this was my big week, aka let’s-make-my-legs-despise-me week.  and it worked big time.  the nine miles actually wasn’t terrible.  i woke up and set out with a positive attitude.  i made a conscious decision to not worry about my time or my pace or anything else.  i was not going to push myself into another leg injury like my last niner.  i stayed slow and steady.  i walked when i needed to and didn’t feel guilty about it.  nine miles was three laps of the bridge.  each lap, there was a pod of dolphins playing in the bay to help entertain me.  i love living here.  hubby walked along side me while i ran.  yep, that’s how slow i am.  and i’m fine with it.  unfortunately, because i postponed last week’s long run until sunday, that meant that in order to rest my legs after, i had to run three consecutive days.  my body is not meant for such things and i tweaked something funky in my left leg.  it was like a knotted muscle right on top of my shin.  so this week’s long run will end up being pushed to sunday and messing up next week all over again.  i want my legs to have as much time and icing as they need to get over it. 

also of interest, hubby carried the gps to the park one night and we found that the loop i’ve been doing there is actually 1.12 miles.  this means that last week’s 7 miler was actually 7.84 which makes me feel much better about the time it took.  likewise, the nine miles i put in there this week was actually over ten. 

thankfully, this has been a slightly better week for running.  it still sucks and is hard but my attitude isn’t quite as negative as last week, when i was totally ready to give up on this 13.1.  the bridge run was actually a great run for me.  i ran 6ish miles in 1:18:30 which is really a great pace for me, especially all things considered.  i tried to force myself to stay semi-positive by smiling (or at least contorting my face into a smile-like-mask while bracing against the cold wind).  hubby stayed with me for most of it and, on the way back, scooter and train slowed down to trot with me too… it was the first time i’ve ever run in a pack on the bridge!!!  let me tell you, it so helps to have people around you and talking with you.  i even managed to finish the last .01 mile with a nice little sprint. 

as has become the norm, no long run this weekend due to <insert excuse here>.  This one happens to be my inability to breeve thanks to a nasty head cold.  thanks, health, for conspiring against my efforts to be more healthy.

thanks to my recurring leg injury, i feel very behind on my 13.1 training after a highly slothful week.  a few days, i could really barely walk.  oh well, it’ll all work out somehow.

my first week of 13.1 training went very well, imo.  the second week, however, was nonexistent.  epic fail.  in all fairness, hubby’s marathon and a very agrivating illness derailed me.  which really stinks because i needed to do an 8 mile run last week but it had to be postponed until this week which made me feel like i had to up it.  jumping from six to nine… oy!  i did remind myself this week that walking in the sand is really, really good for my running legs.  i need to make a bigger effort to incorporate that into my training.  if i can walk at all tomorrow, i should take it to the sand.

it’s not that i haven’t been active at all, it’s just that i haven’t had the time or motivation for ranting in general for the last month or two.  there’s plenty that i have to say and show but it takes time and energy and i have neither.  anyhow, i at least need to get back to my weekly activity reports because i am officially in half-marathon training now.  i finally signed up sunday so there’s no turning back now.  holy crap!

for ten years, the only dreams that i have had about the ramada have been flashbacks… vivid nocturnal memories of the nightmare of being robbed, pepper-sprayed, and beaten with a gun.  most of the time, the dream was true to the reality.  occasionally, the dream was far worse, preying on my gratitude for knowing how much worse that night could have been.  over the years, i dream less and less about it.  i think less and less about it. 

twice in the last month, i have dreamt about going back to work at the ramada.  in these dreams, i am fully aware of that night… and yet i am perfectly happy to be back there working again.   

interesting, methinks.

well now that i’ve finally finished my travel log for our vacation over a month ago, i can allow myself to resume regular rants again.  or something like that.  we’ll see how well i do.  my health has been conspiring against me for the last several weeks.  i didn’t get started on the travel log right away because i came back from vacation sick.  it’s been on and off since then.  culminating in the horrible-stomach-bug-of-thanksgiving-2009 and the sinus infection/headcold that has flourished this last week.  good grief.  i used to be a healthy person, didn’t i? i was joking with hubby that the thanksgiving incident was to be blamed on our four mile run that morning but now i’m really starting to wonder.  it seems i’ve had more flus, colds, infections this year than i have since working at the daycare center ten years ago.  the only difference is my increased activity.  perhaps running my body down is doing more harm than good.  such is life.   so a little catchup for the last month:

• hubby finally had surgery to remove the cyst from his neck.  we were relieved to have the growing mass excised and more relieved that there were no indications of cancer or nerve damage. 
• our condo hosted an “owner’s party” the night before the annual election.  i’m sure there was one last year too but we must have been out of town.  we had a good time with some of our neighbors and even won two door prizes:  a gift certificate to a salon for a shampoo/cut/style and a $25 gift certificate to a local winery.  it’s so nice to be a winner every so often.
• hubby is now officially on the board of the condo.  good thing?  we’ll see.
• work has become nothing more than an endless MONDAY.  i have nothing more to say about that.
• the thanksgiving diet gave me a reaffirmed appreciation for my in-laws.  they were so, so good to me in my time of need.  and it was nice to have a mommy while i was so sick.
• the thanksgiving diet, however, was very unwanted fodder for the rumor mill.  several times i had to say, between heaves, “yes, i am certain.”  my SIL actually called me all excited asking if i had news for her.  said i, “no news other than that your FIL has high hopes.”  she was mighty disappointed.
• it amazes me, knowing me and all, that i have become the type of  person to get up early on a weekend just to go and cheer on a bunch of runners in a race.  who am i?!
• we are having a nye party.  i’ve never thrown a party.  ever.  (okay, that’s not true, i threw a beautiful bridal shower for my friend last year but that was with a great deal of assistance from my very classy sissy)  you know what i mean.  so anyhow, i’m starting to get excited because it looks like it may actually be successful.  we’re already up to about fifteen attendees so that rocks.
• that is all for now.  perhaps i’ll be able to resume regular ranting now.

i really did make an effort to be more prepared for my travel log this time but <insert excuse here>.  so, as far as writing, i’m up to day 8 of 14, which really isn’t bad except for the fact that it’s exactly where i was when we got off the ship.  hubby used bioligical warfare on me, infecting me with the cold that he had for the entire vacation, so i’ve been feeling pretty lousy this week.  i know, it’s always excuses with me.  so now i’m trying to decide whether to finish writing or start on pix and get the first half of the trip posted before finishing the rest.  we’ll see.  i’d like to get it knocked out this weekend but i can’t make any promises.  saturday is the florida ironman and all of our friends will be working the event so, most likely, we will too.  we sure have missed everyone around here and we’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the bridge tonight (even though i’m still barely able to breath and my lungs hurt).  it truly is nice to be home and it’s been a beautiful week here.  we’ve had open-window weather all week and the backyard has been gorgeous. 

anyhow, as a show of good faith, i offer these three pix…

this is my favorite pic of hubby and me lately.  it’s from our last night on the cruise, taken by our new alaskan friends.

this was the sunset on our first night back home again.

this is the backyard today.  the tide is coming in some, this morning there were a lot more of those big sandbars.

really, the bulk of my exercise was walking all the stairs on the cruise ship.  i don’t do cruise elevators.  so we climbed up and down stairs several times a day, sometimes seven flights at a time.  i know it doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up and i could feel it.  that’s my story and i’m sticking to it!

i’m on vacation, give me a break!

we’re up and getting ready to head out on vacation.  for the first few days, we’ll be playing with my sissy and BIL.  i don’t think we’ve ever spent more than an evening of adult time with them so i’m looking forward to some fun!  while on the cruises i won’t have internet but i’ll do my best to post something in between.  no parties while i’m gone, kids!!!

meh.

seriously, i’m not sure i’ve ever had a busier or more tiring forty hour period as friday/saturday.  after work on friday, we made the drive down to orlando.  we got a late start and made a longer-than-normal dinner stop in tallahassee so our arrival was later than i had hoped.  hubby fell asleep after eating so he got a four hour nap while i finished out the drive.  we made it to my sissy’s by 00:30 but it was around 01:00 by the time we got our luggage in and got into bed.  though i was exhausted, i was unable to sleep so i angrily tossed and turned until the alarm went off at 04:30 - yes, we purposely got up after just 3.5 hours in bed.  my cousin picked us up at 05:00 and drove us out to clermont to meet up with her team for hills training.  there’s a residential street out there with a hill they call “big bertha”.  it seemed to be about the same height as our bridge but much less gradual.  i did it twice and only made it about a third of the way up each time before settling into a walk.  really, though, it wasn’t the incline that got me, it was the decline.  i was fine pushing myself up the hill but going back down killed my knees.  the first time down, i ran it full tilt and it hurt my knees.  the second time, i walked down in a zig-zag pattern and it still hurt my knees so i chose not to do a third repeat.  i did, however, run several of the side streets and ended up running a good bit of that side of the neighborhood, so i got in some pretty good mileage that way.  of course, i can’t say with any certainty, but my guess is that i did just shy of seven miles - by far my longest run to date.  and even with all of the hills (there were more hills than just bertha) i felt fine.  go me!  after the run and cool-down, we headed back to my cousin’s where she cooked breakfast for us and her family.  mmmmbaconandeggs.  when we left there, we walked the mile or so back to my sissy’s to refill our water bottles, change shoes, and be off to the next activity:  cheerleading!

niece¹ decided to give cheering a try for the first time this season.  and she must be pretty darned good because she had her mom and siblings, three grandparents, and an aunt and uncle there to watch.  she was absolutely the cutest cheerleader out there!  and very spirited - i heard her over everyone else.

look at that form!

getting great air!

after her game, dad offered to grab some pizzas and come by the house for lunch so we had a nice lunch with him and his wife before heading to nephew²’s flag football game.  i’ll take this opportunity to point out how bloody hot it is in orlando right now.  i don’t know the actual temperature for our 06:00 run this morning but i can tell you that within the first two minutes of the run, i was drenched in sweat.  as hot as the bridge was on thursday, it is ten times hotter and stickier here.  ugh.  since we were tight on time between breakfast and getting to niece’s cheer, we didn’t shower and change.  and i felt a little funny about that.  but after sitting for an hour in the heat at her game, i was pleased with the decision.  thankfully, sissy has a nifty stadium tent that they brought to all the games to keep the direct sun off of us but the air was still stagnant.  i stayed drenched all day long.  and i stank something fierce.  but my family loves me anyhow and allowed me to remain under their tent.  anyhow, back to the narrative at hand… nephew had some great plays and his team won. 

totally intimidating the other team

going for it!

there was another game between nephew²’s game and nephew¹’s game.  we all sat around in the heat a while, getting eaten alive by ants, and then sissy, the kids, and i made a slurpee run just before nephew¹’s game started.  he played awesome as well and also had a win.  i can’t believe how grown he’s getting.

look at that MAN barreling down the field

great pass!

after that game, we got a “recess”.  we all came back to the house and jumped in the pool!!!  the adults mostly stuck to the hot tub to rest their weary bones.  it was a welcome respite and gave me an opportunity to show off cobalt.

nephew2

niece1

nephew1

i ♥ cobalt!  after the pool fun, we made a quick dinner of various leftovers and got showers (way overdue, let me tell you.  we had to take our clothes down to the laundry room because after leaving them in our room while swimming, the stank slapped us in the face when we opened the door!) and then headed to the kids’ halloween dance.  niece¹ dressed as a puppy, nephew² dressed as tebow, nephew¹ was too cool to get dressed up - i guess you could say he went as a teenager!  sadly, hubby took the pix there but had the wrong setting on so they all came out terrible blurs.  you can take my word for it that there was a lot of cuteness there.  the dance was put on by the organization that does the cheerleading so all of the different cheerleading groups performed a dance number, which was really fun.  niece¹, of course, did fabulous.  the two oldest groups were much more choreographed and impressive but i was astounded at the provocative moves and costumes.  these kids are all thirteen and under!  we also got to meet nephew¹’s girlfriend, who is in the oldest cheerleading group, for the first time.  it was amusing to see how they acted around each other.  they’d get within three feet of one another, look in opposite directions, smile out of the corners of their mouths, and then go different ways.  LOL.  i’m so glad to see that they have so much innocence left.  their “dance” consisted of texting each other from opposite sides of the gymnasium all night.  really, he spent almost the whole night with us old fuddy-duddies.  nephew², on the other hand, spent the night dancing with a group of the second-oldest cheerleaders.  he was totally a ladies man!  niece¹ just had a good time hanging out with her friends.  we made it home in time to watch the last bit of the gators game and then i finally got to go to bed after forty straight hours of being awake.  haven’t done that in years and it is much harder than it used to be.  we laid down in bed and both let out a huge sigh.  said i to hubby, “they do this every weekend!”  i just couldn’t do it… three kids going 90 mph in three different directions all the time.  gracious!

so anyhow, as tired as i was after my forty hour waking binge, i slept a whopping four hours before waking up and tossing and turning the rest of the morning.  insomnia rocks!  /sarcasm.  luckily, sunday was a much calmer day.  i gave up and got out of bed at 09:00 and started working on making plans.  i was hoping to see my brother since i haven’t seen him all year but i called both him and his wife and got voicemail on both.  i did make plans with my friend jenny to get together with her and the hubby for dinner.  that left us the rest of the morning and afternoon to do some much needed resting up.  and make a kohl’s trip.  dinner with friends was healthy and fun and we were in bed at a decent hour.