Game still off.

Another day of Not Running. It's 96°F out right now, so there's no way in hell I'm running around a track for a half hour. Instead, Sis and I have brought the dogs up here so we could put the A/C unit in the kitchen window. We can sweat it out at her house, but I've got my 64-year old mother to worry about up here. There was no way we were letting her go without A/C. And it nearly killed us getting it set up. At least we got some exercise, right?

So instead of doing anything that requires a lot of movement, my sister and I are planning our trip to Colorado. She's on my mom's computer in the dining room, and I'm on my Mac in the office. Basically, she's booking the hotels and I'm booking the Fun Stuff. First of all, and I hadn't realized this until now, the Mork and Mindy house is actually IN Boulder! So we're absolutely going to see that. Second of all, we're going to eat the HELL out of this place. I've promised my friend Katie that I'll eat a chili cheez dog and a milkshake for her. The sacrifice I make for the people I love.

I'm so incredibly excited about this trip. Sis's friends are getting a dog-friendly room at our hotel, too, that way we can run back and forth with Curly Joe. Heehee. I can't wait!

In running news, I was tipped off to this. I guess that, on November 11th, a bunch of people across the globe are going to run together. Isn’t that nice? Here’s what someone posted at the Ct5k forums:

Steve Runner from the Phedippidations Podcast organises an annual event called the “Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon Challenge, and Kick the Couch 5k”. This year it’s being held on October 11 / 12. The way it works is that you sign up for the event, and then run it on the nominated weekend somewhere in your local area, and post your results back to the website. I thought it would be great if a number of us enter the event...and run it at exactly the same time where ever possible. This way you know that when you’re running, a fellow C25K member will be running along with you.

To try and make the time of day as reasonable as possible for most members, the following is what I suggest our start times should be:

West Coast USA: Sat 11/10/2008 2:00 PM
East Coast USA: Sat 11/10/2008 5:00 PM
United Kingdom: Sat 11/10/2008 10:00 PM
Western Australia: Sun 12/10/2008 5:00 AM
East Coast Australia: Sun 12/10/2008 7:00 AM

To find out your starting time if you’re in a timezone other than the ones listed, click here. In the date field, select October 11 2008, for Location 1 select United States New York, for Location 2 select your own location. Then click Submit. Next scroll down to the New York time of Sat 28/06/2008 5:00 PM* . Your local time will be displayed next to it...that’s your start time.

To signup, go to the Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon Challenge, and Kick the Couch 5k website. It’s totally free. Also click on the Teams Link, and join the C25Kcom team I have setup.

Committing to an event is great motivation to keep training! Let us know if you’re going to take part by posting a reply here.

Exciting, no?

Ok. It is now 99°F. Time to go water the garden. And myself.

See you Tuesday, hopefully. I still feel like crap.

Today is my dad's birthday. He would have been 67 years old. Happy Birthday, Dad.

Game off

Just a quick post to let everyone (haha) know that I'm not running today. I'm pretty sure I've come down with a cold. After Tuesdays' run, I got really warm and then couldn't stop sneezing. I'm having a hard time breathing (asthma) and today I've got hot and cold flashes. I decided I should probably just take today (and possibly Saturday) off.

Today I'm just doing laundry and washing my sinuses out with the neti pot. Sis and I were going to take Mom to the Rose Gardens, but she had other plans. That's right. My 63-year old mother has a social life and I don't.

So I figure I'll just post some pictures instead. These are from our day at Sauvie Island on Monday. (Click for larger view.)

Meathead's favorite hobbies: sticks and water.

Tank has been terrified of water ever since he crashed through some ice and almost drowned when he was four months old. However, I discovered that if he can walk in and out of water by himself, he doesn't mind all that much. Sis threw a stick for Meathead who decided it was too far away to retrieve. To my surprise, Tank started going in after it. Incidentally, the beach is in Oregon. The trees in the background are in Washington.

Swimming back.


As I said, Meathead loves sticks.


The boys made a new friend! His name is Diesel.


PRAWNZILLA!!!!


We have the best dogs in the world.





Waiting for Curly Joe. We pick him up in one week!

And that's it for Sauvie Island. The next time we go, we'll have life preservers for all three dogs. It was really sad, going there this time. We haven't been back to the island in three years; the last time was right before Luke had his colectomy. All five dogs were still alive and well. It just felt empty, only having Meathead and Tank there. Bernie should have been there to cheer Meathead on as he swam out to retrieve sticks and Lady should have been patrolling the beach, keeping her boys in check. Luke would have been barking non-stop because he never could contain his excitement about everything, and Tank would have been sniffing sniffing sniffing sniffing. I miss them all so much.

Tuesday morning I woke up at 5 a.m. and went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. I looked out the window and saw the entire pasture covered in fog, so I grabbed the camera and went out to take pictures. The rest are up at my Flickr.

See you Saturday, maybe.

Week 3, Day 15

75°F, nice wind blowing in from the southwest, partly cloudy. Great day for a run with my favorite running partner.

Today's run was slightly better than the last. I think it would have gone a lot better if I had run in the morning when it wasn't quite so warm. It's not that hot out, but running gets your blood boiling once you get going.

I've still been slacking off with my strength training and aerobic. I just can't even seem to find the time these days. Bad bad bad. At least I'm eating better. I had soy yogurt with ground flax seed for breakfast, and I'm going out for lunch with my mom and sis, probably to this pub in town that serves really yummy hummus wraps.

On the drive down to the track, I was talking to my sister about running and how it's going to make us less fat. This was her comment:

"Fuck, I just want to be able to outrun the zombies."

Shouldn't we all?

Yesterday, Sis and I took the dogs to Sauvie Island. I haven't been everywhere yet, but I'm pretty sure that Sauvie is my favorite place in all of Oregon.

We're leaving for Colorado next Thursday (the 3rd) and will probably be back on Sunday or Monday, so I may miss a run or two. But Curly Joe is more than worth it! I've got to smooth out some details with his foster mother; she's going to have him neutered, yay, but I want him to have pre-surgery labs done to make sure he's OK to go under anesthesia. He had a seizure in May, and that makes me nervous. She also needs to get a travel certificate from her vet that shows it's OK for Curly to cross (several) state lines.

Well, I've got some pictures to upload and I've still got to call Curly Joe's foster mom, so I'm going to post this and edit it later.

See you on Thursday!

Week 3, Day 14

I got a pain in my shoes and all I wanna do is dance.

I’ve now officially been doing Week 3 for two weeks. Although I felt better for most of today’s run, the last three minutes were still really tough. I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t frustrating, but I’m trying to remind myself that there’s no need to hurry. I have to keep in mind that if I ate proper meals, I’d be in better shape out there on the track.

My sister ran with me again, too! She has recently lost 11 pounds, mostly because she’s been really stressed out and not eating much, but I like to think that part of it is because she’s been running. Go, Sis!

I don’t have much else to report about the run. It was 81°F out there, but there was a nice wind to keep us cool. Funny thing is, there’s this “dead zone” at the southwest corner of the track; there’s no wind at this particular spot, and it’s always a few degrees warmer.

In hockey news, I GOT A HOCKEY JERSEY! My friend Ali sent me her Yzerman jersey because she doesn’t wear it anymore. I got it in the mail today, and I’m so happy. (It's my very first jersey.) I put it on right away and took pictures. It’d probably be a lot bigger on me if I wasn’t so ... chesty.

In doggy news, I’M GETTING A PUPPY! Sis and I are making plans to meet her friends in Colorado next month. They live in Louisiana, but they thought we could meet halfway to pick up Curly Joe. I can’t wait. Not only because I finally get to meet Curly Joe, but because I LOVE ROAD TRIPS. When I was in high school, my sister and I and our BFF did nothing but road trip around the country. We were going to concerts, but the driving was almost the best part. I usually sat in back with our gigantic cassette tape collection. We stayed at exclusively at the Motel 6; I would hide in the back seat when we pulled into the parking lot and my sister would go in and get a room for one adult and one child (we were 18, our friend was 16). We always got a room with two full-sized beds, and we would rotate so that every night, one of us would get to sleep alone. One time, we were up in Milwaukee, hanging out in front of the Ambassador Hotel. It wasn’t until we went back to our motel room that night turned on the TV that we realized this was where Jeffrey Dahmer had murdered some of his victims.

Another time, we got stuck in a freak blizzard in Arkansas and the only motel we found had one double bed, so we had to pull the mattress out on the floor and flip a coin to see who had to sleep on the box spring. Actually, I think I was outvoted; they claimed they had to sleep on the mattress because I was the only one who was capable of falling asleep anywhere, anytime. Since I’ve actually fallen asleep in the middle of guitar class and also during a concert, I really couldn’t argue with them.

Anyway. I’m really excited about the road trip. Good music, good company, good times.

See you Tuesday!

Week 3, Day 13

I hate running this late in the day, but I had a pretty full schedule and this was the only time I could manage it. Wasn't a very good day today (in general), but I survived. I had to take three cats into the vet today. Benduka, for his UTI recheck and my sister's kittens, Lindy and Doon for their pre-spay blood work. Let's just say Ben was the only one who made it to the appointment. The girls kind of lost their shit when I put them in the carrier. A carrier they've been in many times, mind you. Today they decided it was the portal to HELL and they wanted nothing to do with it. If they were a little scared, I would have gone ahead, but they were bouncing off the walls and I was terrified they would hurt themselves. I let them out and they vanished. By dinnertime, they'll forget it ever happened and be right back to their lovable, annoying selves.

At any rate, after I dropped Ben off at home, I headed out to run some other errands, two of which I didn't even have time to do. So I bought a bottle of loganberry wine and went back to my sister's house. I had a Tofu Pup for lunch, took the dogs out for a walk around the yard, chased a stray duck back into the little yard because she couldn't figure out how to get back on her own and the geese were terrorizing her, FINALLY put on my running gear and headed out.

I got two houses down from my sister's before I remembered her asshole neighbor who can't be bothered to keep his psychotic dog inside the house. I heard the dog barking from behind the house, and two seconds later, he (she?) was out in the street barking at me. I avoided eye contact and sat, sternly, "GO HOME," but he/she kept darting after me, so close, I could feel his/her whiskers on my leg. I told him/her again to go home, but the damn dog trailed along behind me until I got to the next house where two women were screaming at each other on the front lawn. I don't keep my iPod turned up very loud for safety and hearing reasons, so I could pretty much hear everything they were screaming. Apparently, one women couldn't afford the luxury of having two cars, which I find strange because her driveway and lawn is home to no less than 12 sorely abused vehicles. One of them was in the ditch, in fact. The other woman was mad because she was expected to answer her texts messages while she's out with her man. It was at this point that my eyes started to glaze over and I almost fell into a ditch. Hello, kids! Welcome to Jerry Springer's neighborhood. Can you spell "meth lab"?

Anyway. Running. It's 76°F out there right now. Thankfully the sun was low enough to be hidden by the trees along the river, so I had quite a bit of shade. I'm happy to announce that today's run wasn't as "bad" as Tuesday's. It was difficult mentally because when I run on the track, I know where I'll be when the intervals end because I'm running the same circle every time. On the road at my sister's, I don't know where I'll be when an interval ends, so I feel kind of lost without those markers.

I did pretty well, for the most part. I felt good, too. The last three minute run was a little hard, but I didn't feel quite so much like dying this time around. I think getting back to the strength training and aerobic this week has really paid off. *pats self on back* I haven't had time to do my lower body workout today, but that's ok. I ran and that should be enough. I'm not going to drive myself crazy trying to fit every damn thing into my schedule today.

Right now my biggest concern is whether or not I should take a bath. A shower, yes, but my sister has a jacuzzi tub and, before she left for Chicago, bought some rubber duckies and told me to take a bubble bath while she was gone. Trouble is, do I really want to soak in hot water when it's this warm out? It'll cool off in a couple of hours (I hope). Perhaps I'll wait until then. It'll give the wine time to chill. Or whatever wine does in the fridge.

See you on Saturday.

P.S. I've been in contact with my sister's friend, and we're working out the best way to get that little fainting puppy out here. Actually, it's not so much that he faints. He'll just fall over from time to time. I'm definitely going to buy him a doggy life preserver for when we all go to the lake, but maybe I should get him a helmet, too...

By this time next month, Tank could have a little brother!

Week 3, Day 12

My sister won’t be back from Chicago until Friday, so I’m still house/animal-sitting. Yesterday I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and upper body strength training, so today I feel a bit more prepared than I have been this last week or so. I ate not too terribly bad yesterday, too. This morning I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast. It was pretty much all I had to work with.

It’s 55°F today. Overcast, a little bit of a breeze. So far, I’m really enjoying the weather this summer.

To the run! On the plus side, I didn’t even have to put my hair up in a ponytail. I just clipped the bangs back and viola! Love this new hair. On the down side, I was ready to pack it in before I’d even finished my first 90 second interval. Obviously, it’s going to take me a few days to get back into the swing of things. Because I’m pressed for time and out of sorts these days, I decided to do aerobic on my non-run days.

Anyway, when I got to the track, there was a woman speed walking and another, younger, woman running the opposite direction. Oy. Three’s a crowd, eh? I used the second lane of the track for my warm up, giving the runner the right of way even though she was going the “wrong” direction. Because I’m nice like that. The inside lane is the only one without huge lumps or potholes, and I didn’t have my glasses on, so I wasn’t so much flirting with disaster as I was soul kissing it.

The runner passed me again just before I started my first interval, except this time she was not only running but kicking a soccer ball in front of her. No wonder I wanted to quit! Jeezum crow, I can barely talk and blink at the same time.

But I digress. I pushed through the entire run, stretched and now I’m home. I’ve got Meathead and Tank with me because I’m taking my mom on some errands after I do my lower body workout and take a much needed shower. Meatie’s got this weird burping issue that needs to be looked at. I’m guessing he’s either got IBD or (more likely) something esophageal. We may end up having to do a barium series to see where/what the trouble is. If you’ve never worked as a vet tech, you’ll never know the pain of a barium series. It doesn’t hurt the dog, but it’s murder on the tech. Not only is it a pain in the ass getting the animal to drink the barium, but you spend the next fifty years of your life taking radiographs to track the barium’s progress. I have to say, though, it really is quite fascinating.

Also, since Meatie’s mommy is in Chicago until Friday, he’s being a big, fussy baby. He loves his Auntie Turtle, but he doesn’t like it when my sister isn’t around. When were still living in Chicago, and Sis and her b.f. went out to Portland for the first time (about nine years ago) to visit friends, I took Meathead to the forest preserve everyday to play fetch or frisbee to keep his mind off of their absence. Am I good or what? Yesterday I took both dogs for a walk, which was quite the pain in my caboose. Try pushing a big dog in a doggy stroller while trying to control a sniff-crazy hound dog at the same time. Not easy, I can assure you. Then I remember that Sis and I used to walk all seven dogs at once, and tell myself to quit being such a baby.

Anyway. See you Thursday.

Happy Father's Day