Week 3, Day 11

Well, these runs aren't getting any easier, but at least I had a running partner for the third day in a row! My sister is flying back home to visit relatives in Chicago for a couple of days; I'm driving her to the airport tomorrow morning. Remember how I went to Florida earlier this year? And flew on a plane for the first time in 18 years? Well, that's my sister, too. She's really scared, so what better way to burn off some nervous energy than by running?

Unfortunately, her iPod died right after the warm up. But it was a beautiful day (63°F, windy, not a cloud in the sky) and she was determined to run, so she just counted the seconds off in her head. She's still doing Week 1 so it wasn't too tedious.

I did alright, but I'm not progressing. This week I am bound and determined to get back to strength training and at least 20 minutes of aerobic. Otherwise I'm just going to stall, and I don't like the thought of that.

For breakfast this morning, I had two flax seed waffles and a bottle of blueberry/açaí juice. For lunch I had a veggie Italian sahsidge with some mustard and a side of potatoes with onions and green peppers.

In other news, I got my hair cut! (You can only see the picture if you’re one of my Flickr contacts. Sorry!) Got quite a bit cut off and, for the first time in 20 years, got some bangs. Nothing drastic, but still a big change.

Bonus! Pictures of my garden. I'm ashamed to say I had no hand in building any of it, but it still looks fantastic.

Now all I have to do is get planting! So far I've got Walla Walla onions, some strawberries, and my neighbor is giving us some red seed potatoes. A friend of mine is also sending me a bunch of seeds. Turnips and suchlike. I need to get some lettuce, too. This is my very first garden. I hope I don't screw it up.

In hockey news, Alexander Ovechkin is coming out with his own clothing line. MY EYES! MY EYES!

Also, today is Saturday the 14th. If you don't know why that's significant, you probably weren't born in the 70's and should therefore feck off.

Week 3, Day 10

Gooooooooooorrrrgeous day for running. 70°F, nice wind coming in from the SE, not a cloud in sight. I had company again: my sister! She’s still doing Week 1 and that’s a-okay.

It felt really great to hit the track in shorts and a tank top, and I had a good sweat going by the time I was finished. I thought the second three minute interval would be harder because it was so much warmer out, but I didn’t do any better or worse than the last few times. I was just so happy to see the sun again.

I wanted to take the dogs to this new park today, but we didn’t have time. Possibly we’ll go tomorrow, though my sister and I are getting our hair cut in the morning. I’m excited and scared because I’m doing something drastic. My sister hasn’t gone into a salon and had her hair cut by a professional in 20 years. Me, I haven’t had my hair cut in six months. My friend Nicole chopped my (waist-length) hair off three years ago, and I’ve been going to her (at The Gypsy Rose) ever since. I trust Nicole with my hair, but I have very little confidence in my ability to pull of anything other than “frumpish slob.” My personal style can be summed up in four words: doesn’t give a damn.

Cold and alone <----- how I'm going to die.

One of my friends got me a subscription to Outdoor Photographer as a Christmas present. I started getting them forwarded to me when I was in Florida; it wasn’t until I got home that I realized it was a present from K. Oops. Anyway, I got the July issue the other day and was happy to see they had a feature on the Upper Peninsula. I regret that I’ve only ever been there during the summer because I imagine it has to be spectacularly beautiful in the Fall and Winter. I'll go back there someday.

I’m shutting up now because I’m starving.

See you Saturday.

Week 3, Day 9

This isn’t going to be much of an update. Been eating like crap, sleeping like crap, haven’t worked out (strength training or aerobic) since last Wednesday. I ran today, though. It’s 54°F, overcast, windy. A little drizzly. My sister is going through a rough patch right now, so I dragged her to the track with me. She didn’t run, but she did walk the entire time I was out there.

For my part, this run was the worst yet. Halfway through the last running interval, I wanted to give up. I absolutely have to keep up with the aerobic and strength training from now on. Slacking off just isn’t worth it.

I don’t have time to write more. See you Thursday.

Week 3, Day 8

It only takes five to hold a town in terror. . .

Eight days in the bag, and those last three minutes still aren’t getting any easier. No big deal, though. Today, the second 90 second run was a little tough, so I was really dreading the next three minutes. I did it despite the incredible urge to just walk off the track and go home.

It was 48°F, overcast, drizzling. I had another bowl of those goddam Cocoa Crispies for breakfast. I’ve been stressed out and eating like shit this week. Plus I’ve got my period. So I’m not in the best shape right now. I’ve been slacking off on my aerobics, and I think that’s a big part of why I struggle on the runs. I need to keep strengthening my heart and lungs.

That’s all I have to say about that.

Did everybody hear what Tiger Woods had to say about hockey?

What’s more exciting to you? Watching “athletes” in bad sweaters ride carts around on the grass and knock little white balls into a hole in the ground, or watching scarred and bloody and badly injured men sprint around an ice rink for 60 (sometimes 120) minutes?

Gad, I fucking hate golf. Except for miniature golf. I loooooove me some mini golf. When I was a kid, we went to a place called Haunted Trails over on Harlem. Best mini golf ever. It wasn’t that big of a course, at least not in the 70’s and 80’s, but it was a lot of fun. It used to (might still) be that when you paid for mini golf, you could pick which color ball you wanted. I always picked green. There was the headless horseman, Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein and this really stupid trap that had three big rubber gloves stuck on the end of some pipes and they would dip down and try and block your shot. Oh, and the garbage cans were ghosts! And they had all these fake headstones with funny things written on them. There was a game room with ski ball, pinball machines, air hockey and arcade games. So stupid, but so fun. This person’s Flickr has a lot of great photos of the place.

There was also Dispensa’s Kiddie Kingdom, but we didn’t go there that often. I’ve got a cassete tape of us coming back from a day at the Kingdom. Sis and I had won (or annoyed our parents into purchasing) these little rubber worms, and I decided we should name them Wormy and Squirmy and proceded to make up a song about them. A few weeks later, my mom shut my head in the rear window of the station wagon when we all went to the drive in. Coincidence? More like payback. We were there to see The Children because my mom thought The House That Dripped Blood would be too scary. Oh, the irony. If I could get my hands on a copy of that movie, I’d be so happy.

Anyway. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I really want to play mini golf. I think there’s a place out near Woodburn. Eh, I was close. Wilsonville.

Oh, to be a kid again...

See you on Tuesday.

Week 3, Day 7

Hey, it’s raining! Again! In Portland!

I had a banana for breakfast, put off running until it was only drizzling, then headed down to the track. 48°F, really windy. It was a pretty good run, but those last three minutes are still KILLING me. It’ll get easier, I know, but for now it’s a struggle to get through. Fingers crossed for no rain on Saturday.

Last night I dreamt I was running. I also dreamt I was making out with Henrick Zetterburg in the Red Wings’ locker room. At least I could make one part of that dream come true. Which is a nice segway into last night’s hockey game, and (just for Ed) I will begin with an enthusiastic:

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

THE RED WINGS WON THE STANLEY CUP! DETROIT’S A KILLER!

I was literally on the edge of my seat for three hours yesterday. When the final horn sounded, I jumped off the couch and ran around the front room going, “WOOOOOOOOOO!” The cats didn’t come out of the closet for two hours. I’m still jazzed. So happy my team won. The downside is no more hockey until October. Lucky for me, there’s a local beer league. No reason I can’t go to their games, eh? Needless to say, I will be making Stanley Cupcakes every season. You're welcome, Detroit. Just doing my part. Funny: when Crosby got nailed on the boards and limped off the ice, my mom said, "Good!" Heehee. I think I've been a bad influence on her.

I had more to say but I'm kind of in a rush.

Week 3, Day 6

...he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy. He knows there’s a painful side....but he won’t let the pain blot out the humor no more than he’ll let the humor blot out the pain.”

Woke up to more gray and drizzle this morning after less than five hours of sleep. I was still dead tired but when I saw the sun come out, I scarfed down a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles (bad bad bad bad/running low on provisions) and headed out the door. It was 51°F with a strong wind coming in from the South. I had on my tank top and rain coat and my running pants. Luckily, it didn’t rain while I was running (though I’m pretty sure I heard thunder), but I kept the rain coat on just in case.

The run went well, pretty much the same as the last couple of times. The second three minute run just about does me in, so I’ll definitely be sticking with Week 3 for a while. I felt really clunky today. Blame it on the shit I ate for breakfast, or blame it on the wind, I don’t know.

It still feels really good to have made this progression.

Weather looks great for the rest of the week, but this is the Pacific Northwest and rain is always lurking just around the corner.

No update on my fainting goat puppy, except that yesterday I realized it’s only about a 24 hour drive (one way) to where he is. I’m thinking maybe it’d be easier (and more fun) to just rent a car and drive down there myself. The downside being I have terrible night blindness and absolutely no sense of direction. Oh for a friend to make the drive with me. Alas, such is the plight of a hermit.

In hockey news: Triple. Fucking. Overtime. Hoe-lee shit. That game was intense, despite two bullshit penalties against the Red Wings. How can you call goalie interference when you’re in the neutral zone and can’t see what’s going on in the crease?? Somebody needs to kick the shit out of some sense into the refs during the off season. Did I say refs? I meant the puppet masters controlling the refs. Do you recall what was revealed the day old-time hockey died?

Anyway, hockey is the reason why I got home so late. I was at my sister’s house for the game because I’d borrowed her car and she needed it to pick her boyfriend up from the airport at 10 p.m. The game didn’t last until 2 a.m..... I just got caught up playing Grand Theft Auto IV. But I digress. The game got off to a bad start, but I was hoping we had the Cup when Rafalski scored the tie breaker in the third period. When Hudler smacked Scuderi in the face with his stick and got four minutes in the box, I knew we were fucked. See? That’s what that asshole in the white gloves gets for taking the Cup out before the goddam clock ran out. GOOCHER. Game 6 in Steel City tomorrow. Now that I’ve been forced to watch the Penguins play, I’m starting to see why Indi hates Sidney Crosby so much. Not so much that he’s a diving, whining baby with a sad little Playoff beard, but because everyone’s making so much of a big deal about him that they’re completely glossing over everybody else. I almost want to mute the tv for the entire game just so I don’t have to hear his goddam name every five minutes. WE KNOW SIDNEY CROSBY IS IN THE CUP FINAL. WE KNOW SIDNEY CROSBY IS A GOOD PLAYER. He’s got teammates, you know. And hey! They’re playing a whole other team out there on the ice. Why don’t we talk about them for a second, especially since THEY JUST SCORED A GOAL and you are for some reason showing a play Crosby made right before it?

:: deep, cleansing breathe ::

The Farm Boy came over to mow the lawn yesterday because I’m still terrified of the riding lawn mower. I woke up this morning to find that the guy had weed whacked the Lupins. I don’t know why I’m surprised. Last month, the dumb sonofabitch ripped out my rose bush. Apparently, native Oregonians can’t tell the difference between roses and blackberry brambles.

Anyway. See you Thursday. I may be walking to and from the track, so if you never hear from me again, I’m probably lying dead on some desolate mountain road with an exceedingly pissed off look on my face.

ETA: 7 p.m. Stopped by my landlord's to drop off the rent check just now, and he offered to come up and till the garden. HOLY SHIT I HAVE A GARDEN. I think it's got more square footage than my bedroom. The landlord refused monetary compensation, instead asking that we give him a couple of cucumbers. So I guess we're planting cukes! I need to get some deer fencing first. Really incredibly tall deer fencing. We've got mule deer up here. They stand over three feet at the shoulders, which means that the fencing I have right now is worthless. And then I've got to go out and pick my starters. What should I plant? Artichokes, yes. Some corn, maybe? Back when I had a sense of smell, cornfields were my favorite (as well as horse stables and gas stations). Lots of lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, squash. I have no idea how to garden. This is going to end in heartache. I've had my jade plant for over a year now and it's thriving, so I guess that counts for something. It started out as just two little leaves pinched off of my neighbor's (18 year old) plant. Look at it now!

Week 3, Day 5

I didn’t get a chance to run yesterday because my car is dead, and I didn’t feel like walking back up the mountain after tackling another day of Week 3. My sister came over this evening, so I was able to run. She brought her dog, Meathead with, so she drove us all (me, her, Meatie, Tank) to the track at around 6:30. There was something going on at the school because there were kids all over the playground. There was also a couple playing tennis at the court up the hill at the east side of the track.

Sis sat in the grass with the boys while I ran. Considering all the distractions going on, not to mention how incredibly late it was, I was actually pretty focused on the run. It wasn’t until I started the second round of 90/90 that things got shaky. A pair of teenagers walked onto the track ahead of me and stopped to look at something with binoculars. I had my headphones down low, as usual, and about ten seconds after I passed them, I could hear them clomping up behind me. They ran around me, both of them waving their arms and legs around like nut jobs. The girl looked back and waved her hands at her ears, laughing and saying, ”Oh, she can’t even hear us.” So I’m pretty sure they were making fun of me. Why, I have no idea. I don’t run like Phoebe.

At any rate, I couldn’t have cared less. I just kept going. Except when I started my three minute run, the teenagers were ahead of me again, this time with three other kids. And they were all standing in my lane. I fully intended to bowl right through them if they didn’t move, but right when I approached them, they stepped out of the way.

Man, I can’t wait to have my tubes tied. In a double sheet bend.

Anyway, it was a nice night for a run. 54°F and overcast. At least, it was until we got down to the track. As soon as I started running, the clouds broke and the sun came out. The light was gorgeous, and with all these people around, the grackles didn’t spleen me. This is cute: every time I ran past my sister and the dogs, the dogs would get all happy and excited. I felt bad, like I should have had Tank with me, but he hates people (he’s owner protective) and I couldn’t have run steadily with him barking at the kids on the track.

I’m still feeling pretty rough for the second three minute run, but when I’m running the first one, I think, I can do five minutes, no problem! So I think I probably won’t stay in Week 3 as long as I did Week 2. I think. We’ll see how it goes.

Hopefully, I can get my car jumped and running tomorrow. I’m not sure it’ll make it home, but maybe I can drop it off at the dealership. I can’t actually afford to have it fixed, but at least it’d be sitting someplace useful, right? So it looks like I’ll be walking to the track from now on. It’s going to be in the 60’s all week with rain on Tuesday. Boo.

Game 5 tomorrow! The game on Saturday was oh-so-awesome. I made Stanley Cupcakes again, and I think that, combined with my lucky red shirt, really helped Detroit shame Pittsburgh on their own ice. You’re welcome, boys. Don’t mention it. And speaking of Detroit, a friend of mine said she would send me her Yzerman jersey! Funnily enough, I’ve got my mom hooked on hockey now. Whenever I turn on the game, she wheels herself over and watches the entire thing. Saturday, she was surprised the game ended so quickly. When I told her hockey is only three 20 minute periods, she said, ”Why isn’t it four periods?” I replied, ”Because then they’d be quarters.”

In other (wonderful) news, the laboratory dogs all got adopted out! What a load off my mind. I found out yesterday that there’s another dog in need of rescue, though. My sister has a friend on Louisiana who volunteers at an animal shelter. There’s a little puppy there who needs a good home, but nobody will adopt him because he’s a special needs dog. They think somebody poisoned him, and as a result, he’s got some sort of brain damage where he falls over or passes out a lot. He’s okay 90% of the time, but still. Not a lot of people would want a fainting goat dog. I’m not a lot of people, though, so it looks like I’m getting a puppy. He’s only a couple of months old, and apparently very sweet.

How can you resist that face?! I sure as hell can’t. And those ears! I’m so verklempt, I could plotz. So right now we’re trying to figure out the best way to get him out here. Flying him out would be easiest for us but not for him, I think. I’d worry about him in the cargo hold in his condition. Another option being tossed around is a sort of relay delivery. Trouble is, I don’t know anyone between Oregon and Louisiana who could help with this. My sister tells me there’s a pet transport company that could drive him out, so we’ll look into that. He'll also need to have a thorough exam at the vet to try and figure out if we can fix whatever's broken.

I said when Luke died last year (and when Lady and Bernie died eight and three months ago, respectively) that I didn’t want another dog. Even though I knew how sad and lonely Tank was, I didn’t want to take in another animal if I wasn’t ready. My sister and I have always been of the opinion that when the right dog came along, we would know it. I feel that way about this puppy. And after I screwed Tank up so badly, I swore I’d never get another puppy! But, lesson learned; I won’t make the same mistakes twice. Proper socialization and lots of car rides.

I am very much looking forward to years of long walks with Tank and the puppy, and I know Meathead (my sister’s dog) is going to love having a young ‘un around again.

See you Tuesday (I hope).