MCM here I come!

I just registered for the Marine Corps Marathon on Oct 26th. My stomach is in knots. I'm so excited but also pretty nervous. I guess this means I need to get my ass running again! :)

Running on eggshells

I ended up running on the treadmill Friday afternoon. It was too hot outside and I was eager to get through the workout because I was supposed to have dinner at my aunt's house and go to a movie. I tried to be as gentle as possible while running - to the point where my feet felt like they were barely leaving the treadmill platform. It felt more like shuffling than running. It was slow but I completed the 3 miles in just under 36 minutes. Everything felt ok except for a sporadic pinching feeling on my left quad. I could've sworn there was a sadistic midget with a lobster claw hand standing behind me. It was pretty irritating. But it could have been worse...

Saturday my friend Jes came into town for one last hurrah before I move THIS FRIGGIN THURSDAY (I'm still in shock that the date has sprung up as if from nowhere). We went to the beach, ate, shopped, ate some more, and just spent some quality time doing much needed catching up. We went to the Melting Pot for dessert and it was delicious. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. We shared the Flaming Turtle (milk chocolate, caramel and chopped pecans, flambeed tableside). Sooooo good. I wasn't able to do my long run yesterday for two reasons: 1. I had company all day. Before Jes left, my dad and his wife, Michelle came over, we spent some time with my relatives, I did some packing, and then they left and my good friends Chris and Julie came over to spend the night. 2. I'm a moron and didn't apply suntan lotion to my legs or stomach while we were at the beach on Saturday. Why I neglected those areas is beyond me. You'd think I'd be more than familiar with the effects of noontime FL sun on a pasty un-SPF-ed body. As a result, my poor legs and hips are so badly burned that it hurts to sit, stand, bend over, walk...more or less any movement is unpleasant. So not only am I unable to run, but I fear that my burn is going to prevent me from fully enjoying my massage tomorrow (going away present from my boss). Damn it all to hell.

I will be very happy when this week is over and we're situated in TN and I can stop stressing so much about The Move. Then maybe I can establish some semblance of a routine again.

I'm nervous

So I plan on running tonight after work and am deciding whether to try another outside run or if I should just play it safe and stay inside. I'd like to give outside running another whirl but here's what I'm nervous about: if I run outside and have another episode similar to Wednesday's, I don't know what the hell I'd do. I could barely walk. Seriously. I usually err on the side of caution so I'm thinking I should just stay inside. Comments? Suggestions?

Also, is it wrong to take a few ibuprofen PRIOR to running? Does it minimize pain and/or swelling?

I thank you in advance for your suggestions! :) TGIF!!!!!!!

2 Month Anniversary/Wicked bad pain/Outside run

So, today is officially 2 months since I decided to embark on my marathon training journey. Yay! It's incredible how quickly the two months have gone. I'll do my best to resist the urge to criticize myself for not being farther along in terms of mileage. It's way too easy to say, "You really SHOULD be doing double digit long runs by now". That thought has gone through my mind too many times to count. But it's useless to think that way. I just need to keep on keepin' on, as I like to say.

Yesterday after work I got on the treadmill with visions of running 4 miles dancing through my head. I've been wanting to up my weekly mileage just a bit and figured it would be a good day to do it. Boy, was I wrong. I started out at 10MM...for some reason not only did I want to push my mileage up, but I wanted to do it FASTER! Somewhere in my peabrain it failed to register that I should have focused on one or the other. I'm not friggin SuperWoman. The first mile flew by. But soon after that, I started to hurt. My shins hurt, thighs hurt, ankles hurt. So I slowed my pace down a bit. That didn't seem to help too much. And once again, I felt like I was dying of thirst. Does anyone else have this problem? Being too thirsty while running? It's ri-friggin-diculous. I've read people's comments who've said they don't really hydrate at all for something as short as a 3 mile run. Who...are...these...people?! Sorry, I couldn't resist. Anyway, I'm not sure what my deal is but I hate constantly feeling thirsty. I've also read that if you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated and that you're supposed to drink x amount of water per hour or mile or God knows what. I guess I just need to drink A LOT more water during the day. Whatever. Back to the run. I was in the "stare at the mileage and urge it to go faster" mode (it didn't cooperate), which was supremely frustrating, not to mention the fact that my math skills temporarily flew out the window. I'd tell myself "Oh, I only have 1/2 a mile to go, that isn't so bad" and then I'd realize that no, I actually have A MILE AND A HALF. Shit. My shins started screaming so bad that I thought I was going to die. Yes, I'm a wimp. Yes, I'm a crybaby. But this pain was far unlike any other pain I've experienced running (or doing any other sport for that matter). I had to stop. And my mileage was only at 1.94. Gimmie a P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C! So I hobbled off the treadmill, on the verge of tears, wondering what the hell was wrong with BOTH my legs, wondering if somehow I'd fractured them. How do you know if your legs are fractured?
Maybe if they:
1. Are in excruciating pain during periods of movement and/or non-movement
2. Prevent you from walking
3. Make you whimper and cry little a little beyatch
I told myself that I MUST at least do 2 miles. So I got back on the treadmill, put it on 12MM pace and fast-walk/slow-jogged. The pain temporarily subsided, which was really exciting, so after the remaining .6 mile, I decided to shoot for another 1/2 mile. Pfffffftttt. Not.Gonna.Happen. I stopped after the next quarter mile. Shut the treadmill off, wrote "BAD RUN. LOTS OF PAIN. 2.25 miles/24 minutes" on the piece of paper I use to record my dailies (the backside of a "Conversational Spanish" page-a-day calendar). Then I went inside to address the issue at hand. Every single step was punctuated with either "ouch", "ohmigod" or an expletive. I got some water, some frozen vegetables, and plopped down on the couch. I called Dave so that I could bitch and complain and have someone else (besides me) feeling sorry for me. We talked for a few minutes and even a brief conversation seemed like it required too much effort so I flipped the tv on and scrolled through the channels, all the while, I'm practically yelling because even though I'm not moving, my shins are absolutely killing me. The frozen vegetables felt like they were burning my legs so after about 5 minutes (if that) I had to take them off. I got up and went into the kitchen to take 3 Ibuprofens. Then I hobbled back to the couch and laid down again. It was awful. I moved my legs around in vain attempts to put them in a position that would take away the pain. There was no such position. They hurt no matter what I did. After about 30-45 minutes, the Ibuprofen must've kicked in (thank you Jesus) because I felt 100% better. I got up, ate, and did some of the packing I've been planning to do for over a week now. It ended up being a productive evening. It's incredible how much you can get done when you get up off your ass and stop watching tv. Good stuff.

I decided I was going to take today off, in hopes that my legs would magically heal themselves in time for another 3 or 4 mile attempt Friday. We'll see. I got up and walked on the beach at Sand Key Park this morning on my way to work. The weather couldn't have been more perfect: about 74 degrees and sunny, with a slight breeze. So I walked for about 30 mins and went to work. I might try to do some yoga moves when I get home from work because I feel like some stretching would feel beyond fantastic right now.

Ok, so on to the outside run which commenced on Tuesday, around 6:45 pm. Prior to leaving the house I tried to gulp down as much water as I could (without feeling like I would pee my pants mid-run) and popped a stick of gum in hopes of avoiding the dreaded drymouth/chapped lip thing I've had going on. For whatever reason I was extremely nervous. The feeling was similar to the anxiety I used to get before swim meets in high school. I'd feel physically sick to my stomach and super nervous and it was always really horrible. Three cheers for what I can only assume was some form of social anxiety! YAY. So anyway, I left the house, telling myself, "It's ok. No big deal, we're just taking this outside today. No harm done. Chill out." I had measured out what I thought was 1.5 miles so that I could do a simple out and back run. I walked for a bit longer than I planned because there was a family with razor-scooter riding children coming my way and I felt more comfortable passing them while walking instead of running. So as soon as they were past me, I started to run. My pace felt lightning fast, but at the same time I felt really awkward; like a fawn just learning to use its legs. My form felt ridiculous and unnatural. It took a few minutes to feel a little more "normal", for lack of a better word. I started breathing pretty hard after a few minutes and had to slow down a bit (maybe that's when and why my form improved?!). Since I was running along a MAJOR road, I felt self-conscious but tried my best to think of other things. Since I have no ipod or mp3 player, I was forced to listen only to the traffic and my own labored two steps in/two steps out breathing (and the occasional grunt or whimper that managed to escape my lips). When I was almost to the turning around point, I decided to take a detour to a water fountain. Although I'm not good at judging distance, I guessed that my detour was the same distance as the remainder of the first half. So I moseyed on over, drank, and began to run back. When I was almost home, I got a sudden burst of energy and decided to ride it all the way home. I ran fast and strong and it felt superb. When I got back to the house I saw that I had only been running 25 minutes. From my best estimate, I probably ran about 2.75 miles (because of the walking at the beginning, and in retrospect, I think the distance to the fountain was actually a bit shorter than the amount I had left to run before turning around). One sidenote is that my legs felt FANTASTIC the entire time. I couldn't believe it. I have to wonder if the pain I endured yesterday was a result of running on pavement?? I don't know. All in all, I'd like to run outside more often but under the following conditions:
1. I take water with me
2. I have music
3. It's not hot as hades (this is a huge prob in FL. Like Jess said in a comment on a previous post, in FL you have to run super early in the morning or late as night because it's WAY too hot. Since I'm moving to TN in exactly one week, I'm hoping the weather will become less of an issue.

I'm glad I ran outside and would like to slowly scale back on treadmill running and run outside more often, especially because I need to be comfortable running on pavement.

I'm sorry this post was so friggin long but I felt the need to update you guys. Happy running. :)

Best coozy (sp?) EVER

This is super random but I had to share. I bought this about 2 weeks ago and made the mistake of deciding to give it to a friend. We use a lot of air quotes and she's a big beer drinker so I thought "This is perfect, she'll love this!". So I called to tell her about it because I was super excited...but after I got it home and christened it, I decided that I really want to keep it. :( It's not the best picture, I know, but it says "I have a bit of a (insert hand quotes here) drinking problem (and here)". The store I made the purchase at only had the one and I'm going to try to go back there and find another one but the store is at least 30 minutes away and traffic is always horrible and there's nowhere to park and on top of all that I'm just a generally lazy person and all these things clearly do not make a good combination. I guess we'll see how much a girl will do for some entertaining drinking gear.

Underhydrated Wall Hitter

Before I launch into the story of my less than stellar long run, I'd like to send congrats out into the blogverse for all of the Boston Marathon Finishers. Good job guys! I hope to one day join your ranks.

So yesterday was long run day and I put it off as long as I could. While I was laying in bed watching tv my legs suddenly started to hurt and I thought "I think my body's trying to tell me something. Maybe I shouldn't run today..." And you know people ALWAYS say you should listen to your body, right?! Nice try. After arguing with the angel on one shoulder and her nemesis on the other, I finally got up enough energy to change out of my pj's (at 6pm...it was kind of a lazy day) and into my running clothes. Since it was still warm out I figured I'd do this one on the treadmill despite all the positive feedback and encouragement I've been getting on running outside (that's for another day but I loved the feedback!). I brought some mixed cds to see if a change in music would jazz me up a bit. So I started out at just under an 11 min mile. I was feeling ok: legs were good, which was my main concern. But for whatever reason, the miles were a bit more difficult than I would have liked. I was having trouble finding my groove. Going into mile 3, Rufus Wainwright's Hallelujah came on and I picked the remote up to change the song. After a few seconds I decided to just listen to it because I hadn't heard it in a while. While I normally try to listen to faster, more peppy music, I found the piano and slower, melancholy but soulful ballad to be soothing. While the song was on I just ran along, enjoying the melody. I wasn't thinking about what hurt or what I had to do later or how far I was going to go. I just ran. Perhaps I should have put that song on repeat because shortly thereafter, things fell apart.

I had talked to Kev before I got on the tread and knew he'd be coming over sometime within the next 45 minutes, but probably sooner than later. Because of this, I kept turning around while I was on the treadmill (it's on my back patio - which is enclosed) to look through the sliding glass doors to try to catch him coming in. He loves to scare me and there are few things I despise more than being snuck up on, so it's a constant battle of the wills. Turning around every minute or two started getting distracting so I called him to find out exactly where he was so I could be prepared. We talked for a few and fortunately, I was able to catch him as he was silently slipping onto the back patio. Butthead. He talked to me for a few minutes and put in a new cd that he'd been telling me about. While all this was going on I suddenly became hyperaware of my insane thirst and bone-dry, chapped lips. Since I didn't have any ChapStick at my tread station, I had to just keep licking my lips, which was pointless because all it did was exacerbate the problem and make me think about how thirsty I was. Since I sometimes have problems with losing socks and then wearing mismatched sets, the sock on my right foot started slipping under my heel and was driving me crazy. At mile 3.4 I stopped to fix my sock and drink water. As I gulped the cold, glorious water I thought about how badly I wanted to stop. I knew it was a colossal mistake to stop but I ignored my better judgment. I told Kev to go ahead inside; that I was just going to finish the 4 miles and do a long run a different day. But as I approached 4 miles, I thought about how I really needed to do at least 6, if not 7 and just get it out of the way. So I decided to go for 6, but had visions of titling my next blog "Lucky 7" (not that there was anything lucky about it per se, I was just lacking creativity and/or catchphrases affiliated with the number 7) if I could somehow manage to last that long. For whatever reason, I just could NOT get my concentration back. I switched music up again and tried to focus on ANYTHING other than the fact that I had at least 2 miles left. I told myself to remember how easy the first two were; they just flew by; it was nothing. I trudged along, changing speed every few minutes (first up, then down, then up again, then down again, then down some more) and finally at 5.2 miles (55:02 minutes), I decided I'd had it. I stopped. I was so upset at myself because I've had to fight those feelings off several other times and was always able to talk myself into continuing. But I was too distracted and absolutely could not get back into the right head space to continue. Ridiculous. I do much better running when I'm just left alone without distractoin. Somehow though, I wasn't as pissed at myself as I would have thought. I'm just going to try to use it as a lesson: either learn how to deal with distractions and how to keep your head in the game, or run on a hamster wheel forever with no contact from the outside world. Easy as pie. Oh, and I need to drink more water prior to running...and get water bottles with straws or the nipply thingies.

Later this week I am going to go outside for a run. I'm excited about it. I think I'm going to just run for 30 or 40 minutes and see how I feel. I figured it'd be better to try running outside for a short run. I'll let you know how it goes (obviously). :)

Honey Nut Cheerios + toast + lemonade = uncomfortable running

So I wasn't sure I was going to run tonight. Typically, I run as soon as I get home from work so that I can "cross it off my list", however, I was super tired when I got home and decided to do other things instead: practice piano (my last lesson is Tuesday. :( ), watch tv, talk on the phone. I had some Honey Nut Cheerios, toast and lemonade for dinner while watching "What Not To Wear" (as much as I hate to admit it, I always get emotional during the "reveal". But I digress). All of a sudden, I was inspired to get on the tread and go at it. Surprisingly my legs felt great - there was no pain anywhere. I don't remember the last time I ran and didn't have pain in my ankle or thigh or hip, etc. It would have been too good to be true if EVERYTHING had felt great during the run. So I was running along and all of a sudden felt like the Cheerios were trying to make a reappearance. Not interested. So I slowed down a bit and tried to breathe steadily. I started cramping up a bit and just felt generally uncomfortable. My digestive system was less than thrilled with my decision to hop on the tread within 30 minutes of eating. Live and learn. I started to feel better though and I ended up finishing 3 miles in 29:52, which I was pretty happy with. I just wanted to finish under 30.

I have to wonder how different my time would be (if at all) if I'd run the 3 miles outside instead of on the tread. Sometimes I feel like I'm capable of a faster pace but just go with the flow (while treading). For whatever reason, I'm a little too intimidated to run outside. It sounds ridiculous (even to me) but I just am not comfortable with it. It might help if I plotted out a route where I knew distance and landmarks and whatnot. I need to do that. Even though I just wrote that I think I'm holding back, I'm worried I will have no idea how to really pace myself on my own. Jesus God, I'm overanalyzing the hell out of this(Dave must be rubbing off on me). I just need to go outside and run. That's all there is to it. I'd really like to get some gadgets to help me along...like a Garmin and an iPod...hmmm. :)

Yesterday I rested. Wednesday I did 3 miles in 30:23. It went alright except for pain in my right hip area. Not cool. I'm feeling pretty good right now. I might go biking tomorrow and am still trying to figure out whether to do 6 or shoot for 7 on Sunday. I'll just play it by ear. Happy Friday!!!

I'm back on...

So I did run last night, yay! I did 3 miles: 10:19, 10:10, 9:57. They were NOT very comfortable miles - I probably should have slowed down a bit b/c unfortunately, 10's are still "fast" for me. I guess the important thing is that I did it though. My left achille's heel/calf were bothering me, which was something new and unusual. I made it through it though. I hope to have a repeat performance (but maybe without the pain) tonight when I get home. I might slow it down a bit though.

I forgot to mention this awesome sign we saw while driving through Alabama last week. It said Go to church or the Devil will get you. I was so pissed that I didn't have my camera out! Good stuff.

So this is really embarrassing but also really funny so I have to share.
A few days ago I was talking to my boy Kevin and we were discussing Pizza Hut's new Tuscani Pasta or whatever it's called. He mentioned that he really wants to try it because it looks so good. I told him it kinda creeps me out but I've heard that it's really great and is supposedly even better than pasta at italian restaurants...to which he replied:

K: That sounds a lot like the commercial
J: No, really, I swear I just had this conversation with someone. They said it was the best pasta they've had
K: Are you sure you're not confusing the commercial with reality?
J: No, I'm not. It was just the other day, they went there and had...the...pasta...and...LONG PAUSE................................Holy shit. Maybe it WAS the commercial! Oh jesus, this is ridiculous. I can't believe I just did that!

We had a good laugh about it and in fact, he just texted me a few minutes ago with "Remember when you confused the Pizza Hut Tuscani commercial with real life? That was hilarious". I really think I need to get my head checked. I would have put Benjamins on the fact that I actually had that exact conversation with someone. If that isn't effective marketing, I don't know what is.

Off the wagon

Well, this sucks. I feel like a huge piece of excrement for not running since...two Sundays ago. I knew this past week was going to be tough exercise-wise (say that 5 times fast) but had no idea I'd handle (or NOT handle, as it turned out) being on the road and training this poorly. I didn't do a damn thing. I take that back, I walked twice. Last Tuesday night after work Dave and I headed to Tallahassee to visit friends. We spent time just hanging out, shopping, eating, etc until Friday morning when we left for Nashville. We did the same thing in Nashville at Kim and Jeff's (but with a little more drinking involved) and then I left Sunday afternoon. Since I've been home I have done some cleaning, eating, and have been watching lots of tv (Veronica Mars, The L Word, Significant Others - HILARIOUS show...I can't believe it only lasted 2 short seasons on Bravo!) Despite my fear of cursing myself, I'm going to go ahead and say I'm going to run 3 miles tonight. I think I will feel A LOT better afterwards and hopefully it will reignite my excitement and dedication to this project. Right now I just feel kinda lost and lonely being home alone. There is a ton of stuff that I need to do since I'll be moving in 2 weeks (geez where did the time go?!) but I can't seem to get motivated to do anything at all - except eat and watch tv, of course.

In other news, when I weighed myself last week I had lost 2 pounds, which was super exciting since it's the first time the scale has budged in a few YEARS. No joke. But I'm sure I set everything straight with my bingeing, lazy ass behavior from last week. I wonder if any other lbs appeared with the other 2...I really hope not. I guess we'll see. UPDATE: My 2 little friends are back and brought 1/2 lb with them. Way to go, guys.

This sucks. I hope I have happier, more productive things to write about tomorrow. Oh, I just thought of something I have to look forward to: the new season of Workout starts tonight. Much as I hate to say it I friggin LOVE that show! Woo hoo!

7 miles*

When I run, I usually just sing and 'armdance' a bit (not in public, just on my treadmill at home), however, during yesterday's run it was as if a sassy, Tourette's Syndrome-having entity took over my body. NEVER have I ever spit out so many expletives during a run. It was HORRIBLE. Two things were infuriating: 1. The time and distance numbers were STUCK. I swear to God they were not moving. I was running along, thinking "I must've gone over a mile by now" and I looked down and it had only been .25 mile. Cue expletives. This went on for a few miles. 2. Everything HURT. In both legs. I was waiting for my legs to snap in half and fall off during the run. It was awful. Around mile 3.40, I turned a corner and felt 100% better. Oh, and I should also mention that on mile 1.6 I had to stop the treadmill to run upstairs because 1. my shorts kept falling down and 2. my thighs were chaffing. Sexy, I know. So anyway, (around mile 3.4) I felt a lot better for about a mile or so and then the old legs started to hurt again. It was really frustrating. I was wondering if I was even going to be able to make 5 miles...somehow I did. Between miles 4 and 5 I realized that I might as well shoot for 6 miles because it's only 4 more laps, right?! I was in desperate need of water so as soon as the 5 were up, I walked for about a minute while chugging water. Then I continued for the remainder of a mile to bring my run to a whopping 6 miles. Woo hoo, a new distance PR! And I walked for about 30 minutes earlier in the day and ran for about 11 minutes so all in all I "ran" about 7 miles yesterday. So what if they weren't all together?! It still counts as a 7 mile day, I reckon. Good stuff.

I think I just ran 3 on Friday...that sounds about right. While I was running Dave called my cell. Normally, I don't pick up the phone when I'm running but thought maybe it was something important. So I picked up.

J: hey
D: hey, what're you doing?
J: (out of breath) running
D: what?
J: RUN-(gasp,gasp)-NING
D: Oh. Ok. (this is where I thought he'd be like Ok, call me later. Not so much) Is there anything you need from Bass Pro?
J: what?! seriously? no, not that I can think of.
D: how about 30 feet of rope for $7?
J: for what?!
D: I just figured we could use it for camping or something.
J: ok, whatever you want. I don't really care...
He started saying something else and I just couldn't handle it. I told him I'd call him back. I love him tremendously but was in no mood to discuss $7 rope. On the last mile of my 3 (which is when he happened to call) I decided to shoot for a sub 10 min mile. My body wasn't pleased with that. It fought me the entire way. It was awful. Kinda disappointing but oh well.

He called back again a few minutes later.

J: you're killin me, Smalls
D: I'm sorry! I just found something you might like.
J: what's that?
D: a camelbak. maybe you could use it while running?
J: Aww, that's sweet. Thanks.

He's very thoughtful. Does anyone use these for running? I don't normally see people using them but thought I can use it for biking or hiking. So I'm excited about it.

My left thigh is still bothering me. It has been doing so since last week. Funny thing is that it doesn't bother me too much when I'm running. Perhaps I should start running everywhere?! I've been reading up to try to figure out what the heck it is that is hurting so bad. It's on the outside and middle of my thigh. I haven't been able to find anything. It's difficult to describe. I wish it'd just go away!!

In other news, I Netflicked "Marathon Challenge"...it was at the top of my queue for like 2 weeks before they finally sent it because it had a very long wait. It was a Nova documentary about 13 sedentary people of various ages who trained for 9 months to do the Boston Marathon. It was good. Not quite what I expected though. It was heavy on the science, whereas I was looking for the emotional/motivational stuff. I did end up a bit teary-eyed at the end when 12 of the 13 completed the marathon. I was really happy for them. I can only imagine how emotional I will be when it's ME crossing the finish line. :) My story is basically like theirs...except I'm doing it in 8 months instead of 9...and I don't have coaches, doctors and running partners at my disposal...and I'm not running Boston. But the sedentary part matches up.

"Dunder Mifflin: Limitless paper...in a paperless world"

I sat on my bum watching reruns of The Office last night instead of running. I felt unproductive and upset with myself for not running but my entire left leg: hip to ankle, was really bothering me and I'm scared to death I'm going to train through it and hurt myself so badly that I bench myself for a few weeks. That is the LAST thing I want. I probably need to amp up my stretching; and by that I mean I need to start doing it. I stretch a little bit after a run but usually not before. A few times I've taken a minute or two to stretch after my warm up, but I don't know if that was even productive. I'd like to run tonight and try to do 6 miles as my long run this weekend. I guess we'll see.

Dave is in Ft Liquordale visiting family and quite frankly, it sucks being at home without him. I miss that little bugger. I've always been ok, if not happy, with my solitude but I've gotten so used to having him around that it just feels abnormal and as if something is missing with him being gone. :( Boo hoo. I guess at least I can watch C.S.I. without hearing him bitch about it and attempt to change the channel the minute I get up to walk into another room. Who hates C.S.I.? Seriously.

I did it

When I wrote "I don't care if it's 10 pm, I'm running dammit!" in yesterday's entry, I thought I'd put that in there just to sound like a hardass. I never thought I'd actually be home that late. It was a gross exaggeration - or so I thought. We had a fantastic time with the fam. We ate pizza, played a game...I think it's called Catchphrase, and ate dessert. The game got pretty heated but I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard during any sort of game playing. There were about 13 of us and we all sat in a circle and decided that teams would work out so that every other person was on the same team. The "gamepiece" was a handheld electronic gizmo that had different categories: food, entertainment, sports/games, etc. After selecting a category, you hit "start" and a word would pop up. You had to try to get your team to guess the word without saying the word (duh). Once your team got the word, you'd hit "next" and pass it to the next person. Oh, and there is a built in buzzer that beeps faster and faster as the time goes and eventually beeps loud and obnoxiously one last time to end the round. While this sounds simple, I had a little slip up when I was trying to get my partner (we did a sudden death round where if the buzzer went off while you were holding it, you were out) to guess "cool beans". It went something like this:

Jen: "Ok, not warm, but ___".
Cuz: "Cool"
Jen: "yes! awesome. Ok, uh uh uh FRIJOLES NEGROS" (Yeah, no, I'm not Spanish. I don't know a lot of Spanish. My English is usually pretty good but for the life of me this was the first thing that popped into my head. I have no clue why.)
Cuz: "what?" long pause..........."cool beans?"
Jen: laughing hysterically, "yes yes yes. ohmigod. good job!"

So we went on to the next round and everything was fine until one of my cousins got out because he said part of the phrase and someone was like "Well, wait a minute. Can you say the word in another language, because Jen busted out with some Spanish?!" Shit. That was pretty stupid. Somehow, I stayed in the game and the final round was between me and my former partner (who guessed cool beans). She ended up winning...I can't even remember what I was trying to get everyone to guess. Oh well. Anyway, it was really fun. I'd highly recommend it.

After that we had dessert: brownies, vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberry topping. Wow. I'm salivating right now just thinking about it. It was out of this world. We ended up leaving around 9:30 or so and had to stop by the store on the way home so we ended up getting back around 10. I had no intention of running because my stomach was killing me and I felt like if I even thought too much about running, that I might vomit or pass out. I figured maybe I'd lift weights or something. Well, we got home and then I started feeling guilty and thinking about the blog and what I'd written. After putting the groceries away and watching a few minutes of South Park I decided I was going to do a mile or two, just so I could say I ran. So I suited up and got on the tread. My legs felt pretty heavy and I wasn't feeling all that hot overall, but I had a feeling things would get a little better. I did my 5 min warm up and started running. It was really annoying to just run and stare at the closed mini blinds but I didn't have much of a choice. I think by this time it was 10:40 or so. After about a mile I decided that 2 miles just didn't SOUND like enough so I vowed to do 3. I don't know why but in my pea-brain there is a huge difference between running ONLY 2 miles and running 3. It's dumb but just go with it. My left thigh started to hurt, which was something new and not so exciting. In fact, it still hurts today. Not sure what that's about. That faded in and out while I was running. Also, (this is gross so skip ahead if you want) I've been having a problem the last few times I've run where I start burping and have to do creepy lamaze-esque breathing because I feel like if I just burp, I will throw up. Literally, I feel like I've been nanoseconds away from ralphing all over my treadmill in the middle of a run. It's really irritating and disgusting. A few times, I've even hopped off the tread to run to the bathroom and grab some rolaids. And it's not like I'm running my little heart out or anything. I'm doing comfortable paces. So I'm not sure what that's about but I hope it stops soon. And it's not like I eat a pizza and drink a 6 pack before every run or anything...my food intake varies (in terms of when/what I last ate and I try not to eat in the hour or so before I run) but that doesn't seem to matter. I still get burpy. Ugh.

So anyway, I managed to finish the 3 and was very proud that I pushed myself to do that when it would have been a lot more fun to see who got kicked off Top Chef. Yay for small victories.

April Fool

So I totally forgot yesterday was April Fool's Day, however, the April Fool's Fairy did not forget about me:

April Fool's! Your alcohol tolerance isn't what you thought it was!
April Fool's! You're going to pay for your 3 beer consumption the next day!
April Fool's! You won't have time/energy/coordination to work out!

Since yesterday was Dave's last day of work, we met several of his former coworkers (who are ALL awesome. He really lucked out in that dept) for drinks/food/goodbyes. It was a FANTASTIC time and I really thought I was being conservative with my consumption but I must have miscalculated somehow. I only had 3 Shock Tops (Bud's equivalent of a Blue Moon - although this place served them sans orange slice. What a ripoff) but I guess that's all my body needed to make me feel like crap last night and today. Not cute. I really did plan on working out last night after we got home...however I had also planned on NOT drinking. But how could I say no to people wanting to buy me drinks?! That's just rude.

I am hoping I will have the time to run tonight. I'm picking Dave up after work and we're going to my Gma's house so that he can say goodbye to my relatives and eat some pizza (score!). So even if we get home at 10pm, I'm running, dammit. In addition to feeling gross from the alcohol, I feel bad that I haven't run since Sunday. It's funny how it can put me in a bad mood when I haven't done anything physical in a few days. My body has gotten used to being active and oddly enough, it kinda likes it. Good stuff.