Surprise!

Hi!  I'm here!  Stop all your "Whoa, where'd she go's" and your "Wait, who is this again's" and just enjoy my post!

Florists are so so so extremely nice!  I think one day I want to retire and become a florist!  I have had to call for flower deliveries twice today and both ladies I talked to were over-the-top nice to me!  I'd probably have to learn how to "arrange" the flowers, but maybe they'd just let me be really nice to people on the phone.  It really made my day (twice) to talk to these ladies.  So, thanks, Janet and Emily!

I've got a bad back.  Most of have heard my complain about it already, but it's not good.

In fact, I'm pretty sure I complained about having back pain last time I blogged!  But most of you can't remember that far back!  So, here I am again, complaining of the same problem.  I've deduced that it is a combination of sciatic nerve issues along with back spasms.  It's hard to sit, stand for long periods of time, sleep in a comfortable position, and get up from the couch.  BUT, I went for a 2 mile run for the first time in 2 weeks today and so far so good.  Ask me again tomorrow though!

Speaking of running, since that's really what this blog is about (hence the no blogging, since I haven't been running much), my last race this year is in 6 weeks: Vegas RnR!  Now, I know most everyone out there had issues with the Vegas race last year, but I had an absolute blast!  It was so much fun and I looked forward to doing it again this year.  The best thing about the race this year is it ends right in front of my hotel!  This means I can start drinking even quicker than I did last year!

That's enough for this post...just like starting up training again, I don't want to over do it the first time back!

~Chix

Running Rainbow

Running after a hiatus is so much fun.  Today I felt like I could just keep going and going and going...but I didn't!  I had to stop myself at 3 miles because I knew I'd be really sore and mad at myself tomorrow if I kept going!  Also, I needed to shower before my ride left me!

But my quick 3 miles felt amazing.  My body didn't forget what to do even though it's my 4th run in 4 weeks!  My back didn't hurt...much.  I feel motivated, which is good cause Denver will be here sooner than I know it!

The Color Run is here!  This Saturday the GF and I will be participating in The Color Run.  It's a 5K race and at every kilometer they throw a different color of powder paint on all the runners, so when you finish you're a running rainbow!  How exciting is that?  Well, I'm really excited, so I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

I may have a few races on the horizon before Denver (I'm still looking into them), but my biggest decision right now is if I want to run the Hot Chocolate 15K the weekend after the Denver Halfer.  I've heard really good things about the Hot Chocolate races (mostly good things) and if I did it, I'd want to do more than just the 5K, but I can't quite decide yet...so, we'll see about that too...and again, I'll keep you posted!

Hood to Coast is upon us and here I sit without a team to race with...that'll change one day.  Good luck to everyone running...I'll be rooting for you!

Friday's coming!

~Chix

3rd Times The Charm!

I am back from vacation!  Mexico was amazing, but now we're spoiled and can probably never go on another vacation that's not all-inclusive!  The weather was great, which also means I came back with an awesome tan!  I drank and ate A LOT!  It truly was a great and relaxing vacation!

Now I'm back in the grind of work.  Classes start next week and I'm already busy getting ready for that too.  The poor GF started classes two days ago and is all stressed out, but I'm sure she'll find her groove soon!  She has tons of reading to do for all her classes, so things are gonna be pretty quiet around the house this semester!

I hurt my back a week and a half before we left so I didn't run for 11 days, but the day before we left I ran 8 miles...actually didn't feel too bad!  But now that we're back, we got to get back to training since Denver is only a month away (from today).  I was planning on running today at lunch, but I tweaked my back again this morning...not as bad as before, but definitely stiff and sore (that's what she said)!  So, we'll see how well it goes today.

I got my hair braided on vacation and the Mexican ladies made me look like Coolio!

It was not very attractive, so I took it out about an hour later!  When we got back home I had my cousin do it and although I didn't look like Coolio, my hair was just too soft for her and too stubborn to stay up.  So the next day I had my cousin's mom do it for the 3rd time and finally it cooperated...well, the best it was gonna get!  The front looked amazing, but the back came out very quickly, so I had to mousse it and matte it down for 3 days, just so I could keep it in for a while!  Now I'm back to my afro...can't decide what to do next.

Off to do my job now!  Miss you all like crazy...lots of catching up to do in so many ways!!

~Chix

Muscle Orspasms!

I can honestly say right now that I will not be completing everything on my weekly To Do List.  Oh well!  First of all, I hurt my back, and then yesterday I had a freak attack of muscle spasms in my shoulder and up my neck, which hurt like hell (I even missed work) and I could barely move all day.  So much for a speed workout or arm workout...pretty much ANY workout for that matter!  And because I went to the doctor for my back, I got pain meds which causes me to get drowsy, so I clearly am not reading anything before bedtime!  And it's hard to get work done when you're at home sleeping all day.  Let's just hope I finish the important stuff before vacation...that's my new To Do List...Finish Everything!

So, I haven't run since my long run on Saturday.  I'm gonna try a small run tomorrow morning with the GF just to see how my back and shoulder feel.  I've got that "wrong side of the bed" stiffness right now, so maybe it'll ease up over night.  I've also got a softball tourney this weekend, but luckily for the GF, I just found out we have subs, so I'll be able to take it easy all weekend AND I won't ruin her vacation!  I haven't really been motivated to run lately and have been extremely exhausted, so I'm hoping with the pain meds helping me sleep and the week off of running, that I'll be back to new again and will want to get back out there.

I will also be participating in XLMIC Taking It On's Ellimpics!  It's the Olympics of rehab machines!  I'm pretty excited about this because it's gonna take me off the ol' Mill and help me switch it up for a week on other gym machines.  The GF is going to participate too.  I think we're gonna do the Elliptical 10K and 5K.  The GF is going to attempt an Elliptical Half Marathon and I'm going to attempt the Stair Master 5 Mile.  Then I think I'm gonna put together some sort of multi-athlon of 2 to 3 miles on about 2 to 3 machines (elliptical, stair, bike, row, etc.)  It's gonna be great fun!

This weekend is also the 3rd Annual Sweat Your Thorns Off 5K!  You can read about it here!  So, it looks like I'll have to incorporate a 5K into my weekend runs somehow!  These virtual races are always so much fun because everyone has such interesting stories of how and where they ran...and it encourages people to get out and move!  For his winter edition, we took the dogs and they actually got a shoutout on his blog!  This edition might be a bit off balance with a bad back and all, but I'll try my best!

Everyone have an amazing weekend!  And please be safe!

~Chix

No Comment

All through May and June I had some heavy foot traffic coming through here!  What that really means is that I logged about 20+ viewers for each blog I posted.  Maybe even one or two comments came from those viewers.  Nobody really signed up to become a follower, but I was getting more people over to my site to read what I had to say.  Then I take a 2 week break and those viewers are taking their feet elsewhere.  Maybe I'm not writing very interesting stuff anymore.  Maybe they forgot all about me while I wasn't writing during my 2 week hiatus!  Whatever the problem is, I'm beginning to think I need to find a better way to "get out there"!  The obvious thing to do is to give something away for free, or host a virtual event in someone's honor, or even become the funniest person in the world so everyone starts talking about me.

Well, I have nothing to give away cause my blog hasn't generated much foot traffic to cause companies to start giving me free stuff to give away (see paragraph 1).  And if nobody comes to my site in the first place then nobody is going to find out about my virtual run anyway.  And, let's face it, I'm actually already pretty damn funny, which is why it's so baffling that nobody's coming around to read.  So, I'm done trying to "get out there"...and it only took me about 100 words to decide that!  If it happens it happens!  So, from now on, this is my Dear Diary that my 16 followers can read if they want, but my 9 other "forced followers" will get entries automatically sent to their emails every day...You're welcome!

You lucky people get to read my lists within lists.  You get to listen to me whine about not having followers or comments.  You get to laugh at the funny sh*t I say.  You also get to listen to me ramble on about random things.  You also get to read as I give dumb advice and talk about stuff that I know nothing about!  So, to you folks...THANKS and COME AGAIN!

Running!

I just said that since this is also a blog about running!

~Chix

My Eyes Are Spoiled

I have been getting "spoiler alerted" for the past 5 days!  I hate that the Olympics are 7 hours ahead of us and NBC is waiting around to show the events, because I can't even turn on my computer without finding out who won the latest fencing match, or how many dunks LeBron James had!  On one hand, it totally ruins the experience of getting to watch the event and actually being surprised by the outcome, but on the other hand, it really frees up my evening!

I went to the doctor today!

My back has been killing me lately.  I can't sleep and it's really hard to sit down all day.  I surprisingly can still run, so that's a plus, but as soon as I'm done, my back gets all tight and then I regret even moving!  So, he gave me something to sleep better at night in hopes that it'll loosen up these spasms and problem solved.  I'll keep you posted!

3 more actual class days!!!  Woohoo...summer term is almost over!  Then it's on to vacation!  I still feel like I have so much to do though...maybe I need to make lists within my lists.  I'll make one huge gigantic To Do List, but within each thing to do, I'll make a small list of things to do to get that thing done!  Sounds fun!

Have a random day!

~Chix

Does Monday Show Up Every Week?

Just when I started enjoying my weekend, another week comes along!  So, here's where we are:

Last Week:


1. Clean up the backyard!! I'm totally halfway there...not enough room in the trashcan for everything!
2. Refill the Fish tank! I did this, but I'm still unsure of whether Mr. Bubbles is gonna make it.
3. Download pictures from my camera Well, I thought about doing this...does that count?
4. Finish the laundry, put it away, and clear out the bed!  Did ALL laundry and GF helped with the clearing of the bed!
5. Finish all timesheets by Friday!  Haha!  Yeah right!  I didn't say WHICH Friday!
6. Have a medium run during the week of 5 miles.  Hell yeah!  And it felt awesome!

This Week:
1. Download Ipod songs
2. Finish all work requirements before vacation
3. Prepare packing list (cause I'm a geek)
4. Read at least one chapter a night of something other than school books!
5. Do a speed workout AND an arm workout this week

This seems to be enough for the week.  Especially since it'll be wrapped up with all this Olympic excitement in the air.  Speaking of which, Skeet Shooting is a new favorite of mine, as is Equestrian Dressage!  It's as if I've never watched sports before!

Another blogger has been posting her adventures for her Ragnar Team, and it's making me really excited to one day do a relay run like this.  Not that I'm on a team for anytime in the near future, but it's gonna happen one day.  I can't wait!

Well, the only way to get number 2 out of the way is to get off the blogosphere, so have great rest of your Monday and I'll catch up with you later!

~Chix

The Olympics: It's Here...It's Finally Here!

It's Olympics time!!!!!

Yay!  I'm so so excited!!  Tonight we're gonna veg out in front of the tv and watch the opening ceremonies, which are currently happening in London as I blog!  It's hard to not click on the "spoiler alert" pictures and articles popping up all over the net...there's also a "live stream" that's screaming my name!  But the GF and I have been planning tonight for about 4 years now, so it's really exciting.  We had to make a pact today that over the weekend and the next 2 weeks we have to make sure we get all our work done BEFORE turning on the Olympics.

It's that time of year when air rifle shooting, badminton, and fencing are a "Must-See"!! It's that time of year when it's okay to get caught practicing your trampoline moves on the spare mattress.  And it's that time of year when the only thing you care to be doing on a Sunday morning at 6am is watching women run for 26.2 miles and even though all they're doing is running, you can't seem to scrape your eyes off the tv!  Oh, what a great time of year!

The Olympics are a great reminder that there are a lot better athletes out there than me if I put my mind to something, I can become really great!  Not that I ever want to become an Olympic marathoner, but I can certainly get faster than I am today!  It's also a great reminder that my life must be some kind of boring if I'd rather sit around and watch handball and judo, then to get out and make something of myself.  Maybe I'm just bitter that I didn't make the US Table Tennis team.  I think it's because I wouldn't stop calling it Ping Pong, but whatever!  That's not the point! 

The point of all this is that it's the one time (every two or four years) that the best of the best all gather in one place to show the world how good they really are!  And I wanna be able to say, "I saw that happen on tape delay that I DVR'ed and watched 2 weeks after the Olympics was officially over!"

So, pop your popcorn and grab your seats, it's gonna be a wild non Summer Olympics in London!

~Chix

Sweaty Beast

The random rain storms have come in handy lately.  For instance, last week I had class on Wednesday night and was gonna miss the baseball game, BUT it rained on the South side of town, raining out the game creating a doubleheader on Thursday that I could go to!  This past Tuesday night I had a softball game, but it rained and flooded the field, so our game was canceled, then I could do dinner with the GF!  Tonight I have a game that could possibly be rained out as well!  Crossing my fingers!

Had my high mileage mid-week run today!  I have a sweating problem.  No headbands have ever worked for me.  I've tried all the types they swear will hold in the sweat or wick it away or whatever they claim, and nothing has ever worked.  I've worn bandanas, dorky thick headbands, thin girly type elastic ones, cheap ones, expensive ones, and nothing has ever worked.  I still get sweat in my eyes, dripping down my face, it's pretty much like I'm not wearing anything at all!

So, you can imagine what it's like on the treadmill...as I'm running, I keep a towel in front of me to be able to wipe my sweat away.  Only problem is, if I run for more than 2 miles, I am constantly wiping my face.  So, when I finished my 5 miles today, I had completely wiped away the skin on both sides of my face right next to my temples.  I do this once a week and it hurts like hell!  The next day I just wipe away the scabbing area, then the next it doesn't hurt so bad.  Then I take a day or two off and have my long run and the whole things starts over again!

I'm really not sure what to do.  So, I'm just gonna keep trying new headbands, and maybe I'll find one that'll keep me from wiping away my face!

~Chix

Child Life

Although yesterday was a pretty craptastic day, I think today was very productive.  Well, let me first tell you that by the time I finally got home last night, the GF had already crossed off number 4 on my Weekly To Do List!  Now I just gotta work on the rest!

I've already worked out twice today!  This morning I went for a run with the GF...she'snot a big fan of running with me because I make her push it pretty hard, but she did great this morning!  Negative split!!  Then we met at lunch and went to the gym.  She did 45 minutes on the elliptical, while I tried to run.  I got about a mile into my run when my hammy started acting up, so I moved over to the stairmaster for 20 minutes.  My third workout will come tonight at my softball game, if the rain doesn't have other plans!

The world lost some great people yesterday, but luckily most of us still have more great people in our lives.  One of those is my BFJ!  It's not just because she's my bestie, or because she is so nice to me and everyone she meets, it's because she's got the BIGGEST heart in the world!  If she ever donates her heart, she'll be helping at least a dozen people!  Anywho, my brother just sent me a video that will explain why she's the coolest person ever.  Her day job is to literally play with kids all day...but she doesn't just play with them, I think she cures them.  There couldn't be a better person to have this job than her!  Love you J!



I hope you enjoyed that!  Have a great evening!

~Chix

When Tragedy Strikes...

Well, it's been one of those days that you wish could have never happened.  Where you go back to Sunday night and wake up again and everything is as it should be.  Some unfortunate incidents have happened today that should make us all thank whomever's responsible for every day that we get to live our lives!

My BFT has lost someone in her life that she will truly miss.  I never had the opportunity to meet her grandma, but mine and the GF's condolences go out to her and her family during this very difficult time.  I feel so bad that she's so far away and I can't physically reach out and touch her, but I'm sure she knows that we're thinking of her and are sending hugs and kisses her way!

We've also lost a great man today.  You can find the article here.  There was a tragic accident on I-25 this morning involving someone I've known for over 12 years.  His vehicle was struck by another vehicle which sent him rolling over to the other side of the highway.  He was killed instantly.  I was very close to him and his family for several years and he'll be greatly missed.

Lastly, I thought my job was gonna be the third victim of the day, but I'm still here to work another day.  More on this later (read: I'll probably never talk about it again).

So, let's get past all this and move on to my Weekly To Do List:

Last Week:
1. Blog every day Blogged everyday but Saturday...never even turned the computer on!
2. Run 2 miles every day Success! But it was more like 4, 3, 2, 5, 3.1
3. Organize piles at work/make to do list FAIL
4. Brochures out by Thursday Success!
5. All PPT's done by Sunday Partly a success, should finish them up today.
6. Take GF to the movies No, but I did take her shopping and she said we can do the movies next weekend!
7. Finish fall schedules by Sunday Success, although I still need to put into computer.

This Week:
1. Clean up the backyard!!
2. Refill the Fish tank!
3. Download pictures from my camera
4. Finish the laundry, put it away, and clear out the bed!
5. Finish all timesheets by Friday!
6. Have a medium run during the week of 5 miles.

I would say last week was more success then fail, so I'm proud of that.  Let's see how this week pans out!

Be safe out there!

~Chix

A Consistent PR

My stomach had different plans than I did this morning! I participated in the 3rd Annual Nob Hill Run this morning and tried to treat it as a regular training run.

I was trying to trick my body into thinking I was just out for a nice jaunt and not a "race".  Once my brain hears the word "race" my body goes into some weird toxic body syndrome (TBS) and I get the nerves, the runs, the dry heaves, and the speedy first mile!  I did everything I normally would when I go running on the weekend: put on my clothes, put on my watch, poop, and head out the door.  Things were going great, all the way through the first 2 miles.  If you noticed above, it was only a 5K, so I only had 1.1 miles left to go!  I was in the clear and cruising into a new PR of somewhere near 29 minutes!!

Until my stomach was like, "don't you dare try to push me this hard!"  Unfortunately, all I heard was, "wait one second, you didn't even dry heave this morning...how about NOW!"  So, I dry heaved once, twice....about 5 times until I couldn't get any air in my lungs, had to stop and run over to the curb, got sick, caught my breath, walked for a brief moment, and resumed my running.  29 minutes out the window.

I ended up crossing the finish line in 30:27...the same time I had 2 weeks ago for a PR.  At least I'm consistent!

But I'm alive!  And that's all that matters! 

~Chix

The Good Ol' Days

So, I'm trying to stay on track with my To Do list I posted the other day.

But as the week has gone by, I've noticed that maybe I should

have written a To NOT Do list:

for instance, NOT drinking during the weekdays!

I'm clearly not in college anymore, so why do I think I can drink like I am?

I almost just slept through the lunch hour, but instead I

dragged my happy ass to the gym.  I didn't go crazy with the mileage,

since we're doing a long run tomorrow, but I'm so

so so so glad I went.  Now I can say I've actually accomplished something

on a Friday!

And speaking of Fridays:



It's 5 O'clock somewhere...GO HOME!!

~Chix

Keen What? Quinoa!

Another successful run today!

I can't seem to wake up early except for school, so I'm

stuck running on the Mill.  Luckily, I enjoy the Mill!

I've been watching the USA women's and men's basketball teams

while running on the Mill.  Makes the time pass quickly

and I look like an idiot as I'm cheering for them!

After the gym I made another yummy yummy salad!

It has baby spinach (my new fave), quinoa with brown rice, artichoke

hearts, grapes, and a splash of balsamic vinagrette!

It was AMAZING!  So good, I may have it again tomorrow!

My accounting class last night was a whole bunch of fun!

Lots of laughter!  Not much teaching, but lots of laughter!

And I'm slightly addicted to Monster Energy drinks.

Not good for me, but pretty darn tasty!

One more day of the week!!!

And my back hurts really bad :-(

~Chix

Olympic Hamstring

I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to http://www.someecards.com/!

So don't act all surprised when you see one in the middle of this blog!

They just seem to sum it up so perfectly AND you can create your own!

I ran 4 miles at the gym this afternoon!  I felt good throughout,

except for that time when my hammy did back flips, the splits,

a reverse somersault twist back tuck, and landed a perfect dismount,

all with a lyrical ribbon in hand!

I'm beginning to think my month off running after San Diego

wasn't quite enough time!

We're going on vacation!

The GF is scared to death of Sharks!

I'm pretty sure we'll avoid them at all costs, but I seriously cannot wait for

our vacation!  When I paid for it, it seemed like it was right around the corner...

Now it seems like it's never gonna be here!

And it'll unfortunately fly by once it is here!

Gotta go grade papers!

~Chix

Much 'To Do' About Salad

Look at this salad!!

Yummy huh!!  This is what I had for lunch!

It's a mixture of everything we have in our office kitchen,

there's baby spinach, artichoke hearts, grapes, string cheese, and cashews

all blended nicely with a fat free balsamic vinagrette

and some Olive Garden italian dressing!

I'm trying to get back on that motivation train, you know, the one

where I run everyday and eat healthy and have all this energy.

Things have not been going very well lately...I haven't even had the energy to blog!

But I gotta start somewhere, so here I am blogging, and I had a healthy lunch.

Instead of working out at lunch, I picked all the weeds at the office,

but I have softball tonight, so there's my workout for the day!

I'm getting back into the "To Do List" habit:



1. Blog every day this week, the weekend too!

2. Run at least 2 miles each day, the weekend too!

3. Organize piles and make work to do list by Thursday afternoon.

4. Send out all Baseball letters by Thursday afternoon.

5. Finish all remaining PPT's by Sunday night.

6. Take GF to movies this weekend.

7. Finish Fall 2012 Schedules by Sunday night.

That's a lot of work for me, but I guess I gotta follow through now

since everyone will be holding me accountable

(especially on number 6!)

I'm centering everything to change things up a bit!!

Enjoy your evening!

~Chix

Vacuum Salesman

I would rather sit around and not do any work, but yesterday I got a crapload of stuff done for the week! 

So, I got duped into watching a 2-hour demo on a vacuum cleaner yesterday!  I should have been more weary from the beginning (when I signed up for a "no obligation" raffle) and should have trusted my instincts that NOTHING IS EVER FREE!!  Then I should have realized there was something up when I win a weekly prize the first week as did 2 more of the 4 other people that signed up!  THEN, I should have smelled something funky when they HAD to deliver it to my home AND I had to be there.  And lastly, I should have told the girl up front that I wasn't going to buy anything, nor was I going to fork over any of my friends or family phone numbers, and I maybe could've saved my Sunday morning, but really all that happened was I gave the GF some quality alone time to watch a movie!

But to make up for my lost time, I have volunteered all of my followers' names and addresses to this vacuum company!  Just kidding!  The worst part about this whole thing is that I really do like these types of vacuums...The best part is that she almost vacuumed my entire front room!

Anywho, Exam Day for both classes and I'm wondering how terrible they're gonna do after I practically GAVE them the answers!!

I just found out there's a possibility of me teaching up to 4 classes in the Fall...yeah, 4, I know!

Well, have a great day!
~Chix

My Week In Review

As if you cared to know about my life, but here it is anyway.  I know I'll get around 15 readers, but I just can't seem to draw out any comments!  Maybe I need to give something away!

Monday
I confessed to you all that it was The End of an Era.  I am removing my labret piercing eventually (probably within a month).  I also was giving quizzes in both of my classes...still have some students who just don't care.  Ho hum!  I did get to see my Seester, so that was a wonderful surprise!

Tuesday
I went to the noon Isotopes game and after an hour in the 100 degree heat I was completely sweat-soaked through all my layers of clothes.  I had to use the dryer at the office because being that wet was making me uncomfortable!  I played my 17th softball game in 2 weeks.  We sucked!  And I threw out my arm.

Wednesday
I'm extremely tired, but it's another busy day with classes and work.  I'm officially behind a full class lesson because I had to further explain some homework problems which took all night, so now I need to revamp my schedule.  Work is starting to get crazy again because it's the end of the month.  Important lesson learned was to never NEVER buy enchiladas from Golden Pride...just stick to burritos!

Thursday
I have lunch with a really great friend who's prego and is the cutest thing ever.  Good times.  My boss steals my energy drink so the last half of the day was pretty tough to get through.  I get talked into playing my 18th softball game and even though our team lost, we had fun.  It's just unfortunate that even though our game was at 8:30pm it was still 95 degrees outside!  We watched So You Think You Can Dance last night and MIA'S BACK!!!

Friday
Here I sit today, I'm about to go the gym for the first time since the San Diego RnR (about a month ago) and I'm pretty excited!  I might run a couple miles and hopefully remember what I've been missing the last month.  I've got 12 weeks before Denver, so I've still got plenty of training time!  Game night is tonight, which is always a garaunteed good time with a crazy amount of laughter involved!  And tomorrow we stand proud to be gay and then I get to hang with my niece and nephew!

What are your plans for the weekend?  Gay Pride Parade, watching the kids, movies maybe, cleaning the backyard, and preparing for class.

Ever taken a long hiatus from running?  Going back after a month is gonna be hard, but I'm excited to get back to it...hopefully my hammy is ready too (and my calf).

~Chix

End of an Era

Sometime ago, over 8 years ago at least, I got my labret pierced!  Before you over-react, that is the space on your face just below your lower lip.

It's been part of "my look" for a long while now.  Well, because of my circus act at my softball tourney last week, I cracked the tooth that is directly behind my labret piercing.

Oh boy did it hurt!  I couldn't eat anything all last week and I was worried the dentist was gonna pull it out during my appointment on Thursday.  Thankfully, he didn't pull it, but did tell me I needed a crown on it.  Personally I'm thinking I could just grill the whole front section like Kanye, or Nellie, or Lil Wayne!

Anyway, what I'm getting at, is that once I get my crown, I will be permanently removing my labret piercing!  It is truly the end of an era.  Just like when I officially took out my nose piercing, or officially removed my tongue piercing.  Both of those events were HUGE decisions, but I've gotten past them, just like I'll get past this...I'll just unfortunately have a whole in my lip for a while and hopefully it'll close up a bit so that it's somewhat un-noticeable!

Basically, if I'm gonna pay major bucks for this crown, I'm not gonna ruin it with this piercing.  Maybe I'm growing up...nah!  Just wisening up!

"So long, dear friend!  It sure was a nice time we've spent together.  I hope you have a good time in the drawer with all my other old piercings.  And one day may you welcome my other piercings with open arms!"

~Chix

I'm Exhausted!

I'm exhausted.

House party this entire weekend!  Lots of people over and lots of fun to be had!  It's a really great opportunity to continue my birthday celebration!  It's an overnight softball tourney (well, 2 actually) and if it's anything like last year's tourney, I'm gonna have a blast.  I might not be able to walk on Monday, but it's gonna be fun fun fun. Unfortunately,

I'm exhausted.  I just wanna sleep!

I'm stuck behind a brick wall at work (metaphorically speaking).  It's like I have to get to the other side, or I should be on the other side of the wall already, but I have to break down each brick one by one just to even see how thick the wall is and try to determine how long it's gonna take me to get over it.  I just have so much to do...still!  But,

I'm exhausted.  I just wanna sleep!  I think one day I may never get out of bed!

So, here I am in New Mexico, and the whole state is on fire. Nothing here in the Metro area of Albuquerque, but the Gila National Forest, all of Ruidoso, Corrales bosque, are all on fire and it's pretty smoky around here. It's sad to hear that hundreds of homes are being lost up in Ruidoso. But what's really sad, is that while it's 100 degrees here, a major thunderstorm hits Duluth, Minnesota and totally floods the place. Click here for an article about the Lake Superior Zoo getting flooded. They lost 11 barnyard animals and 2 birds. Both of their seals and the polar bear also got out of their enclosures and were swimming around the major streets! This is some crazy stuff! The elements are not being gentle these days! And,

I'm exhausted.  I just wanna sleep!  I think one day I may never get out of bed!  And then I realize there's more important things happening around the world, and I get up, put on a happy face, and here I am!  Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!

~Chix

A Story and A Test

Bullets!  Bullets everywhere!

• I've planned a big vacation finally!  We're going to Puerto Vallarta!  Yay!
• I cracked my front tooth playing softball this weekend.
• I'm still getting birthday presents and it's been 4 days since my actual birthday!
• I finally get to go to an Isotopes game after missing them for 8 days!!
• I'm going for my first run tomorrow since my race.
• I still love teaching!
• It's hot as hell today, and I really wish I were outside instead of here at work.

Random Story

On the first day of my 7th grade science class, the teacher greeted the whole class with a bunch of jokes.  Everyone knew he was a funny and wacky guy, but we were all still bummed that school was starting and a bit nervous for what was coming in this science class.  We had all laughed at his jokes and started to feel a bit more comfortable in class.  Then he pulled out these 2 really large books and set them on his desk.  He asked for 2 volunteers to read the books over the next week and prepare a presentation for the class because they were based on some larger subjects we'd be discussing over the next couple months.  Nobody moved.  We all looked at him like he was the craziest person ever and was spouting nonsense through his silly mouth!  But, because I'm an honor student (read: big nerd), I raised my hand to volunteer, as did another larger nerd in the class.  He brought us up to the front of the class and handed us each a book.  Right away I was hoping he was kidding because the books were so heavy.  We carried them back to our seats looking ahead to the unfortunate task that lay ahead of us.  He asked me to turn to a certain page, and asked the other kid to turn to a certain page, and there it was...a shiny hundred dollar bill!  One for each of us!  We didn't have to read after all, but we got rewarded for volunteering!  Luckiest kid in the 7th grade!

Test Question

Last Wednesday, both of my classes had their first test of the semester.  Not too shabby outcome for both classes, but a few people could add a couple more study hours to their schedules!  Here's a question from the test...Good Luck!

Home Depot sold a set of chainsaws to Lowe’s. The list price was $3,800. Home Depot offered a chain discount of 8/3/1. The net price of the chainsaws is:
A. $3,537.12
B. $3,537.21
C. $3,391.12
D. $3,357.21

Have a great day!

~Chix

Today Is My Birthday!

I'm one of those people who LOVES to celebrate their Birthday!  I don't mind admitting my real age, nor do I mind getting older.  I normally find that I'm the oldest one in a large group of friends, but I'm okay with that for 2 reasons:  I'm older, which means I'm wiser AND I look like I'm still in my 20's (if you look past all my gray hairs)!

But really, I can't think of anything better than receiving presents for my Birthday!  Actually, I'm not as materialistic as that sounds, but I really love presents!  They can be actual physical gifts like shirts and hats and watches and large items like that, or they can be personalized items like a handmade card, doing something thoughtful like sewing the buttons onto my shorts, or even just remembering to call or say hello and I love you!  It doesn't matter what you give or how much you spend, cause knowing that you care about it is present enough.  I try to explain this to the GF sometimes, but she still gets me the kind of presents I can unwrap!!

So, in a little less than 2 hours, I will officially be turning 34 years old!  I have been celebrating for about 15 days now and I plan to continue celebrating for at least another 15 days.  Then I have 11 months to wait until I began the process all over again!  I will take a small timeout next week for my niece who turns 7 years old...SEVEN!  That's the smart one that I'm always talking about...if I could go back to when I was 7, I would remember that I had an older brother who was a butthead, carpet that was a bit shaggy and greenish/yellowish/orangish in color.  I had bangs and actually wore the color purple.  And I'm pretty sure I hated wearing dresses back then too!



This wasn't it, but this is how I remember it!

Anywho, Happy Birthday to Me!  Next time I talk to you, I'll be just a bit more mature!  Who am I kidding...a bit less!!

~Chix

Monday Randoms

Hi!  This is for my peeps.  My life has been crazy busy lately.  I'm hating my real job again, and loving my teaching job!  You know, the usual.

The GF is taking this intense 2 week class, so we don't get to spend much time together, but her last day is this Friday, so we'll get some quality time together soon.

This Friday is also my Birthday!  I've already been celebrating this month and I've gotten some pretty kick ass Birthmas presents.  In case you are unaware, Birthmas is just like Christmas, only I get 12 days of presents for my Birthday instead of Christmas.  Brilliant, I know! 

I took my dry cleaning in today, and if the pants come back with creases again, I'm gonna be very upset.

Some of my students don't understand what it means to study or turn in your work.  Not my problem if they don't want a good grade in the class.  I've given them the tools and showed them how they work...can't make them use them (or use them correctly)!

I haven't run once since San Diego RnR and I feel great!  I can't wait to get back to it, but it's been a very nice break.  Denver is on the horizon, unless I find something before then.  Otherwise, it's go time.

I might have mentioned this once before, but I'm giving up giving something up this month.  Make sense?

Have a great day!

~Chix

San Diego RnR Race Recap!

The moment you've all been waiting for...Race Day!!  Read the Pre-Pre Race Update or San Diego Pre Race reports if you want all the deets!

After a blissful night of rest in the most uncomfortable bed ever, we awoke for the 6:15am start time (more like 6:45am for us slowpokes in a later corral)!  We were dressed and ready pretty quickly since we had laid everything out the night before.  It wasn't quite as cold as we thought it would be so we didn't need our throw away pants...I opted to wear my long sleeve shirt just to be sure!  We walked the two blocks over to Balboa Park and ran into a hundred other racers headed to the start line!  About 4 more blocks up we stopped for the port-o-potties.  I needed to get one last pee break in before the start in hopes of not needing to stop during the race.  Here we are before the race!

Notice how well slept we look!  While waiting in line to pee, the race started!  We knew we still had another half hour before our corral would cross, so we didn't worry!  We got out of the port-o's with plenty of time to wait in our corral and for the GF to get really really scared and nervous!  She didn't really train for this race AT ALL!  The most she's run this whole year was a 10K on May 6th.  She didn't run for about 2 weeks after that because of this intense summer school class she was taking and really only had about a handful of runs the week before the race.  So her main goal was to finish!  Actually, her time goal was to hopefully finish in 3:30:00.  I knew she could do it, but I told her just to do her best, run the 10K we knew she could do and then try a run/walk thing from there until she finished!  Still a bit scared we crossed the start line together and fell into my pace and sadly left her behind.  I knew she'd do just fine!

If you remember from a post last week or perhaps the week before, I gave up on making this my PR race.  My training wasn't going well AT ALL and so I decided to go into it having no expectations.  If I walked, I walked...if I was thirsty, I'd stop and have an extra cup of water...if something started to hurt, I'd stretch it out and take my time.  I knew I'd still finish with a somewhat respectable time, but I wasn't worried about much!  This actually made the race a lot more fun.

Mile 1 was some uphill and some zig-zagging through the crowds.  It astonishes me that people are already walking in the first mile...not the ones who started walking and walked the whole thing, but the ones that I was running behind and they immediately stop in front of me.  I'm sure they were thinking "What did I get myself into?"...I just sort of hopped around them and made my way up the hill.

Miles 2 through 4 were pretty spectacular.  They were also mainly downhill!  We winded through Balboa Park and hit the 5K mark just past this awesome Organ player...He was playing the Sound of Music and these 2 gentlemen behind me were very excited about it!  At mile 4 we entered the highway and although it was a spectacular downhill, it was also very slanted.  I added on some mileage moving up and down the lanes trying to find the flattest part of the road because my hamstring was starting to act up.

Miles 5 and 6 flew by as we still cruised the highway.  At some point a lady handed me a popsicle, so that was exciting!  Mile 7 was another major downhill area, but only to be followed by an uphill portion...we corkscrewed off the highway, went over the road and switch-backed onto the other side of the highway.  We got to pass a pretty cool drum band though, so that was entertaining.  I'm not sure I remember most of miles 8 or 9 but they sort of flew by pretty quickly.  I was noticing that my body felt amazing other than my hammy, the weather was amazing, and I was almost completely soaked with sweat from head to toe!

Miles 10 through 12 were okay.  There was a major switchback for about a mile and a half in each direction.  I did get to see my friend about a mile ahead of me (same pace, but earlier corral).  Although I still searched for the GF, I knew she was probably a couple miles behind me.  We are headed down the road towards SeaWorld and it seemed like the time had just flown by.  I wasn't really sure of where we were in relation to the parking lot and how everything was set up, I just stayed in the chutes and kept my legs turning over until I reached the finish line.

Around Mile 9, I had looked down at my watch and noticed that I was on pace for a PR...if I could sustain the speed I was at, I'd most definitly PR, so I forced myself not to look at my watch again until I crossed the finish line.  Once I crossed the finish, I stopped my watch, took a few steps, grabbed a water, and finally looked down to find:
2:12:17

I had PR'ed and I didn't even try to!  See what happens when you have no expectations!  I was so excited and couldn't wait to tell the GF!  Since she wouldn't cross for another hour I decided to stop and get ice for my hammy, I grabbed some fruit, met up with my friends, and grabbed my gear from the gear check.  I had set up runner tracking for the GF so I'd know when to go look for her at the finish, so I pulled out my phone, and HOLY SH*T...she crossed the 10 mile mark 20 minutes ago!!  She'd be finishing in about 20 minutes, so I changed my clothes really fast and headed over to the railing to hunt her down...and sure enough, about 10 minutes after I got there she came running by!!  There was no way to find her until she came for her gear bag, so I just waited.  And my phone chimed in, she finished with a final time of:

2:45:57

Holy crap, she kicked the sh*t out of this race!!  So so proud of her.  We shared a happy moment of "Hell yeah's" and of teary eyes for how well we both did!  We proceeded over to get our free beers and rest our legs and eventually decided to head back to shower.

Post Race events coming soon!

~Chix

San Diego Pre-Race

Now for the Pre-Race!  Click here for the Pre-Pre Race Update.

Saturday morning we woke up with plans: Run, Expo, Movies, Rest, Dinner, Sleep!  Oh how things didn't go the way we planned!

Like I mentioned in the Pre-Pre we went running again on Saturday morning.  This run was a bit shorter, but through some similar parts of Balboa Park...over the bridge, past the fountain, by some museums and ponds, and by 20 port-o-potties that were already set up for the race start the next morning!  There were a lot more people out enjoying the scenery too.  After the run we headed back to shower up.

Instead of heading straight to the Race Expo at the San Diego Convention Center, we had some friends pick us up for breakfast, since they too had to go to the Expo.  We could just grab a quick bite to eat and knowck out the Expo before our 1pm movie time.  Check watches, it's 10:45am (not quite enough time for the Expo adventures, but we're going with it).  We get picked up and made the bad idea of heading downtown to see which breakfast restaurants we could find.  After an hour went by of driving up and down and back and forth on every street, we finally settled on a place called Brian's 24 and sat down and ordered by noon!  I called the theater to see if we could move our Fandango's back to the 4pm show!  Breakfast was amazing...I had this chorizo and egg burrito and it was the size of my bicep!  It was heartbreaking having to leave half of it behind because I had nowhere to keep it!

Expo time!!!  After breakfast we drove around for almost another hour until our San Diego native figured out how to get to the convention center.  Finally we're at the Expo and we have big plans to spend lots of money!  We grab our packets (light blue shirts for SD, yay!) and head into the madness.  By this time our friends' child had fallen asleep so they couldn't enjoy the excitement of a Rock'n'Roll Expo, but we indulged as usual!  We both planned on buying new shoes, but they didn't have the ones I wanted, so only the GF got a pair.  Then we bought the GF a new SpiBelt to hold her phone and GU chomps while she runs.  Then we bought a box of GU for me!  Then we signed the GF up for the Vegas Half in December (I'm already signed up)!  Then we visited a few more booths, checked our watches, and it was 3:15pm.  We needed to get to the movies!

Before we left town, I promised the GF that we'd go see SnowWhite and the Huntsman because it was opening weekend, so I bought the tickets to surprise her.  Luckily, the manager was able to honor our tickets for the later showing!  We walked the few blocks to the theater and enjoyed a great movie.  The ending seemed to be left open, like they want to make a sequel, but overall it was pretty good.  Your typical Snow White film, with a few twists and turns along the way.

Once the movie got out it was 6:00pm and we were supposed to meet up with our friends again for dinner.  They weren't too keen about driving down our direction because of all the traffic and people, so we just said we'd see them in the morning at the race and we headed to the Old Spaghetti Factory!  When we got there it was almost a 2 hour wait, and being that I was hoping to be in bed in 2 hours, we opted for take-out!  We both got spaghetti and hopped a bus back to the hotel.  We ate our food, laid out our race clothes, packed our bags a little, and hit the sack to get a good nights rest before the race!

Race Day coming next!  Enjoy some more pictures!

Pond at Balboa Park.

Front of some museum at Balboa Park.

Fun Game: Find the Airplane?  My stellar picture taking skills
can't seem to capture the low flying plane before or after the palm tree!

Mr. Turtle laying in the sun at SeaWorld!



The GF holding a Starfish at SeaWorld!



This guy kept screaming at the GF to throw him some food!
He would wave at her too!

~Chix

Pre-Pre Race Update

Hello Friends!

Let me begin this post by telling you that I'm posting a couple more times to really encompass how fun this Race Weekend was!  Let's start with the Pre-Pre Race!  This started on Thursday (travel day).  I worked a half day, hit the gym, went home to pack, and was off to the airport.  We landed in San Diego around 6pm and were starving, but first we had to check-in to our luxurious hotel!  I lie...it was 'enough' for the weekend.  When looking for hotels in San Diego, we wanted to be near the convention center, but near the race start, but near downtown, but near the finish line, but cheap...so we settled on a $80+ per night hotel about 6 blocks from the start and 2 blocks from Balboa Park!  It had a double bed parked right next to a sliding door closet with a tv and modern dresser almost at the foot of the bed and a small area for the bathroom and shower to fit.  It was like a utility closet, but it worked (except for the internet...that did not work...more on that later).

We ended up ordering pizza because we were so hungry and didn't want to think about finding places to go and it was nearing 9pm.  After scarfing some pizza, we decided to go for a walk around town...not necessarily recommended at 10pm in our neighborhood!  Someone, who will remain nameless, and who is not me, but was with me, was a little jumpy walking around in the dark!  First off, a plane flies over and about 2 minutes later the wind it created flew over too and shook the be-jesus out of this palm tree and "someone" thought there might be an invisible gorilla jumping around trying to come after us.  "Someone" gripped my arm very tightly!  Then "someone" jumped out of their skin when they happened upon a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk, then 2 more homeless people sleeping, and a little later on about 6 more homeless people on both sides of the street...we almost had to walk down the middle of the road just to stay safe!!  P.S. They were harmless and probably passed out anyway, but when you don't normally see stuff like that, it can be scary!  We walked for about 2 miles just around the town...pretty cute and quiet!

Friday morning we woke up to go for a quick run through Balboa Park.  I'd like to take a moment to thank Yes Folks, I Run Like A Girl for posting some great tips on her favorite running spots in San Diego because I was able to find all the trails that run through this gorgeous park!  Since we were only 2 blocks away, we headed over there and just started running.  We ended up having the best run we've had in a very long time!  It was just over 3 miles, but it took us almost 50 minutes because we stopped and took pictures of EVERYTHING!  This place is truly beautiful...the gardens, trails, buildings, etc...everything was beautiful!  We enjoyed this run so much that we ended up running another 2 and a half miles on Saturday morning (even though it was the day before the race).

After freshening up from our run, the GF and I headed to SeaWorld (please note that we took a $28 taxi ride) and spent the next 5 hours walking, watching shows, adoring the sea creatures, walking, riding rides, eating and getting sun burnt!  We decided on riding the bus back to the hotel to save money, but ended up having to wait almost an hour because when the first bus came, out of 20 people on board, nobody had change for a twenty...NOBODY!  So, we had to go buy a hotdog to make change and then wait another half hour to board the next bus! 

We changed clothes and headed to Petco Park to watch some baseball.  They had Beerfest going on, so for 5 bucks a ticket you could get a draft beer from one of 25 different breweries set up in their outfield "park"!  It was pretty great...especially since Friday was June 1st and I could start drinking beer again.  I definitely noticed the difference of how I feel the morning after drinking beer...I'm sure you could guess that I feel much better on mornings when I didn't have beer the night before!  Anywho, because it's my birthday month, I am not giving anything up until July!  Anywho, we stayed and watched the first 5 innings of the game and tried to take the bus back to the hotel.  Because we weren't aware of the way the bus system works, we missed the bus we needed and ended up having to wait another hour to catch the correct bus (please note that the game has ended by now...should've just stayed).  We finally get home and crash right away because it's been the longest day ever!

Pre-Race coming soon!  Enjoy some pictures!



Fountain at Balboa Park.





The Dolphin show was the best of the day!

 

These 2 Flamingos are about ready to 'do it' flamingo style!



Shamu show...such a pretty smile!



Petco Park...great stadium...poopie teams!



~Chix