Mind Blown. (Non-running related).

So, last night I stayed over at The KoB's house because he had graciously helped me get my car fixed by his trustworthy mechanic.

After I made dinner and cleaned up after (as a thank you), we settled in to watch some television and relax. The past couple of nights we have actually been watching a DVD about how to rebuild an engine. AND SURPRISINGLY, it doesn't suck. (Normally, he offers up Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal straight to dvd movies, so, I'll take a dry instructional video over that bullshit any day). It was actually pretty easy to turn it into a drinking game, because of the host's heavy usage of the word "persuasion."

Use it in a sentence:

"If the bolt doesn't come out of the crankshaft easily, sometimes you just have to use a little persuasion to get it out."

DRINK!

And apparently, there are LOTS of things that require some persuasion to get them off an old engine.

The set up.

His television is in his "gym."

Please note his "entertainment center."

Also please note my "Tammi Taylor" glass of wine

(that was almost empty!).

Leo was not impressed.

Seriously guys.

Anyway, so, we are watching television and all the sudden I see a mosquito on the wall. I say something about the mosquito and The KoB says.... "that's not a mosquito."

"Sure it is."

"Nope. I don't know what it is, but it's not a mosquito."

I thought he was kidding with me, but I looked it up and he was right. MY ENTIRE LIFE, I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT THESE WERE MOSQUITOES.  I never knew that mosquitoes were actually quite small and dark.

Are you kidding me?

I have avoided these things like the plague my whole life.

These are apparently Crane Flies.

I am still baffled at how I could have been wrong about something like this for 35 years. I blame my parents. Anyway, it's just so weird to think one thing all your life and then find out, that nope...you're wrong.

What else am I completely wrong about?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

The River Liffey in the background, there.

St. Patrick's Day has always been my favorite holiday. I'm not sure how it started exactly, but I can distinctly remember being in middle school and being thrilled about the day. The color green, the celebration of a holiday that isn't marred by consumerism (well... beer... maybe), the time of year with spring just ahead, a holiday celebrating the extinction of snakes (screw the allegory. I hate snakes), it's just a fun day, ya know?

Enjoying a pint at Sky Bar at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.

This is after 10 days of cheese sandwiches and dark beer for every meal.
So, basically 10 days of heaven.

And once I did research into my family and found out that my ancestors (originally hailing from Scotland) fled to Ireland and lived there for a generation before coming to the US my love of St. Patrick's day became a little more personal.One of the coolest things I've ever experienced in my life was seeing and touching the remains of the linen mill that my direct descendant built in the late 1600s.

 What's left of my family's mill in Northern Ireland.

My dad. Trespassing.

Not really, we had permission from the owners.

Total cheeseball picture, but this is me touching the mill.

The feeling that I got from being there was incredible. And my god, was the landscape beautiful. Honestly, it reminded me a lot of the land where my family eventually ended up in Tennessee.

Idyllic much?

Anyway, St. Patrick's Day is a big day for me. I always have a St. Patrick's Day Party and I always wear green and now, I always think back to my ancestors and how hundreds of years ago they were able to escape a terrible massacre and live in Ireland (after changing their name), build a mill that is still partially standing, and then eventually make their way to the US. What a life. All I've done is sit in a cube and crunch numbers all day and write a dumb blog with animal gifs. 

 

I also think about how grateful I am to my parents for taking my family on an amazing trip to actually see where our family existed hundreds of years ago. It was something that I will never forget and while I hope to make it back there again, experiencing that with my parents and brothers is something that will stay with me forever. 

/humblebrag.

Really, I just love Irish Car Bombs. 

 From 2009 St. Pat's Day Party.

Damn, I really need to start taking more photos

from my parties.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 Mr. Leopold Bloom in a shamrock scarf last St. Pat's Day.

His namesake is Irish.

The Business of Blogging

Or... alternate title... My non-business of blogging.

Over the weekend I received an email from another running blogger. First, let me say that I LOVE getting emails from bloggers, readers, etc. I average about .0003 of such emails a month, so, when I get one, I get very, very excited!

Re-enactment.

I opened the email and read it. The emailer said they liked my blog (obvi) and then briefly described their blog and asked if I would check it out and if I liked it, if I would post a link to their blog on my blog. Blog blog blog.

Uh. What? First of all, my blog seriously has about 10 regular readers. Of those readers, 1 is my boyfriend, and there are like 7 others who are friends of mine in real life. My mom doesn't even regularly read my blog anymore. Trust me, by having a link to your blog on my blog, you are not going to get anymore traffic. Furthermore, the people's blogs who I do link, are friends of mine or awesome runners that I am jealous of. (And in most cases, both. I'm still waiting for the Best Friend invite from Kris Lawrence).

Anyway, the email just kind of set me off. I realize that this probably happens a lot in that whole "blogging business world" (Whatever the fuck that is). But, clearly, this grammar butchered, mostly written in passive tense, gif-riddled blog is not a "business blog." THANK GOD. And I honestly don't care who links to my blog or reads my blog, or whatever.

Which got me thinking... why do I waste time on this blog then?

1. Well, of course, a big part is flat out narcissism. I like me. I like writing about me and I hope you like me and like reading about me!

2. It's like a dumb diary/detailed training log. 

3. It gives me a reason to collect gifs and share them with my friends. (This is actually moving up to #1).

4. As embarrassing as it is to admit... I actually enjoy writing and because I can't finish half of the bazillion short stories I've started, this gives me a chance to practice "writing" and finding my voice and all that writing bullshit.

Do I want this blog to turn into my full time job? HELL TO THE NO. I enjoy working and I enjoy being able to write whatever the hell I want, when I want. I do not envy full-time bloggers at all.

Do I want this blog to get me a book deal? HAHAHAHAHAHAH. About what? gifs? about being a mediocre runner? Uh. No thanks. A book of my shitty college poetry? or a book of incomplete short stories? Still, no.

Do I want this blog to get me free shit? What? Like janky protein powder, stupid race themed jewelry, or a vitamix? No thanks. Full disclosure: I did once receive a case of Pom juice in the mail. And then I drank them and didn't blog about it.

I don't mean to pick on this person who emailed me. They may have an absolutely amazing blog and they could have very pure intentions of just trying to meet/find other like-minded bloggers. But, I haven't checked out their blog and I probably won't because it just feels so... icky.

File this under: A regular Tuesday night

between me and The KoB.

So, I don't know. I'm not even sure why I wrote this post. I guess to remind myself why I enjoy blogging. Sure, I love meeting other runners and bloggers. But, I have no interest at all in doing it for "networking" purposes.

/rant.

Recovery Weekend

Technically, last week, I was recovering from the Ann Arbor Marathon. So... I ran 9 miles total. Wahoo.

I'm happy to report that after about 6 weeks of basically not giving two shits about running, I am now quite excited about getting into a new training cycle and cranking out some workouts. I am sure all this excitement will go straight out the window as soon as I realize it's SUMMER, goddamitt.

Anyway... here's how I spent my last weekend before getting back into training.

I consumed about a bazillion calories in one slice of my

brother's birthday cake. COCONUT Cake. Mmmmm.

Plus it was a professionally decorated cake

with a golf motif. FANCY.

Then I spent some time trying to convince my dog that he can swim.

He preferred just sitting in the water, though.

There was some fishing...with no results.

Leo caught a bit of sand.

And on the way home we spotted an Eagle's Nest!

Memorial Day Weekend

First things first.... this is a running blog, so I will report on running. Sunday I ran the 11.2 for my long run. It started off feeling really easy and good and ended feeling a little tough, but we managed to keep a fairly honest pace and I was happy with our end time of 1:45. Boom.

Overall, I'm more interested in running now. I've been tweaking my fall racing schedule and thinking about what I really want to do and what I really should do. It's hard. There are so many races I want to run and so many places I want to go to race them. But, I also want to really improve and unfortunately I can't have it all. As of right now, I think I'm going to run a marathon in September instead of race it and then plan on racing in December. Yes, it sounds dumb when it's in writing (and when I say it... ugh). Running marathons all the time is not really conducive to running a spectacular goal marathon. But, when you have as many fucked up marathons as I do... it's kind of hard to give up blocks of time to focus on ONE race. (because, inevitably that race goes down the shitter anyway, literally). But, methinks that's exactly what I'm going to have to do in 2014. I am officially putting a website block on Marathonguide.com.

What does this mean for my training? I have no idea at this point. Stay tuned.

ON TO MORE FUN THINGS... I had a great memorial day weekend and actually decided to take some pics!

First up, there was the event with my dad's other woman on Saturday:

Sara Ruth and the family.

Sara Ruth only competes a couple times a year

and I was happy to go and support her on Saturday.

(Sara Ruth: 1956 4 door chevy hardtop).

After that it was time to head down to The KoB's river house where we christened the official 2013 beer of the river:

5.9% alcohol? Don't mind if I do.

Leo also took his first boat ride...

River Dog.

And a couple of fish were caught. (Not by me, all I caught were trees and the bottom of the river).

To be fair, the other fish was bigger,

but I didn't get a picture of it. 

 

There was an epic game of yahtzee.

 4 Total Yahtzees in one game! Whoa.

Plus, I finally won something. Boom!

And overall, it was a fantastic weekend. A word of warning though... Be careful with that Ice beer...

You might just find yourself wandering around

aimlessly in a field of honeysuckle.

Day 5- Taper Update

So, what have I been doing?

Well, I have ran a few times this week, including a nerve-wracking workout of a 6 mile tempo run. Just, ya know, to make me extra nervous about holding that pace for 26.2 miles. FUN.

I completely reorganized my closet. Moved a dresser into there, moved a bookshelf out. Switched out some shelves.

I have finished my kitchen painting project (with the exception of the touch-ups of my regular paint that I need to do):

Before: Beige HELL.

After: Less Beige.

Most important lesson I learned from that project: 

Yes, Amy. It is safe to get on top of your refrigerator.

(Important: Have your boyfriend do it first, though. Just in case.)

I have been shopping online, trying to figure out if I'm going to buy a new top for the marathon, or if I'm just going to wear something that I already have.

This jacket from Athleta is totes adorb.

(Ruffle along the zipper and all).

I got this half-zip top for Christmas. So, I might just wear it. 

Bitches like purple.

I have also been experimenting in the kitchen a bit. Last night I cooked seitan for the first time ever. And last week, I made the best meal:

 Faux CRAB CAKES!!!! OMFG!!!!

With tartar sauce!

Last month when we were in NYC, I dragged The KoB and our friends Jeff and Melissa to my favorite restaurant in NYC: Blossom. The thing is... the only meat I truly miss is seafood. So, when I saw Cape Cod Cakes as an appetizer on the menu, I ordered them. And holy shit, people... THEY WERE DELICIOUS. I was obsessed with finding a recipe and trying it at home and lo and behold I found a delicious recipe: 

Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes

Now, it wasn't EXACTLY like the Blossom Cape Cod Cakes, but it was still really awesome and also really easy to make and cheap. (I feel like anytime I find a new recipe to try, I end up spending $50 bucks on shit like arrowroot powder and vegan worchestershire sauce. It can get ridiculous). These cakes are going into rotation IMMEDIATELY.

I should probably make them again next week. Otherwise, with the taper crazies/stress/nervousness, this is likely to be me:

What's that? Now you're craving jalapeno poppers and pixie stix?
You're welcome.

What kinds of stuff do you during a taper? No, really. I need ideas, I've got another week of this shit to go.

A Letter

Dear Intervals,

Listen, I know I told you that I needed a break. Things between us started fast. Including that one week where things moved a little too fast. But we adjusted and settled into something serious. You were good for me.  I was always a little nervous the night before. But, it was the good kind of nervous, the butterflies in my stomach kind of nervous. You always got my heart pumping and got me all flushed and sweaty. And most importantly, you gave me the confidence I needed to get through weeks of training and then through race day. I owe a lot of my race success to you.

We had a good run, you and me.

And after the race, I felt like I needed some time. Some time apart from you. It only made sense, ya know? I was afraid of getting hurt. Your intensity is something that I can only handle once a week or so and after 18 weeks, my body needed a break. So, with a heavy heart, I decided it was best that we parted ways for a little while.

I was sad. I took it slow for a couple of weeks, filling my log with lots of easy miles to try and forget about you. I resisted the urge to sneak out and try to see you. But, then, last week, something amazing happened. After talking about you with my Coach, she gave me the go ahead to start seeing you again! Now, before you get too excited, we're going to have to scale the relationship back a bit. I'm training for a marathon now, so we're not going to be able to move as fast as we did before. But, I think we'll be able to meet up once a week for a good go at it.

Our first meet up back together this morning had me a little nervous. What if you were a bit scorned from the whole break-up thing? Would you be tough on me? Would things be weird? After about 100 meters in, I knew that things were going to be alright. I've missed you, Intervals.

What I want, you've got
And it might be hard to handle
But like the flame that burns the candle
The candle feeds the flame .

What I've got is full stock
of thoughts and dreams that scatter
You pull them all together
And how, I can't explain, oh yeah

But you make my dreams come true
Well well well you, you make my dreams come true

Hall and Oates.

See ya next week.

Love,

Amy

On Repeat

Per Coach's suggestions:

DUDE. Have you seen this video lately? CLASSIC. Wow.

The trashbag backdrop is amazing.



Go ahead... it will make you simultaneously vomit and cry.

And a couple of my favorites...

GO!

My personal all-time favorite. No doubt this will be

playing in my head tomorrow morning.

See ya on the otherside!

Athens, GA

So, this post has NOTHING to do with running. NOTHING. Absolutely zero. So, if you came here looking to see what race I've floundered in lately, or what crazy ass thing I've signed up for, or just to feel better about yourself and your training by comparing yourself to me... then... stay tuned for next week.

Last weekend was two very important things...
1. My best friend Jeff's 31st birthday (Friday).
2. University of South Carolina's SEC opener (Saturday).

Neither of these things I had ever witnessed personally. (Shitty friend? Shitty Fan? Indeed).

So, last Friday I found myself rolling into Athens, GA ready to celebrate Jeff's birthday and tailgate my ass off. In that order.

The crew all met up in downtown Athens for dinner. And then drinks.

I missed the... COME DECKED OUT IN CAROLINA GEAR memo.

I was the driver. So, I had 1 beer at dinner and then 1 beer afterwards... which meant I wasn't able to partake in my favorite shot...

Irish Car Bombs, bitches!

(Seriously, there had to be a memo... jesus).

After a couple of those and a couple of quickly pounded beers... Birthday Boy was having a grand ole time...

I don't think I'd ever seen him dance. Until then.

Despite our 20 minute drive back to the hotel and despite the fact that we wanted to be at the tailgate at 9am sharp the next morning... the night led us to another place to hook up with some other Carolina friends.

Yes, that's his suitcase he's carrying around and no, we don't know the people in the background laughing at him. Although, please note... they are Carolina fans and they got the memo.

After getting him sufficiently drunk, we made our way through the streets of Athens back to our car, where he yelled GO COCKS over and over and over so obnoxiously loud, that even I was ready for him to pass out in the car. Which, he did. But only after yelling GO COCKS out the window about 15 more times to any person (college student, homeless person, etc) he saw on the street.

The next morning we overslept, scrambled to get the car packed and pick up our tailgating food, but we finally got our spot all set up...

7 people, 2 tents, 3 coolers, 4 pounds of BBQ for 6 meat eaters, and 1 cornhole set. Ummm.. yeah, that's pretty standard.

Our set-up included the crown jewel of our tailgate, The CockMaster 3000:

No, not him. The FLAGPOLE.

The Cockmaster 3000 is kind of a big deal...

Beautiful, eh?

And, an engineering marvel. This is the base of the Cockmaster 3000.

Once everything was set up, it was time to get down to business...

But just as our business was under way... we were interrupted by a fight. Between an older female Carolina fan and a younger (drunker) UGA fan. This was a serious fight and our tailgate was right in between the two. No fisticuffs, but there was an unfortunate chair that got thrown down on the ground multiple times in anger and a shirt that always got ripped off (why do dudes pop their shirts off before a fight?). Finally, after the cops came and left, it seemed like things were well.

So, I jumped in on a game of cornhole...

Ohhh yes, check out that form.

And just as I sinked my first bag and was jumping up and down, I heard a commotion behind me... the UGA guys from the fight were now fighting amongst themselves and one of them threw a hot grill down on the ground... and again, the cops were RIGHT THERE...

See the cop car in the center background and the cops to the top left?

There was a cop car, an SUV cop, a motorcycle cop, AND an ATV cop. Seriously. 

Eventually, the guy that knocked over the grill ended up getting arrested (after initially resisting and then getting throw onto the cop car first and the the ground into submission). Good times.

We went back to the cornhole game...

And back to the tailgating...

After gorging myself on Fritos Scoops (my one true love) and Double Stuffed Golden Oreos (omg), it was time to wallow into the stadium...

Gooooo Cocks!

Our view. Facing the sun and sweating our asses off.

The game was horrible. Seriously... I havent cussed that much during a football game in a LONG time (and that's saying a lot... gamecock fan for the last 13 years and a vandy fan my whole life? Ummm.. I know a thing or two about dropping F bombs during games) (it wasn't helped by the fact that there wasn't a kid anywhere in sight of our seats!).

Also, I purchased a leaky cupped drink, it was literally dripping out of the cup:

(not my hand). By the time I realized it was leaking and not just wet on the bottom of the cup, it was too late to get back into the MASSIVE concession line.

Not sure when this was taken, but I assure you, I was yelling... ##**@!*&!!!

Somehow (sheer luck) we ended up winning the game. But, it was such a disgusting win, that it didn't even really feel like a win. But we stuck around for the alma mater, and to get some pics after the game...

Go Cocks! (whew). That game took 3.7 years off my life.

We got back to the car, chilled for a little while and then it was time to start loading up...

Taking the Cockmaster 3000 down until next year...

But not before having some fun with it...

Obviously.