can't win 'em all

just your typical sunday
josh sewed faux blood vessels together . . .

i am impressed with his handiwork
while i attacked the laundry and meal-planning:

just the essentials: planner, menu pad, shopping list, magazines, and computer!
(i am going to include a section on meal planning on my cook page -- but if you're interested, i've also written about the process before in a guest post on carrots & cake.)

between household tasks, i made time to catch up on desperate housewives, a tiny bit of homework, and my google reader, which incidentally led me to lawrence and julie and julia, a blog about watching J&J for 365 days and blogging about it. if you need a laugh this morning, check it out!

oh yeah, and there was also a race
the 5K we ran yesterday felt so anticlimactic! there is something odd about a 2pm race. on the upside, it feels much more natural to enjoy a beer afterwards (which we did). but on the down -- it just feels weird, and a little wrong.


i hadn't trained particularly hard for this race (i used a 6-week program from runner's world SmartCoach), and i did not have high expectations based on recent workouts. adding to my trepidations, one of the attendings i work with (who is a real runner of the 'wins big races' variety) described the course as "punishing." given the terrain he usually runs on, this didn't bode well . . .

still, i optimistically picked a holiday-themed playlist filled with ridiculous pop, hoping that hearing these favorites would somehow power me up the hills.

sadly, i never got to gaga or miley
the thing is, i didn't care that much about this race -- until i saw the results from last year. here are last year's top 3 in my age group:

not the most competitive field
even with a considerable chunk added to my typical finishing time, i thought perhaps could WIN my age group if there was a similar turnout this year. and there were theater tickets up for grabs! i really wanted to bring some home.

i labored up over the hills (and "punishing" was indeed the right descriptor). honestly, i did not enjoy this run one bit, and barely eked out a 24:34 (chip). the most demoralizing part was when the finish sign came into view (up a hill, of course), and two coltish, prepubescent boys breezed past me, just rubbing in how lame my 'finishing kick' really was.

so the prize! was it mine?! after all, with last year's stats, i would have been golden. and those 10-year-olds certainly weren't in my age group . . .

i won't leave you hanging any longer. we DID take home 3 lumina theater tickets and a $10 iTunes gift card. but i didn't win them: JOSH did!! 2nd in his age group, and a respectable 21:41 finish.

i was happy for him, but a little grumpy ( <-- understatement) about my own performance. i feel like i would rather REALLY train for a race, or not at all; the halfway-there style that i pulled out for this one was really unsatisfying. my next conquest? that will depend on what my dr. says about training.

i did get this lovely consolation prize:

i LOVE my new utopia soft shell from brooks!
josh and i stopped at fleet feet in carrboro afterwards to breathe some new life into our ailing running wardrobes, and i got the above. super-warm, comfortable, and cute -- i am thrilled with this new acquisition.

plans for the week
✔ i have specific work goals mapped out

✔ i am considering going to a (live) yoga class

✔ i am beginning the 20/20 home cure (this way, i get to finish on 1/1/11!)


anyone care to join me? come on, it'll be fun!

this just in: while i may not have exceeded (my own) expectations in the race, i just got an email from the american academy of pediatrics -- I PASSED THE PEDS BOARDS! yay :)

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12.12.10

workout: 5K!

leftoverz rule: from our party --

leftover white chicken chili + salad that never got served
plus a generous side of (unpictured, leftover) terra chips. yum.