what is in your drawers...

One of my friends from work was fired a couple of weeks ago. The man is always trying to keep her down! No, seriously, a loooong story but we both kind of saw it coming. In our office when someone is fired, let go, terminated, given the boot, however you like to say it, they are generally called into a meeting held via conference call with HR. While they are in this meeting, their items are frantically packed by some poor manager into one of those boxes that the packs of paper come in. So everyone around the office has this unnatural fear of managers walking around with empty paper boxes (even if they are headed to the trash). It would be funny if it weren't sad. Like I said before, I might as well work on the set of The Office.

Leading up to the firing, my friend had been cleaning out her office and even went so far as to create a last will and testament so that all her belongings that she wanted would get put in the paper box and not the trash. Today as I am sitting in my office, I got to thinking - what would someone think if they had to clean out the life I have accumulated there over the past 13 years... you tell me...

First off, this is my food stash. Can anyone say eating disorder? Seriously, you would think I had at one point lived in Ethiopia and wasn't sure if I was going to get another meal. Peanut butter, oatmeal, clif bars, assorted candy... Granted, the gi-normous candy bag is for keeping my candy dish stocked (I read an article that this gets you better raises - I find that this only makes you popular with certain people and doesn't necessarily help the raises but it does not keep me from buying my boss his favorite candy each year around review time). Anyhoo... there is enough food in here to keep me alive or in a diabetic coma for days.



The over-organized and extensive collection of writing pads and stikcy notes. This really shows my OCD side, don't you agree?




On the other side, my assorted toys. I am not sure why I have these but, seriously, who doesn't have a need for a fake wireless microphone?? It has come in handy more times than you might believe. It makes it so much easier to write someone up if you pretend you are on a talk show. Ok, maybe not in that scenario but I have used the microphone plenty... My flying monkey that has rubber bands for arms so you can shoot it across the room while it squeals. Perfect.



Yeah, I might be embarrassed to have someone rifling through my things :)

So back to my running. I really didn't run much at all today. A pitiful 1.85 miles. Almost not even worth getting out of the car for in my estimation. Whatever. I did it. I am thinking about signing back up for boot camp. I am keeping up with my running OK but am not feeling motivated AT ALL. This must change! Sunday is my Zooma women's half-marathon for which I am quite excited. My last (and only other) half was somewhere in the 2:05 range. I think I might be slower this time around with the stress fracture factored in and all so am hoping for somewhere in the 2:15 neighborhood.

I am a little concerned that there might not be all that many runners at this thing. Note my race number... 164. Wow.



Maybe I was just an early entry. Either way, as long as I get the "cute, custom designed necklace" as promised at the finish and luna chews along the race course what do I care? Seriously, that is the main reason I signed up - for the necklace. It called me like a gift with purchase does at the makeup counter. I don't need or even use a single thing in the gift bag but whatever it is, I can't resist it. Clever, those marketing people...

Tomorrow, tennis. I am hoping the rain will stop in time. Nothing is more painful than trying to re-schedule a match for 16 people. Ciao!

what a great day...

Yesterday was pretty much tennis. all.day.long. As the captain of my team, I stick around from the time the matches start until they end which in the case of yesterday was all.day.long. The other team wanted to play one match 2 hours early which happened to be mine which meant I played my match at 11:00 and then had to stick around until the other matches started at 1:00. All five lines were finally over around 5:00. The team won 4 out of 5 lines ... it was our first match of the USTA season so it was good to start with a win.

On to today... Since tennis ate up all of yesterday, that meant I had to get my long run in today. I got up at 8:00ish and headed for Stone Mountain. I wasn't really "feeling it" but knew I had to get the run in so thought it best to go for the long route which is around the mountain and the golf course. It is basically an 8 mile loop to which I added another three miles to make my required 11 miles (I say that as if I am being graded on my mileage or am accountable to someone for the miles... truly no one cares but me...that is my type A personality coming out - if I didn't do the 11 I am sure there would be a self flogging later). so... today was all about 11. Queue the video for my sesame street generation. All you gen x'ers feel free to sing along. I pretty much sang this as I was running. or not.



and another for good measure.



So here is my run in pics...

Mile 1. The Christmas in November tree.


Mile 2 was an "Indian pow-wow" in back of the Antebellum plantation. There wasn't much picture worthy happening. Perhaps they were all sleeping.

Mile 3 ish




Mile 4 just past the golf clubhouse. This is the back of Stone Mountain.


Mile 5 trying to distract myself by taking pictures of my feet while hoofing it up a hill. It worked.


More mile 5ish




Shortly after those last pics I came up on a guy who was walking in the same direction I was running. The back stretch I was on is the road less traveled so you see very few people back there (I know - danger Will Robinson!) so because of that, as I was approaching this guy from about 50 feet behind I notice something shiny and red in the back pocket. I thought maybe it was a wrench. How odd for a walker to carry a wrench. I immediately try to develop a plan in case he hits me with the wrench and drags me into the woods. The best thing my tired mind could come up with was to take his picture so if they found my camera later he could be indentified. Clearly, I don't do my best thinking one hour into a run. At any rate, as I got closer it turned out it was a coke bottle in his back bottle. A plastic one. Crisis averted, I will not be on CSI Stone Mountain.

Shortly after I passed the coke cola walker, it was up another hill or two.




Quick drink of water at mile 7ish


My chariot awaits at mile 11 :)


We had our season ending tennis party for ALTA this afternoon so once I got home from the run it was a quick shower, quick eat, quick glance in the supermodel mirror and on my way. (I could sell this mirror for a million dollars. I got it from Tar-jay some time ago and the reflection makes you look tall and thin - like a supermodel. So if you are ever feeling not so cute you just need to look in the mirror and you instantly become America's Next Top Model.)

One of my teammates put on the party and did an excellent job with the food, margaritas and decorations.



Goody bags for all...


and of course, my gifts for being captain - like race day goody bags but better :)


So, all in all, a very eventful day. Tomorrow, not so much although I am looking forward to Tuesday as that means another day off :)

Send a thank you note to the troops...

A local radio station has a project they are doing this Thanksgiving which involves sending Thank You messages to our troops. If you would like to send a message of support or thanks or both, it only takes about 5 seconds... Go to THE BIG THANK YOU.

so another 7 miles in the books...

Yay! I am officially caught up with the marathon training program after having to take off for the stress fracture. I got up crazy early this morning and got 7 miles in before work. Not all that easy as 1. you have to get up crazy early and 2. there is entirely too much temptation for me to stop and turn around before I finished my full distance. I don't remember having that problem pre-fracture as I really haven't even gotten to the super-long runs yet. Yikes!

So, I went to the dentist this week. You ever wonder what is written in your chart about you? me too. I am pretty sure mine has a note so the dentist will tell me I have "pretty teeth". My dentist has never been much for conversation, he pretty much comes in, looks at the x-rays, checks a few things and is on his way without much chit chat. One time I told him that he never says anything nice about my teeth (for years he always told my sister she had nice teeth or healthy teeth or something...). Ok, maybe I was jealous... whatever - I take any compliment I can get... Ever since that day, on every visit, my dentist has told me i had "pretty teeth". I so want to ask if it is in my chart. I am sure it must say something like "Suck it up, tell the compliment starved girl she has pretty teeth". I kind of wanted to look while the hygienist was putting in my x-rays. oh well... I may never know. It is a little too ironic to be chance...

And with that I have nothing else to say so I will leave you with this.. I dare you to try and stop singing the catchy tune!

I just realized something...

As I logged in my 3 miles for today, I realized I just hit a pretty big milestone. Check it out blogworld - as I of today, I officially logged 500 running miles since January 1. WOW oh WOW. I guess I can be proud of that, right? Yes, you marathoners probably have waaaaaay more than that in 11 months but let me have my moment. After all, I only started running in February. Funny to think, not long ago I thought a mile might be the death of me. Since then I have run a half marathon, a couple of triathlons and have a marathon just 2 months away. When I set my mind to something, watch out. Type A, overachiever, it is all true. I admit it. I embrace it in fact.

Tuesday has become tennis day for me. I had practice from 5:30 until 7:30. It was our first practice for the new season. Tennis never ends in Atlanta, we play all year round. We had a pretty small turnout for practice due to the other big events of the day but it was good to get out and play tennis. Our coach gave me a Wilson K-factor racquet and a couple of tennis bags for helping with the pro tournament a few weeks back. It was a nice gesture since I had put in so many hours. I am kind of excited to try out the new racquet. I had it strung today so I could use it soon. I had 2 matche slined up for this week and both cancelled so it might be next week before I can give the racquet a try.

Today, I pretty much did my usual routine. Got up crazy early, went to LFT and ran my 3 miles. It was supposed to be 4 but I was feeling tired. Oh and that darn sandwich was calling my name again! Maybe I should eat a little something before I work out, you think? I made it to Panera and slid into my parking spot at 8:00. Priceless. :)

Tomorrow, the plan is to get up earlier than 4:44 (I know!) so I can get 7 miles in before work. I'm going to do an outdoor run which is much better for my distance runs as I am less inclined to stop once I start feeling a little tired. The thing about that kind of running is once you are 3 miles away from your destination you pretty much have no choice but to keep going.

I am so tired right now, I might have to lay my head down on my keyboard.... Have a great night!

I shaved my knuckle...

That's right. Just one of them. "Karen, why would you do that? I can't imagine you needing to shave", you ask. Well pull up a chair and let me tell you a story about being in a rush and the kindness of strangers...

I got up at my usual dark-thirty (also known as 4:44 am) for a morning swim. My legs were a bit tired so I talked myself into half a workout or 1500 meters. I don't know why but that swim was painful. My only thought was that it had probably been a month since I swam at all so I lost some of my conditioning. It wasn't excrutiating but just tougher than I thought it should have been. I did a 500 warm-up, 500 pulling, 500 kick and called it a day.

I might have mentioned this before but I have food issues. My current addiction is a bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich from Panera. Heaven on ciabatta bread! So... yes, put two and two together... short workout equals time to get to Panera before work! Must rush as boss is a lunatic for timeliness... I would love to delight you with stories of my office but you never know who is watching. Yes, I am paranoid. Suffice it to say, the show The Office has nothing on us. Fleece was banned last year by my boss. He wore fleece a week or so after he banned it. He was called out on his apparel choice to which he said "this is not fleece, it is polyester". He immediately held an impromptu company wide vote (30 people) on whether or not what he had was fleece. It was determined that it was indeed fleece. I could go on all day but you get the idea... so... I need to be or time or face the chopping block. Not worth it for a sandwich but today I would have time. or so I thought...

After the swim I head to the locker room to start the daily ritual. I reach into my gym bag and grab the ziploc bag that contains my shampoo, soap, and RAZOR. As I am scooping up the bag, my hand jams into the razor and shaves off quite the hunk of skin on my middle finger. OUCH OUCH OUCH. Moment of shock. Blood gushing. Literally dripping into my bag as I am frantically searching for a bandaid. Success! Found one! So there would be no point in putting on the bandaid before the shower, since it is my only one, it will be useless as soon as it gets wet. Blood still gushing, I have ruined one of the lovely complimentary LFT towels by this point (I'm sorry LFT!). I try to get as clean as one can with their hand gushing blood. Finally dry off and apply the band aid which immediately is beyond usefulness (i really could have used several). So I am finishing my primping meanwhile blotting the bandaid which is desperately needing to be changed. I finally get ready and am heading out the door lugging my 50 pound gym bag, wearing 4 inch heels that the strap doesn't quit keep them from flip flopping, feeling like a wreck with a handful of bloody tissues. Quite the image. So here comes the good part.... some sweet girl I have never seen before tells me "you look pretty today" as I am walking out. AWWWWWWWW Thank you random lady, I needed that! You know you read those motivational stories all the time - you never know how one kind word can change a person's day. Well, that was my kind word. It made my whole day :) So, the moral of this bloody, disgusting story is a kind word can go a long way!

In case you are wondering, I never did get that sandwich but I did get to work 10 minutes early. :)

This weekend is brought to you by the number 11...

Some interesting facts about the number 11. Who knew? 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. (OK, we knew that one...) Because eleven is the first number which cannot be represented by a human using his or her ten fingers, it is often considered a mysterious number.

Also, eleven is the smallest positive integer requiring three syllables in English.

Eleven is the 5th smallest prime number. It is the smallest two-digit prime number. 11 is the fourth Sophie Germain prime, the third safe prime, the fourth Lucas prime, and the first repunit prime. Although it is necessary for n to be prime for 2n-1 to be a Mersenne prime, the converse is not true: 211 - 1 = 2047 which is 23 × 89. The next prime is 13, with which it comprises a twin prime. 11 is an Eisenstein prime with no imaginary part and real part of the form 3n − 1. Displayed on a calculator, 11 is a strobogrammatic prime and a dihedral prime because it reads the same whether the calculator is turned upside down or reflected on a mirror, or both. (ummmm, right.... whatever all that means.)

In the film This Is Spinal Tap, guitarist Nigel Tufnel proudly shows off an amplifier with top settings of 11, higher than the traditional 10. The phrase "Up to eleven" in popular culture has come to refer to anything capable of being exploited to its utmost abilities, or to exceed them. Similarly, the expression "turning it up to eleven" may refer to the act of taking something to an extreme.

More than you ever wanted to know about eleven. Why do I care about 11? I don't know... I was born on the 11th day of January so it is my favorite number but today it was my favorite because I FINALLY broke back into the double digits in my running plan! My long run today was 11 miles. So I guess you could say I "turned it up to 11" (Honestly, I had never heard of that until I googled the number 11 today. Maybe I am out of touch...)

My initial plan for Saturday was to join the ATC for their 5mi/10mi/15mi run around Stone Mountain. It is a free race for club members, $5 for non. The event is billed as a low-key, non t-shirt event. My plan was to run the 10 mi race. Friday night, I decided not to run the actual race but to show up about the same time and start from my usual spot on the mountain track. I figured I would eventually bump into the runners (or they would bump into me, more likely) and I would still see my Dad at his timing station. My logic was if I knew the course already why get up early to register for the race and wait around for the official start, why not just get there around 8ish and start when I get there. Brilliant!

It had been so long since I ran any more than a handful of miles, I forgot that I probably needed a GU gel, something to eat after the run, etc. A mad search of the pantry ensues for where I might have put the gels and nutrition bars. Success!

I assemble everything, load up the car and head out the door...




The weather was great, a little chilly to start as my hands got a little numb but not too bad once I realy warmed up. (Nice job, God, keep up the good work with the weather!).





My plan to eventually run into some runners didn't really pan out. It appeared most of the people ran the 5 mile option so they were about 2 miles ahead of me since I started on the backside of the mountain. At mile 3ish, the REALLY fast people started flying by as though I were standing still. Their pace for the 10/15 mile race looked like my sprint. sick.

At mile 4, I spotted this poor soul all bundled up shouting out times to passers by. Yep, that is Dad. I stopped to take a picture and steal a cup of water. (i am a track club member after all - OK I did it to get advance registration for the Peachtree but whatever I paid my dues...)



and again at mile 9 :)



I decided to pass my car at mile 10 and get an extra mile in. I have a half marathon in 2 weeks so wanted to get 11 in this weekend and 12 next. Is there any better sight to see than your car at the end of a long run??



Ahhh.... 1219 calories later, but who is counting... mission accomplished! Off to the grocery store. Yes, a mistake after a run. A mistake when you are starving. I managed to get out of there without too many treats :) I did snag this one to try... It is a protein drink I have seen advertised at the gym. I thought it might be a good recovery type drink. I'll let you know...



Oh, and this one...


Rick said it looked like a pumpkin sandwich. Well, I guess that is true. sort of. I do love all things pumpkin... :) In the post-run high that followed my 11 miles, I managed to clean large portions of my house, do loads of laundry, make a huge batch of vegetable soup and roast a turkey - I was feeling a little protein deficient :) Is there anything better than the post run feeling?

On tap for today, my final singles league match of the season. I managed to tank 2 matches so may or may not make the playoffs. If I win today, I have a decent shot at getting in the playoffs. Luckily there will be plenty of sunshine so any failure on my part will have to be blamed on something other than the darkness. Perhaps my racquet string :) It couldn't possibly be the player! ha....