Monday, May 12, 2014

Highlights & Lowlights of the Week (nothing to do with hair)

Another week of Ironman training has come and gone. I have a love/hate relationship with training. In fact, I have a love/hate relationship with many things. Does that make me weird? Here’s what I mean – I love the training for the most part, then I get really bitchy when I feel rushed and tired all the time. Just like I love to run, but then running is hard and I suffer.

This week I travelled 142.14 miles as I swam, biked and ran. It took me about 13 hours. I did not do it all at once, and I don’t recommend that anyway except when I am doing the actual Ironman. 9 total workouts – 3 swims, 3 bikes, 3 runs. I like to keep it equal and not play favorites.

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Highlights of the Week (HOTW):

  • Got a 5K PR at a local race: 22:56 (7:14 average, which for me is ridiculously fast and I almost threw up, which I think shows my grit).
  • Rode for 80 miles on my bike (most of the Ironman Boulder course). I was alone for half of it in the rain and wind, but I did not cry.
  • Stocked my pantry (btw, you can find GREAT deals at runningwarehouse.com with free two day shipping).

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  • Played soccer with Heidi (do not even pretend you don’t recognize her from Air Bud, the movie)

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  • Watched Emma’s choir perform (love this song)

  • Went to Costco and got a vat of kettle corn (I am showing you the Grey Goose so you have an idea of how big the bag is)

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  • Found a new favorite song (and, not just because it has the “run” in it)

  • Got a Mother’s Day basket from Ken (alcohol + candy = happiness)

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Lowlights of the Week (LOTW):

  • Almost got eaten by a mountain lion two days before Mother’s Day. Well, I don’t want to embellish – but this was scary. Joie and I were about 4 miles into our trail run. It was very remote and nobody else was out there. We saw on the trail where it look like a deer had been dragged through the grass and over the trail. It had happened in the recent past – we could tell by the mud. I took this to mean that Mr. Lion was nearby and might want to eat me.

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  • Realized how freaking hard the Boulder Ironman course is, well at least the bike part. However, I guess the words “hard” and “Ironman” go together no matter what course it is. Easy Ironman? <oxymoron, you moron. (Oh, and by the looks of this, the course is just shy of 113 miles – WTF?)

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  • Found a dead mouse in the garage, which means his friends and family are probably living in my bed or something. I did CPR, but to no avail.

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  • Realized I had $14 in library fines. True story.
  • Realized the roof is still leaking and Sam needs his wisdom teeth out. Ka-ching!! Children and houses are money pits. But, I still love them.

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Give me a highlight and lowlight. Feel free to include First World problems.

Ever had a mouse/insect problem in your house? When we first moved into our house over 10 years ago, we found out there were bees living in the roof and walls. Had to have real live bee keeper people come in and cut holes in the ceiling to remove hundreds of pounds of honey comb. Ka-ching!

What’s the last best thing you bought at Costco? I am really excited about the kettle corn, but also this new fresh veggie stir fry kit you find in the refrigerated produce section.

SUAR

61 comments:

  1. Highlight... Complete hysterectomy (am high risk for ovarian/breast cancer so this is a blessing to get done)
    Lowlight... Instant menopause at age 38
    No mouse in the house but once found nest of 18 pink mouse babies right outside door leading to garage
    Best costco buy... Trail mix by the buttload! (Yes, I'm pretty sure that is a real adjective)

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  2. Lowlight: haven't run in 15 weeks due to hip surgery and metatarsalgia. No running in the near future.

    Highlight: Rode 156 miles on my bike in one week. That's a new weekly PR for distance.

    We had a bat get into our house once...it got caught in a trash can and we were able to get it out ourselves.

    Don't shop at Costco but I love Trader Joe's!

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  3. I have so many mouse stories... I'll just share my favorite. My husband killed a mouse with a toaster. Yes, a toaster. It was running across the back of our countertop (ewwww) and all of a sudden his hunter skills kick in and he slams the toaster back against the wall at the exact right time. Death by toaster... if only the mouse could have been alive to tell his friends. Mice freak me out, big time.

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  4. Lowlight: Drove into rush hour traffic through Los Angeles on my way to packet pickup at the race expo, and a drive that should have taken 2.5 hours took 4.5. I missed packet pickup but texted my ID to some (non-runner!) friends who were kind enough to pick up my packet for me. Now those are good friends!

    Lowlight number 2: was so busy getting ready to go to the race that I forgot to pack (I'm embarrassed to admit this, especially with 21 other races under my belt): running shorts and a running shirt! I ended up racing in my husband's shorts and the t-shirt from the race.

    Highlight: Went on the next day to have a great race at the Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon!

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  5. We actually are fighting a mouse/rat infestation in my husband's car right now. The little shits will not leave some his fuel injector wires alone. It's in the shop for the third time and we are so frustrated we are actually thinking about buying a new car that sits higher off the ground.

    No Costco, but I buy peanut butter at Sam's. I buy so much that once the cashier warned me that I'll develop a peanut allergy if I eat too much. Thanks, but I'll risk it!

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    1. Is there any truth to that? I mean can you really develop an allergy by eating too much of something or is this just CUA? (Cashier Unsolicited Advice)

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    2. It is possible to develop food or seasonal allergies at any age (we have both food and environmental allergies here).

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    3. Yes, I know that...I just didn't realize you could develop them by eating too much of something like peanut butter.

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    4. One of the books I read when my son was first diagnosed with his allergies talked about "allergy buckets". Everyone has buckets for the different allergens. When your allergy bucket is full, you have a reaction (worst case scenario: anaphylaxis). Every person's bucket is a different size, so one person can tolerate eating a PB&J, while another person gets violently ill when someone opens a bag of M&Ms.

      I thought that was an interesting way to describe it. And I haven't heard about the possibility of developing allergies by eating too much of something either. If that's the case I should be allergic to lots of things by now. :)

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    5. Very interesting, thanks for the info!

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    6. I love the CUA acronym... I think it is the worst when pregnant or apparently buying giant vats of peanut butter ;)

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    7. Hannah Get a cat before you get another car. They are cheaper & do wonders for the mouse population!!

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  6. Highlight: Made it through anoter Disney vacation without killing anyone
    Lowlight: Spent about $300 more than I thought in order to keep kids from killing each other, didn't run at all, gained 5 lbs, and skipped the gym today since I apparently still need a vacation from my vacation.

    Ever had a mouse/insect problem in your house? OMG, living in Florida we see all sorts of stuff, but in Dec I noticed waayyyy more roaches in my garage than normal (honestly one is enough), One day I was standing in the bedroom talking to my hubby, looked up and there is a HUGE roach on my ceiling right above my bed!! Flipped out, called pest control, haven't seen one in the house or the garage since!

    No Costo for me but I shop at BJs all the time. I buy the big bulk size fireball candy....LOL guilty pleasure what can I say!

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  7. Highlight - Market to Market Relay Iowa - 7 people 75 miles one minivan. Awesomeness! I ran 3 legs for just under 15 miles.

    Mouse - true story - was in my minivan. I had gotten the girls easter candy and of course busted in to the bag of mini reeses PB cups before hiding it in the back of the van. I go to get it out and there are all these PB cups with torn foil and nibbles. Hubby was out of town but came home, set a trap in the van and yep- caught it. I had to drive for a few days before he returned (not sure why I was too dumb to do the trap myself but it was several years ago) and was freaking out every time I got in the car. It was horrible.

    Last best thing at Costco? Vegetarian grape leaves. We are vegan and an eat these - yippee!

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  8. I went to the library this weekend for the first time in a while. When I checked out, my profile said "delinquent." Seems I have $2 in fines. No cash on hand and fortunately, you can proceed without paying. But that label really stings.

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  9. Wow! Ironman training sounds grueling! Way to rock your PR and to crush your 80 miles of biking! Even though its hard sometimes you are amazing, a total inspiration!

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  10. Let's talk about that kettle corn and how I am getting a costco membership and driving an hour to the nearest one for it.
    Then let's talk about the experience over kettle corn and hot tamales because those are the way into my heart. :)
    Way to rock those miles!

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  11. Last week I went to see our sports med doc to figure out why the heck my foot has been hurting so bad for the last 4 weeks. Strangely, it didn't hurt when I ran, so I took that to mean nothing serious. I even got a PR a few weeks ago at a 10 mile race. Hah! I have a fracture in my 1st MPJ (the joint below my big toe). And it isn't a stress fracture, I snapped off the corner of the joint. He called me a warrior (which I am proud about) but now I'm in the boot for a few weeks. The good news is that it is already healing (about 4 weeks old) and there's no arthritis in the joint. So I've got that going for me. I can bike. Which I've been doing. But WTH?!

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  12. Highlight - being home after travel (bonus I got to see my sister AND discovered one more crunchy snack, yuca puffs, I'm about to become obsessed with).
    Lowlight - not enough sleep, tough to see further decline in my Dad (tho grateful for his new assisted living situation and the people there)
    Don't even want to talk about critters (shudder)
    Costco - a HUGE bag of organic frozen cherries that I'm eating at a frightening rate

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  13. Highlight-Made money and got rid of tons of crap at a yardsale on Saturday
    Lowlight-A man at the store on Sunday asked me if I was pregnant. I have a 10 month old, just ran my first half marathon and recently got back into my pre-kid jeans! I really wanted to hit him!

    No mice at the moment but my cats have a Tom & Jerry thing with some little bunnies-they carry them up to the door (and try to bring them into the house) but they are alive and not hurt. They just like chasing them around!

    My new favorite Sam's Club find is Dove dark chocolate covered cranberries.

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  14. Highlight: lemon meringue pie for Mother's Day.
    Lowlight: lemon meringue pie is now gone.

    We have the occasional mouse. It really stinks (literally and figuratively) when they croak somewhere in the walls and it takes a few days for the smell to dissipate.

    We also used to have cave crickets. I don't know if that's technically what they're called, but they used to be in our garage until we got smart and sealed up some holes. I'd open the door from the house to the garage and there would be HUNDREDS of little black crickets hanging off the ceiling. Our cats would pull the legs off the ones that got into the house. We'd randomly find cricket legs on the carpet throughout the house. Crickets really freak me out.

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  15. Highlight: Getting a gift certificate for my fave running store for Mother's Day. New shoes on the horizon!
    Lowlight: Seeing a THIRD snake on my runs within a week. I live in freakin' suburbia. WTH? Makes running in the dark hours very frightful.
    Critters: Went to open the umbrella above our patio table one summer so we could eat dinner outside. Out dropped a bat. Not sure who was more freaked out- me or the bat! I peaked up inside the umbrella and saw the scariest sight imaginable- dozens and dozens of flitting bats hanging upside down. I screamed like a little sissy girl. My husband took care of the problem by standing in our house with a long pole just poking out the sliding glass door while he beat the umbrella until they all flew out. We counted 32. The umbrella went in the trash that same day!

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    1. Ok that story just gave me the grossest chills up and down my spine. ICK ICK. I hate bats. They are so creepy. If I saw a bunch of them hanging upside down I would probably pass out.

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  16. Insect problem was when I moved to NC...there are BIG cockroaches, water bugs, whatever you want to call them in NC (at least compared to MI). The apt. we stayed in temp. was infested. But my son's cat came to the rescue and loved to catch them. Then she would bring them to me in the middle of the night....not to anyone else....only me.

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  17. Just found your blog - and love it! I did an IM for my 30th birthday and now I'm (cough cough) almost 40, and getting back into running. So there's that.

    Highlight: pampered on Mother's Day by my people!
    Low-light: colonoscopy on Thursday
    Highlight, Part Deux: huge polyp was found and removed!

    I can tell by your About section that you will not be phased by me referencing my colon on my very first comment on your blog.

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  18. Highlight....awesome coached swim session which got me out of my "I'm so tired of training" place. And ran a great 5km race. No best time but raced well and I almost threw up at the finish too :)

    Lowlight.....geese pooping in the grass down by our lake. Great fun to clean that up. I try to throw rocks at them to scare them away but given that my aim is pathetic they pretty much just laugh and waddle away.

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  19. PRs are the best. Congrats!! Looks like you had a good weekend.

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  20. Highlight: Kids' last day of school was last Thurs-no more field trips, awards ceremonies, parties, etc! Woohoo!
    Lowlight: Missing 2 more workouts due to said kids' last week activities
    Costco? We do not have one here in OK. We are getting one soon, but it's going to be over an hour away from me. And bc of our arcane liquor laws, Costco will not sell the booze it is apparently famous for.
    Way to kill those miles! Are we gonna be able to see you cross the finish line in Boulder (like we did Dimity)? Because I am already geeked out for that! :D

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  21. Latest thing bought at Costco? Big screen TV.
    We had a mouse problem once. I had to move every single thing out of the garage, including a cord of firewood. It saddened me to kill 13 mice, including some tiny little baby ones.

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  22. Here's a Costco story that intersects with my mouse problem story: My favorite treat from Costco are the dark chocolate covered coconut almonds. They are delicious enough that if I don't put them far away from me I can eat the whole bag in one day. So I put them in the cupboard above the stove where it's hard for me to reach. One day I decided I deserved a treat and I opened that cupboard only to discover mice had been eating my bag of chocolate! I was both grossed out and furious. The little bastards had chewed a hole through the drywall between my garage and my kitchen. I had no idea there were even mice anywhere near our house. So my husband got some sticky traps and put some chocolate coconut almonds on it for bait and the mice were goners by morning. Gross.
    Also, way to kick ass at your training! You are an inspiration and I enjoy following your progress and hearing all your stories. I'm currently training for my first triathlon (Olympic distance) and I've experienced some ups and downs and it's good to know I'm not alone in my struggles as well as my triumphs! So, thank you!

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  23. I have no idea how you didn't cry on a windy/rainy solo bike ride. I'm only training for a Duathlon and want to cry on my 50 mile rides!!! Nice PR :-)

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  24. I ADORE kettle corn, so now I need to go buy some! That Mother's Day basket cracked me up too... My highlights would definitely be having a successful brunch program that I planned, going to a Yoga festival, and trying out a yummy new recipe. Really no major lowlights that I can think off, thank goodness!

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  25. wow...you amaze me with your training. and congrats on that PR!! awesome!

    couple things...im glad you are alive and were able to experience another mother's day and did not get eaten by the mt lion. that would have sucked. anddddd kettle corn rocks. i swear they put something in that stuff to make you get addicted.

    lowlight: My car got towed. at first i threw some F bombs but then i just told myself ahhh screw it..who cares. ill go get my car and move on with my damn day. $425 later... haha

    and highlight.... I tried a spin class called flywheel with my friend last night in philly.it was really cool. they basically put your name up on the screen and you are competing against the class...and all of philly really. after class you have an app on your phone and it shows you your stats. kinda keeps you accountable you know...makes you work harder. let me tell you- i am a spinning instructor...i never worked like that in a class before haha

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  26. Highlight - Ran a 5K on Mother's Day with my sister. My husband got the kids up, dressed, and to the restaurant for brunch all by himself (we have 4).

    Lowlight - Fight with my brother over something relatively stupid...and it continues.

    Mice - We had only been in our house for a few months. I woke up the morning of February 13th, 2003 to a make-shift mouse trap in our kitchen. I said, "Honey, do you think we have a mouse?" He said, "Yeah..." I said, "I'm in labor" - delivered our firstborn on Feb 14th. Caught the mouse in a trap on our kitchen counter the first time he left me alone with the baby. I freaked out, called him, and because he couldn't understand a word I was saying he assumed something was wrong with our son and raced home only to find me squealing like a little girl for him to "Get it! Get it!" Found out about a month later it had built a nest in my muffin tin under my stove (I didn't used to cook much).

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  27. I enjoy reading about your training. Keep up the awesome work!

    Highlight - did my first triathlon on Sunday (a mini beginners one - 200m swim, 6km bike, 2km, run). It was also my first Mother's Day that day.

    Lowlight - having my 10 month old think it's party time from 1:00AM to 4:00AM one night (a work night, of course!). So tired the next day. So so so so tired!

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  28. HIghlight - ran 10 miles in mostly rain and felt so butch.
    lowlight - wicked bad chafing.
    Mouse stories? well, we live with a mighty hunter cat who frequently lets us know who else lives in and around our home by bringing us the (mostly) dead bodies.one time she brought home a chipmunk who was playing dead when i opend the door and ran inside the house. me chasing the cat chasing the half-dead and bloodied chipmunk around the house was quite amusing for my 8-year old daughter to watch. ReneeW.

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  29. You rock and are hilarious. Reading this just made my day.

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    1. Miss you...wish we were doing the same IM this year.

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  30. My low has definitely been my Houdini dog. He escapes and chews everything in sight. Talk about money pit. But I love him. My high was a PR for 10K! 1:15:20 (took a 1:07 off my previous fastest). I felt the urge to puke after too. Then I ran 9 miles less than 36 hours later (with a Body Pump class in between) which made me feel like a badass!

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  31. Highlight: getting to do my favorite 5K before work on Saturday--thought I was going to have to miss it because of work, but they scheduled me later than usual. My coworkers couldn't believe that I'd done a race before work (thank you, baby wipes!). Lowlight: the dog managed to open the gate this morning and get into the bedroom to find the cat (the two have to be separated right now). About gave both the cat and me a heart attack; fortunately we were able to get the dog out before he actually got to the cat. No mouse problem, but we have had ants find their way into our kitchen a couple of times..Our house is a mid-level entry, so the kitchen is on the second floor; how do the little buggers even FIND our kitchen?!

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  32. Highlight: PR in my half marathon on Saturday!

    Lowlight: Carb loading on Friday night, bit into a piece of pizza and felt a big "crunch". Yep- broke a molar right in half!! So now I am going around looking like a snaggle-toothed old lady until the dentist can fix me :-(

    I need to add here that I love reading your blog and seeing that you (and apparently many of your readers!) love candy and alcohol. Most of the people around here lately seem to be on a huge health kick, so everything is low-carb, gluten-free, paleo, raw, etc....... I feel like I'm the only one still eating gummy bears and drinking margaritas!! So I'm glad to see I'm not totally alone :-)
    (And no one needs to tell me that my gummy bear habit might have something to do with the broken tooth- my hubby has already been nagging me about that!!!)

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  33. Ran a 10k this weekend - first one in a year and a half and also felt like puking as I crossed the finish line, but considered it a good thing! At least I finished knowing I had nothing else in me. And I completely get the love/hate with training :)

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  34. This is off subject but I am reading the book you recommended, Elite Minds. I love it and thank you for bringing it to our attention. I am going to have my 17 year old baseball-playing son read it when I am done. I am training for my 2nd IM too (CDA) and am in the final build phase. I was hoping you would pick CDA as your 2nd race, but oh well! Good luck with your training!

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    1. So glad the book is helpful for you. I thought about having my kids read it too. I like that it is readable and not too scientific. Best of luck at CDA. Maybe I'll see you at a future IM!

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  35. Laughing hysterically at this post....you are so fun!!

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  36. My cat once caught a mouse in our house! I was scarred for life! Highlight: My 4th grade choir performed their spring concert and ROCKED IT. Lowlight: I bought the wrong chicken wire for my garden and wasted $9 and had to go back to Lowes. :( (First world problems)

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  37. Emma's choir sounds awesome :)

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  38. Battling an a nt problem right now...I might hate them!

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  39. We once had a determined red squirrel chew not one, not two, but 6 holes in our garage door and fascia. We called an exterminator who said he'd get rid of it on one visit (for a flat fee). It took him FIVE visits and multiple types of traps. He totally lost money on us. By the end he was just like Bill Murray in Caddyshack: "To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever."

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  40. My highlight is my tree peonies are finally blooming after five years!!

    My lowlight is I finished last in a trail race this weekend!! My first trail race and I was last!! ACK!

    We had a mouse issue in our old house. Nothing major. We needed to set the trap two or three times and then they were gone!

    Our Costco is still in the planning stages, so I hope to shop there soon!

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  41. Finally caught a mouse in our kitchen after a week and a half. The bastard kept taking the bait but we finally prevailed! A mouse scampering in and out of kitchen cupboards just freaks me the hell out!!!!

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  42. Highlight: Went camping for Mother's Day weekend with the family and it was wonderful.
    Lowlight: My fridge quit today. Boo. Plus they are flushing our water lines this week and we can't use the water between 8 and 5. Double Boo.

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  43. Highlight: Started base training for my first 70.3 and finished reading 'Born to Run'.
    Lowlight: Took longer than the library expected me to read 'Born to Run' so have a fine to pay. Will borrow it again for hubby to read- too hard to explain it to him! Loved it!

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  44. Highlight!! Back to my training of Running, Spinning andd Weight Training... I need to lose about 15 pounds for the before the Venice Marathon in October.. Trying to stay consistent.!!! Run Baby Run!!

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  45. Highlight - great trail run yesterday

    Lowlight - had to cut the great trail run short after some bug dive bombed my eyeball. I got the eye closed in time but it stung me right next to it. Burned like crazy and I couldn't open my eye to see after that. Didn't think it was wise to be out on a rooty trail alone with one eye so I floundered back to the car and was done.

    Mouse story - We live in the woods and often get mice inside. I try to seal up all the food. One year I couldn't figure out what they were eating. One day, I happened to look behind the refrigerator. I had "hidden" a bag of Payday bars on top of the 'fridge. They had fallen down behind the 'fridge and that's what the mice were living off of. Now we have an indoor cat and she pretty much solved any mouse problem.

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  46. Highlight - today is my younger son's 12th birthday. He is getting tickets to the summer x-games in Austin in June. Giving him anything is so gratifying - he's totally dramatic, but on the flipside, his excitement about good things is wonderful!!

    Lowlight - this isn't a standout lowlight, but I can't get rid of my tibial tendonitis. I've been side and front planking, clamshelling, sideways-walking with resistance band-ing, I scaled back my miles a little bit, all the things my sports doc told me to do, and it's still nagging. I can run through it okay, so I'm grateful for that, but it would be nice to be pain free for a change.

    Mice: we don't have them. But here is something utterly, totally more gross than mice: our master bath shower needs to be regrouted. We had it done about a year and a half ago but the grout has cracked again. And there are some kind of bugs living under the tile that come out of the cracked grout into the shower!! they are some kind of worm-like larva things. I keep asking my husband to at least caulk the cracks until we can have it all ripped out, but it hasn't happened....

    OH, and unsolicited cashier advice: the other day the cashier at Kroger said "you know those Liberte yogurts (of which I had about a dozen) have twelve grams of fat in them, don't you??" I was polite, but what I was thinking was, you calling me fat, lady?? I ran nine miles this morning, what did you do??

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  47. Crazy ass week you've had there! I LOVE that Kettle Korn. Angies is the best brand of popcorn. I made the mistake of buying that bag ONCE. I couldn't stop......turns out I'm allergic to corn too. Shit. Guess that explains it....

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  48. Oh my goodness, this post is hilarious and seems like that was a pretty interesting week for you. Alcohol, kettle corn, failed mouse resuscitation... crazy!

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