Water, Water Everywhere...

It's been a busy couple of day.  I've been working a LOT with no day off in sight.  Friday morning, while getting ready for work, I went downstairs to get some clothes and saw that the carpet was soaked!  All I could think of was that the sewer had backed up.  That was happening every couple of years until we found the source, so hadn't happened in a while.  I was expecting the worst.  When I went downstairs all of the way, the water seemed to be coming from the opposite end of the basement that the sewer was on.  Maybe it was a burst pipe?  Nothing was leaking from overhead and I could not figure out where all this water had come from.

Source 

I ran upstairs to tell Kevin.  He thought I was joking for a minute.  After I told him I was definitely NOT joking, he came down with me.  He figured out that the water heater must have rusted out of the bottom and leaked out everywhere.

I didn't know what to do.  I asked Kevin if I should call in to work, but he said I should just go and he would clean up and take care of it.

By the time I got home from work he had bought a new water heater, but had to wait until Saturday to put it in so his dad and brother could help him.  It was $350 plus more for new hoses and or pipes to connect it.  Ugh.

We had to turn the water completely off, because there was a leak in the shut off valve.  You never realize how much you use water until it's gone.  Simple things like washing my hands, rinsing a dish, etc.  I had bought two gallon jugs of water and a pack of water in bottles.

This morning I had my long run with Becky.  I had 7 on the schedule, she had 9.  We ended up with 8.3, but that was due to a mapping error.  It was a tough run!  The first mile and a half was physically painful.  My legs were sore, I woke up with a headache, my ankles and calves felt really tight, blah, blah, blah.  After that, I started to feel a bit better.

Not from today, but an overlook of the lake on our run.

It was also unseasonably warm out.  I wore a short sleeve shirt and capris.  I was sweating my butt off by mile 3.  As soon as we got to the lake though, there was a really cold breeze.  We stopped at mile 5 to take a GU and stretch.  We were right on the lake front and BRRRR!  All of my sweat was definitely making it worse.  All I can say is that I expect next week's long run to be awesome!

While I wasn't on a TM, this was me most of my run...poor Becky. Source

My watch also died before we even hit mile one.  At least Becky had hers.  It was funny though, because when hers would beep for the miles I would hit the lap button on my watch and when we would stop at lights I would hit the stop button.  Old habits die hard, I guess!

I'm home from work now after a long night.  I'm going to watch Comedy.TV and go to bed.  And I plan on sleeping late tomorrow since I don't have to work until 1:30.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

That's What She Said

Hey! Did anyone know that it's election day?
I got up early on my day off to make sure I got my vote in.  This is the first year that I had to wait at all.  I ended up being in line from start to finish for an hour!  It must have been the time I went, because my friend goes to the same place to vote and she said she was in and out in 15 minutes.

After that, I worked a bit on a sweater I am knitting.  I hadn't realized how long it has been since I knitted until I was trying to make the first two loops.  It took me a good 20 minutes!  Yeesh!  And the first two rows took about two hours.  Now that I am getting the hang of it again it is going much faster.

The sweater I'm making.  

I went over to my mom's about mid morning to do some cleaning and walk her favorite child  dog.  I made Asia a sweater and I wanted her to try it on to make sure it fit.  It actually fit really well!  I am going to add a collar and edging to it and maybe a couple of more flowers to give it a more finished look.

Asia really likes wearing sweaters.  She is so cute.

On our walk

It was funny to watch people slow down and check Asia out on our walk.  They would see her and start laughing.  She is such a cutie.  Too bad normal sized dog clothes don't fit.  I may have to become the Lane Bryant of dog clothes.  A friend of mine already asked me to make her dog an outfit since store bought clothes don't fit him.

I was waiting for Becky to get home from work so we could go run together.  It was pretty chilly out, dark and had started drizzling and it was only 3:00p.m.  I made sure to wear bright colors so cars would see me us.  I also wanted to try my leg warmers.  They ended up falling down leaving my calves cold.  I will have to add a tighter row to the top to keep them up.  

You can see my leg warmers are already falling!

This run was a really good one!  I was a little jazzed up, because I had just drank some soda.  Caffeine has the effect on me as a bag of sugar would on a little kid.  Becky had to tell me to slow down a couple of times.  She knows that I would want to stop after the first mile if we kept up at the pace we were going.

My run time/miles.

How many times can you use, "That's what she said" in this blog?

And on the Seventh Day...

This past week has been action packed!  After last Saturday's half marathon, I decided to take some time off of running, which was a great decision.  I was tired, I had a busy work schedule, and my mom ended up having to have surgery.

I ended up staying over at my mom's the day she got back from the hospital.  My dad works third shift and I thought someone should be there in case something happened.

Mom is doing a lot better now.  She was pretty mobile right after surgery, which surprised me after a back surgery.  A lot of her pain is alleviated.  The doctor said she was in so much pain, because part of her disk actually broke off and fused to the nerve!  Ouchie!!

I've been taking my mom's dog for a walk about every other day, so I haven't become a total couch potato without running.  She absolutely loves getting outside and hunting through all of the tall grass and under all of the bushes.

With the weather getting colder, I've been making Asia a sweater.  My mom made her a turtle neck sweater last year, but every girl needs more then just one sweater!

I had to custom make it since she is a plus size gal.  I had to redo the bottom, because I had actually made it way too big.  Asia volunteered to help.

 I finally finished the sweater.  I sewed her name on with yarn and added some flowers.  I got the original pattern for free here.

I have gone back to doing the daily crosswords in the newspaper.  I have been doing crosswords since I was in middle school.  There is something so satisfying about filling up all of those squares with the right (or close to right) answers.  I am a little rusty still, but those of you who do these know the clues tend to repeat each other once in a while, so that has helped.  

Today, I went on my first run since the half last Saturday.  I went with my friend Becky who is training for her first marathon!  She only had to do five miles, so nothing I couldn't handle.  We took it pretty slow, walking once every mile, and just enjoying the day and the scenery.  

I decided to have some fun with my outfit, so I wore bright colors.  I also wanted to see what it was like to run in my compression socks.  I felt like my calves were a little sore during the run from the socks, but that could have been from the hills and not running so much for a week.  I'm not sore now though, so maybe they did help.  Who knows.  I think I will have to try them on a really long run to see.

My outfit on my run.  I love my pink compression socks!

My splits.

Hope everyone has a happy Monday!

Running is Rad!

Today was my fourth half marathon!!  Woo-woo!  I can't believe I have willingly ran 13.1 miles four separate times.
The race was called the Skeleton Skamper and was a Halloween race, so we got to dress up.  I had to figure out a functional costume that was fun and that I could run in.  I decided on a 90's themed outfit.  Mostly because I wanted to wear a side pony-tail!
I made leg warmers for Becky, Melissa and myself.  Bought a sweatshirt at the thrift store and cut it up, and cut up one of my fluorescent race shirts that I never wear anymore.  And I even found a three pack of scrunchies at Family Dollar!

Skeleton Skamper 2012 Pre-Race

I was really surprised how well the race went.  It was super cold out, but after about half an hour I started to warm up.  Last week's long run totally blew, so I was hoping this would go well like I told myself it would.

Becky and I stayed together.  We ran the entire time, except through water stops. I was really surprised how well I felt most of the race.

The course was a little bit hillier then I thought it would be, though.  There were really long, gradual hills and not always downhills afterwards.  At mile 10 there was a long climb and I almost stopped to walk, but didn't want to bring down Becky mentally or make her think it was o.k. to walk.  So, I kept going and there was a hill to run down on the other side.

Finally mile 12 passed.  It got really windy as we turned.  I kept looking at my watch telling myself, "Only .9 miles, only .8 miles, etc."  With only .2 left to go I started really slowing down.  There was a fierce wind and we were going uphill...again.  Becky was inching ahead and I started walking.  She realized I wasn't next to her and turned and raised her arms like, "What the f@#$ are you doing?"  And motioned to come on!  I chuckled a little at what I just did and started running again.  By then Becky had sprinted off to the finish.  There were a few people at the end cheering and the whole cheerleading section of a local high school cheering me on at the end.  That was pretty cool and actually sped me up a little.

I ended up PR-ing the race by 7 minutes with a 2:40, which was not even on my agenda...mostly.  I just wanted to have a good time, which I did.

It was a pretty small race and most of the racers were done by the time I finished.  I stretched for a few minutes and headed over to get my after race snacks.  I stretched a lot more while eating.

Melissa's awesome pants AND fanny pack!

Leg warmer buddies!

After the race we went to Q'Doba for refueling and then Starbuck's for more refueling.  I don't know what was up with us, but EVERYTHING was funny.  We could not stop cracking up!  I think it was delirium and exhaustion.

After I got home, showered, and changed, I felt myself start to crash.  My head was starting to hurt from the gels I took wearing off and my body was tired and sore.  I took some ibuprofen and laid on the couch watching T.V. most of the afternoon.

Now, I am going to eat well deserved pizza and then going to my neighbor's for a Halloween party.  I don't have a costume, so I am going as a Packer fan by wearing my Packer shirt.  I forgot I had it.  I found it yesterday in my drawer when I was looking for my running tights.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

  

Pain in the ... Back

Source

Yesterday's run was rough.  It was about 70, but also about 100% humidity (<-- not an exaggeration, actually reported by the weatherman)!  After these nice 50 degree days, it was a big change.  I was really struggling.  I was also really hot!  I am definitely a cooler weather kind of gal.  Give me a chilly day of 45-50 degree weather any day over the sweltering summer heat.

Today was still warm, but not as humid.  The run went better, until almost mile three.  I just had to stop a minute and walk.  We walked for about two minutes and still had a 12ish minute mile.  We must have really sped up!

I tried out my running skirt yesterday.  It was definitely shorter than I am use to wearing which made me a bit self conscious.  I was also worried about my thighs rubbing together.  While I didn't start a fire with all the thigh friction, I am definitely going to have to wear capris or longer shorts under these (I like how my legs are reflecting the sun light and glowing white).

Today, I didn't feel like I was going to puke until almost mile three instead of through the whole thing.  After the run I made sure to get a really good stretch in.  I pulled something in my lower back yesterday.  I think because I've been really lax with stretching the past couple of days, it was bound to happen, I guess. I felt fine while running.  After walking around and going to stores for a couple of hours, I'm getting a bit sore again.  I'll just have to keep heating, stretching, and taking some ibuprofen and hopefully by Saturday be good to go for my race.

What are your plans for Halloween?

Running Sucks

Source

Yesterday was my long run.  I was scheduled to do 10 miles.  I had my alarm set for 5:30.  I turned it off and went on the couch.  I was soooo tired.  I turned on the T.V. and fell asleep watching I Love Lucy.  I woke up and Golden Girls was on.

I woke up again and some Hallmark movie was on.  By now it was 10:00.  I only do this when I really have no plans all day.  If I were going with someone or I had to be somewhere, I would have gotten up and gotten it over with.  Instead, I procrastinate and procrastinate.  I mean, let's face it.  Running ten miles is not my idea of a good time.


Finally, by 1:00 I started getting ready.  I slammed a Coca Cola and ate a cheese, tomato, pickle sandwich on toast.  Got my water and Gu together and finally took off around 1:30.

When I left, I told Kevin that I may not do all 10.  Maybe I'd do 5.  I just really, really, really didn't want to run.  I'm not really sure why.  I guess I was just tired.
I never start running until after I walk up a hill that leads out of my little neighborhood.  Once I was at the top I seriously considered going home.  I told myself to just go and see how far I could get.

To make a long story short, every mile sucked.  At the end, I knew I hadn't gone out far enough to get to ten miles.  I went around a cemetery once and instead of going again like I should have to get to ten, I said forget it and headed home.  I ended with 9, which was good enough for me.

Yes, I had tater tots for supper.

It's runs like these that really count.  I knew that I would appreciate this after it was done and these are the runs that will make me better, blah, blah, blah.  I'm just glad it's over.
And, the good part is, when I have a bad long run the next week is really good.  I'm hoping that holds true next week since that is my half marathon!

Nice spread!

I'm glad I didn't have time to lay around after my run.  I would have been so sore.  Instead, I stretched, ate, and jumped in the shower to get ready to go to Laura's.

Adding butter, real butter

We were going to watch a bad, scary 80's movies.  We went to get the movie and when we got back her husband had made popcorn and set everything up downstairs.  What a sweetie-pie!

We watched Return to Camp Sleepover or something like that.  It was so bad, yet funny.  By the time it was over, I was so tired and so was Laura.  We called it a night and I headed home to go to bed since I had to work all day today.

Oh, and I finished another leg warmer...yup, just one so far.  I like these.  I knitted most of it and crocheted a little on each side.


Now, I'm going to watch Boardwalk Empire and Homeland.  I love these shows!

With the Wind at Your Back

Yesterday was a rest day...a much needed rest day.  The plan was to get up this morning and run 5.  I didn't fall asleep last night until about 3am!  I was very over tired and could not fall asleep.  This led me to sleep in until 10 this morning!  I hate sleeping that late.
I made my coffee, did my sudoku, and got ready to go run.  I had two cups of coffee and an apple with peanut butter for breakfast.
I finally took off to run at almost noon.  I had to work at 3, so I was really pushing it.
It was pretty chilly out and quite windy.  The forecast also called for rain.  It was a little dark, but I figured I'd be fine.  A little rain never hurt anyone.
I started running and after about a minute I realized I was going too fast.  I tried to slow down, but it wasn't working.  The wind really blew against me on the way out.  With pushing my speed so much faster than I'm use to, I was worried I was going to burn out by the second mile.  As soon as I turned after mile 1, the wind somehow turned to my back.  It really pushed me along.  I had the fastest run that I have ever had!  I just could not seem to slow down and I figured if I was still going I must be capable of it.
It started drizzling around mile 2, but never turned into anything serious. As soon as I got home I stretched, ate and jumped in the shower for work.

Now, I have to watch Chelsea Lately, get my clothes and lunch ready for tomorrow and go to bed since I have to be there by 7am!  Here's hoping tomorrow goes fast! TGIF!!