Tomorrow is the big day and the forecast calls for beautiful weather-- mid sixties, partly cloudy.
This year the MCM is not doing text tracking-- last year we were able to send people alerts for every 5K milestone we crossed. It was immensely useful for people who were able to be at the race-- they had an idea of our pacing and where we had been most recently and where they'd have the best chance of seeing us next. I don't know what bonehead MCM organizer made the call to not have that service this year, but they have an app instead, which unfortunately is only useful if both runner and spectator have it. AND if the runner carries their bigass smartphone for the whole race. I guess if you have an iPhone, it's not all that uncommon to carry it around when you're running because it's got your music on it, but personally, I think that's just another thing to carry. And when you're running 26 miles, its enough effort to just carry your stinkin body. So I'm really pissed about this. My phone is dumb, not smart, and so even my spectators do not benefit from the app download.
However, Mike and I went to check into the race yesterday and I stopped by a booth for the Fisher House marathon team. Fisher House, if you don't know, is an organization for military families. When a service member is injured, Fisher House provides travel and accomodations for the service member's family near the hospital while the loved one recuperates. It's a really great organization and every year they have a fundraising team run the marathon. The woman said that this year they have about 285 participants, and they ask them to raise about $500 each. I thought that was such a cool idea, but since this is likely to be my last Marine Corps Marathon, I'll have to find another way to participate in this program. Or bring it to my next marathon... not really sure! But anyhow, since I can't fundraise for Fisher House during my race, I'll just stump for them here on my blog which no one reads. Go to http://www.fisherhouse.org/ and donate! If you can even donate $10, you could be chipping in for some military spouse's trip to Germany to stay with his or her wounded soldier being treated at the VA hospital. Even Michelle Obama is a fan!
Wish us luck tomorrow! MCM, here we come!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Ughhhhhhh its been a while
So it's been 26 days since an update. There's a really good reason for that-- the first, I dunno, 15 of them were completely uneventful. And then the last 11 I've been sick as a dog. First with a cold, then with a secondary sinus infection. The timing of the cold was fine, but the sinus infection has been pretty inconvenient, what with the marathon being on Sunday and all. I figured that over the weekend, I'd rest up and be better, but instead I got a whole lot worse. So I went to the doctor on Monday, told her I need to run a marathon on Sunday, and she gave me this look. You know, this look that said something along the lines of, "not with those sinuses you're not, kiddo." But then she gave me a Z pack and cough syrup and decongestant and told me to stay home from work for a day or two, and now I'm finally on the mend! Marine Corps Marathon, here we come! (Except, really, I'm still not better, so this marathon will probably be pretty rough. Fingers crossed that I even finish.)
Friday, October 1, 2010
Busy little bee!
This has been a really busy week for me. Last Friday Mike and I headed home to Williamsburg because he had to talk up the Naval Academy for some high schoolers considering the service academies in his home district. We headed back up to MD on Saturday afternoon because on Sunday, we had a super long run and then we were headed to the eastern shore to meet up with my aunt and uncle who were in town from California for a friend's wedding.
On Sunday morning, Mike and I woke long before dawn, headed to the Naval Academy and met up with our friend Cory, who says EVERY week that he will run with us, and then always backs out when he hears how many miles we're running. I keep ragging on him because he's running the marathon, too, but by the time we were supposed to be up to like, 18 miles according to the schedule, he had done a whopping 11. So I was impressed that this week, which was aiming to be a 23 mile run, Cory showed up. We started running, and Mike just was a total drag. (Sorry, Mike.) We ran nine miles then stopped for a water break, and Cory and I actually sent Mike up to bed because he was clearly so tired and miserable. We had more fun without him, anyways, and the run went by remarkably quickly and easily until about mile 18. Cory only anticipated running about 15 miles with us, but he actually made it 22. I almost ran that 23rd mile, but Cory talked me out of it. I'm clearly in good enough shape to run the marathon, so that's not an issue, and my IT band was REALLY bothering me. I don't think continuing to run on it really would have made it any worse, but it certainly wasn't making it better...
On Wednesday I went to Chick-fil-A for dinner because they were giving away FREE spicy nuggets. They are amazing, and if you haven't had them yet, then you really need to get yourself to a Chick-fil-A to try some. When I was at school in NYC, the land of no Chick-fil-A, I would fantasize about traveling to Philadelphia (which was the closest city with a Chick-fil-A) JUST for a #1 with a lemonade. (Because I know that the further north you go, the less sweet the tea gets. It's really not worth sampling any further north than Richmond--I don't even drink it here in Baltimore. The lemonade, however, is always phenomenal.) When I would fly home for breaks, my first stop would always, always, ALWAYS be at a Chick-fil-A (if my mom was picking me up from the airport, which was rare because Mike usually volunteered, she would try, unsuccessfully, to get me to choose a classier restaurant. "I'm paying for whatever you choose! We could go to Don Pablo!") and so I really associate Chick-fil-A with not only world class chicken sandwiches, but to me it's also sort of the taste of coming home. Only now they've made it sexier with spicy nuggets.
Then Thursday, I found out that my new co-worker went to Elon with Brian Williams' son. I absolutely LOVE Brian Williams. So that really excited me, because Thursday was like Brian Williams day for me, since he was doing a little guest spot on 30 Rock. Ugh he's so sexy! Sexier than spicy nuggets, even.
And then today was Friday, of course, which is always a great day. I had a pumpkin spice latte at breakfast, and my new obsession is chopped salads. I don't know what exactly it is about them that makes them so superior to regular, unchopped salads, but they're amazing! So I've been eating at least one a day for the past week, and I've even gotten into making my own salad dressing (olive oil, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper) and I cannot get enough of them. Which is a good thing, I suppose, because other than the craisins, everything is pretty natural and it's about time I stop eating so many processed foods. I'll keep you posted if all this olive oil works some sort of miracle on my skin (which, truthfully, is fine and doesn't really require a miracle).
Also this week I've assembled our Save-the-Dates and probably nabbed a day-of coordinator for the wedding, which everyone tells me will be the best money we've ever spent. I also think we've found the best deal on a bus for guest transportation. Things are coming together for the wedding!!!
Mike is en route to Colorado Springs now for the Navy/Air Force football game. My friend Melissa and I are hanging out tomorrow and I'm very excited to see her! Maybe we'll make a chopped salad.
On Sunday morning, Mike and I woke long before dawn, headed to the Naval Academy and met up with our friend Cory, who says EVERY week that he will run with us, and then always backs out when he hears how many miles we're running. I keep ragging on him because he's running the marathon, too, but by the time we were supposed to be up to like, 18 miles according to the schedule, he had done a whopping 11. So I was impressed that this week, which was aiming to be a 23 mile run, Cory showed up. We started running, and Mike just was a total drag. (Sorry, Mike.) We ran nine miles then stopped for a water break, and Cory and I actually sent Mike up to bed because he was clearly so tired and miserable. We had more fun without him, anyways, and the run went by remarkably quickly and easily until about mile 18. Cory only anticipated running about 15 miles with us, but he actually made it 22. I almost ran that 23rd mile, but Cory talked me out of it. I'm clearly in good enough shape to run the marathon, so that's not an issue, and my IT band was REALLY bothering me. I don't think continuing to run on it really would have made it any worse, but it certainly wasn't making it better...
On Wednesday I went to Chick-fil-A for dinner because they were giving away FREE spicy nuggets. They are amazing, and if you haven't had them yet, then you really need to get yourself to a Chick-fil-A to try some. When I was at school in NYC, the land of no Chick-fil-A, I would fantasize about traveling to Philadelphia (which was the closest city with a Chick-fil-A) JUST for a #1 with a lemonade. (Because I know that the further north you go, the less sweet the tea gets. It's really not worth sampling any further north than Richmond--I don't even drink it here in Baltimore. The lemonade, however, is always phenomenal.) When I would fly home for breaks, my first stop would always, always, ALWAYS be at a Chick-fil-A (if my mom was picking me up from the airport, which was rare because Mike usually volunteered, she would try, unsuccessfully, to get me to choose a classier restaurant. "I'm paying for whatever you choose! We could go to Don Pablo!") and so I really associate Chick-fil-A with not only world class chicken sandwiches, but to me it's also sort of the taste of coming home. Only now they've made it sexier with spicy nuggets.
Then Thursday, I found out that my new co-worker went to Elon with Brian Williams' son. I absolutely LOVE Brian Williams. So that really excited me, because Thursday was like Brian Williams day for me, since he was doing a little guest spot on 30 Rock. Ugh he's so sexy! Sexier than spicy nuggets, even.
And then today was Friday, of course, which is always a great day. I had a pumpkin spice latte at breakfast, and my new obsession is chopped salads. I don't know what exactly it is about them that makes them so superior to regular, unchopped salads, but they're amazing! So I've been eating at least one a day for the past week, and I've even gotten into making my own salad dressing (olive oil, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper) and I cannot get enough of them. Which is a good thing, I suppose, because other than the craisins, everything is pretty natural and it's about time I stop eating so many processed foods. I'll keep you posted if all this olive oil works some sort of miracle on my skin (which, truthfully, is fine and doesn't really require a miracle).
Also this week I've assembled our Save-the-Dates and probably nabbed a day-of coordinator for the wedding, which everyone tells me will be the best money we've ever spent. I also think we've found the best deal on a bus for guest transportation. Things are coming together for the wedding!!!
Mike is en route to Colorado Springs now for the Navy/Air Force football game. My friend Melissa and I are hanging out tomorrow and I'm very excited to see her! Maybe we'll make a chopped salad.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Wednesday was always my favorite character on the Addams Family
But I don't really like ACTUAL Wednesdays. Thursday and Friday are WAY better, but Monday and Tuesday are much worse. So there's Wednesday, just stuck in the middle.
Anyways, Mike and I skipped the run this weekend-- it was great, we completely didn't run at all. Since last weekend was a 21 mile run, and we're pushing our 23 mile up to this weekend (it was supposed to be the weekend after, but Mike will be in Colorado and neither one of us really wants to do a 23 mile run alone, plus, with the altitude change, Mike's run would feel pretty wonky) and since we were so busy, we decided to take the weekend off and rest our bodies up. Two really intense runs in three weeks is kind of pushing it.
Today I kind of have that icky feeling like I'm fighting off an illness. So I had a nice big dinner, I'm downing orange juice like crazy, and I'm just hanging out in bed watching tv until I go to sleep. Tomorrow is Thursday, which is almost the weekend, so it would be pretty inconvenient if I were to be sick.
Anyways, Mike and I skipped the run this weekend-- it was great, we completely didn't run at all. Since last weekend was a 21 mile run, and we're pushing our 23 mile up to this weekend (it was supposed to be the weekend after, but Mike will be in Colorado and neither one of us really wants to do a 23 mile run alone, plus, with the altitude change, Mike's run would feel pretty wonky) and since we were so busy, we decided to take the weekend off and rest our bodies up. Two really intense runs in three weeks is kind of pushing it.
Today I kind of have that icky feeling like I'm fighting off an illness. So I had a nice big dinner, I'm downing orange juice like crazy, and I'm just hanging out in bed watching tv until I go to sleep. Tomorrow is Thursday, which is almost the weekend, so it would be pretty inconvenient if I were to be sick.
Monday, September 13, 2010
So I've been neglectful.
I know, I know, I haven't posted in ages. But it's not like anyone reads this anyway, right?
Anyway, Mike and I had our 21 mile run on Saturday, and it went fantastically. We had great weather, and 16 miles in, Mike turned to me and said, "You know what would be good right now? I nice big plate of fettuccine." (That's a reference to The Office if you didn't follow. And if you didn't follow, you need to become very well-acquainted with Michael Scott. You're missing out.) So we were able to run and talk and joke all at the same time, and for a change, we didn't spend half of our long run yelling at each other to stop being so cranky. So all in all, a pretty good run. We spent the afternoon at the Navy football game (apparently they played badly but I didn't realize it because I didn't actually watch a single play of the game... I was too busy hanging out with some NAGs and with Mike's roommate's parents who were in town for the game) and then we stopped by his company's tailgater where I had too many beers in too few minutes, and then we went out to dinner where I made a good decision by ordering a salad and a bad decision by letting Jim order me a Dirty Girl Scout. (He's SUCH a bad influence. One night he ordered me three freaking mango margaritas. I was so hungover at work the next day.) Mike drove home. I was asleep before we got there. (Fun date, right?)
Anyway, what is important here is that I was able to run 21 miles, rally for a football game pretty much immediately after, and then rally AGAIN for a night on the town (even though the night was pretty short by normal-people standards... after all, I had gotten up at 4AM.) Mike probably did better than I did, though, because he had to do a lot more walking and standing than I did.
In other news, today was Monday and I hate Mondays. Ever notice how the better your weekend was, the worse your Monday is?
Tomorrow night I have to coordinate a StoryTime at my local library branch-- I volunteer there every other month and this week's theme is "bedtime." So I'm going to go practice! (And by that I mean, it's my bedtime. Not that I'm going to go read children's books.)
Anyway, Mike and I had our 21 mile run on Saturday, and it went fantastically. We had great weather, and 16 miles in, Mike turned to me and said, "You know what would be good right now? I nice big plate of fettuccine." (That's a reference to The Office if you didn't follow. And if you didn't follow, you need to become very well-acquainted with Michael Scott. You're missing out.) So we were able to run and talk and joke all at the same time, and for a change, we didn't spend half of our long run yelling at each other to stop being so cranky. So all in all, a pretty good run. We spent the afternoon at the Navy football game (apparently they played badly but I didn't realize it because I didn't actually watch a single play of the game... I was too busy hanging out with some NAGs and with Mike's roommate's parents who were in town for the game) and then we stopped by his company's tailgater where I had too many beers in too few minutes, and then we went out to dinner where I made a good decision by ordering a salad and a bad decision by letting Jim order me a Dirty Girl Scout. (He's SUCH a bad influence. One night he ordered me three freaking mango margaritas. I was so hungover at work the next day.) Mike drove home. I was asleep before we got there. (Fun date, right?)
Anyway, what is important here is that I was able to run 21 miles, rally for a football game pretty much immediately after, and then rally AGAIN for a night on the town (even though the night was pretty short by normal-people standards... after all, I had gotten up at 4AM.) Mike probably did better than I did, though, because he had to do a lot more walking and standing than I did.
In other news, today was Monday and I hate Mondays. Ever notice how the better your weekend was, the worse your Monday is?
Tomorrow night I have to coordinate a StoryTime at my local library branch-- I volunteer there every other month and this week's theme is "bedtime." So I'm going to go practice! (And by that I mean, it's my bedtime. Not that I'm going to go read children's books.)
Friday, August 27, 2010
On this day in history...
So lately during my runs, just to occupy my mind I play "on this day in history" ...only I can only really do it with the history of my own life, having very little knowledge of historical events according to date.
This time of year it's pretty easy, because around this week in any given year from age 5 to age 21, I was preparing for a new school year. So for example, I've been trying to pinpoint what I did during the summer before ninth grade (geez, that was TEN years ago) to give me an idea of what I did on August 27th, 2000, and then that leads me to remember what major events occured during ninth grade; who took me to what dance, what sort of crazy antics my friends and I got into... and it's so hard to remember! It's easier to remember my junior and senior years of high school. But all four years of college sort of all blend together in one mass. It's like, if my college memories were dinner, they'd be a big clump of spaghetti noodles that you forgot to stir while the water was boiling, so now they're just a tangled lump of moist, soft goo that you can't really seperate. I don't know how it happened... I guess I just wasn't stirring the pot enough during college.
I wonder what I'll remember of this time in my life in a decade?
Anyway, on this day in history in, say, 2001, I was about to start my sophomore year of high school. I was probably sad that I wasn't at one of my 4 camps anymore-- 2 sessions at Chanco, one week at field hockey camp, and one week at cheerleading camp. I hadn't yet entered the summer workforce (a treat that would be saved for the following summer) and I was probably at a pre-season field hockey practice. I don't think we took a family vacation-- those sort of stopped after my siblings were both out of the house and I elected to spend my whole summer being shuttled from one camp to another, but I do think I had gone to the beach for a week with my friend Tiffany. Her mom taught us to crochet on the drive down to Nags Head, so we spent the whole week either lying in the sun or crocheting-- we would never crochet ON the beach because we were sure that no guys would approach two girls crocheting on the beach (we were probably right... but I don't think any boys approached us on the beach that summer anyways). The memories don't come back in a linear fashion-- I'll remember one thing which will trigger another memory, and another and another... but that's what I was probably thinking about on this day nine years ago. It's actually easier to think about when I'm not running. Weird.
We're heading to Williamsburg for the weekend after work today! Can't wait!
This time of year it's pretty easy, because around this week in any given year from age 5 to age 21, I was preparing for a new school year. So for example, I've been trying to pinpoint what I did during the summer before ninth grade (geez, that was TEN years ago) to give me an idea of what I did on August 27th, 2000, and then that leads me to remember what major events occured during ninth grade; who took me to what dance, what sort of crazy antics my friends and I got into... and it's so hard to remember! It's easier to remember my junior and senior years of high school. But all four years of college sort of all blend together in one mass. It's like, if my college memories were dinner, they'd be a big clump of spaghetti noodles that you forgot to stir while the water was boiling, so now they're just a tangled lump of moist, soft goo that you can't really seperate. I don't know how it happened... I guess I just wasn't stirring the pot enough during college.
I wonder what I'll remember of this time in my life in a decade?
Anyway, on this day in history in, say, 2001, I was about to start my sophomore year of high school. I was probably sad that I wasn't at one of my 4 camps anymore-- 2 sessions at Chanco, one week at field hockey camp, and one week at cheerleading camp. I hadn't yet entered the summer workforce (a treat that would be saved for the following summer) and I was probably at a pre-season field hockey practice. I don't think we took a family vacation-- those sort of stopped after my siblings were both out of the house and I elected to spend my whole summer being shuttled from one camp to another, but I do think I had gone to the beach for a week with my friend Tiffany. Her mom taught us to crochet on the drive down to Nags Head, so we spent the whole week either lying in the sun or crocheting-- we would never crochet ON the beach because we were sure that no guys would approach two girls crocheting on the beach (we were probably right... but I don't think any boys approached us on the beach that summer anyways). The memories don't come back in a linear fashion-- I'll remember one thing which will trigger another memory, and another and another... but that's what I was probably thinking about on this day nine years ago. It's actually easier to think about when I'm not running. Weird.
We're heading to Williamsburg for the weekend after work today! Can't wait!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
at long last, another update!
Hello, blogosphere!
Yesterday Mike and I went on a 20 mile run, and it really wasn't so bad. I know that Mike had a rougher start than I did because he got less sleep, but by the end of it we decided that it wasn't our energy level that made the last five or so miles brutal, it was our physical exhaustion. My knee was killing me, his calves were hurting, blah blah, obligatory laundry list of complaints caused by running for four hours. Also, we could have done with cooler weather.
Last night I went to visit my friend Melissa in Arlington. We went to this movie theater where these comedians make fun of the movie the whole time you're watching it. The selection last night was "Dirty Dancing" and it was hysterical. I just wish I could have seen their version of "Twilight." That's probably about as good as it could ever get. Before the movie, we made tacos and had a few other friends over to Melissa's place. It was such a good time!
Today Mike came over. We did laundry and made banana bread and then he took the loaf so I wouldn't eat the whole thing. Other than that, absolutely nothing new with me here! Oh, except that we booked the resort in ARUBA for our honeymoon! I'm super excited but I've been so busy that I've barely had time to really check out the website. What I have seen looks pretty amazing though. I sort of wish I could be there right now...
Yesterday Mike and I went on a 20 mile run, and it really wasn't so bad. I know that Mike had a rougher start than I did because he got less sleep, but by the end of it we decided that it wasn't our energy level that made the last five or so miles brutal, it was our physical exhaustion. My knee was killing me, his calves were hurting, blah blah, obligatory laundry list of complaints caused by running for four hours. Also, we could have done with cooler weather.
Last night I went to visit my friend Melissa in Arlington. We went to this movie theater where these comedians make fun of the movie the whole time you're watching it. The selection last night was "Dirty Dancing" and it was hysterical. I just wish I could have seen their version of "Twilight." That's probably about as good as it could ever get. Before the movie, we made tacos and had a few other friends over to Melissa's place. It was such a good time!
Today Mike came over. We did laundry and made banana bread and then he took the loaf so I wouldn't eat the whole thing. Other than that, absolutely nothing new with me here! Oh, except that we booked the resort in ARUBA for our honeymoon! I'm super excited but I've been so busy that I've barely had time to really check out the website. What I have seen looks pretty amazing though. I sort of wish I could be there right now...
Friday, August 13, 2010
Almost a step-down week!
I calculated this morning while I was on my four mile run, and I have run 42 miles this week. Whew! I'm feeling a little sore and my IT band problem is flaring up again, but I feel pretty good otherwise, and next week is a step-down week. I run six miles over the weekend, two five mile runs during the week, and then a 4 mile run on Friday. It's supposed to give my body some time to recover for the following week, which kicks off with a 20 mile run. Oy. But I'm pretty sure I'll be ready for it, just as long as we can have some decent weather. Yesterday morning was a six miler, and it was so humid and miserable until the last mile, when it started raining. I didn't realize last year when I was training just what a huge difference the weather makes, because last summer was a pretty mild summer. But the heat and humidity are just so draining.
Anyways, other than being sore and sleepy, this has been a good week. I went to the Bowie Baysox game on Tuesday night-- it was Navy night at the stadium, and all of the plebes were bused over for the game. Haha Mike met me at the gate so he could bring me over to where he was sitting (I never would have found him in a million years; the place was just a sea of white uniforms!) and the plebes started hollering and making jokes as soon as they saw us. Mike had to yell at them, which was funny because he's not terribly intimidating about it, and they were reasonably well behaved the rest of the night. I got some ice cream, we saw some fireworks, Mike had to yell at all the kids who were eating or drinking while walking (it's a big no-no when you're in uniform) and again, was not terribly intimidating about it. So altogether, an amusing evening, despite the heat.
Last night was NAG dinner-- all the plebe girlfriends and parents have descended on Annapolis for PPW, and a few of us went out to the Ram's Head for dinner. It was a great bunch of girls and we had a nice time.
And other than that I am so glad that it's Friday!!! No big plans for the weekend, but I'm hoping that Mike gets enough liberty that we can at least make some dinner together tomorrow night. All meal suggestions are welcome, because I don't know how to cook anything. Except mac and cheese. I rock at that.
Anyways, other than being sore and sleepy, this has been a good week. I went to the Bowie Baysox game on Tuesday night-- it was Navy night at the stadium, and all of the plebes were bused over for the game. Haha Mike met me at the gate so he could bring me over to where he was sitting (I never would have found him in a million years; the place was just a sea of white uniforms!) and the plebes started hollering and making jokes as soon as they saw us. Mike had to yell at them, which was funny because he's not terribly intimidating about it, and they were reasonably well behaved the rest of the night. I got some ice cream, we saw some fireworks, Mike had to yell at all the kids who were eating or drinking while walking (it's a big no-no when you're in uniform) and again, was not terribly intimidating about it. So altogether, an amusing evening, despite the heat.
Last night was NAG dinner-- all the plebe girlfriends and parents have descended on Annapolis for PPW, and a few of us went out to the Ram's Head for dinner. It was a great bunch of girls and we had a nice time.
And other than that I am so glad that it's Friday!!! No big plans for the weekend, but I'm hoping that Mike gets enough liberty that we can at least make some dinner together tomorrow night. All meal suggestions are welcome, because I don't know how to cook anything. Except mac and cheese. I rock at that.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Upon closer examination...
I think that my bloody toenail was the result of a bloody TOE, and not a bloody toenail. After I took a closer look at my toe, it looks like it's the toe NEXT to my toe that was bleeding! I think my middle toenail rubbed up against the skin on the side of the next toe (the one next to my big toe... why don't toes have names like fingers do? Then you'd know it was my index toe.) and sliced a little cut there. The blood must have flowed right under and on top of the offending toenail. Gross, yes, but what a relief that it wasn't my actual toenail! All ten may be safe after all. Still, my toe hurts. As does the rest of my body.
Hooray for nice weather!
So after that weeklong break I took due to stomach troubles coupled with not eating more than 1000 calories in 6 days, I have been really struggling this week. Which sort of sucked, because this was a heavy week finished with an 18 mile run. Right.
I slogged through the shorter runs this week-- it's been really hot and humid again, so it just sort of sucks the energy right out of you as soon as you step outside. I've been doing a lot of stopping and walking this week, which just makes me feel like a loser, and I have had a hard time determining if I'm still sort of trying to catch up from being so weak and lame last week, or if the weather is really draining me that much. I guess it's probably a little bit of both, because the weather finally cleared this weekend and it's beautiful here-- in the eighties with a really low humidity level.
So I got up at 4 this morning and I drove to Annapolis and I started my run, and I swear the first ten miles were a breeze. And then 11 and 12 got harder. And then 13-14 got REALLY hard. And then 14 through 18 were so slow and pathetic that new mommies with strollers could have passed me, if only they'd been out walking this morning. But I finished, and now I'm really sore and tired but thrilled to be sort of back on track. But I did pull off my shoe and discover that the middle toe on my left foot had a bloody toenail. I did notice some pain on that toe while I was running, but that's not all that unusual. I'm hoping it was just a cut or something... few things freak me out more than the threat of losing a toenail in the pursuit of a marathon metal.
I was completely planning to go and get the vehicle emissions test that Maryland sent me a notice about last week... but then I realized that the operations center closes at 1:00, and it's already noon. It doesn't really seem worth it anymore, because my understanding of these things is that you have to get there pretty much right when they open in order to get seen that day at all... so maybe next week. Fortunately it doesn't absolutely NEED to be done for another six weeks, so I'm glad I got on the ball early. Next weekend is only a six mile run (Yay, finally a step down week!) so I'll probably just push that run to Sunday and go get this dealt with on Saturday... no sleeping in for me next weekend! And then I need to figure out how to renew my vehicle registration. I hate being a grown-up! When you're a kid, you just don't have to worry about stuff like this... you spend your summers collecting bugs and going to the pool and riding your bike and it seems like it's endless. I miss that.
Also, I got a new TV this week. It's baller, but I wish Mike were here to fix the resolution on it. I also got a DVD player. Mike actually bought it for me... I was going to hold off until my bank account was replenished after the big TV purchase, but I think he feels bad that I've seen him for a few hours every couple of weeks this summer, while everyone else has had a decent chunk of leave to spend with their loved ones. The week he DID get off he spent at home with his family, so I've only gotten a weekend or two and then a few evenings here and there with him. It hasn't bothered me that much; what has been more frustrating lately is that when I call him, I almost invariably get a text (always the same text! It must be one of those pre-sets) that says "Call you back later" and I don't hear from him for six more hours and then I get maybe 10 minutes of phone time. But I'm consoling myself this weekend with my new DVD player, and maybe a nap, and then spending the evening making myself a fancy fruit salad. (I happen to love fresh pineapple, but unfortunately it takes me like, 20 minutes to just cut into one because I'm so inept in the kitchen.)
Anyhow, I'm noticing that all the plebe girlfriends are getting very excited about Parent's Weekend next weekend, and ohhh the memories that it brings back. Haha I'm excited for PPW too, because then Mike might be able to actually take a phone call for a change. With the thirty minute phone calls the plebes have gotten this summer (we only got FIVE minutes!!) the plebe girlfriends may have talked to their dudes even more than I talked to Mike! Haha for the last phone call, he said he'd call me while the plebes were using their 30 minutes, but then he ended up allowing someone else to use his phone because that plebe didn't have a cell phone. :( That's kind of sad to think about, so I hope his family comes to town next weekend and buys that kid a phone!
I think I might walk over to the Giant and pick up a DVD from the Redbox-- even though it would be way faster to drive, I feel like I may need to stretch out my legs a bit and loosen up all of these tight muscles! Next project: joining the world of NetFlix so the DVDs come directly to my door.
I slogged through the shorter runs this week-- it's been really hot and humid again, so it just sort of sucks the energy right out of you as soon as you step outside. I've been doing a lot of stopping and walking this week, which just makes me feel like a loser, and I have had a hard time determining if I'm still sort of trying to catch up from being so weak and lame last week, or if the weather is really draining me that much. I guess it's probably a little bit of both, because the weather finally cleared this weekend and it's beautiful here-- in the eighties with a really low humidity level.
So I got up at 4 this morning and I drove to Annapolis and I started my run, and I swear the first ten miles were a breeze. And then 11 and 12 got harder. And then 13-14 got REALLY hard. And then 14 through 18 were so slow and pathetic that new mommies with strollers could have passed me, if only they'd been out walking this morning. But I finished, and now I'm really sore and tired but thrilled to be sort of back on track. But I did pull off my shoe and discover that the middle toe on my left foot had a bloody toenail. I did notice some pain on that toe while I was running, but that's not all that unusual. I'm hoping it was just a cut or something... few things freak me out more than the threat of losing a toenail in the pursuit of a marathon metal.
I was completely planning to go and get the vehicle emissions test that Maryland sent me a notice about last week... but then I realized that the operations center closes at 1:00, and it's already noon. It doesn't really seem worth it anymore, because my understanding of these things is that you have to get there pretty much right when they open in order to get seen that day at all... so maybe next week. Fortunately it doesn't absolutely NEED to be done for another six weeks, so I'm glad I got on the ball early. Next weekend is only a six mile run (Yay, finally a step down week!) so I'll probably just push that run to Sunday and go get this dealt with on Saturday... no sleeping in for me next weekend! And then I need to figure out how to renew my vehicle registration. I hate being a grown-up! When you're a kid, you just don't have to worry about stuff like this... you spend your summers collecting bugs and going to the pool and riding your bike and it seems like it's endless. I miss that.
Also, I got a new TV this week. It's baller, but I wish Mike were here to fix the resolution on it. I also got a DVD player. Mike actually bought it for me... I was going to hold off until my bank account was replenished after the big TV purchase, but I think he feels bad that I've seen him for a few hours every couple of weeks this summer, while everyone else has had a decent chunk of leave to spend with their loved ones. The week he DID get off he spent at home with his family, so I've only gotten a weekend or two and then a few evenings here and there with him. It hasn't bothered me that much; what has been more frustrating lately is that when I call him, I almost invariably get a text (always the same text! It must be one of those pre-sets) that says "Call you back later" and I don't hear from him for six more hours and then I get maybe 10 minutes of phone time. But I'm consoling myself this weekend with my new DVD player, and maybe a nap, and then spending the evening making myself a fancy fruit salad. (I happen to love fresh pineapple, but unfortunately it takes me like, 20 minutes to just cut into one because I'm so inept in the kitchen.)
Anyhow, I'm noticing that all the plebe girlfriends are getting very excited about Parent's Weekend next weekend, and ohhh the memories that it brings back. Haha I'm excited for PPW too, because then Mike might be able to actually take a phone call for a change. With the thirty minute phone calls the plebes have gotten this summer (we only got FIVE minutes!!) the plebe girlfriends may have talked to their dudes even more than I talked to Mike! Haha for the last phone call, he said he'd call me while the plebes were using their 30 minutes, but then he ended up allowing someone else to use his phone because that plebe didn't have a cell phone. :( That's kind of sad to think about, so I hope his family comes to town next weekend and buys that kid a phone!
I think I might walk over to the Giant and pick up a DVD from the Redbox-- even though it would be way faster to drive, I feel like I may need to stretch out my legs a bit and loosen up all of these tight muscles! Next project: joining the world of NetFlix so the DVDs come directly to my door.
Friday, July 30, 2010
This is the illness that never ends...
Mike and I have both spent the last week with some sort of icky stomach bug. I'm not really up on how he's been dealing with it-- he's a plebe summer detailer, so I know he's trying to take it easy, but I also know that that's pretty much impossible because his job for the next couple weeks is literally to run around and scream at the plebes.
I have been unwilling to venture more than a few seconds trip away from a toilet for most of the past week, so running, needless to say, has not been an option. Also, since my sum total of food I've eaten in the past week= about four pieces of toast, three cups of jello, and 3 spoonfuls of applesauce I haven't had a whole lot of energy to expend on running. Most of my calorie intake is coming from gatorade and gingerale.
Well, okay, there was that half of a chicken ceaser wrap when I THOUGHT I was feeling better... but it only served to reinforce that I was in error when I THOUGHT I was feeling better. Thanks, stomach, for showing me who's boss.
I'm in Chicago now for the Schreiber Family Slugfest... it's the annual family softball game that my mom's side of the family puts together every year. I'm pretty sure I'm too weak to swing a bat, so I will not be an asset to my team. I got stuck in BWI for about six hours yesterday-- a big flight delay due to a 10 minute thunderstorm. No joke. It was not cool, and then I was stuck on an airplane for 3 hours. It could not have been a more miserable way to spend a day when your stomach is upset. It completely wiped me out, and now I'm in my favorite city and I'm stuck on my sister's couch because I'm too tired to do anything. But I have managed to get 2 pieces of toast in today without too much trouble... so maybe we're on the up and up? Guess we'll find out in a few hours.
I have been unwilling to venture more than a few seconds trip away from a toilet for most of the past week, so running, needless to say, has not been an option. Also, since my sum total of food I've eaten in the past week= about four pieces of toast, three cups of jello, and 3 spoonfuls of applesauce I haven't had a whole lot of energy to expend on running. Most of my calorie intake is coming from gatorade and gingerale.
Well, okay, there was that half of a chicken ceaser wrap when I THOUGHT I was feeling better... but it only served to reinforce that I was in error when I THOUGHT I was feeling better. Thanks, stomach, for showing me who's boss.
I'm in Chicago now for the Schreiber Family Slugfest... it's the annual family softball game that my mom's side of the family puts together every year. I'm pretty sure I'm too weak to swing a bat, so I will not be an asset to my team. I got stuck in BWI for about six hours yesterday-- a big flight delay due to a 10 minute thunderstorm. No joke. It was not cool, and then I was stuck on an airplane for 3 hours. It could not have been a more miserable way to spend a day when your stomach is upset. It completely wiped me out, and now I'm in my favorite city and I'm stuck on my sister's couch because I'm too tired to do anything. But I have managed to get 2 pieces of toast in today without too much trouble... so maybe we're on the up and up? Guess we'll find out in a few hours.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
40 degrees of seperation
My ideal running temperature is somewhere in the upper fifties, maybe to the mid sixties. But today was 40 degrees warmer than that. At 5:00 AM. No joke. The ONLY good thing about today's run was that at least it wasn't 23 miles. Everything else about today's run straight up sucked. I knew it was going to be hot, and since a 14 mile run typically takes me about 2 and a half hours, I knew I had to start EARLY so that I could finish before it got wretchedly hot.
This plan is good, in theory, except that it was already wretchedly hot when my alarm rang at 3:45 this morning. I didn't actually hear it until 4:15, and it took me a few minutes to get mobilized-- first I ate a bagel (yummy carbs!) and then got dressed. And I don't want to get too indelicate here, but before any length run, I like to spend some time in the bathroom. I consider it a preventative measure... I don't like the idea of pooping my pants while I'm running. But sometimes even my preventative measure doesn't really help. (This is an amazingly common phenomenon among long distance runners. You get any number of us together-- whether it's 2 or 20-- and sooner than is probably appropriate, the conversation turns to how you deal with a big poo in the middle of a big run. You sort of get over the awkwardness of that after the first few times.) So I like to run with steady access to a bathroom, and the easiest way to do this is to run in a loop where I know of a good bathroom, a good water fountain, and if I'm lucky, a place to store a couple energy bars and bottles of Powerade. The UMBC campus is about a mile away from my apartment, so on most days I run there, around their 2 mile loop. I know where there's a clean bathroom and the building is usually open, and the water in that water fountain is SUPER cold. So on my short runs during the week, this is pretty ideal. But on the weekend the bathroom is usually locked. Plus, one full mile of this two mile loop is uphill. This also means that one mile of it is downhill, but somehow the downhill never seems as steep as the uphill.
So I like to run around the Yard at the Naval Academy. They have two good distance loops-- an "outer" is about 4 miles, and an "inner" is about 3. Plus there are a couple of measured one mile loops, so it's really not hard to run around any particular distance you need, and that's what I did today. I parked about a mile away, ran to the Yard, and ran three outers, and then ran back to my car. Sounds so simple, right?
Right. Except that when I arrived at 5:30, it was already like 84 degrees, and with the humidity, it felt like 90. One of the most brutal things about humidity is that it completely invalidates the function of sweat. We sweat to eliminate water when we're overheated, and when this sweat evaporates, it's supposed to have a cooling effect. I'm certain this must work in places other than the east coast... but I've rarely been able to experience it, because most of my summers have been spent in the swamplands of Virginia and Maryland. It blows my mind that when settlers first came to America, places like Williamsburg and Annapolis were among the first to be settled. There was no central air conditioning back then! I want to know what idiot disembarked from his ship, put the flag in for Britain, and said, "This is it, boys! We have arrived at our destination. Take a good look around, because we are making history. And while we're at it, lets set up permanent colonies here so that people can suffer for GENERATIONS." They must have arrived during winter. Although I will say that it does help explain how they mistook what we now know to be America as the West Indies. If it was hot and muggy outside, they were probably like, "Oh! Bullseye!"
Anyhow, I was pretty sure I was going to die on my run today. I stopped at every water fountain I could, and I actually stepped into air conditioned buildings every so often just to use them as my own personal cooling stations-- usually I would stay in just long enough for my face to go from tomato red to a normal shade of post-exertion pinkish.
The first few miles I ran were before the sun was really up-- it was lightening up outside by the time I started running, but definitely not dawn yet. But by the time I finished, the sun was beating down in full force. It was pretty terrible and I just wanted to melt into the pavement. Around mile 4 or 5, I got to run through the sprinklers, though. That was nice. I had to stop and walk a little more often than I would have liked, and with all the stopping in AC buildings, the run took way longer than I would have liked-- it took just over three hours. But I did it, and I didn't pass out, and I can nap all afternoon if I like.
It was kind of interesting to see plebe summer in action. I think this is the first time I've actually been on the yard DURING plebe summer, except last 4th of July when they weren't doing plebey things anyways. I got to see the Detailers leading PEP, and it was kind of fun to listen to them run in cadence-- I can definitely see how that sort of keeps you going... I wish someone had been doing a cadence next to me the whole time! Maybe I would have been able to keep better pace.
This plan is good, in theory, except that it was already wretchedly hot when my alarm rang at 3:45 this morning. I didn't actually hear it until 4:15, and it took me a few minutes to get mobilized-- first I ate a bagel (yummy carbs!) and then got dressed. And I don't want to get too indelicate here, but before any length run, I like to spend some time in the bathroom. I consider it a preventative measure... I don't like the idea of pooping my pants while I'm running. But sometimes even my preventative measure doesn't really help. (This is an amazingly common phenomenon among long distance runners. You get any number of us together-- whether it's 2 or 20-- and sooner than is probably appropriate, the conversation turns to how you deal with a big poo in the middle of a big run. You sort of get over the awkwardness of that after the first few times.) So I like to run with steady access to a bathroom, and the easiest way to do this is to run in a loop where I know of a good bathroom, a good water fountain, and if I'm lucky, a place to store a couple energy bars and bottles of Powerade. The UMBC campus is about a mile away from my apartment, so on most days I run there, around their 2 mile loop. I know where there's a clean bathroom and the building is usually open, and the water in that water fountain is SUPER cold. So on my short runs during the week, this is pretty ideal. But on the weekend the bathroom is usually locked. Plus, one full mile of this two mile loop is uphill. This also means that one mile of it is downhill, but somehow the downhill never seems as steep as the uphill.
So I like to run around the Yard at the Naval Academy. They have two good distance loops-- an "outer" is about 4 miles, and an "inner" is about 3. Plus there are a couple of measured one mile loops, so it's really not hard to run around any particular distance you need, and that's what I did today. I parked about a mile away, ran to the Yard, and ran three outers, and then ran back to my car. Sounds so simple, right?
Right. Except that when I arrived at 5:30, it was already like 84 degrees, and with the humidity, it felt like 90. One of the most brutal things about humidity is that it completely invalidates the function of sweat. We sweat to eliminate water when we're overheated, and when this sweat evaporates, it's supposed to have a cooling effect. I'm certain this must work in places other than the east coast... but I've rarely been able to experience it, because most of my summers have been spent in the swamplands of Virginia and Maryland. It blows my mind that when settlers first came to America, places like Williamsburg and Annapolis were among the first to be settled. There was no central air conditioning back then! I want to know what idiot disembarked from his ship, put the flag in for Britain, and said, "This is it, boys! We have arrived at our destination. Take a good look around, because we are making history. And while we're at it, lets set up permanent colonies here so that people can suffer for GENERATIONS." They must have arrived during winter. Although I will say that it does help explain how they mistook what we now know to be America as the West Indies. If it was hot and muggy outside, they were probably like, "Oh! Bullseye!"
Anyhow, I was pretty sure I was going to die on my run today. I stopped at every water fountain I could, and I actually stepped into air conditioned buildings every so often just to use them as my own personal cooling stations-- usually I would stay in just long enough for my face to go from tomato red to a normal shade of post-exertion pinkish.
The first few miles I ran were before the sun was really up-- it was lightening up outside by the time I started running, but definitely not dawn yet. But by the time I finished, the sun was beating down in full force. It was pretty terrible and I just wanted to melt into the pavement. Around mile 4 or 5, I got to run through the sprinklers, though. That was nice. I had to stop and walk a little more often than I would have liked, and with all the stopping in AC buildings, the run took way longer than I would have liked-- it took just over three hours. But I did it, and I didn't pass out, and I can nap all afternoon if I like.
It was kind of interesting to see plebe summer in action. I think this is the first time I've actually been on the yard DURING plebe summer, except last 4th of July when they weren't doing plebey things anyways. I got to see the Detailers leading PEP, and it was kind of fun to listen to them run in cadence-- I can definitely see how that sort of keeps you going... I wish someone had been doing a cadence next to me the whole time! Maybe I would have been able to keep better pace.
Monday, July 12, 2010
As promised...
...an update about all my goings-on last week!
On Saturday, I met my mom in Richmond on my way down to Williamsburg, and got fitted for my wedding dress, and then registered for wedding gifts. I'm pretty sure Mom had a lot more fun with that than I did, but I was SO glad to have her there, because I sure don't know what sort of stuff you need when you're married!
Sunday was the 4th, so we had wings and peach cobbler for dinner, and then Mom, Mike and I went to Colonial Williamsburg to watch the fireworks!
Then the rest of the days sort of run together in my mind (you know how it is when you're on vacation!) but we got a LOT of stuff done for the wedding-- selected a bridesmaid dress, which cemented my color choice, figured out favors, got an idea of what the save-the-dates and invitations should look like, figured out the flowers (although now we need to find another florist... our first choice needs to be at her grandson's graduation that day, which was a little bit of a blow!) and we got a lot of the little details hammered out! It was a whirlwind of busy-ness. But my biggest project for the week was my handmade checkerboards! We're operating on the idea that the wedding will have a "southern" theme-- colored parasols for the bridesmaid photos, mint juleps as the signature drink, cocktails on the sprawling veranda, a really awesome band for entertainment and dancing, etc. (No hoop skirts.) But the venue won't let us hammer croquet wickets into their lawn... which blows my mind because they WILL let us place 150 chairs there... I feel like the wickets will do way less damage than the chair legs, but that's not really my call. So I decided to place checkerboards on the tables on the porch for people to play during the cocktail hour. My friend Melinda suggested that if I spend some time making the checkerboards, they'll probably turn out WAY cuter than the cheapo ones at Wal-Mart (she was right) and way less expensive than the really fancy ones online. (And she was right again. That law degree is really working for her!) So I got the guys at Home Depot to cut up some plywood for me, and I bought some acrylic paint and paint tape, and painstakingly measured 8 by 8 squares and taped them off for painting. I couldn't have been happier with the result, and I am SO excited about the checkerboards. I'm not a crafty person at all... so this was a pretty big deal for me.
I ordered checkers online from a small wood products manufacturer in Maine, and they're really cute! I'm going to be spray painting them later this week, and I can't wait to have that step done too and see the whole thing together!
I got to hang out with the aforementioned Melinda, who is spending the summer at home studying for the bar. It sounds like the suckiest way ever to spend a summer, but I've never seen anyone so motivated to get finished with something!
I also got to have a nice dinner with some friends from high school! Tiffany and Jacob have been dating since right around the time Mike and I got together. They both went to Elon and are still going strong. They're back in Williamsburg, and they're actually waiting to hear if Jacob will get selected to enter the Navy, so we had plenty to talk about.
Anyways, today I went back to work. It was fine, but busy because I was playing catch-up from being out all week. But still... what a bummer to have a nice week off and then be thrown right back into the swing of things! They should make a rule that on your first day back from vacation, you should get to just stay in vacation mode and not have to go to any meetings and just kind of check a few emails while you get back into the swing of things. But instead, I spent 10 and a half hours chained to my desk trying to get everything done that needed to get done. Oh well... at least it will all still be there tomorrow, too!
On Saturday, I met my mom in Richmond on my way down to Williamsburg, and got fitted for my wedding dress, and then registered for wedding gifts. I'm pretty sure Mom had a lot more fun with that than I did, but I was SO glad to have her there, because I sure don't know what sort of stuff you need when you're married!
Sunday was the 4th, so we had wings and peach cobbler for dinner, and then Mom, Mike and I went to Colonial Williamsburg to watch the fireworks!
Then the rest of the days sort of run together in my mind (you know how it is when you're on vacation!) but we got a LOT of stuff done for the wedding-- selected a bridesmaid dress, which cemented my color choice, figured out favors, got an idea of what the save-the-dates and invitations should look like, figured out the flowers (although now we need to find another florist... our first choice needs to be at her grandson's graduation that day, which was a little bit of a blow!) and we got a lot of the little details hammered out! It was a whirlwind of busy-ness. But my biggest project for the week was my handmade checkerboards! We're operating on the idea that the wedding will have a "southern" theme-- colored parasols for the bridesmaid photos, mint juleps as the signature drink, cocktails on the sprawling veranda, a really awesome band for entertainment and dancing, etc. (No hoop skirts.) But the venue won't let us hammer croquet wickets into their lawn... which blows my mind because they WILL let us place 150 chairs there... I feel like the wickets will do way less damage than the chair legs, but that's not really my call. So I decided to place checkerboards on the tables on the porch for people to play during the cocktail hour. My friend Melinda suggested that if I spend some time making the checkerboards, they'll probably turn out WAY cuter than the cheapo ones at Wal-Mart (she was right) and way less expensive than the really fancy ones online. (And she was right again. That law degree is really working for her!) So I got the guys at Home Depot to cut up some plywood for me, and I bought some acrylic paint and paint tape, and painstakingly measured 8 by 8 squares and taped them off for painting. I couldn't have been happier with the result, and I am SO excited about the checkerboards. I'm not a crafty person at all... so this was a pretty big deal for me.
I ordered checkers online from a small wood products manufacturer in Maine, and they're really cute! I'm going to be spray painting them later this week, and I can't wait to have that step done too and see the whole thing together!
I got to hang out with the aforementioned Melinda, who is spending the summer at home studying for the bar. It sounds like the suckiest way ever to spend a summer, but I've never seen anyone so motivated to get finished with something!
I also got to have a nice dinner with some friends from high school! Tiffany and Jacob have been dating since right around the time Mike and I got together. They both went to Elon and are still going strong. They're back in Williamsburg, and they're actually waiting to hear if Jacob will get selected to enter the Navy, so we had plenty to talk about.
Anyways, today I went back to work. It was fine, but busy because I was playing catch-up from being out all week. But still... what a bummer to have a nice week off and then be thrown right back into the swing of things! They should make a rule that on your first day back from vacation, you should get to just stay in vacation mode and not have to go to any meetings and just kind of check a few emails while you get back into the swing of things. But instead, I spent 10 and a half hours chained to my desk trying to get everything done that needed to get done. Oh well... at least it will all still be there tomorrow, too!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Long run #2
I woke up at 5 this morning, relieved to hear that it was pouring outside. I figured I'd catch a few more Z's to let the rain die down-- I figured it would be great-- the rain would cool things off AND I'd get 30 minutes of snoozing in. FALSE. It was about 1,000 degrees outside, and all the rain really did was just make everything REALLY humid, like running 12 miles through a tropical jungle. But I survived, and now I'm tired and sore and just resting for the rest of the day and doing nothing at all.
Mike said he only made it about 10 miles (wimp) and he got caught in a downpour. I would have really really loved a downpour! I was just as drenched with sweat and humidity, but without the benefit of a refreshing rain... How nasty.
Also, there was a really ginormous bug in the kitchen today. No joke, it must have been an inch and a half or two inches long. It was a big ugly beetle and the cat was batting it around. My dad kept asking me what I was going to do when Mike is thousands of miles away on a boat and there's a bug in the house. Duh, that's why I'd get a cat. Or one of those bug vacuums. Although to be fair, this bug would definitely have been too big for one of those vacuums, and it was so big that the cat couldn't do anything with it but bat it around-- it was too big for him to kill. Plus, its exoskeleton gave it an unfair advantage. So I guess that's when I'll call the Orkin man... Ain't no way I'm dealing with that monster on my own!
I'm pretty sure the fucker looked like this:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/30114
Gross, right? Only, it was the size of the cat's face. Poor Buster, he never stood a chance. But good job to him for finding the nasty thing. I'm alone in my parents house until I head back to Baltimore tomorrow, so I'm a little paranoid that it had friends. I'm keeping my feet off the ground as much as possible.
More on our week's activities later on! Now it's time for a nap!
Mike said he only made it about 10 miles (wimp) and he got caught in a downpour. I would have really really loved a downpour! I was just as drenched with sweat and humidity, but without the benefit of a refreshing rain... How nasty.
Also, there was a really ginormous bug in the kitchen today. No joke, it must have been an inch and a half or two inches long. It was a big ugly beetle and the cat was batting it around. My dad kept asking me what I was going to do when Mike is thousands of miles away on a boat and there's a bug in the house. Duh, that's why I'd get a cat. Or one of those bug vacuums. Although to be fair, this bug would definitely have been too big for one of those vacuums, and it was so big that the cat couldn't do anything with it but bat it around-- it was too big for him to kill. Plus, its exoskeleton gave it an unfair advantage. So I guess that's when I'll call the Orkin man... Ain't no way I'm dealing with that monster on my own!
I'm pretty sure the fucker looked like this:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/30114
Gross, right? Only, it was the size of the cat's face. Poor Buster, he never stood a chance. But good job to him for finding the nasty thing. I'm alone in my parents house until I head back to Baltimore tomorrow, so I'm a little paranoid that it had friends. I'm keeping my feet off the ground as much as possible.
More on our week's activities later on! Now it's time for a nap!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Ahhh, home!
Well, yesterday's run was a total breeze! Especially when we compare it to last year's Day 1. Part of the reason was probably the weather-- yesterday was cool and gorgeous, which just makes it about 1,000 times easier to keep running. But we're also in better shape. There was only one little snafu-- the bathroom on the route was locked up. (Sometimes when you're running, you GOTTA go. I'm sure you understand what I'm talking about.) Fortunately, no major issues other than that-- no one had to resort to using the woods, no one tripped and fell, and our biggest obstacle was a really big stretch of sidewalk that the resident geese have clearly been using as a toilet. (Probably because the bathroom is locked.)
So here's how our training program works:
It's eighteen weeks long, and we have one "long" run each week. That's our Saturday run. I like Saturday because then you have the whole weekend to recover if it was particularly brutal. Also, when you do it on Sunday, you just spend all day Saturday dreading it, and it sort of ruins your weekend.
Then we have three shorter runs-- most weeks they are six, eight and six miles, respectively.
We have two rest days, and ours are Thursday and Sunday, making Sunday the one morning I week that I don't set an alarm.
And then the day before the long run, we do a shorter run-- usually about 4 miles, done easily and slowly to get your muscles limbered up. This is also the run that is the most likely to get skipped.
The long runs get progressively longer each week, but about every 3rd week is a "step-down" week, to keep your body in shape but also give it a break. The short runs are also going to be shorter these weeks.
So this is our schedule for this week:
Saturday: 10 miles (done!)
Sunday: rest
Monday: 6 miles
Tuesday: 8 miles
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: rest
Friday: 4 miles
And then next Saturday is a 12 mile run, and other than that the schedule is identical. The following Saturday will be a six mile run, and that week will also be accordingly shorter because that's our first step-down week.
Enough business talk. Yesterday after the run, we packed up our cars and headed down to Virginia. Mike stopped in Quantico for a graduation party-- his roommate at USNA did an exchange program at Air Force last semester, so in return, Mike's room had an Air Force cadet living with them. Jason was a really awesome guy, and something cool about him is that, rather than going into the Air Force, he REALLY wants to cross-commission into the Marine Corps. This is possible to do, but apparently very difficult. So he went to Officer Candidate School in Quantico this summer, graduated yesterday, and Mike stopped in to congratulate him. I continued to head on down to Richmond, where I have placed a deposit an all-too-expensive bridal gown. I got sized for it and chose the color yesterday, and the official order will be placed on Tuesday! But I got to try it on again and I still LOVE it! Even mom liked it this time. (Haha last time she wasn't convinced that it was the dress for me.)
I think that since our wedding is still 11 months away, and since we made all of the biggest decisions regarding it when it was still between 18 and 16 months away, she keeps thinking that we're going to change our minds about all of this stuff that we've already put down hefty deposits for, but that's not how I roll... once a decision has been made, it's pretty rare that I waver. UNTIL that decision is made, I am a horrible, flaky, wavery person. So far I haven't come to regret a single decision, and ESPECIALLY not the dress. Although I do wish I could have gotten a better price on it. But as my friend Heather says, "It's a wedding dress. It's SUPPOSED to be too expensive." And I guess there is some truth to that-- you're in this thing for about seven hours. Even if you get lucky and buy, say, an $600 dollar dress... plus another few hundred dollars worth of alterations... you're spending more than $100 an hour for your dress. That's ridiculous, because I won't even buy a $100 dress that I know I would wear all the time. But I've spent WAY more than $100 an hour to wear a wedding gown. The wedding industry is a pretty stupid money-sucking machine. But so far, this is my one indulgence because everything else I'm paying for isn't really for me-- it's for bridesmaids, or the guests, or whatever. (Not to mention that all of those purchases have come in within my budget!) And since the wedding dress is the thing that I looked forward to most, even when I was a little girl (okay, maybe also the cake! When I was five my birthday cake was a shocking-pink 3 layer wedding cake... no joke!) I figured, whatever... buy the one you love even if it's more than you originally planned on spending.
But still! Ridiculous, and I got suckered, just like all those stupid women shopping at Kleinfeld's on Say Yes to the Dress. I hate that show just because of brides like me who bother to even try dresses on when they're outside the budget, and then fall in love with them.
After the dress fitting, Mom and I went to Crate and Barrel, Macy's, and Bed, Bath & Beyond to register for gifts. Mom has been BEGGING me to let her come with me to do this, ever since I got engaged. Since I have no idea how many plates married people need, or how many forks are suitable, I was more than happy to indulge her. I would have had no idea what I was doing if she hadn't been there to help, and I probably would have registered for hammock, which I don't need, and forgotten to get pots and pans, which I DO need... But the BB&B people were AWESOME! They sent a person around the store with me-- which meant that I didn't get to use the stun-gun myself there, but she also made a lot of good recommendations and was very very helpful and wonderful and awesome. So thanks to Lisa from the BB&B in Richmond! You were a huge help, even though I know you'll never in a million years see this blog!
Anyways, after registering, I drove the rest of the way home to Williamsburg, where a delicious dinner was waiting for me. I love it here, with the badly behaved cats and fully stocked fridge. :)
Okay, I'm going to go and enjoy the fourth today, and I hope you all do the same!
So here's how our training program works:
It's eighteen weeks long, and we have one "long" run each week. That's our Saturday run. I like Saturday because then you have the whole weekend to recover if it was particularly brutal. Also, when you do it on Sunday, you just spend all day Saturday dreading it, and it sort of ruins your weekend.
Then we have three shorter runs-- most weeks they are six, eight and six miles, respectively.
We have two rest days, and ours are Thursday and Sunday, making Sunday the one morning I week that I don't set an alarm.
And then the day before the long run, we do a shorter run-- usually about 4 miles, done easily and slowly to get your muscles limbered up. This is also the run that is the most likely to get skipped.
The long runs get progressively longer each week, but about every 3rd week is a "step-down" week, to keep your body in shape but also give it a break. The short runs are also going to be shorter these weeks.
So this is our schedule for this week:
Saturday: 10 miles (done!)
Sunday: rest
Monday: 6 miles
Tuesday: 8 miles
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: rest
Friday: 4 miles
And then next Saturday is a 12 mile run, and other than that the schedule is identical. The following Saturday will be a six mile run, and that week will also be accordingly shorter because that's our first step-down week.
Enough business talk. Yesterday after the run, we packed up our cars and headed down to Virginia. Mike stopped in Quantico for a graduation party-- his roommate at USNA did an exchange program at Air Force last semester, so in return, Mike's room had an Air Force cadet living with them. Jason was a really awesome guy, and something cool about him is that, rather than going into the Air Force, he REALLY wants to cross-commission into the Marine Corps. This is possible to do, but apparently very difficult. So he went to Officer Candidate School in Quantico this summer, graduated yesterday, and Mike stopped in to congratulate him. I continued to head on down to Richmond, where I have placed a deposit an all-too-expensive bridal gown. I got sized for it and chose the color yesterday, and the official order will be placed on Tuesday! But I got to try it on again and I still LOVE it! Even mom liked it this time. (Haha last time she wasn't convinced that it was the dress for me.)
I think that since our wedding is still 11 months away, and since we made all of the biggest decisions regarding it when it was still between 18 and 16 months away, she keeps thinking that we're going to change our minds about all of this stuff that we've already put down hefty deposits for, but that's not how I roll... once a decision has been made, it's pretty rare that I waver. UNTIL that decision is made, I am a horrible, flaky, wavery person. So far I haven't come to regret a single decision, and ESPECIALLY not the dress. Although I do wish I could have gotten a better price on it. But as my friend Heather says, "It's a wedding dress. It's SUPPOSED to be too expensive." And I guess there is some truth to that-- you're in this thing for about seven hours. Even if you get lucky and buy, say, an $600 dollar dress... plus another few hundred dollars worth of alterations... you're spending more than $100 an hour for your dress. That's ridiculous, because I won't even buy a $100 dress that I know I would wear all the time. But I've spent WAY more than $100 an hour to wear a wedding gown. The wedding industry is a pretty stupid money-sucking machine. But so far, this is my one indulgence because everything else I'm paying for isn't really for me-- it's for bridesmaids, or the guests, or whatever. (Not to mention that all of those purchases have come in within my budget!) And since the wedding dress is the thing that I looked forward to most, even when I was a little girl (okay, maybe also the cake! When I was five my birthday cake was a shocking-pink 3 layer wedding cake... no joke!) I figured, whatever... buy the one you love even if it's more than you originally planned on spending.
But still! Ridiculous, and I got suckered, just like all those stupid women shopping at Kleinfeld's on Say Yes to the Dress. I hate that show just because of brides like me who bother to even try dresses on when they're outside the budget, and then fall in love with them.
After the dress fitting, Mom and I went to Crate and Barrel, Macy's, and Bed, Bath & Beyond to register for gifts. Mom has been BEGGING me to let her come with me to do this, ever since I got engaged. Since I have no idea how many plates married people need, or how many forks are suitable, I was more than happy to indulge her. I would have had no idea what I was doing if she hadn't been there to help, and I probably would have registered for hammock, which I don't need, and forgotten to get pots and pans, which I DO need... But the BB&B people were AWESOME! They sent a person around the store with me-- which meant that I didn't get to use the stun-gun myself there, but she also made a lot of good recommendations and was very very helpful and wonderful and awesome. So thanks to Lisa from the BB&B in Richmond! You were a huge help, even though I know you'll never in a million years see this blog!
Anyways, after registering, I drove the rest of the way home to Williamsburg, where a delicious dinner was waiting for me. I love it here, with the badly behaved cats and fully stocked fridge. :)
Okay, I'm going to go and enjoy the fourth today, and I hope you all do the same!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
And so it begins...
Marathon training officially begins today! And what am I doing instead of running? ...Blogging. Brilliant.
Mike is super pissed that I got him up this early, but we have to be on the road to Williamsburg by ten, so we gotta start running early in the AM to beat the heat and get ready for our trip. I'm officially on vacation for the rest of the week-- my boss actually had to sit me down and have a talk with me about how I shouldn't check email while I'm away, blah blah. I get it, I shouldn't work on vacation. But I'll seriously get about 80 emails a day while I'm out, so I'd honestly much rather sort through them once a day than sort through hundreds of them when I return! But other than that, I am a FREE woman! Huzzah! I'm spending the week at home at my parent's house, doing a lot of wedding planning stuff. My mom has been telling me since Mike and I got engaged how important this week is, so when I asked her a few days ago what sort of things she had in mind, she mentioned that she'd "really like to go blueberry picking." Alright, Mom, but I thought we had SO much to do for the wedding! (In the interest of full disclosure, I have honestly no idea how to plan a wedding or what it is that we are supposed to do. Fortunately she sent me a very detailed email yesterday about hunting for invitations, make-up artist, etc.)
Okay, we're off to run. I sort of ran out of body glide, so hopefully the blisters don't come out in full force-- I already got a weensy one yesterday. I'm long overdue for new running shoes, so that's another project for this week. We will keep you posted on the success of our run today!
Mike is super pissed that I got him up this early, but we have to be on the road to Williamsburg by ten, so we gotta start running early in the AM to beat the heat and get ready for our trip. I'm officially on vacation for the rest of the week-- my boss actually had to sit me down and have a talk with me about how I shouldn't check email while I'm away, blah blah. I get it, I shouldn't work on vacation. But I'll seriously get about 80 emails a day while I'm out, so I'd honestly much rather sort through them once a day than sort through hundreds of them when I return! But other than that, I am a FREE woman! Huzzah! I'm spending the week at home at my parent's house, doing a lot of wedding planning stuff. My mom has been telling me since Mike and I got engaged how important this week is, so when I asked her a few days ago what sort of things she had in mind, she mentioned that she'd "really like to go blueberry picking." Alright, Mom, but I thought we had SO much to do for the wedding! (In the interest of full disclosure, I have honestly no idea how to plan a wedding or what it is that we are supposed to do. Fortunately she sent me a very detailed email yesterday about hunting for invitations, make-up artist, etc.)
Okay, we're off to run. I sort of ran out of body glide, so hopefully the blisters don't come out in full force-- I already got a weensy one yesterday. I'm long overdue for new running shoes, so that's another project for this week. We will keep you posted on the success of our run today!
Friday, June 25, 2010
And the winner is...
I didn't even know that there was a committee designated to determine which Marathon Finisher metal is the coolest, but apparently there is. And they chose... drumroll please... The Marine Corps Marathon finisher metal!!
http://www.marinemarathon.com/Assets/Press+Releases/MCM+MEDAL+RANKS+BEST+IN+US.pdf
How cool is that? Mike and I actually each OWN one of those. In the interest of full disclosure, though, I thought it was pretty wonky-looking.
http://www.marinemarathon.com/Assets/Press+Releases/MCM+MEDAL+RANKS+BEST+IN+US.pdf
How cool is that? Mike and I actually each OWN one of those. In the interest of full disclosure, though, I thought it was pretty wonky-looking.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Team Hoyt
I just came across this story in an article about Father's Day (Happy Dad's Day on Sunday, to all you fathers out there!) and I thought it was so completely inspiring:
Have you guys ever heard of Team Hoyt? It's a father-son team who participate in marathons, triathlons, and the like. Only here's the thing... the father is pushing the son in his wheelchair. He is pretty severely disabled, but running is their thing.
Here's their website:
http://www.teamhoyt.com/
How cool is that?
I wouldn't necessarily say that it's easier to run with a purpose, but it does give you a little more incentive to keep going. I'm sure Dick Hoyt feels a little more emotion behind his training, because since I too am running for a purpose this year, I feel like it's really important to keep that in the back of my mind whenever I train... this marathon isn't just for me. It's for Jonny. When it's more than just personal pride, or being able to keep wearing my skinny jeans, or adding another medal to my collection, it means a lot more. So for everybody out there who is training for something bigger than yourself, kudos and good luck!
Have you guys ever heard of Team Hoyt? It's a father-son team who participate in marathons, triathlons, and the like. Only here's the thing... the father is pushing the son in his wheelchair. He is pretty severely disabled, but running is their thing.
Here's their website:
http://www.teamhoyt.com/
How cool is that?
I wouldn't necessarily say that it's easier to run with a purpose, but it does give you a little more incentive to keep going. I'm sure Dick Hoyt feels a little more emotion behind his training, because since I too am running for a purpose this year, I feel like it's really important to keep that in the back of my mind whenever I train... this marathon isn't just for me. It's for Jonny. When it's more than just personal pride, or being able to keep wearing my skinny jeans, or adding another medal to my collection, it means a lot more. So for everybody out there who is training for something bigger than yourself, kudos and good luck!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Since I'm awake so early...
I figured I'd write an update. This week I realized that marathon training starts on July 3, not July 10 as I had previously thought...Whoops! We're doing an 18 week intermediate training program, with middle-length runs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, a short run Friday, and a long run Saturday. Depending on the week, the length of each of these runs will vary. I won't bore you with all the details just yet.
But, since I realized I have one less week to prepare to completely alter my life, I figured I'd better really be sure I am ready. Since the first run is ten miles, and I want to make sure that that doesn't absolutely destroy the rest of my day (because I'll be getting fitted for a wedding gown and then heading to my parents for a week the afternoon of July 3!), I ran 12 miles yesterday. It went really well and I felt pretty good after it. And then I went over to my brother's new house (they closed the deal on Friday) and helped his wife Katie move in. (Tony was conveniently stuck taking an exam for his MBA program, lucky guy.) Since it's a 4 story row home in Baltimore, there are LOTS of stairs. And broken air conditioning on the top two floors... so I was pretty sapped by the end of the day. But I'm starting to feel good about the first few weeks of marathon training, because I was obviously more than merely functional following such a long run.
I remember last year, during the first 12 mile run I was just a mess for the rest of the day, but by the 16 mile run I was fine. Even for the 21 mile run I managed to walk over to a Navy football game, and cheer my heart out (Okay, I didn't cheer my heart out. I don't care about football.) and then go out for a late dinner. So I'm hoping that this year, none of the runs make me feel like the rest of the day is a complete waste of life.
In other news, Mike is in San Diego and says its beautiful and he loves it and I'm really jealous because here in Maryland it is 90 degrees and steamy humid. Also, he got to see the pandas at the zoo yesterday, and they are my favorite favorite animal and I'm SO jealous. I told him not to return to Maryland unless he's bringing me a real panda as a birthday gift (6 days until I'm 24!). No stuffed animals because I have about 14 stuffed pandas in my parents' attic.
My friend Christina (I've mentioned her here before; she's awesome) and I have been chatting about the NAG message boards. A girl on there recently asked for advice for coping with the distance between herself and her boyfriend. We were both a little amused that we didn't really have anything to add to the discussion because we just kind of don't care when Mike and Solomon are not around! Maybe we're used to not spending time with them. Or maybe we've finally come to the realization that they'll return eventually, so in the meantime we do our own thing. I don't know. I guess since this is a way of life for us, it's good that we don't really care that they're gone. But let me tell you, I sure do wish Christina were around more often! She was telling me how when Mike and Sol were in "Plebe summer," which is the 6 week intense military indoctrination at the Naval Academy, she would tell her friends that she was in a fight with Solomon. (I did the same thing!) It's astounding, because for those six weeks, our only method of communication was snail mail... how can you really be in a fight with someone you haven't spoken to in a month?! It's phenomenal how much drama we were able to create in our heads back then. We're grown-ups with jobs now, so I guess we just don't have time for that, and therefore do not miss our fiances. Maybe we've just come to terms with the fact that sometimes, all you're going to get that day is a 2 minute phone call saying the pandas were cute and he's on the hunt for margaritas and spectacular Mexican food and so he can't really talk today (poor guy, out there serving his country!) and you just have to be okay with the fact that you're going to be a Navy wife and these are the decisions you have collectively made. Okay, so I'd be a LITTLE more sympathetic to the limited talk time if he were, say, in the Gulf of Aden monitoring pirate activity... then I'd be like, "Hang up the phone! Go protect your ship!" than I am when he's just touring one of America's sweetest cities, but to be fair, I was pretty busy yesterday too, and I ignored a couple of his phone calls while I was helping assemble tables. And that's kind of the way I like it-- I am used to seeing him on the weekends because we're lucky enough to live near one another for the time being, but when I can't, I really like having lots of other plans to keep me entertained.
Although I do really think that if Mike were here right now, he'd probably make me some breakfast. So I miss that.
But, since I realized I have one less week to prepare to completely alter my life, I figured I'd better really be sure I am ready. Since the first run is ten miles, and I want to make sure that that doesn't absolutely destroy the rest of my day (because I'll be getting fitted for a wedding gown and then heading to my parents for a week the afternoon of July 3!), I ran 12 miles yesterday. It went really well and I felt pretty good after it. And then I went over to my brother's new house (they closed the deal on Friday) and helped his wife Katie move in. (Tony was conveniently stuck taking an exam for his MBA program, lucky guy.) Since it's a 4 story row home in Baltimore, there are LOTS of stairs. And broken air conditioning on the top two floors... so I was pretty sapped by the end of the day. But I'm starting to feel good about the first few weeks of marathon training, because I was obviously more than merely functional following such a long run.
I remember last year, during the first 12 mile run I was just a mess for the rest of the day, but by the 16 mile run I was fine. Even for the 21 mile run I managed to walk over to a Navy football game, and cheer my heart out (Okay, I didn't cheer my heart out. I don't care about football.) and then go out for a late dinner. So I'm hoping that this year, none of the runs make me feel like the rest of the day is a complete waste of life.
In other news, Mike is in San Diego and says its beautiful and he loves it and I'm really jealous because here in Maryland it is 90 degrees and steamy humid. Also, he got to see the pandas at the zoo yesterday, and they are my favorite favorite animal and I'm SO jealous. I told him not to return to Maryland unless he's bringing me a real panda as a birthday gift (6 days until I'm 24!). No stuffed animals because I have about 14 stuffed pandas in my parents' attic.
My friend Christina (I've mentioned her here before; she's awesome) and I have been chatting about the NAG message boards. A girl on there recently asked for advice for coping with the distance between herself and her boyfriend. We were both a little amused that we didn't really have anything to add to the discussion because we just kind of don't care when Mike and Solomon are not around! Maybe we're used to not spending time with them. Or maybe we've finally come to the realization that they'll return eventually, so in the meantime we do our own thing. I don't know. I guess since this is a way of life for us, it's good that we don't really care that they're gone. But let me tell you, I sure do wish Christina were around more often! She was telling me how when Mike and Sol were in "Plebe summer," which is the 6 week intense military indoctrination at the Naval Academy, she would tell her friends that she was in a fight with Solomon. (I did the same thing!) It's astounding, because for those six weeks, our only method of communication was snail mail... how can you really be in a fight with someone you haven't spoken to in a month?! It's phenomenal how much drama we were able to create in our heads back then. We're grown-ups with jobs now, so I guess we just don't have time for that, and therefore do not miss our fiances. Maybe we've just come to terms with the fact that sometimes, all you're going to get that day is a 2 minute phone call saying the pandas were cute and he's on the hunt for margaritas and spectacular Mexican food and so he can't really talk today (poor guy, out there serving his country!) and you just have to be okay with the fact that you're going to be a Navy wife and these are the decisions you have collectively made. Okay, so I'd be a LITTLE more sympathetic to the limited talk time if he were, say, in the Gulf of Aden monitoring pirate activity... then I'd be like, "Hang up the phone! Go protect your ship!" than I am when he's just touring one of America's sweetest cities, but to be fair, I was pretty busy yesterday too, and I ignored a couple of his phone calls while I was helping assemble tables. And that's kind of the way I like it-- I am used to seeing him on the weekends because we're lucky enough to live near one another for the time being, but when I can't, I really like having lots of other plans to keep me entertained.
Although I do really think that if Mike were here right now, he'd probably make me some breakfast. So I miss that.
Monday, June 7, 2010
A wee update
This has been a busy week! My roommate got engaged (congratulations, Melissa and Brian!!) I had a little pity party/girls night out on Saturday (completely unrelated to my roommate getting engaged), I went to the beach, I went to lunch with my friend Stephanie (what up!) and I also sent Mike off on a west coast surface training cruise. I've heard from him a little bit and it sounds like he's having a blast. He was in Portland for the Rose Festival, which I guess is just like a big party in honor of the Navy. And now he's on his way to San Diego, which will be probably a four day trip during which I expect to hear from him not at all, so we'll have a lot to fill each other in on when we do touch base again. I'm curious to see how he's maintaining cardiovascular fitness on a teeny tiny ship-- he said that he's been PTing, but I don't know specifically what he means by that. I, however, took a good eight mile run this morning, and it was wonderful because it was in the 50s this morning. The past couple of days have been absolutely miserable and humid and nasty out, so I'm so excited for this weather shift! I know that summer is here and this little cool spell is a fluke, but I'm really enjoying it!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Navy Life Lessons; ed. 1
Never wash a pen in the same load of laundry as your summer whites. Bleach can only do so much to repair the damage.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Memorial Day 2010
Most Americans today are taking advantage of the day off by grilling, shopping, or relaxing. They are enjoying the very freedom that our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines stand watch over. We, as Americans, should enjoy this day, but we should also remember those who never came home; those who are buried above the cliffs of Normandy, in the deserts of North Africa, in Flanders Field, in Arlington, or in Gettysburg. These Americans never fully realized their hopes and dreams, but by serving in the military, they allowed so many others to fulfill theirs.
I ask however, that each of us don't simply remember the faceless thousands but one name and their story. One that I draw meaning from is the story of Major Doug Zembiec, who was known as the "Lion of Fallujah" for his valor in battle. One of his Marines said that he "would follow the Major in to battle with a spoon". Major Zembiec was killed by small arms fire on his fourth tour of duty in Iraq, leading a unit of Iraqi forces that he had helped to train.
For Katie and me, we are remembering Corporal Jonny Porto, USMC. He was killed in action on March 14, 2010 on operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. As you may know we are running the Marine Corps Marathon in his honor. (Six mile training run in the 90 degree heat this morning!) If you're interested in learning more about his family, read his wife Rachel's blog:
http://alittlepinkinaworldofcamo.blogspot.com/
(And be sure to check back in here for our updates as our training progresses!)
Please enjoy your cookouts and your extra time with your family and friends. But please also remember to give thanks to those who have served.
I ask however, that each of us don't simply remember the faceless thousands but one name and their story. One that I draw meaning from is the story of Major Doug Zembiec, who was known as the "Lion of Fallujah" for his valor in battle. One of his Marines said that he "would follow the Major in to battle with a spoon". Major Zembiec was killed by small arms fire on his fourth tour of duty in Iraq, leading a unit of Iraqi forces that he had helped to train.
For Katie and me, we are remembering Corporal Jonny Porto, USMC. He was killed in action on March 14, 2010 on operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. As you may know we are running the Marine Corps Marathon in his honor. (Six mile training run in the 90 degree heat this morning!) If you're interested in learning more about his family, read his wife Rachel's blog:
http://alittlepinkinaworldofcamo.blogspot.com/
(And be sure to check back in here for our updates as our training progresses!)
Please enjoy your cookouts and your extra time with your family and friends. But please also remember to give thanks to those who have served.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Ring a ling a ding dong!
So this weekend was Second Class Ring Dance at the Naval Academy, which Mike has been waiting for since roughly the day he was born. It was a great weekend, despite a few minor setbacks (ie renting a house for the weekend that apparently belongs to swingers, a pretty massive migraine for a good portion of the dance, and spending way too much money overall...)
But we looked fantastic:
But last night Mike's sponsor parents threw a lovely little party for the mids they sponsor who will be graduating on Friday. It was so fun, but we've become really close to these kids and it really hit me that they're moving on, and moving out, and it will just be kind of a bummer to see them go. Mike and I are so happy for them all to get their commissions and do exciting things for the Fleet and the Corps, but it sucks to say goodbye to friends. And then it occurred to me that next year, this will be us. We'll be packing up and going out and saying goodbye to USNA, to Scott and Misty, to a very familiar world around here that we've really come to love. And then we'll be doing that AGAIN and AGAIN. I've always been a little reluctant to change-- it took me 2 years to get used to the Naval Academy at all! But now I love how my life is going and it's starting to feel like as soon as I get settled, everything is going to get tossed around and the best I can do is hope for fair winds and following seas!
In other news, my dear friend Christina has asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, which is exactly 2 weeks after ours, and I am thrilled beyond thrilled to be able to stand up with her while she ties the knot. Her fiance is also a Navy midshipman... C and I actually met on facebook after the boys got through their grueling plebe summer and I can honestly say now that she is one of my very best friends. She's the only person I know who is a) a NAG (which is my brother's non-charitable acronym for Naval Academy Girlfriends) and b) a grown-up. We're both working our first "real jobs" and experiencing the ups and downs that come with that, so we are each other's favorite whining post. She was in town for the Ring Dance this weekend, which was probably the highlight of my weekend, overall. We went reception-venue shopping for her yesterday, and completely scared off a plebe girlfriend with our crazy stories about how crazy we are, and overall had a blast together. I try to remind myself that despite the many drawbacks of being a NAG and staring down the barrel of constant change, at least I've got Christina doing it with me.
Anyway, there are a few traditions about the Ring Dance that everyone should be aware of:
The midshipmen get their rings several months before the dance. They are authorized to wear them the same number of days as the last two digits in their graduation year (so Mike was authorized to wear his ring for 11 days because he'll be graduating in 2011). I don't know what they do for people who graduate in like, '96-- I can't imagine they wear their ring for ninety-six days. Maybe six days? Anyway, the ring then gets put away until the Ring Dance. Midshipmen and their dates will dip the ring in a basin (pictured above!) that contains water from each of the seven seas, as well as water that was flown into space by USNA grads, water from the Severn River, and water melted from a glacier the year Christ was born (or something like that). Then the date will traditionally wear the ring around her neck for the remainder of the evening. (Don't ask me what mids do when they're both 2nd class and are Dance dates-- maybe the guy wears the girl's ring around his neck?! Haha more likely they just both wear them on their fingers.)
The Naval Academy has what they call a "50 year link in the chain" system-- so Mike's "sister class" is the class of 1961. Some of the rings from that class were melted down into the batch of gold that this year's class rings were made from. And Mike's class will end up donating a few rings for the class of 2061. Cool, right?!
This is not a GREAT picture of Mike's ring, but it's the only one we've got:
But we looked fantastic:
But last night Mike's sponsor parents threw a lovely little party for the mids they sponsor who will be graduating on Friday. It was so fun, but we've become really close to these kids and it really hit me that they're moving on, and moving out, and it will just be kind of a bummer to see them go. Mike and I are so happy for them all to get their commissions and do exciting things for the Fleet and the Corps, but it sucks to say goodbye to friends. And then it occurred to me that next year, this will be us. We'll be packing up and going out and saying goodbye to USNA, to Scott and Misty, to a very familiar world around here that we've really come to love. And then we'll be doing that AGAIN and AGAIN. I've always been a little reluctant to change-- it took me 2 years to get used to the Naval Academy at all! But now I love how my life is going and it's starting to feel like as soon as I get settled, everything is going to get tossed around and the best I can do is hope for fair winds and following seas!
In other news, my dear friend Christina has asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, which is exactly 2 weeks after ours, and I am thrilled beyond thrilled to be able to stand up with her while she ties the knot. Her fiance is also a Navy midshipman... C and I actually met on facebook after the boys got through their grueling plebe summer and I can honestly say now that she is one of my very best friends. She's the only person I know who is a) a NAG (which is my brother's non-charitable acronym for Naval Academy Girlfriends) and b) a grown-up. We're both working our first "real jobs" and experiencing the ups and downs that come with that, so we are each other's favorite whining post. She was in town for the Ring Dance this weekend, which was probably the highlight of my weekend, overall. We went reception-venue shopping for her yesterday, and completely scared off a plebe girlfriend with our crazy stories about how crazy we are, and overall had a blast together. I try to remind myself that despite the many drawbacks of being a NAG and staring down the barrel of constant change, at least I've got Christina doing it with me.
Anyway, there are a few traditions about the Ring Dance that everyone should be aware of:
The midshipmen get their rings several months before the dance. They are authorized to wear them the same number of days as the last two digits in their graduation year (so Mike was authorized to wear his ring for 11 days because he'll be graduating in 2011). I don't know what they do for people who graduate in like, '96-- I can't imagine they wear their ring for ninety-six days. Maybe six days? Anyway, the ring then gets put away until the Ring Dance. Midshipmen and their dates will dip the ring in a basin (pictured above!) that contains water from each of the seven seas, as well as water that was flown into space by USNA grads, water from the Severn River, and water melted from a glacier the year Christ was born (or something like that). Then the date will traditionally wear the ring around her neck for the remainder of the evening. (Don't ask me what mids do when they're both 2nd class and are Dance dates-- maybe the guy wears the girl's ring around his neck?! Haha more likely they just both wear them on their fingers.)
The Naval Academy has what they call a "50 year link in the chain" system-- so Mike's "sister class" is the class of 1961. Some of the rings from that class were melted down into the batch of gold that this year's class rings were made from. And Mike's class will end up donating a few rings for the class of 2061. Cool, right?!
This is not a GREAT picture of Mike's ring, but it's the only one we've got:
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
A new way to run
Mike and I ran the Marine Corps Marathon together last year-- it was a first marathon for both of us, and it was really really incredible, inspiring, exhausting, and exhilarating.
One of the most inspiring things about running the marathon last year, though, was the sheer number of people that were wearing tshirts indicating that they were running in honor of a fallen Marine. Seeing these shirts had so many different effects on me. Mostly, they choked me up, which of course, sort of hampered the running. But it was a good push for me-- it reminded me why I chose this marathon and inspired me to dig in deeper when I was pretty sure I was a) dying, and b) about to poop my pants.
This year, Mike and I have the privilege of running in honor of a fallen Marine. I came across this blog a few weeks ago and I've been so touched by Rachel's story that I knew I wanted to run in honor of her husband. Mike was in total agreement-- after we get married next June, we'll be a military family. This means a lot to both of us, for so many reasons. When I approached Rachel about running in honor of Jonny, she was in total support, which thrilled me.
I think it sucks that we have a reason to run this race-- in a perfect world, people would run marathons because they wanted to, not because they felt it was a good way to honor someone who has passed away. (Although the whole marathon event is in honor of Phidippedes, who died of exhaustion after running to Marathon, so I guess that wish is inherently flawed.) But since we don't live in that world, I feel blessed to have the opportunity to support another military family.
We'll be sure to keep you posted on our progress in marathon training, wedding planning, life arranging, etc... we're going into all of this with our boots on the ground! (Cheesy. I know.)
One of the most inspiring things about running the marathon last year, though, was the sheer number of people that were wearing tshirts indicating that they were running in honor of a fallen Marine. Seeing these shirts had so many different effects on me. Mostly, they choked me up, which of course, sort of hampered the running. But it was a good push for me-- it reminded me why I chose this marathon and inspired me to dig in deeper when I was pretty sure I was a) dying, and b) about to poop my pants.
This year, Mike and I have the privilege of running in honor of a fallen Marine. I came across this blog a few weeks ago and I've been so touched by Rachel's story that I knew I wanted to run in honor of her husband. Mike was in total agreement-- after we get married next June, we'll be a military family. This means a lot to both of us, for so many reasons. When I approached Rachel about running in honor of Jonny, she was in total support, which thrilled me.
I think it sucks that we have a reason to run this race-- in a perfect world, people would run marathons because they wanted to, not because they felt it was a good way to honor someone who has passed away. (Although the whole marathon event is in honor of Phidippedes, who died of exhaustion after running to Marathon, so I guess that wish is inherently flawed.) But since we don't live in that world, I feel blessed to have the opportunity to support another military family.
We'll be sure to keep you posted on our progress in marathon training, wedding planning, life arranging, etc... we're going into all of this with our boots on the ground! (Cheesy. I know.)
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