Thursday, August 30, 2007
Tae Blarg
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Etched Glass Ceiling over the Run
Last night the weather prevented a swim that I was considering cancelling due to tiredness anyways. I'm hoping to swim tonight instead... and then this week is almost over!
This tiredness thing - I need to go back and try to determine - is it when I'm trying to ramp up the exercising hours? Is it when I haven't been eating right? Is it to do with the full moon or something else totally random? If I push though without cutting back will it abate? Or should I be cutting back when it strikes?
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Más on Me
How many teeth do you have?
26 total. 1 is still a baby tooth. Of course, originally I had 32, but then had 4 wisdom teeth plus one molar removed when I was 22(?) -- it is a long nasty story involving lack of continuity of dentistry care leading to no one realizing that my wisdom teeth were coming in impacted, my lower left wisdom tooth literally *impacting* the tooth in front of it and breaking the thing off during the night one night, me having really really bad dreams about a toothache and waking up to look in the mirror and find half of one of my teeth gone, the oral surgeon being unable to save that tooth, so 5 came out... oh yeah, and then there were the dry sockets (no, I'm not a smoker, nor did I use a straw!!). The other tooth is my upper left molar, which got a really nasty cavity on the back side (only cavity I've ever had, I swear!!). My dentist tried to fill it 3 different times, but my mouth is so small that it was really difficult for him to work back there, so we just pulled it. Nice.
Have you ever had braces?
Noper. My top teeth are perfectly straight. Bottom ones are a bit crooked, but you can't see them, so I never had them fixed. My two front teeth were rather rabbit-esque, so I have had them filed down.
Name and tell us a bit about a pet you had as a child.
My first pet was Wilbur, the guinea pig. I got him when I was 7. He was named after the pig in Charlotte's Web, because that made sense to me when I was 7.
Where were you born?
Dallas, TX
How many siblings do you have?
1 half-brother and 1 half-sister.
What was your high school's mascot?
Wildcat.
What was your favorite Halloween costume (either childhood or adulthood)?
I've got this set of black angel type wings that I love to wear with my favorite pleather pants, and a black top and some crazy black-and-white make-up. Am I a fallen angel or some type or crow? Who cares!! I've done this one twice, once in Austin, and once since in Houston.
What's your favorite smell?
I don't know exactly what it is... it happens in the summertime when it is sunny and warm. I am sure it is caused by some kind of plant... it takes me back to summer and summer camp when I was a kid.
What accomplishment are you most proud of?
This is actually a strange question for me... I've done things that people expect me to be proud of: getting my BA with high honors and 3 majors, getting my master's degree with a 4.0 GPA, publishing my first article. Don't get me wrong, I am proud of those accomplishments, but for me, they were relatively easy. To me, something to really be proud of would be something that I really worked hard at - something that I couldn't just do. So my answer is that there is no one thing that I am incredibly proud of, but I'm trying to live my life each day in a way that makes me proud, and I'm trying to set goals to accomplish things within that life that I can point to with pride. First among these has been the two 5Ks I've run this year and my marriage to Preston.
Do you put the TP on the roll so that it feeds from the bottom or the top?
I usually put it on the sink or back of the toilet. When Preston puts it on the holder, I'm so thrilled that my bathroom feels like a hotel that I don't care what direction it goes (but I think he normally goes over the top).
Have you ever broken anything?
My arm. My heart. Probably some dishes...
If you could travel anywhere, and the budget was not a factor, where would you go?
Around the freaking world. I'd whip out my copy of 1000 Places to see before you die and I'd see them. All of them.
What is your dream job?
Archaeologist. In the realm of more attainable goals, any job where I could work for myself - doing anything.
What is your most embarrassing moment?
I have either blocked all of these out or none of them were so embarassing that I remember them. I'm sure that I've farted inappropriately or peed my pants when I was a kid, but nothing comes to mind.
What is your worst fear?
I'm claustrophobic. My worst fear is that I'm trapped, literally trapped in a tight little space.
What year did you graduate high school?
1999
What was one of your new year's resolutions for 2007?
Run a 5K. And get married. Both are done.
Seeing Red
Notice I said "used to". Well, "used to" is the case not because the anger rises more slowly or has dissipated from my life. No, I used to have severe anger issues before I learned to control my anger, to identify the cause, to determine an appropriate course of action, to realize that people were watching, to not physically demonstrate my anger.
All of that means that I still have anger issues, they just rarely surface.
But oh my goodness I just felt a white hot fit of rage shoot through my body, my adrenaline is pumping, and I'm ready to fight. And I'm at work. Trying desperately to self-soothe.
What was the cause? Inconsiderateness, mostly. Bad management, some. Rage against the machine? A little.
Intellect, give me the strength to accept that which I cannot change. And the tolerance. And the inner peace.
Slo Mo No
Yesterday I brought it in, saying, "Here is one of those clips I wanted to show you - I think this style might work for your hair." She says, "Thanks, I'll give it a try," and puts it in her bag.
In my mind, I'm screaming, "Nooooooooo" and launching myself at her in slow motion to wrestle my *only* clip out of her clutching grasp.
In reality, I say, "Enjoy," and know it is gonna be a looooong exercise week without a clip to hold back my shorter layers of hizair.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Short Run
I got all excited on Sunday, my off day (and omg was I ever exhausted - residual from the long run, maybe??), when I looked at my OHR schedule and discovered that if I stick to it, not only will my 5K on Monday fit in perfectly as the "30 minute" run for that week, I will also be *done* with the program next Friday (or Saturday). Wow.
So like a good girl I got out and did my 30 minutes this morning, and it was great! Just under 3 miles in 30 minutes.
Last week I had the goal of 7 hours exercise. I missed it by 30 minutes. I have really mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, holy crud, that is a lot of exercise! On the other, I seem to have a mental cap around 6ish hours and to exercise beyond that in a week takes Herculean effort. Ideally someday I'd like to get it to where 6ish hours is an easy cut-back week. Until then, nothing I can do other than just keep plugging away...
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Long Run Saturday
The negative is that you wake up to your alarm going, "WTF??? Why is this thing going off on a Saturday???" And all you want to do is roll over and go back to sleep.
The positive is that you have plenty of time. This morning I waited until my normally grumpy stummy was fully ready for a long run, and only then did I go for a run.
The run itself was relatively fine. I started out better than usual - no tweaks or anything. My legs were rather dead, though, probably from the hour long bike ride yesterday, so I had to constantly fight off the urge to walk. For me long runs are all about getting to the point of no return: the point where I am close enough to the end that I would feel like a loser for walking. For me, today, the first point of no return was at about 30 minutes, where I convinced myself that a long run had to be longer than my other run of the week, so I definitely *had* to eke out 10 more minutes. By the end of those 10 minutes, I knew that I could run for at least 10 more. I actually thought that OHR Week 8, Day 3 called for 51 minutes instead of the 49 that it actually calls for, so I ran 51.
Final stats: 51:20 for 4.75 miles on my regular route with 5 loops with Podrunner at 179 bpm. I was actually really pleased with my pace. I cannot believe that I ran that far and for that long and that fast. I never in my whole life would have thought that I could do this... that I could run for almost an hour. In two weeks I will run for an hour. An hour!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
19 Pounds Down
But for some reason, today, 19 pounds feels big. This is the last milestone before 13x (which used to be 14x and even 15x) turns to 12x, and boy, I think that day'll feel big. But today, 19 pounds down feels big. I looked back at this year, at where I was when I started. I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked inside myself at my energy, my attitude. And let me tell you something, 19 pounds is big today.
19 pounds is the difference between 10s and 6s. Between sad and confident. Between lassitude and energy. Between frumpy feeling and tight feeling. Between despair and hope. Between wheezing up a flight of stairs and running 4 miles.
6 pounds to go before December 31. But make no mistake, 19 pounds is huge. And I'm freakin' thrilled with it.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Spirit of Amber - Double Duty Run
It was a rather nice first loop, though, and when I looked down at my watch at the end it was 12 minutes - not too shabby in spite of the right ankle and tweaky left shin. On a whim, I decided that I'd run another large loop (normally I run 3 progressively smaller loops) before shifting to the shorter. When I looked at my watch at the end of loop 2? 23:30. I freaking negative-split that bitch. And don't you know that that was a challenge to me to run my third round on the large loop to see if I couldn't get back in the 36 minutes? Well, it was. I had a few issues on the last loop: breathing got a little out of control, a little rumbly in my stummy, etc, but wouldn't you know that I pulled a third negative split? 34:45 at the end of loop 3. Tacked on 1:15 of running to round out the 36 minutes, then a little bit more to get to the end of the street so I could get a good gmaps reading out of it.
The result? 3.45 miles in 36:22. Freaking 10:30 miles. *With* negative splits.
Oh, yes, and while I was doing all of that I was also making a spiritual appearence in Preston's dream to wake him up, since he hadn't set his alarm.
I. Rock.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
From Preston's Lips
Scenario Do(h)s: Last weekend was tax-free weekend in Texas, so I dragged Preston to Kohls, where I also had a $10 coupon. Preston hates shopping, but once in stores he is actually incredibly helpful, with the goal of getting out of there asap. So he was going through a rack of pants looking for my size and he says, "Ok, should I be looking for a 10 or an 8 in these?" I say, "How about a 6??" Damn right I'm buying 6s again. Damn fucking right.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Sore throat
But damned if it didn't bother me at all during my 90 minute tae bo.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Pizza Face
Was it you, lack of artifical estrogen?
Or you, lack of artificial making-me-a-bitch progestin?
Or perhaps you, weekend at the beach?
Don't let me figure out which one of you did this to me. Don't make me hurt you.
I've *never* in my entire life had this many zits. *Sigh*
Lightning Run
Of course, as soon as I got outside, the lightning was very apparent. I actually almost turned back. But the sky above me was clear so I just figured I'd eke out as long of a run as I could until it started raining. I altered my route a bit: 2 big loops. I found that that way I wasn't facing the storm as much and getting all nervous. Evidence of my nervousness? Just over 2.5 miles in 25 minutes. Niiiice. (Full evidence of my firm belief that I have a new 5K PR in me right now - at under 10 minute miles.) Then I made a pit stop and went back out for the last 5 minutes of my run (just under .5 mile in 5 minutes) and a 5 minute cooldown walk. The rain didn't even start until after I hit the shower.
Lightning makes me lightning fast. For a slow person.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
I'm Feeling... Flat
Anyways, I felt pretty good in the pool. I only swam 2 laps of breast stroke to warm up, after that it was all freestyle! I was starting to feel a little faster and more efficient, but I'm still having to pause every second lap or so to catch my breath.
This morning called for a short run on OHR: 30 minutes, which I would have increased to 36 if I was feeling good. (Yes, it messes up the order of the days, but it also makes it much less likely that I'll skip the longer runs on the weekend!) But there was lightening flashing outside at 4:20 when I woke up. I turned on the radar and saw a gi-normous red blob hovering over our area and decided to tae bo instead.
The irony? The lightening continued at least until 6, when I left, but it never rained. I guess I could have run after all.
Since I figured it was raining somewhere in Houston, and rain always means that some moron has smashed themselves into smithereens on the highway, I decided to leave a bit earlier than normal for my morning commute. I get all my crap into the Menace and set out. Backing out of the driveway: Wait? What's that noise? Hrm... that's new. I'll try speeding up a little as I go down the street and see if that stops it. No... it seems to be getting worse. I think I have a flat tire. Damn, it is a good thing I kept the Mustang! I turn around and drive the 100 yards home, and sure enough, the back right rear tire is flat. I move all my gear over into the 'Stang feeling totally stressed out: hands shaking, talking to myself, etc. I finally get ready to go and continue to feel twitchy because I haven't been in the Mustang in a few weeks and *everything* is in a different location than in the Menace, making me feel like a total moron.
Once I got re-acquainted with my old girl, though, this was the best commute I've had in a loooong time. I was going 70 mph or over allllll the way into work. Until I got to the smushed up idiot. So revise that to *almost* alll the way into work. It was beautiful. I miss my Mustang.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Rats!!
Biked last night.
One of the long tae bos this morning... I'm thinking that maybe I should make the 4:20ish wake up a bi or triweekly event... that leaves not much exercising left for the evenings. Like this:
M: run 1 hour morning, bike 30 min evening
T: tae bo 1 hour morning, swim 30 min evening
W: run 30 min morning, lift 1 hour evening
R: tae bo 1 hour morning, bike 30 min evening
Then if I could just get off my ass on Friday mornings... and afternoons for that matter, and of course also on Sunday mornings, we'd be good.
Swimming tonight.
Maybe a little rat-hunting at intervals throughout the day today...
Monday, August 13, 2007
4 Freaking Miles!
Like the true bum that I am, I didn't run while in Galveston this weekend. I wanted to. I really did. An early morning jaunt down the seawall with the birds and waves and cars to distract me - I really wanted that. But it seems that I wanted sleep more. Or rather, 2 days I wanted sleep more. 1 day my stomach wanted sleep more.
Sooo... I was back in the getting-all-too-familiar position of needing to do a long run this morning. 45 minutes on schedule for Week 7, Day 3 of One Hour Runner. Only 3 weeks to go!!??!! Wow.
Part of this run rocked, part was a slogfest, but what do you expect for a "long" run? I distracted myself by watching for meteorites, getting all into my Podrunner music, and trying to do the math of the run. I'm getting a lot better at disengaging my mind from my running, which is great! When I got back this morning I did the route on gmaps and to my surprise, I went 4 miles! I mean, it makes sense, since it took 45 minutes, that I would go that far, but I hadn't yet connected the dots in my brain to realize that today would be my first 4 mile run. Go me!!
Now to get up to 60 minutes. Then to work on going faster for longer. Yes. Faster.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Cleanest Sinuses South of the Mason-Dixon Line
Now I learned to flip turn when I was like 8 and totally fearless. Let's just say that the almost 20 years older me is a total chicken. So there I am, standing at the deep end of the lane, with Preston next to me promising that he'll stick his arm between me and the wall if I get too close while flipping, and I'm freaked out. I do my first flip from a standstill and come nowhere near the wall - when I stick my feet out to push off I just barely reach it. And of course water goes far enough up my nose to make its acquaintance with my brain. So I inch closer and try again, blowing out my nose this time. Same story. Preston has two things to say: "Why don't you blow out your nose?" (Unsaid, but he meant to add "Moron") and "You keep backing up while you're turning". Fine. I get a swimming start at the next turn and actually execute it rather well, albeit with additional water up the nose. How is it getting up there when I'm blowing out while I'm flipping????
Anyways, with a little additional practice and sufficient swimming endurance to not want to come up for air at the end of each lap, I'll try to start adding flip turns in. Go me.
Even though I felt slow, my fastest lap was still faster than last week's. Go me. I think I just need to concentrate on keeping my head down and getting the laps in. I'll work on that. I'd like to swim at least twice next week. I'll work on that too.
We're heading down to G-town either tonight or tomorrow. Looking forward to getting at least one, but hopefully two runs in on the Seawall this weekend. Would love to try to get an ocean swim in, parallel to the beach, of course, but not sure I'm ready for that!! Maybe I could try and have Preston walk along on the beach or in waist deep water with me... ooooo or he could put on fins and just fin on his back beside me!! (Don't you love me drafting my husband on my blog and him not even knowing it!) Or maybe I could get my runs in and just relax in the water.
Happy weekend!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Bored?
Jobs I’ve Held
Library packer-upper, Bank temp (what do you do there? I get paid $8/hour to watch millions go
across my desk (Real Estate Construction Loan Dept.)), Library Assistant, Barnes & Noble grunt,
Graduate Assistant, Librarian.
Movies I Can Watch Over & Over
Almost anything with John Wayne or Gene Kelly. LOTR Trilogy, Harry Potter Movies, Hitch, Bridget
Jones' Diary, 1st 2 X-Men, Shreks, Ice Age, Incredibles.
My Guilty Pleasures
Anything chocolate.
Ice Cream.
Anything fried (especially if it ever swam or if it is potatos!).
Laying around on Fridays while the rest of the world works...
Places I Have Lived (in order)
Dallas, TX
Austin, TX
Middle of Nowhere, NM (archaeological dig)
Middle of Nowhere, Italy (archaeological survey)
Denton, TX
Houston, TX
Shows I Enjoy
South Park
The Soup
Survivor
Grey's Anatomy
House
ER
So You Think You Can Dance (embarassing, but true)
Deadliest Catch
Dirty Jobs
Places I Have Been on Vacation
Almost everywhere in the United States, minus the Northwest, Alaska, and some parts of the Northeast.
All over Italy (not that it stops me from wanting to go back)
All up and down the Mexican coasts
Favorite Foods
Snow Crab Legs
Ice Cream
Chocolate
Fried Calamari
Pillsbury Croissant Rolls
Almost anything Mom makes
Websites I Visit Daily
iGoogle (to stalk...er.. read blogs)
Houston Chronicle
MSN
Astros
Texas Rangers
Awards I’ve Won
I don't really feel like I've ever actually won much... National Merit Scholarship in High School (but they had to give that to me because of my test scores), a third place ribbon for swimming the 3rd most laps in swimming school, Rookie of the Year last year at my current POW.
Injuries I've Had
Only one major one, really: broken right wrist.
I also once had a cat bite that got mega-infected on the same wrist that required a temporary cast and almost a hospital visit.
Stoopid unlucky right wrist. Lucky me that this is all I've got!!
Nicknames I’ve Been Called
Amby, Red, Ber, Berzle, Bickity, Prester
Craptastic Run
This morning I had a 34 minute run on tap. I headed out into the 80ish degree humidity filled with the glory of Monday's 41 minute run. I even threw out a few little kicks and snapped along with my awesome podrunner tune during my 5 minute walking warm-up. (If noone saw me do it, it never really happened, right?)
Unfortunately, the awesome run of Monday was not to be repeated. In the first mile I began having GI pressure...er... issues. I was running slow, and wanting to stop every single step. I reasoned that I'd head for home after a mile when I looped around near my house again. But the GI issues cleared up a bit and I decided to go for a second loop. During that second mile, my left shoulder kept cramping up, and by then I was pretty sure that this run was pretty much just gonna suck. By the third loop, shouldy was feelin' better, but the GI issues were back. And then I made my error. My GI was issuing, but I decided to tack my spur onto my loop for the 34 minute run (until then I was contemplating stopping at 30). I figured that I could make it, and I might even run faster on the way back since then I'd be heading towards home and a bathroom. I was right about the faster. I ran waaaaaay faster as my GI issue turned into distress. I made it home in the nick of time, running the whole way and foregoing anything resembling a cooldown. I just barely averted a total disaster. But that's me, that's how I roll, pushing the edge of the pooper...er.... envelope.
On the plus side, the race to the pooper compensated for my incredibly slow start. 3.2 miles in 34 minutes.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Changing the Race Schedule
Soooo that leaves me with the Fired Up 5K on Labor Day, hopefully. Hopefully I'll still feel fast then!
Rearranging my training "plan" accordingly...
Monday, August 6, 2007
Bawluh
Preston often answers his phone, "Baller" for his friends. It is kind of a thing. It has been a thing since I met him, 5 long years ago.
Somehow or another, this is related to the song by Lil' Troy from Houston. I don't know if they got it from the song, or if the song was just a concurrent representation of a fad, or what, but there it is.
The "chorus" of the "song" is this:
Wanna be a baller, shot caller
Twenty inch blades on the Impala
Caller gettin laid tonight
Swisher rolled tight, gotta spray my ice
I hit the hiiiighway, making money the flyyy way,
But there's got to be a better way, better way, better way!
Anyways, as we were driving through Palestine, Texas this past weekend, we stopped at Wally World for me to pee. I run into the store by myself while Preston eats his Wendy's in the Menace (classy, I know), and when I'm coming out I hear this song blasting from the rolled down windows of a black Dodge 4x4 jacked-up pick-up truck. With white boys inside.
Now picture me. Little ginger girl. Well, mostly ginger. Pale skin and freckles and reddish (strawberry blonde) hair. And like 8th generation Texan (important because of the accent).
I get back in the Menace and give Preston my version:
Wanna be a bawluh, shawt cawluh
Twenty inch blaaaze on the Impawluh
Cawluh gettin laid tuh-nah-t
Swisher rolled tah-t, gotta spray muh ahce
I hit the hiiiiigh-whey, makin money the flyyy whey,
But there's gotta be a bedduh whey, bedduh whey, bedduh whey!!
Then I started freestylin'. I won't go there, but it involved words like water, dollar, and diamond rottweiler (inspired by the song, of course).
A Shooting Star!! My Wish? Run 41 Minutes.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Who's a Bum?
I was supposed to do my long run this morning. 41 minutes. I slept instead. For 5 more hours. Now it is more than 90 degrees outside, and I'm not about to do it today. Bum.
I'm traveling with the P-hubby to the 'rents this weekend for a wedding reception for everyone who couldn't make it to Big Bend. Soooo... as much as I'm taking my running attire and shoes with me, I'm just not fully convinced that it'll go down this weekend. I *am* pretty sure that I'll get a run in, but a "long" run? Not so much. There are hills at the 'rents. So I'm hoping for 30 minutes going up and down the hills either tomorrow or Sunday.
Preston's not going to be happy... this means I'll long run on Monday or Tuesday... that means I'll be setting the alarm *even earlier* than my normal 4:30 morning run wake-up call. I'll admit that I'm too thrilled with that either. C'est la running vie.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Coming Out of the Staff Bathroom Today
"Did you flush?"
Am I Crazy?
It's been on the plan for a long time to do a 5 miler on Thanksgiving this year. That'd put me only a mile-ish short of a 10K in, say, January '08. And that would be just under 4 miles and 3ish months shy of a 10 miler in April. Maybe? Maybe? If only it were close enough to home that I didn't have to decide so early...
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Where Should Cell Phones NOT Go??
Seriously. I hate for people to listen to me eliminiate my bodily by-products of any kind. Hate. It. I hate it even more when their friends on the other end of the phone can hear it. But you can bet your ass that when I walk into a public restroom and someone is on the phone, I'm going to be as loud as humanly possible: pee loud, fart loud, flush loud, wash-my-hands loud, use the air hand drier loud. (All the while wishing that assault was legal.)
And you can bet your ass that that someone doesn't even give a shit and just plugs their other ear with their finger and yells louder into the phone. "Oh, yeah, I'm just in the bathroom! Man, that chick sounded like she had a problem!!"
Amber's Exercise Blarg??
This morning I had a crappy run. I put on my ipod and *yet again* it has magically switched to shuffle and my podcast is nowhere near the front. Someone insists that he didn't touch it, but how the hell else was it not on the song I left it on? And how else did it get on shuffle?? Well, someone is getting his own ipod this weekend. For the health of our marriage, I'll shell out the damn $70, even while we're in a spending moriatorium. Anyways, I was yelling at someone about not leaving the ipod the way he found it (I don't mind sharing, just either tell me so I can get it back to where it needs to be instead of wasting running time, or put it back yourself when you're done, that's all!) Then I felt all angsty because we were fighting (note to someone: arguing about whether or not it is your fault doesn't fix it). I finally get outside and damn if it doesn't feel about 80 degrees with like 90% humidity. Then I shortened the warm-up because I was running behind. Then the running itself sucked. I kept telling myself that it would get better like it usually does after 1.5-2 miles, but it never did. All in all, 33 minutes for 3 miles this morning.
And I'm still tired.