NYE Re-Cap

So, I have a while before my airport shuttle comes and there is internet access at the tourist information center next to my hotel. So - here is the post you've been waiting for!

I had gotten the scoop on New Year's from David, my Golden Circle tour guide, so I was basically prepared for the flow of the evening.

After returning from the Blue Lagoon, I grabbed a quick lamb kabob for dinner and headed back to my hotel to catch a nap before the festivities. Well, that didn't happen... so I passed the time watching American movies on the television in my room. I knew that Icelanders wouldn't be out in the streets until almost 11:30pm, as they would be inside watching the traditional year-end re-cap of the year's news and events.

So, around 11:15pm I left my hotel to start making my way up to Hallgrimskirkja, the big church I had visited on my second day. It's a very high point in the city and I knew it would be a good place to watch people and the fireworks.

How strange it was to walk along empty streets in a major city on a night like New Year's... you would have thought it was 5am on a random weekday. There were literally about fifteen people on the streets between my hotel and the church circle. David was right! Everyone really was inside! It was creepy! But by the time I got up the hill, more and more people were coming out. Fireworks had already begun, in fact, I had been hearing them since about 8pm!

So, the first thing that happened was that some idiot climbed onto the very tall statue of Leif Eriksson in the middle of the square and promply fell off. When he hit the ground, he absolutely did not move. At all. And so, a few minutes later, the ambulances arrived and carted him away. I have no idea if he was a tourist or an Icelander... whoever he was, he spent the night in the hospital and I hope he's okay. There was a big pool of blood where he landed, which I took a picture of.

The fireworks came in waves, and with little regard to safety. I don't think there were any 'official' displays... rather, it seemed like everyone and anyone was setting them off. Huge rockets were being launched from only 20 feet away, and as far as the eye could see explosions lit up the night sky. After about ten minutes, the whole city was blanketed with smoke. Wave after wave of fireworks, everywhere, totally relentless... it was loud, people were spraying champagne, lighting sparklers and crackers, rockets launching from what seemed like the middle of the crowd.

It was unbelievable and now I see what they mean when they said that Icelanders spend more money on fireworks for New Year's Eve than Londoners, even with just a fraction of the population. I was breathing smoke and feeling the heat of embers, my ears were ringing... and at some point my feet became ice cubes, my hands were numb, and my teeth were just clenched together, not even chattering anymore... I was so, so cold, but almost afraid to leave my spot under the statue because I didn't know where the next rocket would come from!

I tentatively made my way through the crowd, needing more than anything to get warm. On my way down the hill, I saw David! Small world, Reykjavik, but I didn't wave him over.

I was almost back to my hotel when this guy approached me. He was drunk and English was not his first language, so I had a really hard time understanding him. He kept trying to ask me a question but I couldn't tell what he wanted to know. Finally he started sniffing and repeated, 'In the nose! In the nose!' and it occurred to me that he wanted to know where to buy cocaine!! I told him I was very sorry but I didn't know anything about that. To make sure I understood, he whipped out a small bag of the powder and showed it to me. I repeated that I was sorry but I couldn't help him, and he stumbled off on his way.

I made it back to my hotel without meeting my fate, and crawled into bed, frozen to the marrow. It's true... Icelanders really do know how to celebrate... and fireworks on the Mall will never measure up.

NYE In Reykjavik

Oh. My. God.

The New Year's Eve celebration last night was like nothing I have EVER seen in my life. Icelanders know how to celebrate... let me just tell you that.

Today is a long day, I am flying to JFK but not getting on my flight to DC for various reasons. I'll be on the east coast until Saturday night. Unfortunately, I might not have enough time to blog until then, but when I do I promise you guys will get the full NYE scoop plus photos and reflections from the trip.

Until then, I must get packing. Happy 2009!

I Like it Hot - Blue Lagoon

With today being my last day in Iceland I needed to priorize my activities. I cancelled my riding tour in favor of a trip to the Blue Lagoon, and it was a wonderful decision.

The cold Arctic wind was whipping but the milky blue waters were warm. I floated around inside first before braving the outdoor lagoon. GLORIOUS. The silica and algae made my skin feel baby-soft, but wreaked havoc on my hair. In a minute I'm going to go pour half a bottle of conditioner on it, so that should help.

Dinner tonight will be sushi, then a nap before venturing out for the fireworks and bonfires. Icelanders set off about 1,300 tons (that's right - TONS) of fireworks each New Year's Eve, so it should be an extravaganza. More on that after the fact.

So, for a couple hours tonight after midnight I will be hanging out in 2009 while the rest of y'all are stuck in the stone age, practically!

Northern Lights

We drove an hour into the middle of Iceland last night and saw a glimpse of the Northern Lights, a neon green swath along the horizon, streaking low into the sky. It was a bit cloudy so the show wasn't spectacular, but still!

Despite the clouds, the stars were unbelievable. I've never seen stars twinkle and glitter the way they were last night. Almost flashing!!

Blue Lagoon is later today... stand by!

Dinner

I got word that our Northern Lights trip for tonight is a go! So I went out to grab a quick bite beforehand.

I found my way to a grungy but delicious pizza shop not far from my hotel. The walls were chalkboard and full of messages and designs. I ordered a 12'' pepperoni pizza and it came with a wheel of parmesan cheese, dried herbs, habanero and garlic oil. The boys behind the counter performed complex tricks on their yo-yos between orders. It was pretty quiet at 7:30pm but I imagine that the place gets packed wall to wall after the bars close!

The owner spoke perfect English and helped me iron out a plan for New Year´s Eve... more on that to come. Apparently Iceland (with it's 300,000 people) spends more on their fireworks displays than London (with it's 12 millions) does!

Now I'm going to chill for a bit before I get picked up and we head out of Reykjavik and into the pure, black Icelandic night.

Evening Update

I am going to take the opportunity to update on my evening while there is no queue for the internet..

Still waiting to find out whether or not the Northern Lights tour is on for this evening. It has been cloudy lately and they have been cancelling tours, but my hopes are high.

I passed a few hours reading my murder mystery at an English pub. Whatever, don't judge me! I had a craving for creamy English beer after the mediocre Viking beer I had last night.

I remember visiting a Starbucks after a few days in Shanghai... the city was so completely foreign to me that I just needed to be someplace where I recognized the menu! I sort of had that feeling this evening.

If it's too cloudy to see the Northern Lights I am going to try to have dinner either on the harbor at a restaurant called the Sea Baron, which is supposed to have amazing lobster soup, or at Vegemot, a trendy vegetarian restaurant in downtown Reykjavik. No matter what, you will get the details for sure...

Cafe Post and Observations

This will be a quick post since I'm at the hotel and don't want to tie up the internet. It was a bit of a lost day today, but still a nice one. I didn't quite obey my wake-up call and so by the time I got moving couldn't book any day tours. Instead I took a little cafe tour with my Icelandic murder mystery, starting at Mokka, the oldest cafe in Reykjavik, and then heading to Kaffi and Te, where they remembered me from my first day.

I like to try to be a regular at a place when I travel. In China I visited the same bar every night before heading back to my hotel, and by the end of my trip we were taking photos together and they even hung one on the wall, so I was told by a friend who visited there after I left.

I finished up at a little cafe/bookstore along the main road, so full of tea and pastry that I couldn't do much but watch Icelandic life go by outside.

Observation: Icelandic fathers seem to be very involved with their children! I can't tell you how many single (well, I don't know if they are single per se, or just alone at the time) men I saw pushing baby carriages. I saw several male couples with kids, and the street vendor I watched for about an hour from inside a cafe had his little daughter with him and passed the time between customers playing games with her. David, our British tour guide from yesterday, had his 4-year old son Gabriel with him because school was closed. (David moved to Iceland in 1985 but said it took him forever to learn Icelandic... he only became fluent about five years ago!).

Last night's dinner was pretty mellow. I went to an Indian restaurant and feasted on lamb curry, cheese-filled naan, mango chutney, and some of the garlickiest naan I have ever tasted... all washed down with a Viking beer (bottled and brewed in northern Iceland). The beer was okay... I prefer rich and creamy English and Belgian beers but this one was okay.

Tonight I am schedule to leave Reykjavik and see the Northern Lights, but it's a bit cloudy and the trip may be cancelled. Hear's hoping we get to go! And tomorrow morning I am schedule to go horseback riding... then hopefully we will all visit the Blue Lagoon in the afternoon!

I can't wait to post pictures of all this!

Third Day

Well, I got my days mixed up and Trent and David actually arrive TOMORROW. With that new information in hand I booked myself on a day trip to the Golden Circle. We left at 9am, before sunrise, and started with a stop at the geothermal power plant just outside Reykjavik. Sounds exciting, right? Actually, it was VERY interesting! All power in Iceland is either geothermal or hydro-electric, and it serves them well. Though Iceland would be great for harnessing the wind's energy, they haven't even needed to tap that resource yet.

So, it was a good place to pass twenty or so minutes on a guided tour while waiting for the sun to come up.

Our first official stop was Gullfloss, an absolutely breathtaking waterfall in central Iceland. To get there, we drove deep into the cold, rocky, mountainous highlands of Iceland. It's COLD in there!! And the landscape looks more like a moonscape, all crevasse and mountains with swaths of snow carving wintry patterns down the slopes.

After the waterfall, where I warmed up with a bowl of lamb soup, we went on to visit the geysers - which erupt about every 8-10 minutes! It was really cool to walk around the milky geothermal pools, the bubbling natural steam vents, every so often a geyser shooting up into the air. And yes, the water is hot - about 100-degrees celcius. Yes, I touched it!

After the geysers we stopped at Thingsvill (I really need to double check these spellings) which is where, until about 1750, Iceland's government held court. It's also where the president's summer home is and ALSO happens to be the rift between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, which are ripping apart from each other at a speedy 2.5 centimeters per year.

Let me tell you... you wouldn't want to lose your footing hiking around this place. It was gorgeous, though, high in a mountain valley, big chunks of ice floating down the river, the plates shifting imperceptibly underfoot.

It was dark by the time we turned back to Reykjavik, and I unwound with a shower and some tea and caught up on the unfolding situation is Israel. After the decadence of Saturday and Sunday nights' dinners, I think I'm going to play it cool tonight and just get something simple. There are about a million thousand pizzerias within six blocks of my hotel, so maybe I will see what all the fuss is about.

Well... I'm off to another night in the Arctic Circle... blog atcha later!

Second Dinner

Last night's dinner deserves it's own post, and I have an hour at the internet cafe to make sure I have enough time to write about everything!

I had been reading about this restaurant called Fish Market and the bright, young chef who runs the kitchen. Well, it turns out that Fish Market is about four doors down Adalstraeti from my hotel, so there I went for dinner last night.

I had the presence of mind to photograph each course, so look for pictures when I return home later this week.

They sat me upstairs at the bar overlooking the open kitchen, right in front of the sushi/raw bar chef's workstation. When I say 'chef,' please realize that I mean an Icelandic kid who looked about 14! He was assembling beautiful sushi platters and was very cute, but very focused, and didn't return my impressed smile.

The walls were lined with leafy bamboo and a slice of bamboo trunk served as the stand for my chopsticks. I decided on a first course - grilled puffin. The puffin came topped with a single slice of smoked eel that was wrapped around a mango chunk and accompanied by two fried dumplings. The puffin was blood-red and fatty, similar in texture to duck but with a taste all it's own. The eel was tender and the mango bright.

As the sushi chef continued to work in front of me, I noticed that he would garnish his shrimp sashimi with what looked like red berries, red but slightly fuzzy and about the size of blueberries. I asked him about them: kamasuke, he told me, Japanese plums. He held one out for me to try. Sour and pungent with a seed, they were not delicious.

That said, I'd like to let him taste my kamasuke.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. Dinner. For my main course I ordered salted cod, an Icelandic classic, and it was served in cherry juice with a 'Christmas salad' (microgreens) and Jerusalem artichokes which were vaguely potatoey. Nuts and dried cherries were in the sauce, which perfectly complimented the cod. The first time I ever had berries with fish was at Hook in Georgetown when Janice, AVE, and I each sampled a perfect bite of raw tuna topped with a single blueberry and drizzle of blueberry juice.

Oh - I wanted to mention the fish-cooking method I observed, sitting by the open kitchen. The portions of fish were draped over a rod that was laying about one inch above red-hot coals of some kind. The fish were seared that way for a few seconds on each side, and then served. I have never seen a technique like that before.

I finally asked the sushi chef where he learned to make sushi. He said, 'Here!' So, we have a young, serious Icelander making sushi that could pass muster at any restaurant I've ever been to... it was very interesting.

And dessert - oh yes... there was dessert. I ordered the 'Premium Selection,' advertised in the menu as 'One for All and All for One.' I had definitely bitten off more than I could chew... literally. Out came banana creme brulee, banana custard, two scoops of sorbet (one cinnamon custard and one green tea), and banana wrapped in pastry dough and then deep-fried. My goodness. It was heavenly.

For wine I had two glasses of a nice, simple Cote du Rhone, which was refreshed directly from the bottle. All this food, plus eye candy, for a mere 11,100ISK or a little under $100.

Not cheap, but well worth every krona. And as you all know, I am not a souvernir/possession collector, so when I travel I prefer to spend my money on food (and drink!)

Second Day

Before I tell you what I did today, I need to tell you what I had for dinner last night! As I strolled up and down Skolovordustigur (I had to refer to my guidebook about four times just to type that word out!) looking for a place to eat, a sign on the sidewalk caught my eye: WHALE MENU. I went in.

This was the three-course offering at the Hereford Steikhus:

Lobster soup with chive sour cream
Whale steak with roasted root vegetables and haricots verts
Skyrs

The soup was amazing - salty and creamy with big chunks of lobster. The whale steak was cooked rare, very smooth and rich and very filling. I was nervous at first, but I liked it. It had a taste all it's own... not like beef or lamb. Strange though... whales are obviously mammals, however, I sort of felt like I should have been eating something with the consistency of fish, since I was eating... seafood... but not really seafood... the animal lives in the sea... but it was red meat. Anyway, I guess I can add that to the list of strange regional foods I've eaten.

Skyrs is a traditional Icelandic dessert made of a custardy yogurt type base, which is delicious, and in this case topped with diced poached pear, a scoop of raspberry sorbet, and a hardened coffee-caramel swirl. Two glasses of red wine to accompany, and the entire thing came to a tidy sum of 6,8000ISK, or a little over $50. A bit of a splurge, but I certainly didn't break the bank!

Today my plans to go to the flea market were foiled since it wasn't open. I looked through my guidebooks and combined the interesting parts from three different self-guided walking tours. I started along Reykjavic harbor where the fishing boats came in. I wandered up the main street all the way to Hofdatun St and photgraphed the Hofdi, where Reagan and Gorbechev met in 1986. The street names here are impossible to read or retain, so I had to pretty much constantly refer to my map throughout my walk. I tried to be surreptitious about it, though. I always yell at my mom for whipping out the map in public when we travel together. I prefer to try to blend in... though I know that I usually scream AMERICAN! without saying a word.

By then I was starving so I stopped for a pastry and hot chocolate and warmed up a little before proceeding to the Hallgrimskirkja church where 400ISK gets you a trip up to the tower for some of the greatest views in Reykjavic. I did some shopping along the way to the statue of Ingolfur Arnarson, the first settler of Iceland who was apparently a fugitive from Norway.

I picked up a few gifts after that and headed back to my room to shower and regroup before dinner.

The sunlight situation here is not so bad. It's weird in the morning. When you wake up (I mean when you wake up naturally), it's impossible to discern whether it's midnight, 4am, or 9am because it's pitch black no matter what (Reykjavic is a small city and there isn't much light pollution). But once the sun starts coming up, around 10:30am, things feel totally normal, and though the sun sets around 3:30pm, it's light for about another hour after that, which is not too far off how it is in DC in the evenings these days.

I'm about to head out for a drink and dinner here soon. I can't wait to see Trent and David tomorrow morning... not sure what we have planned but I suspect a spa trip to the Blue Lagoon is in the works for at least one of the days.

First Day

Well, I found my way to an internet cafe so I can write a proper post. Usually I keep handwritten journals when I travel but maybe this time I will just try a blog chronicle.

Arrival was uneventful. Lots of waiting at JFK airport, but once we got in the air the flight went quickly and smoothly. As scary as it was to find myself in a foreign country all alone and with no one waiting for me, getting to my hotel was surprisingly easy. I bought a ticket for the Flybus which took me to a hotel shuttle. Check-in was easy enough, though I was STARVING and scarfed down a power bar while waiting for my room keys.

I crashed for a few hours and woke as the sun was rising. After only a few hours here I already feel fairly acquainted with Reykjavic´s city center. The streets are narrow and windy in places but my hotel is at a strategic location and easy to find my way back to. Plus, with only 300,000 people in all of Iceland (approximately 60% of whom live in or near Reykjavic) and that it's very much off season, the streets and shops are basically empty.

I wandered the main streets for a few hours, bought some Icelandic chocolate at the grocery store (which is called BONUS, with a garish pink pig´s head in place of the O), found some great hot chocolate and a liqueur truffle at Kaffi and Te, wandered down to the harbor, and tried to decide what I would be doing with myself tomorrow, my second and last day to myself.

But first, I needed to run an errand. Silly me - I didn't bring a bathing suit to Iceland! Who could forget such a thing? It´s the Arctic Circle in December, seems perfectly logical to pack a bathing suit. Duh! But, Trent reminded me of the amazing Blue Lagoon and assures me that soaking in the geothermally heated pool is positively glorious... so I took a cab to a shopping mall and found a cute black bikini.

Can I just stop myself and say that the clothing boutiques in Iceland are amazing? So chic and trendy and unusual. And, there is a grocery store in the mall.

Once I got back from my errand I chose to get a few more hours sleep... now I´m pretty much on schedule with Icelandic time. With the rest of the evening I´m going to wander around a little more, find a cocktail and eventually dinner. I will be taking copious notes on what I eat! Tomorrow I intend to hit the famed Flea Market down by the harbor (OMG... The Simpson´s just came on in the internet cafe! In English!) and maybe take one of the walking tours mentioned in my guidebook. I want to wait for Trent and David to try the ice bar, nightclubs, and excursions.

Oh - I wanted to mention - printed on each of the Icelandair headrests was this:
The throne of Odinn was named Hlidskjaff.
We simply call this
Your Seat.

I loved that!

Well... it's way early for dinner by European standards but I´m starved... so I may defy tradition (but beat the crowds) and eat something. Stay tuned for another post tomorrow!

Hello from Iceland

Just a quick note - don´t want to tie up the internet! I arrived in Iceland just fine, the flight was super easy. A movie, a few Simpson´s episodes, and I was there. Getting to the hotel was also uneventful... and I immediately crashed out.

I have more to say but I will try to find an internet cafe so I am not a net-hog... anyway... I´m off to run a crucial errand... more later...

Last Post Stateside

Merry Christmas! This will be my last post until I land in Reykjavic on Saturday. I will have internet access in the hotel so stay tuned!

This was an indecisive morning. I got up determined to run 7 miles, then promply went back to bed. That lasted all of twenty minutes. I got dressed and headed out the door but spent the first three miles debating whether I should go for 7 or cut it short at 5 miles. I really hadn't decided what I was going to do when I hit the point where I either needed to go straight for 5 miles or turn right to add the additional loop.

I went straight.

Now I'm home and am going to get packing and cleaning... stay warm, everyone. I'll be in touch from Iceland!

Feeling the Christmas Spirit

This morning I and two armed escorts took a quick trip down to the National Mall to see the Christmas trees. The National Tree and Menorah were on display, surrounded by cute little trains and smaller trees donated by each state and territory.


It was fun to walk around and see everything... and I am officially on leave! Heading out in a bit for dinner with relatives in Centreville, then it's home to start cleaning and getting organized to fly up to the Artic on Friday.

Recommended Reading

There is a great post over on Skwigg's blog right now about various diet/nutrition/workout plans. Skwigg is an expert on such things and has a vast amount of experience to draw on... take her word for it!

Shakin' It

Tonight two girlfriends and I went to a Christmas party in the 'burbs. A couple hours in and we were ready to go... but not ready to go home. After some discussion and a few false starts, we ended up at Andalu in Dupont Circle, a hip-hop club that I'd seen but never been inside of.

We had a few beers and before I knew it I had left my white self in the dust, found some attitude, and was busting moves on the dance floor in my skin-tight red dress and knee-high boots. Please do not be misinformed - I do not have moves. Whatsoever. But I do have the ability to make fun of myself and my rhythm is great, so I have fun and can pass for a decent dancer.

Somewhere towards the middle of my loss of self-consciousness, a beautiful black guy reached his hand past my two girlfriends to ME (Why? Doesn't he know I can't dance?) and led me out to the middle of the floor where we proceeded to get it on. Tastefully, of course. It was awesome. He was hot. The music was pumping. I felt sexy and edgy and fun, polar opposite of the lame loser I usually feel like, being the first to show up and first to leave most places.

Lezlie and Carrie found dance partners too and we grooved for a while before the deafness overtook us and we decided to split. My ears are still ringing a little, but it was the most fun I've had in a while.

Hack Cough

My cat Natasha loves to suffocate me.

She'll walk on my desk between me and the keyboard and drag her tail underneath my nose, across my upper lip. I get a big inhale of cat hair. Yummo!

Resolutions or Why I Hate Facebook

Yes, I did it again. I joined Facebook only to deactivate my account within hours. Something about it just gives me the heebie-jeebies. I am not comfortable with that level of exposure and random people from my past trying to contact me.

Also, the word "friend" should never be used as a verb.

So anyway, that brings me to some of my New Year's Resolutions. One main one is that I want to be more protective of my time. I want to spend time with people I really enjoy being around and not feel obligated to make or keep social plans that I feel are draining.

I also resolve to keep track of my running. This means that I will need to replace my watch battery and record my mileage. I hope to improve my speed and endurance over the next year and maybe even try for some personal bests in upcoming races. I can really only hope to accomplish this by being diligent about my records.

By April, I hope to buy a piano.

Yoga Breakthrough

This evening I had one of my strongest yoga practices ever. Maybe it was because David, the owner of the studio, was practicing next to me! Or maybe, finally, after years of persistence, my stubborn body is starting to open up.

I was not blessed with a naturally flexible body. I have open shoulders, but that's about it. My hamstrings are about one inch long on a good day. So really, the only thing I have going for me as an Ashtangi is the will to work on things that are too hard for me.

Specifically, I felt really strong today in Utthita Hasta Padanghustasana. What happens is, you hold this posture for five breaths (except without the instructor supporting you).


Then slowly move to this posture and hold for five breaths.


Then you move to the first posture again and just exhale one time into a forward bend over the outstretched leg. Then you straighten up let go of the toe and hold the leg extended and unsupported for five breaths.


Then you switch sides. This little sequences comes right in the middle of the standing postures in the Primary Series and is very difficult. Not only does it take strength in the extended leg but it takes strength in the arms and in the supporting leg. Keeping the standing leg straight is very difficult. It's all very difficult. Yoga is very difficult. But today for whatever reason, I felt long and strong in these postures!

Afterwards, I tried to go to the hardware store to get a nut for my banjo. Somehow one of the nuts came off of the bolt that secures one end of the armrest onto the pot, and now the armrest is halfway falling off. How this happened, I do not know. But given how old the instrument is, the hardware store people were baffled and could not find a proper nut to fit the thread. Oh well... it's still very much playable, but the loose armrest is slightly annoying.

Disturbingly Alluring

Lately I have been rekindling my love affair with Nick Cave. I might be posting a few of his videos in the future.

This is "Where the Wild Roses Grow" with Kylie Minogue. I've posted the lyrics as below. Nick writes murder ballads, and so tenderly. Now, there is nothing remotely appropriate about romanticizing homicide... so how come he draws me in?

Nick Cave is hot. He seriously does something to me.
CHORUS:
They call me The Wild Rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day

From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
As she stared in my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
They grew down the river, all bloody and wild

When he knocked on my door and entered the room
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
He would be my first man, and with a careful hand
He wiped the tears that ran down my face

CHORUS

On the second day I brought her a flower
She was more beautiful than any woman I'd seen
I said, 'Do you know where the wild roses grow
So sweet and scarlet and free?'

On the second day he came with a single rose
Said: 'Will you give me your loss and your sorrow?'
I nodded my head, as I layed on the bed
He said, 'If I show you the roses will you follow?'

CHORUS

On the third day he took me to the river
He showed me the roses and we kissed
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word
As he stood smiling above me with a rock in his fist

On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
And she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
As I kissed her goodbye, I said, 'All beauty must die'
And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth

CHORUS

Comfort

The Lord says,

"Be not afraid, I am with your always;
I have called you by name;
You are Mine!
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
Nor will the flames burn you.
For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior."

Isaiah 43: 1-3

Change of Plans

I have to make an emergency drive up the coast this morning and will be staying overnight. So I won't be running the Jingle All the Way 10k tomorrow morning. I'll make up the distance on Monday.

May or may not be updating Twitter (sidebar to the right).

Everyone have a safe and warm weekend.

Cold Rainy Run

I just got absolutely soaked, but the very large oatmeal cookie I had for lunch and the 10k race I'm running on Sunday dictated that I do not take any unscheduled days off, even if it's pouring outside and the intersections are flooded.

Ah well. Running in poor conditions is quite rewarding, actually.

Now I'm off to the yoga shala (yes, I'm pretty fanatical about exercise these days), having finally dried off and thawed out, thanks in part to two cups of some lovely jasmine tea I picked up in Chinatown the other day.

Two weeks to Iceland!

Ladies: In Case You're Lonely...

I snapped this picture at the grocery store today:

Dining Companion

Earlier this week I had the pleasure (it's always a pleasure) to have dinner and drinks with my dear friend Tracy. Tracy is a famous author, journalist, classicist, and reviewer of books and I never feel more sophisticated and classy when around him.

Due to an event for which he was in town, we met at his hotel, the infamous Mayflower (of Eliot Spitzer fame). I debated wearing a blond wig but decided that, ultimately, brunettes are more mysterious and alluring.

We started off in the lounge with cocktails and spent some time catching up. But we were hungry - and most of our time together, when we have it, is spent over food and wine - so we talked about a few options and decided to try Cafe Promenade, at the Mayflower itself.

Our choice was one to be savored.

My warm arugula salad with wild mushrooms and fried Parmesan cheese in a shallot sherry vinaigrette was delicious. Tracy opted out of a salad course.

For the main course, I ordered what turned out to be a very generous portion of seared Ahi tuna crusted with wasabi and sesame seeds over baby bok choy sauteed in lemon grass essence. The tuna was cooked perfectly - that is to say, barely cooked at all - and the bok choy bedding was tender and nicely seasoned.

Tracy ordered asparagus ravioli which came beautifully presented with a yellow pepper coulis, pesto, and black olives.

This was paired with a domestic Franciscan pinot noir, strong and bold, a lovely compliment to both our courses. The bottle never stood a chance.

I ordered dessert, rather unabashedly: the "Opera Cake" - coffee soaked almond cake layered with mocha butter cream and chocolate ganache. Sort of like tiramisu wrapped in chocolate cake. The ever-restrained Tracy took one modest bite, I polished off the rest.

The evening ended on the early side, which is customary for us since we're both early risers. I went home full of tuna and cake and wine, happy to have spent the evening in perfect company.

The Luxury of Anxiety

What follows is going to be a totally self-indulgent post about the anxieties afforded to those who have few-to-no real life responsibilities. Just bear with me.

My 7 mile run yesterday totally wore me out. My hamstrings and arms were already fatigued and the distance took a lot out of me. I couldn't eat enough today, was constantly hungry, and now can barely keep my eyes open. My mind says - THE DEFINITION OF YOGA IS DEVOTION but my body says rest.

I'm getting really anxious about Iceland. This always happens right before a big trip. Instead of fantasizing about the glaciers, the ponies, the lagoons, the hot springs, I'm worried about finding my hotel, finding my friends, whether I'll be bored, how I will communicate... and... the money.

Five weddings this year have pretty much kept me constantly in the hole (flights.. hotels... dresses.. rental cars.. gifts... times five... GAH!) and now with Christmas season here, I am really trying to be frugal HERE so I don't have to be frugal THERE.

Yes, this relates to my yoga dilemma. I really feel like I need to conserve classes (I pay for a ten-class card) because I'm not sure when I'll be able to purchase a new card. I can easily go through one and a half class cards or more per month - that really adds up and it's really hard to take a good practice when I'm panicking about not being able to afford it. And the other thing, of course, is that I want to present as a loyal and faithful student. Skipping classes doesn't lend itself to that, not to mention it makes me feel out of control, lazy, sloppy, and generally worthless.

I'm not very good at being kind to myself. But apparently I'm not very good at pushing myself, either.

Yes, I realize that I don't have kids. Or a mortgage. Or a spouse. Or medical bills. Or an invalid loved one who I support. I realize that I'm having anxiety now because I live a pretty carefree and independent life. But it's anxiety nonetheless... and I hate it.

:( :( :(

Run Report and Wedding Pics

My 7+ mile run this evening was slow and steady. Emphasis on slow. I just could not make myself run fast! The culprit? Keith's brutal yoga class yesterday, I'm sure of it. I woke up this morning with screaming hamstrings and fatigued arms, likely from holding chaturanga for a million thousand breaths each (and this posture occurs about 25 times in the entire Ashtanga primary series).

It's the hamstrings and upper body that are largely responsible for propelling the body forward. So, when those elements are tired, a run will suffer. The bright side is that my pace WAS steady and I felt strong on the hills.

I don't have them all just yet, but here are a few pictures of the lovely bridesmaids from the November wedding I stood in. The first one is the bride's sister and me. The second one is the bride's sister, me, and the groom's sister. That's us after the ceremony, chillin' in the Hummer stretch limo after the ceremony. We drove around, drank champagne and wine, ate sandwiches and cheese dipped in cheese (you kinda had to be there - and we were starving!), eventually taking pictures before the reception. Ain't we purdy??

Rainy Day

So, even though it was cold and pouring rain, like a good little yogi I didn't skip class this morning.

I did, however, leave the house without an umbrella and got totally soaked walking to the shala. To top it off, I discovered (the hard way) that my shoes HAVE HOLES IN THE BOTTOM and by the time I got to class my shoes, socks, and feet were cold and soaking wet.

And then, after a particularly brutal class, I got to put cold wet socks and shoes on and walk another mile home in the rain.

Now all I want is a mug (hahah!! I mistyped "hug" for "mug" there... Freudian slip, hm?) anyway, a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows and a kitten in my lap for the rest of the afternoon.

Back to the Routine

Last week was pretty laid-back at work, but tomorrow everything should be back to normal. It was nice to have a little break from the grind... but, being the control freak that I am, I look forward to being back in my routine.

In other exciting news, my favorite runner, Catherine Ndereba, "easily won" the Great Australian 15k. News article is here (but it mostly focuses on the male winner, Haile Gebrselassie).

Menu

Thanksgiving 2008

Appetizer - warm brie with brown sugar and walnuts, crackers, fresh apple
Soup course - hot pumpkin puree topped with sage and pumpkin seeds
Salad course - spinach and arugula with walnuts, fresh pear, and goat cheese in a spicy mustard vinaigrette
Main course - salmon baked in tin foil with tomatoes, shallot, lemon juice, rosemary, and thyme. Quinoa with feta cheese and pumpkin seeds
Dessert - pumpkin pie
For satiation - three bottles of organic Malbec

Lezlie, Mary, and I had a wonderful, mellow, food-filled afternoon. We caught up, got to know each other better, gossipped about boys, and talked at length about those things for which we are thankful.

Thank God for good friends.

Thanksgiving

Should be a nice day. I slept in and am about to go out for seven miles - hills first, then I'll finish up mostly flat and with a nice downhill stretch of sidewalk home. I alreay made the first course (pumpkin soup) and should easily finish the rest of the prep work for the salad and main course in about half an hour. Then I need to do some light cleaning and ambience... and then... wait on my two lovely girlfriends to arrive!

DGR

Every day, Matt and I send each other our food intake for critique and commiseration. Mine today is a little erratic:

5:45am - oatmeal
8:30am - apple
10am - low-fat cottage cheese
(so far so good!)
Noon - handful pretzels (was waiting for my colleague to come back so we could go eat lunch together
1pm - TWO CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES AND A SCOOP OF CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM. One of my colleague's onion rings.

Yeah... I fell off the wagon a little. But at least I knew what I was craving and just ATE it, instead of eating a several-hundred-calorie meal and THEN ordering dessert. If I have a light salad or soup for dinner, I will probably still be at or maybe even under my target caloric intake for the day.

Heh. A girl's gotta indulge every now and then, right?

Totally Shameless Post

I love Asian films.

I love long hair.

I love Tony Leung Chiu-Wai in all ways and with all haircuts (especially his steamy scenes in Lust, Caution).

I love his intense, knowing smile and gentle eyes.

DAMN.

Dream

Last night I dreamt that I was running the National Half marathon and it all kinda went to shit. I couldn't see the road markers very well and was never sure if I was on the right course. At one point I looked down and realized that I was wearing regular shoes - ballet flats and socks - instead of running shoes. And then at one water stop, which was inside (?) I tried to change into running shoes but they were two different brands, and I knew I couldn't wear those because I would get injured or something.

Then, at one point, after mile 4 I was at home and I checked my watch and realized that I had been running for six hours but had only gone four miles. So I just decided to quit because I knew I would never make it 13.1 miles... and was faced with my first DNF* and so dejected. I was wondering how I was going to explain that even though I had set an early fast pace it was still taking me hours and hours to run what I should have been able to cover in forty minutes.

Weird. And really, it's waaay too early for me to already be getting anxious about a March 2009 race.


*Did Not Finish

This Day Was MO

At work we have an abbreviation that we use very prolifically: MO. It stands for Mental Observation, and is traditionally used to describe a subject who is a little off and needs to be held for psychiatric evaluation. So, we will say, "This person is MO" and it's more polite than annoucing that he's totally fucking nuts.

But really, it means that the person is totally fucking nuts. It can also be used affectionately, or to describe situations. My whole day so far has been totally MO, whacked out of it's gourd. Unfortunately, I can only post one aspect of the day here as two others are work-related and one is a little too personal to post (i.e., could really hurt a person's feelings if they stumbled across the blog).

So, there was this older couple stalking me on the bus this morning. I kept catching the husband staring at me, and then they not only got off at my stop but followed me the two blocks I walk to work before turning down 17th St as I entered the office parking garage.

Then, this afternoon at 3pm as I was again waiting for the bus, just after having deflected an aggressive and high homeless person who cornered me and totally invaded my personal space to ask for change, I saw the husband walking up the street. He walked straight up to me and said, "I was on your bus this morning. My wife has been watching you go to work for two weeks!"

UH. Okay. So it turns out he is in town visiting his daughter and has had to go to my place of work for various reasons... including one time when he apparently crashed his car in Dupont Circle! "I just conked out at the wheel!" he said matter-of-factly.

Wow. Then he tried to find out where I live, that series of questions I expertly dodged. Weird. It occurs to me that yesterday morning the wife DID sort of cross the street in front of me in the morning, after departing the bus, and say, "Have a great day!" but I assumed it was just a nicety. I did not assume that they had been studying my routine for a significant amount of time!

Now I'm home and hanging out with my feline unit, catching some downtime before yoga class. Hopefully AVE will show up and we'll dine on our usual sushi and wine, if not, I have a whole bottle here at home... which won't be nearly enough...

What the heck?

It is seriously cold in DC right now. In fact, this morning, it was TWENTY DEGREES warmer in Iceland. That is just wrong.

It occurs to me, as I contemplate my upcoming excursion to the Arctic Circle, that I have absolutely no idea how to dress for those conditions. What do you wear to an ice bar? What do you wear 4-wheeling on a glacier?

Hopefully my dear friend who I'll be traveling with, and who has already visited Iceland, can shed some light.

Speaking of lights... I can't wait to gaze at the Aurora Borealis. Over and over again. What a way to ring in the New Year.

Empty Me

Empty me
Of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition
And the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord empty me of me
So I can be
Filled with you
-- Chris Sligh

I am always terrified that I don't know my motives, and that they're darker and more selfish than I can acknowledge. And then I fear that the things I desire will either not be given to me or they will be given and taken away as punishment for my selfishness.

It's a very infantile view of God and consequences, but I'm a spiritual infant, so there.

A real world example of this is my fear of being offered a job that pays me better than I am paid currently. Even if the job was an incredible opportunity to do good in the world, I have this fear that I'll be given the job and then fired because, deep down, somehow the dominant motive for taking the job is the money I would be making. And since the love of money is a sin, it only makes sense that I would be denied that which I sinfully desire.

This sort of thinking really freezes me up. I just want to naturally want to be selfless, loving, and pure of heart, and yet I'm never sure that I really want those thing or if I'm really chasing selfishness and possessiveness and control and all those things that make people ugly. The scary thing is, it can be difficult to tell the difference.

I would give up every material thing to know God.

More Racing

Well, I didn't think I'd have another half-marathon on the calendar so quickly. My fault, however, for chiding some co-workers about short distance running... one came right back at me with a challenge to run the National Half-Marathon in March. So I think I will - and follow it up with the Cherry Blossom 10-miler in April.

T'will be a nice cool down, I suppose.

I think I might even dust off my watch after the first of the year and train for a time goal. Ambitious!

Tonight I'm going to have my usual yoga/sushi with AVE ritual... and then tomorrow I'm going to try to run a significant distance (7 miles), my first since the Detroit race in October. But I'm not gonna push it. Then, a friend from Baltimore is going to come visit and hopefully we'll have a nice time... I'm gonna try to find something for us to do in town, but haven't started thinking about what just yet.

Misc.

I'm home from South Bend and the fifth (and final!) wedding of the year. It was flawless. The bride looked gorgeous, and so did her bridesmaids (if I do say so myself). I'll post pictures when I get them.

I'm still trying to get back into the swing of a regular running and yoga routine. My goal is to average an easy 20-25 miles per week while practicing yoga 2-3 times per week with one or two days off. I want to leave some flexibility, but I also don't want to start from scratch when it's time to start training for my spring race.

This afternoon I twisted my ankle just about 2 miles out from the finish. Last time something like this happened, I played it macho and ran home anyway. Two hours later my ankle was twice it's normal size and I couldn't flex it or my toes. A trip to the emergency room resulting in three days on crutches was required. I had to take two weeks off running. I learned that lesson, and this afternoon just hobbled home, gently, and will ice it a bit later. I should be okay.

It'll be nice to have the day off tomorrow. I have nothing planned except some reading and an evening yoga class. Maybe I'll take a walk downtown or something. But really, I'm so worn out from travelling and weddings and family and half-marathons that I really need some down time.

Flying

I'm leaving town for a long weekend. No blog posts until Sunday night/Monday.

Be good while I'm gone... don't do anything I wouldn't do!

Katfotos

Natasha loves boxes. Best if they're just a teeny bit too small for her, but any enclosed space will do, really.

















And... a gratuitous pic of the girls as itty bitty kittens...

Eggs!

"Probably one of the most private things in the world is an egg until it is broken."

MFK Fisher, The Art of Eating

I love eggs. And I happen to be very good at cooking them. Creamy, fluffy omelets require a creamy, fluffy attitude on the part of the chef. Fisher says elsewhere that, "[An omelet is] never to be attempted by a nervous, harried woman, one anxious to slap something on the table and get it over with."

She's right. The secret to cooking great eggs is low heat and lots of patience. This is how I make an omelet. I crack three eggs and use one whole one and the whites from the other two. I add a shot of whole milk and whip with a fork until frothy. Meanwhile, a skillet is warming (not heating!) on the stove. I always use butter for eggs and not oil.

To the side I have my filling completely prepared. This is crucial, as eggs take constant watching in order to avoid over-cooking them (a common mistake) and you don't want to become distracted with chopping and shredding. (I can thank Rob for instilling in me the understanding of the mise en place)This morning, I had sauteed spinach, garlic, and shallot in butter and set it aside.

The skillet warm and butter melted, I pour in my egg mixture. The eggs SHOULD NOT SIZZLE when they hit the pan. I sncrease the heat ever-so-slightly, and wait. And wait. I resist the urge to touch my cooking eggs. Eggs are very fragile and do not hold up well under a lot of handling.

When I can see the edges begin to firm, I gently pull them away from the side with my spatula, letting the uncooked egg-soup on top fill in the space I created. This continues, working my way around the skillet, until the eggs are mostly cooked but for a thin layer on top.

I carefully flip them ONE TIME. This will be the only time I flip my omelet. I then decrease the heat, and pile my filling on one half of the eggs. To my spinach, shallot, and garlic I added cheddar cheese and smoked salmon.

I carefully fold the omelet so the filling is covered. The skillet is removed from the heat and covered, letting the residual heat melt the cheese.

I slide my omelet directly from skillet to plate. Do not try to lift your omelet with a spatula to transfer it to your plate - this may compromise the structural integrity of your meal.

Finally, I garnish with parsley or pepper as desired, and eat along with a glass of milk or juice, tea, coffee, or hot chocolate.

Breakfast

I cannot wait for breakfast tomorrow.

I have eggs, shallot, garlic, smoked salmon, spinach, and cheddar cheese. I am going to make the omelette of my life.

But first - yoga, then a mellow Halloween get-together with girlfriends.

Rainy Run

One of the perils of being car-less is that I am outside a lot. And since I wasn't diligent about checking the weather this morning, I found myself leaving work in a steady rainstorm with no umbrella.

My office is not near the metro. So... I set off on a five-block trek to the U-St station, determined to run an errand in Silver Spring. The errand was also not near the metro. When I hit my transfer point at Fort Totten, the rain had increased and I said, screw it... the errand can wait, I'm going home.

By the time I got home, the rain had stopped! So I took advantage of the dry spot and went out for an easy four-mile run, my first since the half-marathon last weekend.

Man... did it feel good to Just Run. No mileage quota to worry about, no splits to time. Just running. And when I turned a little early to close off the loop, I could feel the panic start to rise (No! Must keep going! Could add 1.5 miles if I continue down Connecticut Ave a little further!) before I realized that... I can turn whenever the hell I want and it doesn't matter because I'm not training for anything!

I stopped quickly at the grocery store and when I emerged, it was raining again. So I was happy to have snagged a little reprieve from the rain to get me back in my shoes.

I wore my race t-shirt which depicts the Detroit Half Marathon logo. The logo is great - purposefully or not, it looks like Detroit is giving the world the finger! A big F-YOU from Motown... totally appropriate. I love it.

I can't find a picture of the logo itself, but basically, it's the Renaissance Center (photo below) and the right half is red with a maple leaf (for Canada) while the right half is blue with a star (for the stars and stripes). Just the way it looks, juxtaposed against the white of the shirt, really looks like the skyline is flipping the bird. Hehe.

Swimming in Smalls

Okay. Don't kill me for this post. I realize that what I'm about to describe is a "high-quality problem" - but it's frustrating.

I went to one of my favorite clothing stores yesterday in the hopes of finding some fall/winter basics. This is a tried-and-true store for me. Things fit, they're stylish, and affordable.

Yesterday, I tried on about 15 pieces, all smalls, and they were enormous on me. What the hell. Someone of my stature should be a MEDIUM, not a small, certainly not an extra-small (which, though not huge on me, didn't fit quite right either).

Having clothes not fit because they're too big is just as frustrating as having them not fit because they're too small, especially because there's no reason why clothes shouldn't fit me! I'm average weight, well-proportioned. I don't have extra long legs or inordinately wide hips or shoulders. Maybe it was the cut - but EVERYTHING hung like a sack on me and it was so, so frustrating.

GAH.

The more frustrated I got the worse luck I seemed to have, so finally I gave up and went shoe-shopping, which is decidedly less stressful, body-image wise. I found three cute pairs - one that will be perfect for Laura's wedding, and two basic fall flats.

I still need to update my fall wardrobe, though, so I'll give it another try this week, hopefully with better results.

One-Timer

I never, ever post stuff like this. But this is interesting. So here goes.

How Racism Works...

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once and Obama was a divorcee?
What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to?
What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama were a member of the Keating-5? (Five US senators accused of corruption in 1989 igniting a major political scandal as part of the savings and loan scandal in the late 1980's and early 1990's)

What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter.
What if McCain were a charismatic,eloquent speaker?

What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?
What if Obama was the one who was known to publicly display a serious anger management problem?
What if Michele Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?

What if things were switched around?
Would the country's collective point of view be different?

What if the Obama had paraded five children across the stage following the debate including a 3 month old infant and an uwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

You are The Boss... which team would you hire?

With America facing historic debt, two wars, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc.

Educational Background:

Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world.

Now, which team are you going to hire ?

Do I have cellulite?!

Until yesterday I hadn't the foggiest idea if I did or not, but now I'm pretty sure I do.

Grrr... on Saturday at the Health & Fitness Expo, where runners check in for their race and pick up their numbers, browse vendors and try out samples of energy drinks, gels, and gear, I entered a drawing sponsored by the American Laser Center.

Lo and behold, I won a $300 coupon towards laser hair removal, skin rejuvenation, or cellulite reduction.

OMG. Do I even HAVE cellulite? Suddenly I'm extremely self-conscious about it! What the heck? I've never even thought about such a thing unil the chick called me and now I'm obsessing!

Knowing that these procedures are extremely expensive, and because I am try to age gracefully and naturally, I will not be redeeming my discount... I mean, I don't need to, right?

RIGHT?!?

Half-Marathon Report

On Sunday I ran the Detroit Half-Marathon. My father also ran the half and his wife ran the fourth leg of the full marathon relay.

We had to be downtown pretty early so Melissa could get her shuttle out to Belle Isle. It was very cold - about 35-degrees, and since we knew it would get up to about 60 by the end of the race, we chose to wear shorts and short sleeves (or, in my case, no sleeves), just trying to keep warm under some cheapie thin plastic ponchos we purchased at the Expo the night before.

The race got underway right on time, but with 10,000 runners ahead of us we had trouble setting an early fast pace. The roads were thick with athletes all the way to the Ambassador Bridge (mile 3) and the fact that one lane of the bridge was open to traffic cause a major bottleneck and about 30 seconds of walking, which frustrated me because I had been training hills and really wanted to power up the incline.

The crowd thinned out through Canada (miles 4-9) and another 30 seconds or so were added to our time because of a much-needed pit stop at mile 5.

The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel was the best part of the race for me. I loved the feeling of being under water, and we had plenty of space to pick up our pace by then, and pick it up we did. Having battled one debilitating cramp a few miles back, I was ready to open it up and fly under the river and up into the sunlight. Customs Agents were waiting for us on the Detroit side, kindly staying out of the way but checking bib numbers for the first half-mile above water.

Right around mile 10, then, I came down with my third (and final) cramp of the race. It was one of those side-stitches that just doubles you over. So frustrating. I didn't stop though, just sqeezed my side and tried to breathe, all the while looking desperately for the 10-mile marker. If I could pass ten, I knew I had it in the bag.

Mile ten came, but slowly, and the cramp persisted all the way to the end of the race. As we turned the corner and approached the final stretch, I saw a very fast female runner rounding the corner from the other direction. As we ran, neck and neck, I heard the announcer say, "And in first place, unexpectedly, is [insert long and complex eastern European name]!" and realized that I was running in alongside the full marathon winner!

My father and I finished the race side by side, crossing the line at 2:30:18. A little slower than I hoped, but our halfway time was 1:22:17, which means we ran a negative split. A faster second half was my goal, along with breaking 2:30:00. So, one goal accomplished, the other barely eluded me... but at least I have something to work toward during the next one!

Thanks to all who texted, twitted, and emailed their support... thinking of you thinking of me kept me going during the tough times.

Almost There

I went for my final taper run this afternoon and felt great. Race clothes are clean and drying, apartment is clean as well.

I just need to pack and put in a couple hours at the office tomorrow... then pick up my rental car and hit the road!

I probably won't be blogging from Michigan, but I will be sending updates to Twitter, so you can log onto this page and check my sidebar to find out what's shakin.'

And, if you happen to be awake (which I don't recommend) and are so inclined, you can track my progress on race day at www.detroitmarathon.com I think you just need my last name - there are three of us with the same last name in the race. You know which one is me. Race starts at 7:15am on Sunday and you can track runners anytime after it starts. Just be warned that with so many people running, I may not cross the START line for 15-20 minutes after the gun goes off... but I will be running...

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive of my little endeavor.

Ciao for now!

Pre-Race Jitters!

Keith says to enjoy the rollercoaster of emotions... and what a rollercoaster it it. One moment I feel serenely prepared, the next moment I couldn't care less, soon thereafter I'm panicking because if only I had TWO MORE WEEKS I would be ready for this race.

It doesn't help that I just got bleach in my eye trying to clean the bathroom.

I keep thinking I'm leaving tomorrow, but I'm not. I'm leaving on Friday. Here's what I need to do between now and then:

Line up cat care - DONE! (Thanks - you know who you are!)
Easy 4-mile run in race clothes - TOMORROW after work
Clean flat - TOMORROW after work
Wash race clothes, pack - TOMORROW after work
Pick up rental car and hit road - FRIDAY early afternoon

So... I'm pretty much ready... just need to get organized tomorrow and hit the road. My cold seems to be on the way out. It was very mild, which I attribute to my nearly impeccable diet over the past few weeks, regular exercise, and plenty of sleep. And by plenty, I mean PLENTY - I've been sleeping at least eight hours overnight plus an average of one two-hour nap every day. I need it, and clearly my immune system is thanking me.

On that note, I'm not sure if I'll stay up to watch the debate tonight... my mind is made up, so I'm happy enough to catch the highlights on tomorrow's news. I'd rather get to bed on time and continue my health push. It is crunch time, after all.

Whine and Complain

So... I am sick and exhausted and my half-marathon is approaching and all I want to do is stay home and drink tea and not talk to anyone but one of my dearest friends is getting married this afternoon and there's been a ton of stuff happening this weekend that I wanted to be a part of. The ceremony is today and last night at the rehearsal dinner it was pretty clear to me that the girl who was supposed to give me a ride to the church didn't want to, so I let her off the hook and told her I would find my own way.

The church is in Georgetown but not near the metro, so I thought I would either walk 1.5 miles to Tenleytown and catch the bus down Wisconsin Ave to O St (in a hip-hugging red dress - NOT the best option) or just call a cab.

I ordered a cab online this morning but then they called me and said that they do not pre-order cabs for intra-city trips, only to the airport or whatnot, but if I just called a few minutes before I need to leave they would send a cab no problem.

So, fine. I managed to pull on some clothes and traipse down to Giant to restock on decongestants and tea and also get some cash to pay the cab driver, but when I grabbed my wallet I didn't realize that I had pretty much cleaned it out last night so I could carry the essentials (ID, debit card, etc) in a cute little clutch purse that matched my slate gray dress.

It was only when I was trying to pay for my groceries that I realized I a) would not be able to purchase the Tylenol because Giant requires ID for that sort of thing and b) would not be able to get cash for the cab because my debit card was at home with my ID. ARGGGH. Luckily I had a credit card on me so not all was lost.

So I went next door to CVS who's cashier sold me the Tylenol without checking my ID and then just came home. I am too lazy to go all the way ("all the way" - two and a half blocks) back down to the bank to get cash to pay the cab driver... so I guess I will end up taking a bus to the wedding.

Can we say, classy??

I suppose another option is to try to call for a cab that would let me pay for a credit card. Maybe I'll try that route. It has to be possible, right?!

My Worst Nightmare

Okay, maybe the title is hyperbole. But only slight hyperbole.

I think I'm getting sick. One week out from my half-marathon. This is Not Good.

I left work early today and slept for a couple hours... woke feeling no worse, and maybe a little better. I have a big wedding weekend coming up - a bridal shower tonight, a tea in the morning, rehearsal/rehearsal dinner tomorrow night, and the wedding itself on Sunday.

Somehow, I'm going to have to squeeze in two runs amid all the traveling back and forth to Shirlington/Alexandria which, without a car, will be very time-consuming. The good news is that Monday is a federal holiday. My goal is to do an easy long run (~10 miles) and talk to as few people as possible.

If I can make it through this weekend without developing a full-blown cold, I should be home free.

Dining In

I needed a nourishing meal after my 7-mile run this evening. This is what I came up with:

Quinoa and chicken drizzled in olive oil with a "Rainbow Salad" of greens, tri-color peppers, carrot, sprouts, and a little goat cheese in a homemade vinaigrette... all against the backdrop of my fruit bowl. Dessert will be fresh blueberries and pomegranate green tea.

Slight Anxiety

I feel anxious right now.

I hate, hate, hate anxiety.

There's so much going on in my life. One wedding passed, two more upcoming - the one this weekend requiring a ton of travel back and forth from Alexandria which, without a car, is difficult. Lots of time, too much time, I need to keep running and I'm afraid that the weekend will be so hectic that I literally won't find two consecutive hours to run. The problem is that after the two hours spent running, I'll need to find another hour to get to Alexandria for the lingerie party/tea/rehearsal dinner/a million other events.

This coming weekend is pivotal. It's the last weekend before I start tapering for the half-marathon. I'm nervous. I'm worried.

I'm also facing a bit of a dilemma in my professional life. It's probably a "high-quality problem," i.e., one that most people would like to have... but it's stressing me out because there are a lot of unknowns. I don't like unknowns. I don't like to trust God. I want to just rely on myself, but I can't because I don't know what the outcomes of some of the decisions will be... and that really worries me.

I feel lucky, though, to have such a multi-faceted life: work, church, running, yoga, Irish music. All these things have bearing on my happiness, and so if something goes wrong in one area, I still have a pretty good chance of staying happy and content overall. I need to remember that if I make a choice and it doesn't work perfectly, that life is still worth living. Easier said than done, though, and I'm having a really hard time thinking clearly because I don't have one second to sit still with all this activity in my life right now.

The monastery looks better and better every day...

Cuisine de Marriage

My cousin just got married at the National Museum for Women in the Arts... and a spectacular affair it was. Perhaps the nicest wedding I've ever attended.

This was the menu. Definitely worth posting:

First Course:
Wild forest mushroom and gorgonzola tart with shot of soup: with mache greens and roasted pepper vinaigrette. Accompained by an autumnal soup of butternut squash.

Entree:
Chicken roulade with spinach and sun dried tomatoes: boneless chicken breast stuffed with sauteed spinach, sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese. Served with a caramalized onion sauce.

Corn Souffle Timbale: silver queen corn timbale crowned with a tomato concasse

Haricots Verts Bundles: crisp haricots verts dressed with sweet butter, bundled and tied with a carrot tie.

Dessert:
Wedding Cake
Chocolate Buffet

The mother of the bride made over 700 chocolates which were beautifully laid out for sampling... I took some home (most def) and am trying HARD not to scarf them down as I type.

Best of luck in your marriage, JP and Kristin.

Cryptix

Plans are in the making! Exciting plans. I will say no more lest I jinx myself... but stay tuned!

A Quick Breather

I have another free evening to get my act together before all hell breaks loose both in my professional and personal life. Speaking engagements, weddings, alumni receptions (which I wouldn't go to except someone from Hillsdale emailed me specifically and said they wanted to see me), work at the office is piling up exponentially, and I really need to push the mileage here in the next few weeks if I am going to perform well in the race.

I'm really trying not to let all this activity change my disposition. But when I don't get enough unstructured time to myself, I become sort of an unpleasant person to be around. Sometimes I think I am unpleasant person anyway, but that is for another post. I just hate it when I can feel myself getting sarcastic, losing my sense of humor, getting lectury and condescending. It's frustrating when I can feel the worst parts of myself becoming the most prominent parts and there's little I can do to stop it. And then I feel like withdrawing from the world and not inflicting my awful self on people, which adds to the frustration of being so busy, which increases the number and level of my personality flaws... and suddenly I wonder what the hell really IS stopping me from moving to a monastery or just leaving to teach English in Korea or something.

Crunch Time

I'm about three weeks out from my half-marathon. This is officially crunch time. I've clearled my schedule until October 19th, with the exception of a dinner thing with an out of town friend, a quick trip to Richmond, a tune or two on Wednesdays, and weddings the next two weekends. Weekdays are to be devoted to running and conditioning as well as rest. Maintaining good health is just as important as maintaining mileage right now. Catching a cold would suck big time.

Aside from a super-strict training routine until my taper begins, I am also imposing some dietary changes. Dairy and alcohol are stricken, as are all animal proteins with the exception of lean chicken. Sweets and desserts are forbidden.

If it's true that athletes perform the way they practice, then consistency and drive these next three weeks are vital to my success.

Good Intentions

Well, I meant to write a witty and detailed post about giving my first-ever bouzouki lesson to a very apt and talented student, John's super lame absence from the RiRa session, the MO on my metro train last night, and the fact that this week has gone totally down the drain in terms of running, but I ended up working a twelve hour shift today and just don't have the details in me.

So, stay tuned, and if the memories listed above haven't dissolved inside my feeble, almost-30 year old brain, I'll see what I can pull together tomorrow.

I Quit (Twice)

After five days of running and yoga, my legs felt heavy and tired this morning when I woke up, but after work I went out for a spin anyway. What a mistake. I didn't make it one mile before I. Just. Stopped.

My hamstrings were screaming, everything felt heavy, my mouth was dry. This was bad. So I stopped and turned around and started walking home... and the funniest thing happened.

I began the usual self-deprecation and scolding, but my heart just wasn't in it. The enthusiasm that ordinarily accompanies my harsh dressing-down was absent. The inner monologue felt forced and mechanical. And so I stopped that too. I stopped beating myself up and just walked home. I didn't finish my run, so what. The world is not going to grind to a halt, my body will not turn to flab. In fact, I will probably be STRONGER tomorrow having quit my run and rested.

I am too cynical to figure this a psychological breakthrough, but I'm also not about to question a good thing.

Off tonight for sushi and a tune at Nanny O'Brien's. Should be fun, stay posted for reports of any hijinks!

Embracing the Curls!

So I came across a great article on how to care for curly hair and have decided to vary my routine and see if I can't get my fabulous head of hair looking even more goddess-like!

So far I have changed three things about my hair-care and with great results.

1. I am no longer shampooing my hair. Instead, I will gently massage the scalp with a dollop of conditioner to loosen dirt and rinse through before actually conditioning the locks. This is because, apparently, shampoos contain a chemical that is extremely drying to curly hair and strips the hair of it's naturally moisturizing oils.

2. I am using a curl-enhancing mousse. I have, at times, used a leave-in conditioner after towel-drying, but never an actual styling "product" designed for curly hair.

3. Instead of using the classic "turban" method whereby a plain bath towel is wrapped around the hair and piled on top of the head for drying, I am now using the "plopping" method whereby a wicking towel or cotton t-shirt is placed on a flat surface and the top of the head is placed directly in the center of the t-shirt, which is then wrapped around the head and secured for fifteen minutes (after mousse application). The benefits to this method over the turban method are twofold, as I understand it:
a. Wicking or cotton material actually pulls moisture out of the hair. This serves as a de-frizzing agent, whereas terrycloth isn't very absorbent and redistributes water back into the hair follicles, causing flyaways and frizz.
b. Securing the curls in a pile on top of the head sets their shapes so it holds better as it dries.

I am just about to embark on day two of my new routine. I still have a bit of experimenting to go in terms of product, and I probably will end up using a gentle shampoo once or twice a week. Regardless, I am thrilled with my "new" curls and can't wait to flaunt them!

Updates

I've been twittering so much lately that I almost forget to blog! Let's see... what can I tell you...

Well, Skwigg was lucky enough to find a good stylist for her curly hair. I have never been so lucky. Even my stylists who have curls of their own and insist they can cut ringlets just don't get how to TRIM THE ENDS so that I can maintain (and improve)length. I now resort to asking friends/my mom to cut my hair under close supervision. It seems to work so far.

The Stanley Cup champs will take on the Eastern Conference finalists on January 31, 2009 at the Verizon Center in DC. I just shelled out big bucks for my ticket... I am broke but blissful. I have a great seat and look foward to a great match. I am ordinarily pretty frugal.. so I figure a little splurge on my passion is a good diversion from the norm. The norm being my uber-scheduled, highly-controlled, never-anything-in-excess, ascetic existence.

I'm heading out in a few minutes with a new friend to meet up with some old friends for grilled food, good drinks, and a few tunes on a Capitol Hill roof.

Touching Toes

I am obsessed with taking pictures of Elena. She is much more photogenic than Natasha. And whenever she naps, she has to be touching me. This was from this morning.

Feeling Good Feeling Bad

Not sure what the problem was last night, but I could not sleep. I got drowsy reading a little after ten and turned out the light. Still awake at midnight I got up, checked my email, and went back to bed a few minutes later. Still awake around 2am, I got up, watched a little TV, and went back to bed around 3am. Still awake at 4:30am. Finally fell asleep a little after that... and now I'm awake again a few hours later.

I'm not going to go to yoga this morning, but I'm sure I will beat myself up for that, seeing as how I skipped my class on Friday to nurse my calf issue.

Maybe my long run, which I took last evening instead of morning, was the culprit? Though I was home by 6:30pm and spent the evening unwinding on the couch in front of the 'John Adams' series... that's the only thing I can think of that would have kept sleep at bay so severely.

Oh well. I'm going to take it easy today and not hesitate to nap.

Calf Woes

I think I pulled a muscle in my calf. My race is quickly approaching (see sidebar) and every twinge makes me nervous. I don't know what I would do if I injured myself and couldn't race. I am so paranoid, too... a running injury notwithstanding, what if I slip getting out of the shower and twist my ankle? Or trip over one of my cats and hurt my knee?

I am skipping yoga class tonight and intend to do a light stretching regimen at home instead. For my nine-miler tomorrow... I guess I will just take it easy and hope for the best...

A Quickie

Last night I went out for a tune and had a great time! A newcomer, an old friend, a pick dropped down by bra and retrieve not inconspicuously... a couple of pints, and I really do want to start practicing more and getting back into the swing of things.

The social life has been slightly over the top lately - but it's good to flow with the flow when it flows... knowing that it will ebb soon enough. In a few minutes I'm off to meet Anne for some of the best sushi in town before we both head over to our Community Group meeting.

Proof

As a result of being outside for the duration of an eleven-mile run yesterday, I got BURNED! The outline of my t-shirt is perfectly visible. I realized this only after getting dressed last evening... and without time to incorporate a fabulous scaft. Alas.

Shorts

The weekend looks auspicious. Yoga and dinner with the one and only AVE tonight, followed by a cozy night and morning, tucked away inside while Hannah rages on.

This afternoon as I was driving with a colleague back to the office from lunch, a guy ran stark naked in front of our car as we were stuck in traffic. The ensuing radio traffic was hilarious, especially when it was revealed that he had been stopped and placed under arrest right in front of a school that was dismissing for the day!

I am going to a bridal shower tomorrow at the Ritz-Carlton! That will, hopefully, be my only foray outside.

I had a bad run yesterday and will not run Saturday. For some reason, I am calm about this, even though missing a long run this close to the race is really, really inadvisable. I guess I just have to trust the consistency of my own training.

Lately I have been having auditory hallucinations. I'll think I hear my phone ringing. I'll check it - not rinigng. I'll put it down, and a few seconds later I hear it ringing again!! It's kind of creeping me out. I'm too old for the onset of schizophrenia. Any other suggestions?

Frustration!

My run sucked! It totally sucked. Yes, it was hot - 94-degrees to be exact.

However, I followed the "run slow" and "hydrate early and often" rules and STILL didn't quite finish the distance I wanted.

I really need this weather to break. I need several more strong, steady long runs before my race in October.

Grrr.....

Labor Day Weekend

Standing on the edge of the world:


Cocktails on Platte Lake:


The Frankfort Pier and lighthouse: