precision at its best.

Oh hey there Friday, thanks for stopping by!

I was up again early this morning, running for the third time this week.

And at the end of my first week of training, I’ve gone a grand total of 12.2 miles.

Which is about one mile less than a half marathon.

I’ve got a long road ahead of me chickens.

Literally.

In any case, I’ve got a few weeks before things really ramp up, so for that, I am thankful.

Also for the weekend.

Last night, I made cookies post-yoga, and Ky watched as I did everything pretty much the wrong way.

For instance, I couldn’t find my half cup measure.

Undaunted, I just filled up a cup measure with what I thought maybe looked like half of the vessel.

“Hey, does this look like a half cup to you?”

Ky was unimpressed by my measuring technique. This picture is of me throwing in more brown sugar, one pinch at a time, until I’d decided, close enough.

The cookies, by the way, are delicious.

And much better looking this time. Last time it turns out I missed the step that advised flattening the cookie prior to placing it on the baking sheet.

Apparently ball-shaped pucks of snickerdoodles are not a thing.

I’m a work in progress, my friends.

And thank God for that.

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Hit the ground running

Good morning, chicks!

And what a morning it’s been, before we even hit 11:00.

This morning, I woke up before seven, drank some weird energy drink (it was orange- the flavor: pomegranate. Something was not right there) I got at the Health & Fitness Expo last weekend, and trotted down Addison to meet JD and C for the Race to Wrigley.

It was raining, and Addison was already flooding by the time I met my racemates.

We trudged to Clark and Addison, ready to run anyway.

And run we did, through pouring rain and hefty winds and other generally unpleasant conditions.

No PR for me on this one, but a good, solid start (in conjunction to last week’s Shuffle) to the race season.

Plus, we hit up Julius Meinl post race and I had pretty much the best egg sandwich of all time.

Brioche? Check.

Bacon? Check.

Cheese? Definitely.

Amazing. After we left breakfast, it seemed like although it had finally stopped raining, the temperature had dropped eight million degrees. I countered that by taking the longest shower of all time, and then realizing I still had the whole day ahead of me.

This, my friends, is a great feeling.

Also: up next on the running docket- my baby sister JP has finally agreed to run a race with me, as I have been generally persuading and abusing her about it for several months, and really, no one can stand up to my persuasion for that long.

I’ve been told I can be irritating.

I prefer persuasive, personally.

In any case, yesterday was race sign-up day, and we’re now officially registered for the 2011 For Women Only 5k.

I’ve never run in an all-ladies race, but it was the only one in the area on a day when we’re both in the same place, so we figured, why not?

I.am.so.excited.

JP- you’re gonna do great.

With that, chicks, I’m off to enjoy the rest of my Saturday, while JW’s off with his rugby team. Stay warm out there!

Ready to run.

Morning chicks!

Please, someone, tell me where the sun went? The forecast, it tells me it’s rain only until who.knows.when.

In other news, in the wake of race season sign up (I’ve got lots of running plans, my friends), and also, what with that wedding I have coming up, I’ve been trying to hang in the gym/outside running, swimming, and yesterday morning, Shredding.

Oh man, Jillian Michaels, I like it better when you’re yelling at other people on Biggest Loser and I’m just sitting on the couch, having snacks.

My ass was kicked before 7:00 AM.

I can only assume that in the long term, this is a good thing.

Right?

Also, I think maybe my beginner 3 lb weights need to be upgraded. Kettlebells have made me tough.

Or at least, tough enough to try 5 lb weights.

Up tonight is doing some running, hopefully in intervals, in an attempt to tell myself that I can, in fact, move faster than my short legs want to.

I have myself a 5k race on Saturday, you see. In which I get to finish in the concourse of Wrigley Field.

This is always cool, but also, a tight, dark space in which I am 95% sure I could trip and take out half of the neighborhood.

Better work on my balance.

And now, off to hang in my cubicle- headed toward the weekend, chickadees!

Off to the races…again.

My friends, the race season has officially begun.

And it was a beautiful start.

Oh hi guys!

It was about 70 or so degrees yesterday morning when JW and I hit the corrals with the other 35,000 runners, and for the first time since 2007, I didn’t feel cold, or wet.

Or slushy.

There was that year when it was slushy.

Instead, I felt like I should have maybe worn more sunscreen.

I can make peace with that.

In any case, JW and I ran personal bests, mine squeaking in at 20 seconds better than last year, and 9 seconds better than my best race time (which was in 2009 when I was training for the half marathon).

Considering the first time I ran the GD thing it took me 53 minutes, I’ve shaved some considerable time off my run in the past five years.

It was a good start to what I’m hoping is a long season of chip times, bananas, and gatorade.

Next up: the neighborhood Race to Wrigley which I love because it starts nice and early (8:00), is within walking distance (call that a warm up), and finishes before the crush of Lakeview babies take their brunch at the Southport restaurants.

Which means JD and I don’t have to hang out in line at Julius Meinl waiting to get at some baked eggs and toast.

These are certainly good enough reasons to sign up, if you ask me.

Hopefully the weather stays in the vicinity of what it was like yesterday, which pretty much reinstated all hope in my life that summer might come to the Second City after all.

Things look pretty good from here, chickadees.

Have a good Monday morning!