Somewhere in the Sun

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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Stats as of 31 Dec 2011 (Better Late Than Never?)

2012-01-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

December 2010
65.3 miles
13 hours, 36 minutes
Avg Pace: 12:30/mile
Celtic Solstice 5 Mile Run 2010: 59:12 (11:50/mile)

December 2011
78.8 miles -- 13.5 miles more than in 2010
16 hours, 26 minutes -- 3 hours, 10 minutes longer than in 2010
Avg Pace: 12:31/mile -- 1 second slower than in 2010
Hot Chocolate 15K 2011: 1:48:49 (11:42/mile)

2010 Year Totals:
700.8 miles @ 12:45 per mile

2011 Year Totals:
733.3 miles @ 13:01 per mile

Totally late on writing this up. I got so involved with a bunch of "year end" posts, and then I went straight into running the Disney marathon relay, and then I just didn't have time to blog at all... sigh.

So, I ran more miles in December than I ran the year before. That's because at the end of the year in 2010 I was preparing to go away to Indonesia and I had no races planned. In fact, my only goal was to run more than 700 miles in the year. I did that easily in 2011, thanks to the New York City Marathon and all of the training that it required. I mean, that's even with taking 3 weeks off to go to Indonesia and two weeks off because of my leg surgery.

I'm going to do another post soon about my gym and all of the wonderful things that I've been doing there, so I won't go into that except to say that I've been doing a TON of swimming (more than ever in my life), but it needs work, and that I'm back to strength training again - something that I don't know if I'm happy about or not quite yet.

I'm a little depressed that my per mile pace went down for 2011, but I do understand that it's because I was marathon training and all of those long runs had to be done at a slower pace. I'd like to see myself back down towards 12:45 in 2012, but I don't know if that will happen or not. So far in 2012, I'm averaging about a 12:51 pace. We'll see. (note: the Roller Coaster ride in Disney was a major killer of that... LOL)

Anyway, sorry this post was so late!!

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Totally Absurd.

2012-01-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

My running group usually runs right near our store on our week day runs. During the winter, we can't run on several of our normal routes because it's too dark. But, we do run through this townhouse neighborhood just up the way from us. Typically, there are several cars going in and out of the main road, but there are speed bumps and it's a residential neighborhood. We run towards traffic, wear reflective gear and carry lights.

Last night, we were off of the main road, heading back toward it, when a woman in an SUV drove our way and stopped about 50 feet ahead of us and then laid on her horn. When we got up to her, she rolled down her window and started yelling:

Woman: You can't run here! It is dangerous to everyone!!
Me: Seriously? Do you realize you're talking on your cell phone while you're driving right now? [note: talking on a cell phone while driving without a hands free device is illegal in Maryland]
Running Friend Robin: You're doing something illegal!
Me: Of course we can run here.
Woman: You cannot run here! I'm going to call the police!
Me: I'm sorry, but isn't this a public road?
Woman: Yes! [spoken as if I somehow proved her point]
Me: Well, then we can run here!

At this point, the three of us just ran off.

But, I gave it some thought, and I've decided that if I come across this woman again, I will ask her to run with us. That ought to confuse her, I would think. Join us, crazy lady! Come to the dark side!

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Is Paula Deen Unethical?

2012-01-19T16:37:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Pauladeen.com

As you may have heard, Tuesday, Paula Deen announced on the Today show that she has type 2 diabetes. Not only that, but she was diagnosed with it three years ago, and is just now making the news public. The second part of her big announcement was that she is now the spokesperson for a diabetes drug. So, basically, she's only letting people know about her diagnosis now because she is going to make money off of it.

I am pretty torn on this. In general, I believe that you should eat what you want and what your body needs. I'm a big fan of The Pioneer Woman, who is another big proponent of butter and sugar. I, in fact, love butter and sugar. I cook with real butter all the time. I have purchased more sugar since I started making jams and jellies than I ever have before. Butter is delicious (and also, butter is why I am not skinny-skinny like a runner should be - but my cholesterol and blood pressure are both fine). I do, however, believe that changing ones habits are necessary if a doctor says so. If my doctor were to tell me to stop eating butter, I would stop eating it.

I also believe that the health of anyone, even stars, is private. It's no ones business that someone has cancer or is fighting a disease, diabetes included. I don't really knock Paula Deen for hiding her diabetes. It's her business.

However, the whole second part of this - where Deen is only coming out about her diagnosis now because she wants to collect money from a drug company - that I do not like. It just seems wrong to make money promoting an unhealthy lifestyle and then make money undoing that damage.

In the end, Paula Deen claims that her lifestyle and eating habits were not to blame for her diagnosis. She believes that her diagnosis was based primarily on heredity, but I find that pretty hard to believe. If she really wants to help rid the world of diabetes, she might just consider changing her message just a tad, and stop looking for a revenue stream. If Paula Deen really wanted to do something special and really do the right thing, she blew it. This is just a missed opportunity all around.

What are your thoughts? Is Paula Deen selling out instead of changing her lifestyle?

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Walt Disney Marathon Relay 2012

2012-01-12T17:00:00.000-05:00

Mickey and me at Marathon mile 18
(Relay mile 5)

As you may know, I've run the Walt Disney World Marathon three times, 2007, 2008 and 2010. I've run the half marathon once, in 2009. We missed the 2011 marathon weekend because we were getting ready to go to Indonesia. Back in 2010, I told Todd that what I really wanted was for us to both run the half marathon. Before that, we were either both running the full, Todd was doing the Goofy Challenge, or one of us was doing the half and one of us the full. I thought if we were both registered for the half, we'd be a bit more relaxed and be able to do some other stuff besides prepare to run.

Lo and behold, for 2012 Disney introduced the Disney Marathon Relay! It is a two person relay for the full marathon, and Todd and I registered right away. While the Marathon has Mickey as its mascot, and the Goofy Challenge has Goofy as its mascot, and the Half marathon has Donald Duck as its mascot, the Relay's mascot is Chip and Dale! Hooray!

We left for Florida on Thursday the 5th. We basically followed the same schedule we've followed for our four previous marathon weekends, and got to our hotel in the evening. We were staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge this time. Our room was in the Kidani Village, which is the new building specifically for Disney Vacation Club members. While very nice, it was very spread out, and our room was as far as possible from the lobby. We timed our walk and found that it took over 10 minutes of constant walking to get from our room to the lobby. That's a lot. Still, it's an awesome resort. We had a savanna view room, so we could see the giraffes, zebras and other animals wandering around the property from our balcony.

From our balcony, you could see giraffes and zebras

Friday morning, I was supposed to go on a run, but I realized that I forgot a prescription that I needed and became preoccupied with that. We resolved it, but then it was time to go to the Expo and no running had been done. I decided that the walk to the room was enough (actually, I just figured out the distance, and it was about a quarter mile walk each way).

The expo was crazy-crowded. We picked up our race numbers and our special relay gift - which was a pad to sit on - and also stopped by to see Kitzzy, who was volunteering. We had plans to purchase new sunglasses, and some race merchandise. I was disappointed to find that the merchandise for the relay was limited to a single long sleeve cotton t-shirt. Seriously? When we asked, they told us that it was because there were so few people registered for the relay (and indeed, when I saw the results, there were only 416 finishing teams).

After the expo, we met Kitzzy and her SO for a late lunch at Downtown Disney. It's the first time I've met up with a fellow blogger, so very cool! (actually, that's kind of not true, once I thought about it, but the other one I met with happened to be someone who turned out to live in Baltimore and also ran at Fleet Feet, so I don't think that really counts). After lunch, we headed back to the resort to relax for a while.

Todd with ports and Grand Marnier

Dinner on Friday night was at Artist Point, one of the "signature" restaurants that I've always wanted to try. The food was delicious and our server was fantastic. We split a bottle of wine during dinner and then during dessert, I had a Grand Marnier Flight and Todd had a Port Flight, which basically means trying a bunch of different kids. Todd's four port wines were 10, 20, 30 and 40 year ports and my Grand Marnier were 50 year, 100 year and 150 year. They were all delicious, and we were feeling pretty happy after. The wonderful thing about Disney is the transportation that they provide, but I'm sure that the bus drivers were annoyed with the drunken two of us yelling "Take us to Animal Kingdom, dammit!" forgetting the "Lodge" part and the bus drivers thinking we were fools trying to get into a closed theme park.

Saturday morning, our nephew Josh came by to hang with us for the day. I wanted to do nothing, and that's what I did. We hung out at the pool at the hotel for most of the day, relaxing and having a great time. For dinner, Todd and I had pizza and then went to bed early in preparation for the relay the next morning.

Disney races are notoriously early, and our alarm went off at 3am so that we could get ready. I was trying to eat a lot because I was nervous about having a race experience similar to New York where I was hungry the whole race. I ate two pieces of wheat toast with honey and jam, and a small bowl of raisin bran. I packed a cereal bar in my jacket pocket to eat at the transition point.

Jeff Galloway and me at the race start

We took the race bus from our resort to the Runners' Village, and I was torn between being happy I wasn't running the whole marathon and intense jealousy for those who were. Very weird. We had signed up to go to the Jeff Galloway VIP tent, which was nice because it was chilly and they had heaters for us. Soon, it was time for Todd to go and he headed down to the starting line.

In the meantime, I hung out in the race village, watching the starting line from the jumbotrons. I don't know what went on last year because I wasn't there, but this was the first year I'd seen a wave start at Disney. I don't know how well it went (I have a feeling that there wasn't enough time between waves), but there were 8 waves and each had their own fireworks, which I could see above the trees from where I was. Once everyone had started, I stood up and that is when I realized how cold I was. I was wearing a singlet and shorts for the race, and my NYC marathon jacket. The asphalt where I was sitting was COLD and I was shivering uncontrollably. Temps were about 50 degrees. I wished I was running! I headed back to the Galloway tent, to find it empty, the heaters turned off, and headed towards the relay buses.

Todd and me before the race

I was excited to see the course heading by, and managed to catch Todd at mile 3 before getting on the buses. The buses took the second relay runners to the transition point at the half marathon point, and we proceeded to sit on the ground again and I was still shivering. At least they had mylar blankets to give out, and many people wrapped themselves from head to toe. I settled on wrapping my legs. I realize that I should have brought that pad to sit on that they gave us at the Expo, but I forgot it. So did everyone else, apparently, because I didn't see anyone with one.

There was about an hour and a half wait at the transition point, and then along came Todd! I gave him my jacket and headed out, still cold and shivering like crazy. My ankle was hurting from sitting on the cold ground, and I almost wiped out before I even made it out on to the course.

I had set my watch for 1:15 and 1 intervals, the same as I'd used for the Indianapolis half back in May. I hadn't given a lot of thought to what I was going to do for this race - if I was going to really race it or not. I was trained and ready for anything, including a PR, but I wasn't sure how the results would eventually be posted and if the results would show as a real half marathon or not. Plus, while I was freezing cold when I started running, I knew that the high temperature for the day was supposed to be 77 degrees, which is too warm for me to PR. I decided to just keep up a good clip and see how I did. I chose not to set my chrono on my watch, so I was unaware of how fast I was running during the race.

I had to pee right away, which was annoying. I hate stopping for potty breaks during a race. I decided that I would try and make it as long as possible, since maybe I was just feeling that way from sitting on the cold ground. I felt like a big cheater coming into a marathon halfway through. The first 3 miles of my race are some of the most boring of the entire marathon, and those doing the full were clearly starting to wear out. Here I was, fresh!

Peter Pan, Me and Wendy, at Marathon Mile 15 (Relay Mile 2)

It was right after the marathon mile 15 marker (my 2 mile) where I saw Peter Pan and Wendy. They didn't have much of a line to speak of, and I wanted some photos of this race, so I decided to stop. And with that, I threw away any thoughts of doing any sort of awesome time at this race. I thought I would just try to set a new PR in having fun at a race, and I succeeded in that! :)

Into Animal Kingdom we went, and I was having a great time. Usually, at this point in the marathon, I'm filled with dread about the out and back on Osceola Parkway that I know is coming. Not this time! We passed into Asia, and I started asking myself the question I'd been asking all weekend - should I ride Expedition: Everest? You see, I'd always seen people jumping on the roller coaster during the marathon, but I'd never done it because I was so focused on my time. I slowed and then stopped in front of the entrance, and a (non-racer) woman standing there said, "Go for it!!" and so I did. My and some other guy who was doing the relay or Goofy or something ran in, got in line and rode the roller coaster. It. was. awesome.

I was disappointed that the ride photos weren't working. They took them, and a cast member would look for them for you, but I didn't want to take all of that time, so I left. I wish I had taken a self portrait with my cell phone, but I didn't.

Me and Rafiki in Animal Kingdom (Marathon Mile 16, Relay Mile 3)

Then, I was back out running again. I ran through the rest of Animal Kingdom, actually feeling some guilt for riding the roller coaster. Mickey was waiting outside of Animal Kingdom, so I got my picture with him. Then, I was out on Osceola Parkway, the worst part of the entire marathon. This is 3-4 miles of highway in the blaring sunlight. It was really starting to get warm. I was determined that I was not going to complain (even in my head to myself) or feel the least bit upset about this section of the course. I set my brain on ignore. I mean, this was only miles 6-9 of my race, when others were in miles 19-22. I listened to the music from the bands on the course, waved at cars and spectators, and generally tried to stay in good spirits. I ended up finding a potty with no line around mile 22 / 9, and took my potty break that I'd needed since I started running. Whew, that felt a lot better. I felt great entering Hollywood Studios.

With The Incredibles, Marathon Mile 23, Relay Mile 10)

There were a whole bunch of characters to get photos with, and I was SO HAPPY that the hardest part of the race was over! It was around the point that I was getting my picture with Dug and Randall from Up that the 5:30 marathon pace group caught up with me. I had seen them behind me at the out and back on the Parkway, but I thought that I could stay in front of them. My photo stops were killing me, though, and I ended up mixed with them through all of Hollywood Studios. This is so annoying - I hate getting caught in a pace group. The course seriously narrows after Hollywood Studios, and I wasn't able to get around them. I let them go and stopped worrying about it.

Dug, Randall and Me, Marathon Mile 23, Relay Mile 10

Outside of Beach Club, Todd was waiting for me. I gave him a kiss and headed on. I was dancing to the music and having a great time, just like my friend Davida described during her Disney marathon in 2009 (when I thought, no way). I headed into Epcot and looked for more photo opportunities, but ended up deciding not to get my photo with Snow White or Mulan. I did really want a margarita from the Mexico pavilion but unless they were going to put a lid on it, I wouldn't be able to run with it. I seriously considered it, though.

If you've run Disney before, perhaps you've seen the gospel choir that is the very last band on the course, at mile 26, right before heading down the home stretch to the finish. Usually, this choir makes me burst into tears. This year, I was so happy to see them that I ran down the line, slapping the hands of every single choir member in the front row. To the choir: I love you guys, you are AWESOME and one of my very favorite parts of the Disney marathon.

I crossed the finish line, saw Kitzzy handing out blankets, and managed to find the relay medals. Todd found me outside of the bag exchange and we had our photo taken together in front of the relay backdrop. I was on cloud 9, this was a great race.

Todd did his leg in 2:37:35, I did my leg in 2:54:26. Our transition time was 3:40, so our final time was 5:35:40. My time confirmed what I knew - when I was running, I was running FAST, possibly on PR pace, but I had stopped so many times that I actually clocked my worst half marathon time. I could care less.

Todd and I spent the afternoon at the pool, then had dinner at The Wave. We fell asleep early and then woke up to breakfast at Boma, one of my favorite breakfast buffets in Disney. Then, it was time to head home. We headed to the airport and made it in to Baltimore just in time for rush hour traffic.

This was an AWESOME race. I had so much fun, more fun than any other race I've ever run. And, boy, I needed a really fun race. We are making plans to return next year to do the relay again, but this time Todd will run the second leg and I will run the first. He's already pledged to ride Expedition: Everest during his leg. LOL.

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HBBC Final Check In

2012-01-11T10:33:00.001-05:00

The Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge is over, and I missed the end date. But, I didn't want to leave it unfinished, so here are my final weeks:

Here's my oh-so-long update (recorded in Log Your Run).

12/24: 13.6 mile run, 13.6 points
12/25: off day
12/26: 40 min lap swimming, 4 points, 45 min weight training, 2.25 points
12/27: 3.6 mile run, 3.6 points and 20 min weight training, 1 point
12/28: off day
12/29: 3.6 mile run, 3.6 points and 30 min weight training, 1.5 points
12/30: 40 min lap swimming, 4 points, and 25 min weight training, 1.25 points
WEEK SIX TOTAL: 34.8 points

12/31: 6.1 mile run, 6.1 points
1/1: off day
1/2: 40 min lap swimming, 4 points and 1 hour weight training, 3 points
1/3: 3.7 mile run, 3.7 points
1/4: off day (worked late)
1/5: off day (travel to FL)
1/6: off day (but I walked a lot!)
WEEK SEVEN TOTAL: 16.8 points

My total for all seven weeks was 166.6. I don't think this would have gotten me any prizes if I'd actually gotten my results in the spreadsheet in time. Sigh. I have some blog catching up to do.

NOTE: I'm not really doing the "7 servings of veggies" thing because I don't log my food and have no plan to.

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Rock & Roll Races

2012-01-03T17:02:00.005-05:00

The same weekend that many of us in the DC area were dealing with the fiasco known as the Hot Chocolate 15K, in Las Vegas, there was another race fiasco at the Rock & Roll Las Vegas Marathon. See some accounts of it at Runner's World, Yelp, KTNV and Facebook. Runners complained that there was a ton of illness, not enough potties, and a crowded, chaotic and dangerous course and finish area. Many people who ran that race are now calling for a boycott of Competitor and RnR Races.

In the meantime, I've signed up for the Rock & Roll USA Half Marathon. Can I just tell you that I have some serious reservations about this race? I initially mentioned it in November, stating that I wasn't sure about running it. I ended up signing up for it because I really want to run this race with my high school friends. However, I've got my doubts. I don't have a lot of faith on Competitor races, or in the Rock & Rolls. I'm not impressed with them at all.

Granted, the only Rock & Roll I've ever done is the Philadelphia half, which I didn't think was better as a rock & roll (I'd done it the year before when it was still the Philadelphia Distance Run). From what I can tell from Philly, Competitor races are too big for their britches, and they coast along on "cool medals" and other gimmicks without really providing the service that I'd expect for the price of one of their races. I could be wrong, but that was my initial impression. Get the runners in, through the course and out, so that you can collect the dollars.

But, I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for this race that my friends had chosen. So, what is worrying me?

A couple of weeks ago, they announced that the marathon time limit would be 5:30. This is after many, many people had signed up. While this is reasonable for most runners, I'm sure, if I had signed up for the full marathon, I'd be screwed. And are they offering a refund? Of course not! In my opinion, 5:30 is a pretty tight time limit. Of course, Competitor likes to offer coupons and incentives to sign up early, but then won't offer a refund when the rules are added or changed that make completing the race an impossibility for some.

At this point, the race is "Approaching sell out" according to their website, but a course map and elevation chart have yet to be published. Since this race was previously the National Marathon, many are thinking that it will follow the same or similar course. But - why haven't they released it yet then? It bothered me to sign up for a race with no course information, but I did it anyway because race entry fees went up after 12/31.

Overall, the information about this race has been sparse. For a while, I thought I'd do the relay with a friend, but they haven't even published how the relay would be split. Evenly? 8miles / 5 miles?

I already see that they've updated the expo information, which wasn't updated before I signed up. The expo ends at 7pm on a Friday, so I have to get from my house to DC by 7pm on a Friday after work. Great.

Competitor, I'm still waiting for you to impress me.
Do you love Rock & Roll races or are you as unimpressed as I am?

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2011 By The Numbers

2011-12-31T15:53:00.003-05:00

I always love reading these types of post. I will do my month end review of December which will have my running yearly stats also, but I wanted to do this expanded post about everything I've been up to!

Miles run: 733.3 miles
Time spent Running: 159 hours, 7 minutes
Days where I ran: 126
Average run length: 5.8 miles
New personal records: 2 (8K and Marathon)
Races run: 7
Distance Swam: 17,350 meters (10.72 miles) - not including scuba and I only joined my gym in November!
Time spent swimming: 8 hours, 41 minutes
Distance biked: 110 miles (my bike trainer doesn't record distance)
Time spent biking: 10 hours, 7 minutes
Total scuba dives: 66
Longest scuba Dive: 85 minutes (Seraya Secrets, Bali)
Books Read: 28
Longest Book Read: The Pillars of the Earth, 983 pages
Jars canned: 84, various sizes 1/2 pint to quart
Countries visited: 3 (Hong Kong, Indonesia & Cayman Islands)

... Ok, I couldn't think of any more.

Happy New Year, and have a safe & Happy 2012!

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Tentative 2012 Race Schedule

2011-12-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

January 8: Walt Disney World Marathon Relay
March 17: Rock & Roll USA Half Marathon (Washington, DC)
April 28: Island to Island Half Marathon (Ocean City, MD)
July: Pikesville 5K
August: Hadassah 8K
August 26: Annapolis 10 Mile Run
December: Celtic Solstice 5 Mile Run

What am I doing in the fall? I have no idea. I've been trying to figure it out. It's a half marathon year for me, and I have a few picked out that I like:

September: Harrisburg Half Marathon It's about an hour away from my house, and I was impressed when I spectated at the Harrisburg Marathon in 2009. Seems like a nice enough size, and relatively flat.
September: Bachman Valley Half Marathon This is a notoriously hilly and difficult course consisting of running the same loop twice. But, it is just around the corner from my house and I've always wanted to do it. Is this the year?
September 30: Wineglass Half Marathon The Wineglass marathon was my backup race last year if I didn't get into New York. It just seems right up my alley. It's about a 4 hour drive and seems like a really nice course and race.
October: Hershey Half Marathon About an hour to an hour and a half from my house, race fees include HersheyPark tickets! Seems like a nice race, better than the Hot Chocolate 15K if we're looking for a race in the "chocolate" genre.
October: Florida Halloween Halfathon This one just happens to be around the time that my mom is always pressuring me to go visit my sister in Tampa, so that seems like a good one.

I've also been considering being the captain for a Ragnar Relay team in DC. But I just don't know if I'm up for the amount of work that it seems like it would take to do it. So, I just don't know. Still considering.

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2011: Fitness Year in Review

2011-12-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

Reviewing...

2010 in Review / 2011 Goals (12/30/2010)
2009 in Review / 2010 Goals (12/26/2009)
2008 in Review / 2009 Goals (12/29/2008)

2007 in Review / 2008 Goals (12/27/2007)
2006 in Review / 2007 Goals (12/27/2006)
2005 in Review / 2006 Goals (12/26/2005)
2005 Goals (12/26/2004)

The Old Rules Revisited (7/22/2010)
Rewriting the Rules (7/20/2010)

So much has changed since I started blogging fitness goals back in 2004. This year was a huge change for me because back in April I made a decision to stop dieting forever. I mean, probably forever. Who knows. I don't think that I even blogged about it. I just suddenly one day decided that I'd been writing my food down since 1998 and I was tired of it and I wasn't going to do it anymore. I thought I would try a bit of intuitive eating like Charlotte does, and it worked. I lost 6 pounds, and then managed to stay within a 4 pound range of weight ever since. That's right, for 8 months I've been just eating what my body wants and needs and I haven't written a thing down and I haven't turned into a fat, disgusting pig. Do I weigh what I would ideally like to weigh? No. But then again, I never have. Even when I was at my Weight Watchers goal weight (circa 2000), I was not happy with my body. So, why would I expect that I would be happy 11 years later, 20 pounds heavier?

I'm working on it.

So, with all of that in mind, let's look at my goals from last year and what I expect to see from myself in 2012.

Goals for 2011:

Diet and Weight Loss - Ugh. I hate to say it, but I am going to have to lose weight again, and actually put effort into it. Back to journaling and what not. I'd like to be down 15-20 pounds before I run my full marathon in the fall. I still don't want to sacrifice happiness, but I have my best chance of meeting my time goal for my marathon if I get some of my weight off. Maybe I'll read Racing Weight.

I think it was all of this that started me on this no dieting thing. I found that I stay within this four-pound range no matter what (if you want to know, it's 168-171 pounds). If I find myself above it (maybe after a vacation, or I'm guessing after the holidays), I can easily watch what I eat for a few days and find myself back in the range again. I can also easily go from 171 down to 168, no worries or trouble at all. However, I can diet and exercise my ass off and the scale will finally say 167, maybe even 166, and then if I mess up even just a little, BAM it's back at 168 or 169 again. Enough. I'd had enough. It was too much work, it was making me too unhappy. I like cooking too much.

There's still always that whole time goal/speed thing, but I don't even care about that at this point. So, I didn't meet this goal, but I think I'm better off without it.

Running - Complete a full marathon in the fall, either Chicago or New York. I'm not certain what to set as my goal, but I think for now my shoot for goal will be 5:30. I'm going to settle for 5:45, though. Either time is still a PR. If I don't do it because of weather or other circumstances, that is fine and certainly not a failure.

Yay! I mostly did this. I was unable to register for Chicago because registration opened and closed way too early, but it didn't matter because shocker of shockers - I made it into the New York City Marathon on my first entry into the lottery! My final time: 5:46. So, I pretty much made my goal that I set at the beginning of the year. Oh New York, I love you.

Workouts - Biking! I want to get more into the bike, and hopefully do a short bike race for fun in the spring. Keep on weight training, and do the hardest part of cross training - find time to fit it in.

Yeah, I didn't do that bike race. I was not ready. I didn't do enough indoors during the winter, because I've found that riding your bike on the indoor trainer is about 10,000 times more boring than running on a treadmill. I also stopped cross training in the spring, although I did keep up with it pretty well before that. I got out on the bike in 2011 about the same amount of time as I did in 2010, so at least I'm not falling behind. And, I started swimming in November, which I didn't see coming when I wrote out my goals a year ago.

Diving - I see no reason why I will not be able to do 45-50 dives in 2011. This year, I would like to see my lifetime dive total surpass 300. Potentially get a Cavern Diving certification.

I didn't get the cavern certification, and I have my doubts that I will do it in 2012, but you never know. I did 66 total dives in 2011, an incredible amount. Most of those were in January/February in Indonesia, but I also did quite a few here in the states. Total lifetime dives - 317.

Lessons from 2011

When your doctor says you should walk as much as you want, she doesn't expect you to come in and tell her that you walked 12 miles on a treadmill.
Running in Bali? Yeah, not going to happen.
If your marathon starts at almost 11 am, you should just go ahead and bring your lunch with you for the run.
If you feel sick, check to see if it's hunger first.

Successes for 2011

Continued running for another straight year!
Lots of weight training, March-May.
Jeff Galloway Training Program, including my fourth year as a group leader, and my first year training a real full marathon group.
Three 5k Races - Shamrock 5k in March, Pikesville 5k in July, St. George's Dragon 5K in October.
One 8K Race - Hadassah 8K in July.
One 15K Race - Hot Chocolate 15K in December.
One Half Marathon - Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in May.
One Full Marathon - ING New York City Marathon in November.
Dive Con for one Open Water Diver Class in July.
Completed 66 scuba dives, for a total of 317 since becoming certified in 2006.
New Personal Records set in 2011: 8K (58:03 at Hadassah 8K, 7/31/2011); Marathon (5:46:40 at New York, 11/6/2011).

Goals for 2012

Diet and Weight Loss - Maintain my weight as best as I can. Be happy with my body and the way I look. Eat what makes me feel good, even if eating what feels good means eating something not-so-good for me. Don't track calories or points. Eat lots of veggies and whole foods, avoid processed. Bake Todd at least one apple pie. Drink wine. As Michael Pollan says: Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants. There you have it - BEST DIET AND WEIGHT LOSS GOALS EVER!
Running - Oh gosh, I'm so conflicted about what I want to do next fall. There's just a lot up in the air. I know I am running a marathon relay in January, and a half marathon in April, possibly one in March. I know I'm probably not doing a full marathon in the fall. But, I might try and captain a Ragnar team. I might do something else, so I guess my goal is to do something awesome in the fall of 2012.
Workouts - Get back on the bike and continue to be more comfortable with it. Possibly do a sprint triathlon or a aquathon in June. Keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Get better and faster at swimming. Become more comfortable with the breast stroke. Do a pull up.
Diving - I would like to do 35-40 dives in 2012. We do already have a couple of dive trips planned, but we are not planning to do as much diving during these trips as we have been doing. I'm sure that I will get out to the quarry some, though.

I don't feel like I've really hammered down what I expect 2012 to be, but hopefully you get the idea.

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Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

Wishing you the merriest Christmas ever!!

Kim and Todd, Little Cayman, July 2011

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Our Christmas Tree

2011-12-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

I love this idea from Lindsay, so I thought I would share our Christmas Tree. This is only the second year that we've put up a Christmas tree. We've always put lights up outside, just never a tree on the inside. Even now, our inside decorations are lacking because no one will likely see them except for us.

Let's start with the ornament that I made this year. It was an impulse buy at Michael's Crafts a few weeks ago (bargain price of $1 for the kit). Last weekend, I was in Florida visiting Todd's parents and I spent the weekend working on the cross stitch for this ornament. It turned out nice, and it's the first needlepoint project I've done in years. And, one of the very few that I've actually finished!

Pretty Wreath!

This one is an "our first Christmas together" ornament, except that it doesn't actually say that because I waited too long to buy one in 2009, and they were all sold out. So, this ornament is both a celebration of our marriage and our tendency to procrastinate.

Our First Christmas Together: 2009

This one came from my friends Nick and Mary's wedding. They were married in January, 2002.

Merry Wedding! Wait, no, MARY Wedding!

Of course, we have to have a Nemo ornament. This one was not cooperating when I was trying to get a photo.

Mr. Ray and the gang

This one is for donating to the Sea Turtle Conservancy.

Adopt a turtle this Christmas!

This one came from my trip to London in 2005. With Mary and Nick! Clearly, they are very important on our tree.

It's a Beefeater!

I have not one single running themed ornament. I only just realized this. So, if anyone wants to get me a running themed ornament, that would be great! :)

Here is our tree. I realize it's not the traditional Christmas tree.

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HBBC Update

2011-12-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

The Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge is in full effect!

Here's my oh-so-long update (recorded in Log Your Run).

12/3: 9.3 mile run, 9.3 points
12/4: off day
12/5: off day
12/6: 3.6 mile run, 3.6 points
12/7: 40 min lap swimming, 4 points
12/8: 3.4 mile run, 3.4 points
12/9: 40 min lap swimming, 4 points
WEEK THREE TOTAL: 24.2 points

12/10: 11 mile run, 11 points
12/11: off day
12/12: 40 min lap swimming, 4 points
12/13: 3.6 mile run, 3.6 points
12/14: 40 min lap swimming, 4 points
12/15: 3.6 mile run, 3.6 points
12/16: off day (traveling to FL)
WEEK FOUR TOTAL: 26.2 points (ooo, great total)

12/17: off day
12/18: 6.9 mile run, 6.9 points
12/19: off day
12/20: 3.6 mile run, 3.6 points
12/21: 40 min lap swimming, 4 points

12/22: 3.6 mile run, 3.6 points
12/23: 30 min lap swimming, 4 points and 20 min weight training, 1 point
WEEK FIVE TOTAL: 23.1 points

NOTE: I'm not really doing the "7 servings of veggies" thing because I don't log my food and have no plan to.

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Stuff I Love: Philips Wake Up Light

2011-12-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

"Stuff I Love" is a new feature for my blog! It's basically a total rip-off of Jezebel's "Worth It" feature. I'm going to feature products and services that I am totally in love with as a consumer, in the hopes of guiding my readers to new and better things that can solve all of the world's problems. Or something. Anything mentioned in "Stuff I Love" are products/services that I've purchased with my own money, and have never been asked to review them or paid to do so.

An ongoing problem that I have is that I am unable to wake up on mornings where it's still dark when I need to get up. Ideally, I prefer to wake up with the sun. Isn't that the way nature intended it to be? Another problem - I despise the sound of alarm clocks. There is nothing worse than being woken up by a horrible buzzing sound.

The Solution? The Wake-up Light from Philips. I ordered this back in September, and our lives have been so much happier ever since. How it works is that you set your alarm like with any other clock. The light starts gently getting brighter starting 30 minutes before your alarm time. Then, at your alarm time, the light plays the sounds of birds tweeting, which gradually get louder for 90 seconds.

It's such a nice way to wake up. Plus, as soon as I bought it, I started getting to work on time! Incredible! I feel better and happier, and life is awesome.

Now, I'm just going to go ahead and admit that there are days where this thing doesn't wake me up. I'm going through a period of a couple of weeks right now where I have been struggling to get enough sleep. I've been tired and barely making it through my days. As a result, on Monday, Todd had to slap at me in order to get me to turn the birds off. But, for the most part, if you are getting enough sleep, this thing works.

Also, when the birds start gradually getting louder, it makes it sound like they are having an argument that is slowly escalating. And something about that amuses me.

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End of the Year Polls 2011

2011-12-20T10:32:00.000-05:00

First, from Miss Zippy:

Best race experience? Running the New York City Marathon in November.
Best run? October 1, 25 miles on the NCR trail. This was my longest training run ever and I finished feeling great and with a smile on my face.
Best new piece of gear? That's a tough question because I bought basically nothing this year. I guess I have to go with my Mizuno Breath Thermo Arm Warmers, which I bought to get me through any cold weather in New York. I only wore them for 3 miles, but they are awesome.
Best piece of running advice you received? Hmmm... "Don't run inaugural races."
Most inspirational runner? My friend Lori, who runs and runs and doesn't stop!
If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be? An exciting and wonderful year!!

And from Kandi:

What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Ran the New York City Marathon. Traveled to Asia.
Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I sort of didn't really meet my goals this year. Like, any of them except that I wanted to surpass 300 lifetime scuba dives. I'll write more on this later. For the most part, I just changed my mind on most of them...
Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes! My friend and co-worker, Michelle, who had a boy. My friends Chris & Theresa, who had a boy, and my friends Chris & Erika, also a boy. It was a big year for boys!
Did anyone close to you die? Not this year, thank goodness.
What countries did you visit? Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Cayman Islands.
What would you like to have in 2012 that you didn’t have in 2011? Gosh, I don't know. A fully remodeled kitchen, I suppose (since that is the house project we're working on now)
What dates from 2011 will be etched upon your memory, and why? I don't know if I have any exact dates from this year that will really be etched in my mind forever, but obviously my two biggest events this year were our trip to Indonesia and the New York City Marathon...
What was your biggest achievement of this year? Running the New York City Marathon. Like Kandi before me, I feel like this is getting redundant...
What was your biggest failure? Hm, I don't know. I guess I was pretty disappointed that I didn't get a new PR in Indianapolis for the half marathon in May.
Did you suffer illness or injury? Just a cold right after the marathon. I did have surgery on my varicose veins in the spring. Oh wait, I was bitten by a monkey.
What was the best thing you bought? This year, I got a new fridge, new granite countertops, a Kindle Fire. But, I'm going to go with my new gym membership. I love it!
Whose behavior merited celebration? How can I not say Todd? He's the best!
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I hate this type of question because it would kind of be a dick move for me to write about it here. So, I'm going to go with Rick Perry - I don't like to get political on my blog, but when he said in his debate that he didn't lose one bit of sleep over any of the 200+ people that were put to death in his state, I suddenly became against the death penalty. I was always for the death penalty, but then I realized that if people like him were in charge, I didn't want him being allowed to make a decision to put someone to death. I mean, even the guiltiest person in the world should still make you feel a little bit sad inside to have to put them to death. Am I right???
Where did most of your money go? Taxes, healthcare, house payments. Plus, we're spending a bunch of our savings on home improvements.
What did you get really excited about? My new kitchen!
What song will always remind you of 2011? All These Things That I've Done - The Killers
Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Just about the same level of happy, but maybe a little happier. The same weight as last year, probably richer, only because we've been saving and what not.
What do you wish you’d done more of? Sleeping, to be honest with you. I've been going, going, going and I am SO tired.
What do you wish you’d done less of? Driving.
How will you spend Christmas? Last year, we spent Christmas with Todd's family in Florida, so this year it's my family's turn. We're going to my moms for Christmas Eve and my sister's house for Christmas day. I can't wait!
Did you fall in love in 2011? I fall in love with Todd a little more every day. :)
What was your favorite TV program? Mad Men, which we just started watching for the first time, The Walking Dead (LOVE it!), Modern Family, The Office.
What was the best book you read? The Hunger Games Trilogy.
What was your greatest musical discovery? Have you heard Toby Keith's Red Solo Cup? LOL
What did you want and get? A new kitchen! Although, it's not done yet.
What did you want and not get? A new car, maybe?
What was your favorite film of 2011? The last Harry Potter Movie.
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 33 this year. Todd ran with me in the morning, and then I went to work and my co-workers made me a cake. Then, Todd picked me up and we went to Woodberry Kitchen. Yum!!
What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Gosh, I don't know. If the cat would stop being sick, that would be nice.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2011 ? Clothes: Wear them.
What kept you sane? Running.
What political issue stirred you the most? Well, you saw my thing about the death penalty above, but health care remains a big thing for me as well.
Who did you miss? I miss a lot of running friends whom I haven't seen in a while. Come back, guys!
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. Sometimes, happiness is all about attitude.

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On This Day: December 16th!!

2011-12-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

This day is a big day for so many reasons!!!

On this day in 2006, I became a certified scuba diver! Now, 5 years later, I have over 300 dives (I think I'm at 314?).

Here's a terrible photo of me on the surface descending for my very first dive ever, in Key Largo, FL:

I'm on the left, the instructor is on the right, waiting for me to descend.

Me (left) and the instructor later in the dive.

Those are still my fins. I've replaced all of the rest of my equipment, but not my fins.

Also, on this day in 2008, I started working at my current job! Hooray, third anniversary!
I went looking for work-related photos, but they all generally suck.

The other big thing about December 16 is that it's my half birthday! So, happy 33 1/2 birthday to me!! It's also Ludwig van Beethoven's birthday, which I somehow took to mean (when I was a kid) that I was going to become some sort of awesome piano player. This turned out to not be the case.

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New York City Marathon Photos

2011-12-12T20:58:00.000-05:00

Finally!

At the runners village before heading over to the start

No idea where this is, I generally look scowly in all of my photos except the start and the finish.

Central Park, whew looking tired. Or determined, I guess.

Approaching the finish line

Crossing the finish line

Hooray, done!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a 2012 Underwater Photography Calendar!

Hot Chocolate Fiasco

2011-12-09T14:58:00.001-05:00

You may have read my summary of the Hot Chocolate 15K, and the things that I felt that RAM Racing (the organizers of the event) did wrong. Well, it's really blown up. It started with some comments on the Hot Chocolate Race's Facebook Page, starting as early as the morning of the race. You see, RAM posted on the page that it was accidents that led to the traffic snarl getting to National Harbor, even though there weren't any. The Washingtonian actually checked this out and found it not to be true.

That's right, the race and the whole fiasco of it has gone to the press, including a radio interview (skip to 34:50), an article on WTOP and a Washington Post article. On another Facebook page, runners continue to complain and are asking for refunds. They're even disputing charges for the race on their credit cards and making Zazzle T-shirts about the race.

So, yeah, this race was bad. It was the worst organized race that I've ever run. That being said, I don't expect my money back. I did run the race. I did get a jacket (even if it sucked). I did eat chocolate. I guess, if the contract that RAM racing had with me was to hold a 15K race, and to give me a jacket and some chocolate, they fulfilled that. If I think they did a bad job of providing those things (which I do), then it's for me to not do business with RAM racing again (which I will not).

The thing is, never expect your money back for a race. Never. That money is spent soon after you've paid your registration fee - on water, food, premiums, police, etc. Those types of things are not refundable, which is why active.com has a no refunds policy. I didn't get to run the Annapolis Ten Mile Run this year, either, since it was canceled. I didn't expect my money back at that race either. I understand how these things work.

I understand the frustration that this race caused, and like I said, it was the worst race I've ever run (organization-wise). However, I am surprised whenever I see on Facebook that people are still going on about it with such vigor. Given that I don't see next years race being held at National Harbor, especially since PG County has now banned RAM racing from putting on a race there, and given that no one needs to sign up for another RAM racing event if they don't want to, don't you think our time might be better spent training for our next race?

Just a thought.

UPDATE: The race has made Dallas news as well, since RAM is planning a Hot Chocolate Race in Dallas in February.

One more update: I just wanted to say that I think the REAL losers in all of this were the folks working for MarathonFoto, who came out to the race, stood outside in the cold for an hour or longer than anticipated, and then probably won't sell that many of them because people won't want to remember this race. MarathonFoto, I feel for you. Totally a sucky situation.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a free 2012 Underwater Photography Calendar!

Giveaway: 2012 Underwater Photography Calendar

2011-12-06T09:55:00.001-05:00

It's getting to be pretty wintery out there, so I know you are probably dreaming about escaping to somewhere warm and tropical? How about being reminded of warm, tropical waters every day of the year? You can do that with this 2012 Calendar of photography by my husband, Todd Krebs (aka Above and Below Photo).

Month after month, you'll see spectacular photographs taken in Florida, Little Cayman and Indonesia. Photos include Manta Rays, Clownfish, Sea Turtles and more.

Would you like to win this calendar? To do so, just comment here for each entry below:

(Required) Go to Todd's portfolio at RedBubble and leave me a comment on this post about a photo that you like on the site.
(Optional) Make a purchase from Todd's RedBubble portfolio - there are lots of photography gifts to purchase - notecards, postcards, calendars, posters and prints. Leave TWO comments - you'll get two entries!
(Optional) Become a follower of my blog by clicking on the "Follow" button on the right hand menu and leave me a comment. If you're already a follower, let me know!
(Optional) Become a follower of my blog on Facebook and leave me a comment. If you're already a Facebook follower, leave a comment and let me know!
(Optional) Spread the word about this giveaway on Twitter, Facebook or your own Blog and leave me a comment to let me know about it!

Act soon, this giveaway ends Wednesday, December 14 and I'll announce the winner on the 15th.

Good luck!

HBBC Update

2011-12-05T14:16:00.001-05:00

The Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge has been going on since November 19, and I'm just finally getting around to updating my status. Some of you may have gotten comments on your blogs today from where I'm finally catching up. My Google Reader is filled with posts from BEFORE THANKSGIVING. Yikes!

Here's my oh-so-long update (recorded in Log Your Run).

11/19: 5 mile run, 5 points
11/20: Rest day
11/21: 40 minutes lap swimming, 4 points
11/22: 3.7 mile run, 3.7 points
11/23: 41 minutes lap swimming, 4.1 points
11/24: 3.3 mile run, 3.3 points
11/25: Rest day, but I should get points for escorting my mom to Tampa ;)
WEEK ONE Total: 20.1 points

11/26: 6.1 mile run, 6.1 points
11/27: Rest day
11/28: Rest day
11/29: 4 mile run, 4 points
11/30: 40 minutes lap swimming, 4 points
12/1: 3.3 mile run, 3.3 points
12/2: 40 minutes lap swimming, 4 points
WEEK TWO Total: 21.4 points

12/3: 9.3 mile run, 9.3 points

NOTE: I'm not really doing the "7 servings of veggies" thing because I don't log my food and have no plan to.

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Hot Chocolate 15K 2011

2011-12-03T18:26:00.001-05:00

Kim's Mistake #1: Hasty Signup with NO Research at All

I signed up for this race on a whim. Someone mentioned it on Facebook, and I was upset because I had accidentally scheduled some travel so that I can't run the Celtic Solstice 5 Mile Run in Baltimore this year. Celtic Solstice is a great race that I LOVE. My other option was the Jingle Bell 5K in Columbia, which I've always kind of wanted to run but never have. It was today also, and I was close to signing up for it when I heard about the Hot Chocolate. I was excited to hear that there was a race in December that was longer than a 5K but shorter than a half marathon. I signed up quickly and on a whim within maybe an hour of hearing about it. I never thought about the logistics, I never investigated that this was an inaugural race (I've never run an inaugural race before), I didn't realize that they weren't going to close the race until 20,000 (!!!!) people signed up.

Mistake? Well, yeah, kinda.

Once I signed up, I forgot about it for the most part, since I was getting ready for New York and that was all I could think about. 9.3 miles? Whatever, I'd worry about it later. Then, a couple of weeks ago I realized that this race was going to be on a Saturday and that it was 2 hours from my house with NO race day packet pickup. Ugh, I would have to get a hotel. There was going to be no way to get down to National Harbor to get my packet after work on Friday and then get back up to my house, eat dinner and still get to bed early enough to feel good to get up for the race in the morning. I figured I'd TRY to get down on Wednesday or Thursday for packet pickup, and if I managed that I would cancel the hotel. I didn't get down there on Wednesday or Thursday, so we kept the hotel reservation.

RAM Racing Mistake #1: No Signage to the Expo

I left work a little early on Friday in order to get a head start, since I knew I'd be fighting both DC and Baltimore traffic getting down to National Harbor. We made it down at around 6:15 or so. We sat in traffic trying to get into National Harbor, then couldn't figure out where packet pickup even was. No signs, no instructions, and everyone we saw seemed to be in National Harbor for a night out, not a race expo. We asked a few different people and finally found it. I'll go ahead and admit - the race expo wasn't bad. It was small, nothing much to say about it. It didn't compare to any other race expo I've been to this year - especially not one with 20k people showing up. Still, I can't really say that much about it that's negative, besides the jackets.

RAM Racing Mistake #2: The Jackets (Poor sizing, CHEAP, giving out Chicago Jackets and passing them off as DC jackets)

Oh, the jackets. The jacket was so nice that it was the reason that I had signed up for the race. The photo on the race page made it look really great, and I expected a race premium on the level of Celtic Solstice and the Annapolis 10 Mile Run. But, I should have known better. Both of those races are run by local organizations who care about the image that the show for their races. This Hot Chocolate race was run more by a corporate machine and the quality of the jacket wasn't much better than those white jackets that they sell at marathon expos for you to wear at the starting line and throw away. And - they were sized very small, so that even though I followed the measurements chart and ordered a Womens Large, I had to trade it for a Mens Small to find one that fit. That's two sizes bigger, and I hate wearing mens stuff. I thought it was odd that people had been exchanging jackets all week and I was there in the last 3 hours of the expo and was still able to find one that fit. Then, I looked at my jacket and put it all together - there was an ad on it for a charity in Illinois. These are leftover jackets from the Chicago Hot Chocolate race. Nice.

Kim Mistake #2: Deviating from the Plan and Eating Out

We had been planning to get pizzas and eat them in our hotel room, but National Harbor was so nice that we chose to eat there. We ended up eating at Rosa Mexicano, which was delicious, but we had to wait an hour for a table and it was stupid expensive. I don't want to say that I regret it because Todd and I haven't had a lot of time together lately, but we probably should have just stuck with the plan.

RAM Racing Mistake #3: Delayed Start (Traffic Issues, Really poor course planning)

And so, it was race day. We got up this morning at about 5:30. My friend Sarah was meeting us to carpool at 6, so we went down and met her. While we were meeting up with her, another lady approached us. Her name was Kathy and she had signed up for the race with a family member, only to have him bail an hour earlier. The parking requirements required that you have at least 2 people in each car, and she had paid for the National Harbor Parking pass that we hadn't paid for. We agreed to give her a lift to the race in exchange for using her parking pass. So, we were four!

We were about 10 minutes from National Harbor, and we had left the hotel two hours before the race start. We were staying in Alexandria, Virginia and only had to cross the Woodrow Wilson Bridge to get there. Well, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge was a parking lot. We sat and sat and sat, with people finally getting out and walking, and then we finally made it there and parked. It was about a mile walk to the starting line (something people complained about, but isn't that unusual for a race of this size), and we made it to the starting line at about 7:55, nearly two hours after leaving the hotel. The 5K people were corralled, but not moving. The 5K was supposed to start at 7:30, the 15K was supposed to start at 8. Race organizers had chosen to delay the start of the 5K, not only because of the traffic, but also because they had laid the course out so that the people walking to the starting line from the parking had to walk on the course. So, there was simply no way to start the race. They finally started the 5K at about 8:30, an hour late, and my understanding is that people were still walking from the parking to the start at that point. Can you imagine starting a 5K with people walking towards you on the course?

They ended up delaying the 15K even more in order to clear the entire 5K course before we started. We finally started the 15K at about 9am, an hour late. At that point, my feet were hurting and frozen and everyone was shivering, miserable and angry.

RAM Racing Mistake #4: Corral MESS

The way the corrals were supposed to work was that we were supposed to loop around. So, the front of the packers at the beginning were going to cross and we were lined up next to them and were supposed to walk in the opposite direction and then around the corner and down their whole chute to the starting line. Well, the people all the way in the back - the WALKERS - 15 min, 14 min, etc, broke the gate down - presumably because they were cold - and cut into the start of the race. Not realizing what we were supposed to do and with virtually no course officials directing traffic, we followed them. So, suddenly we were on the race course at the start of a CROWDED race with people trying to run about a 7 minute pace. Can you say NIGHTMARE for someone who was trying to run an 11-12 minute pace and runs Galloway???? Can you imagine the anger of the fast people up in front suddenly having to weave around 14 minute people after they waited an hour longer than necessary to start the race?

RAM Racing Mistake #5: Overcrowded course - GREED

I wanted to believe that they could handle this many runners. They could not. The course was PACKED and it NEVER let up. They oversold this race, big time. Oh, let's start a new race, and let's just go ahead and go with 20,000 runners for the first time. Stupid, stupid, stupid, and it's nothing other than greed. So, not only was I totally in the wrong pack, I was also trying to take walk breaks on a packed course. People at my pace are USED to Galloway runners. These people were not. I had people cussing at me. I had two separate people yell at me, "when you walk, you HAVE to be on the RIGHT!" Ok, I've got to be honest, I've never heard that before. I've run something like 50 races and I've never had anyone tell me that I needed to stay right. I've always been told that when you walk, you should get to the SIDE, right or left doesn't matter. I was doing that, but I was preferring the left because the right was a shoulder with a guardrail. I moved right, but it was miserable over there. Anyway, I'm sincerely sorry, fast runners, I wasn't on that part of the course on purpose. The starting line was a mess. I felt stressed out the entire race, and I skipped a whole bunch of walk breaks in order to try and not cause any problems with these fast runners, but the hills kicked in and I had to walk. I'm sorry!

RAM Racing Mistake #6: Bad course in general (highway, construction site, gravel, dangerous path, narrow path)

The course sucked. Todd said it was one of the worst courses he's ever ran. Ok, it was hilly, but I don't complain about hills. You can't help hills. But, the 5K course was scenic and they made the 15K course by basically adding 6 miles of out and back on a highway to the 5K course. And, the highway wasn't even closed. One lane was open, and the course was so crowded that runners kept getting into the travel lanes. Then, they opened up a second lane while we were still out there. I'm not kidding, suddenly, they pushed us all farther left. Then, we ran through what looked like a construction site with dirt and mud and big rocks that people were tripping over. On to the scenic part of the course, until we got to the last few miles where a portion was on this crushed shell path right on the waterfront - and when I say right on the waterfront, I mean that there was no barrier between the overcrowded path and the water. WTF? Then, it narrowed into a tunnel, where I understand that people faster than me were forced to walk.

RAM Racing Mistake #7: Poor water stop planning (Pour your own!)

Pour your own water, I'm not kidding. I guess the water stop volunteers couldn't keep up, because at every single water stop, there was no water. They had it, but they didn't have it ready, so water stops really meant STOP. The first four miles, I couldn't even GET to the water stop because the course was so crowded, and when I finally HAD to stop because I was so thirsty, I had to wait for someone to pour me Gatorade and then it was only about a centimeter of Gatorade and it was full strength and GROSS. At another water stop, I had to FIND the cups (they were on the ground) and then pour my own water. The Gatorade didn't have enough water in it, and it was undrinkable. Only the final water stop actually had people standing handing out water.

RAM Racing Mistake #8: Uphill finish + uphill to chocolate = unhappy runners

You had to walk up this giant hill to get to the chocolate, and people were PISSED. I will say this though - the actual chocolate pickup was well organized and the Ghiradelli was delicious. It was a tray of fondue with half of a banana, a rice krispie treat, apple slices and a marshmallow. Yum! Plus, hot chocolate, which Todd liked but I couldn't drink because it would have made me sick.

... and we got stuck in traffic leaving and barely made it to our late checkout at our hotel.

The Good Stuff
Like I said, the chocolate part was awesome. But, I can make that at home on my own. It was a challenging course, and I had a great time running with Todd, Sarah and our new friend Kathy that we met this morning. She had never done Galloway before, and I had to explain that it's usually so much easier. It was nice to meet a new friend. I had a great time with the three of them, and I hope that they did, too. Despite the fact that I kind of regret it, the dinner was probably the best part of the race.

I have a pain in my foot now, which I hope is my arthritis and not a stress fracture. It bothered me during the last half mile of the race. I didn't eat before the race (BIG mistake - Kim Mistake #3) and so I was so HUNGRY during the race. It didn't help my energy, I'm sure.

This is a one and done for me, and I should know better than to do a race with this many people. I HATE large races.

Final time: 1:48:49, an 11:41 pace (a new PR, but only because I've never done a 15K before)

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Stats as of 30 November 2011

2011-11-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

November 2010
55.7 miles
11 hours, 27 minutes
Avg Pace: 12:21/mile
Cold Turkey 10K 2010: 1:07:14 (10:51/mile)

November 2011
60.5 miles -- 4.8 miles more than in 2010
13 hours, 4 minutes -- 1 hours, 37 minutes longer than in 2010
Avg Pace: 12:58/mile -- 37 seconds slower than in 2010
ING New York City Marathon 2011: 5:46:40 (13:14/mile)

Year Totals:
654 miles at 13:05 per mile

I ran more miles this month than I did in November last year, even though I didn't miss any runs last November and this month I skipped four runs. I took off the two runs right after the marathon because it's the smart thing to do, and I took off the two weekday runs the following week because I had a cold. I'm all better now, and I've started up my weekday running again.

Last week, it was POURING on Tuesday when I would normally run, but I needed to go to the shopping mall where my running store is because I wanted to go to Trader Joe's and Pier One Imports to get some last minute Thanksgiving things. I ended up being the ONLY runner who showed up at the running store, and I went instead over to my gym and ran on the treadmill there. Nice treadmills!!

I've been swimming this month as well. I've been going to my new gym (the expensive gym #2 if you remember the post where I was trying to make a decision). I've been trying to make it there twice per week, and I've really enjoyed it. I didn't include it my stats, but I've gone about 5300 meters this month. I had to skip two pool sessions due to my cold. Since I'm trying to justify the cost of the new gym, I will have to make up those two pool sessions later. I haven't done it quite yet.

I came down to Tampa to visit my sister right after Thanksgiving. We left on Friday and I got home last night. Todd stayed home, and I worked from my sisters house on Monday and Tuesday. My mom wanted to visit my sister and my niece and nephew, so I went down with her to help her on the airplane and in the airport. I've missed Todd, and I'm glad to be home, although it was nice to be out in the sunshine for a few days. My sister and I ran two runs together around her neighborhood, and I had to giggle when she dressed in a thick jacket to run in 65 degree weather. I was wearing shorts!

This month, I've been mostly running easy slow miles, but this was actually my fastest month since May. I'm looking forward to running some faster miles now that marathon training is over, although I'm kind of mourning losing my super long distance endurance. Oh well. Coming up, I have my last race of the year, a 15K near Washington, DC. Then, I'll be running the Walt Disney World marathon relay in January (and yes, Kitzzy, I would love to meet you, I just have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to get back to you!)

I've also got HBBC, which I need to check in for. I'll do that soon.

And marathon photos!! I have them, I will post them soon.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

I've been so crazy busy this week! I've talked a little about how my work process goes, basically we work in 3 week "sprints" where each of us has an assignment for those three weeks and then we release our software at the end of the 3rd week. Last week was "release week," which is always somewhat busy, but then when this sprint started, I'm the "disturbed," which means that I'm in charge of our day to day production support so that the other developers can work in peace. It's been busy, so I haven't been able to catch up on reading blogs and the other things that I usually do during downtime. Plus, Todd and I are in the midst of remodeling our kitchen (yay!)

So, what I am thankful for this year.

So much has happened this year! Gosh, how can I not be thankful for my trip of a lifetime to Indonesia? Three weeks in the South Pacific, I think about it pretty much every day, and I would love to go back someday. Todd and I get to go to so many amazing places, and I am forever thankful for that. This year, we were also able to make our annual trek to Little Cayman for our second anniversary. Awesome.

Of course, there's Todd. We've had more than five years together and two years married, and he is the most awesome, incredible, terrific thing in my life. I mean, think about any adjectives that mean "wonderful" and they'll describe Todd :) He's always there for me, being an amazing husband and I am thankful every single day that he's a part of my life.

And of course, I am thankful for The Bug. He's doing much better and is hopefully recovered. We still haven't heard back on test results, but hopefully Friday.

My health, my family's heath, it's all so important. I'm thankful that I have a job that I enjoy with co-workers that make me smile. I'm thankful that I get to run with terrific people, and of course that I'm able to run. And I got into the New York City Marathon this year and ran a terrific race! How cool is that?

And I have to add the more "materialistic" stuff... :)

We're getting new countertops! Yay! And we just bought a new fridge, it was delivered on Tuesday. We're slowly making our house a home, and this year we've pretty much finished our dining room and for Thanksgiving we'll be using our new dining room furniture for the first time! YAY! YAY YAY!

Here's a weird one - I am thankful for my 9 year old car that is still running strong after more than 150,000 miles.

In all, what a terrific year and I have so much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm hosting a lovely turkey dinner with my family. Here's to health and happiness!

(I'm thankful for someecardds, which always makes me laugh)

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Quick Update

2011-11-21T19:16:00.001-05:00

If you were wondering about The Bug, he is back at home. The internist found nothing. The good news is that he didn't swallow an object such as fake plants or plastic, which are his favorite things to gnaw on. The bad news is, we still don't know what is wrong. The internist took some cultures and samples and whatnot from his inflamed stomach and we'll have the results in 3-5 business days.

Friday night, he was feeling to too good, and his meow was still strange and he was still lethargic. Saturday, he was doing things like trying to run down the stairs and then missing the last two stairs and falling over himself (he would normally jump those last two). Once, he tried to jump up on the table and he didn't make it and kind of hit his stomach and fell onto the floor into his water bowl. It was depressing.

The doctors gave him a bunch of medicine, including some appetite enhancing ones (although I discovered on Wednesday that catnip encouraged him to eat a little). I think they worked too well, because now when we give him food he scarfs it down and then throws it back up again. He does keep most of it down, but like I said, some comes up.

He's clearly not totally out of the woods, but is better. I've just had to get him off the counter 4 times while I was cooking dinner, and he is meowing for food in a mostly normal kind of way (aka, annoying). So, that's great news.

Here he is on Saturday, with his little marks on his paws from where the IVs were:

In other news, I DO have my NYC marathon photos, I just have to find the time to upload them. Between work, the cat and trying to get my house ready for Thanksgiving (which I'm hosting), I've been quite busy. Here's a photo of the whole berry cranberry sauce that I canned yesterday:

Store bought cranberry sauce sucks.

Very exciting.

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Somewhere in the Sun

11 Random Things About Me

Stats as of 31 Dec 2011 (Better Late Than Never?)

Totally Absurd.

Is Paula Deen Unethical?

Walt Disney Marathon Relay 2012

HBBC Final Check In

Rock & Roll Races

2011 By The Numbers

Tentative 2012 Race Schedule

Top Posts of 2011

2011: Fitness Year in Review

Merry Christmas!!

Our Christmas Tree

HBBC Update

Stuff I Love: Philips Wake Up Light

End of the Year Polls 2011

On This Day: December 16th!!

New York City Marathon Photos

Hot Chocolate Fiasco

Giveaway: 2012 Underwater Photography Calendar

HBBC Update

Hot Chocolate 15K 2011

Stats as of 30 November 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

Quick Update