I've been a bad blogger!

Wow, where did I go?!? It has been tough to make time to write blog posts! Even just posting pics of the house! I have a few below...check them out! The last few weeks have been getting crazier, if that is possible! We put stuff away in the house for the most part, we got most of the initial "to do's" done. Now it is finals week for my Global Econ class and the start to the "real" build for marathon training. This week starts three weeks of uncertainty for me...12, 14 & 16 for long run mileage. I've been there before, I know I can go there again but man...after my last long run it seems like so far! I've come to terms with myself and I just know I'm not going to be as fast as I was last year (really not that fast at all). I was struggling to hold 10:00-10:30's on my last 3 mile run! I'm not sure if it was lack of sleep, lack of hydration or both but it just didn't come to me at all. I couldn't find it. After that 3 mile run I joined some friends, and the TCBC Bike club, for 32 miles of PAIN! 5 miles into the ride my right calf CRAMPED! We weren't going at an above average effort but it cramped, shortly followed by my left calf. I slowed and tried to work both of them out. It seems to work for a while, but every time we hit a hill (there were enough of them) I found my calves twinging again and again. I was trying to compensate and to more work with the quads but that only led to my quads cramping with 1 mile to go. Lets just say I was in a world of HURT!

I tried to rehab them because Saturday was a 73 mile ride around Lake Pepin. The ride is very scenic and we go at an easy pace around a "lake" in southern MN that divides MN and WI. It is really just a bay in the Mississippi. We had a good group, some strong riders to pull...a few good pace riders to take some turns at the front. As you can see in the pic below I wore thermal tights to keep my calves warm. That and the "compression" factor seemed to help. They were ok through the ride. They were tight through most of the ride but never gave me any trouble. The day started in the low 60's and was maybe in the mid 60's by the time we finished.

We had 1 rider who had never goen over 25 miles and she wanted to join us for this 70+ mile trek. Needless to say she BONKED. By mile 4 she hadn't drank half a bottle of fluid and ate nothing. That may work on a 1 hour effort but not 2+ hours in with 2+ hours to go. We gave her a quick nutrition 101 course at the rest stop and forced her to eat and drink the rest of the way. The frustrating thing was that we paced her back 30 miles at 15-17 mph. I found myself out front for around 25 miles of that 30 grinding away at 80rpm. I found it tough to go slower with a high cadence. I either wanted to "go" or bounce around in my seat. So I just kept grinding at 80 rpm's. All in all it was a nice day but I would have loved to finish with a stronger average.

All of us pre-ride. From L to R.
Lauren, Mike, Natalia, Kari, ME, Matt

All of us post ride. Everyone is smiling!


NOW....HOUSE PICS!

THE FRONT

Starting with trim work...

Painting over the test colors...

And the living room/dinning room is DONE! Well at least the red is.

The kitchen.

Steph working hard on the kitchen.

Steph and Steve working away at the "wheat grass" color on the rest of the living room/ dining room and sitting room (where they are now). Why does Steve have the roller sideways....Steve, turn it the long way, it works better.

Pharmie came over as well! She scrubbed our bathroom for hours! THANK YOU! It was gross, full of contractor dust, dirt and just a film of something over everything. I guess that is what happens when it sits empty for a while and has only had contractors in it in the last 1.5 years.

Putting the garage door opener together.


And it is up! My dad and brother came over to help! Thanks! Here my dad is turning the screw that adjusts the height while I'm down below pushing the button over and over again. It only took a few turns and we had the door opening and closing at the correct height and pressure! Be assured if your children get caught under my garage door it won't squish them!

Here is part of the yard.
I'll post more pics later. The upstairs of the house is mainly in order but we do have some boxes piled in a few corners left to sift through.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Time for me to keep cranking out this final!