Lisa: Training, Week 7

3/29/06

Last Wednesday I ran three times around Sugarhouse Park to get up to 4 miles. Everything felt totally weird. It felt weird to be running outside in the morning back in Salt Lake. It was really light out by the end of the run, which was weird. My feet felt weird, like running on permanently high-heeled Barbie feet. My lungs felt weird, like I couldn't get a deep breath. Anyway, other than the weirdness the run wasn't too bad. The last lap went by especially quickly.

130.5 lbs, 28% body fat

4/1/06

On Saturday morning, Sarah and I ran six miles along the marathon route, starting at the pharmacy and finishing up at Ivy Place, home of Spoons N' Spice. No big deal, except we agreed that running along Van Winkle always makes us feel dirty and gritty. The geese were next to the car at Ivy Place when we finished--Sarah was hoping they could stand in for a picture of her this time, so I'll give her a pass.

130.5 lbs, 28% body fat

4/2/06

WORST. RUN. EVER. Sunday we ran 12 miles for the first time. Blake thinks I might have been severely dehydrated, but anyway I felt like crap by about five miles in, then got up to the high point of "I might be OK" at about eight miles. I had to walk the last few blocks (we ran from 62nd South to the Gateway), and felt pretty shivery and pukish all the way home. I threw up in the privacy of my own bathroom, but I plan to stay better hydrated in the future to avoid a repeat performance.
For our carb-rich treat, Sarah got us McFlurries from McDonalds, and after showering I ate mine in front of Grey's Anatomy and started feeling better.

Sarah: Comfort Food

Backstory: Armando adores our mother. This is a good thing, except that he keeps referring to her as a "good woman." By this he means that she is a good cook, wife, homemaker, career woman. Really, she IS a good woman. But hearing him use the phrase is amusing nonetheless. A recent conversation with him, however, revealed that he may think even more highly of Aunt Jemima, she who holds the imitation maple syrup. Lisa and I discussed this curious development:

Sarah: Armando may or may not have a crush on Aunt Jemima.
Lisa: HA. She's just like mom, except sweeter. And more pleasantly plump. And more of a pleasing maple-brown color.
S: lol. Yeah. He called her "honorable auntie." He says "She makes waffles yummy."
L: Oh no. I hope he pronounced it ohn-tee.
S: Hee. She's totally the ORIGINAL 'good woman.'
L: Seriously. And also, ew.
S: I'm waiting for the day that he's all "I care about you Sarah, but I think we should just be friends... You just can't measure up to Honorable Auntie Jemima and her mapley goodness."
L: Hee. That day may very well come.

Sarah: Hold Me Close Now, I'm Your Tiny Dancer

So, remember that brilliant moment in celebrity gossip when Lindsay Lohan and Wilmer Valderama had a dance-off in a club?

And then remember that wonderful point in time when The Superficial suggested a dance-off between Justin Timberlake and K-Fed (my money is on Justin Timberlake, by the way)?

I have decided that Dance-Offs are the way of the future. So my question is, who would you pair up in a Dance-Off? I know it seems like Celebrity Death Match, but instead you have to consider not just who's tougher, but who has the most dance-osity. Plus, Lisa and I love us some dancing! So please suggest Dance-Off pairs in the comments.

My nomination is a dance-off between Jared Padalecki and Chad Michael Murray. Watch out, CMM. JPad does a mean Robot.

Edited to add: I'm sorry for my many typos in the last two entries. I wrote them when I was fairly tired and delirious and my hands took on a mind of their own. And that mind is apparently not very good at proofreading.

Lisa: No, I'm your tiny dancer

Sarah, Mallory, Marci and I tried to go see Take the Lead last weekend, but it wasn't out yet. We ended up renting The Craft instead, a movie I always wanted to see but was never allowed to. But I digress...

Sarah: Speaking of things that are crazy, Mal just texted me
Lisa: Oh, crazy Mal!
Sarah: and said that Jeff Vice (movie reviewer for the Deseret News) gave Take The Lead a decent review! (I could find no physical evidence of this.)
Lisa: whoa
Sarah: Which means... WE TOTALLY WATCH HIGH QUALITY MOVIES!
Lisa: Hee. This would be the first one.
Sarah: Plus, it's supposed to be heartwarming! And who DOESN'T need a warmer heart? I ask you.
Lisa: It would warm my heart even if it was about cold-blooded dancing criminals.
Sarah: HA HA HA. As long as they were dancing. That's why you love West Side Story so very, very much.
Lisa: Well, that is because of the singing and the snapping IN ADDITION to the dancing.

Lisa: Training, Week 8

4/6/06

On Thursday morning I ran four miles at Sugarhouse Park, which took about 50 minutes. 131 lbs, 27% body fat

4/7/06

Friday I ran from my house to Murray Holladay Road and back, which was about six miles. My knee started really bothering me when I paused at stoplights, but it felt OK as long as I kept running. I decided to get a knee brace before my long run.

4/8/06

Saturday afternoon I ran at Sugarhouse again, and it was sunny and hot and packed with people. I went four miles in 48 minutes which makes for a 12-minute mile. Not very fast, but nothing to be totally ashamed about either, right? 131 lbs, 27% body fat

4/9/06

Late Sunday night (we started about nine) Sarah and I ran along the marathon route for 13 miles, starting at the beginning of the course and finishing up at the Cotton Bottom. We had to walk a few times because Sarah's arch was hurting really badly, but we got to the end in about three hours and ten minutes. I felt much better than last week, probably partly because I got a knee brace, Superfeet insoles, and a little belt thingie that could carry drinks and snacks.

Sarah: Computer Nerd or Photographic Phenomena?

As I already posted, I took a picture of myself enjoying some Diet Coke while hanging out with Mallory, Marci, and Lisa.

Afterwards, I set this picture as my MSN profile picture. Lisa mentioned that she liked to think it was me looking at my computer, drinking a Coke, and enjoying whatever website I was reading. In other words, what I look like all day at work.

This conversation got me thinking about other pictures I currently had stored on my computer. I thought I'd share my somewhat disturbing discovery:

Sometime during Aug.-Dec. 2003

Lisa's husband Blake had a project for his photography class. I was the subject. So what did I do? Played on his computer while he took photos.

Sometime during Jan.-Mar. 2004

Me. At my computer in Logan. My roommate's boyfriend would always walk in while I was looking exactly like this (on the floor, computer and phone in easy reach) and say "Net-ratting it again?" I don't know what that means, exactly, but I always said yes.

Late Mar. or early Apr. 2004

Me. At Armando's computer. I think this may have even been one of our first dates. Hi. Nice to meet you. Can I check my email?

Several months later.

I was playing on Armando's computer. Apparently he got bored. So he played dress-up-Sarah while I continued to surf the internet. I looked away from the computer long enough to make eye contact with the camera. Why can't he just sit quietly while I interact with my cyber-friends?

Mar. 2006

I had to take a picture of myself for the Century magazine. My computer is just out of view, but you can see that I prefer looking at my computer over looking at the camera.

I'm beginning to feel like I only exist on film in the presence of a computer. Either that, or I'm a total nerd.

I prefer to believe the former.

Another fun game is called Watch Sarah's Hair Grow. Because seriously dude. That took a long time.

I made additional photo discoveries while searching my computer. I will post them in the next day or two.

Sarah: A Picture Not Posted Is A Picture Wasted.

So, there's this picture of Armando that he sent to me when we were first getting to know each other. I never especially liked it until recently. It seemed over-posed, and he seemed sort of cocky and self-important. Then I noticed something about the picture that made me fall in love with it. Let me explain.

Remember that tv show Ghostwriter? With the group of kids that solved mysteries with the help of a bouncing dot that only they could see? And it would rearrange the letters in their carefully written notebook, or on a sign or magazine? And the kids were all different races, but were all smart and friends, and they dressed in their awesomely 90's-tastic clothes? With the vests, and the tights with shorts, and the Blossom hats, and the overalls? And remember how it was so awesome, and you got all excited about the mystery, and you sort of had your first crush on that one boy, and you totally had the pen on the lanyard necklace, just in case you had to solve a crime? And how you would stare at your notebook when you were trying to figure something out, hoping that Ghostwriter would rearrange the letters and give you a clue? And you worried that maybe Ghostwriter hadn't helped you because he didn't have the right letters to work with? No? That was just me?

Well, realizing that Armando was wearing overalls and an open button-up shirt while sitting on the stoop of an apartment building in New York made me imagine that he was on Team Ghostwriter. And that is what made me love this picture.

Sarah: More found Pictures

I believe I took some pictures when I first got my camera without purpose or discretion. Still, these two pictures made it onto my computer, and I like them.

This is a picture of Blake taken from the backseat of the car. That means I was tagging along with them. So it really could have been taken on almost any day. Because I give them space like that.

Look how handsome Lisa's husband is!

I kept bugging Armando to smile while I accompanied him to the grocery store.

Aww, look at that smile! So cheerful! He loves photographs.

Sarah: You Got the Best of Me.

I pulled up to a stoplight, the silence of my broken radio leaving me to listen to the sounds around my car. I heard the thumping bass from the approaching burgundy El Dorado. The low riding car looked tough, masculine... in a word, gangsta. As the vehicle pulled up next to me at the light, I could hear the melody of the song over the idling engine and car-shaking bass beat.

It was Mariah Carey's Heartbreaker.

Naturally.

Lisa: Boston, Day 2

It has taken me awhile to get around to posting about the rest of my trip to Boston, because things have been super crazy at work and at home. But better late than never, right?

On Tuesday morning (March 21st), Janell and I decided to walk from our hotel in Cambridge across the Harvard bridge to the convention center in Boston proper. The walk wasn't long, but it was freezing cold. The good news is that when we were crossing the bridge we got to see the MIT women's crew team out practicing...

...as well as some of the Smoot markings.

Once across the bridge, we stopped at a convenience store for some hot tea, string cheese, and a blueberry muffin (Yes, I actually ate a muffin. And it was DELICIOUS.). Almost every person we saw walking around Boston was carrying a travel mug or take-out cup of a hot beverage, and as soon as I got my own it was obvious why. The cup serves as the best hand-warmer money can buy, and then when you are waiting for the bus you can take a few sips and warm your belly, too. Just make sure you have a cup with a lid that fastens securely, or you will slosh scalding tea all over your hand on the bus, like I did a few days later.

Janell and I were in a conference on Early Literacy all morning, but on lunch we walked past Copley Square...

...to the Boston Public Garden, hoping to see the Make Way For Ducklings statue.

After seeing the ducklings (the rest of the park was pretty bare and muddy), we had lunch at Au Bon Pain, which we don't have in Utah but that was everywhere in Boston. After lunch, we headed back to the Hynes Center for more conferences. At the end of the day, we walked next door to the biggest, most convoluted mall ever (well, biggest might be an exaggeration) and ate at the Cheesecake Factory. Not really an example of local cuisine, I know, but it was tasty and they do have sugar-free cheesecake.

After dinner, we stopped at Trader Joe's (another chain that hasn't hit Utah yet), which was AWESOME. I got Blake some of the fruit slice candies he loves (Which I found out are called Boston Fruit Slices and I ended up seeing all over Boston. Curse you, Utah, and your lack of fruit slice candy!) and these low-carb tortilla chips made of soy and flax seed, which were actually really tasty. Too bad they don't sell them online!

We took the bus back to the hotel and then stopped at the Star Market, which was ATTACHED TO OUR HOTEL, for breakfast groceries and more snacks. The only bummer part of the day was that I completely killed my feet by walking everywhere in stiletto boots.

Yesterday
Tomorrow

Lisa: Boston, Day 3

On Wednesday morning (March 22nd), after running, Janell and I took the bus (a 5-minute ride) to the convention center for the second day of our Early Literacy workshop. We left the workshop a bit early to see Nancy Pearl speak, but when we got there the huge auditorium was already packed. We ended up sitting on the floor along one wall. Unfortunately, the program ended up being mostly publishers introducing some of their new titles, but Nancy did introduce them and she was hilarious. She shared a few things I wanted to pass on:

People clap before a speech out of faith and hope; they clap at the end out of charity.
--Bishop Sheen

She also told a hilarious story about finding herself locked, naked, in a hotel bathroom with a broken door handle. Her first thought was, "I am locked in the bathroom of the Mallory Hotel...and I have NOTHING TO READ." Instead of panicking, she then said to herself, "what would Nancy Drew do?" She got busy with a nail file and soon sprung herself from her prison. Only then did she look back into the bathroom and see the telephone next to the toilet.

The publishers did introduce a few books that I added to my list of books to read: