Lazy, lazy, lazy!

I have done absolutely nothing since Sunday. My weekly mileages have gone from:

30/103/3800 (run/bike/swim)
30/100/4000
30/100/4000

to

0/0/0.

As much as I'd like to use my allergies, my pink left eye or work as an excuse - I can't. Frankly, I'm just lazy! And I don't care! I'm embracing my recovery week way more than I need to. :)

I'm also perhaps recovering from how busy I've been keeping. Saturday, Kris & I had one of the best long rides ever - we rode from my house to Five Mile Damn in Kyle/San Marcos (60 miles roundtrip) and saw Panther race in the 10K, the Buda Weiner Dog Races and the Asian Dragon Boat Races - all without getting off our bikes. I saw Young at Heart that afternoon (3rd "sing-along"ish event in 3 days!) and loved it. Holly and I had planned to run 12 miles Sunday morning, but instead I did lots of housework while it poured outside. Met Mike & Kerry for breakfast, then somehow managed to knock out 13 miles on the trail. (Thanks big time to Holly & Leslie for getting me through them.) Rode my bike for 10 more to get to my weekly mileage goals, then just about collapsed into Sunday night. It was a great weekend.

Monday started with a 7:45am meeting, and then a 13 hour day spent at Onion Creek for the annual BOMA Golf Tournmanet. This was my first time actually golfing, and I sucked. I should have practiced, because it would have been nice to make contact with the ball every once in a while. But, I didn't. My team "won" last place and was recognized at the awards dinner - it was funny yet also pretty humiliating. (We won a free entry into a bowling tournament, which should be equally embarrassing.) My thoughts on golf - dang it is hard!! And it takes forever. And ever. And ever. Not a good game for those with short attention spans. My partner and I did create a new game, though, which was very fun: Golf Polo. I was better at that, and it was definitely more of a "high impact" sport. I don't think the course marshalls appreciated our game though. Oops.

Tomorrow I head to Houston - the first time since December 19th. I might even spend the night at the fabulous Four Points. Good times, people. Good times. Hmmm, maybe I can leave the snake there.

Anyway, hopefully I'll get a workout in sometime soon. I feel my body slowly melding into my chair. Not a good sign at all! I need to make sure I can fight off that snake if needbe. :)

Shotgun!

Someone has been taking rides in my car. I saw him yesterday as we were unloading my (dionn's) golf clubs. He literally slithered up my back tire and under my car. I freaked out, of course, and ran around the parking lot like a little girl.

Then tonight, when I got back to my car after road trip up north, a waiter came out and said, "Miss, you probably won't believe this and I don't mean to scare you, but I noticed something slithering up to your car while I was on my smoke break."

I responded, "Yes. I believe you. It was a huge snake, huh?" To which he responded, "Yes!!! You might want to tap your breaks quite a bit on the way home to make sure there is, uh, nothing stuck!"

Ewwwww! I managed to freak myself out so much that I dropped my phone UNDER my car when I got home. Lovely. The snake has a car (home) now, I guess he could use a phone too!

Scissor Lift

In case anyone was wondering what a scissor lift was....

Just Can't Get Enough

What an awesome week! I really think that this may have been one of the most fun weeks I have had all year. (Funny, I thought that last week too! Reframe. Reframe!)


Monday: run with Holly, ride with D, Scrabble with Tony
Tuesday: swim with Kerry, A.D. quality run, post-run happy hour at J&As
Wednesday: quality ride, Dick Monologues at Hyde Park Theatre
Thursday: swim with Kerry, Chili Cookoff at Zilker, New Wave Sing-a-Long at Alamo


Oh my gosh, it has been busy, and it's not even Friday night. Thanks so much to my buds who joined me in Zilker Park yesterday for the Chili Slam. What a blast! I think D summed it up quite well HERE. Me & my girls on a 15 foot scissor lift in the middle of a 400+ person event, jamming to Flo Rider with beers and hurricanes in hand... priceless!

And for those of you who haven't been to a sing-along at the Alamo... WOW!!!! Singing and dancing with reckless abandon - freaking awesome!!! Mike, Kerry, Mike and I went absolutely crazy in the back row. The only thing missing was getting to jump on the trampoline and watching Mike W. compete in the "Take On Me" contest. (He made up for it later with his rousing rendition of a mariachi band on pedicabs.)


Next on the agenda: 1964 Beatles Tribute at Paramount tonight; long ride, long run, Young at Heart at Alamo, and at some point - hopefully - some sleep!


I just can't enough, I just can't enough!

Keywords

Here are some keywords and search phrases that led people to my blog recently:

• mongoose bag
• what not to eat with grapefruit
• where's our cake
• longhorn frog
• how do i get rid of grackels
• how do mongoose work
• john linnell stalker
• kris panther
• lead singer with arm warmers?
• make me happy today
• making coffee of ferrit
• merman swimming outfits
• my muscles feel like they are weakening

Most of the people bounce away within seconds, however the search "mongoose for warrior" had someone stay at my blog for quite some time.

Reframing...

To say that this week was one hundred times better than last week would be a huge understatement. I took some really good advice - when you are unhappy with something, you either have to change the situation or reframe your place inside of that situation.

Cases in point: Here's a picture from Monday. I was in San Antonio for a conference which I was dreading being at. It turned out that I only had to work for hour intervals throughout the day, and I had a long break in the afternoon. So, can you think of a better way to market than mid-day 'ritas on the Riverwalk?

I headed back to San Antonio Tuesday, but was able to return in time to join friends at Westwood's lacrosse game. Kris was an excellent host, the company great and the game itself was pretty interesting. Minus all the injuries. And the cold. And inappropriately cheering for KP. Oops!

My car caught on fire on Wednesday. Well, not really, but the radiator did blow up and I was left carless. Worked out just fine, though. :) I got so much accomplished, and also enjoyed riding my bike around for once. Thursday brought a wine tasting for work, and Friday brought a huge revenue day at work AND the afternoon off, which I spent (shock) biking, running, swimming and hanging out with D & Kerry.

The weekend was really great too. It started with no plans, but I ended up filling it pretty easily, and I had a blast. A highlight was celebrating Kerry's HFC 2nd place finish from Rocky Hill poolside at Mike's. I was so proud of my friends this weekend and glad I got to celebrate with them. (Glenda, I'll tell you, is AMAZING!!)

It's so nice to end the weekend feeling good about the past week.

Reframe... check!

Adventure Quest.... Sign up!

Registration has now opened!!! I am officially begging - sign up for the Adventure Quest on Saturday, May 31st. I promise you will have a great time. Here is the link.

Also, I now have another media appearance. You can see my classic "annoyed/confused/pondering scowl which changes instantly into a into happy smiling face" look a few seconds into the footage. Fox Austin Link.

Info about the race:
The Austin Association of Facility and Maintenance Engineers (AAFAME) announces a call for teams and sponsors for its 2nd annual fund raising event: the AAFAME Adventure Quest urban race benefiting Angelheart Children’s Shelter’s Energy Makeover.

This year’s race is scheduled for May 31st, 2008. Competitive & Amateur teams of 2 members are invited to compete by completing various tasks and puzzles throughout downtown Austin. This year’s course promises to be challenging and fun for all. This is one of the most unique and fun races to be found in the Austin area and includes obstacles like the flame thrower, the brain drain, amazon extreme and a wheelbarrow race. There are even a few secret checkpoints to challenge not only participant’s endurance but their skills and ability to “think on their feet”.

The purpose of the race is twofold. Firstly; to provide a gift that keeps on giving to the Angelheart Children’s Shelter; an Energy Makeover. This makeover will provide green initiatives, and energy efficient equipment that will lower the total costs of operations for the shelter from now and into the future. Secondly; the members of AAFAME, participants, and other commercial real estate organizations will gain greater familiarization and awareness of downtown Austin and member’s buildings inside the Central Business District.

The Angleheart Children’s Shelter offers food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and most importantly and new found sense of comfort and security to children from newborn to 18 years of age. The shelter is staffed around the clock and provides continuous support to over 300 children per year.

ole, ole, ole, o-leeeee!

Go Westwood Lacrosse!

And BRRRRRRRRR, it was cold. This was taken moments before the shrubbery moved back to the condo.(I fell asleep on the way home. And now I'm wide awake. Damn it!!!!)

Little Devil

Below is my sole purchase from Art City Austin 2008. It's a little woodblock devil by my friend Anthony Pack. The festival was great this year - I thought the new location was great. I got to see my usual favorites (Jill Mayberg, Amanda Blake, Terry Powell) and saw a lot of new stuff that I liked too (Colleen Ford was the best.) Overall - great festival.
Thanks for the awesome picture, Gordon. (By the way, looking at professional art-fest photography with a photographer is extremely interesting.)

Huh?

I find this picture really funny. Thought I'd share.

There Will Be Blood...

There will be tired legs, massive sunburn, tons of dirty clothes, a broken speedometer & elbow rests, and there will be blood. You didn't think I could go for long without some sort of stupid workout accident, did you?

Even with all my own silly internal drama, it was an awesome workout week!
Run: 30 miles
Bike: 103 miles
Swim: 3800 meters
Gym: 1 time
Glommer: 1
Incident involving forgetting to clip out: 1
Percentage of body covered with a sunburn: 30%

Meeting my mileage goals - priceless!

Happy Thoughts

I am so thankful that the sun is back out in Austin, Texas. I am so thankful that it's Friday. I am full of happy thoughts today!

This afternoon I will be working at a golf tournament at Star Ranch. Dionn has graciously offered to join me (luring her with a bottle of Spiced Captain helps!) so we will spend our day hanging out

in the sun on the golf course. Can't beat that!

The one thing I have been managing to maintain is my workout schedule. Last night's brick was awesome. (Thanks, D!) 32 mile "easy" ride - and yeah, my easy rides are finally getting back to a respectable MPH - and 3 mile run. I was feeling good on the run, or perhaps I was ready to be done, but I managed to push it a bit. Minus a huge head start and a stoplight, D didn't catch me until less than half a mile to go. We ended the evening at Zen under a gorgeous night sky.

That makes 26.5 miles running, 32 miles biking, 3800m swimming and 1 gym this week. And it's not even the weekend! I admit, my legs are tired. Trying to kick in the pool this morning was difficult. So much for an easy rest week!

I am so excited about this weekend. ART CITY AUSTIN is HERE!!!!!!!!!

Alright, off to get ready for the tournament...

Still pulling....

Okay, okay. Things are looking up.

Three hours ago, I shut off my email and got down to business. I'm wading through the mess and coming to terms with the fact that I am only one person. I usually try to take on everything... but I am quickly coming to terms with the fact that I can't. Which is okay.

Anyway, thanks for the well wishes. Man, you people come out of the woodwork!! ;) I really really really really really appreciate it.

Before I sign off, I thought I'd share this picture I took while cleaning off my desk. These are all my hotel keys from last year. Thanks, Houston.

Pulling Together

I am so sorry that I missed the Westwood Lacrosse game last night. I am so sorry that I missed the chance to be with my closest friends. I am so sorry I missed getting to see Tim! (I miss you, Tim!) I am so sorry I didn't get to support KP.

I am overwhelmed. I admit it. For a number of reasons, many of which most of us experience all the time. However, I am not doing very well at keeping it together.

I am officially pulling it together. I am going to find my place of peace, and get on with it. No more feeling sorry for myself, either. At least not today.

Place of peace... place of peace.

"tag you're it!"

"Tag, you're it" was Phil's handoff at 6:30 this morning. We'd just run 5 miles, and he was passing the "I am the faithful sidekick while Erin attempts 10 miles partner" duties over to Leslie.

It was a great run, but by the end - my legs were in pain. 26.5 miles in 4 days, including quality, is a major ramp up for me. (How does one actually run 100 miles per week?!!) It feels really great to be running lately. Of course the company and the conversation are the best parts.

So, I was done by 7:30am. Then the day went downhill from there... but at least I have my awesome morning run to reflect on. (And tomorrow, I will be glad to get back on my bike and in the pool!)

Uh... Where did Spring go?

Phil & I ran the 7 mile loop tonight. Uh, where the hell did Spring go?

It was really very hot. And I'm stating that as fact, not as a complaint. (more on that momentarily). I was feeling so stoked from yesterday that I thought, "sure, I can keep up with Phil." He's had the flu recently, and been basically housebound, so I thought I had a chance. And... not so much. He's fast as ever. And me, well - I'm not used to this heat at all and I was slow as ever!!!

We made it. But it was hard and brutal. It took everything I had not to finish strong. But, I did it. With walk breaks. And I gotta say - I'm glad for the Cesar Chavez renovation because it gives me an excuse to go slow and/or walk. Shhhh!

We were talking about complaining, and Phil mentioned some interesting things. His friends have been reading this book about how to stop complaining and change your mental outlook. They wear wristbands, and every time they complain they have to change the wristband to the other hand. It's an interesting exercise, because most of them couldn't keep the wristband on the same hand for more than an hour or so. I am not sure that I want to engage in that experiment, but I did decide to become more cognoscent about my complaints. (I suck at running! The heat makes me tired! I want to be done!)

Specifically, when it comes to running, I am going to try to stop the negative self-talk. Instead of "I suck so much. Why won't I ever be fast?!" I will say, "It really is amazing that I've gone from an 11:00 easy pace to a 9:00 easy pace." We'll see how it works out.

Anyway, Wednesday... 10 miles.... uh, I'm guessing I'll aim for the morning for that run. Not sure I'm ready for this heat yet! Any takers?! ;)

Bye bye, biceps.

All of my work in the gym is slowly fading away. :(

Before I officially started training in March, my weekly gym totals were: 4,3,4,4,5,3,2,2, and 2. Now... they are 1,1,1,2, and 1. In the words of my dear friend Lulu, LAME!

I can honestly feel a drastic difference in my muscles - mainly my arms. They are weakening by the minute, I feel it. Boo.

And yet, am I beelining it to the gym any time soon? Nope. Where does one find the time?!

Dionn Randomness

One thing I love about Dionn is that I never know what to expect with her. It seems that random things always happen when we are together. It might be running into Obama on the trail, doing a triathlon, sitting across from Big Phil, meeting George Lopez, or whatever...


She invited me to a fundraiser last Thursday, and low & behold - we made the Out and About. Sorry Mike, I'm not telling you what "loyal out & abouter" means.

First Tri of '08 - Check!

The Spenco Sprint Tri was the first race on my 2008 events calendar. Last year I used the Olympic distance as my pre-season tune-up. (It actually ended up being one of just two races I did last year. Oops!)

Anyway, I was going to do Spenco, but then Panther & I decided that my legs weren't ready and I should wait and do Skeese Greets instead. Which was a fine plan until Dionn got a wild hair and convinced me to do Spenco anyway. Ultimately, it was a good idea - we've both been feeling somewhat unmotivated lately. Well, maybe not unmotivated- but we were both looking for a reminder of WHY we do all of this training. Friday we signed up for the race, and as an added bonus, convinced Maggie to join us.

At 4:40am Sunday, my alarm clock went off. I snoozed until 5:10, when I realized that there were actually people coming over to pick me up and take me to San Marcos. I hadn't packed a thing nor given it much thought at all. Luckily Maggie put everything together for me and off we went.

The race was very small - only 35 females, 50 males. However, there was also an olympic tri, duathlon, and 5K going on - so it was very hard to see who was doing what. Luckily it seemed that the really fast girls (i.e. the girls who had professional suits with their names on their butts) were doing other races. It was also very cold - about 60 degrees at the start.

The 500m swim was pretty uneventful. I didn't push it, swam pretty slowly, and tried not to be discouraged by all of the pink swim caps ahead of me. Ran to transition and was surprised to see Dionn sitting there. Seriously, the girl was just lollygagging away, and I was wondering if she even felt like biking today. I sat down and started a conversation about ant bites. But then I looked up and she was gone. Good - a rabbit for the bike!

I'm very pleased with my bike. I took it easy up the hills and pushed the flats. I passed a lot of people on the front half, including Dionn, and prepared to get smoked on back half. However, I didn't get smoked. In fact, I even passed people on the hills. I battled for territory with one girl -I didn't think I could pass her, but I was risking a drafting penalty since I was right on her tail. Finally, I thought, "just freaking take her Erin. Good lord!" So... I did. I also kept thinking, "just don't let Dionn pass you." I ended up with a 19.1mph average and the second fastest bike split of the females. Not sure what that really means since the timing mats including transitions, but I'll take it.

The run was uneventful. I settled in to my usual comfortable pace, didn't push it too hard, and had a relatively lackluster finish. I wasn't motivated to push it because there was no one around me. I didn't have anything to gain or lose and just couldn't mentally make myself go faster. 5k= 25:46. 8:19 pace. I really need to run sub 8:00s, but I think it's feasable soon. (I need more hate, I guess. Or more not-liking!?!)

We waited around FOREVER for awards, and Dionn won third place overall female. Maggie, Dionn & I all won our age groups, and Amy got second in hers. A good mental boost indeed!

Post-race lunch at Trudy's was great. Maggie & I got some strange looks since we still had numbers written on our calves. Ah, the life of a triathlete. ;)

Cool News Video

I had previously mentioned that PBS was shooting footage for a NewsHour story during the Vampire Weekend show at SXSW. Well, the story is out. It's a really interesting piece about SXSW and how music promotion is changing with the times.

South by Southwest Festival Changes Music's Tune

And... you can catch me (and Mike's hat) while cheering for Vampire Weekend. We are at 3:19 in the video. Very cool!