A Case of the Mondays

Yes, I realize it's not Monday anymore, but it just describes my mood. I am stressed out, burned out, and I really miss my morning runs. Heck, I miss running period! I know if I was running or even working out more, I would not be in such a bad mood. So instead, I'm going to try and blog it away.

Last week was really crazy- too much going on. I hope this week is more mellow. Wednesday night the Hubs and our neighbor finished pouring the cement in our backyard. Yippee!! One step closer to getting the hot tub. Now we need to have an electrician come out and do the wiring for the power outlet. Oh, and we also have to clean out the garage to make room for a huge freezer that we're also getting from my in-laws (we'll be picking it up in the same trip as the hot tub). Here's a picture of the first "dump". We haven't taken the frames off yet, so I'll post another picture when it's all done.Thursday we went to a birthday party for the Hub's uncle who turned 69. His wife is Japanese, so it was with family and some of their friends. Picture this: we're at a Chinese restaurant with us (white people), a bunch of Japanese people, and we're doing karaoke- half in English, half in Japanese. I almost peed my pants laughing when I sang Sinead O'Connor "Nothing Compares" with my SIL. It was outrageous! The best part was the cake that my aunt made (the Japanese one). It was about 5 different layers with white cake, chocolate cake, frosting, chocolate mousse (and who knows what else). It was soooo good. And would you believe it, they had donuts, too, and there was one with maple and nuts on top. It had my name all over it, so I took it home and ate it as a treat the next day.

Here's me and the Hubs with Uncle Bob (he doesn't look too excited to be turning 69, LOL).Friday the Hubs and I went to the amusement park to go through the haunted houses that they have. It was really crowded, because kids in our area were out of school Thurs and Fri for some type of teacher seminars (which we didn't realize initially, or I might have decided not to go). We had to park in the overflow parking lot for cryin' out loud! Luckily we have season passes, so we didn't feel bad only sticking around to go through one haunted house and then bailing.

Saturday was the day of the football game. I got up early so I could attempt a run. I did a 2-lap warm-up at the park, then started running. Can I just say it was like heaven? Seriously, the only thing that could have been better was if I was eating a maple bar and getting a massage while I was running. I only ran for a mile before I took a walk break, because I didn't want to overdo it. I walked a lap then started running again. I didn't make it too far and had to walk because my knee was hurting a bit (not too much, I just didn't want to really screw things up). After a bit I was able to run again, and ended up with 3.2 miles including my warm-up and cool-down. It seemed so short, but it's a good start I guess. Since I haven't run much at all lately, I'll probably have to go back to almost the beginning (I was happy that I could still run a whole mile).

I'm going to try 2 runs a week, with the rest cross-training and resting and gradually build back up. I guess that means a half-marathon will not be happening any time soon. I'm a little sad, but as long as I can keep running through the winter, I'll be happy (and sort of proud, since I've never been an outdoor runner in the winter).

The football game was at noon, so we headed out pretty early (since we park really far away from the stadium). For some reason, as we were walking, I was having major breathing issues- like on the verge of an asthma attack (which I haven't dealt with in a long time, like years). We were going fast, but it wasn't a big hill or anything. I guess it was probably due to allergies or something. It really sucked. Anyway, in the shade it was nice and cool, but once we got to the stadium and were sitting there in the sun, it was pretty hot (although only around 72 degrees). I should have worn capris or something, but my leg hairs were about an inch long (totally exaggerating on that but they were pretty furry), so that wasn't an option. It was just nice to sit out in the sun, though (especially after last weekend's snow). I ended up getting a little bit sunburned on my nose and forehead (a little bit pink is all- I got the visor about halfway through the game when our friends behind us bought new hats, and were generous enough to give me their hand-me-down), and I had a farmer tan line on my arms from my t-shirt. Imagine that! A tan in October- how ridiculous!
We ended up winning the game, which was very exciting, so now we're 8-0. And since BYU lost their game on Thursday, they dropped in the rankings and we went up. Now we're ranked 11th in the BCS standings, which is pretty dang good. If we stay undefeated, we could go to the Fiesta Bowl again. Now that would be fun!

**I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but back in 2004 when the Utes were 12-0, and we were the first non-BCS school to make it to a BCS bowl game, the Hubs and I drove down to Phoenix to see the Fiesta Bowl. It was on that trip that we got engaged in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve.

Saturday afternoon, I was pretty beat from the sun, and I've been fighting off a sore throat for about a week, so we just vegged. I don't even remember what we did, other than I made pizza for dinner. Sunday was church, and then I spent a ton of time cleaning (catching up from everything I didn't get done last week). Yesterday I stopped to get my hair cut after work (I was way overdue for a trim). I had to wait about 35 minutes at Great Clips, so I just sat and read my Runner's World magazine. Then I helped the Hubs add some different tunes to his iPod, since he headed to Chicago this morning (I had to drop him off at the airport at 6:00 this morning, so I'm a bit tired- and since I have staff meeting on Tuesdays, I can't even leave early... ugh, long day). I am totally going to miss him this week.

At least I have Biggest Loser tonight, and I plan to do my usual elliptical workout with strength training and abs. Then I think I'll try to run tomorrow, and do the elliptical again on Thursday. Actually, I hope I can stay awake long enough to finish watching BL tonight. I've been up since 4 a.m. and I'm fading fast. Well, I guess that's a wrap. Ciao for now!

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On a completely unrelated note- now that I have 2 Monday Night Football pictures posted- one from this year, and one from 3 years ago- did anyone else notice that my face looks a lot fatter in the recent picture (where my hair is not slicked back)? Yeah, I knew it. Good thing I'm all over the Marathon Season Independence Weight Loss Challenge like white on rice (BTW I lost 2 lbs in my first 10 days).