What I Learned this Weekend

• Heels are the preferred and correct shoe strategy for concerts at the Showbox. I can see from pretty much anywhere I stand
• I am kinda tall in my heels...I'm also kinda loud when you are ridiculously tall and try to stand in front of me.
• Alice Smith is gonna be really famous someday...and should be more famous right now.
• Easter really is better with candy and 5 year olds are the bestest...although I suspect some of those jellybeans may or may not have been made with crack the way I was eating them. So good.
• Gray, overcast and kinda cool is not only excellent yard work weather, it's great for running
• I can run 4 miles without stopping! (Maybe the jellybeans helped?)
• The Diller Room isn't that cool, kinda hard to find, and not worth the parking hassle...but it makes an awesome martini.
• I know a GREAT secret squirrel parking spot in downtown. No, I'm not sharing.
• Clams + Chorizo + Broth + Bread = Happy
• I've been overfeeding the H dog for the last year. Sorry fat girl, we'll get it right from now on!

Is it five o'clock yet?

Today is a funk filled day.

One of those days where you wake up and you're just generally disappointed in the state of your world. Can't pinpoint any single cause or reason - nothing set it off - but something is just not right and it feels not right in every aspect of everything.

Sigh. That ever happen to you?

Being an optimist most of the time, days like today really throw me. The "oh poor me" moment is not one I am generally familiar with and when it full on assaults me like this, I tend to have one of two reactions:

1. Hole up in my house in yoga pants and not come out until the sun shines again.
2. Go out and drown my sorrows with a good friend.

Today, I am choosing option #2.

Funk, I will conquer you. I shall drown you in good cheer and a decidedly pointed decision to shake you off and turn the frown upside down. It's all about attitude right?

If I repeat it enough, I'll believe it...and if that don't work, well martinis help.

The weekend cometh. Good friends await!

We’re never gonna beat this if belief is what we're fighting for

Oh John.

John. John. John.

FINALLY saw John Mayer in concert last night at Key Arena. I say FINALLY, because of all the music I have seen in the last few years - in London and in the USA - John was always the concert that I could never catch. From his first album to his last celebutante girlfriend, I wanted to see if the live performance was a good as the live albums lead me to believe they would be.

(Yes, I own his live albums. Me. Investing in a live album! For the record - I generally find compilations and live albums to be a waste of time. I already bought that song, why would I REBUY it, just to have it grouped with a bunch of other songs I already own? And live? Please. Unless you are Tom Petty, you probably sound better in the studio, so let's just keep you there ok buddy?)

But I digress.

Turns out, he is awesome in concert! That white boy can play a mean guitar and he surrounds himself with amazing musicians. Didn't phone it in. Not one single second. Great seats were had, great songs were listened to. He even mixed in a little MJ and Fleetwood Mac much to our surprise and delight. I turn a blind eye to his personal life, but the words. The words!

The words get me everytime.

Oh, and dudes with arm sleeve tattoos = HOT.

Thanks for a great night John. Let's do it again sometime.

A Real True Effort

Hi, me again. I am not going to say I'm back...not yet. But I am hear today so read on!

I should start by letting you all know, I kicked that 1/2 marathon's arse. My goal was under 3 hours. I thought I would be "very pleased" to do it in 2:45. So when I got my chip time and it was 2:35 (TWO THIRTY FIVE!!) I was so pleased with myself that, still on my runner's high, I ran (no pun) right out and signed up for another one!

And I convinced several new others to do it with me. So many others that we've formed a team: Team Chubby Bunny.

Yah, OF COURSE we're gonna get t-shirts.

The nice thing about this is that it's all totally selfish on my part. Having done major bouts of athleticism before, like a triathalon, and then signing up for another one, I know a little something about motivation.

I lose it.

Without the fear of the unknown and concerns that I might actually die on the course if I don't run today, well, training tends to drop off and those lofty goals tend to be quickly replaced with a glass or three of red wine. After the first time doing the big daunting event, there's a sick level of smugness that sets in. It keeps my ass on the couch when it should be running.

"You've done this before, you know how it goes" (that's the smugness talking).

However, I am finding that by virtually coaching this new team through it, I am discovering new motivations. I have always been a walk the walk kinda girl and if I am pushing for others to do push themselves, I better be willing to deliver too. How can I possibly expect others to follow a training that I am not following myself? I can't. Not in good conscience.

So to my fellow members of Team Chubby Bunny, thanks for the motivation and reinforcing one of the things I know to be true in life: It's always better with a friend.

To the rest of the blogging world. I might be back, I might not. But the running will continue!

Rain Rain Go Away

We are at T-9 days and counting. Training can't help you now. The best you can do is hope to maintain whatever fitness level you've achieved in the last 3 months.

For those keeping track, I've lost 4 whole pounds.

Training has become more and more challenging as of late. We've had 4 winter storms in the last 2 weeks here in western washington. It's cold. It's raining. It's windy. It's dark at 4:30.

Needless to say, it's not at all conducive to helping motivate someone to 'Get out there!'

This weekend, my last long run will take place in NYC. I have my route all mapped out from my hotel through Central Park and back again. Grand total: 9 miles. Despite my best efforts to convince her otherwise, I think my mom may be planning to hire a bodyguard to run with me.
I think I am in more danger from encountering a moose on my run in Alaska than on a trek through Central Park, in the middle of the day, on a highly populated running trail?

But I digress, it's the LAST CHANCE WORKOUT before the big race. Wish me luck!

T-20 days and counting

It's a busy November.

Between work, class and training + my family arriving for the holidays and a trip to NYC for work, I am firing on all cylinders.

In training news, I ran 9 miles on Sunday and will run 10 miles this weekend. WHO AM I?!?! My lower back is currently rather unpleased about the whole thing. I've heard various advice from "yoga" to "new running shoes" to "stop running insane amounts of distance." While I like the last one best, I think I will try the first two first.

Oh, and at some point along the way, 5 miles became my favorite distance. Who knew I would ever have a 'favorite' distance? I actually started sprinting in the middle of the 9 miles last weekend around the 5 mile marker.

I am thinking I've discovered the "runners high."

In waistline news, I've lost exactly 0 pounds and am still wearing the exact same size pants. What's a girl gotta do? I RAN NINE MILES.

Sigh.

On Running and Thinking about Running

I ran 7 miles yesterday. SEVEN MILES. That's a little over 1/2 the distance of the half marathon. From my house around Greenlake and back again...7 miles. Kind of cosmic that I should do 7 miles after last week, but I digress.

Bet ya'll thought I'd have quit by now didn't you?

There is some point when you really realize that running is a mental game.

There is a point along the way, when you've hit a certain amount of miles, when you have found your stride and rhythm and breathing and if you don't think about what your body is doing, it's almost like being in a state of stasis. It's still work, don't get me wrong, but it's almost easier to keep going than it is to stop. You're not working any harder or breathing in a labored way. You're just...running.

This is when the mental debate begins.

"I'm bored"

"I should think, think, think of something to think about"

"But I already thought about all the things I had to think about"

"Well, start thinking about creative things"

"Like what?!?!"

"I dunno, don't we have something we need to be creative about for work?"

"Maybe?"

"Well, let's think about that"

"..."

"Ok, forget it, just think about running to that tree"

"Ok now just run to that lamp post"
"Ok now run to that leaf on the ground"

"Shut up. I'm walking"

And that's when you stop to push the reset button, to clear your head, to take 30 seconds to realize that your hips ache and your baby toe might be asleep and you wish you had stopped at that water fountain. But most importantly, you realize walking is really slow and running wasn't that bad, and hey, you have 3 more miles to do.

So you pick up the pace and you turn up the tunes and you think about what you are going to think about for the next 3 miles and wonder a little bit if maybe you'd be better off if you had more drama in your life.

I am sure there is some big life lesson hidden in all of this. Some romantic notion of milestones and motivation and striving to push yourself to do something you never did before.

Maybe I'll think about that on my next run.

The Perfect Running Mix

So much like Katie Holmes, Oprah, Will Ferrell* and P Diddy before me , I too have decided to become a celebrity (half) marathon runner. I even registered and everything! I recruited some of my non-celeb friends to run with me (and do double duty as body guards) and have hired Drill Sargeant Goonder to dish out weekly cross-training workouts to make sure I stay balanced. If you'd like to celeb spot, you can find me most Monday's sweating out the fatness at Greenlake steps.

I am up to about 3.5 miles on a regular basis with 13 weeks to go until half-marathon time. I am a little worried about what happens next as I've never actually run further than 3.5 miles before.

However, in a moment of optimism, I even pre-purchased my 'Finisher' shirt.

I'll keep you posted.

*yeah, I was surprised about the Will Ferrell thing too! He never mentioned that to me...

So I said I was gonna be a blogger...

...and then I make a few half-ass attempts and go dark on you. So not fair! What can I say?

Famous people get really busy.

I'm now considering hiring a ghost writer to keep this thing going. I mean honestly, it's not like Britney does all her own Tweets and if that hack can have a team of peeps well, so should I!

Hmmm, maybe I can find one of those cute little iterns types. I'm thinking Clark Kent style with a bit more Superman to him. Excellent English skills are a must. He could even fetch my coffee and dry cleaning and take my car for an oil change and...

Oh, I have a lovely idea! Let's all get interns shall we?

Anyhoo. Whilst I continue to work that one out, you'll have to just put up with me and my somewhat sporadic posts. You can see from the posts below, that I DO have a good excuse. I've been a bit of a traveling fool lately. I was in Anchorage for a week to escape the paparazzi and recovery from 'fatigue' and then in NYC for a week to remind those same paparazzi why they love me and then home again home again lickety split.

It's good to be home.