Dec 30 2007

Peace

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 6:18 pm

Peace, calm, serenity. That is what i feel right now. My parents have left. The extra dogs are gone. There are no demands on me right now, and won’t be for at least another day. It feels so nice.

The past two days, hosting my parents, have been hectic. Getting the house ready. Cooking. Cleaning up while also trying to interact and be a good hostess. Cooking again. Getting my Dad’s help with projects around the house. Setting up the grill. Cooking again. And again.

Man, cooking for a crowd is a lot of work!

Right now, everything is silent and peacefull. In the living room, the presents Lance and i received are still strewn about. I’ll put things away and straighten up… later. In the guest bath upstairs, Dad was helping me install some extra towel racks. I will finish that project and put away the tools… later. The kitchen is mostly clean, but needs to be tidied from breakfast this morning. I will do that… later.

Right now, i am enjoying intermittently reading, surfing the web, and blogging about my weekend. I’ll get around to the rest of it after i catch my breath… and maybe take a nap.

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Nov 29 2007

It’s really autumn now

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 9:27 am

I left Raleigh last Thursday morning.  The trees were still colorful, and the temperature wavered between warm and cool.

I returned late Tuesday night.  When the sun rose Wednesday morning and i went out to face the day, i found myself looking at an entire yard and driveway full of leaves.  The Japanese Maple in the front yard, which just a week before had been a vibrant red, is now mostly bare, with the leaves on the ground having turned to a dull rust.  And everywhere i looked, on the drive to work, the world looked just a little bit bleaker.

(i suppose the bleakness might have been at least partially ascribed to the fact that i was returning to work after nearly a week of vacation.)

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Nov 16 2007

Fall

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 9:37 am

It is so beautiful outside right now.  I just noticed it the other day, and i’m enjoying it as much as i can, because i know that it won’t be long, maybe a week, before the leaves all fall and we are left with bleak instead of beautiful.  Already some of the colors have lost some of their vibrance.

Yesterday i was walking to my car and a brisk wind blew by, sending a cascading of leaves all around me.  The sun was peeking out behind the heavy clouds in the late afternoon, giving everything a weird color.  It was as if the world was a big box and someone had just opened the lid for a moment.  In that brief moment, as the leaves whirled all around me, i was a girl again, delighted by the simple wondrousness of nature.

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Nov 03 2007

Half Marathon!

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 9:39 am

I did it! The City Of Oaks Half-Marathon was this morning. It was awesome. My first (and probably last) half-marathon.

I felt great for the first 6 miles. Miles 7 & 8 were mostly uphill and very tough. At the end of mile 8, i realized we only had 5 more miles to go, and that’s when it felt like i could finish. At the end of mile 9, we turned back onto Hillsborough St (at the Faircloth intersection) and were headed back toward the fairgrounds. That felt like the home stretch.

There were people cheering us on all along the route, and i can’t say enough how cool and encouraging that was. It really hit home during the last mile, which was around the RBC center. There was no one cheering along that mile (after all, they want to see the finish), and i think it took it’s toll. A lot of folks (including me!) were walking, saving energy for the last leg with the cameras, friends, family and the finish line. However, i have to give big Kudos to all the people who stood outside and cheered on in miles 1-12 as 3500 people went past.

Yep, we were quite a crowd. 2300 half-marathoners and 1200 marathoners. The traffic around the RBC center at 6 am was astounding, but it appears everyone found a parking space before the start.

Here’s the half-marathon finish list – i’m 1898th. I finished in just over two and a half hours, which is about what i was expecting.

Here is the breakdown of my miles:
Mile 1: 10:35
Mile 2: 10:42
Mile 3: 10:14
Mile 4: 10:15
Mile 5 :10:16
Mile 6: 10:52
Mile 7: 10:59
Mile 8: 11:23
Mile 9: 12:07
Mile 10: 11:50
Mile 11: 13.:02
Mile 12: 12:40
Mile 13: 14:53

Total time: 2:32:09.
Average pace: 11:31
Calories burned: 1,670!!!

You can see where i started to get pretty tired there toward the end!

I expect i’ll be sore for a few days. My feet hurt, especially my heels, and particularly the heel that has plantar fasciitis. I have a couple of very minor blisters on my toes. But all in all, i feel great! And along the way i experienced that “runner’s high” i’ve heard talked about.

I actually finished just before the first marathoner did, and the crowd was cheering big time! It was pretty neat to finish with all that energy & enthusiasm.  So, i am almost exactly half as fast as the top runners. Hey, i’ll take it.

All in all i’m pretty proud of myself – this is a goal i’ve had for some time, and i actually put in the time to make it happen this year. Woohoo!!

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Sep 23 2007

Saturday

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 9:57 am

Part I: Running

Saturday September 22
Running distance – 6.98 miles
Running time – 1:17:02
Avg pace (running) – 11:02
Calories: 1017
Total distance – 8 miles
Total time – 1:27:13

My new toy is a Garmin Forerunner and tracks all sorts of interesting and uninteresting stuff, as you can see above. It will also measure heart rate, but i forgot to wear the monitor on this run.

The eight miles this weekend was easier than the seven miles last weekend. My foot didn’t bother me at all until mile 6. Which is a great sign for my foot getting better in my opinion.

I listened to Cake for most of the run – good running music.

Part II: Football

I went to the NC State game with a buddy of mine. Great seats. Noon game. And in the first part of the game there was a glimmer of hope that we might have a chance. But no, we got stomped. And i got really really sunburned. Ouch. The kind that hurts more the next morning and makes it painful to have clothing rub against it.

Then i headed to the local Ohio State bar to watch that demolition, only this time it was the team i was rooting for doing the demolishing. I had half a beer, and then another half a beer, and started to get really drowsy.

Part III: Sleeping

So, with the extreme distance travelled on foot, and the very lengthy amount of time spent in the energy-sapping sun, and the consumption of the relaxant called beer, i went home and crashed. Watched a couple of netflix movies, then slept for ten hours. It was excellent.

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Sep 23 2007

I’m tired

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 9:55 am

Running makes me tired all the time. I’m doing okay with the muscle soreness – it’s not too bad. And i have hopes that my foot will get a little better. And i’m sleeping well. But i’m often tired and cranky. Looking back over my “moods” for the past few weeks of blog entries, i see the trend there, too.

Well, Week 4 of the training is complete, and this week is a tapering week. Maybe i’ll have more energy. Also we went to the grocery store today and bought a lot of GOOD food that should help with energy too.

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Sep 15 2007

Focus

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 9:59 am

‘ve noticed runners tend to be pretty focused. Staring straight ahead, or at the ground about 6 feet in front of them. Sometimes you see two or three people running together, chatting, but more common is the lone runner. Usually they’ll have an ipod or similar device.

When i was a new runner, i felt a little self conscious about passing people and felt like i had to smile or say hello or give some other acknowledgment. But i’ve learned that it’s just okay to run on. In fact, when other people say hello, i’ve noticed it breaks my rhythm to acknowledge them back. So i will no longer be that person.

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Sep 04 2007

Crabs

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 10:04 am

Went to the ocean for the first time yesterday. Got in the water, and it was nice floating over the waves. Then lance noticed there were lots of small jellyfish-looking entities in the water. I hadn’t noticed, but as soon as i saw them i started to freak out and felt itchy. I immediately wanted out of the water. Once on dry land, we were both still itchy – i looked inside my suit and saw sand, and figured that was why my skin was irritated. And then the sand moved.

Little crabs were all in our bathing suits!

Others in the family had been swimming without this complication, so i’m wondering if we were just coincidentally swimming in an area where there was a concentration of them. Not sure. But the story is now that i went to the beach and got crabs. Now all i need to do is dine at Dirty Dick’s Crab Shack and the trip will be complete.

It was probably a fluke, but i think i’ll stick to the pool from here on out. I’m definitely more of lake person than an ocean pereson.

(For anyone confused, these little crabs were ACTUAL crabs, and should not be confused with crab lice, aka crabs.)

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Aug 29 2007

Maid service

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 10:10 am

I have finally decided to put a price on what my free time is worth to me. I’ve hired a maid service.

I have mixed feelings about it. I’m able-bodied. I don’t have kids. I don’t work multiple jobs. I’m not an important person. I’m just a regular gal living with a regular guy. We have pretty busy lives, and between the two of us, we manage to keep the place pretty tidy. However it’s hard to keep up with 6 (soon to be 8) rooms of hardwoods that have to be swept and mopped. Especially when dog hair is everywhere. Plus i haven’t been motivated to vacuum ever since it was my most-hated chore as a teenager. And you can forget dusting.

So while i could spend what little free time i have keeping up with housework, i’ve decided to outsource it. A team of 3 comes and tears the place up for 75 minutes every two weeks. I may never have to sweep or vacuum or clean the shower Ever Again. How cool is that?

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Aug 28 2007

To Audrey

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 10:11 am

“To Audrey, who has always believed in dragons.”

That is what i wanted George R. R. Martin to write in my copy of A Feast For Crows, his latest novel in his series A Song of Ice and Fire. What he actually wrote was a mostly legible “To Audrey, all good wishes,” followed by a decidedly NOT legible autograph. It was crowded, the line was long, and i guess inscriptions longer than three words would have been too much to ask. I shouldn’t complain – from what i could tell, most fans only got the illegible signature.

GRRM is my most favorite author of my most favorite series. My awesome brother (well, one of them; i have two awesome brothers) for my birthday gave me a ticket to TriniCon, a fantasy literature and gaming conference in the Triangle. GRRM was the featured literary personality. I have never been into the RPG stuff, but apparently some people take it quite seriously! There were all sorts of costumes. Most prevalent were Star Wars characters, but the strangest were the gang of evil foxes.

Favorite part – listening to GRRM read from the hopefully-soon-to-be-released next book in his series, A Dance With Dragons.

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