VRB reports and... not... week of 1/29/10

[VictoriaL]

As Tkay in the previous thread, I have nothing to report to start us off this week. ;)

Remind me that, from now on, when I claim to have "turned the corner" in regard to a headcold, it can backfire. I obviously jinxed myself earlier this week with my braggart ways. :rolleyes:

I hold cautious optimism that it is on its way out. Knock on wood.

With any luck, and my stalwart precautions, this will not morph into an asthma episode. Again, knocking on wood (I shall soon have bloody stumps for knuckles!).

First, thanks to Robyn, Tkay, and Les for your good wishes on my thread about ordering funeral flowers. Yes, DH has had a rough couple of months, and now we add this. Les, I'm sorry that I added yet another thing that you have to know about when you finally have a parish "to call your own"...

I offered to take care of the flowers since we're the only ones in town, and I figured that the family could always then blame me if a horseshoe-shaped arrangement of daisies, with a banner "Good Luck, Myron", were delivered. I do think I did well, though, although we won't be able to know for sure until we go to the funeral home.

DH's Mom is in NJ with his sister, and will be operated on next week for an aortal aneurysm. He will be going out to stay there for several days, and on the way will drop me and Spooky off at my parents. I feel badly about being so excited, since he will definitely not be having a good time, but it will be very fun to be with my parents (esp. Mom) on my own for a long period. She has made a list of things which we will be doing. :)

To assuage my guilt, I am making lots of food for DH to take with him. He and his sisters will be in the hospital all day, and will need good, quick (not takeout) meals in the evening. Although having this cold has made cooking a little more difficult, I have managed to prepare most of what I wanted.

I will most likely not be able to exercise until I get to my parents. Last I heard, it's still pretty snowy up their way so I may actually have to learn to use a treadmill. Mom has a nice one, so it should be interesting.

Hope that you all are doing well, and looking forward to a weekend doing whatever it is you want. Really. Go ahead, you have my permission.

[Leslie Ferguson]

Vicci - Oh, these days really are tough aren't they. Head colds, traveling in the winter storm part 2, dealing with DH's Uncle's death, and everything else. No worries about the flower stuff, just like I told LW - I never imagined I'd have to worry about something like that in my life. Now, on top of funerals I have to worry about weddings (Bridezilla, mother of the bride, etc.), baptisms, and working every weekend and major family holiday. ;) But, the reality is I wouldn't change my profession for anything. I fully understand your staying away from a workout and I'll wish you a safe trip and condolences again.

I overcame my stalling tactics and spun a little this evening. It was cold and windy (the wind made it unpleasant and cemented my not running). Not too long because I was trying to get dinner done and not have dinner too late. Tonight was marinated pork loin (soy, granulated ginger, cumin, chili powder, paprika, and worchestershire sauce) with homemade guac (avocados were 0.75 each at the store - I couldn't pass one up for LW since I don't eat them {beyond survival food}). Still nice to spin some. Praying for snow without wind tomorrow (they're talking 3-6 inches) so I can go romping in the snow. Woo Hoo!

I hope others are having a good weekend and that life doesn't unravel too much Vicci.

Happy trails,
Les

[SusanMac]

Happy weekend runners! Thx for starting off the new week, Vicci. You definitely don't need a workout to start off a thread.

Vicci - I didn't realize the funeral thread was from you. So sorry about DH's Uncle! With his mother's situation, that's the last thing the family needs. So sweet of you too cook for him. Enjoy your time with your parents. And get better!

Les - impressed that you overcame your stalling tactics. I did not!

Thurs - yes, I was back home. No, I didn't work out. And for absolutely no good reason!
Fri - 10k run. Felt good to run again. 9 degrees :-) It was dry, though! Rained the entire time I was in San Jose
Sat - woke up feeling sniffly & sinusy-y. Drinking lots o juice & popping zinc. Wish me luck

Had brunch with my IM training buddies today. Got me excited to do some race planning for the summer.

[Leslie Ferguson]

Greetings Susan, one day stalling after a trip is understandable. Running in 9 degree temps is fun - I do know about the rain on vacation too. I hope that you don't come down with the crud either - sending be healthy vibes your way.

Today was just as I expected. Slept late (because I could) and the snow started in earnest about 10 am. Futzed around a bit cleaning and waking up then went for a run in the snow. By the time I headed out there was 3-6 inches and it was a bit windy. Top that off with 14 degrees (wind chill ~4 or 5) and it was brisk but lovely. Surreal running in falling snow - oh, so quiet. And tonight was a first - I actaully ended up with ice crystals in my moustache and beard. I've never had that happen before and it felt odd - I was pulling globs of ice out of my beard for a while after I finished.

Hopefully the snow has stopped (more or less). I just "dug" my car out with a broom; the snow is so powdery and light that's all it took to get to dry pavement.

Back to work at church tomorrow, the first official event of my last semester. Prayers heading out to Vicci on her travels and the rest of the gang for staying healthy.

Les

P.S. Happy early birthday to Kathy B (Monday's the day).

[TKay]

Quick pop-in for me. I've been down for the count. Dh and I both caught nasty head colds that just aren't letting up. I'm exhausted. Funny how tiring it is to not be able to breathe properly.

Vicci - Talk about a full plate. Gosh, hang in there.

Les - Good to hear about you cooking again. Funny about the ice chunks in your beard. :D

Susan - Hope you don't catch anything serious. Here's to the zinc and C doing the trick.

KathyB - Happy birthday to you! (Thanks for the heads-up, Les.)

Happy rest of the weekend, gang. Hope I have something to report next week. Oh, I forgot to mention. Ds#1 turned 10 yesterday. I can't believe we've hit the double-digits.

[Kathy B]

Hi, all! I am about to jump on the TM, so I am doing a pre-workout report. I did get some yoga in earlier this AM. Thanks for the BD wishes! As is not atypical for our family, we are too busy to celebrate on a Monday night, so will save the festivities for later this week. DH always gets my cake from a fabulous pastry shop, so I better get in a few intense workouts before he brings it home! :D

Vicci, I am so sorry to hear of all that your DH has on his plate. Was the uncle that passed away his mom's brother? I am sure her anxiety level must be high as well with surgery just ahead. Hope you are all taking care of yourselves during this time! Sorry I didn't get back to you right away on the zinc, but if I stop taking it and start feeling bad again, I start right back up. Even if you get sick, continuing to take it is supposed to shorten the duration of the cold. I think the box said you can take it up to 7-10 days. Hope you are recovered by the time you get to your folk's house!

Tkay, hope you both are on the mend soon, too! Happy BD to your DS! Double digits, eh? I think he is officially a "preteen"! :cool:

Les, your ice crystals in the beard reminded me of one of our shitzus drinking water and then going outside when we had the subzero windchills. She came back in, and her "beard" was a little block of ice! Hope your first day back at church goes well.

Susan, I bet the changing climates from San Jose to Madison are part of the reason for your symptoms. Probably just as well you took a day off. Take it easy and here's hoping it doesn't progress!

We have had a lot going on here with the main thing being that my mom decided to sell her house. The realtor walked through last Monday, gave us a list of things to do, and said he really wants to start showing it in 2 weeks. :eek: Needless to say, this has required a lot of our attention. One sister and I got a whole lot done Saturday with the help of 3 young men and a truck from our church. Still have a lot more to do.

Well, enough typing and time to hop on the TM. Wishing everyone off to a good week!

[TKay]

KathyB - Enjoy your day and good luck with all you've got going on. I hope you get a dreamy cake--whenever it comes.

I'm just reporting a glorious nap from yesterday. ;) Today, I'm going to walk on the TM and see how it goes. I don't want to overdo it, since I've still got the cold. But my body is begging to move.

Have a great week, all.

[TKay]

Back to say I did 35 minutes on the TM with very light weights (walking). I really wanted to go longer, but my body protested. It did feel good to get moving though.

[VictoriaL]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Kathy!!!

Tkay, I hear you about it feeling good to move! Glad that you're feeling better. :)

So Susan, have you been able to beat the cold symptoms?

Les! You ran with a wind chill of 5 degrees? You crazy man! I second that it was nice to hear about your cooking... but since classes began today I guess that may be it for a while?

Enjoy that birthday cake, Kathy! Very good plan to get a few "pre-cake" workouts in. :p

Well, I used the EB today for 20 minutes. It has been a week since I did any exercising and it felt good. Although I certainly wasn't able to maintain any stamina.

The cold is almost totally gone, and I feel very lucky that it didn't travel to my chest where it probably would have turned into another wonderful asthma experience. We had to delay our trip a day for DH's uncle's funeral, but the cooking is finally done, the car is almost packed, and we leave tomorrow.

Take care, everyone, and I'll "see" you next week. :D

[Leslie Ferguson]

Happy Birthday again Kathy! It sounds like you had a great day.

Vicci - honestly, 5 degree wind chill wasn't too bad most of the run; partly because most of my route was in the lee. There were a couple times that I did break out into a head wind and it was a bit chilly but other than those brief periods (probably less than 4 minutes out of 60) it wasn't bad. And I was so warm at the time because I had on a waterproof jacket (it is supposed to breath but...) and rain pants so I was generating more heat than I care to admit. I love cooking and can't wait to get back to a place where I can get creative again.

I had a short spin - 40 minutes. Classes started today so it's restarting my schedule and getting my rhythm back.

To bed... thus happy trails,
Les

[SusanMac]

Hi gang. Well, DH & I did get in a good long run on Sun. 12.5 miles. It was windy & miserable, and I felt pretty cruddy most of the time. Oh, and our water bottles froze up, which left me feeling pretty dehydrated. Oh well. Lessons learned.

The bad news is that Mon a.m. I woke feeling kind of yucky. And today is worse. Argh! I've been doing sooooo well all winter long. And it finally hit me. I didn't even think about the quick change in weather, but you might be right, Kathy.

So, it looks like half of our VRB group is recovering from colds! Not good!

I do want to get on the bike today for a spin, just to keep things moving. I think one of the reasons my long run was so tough last week is that I didn't have consistent workouts throughout the week. And, as long as the cold is only in my head/sinuses, I should be OK for a spin. A light sweat might even be good for me.

In other news, I cooked with buckwheat flour for the first time last weekend! I got the flour to make crepes, but I decided to add it to my favorite biscotti recipe. Super yum! It made a very light coconut biscotti taste much heartier.

[Leslie Ferguson]

Susan - I'm not sure that I've ever had a bottle freeze on a run. Riding, almost, but running no. You all must be colder than I imagine. Sorry you're not feeling well, I hope you kick yours faster than I got rid of mine. Buckwheat flour is really interesting stuff. Glad it turned out so well in your biscotti.

Forgot to say that church went well on Sunday, it's nice to be back officially. My long day in classes is over, 6 hours in class on Tuesday (and I'm done for the week). Would you believe that I'm in class for 9 hours (not including church) and I'm done by 5:30 on Tuesday? Way too weird. No run today or spin either. It's snowing again, they're predicting 4-7 inches (it's gone from 1-3 to 3-6 to 4-7... oi).

Now for the remainder of the week... two sermons to write for Sunday (one an abbreviated version of the first) then prep for next week and all the fun that goes on then.

Happy trails,
Les

[TKay]

Vicci - Hope you're feeling better and that everything is going well on your trip.

Les - I can't believe you're getting back into the swing of things already. You're in the home stretch now. Nine hours of classes sounds like, well, a looong day.

Susan - Your water froze on your run? To say I can't imagine it would be an understatement. How are you feeling?

I attempted a run on the TM yesterday. Slug-gish. I ended up walking most of the time. This morning, I really want to get in a solid workout, but it feels like my congestion is moving to my chest. I think I will just walk again and see how that goes. On the bright side, I feel so much better.

[Kathy B]

I am quite proud of myself in that I went OUTSIDE for a run today...maybe 2.5 miles, but hey! It is mid-30's out, and this is not my comfort zone (about 20 degrees outside of my zone to be exact!! :D). Anyway, I was pretty chilly with my long sleeves and hoodie when I started and wasn't sure how far I would go, but before it was over my hood was off and my sleeves pushed to the elbows! Cooled down by walking the dogs, and they were ecstatic. Nice to see the sun finally!

Glad to hear you are feeling better, Tkay! I think walking is wise for another day or two. At least you are moving, but no sense backpedaling, right?

Les, did you end up with a lot of snow? They predicted a lot here, but we barely got a dusting. Sounds like a pretty nice schedule that your classes are over by Tuesday evening. DS would love that! Gives you time to focus on the rest of your to-do list.

Hope you are feeling better, Susan! I have always been a little leery of buckwheat. I ordered some buckwheat pancakes once, just to try them. It is one of the only times in my life that I have ever sent my food back to the kitchen. :eek: I don't know if they made them wrong or if I just don't like buckwheat, but they were truly inedible. Needless to say, I have no buckwheat recipes in my to-try pile. :o

Vicci, you are probably at your parent's by now. Hope things are going well. I am sure it will be good for your DH to be around family while all of these family things are going on. When is your MIL's surgery?

Hi Natasha and Robyn! :)

Taking my mom to look at some senior apartments this afternoon. Getting a box together to send DS. Salmon/Potato bake for dinner.

Happy running all!

[Leslie Ferguson]

Brief check in... we ended up with 4-5" of snow last night. It was weird snow because it was pretty heavy but somehow this morning at commute time the main and secondary roads were just we, and it was under freezing at the time. The down side is there's a prediction of 12-20" of snow Friday afternoon into Saturday evening. That will be fun but really crush things around town. We'll see...

Clarification - only 6 hours of class in one day but 9 hours over 2 days. Kathy it is nice to have 3 days off to do other things like prep sermons, do job searching things, and get back to a real workout schedule. TKay certainly in the home stretch now. Focus is needed though.

Good job Kathy with running outside - it's always better to be outside than inside for runs - that's what we are created for.

Back to sermon tuning.
Les

ETA: Got a spin this evening. Not bad but not long enough either. Hunkering down for the evening and hoping that most of the snow that fell yesterday melts before Friday. Oh well, one can hope.

Happy trails all...
Les

[SusanMac]

Kathy - Happy bday! And nice job on the run outdoors. I knew you'd get warm quickly. It's always a surprise the first time you run outside in the cold, have to peel off layers, and actually enjoy the cold on your face! Do you think you'll become a regular winter runner now??

Les - happy tuning!

Well, I got in a 30-min bike spin yesterday. It really felt quite cruddy. I was hoping the sweat & activity would help me feel better. At the time it felt horrible, and I made sure not to push too hard. But, this morning I do feel better. So, who knows. I plan to do another bike spin today. I'm staying indoors for workouts until my cold is 100% gone. My goal is to get in a last good long run on Sunday.

The buckwheat crepes turned out fantastic! Will definitely be a regular vs the all-white flour type. Filled them with a lentil tomato mixture. We've been doing a lot of veggie dinners lately, and it's going well! And DH's crepe cookbook is a big winner so far, too!

Kathy again - do you like soba noodles? Those are buckwheat flour noodles. So, I wouldn't rule out buckwheat altogether just b/c of your bad pancake episode. Might be worth another try!

Tkay - I hear ya on the sluggish part! Here's hoping it goes away quickly

Greetings to Robyn, as she goes flying downhill :-)

[TKay]

Les - Six straight hours is better than nine. Good luck with the sermon (not that you need it). Here's to some solid workouts too.

Kathy - You go! I'm impressed with the cold weather run. How'd the salmon/potato bake turn out? Sounds interesting. Is your mom just looking at places in a retirement community? Or is she going into a care facility?

Susan - Good call on taking it easy until you're 100 percent. You don't want to get anything bad with what you've got coming up. You are on a crepe-making roll.

Vicci - Thinking of you and dh.

Robyn - Whoosh! That was you, wasn't it?

I ended up taking yesterday off. I did a bunch of house-cleaning (because I had a deadline and that's when I get most of my chores done :rolleyes:). I still have that tight chest feeling, so I'm not sure what to do today. I really, really don't want bronchitis or any prolonged illness. I think I'll take the dog for a long walk and leave it at that. It's killing me to not run. I've been working up some real stamina and hate to loose my momentum. Come on, C. Work your magic.

We are slated for another rain storm this weekend. Ds is bummed because we have a belated birthday celebration on the agenda for Saturday. Go-Kart racing for him and two of his buddies--complete with lunch and a "kitty litter" birthday cake.

[SusanMac]

I have got to know what a kitty litter birthday cake is!!

[Leslie Ferguson]

I've seen the kitty litter cake kind of thing - it's like the dirt cake or something of that ilk.

Sorry you're all a little down - maybe the next thread should be something different than VRB? ;) :p

Happy trails,
Les

[Leslie Ferguson]

Reported Merriecyrus... how have they found our threads?