Whodaho? Idaho!

I am back from the wilds of Idaho.

Quick trip this past weekend to visit my dad and grandparents.  My grandmother turns 82 this week, it's Father's Day this weekend, plus my grandpa has early-onset Alzheimer's (on top of Parkinson's) so a trifecta of visit reasons.  I try to get out there at least once a year, particularly since they're all pretty much house-bound these days; my grandpa can't be left alone for any length of time in case he falls and he doesn't like having people babysit him plus my dad has Periphal Vascular Disease so he can't get around much any more either. 

On the bright side -- for me, at least -- is that only one the PVD is inheritable.  My grandpa is my grandma's second marriage and not my dad's dad, and so far we don't seem to have Alzheimer's or Parkinson's on our side.  On the not so bright side, my grandma had a ventricular aneurysm and my uncle (her son, my dad's brother) also had PVD.  Long story short, my health has been on my mind this weekend.

I didn't eat much all weekend (and as a consequence was down about two pounds in our Biggest Loser weigh-in today).  They're very much the Standard American Diet.  This is an actual conversation I had with my grandma on Saturday:

Grandma:  I left out the cereal for you for breakfast, and there are bananas on the counter.

Me:  Oh thanks but I can't really eat cereal anymore.  It's the grains, particularly the gluten, they just tear up my stomach and it's already been a little upset the past day.

Grandma:  Well, there's toast if you don't want cereal. 

Me:  Hmm.  Not really all that hungry yet, thanks.

Grandma:  Or waffles, there's waffles in the freezer from when Jordan and Ryan (my cousins) were here.

Me:  I'm good, thanks.  Maybe in a bit.

Not making any of that up.  And yes, as you all know I do eat grains even though I should limit them to tiny miniscule amounts.  But I do better when it's with a lot of protein, like a burger or a sandwich, and not by itself, and definitely not for every single meal.  Consequently, didn't eat much.  Luckily I'd gotten some beef jerky on the drive down so that I wasn't starving.

Also not starving?  My dad's dog Otis, who is part puggle and part I-beam. 

It's tough to really tell from these pictures but Otis is a wide-body.  Like two feet around.  He's not really fat though, he's solid, and he can move.  But he looks like Violet Beauregard's dog.

In other news, I got my first StrideBox today and it is awesome!  (like a hot dog!)  Here's what I got:

• Two packets of Skratch Labs Exercise Hydration Mix, lemons/limes flavor.
• A packet of Pocket Fuel, Banana Blueberry flavor.  I bought a couple of these in a different flavor about a year ago for long long run fuel but never got around to trying them.  Still think it's a cool concept though.
• An Electro Delytes Energy and Electrolyte Citrus Bar.  Sounds good.
• A PowerICE Frozen, Refreshing Ice Bar with Electrolytes.  This sounds really good. 
• Blue Steel Sports Anti-Chafe Cream with Tea Tree Oil. 
• A packet of Lock Laces.  I've always wanted to try these.
• A Due North Foot Rubz Massage Ball.  The trick will be not letting the cats hide it.

Really glad I signed up with StrideBox.  I love that their motto is Just Keep Running.  Which is similar to mine, Just Keep Swimming.  And of course, Polka Will Never Die.  I still have Kona Kase and Bulu Box coming soon. 

So, now that I'm home I will be cleaning up my diet.  The cupboard is fairly clean at home, I got rid of a lot of things with the last postal carrier's food drive (including two boxes of brownie mix that I didn't need to eyeball any longer).  After my bout with making chicken stock, I really want to make some bone broth.  I've been doing research into what kind of bones, how do it, etc.  You'd think it would be easy but not necessarily.  It's funny, most of the recipes almost skip the first few steps, like they assume you already know how to get to step 4.  But from my first experience trying to make bone broth, where I just threw some raw marrow bones in a pot and cooked the shit out of them, clearly I need those first few steps.  I'm thinking I need to have a chat with the butcher too to get the "right" bones.  If anyone has bone broth recipes/suggestions/links, please please please leave them in the comments.  My tummy thanks you!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

An Unexpected Visitor; A Tough Decision Is Made

Hello everyone!

It's been a weird week.  I felt like I made a big dent in my sleep deficit last weekend with the holiday and all, then slept poorly all week.  Some of it was from a couple of late nights but most were from hitting that point of exhaustion where you end up too wired to sleep.

One of the late nights was from the latest in the Broadway Across Portland series:  Rock of Ages!  What a blast.  If you get the chance to see it, do.  Particularly if you are like me and was in high school in the '80s.  Extremely cheesy and fairly raunchy, it was a fabulous show.  Even though it seems like I'm always feeling off physically whenever a show rolls around, I am so glad I became a season subscriber.  For the upcoming arts season my calendar is pretty full between season tickets for the opera, ballet, and the Broadway series.  Plus there are a few other theatre companies in town that have shows I'd like to catch. 

Friday started early because of a work thing and I was already running on fumes since despite going to bed by around nine the prior evening I could not sleep.  I had some time to burn off at the office so I left a little before four and that night took an extra hit of sleep meds.  Finally got a good night's sleep and even woke up by nine -- very early for me on a weekend.  Part of why I was up so early was the Kitty Crazies; after an hour of being the launching pad and/or wrestling arena as I tried to sleep I gave up and got up and let them go out on the deck to get the rest of their ya yas out.  Was surfing the net and just generally lounging around when girl kitty came in, all spooked.  Like, I couldn't even get her to make eye contact spooked.  It was clear it was something from outside. 

I followed her into the den and picked her up to soothe her, just generally humoring her because what could be so scary from the wetlands?  A really big duck?  I'm cuddling her as I head towards the window and saying just that, "What's the matter kitty, did the big bad birds -- holy crap!"

We had a visitor.

This?  Is a big fucking turtle.

I knew of course that there were lots of birds and frogs in the wetlands and I've even seen one of the resident beavers, but it never occurred to me that there were turtles.  Particularly big ass turtles. 

It's a big fucking turtle mommy!

Pretty sure it's a snapping turtle, which are not native to Oregon.  I've posted my sighting to the Oregon Turtles website.  I think it may have laid eggs down there. 

This looks like a good spot to deposit a family...

It'd be cool if they contacted me.

What is everybody looking at?

So, in other news, I've made a tough decision.  I've decided not to run MCM this year.  There is just no way I could go from zero to under a 14 minute mile marathon in five months, even if I was motivated to try.  And that's the crux of it, the lack of motivation.  I feel like I'm making my way back to it, very very slowly, definitely not fast enough to not get swept even if I did decide to just go for broke and try it. 

I've got a list of what I need to do to run MCM in 2015 and ideally I'll follow that list.  I really want to run this race. 

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Thirteen Things Thursday: The Nipple Edition

1.  One of the phrases I never thought I'd have to say is "Get off my nipples!"  But I say it a lot at home these days.  Girl kitty practically inverted my nipple last night as she walked across me.  I swear, they have nipple radar.  It's not even the claws, it's just that they are big kitties.  I need to start wearing a cup or something, but for boobs.

2.  Been back reading a lot of woo-woo books these days.  Just finished Heather Graham's Bone Island trilogy (although haven't read the prequel with Bartholomew yet) and one of her Krewe books, plus I'm listening to one of Kay Hooper's Bishop/Special Crimes Unit books in my car.  Of the two I'd recommend the Bishop books over the Krewe books, mainly because I find the main romantic relationship in the Krewe books to be somewhat formulaic, but both series are really good.  I'm also catching up on the latest three Nightside books by Simon R. Green, which are just bizarre but a lot of fun.  Definitely read that series in order.

3.  I am sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly moving back towards a paleo diet.  Like a turtle in peanut almond butter slow, but still.  I've put a hold in at the library for The Paleo Coach, which is written by a local man.  Has anyone read it?

4.  Do you think we would take the Pussy Riot situation a lot more seriously if they weren't, you know, named Pussy Riot?  I find it very distracting.  Maybe it's something completely different in Russian?

5.  I've been somewhat obsessively weighing myself the past several days because my weight just kept going up.  To the point where I thought I had developed some sort of medical condition.  It started going back down today.  Maybe the kittens were standing behind me putting their paws on the scale just to mess with me or something.

6.  I was thinking about going to see The Hangover III this weekend but the reviews are kinda lousy.  Maybe I should wait until it comes out on cable (or RR buys it and brings it to my house!).

7.  Any Sookie fans out there?  I just posted a note for Charlaine Harris about how much I have enjoyed the series and that in my opinion the ending was really the only possible one -- and anyone who has read the entire series should know that.  Did you like the ending?  I do have to say, I am looking forward to the wrap-up book that is coming out this fall, that is supposed to say how everything ended up for everyone in the Sookieverse.

8.  And speaking even more about books, I love that my library system lends e-books.  Hopefully I can get my book budget back under control; it's gone a little crazy with the instant gratification of Kindle.  I do still read paper books too; in fact, was thrilled to spot a new release on the library shelve this week that I've been constantly talking myself out of buying.  I try not to spend more than $7.99 for an e-book unless it's one of about five authors, and that book didn't qualify but I still really wanted to read it.  Now I can -- for free!

9.  I was also absolutely thrilled this week to pay nothing for my birth control pills.   This benefit, thanks to the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare, had kicked in for a lot of women I know but my plan had to go through its annual renewal this year before I saw it.  Saves me $180 a year.  Clearly, affordable health care is the devil -- ask your Republican congressperson to vote to repeal this actual, not-going-anywhere law, for the 38th time.  Or don't; maybe ask them instead to get off their damn asses and do some actual work for a change?  Voting 37 times to repeal the ACA.  This is your tax dollars at work, people.  Be informed!!

10.  Ah, spring time in the Pacific Northwest.  Which means weather like today -- pouring rain and grey skies.  There used to be this great series of radio commercials where a teacher asked her class to define the difference between something like a cloudburst and a gully washer.  Something that if you grew up here you know exactly what the differences are.  Kind of like partially sunny versus partially cloudy.  Also, everybody in Portland figured that it would rain right now because (a) it's almost Memorial Day weekend and (b) Rose Festival starts up soon.  Guaranteed liquid sunshine!

11.  Not sure if I would want to be climbing Mt. Everest at age 80.  I wouldn't climb it at all actually, acrophobic and all that, but even if I wasn't afraid of heights I don't think I'd try Everest at that age.  I'd love to be able, at that age, to climb Everest.  I just wouldn't do it.

12.  Hmm, a Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage is opening this summer near me.  Anyone ever been to one of these stores?  Curious about selection and prices...

13.  I may need sushi to make it all better.  Because, it does.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

And coming in first place in the John Wayne Impression Contest, It's the CilleyGirl!

I have to say, I really do not recommend just deciding to run a half marathon after two months of nearly complete inactivity.  Because it leaves you with tight hip flexors and quads and a sore achilles and a helluva impression of John Wayne. 

"Well hey there Pilgrim..."

Yes, I lurch just a tad to the right at the moment.  I foresee a foam roller and maybe a hot tub and some tequila in my future. 

So, Portland Rock 'n Roll Half! 

Saturday was the expo with my friend Fly and her newlywed hubby.  Sadly, less vendors this year and way less in the way of samples and schwag.  Remember last year when we picked that place clean?

Last year's haul.

Nothing like that this year, nothing at all, unless they handed it all out on Friday.  This year, out of what I had last year I got the lei, the Rock 'n Roll bumper 13.1 sticker, a sample of Perform, a peanut butter Gu (came with the swag bag), and a Boston bracelet.  I could've gotten the Cascadia cereal, a couple of Larabars (two please!  only two!), and a pair of sunglasses.  That's it!  The swag for this year was a lot smaller.  I got a mini Stridebox since I had just signed up a couple of days earlier, which had the best stuff out of everything else I got (which wasn't much).  In terms of gear, I got this year's official jacket plus one of the official race tech tees which I ended up wearing for the race. 

 

I like this view, gravity is much kinder to me at this angle.

 

 

As for the race, did I mention you really shouldn't wing a half marathon? 

 

I didn't have any race goals until I was standing in my corral waiting for the race to start.  I decided my A goal would be to PR, because really, go big or go home, right?  My B goal was 3:15 or better.  My C goal was just to finish without dying.

 

I made my C goal:  3:20:20.  Yes, turtles in peanut butter run faster.  Bite me.

 

I had gotten a temp tattoo pace band from Jamba Juice at the expo for a three hour finish.  Again, go big or go home.  And for the first three miles I was right on target, even including a two minute bathroom break at three tenths of a mile into the race (I went at 7:45, official race start was 8:00 but by the time my corral started I had to pee again).  But at mile 4 we started going up and, well, let me demonstrate why I slowed down so dramatically.

Sorry, Blogger hates me and won't make this any bigger :P

 

I think by the end I was well into 16 or maybe 18 minute miles.  I developed a hot spot on the ball of my left foot which really started to hurt when I was walking.  It would stop hurting when I ran, but then my left calf would start cramping.  Lady or the tiger running!  So I would walk until I couldn't stand it any more and then run until I couldn't stand it any more, lather, rinse, repeat.  I did run all the downhill no matter what though; I feel obligated to.  Almost nobody else did by that point, which was weird:  It's gravity, people!

 

But I did finish.  See?

 



Can you see my massively puffy hands and arms?  Yep, forgot to take any electrolyte tabs before the race and to carry any with me, and the Gatorade on the course was -- as always -- much too strong.  Flashbacks of the 2011 Portland Marathon, I stopped at one sip.  I was carrying 10 oz of Powerade with me, otherwise I hit every water stop and often had two cups at each.  I really missed the electrolytes; somewhere around mile eight I could barely bend my pinky and ring fingers on my left hand.  Right after this picture I plunged my hands into one of the ice tubs where they had the Gatorade (in bottles, much better!). 

In other news, today was our second weigh in for the office Biggest Loser challenge.  We all owed a dollar to the kitty today.  I was up FOUR POUNDS from last Monday.  This, the day after a half marathon, and a weekend where I ate a lot lighter than normal.  Maybe I didn't get enough calories and my body is hoarding everything?  I still feel a few quarters low on fluids.  But still, CHUBB.  Look, here is last year's finisher's photo from a 3:06:36 finish:

Probably about ten pounds lighter here at least and in a helluva lot better shape...

I haven't even posted the worst photo from yesterday's race.  I'm saving that for a later, self-flagellating post. 

Despite everything I still feel a lot better than I should, all things considered, which to me means that I was definitely not giving it my all when I am in shape.  My 5K split from last year was 43:50, this year just a few seconds slower at 44:06 (and with a two minute potty break).  At 10K, last year 1:29:01, this year 1:30:32.  A full minute's pace slower overall this year.  I've got to work on (a) getting in shape and (b) pushing myself more when I am. 

Did you race this weekend?  How did it go?

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Because sometimes you just gotta say, "Why yes, I'll have that pink tequila that comes in a bottle shaped like a giant penis."

Isn't it beautiful?  Yes, the bottle is actually slightly lopsided.  This is Asombroso 100% agave tequila, La Rosa Respodo.  Three months Bordeaux barrel rested.  I have no idea what that means either.  Hand bottled in a limited edition bottle, no. 9,406.  It was just sitting there on a shelf by itself in the liquor store, a little dusty but I just HAD TO HAVE IT. 

My precious!

Taste testing starts around 4:30 in the conference room.  Be there or be thirsty!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

edited to give you a link to a MUCH better picture of the penis bottle

Huh? What? Snork? Oh.

Some of you may have noticed that I have no idea what day it is.

I say "may" because nobody has commented on yesterday's post.  Hint, hint.  Which technically should be today's post.  So maybe you're going to comment today, is that it?

Comment whore alert!!

Seriously though, I've been a day off all damn week.  I think even on Monday I thought it was Tuesday.  I'll readily admit to being confused as to what year we're in -- this has to do with my job where I'm often working on a different year's assessments, to the point where I often have to ask myself "Are we in 2013 yet?"  And I also tend to lose track of the date, which is why I have calendars everywhere and a watch that tells me the date and time.  It even tells me the day of the week, which I do need occasionally because damn it, some days it just feels like a Friday.  But my delusions typically do not last this long.  Thursday, Thursday, Thursday, Thursday. 

There, all better now.

I have discovered a new addiction:  Subscription boxes.  Are you familiar with these things?  You pay a monthly fee and people send you various things in a box.  There's themes and everything.  Beauty, babies, food, pets, fitness.  It's the last one that's got me. 

I used to subscribe to KlutchClub, which is a health and fitness box.  I liked it okay, but with the exception of the Yurbuds which made it all worth it, most of the stuff didn't really blow up my skirt.  A lot of it was vegan and gluten-free which, great!  but that tended to translate into "vegan and gluten-free and chock full o' chemicals as a result."  I prefer actual food, thankyouverymuch. 

Today I decided to go looking for subscription boxes.  I knew about Kona Kase from my friend Kim, but wondered what else was out there.  Plenty, as I mentioned above.  I narrowed it down to four:  Kona Kase, Bulu Box, StrideBox, and Runnerbox.  (I could link all of those but it's not like I'd get paid for it and you all know how to Google so knock yourselves out.)  I decided to go with StrideBox and the Bulu Box weight-loss edition, the latter of which I'm thinking I'll end up doing for a couple of months and then cancel as I'm wary of weight loss supplements but am still curious about what they offer. 

I had just finished subscribing to those two, thinking I'd see what they had to offer and then maybe sign up with Kona Kase later, when I'm reading Kim's blog mere minutes later and she's there pushing Kona Kase.  A  Kona Kase Krack Kusher!  (no, that's not getting old)  Long story short, I harrassed thanked Kim for the Kona Kase discount kode and signed up for yet another box.  I had thought I might as well go sign up for the Runnerbox too, but turns out that they charge for shipping -- none of these others do -- so they're not getting my business.  At least not for now. 

I should be getting all kinds of goodies in June.  Hopefully I will like and use them all.  If not, I'm thinking us local runners should get together and have a swap party of whatever we don't like out of boxes.  And all that sounds way dirtier than I ever would've thought. 

There should also be tequila.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Thirteen Things Thursday

1.  Y'all are just lucky I don't think Thirty Things Thursday is a good idea!

2.  Thanks for all the recent comments!  Amazing how once you stop posting about how crappy you feel all the time, etc., that people are interested to read the stuff that's not about that :)

3.  Speaking of crappy...  I continue to crawl out of the hole I had found myself in.  One of the insidious things about depression is you just don't realize you're in it until you're IN IT.  And often not until you're coming out the other side.  Depression is much better, mostly just a whisper.  Sinuses are good, asthma is under control.  And I finally made an appointment to see a new chiropractor, who hopefully will snap, crackle, and pop me out of this weeks-long headache I've had.  Something feels not quite right at the very base of my skull where the spiny things start.  Plus there's the source of the gigantic knots that my cute massage guy Kyle always finds in my shoulders.   And my low back.  Didn't I say I was feeling better?  I really am, I swear!

4.  Once this pesky persistent headache goes away, it will give me the oomph I need to cut back on my soda habit.  I haven't been horrible, almost always only two a day, but I'm drinking Diet Coke again and that doesn't do good things to my system.  If I can get back to just Pepsi Throwback -- minimal chemicals and real sugar, not HFCS -- then I only seem to want one a day, if that.  I think it's the real sugar that maybe makes it more satisfying?  I don't know.  But it's much easier to drink a case of Diet Coke than even two or three Pepsi Throwbacks.  Not that I want to drink a case... last time I did that there was a fifth of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum and the Muppet Christmas Carol involved and I woke up at 3:00 a.m. drunk and wired.

5.  Some of the headache could also be from grains.  I've slowly been consuming more and more over the past two months -- ever since I got so sick back in March.  Today my tummy is pointing out just why I don't eat a lot of that stuff typically.  Just this week I've had pasta salad, tortellini with scallops, bacon and mushrooms, burgers, and bagels.  Ugh.

6.  My grandfather isn't doing so well -- early onset Alzheimer's, starting definitely to set in where it's just a matter of time before he will have to go into care -- so I'll be making a high-speed run to Idaho in a few weeks.  I'll have to text Kim to see if she'll be at the airport on those days; we have a tequila bar to check out!

7.  And.... I've completely lost all my motivation for today.  Good thing I'm leaving early for the chiropractor's!

8.  Yep, still no motivation.

9.  I'm having this urge to run a marathon.  Which is good, because I'm running one in five months and two weeks.

10.  The fun thing about going to visit my grandparents is that it's chock full of the Standard American Diet.  Cereal for breakfast.  Toast too if you're lucky.  Sandwich for lunch?  Sure!  And don't forget buttered white Wonder bread with dinner, it really makes the meal.  I tend not to eat much at Grandma's.  Even before I learned that grains were the devil, I was never really a cereal person.  Always a bacon and eggs person.  And I like a good deli sandwich -- I love a great deli sandwich -- but not so much with the sandwiches at home or for school lunch.  It could have something to do with the sandwich-making materials we had at home:  mayo, white Wonder bread, plastic orange cheese, plastic lunch meat.  When I discovered fresh sliced rare roast beef at the deli counter?  Love at first sniff!

11.  That's not to say that Grandma has a horrible diet, just a typical American food pyramid diet.  There's a meat, there's always veggies.  Always leftover veggies too; my grandparents were both born shortly after 1930 and have that Great Depression mentality about waste.  I expect we'll have a frozen pizza or lasagna one night, probably rotisserie chicken the next.  My dad will probably want me to take him big grocery shopping at WalMart, and we'll pick up Burger King on the way back.  I think Grandpa is too sick to go for Chinese food like they (and I too) like to do when I visit.  His Alzheimer's has progressed slowly, it's been at least five years since he was diagnosed but it still seems too soon.  He hasn't had problems remembering people all that much so far, just the mechanics of life, like how to work the microwave or trying to change the channel on the TV with the telephone and vice versa.  I hate this disease.  He's only just 82.

12.  Have I mentioned how happy I am to be going to the chiropractor today?  I think my back knows I'm going because it's busting out all the aches and pains as the day goes on.

13.  In the next few days my coworker and I are starting a 30 day ab challenge.  We're going to do the ab work here in the office.  We may be a while each day.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl