67.4

Sixty-seven and four tenths miles for May.

The spreadsheet worked! I stayed on track and didn’t go overboard (risking injury) like I did last year and perfectly upticked from last month’s 47. Woo.

May got me up to 9-mile long runs. Finally, runs of substance…feels like it took so long to get past 4 and 5 milers. Although the 9.5 I did this past Saturday was the suckiest of the suck. Looooong uphills, heat, humidity and back again. I felt like ass for 5 miles and then it was awesome and I felt amazing later. This is good, as I have a 10-miler on Saturday to mark the official start of marathon training so I have really start getting psyched up for the 7am Saturday training runs.

May introduced me to a new running partner. JessT has finally succumbed to my whining and has now met me for 3 or 4 early morning runs. It’s awesome because we have two totally different approaches; she runs under the theory of “the faster you run, the faster you are finished”, where my long-distance training comes into play even for 3-milers and I find myself pacing and reserving energy for the first 2 miles. Not productive. So she keeps me on my toes and is teaching me to have faster starts.

May also saw the addition of a new runner in the crew. Laura B has officially joined the running ranks and, I believe, is looking for a kick ass 5-K sometime in September to mark her foray into the sport. Suggestions?

Here’s to no more twinges, no pain, comfy shoes and 20-mile weeks in June!

Oooh and stay tuned for the next post: MKR: The Counterop Edition
wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

MKR: The waiting game

Am still working on that pesky kitchen!

So last weekend I was in Boston for this girl’s graduation from Boston University. Way to go Bugger!  (She has been (cum) lauded here by JessT.) Not being deterred by my non-presence, the family came over and worked their free labor magic by installing some über cool custom cabinet organizers in the lower cabinets, re-hinging some of the doors and adding the new cabinet hardware as well.

They also delivered the new sink, the faucet and went to pick up my oh-so-gorgeous granite tiles - all of which is now sitting in my living room practically burning a hole through the floor because it’s all just so damned pretty and I can’t stand it anymore! Can a sink be pretty? Mine is! Here is the photo off the Kohler website. However, my sink will be paired with the faucet pictured below from Pegasus.

The sink is freaking HUGE! HUGE! It’s going to be so amazing once it’s installed. Has anyone ever called a sink “amazing” before? Well this one is. I special ordered a wire drying basket for the sink basin on the left, it’s formed to fit the funky, curvy shape. I also bought a mini cutting board that fits over the bottom portion of the sink. Am trying to save counter space which is at a high premium in my small, galley kitchen…so even though my new sink is WAY bigger than the old one, it will allow me to take the dish rack off the counter top next to the sink, giving me an entirely new space to utilize and make dirty! Woo!

Went shopping with the ‘rents this weekend at Lowes to pick up the makings for the substrate (that is backerboard and plywood), the mortar mix, the grout, new plumbing accouterments needed to accommodate a double sink and a water filter that installs under the sink and gives you filtered water right out of the unadorned faucet. Which means…

…counter tops and sink go in this weekend!

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Cannot express how happy I am. I lost my camera recently, but will try to get the family to bring one so I can take lots of pictures of the install.

Read all previous My Kitchen Renovation (MKR) posts here.

A comma = Obama

You may or may not remember my lovely, articulate office receptionist. If not, you can read about her here. She is so brilliant that a certain somebody was inspired to start a spoof blog from my non-receptionist’s point of view.

Anyway, sometime this morning she announces a call to me from a company called Software Acomma* a frequent  exhibitor of ours.  The conversation unfolds as such:

Non-receptionist: Marci! Jan Crofton from Obama for you!

Me: Who?

No-receptionist: [Getting excited] It’s from Obama!

Me: Ok? (which is her cue to put the call through)

Me: Hello, this is Marci

“Jan Crofton”: Hi, this is Kristin from Software Acomma. I had some questions about your upcoming trade show.

Yeah.

But instead of fuming like usual, I was hysterically pleased with this exchange. Perhaps it was the glee in her voice when she thought Obama’s camp was calling me.

*I changed the name of the company slightly to protect them from any harm from having been associated with Barrack Obama, me, my non-receptionist or Baby Bananas.

Race Report: Battle of the Boulevard 10K

The 2nd annual Battle of the Boulevard was this past Saturday…yes the rainy Saturday.

A local race starting in Clarendon, heading due north down Wilson Boulevard, through Courthouse, Rosslyn and down Rt. 110 and back to Clarendon. Back the same way you came, that is, uphill. So 3.1 miles downhill and 3.1 miles up. To be fair things level off a bit when you get to 110 so I guess that counts as a rest? But it’s a good race; cheap, nearby, quick, fun, and you get a good t-shirt. Well last year it was all of those things. This year, not so much…

Cheap? Yes. Still just a $25 entry fee. For a field of 2,000 runners, that’s pretty good, usually the bigger the race, the more expensive it is. Plus considering the t-shirt this fee makes things practically even.

Nearby? Yes. Well, nearby to me. If it hadn’t been raining I would have walked to the start. Preferring to start the race dry, I drove in and huddled under an awning at the Pacers store until the gun went off.

Quick? Yes. Running marathons and half-marathons has changed my perception of what constitutes long. 6.2 miles is an hour long at my pace (well 59 minutes 46 seconds this year!) and seems really quick in the grand scheme of things.

Fun? Meh. The race boasted some stellar sponsors (Lucky Brand Jeans, Whole Foods, to name a couple) as well as a post-race party. And what do the words “post-race party” mean to the average person? Food and drink and entertainment. Ok, so there was a sound stage with music. There were a plethora of bottled waters. There were tables and tables of bananas. And that’s where the party ended. Who has a race with just bananas and water as the après race food? I was on a mad hunt for granola bars, bagels, something! My plan was to eat breakfast at this thing. I finally stopped at one of the 10 banana tables and asked a Whole Foods rep if there was anything else to eat other than the yellow fruit that I am allergic to, and she said she HAD 2,000 power bars but they were long gone. GONE? I was back at the start within an hour and no carbs? What brand of idiot brings just 2,000 granola bars to feed over 2,000 people? Did I mention that there was a 2K walk, with their own set of participants, happening in conjunction with the race? Yeah. Bad move Whole Foods. I blame the race organizers too (Pacers)! Last year, Mister Days had a whole BBQ thing going, there were granola bars for days, bagels, juice, Gatorade (don’t get me started on the Gatorade this year, an hour and half after the race begins and they are out of the carb juice), plus tons of booths from area merchants and groups.

So, no breakfast to be had, I decided to stroll along the vendors to see what Arlington has to offer that I am probably missing out on, I mean the race organizers (Pacers) told me there would be a “Wellness Festival” after the race. Six or Seven tables is not what I call a Wellness Festival. All in all, post-race was totally lame. If the race got a 100 last year for being fun, this year it got a 15. Yes, it was that bad.

Good t-shirt? Kinda. It was still a Brooks technical shirt, which is like gold in the realm of race shirts. Cotton is the suck when it comes to running more than 4 miles and technical shirts are not cheap so it’s tre awesome to get one “free” with your $25 race fee. Thing is though, the design was crap. Not that last year’s shirt was a work of art, but it was in full-color. The 2007 shirt was black with a large, colorful imprint of the race graphic on the front. This year’s shirt was red (points for color), but included just white text on the front. Where is the color? Where is the art? Why just boring, ugly text? It’s obvious that the race organizers (Pacers) lost some sponsor dollars this year, either that or over spent last year’s sponsor money and toned things down to stay in budget this time around. Word to the organizers (Pacers), skip spending the money on the sound stage and get some carbs for the people!

I would be pissed, I really am a huge fan of free granola bars, but I ran 9:39 minute miles when I have done zero speed training and I wasn’t doing this race to race, but just as a training run that fit nicely in my schedule even though it was all uphill at the end. So I guess I am happy. But it had nothing to do with the race organizers (Pacers).

47.0

Forty seven miles flat for the month of April.

Not bad for just coming off  10 weeks of absolutely zero running, huh? Last time I posted mileage it was last October, marathon month, and I had run 128.7 miles in four weeks.   April’s mileage puts me at 36% of that total, which I am pretty happy about.  Coming back too fast would just get me injured again, and we all know that I am not happy when injured and not running.  I’ve stuck to the spreadsheet I showed you guys a few weeks ago, well I’ve stuck to the running portions the spreadsheet, but I’ve been kinda lazy about my other workouts (lifting,  yoga and cross-training).  I need to work on that for May.  But all scheduled runs are in and accounted for, actually I have more than accounted for…when I did the spreadsheet I forgot to put Race for Hope on and I realized it too late, so I might walk that this Sunday instead of running it.  You know, just to be safe and not go over my allotted mileage.

I really like checking off these runs every week, I think I am going to extend the spreadsheet through June. Will be mighty helpful with the travel. This month is Baltimore and Boston, next month is London, Chicago, Minneapolis and Chicago.

I just hope the foot holds up. It hasn’t been hurting since I started wearing my beloved Nike Air Pegasus exclusively again, but it has been “twingy”…like I am aware of a certain spot on my foot that isn’t quite right.  It might be psychosomatic for all I know, but it’s just something I am trying to be careful about.  Plus my right calf has been tight for a couple of weeks now, so I am am keeping a super close eye on that as well.  We don’t need any calf tear repeats.  Although it doesn’t feel like that, it just feels constantly tight, something regular yoga would probably help with.  Sigh. I really do need to get on that.

MKR: Decisions

If you are so inclined, you can read full up on MKR (My Kitchen Renovation) here.

So no, I have not given up the kitchen project after poking the beast a few weeks ago. If you remember, when I left you I had no light in the kitchen. Well, God is good and thar she blows and well, the electrician came back and wow, light is a glorious thing. GLORIOUS! I have an overhead fixture in my kitchen for the first time in years! It’s practically life changing. It’s been at least two full weeks with it installed and working and I am still not in the habit of turning it on when I am in there…I find myself halfway through chopping a green pepper when the realization dawns that I do not have to do this task in the dark. Hallelujah is all I can say.

I have been stalled for a couple of weeks searching for a granite tile reseller. My Mom tracked down a manufacturer called Benissimo who makes granite tiles that mimic the look of custom-cut granite slab countertops. (This is the option I chose as tiling the counter means I can get free labor, where ordering a slab means I would get the 50-60% upcharge for professional installation. ) So after a failed visit to Woodbridge, several “no we don’t sell that anymore”’s, and at least one circular conversation I found a reseller in Fredrick, MD. The same Fredrick, MD that is a zillion miles away. But they were sweet as pie on the phone and what with having no luck with anything remotely nearby, I hopped in the car last Saturday and drove up there. Stroup Floor Center is super, they have tons of stuff, and they were more than willing to show me the Benissimo tiles I came for (I’d had trouble with this because it is geared towards DIYers and the flooring places don’t like it and keep trying to sell you on their installed products instead). Done, easy peasy, right?

No. Of course when I got there and saw the tiles in person, my mind changed and unchanged and well, I had no idea which color tile to go with. On the web, I had thought it would be an easy choice between the Giallo Amalfi and possibly the Platinum Quartz. But no, when I got there neither of those were in serious contention and I was heavily conflicted between Verde Natural, Grigio Classico and possibly the Giallo Amalfi. The salesperson told me I had to take them home, it was imprudent to decide in the store and practically shoved me out to my car with three large tiles to fret over. He assured me that the choice would be obvious almost immediately.

Uh, not so much.

I am totally conflicted between the Verde Natural and the Grigio Classico (now called “brown” and “gray” respectively). The brown is tinged with green which is what is holding me back from this one. The gray is surprisingly gorgeous, although I am unsure it fits with the “modern Tuscan touch” I am looking for in there.

I called my mother, she said “gray?!?” on the phone. I sent her pictures. Now she is of the same mindset as me. Conflicted.

This is what I am dealing with:

Brown

Gray

The photo behind the tiles is my inspiration for my backsplash. So I think I am leaning towards the brown, a little bit. Anyone have any opinions?

Baby Banana Bakes…er…not really

See with all the MKR stuff, baking central is kinda on hiatus. Mainly because of the disgusting nature of my kitchen and also because all baking materials and ingredients are scattered all over casa de Marci…in closets, in the foyer, in the living room, in the dining area, under tables, behind chairs–well you get the drift. If it’s not in the fridge, I am not finding it anytime soon.

But I cooked! Or to be more specific, I threw some ingredients together and survey says it actually turned out pretty good. Good enough to record the throwing of ingredients into an actual recipe.

So here goes. Here is my version of potato salad as made at KC’s abode on Apartment Picnic* day.

Apartment Picnic Potato Salad
Ingredients:
You’ll notice the lack of precise measurements. Well, that’s because I didn’t measure. You can use everything to taste and it will work out fine. I’ll estimate what I used in parentheses.

Baby red bliss potatoes (~10)
Grape or cherry tomatoes (~Half a pint)
Red onion (~Half a small onion)
Garlic (~2 large cloves)
Fresh dill (~3 sprigs)
Fresh parsley (~3 tablespoons)
Non-fat Greek yogurt (Half a cup)
Mustard (cook’s choice) (1/4 cup)
Olive oil (2 tablespoons)
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
Wash potatoes and and cut into quarters, boil in a saucepan until tender. Drain and set-aside.

While potatoes boil, halve the grape tomatoes, finely chop the red onions, garlic, and dill and coarsely chop the parsley. Combine in one bowl, add olive oil and toss.

Once potatoes have cooled, add yogurt and mustard. Stir until mixed. Add the tomato mixture, season with salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Chill until cold. If you are a wino and cannot wait for mixture to chill, you can deep freeze it for five minutes in the metal sauce pan you used for mixing and serve just the cold parts around the edges. I mean, that’s how I roll.

Serves 6

*An Apartment Picnic can basically be defined by the want of three girls to spend some wine-infused time with each other at the studio apartment belonging to one of the group. Since said studio doesn’t necessarily hold enough seating for three, other than the floor, it was dubbed “apartment picnic” and a menu of cold fried chicken and potato salad (and lots of wine, prosecco and cheese) was declared a must. Never mind that none of us really like potato salad (read: the inevitable mayonnaise)–we still deemed it necessary as good picnic food. Hence the throwing together of ingredients (sans mayonnaise) to create the not your mama’s potato salad recipe above.

Our First Apartment Picnic.
What a spread! (Heh.)

On your mark…

The moratorium on running, as prescribed by my doctor, is over and it’s time to get back into the swing of things. Almost coinciding with the return to running was my acceptance into the Nike Women’s Marathon. Not that I did anything spectacular to get into said marathon, but it’s a popular race and they always sell out. This year, instead of first-come, first-serve, they decided to run a registration lottery ala the New York Marathon. Not being successful in getting picked in such circumstances in the past, I was thrilled to learn last week that my two running partners and I had been chosen to pay the $110 race entry fee for NWM. Woo!

The marathon is this October in San Francisco. It has probably one of the most scenic marathon courses out there, with over seventeen miles along the coastline! And to buck the marathon tradition of giving a medal to each finisher (An actual medal. Think “Olympics” and then make it ugly.) the Nike Women’s Marathon gives each finisher a Tiffany necklace. I hear each year they are different. In 2005 it was a little runner chick on a pendant. I won’t lie–this is pretty much the main reason I picked this race. Oh, and the t-shirt. A Nike dri-fit number sized for women’s bodies.  I mean I can’t take another ugly, to-my-knees, mock neck (!) MCM tee.  Plus there will be men in tuxedos who hand you that Tiffany necklace upon finishing. I mean, I loved the Marines at the end of MCM, but a guy in a tuxedo? Swoon. Not that I will be swooning. From experience I can tell you that all I’ll want to do upon finishing is get the hell away from the crowd, find my people and take off my shoes and socks. In that order. Although if I thought it would be at all comfortable, I would remove my shoes and socks immediately upon finishing.

Now, the problem with this is that I haven’t been running at all. This was due to an unexpected foot pregnancy. Ok, I am kidding…kind of. My foot wasn’t pregnant, but the MRI I got sure as hell looked more like the sonogram of a baby than a foot. The pain of the mystery foot baby that baffled area orthopedists (well, two of them, but one was a specialist in all things below the ankle, hello…FOOT!) has slowly regressed and the prescribed time off of 10 weeks is now over.

It’s hard for me to not jump right back where I left off, but coming back from injuries (both diagnosed and mysterious) requires patience. Ughughughughughughugh. I hate patience! Mainly because I don’t have it. So far it’s been easier than usual because the foot pain is threatening to return and that scares me and fear will actually instill patience in me. So I guess it’s working out? We’ll see. To aid even more in the patience department, I’ve created a spreadsheet. Because there is nothing I love more than checking things off as “completed”, especially work outs. Call me crazy. Here is the spreadsheet that, if followed, will get me in enough shape so that I can *think* about marathon training. Grayed out boxes are what is completed. Yellow boxes show when I’ve been lazy (or traveling).

So get ready for the return of my running recaps. Running and renovations. Oooh baby, I know you are excited.

MKR: a.k.a. Poking the Beast

I would say I am now officially in the middle of this endeavor. The walls, they are all yellow.

Glorious yellow. Well, Wildflower Honey to be exact.

Sunny beautiful yellow. As of last Sunday, I am totally starting to feel the “modern Tuscan touch” I have been going for. Wheee! All it took was some paint on the walls (and my hair). I always wanted blonde highlights?

Why I can’t remember to put on a baseball cap when I paint is beyond me. Clearly I enjoy picking paint out of my hair for weeks on end. Anyway, after my Mom, sister and I got done with the two coats of paint, brother-in-law and DaddyBanana (shown below) were on hand to install new, up-to-code electrical outlets and my new overhead lighting fixture because 1.) I have (the) power and 2.) the ceiling has been painted. It this installation process that led us to the determination that my tiny kitchen is on three separate electrical circuits. We kind of found out by accident when brother-in-law was mildly electrocuted when he happened to strip some *live* wires we thought we had turned off. Oops! Sorry bro!

Now, it’s been so long w/o light in the kitchen I could barely wait for this moment. So when the fixture was attached and the specialized light bulbs were screwed in, we made a ceremonial task of flipping the switch.

Nothing.

(Note: Ceremonial task is not shown above, basically because tears and tantrums don’t convey well in photographs.)

No light. Gah! Connections were checked and re-checked. The handy-dandy electrical meters were brought out again (for the 1,000th time it seemed like) and it was determined that the switch for the overhead light was pulling an almost-too-large-to-count 1.2 volts of power. Understand that this is exactly 7.8 volts LESS than your standard 9-volt battery. Oy vey!

Sigh. We poked the beast.

So a note was made to call the friggin electrician again and we went about the task of cleaning up the paintbrushes and paint trays. As I sat on the floor finishing some of the edging, I happened to notice yellow-tinged water from the sink pouring into the cabinet below. Why-oh-why is water leaking from my sink?

Upon close inspection, my dad cannot determine why it is leaking, but does determine that the water is in fact leaking over all of the wonderfully live electrical attachments to the garbage disposal.

Sigh. We poked the beast.

Using my new fuse box, we turned off power to that portion of the kitchen so now I have no lights and no garbage disposal until we can replace the sink–my dad is hoping it’s just a fluke that it started leaking and that the planned replacement of the sink and faucet will remedy the situation. Of course I now MUST replace the disposal because apparently .5HP is not a powerful enough unit. Dear ol’ Dad tells me that I should be able to crush bones and small animals with my disposal and I will need at least a 1.5HP unit.

Okay Dad, whatever you say.

Next up:
~Calling the electrician (again)
~Adding a 2nd coat of primer to the outside of the cabinets
~Shopping for the countertop materials (backerboard, caulk, grout, the granite tiles)
~Shopping for a new sink, faucet and garbage disposal
~Shopping for the glass pane insets for the top cabinets
~Think about replacing the stove (aka BananaBakes HQ)

You can read previous posts about My Kitchen Renovation (MKR) here.

MKR: The beginning comes to a close

I left you all with a photo of my brand-spanking new and freshly patched fuse box last week. That was installed on Good Friday, and with the power turned back on, what a Good Friday it was. A few days later the parents and my brother D came over to finish out the priming and sanding.

Walls and ceiling were primed with latex Kilz primer (so much nicer than the oil-based stuff needed for the cabinets) and holes were sanded, smoothed and touched-up as necessary.

Mom and I also finished painting the interior space of the cabinetry - the color is a uber creamy off-white called Magnolia Blossom. She’s been busy at her house painting all the cabinet doors and drawers the same color.

I am going to paint the inside back wall of the cabinets a sage or a light celery to match a yet to be purchased green tile I will use on the the back splashes. That’s why the backs of the top cabinets still show the whitewashed primer look.

I don’t have any lights in the kitchen yet, the brother in law will come over next time to install the overhead fixture and reassess my wants for accent and task lighting. Now that we know I have full on cinder blocks hiding in my walls, he may not be able to do what he thought he could as far as drilling to hide electrical wires and installing new switches.

But, woo hoo, a drama-free MKR day!

Next stop: paint on the walls! And lights! Gah and I need to start shopping for granite tiles for the counter tops…

You can read previous My Kitchen Renovation (MKR) posts here.