Blogging 2015: 776 down, 1239 to go (Lurong Day 13, Bellin Women's Half Marathon Race Report)

So I ran a half marathon this morning. Which by this time of the evening I've usually forgotten about. Sounds insane, right? Run 13.1 miles in the morning, get caught up in other stuff, run around chasing children, make dinner, get a cup of coffee, flop down in your chair and flip through Facebook.  Awww, look at all my friends who raced this morning! They look adorable! I wonder if that's a nice race....oh wait. I was there, too.

Oh, haaaaaaay...I ran this morning. That's probably why I showered earlier. Huh.

This was the inaugural running of the Bellin Women's Half-Marathon. I'm a sucker for an inaugural. I love to be present at the beginning of something. It feels...profound.

Good turnout, yeah?

The guest speaker at the dinner was Kathrine Switzer. She was really inspirational. She also had really, really good hair. If you don't know who she is or want more information, Google it. I'm not your mom.

The morning was too warm for my liking. I wore my pink plaid running dress. I didn't take a picture, sorry. It's the exact shade of pink my face turns when I run. It's comfy, and I love it, and I don't wear it often enough. I felt obligated to wear it today, this being a chick race and all. 

Breakfast was my standard pre-race. I forgot to photograph it, but it pretty much looked exactly like this.

The race begins at Bayshore Park, and we basically ran the length of Nicolet Drive, then onto East Shore, finishing at Bay Beach. There was more shade than I was anticipating, and that's a good thing, but it was warm and I could feel the salt crystallizing on my face and neck. One thing I will say about this race-it was extremely well supported. There were 9 water stops over the 13 miles, and they were very well placed. Nicolet is a scenic run (and I run it often...well, ran it, as I haven't "run" in a loooong time) with the Bay and the trees, etc. Even the whole "you don't turn until mile 10) thing is mitigated by the fact that the road follows the coastline, so it weaves back and forth.  

At the finish, Kathrine Switzer high fived me and told me she liked my dress. I geeked out just a bit. There was non-alcoholic champagne, brownies (didn't eat-too heavy), wraps (forgot about until I was already eating something else), and strawberry shortcake. Oh yeah, I took the cheat for the shortcake. It was fucking delightful. 

We also got a free ride on the Zippin Pippin, but I had to leave so I didn't take advantage. The medal was a medallion you can wear as a necklace. Not sure how I feel about it, if I'm being honest. It's pretty, but I have a medal rack, you know? This isn't really conducive to publicly displaying my level of athletic stupidity. 

See? Medallion.

I didn't really eat lunch. The shortcake was plenty filling (sorry, no picture...it was pretty). I showered up, got dressed, and got my stuff together to lead my daughter's scout meeting this afternoon. Fantastic husband is working today, so I also took the boys along. That was fun.

The meeting wrapped up early, so I took the kids over to the Budget Theater (one major bonus to having the scout meeting at the mall) to see the Minion Movie.  It was cute, I guess. I was pretty bored with it by an hour in, but the kids thought it was hilarious. I got them some popcorn. They were happy.

When we got home I had a package on the porch. It's my finished photobook from my pinup session back in July, just in time for fantastic husband's birthday (which is today). It's beautiful. I am super hot, in case you didn't already know that. Or at least I can be with enough make-up and photoshop (although I'm surprised at how little retouching they did, mostly just airbrushing out my many many bruises.

Garters are bullshit, BTW.

I really couldn't be arsed to make dinner, so I ordered a pizza. I didn't intend to eat any, but seriously I just needed to put some food in, so I had a slice of pizza. It was good...not OMG EAT IT ALL good, but you know...pizza good. After supper I was cold, so I had a cup of coffee.  

I gotta stop listening to this cup. It's an asshole.

Meh. 

See how I forget running? Too much other shit going on. I finished well today, slightly faster than on Sunday and I felt better in the later miles. I have these moments during distance runs when I think "You know, I could maybe be good at this running shit if I tried harder", but then I think "Yeah, but then you'd have to try harder, and that is painful and time consuming" so I just go back to half-assing it.  

The kids are bouncing off the walls because their grandmother is scheduled to arrive tonight. I want to smother them all. I spent this entire week trying to denastify this place, and this afternoon I went upstairs to find glitter all over the bathroom counter and sink and stickers stuck in my hall carpeting. That makes me homicidal. I'm starting to understand why my mom wanted to throttle me pretty much my entire childhood.

Right now I'm going to head upstairs to wash the stink off the smalls. I also need to trim their nails, which is always a treat (how do they grow so long, and where does all that dirt come from?!?). Soon it will be time to tuck them in and stumble down the hall into my bed, and do you know what that will be? Glorious. 

Run the Bellin Women's Half! 

Blogging 2015: 762 down, 1253 to go (Lurong Day 12)

First thing I did this morning? Cleaned a bathroom. Doesn't that sound like fun?  I also dusted, vacuumed, and washed sheets so that our basement living area would look less like it is inhabited by a colony of rodents. It is now off limits to the children until after their grandmother arrives.

Breakfast was some leftover apple carrot hash, complete with runny egg.

This was the last of it. Now I am sad.

Today was Lurong workout #2 at the box, so fantastic husband and I went to the 915. I had this apple on the way. We took his truck so he wouldn't sweat all over my leather upholstery.

SweeTango!!

I sort of forgot that since we were in his car my gym bag was not in the back.  We got to the box and I realized all I had for shoes was the pair of flip flops I was wearing.  Fortunately someone had a spare pair of socks, and there was a pair of perfectly sized lifters in the pile of unclaimed shoes in the lobby. It's cool because we're kind of like a family.

Jesus, would you look at my giant calves? Yikes.

The workout went fine. I was a little peevish because I wasted a lot of time changing plates (stupid sticky 15# plate) and I sort of panicked and flubbed a couple of reps. Oh well. That's what the retest is for. Afterwards we headed home and while husband made apple pie moonshine, I had some lunch.

Pulled chicken and slaw.

Then I cleaned the upstairs bathroom so our Monday night guests won't realize the squalor we usually live in. I also dusted and vacuumed the kids rooms and stripped all the beds to wash the bedding. 

Then I gave myself a manicure. Because I'm fucking feminine.

Packer game Monday night. Festive, yes?

Tonight was the expo/dinner/speaker for the inaugural Bellin Women's Half Marathon. I got a nifty bag and a fitted t-shirt...oh, and a headband. Nice swag and the expo was cool. The new KI Center is pretty swank. It was a pasta dinner, but I don't eat pasta, so I had an alternative.  And my free glass of wine.

Mmmm...veggies and chicken.

The speaker was Kathrine Switzer of Boston Marathon fame. She ran the race in 1967 before women were allowed. The race director tried to pull her off the course. Then her boyfriend body checked him onto the curb and she went on to finish the race. She told the story of her training for that race and the day of. Very inspirational. 

Then I bought a couple of headbands. Ponytails take maintenance, man. 

Now I'm eating raisins, because I live on the edge.  

I need to go upstairs and weed out my dress and shorts for tomorrow. It's handy that the race is right down the street. Means I don't have to get up at 4am. Hopefully it will be nice and cool, because the route isn't really shady at all. Note to self: wear sunscreen. 

Second half in 7 days. I have a problem.

Blogging 2015: 762 down, 1253 to go (Lurong Day 11)

Finished up my last shift this morning early. 7 days off. Ahhhh...third shift life, son. Last night was very routine, to the point of dullness. That's fine. Means no one is getting hurt, getting sicker, or dying. I finished up a CE module and ate hot food. No problems there.

Midnight dinner. Since it was quiet, I actually had kind of a "break" to eat. I also indulged in a few minutes of reading. Then I started laughing, because Jenny Lawson's (aka The Bloggess) shit is funny and then I spent a few minutes clutching my side and trying not to cry. Stupid DOMS, fucking up my life.

Fish 'n veg.

I was supposed to be fasting 8-10 hours for this HRA. Yeah. That wasn't happening. Have you ever tried to fast on an overnight shift? It does not fly. Trying to stay awake and alert all night on water and decaf? That is enough to make a person homicidal. Do you know what is not conducive to good health care? A homicidal pharmacist. 

I did try to limit the amount that I consumed so that I wouldn't be inadvertently fucking up my labs. Around 3am I had some apple-carrot hash. 

It really is better with a runny egg.

Fantastic husband informed me that the HRA people let him go early, so he was able to get it over with. I really didn't want to wait 3 hours before going in, so I took a chance on being able to skip ahead. They let me. It might have been my dead-woman-walking appearance. If you say "I just came off shift" to a nurse at 7am, you get major pity points. As expected my weight was wonky. Measurements as expected, except apparently I'm an inch shorter than I have been for the last 20 years. It's comical, really. I'm just shy of 5'10", so I usually just say that height for ease. Especially because I'm over 5'10" in pretty much any pair of shoes. Not today, though. Nope. Today I'm 5'9". Maybe my bones are soft. I can't wait to get my dowager's hump.

I hadn't really intended to nap. I was going to clean, but I was really fucking sleepy, so I took a nap. Just a couple of hours. When I woke up I found a fresh bag of SweeTangos on the kitchen counter, so of course I crammed one into my face.

What are you looking at?

I had planned to go to a barre class with a friend at 5:30, so I wasn't going to be home for dinner with the fam. I can't work out on an empty stomach, though, so I had some nuts and raisins with my coffee before heading out.

Trail mixy.

Barre was fun. The friend in question turned to me after the plank series (there's always a plank series) and said "What the fuck was that?" She seemed less than amused when we moved to the barre and I said "This is the painful part!"  I've decided to join in on the October "Do yoga or barre at least 21 times this month" challenge. Why not. Yoga is good for my flexibility, and all those planks are only going to help me get my pull-up at CrossFit. 

There was a promo code for a recovery drink through Lurong, and I decided to give it a go. It's one of those B-vitamin supplement based dealies. Just a little bit fizzy, sweetened with agave, has a vague citrus flavor. I didn't hate it. I usually despise these kind of things, they always taste like shitty cough syrup (how do people drink Red Bull...it is revolting) and make me barfy. By the bottom of the can I was sort of grudgingly enjoying it. 

12 ounce can. Of course it's the tall style.

I drank my little recovery beverage while I reheated the dinner that fantastic husband made. It has an Italian name that translates to eggs in hell or something like that, from Nom Nom Paleo. Basically it's a spicy sausage marinara and you crack an egg into it and bake it until the egg is just set.  He doctored up the sausage to be at our preferred level of makes-your-nose-run spiciness. Holy shit is this delicious. Just fucking magical. I only drank about half the wine. When we went upstairs to read to the kids the dog sampled my wine, and I don't consume beverages that have had other tongues in them.

This is the most classiest egg ever.

Tomorrow is panic cleaning day. My mother is arriving on Saturday. She's more relaxed than she used to be about housekeeping, but I grew up with her as the woman who would ask teenaged me if I remembered to dust the baseboards. Dust the baseboards. Like people do that. She also had at one point a squeegee in her glass shower that she used to clean the glass every single time she showered. I can't live at that speed.

So. I have sheets to wash, kid laundry to do, bathrooms to clean, dishes to wash, and strategic hiding of clutter to accomplish. It should be fine as long as she doesn't have occasion to open any of the closets or look into any of the bedrooms.

Also I have a half marathon on Saturday morning and a meeting to lead Saturday afternoon. But it's cool.

Maybe I should've consumed the dog wine.

Blogging 2015: 762 down, 1253 to go (Lurong Day 10)

Last night was less insane than the ones that preceded it. Things were more routine, which was appreciated. That means I got to drink my tea hot and actually had a few minutes to eat. Both good things. There was a code early on in the night, but it was a false alarm (mercifully). I also got to do a little CE.

Midnight was dinner. A somewhat lazy dinner as our leftovers are dwindling and I didn't have enough time to bake a piece of fish.

SAUSAGE!

Monday we did that double workout and I did 80 GHD situps. That's quite a few. I didn't really notice much of an effect until the wee hours of this morning when I read something that made me laugh. You know what's painful approximately 36 hours after 80 GHDs?  Laughing. My entire abdomen is one big sheet of "OW". 

After work I came home and slept. Because that's what I do. Fan of death, coma. I got about 7 hours, which is great, then got up and showered so I could take the smalls to CF kids and run an errand while they got worn out at the gym. So no, I didn't WOD today. I will tomorrow. Also tomorrow is barre at 5:30pm, and I'm taking a friend to try it out. She's looking for something new, and I enjoy making other people suffer, so we'll see how it goes. 

Before falling asleep this morning I dropped some chicken in the crockpot to make BBQ chicken sliders for supper. I am not eating bread, so I just had a pile of shredded chicken and broccoli slaw. It was pretty good, and there were plenty of leftovers. 

The kids ate it. Win.

I did walk the dog a bit earlier, and I thought we'd get out again tonight...but the girl child will no doubt be spending the next 2 hours doing 2 worksheets (like she does), so that's off the table. Instead I'll just chillax for a bit. I'll consider a glass of wine, then decide against it. I'll try to watch a show on DVR, but I won't be able to hear it, so instead I'll knit a hexipuff for my Beekeepers Quilt. I'm pretty sure I have over a 100 hexis now. Only 200 to go!

Last night on, then 7 days off including a half marathon and a visit from my mom and aunt. At some point I need to clean. Never a dull moment.  In the morning I have an HRA for the husband's insurance. I hate doing these things after a night shift. Fasting on overnights sucks, so I won't (granted I'm not really eating anything that's going to spike my blood sugar or triglycerides), but the worst of it is that I drink coffee, tea, and water all night not to mention that I always retain water when I'm daysleeping. This means my measured weight for the HRA will skew really high. In the midst of Lurong I don't really care much about the number, but it does affect my HRA score. I'm trying to get a score of 100. Last year I think I got a 98 because I was 2 pounds overweight. For real. 

Oh perfect health score, I will achieve you one day. Probably the day I get diagnosed with stage IV PC. Now that's irony, Alanis.

And now if you'll excuse me, it's time for Wheel.

Blogging 2015: 760 down, 1255 to go (Lurong Day 9)

So I worked last night and slept all day, then had dinner guests and now I'm blogging. This one is going to be dull. Skip it.

I had my dinner at midnightish.

Spaghetti squash and hacked up meatballs.

Our affiliate hospital was crazy busy last night (again) and we had a few admits ourselves, so I was mostly chained to my computer all night which makes me a little stabby. There are some nights when I sit in a chair for 4 hours straight without getting up. That makes my tailbone hurt. And there isn't much to be done about it. Either you stay put and deal with stuff as it comes up, or walk away for 90 seconds and get 27 phone calls asking why the order that was put in less than a minute ago isn't showing up in Pyxis yet. Some nights I go out to get a cup of water or use the bathroom and come back to over 100 orders sitting in my queue. That's not an exaggeration. It isn't a lot of physical work (some nights there's a lot of standing if there are a lot of things that have to be compounded, which I prefer if I'm being honest) but it is a lot of mental work and that is exhausting in its own way. It's also bad for my waistline as being stuck at my desk makes me want to cram junk food into my face.  Last night the breakroom was a minefield of cookies, candy, and cake.  It was hard to avoid temptation. There were two lone bananas on the table, so I had one with some Sunbutter as a consolation prize.

A poor substitute for a Reese's PB cup.

 I brought some apple/carrot hash for breakfast, but forgot to photograph it. I didn't have an egg with it as the cafeteria doesn't open until 6:30 and runny eggs reheat badly. I also had an apple around 7am.

After my shift I visited the cafeteria. I bought a box of bacon and ate it in my car. Don't judge me.

It was only like 6 pieces.

I came home, let the dog out, turned on the fan of death, and fell into a deep and dreamless sleep for 8 hours. When my alarm went off at 3pm, I was surprised by it. Pretty sure I could've slept a good deal longer.

Saturday is fantastic husband's birthday, so his parents came for dinner tonight. We had steaks on the grill, broccoli, and left over potato salad. I love tenderloin. Medium rare. Delicious.

Food groupy.

All 3 kids asked for seconds on broccoli. They do this so they can tell their CrossFit coach all about their fantastic eating habits. For me they whine and bitch about dinner. For him they eat extra veggies and suggest (and this is real) that we start having vegetables at breakfast, too. Whatever works.

At the moment I'm trying to resist eating Sunbutter from the jar. I'm not even hungry. I just want to eat stuff. Story of my life.

Tomorrow will be much the same, only I might WOD at 4:15 while the kids have CF kids. If I can work up the ambition. It'll be a coin flip.

Also Nike needs to stop sending me emails full of awesome gear. Imustnotbuymoregear.

Two more shifts, then a week off. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. 

Blogging 2015: 760 down, 1255 to go (Lurong Day 8)

Since I ran a half yesterday, I thought I'd do a double workout today. Because that sounds like a really good recovery strategy.

Strangely, it worked out pretty well.

Got up this morning and let fantastic husband make the kids breakfast while I started in on a dish I've been jonesing for lately. Apple carrot sausage hash from the 21-Day Sugar Detox Cookbook. That book is totally worth it if only for the spice mix recipes in the back. They are fucking fantastic. This recipe is exactly what it sounds like. Ground pork, shredded apple and carrot, bacon, and magic seasoning.  Top it with a poached egg and it's bloody nirvana.

That damn coffee cup and it's demands!

I ate an apple on the way to the box. Do you really need a photo?

Since we missed the Lurong WOD last Friday, fantastic husband and I went to the box today to make it up during open gym. It was kind of awful. The kind of awful that sneaks up on you. You start out with "This isn't so bad, in fact it's kind of easy" and then at the end you are lying on your side heaving with one foot stuck in the rower.

So that was fun. I actually feel better now than I would have had I skipped it. My knees and hips got a nice shake out and some good mobility and while I was slightly stiff last night, I feel completely normal right now. 

And then since we were already there we stayed for the 1130 WOD. Because we are stupid like that.  At the end I just wanted to eat all the things.  ALL. THE. THINGS.

Instead I consumed yesterday's forgotten protein shake right after the workout (WINDOW OF GAINS, MOTHERFUCKER) and then came home and ate my good girl lunch.

Mmm...fiber.

And then we walked the dog because...well...she was pissy and it was a beautiful afternoon.  During the walk we were discussing dinner prep and carting the smalls to CF kids. I was all "I can do it" and he was all "Don't you have to sleep or something? You work tonight." and I was all "Shit, you're right. I do have to work tonight."  So when we got home he picked up the kids from school and I took a nap. 

Tonight's menu was homemade paleo chicken nuggets from Nom Nom Paleo. Fantastic husband suggested a sweet potato salad to go with them and we had all the ingredients so that's what we did.  In general I find paleo "breading" to be a big fat lie, especially if it involves oven baking. Every goddamn recipe that shouts "CRISPY OVEN CHICKEN FINGERS!" and involves coconut flour? Do not believe that shit. It is a LIE. So I was skeptical about the nuggets, but we had the chicken and we had arrowroot and we had lard for frying so we gave it a go.

Holy shit, people. They were fucking crispy. And delicious. The kids actually ate them. There were no leftovers. I'm not a religious person, but that's a fucking miracle right there. My only regret? We didn't have enough mayo to make sriracha mayo dipping sauce. I went for a little honey dijon instead. 

Chicken wads of destiny!

And now I'm sitting in the living room not drinking wine. Because I'm told I have to work tonight. Which probably means I should shower at some point, but Wheel of Fortune is really riveting right now so that's going to have to wait.

Back to the salt mine for the next 3 nights, then seven off again. I lead a rough life. Working 14 days a month is tiring. With luck our northern neighbors will have a dull evening and I'll actually get to consume some hot coffee. It's the little things.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go, because Pat Sajak is being delightful. 

Blogging 2015: 757 down, 1258 to go (Lurong Day 7, FCM Race Report)

So I got up at 5 this morning to run a half marathon. A half marathon that I didn't train for, if I'm being honest. I had good intentions of PRing this race. It's flat, the weather is usually decent, it's close to home so I have home bed advantage...but I didn't train, so there it is. In fact, my longest run since (uh, I can't remember the last time I ran longer than 6ish miles) whenever was 5.6 miles straight down a mountain at HTC. Really.

I got dressed.

In shorts, like an idior.

Made breakfast.

And extra egg and veggies.

And headed out with my water bottle and my banana. I also prepped a protein shake for immediately afterwards (window of gainz) and then promptly forgot about it.

I'll drink it tomorrow.

I talked to some friends at the start, which was nice. The standing around waiting to start is the worst part. This was my first half at Fox Cities, and I liked the course a lot. They've apparently changed it considerably for this year (the 25th running) and it was thoroughfare, lots of neighborhoods and parks, and a significant amount of bike path. I enjoyed the scenery and the general flatness. A lot of times I find pancake flat courses painful because they are often full of deadly straightaways and devoid of shade, but this one had lots of turns and trees. Lovely.

My only goal was to finish. I took it waaaaaay easy, trying not to breath hard or sweat. It was nice and cool, so I cruised the first few miles at 10:45s. In fact I was sub-11 until about the 5 mile mark when I decided to dial back a bit. I didn't walk at all (except to drink, I can't master drinking while running) until around mile 9 and that was mostly because I ate some chews and had an associated headphone malfunction (read: I tore the damn things straight out of my phone and had to reassemble my armband). I felt pretty fucking great until about mile 11.5 when the shade sort of disappeared. 

At mile 12 a teenage volunteer told me I was the hottest runner he'd seen in like 10 minutes. I may have snorted. Hot. 

At the finish a guy I'd passed a mile back tried to stage a comeback. I started kicking and smoked him. I win, motherfucker. My final time was two hours and thirty odd minutes, which is what I projected. If I'd had a little more gumption in the last 2 miles I could've gone sub-2:30, but for what? 

Afterwards I basically just rocketed through the finish area and onto a shuttle. I had to get home to pay the sitter so she could go to her job job. This is the story of my racing life. I'm sure there are people who hang out after races, but I pretty much never get to. I did have a "burp or barf" moment on the bus. It was a burp, praise cheeses.

When I walked in the door, the first thing my kids wanted to know? What's for lunch. Assholes.

Mascara firmly in place, bitches.

I had a sausage. Well, half of one.

I wanted to eat more, but I was tired and shit.

Then I was cold. So I had a maple almond milk latte. After the race I would've killed a man for a mochalattefrappawhoozitz. This was my compromise.

In my judgy mug. Extra mile my ass.

I'd promised the kids breakfast for dinner, so they had leftover pancakes, bacon and eggs, strawberries, and cinnamon rolls. I really, really wanted a cinnamon roll. Really, really wanted. But I didn't eat one, because that's how you start a sneaky hate spiral of eating. Not worth it.  I ate bacon instead.

Bacon makes it all okay.

I did have a glass of wine, and at one point ate Sunbutter from the jar, but I don't want to talk about, OKAY? 

My son wanted to know if we were going to take the dog for a walk. Ummm...no. So I just sat in my chair, drank my wine slowly, watched the football game, and worked furiously on my busyhands project.  Then I went to bed and slept like a corpse.

Pretty good day overall.

Blogging 2015: 744 down, 1271 to go (Lurong Day 6)

Miracle of miracles, I slept past 7am! Now, the smalls were beating down my door for breakfast because they were ssttaaaaarrrrrvvviinnnng.

So I made them some pancakes. They were appeased. Since I had the griddle out, I made myself some pancakes as well.

Banana cakes with maple and some bacon.

Tomorrow is the Fox Cities half marathon. I've run the marathon relay before, but this will be my first go at the half. It's the 25th anniversary year, so we got socks and a beanie to commemorate that. Also the shirt is a true finisher's shirt-you don't get it at the expo. I like that. I kept the kids in line by offering them a "fun surprise" if they behaved. Since they were model citizens (aside from P's sudden need for a potty stop 10 minutes from home-and even that netted me a Starbucks), I followed through. We went to Monkey Joe's, which is basically just a big room with about 10 bouncy houses in it. They were elated. I set myself up at one of the tables with a book and my knitting and they scampered off to who-knows-where. About every 10 minutes one of them would run up and bear hug me from behind and whisper "You are the best mommy ever." Which is bullshit, but I'll take it. They ran around until they were pink and sweaty. Then I took them to McDonald's for lunch. Who's the best mommy ever?  That's right. I am. 

C&P cuteness factory.

After our little field trip we headed home and I had some lunch.

Last of the broccoli beef.

Then we went outside and played fetch with the dog for about an hour.  Dinner was leftovers. I was going to make something, but the fridge is so full I don't know where I would've put the leftovers from that. So we cleaned up some stuff.

Carb loading, paleo style.

It was a lovely evening, so we took the dog out for a couple of miles. These kids better sleep like the dead tonight. I have to get up insanely early, and I don't need to be jostled awake every 2 hours. 

I really have no idea how tomorrow is going to go. I'm undertrained from a running standpoint, but I'm in much better physical shape than at my last half marathon. I'm going to finish, it's just a matter of how fast. There's no way I'm going to PR, but depending on the weather I could get a time that I frankly don't deserve. Or I could crash and burn. It's a toss up.

Fantastic husband did a half with his brother today. He claims no one barfed. Might just be familial solidarity. Either way he will be home tomorrow, and I will be so happy to see him.

Mostly because I'm starting to hate the kids.

Blogging 2015: 742 down, 1273 to go (Lurong Day 5)

I worked last night, then made it home in time to walk the smalls to school. I came home and intended to go to bed right away, but got side tracked taking care of some odds and ends and didn't lay down until almost 9:30. Initially, I was going to go to Power Hour at the box (12:30), but I slept straight through my alarm. Miraculously I woke up in time to pick up the kids from school. So there's that.

Last night was fucking insane at both hospitals I service. The ER was jumping at our northern affiliate, and the orders were pouring out of that place. From about 11pm (when I went to a Code Blue at my site) onward it was non-stop all night. Orders, phone calls, questions, it was nuts.

As a result I didn't eat my "dinner" until 0130. I was starving.

Leftover beef and broccoli with cauli rice. 

Right down to the container. That shit is authentic.

My whole night was a clusterfuck of coffee I poured that went cold while I was sidetracked with other shit, food eaten at the wrong time (also ultimately cold), and desperately waiting for the cafeteria to open.  I had an apple, but was afraid to eat it to early. Apples make me hungry. Anyone else? Seriously, it's a thing. 30-45 minutes after eating an apple I am ravenously hungry. So I eat them for pleasure, but not to satiate. 

I should've packed some HBE or sliced veggies or something that's supposed to be cold. You never know. When the cafeteria did open at 0630 I was right there in line.

BACON and eggs.

When I got home I made a couple of phone calls and paid a couple of bills, then went down for my ill-fated nap. Ah well, I'll do the Lurong WOD on Monday with the husband. I'll be one day post half-marathon, but what's the worst that could happen.

Upon waking I was kind of hungry but not "meal" hungry. So I had some almonds and raisins. Mmmm...boring trail mix.

I love the salt/sweet interplay.

I got the smalls, who bitched about not getting to play on the playground, fed them a snack, and they went off to watch cartoons.  Dinner was leftover pulled pork and slaw. No "bun" tonight. No need.

Good thing I'm sleeping alone tonight.

I have a half on Sunday, so of course my uterus is in revolt. The Mirena has calmed things down considerably, but I'm still retaining an ocean of water. That's exactly what you want before you put on short shorts and a tank top in front of the world. I wonder if it'll be like having a camel hump? I won't need to drink during the race because I'm already retaining enough water to keep my hydrated for a week?

I needed wine tonight. One glass and one glass only.  And my little sheepy project bag. My busyhands project is officially the Beekeeper's Quilt. If I can knit all my sock scraps, it will be epic. 

DC blackberry wine from the bargain bin. Classy.

With luck I'll turn in early, tomorrow is a full day of kid-wrangling. I'm off the next 3 nights, which is pretty sweet. Only 10 shifts stand between me and 24 days off. That's right. TWENTY-FOUR days off IN A ROW. 

Hashtag winning.

Blogging 2015: 742 down, 1273 to go (Lurong Day 4)

I decided before I got up this morning that the kids were going to have cereal. Mostly because they love it so much, and it is the most minimal effort breakfast that exists. I also decided before I got up that today would be a rest day (meaning I wouldn't go to the gym). My legs and hands are trashed and I needed a day to recover.

So I got the smalls moving and went downstairs to pull out the OJ, milk, cereal, and bowls. We let them have cereal once or twice a week depending on our stores of eggs, bacon, waffles, and pancake motivation. When I was a kid we had cereal pretty much daily. I can't recall a time when my mom made hot breakfast during the week. Every now and then we'd get lucky on Saturdays (rarely Sundays, we were always in too much of a hurry to get to church) and have French toast. Now, my mom did not purchase "kid" cereal. Not ever. There were Grape Nuts (which aren't bad heaped with about a half a cup of sugar), Corn Flakes (which are almost like Frosted Flakes if you heap them with about half a cup of sugar), Raisin Bran (and not the Post kind with the sugar, the Total kind without), and if we were really, really lucky Cracklin' Oat Bran (which I will still blissfully eat from the box to this day). I should note that I was only able to heap my cereal with sugar if my mom wasn't in the room. Even as a child I was a sugar whore.

We buy "kid" cereal. The reason being that as soon as I was free to eat bullshit garbage cereal every day if I wanted (hello, college!) I did. I ate every horrifying shitty carby garbage thing I could get my goddamn hands on. I drank regular soda with abandon, I drank chocolate milk by the gallon, and I ate motherfucking Apple Jacks every day. Or Fruit Loops. Or...sigh...Cocoa Puffs...aaaahhhhhh. I fucking love Cocoa Puffs. As a result of all this unfettered eating of forbidden things, I gained 50 pounds. FIFTY. POUNDS. In about 6 months. I still have the stretch marks.  So my game is to teach my kids that food is just food. We give them a shockingly balanced diet that includes things like shitty cereal from time to time, a soda here and there, and other delicious stuff like cookies and donuts. Combined with lots of activity, I'm hoping to spare them from my fate.

I digress.

They had cereal, I made their lunches and had coffee, and then I took them to school so I could scuttle home and make myself the egg sandwich I've been dying for.

Would've been better with cheese, but still pretty great.

Then I blissfully sat on my ass for a while and drank coffee and read a book.  Then I got dressed and made a shopping list for Costco and Festival. I was getting ready to head out when my stomach growled and I was all "Shit, I need food, but I already crated the dog and I don't have time for this"

Enter the RxBar.

So I dropped some cash at the store and headed home to make up some freezer meals to have on hand for the remainder of Lurong. I don't want to eat them every night (I do enjoy cooking fresh), but it's nice to know they're there when I'm out of time or ambition.  

After an hour and a half of food prep, the meals went into the freezer.

I made 8 of 10, I didn't buy enough pork.

Then I was hungry again, so I had a snack.

Crunchy.

I had planned to nap, but that didn't pan out, so I'll be working tonight and coming home to nap before hitting the gym tomorrow. First night is never bad on no sleep. A nap is preferable, but since I'm coming off a week of solid sleep it's not as big of a deal. 

After another hour of lounging, I put supper together. Plan was for spaghetti and meatballs, so I grabbed out a freezer meal this morning.  My kids love this one. I make noodles for them and spaghetti squash for me.

Get in my empty, empty belly.

Incidentally, do you know what smells positively sinful when you're off grains?  Motherfucking garlic bread, that's what. I make it for the kids in the toaster oven and I was practically salivating while it cooked.  But I was strong. I did not cheat.

Earlier in the day I ran across a bit of lace I'd knitted a while back just to use up a single skein of Rowan kidsilk haze. I'd never blocked it or decided what to do with it, so today I soaked and stretched it. Once it was dry I still didn't know what to do with it, so I grafted the ends and made an infinity scarf. It came out kinda pretty. Lofted yarn is surprisingly warm, so I'm sure it'll be a nice neckwarmer this winter. 

Fluffy!

I can't drink tonight since I have to work (well, I guess technically I could since I don't work until 2130, but if just feels wrong), and it was raining pretty hard which ruled out a walk with the kids/dog, so I gave myself a pre-half-marathon manicure.

At least my fingers are ready to run.

Exciting stuff. 

So tonight it's off to the salt mine, then home to nap before working out. Fantastic husband is off to visit his brother and run a half marathon of his own this weekend, so I'm solo with the smalls. It should go pretty well. Or, you know, not.

Stay tuned...