Meeting the family

One of the big things I have done during my running mini-sabatical was to go down to the Cities and meet the rest of the BF's family, including his parents that flew in from far, far away.

For most people, this wouldn't be a big deal.  But for me, the most assuredly introverted and extremely shy one, this was pretty much about as nerve-racking as just about anything.  I was afraid I'd say the wrong thing.  I was afraid I'd say too much (I'm a nervous babbler, which makes for very interesting job interviews).  I was afraid I wouldn't say enough.  I was afraid I'd come off as not genuine.  I was afraid I'd have something stuck in my teeth.

But in the end everything turned out just fine.  Having someone that loves and cares and supports you by your side makes all the difference in the world when having to Do Something as personal as meeting their family for the first time.  Sure, I was still a bit nervous, but it wasn't overwhelming and I'm pretty sure I made a good first impression.  With all his family, even his parents.

It probably helped that I gave them a cookie package.

Sure, this wasn't as adventurous as going trail running or trying out a new class at the Y, but it was something that pushed me out of my normal comfort zone and I feel I have conquered it.  Until I have to meet the rest of his large, extended family, of course.

Today's Run

It was finally warm enough out that I didn't have to dreadmill it, that I could finally go for a run outside.  I was cautiously optimistic that the city would have plowed the Lakewalk enough that the run would be pleasant.  Yeah, I was dreadfully wrong.  There was a good 1-2 inches of slush pretty much along the whole length that I ran.  No ice really, which was nice.  But running in slushy snow is supposedly like running on sand, except a) slipperier (which is a word, dammit!); b) wetter; and c) much, much colder.  Needless to say I took it pretty slowly as to not risk injury.  Also, it didn't help that I forgot to bring a sports bra with, which made for a very uncomfortable run support-wise.  Oh, and I got to finally use my Garmin for the first time since December 2!  Today I ran 5.92 miles in 59:52, for an average pace of 10:07.  SUPER slow, but it was just nice to be able to get outside.  And since the highest high for the next week is projected to be 12 F, with most of the week in below 0 F range, it looks like it will be a while before I'll be running outside again. :-(

AND it's over

What was only planned to be a week hiatus has turned into a week and a half-ish.  Time flies when you're super busy traveling, and meeting people, and working, and celebrating Christmas multiple times...

But Christmas is over.  The tree got taken down tonight, along with the rest of the decorations. The presents are put away, or mostly put away.  Now it's time to get ready for The Boy's birthday.  Ugh.

So many things happened since my last blog post, but I'll just give a report of my Top 3 Christmas Presents.  The rest can be reported later, when I am able to give the topics my full attention.

In reverse order, the top presents this Christmas are:
3. A new running tech shirt.  It is super nice, with the thumb holes and everything.  I'm excited for it to be warm enough that I can run outside and wear it.  Maybe Saturday...
2. A homemade plaque thing that my friend Pequena made to show off all my race bibs.  It's pretty nice, and thoughtful, and I've even hung it up (which for people that know me is a pretty big deal):

"Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts." -Steve Prefontaine

1. A Roku streaming video gadget thingie, from the BF Barbado.  I am looking to cut the cable cord, and this will allow me to do so.  I was even able to watch an original Transformers cartoon with The Boy tonight before bedtime, which is awesome.  This thing will get tons of use, and was an extremely thoughtful present.

Overall, this was a great Christmas.  Probably the best one ever for me, for reasons to be discussed at a future date.  Oh, and Christmas Day Chinese dinner was awesome too.

Today's Run

Finally got a run in today, at the Y on a dreadmill because it was too cold and slushy outside.  I ran 2.9 miles in 25:00, for an average pace of 8:37.  The weather says it's supposed to be almost balmy out on Saturday, with a high temperature of 25 F, so I'm hoping to be able to get in a longish run outside in the morning.  Fingers crossed! 

Quickie

I realize Christmas is next week, but THIS week is my crazy busy week, and so I have decided to take this week off from running, and most likely from going to the gym as well.  Although I may try to go tomorrow to the gym.  I don't know.

Anyway, I don't know if I will be posting anything else this week (see above: busy); hopefully it will be back to "normal" next week in time for Christmas!

Apathy

I often wonder if other people wake up in the morning and think "Why bother?"  Because that happens to me every once in a while, and today was one of those days.  A day where I feel like I'm just going through the motions of what needs to be done.  Sure, there were some really enjoyable moments today, and some scary moments (curse you infernal snow!), but overall I was just off.

I just hope I wake up on the right side of the bed tomorrow and this malaise passes.

Today's Run

Today I ran on the dreadmill at the Y.  Again.  Today was cold AND snowing.  I ran 6.27 miles in 55:00, for an average pace of 8:46. 540 miles this year....

T-minus one week....

I am in full cookie baking mode right now - I procrastinated getting started with my Christmas Cookie Baking Extravaganza, and am suffering for it now.  I need to get most of the cookies done by next week Wednesday, so that the decorating of the sugar, Ninjabread, and dinosaur cookies can be completed.

I do this every year it seems.  I need to realize that if I don't get them all done it's not the end of the world.

Today's Run

Another freezing cold day outside (didn't break 0 F today), and so I hit up the dreadmill once again.  I've decided to make it a challenge - to see if I can get in 3 miles in the 25 minutes I have to run during my lunch.  Today I ran 2.95 miles in 25 minutes, for an average pace of 8:28.  0.1 miles more than on Monday.  I'm hoping it will be warmer on Saturday.  I miss running outside.

I am a meat popsicle

Another freezing cold day - didn't get above 0 F again, and it's not supposed to warm up at all until the end of the week, if then.  One of the first things a person learns when moving to the Great White North is to not trust the weather forecast, even for that day...

I spent most of Sunday afternoon trying to buy a snowblower, for my back and sanity's sake, but not surprisingly the stock in the local stores was pretty depleted.  I have decided which make and model I want to get; now I just have to harass the wonderful workers at the local Home Depot until they get one in stock.

All was not lost, however - while shopping at the mall I discovered that a Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream store opened in the food court!  There are times when I miss Madison a lot, and one of those times is when I want some really good food.  Chocolate Shoppe is based in Madison, and the ice cream is SO GOOD.  It appears I'll be going to the mall more often now.

Today's Run

Today I went to the Y on my lunch to hit up the dreadmill, since I wasn't in the mood to freeze more than I already had this morning.  To my delight I made it to the Y, got in a 25 minute run, and got back to work in about an hour.  Once the interstate is open again I may even be able to get in 30 minutes!  Today I ran 2.85 miles in 25:00, for an average pace of 8:46.  I am feeling more confident with running on a treadmill, but I'm still not ready to really push myself quite yet.

There's a reason I like running outside

The snow finally stopped, and I have pretty much dug (or been dug - the kindness of strangers never ceases to amaze me) out.  Grand total of about 2 feet over 3 days.  And now it's predicted to snow tomorrow... I guess my shopping trip for a snow blower tomorrow can be considered good or ill timing.

But after the snow came the cold.  Today the temperature did not get above 0 F, and the wind chill was pretty horrendous.  It is my personal policy to not run outside when the air temperature is below 0 F, mainly for my safety and also for my own comfort.  But I really, really REALLY hate running on treadmills.  I like to call them dreadmills - I actively dread using one.  Which probably doesn't help matters at all, but I digress.

You see, I like to wander about when I'm running - I don't go in a straight line, I meander side to side as the mood strikes me.  I speed up and slow down a lot, sometimes just because, sometimes I see something that interests me, whatever the reason.  This type of running is not conducive at all to running on a treadmill.  Add to that the shear boredom of staring at the same place for 30 minutes, an hour, what-have-you...  I have to mentally force myself to keep going; typical thoughts are "Just get through this song, and you'll be 3 minutes closer to being done."  I guess that's another thing about the dreadmill that I don't like - I can't let my mind just wander to whatever strikes my fancy.  I need to focus on not meandering side to side, or speeding up or slowing down, or having to wipe the copious amounts of sweat from my face and neck.

But I need to run.  I need to move.  And if Mother Nature isn't cooperating, the dreadmill it is.  The only thing worse would be running the indoor track at the Y - I'd only have to play NASCAR over fifty billion loops to get a mile in *shudder*

Today's Run

Today I ran on the treadmill at the Y for 6.33 miles in 57:00 minutes (my body gave out after moving for 60 minutes - 3 minutes of warm-up, and 57 minutes of running) for an average pace of 9:00.  I have to be careful to not go too fast on a dreadmill, as I have tripped over my own feet before while dreadmilling, and falling off one of those things is not fun at all, especially when the back is about 2 feet from a wall with a big window.  If I'm going to have to do this a lot this winter, my pace is going to go down A LOT, which isn't the end of the world but disappointing considering the amount of progress I had made...

Ugh

I would normally be posting about something that has happened or that I've done in the last couple of days, and then about my weekday run.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans, and today was Day 3 of The Storm That Will Never End.  There's been probably close to 2 feet of snow so far, and hopefully it will be done now.  I ended up leaving work early because I was concerned I wouldn't be able to make it home, and I'm glad I did because the roads got worse and worse as the day progressed.

Over the past three days, I'm pretty sure I shoveled for about 5 hours (two hours yesterday and three hours today); that even includes a neighbor guy coming and helping me clear my driveway with his four-wheeler TWICE.  I basically gave up on getting everything cleared tonight as the snow was still falling and drifting right at the end of my driveway.  Which isn't the end of the world as I had to park my car on the street and it's buried there from the plows and graders going by.

In the end, it's not the end of the world that I didn't get in my normal run today; The Boy and I are safe at home.  But it has made me a bit grumpy.

AND it's winter.

Today started the first big snowfall, one that is supposed to last three days.  Followed by bitter cold (highs below zero - yikes!).  I spent a lot of time running through snow last winter/earlier this year, so running in the snow doesn't bother me too much.  It's like running in sand - except cold and wet.  I have a feeling my calves will be sore tomorrow though.

In a rare twist, I was the recipient of some neighborly kindness tonight.  I went out after dinner to begin the epic process of shoveling my driveway and sidewalk, when a man pulled up on a four wheeler with a blade attached and asked if he could plow out my driveway for me.  Of course I said yes!  I didn't get his name or where he lived though, so hopefully I'll see him again so I can thank him with cookies or something.  But this is the bigger question - where was he last winter?!?!

And on the countdown front, it's 200 days until Grandma's.  I think I will be ready.

Today's Run

Today I ran in my neighborhood, starting at Barbado's house, for 3.35 miles in 30:01, for an average pace of 8:58.  I still went up the Big Hill, which was especially treacherous since it wasn't plowed yet, and my pace showed it - I was down to over 14:00 min/miles at one point.  And I only twisted my ankle once, tripping over a catch basin casting that was really sunk down.  I just hope I'll be able to go out for a run on Wednesday...

Full of awesome

My fun-filled birthday weekend in the Cities is over, and it went by way too quickly, as these things so often do.  There was good food, good conversation, a museum... and meeting the BF Barbado's youngest sister and her boyfriend, who are pretty darn cool too.

I also used my new Shiny for the first time on Saturday.  Normally I will map out my run in advance, so I have an idea of where I'm going, what turns to make, how long I'll be out, etc.  This weekend I decided to step out of my comfort zone and just get out and run.  The whole Minneapolis metro area has an amazing trail system, and Barbado's sister lives near some at Lake Calhoun, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to just run and not think about my path.  And it was just a great run - even though I got very little sleep the run was easy and I felt so good when I was done.  There were so many people out running, even on a Saturday morning at the end of November pretty early in the morning (I headed out at about 7:30 AM).  It was just one great thing during an absolutely amazing weekend.

Now to the important part - my thoughts on the Shiny.  So here's my lists:

Pros:

• Easy to use - one button to get it out of power save mode, one button to start, one button to stop.  Can't ask for anything more.
• Quick connection to satellites - took way less than a minute for it to connect
• Easy to read - I had no problems reading the display while I was moving.  The numbers were clear and large enough to make out
• Easy to upload the data - more on this part later 

Cons:

• Lap noise too quiet - I missed it notifying me of hitting a mile mark a couple of times because the beeping noise was a little quiet
• A little bulky - it is almost a little too big for my wrist to be worn as a casual watch, which I decided to do so I wouldn't lose it in my luggage

The Cons definitely don't outweigh the Pros for this watch.  And the absolute best part is all the data you get to see when you upload your run to the Garmin Connect website.  Not only is there a map of where you ran, but there is the pace information, elevation information, lap information, and even weather information.  And there's graphs!

Graphs!  Numbers are awesome!

I will even have the ability to compare runs, save routes as courses, and probably many other things that I haven't figured out yet.  This is definitely what I was looking for when I was researching buying this watch, and I am afraid I may spend many hours obsessing with all the data provided.

Yesterday's Run

Yesterday I ran 6.65 miles around Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles in 57:59, for an average pace of 8:43.  My slowest average miles were Mile 5 (surprising), followed by Mile 2 (expected - I always feel like I crap on the second mile of any run).  I can't wait to compare this run to my next "long" run; I have a feeling there will be a lot of differences as this route was very flat and Duluth is not.

Also, for the year, I have run a total of 518 miles, just about half a mile short of my total for 2012.  Which means that pretty much all the miles I put on in the month of December will be above and beyond what I did last year.  Yay me!