Cookin'

In addition to just everyday stuff (like teaching and being a wife and mom), this last month and a half I...

• Ran 60 miles, including an almost 8 mile run this morning (7:82 miles - 10:37 pace), my longest run since San Francisco. 
• Cycled 68 miles

My artistic rendition of last weekend when Betty and I were driving over the Coronado Bridge to meet up with Mik for our bike ride.

Actual evidence that we were in Coronado last weekend...and in biking gear.

• Celebrated Walter's Birthday (early in the month!)
• Went to three SDSU basketball games

Turbo, Walter and I on the trolley going from a basketball game to a football game

• Went to three SDSU football games (one of the football games was on the same day as a basketball game. Yes, we went to both)

We are the masters of the 15 minute tailgate!*

• Revised a report written (by someone else) about a grant project I'd worked on a year ago so that it was readable and thus, publishable.
• Decided to keep teaching and not apply for a professional development position at the college where I teach. (That was the big decision I alluded to in an early November post).
• Cooked Thanksgiving Dinner for the family
• Presented at a research conference, which was held at The Disneyland Hotel.

Cali, Belle (the bookish version) and me...dinner at the Goofy Cafe. Cali thought it would be fun...

Walter joined me at the conference after it was over and we stayed an extra night...here he is eating a beignet for breakfast and trying to not get the powdered sugar all over himself...

• Saw Millie in a play...and had dinner beforehand with the Herd!

Candycanetini

• Fell woefully behind in grading papers
• Graded what felt like about a 1000 papers eventually 

Here's the stack of papers I meant to grade over Thanksgiving, but didn't...which made the week AFTER Thanksgiving...so much fun!

• Made Gumbo for DramaGirl's field hockey banquet potluck dinner.

Yum!

• Started drafting a second report (different topic this time)
• Made Rissotto for the English department pot luck (yesterday...sorry no photos), then came home and made two breakfast casseroles for Betty's Post-Run Birthday Breakfast this morning (yes, I was cooking at midnight last night!)
• Blogged...FOUR WHOLE TIMES....counting this one

Geez...no wonder the laundry doesn't get done! Also amazing is how creative I can be with coming up with ideas for dinner since I've gone to the grocery store only twice this month (not counting the times when I sent DG or Walter to the store to get something for me.)

At one point, a colleague, who knew that I'd been really busy, asked me if there was light at the end of the tunnel. I told him that I was confident that a tunnel existed SOMEWHERE, and I also believed that once I found the tunnel, there'd be light at the end of it.

In any event, I am here to report that I've found the tunnel, and yes there is light at the end of it, and yes, I can see the light. Thank goodness.

So, I'm still here...and blogging will again become something that I do semi-regularly. Until then, I leave you with this.

Christmas in SoCal babeee... I so want to drive by this at night and see what is UP with that screen in the back!

Wish Happy Birthday to Betty! She gets to move up an age-group this year and is so very, very, very happy about it!

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* I was posting updates about the sports-event Saturday on FB and Keith asked me to explain tailgating... so for Keith in Canada... In the US we meet in the parking lot before sporting events like football games to eat and drink before the game. This may be, in part, because food and beverages inside the stadiums are mediocre (in most places) at best and really ridiculously expensive at worst. Probably the word "tailgating" comes from some old-school notion about pulling up in a pickup truck before a game, pulling down the tailgate, and using it as a buffet line. 

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Decision ONE

Well...I went and did it.

About a week ago...or sometime between the last post and now. I decided to register for the Carlsbad Half Marathon despite the fact that neither Betty, nor Elsie, nor Mik will run with me (disclaimer...Alberta is also registered...but as much as I love her like a little sister, let's be honest, she's way more into punching people in the face right now than she is into logging miles).

I'll admit...I just can't get enough of Alberta, the boxing home ec teacher,  knocking this girl down about 40 seconds into the video. I don't even LIKE boxing and I LOVED this!

In any event, I suspect my the majority of my training miles will be on my own. So part of the challenge will be to see if I can train for an event on my own. Even so, I'm excited about running Carlsbad. Last time I ran the Carlsbad Half was in 2009 when I'd pretty seriously pulled my ITB, but I ran anyway, feeling like someone was beating on my thigh with a bat. 

LOL...me, lying on the sidewalk, stretching my ITB at Carlsbad in 2009...really, it' didn't help much.  Such class...

Running Carlsbad with ITB issues and some serious massage, led to this hip bruise and a 9 month battle with Plantar Fasciitis...something I still deal with to this day.  Take it from me...if you're hurt, rest! (yeah...I never take my own good advice either).

Anyway, Carlsbad is known to be a flat, fast, course. I've really wanted to run it and not be hurt. This year is my chance...I just have to train for it....solo. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I want to finish in under 2:20.

Decision TWO

After a fair amount of discussion, The Herd has decided to do a century ride this winter or spring. We think it'll either be this one in Solvang in March, or this one in Palm Springs in February. So, come January, for the first time in four years, we I may not be doing the RnR training program with the San Diego Track Club...at least I won't be doing the long runs in January or February. 

Lest you think we are not serious about this bike riding thing...we had a cycling jersey logo done a few years ago...nice, huh?

Instead, The Herd will be doing some long rides with the local Trek store's Century Training Program. The problem with doing both the RnR training program AND the Trek Century program is that both the long ride and the long run are on Saturday mornings, so I'd have to choose. Also, I would be running more miles in January than the track club runs. (January runs lead up to the SuperRun on Superbowl Sunday weekend...a 10K).

It's a tough decision. 

I'm still going to renew my membership in the track club so that I can continue to do the Tuesday night track workouts, and I'll miss the camaraderie of the RnR training program.

In the meantime, Elsie decided to buy a road bike to train for the century. So after we ran last Saturday, I went with her to ensure that she spent enough money on a bike, so we are committed to the effort now.

Elsie getting fitted...SUHWEEET RIDE! YES? Elsie promised to practice clipping in and out of her pedals for the remainder of the weekend.

Decision THREE

This is a decision I haven't made yet, and I hesitate to even write about it, but since very few people who I work with actually read my blog, and since the ones who do read my blog, already know about THE BIG DECISION, I'll just briefly say that I'm currently trying to make a big real-world-professional-life-decision this coming week, and that I'll write more about THAT decision later. (how incredibly vague and obtuse could I possibly be?)

Quite frankly, it'd be easier to just run 13 miles....or ride 100.