Thursday: I Perfected the Crane Balance

So this morning, the baby was up-and-at-em before 6:00. I got his breakfast together and went for a good jog stroller run while I listened to The Rachel Zoe Project theme song on my shuffle. It made for a better than average morning run.

When we got home, I worked about the house before getting my breakfast and then getting the baby down for a nap. I did a great Gilad workout before getting into my yoga routine. In my yoga routine today was the Crane Balance. I have been working on the Crane Balance for about a year now with NO success. The Crane Balance is a rather difficult yoga pose where you get into a position as if you were going to try to stand on your hands. You place your knees above your elbows and move your head further forward. In this position you balance.

Everytime I have tried to Crane Balance, I fall forward on my head. Today, however, I finally realized that I had to reach my head further forward. I can balance all day, and I'm quite proud.

I went into work for a few hours, and came home to watch Frost/Nixon. Good Times!!!

What I am Watching: I am sorry, John Adams

I tell you what I am watching with a bit of guilt. I just finished reading John Adams, and John Adams has this amazing quote towards the beginning of the book, which goes as follows:

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural

history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.

Isn't that a great quote? It really does sum up what John Adams did with his life and what he tried to encourage his sons towards (though he was really only successful with John Quincy). I feel that if John Adams were here today, seated on my couch in front of my television, he would turn to me and say, "Really, I studied politics and war, to give my sons the luxury of mathematics and philosophy, so they could give their children a right to study painting, poetry and music, so that they could give you the right to waste away in front of the television watching Rachel Zoe, Project Runway, 30 Rock, Jockey's , The Soup and Parks and Recreation?"

John Adams, I know that you are disappointed in me. I know that. I had a McFlurry today and watched Rachel Zoe behave as if Anne Hathaway's Oscar Gown was a way bigger deal than war with France, which you thankfully kept us from. I am counting the minutes till Project Runway tomorrow night, and the summer has been drab indeed without new episodes of 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation.

1. Monday - Rachel Zoe. I love her assistant Brad and her husband Roger, but could watch it on mute just to see the clothes. GREAT theme song: Odyle by Heloise and the Savoire Faire
2. Thursday - Project Runway - I get excited about it every year!
3. Thursday - 30 Rock - Alec Baldwin at his best.
4. Thursday - Parks and Recreation - So much better than I anticipated
5. Friday - Jockeys - Great documentary filming; what reality television should be
6. Friday - The Soup - Joel McHale is so clever, yet so cruel. His victims are so deserving.

Double Swim Wednesday!!

Today, I took the day off of running so that I could rest my first-in-my-age-group legs. I thought that I would sleep a bit late, but that rarely works out and today was no exception.

I was up before 6:00 drinking green tea like a mad man in hopes that it would prop my eyelids open enough to stagger into the kitchen and fix Ivan some breakfast.

Ivan and I headed out to swim, we arrived late as is our habit, but I did get in 3200 meters of Dennis's workout, as my friend Nick was there to spur me on. Workout as follows:

• 400 swim/ 200 pull with paddles
• 5 x 150 swim 2:15
• 5 x 200 swim (first three on 3:00, last 2 on 3:15)
• 5 x 150 2:30

It was a pretty hard-core workout, after which I got Ivan home for his nap and called Splish. You see, I am up a creek as I lost my superstar bikini top. How do you lose a bikini top? I am assuming there was some locker room mishap, or the baby ate it. Anyway, the girls at Splish are going to send me another, because they are champs.

When Ivan woke up, we sprinted in town to have a meeting at work, where Ivan did not even remotely behave. I turned my head at one point and he had pulled open a file drawer and was tossing manilla files onto the floor. I hit the grocery on the way home and grabbed some of my new favorite Sweet Leaf Tea. It is delicious and 60 calories per serving. It is sweetened with honey. Also, I had a cookie and I might have eaten Ivan's kiddie cookie after he threw it on the floor. Maybe.

Came home and worked for a couple of hours, before heading out to swim. On the way to swim, I went to McDonald's. I NEVER GO TO McDONALD'S. I did not have time to squeeze dinner in between work and swim, so I had a desperation dinner. I meant to order a cheeseburger and small fries, but the vile McFlurry led me astray.

Swim workout went as follows: 3,050 meters

• 200 warm up
• 12 x 100 on 1:45 (evens IM, odds freestyle)
• 4 x 25 swim
• 6 x 50 backstroke
• 4 x 25 breast stroke
• 40 x 25 pull with paddles 0:50
• 50 butterfly cool down

No Yoga, No Gilad.

Triumph at the Franklin Classic!!!

OK, So I won my age group at the Franklin Classic. I am quite surprised. Clearly it behooves me to arrive at a race early and do a three mile warm up run. I am just learning things about my personal athletic performance left and right on Labor Day Weekend. I ran it in 34 minutes and 53 seconds, at a 7:34 pace. Great right? and that is after running the 5 k at pretty near race pace. Now, of course, it did not occur to me that I could have won my age group at the Franklin Classic, so I was roaming about having breakfast and wheeling the baby home and not attending the awards ceremony.

WHAT COULD MY AWARD HAVE BEEN???

1. cash
2. great athletic apparel
3. a gift certificate to Endurance for more of my favorite shorts.

Will they let me claim my prize,if I was not at the awards ceremony? Will they? WILL THEY?

Ok, I just reviewed the website, and it looks like there are no prizes except for the top fundraisers. I am calling tomorrow. Will let you know.

In other news, the baby and I ran three miles in the jog stroller today, and I felt a little tight from my over-the-top athletic performance yesterday. I came home and got ready like a whirlwind for my first day of Bible study. We are studying the book of Romans, which is a first for me and I quite enjoyed it. I will keep you posted on my learnings.

I came home and worked for a bit and was able to get my Gilad and Yoga in before trading off the baby with Katelen and heading into work. Worked late and got home in time to sit down and watch Rachel Zoe. By the way, even if you don't like Ms. Zoe, the theme song to the show is just great!!! I am searching and downloading as we speak!!

Knitwittery: Oh yes, I knit!

So, I have been knitting for several years and I thoroughly enjoy it. It makes me feel productive when I watch television and often results in something completely wearable. Three sweaters in particular have been real triumphs. Anyway, I decided it was high time I knit my son a sweater, and I wanted to knit on tiny needles as I love a small knit and on a baby project, it shouldn't take my entire life. I chose a Dalegarn pattern and a Dalegarn yarn called Stork in alternating creams and baby blues. It is 100% cotton yarn, and it is quite tiny (think dental floss). I knitted it on 2 mm and 2.5 mm needles. Let me just tell you right now that the project took longer than I thought, AND the collar was quite dicey as it halted in the middle of the neck and asked that you pick up stitches on each side to give the proper opening for the baby's head, while alternating colors. Also, I did a raglan sleeve, which also turned out fairly well. So the sweater is beautiful, I even did a picot edge, which I was concerned about, but turned out to be quite simple.

So it's all great, but check out that neck opening. Something went wildly amiss and the sweater is clearly for a two-headed monster or a baby with a head like a hippopotamus. It is just a huge head hole. I mean, look at the pictures from the back. The neck is so large, it is almost a hood.

BUT LET ME TELL YOU, I worked so hard on that sweater that he will wear it anyway. He is just a baby, and he can't stop me. He will love that sweater more than he loves his dad, and he will start a big necked baby sweater trend. That is all there is to it!!!!!

Product Review of The Best Running Shorts Ever: The Moxie Short at Endurance Sports

I bought two new pairs of Moxie running shorts at

Endurance Sports. I really like Endurance as they have all kinds of gear and lots of great running shoes. They are on my way home from swim and easy to get to in Cool Springs. They carry a lot of Sugoi stuff, all of which fits with the quality of Lululemon. By which I mean, that they have flat seaming, which is INTEGRAL if you are running in their pants and shorts, because if you have ever had an upright seam in your nether regions, well I'm sure I don't even need to elaborate on that subject. Sugoi has all these things as well as a superior knit, and I find it to be around $10-$20 below a Lululemon price point.

I have been desperately needing running shorts, and have had a hard time finding flat seaming, good length, shorts with a good mesh underwear inside and a pocket. Well, the Sugoi Moxie Short is that short. All around flat seams, three pockets, one of which is a perfect interior pocket for putting things that absolutely should not fall out. They are short enough to be adorable, but not so short that you would feel trashy on a grocery store run, which means I am getting double mileage out of them. They stay perfectly in place while I run and the mesh underwear is very substantial. Also, I am a big fan of the wide waistband and the retro look.

Don't they look pretty great on me in my Franklin Classic picture. I also took them to Hood to Coast and found that on a double run in the rain, they dried quickly and were ready to run with no chaffing a short time later. Can I ask for anything more??

Franklin Classic Twice!!!

So yes, this morning worked out. I stayed up late reading Home, Marilynne Robinson's latest book. It is amazing!!! BUT, when the alarm went off, I couldn't remember why. Why, oh, why had I set my alarm for 5:30 AM? I abhor getting up before 6:00 AM, and I was pretty irritated when the alarm went off, but then I remembered why. I was running the Franklin classic TWICE.

Oh, yes, sports fans, I nerded it out this morning and ran a 5k followed by a 10k for a total of 9.3 miles. In fact, now that I am telling you about it, I am wishing that I had run the kids race that followed the 10k, just so I could have had an even 10ish miles, but that is just the fastidious end of my athletic personality that likes to keep my mileage rounded up to the nearest mile.

I will be honest and tell you that I really enjoyed myself. The weather was perfect, and I actually arrived at the race earlier than I have ever arrived at any race in my entire life. It was an entirely new phenomenon to pick up my packet and then walk around sipping Powerade and idly chatting with other runners. Normally, I am the last one there, cursing under my breath as I do donuts in the various parking lots desperately searching for somewhere to leave my car, leaping from the car and arriving at the starting line frantically putting on my number, poking myself with pins, completely out of breath by the time the starters pistols sounds. I found it very pleasant to arrive early and sip Powerade with a modicum of leisure. I even got to use the port-a-john before the race. I plan to arrive at all races early from here on out.

I ran the 5k race at around 7ish minute miles, crossed the finish line, talked to a few running group and swim friends, and moseyed up to the start line for the 10k. The course was pretty flat with some long inclines and the finish is a triumphant run down Main Street to finish on the square. The 10k felt great, as I was all warmed up from the 5k. I think I ran slightly over 7 minute miles, (but will let you know all this info when official results are posted). It was a great morning, downtown Franklin was lots of fun and Ivan got his first balloon.

We followed up my run with breakfast at the Mercantile in downtown Franklin, which has food that I would describe as slightly upscale Cracker Barrel. It was a perfect morning!!!