Decisions, Decisions!

Do you have problems making decisions?  The GF and I can never make a decision.  What do you want for dinner?  And we go around and around until we go to our default restaurant.  Where do you want to go for lunch?  Same thing!  What do you want to watch?  Again, we go round and round til one of us just turns something on.  I'm not sure what the problem is, but neither one of us wants to ever make the ultimate end-all decision.  It's not that we don't like what the other might choose, it's more like we really don't care, but we don't want to be responsible for the final decision.  We're really good at saying what we DON'T want, which sort of narrows down our decisions, but then we fall into the trap of still having to make that dreaded decision.  Now that I've confused you all, I'm gonna take all the blame!  I think it's all my fault!

On my run today, my only goal was to run at least 6 miles.  It didn't need to be fast or slow and I wasn't really tied to any certain path or trail, although I did go to my normal bike path that I enjoy running on, which includes the dirt trail I like so much too!  Anywho, no boundaries today!  The weather was awesome, somewhere near 70 degrees, I had my water belt, some GU, my Garmin, and my thoughts.  I set off.  I thought to myself, "Self, if you run 4 miles out then you have to run 4 miles back."  That would put me at 8 miles for the day and then I would reassess once I got back to the car if I wanted to do more.  At mile 3 I said, "Self, I'm not positive you can make it to 8 miles today...maybe you should turn around at 3.5."  That would put me at 7 miles, and I had to get back to my car.  I was slowly approaching 3.5 and I couldn't decide what to do...I had waited to make the ultimate decision until I got there that I got all flustered and just turned around.  If I was still moving when I hit 7 miles, then I'd decide if I wanted to do more!

So, I'm headed back to the car and the miles are ticking by on my Garmin and once I got to mile 5 I just couldn't go anymore!  I was really tired, my legs just wanted a break.  So I walked for a couple minutes.  I knew I needed to finish 2 more miles so I could get back to the car, so I adopted a run/walk regime to bring it home!  I finished off the last 2 miles and although my final time wasn't the best, it also wasn't the worst, so I was satisfied.  The best decision I'd made all day was to stop at 7...AND the water fountain where I parked was working!  Bonus...it never works!  After so many sick days (I call them sick days instead of rest days, so I don't feel like I'm not running cause I'm a slacker), anyway, after so many sick days I'll take 7 miles!  I have 3 weeks til my Halfer, so I think I can get back into the groove just in time.

I'm also considering running a Halfer 2 weeks after this one in 3 weeks...don't know yet.  We'll see where these next 3 weeks takes me.  This will be the first half since I've been getting faster and losing weight.  So, I'm really looking forward to this race!

Do you have a problem making decisions?

Are you a Mega Millionaire?  I'm not...didn't even match the mega ball number on ANY of my picks!

How was your run today?

~Chix

Back In The Saddle

Today's run was anything but easy!  It was my first day back since I got my cold.  I haven't run since last Tuesday, which was a 4.5-miler, and the Sunday before that was my 10-miler.  Although I did play 3 softball games last weekend, but of all the running I did in those games, it probably didn't equal close to a full mile!  But I'm back, and although I didn't feel sick, it wasn't an easy run.

I decided to jump right back in the mix with a 4 mile trail run!  A little overzealous for my first go round, but I thought I needed to do something a little more challenging to show I didn't lose all my hard work and training by taking 9 days off!  The sun was shining, the trails were clear from people, and the rest was up to me.  I started with a pretty good first mile...my usual trail pace, just over a 10 min mile.  Then I started thinking the roads might have been a better choice for my run today.  The second mile was a full minute slower than the first.  I was able to cut off a few seconds from the 3rd mile, and the 4th mile was all new trails I'd never been on before and I wasn't sure where I was going and I was getting tired, so clearly it was the slowest mile, but on average the whole run was just over an 11 min mile!  I would consider that a success!

Tomorrow I might just stick to the roads because I wanna get in as many miles as possible tomorrow (more than 6, less than 12).  It's gonna be another great weather day tomorrow so I really wanna take advantage of the sunshine.  I'm not gonna try to hit a specific pace or time, I just wanna feel comfortable and pump out some much needed mileage.

I can't even look ahead to the weekend yet, because work is so crazy busy.  I really shouldn't even be blogging right now because I have so much to do, but I really wanted to tell you about my run.  So, I'm off to work now, and I'll check back in tomorrow.

Have a great weekend.

What are your plans?  I have a study group tomorrow, my run, and a final four party tomorrow.

~Chix

Thirteen Things Thursday

Thirteen things you may not know about me!

1.  I got my class observation results back yesterday and I was AWESOME, just like my blog!  The worst thing on the report was that I need to use darker markers!

2.  I don't like hair that is not attached to the body!  Sounds weird, but it makes me gag...can't clean the shower drains, can't clean out the GF's hair brush, unfortunate to have to hairy dogs and cats!

3.  I wear my watch on my right wrist even though I am right handed.  Feels weird on my left wrist.

4.  I have the worst memory in history!  I can't remember things I wrote down to remember!  For example, something is going to be happening on Friday morning, but I'm not sure what it is!

5.  I used to suck my thumb until I was in the fourth grade!

6.  I have the greatest nail beds and nails on my hands!  I have to cut my fingernails every 2 weeks because they grow so fast and they are super thick and sexy.  Can fingernails even be sexy?

7.  When I was a junior in high school I almost legally changed my middle name to "The Great"!

8.  I cry watching every episode of anything I watch!  Grey's - cry, Biggest Loser - cry, Castle - cry, Mike & Molly - cry, commercials - cry.  I'm sort of a cry baby!

9.  If I had to choose one food to eat for the rest of my life it would probably be cheese.  Sharp cheddar and some bleu too!

10.  I am a HUGE procrastinator!  Everything...work, school, life...I pretty much wait until it's absolutely necessary to get things done, and then I wait just a little longer to see how long I can push it, and then I pretend like I've already done it and tell people I've done it, and then finally I do it and possibly owe a late fee or penalty.

11.  I cannot recall the last time I've ever misplaced my keys or my wallet, because I always put them in the exact same places.  I'm sort of anal like that, but I didn't mention it as one of these 13 things because most of you already know I have a mild case of OCD!

12.  My dad used to drink Coors Light and he'd make let me 'fetch' his beers from fridge and open them up and suck up all the 'foam' that appeared on the top of the can.  Little did I know back then that "head is bad"...you'll never see me "suck the foam" ever again.  Puns intended!

13.  One summer when I was in 5th grade, I borrowed every Babysitter's Club book from my best friend at the time and over the entire summer read them all (at this point there were only 36 books), but I read them all!  There's like over 200 now, but I took so much pride that I'd read them all over one summer!

Hope you enjoyed a peek into my crazy world!

~Chix

Dogs, Rum, and Coke

Happy Hump Day!  I've got some fun pics for you today!

Last week Jersey was patiently waiting for Neko to come back inside...this week Neko is waiting for Jersey to come back.


"But where is she?  I'll take a quick look!"

Here's Jersey watching some tv.  This is Footloose, but you should see how excited she gets when sports are on!


"Oh Ren, I sure do wish you were playing basketball instead of dancing!!"

This is my new favorite drink.  It seriously tastes like Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal!

That's Horchata with Rum...AMAZING!
My drink is about 4 parts Rum Chata and 1 part Milk over ice!

Okay, now let me preface these next couple of pictures with the fact that Albuquerque is always the last to know...anything!  Which means, so am I!  This has got to be THE.COOLEST.THING.I'VE.SEEN in a very very VERY long time!  So, I apologize in advance for those of you who have known about these since they came out in 2010!



So many choices!

That's a Coke machine with a touch screen that can serve up to 125 different types of Coca-Cola products!  It serves both carbonated and non-carbonated beverages.  Once you press a general button like "Coke" it'll show you about 8 other buttons that are all the flavored choices!  And it does this for every soda button you push.  IT'S AMAZING!  Unfortunately, I'm not drinking soda, so I could only use the water button (because I didn't notice the Powerade Zero button until after I was done eating)!  Seriously, the greatest invention EVER!

Have you seen one of these machines?

Do your animals watch tv?

What's your favorite liquor?

~Chix

Mini Challenges

It was amazing....The Hunger Games I'm talking about!  It was amazing!  They really did stay true to the book!  Other than leaving a few minor things out and reducing the roles of some individuals (it's a lot harder to develop characters in movies than it is in books), I think they did a great job!  Oh, and the violence wasn't as bad as in the books.  Movies are able to create the "essence" that something really bad happened just by showing blood spatters, but with books you have to describe what exactly is happening so the reader can picture it in their heads.  I think Suzanne Collins should be very happy with the way the movie turned out!  I certainly enjoyed it!  Thanks BFJ!

I also had a softball tourney this weekend and my team was NOT happy when I told them I couldn't make our Sunday afternoon game because "I was going to the movies!"  But, you all know how excited I was about this movie, so obviously I wasn't going to bail on those plans!  Besides the GF would've killed me!  Seriously though, I would have never backed out on plans I'd already made with the GF and BFJ!  The softball team lost anyway...so I'm glad I went to the movies instead!!

So, the story remains the same up until today...and that story is I'm. Still. Sick.  That's right...this stupid head cold will NOT go away!  I'm gonna try running tomorrow after a full 7 days rest, so hopefully my feet and legs will remember what to do!  Doing anything more than 3 or 4 miles would just be ridiculous, but I'd really like to get in a good long run this weekend, so I'm gonna need some good runs during the next few days.  Luckily it's still amazing weather outside, so I'll get to run some trails this week!!  I'm normally fine while I run, it's the coughing attack after my run that I'm not looking forward to!  I'll keep you posted!

I've decided that I'm gonna start doing some personal mini challenges.  Little things like running streaks and push-ups or sit-ups challenges.  Maybe cross training or weight lifting options, or maybe even food challenges.  Since I'm very very religious, and I've given up soda for Lent, it's given me a reason to believe that I'm also very very disciplined!  Actually I'm not very disciplined, so I'm thinking these little challenges might help me.  At least help me feel good about myself while taking on a challenge...and who doesn't love a good challenge?

Have any ideas for a good challenge?

Do you run when you're sick?

~Chix

Most Important Election Ever

I'm not quite sure how this happened, but I was nominated for having the best running blog by Fitness magazine.  You can go vote for me here!

So, I suggest you click on that link right away and go Vote.  You can also vote for all your other favorite running blogs...there's even links to go vote for healthy living blogs, or inspirational blogs, or eating blogs.  But while you're there, you can vote for mine too.  I'm sure I won't win since I only have one vote so far, and a few of MY favorite blogs I've already voted for!  But it's kinda cool that someone out there nominated me!

WAIT ONE COTTON PICKIN MINUTE!!

I know how this happened:

Someone finally realized that I'm kind of a big deal on my blog!

It's nice that this happened on a day that's smack dab in the middle of a week where I haven't really posted much about running!  I promise to really attack this running blogging even bigger and better maybe the size of my head now once I'm done being sick!  Maybe I'll even start giving some running advice that I really don't advise following!  Or health tips on how not to fuel your body before and after races.  And maybe I'll start bloggin on the weekends!  It looks like I've got a lot of work to do! 

So, thank you!  Thanks to the kind person out there who nominated my blog!  I just wanted to make my granny happy and run in her honor and look at me now: I became a runner and a running blogger!

If you're still reading this, please stop and go vote!

~Chix

May the Odds Be EVER In Your Favor!

I was happy to hear that some other folks are just as excited to see the movie as I am!  I did not go to the midnight showing last night, but I know some people did.  How was it?  Wait!  Don't tell me!  I will find out for myself on Sunday!  Yesterday, I watched about 15 different trailers along with the Red Carpet World Premier Event!  The one overall theme was that Suzanne Collins is a brilliant author!  I agree!

Second day of almost not getting out of bed!  I hate being sick, but today is such a nice day, that I had to at least go in to work for a while.  I took an alkaseltzer this morning and although it didn't say anything about making me drowsy, I'm feeling pretty tired at work right now!  And I'm staring out the window at the motionless trees and the blue sky and the sunshine bouncing off the road!  Oh, how I wish I could go running in this awesome weather!

I remember back when I was in elementary school and I'd get sick.  If I didn't go to school on Friday (because I was sick) my mother would cancel all my activities over the weekend.  She would tell me, "If you're too sick to go to school, then you're too sick to go to your friends birthday party!"  So, I made sure to never miss school on Friday's!  It's a little different now that I'm older and stubborn, but I hate staying home from work when I'm sick because all I do is sleep.  I'd rather miss work because I'm out having fun drinking and going to the zoo!  Or going on vacation!  Or going to the movies!  Maybe I'll take one of those holidays real soon!

When I'm sick, I crave silly things.  Last night I was eating these:


Girl Scout DoSiDos with extra peanut butter in the middle!

And while I was eating those, little Jersey was waiting for her sister to come back inside to play!


Neko?  Where are you?

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  I've got softball tomorrow and The Hunger Games on Sunday!

~Chix

The HUNGER GAMES!

It's official, Tim Tebow belongs to the Jets now, so those two guys with the Tebow jersey's can relax!  And Peyton Manning is a Bronco now, so maybe we'll convincingly win a football game this year from the beginning and not just on some 4th quarter fluke, although those are pretty fun to watch.  Whatever happens, I still believe the Broncos are rebuilding...my only concern now is having the proper offensive line to actually protect Manning from further injuries!  Only time will tell!  And I'm also a bit skeptical on how Peyton is going to look in orange...

An update from yesterday's high speed chase:  Apparently, some douche bag was shooting at a car with two ladies in it and then took off (ladies are ok) in his yellow mustang.  Some guy tried to follow him, but got bullets shot at him also, so he retreated.  Then a pursuit ensued through the westside of the city, missing a set of Spikes thrown across the road just before the freeway on-ramp.  He proceeded to get on the highway gaining speed up to around 150 and was being followed by at least the 17 cops that I saw.  He eventually got hit somehow by a large semi truck, then got out and proceeded to flee on foot, when cops (multiple it sounds like) started shooting and the suspect was struck and killed.  Unsure of whether he was running with his firearm and shooting at cops.  Just goes to show that had he not resisted arrest in the first place, he might still be alive today, albeit in a jail cell, but alive!

Next bit of business...I am SO FRIGGIN EXCITED for the Hunger Games to come out!  It opens in theaters tomorrow, and we are scheduled to go on Sunday afternoon!!  I haven't been this excited about a movie since the last Harry Potter came out!  This was an amazing book, and I can't wait to see the movie.  For those of you who haven't read the book, go do it now!  For those of you who only care to see the movie, you'll still get the full effect.  Although I've heard the directors and producers took some creative license with the film, they've kept the storyline intact and the reviews are saying it's gonna be great!

I'm actually really surprised that I was even able to get out of bed this morning.  The head cold has officially reared it's ugly head and now it's just laughing in my face!  My throat is sore, my nose is stuffed, my eyes are burning, my head is throbbing, and my body is sore.  I'd much rather be in bed right now, but here I sit at work thinking of all the things on my list that I have to get done!  So, if you don't mind, I think I'll go back to thinking about how excited I am about the hunger games.  I even have a copy of the book on my computer, so maybe I'll just start reading!

Have you read the book?  Are you going to see the movie?

Have a happy Thursday!

~Chix

Wordless Wednesday (Kinda)

These Jets fans might have jumped on the bandwagon just a bit too soon!


Tebow jersey's and it's only been half a day since the trade was announced.

Unfortunately for these two guys, he might not even go to the Jets now!

Here is the actual picture of one of the Vampire coffins I made for the GF's huge project.


Took me a while to get the pic because the GF did so awesome
on the project that her teacher asked to keep it!

My boss is an arena football umpire.


That's him in the zebra print talking to #81 - Terrell Owens!

This was taken in Albuquerque on March 11th, when T.O.'s team, the Allen Wranglers, came to play our New Mexico Stars.
UPDATE: High speed car chase I spoke of in my earlier post today, ended in the guy's car getting hit by a semi and he supposedly died at the scene. This is from a local news station, so it could be all rumors! I'll update again tomorrow!


~Chix

Wordy Wednesday

Today was that frightful day that most all new teachers have to go through...the class observation day.  My mentor in the department that I teach, came into my class this morning to "observe me".  Naturally, I'm sure most new teachers are a bit nervous when another more seasoned instructor comes in to your class and jots down notes about things you did and most likely didn't do while teaching your class!  Well, not me!  I wasn't really nervous, but I did catch myself looking in her direction way too much...like I was looking for confirmation on things that I was saying.  It's actually a good thing that she was there today, and here's why:

• She can tell me all those wonderful things that I'm doing right.
• She can tell me all those horrible things I'm doing wrong.
• She can give me new ideas on how to motivate my class.
• She can tell me things that I said, that I don't even know that I said.
• She can tell me things that I did, that I didn't even know that I did.

And then I can continue, stop, or change everything I'm doing now and it'll just make me a better teacher!  Sounds easy!

I took the day off from running because I am still sick.  This morning I had a nose bleed which hasn't happened in about 20 years!  It was more of a freak thing, but it was still a nose bleed.  So, it seemed like a wonderful excuse to have lunch with the GF!  On my way back to work, I saw 17 cops flying down the other direction on the highway because there was a high speed chase going on!  Tried to look it up on the news channels, but nothing about it yet.  I was scared at first that it was a jail break, because all the cops were heading toward the jail area, but luckily it wasn't that!

A while back I posted on here about buying new clothes to fit my body comfortably, because I probably wasn't going to be losing any weight any time soon, so I was just accepting the fact that I needed bigger britches and I could still drink my beer.  Well, I'm still drinking beer, but I've lost some weight over the last couple months and now all those clothes are starting to feel too big for me.  That's great and all, but I really like these new jeans and pants I have and they are far from being worn out, so I am now going to accept the fact that it might look like I'm swimming in my clothes for a while, until it's really crucial I need to buy new stuff...I mean I don't really have money to buy new stuff anyway, so I guess it works itself out.

I did try to pawn off some clothes on my brother though, but he's a lot taller than me and I don't want him to look like a circus clown!  We'll have a clothing exchange party and try on each others clothes!  I have lots of stuff to give away.  The GF will probably be excited to see me get rid of lots of stuff.  We just gave about 4 bags full of clothes to Goodwill and the closet is still full of my crap!!  I never wear it all, but it's so hard to make that final decision that I'll never wear it ever again!  I need to learn how to make large quilts, so I can just sew all my old stuff together to keep the memories instead of taking up room in the closet!

What do you do with all your old clothes?

~Chix

Numb's the Word

I took my new shoes for a 4.5 mile run today on the Mill!

Remember these pretty babies??!!!

At first I had that weird feeling like all my toes were numb and it was hard to run, then the shoes felt like I was wearing a shoe glove...Perfect!  I'm so glad I was able to get these shoes.  I'm also attempting to track the mileage in them, so I don't over wear them!  Now that I've been running a lot more I don't want my shoes to be the reason that I get injured.  Let's keep that up to my clumsiness!

Anywhoo, the beginning of my run felt slow and labored.  I could tell my legs were coming off of a really long run and I could tell my body still hasn't officially said "goodbye" to this head cold.  Once I got to mile 2, the next few miles felt really good, but once I got past 4 miles, my legs said "that's enough", so I finished at 4.5 and called it a day!  Now that I'm back at the office, I'm glad I quit when I did because they're already tightening up.  Maybe I should take some Ibu...my favorite medicine for practically everything!  A large (500 tablet) bottle sits on my desk all day!

I finally sat down and did my taxes.  It's been a long time coming.  You always think it's gonna take forever, but it really didn't take a tremendous amount of time.  I started them on Friday, got some questions answered by Sunday, and finished them yesterday.  I feel good that they are finally done!  And for the first time ever I actually e-filed them.  I'm old school, so I prefer to do my taxes by hand.  I don't like when computer programs ask for all my personal information.  So, I still prepared them by hand and then entered everything into the computer, and we came to the same amounts for every column, so I was satisfied that I could send them in electronically!  So proud of me!

I think I got the GF excited to maybe do a Ragnar someday!  XLMIC at Taking It On posted a blog about Nuun taking applications/audition tapes for a spot on one of their 3 Hood to Coast Relay teams.  They are putting together 3 all women, all blogger relay teams for the HTC race in August.  Sounds fun!  Anywho, as I was looking at the websites about this race, the GF came over and got excited because she'd never heard about something like this.  So, maybe a relay is in our future!


http://nuun.com/blog/2012/03/19/hood-to-coast-relay-2012/

Have you ever done a large relay like HTC or Ragnar?  How was it?

Have you filed YOUR taxes yet?  Due date is April 17th!

~Chix

Shamrock Shuffle 10 Miler Recap

Yesterday I ran the Shamrock Shuffle 10-Miler in Alb, NM.  Mental note: Never run this race again!  Ok, with that said, here's the recap...

I had a wonderful packet pick-up experience, because I didn't have to go!  The GF was right next door, so she picked it up for me.  Another white race t-shirt (I hate white t-shirts) and my bib...I get my timing chip when I arrive at the start.

I woke up at 6:30 to get ready so I could leave by 7:10ish.  The race was actually in Rio Rancho, which is about 30 minutes from my house (with minimal traffic).  I arrived and parked and got my timing chip very quickly.  I used the restroom twice, which is on top of the two times I used it at home before I left.  These 4 trips where not pretty.  I was actually unsure of whether I'd be able to run 10 miles without having to stop for some explosive action!  Spoiler alert: I never had to stop!!

A month ago, after perusing me 10 mile split times from past half-marathons, I decided that my goal for this race would be 1:42:00.  After last Sunday's 15K, I knew I could beat that goal.  But on Friday, when I decided to get a head cold AND seeing that the weather was going to be crappy and windy, I changed my goal time to 1:45:00, secretly keeping the 1:42:00 in the back of my mind of course.  Either way it would be a PR for this distance!

Race starts at 8:30.  I started near the front of about 125 people just to keep the dodging and weaving to a minimum.  I stayed way to the right of the large group anyway, so nobody really had to go out of their way to get around me.  After half a mile of a flat course I look down at my watch and I'm at an 8:25 minute mile pace!  WHAT THE HELL!  SLOW DOWN SPEED RACER!  I was able to hold my horses and finished the first mile around 9:30.  So much for feeling fast...the rest of the course went uphill, then downhill for what seemed like .2 of a mile and back up, and it repeated this process over and over until the finish!

Mile 2 - Straight uphill, windy kind of at my back, but a bitch of a hill!  (Have I mentioned how much I hate hills?)

Mile 3 - Slightly downhill, then back up, around a couple corners and so windy that dirt is in my mouth and eyes now.  And because I sweat so much, it's coating my face!

Mile 4 - Into housing community now so houses are blocking the dirt, but not the wind which is blowing me from side to side and coming straight into my face as I trudge my way back up the hills again. 

Miles 5-7 - Just some more uphill in the wind and dirt.  This is were we start the 2nd loop back through the housing community.  Unfortunately we passed the finish line around the 10K mark and a few voices came into my head telling me this was far enough...but I pushed on!

Miles 8-9 - Around this time I passed a friend of mine who was also racing.  She kept slowing down on the uphills and I finally made the surge past her.  At one point when I came up next to her, she made some silly excuse and sped off, but I finally got passed her and kept moving my legs on the uphill parts.

Mile 10 - I knew this was about 25% downhill at the beginning and then the rest was uphill to the finish.  I wasn't nearly going as fast as I started the race, but I knew I could finish within my goal time, so I kept my legs going.  It wasn't easy...especially when you see all the 5K and 10K finishers still running up and down the streets.  It's almost as if those runners need to run 10 miles, but only run the 5K so they can take 1st place...then they rub it in your face that you've still got miles and miles to go by going the opposite way on the course!  Stop it please!

I finished, with not much flourish, in 1:42:24!  Just over my secret goal, but under the big goal!  So, not too shabby for the weather, the sickness, and only running once all last week!  I also received a finisher's medal...the first time I've gotten one of those in these small races.

Then the coughing and dry heaving attack ensued!  I tried to drink some water and duck behind a truck to get out of the blowing dirt's way, but it only made me wanna puke, so I pulled myself together, congratulated a couple friends on their finish, and made my way back to my car.  As I was driving home, I captured this sweet picture and was so glad the race was over!

Yep, that's dirt in the sky...we call that a "brown out" here in Albuquerque!  At one point I couldn't even see those cars in front of me!  The rest of the day went like the picture above, so I stayed inside and complained about how out of shape my upper body is and that I really need to do something about that for my next race.  My shoulders are killing me today.

So, overall, I had a fairly good time for everything that was going on prior to and during the run.  I will probably never run that race again because I HATE HILLS!  Had the wind been any worse during the race I might have dropped out early.  Had my bowels not cooperated I might have dropped out early.  Had my sickness taken over this weekend I might have dropped out completely.  I think I'm a rockstar!

~Chix

Three Things Thursday

1.  It's March Madness and it's the only time of the year that I love watching college basketball!  I keep up with my favorite teams throughout the season, but I can watch any game any time during the madness!  And I love love love when the underdog wins! 

2.  In more pressing news, I woke up this morning with a sore throat and I immediately panicked!  "What am I going to do about my race on Sunday?  I can't get sick now!"  So I loaded up on some drugs and hopefully I can kill it, or postpone it, until after my race!  I'm still on a runners high from the race this past weekend, that I don't want this awesomeness to go away just yet!  So, I took it easy at the gym today only doing 4 miles instead of the scheduled 6.  My training plan is all over the place this week because of rest days and travel days.  I'm gonna have to get creative for tomorrow and Saturday, so as not to wear myself out, but still get in some good pre-race runs.

3.  I think it's about time to discuss the most amazing invention EVER: The Doritos Locos Taco!  This is seriously the best tasting taco I've ever had!  And the best part is once you're done eating the taco, you get to lick the doritos cheese off your fingers!  It really is amazing and if you haven't tried it yet, you need to stop everything and go get one...you can splurge just this once...believe me, you won't regret it!

Who are you cheering for in the basketball tourney?

Have you tried the Doritos Locos Taco yet?

~Chix

More Pics from the Weekend

We had a pretty fun trip to Phoenix this past weekend.  We hung out with some friends, went to some baseball games, went to some softball games, drank lots of beer, ate lots of food, went for a 15K run, and just had a nice time.  Here are some pictures from the weekend!


This pic is kinda dark, but we went to the Tilted Kilt for my pre-race meal.
The waitresses were REAL nice!

The Fountain!  It goes off every hour, on the hour, for 15 minutes!

The Team winners won their weight in Beer!  Those are cases of Kilt Lifter stacked toward the back, and they weighed them on that teeter-totter looking thing!

The teeter-totter!

This poor guy forgot to apply band-aids before the race started!

This guy felt it was necessary to sun bathe after the race in his compression shorts.
Thanks, but no thanks!

Albert Poopholes at the Angels v. Dodgers game (3/12).
Dodgers win 9 to 1 or something like that!  Woohoo!  Go Dodgers!

Went to dinner at Kabuki for some sushi.  It was at a place called The District with loads of restaurants.

There was this really cool fireplace waterfall in the middle of The District.

The GF and her boyfriend Trent Oeltjen!  He's Australian...enough said!

Overall, a pretty fabulous weekend!

~Chix

Mountain to Fountain 15K Recap

On Sunday I ran the Mountain to Fountain 15K in Fountain Hills, Arizona.  It was a beautiful race!  But let me start at the beginning.  After only 5 hours of sleep in a not so comfortable hotel bed, I woke up feeling somewhat refreshed.  I got dressed, grabbed all my stuff and headed out for the half hour drive to Fountain Hills.  It's nice that nobody is on the roads at 6am!  Parking was easy and the buses to the start were right around the corner.  I grabbed some safety pins for my bib and got on the bus.


I haven't been on an actually school bus in FOREVER!  Felt just the same.

As our bus pulls away, some guy says "I can register up at the top right?"  He couldn't, so we got the bus driver to let him off so he could run back and register.  The bus ride seemed like it took forever AND there were so many hills!  I never run hills, so I wasn't sure how I would fare because there were seriously 7 or 8 of them.

Once we arrived at the start, there were lots of people milling around.  So, I did my double duty at the port-o-potties.  I knew it things were starting to align correctly when my second go round to pee, I ended up in the same port-o as the first time!  Weird, but lucky!  I dropped off my gear and stood around for another 15 minutes until the start.  It was pretty chilly up on the mountain, but I the sun was already out and I knew it was gonna warm up real quick.  I was pretty excited because I love running in the sun!  Here's the starting area!

We started right on time, but it was pretty congested.  Over 700 people are trying to run up this one street, but I think everyone started finding their spots, because it opened up quickly.  The first mile was all uphill, so with the congestion and the need to warm up I didn't shoot out the gates too fast, but it was still a small challenge with the uphill and all.

Once we turned the corner after mile 1, miles 2 through 4 were all downhill.  I tried not to go too fast, because I knew there were hills eventually and I wanted to save some energy.  I was very consistent for these 3 miles, and I was running faster than I've ever run before in a race.  My goal going into the race was a conservative 1:35:00.  That's about a 10:30 minute mile, but I wasn't sure how I'd do with the hills.  I was well under this pace, but then again I was going downhill!  This course was amazing.  I had finally warmed up around mile 1.5, so I finally relaxed and looked up (I'm known for watching my feet as I run).  The scenery was gorgeous.  You could see for miles and miles...blue skies, warm sun, mountains and cacti, and lots of bobbing heads!  I tuned into my body and it felt great.

We turned on to the main road after the 4th mile and I can see the rolling hills.  My goal is to try and keep the pace uphill and add a few seconds on the downhill.  There were about 5 or 6 hills for about 2 and a half miles and I was kicking some major hill ass!  I didn't feel like they were that tough.  I would look at my feet going up, so I wouldn't notice the big hill, then speed down the other side keeping a great pace.  At mile 6.5 it came though...the enormous hill!  This sucker lasted an entire mile and felt like it went straight up.  All the people that passed me during miles 2 through 4 were walking up this hill.  I kept my legs moving at a very slow jog, but I never stopped to walk.  It was as if this hill was never ending.  I dropped 20 seconds at the end of 6 miles and was at a 12:30 milie pace as I got to mile 7.5....but, we all know, the ONLY good thing about a big hill, is the downhill on the other side!  I was able to pick up time on the way down and not finish with that 12:30 mile for number 7.  I was so surprised that my legs had any kick left in them though.  It wasn't easy getting up that hill, but they wanted to keep going!

There were about 2 more hills during the last 1.3 miles, but my legs felt great and picked up speed as I finished the race.  We pull around this last corner and there's the big park with the fountain.  It wasn't on when I crossed the finished, but I saw it in the distance as I was around mile 6.  But I was definitely gonna stick around to get some great pics.  Anywho, I could see the finish line about .2 ahead.  The announcer was calling out names and my legs gave every last bit they had.  I'm also not known for kicking it in at the end, but they wanted to go go go.  Final time was 1:30:33!  A 15K PR...only cause I've never run one before!  I was so friggin excited!  Especially with how great I felt and that I can really feel myself getting faster and enjoying what I'm doing (although the downhill bits helped a lot)!

Here's the Finisher's area.

Overall, this was a beautiful course, a fun race, and I had a great time.  I would definitely wanna do this race again in the future...which is another great excuse to come to Spring Training!  Here's how the numbers rounded out:

Mile 1 - 9:52

Mile 2 - 9:13

Mile 3 - 9:33

5K Split - 29:51

Mile 4 - 9:33

Mile 5 - 9:31

Mile 6 - 9:30

10K Split - 59:27

Mile 7 - 9:53

Mile 8 - 10:34

Mile 9 - 9:45

Mile .3 - 9:07

Official Time 1:30:33

Finished 556 out of 780

Not too shabby!  I'll post some fun pictures tomorrow!  And I'll talk a little about my fun weekend in Phoenix!

~Chix

Wheels on the Bus...

So, we're chillin at the airport getting ready to board our flight to Phoenix to go visit warmer weather.  I've been getting these text updates all day about our flight being delayed.  First they said we were delayed for an hour and twenty minutes, then they came back and said it was only a 15 minute delay and then they said it was more like a 45 minute delay.  So who knows.  We were planning on getting here early anyway to eat dinner.  Now we are stuffed pigs sitting and waiting for our delayed flight.  No matter what time we finally get there, I'm gonna be so excited that at midnight in Phoenix, it's still warmer weather than at 3pm today in Albuquerque!

Speaking of Albuquerque, some dumb ass stole a school bus today and went on a high speed chase Eastbound on I-40.  They had to put spikes out and ended up having to shoot him to stop the bus.  The highway was closed for 7 hours.  First of all, only in New Mexico does some idiot steal a bright yellow big as shit school bus (no kids on it) and try to get away from the cops.  If you're planning on running from the cops, why not choose something smaller, more manageable, possibly able to mix in with other cars or hide quickly behind large trees!  NO, this guy had to go all out!  Second of all, I didn't know what happened until this afternoon, so I wasn't necessarily affected by it.  But in hindsight, I couldn't figure out why my main route to work was so backed up this morning.  My normal 20 minute drive took me 40 minutes.  It was crazy this morning!  The whole reason I don't drive on I-40 is so I can stay away from these crazy drivers, but luckily for me, they were all re-routed off the highway and brought around to my road!  Thanks crazy bus stealing moron!

So, remember the other day when I posted about needing to sell my shoes?  Well, I went into the store that I bought them from and told the guy I only wore them 3 times and was looking to sell them.  He said, "bring them back in and we'll get you a new shoe".  How friggin cool is that?  Already worn and no receipt!  So today I boxed them up and returned them to the store and got this sweet pair of shoes:

I already did a couple mile in them today, AND the lucky bastards are already taking a scenic flight to Phoenix!  No, don't worry, I'm not gonna race in them on Sunday, but I am gonna wear those things around and show them off because they are so pretty.  Can I let you in on a little secret though?  These are the exact same shoes that I already run in, just a NEW color!  So, it's sort of perfect now isn't it.

My lower back and hip have been hurting the last couple of days so I limited my run to just 2 miles and probably do the same tomorrow since my race is Sunday morning and I don't want to kill myself before I've even toed the start line (like I'd ever be that close to the front of a race).  I think it's from picking up dog poop and cleaning the litter boxes...a lot of bending at the waist.

Anywho, packet pick up tomorrow and lots of baseball watching to do.  I'll get back to you all soon about my pre-race prep.

Any big races in store for you this weekend?

~Chix

Wednesday Wramblings

The last 3 days have been INSANE at work, so I apologize for not writing to you all (especially BFJ because she's traveling and probably wants to know what's happening in my life).  I also just got in my first run since Sunday, so that's another reason I haven't written either.  But, even with 2 days off I had a pretty kick ass 5 mile run today!  What's so great about this month is that basketball is going to be on tv nonstop and it's so easy to run on the treadmill while watching basketball.  I get so caught up in the crazy action that I forget I've just run 5 miles!  Good stuff!

Like I said, work has been crazy.  I have been going nonstop every minute (and extra minute) I've been here.  Monday I worked til 7pm, Tuesday I came in at 7am, and today I'm still here and it's after 5!  Things have been outrageous.  We're switching some stuff over to a new system and I didn't realize it was going to take as much time as it's been taking, so I'm just overwhelmed right now.  And what totally sucks is the bossman is out of town and I can't even slack off this time because not only am I swamped, but I leave town on Friday and will be out of the office 2 days next week.  CRAZY!

Enough about that...I've got a 15K on Sunday in Fountain, Arizona. 

I'm so so so excited for this race because it's a distance I've never done before in a place I've never been before on a course I've never run before!  How exciting is that?  An automatic PR is coming!  Earlier this week I was a little scared because right after I registered for the race I received 2 different emails saying I was "running out of time to sign up and it was going to sell out".  I had to email the race director to make sure I was signed up...I am, so no worries!  And the weather in Phoenix is so much better than the Burque...running outside in shorts and a t-shirt is exactly what I want to be doing this weekend!

The GF has two big projects and an exam due between tonight and tomorrow at 3:15.  Now although I'm sure she's ready for her test tomorrow, she'll probably read a whole bunch of stuff to study for that tonight, and she's wants nothing but to turn in her project tomorrow and put all that group stuff behind her, but the big moment is happening right now as we speak (or I write and you read)!  The project we've been working on for the last week now was finally presented to her class and I can't wait to hear how it went!  I got to spray paint and line little coffins for her!  Sounds a little creepy right?  Well, it was for a Vampire book presentation! 


Wait til you see the one I did!!!

She did so good on the project and I was excited to help her although I did most of it in a dead haze on Monday night after a long day of work!  I'll let you know the details when I find out!

My class took their 2nd exam this morning and I'm really at a loss for words right now.  I tried to make it sooooo much easier for them this go round.  I took 2 questions off the exam, I made the questions pretty easy, I gave them a (not so)hypothetical example right before the test, and I designed the questions after problems we've been working on for the last 3 weeks, and I think I just confused them more.  Don't ask me how...but I did it!  I pretty much do everything, but give them the answers and they still can't find them!  I'm still positive they did better than the first exam, but now I have to revamp part 3 of my class so we can avoid this situation again!  This teaching thing is a whole lot of fun, but sometimes I wish I could shake the students and scream "WAKE UP!  WAKE THE F*!& UP!"

WOW!  I apologize for that!  But thanks for letting me get it out!  I had an amazing trip to Costco today!  I went outside the box and bought stuff I've never bought before.  It's for our office...I literally get to go shopping and buy any kind of food or drink we want to stock our fridge and pantry!  I got fruits, snacks, fruit snacks, and lots of drinks, and lots of suprisingly healthy-ish stuff (more than normal).  We couldn't stop walking into the kitchen this afternoon to try everything.  Only disappointing thing (other than no cherries for the GF) was there were only 3 people handing out samples, so all I had was a corn dog, a slice of spinach and cheese ravioli, and a pomegranite healthy bones drink...boring and starving!

Thanks for letting me ramble!

~Chix

Me...Random? Yes!

OMG!  Nothing but complaining today at work...not teaching work...work work!  I've been here for an hour and complain, complain, complain!

I had a really good class this morning.  We played Bingo to help study for the exam on Wednesday!  Nobody won, but they worked a boatload of problems!  I think it went well!

Had lunch plans with a good friend today, but she postponed me until tomorrow, so now I get to see the GF for lunch...I'd say it's a win-win for me! 

I wore a black button-up shirt today (some of you say button-down...same thing).  All I can see is all the lint on it...and it's bothering me.  I need a lint roller.

I have SO MUCH work to do today, it's beyond comprehensible.  I might have to stay late just doing stupid work.  This new program really sucks and makes my job so much harder!  I wish I were a full time teacher!

I look good today!  Caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror on the way out of the house today and Yowzah, I am a sex-pot!

My back hurts from an amazingly fast 8 miles I ran yesterday...and I don't care!

Read a very tearful story online today about a woman in a car accident who just got reunited with her dog 53 days later.  The dog apparently took off when the accident happened and she just got him back! 

I should have given up candy for Lent because I can't stop eating it. 

Laura at Undeterrable reminded me that I still need to do my taxes!  So, that's another thing I gotta do this week!

Vacation on Friday, Vacation on Friday, Vacation on Friday!

And a Happy Birthday to my Seester today!  Love you!

What's random about you today?

~Chix

Running, Musicals, and Beer

My Running Habit
I just got done running 8 miles and I feel great.  We waited to go until around noon because the GF slept in all morning and I had to grade papers.  The sun was shining, there was a small breeze, and everything seemed to be going our way.  I was able to eat some breakfast before running, so I was fueled pretty well (plus GU of course).  The GF probably could have fueled herself better, but she ended up running 6 miles, which is just amazing.  She just amazes me every day!  Anyway, the run felt great.  My pace stayed consistent and I finished strong, and I think I even negative split the second half!  I feel so good going into this week, and I'm really looking forward to my race next weekend.

I have signed up for the Mountain to Fountain 15K in Arizona next weekend.  We're heading out there for Spring Training, and I have 9 miles on my plan, so this race fit right in!  And then when we return home, the next weekend I have the Shamrock Shuffle 10-miler!  I'm right on pace for training for my April 21st halfer.  I'm really enjoying running lately.  I've almost ALMOST used it as an excuse to not go to lunch...but not yet!  I also don't feel as guilty taking rest days, because I'm putting in so many weekly miles already.  I love this shit!

Musical Maniacs
Last night the GF and I went to see Young Frankenstein!  If it ever comes to your town, I suggest you go see it...it was seriously one of the best musicals we've seen in a long time.  Hilarious script and songs and the actors were amazing!  The GF left the show very excited and jealous of the people who got to go see the show today.  If I said "let's go to the 7:30 show tonight" I bet she'd say YES!  But, she's working on a school project!  And we still have 3 just as amazing shows to look forward to for the rest of this Theatre season: Mary Poppins, Les Miserables, and The Lion King!

Beer Guzzler
So, the GF and I always put ourselves into the shoes of the Biggest Loser contestants and pretend like we're on the show and try to determine what we'd do in their situations.  Today we discussed what would be our temptation food.  Her's would be Samoa Girl Scout Cookies and Cookie Dough.  I kept trying to think of what mine would be...I said "cheese, or chips, or candy" and the GF kept giving me this look like "No way, what are you thinking?"  And then she said it, "you would look great in leather pants your temptation would be beer!"  And I knew she was right...my weakness...when Allison drags us into the temptation room, you're gonna smell all this great junk food and then see a table full of Miller High Life*!

How was your long run this weekend?

Seen any good shows/movies lately?

What's your favorite kind of Beer?

*or Bud Light, or Tecate, or Land Shark, or...take your pick!

~Chix