Thanksgiving Detox

The Thanksgiving scene at our apartment. I'm the one with the shiny forhead about to try and eat massive quantities of food!!

I am definitely thankful for Thanksgiving. What a wonderful blessing to get together with family and friends while eating ridiculously glorious amounts of food and catching up. It is obviously a time when I think about the many things I am thankful for this year and even on a daily basis. The list is long, and I won't reveal it here, but trust that I am well aware that life is good, and that I am one lucky girl.

I'm not a fan of gluttony, and I think too much of any one thing certainly cannot be good...except for on thanksgiving. Let's just say after eating no less than two meals on the day itself for the last five years has led me to believe I really should train for this sort of thing. I'm not doing it justice the way I go about it right now. I give it a good effort, I really do, but with this much good food available, it's a cryin shame not be able to better job. At noon, it was turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, rolls, broccoli casserole and pie. At six it was fillet with a wine sauce, twice baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach salad and low and behold, PIE! Both meals were spectacular displays of years of experience and love baked right in to each dish. For the second dinner at our apartment I provided the wine, and helped my mother with the meat, that was it! I'm a helper, not a main component in the process!

It was wonderful, but by the second dinner, although I sincerely wanted to, I just couldn't eat as much!! So much good food, so little space in the tummy. I guess I'll have to overeat for weeks prior next year in preparation! A good time was had by all!

On Friday I could barely move from the food coma I had been put in by my two meals and I barely ate a thing! I think prior to 6pm all I had was two toaster pastries, crackers with hummus and a cookie!

Then, just because I had taken two days off, I felt a brick was in order. After an hour on the trainer and then a twenty minute run I felt sooo much better. Thanksgiving detox was in full effect.

In other news, we got a montrosity, otherwise known as a 46 inch LCD TV. I never thought we would do it. Our current TV was from stolen from the house before I left for college and all of the buttons were punched out. Well, I guess Kyle had enough of staring at the small screen so he went to Sears at 5am with the rest of the crazies. I was glad he came out alive. Now, it's like being at the movies all the time. I'm not sure I'm used to it yet, but I guess I'll give it time.

The above is what happens when you do most of your training at home and by yourself. Marit labels socks left and right, I just try to make sure they're clean!

I found a new wine I enjoy. The name is a bit peculiar, but I don't think it will be hard to remember. It's a nice smooth red with some body. You'll love it if you like red wine!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and even a nice Thanksgiving Detox!

Herding Cows

The view from my trainer. When the steam rises up off the lake in the early morning it's a bit like a magic show, and a rock concert. There are geese to watch and other critters so that keeps it interesting.

Well, I didn't think this was my calling, and now I am absolutely sure that it is not. When I set out on a run yesterday down my usual snowy winding dirt road I could see a small black figure standing in the middle of the road. I was convinced it was a dog until I ran within about 100 feet and just what I was afraid of, is what it turned out to be - a baby calf.

After turning off my loud techno beats, like any good women in my situation would do (what can we say, it's instinct) began talking to the little guy. The snow was dancing in front of my eyes and my breath was producing a haze and I can only imagine I looked scary even at 5'4", so I squatted down a little bit when I got within ten feet. I could see the full black mother cow standing right inside the fence. Yeah, I get that, "I'd be right there too" I thought, "if my baby were outside and couldn't get back in!" It made me sad feeling like they were separated and right then baby took off running alongside the fence in the direction up the road and away from me. The baby ran, the momma ran, and what the heck, I ran too, not fast, just in a jogging / still talking to the baby - "where you going little guy, don't be afraid, I'm just trying to help, how did you get out here!" As if the thing was going to answer me back!!!

Finally, at the end of the pasture it turned sharply to the right where the fence followed and there they went, running along side one another and low and behold, at some point, that thing snuck right back in the fence. I was elated. I was flabbergasted!! I was just so dang happy those two kids were back together and happy again. Momma moooo'ed a lot which I was thinking was scolding, or at least I hoped it was. From there, I ran off feeling a small sense of accomplishment even though I'm not really sure I did much of anything.

There is a science to this.. what, don't believe me. See Diagram A. Below!

Diagram A.

When I finally arrived home I had a couple of things already checked off - running (check!), herding baby cow back to its mother (double check!!). It was going to be a good day. I wish I would have had my camera. I guess I need to take it every time, you just never know about the adventures you might find.

In other news, if you use lotions with some of that self tanning stuff in the months after the numbers have been burned into your arm at Ironman you might want to rethink wearing anything without sleeves for awhile...

Can you see the 2 - 0 of 1720. Yep, it actually darkens the numbers. Interesting...It's like my own personal tattoo reminder. On second thought, it's cool. I'm going to show it off!!


This is a stink bug. I found him on my trash can which was very appropriate. I almosted tried to kill him, but I guess that lets the stink out. So, just took him outside where he can lead a normal stink bug life.I had to do it. I'm not a sticker on the Honda Accord kind of girl, but I bought two and one was already on the bike box. It was time to put it out there. I've had the car for almost three years, no stickers, until now. I suppose I was proud I joined the club!

It's Here!

When I woke up this morning, there was snow on the ground. Talk about a rude awakening to the fact that we are now officially "IN" to winter. I don't care what the calendar says.. you know.. how it picks those days for the start of winter or spring or whatever.. We are in it to win it baby and I am one sad girl scout.

I know.. I know.. I need to be positive. Winter will bring lots of things like snow angels, ice skating around the lake (which I can do if I can just figure out how to triple axel.. I mean um..skate in general), and a white Christmas (which I actually do love!!). However, it will also bring long pants dragging in this nasty junk that has been in the parking lot festering for days waiting to ruin my clothes, scraping off windows before 6am swimming and being so frozen on the bike you don't un-thaw for hours. Ahh.. old man winter. He sure is a bad dude sometimes.

How quickly I forget winter during the dead of summer when I am throwing on my shorts and heading out for a long ride or run! It's amazing how that happens! Just like childbirth and Ironman, give it some time... and in the warmth of the sun, winter is quickly forgotten!

In other news, I looked at some trainers this weekend. I'm debating.. seriously, on if my current trainer will A. make it through the winter and B. if I can live with having the most basic of basic trainers with absolutely no feedback of any kind on any of my rides. It's been suitable so far, but I may want to take it to the next level.

I looked at the FLOW model of Tacx trainers at my bike shop and gave it some good thought.

Ideally, I would love a computrainer, but know that 1400-1600 dollars really isn't in my budget to spend on something like that. I definitely would like to measure cadence, speed, distance and power output at a minimum. I would love to be able to ride different courses while watching real course videos, but I think that really can't be done for (at least) less than one thousand buckaroos, and there are other things I would rather get if I am staring into the price range (aka wheels, gear, new bike :). Therefore, I might just spring for the Tacx and see how that goes.

If anyone has any other thoughts or things they use that they like PLEASE let me know and let me know price range as well. I have a bad feeling this winter is going to be brutal and I might be on there quite a bit. It's time to figure out how to use my time wisely!!

Also if you see some lady running around Knox yelling about burning her trainer to the ground in mid-Feb.. that would be me, hand me a plane ticket and tell me to get out of dodge so I can ride my bike in the warmth and remember what it is like not to have to wear 30+ layers to go outside or sweat my bagettes off inside on that metal touture devise. Watch out Ms. Chrislock-Lauterbach, I just might show up on your door with Kona coffee and M&M's as a house warming/please come let me stay with you and train gift!!

Things I know..

This picture was taken about 4 years ago late night at a wedding reception after party! Even then I was a push up challenger and it was caught on camera. I think Dave won, but I put up a good fight!

I know...

• I'm stoked it's the weekend.. YIPPPEEE!!

• I love butter. Yep, I said it, I'm a dietitian and I love butter on rolls, pancakes, waffles you name it. Call in the counselor "Hi, I'm Kim, and I love butter"

• By mid-January I should be able to do 100 push ups in a row.. I read Beth's blog and got this hundred push ups idea. What am I thinking..!! I do think I'm getting stronger, and it requires absoluately no equipment which is awesome!!

• Today was the last nice day we are going to have until April 16th (just an estimate) and I DIDN'T blow off work for the afternoon and ride. Darn it! I'm going to be regretting this one till about April!

• Coldplay's latest CD is da bomb.. seriously, I love every song.

• I didn't put on my cycling shoes for 31 days, and when I did, man, I remembered how I promised myself I would do SOMETHING about that smell before the next time I put them on! O well.. promises, promises!

• Hotels rooms for Buffalo Springs Lake & IM Florida - Freakin BOOKED! I am a champion! (a champion that does not like sleeping on the street before races).

• Things I love about working from home: yoga pants + super soft long sleeved t-shirt = the best working outfit I have ever had the privilege of wearing to work, no getting ready rocks, throwing in a load of laundry and then changing it to dry at lunch is going to help next season.
  

• Things I don't like about working from home: It's just good old me and desk and thank heavens for the radio, not a clear separation of me leaving my work and it's always available if I have to do some more.. not cool, I MISS PEOPLE (wait, I think that was #1).

• November 12th is entirely too early for Wal-mart to be playing Christmas music. They need to back-er-down like this second. I realize we are in a economic hardship, making me feel like even more of a delinquent than I already do about not buying presents is not helping!!

• Blog Friends are great - and I just got a people who follow this blog gadget so sign up to follow the blog so I know that I have people! Did I mention that I miss people!! I love people!! You're my people!!

Oh The Places You Will Go!

The start of the smiling run.. I call it that because I always end up smiling from ear to ear when it's finished.

Some of you may recognize the title of this blog. It's from a Dr. Seuss book that is very near and dear to my heart because a good friend gave it to me prior to Ironman. She wrote about the places I would find myself that day, and how no matter what, I would eventually see that finish line. Her words encouraged me that someone would take such time and care to write a whole little story of my day inside the front cover. Good friends are one of the best things about my life. I thank God for them every single day.

Lately I've been running... a lot. I'm running like I'm breathing for the first time, and all I can smell are the burning leaves, home cooked meals and the crisp fresh air of fall. I'm seeing the sights and learning about my new surroundings. I thought we might take a run together you and I so you could get a glimpse of what I have been so inspired by lately. Here we go!

It starts with the picture above.. the trees hovering around both sides like fans cheering me on, and protecting me from the elements when the time comes for winter wind and snow.

Then it opens up to the long road where you can see at least a half mile. There is a little farm house on the right hand side in the clearing.

These are my newest friends. I like to make noises at them and talk when I go by. Sometimes I ask how it is going today.. other times I just mooo.. I can't imagine what they are thinking as I run by, but they always watch closely to see what I am up to!

When I get to the end of this road I have a choice to make, and because the dirt goes on, I always choose to make a right on Gruenwald. Yep, Gruenwald Rocks.

Once you make the right you go around the corner to see the road wind left. You can see the top of the barn on the left. I guess it isn't red like I might have written in a previous blog, but in my mind it is, so that's all that counts!

Once you get past the barn you run down a steep hill that will visit you again on the way back. Hills are a part of life. I think Nelson Mandela said it best "After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."
True dat Nelson.

On the way back the view is just as beautiful.

Finally, I hit the paved road again, make a right and head for home. The lake house and a warm shower awaiting me. When I arrive, things always seem a bit clearer than they did before I left. I couldn't live without running. It would be like taking away my air. I'll probably be the only 80 year old on the block trying to run with her walker in the local 5k in an attempt to break 40 minutes!!

Promises & The Lake House

The border in my office. Is this some scene from a Montana Sunset. The world may never know. Do I see an Elk.. hum.. a cabin..

I made some promises during the season. Some of which I intended to keep, some of which I wasn't really so sure I should have promised in the first place! Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about here...you've done it too! Somewhere in the overtired, stressed out, overworked out, over hungry, sleep deprived, sore, crazy person who looses everything state you make promises just to keep everyone happy and still willing to put up with your hiney.

Some were made to K, which I stand by. Things like " I promise after the season is over I will learn how to cook more things than pasta and heat up vegetables in the microwave" or "I promise,after the season is over I definitely will help more around the house, do your laundry and I'll stay up a bit later so I can be like..um.. normal and stuff." I haven't been doing great on those, but I'd give me a B+ for effort of course!

The others I don't know why I promised because I think I am beyond help! For instance, my feet! The girls at the office had to see them all summer, in flip flops (because those are my staple summer footware, even in the office!). They would look at my toes and say "PROMISE you will get a pedicure after this whole Ironman thing..you're feet need serious help!" They weren't trying to be mean, and in fact, I totally agreed! My feet are runners, nasty, peeling, gross, unmaincured, untouched by pumas stones and files, kind of feet! I saw them today and gave them a close look, it wasn't pretty. I doubt I'll get the pedicure, but I thought about it for about 2 seconds and decided, what's the point! I'll just go running and ruin them again! So, that will be one promise left un-fulfilled.. sorry ladies.

So, I know you're dying to see the new place (ha ha). Here you go.. Welcome to my new home or "the lake house" as we so affectionately refer to it and that makes it sound so much more upscale than it actually is!

The New Office or As I like to call it - The very PINK ROOM


I'll be honest, I did some bitching about the color of this room, then, I got over myself and let it go. It's not my first choice of colors, but it's not my house so I shoved a sock in it.

The Bedroom.. Neutral is good. Yes, I need to buy a bedskirt Mom, I'm going right now!

We have a lamp post in our kitchen.. now just how many of you can say that?! AH Ha.. that's what I thought.

I will say when they built this place they created some amazing storage options. Seriously, we don't even have enough food to fill this kind of thing. It folds out and there is MORE behind it!

The Living Room with big windows to see the lake! Oh- and our TINY TV!

The BEST part, the lake by day.

and by night... My question is, should I seriously consider swimming here in the summer? Can you say open water practice right outside my door!!

My First Love

As I rounded the bend I could see rays lighting up the brightly colored leaves all over both sides of the dirt road. It turned to the right around a red barn before climbing to a steep uphill. All was quiet except the sound of my breath and a pair of Acics beating in time on the gravel. It was beautiful, almost memorizing, like a dream in the cool morning air. I ran and ran until I had to turn around, work was calling me back. Believe me, if it wouldn't have, I might have run all day. If I could pick a heaven, I'm pretty certain this might be it. It really is my first love you see. It's the thing that calls me back time and time again. At daybreak, or even the end of the day, it's just me and road. It's where I find myself again, forget the world and come back to clearer thoughts and a remembrance of what first made me fall in love every time.

Now that I've been away from it for awhile, it makes it that much sweeter to come back. Love is like that I guess. During the season it was a balance of heart rates, times, paces, speedwork and sometimes running until my eyes felt like they might just pop right out of my head. It meant always watching, measuring, sometimes forgetting to just enjoy. Now it's a different story, stripped down to just the basics. When possible, no watch, definitely no monitor, and just the road leading me to new places to explore.

This area is new to me. I don't know it, and it's wonderful. I pick a right turn this time, a left the next, not knowing where each will lead. I imagined what it would look like today covered in snow, knowing I would see it that way many times come winter. You know what I did not see - a car. Yep, not one. It was amazing. I'm a big fan of not having to think about cars. They are needed, but on the run I would just as soon not run into them, ever.

The love started early, from my Mother, who ran 5k's and 10k's and made it seem effortless and exciting. It continued through high school, where I ran with the boys and gave it everything but always seemed to fall short. It didn't matter though, I knew it would be a life-long love affair regardless of not achieving the goals I had planned. Then in college, I ran on my own my freshman year, but something was always missing. Being part of a team in high school was one of my favorite parts of my life at that time. It kept me grounded. I needed guidance and my coach was always there acting as a father like figure and teaching me the ways of the world. Trying out for the team at Penn State was probably one of the most terrifying things I have ever done, and yet, it produced the most rewarding years of my college career. I made friends for a lifetime and traveled all over the country learning how to think like a competitor. What a gift. After college a bad-breakup inspired me to run my first marathon. After Columbus, and then Boston, my love of long distance running took on new meaning. Then it became what next...what to do, what to learn? I needed a new avenue, something else to keep it interesting and fun.

Enter the Butler YMCA triathlon of 2005. I talked myself out of the race ten times on the way up, and without really knowing how to swim, still decided it would be worth it to try. The rest is history.

There will always be running though. Probably long after I've hung up my pool buoy and cycling shoes, running will always be there for me. The pull of a morning like this one is burned into my mind and heart and with each new route and different type of run I discover new things about myself and what I can do. It makes me wonder how people can say they hate it so much when I have so much passion and such an urge to put on those shoes every single day.

So, here's to first loves, and long runs to bring a huge smile to my face all day. May each of you find your dirt road or winding trail or whatever gives you that feeling that you so lucky to be alive and kickin.