Junie B's Meme

I AM …at peace with myself.
I WANT… to travel more.
I HAVE…lots and lots and lots of shoes.
I KEEP…everything. Extreme packrat disorder.
I WISH I COULD… be less clumsy. And sing.
I HATE… stupid.
I FEAR…my unused potential.
I HEAR…silence, and I like it.
I DON’T THINK… most people think before they vote or have children.
I REGRET… times when I haven't given it my all.
I LOVE…my cute husband :-)
I AM NOT…particularly organized or patient, which some people think are requirements for teaching.
I DANCE…with myself and others, every chance I get.
I SING…all the time. Unfortunately for others, this includes concerts, too.
I NEVER… say Never. It will ALWAYS bite you in the ass.
I RARELY…know when to quit.
I CRY WHEN I WATCH…friends struggle or hurt.
I AM NOT ALWAYS…active. I spend h-o-u-r-s on the couch with my books.
I HATE THAT…poochy part of my belly over my waistband.
I’M CONFUSED ABOUT…why I can't manage a flip turn without nearly drowning. I will try again today.
I NEED… to go run my 7-8 miles, but it's already hot and I just ate.
I SHOULD…interrupt less and be more considerate.


*I stole this. You should too.*

And the weekend finally arrives, just in time to raise my spirits: TGIF

Actually, compared to wed-thursday, the last coupla days have been great.

Brief synopsis of the last 48 hours:
When you last left leetle Gaslight, she had freshly pained toes and was heading to the Ho for a beer-which made for a somewhat painful Friday. My first full week back at work-couldn't have made it thru without adding more challenges, right?

Grind had a hankering for Onion Creek, so we headed out for libations and a turkey sandwich. Ran into Dude Where's my Car and UrN8 and had quite a nice visit.

Five-thirty am Saturday brought my longest run in quite a while-18 miles. It turned out exceedingly well-Coach Jon managed to convince Schroeder and Wayne that they should run an easier pace than usual. Like that's NEW information! These guys have been dragging me around the city in pre-dawn hours for the past 6 years, and NOW they listen that their long runs should be at 8-8:15. Thank. The. Lord. Anyhoo, thanks to multiple Gatorade stops, it was almost like fun.


Saturday afternoon/evening was the long-awaited San Leon pub crawl, hared by Can't Touch This. Grind has a new case of blue-toe (Friday he broke the little piggy who stayed home), so we took our mountain bikes. Her original trail had TEN bars. About 5 too many for my taste, but eh, it's her trail. We started at the Top Water Grill on 9th Street, which I must say I would visit again. Full of local beach rats and guys in cigarette boats, but a nice setup on the bay. I guess it's the bay, anyway.

Trail wound thru the neighborhoods and we caught the local sights: the oyster place, a parrot nest, a pony, loose dogs, etc. The second stop was a bit too smoky, so we pedaled out to some of the other bars: the Green Parrot and 18th Street.

The most well-built structure in San Leon:

Don' t you love the way the liquor store graciously shares its space with the Defensive Driving school?

Remember that I had to stop my bike on the road and get my camera out to take this..it's just that awe inspiring.

It was across the street from a guy with TX's largest yard sale. He probably had 40 8-foot tables set up right on the street, all completely covered with crap.

A couple of homes and businesses were preparing for he possible wrath of Gustav, but not many.

Our next stop was the Green Parrot, where a band was setting up to play later that evening.

I won't bore you with the rest of the evening, but we stayed pretty low-key in comparison to the rest of the crowd. Something about being on bike and nearly forty miles from home..I don't know.

@^$%#&$%&#%*!!!!!

GAH! What kind of a crap excuse for a day was THAT?

So since I had a "Meet the Coaches Night" commitment from 4:30-6:30 pm on Wednesday, I arose at 5 am for a 6 mile, character-building trot at the park, totally solo. You remember that Wednesday is my favorite running night, don't you? So a personal compromise to start out, and a long day ahead of me to boot.

The evening was fine, but I let the building at 6:45 to find my car askew-my left rear tire is flat! BAH!

Ok, no biggie. Grind pays for AAA, so i head back indoors to give them a call. "Your estimated window is until 8:45..." WHA???

Two hours? Really?"

"Oh, no, it won't take THAT long," dispatch assures me.

So I head out a second time to wait. I have water, I have a book, I will be fine. I see a few other coaches file out to their vehicles, and another female coach leaving walks out and stops. "You don't know how to change a flat?"

"Sure, I just don't want to. AAA will be here soon, I'm in a dress, and 9 times out of 10 something happens to make a self-tire change impossible." This is called foreshadowing, people.

Painfully long story short, it WAS going to take 2 hours, despite additional phone calls. Actually, it took 2 and a half for them to arrive. In that time span, I changed into shorts and Marnie and I tackled 80% of the tire change...until we discovered my jack's shortcomings.

Literally.

My entire strut was exposed, but I still couldn't budge my tire. The damn thing was big enough! I asked the wrecker driver guy to check and be sure I wasn't totally lame, and he said, "Huh- you need to write Ford a letter."

So I arrived home at 10 o'clock. No Run. No Rice. No beer. Poo.

And Thursday, it just gets better. I had to make my first parent call, which is always a drag. I really want to bond with my kids before I have to start fussing at them, but 5th period will not allow it.

Having spent an extra 20 minutes on campus, I then race to Costco to find a new tire. At least I have the silver lining of Costco shopping, right?

Wrong.

They examine the flat to see if it can be fixed, and it can't which is not big deal. So I'll buy a new tire! And other treats while I wait!

Unfortunately, Costco doesn't sell Continental Tires, and the helpful sales guys tell me that studies show using different treads can impede performance in rainy conditions. He recommends Discount Tire, which I know will be full of people by 4:30, and I plead with him to call and see if they have what I need.

He returns with worse news- the only store in the area with this tire is on I-10 at Kirkwood.

I now have to get on the Katy Freeway at nearly 5 pm on Thursday. I nearly cried.

I hate to be such a baby, but I was really looking forward to a tough group run before the Drips' keg at the Ho. Thinking this would be so fast, I didn't even grab my clothes before I left home that morning.

The employees at DT are always great, so I hate that in most cases I'm so glum when I have to be there. Yes, they have the tire, and the wait time will be...and hour and a half.

I'm so bummed, but there's not much to do. I curl up with my YA novel and wait.

I guess the somewhat shiny part of this is that they actually could fix my tire, so I left without paying one red cent. No run was going to fit, so I indulged in a Chai Latte and a mani/pedi, thinking a good foot rub could turn my frown upside-down.

That and a frosty St Arnold amber seemed to do it.

Is everyone who comments on the Chron.com site an idiot?

A local nutritionist and friend of mine was featured in a Lifestyle section article
today. Kruppa serves as dietitian to the Olympic diving team. I thought the story was clever, a nice response to the huge publicity given to Phelps massive calorie consumption.

The comments, however, range from inane to offensive. In the accompanying photo she stands in front on pool lanes and holds a fresh peach and a head of broccoli. Some say stupid carp like "Gimmee a steak" while other readers spewed comments like "most people hate broccoli" and hateful barbs about the nutritionists' appearance. Another accused her of arrogance when she posed a hypothetical question (after being asked) her opinion on Phelps' high-calorie, high fat diet.

I could hold my tongue no longer...and join the idiots...

Yes, the nerve of a nutritionist to promote fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grains. Do you pay a professional to give you the help you've asked for, or blow sunshine up your skirt? Grow. Up.

When ASKED to comment on Phelps' diet, Kruppa gave a response, "I can't complain much because he looks pretty darn good and he just won eight Olympic gold medals." Then added, "One question I have is: If he ate a very healthy diet and included healthy fats and whole grains, what could he do? We don't know"That doesn't really sound like hubris, jealousy or critcism, but more of a professional musing. The dumbest thing you've ever read? Really? You don't think it might be a response to the publicity given to Phelps' diet and calorie burning? Olympians' diets are certainly nothing like what your average desk jockey needs to consume, but I do think it's relevant to current events.

Back to school

Ah well. I have spent 7 of the last 11 days in meetings. Missed me?

That's what I do for a living, right? Sit in meetings? I spent about two hours setting up my room, and we finally got a couple of hours to lesson plan last Friday. FRIDAY! After already being at work for more than a week! Sheesh!

Finally, last Thursday was "Meet the Teacher" night. Quite a misnomer, as it was actually, "Come and pick all your forms and shit" night. BUT, even though it required me staying late, missing my run (thunderstorms!) and being almost an hour late to the Scavenger Hunt party at Saint A's, I DID get to see some of my kids, which energized me more than any other thoughts surrounding "returning to work" had thus far. Some were cute and sweet, running up to me with open arms...others grinned shyly and gave me a half wave..and a few more tried to hide and turn their parents the other way. I guess those were mostly the ones still feeling the sting of summer school.

Today I got my new crop of 7th graders- all eight-four of them. My teammate fought for me to have at least one section of Pre-AP students (think honors) this year, and Oh. My. God. I am so thankful. I never wanted to be elitist and demand them, but she thought I really needed at least a daily one hour break from struggling readers and severely at risk kiddos. "But I love all of my students!" I said, (ok, the majority of them).

But there is a difference. As a whole, they are a little more motivated and seem to expect more of themselves. This will be good. For them, for me, and for the rest of my students, too, I think.

Some of them even look like runners. :-)

What I did this summer

Last Thursday brought a flurry of girly emails from various hashers: "Who's doing Ironbabe this Saturday? Yay!"

OK, perhaps I exaggerate, but more than a couple of Harriette's sent messages about their training and the uber-cool race this Sunday, Ironbabe.

I want to be an Ironbabe. But it's been ELEVEN years. No bricks. No long bike rides. Good God let's not even think about the last time I've been swimming with any consistency (never, actually.)

I really gave it up for marathoning...it was too much to continuously train with no off-season.

I mulled it over: positive! It's so short!

I thought about the logistics: I'm running 14-16 on Saturday. Hmm.

I thought about my training: I haven't swum a stroke this year. Ok, maybe to get my drink.
I thought about every other excuse I could muster: I could be really slow, and I might be embarrassed.

I mentioned my musings to Stop n Blow at Bunco on Thursday.

Conclusion: If you really DON'T want to do something, don't mention it to Stop NBlow. Especially when she's on FIRE.

By Saturday morning after the 14 miles, I had talked myself out of it. Then she called.

"I just wanted you to know that MY race number for tomorrow is 196, and I wondered what yours would be. I'm hanging up now..." And she did!

So I drove to Tri on the Run and did it. How bad could it be?? Let's consider it an $80 workout.

The call back: "MY race number is 409. What time are you coming to get me?"

And so it went. Knowing I was woefully unprepared, I chilled out on the swim and bike. Like breast stroke chilled out. And I rode about 18 mph on the bike, all the while thinking about the run. I even wore my Camelback, just thinking I would stay hydrated that way.

I calculated the distance, and decided that anything under 1:10 I could be thrilled with. 1:09:34, baby! Believe it or not, I placed 4th in my age group.

But what am I really proud of? I did it. Throwing caution and pride to the wind, I followed SnB's lead and just went for it. I never felt bad, and I had a great time being with my hasher girls.

That and I had THE fast freaking run split of the entire effing race! OMG@! Who knew?
http://www.eztoregister.com/results/aghtmib08.htm

Once upon a time...

...therer lived a triathlete named Gaslight. Well, not really a triathlete by nature, but accidental, if you will.

see, that spring, sge decided to join her college buddies in their yearly tradition of riding the MS150. (BTW -The Houston was NEVER 150 miles, but 180 or so. Back in the olden days you only had to collect $150 in donations. )

Ok, back to the story. After the ride, one of the buddies introduced GL to his friend Maryanne, who was training for tris. Just sprint distance, nuthin' fancy, but it sounded cool. Maryanne thought GL was a fun, hip chick and let her swim at the Houstonian with her. And you know how I feel about the Houstonian.

That summer, I did my first race, COMBAT. It was H.O.T., and the venue couldn't have sucked any worse than it did. Seriously, the I45 feeder thru Texas City? Really? But at that race, Marynnne introduced me to some of her nice tri-geek buds, most of whom sort of ignored me. Hmph. Other however, like "Big Daddy" Dave Rainey, took an interest in budding athletes like Maryanne and me and guided us thru bike rides and generally encouraged us in our neophyte racing careers. It was a good summer of workouts. I only did one more tri, but one day I decided to push the envelope while running at the park. Why not run a third loop? I still feel pretty good...

You might figure out where this is going. Later that month, I signed of for the 1995 Houston Tenneco Marathon and started to seriously train, sort of following the Chronicles schedule.

Fast-forward a couple of years to tri season...I've now done a few marathons, got tons of short races under my belt, and even met our favorite curmudgeone, Grind Slut. We're training for the Texas Hill Country Tri in Canyon Lake, formerly the National Log Course Championship. I have no delusions of placing; this race is tough and popular. Months of hot bike rides and unprecedented miles of swim training. The usual running, but as you might imagine, not the toughest part for me. I always knew once I got thru the swim, I'd pass folks for the rest of the morning! One weeklend two weeks out, we did a double header: an Olympic distance in Victoria on Saturday followed by the Cinco Ranch sprint and a shiggy hash on Sunday.

I was as ready as I'd ever be.

One tri-friend commented prior to the swim that I looked more like I was about to be fed to the alligators than doing a race! Another advised me to just take it easy on the bike; save something for the run.

I think I was last out of the water. It was a 1.5 mile swim in the most gorgeous fresh water I think I still have ever been in.

The bike was hilly. I just stayed calm, chugging up the many hills and trying not to freak out on the scary downgrades.

And then, my dear reader, I had the run of my life. It was 100 degrees, but elation filled my soul. I ran fast, I slapped guys on the ass as I passed them. I picked it up, and finished smiling.

I made my goal. That was 1997. More later.

For my friends that actually made it to Conroe this morning:

I suck.
Or rather, I am totally remedial at alarm-setting. 4:30 it is!

I awoke with a start at 5:12 when Grinds says, "What time are your friends coming?"

Um, I was supposed to be at the park 10 minutes ago.If the doorbell had rung, I would have been out in les than 5...

I threw myself together and ran with WayneFit.

So sorry, I regret missing the opportunity. Would have provided notice if I was flaking out; I hope you guys didn't wait too long and had a nice run.

Mammoth Lakes, part deux

The reason we came: BLUESAPALOOZA!

Ok, so I can take or leave about 75% of blues bands, but does have a nice ring to it, right? And 50+ microbreweries!~ Egads!



The festival is nestled in the pines, and really got crankin (I mean crowded)around 2 pm. The beer tasting was only from 12-5 (only!)


Feeling as if we were on a mission, Grind, Frenchy D and I worked diligently for he first hour and half we were there, working our way from booth to booth. I was plumb tuckered out, not to mention hungry! Toolbox and I rest here on a pointy rock. Not. Too. Comfy.

Speaking of my dear friend Toolbox, she doesn't drink beer, bless her heart. Can you believe?? She does drink Rieslings, is awfully nice, and looks good in hot pants (that's important to boys, I think) , so we keep her around. So, we went in search of overpriced, low-quality white wines to sate her while all of her companions basked in the delights of microbrews.

During our "travels", we stopped to chat about something (after she has her wine, of course) and some guy overheard us-"Hey-where are you guys from?"

Um, Texas? Well actually, TB is a Midwesterner...it was my accent that he decided didn't belong.

Myaccent. I canhazone?

"You didn't come here just for this!" he complained, or judged, or sumpthin', I dunno.

We insisted that yes, I was huge fan of most beers, but TB was just a trooper along for the ride. To a beer festival.





I have a private moment. Mmmmm, hops!!

Good PR Move for the Chevron Houston Marathon

Full Registration Refund through August


Are you registered but unable to run in January? The Houston Marathon Committee is offering all current registrants in the marathon or half marathon a full registration refund through August 31, 2008. The previously-announced partial refunds of $65 for the marathon and $40 for the half marathon will continue to be offered from September 1 through November 20, 2008. Transfers and refunds will not be offered after November 20, 2008. Participants who have already transferred their registration and received a partial refund will be receiving an additional refund towards the end of the month. To request a full refund, click here.

Mammoth Lakes, #1

Look at the Happy campers!

After a full day of planes, trains and automobiles (ok, no trains, really) Grind, Frenchy D and I made it into Mammoth Lakes, home of Olympic marathoners Ryan and Deena. Those two, however, apparently were not aware of the impending Bluesapalooza and left for Bejing two weeks early! Whatever.

We joined up with a tired bunch of Bayou City folks for happy hour, where an elated Sticky Lips shared news from the events of their week. I galnced about the bar and noticed, hey, we aren't in Texas any more....

Everyone, including the trombone player in the band and only excepting the crew of bartenders, looked fit enough to go out an hoof a marathon the next day. I'm not saying that they were all locals, but it was way "differnt" than H-town.

Our threesome didn't really want the pub food at the Dublainers, so we sauntered across the street to Petra's Wine Bar and Bistro. Oh. My. Goodness. So yummy!

Their website won't let me steal any pictures, so you'll have go to the Gallery and look: I'll wait. Pretty nice, huh? and soooo yummy! Really, I'm just talking about the wines. It was so overwhelmingly good I was beside myself

















A surfed the internet for days to procure appropriate accomodations for Mammoth, with thes priorities: close to the festival, quiet, nonsmoking, and cool.

After realizing I could pay too much for a crappy room or too much for a kick-ass room, I settled on the Westin Monache. Would recommend.
Cozy, no?
And with a full kitchen, who knew??

We made the cut!

I know that you were all on the edge of your seats, but despite one closed bar, camera malfunctions and photo-sharing site woes, my fellow-pubcrawlers and I are all in the top 200 for the St Arnold Scavenger Hunt!

Yes, hey due to a crippling number of responses, the Saint doubled the number of winners and prozes.

The drawing for the kegerators will be at the brewery next week. Wish us luck!

They've posted photos taken by the winners, so I thought I'd share:

Me at the Brewery Tap:
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=149572806&albumID=1670606&imageID=21927259

Grind gazes lovingly at the Edinbirgh Pub Crawl ma:
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=149572806&albumID=1670606&imageID=21927323

Showing his love for democracy, Asswipe made the cut:
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=149572806&albumID=1670606&imageID=21927348

The dangers of late night curry

My left hand sports numerous fire ant bites from procuring lemongrass from the yard in the dark. Grrr.

I know, I know, I've ben out of town. I have to do some things and I'll update later, 'kay?

XXOO