When you're too lazy to make actual cookies

Try this:

2 c oatmeal
1 c flour (or whatever substitutes for flour for all my GF buddies)
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c splenda (the stuff that measures like sugar in the big bag, or just use a whole cup of brown sugar if you don't like/have this)
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 c dried sour cherries
1/2 c roughly chopped pecans
1 dark chocolate bar, broken into pieces
half a stick of butter, melted
1 t vanilla
1/2 c applesauce
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the dry ingredients together. Melt the butter and add the other wet ingredients, being careful not to cook the egg. Combine wet & dry, press evenly into a 9x13 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, let cool on a rack.

little boy was dubious at first, but once he tried them, half the pan disappeared pretty quickly!

Speaking of little boy, that child is going to run himself into orbit. Yesterday's JV meet was a great one for him, even though he placed 9th in the JV-A race. New (40 second) 5K PR - 17:56.

Taper madness

It's not even in full swing yet, I suppose. I've read a lot about others who are tapering and feeling lazy and crazy, but now it's my turn. Am I doing it right?

I feel lazy. I ran 8 miles this morning. Venus is crazy-bright. The full moon was bright enough to cast shadows and I didn't really need my headlamp (except for those stupid early morning drivers: umm HELLO! runner here! dog here! don't hit us with your car! you have lights, I know you see us!). My knee felt fine, but I had other phantom pains that came & went along the way. Ow, my shin hurts, why is that? Ow, my other knee hurts, why is that? Ow, my hip feels itchy-funny-weird, why is that? Is my gait off? My foot feels funny. Am I running too slow? Too fast? Sheesh, this is only 8 miles, this is nothing! I'm done already and it's still dark.

I feel crazy. How can I run 26.2 miles on the 13th when it will have been six weeks since I've run 20?? This taper is too long. My legs will forget what to do. I know my legs, and they're not real smart. They do things like make me fall up stairs, slip and fall on ice, and walk full speed into unseen desk corners. They walk me into trouble all the time. They truly are not the brightest appendages on the body.

Taper can't be good for you. If nothing else, it's bad luck. I walked into a desk last week. Co-worker Kerstin tripped over her cat and fell down the stairs this week (her marathon is Oct. 7). My imaginary internet running buddy baggio fell down while running and smashed himself up this week, too (truly insane, cuz baggs runs like a million miles a week! his marathon is also on Oct. 7, but in a different state). I am considering doing a study of taper-related incidents and thereby proving one way or the other that bad luck exists (ok, not).

12 miles tomorrow. Forecast is windy with a thunderstorm. Alrighty then. SO finally returns from the west tonight, only to leave us again Sunday, when she heads to St. Cloud for work. She'll be staying with a buddy of hers who lives up there and coming home on weekends.

little boy does it again!

The city grade meet was a good one for little boy. Here are the results:

Tues., Sept. 25
GRADE-BY-GRADE MEET (5.29K)
Top three individuals
Seniors
Rick D, Highland Park, 19:11; Jonathon R, Central, 19:35; Dan N, Central, 20:21
Juniors
Sam S, Central, 18:50; Kelin D, Central, 18:53; Ben M, Highland Park, 19:02
Sophomores
little boy, Central, 19:40; Ben S-H, Central, 19:44; Seyfu A, Arlington, 20:29
Freshmen
Liam R, Highland Park, 21:38; Evan H, Como Park, 22:33; Elliot P, Central, 23:23

That makes a new 5K PR of 18:35!

I was lazy this morning and didn't run. I have 8 to run either this afternoon or tomorrow and 12 for Saturday. My hip felt a little funky after Tuesday's TM run and I'm not sure if that's a result of the stupid knee or the TM, so another day of slacking is fine. This is taper, after all.

And I'm not entirely lazy, little boy has to be at school by 6:30am for honors orchestra. Welcome to our new Tuesdays & Thursdays!

ouch...grumble...ouch

Ok, it's getting a little better. I had to wimp out on my highest-ever mileage week and I missed my last 20 miler. Stupid knee still hurts, but I'm not lurching around anymore. RICE is on the menu for the foreseeable future.

I managed 6 miles yesterday with the dog (some things felt weird, knee felt slightly painful and tweaky, like the ligaments weren't tracking just quite right) and 9 this morning on the TM (which felt pretty easy, cuz I set the speed super slow, but it was kind of boring, even though I was watching Pre).

However, I think the cajun breakfast I had on Sunday came with some extras. I was sick enough not to sleep well last night and it's lasted all day today. Ugh. Just what I needed - food poisoning on top of a crabby weekend. Don't you just hate the feeling of being hungry and nauseous at the same time? The extreme sweating alternating with clamminess is darn fun, too.

Ok, there's another thing that I finally fixed after it's been bothering me all weekend. I moved the computer down to Big Boy's room and since I moved it, the speakers wouldn't work. So I tried everything. Yes, first thing - power? speakers & subwoofer all connected to each other? correct line-in port? device manager say anything about something not working? unplug everything and plug it back in again? run a virus scan to check if there's some weird trojan horse that targets speakers? check yet another time to see if it's plugged into the correct port? update the driver? uninstall the driver? reinstall the driver? do random searches on the internet to see if I'm the only person in the history of the universe to have this problem that seemingly has no fix?

I finally got it. Now all I have to do is find myself a new, working wireless optical mouse for a 3+ year old computer. Fun!

and BOOM just like that

the ride is over.

Last December, I fell twice on my right knee. The orthopedist I saw said to treat it like a car accident, like when someone's knee is smashed into the dashboard in a crash. It prevented me from running for two months and it took many, many weeks for me to work up to running even 10 miles a week without pain.

Yesterday, SomeOne moved some furniture around, because a bookshelf I'd ordered arrived. Instead of telling me this...

I walked full force into the corner of the desk that was in my path. It was dark. I wasn't expecting anything to be there.

My right knee, you guessed it.

I pretty much can't walk right. Running is out of the question.

I guess the ride was fun while it lasted.

I wonder if this counts as a double?

So, yesterday was a crabby day, the second Monday of the week, as far as I'm concerned. I overslept, and getting up at 6:45am does not allow for running 10 miles before work. Grrr.

little boy had orchestra rehearsal last night, and I was going to be by the Minneapolis lakes anyway, so I thought I'd try for 10 while he was doing his thing. I had 2 1/2 hours and that was plenty of time. The only whiny things I have to say about that are (1) I don't run well in the evening and (2) thunderstorms were forecast.

We got to rehearsal on time and I headed for Lake Harriet. It was sprinkling as I started off. About half an hour into the run, perhaps a third of the way around the lake, it started to downpour. No thunder, no lightning, but it was raining so hard that it was a little difficult to see. I'd already made up my mind that things were going to be wet and the rain wasn't cold and it was about 70 degrees outside, so other than feeling like I was running in the shower, it really wasn't bad. The deluge abated somewhat for awhile, then it just rained, then it poured again, then drizzle, then deluge (and some lightning, but not much), and just about as I was done, the precipitation pretty much stopped. I ran 10 miles in 1:37 or so, for a pace of around 9:40. I went into the park building and changed into sweats and had fun wringing the water out of my socks, shorts & shirt. I had dry socks and dried my feet with the hand dryer (more fun!) but my shoes were a soggy mess.

Then I tried to go to Trader Joe's, but it had just closed by the time I got there. So, on to Whole Foods to get some fruit and snacks. I got back to pick up little boy at 9:34, and I saw him walking back across the street towards the building where rehearsal is held (it ends at 9:30). I'd told him to meet me in the parking lot of the park across the street, but I wasn't there. He looked really crabby when I honked at him. He got in the car and told me he was scared cuz he thought something had happened to me, that someone got me while I was running. Poor little boy! I apologized for being late and he seemed to be somewhat mollified by the Brown Cow cream top cherry vanilla yogurt I'd gotten him.

So, home again. Sleep. Up at 5:30am (I set two alarms this morning!). Out for 9, including 6 miles at tempo pace. Poochie came along for the run and she was quite pleased about it. Here are the splits:

1-9:05
2-8:05
3-8:34
4-8:20
5-8:30
6-8:09
7-8:54
8-9:25
9-9:28

Target tempo pace was 8:20, I managed 8:25. Overall pace was 8:44. Not bad for having run 10 miles less than twelve hours previously. Does it count as a double if you sleep for seven hours between runs?

PRs all around

little boy had a race in Rochester this week and ran 18:42 for the 5K. At first, he thought he wasn't going to be on varsity for the next race (they run the fastest 7), it turns out he beat two other guys so he will be.

I ran the James Page Blubber Run 5K yesterday. The beer was good, the company was even better, but despite what their ad page says, they only had brats. Ugh. My forerunner acted up, although there weren't really any trees or buildings to speak of in the way of the gps signal, so I don't know what the problem was. I never saw a mile marker until mile 3. I got a side stitch during what I think was mile 2 and I slowed down a bit to try and make it stop. If I hadn't done that, obviously I would have finished faster. But hey, I'll take a 2 minute and 12 second PR any day. The clock said 23:05 when I crossed the finish line.

Ok, so I'll never be able to race with little boy. But it's an unfair comparison now that his legs are longer than mine! (we'll just not mention the fact that he's 25 years younger than me which might be a mitigating circumstance as well)

I have to move the computer down to Big Boy's room, and there's no internet down there, so this will have to be short and poorly edited. Luckily I downloaded the thing from the revisor's website that I have to work on today.

Followed by a couple of good ones

My 9 milers this week have been going great. Monday, my pace was 9:30mpm; Tuesday, 9:40; today, 8:58. little boy had a cross country meet last night and PR'd by 15 seconds, for an 18:58 5K. The weather was perfect for running, low 60s and sunny with no wind or humidity. Then, on to orchestra practice, since we were already in Minneapolis. This year it goes until 9:30, which turns out is a little late for both of us! But the location is closer to home, so it didn't take 40 minutes to drive home. Still, being out until 10 on a school (work) night is a bit much considering we get up so early.

Today it was in the high 30s at 5am. It was the first run of fall, I guess, because I had to wear gloves and a ski hat along with my warm long sleeve top. But I still ran in shorts, so I know it's not winter yet! The pooch and I had to run a little faster than usual to keep warm, but I felt strong the whole time and the pace felt easy. The was just a hint of twilight in the eastern sky at 5 o'clock and Venus is as bright as I've ever seen her. I have to remind myself to watch the ground in front of me and not the sky, or else I'll end up doing a faceplant in the street (that's called "pulling a crane" for those in the know)!

I suppose my paranoid fears of bonking and blowing the marathon are just that - paranoia. Lucky thing I'm good at that.

SO is headed to Vegas tomorrow for some carpenter-type stuff (the international union headquarters is located there, it's not some carpenters' gambling club or anything like that). I don't want to jinx it by blogging about it, so I'll just say that little boy and I will be on our own until Sunday night. I wonder what kind of trouble we can get into?

I'm a lemming, courtesy of Cravey.

The WORST run of the summer

Saturday, 16 on the schedule. Remember how last week, I ran 20 miles at an average pace of 9:27? How does 15 miles at an average pace of 12:00 sound? And I walked the last mile home only because SO & little boy didn't answer the phone when I called to ask them to pick me up. It was two hours and fifty minutes of sheer hell. Or maybe it was 15 miles of THE WALL. Nothing hurt, but nothing felt right. I felt just an overall pervasive weakness. It was probably due to a lack of carbs on Friday. Yuck. It was all my nightmares of how the marathon might go wrapped into one sucktastic morning. At least there weren't spectators.

Today, however, 9 miles at better than 9:30 pace went just absolutely fine. Sky came along and was she ever thrilled about it. She even ran the last mile ahead of me even though I know she must have been tired. I'll take her again on Wednesday. She's had almost two weeks off because the runs got too long for her. This is a cutback week, so 9s x 5 days will be 45 miles.

There was more rearrangement of Big Boy's room. The sofabed was removed to the junkyard, so it's no longer in the dining room. Instead of buying something that is couch or bed-like, we repurposed his old twin bed into a couch (with the help of some new pillows from costco). His chest of drawers now houses the upstairs tv. The desk (soon to be outfitted with the computer once I move it) is in the corner. It looks a lot less like a big empty room now, and he'll have a place to sleep when he comes home. I feel a little less panicky this week, but I am still not in normal head-space yet. I wonder if I'll ever be?

Back to school

Big Boy is at college. little boy is back at high school (with the whole place to himself now that his brother is gone). I'm back at work. I think I need some new crayons, though. Maybe a glue stick or two.

My friends, RC & DD, just had their first baby on August 31 - a beautiful boy named James (after his grandfather, but it's funny, he looks like a James). How soon is too soon to call and bother them and ask to see the baby and check up on RC to see how she's feeling? I probably ought to get his gift finished first. Right.

Lots of running to drone on about. First, I found a spare pair of new shoes in the closet that I didn't remember I had! Yay! The miles pile up fast on shoes when you're running 50+ mile weeks and the things only last up to about 300 miles. I'm rotating 4 pair at the moment, the new pair of Asics 2110, an old pair of the same with 250 miles on them, a pair of Asics Enduro II with 150 miles on them, and a pair of Asics Eagle Trail V with 75 miles on them.

How do I know how many miles are on the shoes, you non-runners ask? Easy. I run with a Forerunner and download each run to my computer. I not only can get a satellite image of where I've run, the program I have has a drop down menu that indicates which pair of shoes I used for the run. Ok, so it sounds a little obsessive, but it makes you feel less crazy when you think something is up with your knees or your hips or your feet and you look at your shoe mileage and realize that you're running on worn out shoes! So you're not falling apart, or getting too old to run, it's just the shoes. And shoe shopping keeps you young! Or at least, that's what I've been telling myself.

So, Saturday's long run was 20 miles. I ran 20.61 miles in 3:14:52 for an overall pace of 9:27. I ran along Lake Michigan (from Veterans Park up to Whitefish Bay and back) with Big Boy riding his bike with me for company. Plus, I wanted to look like I had a posse (I guess I need more people for that, I'll keep that in mind next time). It was a weird out and back and around the pier and out and back again sort of route, but it got the miles in. I tried to run the last three miles at goal marathon pace or better and although the Forerunner got a little wacky, my average pace for those last three miles was just under 8:00. Which I think would make it my fastest 5K ever.

A couple of 11 milers this week, one at 9:40 mpm, the next at 9:30 mpm. A 7 mile tempo run this morning, with a mile warm up & cool down (you know the routine if you've been reading this blog at all). Target pace was 8:29 for the 7 miles. Here's how I did:

1-9:17
2-7:56
3-8:12
4-8:24
5-8:24
6-8:25
7-8:41
8-8:25
9-9:52

Tempo pace-8:21 mpm. Overall pace-8:37 mpm. I am so glad that tomorrow is a rest day and next week is a cut back week.