How Garmin Changed Me

Since getting my Garmin, a lot has changed in my training. It started after a couple weeks of using my heart rate monitor during my runs. I would come back home, plug in my Garmin, and see that my average heart rate was somewhere around 190. My maximum heart rate was hitting up to 205!

I sent an email to Ray asking if maybe my Garmin was broken. He kindly responded, and shocked me by informing that no, it wasn't broken. And yes, my heart rate is just that fast.

Oh.

This led to some Googling. I found an article written by a triathlete explaining how one would go about lowering their heart rate. He said you must train consistently at a low heart rate. Over time, the speed you are able to run at that same heart rate will increase.

In a nutshell, you must run slow in order to run fast.

Well then. That seems counter-productive. But run slow I did.

Since that day, I've been doing all my training runs with a "heart rate alarm" set on my Garmin. It beeps whenever my heart rate goes over 165 bpm. Let me tell you right now... this is often. My training runs are now between 14-17 minute miles instead of the 9-11 minute miles I used to do.

It is hard. It is painfully slow. At my slowest points, I could probably walk faster than I'm running! But I keep going. Because I have the end goal in mind.


On the plus side, I feel more refreshed. I'm not all "death, dying, exhaustion, and sweat" at the end of my runs. I'm all "ooo, that was refreshing... is that a little sweat on my brow?" when I'm done. Since my runs are less exhausting, I'm less scared to do them. But the time it takes to do my long runs sucks... there's no way around that.

I'm hoping that over the next month or 2, I'll start to see some results. All I need are just a little results... just enough to give me confidence that I'm doing the right thing.

He Proposed

Well, how can I leave anyone in suspense with a title like that?

Ryan and I are engaged. He proposed Saturday afternoon... dropped down to one knee right in the middle of our shopping trip at IKEA!

I totally thought he was joking. a) I had NO idea this was coming. I mean... I knew EVENTUALLY, but not any time soon. And b) it was IKEA!

I thought maybe he had found someone's ring on the floor, and picked it up jokingly like "marry me!" or something. It took me at least a full minute to realize he was serious.

Right after I said "yes".

What's funny is when I see that picture, all I see is the fact that I haven't showered. He and I had just spent 4 hours in the car driving from Indiana to my parents' house in Illinois. When we finally got there, I said, "Wow, I'm gross. I think I smell." Ryan said, "Well, maybe you should go shower." And I replied, "Nah... I'll shower before church... after we get back from IKEA."

D'OH!

Oh well... he tried. And the smelly girlfriend became the smelly fiance.


He totally ruined our shopping trip. We were on a major roll and had a list of things to buy for our new place, but after the proposal, my brain stopped working. I was just wandering the store in shock. I even left our list of what to buy back at where he had asked (right in the middle of the Marketplace, in case you're wondering!).

Here are some pictures of the ring for all you ladies out there (guys... go get a snack or something)...




We went to church Saturday evening, followed by dinner with my mom. Then back home to make phone calls and go to bed early (not like anyone could sleep after something like that!).

On Sunday, a bunch of my family came over for Easter. We had a big dinner and a big easter egg hunt (even though there was only one child under the age of 21).


The first thing everyone asks is "have you set a date?" No we haven't set a date! We just got engaged TWO days ago! Plus, before we can set a date, we first need to figure out what state we'll have it in.

Winter Does Not Agree With Me

I hate running outside when it's cold. I figured running on a treadmill at the Y is a far better option.



That is, until I fell off the treadmill going 6mph.



You read that right... I fell completely off the treadmill, first-week-of-Biggest-Loser-style. And it was at the peak time of 5:30pm. And everyone within a 20-foot radius stopped and stared. And the 2 women next to me squealed, "oh my god, are you okay?!"

Yes. Fine. Just a little bruising of the ego, that's all.

I gathered my things and finished my run outside in 40-degree weather.

I've been a little squeamish of treadmills ever since. Every time I step on one now, I feel wobbly and like I'm not running straight. I'm afraid I will get too involved in whatever show is on TV and forget what I'm doing and end up with a face-plant this time. Ouch.

_____________________________


My side of Ryan and I's weight loss bet isn't going so well. I don't know how much he has lost, but he told his Mom on the phone recently that it was "a significant amount". Ugh.

I, on the other hand, have been losing and gaining the same pound for the past 2 weeks.

Top = Me, Bottom = Ryan

And I've discovered why all weight-loss attempts in the past have failed: Each time I GAIN weight, I think I worked out and stuck to my calories, why did I gain weight? At least if I'm going to gain weight, it should be for a good reason... like ice cream or pizza. And then I go eat ice cream or pizza. Sort of like a reverse bad decision. Like my body OWES me junk food after putting on the pounds.

Um... stupid, I know. But it makes sense in my head.

So I'm trying to change my thinking. I trying to be like all those NORMAL people who actually use weight gain as a motivation to work harder the next day.

We have only 1 week until our HALFWAY weigh-in, and I'm confident that Ryan is going to beat me big time! He may be a boy (stupid boys, losing weight easier...), but I have workouts on my side, and I hope that next month, I'll be able to catch up to him.

______________________________


Ryan's birthday was on Wednesday. He is now a whopping 24 years old! I couldn't think of an actual GIFT to get him for his birthday (it's way too close to Christmas), so I will be taking him to Cleveland next weekend.

Next weekend will be 2 years from our first date, which was in Cleveland.

Story: It was 2008. I lived in northern Illinois. He lived in eastern Pennsylvania. We decided on Cleveland because it was almost exactly halfway (7 hour drive for each of us). We met at Applebee's for dinner (it was technically a blind date), then tried to go bowling (but the alley was closed). The next day, we went to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame and headed to our respective homes.

Actual photo from our first date... in front of the Rock Hall

So we will be staying in a hotel downtown Cleveland. I'll take him bowling at the alley that was closed, then we will spend Saturday night at a dueling piano bar. On Sunday, we will go to the toboggan chutes, then lunch at Applebee's. Yay weekend trip!

TGIF Photo Friday

(Topic courtesy Nikemom, and guest-hosted by Michelle.)

Even though this was a week ago, I got my hair cut!



As a girl, I'm liking it. But as a triathlete, I'm cursing the decision because my hair no longer goes in a pony tail (at least not without 1,000 bobby pins also). This is quite annoying.

On a different note, I began Maggie's training yesterday to learn to sleep on the floor (HA!).



I practiced with her yesterday afternoon, and she did quite well. I only had to pick her up and put her back in her bed twice.

But when nightfall came and we tried it for real, she would have none of it. I don't mind her up and walking around so much as I mind her whining and barking (especially when Ryan needs to be up at 6:30 in the morning).

So after an HOUR of monitoring her and keeping her in her bed and keeping her from barking, exhaustion got the best of me, and I caved.

She slept soundly in the big bed again. Curses.

Maybe I can do this every night, and she will eventually get the hint and stop freaking out. MAYBE.

Even Body Glide Can't Help Me Now

Thanks for all of your new-job well-wishes! Now that all the official business stuff is over, I'm getting really excited for my move. I'm trying to strike a balance between packing up all my junk, and continuing to train for my race.

I was scheduled for a 5 1/2 mile run yesterday. It was supposed to rain, but I said, "I will not allow the rain to be an excuse." So I set my alarm for 9 am.

I woke up and I was pretty sore from all the packing and box-lifting I did the day before. But I said, "I will not allow my soreness to be an excuse." So I got dressed and headed out.

About 2 miles in, my sports bra was chafing again. UGH. I looked at my stomach to assess the damage, and I was bleeding. Now, this is going to sound odd and possibly gross... but my sports bra was rubbing a small mole on my ribcage. I have no idea why after a year of running, this is just NOW becoming an issue.

It hurt pretty bad. I thought about stopping or walking or turning back. But I knew if I didn't do this 5 1/2 miles now, it would put a serious damper on my training progress.

So I kept running. And for the final 3 MILES, I ran while holding my sports bra away from my ribcage. I bet people who saw me thought I was totally crazy.

But I finished. I finished 5 1/2 miles, which is my longest distance yet. I came in at a respectable 64 minutes (considering all my hinderances).

So as for all your body glide suggestions... I laugh at them. Because I don't think even Body Glide can tackle this one. I have my marathon relay in less than 2 weeks, so I'd like to figure out something before then. I fear a bandaid may make the situation worse. Any thoughts?

To make matters worse, I just found out that I'm actually running 6 and a HALF miles during the race instead of just 6. What's a measly half mile, right? ...RIGHT?!

TGIF Photo Friday

(Theme courtesy Nikemom)

When I went to college (the University of Dayton), we had an annual trip to Daytona in May that EVERYONE went on. Our school typically rented out 4 hotels on the Daytona strip, but the first hotel was the coveted one because that's where the deck party and free beer was.

Students would sleep outside in the middle of February to get a room in the first hotel. The school eventually deemed this "dangerous." The alternative? Having us all line up behind some caution tape and then yelling "GO!" and whoever got there first got the room.

BRILLIANT.



Long story short... I was in that mob. I was named the designated "runner" for my group. I dropped my paperwork about 2 seconds into the race, had to go back for it, where I was trampled in the mud and ended up with a broken finger.

That wasn't the worst of it, though. One girl lost a tooth. One kid broke his leg.

And if you're wondering, I DID get us our room in the first hotel. I'm just THAT fast!

Packing, Packing, and Avoiding Maintenance Workers

My bed is covered in clothes. It was then that I realized I am bringing WAY too much stuff on our cruise. But as I told my mom, I don't know what I'm going to want to wear next week until that very moment arises. Better to be prepared (I usually have at least one "I should've brought that" moment on every vacation).

I didn't work out this morning because I realized just how much I have to do before Saturday. My scale registered another 149 3/4, which I'm counting as a 149 1/2.

For entertainment (and to appaul you), I shall leave you with this miniature story...

I shower with my bathroom door open (so what? I live alone and there are no nearby windows). Only about a minute after getting out of the shower yesterday, I hear pounding on my door. A deep voice yells "MAINTENANCE!" I didn't know what to do. I was afraid if I made the dash to my bedroom for clothes, the maintenance men might walk in on me mid-streak. So I just closed the bathroom door and willed them to go away.

But go away they did not. After hearing no response, they came into my apartment.
"MAINTENANCE!" he yelled.
"WHAAAT?!" I yelled back through the door.
"We are here to patch your ceiling," he responded.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" I called back in frustration and nudity.
"Do you want us to come back later?" he asked.
"Uh... YES, PLEASE!"

So they left. I really don't know what he's talking about. There is nothing wrong with my ceiling. However, that's not the point. The point is that they came into my apartment when I was in a less-than-decent state. And this isn't the first time. I once woke up to the sound of maintenance workers in my bathroom flushing my toilet and running my shower. That's unacceptable. I pay good money to live there. Unless it's an emergency, they should not be able to just come in whenever they want.

That's my rant for the day. And no, mom, I have NOT spoken with my landlord yet about this problem. I wish I could just move... my apartment building is becoming a nightmare.

Despite all this, I'm in a relatively good mood. Tomorrow is my last day of work, then I'll be home on Saturday and off to Miami on Sunday. Weeee!

This is What I'm Dealing With

It was a dark monday morning. I was sleeping soundly in my bed.

Suddenly, at 7:15, a bunch of strange men came busting through my front door. They were loud and scary and carried weapons.

And do you know what they did?

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

... They stole my windows.

Alright, fine. So I was EXPECTING them. That doesn't make this story any less horrifying.

To prepare for their arrival, I had to move everything at least 6 feet away from the windows in my living room.

Picture me crouched on the floor DRAGGING my TV stand across the carpet. This was fun.

After that, I had to cover all my furniture with sheets. If you were around for the bedroom window installation, then you recall there was a problem with dust.

So this time, I was prepared.





They started working at 7:30am, and I didn't have to leave for work until 1:30pm. That is quite a few hours to waste.

What did I do?

- I went to the Y and ran 2.1 miles. As usual, I found myself disturbed by the amount of careless nudity in the locker room (is it just me? I don't want to see that!)
- I dropped off some shoes at the repair shop. I know it's weird, but I love going there. I always feel like I'm helping out the "little guy."

- I went to Ulta and bought some stuff. I discovered that it's impossible to find shampoo for less than $10 at that store.
- I picked up a new camera at Best Buy. I had ordered it online and had to wait in line with all the crazies returning stuff.
- I got Jimmy John's. I hope all of you have a Jimmy John's in your state, because they are the BEST sandwiches (I dream about that bread).
- I got my oil changed. They tried to sell me a new air filter, a transmission tune-up, and 80 other things, but I stood strong.

I finally headed home around noon, hoping they would be finishing up.

Instead, I opened my apartment door to find I had a large gaping hole in my wall. It was COLD.

So I bunkered down in my bedroom with the heat blasting and the TV on (but not audible over the construction noise).

When I left for work at 1:30, they were still there.

But I woke this morning to brand new windows...



I'm SOOOO glad this is over. And if they ever come and ask me to install more things in my apartment, I'm throwing them through those brand new windows.

The Girl Who Got Ketchup in Her Eye

If you're guessing that girl is me, you'd be correct. This is my karmic punishment for getting Wendy's while I'm on a "diet."

___________________________________

Our story begins with our heroine pulling into the Wendy's parking lot on her lunch break.

"I havn't eaten in 6 hours!" she says to herself with both hands muffling her grumbling stomach.

She leaves her car and enters the warm and inviting Wendy's. "Ahhh... my favorite restaurant," she says... again, to herself.

She places herself in front of the counter and orders a modest meal of 4 chicken nuggets and a medium fry. After paying and joking off the awkward way the cashier was flirting with her, she grabs her bagged food and heads for the door.

"Oh! One more thing!" she says as she spins around and heads back toward the cash register. "Can I have one of those small cups? I'm going to put my ketchup in it."

The girl liked ketchup. And she liked using a lot of it. She found the small amount of ketchup extracted from the few packets they usually give her just not enough for her tastes. And those dinky ketchup cups don't hold up well through car rides.

So she took her cup--originally intended for chili--filled it 1/3 of the way with delicious red ketchup, and headed back to work.

..............................................

The girl pulled into the parking lot at work and gathered her things. "Woops! Almost forgot the ketchup," as she pulled the cup from the car's holder. She opened the door and climbed out.

But in that very moment, the events of this night turned tragic. God reached down from heaven and slapped the ketchup cup from the girl's hand.

In what had to be slow motion, the cup fell slowly to the pavement. A resounding "noooooooooooo" echoed from the girl's lips. She immediately thought how horrible her chicken nuggets would taste without any delicious red ketchup to dip them in.

But that wasn't her biggest problem.

The ketchup cup hit the pavement with a hollow sounding "thud." The girl looked down to see if her ketchup was salvagable, and that's when it hit her.

Literally... the ketchup hit her.

She saw a dark shadow flying up towards her face, and then felt a sharp stinging in her left eye. "Ahh! I have ketchup in my eye!" she screamed into the november night.

The girl immediately dropped everything she was holding and ran towards the building--leaving her food strewn on the floor and her car door hanging open.

With one hand covering her ketchup-filled eye, she flew through the front doors and down the stairs to the bathroom.

A quick glance in the mirror revealed a pathetic-looking girl with ketchup dripping down her face. She twisted the faucet on full blast and splashed the cold water into her painful red eye.

When she was finished flushing out the ketchup, she got a good look at herself. Naturally, the ketchup had not aimed solely for her face, which was proven by the fact that her clothes were also covered in it.

Her long sleeve maroon shirt... ketchuped. Her new gray sweater... ketchuped. Her pretty brown hair... ketchuped. Her Express jeans... ketchuped.

What a mess.

____________________________________

And a mess I remain.

One of my favorite parts was after I had finished cleaning myself off (to the best of my ability), I then picked up my unknowingly ketchuped purse and set it on top of my sweater. Hmm... how else can I further the ketchup's journey on my clothes?

So I'm kinda clean (not really), and I keep finding random splatters of ketchup that I missed (including all over our building now).

But my eye still hurts. I rinsed it out as best as possible, but I can't imagine a giant blob of ketchup is all that healthy for it.

Mom? Would you like to come live with me and clean all my clothes? I make a delightful roommate.

Holy Snowstorm, Batman!

Okay Okaaaaaaaay... so it's not exactly a "snowstorm" (if you choose to be so picky about my word choices). But it DID snow today (I kid you not!). It snowed today, even though 2 days ago, I was running outside in shorts!

But on the good side, once we get heavy snow, there won't be any more building construction. Hurray!!!

But on the bad side, drivers are suddenly stupid. There is 1/30th of an inch of snow on the road, and people are freaking out (that, or using the snow as an excuse to be idiots (hmm...)). Specifically, I was almost hit on my way home from work tonight.

Someone turned left out of a gas station into the lane next to me (which I HATE when people do that... it makes me nervous (and rightfully so!!!)). So I put on my breaks and waited to make sure they were going to stay in that lane.

Good. We're good.

No... nooooo. NO! WE'RE NOT GOOD! The idiot pulled into my lane. No warning. No signal. No over-the-shoulder look. Just ::whoosh:: "I'm coming over!"

My response? "Ahhh! What the hell!?!" ::slam on brakes:: ::pull as far towards the curb as possible:: ::hold hand on horn::

But they didn't hear my horn. THEY STILL DIDN'T SEE ME. Good thing I was flooring my brake, cause they just continued with their lane change.

Their car came within TWO inches of mine.

I just.... I....

I'm obviously speechless. How are people this STUPID?! If almost getting in an accident makes me this mad and flustered, I can't imagine how it would be if it had actually happened.

So, all you snowy-state readers, be safe. Watch out for bad drivers (and don't be one yourself!).

My Productive Weekend and Why I'm Never Eating Fried Chicken Again

I baked chocolate chip cookies yesterday. They turned out a little burnt, but overall delicious.



Today, I rearranged my apartment. I can't say I like it anymore than I liked it yesterday, but it's nice to just change things up now and again. Plus, my dining table is much closer to my TV, which makes it far more likely I'll use it.

I also took Reagan into the shop today. About a month ago, I was going along and a squirrel tried to commit suicide... death by bike tire. I "slammed" on my brakes, and one of them made a little pop sound. After that, it didn't work quite right.

So I finally got a free day to take Reagan into my local bike shop, Shosie's Cyclery. And I'd like to say they are awesome.

Shop Owner: "Oh, yeah... that's no problem. It looks like the cable slipped. I can fix that right up."



"Oh... your tires are really low. Lemme fill those up while we're at it."

"You know, this bag in the front here is really meant for underneath the seat. I can move your reflector so it fits."

"It appears one of the spokes on the chain gear is bent. I'll just fix that real quick."



"Your brakes are a little crooked. I can adjust that."



... And on it went. Where I was expecting to have to leave Reagan overnight and pay for that one brake problem, I got 5 times the service completely free and super fast.

The owner even gave me some tire advice for my triathlons.

And that's why I'm totally loving them. So, if you live in or are visiting the Stateline, go to Shosie's Cyclery. Shosie's Cyclery. Shosie's Cyclery. Shosie's Cyclery. That should just about do it.

When I got home, I was supposed to go run, but Reagan just looked so good and her tires were all filled and waiting. Plus, I just can't resist those puppy eyes of hers. So I took her for a spin. The "spin" was supposed to be long, but about 2 minutes into our ride, I thought, Man, I am the stupidest person alive for riding my bike without gloves on. I don't remember the last time I rode my bike in cold(er) weather, so I was not expecting my hands to completely freeze at 15 mph.

____________________________________

My evening has been spent cooking myself dinner. I'm not the greatest cook, which is why I don't do it that often (plus, I don't like to clean up afterwards).

So, before I had even washed my chocolate chip cookie dishes,



I was making oven-fried chicken.

This was a more daunting task than I had anticipated. First off, I couldn't find any skinless chicken legs, so I bought the skinned kind and figured it wouldn't be that hard to skin them.




... Boy was I wrong. Who knew a seemingly simple task could be so gross and smelly?! (Yes, smelly. It kinda smelled like a wet dog. Blehhh).



Halfway through one of the legs, my hand was bleeding. Oh my God, I cut myself!

Oh wait... that's not ME bleeding, it's the chicken. MY DINNER IS BLEEDING. This just totally turned me off to chicken. Even if I manage to make this, will I even want to eat it?!

I never seemed able to get the skin completely off the leg, so I would pull it down as far as possible and just cut off the extra. Oh well, I tried.

The biggest problem, however, didn't come about until the chicken had been in the oven for 15 minutes.



A) My kitchen started to fill with smoke. Apparently you canNOT replace parchment paper with wax paper. Woops.



B) My chicken legs were burning and looking funky.



I could NOT figure out what I did wrong... until I reread the recipe. That's when I realized you cannot replace buttermilk with powdered buttermilk (at least not when you're making a buttermilk marinade).

So I threw out my legs.

And every bad chef knows that at this point in the cooking process... you give up and order pizza.



Next time I cook something, maybe I'll just skip over the "effort" and "mess" parts and go straight to the delicious cheesy ending.

PS: My lovely boyfriend points out that powdered buttermilk can be made into liquid buttermilk simply by adding water (it even says so on the box!). This makes me an even BIGGER idiot!

...I was marinading chicken legs in POWDER.

The Mime that Never Was

I promised this story DAYS ago. I know, I know. I suck.

So, my coworkers are a little... "out of the box." They are all young and energetic and like most 20-somethings, they like to drink. Thus, on special occasions (birthdays, going away parties, holidays), they usually plan a bar crawl.

Except their bar crawls have themes. And their themes aren't normal.

So when a coworker told me he was having a bar crawl for his birthday, I expected odd. But nothing could have prepared me for... MIMES. Yes... as in the speechless men in white makeup.

But you can't just go as a plain old mime. You have to be something creative RELATED to a mime (confusing, I know). So, one guy was going as Frankenmime. One girl was going to be Hannah Mimetannah. Get it?

So I gave this outfit a great deal of thought. I made a long list of possible ideas (some of which were incredibly stupid). I showed the list to my mom and we brainstormed.

We decided the best and most logical idea was Marilyn Mimeroe. Basically, I would dress as Marilyn Monroe and then paint my face like a mime. Pure brilliance.

I was on a time crunch all week, so the morning of the bar crawl, I headed out to the store in search of a Marilynesque white dress. This = harder than it seems.

I clenched my teeth and ended up with a $39 Marilyn costume dress from the Halloween store. While I was there, I picked up some face paint and blonde hair spray.

I had to work that day, and since I worked until 11pm and the bar crawl started before that, I would need to leave straight from work.

So I did my hair. I took 2-inch sections of my long hair and pinned each section underneath itself. This resulted in a very odd-looking brown bob.

Then, as I was directing the 10 o'clock show, I heard the anchor on set talking about the bar crawl. She was discussing her outfit with a reporter. Then I heard it... "I had my outfit all planned out until they changed the theme." Wha??

Out went the text messages...
Me: "Did you guys change the theme for tonight?"
Friend: "It depends... what are you dressed as?"
Me: "A mime."
Friend: "HAHAHA"

I didn't even wait to hear what the new theme was (something to do with rich people or old people? I have no idea), because I was pissed. Apparently they had changed the theme just a day before and no one had bothered to let me know.

I skipped the bar crawl out of principle. They would have given me a hard time for not being in costume, and I would have been in a bad mood for spending all that money on my pointless dress.

So, against my will (mainly because the Halloween store has a no-return policy), I will be going as Marilyn Monroe for halloween. Yayyy.

All I can do is be extremely thankful that I hadn't sprayed my hair blonde and painted my face white before I found out about the change. Then I would have killed someone.

As a Cyclist, I Should Be Shot

Yesterday, I hit a man with my bike. You heard me. Strike One. I hear if you get 3 strikes, they throw your bike under a steamroller.

... Poor, poor Reagan.

No! Scratch that! Poor man that I hit with my bike! Although, to be fair, it was partially his fault.

Let me set the scene...

It was a sunny, windy, and cool day on the bike path. Our heroine, Kelly, was enjoying a leisurly ride with her buddy Reagan. The path was pretty empty for a Sunday, which Kelly chalked up to the fall-like temperatures (YES, 70 degrees is cold!).



Kelly noticed some people up ahead. It was during a specific stretch of the bike path where the path widened to twice its normal width. Despite this, there is still a white line drawn down the center to usher users to their designated halves.

The other people on the path were a man running and his young daughter riding a bike. Deciding to toe the line between safe and dangerous, the man was running... well... on the line.

Kelly weighed her options. A) Pass on the right. Possibly hit little swerving biker child. B) Pass on the left. Pass on the left where there is TONS of room.

The choice seemed clear. Kelly began to veer left into the oncoming lane. With about 7 feet between her and runner man, she didn't deem it necessary to warn him of her approach. What are the odds he's going to dart out in front of me, she laughed (***foreshadowing***).

Right before Kelly reached the passing point, suddenly it happened. Without warning, without notice, and most importantly, without LOOKING, the man suddenly decided to make an extremely large u-turn.

Fortunately, our heroine's reflexes are lightening fast. She yanked on her brakes and made a warning noise.

UNfortunately, our heroine's vocal responses are deceptively slow. She meant to yell "Watch Out!" or maybe give a helpful "Move!", but the noise coming from her more closely resembled an "Ooo!"

Yes, ladies and gentleman... in a heated moment such as this, Kelly can only give the notion of being amazed and intrigued.

Well, before the runner could realize what was happening (does he NOT know what "Ooo!" means?!), he was in the direct path of me and my bike.

Then BHAM!

He tried to stop me, bless his heart. He reached out his arms as if to stop a 180-pound mass of flesh and aluminum hurling towards him. Silly man.

Overall, the situation didn't end nearly as badly as it might have. The runner wasn't even knocked over (what fun is THAT?). He must've known he was mostly at fault, because even though I hit him, HE was the one apologizing. You BETTER aplogize! You ruined my momentum!

What did we learn from today's lesson? Even if the situation seems knock-me-over-the-head obvious, we STILL need to warn people that we're passing them... cause you just never know how stupid that person might end up being.

My Brain's Going 100 mph... If Only My Legs Were That Fast

Prepare yourself, because I have a LOT to talk about.

I woke up early this morning (10:30 is early) and decided it was a gorgeous day to head over to the Farmers Market. A little background... I am REALLY weird about my food. And I'm really weird about it going bad. I check almost EVERYTHING before I eat it. But with most of my grocery shopping being done at Wal-Mart these days, my fruits don't end up being too fresh. So what better way to buy fresh than to buy straight from the farmers themselves.

I browsed the stands and saw some raspberries that were calling my name. So for $4, I bought freshly picked raspberries.

I went home, washed them, and dumped them into a bowl. That's when I noticed it.... the mold...

I threw out the super moldy raspberries, but as I picked through them, I noticed that almost ALL of them were moldy. They were green and gray and mushy and growing mold on their insides. Bleh.

When I was done, this is all I was left with...

I ended up throwing these out an hour later because they still smelled moldy.

$4 right in the trash. Stupid Farmers Market.

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After going insane over moldy fruit, I dragged myself to the Y. I got on the treadmill and ran 1.51 miles in 18 minutes (I walked 4 of those minutes). I'm still confused as to why I go slower and walk more often on a treadmill. Hmm.

After the run, I mentally prepared myself for the swim. The only thing that got me into that bathingsuit was reminding myself, Once you get this over with, you won't have to put so much as a toe back in this pool until Tuesday.

I swam for 13 minutes and went 500 meters.

But the oddity began when I hopped out of the pool. Walking back to the locker room, I was very dizzy. The dizziness lasted through getting my stuff and leaving the building. It even lasted through getting in my car and driving home.

I've heard this is relatively common, but the cause is somewhat disputed. It may have something to do with my swimming form... the fact that I breath on every stroke, and I only take breaths on my right side. The frequency plus the snapping of my neck to the side could cause me to become dizzy. Or it could be the water seeping into my ears and causing my balance to be off. Or it could be the fact that I'm horizontal for such a long period of time and then I'm suddenly vertical and all the blood is rushing into (out of?) my head. It could be oh so many things.

It's a pretty important problem because I'm supposed to jump out of Lake Michigan and RUN to the first transition. I don't want to fall over or pass out.

So starting next week, I will eliminate the possibilities. I will try to take my breaths more evenly and wear earplugs when I swim. We'll see what happens I guess.

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Last night, during our 5pm newscast, I saw something about a 5K. It was being held this morning in a nearby town. That got me to thinking... I could TOTALLY do a 5K. I would have laughed at myself 2 months ago, but I think I can do it now. It wouldn't be good, it wouldn't be fast, and I may even have to stop and walk once, but I would finish it.

This morning was too short of notice for me. I would've had to wake up super early and pay more money for registering late. Plus, I really wanted to hit up that Farmers Market (gurr stupid Farmers Market). So I researched some 5Ks for next weekend and found 2 possibilities.

The first is the Knight Run in Beloit, Wisconsin...

Date: Saturday, August 02, 2008
Time: 8:30 AM
Brief Description: A 5k Cross Country Run (open to the public) on the Beloit Memorial High School Cross Country Course. The course is uneven, grassy, gently rolling terrain with two loops through the park.
Prices: Pre-registration - $15.00, Registration - $20.00

The second is the Lincoln-Douglas 5K in Freeport, Illinois...

Date: Saturday, August 02, 2008
Time: 8:35 AM
Brief Description: A 5K wheel-measured course designed to challenge the beginning walker or an experienced runner. All races begin at the Debate Square site of the legendary Lincoln Douglas debate this year celebrating its sesquicentennial.
Event Size: 210 Participants
Prices: Registration - $20.00



Both races are pretty much the same distance away. They cost practically the same and start around the same time. I guess it might come down to whether I'd rather do a cross country or road course.

I need to make this decision by Tuesday.

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Speaking of decision, I've come to the conclusion (with help from my mom, boyfriend, and google) that renting a wetsuit would be a very good idea. I've heard Lake Michigan is extremely cold this year (we havn't even hit 90 degrees ONCE this summer!). It will be $50 well-spent and if I decide that I want to continue doing triathlons, I can put $40 of that towards the purchase of a used wetsuit.

Actually... it'll look more like this...



... Or not. Cause that's just creepy.

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Lastly, I stumbled upon the website hundredpushups.com. Instead of try to explain it myself, here is what the website says:

"If you're serious about increasing your strength, follow this six week training program and you'll soon be on your way to completing 100 consecutive push ups!

Think there's no way you could do this? I think you can! All you need is a good plan, plenty of discipline and about 30 minutes a week to achive this goal!

No doubt some of you can already do 50 consecutive push ups, but let's face it, you're in a big minority. Most of you reading this won't even be able to manage 20 pushups. Actually, I'm sure many of you can't even do 10.

However, it really doesn't matter which group you fall into. If you follow the progressive push ups training program, I'm positive you'll soon be able to do 100 push ups!"

30 minutes a week? That's less than 5 minutes a day. I could totally do that. Plus, the program is personalized based on how many pushups you can do now (like, 3).

Push ups are quick, easy, and don't require me to buy equipment or even leave my apartment... Sign me up!

Watch Out, Wildlife

The forecast called for rain. Rain, rain, tons of rain. But when I woke up, it was sunny... and cloudless... and only 80 degrees. So my bike and I went for a ride.

I was very excited about this ride because the stuff I bought with my birthday Amazon.com gift card arrived while I was out of town. I couldn't wait to try out my new cyclocomputer:


For those of you who don't know much about bikes, it works when this little magnet attached to my wheel spoke...


... Swings around and goes past this sensor:



Oh... and even though I really didn't need it, I wore my new watch too:

(Due to my arm glowing with sweat, this photo was obviously taken AFTER my workout.)

Even though I remembered all these new-fangled gadgets, I totally forgot one important one... my Ipod. I was pretty much okay with that, except for I had that Coldplay song stuck in my head the ENTIRE ride.

"I used to rule the world, Seas would rise when I gave the word"

The main thing I learned during my ride was that I'm going much faster than I thought. During the times I was going at my normal speed, I was anywhere between 12 and 16 mph. That's good. My calculations in the past have been based solely on math using my time and distance. But that's usually not all that accurate.

Here are my final stats for this afternoon...
Distance: 12.749 miles
Maxiumum Speed: 22.2 mph
Average Speed: 12.1 mph
Temperature: 91.3 degrees
Time: 1:03:11
Calories Burned: 450.4 calories
Fat Burned: 48.9 grams of fat

The "Time" option is nice because it automatically stops counting when you stop your bike. So it's not ticking away while I'm drinking water or tying my shoe.

The reason the "Average Speed" is so low (compared to what I said about the 12-15 mph before) is because of pedestrian traffic for the first and last 2 miles of my ride. Also, about 8 miles in, there was a hill so steep that it has signs telling you to walk your bike up it.

"Now in the morning I sleep alone, Sweep the streets I used to own"

There was one moment during my ride where there wasn't another biker or pedestrain around and a straight flat bike path ahead of me. I decided to try and see just how fast my bike would go on flat ground.

So I tucked my head down and started pedalling as fast as I could. My new gadget told me I was nearing 21 mph, then suddenly...

GAH! SNAKE! SWERVE!

Here's how it all went down: I took a moment to peak up from under my helmet, and that's when I caught a glimpse of it slithering across the path as fast as it could go. Unfortunately for the snake, I too was going as fast as I could go. When I saw it, I screamed and tried to swerve to the left so I wouldn't hit it.

About 50 meters later, I slowed too a halt. I was scared to go see if I had indeed squished the suicidal snake. I slowly retraced my steps. From the distance, I could see it laying there in the middle of the path... not moving. I wasn't sure if it was alive or dead. If it was dead, then I would feel really bad. And if it was alive, than I at least wanted a picture of it (it's not often that I run into snakes during my ride (pun intended)).

"I used to roll the dice, Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes"

It's little head was curled around in a spiral and its tail stretched straight across the middle of the path. If I had hit it, I had hit its tail. Maybe I only squished part of him... or maybe he was totally paralyzed.

But as soon as I got close, he felt me coming and quickly slithered off into the tall grasses. No dead snake... and no picture.

"Never an honest word, But that was when I ruled the world"

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My bike needs a name. We're coming up on our 1 month anniversary, and I want to give her the gift of a name.

Problem is, I'm stuck. I'm usually a naming-pro. Everything I own has a name (my car = Madison, my houseplant = Stu II, my Ipod = Casey). So my new love deserves a name also. She is definitely a girl, and I try to stick to human names.

I may think up a few options and then start a poll. I'll get back to you on that one...

I'm Getting Much Better

Things are going rather well. And for a pasty white girl, I'm getting super tan.

Yesterday, I ran race length (1.55 miles) again. This is my second time going that far without stopping. It took me 15 minutes (same time as last time). I am just about the slowest runner on earth. My goal is to bring that time down to somewhere around 12 minutes.

The run was harder this time. I was pretty sore in my shoulders and legs from all the biking the day before. Plus, it was 82 degrees with a hot wind. I had intentions of swimming after my run, but I was way too exhausted and the pool was way too crowded. So I went home content with my (slow) progress.

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Today, I woke up early and went biking. It was a beautiful, sunny, 73 degree morning.

I had a brand new water bottle and cage for my new bike:

Which was SO much better than drinking that toxic water...

My new bike and I enjoyed a nice long ride. She treated me well... and I treated her well in return. I even carried her over this muddy puddle:

Nothing's too good for her.

It was 12.2 miles once the ride was done. That's the farthest I've ever gone (more due to time and logistics than my abilities).

It took me a little over an hour, which ends up being a slow average of 11 mph. But that doesn't take into account all the stoplights and drink stops and "hmm which direction should I go?" stops.

The most suprising moment of all today was when I got back to my apartment building... I wasn't ready to be done.

So my bike ride turned into an unplanned brick workout. I chained up my bike and headed out on a run.

Even though it felt like I was running so slow a snail could pass me, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had run 1.1 miles in 10 minutes. That's a little under a 10 minute mile. Don't get me wrong... that's still incredibly slow... but considering I had just biked 12 miles, it wasn't bad at all. I'm just happy that I didn't stop and walk!

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And now... for your entertainment, today's story:

To start off, there is the creepy little man who always sits outside my apartment building. He is dressed in shabby clothes with a long gray beard. He is always smoking and drinking a Diet Pepsi. For the first few months I lived here, I kept wondering why on earth my landlord was letting this homeless man chill out there every day.

Either way... I would say hi to him. He never said anything back. He just kinda sat there with his mouth open and stared at me. So one day, I'm getting my mail, and I see this old man come inside. I begin to panic... It's one thing for him to sit outside and not bother anyone... but I don't want him coming in here! But then he pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the main door.

... Now I was just confused. Either there is a man who lives in my building who looks like he's homeless, or there is a homeless man with a key to my building. Which would be worse?

So time went on and I became used to this creepy little man. He never ever says a word to me... just stares.

But a few days ago, I was unracking my bike from my car and I had my keys in between my legs. Suddenly, my car alarm went off. Not a big deal. I grabbed my keys and turned it off.

I grab my bike and head towards the building. When I get to the front door, the man is there smoking. He suddenly speaks,

Man: "Was that your car making all that noise?"

Me: "Yeah, I accidentally set it off. Woops."

Man: "You could cause a person to go deaf with that thing..."

Me: (laughs slightly)

Man: "... Then someone would sue you." (stares at me intensly)

Sues me? I wasn't sure whether he was joking and I should laugh, or if he was serious, and I should call the men in the white coats.

I don't think I'm going to say 'hi' to him anymore.