workdays

This last few weekends with so little to do have been fabulous.
With work and life back in full swing, I miss my babies...

the puppy & princess charming.

at least I get to see the puppy ever night.

the loneliness of the long distance runner

I think that is a book or song title. Some day I will find out...for today, I want to set running goals for 2009. I feel kind of braggy and awkward doing this -- and fearful - but I think it will be good for me to write them down and make them public. Perhaps less easy for me to stop then?

Without going into gorey detail on my chubby-glasses-wearing preteen years, I'd like to preface this "2009 Goals" post with the fact I am not a natural athlete. I am very competitive. And very uncoordinated. I get VERY frustrated with sports because it takes me EONS to pick up skills. But...I WANT to be an athlete (perhaps because it is not meant to be?). After 9 years, I'm still a mediocre rugby player, and at this point play mainly because it forces me to get out of the house and socialize for 5 months a year, and because I'm stubborn and don't want to quit without a good excuse (eg, forced retirement from pregnancy!).

So, to combat the ongoing ego bashing of team sports, I took up distance running. Obvious choice for someone who is a couple dozen pounds overweight, and ran all of a 9:18 mile in gym class senior year of HS (at a rather thin weight!). But...I'm kind of good at it. Not Boston good, but decent for a 5'6", size 10/12, flatfooted person with an awkwardly long stride (aka the physical opposite of someone you'd ASSUME to be a distance runner). While I'm not at a place in my life to commit to SERIOUS training goals (like, say, striving to cut 40 min from my marathon time and qualify for Boston), I do have a few goals...

First, my PRs (more for my records, but I admit I'm slightly bragging) :)
5k - 26:28 (8:31 pace), July 08
5 mi - 40:06 (8:01 pace), November 07
10 mi - 89:10 (8:54 pace), May 07
1/2 marathon - 1:52:47 (8:37 pace), Jan 08
marathon - 4:22:06 (10:01 pace), March 08

Due to injury, the wedding, and then laziness, I haven't run regularly (which for me is ~20 mi/week) in months. Lots of months. So I'm not starting where I left off...but I'll get there.

Races planned for 09-
Frostbike 5miler (Feb...something. I need to look) - 8:15 pace.
MORE 1/2 marathon (April 25) - goal: under 2 hrs
Philadelphia Distance Run (1/2 marathon) (September) - under 1:50. I know this is a STEEP goal, considering my PR was on a downhill course, but I think with speedwork, its doable.
Philadelphia or NYC marathon (November) - 4:15. According to the calculators, I should be able to do a 3:57 based on my half time...but so much can happen in a marathon...so we're going to take baby steps on this :)

I may try to fit another half in there in the summer - maybe the NYC half I missed when I broke my foot 2 days prior last year - or at least a couple of 5ks. I need the speedwork anyway...

now, to get my run in this weekend so I hit 15 miles for the first time since, oh, july!

nooner

The inauguration was great to watch. Obama's speech was quite good, and I appreciate the clarity. However, I am VERY uncomfortable with Rick Warren and his lengthy invocation ...

nft.

ps. I want Aretha Franklin's hat. For my front door at Christmas. Seriously.

Wedding Love part 2

Then we hit a lull...(and moved, etc)...

Then there were invitations for the at-home-reception

and the wedding!

and eventually DIY flowers (see later!), menus (also!), programs

and timelines for our guests with welcome cookies (Cape Cod is a good hike from NJ/NYC, Missouri, Atlanta, and Texas!).

Wedding Love

I was never a girl to DREAM about my wedding. In fact, I can't say I ever gave it much of a thought before Princess Charming and I began to discuss getting engaged. Then came the ring, and the wedding planning, etc...etc...the knot (and my little obsession, hi Sept08!)...anyway, I need to brag. I never made a Married Bio, and probably won't, because making it the way I envision it will take too much time. So...I'm going to do a mini-one via a few little blog posts. Then it'll be out of my system. Maybe. (not like I've deleted the wedding blogs from my google reader, as evident from how easy it was to send my newly-engaged friend 7 links of my favs this morning!)

In the beginning...there was us

then there was a ring...

then there was a guest list (54 of our closest friends and family), save the dates
,
a dress,
,
and a location for the ceremony

and for the reception
...

and an extra for our casual at-home-reception for more casual friends and family who couldn't make the trip to MA - our house! :)

mmmmwwaah

I was stuck in CVS for 20 minute last night waiting for my post-banging-on-my-mouth-with-masonry-tools experience with a numb cheek and mouth full of cotton. As such, I had to wander around instead of making small talk on the cell...and bought Princess Charming a couple of Valentines day gifts. For 99 cents each.

Tacky? Probably. More than I'd normally buy? Yes. I am a horrible gift giver. I hate picking out presents. We typically buy what we need or want anyway, and since we do 95% of our shopping together, that counts, right?

I hope Princess Charming appreciates her $2.98 worth of V-day gifts...they might even come with dinner, but not a card. That would double my Hallmark Holiday bill.

because I am a complainer

I am not a fashion guru, but I try to look stylish and reasonably put together. However, a large percentage of trends annoy me, especially among the college crowd (ala people I see walking to and from work).

In pictorial, because a picture tells a thousand words (or at least is clearer than I can describe), things that bug me:
specifically,


I'd like to add that leggings are not pants. The only acceptable places to wear leggings are 1) your own house 2) under pants 3) running. Failure to abide by this simple rule will mean too many people in your life will know your underwear preferences.

The jeans into boots is over for me...I could never pull it off to begin with, but I THOUGHT it was cute. Until the college kids did too. I saw at least a half dozen girls sporting this look in about 5 minutes this am. Clones, perhaps?

on the bandwagon

I've long since abandoned my 'old' blog, but I miss it. So...new marriage, new blog :) (alas, not tied to my "normal" email, which makes me ok with it!)

So...welcome to my little corner of the web, for musings on life, marriage, dogs, education, society, running, food, pesky pounds, rugby, the weather, and babies. Someday anyway ;)