Angry birds

Despite the fact that I had to ice my ankle multiple times yesterday, I woke up today and felt fine. Like, absolutely fine, not even a twinge. I went out for a short run (5.3 miles in 47 minutes, 8:48 average pace) and while my legs felt tired, my ankle was pain free. I'm really glad it's not hurt, but I'm super confused as to why it hurt so much yesterday and not today. It's giving fuel to my belief that it's all in my head. :)

During my run I had to deal with real life angry birds. I've never played that game, but I imagine it doesn't deal with nesting hawks getting pissed at you for running by. To prevent the birds from nesting on the power lines, they built tall little nest stands next to the road. The eagles/hawks/whatever they are LOVE these stands and almost every one of them has a nest. I can see them feeding their chicks, so the presence of little ones must make them angry about anyone getting close. I try to not get too close, but they built those stands right next to the road, so I have to pretty much run underneath. This is one of the reasons I ran a little faster even though my legs were heavy and tired:

Run bitch RUN

Once I got home, I stretched and foam rolled, just in case my ankle pain was IT band related. Faith reminded me that it's important to hydrate:

I'm not getting much satisfaction from this end

Much better

Have you ever been attacked/harassed by wildlife? These birds are my first experience, other than the overly curious sheep I encountered on one run, but those were fenced in, so I wasn't concerned (plus sheep aren't very scary).

I'm not as young as I used to be....

My morning started pretty early. Faith didn't want to miss any of the royal wedding, so she had me up by 5:20am. I loved the wedding, especially Kate's dress. Although I have to admit that I can't remember ever seeing in her in an unflattering outfit. I thought the best part was that Kate is 29, which made me feel young, unlike watching baseball and realizing that the player was born in 1988.

At about 8am, I left to go for my run. I drove over to Piney Point (where my marathon last month was held). It was so beautiful today.

My view for most of the run

I ran down St. George's Island and then down the Piney Point Lighthouse. I felt great for the beginning and I took a Gu at mile 6. I got chased by 3 dogs after that, so I had a fast mile in there too. Score one for inconsiderate dog ownership.

At mile 8, I passed by the car again so I refilled my water. I was still feeling fine at this point. Around mile 10, my left ankle started hurting. I have experienced this once before (during my botched 20 miler for marathon training), so I was left with a conundrum. Keep running and hope the pain/discomfort subsides, or cut the run short to avoid a serious injury? I tried to keep going, but the pain was getting worse, so I ended the run at 13.1 (I didn't plan that, it just happened).

This is where it hurts

13.1 in 1:57 (8:59 average)

I have no idea what is wrong. I'm icing it right now and I'm trying to not be too pissed about cutting my run short. I really can't afford to get injured, especially with my 50K 5 weeks away. I also can't really afford to miss any long runs either. I'm more pissed at myself for being a wimp last week, because there was nothing wrong then and if I had gotten a longer run then, I'd be less concerned right now.

My plan is to take it easy and ice today and then try a short run tomorrow. Obviously I won't run if it still hurts, but last time it felt fine the next day. My left ankle is apparently likes to mess with me. If I can do 5-6 miles tomorrow morning, I'll be happy with that and hopefully I won't slow Alyssa down too much next week for our long trail run.

Does anyone have any experience with that kind of ankle pain? I'm running in fairly new shoes on flat surfaces, but maybe I occasionally bust out a retarded running stride that hurts my ankle? It's not swollen at all and I can bear weight on it without pain. Am I just being a wimp? (Little voice in my head: YES)

A placeholder post

I'm busy watching the royal wedding and running 18 miles this morning (yes, in that order. Priorities people!). I will post later with a recap of how I fared on my run, but until then, I wanted to share this video from my all time favorite band. Yes, I listen to a lot of Eminem when I run, but Sugarland will always be my favorite. My awesome best friend is taking me to see them in concert next month (so excited!) and I have pretty much every one of their songs on my iPod.

This song is the equivalent of putting on a sweatshirt warm from the dryer on a cold winter morning. :)



What's your "own every song" band/group?

Three things Thursday

1. I devised a new, easier way to use my Garmin while running with stroller. Yesterday I found out that it works best if you hit "start" when you begin running. I know I ran 4 miles yesterday because I did my usual route, but my pace will remain a mystery.

I only push with my left hand, so this works

2. I can't trust Faith with one than one slice of strawberry. She tries to play a baby version of "Fluffy Bunny" with the berry slices.

Ruffy Runny....see, I can still say it!

3. Faith officially won't wear a bib anymore. Yesterday was a messy day. I'm hoping that she will stop being anti-bib because she is such a drooler. It always looks like she just came from the baby gym, but it's not sweat, it's drool.

I'm in charge here

It seems like the general consensus is that Faith is a big eater! I'm surprised because I always think she doesn't eat that much, but that might be because I witness her near-constant movement. At least the fact that she licks her bowls clean makes me feel better about the money spent on buying baby food, because we all know she won't touch the stuff I make.

The plan for today is a 4 mile run with a friend and then tomorrow I'm doing my long run of 18 miles (instead of doing it on Saturday). I'm working around my husband's schedule, which is also why I'm sticking to the roads for the run so I won't be gone for any longer than necessary (especially since running 18 miles isn't a quick process to begin with).

Have you ever played Fluffy Bunny? Did you know that there is now a warning on bags of marshmallows warning you to not put more than one in your mouth at a time? (That's what she said). :)

What I Ate Wednesday: Baby Style

I always enjoy reading other people's What I Ate Wednesday entries, and since my food is boring, I decided to let Faith show you what she ate for a day.







As usual, I woke up early. I've read it's good to not let Mommies get too much sleep, it spoils them. I chatted with my giraffe friend until Mommy finally stumbled in. Once I played for a bit, I had breakfast #1:

7 ounces of tastiness

Once I finished that, I played with all my loudest toys because Mommy still didn't really look awake. I'm so helpful!

I was put in my captivity chair and given Cheerios while Mommy did stuff with the sink. She seems obsessed with that sink. I try to distract her, but I guess you can't teach old dogs new tricks. I did make sure to throw plenty of Cheerios to Peanut, she likes when I do that.

Give me Cheerios woman!

One for me, one for Peanut

For some reason Mommy drove us over to another neighborhood and we went for a crazy run. At one point we were in the woods on a dirt path! Lucky for her, I'm an all terrain baby. After we finished that, Mommy didn't drive straight home and I got ANGRY. She said something about a "CVS drive through" and "Medicine for the damn dog" but I couldn't really hear over my screaming.

We got home just in time for breakfast #2:

Another 7 ounces down the hatch

After that bottle, I was SO ready for my nap. I decided to mess with Mommy and sleep until 1pm. I never do that, so now she's confused...hahaha.

I slept through my morning oatmeal, so I had it when I woke up. I always put some in my hair, as I read in Baby Cosmo that it's a good conditioner. Mommy must not want me to have nice hair because she keeps washing it out.

Gimme!

After I did at least 4 full laps of the house leaving mayhem in my wake, I was ready for my favorite...meat in a jar!

Like cat food, but more expensive

Mommy also gave me a sippy cup. I don't like when she helps me. She says I'm not "doing it right", but whatever. I'm a big girl and I don't need her help. I don't need to wear that stupid bib either.

Water with a splash of juice

We went for a walk around the neighborhood and I sang to Mommy for most of the walk. I don't know the words to many songs, so I just say "DA DA DA DA" over and over. We got back and then I had some fruit:

Bananas, apples, AND pears? Oh boy!

Mommy was NOT spooning this stuff in fast enough. I made sure to let her know by screaming in between mouthfuls. After I licked that container clean, I had some of these:

Baby crack

When Daddy got home, I wanted to eat his snack, but for some reason he wouldn't let me. I was getting really mad, so Mommy got me a pretzel stick. It wasn't as fun as Daddy's popcorn, but I still ate it.

I like to lick the salt off first

I made sure that Mommy would watch the time to not miss my bedtime by screaming a lot. Phew, I have to do a lot of work to keep Mommy on track. Finally, it was bedtime and time for another wonderful bottle:

The champagne of formulas

8 ounces and I'm out for the night

There you have it, a day of eats in the life of a baby. Are you surprised at how much/little she eats? I'm always shocked that she seems to eat so little yet grows like a weed.

Baby won't say "Mama"

I think she's just messing with me :)

Things that grind my gears: Dog edition

Yesterday started out early. I don't know how the baby knows to wake up at 5am on Mondays, but she likes to start her weeks bright and early. She plays in her crib for a bit before I get her, so that's good, but it's not like I'm getting extra sleep. I'm usually lying there thinking "Five more minutes....come on kid, you know you want to fall back asleep..." I think I need to start logging these mornings and then pay her back when she's 16 and trying to sleep in on the weekends. :)

I ran early yesterday (at 7am) because it was hot already and I had to take the dog to the vet at 11:30am. The run was pretty good, I kept it short and sweet. We did 3.5 miles in 31 minutes and I soaked through my shirt completely. It already feels like summer out there!

Then I had to take the dog to the vet. If you're thinking, "Hey, that wouldn't be so bad. Maybe even fun!" then you can take my dog to all her future appointments. :) I have avoided taking the dog and the baby anywhere at the same time for a while, but I had to take Peanut to get a blood test to get her anti-seizure meds refilled, so I had to do it. Here's what I imagine goes on in the dog's mind during the car ride:

Oh BOY, I'm in the car! Whine, whine, whine. I think we're going to the Happy Fun Place!!! I better start barking!! Why is that baby crying? Oh, we're slowing down, I better bark!! Whine, whine, pace, whine, pace. Oh BOY, we're slowing down again, BARK BARK BARK! Seriously, why is that baby crying?

Imagine a female Forrest Gump voice

As you might imagine, I was really glad when the 25 minute drive was over. Peanut went berserk at every single red light because she thought we were there. We hit almost every single red light. It was awesome. 

As background, I have been considering changing veterinary hospitals for a while and today was the straw that broke the camel's back. About a year ago, the hospital got "bought out" by a large corporation and now everything is a "wellness package" of some kind and they constantly try to up-sell things. It's like the Jiffy Lube of animal hospitals.

It was a simple visit and should have been easy, but the idiot tech tried sneaking charges (95 dollars worth!) on my already expensive visit. She was like, "Well, you're almost due for your Junior Wellness package, so I just added it. Don't you want to know your dog's kidney health, especially considering her seizures?" No, I know why I'm here, and the kidneys aren't involved. Don't use your 2 years of community college to try to outsmart me. The kicker was when she said "Well, I already drew the extra blood for that test, do you want to just waste it?" I restrained myself from informing her that I almost drew blood from the dog during the car ride over there, and just asked her to take off the charge.

It pisses me off to no end that this place is preying on people's love of their animals and doing unnecessary testing and charging a ton for it too! If your cat/dog/whatever isn't displaying any symptoms, you don't need a full spectrum blood test. Geez!

So, I requested Peanut's full records and I'm going to find another (non-corporate) veterinary hospital. There are a ton in the area, maybe I can just get the guy who does the cows down the street to swing by and give Peanut the once over.  Fun fact: I can hear cows mooing even when I'm inside my house. Living the dream, I tell ya.

Thus ends my rant. If you read through it, you now have a same taste of what my husband deals with on an almost weekly basis. :)

Faith and I are driving over to a nearby neighborhood to run with a friend this morning, so maybe a change of scenery will help with my running funk! I'm going to take your suggestions and try a new route for my long run on Friday and download some new music too.

Speaking of funks, someone is in a funk with eating in her high chair. It's sooooo boring. :)

I'd rather be sitting on the couch

Must....escape....somehow.....

You win this battle Mommy, but I'll win the war.

My weekend in numbers

2 - The number of old ladies who asked "How old is he?" when I dared to take Faith to the grocery store with her wearing teal pants.

1 - Medal received in the mail for my 10K last weekend. Faith was unimpressed. :)

The four exclamation points really made it special

Whatever Mommy, I'd like to see you run this fast with the stroller

Fancy! My collection is growing.

15 - The miles I intended to run on Saturday morning. I've been in a running funk for about a week now and I was just dreading the run. I met a friend for the last 5.5 miles and if she hadn't shown up, I would have called it a day at 8 miles. Instead, we finished up 13.53 miles in 2:04 (9:12 average). It was raining and nasty, but I was just happy I didn't give into my overwhelming desire to spend my 2 hours of baby-free time at the dry Starbucks drinking hot chocolate instead of running hills in the rain.

7 - Amount of times I thought I was going to have to take Faith to the nursery during Easter service. She was very chatty (and squealing!), but other babies were louder, so we made it through the whole service.

What? I have things to say.

3 - People I made wear bunny ears for pictures. This is counting my dog as a person, but she basically is a person, so let's go with it.

My little Marine brother doesn't look so tough with pink bunny ears :)

Mommy, enough with the bunny ears already.

This may be one of my all time favorite pictures

2 - Crazy dogs running laps around the house and playing all afternoon on Easter. Sherman is only 14 weeks old and he is getting so big!

Peanut beating up on Sherman

Peanut doesn't realize that payback is a bitch

I didn't get a chance to run on Sunday, which is OK considering my funk, but bad considering that my 50K is coming up (June 4th!). I plan on running today instead, hopefully my enthusiasm for long runs will magically come back this week. :)


Any tips on regaining my pep for long runs?

Happy Easter!

Alternative title: Fun with bunny ears procured from the dollar bin at Target

The purple dress won!

Laughing at Daddy

Truly the world's most patient dog

Thankful Friday

This week I'm thankful for more things than it just being Friday. Somehow I still get excited for Fridays, even though I don't actually have a 5 days a week job. I guess the workday of a trophy wife/baby bitch never really ends, but at least the weekends are more fun. :)

The first thing I'm thankful for today is that I think I can finally say that winter is gone and I don't have to fear this anymore:

Yeah, that's a white picket fence. I'm living the dream.

I'm thankful that I have the world's most patient dog. Honestly, the only way she could be more patient would be to be dead and stuffed.

Peanut, are you sleeping? Wake up!

Let me braid your ears!

Why do you keep closing your eyes when I try to touch them??

I'm thankful that I have a great husband who supports my need to go pound pavement for 3+ hours every weekend.

I'm thankful that I'm hosting Easter this year. The stress of getting ready for people to come over is nothing compared the stress of traveling with the baby. Mostly because my awesome mom and mother-in-law bring the majority of the food. :)

Above all else, I'm thankful for this little chubby face. The time to trial in dairy is fast approaching, but even if she can never eat the stuff, I'd be willing to give up traditional pizza nights for this girl:

You want to pinch those cheeks, don't you?

What are you thankful for today?

Britney Spears in Afghanistan

I love these videos! It makes me glad that they're able to have a little fun over there. My brother-in-law is currently in Afghanistan, but I know he'd never do one of these type of Lady Gaga/Britney Spears covers. If he did though, that would pretty much make my day...no, my year. :)

Hot Hump Day

Yesterday was hot. Normally I love hot weather, but yesterday was rough on me. I went for a midday run and I felt like crawling into the fetal position under the shade of a tree, but I soldiered on. I had sunscreen running into my eyes and I made the rookie mistake of not putting on Body Glide before I left. I don't chafe at all in the winter, so I'm out of the habit and I paid the price yesterday. Even before I left the house, I wasn't feeling the run, so I told myself to do at least 4 miles, but aimed for 5. I called it a day at 4 miles (34:31, 8:38 average pace) and walked another mile to cool down. At least Faith was happy, even if she refused to wear her adorable sun hat.

After we got back to my car, we drove over to Chick-fil-a to redeem my free chicken sandwich. Yes, that's what I got for running a 10K, free fast food. Ah, America. I got the grilled chicken sandwich and an ice "dream" cone. I normally don't like eating things made of mystery ingredients (what exactly is ice "dream"??), but it was fabulous. I hear all elite athletes refuel after runs with imitation dairy products.

Faith has been having what I call "grass is greener syndrome".  No matter what she's doing, she's convinced it would be more fun to be elsewhere.

When Peanut is hanging out on the sunny deck:

Not fair!

Peanut! Don't have fun without me!

 Pretty much any time I try to walk anywhere:

Mommy! Pick me up!

Why would you pick me up? It's so much more fun on the floor!

 I'm still holding out on turning the AC on in the house, so it's pretty warm. It was 81 degrees upstairs last night. All of this heat meant that it was time to bust out a sundress! I can't figure out the timer on my camera, so this is as good as it's getting for proof:

Pay no attention to the drool stained carpet

Faith also wore an adorable sundress, but I couldn't get a good picture, mostly because I can't take off her bib for even a few minutes without her turning into a drooly mess.

Mmmm...giraffe ears

To clarify on my confessions yesterday, I used to work at an animal hospital in high school and when people brought in their baggies of dog poop (which you are supposed to do at the yearly check-up), we kept them in the fridge until we had a chance to set up the test for worms. Cold poop doesn't smell. :) So, that's where I got that habit, but I don't do it anymore since my husband is easily grossed out. That means I'm stuck driving 25 minutes to the vet with a bag of hot stinky dog poop instead of nicely chilled odor-free bag. :P


What "gross" habit have you given up for a spouse/roommate?


Do you have the same "grass is greener syndrome" as Faith?