As you may recall, my floor potluck was last Thursday.

There are about 100 people on my floor and I think there was enough food for 300. Seriously.

There were at least 6 rooms filled to the max with plates and plates of food. I actually took photos to show you how ridiculous it was, but it would be inappropriate to post them. Basically, there were two dessert rooms, three rooms of entrees, one appetizer room and I think one more room filled with food. It was just too much. It was overwhelming.

I have been in situations where there is WAY too much food per person (hello, family gatherings) but it has never made me feel this bad, and grateful at the same time before.

I felt guilty that there was just SO MUCH FOOD for each person. And I think almost everyone contributed something. The potluck had an “ethnic” theme, and since I work on such a diverse floor, there was an amazing variety of food (a lot homemade). Just, so, so much of it. I kept saying, “I cannot believe how much food there is here. We are so lucky.” And I was grateful that everyone was so generous! And the party was a blast. We had food set up all over the floor, and people were congregating all over, chatting cheerfully and singing songs… it was very festive.

I just felt weird being around so much food. I knew a lot of it would go to waste and I knew the amount of food present was not necessary. I felt wrong to indulge in so much food, for some reason. I guess, I just feel like there is no reason to have 75 different dishes. It’s too much. It left me feeling bad.

Of course, after I wrote this on Saturday, we went shopping for groceries for ourselves and 3 extra people who will be here for 5 days. We had to shop at four different stores (ugh) and our first cart looked liked this:

And we had this many groceries to put away:

Hypocrite much? We are definitely focusing on simple meals, and not making a TON of dishes (drives me nuts) but still that is a lot of food. ‘Tis the season to indulge?

What do you think? Have you ever felt like this around an abundance of food before? Or am I just thinking about it too much?

Interestingly, Paige wrote some similar thoughts on cruise-ship food at the end of this post – I bet she would love to hear additional feedback! Check her post out.

This back-and-forth invite and decline situation continued until I found out I would be going on travel with this coworker for training, and she began mentioning hitting the bars after class. That is when I told her, “Drinking is not my idea of fun. I also don’t enjoy hanging out in big groups of people, which is why I haven’t been going to the work socials and probably won’t want to go out to the bars after class while on travel.”

I thought she understood what I was saying – that I don’t think of drinking as an “activity” or way of having fun. But I think she really took it as “I never drink. I am opposed to drinking. I am anti-alcohol.”

This came to my attention when she acted nervous buying beer at dinner (while on travel) around me. And when she seemed ashamed to want to go to Trader Joe’s and buy a 6-pack of beer. And when she timidly asked if I would mind if she brought a beer to my hotel room to drink while we watched TV.

Then yesterday, we were talking about Facebook (which inspired tomorrow’s Friday Question), and I said, “It’s not like I have any drunken pictures of myself on there*.

“Of course you don’t,” she replied. “You don’t drink.”

“It’s not that I don’t drink,” I said, “It’s that I don’t drink for fun.”

“Oh, so you drink to get drunk?” she was completely serious.

“No, I just don’t view it as an “activity.”

“Well, I don’t either.” She seemed offended.**

I was with another coworker, and we started talking about having a glass of wine now and then. For me, “now and then” is probably 4 times a year, tops. But, I have proof below! My mom, grandma and I had “wine-a-ritas” on my birthday this year. I am not opposed to drinking. One coworker seemed to get that. I am not sure why the other doesn’t.

Some people I work with drink every night. They come in smelling like alcohol. The coworker I am talking about does not do that, but she does stay out late on the weekends, drinking in the bars, from time to time. There is nothing wrong with that! It is just not something I desire to do. I try telling her that, but all she hears is “I don’t drink.” Is it even worth talking about? It’s not causing any problems in our relationship, I just get the feeling she thinks I am judging her. I’m not. We’re just different.

*This will make more sense tomorrow.
**It’s a big pet peeve of mine when people post long dialogue in their posts. Sorry.

Day 43 | Monday, July 27: Cross-train for 40 minutes

Why did biking 4 miles take me forty minutes? I can run faster than that! I must have had the resistance set very high, because I really worked up a sweat and felt sore afterward!

Bike Time: 39:34 mins | Distance: 4.0 miles

Day 44 | Tuesday, July 28: Run 4 miles/Run 7 miles

4 miles at the office gym during lunch… 7 miles at the park in the evening.

My body DID NOT like that.

I tried to save some time later in the week by combining my Tuesday and Wednesday runs. The first one wasn’t so bad – my left shin just hurt. I iced it after.

The second run was just bad. My legs felt like garbage. Bugs were sticking to me like crazy. The park smelled. My bra was digging into my back*. My hydration belt was digging into my side. My left side itched so I pulled my earphone cord out of my shirt and all it did from then on was get caught in my elbow.

I was so angry.

The good news is, Steven ran 3.2 miles of the second run with me, after doing P90x Ploymetrics. That’s awesome. Oh, and I didn’t have to poo during my run. Woo hoo!

Distance: 4.00 | Time: 37:31 | 1: 9:31 | 2: 9:23 | 3: 9:23 | 4: 9:14
Distance: 7.00 | Time: 1:07:16 | 1: 9:45 | 2: 9:45 | 3: 9:37 | 4: 9:46 | 5: 9:30 | 6: 9:27 | 7: 9:20 | 8: 00:02
*I think I have discovered which bra is giving me issues, so that is good.

Day 45 | Wednesday, July 29: Run 4 Miles

My shin was so sore on Wednesday, I was limping all over the place and people kept asking me what was wrong. The only time the pain felt better is when I was moving “fast” – speed walking or running slowly.

I ran these 4 miles with my neighbor, Fritz, and his daughter, Maya, who was in the stroller. We took it nice and slow. At one point, Maya said, “Move Daddy, move!” Ha ha. He said, “We are, honey!” Ha ha. It was nice to run with Fritz. He distracted me from the pain in my shin, and offered to give me a massage later if I need it (he and his wife are licensed massage therapists).

So… I think I am chafing on my back and under my armpit. I have some nasty sore spots. Time to start using the Body Glide!

Wonderful chafing by my armpit. Hurts more than it looks!

Distance: 4.00 | Time: 41:36 | 1: 10:16 | 2: 10:28 | 3: 10:30 | 4: 10:19 | 5: 00:01

Day 46 | Thursday, July 30: Rest

Day 47 | Friday, July 31: Rest

Day 48 | Saturday, August 1: Run 7 miles at marathon pace

My dad rode his bike with me while I ran these 7 miles. I lubed up with the Body Glide before hand, so I didn’t have any chafing issues. Woo-hoo! And, my shin didn’t hurt too much (I still iced it after, just in case)! I think the two days of rest helped.

But, I was pretty slow for a “race pace” run. I averaged under 9:10 a mile. I think I should adjust my race pace to about 9:15 miles. When I was running with my dad, I told him the only way I would be able to keep up a 9-minute mile during the marathon would be if I lost about 15 pounds. We’ll see about that! Ha ha!

It was fun to run with my dad. I don’t see him often, and rarely get him all to myself, so it was a nice hour for me to blab.

Check out the new running outfit my parents got me for my birthday! Isn’t it cute? I haven’t worn it running yet, but I love it. It’s from Kohl’s. I am surprised how nice of running outfits they have.

A new running outfit from my parents!

Distance: 7.00 | Time: 1:04:00 | 1: 9:06 | 2: 9:01 | 3: 8:57 | 4: 9:00 | 5: 9:10 | 6: 9:19 | 7: 9:22 | 8: 00:02

Day 49 | Sunday, August 2: Run 14 miles

My longest run ever (both distance and time-wise) but also my slowest MOST PAINFUL run ever.

The shin pain came back with a vengeance, almost as soon as I stopped running Saturday. It usually only hurts when I am moving, but it actually hurt while I was sleeping Saturday night. Of course, I still got up to run in the morning anyway…

My dad came along on his bike again. I am not sure if he knew what a long, slow bike ride he was in for!

We ran from my parent’s cabin to the downtown area and back. It was such a slow, hot, long, painful run. I stopped 4 or 5 times to go to the bathroom and get water. Every time I took off after running I limped for quite a bit. I really expected the limping to go away, but it took a long time.

We ran along the Mississippi River.

We ran by the Lock & Dam No. 10.

My dad carried all of my junk for me in the child carrier on his back. I wish he could ride with me along the marathon like that. It was really convenient. For me.

I look like I am running faster than I really am. I felt like I was walking, more than running, during this 14-miler.

Every muscle in my body felt sore when I was done. I hurt just taking my clothes off to take a shower.

Thanks for sticking with me, daddy. I love you!

So many things were wrong with this run. I was up too late. I woke up too late. I ate crap all weekend. It was too hot. I was dehydrated. My shin hurt. I just WAS NOT prepared. As a result – major run FAIL. I am sad about this run.

Distance: 14.00 | Time: 2:33:48 | 1: 9:58 | 2: 10:15 | 3: 10:58 | 4: 11:03 | 5: 10:35 | 6: 11:04 | 7: 10:58 | 8: 10:49 | 9: 10:52 | 10: 11:06 | 11: 11:21 | 12: 11:42 | 13: 11:57 | 14: 11:03 | 15: 00:01 

Week Summary: 36 Miles

This week was… hard. My body (shin) is in a huge amount of pain. I may have to cut back to running 4 or 3 days a week, and slower, until it gets better. I plan on buying/ordering new shoes right away, but I don’t know how much that will help. I am not sure what to do.

I’m feeling really bummed about my pain and my slow running.

Have I asked this before? Probably. Well, my perfect summer day is a day on the river, eating food, swimming and napping – a day like today! We’re at my parent’s cabin on the Mississippi River this weekend for my birthday, and we had great warm weather today!

The newest issue of Runner’s World came right before we left last night and I enjoyed reading it on the tube (I can’t ride it yet because of my wrist).

When we got here last night I opened up the door to the bedroom we stay in and my sister and her boyfriend were sitting in the bed in the dark, waiting to surprise us! I didn’t know they were coming. I screamed when I saw her (because it’s creepy when someone is sitting on the bed and you don’t expect ANYONE to be there). I am happy we got to see them.

Steven, me, Christina and Will at the beach.

Steven made me Tori’s special vegan cupcakes for my birthday. So good! I heard my grandma made me a vegan cake too. I am on my way over there now to find out… nom nom nom.

I hope everyone else is having a great summer day! August 1st is always a bit depressing for me – I feel like it is the beginning of the end of summer, probably just because it is the day after my birthday.

Do you think I look like my mom at all?

My siblings and Steven and I threw my mom a surprise party this Saturday in Cedar Falls, Iowa. When my dad turned 50, we threw him a surprise party as well, so I was sure my mother would be expecting it. I sent her a “fake” birthday gift last week (I am not sure why I am calling it “fake” – it was actually two tangible gifts) to throw her off.

My grandma (her mother) who lives out of town told my mom that she was coming to town to watch her grandkids and wanted to know if my mom wanted to meet her for dinner. My grandma even called my mom during the day and said something like, “The kids are behaving so nicely!” Ha. She wasn’t even in town yet.

We held the party at my uncle’s bar. The bar has a main area, an extended seating area, and a partitioned off room with a bar. We set up the food in the room with the bar, and crammed back there to yell “surprise!” when she arrived. I think we succeeded in surprising her. I wish I had a photo of her reaction. Hopefully someone got one.

I also wish I had a photo of the setup. My sister and Steven and I worked really hard all day at preparing the food and decorations. We had cold cut sandwiches, fresh veggies and dip, a wonderful fresh fruit salad (grapes, cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple and strawberries), chips, pea salad and rye bread cucumber sandwiches that my grandma insisted on making, cookies (photo below!), two cakes and soda and water. We decorated with balloons and streamers and posters I made (I will update them to the photo page later in the week).

A lot of people came to the party -about 35 adults and 4 kids. We had everyone sign a frame with birthday wishes on it, the same thing we did for my dad’s party.

Our big gift for my mom was a purple 8GB iPod Nano (if that’s what it’s called). We put her favorite video – I’m on a Boat – on it. When I showed her the video, she turned to her friends and said, “Did you know these things have video?!” It was pretty cute. I bet she’ll use about 20% of it’s capability in her lifetime. The night before the party, we set up the iPod and named it “Forever 39,” so when we found a “39 Forever” button at the party shop the next day, we had to buy it for her!

Steven and I also bought my mom a big can of beans. Ha.

The party was a whirlwind. I was honestly a lot more worn out than I would have liked to be. Fitting party planning in with my already hectic schedule really exhausted me. I felt pretty edgy on Sunday because of my lack of sleep. I hope I get to catch up… someday. A full six hours of sleep in one night would be nice!

Of course, it was totally worth it. Even though I was totally exhausted, I still was having fun being goofy. My mom and sister are pretty good at bringing it out of me.

Trying to eat ice cream cupcakes…

It would be my honor, to be your new stepfather.

And I have to share this photo of my parents looking pretty bad ass back in the day. Steven really likes this photo for some reason, and we got them to “re-pose.” Ha. When explaining the photo, my mom said they had attitude, before there was attitude. Riiight…

And how is my mom spending her actual birthday? In class all day! She has a three hour math class (with a test!) in the morning, and a three hour speech class in the evening. Boo! I hope she still gets to do something fun today!

More photos…

Me and Steven.

My younger brother, Anthony, and my mom.

My sister, me, my grandma and my mom.

The Forerunner 405CX, 405, or whatever cool version is out in July…

Steven has had his Forerunner 405 (Jack) since December 22, but really hasn’t started using it intensely until now, since we finally have weather that permits outdoor running.

We were already impressed that it kept track of our pacing and distance, and even figured out when we were running laps at the park, but when Steven connected Jack to the computer today and showed me the Garmin Connect website… I was blown away.

The website shows elevation, speed, heart rate, as well as a physical google map of your run! I cannot believe we haven’t looked at this until today!

Of course, many of you already know this… and have been sharing your maps/charts on your blogs, but wow. This is one cool little watch!

If you click here, you can see our stats from yesterday’s race. And if you click on the “player” button (and hit play), it will show a little video of our movement on the map as well as our elevation vs. speed (chart shown below).

Today is a “Yes, I love technology” day!

It’s also a “I am so happy my legs aren’t as sore as they were yesterday” day! My legs aren’t usually sore after a long run, but they were immediately yesterday. I was changing in the backseat of my car, and just lifting my leg up while in the sitting position made my calf cramp. We walked around for about an hour and a half after the race, so I am happy we just didn’t get into the car and drive home! I imagine that would have made it much worse.

I really, really, really think I am going to have to try ice baths after my long runs now. Anything that prevents injury and lets me keep running… brr!

Maybe a week and a half before Christmas isn’t the right time to start a training program (EXCUSES! BS ALERT!). We were only home two nights out of five during the week, and out of the house all day Saturday. Steven still ran on Sunday night (he is doing great with the training), but I had that sugar overload, and felt sick even thinking about running.

Do I even deserve the awesome running gal necklace I ordered myself for Christmas? (Thanks, Kim! But uh, can you still call yourself a runner? You only ran once last week!)

I spend a lot of time imagining how things are going to be. When I was in college, it was what it would be like living with Steven. I also imagined what my first job would be like, what the wedding would be like, what the honeymoon would be like. I even think about simple things like what my evening, or weekend, or someone opening a gift will be like. I work out this optimistic, perfect scenario in my head.

Well, those things are never what I expect them to be, because they have other people involved. That’s just the nature of life. But my running is all about me. It is one of the only things I can imagine and actually see through on my own. Yeah, I run with Steven, but our records and exercise plans are still ours. Neither one of us controls the other’s routine, goals, or body.

So, maybe I should take more control. Since I actually have the opportunity to do so.

And I am sure I will. Once I have some actually freaking FREE TIME. Ugh. Really, I love the holidays, but they are STRESSFUL. Just because we aren’t hosting them, doesn’t mean we get to relax 100%. We have to drive there, fly there, get the presents there, pack the bags, pack the house… blah blah blah. It’s not fun. It’s a PAIN IN THE BUTT.

Hmm. Where did all of that come from?

Back on track. I bought Steven the Garmin Forerunner 405 watch for his birthday. (Yes, another watch. And yes, he knew what I got him.) Whenever we run outside, he is always saying how he wants to know our pace, and how far we actually ran and so on and so forth. Well, this watch will tell him all that. And more. I’m excited to do some long runs outside, with it. I mean, with Steven wearing it. Of course.

Think I’ll (we’ll?) actually run over the holidays though?

I finally got to meet my new nephew, Thomas Patrick, this weekend. Finally! What a cutie.

Beth embroidered Thomas’s name on a bib and burping towel and sent them to me! How sweet is she? That’s one of the things I love about the blogosphere – the thoughtfulness of the other bloggers you get to know. My brother and sister-in-law really loved the bib and towel. My mom even pointed out that the towel was made out of a baby diaper! She got a kick out of that. Thank you, Beth (and sorry I did not get a very good photo of him!).

Another blogger helped me out this weekend – teeni! She recommended this apple pie recipe, which I made for my dad for his birthday on Friday, and I thought turned out tasting really good. (But notice how much better it looks in HER picture than in mine? Oops. “Presentation” isn’t really my strong point when it comes to food!) Thank you, teeni!

What an exhausting weekend THAT was. Maybe I should have taken Monday off as well!

(Not Data, although he DID trip me on the way out. I just think all pictures look better with him in them, don’t you? But why does this picture look so YELLOW?!)

Yes, these are Rock Band drumsticks! Did my immature and childish continual-hinting throughout the entire month of July pay off?

It sure did!

I ran to the bed and said (shrieked?) to (sleeping) Steven “What are these?!?!” I wonder if he wanted me to find them in the morning… he probably didn’t plan on getting out of bed at 2:00 in the morning to play with the new Wii and Rock Band game for about an hour.

But if I would have found them in the morning, all of that fruit pizza would have gone to waste. Because I would have called in sick to play with the Wii all day.

So, I am tired because I woke up for an hour to play Wii then…

4. I had to get up at 4:30 to catch an earlier train to make it to a meeting on time.

Ugh. You do the math.

The good news is, I still have enough energy to play Rock Band tonight. Now, I know it is lame to write about a video game, especially one that other people have been raving about for sometime now, but I really REALLY wanted this game. I had dreams about it. I thought about it at work. I talked to everyone I know about it. And now, I have it! Thanks Steven (and I promise, I will still exercise with you – outside)!

Because if you can’t indulge and eat something bad for you on your birthday, when can you?!*

Steven and I laugh every time we talk about fruit pizza, because we think the title is a bit misleading – it makes it sound healthy! I mean, it almost looks healthy from the picture, right?

Well, I (meaning mostly Steven) just made it… and can tell you, there are a lot of hidden sweets in there that are adding on calories. But damn, it is going to taste so good… let me know if you want the recipe!

*And by eating something bad for you on your “birthday,” I mean your birthday, as well as the weekend that follows it, when your family is coming to visit and it is going to be a big fun, stuff-your-face party (Hopefully. God. Why else would I have been eating healthy all week?!).