Run stats and updates
They slept
Rain stopped
Freshly wet
Warm(ish) air
Spring’s coming
Just me
Adele 21
Eyes forward
Shoulders up
Heels high
Just me
Legs pounding
Heart thumping
Chest burning
Arms pumping
Mind wandering
Head clearing
Just me
Rain started
**run stats = 1.44 miles, 12:49, 8:54 pace. don’t get excited about the increasing pace – i think i was just running off today. 
One of my friends had that as her Facebook status last night, and I could not agree more. Too bad they always go so quickly and end way before they should.
It was great having a long weekend this week, though. We had a wonderful time at my mom’s, and D thoroughly enjoyed her first Easter. She helped Daddy hunt for Easter eggs, and the Easter Bunny brought her the most ridiculously fluffy, cute bunny coat ever. Doesn’t this just kill you?
Saturday morning I was sitting on the deck after a jog, cooling down and just quietly counting my blessings – 65 degrees, sun, warm breeze, blood pumping after some good exercise, beautiful baby girl napping peacefully upstairs, nothing else on the agenda for the entire day except looking forward to steaks on the grill for dinner, surrounded by loving family. It was such a fantastic time and very relaxing, just what the doctor ordered. I just wish it happened more often and lasted more than 3 days.
And now it’s Monday and back to the grind. Blllleeeecchh. Even after regular weekends Monday mornings are the worst, but at least they’re only a couple hours long. It’s funny, too, how it almost never fails that after some time off my attention always turns to planning the next day off or vacation. Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?
Did you all have nice holiday weekends?
p.s. Run stats for that jog mentioned above – 2.17 miles in 20:25. Little slower at a 9:25 pace, but there were lots of hills and I was intentionally going slowly since I hadn’t gotten out for a run in over a week. Another notch on the running belt.
Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta. No, not really. But I was going to put “Ahh, it feels good to be back” to start this post, and then the Geto Boys lyrics popped into my head instead. 
It does feel good, though, to have my new theme all sorted out. Kind of like being *home*. My old one just felt too sparse and blah, so I love the splashes of color and little extras I can do with this one. I am pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to manipulate the website code to change things, too. Last night when I was showing R the header I created and how I’d taught myself to change icons and stuff, he kept saying, “Oh that’s easy.” Well, yeah, duh, when you’re a web/computer genius, but to us laypeople looking at code is like looking at Mandarin Chinese – a whole bunch of random letters and symbols that don’t make any sense whatsoever. So I’ll just continue to pat myself on the back thankyouverymuch.
So this post is just gonna be about a whole bunch of random things, because all the stuff I have floating around in my head this morning doesn’t really have much connection. (see, that sentence right there didn’t even make a whole lot of sense) For starters, I feel like I look like a total frump. Since Winter has decided to come back, I have on a gray sweater, black pants (which would be great if they were a little truer black. they’re more like a black khaki, so i keep worrying that people are thinking they look too much like faded black jeans, which are disgusting), and a pair of hiking sneakers. Blech. These pants are new, and are the exact same style as a couple other pairs I have for work and absolutely love, but like I said the color is just a little meh. And since I’ve never worn them before, I realized this morning that I don’t really have any shoes to go with them. They’re not dressy enough to wear my cute black faux-patent leather flats, and I apparently have no other casual black shoes. So sneakers it was. Gross. *I’m open to all suggestions for good casual black shoes. The comfier and cuter the better.*
And since we’re back in the 40s today from the gorgeous sun and 60s yesterday, I had to get another jog in last night to take advantage. I decided my new rule is I’m not running unless it’s at least 50 degrees outside, because I hate running in cold weather. And I don’t see 50s in the forecast again until next week, so I made my butt get in gear last night. I changed up my route again – went 2.11 miles in 18:56, which is 8:57 pace. Woo wee! I’m very surprised I broke the 9:00 pace, because it certainly felt like my slowest run yet. I was expecting to get slower from when I started before I get faster though, seeing as my body has to get back into shape after the weirdest, probably most traumatic thing it’s ever been through. So that’s pretty encouraging. I could feel it in my left knee and ankle by the time I got done, though, so a couple days off may be a good thing right now.
D has decided to be a little stinker lately and not take her afternoon naps at daycare. Hence, she’s tired and cranky when we get home and has to take an evening nap, which I was hoping she was starting to drop. Tuesday we were supposed to go to swimming, but she was so tired she fell asleep when I fed her when we got home and I didn’t have the heart to wake her – she ended up sleeping for an hour and a half. I figured she needed that more than being dunked by Mommy. When she doesn’t nap well she doesn’t sleep as well at night either. She’s awoken a couple nights this week, with last night’s wake up coming at 4:00. Fabulous. And since she ate then, I had a sneaking suspicion she wasn’t going to be hungry when she woke up for good this morning. I was right. I tried to feed her anyway, and paid the price. She bit me! Numerous times in a row! I know she obviously doesn’t do it on purpose – she’s not hungry but has something in her mouth, so it becomes a chew toy instead – but goddamn, does that hurt! And I’m afraid I scared her this morning too, because when she did it for like the 4th time in a row I pulled back and said, “Stop biting!” She looked up at me with these huge eyes and a tiny little frowny face and almost instantly started crying, big tears and all. I felt so terrible. I should have learned from the first nibble that she wasn’t hungry, but I kept trying. Poor little thing. Why is Mommy shouting at me? I’m just lying here looking up at her with my gorgeous gray eyes. 
Oh man, I felt so mean. That beautiful little face was so sad; I don’t think I’ve seen her cry from fear before. Needless to say, she got lots more hugs before we left for daycare. Unfortunately, her lack of eating leaves me in the ever-so-lovely lopsided state. Bleh.
She loves playing in her playpen now too. How adorable is this??
For starters, what do you think of this layout for the blog? I can’t change the picture up top to put in my other ones like I used to have, but that shoreline picture is kind of neat and I like the color scheme and graphics of this theme. Good, bad, otherwise – lemme know. I’ll probably keep changing it around a bit too, so don’t be surprised if you see a different look a few more times.
Now here are the pics I promised from our anniversary limo ride this weekend. Like I said, R was totally surprised and had a great time. It’s amazing how much fun you can have pretending to be high rollers.
And since the weather has actually been cooperating the past couple days, I got another jog in last night. Added a little distance this time – 2.09 miles in 19:21, which is a 9:15 pace. A little slower than last week’s pace, but I did add just over half a mile. I’ll take it. I didn’t walk, and my new running kicks felt great. Slowly but surely. I looked back at my past runs and the fastest I’ve ever done that same route was 16:13, a 7:45 pace. Yikes! I’ve fallen a long way in the 3 years since then. 
Happy April! This is one of my favorite months – the warm weather *usually* starts to settle in for good (although after this miserable winter i’m starting to have my doubts it’ll ever get above 40 again), the flowers and plants all start coming back to life for real after the couple March warmth fake-outs, it’s our anniversary month, and it finally feels like the year is starting fresh after the doldrums of winter hibernation. Plus, D turns 8 months old today. Happy 8 month birthday, you beautiful little girl!
So did anyone get any April Fool’s pranks played on them today? Or play any on someone else? Some people get totally into the tom foolery of this day, but I never really have. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a good prank or a spook every now and then, but I’ve never put cling wrap over the toilet bowl or short-sheeted anybody’s bed or told someone a ridiculous lie in the hopes of getting them to fall for it just to shout “April Fool’s!” once they realized it’s a joke. The Onion always has a great slew of fake headlines on April 1 – check it out:
OnMilwaukee.com has some good ones today too: http://onmilwaukee.com/
I am also happy to report that I made it out for a jog again yesterday. 2 days in a row?? Woah, slow down before someone gets hurt. I did the same route as the day before, and went 2 seconds faster – 1.44 miles in 13:04. Blazin’! I do need new running shoes, though. I noticed last night that it felt like I had nothing more between my pounding feet and the sidewalk than a flip-flop. Not good for preventing injuries.
This is a totally random post today, but this is too cool not to share. This is a bald eagle’s nest in Decorah, IA, and there are 3 eggs in there that are about ready to hatch. I’ve been watching it for a couple days now, since their expected hatch date is today. This morning was really neat – a second eagle flew into the nest and switched places with the one who had been sitting on the eggs, and you could see all 3 eggs in plain view. They each have a little hole in them, so those chicks have to be getting ready to greet the world. Nature is so awesome. Plus there’s a dead rabbit stuffed in the left side of the nest, maybe just for a mid-hatch snack.
http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles
And now for the FF of the week. I’ll turn to my quote book again, but it’s so hard to pick just one. So I’ll throw 2 atcha this time:
“Mix a little foolishness with your prudence: It’s good to be silly at the right moment.” ~ Horace
“Stressed spelled backwards is desserts. Coincidence? I think not!” ~ Author Unknown
I just have to toot my own horn here for a second. I went out and jogged after work yesterday! Toot toot! I’ve mentioned how I have completely slacked off from exercising all winter and basically for the better part of a year now, and it’s finally gotten to me. I have to get back into some sort of shape! The other night I had 2 pieces of Ian’s pizza for dinner (holy yum, btw), which usually I’m all about, but when I got done eating this time I thought man, that made me feel like total junk. I need to change something here. So yesterday I got home early, the sun was out, it was above freezing (turns out not by much, though), and I actually was motivated to lace up the kicks and get out there.
Now please notice that I did not say I went for a *run*. I know better. This was definitely 100% a jog. I knew it would be though – I can’t head out just sprinting along like some people. I’m the type of runner who, if I’m really going to get into running shape and stick with it without injuring myself, needs to start out very very slowly and ease into things. Especially right now since I’m totally out of shape. I planned on simply going for 1 mile with no walking allowed, see how that felt, and add on if I could manage that far. I also told R to take a guess at what my 1 mile time would be – I said 11:22. Well, I just plugged my stats and route into my MapMyRun account and whaddya know? A 9:05 mile pace! Holla!! I went 1.44 miles in 13:06. Sweetness, much better than I was expecting. However, that was only for 1.44 miles. I’m sure as soon as I start to add distance that pace will slow exponentially. I need to keep at it, though. It’s sunny again today and supposed to be mid-40s, so maybe I’ll give it another shot tonight. I do need to make sure not to do too much too fast though, because I often end up with shin splints when I go that route. At least 1 day off in between runs is usually my preferred routine, but I know I won’t feel like it tomorrow afternoon.
I was pretty annoyed during my jog, though, because it seemed no matter which direction I went – north, south, east, or west – I was constantly running INTO the wind. I must’ve been in a vortex, lucky me. And it was cold, too! Man, I can’t wait for this crap cold weather to end.
I can’t run without music either. I used to hate running with headphones on, but now I can’t stand to not have them. I can too easily talk myself out of the run when all I can think about is how badly my legs and lungs hurt. So music provides a nice distraction. Plus, when the pump-up songs come on it seems like each step gets just a little bit lighter and easier. Yesterday Perfect Gentleman by Wyclef came on toward the end of my run, and dude, that is my JAM! For my Madison peeps out there, you know the relationship that song and I have – it would come on, usually at Brother’s, and I would instantly be on top of a table dancing. Kind of like a Pavlovian dog. Ahh, the good ol’ days….
Ok, onto the couple other things… Today is the Brewers season opener. Oh yeah, Go Brew Crew!! D’s all into it too:
I took that picture on my phone this morning in dim light, so it’s not the clearest shot, but I love her little almost-smile in that one. She’s such a character, I love it. Monday is their home opener, and D has another special outfit for that one. Here’s a great Bob Uecker article to get you in the spirit too:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704399804576193151094758490.html
R made another wicked meal for dinner last night – pork tenderloin, cut into thirds, tenderized, grilled, made into a sandwich on amazing pretzel rolls with cheese and his delicious homemade mustard blend concoction on top. Let the drooling commence:
And best of all – it’s almost Friday!! Hell to the yeah!
