Sleepy!

I have had morning issues all week. This morning was no different. I had my alarm clock set for 5:00 am and I crawled out of bed at 6:12 am! So much for a little Si6 and Finance. I was hoping for a nice upper body workout and some reading.

I need to get my butt in gear. I'm afraid I am not starting out the semester on the right foot...I still have 2 chapters to read!

Good luck to everyone running the Fired Up 5K! I'll keep my fingers crossed for some cooler, less humid morning temps and lots of PRs!

I managed to get in 30 minutes on the treadmill tonight before starting my homework. It was pretty slow, but it's done!

Now, time for Finance fun. Is that an oxymoron?

Running Stats
Treadmill run, 30 minutes

Off Track

I ended up having to work a little later than expected tonight and then the kiddo did not want to go to sleep! It was 9:30 when she finally began to snooze. So, that left some time for Finance, but not much else. I also noticed that the prof assigned an additional chapter to work on for our class on Saturday, so I'll end up using the early morning hours to start reading that. Hopefully, I'll be able to squeeze in some time tomorrow night to get in the scheduled 30 minute tempo run.

I have a Dr's appointment scheduled for Tuesday for my back. My Orthopedic referred me to someone who specializes in back pain, so hopefully I can get the back problem taken care of! Woohoo! So, that just leaves the foot to worry about.

Barbara, I'll tell my prof what you said. I'm sure after that, he'll really want to give me an "A". Hahahaha! And yes Holden, it seems I am falling apart...jeeze, a girl turns 35 and it's all downnhill. (Thank God that's not completely true!) :-)

One last little tidbit - I lost a whopping 0.2 at WW this week. But, I am perfectly okay with that, because it officially puts me at my pre-pregnancy weight from 3 years ago. I've been here once before...right before the Chicago Marathon last year. Then, I ran my marathon and promptly gained back 7 lbs. Sigh. That's not going to happen again. I only have 5 more lbs to lose to get back to my WW goal weight! Jeeze, now if my body would get back to its pre-pregnancy SIZE! ;-)

Misc Ramblings

Do think it was any coincidence that nutritionist extraordinaire, Kathline Kruppa, came on the radio as I was getting my Starbucks non-fat, no-whip mocha for the second morning in a row? Yep, this morning I needed to be at work early and I managed to get in 32 minutes on the dreadmill...that was my excuse for "needing" Starbucks this morning.

I've been doing that a lot lately - making excuses for "needing" Starbucks. I still manage to stay within my points range for the week, but it's an awful lot of empty, wasted calories. It means I eat less of something else some point in the day. Bad! So, my goal for the rest of the week - NO MORE STARBUCKS!


So, I did get in 32 of the scheduled 45 minutes this morning. Most of it was walking. I forgot to mention in the past couple of posts that my lower back has really been bothering me. It's mainly caused by my hips being slightly out of alignment, which causes one leg to be a tiny bit higher than the other. I had the same exact problem when I was training for my 1st HM back in 2001. I went through a couple of weeks of PT and didn't have any problems with it again. Until now. I put off going to the Dr, mainly because 1) I was between insurance companies after starting my new job and 2) who likes to ask for time off from a new job? Well, it's time to stop waiting and schedule an appointment! It hurts to walk, it hurts to run. Unfortunately, my new health insurance sucks. BIG TIME. There's a huge deductible, but I guess I'll just have to suck it up. Thank God, Dr. Provenzano is in our network! While I'm there, I might as well see if he can check out my foot as well. It's still bothering me too. And to top it off, I managed to hurt my wrist on Monday while biking. I have no idea how that happened! Maybe I need to have someone check out my reach. I dunno. Anywho, I'm going to get in the rest of that 45 minutes tonight and some Si6 too.

And school...well, our school schedule is all weird now! Some genius scheduled classes for this weekend (LABOR DAY WEEKEND). So, we have classes scheduled for this weekend and then were scheduled have 9/8 off and begin the every-other-weekend thing beginning on 9/15. Well, my morning Prof said that the professors were getting votes from their classes about skipping classes this weekend and having 2 weekends in a row on 9/8 and 9/15. Sounded good to me. That is, until I went to my afternoon class and the Prof said that he didn't want to alter the schedule on such short notice. So, instead of getting a weekend off, I have only my afternoon class this weekend, only my morning class the weekend of the 8th and then the full day of classes on 9/15. Doh!

Thunder, Lightening

I am beginning to love Mondays...it's bike riding day! (Well, at least until full school craziness kicks in!) We decided on a 30-miler yesterday even though the sky was looking scary. We didn't see any lightening (at first) or hear any thunder, so off we went. We actually start our rides from a point in the trail where, if you turn to the right, there's a 2 mile out and back path. To our left is an 8 mile out and back. Yesterday, we started with the with the longer distance 1st to get that out of the way.

We managed to complete the entire 10 mile trail before we began to hear rumbling of thunder in the distance. It sounded far enough away, so we pushed on. About 2 miles later, we heard the boom of thunder in the distance. It was getting closer. Next, we saw lightening. It was still pretty far away, so we pushed on. By the time we made it to our turnaround point on the 8 mile segment, the lightening was close enough to make us finish up as quickly as possible. By the time we were back at the parking area, we decided to skip the remaining 2 miles because my friend still had to ride her bike home. (Luckily, it's less than 5 miles away!)

Overall, it was fantastic ride. I still felt like I could have gone faster and at the end, I wished I had more time to ride a little more. I never feel like that on a run. Bill mentioned on his blog that he sometimes dreads running. Well, that has been me lately. I just don't look forward to it. I used to be okay once I got started, but lately that just isn't the case. Usually, even after I get going, I am wondering why I'm even running if I'm not enjoying it. Really, I keep doing it because I've signed up for the 1/2 in January. I know that if I want that to be even a remotely pleasant experience, I'd better keep training. Even if it means just going through the motions. I don't know know where my running motivation has gone off to, I just wish it would come back. Soon!

So enough of that. When I made it home last night a little after 7 pm, the kiddo was already asleep! I guess her 1st day of school wore her out. She woke up around 8:30 pm wide awake and didn't go back to sleep until I agreed to lay down with her around 9:30 pm. Then, she woke up at 2:30 am! I thought I was dreaming when I heard her say, "I had a good day at school today, Mommy!" I opened my eyes and there she was, staring at me with that cute grin on her face. She told me all about her friends and her new teacher. Yes, she talked my ear off until 4:00 am! So no, I did not get up at 4:30 to run and do home work. I finally got out of bed around 5:30 and finished up some of my Finance homework before getting ready for work. Barbara...I can't believe you love this stuff! We're looking at financial statements and doing ratios right now. Fun, fun!

Biking Stats
Conditions - nice! 80-something with a breeze
Distance - ~ 18 miles
Total bike time - 1 hour, 15 minutes
Pace - 14.4 mph

Weekend (with pics!)

Saturday
Saturday was my 1st day back to class. Overall, it went well. My International Management class was small - 11 people. It was pretty fun, we did some role playing about different cultures and our final group project will require us to create a video about another country. Also, I have to interview a Manager from another country about the culture of that country....anyone want to volunteer??? Finance actually went pretty well too. I think the prof is going to be great, which definitely helps! After school, the kiddo and I headed to the playground for some fun. I spent Saturday night doing homework and reading my textbooks while the hubby watched UFC. Fun...


Sunday
Sunday I made it to the park a little after 6:35 am. As usual, the park was hopping with activity. Lots of runners and walkers everywhere! The weather felt much better than last week. I decided to do the route that tri-bunny suggested again. I went out of the park, took a right on Woodway, followed Woodway to Chimney Rock, then hung a left on Tanglewood, another left on San Felipe and then a left on Post Oak. I loved running through Tanglewood! There were several other runners and walkers, and everyone was friendly and said good morning or hello. My favorite was an eldery woman being pushed by a younger man in a wheelchair. She had a wide-brimmed red hat on and said good morning. As I was running in the opposite direction, I heard her say, "She's running in a skirt. How nice!". I had to chuckle. I've been seeing runners wear skirts for quite awhile now, but I still manage to get a funny look from someone on every LR.


My run was only supposed to be 6 miles, but I didn't account for the extra distance between the tennis center and Woodway. The total distance ended up being 7.71 miles. Overall, the run went well. I started a bit too fast with my 1st mile clocking in at 10:40. I thought I hit the autolap button at the end of my 1st mile, but didn't, so I have no split times. Against my better judgement, I decided to use the remainder of the accelerade in the fridge. Bad decision! Somewhere around mile 6, what I am assuming was the accelerade (even though I diluted it)really upset my stomach. Lesson learned...no more accelerade! The remainder of the run was slow a combination of running and walking. This made the run feel like it was going to last forever! My average pace went from 11:10 to 11:20! However, that's still much faster than the McMillan suggested long run pace of 11:37 to 12:37. Oops!


Later, I took the kiddo to playgroup where she learned about water balloons. :-) Next, we took the kiddo to see The Wiggles. Oh my God, she loved it! She sang and danced to the tunes, and to be honest, I think I had just as much fun as she did. (and I never thought I would say that!) I can certainly see why The Wiggles are so successful. They go into the audience and have a really interactive show. If you have kiddos in The Wiggles age range and they come to your city - don't miss it! Here are a couple of pics...we didn't get to take many because the batteries on DH's camera died. He went all over the Toyota Center looking for a vendor who sold them, but was SOL. Oh well! There are a couple more on Flickr, so just click on the pics over to the right to see them. You can also click here to see a video clip from the concert.


Here's the kiddo waiting for the show to begin:

Here's Ben...my favorite Wiggles dancer. Yeah, that's right, I have a favorite!



Here are all four Wiggles on stage singing:



Running Stats
Conditions - 80-ish
Distance - 7.7 miles
Run time - 1:27
Pace - 11:20

Decisions

Yesterday's Houston Fit training schedule called for a 30 minute run. I also have the bike in my car with its shiny new tires. Hmmm...94 degrees at 4:00 pm with a "feels like" temp 568 degrees...which should I choose? Then, a co-worker stopped by and mentioned she also had her bike with her.

Yep, the bike won.

I know I'll regret it on Sunday when it's time for my LR, but I figured heck, it's only 6 miles. :-) It was a great ride! I wish I had time for more - 1 hour, 13 miles.

It has begun!!

About a week ago, I received the following e-mail from my Finance professor:

Thu, Aug 16, 2007 -- SYLLABUS AND CURRICULUM VITAE
I have have posted a preliminary version of the syllabus and, for your information, a copy of my curriculum vitae.
In preparation for the first class meeting, read the assigned portions of Chapters 1, 15, and 3. You may also want to download hard copies of Tables A1, A2, and A3 from Blackboard.
As a prerequisite to this class, you are expected to be thoroughly familiar with the time value of money concept and to be comfortable working with present value, future value, and rate of return problems. If you are at all concerned about this material, read Chapter 2 of the text, and review the problems specified in the narrative (not mentioned in the assignment table).

See you in class.

Sigh. And so it has begun. I received my textbook on Wednesday and since I am clueless about the items in red, I have been reading chaperter 2. Ugh!

New wheels!

Well, tires. I have come to the conclusion that my friend is not getting her road bike any time soon. No biggie, the girl has a lot on her plate right now and I can completely relate. So, I went to NW Cyclery this week and had slick tires put on the mountain bike. Well, not slick, slick tires, but slicker than the knobby tires...if that makes any sense. :-) The guy at NW was very helpful and showed me some slicks that were "high performance" and would be "fast". Naturally, I had to chuckle. Unless someone put a motor on the bike, I was not going to be classified as "fast" any time soon. Then, he showed me a couple of other options that were not quite as spiffy, but more durable. Durable - I like the sound of that! I am afraid of having a flat out there on the road, miles away from my car. I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't know how to change a flat...but, I am taking a bike maintenance clinic at Bike Barn next month, so I am hoping to learn more. And, I remembered to buy gloves!

Here's to more fun riding to come!

Oh and no workouts yesterday. I actually attempted to get out of bed to do Si6, but the kiddo was asleep next to me and woke up every time I tried to get up. Then, it took me over an hour and a half to get her to sleep...for the 2nd night in a row. Trust me, I was running out of songs to sing to her! I used to sing to her at night when she was a baby, but for the past year we've only read books before bedtime. All of sudden, about 2 weeks ago, she has wanted me to sing to her again. I went through every stinking lullaby I could think of, then through all the sunday school songs, then through any slow broadway showtune I could think of, then through some old school stuff (like "Friday I'm in Love", "Borderline", "Time after Time") and then through newer songs. Sad I know! For some reason I couldn't think of anymore of those thousands of Veggie Tales, Wiggles or Laurie Berkner songs last night! I know I should be enjoying these moments because one day she won't need me to tuck her in...but jeeze! :-)

What's my melting point?

I decided to run at a new location - 1) it was closer to my job and on the way home and 2) a change of scenery sounded nice. As I was changing clothes in the restroom at work (always a lovely experience), I realized that I forgot the Garmin. Oh well, since I am still getting re-acclimated to the heat, I figured I would be going slow anyway. I did have my trusty old ironman, so I would at least know when to stop running...that's always a good thing.

Nothing exciting to report about this run. The 35 minutes didn't seem like much, but I felt like I was going at a snail's pace the entire time. OMG, it was hot (94 with a "feels like" temp of 104!). Next, I realized that there were no mile markers. I had no idea if I was really going as slow as I felt, but it really felt like I was moving at a snail's pace. Luckily, there was a breeze and lots of shade. I thought about running on the paved bike trails, but there was no shade there. I know it's not possible for me to melt ride into the sidewalk, but I really thought I was going to. I felt like I was going to turn into one of the clocks in the Salvador Dali painting. I made one pit stop to grab my water bottle from the car. I was sweating non-stop, I figured I better just carry my water with me the rest of the way.

I remember at one point, looking down at my watch and thinking that I had to be at least 25 or 30 minutes by now. Then, when I glanced down, I found that it had only been 17 minutes! Ugh! But, I finally finished. 35 minutes on the training schedule...35 minutes done. There's another 30 on the schedule this week and then a measly 6 miles on Sunday.

When I arrived home the hubby had dinner ready! That gave me time to play with the kiddo. She went "shopping" with her pink, mini shopping basket. She collected "groceries" throughout the house and brought them to me to "check out" on the ironing board. It was too funny - she had a baby doll, my old cell phone, a puzzle, a tiara, among other things. After she "paid" and I bagged the groceries, I thanked her for shopping at Mommy's store and told her to have a good day. She replied with a "you're welcome" and a "you too!" as she walked away with her bulging bag of groceries. :-)

Really junky junk miles

Things I learned while running yesterday:

1. Don't assume your hubby locked the front wheel of the jogging stroller back into place after he used it.


2. Above said stroller will roll right off the gravel path if the wheel is not locked into place.


3. Always, always check the front wheel of stroller before heading out on a run!


4. I become a grumpy, bitchy Mommy when running in the heat with a runaway stroller.


5. When I become the grumpy running Mommy, I tend to verbalize the "What the hell?" and other obscenities, when I thought I was only *thinking* them. Luckily, I don't think the kiddo heard that.


6. Jog stroller + head wind = really crappy run

Okay, so other than watching total crap on TV during my break from school, I have also been trying to spend lots of quality time with the hubby and kiddo. Since the hubby had to be at work early yesterday, I decided to skip my HR association meeting and take the kiddo to the park. I could run my scheduled, measly little 20 minutes and then we could hang out at the playground. Whoohoo!

On the way to the park, I was thrilled that my temp gauge read 92 degrees - much better than the 99 it showed a few days ago. When we 1st started on the run, I noticed a breeze. It felt awesome! So, I ran 10 minutes out and then took a 1 minute walk break and turned around. At this point, the wind at my back became a head wind. Lovely! The remaining 10 minutes of my *run* was pure crap. I ran for a minute, walked for a minute. Ran for a couple of minutes, walked a couple of minutes. Then, there was the stroller mishap...the (unlocked) front wheel caught a part of the gravel trail that had eroded and the stroller veered to the right. On Memorial Dr. Luckily, I had the strap around my wrist and I could pull the stroller back on track before it went off the trail completely and into the street. I'm sure those running past could hear a few obscenities coming out of my mouth. The kiddo was completely oblivious. She thought it was just some bumpy fun. So much for a measly 20-minute run...it was 10 minutes running, 10 minutes of junk.

We eventually made it back to our starting point and headed to the playground. I think I got a better workout chasing after the kiddo there than I did on my actual *run*. And, I learned the key to getting the kiddo to go home. While the other kids are crying and having total meltdowns at the words "it's time to go home", I just have to tell the kiddo that there are Dora Fruit Snacks waiting for her in the car and she runs straight to the stroller and hops in. Not so nutritious, but it does the trick...bribery works well with an almost 3 year old! Score! Thank God for Dora!

After the kiddo was asleep, I watched Shooter (pretty good) and started to watch Factory Girl about the Andy Warhol film star and momentary "it girl", Edie Sedgwick.

Marcy - I think that one-eyed guy from 300 is Vincent Regan. He was in Troy (with Brad Pitt) and the tv series "Empire". Hope that helps!

Good News, Bad News

The good news is that I survived my ride last night. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we were only able to get in about 24 of the scheduled 30 miles. Again, the entire ride felt great and I finished wishing I had time to do a little more. I forgot to bring the Garmin and the back-up ironman watch I usually leave in my car was at home too. I have no idea of our pace. I have to remember to get gloves! I know, I said that last time and forgot. I really, really need gloves! Oh, and I tried the fruit punch flavored Accelerade, but this time I diluted it - 1/2 water, 1/2 accelerade. For now, I'm going to stick to my lemonade-flavored Gatorade. I still felt that funky residue on my teeth after drinking the Accelerade and by the end of our ride, my stomach felt weird.

The bad news is that I had morning issues yet again and didn't get in my morning Si6 workout. This time, I set the alarm clock correctly, but I actually pushed the snooze button in my sleep twice! It looks like I'll be running and doing Si6 tonight. I think the oversleeping has a lot to do with DH & I staying up late to watch cheesy movies. I'm still trying to get in as many movies and as much bad reality tv as possible before school starts! So far, we've watched 300 (loved it!), Disturbia (liked it), Premonition (okay) and Vacancy (intense!). Plus, I've caught up on "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Big Love" episodes and started reading The Nanny Diaries.


As for training, I found this 1/2 marathon training plan that only requires running 3 days a week. This may actually work with my school/work/family schedule and actually give me time to bike or swim once a week. Also, since my 5K times have improved since last year, I thought it was time to re-visit the McMillan Running Calculator. Sure enough, I need to adjust my pacing for my easy, tempo and long runs. According to McMillan, my predicted 1/2 marathon time would be 2:17:54, or a 10:32 pace. Of course McMillan doesn't account for my inconsistent training during crunch time at school. :-) Before checking McMillan, my goal finish time was 2:20. That would be 6 minutes faster than my Austin 1/2 time earlier this year. We'll see. Honestly, my goal is to just be more consistent in my training between now and the Aramco 1/2 , do my tempo runs and speed work every week and to not stress out if school interferes from time to time.

Easier said than done!

Monday Sucks...

I only thought I set my alarm clock for 5:15 am. Wrong. I set it for 5:15 PM! Doh! So much for my morning Si6 workout.

Tonight, we're riding 30 miles in preparation for the Tour de Pink...if I can survive 30 miles in this crazy heat! I'm trying the fruit punch flavored Accelerade this time, but I think I'll dilute it a bit. Last time, I had the blue and it was just too strong. I'm hoping that by diluting it, it won't we quite as foamy either. Today on the Houston Fit schedule - 20 minutes easy. I imagine that I will be doing the run tomorrow...and it will probably be VERY easy (and VERY slow) after that ride!

Oh, and how about a chuckle for Monday? Check out this pic of the hubby at Dick's last weekend....

Cute, huh?

Oh, and yesterday we went to look at homes. Why, why, why can't these homebuilders think about the floorplans a little more? I used to work for a homebuilder, so I know a lot of thought goes into it, but jeeze! Can't I find a floorplan in my price range with at least 2.5 baths, a detached garage, a decent sized yard, no bedrooms directly next to the media room and some neat design features??? Luckily, we have a year to keep looking.

Workouts...

Saturday, I finally had the opportunity to get in a group run with Houston Fit - my first one since the program started up again last month. I almost thought it would be my last. Since the hubby had to work Friday night, the kiddo and I had to spend the night at my parent's house. The kiddo woke up about 5 minutes before my alarm clock was scheduled to go off (4:50 am). Naturally, she was not asleep when I had to get up and get dressed which meant my Mom had to lay down with her...which had the kiddo in tears, crying "Mommy! Mommy!" as I was walking out the door. Talk about the Mommy guilt! Ugh! On the entire drive to the park, I was thinking that I was not ever going to do that again. Luckily, by the time I got to the park and started running, I was feeling less guilty. :-)

First, it was great to see the peeps again! It almost made me forget about the 80 degree heat and the 387% humidity. Almost, but not quite. I was able to catch up with my buds from training years past and had a chance to talk to quite a few newer folks, too. I have to admit, after 2 weeks of no long runs at and only running indoors (spordically in the last few weeks thanks to school), it was tough. My inconsistency in training had caught up to me. But, it felt great to be back out there too. I did take an extra walk break on Blossom near Crestwood when I bonked. And, when we were almost at the park, I almost lost my contact! I'm sure I looked funny standing there to the side of the trail trying to get it back in. I finally just said screw it and ran the remainder of the run with my contact on the tip of my finger. If I wasn't so incredibly blind, I would have just tossed the thing. I finally finished the run, so for that, I am glad! I'm hoping that when school gets back to the every-other-weekend thing again for the fall, I'll be able to be a little more consistent in my training and start doing tempo and speed work again. After my run, I had a chance to see JD's awesome, new Mini!!! If my mommy-mobile wasn't almost paid off, I might be tempted to go check'em out.

After the run, I did the usual grocery shopping and had lunch with my Mom. Later, we headed to Baytown for a going away party for a friend's son who is a Marine and heading back to Iraq. My cousin, Ron, is also heading back to I raq next week for work. Godspeed to both Seth and Ron...stay safe over there!

Here's a re-cap of all the week's workouts:

Saturday:
8 miles @ ~12:15 pace (I forgot the Garmin, so I don't know if that's correct. I know we were pretty slow though!)

Friday:
Rest day

Thursday:
21:50 on treadmill (2 miles/10:55 pace)
45 minutes of Slim in 6 (arms, legs, abs & glutes!!!)

Wednesday:
30 minute tempo run (2.7 miles/11:06 pace)

Tuesday:
20 minutes in AM (1.73 miles/11:30 pace...feeling slow)
22 minutes in PM (2 miles/11 pace)

Monday:
Still on vacation!

The Week in Review

Sorry for the long hiatus. I don't know what's up with me lately. I think get so much more done, when I have a crazy-ass schedule and I'm running around like a mad woman!

Warning: If you came here to read about running, then you probably don't want to read this post. Or, if you are annoyed with people who feel compelled to post multiple pictures of their kids, as if they are the cutest things in the world, stop reading now. I promise to get back to the running stuff shortly...

The weekend away was wonderful and exactly what I needed! The hubby had to work on Friday night, so we left early Saturday morning. We dropped off the doggies at my in-law's house in San Marcos and visited with them for a little while and then headed to San Antonio. We had an awesome room right on the River Walk...although the view was a bit obstructed by the huge tree right outside the window.

We settled in and headed directly for the pool, which was located on the roof.

Next, we headed out to the River Walk for a stroll and some people watching. We did take time to take advantage of the hotel happy hour snacks and drinks on the way out. Hey, who can pass up a free margarita? Of course we needed food, so we stopped for dinner at Dick 's Last Resort (not my choice!). It only took me about 30 seconds to realize why they call it Dick's Last Resort...when I asked where the ladies room was located, I was directed upstairs. Ummm, yeah, the restroom was actually downstairs on the other side of the place. Oh well, at least they had awesome Margarita's! I ate really healthy on this trip, but I think I drank more than my share of WW points in Margarita's.

The next day, we indulged in the free breakfast at the hotel. Not continental breakfast either - french toast, waffles, eggs, bacon, yogurt, etc. I managed to watch my diet and had yogurt and 1/2 a waffle. (Yay me!) After breakfast, we headed to Sea World. I love Sea World! I visited Sea World in San Antonio, California and Florida while in high school school and left each time wanting to become a dolphin trainer. :-) The kiddo seemed to enjoy it, but it was HOT! She would be really excited one minute and hot and fussy the next. At one point, during the Shamu show she told me that she wanted to go home. But, I am proud of her for actually feeding the dolphins. At her age, I probably would have taken one look at all those sharp teeth and kept my hands far, far away! Let me tell you, Sea World is a great place for people watching. As you might know, there is also a water park there. Seeing some folks walking around in swimsuits was ummm, interesting.

After Sea World, we went back to the in-laws for a visit. We were supposed to go to Hamilton Pool Monday morning, but the hubby was told he had to be in court Monday. Naturally, we rushed home and when he arrived a court, the DA realized that he had forgotten to call and let him know that the guy took a plea bargain. Doh!

It was obvious that the kiddo was all tuckered out after our little getaway. When I arrived home from work on Tuesday, this is what I found on the couch....

By the way, there are more pics that you can view by clicking on the flicker badge over to the right. The hubby took a zillion pics from the Shamu and dolphin shows!

I'm back!

We're back from our long weekend! I was so much fun! My schedule is all out of whack with today being Tuesday, but being my Monday at work. I completely forgot about the Strider meeting tonight and didn't think to arrange for childcare since it's the hubby's early night at work. Well that, and I forgot to watch Big Love last night, because I kept thinking it was Sunday. Grrrr.......

More to come later!

A little "me" time

Well, today I am almost officially done with school! I do have some final touches to make to my take home final for Econ, but that's it. I have 2 weeks of freedom until the fall semester begins...and I am officially 1/2 done with my MBA!


I had the day off from work, so I scheduled a doctor's appointment and an eye doctor appointment. You know, the stuff that you can never seem to cram into the regular work week. I even managed to get suckered into getting my tetanus shot. But, I did get to squeeze in a movie with one of my friends from school. We saw Becoming Jane. I loved it! I love Jane Austen, plus it was just the kind of mushy girl movie I love. I saw some great previews too (Lust Caution, The Jane Austen Book Club, Things We Lost in the Fire and August Rush) . I forgot how much I miss going to see chick flicks!

I did a little shopping for fun clothes and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the kiddo in her inflatable pool in the backyard. Fun, fun! I sure the neighbors loved seeing that. :-0

Yesterday after work, I headed to the bike trail for a ride. Cassie, the trails are along White Oak bayou, near 610, between 11th street and a bit past 43rd. I decided that since I wasn't doing an extremely long ride, that I would try to push my speed a little more than I did on my previous two rides. And I did! I was alone so there was no coasting along and chatting. I was pedaling pretty hard the entire time...well, except for the downhill sections. But, I felt like I made myself earn those downhills.

During the ride, I started to think about the bike I used to ride in Jr. High and High School. It was a red 10-speed that my parents bought me for Christmas. I loved that bike! I loved riding! Suddenly on Friday, those memories came flooding back. I recaptured that feeling. I was never a runner in my younger days. In fact, I hated running, so my love of running was a total shock to me. But cycling, it's different. I think I am going to like this biking thing. I really do!

So anywho, I was quite proud of myself. The 8-mile stretch that I did on my very first ride took me about 40 minutes. This time, it only took 32:50. Not fast by any stretch of the imagination, but better. I reached the turn around point in just over 17 minutes, so when I turned around I decided I would try to beat that on the way back. And I did! I never negative split in running, so I was pretty pleased with myself. And, I added another 2 miles to make an even 10 with my last mile as a cool down. Good times!

And, I tried a little jogging after loading up my bike. Yep, I can definitely see why brick workouts are a must! It wasn't pretty.

Inactive

Okay, so no workouts yesterday. I had to get some of that pesky take home test done! So, to make up for it, I give you more eye candy...

You may have known his as Charlie, the responsible, parent-figure to his four siblings on Party of Five. Now, he's known as Dr. Jack Shepherd on LOST. He's no DB, but he's still yummy!



I'm planning to get in 10 miles on the bike tonight and some running in the morning. That'll probably be it until we get back from our weekend adventure on Monday. I am sooo ready for a break!

Plans?

In case you don't have anything to do...



Don't forget to watch the Endeavor launch today at 5:36 pm central. We're meeting up at a classmate's house to work on our take home tests. I'm sure I'll be the only nerd there who will insist on watching. lol!

For the weekend...

The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance is offering an architectural walking tour of the old Sixth Ward Historic District!

The tour begins at 6 pm at the Old Sixth Ward Community Park in the 1600 block of Lubbock at Trinity. Per the GHPA, Old Sixth Ward is a unique neighborhood containing a high concentration of 19th-century houses. Just last week, Houston City Council recognized the area’s significance by designating Old Sixth Ward as the city’s only Protected Historic District. Sixth Ward was developed primarily by W.R. Baker, owner of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, which employed many of the area’s early residents. Skilled craftsmen built the neighborhood’s cottages and decorated the houses with folk Victorian ornamentation. During the 90-minuite guided walking tour, participants will see the childhood home of cosmetics mogul Mary Kay Ash and historic St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, which was rebuilt after the 1900 hurricane. The cost of the tour is $10.

I would love to go on the tour, as I am a Houston history and architecture junkie. However, we have other plans this weekend. Here's a hint....

Double Digits

Yesterday was my 1st double digit ride on the bike - 20 miles! Yay me!

A friend/co-worker and I hit the trails after work. It was hot. It was humid. It was better than running in this heat! We took it at a fairly easy pace. I felt like I was getting a workout, but honestly, I could have gone faster. I started feeling a tiny bit tired on our 2nd 10-mile loop, but in all, I think I could have kept going. I'm going to get in one more ride later this week (probably just a 10 miler) and try to push myself more on that one.

Overall, I am enjoying the riding! It's still really new and exciting to me and I want to go faster and faster! I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to walk today, but I feel great. A little sore in the hammies, but nothing else. Well, except maybe my hands. I can see why people bike with gloves! I do still have the mountain bike and I am wondering if my friend is going to come through with the road bike. I'm getting more and more tempted to go ahead and just buy my own bike now rather than waiting....hmmm, we'll see.

This morning, I managed to get in 20:51 on the treadmill before the kiddo woke up. I was going for 40 minutes, so maybe I'll squeeze in another 20 minutes after the kiddo is asleep tonight. I still have my Econ test to finish, so who knows.

Biking Stats
Conditions - 97 degrees! (I would never run outdoors in those temps)
Total distance - ~20 miles
Total time - ~90 minutes
Pace - ?

Running Stats
Conditions - treadmill
Total distance - 1.92
Total time - 20:51
Pace - 10:51

Update 10:21 pm: I got in one more 20 minute run....1.81 miles, comfy 11:02 pace.

HOW?

I'm not complaining - let me say that up front. But, how in the hell does this happen?

Last week was terrible. I was stressed and sleep deprived...as a result, I ate crap all day, every day. We have all these little containers in our lunch room with evil things like Oreos, chocolate covered raisins (as if I'd eat those), M&Ms (both peanut & plain) and all kinds of candy from hershey's minatures to mini-reese's to mini-Snickers, Almond Joy, Milky Way, etc. I sampled several of each last week (except the raisins), rather than being a good girl and eating my fruit or even my Weight Watchers snacks.

Friday, I had pizza and calzone with my study group. Yesterday, I had burgers and cookie cake.

The result??????

I LOST 2 LBS!

2 LBS PEOPLE!

So the past 4 weeks, I've been super good - sticking to my points and journaling everything. The result - 2.2 lbs the 1st week, .8 the second week, .5 the 3rd week and another .5 the 4th week. Four pounds in four weeks. And week 5, I eat like crap and I DON'T WORK OUT, and I lose 2 lbs. I wasn't even going to go to Weight Watchers today, as I was expecting a gain.

I'd like to try the same method again this week, but somehow I think that it will eventually catch up to me. In the meantime, I will bask in the glow of losing a total of 6 lbs and only having 7 more to lose.

Someone has a case of the Mondays

Can someone please explain how the work week goes by so slowly, but then the weekend flys by in a flash?

I actually had a great weekend, which makes it so much harder to return to work. Friday, our groups got together after work to practice our presentations. Then, we worked on our Econ take home tests. I'm sure having Pina Coladas made for some interesting answers. :-)

Saturday was our last official day of classes. It was a crazy day! We had presentations in both courses and both presentations went well, so it looks like an A is in order! Between the two classes, about 2/3 of our class went to the library to finish up our take home tests. Once classes were over, we went out for drinks with our Econ professor and our Stat professor from last semester. That's one huge difference between undergrad and grad school...going boozing with the professors. :-) We went to a wine bar - Salud! - which actually turned out to be a complete winery. I wanted to sample half the menu, but I was good and only had two glasses and some bread and brie (lunch). Yummy!





Sunday was the hubby's birthday. He went fishing in the wee hours of the morning, so I knew a real LR was out unless I was going to run the entire way with the stroller. Quite honestly, I was tired from the past week! I decided not to set the alarm clock and managed to sleep in until 7:21!!! Woohooo! The kiddo and I went to church (for about the 3rd time since I started grad school..sad!), the grocery store, did laundry, got the kiddo a hair cut, picked up a cookie cake and went to the pool - all before the hubby made it back home. Then, we celebrated by grilling burgers, hanging out with the sister-in-law and her family and just relaxing.





(No, this isn't the hubby's cake...borrowed from cookie co website)


Now, I just have to finish our take-home final for Econ. Don't let the "take-home" part fool you. Take home usually means "piece of cake" right? Not! This professor gives us wicked hard take home tests. The last one took me about 10 hours of research to complete, since a lot of the material on the test was not in our notes and not explained well in our textbooks. So, now you know what will be consuming my time between now and Friday. Ugh!

No, I haven't run since Sunday of last week. Yes, I feel nasty and gross. But, the good news is, I have a 20 mile bike ride to do right after work tonight. That should get me back on track...if I survive it!

No News...

is not always good news. It's not necessarily bad news either.

Nothing to report. School still sucks. No running. I got a cute, slightly shorter hairdo. There are crazy happenings at the hubby's work, resulting in the kiddo and I heading for the hills for a few days. Well, okay not the hills. Just the 'burbs.

Are we having fun yet?

Late to Bed, Early to Rise...

...makes for a tired, grumpy runnergirl.

Econ hell has officially begun.

Keynesian models, Classical models, circular flow models, GDP, NI, NNP, CAGR, PPF, MPC, inflation, aggregate demand, nominal values, real values, supply shocks, hedge funds, C+I+G+(X-M)=GDP, supply-side economics, demand-pull inflation, cost-push inflation, phillips curves, laffer curves, contractionary gap, investment spending, money market equillibrium, federal reserve policy, monetarists, utility maximization, triple bottom line, unemployment, regressions, purchasing power, oligopoly, market power, market shares, marginal utility, hyperinflation, ............aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

All these terms running through my head! I hate them. I hate them all!

Why do I care if GNP is at an equillibrium level?

Anyone?

Sorry, I just had to vent a little. Perhaps I wouldn't be so bitter if my carefully taken notes from class were any help at all in finishing my take home test. How can someone lecture for four straight hours every Saturday and still not give all the information needed to do these problems?!?!

Ugh, I need some wine.