Monday, June 30, 2008

I got nothin'

When Chad and I are talking on the phone, but don't really have anything to say, one of us breaks the silence by saying "I got nothin'." I don't really have anything to blog about other than that I am procrastinating on one of my items of work for today.

I got nothin'.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

She's Come Undone

I finished a book last night... She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb


I highly recommend it to any woman who finds herself watching tons of mind-numbing TV or wondering why she cannot stop craving junk food. You'll find the character relatable, even if you haven't been through what she has gone through. She is hilarious and horrendous, pathetically sad, and at times completely endearing. You know how each miserable situation in her life is going to turn out before it actually happens, so you find yourself eagerly hoping that the next page will turn out to be less painful for her than what you have already read.
You know you are reading a well-written book when you are consciously thinking about what the main character should do with her life or how she should act as you are cringing at each circumstance she is put through. You want to tell her how it ends before you know what the ending actually is.

Is it Thursday, yet?

I'm ready to go home. I have 2.5 hours left at the desk here in the conference area. Actually, the last demo is over at 4:15, so hopefully I can get all of my boxes packed up by 5:00pm. My flight leaves at 9:45pm tomorrow.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

33rd Floor Concierge Level Views

As requested, the views from breakfast (the nicest part of the day)...



5am Runs

Yesterday I ran 5 here, which is basically north to the boardwalk and all the way down to the Marriott and back.

Today I ran 7 with intervals (1 minute hard - 1.5 minute easy) to simulate a hill workout that I'm supposed to be doing this evening in Austin. The only hill around here is the Hallandale Beach Blvd Bridge, and it is a drawbridge. There is no way in hell that I'm running on a drawbridge at 5:00am. Anyhow, the run was pretty good...I took Todd (my iPod) and listened to my new and improved easy run mix.

Tomorrow, I'm gonna do the 5 mile route again.

Yup, I'm definitely in Florida

I'm back at my 'desk' again in the conference area of our hotel. I'm enjoying the elevator music that they pipe through the speakers in the hallways. Today they are mixing in some Buena Vista Social Club music, so I am listening to Chan Chan as we speak. I love BVSC (saw them when they came to Austin a few years ago). The Cuban/Florida connection is alive and well at my desk today!

This clip is from the movie that was made about them.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Where in the world is Sadie?

I'm in Hollywood.

Hollywood, Florida

I have to travel twice a year to work at either sales meetings or one of our conferences, and this June has landed us in Florida. I am part of the conference team, which means I do all kinds of behind-the-scenes meeting planning and organizing before and during the conference. It also means that I get a few priviliges with the hotel. This year, I received access to the club concierge lounge. It requires a key access to get in, and since it is on the 33rd floor, has fantastic views of both the ocean and the intercoastal waterway. I have gone up to the lounge for two days in a row to enjoy a nice peaceful breakfast with a view.

Anyhow, I ran this morning. At 5:00am. Running at 5:00am in Hollywood, Florida means that you are drenched with sweat as soon as you walk outside, that you have no worries about being alone on the sidewalks because there are older retirees out walking on the boardwalk (some with canes), and that you get to enjoy the view of the Atlantic Ocean as the sun rises.

The conference has been less stressful than I anticipated (woohoo), and I have obviously had time to blog this morning. Here I am blogging away at my 'desk' in the hotel. Proof that I am not on the beach, right?

Thursday, June 19, 2008

102

I didn't realize it was going to be 102 today. I think we all know how that is going to feel on the track with no shade running 400 repeats.

ummm...help me please!

UPDATE - I totally rocked the workout, and the heat on the track was undescribable. There were moments where I honestly felt like I was standing in front of a hot oven with the door open.

12x400 at 10k pace with 100 easy jog between (active rest), no stopping
Goal - 1:52-1:54 per 400 (7:28-7:36 minute mile pace)

1:53.13
1:52.69
1:52.09 (Mac ran with me on this one so it was faster)
1:54.70
1:54.09
1:53.14
1:53.10
1:52.04
1:52.07
1:52.22
1:53.50
1:52.31
Have I ever told you that I can be a machine with my pacing abilities?

June vs January running in Austin

Obviously -
  • shorts vs tights
  • tank tops vs long sleeves
  • brutal heat in the afternoons vs freezing cold mornings
  • 5k races and triathlons vs long distance races
Now that it's well into June, you may now be fully adjusted to -
  • the 6:30am steam room from Austin's humidity
  • the towel that you have to have in the summer to put down on your car seat because you are completely drenched with sweat.
  • summer chafing in all new places
  • the burn of sunscreen in your eyes
  • the burn when you forget to wear sunscreen on a long run
  • how quickly your shoes turn brown when you combine a sweaty run with the trail
  • how stinky your shoes can get after only a few sweaty runs
  • squishy/sloshy shoes
  • all of the extra water you need to drink
  • how crowded the trail is on Saturday and Sunday mornings with walkers now that it is not freezing anymore
  • gnats
  • forgetting your sunglasses
  • forgetting your hat or visor
  • the time it takes cool off before getting in the shower - or alternately, having to use cooler water in the shower because you haven't stopped sweating
  • the tan line at your shorts
  • the tan line at your ankles
  • the tan line your watch has created

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

How's your training going?

Pretty good, thanks.

We've been working a lot on speed and doing lots of drills these days because a bunch of folks are racing short distances this month. This week is our last 12 mile long run weekend before Chad, Tara, and I start ramping up the mileage for our marathon training. Can you believe I am looking forward to running 16-20 miles on Saturday mornings? I am ready!!

I've been working on my diet, and am proud to say that I am down 12 pounds since early April and only have 6 to go to my race weight. Ideally, I'd like to lose 13 more pounds to get to 130, but we'll see how I feel when the mileage gets above 45-50 mpw. I know I will be very hungry and grumpy if I don't eat enough.

Monday, June 16, 2008

The Trumpet Section

Members of the McNeil HS band's 1994-1995 trumpet section who I have seen or heard news about in the past 6 months -

Jeramy Chapman - minister at our wedding
Luke Madsen - haven't seen him, but heard he was a minister, too, and had a big family
James Lavender - haven't seen him, but heard he was in a Christian band in Dallas (I swear his last name used to be spelled Lavendar, but maybe my mind is failing.)
David Thompson - see him running at the trail every now and again. He trained for the half marathon this year.
Dave Rainey - saw him in 2006 in Hawaii, saw him again at the middle school where my friend Justyne works. He is a counselor.
Richard Mann - saw him at Wahoo's a few months ago. I see him around Austin from time to time

Now the latest news about a member of the trumpet section - My friend (and maid of honor) Erin and her husband Mike just moved back to Austin from Chicago and bought a house in Brentwood. They went to their new house today to introduce themselves to their neighbors, and discover that they are going to be living next door to Rob Warren. Well, I think he now goes by Rob Grona, because he used to have it hyphenated Grona-Warren, but I don't know. Anyhow, Rob is part of that trumpet section (was an all-state trumpet player multiple years) and was my 8th grade boyfriend and crush for many years later. It is such a small world when you grow up and live in Austin.

I don't remember how many trumpet players there were in the section, but it seems like they are everywhere these days.

Spoiler Alert

If you are waiting to watch the highlights of today's US Open playoff, stop reading now!!

18 holes and sudden death later...

Yup, I had to watch golf today, too. My Dad and Rose are driving in the car all day today, and didn't have access to the TV to get to watch the playoff between Tiger and Rocco. So, I got to be the 'special correspondant' and work from the living room today. I plopped myself down on the recliner with my laptop and called them regularly to give them updates. I actually had to watch each hole to make sure they were on top of the score. When it went down to hole 18 and Tiger birdied to tie again, I almost died! Not only was I rooting for Rocco to pull it out today, but I surely didn't want to watch any more!

So, Tiger won in a sudden death playoff hole. That is good for him, but I was really excited that Rocco had a chance against him. He played really well today.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Guess what I get to do tomorrow night?

I'll be watching this on TV.

woo...hoo...

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Fast Shorts

See the picture of me at the top of my blog with the pink tank top and black shorts? Those are my fast size small shorts, and I can now wear them again. I am not as cute in them as I would like to be, but at least I am not embarrassed to run in them. I wore them on my run this morning, and they looked okay. I also tried on that exact outfit with the pink tank top Friday afternoon, and it I might be able to look like the picture 5-6 pounds from now.

Being able to fit into my smaller shorts opens up 3 new pairs for my running wardrobe! Hooray!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Weekend o' Golf

The US Open is this weekend. I married a golfer. Nuff said.

But wait! It is also Father's day this weekend. Wanna know where my dad is? He's at the US Open (as I write this he is on the course somewhere enjoying the fresh air and the spectating).

Dad and Rose will not be there to watch the last day, but I can guarantee you that when they fly home on Sunday and we have our Father's Day dinner, it will include lots of final round watching.

No worries...I have been trained to watch golf. This year I will be watching Adam Scott (he is the cutest one in my opinion, and Chad doesn't mind me saying so). Here is his website. If I get too bored, I'll play with their dog, Miss Lily (who you have met before).

National Do Not Call List

Warning - Major rant! If you are ready for a nice peaceful weekend, don't let me spoil your fun!

I have had enough! I thought I was on the 'do not call' list at one time, but apparently I wasn't. I work from home and receive so many solicitation phone calls during the day, you wouldn't believe it. Most of them are regarding 'satellite service', 'Dish Network', or from AT&T trying to get my business back. AT&T has actually called me four times in the same day. Since I have caller ID, I can usually tell when the number is a telemarketing call or not, so I have been screening them for a while now. If I miss one and actually have to talk to someone on the phone, I let them know that the number is a 'business line' and to please remove it from their list.

Lately it has gotten out of control. I get at least 10 calls a day during the day from some sort of telemarketer or computer voice. My cordless phone now runs out of battery during the day if I keep it off of the base because the phone rings so much. This afternoon, I started retaliating by waiting through the computer voice to hear if there was an option to 'press 2' to opt out.

However, the last straw was when I was listening to one computer generated phone call, and then received a call waiting from another telemarketer. Really, has it gotten to the point where I am on the phone with 2 telemarketers at once? Give me a break!

I found the national do not call list online and have now subscribed. Grrr...stop calling me!!!!

BTW...I absolutely despise those damn phone calls for Dish Network...You are not really 'in my area today', so shut the hell up and stop calling me. I don't want a dish. I will not press 1 to speak to a real person. STOP CALLING ME! Some of these recorded messages don't give you the option to opt out of their phone calls, either. I have been patient and listened through the entire message. Jerks. Don't get Dish Network. They are the worst about those damn computer voices.

hmmmmphhhh!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

New Blog Colors

I needed to change things up a bit. I also created a dorky picture header at the top, so if you are reading this in google reader or the like, visit the actual site to see the new colors. Oooh...Aaahh.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Top Chef Finale tonight!

Top Chef season four comes to and end tonight with the season finale. At this point, as long as Stephanie or Richard win, I'll be happy. I like watching both of them cook, and since we can't taste the food through the TV, the delicious descriptions of both of their dishes have satisfied the entire season. Personally, I'd like to see a woman win this time around, though I think Richard is the heavy favorite. Stephanie definitely makes the grade to compete with Richard, so we'll have to see the final results this evening.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Three in the office

I left the bedroom door open today so that Flucie could have access to her throne (aka our bed). She has decided that she would rather join us in the office this morning and has graced us with her presence.

Oops...spoke too soon. She had been resting on the green rug in here for about 30 minutes, but once I started typing this post about her, she excused herself to go to her bedroom palace.

Monday, June 09, 2008

The Longest Morning Ever

I signed up to volunteer at Danskin this year. I was willing to do anything they needed me to do. After all, I regularly race in Austin and have experienced the results of tons of volunteers in my race history. I needed to give back.

When I received my assignment to work at the water stops, I prepared myself for a long hot morning in the sun. The assignment came with a 5:15 arrival time at the Travis County Expo Center (yikes) to take the shuttle over to Decker Lake. I should have known that taking a shuttle to the race meant for a long morning.

11:30 pm Saturday night - Chad and I crash after a long day at our running retreat.

4:00 am Sunday - My alarm goes off to get ready for Danskin. I put on all of my clothes that had been prepared and ready to go. Breakfast down the hatch...check. Sunscreen...check. Hat...check. Water bottle and snacks...check.

4:40 am - Start driving to Expo Center

5:15 am - arrive at Expo Center (the traffic hadn't really built up, yet), line up for shuttle, ride with a bus full of excited women, ready to race.

5:30 am - arrive at volunteer tent and give the nice lady my name 'Sadie Barrs'. She hunts for my name and can't find it. Hmmm...'I don't have you on my list, but here's your shirt. You can go ahead and wait over by the sign for the water stops and someone will come take you to your assignment.' Okay, fair enough, but that is so weird that my name was not on the list. I even RSVPed that I would be there. No matter. I'm here to help.

6:00 am - realize that the reason my name wasn't on the list is because I am not Sadie Barrs. Doh! I walk back to the volunteer tent and try to explain...'Um, when I was here last, I gave her the wrong name. I forgot that my last name is Jones.'

She gives me a really weird look...'You forgot your name?'

'Um, yeah, I got married in March, and I guess it was too early for me this morning to remember that I have a new last name. Sorry. I wanted to make sure that my name, Sadie Jones, was highlighted on your list so that Leilani wouldn't think I was a no-show. I made sure to RSVP with her, so I didn't want her to think that I skipped out. I know it is kind of strange to forget your last name. Sorry.'

We have a good laugh for a moment and she takes care of marking me down.

6:15 am - We're still waiting for someone to come get us to take us to the water stops. I meet some nice ladies who are close in age to me. When they finally come to tell us where we are going, I end up in a group of 6 who go to man the water stops 1&2. The group of girls is great, and we get the tables set up rather quickly. We are at the first stop after transition on the run, and then because the course loops back around, the back side of our stop is at the top of a long gradual hill about halfway through the race.

7:00 am - The race starts. We won't see runners for a while.
At some point we see the leaders start to trickle in and then the crowd slowly builds. Our team is working really well together to keep the cups of water out, but it seems like our table is being slammed. I go behind the table and help pour new cups of water to replenish the ones being handed out. I swear that I poured probably 2000 cups in about an hour and a half. This, along with the girl next to me who is also pouring that many cups. We cannot push them out fast enough. It becomes rather zen-like to pull a cup out of the stack and place it on the table with the left hand, while maintaining a continuous pour from the pitcher with my right hand. The wind was incredibly strong, so we couldn't put empty cups out on the table to fill at a more efficient pace. I don't even look up to see anyone running from about 8:30-10:00am. Sorry if I missed you!

10:00-10:30am - At some point in the morning, we slow down with the stream of runners enough so that I can change positions from being the pourer. I hand out cups for a while, and then Ron Perry comes over and helps us get a head start on picking up cups. I spend about 30 minutes bent over picking up thousands of cups without a rake. Ummm...my hamstrings and glutes were screaming from Saturday's workouts.

11:00am - I make a crucial mistake of the morning...They needed someone to go to waterstop #5 to relieve someone. Nobody at our stop is wanting to go, so I feel like I need to. After all, I was willing to do anything they asked me to do from the beginning. When I arrive at the stop, I see that there are only 3 other people there, but that they had it under control. Seriously, once I arrived, there was always one person without a job to do. All of their trash had been picked up. The number of runners was really small at this point. Also, we were completely exposed in the sun. In hindsight, I should have just walked up the hill to the finish (1/2 mile) and gone home, but I couldn't imagine passing some of the walkers as they finished their race.

12:00-ish - The last runner comes through, and I must say that it was inspirational seeing her at the end of the race. She was in good spirits and was obviously going to make it to the end. We pack up the remaining things at the water stop and hopped on the cart to be taken to the finish. I was hustling to get to my car, but remembered that we had to take the shuttle back to the expo center. Just as we get to the road, I see the shuttle leave. Damn! I was 2 minutes too late.

I decide to wait for the next shuttle, but people are so anxious to get home that they are walking the 1-1.5 miles back to the expo center parking lot. It is so freaking hot, I decide to wait.

You would think that there would be a shuttle available to take all of the volunteers who stayed until the last runner came through. You would think that. Nope.

The shuttle that we missed by 2 minutes was the last shuttle of the day. We all had to walk to the Expo Center parking lot in the heat. I didn't even race, and I was completely wiped out. The Saturday workouts at the running retreat followed by 5 hours of sleep followed by a morning full of bending and walking had taken its toll.

I arrived home around 1:45 pm. Exhausted.

Will I ever volunteer for Danskin again? I might sign up to do packet pick-up. Everyone was really nice and helpful....we just need more volunteers to make the jobs a little easier for everyone. Our water stop would have been a lot less frantic if we had more people to help.

Also, a later shuttle would have been nice.

Running Retreat - Recap

The running retreat was filled with things to post about, so I'm struggling with how to get it all in. I think I'll just post some highlights -
  • We stayed on land that was purchased directly from Pioneers who came to Texas, and has remained in the same family (Mac's family) since then. The land was originally purchased from Mexico 2 years before the TX Revolution. The house that we slept in was built in 1886. Very cool.
  • Our run was as hard as I expected, and I was forced to revisit my loathing of trails (and climbing them). However, I kicked butt out there and ran better than I expected.
  • My nutrition counseling revealed that I am getting enough protein (yay) and that I probably need to watch my sodium. I also need to eat more fruits and veggies (go figure), because I resort to eating too many grains when the fridge becomes empty.
  • Crosstraining with Sarah Stewart kicked my ass. I am so wimpy. (However, during the talk with Sarah, we brought up the topic of fast-twitch/slow-twitch muscles and how that related to the particular distance races we chose. Mac said that I was probably the best marathoner in the group, based on how close my 5K/10K/marathon paces are to each other and how I can hold that pace forever. I definitely took it as a compliment and dubbed myself 'slow-twitch' for the afternoon.)
  • We got to talk personally with Jeff Galloway. We heard about some of his experiences at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He talked about his own training and racing experiences when he was at his 'peak'. (He trained up to 100-140 miles per week every week...also was injured all the time.) We talked about the run-walk method. I'd say getting to listen to him talk was one of the highlights of the weekend.

Friday, June 06, 2008

Running Retreat

I'm looking forward to the end of the day. We head up to Temple, TX this afternoon for the beginning of our Team Mac running retreat. Tonight we will check into Green Oaks Farm and enjoy a team dinner together followed by movie night with a running movie. I'm sure the movie will be motivational and involve commentary from our team members and Coach Mac.

We'll stay the night at the farm in one of two houses that are on the property. The place is set up for groups, so I believe we will all have beds and rooms to sleep in. I'm interested to see if Chad and I will be 'bunking it' in twin beds, or if there are larger beds for us married couples.

Saturday will begin with a hill workout on the trails/cc path on the property. I think we are doing about 7 miles. We will come back to clean up and have breakfast with Meredith Terranova. Meredith is going to give a seminar about runners nutrition for us, and then we have the option of having one-on-one sessions with her. I have already signed up to have a follow-up session with her to go over my plan from last year.

We'll have an afternoon team talk where we talk about everything from running form, shoes, training philosophy, our favorite workouts, racing plans, and all that good stuff. Chad and I were talking (and laughing) about how we're going to spend the whole weekend talking about our splits. It will be better than that, though I'm sure we'll have moments where most everyone is thinking and talking times.

We get to meet with Sarah Stewart to talk about and try some crosstraining. We will do a crosstraining workout with her. After another team dinner, we have the privilege of a question & answer session with Jeff Galloway. I am excited to hear what others have to ask him and what he has to say to us.

Chad and I have to leave on Saturday night so that I can show up for Danskin volunteering early Sunday morning. We're gonna miss a morning workout, an Airrosti Physical Therapy demonstration and seminar, and a cookout.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Grrr.....

I just got a call from my Dr.'s nurse saying that all of my bloodwork came back normal. This was the blood test that was supposed to reveal the cause of my symptoms. I have one more blood test (probably Monday) that will test a range of other hormones, but I'm quite sure they will come back normal, too. Crap crap crap crap crap!!!!!

Umm...I know that being normal is good and all, but not when I still have issues that have no explanation behind them!!! Crap to it all!!! I'm so pissed!

The nurse is going to mail me a copy of the results so I can see them for myself. Is it bad that I don't trust them and have to look at my levels for my own reassurance? I can't believe they came out 'normal'. Shit!! This was what I did not want, believe it or not. They have been telling me that I am normal for years and there is clearly something wrong with me. Damn it!!!

Tara's back!

My friend Tara is back in Austin! She and her husband moved to Manhattan 18 months ago and have been busy enjoying the life in the big city. They moved back to Austin over the weekend and it is awesome to have her back!

We are both training for the same marathon in the Fall, so last night was our first workout running together with Mac. Poor Tara had to have her first workout be a 2000m time trial in the 98 degree sun. Anyhow, we both rocked the workout, and she sure proved that she is able to still run hard. Rock on sista!

Today we went to lunch at Wahoo's (where else would I have taken her?) because she had never been. I think it must have opened during the time when she was not living here. Tara also invited me to see all of the work they have done over the last few days to clean up their house. I had heard that the house needed a lot of work after they had rented it out for 18 months. It looked pretty great, which means they had obviously done a ton of work. There were big bags of bamboo piled on the curb from the dry bamboo forest that they had cut down in their backyard. Amazing!

Welcome back to Austin, Tara!

Monday, June 02, 2008

iTunes weekend

On Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of some 'me' time while recovering from my long run, so I spent some time on iTunes getting caught up on some music. I loved exploring some old favorites and then checking out the iMixes and 'what other's bought' from my favorite songs. It led me to a few new finds. Here is some of what I bought and what I am listening to (click on it to make it bigger)




I was excited to see the Andrew Bird album from ACL 2007. The spectacle of his performance on stage was something to see. It is cool to know that we are part of the crowd that is yelling on this recording.

Oh, and not included in this list is the free podcast of Muse that I discovered. There is a completely instrumental version of my 'power song', Hysteria, that I was able to download. I was sooooo excited to find it.

Test Drive

The new Haywards feel great! I ran on them yesterday for a 5 mile 'easy run', and my body could not keep up with my feet. Truly, my feet felt so light that it felt like they were turning over much faster than normal. My easy run pace was 9:09 yesterday in the heat, when it has been closer to 9:30 this month. Part of the improvement is the training that I have been doing combined with some weight loss, but my legs would have told you that it was all about the shoes yesterday.

May Totals

It seems like everyone posts their 'totals' each month, so here are mine...

Total May distance - 153.2 miles
Total # of runs - 23 (6.7 miles per run)

I didn't take my watch on every run, so I don't have the total time spent running or average pace. Sometimes it is nicer to leave the watch at home and not worry about the pace.