Future Running Endeavors

Everyone knows my philosophy about good running shoes. It's something I preach. Lindsay got fitted for running shoes today. So that makes Logan the laggard of the group when it comes to getting new shoes. Help me people. The girl needs some new shoes. She's running in Nike Shox from her Sophomore year in college. #yikes

I'm a tad bit jealous of Lindsay's PURPLE shoes. Grass green and UCA purple = my two most favorite colors. And Easy Runner fitted her in a sweet pair of Brooks.

We are Brooks Buddies!! I was too excited about our run tonight for a lot of different reasons. 1. Lindsay was going to have an awesome first run in her shoes. 2. We changed the routine to run 8 minutes, walk 5 minutes, run 8 minutes, cooldown. 3. I look forward to the run all day long.

It's weird how that happens. In the beginning, I was running to complete a goal. Now I'm running because I want to/like it AND because I have a goal.

After the first 8 minute run, we felt good. It didn't seem that different. Or too difficult. The 5 minute walk was more than enough time for us to catch our breath. So we felt the same starting the second run, which has never happened before. Usually we are all sucking air and praying that we are close to the end. Tonight was not the case.

The second 8 minutes conversation still flowed nicely. Our pace was quick, but right on. I say quick because it was quicker than normal. I wish I had a fancy watch to tell you exactly what it was, but nobody has $300 to get one.

The sun was setting at the end of our run. The last minute we really pushed ourselves. We ran hard and fast. The pace was cray cray fast. And who was leading the pact: The Roommate. She was in rare form and kicking all our butts.

We finished the second 8 minutes hot, sweaty, breathing heavy and joyful!!!! It was the best run we have ever had. Hands down.

I've been nervous about admitting this next thing on the blog for about a week now, but it is time that I fill you in on our future running goals.

5K in October, obviously. That is what we are training for now. Then a 10K (6.2 miles). Then a half-marathon (13.1 miles). Then a marathon (26.2 miles).

Don't worry. This will be over the course of a few years, but it will happen.We will make each other do it. Logan will do it. Lindsay will do it. The roommate. And me.

The marathon is the only one that truly terrifies me. The thought of running for 26.2 miles makes me feel sick, but I want to do it at some point. The thought of 13.1 miles gets my blood pumping. I want to do it. And I want the 13.1 sticker to prove it.

So there it is. On the Internet. I admitted it. I set the goals. That means they have to happen. You have to keep me accountable.

Deep breath. And go.

Testing My Sanity

It's 4:42 P.M. Usually I've been home for about an hour and 42 minutes. Obviously today doesn't fit that bill.

It's been one of those days. You know the type. So this post will be an attempt at self therapy and self medication.

Case in point:

My version of self therapy and seld medication: Blogging and vino. So with that you get this.

I had to work on a Monday, which rarely happens. Summer camp at my office is in fun force, and we are trying to get everything settled so it can come to a close. I've been teaching some of the older kids how to blog, and today was a day we spent in the computer lab typing our work to be posted on said blog.

Stressor Number 1:

One of the 5th grade boys did not want to participate in today's activity. When I asked him why, he responded with a hand touching his throat and forehead, meaning that his throat and head hurt. I asked him if I needed to call his mother to come pick him up because he was feeling so bad. He shook his head no. So I told him he had to participate if he felt good enought to stay at camp. He just stared at me.

When I checked on him 20 minutes later, he had typed nothing on his paper. So I decided to watch him like a hawk. He would only write if I was standing directly behind his chair.

After 45 minutes, his classmates had all finished and went back to their classroom. He had written two short sentences. Then, the 4th graders came in.

After 45 more minutes, the 4th graders were finished and back in their classroom. And he was still sitting at his desk NOT typing. He had written at total of five short lines in two hours. I kept him until lunch time and made him type. What a tyrant I am.

I took him back to class and talked to his teacher. She said he fell asleep in class before coming to my class. Well that pissed me off even more. As a student, I would have never EVER fallen asleep in class. And I forgot to tell you that he argued with me when I was checking his spelling and grammar. Apparently he thinks he knows more than a college graduate and an ALMOST Master of Journalism. And I think he is totally cray cray.

His teacher suggested I write him up for his bad behavior and lack of drive to type a worthy paragraph. She also told me she had spoken to his parents and grandma FOUR times, and his attitude had yet to improve.

So once he had eaten lunch, I pulled him from the group and took him to the office. And then I told him I was writing him up for a bad attitude and a lack of following directions when asked. I told him that middle school would not put up with a boy who didn't do his work. And that I take a lot of time out of my work day to come teach him about blogging and writing for the Internet.

And then he cried. And I blew it. I said in an appalled voice, "Are you crying?????!!!!" I could not believe it. He didn't have the will to do the work, but he had the guts to cry in front of me when he got in trouble for it. I don't feel bad for him. I know I'm terrible.

Stressor Number 2: The summer campers are selling handmade products in the River Market tomorrow. So I have been trying to get local media outlets to come out and support us. I've written a press release, and I've sent all my information to the Communications Office. And nothing has happened. It's been over two weeks.

So I call my office's Communication's liaison. And she didn't answer. Keep in mind that I've sent her numerous e-mails, left voicemails, and I spoke to her last Thursday. She told me Thursday I would know something today.

So I call the other woman who takes care of media relations. She tells me she won't know if anyone is going to come the River Market sale until tomorrow morning after the local media meet and discuss story options. Ummm....tell me why someone couldn't have told me that to begin with.

Stressor Number 3: Facfocus, the UALR faculty listserv that sends out 8497254875487 pointless e-mails per day, did not send my River Market sale flyer I sent at 8:30 this morning. So I sent it again at 2:30 this afternoon.

Nothing happened.

So I called Computing Services. They told me that the server is backed up, but it should be fixed anytime. So my message should go out soon. Forty-five minutes later, my message still hasn't went out. So I call again.

Keep in mind stressor 2 is playing out at same time as stressor 3.

I call again. I get a different guy. I tell him my dilemma. He goes to find the original guy who helped me. While I'm on hold, I rant to my co-worker something like this.

This has been the worst day ever. I can't believe I made a kid cry. And now my dang message won't go out to facfocus. It's just my luck that Computing Services can't fix it today. How am I a Communications Coordinator, and I can't communicate to the publics I need. As soon as I leave here, I'm going straight to the liquor store to get the biggest bottle of white wine. Chilled so I don't have to wait to drink it. Ughhhhhhhhhh!!!

The guy gets back on the line and tell me he is going to transfer me to my original guy. And tacks this on to the end: "A big bottle of wine sounds pretty good right about now."

Yep. He heard me. Heard my whole entire rant. Awesome.

Moral: Be sure to wait for the horrid elevator music before starting the I-had-the-worst-day-ever-and-need-a-big-bottle-of-wine rant. Or else they could hear you.

I left work shortly after that feeling totally defeated. I drove straight to the liquor store and went straight to the wine cooler looking for my favorite vino. I didn't see it. I asked the guy working. Do you have Barefoot Riesling?

He said no.

THEY DON'T CARRY IT!!!

Defeated yet again.

So I bought Barefoot Mascato and called it a night.

Did I get anything for supper? Nope.

On a lighter note, the roommate, Logan and I ran last night in the blazing heat.

Here are the highlights:

Yeah, we were totally insane to run last night. It turned out better than we thought it would. Thankfully.

Hope you guys had a great and stress-free Monday. I'm going to drink my supper. See ju tomorrow. It's a new day.

The Roommate's Not Going to Die

After the roommate's Fourth of July weekend tubing accident, her arm is no better. In fact, it is getting worse. As in spreading up and down her arm and lumps are forming.

So yesterday with fear that the lumps could be blood clots, she attempted numerous times to find a doctor's office that was open. And after being given the run around for more than four hours, she saw a doctor who said it was not blood clots. But the bruise was only going to get worse, although I'm not really sure how. It looks worse than the day the tube beat her up.

In celebration of her not having blood clots, I made a fancy dinner. It's not everyday that you can celebrate someone overcoming a near death experience.

On the menu: Spicy shrimp with roasted brussel sprouts and garlic broccolini.

What you will need:
1 lbs. of peeled and deveined uncooked shrimp
Olive Oil
Garlic
Red Pepper Flakes
Brussel sprouts
1 package of broccolini
Sea Salt
Black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. This makes for easy clean-up later, which is something I'm all about.

Cut the ends off of the fresh brussel sprouts, and remove all the extra leaves. ***Note: If you bake the extra leaves, they will turn into burnt brussel chips. Trust me. I tried to take the easy way out.*** Slice the sprouts in half lenght-wise. Throw the halves on the baking sheet. Pour a generous amount of olive oil over the top, and sprinkle copious amounts of sea salt and black pepper. Mix around on the baking sheet, and make sure all the sprouts are lightly covered in oil and seasoning.

Bake for 15 minutes. Then flip them around on the baking sheet. Bake for 15 more minutes. Brussel sprouts should be lightly roasted and glorious.

While the brussels roast, prepare a pan for the broccolini. Put broccolini in a pan, cover with water, put a lid on it and bring it to a boil on the stove.

Begin heating a separate pan of olive oil for the shrimp.

Once the broccolini is boiling, turn the heat down and simmer for 6 to 7 minutes. Drain water, and transfer cooked broccolini to a plate. In that same pan, heat up some olive oil.

Mince up four to five fresh garlic cloves. (I used two mammoth-sized cloves, but most garlic cloves are much smaller. So just use your best judgment.) Throw garlic into the heated olive oil, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Return cooked broccolini to the pan. Simmer on low until everything else is ready.

Remember that pan of oil I told you to heat for the shrimp? Well it should be screaming hot by now. Add red pepper flakes into the hot oil and let cook for 1 minute. The flakes will infuse the oil with its spicy flavor. Turn the heat down a tad.

CAREFULLY add the shrimp into the pan. I say carefully because when I did this last night my shrimp exploded. Not literally, but you know what I mean. Cook shrimp until they are pink throughout. Take care not to overcook the shrimp because they will become tough.

Now plate it up.

It should look a little something like this. And every bite is so delicious. If you don't have access to fresh shrimp at your grocery store, I'm sure the frozen ones will work just fine. Just be sure to thaw them out, or you could have a big problem when you throw them in the oil.

For dessert, I bought an angle food cake and some fresh strawberries. I cut the strawberries up and put them in a bowl with a teaspoon of sugar to get some juices to come out. And then I got crazy and made my own whipped cream.

What you will need:
1 small carton of heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons of sugar

Put your mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer about 30 minutes before you want to make your whipped cream. Pour cream into the chilled bowl. Add the sugar, you can add more if you like. I like my whipped cream very lightly sweetened. Beat cream slowly at first. And then faster. Stop when you see soft peaks form.

It should look like this. Now you will have whipped cream left over. So this morning I did this.

Now tell me how good that looks? Morning coffee is so much happier when it's topped with homemade whipped cream. You guys have to try this. If not for the cake, do it for your coffee. You won't be sorry.

After my coffee delight, I made a froached egg sandwich. I say froached because that is what I did. I fried and poached it.

Put some butter in a pan. Crack the egg into the pan. Once the whites turn white, put 1 Tablespoon of water into the hot pan. Cover the pan and let the egg poach until it's cooked the way you like.

I put my froached egg on a whole wheat sandwich thin, and then I topped it with salt, pepper, cheddar cheese and mango salsa. Something is up with the salsa and egg combo. I'm starting to become an addict. My egg was slightly runny, just the way I like it. It was so good. I could have eaten 5 more.

The roommate and I will be running this evening when she gets off work. The heat has been out of control all summer the last few days, but I think a nice evening run will be really great. Hope you are having a nice, relaxing Sunday.

What did you have for breakfast?

How was your weekend?

When Photo Shoots Go Wrong

Last night I was introduced to Boom Kinetic, a band from Fayetteville who is a frequenter of Little Rock's downtown scene. They play Classic Rock hits mixed with some of their own stuff. It's pretty awesome.

A lot of sober dancing happened, but I'm sure more firewater would have led to some rockin' dance moves on my part. But that was not the case last night because this girl has to save the money. And I didn't really want to feel like crap this morning.

The roommate and I had a little photo shoot before the band started to play. And we end up with these beauties.

Then we got tired of trying to take a decent picture, and we settled on this one.

Pretty much sums everything up I think.

Hope you are having an awesome Saturday!!

When Are We Runners?

The roommate and I got up at 6 A.M. to go for a little run. Neither of us are keen on morning runs since that requires us getting out of bed at dawn. And it was especially tough today because we both had the opportunity to sleep in.

But that wasn't the case at our house. We got up slowly and moaned and groaned around the house until 6:40 this morning. It was a quiet car ride to the Big Dam Bridge, but still nice. Once we got there, we had a much needed stretch session. (We didn't really stretch too good at the 5K Wednesday night so our muscles were pretty pissed off at us.)

It was a glorious morning. 77 degrees. A nice breeze. Sun not too high in the sky. River Trail was partly shaded. Perfect morning for a nice run.

The roommate and I did a good job keeping a conversation this morning. It's something we've all been working on. We talk to each other to help build stamina, and it helps us know how our pace is. If we can't talk to each other, we are going to fast. Plus it's just added fellowship time.

There was a sweet little lady with a Camelbak water pack. I had to steal a picture. She was so chipper. Too bad we were still half asleep when she passed us during our warm-up walk. I told the roommate we needed to get a Camelbak water backpack. It's hands free. And just plain cool.

We saw some deer. Bambi times two. I tried to get a picture, but I got this, which is equally cool. But I still have no proof that I saw Bambi.

We are getting ready to change the running routine this weekend. After Wednesday's 5K, I am not as nervous about changing things anymore. I feel very confident in my running and in our running as a group. My mental attitude about running is changing.

The roommate asked me a very valid question this morning. When are we runners?

One might say that although we claim that we ran a 5K, it doesn't count because we walked some of it.

Obviously, we think that thought is complete blasphemy. A total crock. Ridiculous. Stupid. Outrageous. And just plain mean.

We are definitely putting in the work to call ourselves runners. So when does it happen? When do you get the title of Runner Extraordinaire?

Here's my 411: You become a runner when you make running a priority. You become a runner when you set a goal to reach. You become a runner when you make up your mind to do it. It's not about who says you are a runner. It's about that you say you are a runner.

I became a runner when I said I wanted to run Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure with my mom in October. And when I bought running shoes. And when I got the Couch to 5K app on my iPhone. And when I started hitting the pavement on a regular basis.

Nobody cares that I walk sometimes. Nobody cares that I'm not the fastest. Or the best breather. Or that my calves hate me when I'm running.

You have to get over the inferiority complex that you have set up in your own mind. People aren't staring at you. They are not judging you. They don't care that your shorts don't match your shirt. Or that you are dripping insane amounts of sweat from weird places on your body.

The people who get it GET IT. The people who don't are just missing out. And that is their loss, not ours.

We are runners. And we love that. We are proud of it. What an accomplishment.

What about you? Are you a runner? Or a biker? A dancer? A hiker?