It's alive!!!

Hello my cilley peeps!  I am back, I am alive, and I didn't end up in the ER for a migraine.  (That happened a few years ago, and I'm terrified of it happening again, it was very scary.)  I did end up tossing my cookies in my office trash can, however, which was when I decided I'd had enough and went home (only 40 minutes early, I'll have my boss know).  When I got home, I knew I needed to get some fluids back into me so I got down about 10 oz of a replenishment drink and a can of chicken broth (not together, though).  Two Tylenol PM later and I was in bed by 6:00 p.m. with a very confused dog.  "But mom, why are we in bed with the lights and the TV off?  Oh, and I have to go out again."  Yep, every hour for about the first three hours, CBS wanted to get up and go outside.  I finally just kicked out into the rest of the apartment, telling her to do what she would to my carpet, I wasn't letting her out any more.  She finally calmed down and lay down, only getting me up every three hours after that to let her out, and I didn't find any incidents this morning. 

Thinking back, remember how on Saturday I just couldn't get my mind and body to cooperate in a run?  I think that was all leading up to the spectacular migraine I had yesterday.  I had a bit of a headache Sunday and Monday, more of one Tuesday, then couldn't sleep Tuesday night.  In the early Tuesday morning hours, the headache bloomed.  This has happened a couple of times before, feeling blah for several days and then bam!  Huge headache.  Oh well.  I slept for 12 hours, more or less (goofy dog), and feel much better today.  I'm also a lot less hungry that I thought I'd be after only consuming about 350 calories yesterday.  I think my tummy is still feeling a bit abused.

I was toying with the idea of doing a Jingle Bell run this weekend, but since we've got a cold front here in Cilleyland and they're forecasting snow tomorrow and Saturday (light snow, but still) I think I'll pass.  I'm hoping to take Sunday off from work, because I'll be surprised if I don't have to work from Monday the 7th straight through to Christmas Eve.  Gack!  The gym beckons me but things like sleep and bathing tend to take priority in situations like these.  Hey, at least I have very little time to grocery shop or even eat so that should keep the calories down, right?  Speaking of which, I need to do my November goals recap and post my December goals still.  I know you're all waiting that with bated (baited?  what does this phrase actually mean, anyways??) breath so I'll try to do that soon. 

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Wishing for death or at least blunt force trauma resulting in unconsciousness

Migraine.  All too bright.  Sucks mightily.  Can't leave work and it's too freakin bright.  Stupid sunny weather.  Trying not to toss my cookies.  Ugh, the thought of cookies makes me want to toss my cookies.  The technicolor yawn.  Horrible, horrible migraine.

I'll be back tomorrow.  Hopefully with actual sentences and stuff.  Maybe minus my aching skull.

No cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Coming to you live from a beautiful sunny Tuesday

First things first.  The lovely Lori-Ann, Amazon Runner, gifted me with my very first award ever.  Thank you Lori-Ann!  Words can not describe how this makes me feel. 

I know I should pass this along, and I will, but for now I'm just going to savor it :)

Next in the order of importance, a big cilley welcome to my two new followers:  the fabulous (and famous and inspiring, and I am so honored that you have chosen to spend some of your limited free time here reading me) Tall Mom and Amanda Ashe.  Amanda, do you have a blog or are you more sane than the rest of us? 

Lastly, because I'm starving and my lunch smells great and the phones won't quit ringing at the office, here's my recap on my calorie experiment for November:

Min intake 1589

Max intake 3350

Min expend 2571

Max expend 3087

Average intake 2142

Average expend 2676

Total est weight loss 4.4 lbs

Ha!  4.4 lbs!  Yeah, that didn't happen.  But, I did mostly meet my November goal of average calories of 2000-2100.  It probably would have been in between the two except for last night's fish stick adventure.  Although, it's not the fish sticks that get you, it's the tartar sauce.  Stupid tartar sauce.  That max intake figure of 3300 and change is from Thanksgiving day.  There was some damn good gravy at Thanksgiving.  I'm having the last of it tonight.
 
As I mentioned yesterday, I switched online food diaries.  I was using Nutridiary, but while it was better than a sharp stick in the eye (or a pad and paper or some other food diaries I've tried/seen) there were a few key things I didn't like about it.  Mainly, the food database was tiny with few "name brand" items and no access to other user entries.  In other words, if it wasn't in there (and it usually wasn't) then I had to add it in myself.  The number one feature I want in a food diary is to have the stuff there for me to select.  On the other hand, I don't want a database that is overwhelming name brand items; it makes inputting the things you cook yourself kind of a pain in the ass.  The foods you had chosen in the past, that you hadn't inputted yourself, were also limited for recall purposes; it had only the top 10 recent items and your top 10 favorites.  Supposedly you could upgrade to a paid membership and get greater access, including to a bigger database, but no one was officially running the site anymore so you couldn't upgrade.  Not the smartest business decision IMHO.
 
I tried My Daily Plate for a while, which is now part of the Livestrong empire, but found it slow to switch between screens.  My time is valuable, people!  I also tried MedHelp, which had some nice features including tracking of not only weight but measurements, but again the database was small even with access to user entries.  I think it was because it was a fairly new and/or lesser known site.  Typos in the user entries also bug me, and I couldn't even correct my own typos.  So somebody somewhere is wondering just what "Slow Roasted Beer" is.  (It was supposed to be Slow Roasted Beef, one of the Marie Callendar lunches.)   A local runner/blogger mentioned the food diary available through MyFoodPyramid.  It tells you where you are deficient in the pyramid areas, which I thought sounded cool, but the interface sucked.  Hugely sucked. 
 
So for December I'm trying out Everyday Health, which was previously known as My-Calorie-Counter.com.  It's day two of using it and I really like it.  If you try it out, or have been using it already, let me know what you think. 
 
'Kay, I really need to finish my lunch and print out some spreadsheets.  Job security, that's what I keep telling myself!  That, and there's a five day waiting period to buy handguns. 
 
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
 

A quick note

I got out of work late and then had to run some errands so as it's after 8:00 p.m. and I haven't eaten dinner yet, this will be quick. 

My new weight should be up on the sidebar -- 186.0.  That is a 1.6 lb weight loss for the month.  A little disappointing but it is TOM right now and we just had Thanksgiving so I'll take it.  I'll write more about calories, etc. later this week, after I've actually eaten my calories for the last meal of the month.  I also took my measurements and again I blame TOM; virtually no change.  I'll write more about that too.

I took some new pics, one is on the sidebar already.  The pic from the side didn't come out so well; I'm using a new camera and I can't manage to stand sideways and take a picture so I'm twisting and it distorts the image.  But I think my ferret looks smaller, don't you? 

Since it's a new month, that means it's time for the CilleyGirl to try out a new food diary.  So far I like it.  I put up a weight loss ticker from there but I will need to switch it out for a different one; that one is too wide (ironically enough) for a three column blog. 

I've got lots more to write about -- new followers, my very first award! -- but I'm starving and there will be a fish stick incident to cap off my November goals.  Oh well.  Some times you just gotta have the fish sticks.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Baby don't nap

I'm not a napping person.  If ever I fall asleep reading a book or watching TV or basically doing anything other than laying in bed trying to sleep, then it's a sign I'm not feeling so well.  I fell asleep on the couch this afternoon listening to Spike read to me.  Apparently, I'm not feeling so well.  Oh well.  It doesn't seem to be E.coli so that's good. 

The long weekend is sadly coming to a close.  I hope I can get easily back into the rhythm of the crazy.  Thirty-one days until our deadline and the end of the crazy.  In between now and then, I'll have four days off at most, and one of those will be Christmas.  It's a challenge I look forward to meeting, but at the same time I am not looking forward to the mental and physical exhaustion that goes with it. 

I realized today that when I switched over to the new blog template I forgot to add back my countdown to Eugene widget.  It's back up now.  I also put together my training plan so that I knew when I would need to start.  I looked around at some other plans, like Runner's World, but decided to go with the one I planned originally, from The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer.  It's a 16 week program so that has me starting as of January 10.  Some nice symmetry there:  1/10/10.  It doesn't do tempo runs or easy runs or intervals or hill training.  It's goal is to get you to complete a marathon.  It's perfect for me because I don't want to do tempo runs or easy runs (okay, I want easy runs but you know what I mean) or intervals or hill training.  Maybe after my first marathon.  Once I'm out of the hospital.

Tomorrow is the last day of November so the last day for my November goals.  I'll do my weigh in Monday or Tuesday and take my measurements.  Later in the week I'll recap how I did on my goals, plus put up my December goals.  I've been thinking about taking a short time out, but feel I should stick to my goals right now.  Maybe around the first week of January, once the crazy time is over and before the official marathon training begins.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Spike in my ear, my 100th post, and thanks for the timely E.coli warning Portland!

Riddle me this, Batman:  How exactly am I supposed to wash my hands or clean my dishes to avoid E.coli contamination when it's the wash water that is contaminated with E.coli?  *sigh*  If you live in the Cilleyland metro area, particularly the west side, then you have probably heard that our water tested positive for E.coli contamination.  You may have also heard that the first positive test came several days ago.  Apparently it takes two positive tests before they declare it actually contaminated.  Unfortunately we've all been drinking the water in the interim.   So I'm sitting here boiling water because I wasn't thirsty until I realized that I had no water I could safely drink.  After having a slightly upset stomach. 

We were out for sushi (on the west side) when we heard about the contamination.  Our waitress brought my soda and explained why it had no ice cubes.  It was all news to us; my friend's husband promptly took out his iPhone to confirm the news.  A short while later a woman at a table behind us called over the waitress and said in a somewhat pissy voice "Perhaps you misunderstood me.  I asked for ice water."  The waitress basically replies, "Perhaps you misunderstood me; I'm trying to keep your prissy ass from dying, bitch."  Or maybe she just explained apologetically why she had not given this woman some ice.  But I prefer my version better.

Anyhow, my beverage choices at the moment are:  boiling hot water, milk, or diet soda.  I guess I'm having milk.  Even the dogs aren't supposed to drink the water right now.  Humph. 

This could all be why I've felt a little off all day long.  I headed out for a run but just couldn't get my rhythm going.  I felt like a puppet with a string cut.  Maybe a puppet with a peg leg and a string cut.  Or maybe a quasimodo puppet with a peg leg and a string cut.  With big boobs swinging in the opposite direction from my gait.  Yes, that's it.  Also, it was damn cold out due to all the damp.  The damn damp.  Either way, I managed a little over three miles, nearly all of it walked. 

Then I went home and had Spike in my ear.  Not a spike, but Spike.  Or rather, James Marsters, the yummy actor who played Spike on Buffy and Angel.  In addition to being a big Whedon fan, I'm also a fan of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books -- Harry is my imaginary boyfriend -- and James Marsters does the audiobooks.  I was a little sad at first that he uses his own, Spike accented-less voice, but his reading is so well done that I quickly got over it.  His voice can be very intimate as he reads.  It's delicious.  I spent a couple of hours laying on my couch this afternoon, snuggling with the dog, staring at nothing outside the window and listening to James Marsters murmur Harry Dresden in my ear. 

I am so thirsty.  Why didn't I buy some bottled water when I was just at Target? 

Wrapping up, I learned as I logged in to write this post that my last post was number 100.  Woo hoo!  Who would've guessed I had that much to say?  Nah, that one's easy.  The real question is, who would've guessed that somebody else would be reading it?  I'm so happy for my Cilley readers, some days knowing that I will come here and be accountable to you is all that gets me up and going.  And I don't make friends easily at all, but I've started to make connections with other Cilleyland bloggers and runners and hopefully will soon meet some of them in person.  Where hopefully they won't run away screaming. 

On that note, I am off to find a beverage.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday -- even if it's not a holiday where you are :)  Mine so far has been fabulous.  Let's see....  Getting up at 6:00 a.m. on very little sleep, driving in the dark and the rain to the zoo, sitting in my car in the rain waiting for the turkey trot to start, running around the parking lot of the zoo in the rain waiting for the turkey trot to start, running the turkey trot in the rain (noticing a theme??), running down the hills in the rain, mostly running up the hills in the rain, finishing in the rain, walking around the zoo to check in with my animal pals in the rain, enjoying the wonderful heated enclosures that got me out of the rain, and last but not least, driving back home in the rain.

Oh, did I mention it rained for our race?  *grin*  Actually it wasn't all that bad.  It rained somewhat heavily for about 30 seconds in the middle of the race (just as we started to go back up the hill), the rest of the time it was a light but steady rain.  The race was not four miles as I had thought (and I swear they said), but instead was 4.4 miles.  My iPod registered it as 4.37 miles.  I did bring a nice dry rainjacket and my camera to go through the zoo afterwards, but the race finishes deep in the zoo (by the elephant habitat) and I didn't want to walk all the back out to my car (in the rain) to get either item.  Instead I just walked around the zoo seeing who was out in the cold and rainy weather.  My otter buddy Eddie -- no idea what his name is, but we've agreed his name is Eddie -- was having a blast.  He loves the cold and the rain.  I was thoroughly frozen by the time I stopped to say hello to him (he was my last stop on the way out).  Now I'm semi-dry, sort of warm, and ready to chow down on some MickeyD's. 

I did the 4.37 miles in 0:53:50, so just over a 12 minute mile average.  Except for the few really steep portions of the hills, I ran the whole thing.  Learned I need to do some hill work -- going down the hills, not up.  At least when it's wet, my brain tells me I'm going to slip and fall and so I'll start doing this odd stride that my knees do not enjoy.  I need to learn to trust myself going down wet hills.

Saw a woman with the oddest running stride I think I've ever seen, and that includes that woman with the crutch from a few races ago.  Ladies, remember in grade school we had this piece of playground equipment that was a short length of rope with a loop on one end and a small ball on the other?  You put the loop around one ankle and then did sort of a Jerry Lewis-style motion with your feet to get the rope and the ball to spin around your ankle while you jumped over it with your other leg.  That motion with your feet?  That's how this woman was running.  Her knees were nearly together while her feet kicked up and out to the sides at about a 45 degree angle.  It amused me for at least a mile.

Okay, I need some food and then maybe a nap, then it's off to dinner with friends.  Happy holiday!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl