Somewhere in the Sun

Hip Dips

2012-05-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

Do you know what hip dips are?

Hip Dips

Not only did I think that other women didn't have them, I also thought that I was the only woman who cared about them. I definitely have them, and they are big, but my hips are big, so I guess that's what can be expected.

Interesting, anyway.

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Ups and Downs of Hypothyroidism

2012-05-24T16:00:00.002-04:00

I've been cross training pretty much all the time since joining my awesome gym in November. At the same time, I am also still following my plan of not dieting and eating what my body needs and wants. Back in February, I posted about how nervous I was that my average daily weight had gone up about 4 pounds. As it turns out, the intuitive eating thing is easy as long as you're not really challenged by it. And, so far this year, I have been nothing but challenged by it.

The day after I posted my weight worries, I posted again that I'd gotten my results at the gym and found that despite my weight going up, my measurements had gone down and that I was feeling pleased again and comfortable with my results.

I'm going to be honest, things have gotten crazy ever since and I've been nervous about blogging about it because I don't want to admit that this stuff really gets to me. As long as I kept my worries to myself (and Todd and my running group), I felt better about it.

What happened is that since I last posted about my weight in February, I've gained another 12 pounds, for a total of 16 pounds gained since joining my gym. This has been a real challenge for me to accept in my quest for accepting my body. And, it began to seriously worry me. I really couldn't find a reason for it.

After my two posts in February, I decided to stop weighing myself, and I didn't weigh myself until I went back for results at the gym around the third week in March. Then, I was up 7 pounds. The rise in weight was enough to make me want to start weighing myself again, and I have ever since. The 7 pound gain did not come with the drop in measurements, and I had gained some inches. I didn't have body fat percentage from my previous results to compare.

I've been seriously wondering what the problem was, and started feeling like I should see a doctor, because this weight gain could be classified as "unexplained." Finally, I went in for a routine check up (with my gyn, if that's not TMI) and he tested my thyroid. I'd just had it tested in February and it had been 3.46, which was a tad high but still "normal." This time? It's up to 7.8, which is actually higher than it was when I was first diagnosed with hypothyroidism. The symptoms of hypothyroidism are weight gain, fatigue, dry skin and hair... everything suddenly fell into place and clicked in my head and I realized that was exactly what was going on. I felt silly for not realizing it.

My regular doctor upped my dose of synthroid and I am on day 2 of taking it. Now, I just have to watch out for the symptoms of hyperthyroidism - which are just the opposite of hypo. I'm not sure why my TSH levels suddenly spiked, but I'll see my doctor next week to hopefully find out.

My thyroid is annoying.

The good news is that I did have results day at the gym on Tuesday, and I found that since March, I've gained 6 pounds and I've gained inches, but I've also gained muscle. My total body fat is still exactly what it was in March. I'm not losing any fat, but I am gaining muscle. That means I'm getting stronger, so that's a good thing.

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Stats as of 30 April 2012

2012-05-18T14:36:00.000-04:00

April 2011
38.2 miles
8 hours, 11 minutes
Avg Pace: 12:52/mile
Indy 500 Festival Mini-Marathon (May 2011): 2:34:21 (11:47/mile)

April 2012
67.4 miles -- 29.2 more than in 2011
13 hours, 59 minutes -- 5 hours, 48 minutes more than in 2011
Avg Pace: 12:28/mile -- 24 seconds faster than in 2011
Ocean City Half Marathon: 2:32:49 (11:40/mile)

Year Totals for 2012:
255.1 miles @ 12:44 pace

Late blogging this, as has become my usual.

I'm pretty pleased with my OC Half results, plus I ran a ton more miles in 2012 than in 2011. Like earlier in the year, it's just circumstances. Last year, I had just had surgery to remove varicose veins in my leg and I wasn't permitted to run for 2 1/2 weeks. That took a big chunk out of my running last year. Still, my pace for the miles that I did run was faster than last year.

My big worry is that so far in 2012, I've gained 15 pounds. I mentioned that I had put on about 5 pounds earlier this year, and I thought my post sounded a touch crazy. Now, with me having gained three times that much, I'm feeling a little more nervous about it. I had some medications that I've changed and I think that is the main culprit, but it's a little tough seeing that on the scale. No, it's not muscle, I haven't gained 15 pounds of muscle, and I've grown out of some of my clothes.

Todd joined my gym with me, since he's jealous of my swimming, so I'll be recommitted to that. I was still going regularly, but I had cut my swims down in length and I was doing fewer sets of weight training. Is that all related to my weight gain? Yeah, possibly.

Also, an update on my foot: I finally decided that my main problem is that I had bad shoes. I've ditched the old ones and purchased shiny new ones. I've done two runs in the new shoes and they're feeling great. My foot is not 100%, but I feel pretty confident that it will get better now that I've switched shoes. I'm going to wait a few more weeks to see before going to the doctor anyway. My mileage is reduced since it's the start of the season, so I am not too worried at this point.

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Ouch, My Foot

2012-05-09T22:50:00.001-04:00

I can't believe that I left out my foot pain from my Ocean City Half Marathon race report. I totally didn't even mention it, and it was a HUGE part of the race!

I started having pain my foot, around the back of my arch and front of my heel of my right foot around mile 5. I have to be honest, I've had pain there lately, for maybe the last few runs right before the half,. but it came and went and it was never even bad enough to mention in my running logs that I keep. It was only happening when I ran, though, so I think one thing is that I would just forget about it after the run. It was definitely never bad enough for me to quit running or take it easy.

Mile 5 of the half, though, it started to really bother me. I kept on going, but since I wasn't even halfway through, I was pretty worried about it. At one point around mile 8 or so, I really really started getting worried that the foot situation would continue to get worse and that I would have to stop running or walk it in.

It didn't get that much worse, though, and it maybe even got better again before the end of the race. Or, maybe I was tired in so many other ways that I just stopped paying attention. After the race and into the after party, it still hurt, but I sort of ignored it.

That night, the pain was still around. The next morning, I had a limp. I decided it was a bruise, since while I was running, it seemed like it was the arch of my orthotics that were really aggravating it. I decided to see if it improved, since I had already decided to take some time off from running before the new season started.

The Tuesday after the half, I was already planning not to run, but I was planning to run Thursday since the run was with Jeff Galloway. My foot was better on Thursday, but it had still been a little sore as of Wednesday night, so I decided to not risk it and took the extra day off. I was leaving Friday for a little vacation for Todd's birthday, so I didn't run that weekend or Tuesday. So, basically, I haven't run since the half marathon on April 28.

Everything was fine, and I had mostly forgotten about it and thought it had healed until yesterday. We spent the last 5 days in Jamaica, and I was walking either barefoot or in flip flops the whole time. That being said, I wasn't actually walking. While we're normally pretty active, we spent this entire trip sitting on the beach and really didn't move a muscle all day for four days straight. Yesterday, we went to Dunn's River Falls and I climbed the falls - and in the midst of it, I felt the foot pain again for the first time in a week. I wasn't doing any thing crazy at all.

Partway through -- I thought, OH NO. Plantar Fasciitis. It didn't hurt too much yesterday, but today I put my foot back into regular shoes (my hiking shoes, not running shoes), and my heel started getting progressively worse. I can feel it walking now.

UGH. So, I'm supposed to run tomorrow for the first time since the half. We'll see how it goes. I'm currently icing it. Fall training starts on Saturday, so hopefully I'll be able to work through this.

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Happy Birthday, Todd!

2012-05-07T07:00:00.000-04:00

My awesome husband turns 40 years old today!

I love that guy!

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Ocean City Island to Island Half Marathon 2012

2012-05-02T22:06:00.003-04:00

Saturday was my third half marathon this year, which is a lot for me. The first was the Disney Marathon Relay in January, followed by the Rock and Roll USA Half in March, and now this was the Island to Island Half Marathon in Ocean City, Maryland.

Todd and I headed down to the beach on Friday afternoon. I had packet pickup at the Francis Scott Key .Resort. No expo, just a packet pickup. I ran into a couple of fellow runners there. We had some time to spare before dinner, so we relaxed for a little bit. My mom has a condo in Ocean City, so we were staying there.

Pretty sunset over the bay at dinner

We met the running group at dinner at Fresco's. We were a big group (17 of us), but it worked out pretty well. Delicious food, and we were treated to a beautiful sunset view over the bay as we started dinner.

I was up early on Saturday, and I wasn't sure what to wear. My phone said 38 degrees (but the sun hadn't risen yet), so I put on capri pants and a long sleeve and a vest. It was against my better judgement, which said shorts and a long sleeve. Guess where this is going? I was hot. Bad choice.

Todd dropped me off at the Ocean City Inlet, where the race started. I met up with our huge group and week took some photos. Thank goodness for small races, I was able to get up only about an hour and 15 minutes before the race, and I only waited about 30 minutes for the race to start.

The race started at 7:30. I headed off by myself, I chose not to run with the group. I was doing 1 minute 15 seconds of running and one minute of walking. The course first looped around the boardwalk and pier, and this part of the course was super crowded. I ended up skipping a walk break at one point and I was really sort of pulled along a lot. at mile one, just before crossing the bridge out of Ocean City, I looked at my watch and saw that I did the first mile in 10:40. WOA. That's pretty fast for me. I knew that I probably couldn't keep up that pace, so I slowed it a bit.

The course headed out of Ocean City towards Assateague. I kept up at a pretty good pace, around 11:30-11:45 per mile for several miles. By then, I was hot. I was seriously regretting the vest and wished that I had short sleeves or shorts or SOMETHING. I tried carrying it, but that totally sucked. I ended up unzipping it and just doing my best with it. There was no wind at all. We were off of the ocean, so the wind just wasn't getting through. Temperatures had risen into the 50s.

The group before the race

Let me be clear though - I've run in races that were over 85 degrees, this wasn't THAT bad.

The course looped through a neighborhood and through some pastures. Then, it turned back on to the main road. At this point, we were running on the shoulder and the road was not closed. Part of the shoulder was taken up by those divots that make noise when you run off of the road, so in most places there was only room for runners to run two abreast. Such a narrow course really stinks for a Galloway runner. I found myself constantly having to get people's attention who were running with their friends and/or wearing headphones and not paying attention to me.

I was still on PR pace, but I was getting tired. I promised myself that I could think about switching intervals at mile 10. So, when I got that mile, I decided to switch from 1:15 & 1s to 1:1s. I knew I could keep up my pace at 1:1s. It worked out well, and I stayed in pace for another couple of miles.

We came upon the bridge, and it was looming in the distance. It looked huge, so I decided to switch my intervals to 30:30 so that I could be sure I'd easily get up the hill. It worked out fine, the hill wasn't as big as it looked from far away.

I ended up sticking with the 30:30s. I turned the corner towards the finish line and my time was 2:31 something. My PR was 2:33:38, so I knew that I needed to run it in to get it. I hate running it in! But, I did. I managed to run the rest of the way! Yay! My watch said I set a new PR, but I just didn't trust it. It was too close.

The group at the finish

I waited at the finish line for the rest of the group. The only things that they had at the finish were cookies and water. The line for the buses taking us to the finish party was LONG. It was really chilly, so we shivered while bus after bus came and went. Finally, the buses they'd used for bag claim were empty and those came by and picked up some of us. It was about 20 minutes to Seacrets, where the after party was happening. We finally got there and... another line.

We waited again to get into Seacrets, since IDs had to be checked. My friend Steve and I had gotten separated from the group, so we searched through the super crowded night club for them. We didn't find them, but we did find a table with pizza. So, we each had a slice... and then I realized that I'd totally cut the line. Oops. Apparently the food line was REALLY long and I'd just walked up and not even realized it. I did end up having a beer because I felt like I should take free beer when it is offered!

I ended up only staying at the after party long enough to get my official time.. 2:32:49, new PR.. WOOOOO! Yay!

Then, Todd came and picked me up. Since the race was on Saturday, we were able to enjoy our Saturday night! The weather was rainy, but we had a great time anyway. :)

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So Little To Say...

2012-04-18T22:09:00.000-04:00

Gosh, I've just got so little to blog about lately.

So, here's a photo.

This is me, Erin, Jessica and Becky. We were all friends starting in the 6th grade. Then, between 8th and 9th grade, Jessica moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland - and that Chesapeake Bay Bridge is a HUGE barrier when you're that age. In 11th grade, Becky moved to Arizona. Erin and I stayed in Annapolis and have kept in touch off and on, but I haven't seen Jessica since 2001 and Becky since 1995. Becky recently moved back to Maryland and we are all back in the same state now (although opposite ends - I live almost in Pennsylvania now and Jessica lives at the Southern end of the state). So, we met for brunch on Sunday.

It was like old times! So weird to be all grown up and stuff though.

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Foodie Flame Wars

2012-04-12T17:00:00.000-04:00

I read with interest an article on Slate.com earlier this week with the headline White Bread Kills. The article basically goes into a little history about various breads - white vs wheat, homemade vs. store bought and the fears through time that have come up for each one. Right now, it's "the thing" to favor whole wheat over white bread, and to always favor homemade vs factory processed. However, back in the early part of the 20th century, it was recommended to buy factory made bread because of questions about the hygiene of making it at home. Of course, now we have a lot of fears about gluten and preservatives.

As I read the comments on the article, which went on and on, I started wondering about the attitudes and the judgmental nature that we seem to have about what other people eat. It seems that lately we've become very very judgey as a society about what people put into their bodies - and for some reason people think that it's everyone elses businesses what you are eating. I understand why - it all boils down to a health issue, but I think we might just be using too many blanket statements out there to try and figure out what is "healthy."

I read the comments on that article and hear "blah blah blah... glycemic index... blah blah blah... gluten... blah blah blah..." But then, everything has a smack of self righteousness.
Example:

...parents should feel guilty if they feed their children white Wonder Bread.

Really? That is what parents should feel guilty about? Because I eat some stuff occasionally that I consider "junk." I eat processed stuff. I avoid it, but I do eat it now again, especially if I want a treat or I'm in a hurry. I must not be doing too bad because I had blood taken in February and found that everything is well within the "normal" range -- even though I don't eat perfect all the time.

I've read other running blogs or other healthy living blogs where someone has gone off on a rant about a mother in a grocery store putting junk food in her cart, or someone whose friend feeds her children Lunchables or some such. Since when did what other people eat become our business? Since when did we start assuming that when you see someone eating a candy bar that candy bars must be a huge part of their diet?

This is a plea from me to you - if you eat healthy and you do what works for you, great. But, if you find yourself judging a stranger or a friend about what they're eating at a particular meal, stop. Just, stop. Today's fads will be gone soon.

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Stats as of 31 March 2012

2012-04-05T07:00:00.000-04:00

March 2011
57.7 miles
11 hours, 57 minutes
Avg Pace: 12:26/mile
Shamrock 5K 2011: 33:21 (10:45/mile)

March 2012
54.3 miles -- 3.4 miles less than in 2011
11 hours, 45 minutes -- 12 minutes less than in 2011
Avg Pace: 13:00/mile -- 34 seconds slower than in 2011
Rock and Roll USA Half Marathon: 2:49:36 (12:57/mile)

Year Totals for 2012:
180.6 miles @ 12:49 pace
23,000m swimming!

Last year, I started out slow and then went back up to a reasonable amount of miles in March. This year, I did about the same mileage but slower. That's because last year I ran the entire month, but shorter distances than this year. This year, I was on vacation for a week and missed a bunch of runs, but I had some extra long, slow ones in there to increase my mileage but not my speed. Last year, I did a 5K as my March race. This year, a half marathon - there's a big speed difference.

I was running really strong before I went to Saba. I have to admit, since coming back from Saba I have not been happy with my running. I have had repeated runs that felt sluggish and slow. I've put on about 5 pounds. I just don't feel right. I switched some of my medications the end of February, and I can't help but feel like all of this is related to that. I'm hoping that April is a better month for me, training wise.

On the non-running front, I've been doing my swimming - as you can see I'm up to a total of 23,000 meters so far this year. Definitely a record for me. I've been keeping up with my strength training as well, but the yoga has dropped off my radar - I haven't been to yoga since before leaving for Saba. It's difficult for me to make it to my gym (40 mins away) for a 7am yoga class. I'm just not used to getting up that early.

I have finally gotten my bike ready for summer, and I rode it for the first time on Sunday. This was indoors, since given my track record I thought it best to do one ride inside first. Plus, the weather was iffy that day. I haven't ridden since September, so I feel like I am basically starting from square one on the bike riding thing. I also have no idea how to fit it into my already full exercise schedule. I'm sure I'll find some time somewhere... How do people work out as much as they do and still have time for a job and a marriage and a life? And some folks have kids! I don't know how you do it, seriously.

Anyway, next up: the Island to Island Half Marathon in Ocean City, Maryland, April 28. I've got a huge group of friends going, so we're looking forward to it!

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Rock & Roll USA Half Marathon

2012-04-03T17:00:00.000-04:00

The Rock & Roll USA Half marathon took place on March 17. If you recall, I was on the fence about running this one. I ended up signing up for it mostly because my high school friends were doing it and I wanted to hang with them. In the end, I think my big mistake was signing up for a race that I really didn't want to do in the first place.

I went down to DC on Friday afternoon. I hadn't really realized two HUGE problems with the race when I signed up: 1) I was going to be out of town the two weekends before the race, in Saba. I wouldn't be able to run those two weekends at all. and 2) The race took place on Saturday, so the Expo and packet pickup were on Friday evening, making it difficult for me to get down there from northern Baltimore where I work. I had originally planned to have a friend get my packet (only after Competitor allowed this, at first it was not allowed), but they extended the expo hours to 8pm, so I ended up being able to get there myself.

A view of RFK Stadium from the starting line

I took the train down from Baltimore in order to save myself a traffic headache, and I was oh so happy about it. I relaxed on the train while watching the traffic outside the window. The expo was just ok. I was very annoyed by the fact that they did not have a shirt in my size. I realize that I was at the expo during the last 2 hours that it was open. But - I ordered a Women's Large. Shouldn't I get a Women's Large? Even if someone else comes along before me and wants a Women's Large even though she hadn't ordered one - shouldn't they still keep MY women's large waiting for me?

So, I got my boxy men's shirt, and met my friend Steve. I checked into my hotel and then Steve and I had dinner in the restaurant in the hotel. Meanwhile, a whole ton of people that were also running the race came by - Misty and Rachel and Misty's large group that's she's training (16 ladies!), as well as Ming, who was sharing my room with me. Then, it was bedtime.

Ming and I were up bright and early and we met Misty and her group in the lobby of the hotel. We were very close to the metro station, and the metro was running slow and late and was packed (all of which we expected). We made it to the starting area with plenty of time, though. We checked our bags and then stood in line for 45 minutes for the potties. I was in a different corral from everyone else, so I headed off alone to the starting line. It was about 40 minutes between the start of the race and the time that I actually crossed the starting line. In all, it was about 2 1/2 hours or more of standing before I started the race, which is why I HATE large races.

The beginning of the race seemed like a slight uphill grade. There were spectators, and it was ok. I just wasn't feeling it. in fact, what I was feeling was tired. Tired, sore legs right from the start. Mile 1 was slow and miserable, and I felt like that didn't bode well for the rest of the race.

The course took us through some major sites in DC - we got up close and personal with (or at least got glimpses of) the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Memorial, the Supreme Court, the National Archives and the various museums of the Smithsonian. It was quite a scenic course, and one that I frankly preferred over the Marine Corps Marathon, my only other DC race. There was quite a hill around mile 6, which was quite brutal, but I cannot really complain about the course at all. My issues were really with my own body, which did not feel like running a race that day.

I had to stop for a potty break just before that hill. I absolutely hate potty breaks during races, but it couldn't be helped - I had been working too hard on hydrating. The weird thing was that the potties were often WAY off the course, and I ended up walking right into one (no line), but it was about a half a block away from the course. What was that about? At that point, I just felt like I didn't care anymore. I knew I'd blown any possibility of a fast time, and I was hot (it was a warm day) and unhappy. When you run races in March in the mid-Atlantic, you shouldn't be worried about heat. I was worried about heat.

There were times when I just wanted to quit running but I did not. My high school friends were meeting after the race and I couldn't think of meeting up with them with no medal. So, on I went. I finished in 2:49:36, not my best time, not my worst, but frighteningly close to the time that I did in January when I stopped to ride a roller coaster mid-race.

Macarons on display at The Sweet Lobby

After the race, I waited for no one. I went and picked up my bag and headed to the metro in the hopes of getting back to my hotel in time for a shower before I had to check out at 1pm. I made it, showered, and then sat in the lobby of my hotel trying to figure out what to do next. I knew I wanted to bring something to my friends house.. but what? I got on Yelp on my phone and found a bakery where I could buy macarons - my friend Elizabeth and I had spent about 4 runs discussing French Macarons (not to be confused with macaroons!!!!), and I wanted some. So, I headed to The Sweet Lobby (Cupcake Wars winners) and got myself a box of macarons to share with my friends. I also got a cupcake just for me. Both were AMAZING!

South River Alums

I had to take a MetroBus from the bakery to my friend's house, which was a bit out of my comfort zone. I'm used to the DC Metro, but MetroBus is new to me. Plus, I was carrying my heavy bag, which didn't help. I finally made it though, and caught up with friends that I hadn't seen since I graduated from high school 16 years ago. Some of them had done the full, and I was impressed.

Finally, it was time to head home, so I headed back to Baltimore via Union Station on the train.

I was not happy with this race, but I think it was more about the fact that this race wasn't one I wanted to do in the first place. It's just not my style, not to my taste. To each his own, but I'm looking forward to my race at the end of April that will be much smaller.

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Saba 2012

2012-04-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

Todd and I went on vacation at the beginning of this month. Where did we go? The beautiful Caribbean island of Saba. Never heard of it? You're not alone. Over and over again, when people asked where we were going on vacation, they had to ask us to explain where Saba was. Even the customs agent when we came back to the
US had never heard of Saba. So, here you go:

Saba is in the Caribbean, and it's only 5 square miles. In comparison, our other tiny island that we like to visit, Little Cayman, is 10 square miles. So, Saba is pretty tiny.

Not sure who the original photographer of this photo is...

To me, Saba looks like Dr. Evil's secret volcano lair. It is, in fact, a volcano, although it hasn't erupted since the 17th century. It's considered dormant, but since there are hot springs on the island, there is some sort of volcanic activity going on somewhere around it. In the photo above, do you see the airport there at the bottom? That is the only flat area on the entire island. It's the shortest commercial runway in the world, which means that landing at Saba is an interesting experience. We left from Washington Dulles early in the morning on Saturday, March 3. Dulles is about a 2 hour drive from our house, so we stayed in a nearby hotel the night before and left our car at the hotel in one of those "stay one night, leave your car" packages.We flew direct to Saint Maarten, which has its own exciting airport... The airport is really close to the beach and tourists stand to watch both landings and takeoffs. From inside the airplane, it's a little less exciting. (do watch those videos, btw!) It is cool to see the people lined up at the fence when you're taxing to take off at SXM.

So, from Saint Maarten, we took a puddle jumper (Twin Otter) plane to Saba. The runway is so short, the airplane has to go into a stall in order to keep it on the runway. Todd took a video:

That alarm you hear as the plane lands is the plane stalling.

So, once we arrived, we were greeted by Eddie, who was one of four taxi drivers that we would meet on the island. There are 10 taxi drivers on Saba, and there are no car rentals. The Road (the only road on the island is simply called The Road) is incredible. The original Dutch engineers claimed that it was impossible to build a road on the island, but the Sabans would hear none of that and ended up building the road themselves over the course of 25 years. Read more about it, it's fascinating!

The view of The Bottom from our hotel room

We stayed at Queen's Garden Resort, which is located on Troy Hill. Saba has three towns - The Bottom (which is where the government buildings are located), Windwardside (which is where most of the shops/restaurants are) and Hell's Gate, which is mostly residential. Troy Hill was up the mountain from The Bottom, so our hotel room overlooked the town. We also had an awesome Jacuzzi tub in our room that overlooked the town, with the ocean in the distance.

Our reason for coming to Saba was to dive. We were diving with Saba Deep dive shop. They were truly awesome. In Saba, much of the attraction is deep water pinnacles, so each day our first dive went to one of these pinnacles. The pinnacles usually topped off in about 90 feet of water, which meant that our dives had to be short (you can only stay so long at such depths). Todd and I are used to doing 60 minute dives, but we never reached 60 minutes on any dive while we were in Saba.

Me with the turtle on top of the needle at Third Encounter

One of our favorite dive sites was Third Encounter, where there is a large pinnacle with a small, slender pinnacle (like a needle) nearby. Divemaster Gary led us to the needle, which was covered in corals with creole wrasses swimming all around. To our happy surprise, there was also a large turtle sitting on top of the needle! So pretty.

We were only doing 2 dives per day, which isn't very many compared to the 3-5 dives per day that we typically do on vacation. We were just trying to take it easy this time. In the afternoons, we either relaxed by the pool or hiked around the island. Saba is known for its hiking trails. What I learned from this is that I am not necessarily a hiker - some of the more intense stuff just wasn't for me.

Swimming at Tent Reef

The weather while we were there was no ideal - winds were gusting to 30 mph on most days, and we had some sustained winds of 15-20 mph. When we were farther from the island, the boat was seriously rocky. I hate it when the boat rocks that much.

We had some trouble starting on Wednesday - Saba Deep's boat, Jolly Mon, had its propeller shaft break while we were out on the boat. This meant that we couldn't dive with Saba Deep again during the trip and had to switch to Saba Divers. For this reason, and due to the swells, we ended up doing many of the dives more than once. One dive site, Tent Reef, we did three times. We weren't as happy with Saba Divers as we were with Saba Deep. They weren't as flexible, and made a few mistakes (such as taking us back to Third Encounter, but mis-navigating and taking us for 20 minutes into the blue while seeing nothing at all).

At Babylon

I feel like the diving at Saba is spectacular, but we weren't necessarily seeing it at its absolute best. The winds were just terrible while we were there. However, we still had a great time on our dives.

We had intended to do 5 days of diving, but we ended up doing a 6th. Normally, our trips are Saturday to Saturday and we spend Sunday relaxing before going back to work on Monday. This time, we added an extra day because we were intending to climb to the top of Mount Scenery (the highest point of the islands and the highest point of The Netherlands) on our last day. We needed the extra time because Mount Scenery is too high to climb right after diving - altitude and diving don't mix. Mount Scenery also is a cloud forest, which we were really interested in seeing. In the end, though, we thought we'd go ahead and dive the day before and not worry about the altitude. When the day came to dive Mount Scenery, though, we were too tired and ended up relaxing and shopping. It had rained the night before and the top of the mountain was likely wet, muddy and slippery. Not fun.

Todd shows off an Elephant Ear
on the Sandy Cruz trail

We did do two big hikes - one on the hiking trail called the Bottom Mountain trail, which took us from our hotel into Windwardside. We then climbed to the top of Booby Hill outside of Windwardside and ended our day watching the sunset with a beer at a hotel called the Shearwater. A perfect ending for sure.

Our second hike was on a trail called Sandy Cruz, which took us around the back of the island above the airport, through rainforest and cloud forest, and finally back to our hotel. I have to say, this was challenging. The steps and rocks were slippery. I was glad I had purchased hiking shoes from Zappos at the last minute before we left (in fact, we had to wait to leave to go to Dulles until my shoes arrived via UPS).

And then, there was the food. The meals on Saba were pretty good. Our resort was home to the restaurant known to have the best food on the island. We ate there several nights, enjoying Beef Wellington, pork tenderloin, fish and shrimp. They had lobsters, but after a bad experience eating lobster in 2002, I rarely order whole lobsters. I did have a lobster sandwich for lunch, though.

Todd relaxing in the hot tub
in our room

We also enjoyed some more casual dinners at a bar called swinging doors. It's known for its BBQ and steak night. Steak night was pretty fun, because steak is quite literally the ONLY thing on the menu - the waitress asks you how you want your steak, that's it. Another night, we went to the Ecolodge and enjoyed a spectacular shrimp dinner after watching a presentation about the environment and forests on the island. The true stand out was Eden, which is a French restaurant in Windwardside where I enjoyed my favorite food item of the week - strawberry balsamic pepper ice cream. It sounds strange, but it was phenomenal.

It was a great week. Saba is absolutely a place that I would return to, given the opportunity. We had a great time. The only downside (besides the weather) was how expensive everything was - cab fare from our hotel into Windwardside was $25, and eating in our hotel was pretty pricey. So, we ended up spending a lot more on food, etc than we expected to.

We still had a great time, and I can't wait for a chance to go back. (Of course, I mean who wouldn't want to go back?)

I am hoping that some more of Todd's photos are coming, but he's taking his sweet time processing them. I wanted to get this posted, so I didn't wait.

Todd and me after our hike at Shearwater

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Raja Ampat Video

2012-03-31T17:46:00.000-04:00

After a couple of technical difficulties, we finally have the video uploaded of Todd's photos from Raja Ampat, Indonesia. This is not the entire Indonesia video that he created (there is a Bali portion also), but it's part of it.

Enjoy!

If you would like to see more of Todd's amazing photography (or order it for display in your own home), please see Todd's Red Bubble Portfolio.

Also, feel free to check out my long winded Indonesia Trip Report.

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Remembering Coach Sean

2012-03-26T21:25:00.002-04:00

I was shocked to read on Facebook that the founder and creator of Cardio Coach, Sean O'Malley, passed away yesterday. I have mentioned his workouts on this blog before, and the fact is that I will not step foot on a treadmill without one of his workouts. There are 8 of them, and I was hoping for more soon.

Sean has been with me, at least figuratively for so very many workouts. Countless runs on the treadmill. His words of encouragement are awesome for getting you up a hill or getting you through a tough run that you really don't want to do. In fact, there are times that I choose a treadmill workout even on a nice day, just because I know how great of a run I get when I'm working out with Sean.

Even in New York for the marathon, when the going got tough, I thought of Sean, and some of the things that he says during the Cardio Coach workouts and it helped to get me through. I absolutely, 100% credit Sean O'Malley as one of the people who has impacted my running the most. Somehow, there is just no way to "take it easy" when you're doing a Cardio Coach workout. Somehow, Sean's voice just makes you want to go a little harder, or go a little farther.

I'm going to miss you, Sean. I can't believe that there won't be another workout. I can't believe that there won't be someone for me to send a Facebook message to saying "Hey, Sean, you really got me running hard today!" (I've done this a few times). I am thankful that I do have the workouts that I have, and I can continue workout with Sean well into the future.

Thank you for all that you've done for me, and rest in peace.

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Stats as of 28 February 2012

2012-03-18T14:53:00.001-04:00

February 2011
24.9 miles
5 hours, 11 minutes
Avg Pace: 12:29/mile

February 2012
65.2 miles -- 40.3 miles more than in 2011
13 hours, 47 minutes -- 8 hours, 36 minutes longer than in 2011
Avg Pace: 12:41/mile -- 12 seconds slower than in 2010

Year Totals for 2012:
126.3 miles @ 12:44 pace

I totally forgot to post this at the beginning of this month. So far, March has been a crazy month so far and clearly this just slipped my mind.

So, last year, I was still in Indonesia until February 12, so I went basically half the month with no runs at all. Even so, I didn't just double the mileage this year, I almost tripled it. The difference is that last year I was training for a half marathon in May, and this year I was training for one in March (which I ran yesterday, more on that later).

This was a pretty good month for running, and I had some pretty good runs. Honestly, though, I don't have anything that really stands out to mention. I'm just kind of going through the training, running my runs and doing my thing.

In other exercise news, I am continuing my swimming - I logged 6750 meters in the pool in February. I still haven't made it on to the bike, but I'm also getting my strength training in (and yoga when I can).

So, more later. I'm clearly a little behind on posts (secret: I was out of town March 2-11), so more to come later this week...

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Disney Marathon Relay Photos

2012-03-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

I finally ordered the photos from the Disney Marathon Relay and I thought I'd share! Some of them were repeats of photos that I'd taken with my phone and already posted on my original race report, so here are others...

Animal Kingdom, I think

Epcot

Getting close to the finish

Finish!

Todd and me

Just me

That's my cute hubby

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10-Second Book Reviews

2012-03-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption: I was nervous about reading this one because it sounded like it might be a little bit boring. It was not. In the prologue, we meet three men in a life raft, who are being strafed by a Japanese plane. One of the men jumps out of the life raft to avoid the bullets and sharks are circling. He has to fight off the sharks, while trying to avoid being captured or shot by the enemy, and while wondering what is happening to his fellow men who are still in the raft. It was an incredible opener, and an incredible book. I started reading it because I knew it was a running book. In fact, the book is about Louis Zamperini, who went to the Olympics in 1936. After the Olympics, he went on to fight in WWII, and his story is truly incredible. I cannot imagine going through the things that he went through. And yes, a true story.

Cutting for Stone: An epic story about twin boys growing up in Ethiopia amid a revolution. The boys were born from a doctor and a nun, and as you can imagine, that created somewhat of a scandal. The story takes place in a hospital and the real gem of the book is the medical procedures and practices that are described throughout the book. It's fascinating to hear about how surgeries were performed and how patients were treated. The author, Abraham Verghese, is a doctor and it shows through his writing.

Moloka'i: Another sort of medical book, I suppose. This is the story of a young Hawaiian woman who shows symptoms of leprosy and is sent to live in the leper colony on the island of Moloka'i. She spends her entire life there, and we learn how the lepers in the colony learn to cope with being totally cut off from their families and the rest of the world. They create basically a whole other world, while being basically ignored by the state and the rest of the world. I really enjoyed this one.

The Handmaid's Tale: I started reading this because it went on sale for $1.99 on Kindle, and I had heard it mentioned here and there. If you haven't read it, it's a dystopian tale of what the world would be like if reproduction, and therefore women, is controlled by the government (or at least society). It's a strange book, and quite a bit disturbing. There have been times lately where I have felt like we are leaning towards this a little bit too much. Very interesting story, and a great read.

What's the Matter with Kansas? I wanted to like this book, but I found it so incredibly boring. I am always interested in politics, and I read this because I wanted to understand why certain voters tend to vote the way that they do. However, I think I would have been better off with just an article rather than a book. It just couldn't keep my interest and I only read it about halfway through. I might go back to it eventually.

Sing You Home: When I went and visited my sister in November, I forgot both of my Kindles and had to quickly pick up a book in the airport. I cannot be without a book on an airplane. This was what I picked up, mostly on Jodi Picoult's good name and since I'd read My Sister's Keeper and enjoyed it. I finished it in a weekend. I honestly don't want to give too much away about the plot because I enjoyed not really knowing what was going to happen. Suffice it to say that it involves some lesbian/gay issues and also child custody. The concept was pretty interesting, and the characters were genuine and real. A good one to pick up if you've read other books by Jodi Picoult.

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Ouch.

2012-03-01T21:07:00.002-05:00

Bah, I fell down on my run tonight. I hate that. I had never fallen down on a run before June (well, unless you count the two times I've fallen off of a treadmill)... In June, I fell while running with my group on a weekend run - to applause from the group behind us. Now, I fell tonight :( I was just running along - granted, downhill. I was almost home, maybe about a quarter mile away and just tripped on a bit of sidewalk. I tried to dive into the grass, but only succeeded in getting my shirt dirty. I did manage to protect my right knee, but not my left.

Bummer.

At least it's only my skin that was hurt, I didn't break or sprain anything, which is always a worry. I'm just sad that I had planned to go to the pool tomorrow morning and now I can't. I mean, I'd be annoyed if someone showed up at the pool with a big bloody knee. Besides, that's just asking for an infection. I thought I'd share the gory photo if you'd like to see it. I hate it when people put gory injury photos on a blog or Facebook without warning, so you'll have to click here if you want to see it.

Share your running falling stories if you have any!

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Quick Update

2012-02-28T21:23:00.001-05:00

My mom was in the hospital last week. She has some sores on her legs that are left over from her varicose veins that she's had removed over the last couple of years. The sores wouldn't heal, and she's struggled to get the medical care that she needs for them. Frankly, the doctors have just shrugged them off.

Then, she went on a cruise a couple of weeks ago. Along the way she picked up a staph infection, specifically MRSA. If you're not familiar, that's the "bad kind" of staph, and she ended up with a pretty high fever, which she promptly ignored. After some convincing, she went to the ER, and ended up spending 4 nights in the hospital getting some hefty antibiotics. She's still on them, but she is home now. I won't go into detail, but the medicare system enrages me.

All of this just makes me worry more about my own veins, but for now mine are pretty stable. I had mine removed last year in my left leg. My right leg is showing some signs of needing some attention, but it will take some time before I need surgery again. I think.

So, that's what has been up. Not a lot of other news to report, I'm still just doing my thing :)

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Maybe No More Whining

2012-02-24T17:22:00.002-05:00

Ok, so after yesterday's whiny post, I went running and then to the gym to meet with a personal trainer. This one is not the same one I'd been meeting with. I keep thinking that my "intro" personal trainer meetings are over, and then they tell me that I have more to do!

This was the same trainer that did the nutrition section of my original set of sessions. She also kicked my butt one day with core exercises - my gym has a "Ab Express" class a couple times a day that is a 15 minute drop in class right out in the fitness area with a trainer. The day I did it, I was the only one that showed so I had 15 minutes of one on one time with a trainer out to kill my abs!

Anyway, so I met with her last night and we basically went over my results again - measurements, weight, body fat percentage. Once again, I was down another 1/2 inch in my hips and 3/4 inch in my waist. The body fat scale said that my body fat percentage has dropped 1.5% since I had it checked the end of January. I've gained 1.5 pounds since then, but that was the only bad number.

So, basically, I need to just shut up.

This was the last set of results that I'll do with a trainer, but my gym does results days every month, where you come in and they do all of your measurements and weight and body fat. I'm thinking that maybe it's in my best interest to just go to the results days and get my information then and stop using my home scale altogether. If I truly want to not care about my weight, I need to stop caring about it. Right?

Easier said than done, that scale is addictive.

Tuesday, I go back to the gym to meet with this trainer again and she'll give me a whole new workout to do. I'm pretty excited about it. I love my gym so much.

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The Weight Thing is Still There

2012-02-23T17:23:00.000-05:00

I've spent the last several months (basically since April 2011) working on intuitive eating. I've been trying basically to not count calories or diet anymore. If I want cake at work because it's someones birthday, I eat cake. I pay attention to how I feel, and I eat the food that my body needs, and often what it wants. I've been pleased with the results - I first lost 6 pounds, and then I stayed within a 4-pound range of weights for 9 months. I was almost smug about my non-dieting self.

When I gained a few pounds in December, I didn't sweat it. It was part of the plan, and I was exercising like crazy. I would take the pounds off in January. And I did, briefly. I was back at the top of my prized 4-pound range right before I left for Florida to run the Walt Disney World Marathon Relay. But, when I returned, I was back up again, and I haven't been back down since. Instead, I've been staying within a new 4-pound range, where the lowest number is one number higher than my previous 4-pound range. So, I guess that means I've gained 4 pounds.

My clothes fit the same, and I've been exercising a lot. Instead of the 3 days of running that I was practicing all summer and through November, I am now doing 3 days of running (less mileage than the summer), two days of swimming, one hour weight training session and two 20-minute weight training sessions, and an hour of yoga per week. That's a lot more exercising. In fact, when I was measured at the gym, I had actually lost inches even though I'd gained pounds.

I shouldn't be concerned about this at all. According to the principles that I adopted almost a year ago, I don't care what my weight is, my body will decide at what weight I am happy and healthy. I probably shouldn't be weighing myself at all. In fact, those first couple of months last year, I only weighed myself once a month rather than daily. Still, that weight thing is still there. I still care. I still want to lose.

I've been contemplating going back on to a calorie restricted diet, counting again, doing all of that stuff. I keep telling myself it would be quick, and it would only be to lose the 4 pounds.

Why, though? I am mad at myself for even thinking about this. I mean, nobody would know that I've gained weight if I hadn't mentioned it. Like I said, my clothes still fit like they did before.

I've just got this head trauma and I wish I didn't worry about it so much. I really, truly, want to just blissfully go through life eating without worries and not caring about what I weigh or how I look. The number on the scale shouldn't matter, so why worry about it?

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Seared Chicken and Avocado

2012-02-16T20:27:00.004-05:00

Todd is teaching me how to take better photos, mostly because I want to be able to take better photos of food. So, here's my first experiment. I am not a photographer and don't want to be one, but I do want to be able to take photos beyond point and shoot of delicious things that I cook.

This is one of my favorite recipes: Seared Chicken and Avocado

(I have some complaints about each and every one of these photos, but by the time I reviewed them, I'd eaten the subject)

Ready to cut the avocado!

I love avocado.

Chicken is spiced and ready

Black beans make an awesome side dish, too.

The finished product.

Dice the avocado.
Mix with green salsa to taste, I probably use about 1/4 cup.
Add a dash of salt, some black pepper to taste, and 2-3 Tbsp of chopped cilantro. Or, I use 2 blocks of frozen chopped cilantro from Trader Joe's if I don't have fresh.
Add a squeeze of lime juice and mix this all together.
Sprinkle 2-4 chicken breasts with blackened seasoning. I use Chef Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Steak Magic.
Heat 2-3 tsp of olive oil in a pan. Add chicken and sear on both sides (2-3 mins) on med-high heat.
Reduce heat to medium and cook until chicken is done.
Top chicken with avocado mixture and serve!

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A Word About Komen

2012-02-09T16:27:00.000-05:00

I try really really hard to not ever get political on my blog. And this is difficult, because I think of this blog as "my place to type stuff I want to type about" and frankly I have a lot of really strong opinions about politics and issues that face us today. I also try really, really hard to not ever get too political on Facebook, or at work, or with my running friends, which basically means that I tend to vent all of my political frustrations to Todd, which probably sucks for him. Even through all of this trying, I just can't keep my mouth shut on the issue of Komen and Planned Parenthood. But, I'm going to try to be as fair as possible with this.

Full Disclosure: I am ardently pro-choice. I believe in a woman's right to choose, and I believe that abortion should be legal. The discussions on Facebook and news sites over the past couple of weeks has made me crazy-angry. Even more full disclosure: I used Planned Parenthood when I was a teenager to get birth control. I have never had an abortion, but I credit them with keeping me from being a mom WAY too young. Their services are necessary and good, and I support them fully.

So, about Komen.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that Susan G. Komen for the Cure chose to defund Planned Parenthood. Internet and public rage ensued. Komen restored funding to Planned Parenthood, and internet and public rage ensued. Basically, the pro-choice folks were angry at the defunding and the pro-life folks were angry at the re-funding, and now one likes Komen anymore. Here's a complete guide to the nonsense if you aren't up to date, although this article is a few days old and more has happened since then.

The awful thing is, I didn't really like Komen that much to begin with. The pink ribbons show up everywhere, on every type of product imaginable. I began to resent how much the pink ribbons were being forced upon women. And, I felt like I was not supporting women if I didn't support Komen. It's not that I don't support breast cancer research, I absolutely do. It's that the brand is being over done - to the point where I don't really want to see any more pink ribbons on anything. And, with as much marketing as Komen has been using - I feel more like wearing a pink ribbon is like wearing around some other trademark, such as Coke or WalMart. It's cheapened it all.

I have had all of this anti-Komen feelings floating around inside of me for years. Once, my friend picked up a pink ribbon skirt or shirt or something at our running store and said to me, "This is cute," and I responded "Yeah... but I'm SICK of breast cancer." I later regretted saying that. Well, I mean, of course I'm sick of breast cancer and I wish it would go away, but I'm not sick of trying to support those that are fighting the illness and I'm not sick of trying to raise awareness and find a cure. I'm sick of Komen. I'm sick of too much marketing. I'm sick of pink ribbons.

Now, I feel sort of justified, and I no longer feel bad about it. I'm saying loud and clear: I DO NOT SUPPORT SUSAN G. KOMEN FOR THE CURE. And I will not, ever again.

Once all of this Planned Parenthood stuff came to be, I did more research. What I found was that some of the money raised by Komen was spent to sue other charities for using the phrase "for the cure".

Furthermore, only about 16% of Komen's funding actually goes towards research and "finding a cure." I just don't think I can support a charity that fails so much in supporting its own mission.

And then there's Planned Parenthood. They provide breast cancer screenings to poor and underprivileged women, and providing abortions is only 3% of their activities. The money that Komen provided to Planned Parenthood was not going to abortions. And again, I remind you - abortion is still a very legal procedure.

When it comes down to it, the whole debacle was all about politics and not at all about women's health. Komen continues to run their organization more like a corporation and less like a charity. And, I will not be supporting them in the future.

Because I want to remain slightly positive, here are some wonderful resources to support breast cancer awareness and research:

The Mayo Clinic's National Breast Cancer Foundation (the charity supported by the 26.2 for Donna Race, which is this weekend)
The Dana Farber Cancer Institute
The National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund
The Rose

That's funny, I wasn't even aware of these other breast cancer charities!! That's because Komen does such a great job of marketing!!

Another great read: I Will Not Be Pinkwashed

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Stats as of 31 January 2012

2012-02-07T21:12:00.002-05:00

January 2011
35.7 miles
7 hours, 31 minutes
Avg Pace: 12:38/mile

January 2012
61.1 miles -- 25.4 miles more than in 2011
13 hours, 2 minutes -- 5 hours, 31 minutes longer than in 2011
Avg Pace: 12:48/mile -- 10 seconds slower than in 2010
Walt Disney World Marathon Relay Leg 2: 2:54:26 (13:19/mile)

I ran a lot more this January than last, since last year I spent the last 10 days of the month in Indonesia, and I think I skipped a few runs leading up to the trip because I was so busy preparing. I also had a race this month, although I ran it slower than my race pace.

I'm really focused on the cross training right now. I'm still doing my swimming, etc, and I'm happy to report that Friday morning I did manage to get up in time to make it to yoga class at the gym. I loved it! I'm hoping to go again this week. It's a little bit early for me, but I think it will be worth it.

I'm in training mode for the Rock & Roll USA Half Marathon on March 17. My group and I ran 11 miles on Saturday, and I'm feeling good about my training. Besides that, I'm just focused on my swimming, weight training, and staying healthy :)

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Adventures at the Gym

2012-02-02T16:56:00.000-05:00

I'm now about 3 months into my gym membership. I mentioned my gym a while back, when I was trying to decide what pool to join. I ended up choosing Pool #2. I started swimming there back in November, the week after the New York City Marathon, and I've been successfully swimming there twice per week ever since!

Like I said when I first started considering joining a pool, I really wasn't interested in the gym. I've realized that I hate strength training, and I don't really want to do it. Still, my new gym membership came with five complimentary personal trainer sessions, so I thought I should go ahead and take advantage of them, even if I didn't expect to get much out of it.

I've worked with a trainer twice before, both times when joining gyms. Once, back in 2001 when I joined a local gym in order to lose more weight while on Weight Watchers. The second time was when I joined Gold's Gym in 2005 in order to run indoors on hot summer days. I had just started running. Both times, I found my experiences with the trainers to be lacking. The 2001 gym only gave me two workouts with a trainer. The first one was a "fitness test" that basically killed me since I was out of shape and not used to working out, and the second gave me some instruction, but I really would have liked more time. The 2005 gym gave me an OK weight workout with a stoner trainer who half heartedly followed me around the gym while asking me tons of questions about what it was like to be a computer programmer, and if I thought he could get into the industry. Neither of these experiences gave me much confidence in my new gym's training sessions.

I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised. I had five training sessions, and they went like this:

In the first session, I met with the trainer (Katie) to get to know her. She took my measurements and weight, and we talked about my fitness history. She took my requests to heart - I explained that I hated weight training and what I hated about it, and she said she'd design a program that I would enjoy.
For the second session, Katie took me around through one set of each of the exercises she'd worked out. She focused on machines that didn't need adjustment, and ones that worked multiple muscle groups so that I could finish up my workout as fast as possible. I was impressed, and I really liked a few of the machines that she put me on. She also had me do some non-machine exercises, such as walking lunges and dumbbell chest presses.
The third week, Katie basically took me around again, so that we could take a look at other things in the gym that I might want to do. I expressed an interest in doing assisted pull ups, so she taught me how to use that machine. I asked some questions about various pieces of equipment and she answered them.
My least favorite was week 4. We went over nutrition. This wasn't Katie, this was another trainer, Amanda, who I think noted my complete disinterest in the nutrition portion. I understand proper nutrition, I just don't do it. She gave me some pointers, but nothing new, and I have to admit that I didn't get much out of this session.
For the final session, I again met with Katie and we talked things over similar to week 1. I had some more questions, she answered them, and we took my measurements and weight again. I knew I had gained a couple of pounds over the holidays, but was pleasantly surprised to find that I'd lost two inches around my waist! Wow!

I get to meet with a trainer once more, the end of this month, when we'll go over the workout again and tweak it as necessary. While I do wish I'd gotten more time actually working out with the trainer, I still feel like I got a lot out of it.

I've found that I'm basically completing the workout Katie gave me in about 40 minutes - 20 minutes for lower and 20 minutes for upper body. I've been trying to tack them on to the end of other workouts. So, if I'm swimming, I'll dry off and go upstairs and do my upper body after my swim. If I'm running at the running store, I'll run over to the gym after and do lower body. I have heard people say that cardio should happen after the weights, but I really, really, prefer to do cardio first. It's just a pain to have wet hair for my after-swim workouts.

This week, I'm taking off from weight training. I know when I used to do Cathe's STS, she required a week off every four weeks, and I've been so sore from weights that I thought my muscles could use a recovery week. I've still been swimming and running, and tomorrow I'm going to try out a yoga class at the gym. That is, if I can get up early enough to make it there on time.

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11 Random Things About Me

2012-01-27T16:54:00.002-05:00

I was tagged twice for this one -- which is crazy because I rarely get tagged for anything! :) Anyway, Lindsay and Kandi both tagged me. Here we go.

Here are the rules:

Post these rules
You must post 11 random things about yourself
Answer the questions set for you in their post
Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people! I don't have 11 people to tag, sorry.

Part One: 11 Random Things About Me

I don't like ordering a gyro because I want to pronounce it "JI-RO" and apparently it's pronounced "HEE-RO." I just can't come to terms with that. But, they're delicious.
My sister Sharon once worked at a local theme park as a dancer in one of the shows there. I spent one summer blissfully going to work with her a couple of days a week and either hanging backstage, or in the lazy river, or by the wave pool. I didn't really ride rides, though.
I chose Information Systems instead of Computer Science as a degree in college specifically because I did not want to be a full time programmer as a career. After college, I've spent my entire career as a programmer.
The skin on the top of my right shoulder is dark in color as if it is a birth mark, but I wasn't born with it. It appeared in middle school and my only explanation for it is that was caused by carrying a heavy bookbag on only one shoulder (which was "cool").
I've recently started playing World of Warcraft. I was convinced to do so by my co-workers.
I once got in an argument with my sister Shelly over whether we were going to watch Footloose or Purple Rain. I wanted Footloose.
I have an unnatural love of the movie Overboard.
My dream race is to run the Big Sur Marathon.
I have been getting my hair highlighted since 2001, and it seems the some people think I'm naturally a blond. Even with my highlights, I don't think I look blonde. My natural color is dark brown.
There are very few things that I won't eat, but liver is one of them. Bleh, disgusting. I can't even smell it.
I once met author Tom Clancy, but didn't recognize him. He is from Annapolis, and so am I. He came into the Suncoast Motion Picture company store where I worked and I sold him some laserdiscs (ugh, I am old). I did a hard sell on our frequent buyer program and I was trying so hard to convince him it was a good buy and was going to save him soo much money, that I didn't look at his credit card or anything. The thing is, I knew what Tom Clancy looked like and that he lived in the area, but it's not as easy to recognize an author as it as a movie or TV star, and when you're not expecting someone to be famous, you just don't pay attention. He did not purchase Clear and Present Danger, which was his latest movie for sale at the time.

And now Kandi's Questions:

What is the last thing you took a picture of?
It's been a while, so I had to check my phone. It was actually back on January 15, I took this photo of Todd and our nephew Josh as I dropped them at the light rail. They were going down to the stadium to see the Ravens play in the playoffs.
If you eat eggs, what is your favorite way to make them?
I usually just do your basic fried egg, but I also enjoy poached and scrambled. Like Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride, I also like Benedict. As Todd and I discussed earlier this week, I really hate soft boiled eggs.
What is your favorite board game?
Apples to Apples!
Do you prefer dogs, cats, or some other pet?
Cats!
Kandi's list has no number 5!
Cake or pie?
Cake. Cake is one of the best foods in the world.
If you could move anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Todd and I have discussed this so many times. If I had to keep my career, it would be Florida. If I didn't have to worry about finding a job, I would try the Caribbean such as Belize or Bonaire, or go crazy and move to Bali.
If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I'm ready to take an African Safari.
What is your favorite color?
Green.
How many siblings do you have?
I have three siblings - two sisters (who are twins) and a brother. They're all older than me - my sisters are 10 years older and my brother is 13 years older than me.
If you were invited to a wedding reception but not the ceremony, would you be offended?
No, I was invited to wedding reception but not the ceremony in 2006 and it was fine, although I didn't think it was clear to me that it was just the reception.

Lindsay's Questions:

you have the skills to go pro in any sport (except running/triathlons). what sport would you choose?
Oh, geez. Probably swimming because I'm enjoying that quite a bit.
what is your favorite vegetable?
Hmmm.... I really love asparagus and mushrooms.
they're making a movie about your life. what actor/actress would play you?
Sarah Rue.
last book you read?
I just finished Cutting for Stone . It was pretty good. Really long.
last text message you sent?
I no longer have a text messaging plan. So, I try not to send them. The last one I sent was actually to Kitzzy telling her where we were at the Disney Marathon Expo.
what is your favorite meal/recipe to cook?
I make this seared chicken with avocado that is fast, easy, healthy and impressive for guests. I make it all the time.
do you prefer dusting or vacuuming? (and when are you coming to do my house?)
Neither! But probably vacuuming. I wish I had a Dyson. And whenever ;)
if you could go on vacation to anywhere in the us or canada, where would you go?
I'd love to go to the Canadian Rockies, perhaps Banff.
what something you love about where you live?
I love living out in the country like we do because it's quiet and beautiful and there are country things around - like awesome farmer's markets and a farmer up the road who makes his own ice cream and sells it out of his house.
something you don't love about where you live?
It takes us an hour to get basically anywhere. My gym is 40 minutes away. My office is 35 minutes away. Downtown Baltimore? An hour. A mall that actually has decent stores? 45 minutes. We found out recently that it's 40 minutes to get to somewhere to send a FedEx package that is too large to fit in one of those self service boxes.
what do you do when you have trouble falling asleep?
I imagine that I'm on vacation. In a hammock, perhaps in Little Cayman.

Ok, so if you want to answer this, go ahead! I am not tagging anyone or writing my own questions because this took me 4 days to write as it is.

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