Running Mojo

February 21, 2012 hannahviolin 2 Comments

Running (for me) seems to be one of those things that sometimes feels really easy and other times feels ridiculously difficult. The past few days have been those easy days…the race Saturday, 9 miles on Sunday, and today!

I did a little treadmill workout Mike recommended for me—25/35 he calls it. You run for 25 seconds/rest for 35 seconds (just hop to the sides) for 30 minutes. I set the incline to 6.0 and the speed to 6.2, after ten minutes I moved it up to 6.3, then a little further along moved the incline to 6.3. I did the last 5 minutes at 7 and 6.4. He suggested eventually taking the incline up to 8, and of course moving the speed up as you can. For your reference, I generally run flat on the treadmill between 5.5 and 6 mph if I am running a few miles. Anyway, the minutes flew by (I hate when people say that, but they truly did!) and I felt sweaty and exhausted, but great. Mike thinks my goal for the half in April should be at least 2:20 (I’m thinking of 2:15 as an "A" goal, and making that my "B" goal, actually).

We also discussed using the "bathroom" while running. I told him for my fastest 5K I felt like I had to puke the entire time, and he (of course) one-upped me by saying for his fastest half-marathon he had to pee the whole time. I asked why he didn’t just pee himself…and he said he was trying but was completely unable to pee while running. I guess maybe that’s something he needs to train for? (I suggested trying to pee while walking and then building from there…) We of course naturally discussed pooping while running, since we are both fascinated by that (who isn’t?). The next exercise he made me do involved clenching my glute muscles and I suggested this was counter to training to poop while running, in fact would make it more challenging. Then we realized we had spent over five minutes discussing gross bodily functions while running…and figured we should move on.

Okay, fine. I’ll stop talking about bodily functions.

Honestly, not much else to report. I’ve got over five hours of teaching ahead of me today (gasp! the horrors!) and this week is pretty much just a normal week. One big of exciting news is that I got a phone call from Bed, Bath, and Beyond about a special "Registry Completion Event" at the store where everything we want to buy will be 20 percent off, so we are going to wait to shop then. I’m hoping it won’t be too hectic? Has anyone been to one of these things? Opera rehearsals start this weekend, and I’ve got a STACK of music to learn for the next six weeks…and I haven’t practiced all week because my violin is in the shop being cleaned and getting the fingerboard planed. I get it back tomorrow though, and it should be gorgeous!

Running

Doing the Truffle Shuffle

February 20, 2012 hannahviolin 4 Comments

A few weeks ago I mentioned I would be up for any races my friends asked me for (within reason). After that various friends asked me to do a couple of races. Jennedy asked if I wanted to run the Truffle Shuffle, I said sure! (The other was last week’s Chocolate 5k and also the St Patrick’s Day 5 mile race coming up in March.)

Truffle Shuffle: a 4 mile race in Cottleville, Missouri. I liked the idea of a 4 mile race—not as “fast” as a 5k and a good amount for a workout. The perks were great too—long sleeve technical shirt, finishers mug, and plenty of chocolate. (Like I need more, but still, fun.)

So early Saturday morning I woke up (I only wake up early for races and traveling…never for work or any other sort of recreation) and met Jennedy to go to Cottleville. It was cold enough to want to bundle up but not as cold as the week before…basically the temps were such that it was tough to decide what to wear—near 35 degrees, sort of windy, and sunny. I ended up wearing a long sleeve shirt with a fleece vest, gloves, and my headband.

Me, Jennedy, and her friend Katie.

I couldn’t resist photographing this guy…but I was trying to be sneaky about it so he didn’t feel weird…yet…he chose to wear what seemed to be orange underwear over running tights and a gas mask? Hmm.

It was a pretty big race! We were lined up towards what we thought was the middle, but I think it was towards the front. It seemed that there were about 1300 people who ran it.

Public Service Announcement and major pet peeve: if you are in a RACE and you are WALKING the whole time, don’t start in the front. Just don’t. This was the second race in a row where I started towards the middle of the front and had to dodge around (read, almost fell several times) walkers, two and three abreast sometimes…honestly I don’t care if you are walking or not, but just don’t start in the front. It’s a race, and you obviously aren’t going to win if you aren’t running really fast.

I had hoped to keep up 10 minute miles, but it just wasn’t possible for me. The route was a bit narrow and really congested. Nonetheless, it was a nice race. Miles 1 and 2 went by quickly, and then Mile 3 was almost completely uphill—really tough, but I tried to push through. Mile 4 was basically all downhill and I decided to let the momentum carry me through. And then the last .2 to .3 miles (estimating) was a steep uphill to the finish line. I wanted to sprint it, of course, and I just reminded myself of how I had been practicing treadmill hill sprinting and this was the same. I passed a bunch of people right at the end and I felt pretty darned proud of myself for that. Then I almost collapsed past the finish line, where they gave us our “chocolate finishers medal.” Which I was hoping would be wrapped in shiny foil like the one from last week, but wasn’t. Oh well!

Final time: 42:03. Not quite the ten minute miles I was hoping for (I ran watch-less, by perceived effort rather than looking at my watch) but not bad for the congestion! I have been trying to figure out my goal time for April’s half marathon.

Sunday morning I ran 9 miles with Jen. We decided to do the outer loop of Forest Park, run 4.5 miles one way, and then turn around and run back. Mentally it seemed easier since we never had to pass our starting place. It went surprisingly well. Next weekend is the Castlewood Cup, 15k trail race. Though I haven’t really trained on trails, at least I know I can cover the mileage.

Sunday night Chris and I went to Bailey’s Range with Kyle and Jennedy. It’s a burger and ice cream restaurant owned by the same folks who own the Chocolate Bar and Rooster (where we had breakfast after our wedding.) I had heard the “boozy shakes” were fantastic so I ordered one called “Sweet sweet bacon.”

Yes, that is a piece of candied bacon IN the shake. No, I am not allowed to complain about my weight for at least a few days. Yes, it was absolutely delicious.

The burgers were okay—honestly I am not a huge fan of burgers, and the initial fries they brought out were cold. Kyle asked them to bring hot fries and they agreed so quickly it seemed they knew our fries were cold, which put a bad taste in my mouth—why serve cold fries to begin with? But the shakes were fantastic. I think I would return for dessert only, maybe after a concert. Or I would go for dessert and simply order two shakes rather than one and a burger.

Anyway, that was my weekend. 13 miles of running, lots of great eats, and now it’s Monday. I baked a coconut pie to take to Jon and Laura’s tonight—they just got two new kittens and I can’t wait to see them. KITTIE!!!

How was your weekend? Did you do any races or eat any ice cream?

Random thoughts

Honeymoon Continues, St. Thomas (Day 4)

February 19, 2012 hannahviolin 2 Comments

When we planned our honeymoon, the one thing we knew was that Chris’s birthday would also fall during the week. I wanted to do something special for his birthday, so I booked a jet-skiing tour. A few years ago we were in the Cayman Islands and he absolutely LOVED jet-skiing there, so I thought it would be great for his birthday.

One thing to know about St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands) is that they are in no hurry. For the excursion we were told to grab a cab to Coki Beach and that it would take about 20 to 25 minutes. I allowed 1 hour for us to get off the ship, catch the cab, etc. Well…we just barely made it. The cab ended up being a large truck filled with cruise passengers, and I hadn’t made it clear enough (I guess) to the driver that we had an appointment. He made two stops for an island tour that evidently he had sold to some of the passengers, and I was freaking out! I finally made my point and he took us straight to the beach. It was fine—we met the people, found the jet ski place, no problem.

My view over Chris’s shoulder!

We met up with one other couple and the four of us plus the guide headed out on our trip. Basically we were going somewhere to snorkel and then back. I “let” Chris drive so I just had to hold on!

The water was pretty nice—not as clear as we might have hoped since it was a little overcast and windy. But you know…pretty gorgeous overall!

Then it was snorkeling time.

It is hard to get a good picture with the snorkeling equipment on…

The snorkeling was pretty cool, but Chris didn’t like it that well. I had a little trouble figuring out the breathing though.

After awhile it was time to “drive” back.

We wandered around the beach for a bit, and then decided to grab a cab and head back to the ship and relax there.

We to get drinks, and we thought we would sit out by the pool…but it started to pour rain! We were glad the rain held off until we were done with our excursion.

We decided to go to a “specialty restaurant” on the ship that had crepes. It cost $5 per person but you could order anything you wanted.

After a few more hours, the ship had to leave the port. Next stop: St Maarten!

Overall, Chris had a wonderful birthday…we didn’t like the excursion as much as the one in the Cayman Islands but it was still fun.

Random thoughts

Our Wedding Vendors

February 17, 2012 hannahviolin 1 Comment

I thought I would give you a wrap up as to which wedding vendors I used and briefly what I thought of them for those local readers who might be interested. I’ve also included the various Etsy shops and other places where I bought accessories, for national readers. My biggest advice regarding vendors is that you want people you can trust to do a great job, and once you find them, rely on their expertise to help you. They do this all the time, you only do it once, so though it may seem more important to you, they know what works, what doesn’t, and they will be able to help make your dream wedding come true.

Local St. Louis Vendors:

Venue: Moulin Events. Our contact there was Ann Jones and she was beyond amazing. This is a one stop venue for our ceremony, reception, and after party, with catering. We had our ceremony in the Chouteau Room, reception in the Centennial Ballroom, and an additional hour of fun in the Malt House Cellar. Our wedding would not have been nearly as easy to plan without their expert help. The food was great, the help was fantastic, and they were just wonderful to work with during the whole planning process. Not to mention that we absolutely loved the ambiance and general decor of the venue. www.moulinevents.com or 314-241-4949

Celebrant: Lamira Martin of “Your ceremony, your way.” Lamira was wonderful to work with and helped us create exactly the ceremony we wanted, down to the exact wording she would use. She was prompt, professional, and fantastic. We loved our ceremony and would highly recommend her. 314-443-8654 or www.yourceremonyyourway.com

Flowers: Becky Huffman. You can see throughout my blog how gorgeous the bouquets and centerpieces were! We didn’t want huge amounts of flowers but she worked with us to create some lovely vase/candle/flower centerpieces as well as beautiful bouquets, corsages, and boutonnières. www.beckyhuffmanflowers.com or 618-476-6111

Photographer: Sarah Crowder. Sarah really went above and beyond. Seriously. I love her pictures, she was fantastic to work with both on the day, afterwards, ahead of time, and at the engagement session. I couldn’t recommend anyone more. We took photos at the Omni, at Powell Hall, and at Moulin. www.crowderphotos.com or 636-456-7406

Most of the pictures in this post are from Sarah! In fact, the only ones that aren’t I labeled, in case you weren’t able to tell.

Cake: We got our cake from Wedding Wonderland. It turned out that there was a mistake in our communication as far as the color scheme for the cake, but Chris said he actually preferred the way it turned out, so I decided to let it go, with the warning to everybody to be sure to double check things! The cake tasted delicious and was beautiful. www.wwcakeshop.com or 314-837-5015

Transportation: We used Absolute Perfect Touch Limo for transportation before the wedding. They took us to Powell for pictures, to Moulin and then drove some guests from the hotel to Moulin. Very courteous and professional. www.aperfecttouchlimo.com or 636-332-3003

Hotel: We stayed at the Omni Majestic Hotel in downtown St Louis along with many of our guests. They worked with us for a great rate for our guests, and we received many positive comments about the hotel from our friends and family, so I’d say they were a success! We also rented a shuttle from them for after the ceremony to shuttle our guests (and ourselves!) back to the hotel and they went above and beyond with that, continuing to make trips until everybody was back safely, beyond the hour we had booked. Omni website.

Wedding Dress: Clarice’s Bridal Shop. I worked with Yasmina there, and she was just wonderful. I absolutely loved my dress and I probably wouldn’t have even tried it on if she hadn’t suggested it based on other dresses I liked. The dress came in early, and they were easy to work worth. They also sell bridesmaid dresses and if I had gotten started on my dress shopping earlier I would have gotten those dresses there too. www.claricesbridal.com or 314-351-2499

Band: Galaxy from Millennium Productions. We enjoyed the music and they did a great job running the reception as well. www.millennium-productions.com or 314-918-9335

(They won the Riverfront Times’ “Best Cover Band-2012“)

Cocktail Hour Music: We hired Phil Dunlap to play an hour of Jazz piano. He was awesome! Contact info available upon request.

Ceremony Music: We had some of our friends play quartet music for us, but I organized it 😉 Remember, that is part of my job! They sounded fantastic.

Groom and Groomsmen Clothing: Men’s Wearhouse. They were easy to work with and were helpful for out of town groomsmen.

Bridesmaid Dresses: David’s Bridal. This is my one big negative. I had a lot of trouble with David’s Bridal, from not getting much help in the store to them losing our order. The dresses looked nice, but I wouldn’t recommend them.

Other stuff:

Hair/makeup: I used my normal hairdresser who recommended a makeup artist and another hairdresser. They traveled to us. Contact information available upon request.

Invitations/paper:

For our wedding invitations, programs, place cards, table numbers, menus, and save the dates we used Ginger O’Hara of Serendipity Beyond Design. www.serendipitybeyonddesign.com or 314-514-5774. These were all in a similar theme.

For our rehearsal dinner and rehearsal invitations we used Perfectly Scripted.

We got our thank you cards at Target, two large boxes of 50.

I ordered return address labels for the thank you cards from Vistaprint.

Rehearsal Dinner: Eau Bistro at the Chase Park Plaza. They were great.

(I believe my friend Sarah took this on my camera)

Manicures/pedicures: Beautiful Nails at 1107 S. Big Bend Blvd, 314-647-5121

Pre wedding facials/waxing/hair: Salon St. Louis

Rings: The Diamond Shop in Clayton. www.thediamondshop.net or 314-721-2210. Great service and they are always like that when I go in (for cleaning, resizing, insurance reasons, etc.)

Tanning: The Tan Company www.thetanco.com

Guest Book: Pictures were by Sarah Crowder, album from snapfish.com. We used some quick drying pens I bought from amazon and had people sign it like a yearbook. I loved this idea!

Registry: Crate & Barrel and Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Both were great online but I’m told some folks had trouble in store with Bed, Bath & Beyond. Might have been a local store problem, don’t know. Both offered a nice coupon for “registry completion.”

Wedding Website: We used mywedding.com. I’m not sure how many people actually looked at it…but still. Free and easy enough to use. You don’t get a domain name, but I didn’t really care about that.

Wedding Planning: We used www.theknot.com for their checklist—without it we might have had a lot more trouble. The checklist is overwhelming at first, but once you get started you can take away things that aren’t important to you, and it’s really helpful as far as prioritizing what to do in what order. Is it the only way? No, but I think half the problem of planning is simply getting started. I also got lots of vendor recommendations there as well as www.weddingbee.com. I read a few books, but nothing that I particularly recommend. I do recommend reading books and looking at magazines though, just nothing in particular. I bought The Ultimate Wedding Planner because I thought it would great to have a binder, but ended up using my own (sturdier) binder, adding dividers, and ultimately it was more a binder I made myself than the one I purchased. I’m still using it for my thank you notes, since I made a list of all the gifts received and I’m checking off as we write the thank yous. (Planning to finish that by the end of February).

The following are my various etsy purchases:

Bride’s earrings: Olini Bridal Jewelry

Bridesmaid earrings: KalliArt

Clutch: Babbs Boutique, also a blog entry here

Cake Topper: Knotting Wood (I love this, and we have it on our mantel now!)

Smitten Mitten: ElleGanT

Veil: MarisolAparicio

Faux Fur Bolero: Alex Bridal

Rehearsal Dinner Jewelry: Design by Kara

Rehearsal Dinner Dress: Lord and Taylor

(not from Sarah Crowder, I think my mom took this!)

Wedding Shoes: Were from zappos.com.

Chris’s cufflinks were from overstock.com, his socks from Target. The bridesmaids each bought their own shoes. The candle in our ceremony was from Bed, Bath, & Beyond. The silver frames for table numbers and guest book sign were from Amazon.com.

Honeymoon:

Hotel: Ocean Reef Suites in Miami Beach. Not a huge fan. It was a nice location, but it was under construction which woke us up early on two days.

Cruise: Celebrity Cruises 7 night Eastern Caribbean Cruise. Loved it beyond anything!

Jet Ski excursion: St Thomas Waverunner/jet ski excursion

Bridal Shower:

Invitations: Leslie ordered them from paperstyle.com

Favors: Personalized M & M’s from the M & M’s website

(my picture)

Did I forget something you wanted to ask about? Feel free to email me at any time for any question! The fact is I love talking about my wedding. hannahviolin at gmail.com or send me a tweet @hannahviolin