Catching up

I'm back after how many months? I've no excuse for not blogging other than life getting in the way! Things that have been keeping me busy in no particular order....work, classes, volunteer work, marathon training and my conversion to Judaism.

Seems like any free time I have is spent reading, studying, or falling asleep on the sofa!

The last few months I've been training for the Disney Marathon and have till January 10th to get ready for the big event. My longest run has been 13 miles and at this point I can't imagine tacking on another 13. All I can say is that I am thankful for my iPod, audiobooks & podcasts!!

I've just recently taken up digital photography. I was always a point and shoot gal and was never displeased with the pictures but not entirely pleased either.

About 3 weeks ago I picked up my very first DSLR camera and was instantly hooked. I ended up walking out of the shop with A Nikon 3000, camera bag, lens filters, SD cards and of course I had to get a zoom lens!!

I've since taken a couple of classes to learn the basics. My hope is to one day moving beyond "auto" and actually control the camera. I am truly a newbie and am just trying to absorb all that I can so I can create some half way decent photos.

I think I'll start posting some pictures to my blog to track my photo journey. The first is a photo I took after my run in Westport. I ran past these kayaks and knew I had to get back to snap a picture. The colors probably aren't as bright as they could be. Not even sure about the compostion but it's a start!

I've a growing list of pictures I want to take. Can't wait to get up and running!!

It's been awhile

I'm baaackkkk! Not too much to say because I am tired. Lot's of stuff keeping me busy these days. This time of year drains me,,,too much basketball and not enough sleep. Just one more night.

I cannot wait for the big game tomorrow. UCONN will not be denied. They're a team on a mission.

I'm one week into my internet marketing class and am thoroughly enjoying it. I enrolled in an online certificate program through the University of San Francisco. It's definitely an adjustment, listening to lectures at night but I'm getting used to it. I've three eight week courses so I should be done by the end of September.

1/2 marathon training is chugging along. I'm 5 weeks into it and so far it hasn't been too taxing.
Only 14 more weeks to go!!!

I've given up on tri training. My plan was to train for the women's tri in Philly but I've rotator cuff issues....sigh. I'm not quite sure how it happened but the pain was enough to send me to the doctors, a place I very seldom frequent. To top it off, I'm going to physical therapy twice a week.
So that's my sob story.....I'm just happy it's my left shoulder so I can still bowl.

Speaking of bowling, we've managed to go from 1st place last year to ,,um,, I think 12th place. We're having our struggles but it's all in good fun.

Let the training begin

With each new year, I pick an event or two to train for. Having a goal or two, serves a couple of purposes. First, having something marked on my calendar motivates me to get off my arse and move....especially on those days, and there are many, when I'd rather plunk down on the sofa and do nothing.

Plus, training helps keep me in shape. I am not getting any younger, metabolism is not getting any faster.

I do like the challenge of pushing beyond my comfort zone and competing against myself.

I'm not much competition for the rest of the field as I am a slow runner. A mom pushing a stroller sailed by me in a 5k!

I've a half marathon on June 28th that I'll be prepping for. I found a 17 week training program that I'll start in March.

I'm also signed up for a sprint triathlon in July. This is an all women's event in Philly. I did the duathlon two years ago and am ready to bump it up a notch. Here's Val's post about her experience.

I'm a slower swimmer then runner. I've terrible form/technique and am scared to death of swimming in open water. Other than that, I've no worries...yup none at all.

Training programs run anywhere from 12 - 16 weeks so there will be some overlap. I need to start working on building some swimming endurance. This will start next month...sigh.

I had a lesson with a swim coach last year and will try to hook up with him again. He taught me some drills to help refine my so called technique and up my speed. Problem is, I've only one speed. I'm confident that I will be the last person out of the water.

No sticks for me

I'm usually not one to complain about service workers. Let's face it, they're getting paid minimum wage to put up with assholes.

Well, I reached my tolerance level last night at the bowling alley. I know, what level of service should I expect from a bowling alley, snack bar associate? At the minimum ,,,my food. My greasy, deep fried, no good for you mozzarella sticks. That's all I wanted as we started our third game. I was feeling faint and needed food.

I should have known that the artery clogging mozzarella sticks were not in the stars for me. It was too good to be true. I was thrilled to see there was no one in line at the counter. Not one person.

There she was, sweeping the floor behind the counter, no sense of urgency, almost zen like. She looks up and slowly makes her way to the register. I, in my merry little voice, place my order of mozzarella sticks and a diet pepsi, to wash down those good for nothing mozzarella sticks.

I then leave to give her time to deep fry my dinner. I made my way back a few moments later and she's nowhere in sight. No biggie I say, I'll just come back after my next frame.

I eventually make my way back to the counter and nothing. She's still gone. I scan the counter for my stuff. I see nothing. I hang around a bit because I refuse to leave empty handed.

About 45 seconds later, snack bar girl saunters out of the restroom, again no sense of urgency. She makes her way to her post and just looks at me. Um, I'm thinking OK, did she forget I was mozzarella stick girl. I nicely tell her that I'm here to pick up my mozz sticks and soda. This was her reply, I kid you not, "I'm sorry, I forgot to put your order in." Um, I'm incredulous but I bite my tongue.

She then started rambling on with how they stuck her at the counter all by herself. She proceeded to tell me how she had to do everything,,,,I guess this entails the sweeping she was doing earlier.

I stress, there were no orders before mine. Nada. How could she ring up my order, take the cash then forget to process the order??!!! It boggles the mind. Needless to say, I remained calm and just asked for a refund.

What I really wanted to say was you're an idiot. You are now going to make my order, with a few extras sticks thrown in and I want a large soda at no extra charge.

To make matters even worse, we lost all three games. Not a good night. Well, Val bowled well and I bowled below my average all night.

Goddess of the sky

One of my favorite topics to read about is Mt. Everest. I'm intrigued with the massive mountain that rises 29,028 feet into the atmosphere.

I've read numerous books on Mt. Everest Expeditions. "Into Thin Air" was my first read.

This book is an account of one of the worst disasters to ever have happened on this mountain. A crazy storm rolled in and left eight climbers dead, one left for dead, nothing but tragedy.

What makes seemingly normal people want to risk their lives in order to summit this or any number of other peaks? Fame, glory, personal satisfaction, because it's there?

Let's count the number of ways people can and have died on Mt. Everest: there's altitude sickness, swelling of the brain, avalanches, falls (including falls into crevasses - gaping cracks in glaciers), getting blown off the mountain, freezing to death, having a block of ice the size of a house crush you....to name a few.

What are the odds in climbing to the summit? Not so good. 1 out of every 3 climbers actually reach the summit in the spring and in the fall the odds fall to 1 in 6. One also has a 4% chance of not making it off the mountain alive.

Still, with all these dangers, people pay thousands of dollars in hopes of making it to the top of the world.

I, for one, have no desire to spend 60 some odd days pushing my body beyond all limits. I'm more then content to be an armchair enthusiast, flipping pages, in the warm and safe confines of my home.

Cartwheels

I can't do a cartwheel to save my life unless that is, I'm strapped to two sticks going down a snow covered hill. My gymnastics skills were on full display today.

Val and Sophie were kind enough to teach me the basics. This was the first time I've been on skis since a 7th grade school trip. For those of you that know me, that was many moons ago.

I mastered the bunny slope within the first 1/2 hour. Feeling pretty good about my new skills, I agreed to join my comrades on the green circle trail. These are the easiest trails for newbies, characterized by gentle slopes.

The "gentle slopes" had me in the snow plow position, cussing under my breath, the entire way down. The very tail end of this trail was fairly steep but I managed to keep upright.

My skiing partners were patiently waiting for me as I made my way to the bottom. They decided we should make our way back up and do it all over again.

This time around, I wasn't able to maintain the snow plow and I started barreling down the slope. I lost all control, my skis flew off and I took a nice face plant. I was slow to get up as I landed hard on my shoulder and face. Two concerned skiers stopped to see if I was OK. My pride was hurt more then anything.

As I sit here typing this, I have a slight pain in my shoulder and a throbbing left leg. I've a bruise the size of a grapefruit on my calf...very pretty colors.

I've two weeks to rest up. We're heading to Okemo in Vermont for a fun filled weekend of food, drink & skiing down some "gentle slopes".

One last try

So I've blogged in fits and starts in the past. It's never become part of my daily routine because I never know what to write about.

I originally started a blog to track my marathon training. Once that was done, the blog was done.

I'm making just one more effort at this blogging thing. I've no clue what I am going to write about...thinking about it is already making me tense.

I envy those bloggers that write every single day. The ones that always have something to ramble about,,words flowing endlessly.

I am looking forward to keeping this thing current. A little inspiration is all I need.