Our garden is officially a vegetable garden!

So, as per usual, this has nothing to do with running. I was quite the gardener this weekend and fertilized and watered all our little flowers and plants. We planted our vegetable garden a month ago, but have had pretty low expectations because we basically don't know what we're doing. When I went out to the garden on Friday, however, I was shocked and thrilled to find the beginnings of our first vegetable! I think the kitten was, too.

It looks like we might have squash soon too!

So I was wrong...just twice!

It has been a busy few weeks with end of grade testing, a new kitten, the start of my grad classes, the final demise of my husband's car, and the purchase of a new (to us) car. Today, marks two more accomplishments: my new laptop and my first mowing of the lawn! I'm absolutely, over-the-moon, excited about a fully functioning computer that has all the features I need for my classes (and constant facebook stalking, too).

I was absolutely sure that there was no place in this county I could buy the computer I needed, but it was killing my husband to imagine me boosting some other county's tax revenue by making such a large purchase elsewhere. I was very surprised, however, to find the exact laptop I needed at the local Wal-Mart! (This is the ONLY time in my life I've felt less guilty to shop at the place my mom refers to as "Satan's Castle." My husband is really big on shopping locally instead of spending our money in big cities outside of our county. So I guess it was the lesser of two evils today.)

I was proven incorrect about one other minor issue today. I've not really been giving much credit to my husband for lawn work. Since I handle EVERYTHING inside, I didn't think our small lawn was much trouble. I mowed today. With a push mower. (This was the first time I've ever used a push mower in my life. I had come in three times to google things like "how to start push mower" and "is it normal for mower to blow smoke?") I learned that our lawn is not small. Our lawn is not medium. Our lawn is H.U.G.E. It took me 2.5 hours! So I'm a little bit grateful it's not normally on my chore list.

So, naturally, after my 2.5 hour mowing workout, I didn't really get in much of a run. Didn't I say once I didn't like lame excuses? Oh, well.

Disclaimer: I'm no speed demon.

I just stumbled upon another running blog that I can now spend too much time reading. Danielle, however, puts me to shame. I loved looking through all the races that she's been running and am so embarrassed about my lack of real running. (In a few short weeks, school will be out and then y'all can scold me ridiculously because there will be no excuse for my patheticness.) It made me nostalgic for my real running days and hopeful for the ones to come. And then, I did a totally me thing, and spent about 1.5 hours googling up old race results to catalog and remind myself I was, and still can be a real (albeit slow) runner. So now I have that all organized.

October 26, 2002
2002 3-A Midwest Regional Cross-Country at McAlpine Park; Charlotte, NC
23:15
-

April 25, 2004
Angels Race Sprint Triathlon, Lynchburg, VA
1:56:25
-
November 14, 2004
Battleship Half Marathon; Wilmington, NC
2:41:34 (Sarah's and my first half marathon...we were so proud to finish, lol)
-
April 10, 2005
Angels Race Sprint Triathlon; Lynchburg, VA
300 M Swim- 5:37
25K Bike- 1:10:29
5K Run- 33:03
Total Time with Transitions- 1:49:09
-
April 29, 2006
Owl's Roost Rumble III 5k Run
27:22
-
May 30, 2006
Bare Bones 5K, Salisbury, NC
26:11
-

June 25, 2006

Kure Beach Double Sprint Triathlon

Swim, 375m-13:34 (There was a hurricane in the Pacific...I literally almost drowned.)

Run, 1.5 miles- 17:00

Bike, 12.4 miles- 41:56

Run, 1.5Mi- 16:31

Swim, 375 M- 9:00

Total Time with Transitions: 1:38:01

-

September 17, 2006
Angels Race Sprint Triathlon; Winston-Salem, NC
300 M Swim- 5:04
20K Bike- 48:06
5K Run- 27:52
Total Time with Transitions- 1:25:08

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May 19, 2007

Mission Run; Salisbury, NC

26:20

-

June 9, 2007

Varmint Half Marathon; Burkes Garden, VA

2:06:36

-

June 22, 2007
5K Main Street Challenge; China Grove, NC
25:27

-

July 8, 2007

Summer Roundup Trail 12K; Colorado Springs, CO

1:27:42

-

July 28, 2007

Salisbury Greenway 5K

26:00

-

August 11, 2007

Rowan Alliance; Salisbury, NC

27:04

-

November 2, 2007

Pumpkin Festival 5K; Stateville, NC

31:05

-

November 11, 2007
Battleship Half Marathon; Wilmington, NC
1:59:55
-
April 26, 2008
Dogwood 10K; Fayetteville, NC
58:37
-
May 17, 2008
Rotary YMCA Triathlon; Statesville, NC
300 meter swim- 5:26

11.6 mile bike- 1:34

5K run- 29:16
Total Time with transitions- 1:39:05

-

February 14, 2009

Myrtle Beach Half Marathon
2:23:27

-

April 11, 2009

Bunny Run 5K; Concord, NC

30:46

My last 5K was fun because it was the first time both my sisters, my mom, and me have all run a race together. What was not fun was being schooled by all three...including my 54 year old mom and my first-time-racing sister. (It always has been and always will be a given that I am miles behind my speedy high school sister.) I'm looking forward to a race soon that I will not be embarrassed to post my time!

A More Appropriate Title Would Be...

Lately, this has just turned into the daily 1 mile treadmill challenge. It's been a rough, busy week though. My mind is just racing with all the things I'm completely behind on and stressed about. 11.5 school days until summer...

I forget how much I love music.

As lame as that sounds, I really just kind of forget about music for long periods of time. I'm pretty used to silence. I grew up without a TV and don't really need that background noise (In fact, I find that it really distracts me and leads me to sit down and watch Oprah while my new kitten sleeps in my lap instead of whatever it was I started out to do.) My car radio has some kind of infection which causes it to play only 3 stations at ear-crushing volume. My husband is greatly amused by my ability to just work in silence for hours.

The thing is though, I love music. Even when I'm tremendously, overdramatically stressed out and overwhelmed, my favorite music (either listening to it or playing it) makes me feel instantly better. As does running. And the two together are amazing for me. So it's pretty ironic that I forget about my iTunes and piano for days at a time and have to have grand schemes of daily runs to keep me running. Oh well. Maybe this summer when I don't have the pesky matter of a 50+ hour/week to get in the way I'll get it together.

April (well, May) Showers Bring...

Today was another treadmill day, but this time for good reason. It has been pouring most of the day. We came home this evening after being gone for most of the afternoon and I was glad to see we remembered to leave the porch light. Last night, we didn't, and came back late to find a slushie thrown against our door. Which kind of makes me laugh when I type it. (We live steps away from the high school, so we're at much higher risk for random acts of teenage stupidity.)

Tonight, when we came up on the porch out of the rain, we saw something hiding around the rockers and, lo and behold, it was a kitten! I immediately assumed this was now my kitten and proceeded with milk bowls, ham slices, and carrying it around while my husband mumbled something about "doesn't have shots....probably infected with swine flu."

My Potential Kitten with Aforementioned Ham Slice

Probably, considering how friendly this kitten was, he has another home. I would not be surprised if he was gone in the morning after the rain has stopped. I would be disappointed though. I've been trying to convince my husband to let us get a kitten from one of my students for weeks, so maybe this is a sign.

Anyway, I'm way too excited about this than is natural and I really should go to bed.

So, I read in "Woman's Day"...

I feel like a 41 year old mom starting an exercise program from "Woman's Day" magazine when I walk instead of run. I don't walk very often. My husband volunteered to come with me if I walked (and left my brand new iPod) behind and I was thrilled enough to agree.

Then, after a lovely 3 mile walk (which, ironically, is actually a good quad workout for me because I have to take huge strides to keep up with him), I grabbed my iPod and dashed out into the dark! It was so refreshing to break out and run that I made record time around my mile loop.

I realize my mileage is still pathetic, but I'm starting to feel like a runner again. : )

Mile 1, Square 1, Day 1, Whatever

So, I'm not usually a fan of lame excuses, but here's mine. Friday, I fell asleep on the couch at the hotel where we were staying. I woke up minutes before midnight...and could not muster the willpower to put on my shoes and find the hotel treadmill. Which is pretty pathetic. It overjoyed my husband. He is completely not a fan of this endeavor.

However, this is something I really, really, despite its ridiculousness, want to do. So after giving in for the weekend (and the past two days...), I'm back on the wagon. Which means the clock starts over today. I think it much more symbolic and neat to start and finish on my birthday, but whatever.

I was so excited about the first run of my new year though because I have a brand spanking new iPod! So excited (and distracted by playing with it on my arm), that I fell down the stairs from the porch. It turns out that shaking the iPod (or falling off the porch) shuffles the songs! What a fancy feature.

Anyway, I'm running and very excited about the next 364 days of doing the same!

The Treadmill's Other Job

Our treadmill is our bedroom and spends approximately 98.2 of its energy holding up enormous piles of my husband's pants. These clothes are in limbo: not going back in the closet and apparently not yet ready for laundry. He is very picky about these pants. So it is with great care that I move these (literally almost too heavy and awkward for me to pick up) stacks of clothes from the treadmill to the bed when I run.

You may wonder why I've been running on the treadmill for days in a row when...
a. I hate the treadmill
b. I almost always only run the obligatory 1 mile when on the treadmill because of "a."
and c. I must wrestle with these piles of dress pants.

It's because I'm very easily distracted by vacuuming under the couch/making pot roast/Oprah/sitting on the porch with visitors/pretending to take care of our vegetable garden/generally anything else until suddenly it's dark! You would think I would catch onto this whole "get dark at night thing." Maybe tomorrow.

So I really shouldn't hate, but...

This has absolutely nothing to do with running, but I was up way too late grading science papers the other night. The kids had drawn different animals in their habitats and labeled the living and non-living factors in each ecosystem. Honestly, they understood beautifully and with the exception of a few random fire-breathing dragons, their pictures were pretty accurate. There were a few illustrations, however, that simply cracked. me. up. As in trying to contain my laughter from the living room so I wouldn't wake my husband. Moments like these (as well as many more serious, meaningful, and educational moments) make me love being a teacher.

I just love that smirky grin he has.

Obviously, the long bill (in addition to the smile on his face) qualifies this bird as a toucan.

The label is indispensable here.

Is it just me or does this tiger look an awful lot like that big caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland?

Well, that's enough mocking for one day though (especially because my drawings are not a whole lot more discernable than that frog)...I'm going to run!

April (well, at least the last 6 days of April)

April 25
1 mile, courthouse loop

April 26
1 mile, treadmill

April 27
3 miles, Madison St

April 28
3 miles, Drop by Grandma's Loop

April 29
1 mile, College St

April 30
1.5 miles, treadmill

April Total: 10.5 Miles