The Blues

Sometimes I wish I could be as blindingly happy as our dog, Tassie. Everything is exciting for her: morning time, car rides, people coming to the door, squirrels, cookies, running…the list is endless. I’ve been kind of bummed for a few days, lots of things on my mind and having trouble smiling very much. Not my typical personality. We are going through a re-org at work so that brings a lot of uncertainty. Although I don’t think I’m going to lose my job, I also don’t quite know what my future holds or what the job will be like.

Everything will work out!

Weekend Update

This past weekend started off well with Alysia and I eating troughs of ice cream at Kilwin’s on Friday night. Saturday morning I ‘wimped’ out and rode the trainer inside. Marty and Jerry rode outside for 3hrs – Marty had all of his cycling clothes on and half of mine. He swears it was nice and I should’ve gone (not sure how since as just mentioned, he had on half of my stuff), but I just wasn’t into riding in a feels like temp of 25. Instead I rented the Sex and the City movie and had a solid 2.5hrs on the trainer. Then it was off to Virginia to start the birthday festivities of our niece Ashleigh. Heard many times this weekend: “It’s my birthday! I’m 4!”

We went to a Mexican restaurant (Abuelo’s) on Saturday night, where I have four words for you: Dulche de Leche Cheesecake. OH MY GOD – it was amazing! Just listen to the description – creamy cheesecake whipped with Mexican caramel and served with leche quemada, a sweetened milk sauce. If you hadn’t yet figured it out, I have a big sweet tooth (it’s hereditary).

Sunday morning we went ice skating and had the entire rink to ourselves for the first hour. It was great and Marty and I had never been ice skating together before. He said it was like the date when your 15 that he never had ;) For the little kids, you can rent these PVC pipe walkers now. Ashleigh grabbed on and was literally running across the ice. I wish they had those when I was a kid, but alas I learned the old fashioned way with lots of hard falls to the bum and head. All the adults did well and no owies until Marty tried to be smart and use one of the kid walkers and do some serious spins. A little blood and a trip to the bathroom to take care of it ensued.

Later it was time for cake and presents! Lots of both. Here are Shana, me and Ashleigh rocking the Dora party hats.

Then a little bit of guitar hero and then Marty and I could procrastinate no longer and headed to the Dismal Swamp for our long run. It wasn’t too dismal this time and we both felt pretty good and put in some good Z3-Z4 efforts in there. I’m feeling like a runner again! Yay! We were the last ones to exit the park and the ranger politely told us that for future reference, the park closes at sunset, and this means ALL of the park (we did a little cooldown past our car). I think what he really meant was, “Do you two imbeciles realize you are the only ones outside right now and the biggest sporting event in America is going to start soon and I want to get home and not wait for you idiots?!” Or something like that.

So we did our 3 hr drive back to NC while most of the rest of the country sat in front of their tv’s watching one of the best superbowl’s ever. I wish we were watching, too, with pizza and beer and all that other yummy stuff. But it did make for a very non-trafficky ride home at least.

Ugliest Feet Ever

This morning, a podiatrist told me I needed to stop biking for two weeks because of a painful and inflamed toe.

I stared at him.

He said not to worry, I could still run and could get my exercise fix that way.

I continued to stare at him.

But in another two weeks if it hasn't healed, I would need to stop running for two weeks.

I blinked.

It's okay! He says, you can just hit the pool if that happens and you can swim for exercise!

He has no idea.

I am still planning on biking and running and swimming. But I'll buy new bike shoes that will hopefully take the pressure off of my angry red swollen toe.

I hate my feet.

Where Did The Thorpedo Go?

Before Michael Phelps there was The Thorpedo - a hot* little Aussie who swam faster than a fish. I think he might want to get back in that pool! Yikes!

THEN:

NOW:

*nice looking but not as good as my marty

To Ride or Run

The debate at the end of the week revolved around riding or running on Saturday morning. It was going to be much warmer on Saturday than Sunday, but there was a chance of showers -- 30% which grew to 40%. Running can be done in almost anything, but riding in the rain isn't too much fun. Buuuut, I would rather ride in warm than cold (high on Sunday only 39 degrees).

I turned the weather on Saturday morning and the weather lady assured me that there would only be a few very light sprinkles over the area, but only in some spots. That sounded pretty promising to me so off we rode.

Weather lady sucks. There was no light sprinkle, it was light rain, which becomes annoying quickly while on your bike. And few isn't exactly the word I would've used when it lasted the better part of two hours. With the melted snow, grime, dirt and salt everywhere, we came off the bike dirtier than ever. Bikes were immediately cleaned and lubed up. A couple of bright spots were the fact that I was dressed appropriately so never got cold, and I felt like my bike fitness has finally decided to make an appearance.

In the afternoon I hit Old Navy where they were having awesome sales (everything I got was $5!). Then Marty and I had date night :)

Off to run in a bit now.

Wasting Time on the Internet

Marty and I Obamacized ourselves. Be careful if you do this - it is a time-suck, and before you know it an hour has gone by.







The snow is still here but I won't bore you with anymore pictures or video (oh yeah, I have a ton more). Tomorrow it will be 50 or something so it will all melt away, and close to 60 on Saturday so that will be a good day for a bike ride. It really is pretty to see everything blanketed in white, but I can see how after awhile it would get really annoying. Work was on a two hour delay this morning, so Marty and I went for a run. First thing walking down our steep driveway I slip on ice. We had to be real careful and our workout turned out to be not as good as it should've been but at least we got something in.

I waited until the last possible minute to drive into work, but it turned out our neighborhood was the worst for ice and once I got on the main roads everything was fine. The pool was also delayed so no Master's for us this morning. Tassie ran in to wake us up at 5:30 anyways, I swear she thought we were late or something. The two additional hours of sleep was nice, but I really would've rather a good hard swim workout.

Snow, snow and more snow!

I was a little premature in posting the last video of it snowing, but don't you worry because I have TONS of video now! Yesterday they were predicting possibly 4-6" of snow for today, but everyone is always a bit wary because it happens a lot that the weather people will say it's going to snow and then it never does. And by 10:00 pm last night I was starting to get mighty disappointed when it was just raining and the temperature was still 40-something degrees. I even dreamt that it didn't snow and I had to go into work and I was VERY bummed about it (ah, it is a normal workday so I don't know why I was so upset in my dream). But when I got up it had snowed a lot over night and it was still coming down. And even now at 1:30 it's still snowing! I measured the amount on my car around 11 this morning and it was already at 4"!

Alisha and Joe drove to our house for a run because there was no way Marty or I were going to attempt to drive (and they grew up in the mountains so they're fine with it). I know people up north wonder why we shut down at a little snow, but the city is not really equipped with everything you need and people don't know how to drive in it (like me!) Anyways, we ran to Bond Park where there were approximately 400 families sledding down the big hill. It was very fun to run out there and see the kids racing down the hill - this is such a rare thing for us here. I'm really sorry to some of you who are like, my god these people in the south are SO ANNOYING when a little snow comes, we have snow all the time, get over yourself!...I really can't help it, please forgive me :) Below are a bunch of pictures and videos!

Marty and Tassie out front in the morning:

We smartly kept one car down in the street since our driveway is so steep. Not that we're planning on using it, but you never know.

Woops, hope I don't need to pump my tires today!

Alisha and I before the run. Plastic bags around my socks inside the shoes helped keep the feet nice and dry and warm.

One of the trails we usually run on in Bond Park:

"Working from home" :)

Marty and Alisha trudging through the snow:

It came out blurry, but it says 4 inches!

Here's a little video of Tassie having fun with her ball (the same one she won't give to me):

Sledding action at Bond Park during our run:

A little bit more sledding (and wipeouts):