The one where she talks about roller derby…

Lesley kinda tipped my hat in the comments.  But for those of you who don’t read that far– I’m going to be a roller derby girl!!

There’s a new roller derby league starting up in C-U.  My friend Laura is on the team and she invited me to practice last weekend.  I couldn’t make it, but I attended a “meet and greet” a few nights ago and I went to my first practice today.

It is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun!!

We did some open skating, some drills and just got a feel for the sport.  This was an “open” practice, so anyone could come and they had 30+ girls there, which was record attendance.  They also have “closed” practices on Wednesday for girls who are committed to derby.

A few things . . .

• The league is just getting started, so there are no bouts planned just yet.
• You use quad (4-wheeled) skates, not roller blades
• No, I haven’t learned to block or “take out” people yet
• We skate on a flat course, not one of the ramps that you see on TV
• All the girls aren’t hard-core b!tches
• Yes, I fell…. once
• You don’t have to be a GREAT skater to do derby, but there is a proficiency exam for when we start bouts and stuff.
• I’m a *much* better skater than I thought I was.  I was a little shaky at first, but I was skating with the best of them at the end.

One concern…

I *LOVED* practice today and I’m super pumped to be a part of it. It’s something different, the girls are really cool, and it’s a pretty good workout.  My only concern is trying to fit in bi-weekly practices with my half-marathon training.  It absolutely counts for my cross-training days, but I’m afraid it will affect my long run schedule (currently I prefer to do long runs on Sat and rest on Sun, but now I’ll have to do derby on Sat. and the run on Sun.)

And, a request. . .

All derby girls need a derby name. They don’t have to be family-friendly.   Right now, the top-runner for my derby name is Bitch E. Rich, but I need a second choice… and any other suggestions you might have.  There’s an international registry of derby names and no two girls can have the same name.   So, get your thinking caps on.

WHAT SHOULD MY DERBY NAME BE?

The one where she talks about running… again

It’s OFFICIAL:  I’m training for a half-marathon.

I’ll be running the half distance of the Illinois Marathon on May 1.   This is the same race where I had my first 5K a year ago.  Nothin’ like adding another 10 miles, eh?

I’m in week four of a plan modeled after Hal Higdon’s novice plan.   The plan seems fairly doable.  3-4 runs/week plus some cross training and some strength mixed in.  If all goes as planned, I’ll be at 13.1 about a month before the race.   For the most part, things have been going well.    I’ve been getting my runs in and have been fairly successful with cross training.  (strength?  not so much)

Until Tuesday.

I fully intended to get up early and go for a short 2-mile run.  Instead, I talked myself into staying in bed a bit longer (it was my birthday, after all) and promised to get back on track the next day.

Wednesday morning my alarm went off at 5 a.m.   I begrudgingly tore myself out of bed and got ready to run.  It was really dark, kinda cool, and there was a threat of snow so I headed to the gym instead.  Big mistake.  I let myself quit after 2 miles. I wasn’t tired. I wasn’t sore. I was just BORED.  And couldn’t talk myself into going longer.

Afterward, I was really disappointed in myself for giving up.  And then that night I went out with some friends and missed my next morning run because I was hungover (note to self:  drinking and running do not mix).

But, guess what?  I went for an outside run on Thursday after work… and it was GREAT!    I’ve got my running mojo back.

This weekend: 6 miles.  Let’s pray for one day of decent weather so I don’t have to sweat it out on the treadmill.

I’m inspired!

Wow…thanks everyone for responding to yesterday’s post.  My dry spell seems to be over and I have LOTS of things to write about (none of which have anything to do with poop– Sorry Willie!)

Hopefully I can carve out some time to write them in the next few days.  In the meantime, I offer you these lyrics, which seem especially appropriate  right now:

I like to be gone most of the time
and you like to be home most of the time
if I stay in one place I lose my mind
I’m a pretty impossible lady to be with

– From Tire Swing by Kimya Dawson (on the Juno soundtrack)

By “popular” demand…

A not-so-anonymous reader (with poor typing and/or grammar skills, I might add!) asked for an updated blog.  I’m happy to oblige.  But, first,  I want to know if anyone is still reading this.  I know there are some lurkers out there, so here’s your chance to be heard.

Yesterday was my birthday, so I’m allowing myself a bit of self-indulgence and asking BEGGING you to comment on my little blog.  Think of it as a belated gift to me….    Leave me a comment and let me know what you’d like me to blog about next.   Some possible choices are:

• New Years Resolutions (a month late)
• Running/Training update
• What I’ve been up to (bullet-style)
• My thoughts on last night’s Lost première
• anything else you can think of

Please and thank you!

Carich Likes/Dislikes

LIKES . . .	DISLIKES . . .
Modern Family, Better Off Ted, The Big Bang Theory	American Idol, Jersey Shore, Grey’s Anatomy*
Being home to make dinner every night	Working out at 5 a.m., cleaning up from dinner
My Real Friends	Facebook-only “friends”
Working out at the gym—yes, even the treadmill!	Being sore from working out 4 days in a row
Sleeping	Work
Sporcle, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Scramble	Facebook “games,” Xbox 360 shoot-em-up games
Blog lurking	Blog writing
My incredibly unfashionable snow boots, striped purple cardigan, oversized hoodies, and wooly red socks	Just about every other item of clothing in my closet
Warmer weather, no snow	Rain (and corresponding headaches)

*to be fair, I’ve only watched 1-2 episodes of each of these shows… but enough to know I don’t get what the fuss is about!

I’m an inspiration!

I’m kinda on a blog hiatus right now, but I wanted to point you to this post from my friend, Lesley, who has recently caught the running bug.

2009: A Year in Review

I had planned on breaking this into two separate posts, but time got away from me.  Here’s what I’ve been up to the last 12 months:

January

• 30 days of 30
• First ski/snowboard trip
• Neil Clennon Reffett was born

February

• My 30th birthday
• Birthday celebration in Chicago
• Bunco at my house

FAIL

March

• Work trip to San Francisco (two posts… here and here)

yep, that's a CRUISE ship on the right

April

• NKOTB– for the second  time!
• Ran my first 5K
• Rush Little was born

Clennon and I post-race

May

• Minneapolis for work
• Planted a garden (or at least supervised)
• 2nd 5K
• Chicago to see Jess!

The girls of Hewett 6 (minus Jo)

June

• Ohio for Reds/Cubs game
• Ryan Joseph Lingas was born
• Started the Great Paint Project

Self-portrait attempt #2. This pic is horrible, but I LOVE it 'cuz it's so real!

July

• Infamous Rural King incident
• Cubs/Cardinals game
• Stephanie’s bachelorette party
• Hayden Michael Bates was born

August

• Finished the Great Paint Project
• Run4Raley (3rd 5K)
• Minnesota Vacation(and my first time up on water skis!)
• Stephanie and Drew get hitched

After

Highlight of the trip: Getting up on waterskiis for the first time!

the entire bridal party!

September

• 4th 5K
• Surprise birthday tailgate

October

• Chachi shower/bachelorette party
• Halloween

The bigger the hair, the closer to God

November

• Chachi wedding
• Philadelphia for work

December

• Kim’s surprise birthday party
• Christmas with my dad’s side
• Oak Ridge Boys concert
• First Christmas with my new niece
• CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!

Birthday girl doing shots

My 92 year old Grannie and my newborn GREAT niece

In addition, there were countless nights out, NUMEROUS trips to Chicago and plenty of downtime.  All in all it was a pretty good year.  I can’t wait to see what 2010 has in store for me.

Resolutions 2009: How’d I do?

Let’s see how well I stacked up on my New Years Resolutions, shall we?   (if you’re really bored, you can find the  original post here… and “check up” post here.)

Resolutions 2009 were as follows:

Be 100% smoke free– SUCCESS!

I can say with 100% certainty that I do not smoke. I don’t even know the last time I wanted to smoke.  My lungs are happy.

Avoid fast food– FAIL

It seems that I succumb to fast food more than ever these days. In fact, on my last trip to Chicago, I ate it for lunch AND dinner.  Big fat FAIL (with emphasis on the “fat.”)

Finish more books– FAIL

One would think that being surrounded by books, being a member of a book club, and being a self-proclaimed “book nerd” would mean I would actually read every once in a while.  But I haven’t.  At least not enough.   The last book I finished was a 250 page YA novel. Go me!

Learn to write fiction– FAIL

They say the best way to learn to write is to write…. And even though I took a fiction writing class, I haven’t “practiced” much since then. And I haven’t really felt the desire to get back into it.  Maybe over the winter (?)

Watch more movies– FAIL

I gave up my Netflix subscription and can count on one hand the number of movies I saw in the theater this year.  It’s sad, really, when you can’t even accomplish your “fun” resolutions.

Be more honest– SUCCESS!

I marked this off the list months ago.  Kind of a lame resolution anyway.

Learn to appreciate poetry– FAIL

I’ve tried… really.  And I like to make up birthday poems for my friends.  But it’s really not the same.

Get back to a fighting weight– SUCCESS!

Although I’d still like to lose 20-25 lbs, I’m at *roughly* my “low” weight from a couple of years ago.  And I’ve recently started buying a smaller size (thanks to my friends who told me my “tight” jeans really weren’t that tight!);

Get control of debt– QUESTIONABLE

I’d say I’m in control of my debt… but I’m not out of debt, and I certainly am not where I want to be.  This will be a carry-over resolution next year.

Be more responsible– QUESTIONABLE

I think I’ve been a bit more responsible this year… but I still dont’ really feel like an adult, even though I’m 30.  I wonder when you start feeling grown-up– is it when you have kids?? 

So, there you have it:  my resolution recap for 2009.  Look for a 2010 resolution post sometime before February!!

Oak Ridge Boys: insta review

I just got home from the Oak Ridge Boys concert and I’m doing an insta-review in order to hit the high points.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

a) I went with my family– my mom, aunt, uncle, grandma, and my grandma’s “boyfriend” (or whatever you call it when the “boy” hasn’t been a boy for a good 65-70 years!)

b) The Oak Ridge Boys was my very first concert ever.  And a *huge* part of my childhood memories, especially at Christmas time (maybe I’ll look up old posts that reference this later.  Not now. )

Okay, so first of all, the show was split into two parts:  the “Greatest Hits” and the “Christmas Show.”    The first part opened with some dude (maybe a tour manager?) announcing this fact and then hawking CDs.  Hmmm…

They opened with a song *about them* written by Shooter Jennings.   Again, hmmm….

CLOTHING
By this point, I was CRACKING up at their clothing.  The guy with the really deep voice looked like he was auditioning for American Idol–in skinny jeans, velvet (?) jacket, I-wear-my-sunglasses-at-night.   Definitely the “hippest” of the group.  Dude even had a flavor savor!

The rest of them looked like your average group of middle-aged Harley dudes.  Except they didn’t really match.  And one guy was wearing what appeared to be black tapered SLACKS.   Weird.   Anyway, it was amusing.

CROWD

It goes without saying that the ORB cater to a decidedly older clientel.   In fact, it took a while to find *anyone* who was anywhere near my age bracket.  And it was FUNNY to watch the crowd participate– by clapping, singing along, waving back to Santa, taking videos on their cell phones.    HILARIOUS!    There was a superfan seated in front of us.  She had a SIGNED sweatshirt from “The Boys” and loved every minute of the show.

THE MUSIC

Remember: this is the stuff I grew up on.  We played the Oak Ridge Boys Christmas CD every.single.year while putting up the Christmas tree, baking cookies, opening gifts, etc.  It’s pretty much a family tradition.    They played quite a few of their famous songs during the “greatest hits” portion….but no Bobbie Sue, which greatly disappointed me.   They played some songs off their new album, which they should do…but, again, I wanted to hear Bobbie Sue!

Then they had intermission (weird) and on to the Christmas portion, which was decidedly longer.  They played *some* of their songs off the Christmas CD and did some standbys (Jingle Bells, The Christmas Song, etc.) but they did a LOT of songs that were unfamiliar to me… and a lot of slow songs.  In a row.  At the end.   My grandma’s 80 year old boyfriends was faring better than me in the I-can’t-fall-asleep-at-a-concert department.

IN CLOSING

The cheese factor was severely high tonight– they did the requisite tributes to family, kids, military, etc.   A lot of heartstring pulling, but people were genuinely enjoying themselves.   And, like I said….this music is so engrained in my childhood that I couldn’t help having my own heartstrings pulled a time or two.  Even if I did bust out laughing during Elvira.  I mean, SERIOUSLY, how that song ever got popular is beyond me.

As much as I’d like to be all cynical about it, the show definitely helped get me in the Christmas spirit, though…  for that, it was a success!

Bullets with Butterfly Wings

Wow… “long time, no blog” seems a bit cliché, but well… I’ve been busy.  I’m not sure what all I’ve been doing, but here are a few highlights. 

Over the last few weeks, I

• had happy hour with my work peeps.  And then celebrated a friend’s 30th birthday… with house guests!
• became an aunt.  Ryan and Jo don’t want her pictures plastered all over the Internet, but I can say with certainty that she’s absolutely the most perfect baby girl ever.   Yes, I’m biased.
• had my car in the shop waaaayyy more than I would’ve liked.  I’m not 100% sure it’s fixed yet.
• celebrated Christmas with my dad’s side of the family, which included meeting my great niece for the first time.
• made my first successful batch of “murdah bars”– chocolate chip/peanut butter/cookie perfection
• helped a friend celebrate her 29th birthday (for the 3rd time) with a surprise party
• celebrated the holidays with my book group
• attempted to re-create a pear/bacon/goat cheese recipe, without said recipe.  Limited success.
• attended my official company Christmas party… and unofficial bar crawl
• ran a few times… but not as much as I should have.  I missed this weekend’s long run.   Next weekend isn’t looking good, either.
• got hit on at the gym for the first time.  He actually used the “you come here often?” line. 
• took a whirlwind trip to Chicago, which involved me riding in the backseat underneath an area rug
• made an unsuccessful batch of Ramen noodles.  Yes, I messed up Ramen!

So, now you’re all caught up.  Christmas week is upon us and I still have presents to buy and wrap and a houseful of stuff to put away.  I have a couple year-end posts planned and then I’m going to re-think my blog a bit.  

A big THANK YOU and Merry Christmas for those of you who have kept up with me over the last year… It’s always nice to know there’s an audience out there reading my random ramblings.