Breather

I needed to pop in to post about the weight currently on my shoulders:

I AM A HOARDER.

I never realized this as much until tonight. Yes, I've always known that I have a lot of stuff and love to carry it all with me as I move from state to state, time zone to time zone. BUT. Today, going to through all of my crap at my parents house just put me into ultra-panic zone. How did this happen? I must have saved every piece of paper I've ever written on - seriously. I have all of my school work from pre-school through college! WHAT? What is wrong with me? I have every note that I ever received in junior high and high school. HUH?

As I grew older I realized that I love finding and collecting unique things from thrift stores, garage sales, etc. I'd buy things just so no one else could have it, even if I didn't need it. Then when ebay hit I was all "I'm going to make a fortune!" I've been an ebay seller since the 90s. For real. Someone had 3 boxes of old magazine to get rid of? Sure, I'll take them and sell them individually on ebay! Needless to say most of that never happened, although the ones that I did sell got me some nice cash flow back in the day. eBay is fun and exciting, but that's not the point of this story.

The point of this story is that I have a ton of shit. And it is in Michigan and I live in Portland. And as much as I thin it out there is still a ton. For example, I think I just uncovered approximately 60 pieces of milk glass alone tonight.

As a result of all of this sorting of old stuff I have found some killer old photos of myself and my family. I will definitely scan and share!

As for running, I'm keeping up. I did 10 miles today, yesterday I did an 8 mile tempo run, the day before that 5 miles easy. The day before that I did a track workout before flying to MI, the day before that I did spin class and the day before that I did something equally as fun (but I can't remember). Last weekend, however I did an awesome bike ride - 50 miles, the longest I've gone yet. And it was really hilly. I was scared beforehand that I wouldn't make it or wouldn't be able to keep up, but I was pleasantly surprised!

Tomorrow is my wedding shower and I am really excited. I get to see a bunch of people that I miss and they're all there for me. I'm embarrassed about the gift-giving aspect, but what can you do? This is tradition I guess and I can't complain about a bunch of free stuff, can I?

Ok, it is 1:35 a.m. and I need my beauty rest.

Hope life is well...

Emily

PS - please send organizational vibes my way so that I can sort out my "stuff" issues!

The American Dream

Still not ready to do my race report...so I will give you some random thoughts.

I did some good working out this week, but also had some fails. I did a trail run on Monday that was cut short by a mile due to bad stomach issues. Walking was the only thing that helped, so that sucked but at least I didn't blow my wad on the trail. Gross.

Tuesday I did a solid swim workout followed by a spin class. Wednesday I traveled to Utah and didn't do anything. Thursday I did another swim followed by 1:30 spin. Then this week's biggest fail was Friday. I was supposed to do an 8 mile tempo run and just couldn't make it happen. I'm doing a 50 mile ride today and probably a 30 minute swim.

Upsetting stuff happening at work yesterday that makes me want a new career. However, I don't know what my calling is or what I even like doing anymore. It is kind of depressing, to tell you the truth.

I am going to Michigan on Wednesday for like a week for my wedding shower and family fun, but it is going to affect my training. Whatever! At this point I've dug myself into a little hole so its really another drop in the bucket. I am looking forward to it!

Problem is that we have an apartment to pack and a move to complete. Another problem is that I have no boxes nor desire to acquire any. Or to pack. Sooooooo. Here we are!

So I will leave you with some race pics I got from my friend....

Ah, this photo explains a lot:

That is my future husband checking out the picture he just took of me. I can hear him saying to himself "Picture taken? Check! Now I'm going to stuff my face with more ranch sunflower seeds and concentrate on breathing, blinking and allowing my heart to pump blood." (I swear I am much more appreciative of him than that - it is just fun to make fun on this, especially when his favorite thing to do at these races is to eat doughnuts while I'm struggling past him. I promise he is an athlete in his own right [he did the Portland marathon last year, has done Mountains to Sound twice, runs, plays hoops, tennis, etc.] but he just doesn't get into the races as much as the rest of us...)




I love this last picture - with my friend that I've known since college and have lived in both Chicago and Portland with. We are both so excited to start this race and not even self-conscious about what DBs we look like!

Blue Lake Tri Pre-Race Report

I am done with my (sort of) first tri but don't want to write up the report yet.

Big surprise, but I am in a FOUL mood. Total negativity streaming from me and more negativity toward myself that I'm acting this way. PMS, chemical imbalance, what have you, but this shit better end in a couple of days.

A quick summary of the race would be this: I finished and had a pretty good time. I was really excited before the race and during the race was in pretty good spirits. I'm happy about the swim and the bike, but not my transitions or the run.

I'll post the full report later, hopefully before I forget, but have some pics below to wet your whistle:

Good job to everyone else on their races this weekend!!

Race Week!

Thanks for the nice notes! We are really excited about the house, but now I'm wondering if I should have waited to announce until all of the inspection crap was over and done with. But I think that everything will work out. Stay positive!

I had a good run yesterday with Jen - we met at the track and although I was scheduled to do easy fartleks we just ended up running 4 miles on the track together pretty consistently. Round and round and round. I took some cute pictures, including some really good ones of Jen, but I'm having issues with uploading right now. Soon!

Today I did a 1,000 yd swim in the pool. I have NO idea how fast I swim. I hate that. So since today's was kinda easy to measure I did. I finished the 1,000 in 18:00 and finished the 800 in 14:30. I noted the 800 time because that is what our race is on Saturday. I didn't even stop, just caught a glimpse of the clock while breathing. I have no idea how that pace will play out in the race - I may freak out...there may be many many factors that go into it. I guess that is what the triathlon is all about and something I'll just have to get used to. It is fine.

I'm easy. Easy like Sunday morning.

Right.

Three more days to the race and left to do: fix bike tire/wheel (what is that actually called), test said device out, decide on the uniform, figure out what to do with my hair during the race, mentally prepare, carbo load, determine goals, chill out, set up my bike in the transition area, deep breath, dive in...

The Big News

We bought a house!



We have been looking at homes for several years (in several different cities) and finally bit the bullet. For as slow as our search was, the actual offer to move in process is going to be lightning fast. We put in an offer last week, negotiated a bit and came to an agreement. Our inspection was yesterday and if all goes well we close on 6/30 and move in the next day! If all goes really well we will get to move in sooner.

Some very random thoughts since I could just go on and on....The is the first place either of us has owned. I love old homes. This one is in pristine condition. The garden is unreal and may kill me. Possibilities are endless...

The only small kicker is that we're moving out of Portland. I have loved this town from the first day I visited so, even though we're just moving a few miles away, it is hard. We're not technically in the burbs, but we're in more of a residential area. This will be the first time either Josh or I have lived outside of "the city" since high school. I am a little freaked out about how we will react. But we've talked through it over and over and this is the best option for us right now. I'll still work from home, or take up a small space out of Josh's office (which he is much closer to now), I'm closer to the Gorge and getting out to the cabin, there are tons of places to run and bike in Vancouver (the city we're moving to). There are huge tax advantages to living in WA vs. OR. Plus we're still really close to Portland and plan to keep up with all of the social stuff we've always done.

For those of you local people (Alisa, Jen, Amy, Erika, etc.) I will host a party ASAP! I can't wait to furnish and decorate this place and start acting like a real adult.

Anyway, thanks for caring enough to let me share - I'm really pumped!

Home Again!

I am baaaack!

Feels so good to be home, sleeping in my own bed and doing my normal running route. I got home on Friday and have some training from last week to report, but first want to write about my kick-ass run tonight. I did 10 miles, and boy it has been a while since I've run that far. I felt really relaxed today about getting in these miles and didn't fret when I decided to push off my start to later on in the day. I knew that I wasn't going to bail on this run at all. I was actually looking forward to it. I ended up doing my normal river front route and since there is a festival going on I decided to loop through that area twice, which I normally don't do. I felt like I was cooking and didn't really think too much about time - I'd turned off the auto lap on the Garmin so I wasn't seeing each and every mile pace. I'd look down occasionally and do a little math in my head and was surprised at the pace I was managing to kick out. It was odd because it felt relatively easy and smooth so I just held on and tried to keep it up. I could tell toward the end that my body was hurting a bit, but I really held the pace well and finished 10.02 miles in 1:15:56. That's a 7:34 pace!! My avg HR was 170 bpm. Aside from the first and last half miles I didn't stop at all (those were due to stoplights).

This was a huge confidence boosting run for me and I'm happy it turned out so well. I had some pretty crappy runs in DC and was beginning to think I wasn't in the game anymore. Today's run reversed that thinking and I'm totally excited about the triathlon on Saturday.

Now, back to the future: I got in late on Friday night and woke up early for an open water swim clinic put on by the race organizers in the lake we're swimming for the race. It ended up being a 3+ hour clinic with a wetsuit for free and some lunch for free. We had a local tri stud teach it and it really helped me. We went through sighting, congestion, starts, buoy turns and probably more. It was damn cold out but we toughed it out, despite a lot of downtime soaking in the water listening to the instructions. Our last little test was to do a beach start and sort of mock race down the length of the small swimming area, then run out, run up the steps to a fake transition area and strip out of our wetsuit. I was the first one out of the water! WTF? There were about 20 men and 20 women and I'm still not quite sure how that happened, but I know I went where I was supposed to and didn't cheat dammit. I got up to the fake transition area and they were all like - what? You're out already. So, that was another confidence booster for me to store away until the race.

After the swim we sat around and talked then went for a bike ride on the race course. In total we did about 20 miles in about a 16mph avg. Some of that felt slow but a big part of it I felt like I was going really balls out. There was a cross wind but it was still discouraging. Something weird is happening with my bike but I don't blame that. I am a little bummed that I'm not faster on the bike portion but we'll just have to see what happens on race day. (I also came home to realize my back tire is totally deflated and since I have no idea how to fix that I'll probably recruit someone to help me this week - any taker?) Beyond the bike, I have no clue how I'll perform on the run. My 5ks this year have been in the 21/22 range but what will it be after the swim+ride? No clue. I just hope I don't totally break down and get a lactic acid bitchslap at any point. This race is totally a test for me but I think its going to be fun so I am just going with it.

I have questions and issues on race apparel that I will save for a later post, but to sum it up WTF? Why is everything so tight and gross-looking? Why do I require a size large?

Also for another post is HUGE news in my life. I can't wait to talk about it, but will save for later when I have more time to devote to details.

I've been slowing catching up on everyone else's blogs, so I'm sorry if I don't leave any comments for a while. I'm getting there, but mainly so glad to be home.

Have a great week peeps!

Haggard

We have slaved all weekend and I'm nearly comatose. Last night we took a break for dinner during which I had 3 glasses of wine + 2 French 76's + 1 glass of wine + 2 shots of tequila.

Then when dinner (with our client) ended we all went back to the jobsite and did a final walk together for 2 hours and finished at 1 a.m. With all of that alcohol in my system. Then got up at 6:30 a.m. - 5 hours of sleep. Today was not the best - so tired and a little headachy.

SURVEY BREAK: Who thinks I have a drinking problem?

(Please leave responses in comments. Just FYI, everyone else drank just as much. Oh, and it was fun.)

On Saturday I got in a really fast 5.5 miles that I wish could have been longer. I had to really squeeze it in before dinner and am so happy that I was successful! Sunday I woke up early to get in as much as I could (4.2 miles) before starting work again. Today is an off day (thank god).

I am really impressed I was able to get those runs in but to tell you the truth they were tough miles. Not sure if its the travel but I just feel sluggish and off. I've also been eating my face off and not happy with myself. I feel gross, tired and sucky.

I am so happy to be done with our move and can't wait to spend some time with my parents in Baltimore, then back to DC to hang with my friend. I guarantee that we will drink lots and lots of wine and spend hours and hours catching up! Friday is a full day of travel then waking up Saturday to do my first open water swim! I don't have a wetsuit yet so may have to tough it out Alcatraz-style.

Speaking of the swim....I have a triathlon in less than 2 weeks - are you kidding me? I'm going into this for the fun factor and experience and am really excited. I know I could have done better with training but I think it'll be neat.