In Dayton!

I’m talking!

Technology, man.

I am sitting on an airplane. In the air! Hurtling through the skies! Posting this! I know, it’s not THAT exciting, but this is the first time I’ve experienced functional wi-fi on an airplane. I should be working on tomorrow’s presentation, but Keynote doesn’t require wi-fi, and I don’t want to waste it.

Plus, tomorrow’s presentation is about blogging, so it only makes sense that I blog now. So it’s kind of related.

Last night, a few of my friends came over and watched me awkwardly give my presentation, and gave me some great feedback. So hopefully it will go well.

Little trip to the zoo

Took the boys to the zoo after school with a friend. There was a 100% chance of rain, but thanks to me wearing rainboots and carrying two umbrellas, it didn’t rain at all!

It was really cute how much the boys wanted me to take pictures of them with their friend (who Oliver later informed me was his BFF.) I may have to get him over to our house for monthly pics now. Whatever it takes.

“Bootcamp” update

I haven’t forgotten about my “bootcamp,” but I did forget to post updates. (Thank god, I know.) I was pretty sore after Sunday’s race, so I took it pretty easy Monday morning, just keeping my legs loose. A few minutes on the stair stepping escalator thingy, a few minutes on the elliptical, some strength training, etc.

But I was pretty exhausted after that, so I did take Tuesday off. Back to it this morning, with a nice three mile run on the treadmill. Only problem is, I forgot my fitbit. I hate that! It’s like it didn’t happen now. Blah.

Other things that have happened:

– cut Linus’s hair last night, the other two will get shorn tonight. It’s fun to have one looking so different. Too bad the only haircut I can do is the 5/8″ with the clipper all the way around.

And, that’s about it. Yeah. So. Until tomorrow!

Race Report: Shamrockin’ Run 8k

This is the third year of this race, and my third year doing it. I guess I’ll have to do it every year, from now on, til the end of time. Because, as you may have guessed, when I start a streak, I have a hard time stopping.

I only signed up for the race on Monday, though. I wasn’t planning on running it, but Heather asked, and I relented. I haven’t been running a ton lately, so I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to run the whole thing. I ran the whole thing (8k is a hair shy of 5 miles – and I mean really, it’s 4.97 miles) for the past two years, and I didn’t think this year it would be possible.

But I looked at the weather forecast, and it looked fine – overcast and coolish.

So, you know, I did it. I mean, not much to say. I started running (at what I judged, very nicely, to be a 12 minute mile) and just didn’t stop. I mean, that’s how you do it, right? I had Runkeeper on to tell me every 3 minutes how my pace was, so that helped, though I think the GPS must’ve gotten wonky during mile 2, because suddenly it wasn’t exactly the same as the race course. (There were timing mats at every mile, which was nice.

Anyhoo, that’s about it. I wanted to finish in under and hour, and voila:

I mean, talk about just coming in under the wire! 59:59!

A few notes about the race:

I find the classification as anyone slower than 11 minute miles as a walker pretty insulting. I didn’t walk a step.

I drank a Guinness at the end. I don’t really like Guinness, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world at 10am today.

Now I suppose I may as well sign up for next year now, when it’s super cheap.

Little random things

Some random things.

1. Inexplicably, the boys are into Power Rangers again. They stopped watching that dreck a year ago, and now it’s back. Yuck.

2. I was asked to be interviewed for a multiples-related podcast. Fun! If it happens, I’ll share more details.

3. I got to see my high school BFF this weekend, which was great. She was in town for another friend’s birthday party, so it was like a tiny high school reunion. I know most people would shudder at the thought, but my high school friendships are among my most enduring.

4. Miles says “night mirror” instead of “nightmare.” I love how their mispronunciations sometimes make more sense than the actual word. (They still say “movie feeder” instead of “movie theater,” because you eat there. Duh.)

5. Today would have been Stinky‘s 17th birthday. I was talking about her with the boys, and Oliver rather hilariously said, “it’s her afterlife,” whispering the last word for dramatic effect.

I did that 8k race this morning, so I’ll be working on that post next. Don’t worry, it’ll be short.

Kids. (Mostly not mine.)

This is what happens when I pull out my camera around my friend Mary Catherine’s kids.

And then there’s my kid. Cooperate for a picture? I think not.

Shoes ‘n’ laces

I have nothing to report, fitness-wise today, since I took this morning off. All planned, normal rest day, etc. Tomorrow I’ll be back at the gym in the wee hours. Saturday I may go to the gym but maybe not since I have that race on Sunday. We’ll see. I know, zzzzz.

After I picked up the boys from school yesterday, I had to take them to the shoe store so Miles could get a new pair. I swear, I feel like I am always buying them shoes. And I’ve discovered it doesn’t matter if I buy them cheap sneakers or more expensive ones, they destroy them just as quickly. So off to Payless we went.

The boys still don’t know how to tie laces, and it’s one of those boring things I’m not really interested in teaching and getting frustrated with and they won’t go to college unable to tie their shoes, right? But as they get bigger, velcro shoes are becoming less common, so I had to bite the bullet and buy lace up shoes.

I’ll admit, they also look a lot nicer. But I’m not looking forward to either tying six laces every morning or teaching them how to do it. If anyone has any great ideas or resources, I’m all ears. I’ve watched a few YouTube videos that supposedly will teach me how to teach them, but I’m not sold. I think learning how to teach someone to tie shoes is like knitting – I have to be shown in person how to do it, I can’t watch a video. Maybe a book instead?

(Note about the photo at the top: Linus got new shoes, even though he didn’t really need them, but I bought them a half size bigger so in theory he can wear them longer. But because he didn’t need them, I would only buy him the clearance shoes, which are the uglier shoes on the left. Of course, he thinks they’re cool. But he’s a 7 year old boy.)

Wednesday (day 3)

I’d planned for my gym schedule to be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, but I went this morning instead of tomorrow. I’m having dinner with work people tonight and I am pretty sure I’ll want to “sleep in” (you know, til 6:30) tomorrow morning.

My Achilles tendon (or something at the back of my left ankle) was a little sore yesterday so I decided to cross train today. My gym got some of those old-school stair climbers (like tiny escalators) so I spent a bit of time on that (14 minutes climbing stairs is a long time!) and then did some strength training, then got on the elliptical for a little while (booorrrring) and then more strength training.

Okay, enough of that. Other things I’ve been meaning to write about:

– 2/3 of the boys had their first sleepover last week! Big milestone, and especially since Miles actually made it through the night. I was pretty shocked. Linus chose not to stay, though. It was kind of fun having one kid. It was very quiet.

– I’m reading this book right now. It’s set in Baton Rouge, and it takes place in 1991, when the main character is 16. I grew up in Baton Rouge, and I was 16 in 1991, so it’s kind of fascinating. Some of the setting is fictional, but enough of it is not to keep me enthralled.

When people ask me if I’m from here (New Orleans), I always have a hard time answering. Baton Rouge is a totally different world from New Orleans, and it’s so hard to describe. But this book nailed it.

You have to understand. When people think of Louisiana, they think exclusively of New Orleans. We are okay with that. New Orleans has the culture, the allure. They are The Big Easy. The Crescent City. The Birthplace of Jazz. The people of Baton Rouge don’t even have accents. Our parades, when compared to New Orleans, are amateur hour. Even our most raucous bars close at two o’clock in the morning. Theirs don’t close down at all. So, whenever people in Baton Rouge feel wild, we drive the sixty miles to New Orleans. We stay in upscale hotels and spend gobs of money. We drink beer on the street and make bad decisions. We take wrong turns at intersections and feel perpetually lost, and when we wake up in the morning, regretful and satisfied, we go back home saying, “It’s a fun place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.”

From My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh

Well, I guess I did decide to live here, but growing up, I never had any desire to. Anyway, if you’re looking for a good read, I recommend you pick this up. (Even though I haven’t finished it yet.)

– I ended up signing up for that race on Sunday. I really really hope it’s cool and overcast. Hmmph.

– Last week, I got a box from HelloFresh. It’s one of those companies that’s cropping up that sends you the ingredients for meals and the recipe cards, and all you have to do is put them together. I got three meals, two of which were excellent (the third was good, but not outstanding.) We had a pasta bolognese one night, squash with quinoa another night, and chicken and potatoes another night. (The first two were the excellent ones.) (No, the boys didn’t eat this.) (Actually, George didn’t eat the squash one either. More for me!)

Anyway, I loved that I can make these again, because none of the ingredients were particularly unusual. It wasn’t like I’d have to buy from that company, you know? Just some more meal ideas.

If you want to try it and get $40 off your first box, you can use this referral code: R7KT4K (Yeah, it’s not cheap, but great for special meals, and the portion sizes mean you have enough for leftovers.)

Tuesday, March 10

I suppose I could come up with better post titles, but I really don’t want to name them all “DIY Bootcamp Day 2.” What if I manage to keep up with this for an extended period of time? I don’t want to have DIY Bootcamp Day 273.” Well, I mean, I do, but I don’t, if you know what I mean.

Anyway. Got to bed earlier last night, so was definitely a bit more well-rested (though was in the middle of a weird dream about miniscule bunnies in a balloon and my friend Lindsay and the zoo when the alarm went off) and this time managed a bit over 3 miles in 35 minutes.

My friend Heather is trying to convince me to do the Shamrock Run on Sunday (I’ve done it for the past two years, ever since it started, and part of me does like the idea of doing a race every year from the beginning) but I don’t know if I can run the whole thing (it’s 8K which is very nearly 5 miles, and maybe I can if I run slow enough, but it’s also mid-March and it could be warm and humid) but I have to decide today because the price goes up $15 tomorrow.

Also, you may have noticed I left out any mention of strength training. Well, I did a set of tricep somethings, but then I decided maybe I could do my arm stuff at home. So if anyone has a source of an arm routine that I can do at home that doesn’t involve the floor, I’m all ears.

In other, non-fitness news, Oliver and I had some one-on-one time at IHOP last night (every time I want to write iHop, good lord) which was super sweet and fun. We rode the bus (I mean, we sat on the same side of the booth, which in my opinion is only acceptable for parents and children) and ate pancakes. Well, Oliver ate the shit out of some chicken and waffles AND a short stack. So now I know how to fatten that kid up. I very virtuously only ate 2/3 of my Harvest Nut ‘n’ Grain waffles.

Oh, one last thing. If you blog (regularly or not) can you fill out this very short survey for me? Thanks!

Do you blog?

If so, would you mind answering a short survey?

Thanks!

DIY Bootcamp, day 1

Even though I didn’t get to sleep until later than I’d hoped (as is always the case on Sunday nights) I got right up when my alarm went off at 5:15, stumbled into my workout clothes and managed to be at the gym by 5:30.

I think it helped that I had my gym bag ready to go downstairs, next to my shoes. It’s easy enough to remember to put my clothes out, but it’s the stumbling around in the morning downstairs, finding a towel and water bottle and putting everything in a bag that takes more time than it should.

So, my workout. Best to start small and work my way up, right? I had said 35 minutes of cardio, so I spent it on the treadmill. I was feeling tired, so I decided to do a walk/run today. Walk a minute, run two or three. Took it pretty easy. 2.82 miles in 35 minutes. And then I spent a bit of time on the abs circuit, but not the 15 minutes I’d planned. I want to be home by 6:30, which means leaving at 6:20, and I got off the treadmill at 6:10, so I need to work in my timing. Maybe get up a few minutes earlier. We’ll see tomorrow.

A few pictures from yesterday afternoon, to keep this from being a total snoozefest.