FMM: Five Things

These weekends seem to go by more quickly every week....

The big good news from my weekend was a PR!  Finally! 

But...

There's always a "but" when I PR lately, isn't there? 

But ... this weekend's PR was at a weird race distance that I've only raced one other time and that time was Dallas in May (about 2 months after I stopped running with the extra weight).  So not exactly a big accomplishment.  I would sincerely hope I'm faster in early February when I've been running without an extra weight vest for almost a year, than I was running on an insanely hot May day two  months after I took off the vest. 

And the race wasn't great due to a rookie clothing mistake.  It was about 37 degrees when I left the house, so I wore capris and a light long sleeve (and a racing tank over that), plus gloves and an ear band.  Waaaay overdressed.  There was no wind and it was sunny, and the race wasn't starting for another hour plus.  Oops.  I have absolutely no idea why I didn't look at an hourly forecast before I left the house. 

So I pulled the earband down after about half a mile.  By mile 3, I was carrying my gloves.  And then, big score.  My bestie had come out to mile 4.5 to cheer (and bring tissues!  major runny nose at 45 degrees).  So I threw her my gloves.  I was running faster than I should have been, but was running with a friend, so it was going pretty well.  About half a mile after we passed my friend, I started thinking that maybe I could ditch my long sleeves on the way back.  I asked the friend who I was running with if she could help me strip while we kept moving and she said sure.  So I gave her my water bottle, peeled off the tank, then peeled the long sleeves and put the tank back on.  Not a bad deal!  I'm sure we slowed some, but the overall mile time was just fine.  And somehow I managed to stay upright during the five seconds that my sight was fully obstructed by one or more shirts going over my head.  Sincere apologies to anyone who was in sight though, I'm sure it wasn't pretty -- the abs, the struggling with the arm holes, the pasty whiteness...  Oh well.  Much more comfortable without the long sleeves, particularly since I was still running too fast and rapidly losing steam. 

When we hit the u-turn, I realized there was no way of picking up the pace as I'd hoped.  In fact, I slowed down.  Ugh.  Miles 6 and 7 were the slowest of the morning (I passed off my nasty long sleeve shirt and earband to my bestie around mile 6, and grabbed more tissue), but the good news was that the last mile was the fastest of the entire race for me, which I guess counts for something.  While I didn't pace well, at least there was something left in the tank.

But the really bad part -- that "fastest mile of the morning" was actually still about 3 seconds slower than my planned marathon pace.  Yikes.  I have a lot of work to do this year, and I'm not entirely sure I'll succeed...

Other weekend highlights -- volunteering with my bestie for a couple hours, spending a bit of time with hubby starting to plan our fall vacation (looked at guidebooks about Germany), a few other errands. 

Now it's the start of an odd week.  Two evening alumni events (one undergrad, one grad).  One work dinner.  And then one trip to Mardi Gras!  Woo-hoo!  But now, time for Friend Making Monday. 

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Five Things

1. Share five things you hope to do before you die.
- Move to Italy (again) with hubby (last time was solo, and it was temporary, just for studying abroad)
- Have traveled to about half the 198ish countries in the world or more
- Attend an Olympic running event
- Run my super-secret goal marathon time
- Learn the "Dirty Dancing" finale dance and do it in front of people not expecting it. 

2. List five things you love about yourself.
- My consistency and reliability, if I've committed, I'm there
- My interest in the world around me
- My willingness to work hard
- My wrists, the slimmest part of my body, which look nice but are not so good for push-ups
- I can usually see two sides to everything (and unfortunately, will sometimes argue one just for the sake of arguing...)

3. Share the five coolest things that you’ve done in 2013.
- Hosted a dinner party with one "new to our home" guest (one of my resolutions)
- Competed in three races already, varying distances
- Went to Pittsburgh to see my in-laws
- Worked out my arms once so hard that I was almost tearfully sore for more than 72 hours afterward
- Went on what would have been described as my "dream date" if I'd been asked in junior high

4. List five things that you always have in your kitchen.
- the square platter all our guests signed in Italy at our wedding reception
- spices and baking staples
- a microwave
- Moka Italian espresso pots of varying sizes
- way too many glasses -- juice, martini, beer (pints and pilsners), wine (red and white), margarita, hurricane, water, highballs, etc., I'm addicted to glasses, and I like full sets (at least 12) of each. 

5. Share five places you would like to go on vacation.
- Egypt, it's been on the radar screen for a couple years, just doesn't seem safe
- India to see the Taj Mahal (2014 I hope)
- South Africa
- Bhutan
- Fiji

6. List five celebrities/public figures you’d like to meet.
- a sitting US President (thus far, just past presidents and candidates)
- a sitting Supreme Court Justice (I've gone to speeches, but never really chatted with one)
- Paul Tergat (marathoner)
- Mo Farah (runner)
- Alberto Salazar (runner, coach)
Yeah, I'm not really into celebrities or movie stars in the typical sense and have pretty much zero desire to meet any of them.  If you'd asked me three months ago, Meb Keflezighi would have been on this list, but I met him! 

7. List five bands or artists you’d like to see perform live.
- Aerosmith singing "Angel" (I've been to dozens of Aerosmith concerts all over the country, but have never heard my favorite song performed live, they rarely do it, I didn't happen to be at the one show in Connecticut where they've done it in the last decade or so)
- Jovanotti
- Shaggy (and hear him sing "Angel"!) 
- Garth Brooks
- Phish (my college roommate followed them on tour for a couple years, I really wish I'd gone out to meet her for at least one show)
(I assumed this question was basically for artists I haven't seen before.)

8. List five TV shows that you don’t want to miss.
- Dallas
- The Office
- The Bachelor
- The Americans (haven't actually watched it yet, but on the DVR, might like it)
- Southland (new season starts soon I've heard)

9. Share five things you wanted to do as a child.
- eat dessert only for dinner
- beat up my brothers
- go to Europe
- drive a hovercar
- have a little person (smaller than the size of my hand) who was my buddy and would walk around on my desk at school

10. Share five things you hope to do in 2013.
- get a marathon PR by 11 minutes and 30 seconds
- go to Oktoberfest with my husband and friends
- go to Italy and spend a few days hanging out with my husband's family there
- visit a new-to-me country (that will be Liechtenstein I hope!)
- visit my brother in San Fran

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions! Don’t forget to go back to alltheweigh.com and link up in the comments! Happy Monday, friends!