Happy Birthday Harrison

Today is my adorably wreckless nephew Harrison's 4th birthday.  I haven't got to see the little bugger since last spring and miss him dearly.  I hope you have a great day little man!  Make sure to keep the cheesy full teeth smile for-ev-errrrrrr.

Sunday I hit the trails to finish up my 16 mile long run.  I was kicking myself for not checking the weather forecast for the weekend and opting to do my long run on Sunday.  Until I started running on the trails.  Yikes.  We had an ice storm last weekend, and the temps have been very cold all week long, so there has been zero melting.  Then on Thursday and Friday we had some beautiful snow fall (seriously, it was actually the snow I loooove).  Big thick, white and fluffy.  "IT'S SO FLUFFY!"

However ice covered with 3-4" of fluffy snow equals major running shitshow.  I had my yaktrax on but to say that it was slow going would be a grave understatement.  My stride was super short to keep from falling on my face, and every time I'd attempt to push off I'd slide back a few inches.  I imagine this is what it's like to run in sand.  P.S.  Remind me never to run 10 miles in sand.

I resigned to the fact that it was going to be a SLOW run after the first mile clocked in, and I'm glad I did because I would've been in a state of depression otherwise.  Let's just say that my fastest mile was 10:15 and that was my final mile in which I took my yaktrax off and ran on the road for the remaining 1/4 of a mile to get my heart pumping.  Oh well.  Looks like the weather should be great for this weekend's long run, so poof, the 6+10 mile long run disaster is gone from my brain. :)

And now more cute pics of me and H.

Taken on my Dallas 09 trip.

Clearly we're #1.  Random work trip to Dallas last spring.

My infamous "stick."  Harrison was just working some IT band issues out after watching me do it all weekend..... too bad thats your shin kid.

Mini me.  <3

New shoes...new shoes.... Jerbear's got some new shoes...

Did you guys ever sing the new shoes song in grade school?  Apparently my classmates did in kindergarten (I didn't move to the town I graduated from until 4th grade) but we still would jokingly sing the song every.single.time someone was sporting some new kicks to school/gym/games/etc.

While I was out sick with the ninja death star flu, I had a package delivered to work.  Because I live in an apartment, I tend to have everything shipped there.  The receptionist who received the package is from a different part of my agency, so I don't work very close with her so she doesn't know me very well, yet when I walked in the office after being sick, she handed me the package and said, "I didn't bother calling you because I figured it was just more running shoes."  Hahah.  Awesome.  And she was right.

Not only that but they are the exact same running shoes I'm currently sporting.  After Vegas, I had a minor running shoe snafu.  I had a pair of Mizuno Wave Rider 14s (I'm currently wearing the 13s) sent to me with a pretty swell discount (Thanks LC!) except that the shoes felt like bricks on my feet and were huge!  Of course we didn't have the shoes yet in our town, so I couldn't try another pair on to see if I just had a wonky pair or what.  Finally weeks later we got the shoes in and I realized that the shoe I had was normal and it just ran big.  And the next half size down was too small.  And both shoes felt like bricks.

No biggie, thinks my brain, I'll just find some of the 13s to tide me over.  Except..... THERE WEREN'T ANY!!!!  SWEET MOTHER OF JESUS!!!!!!!  Panic attack grand freak out would be an understatement.  First I was being picky about the color selection.  Purple and gold?  Eew.  I'd rather run on glass shards barefoot (sorry Vikings fans.... wait.... no I'm not! :p)  Blue?  Already had those.  Red... meh.  But then I quickly realized that there were zero size 8s left on the entire planet.

Luckily since I'm a super internet sleuth, I did manage to track some down from a company I had never heard of.  They were super cheap, and I got free shipping on them.  Score!  They still feel a bit rock like compared to my nice broken in pair, but they'll get the (long run) job done.  I feel a little sad retiring the blood soaked pair because they make me feel like a super b.a. so I'm still wearing them for muddy runs. :)

I was really trying to show off how much of the tread I had worn down over the last 400+ miles, but my photography skills leave something to be desired.  Ho hum.

__________
Saturday I had a 16 mile LR on deck for training for Fargooooooooo.  Based on the current weather 1 degree, wind chill 10-15 below, I opted for the treadmill.  Not to mention that our city has been a solid sheet of ice all week long and it's snowed Friday and Saturday to hide the slippery ice.  Sooooo not cool, weather.  ::shaking my fist in disgust and outrage::

Let's just say I had zero motivation to head out for my long run.  Someone woke me up by tearing my sleepmask off my face (someone else = Jerbear was furious about this FYI).  Then someone was kicked out and told to come back after I had garnered the rest of my beauty sleep.  So procrastination #1 of the day:  naptime immediately following wake up time.  From there I ate 1/3 of a bag of soft batch cookies, watched Real Housewives of Miami, Top Chef, gave myself a manicure, and created a new long run playlist.  Finally I had nothing left to procrastinate with other than cleaning (and you know that isn't happening) so I got crack-a-lackin' for my run.  "Oooh!  I want to measure how long my hair is!!"  Guess I wasn't out of things to procrastinate with.... (16 inches in case you were curious.)

Don't act like you're not impressed.  That's WITH my haircut from last week.  P.S.  Check out my manicure.  :)

Upon arriving to the gym, I was stoked to see that Tom was knocking down some mileage on the treadmill.  Yayzies!  Tom is one of my running buddies (we've only really ran together once on accident, but he runs, and he's my buddy soooooo running buddy... yup).  I plopped down on the treadmill with him and chatted away 3 miles.  As soon as he was done (after knocking out a monster 14 miles on the treadmill, heck ya!) I realized my stomach was feeling.... wonky.  I preceded to stop the run about every mile from there.  I drank some water, thinking that might help (I was sweating buckets).  I ate some sharkies thinking that might help.  I decreased the incline on the treadmill.  Finally after 6 miles I called it good.

I got in my car and I was pretty defeated.  There's a sense of pride in finishing a super long long run, and I was bummed that I had given up on it (although not without multiple attempts).  When I glanced down at my dashboard at a stop sign I perked up a bit.  This is super cheesy, but it reminded me that a botched long run is not the end of the world and to focus on the big picture:  26.2.  [cue cheesy inspirational music a la Full House]

Check out the Studly Runner Marcia's Zensah bra giveaway here!

This Week's Wish List AKA Weekly I Want

I find the most obscure fabulous things that I want I want I want I want.  Too bad I don't have all the monies to buy all of the things I want I want I want I want.  I might do a semi-regular posting with all the fun finds I've found (alliteration...oof!).  Fab!  (ok too far).

Buy it here.

I want to put this on my new Coach purse as a charm-dealy-bobby.  So cuuuuuuuuuuute!

Peacock Rain boots

Buy em here

Ooops.  I wanted these so much I got them.  And they came in the mail the next day.  And the shipping was fo FREE.  Jerbear = in love.

A 365 day calendar that you fill in sections of the heart each day based on: Time together, Conversation, Caress-Kisses and Sex.  l-o-v-e.  Too bad the shipping is insane b/c it's in Europe. :(

Buy it here

I tend to love most things bicycle related....  ooh!  I think I still have a groupon for skreened!!

Buy it here

This print would look fabuloso in my living room.

Drat. I can't find the link for this anymore.  Please let me know if you know its whereabouts so I can link it!

I also want this to hang up in my soon-to-be mini-office area.

Buy it here.

Thursday night I did my first "pace" workout.  For the rest of my training, these workouts will typically be done the day before my long runs, so I have tired legs to start with, but since I revamped my program I thought that would be a baaaaaaad baaaaaaad idea after just getting back in to the swing of things.  I had 4 miles at marathon pace on deck (approx. 8:59).

I did a quick 1/2 mile warm up before stretching the junk out of my legs left over from my 800s and then I was on.  Since I was stuck on the treadmill, I had to be just slightly faster than my pace.  It was super fun to run at marathon pace.  It's easy (easy for 4 miles, we'll see if it's easy for slightly less than 4 hours) but not mindlessly easy.  I could still read a trashy gossip mag while running, but just not as easily.  ;)

I did 4.5 miles in 40:36 for a pace of 9:00.  My 4 pace miles were 8:52, 8:56, 8:57, 8:56.

Great run minus the intensely painful stomach cramps I endured throughout.  Lunabar... I'm looking at you (which is sad because you're usually so gentle on my tummy... sad face....)

Sleep Mask Plight

On Tuesday I posed the following question on Twitter:

 To which I received a multitude of replies.  Here are a few of them:

Apparently the general consensus was that it was fairly "diva-like."  And I must agree.  Upon meeting up with the Angry Runner in Vegas after her flight got in late, our intro went something along these lines, "Hi, I'm Jeri.  I wear this sleep mask to bed.  I realize that's pretty high-maintenance of me, but hope we can still be besties."  Also, I think the words puppies + kitties + unicorns + sparkles + yayzies + rainbows were infused in the previous statement.  But as I said, it was super duper late, so my memory might not be 100%.

I have always been a bit of a high maintenance sleeper.  You know those kids who can sleep for hours in the backseat on long family road trips?  Yeah that was my brother.  Perhaps I didn't get any shut eye because my "portion" of the back seat was the floor.  No joke.  Not sure how my parents let him get away with that, but thank God we were never in any accidents!

When I sleep it needs to be 100% dark and 100% quiet.  In grade school I had to have my bedroom walls painted yellow.  Yellow walls + a hint of sunshine = sweet jesus I'm sleeping on the surface of the sun.  Could it BE any brighter in here?!?!  (said in a Joey Tribiani voice for greater affect).  By junior high I had implemented a solution consisting of a heavy blanket tacked to the walls over the window so i can sleep til the afternoon (in the summer of course).  When my mother discovered what I had done, she demanded I remove my dungeon inducing blankets and "sleep like a normal person."  Bahahah, that's cute if you think I'm normal madre.  ;)

It was around this time that I started sleeping with a bandana over my eyes.  My name is Jeri, and I'm a resourceful genius.  When I headed off to college I quickly learned that the dorms are LOUD.  After a couple years of not sleeping (or so it felt) I learned that a loud box fan helped to drown out most obnoxious college kid noise.  Yayzies!

After college I stuck with the loud box fan solution and started developing super de duper dry eyes after a night of sleep.  I determined that I must keep my eyes sort of open when I sleep, and since I had a big box fan whirring the air around, it was doing all sorts of damage to my eye balls.  Enter the modern day sleep mask.  I heart it.  It's high maintenance and I love it.

Here are a few sleep masks that I've seen over the past couple of years that I've thought about upgrading for:

(Click images for sources to purchase)

Upon crawling in to bed Tuesday night I realized what had prompted my aforementioned twitpoll:  My sleep mask was no longer in my possession.  Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!  Old school bandana, pony up!  I've got a job for you!

It's so FLUFFY!

I decided today that my brain is bipolar when it comes to motivation for running.  Throughout the day, my brain toggled amongst the following:

• Ooooooh I can't WAIT to run my 800 m. repeats.  I heart speedwork.  Yayzies!  Sparkles! Kittens! Unicorns and Moonbeams! (or something like that....)
• Ugh.  I just want to be lazy and hang out with K.  No running for me.
• Hmmm..... I just ate 6 meals worth of cookies and candy.... I probably should go workout.....
• Screw hanging out with K, I want my couch, I want my stripey pajama pants, and I want last night's Gossip Girl episode.... and I want it NOW!
• If I get in a good sweat session, I'll sleep like an angel tonight.
• What if my hamstring still hurts?  It'd be a waste to get to the gym only to have to turn around and come home.  Plus I'm almost out of gas.....
• And finally, meh, if I do it tonight, at least I won't have to have this inner dialogue tomorrow as it'll be a rest day.

I headed to the gym after work tonight to take on my 5x800 m. repeats.  I was still a bit concerned about my hamstring after it's annoyingness last night, so I stretched it out before the run, and then stretched really well after my 1 mile warm up.  Then it was on like donkey kong.

3:36, 3:39, 3:38, 3:33, 3:35

During the 4th repeat I had the audacity to think in my bwain, "Jerbear you are killing this repeat... and you seem to be doing it without struggling.... " and in the next breath switched to, "I might see those cookies + candy I enhaled earlier."  Puke threshold, long time no see!  Luckily I didn't toss my cookies, literally.  bahahahahahahah.  But my stomach still feels pretty wonky.

Now all I want more than anything in this world is some candy.  I watched Despicable Me this weekend, and had to show KK this clip because I'm kind of in love with Agnes.  So of course I had to spend the rest of the day reciting the quote like her.  And now I'm in my apartment alone saying I WANT SOME CANDY! Just like her.  I'm so cool.

It's A-maiz-ing

Every once in awhile I have a profound thought.  The other night we were hanging out with a bunch of KK's friends.  They were recounting a recent visit to Vegas where they met some random people from Florida.  When they stated that they were from South Dakota, specifically Mitchell, SD they were shocked to find out that the Florida kids had heard of the "corn castle" (or the Corn Palace, as it's actually called).  All of a sudden, a thought struck me.... what if the Corn Palace started on fire?!?!?!?  FREE POPCORN FOR THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA!!! YAYZIES!

(Source for original photo)


[Sidenote:  Why do all of my "illustrations" depict fire of some sort?  I should really learn to draw it if that's the case.]

And then Kyle popped (baahahhahahah get it.... punny popcorn reference) my bubble by stating that they were two different types of corn and then I was sad.

Those are popcorn tears. FYI.  Also, don't be alarmed, in real life I have an actual outline to my face.  Not just a chin and ears.

____


I did my first long run of marathon training Saturday.  Due to illness and such I've done one long run longer than 9 miles since Vegas, and it was 12 miles with Jenn in Houston.... a month ago.  So I was a little nervous to do 14.  It was actually a gorgeous day for a run, and I took it nice and easy, and then tried to pick up the pace the last mile.  All miles were between the 9:29-10:29 LR pace that I'm adhering to this round of training except the last mile.


I did 14 miles in 2:21:xx (too lazy to look it up).


Monday I had an easy 4 miles + striders on the schedule.  Because of the ice storm we got this weekend, I was stuck running on the treadmill.  As soon as I started running I had some major tightness in my right lower hammie.  I slowed to almost a 10 min/mile pace and let it warm up, and stretched big time after the run.  I opted against the striders as well.  Sorry Jase. :(

Marathon Training Program Break Down

February 14th marked day 1 of my 14 week training program to my SUB 4 FINISH IN FARGOOOOOOO.  Ahem.  Now Fargo is only my 3rd marathon, so I am in no way an expert on marathons.  Or even an "experienced" marathon IMO, unless you're throwing that around in the sense that.... yaysies!  She experienced a marathon (or two)!

The first go around I used the trusty runnersworld.com training program to map out my schedule.  I had been using the site for many recent half marathon and 5ks with great results, and I know better than to mess with a good thing.  The training program got me to the finish line happy and healthy, and roughly in the amount of time I thought it'd take me.

Marathon #2 I enlisted the help of  Runners World yet again, and then had some issues with my IT Bands and knee that cause me to downsize my already short training program to 9 weeks.  Uff.  There were a lot of variables behind the suckfest that was Vegas, but for #3 I decided I wanted to try something new!

At one point I thought about giving the reigns over to Luke or Jason and see what their brilliant minds and speedy selves could come up with, but then I realized a) I'm a control freak (duh!) and b) half of the fun of training is working on the training program!  I started to see what was out there.  I read a lot of books.

 

I took notes!  Because I'm a total nerd.  And then I found an old friend in Hal Higdon.  I was a religious Hal Higdon user for numerous half marathons, 5ks, pretty much everything before I got back in to running "seriously" about two years ago.  And when I saw what was listed in the Advanced-I training program, I was more than intrigued.... I was a little bit smitten.

Through reading and reading and reading.  And chatting with some fasty running pals, I evaluated what I thought I was "missing" from my training.  Or at the very least, what could be tweaked to make me queen bee fasty of SoDak... errr something. 

• Hill repeats.  I don't do them.  I hate them.  They're dumb.  But I should.  Hal has 'em.
• Tempo runs.  I psych myself out so much on long tempo runs that I often will end up skipping them.  Shorter, slightly faster tempos may be the ticket.  While I think tempo runs are grade-A for me for half marathon training and shorter, I don't see the connection as much in marathon training.  Hal...check!
• 800 m. repeats.  Mile repeats = satan's track workout.  Again, I psych myself out of them.  If I like to do shorter repeats, than I should.  And that's that.  Hal has 'em.
• Pace workouts.  This is something I've never done, and I couldn't give you an answer as to why.  When reflecting on Vegas, I was shocked to realize that not a single workout done in training was at the 9:09 mgp.  How are your legs supposed to lock on to a go pace if you're running 7:30s for mile repeats, 8:10s for tempo, and 9:30s for long runs?!?!?  Answer: They don't.  Hal?  You betcha.
• Long runs on fatigued legs.  Somewhere along the way I turned in to a wuss.  If my legs felt like crap at the start of a long run, I would cut it short and move it to the next day.  When my legs felt like junk at the start of Vegas I panicked!  In this schedule every other long run will have a 4-8 mile pace run the day before, so I'll be getting my mental toughness on.

I did a lot of revamping of Hal's schedule to make it fit me, but all in all, I think we may have a winner.  On paper at the very least, we'll see how my body responds to it.  :)  I guess we'll find out in 14 weeks.


Tonight I did my first bit of speedwork in.... uh.... um.... weeks and was unsure how it'd turn out.  I had 5 miles to do with 4 at tempo pace.  According to the McMillan calculator my tempos should be 8:09-8:31 pace.  I was shooting for a pace somewhere in the slower 8:20s.  The wind was intense.  And that's an understatement.  We're talking 17 mph winds with 30 mph wind gusts.  Guess which miles were really into the wind:  9:25 (warm up), 8:14, 8:19, 8:42, 8:11.
If you guessed miles 4 and 5 you'd be correct.  Well and half of mile 3 technically.  Don't ask how I can run an 8:42 followed by an 8:11 in to the same amount of the wind.  Ok do ask:  I'm a slacker.  Ooops.  I should really work on that.


During my run I saw half of a rabbit on the bike trail.  Which prompted me to wonder what was out on the trails feasting on not-so-small furry rabbits.  Which prompted me to wonder if they would also be partial to Jerbears.  And then upon further inspection and thought (clearly this was during the 8:42 mile) I realized it only had one foot.


HOT DOG I JUST FOUND ME A LUCKY RABBIT'S FOOT!
Poor not so lucky 1/2 of a rabbit slash 1/4 of limb rabbit. :(

My Two Cents on Boston....

I'm sure everyone has read the new Boston standards and registration process by now.  If not, go here.  Everyone has an opinion on this, including me, and since this is my blog you have to read it(or mark all as read.... whatevs....)

And my opinion is as follows:

meh.

:)

After running Green Bay and having a very successful first marathon, I caught the marathon fever (that's an understatement) and definitely the BQ bug.  I signed up for Vegas almost immediately and had a sub-4 hour finish in mind.  I thought a 3:50 would be attainable for Spring 2011 and Fall of 2011 would be my first attempt at the BIG BQ [insert thunder rumbling and lightning bolts here.....].  Obviously Vegas didn't turn out as I wanted to, and my confidence was shaken (but not daily...because I am not being effed over by Cecelia...).

(Source)

I've recently done some revamping of my race goals and running goals in general.  In Fargo, I will run a sub-4 marathon.  Will it be just under or will it be a low 3:50?  I dunno.  After that I'm going to take a little break from marathons and focus on my quicks yo.  In case you're new in these parts, I like to run fast!  I was a sprinter for goodness gracious sake.  Why I feel the need to kill myself over the marathon is beyond me.  This fall, instead of training for a marathon that will inevitably end up in a 90+ degree day causing me to die and be angry for wasting 2 1/2 months of training, I'm instead going to try to knock out a killer --and I mean KILLER-- half marathon PR.  I love half marathons.  They're short enough that you can run them with some speed, they're long enough that you feel like a B.A. for training for and completing them, and they're gentle enough (compared to the marathon) to have a relatively short rebound to the next one.

The bonus of training for half marathons is that my speed work will still be speedy so I can feel confident throwing myself in to some 5k and 10k (yes! I might finally run a 10k!) races without being worried I'll suck it up or break myself from running so g.d. slow from marathon training.

The best part is, by not focusing on the g.d. marathon, I'll want to run one oh so bad.  And I will have gotten faster in the meantime.... and then that pesky BQ may will be attainable.

So yeah... my thoughts on the changes are meh... probably because it doesn't affect me right now.  And by the time it will affect me, it won't matter anymore.... (hopefully). :)

Fargooooooooooo Marathon Training Begins

Marathon training started on the day of loooooooove (February 14th) but my last couple weeks of training didn't go exactly as planned.  I had week 1 of training just shy of 40 miles, but after posting 4 miles last week (thanks Ninja Death Star Flu) and 21 the week before (feel "out of it" from the possible impending NDSF) I didn't think 40 miles was very... uh.. smart.  I chatted a bit with Jason who has become my marathon training program aficionado this go around, and he suggested I stay right around 25 miles for this week.  Works for me!

My new motivation secured to my bathroom mirror.  Ignore that I need to clean my mirror immensely.

I went through the first 5 weeks of my training program and adjusted them to fit a ~15% weekly mileage increase and before I even began, my training program was revamped.  Ugh.  Oh well.  I did an easy peasy 3 miler to kick off training.  It was warm but there were huge areas of super duper slick ice so I toggled between a 9:40 pace when I was running, and who knows what pace when I was tippy toeing across the ice.

And another thing I've been wondering, is anyone else able to tell that they're getting sick, a few days before they actually get sick just based on how poor your runs feel.  On the Saturday that I attempted my ten mile long run and cut it short at 3 miles, I was going extremely slow, my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest, and my shirt was soaked after 27 minutes of running (surprisingly not common for me after only a slow poke 3 miler).  Yet, I didn't start feeling sick until Monday.  Interesting?  Or am I just loco?

This is how happy I am to be running after only doing 4 miles in 10 days FYI.

And in other fun news, I was contacted by Megan at Build a Sign to create some sweet signage for my bloggy.  I knew they had to have 3 things:  be green (duh!), list my blog addy, and include my running mantra....Don't think just run!  I was super excited at how they turned out!! :)




I was sent stickers and sweet window clings.  Upon receipt I immediately stuck one on KK's bedroom mirror so he has to think of me and my running obsession every time he looks at himself.  I'm a genius... I know.  If anyone wants one of these puppies, I'll send one out the the first 10 that want them.  Let me know what your running mantra is!  If you don't happen to be one of the first 10 and really really really want one (likely my Mom, because really who else would?!?!) feel free to beg in the comments... I'm feeling extra sweet.  ;)

Introducing: Madeline aka My Precious

A few months back I had pondered an e-reader purchase to keep me from blowing out my brains on the many many many treadmill runs I would encounter this winter.  A couple of you lovely faces mentioned that I should steer towards a Nook as they have the capabilities of downloading/checking out books from libraries.  Uh...sold!  I'd been holding off thus far (primarily because I get paid once a month so by the end of the month I'm surviving off of air), but when groupon had a Barnes and Noble deal I jumped right on it!  I spent all day on Friday freaking out at work over my new purchase.  Then I read the fine print and realized I couldn't use it until Friday night at midnight:  disappointment #1.

Last Saturday morning I jumped out of bed at 9:15 to head to my local Barnes and Noble to purchase my new nooky poo.  Armed with groupon + birthday present gift card (Thanks LC!) I was ready to go.  I brought it home, ready to download the 3rd book in the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series, only to realize it was checked out:  disappointment #2.  From there I set about finding any book that I could read, and settled on Wicked.  After spending an hour or so trying to download the proper stuff for my computer and Nook, I was ready to throw both the Nook and my MacBook against the wall.  Seriously, I'm pretty technologically savvy but I was feeling dummmmmmmmb:  disappointment #3.

After 2 1/2 hours messing around, I finally hit the gym (so of course what little I had for breakfast was gone out of my stomach causing me to be starving and have a sucky mcsucksuck run, cutting it short 7 miles).  Luckily the Nook comes with a few free books downloaded to it, but unfortunately Little Women was not the sort of "mindless reading" I was looking forward to while logging a long run.

I didn't have another chance to mess around with the Nook until Sunday afternoon pre-Superbowl.  At which point I stated, "I am SERIOUSLY going to cry slash throw a tantrum" at least 12-18 times.  Another hour and a half passed with no success.

Monday morning I didn't have to be to work until 11am (yes I planned to go in late the day after the Superbowl because I'm smart like that....) so I decided to mess around with it again.  Because... you know... I hadn't lost my mind enough about it.  I finally found in a forum that while there are definitely issues getting the Nook authorized with this specific program, there appear to be even more issues with Macs.  Ah HA!  So I'm not a dumby dumby head.

Monday night after work i decided to give it one more go around and restored my Nook to it's original factory settings and tried again to get it to work (with bated breath and crossed fingers)..... by God it WORKED.  It's ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!  Total time spent:  6 1/2 hours.  For the record, I could've easily finished a book and a half in that time frame.

(P.S.  check out my sweet GOLD nail polish that I tracked down for the Superbowl.  GO PACK GO!)


I have decided on the name Madeline for her, after one of my favorite children's book characters, and am currently scouring the web for a super sweet sticker/cling that I can add to her backside.





Also, I received an email from Barnes and Noble on Friday advertising half off on their Kate Spade Nook covers.  I had originally wanted the pink one, but wasn't a huge fan of the orange on the inside, plus I didn't want to match Jenn.  :p  Jk, that wouldn't bother me at all.  But I loved this black and read one.  So chic.

I was hanging out with KK the other night (meaning he was playing Tiger Woods with his roomies...uh joy....) so I pulled out The Help from my purse in hardcover form (checked out from the library natch).  He just rolled his eyes at me for not using my new Nook that I spent all the monies on.  Traditionalist up in here.... don't hate. ;)

Edited to add:  Ok, since I original wrote this post I read and completed my first book via nook, Club Dead.  But in my defense, while being on my deathbed, I wasn't able to go to the library to renew my book stash.  And I kind of loved it.  So there.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my lovely lovey loverfaces out there.  I love you all and hope you have a super sweet day. :D

Ninja Death Star Flu*

As I mentioned previously, I've been sicky pants this week.  I took Wednesday and Thursday off from work after gutting it out Monday and Tuesday.  I started to feel better Thursday night so I actually went to work on Friday.  Friday night my stomach started feeling really upset and Saturday morning at about 3am I thought I was going to die.  You know that scene in the exorcist with the projectile vomiting?  Yeah... that was me.  Fun fact:  I haven't thrown up since I was 16 (outside of drinking too much and making myself throw up, TMI?  My bad.)  I was terribly sick from December 23rd to January 2nd, which meant I was sick for Christmas and my sweet 16 birthday.  Le sigh.  I'm still upset about this.

I was supposed to work Saturday morning and was told I needed to get a doctor's note.  Yay!  Nothing like spending $100+ for a doctor to say, "yup...you're sick!"  Wouldn't a picture of my barf in the toilet suffice? So I trekked to acute care at 9am (when they opened) and was greeted by a full room of sick kids with their mommies and their blankies.  Color me jealous.  Also, if I wasn't sick already, I'll be twelve different kinds of sick by the time today is over.  Yayzies!  I was told the wait would be around an hour.  During that hour I managed to make multiple trips to the public bathroom to puke my guts out. Uh yeah... the reason I didn't want to go to work is because it's just gross and wrong to puke in a toilet that isn't yours, right?  Ugh.  Fail.

I finally got in around 10am and the nurse took my vitals.  And then let me sit there.... for an hour and 15 minutes before a doctor came in.  At which time I laid down on the exam table in the fetal position alternating trying to sleep with my stocking hat covering my eyes and fighting back tears because I was in so much pain and infuriated that I was at the doctor's who wasn't even seeing me instead of laying in my bed resting.  At one point I had to throw up but there wasn't anyone around to point me in the direction of a bathroom.  Awesome.  Hey nurse, if I tell you that I've been throwing up non-stop since 3am while you're taking my vitals, might not be a bad idea to let me know where the nearest bathroom is before leaving me.  Just sayin'.  I guarantee Nurse Susan would never let this happen.

Finally the doctor comes in around 11:30 and I tell him my symptoms and that I'm sure I have the flu, and my health insurance sucks, so I don't want him to run a bunch of tests that I can't afford, and can I please just have a note for work so I can go home and die.

He decides to run a white blood cell count test to rule out an infection, proving it's the flu so I can be on my merry way.  So the nurse comes in to take my blood work and I demand she takes me to a bathroom to yak, so I don't do it on her instead.  After another 45 minutes of waiting the doctor comes back to say that my white blood cell count is extremely high, and that I have an infection of some sort.  DON'T CARE DUDE GIVE ME MY NOTE SO I CAN GO THE EFFFFFFFFF HOME!!!!!!!!  (Sidenote:  Doc sounded just like Jar Jar Binks, so it was slightly ok that he was so incapable of doing his job.)

More tests!  Yay!  Perhaps it's a kidney infection!  Yay!  Of course I set to googling my white blood cell count on my phone (seriously...smart phone SAVED ME while I was waiting...waiting...waiting....) however googling your symptoms while in the doc's office is not the smartest thing.  "Oh great... I have leukemia...."

After the results of more tests, and more pressing on my stomach, and excessively long wait time, might I add, the doctor comes back and says "I have no idea what kind of infection you have.... but if the pain gets worse, go to the ER."  ARE YOU EFFFFFFING KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!  I sat here for 4 hours and by sat I mean, laying on a stone hard cot writhing in pain and agony, and you don't know what's wrong with me?!?!?!?  You couldn't just write me an effing note hours ago?!?!?  Oh... and he also said that I was severely dehydrated, to which I replied, well yeah, I've been throwing up non-stop since early this morning, and I've been here for the last 4 hours without anything to drink while still throwing up, so I'm sure I am dehydrated.  Pissed off Patty = Jerbear.

So he gives me a script for an antibiotic, which I don't have filled because I don't understand how you can perscribe an antibiotic for an infection if you don't know where the infection is.  PLUS as I mentioned, my health insurance sucks and I'm sure all those tests will cost me $$$$$ that I do not have.

And just for good measure, I barf again in their bathroom before leaving.

Source

OH!  And I almost forgot to mention.... once I got home I was obviously in a lot of pain and discomfort. And after awhile, found that the pain was somewhat bearable when I was laying on my back instead of on my side... which I hate laying on my back but whatever.  In my highly feverish state, I started getting all Dr. House and analogy-ridden.  Case in point:  I was half asleep/half dreaming/half Dr. House (I think) and I was diagnosing my (the patient's illness) by stating that there were a group of children at a kid's birthday party.  When the kids were upright, they were happy and having fun (meaning when I was laying on my back) but when they were tipped on their side they were crying and throwing tantrums.  Ok, now remove the children from the party.... what's wrong with your stomach?  And then I realized I was losing brain cells from the fever, and I was sad.


*Name Patent Pending

January in Review + This Runner's End of Year Rituals

January in Review

Total Miles: 79.2 miles up from 66.4 last month.  (81.5 miles from January 2010.  Which means I'm equal amounts of wussy.  YAY!)

Total Time:  12:33:18 up from 10:55:31 (11:25:01 last January.)

Total Runs: 14 for an average of 5.66/run.  Considering every run seems to be 5-6 miles this is about right.

Highest weekly mileage:  

1/24/2011 — 1/30/2011:

28.0 Mi

4:23:32

Favorite run: Long run with miss Jenn.  I miss having a running buddy and I miss her MUCHOS!  Plus it was cool to see Houston on foot.

Most hardcore run: I did a tempo run (unblogged) and mile repeats just because (also unblogged).  Any time I run hard while not following a training program is considered hardcore to me.

Favorite Race: None.  Sniffle.

Bike Miles: 0 which is exactly the same as last month's 0.  

Favorite Jams: Kate Nash--Nicest Thing, Bruno Mars--Grenade, Rihanna--Love the Way you Lie (Part II), J Cole--I'm coming home, Drake--Best I've Ever Had

______________

And here's some random musings from a post I wrote back in December and forgot to post.  WTH Jerbear?!?!?

We as runners have countless rituals (or perhaps it's just miss OCD over here).  As I was cleaning the other day I realized that it was almost time to de-clutter my fridge.  I have very specific rituals that I follow, that you get the pleasure of learning today.

• My current training program always goes in the upper left hand corner of my fridge.  Since I don't currently have one, my Vegas bib took its spot.
• Once a training program has been completed, it gets retired to the lower portion of the fridge.  It remains here through the end of the year.
• At the end of the calendar year, all training programs get removed and retired to their final resting place (aka on top of the fridge).  Would you be surprised to know that I have every training program I've ever done in the past 6 years of long distance running?  You shouldn't be.... *cough* hoarder *cough*
• Every race bib for the calendar year gets a spot on my fridge as well.  Well every bib except for the Urban Wildland half were it literally disintegrated from my sweat.  Oh well, better than black eyed susans sprouting from it mid-run (a legitimate concern of mine).
• At the end of the year, the bibs all get removed as well to start a-fresh.  Last year I put all of my collected race bibs on a board along with some fun inspiration running cut outs.  This year, I'm not sure what to do with my bibs.  Any suggestions?

Hoarderific old training programs. :)

The Superbowl Made Up for Some Super Crappy Runs

This weekend I had some super de duper crappy runs.  Friday night I had 5.35 miles to run and I felt like I was going to die for 99% of it.  Mental note:  scarfing down wheat thins and hummus 5 seconds before heading out for a run because you're "starrrrrrrrrrrrrving" will cause your stomach to be pisssssssssed.

Saturday I had big plans to hit up my local Barnes and Noble to treat myself to my new nook, and then to take it for a test drive on the treadmill for my ten mile long run.  Long story short (for now) I wasn't able to get the library book I wanted downloaded on to the Nook, and it took me much longer to get to that conclusion than I had initially planned.  So by the time I started my long run, I was already hungry.  And I've been feeling under the weather.  And I quit the run at 3 miles.  Dedication.... I haz it.

I briefly considered making up my remaining 7 miles Sunday before the Superbowl, but that was pretty far-fetched.  Original Superbowl outfit included super sweet green sparkly clover headband (see right) until I realized that the boy probably wouldn't be seen with me sporting them (just wait for St. Patty's day kid....muhahahahhaha) and that I wouldn't be able to wear my lucky gold hair ribbon/headband that had been providing GB with excessive luck over the past 5-6 weeks of wearing it.  For some reason, no photos were taken of Superbowl celebrations.  At one point, I had made a deal that if the Packers won, I was going to go streaking outside after the game.  The fact that we watched the game at a bar, coupled with the fact that it was a gazillion degrees below zero out, PLUS the fact that I didn't actually utter this thought to anyone, allowed me to wuss out.  Yayzies.

But seriously.... talk about a happy camper on Sunday.  GO PACK GO!  :D :D :D :D

And of course on Monday morning I had to continue to represent:  rocking a yellow stripey sweater and my Packers scarf.

P.S.  What the heck am I going to do with all my time on Sundays!??!?!?!?  #IHateTheOffSeason

Superhero

After declaring my hatred for the treadmill via dailymile yesterday, I decided I would brave the elements since we were experiencing a heatwave (heatwave=temps above zero..... that's practically swimsuit season!).  When I checked the windchill I realized I was going to freeze my little face off.  Conundrum.  I was complaining to my running buddy, Angie, at our dailymile meet up this weekend that I needed to get a facemask to wear in the cold and she mentioned that she just used her neck warmer over her face when it was cold.  And then I asked what her neck warmer consisted of..... which was a shocking answer:  basically a scarf.  Uh..... I have more scarves than I have clothes.  Clearly I could use one of them over my face!

And I did.

And it was great.

Silly me thought that because it wasn't blizzard temps anymore, the trails would be clear as well.  Wrong.  1-2' snow drifts.  Neat-o.  Instead I did laps around the park.  Laps are a gazillion times better than running in place on the treadmill for an hour.  At times my scarf would whip around in the wind..... and I felt like a superhero.

I iz superhero.

I haz cape!

I love a good LOLCAT reference.  And speaking of kittens I have been wanting a little kitten and an adorable pug sooooooooooo badly lately.  Every time I talk about how cute whittle puggies are I stawt talking in the whittle bitty annoying voice.  I would just wove one so muchhhhhhhhhhh.

How could you not wove that whittle bitty face?!?!?!?!?  WOVE!!!!

And all of my friends have always joked that I will end up the crazy cat lady, and to be honest I don't think that's a terrible future.  I even had a dream that KK brought me an adorable little grey kitten with giant paws and he was so cute and it made me so happy.  The end.  

I do have this theory that the only people that like me (typically) are self-proclaimed cat people.  Just like cats, I'm not very trusting of people and tend to be pretty shy and stand-offish.  However, after you take the time to get to know me, I'm super outgoing and I'm the most lovable person in the world.  Just wike ze whittle kitty faces.

Ok, enough of that.

Impending Blizzards Make Me Crave Blizzards Natch

All of this blizzard talk on the news (ie:  twitter) has got me craving a frozen delicious treat!  I asked the boy ever so sweetly to bring me a blizzard to work since I was stuck working late.  When that didn't work, I attempted to bribe him with highly coveted bribery items.  And when that still didn't work, I used brute force.  Just kidding.  Can you imagine these t-rex arms causing anyone any harm ever?  Perhaps after I lift weights twice for the year....then we'll talk....

Anywho, after work it was off to the ol' gym to get in a b.a. tempo run.  Now I must mention that my gym is rightnexttoaDQ.  And in the 2 years that I've been a member there, I have gone to DQ exactly zero times after a workout.  If you know how much I luuuuuuuuurve ice cream, you realize this is quite the feat.  Well after tonight, I still have that streak in tact, because I hit up DQ before my run.  Yup....that's how I roll.

I wasn't positive what time the store closed and knew I would be running long after 9pm, and realized that if I didn't have a blizzard before I went to bed I would likely die.  And cry.  Perhaps die whilst crying.  Either way, it wouldn't be good.  So I hit up the DQ before I hit my gym.  Good thing it's a gazillion degrees below zero so my blizzard could stay all nice and frozen in my car waiting for me.

But of course heading to DQ/the gym couldn't be an easy task, it had to be an adventure.  YAYZIES!  I think I've made it pretty clear that I'm d-u-m-b when it comes to cars.  Well surprise surprise I also suck at driving them.  If I ever get me lots o' monies, you best believe I'll be paying someone to drive me around.  Anywho, while traveling to DQ/gym I got stuck behind a car trying to make a left hand turn into an apartment complex.  Sadly, this car was on flat ground just north of a nice little mini-hill I needed to climb.  Snowy roads+tires that aren't made for snowy roads+not so great on snow driver Jeri = wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

And wheeeeeeeee = the sound of my tires spinning.

I had to pull some crazy turn around maneuver to back track and get turned around once again, gain some momentum and make my way UP and OVER the little hill.  Car success!  Ack.  How many years til I can afford that driver??

I had a pretty rockin' tempo run, so I guess all was good in the 'hood.  I did 5 miles with 3 at tempo (8:06, 8:12, 8:02).