Number 2: Restart my running habit

I know you guys saw that photo and are wondering why I don't have people knocking down my door with fitness model job offers. I am, too. I mean, who doesn’t see legs that pasty and running form that amazing and feel instantly inspired to jump off the couch and work out? ;) (photo from The Squirrel Run earlier this month, stolen shamelessly from here. If you really want to, you can see photos from the Run to Remember here - including a video of me crossing the finish line while clapping for the first place male half marathon finisher who crossed the finish line at the same time)

Seriously though – the running thing. I’m running two or three days a week again, most often with our running club. I’ve also run two five-mile races in the last month, have another coming up at the end of the month, and am registered for a handful to keep me busy through October. Why yes, I do have an Excel spreadsheet that I use to keep track of races I’m thinking about/registered for! What can I say? I am my father’s daughter.

I'm as slow as always (I'm basically the caboose on our group runs - always bringing up the rear), but I'm out there and I feel good! Hopefully I can keep it up through the brunt of the summer heat!

Right Field Roof

Pete was given tickets to Sunday's Red Sox game by one of his coworkers, and we lucked out with perfect weather. The "seats" were actually for standing room up on the right field roof, which is one of the few sections of the park that we haven't been in before. I wasn't sure that I would like standing for an entire game, but I would do it again! It's much more comfortable up on the roof - you're not packed into the small seats and there's a constant breeze and plenty of room to move around. We were there early enough to snag a pretty sweet spot right along the small counter at the front of the space (overlooking the right field roof tables, which would also be awesome but are three times the cost), so we had somewhere to lean on and set our drinks. Maybe the best part of the right field roof is that the bathrooms are restricted so that only folks with the right field roof tickets can use them - there were never more than two women in line the entire game!

Castle Island

Remember when I put "buy a bike and ride it" on a zillion of my seasonal to do lists before I actually did it? I've been making up for lost time and riding the heck out of that bike lately...even though the front gear doesn't shift properly so going uphill is significantly less than enjoyable.

I knew I wanted to go on a longer bike ride today, and I prefer to ride on some kind of scenic bike path whenever possible, so I mapped out a few options before I left the house. Because I'm crazy, I chose the longest loop. Eighteen miles, from Quincy along Dorchester Bay and then Boston Harbor to Castle Island, and then home again. I brought my T Pass with me because if it all proved to be too much, I could bail around mile 11 and hop on the T to get home.

And yet I knew when I left the house that I wouldn't do that, that I would be too happy riding my bike to "cheat" and take the T part of the way home, no matter how tired I was. And I was tired! I stopped halfway to wait in the looooooong line at Sullivan's and get a frozen yogurt (you need to fuel for a ride that long!) and I climbed up the hill and found a patch of sunny grass and enjoyed the view while I finished my yogurt. I had plenty of water with me, and even with a headwind all along the beach in South Boston, I wasn't ready to stop riding when I got to the peninsula with the JFK Library and UMass Boston...so I just kept riding. My quads were killing me, my butt was sore, and there was no way I was getting off my bike yet. I took another short break around 15.5 miles, once I got back to our old stomping grounds at JPII Park, then made my way home.

And collapsed from exhaustion.

Challenge

While I was at Club MGH last month, my hematologist wasn't convinced that I really am responsive to DDAVP - the drug used to help control my bleeding when I have "a bleeding incident" due to my von Willebrands. The result is that I got to spend six hours this morning back at Club MGH (again with a great view!) doing a DDAVP Challenge. This is how it works:

8am: show up at Pediatric Infusion Office, confused about why I'm being sent to Pediatrics. (I may act five years old, but I'm not.) Realize that the scheduler in my hemo's office sent me to the wrong place, go down the hall to the Big People Infusion Office and check in.
9am: Nurse shows me to my chair, home for the next half day, and comments on what a great view I have.
9:15am: Lots and lots of blood is drawn. Some to establish baselines for the DDAVP challenge, some to test (for the second time) that I really do have Type 2B vWD, because when they ran the test the first time my proteins were doing crazy things that could mean I don't have vWD but instead have some other very very rare blood disorder.
9:25(ish)am: Nurse starts the drip of DDAVP, then leaves to hand deliver all the blood she stole from me to the lab.
9:30am: Face is on fire. I can feel my pulse pounding as if it's out of control. My lips and mouth are super tingly. I'm seeing lots of stars. This is 100% normal for a DDAVP drip, but knowing that and having been through it before doesn't make it feel any less bizarre.
9:46am: DDAVP drip is complete. T-minus one hour until next blood draw!
10:46am: Time for the next blood draw to see if the DDAVP is doing anything. Much reading has been done, as has much lamenting of the fact that I didn't know I would have a personal TV and DVD player, so I should have gone to Red Box. The lamenting is exaggerated by the fact that the woman across from me has a friend with her, who was smart and brought The Hangover II, so I have to listen to them breaking into hysterics every two minutes.
11:45(ish)am: The super sweet and awesome volunteers come around with lunch. Turkey sandwich, fruit cup, and water. Not the tastiest lunch ever, but I didn't even expect to be fed, so I was pretty happy. Reading is getting old, so it's time to take advantage of this personal TV.
12:00pm: You know what stinks? Day time TV. Even when you have cable channels available to you.
1:46pm: Final blood draw! Woohooo! This one tells them if the DDAVP has moved out of my system too quickly, I think. Lucky for me, all of my blood draws today were through the extra fancy IV, so I get to leave with only one hole and not a single "Oops! I missed the vein!" bruise.
2:00pm: Adios, Club MGH! Time for a (chilly, but sunny) walk down Charles Street on my way home.

My nurse was awesome! She knew more about vWD than some medical professionals I've dealt with in the past (*cough*DrEricfromtheERinBaltimore*cough*), and had administered DDAVP challenges before so was super sweet, making sure I knew about and felt okay when I started feeling flush and tingly. The volunteers that came around with snacks and lunch were also awesome, as was the random gentleman that was there with his wife while she was getting an infusion, who would check with me to see if I wanted anything every time he passed by to get his wife a snack or drink. (I know he has no affiliation with the hospital, but he made me smile so I thought I should mention him, too.)

I can't say enough how great everyone I've dealt with at MGH in the last few months has been. I feel like you go into any kind of hospital visit or extended dealing with the hospital and expect it to be a complete mess, but even with the few hiccups I've had since I was admitted in February, it's been super easy and almost pleasant to go to all of the appointments I've had!

Crafty

I really really wanted to finish a hat that I had started a few weeks ago, but after working on it for about thirty-five minutes I got frustrated and frogged it. :( I'm seriously lacking in crochet inspiration/productivity for the last year or so.

Number 4: (day twenty-one) Dose

I'm not entirely sure I should still be referring to these photos as part of number four on my list...I was uninspired by a few of the prompts, took only out of focus photos for a day or two (I'll blame it on the camera - I desperately need to take it in to have the sensor cleaned - but in reality I'm sure I'm as much to blame), and then was way-laid by some medical problems for a few days so the last two days were shots from my phone....and this one definitely has nothing to do with the daily prompts! I'll keep picking up the camera for the rest of the month, and maybe I'll try again to actually get a full month of photos in the spring.

This is the dose of meds I'm taking every six hours for the next three days. The little one is for nausea, because the eight big ones are for bleeding and have historically made me sick to my stomach. Luckily, that little one is holding it's own...small but mighty!

Referring to medical problems and showing you photos of this many pills make it seem much more serious than it was (and is), but it turns out I had some polyps on my colon that needed removing. Unfortunately, the way you find out you have polyps on your colon is via hemorrhaging in your GI tract...and I have a bleeding disorder, so I bleed about three times more than the average person. Something that for normal folks is nothing but a doctors appointment and a follow-up out patient procedure was three and a half days in the hospital for me, hooked up to a heart monitor and with no fewer than four blood draws each day so that they could monitor my blood levels. You don't mess with bleeding when someone has a blood disorder, so there is a lot of overly cautious medicating and checking and monitoring. Fun times! I honestly have very little to complain about - I have great friends and family who kept me well cared for and entertained (even from afar!), and I had amazing care from all of the nurses and doctors that I dealt with. I couldn't have been happier with every single person I dealt with through the entire weekend.

Number 4: (day eight) Hands

Entirely uninspired...my hands, working away. Pale and almost scaly - someone needs to start keeping hand lotion in the office so it's handy.

Thank you, I'm here all week folks!

But seriously - here's another one from today that has nothing to do with today's prompt, but is way cuter.

Number 4: (day five) 10am / Words

Me and Champ, snuggling and reading (The Golden Compass) in bed. That's where I was at 10am, where were you?

Number 4: (day three) Passion

Barley is seriously passionate about getting his snuggles. He follows me around the house when I get home from work, sometimes weaving in between my legs, until I finally sit down, and then he is instantly in my lap. And usually headbutting me until I pet him, too.

Of course, not long after this I was petting him after he was (apparently) done with that, and he tried to bite me.

Number 4: (the start) Take One Photo A Day

I've seen two different sets of prompts for a February Photo A Day - here and here. A nice coincidence when taking one photo every day for a month is on my winter to do list! I put both prompts on my calendar for each day this month so that I'm not 100% responsible for coming up with a photo idea by myself each day. This should be fun.

Today I went with prompt number two - you. Soooo....this is me. At work. On a call* (can you spot my headset?). Do you ever see a picture of yourself and think "Oh! That's what I look like?!" That's what happened when I looked at this one. I'm not sure what it is, but even after spending a few minutes editing the photo and uploading it and then putting it here, I still feel a little surprised every time I look at it.

A few other quick tidbits:
- Another woman that sits on my floor was wearing this same sweater today. We ran into each other twice, even though we usually only run into each other twice a week...probably because our sweaters recognized each other as kinfolk and wanted to say hello.
- I'm growing my hair out a bit and because I'm in between cuts it looks much better wavy or curly than it does straight, which is how I've been wearing it most of the time lately. Today I used a product that's meant to "enhance" curls, and apparently it works because I got at least half a dozen compliments on my curls. I guess people prefer curly hair!
- I have spent the last 4 years working on very virtual teams. Until six months ago, my manager and I were the only two people on our team that are located in Boston. I spend a lot of time on calls and I rarely ever meet the people I work closely with face to face. I was super excited today to find out that a woman who I worked very closely with for a year and a half is in Boston for the next week and a half, and we went out for dinner tonight. I can't tell you how awesome it is to finally get to put a face with a name and a voice and a personality! It's always weird to explain to people that I have never met 90% of the people I've worked with for the last six years.
- I'm kind of excited for this photo a day...I hope that feeling lasts!


* I swear I was paying attention, you can totally prop your camera up on a stack of books and take self-timer shots and still be hearing everything discussed on the call.

Boots

It is near impossible for me to find boots that fit over my calves (yes, I know all about "wide calf width" boots - they don't fit my calves either), but in the past few years I've found a couple of pairs at Target that do. Why is it so difficult? I know a million other women with this same problem, yet there doesn't seem to be an easy/inexpensive solution.

Santa can you hear me?

I have been so good this year!

I dragged a coworker up to Downtown Crossing at lunch so he could take a picture of me with Santa. I meant to print this and frame it to give to Pete for Christmas but never got around to that, so maybe I'll have to do it again next year. ;)

Number Two: Run a 10k

Is this picture like Where's Waldo? That's me in the I heart Sweat t-shirt, in case you couldn't tell. Pictures of people running aren't very flattering - I look even goofier in the official "finish line" photo than I do in this one that Pete took.

So back in August I registered for the Boston Firefighters 10k, which is organized by the Local 718 IAFF, whose union hall is located just off the bike path that we used to run along back when we lived in Dorchester (and which I miss, A LOT). I wasn't expecting to set any records and I've never raced this distance before, but I figured it was something to work towards. Something that would keep me running consistently and would push me beyond the mileage I was used to. Well, it worked! :) I ended up keeping my usual week-day running schedule and adding in a longer run than I was used to on the weekends. I even managed to stick with my training schedule for the most part, which surprised even me! I felt better on my longer runs than I anticipated, and I even convinced Pete to join me on my first six mile run - a distance record for him, too. Unfortunately, that's where he capped out. When it came time for my seven miler, he ran the first three-ish miles with me and then turned back home while I kept going. Slacker!

As for the actual race, Pete played the part of sherpa for the day and carried a bag so I didn't have to worry about what to do with my warmer layers from before we started or about carrying anything with me while I ran. Thanks, Pete! The weather was pretty perfect - low 60's and sunny, although the wind could have been a bit less...windy and it would have been okay. The course was pretty scenic - following Gallivan/203 to Morrissey Boulevard, looping around UMass Boston, and then returning along Morrissey Boulevard and Gallivan/203. Nothing fancy, but nice views of Dorchester Bay for most of it (and there were a lot of flashbacks to my 3 Day training walks, as well!). I think there were around 1,200 runners total which meant the course wasn't very crowded except for the first few minutes after the gun went off and that was really nice. The start was a free-for-all - no corrals or signs to line folks up by pace - and it turns out that I'm not even remotely good at guessing people's pace by sight, haha! I figured I would try to line myself up to start near some folks that looked about my pace...and I failed miserably. :) In the end, I passed plenty of people and plenty of people passed me, and I finished close to my goal pace. Which is far more than I can ask for when I spent most of the previous day nursing a migraine and alternating between sleeping and nauseous instead of hydrating and relaxing.

I guess the long and short of it is that it was a fun day, I did what I wanted to do running-wise, and I'm looking forward to running this race again next year!

Sweet Sixteen

I had my Sweet Sixteen (x2) party tonight, complete with lots of pink and a ridiculous, sparkly tiara, haha! I got a bunch of scratch tickets as a gift and it was a lot of fun scratching them all...and I won $17 total, woohoo! Mama's gonna buy herself some shoes....or maybe just a nice bottle of wine. ;)

Numbers Six & Seven

Thanks to some motivation, football avoidance, and coming across a tasty looking recipe earlier this week, I managed to make some progress on two of my Fall To Do List items. The Crockpot BBQ Chicken smelled so good while it was cooking that Pete and I were both dying to dig in. College football on TV yesterday meant that I got comfy on the couch in the office, catching up on my TV shows and crocheting the evening away. I finally finished a hat that I started in March of 2009 after I made a hat of the same pattern (in purple, of course) for Emily for her birthday...and then I left it, 80% done, until last weekend when I finally picked it up, frogged it, and started over again!

Not that I ever will the winter to come sooner, but I almost wish it weren't so unseasonably warm and I could wear this soon...instead, I'll happily don shorts and flip flops and wait a few months until the weather warrants a super soft, super warm baby alpaca hat!

10 on Tuesday

1. You guys! 10 on Tuesday! Because it's actually Tuesday when I remember to do it, I actually have a picture to post, and I think I have 10 things to say.
2. I have a backlog of photos to edit and post. Those will hopefully be coming soon to a computer screen near you!
3. The long weekend was great...but not long enough! It ended up being a bit busier than I expected. While everything we did was a lot of fun, I kind of wish I had spent more time in pajamas being lazy.
4. It was especially hard getting out of bed this morning when I woke up to drizzle and grey skies. Is it possible to have a bed that is too comfortable? I may have made our bed too comfortable - it's so hard to drag myself out of it on mornings like today!
5. I spent a some a lot time over the last week or so watching Drop Dead Diva. I'm kind of in love with it, and I'm almost caught up to current (just in time for the season to end on the 18th, of course). Am I the only person on earth that watches (and loves) that show? I might be. They don't break out into song and dance as much as they used to, and I miss that. Bring back Judge Paula Abdul!
6. I went running today after work. I hurt a lot. I was soaked by the time I got home (the picture barely does it justice). BUT I DID IT, and that's what matters. Does dragging my butt out to run four miles in the cold rain when there's a warm cat snuggling on my lap and I'm already broken from yesterday's dodgeball game mean that I'm really a runner?
7. You know what would make running hurt a lot less these days? If I were better about doing yoga! I need another 2-3 hours in each day. If someone could get on that, I would totally appreciate it. Sacrificing sleep is not an option - no one wants to see what would happen if I started sleeping less! I may need to compromise and hop on the foam roller bandwagon.
8. Bossman was on vacation in France last week, and he brought me back tasty chocolates. That I don't need, because after the last few weeks what I need is probably detox. Between trips and visitors and weddings, I have consumed far more (tasty) food and (delicious) adult beverages than I should have. It was a lot of fun, but when I'm starting to crave salads daily you know my body needs a break from the indulging.
9. Who am I? First the running in the rain when I really don't want to and now the needing a break from indulging!?! Could someone find the real me and bring me back to....me?
10. I know a lot of people are talking about the end of the summer, but I'm not letting go just yet! It's not officially over for another two and a half weeks, and despite the forecast for the next few days, I think we still have some warm, sunny days ahead of us. Hold onto it, folks, we will all be bitching about the snow and the cold soon enough, let's not rush summer out the door so soon!

Molly, Burgers, and Baseball

How cute is Molly? She was pretty excited about this awesome "retro" "vintage" "other trendy word that means old" phone toy. Molly has never laid eyes on a phone shaped like this - either the base or the handset - but she immediately knew it was a phone and how to hold it to her ear. How do kids know stuff like that?! This boggled our minds.

Pete and I flew to DC to celebrate visit Becky, Pat, and Molly (and celebrate Pete and Pat's birthday a few days early!) as well as to celebrate Adele's first birthday with her, meet our newest niece Jackie, visit the rest of the fam, and have photos shot as a 40th anniversary gift for my parents. Definitely not too much to cram into one weekend!

But let's start at the beginning, which is visiting Becky, Pat, and Molly. I have this super awesome special talent that not many people know about it. I can book a trip to DC, call Pat or Becky to tell them I'm coming and see if they are around, and without fail one or more of their relatives will also be visiting DC that weekend. Apparently I have a strong connection with their families and need to see them constantly, so the universe sends us to visit DC at the same time. Now I don't even wait for them to tell me that some family member will be in town, I just ask who it is that I also get to catch up with. Unfortunately this time, our timing wasn't quite as perfect as usual and I missed catching up with one of Pat's sisters and her adorable family by hours.

I digress. We spent our Friday hanging out in PJs, chatting and playing with Molly, and then walking over to Barracks Row to get lunch at Ted's Bulletin. I spied a family opening a pastry box on the sidewalk out  front and then pulling out giant, homemade pop tarts...not appealing to me, but pretty sure it's a sign that the place is going to be fun! Next clue: awesomely attired bartender. Followed by some really good looking art deco hanging lamps and decor. I'm pretty sure that the further I walked into the restaurant, the more I fell in love. L O V E.

The menu didn't hurt, either. I've been hankering for a good cheeseburger with an egg on top ever since I passed up the opportunity a few weeks back at a friend's birthday party, and guess what Ted's had on the menu? Yeah, a burger with an egg on top. Yes, please! I don't think I've made a menu-related decision that easily in months. The egg didn't have as runny a yolk as I would have liked, but it was still a very tasty burger that I'm sure I'll eat again. What can I say? When I find something I like, I stick with it. My next visit is going to include one of the adult milkshakes that I didn't try this time, too.

After lunch it was nap time for Molly and me, and then we were off to see the Nationals/Phillies game...where they played two outs of baseball and then ended up in a two hour rain delay before we even made it to our seats. Seriously, why play those two outs? Couldn't they have announced a delayed start before we got to the stadium so that we could have stayed home and not paid $8/beverage for two hours?? Oh well...we managed to stay almost entirely dry...and maybe we had a little fun, too.

Number 3: Kayak on the Charles

It may have taken me a year to actually use the voucher I bought from Living Social, but I did it! And it was awesome.

We were on the Charles just west of the city, in Needham (and Newton and West Roxbury, I think?), and it was beautiful. I know that the river runs parallel to 95 for most of this stretch, but unless you stop and listen carefully to hear the sound of traffic you wouldn't know. It's kind of nice listening to just the sound of your paddles and the wind blowing through the trees.

I also managed to not get a sunburn, woohoo!

Number 9: 2011 Harborthon 5k

I have been running consistently lately, and it is in large part due to the folks in the photo below. I found a local running club on Meetup last fall, but it was mostly inactive. I emailed the organizer about allowing me to post some runs because, well, I was going to be running anyway, I might as well see if anyone wanted to go with me. There were about five of us who got together semi-regularly in the fall to run (or have drinks...kinda the same thing, right?), and a few who stuck it out during the cold and very, very snowy winter. Spring time came, and suddenly I was getting half a dozen emails each week from new folks asking to join our running club, The Quincy Running Dawgs.

Our numbers are growing slowly, and we now have about a dozen folks that run with us on a regular basis, a few of whom have quickly moved from running buddy to friend. I keep telling people that my favorite thing about my running peeps are that they meet me at my grossest - struggling through runs and sweating up a storm - and they like me anyway. They also seem to think I'm funny, which doesn't hurt! ;)

I have two friends (both runners, but not from the running club) who run the Harborthon 5k on Long Island together each summer (I say that like this year wasn't only the 3rd annual race...it's a new tradition, but it's a tradition all the same), and they convinced me to sign up this year. Then, of course, I posted it on the calendar for the Running Dawgs and convinced some of my running peeps to do it, too! Come on - great race location followed by free b.good burgers, free Sam Adams, and an 80's tribute band? If that's not the perfect recipe for a super fun race night, I don't know what is!  Bonus: this also checks off number 9 on my Summer To Do List - visit a new-to-me Boston Harbor Island (even if I didn't realize that until three and a half days after the fact). Double bonus: it's an island that isn't regularly open to the public!

The Harborthon was Matt (in yellow) and Carla's (in white) first race ever, and they both kicked butt, despite a nagging injury of Matt's. Post race, we had an awesome time watching the sunset, eating tasty food, and listening to awesome music. If only we didn't have to wait another year to do it all again!

Number 10: Ride Carousels, Part I

You know what isn't flattering? Photos taken of me riding a carousel.

Also, I need to give Pete a crash course on the point and shoot.

But who cares! I love carousels! Let the riding begin.