Centennial (just like the Cubs)

The 100th post. Really I wish I had something more profound to write but I don't. I just smashed 8 days of clothes into a teeny tiny suitcase that I still have to check tomorrow. First time in nearly 1 1/2 years that I need to check luggage. I am sure it will get lost. That's how it rolls with me. Bad luck. I accept it and move on. I got a workout in sort of then of course I drank too much wine with dinner. This time so not my fault. I was not going to open the second bottle but Jacob wanted to so I obliged ;) But I am convinced I will not stay up much later and will miraculously wake up early to go for a run in the chilliness tomorrow a.m. before the flight. I am actually excited to wake up early in Florida on Weds for a run outside though! yeah! I hope there is somewhere to run on the island...Oh and the Cubbies lost. Go figure. I didn't go to Wrigleyville for the game (thunderstorms anyone) but it was a fight until the 10th. here's hoping they got the first game jitters out of their system and they sail all they way to the World Series!!! (ha) And I have decided after today's game I need a Fukudome t-shirt. yeah that's a real last name - I am not creative enough to make that up.

Getting it Done

I haven't necessarily been the dedicated runner over weekends. Things keep coming up and this weekend was going to be no exception. Yet another bridal shower for a different friend this time. I know it may seem like I have a lot of friends. It just so happens that my two closest friends (and pretty much only friends in Chicago) are getting married the same month. So in my case it means busy weekends and a little need for some pre-planning which I am not too good doing. I knew not much was getting done tomorrow since the dang shower is a brunch and starts earlier and goes until mid-afternoon. Long day and I would be tired later. Instead I got my mid/long run done tonight. It's a mid distance run to others but the longest run I have done in awhile. 7 miles! In the cold. Yeah I was wearing shorts two days ago to run and today dressed in running tights, warm running turtleneck, gloves, and a hat. Spring where are you? I know I keep asking but all I am feeling is this cold, crappy weather. Maybe next week. After the Cubs home opener. Because if you are a true Cubs fan you know that there is never a warm home opener.

This week also brought about my last week of freedom from traveling for work. It was a blissful month of not having to go to the airport, hang out in an airport, get lost going to my hotel, so on and so forth. But as of April 1st I am traveling again. At to kick it all off a freaking 8 day meeting. It is going to suck. These kick off meetings are long. Think 7 am - 10 pm at night with approximately a 1 hour break. I may be going to Florida but I don't actually get to enjoy Florida. It could be in South Dakota for all I care. We sit in a conference room, have breakfast and lunch in a different conference room and are transported on a huge bus to a long dragged out dinner to schmooze. I despise schmoozing. I have no reason to schmooze. But before I leave on my last day of freedom I am going to bar to enjoy the home opener. I can't wait!

just one of those days

Today was one of those days. You know the days. Where not much seems to go right and everything is wrong. I woke up to one of my Lead leaving a freakout voicemail at 8 am (yeah I work from home so I don't get up until 9 when I'm not traveling). Then my computer kept freezing and took an hour to re-start after I shut it down. Plus freaking Chipotle put rice in my burrito bol. Don't they realize I am trying to be good and I don't like oil fried rice? That's just the minor crap that happened. Today was just crap pile upon crap right up until 5 pm. At 5 I was able to break free for a run and for 30 glorious minutes the day was mine. Everything was right. And I was happy. You really have to love it when that happens :)

Wardrobe Malfunction

While digging through my long sleeve running shirt drawer. And yes, I have separate drawers in separate rooms for my running long sleeve, short sleeve, shorts, and pants. It's sad I know. While digging I found a sweet shirt I haven't worn in a long time. Score! Now to find some shorts. Hmm... where are those navy blue shorts that match this sweet top. Found those. Then when running I realized why I probably haven't worn this sweet shirt that matched these shorts. I hate the shorts. They suck. The right short leg rode up to the nether regions the entire 5 mile run. Guess I need to buy some new shorts ;)

I went slower on the run (averaged a 9:20) to get back into things as I didn't do much this past weekend. Whenever I go to central IL to visit Jacob's parents I eat like crap and work out very little. Although with the exception of chicken wings on Friday and cheese fries on Sunday the rest of my eating went better this time. But I still didn't workout. And the bad eating combined with sitting around makes me feel gross and I can't wait to get back to the city. So today I was happy to be running and back in the swing of things. Not that it's this horrible place to be but I can seriously only handle so much of my future mother in law. This time I got to break up the trip to go to my friends bridal shower so I got a bit of a break. However with this wedding coming up both future in laws are inquisitive and have an opinion on EVERYTHING! I am sure if my mom was still here she would be driving me up a wall too. However I only have my dad who is like "where do I need to be, how should I dress , and how much is this going to cost me" other than that not too involved. I know everyone cares and is very excited but sometimes it is just too much. And I was very happy to also hit the pavement running to get rid of some of that stress!

8 inches

That title can be taken the wrong way...

Just got back from my 2nd outdoor run in 2 days. That never happens! I very rarely run 2 days in a row just b/c I get so easily burned out and prefer getting some cross-training done especially when the weather is just okay out. Anyways it was going to be an easy run and I wanted to get a long run in tomorrow before I left to go to central IL for a friends bridal shower. Then I looked at weather.com. HUGE SNOW STORM coming tonight! What the hell. I am so over snow. 8 inches of heavy wet snow and ice. So yeah that changed the running and going out of town plans a bit. Instead I was so annoyed with the upcoming weather system I went out and decided to do a quick 5k instead of some easy schmeezy run. I would have gone longer but Jacob was supposed to be back to take me to lunch (yeah that didn't happen so I totally could have gone longer). Anyways it was a great 5k and I am looking forward to improving it even more in the upcoming month.

lap 1: 8:31
lap 2: 8:13
lap 3: 8:12
lap 4 (0.11 miles) : 7:31

Look I ended up in the negative - wahoo! These afternoon lunch runs are good for me ;) I hope to run the Run to Wrigley in or under 25 minutes. I know this seems slow but is a vast improvement over my time last year at this race.

Hey There Sweet Thang

The sun crept out today so that meant I absolutely had to go for a run. Its bright rays tricked me into thinking it was warmer than it really was though. Oh 50's and 60's when will you get here already? Except for the chill it was a good lunchtime run on the lakefront. Completely uneventful. I think I may have passed 2 people under the age of 80. Not too many non retired folks making it out there in the afternoon right now. I ran 4.5 miles at just under a 9 min/mile. I like getting my runs done in the afternoon. I feel like that's when I am at my peak. Plus with not many people (bikers, runners, random people walking to/from the fields and parks) or cars it is very relaxing and much easier to get into the groove. Hopefully I can continue to make the time to get out there over lunch more often.

The one thing that ruins a good run is the 1/4 mile walk back to my condo. It's a busy street in not the greatest neighborhood in the city (I swear it's coming around). Why is the men in this neighborhood (1/2 of which do NOT have a job so they have nothing better to do than walk around at 2pm and check out women) need to make some cat call or comment to any chickety with ta tas? I know I'm one hot piece of a** especially after a run but do these guys really think that I am going to be like all "hey baby how about you and me..." Yeah, not so much.

Have your cake...

I had a very productive and non-productive weekend. How is that possible? Well it was productive on several wedding issues but non-productive in every other sense of my life. We had 3 cake tastings. The first one on Friday was extremely disappointing. This well established, and expensive, bakery called Thursday to confirm the appointment then Friday 3 pm rolls around and they are not ready. We waited for nearly 30 minutes. Ridiculous. Plus the cake and butter cream frosting were both extremely disappointing. But we still had 2 more to go on Saturday. We ended up staying out a little to late on Friday night and Saturday morning rolled in way too soon. I think I may have been slightly drunk or at the very of beginning of a hangover when we met with the 2nd bakery at noon. Not so good eating very rich cake and sweet frosting and fillings first thing. The owner knew her stuff and was nice but also slightly pushy. The cake was much improved from the day before so it made up for her wanting to make a deal attitude. She really does some amazing things with cakes too! Great thing in talking with pushy lady was she had a zillion florists to refer to me. She went super high at first and I laughed but then she told me to walk two storefronts up the street and visit the family owned floral shop in her neighborhood. Let me tell you this is such a cute place. The "mom" was super sweet and quoted me on the bridal party flowers nearly half the price of quote I have received elsewhere. I may have found a winner! We asked her how she can do that and she told us she loves what she does, charges enough to pay the bills rather than over charge to make a huge profit. You have to love that. But back to cake tasting we decided to take #2's quote and see how it compared to the last place. The last place is an old European bakery that has been around for over 40 years and is still absolutely heavenly. However after cake stop #2 , #3 fillings didn't even compare! #3 came in slightly under cost wise but I'll pay the difference for the fresher fillings.

So the cake winner is tier 1 - carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, tier 2 - chocolate cake with raspberry preserves and chocolate mousse, and tier 3 - yellow cake with strawberry preserves. That's the cake above except it will be with light blue swirls and smaller pink flowers. I hope everyone else enjoys my cake b/c I think I am caked out.

Oh and the weekend was non-productive b/c I barely got a workout in and I slept the remainder of my Saturday away once I got home around 4 pm.