Run Log: February 2013

Here we are a month later & a few more miles.  I did not meet January's total by a couple of miles, but I did complete a TRIATHLON in 12 days!  That's gold metal time, people!  This is the second year that I've done the Triathlon at the YMCA ~ last year I just did the sprint {15 mile run, 1 mile swim, 50 mile bike} but this year ~ I did the WHOLE THING, BABY. 26.2 mile run {I did 27}, 2 mile swim, 112 mile bike. Can I just say, that I'm pretty proud of myself?  What I've learned:
1. Don't be afraid to try something.  I really wasn't going to do this...but Mike did & I didn't want to be left out.  112 miles on a stationary bike is rough...but I was able to do it!
2.  Output doesn't suffer when I read a magazine & ride a bike.  & it certainly helps get those miles in.  
3.  I can be 'in the zone' when I run...but not when I bike.  Which is probably good for actual riding in the road where you really have to pay attention at all times...but It's not so much fun on the inside.
4.  Swimming is hard!
5. It's easy to lose weight when you work out a lot.
6. Instead of stopping my workout when I hurt my foot, I SHOULD have picked up swimming &/or biking ~ then I would be able to eat the four boxes of Girl Scout Cookies on my kitchen table & not have to log the calories!
7. People who do a whole triathlon in one day are CRAZY.  It was hard to do in 12.

This month...Run club met a few times.  The weather took a turn for the worse, but it is February, so I won't complain too much, since we did get to run twice {I think}.

My foot is SO MUCH BETTER.  The arch is a little stiff, and I feel it when I run a little bit, but it's so doable! And doesn't hurt any other time.  THANK YOU, GOD!  I REALLY {If I type it in caps, then it might be true} want to try and do all the preventative stretches & rolling & icing...so I don't get hurt training for this half.

It's been a stressful month.  I'm feeling so out of control of my life.  School is nuts & everything is just adding up and piling on.  Yearbook deadline is approaching, lesson plans, and IEP's, and MEETINGS {and meetings}, and getting angry over the things I have no control over, and DIETING {which makes me feel in control as I log my calories}, and those GS cookies on my kitchen table. {Good Gravy, I've mentioned them twice now.}  {140 calories in 2 Tag-A-Longs}.  But mostly I'm stressed about life changes.  Moving buildings next year & having to pack up all of my stuff...and Patrick going to college.  That's the biggie.  That's the one that's got my stomach & my heart all messed up.  Enjoy today.  That's going to be my new mantra. {maybe}

February's totals:
69 miles for the month 
141 miles for the year
112 biking miles for the month
112 biking miles for the year
287.5 miles in my white & blue Asics ~ which are still white...but not looking so shiny.  

My WEIGHT:  141 pounds {It was 141.6, but I don't round.  I just lob off}  I weighed in yesterday morning & am down 12 pounds total.  8 in February.  My "goal" is 129 pounds...but that's just because I'd love to see the 120's.  I don't think I'd be very healthy at 129.  I think my ideal weight is around 135.  We'll see how much longer I can take this logging of calories.  I think I'm starting to obsess and I don't know if that's a good thing or not.  {That and the four boxes of GS cookies on my kitchen table.}
Some interesting facts:
Longest run this month: 7 miles !! {getting up there!}
Favorite place to run this month:The new treadmill at the YMCA.  {WHAT?!  I can't believe I just typed that.  But they are pretty cool machines.}
# of bags of Candy Cane Kisses left in my cabinet: THREE...I'm assuming 3 since I'm not looking at them.  Still the same...{I think, because I haven't looked} & those four boxes of GS cookies.  Soon to be opened.  I have 700 calories left for today!
# of books I read this month: one  {sad & pitiful that looks}
Monthly mileage record: 80.5 miles March 2012
Highest mileage ever-at-one-time:  13.1 miles ~ May 16, 2010 (Cleveland 1/2) 

PR's:
5K: 22:45 (Rabbit Run 10/30/11~ but I think it was a short course)
10K: 52:02 (Cleveland 5/15/11)
10-miler: 1:21:29 (Hermes Cleveland 10-miler 4/28/12)
half-marathon: 1:55:04 (Cleveland 5/16/10)
marathon: 3:50:05 (Akron relay {team run} 9/24/11)

Fatty Fatty 2 by 4

So, I'm really into this counting calories and losing weight...and I'm like over 1,400 calories UNDER my goal intake for the week...and I've lost 10 pounds...and I'm really motivated.  And today, when I exhaled and got on the scale, it told me I'd GAINED a pound.
{I am going to complain for a minute because no one really cares if I talk about it...so I can blog about it on my blog...that no one but me ever reads anyway.}  SERIOUSLY!?!  I GAINED a pound.  I've only had two "bad" days.  Last Friday when I drank two beers and Monday when I had a small piece of Patrick's birthday cake {oh that DQ Blizzard Cake!}  And I GAINED a pound.  My "good" days MORE than made up for the extra calories I took in those two days.  It's just not right.  If I were in charge of weight loss, people would get credit in the hips for good choices RIGHT AWAY.  I eat all this healthy stuff.  I even gave up MILK {I LOVE MILK}  I don't use salad dressing...go lemon & balsamic vinegar...I eat CARROTS for snack.  I hardly have bread anymore...and I MISS CHEESE.  SERIOUSLY.  Compared to how I was eating before this, I'm surprised I didn't weight 200 pounds.  AND since I DIDN'T weight 200 pounds...how can it be so difficult to LOSE the weight when I've totally cut out all the stuff I was eating?  Makes no sense.

Ok, done.  For now.

eighteen

Eighteen years ago Patrick was born.   I am the parent of an adult.  I've been almost dreading this day.  Not because of any tangible reason, just because it's the end of having this kid...and moving to having an adult for my kid.  Mike wrote in his card that while he will miss the kid, he looks forward to getting to know the man.
I couldn't be prouder than I am.

#4

Carl Hiaasen wrote book #4 for the year, Lucky You.  It's about a a woman, named {of all things} is JoLayne Lucks, who had one of two winning lottery tickets worth $28 million dollars.  The yahoo redneck white aryan race freaks who had the other winning ticket decide they need all the money instead of half.  What happens is part mystery, part spy, part romance, part fun, part far-fetched.  Hiaasen writes enjoyable books with zany characters what point to some of the true problems with American society.

Good Quotes:
p3: It ws inevitable that the poacher and the counterfeiter would bond, sharing as they did a blanket contempt for government, taxes, homosexuals, immigrants, minorities, gun laws, assertive women and honest work.
p18: Bodean James Gazzer had spent thirty-one years perfecting the art of assigning blame.  His personal credo--Everything bad that happens is someone else's fault--could, with imagination, be stretched to fit any circumstance.  Bode Stretched it.
p38: "I ain't wearin' no camo."  "Why not, goddammit!" "'Cause it makes you look like a fuckin' compost heap."

p157 ~ good word:

Poetic/Literary ~ deceitful and untrustworthy

p168 ~ good word:

a coil or ring, in particular

p275 ~ good word:

a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds:

fl: On the afternoon of November 25, a woman named JoLayne Lucks drove to the Grab N'Go minimart in Grange, Florida, and purchased spearmint Certs, unwaxed dental floss and one ticket for the stat Lotto. ll: Tom, I'll kill you."  She was laughing as she chased him up the hill, into the tall pines.

not nice

My husband delights is sliding on the ice & snow in the car.  He constantly hits the gas in parking lots and tries to do donuts.  Makes me absolutely NUTS.  I can't stand being out of control & the risk of hitting another car...a light pole...is just not worth it.  But he insists, "I know what I'm doing."  "We're not going to hit anything."  "Relax."  He does it just to watch me squirm.  {This is also the same man who waits until someone in the car takes a sip of a drink and hits the gas ~ not nice, right?}
Tonight, as we were hitting the town for our big date night of Wal-mart and Giant Eagle, he attempts to slide around the corner of our driveway...When ~ all of a sudden ~ we are headed (out of control) straight at the huge tree in our front yard.
The not nice part is that when I saw the tree & looked at the panic on his face while feeling the abrupt application of the brakes and I wasn't scared or panicked.  My first thought was, "Good, I'm glad he almost hit the tree.  Too bad we didn't, because then I could have said, 'told you so'."
And when I told that to Mike he laughed so hard he cried & he couldn't see where he was going driving down the road.
He will not learn.

two dead mice & a funny {aka, school}

The count from room 136 at MMS is now at 2.  Two Dead Mice.  Dead.  Squished, to be precise.  YUCK.  I quietly & oh-so-slowly enter my room and peek into the corner (behind my desk on the counter) hoping not to see gross dead mouse.  So far, all I've witnessed is a flipped over (thankfully toward the window) mouse trap.  UGH.
But, did you know, they RECYCLE mouse traps.  Really.  They unlatch the thing & take the dead mouse out & then USE the thing AGAIN {hence the term, recycle}.  That is so more gross.  So I have a USED mouse trap in my classroom.  YUCK.

Funny kid story:  Another class wrote me apology letters because they were loud when we were sharing a room taking a test.  One boy wrote, "I know it was wrong, but I'm only 12 and talking is something that is hard to control."  I don't even know this boy, but he is my favorite.  I could easily write, "I'm only 44 and talking is something that is hard to control."  <3 it!

special weekend

My mom came to visit me this weekend!!
Her Christmas present was a trip to shop with me...what a great dad too.
The weekend started with  death defying trip from sun glare in downtown Cleveland to near whiteout conditions in Painesville.  I had taken the car out of four wheel drive {stupid} and when I accelerated heading up a slight hill I lost control of the back end of the Yukon.  Scary, to put it mildly.  whooo...whooo...whooo...back and forth we went until we finally spun all the way around.  It was a miracle that we didn't hit anyone or drive right off the embankment.  I am reminded that God is always looking out for us even when we aren't looking out for ourselves.
Mom and I shopped and laughed and just were together.  I took her back to the airport bright and early and made it back to school to find a dead {dead...dead...dead} mouse.  Hopefully there won't be any more mouse poop on my desk.