Strut and Twirl

I saw my first SIFF film of the year last night; a documentary called "A Wink and A Smile". It was about the local burlesque scene with an emphasis on a class of beginners who take a six week burlesque class to learn the art of the tease. The class culminates in a graduation recital at a local club to perform their routines in front of a live audience.
I wanted to see this film because I had heard about the Academy of Burlesque here in Seattle after seeing an Atomic Bombshells show and (big confession) there is a part of me that wanted to take that class, put on a pair of pasties and go twirl my little heart out. I even have had my burlesque name picked out. However, after watching this movie I have to say that I don't think I would have the guts to go through with it. Those woman were incredibly brave. The whole point of the film , which I don't know was fully realized, was about body and self acceptance and throwing aside hang-ups and doubts. I am all for that and have come a long way in that regard. But throwing on a bathing suit is a lot different than putting on tassels and strutting it for strangers on a stage. Would I be any braver if I were smaller? Ummm... probably not. I think I will have to remain a closet exhibitionist. You are all safe.

O' Cruel Alarm Clock

It was a night of very active, very interesting dreams. Much was accomplished and much fun was had. Dream Ann-Marie was tired and was just getting ready to crawl between the sheets, looking forward to laying her head down on the pillow for a nice long snooze, exhausted from the "day's" dream activity...and then the alarm went off. Real life thwarted my much anticipated, clearly much needed, sleep. So very, very cruel.

Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream

I had heard about this new homemade ice cream shop that opened up in Wallingford three times in the last five days. Once on the radio and in two separate newspaper references. This was clearly a sign that I was meant to have their ice cream and have it now. So after my marketing final last night I drove down to Wallingford and visited the shop http://www.mollymoonicecream.com/. It was fabulous. I had a scoop of the salted caramel and the balsamic strawberry. I wanted a few more balsamic ribbons in the balsamic strawberry but the ice cream itself had a great richness and flavor. The salted caramel was amazing - smooth and creamy and to die for. One of my favorite flavor combinations and I have never seen it done in ice cream before. It is also only about a block from Trophy Cupcake so you can just waddle back and forth between the two. Ice cream...cupcake...ice cream...cupcake...ice cream...cupcake. Doesn't get much better than that.

Morning Thoughts

I could accomplish so much more if I had a prehensile tail.

Let's Raise Our Cheesburgers In A Toast!

I'm going to let you in on a shameful televison secret: I watch "America's Next Top Model". I'm not proud. Sometimes you just want the television equivalent of cotton candy and boy does this show deliver that.
Well, last night on ANTM they announced the winner of this cycle. The winner was, for the first time in this shows 10 cycle history, a plus-sized model. Good for them, but what makes me just sort of shake my head is what constitutes "plus-sized" in the modeling industry. Ready for it? . . . .. a size 10. Seriously. Being a size 10 makes you "full-figured", "plus-sized" or (my favorite) "juicy".
While I think the winner was picked to win from the very beginning to make a crazy Tyra point (like there is any other kind) about weight, I still applaud them for picking someone who looks healthy and normal for a change.

I'm Mr. Heat Miser, I'm Mr. Sun

It is FINALLY supposed to be nice this weekend. Clear skies and in highs in the 70s and 80s. I have even heard 90 bandied about for Saturday. If anyone has the gall to complain about how hot it is this weekend after this miserable, unending, cold, wet spring we have been having I will kick them in the shins.

12:01

Well the Eugene half-marathon is over and I am not able to claim a personal victory. I thought for sure I could run the whole distance since a mere two weeks ago I did 11.2 with no problem and felt like I could have kept going. Unfortunately it was not to be. I did PR but when you set the bar as low as I did in Super Jock 'n Jill half-marathon it isn't too hard to improve.

I felt fine going out, actually got into my groove at mile 4 and felt like running the whole way was in the bag and probably at a (for me) decent pace. However, I kept looking down at the Garmin and the pace was too fast for the distance I was going to be covering. I tried to slow the pace down but I couldn't hold it at the slower pace. By the time mile 9 came around I didn't have any more soup and had to start doing walk/run breaks. I kept that up until about the last .75 mile when I made myself keep running. I kept watching the average pace on the Garmin creep up and I was going to be damned if it got above 12:00 per mile. So I ran. A slow lumbering run but a run all the same.

After the finish I checked the Garmin and it read an 11:52 pace. What I didn't factor in was it also said I ran 13.25 miles. I was not super pleased with my time at that time but I figured "OK, you beat your previous half-marathon time by 38 seconds a mile and you finished under a 12:00 pace. An improvement". I could live with that and even feel sort of OK with the improvement. Then came the official results.

According to the official results my pace was. . . 12:01. Yup. 12:01. Based on the official distance of 13.1 my finish time resulted in a 12:01 pace. If I could have pushed it somewhere for 26 lousy seconds I could have been 11:59. Perhaps if I didn't stop to remove the rock in my shoe. Taken fewer walk steps at the water stops. Ate the GU sooner. Or (most importantly) got my lazy butt to train a little harder I could have spared myself the disappointment of a 12:00 pace. *sigh* I am surprised at how much this bothers me. However, I am turning it into a motivator. I have printed out 12:01 in big numbers and am taping it to my front door. Every time I feel like blowing off a workout all I have to do is look at that and remember my disappointment.

On a more positive note, my brother ROCKED! He finished the full marathon in 3 hours 53 minutes; shaving more than 17 minutes off his last year's marathon time. He worked amazingly hard for four months to succeed at this race and I am so proud of him. He looked much worse at the finish this year than last and spent awhile in the bathroom back at the hotel dry heaving but I am sure he would say it was all worth it.

As long as I am handing out props let me give a much deserved one to Kevin too. He ran his first half-marathon and finished with an 11:02 pace. He hadn't been able to train much at all the last seven weeks or so because of a foot injury and was concerned how he would perform. He shouldn't have worried because he exceeded his expectations. His finish has renewed his enthusiasm for full marathon training for the San Francisco marathon in August. I am extremely proud of him.

Eugene is a wonderful little town and they put on a really well-organized race. Plenty of Honey Buckets, organized expo and gear check, good shuttle service, plenty of water stops, lots of enthusiastic spectators and volunteers, tasty food at the finish. Even the weather was great, as it always is in Eugene when I am there. The gods must love Eugene. There are truly no complaints or ways I could think of to improve. Maybe we'll try again next year.