Green Lake Gobble 5K

In an effort to motivate myself I signed up for Amanda's PR Challenge and set my sights on a new 5K PR.  I knew this was going to be a long shot but I figured the motivation would at least get my butt out the door.  That and the looming marathon training.  Good motivators both.

The race I chose was the Greenlake Gobble 5K.  As the race approached I realized there was pretty much no way in hell I would PR.  I have been putting in some better mileage lately but all of it has been slow. When I woke up on race morning to freezing temps and snow I almost crawled back in bed and didn't go.  Actually I did crawl back in bed but then talked myself into going.  Races are such happy places and runners have such positive energy and frankly, I can use a bit of that these days.  Besides, I am always happier after a race.  Also, I paid for the race and signed up for this challenge so I felt like I had to.  So off I went, all bundled up (three shirts) and wearing my turkey leg head band proudly to go run 3.1 miles.

Since this wasn't even close to a PR attempt I just set out to have a nice fun run.  Somewhere in the first half-mile I realized I might be able to bring my time in close to a 10:00 minute pace.  So I ran a little faster.  Then I realized how many races I have run with a per mile pace that starts with two digits and how disappointed I am by that.  So I ran faster still.  My new goal was a sub 10:00 pace.  Then, with only about a half-mile to go I remembered my tangent problem and the fact that I can't run the exact distance of any race and always end up with more mileage than the distance.  Crap!  Even though my Garmin says my overall pace is 9:54 there is a good possibility that I will run 3.2 miles and blow my pace goal.....and I did.  With no gas left in the tank I crossed in 31:07 which is a pace of 10:02 per mile and almost two minute slower than my 5K PR in April.

Here are the splits:

Mile 1:  10:06
Mile 2:   9:51
Mile 3:  9:53
Mile .15 (according to my Garmin)  9:02 pace

If I used my Garmin stats I would have ended up with a 9:54 pace.  Considering that my "fast" runs lately have been a hovering around 10:30 I am pleased with this time and pleased that I decided to end up racing it after all.  And I know I raced it when I could feel the soreness in my quads the next day.

Next race:  Eugene Marathon!

Almost Trip Time

Holy crap,  I'm going to Costa Rica next week!  I am feeling fairly unprepared at the moment in spite of the purchase of some new hot weather clothing (tough to find in November) and a pair of light hiking shoes (my hiking boots are waaaaaayyy too heavy and clunky).  Other than the newly purchased items I have no idea what I am going to wear.  I don't really have a wardrobe for Seattle summers let alone one for Central America.

I did get my suggested travel vaccinations for Hep A and Typhoid for a dollar amount that made me cringe and caused wallet pain.  They had better be worth it.  This also prompted a statement I'm not sure gets said a lot:  "For our honeymoon we really need to go to a country that has Typhoid."  You know, just to get my money's worth out of the deal.

I "know" a few of the people that will be joining me on this trip.  Through message board posts on the travel company's website I have learned that there will be a group of four "women of a certain age" who are docents at their local zoo and are primarily interested in the birds of Costa Rica.  There is also a recent female college graduate from New Jersey.  In my mind my trip now includes the Golden Girls and Snooki.  Let's get realistic though, ain't no way Snooki is a recent college grad.

As the time for departure nears I am getting pretty excited about this little adventure.  Still trying to decide if I am going to try and run when I am down there.  The hot humid weather and the unfamiliarity with the area is giving me pause.  Who knows, maybe Blanche and Sophia will want to join me for a run through the jungle.

So Glad I Am Marrying This Man

I recently sent Kevin a list of Portland bakeries that I have chosen as possible creators of our wedding cake.  I found six that I liked but we are trying to whittle it down to four.  Yes, wedding specialists advise only trying three vendors but dammit this is cake and we are trying at least four different places.

Today I received a response to my e-mail.  I expected him to look at the links, browse through the sites and pick a few he thought looked nice.  Oh no, he is too methodical and analytical and thorough for that.  He loves to spend time learning and researching things and I shouldn't have been surprised that that would include cake too.  Here is his e-mail:

I actually created a weighted matrix based on the below categories and rated each bakery.
Weight 5: Artistry
Weight 4: Flavors
Weight 3: Price
Weight 2: Reviews
Weight 1: Delivery & Web Site

White Rose: 73
Sweet Cakes: 62
Serious Cakes: 57
Laurie Clarke Cakes: 51
Papa Haydn: 42
La Joconde: 39


If you want a go at it I have a spreadsheet ready for you to plug numbers into. ;-)

How freakin' cute and awesome is that?  I just want to hug his little computer nerdness right now.  I absolutely love it. 

Squishy, Nasty and Gross

In less than 24 hours I have had to:

• Clean up everything under our kitchen sink after we discovered our garbage disposal was shooting nasty water from every direction.  This was after I had just taken everything out and cleaned under the sink about an hour before.
• Clean up strategically placed cat puke from the corner of our couch.  Ollie (and yes I am sure it was him) managed to hit all four cushions and a sofa crack. I swear that he tries to be as obnoxious as possible when he vomits.  Our next couch will be cat puke colored.
• Clean up and dispose of a pumpkin that actually liquefied.  It liquefied all over the floor and all over Kevin's antique Victrola.  I have never seen one decompose quite like that or that quickly before.

I only thought people with small children had days like that.