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March 31, 2005

I forgot about the blog!

I am so dumb. I completely forgot that my blog existed today or something... and then it was 3:30 and I was like 'oh crap! I do have a blog! And I have not written in it today, nor have I checked up on the other blogs!' Yes I am dumb.

Anyway yesterday around lunchtime I ran 3 miles. So I had a total of 12 miles for the day which is cool. This morning I ran 7 miles in awful, terrible, horrible freezing cold and damp and windy weather. It truly sucked. But at least it is over now. And this weekend is supposed to be really nice for once! So there will be trotting around, and skiing for probably the last time of the season, and hiking, and all sorts of fun stuff.

I am also very excited because I got a super cute dress today that will be great to wear to summer weddings and all kinds of stuff. And it was such a deal. Good stuff!

Hope everyone is having a nice Thursday...

Posted by barb at 3:27 PM | Comments (0)

March 30, 2005

Like a crazy single girl again...

Yeah, or not. So Matt stayed up in the mountains last night after boarding yesterday so that he could board again today. Because my apartment is really only a repository for mail and bedroom furniture at this point, I just stayed at his house by myself. It was kind of weird being there without him, but it was fine. I had lots of plans for my night - dinner with my brother who I had not seen in a pathetically long time, laundry, and finishing my CO and NJ taxes. Well, one of three ain't bad. I guess I should add sorting through my ridiculously large pile of mail which I picked up at my apartment to the list, which I did do. So unfortunately tonight I really need to do laundry and finish those taxes. It was definitely good to see my brother, although I am sad to say he is not enjoying this semester of school as much as last semester. It is pretty rough to go to school and work, even part time, just because he never really has time off. We were both pretty tired when we met and the turkey burger I ate did not sit too well (not a big surprise right now of course since apparently nothing sits well any more).

Anyway, running.... right. After work yesterday I went to the gym and ran 3 miles at 9:00 pace with a 0.5 incline while I watched sitcoms. I actually felt decent and probably could have run another mile except that I had time constraints. I also lifted weights - finally! - which was uneventful. I really hate it but it looks like I am getting somewhat stronger. And I know it is good for me and for my running. Now if I could only find the time to do yoga occasionally I would really be happy!

This morning I got up at 5:45, ran to my car (it was parked about 2:00 worth of running away because there was a Bob Dylan concert at the place right by here - who still likes Bob Dylan?), drove my car over to a more reasonable spot, and then proceeded to run 9 miles. It was a nice run and I was in one of those zones where my thoughts just kind of got away with me so I was not cognisant of running that far really. I can't explain that very well but I think my fellow runners would understand. Then I quickly got ready and drove to work. I am going to try to go to the gym at lunchtime today, run 3 miles, and do the one lifting exercise that I couldn't do last night. But if not, no big deal.

I did just find out that I'm going to be teaching a training class for the software I develop now, over the next two weeks, which is scary because I don't think I know the software all that well, but also kind of cool because I think it will be fun. And my commute will go down from 45 minutes each way of driving to 20 minutes of walking each way - which is sweet! Also, teaching the class should be something I really enjoy and it will be a great way for me to learn the software better.

That is all the news for today - even though Matt was only gone for one day I am very excited to see him tonight! However I cannot say that I am terribly excited to finish my taxes (even though this will help me financially) or do my laundry....

Posted by barb at 8:34 AM | Comments (0)

March 29, 2005

Old Lady

I really felt kind of like an old lady when I started running this morning. I have not had a rest day (i.e. running 5 miles or less) for over a week now and I am kind of feeling it. And I don't think I will have one until maybe Friday. We are most likely skiing Saturday - I would not be ditching practice for this as most everyone will be in Carlsbad - so I will probably not run then and as such I don't want to be a total slacker early this week. Anyway on Tuesday we normally have practice but I never go, so I decided to do the workout this morning. I did 4 by 3:00 hard, 2:00 easy, which is a fairly close approximation to what everyone else will be doing later today. It was not bad. This was the middle portion of an 8 mile run.

I am meeting my brother for dinner tonight at 7:00 so time permitting I'll run another 3 or 4 miles before I meet him. Matt has the week off so he is boarding today and then most likely staying up in the mountains tonight, so it will be weird without him! Because most of my stuff is at his house now I am just staying over there.

Since Matt won't be at home, I am probably going to go to bed at a pathetically early hour and then getting up earlier than normal for a longer run tomorrow morning. But we'll see how that goes, I have a ton of stuff to do!

The weather was beautiful here all of yesterday and during my run this morning but there will apparently be a cold front moving in during the day today and I guess by tomorrow the weather will be back to cold and crappy. Ah, the joys of spring in Colorado...

Posted by barb at 8:50 AM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2005

Happy Day After Easter!

Well now that I am down from my day-long sugar high yesterday, and the harsh reality of going to work has set in... actually things are looking pretty good! I am generally not a fan of holidays where one's sole purpose is to eat lots of crap and lay around but yesterday was fun. I got up early, ran 7 miles, and then we went to breakfast with some friends. In spite of my hard long run the day before I felt pretty good! Probably in part due to the excellent pre-run fueling I had at my parents' house the night before, where we had some delicious steaks, tuna, potatoes, and my favorite thing in the world - spinach salad with dried cherries, fresh strawberries, and most important of all, goat cheese. I do love the goat cheese.

Anyway so that was the running for yesterday, which was followed by much gluttony and meeting almost everyone else in Matt's family/close family friend circle. So that was a good time. Last night I did my taxes (ew) and this morning I realized I need to amend my CO return and of course I still need to file in NJ - lucky to have worked two jobs, and in two states last year. What a mess. Next year I am paying someone to do this.

This morning I got up at 6:00. Matt was sleeping and I do not know when he'll get up today, as this is his week off between his old job and the new job he is starting next Monday. I am of course jealous but very excited for him to have a week off. I ran 7 miles this morning in very nice warm temperatures as apparently spring has finally sprung here. I don't know that I'll do anything more today due to time and energy constraints. But that is cool. I ran over 60 miles again last week so I am very happy with how my running's going right now and I think that I'll be okay for my half marathon in the beginning of May - I'm not in the shape I was in last June, but I'm pretty close.

So that is the news. Now I'm off to get caught up on everyone's blogs and do some work!

Posted by barb at 8:31 AM | Comments (0)

March 26, 2005

Saturday Entry

I have hardly ever written in my blog on a Saturday but now that I have sweet new internet access at home, I am going to blog for a short time today. I did not go to practice because I wanted to sleep in, so instead I ran 12 miles on the Highline Canal, with my fastest mile as my tenth in 7:33. I felt very good although I am so sick of cold weather running!

Now I am off to take a very long, hot shower! Happy weekend kids.

Posted by barb at 12:48 PM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2005

Tired Friday

I am toasted today. Just exhausted. It's 2:30 and I would love to go home, crawl into bed, and sleep for a good 2-3 hours right now. Sadly, I must work.

Here is the story with regard to running for the last day and a half. After work yesterday I had a few hours before we had to meet friends and traffic was truly awful due to ice/snow falling out of the sky. So I went to the gym and ran a very mellow 4 miles on the treadmill, which gave me 13 for the day. The first mile was kind of rough but after that I just vegged out and watched TV so before I knew it, I was done. Then I drove home in still-bad traffic, took a nice long hot shower, and when Matt got home we walked over to our neighborhood pub to meet our friend M. and her very nice new boyfriend S. Which was a good time but I certainly did not get to bed at a very reasonable hour, which explains why I am so tired.

This morning I really did plan to get up and run at 6:30 but I really couldn't make myself do it. This turned out to be a very good thing because when I walked outside to go to work I took a big digger due to ice on the stairs. How embarrassing. Luckily I was not seen but now my neck hurts! Needless to say that would have been a craptacular, cold, slippery run. So sometimes it pays off to be a slacker, kids.

At lunchtime I barely convinced myself to run, but somehow I did. When I got to the gym and realized that I forgot socks it was pretty tough and I almost just took a steam and said forget it. But instead I ran with my work socks on (not recommended, but it'll do in a pinch). I did an 8 mile course that's kind of my standard run in this area of town. It was actually quite pretty along this trail that I run on for about 8 minutes of the run, with the snow on the trees against a very gray sky. However it would still be nice if it were 60 degrees outside instead of 30! Now as of today I've got 44 miles for the week I believe, so 60 should not be a problem unless I turn into a major slacker. That will be good. Tomorrow I am off to practice for a tempo run type of thing and Sunday I want to get up WAY early (we're meeting friends for breakfast at 8:30 so I am definitely not kidding) and run for a reasonable amount of time.

Happy Easter! May the Bunny bring you some good treats. And may he bring me some positively delicious marshmellow peeps!

Posted by barb at 2:26 PM | Comments (1)

March 24, 2005

Foggy Run

I got up this morning and it was foggy and cloudy and humid again. Which does not bother me because it's so rare here but I do think we're having one of those cloudy springs that we have every few years. The year I graduated from high school I swear the sun didn't come out more than twice the entire month of May. Hopefully this spring will not be too bad but in a continuation of my whiny ways lately it is still damned cold. Yesterday it probably didn't get much over 40 degrees and I don't think it'll hit 60 until Sunday if even then. Oh well, it is not too bad but I have all this cute springy stuff to wear that I won't be able to wear until June at this rate!

Anyway. Running. I planned to run about 8 miles this morning and then do 4-6 miles after work just because I am obsessed and Matt is having a farewell happy hour for his work so we are not meeting our friends tonight until 7:30. I ended up running 9 miles instead and I would still like to run 4-5 more miles after work just because I am obsessed. Tomorrow I am planning on maybe 10-11 miles before work just for the hell of it and also so that I do not spend Easter Sunday doing a super long run or anything. Also tomorrow if I have time I may try to lift weights because my sad little 20-second lifting session on Tuesday just didn't quite cut it.

Frankly I am feeling a bit slow on my runs recently but I do feel stronger, as in I could keep running for as long as I wanted within reason. So that's a good feeling. Now if I can keep my stomach under control for the next few days I will be feeling great!

Posted by barb at 9:13 AM | Comments (2)

March 23, 2005

Spring

Spring is the worst season in Colorado. It is constantly disappointing and since we hardly have trees to speak of it is not pretty at all. This morning it was freaking cold when I ran - the only redeeming quality of the weather was fog, we never get fog here so I really enjoy it. However I am so, so, so sick of being cold all the time and wearing so many clothes all the time on my runs. Whine, whine, whine... I feel better now but what is the purpose of a blog but to be able to whine whenever you want!

Anyway I ran 7 miles this morning and did a run I hadn't done in a while for some reason = I guess I had kind of forgotten that it existed. It is a nice one, first I run through a park, then down a nice avenue with big huge houses, then through the ritzy shopping area nearby. I think it may be more like 7.5 miles but who knows. When I first started out I was very grumpy for some reason but the run went by very quickly so it was actually quite enjoyable!

Last night we went to dinner at our favorite restaurant (and the site of our first date!) with Matt's parents. We had a great time. We had not been there for a while because it got a huge writeup in the Denver magazine so it is constantly packed with a huge wait but last night we didn't have to wait at all. I do want to mention however that my stomach has been driving me up the wall lately. It seems like every time I eat anything after about 2:00 pm my stomach just kills me. This happened again last night so it's kind of frustrating and I hope it'll stop soon!

One other thing to mention: yesterday around 2:00 I went for a late lunchtime workout, ran 3 miles on the treadmill (and the only thing that was on is Fox News, no wonder I have been grumpy! freaking delusional bush-propaganda pushing conservatives), and then lifted legs and did 30 boy push-ups. Sadly this is the only form of lifting I've done in a while but it will have to do right now. Tonight Matt is meeting a friend for drinks so I may run a quick 3-4 miles, but I may just be lazy!

Posted by barb at 8:40 AM | Comments (1)

March 22, 2005

Super Sized

My running is kind of boring today so I thought I would pontificate on Super Size Me, which Matty and I watched last night. I love this movie and think it is hilarious albeit disgusting. I also think that even though I think I eat like crap, I probably eat much better than most Americans. And even though I think I am a fatty sometimes, I am certainly not a fatty compared to most Americans. Not that this makes me feel particularly good but at least I know I am pretty hard on myself and have pretty high standards.

Last night, I am also moderately proud to report, I cooked a fairly healthy dinner for us - pasta with vodka sauce and chicken. I don't think that I would recommend this particular recipe even though it was very easy and didn't take much time at all - maybe 25 minutes total. However, it was much healthier than your typical vodka sauce (which usually has loads of cream). Luckily Matt is still very congested so he liked it but I think it's because he couldn't taste it too well - I wasn't crazy about the interaction of the flavors with each other. However I am pleased at how not-bad-for-us it was. In addition I am proud that I was not passing out on the couch by 9:00 last night! Not that 10:00 is much better but I really am happy that I am moderately less lame.

Anyway, this blog is about running. This morning I woke up at 6:00 and ran 8 miles with about 2.75 miles slightly up tempo. I felt pretty good although my muscles felt frozen because I wore thin pants. It was a good run. I may try to run 3 more miles later today and lift weights but we'll see if I have time what with the 1:00 meeting I have to attend and needing to get home by 6:30 for dinner with Matt's parents. I am looking forward to seeing them so it should be a good time! So I am happy that I have somewhat achieved my goal of doing speed workouts during the week. I may stop by my high school after work tomorrow and do some 800's because that's the workout I'm missing tonight, we'll see my motivation level. Tomorrow is honestly the only day this week where we don't have plans at night so hopefully it'll work!

And speaking of work... now I am back to it!

Posted by barb at 9:40 AM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2005

Relatively Big Week

So I kind of surprised myself this past week with over 60 miles - for the first time since before my marathon. That was cool. I really didn't plan on running that much or anything, it just kind of happened, but I am pleased. It has however appeared to ramp up my appetite to revolting levels but that is cool.

Here is what happened over the weekend....

Friday afternoon:
Went to the gym and ran 6 miles on the treadmill to get 10 for the day. This was not too exciting and my stomach was driving me nuts due to eating lunch maybe 4 hours beforehand, but I was happy to get the miles in. Since Matty was really sick on Friday, we didn't go to my parents' for dinner and didn't really do much of anything that evening which was kind of nice although I felt terrible for Matt.

Saturday:
Went to practice and did a fartlek workout. It was great to see everyone after my two week Europe break, but I felt a bit ragged. Just felt kind of slow and my legs were a bit dead. Still had a good time and ran about 8 miles.

Sunday:
Got up early, around 7:30, and ran 12 miles from home. I had wanted 13 or 14 but my legs felt so tired that I was very happy to make 12! It was one of those runs where I kept saying I would stop (i.e. just run 4 miles, just run 6 miles, just run 8 miles) but then I kept going. My joints felt much better than they have recently on longer runs so that is encouraging. It is so time consuming to do the long runs so I felt kind of rushed all morning (we actually went to church at 10:30 so that's most likely why I was running around like crazy, but it was a good experience!), but later in the day things calmed down. We bought Clue the board game and The Incredibles DVD and played with both of them last night which was fun, although for some reason after 8:00 I could hardly keep my eyes open! I am attributing it to the increased mileage, not the fact that I am an old lady in a 26-year-old's body.

Monday:
Woke up around 6:10, ran a very mellow but nice 5 miles. It was rainy but not too cold which was a nice change (this is all relative, apparently it was 34 degrees out but I'll take that!). That is all the running and working out I am going to do today, I am planning on leaving work around 5:30, going to the grocery store, picking up mail at my apartment, and cooking dinner. Should be a nice day.

Posted by barb at 8:36 AM | Comments (1)

March 18, 2005

Sleepy Friday

I am so tired. I am very annoyed at myself for staying out until 11:30 last night instead of going home and going to bed at 10:00! I had about a drink and a half (one small rum and diet coke and one glass of wine), so that is not too bad although I should drink less, but I just stayed out too late chatting away and stuff. I should not be too annoyed as I did have a good time and tonight we are just going to my parents' for dinner so that will not be too late a night, but still. Anyway because I am retarded and did that, I slept later than I planned and only ran 4 miles this morning. This is not too big a deal because I am staying down in this part of town until about 6:30 (my parents live about 10 minutes from here and many minutes from my house), then Matt is meeting me. So I am planning to leave work at 5:00 on the nose, going to run 5-7 more miles probably on the treadmill unless the wind dies down, and then hopefully lifting for more than 5 seconds. He is such a sweetheart to drive down here by himself and stuff but I figure that I can either spend 5:00-6:30 in the car or I can spend it working out. And I prefer to work out!

The weekend is shaping up to be incredibly busy but I still think I have time for both practice on Saturday morning and a long run on Sunday morning. Also, in shopping-related news, I need to pick up my fabulous new Seven jeans that I bought on Saturday so I can wear them to the two parties we are going to Saturday afternoon/evening. Woo hoo!

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Posted by barb at 9:30 AM | Comments (0)

March 17, 2005

Springtime in Denver

I am confused. When I ran this moring I thought for sure it was spring! It was much warmer than it had been (probably low-mid 30's instead of low 20's), and it was windy as hell. Springtime in Denver is always really, really windy and all you can do is run as early in the day as possible because it just keeps getting more windy as the day goes on. So I was all excited because I thought it would be maybe like 60 degrees out today and that would be great! However when I got to work it was all different - now it looks like it's going to snow. Oh well, at least now I am used to the cold weather and I did have a nicer run than normal in the warm temperatures this morning.

When I woke up I was feeling somewhat sore from my longer run yesterday morning but I wasn't too worried about it, I thought I could still handle a mellow seven mile run. In fact I felt great throughout the run so I was really happy! Luckily hanging out and hardly running at sea level for almost two weeks does not seem to have de-acclimated me. Thank heavens for that! I am pretty pleased with how much I've run so far this week and I think that for the week as a whole I should easily run about 50 miles if not somewhat more. If I have time on Sunday I will do another long run of probably 11-13 miles depending on how my old joints feel. In addition since we are going to my parents' house for dinner tomorrow night I may have time to lift weights after work which would be great - I haven't lifted for two weeks now!

In Europe-related news we got all our pictures from the trip on my computer (and ofoto) last night and to our surprise we took almost 200 pictures! Matt is a great photographer so I can't wait to get some of them printed and framed. It was such a great trip and I am very excited to have all our memories captured.

Anyway we'll see how the rest of the week goes with respect to running but it's still nice to be home. Happy St Patty's Day!

Posted by barb at 9:10 AM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2005

Jet Lag

Here is the good thing about jet lag. When you come westbound, you wake up so early! I woke up at 5:00 this morning, an hour before the alarm was to go off, so I had time for a nice long run. I ran 11 miles in about 20 degree weather. I am really sick of the cold but hopefully it will be springtime soon! The run was fine, I ran a bit slower than usual but considering I ran 6 more miles last night (for 10 miles yesterday) I did not feel bad at all. I really need to be doing some longer runs (i.e. 13-16 miles) for the half marathon because my hips and knees just tighten up at the end of the longer runs.

Now I am at home working and using our sweet new very fast cable modem. It is awesome! I can't believe how fast it is. I just got a flat tire fixed which was not much fun and discovered a parking ticket so I am in a bit of a foul mood! I am sure laying on the couch with my computer for a while should help. I am happy to be running more again and it is nice to get back into the routine of being home!

I am planning to run a reasonable amount tomorrow and Friday, go to practice Saturday, and run long Sunday. And that should do it for the week :)

Posted by barb at 8:48 AM | Comments (1)

March 15, 2005

Europe

I just do not know what to do about my blog situation right now. There is so, so, so much to update and I really don't want to be typing until my fingers fall off. But I will do my best to cover every day from a running perspective. It has been so long since I have blogged, I've missed it! Overall I have to say that I had an absolutely wonderful time in Europe. I am so happy that I have been to France now - it is an amazing place! Matt and I had such a good time. From a running perspective, I didn't run as much as I would have liked to while we were there, but I did all right and we did so much walking that I don't feel like a total slob. Now here is a day by day (very quick, maybe I will just add details in future entries) from the trip. Starting from Friday 3/4 and ending this morning.

Friday (Travel Day):
I ran 8 miles just because I knew I wouldn't run much in Europe. It was fine. Got up about 6:30, ran, did last minute packing stuff, and then we were off to the airport (Matt's dad was so nice to give us a ride!). Our flights were long and uneventful. We arrived in London Saturday morning at about 6:30 am.

Saturday:
Took a double decker bus tour around London, walked through Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park, etc. I have to say how cold it was in Europe when we were there, which is unfortunate but we certainly made the best of it. For most of the trip it was probably 40 degrees (F) at the very most. So the bus tour was very cold but it was a great way to see a lot of sights. After that I ran probably about 3.5 miles along the Thames. Then we went to a great dinner of Indian food - definitely the best Indian food I've ever had.

Sunday:
Somehow the time change really threw us for a loop and we slept until noon. Whoops! I can't lie, it felt good. But this would mean no running for me - not enough hours in the day! We had lunch at a noodle place which was pretty good and went to the British Museum, one of my favorite places. We also did a sweet mummy special exhibit there which was so cool.

Monday:
Travel day, Eurostar to Paris. No running as I did not sleep Sunday night because I was too excited about going to Paris, which I had wanted to do since I was 14! Of course not sleeping was bad so I felt terrible and practically had a nervous breakdown in the Louvre. But the Louvre was very cool. We did the Louvre and Notre Dame on Monday, and checked into our wonderful hotel, where I spilled juice all over the table in the beautiful hotel! What a mess. I don't even like juice. After the afternoon activies we napped and then went out to dinner and walked around.

Tuesday:
Musee D'Orsay, Sacre Coeur, Montmartre. How much do I love Paris. So freaking much. And let me say how nice all the Parisiens were - everyone always says Parisiens are so mean to Americans and we really thought they would hate us what with the war and everything but everyone was incredibly nice even given our weak french skills. Which are much better now. Anyway everyone that goes to Paris should go to Sacre Coeur. It is amazing and has some of the best views of Paris. This was such a great day. After the activities Matt joined me for a run in our Paris neighborhood which was so nice for running - the Jardin du Luxembourg is very, very close so we trotted around the dirt trails there. That night we got baguettes, wine, and snacks and hung out in our nice room playing cards and stuff. It was fun.

Wednesday:
This was planned for Versailles but it was too damned cold. So we went back to Notre Dame, climbed to the top, took pictures, and stuff. We also went to another church, Saint-Chapelle, which was cool too. Then we had a crepe in a cute little place on the small island next to the island where Notre Dame is (I believe it's the Ile St Louis). After that we took a very long walk from there up to the Champs-Elysses and saw all the fancy stores. The big Sephora is really cool but everything's expensive. That night was our 'Valentine's Day' so we went and had an absolutely delicious dinner in our nieghborhood (recommended by the people in the hotel) and went out for drinks in the area. It was such a fun night. Oh and I ran like 3.5 miles.

Thursday:
I got up and ran about 3.5 miles again. Then we had a celebrity sighting in our hotel - Holly Hunter! That was kind of cool. She is like the smallest adult human I have ever seen. Then we headed for the train and just barely made our train back to London, but we made it. I was pretty tired that day too but it wasn't too bad. When we got back to London we checked in, went and bought tickets for Les Mis for that night, and tried to go to Westminster Abbey but missed it by like 5 minutes. Les Miserables was so, so cool.

Friday:
Went and picked up our rental car. Driving in and around London is crazy but Matt did such a great job! We got out of London somehow and drove to the Cotswolds. Little did we know that only people who are 75 years old go there but we thought it was great! No running for the day, busy just doing activities and stuff. We went to Blenheim Palace on the way and walked 4 miles. We had a great dinner in the town of Chipping Campden on Friday night.

Saturday:
Driving tour of all the cute little towns in the Cotswolds. This was fun and some of the towns are great but some are so touristy. We had a nice walk between two cute little towns, Lower Slaughter and Upper Slaughter. Got our shoes very muddy on the foot trails which are so muddy! When we got back I ran for a while, then Matt ran with me for a bit, then I broke him somehow, then I ran for a while, then I lost Matt and ran to find him, and by the end of it, I think I ran about 5.5 miles. I actually prefer running in London over running in the Cotswolds because in the country the roads are narrow, busy, and have no shoulder. But it was nice.

Sunday:
Got up early and drove back to London. Went for a nice long walk through Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, and Notting Hill. I love Notting Hill, for people that know New York it is very much like the villge - very young, trendy, cute stores and restaurants, with a bit of a scuzzy edge. Ran 5 miles that evening so I managed 21 miles the week we were in Europe which is not great but what can you do. On Sunday night we wanted to enjoy our London neighborhood so we walked around and settled on Turkish food for dinner which was very good!

Monday:
Got up early and ran about 4.5 miles along the Thames, through St James Park (my favorite park in London), and back. This was a very nice run and it was fun to see the city waking up. I got back and we showered and packed and then basically walked my run because we wanted to try Westminster Abbey again. Again it was closed! It is not supposed to be closed on Mondays so who knows. So we had extra time and walked back so I ran 4.5 miles and then walked 4 miles. It was a nice morning. We left for the airport around noon, and had such a nice surprise there - we found that because I have the second level of status at United we got access to the Red Carpet Club where they have free drinks, British InStyle (which is so much better), and all kinds of nice stuff. Then, when we went to the gate, we had been upgraded to business class for the London-Chicago flight! This was so freaking sweet. We had an amazing amount of legroom. So that flight was great but Chicago was a nightmare and they lost Matt's bag on the last leg of the flight which definitely sucked. We got home at about 11:20 last night and went to bed, we were so tired!

Tuesday:
I woke up at 6:30, it was sunny so I decided to run. Although it was nice out while we were gone, now it is freaking cold here so it was cold but nice. I just ran 4 miles but I believe I'll be running 4-6 more miles after work and lifting for the first time in almost two weeks. It's good to be home!

And if you read that whole entry, I am so impressed - Thank you!

Posted by barb at 9:28 AM | Comments (3)

March 3, 2005

Sometimes, I have no imagination

I swear I have just sat here for five minutes trying to title this entry. Unfortunately it is just not coming to me! This my title today is reflective of my creative malaise. Okay as an English major I do think it is cool to use the word 'malaise' - I hope I used it right. Vocabulary is not my strong suit! Well we are very excited to be going to Europe tomorrow (actually this morning when I got back from running Matty was pretty much comatose but I think underneath it all he is excited). You know I just need to give Matt some props right now, he has done an amazing job planning and organizing our trip. I really have not done too much besides booking the plane tickets and Matt has been an absolute paragon of organization. We have a detailed itinerary with hotel, transportation, activities, etc. I think we will have a great time! Unfortunately I have not scheduled my runs but I just can't worry about them - how often does a person get to go to Europe for almost two weeks.

Anyway excitement aside I have run a lot this week now. Last night after work I drove to the gym and went for a 7 mile run from there. I took my iPod along and rocked out to some great a capella music, so it went by pretty fast and I didn't feel any fatigue from running the double with only 5 hours between runs. I was exhausted when I got home so I puttered around, cleaned the bathroom, watched 'Alias' kind of halfheartedly, etc. I swear I could have gone to sleep at 9:00 but that was right around when Matt got home so I wanted to hang out with him for a while. This morning when the alarm went off at 6:00 I was not a bit happy but I got up anyway and ran another 7 miles. This felt fine, nothing exciting. I had planned to run another 4 miles at lunchtime today with my dog but I just don't know if I will - I've already run 34 miles this week which is plenty, and I can run long tomorrow morning before we fly out, so it kind of seems stupid.

Anyway that is the very detailed news! I may not update for about 11 days after this but when we get back from Europe look for a VERY long entry!

Posted by barb at 8:41 AM | Comments (2)

March 2, 2005

Two Days and Counting

Well we leave for Europe in less than two days now. This is very exciting although I still have tons to do and not much time to do it in! Sadly my sleep is what's suffering this week as I try to get everything done, run a decent amount, go to work, and not be completely anti-social. I am so tired right now that I'm afraid to go to the bathroom or I will fall asleep in there (I almost did last week).

My running is not too exciting today. I did not get up this morning so at lunchtime I went to the gym, ran 3 miles on the treadmill at 9:00 pace, and lifted weights. I was watching All my Children while I ran which is highly entertaining on a very occasional basis. I've been seeing it probably once every two weeks and I think I am pretty much caught up with what is happening. I really do not know how people can watch those shows every day, they are so brain dead. Anyway after work I'm planning to run 6-8 more miles. Tomorrow I'll be doing a double as well - running a decent amount in the morning and then running about 4 at lunchtime with my dog. I almost didn't go at lunch today because of going tomorrow but I didn't want to stay at the gym forever tonight lifting and I knew I needed to lift this week or I just wouldn't for two weeks. I have become really proud of my arm muscles lately - I feel like my arms look pretty good when I wear tank tops - so I want to stay consistent with the lifting. Hey, whatever works.

Tonight Matt has to go to Fort Collins to do all kinds of stuff so I will be having a quiet night - run, go home, do laundry, pass out. I am so freaking tired. I really want to get some rest tonight because I am sick of feeling tired and crappy all the time. Not sleeping makes me pissy, it makes me run worse, and it makes my brain slower. Hate it! That is enough of a rant though. I am so glad we went out to dinner with our friends last night and the night before so I really can't complain. And I absolutely realize how lucky I am to be stressed about my trip to Europe! Tonight I will just make sure to get some good sleep. And when I wake up tomorrow, I will be able to say we are going to Europe tomorrow! That is sweet.

Posted by barb at 3:39 PM | Comments (1)

March 1, 2005

Vacation Stress

As Alison commented yesterday, very rightly so, getting ready for a vacation is incredibly stressful! I like to pride myself on not being a stress case but hoo boy I sure am right now. Last night I was such a case I could hardly sleep (which of course makes everything worse). We went out to dinner last night at a new restaurant (it's probably been around less than a year) for this Restaurant Week thing. It's a pretty good deal and a decent excuse to go out and try some of the nice restaurants in town without spending piles of money. Because it was fun, and because some other friends are going tonight, we are going again tonight! This of course does not help my stress situation at all but it's fun. I have made a sad decision to give up my ticket to the Modest Mouse concert on Thursday. I will just be freaking out about packing and stuff if I go and frankly I am not that into them anyway so it's not worth freaking out. Although I still can't really decide so I hope Matt hasn't given my ticket away quite yet!

Wait, is this blog about running? Hmm, I think it is. I am all fired up about running this morning. I ran my Wash Park 8-mile loop in a new PR this morning of approximately 1:11.05. I really want to know exactly how far this is, I should take my GPS on it one of these days. Then I added on 9 minutes to make it a 9 mile run. I felt tired because of not sleeping well but overall I felt pretty good and I am happy that after the effort of feeling like I was running kind of hard, I actually did run it fast. I hope it's over 8 miles though! I would feel lame if I thought I was running hard and I was doing like 8:50 pace. So that was a good run. I am feeling like I can run a decent half marathon in May which will be cool. Luckily since I've never even run a halfway decent half, I am sure to PR!

Hope everyone has a good day!

Posted by barb at 9:02 AM | Comments (0)