Thirteen Things Thursday

1.  Because you knew it was coming:

2.  I'm so sick of construction.  Today is supposed to be the last day of repairs at my apartment.  There's still another week to go at the office.  Earlier the Russian workers here were fighting.  At least, we think they were fighting; it was all in Russian.

3.  Got a new pair of Nike Lunarglides last night.  My feet and legs were a lot happier after this morning's run than they have been.  The new ones are still dark gray, but with light gray accents instead of neon pink. 

4.  I also got my first pair of compression socks and nearly dislocated several joints getting them on.  I got one and a half socks on last night before I noticed they were labeled L and R.  After nearly dislocating several joints getting them off, I finally got both socks on.  And, totally worth the beaucoup bucks those socks cost as all my aches and pains -- well, except for the joints I nearly dislocated -- disappeared instantly. 

5.  Last night and tonight at the office they are installing the granite countertops.  Don't ask me why we're getting granite countertops in an office.  We have no fucking clue.  Anyhow, the glue they use is quite potent.  You could huff quite effectively in the men's room (the only fully working bathroom we had today). 

6.  I have a guest post lined up over the next few days.  I didn't see my guest poster this morning so I hope that means he is busy putting it together.  Should be up by Wednesday. 

7.  I have to come back to the office around 9:00 p.m. to lock up after the workers.  They damn well better be done by 9:00 because I'm going to want to go to bed early. 

8.  Julie and I had three miles on the agenda this morning and we ran all but two laps of the track of it.  Today was the first day we didn't count the half-mile walk to the track so that we could get a better idea of how our pace is progressing.  We walked a lap, ran 1.25 miles, walked another lap, then ran the last 1.25 miles.  All on very tired legs.

9.  We've been giving nicknames to all the other folks who show up at the track.  There is this one little Asian guy that shows up right after us.  He looks to be in his 50s and he is just a machine.  I think he does five miles a day, at maybe a steady 10 minute mile pace.  I call him the Asian Rocky -- or Locky, if you like.  Our goal is to one day keep pace with Locky.  We also have Push Up Guy and Kind of Creepy Other Asian Guy.

10.  I think I'm going to wait to take any more vacation days until my boss is back from his vacation.  Let him feel the pain.

11.  We're also going to leave his office all disassembled.  We had to reorganize and redo the entire rest of the building to accommodate this bizarre remodel.  The new microwave?  You could cook a turkey in that thing, it's that huge.  And they're installing a cook-top.  In a kitchen that's roughly five feet by five feet.  We have no idea who is going to be cooking on it.  But apparently we needed one.

12.  I'm about three-quarters of the way through the new Harry Dresden.  It is absolutely excellent.  And so far Harry has quoted not only Star Wars (he does that in probably every book) but also Princess Bride and -- best of all -- one of my very favorite movies, Big Trouble in Little China.  I have to confess, I did skip ahead to the ending so I know who murdered Harry (he died at the end of the last book before this one -- or did he?) and it was a great twist.  There was also a lot of resolution in this book to many, many things from the whole series, but in a way that sets up the next book in a fabulous way for new beginnings but also without leaving everything else behind.  If that makes sense.

13.  My tummy is beginning to growl, so it is time to go home now.  Ciao!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Weekend Whatever

I didn't realize it had been ten days since I last posted.  Yikes!

I last posted on a Thursday.  That Friday, I went to Bend to visit friends for the weekend.  We had a great time.  Saw the new house, did a great hike, tasted some great beer, had some great food.  Monday I was back in the office, the only full time employee not on vacation and dealing with a boss on vacation in Europe who still had internet access.  It was going on week two at home of repairs and at the office they started the remodel. 

On Wednesday we staged a coup and made plans to get a storage unit.  Thursday and Friday I logged, labeled, and moved over 300 file boxes to the new storage unit.  We nearly filled a 9.5' x 30' storage unit.  I wish I'd been wearing a pedometer because I swear I walked at least six miles each day in the office, lugging those boxes around.  My legs were exhausted. 

Yesterday we did our six mile run.  My ankle was sore and swollen from the office moving so I had to walk most of the run but we did it.  When I got home I RICEd my ankle, which helped tremendously, then napped.  Today I've been trying to catch up on sleep and laundry and TV and to clean up the yard from the repair work.  Which reminds me, I forgot to set a timer while I'm watering the lawn.  Better go make sure it's not flooding!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Thirteen Things Thursday

1.  This is my 400th post.  I never seem to shut up, do I?  Thanks for being here for the ride :)

2.  I'm starting to think that the hardest thing about marathon training isn't the mileage, it's that nearly every thing you do starts to become about the marathon.  Should I watch this TV show?  No, it's already 10:00 p.m. and I should be heading off to bed.  Should I make this for dinner?  No, it's kind of a heavy meal and it's already later than I normally eat dinner, better not because I have to run tomorrow.  What should I take for lunch today?  Better add an extra snack because I'm going to be really hungry by mid-afternoon.  Wear these shoes?  My feet are tired from running this morning.   It gets to be more exhausting than running 15 miles a week.

3. Wednesday night I made sweet chili shrimp quesadillas.  I had no idea what to have for dinner.  Well, not true; I wanted sausage and hash browns with gravy, but since I'm almost up to 200 lbs right now I really need to stop eating stuff like that.  At least, only eat it maybe once a month rather than at least twice a week.  So I pulled some peel and eat shrimp out of the freezer and once defrosted sauteed it with garlic salt, onion powder, chili powder, and chili garlic sauce.  Once it started to sizzle I turned down the heat and let it simmer for around ten minutes.  Then in a big skillet with some non-stick cooking spray I put a flour tortilla and topped half of it with shredded cheese and the shrimp.  I then topped the shrimp with Frank's Sweet Hot Chili Sauce.  Once the cheese melts, fold over the tortilla, let it cook for a few seconds so it sticks all together, then cut it into quarters and top with sour cream.  Yum!  It's the first time I've tried that sweet hot chili sauce (picked it up last week with a coupon!) and I really liked it.  It would be excellent with coconut shrimp.

4.  My place looks like a war zone with the siding repair.  They told me yesterday they will be done by Saturday.  Yay!

5.  Like you didn't know that was coming.

6. Lots of other bloggers do a Three Things Thursday.  Three just never seems like enough to me. 

7.  But then sometimes coming up with 13 is hard.  Mainly because I make them tooooo lonnnnnnggggggg.

8.  Successfully completed our third run of the week this morning, but we were definitely feeling that it was the third in four days.  We did count only the half mile walk to the track in our mileage today -- normally one mile total of our runs is walking there and back -- and then finished the mileage on the track.  Then I forgot to turn off my Garmin at 3.0 miles and we walked fairly slowly back to the house so it doesn't show an improvement in our pace.  I think we ended up with an average pace of under 17 minutes for the three miles.

9.  Yay!

10.  I'm kind of running out of things to say.

11.  I have the worst cough right now.  It's irritation  resulting from a combination of post-nasal drip from allergies together with acid reflux.  So, I'm destroying my throat lining both coming and going.  I sound horrible, but I'm not coughing for the normal reasons; when I cough it's mainly to try to itch my throat.  Speaking of coughs, did you hear that whooping cough is going around?  There was a PSA on TV the other night.  And apparently TB is also making a comeback.  What's next, polio?

12.  I just joined Google+.  You can find me under Cilley Girl.  No idea what Google+ even is, but feel free to add me.

13.  Happy Bastille Day!  If you can keep your head when all others around you are losing theirs, then you're probably a peasant.  Or Robespierre.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Whimsical Wednesday

'Nuff said!

Although I do have a few things while I"m thinking about it.  Anyone having problems commenting?  Jules mentioned this morning that she has problems with Blogger recognizing her when she tries to comment here; I'm trying to figure out if the problem is with my site or what. 

We did not make it to yoga last night -- although we are set up for next Tuesday night -- but we did make the four miler this morning.  I think we ran a total of five laps over the four miles, including two laps (half mile) at once.  Still a very slow pace overall, primarily because of our walk to and from the track, but we kept a steady mid-13 minute pace during the runs.  Julie was feeling a little draggy so we didn't walk as quickly overall -- usually she sets the walking pace because she walks a little faster than I do, and I usually set the running pace along those same lines.  Tomorrow is another three miler and we're planning to drop back to only running three laps so as not to push it.

I was planning to wear my aircast today for the compression but then there was this whole dog-poop-on-the-running-shoes thing (I had to apologize to the dog I blamed for tracking crap into the house earlier; it was me) and I got my shoe all wet while trying to clean it.  Since those are the only shoes that really work with the aircast, I had to bag it for today.  If my shoe is dry at lunchtime I'll probably put the cast on then.  Just a little soreness in the leg this morning but otherwise not bad.  Yay!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

It's a Take Back My Rack Tuesday!!

Now introducing Take Back My Rack Tuesdays!!  Aren't you excited?!?!?

I knew you were!!

And what do we write about on Take Back My Rack Tuesdays?  We write about what we (I) am doing to take back my rack.  As in running.  Yay!!!!

I love that picture.

Yes, I had my first run in about nine weeks, since the advent of the stress fracture.  I think my last run was May 3rd or 4th.  So, about nine weeks.

How did it go?  Guess!

Julie and I got together on Sunday and mapped out our Portland Marathon training schedule.  The goal was to get ourselves ready without dying.  Or developing a stress fracture.  Kind of tough to do when the race is in less than 90 days but we tweaked and tweaked and ended up with a workable plan.  Which began yesterday with a three mile run that was more walking than running.  We're both starting from Square One and, you know, stress fracture.  Out of the three miles, we ran a total of three quarters of a mile. 

For being out of shape, we didn't do too bad on the running, maybe 1:30 pace per mile slower than where we were at when I had to drop out of training for Vancouver.  Overall, we were running at more or less marathon pace; all we have to do is do that for 26.2 miles. 

My leg felt good during the three miles and still feels good today.  A little calf tenderness behind and below the spot of the stress fracture but otherwise fine.  I want to continue to ease into things for the first few weeks since going from zero to 15 miles in a week is a big adjustment.  We're also adding in yoga, which hopefully will start tonight.  Very glad to be starting up with training again as I got on the scale this morning and my weight was waaaaay up there.  Although it is almost that TOM so that could be part of it.

Bite me, kitty!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Training starts tomorrow!

Marathon training with Jules starts tomorrow!

I've signed up for the Eugene Women's Half on September 4!

Ack!!!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl