Leaving on a jet plane

Actually not a jet plane, but a bus, and SOON. I wanted so much to tell you more about my NYC trip, but I'm just going to have to tell you when I get back. I appreciate all thoughts/prayers/good vibes for a safe and fun trip! See you all on Monday!

YAY for a beautiful day

I took these picture Saturday, but it gives a good impression of what the weather and scenery are like today. It's sunny, and all the leaves have changed or have fallen off the trees. There's one tree in particular near our apartment that is bright yellow, and none of the leaves have fallen yet. It's really beautiful.

I ran an easy 5mi this morning. It was a bit chilly, but not too bad. My major complaint is that it's soooo dark right now. Oh well- only one more run until daylight savings time is over. Then I'll get two more weeks of light in the morning before the sun starts rising at 9am. Which it will do until next May.

Otherwise I need to pack for NYC tonight and we are (hopefully) going to carve our pumpkin. I have NO idea what to do so any ideas you can send my way would be much appreciated.

I also wanted to give an update on how I'm doing with my 101 in 1001 so far.

Last weekend I tackled one of my "around the house" tasks and made a big donation of winter clothes that were either really old or didn't fit to our church's clothing bin. No pictures or anything. It wasn't super exciting. I plan to do the same with summer clothes, but they only accept donations that are in season.

I also made one recipe from this month's Cooking Light (I'm trying to make 4 recipes from each issue before the next issue comes). It was pork loin with cherry pomegranate sauce. It was very tasty and made lots of leftovers. Here was my plate pre-salad.



Not much else going on otherwise. I hope to have a good pumpkin picture for you tomorrow.

Rain again on Monday

Will it ever stop raining? I guess I shouldn't complain because Saturday and Sunday were beautiful, and I'd rather be stuck inside at work on a rainy day than a nice day. Hopefully it will have chilled out by the time I will want to ride my bike home this afternoon.

I got in a good spinning workout this morning and will do some kind of weight training at home. I'm probably not going to be able to do weights Wednesday or Friday so I'm going to try to cram everything into one upper body day and one lower body day today and tomorrow.

Work is actually kind of chilled out right now. I'm trying to do some set up stuff to get ahead of the game- especially since I'm going to be gone for two days (and maybe Monday if I have to call in "so tired I can't function").

I might also try to take some time to do more research on things to do in NYC. Any suggestions for good places to take high school kids on Manhattan where they can have fun without doing too much damage? Suggestions for cool restaurants/stores/museums/basically anything except art galleries and jewelry stores would be greatly appreciated.

Still Dark Sunday

It's 7am and still dark. Part of it is because it's supposed to rain... again... and part is because we neeeeeeed to end daylight savings time. Not that it will make any difference in December, but at least we get to stretch a little more light out of the day before we hit WINTER.

Today is a rest day. I even got the laundry done yesterday evening so I don't have to drag that up and down stairs. Yesterday was an easy 7.5mi.

Not too much going on around here. We tried to go to the speed skating trials yesterday, but a combination of making a wrong turn on the interstate and the races being finished an hour early made us arrive right after the last heat. So now we are 3/5 for good trips to Milwaukee. In a way it was okay because I was super tired and just wanted to sit, which is pretty much what I did. It was the first sunny day we'd had in almost a week, and it was nice to drive around and see the pretty fall colors.

I would have gone to sleep early last night, except the Gators.... AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Today we have two church meetings plus church plus errands. I also need to spend some quality time getting ready for the New York trip on Wednesday. I can't remember if I mentioned it on here, but I'm helping chaperone our church's high school youth group bus trip to New York City from Wednesday evening to Sunday afternoon. I want to make sure I set aside all the clothing I want to take with me so I don't have to do any emergency laundry on Tuesday evening.

Window washers

First and foremost: This is hilarious.

It is raining and windy- and it has been for the last 40 hours or so- and someone is currently washing my window on the 4th story of a 14-story building. I would definitely not enjoy that job. I want to wave and say hi, but I can't see their faces because of my blinds.

I actually did get out for a short run this morning. There was a little break in the rain, and although it was cold and windy and sprinkling, it was not pouring so I thought I'd better take advantage of it. It's supposed to rain/snow tomorrow morning (although the low is 37 so I'm not sure how the snow part works into that).

Otherwise today is a pretty normal day. I'm going to meet D for lunch because we have some insurance paperwork we need to turn in at his building. Isn't being an adult fun? Tomorrow we are going to see the Olympic Speed Skating Trials in Milwaukee and watching the FL/Mississippi State game in the evening.

TIART

Woohoo, it's Thursday again and time for TIART.

This week's question is:

We've all discussed why we run, but why do you RACE and how do you choose which races to run?

Do you look for certain distances, swag, location, start time, or something else? Tell me how you decide where and when to race. Also, I'm currently on a quest to run a race in every state. Please tell me--and others about a particular race you've run that is not to be missed.

My favorite races are ones that are close and short. I like being able to get up in the morning and race if I feel like it and have no guilt if I don't. I'm not super into expos or freebies (probably because I've never been to a huge race like Chicago or MCM), but I do like it when the free shirt is a technical one (preferably long-sleeved because I don't have many of those) and the small is small enough for me to actually wear (other than as a dress). Food is a complete non issue for me because I NEVER want to put anything in my stomach for like an hour after a race (drinking water is bad enough).

I think I have a tie for favorite Madison Race. I really liked doing The Literacy Network 5k this year and The Berbee Derby 10k last year. Both races are very well organized, and the atmosphere is great.


This morning I did my first speed workout on the treadmill since last winter. 3 x 1 mile with 3 min recovery between them. I don't run as fast on the treadmill as I do outside, but since I hated my life and wanted to stop for all but the first .1 mile of each interval, I figured I was doing it right.

Early post

I normally don't post waaayyy before I start my day, but I'm chilling out until it's time to catch the bus to the gym, and all my normal web sites are closed for maintenance so I thought I'd drop by here for a few minutes.

It's Wednesday, which means spinning. Right now the plan is to duck out about 10 or 15 minutes early to do upper body weights. My weight training plan has changed for the next 4 weeks, and I really can't do the upper body session at home, and I just haven't been in the mood to go back to the gym at the end of the day. Plus I have some errands I need to take care of this afternoon so it helps to be done a little early.

We're having our work chili potluck today, which should be fun. I have to catch the bus because I'm bringing in our crockpot + 4 cans of white beans and 2 cans of green chili, which will not fit in my backpack. Riding my bike is right out. I always feel lazy when I take the bus, but it's supposed to rain all day, too, so I guess if I have to ride the bus this is as good a day as any.