Or maybe I just miss my kids a little.

They came home yesterday full of energy and stories. Gabe had brightened up a bit from his fears this morning (fears to which he readily admitted, when I told him I’d seen him), but his bigger gripe was that he hadn’t had enough time to finish his lunch, and when he got up to go ask the lunch lady where a trash can was (ever the proactive kid), the rest of his class got in line and filed out of the cafeteria…without him. He was quite frightened when he found himself alone, but he was rescued shortly with no major harm done to his spirits.

Sam went to school. That’s about all I could get out of him.

They went back again this morning, without needing to be dragged out the door, so I suppose it was a net positive experience for them in the end. I, on the other hand, have discovered in myself a propensity for talking out loud to myself, now that nobody’s around to hear me for so many hours each day. This morning, I had to take Eric’s car to the garage (sway bar bushing needs to be replaced, no big deal), and I found myself blabbing away to the mechanic, as though somebody forgot to shut off the valve to my mouth. Pathetic. Usually, the garage magically transforms me into a bubble-headed Valley girl, twirling my hair and widening my eyes involuntarily whenever anybody starts talking about car parts; I don’t know why, but I do it every time. This was no improvement, I think.

Going to call Mom here in a bit to check in on Dad, but I predict that I’ll hear the same thing – a good note, for a change: his numbers are still elevated, but there’s steady improvement. They’ve said he might be able to come home in a couple of days, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that.

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Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Hoverfly – Crash Land

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at (NEW NUMBER!) 206-339-0556, or you can email or leave a comment!

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Then Alysia came.

I think it’s safe to call that an “up.” We had so much fun all weekend long, including retrieving a giant aviary she’d bought on eBay. (Good friends don’t point out when their friend has obviously lost her mind, devising ways to house, not just one, but MANY birds inside their home…)

And then she went home. (Down again go I. ) And we got ready for school, and there was much excitement for my boys as they chattered eagerly about the fun they’d have. I, too, shared in the joy, and it came down to the first day, this morning, when all was in readiness, and they’d met their teachers last night, and it all seemed a definite “up.” I put their happy little butts on the bus, and I ran (yes, literally) the two miles to their school, beating them there so that I could see Gabe into his classroom.

Unfortunately, their bus was running late, so almost everybody was in the class already. I stood in the courtyard outside the window, peeping in to see if I could see Gabe. Finally, there was commotion at the doorway, as they arrived from the other side of the building. Gabe stood still in the door…chin ducked, eyes huge, lower lip wobbling.

Oh, dear.

An adult helper whispered in his ear, talked him into the classroom, and he began getting out his things. I started on the run home, not nearly as light in my running shoes as I had been on the way there. I didn’t cry when I took Sam to kindergarten, and I wasn’t going to cry today…until I saw that face. My baby is scared and sad at school. You can tell me about how quickly he’ll get over it, and about all the wonderful things he’s doing there, but until he’s home this afternoon and telling me himself, that’s the picture I’ve got in my head. It’s why my own lower lip is a bit wobbly now, too.

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Gabe loves salt. This morning, trying to go behind my back and steal a pinch to eat, he managed to spill the entire salt cellar (thankfully a small one) all over the kitchen floor. He tried to clean it up, futilely, before finally breaking down, finding me and confessing.

Dad had his surgery yesterday. The inflammation was too great to go in through his side and manipulate the stone, so they placed a stent in his urethra instead, which had the effect of pushing the stone back into the kidney, anyway. The urologist said, “He’s hanging in there; he’s a very sick man.” Now they say he might be in the hospital another week; the stone was giant, and it was producing gas in the kidney, and the infection was massive and will take time to clear. But we believe it will clear, now that the blockage is out of the way. The pain level, thankfully, should improve soon; Dad’s not in pain now, he says, but that might be due to meds.

Mom said yesterday that, after the surgery, Dad kept saying, “I don’t know why I’m here…I don’t know why I’m in this hotel. I don’t know why I have to play cards for money.” Ah, anesthetic.

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But the hospital is slammed with patients, so we have to wait our turn, and in the meantime, Dad is in bad shape. His heart rate is up, his blood pressure drops when he’s moved, and he’s in a lot of pain. He’s in Critical Care right now, and there’s not a lot to be done to speed things up. Complicating matters, Mom has her own doctor appointment this afternoon, an important one she’s been awaiting for more than a month.

I talked to Eric’s brother last night, and he reassured me that despite the scary-sounding words (and despite the doctor’s urging my mom to establish a Living Will for my dad; apparently, those are standard cautions for everybody in the ER), it should be a resolvable situation. He said he wouldn’t rush to travel unless things took a turn for the worse; right now, so long as things stay like this, it’s better to sit tight. Better, maybe, but not easier. If you pray, please send some in our family’s direction – that treatment would move quickly, that the meds would improve Dad’s level of pain, that everyone’s minds could be put at ease.

In the meantime, Alysia’s coming to visit me tomorrow on the spur of the moment, which…I can’t begin to say how much that’s going to make me feel better right now.

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And so I went as far as I was allowed, about two hours away. And then I got married, and I went to grad school, which was seven hours away. I had a child, and my mom had a serious health scare, and I had my first inklings of doubt about whether being far away was all it was cracked up to be. It brought me good, and we began to really set down roots and establish ourselves as a family, but being even a firmly rooted tree can be disorienting when you realize that the other trees which might have sheltered and been sheltered by you in storms, had you gone a different path in life, are nowhere near. You make new connections, but there’s nothing quite like family.

And then we moved another seven hours away. Seven hours was far enough, if a bit of a haul by car; fourteen is very, very daunting. We moved for good reasons, ones that I cannot see having ignored or second-guessed, but…

Today I got a phone call from my mom, and my dad was in an ambulance being taken to the hospital. His blood pressure was scarily low; his blood sugars were insanely high. He was retching and in intense pain in his abdomen. As I type, he’s in the ER, undergoing tests as they try to solve the matter of what’s wrong with him, besides dehydration. My mom is beside him…alone. My brother and I are phone calls away, but too far to hop in the car and join her immediately.

The world is small these days, but it’s still a big, big place, particularly when you’re a long way away from where you want to be at the moment. I wish I could be holding Dad’s hand, hugging my mom, talking to the doctors myself and understanding what they’re saying with my own ears. I wish I could bring my mom a drink, get my dad whatever will bring him comfort. I wish my brother was there with us, so that we could all support each other – four firmly rooted trees, protecting each other from the buffeting winds.

When Eric’s dad had heart surgery a while back, he was lucky to be able to fly down to be with him. We weren’t so lucky to be able to fly down quickly when he got married this month, which felt wrong in countless ways. Wisconsin has become our home, though it took a long time for it to be that way (seven years, the same amount of time it took for Toledo to become “home” before this), but the thing it lacks is Our People.

I haven’t felt this alone here in years.

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Eric’s on his way to Mexico. I’d rather not know about that, either. Mexico is not a nice place to be these days, at least according to news reports, and it’s scary to send one’s spouse to places that require armed escorts as a matter of daily business.

Yesterday wasn’t fun. I had a bunch of mundane, unpleasant tasks to do about the house, and then in the course of peeling a butternut squash for my dinner (while trying hard to ignore the scent of beer-braised short ribs in the crockpot; honestly, vegetarian cooking is delicious, but it just doesn’t have the same olfactory dazzle that slow-cooking meat does, in my opinion), I managed to also peel the tip of my ring finger. Cue bleeding and pain. Cue me, in a brilliant show of calm mind and stalwart will, nearly losing consciousness and winding up flat on my back on the floor while the room spun and turned grey. On the bright side, my sons proved that in situations such as this, they are quite capable of…shooting me with a potato gun and putting me on the phone with a political pollster who happened to call at that moment. (“Mom, it’s Shawn.” “Shawn who?” “I don’t know…”)

So that was delightful.

Sixty-six days until Haunted Hustle. I did 9 miles this morning that would have been more pleasant, probably, without all the wine that didn’t quite save last evening for me, but at least it wasn’t hot. I only looked a little like my bladder had failed by the time I finished.

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Yesterday was sort of a “last hurrah” for the summer vacation, and we went to the local renaissance fair with some more of Eric’s coworkers. The kids were fairly well-behaved, right up until the infamous Mud Show, which was a risky (and risqué) choice that bombed – for Sam, not Gabe. When the actors moved into the audience to kiss folks with their mud-covered faces, I saw Sam draw his knees up to his chest and bury his face in them, hands clamped to his ears, thoroughly disgusted. I took him quickly away from the show, leaving Eric and a fascinated Gabe behind with the rest of the group. (His favorite part: the end, when the “judge” had to eat mud. I think Sam would have spontaneously combusted had he seen it.)

Eric heads out of town for most of this week, which I’m dreading. Glad to have had a great weekend, filling me with a bit of joy and social hum before he leaves, but I wish I didn’t feel like now I need to rest after the activity – I’m not going to get a chance to do that!

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Thanks to Lisa, James, and Dorothy for their contributions. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Anthony Rankin – Moving Forward

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at (NEW NUMBER!) 206-339-0556, or you can email or leave a comment!

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ME: “Gabe, why do I run?”
GABE: “Because you do races.”
ME: “Okay, that’s true. But why do I do races?”
GABE: “Because you’ve signed up for them.”

We had a nice chat about why one would intentionally sweat and work one’s body, as I pointed out to him that all this is supposed to be fun as well as healthy. Growing up, I didn’t really have that perspective on it – exercise was sort of like eating the vegetables you didn’t like: something you did because people in charge said you had to, and you couldn’t wait to grow up and not have to do it anymore – so I didn’t realize that it could be like everything else I was learning. I studied all sorts of maths and sciences in school, and while the basics of those studies do get used on an everyday basis now that I’m grown, the early studies also offered me the chance to see whether I might develop a deeper interest in them that could lead to a career or hobby. (Answer: heck to the no.) We read and discussed novels, short stories, essays, and missives from all eras and on many topics, not simply to become well-read youths, but to open our minds to wide-flung areas of study. We were not all to be professional artists, musicians, or actors, but gentle encouragement toward extracurricular activities (one or two, anyway; my school was heading toward the “that’s all fine and good, so long as you can squish it in between the ‘important’ classes” philosophy as I aged) was beneficial for creating a balanced young adult.

And physical activity should have been handled the same way, not as a gauntlet for elevating the Alpha Children over those of lower tiers.

Oh, it’s an argument for another day; today, I want to focus on what should be, not what, regrettably, was. My kids and I talk, and will talk, about all their avenues for moving their bodies and keeping the systems in top shape. Whether they’re competitive athletes or not, my hope is that they can find enjoyment in movement. I do try to lead by example, but sometimes actual literal discussion helps, too. After all, I wouldn’t want them thinking the only reason I’m out there, day after day, is because some trick of my psyche leads me to compulsively register for races I’d rather not even do, all things considered.

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GABE (to Eric): “I love you more than ten megapixels.”

ME (hearing a noise): “Who’s in the kitchen?”
GABE (from the kitchen): “Nobody.”

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You let negative feelings about putting off tasks prevent actual work.

For example, if I feel guilt for not updating, it makes me not look forward to updating, and I’m trapped. Or else it’s just that there’s so, so much to talk about…

Mom and Dad have been and gone, and it was fantastic. We did the state fair, we played at playgrounds, Dad went on some of my runs with me (following me on a bike), we ate good food, we played games – just a low-key visit, and it was awesome, every moment of it. (Well, except for the evening when I discovered the soggy spot on the kitchen ceiling, which turned out to be a leaky toilet seal, which turned out to be due to soft floors in the bathroom…but at least I had my folks around to keep me from running screaming over the brink when the plumber delivered the bad news!) I only wish it could have been cooler up here; we’ve had the peak of the season’s warm temperatures recently, and Dad was all, “I thought you told me it didn’t get hot up here.” Sorry, Dad. But, hey, back home for you guys, it would have been over a hundred degrees, and we didn’t reach that point here!

So, yeah, our bathroom is going to need a little work in the near future. But do you know what? I was sort of on a roll with the whole “purge the house” thing, and Eric and I are now thinking we’ll keep it going, fix the things that need fixing, and blow this joint. Sell it, and sell it now. We’ve been dying to do that, but we felt overwhelmed every time we thought of the work it would entail. An emptier house is more quickly sold, so…work ahead. It’ll be easier to do that when the kids start school in a couple of weeks, too. (We won’t talk of those remaining weeks, though, one of which will find Eric out of the country. Bah.) I’m thinking I’ll start with the remaining upstairs rooms, and I’ll try to do a little basement work each day (that’s harder, since there’s so much down there that’s either not mine, or else it’s things that we don’t use often but don’t necessarily want to give up yet).

Anyway! On with the show!

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Voila: usable space.

You can see the closet in the bottom two shots. It’s still packed full of toys, but they’re at least organized by type (trains with trains, Playmobil with Playmobil, etc.) in boxes and bins. Very usable, if it can stay that way; I heard Gabe on the phone with each of my parents a little bit ago, informing them both that when they were done playing with something over their visit, it needed to be put back where it was.

Oh, and that big bin under the table in the top picture is all Legos. Yowzers.

The purge continues…I’ve got some momentum, and the basement beckons!

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Oh, yes; I know how to schedule my time and energy.

Right now, the kids’ workroom is getting closer to where it’s going to be; there are still things in there that need to come out, and a few surfaces that need emptied, and we need to get the computer hooked up in there, but it’s at least mostly usable space. The living room, on the other hand, was collateral damage. Sam’s desk that was in here needed to be taken upstairs, and so it needed to be cleaned out first, and…let’s just get the mental image of the whole “Snakes in a Can” gag, or perhaps a clown car spouting out passenger after unlikely passenger, because good GRAVY, I don’t see how all this madness was contained in that little wooden desk. It’s not all fitting back in there, certainly – not that it needs to, after having filled almost two large garbage bags as I emptied it. And there are still large piles, even now that the trash has been removed and the pens, pencils, crayons, glue bottles (we had six!), and other items have been organized into the craft cart. Yikes.

(But let me take a moment to just stand in amazement that I am the mother of a kid who can actually help lift and carry a heavy wooden desk up two flights of stairs. Of course, the same son collaborated with another boy just older than him yesterday in maneuvering a few other mid-sized pieces of play furniture into the back of a car without so much as being asked to, so maybe it’s not so shocking, but it continues to be so to me.)

So, I press on. And Gabe is a little confused but game about the how and why of all this commotion; he knows that it’s related to his starting school, and he knows that he’ll be doing more Work in the near future, but he’s still trying to fill the emptied desk drawers with toys and to decide whether he’s willing to let Sam continue to work at the desk, now that it’s been declared community property.

Back to work!

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I’ve been clearing out the playroom. As Eric described it, the playroom was “where toys go to not be played with,” anyway; the boys would grab toys from it and bring them downstairs to play, but mostly they’d play with what was already downstairs. Anytime I attempted to make the room more attractive to them, they’d quickly cover every available inch of floorspace with toys…and then abandon the room again.

So now I’m removing and giving away or donating the toys they’ve outgrown, organizing and crating up the toys we’re keeping but which don’t get much playtime anymore, and generally creating a more usable space for work. So far, it’s been a great deal of work with little obvious payoff, but I’m getting there. Today, I intend to clear out the bookshelf in there of all the board books and books we don’t need or want, paring it down to a level that can be held with a bookshelf that, say, isn’t a stiff breeze away from total collapse (why, we have one such shelf in the basement, in fact!). I also want to make a final effort to go through the toy boxes in the living room, checking for game and toy pieces that are missing from sets and games. If they’re not found there, those sets and games are out of here! (It’s hard being the ruthless one in the family, but it’s necessary. The coming stuffed animal purge is going to be the worst; I might even have to do that when even oft-sentimental Eric isn’t around…)

Good thing it’s cooler today; the past few days have been a sweaty piece of work.

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Ticket to Ride is a very, very fun game. And I’m not just saying that because I won.

(Or because I split a bottle of Lambrusco Rossi with Eric. Yum.)

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Found out yesterday that Gabe got assigned to what’s been reported to me as the “easier” of the two kindergarten classes. Not that they use different curricula or anything, but I guess one teacher prefers a “sit down and write” approach, while the other is a bit more chill about things, and Gabe got the latter. I hope it works out and makes things pleasant for him, though he did do better at the less play-based preschool than he did at the opposite. We’ll see. For some reason, the kid who’s never been scared of school is now telling me that he’s afraid of kindergarten. His reason? “I won’t be in the same class as Sam.” Well, he’s never been before! Maybe he was hoping it’d be like Wednesday night class at church, where when he graduated from the nursery, it was to sit next to his big brother. In any event, this all started coming out after I read him Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, where she went to kindergarten; it was a wild romp of naughtiness that reminded me so much of him, but perhaps Junie’s apprehension of the bus let Gabe feel free to express his own anxieties. Poor guy. I reassured him that what Junie needed was what he’ll have: a big brother on the bus.

Sam got the teacher about whom we know nothing, good or bad. Keeping fingers crossed that he finally, finally, didn’t get the strict one. Not that there’s anything wrong with firmness, but after a few years, I think he’s served his time and has earned the right to the smiley teacher who giggles a lot, right? (Maybe I’ve earned it, too?)

Anyway. Supposed to be hot today, and I’ve got seven miles scheduled. I should work hard on waking up a little more, or I might doze right off in the middle of the run.

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I’m not slamming my head into my desk only because somebody better be around to counterbalance this sort of thing in the world my kids inhabit.

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Thanks to JayDub (BHAG Running) for his contributions. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Ari Shine – Try a Little Harder

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!

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Everything here is…going. Nothing wild, nothing wonderful, nothing much new. I did volunteer at a local half-Ironman triathlon last weekend, which was a lot of fun.

I handed out sports drink at an aid station along the run route and got rather sunburnt. But I looked and felt better than some of those athletes, though; it was super-hot, and some of them were pretty destroyed by the time they got to us.

My running has just about recovered from Devil’s Lake, and I’m ensconced in training for the Haunted Hustle, now that Eric’s fairly certain he’ll be in the country for me to run it. That’ll be fun. I don’t know whether to set a time goal or just have fun; think I’ll leave that decision for a little further out, when I can wrap my brain around it a bit better. It’s only been a couple of weeks, after all. There won’t be pace groups or anything like we had at Green Bay, which was a big help to me. This weekend, I’m scheduled for thirteen miles (already? Again?), and it’s supposed to be flirting with thunderstorms, but I’ll manage. Ran in the rain this morning, and it’s not bad, even if it does slow me down a touch. (That was the dark, too; this morning nearly hit two points of my “Do Not Like” trifecta – heavy rain/snow, dark, and strong winds – that will sway me towards the treadmill when all three are touched. But the rain wasn’t all that heavy, and the darkness was lifting, so there wasn’t really much temptation there – just a slower-than-usual pace.)

The kids are kids. Gabe is doing fantastically in his summer class, with his teachers praising him to the heavens. Sam is doing well, too, though he’s had some issues with the older kids in his class, some of whom are naturally a bit sneery at the younger kid who’s there voluntarily instead of having been placed there for being behind. That’s been hard on Sam, and I don’t know if I’d have made the same decision to put him there had I really anticipated it. (He didn’t make things easier on himself by cheerfully announcing on the second day, “I’m here because I’m really good at reading!” ) His teacher’s standing up for him, thank goodness, but…I’ll breathe a sigh of relief when it’s over next week.

Summer is going quickly. How did that happen?

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I banished them to their beds. They were given books, since I’m not completely heartless, and a stand fan to match the ceiling fan. They tried a few halfhearted requests for clemency after a few moments, but parole was denied.

About 15 or 20 minutes later, they were both sacked out cold. Or warm. However you want to put it. They just couldn’t maintain consciousness. Score one for the Queen.

Come to that, I’d really love to join them for forty winks or so, but I have a kingdom to run and a pile of pants to mend. (Somebody must have kidnapped the maids when I was in the basement doing laundry holding court in the exquisitely-maintained garden.)

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Thanks to Ted (You Don’t Have to Run Alone), Jake (Run Like Health), Steven (The Devoted Runner), and a female listener who didn’t leave her name (thank you, and please let me know who you were! The voice is SO familiar; I just can’t place it!) for their contributions. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
David R. Merry – Running Scared 2008

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!

The horse trail:

The tunnel:

The Creepy:

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The short of it is, I finished in 6 hours, 47 minutes, which was apparently good enough for 2nd place in my age group and 12th woman overall. The award for placing in my age group?

Long story:

• Got there about 45 minutes early; got thoroughly intimidated by the parking area full of cars that had plenty of magnets, but nothing less than “50″ on them. (One said, “You ran a marathon? That’s cute.” ) Rachel didn’t roll in until 5:20 (start was at 5:30), so I had plenty of time to fret and feel out of place. Just before the start, I heard my name, and Brian was right behind us! That was cool.
• First leg was going to be the toughest, from my study of the course, and my fretting made it worse; my stomach clenched, I thought I would puke, and I entertained doubts about even finishing. Rough getting started. Running down the ski slope was massively hard, especially due to it having been turned into a mud slide by faster runners.
• The uphills were killer, but we decided to stick quite a bit to a 4″/1″ run-walk strategy whenever we could. It helped break things up a bit.
• I fell hard three times – once just after 7 miles, again near the same spot on the way back at the end, and again not long after that. I was covered in mud and grime, and I was pessimistically convinced I’d killed my phone with at least one of those falls, but it turned out just fine.
• Stone stairs = whoa. That was incredibly intense, and it seemed to go on forever. (I cracked jokes that, geometrically speaking, I’d always thought of “up” as a limited thing, not a line without an end point.) No way to run that – at least, not at my skill level.
• In leg 5, what the packet described as “off trail section of about half a mile through the woods with bad footing”? HA-HA-HA! Nothing but slippery, mossy rocks, which you had to scale by gripping the trees around them.
• Long legs are invaluable in climbing up and down ledges. Rachel has ‘em. I don’t. Had to use my hands and arms to help climb more than once.
• Both IT bands took turns alternating with the pain. Oh, well; at least there was variety.
• By the end, Rachel and I were alone quite a bit, and I was whipped. We got to the final turn and saw the finish line, and Rachel yelled, “Go!” I said, “I’m in ‘go.’ This is ‘go.’ YOU go!” and she took off like a killer was chasing her.

So, Rachel took second in her age group, too, and 11th female. It was massively difficult; other runners with whom we chatted afterward said it was one of the gnarliest 50Ks they’d done. For a long time, I thought that we were the last two women off the course, but just as I told Rachel that, another 50Ker crossed the line, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see when the final results get posted.



Verdict: fun. But mostly in hindsight. Will I do it again? Well, it’s kind of like childbirth, in this case, I think. Ask me when my wounds have healed!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/10/race-report-dances-with-dirt-devils-lake-50k/feed/ 15 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/07/wtrs-episode-18-ready-steady/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/07/wtrs-episode-18-ready-steady/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:10:36 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1526 Almost game day. Ack! I’d welcome any voicemails and comments, especially so I can put them on my phone to play during the hard parts of the race. 262-424-0426 Three days away!

Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Whenever You’re Ready

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/07/wtrs-episode-18-ready-steady/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/06/lets-get-this-party-started/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/06/lets-get-this-party-started/#comments Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:47:19 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1522 “I realize that the course for the DWD presents a number of potential dangers to me and I hereby assume the risk arising from all of them.”

My race instructions and details arrived in the mail. It’s here. Devil’s Lake is on Saturday.

“I realize that my participation in this event entails the risk of injury or even death…I know that broken bones, reaction to poison ivy, insect bites, and bruising are common occurrences in this extreme event and that I will be far into the wilderness away from medical support.”

Along with this cheerful bit of a liability waiver is a course map and a pamphlet with instructions and descriptions of the course legs. Um, how steep is a Bunny Slope? How about an Intermediate ski slope? (Never mind; it’s about 970 feet over a couple of miles, is how steep, at least when you combine the two.) I actually think I’m more concerned about running down the Double Black Diamond. I’ve never been skiing, but somehow, that name doesn’t sound “gently sloping” to me. And of course, that would be the part that they’re describing as having tall, footstep-obscuring, grass.

But all that’s just the first 4.5 miles. Then the fun really starts.

“I certify…that I have trained adequately for this race.”

I certainly hope I have. I guess we’ll see on Saturday!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/06/lets-get-this-party-started/feed/ 3 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/03/its-the-little-victories/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/03/its-the-little-victories/#comments Sat, 03 Jul 2010 23:33:52 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1519 After a day of mild frustration (bickering from the kids, slight rejection for both of them from neighborhood punks children, Eric sick and resting in bed all day long), I was pretty darn proud of myself for not only not scooping the boys up and taking us out to eat, or even ordering pizza (both of which are now strictly budgeted), but preparing a quite respectable dinner. Sam had been long requesting a white bean soup I’ve made in the past, so I made that, Moosewood cornbread, braised rainbow chard, and baked chard stems. I knew that neither kid would eat everything, but I figured the cornbread to be a hit, that Sam would naturally eat the soup, and that Gabe would perhaps pick some cheese off the chard stems.

Sam ate…cornbread. Apparently, the bean soup wasn’t what he thought it would be. Gabe wouldn’t eat it, either. Surprisingly, he was willing to eat a chard stem. Only one, but, hey, it’s the small things. Sam wouldn’t even touch them with his utensil.

But we didn’t go out to eat. Yay?

I think I’ll just enjoy this glass of red zinfandel, here – purchased before the budget went into effect, naturally.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/03/its-the-little-victories/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/02/wtrs-episode-17-psyched-up-psyched-out/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/02/wtrs-episode-17-psyched-up-psyched-out/#comments Fri, 02 Jul 2010 20:46:06 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1517 Finished my last big run before Devil’s Lake!

Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Al Stravinsky – Twilight Run

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/02/wtrs-episode-17-psyched-up-psyched-out/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/01/impromptu-review-clif-crunch/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/01/impromptu-review-clif-crunch/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:03:38 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1506 Eric walked through the door a moment ago, just as I was rummaging through the pantry. “I had lunch, but I’m still hungry,” I grumped. He handed me the mail, which included a box – a free sample from Clif! What perfect timing! I don’t usually do reviews on the blog, but it just seemed so opportune that I felt the spirit move me.

First, although unrelated to the actual sample, I have to say that the packaging was a bit of overkill. The bar was in a sturdy box far too large for it, filled mostly with shredded paper. Still, it didn’t hurt, and it was attractive. Easily recycled, too.



The Clif Crunch Granola bars reminded me a lot of the Nature Valley granola bars: two thinnish, crunchy bars, light brown in color. The taste, though, was sweeter and more complex; I could definitely taste more honey and less of the plain sugar that the other granola bars use for sweetener. The oats came through more cleanly, too. I know that I was hungry, but I positively gobbled these down and wished I had another!

Comparing the two bars, which I do because of the obvious similarities, the nutrition is basically the same, though there’s a touch more iron in the Clif bars, along with calcium that isn’t showing at all on the Nature Valley label. The larger difference lies in the ingredient list (first is the NV; second is the Clif):



If eating organic is important to you, the Clif bar is a winner. Actually, though, the main deciding factor for me would still be the taste. These things, after all, are meant to be treats in my book, not dietary staples. I can overlook much, in that framework; a granola bar doesn’t have to be a huge contributor toward my nutritional needs for the day. But taste is important, and the Clif bar tastes really, really good.

So, Clif, you win! Can’t wait to see these show up on the shelves at my grocery store! (Hopefully, my new grocery budget will allow for some bars when they do. )



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/07/01/impromptu-review-clif-crunch/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/30/confessions-of-a-stupidshopper/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/30/confessions-of-a-stupidshopper/#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:22:34 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1502 I have a confession to make.

Some people I know are really, really “good” at shopping. They can – and do! – use coupons. They can calculate unit prices in their heads, and they can recall from memory what a reasonable unit price for any particular item might be. They can keep a running tally in their heads as they shop, estimating how much they’re spending as they go.

I am not one of those people. I blush to admit it, but until now, I’ve tended to impulse shop the whole way through the store. Looks yummy? I’ll get it. Shopping online, through Peapod, helped some, but I’ve sort of stopped doing that as I’ve gotten more into label reading and healthy eating; many of the more obscure items (chia seeds and nut butters, I’m looking at you) just aren’t on Peapod, so I’ve drifted away.

Now, Eric supports us well, but it’s pretty frustrating to see a paycheck just vanish every couple of weeks the way it seems to. We started taking a look at it, and…it’s food. It’s eating out, and it’s groceries. Gah.

From two different directions over the past couple of days, I got added motivation to change. First, my cell phone died on my run Saturday. We replaced it Monday evening, which I’d been dreading having to do, since the stuff I was able to do for “free” on my old phone was going to require a data plan on a new phone. (Reader’s Digest Condensed Version: all I wanted was my calendar on my phone, and any phone able to sync up, even over USB, with my computer’s calendar was going to have to be a “smart phone,” and a new law as of this year requires all smart phones to have a data plan, whether you’re planning to use it or not. ) So Eric chose for me this new phone (thank you very much, corporate discount!). The added monthly bill for the plan isn’t nice, but what is nice is the way this phone seems fairly eager to assist me in budgeting and spending control. (Hey, there, free Mint.com app!)

This is getting long. Anyway, Eric and I looked at finances, and he decided we’d start with trying to keep grocery bills under $80 a week. Now, that sounds reasonable, but I’m sort of embarrassed to say how tense I got just thinking about it, feeling like there was just no way I could do it. I am appallingly bad with numbers, and I’ve never been good at budgeting. Add to that the fact that I’ve fallen off with meal planning (picky eaters can take the wind out of your sails quite a bit), and…my nails, they were well-bitten.

Then I went to the store this afternoon (sans kids, thank God), phone in hand, with a grocery list and an app that kept a running tally of expenses for me. Eric called partway through and joked that he was picturing me whimpering “Clean all the things?”, which wasn’t all that off-base.

But.




$79.27, y’all. And that was even without calling Eric and demanding to know whether he and the boys really needed to be eating extremely overpriced hunks of animal meat, anyway.

(Now, don’t make me go back. And if the boys gripe about no snack crackers, I’m going to throw things.)



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/30/confessions-of-a-stupidshopper/feed/ 7 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/29/so-3/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/29/so-3/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:05:38 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1500 So yesterday Eric took the day off from work, and after we dropped the kids off at summer school, we had a lovely morning over coffee. Then he needed to pick up new glasses, and I went to get the kids while he handled that. We got back to the house around 12:30.

And found the dining room window bent in half, ripped from its frame.

Somebody, while we were gone, came into our house and took away a collection of portable electronics. Our iPods, the boys’ handheld video game players (including the plastic box of cartridges), two laptops, some older PDAs. They attempted to but didn’t take the main computer, probably because it was large and connected to such a mess of cables. They didn’t take the kids’ game consoles, probably because they’re old and not worth much, but they did yank them out of the entertainment center and strew them across the floor in a hasty search. Interestingly, they didn’t touch my camera or my pearl necklace, both of which were visible on the desk, next to the iPods that they were so careful to pack up with all their necessary cables and chargers. They didn’t take any medications. The search appears to have extended upstairs into our bedrooms (the drawers were yanked out and rifled; the closets were tossed), but nothing was taken from there.

It was all just stuff. It was all replaceable. What shakes me to my core is this: somebody came into my house. They probably knew my routine, knew that I take the boys to school in the morning and am gone for at least that time. But what they couldn’t have known was that Eric would be home. The scene that plays through my head is one where Eric takes the boys to school, I stay home and wait for him, and I hear the window being broken while I’m alone. Or I take the boys by myself, Eric stays home, and I come home to find something has happened to him. Yes, they probably would have run if they’d been caught…but nobody can be sure of that. An intruder, in a panic, could choose fight over flight, and those are the images I can’t stop seeing.

The kids are shaken; they keep panicking over misplaced objects, leaping to the conclusion that they’ve been stolen. Sam keeps thinking they’ll come back again. I’m trying to stay calm on the outside when the kids are watching me, but when they’re not around, I’m just trying not to break down.

Whoever did this, whoever you are, I hope you’re pleased with yourself. (And enjoy trying to sell that one particular laptop. Maybe you’ll get some quick cash from somebody in need of a large doorstop.)



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/29/so-3/feed/ 13 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/27/the-aftermath/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/27/the-aftermath/#comments Sun, 27 Jun 2010 14:48:38 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1497

(Pictures stolen from Rachel, as I warned her I would do!)

So, we ran a really, really long way yesterday. More to the point, we ran it on the Ice Age Trail, involving over 8,000 feet of climbing. It was incredible, and incredibly intense. Highlights, and lowlights, included:

• Horseflies all over the gosh-darn place, despite repeated applications of bug repellent. Our hair was full of flies!
• Sections where the trail was almost completely obscured by hip-high wild grass – beautiful, but hard to run through, and we had to try hard not to think about snakes…
• I fell pretty hard around 9.5 miles – unfortunately, while I was trailing on the single track, which meant that not only did I get a skinned elbow, but also a shoe to the face. Lesson learned: trail from further behind.
• Mushrooms with caps larger than my open, stretched palm!
• Green that was greener than any green I’ve ever seen.
• Running low on water = bad.
• The high you get from finding and replenishing with fresh water = enormous!
• Tons of great conversation, as well as quiet periods to reflect on God’s astounding creation.
• Friendly campers and hikers put perk into your step.
• Friendly campers playing music while you change socks really put the perk there! It’s a pretty good sign that you’re getting a second wind when you can do the Time Warp at 17 miles into a trail run. (Me, not Rachel. She’s never seen the Rocky, if you can imagine!)
• Randomly-placed benches are awesome. Remembering the approximate locations of the benches for your return run makes for a great motivator (although I did start to wonder whether I’d hallucinated the first bench when it was well beyond the spot where I thought it would be).
• My feet swelled pretty badly, which made the downhills extremely painful on my toes. The possibility is strong that I’m going to lose my big toenails over the next few days; they’re pretty dark. At one point, when I accidentally booted a large rock with one, I screamed! Going to relace my shoes, possibly get a second pair of larger shoes to change into at the midpoint aid station for Devil’s Lake.
• Reached the end of the run a little short of where we wanted to be, mileage-wise, and we still had the mental fortitude to make up most of it on the roads around the parking lot. Boo-freaking-yeah!

I’m sure I’ll remember more, but for now…it’s taper time! Ten miles to do today (probably with plenty of walking; my sore toes are more the reason than my tired legs, though), and ten miles is the longest run length I have from here on out to the race. I can’t believe it’s finally here!




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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/27/the-aftermath/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/25/always-look-on-the-bright-side-of-life/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/25/always-look-on-the-bright-side-of-life/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:55:52 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1494 If it’s raining on Saturday when we’re running 26-28 miles, it shouldn’t be too sticky-steamy (probably).

If it’s thundering, it’ll add to the excitement. In the same vein, suddenly slipping down hills on impromptu mudslides should also add a bit of mystery to each next step. On the other hand, keeping our footing should keep us slow, which would help my IT band – bonus either way.

If I get incredibly sore, it’ll make relaxing at Sam’s pool party feel awesome the next day, right? (You know, after I put in ten more “recovery” miles. Have to pay my dues, y’know.)

I am DEFINITELY earning a corner piece of the birthday cake. Aw, yeah, frosting.

At least the trails we’re planning to use are the ones that didn’t get hit by tornadoes this week, hey?

In all seriousness, the real bright side here is that if it is raining on Saturday, it will allow for us to experience what we haven’t experienced in this entire training cycle: trail running in poor weather. I would bet real money that this guy would not cancel a race because of a little falling water:


They’ve rerouted the race in the past due to flooding, but cancel? Yeah. So having a little extra preparation under our belts could be a useful thing, if uncomfortable in the short-term. And that’s what I’ll keep telling myself…



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/25/always-look-on-the-bright-side-of-life/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/24/wtrs-episode-16-gooses-geeses/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/24/wtrs-episode-16-gooses-geeses/#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:50:44 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1492 Everything from feathered “friends” to the oldest profession.

Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Sender – Out There

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/24/wtrs-episode-16-gooses-geeses/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/23/stress/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/23/stress/#comments Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:13:03 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1489 Several weeks ago, Eric turned off the van and heard a long, loud gurgle from the air conditioning. We haven’t had air since then. Today, I had an estimate done for repair. $$$

A few weeks ago, while playing outside at a wedding reception, Gabe decided it would be a grand idea to pitch rocks into the air. One came down directly onto the car of the wedding photographer. He had two different estimates done for the repair work. $$$

Eric had some medical testing done about a week ago. $$$
I’m having physical therapy. $$$

Sam’s birthday party is this weekend. $$$

In about two weeks, we’re going to Devil’s Lake for my race. $$$

If anybody has any extra seedlings for a backyard money tree, keep me in mind; I’m on the hunt.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/23/stress/feed/ 6 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/21/oh-sam/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/21/oh-sam/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:31:39 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1485 Sam is, unfortunately, a little shy when it comes to dealing with adults in certain situations – a waiter asking him what he wants, a stranger asking him how he’s doing in school. He freezes a little, and if he can get the answer out, it’s often very quiet and sort of choked. This is sort of new; when he was a toddler and in preschool, he reveled in chatting with everybody, but as he’s gotten older, he’s become more withdrawn. We’ll try to prompt him, and we keep fingers crossed that he’ll grow back into his self-confidence.

Sometimes, it happens with other kids, too, if he’s caught by surprise. Today, while I was with him at his summer school (a tale of mishaps, that; the brief version is that his computer class got canceled, but the principal arranged to put him into a reading class at a level above his grade, so it’s fine), and a couple of kids passing in the hallways yelled, “Hey! I know you!” Sam froze, total deer-in-the-headlights. I prompted him with a whisper to smile and say hello, so he did, but it was glaringly obvious that he had no idea who these kids were. Undaunted, they pressed on. “You were at that festival with the bikes!” Sam’s smile slipped a little. “Yeah, you were doing all the tricks! I liked the frog-jumping one! I’m working on that one now!” And they waved madly as they kept going. Sam grinned a very sickly grin, nodded, and turned away.

“Um, Sam?” I said. “I’m pretty sure you don’t know them. I think they have you confused with somebody else.” He looked even more baffled. “I mean, can you do bicycle stunts? And have you ever performed them at a festival, for an audience?”

“No,” he said. “I can do a wheelie, though.” He looked back at the boys, confused. Poor kid; life’s tricky enough without being mistaken for Evel Knievel, especially when you lack the social skills to credibly deny it.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/21/oh-sam/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/20/race-report-2010-lighthouse-run/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/20/race-report-2010-lighthouse-run/#comments Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:15:27 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1483 More of a “race” report, really. I went into the race knowing I didn’t want to deplete myself, and that my knee really needed a very low-key training run. Also, the temperature was around 75 degrees at the start, and it was very humid due to storms the day before. (Evidence: our neighbor’s tree.) I woke up with race-day energy, but I decided to empty some of that out by cycling to the race start.

At the starting line, I found some friends from running club, and I wound up running with Dan, who planned to take things very slow and use walk breaks. Sounded great to me! It was very hot, and I had a handheld water bottle (also calculated to slow my pace) that I sipped throughout. We walked often, and we chatted the whole time, just enjoying the atmosphere and the company. As a result, I finished the ten miles with a personal worst race time of 1:44:59, but it was exactly what I wanted: my knee felt fine, and my energy levels were still high enough to handle the coming week’s brutal mileage, and the day’s heat didn’t leave me feeling sick. I biked home a little more tired in the legs than when I started, but I even had enough left in the tank to get me through a day at Legoland with the family. Beautiful!

And then I went out today and did a second ten miles at a more brisk pace, but I still felt really good. The IT band seems to be holding up well, thanks to all the rolling and the PT. Three more weeks until race day!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/20/race-report-2010-lighthouse-run/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/20/happy-fathers-day/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/20/happy-fathers-day/#comments Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:35:35 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1478

Happy Father’s Day, Eric. This morning, we gave you breakfast in bed, prepared by Gabe and me, and a colorful card that Sam made himself. (GABE: “Dad, did you like my card? Sam did most of the work, but I wrote my name.“) We’re all a bit beaten and exhausted from Sam’s birthday trip to Legoland yesterday (oh, and I ran Lighthouse yesterday morning; I’ll do a report later), so now Eric’s relaxing in bed and enjoying a lazy morning that he very much deserves. And yes, that picture up there is two different babies, if you can believe it! It’s hard to believe those two little balls of sleepy newborns grew into this:



And happy Father’s Day to these other two fathers, too! Without you having been the dads you were, we couldn’t be the people we are, and we love you so very much.

 


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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/20/happy-fathers-day/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/16/one-more-sleep/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/16/one-more-sleep/#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:44:20 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1472 …and I’ll have a nine-year-old boy. I find that hard to believe. Somebody’s pulling a practical joke, or else it’s all been a dream, à la Newhart, and I’m about to wake up next to a nursling. “Honey, you won’t believe the dream I just had. Now, can you burp this baby for me, so I can go get a drink of water?”

Or not. Perhaps it’s a little too vivid, if surreal.

He’s having a swimming party this year, and going along with our track record of fearing the unknown when it comes to planning birthday parties (you just don’t know what the weather will do around here), we booked an indoor hotel pool for it. Not too pricey, considering that it includes a party room for cake and gifts. Considering Gabe’s strong feelings about outdoor insects, also, it seemed prudent to plan for climate control. Interestingly, we’ve already far exceeded our usual rate of RSVPing this year (love not knowing if more than one or two guests are coming three days out from the party…); perhaps it’s the allure of the pool, or perhaps it’s a fluke, but I’ll take it.

But that’s not for a bit (the party is well after his actual birthday, due to scheduling stuff). I can’t wait to see his face when he discovers what we’re doing this weekend to celebrate his actual birthday… I anticipate much happy screaming on his part, as well as on his brother’s.

Just think: nine years ago, I was reaching the end of my rope, wondering if I’d ever have this child who was stubbornly refusing to make his downstage exit. Now…





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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/16/one-more-sleep/feed/ 4 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/16/wtrs-episode-15-bubble-wrap-knee/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/16/wtrs-episode-15-bubble-wrap-knee/#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:23:03 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1469 I think I need Peter Pan following me around, singing at me to “Think lovely thoughts!” (Picnics! Summer! TRAIL RUNNING! Oh, wait; maybe that’s not the traditional lyric…)

Thanks to OasisDouglas, Brian (RushRunner), Maryanne, and Gordon (Run to Disney) for their contributions. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
3 feet up – Breathe Out
Kate Nash – I Hate Seagulls

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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/16/wtrs-episode-15-bubble-wrap-knee/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/11/doesnt-feel-like-a-weekday/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/11/doesnt-feel-like-a-weekday/#comments Fri, 11 Jun 2010 21:35:35 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1467 The problem with summer break is that the days lose their sense of identity. It’ll get better when the kids start their summer school classes, but with other major activities also on hiatus, the weekdays just run together into a big smushed-up pile of Life. Today, we had Eric home in the morning for a doctor appointment, to which we drove him, which caused the whole day to feel like Saturday. Now he’s back at work, the kids are outside, and…I have no idea what it feels like anymore.

I know it’s not Saturday, though. If it were Saturday of this week, I’d either be out running 26 miles or exhausted from having done so already. That’ll be a treat; I’ll be all alone for the run, the rest of the running club not having the need to cover as much ground on trails as they can, and there are thunderstorms threatening. Oh, and the matter of my IT band. All told, this could be a real trial of a run. I think I’m already accepting the foregone conclusion that Sunday’s ten-mile recovery is going to involve a lot of walking.

(Side note: Oh, please tell me that’s not Gabe throwing another epic tantrum out there. I had to pull the boys in from playing with friends yesterday when I heard him start screaming in anger from all the way down the block. Mmm, okay, I don’t hear anything else, so if it was him, it was an isolated holler. We’ll just keep listening.)

Especially funny is that we have a wedding reception to attend later in the evening on Saturday. Here’s hoping for plenty of chairs, as well as relief that even if there is dancing, Eric definitely comes down on the side of spectator, not participant. Ordinarily, I try to beg at least one or two turns around the dance floor out of him, but he may get off lucky this time.

Oh, crap! Here’s something that just threw me: tonight is the church’s “School’s Out Bash” (our answer to VBS; the whole family attends a series of evening events scattered over the summer), which I almost completely forgot! See, it doesn’t feel like Friday!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/11/doesnt-feel-like-a-weekday/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/09/last-day-for-sam/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/09/last-day-for-sam/#comments Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:23:17 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1465

A rare appearance by him. I have so many more videos and pictures of Gabe lately, it seems, because Gabe is always all over me, yelling, “TAKE MY PICTURE!” or “MAKE A VIDEO OF ME!” Sam is more reticent. It’s nice when I can get him to share. He is just getting so big lately! He’s past my shoulder now, which is simply unacceptable. Of course, I’m short, and we’re still holding out hope he inherited taller genes. Really, though, would it be too much to ask for nature to allow me to grow taller while he does? (Sure would make those kitchen cabinets a little less annoying. Also, capri pants. I’d love to not look as though I just shrunk my trousers.)

So now I have a fourth-grader (despite Sam’s reluctance) and a kindergartner. And they’re both out playing in the neighborhood right now, which is the most bizarre thing ever, because how can I have kids that just…go, and I’m left saying, “Don’t run off and leave your little brother behind!” (I know he won’t, and even if he would, I would quickly HEAR ABOUT IT from Little Mister Indignant.) Shouldn’t somebody be sitting in my lap? Shouldn’t somebody be in that bouncy chair over in the corner…now, wait, what happened to the bouncy chair? I could swear it was here and occupied, just last night…

Everybody’s having babies, too, which goal I want to clarify quickly is not shared by us. No more babies; not even to try for a redhead (the question I get asked more often than the “trying for a girl” one). Nobody appears to be missing from our family, which is sort of the litmus test we use for such things. Still, it feels as though, with that decision made, we’ve officially moved on to the next stage of things, while many of my friends are opting for another go-around on the first ride. Honestly, this new stage is scary in its own right. New doors open, and all the things that were so very, very important in recent memory are fading. A brand new baby products store just opened downtown, and it looks awesome, but…*sigh* Somebody buy something nice for me, okay? (Well, not for me, you know. In my stead. As I would have liked to, had I a current need for a fleece diaper cover or teeny little twee moccasins.)

Caveat: the first person to try to “console” me, evil glint in his or her eye, with all the fun I’ll have shopping for aftershave, jockstraps, or prom boutonnieres gets it between the eyes.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/09/last-day-for-sam/feed/ 5 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/07/wtrs-episode-14-oh-gee-its-up-to-my-knee/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/07/wtrs-episode-14-oh-gee-its-up-to-my-knee/#comments Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:35:00 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1463 First major stumbling block of this training cycle, and it WOULD be the IT band…

Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Candye Kane – Hey! Toughen Up

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/07/wtrs-episode-14-oh-gee-its-up-to-my-knee/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/07/wincing/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/07/wincing/#comments Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:50:33 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1461 You would be amazed, if you haven’t tried it, how much it can BLOODY HURT to put your body weight onto and roll around on a tight IT band. Like, stomach-trembling hurt. Whimpering wildly hurt. Also, I managed to give myself some pretty wicked rug-burn on my elbow, which was not among the warnings I was given, but whatever. That hurts, too.

But Zach, the Wonder Physical Therapist, who understands my plight and is happy to get me where I want to be, says Roll, so I Roll. At least four times a day, five minutes at a time. When he said that, before I’d tried it for more than ninety seconds (which hurt but not too badly), I was all, “Only five minutes? Only four times?” Now I’m sort of dreading the evening, when I get to go again. Yet I know myself, and I know that when this initial pain wears down (the elbow is worse than the leg right now, already), I’ll be wanting to go again. I need this knee to be better. I need it now.

Zach was really quick to affirm that it was IT band, not “Runner’s Knee.” He did a little compression test, gripping me above the knee and having me extend and bend my leg, and when I nearly had to be peeled from the ceiling, he chuckled and had his answer. So there. I’ll be rolling and stretching, and I’ll be back in the office about twice a week for a few weeks, which is really aggressive, sure, but I don’t have a lot of time. He knows that, and he’s willing to work with my motivation. The only dilemma, as far as he sees it, is deciding whether it would be better to keep me running on roads for the moment, which would clear up the ITBS faster, or have me on the trails, which would benefit me in the race. He said I could do all the rest of my training on roads, get to the starting line feeling absolutely groovy, and just wipe up the mess afterward – and there would be mess, certainly, but I’d at least feel good for most of the race, if not so very much when I was done. I, um, sort of don’t like that idea.

Breathe in, now breathe out…keep rollin’, rollin’, rollin’, rollin’…



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/07/wincing/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/04/gabe-ism-9/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/04/gabe-ism-9/#comments Fri, 04 Jun 2010 22:09:38 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1459 GABE: “Mom, does “Joe” start with ‘s’?”
ME: “No, ‘s’ goes ‘ssssss.’ ‘Joe’ starts with a ‘juh’ sound. What goes ‘juh’?”
GABE: “‘Juh’…’j'?”
ME: “Right!”
GABE: “Then why does the song go,’S for Joe’?”
ME: “What song?”
GABE: “The Bible song.”
ME: “What Bible song?”
GABE: “The one that goes, ‘S for Joe.’”
ME: “Right. Could you sing a little more for me?”
GABE: “Ezra, Nehemiah, S for Joe.”

ME: “Honey, that’s supposed to be, ‘Esther, Job.’”
GABE: “Oh. Whatever.”


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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/04/gabe-ism-9/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/04/oh-the-knee-bands-connected-to-the-butt-band/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/04/oh-the-knee-bands-connected-to-the-butt-band/#comments Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:47:47 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1456 GABE: “Do I have school today?”
ME: “No, school’s out until fall.”
GABE: “Well, do I have MOPS?”
ME: “Not anymore. You outgrew it!”
GABE: “Church?”
ME: “Bible Blast is over for the summer.”
GABE: “Then what am I supposed to do with myself?!”

Somebody is going to be super fun until his summer classes start, can’t you tell?

Saw the doctor this morning. I decided when I woke up that I should take the day as a full rest day, no cross training, just to be safe. The doctor examined me and saw no signs of torn cartilage or anything like that; she thinks simple overuse, possibly with a touch of Runner’s Knee. I got a referral for physical therapy, and I asked her to make sure it was somebody aggressive and athlete-friendly. My appointment with them is on Monday; she thinks I probably should hold off running until then. Walking should be okay, but pain is to be my guide. That’s tricky when my brain is playing the “OMG, what was that twinge?” game, but I’ll try. I was listening to an episode of The Extra Mile with a Jeff Galloway interview in which he spoke of having injured runners, training for marathons, cut back to walking, and how they were really resistant to the idea but were able to recover and even come close to or meet their original race goals. That said, I want to keep my planned mileage, so I may be starting the weekend’s training sessions a bit earlier in the day than I planned. Can’t be helped.

Wish I had access to a pool. I’m not a Swimmer by anybody’s definition, but I can swim, and right now, pushing myself like that sounds awesome and safe at the same time.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/04/oh-the-knee-bands-connected-to-the-butt-band/feed/ 3 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/03/here-i-go-again/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/03/here-i-go-again/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:13:36 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1454 Yesterday’s 10-mile run went fine, with some very slight knee pain at the end. Over the course of the day, though, the pain worsened. I took ibuprofen, tried to rest it, iced it. It hurt. It still hurts. This morning, when I woke, it felt a lot better, but when I started out for my 4-mile run, the pain returned immediately, so I stopped and walked home.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. Really, really scared.

I’ll be calling my doctor this morning – oh, her office just opened, so I’ll call as soon as I finish typing this. If she wants to give me more advice, refer me to PT, whatever, I’m open to it. I will do whatever I have to do in order to make this work for DWD. I did sign up yesterday for the town’s 10-mile Lighthouse Run in three weeks (sandwiched the weekend between my last two long runs), but if I have to drop out, I’ll do it. I don’t even know for certain whether this is ITBS; when I had that issue before, it was only painful when I was running. This feel stiff and sore even when I just move it. It feels like it hurts to bend it.

Scared. And truly not wanting any words about worst-case scenarios, etc., right now. I’ve got enough doomspeak going on in my head for the moment.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/03/here-i-go-again/feed/ 7 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/01/highs-and-lows/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/01/highs-and-lows/#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:17:30 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1451 Saturday was a high point for me, because I’m completely loony – but in a way that I know many of you will understand. Woke up at 3 AM, picked up my friend Rachel at 3:30, and we were running trails by 4. I’m telling you, there has been little more surreal in my current list of life experiences than running through the woods, shin-deep in wet grass, by flashlight and chest light, seeing glowing green eyes through the darkness as we went. It was a rough run, especially after the water pump we were told would be working turned out not to be, so we both ran out of fluids partway around a large loop, but with a reasonable amount of walking, we did a total of 24 miles together.
  
It was a bit muddy out there.

But the “run” the next morning, Sunday, wasn’t so pleasant. My IT band along my right knee had begun barking a bit at the end of the trail run, and on Sunday, it was miserable from almost the beginning. I tried using a stabilizer band, but it helped not one bit. I stopped and stretched frequently, walked a bunch, but it wound up being a horrible death march home in the end. It’s amazing, too, how one bad run, even a really bad one – in a cycle where you haven’t had a bad run like it in many, many weeks – can make you feel like an abject failure. I spent the rest of the day only a breath away from sudden surges of anxiety and panic, convinced that I was completely broken and in no way able to do this 50K in only a little more than a month. I stretched, I took some antinflammatories, and I stretched some more, but mostly…I freaked.

Monday was Memorial Day, and I wasn’t scheduled to run. Instead, I woke up early to beautiful, cooler weather, and I decided to hop on my bike and enjoy. I rode to several cemeteries, taking in the flags and decorations; at points, I saw people decorating the graves, at least a few of whom appeared to be personally mourning a loved one. The concept of “Happy Memorial Day,” as some folks use it, makes me uncomfortable; Memorial Day is full of mixed feelings for me, as I think of all those souls lost, freely given or not. My father is a veteran, as was my grandfather. The day isn’t about barbecues or the opening of swimming pools; it’s about service and the commemoration of those who’ve served in ways I can’t begin to fully comprehend. Seeing the rows upon rows of flags over burial mounds drives that home, and riding through the cemeteries allowed me to step outside of myself and gain perspective.

And then we went to a parade, where we got a bit drenched with rain. Would have felt wrong to leave, though.

So I was feeling a bit more balanced when I woke this morning, prepared to run, prepared to see where I stood with my IT band. And I was ready to do that, feeling optimistic, right until just before I headed out the door. I checked my email. I saw this. Along with many, many other parents, I’ve been praying for Henry since his overdose and attack – praying for a miracle, praying for strength and peace for his family. Reading of his passing felt like the bottom dropping out of my stomach. I ran out the door. My IT band was fine (oddly, the left one started whimpering a bit on the way home), but my mind wasn’t on it. My legs can run, but another mama’s baby never will again. Perspective.

Hug your babies today. Take time to appreciate what their bodies, and yours, can do. Don’t take anything for granted. This morning, I have life, and I have liberty, and I have healthy children, and…just so, so much, and I am in tears – tears for Katie and for Henry and for other mother of other lost babies, in graves with flags or in coffins so small it shouldn’t be possible.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/06/01/highs-and-lows/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/29/wtrs-episode-13-small-downs-large-ups/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/29/wtrs-episode-13-small-downs-large-ups/#comments Sat, 29 May 2010 21:42:53 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1449 Little irritants and mishaps can’t erase the fun of the huge adrenaline high!

Thanks to Bruce (Confessions of a Race Addict) for his contribution. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Jason Brock – Rule the World

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/29/wtrs-episode-13-small-downs-large-ups/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/28/oh-thats-my-boy/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/28/oh-thats-my-boy/#comments Fri, 28 May 2010 18:03:31 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1443 Some kids just finish preschool.


Others rock out.



And yes, I cried. But only a little. Not that Gabe didn’t try to provoke, with his, “I’m sorry you won’t have a preschooler anymore. Will you be sad when you don’t have a preschooler anymore?” on the way into the building. Little stinker. But it’s hard to be mopey, I have to tell you, when you’re listening to a herd of precious voices singing the months of the year to the tune of, and while dancing, “The Macarena.” And the metal horns he kept tossing up were priceless.

(For comparison. If you’ll excuse me, I need to find a rocker and a cane now.)



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/28/oh-thats-my-boy/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/25/happy-anniversary/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/25/happy-anniversary/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 20:10:09 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1440 Thirteen years. That is a really, really, really long time, especially when you also consider that we’ll have been together for seventeen years this fall, which is half my current age. Wow. And I honestly can’t think of anybody I’d rather have spent that time with, growing together as one.

That stinker got the jump on me with gifts, giving me mine last night before we went out together. He got me this dress:



…which is very cute and pretty and makes me feel all feminine. On the other hand, he also said that he chose this style because of my shoulders and back, and how I needed to show them off.



Perhaps a little less feminine. Well, in the old-fashioned sense, perhaps. Girls can be muscled! It’s just been a while since I looked at my back. Some views, others get to appreciate more than we ourselves do. I hadn’t noticed this development until now. Hmm.

Eric’s gift is being given to him on our anniversary, as I planned. He’ll have to wait until he gets home! We weren’t able to go out tonight, as Sam has a Pack meeting for Scouts, but that’s worth the inconvenience. If I’m not entirely mistaken (and I could well be; these things confuse me a lot), I think Sam advances rank tonight? If not, it’ll still be fun. Oh, and my folks got us a fruit arrangement! Can’t wait to dig into that! (But I will, of course. Eric, hurry home! )



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/25/happy-anniversary/feed/ 3 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/24/addiction/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/24/addiction/#comments Mon, 24 May 2010 12:45:52 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1437 It can be a sneaky, sneaky thing. Yesterday, due to circumstances, I wound up not drinking any coffee, and my mood went KABLOOEY by 4PM – along with everybody else’s, for some reason – resulting in mass hysteria and early bedtimes for all. Interestingly, the time between the sentencing and the execution wound up being some of the better hours of the day; Sam was “confined to quarters,” so he grabbed a book and read for a very long time, even yelling, “Hey, Mom! Reading is fun!“, and Gabe played happily and (mostly) quietly until bathtime. I, myself, wound up crashing unexpectedly at 7PM, when I couldn’t keep my eyes open on my book anymore.

Today will be better. I have faith. Also, I have a date. Tomorrow marks thirteen years of marriage for Eric and me, and we’re going to relax and enjoy the evening together sans kids. Woo!

Upcoming week’s going to be rough. A total of about 52 running miles, about half of which will be centered on Saturday. (Still waiting to hear from Rachel to see whether we’ll do them with running club or on a trail.) At least the weather will break a little bit; somebody told me that this summer is supposed to be warmer than average, and I ATE THEIR HEAD. Seriously, if I enjoy one thing about this place, it’s that summers don’t get hot, or at least not for more than a couple of weeks. Don’t mess with me, Wisconsin.

Oh, but we booked our Waterpark Hotel for when I’m running DWD. Somebody should be cool and splashy while I’m getting beaten up by rocks, bugs, and mud that morning, right?



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/24/addiction/feed/ 4 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/21/i-am-not-above-bribery/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/21/i-am-not-above-bribery/#comments Fri, 21 May 2010 21:03:04 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1433

Been dealing with some behavior issues from Sam lately, to which I alluded when I mentioned his allergy testing. It’s nothing malicious or even mischievous, honestly; it’s just plain old, garden-variety scatterbrainedness. Talking when he should be. Fiddling with things in his desk instead of paying attention. Not participating in class, to the point where he has no idea what they’re discussing. It’s driving his teachers, and us, crazy. I talked to Mom yesterday, and I begged her for every horror story she could give me from my own childhood. “I’ve tried to forget most of them!” she laughed. “Try harder to remember,” I said.

I was chronically tardy, unwilling to cooperate or participate in class. Going through my desk was always a terrifying adventure of discovery. Mom despaired of ever reaching a happy ending with me, and nothing worked to change things, until I hit sixth grade and suddenly everything resolved on its own. She also claims never to have said, “I hope you have kids just like you someday!” but I think I don’t believe that. Somebody must have, anyway.

Hopefully, the allergy med adjustments will help; I seem to recall that they have in the past. In any case, I’m also willing to try “helping” by providing incentive to work harder. Sam’s never been one to follow trends (I blogged once, long ago, that when I asked him what kids at his school were “into,” he said, “Math?”), but from what I’ve heard from other places, Silly Bandz are the Hot New Thing that All The Cool Kids Have. (I also find it amusingly fitting, as a couple of people have suggested having Sam wear a rubber band on his wrist, snapping it when he catches his attention wandering.) Perhaps if he can go a week with no notes being sent from school, we can treat him to some of these; the price is certainly right. (Each of these packs was a buck.)

Ugh. Well, school just let out; I need to try to call and touch base with his teacher now, before she leaves the building.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/21/i-am-not-above-bribery/feed/ 3 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/20/marathon-photos-up/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/20/marathon-photos-up/#comments Thu, 20 May 2010 18:32:14 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1431 One thing about doing a race for a training run: you get photos. You also get evidence that, despite your efforts to the contrary, you are clenching your opposite fist when you carry something balled up in your opposite hand. I’ll probably take the time at aid stations at Devil’s Lake to stash the arm warmers in my pack instead of carrying them.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/20/marathon-photos-up/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/19/random/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/19/random/#comments Wed, 19 May 2010 22:25:54 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1429 GABE: “Mommy, I could broom the kitchen for you.”
ME: “Oh, that’s nice! Go on, then!”
GABE: “But I’m not going to. I just said I could. I don’t want to.”

Poor Sam, on the other hand, is still emotionally recovering from yesterday, when he had a recheck on his allergies. It’s been a long time since he was examined thoroughly, and back then, we were assured that he might grow out of some of those allergies and possibly into new ones. Recently, he’s been acting as though he’s allergic to pollen, for which he didn’t test positive back then, so I figured it was high time he got rechecked. This time, it was 52 pricks to the skin, and they were on his forearms, and he suffered much more visibly. It wasn’t just overreaction, either; one of his arms, the one exposed to tree and grass allergens, was visibly inflamed almost immediately from wrist to elbow. Poor kid has himself some nasty ragweed and related weed sensitivities. He’s also allergic to cats now. That’s just the icing on the cake, as far as he was concerned. So he’s on a new regimen of meds, which I hope helps in short order. It would probably explain some of the attention issues he’s been having in school lately; the doctor affirmed that.

Tangentially, the yard is in serious need of mowing. I suppose I’ll need to be ever more diligent about that from now on; can’t have the boy too miserable to play in his own back yard!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/19/random/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/18/wtrs-episode-12-green-bay-i-love-you/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/18/wtrs-episode-12-green-bay-i-love-you/#comments Tue, 18 May 2010 16:00:53 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1427 Third time is the charm! Green Bay turned out to really and truly be my “Baby Bear Marathon” – not too big, not too small, just right.

Thanks to Jake (Run Like Health) for his contribution. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Libman and Hudson – Prayer for the Packers

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/18/wtrs-episode-12-green-bay-i-love-you/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/18/race-report-green-bay-marathon/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/18/race-report-green-bay-marathon/#comments Tue, 18 May 2010 13:58:33 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1424 That. Was. FUN!

We got back in last night, and I am still riding the high from the weekend’s events. Things went perfectly according to plan! I went into this race viewing it as a training run, not a hill on which to die, and that’s what I got out of it. I felt awesome afterward, and today’s initial post-race run went beautifully, with no more soreness than I’d expect to feel after any other hard weekend of training.

On Saturday, both boys ran the Kids’ Power Run, a 1K race associated with the marathon. They had separate age-grouped waves, and Sam ran his alone about an hour before I had to run Gabe’s with him. Sam got a side stitch and stomach cramp pretty early on (probably not aided by wolfing down a huge muffin just before heading to the starting line), but he soldiered on and did his utmost to finish strong. Gabe got increasingly impatient as his turn approached, and he even got a bit nervous at the start line. Then the air horn sounded, and he burst onto the course as though it was a 100-meter dash. Naturally, he, too, got his own side stitch. He toughed it out, giving high fives to everybody he passed on the way to the finish line, and then he chugged a bunch of Gatorade (a beverage to which he now pledges allegiance). Both kids got rubber medals, which is awesome, I think.

Sunday morning, I hopped out of bed and geared myself up in everything I’d use for a training run, which had the effect of making me look a bit over-prepared. I heard a few people waiting in the Lambeau Field Atrium with me saying I looked as though I was going to run an ultra; it was better when they actually said as much directly to me, as though in a joke, so I could reply that, yes, that was the general eventual idea. I met up with the four-hour pace group, who were wonderfully friendly, and chatted with the leaders, two of whom were also ultrarunners. They understood immediately about my plan, which was encouraging.

It was warmer than I would have liked, but otherwise, the day was lovely. We all laughed and talked as we ran; within a few miles, another runner named Maria and I had formed a sort of alliance to get each other through. She was dealing with an ankle issue, and I let her know that I had a topical pain killer in my pack, should she need it. We slapped high fives at every mile marker, and those miles seemed to fly by! We carried each other for nearly nineteen miles, before she had to stop to use a bathroom and told me to go ahead.

After that, I latched onto Gordy, the most aggressive of the three pace group leaders. It wasn’t so much that I felt like being aggressive, but he was highly entertaining in his enthusiasm, and I decided that was just what the doctor ordered. For the rest of the race, I stuck with him, and the miles melted away. Near the end, I felt a little tired, and I fell behind him a bit, but not very much, and I wound up crossing the finish line at 3:57:45 – not a PR (I wasn’t aiming for one, of course!), but the most solid finish I’ve had at a marathon yet! It gave me a ton of confidence for heading into Devil’s Lake in eight weeks!

I never did get to see Maria again, though I waited at the reunion sign for her last name for a while. (When calling out for her last name, I forgot to also ask whether she was going to be at the sign, meeting family or friends. D’oh!) I did give her this URL, though, so…Maria, if you read this, drop me a line! I loved running with you! And Gordy: I didn’t give you my URL, but if by chance you come across this, I need to give you my thanks, as well. You made the race experience a total blast and success for me, and I can’t convey how much I appreciate it. Thank you!

So…one more race (the Lighthouse 10-miler) coming up, and then it’s ultra time. I feel jazzed! Of course, I still have three more really big training runs left, and they won’t have pace groups to help. Onward and upward!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/18/race-report-green-bay-marathon/feed/ 3 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/14/okay-here-we-go/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/14/okay-here-we-go/#comments Fri, 14 May 2010 17:29:43 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1422 Gotta get through:
- Laundry, packing, last-minute house prep
- 2.5 hour car trip with two young kids
- Kids’ race tomorrow (run with Gabe)
- 26.2 on Sunday morning

Really, what’s it say that the road trips up and back intimidate me as much as the actual running? Not to mention the packing and trying not to forget anything. Travel races are rough that way.

Last night, Sam asked what else we’d be doing there. “The Expo, for one thing,” I told him.

“What’s an expo?”
“It’s a…” I floundered, trying to multi-task unsuccessfully and subsequently losing my ability to communicate. “A thing.”
“Oh. I think I’ve been to something just like that,” he replied, without a hint of giggle.
“GO TO SLEEP.”

If anybody cares to track me, which you can do via text message or email, my bib number will be 1301. I’m not entirely sure what my finishing time will look like, since it’ll be warm, but maybe not too warm? I plan to stick with the four-hour pace group, but I’m not dying on that hill; if the weather warms up and I feel like it would deplete me too much to try to stay with them, I’ll fall back with no regrets. This is NOT my A Race. I have to have some reserves in the tank, finishing strong, ready to keep moving. This is a training run.

1 Corinthians 9:26
“Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.”




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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/14/okay-here-we-go/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/14/wtrs-episode-11-pre-green-bay/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/14/wtrs-episode-11-pre-green-bay/#comments Fri, 14 May 2010 12:17:18 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1419 Putting this up the morning before we head up to Green Bay for my “training run” marathon.

Thanks to Doug, Peter (BlackBike), and Ted (You Don’t Have to Run Alone) for their contributions. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Like So – Never Quite Sure

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/14/wtrs-episode-11-pre-green-bay/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/11/gabes-game/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/11/gabes-game/#comments Tue, 11 May 2010 18:05:29 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1417


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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/11/gabes-game/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/10/weirdness/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/10/weirdness/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 21:19:58 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1415 Yesterday, Eric gave me the opal ring, and I tried it on. It fit loosely on my pinky, but it wouldn’t quite go over the knuckle on my ring finger, which is where I wanted to wear it. Oh, well, we thought; my wedding set needs “taken in” a bit, anyway, so I figured I’d take them all to the store today.

Cue me at the jewelry counter this afternoon, taking the ring box out of my purse. “My husband gave me this ring yesterday, and it won’t quite fit on my…” I said, just as the ring easily slipped onto my ring finger. I stared at it. She stared at me.

“Well, it actually looks a little big for you now,” she said. “That’s Wisconsin. But your hands seem to really change a lot!” Gee, thanks for making me feel even more freakish, ma’am.

So we toyed around. My wedding rings turned out to be a size and a half different from each other, which I don’t recall being the case, but I have no clue anymore. They both needed to come down about three sizes, and that was with me being firm that I didn’t want them quite as small as she thought they should be; after all, if my fingers are going to blow up and shrink down like balloons, I’d rather not have my circulation cut off at random intervals. I decided that the opal ring is fine; it might spin a little around the base of my finger, but it’s not slipping back up over the knuckle, either.

(Surreal moment of the exchange: when talking about my fingers, she referred to the base of my finger as “even tinier” than the top. “Tiny” was never a word I’ve ever heard used in reference to my fingers, ever. I recall actually remarking to my mother once that the fake hands used to model rings in the windows of jewelry stores had the longest, most slender fingers ever, and how I wished mine were like that. Now, according to websites for a few stores I just checked, I’m about half a size away from the bottom of what they typically stock. Unless, you know, it’s yesterday morning. Sheesh.)



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/10/weirdness/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/09/mothers-day-in-pictures/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/09/mothers-day-in-pictures/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 00:07:48 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1413

That cake was decorated by Sam and Gabe. Eric made lasagna (from scratch, including the noodle) and garlic bread, and he gave me the flowers and the opal ring – to replace one he gave me before that I can no longer find, sadly. I feel thoroughly blessed, and not simply by the gifts. I feel blessed to have this family, so dear to me. My heart is full.

I am also blessed by my own mother.



I miss her daily, so far away in Maryland, but I can feel her presence every day. I hear her in my voice, for heaven’s sake. Her tone, her mannerisms, her words, her wisdom (when I manage to channel it; it’s far more elusive, unfortunately, than the vocal cadence) – it makes me smile to sense echoes of her inside of me. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. I wish I could be there with you, celebrating with your mom!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/09/mothers-day-in-pictures/feed/ 3 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/07/worries/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/07/worries/#comments Fri, 07 May 2010 13:50:15 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1411 …Sam came home yesterday from school, full of anxiety over a friend of his who had collapsed at lunch. Apparently, an ambulance was needed, and the kids were full of speculations and worst-case scenarios. (The little boy was drinking chocolate milk at the time of the collapse; I don’t suppose Sam is the only child who has now decided to never drink the school’s chocolate milk again, “just in case.”)

…Marathon in a little over a week. The weather, at this point, looks to be sunny, but with a high of seventy. That’s a little warm for my comfort zone. Oh, well; it’ll be warmer in July, when I’m running further and harder…

…Sump pump running. Please keep running, little pump.

…I’ve only got two more MOPS meetings (one official, one a “graduation breakfast”) before I’m aged out. What am I going to do without my regular infusion of adult contact next year? I’ve tried the PTA thing, and it doesn’t seem to be a fit for me.

I think I’m just grumpy from being tired, and I’m tired because my ear infection keeps me from getting a good night’s sleep. I’ve had an ear that’s been bugging me for a while, but on Monday, it finally pushed me to the point where I went to the doctor because it hurt so much. Well, I got ear drops for it, but they have a primary side effect of “ear pain,” and, yup, I got that side effect. The infection seems to be improving, but whenever something stirs me awake in the night (last night it was thunder), I become aware of the pulsing, dull ache, and it’s hard to get back to sleep after that. I don’t want to have to keep taking ibuprofen to deal with it, so I’m trying to tough it out…but I’m feeling pretty exhausted now. Yuck. At least it’s not as bad as it was, and I can tell the end is in sight for both drops and infection. In the meantime, I’m pretty glad it’s a step-back week and I don’t have to run so much…but I wish the weather was doing a better job of helping me stay upright and conscious. Thunderclouds and rain showers just make me want to go back to bed, even when I’m feeling 100%.

Somebody tell me something silly, something that’ll restore my bounciness?



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/07/worries/feed/ 7 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/05/wtrs-episode-10-hulk-smash/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/05/wtrs-episode-10-hulk-smash/#comments Wed, 05 May 2010 19:10:23 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1409 Good runs go bad, good days follow suit, and sometimes it’s better to be the little bird than the big one. But at least I’m not carrying a metal umbrella in a lightning storm.

Thanks to JayDub (Corso La Meta), Chris (Run Run Live), Gordon (Running to Disney), Ted (You Don’t Have to Run Alone), and Diane (Dyane1160) for their contributions. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
The Unfriendlys – Scream

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/05/wtrs-episode-10-hulk-smash/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/02/its-like-a-heat-wave/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/02/its-like-a-heat-wave/#comments Sun, 02 May 2010 21:57:25 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1407 Lots of people out there running this weekend in warm weather. It was pretty brutal back east, I understand, for a couple of friends I had running races there. In these parts, it was in the 70s, which is bad enough when running for any length of time. My 22-miler yesterday was harder than it needed to be, even, considering that I screwed up hydration again; when I took what I expected to be a nearly empty 64-ounce bladder out of my hydration pack, I found it was still almost halfway full. Gee, no wonder I felt like I was going to throw up around the 20-mile mark. At least I finished, without losing my breakfast and without collapsing. I probably could even have gutted out the extra miles to have made it a full marathon, but I’m glad I didn’t have to put that to a test. I really think carrying a handheld bottle with an electrolyte solution, besides my hydration pack, for Devil’s Lake is going to be a good idea. I don’t really like carrying a bottle, but it does remind me to drink more often, and I can always ditch it at an aid station later in the game, once I’m assured that things are going to be fine.

Just mowed the back yard. Another sign of warm weather’s return, and certainly one I could do without. Yuck. I could so live in a place without a yard, happily and contentedly, for the rest of my life. I don’t like gardening, I don’t like maintaining green space, and I really don’t like getting sweaty and dirty for what I see as a not very good reason. Nature should be able to take care of itself, as far as I’m concerned. But then Eric reminds me of bugs and rodents and other things that would also love for us to just let nature tend to itself around our house, and, well, out comes the mower. (And my bad attitude.)

Hey, speaking of nature, just a little bit ago, Sam and his neighborhood friends started frantically ringing our doorbell; apparently, a “crazy squirrel” was chasing them! And there it was, sitting on the steps of our porch: a baby squirrel, obviously very confused and not at all inclined to scurry off, no matter what noises Eric made at it. (I sat safely on the other side of the porch window, having seen America’s Funniest Home Videos enough to know what could happen next. Wildlife is wild, y’all.) He picked up a chair as though he was going to…bullfight it? Man, do I wish my camera batteries hadn’t been dead. Anyway, the squirrel was even more confused, and it ducked its little head down a step, while still maintaining an obvious curiosity about what this man would do next. A moment later, two neighbors strode up, drinks in hand. One held out an elbow to the squirrel…and it climbed on. According to the guy, this squirrel, among a group of other baby squirrels, was orphaned, so they were gathering them up. He walked away with it perched on his arm. I was too slow on the uptake to ask where he was taking it.

Weird, weird world, come the middle months.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/05/02/its-like-a-heat-wave/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/30/hmph/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/30/hmph/#comments Fri, 30 Apr 2010 20:16:45 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1405 Was gorgeous and warm this morning – upper 60s into the lower 70s, beautiful sun, a nice breeze. I decided, on the spur of the moment, to go for a bike ride instead of heading right to the gym after dropping Gabe off at school. Of course, as it was the first bike ride of the season, I first had to check my tires…which involved a Learning Opportunity for me. Hey, non-bike-riding friends! Did you know there are two different kinds of tire valves? And skinnier bike tires have a different kind than the “regular” (thick) tires you find on kids’ bikes – or, likely, on the kind you probably had on whatever bike on which you tooled around when you were young? Yeah, I don’t know how I’ve managed to go this long without checking the air pressure on this bike’s tires, but I guess I never have, because these were some weird-looking valve stems I’ve never seen before. (Presta, they’re called. The more you know…) I wound up checking the internet for videos and phoning my brother for help.

But once I was out, it was a glorious day for a ride. Did have an interesting moment when I stopped for lunch. I went into a restaurant, and the table kept vibrating unnervingly under my forearms. I remarked to the waitress that I hadn’t thought the roads were that bumpy, that I should be dealing with the reverberations so long after I stopped riding, and she told me that that particular table vibrated, due to something on the other side of the wall.

Now it’s feeling a little chillier, due to wind picking up, so I came home and checked the weather site…and there’s a Tornado Watch until 8 this evening. Yay? Some storms are supposed to crop up around 7, turn into real gangbusters later on, and then (HOPEFULLY!) disappear in time for my friends’ marathon and my own long run tomorrow morning. Going to be a warm one for that sort of running, but that’s better than storms or tornadoes…which will also HOPEFULLY not re-arise tomorrow afternoon or evening and make Eric’s return in any way complicated. Up with that, I will not put!

Trying one of these for the first time, in Cherry Pomegranate. It’s mushier than the picture indicates, with less delineation between the fruit and the crust. I think I like it better this way. It reminds me a lot of Larabars, except that since I sometimes find the dates overpowering in those (except in the peanut butter varieties), this is a pleasant alternative! Go, Clif! (Wish your pace teams were doing Green Bay. )



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/30/hmph/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/28/wtrs-episode-9-rational-or-irr/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/28/wtrs-episode-9-rational-or-irr/#comments Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:03:34 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1402 When the film heroine creaks up the stairs to the cobwebbed room with the bloodstains on the door, it’s a safe bet her fears are grounded. Wouldn’t it be nice if the rest of life was so obvious?

Thanks to Yang-May (Fusion View) and Douglas (OasisDouglas) for their contributions. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Smeer – Afraid

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/28/wtrs-episode-9-rational-or-irr/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/28/sidelined/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/28/sidelined/#comments Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:36:33 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1400 Oh, my independent 5-year-old. It’s “Wacky Day” at preschool today, and they’re supposed to dress the role, but he firmly brushed away all my suggestions and disappeared upstairs to come up with his own ensemble. A moment ago, he hollered down, “Does ‘wacky’ mean ‘old’ or ‘silly’?”

(He just now came down, dressed in a striped sweater, worn backward, sweatpants, and a police hat.)

Gabe’s so different from Sam, as always. They’re preparing for preschool graduation, which ceremony traumatized Sam four years ago. I didn’t want to put ideas into Gabe’s head that weren’t there already, so it was with extreme caution that I gently broached the topic of nerves about the big day this time. Gabe looked at me as though I was nuts. “I’m not scared!” he said. And he went right back to singing the songs they’ll be performing, giggling over particular lyrics that strike him as amusing. He doesn’t even have to worry about falling off the risers, this one; apparently, he’ll be standing right in the front row, feet on the floor. Such the polar opposite of my stage-shy big kid!

And for a future evil overlord (he wouldn’t wear his sweatpants backwards today, as he wanted to be able to “read the “blood words that say ‘EVIL’” on the front – actually a red logo that reads “OLD NAVY”), he’s becoming something of a peacemaker. Last night, Sam threw a complete conniption over a homework assignment; he was to write a story, and since his teacher’s been harping on it, I insisted that it be in good paragraph form. He ignored me and did it stream-of-consciousness-style, in one big wall of text, and when I told him to fix it, the howling began. Gabe promptly ran over and started screaming at both of us, yelling that he didn’t want any FIGHTING! (It was very loud in the living room for a few minutes, let me tell you.) Eventually, the story was re-written, and Sam apologized and recovered quickly, and all was well, thankfully.

Man, I can’t wait for Eric to get back. Four more days.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/28/sidelined/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/26/a-running-update/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/26/a-running-update/#comments Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:43:46 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1396 Twenty days to Green Bay; seventy-five to Devil’s Lake. So far, training has been going really well; I haven’t had to miss any planned runs, and all systems are working in order. I know there’s still a ways to go, in which anything at all could happen, but I’m feeling optimistic.

Almost hit a snag a couple of days ago, when I suddenly realized that I’d completely forgotten to reserve a hotel for Green Bay weekend. Talk about leaving things until the last minute! Thankfully, several host hotels still had rooms, so I was able to get into one where a bus will be able to pick me up marathon morning to take me to the start line; I was worried I’d have missed the boat on that and would have to figure out how to get there without disrupting the family’s ability to drive to the course later. Phew! I still haven’t reserved the hotel for Devil’s Lake, though; need to get on that, but Eric has ideas there, so I’ll probably wait until he gets home from his trip (he’s in Germany…again…).

The Germany trip is a big fat bummer for many reasons, of course, but one of them is this weekend’s running. I’m scheduled for a 22-miler on Saturday, which I just can’t see doing with boys in tow. I had considered doing them as part of the Wisconsin Marathon, until I remembered that Eric wouldn’t be home until later in the afternoon. I’m left with the option of doing them the next day or Saturday evening. Haven’t decided yet! Either way, I’m considering doing them at a local nature preserve with trails. It might be a good idea to do them Saturday afternoon and into the evening, which would give me practice at the end of doing trails on tired legs and with a flashlight and headlamp. Also, there’s a better chance of rain on Sunday than Saturday, so I’d be better off doing them earlier. I guess it’ll depend on what time Eric gets home, exactly.

Finally, I messed up, during a bit of familial upheaval over the past few weeks, and missed my opportunity to register for the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon this fall. Nuts! Now what? I was really hoping for a local race, to cut back on costs. Eric halfheartedly suggested Air Force, which I’d decided against for the travel aspect. I debated the Haunted Hustle marathon in Madison, too, which is on Halloween and sounds like fun. On the other hand, the Glacial 50K is eleven weeks after Devil’s Lake, which is the exact amount of time the first training plan I consulted figured I’d need to be ready. Coincidence? Hmmm. Whatever I do, I’ll need to pick soon; seems like marathons are the hottest trend these days, the way they’re filling up so fast.

(Oh, and Kate tapped me for a possible Ragnar team next year. )



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/26/a-running-update/feed/ 6 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/24/and-thats-not-even-talking-about-financial-aid/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/24/and-thats-not-even-talking-about-financial-aid/#comments Sat, 24 Apr 2010 20:21:31 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1391 I’m reading Getting In right now, and it’s a really good read. It’s also making my stomach hurt. See, it wasn’t that long ago that I was panicking and frantically searching for hoops through which to jump in order to make sure Sam got into the “right” elementary school, whether it have been magnet, charter, school choice, private, whatever. Every other parent, it felt like, was doing the same thing, and there were only so many “right” spots to go around, so those months before he lotteried into a good magnet school’s kindergarten were frenetic and crazy-making. (Thank God, the school he now attends has a sibling preference program, so we were able to escape the madness for Gabe.)

Now we’re nine years out from college…and this book has me feeling like I could throw up, just anticipating. Don’t wanna go through this! Save me!

To how many schools did you apply? Money was an issue for us, like it is for most folks, so my parents had me limit my choices to five schools. I had the blessed fortune to be born a “good tester,” so my PSAT, SAT, and ACT scores had me getting sheaves of college pamphlets in the mail every day, which eventually took over an entire corner of our living room. Overwhelmed! I first made a short list by geography (Mom wouldn’t let me go further than a few hours away from home), and then I called each school to verify which had A) bona fide music composition majors (as opposed to a few composition classes under an umbrella of “Music Theory/Comp”), and B) large marching bands. (Okay, we all had our own priorities; don’t judge.) In the end, I submitted apps to:

1) University of Maryland (in-state; most likely to fully fund me)
2) Penn State
3) Frostburg State
4) West Virginia University
5) James Madison University

Of the five, JMU was my favorite. Sadly, they were also the only one to give almost nothing in the way of scholarship money, so it was off the table for us. Penn State also didn’t come through with much aid. Frostburg and Maryland offered full tuition packages, but I heard rumors that their music composition major was on the chopping block (which turned out to be accurate), so I nixed them; Maryland’s counselors actively tried to steer me away from music composition and into computer programming at my interview (saying I could then get a Master’s in theory and not do a composition program until the doctoral level…), so I had misgivings there as well.

WVU offered a full ride and no warning bells. Let’s go, Mountaineers! And despite my concerns about the lack of a single, contained campus (oh, JMU was so pretty when we visited!), it was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made – and not just because Eric was a student there already, just waiting to meet me.

In hindsight, I probably had it easy with the whole college selection and admission process. My program wasn’t extremely competitive to enter (that was left for grad school), and I knew that Ivy League was financially out of the question before I even entertained the thought. I can only hope and pray my boys have it as easy as I did, with solid test scores and reasonable criteria for their schools. I’d of course love to see them at our alma mater…but it’s up to them. (But I’ll be honest enough to admit that I do pray that they’ll at least go to college. I don’t think I’m unusual in that wish.) I think that’s part of what’s making me antsy as I read the book, though; staying hands-off is sometimes a challenge for me, and that’s a theme for the parents in the story. I can identify with them and their stress far too easily.

Nine years. Six, probably, until the real stress starts. Hold me!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/24/and-thats-not-even-talking-about-financial-aid/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/23/sigh-2/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/23/sigh-2/#comments Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:17:25 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1388 ME: “Do you like green beans?”
GABE: “Maybe I’ll have some tomorrow. They’re so last year.”

I’m roasting everything tonight. Honestly, I just looked at my vegetable drawers, realized that not only couldn’t I decide between them, but that some of them were approaching the “use or lose” time, and opted for mass chopping, oiling, salting, and traying. My oven is full. (But not with green beans. )

Haven’t figured out a kid-friendly vehicle for them, though. I have no problem at all with a bowl of veggies, maybe topped with crumbled goat cheese (okay, now I might have a problem if I don’t get said bowl), but it’s a little carb-empty, and the boys will complain (though Gabe picked out the cauliflower and broccoli!). Maybe some bread or noodles.

I feel grouchy and restless. It’s the impending rain; it’s supposed to start soon and continue through Monday night. Now, that’s a mood killer.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/23/sigh-2/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/21/wtrs-episode-8-questions/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/21/wtrs-episode-8-questions/#comments Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:52:20 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1385 I keep on training, and for everything I think I grasp, more questions arise!

Thanks to Jeni and Brian (RushRunner) for their contributions. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Tourist – High Speed

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/21/wtrs-episode-8-questions/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/20/wheat-meat/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/20/wheat-meat/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:02:24 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1379 Seitan. According to Kevin on Top Chef, nobody likes it, and it’s the yuck. Of course, he also said that it was fermented pressed soybeans, so I’ll take that with a grain of salt. As of the beginning of drafting this entry, I was in the process of making my first batch of it, even though I think I was the only one in the family with a sense of optimism about it. Then again, I’m also the only vegetarian (about 98% at this point, anyway), so perhaps I’m the only one with a vested interest in making this palatable.

It’s basically wheat gluten, which has all the starch and whatnot washed away from it. (In other words, not a celiac-friendly food…but then, if you’re in a situation where that’s relevant, you probably already knew that. ) In its finished state, it makes a credible “mock meat.” Theoretically, you know. I’d never even eaten it before, let alone made it from scratch. The ingredients for it couldn’t be more basic, though, so I was perfectly willing to give it a go. Whole wheat flour + water. What could be simpler? Many of my resources suggested I could do things more easily and quickly by starting with vital wheat gluten instead of whole wheat flour, but that seemed to defeat the purpose for me, since it would add cost and a grocery trip to the mix. We usually have whole wheat flour on hand, so if I could make this work the minimalist way, it would be best.


(...)
Read the rest of Wheat Meat (533 words)

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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/20/wheat-meat/feed/ 8 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/16/more-gabe/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/16/more-gabe/#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:59:58 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1377 It was such a lovely day that I decided to walk to Gabe’s school with the jogging stroller at the end of the day, then walk home with him. He enjoyed it, too. Lately, he’s been very interested in houses and the buying of such, so we discussed the houses we passed.

GABE: “Are all these houses on sale?”
ME: “No, just the ones with signs in front. But these are too expensive for us to afford.”
GABE: “We should buy $100 from the bank, and then another $100, and then another $100.”
ME: “I don’t think we’ll be able to afford these, even then.”
GABE: “Oh. But it’s still a good idea, anyway.”

ME: “What do you think of this house?”
GABE: “Oh! It’s really big! Whoa!”
ME: “It sure is! And so pretty.”
GABE: “But…maybe it’s just really big and pretty on the outside, and inside, it’s all crabby and cracky and ugly.”
ME: “Hmmm. What makes you think that?”
GABE: “I don’t think that. I’m just suggesting it.”

GABE: “I like that one! It’s got a really nice door! And look at the deer statue!” [Note: it was a plastic, tacky lawn ornament, about two feet tall.] “I would love the door, and Sam would love the statue, because he loves nature, and deers are nature! It would be perfect for us! I want to break down the door and take it now!”



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/16/more-gabe/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/14/gabe-ism-8/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/14/gabe-ism-8/#comments Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:21:55 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1375 GABE: “Mom, can we ever buy a new house? The one we have has too many cracks in it.”
ME: “Yeah, I know what you mean, especially right by your bed. How do you suppose that happened?”
GABE (suddenly very quiet): “I shouldn’t have brought that up…”


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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/14/gabe-ism-8/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/14/i-have-nothing-new-to-say/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/14/i-have-nothing-new-to-say/#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:05:54 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1373 Not that there’s nothing going on; it’s just that most of it is “second verse, same as the first” type stuff. The kids are back in school following their break, and that’s going well. (Whoops, I have to get a tee-shirt to take in for Gabe’s preschool graduation ceremony that I’m “not allowed to know about!”) Sam has a field trip to a Renaissance Fair tomorrow, as a kickoff to their grade’s big unit study of the Renaissance period, and Eric and I got the same cocked brow when we heard about it. I’ve decided to view it along the lines of a celebratory party instead of believing that the teachers can possibly have any thought that this is educational or in any way historically accurate. (Have to remember to send along money for Ye Olde Chicken Nuggets and Lemonade.)

I was pretty beat up following the half-marathon on Saturday, and I rounded it off with a stupid decision not to take along water for my 10-mile recovery run the next day, on a relatively warm afternoon. Needless to say, I wasn’t feeling at the top of my game for a couple of days after that. Maybe that’ll fill my quota for self-inflicted damage for a while? Crossing fingers and eyeing the toes that by all rights should have surrendered and fallen clean off my feet, for all the times I’ve rammed them them into solid objects…

Got an appointment in a few hours with some fence repair folks. Ours is sagging and pulling away from the posts in the back, a few of which (according to the folks who came yesterday to give an estimate) are broken themselves. This will be the second estimate; I sure do hope it’s a lower number than the one we got yesterday, which made Eric mutter some very choice words. If we keep getting high numbers, I get the feeling it’ll be just us and a drill out there, showing off our very best kludgemanship.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/14/i-have-nothing-new-to-say/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/12/wtrs-episode-7-poor-decision-making/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/12/wtrs-episode-7-poor-decision-making/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:51:23 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1371 I seem to have misplaced my ability to cogitate. Somebody help me look under these sofa cushions?

Thanks to St3ven (The Devoted Runner) and Jim (Corso La Meta) for their contributions. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
AbaNDa SHAKE – Stupid

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voicemails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/12/wtrs-episode-7-poor-decision-making/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/10/race-report-mount-pleasant-half-marathon/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/10/race-report-mount-pleasant-half-marathon/#comments Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:50:59 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1361 Okay, I went out too fast; let’s get that out of the way first. For the future, when I do the marathon+-length training runs in a race setting, I NEED to find somebody going my pace and STICK with them, because I obviously can’t be trusted. I managed to hold it longer than I thought I could, but I was hurting by the end. (Almost had a repeat of my “I can’t breathe” episode from the end of MCM, but this time I forced myself to keep walking at a good pace after the finish line, and my air came back.)

Gorgeous day, lovely and sunny and just right in temperature, but the wind was pretty wretched, especially on the southward segments. Yeow. Those exhausted me more than the pace, just about.

Took one gel at the hour mark, along with race course water. Worked well, and I never felt really depleted beyond what was predictable.

So! Official finish time: 1:46:43. Came in 6th in my age group (out of 43) and 48/348 overall. Took 5 minutes off my “PR” (from the WW Festival of Races last year, the only other half I’ve done). Not bad for a day’s work, but tomorrow’s recovery run is going to be VERY, VERY easy.

Oh! Forgot one of the funniest parts! I just missed the start of the kids’ Fun Run, and though I thought to try to catch up, I could see Eric and Sam moving on the far side of the course’s 1-mile loop, and I knew that at my shuffling pace, I couldn’t make it. So I turned around, walked back to the finish…and there was Gabe running up to the finish line. “Did I win?” he panted. I stared over his shoulder and asked where Daddy was. “I dunno!” he said.

Turned out that Gabe ran the course about half a mile in front of Eric and Sam, leading the group with one other woman. So…yes. Yes, you did win, Gabriel. (His prize: the free ice cream Georgie Porgie’s restaurant was handing out. I think that beat a medal in his mind, no contest.)



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/10/race-report-mount-pleasant-half-marathon/feed/ 5 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/10/that-time-again/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/10/that-time-again/#comments Sat, 10 Apr 2010 11:28:40 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1358


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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/10/that-time-again/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/09/wtrs-fyi/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/09/wtrs-fyi/#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 23:53:08 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1356 Podcast has a new phone number.

206-424-0426.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/09/wtrs-fyi/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/09/active/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/09/active/#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:26:13 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1353 Tomorrow, the boys will be running (run-walking, more likely) a Fun Run as I’m finishing up my half-marathon. Eric will be going with them, as in order for me to do it myself, I’d have to go faster than an 8-minute mile for the whole race to be back at the start in time. I don’t think we can go all-in on that bet, somehow. If all goes well, I’ll finish a few minutes after they start, so I might be able to catch up, or cheer them on.

Sam will be doing the run in new shoes. Last night, before he and I started getting ready to go play Ultimate Frisbee at his Scouts den meeting, I picked up one of his sneakers and looked at it. The upper part of the shoe was completely unattached to the bottom for about two or three inches across the front; it looked like a hobo’s shoe. “Sam!” I said. “You need to let me know before your shoes get to this point!”

“I didn’t notice,” he said, which…Bill Cosby may have been right when he talked about how “all kids are brain damaged.” It’s been raining like crazy for days up here, and this hole looks to be entirely not new, so Young Man has been walking around with cold, wet toes.

So we ran by the shoe store before Scouts, because, well, see: the aforementioned rain. No way could he be running around in puddles and mud with his current shoes (now that I’m aware of their state). I led him to the shelf holding shoes in his size, where he immediately latched onto the idea of a pair of trail running shoes. They didn’t have them in his size, so he gravitated toward the Saucony running shoes. Gee, think somebody’s being affected by what he sees?

Eric was a little baffled by it, when we got home, but I’m actually feeling quite encouraged. “You chose running shoes,” Eric said to him, “so now you have to run.”

“I’m going to! We’re going on a run today! And I have a race tomorrow!” And if we can keep the pep in his voice that I heard in those sentences, I will be one happy runner-mama.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/09/active/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/08/file-under-things-you-dont-ever-want-to-hear/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/08/file-under-things-you-dont-ever-want-to-hear/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:46:22 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1351 “Mom? Um, last night, I thought I maybe was dreaming that I threw up in my bed. I think it was a dream…”

Yeah. No.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/08/file-under-things-you-dont-ever-want-to-hear/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/07/samuel-ism/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/07/samuel-ism/#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:09:00 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1347 (I had to change it from “Sammy-ism,” because he’s now insisting that he always be called by his full name. He’s willing to accept “Shmuel,” as well. “Sam”? “Sammy”? Not so much.)

I’m running the Mount Pleasant Half-Marathon on Saturday, and I was talking to him about it. When I showed him the website with the name of the race on it, he said, “Why is it called ‘Mount Pleasant,’ since it’s going to hurt?”



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/07/samuel-ism/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/07/wtrs-episode-6-the-one-with-the-turkeys/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/07/wtrs-episode-6-the-one-with-the-turkeys/#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:20:05 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1340 I’m off exploring! Join me as I run through the rain and on my first real-and-true trail run of the season. There’s even a close encounter of the avian kind…

Thanks to Dona for writing in; other shows mentioned were Ted (You Don’t Have to Run Alone) and Barb (Kelownagurl Tris). Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Della Valle – My New Retreat

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here (mp3 version). Voice mails are always welcomed at 206-424-0426, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/07/wtrs-episode-6-the-one-with-the-turkeys/feed/ 7 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/06/were-back/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/06/were-back/#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:16:19 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1338

Madison was such fun! We had a real blast, exploring and sight-seeing. I, personally, loved running through the Arboretum, on the recommendations of others; it was muddy, silly, crazy adventure, complete with WILD TURKEYS. I mean…what?! I turned a corner on a trail, and there they were, staring at me as though I’d intruded upon their personal space. Huge things! I laughed my butt off over it (once I was sure that they weren’t going to, you know, go for my eyes). Sam enjoyed the hotel pool a lot, dragging Eric down there over and over; Gabe hated the pool, as was expected, but he liked the general concept of the hotel, strange boy that he is. Eric and I, of course, enjoyed the food, particularly the evening we spent at The Old Fashioned. It’s not listed on the site, but the “bar food” included a “Spicy Pickled Egg” that was bizarre enough that Eric had to try it; it tasted like one of those “Red Hots” sausages you can get at convenience stores, in a weird but good way. (You’ll have to trust me there.)

Easter itself was as cool as it could be, with an “egg hunt” in our hotel room. I hid their Easter baskets there, too, and once they found them, we did a Bible lesson together, rather than try to find a church in town. I think it worked nicely. Most churches probably wouldn’t have been keen on the kids chowing down on chocolate bunnies during the sermon, you know.

So, we’re back now, and there’s laundry to be done, cleaning to be tackled…why did I come back, anyway?



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/06/were-back/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/02/the-day-after/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/02/the-day-after/#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:05:53 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1336 BODY BAG, people. I’ve got two lonely little 26.2s under my belt; I’m not shelling out what seems to be about $4000 USD (the various sites all are rather vague about the grand total, what with this fee and that fee and the other fee, not to mention being completely non-definitive about exactly to whom you’re supposed to be sending the fees in the first place) for the privilege of destroying myself in a race that not only has you sign waivers absolving the organizers of your death, but also has you pre-pay for your own corpse disposal. That’s a level of lunacy I have not reached; my children still need their mother! (Not that parents don’t run races as extreme as this, of course, but they probably don’t do it without years upon years of extensive conditioning. I’d hope not, anyway.)

I find it interesting that most of the people who read the site directly weren’t fooled for long, but the early birds who got it through the feed on Facebook were more believing. Is it because, as some of you alluded, people who come here on April 1st are, say, expecting something of the sort? I swear, one of these years, the joke’s going to be that it’s not a joke…just have to either plan an announcement or hope for a timing coincidence!

Now it’s the first day of the kids’ Spring Break, and they’ve been at each others’ throats several times already. I went to the gym early to cross-train, so that I wouldn’t have to take up anybody else’s time with it (not to mention avoiding dragging the kids to the childcare room, which isn’t really suited for eight-year-olds), and when I got back a little after 6, Eric was still in bed and Sam was already up and playing on the internet, which he is not to do without a grownup in the vicinity. Grrrrr. He got dressed grumpily; I made pancakes in an effort to keep things upbeat (made mine with coconut and a little mixed berry applesauce, topped with plain yogurt mixed with almond butter – unbelievably good!), which got a resounding grunt of acceptance from the boys. Well, I didn’t expect applause, but a “thanks” wouldn’t have gone amiss. (Gabe now claims they’re “too crunchy,” which…I just don’t even…) Made Eric coffee, which he left without drinking. Boys argued over video games and the giant tent they’ve already erected in the living room and are now ignoring.

When does school start again?



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/02/the-day-after/feed/ 5 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/01/im-in/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/01/im-in/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 05:10:43 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1325 Yes, it’s late/early! But not EVERYWHERE. It’s 8 AM in Africa; did you know? I know what I’m doing April of 2012. Do you? And to think, up until this moment, I thought the waiting (and constant email refreshing at odd hours…) was the hard part.

See, here’s the thing about these races: they sell out fast. I first heard about this one a long time ago, I believe on a podcast, and when it came up again, on a listserv for people running ultras, it just struck something inside my brain – something whispering, “Do it.” I mean, think about it! Six days, 151 miles, crossing the Sahara. (How cool a setting is that?!) Folks from all over the world fighting for the chance to do it. Who wouldn’t jump at it?

I guess the answer is “not enough people,” because I missed out on this year (I applied a while ago!) AND next year, and I was on the waiting list for 2012 for a while before the official message finally came through today!



Eric thinks I’ve finally and completely lost my mind. (And I haven’t told many people other than him because, let’s face it, it’s one of those things that you don’t want to go blabbing about until you’ve made the commitment, or else everybody tries to talk you out of it. Like an outrageous baby name or something, in a way.) The way I see it, I have over two years to train, and by then, I can see myself being ready. In fact, I think, this timing makes perfect sense. Do my first 50K this year, maybe aim for a second or a 50-mile by year’s end, do a hundred-miler or two next year…I’m good! And it’s freaking Morocco! Holy crap!

Points Eric has made, which I’ll mention for posterity, as one could consider them valid:

• I’ll have to carry everything I need for the week on my back. Food, clothing, medical supplies, the works. I’ll also have to prepare my own food as I go, which could get rocky, especially on the fourth day and beyond, when we’ll enter “barren wilderness.”
• They require an echocardiogram (my heart’s healthy!), and they recommend making sure my insurance is up to date and will cover the event.
• The race is expensive, and among the fees is $150 to cover a body bag. (“Corpse repatriation,” they delicately refer to it as.)

But there’s time! I don’t intend to be a fool about this, after all. (And will I need the time! Fundraising will need to happen in earnest!) I’m browsing forums, getting the scoop…won’t be needing that body bag!

I can’t stop bouncing! Somebody pinch me?



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/04/01/im-in/feed/ 25 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/31/too-many-balls-in-the-air/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/31/too-many-balls-in-the-air/#comments Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:39:10 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1323 I feel like I’m juggling frantically and SOMETHING’S going to drop! It’s mostly good stuff, and some stuff that has the potential to be freaking phenomenal, honestly, but – augh! I need to sprout another arm or two to handle it all.

Apropos of nothing, my dad gave us some rewards points he had accumulated, and in the epitome of “you are such a grown-up, and a very boring one at that,” I got silverware. Well, my spoons kept disappearing, and I replaced them with cheap ones, and they make me frown. These are heavy and shiny. They arrived today and I lurve them. Shaddup.

It’s the little things, you know, that keep you grounded when you’re going out-of-your-mind insane.

One more day until the kids’ Spring Break! Taking a lil’ trip westward, to which I alluded in my last post. Just a few days over the break, though; nothing major. One of those arm-sprouting things, though; gotta wash clothes, pack, get a hotel, pray loudly and fervently that the potential for any rain disappears and gives us pleasant weather the whole time we’re there…But getting away from the house is good right now, as it’ll keep my mind occupied and off the other things I’m trying to juggle, some of which could require more than a single extra appendage to handle. (I hope. Well, not literally; I don’t specifically wish to turn mutant. It’s just that I hope for fruition, even if it feels like superpowers could be necessary. Maybe I’ll just look into my very own Doc Ock suit; would that work better?)



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/31/too-many-balls-in-the-air/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/29/quick-question/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/29/quick-question/#comments Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:13:17 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1321 Madison, Wisconsin, folks! If I happened to be there for a visit, where would you recommend for good running? Not sure whether it would be a long run or shorter, but I can do loops.


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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/29/quick-question/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/29/round-and-round-in-the-circle-game/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/29/round-and-round-in-the-circle-game/#comments Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:39:29 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1318 I enter into another week, meat-free. Eric has actually been eating fish during the past week, and he did have his allotted single “splurge” night, when he met with a friend and had chicken, but I haven’t felt the need since the first day, when I finished up some tuna I had open in the fridge. We’ll see; I bought some more fish to be able to cook it for Eric, so I’ll probably join him in that, but I could take it or leave it. (Well, except for the salmon burgers I’m planning to grill when the weather turns really nice later this week; I’ve tried making bean burgers from scratch before, and I’ve yet to be really happy with my efforts. It’ll be nice to have a burger alternative that hopefully doesn’t crumble and fall between the grill slats.) Bean soup for dinner tonight; Sam is thrilled. Might make some cornbread to go with it, mostly to satisfy Gabe, who’ll be disgruntled. The Moosewood cookbook has an excellent recipe for skillet cornbread that we all love. Hrmm, need some butter, though.

I’m pretty pleased that my reduction of animal protein hasn’t had any negative impact on my running! I don’t know why that worried me; after all, I know several talented meat-free runners and athletes, not to mention being aware of people like Rich Roll, who eat vegan and kick butt. Still, when you make a change, it makes you focus on everything else, making sure the balance doesn’t tip and collapse. We’re two weeks out of the first race of the season, and I’m super-eager to get to that. (Mental note: check to see if Eric and the kids want to do the 1-mile Fun Run. I’d have to haul butt to be back in time to run it with them, taking almost seven minutes off my half-marathon PR, but I should be back in time to see them finish, so if Eric will run/walk it with the boys, it could be fun.)

I feel like my calendar is filling up like crazy! I’m booked so far out into the future, it’s wild (including an event I don’t want to jinx, so I’m not going to type it…::refresh email, refresh freaking email:: ) Spring break starts Friday, which will complicate it, too, but all for the fun.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/29/round-and-round-in-the-circle-game/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/27/wtrs-episode-5-a-bird-in-the-hand/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/27/wtrs-episode-5-a-bird-in-the-hand/#comments Sun, 28 Mar 2010 00:07:00 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1316 In running, as in life, the unfamiliar is somehow more intimidating than the known.

Thanks to Ted (You Don’t Have to Run Alone), Christa, and Chris for their contributions. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Ockum’s Razor – Fear of the Unknown

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here. Voice mails are always welcomed at 206-350-9501, or you can email or leave a comment!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/27/wtrs-episode-5-a-bird-in-the-hand/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/27/okay-im-turned-around/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/27/okay-im-turned-around/#comments Sat, 27 Mar 2010 20:15:01 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1310 Sometimes, it’s the out-of-the-blue things that make it all okay again, more so than anything you could plan. For me, it was yesterday morning, when I happened to come across a quite strange sighting for my next podcast episode (which, with any luck, I’ll get to upload by tonight). I’m still bummed about Eric having to travel, but it’s just a sort of dull dread now instead of the sharp ache. He’ll bring me back more curry ketchup, which, I’ll allow, sounds just bizarre, but he brought me back a bottle to try after this past visit, and it is amazingly yummy. You’ll have to trust me.

Plus, I had a good run this morning. Step-back week, which means I only had to go for ten miles this time, and I pushed the pace down to about a comfortably hard 8:15 minute-mile for them. Of course, that meant that I felt mentally zonked by about twenty minutes into the choir rehearsal directly after that, but that’s okay. Then I managed to get Sam to read nearly to the end of “Blue Dolphins” and write the intro to his solar energy paper with no voice raising or stress on either of our parts! (That shouting you might be hearing now is just “brotherly love” over Lego Star Wars on the Game Cube. It’s amazing how heated a purportedly “cooperative” game can become when the participants have differing ideas about which missions to undertake.) With any luck, I can get him through the planning phase for the paper’s body after dinner tonight, leaving the actual writing to be accomplished easily tomorrow. It’s not due until Thursday, so that’ll leave time for the poster-making, as well as for him to write his book report. Wow, I’m actually feeling optimistic about this! See? Told you my pendulum was back to normal!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/27/okay-im-turned-around/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/26/how-quickly-can-you-turn-around/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/26/how-quickly-can-you-turn-around/#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:29:05 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1306 My mood can change on a dime, most of the time. It doesn’t take much to swing me from happy to sad or back again, most of the time, but I think that’s because of a tendency to stay fairly centered; if my emotions are a pendulum, I’ll swing back and forth, but for the main, my arc is a small one. (Not that I won’t react strongly during the rocking, certainly! I have absolutely no “poker face,” so when I’m pleased or ticked, people around me will know.) If extrinsic factors, on the other hand, knock me for a loop and push my pendulum far from equilibrium, I will swing back (I joke that my attention span and memory aren’t long enough to hold a grudge), but of course it’s going to take longer.

I think all that is fairly typical, isn’t it? Barring chemical imbalances and issues of the psyche, the gently swaying pendulum is part and parcel of the human condition.

But this is why I can’t stand mornings where people around me start pushing hard, right off the bat. Mornings are typically even for me: wake feeling neutral, and the initial experiences of the day – frequently a run, or else breakfast with Eric – are key in deciding the day. And then…I have to wake Sam. This is often where things go downhill, as today. He needed a shower. He didn’t want a shower. Cue drama. Now, Sam’s like me, in that he swings back quickly and easily, so by the time his shower was done, he was in a grand mood! (Oh, hey there, Red Licorice shower gel!) But his personal olfactory cure, and the subsequent and unprompted apologies for his rudeness, aren’t good enough to pull me back to center quite yet.

It’s not Sam, though. It’s that I didn’t begin at neutral today. I’ve been operating from the sad end of the arc since last night, when Eric told me he’d be going away again soon, for another week. For some reason, it whammed me hard, and even a shared sushi roll didn’t save me after that. I initially blamed my upset on the fact that his trip will overlap a 22-mile run of mine, which is definitely problematic, but it’s a cop-out. It’s easy to let myself get angry about the details; it keeps me from focusing on the bigger picture, which is how much it hurts when he’s gone.

Better to roll my eyes and complain about reshuffling a running schedule. Calendars are pragmatic things.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/26/how-quickly-can-you-turn-around/feed/ 1 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/24/this-weekend-is-going-to-be-nuts/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/24/this-weekend-is-going-to-be-nuts/#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:30:46 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1304 Okay, so check it out. It’s Palm Sunday, which means that our church choir is doing its cantata on Sunday for both services (I guess Easter Sunday’s service is packed too full to accommodate it? I never asked), with dress rehearsal Saturday morning. Saturday night is also when Gabe’s preschool is doing a movie night, which we wanted to attend. Finally, it’s the Midwest Gaming Classic weekend, which Eric missed last year and which he was really hoping to attend this year, particularly as a friend will be traveling up to compete in it. There are also a couple of other events I had thought about attending (a friend’s school’s carnival; a craft night to which I was invited), but I don’t know whether they’ll fit in. Oh, and Sam now has two papers (a book report and a position paper on solar energy) due on Wednesday, so he’ll need time to work on those.*

At least it’s a running step-back week, so I won’t be running for huge amounts of time either day.

I think we’re going to have to split up for parts, with Eric attending the Classic while I take the boys to the movie night. The alternative means running around wildly and crossing fingers that nothing crops up. Of course, we don’t have to attend anything except the choir rehearsals and the performances; nothing else has received our official commitment yet. I think I’ll avoid telling the boys about most of the events; that way, if we have to skip something in the interest of sanity, they won’t be too disappointed.

*I am really not looking forward to shepherding Sam through these. He’s not good about accepting help graciously, but he also gets horribly intimidated by what he perceives as large amounts of work. Either I leave him to his own devices and listen to him complain at the top of his lungs while avoiding putting actual pencil to paper, or else I sit with him and have to repeatedly ask him to quit abusing me and my good graces. What usually happens is an alternation of the two, with me getting up and leaving each time he gets toxic because I’m not doing the work for him, then returning when he panics, apologizes, and freaks out over the whole thing. (I don’t immediately return, mind you; I’m not trying to perpetuate the cycle.) It’s miserable all around.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/24/this-weekend-is-going-to-be-nuts/feed/ 3 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/22/meatless/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/22/meatless/#comments Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:50:32 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1302 Eric’s been struggling with diabetes issues lately. To make a long and complicated story short, the things he’s been trying aren’t working very well anymore, and something has to change. The paths remaining to him are starting to shrink in number, unfortunately. I was commiserating with him this morning; it’s about all I can do sometimes. Then I mentioned a possibility that occurred to me, and it seems it’s one he’s considered lately, too.

Myself, I don’t eat nearly as much meat as I once did. In fact, I’ve unconsciously moved to a place where I usually eat only a small portion of it, once a day, if even that often. Eric eats more; his meals at work often have meat, and his favorite splurges are meat – wings, for example. I proposed to him that he cut back to once a day, and he suggested going to once a week. Okay, I can work with that.

Today he forgot and accidentally had some grilled chicken at lunch, but dinner was meatless. I roasted cauliflower, made fresh guacamole, and curried some beans, peppers, and onion (which somehow turned out drastically WRONG until Eric got home and saved it with a few alterations). It was a satisfying meal; it even worked out okay for the boys, who ate the cauliflower and quickly-assembled quesadillas. Now Eric’s at the gym, which also seems to provide an immediate blood sugar lowering effect. I don’t know what he’ll do tomorrow; Tuesdays, he plays Scrabble at a bar with friends, eating wings for dinner there. I don’t think there’s an extensive vegetarian-friendly menu, unfortunately. I forgot to ask him about that.

Anyway, it’s not a huge change for the family, in most regards, but it’ll be something to consider. Thank goodness the Farmers’ Markets will be opening up again soon!



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/22/meatless/feed/ 4 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/21/still-stuffed-from-lunch/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/21/still-stuffed-from-lunch/#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:56:05 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1299 I’ve mentioned it before, but every year, our church’s youth have a Dessert Derby. It is the only fundraising they do…and that’s because they don’t need to do more. It’s just that effective. People buy tickets (for both the main Derby or for the Kids’ Derby held concurrently; there’s also nursery care provided), and that covers a good lunch, with salad, pasta, meatballs, chicken, bread, and coffee. Community and church members donate auction packages, ranging from entertainment or sports tickets all the way to a week’s stay at a condo in Hawaii; during the lunch, participants bid on the packages via paper slips collected by the youth, who also wait on the tables. Along with those auctions, special items, such as custom jewelry or teen-created items (this year they decorated chairs) are also auctioned.

After the meal, the desserts are presented. The men of the church compete to create the best desserts; this year, there were fourteen different desserts vying for the prizes, as judged by area chefs and by a panel of church members and teens. Each of the tables bid on their favorite dessert (without having yet tried them), and the winning table gets their choice of dessert. After that, roaming is encouraged, so you can sample as many as you want.

It’s a fantastic event, and, as I said, very effective. This year, in the course of about three hours, they raised over $40,000. I stand amazed. (And very, very full. I ate very little of the delicious lunch, saving as much room as possible for dessert, and I regret nothing! ) Also, I’m quite pleased to say that some of that money came from us, as we WON our auction package! Finally, after three years of going, we won something! Hee! It was five nights of babysitting, along with a bunch of certificates for free ice cream at Georgie Porgie’s. Hurray!

It’s eight o’clock, and I’m still not remotely hungry for dinner. Worth it.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/21/still-stuffed-from-lunch/feed/ 0 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/20/so-tired/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/20/so-tired/#comments Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:45:59 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1297 I just want to go to sleep. I’ve been up since 4 AM, and I didn’t really sleep well before that (woke up every 30-60 minutes for most of the night), and then had a long run through the snow. My body is demanding that I put it to bed, but I can’t yet, because Sam needs to finish at least the chapter he’s currently reading in order to complete this book in time for the report to be written. For some reason, after more than a month of no book reports, these two have been back to back; we haven’t yet gotten the grade on the one he did on Number the Stars, but he has another one due soon. “Historical fiction.” Nice and vague, applicable to lots of books, but I sort of wish I’d seen it coming before we chose Number the Stars for the last report! Oh, well. This time, he chose Island of the Blue Dolphins, which I’ll go to the mat for him to defend as fiction, since even though it’s based on a true story, most accounts refute the idea (spoiler alert for anybody who didn’t attend a public school in the 80s and therefore read this book) that the main character went back for her brother. And, of course, most of what happened on the island is going to be sheer conjecture, beyond the bare basics of survival.

I remembered the traumatic parts in the story after he’d chosen it, but he insisted that he could handle it. I’m really not looking forward to his reaction to what happens to the brother. Oh, well; I don’t have any sort of lingering issues from when I read it, I guess.

Man. He keeps drowsing, too. I’m not the only one for whom this has been a long day. Read, kid, read! Thankfully, he’s on the last page of the chapter, or else I’d throw up my hands and declare it an exercise in futility.



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]]> http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/20/so-tired/feed/ 2 http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/18/in-bullet-points/ http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/2010/03/18/in-bullet-points/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:14:00 +0000 Carrie http://www.redhairedgirl.com/main/?p=1294
• Honestly, if something has to be falling from the sky early this Saturday morning, I’d rather it be snow than rain. (And yes, I realize that half the population of my town would be lining up to pelt me with snowballs, likely packed with solid ice cores, for saying that.) If I’m going to be running 16 miles in precipitation, snow is better than rain; my clothes aren’t going to absorb it nearly as quickly, and it’s not likely to be coming down hard enough, by all forecasts, to accumulate by the time I’ll be done.
• Dessert Derby on Sunday. Looking forward to that immensely, even though I’ve gone back into meal and nutrition planning in an effort to get myself in the best possible shape for the upcoming races. One day of All The Desserts won’t kill me, or even cause me to DNF.
• Gabe says he wants to invite Mr. Crabs, from Spongebob Squarepants, to his birthday. When I asked him why, he said, “Because Mr. Crabs loves money! And he’ll bring lots with him! So we can use that to buy lots and lots of lemonade.” Logical, no?
• I am so procrastinating right now. I’m staring down a pile of dirty dishes on one side and a heap of old clothes to go to Goodwill on the other. Can’t decide which one sounds less irksome yet.
• Fairly sure that Gabe’s going to have a complete meltdown and refuse to eat any part of tonight’s dinner (simple chicken kebabs, falafel, roasted sweet peppers), but it’s his turn to do so, since Sam had his fit last night over the cauliflower. (Which, by the way, Gabe gobbled up and requested that we have every night.)
• Trying to get into A Thousand Days in Venice, but so far it’s not grabbing me. I intend to give it my customary hundred pages of grace, though. Could be that it just was really, really not meant to follow Bright Lights, Big Ass, which I loved, but which could not be more different in tone.
• I got a very, very comfortable sort-of-peasant-type blouse at H&M a couple of weeks ago, and now I want to wear it every single day, which is, of course, impossible, especially considering that it has to line dry. Should have gotten a couple. (Might have done so, had they come in other colors besides ivory.)

…All right. Three bags of clothes first, and then the dishes. Ready, set…

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Thanks to Jim (Corso La Meta) for his contributions. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
eEnik – Animals at Play

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here. Voice mails are always welcomed at 206-350-9501, or you can email or leave a comment!

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Sometimes, big black lines crossing off the days feel so rewarding and satisfying. Sort of an “I’ve done this,” in addition to regular running logs that add up totals and whatnot.

I messed up this morning somehow, and the strength workout I meant to do before coming home to make breakfast for Eric and me didn’t happen; I woke up to Eric’s alarm going off, ten minutes after I was supposed to start making the oats. Oops. Well, maybe I can figure out something this afternoon instead, though it gets more complicated. Dinner is in the crockpot, so that’ll help.

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My shoes were squelchy by 300 feet into the run. I know this, because that’s when another runner from my club and I found our first puddle, which covered the entire path. By a mile in, my clothes were sodden. A woman running with me commented that at least the wind, which was gusting up beyond 30 miles per hour, was drying us off. Well, maybe it was drying her off; I had opted to dress for the cold, rather than just the wet, and my pants were thicker and quite absorbent. They were more than happy to hang onto every bit of water they found.

It was yucky, and I would have been completely justified in having a bad attitude. But…I was with other folks, either just as dedicated or just as loony as me. We were all getting soaked, and I didn’t hear one word of “Should we cut it short today?” or “I hate this!” There was plenty of good-natured moaning about the rain and wind, but you’d hear the same from folks sitting in their living rooms, looking out the window. We laughed about who was splashing more water out of the puddles. We talked about this and that, things unrelated to the weather at all.

And that’s why I enjoyed my fourteen miles of freezing, windy, soaked-to-the-bone running this morning. I may be a little runsane.

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Thanks to David (Pehrhynplodder) and Gordon (Run to Disney) for their contributions, and to Ted (You Don’t Have to Run Alone) for his shout-out. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Audio Spaghetti – Accurate Perception

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here. Voice mails are always welcomed at 206-350-9501, or you can email or leave a comment!

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“I don’t feel good!” he said.

“Well, try to go to sleep, and you’ll feel better.”

“No, not that kind of not good! I mean…you’re always nice to me, and I’m not nice to you! I say bad things to yoooooooooou!” And he cried and cried. I tried to console him, telling him that I love him and would always love and forgive him, but that didn’t seem to help much. He was hot and sweaty, which I assumed was from the crying…

…but then he woke me up at 5:30 this morning to tell me that he kept waking up with his bed all wet. He was completely drenched from head to toe. I pulled his soggy clothes off and plopped him into a bathtub, where he shivered and whimpered (until I washed his hair, and the whimper became howls that brought the much-preferred Daddy in to finish the job), and then I put him into clean pajamas, since I had no idea whether he was sick and would stay home from school or not.

By an hour later, he felt fine and dandy. At this point, I think what happened was a fever in the night that broke, leaving him sweaty and shivery, and now he’s all better. Good appetite, good spirits, wholly normal. His temperature is fine; of course, I didn’t take a temp last night, so that doesn’t tell me much.

(Of course, it’s also possible that he just peed the bed. I’m not burying my face in the sheets to check!)

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Sam is not a bookworm, a fact that rips me inside. He likes books; don’t get me wrong. What he likes, though, isn’t the story or the drama. He likes the information he can glean from the pages. He likes the facts, the figures, the diagrams. He enjoys reading about the sinking of the Titanic, studying the cutaway illustrations to see where the flaws lay. He relishes studying the names of various trains and planes, knowing which ones are the fastest and which ones are the biggest. In short, he’s male.

When I worked at the library, I came to see that, yes, there is a difference between how boys and girls approach reading, as much as my feminist heart wanted to decry it. Exceptions acknowledged, for the most part, it was the girls who skipped into the stacks, hauling out troves of their favorites to take home with them. It was the boys who were dragged in by their moms, who were muttering things like, “I don’t care what book you pick, but pick one!”, and the boys who would sigh mightily and grab the nearest book to hand without even glancing inside it. (Funny how I so rarely saw a father filling the role of the dragging parent.) We librarians even kept a list of books handy that might entice boys’ interests. We lauded the creation of Guys Read.

And now I have my own little guy who would much rather draw or play than flip pages. I cringe, but I look at his father, who is one of the smartest men I’ve ever met…and who isn’t much of a recreational reader, either. He loves books deeply, but he primarily reads for purpose. That’s reasonable and good, and I respect that in him. How can I adjust my thinking to respect it in Sam?

He’s reading this morning, though. Last night spiraled into family chaos, and I wound up fleeing to the bookstore alone to select his book (after him telling me he wanted a “city” book). After much searching, I came home with a couple candidates, and he chose Number the Stars. He read some last night, and this morning he read a little more at my gentle request. No urging required! He says it’s “great,” though without much enthusiasm; I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he’ll find some excitement in it as he goes deeper. If not…maybe he’d prefer a history text over a fictionalized tale. Maybe a compilation of World War II tank diagrams is more his speed. (Hard to write a book report on that, unfortunately. Why must all report assignments presume a preference for fiction?)

They just keep on growing, keep on changing. I guess my best bet is to continue to surround him with as many choices and chances for learning as possible, not steering it in the direction of my own tastes, even unconsciously. Eric and he have recently been talking about electricity and circuits, following an assignment from school. I know nothing about that, and, honestly, I have no desire to even know about it. That doesn’t make it less worthy of his energy, of course! It’s all up to him to pick his paths, and I’ll be content…so long as he’s learning, learning, and never stopping the learning.

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On the other hand, it feels weird today because I’ve started into the training plan, and what would ordinarily be a running day suddenly wasn’t. I dropped Gabe off at school, and suddenly everything felt off-kilter. I went to the gym (which Karri found amusing: my “rest” day) and did strength work, and then I went on a walk. The morning felt so…long. Not in a good way. I suppose I’ll get used to it. The weights will do me good; I’ve been skimping on them lately, which isn’t great for me. Lifting heavy things is beneficial in so many ways, not least of which will be to strengthen my core for the trails.

Sam’ll get home here in a bit, and I have to haul him right back out to find a book for an upcoming book report. Man, I thought I was doing good, stocking up on a variety of chapter books for him, and now he keeps getting assigned book reports for which none of the books I procured are a match. This time, he has to read a book set either in a city or the country. You’d think that would be easy, but almost every book he has is set squarely in the suburbs, which I think would be stretching the point of the assignment. Meh. I’m also a little aggravated because he’s not a particularly fast or voracious reader, so we get caught in a tough spot with these reports that are due in less than two weeks. Last time, he got chastised for reading a book (Cam Jansen) that the teacher said was beneath the level he should be reading right now. Okay, fair enough, but if he’s to actually be able to finish the book and write a report within the given time frame, it has to apparently be a hard but short book. (Or, you know, she could give out a list of upcoming assignments further in advance, so we could be better prepared. Maybe she’s trying to train them to read faster as well as thoroughly?)

In other news, it was warm enough today that I wore a running skirt out for my walk. I got honked at repeatedly. I’m wondering if I should be flattered or whether they were just trying to tell me that, despite the sunshine, March in Wisconsin is in no way the season for bare legs.

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My running club buddies are finishing up their long runs right now, as I type this. Bummer. There was just no way I could rationalize doing a long run with the boys here by themselves, though, and no way I could make myself believe it would be okay to drag Gabe out in the stroller and Sam on his bike at 6 in the morning in sub-30-degree weather. Parenting skillz: I has them. So it’s the treadmill for me, where I’ll put in 12 miles while the boys are safely supervised and mostly unfrostbitten. Sam will enjoy that; he’s already had his Moment of Pique with me this morning because I made him write in a journal for a short period. See, at his conference, I found out that while he’s doing well in most areas, his weakest ones are writing-related…and I saw his most recent efforts to write on a prompt. I decided that more practice was definitely in order, and so that’s what we’re doing. He grouched and moaned and whined, but he did it; I told him that tomorrow, if he wanted, he could start doing it on the computer, which made him a little less upset, but it’s looking like I’ll have my hands full with it. Mind you, it’s not that he can’t do it; he just daydreams and mentally wanders, and the paper reflects it.

Got to get ready now. Have a great Saturday!

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Sam’s home early, which helps liven things up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take the opportunity to sweep the boys off to someplace fun, because we have some sort of “student-led conference” in a little while. I have no idea what this is all about; it sounds as though the teachers are only participating on the sidelines, while the kids take us through what they’ve been doing and discuss what they’ve done well and what has been a struggle. (Pretty sure it’s part of this, which his school continues to pursue.) I wish I could have done it without Gabe, or that Eric was here to participate, but if wishes were horses, we’d have to hire a lot more street cleaners.

It’ll be interesting to see if there are any surprises, which I sincerely doubt. I mean, if a teacher were leading this, I’d be prepared for some, since perceptions vary widely, but Sam has never held back on what his feelings are about his work. He loves science and social studies; he hates math, except for a few of the factor families (“The three and five times tables are fun!” he says). He likes gym, but gives me the impression that he prefers the rough-and-tumble parts over the follow-the-rules parts. If anything unusual crops up, it’s going to be something straight out of the woodwork, but I don’t think it will.

Hope Gabe cooperates. He’s been in a mood all day, beginning with howls over clothing, complaints over breakfast, deep questions about how to help the poor and hungry when I was struggling to get him out of the car at MOPS (what the heck?), tantrums about not eating lunch at a restaurant, and now incredible bossiness directed at Sam, which can’t end well. I think that’s my cue…

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A few weeks ago, I went looking for the site, to examine more of the details, and I couldn’t find it. Rather, I couldn’t find anything that matched the distances I’d written down. Finally, I decided that whatever plan I’d found must have had the page changed slightly, or else it was gone. I was relieved that I had the written copy, and I decided to just figure out the midweek runs based on a similar plan I found. Not ideal, but workable.

This morning, I found the original plan, purely by chance. The reason I couldn’t find it before? It’s not a 50K training plan. It’s a plan to train for a 50 mile race. I guess I’d have been really, really prepared for Devil’s Lake! On the other hand, there does exist the phenomenon of overtraining, and the whole reason I’m doing a 50K as my first ultra is to allow my body time to accustom itself to higher mileage. Maybe it should have seemed strange to me to have planned for myself seven training runs of twenty miles or more, but I clearly am a genius who is above such earthly logic.

Now, to try to patch together a training plan that encompasses what I liked about this one and still coordinates nicely with Green Bay and the half-marathon I’m doing in about six weeks…

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Thanks to David (Pehrhynplodder) and Adam (Burning 2010) for their contributions. Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
I Fight Dragons – The Faster the Treadmill

You can subscribe through iTunes or download the show here. Voice mails are always welcomed at 206-350-9501, or you can email or leave a comment!

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Eric called this morning, but the connection was crappy. I could hear him fine, but he could barely hear us unless we shouted. Yelling to Germany: I love you. Come home soon!

Unrelated, for some reason, both boys have lately taken to trying to get me to say which one of them I love more. It doesn’t appear to be something coordinated between the two, as they don’t generally ask in front of the other; Gabe sidles up and coyly asks probing questions while Sam’s at school, and Sam corners me while Gabe’s in another room. The funniest line of questioning came from Sam, who finally asked whether he had been my favorite child when he was a baby and we didn’t know Gabe would ever even be here. Gabe, meanwhile, prefers to take the emotionally-charged route, asking me which one of them I’d miss more if they were both “destroyed.”

I’m weaning myself off the amount of coffee I was drinking. Trying to resume my normal drinking habits since my initial night of illness has proved yucky, and it’s probably a good opportunity to get myself down to a more tempered level of consumption, anyway.

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So, on Thursday night, I found myself violently ill. In a useless surge of optimism, I convinced myself it was food poisoning. You see, if it was something I ate, then I alone was likely to be affected, as everybody else in the family seemed just fine. The illness and general ugh-itude carried over for almost all of Friday, though it was hard to tell how much was being sick and how much was exhaustion and caffeine-withdrawal (I hadn’t slept much, and my stomach felt too delicate for coffee).

Alas, Saturday night, I was awakened to a shrill cry of distress from Gabe. “Why is this happening?!” he howled wretchedly while standing in front of the commode, Eric toweling him off and comforting him while I dealt with the horror that was his bed. (Note for young and expecting parents: mine was the role you want. It might seem the grosser of the two, but it also apparently has the result of causing the child to view the other parent as the default support person for any subsequent needs throughout the illness. Poor Eric got no sleep at all, as Gabe summoned him repeatedly for the rest of the night.) Eric’s help was a surprise stroke of luck, as he wasn’t even supposed to be home; his connecting flights to Germany, where he was meant to be heading Saturday afternoon, had gotten jacked up, so he wound up coming home and departing Sunday afternoon instead.

This evening, Sam is clutching his belly. Ostensibly, according to him, this is because he ate too much tonight at Empty Bowls, where he had two bowls of soup and his body weight in bread. (Every time I turned around from dealing with a manic little Gabe, he had another roll in hand…) I’m shaking my head, because…it’s not the soup. Not the bread. I’m simply not that lucky, and neither is he. He’s at least said that he’ll take my advice and sleep with a bowl again tonight, as I made him do last night, as well, and he’ll make sure the path is clear between him and the ladder down from his bunk. Not much more can be done, I guess.

In the meantime, I keep my fingers crossed, and I wait for the email from Germany telling me of how quickly an English-speaking American can find a bathroom in an emergency. At least, I joked to Eric before he left, I’m pretty sure that one hand clamped over one’s mouth and the other waving wildly is a universally-understood signal.

(This is sort of a lingering thing, too. I’ve had waves of sour stomach over and over for the past several days, including this evening; Gabe keeps periodically moaning that he feels like he wants to throw up, but he’s been fine a few minutes later. We’re both eating yogurt, but the damage left by this bug appears to be tough to repair.)

Anyway, at least being sick has been a distraction from the fact that, good GRAVY, do I miss my husband. He’s only been away for one sleep, and I can’t believe I have to get through five more.

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I use an old phone, as such things are determined. It’s a Palm Centro, and it does everything of which I require it: not much. I don’t surf the web on it, and my motto is that if I can’t wait until reaching a real computer to check my email, then I have an Email Problem. I don’t even text on the phone. What I want is a cross between an ordinary telephone and a file-handling PDA – specifically, one that can talk nicely with my Mac computer and automatically sync up with my calendar and contacts over a USB connection. That’s it. (Oh, and Sudoku. Shaddup.)

So when I went into the Sprint store to see about getting a new battery, I was most displeased to learn:
A) They don’t have a battery for my (positively antique, quite discontinued) phone;
B) I could buy one at the battery store…for about $50;
C) It’d be cheaper just to upgrade my phone, which I’m eligible to do, but…
D) All the phones to which I could upgrade that would do what I want them to do would require having a data plan.

I don’t want a data plan. Honestly, the only reason we’re on Sprint right now is that Dad went out and got Sprint phones for me and my brother so that he could call his kids and grandkids whenever he wanted to. I could switch off to another carrier, but then Dad would have to pay more to call us when he wants to, which he naturally would prefer not to do. Further complicating things, Eric’s work might choose to provide him with a phone in the coming days, but it won’t be Sprint. Switch me to his carrier? Get my own plan?

The guy at the Sprint store was all about trying to sell me on the idea of switching our family’s plan to a data plan, even though I’m the only one with a phone that would use/require it and even I don’t want it. Only forty more dollars a month! A true bargain! Ugh. I don’t think my level of “enthusiasm” was what he wanted, for some reason.

I just want my own phone to keep working. $50 for a new battery is looking pretty keen compared to the other options, which seems sad. Maybe some folks walk into the phone store and go all “Ooh, sparkly!” but that’s not where I’m at right now.

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But Gabe actually let the dentist hold his hands when it was all over, listening to what he was saying, with the last of his whole-body shudders and lower-lip quaking. The dentist was remarkably calm and patient through the whole thing; I think it was me, honestly, who tipped the event into the “Let’s just get it done” territory. Mom Fail, probably. But, hey, Sam did well! As well he might, considering that it’s still a distinct possibility that he could need orthodontia for the laterals that look to be coming in via the Soft-Serve Ice Cream Swirl Method.

Phew. Glad that’s over for another six months. Somebody please tell me that we’ll see remarkable strides in self-control between now and then? Doesn’t have to be the truth, so long as it’s convincing. (Not gonna go look through my archives at Sam’s history; it’s becoming less and less relevant, anyway, as Gabe grows and evermore plows his own path.)

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Unrelated, but making me smile: Sam left his copy of The Lightning Thief at school, “where I have more free time to read it!” And I think I believe him. (Little brothers do tend to interrupt quiet reading time around here.)

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It’ll be running-oriented, mostly circulating around the things I see on my runs. Since I have a knack for “discovering” weirdness on the run (see: gas station holdups, drunk people cat-calling, dogs off-leash, mysterious signs on telephone poles, etc.), I contemplated attaching a video camera to my running hats to capture it all…but then I decided that this would be a lot less work. Also, it allows me the latitude of including other people’s stories, via emails or voicemails! If you want to be heard on the show, call in to 206-350-9501 and leave a message! Doesn’t have to be just about strange sightings – I’m eager to hear from anyone – but if you have some of those to share, all the better.

Music on the show comes from the Podsafe Music Network. Tracks used were:
42 shades of grey – State Unsteady
Dave King – The Cold’ll Kill Ya

You can subscribe through iTunes, or you can download the show here. Please let me know if anything behaves badly!

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I haven’t the foggiest idea what I’m making for dinner tonight, and we don’t even have much in the way of raw ingredients to begin making it, but the boys are playing happily and peacefully upstairs and I don’t want to ruin it. On the other hand, Eric’s at the gym, and sometimes he comes home from there with some pretty wonky blood sugars (oh, come on; “hinky” isn’t a word, but “wonky” is?), and it might be nice to be able to present food to him. What would be really nice would be to have an idea for a dinner that both boys would enjoy. Sam has been begging for white bean soup for a while, and I’d like some, too, but Gabe would probably eat the bowl and spoon before so much as tasting the soup. (He’s still on a jag of mostly cheese, bananas, and ham, with occasional requests for chicken nuggets and pizza. Only the fact that I know Sam did this, too, keeps me sane.)

Oh, here they are. Playtime has ended; nightly demands for food (“Can we make cookies? Right now?”) have commenced. I guess it’s grocery store time. (And not (just) for cookie-related items.)

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(If you’re seeing this through a feed, odds are you’ll need to click through to see it.)

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Eric did himself proud! I was in culinary heaven from beginning to end. Now I’m all sad, because he’s away for the week for work; after this, we’ll have him home for one week, and then he’ll go away again for yet another week. It’s easier to weather these trips now that the boys are a bit older and busier, as well as able to comprehend that a week is a finite thing, but…I miss him. I miss him so much. Even nights where I don’t see him, because he’s out past the time when the boys and I go to bed, I’ll stir in the dark and be happily aware of his presence. It’s hard not to have that.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. I’m supposed to sing with the choir, but I’d thought to skip the service, since there’s no childcare and I don’t trust Gabe to sit in the sanctuary without me next to him. One of his Wednesday night teachers, however, offered to let him sit with her during the service, so I might be able to go after all. I’d like to; Ash Wednesday service has become rather special to me, since I first attended one while I was in college. My childhood church didn’t follow a liturgical calendar, so I’d never experienced it before, and certainly never had the imposition of ashes. When I first had that at the Episcopal church where Eric and I would eventually be married, it was such a powerful moment – a time when my own humble position in the world and relationship with God was made so perfectly clear that I nearly shook in the knees.

Sam is slowly working his way through all this, but Gabe…well, I tried to talk with him a little about it today, but it’s harder than it was with Sam at this age. He’s finally beginning to move a little out of his “I am the center of all things!” mindset, but there’s still much of that going on, and he doesn’t really want to think about sacrifice or reverence or any of that. On the other hand, trying to explain how Christ’s resurrection applies to him was a nearly complete failure. It necessarily involves mention of his own mortality, you see, so…”You’re making me SAD! You’re making me want to CRY! I don’t want to DIE!” And then it devolved into discussion about Grandma being in heaven, which is safer territory for him, I suppose: eternal life as something Other People will have the pleasure of experiencing.

I don’t even want to think about trying to explain the ashes to him tomorrow night. Man, do I wish Eric was here to help.

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Came home, got dressed, and went out on my Free Day! First I went to the bookstore, where I got, among a couple other books and a magazine, Tara Weaver’s book, The Butcher and the Vegetarian. It is phenomenal! I’m enjoying it so much! On the one hand, I’m not a vegetarian personally, but I do have leanings toward – oh, what’s the term they’re bandying about these days? Flexitarianism? So I’m enjoying both the detailed descriptions of the meat dishes she was learning to prepare as well as being able to sympathize with her conflicted feelings. The chapters on industrial farming and the treatment of food animals are particularly powerful.

Then I went to lunch and had Thai Chicken pizza. Well, I hadn’t started the book yet.

After that, I ran some errands and then went to coffee, where I plowed through a bunch of my book over several hours. By the time I looked up, it was dinner time! I went for sushi, because it’s been way too long. Had myself a nice little pile of sashimi, then walked around a little downtown before I realized that it was way to cold to look into windows of closed businesses. (It’s really pathetic down there these days.) Decided I needed one more indulgence before heading back home, so I went in search of dessert, which I found in a very crowded Olive Garden. Hey, I didn’t mind; I had my book! Got myself a piece of tiramisu and a glass of Pinot Noir, which I savored for a long while (by the time I got my table, the crowd had been dispersed, so I didn’t feel guilty), and then headed home and helped put the kids to bed.

Eric had been working all day, preparing for our Valentine’s Day meal! We’ve decided to do Valentine’s Day here, eating a late dinner after the boys are in bed. I put the menu decisions firmly into Eric’s creative hands, and I don’t expect to be disappointed that I did! He gave me a small taste of the coffee creme anglaise he made as part of the dessert, and…oh…

Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody!

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Last night, Eric had to work late, so I had to take the kids to church by myself. I growled at them on the way there, and then I sat through choir practice with a sour feeling and, I’m sure, a sour look on my face. Heart-shaped Valentine’s Day cookies had been brought in, so I had a sugar hit that I didn’t need, and then I was sharp with the kids all the way home again. Eric was home by then, and he must have had a premonition, because, God bless him, he was folding laundry when I walked in the door. He assessed the situation, helped wrangle the kids into bed, and then told me firmly that I have Saturday “off”: I’ll go for my run, come home and clean up, and then hit the door and not return until at least dinner. He told me to go to a bookstore, if I wanted, get a book, and then read most of it over coffee (a relaxing mug, not the copious amounts with which I’ve been dosing myself and hardly even tasting). “Relax” was his order.

I don’t deserve this man.

I confessed to him that on an ordinary free day, I’d probably see about asking a friend to meet me, but the only thing I really want right now is an extended period in which I don’t have to open my mouth to talk to anybody. I need peace. I need to be with just me, to refill myself. Then, perhaps, I’ll be able to get back to normal.

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(This is what I get for trying to switch up yoga routines. My dreams are just as vivid, but sometimes a bit less relaxing.)

Well, today is a snow day for the kids. I am completely mystified about that, since there’s really not that much accumulation out there; I know I’ve sent Sam to school in far worse conditions before. I can only think of two reasons for the cancellation:
1) The snowfall is supposed to increase dramatically around noon, and it’s easier to cancel for the day than to send them home early, or
2) Have we even had any snow days yet this year? Maybe those in charge of it were getting antsy for one.

Whatever the reason, I thought it would only put a slight crimp in my routine to have Sam home (Gabe is always home on Tuesdays) – that I could just take both kids with me to the gym instead of one. Sadly, other gym-going folks who had signed their kids up for the kid care room before today decided that snow was a good reason to stay home, and when they all called to cancel, the worker decided not to come in this morning. Boo, hiss! I got them signed up for the afternoon, but I hate running so late. Plus, now I get to listen to them shriek at each other all morning long, whereas if we’d done the gym, by the time we did that and ate lunch, it would have been Quiet Time for Gabe, and things would have been much more peaceful.

Whine, whine, whine. And, according to Sam, “Three minutes until lunch time!” Good to know I’m on a shot clock.

Pffft. It is so not snowing hard enough to cancel school. (It is, on the other hand, snowing quite sufficiently to allow me an extra cup of coffee or two. Maintaining internal core temperature is very important, don’tcha know?)

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We watch for commercials, and so that Sam can sort of fit in at school when the other kids talk about having watched, and so that we can have an excuse to eat appetizer-type foods for dinner. Sadly, we seem to have no ability to estimate what our family will consume when it comes to this sort of food preparation, so we ended up with enough food to host a Superbowl party, only with no actual party taking place. The nachos were great, and there were two kinds of wings and hot dogs and cake and ice cream…sheesh. We should have put up a sign or something: “Come on in! Eat up!”

It was a great evening, right up until this commercial came on:

…and Gabe lost his mind in terror, screaming and sobbing and freaking the heck out. It was epic. We just about had him calmed down when this one started:

…and it had to be bedtime. My poor, poor, traumatized baby…

(He talked about it all morning, too, asking why they wanted to make him scared like that.)

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(These are the things that keep me smiling when I’m also faced with having had to ground him through the weekend for repeatedly kicking a classmate under the table at lunch time, to the point where the little girl wrote a letter about how much it upset her. He claims it wasn’t malicious – just a game he and the other little boy to whom the letter was addressed had been playing. Not The Point, I said, and no excuse at all.)

Gabe, my baby, is somehow old enough to record his own movies:

That “army” covered the entire top of the dresser he and Sam share, and as it was continuing to grow, we needed to find a solution. He’s pretty satisfied with this one. I’m imagining the way he’ll describe this collection to his future wife, and it makes me giggle. It’s very serious business, Gabe’s Army. The dresser they occupied before actually rocks a little, from the floor sloping; whenever Sam would close a drawer and the figures would topple, Gabe would have a complete screaming conniption, as though an actual battle was being waged, with his men on the losing side. “MY GUYS! AUGH! YOU KNOCKED DOWN MY ARMY! MY SO-OOOOOOOLDIERS!”

Tonight, Eric and I are going to see Jeff Dunham. I’m really excited about that.

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I need to say that toting sixty-four ounces of water on your back, no matter how well-engineered the system is, is going to be noticeable. It’s added weight, any way you look at it, and not a small amount. I didn’t need anywhere close to that amount of water yesterday, especially with the temperatures being in the low 20s, but I did want to test the pack to its fullest, so that’s what I carried. The Wink really is well-engineered, though, and despite the weight, I didn’t feel a single bounce. In fact, once I got used to it, I barely noticed it at all! This will be a very good thing when I’m carrying it, say, up this. (Aw, yeah.)

A big reason why I suggested this particular pack to Eric when he was shopping was the storage in the front straps. I was reluctant to get most of the hydration packs I saw, simply because I didn’t want to have to stop and take off the pack should I want anything from inside it. With this vest, I can keep my nutrition, gloves, cell phone, whatever in any of the little pockets lining my rib cage. I tried it out this time, and it worked brilliantly! Love it! As far as drinking from the hose went, the bite valve is a little trickier than just using a bottle, but I can see where I’d get used to it fairly quickly.

So, the Wink: good gear. Looking forward to using it when I actually need it. I still intend to use my Amphipod belt for ordinary runs, but if I’m going to be out and about for long enough to require more than a handful of gels, the Wink will definitely serve well. Also, being able to carry sunscreen, bug repellent, a hand towel, etc. will be awesome for trails.

(What I should have stashed in it yesterday was dog biscuits, perhaps. Near the very end of the run, I entered a cemetery and nearly ran directly into a very large, white, husky-type dog. Now, it didn’t look unfriendly, and I could see it was wearing a collar, but I wasn’t about to try to approach it. I stopped, and it didn’t come nearer; I sternly said, “Go home!” and it wandered a few steps away, then looked back at me with a confused expression. My guess was that it was lost, but I don’t know dogs; it could well have been trying to figure out the best way to drag my lifeless body back home with it. When it wandered further away from me, I took off in the opposite direction. A few minutes later, I crossed paths with it again, near where I think it may have crawled under the fence to get in. It didn’t follow me, but it watched me run off, looking mildly entertained.)

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Today I ran. I didn’t fall down once.

Tonight I have a clothing-swap party to attend, and tomorrow looks to be insanely busy, with running club in the morning, followed by Sam’s Pinewood Derby for Scouts, and then a spaghetti dinner and movie night for Gabe’s preschool. Inhale, exhale. There are no static poses in yoga, and none in life, either.

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Meh. I’m feeling sort of toxic at the moment. I need to turn it around, but I haven’t decided on the best or most effective way to do that yet. Things that aren’t working:

• Load after load of laundry
• Sam’s Club bulk coffee
• “Mommy, what’s for dinner? I’m not eating that!“
• Frozen Wisconsin

Hmph.

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Better “new”: Eric and I tried a televised, on-demand yoga workout this weekend. I’ve attempted yoga in the past, with little success, and I figured it was one of those things that A) really require a live teacher over an on-screen one, and B) are better left to people without fused-straight lower backs. Still, we did our best, and I found that I’m much better at yoga now that I’ve lost weight and can better support myself on my arms than I could before. I was surprised when Eric informed me that I was, indeed, forming a triangle when I did Downward-Facing Dog; in the past, I was more of a distorted rectangle. We’re going for it again tonight, hopefully. This could be fun, and it might help with some parts of my legs that are less flexible than others, as per the physical therapist who helped me through my ITBS a long while back.

Yesterday, we took the kids to a benefit for Dan DeMatthew yesterday, and Sam spent the whole time staring in awe at the crowd of people packed into the hall. “He must be a really nice man!” he kept saying. “All these people really like him!” Then, because he’s Sam and has his own priorities in assessing a man’s character, “Do you think he likes nature?”

Need to go flip laundry now.

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