New Years Resolutions

1) Start a budget beginning on January 1. I want to get a feel for where all of our money is going and hopefully come up with a monthly amount I can spend (that the hubby agrees with). This will be my new Microsoft Excel project. Hopefully my workout log doesn't get jealous.

2) Try something new. I lost my Bikram Yoga virginity in 2009. I love it, and this year I want to give something else a try (maybe Crossfit?). I'll also count Shawna's Boot Camp or Masters Swimming in this category since I haven't done either in quite awhile.

3) Travel to Europe this summer with Cliff. We have NO CLUE how to begin researching and planning this adventure. Cruise? Fanny pack tour? No idea. Suggestions? We'll take 'em!

4) Stay on my running kick and become more committed. I have the 50K (my first "ultra") coming up in February. My next big goal is to break 4 hours in a marathon. I'm thinking about signing up for Houston (January 2011).

5) Get back to my "Operation Wedding Dress" weight (or close to it). I put the pounds back on very quicky after the wedding and have held steady since this summer. I'd like to lose 8-13 pounds.

6) Get a teaching job. I am taking one more class (January-May), and then I will be eligible to teach. So hopefully I can start in the Fall and see if I like it.

7) Buy better gifts. I am the gift card champ, and I felt really disappointed in my efforts this Christmas. I am going to make a list of ideas so I can write stuff down when I think of it. This year I want to give REAL presents instead of gift cards.

First Day in California

Pre-California: Saturday was my first ever attempt at back-to-back Bikram yoga sessions (90 minutes each), and I survived. Who knew I would actually sweat MORE during the second session (I thought at some point, I would run out of sweat). The second session actually went by fast, and I was in a bit of a haze. I grabbed a yummy Taos salad from Baker Brothers for lunch and headed home to give Gus a bath to get him ready for his trip to see Santa at Petsmart. I got him in my car and he pooped as soon as we backed out of the driveway. What a mess. So he had doggie timeout and I took a big, fat nap. No Santa visit for GusGus this year :( Cliff and Jordan went fishing on Saturday and caught their limit, so Cliff was happy (and Jordan was cold). The three of us and Leslie went to dinner at Outback. We were a little disappointed in the quality of the filet, but they were running a special where it was only a couple bucks extra to add lobster. We grabbed a drink at Fox and Hound and watched the end of the first half of the Cowboys game and then drove home. My flight was pretty early on Sunday, so I had to set the alarm for 6:45.

California: My parents picked me up at the Burbank airport and we went to Green Street for brunch. I got the cornucopia salad and the zucchini bread. After lunch, we relaxed at the house and I got my second nap in. I went for a short run (a whopping 2.18 miles), which was my first run since the marathon last Sunday. In the evening we went to dinner at Cafe Bizou, which was awesome. You can bring your own wine for a small corkage fee, and the food is amazing. I had the seared ahi tuna with sauteed spinach and two homemade mushroom raviolis. My brother and I went out last night to a club in Orange County. We managed to stay out until 1 am (3 am Texas time) thanks to sugar-free Red Bull. It was fun, although it got a little too crowded towards the end of the night.

I have a cardiologist appointment (check-up) this afternoon and then my brother and I are going to the Lady Gaga concert. Woohoo!

Thursday Thirteen

1. I feel like I have fully recovered from the marathon already. Maybe I’m just fooling myself, but I’ll take it. I was pretty sore on Monday (especially in my quads… I think that my posture gets bad when I get tired and I tend to hunch over and use my quads more than my hammies), but I had an AWESOME massage on Tuesday, and I’m good as new.

2. Grades were posted today and I got an “A” in my Financial Statement Analysis class. Woohoo!

3. I’m signed up for some accounting statistical design class for next semester. Although I still have parted with my $1,340, so there is still plenty of time to back out. However, I should be eligible to teach since I have 15 hours (and one more class would make 18 hours). So I should suck it up, I guess.

4. After two days off from working out, I hit the gym yesterday at lunch and rode 30 minutes on the stationary bike (I have a really good book!) and then lifted (arms) and did abs for 20 minutes. I did Bikram yoga this morning and boot camp at lunch. Hear me ROAAAARRR!

5. Boot camp is always a challenge for me. I don’t really have much leg strength, and I’m horrible at jumping because I’m such a slow-twitch person. Today was a good workout, and the only marathon effect I noticed was that the arches of my feet really hurt. Maybe I should try doing bootcamp without my custom orthodics?

6. The good news is, I’m not gaining weight. The bad news is, I’m not losing weight either. I’m up about 13 pounds from my lowest pre-wedding weight, but I’ve been staying there since this summer (and, believe it or not, I’m still about 5 pounds under my Ironman weight). I haven’t been nearly as strict with my eating or drinking, but I’ve been good about not falling off the wagon completely. It’s nice to enjoy my life and not log everything on FitDay and summarize my data in a spreadsheet. Wow, and I admit that to people?

7. I’m going fishing on Saturday with Cliff and Jordan (Cliff’s son/my bonus son). I have to buy a fishing license on Friday. Seriously.

8. This is going to remind me of my first Willingham camping adventure, where it was so cold that we woke up with ice on our tent. Good thing I can bust out the circa 1997 green Speedo jacket (oooh, and maybe even the circa 1997 bright blue nylon warm-up pants?).

9. I’m having some Crossfit curiosity. I want to give it a try, except that whole fear about my heart valve exploding kinid of lingers in the back of my mind (I had open heart surgery in 1989, and I’m not supposed to lift weights because of my leaky aorta & mitral valves… only I didn’t know that until a few years ago, after I had been lifting for about 13 years already).

10. I should be done with wedding present thank you notes (about a dozen to go) and Christmas cards (about 40 to go) by Saturday. Thank goodness. The next project (now that it’s taken me 6 months to write thank you notes) is to catch up on my photo album. I haven’t updated in since my birthday last year (July 4, 2008), so I’m about a year and a half behind, which includes wedding photos. I want to make a separate wedding album (or two) for the showers and receptions, and I also want to make an album for GusGus (I’m a proud parent!).

11. I leave for California on Sunday morning! I am so excited to see my family, have some fun, and see Lady Gaga! It’s definitely going to be a busy week. Hopefully I can get some workouts done. I would like to run and do Bikram yoga. I plan on letting my 24 Hour Fitness membership expire.

12. Cliff and I have started two new series, “The Mentalist” and “Extras.” We really like “The Mentalist” so far. I’m a big fan of Criminal Minds, and Cliff is not as big of a fan. “The Mentalist” reminds me of “Criminal Minds” since they are both centered on behavioral analysis. “Extras” is mildly entertaining. Ricky Gervais plays a character similar to the one he plays in the BBC’s The Office. It’s funny and un-PC, but sometimes it’s hard to decipher the English accents. I think Texas has ruined me.

13. We had an awesome date night last Friday. We had a few drinks at Dublin Square (the bar near our old apartment) and played Photo Hunt (which kind of reminds me of Bejeweled… I get stressed out and my eyes start to hurt). Then we hit up Saltgrass, and I tried to be good by ordering the smaller filet with veggies. But I ate a bunch of bread, we shared a bottle of wine, and then we ordered popcorn at the movie theater. The buttered popcorn came back to haunt both of us. But the movie, Blind Side, was excellent. I think I cried during at least half of the movie, but that could have been the rum ‘n diets and wine talking.

The White Rock Marathon

Expo – Wowzers. I bought 3 pairs of running shorts for $48 total. They were originally $40 and marked down to $14.50 or $18.50 each. Also, they had 5-pound bags of Science Diet dog food. So even GusGus was a winner! The logistics were good, and it didn’t take much time to park or get our bags and t-shirts.

Night Before – I met my friend Cami for an early dinner at Ravenna’s (an Italian restaurant I found on Urban Spoon). I ordered a penne dish with broccoli, sausage, garlic, and olive oil. It was pretty good (a little bland though – could have used a bit of a kick) and not too heavy. We shared a bottle of wine (and my rationale is that I was consistent with how I prepared for my long runs!). Maureen and I stayed at The Fairmont Hotel, which was really nice. We got our race outfits ready and went to bed at about 9:30. I slept pretty well except for my cough, and I downed some cough syrup at 4:00 am and slept until 5:30 am.

Morning Of – I felt a little groggy in the morning (probably from the Nyquil hangover). Once I got moving and had a small cup of coffee, I felt better. We left the hotel at 6:15, got to the parking lot by 6:30, and sat in the car until 7. Fortunately we made our way to the race site early because the port-o-potty line took about 30 minutes. I came prepared with my TP (thanks to my runny nose). We walked over to the start line and had about 10 minutes until the gun went off. We were on our feet for an hour before the race, and I need to be careful of that before future long races.

Corrals – This is the first time I’ve been seeded in a corral. Since Maureen’s goal was 5 hours, we both entered 5 hours as our estimated finish time (or best time, can’t remember). We were seeded in Corral E, the very last corral. We noticed quite a few people who did not look like “runners” who were in Corral A. They need to do a better job with how they seed the half marathon people. Maureen and I happened to fall into a spot in Corral D (sneaky, sneaky) but it still took 11 minutes after the gun went off to cross the start line. We passed quite a few people, including overweight ladies who were walking the entire half marathon (and that is a great accomplishment, but they need to seed these people BEHIND the runners). Lesson learned: enter a faster best time (or estimated finish time).

The Race – There was a lot of congestion with 20,000 runners. Everyone (half marathoners, relay participants, and full marathoners) ran together for 7 miles until the half marathoners split off. Maureen and I averaged 11-minute pace for those first 7 miles. Then we sped up to 10:20 pace once things thinned down at mile 7, and that felt comfortable. We split 2:21 at the half, and we both admitted to hurting. We figured we could finish in 4:45 though. At around mile 15, Maureen hit the wall. She was pretty happy when I had to go to the bathroom and she got a walk break. I was feeling really good at this point, and I sped ahead to the nearest port-a-potty. Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for her) there was no line, so it only took me a few minutes (I’ll leave the details out – you’re welcome). The next few miles were tough. Maureen was doubting herself and our pace slowed down significantly. This was what hurt me the most, because it was really hard for me to try to adjust my stride to slow down that much. We slowed down to 13-something for a mile, and our slowest mile was 15:35. That was the low point. Then we agreed to run to the Dolly Parton hills and then we would walk/run up the hills. I was trying to discourage Maureen from walking, especially because she might be the slowest walker ever (she is only 4’11”, so I should try to be more sympathetic because I know my legs are twice as long). At mile 20, we ran (an easy jog that hurt like hell after running that slow in the middle portion). Maureen didn’t want to walk at all (so she didn’t even grab water at the aid stations) because she knew she wouldn’t be able to run again. So we ran continuously (fortunately I can drink while running), and it was about an 11:20 pace. That was a very difficult six miles for me, but we made it. We were very close to Maureen’s goal of breaking 5 hours. Our Garmins and my watch both said 5:02 or 5:03, but our official time was 5:05:12 (not exactly sure where those extra 2-3 minutes came from, but no big deal).

Aftermath – We had to sit down afterwards (I know that was a bad idea, but the two of us were beat up pretty badly). Finally we got up to find the TNT booth and go to our car. Maureen could barely walk, so it took quite awhile. We ate a yummy PB&J at the TNT booth and then had to ask two different Dallas PD trainees for directions to our car. I dropped Maureen off and went home to my boys. One of them really enjoyed all of the salt on my legs. I got in my swimsuit and got waist-deep in our freezing cold pool (easy ice bath). I only lasted about 10 minutes, because I was afraid I might lose a toe. I took a nice, hot shower and then relaxed on the couch and watched the Cowboys game. I had cottage cheese and a frozen meal to hold me over until dinner (Domino’s pizza and Chardonnay… dinner of champions!) and Cliff gave me an awesome foot massage. I actually feel pretty normal now. I remember after the Las Vegas marathon (where I ran my best time of 4:16), I had to brace myself to go to the bathroom by placing my hands on the floor in order to squat down. It was baaaaad. I can move relatively easily today, except my quads get pretty sore when I get up after I have been sitting for a long time.

The Future – I am excited for the 50K on February 27. It will be my first “ultra,” and I am doing a good job (knock wood) of staying injury-free. I think I can hold a steady 10:20 pace and run the whole 31 miles (with a little walking through the aid stations… I think that walking cuts down on the amount of air I gulp while drinking water). I have a massage tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to that. I think I should be able to run again in a few days. Hopefully I will find the time to do yoga a couple times this week to help stretch out my crazy tight legs.

Catching up before Sunday's Marathon

Upcoming Marathon - The White Rock Marathon is this Sunday at 8 am in Dallas. Originally I was pretty excited and nonchalant about it since I'm pacing my friend, Maureen, and her original goal was to break 5 hours. I thought this would be a great training run for the 50K coming up in a couple months. Now she's talking 4:30 (aiming for 10:30 pace for the first hour and then picking it up to 10:15 pace for the remainder of the race), and I'm realizing I'm going to need to put forth a considerable amount of effort given that my best time is 4:16. Both of us have been sick (I've been battling a nagging cough and chest congestion for over two weeks and Maureen has a cold), so we are trying our best to get healthy. I'm a little concerned that my longest run was only 16 miles, but I have also done a better job with injury prevention this time around. I've realized that Paquette Feet were not made for marathons or ultras, so my footsies need some routine TLC. The custom orthodics have helped, and I've also seeing Dr. Brian and Dr. Dukes for some ART and crackage. I love that thing they do where they pull my foot away from my ankle. That pop is heavenly, and I get such a sense of accomplishment from it. I saw Cynthia for a massage on Monday, and she mostly worked on my back (my "dorsal fin") and legs. I have another massage scheduled for Tuesday to help speed along the marathon recovery.

A Little Nostalgia - White Rock was my very first marathon six years ago. I was out in 2:07 (9:36 pace), back in 2:24 (11:04 pace), resulting in a total time of 4:30:37 (10:02 pace).

School - My final exam was last night and it was much harder than expected. The mid-term was a breeze and only took me about 30 minutes. The final took about an hour and 20 minutes, and I probably should have spent more time on it but my brain was fried. I had the highest midterm grade (92 + 4 point curve), so I'm assuming that if I thought the exam was hard, then other people probably had a tough time as well. He gave us a list of ratios to memorize for computations, and I think most of us assumed that we didn't need to memorize the other ratios (which he ended up asking about in the theoretical questions rather than the computational questions). I have one more class to take in order to have my 18 hours of graduate accounting to be eligible to teach a college class. Right now I'm signed up for an accounting statistical design class for the spring semester. It's on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4-5:20. The good news is I will get home earlier, but the bad news is I have an extra drive home from Arlington each week. I haven't paid the money ($1340 + books for ONE class... EEEEEK... remember when public schools were cheap?) yet, so there is still time to back out and be a slacker.

Dumpster Diving - I turned in my exam and then the professor asked us if any of us knew this one girl in our class, who happened to be one of my group members for our project. He claimed that she left with her exam, so he asked me to call her. I tracked down her number on my email (hooray iPhone), gave her a ring, and freaked her out. She said she threw away her notes in the trash can outside the building. Since she was on her way home, yours truly volunteered to go through the trash can... and it was one of those with the small opening at the top. Fortunately her stack of papers was at the top and not too many people witnesses this incident. I went through the papers, and her exam was not there. The teacher threatened to give her a 0 if she didn't turn in the exam, so I called her back and told her she needed to come back to campus. She might have put her exam with the written computation part of the final, and sure enough, it was there. So if I'm between an A and a B in this class, the professor better remember my act of kindness.

California!!! - I'm going home to California December 20-27. It's going to be a busy week... going out with my brother on Sunday night, cardiologist appointment on Monday, Lady Gaga concert on Monday night, drinks with friends on Tuesday, Christmas Eve with the extended family on Thursday, Christmas with the immediate family on Friday, and the Rose Bowl Reunion (and I guess maybe my 10-Year High School Reunion if the Rose Bowl Reunion doesn't pan out) on Saturday night. I found a Bikram studio in Pasadena, so hopefully I can sweat out some of the holiday goodies.

A Running Update

Wow, it has been awhile since I have blogged. Since I started this mainly for "triathlon" purposes, I thought I'd give a running update first. I have a marathon coming up on December 13. I'm pacing Maureen, my HUD BFF, to break 5 hours at White Rock. Then I have my first "ultra," the Cowtown 50K (31 miles) on February 27.

I wanted to run 20 miles on Saturday, but I knew that was a lofty goal considering I hadn't run long the weekend before, and I did 10 miles two previous weekends ago. Shawna and I met on the Trinity and ran 10 miles together (I averaged 9:53, which I was happy with) and ended up stopping at Panera and getting coffee. So the next morning I did the same route by myself. I negative split (out in 10:04 average, back in 9:33 average) and ran almost a minute faster than Saturday. So I was very pleased with that. On Monday I ran 5 miles with Kit at lunch. That route has some hills since we have to go a mile on 7th Street each way to hit the Trinity Trail. We were aiming for an easy run, and we averaged 9:19 (and it actually did feel pretty easy). I ran 6 miles by myself at lunch yesterday and averaged 9:27 pace. So I am very pleased with the mileage I have put in over the past 4 days, and my feet seem to be holding up well. Now I am going under 10's with relative ease, so I think my fitness is improving.

My goal this weekend is to do a longer run (like 16 miles or so) on Saturday morning. I will probably slow it down a bit (maybe 10:15-10:30 pace). I know most people get up to 20 before a marathon, but that tends to make my feet angry. I learned a lot training for Surf City last year (and injuring myself while getting up to 20 miles and not getting to race), so I am trying to play it smarter this season. Also, I have been trying to do Bikram Yoga twice a week, and the stretching seems to play a big role in injury prevention.

Thursday Thirteen on Friday

1. I am finally getting back into a good workout routine after a few weeks. Once things calmed down a bit after my midterm last Thursday night, I lifted for 50 minutes on Friday, ran 5.25 miles on Saturday, did yoga on Sunday, ran 5 miles and swam 4500 yards on Monday, and swam 4000 yards on Tuesday. On Wednesday I did 30 minutes of weights, 15 minutes on the stair climber, and yoga. Yesterday my HUD friend, Maureen, and I ran 6 miles during our lunch break. Gorgeous weather!

2. After my lovely 6-mile run with Maureen, I made the impulsive decision to sign up for the White Rock marathon in December and pace Maureen to break 5 hours!

3. I had a bunch of stuff to tell Cliff, so we decided to hit up Railhead after work for some beers and barbeque. We got 4 tickets for Budweiser beers. Too bad I had class and we wasted three of the free beers :(

4. I'm not a huge fan of dark beers, but the Budweiser Ziegenbach was pretty tasty. Why is it that I like all of the Bud varieties like Bud Light Lime, Bud Light Golden Wheat, and Ziegenbach, but I don't like Bud Light? Hmmmm....

5. Somehow I still convinced myself to go to class after three scooners of ice cold beer. I am still patting myself on the back for that.

6. Yesterday I got on Ticketmaster the minute the presale started and purchased Lady Gaga tickets for my brother and I. I am going home to California December 20-27, and the concert is on December 21 in Los Angeles. I had a hard time finding available tickets. I couldn't get the orchestra pit (standing room only, $79) or the orchestra seating ($59), but I got center seats in the first main level. They were only $29 + fees... like $84 total for 2 tickets. Heck yeah!

7. I had gone 2.5 weeks without lifting. After some good workouts on Friday and Wednesday, I am hurting in a good way. Usually I do 2 sets of 25 reps (I try to lift light since I’m not supposed to be lifting at all with my leaky heart valves), but I did 3 sets of 15 reps a little heavier yesterday and I am really feeling it.

8. My plan today is to swim during my lunch break and do yoga at 5:00.

9. I have a nice, relaxing evening planned. I hope to get to bed early tonight so I can dominate on my long run tomorrow. My friend Jill is running 20 miles, so I am meeting her after she runs 6 and we are going to run 14 together.

10. My orthodics make my feet smile. It will be interesting to see how my feet hold up after 14 miles since I've only been running 5-6 max in the new orthodics. But I have high hopes.

11. I'm heading to Ardmore on Saturday with GusGus to go camping with Cliff's family. I'm not a huge fan of camping, but at least the weather will be nice.

12. Cliff bought us a 9 x 9 tent, so we can fit our queen-sized air mattress and GusGus's bed. Camping fun for the whole family!

13. I'm still waiting to hear about the supervisory position I applied for at work. Our Director received the applications from HR this week, so hopefully I will have an interview soon. So cross your fingers and toes for me!

Last Weekend

After a busy weekend with my parents (Friday night - Tuesday morning) and a midterm* on Thursday night, it was nice to have a relaxing weekend with Cliff. I coached Water Works 2 on Friday and then Cliff and I vegged and watched Dexter and had Subway for dinner. It was a chill (and cheap!) night. I coached masters practice on Saturday morning and then did a 5-mile run in Benbrook and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Cliff and I watched the Texas/OU game on TV and then took a nice, long nap. In the evening we went to my friend Brandon's wedding reception. We didn't know what to expect on 820 (since the traffic is normally bad), so we got there early and stopped at Cantina Laredo for a drink. Then we went to the party at their house, and their house was absolutely amazing. We didn't know anyone (until we saw Mikey and LeeAnn), so it was fun to just kick back and enjoy after all of our wedding stuff where we were more stressed out. The food and wine were incredible. If we didn't have the drive home to deal with, we definitely would have stayed longer.

We slept in until 10 on Sunday, which I totally needed. Then we met Stacy, Kona, and Molly at the dog park. Cliff hadn't been before, and I don't think he'll be going back. Gus is a little difficult because all he wants to do is lick the ladies, so he is kind of annoying to the other dogs. Also, we get scared that he'll escape because he likes to chase cars. There are two sets of gates (in case a dog gets out the first one), and Gus snuck out the first one a couple times when other owners and their dogs were leaving. It is nice for Gus to be able to run around without his leash on though. I have to keep him on the leash at bulldog play date since it's so close to University Drive (with lots of cars) and the space is not confined. It will be a lot easier once he gets fixed though, because he is like a dirty teenaged boy right now. We are thinking about breeding him, and I think we have to wait about 6 more months. He's coming up on his first birthday (November 4)! Sunday afternoon was productive. I did the grocery shopping, wrote a few thank you notes, and did yoga at 5:00. I threw together some lowfat turkey chili dogs for dinner and we watched some TV (hooray Desperate Housewives).

*I left my house in Fort Worth at 5:45 and my class at UT Arlington started at 7:00. I figured that would allow me about 20-30 minutes to pick up my Scantron from Amy and do a bit of last minute cramming. Well there was a huge accident on I-20, and the electronic sign said that the 3 right lanes were closed at Bowman. No cars were moving, so I made the quick decision to exit on 287 North and take that to 30 East. So I was freaking out a bit, but there was no traffic on 287. However, I didn't realize that there is only a 30 West (and not a 30 East) exit from 287, so I ended up on the side streets downtown. I called Cliff (pretty hysterical) and he told me to get back on 30 the same way I used to get on 35 North to get to our apartment. I figured that out pretty quickly and bolted down I-30. When I exited Cooper, I sent Amy another text and let her know that I should be arriving in the parking lot (where she had a spot saved for me and my Scantron) at 7:00. Then the arms for the train came down, and I got stuck waiting for the train. At that point I just had to laugh. I ended up getting to class at 7:10. I felt really rude disrupting everyone, but I tried my best to get there on time. Fortunately I still had plenty of time to take the exam, and I apologized to my professor when I turned in my test and explained what had happened. Yesterday I looked at the course web site, and I got the highest score (92) on the exam. The class (about 60 people) average was 71, and the low was 44. So maybe I should be late more often!

Mom and Dad's Trip to Tejas

My parents visited the weekend before last (and, yes, I am a little behind on my blogging). I think they really just wanted to spend time with GusGus though. I picked them up at the airport on Friday night and the three of us stopped at Rio Mambo in Colleyville. I love seafood with my Mexican dishes, and Rio Mambo has some stellar seafood enchiladas. We also indulged in two grande margaritas (which my brother managed to consume all by himself when he visited!). It was nice to have a little time alone with my parents to catch up.

On Saturday we took GusGus for a walk (his normal 0.7-mile loop) and then walked my 5K run course. My mom was in heaven with all of the “for sale” flyers. After burning a couple hundred calories, we went to Cracker Barrel with Cliff and Jordan to pack on the pounds. I got my new favorite, chicken and dumplings. It’s a huge carb fest when I eat there. I had biscuits, cornbread, hash brown casserole, corn, and macaroni and cheese in addition to my main course. YIKES! It was so yummy though, and I rarely eat “comfort food” like that. I squeezed in a short nap, and then we left for Jamie’s surprise 30th birthday party. Dana, the Kizers, and the MacCurdys did a great job putting everything together. It was a feast, and it was great to catch up with Jamie’s family. Jamie was surprised too, so it was a success!

Our Family and Roy and Linda Kizer (Dana's Parents)


On Sunday my parents and I took GusGus to Fort Woof and met up with Shawna, Stacy, and Aaron Patel (and their respective dogs). It was nice to let Gus off the leash (at Bulldog Play Date I have to keep him on the leash so he doesn’t chase cars on University), and he ran around like crazy (and, of course, licked the ladies!). His favorite was a 1 year-old beagle named Lady. After wearing Gus out, we went to Kincaids for a burger and fries with Cliff and Jordan. The day was filled with even more food adventures. We opened the 3L bottle of Syrah that I won at the Team in Training silent auction. I think the wine was bad, but my Dad rose to the occasion and drank it (but the rest of us switched over to the trusty Macaroni Grill Chianti and Chardonnay). Cliff, Leslie, my parents, and I went to dinner at Sardine’s. Usually it is one of our favorite restaurants, but we had some of the worst service ever. At least the food was good and we were able to laugh about the horrible waitress.

Dog Madness (if you look closely, you can see GusGus following Lady)


My Dad and His New Best Friend


We were thinking about going to the Fair on Monday, but the weather was pretty cruddy all weekend. So Monday was low-key, and we grabbed sandwiches at Which Wich and saw the movie “The Informant” with Matt Damon. I coached Water Works 2 in the evening and missed family happy hour, but we grabbed our last meal together at Railhead so my parents could have some quality Texas barbeque before they left on Tuesday morning.

Thursday Thirteen

1. My week has been thrown out of whack. Normally I go into the office on Mondays and Thursdays, but this week I'm going in on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

2. Wednesday was our year-end (the federal government's fiscal year in October 1 - September 30), so I needed to close out some of my old referrals (and I went 4 for 5 on that!).

3. Cliff and I are leaving for Shreveport on Friday after his dentist appointment. We got a fairly decent deal on a hotel through Priceline, and we wanted to do a weekend away together (and play blackjack).

4. Which reminds me, I'm supposed to be "studying basic strategy." Cliff reminds me of this, repeatedly.

5. I get an hour of admin leave this week, so I'm using that on Friday. Another thing to look forward to!

6. I ran 5 miles outside (7th Street - Trinity - 7th Street) after work yesterday. For some reason it was so incredibly hard and I was 3 minutes slower than last week. I think running after lunch is a no-no for me. I wanted to vomit.

7. But lunch was really good. Cliff and I went to Corner Bakery and I did the combo with a tomato and mozzarella sandwich and lentil soup.

8. Before we went to Cantina Laredo for dinner, we grabbed a few beers (and free peanuts!) at Billy Miner's. It's funny how that used to be the place to go downtown. They have great drink specials, and the draft beers were $2.

9. The Team in Training dinner was definitely a success. I looked at their tally sheet, and it said 101. Coincidentally, they needed 100 people to show up to receive 10% of the total sales for the night.

10. Cliff and I sat with my friend Maureen (my friend from work... pretty much my only friend from work!) and her husband Jessie. It was a lot of fun, and it was good to find another couple to hangout with.

11. Maybe it was the run/beer/wine combo, but I decided to bid on a 3-L bottle of 1999 Shiraz. I did the minimum bid of $50 and won. Also, I Cliff bid $70 on a toaster oven. Someone else bid $75, so I stepped in and bid $80 and crushed someone's toaster oven dreams (I talked to them later, and they did seem a little sad about losing the bid. I even told them they could buy it!). I bid $30 on a gift basket that included a $50 Academy gift card, but apparently someone outbid me on that.

12. I'm saving the wine for the weekend after next (when my parents are here). I'm hoping it's still good, because I noticed later that the wax on the top (covering the cork) had peeled open. Hmmmm... Well, if it's not good, at least it will be a cute decoration in our bar.

13. I have had some major Hobby Lobby frustration. Leslie and I went there last Friday and picked out a whole set-up for the mantel. We wanted two big glass hurricane candle holders, and the only two they had were chipped. They said they had more in the back and they would call me. It turns out that is not a normal shipped item, and they can't order more. I tried a different store, and they didn't have them either. Then we picked out three big frames, and the guy told us to come back this week because they were 50% off. Well it turns out they were really 50% off the week we were there (not this week), so now I have to wait until next week when they are back on sale. So now we just have a few random things (like the fillers for the glass candle holders) and none of the major things that we need. My parents gave Cliff and I money as a housewarming present last year, and I've barely used it. My mom is going to be disappointed if I can't pull something together before they get here next weekend!

Running Progress

I got my orthodics last week, and I have done several 2-mile runs with them as well as some walks with GusGus and a little time at the gym. So I am slowly getting used to them. It feels weird having so much support under my arches, but they should really help me long-term.

On Sunday morning I did a 10-mile run by myself at 6 am and then went to yoga for 90 minutes. That was a great workout for me, and I felt better on the run than I did 2 weeks ago when I ran 9 miles with (or, rather, behind) Shawna and Derek. My pace was still just over 10 minutes, but I think that is indicative of me being out of running shape. I did a 2-miler yesterday around my hilly neighborhood at 9:10 pace, so that was a little faster than what I have been going. Last week I also did two 5-mile runs, a treadmill run and a group lunchtime run. The group run went very well, and we averaged about 9:20 pace (and I felt great). Last week I did just over 20 miles. The week before was very low mileage because I didn't get a long run in. The week before that was just over 20 miles. So I think I putting in a fairly decent base given that my 50K is not until February. I was planning on running 12 miles on Saturday morning, but Cliff and I decided to go to Shreveport for the weekend. So I will try to squeeze in a couple 5-6 milers and maybe get a long run done before my parents arrive on Friday, October 9. It seems like there is so much going on right now.

Night Out on the Town

I haven't been posting much lately since Farmville (Facebook application) has pretty much taken over my life! Cliff went to Ardmore last weekend to see Jordan, so Leslie and I had a girl's night out on Friday. Both of us had been wanting to try Eddie V's, so I made reservations for 8:00. We got all fancied up and had an awesome dinner.

We started with a Spa-tini (vodka, contreau, pineapple juice, cucumber, and maybe something else?) and shared a bottle of Caymus Conundrum (perhaps the best white wine ever... love it). We shared the Iceberg Wedge with Buttermilk-Blue Cheese Dressing (Maytag Blue Cheese, Red and Gold Tomatoes, Red Onion and Chives) before dinner. I ordered a half of two separate dishes, the Crab Stuffed Colossal Shrimp (Grilled with Lemon Butter and Chive Vinaigrette) and the Broiled Jumbo Georges Bank Sea Scallops (Wrapped in Bacon and Broiled with a Tomato-Basil Butter Sauce). Leslie ordered the Swordfish Steak (Broiled with Fresh Jonah Crab, Avocado and Red Chile Vinaigrette). We also got half orders of Truffled Macaroni and Cheese Creamed Spinach Almondine. Dinner was heavenly. I will probably take my parents there when they come the weekend of October 10. After dinner we hit up Capital Bar and Seventh Haven, which is the first time I had been to either.

Thursday Thirteen

1. My “check engine” light came on yesterday afternoon just as I was pulling in to the yoga studio. So now my car is in the shop, and I’m going to have to drive Cliff’s new F-150 to class tonight. That makes me (and him) SCARED. The mechanic just called, and the “check engine” light was caused by “fuel vapors” (aka I need my gas cap replaced). No big deal, except I need a new timing belt (I have 127,000 miles on my car) and two brushings for the front suspension. So now I am out $1,200, and I had to make the hasty decision to keep my car for another two years to make my investment worthwhile.

2. I’ve had a pretty good workout/healthy eating week so far. I’m trying to rebound from last weekend’s dinners at Sardine’s (Italian food) and Railhead (BBQ). That being said, I plan to completely blow it on Saturday while tailgating at the TCU game (did someone say sweet tea vodka and Crystal Light?).

3. Last Saturday I ran 9 miles at 6:10 am with Shawna and Derek and then did Bikram yoga from 8:00-9:30 with Shawna and Amy (and the TCU Men’s Golf Team). It was a good way to start the weekend, and I am doing a repeat performance this Saturday.

4. My feet are a little sore, and I’m waiting for my orthodics to arrive. I ran 21 miles last week (including 9 miles on Saturday), and so far I have only done one run (4 miles this morning) so far this week. I’m trying to rest my feet and prevent further injury while building up some sort of running base.

5. Our wedding announcement (and picture of the TCU grads in Mexico) is on page 62 of the current issue of the TCU Magazine (GO FROGS!).

6. I downloaded the Farmville Facebook application yesterday, since it looked like I was missing out on the farming party. I’m in the office today (no Facebook), and I’m going through withdrawals and wanting to harvest something.

7. Since I creepily stalk people on Twitter who don’t know me, I realized that it’s college recruiting season and it has been a DECADE since I went on my recruit trips (sorry if you read my Facebook status and I’m repeating myself). It’s crazy how time flies. It doesn’t seem like that long ago, but so much has happened.

8. I applied for a supervisory position at work. I overnight mailed my application (5 essays) and resume on Monday. I think there were only a few of us who applied. I have only worked here for a year though, and I’m up against people in their 40s with a lot more experience than me. So it will be a good experience to apply and hopefully interview, but I will understand if I don’t get it. I would have to give up my telework schedule (working from home 3 days a week) and come into the office every day, but I would be making more cash money.

9. My Financial Statement Analysis class at UTA is going well. I’m still a little behind on my reading and homework, but not too much considering I missed the honeymoon week. The class seems to involve a lot of busy work, but so far it is just basic accounting (honestly I had to draw T-accounts on my Chapter 2 homework!).

10. I’m going to the Pink concert next Wednesday. After her VMA performance, I’m even more excited to see her sing upside-down from a flying trapeze!

11. The 3 x 1500’s on Monday followed by a shorter kicking and sprinting workout with Kristin on Tuesday made me miss masters swimming. I’m trying to decide what I want to do. I hate paying for a million different workout options. Right now I have yoga ($155 for a 10-day pass), 24-Hour Fitness (I prepaid for the year, and I think it amounted to $25/month), and the federal gym ($27/month).

12. I start coaching again next week (Brian’s group on Monday and Tuesday at Lockheed), and then I’ll be in the every Monday routine at TCC starting the following week (October 5). It will be fun to see the kids again and make a little spending money, but I’m thinking that I over-extended myself with school and coaching. I don’t know how I used to take 2-3 MBA classes and work full-time. One class right now is a beating, and it’s not even a very tough class.

13. I realize now that I have A LOT of dreams about my dog. Is that normal? I tend to have a lot of dreams in general though. I guess it’s a nice break from the normal swimming dreams.

Swim Workout - 3 x 1500's

I swam with Kristin twice in August and I hadn't swum at all in September. So of course I thought, "hey, why not swim 3 x 1500's on Monday?!" I hadn't even noticed the paragraph in Chuck's email, and then Mike Yates posted something on Tricowtown. I figured some of the triathlete crowd would show up, but I think the weather was a big deterrent. There were about 3 of us who started the set, and I was the only one who finished (so Papa Chuck and I had some bonding time at the end when I was the only one left in the pool!). The other five or so people did a different set of 10 x 200's. I was surprised that the 1500's actually went by fairly fast, especially since I didn't have anyone to race. My pace was not very fast by any means, but I am totally out of swimming shape. I was happy with my effort and the slight descension. The interval was 1-minute rest, so I went on 25:00. The total yardage for the day was 5,500 meters (long course), which included an 800 warm-up and a 200 warm-down.

Results:
#1 - 23:55
#2 - 23:46
#3 - 23:42

Splits on #3:
1:30
1:36
1:34
1:35
1:35
1:36
1:36
1:36
1:36
1:36
1:36
1:35
1:35
1:35
1:31

Honeymoon Stingray Excursion

In the Grand Cayman Islands, we decided to do the Stingray Sandbar & Coral Reef excursion. Definitely a good call! We figured they would take us out to some touristy pond with a bunch of stingrays (that wouldn’t have the actual stingers). But if turned out, we were out in the ocean water (about 30 minutes off-shore) with them (AND their stingers!). I was a little nervous when I heard about the stingers, but I figured if hundreds of people did this every day, it couldn’t be too dangerous. The stingrays are actually pretty friendly, but that is probably because they know the tourists come baring squid! Cliff and I fed a stingray and Cliff got a little “love bite” on his thumb. Our excursion guy told him it was his souvenir. We also got to hold a stingray, give her a kissykissy, and get a “back massage.” After about 30 minutes, we got in the boat for another 5 minutes and headed over to the coral reef to snorkel and see more fish. The ocean was absolutely beautiful… whitish soft sand and light blue-green water that you could see right through. We definitely want to go back to the Caymans!

Back Massage


KissyKissy!


Cliff Showin' Some Love


Our New BFF


Fishies

Let the Honeymoon Festivities Begin!

*Honeymoon*
We are going to take off for Houston tomorrow morning at about 9 am. We're going to have lunch with Diane (a good friend of mine from TCU) and her baby, Andrew. Then we're going to stay the night in Kemah (Cliff has never been). Our cruise takes off on Sunday morning. We're stopping in Montego Bay (Jamaica), the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel. Hopefully the weather isn't too bad... although it's not looking great at the moment. I have only been on one cruise (Hawaii when I was 8, so that doesn't even really count). It will be really nice to get away and have some relaxing time to ourselves. I bought some cute new clothes in Tulsa last weekend, so I am ready!

*School*
I didn't have time for my Thursday Thirteen since I realized that getting enrolled in a class at UTA was more difficult than, let's say, walking on the moon. The good news is, everything finally worked out and I enrolled in Financial Statement Analysis. The bad news is, tuition + parking + books set me back $1600. YIKES! I swear that when I got my MBA in 2005-2006, classes were about half that price. I don't remember out-of-state tuition (which I had to pay my first year at UTA since I was technically a CA resident) even costing that much. So yesterday I headed over to Arlington after I got off work at 4:30. My class didn't start until 7:00, but I had to buy my books, and I didn't know what to expect in terms of traffic and parking. Everything went pretty smoothly, and I passed some time at the largest Subway I had ever seen (and ate a healthy dinner!). I got to class a few minutes early, and I heard some people talking about how the professor would keep us until 10:00 (class technically goes from 7-9:50) and we would really have to pay attention because the test material isn't very obvious. I should have known to take this advice with a grain of salt, because then I watched kids type the PowerPoint notes (which are available on the internet) on their laptops. What a waste. The material doesn't sound like it is going to be that tough, but we will see. It sounds like a mix of accounting, financing, and investing. We have a group project, and we already split up in teams. But the good news is that the project only counts for 5% of our grade. We ended up getting out of class at 9:00, so I was happy about that. Plus we managed to avoid the downpour. So now I need to get cracking on some homework, especially since I'll miss next week's class because of the honeymoon.

*Workouts*
It has been quite a hodgepodge lately, but I like it. I do Bikram yoga 2-3 times per week, I have been slowly increasing my running (I did 2 x 3-mile runs last week and a 5-mile and 3-mile run so far this week), I get a good swim workout in occasionally with Kristin (she is doing the Maui Channel swim in September, so she has written us two good distance workouts), and I also do some lifting and cardio (elliptical, stairmaster, etc.). Melissa and I took a spin class in Tulsa on Saturday morning, and that was a nice change of pace.

*YIKES!*
I took the plunge and signed up for the Cowtown 50K (31 miles) in February. I wanted to run the Vegas marathon, but my anterior tibia problems have not gone away. February seems far enough out, and I won't be out a bunch of money. I need to be a little more careful now that I have to shell out over $3,000 for these two classes (one in the Fall, one in the Spring). I have never done an "Ultra" before, so I thought this would be a good goal. I would like to run the whole thing at a nice, easy pace. Hopefully I won't have to walk, but completion is my main goal.

*Weight*
I'm still stuck in the high 150's/low 160's. And I'm fully expecting to creep up to the upper 160's during the cruise. But I have accepted that, and I'm ready to hit it hard when I get home. I have been working out consistently, but my diet has been hit-and-miss. When I get home, I'm going to start recording my food in FitDay and following my calorie count and ratios (which is how I lost 15 pounds before the wedding).

Thursday Thirteen

1. I’m heading to Tulsa tomorrow to visit Melissa and see her new house. Somehow we got tickets (box seats?!) to the Lil’ Wayne concert. That should be interesting.

2. I’ve done two 3-mile runs this week. I know it’s nothing to brag about, but it’s better than nothing. This is my first week of “marathon training.” I had a 5-mile tempo run (3 miles @ 8:39) and a 6-mile easy run, but I am modifying my schedule since I still have shin and foot problems.

3. I got a massage last night and when she got to the side of my shin near my right ankle, I nearly hit the ceiling. So something is going on there. I’m just not sure what!

4. I have a lifetime protection plan on my engagement & wedding rings. I have to take them to Zales every 6 months to get them checked. I finally got around to going last night, and there were 6 diamonds loose in my wedding ring and additional diamonds loose in my engagement ring. Yikes! So now I’m without my rings for a few days, and my finger feels naked.

5. Subway has a (fairly) new chicken salad sub on their 7 grams of fat or less menu. It is a great summer sandwich. They need to start mixing the tuna with low-fat mayonnaise as well. I still need to try a Subway breakfast sandwich. Cliff got one on flatbread awhile back and said it was pretty tasty.

6. I am in love with Target’s workout clothes. I bought a skort, a dryfit tank, and a pair of running shoes a few weeks ago. I managed to squeeze in another field trip yesterday and I got another pair of running shorts, two dryfit tanks, and a pair of mesh shorts.

7. I am still in love with Bikram yoga. I went to class on Sunday afternoon with Stacy, and then I went at 3:00 on Tuesday by myself. I was trying to use my 10-day pass before the honeymoon, but I have only gone 5 times so far (and 2 times before I bought the pass).

8. We leave for Houston in just over a week! Honeymoon time! Our cruise departs on Sunday, August 30. We still need to book some excursions, so if you have any recommendations for Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, and/or Cozumel, let us know!

9. BFF dinner tonight at Central Market! And by “dinner,” I really mean “bottles of wine.”

10. I had a great swim workout with Kristin and Heidi last Friday (although I haven’t swum since!). Our warm-up set was 7 x 100’s pull with #3, 5, and 7 fast. Then our main set was 1 x 400, 1 x 100, 1 x 300, 2 x 100’s, 1 x 200, 3 x 100’s, 1 x 100, 4 x 100’s. We pulled the first swim of each group and then the 100’s were fast. My times were nothing to brag about (1:17-1:19 short course meters), but Kristin and I raced and pushed each other.

11. My parents are visiting the weekend of October 10, and my brother is visiting the weekend of November 7. Busy, busy!

12. I should have done the HR masters program at UTA. Because apparently you are not required to answer your phone if you work in HR, and I think I would be an absolute superstar.

13. What would a Thursday Thirteen posting be without me b*tching about my weight? J Well, I have some good momentum going. I am at 158, which is up 8 from my pre-wedding low of 150. But I definitely feel like I can hit the low 150’s before our cruise. I want to be able to fit into my cute new clothes without a big muffin top hanging out!

Thursday Thirteen

1) I am pretty much obsessed with Bikram Yoga. I tried it out for the first time on Saturday morning with Stacy and Dee. I was a little scared trying something new and out of my comfort zone, but it was a great workout and I felt AWESOME afterwards.

2) Since I'm an all-or-nothing kind of girl, I have been five days in a row (Saturday morning, Sunday afternoon, Monday morning, Tuesday morning, and Wednesday afternoon). I bought a 10-day pass for $155 (a slight discount versus paying $20 per session) which expires after 40 days. I'll have to use it before the honeymoon, but I don't think that will be a problem.

3) I never knew I could sweat so much and actually feel CLEAN afterwards.

4) My weight is still annoying me. I am still in the upper 150's, with an occasional slip into the low 160's. I was looking at wedding pictures yesterday, and I looked a lot better in the low 150's. I have been working on my diet, exercise, and drinking, but I haven't been logging my food like I did from January-May. I'm hoping that yoga will give me a little boost since it's something new.

5) I am done with club coaching and private lessons. I've got to say that this flexible schedule is pretty nice! I took a nap during my Tuesday telework lunch break, Leslie and I did a 5K walk yesterday, and I am meeting Kristin and Heidi for a swim tomorrow. And now I don't have to work from 8:45-5:15 on MWF. I went to yoga on Monday morning and did some weights at the gym after work. It is really nice to have more flexibility with my schedule.

6) I thought I would just be coaching Brian's group at TCC on Mondays and filling in every now-and-then as needed. Then I got an email from Chuck about a coach's meeting next Thursday, and that has made me rethink the whole thing. I really don't want any part of the admin stuff - coach's meetings, social events, swim meets, etc. That involves commitment, and I made the decision that I was moving on to other things.

7) Natalie Coughlin sent me a message today on Twitter. How cool is that? Very cool. And I updated my Facebook status within minutes to show off.

8) Is anyone else into Big Brother this season? Last night (since it took me 2 days to write a Thursday Thirteen post, today is now Friday) was a nice little twist. I'm glad Jeff didn't disappoint me.

9) Tonight we're going to the original Babe's Fried Chicken (and we're checking out Jamie and Dana's new house). Saturday morning is Bulldog Play Date. The rest of the weekend is free, except for a Sunday afternoon yoga session with Stacy and maybe some other friends.

10) I haven't been swimming much. I paid masters dues in June and July while I was coaching, and now I'm saving the $62/month since my attendance wouldn't make it worthwhile. Mama Kristin joined 24 Hour Fitness, so Kristin, Heidi, and I are going for a swim together at lunch today. Usually when I workout with friends, I get a much better workout. It's hard to push myself in the pool when I'm lap swimming solo.

11) My right foot is still aggravating me. I ran 2 miles on the treadmill yesterday, and I am slowly going to start back into running. I'm thinking maybe 2 or 3 two-mile runs this week, several 3-mile runs next week, etc. I know I have to be really careful, especially if I want to do a marathon this upcoming season.

12) I think my mom (and possibly my dad) might come visit in October. They have an American Airlines credit since I accidentally booked their trip to the Texas reception for the weekend of the California reception. Columbus Day is a federal holiday, so if they arrive on Friday and leave on Tuesday morning I would not have to use any leave. So that is a possibility.

13) Gus is LOVING the swimming pool. He'll swim for hours. He also loves drinking our beer and wine :) I took an iPhone video of Gus swimming. I need to figure out how to post it. That would be super cool.

Thursday Thirteen

1. Wow, I haven’t blogged in awhile! I would try to come up with an excuse, but I can’t think of any particular reason. I guess I’m just busy with a bunch of little things.

2. I ended up skipping El Scorcho because of foot pain. That was a smart decision on my part, because I think it’s finally now at the end of the recovery stage. I have been doing lots of cardio and weights and I have been staying away from the running.

3. Hopefully my foot and shin will be fully recovered by the end of the month, and then maybe I can take the plunge and sign up for the Las Vegas Marathon. At this point, I’m starting to get a little worried that signing up for a running event jinxes me with an injury!

4. I also have the Cowtown Ultra in the back of my mind. Shhhh… don’t tell my feet!

5. After a low of 150, my weight has crept up to the high-150’s/low-160’s. EEK! So I have decided to kick it into gear this week. I’m trying to workout for at least 2 hours a day (4 for 4 so far this week!), and my goal is to hit 15 hours for the whole week. I’m not drinking, and my diet has been really good. Hopefully I can get a little momentum going and lose this extra weight before the honeymoon. I’m hoping to get back down to 155 (I’m at 158.5 now) by the end of the week, and then I’ll have 5 more pounds to lose. This is a good week to get after it since Cliff will be in Oklahoma and I will be at home by myself (where it’s much easier to eat healthy and refrain from consuming any alcohol calories).

6. For the past month or so, I have been saying that I am going to try Bikram Yoga. This Saturday I WILL WILL WILL do it. Stacy and I have a date at 10 am! It’s a 90-minute yoga session in a sweat box, so it should be interesting. I don’t deal well with heat or anything requiring flexibility!

7. Another thing I am curious about trying is Nightclub Dance, an hour-long cardio workout at 7:30 pm on Friday night at 24 Hour Fitness. I am pretty exhausted so far with this week’s workout routine. I will have to see how I feel on Friday, but that would be pretty ballsy of me. I’m sure it would make for a great blog entry!

8. Also up on the weekend agenda is a puppy pool party! Cliff, Leslie, and I had so much fun with Gus jumping in the pool (from the first step) yesterday. He loves swimming so much that we pretty much had to pick him up to get him out of the pool. He kept jumping in, swimming around in circles, returning to the first step, and repeating. So entertaining! Gus wanted me to invite some of his human and puppy friends over on Saturday, so of course I am obliging.

9. Friday is my last day of coaching my kids at Water Works 2. I can’t believe how fast two years flew by. I will be sticking around part-time when they need a substitute coach. Once the kids start training at TCC (near my house), I will be coaching Brian’s group (the older kids) from 4:30-6:00 on Mondays. One day a week sounds perfect.

10. My plan was to take an accounting class or two at UTA in the Fall, but I haven’t heard anything since I applied for readmission quite some time ago. I think I need 6 more hours of graduate accounting to teach at TCC or Wesleyan, but I might try to bypass that and go ahead and apply for TCC. So I hope to get on the ball this weekend and update my resume. It looks like I’ll have more free time in the Fall since I can’t really start school or teaching with our honeymoon scheduled for August 30 – September 6.

11. I’m getting my hair cut and highlighted today at 5:30. I’ve let my hair grow out for all of the wedding stuff, and I am ready to take a good chunk off. It gets tangled so easily. I’m not sure if I need more highlights since I got them done 3 months ago, and they still look okay. But I definitely want a haircut. I’m thinking shoulder-length with some layers.

12. Current TV Schedule: Big Brother, Hell’s Kitchen, and More to Love (saw the rerun of the first episode on Monday… hopefully they continue doing that since it’s on against Big Brother on Tuesdays). Current Netflix Series: Eastbound and Down

13. Favorite Poolside Drinks: Bud Light Lime and Oak Leaf Chardonnay (in a box from Walmart, but don’t judge it until you’ve tried it!)

Thursday 13-Week 27 (Life)

1. We're picking up Baby GusGus from puppy summer camp (obedience school) today after work. I can't wait! I stopped at PetSmart yesterday and bought him some new things (including a p!mp red suede bed). I couldn't resist... I had to purchase the Bulldog magazine at the check-out line.

2. I offically (meaning an email went out to the parents) quit coaching. My last day will be Friday, August 7. I'll miss the kids like crazy, but I am ready to have a little more free time and less commitments so I can pursue some new goals (and maybe even relax a little!).

3. My first running race since the 2007 Vegas Marathon is coming up in a week and a half. I'm doing the El Scorcho 25K (http://www.elscorchorun.com/ - read the web site - it is greatness) next Saturday at midnight. Actually I'm doing the "La Scorchita," which is 15.5 miles (instead of 31 miles). I ran 14.22 miles last Saturday, and I'm hoping to do a 16-mile run this coming Saturday. I feel pretty prepared, but I know I won't be speedy. It's all about having a good time and getting some base training for my next marathon (and why drink at midnight when you can run instead???).

4. Speaking of running, I am still trying to decide on a late 2009/early 2010 marathon. San Antonio (November) will require training some in the heat (which I am already doing, so I guess I should whine a little less). I am thinking maybe Vegas in December, but we have already done that one. It is flat, fast, and fun though! I really want to break 4 hours. Maybe Houston will be my back-up plan? I don't even know if Houston is sold out already though. I need to get on the ball and make a commitment so I don't pansy out.

5. Why do I have to think about my weight so much? Well, besides the fact that weight issues pretty much came with the TCU degree. My lowest pre-wedding weight was 150.0, and now I'm fluctuating in the high 150's/low 160's. Why is it so hard to lose 15 pounds (took me almost 6 months) and so friggin easy to put it right back on (about 6 weeks)? At least now that the wedding festivities have calmed down, I am starting to get back into my routine this week.

6. The routine was hampered a bit by girl's night yesterday, but I will gain a few pounds to sit around and drink with my best friends!

7. Hopefully I can get down under 150 before the honeymoon. I think that is a good goal, especially if I continue to workout and I eat reasonably decent (and refrain from crippling my poor liver). So now I have begun "Operation Honeymoon Bikini."

8. We decided to take a cruise from Galveston to Jamaica (Montego Bay), the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel. We got a great deal (and we have a balcony room with a king-sized bed!) on a 7-night cruise. The ship departs on Sunday, August 30. We'll head down south on Friday or Saturday and hopefully see Diane, Clint, and Baby Barghi (Andrew) and then spend the night in Kemah. We'll return on Sunday, September 6 and then we'll have the next day off work (Labor Day). That worked out perfectly!

9. I am ridiculously behind on thank you notes. Fortunately I've heard that proper etiquette dictates that I have an entire year to send them out! Hooray for procrastination. I need to hire a personal assistant.

10. We are finally taking on some home projects. And by "we," I mean that we have hired a handyman to do the work! He spent the last two days installing the dog door. We have a few more projects lined up... sprinklers for the backyard, taking the wallpaper off in the entry way (weird Southwest motif) and dining room (weird horizontal strip of Danish-looking wallpaper), repainting (where the wallpaper was and also the horrible finger-painting-looking stuff on the entry way ceiling), and replacing the VHS shelves (partition between the living room and the bar) with glass.

11. I am swimming every now and then... enough to realize that I am painfully out of swimming shape but not enough to notice any improvements. Right now I am only planning on swimming with the masters team in June and July (since I'll quit coaching in early August and I won't be driving to South Fort Worth very much). However, 2010 Summer Nationals in Puerto Rico... hmmm, that has me thinking.

12. I occasionally get asked about married life. After living in sin for quite awhile together and buying a house last summer, I don't really feel like much has changed. It is very hard for me to say or sign my new last name. It hasn't completely sunk in yet for some reason. I do love seeing a wedding ring on Cliff though. That is pretty snazzy. It's also fun to say "husband" and "hubby," although I do kind of miss the "fiance" title.

13. I'm still giving private swim lessons in my backyard pool if anyone is interested. Ages 5 and up, $30 for 30 minutes. It has been great watching some of my Water Works 2 swimmers make HUGE improvements in their stroke technique. Hopefully I will have enough of a client base next summer when I'm not coaching.

Texas Tough Open Water Swims - An Actual Race Report!

Well I haven't raced in quite awhile, and I committed to swimming on a 4 x 400 relay team yesterday, so I figured I might as well sign up for the 1.2-mile solo swim. The race was in Las Colinas (same place as the Playtri Festival), and it is a little unusual swimming in canal between office buildings. The 1.2-mile swim started at 8 am. I tried to make my way to the front, but it was pretty tough. So I started in about the second row of people. The start was pretty violent considering there were only 58 people. I got thrashed a few times, but I sucked it up because that is the fun part of open water swimming. At first I was duking it out with a few boys, but then I let them get ahead so I could enjoy the draft. That was definitely a good strategy, and I was able to ease up a bit (a good thing since I haven't been swimming much these days). I stayed right behind this one guy for pretty much the whole race, and I know I was annoying him by tapping on his feet and stuff. Towards the end of the race, I thought I saw a girl coming from behind and passing me, so I kicked it up a gear (and the throw-up sensation started to hit). Fortunately it was a boy. Well we got to the very end of the race, and the guy in front of me (who I was drafting off of) got up on the staircase and held a rail with each hand so I couldn't get past him, and he looked back at me. It turns out it was Jim Montgomery, the race director and an awesome swimmer (gold medalist, world champion, first person to break 50 in the 100 freestyle). I felt like kind of a jerk, but oh well. I won the women's division in 27:19, and the 2nd place girl finished in 28:43. I was 9th overall (8 boys ahead of me). I was very happy with my strategy and my effort (my triceps were on fire by the end of that swim!). Plus it was fun and it was something different besides swimming up-and-down in the pool.

At 10:00 we did the 4 x 400 relay. I anchored, and I think I caught one person, but we finished 2nd overall. That was a pretty good performance. I think there were at least 10 teams, and we had 2 girls and 2 boys on the team (I'm pretty sure the winning team was all boys). Cliff and Jordan got there in time to see the relay, so I got to show off a little bit :) Afterwards, we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. I was proud of myself for ordering the grilled chicken salad, but I offset that good decision with my three-biscuit appetizer. I had a FAT (2+ hour) nap in the afternoon, we lounged in the pool for a bit, and then Cliff, Jordan, Leslie, and I went to Joe T's for dinner. It seems like my life has revolved around eating and drinking for the past month or so. I am definitely ready to get back into a normal routine.

Results: http://www.mychiptime.com/searchevent.php?id=3674



Our Studly Relay Team

Busy Saturday

I met the girls at 7 am for a long run. I was hoping to run 10 miles, but I was aiming for anything in the 6-12 range. The heat is so crazy now, that I think I'm going to start my long runs at 5 or 6. I ended up running with Shawna and we talked the whole way, so that saved me from whining like a little baby. My brain was tingling by the end... probably not a good sign! We did a fairly hilly 8.63 miles (Hoffbrau, Colonial, Overton Park, Foster Park out-and-back course). I forgot to wear my heartrate monitor, but of course I had the Garmin on.

I averaged 9:51/mile, and my mile splits were:
9:56, 9:58, 10:02, 9:58, 10:02, 9:47, 9:32, 9:51, 5:49 (9:16 pace)

I definitely need to get my bootie in gear with the El Scorcho 25K right around the corner and then (hopefully) a marathon at the end of the year. Plus long runs are a great way to start the weekend!

In the afternoon Cliff, Jordan, and I went to see baby GusGus at puppy summer camp. We should get him back in about 3 weeks (2 months total - yikes!). In the meantime, we need to work on a doggy door solution.

After puppy visitation, we stopped at Chili's for lunch. I hadn't ordered the Quesadilla Explosion Salad in awhile, and I love that thing. I still remember the email from Hungry Girl that said the salad would make your pants explode. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool and then had an awesome dinner: Omaha filets, corn on the cob, and mashed potatoes. I actually made the potatoes. Somehow I had never made mashed ones before, and they came out pretty darn good (especially considering I use fat free everything).

GusGus missed his daddy!






Jordan, Dog Whisperer


Easily Entertained

Baby GusGus

Since my parents (Gus’s grandparents, obviously) were in town last weekend, we decided to visit our big boy at his summer puppy camp (obedience school) in Alvord. I was worried that Gus wouldn’t recognize me, but I think he is a mama’s boy. I missed my snuggle bumpkin so much! He gave me lots of kisses (even though he’s no longer a little boy, he’s not afraid to show his mama lots of affection). When we got in our car to leave, we had to close the gate behind us. He bit the gate and tried to pull it open! Then we drove down the road, and he chased after us (jowls flapping in the wind). When he made it to the end of the property, he stood up on a rock and watched us go. It was so hard to watch, but so cute at the same time. Cliff had to work on Monday, so we’re going to go back this weekend so daddy can see his baby!!

The training is going pretty well. GusGus is doing better with commands (like “sit” and “stay”). He is getting a lot of exercise and he’s outdoors a lot (to try to desensitize him to going to the bathroom in the crate). He’ll be gone for another month, and in the meantime, we need to figure out a solution at our house to allow him to get outside to go to the bathroom.





Gimme Kisses!!!

Happily Married and Getting Unhappily Fatter

When I returned from Mexico, I was only up 2-3 pounds (thank you stomach issues). Now I’m up another 4 pounds or so, which is 9 pounds up from my lowest OWD weigh-in of 150.0. YUCK. So I am dangerously close to 160 territory (quick, 150 + 9 =…), and I need to hop back on the wagon! I have been pretty consistent with my workouts considering everything going on right now (wedding stuff, my parents visiting, Cliff’s kids staying with us, etc.). I worked out 6 hours the first week of June and 7.5 hours the second week of June. I rejoined masters swimming on July 7, and I did three of Chuck’s workouts last week. I’ve also been doing weights, running, and other cardio. This sounds pretty promising except for the fact that I am drinking very frequently (that translates to daily) and eating some HORRIBLE food (I’m talking “flaming cheese” AND cheese sticks last night BEFORE the main course). The wedding festivities are nearly over, but I need to wear a short white dress at the California brunch in a week and a half, and I don’t want to look like a marshmellow. Also, I want to stay in good shape and maybe drop down to the 140’s (I would love to be forced to drop out of the Athena category). I feel so much better about myself when I’m not as fluffy, and a better fighting weight should translate into better athletic performances.

I have the El Scorcho run coming up on Saturday/Sunday, June 19. It’s a 15-mile run at midnight. I thought this would be something different and fun, and I don’t have a time goal. I’d just like to run the whole thing (not walk), enjoy myself, and get excited about marathon season. My plan is to run the San Antonio Marathon in November, with the goal of breaking 4 hours (my best is 4:16). My longest run in June was 6 miles, so I need to start increasing my distances. This heat is ferocious, but I can suck it up and get it done. Hopefully I will get a long run under my belt this Saturday.

I signed up for an open water swim race this Sunday morning. I’m doing the 1.2-mile swim (solo), and I’m also participating on a 4 x 400 relay. I am not in very good swimming shape, but a friend of mine asked if I’d like to do the relay, and I was already toying with the idea of signing up. So this will be all about having a great time (and getting a good workout in!).

Destination Wedding: Days 8-10

Thursday, May 28 - Day 8

The boys (Cliff, Jordan, Cliff's dad, Dana, and Dan) went deep sea fishing, which is pretty much my definition of misery. They went in the afternoon (rather than the morning) so they could sleep in, and apparently it's better to go in the morning if you want to catch fish. The girls went to the pool in the morning and then the local flea market in the afternoon. It was pretty much a beating. I did have fun being annoying and running around yelling "Donde esta mi madre?!" when I was trying to find my mom. I bought two rings at the silver store for $50. In the evening, I got to choose the wedding photos (there were about 190, and I had to cut it down to 84... which worked out perfectly). We had reservations at the steakhouse over by the ocean. Unfortunately, we didn't get to sit on the patio near the water like Cliff and I did earlier in the trip. I think everyone was a little tired from the wedding day. Jeanne and I tried to get the party started with some mango shots, but everyone was ready for bed after dinner since it was close to 11:00 by the time we were done.

Some pool action:


Chillin' at the Infinity Pool


Teaching Leslie how to Throw-Down the Westside before the California Trip


Friday, May 29 - Day 9
We were ready to party it up post-wedding. We had a great time in the pool and at the beach in the afternoon. We decided to go "off-campus" that night. We ate dinner at La Distilleria, and the food and margaritas were awesome! After dinner, the "kids" headed over to Congo for a little dancing action. It was only $20 for all-you-can-drink, so that was a pretty good deal.

The Family in the Pool


Kate and Me


Melissa and Me




Esther, My Mermaid Grandma :)


With the Parentals on the Beach


The Group at Dinner


Cliff and Me at Dinner


My Queso Face


Tequila Shots! (with my sweaty 80's hair)


Group Picture at Congo


Boogie Down


Mmmm Shot Girls


Dancing with Props


And without


Saturday, May 30 - Day 10
I think we were all ready to go home. We took one last dip in the pool in the morning and loaded up on our favorite cheese products (pizza and quesadillas) for lunch before our shuttle to the airport. Our return trip home went well, and Stacy and Kona picked us up at the airport and I got a little puppy lovin'! I sure miss GusGus :*(

Destination Wedding: Days 6-7

Tuesday, May 26 - Day 6

This was another day of arrivals. Cliff's parents and kids arrived around noon, Stacy, Jeanne, and Dan arrived in the late afternoon, and my brother arrived in the evening. I squeezed in some pool time with everyone before my afternoon at the spa. Cliff and I had a free (meaning it was included in the wedding package) body exfoliation at the spa at 3:30, and I had a practice hairstyle session at 4:00. The body exfoliation was a little weird. We wore our undies (so tops and bottoms for me) and then put these scrubs over them. The body exfoliation part was okay, but then we had to shower. Showering is next to impossible when you're trying not to get your underwear wet! So I was left with a bunch of soap stuff on my back. The hairstyle went well. I had no clue what to choose when she gave me a whole bunch of books to look through. I had imagined my hair down, but then I realized with the wind and humidity, an up-do would probably be more practical. There were two girls getting their nails done, so I had them give me some reassurance once I made my selection. In the evening, everyone met at the patio bar for a two-hour (maybe this was a little too long?) happy hour. Then we went to the Japanese restaurant for dinner. The food was good, and the sake was even better :)

My Mom and Me (with my sweet pink "Mrs Willingham" wifebeater)


My Dad and Me


Another Day at the Pool



Me, Jeanne, and Stacy


Forcing Kate to do the Horned Frogs Sign:


A Little Fun behind the Bar


The Family Before Dinner


Trouble


Wednesday, May 27 - Day 7 - Wedding Day!
Jeanne, Stacy, and I did a 30-minute ocean swim in the morning. It was a great way to start the day, and also it helped my stay hydrated (because I would have sweated a ton at the gym, and I was worried about fainting during the wedding). We grabbed some breakfast with everyone, and then I headed up to the room for a little nap. I had hair, makeup, and nail appointments from 12-4, so that was the bulk of my afternoon. The girls came over to our room to finish getting ready, and we managed to figure out the dress :) The wedding was absolutely perfect. The minister had an awesome little speech at the beginning (actually I have been meaning to contact the Riu to see if I can get a transcript, because I was too cheap to pay $500 to have the ceremony videotaped), the vows were good (and I snuck in an "always and forever"), the weather was beautiful, and we were right by the water. The whole ceremony lasted about 15 minutes. I did tear up a bit while Cliff was saying his vows, but then I forced myself to space out for a second to stop crying. After the ceremony, we took about a million (well, more like 190) photos and then met up with everyone at the patio bar. The ceremony was at 6:00 and the dinner reservations at the Brazilian restaurant were at 8:30, so we had a little photo/drinking break in between. The dinner was really yummy. Cliff and I had eaten there twice before (on a previous trip) and I remember having stomach problems, but I was fine this time around. There was a salad bar, and then the waiter came around with skewers of meat (kind of like Texas de Brazil only without my favorite meat, filet). They also served our wedding cake for dessert. After dinner, the "kids" went to the entertainment bar and then to the disco (Pacha). Cliff hadn't been feeling well (congestion, cough, etc.), so I hungout with everyone for an hour or two and then went back to the room. Actually it worked out pretty well because I was overheating in my dress at Pacha. It took Cliff and I FOREVER to get (or, rather, peel) it off. I had an absolutely fantastic wedding day. The ceremony was perfect, and I got to spend the day celebrating with our friends and family.

Hair


Nails


Awesome... I need to get married every day!


Teamwork!


My Grandma's Pearls


A Little Girly Champagne before the Festivities


Pre-Game Shot


Team Riu










This might be the best photo ever!








Woohoo We Did It :)


Cheers!


Cute Sibling Shot


I Take Funny Bathroom Photos :)




Dinner


Getting Scolded at Pacha for Trying to Break into the DJ Booth