My Life for the Next Month...

Just as an FYI, especially in light of our #1 blog pet peeve, for the next 4 weeks I am going to be so busy I can't think straight. My job literally depends upon whether I can pass this test (that I failed the first time) that I'm taking again on July 13th. So every spare waking moment for the next four weeks I will have my nose in the books and will be up to my ears in stocks, bonds and the dreaded options.

On top of that, I am trying to get back into training for marathon #2, I have twice weekly training sessions with TNT, commitments with our local Habitat for Humanity, I am attempting to plan a running bloggers conference AND somewhere in there I have to raise $3,000+ dollars by August 23rd.

I'm not complaining. I love my life right now and I love to be busy. And I'm sure that most of you are laughing at me because you probably juggle all that on top of taking care of children, moving & starting new jobs, training for an ultra, race around the world or adventure race, transitioning to a morning runner or something equally taxing.

But all I'm saying is that I'm here, and I'm reading when I can and commenting when I can. I love this community and I love learning from all of you who undoubtedly accomplish more than I do daily. My posts may get sporadic because I am seriously (not kidding) OCD and cannot concentrate on more than one thing at once, but I'm not leaving!

I will be lurking your corners of the interwebs and stalking your every move, don't you worry.

Thank you so much for everyone's thoughts these past few weeks. I think last Thursday's post was the most commented one I have had so far. It was really interesting to see what everyone was annoyed with by blogs. Here is the rundown:

• Bloggers who don't share the love & only communicate with their cliques
• Blogs with a ton of grammatical errors
• Blogs with weird font and backgrounds that make it hard to read
• Blogs that you have to be a member of to comment
• Shortened Reader feeds (such as in Google Reader) where the post is only a tease and you have to click through to read the rest
• Bloggers who refuse to follow anyone on Twitter
• Blogs that are only about giveaways
• Confirmation words on comment boxes
  
• Long posts and wordy posts with no pictures (hmm, maybe I should add a pic here, this one is getting long...Ok, that's better :)

• Badly written blogs with tons of readers! (Gah, I hate this too, glad someone brought it up.)
• Small font! (I agree, I'm sooo blind)
  

So let's all promise here and now we won't do these things?! Then we can all get back to loving everyone's blog and commenting and learning and getting to know each other and all that sunshiny crap :)

Thanks also for your support for my dessert & coffee charity night next week! I think it's definitely going to be fun and I hope I have a good turnout! I live in a big apartment building with 12 floors, so I am inviting everyone in the building and hoping it will be like a "block party" type thing where we can all meet each other (since I don't know too many people in the building). I will keep ya updated on that as well.
***

• TNT practice (and thus my first run since Saturday) was stormed out last night due to serious lightning, much to my dismay, so instead I did some planks and some push-ups.
  
• I'm on this new push-up kick. Trying to do 50 (girl) push-ups MWF along with abs, hopefully working up to real push ups.
  
• Practice was rescheduled for tonight. I have no idea what we're doing (it's a conditioning practice) but it starts a little over a mile from my apartment so I'm going to run there and back.
• I've got 19 weeks till the marathon and about 50 days until the Wild West Relay...so I better get my rear in gear. Maybe I will go rogue like Miss Alisa, seems to be working out for her!
  

Attack of the monkeys!

Thanks for all of the comments on yesterday's post, What bugs YOU about blogs?? Thanks again to LiLu for sparking the debate. (Also, just so you know, my girl is getting a TON of visitors to her site per day, from all over the place, not just DC. It must be the TMI Thursday! She actually was JUST named as the featured blogger on 20 something bloggers! Congrats lady!)

I think we can all agree that we want more blog love between us and our favorite bloggers. It's no fun to comment and comment somewhere and never get a response. I actually felt pretty good yesterday organizing my Google Reader into a folder with just those who communicate with me, whether that is via comments, responses, emails, whatever. That way I can easily read through all of your posts. Love it! (I'm actually trying to figure out how to switch to Wordpress so I can quickly respond to comments via email. If anyone has any tips for me, let me know!)

For almost all of you who asked, short reader feeds are when bloggers shorten their posts when they're in readers (i.e. Google Reader) so to read the rest of the post you have to click through to the site. This doesn't mean I don't read the blog, it just may take me a bit longer :)

I hope I didn't offend anyone with this, but I thought it was interesting, and was definitely something I needed to get off my chest. I freaking LOVE the running blog community, and what I love most is that we are all excruciatingly honest with each other. At least, that's what I'm striving for.

If you haven't commented yet, please head over there and give me your thoughts! I like the conversation we're having :)
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I was tagged a while ago by my favorite running blogger with 'tude, Mica. Sorry this has taken so long but GAH I've been so busy not running and all. But it's Friday and I'm feeling lazy so here goes.

Where I blog (most of the time):


We have a pretty small one bedroom apartment, so for right now, our kitchen table doubles as our desk. Unfortunately since Matt is still in school, it's usually pretty messy. I was gonna clean up for the picture, but eh, too much effort. Matt has this horrible habit of hanging up his jeans on the chairs when he changes into shorts. The dining room/office/living room is not your closet baby! He knows I hate this yet he continues doing it. I guess he could do worse things.

What are you wearing right now?

PJ's!

What’s the last thing you read/what are you currently reading?

Runners World Magazine. Marathon Challenge!

Do you nap a lot?

No! I only nap if I'm sick.

Who was the last person you hugged?

Matthew!

What’s your current obsession/addiction?

Hmm. I like this whole blog thing! Also, marathon training and juicing.

(I added this one) What is your dream job?

A travel writer! Seriously, how cool would that be.

What’s for dinner?

Cornish game hens roasting away in the slow cooker.

What was the last thing you bought?

Other than food? Probably a pair of running shorts for $6.99 at TJ Maxx. Score!

What are you listening to right now?

I really want the new Dave Matthews CD. Also that new Black Eyed Peas song is playing in my head. Something about having a good night.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

Flying!!! I always have dreams I can fly and wake up sorely disappointed.

What is your favorite kind of weather and why?

I love love love springtime! High 60's with a breeze baby. Of course, the 70s are nice too on the beach.

What time do you usually wake up?

I always try to get up at 5:30 and run. But I usually end up rolling out of bed around 6:30-7 AM wondering why I keep setting my alarm for so early.

What is your most challenging goal right now?

Passing the Series 7 exam. Boo! Maybe this is why I didn't pass the first time....

Favorite pair of shoes you keep going back to over and over again even though you have a zillion others?

I have a pair of black and cream patent BCBG pumps that are my favorite. Unfortunately I have worn them to death and the cobbler tells me he cannot fix them. So, I guess I would say I no longer have a favorite pair. So, maybe my $3 gold Old Navy flips?

Name one thing you can’t live without.

Cell phone. LoveitGottahaveit.

What time is bedtime?

9:30-11:30. I always shoot for earlier but it depends whats on TV :) (Tuesday nights it's always later...REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NJ)

If there was one place you could be right now, where would it be?

Back packing through Europe with my boo. And since it is also Foto Friday, maybe somewhere that looks like this...

Houses of Parliament, London 2005
(When I was a wee one in college who made poor fashion decisions)

Arc de Triumphe, Paris 2006
(My fave photo ever)

Northwest Territory, Australian Outback 2006
(Hmm, I look a 'lil hefty there. But look! I have boobs!)Uluwatu Temple, Bali, Indonesia 2006
(Getting attacked by a monkey so please excuse the double chin)

Town of Makrigialos on the island Crete in Greece, 2007

The town of Ia on the island Santorini, Greece 2007

Dominican Republic 2008 with my girls LiLu and Mere!

So yeah, I guess I have had a lot of contact with monkeys in my life.

Headed to the mountains tomorrow for yet another wedding. This one should be swank though, it's black tie!

***
Ran 4.41 last night in...45:09...it sucked! I started out fine but ended up taking a few walk breaks. I need new shoes. My muscles were tight. Ugh, hope it gets better!

What bugs YOU about blogs?

I couldn't resist one more picture of me and Alesha before we went out Saturday night. Aren't we adorable?

Thanks for all of the thoughts on my post yesterday about the nutrition seminar I attended with my Team in Training group. I'm glad that someone agrees with me about this! A few points I wanted to address:

• As far as the caffeine pills thing goes, I forgot to point out that in collegiate athletics, taking caffeine pills to boost performance is considered illegal doping by amphetamines. So why would a dietitian recommend it?
• However, it's been all over the media recently that some form of caffeine is good/safe to help your perform better before a race. I take this to mean COFFEE. I always drink a cup of coffee a few hours before a race or a long run to "get things moving." (Both mentally and physically!)
• But coffee can dehydrate, so I find that if I drink a 1/2 to 1 cup before a run, I need to leave enough time to also drink some water.
• The dietitian that spoke has completed an insane number of races, including four appearances at Boston and several Ironmans! So obviously, she has found what works for her.
• Which brings me to my final point. We all have to find what is healthy and what works for us. For me, that means less processed foods and more whole foods. Does that mean I never eat processed foods? Of course not! But I try to make it a healthy balance. I would be scared to take caffeine pills before a race because I would never take them otherwise.
  

Yesterday my good friend LiLu (who is definitely not a running blogger in any shape or form, she's more of a snarky/sassy opinionist who has found an insane following in DC) posted yesterday about what bugs us about blogs. We got into a discussion about this on Twitter yesterday so I figured why not throw it out here today.

What bugs ME about blogs?

• When some bloggers are "too big" to follow you on Twitter, respond to your comments, or visit your blog. Yet they make sure to communicate with their "popular" clique of bloggers. I think that blogging is a conversation, and should be so. I don't mean that every blogger should respond to every comment, or read every post. We're all busy, life gets in the way. So I tend to stick to the blogs who read me, that way, I feel like I'm actually getting to know you guys & vice versa. (Is that mean??? I hope not!) I love those "big" bloggers who if I @reply on Twitter, they respond. Why would I make the effort if it's only going to be a one-sided conversation? (Of course, maybe they don't know about Tweetdeck. Greatest.Thing.Ever.)
  
• Insane amounts of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. (I throw these things together fast so I know I have some, so please no tomatoes.)
• Short reader feeds. I know some of you do this, and I still love you! It just takes a little more effort. (I'm lazy, what can I say?)

So how about you guys, what bugs you about blogs?

***

I didn't run yesterday because I suck. But I will be heading out tonight to do something. Bridge? 4-5 mile flat run? Speedwork? Who knows!

Matt and I are heading to the NC mountains Saturday for a wedding, so that should be fun. But that also means running this weekend may not happen. Gonna have to squeeze in a long run (8 to 10 miles) at some point!

Upgrade!

Love my new look? After too many failed attempts at changing my blog template/look and feel, I finally found an easy way to make it look good without too much hassle. I'm still having issues with my header, but oh well that will just have to stay messed up. It's something in my HTML code that got screwy after changing to and from templates.

Who knew you could upload a free background with hardly no fuss at all?! This was great news for me, as I have no clue how to edit websites or HTML code (unless I have software telling me how to do so, managed a client's website once before and that was cake...this, not so much).

Yesterday was an off day for me, so no running or working out of any kind ensued. Instead, I spent my day working on my to-do list, cleaning the apartment, and studying for my big insurance test. (Oh, and watching Amazing Race. My favorite.show.ever. I think me and the boo would be the BEST contestants on that show! Must remember to send in video entry.)

Gotta get to work this morning so this will be short and sweet. I leave you with the view from our balcony yesterday after the thunderstorm. Beautiful!


Happy Monday!