downhill…

IS VERY GOOD.

I finished Week 5 today, the 20 minute run with no breaks. But I did most of it running downhill. And it was so easy. Aerobically. It took more concentration, but it was fun and light.

I feel like I cheated.

So, I’m going to do this day again.

Also. I can’t seem to think of anything that makes me versatile. Other than the lack of versatility in myself and my life.

I’m procrastinating on the versatility post. I got nothing. Am I really so singular? I’m reminded of this quote:

“If you’re coasting, you’re either losing momentum or else you’re headed downhill.”

Wince.

I think this is a sign (pun). Yesterday we rode up to Rosendale, NY. On the front porch of this house was a chalkboard. With this message from David Mamet’s play Glengarry Glenn Ross.  “Always be closing”. Definitely a sign.

on running, pubs and brownies

Today I started week five.  Loved the eight minute runs (especially the five minute break).  I’m starting to feel like a runner again.  I still have no Internet at home but have finally located my headphones…listened to Spring Awakening soundtrack.  On my run this morning, I noticed this sign above the door to a pub that I ran by.

Only in England – where I’m sure they invented boarding school.

On a more pleasing note, I made this beautiful raspberry cheesecake brownie last night.  Picture courtesy of Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook.  They have a shop here in London where they sell nice cupcakes (at outrageous prices). Cupcakes…definitely not invented in England.

versatility – part II

Part II of the Versatile Blogger Award:

OCD

I think I may have a mild form of obsessive compulsive disorder.  Maybe it’s just a lot of weird habits.  Or maybe I just don’t like clutter, and I like to tidy-up, and to straighten things, and to have a clean bathroom.  And is it so strange that I can’t sleep with my closet door open, or my bedroom door shut?  I also go through quite a few anti-bacterial hand wipes.  However, I do spend a lot of time on public transportation.  And really if you open any of my cabinets and drawers, the contents would come falling out.  It’s not like I alphabetize my CDs or even have my socks paired up.

Naked

I absolutely do not like to wander around naked.  Or sleep naked.

Childhood Dreams

Growing up, I do not remember really having any burning desire to pursue any particular vocation.  Not a teacher or a doctor or a hairdresser.  I do remember loving to dance.  My sisters and I would have these funny little dance contests.  One of us used to pretend to be the bad dancer and the other the good dancer.  This was all done to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, of course.  I think I would have been a good performer.  I still have a secret desire to do so.  On the other hand, I do like to tell people what to do (should I have said lead people or motivate people towards a common goal?).  What can I do with that “skill”?  I have tried many, many things and taken many classes, but alas I am only a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

Razors

Sometimes I use my husband’s razor to shave my legs and under my arms and I don’t tell him.  I carefully dry the razor off and put it back in the medicine cabinet where I found it.  So he can then shave his face.  Ick.

Planes

I can fly a single-engine plane.  I know I should say that one of the most memorable moments of my life was when I had my children (I was so drugged up that I actually don’t remember it anyway), but it was my first solo flight. Wow! I will never forget that day.  Flying for me was one of those things that I loved to do even though sometimes it absolutely terrified me.

Hmmmm……

I know my real age is almost 44.  I have managed people, had jobs with authority, am mother to two children, appear to be a grown-up, experienced, worldly woman.  I do know that I am truly a very capable and independent person.  But, honestly, I feel like a bit of a sham or a fraud most of the time.  Inside I’m thinking that can’t be me.  I am only 20, right?  I know nothing yet.  I don’t take myself too seriously.  Labels such as wife and mother don’t seem to belong to me.  I even feel strange calling myself a woman when I am more comfortable with the term girl.  Maybe this is a good thing.

Socks

I sleep in socks….all year round.

it’s good to be versatile

We interrupt this blog for an important announcement: I’ve been tagged as a versatile blogger!  Many thanks to Laura at SeeGirlRun for the props!

The Rules (there are always rules):

• Thank the person who gave you this award.
• Share 7 things about yourself .
• Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!
• Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.

So, seven things about me.

1. I love foreign languages. At one time I thought it would be really cool to be an interpreter at the U.N.  I speak a smattering of Italian, French, German and Spanish.  I learned Italian when we lived in Naples Italy for three years in my early 30s and can hold a decent conversation after many hours explaining various gas leaks / plumbing problems to the tecnico.  My High school French classes have stuck with me.  I learned German basics when I lived in Stuttgart in my 20s (noch ein bier bitte!).  And finally, after one junior high semester of Spanish I still remember how to count to 100 and say hello, how are you, I’m fine and you?  I would love to be fluent but I just get by instead,  sometimes speaking a mix of French and Italian (Fritalian) when I can’t remember the appropriate word in the appropriate language.
2. I once received a shocking proposition from an Italian Lothario! As I mentioned, when we lived in Italy, I spent a lot of time with the tecnico that worked on our house.  Salvatore was in his late 70s  – a grandfatherly figure with a twinkle in his eye.  He spoke no English and suffered through my broken Italian at first but by the end of three years I could hold my own in our conversations.  Before we moved back to the states he stopped by while my husband was at work for one last goodbye.  He led with “I want you” as he gazed up into my eyes (he was only 5′ tall and I am pushing 6′).   As I’m thinking to myself “You want me to what?”, he followed up with a barrage of “I love you, I love you, I love you!”.  OK, now I’m getting it.  Obviously I had been sending signals all these years.  I thought I had been saying “I smell gas” when in actual fact I had been saying “please take me now”.   He told me that lots of American women go home with Italian babies.  Somehow I managed to choke out that I wasn’t that kind of woman and ushered him out of the casa.  Yeesh!  It still gives me the shivers.
3. I had a mid-life crisis. OK, well not really.  I just had a major career change.   I used to be an engineer but at 40 I went back to school to get a B.S. in Interior Design at night with a full load while continuing to work as an engineer full-time during the day.  I went year round.  It was a busy three years but I did it and I loved it!  I practiced residential design for a couple of years but currently I do commercial work.
4. I dig photography.
   

   ode to monet by opiliones

   I took a film photography class during my first year of engineering school and fell. in. love.  My flickr name is Opiliones.  I haven’t posted much since I started my new career but one day I’ll get back to it.  You can see my most popular photos here.

5. I like projects. I always have something crafty going on.  I learned how to crochet when I was ten.  I used to hang out in my yellow bean bag chair, crocheting granny squares while listening to Gordon Lightfoot on my record player (um, yeah, it was the 70s).   These days, aside from fixing up our house, I’m making rugs, scarves, stationery and jewelry.  I have an etsy shop which is currently on hiatus until I have time to get my act together and photograph my growing stash of jewelry.
6. I like to write. I had lots of dreams as a kid and one of them was to be a writer.  Probably because I was such a dedicated reader.  It was either that or environmental scientist (again, it was the 70s), or an interior decorator (!).  I loved writing stories when I was a kid and still have some of my early work tucked away.  Through the years I’ve indulged my writing fantasies through online classes and blogging.  Running in Pants is my third blog.  The first one is kaput but my second blog, Mixed Bag, is still up and running.  Although I haven’t updated it in a few years, I’m surprised that it still gets daily hits.  Power of the internet.  My last post was a listing of six weird things about myself – and for the record I did get rid of the braces.
7. I’m a breast cancer survivor. And that is weird to think about.  It was only a teensy tiny bit o’ cancer (Stage O) and was removed with a lumpectomy.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to have chemo, didn’t lose any hair, wasn’t exhausted all the time.  But I did have to do six weeks of daily radiation – no dramas there either.  It’s been well over a year since I finished my treatment but one of my girls is still slightly tanner than the other.   Weird.  Anyway it all worked out and I was given a clean bill of health.   Doing the Komen race was my public “coming out”.   I don’t intend to hide it anymore.

So, there you go.  More information than you needed or wanted to know about yours truly!  I don’t know if I’ll be able to come up with 15 people to tag that haven’t already been tagged but to get started I’m passing this on to:

Colleen

Cathlin

Suttonhoo

Looking forward to what you all come up with!

fancy bums bubble and squeak

In addition to beginning Week 5 yesterday, I also did 1) some cooking and 2) some bum exercising.

1) Cooking: Vegan Yum Yum.  A really lovely blog and app full of vegan food. I’m not a vegan, but I maybe could be. Except for ice-cream. Cheese. Eggs. Right…anyway. I made Lolo’s (blog author) BUBBLE and SQUEAK. According to Wikipedia, and Cathlin you should know this, Bubble and Squeek is “is a traditional English dish made with the shallow-fried leftover vegetables from a roast dinner. The chief ingredients are potato and cabbage.” Here’s her picture (and mine looked just like these.) Delicious. Very filling. And I’m not worried that if you google Bubble and Squeak the second entry is a recipe from “TWO FAT LADIES BUBBLE AND SQUEAK”. Theirs has lard in it.

Bubble and Squeak Recipe from Vegan Yum Yum

2) Fancy Bums – I’m not seeing much change in my body since I started running. My bum. Particularly is not getting any fancier. So. Today I started Tracy Anderson’s Mat Workout. Tomorrow, I may not be able to walk. Her method is to exhaust the ancillary muscles. The result not to bulk up but to make yourself tiny, like a ballet dancer. I may not be able to walk tomorrow. Did I say that? Or pickup my fork. Or do Day 2 of Week 5.

excuse me?

89% humidity!

I started C25K week 6 today.  Should have been easy peasy – just a few 5 and 8 minute runs – but no.  Even with my fancy new shoes, no dog distractions and a razor sharp focus on my form (semi-lucid if we’re keeping it real), I was slow and plodding and out of breath for most of the session.  I have analyzed the situation and can attribute my lack of performance on the following reasons (excuses).

First, the relative humidity was already at 89 percent when I got out the door at 6:00 am. Summer hasn’t even officially started – so not fair!  Thankfully it was only 66 degrees or I would have surely been forced to walk more than Mr. Podcast man advised.

Second, although I can’t say for sure, I would say there is a high probability that the two large glasses of very tasty prosecco I had with dinner were not sufficient to hydrate me for today’s run.   Which is also not. fair.

Third, it also didn’t help that I did not get enough sleep the night before due to a sick puppy dog*.  Which is why I ran solo and without distractions so technically maybe those two should cancel each other out.  Hmmm…  No – upon further reflection, I’m still going to count it.

* BTW, after a very expensive weekend trip to the emergency vet, Daisy is on the road to recovery.   However, I doubt that this experience will have taught her anything about the pitfalls of hoovering.

over the hump

Well, it’s official.  I’ve made it past the half way point in my C25K training.  Yay!  Yesterday was my first 20 minute run – not counting my Komen 5K.  It was a pretty good run at a decent pace but the last five minutes I had to slow down.  Kept looking at my watch to see how many minutes / seconds were left.  I wish I had been able to find my pedometer.  Would have been nice to see how far I actually ran in that 20 minutes.

I ran Daisy-free so I didn’t have any distractions and could focus on my form.   I wore my Newtons again and I’m still getting used to those.  Boy could I feel it in my legs by the end of the day.  But it was the good kind of sore, ya know?  I also tried to look about 15 – 20 meters ahead instead of at my feet.  Mentally, that really helped keep me moving forward.

Looking forward to starting Week 6.  It’s the last week of short intervals.  After that it’s all 25 minutes or more.  Gulp.

do these shoes make me look fast?

30% smaller

So, I needed some new running shoes and decided to try something different this time around.    Something that might help me feel lighter on my feet.  I’ve been poking around the Newton Running website for weeks and finally decided to check their shoes out in person at Three Sports in Richmond.

I felt like such a jock just walking in there.  The store caters to triathletes (thus the name) and had all sorts of cool gear.  After a quick consultation and a run down the sidewalk I found out that I am indeed a heel striker.  Their regular shoes are geared toward midfoot / forefoot strikers.  But they also have a guidance trainer that offers more support in the heel.  It’s supposed to help with transitioning to more of the barefoot / midfoot / forefoot style.  They didn’t have the stability model in the guidance trainer  but I went ahead and bought it anyway.  I hope that decision doesn’t come back to bite me.  Fingers crossed.

Yesterday was my first day in the new shoes.  Really light-weight.  I liked that a lot.  I tried to focus on what I was doing with my feet instead of mindlessly running.   It was Week 5, Day 2 so only 8 minute runs.  This morning my calves were a little sore – definitely should have stretched some more last night.  You’re supposed to ease into these shoes so I’m trying to decide if I want to go ahead with the 20 minute Day 3 run or do another set of 8 minute intervals and then recycle week 5 altogether next week to give me more break-in time.

What to do, what to do?

p.s. I love the green and orange.  Good wake-up colors.

beer pairings for the soul

mmm...beer

Once a month my friends and I gather at a local pub for Beer Dinner. The dinners are three courses – appetizers, main and dessert – with two beer tastings for each course.  There are pop quizzes and prizes and someone from our table usually brings home the gold (tap handle, beer glass or t-shirt).

I’m not a huge beer drinker but I do love Beer Dinner if for no other reason than to marvel at how good beer can taste with cake if paired appropriately.   Last night we tried oak-aged tommyknocker.  It was strong and heavy and I thought no way am I going to be able to drink this.  But after a big bite of chocolate chai cake I was surprised by how satisfying the beer was after all.

The other great thing about beer dinner is that it’s an opportunity to trot out one or both of my two party tricks.  The first is folding a dollar bill into the shape of a collared shirt.   It’s really easy once you get the hang of it.   I never tell people my objective so it  builds the suspense as they watch to see what I’m doing.   And then voila!  I included one in the tip one night.  I wonder if our server unfolded it or kept it?  The only problem with this trick is that it gets old after you’ve seen it once or maybe twice.

The second, and more showy, trick is writing forward with one hand and backward with the other simultaneously to produce a mirror image of whatever anybody wants me to say.  If it’s early in the dinner I can do it in French or Italian. Later on there can and probably will be misspellings.   One of these days I need to do a video.  I taught myself how in high school but didn’t have much use for it after that.  So my friends and husband were shocked, SHOCKED, at my ambidextrous scrawl of “how now brown cow”.  Anyway, it’s my claim to fame.  Such as it is.

color me happy

happy feet

Colleen and I were just talking the other day about needing to add more color to our lives.   I’ve done a good job with my house but somehow over the years my closet has turned from vibrant jewel-tones to brown, black and gray with a couple of semi-colorful tops thrown in.   Getting dressed in the morning has become less than inspiring.

So this weekend, to celebrate my final run of C25K Week 4, I went in search of a little special sauce for my wardrobe.  Ok, really I was just looking for some new sandals, preferably something beyond my normal neutrals.   After trying on many, many shoes (don’t get me started about my stupid skinny non-shoe-fitting feet), I finally found something that was both comfortable and contained my considerably long tootsies.  Also it had rhinestone bling!

But then, the dilemma – what color?  The red patent leather or a more practical beige?   A quick consultation with my sisters (I heart my blackberry) confirmed my instincts – RED!  Now I just need some warm weather and toenail polish and I’ll be set.