Out of Gas

I’m in a huge running rut.  Remember the list of races I was going to do this year?  Did you notice I haven’t done one in 3 months?  I have my reasons, and these are some of the lamest:

–          I hate my running route at home.

–          I can’t run first thing in the morning before work.

–          I hate the treadmill.  Hate it.

–          My running buddy is on the DL for at least the next 5 months.

Lately, I’ve been running once or twice a week, 2-3 miles.  I’m getting slower and slower.  I don’t even save runs on Run Keeper because I’m embarrassed by them (which makes no sense, since I’m the only one who sees them).  I was invited to join a trail running group at work and I’ve come up with 1,000 lame excuses why not to run with them.  #1 is fear of being too slow and getting lost on the trails, which is something I do constantly on my own.  (I ran by the same truck yesterday three times.  I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to read the map.)  I’m also afraid of being eaten by a coyote.  Actually, I’m just afraid of seeing a coyote.  I’m pretty sure I’ll just drop dead on the spot.

I’m doing other stuff, which is good.  I’ve never been a run every day kind of girl.  Even when I was training for the marathon, I’d only run 4 times during the week.  I need variety.  I’ve been doing DVDs at home (P90X, 30 Day Shred) and doing the elliptical at the gym along with the running days.  I’m planning on joining the gym at BAC to give myself less excuses in the winter.  But I miss going out for a “good” run.  I know any run is better than no run, but I want to run far & fast and be exhausted and proud at the end.  And I know the only way to do that is to run more.

So, what’s next?  I guess I need to pull the trigger and sign up for some races.  The Mews Tavern Gear N Beer 5K is coming up, and I’ll be damned if J beats me again.  I’m looking into an obstacle course 10K in RI.  Regrettably, I have to skip my Thanksgiving 4 miler (the Gobble Gobble Gobble) as we are hosting Thanksgiving this year (yikes!)  I’m sure I can find some sort of race in December that gives me jingle bells for my shoes, so I’ll sign up for that as well.

I have loftier goals for 2012 (don’t I always?)  2011 didn’t work out the way I wanted it to, in a few different ways, so I’m hoping 2012 steps it up a bit.  I’d like to do a destination half marathon in the Spring, and then, possibly, run a marathon in the Fall.  Yup, I said it.  It will be 5 years since Boston, so now feels like a good time.  (Note that I said it feels like a good time now.  Before I start training).  Of course, there are a lot of things I need to do before that.  Such as, find a running buddy, lose 15 pounds, map out some good routes, and, most importantly, get off my ass and run.  I’ll work on those all after vacation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pound Puppies

So, despite this post about kids vs. dogs, we’ve been looking at dogs.  And I’ve come to the conclusion that it might be easier to adopt a kid than it is to adopt a dog.  I know this isn’t technically true, but good lord, they make it difficult.  Here’s the process as I see it (it would be really helpful to know how to create a flow chart right now, but I’m not that talented)

Step 1 – go to petfinder.com and look at all the sad dogs that need you!  They need you now – save them!  Oh, that one looks cute…

Step 2 – Click on dog for more info.

Step 3 – Realize dog is one of the following:

A – part pitbull

B – has one paw in the grave

C – hates kids

D – lives in Texas

Step 4 – Repeat steps 1-3

Step 5 – There he is!  Perfect dog, not too old, housebroken, friendly…

Step 6 – Wait, what’s that?  He’s 30 pounds overweight and needs a ramp to get up the stairs?  He has mange?  And is allergic to dust?  Oh, and his depression meds?  They’re $50/month.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Okay, so maybe it’s not so easy to find the perfect pet.  But when you do, and you’re sure he’s a winner, you get to go through the adoption process, which varies from shelter to shelter.  For example, the shelter in our city requires you to fill out a 4 page application, plus references.  They want to know where the dog will sleep, who will be his vet, what will happen when you move, what other animals you have/had, etc.   I’m pretty sure if you get through that, you have to surrender your first-born upon adoption.  Oh, and if you have kids, they might not give you a dog.  If your kid is between 6-10, you must have a fence (presumably for the dog, not the kid).

Another shelter in RI requires a $200 deposit just to request a dog.  If they deem you to be a suitable human for said dog, and you change your mind, they keep your money.  This shelter does not adopt to MA homes – apparently RI dogs are too good for us Massholes.  If you think adopting a dog from a shelter is cheap, think again.  I’ve seen fees of up to $450 for puppies.  You can usually get a discount on the old dogs though.

After spending some time on Petfinder, we found some lab/spaniel/terrier puppies that melted our hearts, and they weren’t at a shelter, so I called the woman.  She was nice enough, and told me the puppies would be ready in a few weeks, and there were 7 left.  She asked about us, and I said we owned a home with a yard, had no kids, but wanted a friendly breed that could run with me.  I also mentioned that J is gone from 4am to 4pm, and I am gone 8am to 6pm.  She told me the puppies would not be a good fit, as they need to go out every 2-3 hours.  So, only people who don’t work or can afford a pet sitter can get a puppy.  Or, people who know how to lie better than I do.  Gotcha.

So, we’re back to kind of half-ass looking for a dog.  What I really want is for someone to drop a year old, housebroken boxer on my doorstep so I can skip the red tape and just have a dog (also, wouldn’t mind a potty trained toddler while we’re dropping things on my doorstep.  And a million bucks.  Thanks.)  However, as with anything you want, you must put forth the effort to get it, so the search continues!  I’m thinking that once we get home from vacation and things calm down, we’ll take a ride to a few shelters and see what they have available.  Or we’ll be completely un-PC and buy one at a pet store (gasp!).

Do You Remember?

Wow, I really suck at this blogging thing.  Sorry.  (You must be sick of these apology posts by now, huh?)  Stuff got in the way, I wasn’t in the mood, yaddayadda.

Anyways, here’s what I’ve been up to since my last post:

Did the Heart Walk in Boston with J’s family – it was fun, we walked very slowly (J said he thinks he gained weight during the walk), but it was for a great cause and we had a nice day.  As with all family events, we ended up drinking in a bar afterwards to recover.

Had a bachelorette party involving a sex toy party, penis shaped cupcakes, and a ton of food.  J went to the bachelor party portion of the night, and returned to my BFF’s at 3am after being awake for 24 hours straight.  He also won (and promptly lost) a bottle of Jaeger. 

September is, of course, the best month of the year because it’s my birthday month.  We celebrated by being hungover, eating Italian & Mexican (twice).   J got me boots & a watch, and I got lots of wine & cards, and even a birthday brownie from my new co-workers, so it was a good day!  I bought myself two presents.  This and an OAR CD on iTunes.

 

Speaking of pumpkin beer, I’m in that panicked “OhMyGod its October so the pumpkin beer will be gone soon, we have to get as much as we can now!” phase.  The Harpoon UFO Pumpkin pictured was not easy to find, and, frankly, I’m not sure it’s better than Shipyard Pumpkinhead (my all time fav).  The Blue Moon Pumpkin is awful, don’t waste your time.  Shocktop has a surprisingly good pumpkin.  I have Sam Pumpkin that I haven’t tried yet, but will report back. 

We had our annual End of Summer Cookout/Fry Fest, and had a keg of Brooklyn Oktoberfest, which I did not enjoy, but tolerated after a few Shipyard Pumpkinheads.  I think (and hope) everyone had fun, even though my arm hurt the next day from scooping out a million bags of leftover chowder.  We are now the proud owners of a tent we didn’t need, so let me know if you need to borrow it! 

In other alcohol related events, J & I went to a wine tasting at our favorite liquor store last week.  75 wines, free to taste.  We got there in the middle of a monsoon, and promptly tried the first 12 wines we were offered.  Needless to say, we didn’t make it very far past the first aisle.  Luckily, our dinner plans were right across the street, and we were able to sober up over calamari, and Sam Oktoberfest.  We also went to the Jonathan Edwards Harvest Festival, which was jam packed but fun.  We opted out of the hay rides this year, as I’m still recovering from last year’s experience. 

We almost bought this picture for the basement, but decided against it.  

 

We babysat Chloe last weekend.  She’s still the devil, but she’s cute.  If you ever wondered how many grown adults does it take to get a 14 pound dog into a crate,  the answer is 2.  She’s also not a good bed sharer, and I think she broke my back.  She does love her munchkins though.

  

I’m trying to branch out into some new music.  Someone loaded up my Pandora with new stations, and I’m trying them out instead of just deleting them and going back to OAR.  I’m not sure I like Mumford & Sons (though I do own one song I enjoy), but I’m giving their station a shot.  

Work is good.  I still love the commute, I’m trying to learn the running trails, and I made some new friends:

(Not really.  Still no friends)