Wednesday, February 16, 2011
One more cup of coffee for the road.......
The wind was howling and blowing strong against our house. I could hear branches and other organic matter hitting the side of our house and falling on the roof, it was 4am. Who wants to get out of bed to tie on some running shoes and head out the door? This guy does....
Yeah, with a cute and blurry face like that...who could say no to a morning run? 35 mph headwinds and all. Plus I have the HAT Run 50k in March, so I guess it is a good time to start training! LOL.
Made my first necklace and put it up for sale on Etsy. It is composed of recycled copper, steel, turquoise, carnelian, and love. It found a home with a dear friend of mine (this makes me so happy!!). Looking at this makes me smile and it makes me excited to learn more (and boy, do I have A LOT to learn!). Reflecting on past creations and seeing progress makes me even more excited. But I have to live in the now and enjoy today. Love. Live. You enjoy myself.
Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to visit my little part of the cyberworld! It is nice here (despite the wind). If you were here, I would pour you a cup of coffee and we could go for a trail run in the morning darkness. Make sure to bring a windbreaker.
Have a lovely day xoxoxox.
Monday, December 20, 2010
A peaceful place or so it looks from space.....
What this is costing us..
Just had to get that off my chest.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
walk me out in the cold rain and snow...
Sheesh, the last post on this thing was in MAY! Holy crap! So much has happened.
Purchased a home..... |
.........in the hills of Virginia (view from our porch). |
Took on another member of the family (me and PACO, our new dog). |
I love this time of year, running in sub zero tempratures make me feel so alive. The cold is a challenge in itself, the bare trees are quite lovely. They show me the vistas they conceal in the summer months and allow me to have a view of the ridgeline throughout my run. These trees let the wind burn my face and the sun shine down, while they take a beating from Old Man Winter.....love this little mountain of mine.
I will however be happy when the winter running laundry heap is over. Damn, I wear a lot of clothes.
Ok, back to work on some jewerly. Been slackin' on that too! I will leave a pic of our road in the summer....
it was about 97 degrees F when this pic was taken. Today, it is about 70 degrees colder and this road is encased in ice!
Peace OUT xoxox
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Being twisted a million different ways
add the stress of buying a house, working 11-12 hour days, trying to train for upcoming races, dealing with office BS, and the possibility of having to travel anywhere in the country at a moments notice...really makes for some interesting thoughts in my head...ARRRG!
How do you fit it all into one day? well, take it one day at a time. I got through yesterday ok and today is well on its way out. Tomorrow will be another day and the days add up. Pretty soon the rough patch is gone and a lot was learned. Yesterday, I learned the day was all in my attitude. If I let people or situations mess with my serenity, then yes...the day went awry. If I kept focused on myself and the task at hand, not worrying about what everyone else is doing....and the day went wonderful. Trying to stay positive and doing the best possible job I can do. What more can anyone ask for?
Things I am grateful for today:
- my health
- my family
- stable blood sugar (ha! I am doing a good job with nutrition today)
- clean drinking water
- clean clothes
- a job
- herbal tea
- a computer network that hasnt crashed
- phish and youtubes of phish
- the woods
Ok, thats all for now. Hope anyone who is reading this has a great day! If you are having a shitty one, just list everything you are grateful for today...at this exact moment and your day may not seem so shitty.
XOXOXOX
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
When the days go by...
And what a day it was. Capon Valley 50k was last Saturday and I have to admit, it is one of my favorite races. Sure, the scenery is lush and beautiful..but the people make this race. The volunteers who spend their entire day out helping the runners reach their goal. I am talking about lovely people who say, "thank you for running this race" when you reach their aid station. Volunteers who make a bbq chicken dinner for every runner. I am talking about a home cooked meal! Homemade dressings for the salads, pies, baked beans, and even the BBQ sauce is homemade. So much love is poured into this race, it makes for a lovely experience. I had a smile on my face the entire run.
And the run itself? Well considering it had a cumulative elevation gain of 11,000 feet and i had zero training (seriously, I havent run over 15 miles in months) I finished in 6:35. Not too shabby, considering. The best part is that I feel great. No soreness, tightness, nothing. The climbs were great and the downhills were my favorite, super fast and not very technical. As I recall, I actually threw my arms up and yelled as I ran down the hills..laughing like a little kid. Trail running and ultras do that to me. Maybe there was something in the bananas.
Today? I am fully recovered. Actually, I was fully recovered on Sunday morning. It may be the time i have spent strength training in the gym, or maybe it was the kindness of a community helping me along. Whatever it was, it was a beautiful day and I am glad I was around to see it.
The end of the month holds another 50k put on by a super talented and nutty ultra girl. She describes the course as having, "Barkley-esque climbs" and "dont plan on PR'ing this course". YEEEHAW! I cant wait.
Nothing much on the jewelery front right now except some sketches. My "studio" is a bit of a mess right now and I havent had any time to get in there and straighten things up. I did buy some really cool pieces of stone and petrified wood when I was out in CO. There are big plans in the works for those pieces.
Kiss the mountain air we breathe, oh its time to fly.
XOXOXOOX
Monday, February 22, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Holy Crap! A lot has happened......
Well, Mike done did it....he asked me to marry him and I said yes! Actually, I beleive the answer was, "f*!k yeah!"...I like to keep it classy. We are pretty excited, I am going to marry my best friend and his funny jokes. He will keep me laughing for a long time, well that and the solder fumes from my jewelery!
In training news:
My ass is lazy and I have been really slacking with my training. Must be a winter slump (although this did not happen last year). I have kicked my mileage down to 35 mpw and I have not seen a technical trail for an entire month. The snow is still on the trail from the December "blizzard" here in VA and my yaktrax have not touched a single icy rock or snow covered root. No clue why, but it is making me sad and its going to make my 50k time that much slower. AND i have gained 2 pounds from not running as much...UGGGGG. But that's cool, I know what I need to do. And its called self motivate.
My upcoming races are 2/13 (Holiday Lake 50++K) and 3/27 HAT Run 50k. I will hopefully post my results of non-training. HA. Thank buddah, I run a very hilly maintance route (1200 ft of cumaltive elevation gain in 6.8 miles), it helps out alot. But it also lets me slack alot...tempo runs? huh? see what I mean?!?!!?
My jewelry:
Well, I am having a hard time with my work space. It is very small and it is currently in the back room of our even smaller abode. This room doubles as a studio/sewing room/office/guest room (although we rarely have guests) I am so cramped in there and have to open a window when i solder (the soldering thing is another story). Plus I have realized that I need a different torch b/c mine burns way too hot. Lots of melted pieces and cursing have come out of my workspace. But learning all this stuff is so much fun! By the way, if ANYONE reads this crap, do you have any good websites for beginning metalsmithing? Like the absolute basics.
I did make these the other day:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38853389