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202X: who even knows anymore?

202X: who even knows anymore?

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it’s that time of year when we arbitrarily write down our resolutions for the upcoming 12 months, like this time of year is a fresh start when all we really want to do is hunker down in our homes and wait out the cold. who decided january was a good month to turn over the year?

but, i will succumb to peer pressure. i don’t necessarily say “work out 5 days a week and lose 40 lbs” as a new year’s resolution, or try to do something that i know i won’t come close to changing about myself. i think this is a good time to expand on what you know you like or what you do well. enhance your current hobbies; take something you’re already doing and just give it a little push. a nudge. why not. especially during this really hazy period of pandemic humanity when time is simultaneously moving too slowly and too quickly. what year is it, anyway?

  1. oh what the heck. take more pics. i’ve been sliding these past few years and have to figure out how to get the inspiration back.
  2. i have no trips planned for this year, so i have to figure out how to somewhere, whether it’s a few state parks or getting out of state. i do have a work conference in march, but that’s for work and just to denver (haha just to denver).
  3. i am already signed up for two races! i’ve got the earth day half on my calendar and ragnar trail is in september. i don’t know if i should try for two half marathons this year or what, or maybe a 10-mile race somewhere. we’ll see how training for the half goes: my feet have been really good lately but my knees have been buggered and i have to get that checked out. my form is probably awful.
  4. i want to replace my floors this year. slowly this house is coming out of the 90s and into at least the mid-2000s. i’ve replaced almost all the major appliances and the cupboards are painted. the floor is really just the grossest now, and it’s time to get something looking good in here.
  5. yoga: by the end of 2022, i should have my yoga teacher training under my belt! that will be a good accomplishment and i’m excited to see what i do with it (i have no idea LOL). i will also continue to strive toward daily practice!
  6. do something interesting with nate! that guy never takes time off and it’s time he does. hopefully we can combine it with #2 above!
  7. eat more cheese. (i mean, this one should be an easy goal.)
  8. continue to strive toward less plastic use. and less carbon use. and you know what else? i have to stop using amazon. jeff bezos could fix climate change today if he wanted to with all the money he’s hoarding but he doesn’t. ugh.
  9. support the great resignation. one thing we’ve learned during this pandemic is that the economy is more important than people. surprise! i want to do some more research on this and write a blog post on it. stay tuned.

ok, that’s enough. what day is it?

2021: YEAR IN REVIEW (2020 part 2 boogaloo)

2021: YEAR IN REVIEW (2020 part 2 boogaloo)

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let’s check out how my 2021 “resolutions” went this year. i’m not convinced i did much because 2021 was just meh and a continuation of 2020. burnt out, annoyed with covid, and more annoyed with people who think the economy is more important than people. but let’s check it out.

  1. my first item has been photo related for all the time i’ve been making this list, and i think it should remain photo related. let’s take more pics. but what of…
     i don’t think i took more pics. big loser on this one. i’m not feeling inspired for photos lately 🙁
  2. i’m going to figure out what i’m going to do this year to help the anti-racist movement. i don’t know what that is, yet. maybe my camera will be involved. sharing non-propagandaed news is one step. confronting racism with those you know is another step. but what else? i’m not sure yet.
    i didn’t go to any events, but what i did do was read more books, both fiction and non-fiction, about and by non-white peeps.
  3. this will, of course, make me angry. so therefore, i definitely will continue yoga every day. i did yoga every day in 2019, and in 2020, i did yoga most days (maybe every 10th day i took a day off). although she’s gone physically, fightmaster yoga lives on through her youtube channel, and i will tell everyone i know to keep doing her yoga. it will help you out physically, mentally, and maybe spiritually if that’s the route you want to take yoga. the light in me recognizes and honors the light in you! let your little light shine.
    i did yoga! check.
  4. i will keep travel on my list, because i’m already planning a trip to new england in may, and i would like to get out to the black hills in the fall if the virus has calmed down. i would also guess that if there are protests or sit-ins or other items that need documenting, that would involve traveling. my mom also wants to see the milky way this summer, and that means another trip to the north shore! i’m not going to be mad about that. especially the rustic inn where i can get a slice of pie.
    STOOPID COVID. well, we went to new england and that was a blast! and then in august, liz and fam, my mom, and i went to the black hills. so yes, i traveled! no north shore, no milky way. but yes to travel, even though pandemic.
  5. RUN A RACE. i don’t care what the length is! i don’t care if we start in waves. i don’t care if it’s ragnar trail and it’s -30º and glare ice the entire trail. i don’t care if i have to roll out of bed at 4 a.m. so i can be ready to run at 5 a.m. – I AM RUNNING A RACE WITH OTHER PEOPLE THIS YEAR.
    I RAN A RACE!!!! we did ragnar trail in september! and no injuries!!
  6. convince nate to get a new job. i swear, 99% of his problems would be solved if he would get a job that’s got normal hours. and if 99% of his problems are solved, then i’d venture to say 49.5% of mine are. the other 1% of his problems would be solved if he weren’t allergic to cats. that said, i don’t know if this resolution is doable. i’ll put it down. but don’t be surprised if this has no results.
    yep, no results.
  7. welp, some excellent news we learned this year is that recycling plastic was just a big marketing campaign and doesn’t really help. so that’s just great. we still need to help out the earth. we’ve seen what happens when we pause our polluting ways. and like i’ve said before, is it wrong to want a clean earth, even if it DOESN’T stop climate change? how do we stop this plastic inundation? maybe i will start writing campaigns. use my twitter account and all 87 followers to campaign for less plastic in consumables. i have no plan for this, but the farther down the path of climate change we get, the harder it’s going to be to turn around. i’m no global leader, and i’m not a CEO of a giant corporation. i just want this on my list because it’s going to be a top-of-mind item for me this year, and i’ll figure out what to do. (i never said this was a definitive list of 100% goals… they’re more like guidelines.)
    so, climate change is still a thing. let’s keep on keepin on with that one. oh, watch “don’t look up” on netflix.
  8. can we be happy, collectively, as a people? i think once the maniac is out of the white house, that will help us breathe a sigh of relief. once the vaccine is more widely accessible, that will help. collectively, i think we’ll be happy again. but i have no doubt i will be able to be happy in 2021 amidst my crusades, because while i am definitely a cynic, i’m optimistic. smiling at little things helps: a smooth lake, a well-crafted sentence, the smell of fall, my stupid cats snoozing in one giant fuzzpuddle, tulips pushing through the dirt, the silence of a snowfall, fireworks, laughing with others.
    so when i went to the doc for my annual physical, i talked to my doc about my anxiety. work had been just a beast – i was the only one after my coworker left, and it was taking its toll. she gave me some meds, mentioning that it would work with depression too. because usually anxiety and depression go hand in hand. to which i thought, i don’t really have depression. generally i am happy; i’m just feeling anxious about stuff! but hopefully that’ll get better. though i have to say, not worrying about WWIII starting with a tweet is nice.

well, turns out i did more than i remembered! the travel checkbox certainly hit the ticket.

2021 items of note:

  1. i was the only one in my department at work for 8 months. that was not good and part of the reason my anxiety was overwhelming. we failed the first search and the person we extended an offer to on the second needed more time than usual to get moved. my new coworker started right after thanksgiving and so far so good!
  2. i found some reasonable yoga teacher training! it had been niggling on my mind for a while, but was always cost prohibitive. but i just stumbled across YTT at st paul college, where i will get free tuition! so i’m registered for two classes this spring and will do the rest fall semester.
  3. i’m also in the middle of a leadership program, which started in june and will conclude in march.

 

2022 goals to come!

 

a yuletide update

a yuletide update

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happy third day of christmas! for the first time ever, i’m taking the week off between christmas and new years. this also may be the first voluntary time ever that i’ve just taken a week off and done nothing. (i involuntarily took a random week off in march while at the newsleaders because she closed down the office during spring break and forced everyone to take a week of vacation. looking back, i feel like that’s illegal. whatever. i don’t work there anymore.)

so far it’s been legit relaxing. christmas eve and christmas were nice, my yule log was fantastic, and i ate (well, am still eating) way too much food. it’s that time of year where if you’re not uncomfortably full, you must be hungry. i would cite some positive body stuff here about eating whatever you want, but who wants to buy new clothes? not me.

(ignore the two arrows in the middle of the image. i did something weird to get this pic on the computer i am using.)

plans for the week? well, in the event that i actually sleep well tonight, i’m hoping to put some decent mileage on the treadmill tomorrow. it’s supposed to snow again tomorrow, which will usher in some freezing cold temps later this week. -22!!! who needs that? yuck. i’ll stay indoors.

on wednesday, i’m heading down to see megan and go to the MOA for some fun. i have a massage scheduled for thursday (woo!), and then a big fat nothing for new years unless liz decides it’d be fun to do something that morning. then nothing nothing for next weekend and then it’s back to work. let’s not talk about back to work though.

the “vegging out” stuff i’m doing? watching some marvel movies. it’s been a while since i’ve seen the iron mans. i never saw some of the captain americas. and for some reason universal owns the hulk, which is on loan to disney? so the 2008 hulk movie isn’t on disney+ and it was a bad choice to rent it. what a dud of a movie! on a related note, spiderman is still technically owned by sony, too. and after this current movie that’s out, the deal expires. weird stuff. you’d think that it’d be all marvel owned. and why is disney turning into more and more of an evil empire? why are we headed more and more toward monopoly territory?

that took a turn.

anyway, i’m also hoping to read a couple books this week and i really hope that my application for my yoga teacher training goes through soon. i talked to the instructor today and i’m ready to get registered! i really hope i don’t have to go to an in-person advising/registration session. that would be dumb.

top b̶o̶o̶k̶s̶ titles for 2021

top b̶o̶o̶k̶s̶ titles for 2021

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i wish there were a t-word for books so my title could – WAIT. alliteration complete.

every year i set a reading challenge for myself on goodreads and this year’s was 55 books read. completed! and still going, actually. but i don’t think i’ll read a top book in the next week, so here are my top books i read this past year.

american dirt by jeanine cummins. i wrote about this book while i was reading it in january, so i will copy/paste what i wrote then: american dirt got a lot of mixed reviews last january when it was published. it was a big brouhaha because the author, while she does have some puerto rican descent and is married to an undocumented immigrant, got a lot of flack about writing about the mexican migrant experience when there are many mexican authors more qualified to do so.

so i avoided it when it came out, but then it got book of the year on goodreads, so has she been redeemed? i don’t know where we’re at with the drama, but i grabbed it from the library and am devouring it. this is a quick read and it’s from the viewpoint of the mexican migrant experience, which i think a lot of us could realize is no picnic.

world of wonders by aimee nezhukumatathil. i’m not a fan of reading poetry, and for some reason i like to think that don’t like reading a collection of short stories or essays. which is weird because there are two such books on my top 2021 list. i may have to assess my brain and tell it to pick up a collection more often.

anyway, aimee is a poet who wrote this collection of essays that connect her memoirs with the natural, especially obscure creatures, trees, not-obscure creatures. she grew up in the 80s, so i found that relatable, but from a first-gen, non-white family point of view. her writing is lyrical and lovely. this book is short and it’s illustrated. if you want a book that you can fall into and a get away for a bit, this might be it.

neither wolf nor dog by kent nerburn. i picked up this book after a recommendation from melissa, and what an excellent read. i learned more about native american indian life from this book than i ever learned in school, all 19 years of it.

kent is a white man, but like most things that are different to white people, the story needs to be told from a white person’s perspective so we can relate, and then relate. and then learn. he tells the story of the time he spent with a native elder who wanted his story told. turns out he needed kent’s story told.

thanks to this book, i read two other books this year focused on native lives, including the followup to this one.

quit like a woman by holly whitaker. this is my NUMBER ONE BOOK OF 2021!! i LOVED this book, even though it did not make me quit drinking. what she outlines can be applied to so many different aspects of women’s lives.

it was the only book i actually reviewed on goodreads this year. here’s what i wrote:

this book is required reading for ANY woman, whether you’re trying to quit alcohol, drugs, or anything else you’re addicted to. or, if you’re not trying to quit anything. her conversational (PG-13 rated) style of writing moves right along while she lays out why, as women, we need to start feeding ourselves and loving ourselves instead of losing our egos during any recovery process.

i have recommended this book to so many people.

the anthropocene reviewed by john green. ugh, john. you just make me feel.

i started watching vlogbrothers in the mid-2000s, and then started reading john’s fiction books. then hank’s fiction books. and continued to watch their 4-minute twice-weekly videos that cover the gamut of everything. and john’s videos are sometimes introspective and illuminating and hit you right in the heart.

so when he mentioned his new book release on vlogbrothers and his podcast of the same title, i downloaded a few episodes to check it out. he rates the current earth age on a five-star scale, from pennies to dr. pepper to scratch n sniff stickers to art and auld lang syne. his podcast (and subsequent essay in this book) on the capacity for wonder and sunsets just did it. he’d been holding hostage to a perfect rating, then this.

And so I try to turn toward that scattered light, belly out, and I tell myself: This doesn’t look like a picture. And it doesn’t look like a God. It is a sunset, and it is wildly beautiful, and this whole thing you’ve been doing where almost nothing gets five stars because almost nothing is perfect? That’s b.s. So much is perfect. Starting with this.

I give sunsets five stars.

billy summers by stephen king. what would a best-book list be without stephen king in it? and for those who say “dang i don’t like scary books,” you should read some stephen king because his books aren’t all scary. this one is more thriller/crime than any sort of scary. (tommyknockers this is NOT. yikes. that book scared me.)

king always keeps me engaged in his writing, especially his more recent stuff. this book is about a hitman for hire and his last job gone wrong. if you’re a king fan, you’ve likely already read it. if you enjoy thrillers but haven’t ever read king, this might be a good place to start.

malibu rising by taylor jenkins reid.

i hesitated to put this on my best of 2021 list. the story coalesces along a day’s worth of events and the backstory to fill them in. while the stories of the day and the frictions among them move the plot along, what i really liked about this book was the relationships that reid described and the closeness of the rivas siblings.

the writing is fantastic. i loved “daisy jones and the six” that she wrote, and that was the reason i picked this one up. the way she weaves a story is excellent.

 

*******

there you go! my top books of 2021. let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you think!

the eve

the eve

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weak light woke mariah from a dream about the yeti. she slowly pulled a hand out from the warmth of her wool blankets to rub the sleep from her eyes, then opened one eye to take in the scene out her east-facing window in her sleeping room. the sky was still mostly dark but she could tell the sun was itching to make an appearance soon. this was not good.

she threw back her pile of blankets and pulled on her fur robe and slippers to peer out the window. there was a scurry of activity outdoors, with elves running between warehouses and last-minute seers flying in. most years she was grateful that all she needed to manage was the herd, but this year may be a problem. mariah frowned at the dark brown of the ground and the dull look of the trees that surrounded the pole. where was that yeti this year? she had seen him just three nights ago and had seemed fine but a bit frazzled, like he’d just woken up.

instead of starting a fire, she dressed as quickly as possible, grabbed her essentials (silver dagger, peppermints, a sprig of evergreen), and strode out of her sleeping room and directly into the stables. eight antlered heads turned toward her, and she felt a surge of pride and love for her deer. she hadn’t been working with this herd very long, but she felt more comfortable with deer than she did with people some days. and this herd was the best she’d had in decades.

the elves had already been there that morning with breakfast, a much richer and heartier fare than normal. tonight was the night. mariah hoped, anyway. she went to blitz and rubbed the space between her antlers, brushed the sides of her face. mariah noticed the wear on blitz’s hooves and wondered what had happened during the lady’s outing, but she knew better than to bring it up. on to dawn, cammie, cushla, paige, daksha, darcy, vicky. the excitement strummed in the air of the stables.

then mariah walked outdoors just as the sun slid above the horizon. she squinted at it and took a look at the flawless blue sky. a feeling of dread filled her. she caught the eye of the elf across the yard also staring at the sky. the sled master. she walked over.

“where is the yeti?” he hissed. the sled master did not look happy, and with good reason. if there was no snow, the sled couldn’t take off. “this hasn’t happened in…” he sputtered, throwing his arms in the air and making a face. “i don’t even know because it’s been that long. and i’m old.” his eyebrows were so furrowed, they looked like one eyebrow, which would have made mariah giggle if the situation hadn’t been so dire.

“the man in red hasn’t even mentioned it,” said mariah, mulling that over. usually red’s intuition was spot on, but this was worrying.

“it’s never been this late,” said the sled master. “and if there’s no snow, THEN what do we do? there’s a first time for red to be wrong.” he turned in a huff and disappeared in the sled shed. mariah slipped her hand in her pocket and pulled out a peppermint, then popped it in her mouth.

she scuffed her boot at the brown dirt beneath her and took off her hat. it was too warm, and not a snowcloud in sight. at this point, all she could do is hope.

so, she went about prepping the herd. she shined the jingle bells, brushed the herd’s fur one by one, gave each girl a good massage, slipped them all plenty of fruits and nuts, and trimmed and buffed their hooves, paying special attention to blitz.

the day turned into dusk, and as she was was twining hollyberries on cammie’s antlers, mariah needed to take a break to find her gloves. the herd’s breath steamed in the stable. she glanced outside and noticed that clouds had covered the little sun they had this time of year and were moving quickly. a spark of hope glimmered in her chest. humming, she started a fire in the small potbelly stove in the center of the stable and grabbed her gloves.

soon, the herd was ready to go. she gave one last pat to daksha and kissed paige on the nose, then practically skipped to the door. (but she restrained herself – if the elves saw a hedgewitch skip? she’d never hear the end of it.)

the door creaked as she slid it open, spilling stable light into the darkness. the elves were scurrying around with last-minute packages and bags, and she saw the door to the big house open and the man in red step out on the stoop. mariah met him in the middle of the yard.

“the herd’s ready,” she said anxiously, waiting for red to mention the unspoken.

“hm, good good. the sled master’s reported as well,” he said in his gruff voice. the lady came up beside him, clasping a clipboard and a very thick ledger. she smiled at mariah, then the man in red, and then looked up.

“the snow, dear?”

the clamor stopped as ears of all sorts twitched toward the man in red. the sled master was silhouetted in the door of the sled shed, body tense. mariah’s hand twitched toward her peppermints.

the man in red looked up, squinted, ran his gloved hand over his beard, then set his sights ahead.

“the yeti knows what he’s doing.”

he and the lady left mariah standing in the middle of the yard while chittering from elves, seers, and other creatures gradually filled the silence.

mariah looked up, and a snowflake kissed her nose.

other weird holiday short stories

leadership, strengths, and yoga (and a tree): a weekend.

leadership, strengths, and yoga (and a tree): a weekend.

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i’m in a leadership program that culminates in march at a national conference for marketing 2-year colleges, and we have to each do a 10-minute presentation that connects what we’ve learned with something in our lives (doesn’t have to be our jobs).

i’m working on my mine after spending far too long figuring out what it should be on. i don’t know exactly what prompted me to finally click the pieces, but it did and both the person running the program and liz (who is a strengthsfinder coach) approved 😀

i realized that, while important, the biggest strength i have is not in my input, intellection, learner, achiever: all these information and deadline driven words. the reason i do well at work and with others is my relator strength, which is an odd thing for an introvert. well, not so odd because the relator strength is having strong relationships with people you know well. definitely not a woo, which is the extrovert’s strength.

anyway, i have a lot of close-ish relationships with a lot of people at work, which is great for work, but not so great when i get home and want to veg out for the day.

so i’m doing my presentation on the conflict between these two and how i use yoga to decompress, meditate, and get my mojo back. then i’m going to relate yoga to leadership and how it can help everyone be a better leader. and do yoga while i talk about that.

and today? well, today i applied to st paul college for their certificate in yoga teacher training.

it’s something i’ve been interested in for a while, but it’s always been cost prohibitive. but at the MN colleges? i get free tuition. and both st paul and minneapolis college have a program, which i didn’t realize until i happened across it this past week.

as soon as i have my presentation figured out, i’ll share it here!

oh, and i put up my tree this week. it’s a beast.

the weather

the weather

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and fall just keeps holding on. snow is drifting down outside right now, but the air is barely above freezing and it will turn to rain soon.

tomorrow it will be 50º here. but the nights are still cold and ice is forming on the lakes, starting on the edges and creeping along til it’s strong enough to hold. the first couple inches of the ground is hard, but it quickly gives way to loose soil, as i found out the other day pounding a stake into the dirt for lights. i dug up the last of my potatoes just 3 weeks ago.

minnesota’s coldest month is january, but december isn’t far behind, sneaking in before february. the solstice is a mere 21 days away and soon we’ll turn our axis toward the sun again. but the temperatures sure aren’t showing the time of year this year. and while i would love to get in more runs outdoors in the warm, the dark keeps me indoors after i get home, and the temps dip as soon as the sun dips.

the good news is that while fall is holding on, that means that much less of winter to manage. i sure wouldn’t mind a fresh coat of snow to freshen up the brown grey outdoors, but at the same time i’m ok with driving on dry, clear roads.

but we sure could use some moisture in the air. it is ridiculously dry lately. we are barely out of a drought that took hold over the summer, and if we get just another 10″ of snow this winter, we’ll be back in it for spring.

there’s the weather report for the day. it’s a good fallback when you don’t want to deal with everything else at the moment. what i really want to talk about is the great resignation but i don’t have the energy because my job is a timesuck. oh, the irony.

in which i have a realization whilst in pigeon pose

in which i have a realization whilst in pigeon pose

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when i roll out my mat and click through to youtube to find a yoga video for the evening, my go-to list is fightmaster yoga’s playlist of videos of yoga for hips. running tightens up the hips, and i do my best to keep them relatively loose. plus i really enjoy stretching out the muscles and connector tissues in there.

lesley has always said that we stuff our emotions in the hips, so don’t be alarmed if you get emotional during pigeon pose or another intense hip opener. i have read about people who break down sobbing while in these hip openers, working through emotions that are released. i don’t doubt it, but i have never experienced intense sorts of sadness or the like while in my deep hip openers. i always just feel a stretch in the muscles and ligaments surrounding my hips pushing upwards toward my chest.

then the other day, i’m deep in pigeon pose and it hits me: i’m not stuffing sadness or anger in my hips; i’m stuffing my stupid anxiety in my hips. the surge pushing upwards toward my chest is just all that pushed-down anxiety rushing to the solar plexus where it usually resides. good grief.

there are times when my hips are legitimately tight and the stretching helps release the muscles, but there are also days when the muscles aren’t so tight and i still feel like i’m getting an intense reaction out of the pose, especially if held longer than usual.

that’s my realization for the day. i guess it’s a good thing that these poses are some of my go-tos. yoga: keeping the body and mind limber. (as advertised.)

 

november notes

november notes

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wow this year’s kablpomo has been a complete fail. well, not a complete fail since i’ve actually blogged this month, but as for every day? not getting it.

some things that have happened during november:

  1. i was down at my parents’ to help out for a week after my mom’s knee surgery.
  2. cleaned like a crazy person for thanksgiving guests jane, blues, and emily. that was the day after i got my covid booster, which knocked me sideways. i was struggling with any energy, but also needed to clean. managed to work through the blahs, cleaned the house, and am now more protected against covid!
  3. also realized that i am like, the only person who wears a mask anywhere anymore. i was out this past weekend doing some shopping around, and no one is wearing a mask. there’s a new variant, and our hospitals are full, and everyone else is just like, meh. whatevs. i think it’s bizarre.
  4. hosted thanksgiving after a year hiatus!!! that was fun. i made a pumpkin pie, then after i botched my second crust, i made a pumpkin custard? i put it in my springform pan like a cheesecake. (i imagine that cheesecake and pumpkin pie are more related than we think.) for those who enjoy the pumpkin filling and not the crust, that is the way to go. it baked at about the same time as the pie, and it was good! i also made a butterscotch tart (deeeelish) and jane brought a pecan pie. oh, and i was at the bakery that morning and picked up half a key lime cuz why not. had all the old standbys, and i think i may be done with turkey. next year i might just pick up a couple rotisserie chickens from costco instead. turkey is kind of boring!
  5. i put half of each of the pumpkin desserts in the freezer because two days later i made a carrot cake for nate’s birthday (today!). he is now the big 44. oof.
  6. my black and decker food processor that i bought 15 years ago finally bit the dust. the motor decided to just go crazy and make a ton of noise. instead of waiting for it to blow up, i bought a cuisinart processor with the black friday deals. i didn’t get the super awesome industrial one, but cuisinart is apparently the name in food processors, like kitchenaid is for mixers. anyway, i used that to grate the carrots for the cake, and it definitely is quieter than the BD one.
  7. november was actually a pretty good running month. it hasn’t snowed yet and the temps arent’ outrageous yet, so i’ve gone out on the st john’s trails to get as much trail running in. besides, the trees buffer any wind, which is more than i can say when i run on the road with the wide open corn field there for the wind to whip up into a frenzy. so the treadmill is out for the season and weekday running (it’s dark) but on the weekends i do try to get out a little bit.
  8. which is GOOD because i signed up for the 2022 EARTH DAY HALF MARATHON. yes, it’s finally back! i’ve gotten pretty decent at getting in 10 miles occasionally, but 13.1 will be a haul. training starts in 2 months? 3 months? well, i’ll just keep running like normal and see what happens.
  9. i put away my fall decor today. i turned on my outdoor lights and have a poinsettia, but other than that, i’m gonna wait a couple weeks to put up any christmas decor. not ready for that. even while i was out black friday shopping, i was like, ehhhhh. i’ll wear my krampus shirt though. hopefully the christmas excitement shows up.

any ideas for blog posts the remaining two days in kablpomo?

sunday runday

sunday runday

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my blog posting month has been really bad lately! i think this is the worst i’ve done for a kablpomo. ah well. stuff happens.

it’s 2021. that means it’s been 10 – TEN – years since i started running. color me impressed with myself. i was actually just on the treadmill having a beast of a time because i got my covid booster* and am feeling ultra sluggish today, but thought i’d give a run a go.

not going well, but i’ll do it in pieces.

so, to celebrate 10 – TEN – years running, here are my 5 top takeaways and tips.

  1. shoes matter. i don’t care if you need a barefoot shoe, a complete support shoe, a neutral hot pink shoe, or what, but you need to find the right shoe for you. and sometimes you need to reassess what your feet need. i had to change my shoe type 2 years ago due to a wonky nerve heel issue, and i went from a 13mm heel drop to a 5 or 0mm heel drop. that somehow miraculously cured all my foot ailments after years of dealing with plantar fasciitis. i wish i had done that sooner. try out different shoes.
  2. support matters. meaning in the underwear department. spend the money on a good bra if you’re a lady.
  3. i can tell if i’m going to have a good run within the first 5 minutes. my legs are either cooperating or they aren’t. i know a lot of people say the first mile is a lie, and it is to an extent, but for the most part i will know sooner rather than later if this is going to be an excellent run, a mediocre run, or an awful run. most runs fall in the mediocre camp.
  4. i’ve said this so many times, but slow down. this isn’t a land race. so many runners starting out think they need to run a 9- or 10-minute pace. no wonder you hate running and rage quit! slow down and it’ll be a lot easier on the legs and the lungs, not to mention your head. focus on distance instead. i started at probably a 14-min mile and have worked my way up to an average 12-min mile. if i’m having a great run, it’ll be 11:30. i can count on one hand the number of times it’s been close to 11-min miles. slooooooow always wins.
  5. enjoy it! sure, have goals, too, but the best way to get them is to take a moment to enjoy it. i run through the woods. i like to have a running buddy for half marathons. run in the springtime next to ponds and marshes to hear the frogs croak. stop to take a pic of the sunset. wave at the other people you see along the way. run past houses and admire the architecture (or lack of). if your legs are willing, run as many miles as they like and zoom down the last decline on your way back from the long run.

* i am super scared of getting covid and then coming back from it and trying to run. i’ve heard horror stories and know the problem with lungs. i’ll try to avoid that, please.