The Big Guns

Sometimes I feel like I need to pull out my planner to remember what I did the day before.  Then I have to open up my blog to see what I said in my previous post so I don't talk about it again.  I then wonder if I'm acting like such an old person now, what the heck will I do when I actually am old?

I ended up really enjoying my day yesterday.  I got my endorphins fix bright and early, no grumpiness to speak of.  Well okay, I was a little grumpy when we got to the stadium and there were a ton of people there.  There are 6 sets of stairs on each side of the stadium but the best side to run on is the one where the steps go all the way up to the top.  Most of the other people think the same thing though so everyone crowds on one side.  I'm not very pushy and I end up having to wait around for people to come down the steps or go up. 

Neither Rachel or I felt like dealing with a ton of people in our way so we moved to the other side.  The other side isn't great because there is only one full set of stairs and I can never keep count of how many times I've gone up the steps.  It all worked out though and it felt good to be moving again so early in the morning.

When I got home I went for a walk with my mom.  I am very sure all my neighbors think I'm crazy but just one more thing to add to everything else I do... we go for a walk everyday but never at the same time.  We try to go early in the morning or in the evening so it's cooler out but if I'm not around for either of those then we'll go other times too.  We almost always see the same neighbors outside when we walk so I'm pretty sure they just think we walk everyday, all day.  I love getting the walk in early though.  At the end of the day I keep thinking there's still something I need to do but I get to keep telling myself "Nope, you've already walked today, just relax."  It's a good feeling.

Then I subbed for a pre-ballet class and that was nice and easy.  And fun... although to be completely honest I'm getting a little ballet teacher burnout.  This is not good.  Our official classes for the year start on August 8th.  I need to remember this feeling next year and maybe only teach one summer session.  On the other hand, the money has been nice.

The best and worst part of my day was my babysitting job for the evening.  From 6-11, baby asleep the whole time.  I read, I watched So You Think You Can Dance (best show ever), slept, used the computer... and got really bored.  I don't know why cause those are pretty much the same things I do at my own house but I don't get bored quite as easily.  Then I have to drive home while I'm half asleep and when I get home I hop right in bed and take forever to fall asleep which means in the morning pulling myself out of bed is difficult. 

Which it was...

Alarm was set for 4:15.  I woke up at 5:30.  Is it weird that 5:30 is sleeping in?

I like to  get out to run by 5:45.  It's great, dark most of the time and then I'm rewarded with a sunrise at the end of it. 

So I went back and forth about whether to run or not and finally pulled out the big guns

I got out at 8:45 and did 6 miles.  I can't say they were the best miles I've ever run but you know what, I did it.  I made the choice not to quit, to get out there and do what I know I love.  

Up next: Babysitting, more ballet subbing, dog/housesitting

I'll be housesitting this weekend and may or may not have internet access.  I live 5 minutes away and will be stopping at home frequently but knowing me, there's a good chance I won't be posting again until next week.  If that's the case, have a great weekend! 

Aloe Vera and a Case of the Mondays

I'm probably crazy, but I just love Mondays

A few of the reasons why I love Mondays:

• It's the beginning of the week and there's so much excitement about what's to come during the week.  The week never quite lives up to my expectations but I'm always excited about the week on Monday.
• I've done nothing but sit around all weekend and I'm ready to DO something which means Mondays are usually pretty productive days
• I have no real job - I get to play with kids all day, take naps when they take naps and then teach ballet so Monday doesn't mean returning to a stressful or boring job
• Because everyone else dislikes Monday and I like to be different

So far today I did stadiums:

I always look so happy when I pose for stadiums versus other times I pose.  Is it that I'm still mostly asleep and don't realize the pain I'm about to experience?  Or possibly my eyes just don't open that much in the morning and it gives the false impression that I'm extremely excited

I'm going to go with the still half asleep theory since the other pose that pops up a lot for stadiums is the muscles pose... it's so totally unfitting considering I don't use my arms at all.

After stadiums I stopped in at the store on the way home to pick up some almond milk.  I'm pretty sure MOST of the times I stop at the grocery store is after stadiums or the gym and I'm soaked in sweat.  It's a good thing I don't see anyone I know there.  One day I'm sure I will regret this though...

I like going to the grocery stores in the morning.  There's all these cute older people working and they always brighten my day. 

I ended up picking up some Orange Carrot juice to add to my smoothies and right next to the Orange Carrot juice I saw some Aloe Vera juice.  I carried one of the jars under my arm and the other two one in each hand.  Then I told the bagger to skip the bag.  He was a sweet older gentlemen who I guess didn't speak English very well... or maybe couldn't hear very well?  Or maybe he just thought I was crazy.  Anyways, the check out lady had to explain to him that I didn't want a bag.  Then he asked me how I was going to carry it all out to the car - I'm pretty sure I told him "magic" - thankfully they laughed because now that I type that out it seems really rude.

This seems to happen to me frequently:  I've never heard about something and then I learn about it and suddenly I'm hearing about it everywhere.  Aloe Vera is one of those things that I had never heard about until Friday and since Friday I've read about it several times.  Did you know you could ingest Aloe Vera?  I had no idea. 

I first heard about Aloe Vera from www.thefitnessdish.com (sorry Laury if you read this and see that I didn't link directly to the Friday Five!)

Some benefits of Aloe Vera:

• Helps to detoxify the body and cleanse the colon.
• Detoxifies the blood stream.
• Can benefit a person with intestinal or stomach problems.
• Could aid in the healing of ulcers and help the digestive tract to work smoothly. 
•  Can improve circulation.
• Helps dilate the capillaries and aid in cell growth
•  It acts as an antibacterial, antiviral and anti fungal agent, preventing illness

I tried it plain and wasn't that impressed.  So I did what I always do with things I don't really like by themselves - added it to my smoothie!  As usual, my smoothie was still delicious so I'll continue to add it in.

After breakfast I walked with my mom for a few miles.  It feels so good to have that out of the way as we often do it right before bed and I'm usually just ready to go to bed and have to fight to make myself walk.

I washed, folded and put away all of my laundry.

And did P90X Legs and Back

If you ever wanted to learn how to spice up your annoying self portrait posing abilities... just take pictures while you do jumping jacks

Attractive, no?

I'm going to continue my awesome productive day by cleaning my room (!!!) and making my bed and cleaning my car!  ...maybe ;)

 

 

Rainy Day Dilemma

It’s been raining a lot here and apparently it’s supposed to be rainy all weekend. That means… my first real run in the rain! I’ve only done it once before and that was only like a mile. I’m ready to suck in up and go for it!

In the meantime, I’m feeling like snuggling up in bed and reading for the rest of the day. My only problem is that I have so many good books I want to read and I can’t decide. If only I knew how to read multiple books at once – and I don’t mean switching back and forth, I’ve got that one down.  No, I mean literally read more than one book at a time. That would be a cool super power. Just imagine how handy that would have been during college.

One of my favorite authors ever is Madeline L’Engle. I don’t care that most of her books are technically children's books, they're so good and I’m obsessed. I haven’t read the Wrinkle in Time series recently so I’ve decided to read through them again. Then I “liked” Free Books for Kindle on facebook and everyday they post a ton of free books. Very tempting. I could easily add 10 books a day to my kindle but then I would just get depressed cause I wasn’t reading them.

Before the rain hit Rachel and I did stadiums.

 

 You would think by this time that I would get the hang of these self timer photos

A little better, other than the "I'm still mostly asleep" look on my face

Today was so much better than Wednesday. I’m not sure if it was mental, physical or both but I rocked it today. Wednesday I was dying and skipped my last two but today I did it all with time to spare.

Then I headed out to watch C

For 5 hours…

He’s really fussy and will only play with a toy for about 2 minutes before he starts fussing again. He doesn’t like to be held and he doesn’t like to sit and he doesn’t like to be put down… it’s difficult. I wasn’t sure how 5 hours with him would go but everything went really well. He started fussing as soon as his mom got home which made me feel really bad because overall he was pretty happy with me.

I had originally planned to hit the gym on the way home but my desire for caffeinated coffee won out. I have to have my last cup of caffeinated coffee before 3 or I won’t be able to sleep at night. Well, the coffee was great and I’m mostly glad I stopped at home but now I don’t want to go back out again. It’s rainy, I’m sleepy and my bed is just so comfy.

I read a quote… somewhere this week. It’s specifically about running but really you can apply it to anytime you don’t really feel like working out:

We rarely regret the runs we finish, only the ones we skip

Okay, so I totally botched it… but that’s the gist of it.

After repeating that quote several times to myself I finally pulled myself out of bed and hit the gym

All I felt like doing today was cardio so I walked for 30 minutes on the treadmill and read A Wrinkle in Time

30 minutes and 3 miles on the elliptical – watched The Real Housewives of Orange County reunion… part 2. Part of me hates all those shows and then part of me loves them because there’s always drama. It doesn’t matter when you tune in, if you’ve never watched any episodes before or watch them out of order – there’s just always going to be drama and I guess train wrecks are entertaining to watch? Because I am a horrible human being…

20 minutes on the bike while reading

I was actually really enjoying myself on the bike and I would have stayed for a lot longer but Rachel told my dad she wanted to use the car and that if he brought it to her at the gym that I would give him a ride home. So nice of her to volunteer my services. I agreed and said I would text him when I had about 20 minutes left to go. Then he texted me when I wasn’t even half way through and told me he was 10 minutes away. I did the bike anyways and then picked him up and brought him home. I think he said “well, I didn’t want you to have to wait for me”… as if I couldn’t find something to do at the gym ;)

I stopped at The Fresh Market on the way home and picked myself up some Kombucha! They were buy one get one free so of course I bought 6 of them. If I wasn’t so tired I would go and look up the link to the place where I read that you should only have a small serving of Kombucha a day, not a whole bottle. It’s going to be really hard to limit myself I think.

For dinner I made myself some roasted brussel sprouts. I had a bunch that were about to go bad so I cooked them all up. I’m probably the only person who does this but I usually eat my brussel sprouts with mustard. Today I decided to try them with guacamole but there wasn’t enough to cover all of them… so I added in some mustard. That sounds really crazy but it tasted so good! If you don’t like brussel sprouts you should totally try them with guac and mustard.

One of my favorite things about blogging and reading other healthy living blogs is that it makes me feel much more normal. I am telling you, I can count the friends I have on one hand that have a similar lifestyle to the one I’m trying to lead and who wouldn’t think I was completely out of my mind for coming up with a meal like that.

That being said… I still sometimes worry about things like pregnancy cravings. Are they real? If I’m eating stuff like brussel sprouts with guac and mustard NOW what the heck will I be eating when I’m pregnant? Disclaimer: I am not, nor do I plan to become pregnant anytime soon.

Is there any foods or combinations of food that you have and love that other people think are really weird?

You are getting very sleeeeepy

I’ve had a whirlwind of a week. My body is letting me know that sleep is a top priority tonight. I intend to fully indulge… well, at least until 5 am tomorrow morning. The indulging part involves going to sleep around 8:30. Ah, seriously, one of my most favoritest things to do.

On Tuesday I was really productive during the morning and then I headed out to the gym for a bit before teaching 2 dance classes.

After teaching I headed over to The Fresh Market that is right behind the dance studio. The Fresh Market is kind of our lame version of Whole Foods. I guess you would call it a gourmet grocery store. They do have a lot of healthy choices but not necessarily in the same way that Whole Foods does. I don’t really know how to explain that… one thing I really like about Whole Foods is their hot bar. I don’t think that’s what it’s called but hopefully you know what I mean by that…

There are so many delicious, healthy, vegan and vegetarian dishes. Fresh Market has a deli counter… maybe that’s what it’s called… but they only offer your usual fare, just fancied up a bit. A lot of potato salad, pasta salad, fried chicken, etc… basically nothing I can have.

I was stopping by to pick up something to carry me over until dinnertime. I ended up with a Naked… Gold Machine rings a bell. I also got a banana and then I found…

This wonderful thing.

This is only my second time trying Kombucha but I really enjoy it. I’ve looked online before and to brew my own Kombucha tea all I need is a starter… which is all of $5 or so online. Obviously this would be the smart money saving way to go. Now that I’m typing this I’m realizing that I really should do that. Buying the bottled Kombucha is really a waste of my time and money. However, there’s a good chance I will be back.

I somehow got roped into participating in a drama for church. This particular drama is about 10 minutes long. It was performed on Easter and the team was asked to do it again last night (Wednesday). So… I had a practice last Wednesday and then on Tuesday we had another practice and then we performed it last night.

On Tuesday night I learned a whole dance (well, okay, it wasn’t a very long dance) and then I ended up being a part of a double cartwheel too that I had to learn.

Even though it was really crazy that I learned the whole thing so fast I ended up having a really great time and I’m glad I was asked to participate.

Yesterday I woke up early and packed up for the day. Right before I walked out of the door I got a text from Rachel letting me know that she couldn’t do stadiums. Since I was already dressed I forced myself to go. Of course my natural reaction is “oh, I’ll just stay at home. I have a crazy day, I should just relax before the chaos starts” but I sucked it up and did stadiums by myself. Yeah, I’m a beast.

I’ve described this workout before but if you missed it…
I run up and down the stadium steps 7 times – each set of steps has 180 steps
Then I run up the bleachers 3 times
Then I jog out to the car
It’s killer!

I drove home, showered and headed right out again

I had a great day with C. He was the fussiest baby when he was younger but now that he’s able to sit up on his own and is starting to scoot around he doesn’t mind not being held.

He especially enjoyed my necklace

Oh, and my banana case… (basically everything that was not actually a toy)

After babysitting I had to stop in at several stores. I stopped at Target to return some bathingsuit tops that I bought that ended up being too long… and in the meantime bought myself more workout gear – this is a serious addiction and I may have to find myself some help soon ;)

I was going for the “I run at dawn and dusk” look

I tried them on together to show my mom when I got home and she was like “oooh, sooo cute!” – I’m not so sure I’m going to continue taking fashion advise from this woman. She always tells me things look good when I wasn’t intending them to look good: like when I throw up my hair so it’s out of my eyes when I wash my face. For the record, unless I was very worried about being seen I would never wear these blindingly neon clothes together. One at a time only!

I also stopped in at Walmart and Michael’s to pick up last minute items for the performance last night. When I got home I relaxed for a few minutes, choreographed a solo for the performance and then headed out again. We had a last minute rehearsal and then the performance. It all went really well… well, except for the part where I stumbled when I was supposed to be dancing but I don’t even care. For the short time we had putting it together I was pleased.

This morning I soooo did not want to run. I told myself to not think about it and just do it and that’s what I did – I got out by 6! I didn’t go fast by any means but you know what, I didn’t take any breaks either. I can’t wait to get back to where I was pre injury, but for now, I’m happy.

But so tired! I think this was supposed to be a “phew” face

And the dangggg it’s hot out there face!

I got to babysit this cutie for the first time. I’ve watched her brother before but I haven’t been over there in a long time – since before she was born! S is such a little sweetie. She just giggles and laughs at you.

After watching S I hit the gym and then headed over to play with C and W. These boys are so much fun. W is scooting himself all over the floor and he is so pleased with himself. I’m not so pleased, you have to watch him soooo closely now.

All in all... a good day :)

I hear my bed calling my name...

The Bug Run

I remember now why I don’t like running in the evening. In the summertime there are these gnat clouds… I have no idea what they’re doing but they all swarm around. Since they’re so small it’s hard to see the cloud of gnats until you’re already in it. When you’re sweaty and moving fast (or slowly?) they stick to you like you’re one of those sticky flea traps.
Rachel and I went for a run last night and by the time we got back we were pretty much covered in gnats. They were all over but face and neck were the worst spots. Ugh, so gross. Just writing about it makes me itchy.

I’m looking forward to today. I have no concrete plans until later this evening and I have the whole day free. I’m not great at actually doing the things I’d like to do on my days off but I’m really hoping I can be non-lazy today and use all of my free time to do something productive. My dirty room and car would really like some attention. 

So far so good. Stadiums even though Rachel couldn’t come – lame but I’m proud of myself for going even without my workout buddy. Stretching and quick shower followed by my go to breakfast: oatmeal with chia seeds and ground flax seeds. Today I threw in some sliced almonds and dried currents too. I usually prefer the oatmeal with just the chia and flax but sometimes I get crazy and throw in other ingredients as well.

After breakfast I did P90X shoulders and arms and now I’m icing my shins and having a cup of coffee.

I promised everyone (including myself) that I would take it somewhat easy after my injury. I definitely don’t want to reinjure myself. That would suck. I’m being careful to stretch and warm up properly as well as stretch and cool down afterwards. I’m still getting shin splints though and I haven’t upped my mileage very much at all. I think shin splints are pretty normal for starting to exercise again though. I don’t know, do you back off as soon as you get shin splints or continue to stretch your calves and warm up your shins before exercising? I know shin splints can lead to stress fractures but I just feel like if I back off I’ll just get them again when I start exercising again.

After I get a few more chores done around the house I’m going to head to target for a shopping spree. I saw they had some really cute swimsuits for a pretty good deal. Not that Target bathing suits ever look good on me or that I need any more swimsuits… but I’m going anyways.

The computer I’m using currently doesn’t have any place to easily upload photos so I’ve been slacking on the self portraits but I’ll figure out a way to make those happen, cause I know that’s the real reason you’re all here ;)

…oh wait, it’s just me that likes taking pictures of myself

In the meantime: a couple random pictures from vacation

"Look Mom, no hands!"

Yes, I did legit carry the chair on my head all the way from our beach house to the shore

Me and my hot mama after my cousins wedding. Isn't she gorgeous? :) 

Any fun plans for today?

Want to know how to make the baggers think you're crazy?

Tell them to put the groceries back into the cart without bagging them... what?  I forgot my reusable bags =/

A friend of mine has really got me going on sustainability and taking care of our earth.  I'm working hard to do my part and when I have the choice I try to steer away from one-use items.  Even items that can be recycled... it takes a lot of energy to recycle.  I don't mean it takes a lot of energy to put items in the recycling bin - that one is pretty easy.  I mean to actually recycle the item - crush it, melt it, whatever else they do (I am definitely not a recycling expert).

This means reusable bags (I know that's not weird, everyone does that now), bringing some kind of storage container when I go to restaurants so I don't have to get a take out box, not buying bottles of water... there are a million other things I could and should do but this is what I'm focusing on so far. 

In other news...

Last week I decided to look up shin splints.  I've been dealing with shin splints for the past several weeks.  Kind of strange since I didn't have any while training for the marathon...

I didn't think they were that big of a deal.  They're a really common injury and I thought you just ran through them, iced them and foam rolled.  Well... apparently what's actually happening is that your muscles are becoming detached from the shin bone.  Uhh, yeah, that doesn't sound too good. 

So I talked to a physical therapist friend of mine and she told me all kinds of fun stuff I could do to help with the shin splints.  Like a good little patient I've been following all of her instructions.

I iced

and iced

and iced some more

The worst part was when I took ice cubes and massaged my shins with them trying to break up scar tissue that apparently accumulates when you get shin splints

I also foam rolled my shins until I thought I was going to die - I have a really high pain tolerance and this was pretty intense.

Then before I go to bed I massage my shins with Icy Hot and wrap my legs with ace bandages in such a way the the muscle that has been pulling away from the shin will reattach.

This is actually really nice.  I fall asleep with a nice soothing, cooling feeling in my legs.  What is not so fun is pulling the self adhesive ace bandages off of my legs in the morning.  Now that is all kinds of burning torture but totally my fault for buying the self adhesive bandages in the first place.

With all of the craziness going down I haven't been out running for a whole week.  I'm feeling tons better and tomorrow I'm planning on a nice long run.

In the meantime I've been doing the usual: stadiums and weights.

Stadiums Monday

Stadiums Tuesday

Obviously super thrilled about stadiums two days in a row.  I was in a better mood by the time I got there.

Also really thrilled about my awkward pants.  I just don't understand why they're so much longer in the back...

And why I bought them in the first place

Legs & back - I love stretching, I love stretching... hmm, if I repeat it, will I believe it?  Pretty sure my shin splints are because I got lazy with stretching. 

Super creepy shot of pull ups.  For the record, I was trying to smile at the camera.  I promise I'm not possessed by demons.  I hope not anyway ;)

Shoulders, biceps, triceps

The best part about working out at home?

Your work out clothes don't even have to match a little

Someday when I point you'll actually be able to see my guns :)

Have you ever had shin splints?  Have any suggestions how to make them better quickly and how to prevent them in the first place?  

I've pretty much decided it's because I haven't been stretching as much and possibly because I ran too far too fast in new shoes but I'll take any tips you have! :) 

I need a new running partner

How the heck is it already Thursday?  These weeks are just flying by!

I've been having a really great week, well, mentally anyways.  All the kids I babysit have been so much fun this week and I've been babysitting the perfect amount - not too much, not too little.  Most of my ballet classes have been really well behaved this week.  Crossing my fingers that next week goes just as well as this week because it's Parent Observation Day in class... I'm not a fan, at all.

On top of all that, I'm just so excited to start weight training again and Rachel and I have been able to get out for stadiums twice this week (we haven't gone for awhile now...).  Running?  Eh, not so much.  Mentally, yes.  Physically - oh yeah... I had a cold.

On Tuesday I decided I was going to fit in a 10 miler before work.  I had sort of been struggling with some sort of cold but it was so mild and I was feeling pretty good so I didn't think it would be a problem.

3 miles later I felt like poop so I turned around and struggled the 3 miles back.  Lesson learned: just because you feel "mostly good" does not mean you will be feeling great 6 miles later. 

Success!  In my book that means finishing without puking ;)

...which is exactly what I felt like doing

I met some sheep at ballet class today:

Why yes, I do have the best job!



Yesterday was stadiums:

Followed several hours later with an intense (and hot, hence the no shirt thing) chest and back workout.  Can't say I've missed pullups

Ahh, yes, now I know why my chest hurt when I was trying to breathe while running today

And then, my favorite part of this whole story:

Yesterday Rachel begged me to go running with her today.  I don't get this chance very often so even though I had planned to run 10 miles by myself I agreed to go running with her.  I decided that I would run 5 miles with her and then after I dropped her off I would run another 5 by myself.

As I thought about it I actually decided that I was going to be pretty happy with this arrangement - I'd still have gone 10 miles but it would end up being a lot easier than if I ran those miles by myself.

The only downside was that I would have to wake up at O'dark thirty to drive all the way out to her apartment and then of course I would have to drive home too.

Well, I did it.  I woke up at 4:15 so I could have some coffee and *ahem* make sure I had used to bathroom before our run.  Oh, and foam roll.

I left the house at 6, and texted Rachel about 3 times before I started calling her.  I called 5 times and didn't manage to wake her up.  Well, since I was already at her apartment I decided I would just run my 5 miles alone first and then hopefully she would be awake by the time I got back.  I brought my phone with me so i could text/call her along the way.  I'm not sure how many texts I ended up sending, maybe 5?  The last one said "you're dead to me"

I also called another 5 times making that total 10.  I realize I could have just gone the last 5 miles by myself but by that time I was just mad that I had gone all that way for nothing.  She's not on my happy list today.

I just can't believe someone could sleep through that many phone calls.  I'm pretty convinced she just didn't want to pick up the phone and tell me she didn't feel like coming out.

This is my grumpy face at Rachel because she is lame ;)

Ooooon the bright side:  I ran a 7:12 for the first mile.  I can't wait to break 6 miles!

I have the whole day ahead of me and nothing to do.  I have a very good feeling finishing off those last 5 miles will not be part of the plan but lets hope something good comes from this day with nothing to do but sit in bed and watch Veronica Mars on netflix watch instantly.

Rainy week day 2 :(

It rained all day yesterday and after checking the weather I was very disappointed to find out it would probably be raining for the majority of the week... so much for having a whole week to focus on running.

To say I'm bummed would be quite the understatement.

I am going to be bored out of my mind!

It looks like today will just be drizzly.  Thankfully I already got stadiums in.  Sadly, without Rachel. 

The face I make because I look dumb when I smile with my retainer in... obviously this is much better

The worst mornings are the mornings when I'm already half way to her apartment to pick her up and realize she's not going to pick up the phone no matter how many times I call her.  Sometimes I turn around and head home but that's a huge waste of 20-30 minutes.  On my best days I suck it up and run stadiums alone.  Since I did NOTHING yesterday I was able to convince myself that I should just go and get it done.  I'm glad I did.  I never regret exercising, it always feels good to get it done.

My shin has been sore in a really strange way.  The last time I ran was Friday and I can't figure out why it's still tight since all I've been doing since then is sitting around.  I'm not even sure if it's my shin that's bothering me - it's like the side of my calf. 

It feels like I've had several intense charlie horses, it just won't relax.  I've been foam rolling and icing so hopefully it'll clear up soon.  If those compression sleeves weren't so dang expensive I would have bought a pair already and would be wearing them like they were in style I'm sure.

I'm looking forward to a day of forced activity - the best part about kids.  They wouldn't sit still if you paid them to.  Hopefully we won't all go stir crazy inside all day.  Rain I hate you. 

Out of Commission

No, I'm not playing scrabble with my keyboard keys...

My laptop keyboard started malfunctioning on Thursday.  It started out with a few stuck keys and within a couple of minutes was so bad that anytime I tried to type something the keyboard took over and spewed letters all over the place.  I thought maybe turning off the computer would help - I haven't been able to get passed the log-in screen since then.

So I did what any one with a 6 year old laptop that hasn't been cleaned would do... I performed surgery on my laptop.  I took the keyboard apart and cleaned all the gunk and junk out from under the keys (um, gross)

The keyboard is nice and clean after much dust, hair and crumb removal

Sadly, it's still not working.

Now a lot of keys work but a lot of them don't.

It seems really random and I can't figure out why half of a row will work and the other half won't and then I restart the computer and the row that did work suddenly doesn't work and the half that wasn't working now works.  What the heck???

I'm not very hopeful - I just can't imagine the computer making a full recovery.  I'm so glad this happened when it did though.  A year ago I would have been freaking out!  There is nothing like having several papers due when you're computer is broken.

Not that I'm ever up for shelling out $600-$1000 for a new laptop but if it had to happen, now is a good time.

In other news:

Rachel and I made it to stadiums twice this week.  Last week was Rachel's spring break and she was out of town.  Of course I could have gone by myself but when it comes to stadiums I'm pretty unmotivated without her.  It was so great to be back though.  I think it was Monday that I thought to myself "wow, I've really missed running up these stairs and feeling so completely out of breath"

Evidence that I am completely crazy because those thoughts were entirely serious.

I don't get much use out of this shirt because I feel awkward wearing it if I'm not working out but it's not made out of tech material and sort of rides up so I don't wear it when I go running either.  I love it though.  For someone who has often striven towards "skinny" and sometimes done some not so healthy things to achieve that goal "strong" is a much healthier goal to strive towards.  A quote that perfectly describes where I am in my life right now is "I once ran to stay in shape, now I stay in shape so I can run."

Speaking of running:

I've been running a lot during the week and then when the weekend rolls around I log an average of 0 miles.  This is such a huge difference from when I was marathon training because Saturday was my long run and at the end of training I was doing 22 miles on Saturday.  It's crazy how much things have changed.  I'm kind of terrified of any distances longer than 15 miles now.  One of these days I'm gonna go out and run 16 miles just to throw my body a curve ball ;).

I've heard a lot of people complaining about the time change and saying that their body hasn't adjusted yet.  I thought mine had but I'm starting to realize that me not being able to pull myself out of bed in the morning and getting to bed late is actually my body not adjusting to the time change.  The non-adjusting is making it difficult to get in my running.  I need to convince myself that running in the dark is a good thing.  Once I do that I just need to find myself a bodyguard and/or dog who can beat up anyone who tries to hurt me while I'm running in the dark.

Cause 80 degrees is just not working.  It's not even humid yet - I am going to die.

My true feelings about the planned 10 mile run that turned into a super sucky 6 mile run and left me so I didn't want to do anything this morning. 

I'm off to a super fun day of non-stop babysitting.  It's a good thing I love kids ;).  Who needs a long run when you can chase around kids all day?