New Toys, and one Baaad Afternoon

Wow, two posts in under a week? Who am I?

Well, in all the schmaltz and schmoopy-ness that was Monday's post, I didn't talk about a few things that went down last week. Now, I have a few more things to add to that list. So, a lot to talk about, 1 2 3 go!

Remember back in this post when I talked about the Saucony Mirage? Well, after 5 long months and lots of fawning over them at work, look who finally came home to Mama last week?

Aren't they gorgeous? 

I was thinking I'd use these instead of the DS Racers for Marquette, so I wore them on my 14 miler on Saturday morning. They worked wonderfully! My feet and my legs felt great throughout, and I only had a little bit of knee pain going in to the last few miles.
However, that 14 as a whole is a saga in and of itself... I ran it with the Marathon Training Group from my store, which is great because it gives me a group to be with so I'm not alone, and the run is supported with water stops and whatnot. However, I foolishly forgot to bring my own nutrition, and then forgot to grab something at the first stop, since he warned us out front that he might not see us again until around 9. So, I had nothing until 9, where I took another Gu. I don't know what it was, but I actually felt worse after that. My pace dropped off from around 8:15-8:20 to around 9:20-9:30, and I started feeling nauseous. I finished the run, though, in 2:01:33, so all in all I'll take it. Afterwards, I tried ignoring the nausea as much as I could, and rushed home to clean up and get back to the store for my shift. Once there, no more ignoring it. I sipped on water and tried eating something to see if that would help, but I was getting worse (and very dizzy to boot), and after my system rejected everything I put in it after the run, I sent myself home, where I promptly slept for an hour and then spent the rest of the day with what felt like the third worst hangover of my life.
So, now I'm left wondering if it was the Gu itself that caused it, or was it the fact I took it too late? Either way, I need to restock all of my running nutrition, as every last piece of it was at least a month past expiration. Oooops. Coach Mom suggested Endurolytes, so I think I might give those a whirl on my next long run. Regardless, I need to rethink my plan, as I don't want to relive last week ever again.

In other news, after too many months of fighting with MapMyFitness (who doesn't have all of my usual routes on their database, nor does it work well with the SuperMac and the Magic Mouse (which I dislike anyway but that's another white whine for another time)), and being told it was way past time for this running store manager to know what the heck she's talking about while selling them, I gave in and pulled the trigger. This little guy came home to his Mama yesterday:

 Love. Love love love. Forerunner 110, let's run away together.
And that's exactly what we did this morning.

In other news, I'm too busy being a runner and a manager to be a good "housewife" and make sure our apartment is clean. You know what? I'm OK with that.

And, the result of our rendezvous today?

So much information! So many little details! So much to analyze! Eeeeeeee!!! My favorite parts were actually the map (which I am not posting for safety reasons, sorry), and the "player", which took me through my route and showed me how fast I was going where and how the elevation changed. I was bouncing everywhere from a 5:49 pace somewhere in the first 200 yards to a 13:00 minute pace (I think that was when I slowed down to see if I could cross a street safely), but for the most part stayed between 8:00 and 8:30 somewhere. Hm, need to work on that just a bit.

So, aside from the schmaltz, that's what's up. The last few weeks of Marquette training, and looking onward past that to Whistlestop... and there might be one more big thing in the works here, too, but I'll disclose that once I have a few more details. :)
So, with that, it's time to clean up and head BACK to the store. It's sad when you have more food in your work fridge than you do in your home fridge, it really is.

525,600 minutes...

A year ago today, I loaded up my truck to the gills with most of my possessions. I then jumped in and drove 100 miles north to the rest of my life.

To say that a lot has changed in the last year is the understatement of the century.

To say that it all hasn't been easy or fun is also true. But, would I change a thing? Probably not.
Here's to the year that was, and here's to the year to come!

12/14/10--What a bum!

So I've been a complete bum the last few days.
Sunday was just my usual day of rest, even though I took a "rest day" on Friday, too.
Yesterday, it was brutally cold. The windchill didn't break 0 until late afternoon. I was griping to Coach Mom about how bad I felt skipping a run, but she reminded me that sometimes being safer is smarter than trying to prove toughness.
I really did mean to do some Yoga and Bob videos, but I never did. :( Now that, I can feel a bit of shame for, am I right?
Anyway... It's another snowtacular morning in the Copper Country.

 Our poor cars! (One is mine, the other is Brandon's.)

 This is the view out of the back window.

This is out in front of our building--beautiful, bustling, busy South Range. -_- I really enjoy how the snowbanks along the sidewalk here are nearly to my waist.
And, while I don't have to shovel much snow (unless cleaning off my beastly car counts...), I could still appreciate this thought from Hal Higdon this morning:

I leave you with this:
I was very sad this fall when I couldn't carve pumpkins for Halloween. I was also feeling kind of lonely because Brandon was always either working or at school, so one afternoon I decided I was going to find a way to have cute pumpkins, no matter what.
This was the end result:

He thought it was kind of funny in that "Wow, you're kinda strange" way.
So, last night, he asks me if I've done any artwork lately. I was really confused, so he clarified--drawings, like the pumpkins. I told him I hadn't, because I actually had a Christmas tree, though if he really wanted me to draw one, I would.
So, this morning, I produced this masterpiece, which I may or may not have posted to his Facebook wall...

I think our actual tree is cuter, though. I mean, it has a squirrel for a topper!

OK, that's enough foolishness. I promise, I'll have a workout update later.

11/30/10--Out of the box...

Today's run: 3.08 miles
Week to date: 7.08 miles
Month to date: 40.68 miles

Another month complete! I thought it would be interesting to look at my monthly totals, so here they are:
January: 18.1
February: 16
March: 4 (Oh goodness...)
April: 37
May: 45.76
June: 26
July: 69.4
August: 70
September: 32.1
October: 35.1
November: 40.68

Yeah, I realize that most of those monthly totals are some people's WEEKLY totals, but that's OK. This is my journey, and even the smallest of those is better than what I had been doing before 2010. So, while they're not stellar compared to some, I'm proud, especially of from April on. It just shows how far I've come this year, and it makes me want to keep going.

Anyway, on to today's adventure!
The weather:

And the outfit: 

(Yup!! I decorated the apartment yesterday!)

And, it has made its triumphant seasonal return: the All-Star Toque! 

I had some fun while ransacking my winter clothes stash to find this hat:

First, I found my Grandpa's band jacket.

And then I found mine!

Then, I found something that is NOT mine, and that I do NOT approve of.

Eventually, I stopped playing with PhotoBooth and decided to, you know, actually go for a run.

I noticed on my drives to and from town yesterday and today that the shoulder of the highway was probably going to be my safest bet for running for a while. They were surprisingly clear, and it's not like it's a terribly busy stretch anyway. 

There was a bit of climb involved, too.

And boy, did I feel that coming back! It wasn't anything daunting, but just enough to feel.

I felt much safer today than I did yesterday. I don't think this will be a run I try right after a snowfall, but knowing HoCo, I think this will be safer than trying the streets in Houghton overall. Plus, the hills will only make me stronger in the end, right?

OK--time for breakfast! I had a basically empty peanut butter jar in the cupboard that I was saving just for some Oats-in-a-jar! :D

Have a great day, all!

11/15/10 pt 1--Winter Wonderland

I promise there will be a workout update at some point today, but I just have to share some photos of this weekend and this morning.
This weekend, the snow finally arrived, as did my best friends! Our college was playing the local/rival/Boyfriend's college this weekend, so they came up to visit.

Christy and me

Jacki and Christy--my beautiful besties!

While we were freezing in the stands, the VIP's of MTU were able to watch the game from the warmth of their cars

It was snowing HARD during the game, so some action had to be taken to keep the lines visible:

First, they tried shovels, but when they proved ineffective, the Kybota-plow came out to play

I think the shoveling/plows were more entertaining than the "band" and their "halftime show"... until the whole herd of them dropped and made snow angels.

The snow changed to rain after we left (which was just after halftime--we were frozen and soaked), but it picked back up last night, and we woke up to this in the Copper Country this morning:

Source

Also, game photos are courtesy of Jacki

All the snow has left this song stuck in my head!

The solid 5 inches we have on the ground have me sorting through YouTube and My Trainer Bob videos for a backup plan, for which I will provide an update later!