Run Log: January 2015

Cheryl & I have a thing..."Abs by April" is what we're calling it & we've been planking everyday (and sending each other our times) since Christmas.  I think I've missed one day...but I've been really good about keeping this up.  As long as I have accountability, I don't quit.  It's when it's on my own, I'll stop.  (That doesn't speak very highly of my character...but I have to be honest) so the following four pictures are of my times.  (they go left to right in each collage)  My shortest time was day four at 1:25 & my longest time was day 31 at 4:00.  Haven't hit that mark again, but it's rather interesting to see the pattern of growth.  I find the days I run, I don't plank as long as the rest day (which just makes sense)  As hard as plank is, it is getting 'easier' to hit the 1:30 mark.  But planking is HARD, no matter what.

So, I know this only has tiny bit to do with running, but we traded in my Yukon & the Jeep to get a more reliable car for JB to drive.  (a little incident with the brakes led Mike to convince me it was time ~ so now we have two car payments...but that's not the story)
I was SO very SAD to leave my Yukon at Classic Hyundai.  The weirdest thing was leaving my 13.1 & my 26.2 stickers.  Those really meant something to me.

 But on to running for the month.  Five weeks into training for CLE ~ and I'm still fighting my left calf muscle.  The pain kinda wanders & after my 8 miler today, it actually feels better than it did all day yesterday.  I've ordered some compression sleeves & I'm making a point to STRETCH my hamstring & ROLL my IT band (which I should be doing anyway)  I can't say it hurts.  It's just that I'm aware of my calf muscle & that's annoying.  There is some shin pain when I run, but it's about a 2 on the pain scale.  This too shall pass.  But, you know me, it's a stress fracture or the muscle is detaching from the bone or there's a spot of dead muscle in there...I annoy myself with all that could be wrong with me.

Run Club is going strong.  We are up to SIX members & one who wants to be on the email list for when she's ready.  I made Kelly take this usie because it was about 15 degrees this day...we are BEASTS.  The weather has been cold and snowy & we've made Square's Acres our mile track.
This January I've run in 70 degree sunshine in Florida and 15 degrees in Ohio.  I've also taken to the treadmill when It's been icy & rainy.  This January has seen it all!

January Totals:

119.63 miles for the month
119.63 miles for the year 

64.76 miles in my Gortex Ghosts ~ SO GLAD I bought these.  Today the snow was slushy & there were puddles...and my feet were DRY

157.17 miles in my pink Brooks Glycerin 12.  They are so pretty

Training for:  The Cleveland Marathon on May 17, 2015  ~ Signed up for the 20 mile drop April 12, 2015.

My WEIGHT:  Even though I reminded myself to get on the scale first thing this morning... I forgot.  So I weighed myself after my 8 mile run...137.6 ~ UGH ~ kinda glad I didn't check that out first thing this morning. But to actually lower that number, I'd have to watch my diet more closely.  I'm in training people; I can't be limiting my fuel.

Some interesting facts:

Longest run this month: 10.01 ~ as per my training, I've cut back on the mileage some. (and that's when I have a muscle issue?! UGH)

Favorite place to run this month: would have to be the two runs we took in Florida.  Not too often do you get to run in warmth in the middle of winter.
# of bags of Candy Cane Kisses left in my cabinet: There is one GIANT bag and the bag I just bought for 50% off at Target today.  And there's ONE piece in the candy dish.  {I also think I bought another small bag at Giant Eagle...but I'm not going to check just now}
# of books I read this month: Three
Monthly mileage record: 155.46 ~ August 2013!  WOW
Highest mileage ever-at-one-time:  26.2 ~ October 13, 2013 ~ Northern Ohio Marathon

PR's:
5K: 22:30 (Run For the Grapes 9/28/14}
10K: 50:13 {Run for the Hills 6/22/14}
10-miler: 1:21:29 (Hermes Cleveland 10-miler 4/28/12)
half-marathon: 1:44:58 (Northern Ohio Half Marathon 10/12/14)
marathon: 4:01:04 (Northern Ohio Marathon 10/13/2013)

#3 ~ The Sound of Us

A heartbreaking, yet uplifting story of love is #3 for 2015 ~ The Sound of Us by Sarah Willis.  This is my second novel by Sarah Willis & I really enjoy her prose.  She paints very vivid pictures of her characters and makes me like, dislike, question and wonder about the things life throws at us.  This particular story starts with a wrong number and ends with a single woman, in the middle of grieving for her dead twin, becoming a very unlikely foster parent.
It's interesting because as she changes, so do her relationships.  That aspect isn't addressed in the story, but I wonder about it.  Did Willis make that vague on purpose?  What did she want us to take from that?  I took that life is always changing and with it are both good and bad.  We ultimately have to follow what makes us happy.
I also enjoyed the setting ~ as Alice lived in Cleveland Heights & Mentor is also mentioned.  It's rather fun to see places I know show up in a piece of fiction.

fl:The girl lying on the exam table is fourteen and bone thin, elbows and knees like pipe fittings.  ll: Some people say I saved Larissa.  But they've got it wrong.

being single

So...I've been married 24+ years ~ and I haven't spent many of those 8000+ nights alone.  So this two week stretch of being single was very odd.
I discovered that when left to my own devices I will binge watch How I Met Your Mother and knit.
Things Mike does that I don't:

• Get the newspaper in the morning.  This is an enjoyable task when it's not snowing and cold...which is was while he was gone in January.  
• Make the coffee.  This is not hard, but there were many nights I had to come back down because I forgot to set the machine.
• Make Jacob breakfast.  Yep, eggs & toast.  Every morning (He's a good Mom)
• Make Jacob lunch & pack it up.  I quit doing that when he was old enough to make his own.  Mike started doing it last year...and I had to take this task over.
• KILL MICE.  SERIOUSLY.  He's gone two weeks & I get a MOUSE IN MY KITCHEN.  I've lived here since 2003 & only one other time has a mouse been in my kitchen.  UGH and GROSS and he's dead now.
• Fix the garage door when it won't open.  ( I got it up & we just left it that way)
• Fix the Yukon.  The brakes went out...and I solved the problem by fixing the garage door so Jacob could drive the Jeep.

He's home now & life can return to normal.

#2 ~ Chestnut Street

The last Maeve Binchy book, #2 Chestnut Street is a collection of short stories found after Maeve's death.  They all revolve around one street in Dublin.  Some of the characters overlap, but most don't.  I think that if Maeve had been able to revise and edit, they would have overlapped more, and stayed truer to their characters.  Of course it was full of broken relationships and infidelity.  Interesting time when divorce became legal in Ireland and how that changed things for some people.  The idea that we are all flawed characters trying to navigate a happiness in this life is prevalent, just like all her other stories.  I miss Maeve and have enjoyed reading every one of her novels.

fl: It was all the harder because her mother had been so beautiful. ll: Louis was going to be spending much more time in Ireland anyway and would welcome the congenial company of a friend of ten years' standing.

#1 Diary of a Mad Fat Girl

The first book of the year #1 ~ Diary of a Mad Fat Girl ~ by Stephanie AcAffe is a cute, light, don't-dig-too-deep kinda read.  Ace, the main character is a mad fat girl ~ who is mean to her friends ~ to the love of her life...but not her dog.  But Ace is also there for her friends when they need her most.  The emotions flip/flop pretty quickly in this story...so don't think too much about it, just go with it for a a fun little read.
It looks like this is the first of a few books staring Ace, but I'm not so sure I need to read the rest.
All in all, a good vacation read.

fl: All of my bags are packed and I'm ready to go.  ll:"Yep," he says, pulling me into a hug.  "Just like you."

Washer Drama

Back in October I noticed a piece of the rubber gasket in the front of my washer had ripped off.  OCTOBER.  Today, I got my new washer.  In between I got to know Amish Pete's laundromat & my husband bought a $100 washer at a thrift shop (see first picture).  I had the extended warranty ~ so Sears replaced my washer (see second picture).  But I'm not sure it was worth the drama!  I had to write a letter to Sears...which was the only thing that got results.  

December 23, 2014

To Whom it May Concern:

I am a very dissatisfied customer and feel you need to be aware of my situation in hopes you would desire your customers to be taken care of in a timelier manner.

In October my washing machine had a piece of the rubber gasket tear off.  I purchased the extended warranty, so I called the people at Master Protection.  They scheduled a time a week or two away for a repair man to come and fix it.  He showed up on the scheduled day, and quickly saw my washer had bigger problems.  He ordered the necessary parts and scheduled a new date, November 25, 2014.  I was not very happy with the wait of a few weeks to get this fixed, but it was under warranty and wouldn’t cost me anything to get it fixed, so I didn’t complain.  He came on November 25, and one of the parts shipped to me was damaged.  He had to reorder that part and realized that another part was also needed.  The new repair date? December 23, 2014.  I felt this was an unacceptable amount of time to get my washer fixed, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Today is December 23.  The repairman was scheduled to arrive between 8 and noon.  At 2:00 I called.  There was NO RECORD of a repair being scheduled for today.  I was told I had a repair on December 3 and it was completed.

There are a number of things wrong with this.  I DID NOT have a repair scheduled for December 3.  And if I did, I was NEVER made aware of it so I could be home.  The repairs are CERTAINLY  NOT complete as I still have parts all over my house.  This is an unacceptable way to do business.

I now have a repair scheduled for January 9, 2015.  From OCTOBER TO JANUARY.  If this were your washer at your house, would that be acceptable?

I am very concerned that it will not get fixed.  First, I don’t think I’ve received all the necessary parts that need replaced.  And secondly, my extended warranty expires in January.  It makes me think this is an attempt to spread out my repair in order for my warranty to expire and therefore, make me financially responsible for it. 

I would like to know what you can do to make this situation better. 

I heard from Sears within three hours of sending this email.  I had a service repair scheduled for December 26.  I ordered my new machine December 29.  I got it delivered today.  It's SAD that I had to resort to a harsh email to get good service.  I also discovered that the December 3 "completion" showed I was given a new washer that day.  Someone in the Sears network got a new washer & it wasn't me.  

On this new on I did not buy the extended warranty.  I really feel that the time I spent waiting and being annoyed is worth the price of a new washer.  

So I've started my washer fund...

And I've started my wash...in my new machine!! 

Winning ways

There is another award winning athlete I. The Barton house. Jacob won his tennis tournament today. The prize? A water bottle!

Pretty proud of the kid.