Erin Go Run

I did a four mile run today. The first 5k of the year is about a month away and I've been dragging so I'm going to try and up my game. In all it was a pretty slow endeavor but I did do some sprints to try and work on speed. Hoping that speed work coupled with my distance will make a normal 5k seem all easy-peasy. Crossing my fingers!

I ran past the golf course at about mile two and it was full of people having a lovely afternoon hitting balls. I really wanted to yell out "FORE!" because it's fun to watch everyone duck in anticipation of being bonked on the head. At one point I was in the perfect spot to watch eight men hide from the ball, but alas I was slightly out of breath (gasping for air is more like it) and didn't have the lung capacity to yell it out with any volume so I just imagined it my head. It was quite funny. In my version one of them actually hit the deck. Had a good chuckle to myself and continued along my trail.

On my way back I again passed the golf course and got to witness a man shake his sand wedge at a goose, only to be chased by said goose. Geese are mean. You shouldn't shake sand wedges at them. You shouldn't even look at them for fear they will make eye contact with you and chase you too. Thankfully the guy had a golf cart to jump into. I guess he didn't know that the geese own the Eastmoreland Golf Course. SE Portland geese are hard core.

Now we head to a Superbowl party where I will only feel moderately guilty for the crap I will eat. Had I not run at all, I'd have felt very guilty - so that's something right? :)

Free for all!

Tonight I had to buy tires for my car. One of those adult expenses that apparently kicks in every 40k miles or so. This isn't the first time I've bought tires, but it's the first time I've been adult enough to pay attention to the cash coming out of my pocket. It must be all those other bills I'm responsible for these days. Pfft. Sometimes being an adult is really, really lame. Buying tires is really lame. So many other things my money could do. I could have had 10 new pairs of really great, adorable shoes. Or I could have bought a plane ticket to Mexico and had enough left over for a few days worth of margaritas. But nooooo, instead I bought round tubes of rubber (With silica for extra grip on wet roads. I live in Oregon after all.) with a bunch of grooves in them. The good news is I won't slide out when it's rainy, and I won't have a blow out while I'm doing 70mph on I-5. Yes 70. Gretta has a little horsepower and I tend to speed these days....

This whole experience has really brought up a subject I've spent some time thinking about. You see there are just things in the world I don't think we should have to pay for. These things tend to fall into one of two categories. Things I just don't want to spend money on because it's annoying and things I don't want to spend money on because we should all have these things as our inalienable rights a.k.a natural rights and to some extent basic human rights.

Let me preface the following paragraphs with an assurance that I am not a communist. I promise I'm not. This is really just silly, for the most part, with a bit of truthiness thrown in. No need to deport me or put me on some watch list.

Let's talk water. H2O. I hate paying my water bill. I hate it when I have to buy water in a store or restaurant. Water is required for me (and anyone else) to live. Why do I have to pay for that? Yes I know, the city takes my water and makes sure it's all clean and stuff, even though Portland has some of the cleanest water in the country (thank you Bull Run Reservoir, est. 1895!). I pay for that. Blah, blah, blah. I NEED water to function so I pay for it but if I NEED it to live shouldn't it just be my basic right? Like air. At what point will someone start charging me for the oxygen I take in? So yeah, I want free water.

Drugs too. I think I should get Nyquil when I'm stuffy and Pepto when my tummy is upset. I don't want to worry about how much it's going to cost when I don't feel good. I can't even comprehend how that must feel when you're needing to come up with the money for a round of chemo or a life saving infusion. You need ibuprofen for that splitting headache (whether brought on by a few too many Long Islands or a sinus infection) you get it. You need radiation, you get it. Just as an aside, one gallon of Nyquil will cost you $70. It's .54 an ounce. One serving is about one ounce. At the recommended dosage you will take four servings a day. A bottle will last you 2.5 days and cost you more than a gallon of gas. That's just Nyquil. I can only imagine what some prescription drugs must cost.

In the other category I have quite a few things...like toilet paper. Life can happen without it, but really it shouldn't. So I want it for free. I don't want to have to pay $8.99 for twelve rolls of paper. And it should be soft, like Cottonelle I buy now. Because my bum deserves it.

And underwear. Again, not mandatory for living, but pretty close. So I want it to be free. And it should be cute, and include matching bra and panty sets because every girls likes them. It should also be comfortable. Is that so much to ask for?

How about water heaters and any other appliance? So annoying when they start spewing water at 2am. They've already given me a headache, I shouldn't hurt in my pocketbook too!

Certainly the top of my "It's so annoying that I have to pay for that" list has to be socks. Weird right? I just don't want to have to pay for them. My feet want to be warm and dry and I want them to enjoy the soft cottony comfort for no cost. Too much to ask for?

What's on your list?

Shoes I would be wearing tomorrow if I hadn't bought tires..

Do you like Pina Coladas?

Today I spent a good few hours dreaming about a tropical vacation. It's not even all that rainy and gloomy here this week. In fact today the sun came out. Yahoo! Sunshine in Oregon in January is rare. Like a well behaved Lhasa Apso. Olivia is on my $%#^ list tonight. Stepping barefoot into a puddle of dog pee after returning from a nearly four mile run does not a happy dog owner make. So yes, rare, those well behaved Lhasa Apsos and sunshiney winter days.

Despite the lovely sunshine, which will apparently stick around a for a few days, I'm jonesing for some warm sand and water. I want to lounge on a fluffy towel and wiggle my toes off the edge of a dock with a palm tree landscape in the distance. I want to be here:

This is a dock in Ambergris Caye in the country of Belize. I want! I want! I want!

Alas, this year is not about vacationing. However this doesn't mean I won't slip into a tanning bed for a bit and pretend that it's actual sunshine warming my skin. Do you think I can sneak in a pina colada?

Progress

I am happy to report that I have already made progress on my List of Good Intentions. I added six books to my wish list at Amazon.com so I have a jump start on my reading for the year. Amazing right? Real progress! The task was so completely draining I've been unable to focus on anything else. It's hard work to shop online. All the browsing, the reading, the mouse clicking. It wears a girl out.

In all seriousness, I did actually add the books to my list, and not actually purchasing them certainly applies to the work on the budget part of the list but other than that I haven't done much else.

You see, I sprained my thumb. I didn't actually know this was possible, and I don't know how I did it. Maybe in my sleep? I wish I had some great story about how I was out running (getting ready for the half marathon) when I saw an unattended baby carriage start to roll down a very steep hill. I made chase, dodging the occasional trash can, cocker spaniel, and huge tree root induced crack in the sidewalk. Upon catching up to the stroller I yanked it back towards me just as it was going to plunge off a bridge above ice cold water and swift rapids. In the moment I yanked it, my thumb was tweaked to the left a bit and thus resulted in the swollen, sore, useless thumb. This of course did not happen, but it sounds so much better than "I have no idea" when people ask me why I'm wearing a brace on my hand.

The brace has impeded many things, not the least of which is my List of Good Intentions. I'm almost out of things to do at work that don't require the use of my right thumb. Hoping for a quick recovery because it's getting old fast. I can't even dress myself by myself which kind of rules out trips to the gym for a bit. The Immediate Care doctor thinks I'll be fine in a few more days, but there hasn't been a change in the swelling in three days now. Stupid thumb.

I really have an appreciation for why some animals evolved better than others now. Thumbs are important!

By the way, after I saved the baby from imminent death the city threw me a parade. It was awesome.

Good Intentions

I have been remiss. This little space on the interwebs has been pretty much abandoned. I guess maybe I haven't had much to say, or maybe I've just been lazy. Yeah that's really it. I've been lazy, because lots of things have happened since SEPTEMBER! The quick and dirty? I ran my fourth and final 5k of the year. I went on a trip to Boston, NYC and Washington DC with Scott. We had a wonderful Christmas. Our New Years Eve was quieter than usual but just as fun. And now a new year has started. So to start this year out right I'm posting a list. My list of good intentions. They aren't resolutions because I don't want to set myself up for failure and I tend to feel guilty and/or pathetic when I don't get something on my list accomplished. So this year, it's intentions. I have every intention of making the effort to accomplish them, but it's not the end all of lists. I can add to it, or remove things from it as I see fit. It will be my intention to make a real go of it though. I always do have good intentions.

1) Train for and run a half marathon. I'm actually going to do this. There is a plan in place.

2) Lose 15 pounds. It is my hope that training for the half marathon will assist with this greatly, but I know that I also have to stop shoving pie (and fries, chips, candy, hotwings, etc) in my pie hole.

3) Develop a time line and structure for a story that has been keeping me up at night.

4) Read at least one book a month, maybe more. This might sound silly, everyone knows I love to read. Not very hard to get one in each month. The thing is, this is more about taking the time to sit and be still.

5) Work on my walk with God. If you want to talk about being remiss, this is a good subject. No more. It's an extremely personal thing and I struggle with my political beliefs and my religious beliefs. I need to find some balance and understanding.

6) Try more veggies. We'll see. But like I said I have good intentions.

7) Save money. I LOVE a budget, but usually I'm trying to work an angle to fit just one more thing in. This time I'm going to be removing things and padding the savings account. I've already got Comcast to give me $20 off my monthly bill just for being awesome. Yay me!

8) Let go. Of control. Of people who have chosen to move on. Of the idea that things must be perfect. Of my worry wart tendencies. This is going to be extra hard but I'm going to try. Really, I swear I am.

9) Plan a dream vacation. We might not actually travel this year, though it would be the goal. The idea here is that I have something fun and adventurous to look forward to. If we can get the money set aside for the Meeker baby fund, we can then set aside money for a trip. And if we are blessed with a baby, it will be our last vacation as a couple. If we aren't successful with IVF, it will be a break and distraction from the stress and worry.

10) Finish one round (at least) of IVF. Don't know when, or how, but that's the plan for now. As part of the whole letting go intention (see above) I will be stressing about this less and taking a leap of faith that things are going to work out.

11) Take more photos. I stumbled upon this new project. New to me. I will take a new photo every day and post it. It will be my year in snapshots. Should be interesting and will encourage me to carry my camera with me more often which is something I'm always thinking I should do. If you want to see them you can visit them at http://365project.org/erinlis/365

So that is the list. For now. Some easy, some not. But I really have the best intentions. For certain, I have every intention of getting as much out of 2011 as possible!

Not runing in circles

This past Sunday was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure here in PDX. I ran in celebration of my Aunt Gail who recently beat breast cancer. The race was my favorite thus far for a few reasons. One being my PR! I beat my best time by more than two minutes. Now I've only run three races so far, so it's not that big of a deal - but it feels really good to make that kind of progress in a matter of four months. I've also been slacking a bit, so I can only imagine how much better I'd be doing if I was training better. So my time was great and I was proud of myself but really the best thing about this race is the power of the people. There are thousands of people there, walkers, runners, cheering sections. It's amazing. You can't not feel excited and elevated by the crowd. I also felt more pressure to preform. It's much easier to keep running (despite fatigue or sore muscles) as you see the names of survivors and those who have lost their battles pass you by. So it was a good day, a good race, a good cause. Just good all the way around. One giant warm fuzzy. Oh and the sun was shining down on us, despite a weather report for 90% chance of rain. That's someone up there watching out for us I think.

Other than that, not a lot going on.

I'm going to try to spend the next few weeks focusing on my fitness, my eating habits and some small creative projects. I am really feeling the need to take care of myself, physically and emotionally. Things aren't bad, but things aren't the best so I need to reflect on that. Make changes where I can and accept the things that I can't change. I need to learn to let some things go, even though I'm not ready. Things like, not all people are always going to like me or maybe we won't be parents. The longer I put it off, the worse I feel and that's sucky. I don't know exactly how I'm going to accomplish this yet, but I got mad reasoning skills so I think I can figure it out. It seems to be pretty deep stuff, no doubt, but it is what it is and I'm going to put my big girl panties on and see what we can do about it.

So that's the 411.

Oh and I might have told someone I'd run a half marathon with them in February. Yes I am insane. Certifiable. I have sixteen weeks to really get my as in gear. Pray for me, my legs, and the dear friends and family who will have to listen to me bitch and moan about the process....I guess that includes you if you're reading this.

Granny Erin

Hi. It's been a while. Oops! I guess life has been keeping me busy. Summer is like that. This summer especially. Trying to fit everything in before it's over. What happened to Summer? These overcast skies have got to go. According to the calendar I have three weeks of warn sunshine left. I want my sunshine!

In other news, I am back to the gym. I'd taken a little hiatus to do my running outside. Seems like one should take advantage of warm dry days and suck in (Yes I suck it in, moreso than breath. I'm running after all) the fresh air while traipsing around the city. Yesterday was so icky that the gym called and asked me to come get my ass back on the elliptical machine. Well technically it didn't call me, but it made me feel guilty when I drove past it. I give in to guilt. It knows how to work me. And boy did it ever!

I don't know what I was thinking. I walked in the with intention of spending 25 minutes on the elliptical and doing some light weights. For some reason I stepped onto the treadmill instead. And then I ran. I ran faster than I have run since I was a middle school track team member. Even then I only did sprints. So I ran two miles, without stopping to walk at all, at an 11 min/mile pace. That's fast for me. One minute faster than normal. I felt so good after (had to have been runners high) that I got on the elliptical for another twelve minutes. As a result of all this physical activity I feel like a ninety year old woman. I keep grabbing for my right hip when I stand up. It's pathetic. I feel like I could pull off the "shrunken little old lady" look today and actually yell out things like "Oy my sciatica!" I just need a little navy blue flower print dress with a doily collar. Yikes! No more gym hiatus. I should be able to pull off that workout and not feel as though a MAC truck ran me over, twice. I think running outside, while more fun and pretty, has really allowed me to slack off a bit.

So back to the gym tonight. With little less umph though.