I figured out emoji's!

Anyway,😉 I haven't talked a lot about it, but I am signed up to do the Northwest Passage Ragnar.  That is happening in exactly 2 weeks from today.  I've been pretty anxious because the team I'm on seems to be pretty loose and not good planners.  I know one person on the team, a coworker who asked me last year if I wanted to join her husband's team.  It's her first time as well, but I think that because her husband has done it several times, she's not so worried about it.  I didn't even get my runner number until a few weeks ago and that was super frustrating for me.  If you look at the legs . . . Do you all know what a Ragnar is??  Let me back up . . .

A Ragnar is a "relay race" of 200 miles that goes for 2 days or so.  You run with a team of 12 people and switch off running.  Each runner runs 3 legs of varying lengths.  On the page I linked above you can see the course and how Ragnar labels the legs from Easy to Very Hard.  So not knowing my runner number was giving me anxiety because I didn't know the difficulty level of what I needed to train for.  I finally got my runner number (Runner 3), which has a total mileage of 18 miles.  My longest leg is the first one at 8.3 with a difficulty level of Very Hard. 😲 I was looking at it yesterday trying to figure out what "very hard" meant and mapped it on Mapmyrun to see the elevation.

I was freaking out about the fact that this is 8 miles almost completely uphill but a good friend pointed out that it's a gradual uphill, especially at the beginning.  My friend kept telling me that I won't even notice it, but I think that I will.  Afterall, it's uphill, even if it's gradual. . .

My second leg is 6.6 miles and is labeled as "hard" but I've run all the roads that this leg is on, and I don't see how it's "hard."  I have wondered if it's labeled hard because the road has no shoulder and I think it's at night.  But the elevation isn't bad at all.

My last leg is labeled as "easy" and is only 3.1 miles.  I almost didn't include it in this blog, but thought some people might be interested.  I haven't even bothered to look at the elevation.  I suppose they could consider it easy simply because it's 3 miles but it's all uphill . . . I don't know. 

Also, I'm still debating the marathon in October.  This year I have not felt the desire to run any races.  I don't think I've done one.  And I'm not sure I want to run a marathon.  Once upon a time I wanted to get a sub-4 hour marathon time, but . . . I don't know if I care anymore.  However, I think that I should at least start training just in case I decide to do it.  Since I had this mindset today, I decided to figure out how many weeks until the marathon in October, and this week is 18 weeks, which is when training is supposed to start.  So I guess I need to figure out my training plan today.

Anyway, that's it for today.  😁

Just catching up

I never know how to start my blog.  When I was younger I wrote stories a lot, but I never knew how to start.  I always started a story with someone talking, every time.  I just couldn't figure out how to jump into a story.  I find that I have that same problem here.  One of the blogs I read (alongweighaway.blogspot.com) starts her blogs with "Well...here I am..." which I think is kinda cool to always start the same way.  

Anyway, Hi, how are you?  (I really wish I could use emoji's, that would have warranted an eye roll emoji).  =)  

So this last weekend was Father's Day.  We really didn't do much.  Damian gave Chris a hot tub for Father's Day, which now resides on our deck, which makes our deck much smaller.  It's an inflatable hot tub, so it's smaller than a regular one, but it still takes up space.  It took awhile to warm up the pool, at 8pm it was still only 80 degrees, and that is TOO cold!  Honestly, I'm kinda bummed that the hot tub has overtaken the pool, but seriously the weather went down from 90 degrees to 60ish.  That is a 30 degree drop, and very cold.  Way too cold to be in my 70 degree pool.  =(  According to my app it's not supposed to get warmer in the next 10 days, which makes me very, very sad.  

Anyway, (maybe I should start my blog with "Anyway," every time) yesterday was Maddox's birthday.  He's been counting down the days for awhile now, probably close to 3 months.  We didn't do anything special, I took him to McDonald's for breakfast and then he went to daycare for the day.  He played with his friend when we got home, I made him dinner of his choosing, he chose the easiest meal.  Seriously, egg noodles and eggs.  My mom used to make it occasionally, probably when we had no food, or she was being lazy.  All it is is cooking egg noodles, then putting them in a frying pan and scrambling eggs over them with salt and pepper, as an adult I added peas (gotta get the veggies in!)  So yesterday when I was thinking of cooking that I was trying to figure out how to "birthday it up" a little, so I added bacon and some pre-cooked shrimp and it turned out really, really good, but again, super easy.  Then he opened presents and played some more.  

I love how he's still wearing the "gear" and holding the gun from one of his gifts.  =)

I forgot to mention that he did a mile with me.  He asks me all the time, and I'm sooooo bad at remembering to tack on another half mile (the "longer" block) or mile (2 times around the "longer" block).  

I hate birthday parties.  I don't think I ever had one for Damian, and I know that Maddox has never had one.  I don't take my kids to birthday parties because I don't like to be stuck visiting with parents I don't know.  It's probably selfish, but oh well.  I did not go to parties growing up.  I had one in 2nd grade and that's it.  However, Maddox ended up with a little party last night.  He had a friend over, and his friend's sister joined us, and then Damian's girlfriend was there.  In my head it felt like a million kids (seriously only 3 kids and Damian's 21 year old gf).  When they left I felt so overwhelmed and drained I ended up in the hot tub.  It really was nice.  ; ) (My poor pool is so sad and lonely.)

This Friday would have been my parents' 50th anniversary.  I am so sad that my Mom is gone (I almost wrote "still gone").  I was really, really looking forward to saying that they had been married 50 years.  That doesn't happen any more.  Anyway, my dad is coming over the mountains for the weekend (staying with my sister).  We planned to do something on Friday to kinda get his mind off of it, so we are going to a Mariner's game (baseball), which I don't like baseball, but we'll have fun.  =)  Then they are all coming to my house on Saturday for dinner, kind of a birthday celebration for both Maddox and Chris (whose birthday is next Wednesday).  

Today is officially day 231 of my runstreak.  =)

Pool!!

So, let me tell you about my pool.  It's small, it's only 10 feet round and 3 feet deep.  Would I like a bigger pool?  Absolutely, I would love a bigger pool, however, I have a small backyard and when I measured early this spring, 10 ft was all I thought would fit.  But, for years I've been using a small kiddie pool.  If I'm lucky I can get 1 summer out of my kiddie pools.  Usually because they are inflatable and there are cats in the neighborhood (mine included) that jump on it and pop it.

You can see it there in the background over my right shoulder (left in the picture).  I would get some sort of floating device and float around in it as much as I could.  My backyard (and front yard) is on a hill, so it slopes down and I was lazy and didn't want to level the area, so one side would have about 6 inches of water and the other would have a foot or more.  But it worked okay.  

Two years ago I saw an inflatable hot tub in Walmart and I wanted it.  I was going to buy it.  Chris said no.  He said that the cats would pop that too, and where would we put it, blah, blah, blah . . . I researched them and reviews said that they are hard-sided inflatable, durable material that doesn't pop easily (unlike a kiddie pool).  I was going to buy one.  Chris said no.  I said it'd be perfect, Maddox could "swim," I would soak and we'd have a hot tub in the winter.  He said no.  I bought another kiddie pool (probably the one above in the background).  

However, this year I decided I was buying a pool  I didn't care what Chris said, I was buying a pool.  In fact, I don't think I even asked him, I just bought this one.  I bought it in March, it's been in the box in my living room since March.  Memorial Day weekend, it was supposed to be nice, I decided it was time to get the area ready and put the pool up.  Chris ended up with Friday off and decided he was going to work on leveling the ground. Our neighbor offered a rototiller, but Chris said he didn't want to bother getting it. He spent a lot of time shoveling dirt, for 3 days.  Damian ended up rototilling it on Monday . . . which really worked well.  

But we didn't get my pool up.  So I said "next weekend."  And then I went to eastern WA for my nephew's graduation and my family didn't want to put the pool up without me.  So last weekend I said rain or shine, that pool is getting put up.  Thankfully it was a nice weekend (because I would have been out in the rain putting it up anyway).  

This is the best picture I can find of the area.  That bush had to be trimmed back at least 3 feet, and all those branches above were trimmed as well.

I love it.  However, I want one bigger.  But, for this year, this will do.  I may end up with something bigger next year though.  ; )

Yesterday the weather was 90 degrees.  I ran in the morning (4:20am is early!!) so that I could NOT run in the heat of the day. 

It was so early that my solar lights were still on when I left the house.

And I got home as the sky was turning pink (no sun yet though).

I've been pretty bad at procrastinating my schoolwork lately, and I had a large assignment due yesterday but didn't start working on it until Tuesday, and then didn't do as much as I would have liked to because I was really frustrated.  Anyway, that meant that I was doing homework until 8pm (or later, not sure) last night.

But! I got to do it in comfy clothes with a glass of wine.  =)

Then I was sitting in the living room about 9pm not wanting to go to bed, but knowing that I needed to go to bed.  I was hot and I knew my bed would be hot.  And I got a great idea, why not go lay in my pool for a little bit. 

It was heaven! It felt so nice.  I floated around for maybe 45 min, and then went to bed.  It was late, but I was cool and I don't regret it at all. (I may regret the wine I drank though . . .)

Nothing super exciting

Well, I think it's been about a month since I last posted.  I promise I am still here.  I'm still running and I'm still eating good.  As of 2 weeks ago I had lost another 3 lbs, but I don't know that it will last through this week.  However, I am on day 224 of my running streak.  I even started a June running streak challenge "Streaking with the cool kids."  Someone I follow on Instagram posted it, so I thought I'm already streaking, I may as well do this.  There's prizes at the end.  =)

Not a lot has been happening in the last month, and yet a lot has happened.  =)

My nephew graduated high school 2 weeks ago.

I went to eastern WA for the weekend (the weekend after Memorial Day) for his graduation.  I enjoyed it, and wished it had been longer. 

Running in the middle of nowhere WA.

Trying red wine out of a black licorice "straw"

Last weekend we FINALLY got our pool up.  I'm soooooooo excited to have a pool, but I may have to beat kids off to get any time in it.  ; )

After setting up the pool, Chris decided he wanted a hot tub, so Damian is getting him an inflatable hot tub for Father's Day/birthday.  That will be nice.

This week is in the 70's and 80's (today may hit 90), so I'm super excited for the pool.  =)  Yesterday after my run I "fell" in, but it was really cold!

And that's the highlights of the last 4 weeks or so.  Nothing super exciting going on. . .

#runstreak #day200

This weekend was beautiful (again with Jim Carrey, B-E-A-utiful).  Saturday was expected to be nice, but the weather forecast had said that Sunday was supposed to rain.  I told Chris I wanted to NOT go shopping on Saturday this week so that I could enjoy the sun, unlike last weekend.  I woke up, I drank my coffee while watching bad TV.

 I went for a run (which I don't have a picture of).  I got my nails done, both toes (the blue) and fingers, the pink and sparkle).

 and I sat out in the sun (no picture).  My Dad and my sister that lives on the east side came over for the weekend, so we went to my other sister's house (where they were staying) for dinner.  My nephew was there and a friend of my eastside sister.  We had dinner and chatted.  It was so nice.  I really enjoyed my time and would have stayed longer if it hadn't gotten so late so quickly (we left at 9pm). 

Sunday morning I started my morning pretty much the same, coffee and bad TV (by bad I mean "reality" TV on Bravo).  I got ready a little earlier to run.  I decided that for my 200th run I'd go farther than I have for a while, and decided on 7 miles.  The most I've run for a month is 5 miles, 6  miles on April 21, and 7 miles on March 17th. 

 I decided that for my 200th run I'd go farther than I have for a while, and decided on 7 miles.  The most I've run for a month is 5 miles, 6  miles on April 21, and 7 miles on March 17th.  I looked up my last 7 mile run and figured out where to go. Then realized at 6 miles that I was at least 1.5 miles from home, so I decided to go with it and run 8 miles.

I haven't run 8 miles since January 6th.  I definitely felt it while grocery shopping later.  My feet hurt and my legs were a little sore.  After my run we shopped and then I laid in the sun for most of the afternoon.  I really do love the sun.  I love it more now than I did even just a few years ago.  Maddox keeps saying that the summer is the best season, and I can't help but agree with him (now). 

I really struggled with which picture to post on Instagram so both ended up going onto my feed.  I like the shadow and the placement of my hands in the first better, but I like the overall jump and location of the second better.

Just another day of running

Last week the weather was beautiful (does anyone else hear Jim Carrey spelling out B-E-A-utiful from Bruce Almighty when typing it out?).  Saturday was the nicest day and of course I spent the entire day shopping.  =/  I was grocery shopping and plant/garden shopping.  For some reason it took forever.  I was really glad that I did my Saturday run in the morning.

This lovely nest of spiders was in my garden, I almost walked under it, but then I saw it.  I tried to find some raid, but the spiders were lucky, no raid.  They lived to scatter all over my yard. 

Sunday was not as nice outside, which I was really annoyed about.  I thought that it was supposed to be sunny, not as as warm, but still nice.  The sun didn't peak through the clouds until about 2pm.  I finally got up and did some gardening because I had some vegetables and needed to get them planted.  We also moved a small planting bed that needed more dirt.  We threw the dirt from that one into the bigger bed.  The plan for the smaller one is to make a herb garden, but that is going to have to wait. 

When moving the smaller bed, we found some gigantic worms.  I have never seen worms this big. 

This week is much cooler outside, which makes me sad.  I like the sun, and strongly dislike the clouds.  I know that the area needs rain, which we aren't getting, but I would rather have it dump rain for a little while and then go back to sun.  Instead we have these high clouds that obscure everything, but very little rain. 

I posted this picture on instagram the other day . . .

and was admiring my butt in it.  ; ) But then I remembered a post I saw the other day about angles, and I looked at other pictures taken seconds before and after this one and found . . .

Zero butt in this picture taken maybe a second before the other. 

Anyway, this Sunday will mark my 200th day running in a row.  A friend of mine keeps pointing this out to me so I feel like maybe it's a big deal?  Maybe I should do something to "celebrate?"  But there's no way I'm going to run 200 miles, 20 miles . .  I suppose I could run 2.00 miles.  =)  But that's not a long run and Sunday is my long run day.  Maybe I'll just try to take a cool picture or something.  It just feels like another day of running to me.  ; )

Sunscreen and water are always a good idea

I've gotten really bad at posting lately.  Blogger says I only posted 3 times in April, but I guess that's better than March when I only posted 2 times.  I am currently at day 191 in my run streak (after I run today). 

Last weekend I went to my Dad's house.  I wasn't really looking forward to it.  I planted flowers in my yard the weekend before and was eager to get going on my vegetable garden.

Then remembered I had told my Dad when he was at my house over Easter that I was going to his house this last weekend.  Thankfully I didn't have to go home to pick up Maddox and was able to go straight from work.  (I live about an hour north of work and in order to go to my Dad's house I have to go through the town I live in to get there because the east/west highway is south of where I work.) 

*Side note*  Chris's job is changing, it's a really long story, but to try to make it short, the company he works for is being "disbanded."  He currently works as admin there (he was a cable tech before his stroke) and was working Tuesday-Saturday.  Because of the change, his schedule changed to Mon-Fri until his job is done.  He's going to go to the new company as a tech again, which he doesn't want to do, but at least it's a job.  That's why I was able to go without Maddox, Chris could watch him, which I haven't had . . . ever (he's always worked at least one weekend day.

Anyway, I got to my Dad's house and he had just got back from the dr because he hurt his knee.  He was unable to do anything, which was fine.  I was there to visit him and not do stuff.  He did tell me that he bought some flowers and asked me to plant them.  I went for a run Saturday morning.

And saw some deer (they're in the
middle of the brown, right next to
the light brown).

After my run I worked in his yard.  My Mom always had a lot of flowers in her garden and she did a lot of work in her yard.  I planted flowers in my Dad's yard last year because he wanted them but I didn't do any of the spring cleaning up that my Mom would have done.  It was definitely noticeable this year.  Two years worth of debris in the yard is a lot.  I didn't take any pictures of the finished yard, but I was out there a long time.

I wasn't expected mid-70's weather, so I did yard work in my sports bra and was really glad I grabbed a pair of "lounging" shorts at the last min because sometimes his house is so hot.  My sunburn lines were kinda epic though.  =)

I posted this on Instagram with the caption "I found my Mom's broom...I'm not as good at using it yet, but I'm sure with practice I can get there.  Now if only I could find her hat!"  =) 

This week has been progressively getting hotter.  Today it's supposed to be in the mid-80's, which is lovely weather, but not great for after work runs.  On Wednesday I went for a hill run . . . I started running hills on Wednesday to train for the Ragnar.  I felt fine during my run, but when I got done my knees were shaky and I had to sit down.  I almost fell down, but I made it to my outside chair.  Eventually I made my way inside and drank some water, but still felt awful so I laid down on the floor for awhile.  It kinda scared me, but then I realized I hadn't drank much water that day and it was a warmer than usual run. 

I have prided myself on my water comsumption for the last several years, so it's weird that suddenly I'm not very good at it.  Even yesterday I didn't drink enough and had to chug a ton when I got home (after 5pm) so I wouldn't be dehydrated for my weigh in today.  I'm glad I did it, but I ended up having to get up 4 times last night to use the bathroom.  I've been much better today.  =) 

I'm not looking forward to my run this evening.  Right now, at home at 3:30, it's 81 degrees. =/

Instagram mostly

Before I went to Hawaii, starting in January, I became very focused and was very good at keeping my calories in check.  This is the first time that I've counted actual calories, not just inputted (into myfitnesspal) what I wanted and ignored things that weren't good and stayed at or below my suggested calorie range.  And you know what? it worked!  I lost weight.  Don't get me wrong, I have lost weight in the past, I lost 30 lbs in 5(ish) years, but I was never good at actually counting my calories even though I said I was.  Afterall, I was good, I'll have a *ahem* 3rd (okay, 4th) glass of wine, but will only count 2 . . . yeah, my body knows that I had 4, I'm not fooling it.  And I did actually lose weight, mainly because I was eating better and less than I was 7 years ago (from now).  Then I lost quite a lot of weight while I was marathon training 4 years ago.  You know why? (and it took me quite a while to figure this out), I was eating less, not running more (well, I was running more, but mostly because I was eating less).  I went into marathon training after reading that people often gain weight when training for a marathon and determined I wasn't going to do that.  I started eating healthier and less foods, and I was conscious of my alcohol intake because I knew I had to run in the morning (on the weekend).  I did give myself treats.  If you followed me back then, especially on instagram, I almost always had a donut and mimosa on Sunday after my long run.

I also ate a lot of popcorn for dinner and drank wine.

The difference is I ate less back then (and I ran a lot), but I lost weight (surprise!).  It is pretty obvious that the eating is what caused me to loss weight (why am I the last to realize this?), not the running.  2 years ago when I was training for a marathon, and even last year, although I didn't run one, I didn't lose weight at all.  And this past November I started a run streak, and I didn't lose weight, I lost weight when I started eating less.

However, since I got back from Hawaii I've struggled with this.  I don't have a goal in mind, I am not losing weight to look good in a bikini in Hawaii.  Yes, I want to look good in my bikini this summer, but somehow it's not the same.  I need to be better.

Anyway, I will say, I do like the way I look, most of the time.  Today, I put on my clothes and thought, wow I look skinny.  It won't last long, but I do like that feeling of looking good.  =)

I was scrolling through my instagram feed looking for those pictures above and realized that my feed has become a lot of a picture with me running and my running stats.  I used to post a lot more selfies, and wine glass pictures.  I quit posting the selfies because I started thinking that maybe I looked narcissistic, but I kinda miss those posts.  I also used to post pictures of my wine glass in the bath and my food, or my feet in the grass on a picnic (by myself), popcorn and wine, me and wine, or me and coffee . . . I kinda miss those posts.  So, if you follow me on instagram, which I don't think anyone here does, I think I'm going to change my posts back to what they used to be, along with the running and stats photos.  =)

Oh, and look at this hair!  I want to go back to this! (But with my current color).  =)

stupid run streak

I am still slugging away at school.  April 5th was exactly a year since I started.  I'm going to tell you something I don't tell others . . . I expect to fail at school.  I do.  I currently have a 4.0, something I've never, ever accomplished in my life, and yet I fully expect to crash and burn at some point in the near future.  I am one week away from finishing my current class.  I have an A, but I am really close to a B, and somehow I think that if I get a B I have failed.  I'm extremely proud of my 4.0 and it freaks me out to lose it.  What would happen?  I'll probably flunk out.

What else is going on in my life?  Well, I am currently on day 162 (although I haven't run yet) of my run streak.  I did not do a long run this last weekend either.  I ran 5 miles on Sunday but did have another week with only 2 rest days (1 mile runs). A few months ago I had a pain in my tooth so I went to the dentist.  My dentist told me he couldn't find anything wrong with my tooth, so he sent me to a specialist, who told me I needed a root canal.  So I did a root canal, but while that dentist was cleaning the hole she had made and about to put the filler in, she saw a crack that went all the way through the tooth, so she said I had to have the tooth removed.  Well, after a lot of thought, and being really annoyed, I decided to remove the tooth and get a bridge.  Last week I had my tooth removed, I now have to wait a month to get the bridge in place.

Let me tell you, having a hole in your mouth is really, really annoying.  Anyway, while the dental assistant was prepping me, she was going over what I can't do.  No spitting, no blowing my nose, no drinking through a straw, soft foods only, no exercise . . . wait, what!  I said "I have to run."  She laughed and said "you can't."  I said "I HAVE to run."  She said "I know that feeling, but no."  I said, "you don't understand, I have to run.  I have a run streak, I'm on day 150.  I HAVE to run."  She said "you're not going to obey, are you?" I said "no."  She said she'd go talk to the doctor.  I heard him, he said "she shouldn't run."  When she came back I said "he's going to yell at me, isn't he?"  She said "no, but he's going to advise you not to run."

He came in and stuck me with the anesthesia, and I told him I had to run, just a mile, I'll go slow.  He said that it elevates blood pressure which could release the blood clot and create a drysocket.  I had a dry socket when I had my wisdom teeth removed, it hurts, but I have a freaking run streak!  I said "I'll go now, I'll be 10 min tops, I'll be right back."  He laughed and said "no."  He pulled my tooth.  I told him I'd wait till that evening to run.  I promised I'd wait as late as possible and I'd run slow, I'd pack the hole with gauze, I'd be careful . . . He said to call if it starts bleeding again.

I ran.

It wasn't the most pleasant run I've had.  It wasn't as slow as I intended, but I did pack the hole with gauze.  And I did not get a dry socket. Yay! My cheek did swell up, but not like it did when I had the original infection.  Today I have no tooth, I can feel it all the time.  I have 3 more weeks before I go back and start the process of getting a new fake tooth. 

The day after it was pulled I went for a 3 mile run, which wasn't that pleasant either, but again, it wasn't horrible, and still no dry socket.  I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear a week later, but I'm still trying to be careful, no straws, lots of running.

I've been using my one mile runs as mini-speed work runs.  I have an one mile route, but the first half mile is uphill.  I've been trying to run up that hill as fast as I can, and then continue the rest of the run faster.  I don't know if it's making me fast yet (it's only been a week or two) and I have to stop at the top of the hill for a minute, but I'll continue with it for now and see how it goes. 

This was my best time for a one mile run.  The others are averaging between 8.20 and 8.30.  Although last nights was on the higher side.  I started the run uphill, with a pebble in my shoe.  I normally stop to take out pebbles because they are annoying and can cause blisters, but since it was only a mile I decided to ignore it.  Well, for whatever reason the uphill felt harder than normal, so I stopped at the top.  The second half mile I had a cramp.  

This was after being on the bus for 2 hours because of an accident and before having to finish a paper for school that I procrastinated.  All in all my evening sucked.  And it was the second closest I've been to stopping my runstreak.