Holidays in Love

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! It's hard to believe I've been away from work for almost a week now, because this past week has been a crazy, happy blur. My parents arrived last Wednesday and we quickly set to work on moving my office out of the baby's room and making the room into a nursery, and of course, all the preparations for Christmas!

Project Make-A-Nursery went very well, and while it's not finished, we are well on our way. My parents and husband painted the room a pale yellow, and a few days later my Mom and I spent about 5.5 hours shopping to find fabric, a rug, bins to hold adorable newborn clothes, etc. It was so much fun to browse through the stores and imagine the room coming together. I will definitely post a picture once it's done. And the Christmas prep, well, there was LOTS of baking, and we all know that makes me happy.

Christmas Day itself was a crazy ~60 degrees. This is me after my run on Christmas Day. Sleeveless with arm sleeves, and it was glorious. The shirt is the second maternity running top I got from Runningskirts. It's a little big, but does a great job!

And good news--I ran a little faster than I had previously and had almost NO lower back pain or pinching. I still walked up the hills, which I will probably continue to do. The run felt great, and I was smiling like an idiot all the way through. Glorious day, pain-free run, Christmas, what more could a girl ask for?!?

Next run on deck is tomorrow morning with K. Can't wait! And finally, thank you all so much for the support after my last post. It means so much! 

Post-half training

I noticed that JoannaRuns got a few new followers this week--welcome, and thanks for joining my journey!!


I learned a lot this week. Primarily, that I left too much on the course last Saturday. But it took me a few days to figure this out. Going into this week I had 40 miles on the schedule, which is a first for me, ever. I kept telling myself, "Sure, it's 40 miles, but it's an easy 40." Um, right. Just because there was no speed or pace work doesn't make the distance any shorter.

• Monday: 5 miles, easy. My legs felt like J-e-l-l-o for about 1.5, then it was fine. 
• Tuesday: our yoga instructor didn't show up...again. So my yoga buddy and I went out to breakfast instead. Yeah, I'm hardcore like that.
• Wednesday: 8 miles, easy. It was pretty unremarkable. Average pace 9:46. 
• Thursday: missed the 6:40am text from my neighbor saying she needed more sleep. So I waited 10 minutes then headed out to hit our usual route. Soon thereafter I went to the airport to pick up The Beastie for our epic scrappy weekend, which included this:
  
  
• Friday: due to a scheduling conflict I decided to switch my rest day from Sunday to Friday, then run Saturday and Sunday. So I rested. 
• Saturday: Friday night I stayed up late eating cake and drinking wine, so an early morning run wasn't happening. That left me 6:30-7:45pm to run. Conveniently placed right after dinner, I wanted to puke every.single.step of the way. It was a really bad decision. I finished 6.3 of my 8 mile run before it got dark and I *really* wanted to hurl. Gross. My stomach hurt all night up to and including,
• Sunday: at 4am, when I woke up to take The Beastie to the airport. I got home at 5:30am, crawled back into bed, and just fell asleep before The Kiddo awoke at 5:45 demanding chicken nuggets. WTF. Even though Sunday is my weekend day to get up with him, Mr. Joanna took the bullet and let me stay in bed. i love that man so much. 

I really never did recover enough today to be productive. It was hard enough to walk to the park and sit on a bench while the kiddo played for an hour. And grocery shopping was almost torture. It was only this morning that I accepted the truth: I PR'ed by a bigger margin than I expected last weekend. Then I didn't decrease mileage at all (just intensity). Then I ran 6.3 miles about 20 minutes after eating dinner. Then I got up at 4am and slept in snippets through the morning after that. The outcome:

the 16 miles just wasn't happening today.

I've accepted that life got in the way of my best laid plans. I also acknowledge that I have a tendency to over-schedule myself, but honestly, that's how I'm happiest. Even so, I've accepted all of the following about today's FAIL:

1. I'm afraid. I have a marathon in 5 weeks. I only have 2 more really long runs, and I've only hit 16 miles once so far this training cycle. So I'm afraid. Am I really going to be able to PR by the margin I've imagined?
2. I'm relieved that I allowed myself to rest. I needed it, and it was the right decision. 
3. I have no idea what time I'm going to pull at Cleveland. 
4. The recent heat wave (90? In April? Really?) has me scared about weather on race day.
5. I now understand what it means to "leave too much on the course" 

Tomorrow begins a new week of marathon training. I'm going to nail this week. It's another 40 mile week, and it includes speed and pace work, and I'm determined. The next 2 weeks are absolutely critical. Stick with me. 

Pleasantville

It's bad when I have to get out my weekly planner to remember what all needs to go into updating my blog. It's not all crazy busyness though! Part of the distractions recently have been fabulous--a trip to the beach and a visit from my parents. Before I get into all that though, a mileage update. I've officially (finally) broken the 100-mile mark.

82.4 + 3.0 + 6.0 + 3.25 + 3.0 + 6.0 + 2.5 = 106.15

Things here got totally nutsy after my Mom's Swine Flu diagnosis, mostly because she and my Dad were scheduled to fly out here and babysit while Brendan and I were to go on vacation (I have a thing about not announcing vacations beforehand--something about posting online that my house will be empty totally creeps me out). So for a few days we were weighing whether to cancel or reschedule the trip, take Elliot with us, or leave him with a dear friend (who is completely amazing for agreeing to take him). In the end, my Dad never got flu symptoms, so he came out as planned and my Mom came out last Tuesday, after the doctor cleared her for travel and babysitting. So where did we go, you might ask. The answer--Miami Beach. And it was everything I had hoped for. Beautiful, clear beaches, nice weather, a comfy bed (in which we slept past 6:30 am), and time with my hubby away from work. We got to see our friends Junior and Melissa one evening, which we really enjoyed. We also went para-sailing, rented a wave runner, and ate some awesome Cuban food. I also discovered the Mojito. Have one. They're delicious. Here are a few pictures.

We arrived back in IL on Thursday (6/11), my Dad's birthday. Because it was both his birthday and we were in denial about the end of vaca, we went out to dinner at one of our favorite local places. On Friday, Brendan sadly had to return to work. I, on the other hand, played hooky and took my parents to Springfield to tour the Dana-Thomas House. It was an absolutely perfect day. I can't say enough good things about Springfield in terms of its preparedness for tourism. I didn't even print directions, we just drove there and easily found both the visitors center and nearby parking. Inside, they had walking and driving directions to nearby restaurants and attractions. While walking to a nearby restaurant (which was amazing) for lunch, someone from the visitors center asked if we were finding everything. I was totally impressed. And it didn't stop there. The tour of the Dana-Thomas House was also excellent. The tour started with a short video, then a volunteer led us through the 1902 Frank Lloyd Wright house. We weren't permitted to take pictures inside the house, but my Mom did take a few outside, which I'll post when she sends them. The inside has two (?) barrel vaulted ceilings, which I'm not sure I've ever seen in American residential architecture. He used them a few other times in his houses, apparently, though they are not a common feature of his design. The predominant theme in the art glass is an interpretation of Sumac, which I liked. There was a secondary butterfly theme in the glass, but the Sumac is the clear star. There are three musicians balconies in the house. Can you imagine having a quartet playing above your dining room? Wild. After the tour we went back to the restaurant where we'd had lunch and had some dessert before leaving town. It was a great outing.

On their last night in town, my Mom got some last Grandmothering in. I couldn't resist capturing it.

On Saturday morning I went to the park half an hour early to start my 6-mile long run, then came home to pick up Mom and Dad and take them to the airport. We finished out the weekend with a totally unplanned picnic with friends after church. I love, LOVE feeling like I have friends to whom I can say, "Hey, wanna go home, grab whatever you have in the 'fridge, and meet us at a park in an hour?" And they do. They show up, and we have a great time. That's what it feels like to feel at home someplace. And I love it. I finished the weekend by baking a loaf of cinnamon-raisin bread, scrapbooking, and watching In Plain Sight with Brendan.

This morning I jumped back into the reality pool with both feet. I'm feeling the pressure to keep moving my dissertation along. Today was the goal deadline I'd set for myself to finish the all-but-the-data draft of my third paper. I have most of that draft finished, but I've also done a significant amount of the data work, so I think I'm on track. Determined to inject something pleasant into the chaos, I went for my run after dinner. It was cool, and sunset was nice, and I settled in and enjoyed a short 2.5 mile run. I'm sort of inspired by stress to purposefully inject fun, even just small snippets, into as many evenings as possible. It makes for a nice life.

All over the place

I am waaaaaay behind on updating miles. Here's the update:
Monday/Tuesday = 6.0 miles
Thursday = 2.0 miles
Saturday = 3.7
today = 2.4
Total = 14.1
57.3 + 14.1 = 71.4 miles

Otherwise, things have been up and down here. My aunt (Mom's sister) died in a car accident on May 16. I made the trip to Pennsylvania sans husband and baby. I wanted to be there for my Mom and family. My brother also made the trip from Michigan. It was really nice to see my cousins, but of course we all wished it could have been under better circumstances.

This weekend my brother, sister-in-law, and niece came to visit to celebrate Elliot's birthday and hang out. It was a weekend filled with good food and good company. We had a batch of the filled pancakes in my new pan, dinners of tri-meat kabobs, homemade pizzas with beer crust and great toppings, and chicken oro bianco. I also made cupcakes for Elliot's birthday. We went shopping, stayed up late playing games, and hung out. I bought a shirt over my sister-in-laws objections (it was fun!). Dan, for funsies, changed my homepage to the Youtube video for my least favorite song on the planet just before he left. We had a good time.

100th post & Mothers Day

My running-themed blog has hit a mile marker--it's 100th post! I honestly wasn't sure blogging would be a good format for me, but it's turned out to be a nice way to record and share things, running and otherwise.

I mostly wanted to write about my first Mothers Day with a baby breathing outside air (I was enormously pregnant last Mothers Day). It was a perfect day, all around. My husband let me sleep in, which is pure luxury these days. I woke up at 8 to eat breakfast, then went back to sleep until 9 or so. I got up and went to church, then came home and started making a huge brunch to share with my boys and our friends K and N. While I was cooking, B brought me these flowers, because he's wonderful. Both he and Elliot gave me cards, too. Elliot even adorably signed his card (with help from Dad).

For brunch we had sausage, hash browns, toast, fruit, and filled pancakes made in my new pancake pan. I saw this in a catalog a while ago and really wanted it, so B bought it for me for my birthday. A picture of the first batch is below. As you can see a few are a bit darker than is probably optimal, so I need to refine my technique a bit. That aside, I loved them. We filled them with blueberries, chocolate chips, peanut butter, pb & chocolate chips, and blueberries & chocolate chips. Making them is a bit more involved that I'd envisioned, but not difficult. I don't really like pancakes and I loved these. As my husband's family says, they're a "be back." After lunch we played frisbee outside for a good long while. It was perfect weather, enjoyed pleasantly with good food and friends. What else could I ask for?

And before I forget, mileage update: 48.6 + 3 = 51.6

It's a good thing I like to run...

I'll just say it without introduction--I love to bake. I love to watch baked goods come together in my kitchen, knowing that lesser products are bought much more expensively every day at grocery store bakeries. I love the smell of freshly baked bread. I love knowing what's in my bread. I love sweets (hence the title of this post). I love it all. I've tried a few new recipes recently and have enjoyed them so much I decided to share.

Up first is cinnamon raisin swirl bread, from Betty Crocker's Bridal Edition Cookbook. I initially made it at my husband's request. After I saw the first loaf though, I fell for it. Here's a picture of the current loaf.

One of my best friends and I both had birthdays in the last two weeks. We always celebrate together, but she was out of town visiting her family this year, so we postponed until tonight. To celebrate, we and our husbands decided to go out for dinner then have a homemade dessert from the cookbook she gave me for Christmas. We chose "Vanilla bean with white chocolate buttercream." I learned SO much about cake baking from this recipe. It calls for a vanilla bean, which I had never used. The recipe calls for three 8" layers, but no one owns 8" cake pans, so I adjusted the recipe to use 9" pans. Also, the icing follows a recipe with several elements I'd never seen before. It took three trips to the store and several hours of baking (some with assistance from my husband) to get it right. In short, it took some commitment. Like most things, it will be much easier the second time around. My husband insists that I tell you how good the cake was, to clarify that it was well worth the effort. And well...I was pleased. So, here is the 2009 birthday cake: