Today was a good day

This morning, well, afternoon I suppose, I had a rare opportunity. I was bereft as my lovely friend had a lunchtime meeting and I was working the night shift so we couldn't run together today. I was having a hard time getting motivated when I thought, "Hey, my mommy could ride her bike with me as I run!"

Luckily, my mommy agreed that that was a good idea. She hasn't been training for half marathons, so there was no way she would be able to run with me, but bike? Most definitely.

As I started out (she caught up with me, as my ever-industrious mommy was finishing up making yummy jam from fresh, local blackberries), I dropped down from our "moutain-side" home that was firmly ensconced in the fog — part of my motivational problem — and into beautiful Humboldt County sunshine. Who'd have thought? Desperately wishing I'd brought my sunglasses, I nevertheless had lifted spirits as I grumblingly proceeded to run my Fartlek.

My mom caught up with me after my fourth or fifth stride-out (I lose track really quick with those and just go by time), and exclaimed that she was surprised I had gotten as far as I had so quickly. I pointed out that I'd been running for nearly 30 minutes at that point, so I should have been at least 3 miles out. After that, she pedaled along cheering me on when I picked up and chatting with me during the intervals. It was wonderful and fun to get to spend some quality time with my mommy in the sunshine.

I got to spend quality time with my mommy this weekend, too.

This weekend was a local "Bargain Lovers'" weekend in Ferndale (you know, where The Majestic was filmed). The whole community turns out with various and sundry yard, garage, and rummage sales. After snapping up a tattered, but full-of-potential end of the bed bench for a measly $1.50 (marked at $2! I exercised my bargaining muscles early and often) as my first purchase, I knew it was going to be a good day.

We arrived in Ferndale (braced with coffee and small bills) at about 9:30 a.m. and didn't call it quits until 3 or 4 p.m. The sun was out and it was beautiful as we scampered happily from sale to sale throughout town — unknowingly getting sunburned and walking miles and miles without noticing.

The day's best buy would have to be a pair of black leather boots I found.

Jacket: Express, hand-me-down; black & teal tanks: boutique in San Luis Obispo, Five Dollar Fabulous; black leggings: Impressions at the Bayshore Mall (where Gap used to be), Five Dollar Fabulous; BLACK LEATHER BOOTS!!!: garage sale thrift!

I joyously picked them up (where they were slyly tucked beneath a table amidst a jumble of other shoes) along with a soft grey cardigan — of that earthy, warmer grey like the infamous Italy boots — and practically skipped to the lady running that particular sale.

Now for those of you who are experienced bargain hunters know this cardinal rule, for those of you who aren't, here it is: never offer what you would be willing to pay, always go lower and be willing to walk away if they demand more than the item is worth to you. Many garage sale managers will "panic" when you set down the item and turn to leave and will let it go for a more reasonable price. If they don't, set it down, walk away, and come back later. If the item still hasn't sold, likely it will be released at the price you want it.

Never pay more than it is worth to you.

This is a double edged sword however, and be reasonable and true to yourself. If you actually want the item, need the item, whatever, pay the piper. Because it would be terrible if that's just the thing and you come back and it's gone. If it's an impulse buy — and most things are — walk away. Likely, you can come back and it'll be there.

Back to the boots.

So I walked up to the woman in charge of that particular sale, cardigan and boots in hand, and blithely offer two dollars. Now, I wasn't all that attached to the sweater, but we girls all know that good, cheap boots are hard to find and so I was willing to go as high as $5 for those puppies. Imagine my surprise when the woman said, "Well, actually, everything is 50 cents, so both is just a dollar."

Was she nuts???

Why let them go at half what I offered? I was the idiot who didn't see the sign! What would I have possibly done if I had paid the two bucks and then seen the sign? Nothing!

I think we need to see them again, don't you? Yes, yes, I agree.

Score!

I snatched up a bunch of other goodies as well, spending $35 in total.

Cute ballet flats by Soda: 50 cents!

Then I just had to do a photo shoot with the rest of my finds!

Black silk Tommy Hilfinger tank: 50 cents; necklace: Elle for Kohl's, $12.99; pants: Elle for Kohl's, $8.80; Versace pumps: consignment, $75

Brown sweater: $3 garage sale find; brown belt: came with a shirtdress; red leather skirt: hand-me-down; opaque tights: Target, $10; brown boots: Payless Shoe Source, gift from a friend because I kept borrowing them

And lastly, I picked up some snuggly snow-worthy wear as I'm moving to Bend, Ore. with the boy and that's snow country!

Vest: $1; blue jacket: 50 cents

I also snagged some other things for my move north — a rug, more winter wear, and some picture frames — and rounded out the day with a 6 mile run with my lovely friend (this was on Saturday).

Whew. That was a lot. I'm moving on and getting back to work!

Ciao,
kc

TODAY: 60 minute Fartlek run

Running Mojo and Kitchen Joys

So apparently the two posts on, what was it? Monday? made up for me not posting practically at all this week. But, in my defense, it was apparently major Bitch Week (featuring a master mix of your favorites, like "Rip Me a New One" and "Screw This") and I reserve this place as a non-bitching arena.

If I ever "disappear" again, that's probably why.

That or I'm busy "being there." You know what I mean.

Between the house being full of my parents and my sister (remind me why I moved home again? Free rent may not be worth it right now), my aunt's puppy (albeit a very very very tiny puppy, as Mija's a chihuahua, but she's a puppy nevertheless) and the impending arrival of my grandparents this afternoon...the house has never felt so small and I've never felt so grateful to be able to escape to work.

Now that's a new feeling. "Escape" to work. Ah, me. At least here, I can write! My sister (younger by two years) has "taken over" the office/craft room that houses my computer, so I've been barely able to check my email at home, let alone post a blog! But that makes no nevermind, as I was too cranky to write anything positive anyways.

Even after I plied myself with boba tea several times last week!

Big things happened this weekend though:

1. My lovely friend and I ran ten miles on Saturday — a first for me, though paltry for her. I did it to see if I could, my previous "record" being 6 miles, and was surprised that I not only finished, but I was still functioning (a critical point) afterwards! And topped it off with a blistering 3.5 miles yesterday morning (another foul mood that I burned off with running).

To get through the ten miles, I was up early (1.5 hours before running) to properly fuel up — had my cappuccino (real caffeine is a special treat for me, I normally drink Tazo Zen green tea in the mornings as it's better for my disposition and my body. Coffee and espresso is for days when I really really really need the extra kick, I'm going to be running a lot, or I need a special treat to get me through the day), a bowl of Honeybunches of Oats with Almonds and some craisins sprinkled on top, a "shot" of Emergen-C for electrolytes and a natural vitamin boost, and a huge glass of water.

During the run itself, we both carried water and dutifully mowed through Clifbar Shot Bloks (similar to gels, but tastier and easier to gulp down while moving) — both regular and extra salt (berry and margarita flavored!), as we both have salt deficiencies — every three miles-ish (we didn't hit it at 9 miles, because we just had one to go, though we could have). So we finished in relatively good humor. I consumed a Clifbar "Mocha" flavored gel when we were done to tide me over until I could get some real food (I had to drop my lovely friend off and her house and then drive home — so 20 to 30 minutes). Think brownie-batter. Pretty good, but wouldn't want to eat it during a run.

All in all, I did really good! We finished in an hour and 50 minutes, avg. 11 minute mile, and I didn't need to ice anything until after my run yesterday! WHAT KICK STARTS YOUR RUNNING MOJO? HOW DO YOU MAKE THE DISTANCE?

2. My boyfriend and I sat down and mapped — er, rather sketched — out our "future"...at his prompting, no less. He is one of those wonderfully classic men whose catchphrase is "my plan is that I have no plan." Great for him, mildly aggravating for a woman who is so A.R. she cannot go without planning her week on Sunday evening. Though after 2+ years together I've figured out how to work around his carefree outlook without panicking and going into crisis overdrive myself — give the man deadlines. If I have deadlines, then there is a plan — at least, enough of one for me — and there isn't enough of one to put him in a panic.

It's a wonderful thing.

But back to the point. He said, "We need to talk about our future and make some plans today." I went, "Say what now?" And then quickly agreed to do so before he changed his mind. Now we have "concrete" plans (with dates to have things done by! Ah, he's finally figured me out...) and I'm stoked about the future.

3. During my run (and actually I'd been noticing all week) I realized that my favorite running sunglasses had been squished and no longer stayed on my face quite the way I wanted them to. Sad day. I'm kind of a sunglasses snob, as it usually takes a while to find some that I like that also look decent on my face (the bug-eyed era was particularly bad for me). So as a rule, I snatch up any pair that happens to look decent if I can afford it, and for running sunglasses (which tend to be alternately all-purpose as well) I put up the big bucks, and as with my shoes, I stick to a brand I know and like.

My sunglasses of choice are Electrics, and I've been rocking the EC DCs in Black Clear Fade

and the fact that they'd been squished past the point that I couldn't (gently) bend them back, made me super sad. They're still wearable, but not for running or other sport-activities (I play ultimate too, and my "name" in ultimate is "Shades" as I always wear 'em). They're camping/car/river sunglasses now. Which sounds hoity-toity, but for someone as active as I am, you need a pair that will stay on your face!

So I went to the store to get myself some new ones, and decided that I really didn't like the solid black EC DCs, which was all they had. So I tried a couple of other pairs. The Technician style was nice, but the winner was the Charge in Tweed

They stay on my face even better than the EC DCs did, they're incredibly lightweight, and they look pretty freakin' sexy! Haha. I thought I'd get some flack for the "rasta" stripes on the side from my boyfriend and co. but as a Humboldt native, I'm apparently allowed to rock them, even if I'm about as hippie as a bikini-clad palm tree.

Anyways, so it was a decent weekend, even if my pocket is lighter for having to get new sunglasses.

I'm trying to think if I've had any yummy food lately. Oh! Yes, I did!

My sister made the best whole wheat bread. I think this is the recipe. She told me where it was, but I kind of forgot. This looks like the right one, but I'm not entirely sure (if this is the wrong one, I'll update it next post). It was scrumptious though. Just plain it was delicious, I ate it for breakfast all week. It was a huge recipe, it made 3 decently sized loaves. One turned out kind of flat, because she chilled the dough overnight (takes a while to make it and she started late), but it was still absolutely divine. DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE BREAD RECIPE OR EXPERIENCE? TELL ME ABOUT IT!

I've made baguettes in my day (easiest thing ever, by the way) and pretzels, but I've never had the bread pans (or the inclination to go buy them) to do loaved bread. I definitely am going to now — er, rather, once boyfriend and I have relocated to a home of our own (soon!) and I have my kitchen back.

Speaking of kitchens, I miss mine so much. I have all the coolest toys. I moved into my last house in San Luis Obispo after living on campus the first two years with three plates, some cups, a bowl, and a set of silverware. I may have had a pot, but that was it. Moving out...I had six good sized (as big as they could be and still be liftable by me) boxes of kitchen stuff — not counting the individually boxed crockpot, toaster, blender, and my pride and joy...

My artisan Kitchen mixer in empire red. She's my baby. The only thing that she isn't good at making is cheese cake (the mixer blade doesn't quite reach the bottom of the bowl, and with cheese cake filling it's hard to get at the bottom really well with a spatula...at least, with the cheese cake I make — me and Betty do great things). I adore her. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE, HAVE-A-RELATIONSHIP-WITH, COULDN'T-LIVE-WITHOUT-IT KITCHEN APPLIANCE/UTENSIL?

Anyways, that's all for now, though as it's Monday it's a slow day at work. I'll probably update later!

Ciao,

kc 

SUNDAY: 3.5 miles

SATURDAY: 10 miles!!!!

THURSDAY RUN: 5 miles

WEDNESDAY RUN: 3.1 miles

TUESDAY RUN: 2.7 miles + .7 miles hill repeats, total 3.4 miles

MONDAY: 1.5 hrs Flow Yoga