Who Let the Dogs Out??

Holy hell, I turn my back for a minute and the place falls to pieces! a.j, so much for the mystery. You were immediately outed. Which means that you have an inimitable style. Which is a good thing! And despite all the begging, you didn't give in to the hordes asking for the "good" stories about me.

(Pssst, people: That's because there aren't any. Sigh.)

So, I thought today (Sunday for five more minutes) was on a.maria's agenda ... but she's probably out dancing on the tables somewhere !!!!!!!!!!!!! (that's me imitating a.j. Woot.) Thanks for holding down the fort, girlfriend. You are officially off the hook!

In the meantime, the boring me has returned, and I brought these with me:
(Sunrise, Hudson River, West Park, New York)



(Norman Bates lives here)

(I lived here for a weekend)

caught red-handed..

well, there goes the mystery of the thing.

apparently my writing style - slash - choice of vocabulary - slash - drunken computer hijacking was completey see thru.

not even one wrong guess... how sad! hmpf!!

however, with my secret celebrity blogging identity revealed...
we can really have some fun!

trouble is...

um. yeah. i have zero ideas for fun fantastic and fabulous blogging adventures in the name of jeanne.

((( anyone else watching the KSU/UT game right now? for the love of all that is right and good in this world, someone please make it stop. Texas, oh Texas... what is wrong with you tonight?!?!

saddens me.)))

enny-vay...

so. i ask you, my (jeanne's) good readers..
we've got all day tomorrow to tear it up.

what should i do with these sneakily accquired powers?!!

i'm all ears!

whooooHOO!

HEEEEEEEEE hee hee hee hee hee.....

i am celebirty blogger extraordinarire! and i drunke!

guess who i am!!!!!!!!!!!

(its 11:03 HERE, Bub its 12;03 THERE, so this totally counts as firday's post, yeah?

i'm thinkins so!)

uuuh-uuuh.

bringing sexy back, woooot!

hee hee hee hee hee...

jeanne's gunna kill me!

Big Surprise

Well, fellow runners, I will be gone Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Now you didn't think I could possibly leave this little ol' blog unattended for three whole days, now did you? Hell no!

So I have given the keys of the kingdom to a Secret Celebrity Blogger who will post for me! And just who is this person, you ask? I'd tell, but hee, it's a secret. So you'll just have to check 50,000 times on Friday to see.

Stay tuned for a wild ride.

Food and Fear

I've had a lifelong affair with food, as I expect many of you have had. It's a love/hate thing. Often, it's been abusive (on both sides, I might add). But all that changed, after many, many years, when I decided to stop getting on the scale and stop dieting.

Now that sounds easy, but of course it wasn't easy. Or fast. It was gradual. I also started exercising around the same time. I discovered other interests. My daughter left home for college, so I could totally control what food I had around me (that's a good AND a bad thing).

So when I find myself stuffing things willy-nilly into my mouth, I get worried. No, not worried. Scared. To. Death. As in terrified. Cuz I've been overweight, and I'm in no hurry to get back there.

I just read this article from the Washington Post about food cravings, and this last paragraph struck me:

Many desires for food mask other emotions. Are you tired, stressed, upset, sad, anxious, angry or just plain bored? If you're tired, consider a nap. If you're stressed, a walk or other physical activity may help. If you're angry, maybe a call or e-mail to a friend will help -- and keep you from consuming calories that you may not be hungry for. You get the idea.

Duh, right? Unless you allow yourself to become unconscious. Which it looks like, somehow, I have.

So now I have a bit of work to do, to figure out what exactly I am busily masking by eating like it's going out of style. Maybe it's just the fear of having completed this enormous goal—and not yet having another one quite as large to take its place.

Maybe it is some hormonal changes; or my body adapting to a reduced running schedule.

I honestly don't know. But it's starting to really freak me out.

I'm hoping a weekend with the monks (and by the way? the monastery I'm visitng this weekend is directly across the river from the C.I.A. That would be the Culinary Institute of America, where at least one monk studied. And now he's a monastery cook) will help me figure this out.

Or exorcise it.

Quotes o' the Day

Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.
—Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

And here's one from my refrigerator:

The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
—author unknown

In other news: Good God, I've never been so hungry in my life! I eat like every 10 minutes. What is going on?? I really have no idea, except maybe because my weekly mileage has err, dropped, um, significantly, maybe my body is just ... confused? Tonight, after dinner I had a peanut butter sandwich. WTF?!?!

I ran 2 miles yesterday, did yoga today at work (another butt-whooping), and tomorrow, following Hal Higdon's post-marathon's recovery plan, I've got an easy 4 on the schedule. Hal is really smart! He says stuff like this:

Saturday: A run of 30 to 60 minutes. Piece of cake, you say. After all, only a month ago, you banged out a 20-miler. But in your post-marathon mode, a run an hour long can still tax you. So don't pay that much attention to your watch except for when to start and finish. I don't care how far you run. I don't care how fast you run. I don't even care whether or not you run the entire 30 to 60 minutes! Walk if you feel like doing it. It's your call as to how many minutes you want to run today. Your body will tell you.

So, I realize this post is all over the place, but that's because in addition to eating everything that's not nailed down, I am so tired I could actually ... sleep!

And, I realized that I am leaving for Spain on Nov. 22. And returning on Dec. 3. Which is a Sunday. And then the Sunday after that? I'm running a half-marathon.

Well I hope 21st Century Mom is correct: that you (me) can run a half marathon sick and without training. I guess it's possible. We'll see.

My Big Plans

My adoring fans (OK, one) write:

Okay. It's been a week and I'm still waiting to hear what's next on your running dance card...half-marathon, marathon, or ultra or ironman?

It's tough having fans. So demanding.

So far last week, on my post-marathon training plan, I did: nothing. Monday thru Sunday. A perfect zero. Well, not quite. I did go to a strength-training class on Friday, which whooped me but good. Sunday, I stood for about nine hours, serving coffee. So that counts for something, right?

Today, I ventured back out there, and let me tell you: I still have the demon of "you can't run" on my back. (Or the monkey. Something is on my back.) I ignored him. And trotted off for a 3-mile run. A slow 3-miles, around 11 min pace, although one mile dipped into the 10:45 range.

My Big Goal is this, and simply this: To Get Fit

Yes, I know I just ran a marathon, but how many sit-ups can I do? How many push-ups? (That last one is easy: none. Well, none done in any sort of correct form.)

So that's it. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to attain this goal, but I figure I have a while to reach it. As with everything else related to fitness, nothing (especially me) goes quickly.

Oh, and I plan to keep racing.

And I'd like to get faster, so I'm scouting around for a running club that will help me achieve that goal.

Next up: Dec. 10, the Blue and Gray Half Marathon with Susie and David and Bex.

See the thing is, when you're training for a marathon, 13.1 miles starts to sound like nothing. "Of course I'll do a half! Cake!!"

And then when the marathon is over? And a 3-mile run seems hard? Yeah. But! I will be there! I will toe the line.

"Go, You Canadian Bas****, Go!"

Was how my friend a. maria put it at one frustrating moment yesterday, during a marathon (get it?) IM convo we were having while watching Ironman online together (apart). We had a virtual screamfest.

Another theme was how do you do it?? How do you swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 mile, and THEN run a marathon? We saw piles of runners at the half-marathon point and they all looked as chipper as if they were out for a stroll in the park.

I don't know how they do it, but I do know two people who gave it their all yesterday. Give a BIG shout-out to Nancy Toby who turned in a fine, fine effort, and another one to the man of the hour (week? year?) Bold, who finished his first Ironman in under his "dream" goal time.

Take a bow, lady and gentleman. And a rest. You deserve it.

And another shout-out to me for winning the local pool for guessing Lance's NYC finish time. I said: 2:59:59. Official time? 2:59:36.

I so win. (I wonder what exactly, I win?)

Oh, and one more shout-out to my friend P., who finished NYC in a blistering 3:52:34.

I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. I can hardly wait to get back to work.

Ironman Florida!

Watch it here!

Our friends Nancy Toby (bib #2484) and Bold (bib #1269) (along with many other people I care about, but whose numbers or names I don't know!) are tearing it up!!!

(Edited: Removed times, because hello, this is not my race!)

This is too too exciting!

I so wish I was there!!

Instead, I'm heading off to starbucks for coffee ... because it's Saturday morning and ... NO LONG RUN TODAY! Woot!

NaBloPoMo

It's National Blog Posting Month! The equivalent of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), where participants are challenged to write one 50,000-word novel, from scratch, in a month's time.

NaBloPoMo requires you to write just one post per day—for 30 days straight!

I believe there are prizes involved. But no matter. Strap yo'selves in, and let's see if I can pull off this bad boy without completing alienating my loyal audience.

(BTW, I totally stole this post from Little Miss Runner Pants. Thanks!)

One thing: It's going to be really hard to do this from the monastery I am checking into next weekend! Thanks again, a. maria.

Sheesh.