insta-weekend

We had a pretty relaxing weekend (e.g. two coffee shop dates, lots of tv-on-dvd, 10pm bedtimes), which was a good thing since Peter's currently on his last day of the nice schedule VA rotation - tomorrow he starts two months at the children's hospital, which puts him back to super early mornings, busy days, and late evenings... At least this month was a good one to catch up on sleep.

A few snippets of the weekend thanks to my new favorite iPhone app:

 

 Settled in with my new favorite show on DVD while Peter was on call Friday night

 

 Annual vaccine time for Miss Ginger, who loves going to the vet. She gets to ride in the car! And meet people! Who pet her and let her lick them!

 

 Post-call Peter required some Saturday afternoon caffeine after only 2 hours of sleep; a good excuse for a Barnes & Noble date.

 

 Sunny Sunday afternoon in the yard with the whole family.

 

 A good time for some fall yardwork - raking, planting bulbs, etc. before settling back onto the couch for some more Modern Family episodes...

my first half marathon!

[13.1 miles is a long way to run, and recapping it takes a lot of words! So here are a couple photos, and if you want the whole (super long) nitty gritty, click through to read the rest of the story...]

Saturday's Cincinnati Half Marathon ended up going quite well, in spite of my nerves, the cold weather, and a pain in my foot. I felt pretty good throughout, enjoyed the downtown scenery as I ran, and maintained the pace I wanted. The race started at sunrise near the Cincinnati Reds ballpark, went west along the river a little ways, up through downtown for a couple of miles, and then east along the river for for 4 miles or so before looping back. A fairly scenic run with the downtown buildings and river (aside from a stretch with a whole bunch of abandoned looking places), and really quite flat (as advertised), which takes strategic route planning around here.

I am so excited to have finished it; the icing on the cake was beating my goal time of 1:50. My official time was 1:48:01.9, about 8:15 pace. When it comes to running, I'm mostly competitive against myself, and I know I'm never going to win something like this, but placing 7th of 117 in my age division and 199th of 1130 people overall makes me feel like a real runner!

finish line

medal + my tired feet

pedicure + chocolate shake + book = reward

family fun weekend

By the handy work-from-home ability to shift around my schedule, I got to enjoy another impromptu three-day weekend, this time when my parents and youngest brother visited. The great thing about having visitors is getting to show them all your favorite things around town - like the local bookstore, our church, and one of our favorite breakfast places - but also having an excuse to try some new things - like Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream and the Blue Ash golf course (for the boys, of course, while my mom and I got to have a lovely girls' afternoon of walking, talking, scheming, and shopping).

Of course the greatest part is getting to hang out with your family... A few highlights for which I have photos:

Peter had the weekend off (again!) so he got to see everybody too - but he had to go off to work on Monday while the rest of us got to do a little sightseeing. First, we went to the Carew Tower to check out the observation deck on the top. I hadn't done this yet - I'd say the $2 fee is worth it to check out the building and the views of downtown and the river. We spent quite a while looking around while I attempted to play tour guide and identify buildings and highways. The inside of the building had lots of cool art deco features like these tiles:

We also took a little walk on the Roebling suspension bridge so the visitors could set foot inside Kentucky while they were at it.

We rounded out the art deco portion of the downtown Cincinnati tour with a stop to look at the Union Terminal building (which now houses several museums).

(this shot borrowed from my mom...)

And then we rounded out pretty much everything we did at Graeter's (daily... my father being where I get my sweet tooth...). At first we pretty much stuck with standby favorite flavors, but by the end some new favorites were starting to edge them out, especially some of the seasonal ones: chocolate malt, cinnamon, and cotton candy (for Dirk). Carnage from one of our visits:

We also celebrated Dirk's 16th birthday a couple days early with a dinner at the Cheescake Factory. Before they headed home, I gave him his present - with the most teenage-boy-appropriate giftwrap embellishment out there. Of course he's so clever he noticed right away there were 16 of them...

running essentials

I have now signed up for a half marathon (!) which is in a week (!!)

Without really admitting it to myself, I've been training for it for a couple of months, and I know I'm ready at this point - but signing up still made me really nervous. Unfortunately my built-in fan base (aka Peter) is on call, so I'm all on my own for pep talks that day. I'm trying to tell myself it's just like any long run that I do.  Peter's off at work during all of those... except then I remember for this one I have to drive myself there and find a parking spot. And there's a starting line. And there are a bunch of other people. And I have to run slightly farther.

So I've been freaking out a little, but I'm still glad I signed up. It will be exciting to reach this milestone after all the running I've been doing. And while I'm busy telling myself that, here are a few essentials (aside from my previously discussed outfits) that have helped get me through lots of miles already:

1. iPhone armband: to carry my iPhone loaded up with my running playlist (I find that lots of the peppy songs from Glee keep me moving)

2. Nike+ app: to measure my speed and distance while I run. It gives me updates with my pace every mile, and it stores my run history, plus records (longest distance, time, fastest 5k, fastest 10k, etc.), which my goal-oriented self loves.

3. Chocolate milk: I've read that it's supposed to be good for post-exercise recovery, but I actually have a glass for breakfast almost every morning (before running) - it sticks with me for a long time and gives me energy.

4. Champion sports bras: I have no desire to spend more on these since after a while, they just don't come out of the wash smelling fresh any more... These ones occasionally go on sale for about $14 at Target, and then I buy a new one.

5. Smartwool socks: my favorite because they're nice and cushioned for comfort, and breathable so my feet don't get too hot.

6. Treadmills + tennis: I do most of my running outside these days, but the beginning of my training was all on the treadmill, and I've found the best treadmill tv entertainment is tennis. I can get really engrossed in a good match and just keep going - so I've reached several milestones during major tennis tournaments (such as my first hour-long run was during Mardy Fish vs. Rafael Nadal in the Cincy tennis tournament, and my first 9-mile run was during the US Open final).

insta three-day weekend

I have been looking forward to Peter starting his rotation at the VA hospital for ages... The residents have some complaints/frustrations about how their VA rotations work, but I think the VA is the best. Peter doesn't have to be there nearly so early, so he gets to catch up on sleep and I actually get to see him in the morning; he arrives home much earlier; Fridays tend to be half days; the workload is lighter so he can get some of his reading done during the day instead of at home in the evening. Such a nice change after the last three months in which he frequently arrived home after 8 pm, sometimes as late as 9:30 or 10.

But I have a new number one reason I love the VA: they observe Columbus Day.

Peter found that out mid-way through last week, and since he actually wasn't scheduled to be on call at all over the weekend, suddenly here was a three-day weekend to enjoy! (I'm pretty sure I've never had Columbus Day off myself, but I'm lucky enough that my work-from-home schedule allows me to spend a little extra time with Peter whenever the opportunity presents.) And here's some snippets of our insta long weekend!

 

had one of the other residents & his family over for dinner on Friday; their 1-year-old loved Ginger

 

spent Saturday afternoon reading at Coffee Please; Any Human Heart for me (very good) and something about ears/noses/throats for Peter

 

had drinks & dinner (on the patio! this weather!) at Teller's in Hyde Park on Saturday night; Peter had the pork belly sandwich, and we realized we've never met a pork belly we didn't like (see visits to Nada)

 

caught up on a couple of our favorite TV shows: Modern Family, Daily Show, Colbert Report

went for several family walks (again - this weather!) and played some tennis too

 

 

 had a Columbus Day breakfast at the National Exemplar in Mariemont - delicious celebration of our new favorite holiday...

happy adoption day

It's been exactly one year since we brought Ginger home to join our family... It's now kind hard to remember not having her around. Having a dog is certainly work and sometimes hampers my plans a bit, but her exuberance, jumping three feet into the air every morning when she sees me for the first time, cannot be beat.

Though we're quite settled in our lives and routines together, we still think pretty much everything Ginger does is cute or funny or sweet, as evidenced by the copious amount of photos I have of her on my phone (here fancified with Instagram - I'm totally late to the Instagram thing, but now that I've finally downloaded the app, I love it. I take a lot of photos with my phone, and often they end up looking like unexciting snapshots of something I was excited about. But now I can make them cooler/worthy of sharing!).

 

 

This last one was sent to me by my brother-in-law Joe, after he and Clayre took care of Ginger for a day at the beginning of my work trip. We often get asked what type of dog Ginger is, but aside from the Humane Society's label of "lab/shepherd mix", we really have no idea. Whatever mix it is, Peter and I think she looks like what you might imagine a generic idea of a "dog" to be (perhaps a nice way of saying "mutt"). So this photo was titled "Ginger looks like a 'stock photo' of a dog." Peter calls it her glamour shot.

work out wednesday

Instead of Work It Wednesday like last week, this time I've got Work Out Wednesday - partly because I spend a good couple of hours every day in my workout clothes (always for a walk with Ginger first thing, then for exercise almost daily - either running or going to the gym, then for as long as it takes me to get around to a shower afterward). And partly because somewhere along the way I have become a bonafide runner...

Today I set my new record distance: 11 miles. Seriously!? I cannot believe I can run that far. My goal for the year was to run a 5k race, which I did (quite handily, I thought) at the beginning of May. Since then I've just kept running. I'm not very competitive, but I am goal oriented, so I feel compelled to go  a little farther or a little faster than last time, and now here I am, breaking last week's 10-mile record.
 
Even so, 5-6 weeks ago I thought the idea of me + half-marathon was quite crazy. I knew I could do 7 miles, but come on - 13.1 miles is nuts. And now I'm very seriously considering signing up for one this fall. A big help is that I've really developed an enjoyment for running (another thing I never thought I'd say). I always thought running outside was so hard, especially with what I've dubbed the 3Hs of Cincinnati: heat, humidity, and hills. But it gradually became easier - those Hs probably helped with my conditioning too - and now that it's more autumn-like weather, it feels so great to get outside and enjoy some crisp air, bright sunshine, changing leaves, kids walking to school. Plus distance running gives a girl a lot of time to just think, which has been nice.

top, shorts, shoes: Nike (via Dick's Sporting Goods, all clearance)

Anyway, usually I look something like this when I head out. I'm partial to Nike workout clothes mostly because I like how they look, but also I like the fit - and the nice sweat-wicking material is a must. I've been quite pleased with my last several pairs of Nike running shoes too - they're so comfortable I could walk all day in them. Or run 11 miles. Ha. I get everything at TJ Maxx, outlets, or on clearance at sports stores, so it doesn't usually match this perfectly...

 pants: New Balance via TJMaxx; top: North Face Outlet;

headband and gloves: Target ($2, so I don't care how sweaty they get!)

Now as the mornings get colder, I'm trying to figure out the best way to dress for a run - it's not hard to keep your core warm when moving that much, but the air is rather chilly on my skin and extremeties - so I've accumulated a few warmer items recently though haven't needed this whole ensemble together quite yet. I like to keep my ears warm too, but a hat is too hot, so I improvised by cutting a headband out of a $2 hat from Target until I can find a real one in stock somewhere. Snazzy, right?