I Love Getting Mail [And AG'ing]

Mail is awesome when it's not junk or bills!  <3  Being a member of the Chicago Area Runner's Association pretty much rocks.  I got this Sweaty Bands headband last week, and I was stoked to see how pretty it is in person!  I absolutely adore the Chicago flag, and HAD TO have this headband!

This wasn't in the mail, but I totally demolished the sea salt and vinegar PopcChips during the Germany vs. Brazil FIFA World Cup game.

Did you watch that game?  Holy guacamole!   

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I have age group'd a few times before.  My name was called out and I ran up to receive my medal in front of a bunch of people.  They cheered, I smiled, it rocked.

This time, however, was very, VERY different.  For one thing, it came in the mail.  Sophs carried it up three flights of stairs for me.  We opened it, and dominated the packing peanuts.  TIME TO CELEBRATE GETTING A BOX FULL OF SOMETHING WE DON'T EVEN KNOW CONTAINS!

Under all of those peanuts was this.  My (2nd place) age group award from the Energizer Night Race.  I MEAN WOW!  WOW!   

I later found Sophia making herself a shanty out of the box.  Oh to be seven years old and fit into small spaces!  And yes, the packing peanuts are in the bottom of the box.  She swears that this is the comfiest seat in the house.

Here's what came in my award basket.  So many batteries, razors, and flashlights!  Harry got a similar award for his age group, including more batteries, different flashlights, and different razors.  We got so spoiled with this one!

Mine and Harry's stash of batteries.  One thing's for sure:  We don't need batteries ever again. 

Please allow me to introduce you to our new "Flashlight Drawer".  Yup.  If the lights go out, you know where to go!

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What is the best award you've ever received?  
-It doesn't have to be an AG award.  ;)

Are you keeping up with the World Cup?  If not, what's your sport or event of interest?

Any big dinners or meals you're looking forward to making this week/weekend?  Let's have it!

Five Things: Movies You L-O-V-E

Happy Fourth of July, Friends!  I hope that you're having a wonderful day so far.  Since Harry and I both have the day off (thank goodness!), we celebrated some last night with Harry's Aunt and Uncle by heading to the driving range.  That's right...golf and beer...'Murica!

I haven't swung a golf club in many, many years.  I used to play, I daresay "often", with my parents when I was a kid.  Harry has never swung a club (on purpose, with the intentions of hitting a golf ball)!  In fact, he stuck with an angled baseball swing at the beginning of our session.  He eventually found the right biomechanics for a good swing and started hitting some pure shots.  We both have a ton of work to do before even thinking about stepping up to a tee box.

I worked with a lot of fades and slices for a majority of the time.  *le sigh*  With every swing, I could hear my Daddio's correction cues in my head.  "You're swinging too hard," was the main one.

I love how Harry really took to hitting the ball.  We are always excited to have new things to do together, not to mention things we can do with other people.  Several of our friends and family members play golf on the regular, so it definitely opens up opportunities for more social funsies.

After a quick run with Harry this morning, we grabbed some coffee at the local shop around the corner, City Newsstand, then came home and got ready for some World Cup action.  Germany vs. France...wooooo!  It wasn't an exceptionally exciting game, but my team won.

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Onto my five for this Friday.  There are movies that I absolutely must watch every once in a while.  I don't just love them; I L-O-V-E them.  You know what I'm talking about -- the plot you love, the setting you adore, the actors you have some strange affinity toward.  They make you feel good, they can make you cry, and sometimes, they can pump you up!  By no means are these movies my absolute favorites, nor do I only L-O-V-E five movies.  It just sounded good for Friday, bwahaha.

5.  "Pride and Prejudice" 
I read this book when I was about 15.  I, like so many others, was given a good chunk of time to use my imagination regarding the setting and descriptions used by Austen.  To me, this was the best movie version, by far.

4.  "The Secret"
I watch this movie at least once a year.  I feel like I

3.  "Breakfast at Tiffany's"
I have a healthy addiction to Audrey Hepburn.  I think she was one of the most fantastic creatures on God's green earth.  This film is the quirkiest movie I've ever seen...like, ever.  It has beauty, class, dancing, charm, humor, awkwardness, and prostitution, all rolled into one flick!

2.  "Sabrina" 
I know.  Two Hepburn movies.  But I couldn't give this lovely lady a movie TIE!  I don't L-O-V-E this movie more than I love "Breakfast at Tiffany's", but I will watch it more often for warm fuzzies.

1.  "Rocky".  In fact, I-IV.  I don't think I have to explain this one.  I plan on rocking these out on Sunday.

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Do you have a *TOP FIVE* of movies you L-O-V-E?

Have you every played golf?  If so, are you any good?  COME PLAY WITH US!:)

Are you more of a movie person, or a book person?
-I'm wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more of a movie person!  WAY!

Big plans for Fourth of July weekend?  TELL TELL TELL!
-Harry and I are chillin' on the back deck with some pizza and watching some fireworks.  LOW KEY, compared to last year!  :)

Seven Things That Made Me Smile Today

Don't you love it when you rock out a Monday?  I feel like I beat the odds when I don't get wrapped up in a moody or manic Monday --

-- when I can walk out the door of my school and know that I had a fantastic day, and can pinpoint exactly what made the day awesomeness.

Seven (because it's a fanciful number) things that made my face light up with a beautiful smile today:

1.)  Germany dominating in World Cup action!

2.)  This video of Sophs playing the Vuvuzela.  This fury of air and the swarm of bees-like sounds went on for about an hour.  Good grief.

3.) Reminiscing about the deep-fried Oreos Harry, Sophs and I shared at the 6 Corners BBQ Fest this past weekend.

4.)  After which I enjoyed a treat that a co-worker gave me.  :)

5.)  I got some ZOOMA sponsor love in the mail!  I sure lucked out, in that my favorite socks on the planet are also sponsors of the ZOOMA race series!  Thanks, Feetures!

 6.)  This showed up in my newsfeed on Facebook.  Bless!

7.)  There's such a juxtaposition of a couple of emotions within this song, and those emotions depend on how you feel at the moment when you're listening to it.  For me, that's the beauty of it; you can feel fear and relief, bitterness and hope, sadness and happiness, or a myriad of other mixtures of emos.  One thing is for certain, it will make you feel better about a bad thought or a rotten day, and makes you realize just how blessed you are to be in this world.  It also makes you feel like you have to be a big kid about things, and the right thing to do is keep on keepin' on.

Harry and I are watching USA vs. Ghana this evening.  Y'all enjoy the rest of this incredible Monday!
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Did something make you smile today?  Tell me about it!

Random:  What's your favorite dessert?

What was your workout like today?

My Last Day to Sleep In

Yesterday was a good time.  It was my last day of "summer break" from school (we got the week off).  I got in a great, easy run around the 'hood, I got a lot of stuff done around the house (EVERYTHING HAD DUST ON IT!), I relaxed (yes, more), and enjoyed some World Cup action.

I had planned on making fish tacos for dinner, but Harry's Aunt Kim text us, asking if we wanted to go out for dinner.  Harry has been dying to take her and her hubs to Revolution Brewing's brewpub, and this was the perfect opportunity!  Bacon fat popcorn:  here we come!

My "Workingman's Burger", topped with a sunnyside-up egg.  NOM!

Candid Kim.  I love how animated she is.  She's a "hand-talker", and here, she's trying to emphasize just how light she likes her brews.  Like Coors Light.  o.O

My "El Hefe Loco" hefeweizen, and the one Harry couldn't finish because he took the beer Kim didn't like (despite all the hand-waving and detailed description of what she wanted), so they bummed it off onto me.  Don't worry:  I didn't finish them both.

Needless to say, I slept in this morning (until about 7:00am) and STAYED in bed with Harry, sipping on coffee and watching a movie.  This meant that I couldn't run far today.  It's getting much warmer out, much earlier, so I gotta get out early in the morning for long runs.  While my long run (13) was scheduled for this morning, I reckon that's what we have Sundays for -- when you're slightly dehydrated Saturday morning and don't really feel like lacing up for the long haul.  I did make it out around 10:00am for four easy miles around the park. So shady...it felt wonderful!

I stopped by the store after finishing my run, and sweated my way through the produce aisles.  We needed bananas, cherries, and apples.  Naturally, I ended up purchasing more than that, including some Nutella.  Sophs is on her way over here in a bit, and we *NEEDED* that delicious Hazelnut spread desperately.

This is what's going on just outside our front door!  Tons of volunteers and vendors setting up for Six Corners BBQ Fest! 

So you know what we're having for lunch...and probably dinner...

...and Josi's Frozen Yogurt for dessert.  :)

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Does your training plan have some *give*, or do you have to stick with it or it doesn't get done?
-One thing I love about triathlon training, is if you wake up one day and don't feel like training the discipline on the calendar, you have two other ways to train!

Are there any festivals or events going on in your neighborhood/city that you're planning on hitting up?

Are you watching the World Cup?  Which team are you cheering for?
-GO GERMANY!  :P

Running With the Boys

My day started yesterday with something new for breaky!  I've never ever tried egg whites in my oatmeal, even when I was training for bodybuilding.  I'm not sure why; I ate way blander and less appetizing things during that period of my life.

I made it with:
1/2 cup oatmeal (I use old-fashioned)
1 cup water
1/4 cup egg whites
1 tsp natty peanut butter
1 medium banana

I mixed the oats and water in a bowl, and microwaved it for 90 seconds.  I added the egg whites to the oats and microwaved it again for another 60 seconds, then fluffed it with a fork.  I threw in the PB while the oats were still steaming so it would melt...mmmmm, melted PB...then sliced up and threw in the banana.

It wasn't bad at all!  I haven't eaten oatmeal in a pretty long time, but I used to eat it every single stinkin' day.  With PB, with honey, with steamed apples, with cinnamon...you name it, I topped oatmeal with it!

I'm off from work this week; it's our "summer break" from the year-round school where I teach.  So yeah, after blogging and relaxing all day, I FINALLY took a shower. :D  Have you ever noticed just how lazy you get when you don't have much to do?  Haha!  Harry got home from work and we got ready to go to the track!  Hooray, something to do...RUN!

Fearless Leader Greg and Stephanie are away on vacation this week, so they weren't present last night for the Wednesday night /R/iver /R/unners speedwork session.  I knew that I was going to run sans my Sole Mate, which made me a little anxious.  Would I be running by myself?  The boys are faster than me!  We started with a five minute warm-up, which was actually kinda speedy for me (~8:30 pace) for a warm-up!  We chatted a bit about some upcoming races and whatnot (I'm used to chatting!), then moved into our first five minute interval.  It was tough, and the conversation STOPPED.  Stephanie and I can usually carry on our conversation, unless we're going extra speedy and are getting extra tired.  I just focused on running in a circle on the track..."Just one more time around should do it...".  We then slowed down for a five minute recovery.  We did three more sets like this, increasing in speed on the harder paced intervals.

How I felt at some points, especially at a ~7:00-minute pace...

Those five minute recoveries felt sooooooooooooo goooooood!

I got ahead during one of the recovery intervals...

The last hard interval was like "Ohhhhmmmmyyyygoshhhhh my legs are gonna fall off!".  But I knew better and just kept pushing.

James and Harry were great sources of encouragement in the last minute of the interval, when I was cussing between labored breaths.  Harry indicated that there were ten seconds left (!!!!!!!!), and James and I hit the gas to sprint out the last of it.  We slowed wayyyyy down for a two-minute warmdown; I didn't try talking for a while, just trying to catch my breath.  After the warmdown and a stretch, we went out to Bad Dog Tavern for gourmet burgers and a beer...you know, the usual!  :)

5 miles at ~8:20 pace, and that beer tasted wonderful!

In other news, I have some reading to do.  Here's HRG's list; she has a marathon this weekend, for which she's been injured and pool running for the last few weeks of her training!  It'll be amazing to see how she rocks it out!  I'm always so encouraged and motivated by people gearing up and so close to their races, so I'll take anything she suggests reading as aces.

But really, I'll read anything she suggests at any 'ole time.

Also, today is the first day of FIFA World Cup!  Woot woot!  Who are you rootin' for?
I'm pretty sure that Harry has cleared out the DVR and has set recording times.

Here's Sophs playing my vuvuzela that my friend, Sonia, brought back for me from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.  Apparently, they've been banned in the tournament venues in Brasil, hehe!

I'm off to get some errands done, and hopefully jumping on the bike for a bit!

Peace out, y'all!