Decker

And yet another year passes and I get out of running Decker. The twelve miles on Decker (which I know so well from biking this course so much for Danskin training) have no appeal to me on foot.

However, it's always fun to go out and cheer. This year Wiley (aka Bike) and I took out our bikes and hit two spots along the course. He came equipped with 2 cowbells, which made cheering a lot easier. He did manage to get a "F@$# You" from one runner, and the finger from another. Well done, Mike! I like to put my past cheerleading skills to good use. Dionn would be proud of me!
Lulu & Justin rode by...
Here's the group post-run/pre Trudys.
And lastly, my buddies!! I LOVE THESE TWO!!!!!!

Hawaii Ironman

I watched the NBC compilation of the 2007 Hawaii Ironman this afternoon. Wow. I remember watching it online in real-time, but this time they had all of the amazing "regular people" stories all packaged into a neat Hallmark-type story.

I'll admit that I cried more than once watching people cross the finish line. I don't feel any rush to complete an Ironman in the next few years, but I know it won't be THAT long until I do one. I'm definitely not ready to put that much of myself into training right now...

However, I am definitely inspired.

Family Vacation = Success

Thanksgiving was great this year. My parents made the trek to Austin and stayed with us for 4 days. It was so awesome to spend time with them, especially since they stayed at my house instead of a hotel this year.

We didn't fight at all, and I was actually really sad to see them go. I wish they would move to Austin so I could see them more!

Some highlights:

• Eating at Chuy's and actually not having to wait
• Watching my dad work at Spec's, and woo the store manager with his mad sales skills
• Thanksgiving tradition: Turkey Trot + Threadgills (Candied Yams = Yum!!) + Cowboys
• Lots of crossword puzzles
• 4 games of scrabble (I kicked butt. Sorry, Dad!)
• Breakfast at Magnolia and at Galaxy Cafe
• Going to the gym Friday morning and being the second person there out of 4 total.
• Watching our dogs react to Sweetie Pie, my parents miniature toy poodle
• Visiting Terry & Pat, and my mom buying us a cool metal bird we've been wanting
• Organizing all of our CDs & playing with our Ipod Shuffles
• Giving a bunch of my clothes to my mom, who now fits in them. She is looking very hip!
• Not fighting. No tension. No unease. Just happy to have my parents around.

This was my Dad at specs. He's the Riedel distributer, and was checking out the display.

I love Scrabble!!

Sweetie Pie in her new sweater my mom bought on Friday.

What's better than migas and french toast at Galaxy?

It's Your Own Dumb-Asphalt You're Broke

I couldn't sleep last night. So at 2:30am, I decided to check out the Woot shirt of the day. By 2:30am, this was already sold out. Seriously, that is insane. But normal. (Which is why I checked it at 2:30am.)

Oh well, it's awesome & I want to share:

They charged you how much? For a cup of coffee? Let me see that. Whoa, and the cup is freezing cold to boot. Boy, did you get taken for a—OK, well here’s your problem, right here. You’ve got whipped cream in here. And ice! I mean actual ice cubes! What are these, sprinkles or something? It smells kind of… cinnamony. There’s, like… what, fudge or something at the bottom? If you ordered coffee, you should take this right back; they gave you a sundae that someone spilled coffee into.

This shirt was designed by: shirt.wooter shmeedles—a congenital tightwad, sure, but our congenital tightwad.

Wear this shirt: to the senior center, or the barber shop, or wherever you cranky cheapskates hang out.

Don’t wear this shirt: to a certain ubiquitous coffee chain. Unless you’re just going to get an Odwalla juice; those are sooo good, and worth it.

This shirt tells the world: “I’ve not yet succumbed to Starbucks Fatigue Fatigue.”

We call this color: With A Daily Five-Dollar Drink Fix It’s Your Own Dumb-Asphalt You’re Broke.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Why I don't eat turkey on Thanksgiving (or ever, for that matter)...

Turkey Trot

I ran the Thundercloud Turkey Trot 5 Miler this morning. I was pretty nervous about running since I've been feeling (and running) so slowly lately.

Last year: 5 miles - 44:44 - 8:57 pace.
This year: 5 miles - 41:14 - 8:15 pace.

Needless to say, I'm pretty darn happy. (I could have gone faster too, but I started pretty slow. My first mile was 9:30 - the rest were all sub 8's.) The course is somewhat hilly, and it felt very fun to pass so many people from miles 2-5. For the first time, I feel like all those leg presses I've been doing paid off up the hills.

It was really great to meet up with Leslie, Amy & Amy before the race and for the first mile. It was also great to see Glenda at the end - 3rd place in her age group - awesome!

Lastly, it was the BEST to run the last leg with my dad for the third year in a row. This year he broke one hour - walking!!!!! He is amazing & I am so proud of him. It was great to spend Thanksgiving morning doing what I love - spending time with friends and family and running!

Sleep + Art

Today was awesome. It was dark and gloomy outside this morning, so I opted to sleep in for bit. At 10:00am, when my phone went off, I finally got up... guess I needed the sleep.

Then I laid in bed for a while and just stared out the window. No running. (No guilt either, luckily.) Just laziness and calm. It was really nice.

The rest of the day was full of awesome art things. I mapped out a route of galleries and studios on the East Austin Studio Tour, starting with one of my favorite local artists - Jennifer Balkan. Not even one studio into the tour, and I'd already purchased an adorable little painting of a lost pig.

After touring some other places, we headed to the Austin Museum of Art for the new Roy Lichtenstein exhibit and a lecture by the collector. This guy was awesome - one of the best museum lectures I have ever heard. One thing that really spoke to me was when he said, "Art to me is like a mini vacation. Every time you look at it, it takes you away somewhere else. I need art in my space. I need art around me to live." I couldn't agree more. (That's why my house is filled with art and I don't take many vacations!) I HIGHLY recommend this exhibit - one of the best I feel the museum has had in a while.

After the lecture, we hit more studios and then headed to Terry & Pat's to see how he did at his home show. Met up with Tim & Rhonda for a bit which was a nice treat. Tonight I'll figure out the remaining places that I want to check out tomorrow. I'm overwhelmed with the amount of galleries and studios in East Austin - there are over 200 artists on this tour. Sometimes I just can't get over how cool Austin is.

Hopefully I will run tomorrow, and maybe hit the gym and swim. And then more art... I can't think of many better ways to spend the weekend.

(By the way, here is one of Terry's most recent paintings. I LOVED this painting, but someone else snatched it up. The little green bird with the orange head on the bottom rocks!!!)

A few pictures & an update...

Rather than post a long drawn out post of what I've been up to lately, I thought I'd post a few pictures and a quick update. I may get more motivated to update later, but for now... a few pics from my lovely Palm Treo:

The Golf Tournament - not a bad way to spend a Friday. It's work, but the fun kind of work. I coordinated my fourth company tournament for about 100 people. The Garage- we cleaned the garage last Saturday. At least, we cleaned enough out to make 2 full car trips to Goodwill, post 3 furniture pieces on Craig's List, and have an entire side yard full of trash. The result? We can now put our bikes in the garage versus in the living room.

The Elevator - You didn't think I'd stay away from Houston for long, now did you? Here is the infamous non-working elevator at my usual hotel. So yes, I obviously went back to Houston. It was fun to be back there, but I reconfirmed that Austin is where I want to stay. Moving forward, I'm hoping that I will mostly stick to Houston day trips. Still, it was really fun to see my Houston gang.

Generally speaking, this was a really great week. Minus a few hiccups, I really enjoyed myself. Work was pretty easy. I got to attend a ton of association events, which I love. I managed to run more than normal, I swam once, and I even got on my bike this afternoon to head to South Austin with Scot. I got to run with Robert yesterday. I went to the gym 5 days in a row! I had the most fun at Magnolia Cafe this morning that I've ever had. I finally got to have lunch with Meredith today. I visited Ostrich's office. I went on an art preview tour for E.A.S.T. (East Austin Studio Tour) last night, went to Terry's preview party tonight, and I have a fun filled art weekend ahead of me. I've spent some true quality time connecting with people who are important to me, and it has been wonderful.

Next week my parents are coming to visit for Thanksgiving and I am very excited. I have a lot to be thankful for right now.

How Not to Eat a Grapefruit

I now know why grapefruit is considered a fruit that helps in losing weight.


First, it doesn't really even taste good.


Second, it takes forever to actually get any fruit from it. Work, work, work!!! Who the hell invented grapefruit spoons anyway -what a joke.

But, I gotta say... trying to eat grapefruit on a Friday morning (at Magnolia with Lulu) is one of the best ways a girl could ever start her day!

Terry's Home Show - This Saturday!!!

If any of you have been in my house, then you will instantly recognize Terry Powell's work. He's having his annual home show this Saturday! Details below...

Terrell Powell Fall Home Show

Saturday, November 17th

10AM - 6PM

2016 Brentwood Drive

Austin, TX 78757

Come on out! There will be tons of art in all price ranges - including some cool stuff for the holidays. If you don't want to buy anything, you can at least check out his collection - I'm very jealous. Or, if you can't come by, check out some of his stuff at www.curiousroom.com.

TMBG IS COMING!!!

I just got an email that said that They Might Be Giants is scheduling shows in Texas in March...

I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED!!! Road Trip!!!

Are Mondays really this good?!!

It's funny how I don't dread Mondays. In fact, I oftentimes look forward to them. And so goes an awesome Monday today...

6:00am - arrive at Gold's Gym downtown for a nice upper body workout. Got a really cool indirect compliment, heard by one woman talking to her friend: "Did you see that at one point, there were only women in the free weight area? And they weren't wussy women, either - they were the real deal."

7:15am - breakfast at Kirby Lane. Yum!!! (I managed to resist the pumpkin pancakes today, but I am SURE I will be back for them soon.)

8:30am - start of an awesome day at work

11:30am - lunch with Leslie, Amy & Glenda at Banzai. Obviously it was great to see them & hang out. I felt like I hadn't seen any of them in weeks.

4:00pm - meet Scot @ the Veloway for a nice 21 mile ride. Great weather, great company, and my legs actually worked!

6:00pm - veggie stir fry for dinner and some downtime.

8:55pm - finish blogging, finish emailing, celebrate that I took my work inbox emails down from 46 to 7 (WOW!!!!) and head upstairs to work on the days crossword puzzle.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE BEING IN AUSTIN!!!!!!

(For the record, I resisted the urge to go to Houston tomorrow. My coworker is making the day trip.... and I almost joined him.... but I resisted.)

I like this picture...

WurstRide Metric Century

I am still unsure why I thought it would be a good idea to ride a metric century (63 miles) considering my recent lack of cycling. My last "long ride" was 49 miles on July 29th, and since then it's pretty much been short trips around the Veloway.

But I promised Kerry I would do it. And I promised Scot I would do it. And I have been bailing on both of them left and right lately, so I needed to actually do something I said I was going to. And what the hell, how hard can 63 miles be?! (For the record, I was promised "nice & easy" pacing!)We left the LCRA complex off Montopolis at 8:00am. Justin & I started out slow, while Kerry & Dionn took off. (Shock! Easy ride pace?! Whatever!) By the first reststop, I was thinking there was no way I could keep up with them for 50 more miles. So I met up with Scot and rode with him for a bit. Unfortunately his riding partner was holding us back, so I forged ahead and rode with Laura & Kris for a bit. (So awesome to see them, btw!) By the second water stop, I found my original group and decided to try and hold on for dear life with them. Thankfully, Kerry stayed with me and they didn't go too fast. We picked up Panther at the halfway point, and once again I just tried to hold on and keep them in eyesight.

I was so frustrated at my lack of cycling fitness. I was so strong just a few months ago, but not today. I'll get back to it, but it's going to take some work. I was so happy when we reached the finish and I could finally relax! However, I did have an amazing time with the group. It was so much fun to be back on a long ride again. And the weather was perfect too.

After the ride, we all hung out to enjoy free sausage and beer. (I "enjoyed" gatorade and a granola bar. Not the best vegetarian friendly finish!) As I talked to Panther about why I sucked so much on the bike, he wondered if I've still been hitting the gym. (Hell yes I am!) I told him yes, and bragged that I'm up to 310 on the leg press. This is when he wanted to see if I could press him, so I offered to try! Anyway, this was a really fun ride. I'm motivated to get training again.

AWESOME FRIDAY!!!!

Today was the best Friday ever.

First, I managed to finally drag my butt out of bed and go run this morning. 5 miles at 5:30am - perfect! Though I was supposed to meet Kerry, I ended up running alone. I love running with Kerry, but I was also glad to be able to run at an easier pace and relax with my Ipod. No stomach problems, either, which was a blessing.

Next, I went to work for just a moment- for those who may have seen a "secret" post that no longer exists on my blog - let's just say that everything is MUCH better at work as of this morning. (Also, for anyone curious, my marketing manager in Houston is doing splendidly, which is a huge relief to me.)

Then, I went to Cabellas (Yes, Cabellas!) for an AAFAME Board of Directors retreat. After years of working me like a dog (the president's words, mind you!) they voted me to be a board member. This is really cool, because not only do I represent the entire vendor membership of a 350+ member group, I don't actually have to do anything except show up. Today, I got to hang out with a bunch of my friends and just throw my input in every now and then - awesome!

Now, in regards to Cabellas... what a place for a liberal vegetarian! Some highlights:
1) Hot pink camo.
2) More dead stuffed animals than I ever would have cared to see. (After the initial shock, I was okay, honest.) Included in this list: deer, mountain lions, coyotes, zebra, lions, warthogs, grizzly bears, a giant moose, a polar bear, real lions, etc...
3) An aquarium with giant catfish. (Ewww - why would you eat that??)
4) A Barbie fishing pole. Yes, Barbie. I guess to go with the hot pink camo.
5) A stuffed otter. When I asked my friend Stac why anyone would shoot an otter, he replied "Because you can."
Anyway, after my board retreat - I took some "erin" time and went to one of my favorite places in Austin. It was the most perfect way to spend my afternoon. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

Then, I met the group at Chuy's for happy hour for a bit. And then, we went to a show opening at Artspoken Gallery. One of our favorite artists, Amy Lindsey Joynt, was showing and (surprise) we bought a piece. It is so cool... I'll post a picture soon. The evening ended with falafel at Sarah's Market and now I have 3 crossword puzzles waiting for me in the que before I go to bed.

Tomorrow I am riding the metric century WurstRide. Thanks to Lulu & Scooter for holding my true to my word on this one... I'm nervous about 63 miles, but looking forward to being back on my bike for more than 20 mile increments.

Anyway, I am so happy to report that I am feeling much better about work lately.

And, not surprisingly, life too.

Grandma Couch

I LOVE CRAIG'S LIST!!! Someone is actually paying us $150 for the grandma couch. Scratch that - someone already PAID $150. She is picking it up sometime over the next few days.

R.I.P. Grandma Couch!!

Yuck.

YUCK. Mylanta is nasty. Really freaking nasty. But hopefully it will cure my stomach ache that I've had since Monday. (Well, off and on since last week to be honest.)

I wonder what's wrong with me? My parents reminded me that I always used to get this way before algebra or geometry tests back in junior high. (Thank goodness I don't have to do those anymore!)

I suppose there is something stressful going on. Haven't put my finger on it yet. I did get stressed out when I managed to spill the bottle of mylanta all over the kitchen counter tonight. Lovely! :)

On a positive note, I had a WONDERFUL day today. One of the best days I have had in months. I'm really happy to be back home.

Friday - YES!!!!

I'm so glad it's Friday. I was given the afternoon off, and this morning looks to be awesome. Breakfast with the old gang, and a tour of the new Hill Country Galleria.

Just knowing I don't have to work today (minus the tour) is liberating. :) Throw in Saturday & Sunday... and no trip to Houston until next Thursday.... life is great!!

Stress Level Rising...

I had a really fantastic weekend.

Friday I went to the Rogue happy hour and saw tons of friends that I haven't seen in a while; then Wiley & I hung out at Wahoo's before heading over the Burnett Road Challenge. My night went from "Quick stop at the happy hour then relaxing night at home" to "I probably should not have had that much to drink, been to that many bars, or allowed cameras in my presence." (Totally worth it, by the way!)

On Saturday I managed to drag myself out of bed and meet Holly for an easy 6 mile run at 5:45am. It was wonderful to run with Holly, and I'm looking forward to getting back into a schedule with her. Next was breakfast with Panther (who had yet made it home from the previous night!) and then errands with Phil. We went to IKEA and I bought a desk and a hot pink desk chair. I finally have my own little office space (set up in the music room), and I am very jazzed about it. (Phil has 3 rooms of his stuff, I had none.)

This morning I went to the Veloway to ride easy and have some alone time. I had a really great ride, and then headed to the H&B to meet Maggie for a run. 30 + 3 miles made for a great workout - I finally felt like I am getting back into the swing of things. Then I got to hang out with Maggie for the rest of the morning.

The thing is, now I have to go to Houston. I have to be in Conroe at 8:30am tomorrow. I will probably end up staying in Houston again on Monday night and heading back Tuesday evening. Once I get to Houston I will be fine, but the process of packing, going by my office, bringing everything for the event tomorrow, and getting some final things done here is really stressing me out. I hate giving up half of my Sunday. I hate feeling this stressed out at only 2:45pm.

This will all pay off in the long run, though. It better.

At any rate, at least I had an amazing/fun weekend until now.

New Addiction

Wiley took this last night... It's true, I have a new addiction. I picked up a Palm Treo yesterday, and now I am permanently attached to work. On that same note, I'm permanently attached to my email. I'm predicting trouble...

Great Great Great Day

Today may have been one of the best days of my professional career. I took on 2 things that I really didn't want to do, and I nailed them both.

I'm pretty damn happy. Thanks for all the well wishes!

Where have I been?

I've been lax in posting... Why?

It is 11:50PM. I just put the final touches on a 2 hour class I am teaching tomorrow.
This is the third night this week that I have stayed up until at least 11:30pm working.
I am about to get ready for bed, in my second hotel room of the week.
Tomorrow I will teach this class to anywhere from 50 to 200 people.
(Guess who speaks after me? The mayor of Houston. Gulp.)

And then.... Then... I will hopefully come back to Austin.

(Only to return to Houston on Sunday.)

The Amazing Race

One of the things I've been working on lately was a brand new adventure race, called the AAFAME Amazing Race. This was a fundraiser for one of my work associations (AAFAME = Austin Association of Facility & Maintenance Engineers). Our goal was to raise $5,000 for the Angelheart Children's Shelter; I'm proud to say that we raised over $6,000!! Not bad for our first year.

The race started at 301 Congress Avenue, and teams of 2 raced around downtown completing fun obstacle checkpoints and mystery checkpoints. This is similar to the Urban Assault Race, except it is on foot, not bike. I am so excited to announce that Tim & Carri won the whole race! Their prize - $500 in travel vouchers. They kicked butt & I am really happy for them.
Here is Mike completing the "wheel barrow" challenge at 816 Congress. Mike & Rob won 3rd place, but forfeited their prize so they could hang out at Barton Springs instead of wait for the awards ceremony. (I wasn't surprised.)
Here is me with Stac, my co-chair for the race. One thing that I love about the various work associations I am in is that I become friends with people I probably never would have met otherwise. This group is filled with guys that would do anything to help you if you needed it - true, kind, wonderful people. I know I have been less than enthusiastic about work lately, but I can never complain about the people I get to work with.
So, overall - a fantastic event. I don't think it could have gone better & I am really excited to do this again next year.

Finally calm.

It's no secret that I've been somewhat out of touch lately. Work has been overwhelming. I have worked every week and weekend this month. I have not gone a week without going to Houston in over 5 months. And my primary source of relaxing (training) is done for the year. So, I've been retreating. Trying to destress and relax.

My weekend did not start well. A ton of stress at work, followed by a screaming match with a co-worker, followed by skipping the gym because I didn't want anyone to see me with mascara running down my teary face. Lovely.

Thanks to happy hour (s) and a huge job from one of my accounts on Friday, the weekend was looking better. On Saturday I rode my longest bike ride since July - Scot & I headed from my house down to Buda. I'm amazed at how much fitness I've lost and how hard this ride was. But I loved every minute of it and felt stress leave my body with each mile we rode.

As for the rest of the day (and weekend, largely), Phil & I worked with our accounting consultant to get our RB books in order. This meant entering 3 years of data into quickbooks. I'm proud to say that I got it done! Luckily I am a 10-key whiz! Getting this taken care of helped relieve a lot more stress.

Today, I slept in and then went swimming at Barton Springs. Nothing hard, more just enjoying the water and the people. For the rest of the day, Phil & I headed out on our mountain bikes for Austin Museum Day. We visited the AMOA, Arthouse, Women and Their Work & Umlauf. We were ecstatic to see that Umlauf has a David Everett show going on. We're lucky to own one of his pieces, granted it is the most inexpensive thing he sells. Anyway, it was an awesome surprise and we will definitely be back for more programs there. Then we checked out the SculptFest artists, and (of course) ended up buying 2 new pieces. (I won $200 on Thursday. Though I was going to apply it to my $600 car bill, I said "what the hell" and splurged.)

So... Today was the perfect "Austin" day. Barton Springs, biking, museums, downtown Gold's Gym, the hike & bike trail, running into random people throughout the day and time with the family.

I'm afraid to say it, but for now - the stress is gone. I feel calm for the first time in weeks.

Only 2 more hours until Monday.

I'd like to interrupt...

I'd like to interrupt my afternoon of going through the 163+ emails in my inbox and 15+ "To do by Friday" items in my task list to reflect on my favorite part of this week.

Something about a kayak, Town Lake, a wonderful friend and some Bud Light makes everything seem okay.

Six Days Left!

In more 6 more days, I will have gone exactly 3 months without eating dessert.

That means: No cookies. No icecream. No popsicles. No candy bars. No brownies. No m&ms. Not even wedding cake, and I've been to 3 weddings!

Instead, I have been chowing down on: watermelon, apples, pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, frozen blueberries, bananas, watermelon, frozen bananas, grapes, peaches, watermelon, plums, nectarines, yogurt, and... did I mention watermelon?

And what have I learned? For me, dessert was just a habit. I don't need it. In fact, I much prefer some fresh fruit. (Like watermelon!)

But I have to admit... I'm suddenly getting tempted to eat some of Phil's blue bell icecream...

By the way, I don't think I look any different than I did 3 months ago. Except that I'm working out less - I can tell something there. Anyway, the "no dessert" thing has not actually changed my body one bit.

I mentioned to Phil that maybe next I will try giving up bread for a month. He responded that perhaps I need to find some goals that actually mean something. I think he's probably right.

Sweet dreams, Murphy.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Murphy. While technically our neighbor's cat, Murphy lived with us since we moved into our house almost three years ago. She was the most adorable cat I'd ever seen.

In a way, Murphy adopted us. She even made it onto our wedding invitation, along with Karma and Velvet.

I could always count on Murphy to sit meowing at the front porch every morning as I left to go run or swim. And I could count on her to be waiting for us, perched atop Phil's car or our windowsill, when I came home. I was never much of a cat person, but you couldn't help but love Murphy. She had a way of making you come to her and scratch her belly and love on her.

Now she will rest in peace forever under her favorite oak tree, right between us and our next door neighbors. Sweet dreams, old girl.

Who needs a hotel when you can have a CVS?

I got an email from my G.M. this morning about conserving expenses. To quote, he said, "Every time someone needlessly takes advantage of the credit card, it’s money out of our pockets."

So I responded to him about last night's trip to Houston:

As you know, I went to Houston last night for a Casino Night. Luckily I was able to convince one of my closets girlfriends to go with me. We had a blast by the way. After rocking at Casino Night, we hit the Black Swam - a bar at the Omni Hotel. This place was awesome - we danced all night.

Anyway, I want you to know that I successfully avoided a hotel charge last night. I somehow got the BRILLIANT idea to drive back home at 2:15 in the morning. (This was after arriving at the hotel, even.) Guess what: there was freaking TRAFFIC on 290. So after sitting behind a wreck, going about 1 mile total, for 40 minutes, we were on our way back to Austin. Until about 30 minutes later when I realized I was going to fall asleep.

So, I pulled into this random CVS (which was closed), parked in the corner of the lot, and went to sleep. We slept until about 5:45, when I woke up and drove us back home. I imagine if anyone saw us, they would have had quite a sight. Two girls, in cocktail dresses, passed out in a parking lot. (Don't worry, the cars were locked!)

I walked into the office this morning at 7:30am still in my cocktail attire. Black slinky dress, high heels and makeup still on. Lulu, on the other hand, had on boxers and a shirt which at some point she had changed into, I don’t remember when. Uh, yeah. Classy.

Again, the point of my story? No $100+ expense charge from the Sheraton Brookhollow. Which should cover the $101 bar tab from last night.

(Thank god for Lulu, she was awesome. Hopefully once she sobers up, she'll thank me for taking her!)

Houston Bound

Tomorrow I will wake up early and go to the gym.

Then I will go into work for some meetings.

Then I will be at a trade show until 2:00.

Then I will rush home and take Phil to get lasik.

Then I will take Phil home, feed the dogs (there are 4 right now since we are dogsitting), and then...

Head to Houston for a Casino Night. But, am I upset that I have to work tomorrow night?

No... because Lulu is coming with me!!!!!!!!!! We are going to rock Houston, and I am pumped! :)

Guess I should go get some sleep.

A Little Bit of Press

It's been a long time since I've worked in PR - so it's rare that I see myself in print. This made a whole page of this week's Austin Business Journal, so I thought I'd share. By the way, I don't look AS goofy in the paper as I do below. It's really annoying that the ABJ cropped my face so closely!

Just what I needed...

I had, er, forgotten that I had promised Lulu I would race the Women's Race with her today. I was almost off the hook, since she thought the race had passed when I was in Dallas. But for some reason, I reminded her it was this weekend, and we signed up.

First let me say, I love Lulu. I really really do. And yet, she had it in her mind that we needed to win this thing. 300 teams, racing through trails, doing crazy obstacles, paddling through a lake, all while carrying a rubber chicken. Sound fun? Hell yeah. Sound like something that we will beat out at least 500 other people at? Well...
We got to the site pretty early, since neither of us bothered to look up the start time. We set up our toobs (thanks Ostrich) in transition and wandered around until near race-start. With 30 minutes to go, we did a little run warmup - which about 7 other teams then copied us at. We had scoped out the other teams, and it seemed like we had some serious competition. Lulu's nerves started up; I, on the other hand, just wanted to go to sleep.

The race starts with a mystery event - after doing a walk for the cancer survivors, we stood around waiting to hear music that would tell us where to go. Our strategy was to position ourselves near the direction we expected the music to come from. Suddenly, we heard "The Eyes of Texas" and we raced through the park to grab our rubber chicken. We had to get ahead of everyone else, otherwise we'd be caught in the bottleneck of completing events and getting through the trail. By the time we'd finished events in one side of the park (2 math questions & passing a burrito from partner to partner with no arms) - we were in 2nd place. We hustled up the trail and then passed the lead team while doing a three legged race. After more running (and far too many hills for my liking), we finally made it back to transition.

We were the first team in the water, lifejackets on and toobs in tow. The goal was to paddle backwards while sitting in our toobs. Unfortunately, I have much shorter (and weaker, apparently) arms than Lulu and did not fair well at this. I managed to lose our lead to a mother/daughter team in an inflatable kayak. Luckily Lulu finished and came back to push me. I admittedly was exhausted at this point, and the fact that we had lost our lead (thanks to me) and still had the third part of the race left was not that motivating.

But I knew Lulu wanted to win. Hell, I didn't want a kid to beat me either, even if she was a badass kid. So I regrouped, and we ran back through transition on to the next few obstacles. First we had to blow up a balloon, carry it between our chests over these inflatable tubes, then pop it. This was easy, and the balloon popped as soon as we let go. Next we had to play croquet with a ball and our rubber chickens. We did great at this and took the lead again. Then we played frolf, but with the chicken versus a disc. By now, we were gaining time but I was getting tired. I honestly haven't been running (much less sprinting) in weeks. Lulu, thank god, took the lead and conquered the next obstacle by successfully throwing our chicken through a hole. After more (uphill) running, we had to handcuff ourselves together and run more. Then we had to carry a ball a short distance in between 2 spoons, not using our fingers.

At this point, we realized that there was a "lead vehicle" (i.e. a guy on a dirt bike) who was OUR lead. Never been in that situation before! We kept running on the trail, and had to run past the group who hadn't completed the first part of the race yet. Two girls were right on my heels, which really pissed me off, until I realized that they hadn't even done the water segment yet. Lulu was ever encouraging, telling me to suck it up, not leave anything out there, and that the second place team was right on our toes. (They weren't, by the way.)

We made it back towards the finish area, and everyone yelled, "here come the leaders." (Again, never had that before!) Unfortunately, one of the volunteers sent Lulu in the wrong direction so she ran to the end of transition before realizing I wasn't behind her. We met up at the final obstacle course and crawled, shimmied, climbed, ducked and crawled again towards the finish. We grabbed hand, ran through the finish, and low & behold - we won!

HELL YEAH!!!! We cheered for the next few teams for a bit, got some water, and headed back to the car to assess the damage. You can see from our clothes below - this was not exactly a clean race!
We ended up with a cool award (below), and each of us got a Nike watch. (And, for some really strange reason, we each got tubes of antiseptic. Not sure what that was about.)
I have obviously been really burned out lately, but this was just what I needed. A short, but extremely fun race that couldn't have gone better. I must say that Lulu & I make a fabulous adventure racing team. We will definitely be back to defend next year. Perhaps I will even train this time!

For the record...

I ran into Diane on the trail today. We were talking about what's been going on with us lately since we haven't seen each other in months, and about how we are not feeling very motivated to run or work out. I talked about how much I am traveling lately and how draining it is. She responded that I although I seemed happy in some areas of my life, I'm not happy in others.

So... for the record, I am just fine. I am tired. I am unmotivated in some areas. I wish I could teleport to Houston. I wish there was about 4-5 more hours in the day. I wish the laundry would do itself tonight, and I could go to sleep.

But besides all of this rather irrelevant stuff, I am happy.

*Sigh*

I miss my friends. A lot.

Houston is "fun" and all, but I really really really miss my friends. I feel like I hardly see anyone anymore. I get calls & emails from people wanting to work out or hang out, but I can't because I'm not in town.

I'm currently interviewing to find my replacement for Houston. I'm taking my time, but I want to be sure to hire the right person so I don't have to do the interview process again. I only want to have to train someone once. I'll still have to travel even when I hire someone, but not as much, and hopefully not overnight.

Sigh.

Protest Pictures

Thursday

Today is SOOOO much better than Monday. Why?

-It's Thursday, not Monday. Enough said.

-My bosses are on vacation for the next 2 weeks!

-I get to do a skit at a luncheon today about an adventure race I'm putting on. It's going to be totally goofy and silly, but I'm still excited about it.

-I got to see Maggie yesterday for the first time in weeks.

-I am not driving back from Houston right now.

-I am wearing a new pair of pants. They are really cute - gray and plaid - and they make me happy.

-I went trail running this morning with Wiley, Lulu, Triscuit & Tim. This was interesting, because I am giant clutz and have little control over my body. And it was very dark. Even with Wiley's headlamp, I still managed to roll my ankle on a rock. I tried to man up and keep going, but it really hurt. Lulu was gracious enough to escort me back to the trail head. I felt very lame, but I still want to go again. Anyway, there were emails waiting for me when I got to work asking me how I am, and telling me that I need to come out again. I'm flattered that they want me to try again after my gloriously slow and clutzy showing this morning.

-It's raining! Which means the creek will not dry up as quickly and we can take the dogs swimming more. And our grass will be green again. And my company should get some work and make money and not harrass me about my hotel rooms.

-My calendar is actually empty tomorrow for the first time in weeks. I may be able to catch up.

-My office is empty now which means I can listen to classical music as loud as I want.

-I am pretty sore from my workout yesterday at the gym. I love gym soreness - it makes me feel like I'm really working.

So, there you have it... a quick list of reasons why today is so much better than Monday!!

My very own storm!

How fun is it that I have my very own storm? The jokes about Tropical Storm Erin just keep coming!

From the Houston Chronicle, "Officials in some coastal counties are expected to feel the full impact of Erin..."

Hahaha.... let me unleash my wrath of destruction!

Mondays

I selected this cute theme for my iGoogle homepage. Throughout the day, these two little critters change activities to reflect what time of day it is. They might be asleep, or playing Frisbee, or eating. Look how cute they are, on their little picnic, with their yummy food and soda. How fun, right?I wonder what an "Erin at work" theme would look like. With the exception of a nice lunch with friends and morning run, my theme would have me staring angrily at my computer screen, expressing frustration to my GM, stuck in my car, or furrowing my face at the fact that Mondays lately really suck for me.

I find it ironic that this frog and ladybug have so much fun all day long, and each time I open my browser (while stuck at my desk) I have to look at them. I can't remember the last time I went on a picnic on a Monday.

X Marks the Spot

My partner in crime & me volunteering at the Darndst Du this morning. Though my biggest volunteer accomplishment was bringing Phil to cook the burgers, I was still glad to be out there.

My friends rocked this race.

After seeing how well everyone did, I feel privileged just to train with these people. At some point, I'm going to have to race with them too.

Physically Addicted

I don't think I am mentally addicted to working out. But I do think that I am physically addicted. I once read about a mom who's husband would drop her off miles away from their destination so she could run to it while he drove the kids. I thought this was nuts. Still do, actually, but I somewhat relate.

Yesterday morning, I hadn't worked out for 48 hours. I was a mess. I almost started crying at my desk because I felt so gloomy. Really, it was bad - to the point that everyone told me I needed to go home and take some time off. So, I left and went to the gym. By the time I came back, I felt great.

This morning I didn't want to work out at all. But I promised Kerry & Michelle that I would meet them, and at 6:00am we headed off to the AHS track. We made up our own workout to avoid doing anything too hard because we all felt lazy. (see below for the workout details) Now, as I prepare to head to Houston, I feel fabulous. Like a completely different person. My office has noticed too, and some have said, "you must have run or something this morning, huh?"

My point. Mentally, I want some time off. I am not motivated at all to do much of anything. But apparently my body disagrees. It's addicted to the endorphines. I am really glad I dragged myself out of bed this morning.

*The Lost K* by Kerry & Erin
-warmup
-400 meter repeats, varying by 10K, 5K, 1 mile & rest pace
-between each 400 meters, do 50 reps or 1 minute of ab exercises
-cooldown

Nowhere Present.

Half in Austin. Half in Houston. Fully Nowhere. Nowhere Present.

In ten words or less, that sums up my life right now. Perhaps blogging about this publicly isn't the smartest move, but I'm going to do it anyway. Maybe your comments will provide some guidance.

I love my job. I also enjoy traveling for my job. Spending a few nights in a different city is pretty cool - I get to experience two worlds. Last week, I hung out with tons of my Houston contacts and realized it was more like hanging out with my friends. I worked out at the gym that I'm now very familiar with, and it feels like my gym. (In fact, it will be when I join this week.) I ate at my familiar spots. I joined the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. I don't need a map to get around anymore. It's almost as if I live there. Just for a few days a week, but still, it's almost like I live there.

On Saturday night, Phil & I were wandering around the Heights area of Houston for their annual "White Linen Nights" art/music/food festival. A very smart realtor decided to keep one of her for-sale houses open and invite people in while they were walking between galleries. Never ones to turn down an open house, Phil & I went in and looked around. It was a very cute house - not my style, really - but still I really liked it. Here's the scary part - not only did I like it, I could completely see myself living in it. As in, I was imagining where our furniture would go, and how it would feel to run on the jogging trail in front of the house. I was gaging how long it would take me to get to work. I was interested in the school districts and neighborhood associations. I was curious if Olive & Violet would have room in the yard. I was wondering all of the things that the casual nosy person wouldn't wonder.

For people that really know me, you'll know that I rarely let myself think about stuff like this unless I am committed to something. So there is obviously something going on for me that is enabling me to think about living in another city. This is really strange to me because I feel so firmly grounded in Austin. I've always said that I never want to leave Austin.

I've been feeling this "tug" quite a lot lately. By "tug," I mean the feeling that something big is going to change. Much to Phil's dismay, I know, but I can't deny it. I'm not sure if it's because I see a lot of potential career-wise in Houston. Or perhaps I am just looking for a change after almost ten years in Austin. Or perhaps something much deeper is going on. I don't really want to leave, I don't think. I mean, my life is nearly perfect right now, so why would I want to change it up?

Phil has been there & done that. He's moved to new cities sight unseen. He's changed careers, changed houses, and hell, changed marriages. He's ready to stay in one place (here) for good. Who knows, maybe I feel restricted by that? I doubt it, but you never know. One of my best friends just moved across the country to settle into a promotion and start building a family. Maybe I'm feeling something around that. I'm just not sure.

So, why am I blogging about this? I just need to get it out. I've been wrestling around with it for quite a while, and this weekend in Houston showed me that the "tug" is a lot stronger than I thought it was. And until I figure this out, I feel like half of me is in Austin, the other half is in Houston, and I'm not fully present anywhere.

Embracing the Off

I'm officially embracing my "off" time. In case anyone was wondering.

I'm going to write about what's been going on for me lately soon, but for now... it's off to dinner at Chuys with our friends that we spent all weekend with. I.E. Continuing to ignore that tomorrow is Monday and I have to face reality again.

Riding for Fun

Somehow I managed to drag my butt out of bed this morning and meet up with the group in Pflugerville for the ACA "Pfinally Pflugerville" ride. Here is everything that went wrong:

-My front tire was flat before I even loaded it into the car.
-My car keys fell out of my jersey at mile 2.
-I got another flat on my front tire at mile 16. It took us 4 tries to fill the tire up with air.
-Dave & I decided to hammer ahead at mile 28. We missed our turn, got lost, then got bad directions from some dude who was out riding on his own. (We were concerned that he kept saying, "Trust me!" even though he held the map upside down.)
-I lost a bottle at mile 42. My cage is really loose so I had to carry both bottles in my jersey.

But who cares? This was one of my favorite rides all year. I finally made it to a group workout, and it was great to see my friends. Even though I was afraid I'd lost all cycling ability in my short time off, I did just fine on the ride. And we ended the day with a pool party/cookout at Bibiana's house. Oh, and the best part, I could see!!!!!!!

Riding for fun today, versus riding "because it's on my schedule and I have to get my miles in" was a blast.

I Can See.

For the first time since I was 10 years old, I woke up this morning and could read my alarm clock without glasses or contacts.

This is absolutely amazing.

Finished

It's official... My season is over.

January 1st to July 25th Totals:
Running: 472 miles
Biking: 1880 miles
Swimming: 60.5 miles
Gym: 70 times

It's pretty cool to see that I've traveled over 2400 miles by land and water this year!

Here are some season highlights:

• Lil' Longhorn 5K, February 25th(?) - Second place female overall, new 5K PR
• Spenco Olympic Tri, April 1st - Very fun triathlon, followed race plan to a T
• Rosedale Ride, April 22(?) - managed to keep up with Panther, Lulu & Kris for 60+ miles
• Armadillo Hill Country Classic, May (?) - 80 mile very hard ride, kept up with the group
• Metroplex Sprint Tri, June 10th - Great race, placed 4th in age group, 1st on bike
• Urban Assault Race, June 24th - Kept up with Lulu, placed 4th in our division
• Katy Flatlands, July 15th - First century ride, and a pretty easy one at that!
• Improved tremendously on my bike
• Improved on my run
• Gained a ton of strength through my gym workouts - my arms and legs actually have definition
• Improved mentally during races - learned to push myself, and believe that I can do better than "just finish" a race
• Improved on my nutrition. I've finally got a good grip on food (physically and mentally)
• and... for those that have been keeping tracking of my new year's resolution... I have run numerous times wearing just running shorts and a sports bra. Meaning, I have been out in public with my stomach exposed to the world. :)

I have had some really great moments this season. The first was when I sped past some guys on the Veloway during our crit workout early season. Another was at Metroplex when I actually won an award - and when I looked at the results to see I had smoked everyone else in my age group on the bike. Another was during the Nutty Brown ride, when I was able to hammer away at the end of a really hard ride. And lastly was the conversation I had with Panther in which he shared how proud he is of me - he has coached me for 2 years and should feel really responsible for my improvements.

I didn't expect to end my season right now. But it's time. I've been working hard for 8 months, and I need a break. For the next 6 weeks I will do whatever I want, with no pressure. So if you see me taking it easy, you know why.

It's been my favorite training season yet.

New Eyes!

I am sooooo excited.... I have Lasik Surgery scheduled for this Friday at 6:00pm. So, by about 7:00pm - I should be able to see!

I had my consultation this morning, and luckily everything looked good and they decided to schedule the surgery this week. They also made lots of comments about how blind I was. (I can't even see that there is a giant E on the screen without my glasses.)

My mom and dad are trying to figure out why I've waited so long to get this done. I think there is something about spending so much money that makes me uneasy. I always thought that glasses & contacts were fine - I've had them for 16 years, and they've worked so far. But now that I've scheduled the surgery, I can't believe I've waited this long. It's a good thing to do this for myself.

I can't wait!!!!!

U-G-L-Y!

U.G.L.Y. You ain't got an alibi.

You're UGLY, yeah yeah, you're UGLY!

By the way, I HATE wearing glasses. Hate it. And upon hearing about Lulu's (and others) success with Lasik, I have hated wearing them even more.

But, thanks to some incredible generosity from my parents, I am now heavily considering getting Lasik. Which means I can throw these ugly glasses in the trash. I really hope this is an option for me - having to wear my glasses lately has sucked.

I have some type of eye infection, so I'm without contacts. It's been horrible. I was again thinking about racing Marble Falls this weekend, but I can't get in the lake because I won't be able to see. Not only do I feel like an ugly hag in these glasses, but I honestly cannot see worth a damn without them. (For those who relate, my contact strength is -7.0!)

So... Consultation. Monday. 10:00am. I can't wait.

Ow!!!

As many of you know, I am very perceptive... I pick out little nuances and motions that my friends make and can imitate them pretty well. So well, in fact, that I start taking them on as my own.

In the past, I've complained that I don't have any of my own little idiosyncrasies, or at least not many that people can readily tell me... But today I found one. One that is my own, one that I've never seen anyone else do: I kind of slap my hand on my forehead when I get frustrated or I'm thinking something over.

How did I figure this out? Because this morning, I ran into a tree. Yes, that's right - I ran smack into a tree while Michelle & I were running at Town Lake. The combination of darkness and not seeing above my glasses did me in. And now I have a nice little welt on my forehead, made worse by the fact that I keep hitting it with my right hand.

Lovely, huh!

Jealous No More

After reading everyone's blogs this morning, I was feeling sad and jealous. It seems like everyone is having great workouts lately. Just this morning, people were posting about their awesome workouts and how great they felt by 7:00am. I, on the other hand, turned off my alarm at 6:00am and slept in.

So why was I sad and jealous? Well, it just seems like the people I train with are getting so fast and strong lately. I feel like I was making a lot of strides earlier this season, but now I've fizzled out a bit. It's not that I don't enjoy training, I just want to keep up with everyone else.

But what can I do, really. There is only so much time in the day. I'm not an elite athlete. As Tim pointed out, I didn't even become "athletic" until 4 years ago. (I mean, I was on the mock trial team in high school, not the cross country team. I took ballet for my P.E. credits.)

I was annoyed at the way I was feeling, so I went to the gym. I had a great workout - I have a new routine, and it felt great to really push myself. Feeling better, I met up with Kerry & Tim to bike at the Veloway. We tried to avoid the rain, but ended up riding right through the middle of the storm. We were like little kids in the rain, laughing and playing and making fun of each other. Perfect!
So happily, I'm feeling much better this afternoon. All this training is ultimately about having fun, right? Today turned out to be a ton of fun. I don't have anything to be sad or jealous about.

Breakfast in Bed

I'm glad to say that after riding over one hundred miles yesterday, I feel great this morning. My shoulders are a bit stiff, but otherwise I feel great.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning to Kris blowdrying her hair - poor thing had to fly to Chicago this morning and get up really early. I woke up again, naturally this time, at 6:30 and decided to go for a run.

I decided that instead of fighting traffic on I10 to go to the office, I'd work from my hotel room. So for the past hour plus, I've been working on my laptop, eating fresh fruit & coffee from downstairs, and resting my feet. Not bad for a Monday morning... not bad at all!

Week of July 9th - Workouts

Run: 13.5 miles (goal 25 miles)
Ride: 120 miles (goal 80 miles)
Swim: 1 mile, 1 time (goal 2 times)
Gym: 1 time

Well, it was a busy week, what can I say. I am not at all motivated to run. I decided to sleep rather than swim on Thursday, and I was saving up for Sunday.

This week's success: my first 100+ mile ride. Now I need to figure out what (if anything) I'm training for. And I need to start running.

Katy Flatlands Century Highlights

Highlights of my first century:

1) Riding with soaking wet socks.
2) Watching Glenda take a very hard fall at mile ONE, but get back on her bike and troop through the ride.
3) The menacing look the police officer gave me after our group got lost, and finally reconnected with the route.
4) Getting so much water in my eyes that I thought I'd lost my contacts, and I couldn't see.
5) Cheering for Kris once she emerged from the port-o-let after we waited on her for what seemed like forever. (The rest of us peed in the shrubs.)
6) Endless supplies of bananas at every rest stop. The rest stop with watermelon was my favorite!
7) Peeing (twice) in the bushes. Getting foliage in my bike shorts. And even though I peed twice in the shrubs, upon arriving to a real facility - I couldn't go.
8) Passing everyone we came across. No one passed us.
9) The glomer(s). Apparently I won the contest for attracting the most random cyclists.
10) Almost crying at mile 92, when my group decided to drop the hammer and I couldn't really keep up. I wanted to get off my bike and sob. Then I got over it and caught up.
11) Finishing, of course! Michelle & Carri waiting at the "finish line" to cheer us in.
12) Feeling great after 105 miles. Granted, this was a very flat course, but 100 miles was really not bad. The company of Glenda, Kris, Lulu, Tim & Panther made for a wonderful century.

Lulu & I at mile 83- the longest both of us had ridden.

The group at the start. In the rain. Good times!

Friday Horoscope

"You may wish that you didn't have so many things to do, but your life could settle down a bit after tomorrow's New Moon. Don't wait until you've hit the wall, for if you don't pull back soon, you could crash from sheer exhaustion. Start applying the brakes gently by getting some much-needed rest and relaxation."

Question: Does heading back out of town for 4 days and doing my first century (100 mile) bike ride qualify as "applying the brakes gently?"

Road Warrior

Monday: woke up at 4:30am, run, worked, biked, entertained, home around 11:00pm.

Tuesday: woke up at 4:30am, swam, drove to Houston, worked, entertained, back at hotel around 10:00pm

Wednesday: woke up, meetings starting at 7:30am, drove to Austin, luncheon at 11:30pm, worked, about to hit the road for a 2 hour drive to San Antonio, then driving back tonight.

And it starts again tomorrow, when my first board meeting is at 7:45am.

I am exhausted. I want my gym, and I want my bed.

Enough venting, I'm heading back out...