Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Procrastination at it's Best


The time is now 2:33 pm and I have yet to pack a single thing for our trip.  We leave early on Friday morning and the last thing I want to do right now is pack.  I'm dreading the process.  Just look at the huge pile of laundry I just finished.  Would you want to tackle that?  Yeah, me either.  If I just keep procrastinating maybe it will magically be put away and my backpack all packed or maybe Lucky will put it all away for me.  A girl can dream right?

So here's what's left to get done before we leave on Friday:

-PACK-Now I just have to figure out what to bring. I don't want to look like a sloppy American but want to be comfy.
-Pack up Lucky for the kennel and Hil's house. Drop him at Happy Tails.  (Never thought I'd miss a dog, but how can you not love this face?)


-Gather gifts and such for dinner at Shana's house on Christmas Eve
-Fit in a 75 minute run (Probably on the dreadmill since it's still snowing outside.)
-Return memory sticks to Wolf Camera
-Enjoy the ride to Italy.

Sounds managable right?  Hopefully I won't be up super late tonight.  On a positive note, my cold is almost gone!  I've now gone an entire hour minute without coughing.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Wedding Industry Happy Hour


I've decided that every Monday should end with cocktails, cheese and cupcakes.  What is better to end the second to worst day of the week?  You may ask, what's the worst day if it's not Monday...why Tuesday of course. It's like a repeat of Monday but worse because you're not significantly closer to the weekend.  Anyway, I met Tawsha and Heather to head down to a wedding industry cocktail hour at Baur's downtown.  We were the first to arrive and immediately ordered drinks and determined the best table to sit at for optimal networking opportunities.  Tall bar tables are always the best choice because people can stand or sit and not feel like they are looking down or up at your.  Write that down.

People started filtering in shortly and the networking began. I met all sorts of awesome people, even one who works fashion week and got to oil up the male models...that's hot.  I even saw Alaneyer who worked with Josh and I on the catering for our wedding.  I did my best to talk up My Big Day Planner and get Tawsha, who is actually shy on occasion, to loosen and not feel intimidated.  It amazing how many different wedding vendors there are. A lot of them I remember from when Josh and I were selecting ours a while back. 


Check out this little piece of heaven.  This snowman was probably one of the most delicious sweets I've ever had.  Chocolate cake mixed with cream cheese, covered in white chocolate and topped off with a Rolo.  I ate every single sinful bite.  We had these thanks toRachael who owns Intricate Icings in Erie.  Mmmmmmmmmm.  That was just the top of the sweets tower. I probably over indulged a bit.  Lots of cheese and finger foods that Footers Catering provided.  Everything was delicious and it was awesome getting my feet wet in my first official networking event for My Big Day Planner.

Few things I learned, when drinks and food are involved, people will come.  Drinks also lesson the tension for vendors in the same area and everyone can be friends.  Lastly, Twitter is the new Trekkie club. OMG, most of the people had to introduce themselves by the Twitter name last night. It was hilarious.  Everyone new eachother but were strangers.  Now I have not joined the cult yet, but obviously it's awesome for networking and meeting new people.  Since Tawsha is already all over it for MBDP, I'm going to go ahead and let her have at it. Maybe I'll snoop around sometime.

Snot Very Pretty

This weekend was just not my weekend. I'm hoping that I just had a bad one because I have such a fabulous vacation in just a few days.  I can also taste the gelato it's so close.  But back to the bad weekend.  So I've been sick, thanks Lobster, for about a week now and though it's slowly getting better (I'm pretty much like a leaking faucet instead of one turned all the way on) I still feel generally crappy.  Which lead to me having to cancel on two of my favs Sarah and Lisa on Friday night. 

Now this was just the start.  I was already feeling down about that when I went to meet with Erin, my new nutritionist at Momentum Health.  That appointment was actually super helpful and informative and I'm very grateful for Erin working with me. So you ask what went wrong here?  Nothing major except somehow in the past three months, I've replaced 2 lbs of muscle with fat.  How this is possible I'm not sure. So regardless of what the scale says, I am in fact getting fatter even though I'm holding a steady weight.  Man I'd rather gain weight (muscle of course) than been losing and gaining fat.

Well then it was time to have some dinner.  I was just chewing a piece of pizza when one of my teeth decided it had been used quite enough and broke.  Seriously?  I mean WTF, who loses a quarter of their molar eating pizza?  Must have been a sign from the diet gods that I should not have been eating pizza in the first place. Of course do I have a dentist in Longmont?  Ha...


First thing Saturday morning instead of running with my team, I was at Comfort Dental in Boulder numb for almost 3 hours.  The verdict, apparently my last dentist didn't fully drill out a cavity before filling it. So it continued to grow and caused the tooth to break. Right now it's been filled so that I can head to Italy with a complete tooth. When I get back though it's time for the dentist and a crown.  Boooooooo.  Did I mention I hate dentists offices?  They smell of rubber, tooth dust and gingivitis.  Blah. (No that is not me in the picture.)

Luckily I got in some good laughs with Tawsha during our business meeting later that afternoon.  I'm pretty sure she was more laughing at me and my feeble attempts not to drool and speak normally even though half my face was numb.  Regardless, I can always count on her for a laugh. In fact I think last week my abs hurt from laughing with her so much.  Well that and this stupid cough.  Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?  (Tawsha that's for you ehmmmmmmmmmmm ok?)  I am really looking forward to the Wedding Preview Event even though I will be in Moab running my little heart out during the 1/2  marathon.  I have total faith that someday sooner rather than later, Tawsha and My Big Day Planner are going to be emensly successful. 


I spent Saturday night trying to infect the city of Boulder with my cold.  Aaron, Amanda and Kelsey joined me at Borders to wrap gifts for donations.  We actually wrapped quite a few books and such, the final tally...$38 and some change.  Really?  We had one lady alone who we wrapped 10 items for.  She left $1.  Come on people...it's for cancer.  Speaking of which, I am seriously lacking in the donations department.  I still have a long ways to go, please donate, right after the first of the year is just fine.  Thanks.

Sunday was actually the best day of the weekend.  Other than nearly breaking a toe when my baseboard moved two inches in an attempt to maime some of my poor toes, I finally got in the run I was supposed to do on Saturday morning.  Since I didn't have the team to run with and I was feeling super unmotivated, I just did the loop around our neighborhood twice. 

Time:  60 minutes    Distance: 6.28 miles    Avg. Pace: 9:33 min/mile


I'm not going to lie this was a hard run for me.  I took everything I had not to stop and walk.  I was wheezing, I had snot all over my face and I was hacking like a smoker the entire time.  I was so glad that there were only a few other people on the path.  I looked like a preschooler who had been hit hard by the boogieman.  Yuck.  Once my run was over (Thank God) I entered the house so that Josh could be present for a 10 minute serenade of coughs.  I think he really enjoyed it.  But hey, on the bright side, it makes me feel good to know that even when I'm sick I can finish a 10k in under an hour.  I have come so far from the summer of 2008. 

The rest of the day was spent going to four different stores looking for a new digital camera.  We finally bought a new Sony Cybershot at Wolf Camera.  So glad that's over.  One less thing to do before the big trip.  We headed to Dad and Liz's house for a family dinner before they took off to Costa Rica.  It was a good thing I went on that snotty run because my dad warmed up some Hanky Pankies aka Shit on a Brick and then we had Indian food. Love Indian. 

Weekend is now closed and not a minute too soon.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Happy Holidays from MBDP

Tawsha is awesome. She's been working with me at my office all week which has helped the week fly right by.  Check out this holiday card she created for My Big Day Planner.  Little side note, brides out there you can get free shipping on the book today only.  Also makes a great gift.  Plug over...

Also, the team is having a fundraiser tonight at Chick-Fil-A at Flatirons.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Stupid Cold

I thought that I had avoided getting Josh's cold by leaving town last week.  No such luck. It's hit my hard this week.  With too much to finish at work before vacation I've been pushing through.  I have not however been exercising, which I hate.  But my thought is that if I rest then by Saturday I'll be feeling well enough to do our team run.  Rather than pushing it during the week and prolonging my illness, I'd rather rest and just get in the long run.  So rest it is.  Now if I could only sleep through the night.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Pizza for a Cause

One of my jobs as a mentor is to setup group fundraisers...so that's what Tawsha and I have done.  Now it's time for my own. Today, The California Pizza Kitchen will donate 20% of the pretax total of each customer tab to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on my behalf.  The catch, you have to print and bring in the flyer below (Click to enlarge for printing).  If you have to be in the Boulder area and are craving some pizza, stop by the 29th Street Mall location.  Some of my teammates and I will be eating there around 6:30pm.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Wind and Snow...ha


You know it takes a lot to get out of bed some mornings to go to our Saturday runs.  This Saturday was no exception.  Still trying to catch up on my sleep from Vegas, I woke up around 6 to start my pre-group run routine.  Last season I ate PB&J toast before my runs...eh, I can't do it again for another four months. Now that I've rediscovered my love for oatmeal, I've switched over.  Quick bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon and brown sugar and my belly was just full enough to get my through our quick 45 minute run we had on the schedule.  Then it was time to get dressed. I purchased something I swore I never would.....yes, it's true, the dreaded running tights.  Eek.  Now I am not one to wear tapered anything, let alone skin tight running pants, but hey, in the Colorado cold, it's better to be warm and have your thighs and ass hanging out there than to be cold.  Nothing is worse than being out for a run and being frozen.  Add an Under Armor turtleneck, a hooded running jacket, windbreaker and some gloves and I was all set. 


One of the best things about being up early on winter mornings is the calm and the beautiful sunrises over the snow capped mountains. Just look at the view leaving my neighborhood.  Amazing right?  I might not have a beautiful ocean view and warm weather all the time but I love my view of the mountains. 

Our run was at the Big Dry Creek trail in Westminster. Why they call it this I'm not sure.  We only really pass by the creek like twice.  I think they should rename it, the big, run by a landfill, no tree trail.  This trail is a pretty flat and easy one. I did my last 11 miler on it before the Denver 1/2 Marathon in October.  I know it oh so well and enjoy it when it's about 45 degrees and slightly overcast with little wind. Well no such luck this weekend.  It was a balmy 20 degrees with a steady wind of about 15 mph with wind gusts of about 30-35 mph.  Running out with the wind was awesome. I felt like I was flying right through the snow, down the trail with little effort.  Then came the turn around.  That is when the wind came after me. I'm pretty sure I was basically doing the running man dance when the strong gusts came. If it wasn't already difficult enough running in the snow and ice, the wind made it extremely difficult to stay upright and moving in a forward motion.


We all pressed through the run and amazingly, had smiles on our faces.  We were all happy we didn't have a real long run in that crazy wind.  I have to say that I am itching for my double digit runs. I know I'm crazy.

Time:  47:33 (I went a little over my time)    Distance: 4.65 miles (that's it?)    Avg. Pace: 10:14 min/mile

Somehow I managed to maintain my ideal long run pace through the elements.  (My goal is to average 9:45-10 min/miles for the marathon, so my long runs should not be any faster than 10:10-10:30 min/miles.) Surprisingly my legs were actually sore.  Running through that wind was excellent resistance training. It was definitely like doing hill repeats without the hills.  After some stretching and silliness we headed to Starbucks for a quick clinic on cross-training.  Must say I love cross-training.  I think I'm going to start doing the 30 Day Shred again. After a month of that I can really tell that I've strengthened by upper body and abs.  Both excellent for marathon running. 

Later that night Shana, Adam and their kiddos came up for the Longmont Parade of Lights. Now it's no Denver Parade of Lights, but it was fun anyway.  After the parade we headed into Roosevelt Park for some free hot chocolate and fireworks.

Oh yeah, I also chopped my hair off.  I lost about seven inches of hair. It feels so strange.

Show Success

Man, trade shows are exhausting.  I've been going back and forth from the convention center all weekend/week.  At least I have lovely Christmas decorations to look at. The Bellagio is decked out.






The show is going really well so far.  It's pretty apparent that attendance is down but we've gotten some great leads.  You know what's crazy, I saw my roommate from my freshman year of college at the show!  Anne Elise is in her final year of pharmacy school and was at the show to find a residency.  Next year we're going to have to get together since we both know we'll be there.  Doesn't our booth look awesome?


After a long day of work nothing is better than a delicious meal right?  On Monday night we went to Prime Steakhouse at the hotel.  So delicious!  Josh and I rarely eat red meat but since I was at a steakhouse I couldn't pass it up.  I knew on Tuesday we'd probably have another big meal so after the show I made sure that I got in my run for the day. I had an awesome tempo run.  Here are the stats:

Time: 35 minutes      Distance: 3.7 miles       Average Pace: 9:28 min/miles

For this run I warmed up at 10 min pace for 5 minutes, then did 25 minutes at 9:13 min pace with a 5 minutes cooldown at 10 min pace.  Maybe it was because I wasn't a mile high or maybe I'm just getting faster because the run was a breeze. 

It was a good thing I went for that run because we had a huge dinner at Olives.  I got to eat with our President and the CEO of our entire company along with a few of the sales guys.  It was pretty cool getting to eat and chat up the bosses.  I had the most delicious savoury short rib raviolis with carmelized onions and mushroom sauce. 

After dinner we decided to meet up with a couple other people at Lavo at The Palazzo hotel.  Now that was an experience.  I went with my boss, our CEO of the company, and three other sales people.  It was hilarious and a lot of fun.  I never thought I'd be dancing with the head of my company.  When we got home around 2am I was exhausted and went straight to bed.

What a night.

Now I'm finally home and so glad. I missed my lobster and puppy and my own bed.  Josh was so sweet and brought home some flowers for me.  I think he may have missed me.  :-)  Now making sure I'm sticking to my training schedule of course I needed to get in my interval run for the week, so we headed to the gym.

5 minute warm-up-10:54 min/mile
1 minute- 7:30 min/mile
1 minute-10:54 min/mile
2 minutes-7:30 min/mile
1 minute-10:54 min/mile
1 minute- 7:30 min/mile
1 minute-10:54 min/mile
2 minutes-7:30 min/mile
1 minute-10:54 min/mile
1 minute- 7:30 min/mile
1 minute-10:54 min/mile
2 minutes-7:30 min/mile
1 minute-10:54 min/mile
1 minute- 7:30 min/mile
1 minute-10:54 min/mile
2 minutes-7:30 min/mile
1 minute-10:54 min/mile
1 minute-7:30 min/mile
4 minute cooldown-10:54 min/mile

Time: 30 minutes      Distance: 3.4 miles     Average Pace: 8:49 min/miles

Not gonna lie, this was a bit more challenging than my last interval run.  I was definitely grunting the last sprint minute.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Vegas Baby Vegas

I made it to Vegas and I'm exhausted. The past few days have been super busy. Once I got here on Friday I checked into the hotel and headed straight the convention center for setup. Here's a little peek at my room.




and the view:


Pretty nice huh? After a long day of setup and traveling I was exhausted. I thought I'd just take a nap and head out with the guys from Condit. My body thought that I needed sleep. I layed down at 8:30 and work up the next morning. Oops.

The next day started early. I knew I had a sixty minute long run to do so I got up early to hit the gym. The gym at The Bellagio is bigger than the gym Josh and I go to in Longmont. It was pretty nice, but I have to say it was the bathroom area that impressed me the most. I'll take a picture so that you can see it. I mean it should be nice since it costs $25/day.



Time: 60 minutes Distance: 6 miles Avg. Pace: 10 min/miles

As soon as I finished my run it was time to shower and head to the convention center for a few more hours of setup. I have to say our booth looks pretty awesome. I forgot my camera this morning but I'll take pictures tomorrow.

Jim and Nancy arrived late Friday night for the marathon. I met up with them at Excalibur for a pre-marathon carb loading dinner. I'm pretty sure I ate more than the people running the marathon tomorrow. Apparently I need to carb load for the trade show and all of the walking I've been doing. I think I've been averaging about 4-5 miles/day since I arrived.



The next morning I met Jim to cheer on Nancy while she ran the marathon. We saw here at mile 3 or so and then not again until she turned the corner towards mile 26. She did awesome! She had no problem qualifying for Boston again. Her official time was 4 hours 12 minutes and 20 seconds. I hope that I can become as great a marathon runner as she is. She should be really proud of herself! Josh and I decided that we'll be going to Boston to cheer her on when she conquers the Boston Marathon.





Off to bed, I'm tired and gearing up for the first day of the show.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Updates to come

I have updates. Busy busy busy. I'll post some soon!

Friday, December 4, 2009

And I'm off....to Vegas

Last night I had an awesome tempo run. I actually think I need to speed up to really feel the burn  Here's what I did:

5 minute warm-up @ 10:07 min/mile pace
20 minutes @ 9:22 min/mile pace
5 minute cooldown @ 10:07 min.mile pace

Total Time: 30 minutes   Distance: 3.12 miles   Average Pace: 9:37 min/miles

After the nice short run I went home to a sick Josh and made some delicious chicken, black bean and corn enchiladas.  The rest of the night was spent preparing for my trip and spending some time with my boys before I had to head out this morning.


Now I'm sitting in the airport right now waiting to board my flight to Vegas.  Man this morning came way too early!  I knew I had to get up at 4:30 in order to be able to eat something real quick, load the car and get to the airport on time.  Well apparently my brain decided that I should wake up at 2:30 am instead. after about an hour and a half of restlessness I was finally able to sleep for a whole half hour before my alarm went off.  Needless to say I'll be sleeping on the plane. Too bad it's such a short flight.

I'm headed to Vegas for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacy Annual Midyear tradeshow.  This is going to be my first show in Vegas since leaving Sycamore Kids.  It's going to be so strange not having Alan there to enjoy margaritas after a hard day of setup and delicious Indian food from a hole in the wall place that I can never remember the name of, but can always find.  It should be a good time though.  We do get to stay at the Bellagio.  Not to worry, I'll post pictures of my hotel room.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get a room on the fountain side, but I probably won't.  That's ok, I'll still feel like I'm living in the lap of luxury.


I'm the only one out there until the rest of the crew joins me on Sunday.  Josh's parents Jim and Nancy are going to be in Vegas this weekend too.  Nancy is running the Las Vegas Rock N' Roll Marathon with hopes that she'll qualify for Boston.  I wish I were running it, at least the half but I'm making sure that I'm not pushing myself to do too much.  By the end of this year (really in 10 months) I'll have run two half marathons and two marathons.  Anyway, I'm going to tag along with Jim to cheer her on.  I think she'll be able to qualify.  In order to qualify she'll need to finish the marathon under 4 hours and 15 minutes.  That's an average pace of about 9: 45 min/miles.  When she does, Josh and I are planning to head to Boston to cheer her on in the ultimate marathon.  It's the one that every marathoner strives for.  Me, it's not even on my radar yet.  In order to qualify I'd have to be able to run a marathon in under 3 hours and 40 minutes.  Eek!  That is fast.

Almost time to board which means it's almost nap time!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Running By Comparison

Last night I did my first interval training workout. I’d been looking online for treadmill recommendations but hadn’t really found one that was just right for me, so I made up my own 35 minute workout:

5 minute warm-up at 5.5
1 minute-6.0
1 minute-5.5
1 minute-6.5
1 minute-5.5
1 minute-7.0
1 minute-5.5
1 minute- 7.5
1 minute-5.5
1 minute-8.0
1 minute-5.5
1 minute-7.5
1 minute-5.5
1 minute-7.0
1 minute-5.5
1 minute-6.5
1 minute-5.5
1 minute-6.0
1 minute-5.5
1 minute 6.0
1 minute-5.5
1 minute-6.5
1 minute-5.5
1 minute-7.0
1 minute-5.5
1 minute 7.5
5 minute cool down-5.5

Total Time: 35 minutes Distance: 3.5 miles Average Pace: 10 min/mile

(Not to bad considering 22 minutes were at 10:54 pace)

I was definitely sweating. Usually when I run on the dreadmill I set it for 6.2 and just run at the same pace for the entire run. Doing intervals really helped make it fly right by!
 

This is all part of my goal for a healthy training season and faster marathon. Last year other than a few track workouts I didn’t work on my speed at all, especially after I was injured. Needless to say when I crossed the marathon finish line in 5:06:57 I was a bit disappointed. I though finishing in 4:30 would have been no problem, but when I got injuried I also lost a lot of speed. I am proud that I finished and faster than a lot of people, but being so close to making it under the 5 hour make up until the last 10k when my knees gave out was really hard to swallow.
 
So speed work, lots of cross-training and only running three days a week is the plan. My weekly schedule will look somewhat like this:

Monday-Rest (The perfect day for rest)
Tuesday-Interval workout
Wednesday-Cross-train and weights
Thursday-Hills or Tempo Run
Friday-Rest
Saturday-Long Run with the Team
Sunday-Cross-train and weights

Hopefully this will help me pick up speed and stay healthy. I’m also going to meet with the nutritionist Erin who came to our Biggest Loser kickoff at Tawsha’s. She’s going to help me make sure that I’m giving my body enough of the right nutrients. With her help and tracking what I’m eating on SparkPeople I think I’ll be fueled properly to handle all of the exercising.

All this brings me to comparing myself to other runners. Every since I started running I’ve found myself comparing my speed and distance to others. I tell myself all the time that I’m still a relatively new runner and I have come sooooooooo far since I first started running. I’ve run over 2000 miles June of 2008 and I can pace well under 10 min/miles for 11 miles. My first mile took me about 11 minutes and 11 miles was out of the question. I can run faster and long than some people but nontheless, every time I hear about someone finishing a ½ in under 2 hours or a 5k under 25 minutes I get a little sad. Even when Josh ran the Turkey Trot super fast I though man I suck, I really need to step it up. Of course I was also very proud of him.  :-) I know that there will always be someone who can runner faster and longer than me, but that little voice keeps telling me I need to be better. I suppose it’s not necessarily a bad thing, it does keep me motivated. What I’m trying to focus on for the rest of marathon training is making sure I stay healthy and enjoying the company of my awesome new teammates.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Since Thanksgiving has now come and gone, it's time to move immediately to Christmas of course.  Josh and I have started to try to have our own holiday traditions that we do every year.  His family likes to sing Christmas songs every Sunday during Advent, but since I'm not much of a singer, I'm not so hot on that tradition. One tradition we can on are Christmas cookies and A Year Without a Santa Claus.  After putting up our tree (we really need to collect some more ornaments), drapping our stairs with garland and hanging up the wreath outside it was time to get to the good stuff. 

Mmmmmmmmm sugar cookies.  When I was little my brother Tom and I always made sugar cookies with Grandma Walker.  Decorating of course was second only to eating as many as we could.  RedHots always topped the trees and there were plenty of sprinkles to go around.  Tom usually licked his finger and touched every cookie he could until I pushed him away.  No one wants Tom cooties on their cookies.  Haha. 

I've found that things don't change all that much.  Josh and I both ate dough as we cutout our Christmas trees, snowmen and stars.  Letting them cool was so hard!  To keep my occupied, I sang along to A Year Without a Santa Claus.  The Heatmizer and Snowmizer are my favorite!  Once the cookies were cooled, we quickly frosted and decorated them mainly so we could eat them finished product.  As you can tell we don't have the Martha Stewart touch.  So delicious...in fact I think I need to eat one right now.


Now that I've enjoyed my cookie back to business.  Every year Longmont has an outdoor ice skating rink in the Pavillion at Roosevelt Park.  Finally after two years we made it over to the rink.  Now the last time I went ice skating was with Jess Cutler during Greek Week my freshman year of college.  We went to every single event that week so that we could earn housing points for room selection. As it turns out we had tons of fun doing them all.  Ice skating was a lot more difficult than I remembered and Jess and I fell on our butts more than once.  This time I was a little more graceful though both skates stayed on the ice at all times.  Josh did his best figure skater impression.  We pretty much has the entire rink to ourselves which was really nice.  Neither one of us fell down...I don't think my already sore butt could have taken a fall. 






What a great way to start off the Christmas season.  After ice skating we went for some Italian food...Italy is so close!  Off to make dinner and head to the gym for an interval workout.