Ah Monday... We Meet Again

It's a Monday. Monday's aren't generally good for much. Or maybe it's that I'm not generally good for much on a Monday. Yep, I think that's more accurate. Bullet points seems to be all I can muster today. If you're looking for something weighty or inspirational... keep looking. Sorry about that.

 -- Apparently today is Eminem's birthday. I was never much of a fan, but songs like this take me right back to middle school. Why am I sharing? Because he is turning 39 today. That's just one year shy of the big 4-0, folks. Does that frighten anyone else?

 -- I just started out this list with a controversial, offensive, and possibly downright crazy white rapper. If you are still reading, I salute you -- it can only get better from here.

 -- This weekend, I was a complete waste of space. The only time I left the apartment was to run, and otherwise Toby and I took our job of holding down the couch quite seriously. I read an entire book and started another, watched this movie (which was pretty good but left me exhausted), and took several naps. It was glorious.

for best results, only attempt cat-naps under the watchful eye of a certified feline

 -- The book I read has gotten mixed reviews, but I thought it was pretty fantastic. I saw a few of the twists coming, but surprisingly that only made me want to keep reading. Definitely a good quick read.

 -- After running only a very painful half mile between last Monday and Saturday, I finally made it out for some decent mileage this weekend. My legs aren't back to 100%, but they are about a billion times better than last weekend, thank goodness. I'm forcing myself to take things slowly for now, but couldn't help feeling encouraged when my pace kept creeping faster yesterday. This painful little hiatus has left me a little nervous about the 10k I'm running this Saturday... and the fact that my second half-marathon is less than a month away. I have quite a bit of work to do in the next few weeks.

 -- My stomach has officially found its soulmate: the rustic sourdough bread from Whole Foods. I may or may not have made an entire meal out of several slices this weekend. But certainly not twice. Nope, not a chance.

 -- I am about to keel over with the effort it is taking not to buy myself a Keurig. The lovely (and expensive) coffeemaker I gave Dan for Christmas is now celebrating its 10th month of coffee that tastes like melted plastic, and I. have. had. enough. A few nights ago, I stopped at a gas station on the way home to get a cup of coffee just so I didn't have to drink sludge. My will-power on this one is truly circling the drain.

 -- And just because it's always nice to end on a good note, I leave you with these two crazy/amazing stories: the lady who ran Chicago at 39 weeks pregnant, and the man who finished the Toronto Marathon this weekend at 100 years old.

  Love,

    Meg

Friday Favorites: Fall Things

Ahhh... nothing better than a Friday afternoon in the fall. Today seems even sweeter after several days of miserable rain and long hours at the office this week, and I am so ready for a few days off to enjoy this gorgeous weather and take full advantage of a few seasonal activities. Here is how my weekend is shaping up:

I'm getting started on the indulgences early and enjoying some of this at my desk this afternoon:

... a pumpkin spice latte and some Halloween candy (those monsters and goblins had better get moving or it will all be gone by the time they ring my doorbell). Yum!

This evening, I am looking forward to cuddling up on the couch with these:

... a cozy blanket or six, another cup of coffee, this excellent book which I am having a hard time putting down, and that cute little face, who will alternate between napping on my feet and vying for a spot on my head.

Tomorrow morning, you will find me:

before settling in for some serious college football:

(just a small sampling of the teams I'll be rooting for tomorrow)

Finally, if I can manage to track it down, I'm hoping the weekend will include a little bit of waiting for the Great Pumpkin:

... perhaps while carving the one that I adopted yesterday:

Pedro (L -- Dan's masterpiece) and Pete (R -- my creation) from last year

What do you have planned this fall weekend? Hope that it is full of cool breezes, fun traditions, and lots of pumpkin and spice!

  Love,

    Meg

I Am A Mess Today

What a glorious Wednesday... for a duck. I'm usually pretty excited for rainy days, but today I am just not feeling it. I need a little sunshine to wake up my brain, which I'm pretty sure I left in bed this morning. Needless to say, this morning has been rough:

 -- I slept straight through my alarm this morning and was just lucky to wake up 15 minutes before I needed to leave. (For the record, I did make it to work on time. And I did shower. Small victories, people.) This is worrisome for two reasons: I went to bed early last night and got plenty of sleep, and this is the second time this has happened in as many weeks. If only I could program the cat to wake me up....

 -- Speaking of furball, he has apparently decided that the prime sleeping spot in our rather empty bed is exactly where I am. For the past few nights, moments after I have turned off the lights and snuggled up, I've felt the little pitter-patter of razor sharp claws climbing my back. After several minutes of back-and-forth in an effort to find just the right spot, he curls up right on top of me, just south of my chin, to stare creepily into my eyes until we both fall asleep. He's lucky that he's the only thing I have to cuddle with right now, otherwise his clammy little nose would find itself on the couch.

 -- I have not gone for a run in 42 hours and counting. To put this another way: I am dying. I started feeling some rather severe pain in my shins over the weekend, and by Monday I knew that I could no longer pretend that it wasn't happening. Whatever the cause, I am hoping that a few rest days will knock it out. Translation: I'm giving it until Friday and if it's not gone, I run through it. This all makes me a little nervous because I have a race in a week and a half that I'd really like to enjoy. Translation: I want an awesome PR. 

Dear legs, Get it in gear. Love, the rest of me.

 -- This morning I ate salad for breakfast. Groceries have become a bit of a precious commodity around these parts, and all I was able to salvage from the ruins of my refrigerator this morning was last night's leftover salad. So when I got hungry at 10:00 this morning, my options were a little limited. Now it's lunchtime, and all I want is a cup of coffee big enough to swim in. My brain hurts.

 -- When I got to work this morning, I found that Pandora had been playing on my computer (through headphones, thank goodness) all night. I am still in mourning over all the great songs I've missed.

 -- Have I mentioned lately that I haven't seen my husband in 80 days? Enough said.

So yes, I am a certifiable mess this morning. Luckily, things are looking up...

 -- My mom and I have a hot yoga date this evening (hot date, not hot yoga.) I haven't taken a class since college and I am super excited to try out a new studio and get back into it. Fingers crossed that I'll be able to silence my thought for long enough to really enjoy it.

 -- My sweet hubby always seems to know when I desperately need a smile: he sent not one, but two gorgeous flower arrangements to me today. I have no clue why he decided that one was not enough, but I am not exactly complaining.

(or something equally cheesy)

Here's to making it through today!

  Love,

    Meg

(Mostly) Silent Sundays

What's that? It's not Sunday? Well..... just work with me here. These pictures were taken on Sunday, so I think that counts.

My mom and I headed out yesterday to do a little wedding venue shopping! After some very serious preparations (ie brunch and a beer from my favorite brewery), we headed for vineyard #1 and enjoyed a fantastic glass of wine with this gorgeous view...

Then we headed to vineyard #2...

... and somewhere between the incredible petit verdot cupcakes and the adorable atmosphere, I fell in love. They have a gorgeous view of the mountains, the perfect amount of space (plus a "bridal suite" loft), and excellent wine.

If you need me this week, I'll be daydreaming....

  Love,

    Meg

TGIF

Somehow, the past six days, spent crammed into a tiny hospital room with a constant rotation of nurses, PCAs, students, family members, friends, and the occasional crazy food services worker, have left me slightly less than energized. Somewhere under the cover of beeping IVs and whirring blood pressure cuffs, or along the lengthy trip between parking garage and top floor, far corner, or possibly while I was trying desperately not to pass out at every mention of needles, my sanity executed a perfect "ditch-and-run." And despite the fact that my dad is finally home and resting, I am still left searching for it, checking under the rather large stacks of work on my desk, peering into the precariously balanced sink full of dishes, and poking around the dusty corners of this neglected blog. I've been trying desperately to lure it back with long runs and generous amounts of coffee, and I'm hoping that it has the good sense to return home at some point during this long-anticipated three-day weekend... we will see.

It has certainly been a trying week, but thankfully, we have all somehow limped across the finish line. Some of us are a bit worse for the wear, but we're all still pushing forward, thrilled to have made it through this first stretch, and trying not to think to hard about the second starting line, looming in the distance. Luckily, my dad will have the rest of the month to recover before heading back in for round two.

Thanks for bearing with me as I attempt to get back to blogging as quickly as my sleepy little brain will allow. And just in case your weekend needs a little happy...

... we've got you covered.

  Love,

    Meg

Keep Running

Ed: I apologize for the date confusion here -- I fell asleep in the final stages of this post last night and just didn't have the patience to change all the time references this morning.

For several months now, Wednesday nights have meant medium length runs (anywhere from 6-9 miles) around my local university campus. I am so used to doing long runs on this course that knowing I'm only out for half that distance is comforting and feels almost easy. Some weeks are harder than others (especially in August when it was about a billion degrees and at least 116% humidity at 5:30), and recently between working late and earlier sunsets I've struggled to get out before dark (which forces a significantly slower pace), and yet this is consistently my favorite run of the week. Something about the neighborhoods I pass through at sunset, the balance of busy streets and calmer paths, the increasingly cooler breeze and the familiarity of my steps puts me at ease.

From the very beginning last night, though, this seemed like the run-that-wasn't-meant-to-be. 

I ended up working later than I expected, trying to get several projects wrapped up just so that they wouldn't still be sitting on my desk this morning. I figured if I left around 6, I'd be able to get through most of my run while the sun was still up, so right around that time my eyes glazed over and I shut down my computer and headed to change clothes. In my rush to get out of the house on time yesterday morning, I had just thrown all of my running stuff into a bag... everything except socks. Strike 1.

So half an hour later, after a quick detour by home to pick up socks, I made it to my normal parking spot. As soon as got started, though, the shin pain that had begun as barely a whisper that morning progressed to a shrill howl in seconds flat. I had noticed that my legs were a bit tight after a short run two nights ago, but these days, something is always tight, so I sort of brushed it off. When I started to run, though, the pain hit quickly and each step started to feel like a knife blade slicing through my lower leg. I tried slowing down and even walking a few times, but this only made things worse, so I bit my lower lip to keep from yelping and just tried to outrun the pain. Strike 2.

Almost a mile into the run, I glanced down at my Garmin.... and saw nothing but zeros staring back at me. I had forgotten to start the timer, and so I had no record of my time or pace. Lovely. Strike 3.

Since I got started much later than I wanted to, I was barely two miles in before the sun went down and I was left in varying degrees of darkness. Some of my route is charmingly lit by street lamps, trees with christmas lights, and storefronts, but other sidewalks are left treacherously shadowy. I've never felt unsafe in these areas, even after dark, but I know that it's only a matter of time before I trip on an unseen acorn and land on my head. Strike 4.

By mile 3-ish, my leg pain had settled to a dull roar, still frustrating but tolerable. My stomach, however, had other ideas. I have a tough time keeping that part of my body happy on the best of days, and my new running addiction certainly has not helped matters. A combination of stress, heat, and the (decent) food that I had eaten during the day started to slosh around and leave me wondering how many people I would offend if I tossed my cookies (to put it politely) on the side of the road somewhere. I was too scared to stop running, though, because I didn't want my shins to tighten up again -- if I was going to get sick, it was going to be at a sub-9:00 pace. Thankfully it never came to that, but I did struggle through the next several miles battling waves of nausea. Strike 5.

Towards the end of my regular route, I hit an intersection. Left goes towards the car, right allows me to polish off a little bit more mileage before turning around and heading back. Recently, as much as I've wanted to turn right and get that extra time in, my legs have overruled my brain and taken a sharp left. As I approached the intersection last night, I knew that today of all days, I should give in and wrap it up before anything got worse. Before I knew it though, some sort of inspiration/craziness (call it what you will) had kicked in, and I found myself headed right. I made it through almost another mile before giving in and setting course for my favorite finish line, and I was so glad that I did: that last stretch was by far the best part of my run and truly redeemed the whole night.

[via]

 So there you have it, real live proof that no matter how much the first 6 miles make you want to flop down in the middle of the sidewalk and cry, the last one can make it all worth it. Sometimes it just takes a few awful, miserable runs to appreciate an great one. And this (plus those stubborn five pounds) is why I keep running. I am motivated to get through the tough miles because I believe that there are easier ones ahead. Sometimes it takes longer to get to them, but I always know they are coming... around the corner, down the next block, somewhere up ahead, it will get better, it will come naturally, it will feel right. So I keep running...

  Love,

    Meg

Autumnal Anticipation

I've spent every spare minute in the past two weeks (you know, because I have so many of those) contemplating how I might re-decorate my entire apartment in pumpkin orange without making it look like a disastrous pumpkin patch explosion. If only because then I think we'd probably lose the cat.

perfectly camouflaged for fall

I get more excited about the arrival of fall than I do about Christmas, ice cream, and new shoes... combined. I spend about 10.5 months out of the year longing for fall, and the other 1.5 freaking out because my favorite season is going too fast and there are just too many pumpkins and too little time. Everything about fall makes me happy... the weather, the food, the leaves, the smells, the holidays, the clothes, and anything and everything pumpkin. With a side of pumpkin. And maybe a little added pumpkin. Is that pumpkin sauce for the top? I'm sorry. I don't know the meaning of that word, "overkill."
I am happier in the fall, full of nostalgia, constantly sneaking outside to feel the cool breeze and crunch a few leaves underfoot. I try desperately to cram in all of my favorite autumn activities: pumpkin carving, tons (literally) of baking, sweater shopping, drinking as many pumpkin drinks as I possibly can, lots and lots of college football, preparing for halloween, and watching lots of classic scary movies. This year, I'm also looking forward to spending lots of time cuddling with a certain aptly colored furball and going for lots of wonderful runs to enjoy the weather and the gorgeous scenery.
So if you'll excuse me, I'll be frantically circling the pumpkin patch, trying desperately to find the perfect specimen to grace our front door. Hard as it is to believe, this is not one of my most endearing quirks, according to my sweet husband... but don't let him fool you: fall is his favorite season too. Not that that was a prerequisite or anything...

   Love,

    Meg