New runner blog to follow

I have been casting about and lurking around trying to find a new running blog to follow. I think I may have found one: Shut up and Run. I even left her a comment to see if I could get some free champion running apparel. I have to say, I love their bras.

Confirmed

I checked and I am definitely registered for the Fargo Marathon on May 22. I have another compulsion to add to my pre-race obsessive compulsive disorder. Since I some how goofed my registration to the LOTTERY for the NYC marathon, I have become a nervous Nelly.

I got excited too when I went to Fargo Marathon's merchandise page. It looked like they might have something to tempt my credit card before the race. However, when I went to the page there was only coffee mugs, bumper stickers for the 2009 race. It was hard, but I resisted.

So I went on trying to find something else to get me JAZZED about running the Fargo Marathon. The only thing that got my heart beating - in a good way - was the course elevation chart. It looks relatively flat - doesn't it? Or are they putting it at such a large scale that the changes don't look too bad? Sorry, I can't get it any bigger. However, I will tell you that those "BIG" valleys in the first half are LESS than a 20 foot change in elevation. That can't be has bad as the last street bridge at Chicago or the Hill from Hell (my name, not the official one) over the last 4 miles of Twin Cities (and I swear to you the hill lasted the ENTIRE 4 miles!). So right now - big grin on my face.

Long runs and tractors

I was very tempted to leak out on my long run today. It was forecasted to be -7 and Friday's run in similar temperatures seemed down right nasty. I really didn't want to repeat it, especially for 1.45 hours. But I stuck it out. Mainly because I knew if I didn't I would get endless you-know-what from Mike. Of course, he rewarded me with the comment, "I hope more people start running the long runs soon". A not so subtle way of telling me that I was not good enough. It was ALMOST as bad as Christy's comment, "Wade is Way, WAY older than me". Note to readers, Wade is a year YOUNGER than me. AND she didn't seem a bit remorseful when I pointed this out to her!

And here I am rewarding Mike by fulfilling his request that I include in my post the video "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy". For you non-spartans, this video is dedicated to the running love duo of Christy and Bryan. Bryan recently bought a SECOND tractor for his land. Apparently, his first tractor was somehow not good enough in the way that only a guy who loves his tractors can understand. His wife Christy is not one of those guys. He tried to pass it off as thinking of her..... now they would have his and hers tractors. Now, for those of you who are not Wisconsinites, let me be clear that it is NOT every female cheesehead's dream to have her own tractor. Yes, we might be the Dairy State, but that is only in the minds of male politicians. The women politicians have better things to spend their time on.

It is only in BRYAN's fantastical mind that Christy is thinking the following when she sees him when he is driving is tractor:

She thinks my tractor's sexy
It really turns her on
She's always starin' at me
While I'm chuggin' along
She likes the way it's pullin' while we're tillin' up the land
She's even kind of crazy 'bout my farmer's tan
She's the only one who really understands what gets me
She thinks my tractor's sexy.

I think Christy's response would be "Oh Boy!" and not in a supportive way!

I want to be a turtle

I want to be a turtle! See why:

courtesy of Running is Funny

Renege

Okay - I said I was going to take a hiatus from blogging, but in the last couple of days I have had things I wanted to post about or share and was feeling bummed I couldn't. Plus, I found out that I actually have readers (Thanks Take*Two!) not associated with the Sparta running group. (wonders will never cease!).

Another reason is that I need to have the threat of the appearing in "BLOG" when my fellow runners fail to show up to run. One of our runners, who is slowly infiltrating into the morning group, failed to show yesterday despite being signed up. I know she has a fear of what is being said about her in the blog (not sure why that would be!) and I know one of the reasons she failed to roll herself out of bed was because she had no worries about being mentioned in the BLOG. Well, I felt really guilty about that. I felt like I was letting her down (yeah right!). So, I felt the need to serve my people and return to blogging, albeit on a lesser extent.

So here I am again.

I will not blog after every run, just when my fellow runners give me some good material. Plus, I think I will expand the focus a bit beyond running. No fears - I will not give you the mundane details of my daily life! But I do want to be able to share funny or interesting stuff that I can't in some way connect to running.

So.... last night I a lot of dreams which at the time seemed somewhat stressful, but upon wakening I realized were actually HAPPY dreams.

I dreamt that I was in some kind of race at the temperature was going to be a lot warmer than I thought it would be. Not 80's, but more like 50's instead of 20's. In the dream I was stressed about this and wearing the right clothing. But in the wide awake replay I realized that having temperatures in the 50's is ALWAYS better than the 20's!

I dreamt that I got on the vicious scale and it showed my weight at about 10 pounds less than it really it. I didn't believe it and weighed myself again, to a LOWER amount. In the dream I was frustrated by this since I thought the scale was obviously not working right. Now in the wide awake replay I realize that I should never doubt the scale!

I dreamt about my high school friend Donna. It wasn't stressful in anyway. Yeah!

I dreamt that I didn't set my alarm for my morning run. Obviously, I was stressed because I was going to let my friends down and not show up. In the wide awake replay, I should have been happy I got to sleep in one day!

So, this blog is a reminder to us all that life is just a matter of perspective!

Too funny not to post

Okay - I said I wasn't going to post anymore, but this was too funny. I kept thinking - Well, at least that is one thing runners don't need to worry about!

See more funny videos and Sports Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Taking a Break

Well, I have decided that I am going to take a break from blogging. I am not sure how long the hiatus will last, but it is apparent to me that the inspiration is not there right now. I have been doing this years, so maybe it is just time for a vacation. We'll see....

Loving the 30's

I am loving the 30's. The temperature, not the age. Unfortunately my 30's are well behind me. I think I say this every year, but it is amazing how spring-like the 30's feel after subzero temps.

Shiner did better today. Yesterday he was quite annoying. He kept on looking back at Christy and then would stop and jump on here. Today I ran with Rhonda (you made the blog!) and Katie and there was no jumping. I think he was was thinking that Christy had the love of his live, Bella, hidden somewhere and he wanted Christy to let her out! No such luck!

I was also disappointed with one of my new doggy gadgets. This one is goes on the leash and has a clasp like device that will hold doggy bags. I scooped one of Shiner's deposits with a baggy, put put the baggy in the clasp and proceeded on my way, happy in the fact that I didn't have to carry a bag of poop in my hand. However, when I got back to the car and went to unclasp the baggy to put it in the garbage, it was no longer there. Hmmmm. It will get another try, before final judgement is passed.

Monday Mornings

A nice morning run with Katie. I didn't get to see her new haircut though due to the hat. Although I did notice no ponytail!

Shiner joined us this morning too. He has been getting a bit nutty since the cold weather and salted roads haven't provided much opportunity to run or to walk for that matter. The temperatures were decent today and although our previous run with the doggy mukluks (booties) wasn't very successful, I decided to give it another go. Shiner would want me to point out that he does NOT like the mukluks. He would rather suffer sore feet than the humiliation of wearing bright yellow booties. In addition, although I think it is pretty cute how he prances around with them on, the fact is that I am sure that other dogs in his peer group would give him endless grief. However, with most things in life, Mom wins. Well, the front left bootie came off before we left the parking lot. I had put it on 3 times already so this time it went in my pocket. About a mile later Shiner stopped which in dog language means - "I am not moving another step until you take these STUPID booties off me. As with most children, he waited until the time when he knew a temper tantrum would indeed win. So, I let us both win. I took off the remaining front one and left the back two on. He was willing to work with this compromise and ran the remainder of the run. It is is back two paws that I worry about most since one got part of the pad torn a couple of weeks ago. Plus I chalked it up to an experiment to see how his pads would do with out risking injury to all four. I was happy to see when we were done that his front pads were just fine. Shiner was shining with happiness that he will be able to go on runs from now on - temperature permitting.

I thought this would be simple

I was pleasantly surprised this morning. I was expecting frigid and windy - in other words -18 which had been predicted earlier in the week. I awoke to a thermometer which read 14! And although windy, it wasn't bad. Even the freshly fallen snow wasn't too bad to run in. The city had done a good job of plowing. Although our pace did reflect the smooshy conditions (slow). Plus Christy was pleasant company (as usual).

So, in a previous post I mentioned the idea that I got from the movie Julia & Julie. Which is to blog everyday on some tidbit of advice/inspiration given by a running calendar.

I thought this would be easy - that is finding such a calendar. In this day of diets, working out, losing weight and The Biggest Loser, I thought it would be VERY easy to find a calendar that had a daily 5 -15 minute workout or SOMETHING. As I liked to say (and still do) in 8th grade... NOT! (Did that come from some movie?)

Seriously, I thought I could just go to Amazon and type in 'daily fitness calendar' and a plethora of calendars would be listed. Again - NOT! I tried many different search words and the best I could come up with was Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous 2010 Daily Calendar. I am not joking. I even did a Google search and came up dry. So, now I am turning to online daily workouts.

Stay tuned to see what I decide or maybe a better way to phrase it what I FIND! (Considering today is January 8th, I am realizing that I may be using this as a delay tactic too!)

Lose It!

Inspiration has just been falling in my lap....

My new "gadget" is an "app" (application for you NOT in the know". I saw it reviewed in some best apps of 2009 article and decided to check it out. It is called "Lose It!" I didn't think it would be that great since it is free and there tends to be a direct correlation between what you pay for something and how well it works (At least that is what my Mom taught me). The reviews were high so I thought I would give it a try.

It is pretty fun so far, but that is not why I am blogging about it. One of the features is that you can enter in your exercise for the day and it will calculate the calories burned. I was showing this feature to a friend and realized that there is an EXTENSIVE list of fitness activities such as Jai Alai (and no, you will be shocked to know that I don't know what that is) to the old standby - Badminton. And of course we all have a Luge course in our backyard (I guess the winter Olympics are coming up) and what I always think of first when I think of a good workout - music playing. And of course... Sexual Activity. Yes, that is right - no exercise list is complete with out Sexual Activity.

Now, guys - don't get your hopes up. And gals, don't worry that your husband/significant other has another "tool in his toolbox" in addition to lingerie to get you into bed more often. According to Lose It! 15 minutes (I always make sure I don't OVER estimate how many calories I burn) of "general, moderate" sexual activity burns up....

wait for it...

Wait For It......

WAIT FOR IT........

5 calories!

Yep! 5!

Oh, I know you are asking, "But wait! 'Active/vigorous' sexual activity must burn up A LOT more!" I won't make you wait for it this time. The ASTOUNDING amount is..... 8 calories. (Am I hearing groans out there?)

Okay - for you love birds out there (Larry/Judy and Al/Sheri) I know you are saying "Come On! give us credit where credit is due! What are the numbers for an hour???? Be ready to groan even louder (and not in a sexual way, because it should be obvious by now that it won't do you any good) 20 calories for moderate and 33 for vigorous. Hmmmm..... as my friend said "I'll take the candy bar instead".

Now, if you are thinking, "Well, it is just WRONG!" I did a little (quick) checking on the Internet and although admittedly it was low, it wasn't so low to totally discount it. for 15 minutes of moderate sex, 2 calculators gave estimates of 12.5 and 22 calories.

I also compared what my Garmin gave for today's lovely run with the Cousins. My Garmin said I burned 582 calories and Lose It calculated 546. So, given the amount of variables that go in to calorie burning calculators, not too far off.

Just something for you all to ponder.

A little bit of excitement on this morning's run. The snow removal people were out in force around Walgreens making it quite difficult to get into the parking lot. We had to go around the block and through the alley. Yes, that qualifies as "a little bit of excitement".

Inspiration

I know, I know.... I have NOT been good about posting to my blog. I just haven't been very inspired lately. Maybe it is because Tom hasn't run with us for quite awhile so I don't have any new material to work with! Mike tries to help me out, but since he has gotten his promotion and a girlfriend he is so serious.

But a new year is upon us and it will be my FOURTH year of blogging! Whew! Time flies! No wonder I am struggling to write something new and interesting. The New Year Baby (remember that animated TV holiday special? (I am not sure I have my adjectives in the right order there)) must have visited me. Jim and I watched Julia & Julie last night. For those of you who don't know the story is about Julie who blogs about cooking every recipe in Julia Child's first cookbook.

So, the thought occurred to me...maybe I would find a running calendar which had some type of inspirational message on which I would blog about. So, I have gone in search of such a calendar, but currently I am side tracked.....

I found the "Running 2010 Wall Calendar". It is also a log and it must be a darn good one because the calendar costs $146.86 and used it is $146.92! No, it is not a typo, at least not by me. Maybe it is printed on gold or guarantees a Boston qualifying time at your next marathon? Hmmm. I am tempted to order it just to see what all the fuss is about... NOT.

Then I found one that may be much more interesting at a much more reasonable price -

What's Your Poo Telling You? Although, I am not sure I am really up for writing about poop, especially my poop for a whole year.

Or maybe one that is much more realistic is: 2010 Daily Calendar: 365 Excuses for All Occasions

Also on the consideration list is I Can Do It 2010 Calendar: 365 Daily Affirmations. I can just hear Mike's or Tom's voice telling me the daily affirmation in a soothing, but confidence inspiring voice.

But I probably would get 3 faithful readers (you know who you are) if I featured The Biggest Loser Simple Swaps: 100 Easy Changes to Start Living a Healthier Lifestyle.

In order to complete my New Years Resolution to deal with the lady on Rusk Street who tries to drive as close to us as possible just so we can clearly see how her middle finger is erect, I should get 2010 Getting in Touch with Your Inner Bitch boxed calendar

The "Who thought of THAT title" prize goes to the Grandma's Dead: 2010 Postcard Day-to-Day Calendar. Honest! That is a name of a calendar!

The calendar I would probably enjoy most, but who be the hardest to blog about (because a picture IS like a thousand words) is the Daily Hunk 2010 Daily Boxed Calendar (Calendar). The fact that they had to put the word calendar in parentheses behind the word calendar in the title goes to show you the level of intelligence they are expecting in the people interested in anything with the word "hunk" in the title!

I also found it very interesting that when I did a search for "workout calendars" I got

2010 Daily Calendar: 365 Reasons to Have Sex. I think there is a conspiracy out there!

So, what shall it be? Any requests?

Christmas Day Run

I went on an unplanned Christmas Day run. Kinda spur of the moment - sans husband. It was the best day so far to run so I am glad I did. After the torture of the first 2 miles I experienced one of those great moments while running - a runner's high. I was listening to Brandi Carisle - great music and easy to feel love live and those around you while you are listening to her amazing vocal.

So on this Christmas Day I was feeling very blessed for having a wonderful and loving husband and great kids. I was feeling thankful for in-laws who I actually enjoy spending the holiday with. I was thinking and missing my Sparta running friends and wondering how they are fairing in the nasty weather up north.

All in all a great run....

Passed the....

I passed the 1300 mile mark today. I thought I did yesterday, but realized when I entered my mileage in my log that I was .75 miles short. Yeah - I know.. it was probably close enough but it is all in the numbers - isn't it?

A different route today that was a little more enjoyable than running along the frontage road... doesn't take much though. Still a bit of wind. It is amazing how much harder it is to run when on vacation, but my attitude always is - it doesn't matter how fast I run... it is good that I am running at all!

Jim wasn't able to live without his ipod today. He said there were too many periods of silence yesterday. I reminded him that conversations are 2 way... it takes two.... He did tell me that he loved me while we were running... so I guess that should make up for it.