The Pup

I’m officially a mom as of Friday, when I can pick up my darling girl.  I think it’s come down to Reggie or Mo (short for Morgan) for the name.   I went to see the puppies this weekend and they are absolutely adorable.  My baby girl is quite a large pup and she’s continued to get even cuter with each passing week.  I can’t wait to bring her home.

Today I purchased this neat camera/video recorder which will let me upload short films to the blog.  Be prepared – in about a week the blog will probably be inundated with Reggie/Mo videos.  In preparation, I’ve read one book (“How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With” – it was very informative) and I’m working my way through another book – “Good Owners, Great Dogs.”  I am learning all about body language, how to properly train the pup and what to expect.  Feel free to  chime in with any additional suggestions.

A Slight Setback…

Unfortunately I caught some kind of bug about a week ago and it has taken me a full week to recover.  It was the weirdest combination of symptoms – I initially came down with a horrible fever.  I got the chills and crawled under numerous blankets but despite being incredibly chilly, I was sweating bullets.  That lasted for about 24 hours.  Then I got a really bad cough and sore throat and generally felt very fatigued and nauseous.  This continued for another several days.  Finally, a week and a day later, I feel good again.  There is spring in my step and my head isn’t pounding.  Unfortunately I think at least one of my co-workers caught my sickness.  Ugh, total bummer.

Trying to be smart about my health, I had to take a week off from training.  I ran for the first time in a week on Monday and felt like death for the entire six miles.  I was also crawling at a 10:00+/mile pace. Unfortunate but at least I got some miles in.  Yesterday I ran at lunch and felt awesome for about four miles (I was hauling at about an 8:40/mile pace) and then died for the last mile.  Overall I was at a 9:00/mile pace.  Not horrible but now I’m ready to get back into shape and am thinking I might do some intervals on Thursday and aim for 11-12 miles this weekend.  Good thing the marathon isn’t until the end of May!

She Likes To Hang Out In the Dirt

It's A Girl...

Marathon Training Update

Despite the crappy weather this weekend – it was raining on and off and probably ranged in temperature from about 58 to 62 (with lots of clouds and wind) – I was able to get in some decent runs. My long runs are still a little slow for my liking, but all that is going to change shortly now that I’m focusing on running and have finished up my aerobics. Saturday I went for an 11 miler and made the mistake of running east on Broadway Street from downtown for about 2.25 miles. I ran through Sherman Heights to Stockton until I almost hit the 15. Definitely not great scenery – I was scared I was going to get stabbed on several occasions, but then I came back into downtown and ran around Embarcadero.

Sunday and this morning I was able to get decent shorter distance runs in – Sunday I did 5.5 miles at about an 8:55/mile pace and this morning I made it 5 miles at an 8:43/mile pace. Slowly but surely I am feeling a little bit quicker. This weekend hopefully I will be able to get in at least 12 at close to a 9:00/mile pace. I might venture out to the track tomorrow evening to get in an interval workout…that will be a true test of how out of shape I am. Stay tuned!

And Then…No More Debbie Every Day

Last Thursday I completed my vigorous six week aerobics training program with Debbie Siebers. After four straight weeks of six days a week “Ramp It Up” I was just about ready to vomit when the exercise started. I chose to blast Britney Spears throughout my training, so now I can pretty much choreograph an aerobics workout from start to finish for 59 minutes when I hear Britney belt out the beginning of “Gimme More.” It was a long and monotonous ride, but a good change from training for a run and gave me a new appreciation for aerobics. It can be pretty tough, believe me. Thanks Debbie for toning up my muscles and I’ll smell ya later!

A Whirlwind of Activity and Slacking on the Blog

I apologize to my three loyal blog readers that I have been a complete slacker on writing new posts over the past week or so. However, it’s been a busy 10 days and I have been devoting my ex-work time on the computer to things like looking for new apartments and Googling dog names. As an executive summary, within the past week I have decided to move from my luxurious East Village pad right across the street from Petco Park to a location TBD and have also put down a security deposit on a new yellow lab pup. I’ll be picking her up March 15th.

My awesome roommate Sara is moving in with her (almost) equally awesome boyfriend Todd shortly. After a couple weeks of deliberation, I decided I am going to get my own place, which gives me the flexibility to do things like get a dog if I want. Which I decided in short order I wanted to do. I grew up with great labs – my parents are also parents to Avery and Tucker and I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with them since childhood. Needless to say, there have been incidences – particularly me leaving the Dove soap on the ledge of the tub, which Tucker decided to eat and then get extremely sick from – that have been bumps in the road, but overall I’ve loved Jackson, Sprocket, Tucker and Avery throughout my 28 years. Next will be another female yellow: Avery Jr.? Reggie? (West Coast) Bramble? Scout? MacKenzie? So many name choices, only a couple weeks left to decide. Please feel free to comment with suggestions.

On the housing front, right now I am thinking it will likely be in the La Jolla/Birdrock/North PB area. Closer to the beach – which is good for running and dog walking – and hopefully still a relatively easy commute to work. I still have work to do in this area – keep your fingers crossed I can take advantage of the crummy economy to get a good deal on a 1 BR apartment that’s pet friendly.

Ode to the Garmin 405

This watch is amazing.  It is definitely worth the investment if you are a serious runner.  I am hoping that it will shame me into running faster every training run because it tells me live during my runs my actual pace.  As a result, if I feel like I am speeding along and look down and see 9:32/mile, I know I need to pick it up.

This weekend I got some serious miles in.  Yesterday was a very slow 10 miles (of which about 6 were on the actual beach) and today I squeezed in 5 miles before my soccer game at a sub 9:00/mile pace.  My legs now feel like they weigh about 200 pounds each.  Only five more days of Debbie Sieber and then I'm fully focused on the marathon.  Hopefully I'll get down to training at an 8:30-8:40/mile pace.  This will take some work because this weekend's runs revealed just how out of running shape I am.  Good thing the marathon isn't until May 31st!

A Word to the Wise

If you are a dog person - in particular a lab person - and one of your friends suggests going with her to look at some lab puppies, you should say no because you will want one.  I think I am pretty responsible and had previously been very against even considering having a puppy because puppies (and dogs) require a lot of time and love, and it's hard to do that when you have a busy job.  However, people my age have kids and families, so don't you think it's possible that I could make time for a puppy if I really wanted one?

Hmmm...I'm sure this dilemma is "to be continued" but I am seriously thinking about how I could make time in my life for a new yellow lab puppy.  The parents are awesome, the family is so nice and the puppies are absolutely adorable.  

The Cutest Puppies Ever

This One Wants to Come Home With Me

Mom, Dad and Uncle of the Puppies

The Whole Crew on the Deck

Impatience and Creativity (or Creepiness)

If you knew me well, there are times you might think I have a little bit of OCD. For example, today I probably spent two hours searching for a great countdown widget just because I wanted to put it on the blog next to the poll about my expected marathon time. I found several interesting widgets but they were either broken or couldn't be edited to have their size fit my blog. I even reached out to my loyal (three) blog readers for suggestions.

This problem, coupled with the fact that I just erased six gigs of music by not using iPod Rip the first go round, has bothered me so much I woke up in the middle of the night. Now I am blogging and fixing my iTunes problem at 2:07a, which should make for an awesome Monday morning.

Fear not because I have come up with a creative (or creepy) solution to my countdown widget problem. Since at least half of the countdown widgets are for baby due dates, I decided to have marathon triplets. Your call, dear reader, is this creative or creepy?

The Search For A Quality Countdown Widget

Blog readers and technology savvy folks: does anyone know of a great countdown widget I can add to my blog? My go to spot Widgetbox has let me down and I haven't had much luck Googling it...open for suggestions.

San Diego Rock 'N Roll Marathon

I officially signed up for the San Diego Rock 'N Roll Marathon yesterday. It is May 31st, which means I have four months to get into tippy-top running shape.

Regular blog readers know I've been devoting some serious energy to Debbie Siebers' aerobics workout plan (which officially ends in two weeks) but I will shortly be reallocating this focus to running. Yesterday I went for a 10 mile jaunt through PB and Mission Beach. It was a bit of a struggle - particularly the last mile - but I made it in just over an hour and a half. Definitely not great time but at least I got some miles in.

Four Down, Two To Go!

This morning completed my fourth week of Debbie Siebers' "Slim in 6" workout program. It has been quite monotonous for the past couple of days and I have to admit I am really excited to not have to see her everyday after two more weeks. "Burn It Up" has started getting easier but I am about ready to vomit every time I start the workout. TWO MORE WEEKS...