I think Jlou knows when I am getting ready to post because she beats me to it EVERY FREAKING TIME!

Anyway, I will simply add to her running slump and maybe even surpass it a bit. I know that J has at least been running a couple of times a week (that's what she tells me anyway) but I have not run since...I can't believe I'm admitting to this....the half marathon on October 5. 6 weeks. Over a month. I've been pretty good about shrugging off the guilt trips until today when a certain fellow blogger (you know who you are) told me that his 1 year old daughter runs faster than me these days. That one stuck. Tonight I tried out my new treadmill that I've had for over a week (and hadn't even stepped on) and ran for a whopping mile before my wrist caught on the safety line and stopped the belt. I chalked it up to a good first day back and hit the shower thinking that blogging buddy is probably right.

Running Shmunning

Soooo...as you may have picked up on, I'm still in my running slump. Whatever. I don't really want to think about it at the moment.

On a semi-related note, I picked up a copy of The Flexitarian Diet last week. My dear blog partner is a non-meat eater type (does she consider herself vegetarian? I'm not sure) due more from a desire to not eat animals (from what I've gathered, that's the last I'll try to speak for her here). I, on the other hand, have no qualms about eating my fleshy friends. I really don't. Sorry PETA. What I do feel strongly about is not ending up like 95% of adults I know (I'll just eat like crap, not exercise, and complain about how fat I am.). To that end, I figured it would not be a bad idea to shape up my eating habits a little now while I still have time and my metabolism on my side.

Notes from beginning Flexitarianism:
1. I know it's not the book's fault since they did not coin the term, but I'm not in love with "Flexitarian". Supposing I was one, I don't think I would ever call myself that.
2. One of the tips in the book is to drink dessert flavored tea to help calm sweets cravings. Today I caught myself eating an ice cream treat while waiting for my tea water to heat up. Hmm...I think I got the tip backwards.
3. I attempted to make a grilled tempeh and cheese sandwich today. The cheese part was delicious. The tempeh part was not so much. I was left wishing I had made just a grilled cheese.
4. I tried to make her "yogurt cheese" this weekend. (Let yogurt drain into coffee filters or similar over night. You're supposed to end up with something like a cheese spread.) I ended up with something that, at best, resembled concentrated yogurt. I don't even like yogurt. I'm left to wonder if I did something wrong, or if the author is just that detached from what actual cheese tastes like.

P.S.

I am rewarding myself for not having any candy today with a piece of candy.

Thanks, Ma. I totally see what you mean.

A couple years ago, my mom sold the house I grew up in. Having neither the time nor the interest in going through the crap in my old bedroom (or the space to store it), I grabbed a couple items that were important and told my mom to do what she wish with the rest. Toss it. Give it away. I didn't care. This weekend, my mom came to visit. She brought boxes and boxes of stuff she claimed was too sentimental for her to get rid of - I deserved to go through it myself.

Below is a working list of items my mom found "too special" to dispose of herself:
1. The pins (aka flair) I had to wear during my two summers working at a family restaurant while I was a teen. Not exactly my fondest employment memories.
2. A Newport cigarette duffel bag (purchased with points by some member of my extended family, I suspect).
3. A stack of those magazine subscription slips that annoy the living hell out of me. Apparently, before they annoyed me, I collected them. WTF.
4. A nylon wallet full of bouncy balls. (again, WTF)

And the highlight so far?
A letter from one of my friends (or perhaps just somebody copying my homework) to one of my teachers explaining that my humanities binder was involved in a locker burglary. Sound familiar? It's not signed, but I have theories about who its author may be.

I've hardly put a dent in this stack of boxes, so I'm sure there are many more treasures to come. In the meantime, I'm looking to get rid of a copy of The Good Son. No, not the movie. The book! Let me know if you're interested.

Ama's COT 2008 Half Marathon Notable Event #2

I'm surprised Jlou hasn't touched on the swag bags yet! We (maybe just I) were expecting some vitamins, energy supplements, maybe even a Power Bar or a coupons for such. No such luck. We received: shampoo and conditioner. DOVE shampoo and conditioner. The fancy hair replenishment kind or some other type that I definitely would not link to marathon running. At least Jlou's husband was happy. He has glorious hair, you know.

COT 2008 Notable Event #2

So this isn't technically about the race, but whatever.

While in Boise, we stopped in at a little antiques store. Treasures for sale included old family photos. WTF. There were boxes of them organized by subject (couples, male, female, babies, etc). My chain of thought went something like this:

Are these really old pictures of random people?...Hold it together, jlou, there's an employee right there. Don't give away how effing ridiculous you think this is by laughing uncontrollably like you're tempted to do...Do people really buy these?...Do you think I can make money off of my old family photos? Just of the people I don't like so much, of course...What if a picture of me ends up for sale for 5 cents in 80 years?...Seriously, this can't be normal, can it?

Ama's COT 2008 Half Marathon Notable Event #1

I trained to run/walk the half and brought my Nike+ wristband to track my time. At the starting line, I went to set the wristband only to see a blank screen. I wiggled it, shook it, screamed profanity (in my head) at it until I heard the air horn. My thoughts from the start line to mile 1: "oh s***, oh s***, oh s***!"