The Opposite of The Bee’s Knees

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I woke up for my run this morning and knew something was wrong.  My knees were inflamed and really sore, so I iced, I elevated, I rested.  Then, I emailed my doctor.  It’s been going on for a few weeks now, and I want to know for sure if it’s runner’s knee or tendinitis or maybe even IT Band Syndrome.  My doctor responded with a link to a Runner’s World article with hamstring stretches and a strength exercise. She mentioned that the typical treatment for runner’s knee is rest, ice and strength training. So she said to start with that and if it doesn’t help, in a few weeks to make an appointment.  She said it might help save me a co-pay.  How great is my doctor? 😉

So, I’m still going to cross train with spin, and start adding in more leg strength training exercises, and hopefully all the ice and resting and whatnot will help.

Don’t Worry! Maybe It Won’t Happen!

On Monday, I got an email from the Disney Half Marathon people saying basically, sorry, you didn’t make it from the waitlist!  I was really, really disappointed.  I had my heart set on running the Disney half again this year, but, apparently it sold out in only a few weeks.  Crazy!

About an hour after that email, I got an email from the Nike Women’s Marathon people.  So, one of my running buddies and I each put our names in for the random drawing to see if we can register.  We’ll see what happens, we should know in the next few weeks.  I’m not going to lie, I am terrified. It’s not just a full marathon, it’s a full marathon in San Francisco, and the course map elevation is scary. Obviously, there are LOTS of hills.  REALLY BIG hills. I’m really, and truly afraid I won’t be able to finish. But, as my subject line says, Don’t Worry! Maybe It Won’t Happen!

See?!! Check out that elevation map at the bottom. WTF?!

The good news, is there are 27 weeks until the Nike Women’s marathon, and, if we don’t get in to that race either, as an absolute last ditch effort to get into Disney we could try and squeeze in with a charity (if there are any spaces left.)

What scares you? Would you ever do the thing that scares you most?

Return of the Outdoor Run

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After work on Wednesday, I hopped on the treadmill and was planning on doing a 5k to see how fast I could run it, but as, staff  when I saw a member waiting for a treadmill with no one budging (some people who had definitely been on for the 30 minute limit when someone’s waiting,) I decided to stop at 1.10  miles.  I then did some push-ups, using an app I downloaded to my phone, and I hit the grocery store before heading home.  Once I got home, I realized I still had lots of time before I needed to make dinner, so I strapped on my Garmin and headed outdoors for a quick run.  I managed to get in 2.10 miles making my total mileage for the day 3.2. I somehow managed to lose the cord for my Garmin, so I couldn’t plug it in, but the total time for my mileage was about 36 minutes which gave me an overall average pace of 11:17.  Not too shabby, since I’ve been majorly slacking on the running lately.

When I set out for my run, I decided against bringing my iPod, which I think was a great choice. I was able to really enjoy the weather, look around and soak in my surroundings. Can you run without an iPod? I did an out and back down the street to Pan Pacific Park and then into the park for a bit. Once I hit the mile mark, I turned around and headed home. I have to admit, I had a hard time pacing myself at first, I went out too fast a first. This made the return mile a little tough, especially because there are some hills in the park, and I’d been doing most of my running on the treadmill.

On Friday, after work, I hit up the treadmill again, but my knee was bothering me so I did the rest of my workout on the elliptical which as less painful.  Today, I wanted to do 6 miles in Griffith Park, but sadly, my knees did not agree.  We ended up doing a little over 4 in 1:17 because we walked a good part of the way.  After a quick stop at Jamba Juice I came home and iced my knees.  It seems to be helping a bit. I’m pretty sure I’ve got Runner’s Knee.  So, some knee braces, and icing, foam rolling and stretching will be in my future.

Warm Bed Wins

With Travis gone, the kittehs seem to be even more hyper at night than usual.  Last night, for example, I headed off to bed close to 10pm because I was planning on doing a 5 mile run in the morning.  The girls, however, had other plans.  They ran around downstairs, tearing around corners, skidding into things, knocking things off of tables for hours. I kept trying to bring them both into the bedroom but Bits can open the door (it doesn’t always close all the way,) and Peanut scratches at the mirror on the wall next to the door which is just as annoying as listening to them play very loudly.

The girls played and generally kept me awake until well after 1am so when my alarm went off at 6am, I had a raging headache and my warm bed was just too comfy not to leave. So, I went back to sleep and snuggled with the annoying, but adorable kittehs. However, I have made a decision.  This is officially the last weekend I blow off running. I’ve been too lax, not running often enough, and it needs to stop. I have to get back into my groove.  Part of my reasoning this morning was also that having been sick all week, I didn’t want to push too hard, but honestly, I could have made it if I’d gotten any real sleep.

Sure, they look all sweet and innocent when they’re sleeping, but man, are they loud! If you have pets, do they play loudly, at night?

Well, I’m off to get ready for the rest of the day.  Lunch, then dinner at the Magic Castle. Should be interesting. 🙂

Mars Needs 6 Miles and Kitchen 24

Last night, I set my alarm for 5am.  I planned on joining my running buddies for part of their 14 miler, and was actually pretty excited about it.  It had been a while since I’d run outdoors, so I checked my alarm twice before going to bed, and crashed around 9:30pm.  I woke up at 5:50am, my alarm never went off.  I still can’t determine what it is I did wrong in setting this alarm as it is the same one I use during the week for work, but whatever.

I hauled ass to Griffith Park to meet Janna, and we set out.  I had to meet friends at the Arclight at 9:40ish for a MARS NEEDS MOMS screening, so I knew I’d only be able to cover about 6 miles, which was disappointing.  I had been hoping to get in closer to 10.  Janna and I started out, and did about a mile warm up walking, and then started running, but about 2.5 miles in Janna’s knee was really bothering her, so we just walked the rest of the loop.  One thing that was kind of exciting to discover: we took a different path than usual to try and stay on paved road as long as possible, and they’ve paved over a huge portion of what used to be dirt path.  This makes running so much easier because normally there’s so much dirt that it’s like running on really soft beach sand.  It makes both of us nervous that we’re going to twist an ankle.  So, it wasn’t what we had planned, but we at least got some mileage covered!  In my haste to get to the park, I skipped breakfast (I know,) and then didn’t end up leaving the park until about 8:30 which made me nervous timewise.  I realized I now didn’t have time to shower (which wasn’t as gross as it sounds since we walked the whole way basically.)  I rushed home, changed, grabbed a cereal bar and hit the road for the Arclight.

I have to say, that MARS NEEDS MOMS was terrible. It was disjointed, upsetting, and actually pretty racist and sexist in ways I was shocked by.  I am really kind of surprised this is a kids movie, and know that if I were a kid, and watched this movie, I would be really upset by it.  I actually said, out loud, during a particularly upsetting moment “THIS IS WORSE THAN BAMBI!!”  It’s in 3-D and doesn’t even really look cool, there wasn’t anything special about the movie that made it necessary to be in 3-D. So glad I didn’t pay to see this movie.  I wasn’t, however, disappointed by my small popcorn and Coke.  I only drank about a quarter of the soda, but man, that popcorn was good.

After the movie, we walked to Kitchen 24, where I bravely resisted the lure of the amazing Disco Fries.  Disco Fries are seasoned fries, with cheese, and gravy.  They are incredible, and probably even life changing. However, I figured, since I’d just stuffed my face full of popcorn, that I should probably go with something healthier.

I ordered the Tree Hugger which is their homemade granola (delicious!) with yogurt and strawberries.  It was perfect, refreshing and just enough food.  I am totally in love with their homemade granola. I wish I’d thought to ask if they sold it.

When I got home, Travis and I finished up our menu and grocery planning for the week and headed out to the stores.  We usually do Trader Joe’s and then Ralph’s.  Let me tell you, today must be asshole day because everyone out and about at the grocery stores was a total jerk.  People taking up whole sections of food areas while leaning on their baskets and talking on their phones.  People letting their children run amok around the stores screaming and pulling things off of shelves, people who decided to leave their carts completely blocking aisle ways and walk away.  It was exhausting.

Right now, I have four things planned for the next hour and half: kitteh bath time, brief clean up of the office, nap, shower.  This evening we’re heading out to meet friends at Father’s Office in Santa Monica for a bit of some goodbye Mikela and Happy Birthday to another friend.  Travis and I will be picking up some cupcakes at Frosted Cupcakery, which I am really excited about.  I’ve never had their cupcakes before, but I’ve heard good things.

Full weekend, but definitely worth it. Did you have a full weekend?

Rough

We ran out of bananas and berries, so I haven’t been eating the best breakfasts.  Adding the chocolate to my oatmeal this morning didn’t make for the best fuel even though it was super tasty.  By the time work was over, I was still hungry, with nothing left in my lunch to eat, and exhausted.  I had a speed workout on the agenda, and decided I was going to at last attempt it.

What I actually did, was 2.14 miles in 25 minutes.  My legs felt so heavy, and tired.  I was a little sore this morning after spin last night.  Even after a mile at a 12 minute pace, which on Tuesday had me raring to go, today had me feeling spent.  I tried picking up the pace to 10:20 but only made it .45 of a mile, and then slowed down and walked/jogged the rest. I don’t know what was wrong with me today, but I was just super tired. After a good stretch, I met Travis and Allison to watch them play tennis, and then Travis and I came home and had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner.

Now we’re catching up on Being Human, and then it’s going to be early to bed for me!  I’m zonked. Definitely ready for bed.

Of Note

Last night, I took a spin class, with my favorite teacher, and she played not only Led Zeppelin, but an Enya song (that I still can not find,) that nearly brought me to tears it was so powerful.  The Enya song was a 5 minute climb, and after a stressful February, and being hormonal the mere act of closing my eyes, digging deep and pushing to the top of the “hill,” made me nearly weep with joy.

Then, for dinner, we realized we were missing key ingredients for any meals we planned to make, so Travis ordered us Louise’s and I had to send my whole wheat fettuchini back, because it was completely undercooked.  It took them another hour to run me out a new dish (with regular pasta,) and it was still gross.  Lesson learned.

This morning, because I’m a grown up, and my mother always told me, “when you’re an adult and have our own kitchen, you can eat whatever you want for breakfast,” I put the last two pieces of my dark chocolate with orange into my oatmeal.  It was the best decision I’ve made in a while, food wise.

I’m deciding to make today a truly awesome one, how will your Thursday be?

Taxes, Chilis, Walmart, Oscar Sunday

It’s been a rough week and a half, and I’m hoping that after today, things will finally calm down enough that I can pull myself together again and get back into a regular blog routine.  The truth is, when things got super stressful this week I could really only focus on work, and getting through the week without passing out at my desk. Since today is the last day of our fiscal year, it’s going to be a doozy, and then, thankfully, tomorrow will calm down a bit, but the real respite will come next week, when all the final numbers have been crunched, and the bulk of the letters and receipts will have been sent out.

Things I didn’t talk about last week:

Part of my job involves dealing with our gift and pledge Thank You letters, which we manage using mail merges.  In and of themselves, these are fairly simple and straight forward.  However, we do have at least 10 different Thank You letters, and last Monday alone, I had 99 letters to merge.  This is, of course, when our printer decided to begin jamming incessantly.  Suddenly, it was no longer simply jamming when I printed envelopes, but now it was attempting to take seven sheets of letterhead through the feed tray at once.  While I appreciate its obvious desire to complete the daunting task of printing 100 letters quickly, it was quite frustrating to have to pull out several sheets of paper jammed into various orifices of the printer.  Several times each day last week.  The printer repair man came out three times, and finally had to order a new feeder tray for us, after determining it was not, in fact, that the envelopes were “too stiff,” but that the tray itself had simply stopped working properly.  To this I said, “no shit.”

I don’t know if you’ve ever printed, collated, folded and stuffed an average of 70 letters a day for a week, but it’s a bit exhausting, and I have paper cuts on both hands, and on my face (from when our postage machine gave up sealing envelopes.)

The weekend couldn’t come soon enough for me, and Friday Travis and I celebrated by sharing a dinner at Outback Steakhouse.  I use the website mypoints.com  and had received as one of my rewards at $25 gift card to Outback.  It was a great meal (although I had to blatantly ignore the calorie counts on the menu so I could enjoy our cheese fries appetizer.)  Saturday, two friends and I drove out to Tarzana to have our taxes done, then we had lunch at Chili’s, wandered around Wal-Mart for over an hour where I purchased new windshield wipers.

Sunday, I skipped my 12 mile run because my Achillies was popping (which I have determined is most likely tendinitis, yay!) but I’m wishing I had just gone and done it.  The thing is, as I’ve mentioned before, because I am not training for an upcoming race, I’m having a really difficult time staying motivated to do my longer runs.  I just don’t have it in me.  I was awake at 6am I started to get dressed, and while I probably could have just pushed through the strange popping feeling in my left foot, I didn’t.  I spent the rest of the day doing laundry, feeling like a slob, and re-inflating my stability ball. In the evening, Travis and I joined our friends to watch The 83rd Academy Awards, which I found, this year to be kind of hilarious. Did you watch The Oscars? I really liked Anne Hathaway and James Franco as hosts, which was unexpected.  I love Anne Hathaway, but I’ve always been a bit on the fence about Franco.  It wouldn’t surprise me to learn he was stoned for most of last night’s show, but his deadpan, doesn’t give a shit vibe was pretty funny.

Living in Los Angeles thought, it’s a little frustrating how the main way out of the city for me gets completely shut down, and makes it nearly impossible to leave for the weekend, but watching the spectacle is entertaining.I had wanted to also attempt to get out to Westlake Village for my dance school’s competition this weekend, but between all the errands I had to run, and Hollywood and Highland being a giant mess, it just wasn’t in the cards.

Inflating this sucker was a workout in and of itself.

Today, I am forcing myself to run, even though on my training plan it is a “Rest/Xtrain” day.  I need to get back into my groove, because I have been feeling all kinds of out of sorts lately.  I’m ready to be back at maximum levels of tiny-ness.  How do you bounce back from feeling out of sorts?

 

Nacho Taco Bowl

The week has been really busy at work, even though it’s only Wednesday, so I was definitely ready for my run yesterday.  My training plan called for an easy 2 miler, and even though the suggested pace was somewhere around 12:30 I needed to run, so I cranked up the speed, and ended up averaging a 10:58 pace.  I was pretty pleased.  I finished my workout with some ab work in the locker room and then headed home.

Last night for dinner we made tacos, and by we I mean the girls, Travis and myself, and by tacos I mean I made a nacho bowl.

Tortilla chips, ground beef, black beans, tomatoes, avocado and some sour cream.  It was delicious, but even more delicious was dessert, which I recognized from inside the grocery bag. Seriously, I have a sixth sense with desserts.

Snickers Ice Cream Bar, I love you. While we were eating our desserts, we discussed which actors are aging well, and which aren’t.  This is a fun game when you are eating nachos and Snickers Ice Cream bars, and can easily look up various actors IMDB pages.  Which actors do you think are aging well? 😉  Some of our votes went to:

Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Olyphant, Mark Ruffalo, and of course, George Clooney.  Sadly we did not feel the same about Leonard DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp.  =X

I also had a glass and a half of wine, and then we all watched Glee.  Happy Hump Day, everyone, hope you’re making it through the week!

Down and Dirty

This weekend, I had an event to work on Saturday, the weather wasn’t terrible when I got to work, but when I left, it was pouring.  The parking lot at work was starting to flood and I had to trudge through the rain and flooding to my car.  I decided on the drive home to make another batch of Broccoli Cheddar Soup, so I picked up some frozen broccoli, cheese, and some French bread.  I also used my free Red Box rental to rent Easy A. The movie was totally adorable and made me love Emma Stone even more than I already did.

Travis was out with friends until after 10pm, so I made my soup and watched my movie, and it was a great evening.  Sunday morning I had a 5 miler, and one of my running buddies and I decided, even though it wasn’t raining to do our run indoors on a treadmill since Griffith Park’s trails would most likely be a flooded, muddy mess. It was a bit tough, my right knee was twinging a bit for some reason, probably a tight IT band, but I made it through in an hour and two minutes.  After our run, we stretched and then I headed home.  My best friend was planning on coming out to see our apartment, so I wanted to eat and get some cleaning done.  Sadly, she texted me just as I got home saying she couldn’t make it.  She’s pregnant and had been on bed rest for weeks, and wasn’t feeling well, so she needed to rest.  Obviously I understood and want her to be well, but I had been looking forward to seeing her.

Breakfast both Saturday and Sunday was poached eggs and some fruit.  Sunday I had some French bread toast and eggs, but Saturday’s breakfast was really tasty, a poached egg, tomatoes, broccoli and some fruit salad.

Travis and I cleaned anyway, a deep down, dirty clean.  We needed to fix the curtain rod in the dining room because during one of her jaunts around the apartment, she managed to pull down one side of the rod. Did you have any home improvement projects to take care of this weekend?

So, there was a lot of dusting, moping, and scrubbing.  So, in addition to the 5 mile run, and short arm workout I did, I also spent about two hours doing “vigorous house work.”

Of course, right after we’d dusted all the furniture, the kittehs managed to get tiny little paw prints all over the place. At least now we’ve got a mostly clean apartment.

We made a quick, easy dinner of “veggie pasta,” which had squash and tomatoes.  Normally we’d have pine nuts as well, but for some reason, pine nuts have gotten REALLY pricey.  We also forgot to get some goat cheese, so sadly, we were without that as well.

After dinner we also ate a couple of cookies, and watched Being Human, which is our new favorite Sunday show.

I can’t believe this weekend went by so quickly, I guess working Saturday didn’t help, but I’ve got so much to do this week at work, I can’t wait for the 28th to be here and our fiscal year to end.  I’m going to need my workouts this week, I can already tell. How do you manage your stress?