It's Official!

...because online quizzes never lie.

What female superhero are you??? Wonder Woman! You're an original. A champion of justice and able to keep up with the best of male superheros, you attribute your power to amazonian origins. You`re a powerful, independent woman, and you`re not afraid to show it.

Click Here to Take This Quiz

Surrender

Okay, Universe.

You win.

I've heard you loud and clear.

Thanks for getting my attention.

It's already worth it.

In the Interest of Full Disclosure

Okay, okay. I give.

My friends from California e-mailed to set the record straight on the whole Jermaine Stewart debacle:

"Krissy,
I don't know what the bet was, but I absolutely remember that song. Ana asked me about the "don't take our clothes off" song this morning and I was able to remember it and sing the chorus right away. What I didn't know until I saw the video just now is that the song was done by a male. The voice pitch and lyrics all seem like a woman's singing. And seriously, what kind of man drinks cherry wine and tries to talk a woman out of stripping???
- Scott"

"Krissy-
Last night when you called, I couldn't remember this song, but this morning in the shower I started singing it out of the blue and remembered it quite well. I have a terrible memory and can't say when I first heard it but I remember hearing it in junior high (TX) and maybe even freshman year (FHS). What was the bet about?
Ana"

Dang.

Settling a Bet

A friend of mine has been giving me the bizness for the last week because I'd never heard this song "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" by Jermaine Stewart before he played it at the last gathering.



I whole-heartedly admit that this is firmly situated within my musical purview, but I'm arguing that (1) I didn't *really* start listening to non-country music until 1987 and (2) I just don't think this song was big on the West Coast. (Mostly #2 -- apparently on the West Coast, we insist on clothes off.)

The only other West Coast guy at the gathering last night (who grew up in Berkeley) said he'd never heard it. And a quick phone call to my Cali peeps also confirmed.

So long story short, I lost the $5 bones I'd earned in the "Cocktail was released in 1988" bet over this nonsense.

Earthquake!!!

Epicenter was in Illinois, but at 5.2 it's no wonder we felt it here.

I must admit, I feel a little responsible.

Last week, we had a tornado warning, and ever since then I have been telling anyone who would listen how much I prefer earthquakes to tornadoes. And yesterday on the street, I had an impassioned conversation with my friends wherein I *might* have uttered the words "please give me an earthquake!"

My apologies to the Midwest.

Here's the crazy thing: it was kind of comforting...like a little bit of home (for those of you who don't know, I spent my first 20 yrs in CA). But the fact that I didn't sleep through it, as I did easily in my younger days, tells me that maybe they're right about not being able to go home again.

*sigh*

Still, despite my preference for earthquakes over tornadoes, I will (for the benefit of my new, retrofit-less Midwestern neighbors) be more careful how I word it next time.

The Great Gord-holio

Here is the pivotal moment when I cross over from mere caffeination into cartoonish super-caffeination. (P.S. spell checker HATED the last half of that sentence!)

I have to love this from Wikipedia:
"Beavis also has an alter ego named The Great Cornholio, which usually surfaces after he consumes large quantities of caffeine and/or sugar."

In this moment, I'm reminded of my time at Cal State Northridge...
I was 19, writing my first upper-division term paper. At 8pm I drank ONE cup of coffee...and was up for the next 36 hours. I wandered the halls of my dorm around 4am and wrote increasingly illegible messages on the dry-erase boards people had outside their doors.

What I wouldn't give for some strangers' dry erase boards right now...

So this is what I'm in for the rest of this night:



It can only go downhill from here, folks!

Tune in in a couple hours, when you can hear Nurse Piggy say:



Wow...they gave it to Christopher Reeve in that episode. I didn't see that coming. (But I did have a HUGE crush on him when I was 5 or 6. I distinctly remember tuning in for his episode.)

P.S. CBS Friday night lineup circa 78-80:
7:30 Muppet Show
8:00 Incredible Hulk
9:00 Dukes of Hazzard
10:00 Dallas

When they went into repeats, my dad let me watch Wonder Woman on ABC instead of the Hulk (it's the little things).

Can you believe this stuff is taking up valuable Quals space?!

With Great Nerdom Comes Great Snackability

I am nerding up my own spring break. I can't believe it. (Okay, I can.)

Diet Dr. Pepper and rice pudding...these are my study fuels of choice. Break is almost over, I'm almost 5 pounds heavier and still have more work to do. A LOT more.

Quals are Monday, 2pm. I've got at least two knots forming in my neck and back and I'm almost out of rice pudding. I *would* $#!t a brick, but there's just no time. Also, all these simple carbs can't be helping.

Does anyone remember that episode of Family Ties where Alex gets speed from Mallory to study? Don't worry, Mamar and Daddy...I'm not gonna go that route. I'm just sayin' that I am about to become incredibly caffeinated and sugared on soda.



More later...

An Exercise in Dream Interpretation

Here's the wacky dream I just had:

I'm at a triathlon -- my first race of the season. I kick major ass on the swim -- I'm the first one out of the water! And then the whole thing falls apart: in transition I forget my shoes and I try to clip in wearing high-heeled boots (!) then I ride to this storage closet to find my shoes...but my lead was so good coming off the swim that I'm still in contention! But alas, my bike skills are still weak enough that I end up in the back of the pack where I belong.

The alarm goes off just as I'm entering T2.

You think this has anything to do with the fact that I've been hitting the swimming hard and not the other two as much? And maybe I have some anxiety about the fact that my tri room is still not organized?

*sigh*

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Best Excuse Ever

I know, I know...it's been so long. But I have been a busy student-bee all month, and today I got my first paper back. I'm only posting this here because I really can't share this with any of my local peeps, as you will soon see.

Also, it's a big deal to me because I've been seriously doubting why the admissions committee let me in, certain I would be exposed as a fraud sooner rather than later...and this paper would be the first flake in the snowball of my demise. (Here's the deal: I kinda found a way to work Madonna song titles into the headings of a paper about early American and European social theory -- we're talkin' Marxism, folks. Yeah, I called Karl Marx the "original Material Girl"). See why I was worried?

Anyway, here's the first sentence in the comments:
"This was a fantastic essay -- perhaps the best of this round of papers."

Aw, crap. I think I just pulled something patting myself on the back.

Um...I'd like to say marathon training has been going as well. I've only been playing ultimate sporadically and squeezing in some mid-length runs on the weekends. Oh yeah, and I skipped the half-marathon in Des Moines because I was working on another paper. But as of today, I'm all training, baby.

*storm clouds gather*
*recipe for injury brewing*
*swollen head on the verge of explosion*

Note to Self: Don't Mess With Fergie

Okay the REAL name of the 5K I did today was the "Team Fergalicious 5K" and was organized by the West Branch HS girls track team. Their coach is Harlan Ferguson, hence the name. (High school girls...is there anything they can't they do?)

Yes, I did this race for the T-shirt. Yes, I do a little dance to this song. If you want my real stand on Fergie, check out my other blog. And yes, I did this race as part of an evil scheme to shamelessly kick off my other blog. (All right, that's three links in a row. CLICK 'EM, dangit!)

Now back to the race report.

Lesson # 1: You should never, EVER badmouth a race's namesake before the event (told you I was shameless). She paid me back, but good. :(

Start Line: Fergie Strikes Back

As the runners gathered at the start line, there were four girls holding pace signs to organize us. FOUR signs: 5 min, 6 min, 7 min, 8 min. THAT'S IT. No "9-plus" or "walkers." Nope. About half the field looked at each other and joked about how many more signs they needed. Self-deprecating, yes. Indignant? Maybe a little.

Mile 1: They Chose the Wrong Name

(I don't have splits because the mileage wasn't marked on the course.) Sure, I know the girls wanted to honor their coach by naming the race for him (kinda), but they should've called it the Dolly Parton 5K because this course had some of the biggest hills I've encountered in a road race. Though I started feeling good and strong, there were three big hills in the first mile alone -- which I ran up -- that kicked my butt. (Dammit Fergie!)

Mile 2 (I guess): Mini Hills of Death
When I rounded the corner and saw yet another big hill ahead of me, I knew that Triowa and Fergie were now in cahoots (though the weather was PERFECT). I weighed the time I'd lose against the energy I'd save by walking. I began walking up the hills.

Lesson #2: Head for the hills. So far, I've been running on a relatively flat route -- which is easily remedied by simply making a right turn instead of a left when I start. This is just silly anyway, because I KNOW that Iowa is NOT FLAT.

Mile 3: Back to Main Street

That's all. Nothing exciting happened at the end. The runners in front of me were too far ahead to catch, so even though I picked up the pace at the end, I didn't sprint. As with most races, the runners were gathered around the finish chute and cheered heartily for every last person. I finished with a time of 38:54 -- just shy of 13:00/mile. Ugh.

Lesson #3: Seriously, take to the hills.

So...this was a fun little race. Even though the hills were a bit of a grunt-fest, it was a fun course and West Branch is a lovely town. I'll definitely hit this one up again next year --I've set the bar pretty low for improvement.

Oh yeah...did I mention I have another blog? :D

Will Blog for Snacks

The COOLEST thing happened today: I arrived home from a training run and there was a package in front of my door from Duane and Kelly. That all by itself was super cool...then I opened it.

And howled!

Corn bread, corn tortillas, corn puffs, popcorn, corn cob holders, corn chips, corn nuts, creamed corn, and whole kernel corn. (This sentence is even funnier if you read it using Bubba's voice from Forrest Gump.)

I'm sure you've noticed I've been MIA for the last week. I had a mild case of the doldrums that seemed to be going around tribloggerland last week. This package + some much-needed words of empathy and support from Megan and Jenny = KrissyGo back in business.

Thanks, guys!

Moonlight Chase 2007

A Good Ol' Fashioned Street Party!

I drove about 45 minutes east to the small town of Eldridge, Iowa. This is a 4-mile night run through town with tiki torches and luminarias lining the entire course. On this night, if you live in Eldridge, there are exactly three options:

1. Run/walk this race.

2. Eat, drink, and be merry at the downtown street party.

3. Cheer, play music, fire up your Christmas lights, and/or hose off athletes along the route (which is BY FAR the coolest thing EVER).

This guy did the first two, but not in order. I watched this guy drink two beers in the half-hour before the race. Each entrant got (among other things) a free beer token, so I think he cashed in his own and his buddy's at 8:30 (start time was 9:00pm). I dunno, maybe that was his interpretation of carbo loading and being a clydesdale. Highly bloggable, nonetheless.

So anywho...you all know I was sick earlier this week. I was worried that I would have to skip this or else walk it. By some small miracle, I was well enough to run the whole thing! (Thank you, thank you very much.)

Here's the breakdown:

Mile 1: Wisteria Lane (11:17)

The start line is basically the end of downtown, so you head into residential areas immediately. This stretch is best described as Wisteria Lane -- the homes were obviously new, but looked like middle America all the way. People were out cheering, but for the most part it seemed like a fairly sedate affair. I was most struck by the extraordinary number of kids in this race. Awesome! (Almost as awesome as Kelly, who completed her first tri on Saturday.) In this first mile, the rowdiest people were the six junior high girls running near me doing exactly what I did at their age: shout/sing silly songs and then break out into shrill giggles. (I have faith that Kelly had on her game face and kept the shrill giggling to a minimum -- eye of the tiger!)

Mile 2: Let's Get This Party Started! (11:58)

Alright, here's where things started to get interesting. In a slightly older section of houses, more people were out. There seemed to be designated PA music providers on every block (I heard Pour Some Sugar on Me, Crazy Train, and Smoke on the Water). This was the first of many Christmas light sightings, and there was even a little jazz combo of high school kids on one corner playing Chameleon.

Mile 3: Something's Afoot (13:23)

Okay, it was muggy and I was starting to get tired on top of drenched with sweat. Plus, for a "fast and flat course," there was this big ol' hill in the middle of it! "The only hill in Eldridge," one guy yelled as we ran past. By this time, there seemed to be a lot more people out in their yards, lots more people with their garden hoses (thank God!), and a little more inebriation.

Mile 4: The Wheels Come Off (10:20)

I got faster and sweatier; the crowd got drunker and funnier. A little ways past the last water hand-off was a string of guys holding their beers out. In the last half-mile, a few of them actually ran in with us. Anyway, I picked up the pace and moved up through the crowd. Then in the last 220m, I managed to pick off another 5 or 6 peeps for a finish of 46:55 and average pace of 11:43. :I

Between the sick and the not training, I'm just happy I was able to run the whole thing and still feel good today. I'm also thrilled that I felt good enough to run hard at the end. But I'm not sure what to think of my time and/or pace. I've definitely slowed down, but I don't know which of the two is responsible (a little of both, I suspect).

Overall, though, I will most remember what a neat community experience Eldridge offered up. I will definitely return next year!

A New Plan

Damn logistics! I was working out some of the details for making another run at IM Arizona in April. Between school, the distance, and Iowa's winters, going back to Phoenix just doesn't seem like it will work out.

Instead, I've looked into some other Iron-distance races and here's what I'm considering for 2008:

1. Ironman Louisville (7 hours away, the day before school starts)

2. Ironman Wisconsin (3 hours away, two weeks into the school year)

THEN THERE'S THE "HAVEN'T YOU LEARNED ANYTHING?" PLAN:

I found a non-Ironman brand race that is just 3 hours (and 14 weeks) away on the second weekend in September. That's right. I'm considering doing this this year.

I admit, I just want to get this 140.6 monkey off my back ASAP and then go for the M-Dot next year. I also know that there are plenty of ways for me to set myself up for success, and this probably isn't one of them.

Here's why I think this might work: I will be in Iowa all summer with nothing but time on my hands until school starts. That's eight weeks of being left to my own devices -- no school, no friends, no other life. So for more than half of the time between now and race day, I'll have nothing better to do than train. Wouldn't it be helpful to have a big juicy carrot out in front of me?

Okay. I'm ready. Hurl your grumblings, naysayings, and sage advice now.

Asparagus, Part 2

Well, I was half right.

Unfortunately, it was not the fun half.

It turns out that plant in my yard IS really big asparagus:

Desert Agave

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Asparagales
Family: Agavaceae
Genus: Agave
Species: A. deserti

It is not the source of tequila. THAT plant is appropriately called 'agave tequiliana.' But if I act now, I can still harvest sap from this one and make mezcal...if only I had a pot large enough to boil it in.

Happy Mother's Day!

Remember that time I cut half of the fur off the tip of Lucas' tail? And I blamed it on Daddy? And you believed me? Yeah...you're the greatest. :D

Ma-wage is What Bwings Us Togevah

Yesterday, my two best friends from childhood married each other. Weddings are always great for some madcap mayhem -- especially when both families are big drinkers (damn my 5:30 flight!).

As an only child, these two are the closest thing I have to siblings (I've been close to Scott since we were 10; Ana since we were 13), and I have a myriad of reflections on the significance of this event in my life. But what is MUCH more interesting to read is all the wacky stuff that weddings bring about.

Here are my favorite highlights from this one:

1. After the rehearsal luncheon, the groom's 5 year-old niece announced to the room, "That food was so good, I have to go to the bathroom!"



2. At the reception I congratulated Scott's dad, and he put his arm around me to hug me -- and spilled whiskey down my arm. Instead of apologizing he said, "That's 14 year-old Scotch. If I were you, I'd lick that off."



3. Someone thought it appropriate to dedicate "Down Wit O.P.P." to the bride -- who danced to it in a big group that included her father, whose dance moves are just shy of smackin' dat ass.
   

And I left early!

Dang.