I Am Not Cool Enough For: Running Into Celebrities

While we were in San Francisco, another exciting thing happened.  I had a celebrity run in!

Husband was off getting a shave at the Art of Shaving (yes, we went to San Fran so I could run a half marathon and Husband went to the man spa.)  I jumped in the elevator to head over to meet him at the Art of Shaving, after a nice hour of Doing Nothing, something I don't get to do at home with two kids and a husband who likes to have every moment of free time planned.

Gabrielle Union, as seen on Wikipedia.
You know I did not take this picture

And in the elevator was Gabrielle Union (and some other woman)!

My first reaction was to say, "HOLY SHIT!  YOU ARE GABRIELLE UNION!  YOU ARE TOTALLY GORGEOUS!  YOUR SKIN IS AMAZING!  WHAT SKIN LINE DO YOU USE?" which would have been somewhat hilarious since she was at the Half Marathon as the Neutrogena spokeswoman as well as embarrassing for yelling at poor Gaby.

My second reaction was to be embarrassed by my outfit.  I was wearing a leopard print cardi over a white tank and jeans--and leopard print flats.  Somehow when packing, I had convinced myself that the leopard print flats would go with all my outfits and they were the only shoes I packed besides my running shoes.  I tend to overpack, and so I make an effort to remove unnecessary items from my suitcase when traveling, and I clearly had not thought that through enough.

I should point out that I have no memory of what Gaby was wearing.

My third reaction was to be a little smug about the fact that while Gaby is skinnier and more beautiful than I, I am taller.

I managed to pull myself together and stand silently in the elevator.

But before we left the elevator, it stopped on the second floor.  I have zero sense of direction and was momentarily confused as to what floor the lobby was on and I sort of peeked out the elevator doors.  Gaby said, "Sorry, that was me.  I pushed the wrong button."  And I said something like, "Oh, no worries."

So here's the thing.  When you see a celebrity, you have two options:

1)  Go all out.  In my scenario, I would have shouted in excitement at Gaby, possibly yelled at her to "BRING IT!", and taken a picture with her with my iPhone.

2)  Actually not care.  This would have involved me not updating my Facebook status while walking to the Art of Shaving, then announcing to EVERYONE in the store that I was on the elevator with Gabrielle Union.  Instead, I would casually mention it quietly to my husband between courses at dinner.

Because I'm easily embarrassed, I try to do option 2, but I'm not cool enough really to pull it off.  Nor do I have the balls to go all out with option 1.  And that's why I'm not cool enough to really have celebrity run ins.

(And some other time we'll talk about the time I danced with Matthew McConaughey)

I Am Not Cool Enough to Hate on the new Girly Legos

I was very excited to start seeing articles about the new Lego Friends in December, as the lack of pink and purple Legos is very annoying to me.  I bought my daughter a Star Wars Advent Calendar for Christmas (which she loved), and though she's mostly still a little young for Legos, she helps her dad build the Lego Architecture sets we give him for Christmas and his birthday.  

In case I wasn't clear in my post about women in tech, I'm all about encouraging little girls to be interested in math and science, having once been a little girl and went to a math and science high school and work in the tech industry today.  And I don't discriminate between "boy" and "girl" toys for my daughter or my son.  My daughter had a Transformers theme birthday party this year.  My son prefers the Disney Princess sippy cups we have.  If they are interested in something, we encourage it.

Immediately after the Lego announcements came out, people who have more time than I began hating on the girly legos, updating their Facebook statuses and writing on the Lego wall talking about how girls don't need these sets.   I'm really wondering who these people are because let me tell you, these Lego Friends sets look like fun, and I can't wait to play with them.  I mean, for my daughter to play with them.

Here's my favorite of all the set, girly Lego scientist:

It's so cool!  See the robot!  And there's a microscope!  

But let's pretend for a second that my feminist nature rejects Lego market research, and instead, I want to buy my 5 year old a "regular" Lego set.  Let's explore the options:

Fire plane:

Comes with trees on fire.  I'm not kidding.  See them above?  The red thing is "flames" according to the description.  Do you know what kind of conversations I'd have to have if I bought this?  "Mommy, what if the fire plane doesn't get to the trees in time?  Is our house going to burn down?"  

Dino Ambush Attack:

According to the website, the goal is to capture the dino with a tranquilizer gun before it escapes and attack the city.  Yes, dinos attacking the city--that will not keep my child up at night.

Toxic Reapa:

I do not know what this is but it looks freaking scary.  

Recycling Truck:

While no offense to people who make an honest living picking up recycling, I hoping my daughter will aim a little higher on the career ladder.  

Sponge Bob Squarepants Bikini Bottom Undersea Adventure:

I'm not kidding.  That's the actual name.  I'm not buying my child any toys named "Bikini Bottom."  

There's also a large assortment of Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, and Cars (the movie) legos available in case you just want to re-enact movies and not use your actual imagination or anything.  

While I'm a girl (I guess) and therefore the target market for the Lego Friends toys, I have to say, I totally want to play with them.  I have zero interest in the Lego Architecture sets my husband gets.  The Advent calendar was an exercise in frustration to me as the diagrams to put the Legos together make no sense to me.  They might as well be instructions from Ikea.  We have Cars and Thomas duplos and I'm really not that interested in them either.  But I'm all about building a lab, a cool pink house, or vet clinic.  (I do totally question this Stephanie's desire to have an outdoor bakery.  Buttercream melts!)  

So Lego Corporation:  I salute you and your marketing research for Lego Friends.  Mission accomplished, as I can't wait to buy them.  May I be as bold to suggest you put similar efforts into your other product research so attacking dinos, fire, and bikini bottoms aren't the other options to choose from?  

My Karmic Debt to Lance Armstrong

In 2005, Lance Armstrong announced that he would try for a 7th Tour de France.  He had won a 6th and implied that was his last.   And then came this announcement.

We took this picture of Lance on our trip

In the spring when the announcement was made, Husband and I were both working for tech companies, and Husband had decided to start grad school in the fall.  I had never been to France.  We were cycling then (because we didn't have kids) and loved watching le Tour at home on TV.

One thing you should know about me is that I'm not spontaneous.  I'm a certified project manager.  I like to budget for things and plan.  So, when I heard the news, my immediate thought was, "We are SO going!"  and this was not like me at all.

Husband at the Col du Solour

We weren't budgeting for a fancy trip to France!  I decided this was not a problem.  I was traveling a lot for my job, so I could get us plane tickets using miles. I had previously worked for a tech company that had gone public.  I had bought out all my vested shares 4 years earlier and as the company wasn't public at the time, I thought I would never see that money again.  And while it wasn't a lot, because I had joined the company so early, it was a 400% return on what I originally spent.  We could cash out and still have an emergency reserve while Husband was in graduate school.

We were about to go down to one income.  We owned a house.  Going to France was a ridiculous decision.

It was the best trip I ever had.

We flew into Paris, took a train to Lourdes, rented a car, and drove across France. We stayed in 5 cities and 6 hotels.  We saw a mountain stage, a start, a finish, the time trial, and the famous final loop at the Champs-Elysee.

I was so sad to come home.  France was wonderful.

Husband went to grad school and everything was fine.

And a few months after I sold all of my stock, the stock was delisted.

At the Champs-Elysee

So, thanks to Lance Armstrong, I had a wonderful trip and cashed out at the right time.  As a result, I feel I owe him a karmic debt, and try to raise money or participate in Livestrong events when I can.

So, I've decided to run the Austin Half Marathon in Feb 2011 as my next event and raise money for the Livestrong Foundation!  I'm obligated to raise $500, but I'm aiming for $1000!   The Livestrong foundation provides support to guide people to through the cancer experience, bring them together to fight cancer, and work for a world in which our fight is no longer necessary.  I hope that you'll support me while I train for my next event!

Adventures in Cooking: Ranch Popcorn

My husband and I have two small children, so we don't go out anymore.  On a very rare occasion, we'll get a babysitter or have their grandparents watch them.  Because we on the young children/old people schedule, we like to have an early dinner--6:30 or 7 pm when we go out (the kids eat dinner around 6pm.)  But the kids aren't finished being put to bed until 9 pm or so.  And there is no way we're going to all this trouble to go out and then have to put the children to bed ourselves!  So after dinner, we generally have some time to kill until it's safe to go home.

Lately, our favorite spot to kill time is the bar at the W Hotel.  It's called the Living Room and it has a ton of couches to relax on.  And, you can order their popcorn of the day.  We've had chipotle, parmesan, and salted caramel.  I love it.

One day while surfing the Weight Watchers site, I ran across a recipe for ranch flavored popcorn and got inspired.  Not inspired to do the recipe (which involved several ingredients which I was certain would send me to Central Market, which you know I try to avoid at all costs), but to be creative with some ranch powder.

So here's my recipe for Ranch Popcorn:

One microwave popcorn bag (I recommend a butter flavor because it is stickier)
Olive oil spray
Ranch dip/dressing powder mix (you can buy it in envelopes or in a shaker)

Microwave popcorn (hopefully you have a microwave that has a popcorn setting so you don't have to think too hard about counting the popping, because that's annoying.)  Once done, immediately open bag, pour into a giant bowl and lightly spray with the olive oil spray.  Liberally sprinkle on the ranch powder.  Toss.  Spray with olive oil spray, sprinkle the powder, and toss three more times.

Adventures in Cooking: Cheese Garlic Biscuits (like Red Lobsters)

"There is no one of-woman-born who does not like Red Lobster cheddar biscuits. Anyone who claims otherwise is a liar and a Socialist."   Tina Fey, Bossypants

I was reminded of the awesomeness of the cheddar biscuits by my friend Emily which reminded me that I held the keys of awesomeness in my hand!  Many, many years ago, before I met Husband, I dated this guy for several years, whose mother passed along a secret family recipe titled "Cheese Garlic Biscuit's (like Red Lobster's)".  Okay, it wasn't a secret family recipe, it was a newspaper clipping, which she copied, enlarged, and laminated for me.  I dusted off my cookbook where I wrote down recipes (seriously, I wish I could go back to my 15 year ago self and explain how I would not need to write things down with handwriting ever again) and found the clipping:

Cheese Garlic Biscuits (like Red Lobster's)

I have no idea why there are only 11 on this cookie sheet.
Nope, no idea at all.  

2 c Bisquick
2/3 c milk
1/2 c Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 c butter
1 tsp. garlic powder

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Mix baking mix, milk and cheese until a soft dough forms.  Beat vigorously 30 seconds.  Drop dough by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Melt butter.  Mix with garlic powder, brushing over warm biscuits before removing from cookie sheet.  Serve warm.  Yields 12 biscuits, more or less.

Running: So what's next?

So while I was still training for the Nike Half, my husband started talking to me about doing a winter half marathon.  Training in the summer was HORRIBLE, but now that I'm in shape to do a half, maintaining it hopefully won't be that hard through the nicer winter months.

Like most people, my life has been touched with friends and loved ones having cancer.  I've raised money for the American Cancer Society (which is a FANTASTIC organization), and had a wonderful time doing it.  There are two half marathons in the winter in Austin that people generally do -- 3M or 1/2 of the Austin Marathon.  The Austin Marathon is now the LIVESTRONG Marathon, and I have a karmic debt to Lance Armstong we'll talk about later, and so the decision was made!  I'm raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and running the Austin Half Marathon!

I had a hard time finding a training plan to do one half marathon and then another a few months later, so I wanted to share what my plan is!

When I started training for the Nike race, I used the FIRST training plan and combined the training plan I found on the Runner's World website with the one I found in their book, which I read about in Runner's World some time back.   I was really intrigued by it as it preached only running 3 days a week (and cross training on the other days.)

I ran into two problems with the plan:

1)  I couldn't do a lot of the prescribed mid week work before actually leaving for work.  I'm so slow, and running 5 miles before I leave for work would take an hour, meaning I'd have to leave my house before 6 am, which just wasn't going to happen.  I ended up modifying the plan so I would just run 30-45 minutes (whatever actual time I had) as fast as I could one day and then did speedwork the other day, sort of following the plan in the book, but doing whatever I could in whatever time I actually had.

2)  There was a lot of long run hard weeks back to back which I found really tiring in the Texas heat as well.  I was getting really burned out mentally and having a hard time getting motivated to run so far so often.

I remembered reading about some other plan in Runner's World where you did long runs every other week (and I had done a similar plan years ago), so I found this Jeff Galloway plan, and did long run final weeks of that, basically doing a long run one week, 4 miles the next week, long run the week after, and so on.  It gave me a mental break every other week which I really needed.  (I didn't do the walking method Galloway prescribes, but I used it when I ran the whole marathon, and it is good.)  I continued to only run two other days a week doing speedwork and hard short runs.

So, what is my new plan?

I took weeks 11-17 of the Galloway plan and working backwards on a calendar, put those long runs as a ramp up to the race.  So, I'll use the same plan to run 14 miles or so two weeks before the half.  Until I get to that 7 week stretch (starting January 7), I'm going to run 8 miles long one weekend, 4 miles the next, 10 miles the weekend after that, and 4 miles the next; repeat!  Since 9 miles is my sticking point, I'll have a run to push past that point once a month.

We'll see how it goes!

Running: NWM 1/2 Marathon!

After several years of waiting, I finally hopped on a plane with my husband (kids stayed at our house with grandmas) and headed to San Francisco for the Nike Women's Half Marathon!

We landed on Friday and headed to the Expotique to get my race bib and goodies (bag, cowbell, samples, coupons).  Saturday we wandered around the city (Husband had never been there, I had been there once for work) and got to bed early for the big race on Sunday!

I slept terribly on Saturday night.  I had a nightmare that I had missed my alarm and couldn't find the start line.  I woke up (it was 3:30am Pacific -- 5:30am Central, and my usual wake up time) and set my alarm for even earlier (my husband had also set several alarms.)  I fell back asleep to only then dream that I had missed the finish time.

This was an actual real fear of mine.  If you run the marathon, there's a 6.5 hour time limit, or 14 min/mile pace you have to keep up.  Don't keep up and they'll throw you in a car and take you to the finish line.  The FAQ on the race website wasn't particularly clear about the half marathon, and I had inspired myself to run even faster than my normal training pace in my last long run (14 miles) by having the Nike + GPS lady tell me my pace every mile and thinking "TIFFANY NECKLACE" every time it was over 14 min/mile.  (Yes, I'm very slow.  Also, it's very hot in Texas.)

So, race morning.  I woke up early, ate my usual pre-run breakfast of granola bars, Diet Dr. Pepper (stop judging me), and Claritin, packed my race belt with Gu and water and took off to walk the block to the start line (thank you Priceline!)  Husband gave me a kiss and dashed to the spectator buses -- he could catch a bus to see me at miles 4, 9, and the finish.  We agreed in advance that I'd see him at 4, around 11 (since the 11 mile marker and finish line were actually near each other) and then at the finish.  

The start line energy was fantastic.  I may have actually cried a little bit during the national anthem.  Then they started Beyonce's "Run the World (Girls)" and 12 minutes later I crossed the start line along with 20,000 other women and 2,000 extremely smart men!

It wasn't too cold in San Fran and though I started off in a shirt, shorts, ear covers, and jacket, I took the jacket and ear covers off about .5 mile in.  I also took off fast!  The first two miles were all downhill and I was trucking away!  My realistic goal for the race was to run it in 3 hours flat, and my stretch goal was to run it in 2:45.  I needed to average a little under a 14 min mile to accomplish that, and my first three miles average pace was 12:45 -- way too fast for me.  I ran through downtown and to to the wharf area that Husband and I had explored the day before.

If you've never run a race like this, it's just so energizing.  People cheering, everyone around you running and encouraging you to run, being handed water and goodies along the way.  It's an uplifting experience and it's hard not to get caught up in the momentum!

My usual strategy for races like this is to walk up any steep uphill -- there's a point of diminishing returns when running uphill where walking is faster and expends less energy.  The first hill appeared around mile 3 and I walked it, as most everyone around me also did.

View of bridge at top of big hill

At the top of the hill, many people stopped and took pictures.  There were actually volunteers there to take your picture for you if you wished.  I thought this was ridiculous.  I was serious about my (very slow) time goal!  I'm not going to stop and take a picture!  Wait!  Check out that view!  I'm totally taking a picture!  And I'm going to upload it to Facebook too!  While I'm running!  (I also managed to accidentally end my workout on my Nike+ GPS app so I had to restart it and be sad about the fact that my Nike+ history would show TWO workouts and not correctly capture my half marathon PR.  Stupid technology!)

I ran past the four mile marker cheering station and did not see my husband.  So I called him.  He didn't answer.  I ran along and saw him a little while past that and handed him my jacket and ear covers.  And off I kept going!

Golden Gate Bridge

Around mile 6, there was another good view of the Golden Gate bridge, so I took a picture of that too.

When you run a marathon, mile 18 is called "the wall" because more people quit at mile 18 than any other point.  I don't know if the half has an equivalent, but for me it's mile 9.   At the 9 mile mark during my 14 mile run two weeks before the race, I was mentally done.  I wanted to quit.  Fortunately, I was three miles away from my car and the fastest way to get there was to run.  And if I'm going to run three miles, I might as well finish the run!  So, I took a little walk break, drank some water, and carried on!  

Ocean

During the half marathon, mile 9 was the start of another freaking hill.  I don't know if you are aware of this, but San Francisco is hilly.  Central Texas is not.  Texas is hot, and in my mind I was hoping that might equal out for me on race day.  Somewhere around mile 8 or 9, the aid station passed out orange slices which helped me think refreshing thoughts.  Kaiser Permanente sponsored a mile and had signs that listed reasons for running (1.  The Necklace.)  I powered through my hard points and carried on through.  I also got to see the ocean, and took its picture.

Husband caught up with me not long after.  I handed him my race belt so I would look cuter in the finisher pictures.  (Listen.  I trained REALLY HARD for this race and travelled REALLY FAR to run it.  I'm TOTALLY taking a cute picture at the finish line!)

Safeway sponsored a mile between 10 and 11 and had signs on the road that said things like, "Safeway knows you can do this. . . . we know how you didn't sleep in all those mornings," which made me a little teary because I really, really love sleeping in.  Around mile 11, before the start of a really big hill, they had another sign which said that Safeway know you could do this because you already went over the biggest hill.  Which wasn't as comforting, really.

Throughout the race, I saw many funny signs held by spectators or attached to runners:

• I love Sunday football, but I love running with 20,000 women more
• Run like you are late for a shoe sale!
• Worst.  Parade.  Ever.
• Less sign reading, more running!

When I got to mile 11, I got SO EXCITED!  I was only TWO POINT ONE miles away from the finish.  I began running faster!  And I couldn't believe people around me weren't running faster too!  Didn't they know we were almost there?!   Near mile 12, the full marathoners split off and I thanked Baby Jesus that I was only doing the half marathon.  Ghirardelli had a chocolate station at mile 12, so I slowed down to eat a piece, and then picked up the pace!

Trucking towards the finish line, I put on Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory" and pushed myself to the finish!  With a tenth of a mile left, my freaking iPhone battery ran out!   Annoyed, I removed my earphones from my ears, turned the corner, saw the finish line and ran like a crazy woman pretending to  hear Lady Gaga in my ears!

I crossed over the finish line all smiley.  I received my Tiffany necklace presented to me by a fireman in a tuxedo, but sadly couldn't take any pictures of the moment due to my stupid dead iPhone 3GS.  I walked towards the herd of people and received a finisher's t-shirt, bag to carry my stuff in, water, bagel, and thermal blanket.

I then realized that I had no idea where my husband was and couldn't call him.  A random San Francisco woman lent me her phone and saved the day!

I got to sit down, which was amazing, and opened my new necklace!

All in all, this was an excellent race -- the scenery was gorgeous, water and aid stations were many and plentiful, and the spectators and runners were gleeful and fun to be with!  Also, did I mention there was a Tiffany necklace at the finish line?  I'm totally spoiled now!  My finish time was 3:02, but I figure that the extra two minutes over my goal to take pictures and eat chocolate was time well spent!