Super Bowl

Have finished digging out and am settling in to watch the Super Bowl with my mom's signature Super Bowl Sandwiches:

Take hamburger buns (though substituting sandwich thins takes 100 calories off each one) and split them in half.

Place the buns on a cookie sheet and place any combination of the following on them:
-onion
-tomato
-ham (though i substitute turkey and it's just as good, again, saving calories too)

Top each one with cheese, bake for 15 minutes at 350


Go Saints!!!

Suspicious Minds

Today is "Teacher Idol," and i volunteered to do an act in front of the entire school and three students acting as Simon, Paula, and Randy. Singing "Suspicious Minds" because i already have the words memorized.

i figure it doesn't matter if the students KNOW the song because
A) this is the perfect opportunity for them to be introduced to the genius that was Elvis Presley
and
B) as long as i am up there making an idiot of myself they will be so busy crying with laughter they won't even know what i'm singing anyway.

Don't think i have a stress fracture, as my leg has been feeling better today after two "off days," but it's so frustrating not to be able to run!! i guess i will just keep hitting the elliptical for the rest of the week and try getting back on the roads after that. Hopefully the pain doesn't come back. Who knew you could get so addicted to this sport so quickly!?

Ups and Downs

On Saturday nights, i get frustrated with my job. Yet another man complains about the amount of time i have to give him, and i start to wonder if i am sabotaging my social life and chance of future happiness for nothing. i wonder if i should just get a lab job and cut my losses.

Then Monday morning comes, and a bubbly 13-year-old who normally wouldn't care about anything she didn't read in TeenCosmo comes running up to me holding a stag beetle and begging me to stay after school and help her dissect it, and it all feels worth it.


Have been feeling a dull pain in my right calf for about a week and a half now. Maybe i shouldn't have run on it last Friday, but i kept thinking i would get stronger and it would go away. Hoping it's something in the muscle and not the bone, but i am hitting the elliptical instead of the roads this week and trying to get a doctor's appointment.

If it IS a stress fracture, and i have to stay off of it for six weeks, i will be devastated. Does anyone have any good ideas for exercise in a boot? :(

First 5K

Well, my first 5K is done! i felt so awesome after i was done! Finished 55 seconds ahead of my goal time, and improved my pace per mile by 1.3 minutes. i've already registered for the February event, so it'll be interesting to track my progress on an identical course after another month of training.


Here's a picture of me with the pickle (he ran with us... please do not ask me why... it is inexplicable).



And me with my running partner, Jenn...

Neglect

Wow, since discovering Facebook i have so been neglecting this blog!

Workouts have been going exceptionally well. my pace is still around 17 minutes/mile, but that includes warmup walking. The two miles that i jog straight probably run around 16:15/mile. i've been pretty impressed with myself and i feel awesome. Not to mention that i will probably have those 10 Philly pounds gone in another week and be working on the next 40.

i went on the best first date (ever?... no, but close) since arriving in the city last night. We sat and talked for four hours, but i completely botched the kiss at the end. Hopefully that won't land me in the 'Friend Zone' and i can give it another go next time.

Almost initially perfect, this guy not only passes my initial check marks, but also understands my doppler effect bumper sticker. Mom asked, "yeah, but what is he allergic to?" Animals. All of them. But, he did seem optimistic about trying to live with them someday. Enough for me for now, anyway.

Worry not, Sao, my days of giving up pets for men are long gone.


Christmas was a blast. i managed to get my family exactly what they wanted, no (as far as i know) utter failures. Liz loved the scarf i got her, and that was my biggest gamble. Got my brother started on Beck, and my mom loved the Kindle we all pitched in to buy her. Finally found dad the shirt he loved that says "Beer is Good" as well.

Sao did NOT appreciate Stella Rue (Dave and Liz's big dog), and spent the entire break up in the guest bedroom after a very energetic first meeting. She is ecstatic to be home.

i am off tonight to spend New Year's Eve with some new friends and am so excited! Last year's ringing in at Wichita Midcontinent Airport, alone and heartbroken, went so fundamentally against my midnight tradition. But like my family said, it did portend a year of travel and change. i hope this year will portend a year of good friends.

Happy New Year to all of you!!

Some Lofty Goals

On Kate Moon: thanks for satisfying my curiosity, guys! How do i not know her? i just found it doing a YouTube search for Clemson, or Clemson Band, or something like that. The comments were similar to those guys you knew, Ali... something like "so this is what it feels like to fall in love..." And i was so hoping it was Andee or Becky. Oh, well.

And now for some truth and consequences.

Since starting school i haven't been so good with the exercise. The schedule we keep here has been kicking my butt, and i've been getting home at 7 or 8 every night, and in bed by 9, and not wanting to spend my few precious hours of alone time sweating it out in the gym.

But i backslid on a lot of my progress too, gaining back about 10 pounds of the 40 i had lost. And that made me sad, which made me feel less like working out.

i have held off on making this post until i was sure my drive and motivation were back, and after two weeks without missing a workout, and five of those ten pounds back under my shoe rubber, i think i can. i am back to the 17-minute mile (i know that's not very impressive, but it does include up to 10 minutes of non-stop jogging at 4 mph, which i have been unable to do since moving to Kansas over two years ago)

Some rather lofty goals have been swirling around in my head for the last two weeks and i have hesitated to make them public, as that makes them real. But i think i am ready. Any of you runners who want to do any of these with me, i'd be more than happy to make a trip down to DC or even further, particularly for the last one, in order to have people with me when i do it.

1.) By summer of 2010, run a 5K race.
2.) By the end of 2010, run a 10K race.
3.) By the summer of 2011, run a half marathon.
4.) Drive around with one of those oval "13.1" stickers on my car.


i know what you're thinking... where's the marathon, Elle? Yes, yes, i know. It just seems so out there that i can't imagine it yet. And if i can't imagine it, i can't set a realistic goal. Perhaps i will add it once i've made it to the 10K mark.