Friday after work I went to the gym. I felt good and I just kept running, and running, and running. I stopped at 3.24 miles. The most I had previously done in one stretch was 2.5. I was so irritated, though, because I interrupted the run twice by clumsily pulling the E-stop by accident. TWICE! First there is confusion (why did my machine just wind to a grinding halt?), which is followed by starting everything up again, trying to regain my rhythm and trying to remember what time/distance I was at when everything went black. I was annoyed that it happened twice, but pleased at having (eventually) completed the distance for a 5k.

Saturday I was feeling bloated and ornery, so we ditched some hiking plans we'd made. I made corn chowdah for lunch, and it fit well in its role of Saturday comfort food. Played computer games and messed around with photos the rest of the day, then we did a beef and broccoli stir-fry in the evening.

Today was a day of productivity! First to Costco to stock up on 100-calorie snacks and other lunchbox fillers, then to IKEA for breakfast and to window shop some patio furniture. We agreed on what we would like and might come back to pick it up next weekend -- can't wait to SIT on my new patio! Then we drove way up to Monticello to Lake Maria State Park. Hiked the Hiking Club trail and found a geocache. Got home just in time to change for yoga at 4:30. Yoga kicked my ass, hope I can get out of bed tomorrow.

Yesterday I purchased my first-ever pair of real running shoes! Up until now I had been using a pair of cross-trainers, which are OK for a variety of things, but they weren't really optimal. Before making a purchase, I wanted to give myself some time to determine if I was really serious about running, and I guess I am. I walked an hour in them today on an incline, and on Friday I'll try them out for a run. One thing I can tell right away is that they're significantly lighter in weight than my previous shoes.



One more thing for tonight: Do add Hecklerspray to your news feed for all your celebrity gossip needs. The liberal doses of sarcasm included with each story are spot on. It's British, so there are some names/stories you're not likely to recognize if you're from the states, but it's easy to skip over them, and the humor (or should I say humour?) is absolutely brilliant.

Remember when I mentioned my worryingly bumpy face? The only variable that I could think of that had changed recently was having purchased some new sheets. The old ones were plain cotton and the new ones were sateen, but sateen is still just fancy cotton. Googling sateen allergies only returned information suggesting one should try sateen if one had allergies to something else. Allergies to sateen itself don't seem to exist. I still had a hunch, though, so I swapped my new pillowcase for my old, and 3-4 days later my face was back to normal.

Now, either I had a reaction to the sateen, or I had a reaction to something on the new pillowcase. It had been washed before initial use, but perhaps not well enough. The next test will be to wash it again thoroughly, then switch it back and see what happens. Fascinating, I know. I'm usually not allergic or sensitive to much of anything, so this has been an odd experience.

Oh, and I ran 2.5 miles tonight! Thank you for your kind applause.

Busy day of cooking and exercise!

1. Pop some middle-eastern lamb soup into the slow cooker to cook for 8 hours.

2. Walk 2 miles across Lake Minnetonka to find a geocache on Big Island. Beautiful sunny day to be out on the ice.

3. Whip up some (different) soup for lunch, this time Italian. Recipe was definitely a keeper.

4. 1-hour fitness yoga class. Wow! Hard work, and a little chaotic trying to instantly learn what everyone in else in class already seems to know, but fun. And, Jonas came too and enjoyed it! We might make it a Sunday afternoon habit.

5. Enjoy* lamb soup and watch Oscars.

*So...lamb. I've always felt somewhat of an aversion to eating lamb and veal. I know that it doesn't logically make sense -- young or old, an animal must die when I choose to eat meat. The young ones have appealed more to my conscience, though, and I've mostly avoided it (except for kebab in Sweden, which I'm pretty sure is lamb, but somehow it's easier when it's in such an unrecognizable state). Jonas wanted to make this soup today, and I was mentally prepared to eat it. It's unfortunate, then, that the first spoonful I brought to my lips contained a piece of meat with a large, visible vein, something which generally ruins my appetite for the duration of the meal. I was able to finish my bowl, and the soup was good, but I think I need to distance myself from lamb again.

I forgot my wedding rings at home today, so at work my fingers felt naked. I'd taken them off last night while making hamburger patties (raw meat and tiny jewelry crevices was not a combination I wanted to pursue) and then left them on the counter. I'm not sure anyone noticed but me, but I felt self-conscious.

Ran 2 miles tonight after work and feel good but weak. Jonas is whipping up some kind of rice and curry downstairs, but meanwhile I'm withering away from starvation.

We stopped by the gym tonight to take a look around and hopefully get our member cards. Since Jonas is now working for their corporate office, we'll both get a free membership. Pretty cool, since gym memberships are so goddamn expensive. However, as of tonight our existence hadn't yet made it into the computer system, so we'll have to try again another day. We were hoping to get a tour of the facility while we were there, but no one was immediately available to conduct one, so we just picked up some class schedules and headed home. I'm primarily interested in the different types of water aerobics classes. They seem to have both beginner and advanced, including one hydro-cycle in which you ride some kind of bicycle contraption in the water. I have chronically bad knees so the less impact the better.

Since the membership is free I hope we'll make good use of it, but at least the pressure won't be there to get our money's worth. Experience has shown that it's easy to get all gung-ho about it at first and then sort of lose interest and motivation with time. With our last gym membership we ended up cancelling after a few months. For me it's hard to find a time of day that when it is both convenient and I feel energetic. I do a poor job of getting up early, so going before work would be nightmarish and I'm positive I'd end up a huge grump later in the day. After work I usually feel like I'm out of energy entirely, but it really would have to be then that I'd need to try to work it in. We'll see how it all goes.

Just four more hours until my birthday. The big 2-7. It sounds an awful lot older than 26 to me. At least when you're 26 you're still right next to that halfway mark between 20 and 30. Now I'll be hovering somewhere between 25 and 30. I picked up an assorted cheesecake platter to bring to work tomorrow, in going along with the tradition that everyone brings in some kind of treat on their birthday. I don't start until 9:30 so it will be a smallish birthday treat to sleep in that extra hour.

I'm more tired this evening than usual, so I'll probably call it an early night.

Currently reading at work: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Jared Diamond)

Yeah, it's been a while.

I'm awfully productive so far today. I got up and went to the gym this morning for my 9am water aerobics class. Jonas and I joined the Northwest health club a few weeks ago. He plans to work out on some of the machines and I was looking for some kind of aerobic workout but something with less impact. Since I love being in the water anyhow, the water aerobics was a great alternative to studio aerobics. It's really fun, too!

After it was over I went to Cub and did the grocery shopping for the rest of the week. Tonight we're going to have chicken fajitas. Of course, I forgot the shredded cheese (I knew I'd forget something!), so I've asked Jonas to grab some from Jerry's on his way home. Now the last load of laundry is in the wash and the dishwasher has just been run, so I think everything's in good shape around here! Maybe I'll even have time for some computer games later on...

Currently reading at home: Pope Joan (Emmanouel Rhoides)
Currently reading at work: The Professor and the Madman (Simon Winchester)