barking dogs in London

Hey hey hey!  I’m in London, visiting Cathlin and her family. Having a fantastic time as expected and so far the weather has been lovely.  Since I arrived on Saturday, we have been running around NON-STOP.  Not that I’m complaining.  But we’ve been so busy, this is the first quiet moment I’ve had to sit down, give my feet a break and blog.

I won’t bore you with a blow by blow of the last four days but will pass along some highlights.

Portobello Rd. Market, Notting Hill –  so crowded with tourists we could barely make our way down the street.   We persevered though and I came away with two brilliant scarves (just practicing my brit-speak) and some trinkets to add to my jewelry making supplies.

BrickLane and Spitalfields Markets – it was too nice a day so we blew off our planned 4 hour round-trip train ride to Stratford upon Avon and did some power walking in London instead.  Went out of our way to get a much hyped but underwhelming bagel with cream cheese (we ate only half).  Made up for it with a delicious cinnamon and sugar churro from a street vendor (we shared – should have bought two).  Bought matching Mad Men-esque dresses (black for Cathlin, gray for me).   Vintage heaven if you’re into that kind of thing.  Lunch at Waga Mama’s – yum.

London Walking tour – another beautiful day so we headed out by Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, across the river and then along the banks of the Thames.  Lunch on the terrace at the OXO building overlooking the city.  Found a fantastic shop (henrietta park) in a tiny pink kiosk filled with silk dresses and wool coats in beautiful saturated colors.  Um, yes, we spent a fair bit of time (and money) in there.  But that was the only shopping we did yesterday, I swear.   Except for some matching leggings to go with our previously mentioned matching dresses.

Museums and Swanky neighborhoods – Cathlin had to work today so I was on my own to check out the Grace Kelly exhibit at the V&A (worth the price).  Wandered around Kings Road and Sloane Square, admiring the posh houses and avoiding out-of-my-league designer shops.  Did have a moment of weakness at the Radley store whilst considering an orange handbag that was not on the sales shelf.  Took a picture and decided to think it over.  Met Cathlin and the boys at their school and headed home for Neapolitan pizza in their neighborhood.  And then gelato.  Hey, I’m on vacation.

Running – to counteract all the food excess, Cathlin and I got up at 5:30 this morning to run for 27 minutes and 22 seconds.  We saw a fox, the milkman, and smelly trash – just as Cathlin described in one of her posts (I’d link to it but I’m in a bit of a food coma right now)!  We’re going to try to get in one more run before our Race for Life 5K at Finsbury Park on Sunday.

And now, I will attempt to add a slide show of a few less than stellar pics I took with my blackberry because after the first day I got tired of carrying a separate camera.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ordinary adventures.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

From the Jolly Green Giant in Minn, to the ranches of Wyoming, to the Badlands of South Dakota, to our first house in Boise, ID, to the stage door of the theater where I directed my first play…our roadtrip of life’s ordinary adventures is proving to be truly extraordinary.

And. I’m finally joining my sisters in graduating from the C25K program. Tuesday morning, Park City UT.  In an area that was part of the Olympic Village in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Extraordinary.

I love Chicago & Wisconsin. (And treadmills)

Greetings from the ROAD!

We are on our Summer 2010 Cross-Country Roadtrip from Cold Spring, NY to Boise, Id. And back.

So far — it’s Day 3 — we’ve been to:

• Niagara Falls – the falls are incredible, the town is a creepy tourist thing,
• London, Ontario – nothing to write about here
• Chicago, IL – love love love this beach-city. Yes, beach-city.
• and now we are in Madison, WI – green, clean and friendly.

  This slideshow requires JavaScript.

At our beautiful hotel in Chicago, I discovered the beauty of: THE TREADMILL. Hotel Raffaello, located in the Gold Coast area of Chicago (near the beach, and we had California weather), had a lovely fitness room, where I completed Day 1 and Day 2 of my last week of the C25K. On a treadmill. I love the treadmill. Why did I feel like I was cheating? Air conditioning. Tunes. A cup of water at my side. The 30 minutes were so fun that I actually did 33 minutes. And the next morning, I got up and did it again. Running is fun indoors.

The bad side. There were mirrors everywhere. I don’t like watching myself run, really. I looked slow. But I could check out my form. And my STILL UNFANCY BUM. Sigh. And, I couldn’t deny my slowness, when my 30 minutes was up and I had run, according to the treadmill display, only 1.77 miles. WHAT?! That’s 15 minute miles. Ok….I’m cracking up right now at how slow that is. The next day I stepped up the pace and made it to 1.92 miles. So…this isn’t actually a 5K program, now is it? So. My plan: I’ll finish the C25K program probably in Park City, UT when we get there on Monday. And then after that, I’m going to concentrate on distance, instead of time. Got to pick up the pace. Or that half-marathon is going to take 5 hours.

Tomorrow, we are off to Custer, SD! Yee-hah. I’ll write about it.

And, while I’m here a plug for this awesome food/cultural tour we did today in Chicago — my new favorite city. Chicago Food Planet Tours. 3 hour of sampling food stuffs from cool places, and walking around learning about the history of Chicago. Highly recommended.

See you in Utah…for my graduation.

two down, one to go

gotta love coded socks

I’m happy to announce that I have officially joined Cathlin in completing the C25K training program.  Woot!

I did my last run yesterday morning on one of the hottest days (100+) of this summer so far.   Thankfully it was only 80 degrees and 65% humidity when Daisy and I headed out at 6:00 am.

If I hadn’t been so committed to finishing yesterday I might have psyched myself out when I opened the door and felt that heat.  Did the powers that be not get the memo that I was doing my final run?

Well never mind.  I was going and that was that.  I already had on my favorite and fancy-bum-worthy (and kinda pricey) asics hera socks in honor of the occasion.  The hot pink and orange ones to entice my feet to move out at a faster pace (wishful thinking).  I love the fit of these socks with their L and R on the toes.  I have four pairs in different fun color combos.  Seriously, the other socks in my drawer are jealous because they never get to go out anymore.

Anyhoo.  With happy feet we jogged down unpaved alleys for the first 10 minutes to ease into things and then crossed over onto the sidewalks of the Fan.  Very cool neighborhood.  Great architecture.  None of which I noticed as I dodged uprooted sidewalks and kept an eye out for squirrels and other distractions (for Daisy not me) while also trying to focus on my form and my breathing.

And not looking at my watch.  There’s nothing worse than thinking you’ve run at least 15 minutes and then peeking at the time and realizing it has only been 10.  Also, I know I said I was going to try to inject some faster sections into my runs but with the heat and humidity I just couldn’t do it.   Or at least chose not to do it.  Still, I was plenty sweaty and Daisy’s tongue was hanging out by the time we finished.  She got some extra loving for her efforts.

I forgot to do my victory dance and couldn’t find my cap and gown.  But I did have a big fat Butterfinger Blondie at lunch in celebration.  Yum.

searching for the perfect bubble bums

If, while perusing your blog stats, you discovered that someone had found your site via the search engine terms “bubble bums” what would you do? If you are like me you would:

1. chuckle.
2. google it immediately.
3. search through 15 pages of booster seats, male buttocks surgery implants, advice on achieving a bum like Beyonce and all manner of sites dedicated to cataloging said bums to finally find the link to your own humble blog.
4. marvel that someone looking for the perfect bubble bum reference would be intrigued enough to click on your link – although I can imagine that the excerpt shown below would be titillating for someone on this particular quest.

Page 15

I wonder if they were disappointed?  Alas, they didn’t leave a comment so we’ll never know.

I love the internet.

Dog tired

This morning I passed another milestone in my quest to become a running goddess.  Or at least to not be a pathetic, wheezing, flailing disaster running in pants.

Today marked the start of week 9 for Daisy and me in the C25K program.  Thirty minutes straight.  Woah.   We’ve both come a long way.

Aside from a short poop break (Daisy – not me), we ran all the way!  I did try to jog in place while doing the clean up which I’m sure looked ridiculous but gave me a bonus quad/bum workout.

Now I need to work on picking up the pace.  I mapped a couple of 5K routes in the neighborhood via the US Track and Field website the other day and figured out that I’ve been doing around 12.5 minute miles.   Which translates to a 38.75 minutes to do a 5K.  Which is only a few minutes faster than the Komen 5K I did two months ago at week THREE in the program (and included eight minutes of walking).  That’s discouraging.  I want to be able to do a 5K in 30 minutes.

So, I’m going to start throwing in some faster sections during my runs.  Just to prove to myself that I can.  I started today with the last two minutes and I didn’t keel over.  Woo hoo!  Oh sure my breathing was so loud you’d think I had just completed a marathon but I’m going to celebrate the small steps.

And, while Daisy has decided napping is in order after our run, I actually feel great and have more energy than when I started out this morning.  That’s a very good sign.  Woot! Another small victory.

I DID IT!

Graduation days have to be some of the happiest of all days.  A feeling of both accomplishment for what you have achieved and nervous anticipation for what’s up next.  I’ve had a few myself – some with ceremonial cap and gown and lots of fellow graduates and others celebrated quietly on my own.

Today marked my final day of the C25K program.  Although the journey was only nine weeks, I still consider it a graduation.  No way would I have thought that I would be running for 30 minutes.  It has been so long since I did that – 8 years to be exact, and I have tried to get going so many times since then.  I guess I just was missing someone to run with.  Thanks girls.

Another milestone today.  I did my week 9 day 3 run in…..SHORTS!  Yes, shorts.  Navy blue running shorts I bought probably in 1999 – the kind with the built-in underwear of sorts.  Hilarious.  I tried them on and looked at myself in the full length mirror for a while.  Then I took them off at the sight of my legs. Put them on again.  Asked my son how they looked.  He checked me out and said I looked kind of funny (I don’t think he has ever seen me in shorts).  Hmmmm, they do kind of balloon out a bit and the dark blue made my legs look even whiter.  But, it was really hot, and I was looking for something special to mark the day so I left them on and quickly went out the door before I changed my mind (I also knew it was Sunday morning and was pretty sure it would be very quiet on the streets).  Maybe this would motivate me to run fast and get home before anyone woke up in London.

My goal was to cross Hammersmith Bridge.  I’ve run/walked to the bridge a few times, but never over it.  I started out with the usual shuffle feeling like 30 minutes would never come.  Finally I got to the bridge. Shoot. Stairs.  I tried to pretend I was Rocky Balboa running through the streets of Philadelphia (no I wasn’t listening to The Eye of the Tiger) and hustled up them.  Crossed the bridge.  Stopped for a quick look around the Thames and  headed back home because miss lady said I had reached the half way point about 3 minutes ago.  I was just starting to loosen up and enjoy myself….always takes me at least 15 to 20 minutes.  I even did an extra 2 minutes at the end just to prove I could.  Yippeee!  I DID IT!

Here’s my graduation cap I always run in and my old trusty headphones (from my walkman).  I couldn’t find any tassels to wear.  You didn’t really think I would put a picture of myself in the shorts getup.  I guess the only thing left to do now is to shoot for the 10K.

graduation

Graduation comes in all sorts of ways. This week, my daughter graduated from 8th grade. Next year, she’s in high school. I can hardly believe it. It seems like just yesterday she was graduating from 5th grade, and she was  stressed about having to figure out how to use a locker with a combination when she got to middle school the next year. Now her concerns center around ensuring she maintains her unlimited text messaging privileges and if she can go on facebook. How she will change in high school — driving, dating, proms, college. I can’t wait.

I was hoping to have graduated from the C25K program this week, too. But, alas, I’m still in week 8, after repeating week 6 several times and delaying the uninterrupted running sessions I knew were coming. Though…Congratulations to Cathlin for graduating! And it sounds like you are finally truly enjoying your 30 minute runs. Look how far we’ve come! I’m still not to the enjoying running part yet. And this morning I felt like an elephant. But I trust that day will come and thanks for the inspiration, sisters. I want to graduate, too. And I need to do it before our cross-country roadtrip. I have until July 6.

I’ve also discovered that no new shoes, new song, new device, new route, time of day, energy drink can be as powerful a motivator as your Mind.  The mind-body connection is so purely connected when running. I can tell myself to quit (for so many reasons, I’m good at them) or I can tell myself to keep going. Despite tired legs, deer flies or humidity. I need to graduate from being controlled by my body and let go and love it.

“Strictly by accident, Scott stumbled upon the most advanced weapon in the ultrarunner’s aresenal: Instead of cringing from fatigue, you embrace it. You refuse to let it go. You get to know it so well you’re not afraid of it anymore.” Born to Run

Oh. And here are my new running shoes. Yeah, the mind is everything. But I’m really digging the new shoes. Mizuno Ronin 2.

When boys aren’t gross…it’s love, actually

6:45 am.  I’m just back from my very first 30 minute run (hooray) and am met at the front door by my son who is holding up a drawing he just did.  ”Guess what I’m calling this picture?”, he asks.  I had no idea. Some brown flowers, clouds, a few blue slashes.  It starts with the letter T, he says.  Still no clue, although I see he has scribbled something at the bottom. Not giving me much time to guess, he tells me that he has called it Tears which he spelled “tirs” on the picture.  That’s a relief because I thought it said “tits”.  I asked him if it was a sad picture and he replied “all in life is not happy” and off he went.

Back again with The Art Book for Children.  He can’t decide what to draw next and shows me his two choices.  Waterlily Pond  by Monet or Spring by Botticelli.  I’m not sure what has inspired this early morning burst of creativity from my son who is usually more interested in old war movies and re-enacting every scene.  Anyway, I suggest the Monet as it looks far more simple to recreate and we had to leave for school in about 45 minutes and he is still in his pj’s.  Although drawing for him is all about speed, not perfection.  He tells me he knows what to do and off again he goes to his art station.  This is what he came up with – a combination of the two paintings.  Simply titled, “Love”.  And spelled correctly.

kicking ass and taking names

Dodgeball Champion

Yes, that’s right, I am a dodgeball CHAMPION!

At great personal risk, I selflessly took a couple of hits to enable the stronger players on our team (those that could actually throw a ball and hit someone) to press on for the win.

I’m so proud.

ALSO,  this morning – after almost three weeks off from running  -  I did the full 25 minute run!   And it was awesome, even with a big dog in tow.  In fact, I felt like I could have gone farther but decided not to push my luck.

Three factors figured into the general awesomeness of the experience:

• By the time I wrangled Daisy and got out the door, it was 6:00 and already at 74% humidity.   But, it was only 67 degrees.  Glorious in comparison to the damp 90 degree days we’ve been having.

• I took a new route down Monument Avenue and kept to straight paths as much as possible.  The wide open space made me feel free and avoiding a lot of turns helped me keep my momentum.

• I left the iPod at home so I could focus on my form.  I’m about half-way through “Master the Art of Running, Raise Your Performance with the Alexander Technique” by Malcolm Balk and Andrew Shields and decided to put some of their recommendations to work.  I concentrated on keeping my head forward and up, running tall, letting my torso rotate and looking ahead.  It made a HUGE difference.  I felt much lighter than normal.  Alexander Technique helped me with my figure skating too all those years ago – highly recommended.

I’m so glad to finally be back with the C25K program.  Looking forward to officially starting C25K Week 7 and catching up to my sisters!