Moderately Interesting

Food This Week

2012-01-06T23:49:00.003Z

Ok, this is what I think my meals will be this week:

Breakfasts:

Omelet with broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes, toast, fruit
Cereal with soy milk, yogurt, fruit

Other meals:

tacos
soup w/cheese and crackers
pasta w/marinera sauce
dal, Indian carrots, and bread

Some of this stuff I already have in my fridge or freezer, which is good. It's going to be a busy work weekend.
The goal now will be to ensure things I don't need stay out of my shopping cart.

Sunday Update

2012-01-02T02:26:00.005Z

Since I already wrote the dissertation below, this is going to be a quickie. I actually managed to plan and go grocery shopping yesterday. Today, I did some cooking.
For the record, I also started to play a game online, quit after a few minutes, and installed StayFocused to block the game site.

Meals planned for the week:

French toast, yogurt, fruit for breakfasts
Sauerkraut and veggie sausage, roasted potatoes, broccoli
Pasta w/marinara sauce, sauteed spinach w/garlic
Soup, cheese and crackers

French toast is made. Sauerkraut and veggie sausage meal is made. Pasta and sauce are made. I still have leftover soup that I brought back from my parents, and I have the makings for other soup.

Things that came home in my grocery bag that were not on my list:

Bag of chips and sour cream to make dip
Bag of cheese popcorn
Bag of Reese's miniatures
Hersey's Special Dark chocolate bar

Sigh. At least the chips and dip are gone. :(

The Good and the Bad

2012-01-01T18:35:00.008Z

So the walking thing. Yeah, I'll come back to that.

For now..it's the New Year. Again. (I wonder if there's a spike in the number of blog posts today with folks writing about all their resolutions and all that? Kinda like the spike in gym memberships.)

But that's not quite what I want to talk about. Do I want to be healthier and stronger and happier in the New Year. Absolutely. (And if I'm going to be really honest, I'd like to fit into my old clothes again, as in the clothes I was able to wear last year.) Making a resolution of some sort doesn't seem like the best way to achieve those things. I'll inevitably fail and then just feel bad, which certainly won't help with the happier thing.

So. What?

Perhaps the way to start is with a list of the ways in which I do and don't take care of myself. I've been working on this in my mind already, and I know it's going to be heavily slanted toward the bad.

Ways I do take care of myself, listed in order that they come to mind: 1) I eat food including some fruits and veggies. 2) I pet and love my cats. 3) I continue to interact with online friends and with my family (i.e., I do have some human contact). 4) I try to be self-aware (i.e., even though I'm often not taking care of myself, at least I'm not lying to myself about it). 5) I have become better at monitoring and catching migraines closer to when they start. 6) I removed all games from my phone and asked a friend to impounded my Nintendo DS including all DS games.

Those last two are actually pretty significant. I should give myself a lot of credit for them.

Ways I don't take care of myself, again, listed in the order that they come to mind: 1) I eat way more food than I need for fuel, and included in that is way too much junk. 2) I get virtually no exercise. 3) My sleep cycle is atrocious. 4) I am addicted to video games, and have an extremely hard time not becoming a lump on the couch for weeks on end once I start playing. 5) The self-talk has become very, very negative. 6) I have very little face-to-face social interaction outside of work. 7) I am a hermit most weekends. 8) There's more, but I don't want to list them here.

Also, the depression and anxiety cycle are slowly getting the better of me. Every now and then I'll have a win using the mental tools I've learned over the past years of therapy, but more often than not, I end up curled on the couch at the end of the day, playing a computer game to numb my thoughts.

Clearly all that above is waaay to much to work on all at once. But work on it I will, one thing at a time, because I DO want to feel better (at least I do when the apathy isn't winning).

I'm going to start with food, as I think it will be the easiest. I had a 6-hour drive home from my parents last week to think about this. My goal for January will be to plan my meals every week and go grocery shopping with a list. Hopefully, I will cook, but if things get crazy, it's perfectly ok for my meal planning to consist of frozen, ready-made dinners, baby carrots, and grapes. Just so that I actually take the time to plan and go shopping.

To keep myself accountable, I'm going to blog my meal plans and what I actually end up with in my grocery bags every week. Please come heckle me for being a slacker if I haven't posted anything by the end of the day each Sunday.

I've already planned and shopped for this week. And even cooked some! I'll get that post up later today. Next is to get out of my PJs, get cleaned up, and take a walk. The weather's nice, and I find a walk is a great way to start the new year. Especially since what I really want to do is take a nap.

Oh, and I've also given up video games for January. This is something I've done before, whenever my game playing become especially out of control. It's time, again.

Update

2011-11-19T01:06:00.006Z

So I haven't been streaking. With the walking that is. (Or any other kind of streaking either. :p) However, I HAVE been getting in the occasional 3-miles of walking, probably only about once a week, but still. I haven't given up on this walking streaking thing yet.

I just got back from a brisk 15-minute after dinner walk. Together with walking to work, from work to campus (got a ride back to work from campus), and walking back home, that should add up to at least an hour of walking or about 3 miles. Woot! I've decided that I'm going to break my streak this time, starting today. Yes, yes, my current streak is only 3 days. That just means this is totally doable!

Check back in on Monday to see if I actually break the streak this time.

3 miles

2011-10-22T01:08:00.003+01:00

Well it hasn't quite been a year since I last posted...

This evening I went for a 3-mile walk. A bit more than 3 miles, even. It was definitely over an hour of walking, and I was trying to keep up a brisk pace, although there was stopping and waiting for street lights and cars interleaved with the walking.

Once upon a time, when I lived in the land of castles and lochs and a pretty canal complete with towpath 5 minutes from my flat, a 3-mile walk was...well...a stroll in the park. Most days I walked to and from work. I went on frequent walks with a walking group. I loved walking around Edinburgh. An 8 or 9 mile walk through the Scottish countryside was one of my favorite things.

I'm in a different city now, back in the US. This past year, my walking and general physical activity has shrunk to almost nothing. It's a short walk to work -- a bit shorter even than when I lived in Edinburgh. I haven't been walking. I live close to a park and a pretty campus with lots of trees and brick sidewalks. I've gone walking over there maybe twice. There are multiple hiking groups that I've signed up for. I went on one organized hike back in the spring. Sigh.

So what prompted tonight's walk? Yesterday was a Very Bad Day. Nothing horrible happened, it was just a bad day with my mood somewhere in the vicinity of the bottom of a horrible sludgy pool of muck. I desperately wanted to make today a bit better, and it has been better, at least a little bit. Knowing that getting some fresh air and exercise would help, and since I was already wearing my sneakers, I spontaneously decided to go for a walk after I'd finished my dinner. I intentionally picked 3 miles because, darn it, I should be able to walk 3 miles!

As I was walking, I decided I was going to make that my new goal: to walk or run 3 miles every day. Three miles is a decent amount of exercise, enough to feel like I've done something. To add a bit more challenge, I'm going to keep a count of how many days in a row I can keep it going. When I inevitably miss a day, I'll reset the count and see if I can beat my record. A couple months ago, I joined a gym, so I can't use bad weather as an excuse. I will allow myself to substitute spinning or using the elliptical in place of brisk walking (10 min walking = 10 min spinning = 10 minutes elliptical).

So that's the plan: walk 3 miles everyday. Let's see how long I can keep this going.

My Fabulous Orkney Tour

2010-10-31T20:29:00.012Z

This past spring, looking ahead I was fairly certain that this was going to be my last summer in Scotland -- mine was never intended to be a permanent position, and the latest bit of funding was scheduled to run out at the end of the year. Usually I head back to the US for my holidays to visit family and friends, but I decided to do something different this year. Something like taking advantage of the fact that I'm living in Scotland! Something like trying to see more of this fabulous country, like maybe the Highlands! (I couldn't leave Scotland without seeing the Highlands!) Or, looking at the map, what about going to the very top of Scotland!!

A friend of mine (Hi GP!) had a great experience with Rabbies Tours, so I thought I'd see what they had to offer. I wavered back and forth between a couple of their 5-day tours, but finally I decided on the Orkney and the Far North tour.

I signed up for the tour, and although June was shaping up to be an incredibly busy month, I was so looking forward to the trip. Not that I knew anything about Orkney and I didn't have time to do any reading up. I just knew that it was up there at the top of Scotland, and I was going to get to places that I would probably never go to on my own.

The morning June 11 finally rolled around, and I made it down the the Royal Mile (only a wee bit late) where Rabbies buses load up. They do small 16-person buses, so the tours are more intimate than most others. There were only 14 on our tour, plus our tour guide, Karen. It was an interesting bunch: three couples from different places in Canada and the US, a couple from Poland on their honeymoon, two woman from Germany, and four woman traveling alone (including myself). Zeitha and Leslie were both from Australia, although both have ties to Scotland. Jane was from Toronto, but she grew up in Scotland. I would really enjoy getting to know these three ladies over the next five days.

I'm going to do a blog post for each day, because there is way, way, way too much to try to squish it all into one post. But here are a few of my favorite pictures below. The tour, by the way, was incredible and fabulous and amazing and really there aren't enough words! It's trite, but Scotland is so very beautiful! More to come...

Our mascot: A Highland Cow (not a cow wearing a viking helmet)

Flowers at the Falls of Dochart

Glencoe

Gorse on a hill

Me in my twee Scottish hat on the ferry to Orkney

Stroma

Broch of Gurness

Brough of Birsay

Skara Brae

Ring of Brodgar

In St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall

Flowers at Smoo Cave

Real Highland Cow

Along the northern coast of Scotland

Gorse in the Highlands

Just a picture I liked (near Carr Bridge)

In the woods near the Falls of Bruar

New Friends

Writing in the Dust

2010-10-22T20:07:00.016+01:00

Hmm, a bit dusty in here wouldn't you say? I mean it's only been, let's see.. June, July, ... , October, almost 5 months since my last posts. And those were teasers about my trip to Orkney which implied more to come.

Some big things happened in these 5 months, most of which anyone reading my blog already knows about. In June, my parents visited, and we had a great time. I had a job interview back in the US. I went on some fabulous walks and avoided the tourists and the Festival crowds in July and August. I got the job and started planning my move to Baltimore. At the beginning of October, one of my sisters came to visit, and we had a great time. All that was wonderful!

Other stuff hasn't been so great, namely how I've been taking care of myself. Answer: Not very well. Oh, I've limped along (not literally). I've been seeing a terrific massage therapist/osteopath type person, who has helped to unknot some of the long-standing knots in my neck, shoulders, and back. In May I started taking something to help with the anxiety-depression combo that strikes with a killer migraine every period, lasting for approximately 2 weeks, and I think that has helped. I've added a bunch of supplements (B6, Magnesium, Calcium, Vit D, Vit E, Omega 3) that research suggests is good for mood and/or migraine prevention. That's all good.

But those few good-for-me things have been completely overwhelmed by the bad-for-me things. Little or no aerobic exercise. Waaaayyyy to much time sitting immobile in front of the computer playing games. (The computer I play games on is currently taking a time-out under a blanket in the closet.) Little or no meal planning and poor, poor eating habits. Becoming more and more hermity. Plus the mental bashing for not doing all the things I should or have said I was going to do. (Bah, a pox on myself. I'm so sick of my own mental whining.)

And as you might expect, the results of all the above things have wreaked havoc on my mental and physical well-being. The mind-body-spirit trifecta is broken. So, so broken.

So ENOUGH!

Essentially, I have very few good habits. And what few I have are in severe danger of being lost in mire of my many, many bad habits. (Once upon a time, I know I had more good habits. Where, oh where did they go? I ran several 10k races last year, for Bob's sake.) In a nutshell, this is what I need to change. It is the big picture. I can talk about taking better care of myself, blah, blah, blah, blah. But unless I'm actively building up good habits to replace the bad old ones, nothing will change in the long run.

It's a great plan! And simple! Bad habits -> good habits.

But the success of any great plan is in the details.

So let's start with the most egregious. Probably the worst habit I have right now is dragging my feet in the morning to get out the door and into work. (On the surface, this doesn't seem so terrible, but the repercussions of this for me are HUGE. Trust me on this.) See, I don't have any set work schedule, and that's a dangerous thing for me. Sometimes (more and more frequently) I give up and decide to just work from home. This is BAD because I really need the human interaction I get at work for my mental health. Plus I don't get as much done at home.

Goal 1: lollygagging in morning -> getting up and moving out the door to work by 9am

I have tried to change this bad habit so many times, you wouldn't believe it. This time, what I've done is made a basic morning check list that I'm putting on my door, and I will reward myself with stars for each thing as I do them. Here it is.

Ok, so it's a bit hard to read. It starts off with get out of bed. Yes, I'm giving myself a star just for getting out of bed in the morning! I said it was basic. I also get a star if I get out the door right away and do some exercise, even if it is just walking around the block. I guess I figure that if it's a challenge at the moment for me just to step out of the door to my flat, then that's where I need to start. I'm also giving myself stars for showering, eating breakfast, getting dressed, and going to work, etc. Go ahead, laugh. It's not that I don't do these things now, it's more that I do them at 10 or 11 or *cough* sometimes after lunch. The point here is to change my morning routing from one of puttering around and wasting time to one where I get up and start moving and get out the door.

Aside from this first goal, I figure that I also have to start blogging more. I need some accountability. So, I'm also committing to blogging twice a week. One update post on how the habit changes are going, and a second post on anything else. My immediate goal here is to blog and post pictures about my Orkney trip before I leave Scotland. After that, well, I'll be in a new city. Surely there will be places to explore and blog about there!

So, working on changing my morning slothfulness and more blogging. Stay tuned.

Teaser: The Highlands

2010-06-30T11:28:00.003+01:00

Teaser: Highland sea loch

2010-06-27T11:26:00.001+01:00

Teaser: On the road in Orkney

2010-06-24T11:25:00.001+01:00

Teaser: Welcome to Orkney

2010-06-21T11:21:00.002+01:00

Just off the ferry in St. Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay in the Orkney archipelago:

Teaser: On the road

2010-06-18T02:44:00.003+01:00

Teaser

2010-06-15T21:35:00.006+01:00

I just got back from a great 5-day adventure up to Orkney. Along the way, I saw quite a bit of Scotland that I'd never seen before and it was FABULOUS!! I'm not going to have time to write actual posts about my trip until probably July, as the next couple weeks are insanely busy. But I really want to share, because it was FABULOUS!!!

So instead, I'm going to try to find time every couple days to post a teaser picture, with no commentary.

This was my view upon leaving Edinburgh :+). (Ok, maybe a little commentary.)

Parade!

2010-06-07T07:18:00.002+01:00

Help! Best Marathon Cheering Sign?

2010-05-20T22:37:00.004+01:00

This is a plea for help. My friend Xenia is coming up to Edinburgh to run in the Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday. I've never spectated or cheered at a marathon before and I'd like to do it properly. Of course I can come up with an unimaginative sign that says something like, "Go Xenia!! Go!" But I want to do better.

Ideas? Suggestions? Please, please, please, bring them on!!

On Dishwashing

2010-05-14T17:29:00.007+01:00

As my family and friends all know, I'm not the best housekeeper. And my least favorite household chore is probably dishwashing. No, it's definitely dishwashing. Something about icky dishes and icky dish water and getting my hands wet. So, the dirty dishes have a tendency to build up.

What in the world does this have to do with anything? A while back, I noticed a correlation between dishwashing and self-care. No really, it's like the dirty dishes are the canary in the coal mine. Danger! Danger! Theresa is falling off the self-care wagon! Proper sleep has probably ceased happening. Healthy eating likely is taking a slide, too, because when the dishes aren't being washed, cooking is not happening either. And exercise? Let's not even talk about exercise.

(Wow, the bad metaphors in that last paragraph, let me count them.)

And as typically happens when the self-care goes down hill, headaches ensue. The last few weeks have been a very good example of all of this. (Although, one thing that I have been doing better, for the most part is sleep. I'm giving myself credit for that. However, I must get my blackout curtains up again, because the sun coming up at 5 o'clock isn't helping the cause.)

In reality, I know that it is all much, much more complicated than that. But these things are all connected -- mood, headaches, sleep, exercise, and doing the dishes. When my dishes are done and my kitchen is clean, everything else seems much more...possible. Also, these smaller things are easier to quantify than the mental health stuff. Did I get to sleep at a good time? Did I eat my 5 servings of fruit and vegetables? Did I get 20-30 minutes of aerobic exercise? Did I do the dishes?

I think, before I slide not just down the hill but all the way down to the bottom of the ravine, it's time to get back to the self-care basics. I've done this before, and I'm sure I'll need to do it again. For me, this means lots and lots of tracking. Which means that it's back to Joe's Goals!

These are the goals that I've set up. All the key self-care things are there: proper sleep, eating right as represented by the fruits and veggies, exercise, minimizing caffeine, and dishwashing. And I've added a few other things in there for good measure. I know that if I can stick to this and take care of myself, I will feel better in both mind and body.

I'll be doing other tracking things as well. I need to get a new calendar up on the kitchen door so that I can start giving myself sparkly stars for exercising. It's also time to start tracking food, because crisps and chocolate are not major food groups. I don't aim to do these things forever, just a month or so to hopefully build back up the healthy habits.

I've added the Joe's goals widget to the sidebar. Please come harass me if it starts dipping down into the red.

An excellent day for a walk

2010-05-08T20:58:00.016+01:00

It was cloudy to start, with a bit of chill in the air, but eventually the sun emerged making yesterday a very fine day for a long walk. The walking group headed over to East Linton for a walk to Hailes Castle and Traprain Law.

We started off walking along the River Tyne, making our way to Hailes Castle. The birds were singing madly, and the wild garlic and few-flowered leeks were rampant, scenting the air with the smell the garlic. The gorse was also in full vibrant yellow bloom, giving off its coconut fragrance as we walked past.

At Hailes Castle, we stopped for a wee break. The castle overlooks the River Tyne. As with most castles left in Scotland, it's a bit of a fixer-upper. Presumably it was in a better shape when Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed there with her kidnapper/soon-to-be-husband, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell.

Leaving Hailes Castle, we made our way via country roads to Traprain Law, where we stopped for lunch. Afterward, about 1/2 the group decided to climb to the top. It's not a big hill as far as hills go, but it looked intimidating from a distance. I was mentally dithering about whether to climb up, but finally just told myself to stuff it, and went. It got my heart rate up, that's for sure, but I only had to stop once or twice for a quick breather. And the views, of course, were spectacular. By now the sun decided to join the party, and we could see the coast and Bass Rock and North Berwick Law, which I'd climbed with Little Sis last summer. (And I just now realized that I'd brought my binoculars and forgot to use them. Drat.)

The climb down is always much quicker than going up, and before long we were on our way back to East Linton via country roads and the path along the Tyne River. Our last stop was the beer garden at The Crown.

A terrific walk with great company made for an excellent, excellent day.

The boring this week's goals post

2010-05-03T07:29:00.005+01:00

Hmmm, looks awfully familiar:

Run 3 WEEKDAYS for a total of 3 miles
Yoga class ~~hell~~ or maybe pilates on my own on Wednesday
Dance class Thursday
Pilates class Friday
10 minutes stretching each WEEKDAY
Walk to or from work each day

I'm in a bit of a quandary about what to do about the yoga class. At the least, I need to talk to the instructor and tell her I will be taking it down a notch. She also has Hatha yoga class before the beginners Ashtanga class that might be gentler. Unfortunately, last week killed any warm fuzzies I felt toward the idea of doing yoga. Worrying about whether I will do something that will trigger a migraine does not make for a relaxing time.

Carrot:

Yoga Hell

2010-04-30T22:49:00.007+01:00

I hate when I attempt to do something good for my body and mind, and it backfires. Like the beginning yoga class I took Wednesday evening. Oh we'll just start with learning the sun salutation, and then build on to that every week, says the instructor, as if it will be easy.

Hah! Downward dog, you are the devil. Thank you for killing my shoulders and triggering the migraine that wiped out my Thursday, including my evening dance class. Today wasn't a picnic, either, but taking it easy in lunchtime pilates seemed to help.

I am finally feeling better, thanks to a enjoyable evening listening to storytelling, songs, and poems at the Waverley Bar. Of course, the last batch of pain killers has yet to wear off, so we'll see. At the moment, at least, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's 8-mile walk in the Pentlands with my new camera! Here's hoping we don't get too wet.

Oh yes, I forgot

2010-04-25T22:57:00.007+01:00

Plan for this next week:

Run 3 WEEKDAYS for a total of 3 miles
Yoga class Wednesday
Dance class Thursday
Pilates class Friday
Stretching 3 days for 10 minutes each
Walk to or from work each day

Carrot I get to buy this book:

I actually had this book in hand at one point this past week, but I made myself put it back. By the way, the odds of me walking out of the bookstore without a book I've identified as one I want is about 1 in 10,000. I showed fortitude, because I told myself I could use the book as a carrot for this week.

Third time's the charm?

2010-04-25T21:35:00.007+01:00

It is Sunday night. I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It was a pretty good weekend except for the lack of running. The walk yesterday along the canal was good.

And with the exception of my bedroom, my flat is no longer a disaster area! I can even eat at my kitchen table again!

Last week I said I would:

Run 3 days for a total of 3 miles
Dance class Thursday
Pilates class Friday
Stretching 3 days for 10 minutes each
Walk at least 3 miles this weekend

Note the stars. If I'd run all three times, there would be three stars. Guess I didn't want the chocolate enough. :p

New camera!

2010-04-22T22:51:00.006+01:00

After much gnashing of teeth and railing against the fates, I finally have a new camera! It is this beauty here.

You may or may not recall that my last camera is now off cavorting with sheep. I've gone back and forth about whether to get a new one or just use the camera on my new phone. And once I decided that indeed I did want a new one now, because it's a bummer to be out walking and not be able to take good pictures, plus my 'rents are coming for a visit soon, the question was whether I wanted it to just be a cheap, inexpensive one (in the event I drop it on top of another remote Scottish hill) or one that was a bit better.

So far, based on taking a few pictures of flowers in George Square over lunch on Wednesday, I'm going to like this camera.

The slugs are winning!

2010-04-21T01:32:00.013+01:00

AAAGHGHHHHGHHHH!

Photo ~~stolen~~ acquired from http://mochimochiland.com

With one run and one walk, I obviously didn't make any of my goals last week. :p

So let's try this again. Goals for this next week:

Run 3 days for a total of 3 miles
Dance class Thursday
Pilates class Friday
Stretching 3 days for 10 minutes each
Walk at least 3 miles this weekend

This week's carrot if I accomplish my goals: chocolate from Coco.

Goals and Plans and Goals

2010-04-12T23:43:00.011+01:00

It's funny how you can be thinking about and meaning to do something for days and weeks (e.g., run), and then something happens that seems to flip a switch and suddenly it seems possible again.

Well the switch was flipped for me last week, and lo and behold, I went for two (very) short runs! In the morning even!

As I mentioned last week, my new running goal is not to train for this race or that race, but to get to the point where I'm running 4-5 days a week, ideally 2-3 miles each day. The hope is that this will help keep a lid on the anxiety-depression duo that rears it's ugly head more often than I'd like.

Getting to that goal, however, requires a plan. Making a plan, in and of itself, isn't the problem. I quite like to plan things that only involve me. I am a planner. It's the sticking to the plan where I tend to run into trouble. And that, brings me back to goals.

My new running plan is to set small, attainable, weekly goals, slowly building toward my bigger, long-term goal. I know, WHAT a radical idea. I'm using Buckeye Outdoors to keep track of everything. And borrowing from Merry, I'm going to post my goals for each week on Monday, and report back at the end of the week. The theory is that this will inject a bit of accountability into the process.

As an additional motivator, there's something that I really, really want that is a complete luxury: an ebook reader. Specifically, this ebook reader. I'll be working out how I can somehow use the BeBook as a carrot for the running and other fitness/health stuff. More on that another day.

Without anymore further ado, here are my goals for this week:

Run 3-4 days for a total of 4 miles
Stretch 5-6 days, 10 minutes each time
Pilates 2-3 days, for 20-30 minutes each time

Can I get myself out the door tomorrow morning before work? Right now I'm optimistic. Hopefully, it won't be another story in the morning!

Edit: Yes, I got out and ran my short mile this morning!

Pretty

2010-04-10T21:04:00.002+01:00

Walking to work today...

Another mile

2010-04-09T08:30:00.004+01:00

Got the running shoes on again for another 1-mile run this morning. I'd hoped to run yesterday morning, but I was surprisingly sore from my measly 1-mile run on Wednesday. Also, I stayed up too late the night before. :p

That is all.

Merry, got any more walking scheduled for today?

One mile

2010-04-07T09:06:00.007+01:00

I actually went for a short run this morning! True, it was only a mile, but what a sense of accomplishment just putting on my running shoes and getting out the door.

Three cheers for small accomplishments!

I've been thinking about this, and I'm going to try something different. I'd like to get to the point where I'm running 4-5 days every week, preferably on weekdays. More than anything else I need the regular aerobic exercise to help keep a lid on the stress and anxiety, most of which I tend to self-generating out of thin air.

Because I want to be running almost daily, my plan is to keep the mileage low. Reeaaally low. Like running one mile at a time to start, and working up from there. Since I'm such a slow poke, this actually takes me about 13 minutes. At this pace, one mile may not be a lot, but it is something.

I'm looking into different ideas for setting goals and tracking. So watch this space. Miracles could happen and I might actually surprise myself and start blogging regularly.

Why I Started Running

2010-02-08T19:54:00.007Z

I've been doing a lot of introspection lately. A Lot. I've been debating about how much to share here, because that's not really what my blog is about. Not that my blog is about much, but it's definitely not about deep thoughts or what crazy notion is circling my head at a given moment. But this I think is worth writing down, so that I will have it on record when I need the reminder about why I have running shoes in the first place.

The Story

I've always gotten a lot of headaches. A Lot. My mom tells the story that when I was in elementary school, she would get calls about once a week from the school nurse: Your daughter says she has a headache, may I give her an aspirin.

Fast-forward 20-some years, I finally got myself to a headache doctor. His diagnosis: in technical terms, I was a stressed-out, perfectionistic, worrywart. Who me? We tried this and that, and I did generally get better, but I was still getting headaches. I was doing just about everything within my control to improve my general wellbeing, and the next step was big-time medications.

Well...everything, that is, except for this: Aerobic exercise has proven as effective as medication for controlling stress and anxiety.

Sigh...ok, fine.

Why running? Well, I could run at home. Or at a conference, or at my parent's, or on vacation, so it's portable. That was important. Also, I'd read a book* by Barbara Delinsky several years before, in which the heroine was a runner.** Not a super fantastic runner, but a woman who'd suffered from severe asthma all her life. When she decided to start running, she first researched how to start running, and then scaled back what she learned to an ultra-basic, run-walk plan.

I thought I could probably do that.

So I took myself to the library and researched how to start running. And I bought a pair of running shoes at the New Balance shop, conveniently located in the same building as my office. I used the first edition of The Beginning Runner's Handbook, and I discovered that I could run! And I didn't feel like my lungs were going to burst into flame and leave me in ashes on the sidewalk, unlike all my previous running experiences!! (Suicides in basketball and volleyball practice. Ugh.)

End Story

So, did running help with my headaches? It's definitely part of the overall picture. When I take care of myself, I have very few headaches. Let's repeat that, this time in bold.

When I take care of myself, I have very few headaches.

Taking care of myself includes, but is not limited to: getting proper sleep, getting regular exercise, not eating too much crap, and generally keeping a lid on the stress and anxiety. It seems like these basic things wouldn't be so hard to do, but as my family and friends all know, sometimes I just really, really suck at them.

From the beginning of January, I've pretty much sucked at them, and surprise, surprise, January was a pretty headachey month. I've only been running ~~a few times~~ two times over the past month. Even though those two runs have felt sooo good, I've just been having a really hard time getting out the door with my running shoes on. Hence, this reminder.

It's interesting. Although I enjoy the excitement of races, and it's fantastic when I improve my PR, I've discovered that they don't really motivate me to get out the door on a day-to-day basis. So although I've certainly been looking at races and plotting which ones I might enter, I think for the time being, I'm going to take a break from racing and worrying about time and speed and just focus again on getting out the door consistently.

Taking care of myself -- I don't need to run far or to be fast to do that. I just need to run.

* Moment to Moment. This is one of her early books, a fairly sweet romance that I think was originally a category. Nowadays, she writes more woman's fiction.

** Actually, in quite a few of her books that I've read, the heroine has been a runner.

Hey there, blog

2010-01-18T08:37:00.006Z

Hi Blog, I see that you're still here. Although how pitiful you are looking, starved by your recent lack of attention. Yes, I know, our relationship needs work. I keep think that I will write you a post about this, or a post about that, but then do I write the post? No. I know, communication is not my strong point.

So I'm writing this post, short and boring though it is, just to get over the roadblock I seem to have built to posting. It's not much, but it's something.

I finally, finally, finally went for a run yesterday. It's been almost a month since my last half-hearted run with Marshal, my sister's dog, before Christmas. This lack of running is partly due to the snow and ice we had on the ground and partly due to inertia. When not running, it is so easy to keep on not running. (Just as when not blogging, it is so easy to keep not blogging.)

But I'd been a lump most of the weekend, and I was really feeling the need to get out and move, and it was a nice day, so I changed, and put on my new running shoes (bought before Christmas, but only worn for that one run-walk with Marshal), and headed out for the canal in the fading light.

We've had a bit of a warm up over the past several days, and the accumulated snow and ice are pretty much gone from the sidewalks. I expected the canal path to also be clear. Not so. There was still quite a bit of ice in places, of the skating-rink variety, so my new running shoes got well and truly baptized in the mud on the side of the path.

I ended up running (with just a few short walk breaks) not quite 3 miles along the canal and streets on the way back. It was a fairly average run, good to be moving if a bit sluggish.

The canal, by the way, was still frozen pretty solid, except for under the bridges. It froze over a bit last year, but nothing like this. Last weekend I walked along the canal, and some brave folks were walking and biking on the ice. Ok, that was probably safe, given that the weather hadn't been above freezing for several weeks. But driving a car? That takes a special kind of crazy.

Race Report: Paisley 10k

2009-10-24T21:05:00.005+01:00

Hey look, my blog is still here! Flips on the light and peers around. Alright, who wrote "clean me" in the dust on my monitor?

Seeing as I have another race tomorrow, I figured I'd better get moving and actually finish my race report from my last race, almost two months ago now.

Right. August 30th I ran my fourth 10k race in Paisley. It was also my best 10k race! I ran it in under 1 hour 17 minutes, beating my previously best time from a year ago in the Great Scottish Run by 39 seconds. Woot!

I had several goals for the race, and I'm happy to say I met most of them.

Goal 1: I was not last! Ok, given that there were over 1000 runners, this wasn't likely, but you never know. As it turns out, 65 people were slower than me. Knocked that goal out of the park.
Goal 2: Yep, I beat my times from the Great Edinburgh Run and the Great North 10k!
Goal 3 (unstated): Set a PR -- Check! My best 10k time before this was 1.17 something in the Great Scottish Run in September last year. That also happened to be my first 10k, but that's neither here nor there.
Goal 4 (unstated): Finish in under 1:15. Nope, didn't happen. This was a long shot, but it's a goal that is within reach. I think. Eventually.

The race itself was fun and well organized. Highlights of the race were running through St. Mirren Stadium and along the Paisley canal towpath. The only downside was this one pair of runner-walkers. As I was running the whole thing (woot!), we kept passing each other. Unfortunately, these two were conversing nearly the whole time and completely oblivious of others who might be around them. Just the two of them somehow managed to run/walk such that they often were taking up most of the path. And once, they even ran past me, immediately crossed right over in front of me, and then dropped to a walk, nearly causing me to plow into them. Argh!

However, aside from those two, it was a great race!

As to Paisley itself, well, it's basically a suburb of Glasgow. It wasn't always that way. At one time it was a textile powerhouse. They had several statues and monuments dedicated to various dead guys named Coats. By the way, if you sew, this is the same Coats associated with the thread company.

I got there late enough in the day on Saturday that I didn't get a chance to see anything of the town. But I did take some time on Sunday after the race to walk around and see some of Paisley. Here are a few pictures that I took.

Paisley Town Hall
Paisley Abbey
Public Torture Device on display at the Paisley Museum

My next race is tomorrow, the Jedburgh 10k. Given how I've been currently running, I don't think the under 1.15 time is in my legs just quite yet. But who knows, maybe the fall leaves will inspire me and I'll surprise myself!

I survived The Coffin Route diversion

2009-10-10T21:35:00.004+01:00

Warning: This post contains a heck of a lot of whining.

I'm writing this post from my room at the Kames Hotel, near Tighnabruaich, on the Cowal Penninsula in Argyll. A hotel which has three small bar rooms in the floor below. Joy.

What am I doing here? Well, this is my big walking weekend at Cowalfest, the Cowal Walking and Arts festival! More about the walking festival in another post. This post is reserved for complaining.

The walk I'd signed up for today was The Coffin Route. In the festival program(me), the was is described as follows:

Imagine you are a pall bearer carrying a coffin. From Glenkin we take the Coffin Route over the saddle to the graveyard at Inverchaolin church and explore the history of the area. Forest roads and some rough open ground at maximum hight of 400m.

I admit that I was a bit nervous about this walk because it was rated as an E on a scale from A to E with E being the most strenuous. But I was looking for something a bit more challenging, and this seemed the best possibility for Saturday. And it didn't look impossible. "Some rough open ground at maximum high of 400m" seemed doable.

Well perhaps it would have been doable. The only problem was that thanks to some folks who wanted to go shooting, we had to divert from the usual route (which would have taken us within range of the shooters) to higher, rougher ground. A lot higher and a lot more rough ground. It's funny. Those hills seem so nice and smooth looking at them from far below. You'd never know that they were full of ankle-twisting ground, knee-high grasses and bracken, and moss so deep and spongy it swallows your whole boot when you step on it. I fell several times, and I'm still amazed that I didn't break an ankle.

Oh, and that first time I fell -- yeah, that's whem I'm pretty sure I lost my camera. (And trust me, there was NO POSSIBLE way I could have gone back to try to find it. I could have dropped it 5 feet away, and I probably couldn't have found it. Such was the terrain. It's what they call heather moorland.)

I lost my camera!!!

I'm really upset about this, in part, because it was my camera. My parents gave it to me. But what I'm really, really upset about is losing my pictures of this somewhat horrible day. Plus, in theory I have one more walk tomorrow, and I won't have my camera for that walk either! (Ok, I did stop to buy a disposable camera on my way out of Dunoon, but it's not the same.)

Sigh. In spite of the struggling through bracken and twisted ankles, the scenery both macro and micro was beautiful. I was trying so very hard to capture as much as I could so that I could remember and share. Even the darn twisty grasses and mosses of the moorland were beautiful. Golds and greens and even some reds. The heather was mostly done blooming, but here and there a few small, purple buds were mixed in to add little dots of color. The top of the hill was in clouds, which made for chilly walking, but also whispy views. Argh!!!! I want the pictures on my camera!!!

I guess, it kind of feels like I did that walk all for nothing. Just about every muscle in my legs is aching. I am grouchy and tired. I really wish I had stayed in Dunoon for another night or two rather than comming out to the other side of the penninsula. Because the buses don't run on Sunday and now I'm basically stuck here until Monday. Whine, whine, whine.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go on one more walk, but I don't know. As I said, my legs hurt, and I'm really feeling like wallowing in my misery. I think I'm going to leave it to fate. Will I wake up in time, or won't I?

What have I been up to?

2009-09-20T21:53:00.005+01:00

When last I posted, I was off to Paisley for the Paisley 10k. Given that was 3 weeks ago, you might be thinking that off to Paisley is a euphemism for goes off never to be heard from again. Or not, considering that most people who read this are likely friends and family who know very well that I was off having a lovely vacation back home with family in Ohio, with excursions to visit friends near Niagara Falls and Pittsburgh.

So although you wouldn't know it by my blog, I've actually been up to quite a bit over the past three weeks, and I have lots to blog about. And quite a bit of stuff upcoming as well over the next month or so. So watch this space for my Paisley Race report, pictures of Niagara Falls, McConnell's Mill State Park, Loch Leven and Lochleven Castle, and Muckhart, where alas, I forgot talk like a pirate.

Off to Paisley

2009-08-28T20:45:00.004+01:00

That sounds like a euphemism for something, but tomorrow I really will be off to Paisley. As in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. And yes, it was once a textile powerhouse, from which the paisley design takes it's name.

This particular Paisley is over on the west side of Scotland right by Glasgow. They're having a 10k race on Sunday that I'll be running in. It's only about an hour and a half away, but with Sunday morning public transport being what it is, it's not possible to get there in time for the race. So, I'll be taking the train there tomorrow and spending the night. And hopefully seeing a few things in the afternoon, if I get there in time and am in the mood.

I hear there's an Abbey.

Anywho, the 10k race. I have high hopes that it will be better than my last two 10k races. After all, I haven't been sick recently, nor have I walked up any big hills since last weekend. And it's supposed to be flat. Still my actual goals for the race are pretty modest:

Goal 1: Don't be last. I'm actually not kidding. This is going to be a much smaller race than either the Great Edinburgh Run or the Great North 10k in Sunderland, and I'm still pretty darn slow. Not that there's anything wrong with being last, but I've already been last in a race. There were only about 40 people in that race, but still. I've had my turn.

Goal 2: Beat my times from the Great Edinburgh Run and the Great North 10k. Seriously, if I just run the whole race for a change, this should be possible.

I've got a couple other goals with respect to finishing time, one of which is possible and one of which is likely not in the legs yet. But who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself!

So, off to Paisley tomorrow. That still sounds like a euphemism for something.

Hill Work Saturday

2009-08-22T12:47:00.002+01:00

Today was the day for hills! It was also the nicest day we've had for about two weeks. It hasn't rained (yet), and we actually ~~have~~ had sunshine and blue skies!

*CUE ANGELS SINGING*

This morning, I ran the Horrible Hill Route. Just like last week, I was able to run all the way up the hills, although I had to drop down to a walk at the top of the Horrible Hill to get a handle on the gasping and wheezing. But I didn't stop! That might be a first. And I shaved about a minute off my time from last week. Woohoo!

But that is not all! I also spent a couple hours rambling up and around Arthur's Seat. It's a regular walking club walk, but I somehow found myself running just a bit late, and then I had the worst bus karma, and then I had to stop at the loo and there was a queue. Yes a queue for the loo. In short, I was about 20 minutes late. But this weather was not to be missed, so I started rambling around on my own on some of the less well traveled paths, and lo and behold I actually ran into the group from the walking club about an hour later. Woot!

A bit more walking, a pint of cider, and a small ice cream (dipped in Belgium chocolate) later, and I am back home, writing this. Unfortunately, in my rush I forgot my camera, so I shall leave you with this picture taken back in July, when I walked up Arthur's Seat with Little Sis. The picture is looking down the back of Arthur's Seat toward Dunsapie Loch.

Aberdour Castle and Modern Scottish Wedding Attire

2009-08-13T17:05:00.000+01:00

After my walk on Saturday, I decided that I still had enough time and leg strength left to go see Aberdour Castle.

It's pretty old, a bit of a fixer-upper really.

Although the doocot is still is pretty good shape, should you be in need of a source of protein and open to the idea of raising doves and pigeons.

Much to my surprise, they were in the midst of a wedding at the castle. I was told to just ignore the wedding party in the terraced gardens.

I can see why you might want to get married in a castle. It's very romantic after all, and you can send any kiddies off to explore the ruins. Part of the castle even still has a roof, where the ceremony can be held. And the gardens are pretty.

But then you get people like me, who insist on sneaking around the ruins taking paparazzi-like pictures of the ladies in funny hats.

And the men in kilts.

I'm ashamed really. Sneaking around a castle to take pictures of men-in-kilts and then posting these pictures of strangers, who didn't give me permission, on my blog. Ashamed. I'm sure Karma will make me answer for this.

Progress

2009-08-11T15:46:00.000+01:00

I came very close to running the whole Horrible Hill route tonight. I ended up averaging only about a 13 min/mile pace, but I'm just going to roll with it and be happy. I think my idea of walking up hills as a form of cross training might actually be paying off.

The question is, can I do it again? Check back next week for the answer to that scintilating question.

Walkabout Scotland: Kirkcaldy to Aberdour

2009-08-10T14:28:00.000+01:00

As previously mentioned, on Saturday I ~~conquered~~ went for a really long walk up in Fife. With a bunch of strangers. Fife is fairly close to Edinburgh, being just across the Firth of Forth to the north. The 9-mile walk was part of the Fife Outdoor Access Festival and led by some folks from the Kirkcaldy Ramblers.

It was a very enjoyable day, and I had a fun time chatting and meeting the people on the walk. I have to say, though, going on these walks is not necessarily the way to meet guys my age, if that were my goal (which it is not). I was easily the youngest person on this walk by 15 20 years.

Anywho. The walk started at Seafield near Kirkcaldy (Kur-caw-dee) and ended in Aberdour (Abber-dower). The beginning and end of the walk was spent along the Fife Coastal Path. For the middle bit, we detoured inland at Kinghorn to the Fife Ecology Center, where we stopped for lunch, and then onto Binn Hill above Burntisland for some terrific views.

If you like maps and/or care where I actually walked, here's the approximate route. If you're only here for the pictures, skip below. It was a beautiful day, and there was some beautiful scenery to view along the way.

Kirkcaldy-Seafield to Aberdour Walk
Find more Walks in Fife, United Kingdom

View out over the Firth of Forth near the start of the walk. Far, far in the distance on the very left you can see Berwick Law.

Seafield Tower, dating from the early 16th century.

Seals! No really, there are seals out on the rocks! Click the picture to make it bigger.

Thistles gone to seed. I really like thistles, especially when they are all fluffy and soft like this. I think the ones that are gone to seed but not yet fluffed out look like they could be used as paintbrushes.

Daisies. Yes, I like flowers. You will just have to put up with it, just like the other folks on the walk did.

I think this is a cormorant out on the rock. I'm also thinking I need a pair of binoculars.

Cool tree!

Just a picture from along the Fife Coastal Path. Far in the distance you can see the Pentland Hills. And on the very far left, you can see Arthur's Seat (the saddle-shaped hill).

Pretty, pretty flowers. Anyone know what kind they are? I think this is my favorite picture of the day.

Boats along the beach in Kinghorn.

View from the beach in Kinghorn.

Kinghorn Loch.

Lunchtime view at the Ecology Center.

Thistles on the hill.

View from Binn Hill.

View from Binn Hill, looking south toward Edinburgh and Arthur's Seat.

Looking east towards the Forth Rail Bridge.

Looking back toward Binn Hill.

An unexpected waterfall along the Fife Coastal path, heading toward Aberdour.

The end of the walk for me, Aberdour Station, the absolute cutest, railway station I've ever encountered, almost crossing the border into twee. It apparently has won awards.

Next post: Aberdour Castle and Modern Scottish Wedding Attire!

I conquered Fife!

2009-08-08T15:21:00.002+01:00

Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration. Unless you define conquer as walking 9 miles from Kirkcaldy (pronounced Kur-caw-dee) to Aberdour (pronounced Abber-dower). And because my legs hadn't yet fallen off, I decided to spend another hour or so rambling around Aberdour and Aberdour Castle. Because who knows when I'll get back to Aberdour.

For the record, my legs do now feel like they could fall off.

Aberdour Castle was fairly small, and the price to get in seemed a bit steep for what you get. But what made it worthwhile was the wedding they were having there! The wedding was in pre-reception mode, a.k.a. drinks out on the terraced gardens. So I entertained myself mocking in my head the hats some of the ladies were wearing. (Oh to have had my little sis there to mock the hats with!) And taking stealth pictures from inside the castle ruins of the crazy hats and the men-in-kilts. Heh, heh, heh.

Pictures to come of both the walk and the crazy hats!

Autumn of 10k Races

2009-08-05T21:13:00.000+01:00

I haven't blogged yet about the Bupa Great North 10k that I ran with my sister last month. While it was a lot of fun to run a race with Little Sis (who did terrific, by the way), my actual race was extremely meh. As with the Great Edinburgh Run, waaay too much walking had me finishing in 1:20. Gah!

I'd like to blame my performance on walking/climbing up Berwick Law two days earlier. About halfway through, my legs just decided they were done, which has never happened to me before. I tried arguing with them, but nope. Done.

So I've decided to make it my mission this fall to improve my 10k time, and in the process to build a really solid running base for a change. My goal: to run a 10k in under 1:15, shooting for a lightning-fast 12 min/mile pace.

Stop laughing, speed is relative.

There are a few 10k races happening within a couple hours away over the next several months. I've already signed up for the Paisley 10k at the end of August. I'm also looking at the Linlithgow 10k and the Jedburgh 10k in September and October.

Oh, and needless to say, I'm giving up on the idea of a half marathon for now. Maybe next year, after I finally have that solid running base.

Pet Sitting, WooHoo!!

2009-07-31T20:48:00.003+01:00

Yep, for the next week, I will be walking Crosby the dog, petting Mango and Connor the cats, and playing with two tiger-striped kittens!!! I'm just a tad excited, in case you can't tell. Really, I feel like I should be paying my friends for the pet therapy.

Crosby

Connor

Mango (a.k.a., Momma Kitty)

And the Kittens!!

The kittens are two months old and out of the box, which means they can run away from me. :( But I'm sure by the end of my week I will win them over, so that I can hug them and squeeze them and name them both George.

Oh, and the grey kitten in the picture. Already left to her new home. Sigh.

Williamcraigs Wander

2009-07-28T21:54:00.010+01:00

On Sunday, I went on a walking club walk starting from the nearby town of Linlithgow. The walk was a really nice one, perfect for a Sunday afternoon. The weather even decided to cooperate. And I got to pet a few dogs who were along for the walk!

Linlithgow, by the way, was the location of the first petrol pump in Scotland.

The walk started and ended along the Union Canal towpath.

Yes, this is the same Union Canal that runs about 5 minutes walk from my flat. In theory, if I wanted to go for a reeeaally long walk, I could walk all the way to Linlithgow along the canal towpath.

After a mile or two, we ventured off the towpath to loop up along some country lanes. I saw a bunny as well as some not-so-wild life.

This guy was the most curious cow that I've ever met. Not that I've met that many, but still. He was very intrigued by us, or maybe it was the dogs. Once we passed him, he ran up ahead along the fence until he could see us again. He did this three times, until he couldn't follow us any farther!

There were also some very pretty views of the Ochil Hills to the north.

After a while, we met back up with the towpath and made our way back to Linlithgow, stopping in a small park for a nice view over the town. The building in this picture with the pointy-roof tower is Linlithgow Palace.

Back in Linlithgow, we passed an old doocot, known as a dovecote in places other than Scotland. This one is from the 16th century, and yes it was once used to raise pigeons and doves. You know, for food.

I've been wanting to go to Linlithgow for a while, and this walk gave only the smallest taste. Definitely must make plans to go back and explore the rest of the town. I have my eye on a 10k race there toward the end of September as well. We shall see.

Muddy

2009-07-22T22:15:00.005+01:00

This is the result of a 2 1/2 hour walk around and up the Braid Hills, second highest of the Seven Hills of Edinburgh. Five hills down; two more to go.

Placeholder

2009-07-11T08:50:00.004+01:00

Just a quick post today because Little Sis and I are off shortly to Sunderland for our 10k race tomorrow morning!

We've been fairly busy over the past few days. Wednesday night we went on a literary pub crawl, for lots of stories of Scotish authors and of course terrific ales at these three pubs.

Then yesterday, we went to North Berwick for the day where we visited the Scottish Seabird Center and climbed up Berwick Law for some terrific views.

Off now to catch the train!

Happy Birthday to Me*! How old am I again?

2009-07-07T23:24:00.007+01:00

Yes, today is my birthday! I turned 38 37. Definitely 37. If my older sister is turning 40 this year, and I am almost three years younger, then I can't be turning 38 right?

At some point in the past year or so, I seemed to have aged myself a year in my head. I'm fairly sure that I've thought of myself as being 37 all this past year, and so until I did the math about a month ago, I was sure that I was turning 38.

I'm still having a hard time remembering that I'm only 37 now. The notion was that firmly entrenched. Maybe by next year, it will have sunk in.

In other news, my little sister is visiting, and she arrived today! I can't remember the last time I spent my actual birthday with friends (come July, most leave on holiday), not to mention family.

We walked around the city a bit, and climbed up all 387 steps of the Scott Monument for fabulous views of the city, as well as some disturbing gothic architecture.

The Scott Monument. We climbed to the very top! All 287 steps!

Little Sis and me* on the Scott Monument.

In some spots on the climb up the spiral stair (which is twisting the WRONG way), it gets to be a bit of a squeeze.

View of Edinburgh Castle from the Scott Monument.

Arthur's Seat view from the top of the Scott Monument

Ok, dog faces aren't too bad.

But then there's also lots of gargoyles.

And these creepy faces stuck all over the place!

In the evening we went for a run around the neighborhood. We ran a literary version of the Horrible Hill Route, running by the homes of Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith, and J.K. Rowlings. Running Partner E. was the tour guide.

Aside: My younger sister totally mocked the difficulty of the Horrible Hill. Some day, Horrible Hill, I will no longer be lame and I will be able to run up and conquer you!

To end the day, we enjoyed a pint of Caledonian 80 at the Morning Glory pub down the road. (Sorry, CMS, we didn't ask around for Billy and Alex.)

On tap for tomorrow: A bit of work during the day and then hopefully a Literary Pub Crawl in the evening.

4 of 7 Hills

2009-07-05T19:30:00.023+01:00

Edinburgh like most of Scotland is not flat. I know, shocking. In fact, there are seven hills in Edinburgh. The most well known are Castle Rock (on which Edinburgh Castle is perched), Calton Hill, and Arthur's Seat. There's also Blackford Hill (home of the Royal Observatory), Braid Hills, Craiglockhart Hill, and Corstorphine Hill.

If you're crazy and so inclined, there's even the 7 Hills of Edinburgh race every year. There were 330 finishers this year, with the winner finnishing in 01:43:06.

Today I went on a walk of four of the seven hills with 5 other walkers. It took us 4 hours, 5 hours if you count the walk down the last hill to the pub at the end. Of course we stopped to admire the view at the top of each hill, so maybe it was only about 4 hours or so of walking and climbing.

Whatever. It works out to be over 8 1/2 miles of walking.

If you're interested, here is the map.

4 hills of Edinburgh
Find more Walks in Edinburgh, United Kingdom

The 8.69 miles were on top of a 4.71 mile run this morning. I'm not sure why I thought this was a good idea. The question now is whether I'm going to be able to walk to work tomorrow.

Even though it was feeling like my legs were going to fall off towards the end, it was a great day out! Pleasant walking company. A beautiful day after a brief but heavy downpour at the start. And a pint of cider at the end.

Here are some pictures of some of the views.

Castle Rock - This is a picture taken from the Esplanade. The blue stadium seating is for the Tatoo.

Scott Monument and the Princes Street Gardens, walking from Edinburgh Castle to Calton Hill

Looking back toward Edinburgh Castle from Calton Hill

Top of Calton Hill

Walking toward Arthur's Seat from Calton Hill

Looking back toward Calton Hill from Arthur's Seat

Top of Arthur's Seat

View from Arthur's Seat

View from from Arthur's Seat

Looking back toward Arthur's Seat from Blackford Hill

Toward the top of Blackford Hill

Braid Hills from the top of Blackford Hill. Farther away in the distance are the Pentand Hills.

Craiglockhart Hill from the top of Blackford Hill

Corstorphine Hill from the top of Blackford Hill

Speedwork!

2009-06-20T23:53:00.005+01:00

I have this problem that my running partner is now completely leaving me in the dust. Part of my problem is consistancy, which I'm working on. But Running Partner E. also likes to sprint the last several blocks (or miles) of our run. She also does things like run faster up hills. She seems to enjoy running into the wind. I do not like to do these things. We are obviously very different types of runners.

But I do like running with E. We get each other out the door. And so I feel that I must get faster. Which means, speedwork.

I don't really know that much about speedwork. From what I've read on blogs here and there, quite a few folks run speedwork intervals at tracks for 400 or 800 meters. And they are supposed to help you get faster. And then there are these things called fartleks. There, I've exhausted my knowledge.

Well, there aren't any tracks near me, at least that I know about. I also have absolutely no idea how fast I should try to run a given interval. I'm quite the slow poke, generally running 12:30-13:00 minute miles still. So I should be shooting for what? In the past I've tried the sprinting from light pole to light pole a few times. That was ok, but it seemed kind of random.

So, what to do?

The past couple weeks, I've been playing a bit with www.mapmyrun.com and the Cool Running pace calculator, looking at different road distances near me and trying to figure out how long it would take me to run a given distance, assuming a 11:30 minute mile. In doing this, I discovered that some of the paths at a nearby park give some nice, even, short distances.

And so Theresa's speedwork plan was born!

In The Meadows, there are these three paths that make a triangle loop and together add up to 0.5 miles (Jawbone Walk, Middle Meadow Walk, and the path along the road between them). Jawbone Walk is 0.2 miles, which makes the other two sides together 0.3 miles! (Yay, for basic math skills! Although I still measured all the sides on www.mapmyrun.com, because I am a dork.)

So my plan is this: To run speedwork intervals first using the 0.2 mile Jawbone Walk segment as the bit that I sprint, with the remaining 0.3 for recovery. Then move up to using the 0.3 segment for sprints, and eventually moving up to using the whole 0.5 miles for sprint intervals. Simple, right?

Tonight was my trial run. I figured, given the slow poke that I am, shooting to run Jawbone Walk (the 0.2 mile segment) at an 11:30 min/mile pace was reasonable, which meant I would need to run it in 2:18 minutes.

I ran the loop twice, sprinting as fast as I thought I could along Jawbone Walk. Which was not pleasant. My stomach started hurting very quickly, and by the end, I had a stitch in my side. My times for the 0.2 mile sprints: 1:54 and 1:49 minutes which work out to around a 9:30 min/mile or faster. What?!?! Ok, I know it's only 0.2 miles, but that's way crazy faster than I thought I could run!

Assuming tonight wasn't a complete fluke, and I didn't miscalculate, I now have a baseline. Still, a 9:30 min/mile pace? Next week, I'm going to try to run the loop four times, with a 10 min/mile pace for the Jawbone Walk sprint segments. That still seems wildly fast for me, but I guess it's possible if it's only 0.2 miles.

Enough about speedwork. Tomorrow, pictures of someplace new that I went today!

Divebombed

2009-06-16T20:51:00.004+01:00

What was it with the wee bugs that kept making suicide runs toward my face this evening?! At least one met his end in my eye and another in my mouth. Yuck.

So it was the Horrible Hill Route tonight. And between the divebombing bugs and the GI issues (again), it was definitely on the horrible side. With much walking on the hills. But, slightly faster than last week, so I suppose that's something.

No more broccoli for me for lunch on days that I run in the evening I think.

Once more, with feeling

2009-06-10T00:02:00.022+01:00

So yeah, goals. My running goal for May was to run three times per week. How did I do? Well, meh.

Week 1: 3 runs
Week 2: 3 runs
Week 3: 1 run, but with lots and lots and lots of walking that weekend
Week 4: 2 runs

And the first week of June: big fat zero!

The Horrible Hill route tonight was PAINFUL, and I now have my worst time ever for that route. (The GI issues didn't help. I made it home in time. Barely.)

Back to goals and such. I said that if I managed to stick to my 3x per week goal, I would sign up for the Erie half-marathon. Unlike a 5k or 10k, I can't be totally slacking off my training plan if I want to try to run this race. But the more I think about it, the more I really want to give it a go. Yet this inability to get myself out the door to train thing is definitely a problem.

So let's try this again. For the next 5 weeks (including this week), my goal is to run 3x per week. Plus, I'm going to up the ante a bit by also committing to either a 4th run or a long walk each week.

This week's runs will be on Tuesday (done!), Thursday, and Friday.

It's a bit late, but not too late to start training for the Erie half-marathon. I've found a training plan that builds up from a 10k to a half-marathon, which is just what I need. If I can stick to this plan and meet my goals over the next five weeks, I'm signing up!

Goodbye, Charlie

2009-05-28T17:00:00.002+01:00

1997 - 2009
I'll miss you, Charlie-man.

Me versus The Hill: Week 3

2009-05-20T21:59:00.004+01:00

Tonight I ran the Horrible Hill route by myself! Running partner E. was busy last night, so of course I put off going for a run. I almost put it off again tonight, but finally, after I procrastinated a bit, I kicked myself out the door. That's a small triumph right there.

Then, I was tempted to run a different route and avoid The Hill. But no! I will conquer this route by the end of summer. And alas, the only way to conquer it is to actually run it. Another small triumph.

So off I went, peering warily at the ominous clouds. It looked like the sky was considering falling, but luckily, the rain mostly held off until the end of the run. And the sky did not actually fall, so that's good, too.

As far as how the run went, I discovered that it is more enjoyable not to be struggling to keep up with running partner E. At no point did I feel the need to keel over as I tried to catch my breath. However, the fact that I wasn't pushing myself as hard definitely showed up in my time.

Last week: 45:36

This week: 46:03

But, I definitely felt that I did better on the hills. I employed the strategy suggested by Ted of taking very small steps when running up hills. On the Horrible Hill, it actually felt like I was running up stairs. I think this definitely helped, as this week I made it at least 3/4 of the way to the top before stopping to walk. So thanks, Ted! And I ran most of the way up the hill at the end too!

Hills, I will conquer you!

Overall, definite improvements toward my goal of running the Horrible Hill route in its entirety. We'll see how next week goes when I'm once again trying to keep up with E.

Two Weeks of Success

2009-05-17T11:29:00.006+01:00

My running goal for May is to run three times each week. I'm at the half-way point now and so far, success!

The first week was tough. Running partner E. and I ran our regular Tuesday evening run, but then I procrastinated and was faced with having to run on both Saturday and Sunday if I wanted to accomplish my goal. I managed to get myself out for a run on Saturday, but running partner E. wasn't free for our regular Sunday run. Having only internal motivation to get me out and running two days in a row almost resulted in a fail for the week. But I persevered, and did squeek out a rather pitiful 2+ mile run late in the day Sunday.

With my 6 mile run this morning (with E.) I finished out a successful week 2. Horray! This morning's run was completed in just under 1:16, which averages out to about a 12:24 min/mile pace. Again, I'm apparently very consistent. This is almost exactly my time for this same route three weeks ago, before the Great Edinburgh Run.

I was able to keep up with running partner E. through about mile 4, before having to slow down. One thing I'm hoping is that the more consistent 3x/week running will help me get a bit faster to better keep up with E. Because even running just two days a week, she is getting quite speedy! Of course, E. also likes to push herself with sprints and by running faster up hills, hence, her speed demon qualities. Ah well, we'll see at the end of the month if there's a glimmer of hope that the increased mileage is having an effect.

I Hate Hills

2009-05-12T21:16:00.006+01:00

Yes, I know, it's a bad attitude to have, but there you go. Fitness-wise, I know that incorporating hills into my runs is a Good Thing. That doesn't mean I have to like it.

My current nemesis is this hill, the one that starts just before the mile 1 marker and goes up at a 4% incline for about a quarter mile.
I can make it about half way up before I have to walk, and at the top I have to stop and gasp for breath for a good 20 seconds.

Aside: The hill at the end isn't a picnic either. I end up walking partway up that one too.

This week is the second week that my running partner and I have run this route. Last Tuesday, I got an email from running partner E. saying she couldn't stand to run our regular evening route one more time. Could I find us another route? And I came up with this one, so I have no one to blame but myself.

This evening, as I was huffing and puffing my way to the top of the Horrible Hill, I decided that this will be my long-term goal for the summer. To build up to being able to run the entire route, including the Horrible Hill.

I still have a ways to go. Alas, my three runs last week, did not give me an instantaneous increase in speed and stamina.

Last week's time: 45:35
This week's time: 45:36

That's a very sad, 12:34 pace.

Ah well, at least I'm consistent.

This evening running partner E. finally confirmed what I long suspected: she speeds up on hills. It's almost enough to make me want to cry.

May Running Goal

2009-05-09T00:12:00.009+01:00

Having goals. It's supposed to be a good thing right? Unfortunately, while I'm fairly good at coming up with goals in my head, I'm not so good at sticking with them.

Ah yes, this would be accountability. I generally have none, especially when it comes to running. Having a running partner keeps me running twice a week, and that's about it.

So, let's try this. I am publically declaring that I will run three times a week in May. That means just once a week, I need to get myself out the door without my running partner. It should be doable. Right? RIGHT?

It will also have the benefit of hopefully helping me get faster before my running partner leaves me in the dust in disgust.

Sigh.

So far this week, I ran on Tuesday (albeit on a new, hillier route, with one particular hill that almost did me in). So I must run tomorrow and Sunday. I can do this, even if the awful, ferocious winds we've been having for days on end don't stop. Right? RIGHT?

And if I do manage to achieve this goal, to ~~punish~~ reward myself, I will sign up for the Erie 1/2 marathon. Dear Bob, did I actually just type that?!?

Update: Week one, success! Although Sunday evening's 2.22 mile run was rather pitiful.

Great Edinburgh Run, with Daleks and Stormtroopers!

2009-05-03T20:59:00.010+01:00

So I ran in the Great Edinburgh Run today. And walked in it quite a bit as well. This was my second 10k race, but I was just not in the mood. My stomach was aching (thanks to what I took for the headache I woke up with), and my legs were tired for no reason I could figure. And there were hills. And I forgot tissues, so by about kilometer 6 in desperation I turned to wiping my nose on my sleeve, yuck. Given that I'm not one to really push myself on a good running day, I whimped out rather early. Whine, whine, whine.

But, it was a terrific day to be out and about Edinburgh! And I took my camera, because I was already planning to have fun with the race, even before I decided to whimp out.

The race started on the George IV Bridge, right in the middle of Old Town.

We started the race by crossing the Royal Mile and heading down the Mound for views of Edinburgh Castle and the National Gallery.

After a short jaunt through one of the Princes Street Gardens, we headed back up toward the Royal Mile.

Then it was down the Royal Mile to the Scottish Parliament and and past Holyrood Palace. Most of the rest of the first half of the race was spent running below Arthur's Seat.

The middle bits of the race were less interesting, running through parts of the city that are certainly historical, but not really worth stopping to take a picture. One cool thing about Edinburgh is that the city is 3 dimensional. A bit more than half-way, we actually ran under the George IV Bridge where the race started.

The race ended with a run around the Meadows and back to George IV Bridge for the finish.

In all honesty, Edinburgh doesn't get much prettier than this. If you were ever thinking of visiting, now is the right time of year!

As in many races, there are the folks who like to take it to the extreme with their race kit. Or lack there of. Sorry ladies, I wasn't quite brave enough to snap a pic of the nearly naked guy, who was only wearing shoes and what looked like an adult version of underoos. There was also a guy running in a kilt. But the best costumes by far were the dalek and the storm trooper with cross-dressing Leia.

I just checked my official time, and I finished in 1:19:43. What?! I have how idea how this is possible given how much I walked. That's under a 13 min/mile average pace. Bah!

Walkabout Scotland: East Linton to Dunbar

2009-04-26T08:21:00.034+01:00

I knew that there were various places to go walking around Edinburgh, but I had no idea how many trails and how much walking out and about was possible until I started looking. It all started when I stumbled across the East Lothian Walking Festival when I was investigating places to ramble about for when my little sister comes to visit in July.

Once I discovered the East Lothian Walking Festival, it wasn't too long before discovered there were walking and rambling clubs right here in Edinburgh. And pretty much anywhere you'd want to go in Scotland, there are walks you can go on. And there are other walking festivals throughout the year all over Scotland. Walking festivals! Who knew?

This walking thing. This is something I would actually get out of my flat and DO (as opposed to sitting in my flat and staring at the walls, which I have a distressing tendency to). Plus, since it's not exactly safe for me to go off walking about on my own, the idea of a walking festival or a walking club is great!

And this weekend, I did! Get out and about walking that is. Which makes this my inaugural Walkabout Scotland post. Let there be many more!

Edinburgh is in Midlothian so East Lothian is like the next county over. Practically my back yard!

Well, ok, not quite. I started my morning by catching a 7am bus, and it was a good hour+ bus ride to get to Haddington, where we were to meet the walk leader and sign the "in case of tragically falling off a cliff" form. I was early for a change, which gave me a good half hour to wander around the little town and discover that, although the butcher was open, heck if I could find a place to sell me a cup of tea. They were also setting up for a little farmer's market, and if I wasn't going to be walking for four hours, I would have been tempted.

Shortly after 9am, Dave, our walk leader, led his bunch of walkers (including me) to the bus, which took us over to East Linton and Preston Mill, our starting point. For the next four hours, we meandered our way through farmland following the River Tyne, along the estuary of the River Tyne to the coast, through John Muir Country Park, and finally along the coast to Dunbar. The path we followed was an 8-miles stretch of the John Muir Way.

Below are some pictures of the scenery along the way. It was a beautiful day! Dry, which is the most important thing, although the blue skies were muted by the mist, which didn't burn all the way off until mid-afternoon.

The start of our walk.

Preston Mill

In the distance is the village of East Linton and even farther away to the left is Traprain Law. People walk up there too. Maybe some other day.

Bridge we crossed over the River Tyne.

It looks like a nice innocent river now, but looks can be deceiving.

Just a pretty picture of the River Tyne.

Field we walked along.

And another.

Why look, another field.

Along the John Muir Way, nearing the estuary for the River Tyne.

Estuary of the River Tyne

Tank traps left from WWII.

John Muir Way along the River Tyne estuary.

Estuary of the River Tyne. You can see the river flowing through the salt marsh. This area is flooded during high tide.

Looking out over the estuary toward the sea.

Path along the estuary.

You can see the high-water mark left from high tide.

Nearing John Muir Country Park.

Unfurling ferns.

More tank traps!

Just a pretty picture with more unfurling ferns.

Through the woods in John Muir Park.

John Muir Park near Belhaven Bay.

Spike Island looking back over salt marsh.

Spike Island looking out over Belhaven Bay.

Belhaven Bay towards Dunbar.

Looking back over the salt marsh at Balhaven Bay.

John Muir Way nearing Dunbar.

Coast near Dunbar.

Cliffs near Dunbar.

And of course I can can never resist taking pictures of flowers.

And trees.

And what's a walk through the country without seeing some of the local fauna.

Sheep, of course.

Llama...soon to be a mamma llama?

A rare breed of water animal rarely seen in these parts.

I think I'll just stand here for a while.

Swans in Belhaven Bay

Kittiwakes...look closely

Pigeon in Dunbar

Yes, I was the annoying one on the walk, always stopping to take pictures of this or that, and then scrambling to catch up.

In case you can't tell, it was a fantastic day! About 1/2 way through when we were walking through the woods that are part of John Muir Park, I realized how badly I needed this break and to get out and see and explore. Trees especially seem to feed something essential in my soul.

Once in Dunbar, the bus was waiting to take the group back to Haddington. At this point, I broke off from the group. It was quicker for me to take the train from Dunbar straight back to Edinburgh. I had time to eat a tasty lunch in a cute cafe, and to walk down to see the small harbor, before catching the train.

Shop where I had lunch, a grilled veggie and hummus chiabatta with a slice of Victoria sponge cake for dessert. Yummm.

Dunbar Harbor with ruins of Dunbar Castle in the background.

As satisfying as the day was, my legs were very happy to be back home.

Trivia: So this John Muir guy who they named this trail after was born in Dunbar, but his family moved to the US when he was a kid. He grew up to found the Sierra Club, and helped to establish Yosemite National Park. Oh and Muir Woods near San Francisco -- named after John Muir. His birthplace in Dunbar is now a museum.

Visions of Vacation Bible School

2009-04-24T08:56:00.006+01:00

As I was laying in bed this morning slowly waking up and psyching myself to get out of bed, I heard the neighbors downstairs. This is not unusual. It's a family of 4 and they're not loud, but they do have a toddler who likes to scream and cry at times. It's not so loud that it's disturbing, but it is loud enough that I can definitely hear it.

This morning, however, it was not the toddler, but the older girl. And what I heard was singing.

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands
If you're happy and you know it clap your hands
If you're happy and you know it then your life will surely show it
If you're happy and you know it clap your hands

If you're happy and you know it stomp your feet...

I'm not quite awake, but the gears do slowly start turning: I know this song. Why do I know this song? Where do I know this song from?

It took a minute or three, but it finally came to me: I know this song from years of vacation bible school when I was a kid. Whew, this would have bugged me if I couldn't figure it out.

Of course, now it is stuck in my head. Who knew that If you're happy and know it made such a good earworm! Gah.

New Word Wednesday

2009-04-22T17:41:00.004+01:00

Yeah, ok, so it's been over 6 months since my last New Word post. Such is life.

tip - This can be a noun or a verb, synonymous with the US use of the word dump.

Here is the Cambridge Dictionary's definition.

I heard it for the first time -- or probably more accurately, picked up that I was hearing a new word -- about a month ago. Friends who I was petsitting for described their house as "a bit of a tip" when I went to pick up keys. Since then I've noticed it a couple times. A colleague used it to describe the mess of wires coming out of a full rack of computers, for example.

(On most days it could be used to describe my flat or my desk at work. So ample opportunities to use this one! )

There is also the term fly-tipping, which contrary to how it sounds doesn't mean paying flies a gratuity for excellent service. It's short for tipping-on-the-fly, i.e., dumping-on-the-fly. Illegally. Those dirty rotters.

I actually remember having fly-tipping explained to me quite a while ago, during some random lunchtime discussion. I didn't remember though, until tip was explained to me.

Since I couldn't find any fun, legal-to-post, cartoons of messy rooms to liven up this post, I'll leave you with Shel Silverstein's poem, Messy Room.

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or--
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

My bedroom isn't quite that much of a tip. Yet.

St. David's Day 5k Race

2009-03-07T10:30:00.010Z

Back in January, I was hunting around for a 5k race to run this spring, and there were none to be found in my neck of Scotland. But I really, really wanted to find a race to run in, so I started looking farther afield, and stumbled across the St. David’s Day 5k and 10k races in Cardiff, Wales. Hmmmm…Wales…I’d never been to Wales. I emailed my friend Xenia and she was all for the idea of a weekend in Cardiff, including the race. So last Friday, I was on my way to Wales!

It's a long train ride down to south-east Wales, 8+ hours if you go through London. They do have a more direct train route, but the London route was actually cheaper, even if it took a bit longer. The train from Edinburgh arrived in King's Cross Station, and it only took a short hop on the Underground to get to Paddington Station, where I would get the train to Cardiff. Finally, about 10:30pm I rolled into Cardiff -- I'd left Edinburgh at 2pm.

Paddington Station

On Saturday, Xenia and I saw some of the sights within driving distance of Cardiff. (Thanks for driving, Xenia!) More on those in another post. And, Sunday, it was race day!

It was terrific weather for a race, around 50 F, and Bute Park, where the race was being held, was a very pretty place to run.

Bute Park is right by Cardiff Castle.

According to Wikipedia, it was landscaped in the 18th century by Capability Brown. I wonder what he'd think of this pig in his park.

Oh yes, this is supposed to be a race report. My goals for the race were very low. Run the 5k (3.1 miles) in under 39 minutes and no walking. I'm happy to say that I did meet both of these goals! My watch time for the race was 37:12 (12 min/mile on the dot!), and the official clock time was 37:36. There was no chip timing, only a starting gun time to mark the start of the race. Since I'm slow, I positioned myself at the back of the starting pack, so it took a just a bit to get across the starting line. Either way, well under 39 minutes!

At times during the race, I was a bit demoralized by the kiddies who were beating me. And yes, I do mean kiddies. One boy was running with his mum, I'm guessing he was no more than 6 or maybe 7. And then there were the two girls that I'm guessing couldn't be older than 4 or 5 (ok, maybe the younger of the two got a couple piggyback rides, but still). These two were particularly annoying because at the start of the race, they were weaving back and forth in front of me along the path, making it impossible to pass them or anyone else. And then there was the chicken, or rather someone running in a chicken suit. I kept the chicken in my sights through most of the race, but was never quite able to catch up.

In spite of the fact that I'm slower than a 5 year old and a chicken, I was still really happy with myself at the end of the race. I'd picked a pace that I was pretty sure I could keep for the full 5k, and I did! And then, right after I crossed the finish line, something really cool happened. The woman who crossed the finish line right after me (I didn't even know she was there), came up to me and thanked me for my steady pace and not stopping to walk! I vaguely remember passing her in the first kilometer or so. Aparently after that, she just stuck to me, and used me to pace her through the race. It was a really good feeling, knowing that I was able to help someone. I wonder now if it was her first race.

After that, it was back to the B&B to grab a quick shower, while Xenia went on to run the 10k race as well. And after lunch, back to the train station to catch our train. It was another long train ride back to Edinburgh, but I at least got to see this fellow on the way.

Scottish Moment

2009-01-29T01:42:00.002Z

Walking home from work tonight, I was passed by a man in a kilt...riding a bicycle. It actually took me a minute to figure out what was striking me as odd.

Photo from www.white-works.com.

New Boots!

2009-01-17T15:31:00.003Z

For the past several years, I've been wanting boots. Not snow boots, but dressier boots that I could wear with a knee-length skirt. Once or twice a year, I would venture out to shoe shops to see what I could find, but I would always strike out. To find boots that 1) I liked, 2) were available in my size, and 3) that I could wear all day long, including walking in back and forth to work, was apparently too much to ask. I even have looked on-line a bit, but I'm hesitant to buy shoes that I can't try on.

Today, the gods smiled on me. Given all the end-of-season sales advertised for today, I thought I'd give it another try. I was going to head down to Princes Street, but thought first I'd try the shoe shop down the road, Ann Brownlie Shoes. I had good luck getting shoes for work there this past fall.

Bingo! First shop, first pair I tried on. This never happens to me! Aren't they cute?!?

And, they fit really well and are very comfortable! They actually became more comfortable the longer I was wearing them in the shop (admittedly, not that long, but still). And they were on sale!!

New boots, new boots! **Doing the happy dance**

Randomness

2008-12-20T19:07:00.010Z

Egads, it's been almost a month. Because I'm lazy and haven't yet organized any of the pictures from my various trips this past year, I shall share some random stuff in the interest of pretending that I actually blog occasionally.

First, a couple of pictures that I took early in November from the Mound here in Edinburgh:

Ok, those are probably the most interesting. You might want to move along now, because it's pretty lame from here on out.

Because I'm leaving in a couple days to spend Christmas in Ohio, I'm trying to eat up the food in my fridge. So for dinner this evening, I had tacos:

and cauliflower:

What, cauliflower isn't typically a side dish in Tex-Mex food?

A couple weeks ago, I did put up my few Christmas decorations. I'm enjoying them, but I realize overall effect is a bit pathetic when captured for pictures to post here.

My tree:

Santa with garland:

Holiday potholder/towel decoration:

My countdown-to-Christmas calendar:

And finally, I have been running. See, look at the stars on my calendar. I'm also re-attempting the 100 Pushup Challenge again. Those are the stars on the charts below the calendars. I made it through week 4 (actually week 6 because I had to redo a couple weeks) the first time.

My last couple runs in particular were very good! I was able to maintain a good pace (for me) for 3 miles without needing to slow down or stop to catch my breath. I feel like I'm finally, finally back to my fitness level from before my 6 week holiday from running. Yay!

Ok, that's all. End randomness.

I can still run!

2008-11-23T10:38:00.004Z

I don't know why I'm always surprised that I can still run after not running for a month (or so), but I am always surprised. For some reason, I expect to suddenly lose overnight everything that I had built up. Huh.

But, as you might surmise from the shiny, pretty stars at the beginning of this post, yes, I can indeed still run, although I've definitely lost some conditioning.

Tuesday 11/18: 2 mile run in the evening, blistering wind

Sunday 11/23: 2.5 mile run (12:16 min/mi) in the beautiful crisp morning under a blue sky, light wind

All I can say is thank Bob for my running partner, because who knows when I would have made it out the door with my running shoes on if I hadn't committed to running with EM.

Also thanks to Merry who has been both motivating and inspiring. Again. It was Merry who help to inspire me last fall to get the running thing going again. Merry, ever consider motivational speaking?

Oh, and Xenia, who was also motivated and inspired by Merry last year to start up running, well, she's running in her first marathon next weekend! Go Xenia!!!

And CMS/Keziah, finished writing her book!

I haven't mentioned Team CB for a while, but we four are the original members. It's been a year since we joined together in a virtual sort of way to motivate and encourage each other. And I'd just like to take a moment to say: Well done, Ladies! Well done all of us!

And yeah, I can still run. :+)

Tropical Sunset

2008-10-31T23:58:00.004Z

I have many goals of things I want to do between now and the end of the year. One of them is to write and post blog entries for my various trips this past year. I've put up a few, but I've yet to share pictures from Delft or Morocco or Australia. There may be one or two more I'm forgetting. And then there's the conference trip from this past week, where I got to watch the following sunset.

But, until I get my act together and get those posts put together, these pictures will have to tide us all over. Now close your eyes. Imagine a warm breeze blowing across your skin. Imagine the soft churning of waves on the beach. Sand under your feet. Maybe, just maybe, this image will help keep the cold weather away for a little while longer.

Modern Scottish Wenchwear

2008-10-20T19:58:00.005+01:00

When my sister and nieces were visiting a couple weeks ago, I naturally took them out and about to see a bit of Edinburgh. We wandered over toward Old Town and down Victoria Street where I knew there were some fun shops to see. One in particular, I knew, had nice (if pricey) handmade Scottish goods, and it's always fun to browse in. I didn't know the name of the shop, just it's general location. I was expecting fancy mugs and home decor. Instead, I discovered that the shop had morphed and was now selling these.

The shop is called Anta, and a quick chat with the shopkeeper revealed that Anta actually had expanded. The current location was to focus on clothing while a new shop was opened across the Grassmarket for home furnishings.

And the clothing that they focus on includes tartan silk corsets.

Aren't they gorgeous!

(Yes, I totally ripped off the above three photos from their brochure.)

The woman in the shop actually makes them, custom. They run 300-400 pounds sterling. I don't really like to bare my shoulders, and I have absolutely no occasion to wear something like this, and I really can't afford one. But...but...ok, I'll admit it, I really want one!

Random Travel News: Brisbane

2008-09-22T11:55:00.007+01:00

Well, yesterday after almost 2 days of traveling, I finally made it to Brisbane. Woo! Travel was uneventful, at least once I got on the plane. The fuel spill on the road between Edinburgh and Glasgow seemed to portend dire things, but other than an extra-long, scenic trip to the Glasgow airport, all was well. I would recommend Emerates Airlines for long trips, with good food for economy class and plenty of leg room. The only downside is their ridiculous 7 kg carry-on baggage limit -- just not realistic if you're going to be traveling for TWO DAYS.

So can I now say that I've been to Dubai and Singapore since I've transited through their airports? Probably not. By the way, Singapore wins as far as nicest, most original airport decor. It almost didn't feel like Any Other Airport for the whole hour that I got to enjoy it.

I am staying at a very cute B&B in the middle of Brisbane, the Eton Bed and Breakfast. Unfortunately, it is in the middle of Brisbane and nearly surrounded by backpacker and youth hostels. Actually, it hasn't been as bad as I expected, noise-wise, for which I am thankful. It does, however, look out of place, this cute, historic house surrounded by Modern City.

After arriving yesterday morning, I did exactly what they say you should not do to get over jet lag, which is to sleep during the day for 6 hours. That and getting dinner in the evening was pretty much my day. So much for my grand plan to knock myself out on the plane with drugs and arrive bright-eyed and bushy tailed so that I could get some work done on Sunday. The drugs, which I especially requested from the doctor, did not deliver the knock out as promised. Argh.

So this morning I woke up earlier than planned and went for a run! It's always fun to run in a new place. Brisbane has some nice trails along the river, although it took me a while to actually figure out how to get down to one of them. But in the end, I had a nice, scenic run starting with the William Jolly Bridge and then around the South Bank. Way more hot than I'm used to though, and it's only spring!

After the run and breakfast, it was off to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Sorry, no pictures yet. I won't be able to download them until I get home. I will say though that, yes, koalas are pretty darn cute, and yes, I did get to pet one. His name was Mike. :) I also got to see frisky kangaroos, lorikeets, cockateels, kookaburras, emus, a cassowary, bats, and sleeping wombats.

And then I came back and took a late afternoon nap. Sigh...

Tomorrow the conference starts, so no more major sight-seeing until Saturday. But today, I got to pet a koala. I think my trip to Australia is now complete.

New Word Wednesday

2008-09-17T23:44:00.005+01:00

knackered - what I will be when I get off the plane in Brisbane on Sunday after traveling for two days

More specifically, knackered means to be utterly exhausted or worn out. It's actually one of the first new words that I learned after I moved to Scotland (almost two years ago!). I'd stayed up all night working on something (or possibly reading a book), and when relating this to my officemate, he said, "You don't look knackered." And after giving him my I-have-no-idea-what-you-just-said blank stare, he explained.

Since then, I've learned that knackered can not only be applied to people, but objects as well. For example, you can say, "After walking home last night in the ferocious wind and rain, my umbrella was completely knackered." Umbrellas don't have a long life here in Edinburgh.

Knackered is fun to say, although I have to admit it's not one of the words that's crept into my regular-use vocabulary. It would have been very appropriate to describe my condition on Sunday after my running partner and I tried a new route. We're experimenting with hills. The less said about that the better.

Great Scottish Run

2008-09-07T18:32:00.010+01:00

This morning I ran in my first 10k race, the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow!

The largest trial of the day turn out not to be the race itself, but actually getting to the race. I ended up having to take a taxi to the bus station, because no local buses were running yet, and then the bus to Glasgow ended up leaving 15 minutes late. Given that the race started at 9 and the bus was schedule to arrive at 8:45, this made me a bit nervous. But we made up some time, and I made it to Glasgow and George Square in time but with no extra time. Whew!

I was at the back of the back, given my late arrival, which meant once the race got going, much dodging and weaving past the walkers was requried. I've decided that when there is room, I don't really mind this. It gives me the illusion that I am fast. :+)

One fun thing about the race was the bagpipers stationed at every kilometer. I liked that I could hear them playing up ahead and know that one more kilometer was almost finished. (And men in kilts* - Win!)

At the end of the race, my running partner Elaine and a friend of hers were there to cheer me on! Definitely a good feeling. I don't know what my exact finishing time was, other than under 1:20 (I hope). [Edit: Just checked and my official race time is 1:17.24, a 12:29/mile pace! Yeah!]I messed up setting my watch timer at the start. Oh well. I wonder if this helped me to enjoy the race more, because I wasn't worrying abut my time. I could just focus on running at a comfortable, sustainable pace. Just one short walk break at the 5k point! And I finished! Really, that was my goal!

One funny thing that I wondered about. When running along the bridge over the Clyde River, I noticed that they had police stationed periodically along the sidewalk (backs to the water). It looked like they were guarding against random runners who are suddenly overcome with the urge to hurl themselves over the side. I mean, come on! It was only about two kilometers into the race. No one should be that desperate yet!

One last tidbit. When visiting the Great Run website, I noticed that they had this game so that you too can take part in the Great Scottish Run. It's somewhat trivial, but enjoy!

*Although there were also boys in kilts and at least one girl in a kilt playing as well.

Running Report

2008-08-24T11:30:00.005+01:00

I haven't posted one of these for a while, but today I feel like some self-congratulations are in order. I have been running, kinda sorta following Hal Higdon's novice 10k training plan. And today, my running partner and I ran 5 miles!! I ran 5 miles!! That's over an hour of running!!!

Quite honestly, it feels weird to refer to myself and running 5 miles in the same sentence. Who, me? That can't be me. I can't run that far.

But apparently, I can! :+)

Which is a good thing, because I've signed up to run in a 10k race (6.2 miles) in Glasgow in two weeks. It's the Freshnlow Great Scotish Run on September 7th. And knowing that I can run 5 miles makes me feel pretty good about being about to finishing the race.

Where did all this motivation come from? I blame Xenia, fellow Team CB member. We started running at about the same time, and she's running in a 1/2 marathon in a week. Go Xenia!!! Maybe someday that's something I'll consider. For now, though, I just want to give Xenia a big thank you! Because she pushed herself, it motivated me to push myself just a bit farther too.

Exercising with buddies, even if that buddy is in another city. Definitely the way to go.

[BTW, Xenia has posted some awesome pictures of her vacation in Greece. Check them out!]

New Word Wednesday

2008-08-06T22:35:00.010+01:00

I'm going to give this a try, at least a couple times a month posting on a regular topic -- new words or new word uses that I've learned since I've been in Scotland. We'll see how it goes.

pear shaped - An adjective describing a situation that went awry, perhaps horribly wrong. As in, It all went pear shaped.

It's funny how I can hear a word for what seems like the first time, and after that I start hearing it all over the place. Pear shaped is one of these. A friend used it in conversation a couple months ago, prompting a big "What?" from me. Since then, I bet I've heard someone use it at least once a week. Which means that I must have heard it without it registering for a good year and a half.

This also happened with Hiya. Hiya is probably the most common casual greating used here, but it took a good two months after I moving here before it registered that was what people were saying. Weird.

But back to pear shaped. It's definitely one of the more fun words I've learned, and I'm hoping it will make its way into my regularly used vocabulary.

Note to self, seriously screw up something at least once a week so that I have a reason to work pear shaped into my conversations.

Photo courtesy of Opus104 on flickr.

Push ups

2008-07-31T10:12:00.006+01:00

I can't remember which blog it was where I first read about the 100 Push up Challenge, but it didn't take me long to jump on the bandwagon. I've been improving my fitness with the running thing (three times last week, woohoo!), and for a while now, I've been doing an excellent job of thinking about strength training. And reading about strength training on websites like stumptuous.com. The doing, not so much.

The 100 push up challenge turns out to be the perfect solution, at least for me, to kick start a strength training program. It has different levels to start at, it doesn't take a lot of time (about 10 minutes, 3x a week) and it tells you exactly how many push ups to do each session. Plus you can print it out, post it in your kitchen, and give yourself stars everytime you complete a push up workout! Yay for stars!

I'm on week 2a. Yes, there is a week 2a. I added it. Going from a maximum of 6 push ups at the end of week 2 to 15 push ups at the beginning of week 3 was just too much, at least for me. Actually, I can do 15-16 push ups now, but then I'm done. No second set of 12 push ups, and definitely no third or forth sets with the number of push ups scheduled for that day.

So here is my week 2a, for anyone who might be interested.

Day 1: 8, 7, 7, 6, min 8

Day 2: 10, 9, 9, 8, min 10

Day 3: 12, 10, 10, 8, min 10

So far (just completed Day 2), this seems to be the right level for me. I can tell I'm pushing myself, but I'm actually able to complete the workout.

By the way, I'm not actually doing full, plank-position, on-the-floor push ups, although that's definitely a long-term goal. Instead, I'm doing pushups in a plank position, but with my hands on a bench. Sumptuous actually has all kinds of suggestions for push up variations. If you're interested in increasing upper-body strength, but think floor push ups are too much, you can always try counter or even wall push ups.

Does the push up challenge work? You bet! I've gone from being about to do a max of 3 bench push ups to as many as 15. It's a great feeling to feel myself getting stronger just over a period of a couple weeks!

Birthdays and Kittens

2008-07-07T22:33:00.005+01:00

Dear Bob, did I really not post anything in June?! Apparently so.

So today is my birthday!

It was fairly low key, as most of my birthdays are, but all in all not a bad Monday. I had a nice chat with my mom. And I got to play with kittens! Ok, at a little over 2 weeks, they're not quite at the playing stage. But getting to pet and cuddle four little kittens. Nope, doesn't get much better than that!

As of Friday evening, I got to be custodian to mamma kitty, Mango, and her four babies, while their family goes off for a two-week holiday. I get to baby sit
kittens for two weeks!!!! In case you can't tell, I'm a tad excited. :+)

Here are the kittens all in a pile shortly after they arrived.

I thought a corner in the kitchen would be nice, but Mango just wouldn't settle. She kept going in and out of the kitchen. When Mango started to try to move the kittens, I realized that she had other ideas of what constituted a good spot. The next time I followed her when she left the kitchen. She went straight to my bedroom to a narrow spot between the hamper and a chair, and then looked up to me with an expression that clearly said, "I want them here, you idiot person." So I moved the box, and Mango climbed right in and started nursing.

And here is Mango, who looks so much like my first cat, Tiptoes, it makes me just a little bit sad.

Today, I took a few more pictures of the kittens.

There are three boys and a girl. The girl is the black and white one with a narrower white slash on her forehead and a black smudge on her chin. The little tabby boy is going to look just like his mum when he grows up.

The kittens are walking but very wobbly. Even in the two days since they arrived, they are moving more. Right now they still spend nealy all their time sleeping and eating, but I just bet they'll be trying to climb out of the box by next weekend.

Scottish Moment

2008-05-23T10:02:00.003+01:00

I'm here at work at the somewhat early hour of 10am (for the academic world). I'm sitting at my desk with the window open giving a nice breeze. It's quiet. And I can hear a bagpiper playing Scotland, the Brave, somewhere in the distance.

Photo from www.white-works.com.

A Weekend in Oxford

2008-05-15T22:10:00.012+01:00

This past weekend, I finally ventured out of Scotland to other parts of the UK. I took the train down to Oxford to spend the weekend with friend and fellow member of Team CB, Xenia. On Saturday, we ran in the Oxford 5k Fun Run. If you follow the link, you'll notice the runners, presumably from last year, actually have bibs with numbers and it looks all official like. They lie. Rather than going into the details, I'll just point you to Xenia's race report (both very true and very funny). Based on my watch time (the only time I have for the race), I completed the 4.9k in 37:15. Which is actually pretty good for me, but I did end up walking for about 3-4 minutes of the race. Bummer.

Chri..err..Xenia and I spent the rest of the day walking around Oxford and enjoying the sun. Xenia is a terrific tour guide! I learned all about the weird collegiate setup that is Oxford, about pimms and punting (a very good way to look silly). It was a beautiful day to be out and about. And Oxford really is a neat place to wander around. Here are some pictures from my tour.

This first picture is of Wadham College (I think).

It turns out that the University of Oxford isn't
really a university as we typically think of a university. Imagine if someone picked up all the small liberal arts colleges in Ohio and plunked them down in the same city. Oxford is kind of like that. Each college is much, much more independent than a college in a US unversity. I also learned from Xenia that the castle-like, up-and-down, edging bits on the building are called crenellations.

Oxford was interesting because, like Edinburgh, the city and buildings resonate age. Here is a picture I took along Broad Street.

Although you can feel the age as you walk around, the weightiness of Oxford was very different. Buildings and sidewalks in Edinburgh are made up of all this dark, grey stone. The stone buildings in Oxford have a much warmer feel, probably because they are made of a lighter sandstone.

Enough about stone. This is a picture of one of the guys they have ringing the Sheldonian Theatre.

I think it looks like he's going to sneeze. Hopefully it won't happen during graduation, which is held here.

These next few pictures are of the Bodleian Library.

If you look closely at the second picture, you'll see they have Latin above the doorways. Apparently, you need to know Latin just to know your way around this particular library. I'm guessing you won't find any fun romances here.

And now we have the Bridge of Sighs. No wait, wrong bridge. That one's in Venice. This particular Bridge of Sighs is a replica. I can't help but wonder what message they were trying to send to their graduate students.

And here is me, in front of the Radcliffe Camera. "Camera" seems like a funny name for a library, until you realize they were just trying to be all pretentious with the Latin again ("camera" means "room" or "chamber" in Latin according to the Wiki page).

This next building is part of All Souls College, or more formally, The Warden and College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford. I can't help but wonder what the requirements are for getting into this particular college.

This next batch of pictures were all taken at Christ Church College, which is very pretty and not Latin. (Ok, there was Latin in the Chapel, but I didn't take any pictures there.)

For all you Harry Potter fans, this dining hall in Christ Church is the one they used to film the dining hall scenes for Harry Potter.

Ok, enough buildings. One of the very, very cool things about Oxford was the parks and greenspace. There are two rivers that run through town, where you can find ducks and geese, including Canadian Geese, which is a bit surprising. My best guess is that the geese in these pictures are Greylag Geese. Although this one looks like she's walking, she was actually posed that way for several minutes.

And look, goslings!! Awwwwww.

Ok, not geese, but also not animals that I was expecting to find in Oxford.

And since I love trees, as usually I must include a couple that I thought made for particularly interesting pictures.

And that concludes your tour of Oxford!

For a Limited Time Only

2008-05-07T00:14:00.002+01:00

I'm only going to leave this up for a few days, but I thought I'd share. This is my favorite picture from my graduation, two Sundays ago. My Amazonian younger sister Susan is on the left. She is currently going through grad-school hell. My older sister Cindy is on the right.

Congratulations to me!

Weekly Running Log

2008-04-12T11:28:00.003+01:00

I haven't posted one of these for a while. But, yay! I got three runs in this week for a total of 6.64 miles!! First time in a long while that I've managed this. And they were good runs for me, 25-30 minutes or so with only one walk break between the three of them. So my endurance is improving, although I'm still a slow poke with over a 13 minute per mile pace. I've decided that will be my goal for the up coming Oxford Fun Run that I'm running with Xenia, to run the 5K at a 13 min/mile pace.

And now for everything else on my agenda for this weekend...

Back in the Saddle Again

2008-03-18T09:22:00.004Z

Just a quick post to say I got my behind out the door and ran this morning for the first time since *glancing down to check blog*, well, it says February 20, but I know I got at least one other run in after that. I've been hauling my running clothes around for several days with the intention of going to the gym after work, or saying I was going to get up and run in the morning. Never materialized. But this morning, yippie!

And it was a perfect morning for running too! Light wind. Some blue in the sky. Chilly, but not freezing. And it felt good. Whenever I have a break like this, I'm always afraid that I'm not going to be able to do it again. Weird. But I did! 5 min running/1 min walking x4 for a total of 20 minutes running. I took it easy, because I didn't know how much endurance I would have lost. But this was just fine. Just fine indeed. :+)

Mom and Dad Visit Scotland: Days 1 & 2

2008-02-28T23:00:00.002Z

Yay, my parents have come to Edinburgh to visit!

Day 1: Mom and Dad arrived on Wednesday afternoon, about 6 hours late due to weather delays out of Pittsburgh. These delays also caused them to miss their connecting flight in Newark, so they ended up taking a later flight, which first took them through London, Gatwick. And of course with all the rearranging of travel, their bags couldn't keep up. Argh.

Because of the late arrival, we didn't do much other than exchanging money at the post office and then grocery shopping. Dinner was Black Bean Polenta Pie. Yummmmm! This is the first time I've had the chance to make this for anyone.

We were all exhausted, so it was a fairly early night.

Day 2: We got off to a slow start, but it was a nice day for Edinburgh -- cloudy with the occasional break in the clounds letting the sun shine through, and not too windy. Just a few sprinkles later in the afternoon.

We walked across the Bruntsfield Links and through the Meadows to my place of work. Along the way, we stopped to admire these beautiful spring flowers.

After showing off my fairly unremarkable office and extremely cluttered desk, we walked into Old Town, stopping to have lunch at The Elephant House. The Elephant House bills itself as the birthplace of Harry Potter. It is one of the coffee shops where J.K. Rowlings would go to write.

After lunch, we wound our way down Candlemaker Row, then up Victoria Street and George IV Bridge to the Royal Mile. We crossed High Street and leisurely strolled down the Mound. From here, the Castle is clearly visible, rising above the Princes Street Gardens on the left. Here are a couple of pictures of my parents in front of the Gardens.

We ended our day at the tourist infomation center, where we bought tickets for the Royal Edinburgh Tour, a two-day pass with entrance to the Castle, the Palace, and the Royal Yacht Britannia. That's for Saturday.

We took the bus back to my flat, and I made Chicken Parmesan for dinner, with a Tivali escalope for me. Mom and Dad said it was yummy, and I was pleased. I think this is only the second time I've cooked chicken in my life. In the evening, we watched an episode of the Vicar of Dibley. (Thanks, Scope, for giving me the idea!) Just as we were starting to watch, my parents luggage was delivered! There was definitely much rejoycing.

Tomorrow we're planning to hit a couple museums. The weather is supposed to be pure Scotland: very windy and rainy, and not much fun to be out there.

Pros and Cons

2008-02-20T23:07:00.006Z

Pro: Oh my gosh! I ran 3 miles tonight! Three miles on the treadmill with 0 incline at about a 14 mph pace, but still. [Edit: Oops, make that a 14 minute mile pace. :+)] This is the farthest/longest I've run since...since...well, ever. Previously, the longest I'd ever run without a walk break was probably 25 minutes about 3 years ago, the last time I tried this running thing. Over the past few weeks, I've only been running 7-8 minute intervals! And tonight I felt like I could have kept going, but the gym was getting ready to close.

Con: I ate a bag of chips with lunch, and a Cadbury Cream Egg and a small chocolate bar on the way home from work. Can you say stress eating?

Pro: Hopefully, I ran off at least the small chocolate bar.

My theory for tonight's marathon at the gym is that the Cadbury Cream Egg actually came from the Energizer Bunny. The question now is, how badly am I going to pay for this tomorrow, and I'm talking about the run, not the junk food.

Weekly How I'm Doing Log

2008-02-02T18:49:00.000Z

It's been a good exercise week! I actually got three runs in this week (see stars to the left), plus dance class and pilates class. Woo!

I also did better on the sleep front, i.e., actually getting myself to bed consistently at a good hour. This is something that is incredibly hard for me, and yet so much hinges on it. Staying up too late throws everything off the next day (exercise, work, healthy eating, etc.) and increases the likelihood of a headache by probably 1000%. I have a ways to go before I can say I'm back on track with proper sleep habits, but this past week was definitely..err..sleeping in the right direction. :+)

Healthy eating? Hmm...well...I guess ups and downs would be the best way to describe the past week. Some days I ate very well, and most of the other days would have qualified as good if it wasn't for the chips and chocolate and excessive amounts of cheese. Mmmm, cheese.

Next week I'll be traveling part of the week, which means that all of the above will be about 10x more difficult. So we'll see how I do. I will definitely be taking my running shoes, so hopefully I'll have some fun running in a new place to report.

One last running related bit to share - I've decided to put aside the running schedule that I was following from the Beginner's Running Handbook. The goal of this schedule is to train one up to run a 10k race - something that is just not important to me right now. So I'm just going to work on getting my three runs in each week, gradually increasing the length of the running intervals. If I can get two, 20-30 minute running workouts during the week plus a longer running workout on the weekend, I'll be pretty happy and I think that's enough for now. At this point, it just doesn't matter (much) to me whether I'm doing 5 minute running intervals or 10 minute intervals, as long as I'm getting out there and getting at least 20 minutes of aerobic exercise 3x a week. I'll revisit the last 1/3 of the schedule from the the Beginner's Running Handbook later this summer, and maybe sign up for a 10k race in the early fall *gulp*.

New Experience of the Week: Running around Arthur's Seat

2008-01-12T16:23:00.000Z

Today I participated in the BUPA Great Winter Run, a 5K race around Arthur's Seat (more pictures here) in Holyrood Park here in Edinburgh.

The race started at 11:30, and late arriver that I am, I reached the place where they were lining up (on the north side of Holyrood park near the Scotish Parliament building) with maybe 5 minutes to spare. This was not how I planned it, of course, but it worked out because I had just enough time to stretch a bit and take a couple pictures before we were off.

The racers were divided into three groups (based on estimated 5K race times), and each group was started with a separate pistol shot, with a minute or so wait in between. I placed myself at the back of the last group, which it turns out was a good place for me to be. The folks around me seemed to be going about the same pace, and during the race they walked about the same amount too.

It was a beautiful, beautiful day! Unfortunately, about half the race was uphill. If I did this right, this link from Gmaps Pedometer should have pictures with the race course and elevation. I ran the first kilometer or so until the elevation started going up, and after that it was lots of walking with spurts of running here and there. I continued with the walking/running until maybe the 3 1/2 kilometer mark, after which I was able to run the rest of the way to the finish line. Yep, that last kilometer and a half were all downhill. :+)
(This picture is looking back toward the finish line.)

After crossing the finish line, I turned in my timing chip and collected my loot! Did you know that they actually reward you sometimes for doing this running thing?

I now have a nice, new long-sleeved T-shirt, my own personal thermal space blanket (silver square thing on the right), a sampler of muscle rub (yellow rectangular thing upper left), an energy bar, a bottle of sports drink, some cheddar cheese flavoured pretzels (less than 10% fat! (and they tasted like it too)), and my favorite thing, a medal! I honestly don't think I've ever received a medal for anything before. The other side of the medal says "Participate - Enjoy - Succeed". I think that's a good philosophy to have.

One highlight of the race was that they had bag pipers playing at the start and at every kilometer marker throughout the race course. How cool is that! Not something you're going to find at most races, I expect. I really regret that I didn't stop to take a quick picture.

I was planning to take more pictures after the race. At the very least, I wanted to get a picture of me all sweaty and triumphant at the end, but the batteries of my camera chose that moment to die. Darn.

I don't know what my actual race time was. The clock at the finish line said something like 45 minutes, but my actual time was probably a minute or two less with the staggered start. At some point, I think official pictures and race times will go up on the race web site, and I'll update this post when those results are in.

I decided to enter the Great Winter Run back in November, after I started running as my part of Team CB. And when I was out there today, that's what I told myself, "I'm running here for Team CB!" Thank you CherryBombs for all your encouragement and support! I could tell you were all there in spirit cheering me on!

Addendum: The site for the race says that my time was 39:15. Under 40 minutes! No way!!

Running Update

2008-01-06T22:55:00.000Z

While I was away over the holidays, I'm happy to report that I upheld my running end of Team CB. (The healthy eating end, not so much.) I think I ran a total of 5 times, and I have the shiny, pretty stars on my wall chart check list to prove it. Some of this includes going to the gym with my dad to run on the treadmill, but I also ran most of the way around the block where my parents live. These are country roads, so around the block actually adds up to over 5 miles! I'm talking intervals of running/walking. I'm no where near to the point where I could run all of it without walking breaks.
Of course then I got back home on New Years Day and promptly did no running until Friday, when out of desparation I joined a gym. Because I am whimpy about running in yucky weather. We got snow here in Edinburgh! What's with that?

The reason I was feeling kind of desparate was because one of the things that came in the mail while I was gone was this:

It's my entry number, timing chip, and race-day information for the BUPA Great Winter Run. I look at this and I wonder what I was thinking signing up for a 5K race! Yeah, yeah, if I'd actually stuck with my training schedule, I would be prepared, but all those weeks of only running twice instead of three times means just running for 10 minutes straight (the longest I've run without a walk break) is still quite the challenge.

So I'm trying to remind myself that just by running I win. Obviously, I'll be taking walk breaks. But, I still get nervous every time I think about it. What was I thinking!?!?

Weekly Running (and Dancing) Log

2007-12-08T14:21:00.000Z

I have to admit that I only went running twice this week. So why, you might ask, do I have three stars at the top of this post? Because last night was the annual Christmas Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee), and there was dancing! Specifically, Scottish country dancing with a live band that included a bag piper. Some men even wore kilts to the party! I danced maybe half the dances, but after each one, my heartrate was up, my face was red, and I was sweating. As this is what happens when I run, I figure it counts as a workout, albeit a very enjoyable one. So I say that I earned three stars this week!

Today was my second run of the week. I ran for intervals of 3 min running, 1 min walking, and I could definitely tell that I've been taking it easy over the past few weeks. I think I've lost just a bit of my cardio-vascular fitness gains. So I when I was running, it was verrrry sloooowly. Seriously, the swans were swimming faster than I was running. But I was running, and I felt pretty good when I finished. Next week I'm determined to get my three runs in.

As you may have guessed by my mention of the swans, today's run was down by the canal. There were three swans today. I actually saw one of them fly in. Have you ever seen a swan fly? They are BIG. There was also a new kind of duck (black and white). This is the second time I've seen this duck, so maybe it's going to stick around for a while. Tomorrow I'm going to try for a walk down by the canal with my camera, to see if I can get any pictures of our new wildlife.

And now, off to go Christmas shopping!

Weekly Running Log

2007-12-02T13:40:00.000Z

This was a so, so week as far as exercise and general self-care. For the third week in a row, I only got out running twice, my nutrition has been lacking, and I screwed up my sleep again midweek. Actually, derailing my sleep has a lot to do with everything else. I know why I stayed up late (ok, all night) reading, and a good book is only part of it, but knowing why is unfortunately a far cry from stopping that particular destructive habit.

So I'm struggling now to get back on track, to take control again. I've done it before, so I know that I can do it again. Going running yesterday helped. Cooking so I have nutritious food to eat for a couple lunches this week helped, and I will cook some more today. I'm trying to remind myself that last week was ok. I did go running twice, and I went to pilates class on Friday. I'm getting stronger. I resisted the lure of large bags of potato chips at the grocery store, and only secumbed to a small bag one day at lunch. Yes I ate a lot of chocolate, but at least it was dark chocolate. (Hmm, potato chips and chocolate. Can you say stress eating?)

And I really want to thank Christina, Mary, and CMS because without Team CB, I don't think even the minimal amount of exercise I managed this week would have happened. I know that thinking about you guys is the only thing that got me out the door last Sunday. So a great big ((HUG)) and thanks!

To and From: Saarbrucken

2007-11-23T11:14:00.001Z

This past week I traveled to Saarbrucken, Germany for a work meeting. It was a quick trip that basically went something like this:

Tuesday afternoon, get watch battery replaced so I at least have a chance at not missing my travel connections. Whew!

Tuesday evening, fly to Frankfurt. Rats. Where is the shuttle to the hotel? No shuttle. Fine. Take taxi to hotel. Yay! The taxi driver speaks English.

Sleep.

Wednesday(early) morning, take hotel shuttle back to airport. Run around airport, train station(s) and Sheraton airport hotel looking for a place to buy an electrical adapter. Eventually find one. Whew! Buy train ticket to Saarbrucken, and head to platform. Rats. What happened to my ticket from Mannheim to Saarbrucken? Oh no, did I drop it?!?! Go back up escalator to start retracing my steps. Oh wait. It’s stuck to the back of my ticket to Mannheim. Whew! Back down escalator. Agh! The train is leaving! Jump on train and collapse in relief that I didn’t miss it.

Arrive in Saarbrucken and take taxi to meeting location. Taxi driver is a nice older woman who doesn’t speak English, but very nicely put up with me anyway. Geez, I have become an annoying American who expects everyone to speak English.

Meeting….meeting…..meeting.

Wednesday evening, dine with group at nice restaurant. Parmesan creme brulee and big leafy green salad. Yum! Go to hotel and check in.

Sleep.

Thursday morning, RUN (literally and on purpose): about 25 minutes of running and walking along the Saar River. Yay! I get a star!

Meeting….meeting….meeting.

Bus to train station and train back to Frankfurt airport. Thank you Benedikt for help with the ticket machine! Go through the usual airport stuff, and reach gate, only to discover that there is no real food in Concourse C! Aaagghhh! I wanted a real meal with green vegetables for dinner! Whine, whine. Instead, my dinner consisted of: a giant cheesy bread blob from a tiny snack bar and chips from the vending machine, plus chocolate, nuts, and raisins from my emergency travel rations. Mmmm. Nutritious.

Thursday evening, fly back to Edinburgh and take taxi to flat.

Collapse.

Given that this was a work trip, there's not much that was even moderately interesting to share. But, I did take a few pictures that may qualify. There was this nifty shoe shining machine in both of the hotels that I stayed in, which makes me think they take their shoe shining seriously in Germany.

Also, in the building where the meeting was held, they had this artwork, which was kind of interesting, if a little creepy. I realize that because it's art you're not really supposed to sit in the chairs, but if you did, look where the guy in blue's hand would be. The lady looks like she's been duck taped to the chair. Where are her arms? And the guy in the green pants is sitting on top of the elevator, so you'd be able to see his legs hanging down when you go up or down. That would freak me out every day.

And really, since I decided against turning this post into a rant about concourse C at the airport, there's not much else to share. It was a fairly uneventful trip, which although boring to write about, is always a good thing.

Weekly Running Log

2007-11-17T09:22:00.001Z

This week was only a two-star week, meaning that I didn't meet my running goal of 3 runs. Bummer. I basically sabotaged myself by staying up way too late one night reading, which then threw the rest of the week off and sent me scrambling to play catch up with just about everything. It was a very good book, but I didn't need to read it all in one go. What are the odds that after 25 or so years of doing this that I will eventually break myself of this bad habit? I am a book addict in the worst way.

But I've gotten off topic. Even though I only ran twice this week, considering that it was in danger of becomming a one-run week, I'm not too unhappy with myself. Last night, I got myself home from work, threw on my running clothes and shoes, and got out there without thinking. Yay! And this next week is an Easy Recovery Week on my schedule, so maybe I'll be able to make up my lost run.

After I got back, I plotted the route I ran (not down by the canal, since it was dark) on Gmaps Pedometer, and it turns out that it was almost exactly 5 kilometers! So now, when I get to the point in a month or so where I can actually run-run (as opposed to run-walk) for a full 5 kilometers, I have a route that I can use to time myself. That's kind of fun.

Go Mary, Christina, and CMS! Go Team CB!

Scottish Moment

2007-11-15T11:42:00.000Z

Yesterday at work, I was going out the door while a delivery man was coming in. He very nicely held the door for me, saying something along the lines of "There you go, lass". He called me lass. It still makes me want to giggle.

Photo from www.white-works.com.

Slow Running

2007-11-10T18:16:00.000Z

I went for a run today. A very slow run. The clouds in the sky were low and threatening, and my legs just did not want to move. And then there was the wind. Today was not terribly windy by Edinburgh standards. That means it was pretty darn windy by my standards. I've decided that running into the wind, even at the very slow pace I was capable of today, is just not fun.

I basically had to trick my legs into running. After making my weekly trip to the grocery store, I talked my legs into a bit of stretching, now that they were warmed up from the walk to the store, and since it wasn't raining yet, wouldn't it be nice to go down and to the canal and see the ducks?

The canal was very busy today. I think it's the first time I've been down there on a Saturday. I passed kids playing soccer. I'm pretty sure they were running faster than me. But then, they're littler, which means they have less wind resistance. There were rowers out on the canal; crew teams from some school or club, I think. Their coaches road bikes along the path to keep up with teams and shout advice. And of course there were the usual ducks and dogs. I really need to figure out a way to take pictures while running, because there were some really good opportunities today. Like the little kid in a Superman costume. And the duck bottoms.

Even though my run this morning definitely falls under the not fun category, I'm glad I did it. Not because afterwards I felt amazingly great, which sometimes happens, but because of the sense of accomplishment of making yourself do something that you know you should do, but that you really don't want to do. Also, today's run marked the end of two weeks of sticking to my running plan. And I have the stars to prove it.

Hold onto Your Hats

2007-11-05T20:05:00.000Z

The title of this post could apply to how windy the days are getting. But really, it's the fireworks you need to watch out for this time of year. Today is Guy Fawkes Day. People have been setting off fireworks (and I'm not talking piddly little firecrackers) since before Halloween last week, but there has been a definite increase in the number of explosions to be heard after dark yesterday and today. I can hear fireworks being set off in at least three places nearby, including from the roof of the school right across the street! Yes, I said the roof of the school right across the street! I really wish they would stop, in part because I'm afraid those kids will injure themselves, but mostly because it's so darn loud and disturbing. Stupid Guy Fawkes.

Addendum: And then, walking into work, I see all the firework-setter-offers just left their fireworks trash, including the occasional beer can (!!!) in heaps all over the park. Grrrrr.

The Union Canal

2007-10-28T10:01:00.000Z

A couple weekends ago, I took myself for a walk along the Union Canal. I'd been told the canal was a nice place to walk, and it's only a short 5 minute walk away from my flat. Once I got there, I realized that I am a complete idiot. I could have been going for walks along here since I moved here, almost a year ago.

It was a beautiful day. Fall, my favorite time of year, was in full swing. Folks were out walking their dogs, running, and riding bikes. People smiled when you passed them. I passed a grandpa and grandkid feeding bread to some of the local wildlife. There are lots of ducks. I like ducks.

This morning I went for a run/walk down by the canal. Even though two weeks have passed, it's still beautiful with fall. After about 10 minutes, it started to feel like my soul had just released a long sigh and eased down into a comfy, soft sofa. That's really the only way I can think to describe it. I must, must, must make this part of my routine.

Below are a few more pictures that I particularly liked from my walk a couple weeks ago. The sweet kitty is one that I passed on the way home who let me pet her for a few minutes. Getting to scratch a cat behind his or her ears always makes my day.

The Braemar Gathering

2007-10-21T15:03:00.000+01:00

Back at the beginning of September, I went with some friends to The Braemar Gathering, a well-known Highland games that takes place every year in the town of Braemar in Aberdeenshire(about 2 1/2 hours north of Edinburgh). This was only my second excursion to parts of Scotland outside of Edinburgh since I moved here. Sad, I know. It was also my first time to ever experience a Highland games, and I was pretty excited. What exactly are Highland games? Kind of like a low-key track meet with foot races and heavy weight events, but also with pipers and dancers and kilts (oh my)!

We got off to a bit of a late start, but the drive up to Braemar was relaxing with pretty scenery and no unplanned detours (we saved those for the drive back). Oh the way, we passed the Forth Bridge, drove through Perth, and saw lots of sheep. The sheep were pretty cute, at least from a distance.

We arrived a little after noon. It was a bit drizzly to start out, but it later cleared up into a lovely day. This is the sign over the gate wishing us a hundred thousand welcomes in Gaelic.

If you actually want to know how to pronounce ceud mille failte (a hundred thousand welcomes), check out this web page.

By the time we arrived, there were already a lot of people there, and the numbers continued to grow throughout the afternoon. This is the best picture I could get of the field. It definitely would have been an advantage to be at least 5 inches taller. (Note to self, next time, splurge for seats in the stands.)

On the very left in the picture above is where they held the weight and hammer throwing events. In the middle is the stage where they held the dance competition. And what you can't see because it's blocked by the people standing in front of me, is the tug-of-war competition.

Definitely need to get a better view of the tug-of-war competition next time.

They also had foot races and caber tosses. For one of the races, they started out on the field and ran up this mountain.

I'm not kidding. See, in the picture on the right, they are running. Up the mountain. Even if I ever get to the point where I'm running regularly again, I don't see myself running up a mountain. Ever. Unfortunately, due to the my stature and the mobs of people, I wasn't able to get a picture of strong men in kilts tossing small telephone poles (i.e., cabers). Sigh. And I wasn't quick enough on the draw to get a picture of the men racing in kilts and ties. Sigh again.

Of course there were lots, and lots of pipers and drummers. Pipe and drum bands from the UK and around the world performed. It's not an exaggeration to say there was piping in the air.

Really, they were everywhere.

But by far one of the best part of the day at the Gathering was the men in kilts. :+) Men of all ages were wearing kilts, from stately older gentlemen to adorable little guys.

Unfortunately, they didn't always stand still long enough for me to get the best picture.

Shortly before we had to head back to our cars, we we lucky enough to be standing in just the right spot by the road to see the Queen when she arrived. Yes, the Queen. See, this is her car. No really, I swear, the Queen is in that car, in the back on the left. I waved to her. I just couldn't manage to take a picture of her.

Right before we left for the drive back to Edinburgh, I took one last picture. The Highlands are beautiful in a very rugged sort of way. I really need to make time to get back there.

Amazing Fireworks

2007-09-03T23:40:00.000+01:00

This weekend I finally got out of my apartment to see a bit of Scotland and experience the end of the Edinburgh International Festival. I'm still working on getting my pictures and thoughts organized from my excursion on Saturday (hint, it involved Men in Kilts and the Queen!), but I thought I'd go ahead and post my pictures from Sunday evening's entertainment.

A colleague at work was able to get extra tickets to the annual Fireworks Concert that is the finale to the Edinburgh International Festival. And I owe her many, many thanks for inviting me. It was amazing! And wonderful! And, and, and... Ok, you probably get the idea. We were treated to a concert played by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. The music was punctuated by the fireworks display, the likes of which I haven't seen since I can't even remember.

The concert started with the Overture to Candide by Bernstein, one of my favorites and so fun and challenging to play. We also got to hear some Gershwin and Copeland and a few others. The evening ended with Sousa's The Liberty Bell march. For some, this march brings to mind Monty Python's Flying Circus. The Liberty Bell was the theme music for that program. For me, it conjures up memories of endless measures playing off beats, the part assigned to French horn players 99.99999% of the time in marches. Argh. I will say, though, that marches do go very well with fireworks.

The fireworks were set off from Edinburgh Castle, and we watched from down below in the Princess Street Gardens. It's impossible to really get across just with words and pictures what last night's fireworks concert was like. I hope that the pictures below will at least give you a small taste.

Vocabulary Update

2007-08-26T10:56:00.000+01:00

Being an American living over here in Scotland, I occasionally encounter new words, or new meanings for words. For example, when I first moved here, one of the first unusual-to-me word uses that threw me was for the word salad. I went to a sandwich shop for lunch and after ordering my typical sandwich fillings of tuna and cheddar, I was asked if I wanted salad on my sandwich.

My response: "Ummm."

The word salad here has evolved to also mean "lettuce, tomato, and cucumber, and possibly other veggies one might put on a sandwich."

This past week, I picked up a new word. Ironically, it was used by a fellow American who has just lived here for a long time. It always surprises me to hear her use British words or speak the occasional word with a British accent, because otherwise, her accent is very American.

New word: stroppy

It is an adjective used to describe a person who is easily offended or annoyed, bad-tempered or hostile. There is a theory that it might originate somehow from the word obstreperous.

So, know anyone who is stroppy?

Oh, and if you are interested in learning to speak with a British accent, this was one of adds Google listed when I was looking things up on dictionary.com.

http://www.speakmoreclearly.com/downloadbritishaccent

Wow, get a British accent in just 15 minutes a day! Think I should I go for it?