Zero Week

I always have the best intentions when it comes to posting, but things have really gotten away from me lately.

I did spend the last two days on the couch with a sore throat and fever, but otherwise I don't have any good excuses.

Tom and I ran a trail race last weekend with a bunch of my Rivertown buddies. The Leatherman's Loop is a 10k (it's actually a little longer, but they say it's a 10k) that runs through wooded trails, mud flats, water crossings and sand hills. It is a lot of jumping over tree roots and making sure you don't trip on rocks.

Tom was a little undertrained, and I was still recovering from the Hook Half the weekend before, so we ran together. We did not have an amazing finish time, but it was a lot of fun! It would be nice to run when my legs are a little more well-rested.

The muddy shoe aftermath:

Photo Credit: Sue Chiarulli

In house news: I've been working away at the painting that needs to get done in the upstairs. I feel like it's taking me forever, but that's because when we painted the primer there were three of us working. 

This is the hall bathroom. There's going to be wainscoting on the bottom part of the wall and a shower enclosure around the tub, I'm not just incredibly lazy in my painting. 

I had plans to get the master bathroom painted this week too, but my body had other plans.

Buddy loves it when I'm sick. He gets extra couch time, even if he takes up half the couch.

I was feeling better this morning so we went for a (very) short walk. Buddy collapsed like we'd been running for miles when we got home. He's so dramatic.

My unplanned couch time led to an unplanned zero week when it comes to running. I haven't run a single mile since last weekend. I'm hoping to get some easy miles in this weekend, but we'll see how quickly my energy comes back to me. I don't have any races until June, so I'm not too worried about the lost mileage.

Seen On My Run and a House Update

I hate speed work.

I know it is pretty much the best way to get faster, but damn, it's hard! 

Tuesday was supposed to be my speed work day, but it was pouring pretty much all day long, so I shifted it to Wednesday.

My training plan called for 8x400m repeats, so I set my watch (I love that it keeps track of intervals for me) and dragged myself out the door. The area around our house is decidedly not flat, and I don't like to have to drive to a track to do speed work. I run a warm up mile to the flattest part of our neighborhood and do my repeats there instead. 

It was actually a really successful speed work session: all my repeats were between 6:19 and 7:30 pace. The 6:19 was my last repeat, because I like to push the limit on my final interval. 

This is my triumphant/exhausted face before I headed off for the mile back to the house. 

Every time I run by this I think about taking a picture to show you guys:

That's not alive. There are taxidermied animals in the trees in someone's yard. Like, more than one. There's also a tiny old cemetery back between the trees and that red building. 

It's weird. 

The sheetrock guys packed up on Wednesday and the addition is really starting to look like a house!

The master bedroom:

The stairs to the attic:

The new attic space:

Now we're talking paint (like, actually going to buy it) and flooring. It's pretty exciting!

New Yoga Gear and House Updates

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This is super weird for me, but I am still liking yoga!

I actually bought myself a new yoga mat (my old one was from college...they last decades, right?), block and strap the other day.

I'm still going strong with my 30 day challenge,  I did day 18 this afternoon. But then I wanted a little more, and I found another video that looked interesting. It turned out to be part of another 30 day challenge. I'm not planning on doing both at the same time, but I may do extra videos here and there.

Runner friends: ignore the 30 day challenge part of this video (or don't) - it's a really great hip-opening sequence. Holy cow my hips are tight!

I was a little disturbed when I got my Women's Running magazine today. This gorgeous woman is apparently a "plus sized" model.

I'm sorry, what?

And in house news: the windows are here! They're getting put in this weekend, which is pretty exciting. The electrician is coming next week, and we're working on getting a plumber so the new bathrooms will have exciting things like running water.

I have plans to turn the area by the attic windows into my yoga area. It has an amazing view!

Oh, and the patio was poured last week - no more cooking on the grill on the front porch! Now we cook on the grill on the patio! :) One of these days we'll do something about our lack of a kitchen. One thing at a time.

Working in the Yard

We have a really big yard.

It feels bigger because it's been pretty much left to its own devices for the last few years. Once we get things a little more tamed, it won't be as difficult to maintain.

This used to be a huge, fenced in garden area. Now it's a big mess of weeds.

Tom mowed it the other day, but there was still a TON of dead grass and other plants. I have spent hours over the last two days raking the dead things up, and leaving piles everywhere that Tom later disappears into the brush. I've only made it about halfway, and it mostly just looks dead, but eventually it will look better.

This picture is obviously from a different angle, but you get the idea.

This tree has all kinds of problems. it apparently had a rough winter. 

After a lot of cutting and pruning, it finally looks like a tree again. 

There were a lot of dead branches, and there were tons of little shoots at the base of the tree that we cut back. Hopefully now it can focus its energy on growing up and filling out.

Can you see the broken part of our umbrella? It fell over in the wind during a thunderstorm the other day. It went through the screen door on its way down. If you look closely you can see our temporary duct tape patch. Very fancy.

Buddy has been supervising.

It's exhausting work.

The Last Few Days in Pictures

Tuesday after work I arrived at the new house to find the sellers hadn't gotten rid of their dumpster yet.

The closing took longer than expected, so I wandered around the yard for a while until Tom got there with the keys.

Then the tv/internet people and the movers came (and so did some rain).

I drove down to the vet to pick this guy up:

It was a stressful day for him, and he's still a little confused by the situation. He's a little clingier than usual and cries a lot when we leave him in the house.

But he seems to be settling in alright.

We are still figuring out where we put things (it's in that box with those other things, where did you put that?) and this house is going to be more than a little bit of a project, but it's exciting to finally move in! We'll get it all sorted out at some point.