First time

Do you ever get that feeling that you forgot something?

I got up this morning and took Sophie for a run.  About 2 blocks away from our house, I realized that something felt different.  A couple of days ago I got stung two times by bees.  Once in the morning while out running in my nose and in the afternoon while biking one flew down my shirt and stung me on the chest.  This morning there was something different about the way the bee sting on my chest felt. It was being gently rubbed / scratched while I ran!  This led me to realize that I had forgotten to put in my breast prosthesis.  Never have I forgotten to put in my prosthesis in the nine years that I have had a mastectomy.  So then the decision was - do I turn around and go back home or proceed.  I figured - what the hell and proceeded.  I ran into 3 people and honestly I am sure they were NOT looking at my lopsided chest!  And if they were, it probably provided them with something interesting to think about on their run!

So here is a pic of me without my prosthesis in - not very obvious - it probably helped that I was wearing black this morning.

A B day!

Weird Day or What?
I got stung by a bee this morning. I was running down the street and all of a sudden, something flew in my nose. I immediately got it out - but not before it stung me. . . In the nose! Who has that happen to them?
With my huge work project winding down I am able to start using some of my vacation and decided that I would take this afternoon off. It was beautiful and I wanted to get a 40 mile bike ride in on my road bike prior to the MS 150 bike ride this week end. Back to back days of biking 75 miles a day is a daunting task.
A chance meeting - I was biking on the Southwest path, heading out to the Capital City loop and passed a man and women biking. As soon as I said "on your left" and passed them I knew who they were. In addition to running blogs, I also follow a couple of other blogs regularly.
One of those blogs is Althouse, http://althouse.blogspot.com/ - Ann Althouse blogs about the law, politics, happenings on a local and national level, and many other eclectic topics. I have followed her for years and really enjoy her writing. Ann is a professor at the UW and lives in Madison. Her blog is addictive. Anyway, I recognized Ann and her husband, Meade. I biked ahead and stopped at an intersection, waited for them and then introduced myself. I was giddy! We chatted for about 10 minutes. It was great.
I left them with a story about how on my morning run a bee had stung me in my nose. Seriously, who talks to people that you just met . . . about your nose!
Two Bee - as I biked away, I felt the sudden burning of a bee sting. Sure enough, a bee had flown down my shirt and stung my chest!
What a day! But the view of the Downtown and the Capitol was breathtaking . . .




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Lunch

Brought to my table from Vermont Valley - my CSA provider.

Everything in the bowl, except the red pepper!  Oh and the Spotted Cow from New Glarus Brewery!

Sandhill Cranes

Sophie and I run into these two cranes every morning on our run!  

Coffee on the patio

Since May I have been attempting to enjoy a cup of coffee outside every morning. So far I would consider this routine a success. Most every morning after I clean the litter boxes, feed the cats and dog, run or walk with Sophie and return home I have been enjoying a cup of coffee or a glass of iced coffee on the patio or screen porch. I don't always finish it - but at least the first few sips are enjoyed outside!
So on this unseasonably cool mid summer morning, where the current temp is 52 with a brisk 12 mph breeze out of the NW, my cup of coffee is a welcome warm comfort after my 4 mile run with Sophie.
Clearly these temp's are not normal and the heat and humidity and mosquitoes will return - but for now it is an enjoyable break. (Sophie is also enjoying the temp's, but not the coffee!)
My current view. :-)
Enjoy the day and cool temp's.




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1%

If asked the question "do you eat a healthy diet", 99% of the time I would answer yes. I devour tons of veggies, include a couple of servings of fruits each day, eat small quantities of meat, love milk, drink lots of water and only occasionally consume processed food. My down fall is a glass of wine or a beer in the evening. But every once in a while the stars align and holy cow!

The last 24 hrs was one of those periods.

Last night I ran in a local race, The Full Moon Run, sponsored by "Movin' Shoes", my favorite running store. Actually I have been buying my running shoes from "Movin Shoes" for the past 25 years. And for the last 15 years the same shoe - Nike Pegasus size 9!

But I digress.
Last night after the run, I met up with my friend Rachel, of http://rachelreallife.blogspot.com/ and Kim of http://www.ilaxstudio.com/blog/. I have followed Kim's blog for a year or so, but this was our first time meeting. Kim was in town visiting Rachel for the race and had just passed the ACE Personal Trainer Exam that morning - big congrat's to Kim!

Again I digress.
Heck - Let me cut to the chase.

Here is what I have eaten in the last 24 hours!
Last evening after the run: Onion rings, potato skins and 1 beer (onion rings and potato skins were shared)
Breakfast: Oatmeal, coffee
Drove to Milwaukee for a day long business meeting where I had a donut and for lunch, salad with raspberry vinegarette, sliced beef, veggie lasagna and a piece of chocolate cheesecake (at least I passed up the white bun, mashed potatoes and gravy at lunch)
Back home for dinner: Boneless chicken wings, two pieces of pizza and a glass of milk.

Must get back to being part of the 99%!

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Monday Morning breakfast

Monday Morning Smoothie - including spinach, yogurt, frozen fruit and a little milk.  

Bonk - Bonked - Bonking!

I don't usually like to admit that something kicked my butt.  But today's Boys and Girls Club 50 mile bike ride clearly kicked me right where it hurts from riding for 50 miles!!

I know the route - this is my 4th year participating so I am should be ready for it . . .

I take responsibility for it.  I was going to type "I take responsibility for part of it" . . . but really there is only the bike and me involved!

There were eight of us doing the bike ride - 4 doing the 25 mile route and 4 doing the 50 mile route.  When we got to the first rest stop at mile 12, my friend decided to wait for the others in our group and ride the shorter route with them.  No big deal - so I road with a male co-worker and my son.  Well I tried to keep up with a male co-worker and my son.  And there in lies the problem.  I simply ran out of gas - my legs were fried.

I realized I had bonked when I came out of the last rest stop, around mile 40.  And knowing the course - I knew there were plenty of hills to come - not big hills, but long gradual hills right smack into the wind.

In the end I made it in 3:23 for an avg pace of 14.9.

I am feeling a little bit dejected - wondering how much is age related, after all I am 57 years old - and how much was just the day.
For now I will be thinking that it was just the day - some days you have it and some days you don't.

In two weeks I get to try again - I am participating in the MS 150 Best Dam Bike Ride.  Two days of biking 75 miles per day!

Normal!

What do you do when you take a day of vacation?

This is the first full day of vacation since the last week of February.  For many people that wouldn't be that unusual.  After all, I did take a week of vacation in January for our annual ski trip to Colorado and a week of vacation in February to sail around the British Virgin Islands.  It isn't like I haven't taken any time off in 2013.  BUT my vacation year runs from the beginning of March to the end of February.  So based on my vacation year - I have only taken 1 1/2 days off this year.  I am able to carry forward up to 2 weeks of vacation and since I have been at my company for eons!!!! I get 6 weeks of vacation.  Yup, that's right - I have almost 8 full weeks of vacation to take before the end of February 2014, although as I said, I can carry 2 weeks over to 2014.   If I took a week off in every month from Aug thru Feb - I still wouldn't use all of my vacation and would end up carrying over 1 week!  

Cool, you say!  What is the problem with that?  I really am not complaining - but balancing the need for time away from work and managing a career is tough.  I love my work.  It is exciting and challenging . . . seriously, there is never a dull moment. I got myself in this predicament, if you can call it that, because I am the corporate sponsor of a huge software implementation project at work.  My staff have been putting in many hours and I just don't feel good taking time off, when they are not able to do so.  Well, we went live with the software implementation on the 15th and it went really well.  Unbelievably well, as a matter of fact.  We know there will be some issues popping up, but overall we feel really good about this.

So I took today off and it feels great.  Mentally I really needed to be away from work.  I haven't done anything unusual - slept a little later this morning, watered the garden, pulled weeds, took the dog for a short run, followed by a 4 mile run myself and put in a load of laundry.  Normal things!

Sometimes normal is what a person needs!