Bah

Last week I got a call from my landlord asking me if I could stay with someone else for 2 nights while they replaced the stairs and the balcony. Well he has been telling me that he has plans to replace the stairs when I moved in, 2 years ago so I was a little apprehensive this would happen. My upstairs neighbor moved out this weekend though so it looks like now would be the perfect time to do it before they rent it out because they would only be disturbing one tenant, me.

No big deal I thought, I will just stay at my parents for a couple of nights. Well he is supposed to give me a day or two notice and as of today I still havent heard from him, however Monday he said the painter didnt show up so it might be wednesday/ thursday. I requested it be during the week instead of the weekend because if I have to spend an entire weekend with my parents I would go insane, but knowing my luck thats exactly what is going to happen.

What is annoying is that I really wont be able to go out on the nights I am at my parents because a) long drive=gas money, b) I wont be able to drink because I am not going to risk that and c) even if I did just stay out late my parents would be all concerned that I am staying out that late and I dont want to deal with that crap and my mom wont be able to sleep until she knows I am home safe.

I know I dont have much of a social life right now which makes the 2 or even 1 night a week I go out important for my sanity. I am keeping my fingers crossed for a Sunday/Monday or Monday/Tuesday, we will see what happens.

Internet, I Just Cant Quit You

So far this has been a slow work week for me. Susan is on vacation, although her work load never effects me her constant giggling to herself does, and Tenn has been out sick for two days which has meant I don't have a lot to do. I am not exaggerating when I say that guy misses at least 1 day a week for one reason or another whether it be something to do with his kids or has to go to the dmv or is sick or the cows got lose (seriously he missed a whole day a couple of weeks ago for that). I think my dad is getting fed up but it is hard to tell because he doesnt express emotion, like ever. I feel for me dad though because to fire him would mean his family would suffer financially and although that isnt neccesarily his problem, when someone has worked for you for years it is really difficult to do that to someone.

I am completely getting off track on what I was intending to post though so I am going to re-focus. Ok so, the work week has been slow so and I am actually ahead in my work so I have some free time on my hands that I typically waste doing any of a number of things online; shopping, blogging, reading blogs, emailing people, looking up things I am curious about, finding new workouts etc. Well at around noon today our internet went out for no apparant reason and I had absolutely no idea what to do with myself. Everything I kept thinking I could do I had to be able to have internet access to be able to do. It got me thinking about what a typical work day used to be for people. I know there are plenty of jobs where your day really is always busy but in my line of work it varies from being slammed to being really light all in the same week. So how did people occupy themselves during down time? I ended up playing solitaire about 20 times until finally (thank god) I was able to get online again. Is there anything any of you do to pass time where internet access is not required or am I just an unimaginative person?

Ok back to looking for the perfect red pumps.

More Myth Busting

You have probably heard of spot toning at some point in your life. You know, women who want to get rid of their saddle bags so they do hundreds of lunges or men wanting to banish the beer belly so they spend 45 minutes a day on their ab rocker. Unfortunately this is a complete waste of time for both of them because spot toning is a myth of grand proportion designed by fitness guru's who care more about your money than your flabby ass.

The sometimes frustrating truth that we have to accept is that genetics decided how our bodies will look and although we can make improvements, we cannot custom design them to look like Gisele or Mathew McConaughey - no matter how hard you work. You can work muscles in one particular area yes, but you cant pick and choose which areas you want to lose fat from. There are ways of reducing overall fat, but if you tend to hold fat in one area (usually the midsection or hips/thighs) that will probably be the last place you lose fat and the first place you will get it back. Sad, but true so you might as well get over it.

The most common case of this I see for both men and women is over weight people doing a lot of ab exercises in hopes of slimming down in that area. You can do 1,000 sit ups a day and you will not see results until you lose the overall body fat you are carrying around with you. Yes you may be strengthening that area but that will NOT result in you losing fat in those areas. You can however do both cardio and weight training to drop overall body fat and then the way your body looks is pretty much what you are stuck with. Some women gain weight in their boobs instead of their hips/thighs/ass stomach. I like to call those women lucky bitches. Thats why you occasionally do see skinny ass super models with big (natural) boobs, they just hit the genetic lottery, good for them (I just hope they have webbed feet or something too to balance that out).

The last place I lose weight is my ass and also the first place I gain weight. I have plenty of muscle in that area but it still has a nice layer of fat over it that wont be going anywhere ever, which is all good to me now. There have been previous years where I loathed my booty but we all go through the "I hate my body for no good reason phase" - unless we are Giselle although I am sure she would say she went through a stage where she was taller than all the boys and they made fun of her yada yada (it is their way of relating to us normal folk). The second to last place I lose weight is on my lower belly. When that area starts feeling gross, I know I have gained a few pounds and if I want to make it go away I need to stop eating a bunch of crap like bar snacks. It is a nice jiggly reminder.

I think it is important to go into any type of weight loss goal realistically. By that I mean you may not have as much control over how you will look as you may want, but that doesnt mean you shouldnt try either. I definitely still struggle with not being as happy with myself as I could be, but when I start looking at myself overly critical I channel it in a different direction. I may not be celulite free, but my legs can run for 26.2 miles and they can leg press over 150 pounds and thats pretty cool. When I am hard on myself it is because I know I can do better and thats motivating to me. (See inspirational ad above)

Damn, Just Damn

The men's world record in the marathon was beat by Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie in Berlin yesterday. He also held the old world record before he beat it. His time was 2:03:59, thats a 4 minute 44 second mile on average. That is just unfuckinbelievable. He also negative split the course which means he ran the second half faster than the first half. Thats right, he ran the second half faster than 4:44. The 35 year old stated 'I Can Run 2:03:30 Or Something Like That' when he was done. I tip my hat to you sir, and thanks for giving me some hope that at 28 I have not yet peaked:)

I got to say it was a good day

The running gods were smiling on me today. I had was feeling pretty good when I woke up, even though it was the most daunting and critical run of my entire training schedule, and that feeling carried on throughout 20 miles of relentless pavmement pounding.

It is a masochistic enedvour to run 20 miles, pain is expected and enivitable but taking that on and succeeding, feels fucking fantastic. With the memories of the evil stomach cramps that attacked me during my last long run and again on Wednesday, my biggest fear was that I would be doubled over by mile 5 and have to finish the run cursing the fact that I had to be born with a stomach.

In effort to avoid this fate I tweaked some things and perhaps found the magical and stellar antidote to my nasty stomach issues. I tried to limit the dairy in my diet on Saturday, but this was a lot harder than I expected. No lattes, no cheese on my sandwhich, no chocolate milk - this was tough! When trying to decide what to have for dinner I thought back to when I ran my first half marathon. I admit I didnt know what I was doing back then so I had cheese pizza for dinner and in the morning for breakfast. The result was a much faster run than I anticipated. I avoided continuing to do this because according to the research it wasnt the best option though. Well everything else I have tried has always given me evil stomach cramps so what the hell.

Me n Eds provided me with the new love of my life, the valley veggie. It was loaded with cheesy veggie goodness and I had an utterly fantastic time eating it. I realize that I am sad and pathetic to spend my Saturday night alone with a pizza and enjoy it, but such is my life. Besides pizza is always just a phone call away and you dont have to try to figure out if it likes you or not which kicks ass.

I had a cliff bar when I woke up instead of my usual wheat toast and peanut butter and met my mom at the trail at 7:30. A good majority of the time I need a few miles to get the stiffness out and to find the pace, but I was comfortable from the start which was a good sign. We went a different way and explored areas we hadnt been, which helped the miles go by more quickly. By mile 10 I still felt strong and comfortable, I had no pain or stomach cramping - hell to the yes.

Mile 18 was when I first started feeling a little achey in my legs and some stiffness, but thats expected by that point so I wasnt concerned. By the time I finished I was still fine and even felt like I could go further - but I didnt, "over training" flashed through my mind. It was a great confidence boosting run for me though, and I did it in 3 hours, which is faster than I needed to go by a minute a mile. I have one more 20 miler and then it is time to taper so the worst is almost behind me.

One of the most freakin awesome benefit of running that far is that I can eat anything I want today and not worry about over doing it or making my stomach upset for a run. You roughly burn 100 calories per mile so by 11:30 AM I have already burned 2,000 calories, woo hoo! What has convinced me that I dont eat the way that I do because I like to and not because I dont want to gain weight is that I went to Carls Jr and ordered what I usually do - a chicken sandwhich no mayo. I could have gotten fries and mayo and not had to worry about it but I didnt want it. I will eat the rest of the pizza a little later though, for sure.

And now, it is time for some pizza and a nap...best Sunday ever.

UPDATE: Yeah I actually have (2) more 20 milers to go, damn. So I will be running ast least 40 miles a week until October 19th so dont be suprised if you dont see a lot of me in the near future.

The debtate is a go which means there will be a lot of concerned and thoughtful american citizens that will be evaluating the candidates tonight, and an equal amount getting plastered by making it a drinking game. Of course there will also be a smaller population doing both. I came across this list of the more creative drinking games out there.

My personal favorites:

McCain claims the 'fundamentals of our economy are strong'–finish your drink and write a bad check to your landlord.

The cameras pan out to Cindy McCain–swallow all the pills you can find and finish your drink.

Everytime Obama says “Bush” (finish your drink if he’s referring to Cindy McCains. )
When either candidate shakes his head, rolls his eyes, finish your beer for an Al Gore sigh.

McCain sings “Bomb, Bomb Iran”

McCain uses self-deprecating humor to comment on his age–mix whiskey with Metamucil and sip while asking the person next to you when you’re going to have grandchildren.

McCain says 'my friends' more than three times–open the front door and scream, 'I am not your goddamn friend, McCain,' pound your beer and throw the empty in the street

Cheers!

For The Love, Eat, Eat, Eat!

So not to call my mom out, but I get very frustrated with her effed up way she thinks about food and eats. It doesnt seem to matter how many times I tell her and her trainer tells her that skipping meals is a major no-no, she just keeps "forgetting". Personally I dont how you could ever "forget" to eat. Huh? Thats like forgetting to sleep. "I feel a little off today hmmm...oh thats right, I was so busy I forgot about sleeping!" Baffling but nontheless I hear it a lot from people.

For myself, skipping a meal or even going more than 4-5 hours without eating, turns me into the incredible bitch. I snarl, I snap, I am generally just an enormous biatch if my blood sugar gets low. This is why on any given day you will always find food of some kind - usually a cliff bar, energy chews or trail mix etc - in my purse because I dont feel it is fair to unleash hungry Kasey on the general popluation.

Eating regularly is not only important for my mental well-being but also for my metabolism. I am so fed up with the celebrity magazines inundated with articles that say that some new starlet that is no doubt naturally stick thin or anorexic/bulemic stays thin by eating lettuce leaves and raisins or does fasting or cleansing diets and you can too! People, starving yourself for any amount of time is not good for you. There is a reason you get crabby and weak and shaky and tired when you don't eat - your body is trying to protect you and alert you that oops, you forgot to eat! It is basically the body's version of tying a string around your finger. But if you dont listen, your body will continue to try and protect you by s-l-o-w-i-n-g your metabolism w-a-y d-o-w-n.

Waaay back in the day when humans grunted more than spoke, food was not as easy to get to as picking up a phone and calling Me-n-Eds. Mmmm Me-n-eds Valley Veggie pizza...*mouth watering*. Anyway, in order to keep our species alive the body adjusted to not always being able to eat whenever we wanted to by actually slowing down when there is a large gap between meals. If you then eat a huge meal -- at the same time your metabolism is functioning as if you're starving -- your body wants to hold on to every calorie. The body is really effing genius when you think about it, however it does go against what might seem like common sense which is the less you eat, the more weight you will lose. A recent study explored the risks associated with skipping breakfast. Those whose skipped breakfast had higher BMI's than those who ate just about anything, including the dreaded high carb breakfast. Overall, the findings support the theory that a low-fat, high fiber breakfast is associated with less weight and skipping breakfast will likely result in, well you hanging onto that spare tire or flabby ass.

I think people have an unnatural fear of food and very unhealthy relationships with it. Food doesnt make people fat, people make people fat or rather their decisions do. Instant gratification is a prevelant theme in regard to many aspects of society including food. This is especially true when you starve yourself and then try to eat a proper meal. How many times have you been absolutely famished and went for the quickest thing you could shove down your throat and it *gasp* wasnt a perfectly proportioned and well balanced meal? I know this because when I do want to eat something not so good for me, I find that I sometimes try to justify it by making myself really hungry and then blame my starvation for my naughty choice as if I had no control. Puh-lease I know exactly what I am doing, I just wanted that In-and-Out burger!And thats just one reason I workout fiendishly - I want to eat a burger and fries sometimes and if I am healthy the majority of the time then its cool.

So back to some guidelines/info about eating:

1. Eat smaller meals every 4 hours or so. I typically eat a reduced calorie Jimmy Dean egg white breakfast sandwhich with my coffee at 7 and then around 10 I will have an apple and peanut butter or almonds and a string cheese. Then I have a lean cuisine or sandwhich at lunch with a piece of fruit or an individual serving size of microwave veggies. At around 3:15 I eat a cliff bar or something with about 200 calories so I am fueld for my workout and then its dinner as soon as I get home from the gym.

2. Don't let yourself get to the point of starving pyscho bitch, you will over eat, choose the wrong things to eat and generally be annoying to everyone around you.

3. Eating food regularly will keep your metabolism from slowing down and also keep your energy levels up!

4. If you try to starve yourself by following the 1,200 diet celebrities seem to be fond of these days, dont be suprised if it doesnt work and you dont end up with Gwyneth Paltrows legs. She is a natural stick of a person, you have no chance, lets just be honest here. Your metabolism is going to slow down because thats what your body is supposed to do so you dont die.

So there you have it. A rumbling stomach should not be a testament to your will power as a dieter. Think of it a your body warning you that your body is going to punish you for starving it by making you fat.

I heart Jessica Biel. I think she sets a great example for girls/women because she is one of the few female celebrities that are muscular and athletic and *gasp* smokin hot too? I know it is shocking but you dont have to be a teeny tiny little waif like thing to look good.

A lot of women are reluctant to hit the gym hard or be athletic because they are afraid there is a mannish unnattractive quality to women with muscles, but Biel proves them wrong. Strong and sexy are not mutually exclusive.

In the past I have shared the mindset that if I was strong and muscular I will loose femininity so I toiled through hours of cardio and avoided hitting the weights very hard. Unfortunately I was completely ignorant to how the body works and being completely ineffecient. Instead of getting thin, I would plateau and never reach my goals. It doesnt suprise me that a lot of women I talk to also believe that cardio is what will keep or make you thin, but it is not the most effective way. Increasing your muscle mass is the most effective way to increase your metabolism. Running, biking, walking etc. are good for you, dont get me wrong, but they only burn calories while you are engaged in the activity. If you increase muscle mass however, you are making your resting metabolism (how quickly you burn calories when you are not exercising) faster, thus you burn more calories throughout the day.

I know this is a prevelant misconception because I am typically one of less than 5 women in the weight room, but if you walk by the cardio room, it is packed with women. A combination of misinformation and women being afraid to look manly results in a lot of women basically spinning their wheels. I know they are working hard but they are wasting a lot of time and growing frustrated with a lack of results and thus they often give up. I know this because I used to think the same way until a friend of mine began educating me and I continued to educate myself and it wasn't until I really started lifting weights-without being afraid of bulking up-that I saw the results I wanted. In fact it is a common myth that women will bulk up if they weight train but for most women this is genetically not possible unless you are a very hard core lifter and/or genetically predisposed to being muscular.

Physically, putting on muscle has resulted in me being the smallest clothing size I have ever been as an adult and at the same time also the strongest I have ever been. Mentally, putting on muscle has made me more confident and comfortable in my own skin. I wish more women could feel that way and bringing me back to the beginning of this post, celebrities like Jessica Biel can provide a good role model for women and girls to look to. If there were more strong and healthy celebrities like her perhaps it could help women would to be less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors and struggle less with body issues. I dont believe women can ever really be 100% free of body issues, but we can definitely love ourselves more.

So bravo Ms. Biel, and thank you.

UPDATE: So the timing of this could not have been more perfect. I was scrolling through my FitSugar blog and they linked to a website of a trainer who had quite a lot to say about Gwyneth Paltrows visit to Oprah and specifically what her trainer told the show. Amazingly this woman (gwyeneths trainer) gets paid to train a celebrity and has NO idea what she is talking about. The real trainer that wrote about it had quite a bit to say about and calls her out on all the incorrect information that a lot of women have about weight lifting versus cardio. It is a good read, she is quite colorful and sarcastic, but she knows what she is talking about. Read it here.

New Tattoo

Ok not the real kind - I still havent forgotten how badly my peacock hurt so I am not ready for that yet - but this is one of those "I wish I would have thought of that" ideas. It is a pace tat that lists how fast you should be running each mile in order to make your goal time. Runners typically tuck a piece of paper somewhere that they can refer to or use a band of some kind but this seems much more convenient to be able to glance at while you are running to make sure you are on pace.

At larger races there are pace groups that have a leader who carries a sign with the projected finishing time. It is the leader then who keeps on pace for you, you just have to keep up. I am thinking the Two Cities Marathon may not have that though so I think I am going to order this temporary pace tat for my race. It is only 3 bucks and it will be a lot better than me trying to figure out times in my head, which is what I have done in the past without a lot of success - I dont do well with numbers.

Wednesday Chuckle (Not to be Confused with Wednesday Smile)

Yes, poor Mike has been cursed with an unfortunate name, but what was funnier to me was thinking about a teacher calling out his name when taking attendance.

"Mike Litoris? Is Mike Litoris here? Has anyone seen Mike Litoris??"

Tee Hee.

People Suck

We have had several trees and shrubs stolen from the office in the past year and last night they struck again, stealing flowered plants from our front flower bed.

It keeps happening and there doesnt feel like there is anything we can do about it but use rocks instead of any vegatation. It makes me angry and sad that people do this and thus prevent us from having trees and plants in our own yard.

Shocking Shake Facts

You all know I am the type of person to watch what I eat and keep my calorie count in check, but even I was shocked with the nutritional info of a new shake at Baskin Robbins.

The Heath Bar shake contains 2,300 calories - that is as many calories as is reccomended that an adult male have in an entire day - a half a pound of sugar and 60 grams of saturated fat.
Source

It is menu items like that which make me think that nutritional info should be listed on menus. I would never order this in the first place, but I also would never believe it was as bad for you as it is. I would think knowing that may stop at least a few people from ordering diabetes in a cup.

Instead, try some Kashi products for FREE. These cookies are not a low calorie food, they have 130 calories per cookie, but they are also loaded with good things for you with ingredients like sunflower seeds, shredded coconut, cranberries, flax seeds, and dark chocolate. They even have whole grains and fiber. All you have to do is give your address and they will mail you a cookie!

Awesomely Bad Song of the Day

MC Hammer's "Pumps & a Bump" is my awesomely bad song of the day. I recently downloaded it because it is just a fun song to listen to when you are working out and I always kinda liked the song. Any song that praises women for having asses has a soft spot in my heart.

When this song came out MC Hammer got a lot of crap from trying to re-invent himself as more of a hard core rapper as opposed to his clean image he used when his album with "Can't Touch This" came out. I know there was some song that had the lyric "you've got to pray just to make it today" which makes a follow up song about women with big butts, high heels and sex a little unexepected and forced. Had anyone else came out with this song it would probably have had more success but regardless, I still like it.

I hadnt had the pleasure of seeing the video until now though. The most awesomely bad part of this video without a doubt is Hammer's tiger stripped banana hamock that he wears inexplicibly with what appears to be black leather gloves. He isnt shy about his banana hamock either as he swings it around at half mast shamelessly. This was probably the nail in the coffin of Hammer's career. In any case, be prepared to be transported back to the 90's in all its glory and please to enjoy:

When we start our Tower bike gang, I think we should get tall bikes. Not only does this help while riding in traffic because you can see so much more, but tall bikes can be used for jousting, not to mention they are just generally bad ass. I can see it now...we can hang our dice from the handle bars.

I didnt watch the Emmy's last night, I didnt even realize they were on, but being bombarded with best and worst dressed lists on websites this morning I was soon reminded. Obviously I am not going to pass up a chance to let my fashion opnion known, but I will keep it short to my favorite and my least favorite dressed actress so as not to torture the 3 of you who read my blog and could care less.

First, the worst.

Julia-Louis Dreyfus, who I like a lot as an actress, just wasn't cutting it in this cut out orange-cicle dress. It reminds me of flipping through Seventeen magazine during prom season where every other page are prom dresses advertisements which I always found to be strangely outdated and often included a lot of dresses with cut outs like the one under her boobs. I never really got the point of that cut out in particular, it seems to be too small to be titalating and it isnt particularly edgy so why have it? I like that she took a bit of a risk with color but her whole look is off and she doesnt look very comfortable.

And the best:

I didnt see her dress on any list but I think Kyra Sedgwick looks fantastic. I like the length of the dress, she didnt go for the typical long gown but it fits her perfectly. Her hair also looks great - thats the look I always try to go for but fail at miserably every time. Except for the jewel encrusted neckline the dress is really simple but stunning.

I heard the show was actually pretty bad but the quote I put on my blog from Tina Fey after winning for 30 Rock was great:

"I thank my parents for somehow raising me to have confidence that is disproportionate with my looks and abilities. Well done. That is what all parents should do."

I love that the weather is cooler but I hate that it is pitch black when I wake up. I have forgotten how hard it is to get up in the morning when it is dark outside.

Friday Smile!

So I frequent the Tower Starbucks well, frequently. Every morning there is a group of older men that are in there talking and drinking coffee and I always say hello to them and chat them up for a bit while I wait for my coffee. They are always very nice and complimentary (not in a creepy way) and really like my shoes for some reason.
Today I went in and there were only two of the usual cast of characters and I said hello and got my coffee and as I was walking out I see one of the men at his car getting flowers out of his trunk and I dont think much of it but he walks over to me and says "Here these are for you". I was taken aback but he went on to say that he wasnt a stalker or anything but he seems me all the time and he thinks I am very beautiful and that I brighten his day so he wanted to brighten mine. Swoon! Ok so he may look like an old craggly sea captain with a huge grey beard but he completely made my day. What a sweet thing to do for someone you dont even really know. And it wasnt creepy at all, he was just sweet and thoughtful. I wish guys my age would think of doing nice things like this but guys my age just dont seem to get that thoughtful gentlemen thing it seems.
Now I have beautiful flowers to look at all day and since I am beyond slammed at work, it put a smile on my face.

Grammar Fail

I am dying to send the architect an email asking what "Not For Reviewed" means but I am afraid he might find it condescending because it would be. I love it when incredibly anal people who are overly critical of others screw up. I wont say it to his face but I will be personally satisfied.

I know I havent been to church in awhile but if this is the kind of stuff I am missing, then I have dodged a bullet. Keep watching until the guys dance solo at the end, it is awesomely bad.

New Link

I am putting a new link to a blog called FitSugar, which is a subsidiary of FabSugar. Basically it has posts about nutrition and exercise and since I am an exercise and nutrition freak, I visit it on a daily basis.

In particular I like the posts about specific exercises and stretches that I can incorporate into my workouts. They seem to post a lot of yoga poses and although I am personally not into yoga, I understand that it is difficult and really good for your body. That being said "partner yoga" is apparantly a popular trend but I dont think I could ever do some of this stuff seriously with my partner because I would either be giggling or too turned on to function.

Here are some examples:



(Hope she is feeling fresh!)

Aside from the soft porn disguised as yoga though, it is a good blog to read.

UPDATE: I have also added Miss Abigail to my blog list:)

Just Stop Talking

More proof that models should not be allowed to speak can be found in the following quote from Model Erin Wasson in an interview for Nylon TV and reported by NY Mag.

"The people with the best style for me are the people that are the poorest. Like, when I go down to Venice Beach and I see the homeless, like, I'm like, 'Oh my God, they're pulling out, like, crazy looks and they, like, pulled shit out of like garbage cans.'"

Source

From The Mind Of Kasey

Everytime I hear or read the name General Petraeus, my mind immediately goes to the Planet of the Apes musical from The Simpsons where Dr. Zaius is played by Troy McClure and they sing this song:

Petraus and Zaius sound alike and there arent very many words with that sound so apparantly I cannot think of one without thinking of the other. So anytime General Petraeus is mentioned it results in this god awful song getting stuck in my head.
My only consolation is that now it is stuck in someone else's head and someone else might share in my misery.

And I dont know what the deal is with that clip but I couldnt find the real clip on youtube and I just needed the song anyway.

Got Old Athletic Shoes?

If you are like me when you get a new pair of running or athletic shoes you keep your old ones in case something comes up where you need an old crappy pair that you dont care about. And if you are again like me, the situation where you need an old crappy pair never actually arises so you are left with old random pairs of shoes around your place.
If you want to get rid of them but dont want to just toss them in the trash here are a few options for donating your shoes:

- mail them the nike reuse-a-shoe program at:
Nike Recycling Center
c/o Reuse-A-Shoe
26755 SW 95th Ave.
Wilsonville, OR 97070

One of Nike’s longest-running environmental and community programs, worn-out athletic shoes of any brand are collected, processed and recycled into material used in sports surfaces like basketball courts, tennis courts, athletic fields, running tracks and playgrounds for young people around the world. Every year, millions of pairs of athletic shoes are thrown away, clogging landfills and wasting a lot of good material so this is a very cool way to counteract that.

-Soles4Souls collects new and gently used athletic shoes and donates them to victims of natural disatsters, like victims of Hurricane Ike. You can mail your shoes to:
Soles4Souls, Inc.
Foreign Trade Zone #89
6620 Escondido Street
Las Vegas, Nevada 89119

-Heart and Sole provides new and gently used shoes to the poorest of the world's people. You can mail your shoes to:
Ann Cook
A314 East Fee Hall
College of Osteopathic Medicine
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1316

Since all of my shoes are pretty worn I will be donating mine to Nike so they can be made into sport court somewhere out there. This is an easy way help the enviorment and less fortunate people that cant afford shoes of their own so I highly encourage you to take part.

Dan Karnazes Is At It Again

Runner Dan Karnazes of Ultramarathon Man fame is once again going for another running record. Recently his book 50/50 came out about his experience of running a marathon a day for 50 days (yeah thats a grand total of 1,310 miles) and today he starts a 48 hour treadmill run. You can see him running live here..
Oh yeah he has also run a 200 mile relay race solo, has completed a 350 mile run, moutain biked 24 hours straight, swam across San Francisco Bay, has completed the 100 mile western states endurance race 11 times under 24 hours yada yada...to say the least the guy is accomplished so 48 hours on a treadmill is probably a walk in the park for him.
I on the other hand get antsy after an hour on the treadmill so I will have to keep him in mind when I am running later this afternoon.

Runners Digest: Stomach Cramps Be Gone!

Yesterday I ran 18 miles successfully except for one major issue - stomach cramps. When I trained for previous marathons and half marathons this was a minor problem that occured without a great deal of frequency. This time however I am plagued by stomach issues and it has become a huge inconvenience.

What typically happens is no more than 30 minutes into the run my stomach will start feeling upset and cramping. It is hardly noticable at first and will go away after a few minutes. Then it comes back, worse than before, and goes away again. This happens continually, waves come and go with increasing pain. By the end of the run I will have stopped and doubled over a couple of times, doing lamaze style breathing until it subsides and then I go on. Even if I stop to use a bathroom, I wont be able to get any relief until I am done running. What results is a mad rush home with really bad cramps the entire way. I will take several trips to the bathroom for the next few hours and then I am ok.

It is very frustrating to me that aside from this, I am running really well. I somehow misread my training schedule and skipped over a week so I went from 14 miles to 18 miles sooner than I should have, and I was still good except for my stomach.

Reading up on the problem it seems that 60% of runners experience varying degrees of nausea and unpleasant stomach issues while they run. The problems are said to be caused, in part, because blood is diverted from the GI tract to the muscles during exercise. The diversion of blood can cause cramping and limit the body's ability to to absorb fluids potentially leading to dehydration. This is worse for runners because the high impact running has on the body jostles the GI tract resulting in a very sped up digestive system.

Factors susch as the amount of bacteria in the stomach, digestive time, hormone and stress levels as well as pre-existing conditions such as lactose intolerance and irritable bowel syndrome influence how effected some runners can be by this. The answer it seems is to experiment with your diet to see what works and what doesnt.

I have always had wheat toast with penaut butter before a long run but the fiber in the toast and the fat in the peanut butter may now be bothering me. They also suggest avoiding dairy products for 24 hours before a long run which I can try and eating three hours before you run. Well eating 3 hours before I run is just not going to happen because I would have to eat breakfast at 4:30AM. They also reccomend refined white foods like regular pasta, white rice, and plain bagels - all food I avoid because wheat is supposed to be better for you. One or two meals of this a week can't hurt so I am willing to give it a try. Since this doesnt happen as severly with my shorter weekday runs I wont have to adsjust my diet too much. I am also going to drink ginger tea before my long runs to hopefully settle my stomach. At this point I am willing to try anything. I have (2) 20 milers coming up and then I start tapering so I am almost at my training peak so now is when I need to find the solution.

I Love A Good Deal

I went to a few thrift stores yesterday and found a few items at a really price. I figure that with my shopping fetish as it is, it might be a good idea to do some of my shopping at second hand stores to save me a few bucks. Here is what I found:

This is my favorite item, a red high waisted pencil skirt that fits perfectly. The material is almost a twead so it can be worn for all seasons and the best part is it cost me a whopping 84 cents!

Florals are big this season and although I have always shyed away from anything overly feminine, I thought this dress might work well with a black belt and shoes. It was only 3 bucks so I figured even if I ended up not liking it, it was no big loss. When I put it together I loved it though. The black accessories are a nice contrast to the flowering print, making it less girly. I also liked the blue, green and purple colors.

These funky little numbers look better in person, but I just thought they were fun. The heel isnt too high and the pattern is a colorful snakeskin. I might have a problem finding something to wear with them but since they were so cheap I had to get them.

I also got a short khaki green mini skirt that I will wear with tights when it gets colder. It isnt anything special though so I didnt take a picture.

Thirft store shopping is very tiring which is why I dont do it very often. It is fun to look for items that are unique though. I need to look for some more thrift stores or more vintage shops to find a better quality of items but I was pleased with what I came out with. The grand total of my purchases was 12 dollars, not too bad for 4 items.

The Weekend Is Coming! The Weekend Is Coming!

Finally it is Friday afternoon and the work week is almost over. It was a busy week for me, my dad was out of town until Thursday so I had a lot of slack to pick up at work. I was happy to step it up though since my dad works 10 hours a day and rarely takes time off so he deserves time away without having to worry that his business is going to crash and burn. In addition it is nice to know that I can handle things and make decisions on my own and not screw things up. Today is also his 58th birthday so he took the afternoon off to golf, his one and only guilty pleasure.

Looking ahead at the weekend, there are several things I wish to accomplish. I am getting my hair did tomorrow and have decided on the following color:

I am not sure how to describe that color, a little blonde, a little red, a little brown, but will see what happens when the color actually gets on my hair because my hair has a mind of its own.

I am also planning on doing a little thrift store shopping to see what I can find. That reminds me that I really need to get my act together and learn how to sew. I am in need of one on one instruction because I need to learn by doing and I so have no idea what I am doing so I will be a bit high maintenance at the start. There are many times that I will have an outfit or pieces of clothing in mind that I want to have but I cant find anywhere. And yes I am the kind of girl that actually day dreams about clothes.

The football game is also Saturday night so I know I will be watching it, I just dont know where. I sort of want to go someplace and watch it, but I need to go to bed pretty early because I need to be well rested for Sundays run. I would see if peeople would want to come over but I want the freedom to be able to say "peace out" when I am ready to call it a night, which may be before the game is over.

Sunday I am doing an 18 miler. Lessons learned from last weeks run are to eat really well on Saturday, bring my body glide, bring more gatorade, bring a change of shirt if I get too sweaty and wear a hat. My mom is going to be able to ride with me so thats a huge help so I think it will go well. The rest of Sunday will probably consist of me taking a nap and writing thank you cards to everyone who has donated money for Girls on the Run. Fundraising is going pretty well but I am hoping that there are some people (ahem) that are going to donate but havent gotten around to it yet...I also want to bake something this weekend. Not sure what but I havent baked anything in probably almost a year and it will be a nice little reward on Sunday.

Thats my weekend, anyone still with reading?

Please do not watch this watch this without sound.

Frustrated But Optimistic

I am going throughg a bit of a running rut lately and I hate it. I blogged about my Sunday running disaster (I still have ugly sores on my armpit from the chaffing) but even yesterdays easy run was problematic. I am completely done with running 4 days a week on a treadmill, or as I like to call it the dreadmill.

Mentally it is really difficult because I cant let my mind do what it normally does when I run outside. Outside I day dream and think about things and people and I can almost get so distracted by whats going on in my head that I dont even realize I am running. When this happens I get to a very natural pace and running is easy and feels good. On the dreadmill I just cant seem to get myself to that mental state. If there are sports on the tv I usually do ok and can zone out similarly, but if like yesterday there is a call in show about personal finances where all I see is some woman nodding to whoever she is talking to on the phone I want to throw something at the tv. Since I cant really look at the tv I look around the weight room, which gets old very quickly. Time creeps by and I just want it to be over as opposed to enjoying myself like I do outside during most runs.

I was also in an exceedingly bad mood yesterday which I hope was pms because the sympotms of pms and anemia can be similar in some respects. I have felt a little run down and I get unreasonably angry at people, which are sympotms of both pms and anemia. I dont outwardly show my anger with most people, I know when I get like that that I am being completely unreasonable but I just cant help the feeling of anger so I try to stay away from people. Anyway, that was not helping the run. Today I have to do 7 miles so I will be on the treadmill for about an hour. I think I am going to run upstairs as opposed to the weight room in hopes that a simple change of scenery will be helpful.

I got my new issue of Runners World last night and there was one article that really got me thinking. A man in his 40s who ran in college, was a recreational runner until he was in a motorcycle accident and mangeled his leg to the extent that he was completely imobile for months and had a considerable limp and regular pain. He lived with this pain for years but still managed to run a bit, married a runner and had 2 kids. Eventually, the pain increased to where running was impossible and walking wasnt comfortable. So, he decided to have his leg amputed above the knee.

As much as I understand wanting to be more mobile and not living in pain, it takes a lot of strength to make that decision to willingly have your leg amputated. Not to mention having to go through all the physical therapy and pain of having your leg amputated. Personally I would want to be able to stay as active as possible as well but dont know if I could be brave ebough to do it.

The article went on that it was a lot more difficult than he expected it to be. Learning how to walk again, dealing with phantom pain and mentally dealing with permanant disfigurement was incredibly hard, as one would imagine. I was impressed with his attitude though and he kept going until he eventually began running races again. It wasn't easy but his quality of life has greatly improved and he can do anything any able bodied person can.

He also grew a friendship with Amy Palmiero, an amputee who lost her leg in a motorcycle accident as well. She went on to set the world record for male or female amputees in a marathon, posting a 3:04 which is not only fast but faster than when she had both legs.

People like that make me proud to be human. They make me want suck it up and work harder. They make me believe that the only limitations that we have, we put on ourselves. And they make me feel ashamed for complaining about things like having a sore hip. Hell I am fortunate to be able bodied and I take that for granted far too often. When I am feeling like I want to quit I tell msyelf this: you are lucky you can do this and you arent always able going to be able to so keep going for everyone who wants to but cant. It is a good thing to be reminded of when you are at mile 20.

Oh and in other news, my sister is going to start training for a half marathon in February. I am so happy because I have been trying to get her to run for years! Her husband runs so he has also encouraged it and now it looks like she is ready. I know she will do well and I cant wait to see the pride on her face when she finishes.

UPDATE: Kicked ass on my run yesterday. What a difference a day and a better attitude makes. I was exercising for over 2 hours though so I was really tired and slept hard last night, which is why I didnt go out.

I got a letter in the mail yesterday...

...and it was from Remzija, the woman I am sponsoring for a year through Women for Women International. I was super excited to get my first letter from her because it seems incredible to be communicating with a woman from Bosnia that I otherwise would have never even known existed. The letter was translated for me, but I also received a copy of the written copy in her writing. Here is what it said:

Dear Respected Friend,

Firstly, I want to greet you and ask you for the health of your family and you. My family and I are doing well. It is the summer here and we have many things to do inside and outside the house. On meetings in the organization "Women for Women" I go often and I have a great time socializing with women from my group. We talk about topics related to the life of a woman and exchange opinions. I decided to take a course in cutting over and I hope to learn something new. I am using this opportunity to thank you for deciding to be my sponser. I wish you all the best in your life. Iam looking forward to receive your letter, soon.

I send many greetings to you frokm Bosnia.
Your friend,
Remzjia

Obviously there were some minor translation issues, I havent a clue what cutting over is but I hope to find out once she gets my letter. I was excited to hear from her though and make a more meaningful connection than just through monetary means.

Opinion Solicitation

Heather referred me to her hair stylist so I have an appointment on Saturday for a cut and color. I have always liked Heather's hair color so I am looking forward to getting mine done by her stylist. My hair has been dark for a long time now so I feel like lightening it up, but I am not going to be changing the style. I am not sure what all she is going to be able to do at once since it isnt an easy process to go from dark to light but here are a few examples of color that I was thinking about.


This one is a more red, but not a lot lighter.

The first one is pretty light and the second one is a bit darker, with more of a highlighted effect.

I am leaning towards the last one, my sister liked the first one the best. Thoughts?

I Didn't Watch The VMA's But...

So I honestly haven't watched MTV in probably 2 years or so but I do follow the fashion blogs and although I loathe to admit it, I also read some of the celebrity gossip blogs. Here are some thoughts I had on the subject of last nights VMA's:

Britney Spears won Best Pop Video?? I wasn't even aware she had released any music in the past year. I was somewhat baffled (especially after I saw the video, god that song sucks) until I saw who she was up against; Danity Kane, Jonas Brothers (more on how annoying they are later), Panic at the Disco (eh) and some band Tokio Hotel where they guys wear entirely too much make up. I won't get started on how unattaractive guys who wear make up are, but words arent neccesary once you see this:

She also won best female video and best video. Hmmm, curious that when she is supposidly on a come back and she wins these awards. I smell marketing.

How sad that this is the best that 2008 had to offer. And yes I know that less main stream music is better so you music snobs dont need to jump down my throat for that comment.

Moving on,

It's a man, baby!

So back to Britney, here is proof that a spackled on make up, extensions and teeth whitening can make you perty.

Before:


After:

By the way, Taylor Swift needs to get a different expression besides pursed lips and squinty eyes. Seriously google image her and you will know what I am talking about.

Lil' Wayne, better to be heard and not seen:


Lauren Conrad looks like she is afraid that if she gets a little too close to Tila Tequila she might get a veneral disease:

Maybe she is smarter than I thought.

Hey there is that Michael Phelps guy again!

He is about 5 minutes left of his 15 minutes so I hope he enjoys it, and wouldnt you? Looks like he is taking full advantage.

Finally, this makes me want to barf a little:

God they are irritating little bastards.

Alright I have wasted enough time, back to work.

Some Days You Got It and Some Days You Dont

My run today was doomed to be good from the beginning. It is partly my fault it didnt go well but partly the fault of the heat too. I forget how much the heat can take out of you and your performance.

Usually I try to do my leg workouts on Tuesday/Thursday in order to have two solid rest days before I run on Sunday so my legs will be fresh. This past week though I did my leg workouts Wendesday and Friday. Even though I knew that it was a bad idea to do a hard leg workout on Friday afternoon I dont know how to do things without going all out when it comes to exercise. I know it is stupid and I am setting myself to be either prone to injury or make future workouts less effective but I always feel like I could go harder and do more and if I do take it easy I get mad at myself. So during todays run, my legs did not feel as strong as they usually do. Luckily my legs generally know how to go into auto pilot and thats what they did.

Another one of my mistakes was eating too late less night so my digestive system was even more off than usual. My stomach has issues on a regular basis but today I started cramping 40 minutes into it, not a good sign. My mom who usually rides her bike wasnt able to come out today so I was on my own. Carrying my water and gel with was not comfortbale. I have a fuel belt I use but the added pressure of it on my stomach made it even more uncomfortable. There are bathrooms on the route but even with the cramps, I cant go until a good 20 minutes after I run. Its annoying.

On top of that, I didnt bring my body glide with me which prevents chaffing. Because it was so hot I sweated more than usual and also chaffed in areas I dont normally have a problem with. Today it was my armpits so with every swing of my arms I was in pain. It wasnt excruciating but I have several places where the skin was rubbed off. Fortunately though I had no nipple chaffing. Phew.

Right about mile 12 was when I hit my wall. I was pissed because I hadnt hit a wall in awhile but my legs were dead and I was so hot. The trail I run has virtually no shade so even though it was 9:30 in the morning the sun was beating down and zapping me of energy. My hips were also hurting me so anytime I had to stop for a light or to get water, getting back going was probably pretty comical to anyone who saw me because I hobbled like an old lady.

I pushed through though and wouldnt stop until I ran my 2 hours and 20 minutes. Sure it was painful but I am glad that I did finish it off. Unfortunately I also finished off my water so walking back to my car I was hot, chaffed and dying of thirst. An old lady actually passed me when I was walking too, I usually hate that but I had no energy left, I was spent.

So the quality of the run wasnt so great, but I got a good workout in the sense that I was training my body not to give up when it is in pain. There will be pain when I run the marathon so I need to experience it when I am training.

And now I am taking a long nap.Mmmm naps.

Ahh, Retail Therapy Makes Kasey a Happy Girl

I am having a rough day for various reasons that I dont feel like bitching and moaning about so I decided to indulge in a little retail therapy. Fall is also approaching which means back to school shopping. Sure I dont actually go to school but why deprive myself of one of lifes pleasures because of a technicality?

Here is what I have coming to me:

These beautiful suede boots ordered at Zappos.com:

They were reasonably priced and zappos is a great site to order from. There is no shipping charges and they frequently expedite shipping for free so I will probably get them by Monday. They also dont tax your items so the price listed is the price you pay. They have free returns too so I have been known to order several pairs of shoes so I can compare and contrast and decide which pair I want and ship the others back.

I also ordered these jeans:


They are skinny jeans which I have never bought before because I have a hard time finding ones that fit well. My legs are muscular so they have a tendancy to be too tight around my quads which can be uncomfortable. I really liked the back pockets though so I ordered a size up and hopefully they fit.

I think the jeans and the boots will go well together too, even if it is too hot to wear them together for another month.

So someone who has a backyard should get or make this game:

It is called Ladder Golf, which is kind of like horseshoes type of game. Each rung of the ladder is a certain amount of points and the winner is the team that gets to 21 first.

I love backyard games and I think before the warm weather is over we should have a backyard game olympics. We could set up horseshoes, bocce ball, ladder golf and croquet etc. and enjoy some drinks and some bbq while we play. C'mon, ya know you want to!

Gym Woes

Yesterday at the gym I had a very unpleasant experience. I jumped on the treadmill and was on it for about 10 minutes when I see this man walking towards the cardio area. He was old, wore a velour track suit and walked very slowly with a cane,looking like he was about to keel over with every step. My initial impression was perhaps he had had a stroke because his mouth kind of hung open too and he just had that not all there look to him.

He slowly gets on the treadmill next to me and I remember thinking that he smelled good, like zest soap or something, but clean like he had just taken a shower. I see now he must have been lulling me into a false sense of security.

As I was running I could see him out of the corner of my eye, he appeared to be breathing heavily and gripped the sides of the treadmill. At times he would let go of the treadmill and tried to walk without the assistance. When he did this I would notice that he would slowly get further and further back on the treadmill until he held onto it again and pulled himself forward. I was convinced he was going to take a spill or have a heart attack and die before he was done because he was that shaky and unstable. A friend of his came up to talk to him though and she didnt seemed alarmed so I figured he must be ok.

I had about 15 minutes of my run left when I noticed that he was sweating profously. Granted I was as well, but I was wiping myself off with a towel and was controlling it just fine. One of my biggest complaints about Centerpoint is they keep the weight room at 82 degrees which is entirely too warm and thus spawns sprinklers of sweat to emerge. This guy however had pools of sweat around his treadmill, literally. He also had a towel that he was obviously not using too and he that velour track suit could not have helped.

Suddenly I can see him shaking his wrists, the way you would when your hands were wet and you didnt have a towel. As soon as I realized what he was doing, I felt his sweat hit me. It wasn't just a drop either, it was like a small dog had just had a bath and was shaking the water off. I was horrified and literally jumped as far over as I could go. This wasnt entirely helpful though because our treadmills were so close they were touching so really I had no chance of escape.

I thought about getting off and going to a different treadmill but I only had 15 minutes left and it would look rude because it would be obvious I was getting away from him. I also considered saying "Excuse me sir but you are flinging your sweat on me" but I really didnt want to have to conversation, particularly with other people around. How do you not know that you are flinging sweat though?!!

My soultion was to speed up and get it done faster, which I did, but not before getting sprayed two more times.

I am still revolted thinking about his sweat hitting me. Each drop was like I was taking a bullet, effing disgusting. Next time I see him coming, I will be going the other way.

Oh the joys of the gym.

Fall is Coming... Well, Eventually

With the last few mornings being considerably cooler (even though it is supposed to get back up into the 100's again later this week, *sigh*) it got me thinking about what I am looking forward to when the weather cools down. And yes I am the one who enjoys the hot summer months, but a change up is always good. Trust me, I will be complaining about it being cold by December.

Anyway here are some of the things I am looking forward to:

-pumpkin spice lattes
-hoodies
-leaves changing color (cliche I know but also true)
-sleeping without the a/c on so I am not all stuffy when I wake up
-tights (not to be confused with leggings)
-football
-running outside anytime I want to without suffering heat stroke
-baking things
-personal space heater so I can actually control the temperature in my office
-standing in front of a fire place
-carving pumpkins
-curling up in a blanket
-Going up to my cabin
-the possibility of rain, or at the very least overcast skies

I look forward to the change of seasons even though I still have to wait awhile.

Doesn't Brian Have This in His Living Room?

"As you stroke, it strokes...It's almost like having another lover there with the two you".
Too effing great. I thought it was a farse at first because the guy kinda looks like Will Ferrel, but this is the kind of real stuff we missed out on in the 70's. Think he wears sex panther too?
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