Category Archives: Link up

WHAM!

What time is it?!! It’s time for Jamesy’s Motivational Music Monday! It’s time to search those playlists and post what floats your boat!! One day James will actually create the linky link thing, but in the meantime, put your video link in the comment section on his site so we can all see what makes you happy, gets you running or walking, or just plain puts a spring in your step!

When James told me he was going to post a rap song (you have to visit his site to actually see what rapper gets that metal head out and running), there was one song that came to my mind instantly. Now, most of you know that Buble is my boy; however, back in the eighties, George Michael was above and beyond my favorite of favorites.

Like most American kids/tweens/teenagers, I watched American Bandstand and Soul Train every Saturday morning (after Bugs Bunny, of course), and this is where I first saw Wham! They performed this song (Wham Rap!), they were dressed exactly how they were dressed in the video, and they even danced the same way. Ahhh, such entertainment! 🙂

This song is full of energy and still gets my blood pumping and my legs moving! It’s nice that not everything changes. Watch the video. If you know the song, see if it doesn’t bring a smile to your face after all these years. And if you don’t know it, I would still bet the video puts a smile on your face… if for no other reason than how fabulous the clothes and hair were back then! (George is sporting a tail, hehe) Enjoy!!

Weekend Rambles

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Ramble… to talk or write at length in a confused or inconsequential way. It’s what I do best, so I’ll begin.

My running has been slim this week. In case you forgot, I hurt my knee running the Lake Sammamish Half Marathon (but I finished anyway, so yay). You can read about that here, here, and here (all 3 “here’s” take you to the same place, but if you want to read about it someplace else, try here). So I’ve been resting and healing.

I’m kind of sad that I’m not still streaking, but the races and the bling are way more important than the streaking. In all reality, I think I just like saying “streaking;” it sounds so indecorous (haha, I had to look that one up). Anyway, I’ve been out on a couple of runs this past week… well, actually, one was on the treadmill, one was running laps at the soccer park, and then a good old fashioned trail run happened Friday! By the end of my run on Friday, I felt I had worked all the nigglies out, but we shall see what Sunday’s long run brings.

Four weeks from today, I’ll be running the SLC Half-Marathon. I really don’t time for the nigglies right now.

New subject… know anyone who is passive aggressive? I liken being passive aggressive to being in junior high school… there’s not an ounce of maturity associated with passive aggressive tendencies, regardless if the person is 60 years old. I’m having the extreme displeasure of dealing with one of those right now. I have no choice but to completely ignore her responses and take what she says at face value, and only face value. I get the hidden meaning behind the things she says, but then if I acknowledged any of it, I would be feeding the beast. Not gonna do it. Unfortunately this is not a social relationship, so I can’t just put the good old block on her or “unfriend” her.

James and I just had this conversation (please re-read definition of rambling):

JAMES: I think I’ll go for a bike ride.

ME: How far are you going?

JAMES: Probably about 10 miles, maybe 20, but probably 10.

ME: (singing) Your ass is gonna hurrrrrrrt…

ME: And you’re going to run after that?

JAMES: Yes.

ME: I think I’ll go take a nap.

Jackie over at A Cooking Pot and Twisted Tales is hosting a weekend brunch link-up! Be sure to stop by and join the party. You’re bound to meet lots and lots of new and interesting bloggers over there! It’s a great way to grow your blog AND to help out other bloggers! Great friendships form here! Remember… we’re all in this together!

I’ll finish off my ramblings with some pictures I took the other morning on my way to work. It was so gorgeous… the sun was shining and there was frost on the ground. I just can’t get over the beauty of this place… it’s everywhere you look!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Weekend Wrap

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As I decided to write whilst partaking of wine on Friday night, I actually only have the weekend to “wrap” about (hehe, I make myself giggle).

I went Christmas shopping on Saturday because, yes, I AM one of those last-minute shoppers! Holy Checkout Line!! This was in Target and it stretched at least half the length of the store! However, I was totally impressed with the organization of the mass amount of people. It was not your typical C.F. There was no crowding or nastiness, every checkout line was open, and they got us through as quick as they could. Unfortunately, a man got right behind me, was trying to get the attention of someone across the aisle, and made one of those horribly loud whistles with his fingers like he was calling for his dog. Rude much?!! THAT did not impress me. I glared. One does not need to whistle that loudly when one is on the inside of a building, especially when standing 2 feet away from another person who is not aware that they’re about to get a hole in their eardrum.

Anyway, after a lovely Saturday afternoon nap, Jamesy and I spent a good part of the evening wrapping presents as our youngin’ was staying the night at a friend’s house. We took complete advantage of him being gone! We turned on my most favorite Christmas album by Michael Bublé, pulled out the wrapping paper, tape and scissors, and had a good old fashion wrapping party. I got a great video of James singing and dancing. He’s not letting me share it… yet… but know that I have it and will probably have it for a long, lonnnnng time (insert evil laugh here… I now own him).

We even got to watch a movie! This is not something we usually do as we try to go to bed early in preparation for long-run Sunday. However, we actually decided to turn a movie on after we’d had enough of the wrapping! We watched Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. I thought it was wonderful! Neither one of us got tired or wanted to doze during it as it kept us on the edge of our seat. We like those suspense movies, what can I say!

The creek overfloweth…

Sunday was a big day. I hadn’t run for a week thanks to my chest cold, so I had to get out no matter what to see how I was feeling. I had 10 miles on the schedule. No, 10 miles wasn’t happening. My legs were nice and rested, but at the same time they felt quite weak. It’s hard to believe that a week’s worth of down time could cause them to feel like floppy noodles. I did a nice 5K, the loop around our house, and managed it okay. It didn’t even take me as long as I thought it would with as much as I was having to walk which kind of tells me my intervals on the stoopid treadmill have paid off, because when I was able to run, I was running much faster than I had before. Yay. Guess the treadmill isn’t as stoopid as I made it out to be.

And it was finally perfect weather conditions for a run. No rain, no wind… just overcast and in the 40s… normal and beautiful. Good thing, too, because James had his time-trial 20-miler. His goal was to run 20 miles in 3 hours. I won’t spoil it for you on how it went… you can visit 50 in 50 Marathon Quest for the final result. Will he run another sub-4-hour marathon in January… or has he taken his plan too lightly this time around and did he take a whole 4 hours to run the 20 miles?

Oh, and hey! The Seahawks won again today! We’re in the playoffs now! Doesn’t get any better than that!!

Is anyone else a last-minute holiday shopper? Who saw Star Wars this weekend? If you’re a runner, how did your long run go?

I’m linking up with Holly from HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap! Thank you ladies! All are invited to link up and share!

Weekly Wrap

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I’m linking up with Holly from HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for the Weekly Wrap. You don’t have to be runnin’ to share your funnin’, so go visit them, link up, and join the party.

It’s been a weird couple of weeks training-wise. Washington has had one storm system after another and it has not been runner-friendly at all. I guess this is the first real winter that I’ve had to train for a January race, and I’m thinking I’m not too impressed. One thing’s for sure… we’re getting our money’s worth out of that treadmill.

This is supposed to be a pond, not a lake.

Anyway, I’ve kept it going, I’m just not putting in the mileage I want. I have been nailing my interval training though, pretty much every single time I get on the treadmill. Hehe, it’s the only thing that entertains me while I’m on it. I have noticed that my breathing is getting better at a faster pace, so that’s relatively encouraging, but I won’t know how it holds up until I can get back out on the trail to test it out.

Another fallen tree. He had it mostly cleared by the time I snapped the picture.

Today was long-run Sunday and it was rainy and windy, of course. Shortly after I woke up, I heard a chainsaw buzzing in the neighborhood. I couldn’t believe that someone would be using a bloody chainsaw on a Sunday morning at 7! I looked out to investigate… yet another downed tree blocking the road. <sigh> I’ll be happy when we get back to normal. While The Motivator was very… brave… to face the unnatural weather elements no matter what, I chose to stick to my beloved treadmill. I aimed for two hours… ha. After one hour, I called it quits.

One neat thing I’ve been testing is the Charity Miles app. I’m super pleased with it (my tweets say I walked, but it should say I ran…, I just never thought to change the wording). This app works inside or outside, so that’s bonus. At 25 cents a mile, it’s win-win. While 5 miles may only be $1.25, over time it will add up, and I think one of my next goals will be to try streaking. You know, take the Runner’s World Run Streak challenge. At least 1 mile every day for 365 days. I think that’s totally doable. Even on rest days, it shouldn’t be difficult to tackle at least 1 mile. The treadmill and I are the best of friends now (or bitter enemies), so I think it can be done. There are actually some people who have been streaking since the 1980s! That impresses the hell out of me! When AJ graduates from high school in 2023 (anyone feel old besides me?), he can tell all his friends that his mom has been “streaking” since 2016. Yeah, that might be kinda cool.

And speaking of the boy, he just recently had his very last elementary school Christmas concert. He’s in the above picture, 4th from left, back row. Yes, definitely one of the tallest in the school, but I think a couple of girls may possibly be taller. He’s on to middle school next year, but I’d be okay if he stayed this age forever. 🙂

Your turn! If you have an upcoming race, how is your training going? Ever run into wicked winter weather that slowed you down? How do you deal with it?

Thinking Out Loud Thursday

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I’m kind of in the mood to babble about nothing in particular, so I’m linking up with Amanda from Running With Spoons for TOLT. Thanks Amanda for the creative outlet!!

1. Winter Munchies. Ella at Instinctive Fails talks about how animals fatten themselves up for the winter, so maybe humans do too? I’ve decided I’m going to adopt that theory to explain my winter weight gain. Think about it… our ancestors probably did have to bulk up to stay warm in the winter just as animals do. So it would make perfect sense that our bodies instinctively store fat for the winter. Well, it sounds good anyway. It has absolutely nothing to do with the extra cookies or fudge or egg nog that I treat myself to during the holidays… it’s really just pure instinct. Necessary for survival. During the holidays.

2. Pinterest. Yes, I’m older and not so social media savvy, but I just don’t get it! I want to understand it, I really do, but right now I just can’t wrap my head around it. What is the purpose? What does one do on Pinterest? It sounds like something Microsoft came up with before it released Windows 8 so everyone could get used to the idea of “pinning” things. Or did Microsoft copy Pinterest? Ooooo, conspiracy theory perhaps? I should probably consult my 11-year-old and figure out how to use Pinterest. No, actually, I think I need to watch a YouTube video on the ins and outs of Pinterest. Is there a book out there called Pinterest for Dummies?

3. I’ve noticed quite a few people have created the illusion of snow falling on their blogs. May I just say this is a super cool feature! I would love to have snow falling all over my blog during the holidays and winter months. But why didn’t I get the memo on how to make the snow fall? Can anyone tell me how this is done?

4. And speaking of snow falling, I hope no one is trying to get to Seattle via I-90. I’m of the understanding that parts of the pass are closed. For weeks I heard how mild our winter was going to be because we had such a hot summer and El Nino is going to last until 2016, blah, blah, blah, but noooo, we’ve had one storm system after another come in and practically drown us. Did you hear that the governor of Washington has declared a state of emergency because of all our rain? We haven’t got snow where I live, only rain (#thankful), but it makes for some pretty awful training runs, whether they’re on the trail or on the treadmill. I’m so sick of running on the treadmill. Ugh. Ohhh wellll… suck it up, buttercup. You’ve still got a few weeks of training left.

5. Meep. He’s a cat. To the Nth degree. I don’t have much to say about him other than I really just wanted to share some silly pictures of him that I’ve taken recently. (shameless plug, I know)

Step awayyy from the tree…

He probably had done something wrong which is why he’s showing me his tummy… or just stretching, he’s probably really just stretching… he sooo needs to be messed with…

6. And finally, the above is just a small sampling of how I’ve been preparing myself for winter survival. And the holidays. Yeah, I’m definitely going to say it’s total instinct.

I’ve babbled enough for today. Do you have anything to babble about? How does your body prepare for survival through the winter? Got snow? On your blog? Got a cat that you love to mess with?

Weekly Wrap–Mukilteo Turkey Trot

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Maui Half-Marathon Training, week 7

Monday: Treadmill Torture. After participating in the Redmond Turkey Trot the previous Saturday, I really wanted to try to beat my time for the upcoming Turkey Trot on Thursday. So I forced myself to run on the treadmill at a faster pace that I knew would beat my previous time, assuming I could hold that pace for very long. It was a good workout, and my legs got a feeling for what they needed to run to PR. The plan was to channel that treadmill workout the whole entire race on Thursday.

Tuesday and Wednesday: Total rest and relaxation and mentally preparing for Thursday, as well as trying to figure out Thanksgiving dinner. As it was just the 3 of us, none of us were too fussed about what we were going to eat come Thursday, when we were going to it, etc. I was really more concerned about what was going to be for breakfast post-race!

Thursday: Mukilteo Turkey Trot in Mukilteo, WA. Once again, we were up and at ’em way earlier than a normal weekday. It was nicely below freezing (see that? feels like 22). Oh yay.

Luckily I was wearing 3 layers all over my entire body. And I stayed in the heated car until it was time to go line up at the start line.

Although this race was sponsored by the same people who had put on the Redmond Turkey Trot the previous Saturday, I think more people showed up today. They were offering prize money for the top place finishers, so that brought out some fast runners. They were still offering the yummy pies too for each age group.

James did the 10K, and I did the 5K, so James lined up with the elite group and headed out first. Hehe, okay, he didn’t really go out with the elite as there weren’t any elite there, just some mighty fast runners of which he was one. Anyway, off he went, and I went out with the back of the crowd per normal, but I was kind of pleased I actually passed some people along the way. It’s usually the other way around! We went a bit up the street, turned the corner, then BAM! There it was! The first nasty hill of the run. Yes, I’m sure you can guess what I was thinking… “I should’ve done more hill torture.”

It was a rolling hill-type of a race, up and down and up and down, but it was all good. Not too severe. I didn’t get my PR like I wanted; however, I did run that hilly course at about the same pace I ran the other Turkey Trot which was mostly flat, so I consider it a success. I’ll have other chances to PR my 5K, so it’s okay. James nailed his 10K PR by 3 minutes but unfortunately came in 4th for his age group, so no pie for us on Thanksgiving Day. The funny thing is, if he would’ve been 2 years younger, he would have won that particular age group by 4 minutes. He gives a pretty decent race recap at 50 in 50 Marathon Quest, so go check it out.

As for post-race breakfast, I found a fabulous slow cooker egg bake from My Fitness Pal that was ready by the time we got home. Yes, there was bacon, 🙂

Friday: Trail run with Jamesy. James felt it necessary to pace me on a 2-mile run post-Thanksgiving debauchery and 1 day post-race. Ouchie. He runs fast. ‘Nuff said. At least we waited until most of the ice had melted on the trail.

Saturday: Total rest day. I am so good at these rest days, I amaze myself. We played games and James made a sinfully delightful chocolate-chip bread pudding. It’ll probably be a good thing when this holiday weekend is over so we can get back to good.

Sunday: Long run day. Another freezing cold day (I will never complain about the heat I again, I promise… okay, not really, I’ll still complain about the heat too). As it’s a step-down week (thanks to my Turkey Trotting), I just did an easy-peasy stretch around the block. Today was the Seattle Marathon of which James had entertained the idea of running way back in July. I’m so glad he changed his mind. I would’ve been not too impressed having to go out in this freezing cold weather at a stupid-early time for one of the hilliest courses ever with all that ice out there. For those who did run it… kudos to you. I’ll bet the portaloos were fun on your bum first thing. Yikes!

Only 6 more weeks until Maui. Holy cow, I’m looking forward to some warmth! And I have a lot of work to do between now and then. My pace has come down quite a bit, and I’m aiming for a 15-minute PR in Maui = 3:15. Holiday season, ice, cold, snow or not… it’s time to get busy!

And how was your week?

Friday Five: Favorite Cold Weather Drinks

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Today I’m joining the DC Trifecta, Mar On The Run, You Signed Up For What?!, and Eat Pray Run DC, for their Friday Five Linkup. This week’s theme is your favorite cold weather drinks, but I’ll actually drink these anytime of the year if the mood suits me (because that’s how I roll, baby).

1. My all time favorite: Water!!

I’m from Arizona and learned at a very young age that water is the absolute best drink at any given time. I never go anywhere without a water bottle, and I always carry a purse big enough to fit a bottle inside. I’m not picky… good old tap water works for me. I’m one of those that drank out of a hose in the olden days and survived.

2. Hot black tea.

I don’t drink coffee, but my day doesn’t start without a cup of tea, or two. I do exactly 5 things before I have my tea which are totally routine driven so I don’t have to think about them, but if you threw in an extra task at me before I had my tea, I’d be like:

3. Chocolate Milk!

This is how I start the recovery process when I get back from my long runs. The longer the run, the bigger the glass and the more chocolate I put into the milk. Don’t judge… I earn every gram of sugar it gives me.

4. Moscato!

On Friday night, unless I have a race the next day, guaranteed a bottle of Moscato is being consumed by yours truly. So if you see a blog post from me on Saturday morning, be kind… it was the wine talking.

5. And last but not least, hot chocolate!

Okay, this one I’ll only drink in the winter, but I love making a big mug for myself and my son… with lots and lots of chocolate and lots and lots of marshmallows! Again, I’m in it for the sugar, what can I say!

Tomorrow James and I have the Redmond Turkey Trot. Afterwards we will go out to celebrate our success with a huge stack of pancakes and bacon!! (Oh yeah, I said it!!) What’s your race schedule this next week? Got any Turkey Trots planned? Any favorite cold weather drinks you’d like to share?

Never A Dull Bling

The trials and tribulations of a 40-something novice runner

Category Archives: Link up

WHAM!

Weekend Rambles

Weekend Wrap

Weekly Wrap

Thinking Out Loud Thursday

Weekly Wrap–Mukilteo Turkey Trot

Friday Five: Favorite Cold Weather Drinks

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