how it adds up.

last january, i began tracking the number of miles i ran. i wanted to know, at the end of the year, how far i had come. on the days i didn't run, i typically cross trained. those miles aren't recorded here.

here's how it breaks down:

January = 74.05 miles

February = 49.15 miles ( i spend several days in the hospital that month and a week skiing, which is why the total is low)

March = 80.5 miles

April = 74.0 miles

May (the month i got the stress fractures because i overdid it) = 96.75 miles

June = zero miles (stress fracture hell)

July = zero miles (wearing the robo-boot, in recovery mode)

August = probably around 15 miles, but not enough to track.

September = 87.15 miles

October = 64.2 miles

November (when morton's neuroma struck) = 22.7 miles

December = 81.85 miles

total tracked miles for 2006 = 631.25

had i not overdone it and been injured for so long, i may have logged near 1,000 miles.


goal for 2007 = stay injury free, run longer distances, fewer days in a row. listen to my body. if it hurts - stop. complete another half marathon. run a full marathon. run a 5K as fast as i can. get a six-pack (abs, of course)

here's to another year of running!

sorry, i'm slow

i'm at the end of 10 and 1/2 consecutive days off of work (employer provided)!!!!!
so, i've been slow at blogging because i've been busy at relaxing and shopping and eating and sleeping for unheard of chunks of time.

but, i'm still here, dear reader.

speaking of "here," i think i would like to live at whole foods. seriously. i love the food and the samples and the staff (sometimes) and the fresh feeling i get when i'm there. today, the samples were amazing. and i ground honey roasted peanuts to make my own, fresh peanutbutter. and let me just tell you about how it is the BEST i have EVER tasted.

was anyone else there this weekend? the samples were - killer.

chrismakkah.

i got to spend part of the holiday "season" with my family. evan came in town and so did elisa. i hope you all had as wonderful of a chrismakkah as i did.

house guest

gus got a bath this morning while molly watched. molly is an irish setter. we're watching her while her owners (they will kill me if i call them her "mommy and daddy") are away. compared to gus, she is the size of a horse. she is very well mannered and polite and gus mostly respects that.

he doesn't always understand why she won't play with him though. here he is, looking sad while she sits like a lady wanting nothing to do with his poor attempt at whimpering.

molly went back to her house for a few hours today, which gave gus enough time to bask in the sunlight. sometimes, i'm not sure if he's a dog or a cat.

no benefits

from toothpaste for dinner.
luckily, my current company pays ample benefits, so i don't steal anything. really.
although, i did have a job where i got zero vacation days, so i sometimes (read: usually) left the office by noon. (and arrived around 10 a.m.)

i think i hadn't yet developed what they call a "work ethic."

i also made $19,000 a year.
yikes.

my pink is hotter than yours

my cell phone crapped out yesterday. it had been in my posession for exactly one year and two months. this means two things: it crapped out WAY early, and it was no longer covered under warranty.

luckily, t-mobile made my day and said i was eligable for an upgrade. so, for meer pennies (or $49.99), i purchased this magenta razor.

only, it's not just plain and simple magenta. it's hot HOT pink. and it's kind of shiny and halfway annoyingly bright. but, it's also kind of my favorite thing EVER.

the best part, though, is that it is a subtle reminder of from where i came.

when i was a poor college sophomore with no car and no cash, i purchased a plymouth sundance for somewhere around $1,200. i bought it from a nice family in lenexa at night. in the dark, i drove it home thinking all the while that i had purchased an ugly red car. but i was thankful that it drove and that i would have my own transportation available for trips home, trips back to columbia, trips to the mall or to the grocery store or to my boyfriend's house. only, when i woke up the next morning and headed out to my car to run an errand, i realized the car i thought was red was actually hot pink. the sun was reflecting off of its semi-glossy, mostly lackluster hood in all of its hot pink glory. i was mortified. i hated the hot pink. the owner's manual called it "raspberry."

i drove the raspberry sundance until the spring of my senior year when it had broken down too many times on I-70 to count. that's when i inherited my great aunt's 1996 honda civic. a simple honda, yes. but to me, it was a pimped out jaguar with leather heated seats and a powerful engine. that's how much better a baby blue, dinted honda civic was. it was miles above the raspberry dissaster.

and since the day i sold the hot pink monster for $250, i can't say i'd seen a color that so closely matched its paint job. until yesterday.

tell somebody

i have a problem with the recent stream of commercials about HPV. i've seen several versions of this commercial, and it never totally tells the truth. instead, it goes like this:

the older women in the ad typically say things like, "i can't believe it, cervical cancer can be caused by a common virus."

and then a younger girl usually says something like "a virus. a virus can cause cervical cancer."

then the announcer says something like, "tell the women in your life that cervical cancer can be caused by a preventable virus. a virus."

and then everyone goes "tell somebody." "tell somebody."

i'll tell you what to tell somebody. tell them that HPV is an STD. they never say that. they act like it is something you can catch like the common cold. and i can't help but wonder if it is insighting fear in women and in girls who have never heard of HPV and who don't know that what the commercial is referring to as a "common virus" is actually a sexually transmitted disease.

ok, i'm finished ranting now.

i know that it IS important to let women know that they should get tested for all types of STDs. especially if there are some that can cause something as life-threatening as cervical cancer. but, i do believe there is a more truthful way to present the issue than the way it is being presented in its current campaign.

putting the "tay" in party.

put some semi-formal attire on a bunch of people who usually wear jeans or chinos at best and crazy shiznit starts to happen.

seriously.

that's all.

what my day looks like (only usually we're not so dressed up)

some days, rob drives me to work. i snapped this picture today to document the trip. it is totally accurate that he is smiling in this photo, because i am very funny and often make people around me laugh.

once we get to work, rob makes a pot of coffee, and we share it. i buy the cream. i think i get off easy. thanks, rob.

when andy gets to work, he checks on steve - the fish. steve used to be mine, but i wasn't a good enough mother, so andy "rescued" him. i get to visit.


after an hour or so, we stand around and talk. travis usually pretends to be working, but he's likely talking on instant messanger.

rob comes over to our area a lot to play Xbox 360. here is andy, cheering him on.

our team took this very professional portrait for a company event. don't we look nice?

today was special because joel actually wore something other than jeans and a t-shirt. it was our team christmas lunch, and he called everyone last night between 10:08 and 10:12 p.m. to alert us to "wear a suit, or you'll look like a chump." we all obliged.

JT didn't wear his all day. he left it in his car. but he did look really nice when he put on my sunglasses.

this is my cube. it would remain empty for quite some time, as we were on our way to our christmas lunch.

our boss nick pulled out all the stops with this outfit.

although we had 7 people, and we arrived at a very popular, fancy restaurant, we did not have reservations. so, we waited at the bar.

after a short wait, we sat down and ordered. JT requested the kobe beef burger. but when it arrived, he wondered where the other half of the bun was. and he really wanted cheese. i guess the fact that they massage the cows to get the delicate kobe beef didn't matter to JT. he just wanted a damn burger.

the tide started to turn when he got a plate with two slices of cheddar on it. here's what remained of the cheese - and a happy JT.

we surprised nick with a gift. he's pretty much the best boss - ever.

despite the food and holiday cheer and the suits and ties and wool blends. despite the fancy shmansy restaurant and the evil looks from everyone sitting around us, mostly, we laughed the entire time.
we're pretty funny when you put us all together - especially when there are martinis involved.

at the end of the lunch, we sat - happy, full and basking in the sunlight from the stained-glass roof.

we had dessert, we had coffee, but mostly, we had to get back to work to talk some more and work some more and to throw some balls at some stuff. oh, and so the boys could play some more video games.

bored.

rocking the i-tunes

i'd like to share my newest playlist. i call it "winter runs."
um, after my spring-like winter run last night, this title could now have two meanings. you all can take that however you want to.

i might even blog about it at some point. but for now, i'm still in recovery mode.

anyway, i give you my jam list.

"a line allows progress, a circle does not" Bright Eyes
"just for me" Blues Traveler
"staying alive" Cursive
"9 crimes" Damien Rice
"stolen" Dashboard Confessional
"dark blue" Jack's Mannequin
"23" Jimmy Eat World
"jesus walks" Kanye West
"i'm not okay" My Chemical Romance
"hands in the sky (big shot)" Straylight Run
"chasing cars" Snow Patrol
"girl with the world in her eyes" 2 Skinnee J's
"beautiful" Athlete
"a perfect sonnet" Bright Eyes

an expensive hobby

i thought i was ready to face winter head-on. i mean, i had the running tights, and a heat-conducting, moisture-wicking, base layer. i had a north face hat and sweet-action underarmor running gloves. and mostly, i had a plethora of fleece jackets from which to choose. i was SO ready, i thought.

only, i wasn't.

i set off for a run friday afternoon and realized after about one mile that my fleece jacket was just absorbing my sweat and sticking to my hot pink base layer. it wasn't comfortable. and then, when i got home and took my hat off, my hair was covered in sweat and so was my hat. it didn't smell like roses either. but i didn't think that would be a problem. "i'll just wash it," i thought. only, to my dismay, the tag read, "dry clean only." great.

before i could head out for another winter run, i wanted a waterproof, wind-proof outerlayer. i wanted it to be moisture wicking and thermal. and if it had some nice reflective piping, i wasn't going to complain. so, i bought this. it's a nike sphere pro. and i am in love. i ran in it saturday morning and it kept me nice and warm while cool and dry - all at the same time. plus, i look like a biker chick when i wear it. i'm not sure if that's good or not, but at least i appear hardcore in one way or another.
so, i got the jacket, but that's not all i needed.

i also needed a new hat. one that was meant for running and sweat and washing machines. one that would help keep my head cool and comfortable while at the same time dry and warm. none other than this hot pink underarmor hat would do. and, to top it all off, it matches my hot pink thermal and the armband for my Nano. i also secretly think it helps define the fact that beneath all of my layers and running tights, i am, indeed, a woman.

now i'm ready old man winter. i'm ready to face you and to beat you and to train through you and with you. so, bring it.

in which i admit to the deplorable

we have shared i-tunes files at work. i've spent the past hour listening to someone else's playlist and the smash hit CD "What's Left of Me" by Nick Lachey. so deeply personal, so real and raw and sexy.

i not-so-secretly want to buy it. i want it on my i-tunes. i want it on my nano. i want it in my car.

anyway, i've said it.
i'm done now.

no one likes a cheater

this morning, i couldn't remember the 12 days of christmas. i remembered day one through five, but it stopped there. so, i looked it up. and then i wondered if anyone over the age of 15 who is not in any type of church/community choir remembers all of the words.

do you know the 12 days?

p.s.
google, Internet searching in general or looking in song books is CHEATING.

sometimes, i wish mead would bring back the trapper keeper.

i actually had one that looked just like this. it attracted dust and lint like nobody's business, but boy was it functional. and back then, this ugly design was actually considered pretty (at least by fourth graders.) And all the cool kids had one.


i may have had this one, too. i'm not sure. but it's from the designer series. and all of the cool kids were sure to have one from the designer series.

i did have this foler. i loved it. so wild. so brilliant. so 80's.

ah, the trapper keeper. it was up there with slap bracelets and hyper-color.

this may seem like a joke, but it's not.

I should have known when Nick shouted from the snow-covered back yard asking Amy and I if we were wearing our shoes. I should have known when he asked if we would go outside to “check out gus’ poop.” I should have been prepared for what I was about to see. I wasn’t.

There was a steaming pile of what looked like dog poop in the snow. Only it was stringy and huge. Much larger than a typical Gus poop. Staring down at it, trying to keep my gag reflex under control, I asked “Is it worms?”

And then Amy said, “No! It’s a tampon!”

What?

A tampon.

Yeah.

So, it appeared that Gus had swallowed a tampon whole and that it had made it’s way through his little digestive system and had reappeared in it’s normal state only covered in poo and full of Gus’ juice.

Still, I wasn’t convinced that was what it was.

So, in between gasping and saying, “I can’t believe this didn’t kill him,” Nick put on some latex gloves, took a gallon-sized freezer bag to the backyard and picked up the poo-covered mystery item. He put it in the bag and proceeded (much to my dismay) to bring it into the kitchen.

Amy said, “Yep, that’s a tampon.” And I was like “Yeah, it looks like it. But mine don’t look like that.”

So, Nick decided we should investigate by getting one of mine out of the closet and taking it apart. We did. And all three of us decided that it wasn’t the same kind. The string was different.

So, Gus pooped out a tampon that wasn’t mine. That left us to wonder where he got it. The only possible solution is over at the neighbor’s house. But, we’re not sure if that was entirely possible either.

Anyway, we’re watching Gus now for signs of intestinal blockage. But so far, so good. And I can now say that I have seen the grossest combination of two things I can ever think of. Someone else’s tampon covered in dog poop.

Nice.