It’s been so long since I blogged… I think I forgot how to blog. Its like riding a bike, right… you don’t forget. Except when you are starting to use clipless pedals, which you never knew how to use in the first place, so you fall on top of a way hot guy at a stop sign and slice your ankle on your big chain ring and you’re like “What, I’m fine, its so not a big deal!” while you choke back tears and your special new wicking sock becomes saturated in blood. Not that that necessarily happened to me… Just sayin.

Main important things since my last post in chronological order
1) I ran the Boulder Backroads half marathon in early October. Originally it was not even on my radar, but then my old friend/running buddy Dan (not husband Dan, different Dan. And not someone I ever dated named Dan either. Dans just come into my life a lot, I don’t know why. And not my cousin Dan or the guy I used to work with Dan either), anyway running Dan was coming all the way from Rhode Island to Boulder to run this race. Still I was like I don’t really want to pay $90 to run a race on roads that are always quiet and open the public for free, not to mention I can’t run as fast as possible because its mainly on dirt roads. Hence the name of the event… But then I realized this could be an incredible chance to kick Dan’s butt. Especially after he left me a really nice voicemail about how his training wasn’t going so good, and how was my training going, and blah blah blah and finally at the very tail end of the message he was like “Oh and btw I ran 800’s on the track in xx:xx’s” And then there was no turning back. The trash talking began and I was suddenly hell bent on dominating the race. And by that I mean beating Dan. So I got in a few good quality workouts, and started a mini-taper, and increased the intensity of my trash talking (trash emailing, actually) and then Boulder was struck by some pretty horrible fires which interfered with the race. So it was postponed a couple of weeks, which made it impossible for Dan to come after all! So I ran it anyway, this time without the motivation to beat Dan but still with the motivation to run as fast as possible and to negative split, which I knew I could because there is a steady uphill stretch on the way out, and the course is a simple out and back. The day was perfect, the wind was minimal, and I got to the halfway point at about 57 minutes if I remember correctly. I started to lose steam around mile 11, and all the pesky stuff that had bothered me at different points in the past, my right hip and my right achilles tendon, they made me feel like my body was falling apart but I tried to hold on and I made it through the finish line in a time of 1:50:11, which is just a few seconds shy of my PR and was good for 7th in my age group!

2) I got a transcriptionist to help me with the part of my work that I can’t stand.. writing reports. I was not made to sit in a chair! I literally feel like I have ants in my pants, and also my neck gets sore. And I have trouble focusing on work when there could be something happening on Facebook! But you did not come here to hear me kvetch. I just have such a hard time with sitting still. Sometimes Dan had a hard time understanding why I would be wearing fishnet tights and a leotard at 10 in the morning because he is really good at sitting in a chair and working from home. He’ll be like “What are you doing?? Aren’t you supposed to be working?” And I’ll be like “I am. I just had to take a break to try on my Lady Gaga costume.” (which turned out to be awesome. Check out my fb pictures). Working from home opens doors for procrastination like none you have ever seen. Anyways, now I have a transcriptionist, which is a plus. However it is not easy for me to dictate. You would think a motormouth such as myself would have no problem talking into a device but actually its a real bear. When I type a work report, I write, then I delete something, then I add something, then I delete “right” because I meant “left,” then I go back to my original notes because I wrote “brain” when I meant to say “foot” (just kidding!). So hopefully this will get easier with practice. I went online to see if there were any tips on how to dictate and one website, which was directed at physicians said, under the lists of “don’t’s”: Don’t pass wind, burp, urinate, or defecate while transcribing. Uh.. thanks, but that was not the kind of advice I was seeking. So the internet was no help, I will just have to keep working at it. When I get the hang of it, I should have more energy for more important typing such as when I need to blog and work on my book.

3) Yes I am working on my book. I am really doing it. I have been talking about it for a while, procrastinating it for a while, but its happening. My only goal for now is to finish a first draft. I think that’s plenty.

4) We got new windows. They are energy efficient, they are gorgeous and are not falling apart like the old ones. The best part is that you can’t feel the breeze when you walk by a window in the winter. That is how crappy our old windows were. Oh my god that is so boring and it is on my list of “main important things.” I don’t even know myself anymore.

5) I got to see my family a bunch lately due to various celebrations… My parents took me to this place , which was featured on Diners, Drive Thrus and Dives on the Food Network and it might have been the best Italian food I have ever had in my life. They make their own pasta three times a day. GO THERE IF YOU EVER GET A CHANCE. Another fun thing I did with my family was watch old videos. The best one is one where my compulsively neat cousin who grew up to be a professional organizer, is like three years old and having a fit because her ice cream flavors are touching. While she is screaming her head off, my sister who is like two at the time and obviously learning to use a spoon is dropping her ice cream all over the table and licking it up while she thinks no one is watching. I am not even sure if that is funny in the retelling but I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. Also, my mom took me to get my eyebrows threaded. Personally, I thought my eyebrows were just fine but she is really into this, so I said I would try it. My sister warned me to leave my eyebrows alone so they would have something to work with. For weeks, I let them go. By the time I flew into town, I was glad my bangs were so overgrown (upon the advice of my hairdresser who told me to let them grow for a while… Um, did she forget I need to SEE??) that you couldn’t see my eyebrows, which had turned into a veritable junkyard. They were gross. I was excited to get them cleaned up but threading hurt. Not as bad as stubbing your toe but worse than a bikini wax. And then when it was over they looked pretty good except for a couple strays, which I asked the girl to please fix. Except I don’t think her English was very good because she started the whole process over on both eyebrows, and I was like “Wait!” and she was like “Well you said not too thin at first, so I tried to not remove too much the first time around.” And I was thinking “Oh my god she is going to make me look all permanently surprised. I could have trimmed the strays myself. I am screwed!” And I did think I looked a little surprised when it was all over but my mom, sister, and cousin assured me it looked great. I think it was a good experience, just to see what it was like but my own method will continue to suit me for the future.

6) I started celebrating my birthday this weekend… Dan and I went to this place we’d never been to before in Denver. Actually #6 could simply be, “I left Boulder” and that would be noteworthy in and of itself. Anyway, we showed up and I was so surprised to see a few of our friends seated a table, because I couldn’t figure out why they would be out at this place at the same time as us, and beside I didn’t even realize they were friends with each other… and then it dawned on me Dan had set this up to surprise me, which it totally did! So fun.

7) I found this pair of shoes I had been eyeing for forever on SierraTradingPost.com.. They are like $100 in Pedestrian and I was not prepared to spend that much on shoes right now, but here they are for like half the price… I haven’t decided whether I want them in brown or red… I really want black but they don’t have black in my size. I am leaning toward brown.

8) This is not chronological but Dan came out of retirement for his annual 5k. This year we did one in California with his sister and brother-in-law… I talked so much trash, as we approached the start line, my brother in law was like “I think I would really like to see Dan win.” Which he freaking did. What the Hades!? He has not run since the Panicking Poultry 5k last year, except for I think one or two miles, and then BAM he beats me by 30 seconds. I am not making excuses but I had been running really well up to this race and I was really excited to race at sea level, I was imagining some awesome result, but all I did was like a 7:50ish pace. Blech. It was not my day. I hoped to find my groove again at the Turkey Trot 10k this weekend but I bailed on it because my achilles was bothering me a little and I didn’t want to piss it off.

That’s all for now. I hope to be a more frequent blogger in the future.