No excuses

Saw this on XT4's blog and I've used way too many of these excuses before. It's time to stop.

Dragons left me sore and stiff, but I still ran

I spent Saturday morning on the Fox River at practice for the upcoming Dragon boat races.

The races are part of a community festival held in conjunction with the university in town. And each year, my office puts together a team. And a week or two before the event, we head down to the river for our one and only practice session with hardcore Dragon boat paddlers from the Racine area.

You know, they show you how to paddle and teach you the command. You figure out where your seat is in the boat and what purpose you'll serve. Then they tell you to throw on a life jacket, jump in the boat and you paddle for the next hour.

And use muscles that I apparently don't use the rest of the year.

Because when I woke up this morning. Holy cow. I could barely sit up in bed. So the thought of lacing up the running shoes and setting out for the last long-ish run before next weekend's Fox Cities Half Marathon? Yeah, that wasn't happening.

So I lounged in bed a bit. Felt guilty. And finally got up (slowly) and got ready to go for a run. Given the fact that it hurt to bend over and tie my shoes and every step I took was painful in the toosh (what can I say, those tiny little benches in the boat? Not so comfortable), I didn't have high hopes for the run.

I headed out the door with plans just to sneak in two miles and do something a little longer later in the week, when I wasn't feeling like I was 90 years old. But after a block or two I actually started to feel pretty decent. I actually ended up doing 4.2 miles and probably could have done the 6ish I wanted to do pre-Dragon boat practice, but I needed time to get home and shower before an afternoon's worth of NFL games kicked off at noon.

I'm still hoping to sneak in that 6 mile run later this week, maybe Tuesday, just as one last longer run before the half marathon on Tuesday. And I'm crossing my fingers that when I wake up tomorrow morning, the soreness and stiffness in my back and shoulder are gone, because hobbling around like I'm 90? Kind of bites.

Nine years ago today

Kind of hard to believe it's been nine years. And yet it seems like only yesterday. It's one moment that's vividly etched in my mind. One of those moments that I'll always remember where I was and what I was doing when the towers fell in New York City, a plane crashed into the Pentagon and a plane fell from the sky over a field in Pennsylvania.

And today, the ninth anniversary of that horrific attack, I still grieve. And I remember the 2,974 victims that were killed: 2,750 connected to the World Trade Center, 40 in a Pennsylvania field and 184 at the Pentagon. Those numbers do not include the 19 hijackers

Three Things Thursday

1. I got a nice 5.25 mile run in last night on the treadmill. The Fox Cities half marathon is quickly approaching. Less than 2 weeks. Planning on getting in a run before I head into work tomorrow and something long-ish this weekend before taper begins.

2. I finally sat down last night and watched Invictus since the library kept sending me overdue notices. A little slow at the beginning, but it ended up being a great movie. I've already got my request in at the library to read the book that the movie was based on, which will probably be better than the movie since books always are.


3. So excited the NFL season officially kicked off a few minutes ago. It's great knowing my Sunday plans are essentially laid out for me for the next few months. And even better that we're less than 10 minutes into the season and Brett Favre and the Vikings are already losing. :)

My night as one of Lady Gaga's Little Monsters

There was a car with a keyboard under the hood, a flaming piano, so many costume changes I lost count and a beheaded Tinkerbell whose stuffing ended up being used to stuff a bra-top.

And the music? Wow. In short, I was really glad my Dad wanted to go see Lady Gaga Thursday night and took me along with him. It was one of those concerts that I don't think I ever would have wanted to go to on my own. But now that I've gone and sat through the 2-plus hour show that Lady Gaga put on telling the story of a trip to The Monster Ball, I'm glad. Overall it was a great show. The lights. The stage set up (seriously, two dozen semi-trucks to haul all of the stuff that appeared on stage? Crazy!). The costumes. The dancers and choreography. The message she tried to convey, about how we should accept everyone, regardless of their beliefs and that we shouldn't be afraid to be different. And you can't forget the music. It had me (and my Dad!) dancing in the aisles. So much fun. I was almost disappointed to see it all end when the clock struck 11:15 p.m.

Highlights?

• Lady Gaga sat and played a piano that was on fire during "Speechless" and a new song that will be on her upcoming album. I guess sat is the wrong word. Because for at least half of that time, Lady Gaga was standing on the bench, bending down and playing. There may also have been a chunk of time when she was using her stiletto black boots to play in addition to her hands.
• Fire returned during "Alejandro." This time it wasn't the piano in flames. Rather it was an angel statue.
• I wasn't disappointed. I got to hear all the songs I was hoping to hear. And yes, I almost wanted to start running when she belted out "Poker Face," mostly since that's right at the beginning of my running play list. Other musical highlights? "Just Dance," "Telephone," "So Happy I Could Die," and "Paparazzi."
• Speaking of "Paparazzi," there was this large, creepy looking piranha on stage. Guessing that was supposed to be the Fame Monster or something. Whatever it was, it's eyes glowed and it was trying to attack her.
• And Lady Gaga saved the best for the encore. After an entire show, I was super excited to hear her bust out "Bad Romance" for the encore. Lots of dancing. Lots of jumping. The Little Monsters that packed the Bradley Center were going crazy. Me included.

So glad my Dad wanted to go see Lady Gaga and took me with him. It was quite the experience. And I didn't even touch on the clothes that the concert goers were wearing! If you want a peak, take a look at the photo gallery the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel put up (which is where I got the picture in this blog post since I neglected to take my own camera with me). While you're over at the JS, take a moment to read their concert review.

The late night was worth it (I would have been able to sleep in the next day had my landlord decided to not cut the grass right outside my bedroom window at 7:30 a.m.). And if any of you ever have the chance to be one of Lady Gaga's Little Monsters and see her show in person, GO!

I might have set a new PR for times I wanted to quit

I didn't have a ton of plans for my long holiday weekend. I just kind of wanted to go with the flow. Relax.

That being said, there was one thing that I absolutely had to do: Get my 10 mile run in. And  with temperatures in the lower- to mid-60s and the sun shinning, I really had no excuse not to get the miles in. Granted, it was super windy Friday and Saturday, but the wind was supposed to die down today.

So after staying up late to watch my Badgers beat up on UNLV last night, I went to bed with the plan that in the morning, the running shoes would be laced up and I'd get the miles in.

I woke up and immediately began procrastinating. Some cheesy Lifetime movie was watched. A little bit of U.S. Open tennis was viewed. Finally around noon I decided it was time to head out. So I got myself ready and I set off. And within the first half mile I realized the weathermen lied. Again. The wind? It was still pretty steady when I was heading west. But I kept putting one foot in front of the other. It was hard though.

I admit. I felt like I wanted to quit after a mile. My one knee was achy feeling. And them my stomach got crampy. And the wind. In a word? I was miserable. But I kept running, thinking I'd at least try to get a short run in.

I had decided to do two loops of (what I thought was) a 5-mile route by my parents' house. And it gave me options to cut the run short if needed. And I seriously considered it. But I kept running past those streets where I could shorten the run. I was determined to get at least one loop done.

A few weeks ago I decided I'm going to go with a run/walk method for the upcoming Fox Cities Half Marathon. I'm thinking a short walk break every half-mile or mile (hopefully the walk breaks will be less often in the early miles). I did that today, granted those walk breaks started earlier than I would have liked (blame the wind and the crampy feeling).

I finished the first loop and made a pit stop at Mom and Dad's to refill my water bottle. I seriously considered just quitting. But I was starting to feel a tiny bit better. So I thought I'd head out and least log a few more miles, if not the remaining five.

I battled the wind again for the next 1.5 miles and again thought about quitting, but once I turned north I was running with the wind at my back for the next almost 2.5 miles. And during this time? I felt good. I took some GU (today's flavor - mint chocolate - yum!) around Mile 7 and kept up the run/walk mix. Was feeling great until Mile 8.25 when I turned south back into the nasty wind. But I knew it was just a (long) straight away and I'd be done. So I dug deep and kept putting one foot in front of the other.

I ended up finishing the 10 miles in 1 hour, 58 minutes. Not the fastest, but I'll take it considering the conditions and how many times I felt like quitting.

I've got 14 days left before the half. While I struggled today at times, I'm still feeling pretty good about the race given the lack of training I've done.

Three Things Thursday

1. There will be no run tonight. Because tonight? I will be a Little Monster. Yes folks. Tonight's the night I head down to Milwaukee with my Dad and cousin to see Lady Gaga. I've been working late all week so that I can sneak out early today and of course the folks in my office are having a field day with this. The find it highly amusing that I'm going. And taking my Dad with me. I'm excited. Should be a pretty good show. Do you think the dogs will be there?


2. Since I'll be coming home in the wee hours of the morning, I thought ahead and took Friday off. At the time I didn't realize it was Labor Day weekend. Yay for unplanned 4-day holiday weekends!

3. This Little Monster can't come up with a third thing. But don't worry. I'll have a full report of what Lady Gaga was like when I come back! Have a good weekend everyone!

Hopefully this will be the last indoor run for a while

I know I shouldn't believe weathermen. But I have to admit, looking at the weather forecast for Labor Day weekend? It's got me excited.

Should make for a great weekend of weather that's conducive to biking and running without dying from the heat and humidity. Yes. I'm looking forward to the fall-like temps. Especially since I've got a 10-miler on the books sometime over the weekend. And I refuse to do it on the treadmill or even a repeat of this week's track/treadmill combo. I want to run. Outdoors.

Which is exactly what I didn't do tonight. It was still kind of humid. And I guess I'm a wuss, because I headed over to the YMCA. My legs were still pretty sore from Monday's 9-miler, so at first I thought I was only going to do 3 miles, but after about a mile they felt better so I kept going, finishing with 4.3 miles. At least I was able to entertain myself with the Big Ten's announcement of the new divisions. Let's just say Badgergirl's not happy. Wisconsin got the shaft. The Badgers should have been in a division with at least Iowa or Minnesota. Ugh. Which is when I turned the TV to the U.S. Open, hoping to see the Andy Roddick match, but since they schedule women's matches first during the night session, it was Kim Clijsters.

At least I've got an outdoor run to look forward to next. Makes me a happy Badgergirl.