The Morning After the Day After Christmas

I finally found my camera cable, but all the Christmas photos are on Number One Daughter's camera, which of course I don't know how to use. We had a great Christmas. I got an I-Pod AND an electric blanket and earrings and so many other things I can't even remember, and NOD got socks and sweaters. Hmmm....

I can't remember the last time I didn't have a workout scheduled for a Saturday morning. It's a weird feeling. I have no idea what to do with myself (here's a hint, Jeanne: WRITE YOUR DAMN CHRISTMAS CARDS!). Yesterday morning, I ran five miles at a numbingly slow pace (58 minutes. Come on!!!). I will never understand how I can get so slow in one week. NEVER. NOD has guests (elementary school friend and her husband) staying for the weekend, so she insisted we clean the house on Friday. So bossy. I spent the rest of Friday cleaning and baking. And baking. Tally so far: two loaves of yeast bread, two loaves of quick bread, lasagna, french toast, pecan pie. That's a lot of food to come out of this dump place:

I like to call this shot "Hell's Kitchen." You can clean this kitchen as much as you like but somehow it still looks like an unmade bed. Notice the artful tower of pots and pans. That I washed several hundred times. Notice also the missing drawer. It's much easier to the get to the second drawer this way. Eliminates all that sliding open and closed. It's possible that we're a bit behind on the renovation plan.

Lasagna, made from an authentic ancestral recipe, and Eggnog bread, on my NEW STOVE.

My Major Award for coming in 2nd place!

Major Award, frontal view.

There are many more photos showing off my homemaking skills, but you'll just have to wait for them.

P.S. Old School Runner has a fantastic post about unusual Christmas songs. I wish I'd thought of that. But I was far too busy cooking up the carbs. Leave him a comment with your nomination.

A Cornucopia of Minutiae

Big congrats to the always amazing and prodigious D.C. Rainmaker for winning Best of the Blogs. And for nailing the Philly Marathon today. Holy cow!

I think my bowling injury is gone, thankfully. But bowling did manage to totally TAKE out one of my younger colleagues--who threw her back out and had to take a week off from work. So much for group bonding. I'm going to propose that next time, we eschew physical pursuits and just go drink.

Meanwhile, I'm back training. My schedule looks like this:

Sunday: Swim class (loads of fun, and I still suck)
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Spin class 6 a.m. (this is supposed to be 60 minutes but barely hits 45, don't understand why.)
Tuesday night: run on YMCA treadmill, where you get kicked off after 30 minutes. I manage to crank out 3 9:30 minute miles, which is obviously a complete lie since there is no replicating this in REAL LIFE. Say, outdoors, for instance.
Wednesday: 6 a.m.: swim drills from class. Set new time for swimming 100: 3:30. Sigh.
Thursday: Spin class 6 a.m.
Thursday: run 4 miles outside in the cold, at 4:30 p.m., in the gathering dusk. Am hanging on around 10:30 minute miles.
Friday: OFF!
Saturday: Run with my newfound SnailTrail runners. I am waaay out front again, with two other women. Eight miles finished in....1:37!!! Which is a 12:08 minute mile. In my defense, it was 22 degrees out and windy. It turns out that I'm discouraged even when I'm leading. The good news that I successfully avoided the evil post-run petite heroin-laced Starbucks vanilla scones.

Here we are at Sunday again, gearing up for swim class tonight.

I'm in town for Thanksgiving for the first time in several years, so I have the opportunity to run the YMCA Turkey trot, a 10k. I've only run two 10ks ever (is that possible?? What do I have against 10ks???) and apparently my PR is 1:07. So I'm pretty sure that will stand, but hope springs eternal!

And I'm still pretending that I will be running the Fredericksburg Blue Gray Half Marathon on Dec 14 (Hi Susie and David!).

In other news: Apparently you can only watch my television ancien comfortably, from one chair in this house.


Just try watching TV from this couch. You'd need a chiropracter.
I can't move the TV bcs the cable is on that side. And I can't move the couch cuz that lounge-y part is part of the couch and won't work on any other wall.

Believe it or not, this leetle conundrum led to a fight with number one daughter last night! I have so many ridiculous problems...it's just ridiculous.

So, it's OPEN MIKE. I need advice on my training sked, and my furniture arranging skills. Don't be shy!

Du, or Du Not

What have I done?!?!?

I've done gone and registered for a duathlon:

When: Sunday, April 20, 7:30 a.m.
Where: Haine's Point, D.C.
Course: Run 3.0 miles (1 short loop)
Bike 16.8 miles (3 long loops)
Run 3.2 miles (1 short loop)
Cost: $5
Experience: Priceless

My stomach hurts.

I blame A.J.

Chicago: Not for Slow, Fat Runners

Mark has written a provocative piece over at completerunning.com,
"Chicago Marathon: Defending Slow, Fat, Poorly Trained Runners."

Amen, Mark. Well said.