ridiculous, but since the race was an out-and-back, it was at our backs for the second half. Also, I was entertained by another runner's musings on nutrition, supplements, and IBS. It's funny what runners talk about to pass the time....usually it goes from current running and injuries to digestive issues to food. He was doing most of the talking, though, as I was using every ounce of energy I had to move my wine-filled legs. Afterward, a group of us met at the nearest Starbucks to warm up and rehash the prior evening's events while waiting for the annual Runner's Brunch.

Being New Year's Day, there was a lot of talk of resolutions. I heard everything from eat more fruit to doing more yoga to just making it to the year 2010 (probably the most logical goal, eh?). One runner's wife who comes out and cheers everyone on (seriously, she's fantastic - loud, energetic, makes signs.... she needs pom poms!) randomly decided to walk the course today with some of the injured runners. She enjoyed it so much that her resolution was to start entering the races to walk with the possibility of working up to jogging. Good for her! I tend not to make resolutions in the traditional style, but decide to actually do something that I'd been wanting to do. For example, last year I decided to start working my way down the list of restaurants that I'd been wanting to try out. Naturally I stuck to that! This year I plan to successfully can things. I don't have a garden (my thumb is actually on the opposite side of the color spectrum from green!), so I don't really know what I'll can or where I'll get it from, but I will can something. There's a very real danger of botulism poisoning from improperly canned goods, so I guess by successful I mean that I can eat whatever it is without dying shortly after. Anyone else set goals for 2009?

happy new year!

Just a quick post to say Happy New Year to all two readers of my blog! ;} I'm trying really hard to be excited about the Resolution Run that's taking place in an hour, but the 20 mph winds and the location (Overholser is my least favorite place to run) are working against me.....not to mention the fact that my body is protesting all the cheese, chocolate, and wine from last night. I don't understand that. Haven't the French proven that those are the staples of a healthful diet??? I mean, cheese is loaded with calcium and the chocolate and wine are full of antioxidants. If anything my body should be thanking me for keeping my bones strong and waging war against cancer, right?! In any case, this should be an interesting three miles. We'll see if I have anything to add later, so stay tuned.