Sometimes it is the Little Things

We are preparing the house for our annual Christmas Party and the good thing about it being late is that we have had several weekends to divide the important tasks. In years past, I would try to clean house, put up the tree and get all the food and drink in the last week before the party was schedule. Luckily, SigOther is here to provide some wisdom.

Her family always put the tree up right after Thanksgiving, so we pretty much did the same.  This meant that the annual Tree Trimming Party officially has become a Christmast Party instead.  Over the years I've shifted the line from having friends completely decorate my tree to just asking them to donate an ornament, but since we have tons of boxes of docorations between us, it doesn't make sense to do it anymore.

Saturday was productive in that we got the empty boxes out of here.  I have to store them at my mom's house and bring them back in a few weeks to repack, but at least we labeled the boxes and set aside a few that don't need to make the annual trip until we have a bigger house instead of a condo.

Sunday I was wearing my Bad Decision Jeans and tried to do too much before we had to head out to the Bears game.  Someone at work sold me their tickets at a reasonable price and I wanted to go, even though it was predicted to be an extremely cold and snowy day.  Sidenote: if the network hadn't moved the game to 3:15 from noon time, it would have been wonderful weather wise.

The Game sucked since the Bears got whupped, 36 to 7.  But more to my disappointment was I learned that I just don't want to sit in a stadium next to obnoxious fans who have been tailgating all day.   I can deal with the trash talking and some swearing, but is it really necessary for someone to shout out to Amy Freeze to "show her tits."  Really!  And the jerks stand up when nothing is happening because they cannot sit still and just enjoy the game.  Ugh.  Maybe if the weather had been better but I think I've seen my last Bears game in person.

Back to the bad decisions.  As usual, it was a combination of trying to do too much in too little time, not allowing for enough time and trying to make up for not doing something on Saturday when there was time by trying to squeeze it into Sunday's short window.  On a positive note, we did get a few paintings hanged and culled & organized our media (DVDs, CDs, VHS tapes, etc).

I just have to learn to manage our time and my expectations better.

Exercises in Relativity

Depends who you ask:  Last night I ran into a friend on the El. As usually happens when I see someone I haven't in a while, they eventually ask me the trademark question: "So, have you been running lately?"

I've learned to fight the knee-jerk reaction that usually temps me to try and answer with any real accuracy.  In the past, if I got the question on a particular bad week where maybe I had been too busy to get my running in I'd unsuccessfully try to explain in a sound bite that I wasn't running at my usual consistency.  Or if it were off-season then I'd feel like I'd disappoint them to say I'm only running 15 miles a week instead of 30 plus.

Then I learned to get over myself.

Most of my Non-Runner friends are just being nice when they ask and couldn't care less if I ran 10, 20 or 50 miles that week.  To them, any running is nuts, especially if you are skipping something more fun to do it, likes sleeping or eating or not running!

Now, if it's a sane, normal non-runner friend, who asks I'll just say "yeah a little bit."  If it's a runner friend, I'll be more honest and say "not as much as I'd like."  They usually get it are more empathetic. They know that things often get in the way of a good run, like work deadlines, or bad weather, or winter darkness.

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If you kill us,we cannot give you positive feedback to ensure you are hired permanently:  I managed to go to the gym for the 3rd day in a row and the 4th time overall in the last week.  Super Susie is on vacation and she has some subs.  These subs are a bit more intense than we are use to.  They don't seem to realize that most of us are desk jockeys, not Olympic hopefuls.

It probably doesn't help that I've gotten out of my fitness routine.  Since the marathon, I've "rewarded" myself with taking it easy and enjoying not being tethered to a training schedule.  That has also translated to not going to workout classes and instead doing the work social maintenance thing.

The sub we got today was spunky.  She expected to run us through a workout that would have had no breaks if it weren't for people (read: me especially) ducking out to get a drink of water and taking their time to come back, hoping to miss out on a particularly strenuous exercise.  It probably didn't help that I had a late breakfast and said meal was trying to get out of my stomach as quickly as possible once the Ab Crunches from Hell began.

Lucky for us, she quickly realized that we were not up for her prepared workout so she made some on the fly adjustments.  It seemed like certain routines were designed to give us a breather and I suspect they were not part of the initial plan.  I feel like I let her down because she kept looking at me like "you look more in shape than the rest of this class and if you are struggling to keep up, I might accidentially kill them".

I was proud that I made it to the end. Of course that was only because she toned it down a bit so I didn't toss my breakfast.  Even if I were in better shape, I think today's workout would have humbled me.  But it also reminds me that I cannot afford to take too much time off.

Post Staycation and Sports Team Bliss

Bears beat Eagles and look like a playoff calibre team: We have had some lucky breaks go our way this season.

• We won our first game against the Lions because of a dumb rule.
• In Week 5, we faced Carolina rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen when Cutler missed his first start as a Bear with a concussion.
• We had a bye week when we needed it most and got to play the Buffalo Bills.
•  Our short week Thursday night game was against Miami who was down to the waterboy as backup QB.
• And then we got 10 days to plan for our game against the Eagles.

We also get the patriots coming off a monday night game so they will have 1 less day to practice.  I just hope we don't get caught up in a trap game against the Lions on Sunday and I hope we don't miss the playoffs because of the seeding rules of the NFL. We could be 10-6 or 11-5 and lose the wildcard while an 8 and 8 team from another division goes to the playoffs.

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Home for the Holidays:  I always try to take the three days before Thanksgiving off if I can so that I have time to get things in order.  Usually it's cleaning up my place but in recent years I use the time to work on my mom's house. 




This year I was extremely productive.  I used each day efficiently and effectively by creating a manageable goal for each day.  Usually I defeat myself by having too many things on my I-want-to-accomplish list but this time, I kept it simple. Each day I had one thing I wanted to do.  If I finished early, I would go to my auxilary list and work on something else, but if I didn't, no worries.

I also factored in the weather to help me. It rained last Monday, so I used that day to clean and organize the den. It's amazing how much bigger a room can seem if you just move a piece of furniture from one side to the other.  We had two matching dressers "facing"each other, with one being right in the path when you walked in the door.  I moved it next to it's twin and suddenly the room seems twice as big.





Before Scrapping



Before Scrapping

On Tuesday I went to my mom's do to the pre-painting setup.  I usually set myself up to fail on these projects because I don't allow enough time for the prep work.  So Tuesday was all about that.  I scraped off all the loose paint. Unfortunately, it was too cold to caulk, not to mention getting dark when it was time to do so, so I had to factor that into my weekend.

Finally, we secured a church and set the wedding date.  We also introduced the in-laws - no shots fired.

After Scrapping



After Scrapping



Now the Fun Begins

About five seconds after we got engaged -- actually 5 seconds after we shared the news with someone beyond our cats or the lady who sold me the ring -- the wave of questions started pouring in. Having answered them as best we could, one particular question stood out: Have you set a date?

We have to set a date for several reasons. It's much easier to ask people to save a date if you give them a specific date instead of a vague, Fall or September or some Saturday in 2011. However, to save a date, we first needed to figure out what kind of wedding we wanted. After mulling it over for a while, we've decided to go with a church wedding in Chicago although a destination wedding isn't completely off the table.

The irony is that a few years ago, I was involved with several young adult programs at local catholic churches that I probably could have had my pick. Alas, I've lost much of my church cred in the last couple years by not attending regularly. And I'm sure the whole living in sin thing probably negates the rest.

When I went through RCIA, we had a class on the Sacrament of Marriage. I'm going off decade old memory here, but as I recall, the general rule is that any catholic can get married at any catholic church.

Now for the fine print. said church has the right to require at least one, if not both, of the married couple to be members of that Parrish in good standing. That means at the very least, you cannot just become a member the week of your wedding. Usually they want you to be a member for at least six months though a year isn't unheard of. In a very small congregation (read:we need money) sometimes a donation can cut through a lot of the rules.

So is the couple that relocated to another city and hasn't found a church they like forced to go back home to wed? No, there are a couple of procedures that can be helpful. You can request a wedding at an alternate church. It's up to that parish to decide if they want to honor your request. You can also petition to have a catholic wedding at a location that isn't a church. This is handy if say you really want the priest you grew up with to marry you, and he is available but the church isn't available that afternoon.

All of these procedures sound flexible but are also opportunities for stress. I've heard horror stories of power-hungry priests who make couples perform back flips and summersaults just to get their day before God.

SigOther and I are exploring the church wedding but if it gets to be too much hassle, I hear that Costa Rica is a great place to tie the knot.

People Sure do Love a Good Story, but this will have to do

Sig Other and I got engaged on Halloween. We actually got the ring several hours earlier but had to wait until midnight to actually cast the spell. Actually, I choose Halloween because people always ask us when we met or how long we've been together and the answer is "we met at a fourth of July party on the actual 4th of July."  So the holiday theme holds, plus it's an easy way for me to remember.

Everyone wants to know the story behind my recent engagment. I should make something up because the truth is, while I can guarantee it wasn't the Worst Proposal in the History of Humankind, it won't go down as the most romantic or entertaining or anything. Because there really isn't a story, at least not in the traditional sense.

What people wanted to have happened:
While out running errands one Saturday, we stopped at a jewelry store under the pretense of getting her a silver watch for her birthday. While there, I suggested she look at rings and in the process determined her ring size.

We just happened upon a ring she really, really liked. In my best Polish, I told the jewelry to pretend that the ring wasn't available in her size but could be ordered and would come in few weeks.

Disappointed, we left the jewelry and walked up the street to Stanley's West A&G International Fresh Market store where we do the bulk of our shopping. I pretended that I left something in the car and told her I'd meet her at the deli. I went back to the jewelry and bought the ring she adored.

Later that evening, when we left to go to a Halloween Party, I made an excuse to go back upstairs while she waited in the car. I set the box on our dresser between two candles. When we got home, I made sure I got into our bedroom first to light them. She walked in and saw the box and knew what was coming.

What Really Happened:
People ask if I planned it this way or how long had I been planning to do it. Well let's back up a bit. For months I've been asking Sig Other to find out her ring size. She doesn't wear a lot of jewelry so I haven't been able to do the "sneak off with one of her rings-thing" to get the size.

Each week we'd talk about going to one of those there jewelry shops but it never quite happened because we only have so much time in our weekend to do the domestic tasks that are the reality of being in a relationship. Sidenote: Sig Other has a non traditional work schedule and attends school so her time is limited, especially the cross section of time that corresponds with Retail America.

I even enlisted the aid of her sisters and her mother to try and get the ring size. You'd think three female relations would be have a vested interest in getting their blood relative hitched, but alas, they too couldn't get it done. In all fairness, 2/3 of them live out of state and the one in Chicago just had baby#2 so she's a little preoccupied.

Eventually I realized that I had to take action. So as in the fantasy version, while on our way to do some grocery shopping at Stanley's West A&G International Fresh Market we stopped at a jewelry shop up the street.

The plan was to just get her ring size but while we were there it made sense to find out what she liked in a ring. We looked at a few traditional ones but nothing really grabbed her attention. So I showed the jeweler a picture of something I had in mind. I didn't want the diamond to be the center piece because almost everyone goes with the diamond engagement ring. Nothing wrong with that but I wanted something a little different, so I suggested a sapphire center piece with diamonds along the side. My Polish Peeps did not disappoint. They found one that she liked and we talked about how the matching wedding band can fit with the ring and all that stuff.

I did go back to the store while she was grocery shopping. And she did think I was simply ordering the ring, but because we had found a ring she liked that cost half of what I had budgeted, I grabbed it.

They put the ring in a box and then put the box in a pink gift bag, the kind that you see at baby showers and adult toy parties. I really didn't want to walk around carrying that so when I caught up to her at the grocery store, I asked Sig Other to put the bag in her purse for safe keeping. She immediately figured out what was in it and never gave me the bag back.

The Beginning of the End, or a New Beginning?

When I ran the Soldier Field 10 Miler in May, a lady at the massage table who was working on my leg suggested I might want to get an MRI.  I told her how my knee had locked up late in the run and she said she heard some clicking.  So with the Chicago Marathon and the Monster Half Marathon behind me, I finally got the MRI I've been putting off. 

I opted to get both knees scanned, even though the problem child has been my left knee.  My right knee is beginning to feel like my left knee did once upon a time when this all started.  My theory is that my body has been compensating for whatever is wrong with my left knee.  Turns out I might be on to something.

The guy who did my MRI -- I don't know if he is a doctor or a technician -- isn't allowed to give an official diagnosis.  But let's face it, he sees these day in and day out.  He asked me what I did for a living.  When I told him I work in IT, he asked if I ran marathons.  As in plural. Because we both knew that it would take more than one to do the type of damage that he is seeing and I'm feeling.

So this might be the end of my running days. But it could also be the beginning of another Runner Renaissance.  Maybe I get scoped and with some therapy, I run better than ever. Or maybe that's it.  Maybe my running career truly, finally comes to an end.

If that's what happens, then okay. If I must sit on the sidelines, then all right. Because I'll always have my Personal Bests.  My 1:33 half marathon, my 31 minute Shamrock Shuffle (8k) and my 3:30 marathon times.Those can never be taken away from me.

I was only supposed to run one marathon.  Get it off my Bucket List and then get on with my life.  But my ego made me go back and try again.  But I also made a lot of friends on the journey and that is the true victory.

It's Gonna be a Hot One

When the earliest Advanced Forecast for tomorrow's weather was available, it looked like it would be a rainy cold marathon.  As the days drew closer, the prediction changed and conditions seemed optimal, dare I say perfect.  A cool start would be rewarded with a nice high 50s afternoon when most runners would finish the 26.2 mile run.

But it was too good to be true.  Over the last week it seems the temperature forecast increased by 5 degrees daily.  Perfect running conditions have been supplanted by it's gonna be another hot one.  As late as Thursday I still believed that even if it were a warm day, a start time of 7:30 would make us lucky enough to miss the majority of the heat until at least the halfway point if not the 20 mile mark.

The Chicago Marathon of 2007 was ridiculously hot even before the gun even went off.  In 2008 the start was comfortable enough but the temperature climbed quickly.  These are both valid possibilities for tomorrow.

After the 20 mile run, I promised myself that I wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't go out too fast for this race.  No delusions of grandieur, no attempt at a BQ or PR.  I simply wanted to do what I did on the 20 miler: run at a consistent pace the entire time and not have my calves cramp up like they usually do. 

Conventional Runner Wisdom tells us to have several race goals.  I sent the following to my running group:

Quoting 9mm Group Leader Lisa O:

Set at least 4 goals:

1. This one is the pie in the sky. A time you'd like to make, or close to it. Make it something that if everything goes perfect, could happen.
2. This is what you will probably do, even if the weather and how you feel isn't great.
3. This is what you might do if it just isn't your day.
4. Finish the race. That's good enough. Remember, most people get winded running for the bus.

 My 4 goals are really just #4 in different wrapping paper. This is my first marathon since 2008 and I’m coming back from injury. So I tell myself that I will be okay with whatever I do and feel relatively good while doing it. Still, I’m hoping to make it under four hours and not have the wheels come off too early and end up walking half the course.

 

That's probably why I'm so calm right now even though in years past I would be jumping out of my skin with less than 18 hours to go before the gun goes off.  But I feel bad for many of my fellow runners who trained all summer and were heading into this taper thinking this might be the year! 

 

If I've learned anything over the last decade training for 20 marathons, it's that it's very hard to have a perfect season.  You want to run all your mileage, cross train, eat right and get plenty of rest, but most people are tempted by summer fun or challenged by work/life/family demands.  If you manage to get through an 18 week training program and meet those goals 80% of the time, you will do all right.  More than that and you should have a shot at a Personal Best.  But then something like the weather reminds us that we are not always in charge of our destiny and we have to make adjustments.