Half Marathon - Week 8 & some Jelly Beans

So here we go, the second running recap... Well mileage-wise, not as good as last week. This week's plan was a bit of a step back from last week in terms of total mileage. I was supposed to run:

Tuesday: 4 Miles
Thursday: 4 Miles
Saturday: 4 Miles
Sunday: 6 Miles (I amended this mileage to be 6.2 for a 10k for Run With Jess' virtual Jelly Bean race)

Tuesday was a success, 4 miles done in laps around the lake/park. It was looking to rain and I wasn't feeling up to getting stuck 2 miles from home in the rain, so laps I did, never too far away from home. Of course it didn't rain. The run felt good though! No soreness and right on my 10:30 or so pace that I expect of myself when I'm not trying too hard.

A sad thing did happen on Tuesday morning, we lost a hen. She had started drooping her wings on Friday and we knew something was up with her over the weekend. WE watched her, tried to keep her fed and watered, but by Tuesday morning she had died. This was one of the 'baby' hens that we had incubated. Fortunately, whatever it is that was wrong with her doesn't seem to have been contagious. We have cleaned the coop and are keeping close watch on the rest of the flock, but they all seem dandy so fingers crossed it was just a fluke thing.

Thursday was a no go. Between continued busy-ness at work - we have a production on stage this weekend and there is always a lot of excitement leading up to it - and the last minute project of redoing our living/dining room at home, I just didn't get the run in. Wednesday night J said, "Let's do the front rooms and finish this work." Really he wanted the previously purchased pile of baseboards out of the garage so we needed to get them installed. I of course jumped up, got my paint books (I took every free booklet off the Home Depot shelf the week we got approved for the house), and picked colors. We rushed to the store before they closed, got paint, a new ceiling fan for the room, and a slew of other project needs. Got home and worked until the wee hours moving books and furniture out of the way and ripping out the 1969 original baseboards. Thursday became the day for painting the baseboards and door trim, so that is what I was doing rather than running.

The beginning of the book pile, as we moved everything to paint.

Friday the real painting began. Two coats on the accent wall and cleaning up. Saturday the mission was the paint the remaining walls and to transplant our vegetable garden seedlings who were rapidly outgrowing their little peat containers. I had success with both of those tasks, but the run was not so much. Once again I just totally let it get skipped over. I mean I thought about it. At 7:30 when Zeus first woke me up, I thought about getting up and getting that checked off the list. But I didn't do it. On a personal level to make the progress on the garden and room projects felt good, but I do wish I had made the run.

The front rooms in progress, Saturday night - painting done. Need baseboards and reassembly.

Today though I made it happen! And I had a bit of a milestone. So my plan for today was to run a 10k for the Jelly Bean virtual race. I had paid for and received my finisher's medal, so I kinda had to make the run happen so I wasn't pretending to have accomplished something that I had a medal for. I set off just before 9 and had a great run the whole time - no fatigue, no soreness, worked some things out in my head as I went, and I ended up with a new fastest 10k time: 1:05:25.

The medal I now earned.

So there was a tangential milestone today. Not something I was thinking about or looking for, but I am thrilled with it nonetheless. I hit 100 miles for 2013 so far. I had a modest goal of 200 for the year, so I think that will be no problem! 100 in a quarter, and the first month was only 12, and the last two weeks have been kinda light. Heck, I might be able to pull out something more like 150 for this next quarter, what with the mileage only increasing for the training plan.

Look at that!! Just crossed the threshold.

Well as I type this, J is installing the baseboards. I've left the typing periodically to through a coat of paint on some shelving that is getting an update too. I guess I better get back at it!

Oh and check out some reviews of whats going on at work this weekend.

http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_22856830/review-ballet-san-jose-traditional-meets-contemporary

http://www.sfcv.org/reviews/ballet-san-jose/keep-calm-and-dance-on

Nutcracker!!

Work has had one focus recently... The Nutcracker!! Well we opened this weekend and all was fantastic!! Plenty of background technical things to give me a few headaches, but when it came down to it, the performers were wonderful, the audiences were appreciative, and the reviews are good! Here's the one from the San Jose Mercury News, and here's another.

Today while I was working the Ballet Boutique our last customer of the day was a Bay Area sports hero, Mr. Steve Young! I was very excited to see that he and his family chose to come to Ballet San Jose for their Nutcracker experience. He was very gracious, taking lots of photos with fans, including mine!

Ballet San Jose has had a fun contest for patrons to submit Nutcracker themed photos of their kids or pets. These pictures are my submissions, even though I was ineligible to win tickets, a backstage tour, or the other goodies, I couldn't resist taking the photos of my pets.

 

 

 

I will continue to live in Nutcracker land right up until Christmas Eve. I hope that coming soon (maybe this week) I will get the chance to Christmasfy my own home... no big gifts this year, but I still want to find time to put up our tree and the lights outside.