Chelly's Life, Universe and Everything

This week's wrap-up

2008-04-13T17:29:00.009-04:00

Well, another week down. Things here are moving right along at the speed of a slug.

Hope you like the new and improved look. I thought the blog needed an update. Kind of nice and colorful.

This week wasn't so productive getting to the gym but I did do 2 two-mile runs outside this week. On Tuesday, the first mile not so hot and the second mile pretty good. On Thursday, it was the opposite. The first mile went well and the second was a real chore.

I was supposed to do three miles on Saturday but it ended up that Bunny and I went on doggy walking tour of Central Park. It was pretty nice and since it was such a nice day we walked around some more. The tour itself was okay. I learned a few things. There were about 6 of us and the tour guide, everyone with dogs. Bunny didn't know what to do. It's one of the few times she's been on an extension leash so she had about 10 feet to move at a time. And learn when to stop before running out of leash. I took lots of spring pictures. I'll bet this weekend and next weekend are going to be the spring peak. Maybe one more weekend after that. So we took the subway up and Bunny finally got comfortable the stop before we got off. Figures. Then we walked around the zoo, the mall, Bethesda Fountain, some of the Ramble and over to Belvedere Castle. We finished the tour there and so we walked on around the Turtle Pond and back down the park through all the grassy areas (Bunny loves grass and dirt). By the time we got back to where we started (59th and 5th), I put her in her sling (like the ones they use for babies), and hopped on the bus, where she proceeded to sleep almost the entire way home. I didn't hear from her for about two hours after that, she was so tired.

So I put off my run till today. Well, we got up and I was still tired but relatively determined. I had decided to run this in on the treadmill so that I wouldn't stop so much and would do the whole thing. After taking Bunny to daycare, I head over to the gym where I'm feeling a little blah mentally. I warm up with 12 minutes on the elliptical and then over to the treadmill. Off I go. I get through the first .8 mile and feel like I just want to fall down with lethargy. I tried to stay with it but just didn't have the heart. Got in a whopping 1.5 miles. Pathetic! I do finish my strength training but was frustrated with that because a couple of people were hogging the machines. I waited over 15 minutes for one machine and finally gave up on another cause by then the same person who had been hogging the first machine was on this one. AGH!

Picked Bunny up from daycare and decided to call it a day, came home and decided to take a bath. Guess who came in too?

Anyway, this week was okay at work. It's the first week we've actually worked 5 days in quite some time (clarification: I do the news every morning and then go over and do the LIVE show but the LIVE show is sometimes on tape on Fridays so it makes it feel like I've only got to work a half a day). So we'll be working like that till May 9th when we have the Mother's Day show and start Summer Fridays. It seems like a long way away from now but it's really only about 2-3 weeks. This coming week, I have to deal with whatever Pope coverage they decided to do. That's going to be a pain.

I'm looking forward to the good weather that's coming in a couple of days. It really makes it much easier to get out.

I still don't know if I'll be running in the adidas Run for the Parks that I signed up for next weekend. It just seems like my running isn't going nearly as well physically as it is mentally. I guess I'll see how things are going this week but I still haven't managed to run 2 miles without stopping. And I haven't gone over 2 miles since 2007. I'm thinking I need to go all the way back to the basics -- run 1 minute, walk 1 minute, etc. and work up all from scratch again.

Elizabeth and all her picture-taking has made me think more about the pictures I've been taking so I worked on some examples of depth of field (yes, you can do this on a normal digital camera), the multiple photo button, the regular pic/zoom pic at the same time. It's really pretty neat what you can do without even buying a really expensive camera.

I'm going to leave you with a some of my favorites of the pictures I took yesterday. Spring in Central Park. Ahh.

Chelly

p.s. Almost forgot. This week's goals: basically get some significant exercise (that doesn't include Bunny) every day this week. Either running or cardio at the gym. And strength training Tuesday and Thursday. And Weight Watchers on Wednesday night.

My trainer wants me to start going up and down stairs -- yuk! My answer, I downloaded the entire first season(?) of Gilad's workouts from iTunes and I'm going to try to do one a day. Since they're only 20 minutes, I think I can get them in often.

I can do better

2008-04-05T08:38:00.004-04:00

Hi all,

Here's the weekly update of how I'm doing running-wise. I really had high hopes for the week and just didn't follow up on them; I'm using a rough week at work as an excuse. But there's really no excuse for it.

I started out good last Sunday by going to the gym and doing 16 minutes on the elliptical and running 1 mile on the treadmill and did strength training. Monday I didn't do anything which I wasn't upset about because I'd worked out Friday and Sunday. Tuesday I went out and ran 2 miles. The first mile went really good and I only stopped once during it. The second mile, not so good. I think I was stopping every two minutes at least. Of course, I don't count any of that on my Nike Plus (yes, I know I should) so on average I did 11:10mm. So I'm still running faster. Wednesday, I was planning on resting and I did. And then I rested Thursday. Then Friday. My trainer came over Friday and we did a little core work but otherwise, I hadn't done anything the end of this week except walk and run with Bunny.

So I wanted to run at least 7 miles this week and I've only run 3 so far. I was supposed to do a three mile run Saturday which I did 2.25. Lots of stops but average of 10:59mm. Gotta get rid of those stops!!!

Today I'm volunteered for the MORE Half Marathon and Marathon at the NY Flyers water stop behind the Met. So I was out cheering everyone on after dropping Bunny off for a full day of daycare. I had a great time however, my fingers still hurt from the cold. And the fingers on one hand are all yellow from the Gatorade. I saw everyone I knew who was running which was really great. Then Debbie and I met up afterwards for brunch.

This week's exercise goals are:
Monday - cardio and strength -- and to clean my apartment
Tuesday - run 2 miles (at least 15 minutes of this straight with NO stops)
Wednesday - cardio
Thursday - run 2 miles
Friday - cardio and strength
Saturday - run 3 miles (maybe 4)

Some other things which are kind of goals and kind of thought are:
returning to Weight Watchers
do calorie count on food I regularly eat
I've been thinking that many people who lose great amounts of weight think about themselves as fat people in a skinny body and I'm realizing that some of my problem may be that I'm an overweight (can't bear to use the word fat) and I'm still surprised to see myself in the mirror because I think of myself much thinner than I am now. Any thoughts on this? Could this be why it's harder for some people to lose weight?
Trying to figure out how I can not feel guilty about leaving Bunny or putting her in daycare while I exercise. Mom says it's kind of the same thing that parents go though when they have kids. I don't know but it's making it hard to have any motivation. I feel like I should be with her and taking her out and playing with her and that she's going to be sad and lonely if I'm gone.
What and where is my motivation? A few years ago I realized I either had to work out or I would die! Having heart disease on both sides of my family, it's not such a gigantic leap. And I was very motivated. Now I feel like I have no motivation whatsoever. Do I want to run a half-marathon? Have I burned out on running? working out in general? is this related to getting Bunny because I'm not just focused on myself?
How do I resolve or deal with all these things?

Okay, sorry, blog got very personal an kind of philosophical for a moment. You'd think I'd been drinking or something (no, I haven't -- it's only 9am).

Let's see. That's about it for now. I'll leave you with two pictures. One of spring flowers and one from Atlantis in the Bahamas which just looked fantastic. I'd love to be there now laying in the sun with a book and a drink in easy reach.

Have a great week!

Chelly

Successes and Failures this week

2008-03-29T13:30:00.004-04:00

Hi,

I know another posting so soon. Well, I had the previous one written last week and was just waiting to put pictures in. So I loaded them last night so you got your post. A little late but better than 3 months later!

This week had both successes and failures on the running side. I went to the gym on Monday and ran 2 miles on the treadmill. I got through the first mile without stopping at all (although I did hang on a little), I took a .1 mile walking break and then started the second mile. I had to stop twice during that mile to walk and get a drink and breathe but I ended up doing 2 miles at 10:32 pace. Not too bad.

Tuesday I went to the gym and did 20 minutes cardio and 30 minutes strength training. That all went well. I'm using a new program that NYSC has where you print out what you're supposed to so and which machines to do and how much weight on each machine. I think I'll end up liking it once I get used to it.

Wednesday I had planning on going running but had a horrible knot in the front of my hip. So I went out running with Bunny. We ran about .75 miles and Bunny was tired. All together I walked about 3 miles and carried Bunny about a mile. She played at the 23rd Street dog run for awhile and I was going to go running myself after that but my hip hurt so bad that I didn't.

Thursday I ended up working till 1:30p and I wasn't expecting that at all! By the time I got home, I didn't want to do anything. I didn't even take Bunny out to play. Sad Bunny.

Friday I was all set to go to the gym. I took Bunny out early so I could come home right away and get there and I made the mistake of sitting down for 15 minutes and fell asleep for 2.5 hours. Then I had a friend coming over that I hadn't seen in a couple of years so I cleaned house. Obviously I didn't get to the gym. However, my hip is feeling much better after some stretching, Bengay and massage.

My trainer is coming over to do some stretching and evaluate my week. I need to do much better.

This week my goals are:
Sunday - cardio and strength
Monday -run 2 miles
Tuesday - run 2 miles and strength
Wednesday - rest (I'll be working till noon)
Thursday - run 2 miles
Friday - cardio and strength
Saturday - run 3 miles

Let's see how I do. Wish I had a love of running like Bunny does.

Chelly

Commitments and encouragement

2008-03-21T14:49:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone,

Well, I'm going to ask for lots of support over the next 8 months or so. As I mentioned before, I'm starting to run again. I still can't run a mile without stopping to breathe but I've signed myself up for a 4-mile run on April 20; I've entered the lottery for the NYC Nike Half Marathon on July 27; and I've accepted my entry to the NYC Marathon on Nov. 4. I've got a long way to go. Any support or encouragement is appreciated and desperately begged for.

I've actually gone out and done a mile 4 days in the past week and I've gotten down from stopping 7 times to stopping 4 times to breathe. But Monday I started working up to the 4 miles for the April 20th race. So if you see me huffing and puffing around the Union Square area or on the Hudson River Park, give me a little thumbs up.

I tried to inspire myself by doing a little shopping the other day at Jack Rabbit Sports. I got two new **whisper** bras, 3 pairs of running capris and a pair of long lightweight running pants.

Otherwise just spending time with Bunny of course. Including taking her down to the Washington Square Dog Run after the rains so she can play and get really really dirty. And then taking her to the groomer where she gets all clean and fluffy and I just want to run my hands through her hair all day.

I noticed some buds coming out on the tree the other day when I was in the Union Square Dog Run. It gave me a little hope that spring will come soon. I love the look especially of Madison Square Park when you just see this kind of green haze over the whole park because of the buds on the trees.

Just want to mention a new love of mine. Fage yogurt. Okay, I've actually loved this for awhile but now they have the 2% yogurt with honey, or cherry, or peach, or strawberry. Yummm. It's almost as good as dessert. Check it out if you see it.

Other things. I just finished watching the season finale of Kyle XY. Can't wait till next season. A real cliffhanger. And I'm watching New Amstrdam and Eli Stone. I also downloaded from iTunes "The Nanny and the Professor." If you remember this show from when you were a kid (which I don't), you'll know how good it was and if you don't remember it, you should grab an episode. It's a very nice, fun, sharp (for it's time) family show. And it was nice watching a 30 minute show that was actually 25-26 minutes long instead of today's shows which time out at about 21-22 minutes. I'm also almost through the first season of Lou Grant. Yep, dweebee, but wholesome.

I watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium lately and thought the movie was great except for the end. I felt that about the Golden Compass too. I feel like filmwriters are writing the same way I did for papers in college: a great intro, good research, and then just finish the dam* thing and write the conclusion in 10 minutes. Their story is good, the execution is good but oops, we're out of time or out of money so the film's done. It's really disappointing.

Guess I had more to say than I thought. Time to play with Bunny. Here's her with her ball, on the rock over at the 23rd Street Dog Run and if you want to have real fun, get a plastic spoon, put some marshmallow cream on it and give it to them. Isn't she a cutie pie. Happy Spring!

Chelly

Hi again!

2008-03-10T08:00:00.009-04:00

Hi everyone. No, I did not drop off the earth although I feel like I did. I really haven't been managing my time very well lately and so lots of things have gotten overlooked.

I'll try to give you a quick update on my life and then I'll go from there.

Since last August, puppies have come into my life. One for me and two for mom and dad. Mine, Bunny, is a little cockapoo and she's just adorable. And yes, that is a new name. You first knew her as Belle, then she was Coco. But when I met her, and watched her run through the grass, her little behind looked like a bunny's. So she became Bunny. She loves playing, swimming, eating with me and running. She's my little sunshine. And she smiles. Really. See----

Mom and Dad's puppies are cocker spaniels and the older one is Mikey. He's a lovely brown and white and has the most incredible feet and eyes.

The other is Stevie and he's a merle (which is a hair pattern). He's a handful and is into everything.

Dad and the boys (the two cocker spaniels) came over in November and this is the best picture. It was kind of neat having 3 puppies in the city. Of course, I'm really glad it was just for the weekend. :)

Work has been pretty normal. We just came back from LA where we did 5 shows and we went to the Bahamas last fall. It was a fun trip cause we got to ride innertubes down the lazy river and also go on the water slides for the innertubes.

Of course, there was a trip home for Christmas where the dogs almost outnumbered the people. There were 5 puppies under 7 months old, Roxie and Doc (brother and sister from the litter that Ricco, my cousin's retired police dog sired), Mikey, Stevie, and Bunny. Of course, Ricco was there and also Ivy, a little Bijon thingy. And poor Prince, the cat, finding places to hide. Here's a couple of the Christmas pictures.

My running life has suffered greatly from having a puppy even though she loves running. When I run now, I'm running much faster but only run one minute at a time cause that's all Bunny can do. So my big challenge right now is trying to put the minutes together and actually get back to running a couple of miles at a time. I'm going to sign up for the NYC Nike Half Marathon Lottery and I'm also accepting my NYC Marathon space. I don't know if I'll be ready for the marathon or not, but I'm going to try.

Oh and the other additions to my life have been a 50-inch DLP TV, and HD-DVD and an AppleTV. Whoo-hoo! It looks great and it's really nice for movie nights. And I love AppleTV. All those TV shows and movies I've downloaded I can watch on my TV now. It's really pretty neat.

Well, I guess that's a quick update of my life except that I've been sick lately. Yucky! I've had the cold that's been going around and it just won't seem to leave. It's very frustrating for someone who's hardly ever sick to have a cold and cough that lasts 4-5 weeks. So that's another reason I haven't been working out much lately. Everytime I try to run, I get about a block before I'm coughing like crazy. I'm hoping that it'll be better by the end of the week. I really need to start running again if I'm going to do any races this year.

I'm working on better time management skills over the next few weeks and getting Bunny and me on a decent schedule so I can make time to blog. Especially since I've got some really cute pictures to share with you. Oh, and I finished the hardcover, 87-page book for the 2007 NYC Nike Half Marathon. I'll put a link up soon so you can see that too.

Thanks for hanging in there with me. I'll leave you with a little wishful thinking tulips. Spring's coming soon.

Chelly

Nike Half Report, and the rest is coming

2007-09-28T20:18:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I've been a little taken with the new addition. But more about that later. First let me give you a little race report from the Nike Half Marathon from August.

Let me start with the expo and the pasta party. Oh and I went out and took some pre-race photos of some of the course (for the upcoming digital scrapbook). So the expo was pretty nice although small as they usually are. Nike had a great selection of regular t-shirts, some tech shirts, hats, and other paraphanilia. There were also some freebies like sunscreen, some nice maps, vaseline and magazines. We (Debbie and I) went and got our numbers and our shirts. Here we are picking up our numbers. I really liked all the graphics that Nike did for the event. Here's how long it is until the race. We also picked up our pace bands which were a little different because they were based on the time you thought you'd do but also on what time you'd do on the elevation of the course. I thought this would help a lot, but I think I would rather have had just a mile by mile breakdown cause they really had you speed up at the end to keep your time and I knew I wasn't speeding up at the end.

After the expo, we walked down to 42nd Street to the pasta party at BBKings. Here's Debbie on some of the course. A little preview. We got an earlier seating than we did at the MORE pasta party and maybe because of that, there just weren't that many people there. The food was great though. I thought it was much better than Tavern on the Green. And nice and quiet.

Off to bed at some ridiculus hour of about 8-9pm. And up early the next morning. We got a little confused with the baggage check but finally got them taken care of (I put mine with Debbie's since we both knew she'd be coming in about 45-60 minutes before me) and we headed for the corals.

I must say that the corals worked out very good. And I admit I pushed forward from my coral but just because I really thought I'd need the extra time. And I ran as close to the side as I could so I wouldn't be in anyone's way. I didn't feel quite so bad though cause I wasn't the only one moving up some.

So at some point the race began and we started running pretty quickly. I felt good and strong the first couple of miles. Elizabeth was supposed to run the Half that day too but she hadn't been feeling very good that week and so came and took pictures (millions of pictures) -- some of them with me in them. The first time she saw me, she almost didn't see me. Strangely enough, I saw her and yelled and said hi. That was right after the 72st Transverse on the west side. So up the hill to the reservoir. And then I managed to make it up the back of the Great Hill to the sound of Christina Agulara's Candyman. I really put on the pace down the hill and was thrilled to death to make it up the Lasker Pool hill to the sound Fatboy Slim's Rockafeller Shank. YEAH!!!!

Of course after that is when I made my first mistake. Up until then, I'd been running through the water stops and running, no matter what. But I walked through the water stop just below the 102nd Street transverse. Ah. That's where it started coming apart.

However, I managed to get out of the park in the required time and was very close to the time I wanted overall. After that I walked alot. I was alternating running and walking through Times Square and I must say the best thing was feeling like a top athlete as I was running straight down the middle of Seventh Ave. all by myself. (Ok, there were a couple of people around me, but not many). I managed to wave at the photographers before turning onto 42nd Street. And even though I'd run it before from Times Square to the West Side Highway had never felt so long.

I tried running a block and walking a block but soon it was run a block, walk 2, or maybe three, or look behind me and as long as there are people behind me, it's all okay.

Elizabeth and Team in Training showed up again around 14th Street and she got some good pictures of me. I tried to talk her into running a couple miles with me but she wasn't having any of it (grin). So off I go -- right, left, right, left.....

Finally I hit the 20k mark. Now I thought I was almost there but I think it must have been longer than I thought to get to the finish line. (By the way, I had given up on my goal time of under 3 hours somewhere around mile 9 -- at this point I'd hoped to be able to finish faster than the MORE half which was 3:06:48.) After hitting 13 miles, I decided I was going to run the rest -- ooohhh, a whole .1 so off I go. I made it in 3:07:48, I whole minute slower than the MORE half in March.

But you know, I was fine with that. I finished feeling good about everything, knowing I could have trained more and done better but happy with the job I had done. And I guess that's the important thing.

I saw Adam and the WABC crew who were tearing down the set from the broadcast. And then got pictures, found Debbie and we went and got Adam for pictures then hung out on the stage for a little bit. Elizabeth caught up with us again and we talked for a few and then Rachel caught up to us and we all went out for a post race celebratory brunch downtown.

The week after that was my birthday. And for this auspicious event, decided to have a Pizza, Beer and Cupcake party. Oh my gosh. Look at these cupcakes. Everyone had a great time.

And soon after I was winging it back to Ohio to pick up my puppy which when you last heard from me was named Belle. Since then she was named Coco (as in toasted coconut) but when I went home and saw her, she got named Bunny because from the back end she looks like a bunny when she runs. And that's what she still is to this day.

So that's the end of this post since I've been promising for weeks to post. I'll try to get another one off this weekend with puppy pictures.

Chelly

New Puppy Pictures and running

2007-07-25T17:14:00.001-04:00

Hi all,

Mom and Dad went and visited the breeder today and sent me new pictures of Belle. I'm really nervous about becoming a puppy parent. Is she going to like me? Am I going to like her? Will she like the city? I guess we'll know soon enough. They're going to pick her up about a week before I get home so hopefully we'll know more about her then.

I went running this morning at about 1:45am. It was a nice morning for it and I got a good run in. And I managed to do almost 5 miles without going more than 8 blocks from home. I wanted to stay in the neighborhood for safety's sake. People are out everywhere though. I ran around Union Square twice and then up and down the streets between Sixth Ave. and Park Ave. South. People probably thought I was crazy. As soon as I finished the run, my knee started hurting tremendously. And continues to hurt. I'm hoping that it's just since I haven't run so much lately, it's just a little muscle soreness and not something pulled.

I think that's about it. Hope you like Belle's pictures.

Chelly

Trials, Tribulations and Puppies

2007-07-21T16:42:00.000-04:00

Hi All,

Gosh, it seems like a long time since I've posted. So much has happened I'm not sure where to start or how to tell it all in the right order. I guess I'll just follow the calendar and fill in little things as they come up. Sorry if it's a little too detailed.

Last you heard I was on my way back to Ohio to visit my parents. Of course, I had a nice time spending lots of time with Mom and Dad, Odie (the dog) and Prince (the cat).

And the first night home is always pizza night from Pink Cricket. Yummmm. I think they have beer in their sauce. It's the best.

Of course, every other word out of Dad's mouth for first couple of days was iPhone. Apparently he wanted me to get him one for Father's Day (which we were celebrating belatedly while I was home). "But Dad, you really want to wait till the next generation. AT&T isn't that great." blah, blah, blah, I tried over and over again to convince him. Finally I gave up, twisted his arm a little and sent him up to the Apple Store to get one for himself. He had dropped Mom and me off at Grandpa's to visit while he went.

After visiting with Grandpa, we get a call from Dad, "Are we going to have to make another trip to Columbus today?" "Why?" I ask. "Well, I've been playing with the display model and when you see this, you're going to want one," he says. "Okay, why don't you just get me one while you're there?" I retort. Suddenly, I hear him making static noises claiming he was losing his cell signal and then hanging up on me. Ha Ha.

After awhile, Dad comes to pick Mom and me up and shows us his latest buy. Look but don't touch. We aren't even allowed to touch the bag. I begin to drool. Hmmm, maybe we are making another trip to Columbus.

Dad proceeded to twist my arm then and so we bid adieu to Grandpa and were off to Columbus to the Apple store for a second time that day where I bought my very own iPhone. I have since decided it's the best device on the face of the planet and love it. It's pretty great being able to do everything in one. Of course, I still have my regular cell phone and am going to be moving my phone number to to iPhone so I'll still only have two numbers.

See, already I'm ahead of myself though. Before leaving for Ohio, I knew that my regular director for new was going to be on vacation the following week. So I get to look forward to his replacement. Well, Saturday morning before the big iPhone excursion, I get a call from my production manager. The director for the LIVE show is having an emergency appendectomy practically as we speak. Ah great. Now I have two replacement directors. Okay, I'll deal.

I also did a couple of decent runs while in Ohio including a 9.5mile one. So the rest of the trip to Ohio goes great. We have a really nice dinner together and spend a little time walking around downtown Lancaster. Then it's back to NY.

Monday with two substitutes goes okay. Tuesday I go into work and discover the replacement director for news called in sick. Now many of you know I go in at 3:30am. He called in sick at 2:45am. For any of you who have worked this kind of shift, you know you just don't call in sick unless it's the day before. Even if you're sick, you go in and then get someone in to cover you. After a phone call to my production manager (he loves getting calls at 3:45am), he says you're on your own. So I proceed to direct and assoc. direct the news all by myself -- in the process, saving the network. (Just kidding). I managed thanks to a great crew who did what I thought even if it didn't come out of my mouth. Then instead of leaving after the LIVE show (as I usually do around 11am), I have to edit the two shows airing on Thursday and Friday (this was July 4th week). I leave work at 2:30p. Managed to get through Wednesday, July 4th.

I figured I would have been able to run during the beginning of this week but obviously, I didn't. And I had already gotten a ticket to go see a Thursday theater matinee. I saw Inherit the Wind. It was very, very good. It had Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy in it. Wow. It was ending this weekend (somehow I always see them on closing weekends). I didn't think I'd like the subject matter but found it was really about the freedom of choice as opposed to group mentality. An excellent performance.

It's now Thursday and I haven't run since last Friday.

Friday I leave work, take a quick nap before getting ready for a meeting with my trainer. As I leave, I call Mom (who I do talk to about 10 times a day), and she's crying. I can barely make out the words, she's crying so hard. All I know really is that Odie's been hit by a car. I don't know if he's just hurt or what. Off I go to the gym where I set up both phones (cell and iPhone) waiting for the call, figuring if they took Odie to the vet, it might be awhile. I'm on the treadmill for 15 minutes when Dad calls. Odie died. My parents' house is about 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the road but apparently Odie decided to take himself for a walk. He's had ear problems and probably only had about 60% of his hearing so we think he wandered off and didn't realize how far he was and didn't hear the truck. And the truck driver who hit him, stopped, put him in his truck and after trying to find Odie's parents, was going to take him to the dump! Mom and Dad were beside themselves but luckily they got Odie's body before that happened. When Dad called he was going out to bury Odie.

We're all devastated. I get off the treadmill and end up spending the hour I was supposed to be training crying to my trainer. Finally am able to pull it together and come home. I just can't believe it. I just saw him a few days ago.

Later that night I'm off to see Curtains, a ticket I had bought over a month ago. I just couldn't enjoy it the way I usually would. I was nice but I'l sure I wasn't as into it as usual.

Mom emailed me Odie's glamour pictures later that night. I had never seen them since she couldn't find the CD they were on. She thought it was lost but after looking and looking, she found them. I'm so glad. Here there are as a tribute to him.

Saturday morning I was going to go running but just felt a heaviness over me regarding a stressful week at work and Odie's loss. So I slept in and just hung out at home most of the day. I made a tentative decision not to run the ING NYC Marathon this year. I feel pretty comfortable with this decision. This also gives me the availability to go home again in August. Both Mom and Dad and I had started looking into new puppies. More on this in a moment.

Sunday morning my phone rings at 4:30am. My first thought was that my production manager was calling me and that someone didn't show up for work that morning. Instead it was my mom. My uncle (dad's sister's husband) had just died.

It was a shock for the family, especially coming on top of Odie.

Dan had been a surgeon and he and Carolyn (my aunt) had one of their first dates at my 21st birthday dinner. He fit into the family very good having a love of life and a joyous spirit. When Josh (now 16) and Caity (now 15) were young, Dan had quadruple bypass surgery during which the anethesiologist didn't monitor the oxygen getting to his brain. He lost most of his verbal abilities and his motor skills/dexterity and balance were affected by the injury ending his surgical career and forever altering the lives of the family. Caity had just recently been accepted into the Woodstock School in India where Dan had gone to school his entire life. So off Dad goes to Albuquerque to be with the family. After having a memorial service out there, they all head back to Ohio where another memorial service is scheduled.

During all this I have tickets to go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Midnight movie. I must say I think it was the best of all 5 so far. And please, please go see this in IMax 3-D. The scene of the battle at the Ministry of Magic is in 3-D. It was fantastic.

This week was just a heavy, sad week.

So I still haven't run much at all and it's now Wednesday, July 11th.

I had planned on doing some decent running over the weekend but only managed a couple of short runs.

On Saturday night, Debbie and I went to see Harry Potter again. Her first time, my second. It was just as good the second time.

Monday, I decided to have a nice solid bike ride. I rode to work and after work went on a great 15 mile ride down the West Side and up the East side. It was really nice to ride for a change. I was a little sore afterwards.

I haven't really run this week either trying to be available for phone calls from home although I did a great workout with my trainer on Thursday. I'm still sore.

Last night I went to see 110 in the Shade (it closes this weekend). I hadn't really paid attention when I was buying the ticket that this was also the night Harry Potter 7 was to be released. So yesterday after standing in line to get my wristband to get my book, I headed home for a nap to get ready for my late night. I went straight from the theater to Barnes and Noble where I shoved and pushed and got in around 11:15p. After the wait and Jim Dale (who reads the Harry Potter books) counted down, the books went on sale. I got mine and was home at 12:38a. I read until 2a. Up at 7:30a cause I just couldn't wait to find out what happens to Harry. After a quick trip to Weight Watchers and lunch with a friend, I scurried home and finished the book at 4:17p today. It was very good and didn't end the way I expected it to. I did kind of predict a bit of the ending and I was right. It's going to make a great movie. But enough about Harry. I know many of you are still reading it.

Still haven't run. Oops. Half-Marathon in 2 weeks.

Puppies. Lots of stories to tell on this front -- and pictures.

First of all, my cousin Jared was a K-9 cop. Recently Rico (his dog), retired and sired a litter of puppies. So while Carolyn, Josh and Caity were in Ohio for Dan's memorial service, they went up and picked a puppy (this was originally planned before Dan died). And they named him Doc in memory of Dan. And while they were there, Jenny (Jared's wife) decided to get one too named Roxie. Here's a couple of pictures of them. Doc is now on his first big car trip as he makes his way back to Albuquerque with the rest of the family. And Roxie and Rico are getting along nicely. Here's a couple of pictures.

So in looking for a new puppy for Mom and Dad, I thought they might like a smaller dog than a cocker spaniel (we've been a cocker spaniel family for a long time) and I started looking for cockapoo breeders in Ohio. I found one that had puppies available and started looking at them. And got bitten by the puppy bug. I had always wanted one over here but just thought that my schedule didn't really allow for it. Well, I'm going to have to adapt cause I'm bringing her back to NY after visiting Ohio in August. Her name is BlueBelle iPuppy. I'm going to call her Belle. She's only a month old right now. Here are some pictures of her as a baby and some from last week. Dad's going to go look at her during the next week too.

And today, Mom and Dad visited the breeder where we'd gotten Odie. Of course, we had called her right away to tell her what happend to Odie and she was very sad. Mom also discovered that there were a couple of litters and that there should be black and whites available. Dad was very taken with a puppy that although he already had a deposit put on him, might become available still. And they're looking at a brown and white one. Here's a couple of pictures of them. Aren't they adorable? So they've decided to get two puppies.

By the end of August, the whole family will have new puppies. I'm hoping that when I'm home and I pick up Belle, we can also pick up Mom and Dad's puppies.

Life is slowly returning to normal and tomorrow I'm off for a good solid run. I won't be tapering much over the next two weeks and will be cramming a little. I'm fairly confident mentally so hopefully my body will hold up.

The week after the Half-Marathon, I'll be having a Beer, Pizza and Cupcake party to celebrate the finishing of the half, and a couple of birthdays. I should have some good blackmail pictures to post after that.

I guess that's about it. I don't know how much you can squeeze into three weeks' time but I'd be okay if life were uneventful for awhile. I'll leave you with a picture from Dad's rose garden in memory of Odie and Dan.

Chelly

p.s. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Debbie tagged me for this meme. You have to complete it using only SONG TITLES from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. No repeating song names. I'm going to tag Elizabeth and May.

I picked Steely Dan

• Are you a male or female:   Negative Girl
• Describe yourself:   Any Major Dude Will tell You
• Describe your day:   Black Friday
• Describe where you currently live:  Blues Beach
• If you could go anywhere, where would you go:   My Old School or The Last Mall
• Your best friend is:  Josie
• Your favorite color is:  Deacon Blues
• You know that:  Only a Fool would Say That
• What's the weather like:   Two Against Nature
• If your life was a television show, what would it be called:  Pretzel Logic
• What is life to you:  Reelin in the Years
• What is the best advice you have to give:  Rikki Don't Lose that Number
• Describe your ex:   Everything Must Go
• Your current love interest:  Cousin Dupree
• What's your favorite hobby:  Change of the Guard
• When you think of your friends:   Lunch with Gina
• What do your friends think of you?:   Show Biz Kids
• What does your current love interest think of you:   Hey Nineteen
• You always travel with:   Green Earrings
• The best way to end a long day:   King of the World

8 Random Things About Me (and a running update)

2007-06-24T08:55:00.000-04:00

Oh Debbie,

It figures you'd tag me with this one first since I don't have a clue what to put. I have to come up with 8 random things about me. Hmmmm. Well, here goes.

1. I fall asleep to audiobooks. It's like having my very own bedtime story person. I can fall asleep within 5 minutes usually. (Although this might be somewhat awkward if I had a boyfriend)

2. Although I love sci-fi/fantasy, I've never seen any Star Wars movies. Don't really know why, just haven't.

3. I don't like showering. Okay, not really true. I don't like being wet, but that's not quite right either. I don't like being wet after the shower. I never feel like I'm getting dry all the way. I'd like a human size blow dryer. That would be perfect.

4. I don't use air-conditioning in the summer (which means some of my friends won't come to visit me in August). I have a couple of fans but I really love being warm. I still haven't taken my electric blanket off my bed yet.

5. When I eat out, I tend to eat with my left hand but when I'm at home, I eat with my right.

6. I still have my childhood teddy bear on my bookshelf and still sometimes believe that after I fall asleep or when I'm gone, he has parties in the apartment with the other stuffed animals.

7. I've lived in the same apartment since I moved to NYC 21 years ago.

8. I'm not a morning person although I have to get up at 3am to go to work. I try not to talk to anybody until I have to. I get up early on vacation cause I don't want to waste valuable vacation time and I get up early to go running so I can get it over with. I also take a nap almost every day.

So there's my list. Maybe not very enlightening or radically odd. Maybe I'm more normal than I think. So since almost everyone has done this I think I'll tag Elizabeth. Also since I think he's got some extra time between projects right now (and I hope you don't think I'm being presumptuous), I'll tag Landmarks.

The rules of the Meme are:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Also, here's a quick running update. This week I didn't run at all really. I worked out with my trainer on Monday, and just kept putting off the runs. It was a stressful work week. Friday I finally got out to the park where I just did the Lasker Pool hill which I should have run about 3 times instead of just once. Anyway, Saturday I finally got out and took a cab up to the Engineers Gate (which is hopefully close to where they're starting the half-marathon) and started running. I did clockwise around the park back to the Engineers Gate and kept going down and out of the park at 7th Ave, down through Times Square (they were having a street fair which made it much easier to get through) and on down Broadway till 31st Street. According to the maps, it was 9.28 miles in 2 hours for a time of about 12:55mm. Of course, this doesn't take into account the little break I took at 1:20 or at 1:40 or at 1:50. But next week I can try to run though those. I'm doing better. And I'm trying to run the route as much as possible over the next few weeks. Maybe my body will learn it and be able to deal with it better. It was a lot of fun and very diverting to watch the race (the Pride race) going on as I was running. Usually I'm just looking at other runners' backs so it was nice that they were running the other way so I got to see the elites and then later as the packs started coming and see faces for a change. It really took my mind off what I was doing.

I'm definitely sore today but nothing is actually hurting as in injured or anything. So that's good.

p.s. I'm now officially a paid member of the NYFlyers so I hope to see some of you and say hello soon.

I also bought a last minute ticket and saw LoveMusik last night. It was very good and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's about Lotte Lenya and Kurt Weill and their tumultuous relationship and careers. I don't think I'd realized before this that Lotte Lenya was a real person. The only reference I had had of her was during the movie Undercover Blues with Dennis Quaid and Kathleen Turner. So that was my evening. With a post-theater snack at Sardi's. Then home and straight to bed.

I'm off to Ohio this week to see Mom and Dad. I haven't seen them since Christmas so I'm really looking forward to a little parental TLC and a couple of days off work.

I'll leave you with a picture of Mom and Dad's house. I plan on spending a lot of time on this patio while I'm home.

Chelly

Weekend Report: Running, Racing and Entertainment

2007-06-18T17:25:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Well, I'm back again. See I'm doing a much better job posting now. I'm determined to keep you in the loop.

I'll start with running. Saturday's plan was to go out and run for 90 minutes at whatever pace felt good and not walk (I've gotten into some bad habits). I mostly kept with that plan. Started out around 20th Street and 5th Ave. and headed over to the Chelsea Piers at 23rd Street. I hadn't been around there in awhile and they've got it all torn up. Wow, was I surprised. Things that big shouldn't happen without me noticing. So I ran around all the piers in the Chelsea piers complex. Not too many people do this but you get to run where nobody else is running (I think I saw 4 runners on them all total) and you get a nice breeze at the end of the pier. Plus it's kind of fun running around the golfing area wondering if someone up in that complex is trying to hit you with their golf ball (not that they could because of the netting but still you wonder). Then I headed down the Hudson River Park. I continue to run the piers as much as possible cause it adds decent mileage without you having to run far from home. It makes me feel like I'm that much closer to the finish. I must admit, I walked three time, once at 30 minutes, once at 60 minutes, and once at 75 minutes. But only for a total of about 4-5 minutes in all. I was getting a drink of water and just bringing my heart rate down. I'm going to have to start working through those breaks this week. Anyway, I was thinking I'd end up with about 6.25 miles. Obviously, I'm not very good at math on the run cause it ended up being exactly 7.0 miles in 90 minutes (it's probably a little farther than that cause my Nike Sport is a little under in terms of mileage). I was thrilled. That's a 12:51mm. If I can only do that for the half-marathon. In Central Park. With the hills. --heavy sigh--

So it was off to get weighed. Okay, I'm coming clean. I'm working on losing weight. After coming back from France last fall, I kind of let things go and ended up gaining back a lot of the weight I had lost. So I've now been getting food delivered again (from www.deliciouslyyours.com, a division of eDiets.com) and going to Weight Watchers again. I love Weight Watchers and especially the leader of this meeting, Ricardo. He's a delight and very inspirational. And it's helping me eat out without going overboard. Yes, I'm probably tricking myself by getting weighed as soon as I'm done running (I lose at least a pound just in sweat), but it makes me feel better. I'm down another 2 pounds. Ahh. 12 pounds in about 2 months. And I'm within 5 pounds of where I was when I went to France. Running feels a lot better now too.

Then home for a quick shower before heading off to a matinee. I took a couple of friends, Debbie and Debbie D, and we went and saw The Drowsy Chaperone. It was a great show! Thoroughly entertaining and funny. I highly recommend it. It's also a good show for kids and for taking your parents to without anything embarassing or offensive. It's nice to go to a show like that.

On Saturday I gave Debbie her birthday present, a MORE Half-Marathon book to document our first half-marathon. I think she really liked it. So now I finally get to post the pictures for you all.

Sunday I ran the WABC Father's Day Prostate Cancer race. I probably wouldn't have done this but I signed up for it a long time ago and I thought I'd just do it as a run. I rode my bike up and that helped me warm up. I said hello to all the WABC people and crews then went to line up. I really wanted to do this in under 1:05:00. That would be 13:00mm. My best time for 5M was 1:02:51 and a couple that were over 1:05:00. I ended up finishing in 1:04:10. That was 12:50mm. I was really happy with this especially since I did the mileage on Saturday. My shins are hurting a little bit but after icing and some Advil, and a day off from running today, I think I'll be good to run tomorrow.

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures I took during my first training run for the half-marathon. It was a beautiful night and it was a Blue Moon that night. A blue moon is what it's called when there are two full moons in one month. That's where we got the saying "Once in a blue moon" cause it happens so seldom.

Till later,

Chelly

Mini 10K pictures

2007-06-15T22:07:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Yep, posting again. Trying to make up for all that time of not posting I guess. I was very surprised that I actually got 9 -- yes, 9, pictures from the Mini 10K. And only one looks like I'm dying. Of course, I was dying for abou 4.5 of the 6.2 miles but at least I looked okay. I think I'm getting a shape back again. Another 8 pounds and I'll be in the same shape I was before I went to France last year.

Did hill work today, for the first time. It was harder than I expected, which I guess means it's a good thing I'm doing them. Stay tuned on Sunday for the weekend running report. Also since I'll be giving Debbie her birthday present tomorrow, I can post it for you to see.

Happy weekend,

Chelly

Race Report, Running in General, Theater Reports

2007-06-14T19:48:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Since I just finished reading everyone's blogs and getting all the updates (yes, I've even been negligent about reading blogs lately), i thought I should give a quick update about what's going on in my life.

Let's see, where to start. I did another training run with the group and have since decided to cancel training with that program. I thought I'd be able to run without an iPod, but nope. I did 14:05s on the run with them and although was told that I'd actually be running with someone who was about my speed, she was actually much faster and I ran with her for less than 2 miles of the 5 that we did. The coach wants us to get in touch with our bodies and I have to tell you, if I was in any more touch with it, I'd be home on the couch napping already. I think the iPod really takes my mind off what I'm doing and lets me just do it -- to tempo. Anyway, it all worked out but now I'm training by myself again.

I did the Japan Day race and enjoyed it. I didn't do quite as good as I did for the Mother's day race but I was pleased with a total time of 49:33 (ave. 12:23mm). I did this race alone and actually rode my bike up and back. So add another 6.75 miles of biking on to the race and I figured I'd done a good day's work.

I've also started using the NIKE Sport workouts from iTunes. They have a couple I really like like Increase Your Speed 1 and 2 and Build Your Strength 1 & 2 (hillwork). So I'm working with those to help me out and my trainer from the gym is also meeting me in the park to work with me. I've been letting myself walk way too much lately both during runs and races so that's something I'm really working on too.

And although I'm not on the DL, I have had a bit issue lately with my little toe. Since I went to New Orleans and walked so much (and probably because of my Keds which narrow at the toe), my little toe has been slipping under my other toes and creating huge blisters on that toe and on my fourth toe. This has been a real pain running too because I couldn't figure out how to fix it. Finally, yesterday, I found something. They're like little tubes and if I put one over the little toe and one on the 4th toe, it seemed to work just fine and it didn't hurt at all. Whew!

Well, I'll finish the race reports before venturing into the other stuff. I did the Mini-10K last Saturday. And let me tell you, when they handed me my medal at the end, I almost gave it back saying that I didn't deserve it. Oh my gosh, it's one of the worst races I've done before. Only one thing redeemed anything that day. I did the first mile in 12:00, my fastest ever. Apparently it was also the only mile I was going to run! I obviously started out too fast and also started feeling the humidity. So each mile after that got progressively worse and my toe was hurting. I hoped to finish under 1:20:00 and barely made it in under 1:25:00. UGH!

I did see NYFlygirl before the race and said hello and talked to her for a few minutes. I'm hoping to come out and run with the Flyers for some runs soon.

Otherwise, training is going alright although I'm a little behind, partly because I was getting ready to go running on Tuesday when the skies opened up and it poured. I guess God didn't want me running that day. I was happy to oblige. However, I still had a session at the gym with my trainer and she made me do speed on the treadmill so I didn't skip everything. I also had a very nice run yesterday and didn't stop and walk at all, a big accomplishment for me lately. Not too bad on the time but I'm going to try to up the ante on Saturday morning and push it a little bit. Sunday's Father's Day run is going to have to be a nice easy thing. And I'm doing hillwork in the park tomorrow morning. Lots of running coming up.

And I've been working late. We're on hiatus for a week coming up so we have to get all that work done too. I haven't been leaving work till around noon every day practically (usually I'm out by 10:30am). It really cuts into my nap time.

This past weekend I maxed out on the theater. Since they were both closing, I went an saw Moon for the Misbegotten with Kevin Spacey. I thought it was okay although it did take a couple of minutes at the beginning for my ears to get used to the Irish accent. I enjoyed it but didn't think it was great. I overheard someone say as they were leaving that it was overacted and I have to agree. They were always actors playing the parts, and never really became the character. It's too bad really.

However, all was redeemed with Saturday night's show: Journey's End. Now I didn't think I'd like this because of it being a WWI play. Boy was I wrong. It was fantastic. The story was about a company of English soldiers in a bunker during the war. The first part was very funny because as you know, the English don't take much seriously except their tea. Lots of laughs and it was very enjoyable. The second half got serious and it ended with a poignant finish with all the company dead. During the battle scene, all the lights were off in the theater and all you heard were the very loud sounds of the battle raging just up and outside the bunker. And the finish was the curtain coming up on the whole company standing at attention in front of the memorial. Wow! What an emotional ending. I'm really sorry it's closed now and you can't go see it. If it comes back, please make a point of going.

And then Sunday night, the Steely Dan concert. Now I love Steely Dan and here I was all set for a long concert and staying up really late on a work night to see them. First of all, the opening act was blech. Three guys, one who was on an electric piano like something out of the 70s, another on a drum set that looked like it was a kid's set, and a guitarist. Anyway, I was definitely ready when Steely Dan took the stage. They played great although I thought the mix was a little bad with the vocals being a little low both for the main vocals and the backups. About a quarter of the songs they played I didn't even know (like they don't have enough to play all the favorites), and they never played Deacon Blues, my all time favorite song. So my summary is this, I payed $150 for a ticket where they only played for an hour and 40 minutes which sure isn't very long, they played too many songs we didn't know, didn't play the songs we really loved, and only did one encore where they ended with My Old School. They everybody left. That's it. End of story. And during this entire thing, the stupid idiot of a guy beside me was trying to bootleg the whole thing, even after security talked to him. Very annoying since cameras don't have viewfinders anymore and you have a great big monitor on the back. Don't know how he saw any of the concert at all. Very disrupting. So all in all, it was a very disappointing show, especially since they're one of my favorite bands.

Going to see The Drowsy Chaperone this weekend with Debbie
and another Debbie. It's supposed to be very good. And I can give Debbie her birthday present and then post it on here and show it to you guys. I've been waitiing impatiently for that.

Well, I think that's about it for now. I'm trying to post more often. Let's see how I do. Hope to see some of you out at the Father's Day race this Sunday. The WABC trucks are out there cause we're televising it, so set your TIVOs and smile at the pretty cameras as you go by. Till then, isn't this one of the best signs ever?!?!?...

Chelly

More Half Marathon, New Orleans and other stuff

2007-05-30T17:42:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

Well, once again I appear to be apologizing for not posting sooner. I do have lots to tell you though so here we go.

I was nervous about the half-marathon because I just didn’t feel like I was ready for it. Instead of a taper, I just kind of stopped running for two weeks before the race. Oops. And I didn’t feel like I had the speed that I wanted, so I gave up the idea of doing a three hour half and decided I was just going to go out, have a good time, do my best and finish strong.

Debbie came over on Saturday and we headed off to the Expo which I thought could have been much better. We did both find stuff to buy and lots of freebies. After wandering the neighborhood, it was off to the 6pm seating for the pasta party. Dinner was good, if hurried. I mean, 1500 people got fed, 500 per hour for three hours. I was really amazed. There were all sorts of people there, families, women sharing a girls weekend away, mother/daughter teams and many groups of friends.

Then it was off to bed for a 5am wake up call. That’s when the nerves started to kick in.

As I said, I was just going to do my best. I wore a 3:00 pace band and just wanted to stay pretty close to it. I did pretty good until around mile 7. Then we began the second loop around the park. Thankfully, that’s also when my secret weapon, my own personal pacer, Adam, joined me. Oh my gosh. If he hadn’t been there my time would have been much longer. Since it was an all-woman race, he couldn’t compete and had agreed to come help me with the second loop. Now, I’d run the park before on training runs, however, I had never run the hills twice in one day and my normal training ground is all flat. He was trying to keep me on a 13:30 minute mile. He did his best but I was losing it. He did keep me running though no matter want. Poor Adam. He looked at his heart rate monitor and said that his heart rate never went above 130 and I replied that mine never went below 170. When Dad saw my pictures, he asked if my feet even left the pavement. Nope, sometimes they didn’t.

But I was determined to cross the finish line even if I had to crawl. Luckily, it didn’t come to that. As Adam was directed off the course, the finish line came into sight. As people yelled my name (due to our shirts), Adam urged me on from the sidelines, and Coach Mindy (from The Running Center), cheered, I finally found one last burst of energy and crossed the line. Debbie found me, gave me a big hug and I felt like I was going to bawl my eyes out right there. But I held it together (didn’t want to be a weepy Girl in front of God, Adam, and everybody).

After the bestowing of the medal, official finishers pictures and the retreival of our baggage, we headed out of the park, over to WABC to change into warm clothes. Then we grabbed a cab to the West Village to Elephant and Castle for Creme Brulee Porridge. Yumm.

During the next two weeks, I learned that you can’t start training again until you’ve forgotten your last race. It did take awhile but I’ve finally recovered, body and mind. And guess what? I’m going to do it again in August. I’m an idiot.

Yep, I was accepted into the NIKE NYC Half Marathon in August. More on that later.

After that I did jury duty -- yuk. I just don't understand how people who have lived in NYC their entire lives never get called and yet I get a summons like clockwork every 4 years. Random my a@*. But it's done for another 4 years now.

I did treat myself the week after the half and went to see Legally Blonde on Broadway. Yes, I know, you're all laughing but it's really a pretty enjoyable show, especially if you go into it just wanting to be entertained. And people actually dressed for it. Lots of pink. It was a nice treat.

I also saw Spring Awakening where I had a seat on the stage. I think for this show I might have enjoyed sitting in the audience a little better though because although you got to sit next to the performers, I had a hard time hearing some of the singing because, of course, the accoustics are set for the audience to hear good. I thought the performance was very good and I can definitely see why the show was banned long ago. It could be considered a little cutting edge even by today's standards.

Spring in the park. I finally started running again after recovering from the Half (let me tell you, I didn't want to think about running, look at anything associated with running, or any physical activity whatsoever for at least two weeks).

adidas Run for the Parks

The Labrecque Classic

The Mother's Day Race.

Since lacing up my running shoes again, I've been doing much shorter runs and trying to get faster during them, even if it's as little as .01 miles faster. This is finally paying off since for the adidas race I did 50:48 (12:42mm), for the Labrecque I did 50:21 (12:35mm) and finally for the Mother's Day run I did 48:55 (12:13mm) and was within 4 second of a PR for a 4-mile race. For the Mother's Day race, I actually ran with someone for the entire race. Although Debbie and I run races together, we don't really "run together" since she's about 2 minutes per mile faster than me. So I met someone who runs about the same pace as I do and it really helped to run with someone. We were both playing off each other and did much better than either one of us thought we could do. YEAH! And some of those faster runs are paying off.

I attended the newly choreographed version of Romeo and Juliet. Why is it that I just can't stay awake during the ballet? It doesn't matter what I see, I'm just barely hanging on. It's not that I don't enjoy it (although I think I would enjoy a little bit more contemporary ballets instead of classical ones), I just think that since there's nothing being said, it just doesn't keep my attention as well.

The 5 Boro Bike Tour came and went (and so did the feeling in my butt). I think the hardest part was (I think) the Gowanus. I have no idea where I was but it was the highway before we get to to the road to the Verazanno Bridge. There was a huge headwind that day and no matter which way we turned, it was blowing right in our faces. AGH! Luckily, I signed up and rode with NY Sports Clubs. I would never do this ride any other way since we are placed right in front. A friend of mine did the ride and didn't get to Staten Island until after 4:30pm. I arrived home at 12:30p. He didn't get home till 7:30. I was home, and in the tub by 2pm. There didn't seem to be as many Brightroom posts as there were last year but there are still a couple really good pictures of me.

Next I was off to New Orleans for work. I've never been there before so I went down a day early to do some sightseeing. We were staying in Harrah's about a 10 minute walk from the French Quarter. I walked everywhere. I did the Haunted New Orleans Tour with the Rev. Voodoo group, did the Garden District walking tour, a cemetary walking tour, took a carriage ride tour of the French Quarter, and just walked up and down the streets. I did run one morning along the Riverewalk and through the French Quarter. I stopped a couple of times to take pictures. Of course, I took lots of those.

And what food!!!! One day, I had an entire plate and there was nothing on it that wasn't fried: french fries, hush puppies, fried oysters, fried shrimp, fried catfish and a stuffed crab that was then fried. Since I'm trying to lose weight, my strategy was to order a salad, appetizer and then have a bite of what everyone else was eating. It worked; 5 days in New Orleans and I didn't gain anything. The desserts were pretty fantastic too. You ordered them even before you ordered dinner. We had chocolate bread pudding one night and I'm not usually a bread pudding fan -- oh my gosh, it was fantastic!

We went to Paddy O'Brian's where I shared a hurricane with one of the other girls. We had a great time on Bourbon St. walking up and down, listening to the music. And I love that you can walk the streets with your drinks.

We did the show (LIVE with Regis and Kelly) here for two days and it was one of the best remotes we've done. The set looked great and the bands on the show all sounded good. We had some of the chefs from the area on, Emeril, Paul Prudhomme, Tenney Flynn from Fins. I went to Fins on our last night and had a nice quiet excellent dinner there.

Back home again I treated myself to Shrek the Third for Memorial Day enterainment.

Then on Sunday night, at 1:53am, I got the call. Now I didn't get to bed till 11:30pm (stupid me) figuring I'd do some sleeping on Monday after work. Apparently, Sunday night the studio went up in flames (as you've probably heard). Great! So we've been dealing with that for the week. It's always something. But they were determined to do a live show with Regis and Kelly on Tuesday (Monday was on tape due to the holiday). So we've been airing from the Millionaire studios and are hoping to get back into our own space next week. But who knows? Lots of meeting, lots of cleaning and everyone's still trying to figure out what's going on.

Last night, I had my first training run for NIKE NYC Half Marathon training. I think the training will be very good for me. I ran pretty slow last night since I haven't been running as much as I should have because of all the excitement going on. The coach is very adamant about running without music (which I believe also contributed to my slower pace last night). Apparently you can't be an "athlete" with "gadgets." Have you looked at my pictures lately? I'll never be a "athlete" and running with music really helps me keep up a decent pace. So during her classes, I'll do it her way but otherwise, I'm running with music. And what about those long runs? What am I supposed to do in my head for 2 hour runs? I was planning on doing Marathon training with her too but I'm now thinking twice about it because I really feel that with the NIKE+ sport monitor on my iPod, it can help since I know what pace I'm running at and how far. I get the feeling she's never looked into what this "gadget" can do and how it can help. But I'm going to see how the training goes in the next month or so before I make my decision.

Upcoming events in my life include the Japan Day race. I've never done this before and I'll probably just run it since I'll be doing more mileage in this week than I've done in the past two or three combined. And I'm doing the Circle of Friends Mini-10K and the Father's Day run. In between these I'm going to see The Drowsy Chaperone and a Steely Dan concert. I have a trip back to Ohio planned since it'll be the only time I can get home to see Mom and Dad before the NYC Marathon because of all the training. They've been instructed that they better be here in November for that. And Grandma is coming to visit from Albuquerque. She's never been here to see me in all the years I've lived here. That'll be a nice time together for us.

The reason I haven't posted lately is because I've been spending a lot of time (and money) on my new hobby, digital scrapbooking. I made a great little photo album of 4x6 pictures to send to mom and dad. And they're a little time consuming to make (I can only do 2 a night). I didn't want to post them before mom and dad saw them. Here's a couple for your perusal. What do you think? Maybe my second career? Just kidding.

So I'll try to post more often. There's lots of stuff going on so there's really no excuse that I don't have anything to post about.

Here's a couple more pictures to leave you with. I hope you enjoy them.

Chelly

Updated 15K, NYC Marathon, Theater, and Other Events

2007-03-13T15:45:00.000-04:00

Hi All,

Well, I just got an email from NYRR and it says that they've updated the results and it'll be posted later on tonight. Don't know if they just took my word for it or what but it'll be there.

In running the 15K, I've realized that unless it's a perfect day, I'm probably not going to run the Half under 3 hours. I really wanted to and was even thinking I could do it under 2:45. And since I don't want to be disappointed with times, I've decided that I'm just going to go out there, do my best and enjoy it. Whatever time I end up doing will be a PR since it's my first half marathon. And hopefully, I'll just get better from there. I do like running, just not the rigidity of the training schedule sometimes.

Here's a great "only in NY" kind of running story.

So I was leaving work (up around Lincoln Center) one morning, a bit apprehensive about my upcoming 12 mile long run that weekend because of the weather (about 24 degrees). So as I was waiting to cross the street, I see a woman obviously coming from the park from doing a run. So I ask her how many layers she's wearing. She answers and I tell her about my long run coming up (so she doesn't think I'm a freak asking her what she's wearing). She asks if I'm training for anything -- the MORE half-marathon I say. And you're doing a 12 mile long run? You're overtraining. Oh great, I reply, I can skip the gym today! We get to talking and it turns out that she's Coach Mindy from The Running Center. What are the odds?!?

So we talk for several minutes and I head home with her business card in my pocket. After arriving home, I check my email and discover -- I've been accepted into the ING 2007 NYC Marathon!!!! I'm very excited and wrote back to them saying that I'm both elated and horrified! So you know where I'll be the next 10 months.

I ended up meeting with Coach Mindy a couple of weeks later and she adapted my half marathon training program and I'll be doing my NYC Marathon training with her starting in July.

Only in NY do you walk up to someone on the street and have it turn out to be an owner/trainer of a running program.

Otherwise in my life, I've been going to see a lot of theater lately. Let's see, last I posted, I was going to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy with Debbie. It was a really great show after we finally got inside B.B. Kings nightclub. We were waiting outside for about an hour and that's the night it was about 9 degrees outside. It took 45 minutes just to get unthawed.

I saw The Vertical Hour with Julianne Moore. I liked it although it was quite political.

This picture was from Lookingglass Alice which I saw at the New Victory Theater. I hadn't realized that the New Victory was kind of billed as a childrens theater. That many of the productions that come in there are geared to kids. Well, I'm really a kid at heart. Anyway this show was great. I wish it had been here longer so that other people I know could have seen it. First of all, I sat on the stage. After arriving and getting my seat on stage, behind the curtain, there's a set there facing us with a fireplace, a wing back chair and other living room stuff. And a huge mirror over the fireplace. It takes me 5 minutes to realize it's not a mirror, it's just and empty frame and I can see the house through it. The show begins with Lewis Carroll sitting in the chair and apparently there's a mirror set on the other side of the curtain with Alice sitting there. After doing a bit of individual monologues, they both get up and stand at the fireplace, discover each other, climb onto the mantle and through the frame/mirror. Suddenly, the curtain drops. I mean drops. From the ceiling. And the show was just a joy with a little theater, a littel cirque du soleil and lots of gymnastics. Very entertaining. I loved it.

I saw The Little Dog Laughed at the closing performance. It's not really my style but I thought it was well done and I'm glad I saw it before it closed.

Then LIVE with Regis and Kelly went to LA so we were out there for about 5 days. It always seems like it's cold when we're there. The week before it had been 70-75 degrees. While we were there the high was 64. We were right in Beverly Hills, near the Beverly Center Mall. It was really nice to be so close to stores and life. Last year we were at a hotel in Glendale and there wasn't much in terms of food or shopping around us. The downside was the 45-60 minute drive to KABC every morning.

Since it's closing in July, I figured I should go see this. I like it more than I thought although with all the kids in the audience, it was a little more fidgeting than usual in the audience. I was surprised that the kids were quiet during the show. I guess they've seen the movie so much and are familiar with the story that they listened. In fact, a couple of them gave their own responses to things the characters said. It was very definitely a Disney presentation with spectacular sets and costumes.

This show is great. I didn't really know what to expect but it really hit home. It's very NY centered, and very dysfuntional. The whole audience was laughing -- lots. I would recommend that everyone go see this. Very entertaining. I love that all the characters are on stage all the time, play their own instruments and sing at the same time and move. I'm lucky I can eat breakfast and watch TV at the same time. Very talented performers.

This weekend, I'm going to see Jenny's new show, Orange Murder Suit. I'm looking forward to it. And then Debbie and I are going to try one of the two new burger joints down in the neighborhood, either BRGR or Stand.

And I have a ticket to see Spring Awakenings in April in a seat on the stage. I hear it's a very racy show.

And of course, the More Half-Marathon. This week and next are taper weeks and I'm very happy about that. Tomorrow's supposed to be a gorgeous day outside so I'm planning on heading over to the west side and doing a few miles in the sunshine. I'm so glad it's gettting warmer out.

That's about it for now. I'll leave you with another picture from France. I obviously need to take the camera out and get some new pictures sometime soon. Maybe I'll head out to the Orchid Show at the NY Botanical Gardens.

Chelly

Colon Cancer Challenge 15K report

2007-03-11T21:33:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

I'm not exactly posting a race report. I'm actually going to give you a email I sent to NYRR in response to my race results NOT being listed because apparently they took down the finish line at 2:09:00, a fairly random time if you ask me for a race that specifically said no time limit.

So here's the email and it'll give you most of the details.

NY Road Runner Staff:

Today, I ran the Colon Cancer Challenge 15K. Why don't you see my results, you may ask? Well, I'm asking the same thing! I would normally have run the 4M race however, since I'm planning on doing the MORE Half-Marathon in two weeks, my friend and I decided that we would use this race as our last long training run.

So off I go this morning, running up to Central Park since my training schedule called for 12 miles today and then pick up my number, get ready, go! And we're off. So around and around we go. Since I'm not the fastest runner and I was suffering a small case of shin splints and was using this race as a training run, I estimated that this run would take me between 2:00:00 and 2:15:00.

I held on for the first 6 miles fairly well, and then the shin splints started to get to me and I slowed down a bit. I knew that this would affect my finish time but since the course page of these races specifically said
"Time Limit
There is no time limit for the Colon Cancer Challenge."
I wasn't particularly worried about the time. I crossed the finish line at 2:13:30 clock time (2:10:00 chip time), behind about 5 other people and there were at least 5, if not 10, people who I watched cross the finish line after me.

Later that day, I went in to check my time for the race, as I've done for many races in the past. There were no results for me. What?!? How can that be? I ran the race, crossed the mats on the ground and got my chip cut off.

After looking through the NYRR Results for the race, I determined that NYRR had started ripping down the finish line after 2:08:59 which was the last clocked time, an apparent random time.

I am very upset about this for several reasons. The first is that this race specifically said "There is no time limit for the Colon Cancer Challenge." If I had known there was a time limit, I may have done the 4M run or skipped the run today in favor of my last long run before the taper. Also to have a 2:09:00 time limit it a little vague. Since there were walkers (you did have a spot at the start for walkers to line up and I did see some), perhaps you shouldn't have torn everything down till 2:30:00. It's only 21 minutes however you would have clocked all of the runners including several who came before me and the ones after me, and there were people after me (which are also seen in a picture my friend took).

The second reason is that now this race is not listed on my membership as having completed it which means it doesn't count to my 2008 NYC Marathon entry. Yes, I probably would do enough races later in the year to qualify however, that shouldn't negate that this race that I ran and finished properly with an active clock still going. This was a long run for me (I've never run more than a 10K race before this) and it should have been accompanied by a feeling of great accomplishment of finishing, the excitement of seeing my name and my race time, the endless pouring over the stats and the joy of succeeding. All that I'm left with is a futile feeling of worthlessness and senseless resignation.

To remedy this situation, I recommend you showing that I completed the race with the above clock and chip times (I did have my Nike+ on from the starting mats to the finishing mats -- it took me 3:30 minutes to get to the starting mats after the starting horn) and that this race will be counted to the 2008 NYC Marathon races.

The least you can do is count the race toward the 2008 NYC Marathon even if you don't give me a time.

And in the future, you should review your wording in the race information concerning time limits. As I said, if I had known that there was going to be a 2:09:00 time limit, I probably wouldn't have signed up for this particular length of race. Or choose a time limit that includes the slower runners and the walkers. If the time limit is specified, people know what to expect and can react accordingly.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter. I look forward to your prompt response.

So I'll let you know what they say. Otherwise it was an okay run. I determined it's very hard for me to run a race around the same course twice. Hopefully I'll work up some head games for that for the Half Marathon in two weeks and that I'm going to have to let go of my goal of 3 hours for the half and I need to decide just to finish and finish as strong as I can and be happy with it. It is, after all, my first half marathon and there's always time for improvement in the future.

Thanks for letting me rant. Brunch afterwards was great -- Elephant and Castle for Creme Brule Porriage and Eggs Benedict French Toast -- yummm. Debbie should have pictures of the Creme Brule up in the future (or she'll send them to me and I'll post them).

Guess it's off to bed for me now. I was more upset by this than I thought to stay up way past bedtime writing this email to them. Hope they respond quickly.

Well, goodnight everyone! Leaving you with a nice soothing France picture that I'm using as my desktop lately.

Chelly

Coudn't Resist This!

2007-03-10T07:15:00.000-05:00

You are Milk Chocolate

A total dreamer, you spend most of your time with your head in the clouds.
You often think of the future, and you are always working toward your ideal life.
Also nostelgic, you rarely forget a meaningful moment... even those from long ago.

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

Hi all,

Also I'm getting a posting ready for you. It seems like all I've been doing lately has been running (or trying to avoid running) and working. But then I remember lots of Broadway lately and just life so I'll try to have it for you by the beginning of the week.

Chelly

Holiday Pictures and New Year's Running

2007-01-07T15:47:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,

I hope by now everyone is sufficiently recovered and back to normal for the new year. I’m working on putting away the Christmas decorations after taking the tree down almost a week ago. I’ve been very busy throughout the holidays and even into the New Year.

For Christmas, I went home to visit my parents.

Ohio Christmas Tree ......Santa's Bag Exploded

We had a much quieter Christmas than normal since it was the first Christmas without my grandma and the relatives from Albuquerque didn’t come back this year. It was nice though just being able to spend time with mom and dad. We spent the first night eating pizza from The Pink Cricket -- the best pizza ever. Somehow I think they put a little sugar and some beer in their sauce and it’s just heaven. Mom and I spent some time shopping together and just hanging out and Dad and I had some quality Father/Daughter time.

Mom and her rose umbrella......dad and his karaoke machine

Reflective running vest......warm hood (for a warm winter)

New Ohio State National Championship sweatshirt

We got Dad a karaoke machine which we thought he'd just been kidding about for years. But he and I spend over 3 hours on Christmas day singing along. And let me tell you, we thought we were much better singers than that. It was pathetic -- funny, but pathetic. But we had a good time. We finally offended mom enough that she had to go into the kitchen to get away from us.

I even found time to do some running while I was home. It really helps that our house is on this great big hill so that almost the first mile is downhill. Well, on Friday, it was raining and I tried to go in and use dad’s treadmill. AGH! It’s the worst thing I’ve ever been on. I guess I know what the next father’s day present is going to be. It doesn’t even have numbers on it and the only way to increase speed or anything is to use the arrow buttons. And it only goes down to 2% incline. Well, I’ve been doing my treadmill running on a 0-.5% incline. I got through 2 miles in almost 29 minutes and that was the workout for the day. I made up for it the next two days by going out and doing my best 5 mile run ever. I did it in 1:01:23 for a 12:15mm. Wow!
I was really impressed. Even though it probably was too fast to do since the next day, I went out for my scheduled long run of 8 miles. I did it in 1:48:55.
A very nice pace of 13:36mm. So I stayed on track with my workouts to be ready for the half marathon in March.

After coming back and spending the next few days recovering and getting back into the swing of getting up at 2:45am, it was time to get ready for the weekend again. Lots of good stuff scheduled for the weekend, but first I went to see the Grinch on Broadway before it closes. I thought it was a very cute show. Not really Tony Award standards but a nice way to celebrate the holidays and a good way to introduce kids to Broadway. The Grinch really made the whole show.

Now for a 9 mile long slow run. So off I go on Saturday, up the Hudson River Park path, including running the piers at Chelsea Piers and any other piers on the way uptown. They’ve done a lot of work since I was last up that way. It was really a nice run. It was strange not seeing the Intrepid at 42nd Street. Not many tourists though now Finally at 72nd Street, I headed back into the center of Manhattan were I head into Central Park at about 86th Street, up around the top of the reservoir (sorry for running the wrong way everyone), and I finished my nine miles a half a block away from NYRR, where I had to go to get numbers and t-shirts for the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run on New Year’s Eve. My running was great that day. It took 2:00:15 and worked out to 13:21mm.

So after picking up our race stuff, I headed home to get ready for the New Year’s Eve Eve party with my friends. It was crazy and fun and we finished off 9 bottles of champagne (almost 1 per person). The pizza was from Stromboli’s on University Place and it was great. Later there was dancing and really bad singing along with old 70s and 80s songs. Finally everyone left at about 4am. After paying homage to the porcelain god, I made it to bed. Here are some of the blackmail photos.

Debbie..................................Mari and Barbara

Debbie, Charlotte, Jane ..........Dead Soldiers

Alexandra and Barbara...........Debbie

Valerie.........................Mel

Alexandra...........................Debbie

Mel, Me, Alexandra.............More Dead Soldiers

The next day was spent recovering, cleaning, and trying to get in some shape to run 4 miles at midnight. What a stupid thing to do on New Year’s Eve. Well, that’s how I felt at the time.

Where's the clean-up crew?

But I did it. My time sucked (55:11 or some such nonsense). But it was a good way to bring in the new year with a renewed commitment to running. I have to say, it’s much easier to run the park at night when you can’t see the hills.

Then Debbie
and I went to have breakfast before I went to work where I had to direct that morning. Thank god for a great crew. They really looked out for me that morning. I went home at 9:30am and slept till around 12:30p, was up till 4:30p and went back to bed for the rest of the night. Tuesday I at least go the tree down and out and got the apartment mostly cleaned up and went to . It was such a nice day to be able to have the sliding glass door open a little to clean.
And I headed out to the theatre again to see Martin Short in Fame Becomes Me which closes this week. It was very funny and I think he’s very talented. And a trip by Sardi’s for a little after theatre snack.

Thursday was just kind of a tempo run because I was so sore from running. I felt like I could barely move. Isn’t this supposed to get better after awhile?

This weekend I did a 10 mile long slow run. It was a little slower than before but I was finally feeling not quite as sore. I have to say that the last 2.5 miles were hard and the last mile was a killer. I was basically shuffling along trying just to stay running. Finally I finished. And it was a beautiful day. I was glad I went out since when I got home it was 71 degrees out. Wouldn’t want to waste a day like that. I do have to learn about eating on the run because at a little over halfway in to the run, I got a little hungry. I made it through to the end but was starving later.

And then went and saw the matinee of Nathan Lane in Butley. Somehow I end up seeing all sorts of theatre right before they close.

So I’m pretty much right on track for running the More Half-Marathon, although at this point I’m hoping I can finish in under 3 hours which is my goal. But as my friends keep pointing out, I still have a couple of months to try to increase my speed a little bit.

That’s about it from here. I’ll keep you updated on the training. 11 miles next weekend. I just have to go out and do it and hope I don’t die on the way.

Otherwise, I’ll be going to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy coming up in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to it. It's also a week where I taper back a little bit on my running schedule. I'm very happy about that cause I feel like I need to recover and heal a little bit.

I don't really make new year's resolutions because you never end of keeping them. However this year, I feel like I need to make a few changes. One of those is definitely keep running and doing better and faster this year. Another thing, which should help the first one is I have to lose some weight. So I'm going to be making some changes this year. So if you see me in a restaurant or go out to dinner with me, help me out and remind me that there will be food available tomorrow and I don't have to eat it all in one day because the world's going to end or something. And I'm going to try to be more financially responsible (ha-ha). Big challenges, all of them, but I'd just like to make a few changes and I think they'll end up adding up to great things over the next year.

I'd be eager to hear what hopes, dreams and resolutions you all have made for this year. And best of luck with them. I'm leaving you with a picture from Central Park this past summer. With my dreams of warm weather.

Chelly

All sorts of interesting things (hopefully)

2006-11-20T17:46:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,

Obviously I'm not a very good blogger. Bad Chelly. So my New Year's Resolution will have to be to keep everyone up to date more on my life. So let me catch you up from Nov. 9th -- YIKES! So much has happened. Well, I'll start from then.

NOV. 11 - I went to the Chocolate Show. It was great although very crowded. I went in at the press entrance but they barely even checked my in, no press credentials or anything. Very strange. Nobody would know you were press unless you told them. But it was great trying all the chocolate. I mean, you know that different chocolate tastes different but the variations are endless. I ended up buying two different chocolates, one from Cosmic Chocolates. Their website is as great pretty as their chocolates. I bought the Cosmic Bombs: The Spirit of Cocktail Hour in a little chocolate bomb. It's Blazing Apples: Apple Pucker liquor infused caramel encased in a milk chocolate truffle shell adorned with crushed peanuts. That's just a sample. The other chocolates were just as pretty. Very shiny and beautiful.

NOV. 18 - A MetroStitchers gathering. We had a Yard Sale, Take Stuff Home, and Pizza Party. We had a total of 14 here. It was great seeing all the familiar faces again. Lots of people got rid of their extra stuff and I gave out lots of extra bags for people to take stuff home in. YEAH! All in all, it was a great success and we're already talking about doing another one in about 6 months or so, perhaps in association with one of the cross-stitch stores in NJ.

NOV. 19 - And on Sunday, I raced. Or tried to race. It was the Race to Deliver 4M. The first two miles, all I wanted to do was toss my cookies -- and the pizza and the beer and the doritos and the brownies and the cheese doodles from the day before. But I perservered. And came up okay. It was 51:39 for the 4 miles but since that's on par with some of the other 4 mile races I've done, I'm okay with that. Especially feeling the way I did. I wonder if this runner finished the race.

NOV. 21 - So I start the training for the More Half-Marathon on March 25th. I'm following the training program that's listed on the NYRR More Marathon Site. I had to start really slowly because during the race on Sunday I did something to my ankle. I must have stepped differently a couple of times during the race yesterday so I wouldn't fall on a couple of the drainage grates that I didn't go around. So I think I twisted it or had a stress fracture cause when I started back running at the end of the week, it felt much better (actually didn't hurt at all) while I was running but stated hurting again when I stopped. But I've done really good so far and have done all the runs the program has called for. More on this later.

NOV. 23 - And I ate in this Thanksgiving. I had everything catered from Whole Foods market and I highly recommend their catering menu to anyone who wants a home cooked meal without doing anything but reheating stuff. Boy was it good. My friends and I celebrated Thanksgiving with three bottles of wine including this year's Beaujoulais Nouveau, watched A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Year Without a Santa Claus (my favorite), Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's DVD. So we were feeling great and it was really nice to be home for dinner.

NOV. 26 - I went for a 10-mile bike ride today. It was just so nice out and there was a project I wanted to work on and I needed to take pictures for it. So I headed out and rode up 8th Ave., all the way up to Lincoln Center and down and around 5th Ave, 6th Ave and Times Square. And back home. Here's the premise: A few years ago my watch battery died; I decided to see how long I could go without wearing a watch (since my life is so clock oriented at work) by using "Clock of the City." So stay tuned cause I'm going to be putting them together and scrapbooking them just as a stupid "you have way too much time on your hands" project.
Here's a picture of one of the hotels on 8th Ave and 42nd Street. It's such a relief to look at a building that isn't just a big rectangular block.

DEC. 2 - NYRR Holiday Run which was changed from 4 miles to 5 miles. I really wish they'd change a race to a shorter distance than a longer distance. I planned on doing this run as a long run since that's what was called for in my training program. I did it in 1:05:24 which wasn't the worst I've ever done but wasn't the best I've ever done either. It was a 13:04mm. The t-shirts were nice though. A blue reindeer with ornaments on his antlers.

DEC. 8 - Got Christmas Tree! So I usually get a white pine for my Christmas tree which is a long needled pine. They're becoming harder to find because they don't grow as fast as other trees and they require quite a bit of shaping. Usually they turn into Christmas bushes. But I'd talked to my usual guy earlier that week and he said he had one white pine this year. So I get to Union Square as quickly as possible on Friday to get it. I never even looked at the tree untied. So I got it home -- people really look at you strangely when you're carrying a 5 foot 1 inch girl carrying a 7 1/2 foot Christmas tree over my shoulder. Got it home and in the stand. Decorating to come.

DEC. 9 - MetroStitcher Christmas party. Almost wasn't going to go -- got into a bit of a funk right beforehand. But I talked to mom and she reminded me that this was a season to spend with friends and family, so off my butt and up to 105th St. Of course, I had a great time and was really happy I went after all.

DEC. 10 - Joe Kleinerman 10K. Oh wow. Okay, I had signed up for this race to do it as a long run since that's what the training called for. And this would make sure that I got out there and did it. I talked one of the stagehands from work into running the race too. Adam's done races with Heidi Jones (WABC's weather person) and does triathalons. He's much younger than me and much faster than me. So we talked about it and since he'd be done much faster than me, I teased him and said he should come back and get me and run the end with me again. And he did! He finished in about 50:40, got some water, relinquished his chip and then started back to give moral support at the end. I can tell on my Nike+ chart exactly where he picked me up. I was ready to walk and then met up with Adam and from there on, I got faster and faster till I crossed the finish line running at a 11:42mm pace. You can see where he met up with me. A very uneven run for me. But I ended up with a 1:19:03 time at a 12:45mm. I was pretty please with this after thinking about it for awhile. After all, I've only run 6 miles 3 or 4 times, and I hadn't run that long since before August. And looking at my NYRR history, it's the fastest paced run I've done since July. So after being bummed out cause my Circle of Friends 10K time was 1:16:42 and this was slower, I looked at it in the grand scheme of things and wasn't upset after all. I need Adam to come run with me more often though. And the pictures. Brightroom did a great job this time I think. I got 15 in all. Personally, I think I either look pretty good in them or look like I'm dying.

DEC. 13 - WABC Christmas Party at Tavern on the Green. I wasn't going to go since it was cold and a little rainy but I'm glad I did. Of course, I couldn't stay very late since I had to work the next morning but it's always good to make an appearance at the Christmas party. And Tavern on the Green at Christmas is just spectacular.

DEC. 17 - 7 mile long run. Yep, I made it. And it was a very even run as you can see. Of course I did it on the Hudson River Park path which is all flat. And I didn't realize how far it would be. I ran the piers on the way downtown but didn't finish the run till the South Street Seaport. Then I took the bus home :)

DEC. 18 - Finally got the Christmas tree decorated -- about time too.

So Thursday, I'm off to Ohio where I'll have Christmas with my family and do an 8 mile long run. It's going to be cold and I have no idea where I'm going to run but I'm going to do it (plus then I won't feel guilty about Christmas dinner).

I'm also having a little New Year's Eve Eve party on Saturday night, the 30th. Just the girls drinking, eating pizza, doing some sing-a-long, and laughing in the pseudo New Year. Had to do the party this night since on New Year's Eve I'm going to be running at the NYRR Midnight Run. After I finish running that, hopefully I can find a diner open for breakfast and then straight to work -- where I have to direct the morning news that day. AGH! Luckily I have a great crew and they'll look out for me. Stay tuned for blackmail pics from the party.

So that's about all that's going on in my life right now. Lots of long runs coming up in the next two and a half months to get ready for the MORE Half-Marathon. I'll be ready. I'm going to try to get up to Central Park and run with some of the groups there on the weekends sometimes and get acquainted with the different groups (NYFlyers, Reservoir Dogs and NYRR). Otherwise I'm hoping for a quiet and warmer than usual January and February.

Happy Holidays everyone! And I'll leave you with some holiday pictures.

Chelly

Just a little quiz

2006-11-09T17:11:00.000-05:00

Okay, not usually into these things but just on a lark decided to do this one. And was pleased and amused with the results.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The South That's a Southern accent you've got there. You may love it, you may hate it, you may swear you don't have it, but whatever the case, we can hear it.
The Midland
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The West
The Northeast
North Central
Boston
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

I guess you can take the girl out of the South but can't take the South out of the girl.

Chelly

France, Marathon and the rest of life

2006-10-28T13:31:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

This is going to be the longest posting in the world -- okay, maybe not but it's very long with lots of pictures though. I'll start by showing the rest of my scrapbook pages from France. I got the book printed at iPhoto and it's fantastic. I was so excited and it's so much different actually seeing the book in print as opposed to seeing it on the computer screen. Well, here they are.

Next I did 35 miles of the NYCentury Bike Ride. Debbie did this with me. It was only her second big bike ride and unfortunately she had what ended up being a bad fall off the Brooklyn Bridge -- that's not to say she fell off the Brooklyn Bridge but when you are coming off the ramp, it was a tight turn and someone stepped in her way at the last minute and she landed mostly on her shoulder. We rode the rest of the way after stopping at the rest area and she got some expert attention from some very helpful paramedics.

Some sad news in my blog now. My grandma died on October 14th.

Maxine "Peg" Fisher, 81, of Baltimore, went to be with the Lord after a long illness at her home on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006.

She was born Nov. 20, 1924, to Francis Stanley Lynn and Helen Viola Neel Lynn. She was a longtime resident of Baltimore and a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ.

Maxine is survived by her husband of 64 years, Cecil "Pud" Fisher; loving daughter and son-in-law, Lynn (Steve) Campbell of Lancaster; loving son, Craig Fisher of Charlotte, N.C.; son-in-law, Terry Dunlap; four grandchildren, Kristi (David) Huskey of Baltimore, Terry Dunlap Jr. of Canal Winchester, Debbie Poston of Baltimore and Chelly Campbell of New York City; four great-grandchildren, Matthew Sermon, David Lee Poston, Joshua Dunlap and Jacob Dunlap; three sisters, Phyllis King of Millersport, Norma Ortman of Thornville and Joan Smock of New Lexington; sister-in-law, Eileen Hochradel; and family friend Jim Deal of Charlotte. She was preceded in death by her loving daughter, Carolyn Dunlap.

It wasn't unexpected and I had just visited her for quite a while when I was home in August. She was giving me a hard time about trying to bring back one of the new kittens from the rehab facility where she was getting treatment and telling me I needed to quilt my own quilt and not to ask aunt Beverly to do it. We'll all miss her very much.

This all happened as Debbie and I were on our way to Mohonk Resort where we were having a MetroStitcher 10th Anniversary Gathering. Basically the MetroStitchers is a group I started when I realized that I couldn't be the only cross-stitcher in New York City. So I got on the internet and put a couple of posts up and we had our first gathering which was a shopping trip to a cross-stitch store in Long Island. Nicole was the second MetroStitcher. We now have over 100 people many who regularly get together at our different homes for stitching events, go on shopping trips, or just get together as friends. That's how Debbie and I met in the first place and now we run together. Here's a picture of the group of us after dinner in our Tiaras.

I took a cooking class at The New School but I won't bore you with food pictures. However, I will say that it's a great experience and I felt like I learned a lot and would like to take more so that I can actually be more in control in the kitchen.

Some running pictures. This was at the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff 5M race. It was really hard cause I hadn't run 5 miles in almost 3 months. Bad me! Well, I did finish in about 1:07:39. I knew it wouldn't be a great race for me but I'm glad I got out there and did it. It was a beautiful, if windy, day. So I'm trying to get out and do more running since I'm going to do the NYC Marathon next year and to get ready for it, I'm going to sign up for the More Half-Marathon on March 25th. Luckily they have a 6 hour time limit (just kidding). I have some time to get ready for it and I'll be just fine.

And I saw this after the run -- all dressed up for Halloween. You don't see much of decorating houses in the city so it was kinda neat.

And finally, the ING New York City Marathon. I volunteered this year for my first time and was very nervous since I'd never volunteered before and didn't have a clue what I would be doing. Well, the first thing is that I never got any notification of that they accepted me as a volunteer and where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to be doing, even though Debbie got 10 letters telling her what she was doing. It seemed that that was the case with other people too, some getting many letter and others getting nothing. So I called and called to try to find out what was going on. And I stopped by the Expo on Thursday to ask there. Finally someone told me I was at the Expo on Friday morning -- well, that's one time I would have never signed up for since that's when I'm working --Hello! So I just ended up working on Marathon Sunday. But I definitely did some contributing to the economy by doing some shopping while I was there. And of course, since JackRabbit and Paragon were also having sales, I helped them out too.

Anyway, I went to my assigned place on Sunday morning and ending up meeting Timothy and Kathryn, two very nice people who knew what they were doing. So after getting our t-shirts (they ran out of rain ponchos -- apparently they ran out of lots of stuff), getting our sandwiches and just hanging around for awhile, we start moving over to our assigned area which was called "Hospitality" although as Dan Brown said, really means baggage and food. After waiting awhile for our assigned UPS trucks, they being pulling in. Very impressive. So after desperately trying to organize our truck, we waited for the first runners to appear. It was a gorgeous day and I was trying to calculate when people I knew would be arriving. Never saw any of them of course. However, I did see NYFlygirl and said hello. I know you were tired but thanks for saying hi. Hopefully we'll get a chance to meet sometime when you haven't just run 26.2 miles. Here are a few pictures I took of where I was and my truck. It was a great experience and I'm really glad that I did it.

So Timothy talked me into running the Race to Deliver coming up. Afterwards, we've promised ourselves Creme Brulee porridge from Elephant and Castle. And he's talking me into going to the Chocolate Show this weekend.

And that's the end of the update. Whew! I hope you enjoyed it and I'll leave you with a couple of beauty shots I've been taking while out on my runs lately.

Chelly

France Part 2 (plus some other stuff)

2006-10-07T02:43:00.000-04:00

Hi everybody,

As you'll be able to see, I've been busy trying to make more pages of my vacation. So this takes us up through Friday. Only Saturday and half of Sunday. Can you tell I've been learning stuff along the way? I hope first pages of my scrapbook don't end up looking like kindergarden work compared with the end. Anyway, enjoy.

Otherwise in my life right now, I haven't been running alot lately but that's all going to change. Since working extra hours for two weeks (like you all don't know about that), I had a week that was just nice and relaxed. I did run the Fitness Mind, Body, Spirit games. My time wasn't nearly as good as it could have been but I knew it woudn't be. And that was my one year running anniversary. I was scheduled to run the Norweigan 1.7 mile but glad that I didn't cause I hate being both cold and wet. So the next run is the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff 5M. Hopefully I'll do a little better. My running routine starts up again next week. Also I'll be volunteering at the NYC Marathon and hope I'll have a chance to say "hi" to some of you in Blogland. I don't know if I've mentioned it but I'm planning on training to do the NYC Marathon 2007. So I said something to Debbie about doing a half late in the spring for training/just-to-see-how-I-do purposes. So now we'll be running the More Half Marathon on March 25. I'm nervous already.

And last weekend Debbie and I went to the cross-stitch festival to feed my other creative side. And so now I'm doing all my fall cleaning to find room for everything. I've now been cleaning and rearranging for one week. Blech. I've given myself to today to get it all done. I have a LOT to do. But what am I doing -- making more scrapbook pages. Brilliant, huh.

Well, I'm off to dust one more shelf. Let me know what you think about the pix.

Chelly

French Cycling Vacation, Part 1

2006-09-23T23:20:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been working on my France iPhoto scrapbook for the past couple of weeks so I'm going to upload the pages and let you experience everything that way. Let me know what you think of it. This actually takes you through Thursday midmorning. I'll be finishing up Friday, Saturday and Sunday sometime this week. Some of the pages will have more than one picture on them. I've put them in order here. Anyway, I really hope you like it. I've been thinking about doing something like this for a sideline hobby/career.

Chelly

It's all about the beer

2006-08-20T19:11:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

I think this posting is mostly going to be pictures. You'll get to meet a bunch of my family and have the opportunity to listen to my family's rendition of "Happy Birthday" (this is a 53-second video).

Actually let me start at the beginning. You know I ran the Mets Run to Home Plate 5K with Debbie. Well, because of that we were able to get tickets for a Mets game. So off I go again, out to Shea Stadium where I was a couple of minutes late. I got my hotdog and beer and went up to enjoy the game. Okay, to me, baseball = hotdog and beer. Poor Debbie, a Mets fan, had to put up with me, whose next important question was, "Where's the cracker jack guy?" It was a perfect day and even I was a little disappointed when the game wrapped up in 2:30 hours. I had to finish the last beer in just 10 minutes. Sorrow.

The next weekend it was home to visit my family and to celebrate that big birthday that I'm in denial about. Let me introduce you to everyone.
Here's dad. We were all telling stories on Mojito night in the Garden Room at the house. This was after the Pink Cricket pizza -- the best pizza on earth. I think they put beer in the sauce -- yummm.

And mom, as we were sitting outside on the patio. She was not thrilled about me taking this picture, can you tell.

Here's my cousin Jared and my Aunt Carolyn. She lives in Albuquerque with my Uncle Dan and my other two cousins, Josh and Caity . The dog in the picture with Josh is Rico, Jared's police dog. See here he is smiling for the camera.
And let's not forget Jenny, Jared's wife. Trust me, this is one of the better pictures of her.

Jared was mixing Mojitos that night -- I think he plays bartender so people won't see him sneaking slugs from the various bottles.

Here's me, the birthday girl, with Rico. He's a big lover -- which is a little contradictory since he's a police dog.

I'm sure the whole family was thrilled that I signed them all up for a race the next morning. We went up to Blacklick Woods Park for a 5K. We had runners, speed-walkers, and walkers in our group. Here are the general results:
Josh - 24:00
Caity - 28:00
Chelly - 38:07
Carolyn - 48:00
Mom - 54:00
Dad and Dan - 59:00

Here are Dad and Dan as they crossed the finish line. Mom's in the background. It was Dad's first run and I was so proud of him.

Well, here's the promised "Happy Birthday" song sung to me by my ever-loving family. Be warned it's really bad and it's 53-seconds long.

Very scary, isn't it.

So last week, we were working hard so we could go on hiatus for the next two weeks. I'm still working this week -- the news goes on no matter what. But it's a great relief especially since I'm trying to get everything ready to go to France on Friday.

Don't know how much I've told you about my vacation (my first real one in 7 years) but let me take a moment. I'll be flying into Paris and then travelling down to Tours where I'll spend a day on my own before hooking up with French Cycling Holidays. So beginning Sunday, I'll be biking through the Loire Valley in France for 6 days. Can you say gorgeous? We'll be doing about 25 miles a day and visiting chateaus, castles, an abbey, and Leonardo Da Vinci's home. It's so exciting. Then I have a whole day in Paris before coming home. So the packing, and repacking, is underway and I'm almost ready to go. Mentally, I've been ready for at least a month. I'm taking 5G of memory cards for my camera so there will be lots of photos to see afterwards. I have plans for doing some running while I'm in Paris in the Luxembourg Gardens and am planning at least one other run just to do a little sightseeing on the hoof.

Speaking of running, I'm at least back at the gym this week. After being a couch potato for three weeks, I'm off my butt and taking it to gym and/or running this week. I'm actually going to start back into it slowly and get back into shape. And start working out with a trainer when I get back to get my strength training in. And getting into marathon shape.

I guess that's about it. I hope that you've enjoyed your little jaunt with my family and I haven't bored you all to tears. I'll leave you with a picture of a field in Ohio. Enjoy.

Chelly

Happy Birthday to Me!

2006-08-09T19:42:00.000-04:00

Well, today's my birthday. I have to say that for a milestone birthday, it really kind of sucked. However, I'm hoping that this weekend (I'm going back to Ohio to visit my parents and the Albuquerque relatives) and the upcoming France biking vacation will make it for a better kick-off for this year.

I haven't been running much at all -- life has just been getting in the way. So I'm trying not to beat myself up about it. I only have one more week of frantic-ness at work before life slows down. So although I'm running a 5K this weekend with my family, I'm probably not getting back to a decent running schedule till next weekend. And I'll be starting a marathon training program this fall for the 2007 NYC Marathon.

So that's about it. I hope I'll be in a better frame of mind next time and I should have some great pictures from home (including my birthday celebration dinner of Pink Cricket pizza which is the best pizza ever and birthday cake -- yummm).

Have a great weekend everyone.

Chelly

Going round in circles?

2006-08-04T18:21:00.000-04:00

Do you ever feel like you're moving but not going anywhere?

chelly

Walking and Biking Permit?!?!!!!!

2006-08-03T18:03:00.000-04:00

As you know, I don't usually use my blog for anything political but I just couldn't ignore this because of how many people it could effect including NY Road Runners, and group runs by The Reservoir Dogs and the Flyers and any other group that uses public spaces. It could also effect just getting together with friends to run or bike ride. I just didn't feel like I could ignore this.

From TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES' newsletter:

New NYPD Rule Would Require All Bikers and Walkers to Get Special Permit

On July 18th, 2006 the New York City Police Department quietly proposed changing City parade permit rules. Under the NYPD's proposed changes, any group of bikers or walkers who disobey any traffic law can be arrested, and all formal and informal group bike rides, walks, jogs, runs and other events would have to obtain parade permits from the NYPD. Every route for every group bike ride or walk would have to be approved by the police, and any group that diverts from its permitted route could be arrested.

If enacted, these draconian rules would put walking and bicycling under the NYPD's control, drastically discourage New Yorkers from walking and biking and erect yet another obstacle for those seeking to do their part to reduce congestion, clean our City's polluted air and stay healthy. The NYPD must withdraw them.

Under the NYPD's proposed rules (PDF):

* Any group of two (yes 2) or more cyclists or pedestrians traveling down a public street, who violate any traffic law, rule or regulation can be arrested for parading without a permit
* Every group of 20 or more cyclists must obtain a permit and approved route from the NYPD
* Every group of 35 of more pedestrians must obtain a permit and approved route from the NYPD

Groups without permits or groups that leave their permitted routes could be arrested.

There will be a public hearing on these proposed parade permit rule changes on August 23rd, at 6 pm, at One Police Plaza, Manhattan. The proposed changes could go into effect as soon as August 24th, 2006. Everyone who walks or rides a bike should attend and oppose these proposed changes!

Take Action: STOP THE NYPD FROM REQUIRING PERMITS FOR BIKING AND WALKING

1. E-Fax Mayor Bloomberg
2. Call your City Councilmember
3. Contact T.A. at info@transalt.org with examples of group events and activities that would be affected
4. Attend the August 17th People's Forum on Parade Permits at 7 pm at St. Marks Church, 10th Street and 2nd Avenue, Manhattan
5. Sign up to attend and/or testify at the public hearing and rally on August 23rd at 6 pm at 1 Police Plaza

I hope this is just a bunch of hot air but if something like this really went into effect, imagine the consequences.

Chelly

Mets Run to Home Plate and Harlem Valley Ride

2006-07-30T18:54:00.000-04:00

The weekend update:

Well, headed out to Debbie's on Friday night so I could get my bike out to her place in preparation for the The Harlem Valley Rail to Trail Bike Ride.

So Saturday morning we got ready to head over to Shea Stadium for the Mets Run to Home Plate 5K. Okay, I could really tell I hadn't run in a week (although my body felt much better for not running -- I finally got over all my soreness) and I started out too fast -- must work on that. And with the heat (really that's no excuse) I didn't do nearly as well as I'd hoped to. I at least wanted to stay around the same time that I had recently but -- best laid plans and everything. So my splits were 11:50 / 13:12 / 12:58 / and 1:08 for a total of 39:11 and a 12:38mm pace. Here's a couple of pictures from the day -- although we never saw Mr. Mets to get our pictures taken with him.

And here's the Nike+ screenshot for the race.

I still haven't calibrated it so it's still off quite a bit. The Powersong definitely works though. I saw The Reservoir Dogs' own Uptown Girl although I was still a little shy and didn't get a chance to say hello. Congrats go out to Uptown Girl, Moz, and Chelle for having such great times and PR-ing.

Then we were off to -- the showers. Lot of good that did. Got out and still felt disgusting and wet, especially after loading two bikes in the trunk. Then up to Poughkeepsie for the bike ride. We saw this rainbow while waiting to have dinner at the Bonefish Grill. Very nice.

The Harlem Valley Rail to Trail Bike Ride is a 46-mile rail trail along the former Harlem Division of the Penn Central Railroad between Wassaic and Chatham, New York. In Dutchess County the trail has been constructed by the County as a public park. We almost didn't get to do the ride because I discovered when I pulled the bike out of the trunk of the car, that one of my spokes on my front wheel was broken. AGH!! We went down to the repair tent (a 1.49 mile walk) and then were sent over to the bicycle shop (total walking 1.82 miles). The guy there couldn't fix it. You would think that knowing there were at least hundreds, if not thousands, of riders coming to the area, they would have stocked some stuff. So the finish was that I rode without one spoke. I might have ruined my front rim now or not but whatever. I didn't want to go all that way not to do the ride. Thankfully we had planned to only do the 22-mile journey although you could do up to 100. So the whole way was on the Trail. As you can see by the pictures, the trail is very nice, very flat and has nice views and it was 5-10º cooler than the city today. And me and the bike made it home safely. It's off to the repair shop for it this week though.

It was Debbie's first big bike ride and she did very good. Here's an action shot of her.

After the ride, we checked our bikes at Valet Parking and headed over to the food. Yummm. Then home.

All in all, it was a great weekend with lovely scenery and great food. Since The Weather Channel predicts temperatures in the 90s for the beginning of this week, I'm going to work out in the gym and do a little cross-training to get my quads and hips loosened up a little. Hopefully this will help and I'll be going out for a couple of nice reasonable runs at the end of the week.

Otherwise, I'll be attending the Mets game next Saturday with the NYRR group. I've never been to a Mets game. And only two Yankees games. Personally, baseball is just another good excuse for beer and hotdogs.

And on AUGUST 9th -- the most important day in my life. MY BIRTHDAY!! It's a big birthday this year -- the 4th anniversary of my 36th birthday (okay for those of you really counting, I'll be celebrating my 4-th). I don't have anything planned for the actual day but I'll be going back to Ohio to visit mom and dad. The Albuquerque clan is in too (aunt, uncle, 2 cousins) and we'll be doing the Blacklick Woods 5K together as a family. Cake will be served afterwards.

Hope you all have a great week.

Chelly

What's been going on

2006-07-28T16:35:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Here's a new picture I just uploaded from the WABC Father's Day Prostate Cancer Run.

Well, I ran the Run for Central Park last Saturday. I thought I'd be able to do really good however, although the temperature was only 74º, the humidity was 94% and for some reason it really got to me. I was really hoping for 12mm the whole way. I ended up with 12:29mm. Oh well, sometimes you just have to accept these things. It was kind of funny though after the race seeing everyone taking off their shirts and wringing them out. I know mine was just dripping. I stopped at the water stops during the race -- not to drink -- but to pour the water over my back and head. I did 49:56 for the race.

It was the first time I'd used my Nike+ sport kit. I hadn't calibrated it so it's a little off. I also continued to use my Nike Triax Elite just to see how different they were. The Triax said that I did 4.2 miles (it was a 4 mile run but I ran toward the outside so I racked up a little more distance and I didn't get everything turned off right after the race) and the Nike+ said 4.56 miles. Not bad for not being calibrated. Here's the neat screen shot. However, I doesn't give as much info as the Triax or a GPS or anything. Maybe they'll get better since I know Nike already has the programming (from the Triax) that they just need to incorporate. I really like the powersong option that they have. Luckily the song came on the last 5 minutes and then I powersonged it again for a nice sprint at the end.

Then home for a shower and heading down to Maryland for the Needleart 2006 at the Montpelier Mansion.

We went over the bridge in Delaware. Here's the pictures on the way down
and here's the picture on the way home.
What a difference.

After getting settled in our room, we headed over to Stitching Pretty to meet up with the other MetroStitchers who had come down. We hadn't told them we were coming so it was a nice surprise. I actually stitched -- yes, there are pictures of me stitching down there and I finished something. Here's the Dwarf Tulip I finished.

So the next day we went over to Montpelier. Isn't it pretty? The grounds were very nice and we sat under a tree and stitched for awhile.

I did win an honorable mention. This is Fleur framed and with the ribbon. Mom did a great job picking out the mats and frame.

I haven't worked out at all this week -- yes, I've been a lump. But I've been sore constantly lately, something I would have thought I would have been over by now. The front of my quads hurt right up near my hips. And my right leg won't lift to the side without a lot of pain. Anyone know of any stretch or strengthening I can do to help this. It's really been annoying.

So even though I've been a lump, I'm running the Mets Run to Home Plate tomorrow. Of course the thing doesn't start till 10am. What's with that? Kids race at 8:30a? It seems to me that they adults -- all 2,500 of us -- should race earlier when it's cooler and the kids -- what 100 of them? -- could race later. Especially since the adult races will take 45 minutes and the kids races take what 15 minutes. Oh well.

Then Debbie and I are off to The Harlem Valley Rail Bike Ride. I'll be riding either 22 or 30 miles on Sunday depending on how Debbie feels (remember she had gall bladder surgery 4 weeks ago and is still healing). So I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures from that.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Chelly

Stupid Hot Running

2006-07-17T17:02:00.000-04:00

Let's see -- where to start. I finally got my packages at 6:30p Friday night. Yummy. Some new adidas running shorts (my new favorite short). They're nice and soft, low rise but long enough and a nice flat pocket. I also got some of the adidas Wildwood Sleeveless V-Neck Tops. I love these too since they're loosely cut and they come down to about your hip. Perfect summer tops.

Saturday, I did the NYRR Dash and Splash. It was a lot of fun and I did a PR (personal record). I did it in 1:02:51. I think that working on adding distance to my runs has really started helping my racing. Afterward, swimming in Lasker Pool. It's a really nice pool and it was very cold after the run.

A bout of shyness overtook me (yes me, stop laughing) but I saw Moz and NYFlyGirl but didn't talk to them. I promise I'll say hello next time.

Later that night, after a great dinner at my favorite Indian restaurant, Haveli, I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I thought it was great although it's almost like they took the last two movies and just split them in half. It almost doesn't have an ending. Definitely worth seeing in the theater though.

I tried to go out Sunday and run knowing the kind of heat we were in for this week and I got out and ran 1.5 miles before my body said, "WHAT?!?" It was not happening.

So that being said, I apologize to anyone who saw me today, yes, Monday, along the Hudson River Park running without my shirt. Yes, I had a shirt and yes, I had a great big old sport bra on but it was just too hot to wear both. I went out knowing that I might have to take it a little easier than I normally would. I didn't even get out till 11:30a. But I did get the whole 7 miles in. YEAH! It took forever. No speed records today. I was doing 15+ minute miles, walking a little, and stopping at almost every water fountain to drink and douse as many body parts as I could. I felt really proud of myself that I accomplished the whole 7 miles. Tomorrow's a rest day -- thank God. I'd like about 6 of them.

I think that's about it for the weekly update. I'll be running the Run for Central Park this Saturday and then heading down to Maryland to see if my latest cross stitch piece won any awards.
Mom for it framed for me so I haven't seen it finished yet. I'm looking forward to it. I'll post the results next week.

I'm going to head off to my bed now, a little earlier than usual but with the run and no nap today, I think I'll be an easier person to live with tomorrow if I go to bed now. Oh and plenty of Advil. All this extra mileage is keeping me perpetually sore.

Have a great week everybody. Here's a little taste of summers gone by.

Chelly

Have I mentioned lately that I hate UPS!!!

2006-07-14T17:01:00.000-04:00

So have I mentioned that I hate UPS? I think they have my address on a post-it somewhere with a note, don't deliver to this person. I had a package that was to be delivered on Wednesday. Okay, I was home by noon. Didn't think about it much but when I didn't get it that night I thought maybe they didn't try because of the weather (that's the night we had all those storms). However, when I looked at the tracking again, it said they tried to deliver it at 5:08. I was home!!! No "We Tried to Deliver Your Package" slip or anything.

Went home on Thursday and was home at 11:30a. Didn't get my package and finally called them at 7:30p when I checked the tracking. Supposedly they tried to deliver at 4:12p. Guess what?!?! I was home!!! Again no "We Tried to Deliver Your Package" slip. Called UPS. First of all, you end up getting some moron (not Mormon) in Wisconsin or somewhere, I wouldn't even talk to them. I was like transfer me to the highest superior there. Finally got ahold of someone who said that the driver had been trying to deliver to 2C -- my apartment (which is correct on the address label) is 3C. Moron driver! And our buzzers downstairs have our name and apartment number beside each of them and mine is right below the one he was pressing.

So this person in Wisconsin doesn't have any phone numbers, names or emails of anyone at the UPS centers anywhere in the country. "We have too many facilities to have that information." Idiot. Isn't that what computers are for -- to have massive amounts of information at your fingertips.

A half hour later I get a call from the "supervisor" at the Village UPS center. "Oh yes, he did try to deliver but it does look like he tried to go to the wrong apartment." Idiot. Okay, I'll be home from 10:40a on on Friday to wait for this stellar example of brainpower.

At 4:15p, thought I'd just double check since after talking to the "supervisor" I figured my package would have been here by now. AGH!!!! They said they tried to deliver at 2:48p! I have now spent over 24 hours waiting on this package from UPS. They finally left a 3rd attempt sticker. Obviously not a third attempt since they tried to deliver to the wrong apartment TWICE!

Oh and by this time, my mom was as frustrated as me (UPS not delivering to me has been a long-standing fight over the years because they don't seem to want to deliver anything mom sends me either). So she's got one person on the phone. I've got the guy from Wisconsin back on the phone. "You should get a call from the supervisor and we're going to get the driver back there as soon as possible." They tell mom it'll be 6pm when it gets delivered. Dip-wads. And now there's two packages that haven't been delivered cause another delivery (from another company) was scheduled for Friday.

So I'm waiting again for UPS wondering if I should go down and wait for him on the ****ing street because he doesn't seem to know how to ring the damn buzzer. And if I had the money, I swear I'd start a shipping company that knew where their drivers were all the time and could talk to them at any moment, delivered packages on time, and where you could talk to a customer service person who is in charge of your area. A shipping company for the people.

Do you know where your packages are?

Chelly

7 miles and counting

2006-07-11T17:28:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Well, on Friday I went on a lunch date. Incredible isn't it?! It was okay. We seem to have a lot in common -- maybe a little too much. I didn't get to put my best foot forward though since we were supposed to meet at 12:30p and he was going to call and confirm and I didn't hear from him so I had gotten ready to go biking and was almost over to the East Side bike path when he called. He could meet at 1:30p if I wanted to still get together. Okay, back to Union Square. So here I am in my bike shorts, jersey, hair unwashed and in a ponytail and a hat. Not the outfit I would have chosen. Oh well. At least my ride went good. I got in 20 miles.

And was home and in bed by 8:45p which is good since I got up at 5am to get out to Farmingdale, Long Island to do the Vytra 5K Women's Run. Luckily the Greater Long Island Running Club had a shuttle from the train to the run or I wouldn't have been able to go since Debbie had just gotten back from Colorado and her surgery. I met Terry who was doing all of the race announcing that day. He was boning up on all the facts for the race and did a great job -- and remembered my name as I crossed the finish line. I didn't do quite as good as I had hoped because for some reason it just seemed a lot hotter out there than The Weather Channel said it would be. Plus I took off a little too fast for the first mile. My splits were 11:21 / 12:05 / 12:40 and the rest for a 37:13 finish. Like I said, a little fast for the first mile.

Oh and a note of caution: don't get your legs waxed after biking 42 miles or running a 5K. My legs were so sensitive apparently that it was definitely more painful than it needed to be.

So after paying someone to put me in so much pain, I headed home for a well deserved nap before getting ready and heading up to Nyack for my friends' 40th birthday party. Yes, I did go out of Manhattan twice -- in one day! Obviously the end of the world is coming.

Found my way up to Nyack on the Red and Tan Bus Line. Happily, the place they were having the party was right across from where the bus let me off. I had a great time and was glad to see Carol and Andy. I hadn't seen them in a long time. And was glad to say hello to many of their friends which I had seen at various parties over the years. In fact, I got a ride back to the city with one.

Then of course, I made the mistake of calling Debbie. (Just kidding) But we were on the phone till 1:30am catching up on her eventful Colorado trip. So I didn't go out for an early run on Sunday, or on a bike ride, or really anything. I got myself together enough to head to the Hudson River Park where I laid in the sun for 2 hours, came home and did a little shopping, ate dinner and went back to bed.

Yesterday, after blowing off running after work in Central Park (figuring there was too much dust due to the explosion/collapse of the house at 62nd St), I went home to do some errands (and nap). I woke up and felt pretty good, and thought I would feel very guilty and mad at myself for not taking advantage of such a great day. 4:20p saw me in my running togs and heading over to the Hudson River Park. It was a great classic slow run. Once in the park I ran downtown, doing all the piers I could on the way (to help add some mileage). I couldn't believe it. I ran 6 miles in 1:24:00, ave. 14:05 minute miles. It was a really great run. I felt good and ran the entire time (no walking at all). Then I still had a way to go before getting home so I ran one more mile for a total of 7 miles in 1:40:39. Not too bad. I ran it all. That's the most I've ever run. Part of the reason for the time of the last mile is because I stopped for water a couple of times and didn't just get a mouthful but really drank. Mmmmm. Tasted good.

And since I can't get out to Teterboro for the race on Saturday (Debbie was suppling the transportation), I signed up for the Dash and Splash in Central Park. I'll be thrilled to hit the pool after the race. I'm supposed to do a 7 mile long slow run on Saturday according to the NYRR Training program. I'll have to put it off till Monday. I'm doing okay using their website as a guideline and adding to my mileage.

Here's a Niagara Falls flower pic for you. Enjoy.

Chelly

Heartily sick of rain

2006-07-06T17:55:00.000-04:00

I hate being wet. I mean, I'm not against showering or washing my face or hands or anything. But I hate being wet. Actually I think I hate the drying off part more. You never get quite dry and it takes so long. Why hasn't anyone invented human dry cleaning? And with all the rain lately, even when you dry off, you're never quite dry. It's very annoying. I don't mind sweat dripping down my face but I hate my face getting wet in the rain. I know, I'm totally weird but what can you do? And awaking again this morning to pouring rain, AGH! I'm at the end of my emotional line and am ready to throw rocks at someone or to hide in my bed and cry for two days straight. (And no, it's not hormones.)

This week has seemed about 8 days long. I've been working out and rode my bike 17 miles on Friday, ran 6.5 miles on Saturday, did a different kind of working out on Sunday and worked out my credit cards (they all still work), Monday rode 24 miles, and Tuesday was great. I rode 6.8 miles on by bike, ran 3 miles (speedwork), directed the morning news (which I also did on Monday), and was home by 11:00am. Wednesday and today have been rest days (today unintentionally). I took everything with me to go running but just couldn't make myself go. My nap was really good though.

I feel like I should say something about directing the news Monday and Tuesday. It was my first time directing. I think it went good although if I do it again, I'm going to have to practice my phrase-ology. I felt like every time I said "take" I was late. It's all about anticipation. The producers and such seemed happy so I guess I get to keep my job.

Personal recommendation here. Well, I've been waiting for the Nike+ stuff to come out. I think it's a great partnership between Nike and Apple and am looking forward to seeing how it works (although I could never run in Nike shoes again--not enough stability). But over the weekend, I discovered that they had started putting up the Nike+ workouts on iTunes. Hmmm. Well, after looking at them and listening to some previews, I downloaded the Increase Your Speed workout. It's a 40-minute speed program that intigrates music and instruction on the same playlist. You see, because of my work schedule, it's hard for me to join any running team and do speed workouts with them. I mean, they're usually starting to run about the time I'm starting to head for bed. So I was very glad to try this new Increase Your Speed Playlist. I didn't recognize a lot of the bands but figured, it's only 40 minutes, how bad could it be. Well, it wasn't bad at all and I got a really good speed workout (I think).

I started the 10-minute warm up at 72nd St./West Drive corner thinking that I should almost be able to make it to the Reservoir in that time. Well, I almost did. iPod on pause for another 1:30 to finsih getting there (it is mostly uphill that way). Then to begin the 20 minute speed session. It was a kind of fartlek program running for 4 minutes, 4 minutes recovery, 3 minutes running, 3 recovery, 2 running, 2 recovery and 1 sprinting and then another 10 minutes of cool-down. Now I know I should probably do this twice to really get some good out of it but I've got to start somewhere. After looking at my Nike Triax Elite later, I realized that I did the runs exactly the way they wanted me too and felt a real accomplishment. We'll see how I do next time cause I should be increasing the mileage (it was only 3 miles total including warm up and cool-down). But I loved the music: All American Rejects, The Wallflowers, Wolfmother, Nine Black Alps, Queens of the Stone Age, Sierra Swan, Institute and others. Definitely $11 well-spent.

I also signed up for the NY Road Runners Marathon Training Program even though I'm not running the marathon. I thought it would be a good guideline to get me running longer and faster. I hope I'll be able to keep up with it.

Otherwise, I didn't do anything for the holiday weekend since it wasn't a holiday for me. No fireworks or anything. Yep, I'm a little bummed -- can you tell?

Debbie was on vacation the past week in Colorado visiting her sister. Imagine my surprise to get a call from her mom. Debbie's in the hospital. What!?! Yes, she's having her gall bladder taken out. I really don't know many more details except that she wanted her mom to call me because she's worried about me cause we have races blocked out for the next 4 weeks and obviously she won't be able to run some or all of them. I finally heard from her yesterday. She's doing good, enjoying the pain medication, and was off to so a little shopping with her sister. She'll be getting home over the weekend. I'm anxious to hear everything and very glad she's okay.

So I'll be running (and figuring out how to get there) the Vytra 5K on Saturday in Farmingdale by myself. Then I have to get to Nyack by myself to go to a friend's 40th birthday party. Why can't people just live in Manhattan? *grin*

I guess that's about it for now. Sorry there's no pictures this time. I haven't taken the time to download the latest batch of pics from my camera so I'll leave you with pet pictures of Odie (the dog) and Prince (the cat). I miss my pets and have wanted to get a dog here for quite some time. But with my schedule, it just seems impossible. I'm depressing myself again. So here they are looking very cute and cuddly.

Chelly

Finally! 10%!

2006-06-24T14:48:00.000-04:00

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT (drumroll please)

Finally today, I've acheived my 10% goal at Weight Watchers. It only took a year. I'm really excited about this and a little nervous especially since losing weight for me has been like chewing my own arm off. Actually chewing my own arm off would probably have been a lot quicker and less painful. For my next goal, I've chosen only 5 pounds, something that's a little more attainable this decade hopefully. Here's the ever elusive keychain that I received.

I also ran just over 5 miles this morning. In the 72º range and 93% humidity, I did pretty good. Sweating like a pig but otherwise felt great. Smiled at people I passed. They probably thought I was a nutcase. It started raining at about 2.5 miles but I kept on. Figured I was already wet enough and since I had my hat on, my face wasn't getting wet (I have a thing about my face getting wet in the rain). Did 4 miles without taking a walking break and then did another mile or so. And then ran home from my Weight Watcher meeting cause it was raining hard. That's about another 1/2 mile or so.

So kudos to me today.

Chelly

Running Endeavors

2006-06-20T17:59:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Well, it's about time for a post-race report on the WABC Father's Day Prostate Cancer Run. Debbie and I did this 5-Miler on Sunday after doing a 4.8M two weeks before and a 10K last weekend. Neither of us went out thinking we'd do PRs (for those of you unfamiliar with running gargon, a PR is Personal Record). And it was hot! But it was the same course we'd run for the past two weeks so that made it a little easier.

So after getting up at 5:30a to eat breakfast, digest, shower and stretch a little, I met Debbie at Central Park. We headed for baggage check, a stop at the port-a-pots, and Iooked for the WABC crew. That's where I work, by the way. We said hello to Heidi who was doing weather and saw the crew that usually works the weekday mornings with me, and Andy, one of our prop guys from the LIVE show. He and Heidi were planning on doing around 7:00 miles. And she was going to stop to give reports along the course. More power to them.

Off to the start line. We seemed to moving a little quicker than usual, maybe because it was a little downhill. I lost Debbie fairly quickly (she runs about a 8-9:00 mile). And the heat was getting to me a little which was surprising cause I love the heat but since it's been so chilly lately I hadn't really had time to get my body used to running in it.

Away I go. Plod-plod-plod-plod. I did get into a rhythm fairly easily although I did walk a few times. I tried to take advantage of the hills as much as possible but it just wasn't feeling as good as some of the other runs/races. I told Debbie to look for me somewhere between 55:00 (yeah right) and 1:15:00. If I was later than that, go to brunch without me.

I ended up doing 1:05:31. I'm actually not sure how to feel about that time. I thought I was pretty happy with that but was also beating myself up about it cause I did a 13:08 mile which is slower than any of the other runs I've done before (including my one and only run last year). I know you can't have a PR every time but I've been doing better and now ..... Oh well, next time.

Finally downloaded my Nike Triax to find out my splits and my first mile was my best. However, Nike and NYRR aren't always exactly the same on how far I've run and for this 5-miler, Nike says I actually ran about 5.22 miles so my Nike average says I did 12:34 miles. Okay. Not quite so upset cause when you average it out it's about 12:51.

Two weeks without races now. I'm looking forward to it. And I'm really trying to keep running. Actually, yesterday I rode my bike to work, about 3.5 miles each way. And today I rode to work, ran 4.2 miles (okay, Nike said 4.22 but the park is 4.04 so maybe my calebration is off a little) and rode home. And showered. All before 12:15p. I think I'm going to try some speed work tomorrow.

Now I'm waiting for the Brightroom pictures to be posted. I love pictures. I'll post the Circle of Friends 10k pictures next week sometime.

Hmmm. What picture to leave you with this time. Ah here we go. This is Mom and Dad's Rose Garden in Ohio. Enjoy.

Chelly

Running Injury?

2006-06-13T18:55:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Well, I think I have my first running injury. You'll remember I mentioned in my last posting my awful run last Tuesday after doing a 4.8 mile run on Sunday. Yesterday, I went to the gym and did a light workout on the elliptical machine and stretched quite a bit. Today, I went out anticipating doing a nice slow 4-mile run. Or if that didn't work out, I was going to do some sprints up by the reservoir.

So I get to 72nd Street to begin my run, do a couple of stretches and start out. Right away I notice my shins hurting. Well, I'll go slow and just work through it. NOT. At about .75 mile, I stop and do a couple more calf stretches. Agh! This hurts. But I feel a little better afterward so I try running again. So not happening.

Okay, plan B. I walk the rest of the way up to the reservoir to do once or twice around alternating sprints and slow jogs according to the diamonds markers. Jog two markers, sprint two markers. I'm not sure how far it is in between diamonds. Everything was tolerable at the beginning but the more I jogged/sprinted, my shins just kept hurting. I pushed on. Finally after almost one trip around the reservoir, I decide this is enough and give up with a walk/kinda jog back to the start.

Later, at home, I look up shin splints on the web (what would we do without it) and self-diagnose a light case of shin splints. Since I've been doing such light mileage during the week, and such long races on the weekends and running on concrete and taking longer strides and probably need new shoes, I think it's taking its toll.

However, I'm not giving up and after self-medicating with some Advil (wonder drug of the century), I'm going to try again tomorrow and do a short run, perhaps on the bridle path or the reservoir since they're not concrete. Obviously I need to do a little more training during the two weeks coming up where we don't have a race.

It's so hard to get a good training schedule or be able to work with a club with my schedule. Usually when the clubs meet, I'm on my way to bed.

Speaking of bed -- it's about that time. That's one of the things I really miss about working a regular schedule is summer evenings. They smell and feel so good. Sometimes I just want to stay up all night and enjoy them.

Chelly

Travels, Tribulations and Victories

2006-06-06T17:02:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Well, here's the longest post in the history of the world (okay maybe not but I love drama). So get a slice of pizza and a couple of beers and enjoy.

First of all a quick picture from the Mother's Day run last month.

And now the promised pics from the 5 Boro Bike Tour. I'm really pleased with Brightroom and the quality of their pics.

When you last heard from me I was about to do what I thought was going to be horrible, horrible 5K run in Wall Street. It turned out much better than I thought it would. I started out by riding my bike down to the start line and checking it in bag check. It must have warmed me up enough cause once the race started, I just went. After passing by lots of walkers (why can't these people line up where they're supposed to), I got into a rhythm and was very surprised to see the Mile One clock much earlier than I expected. Mile Two wasn't bad either although Mile Three was kind of hard cause it was very flat and kind of boring. However, my splits were the best they've ever been. 11:27 / 11:21 / 12:06 for an average of a 12:02 minute mile. After the race, (a couple of days after) we find out that because they've had to eliminate a couple of blocks of the course because of road construction (see previous post on the route from hell), instead of a 3.1 Mile run (aka 5K), it was really only 2.9 Miles. AGH! Anyway, I finished with my best time yet (of course it's my only time for a 2.9 Mile run) of 34:54. And the T-shirt is pretty nice too.

A day after the race, I went shopping and got a new digital camera. I'm in love. -sigh- After looking at several different models I ended up with the Casio Exilim Z-1000. Ooh boy - what a camera. It's fantastic. Now to learn to use the thing. Hmmmmm. And since I was at the camera store, I figured I should buy all the Stuff to go with it. So besides and extra battery, a 2G memory card, and a case, I bought the neatest thing called a Gorilla Pod. Now this thing has to be the GREATEST INVENTION ever! Here's a couple of pics of what it can do. And it is perhaps the best $21.99 I've ever spent. I can take pictures of myself anywhere now.

The next day, I left for Niagara Falls for the LIVE with Regis and Kelly remote. After getting stopped at the Canadian border (whole work visa dumb thing), I arrived at my hotel to find that my room wasn't quite ready and if I waited for awhile I'd get a really great view. So of course I'm going to wait because at hotels everywhere, I face the parking lot and the air-conditioning units. Well, this is my room and this is the view from my room. It was my first trip there and I have to say, the Falls are certainly amazing. I was suitably impressed at least with the Falls. I was less than impressed with the weather. It was 49 degrees and mostly rainy, some sleet, hail, icy rain. Yuck! I think everybody on the crew came back with runny noses.

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures.

And here are a few with me in them. The first two were taken with the FABULOUS Gorilla-pod mentioned earlier. It comes into play in a lot of my recent photos.

After that we were back in NY for two days, then off to Charlotte to do another remote. It was so nice being warm again. I couldn't get enough of it. But were only there for about 24 hours. At least I got a couple of nice pictures.

This is the set from the front and from the back

Me on the set and Julian (our stage manager) and me in the truck. Julian took my camera and was helping me learn to use it and having a jolly time with it himself.

And here's where we caught me taking a 45 minute nap sometime during the night. And yes, there is a reason all of these picture are nighttime. We had about 7 hours to get everything ready to do our show live the next morning because Buena Vista was using the truck and stage to get ready for the World Premier of the movie "Cars" which is why we were down there also.

Then home again Friday afternoon, and off to the theater. Yes, I know, could I possible fit more into 5 days. Well, I had bought this theater ticket long before I knew about the Charlotte remote. So I went to see . Thank goodness the show was really funny or I don't think I'd have been able to stay awake (having been up almost 24 hours). Then off to Sardi's for a small after theater dinner. I love Sardi's. Talked to a Frenchman who had just gone to see Sweeny Todd. He really liked it too. Then to bed.

Now to get back into running since I hadn't really done anything in about a week and a half due to the travelling. So out I go for a couple of training runs and then we had the NY Road Runners Anniversary Run. This is the run that originally was supposed to be a 4.8k Fun Run (about 2.9 miles for those of you who are metrically challenged). Note the word "supposed" in the previous sentence. Apparently because of some mix up, the race ended up being 4.8Miles. This is almost a 2 mile difference. Should we cancel; should we just go ahead and treat it as a training run? Well, of course we ran it. I mean we'd already paid for it. And there wasn't anything else going on that weekend. Pathetic isn't it. So we both (Debbie and me) went out to give it our best shot. And I didn't do too bad. My official time was 1:00:39 which was about a 12:38 mile. I was a little disappointed because I'd been doing faster miles on the 5Ks but this was a longer run so you're going to be a little slower to account for distance. Debbie and I both felt great though. For some reason it was one of those days that just clicked, running-wise, weather-wise, mental attitude-wise, just everything. She said I must have felt okay because I didn't come across the finish line looking like I was going to drop dead. Great. I guess there's something to be said for that. Anyway, we had a good time and the t-shirts are very nice looking. Here's our "after" picture. (The logo is from the t-shirt)

Also that weekend, I went shopping. YEAH!! And bought my new toy. A 17-inch MacBook Pro. Wheeeee. It's so fast it finished projects before I even start them. I LOVE IT! Dad's wants one too now.

So back to running. After the Anniversary Run, I went out Tuesday for just a general/recovery run. Oh my gosh. I don't think I've ever run so badly in my life. Everything was bad. And trust me, I gave it some time to see if the kinks were going to get worked out. Nope, they never did. So I was very frustrated. After 55 minutes, a little bit of jogging, mostly walking and a few very short sprints, I called it a day. Of course, I was so annoyed by the whole thing I just had to order Spicy Coconut Chicken for dinner that night. Yummm. Okay, so I felt a little better.

And since it was so cold and rainy all week, on Thursday I went to the gym and just did 45 minutes on the arc-trainer. I was very surprised. My heart rate didn't go over 125. And I felt like I was working hard. Well, at least I got there. And I stretched -- a lot. Boy, did that feel good. Everything in my back popped.

So yesterday's race was the Circle of Friends Mini 10K Run. This run was supporting tobacco related illness. Since my grandma is on oxygen from lung cancer and emphazema (sp) I thought this was an appropriate race to do. Actually Debbie was going to run it and I was going to go up and take pictures of her crossing the finish line. Then I thought to myself, oh why not try it and see what you can do. Yes, I know, probably not the best idea but whatever. So we both ran it. Debbie did a credible finish and came in just over 55 minutes. She's really doing great. And I did okay for me. I had only run that far once before and it took me about an hour and a half. Well, I did it in 1:16:52. Not bad for someone who hasn't even been running a whole year. I ended up doing about 12:10 minute miles. And I did walk some in mile 4 and mile 6. My super goal was to do it under 1:15:00 so I think i ended up doing pretty good. And we got medals!!! I would have crawled over that finish line for a medal. Here we are showing them off after the race.

So today I'm home recovering and thinking I'm an idiot for signing up for a 5-mile race next weekend. At least it's mandatory exercise. And I promise (well, almost promise) not to go out and try to do my best time. After that, it's two weeks off from the race circuit. And I'm looking forward to being able to have a weekend where I can sleep in both days. Although I'm going to try to get up to Central Park and run one of those Saturdays with The Resevoir Dogs. I'm looking for a running club and they seem pretty good and very nice. And I'm looking forward to a little biking time.

Speaking of biking, let me update you on all things on two wheels. Debbie has a new folding bike so now we can ride and run together. And we're already figuring we're going to ride in the Halem Valley Rail Ride at the end of July and the NYC Century in September.

And I'm going on a biking adventure for my birthday and vacation. That's right -- I said it -- vacation. It's been 7 years since I've taken a whole week off and I'm going to be biking through the Loire Valley in France for a week. I found French Cycling Holidays online and decided that I'm going to have an active vacation and treat myself for my birthday. It's only about 20-25 miles a day but by day 5 that's probably going to be all I'm going to want to do. So now I'm working on my French on Rosetta Stone. Apparently I'll do fine if people just speak to me and don't expect an answer back because my pronounciation is sorely lacking. And I can read pretty good too. Maybe I'll have to pretend I have larangitis so I can write all my answers. In looking at all the Loire Valley pictures people have posted online though and can't wait to go. It's going to be gorgeous.

-gasp- I think that's all. Can you believe it?!?! This unending post is coming to an end. I hope you've enjoyed the pictures and commentary. I'll leave you with a picture that says a little about summer in the city.

Chelly

Please Stand By

2006-06-04T17:30:00.000-04:00

You'll have to bear with me. I'm working on an amazing post for you in the next couple of days with pictures from Niagara Falls, Charlotte Speedway, updates on the latest racing endeavors, summer vacation plans, and all of this will be coming to you from my new computer.

Meet 17" MacBook Pro. Yes, I've been power shopping.

Hope you'll tune in to hear all the news.

Chelly

Everything

2006-05-14T15:25:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Today, Debbie and I ran The New York Junior League Mother’s Day 5K. Pictures should be up in a couple of days. It was a little bit of an odd course. I started out pretty strong and kept up with Debbie for 4 blocks . Then she took off. It seemed to be a slow start and it was a little hard to get through some of the people but I felt like I was going faster than usual. Of course, upon arriving at the park and getting ready for bag check, I discovered by foot pod (which records my pace and distance) had a dead battery. UGH! So although I got my heart rate and my times, I didn't get any splits or pacing info. So I had to do some figuring. We went over the start mat about 1:30 after the horn, so I hit the first mile marker at about 12:00. Pretty good so far. And the second mile marker at about 24:00. After that, it was all about tricking myself to keep running. I kept looking at my watch saying, if I can just make it to 25:00, I can walk a little bit -- well maybe 27:30 -- okay, you can make it to 30:00 and then walk -- it's only 6 minutes to the end, you can make it 3:00, then you can walk -- the finish line is in sight, keep running. And I did. It's one of the first races I've done where I didn't walk at all. Felt like I was going to die the last .1 mile. From this posting you can see that I didn't.

We'll get pictures later this week from the race and I'll post some. We should have a good one of Debbie and me together. That was very nice of Brightroom to set up a group picture location right at the end of the course.

In the meantime, feel free to look at the pictures from Brightroom of me at the 5 Boro Bike Tour. I'm waiting for them to download them to me and I'll post a couple. They're pretty good.

Earlier this week, I took my bike out for a little while to ride the route that we'll be running this Wednesday at the AHA Wall Street Run. Oh my gosh, the route is horrible!! Lots of construction, lots of roads that we're supposed to be running on, closed and although the race is a 6:30pm, how are they going to keep people off the course? Since this is an evening run which I've never done before, and since the course sucks, I'm not too worried about my time. After all, my body is usually ready for bed by 6:30-7pm.

And I've talked my family into running a race for my birthday! We'll have me, mom and dad, my aunt and uncle, two cousins and maybe a grandma. How cool is that!!! Of course, I'm planning on having a big piece of birthday cake that night afterwards. It's part of the Wild Places, Open Spaces running series at various parks in Columbus, Ohio. We'll be doing the Blacklick Woods 5K run/walk in August. I'm really pretty excited about this. Everyone being active together.

This week, besides the run on Wednesday, I'll be getting ready for two remotes for work the following week. We're going to Niagara Falls first and then down to Charlotte, NC. They're both very fast. In Niagara Falls, we're going two shows, one live and one to tape, back to NY for two days, then off to Charlotte for one live show and back home. I'll be exhausted. But it'll hopefully be kind of fun.

Thanks for tuning in. I'm leaving you with a picture of me that I played with in Adobe Photoshop Elements. Obviously I need a hobby.

Chelly

5 Boro Bike Tour

2006-05-08T12:11:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

The 5 Boro Bike Tour. 5 boros, 5 bridges, 42 miles and a sore behind. I got down to the start line (I rode with the NYSports Clubs team) about 6:30a. Brrrr. It was only 48 degrees out. So we all stood close together (as if we had a choice by starting time -- we were really packed in). Somehow, we ended up in the very front of the start line so the moment we could, we were off. It was a slow start up 6th Ave to Central Park, stopping twice for traffic to go through. We kept moving and went over the Madison Ave. Bridge, then the Third Ave. Bridge and then down the FDR and over the Queensboro Bridge.
I started off pretty quickly and got to the mandatory pit stop in Astoria at about 9:30am. There although I was ready to go, we had to wait almost 30 minutes until they closed off the next set of roads for us. If I had known that, I would have gotten a banana. However, I did have half a sandwich which I had packed and then, finally we were off again.

I was actually feeling pretty good so far and we rode through Queens and then into Brooklyn and started seeing a lot of little neighborhoods. I kept feeling like I was lagging behind and so kept zooming along (realistically, I was pretty quick as I got to the finish in under 4 hours). I was a little uneasy on the BQE with those seams in the road. I kept thinking my tires would get stuck in them and pitch me over the top. And on the Belt which apparently is a tiny bit uphill and just seemed really long. Pedaling like a madwoman and going nowhere. I did stop at the last rest stop before the Verazzano and it was nice to get off my bike and stand for a couple of minutes. Everybody said that the Verazzano Bridge would be hard but I didn't find it too bad. Maybe because I was riding with someone and we were urging each other on. I met Rachel in the morning at the start line and we rode together for most of the day. So to the top of the bridge and Wheeeee -- down the other side to the finish. Brightroom was there taking pictures of the event so I'm really excited to see what they have. I saw their photographers on the Queensboro Bridge, the Verazzano and a couple other places. I'll post them when I get them.

Here's a couple of pictures I really liked of the Verazzano from Fort Wadsworth Park at the finish. It was nice being a part of the NYSC team. They had box lunches for us. I'm always amazed when I do one of these rides. All those bikes at rest stops, at the finish lines and there's no theft going on (well, none that I saw or heard of). People can walk away from their bikes and expect to see them there in 20 minutes or whatever. What a huge example of human spirit. It's very reassuring.

So after lunch, some mandatory event shopping and a trip through the freebies, I decided to head on home. I didn't have any problems getting to the SI Ferry and there were lots of people out urging us on. Had to wait about 5-10 minutes to get on the ferry and then had to wait for the ferry to fill up (what seemed like another 15 minutes) and we were off.
Here are a couple of pictures I took on the ferry. This one is my favorite. Just the blue sky, the building and the old and new ferry terminals seemed like a great juxtaposition.

I rode the rest of the way home. Got in the shower right away and headed off to the salon for a pedicure and a foot massage. One suggestion, don't get your legs waxed after riding for 5 hours. AGH! But the foot massage was great and got my toes painted a pretty royal blue. And then out to dinner and bed by 6:45pm.

Overall, it was a great weekend and I'm pretty excited that I was able to make good time on Saturday for the race and that I was able to accomplish the bike ride and the ride home and still move the next day. The next race is the Mother's Day 5K in Central Park on Sunday. So I'm trying to make sure I'm ready although it's cold and icky weather this week. Brightroom will be at that race too. Hmmmm, what to wear.

I'll leave you with a picture I got from one of the other riders' blogs that I really liked (hope they don't mind).

Chelly

Weekend Events, Part 1

2006-05-06T15:47:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Debbie and I teamed up again for the Revlon Walk/Run for Women today. With 40,000 people, it was more than a little crowded and although strollers and people walking were supposed to line up in the back, we saw at least two strollers and 1 child on a bike (no bikes were allowed) less than 10 feet from the start line. As Debbie mentioned to me, this was obviously a fundraiser that happened to include a run. So after a packed start, both of us ran an obstacle course for close to the first 1/2 mile. Then we hit that park and people started to spread out. I think it was a good time for both of us even though the course was mismarked and we ended up running 3.26 miles instead of the normal 5K which equals 3.1 miles. My time was 38:31 which is great for me. That means on average I was running almost 5.1 mph -- a record for me. Not too bad. According to my timer, I did the first mile in 11:44 minutes, the second mile in 12:30, and the third in a rousing 11:32. WOW! I've impressed myself.

After the race (and spending an hour looking for each other at the end of the course -- okay, I looked -- Debbie stayed in one place), we went to Barking Dog Restaurant on the Upper East Side. Apparently it was in an episode of Sex and the City which has made it very popular. However, after only a short wait, we put in our order for the special, yumm, scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage, loads of well-done bacon, fruit, and a very heavy biscuit. It was terrific. Guess we just made up for running all those calories off.

Waddling out of the restaurant, we made our way down 3rd Ave. just wandering. Ended up going to a bike shop up there where I got a wrench and a saddle bag for my bike in preparation for tomorrow's 42 mile Five Boro Bike tour. And then we went to Super Runner's Shop where I found a new running hat (I have a very small head), and got a new fanny pack for running since at brunch I noticed a seam on mine was coming undone.

More walking. Thinking about ice cream. Couldn't find a Cold Stone Creamery, Hagaan Daaz or Ben and Jerry's to save our lives. At this point we were in the neighborhood of FAO Swartz and I happened to remember they have an ice cream parlor inside. Brilliant! So away we went. After mega-sundaes (neither of us finished them), it was off to home for a nap to sleep off the sugar rush.

What a day. Now I just have to get ready for the bike ride tomorrow. I'll have a report and pictures for you tomorrow after the ride. We'll be crossing 5 bridges, Madison Ave. Bridge, Third Ave. Bridge, Queensboro Bridge, Pulaski Bridge, and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (which is one of the seven longest suspension span bridges in the world). I'm trying to psyche myself up for it. 42 miles is a lot of time on a bike seat. Wish me luck. To get in the mood, I'll leave you with a picture on the Brooklyn Bridge from last year's NY Century Ride.

Chelly

Chelly's Ramblings on past Weekends

2006-05-01T15:23:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Pizza and beer. What a combo. Who thought of it and were they awarded a Nobel Peace Prize? Two weeks ago, Mari, Debbie, Debbie, Mel, Kathleen and me embarked on this combo of kings. We had a great time. We sat around talking, singing and even dancing from 7p to about 2:45a. Lots of our favorite music and associated memories. It was a great night. And we'll do it again soon. I got to play DJ. Love that. I was very excited that I got my computer hooked up to my stereo. Nothing like Purple People Eater really loud.

Last Sunday, it rained, really hard, so Debbie and I totally bagged on going to the adidas Run for the Parks race. Out of the 9000 who entered, only 3600 actually ran and finished the race. I stayed warm and comfy at home.

However, a couple of weeks ago when I got my tax refund I treated myself a little bit and bought tickets to go see three shows on Broadway. So this weekend I went to two of them, and . Happily, Barefoot was much better than the critics had led me to believe and I really enjoyed it. I thought that Tony Roberts really made the show. My impression of Amanda Peet was that she was just out of drama school as her gestures and enunciation tended to be over-exaggerated instead of the naturalness of a seasoned stage actor. It was my first Neil Simon play and is just as funny today as I imagine it would have been Neil first penned it. There were only a couple of non-PC phrases that dated the piece. And what any of us wouldn't give for an apt. in the Village for $76.43 a month, even with a hole in the skylight.

Sweeny Todd blew me away. I knew that the actors also played the instruments but I never imagined this. Each of the 10-12 cast members stays on set the entire time, they all play instruments -- some of them more than one, they move set pieces, change each others' wardrobes (especially as they each get dead) and sing -- while playing their instruments. Wow!!! What talent. I'm lucky I can walk and chew gum at the same time, let alone play a violin and sing. I would recommend this show to anyone. It's a lot of fun and very intriging as we see the story of Sweeny Todd, who he was, why he came back, and what he's doing now, and the surprise ending.

Since Sweeny Todd was a matinee, I went for a 16.5 mile bike ride that morning (in the 48 degree temp) to try to get ready for the 5 Boro Bike Tour on May 7th. Nothing like sweating and freezing at the same time. After the show, I went to Outback for dinner. Yummm. I hadn't eaten there in a long time. Filet Mignon with Blue Cheese, Sweet Potato with Butter and brown sugar, salad with thousand island dressing and their wonderful bread. I was a happy girl.

Sunday, I tried to get it together to try a new church in the neighborhood but didn't quite make it. I was ready at 11:27 and the service started at 11:30a. Oh well, I'll have to do better next time. Instead, I went out to the Newport Center Mall and returned a lot of stuff I ordered online and since I was there anyway, figured I should try on some stuff. At least I didn't spend as much as I returned. Then I came back into the city and hit the adidas shop since I had a 20% off coupon which came in the race packet. I needed some running hats. Did I buy running hats? No... but I bought lots of other stuff, including two pairs of running capris, two long sleeved half-zips and two running shirts. One set in black and pink and one set in black and aqua.

So I still didn't have running hats. So I went to Jackrabbit Sports around the corner and got two hats. I also checked out their sale rack where they had Nike shirts on sale. So I had to get three of them. Didn't I?!?!?

Since my cab driver is off on Monday and the weather was going to be good, I decided to do another long ride today to get in shape for the 5 Boro Bike Tour. After riding the 3.5 miles to work at 3am this morning, after work I rode 26.1 miles in 2:30. Not bad really. And I feel pretty good overall -- well, a little tired. Hopefully my running will be good this week too. We're doing to Revlon Run/Walk on Saturday. You can click on the button on the right if you'd like to support me.

I'll leave you with a parting pic courtesy of French Kitty of a Kitty in Paris.

Chelly

Inner Peace and The Latest Running Endeavor

2006-04-09T15:21:00.000-04:00

Hi everybody,

First let me share with you an email that Dad sent me regarding Inner Peace.

He said we could all use a little more calmness in our lives and that it definitely worked for him. Just by following the simple advice he heard on a TV show, he has found inner peace.

Dr. Phil proclaimed, "the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you've started and never finished". So, he looked around the house to see all the things he started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, he finished off:

a bottle of Merlot
a bottle of White Zinfandel
a bottle of Bailey's lrish Cream
a bottle of Kahlua
a package of Oreos
the remainder of his old Prozac prescription
the rest of the cheesecake
some Doritos
and a box of chocolates.

You have no idea how freaking good he feels now. Personally, I think we should all take this advice on a daily basis.

In other news, today Debbie and I ran the Thomas G. Labrecque Classic 4-Mile race in Central Park. We both did personal bests.
There were so many people running, we didn't even cross the start line until 6-7 minutes after the starting horn. I could definitely tell that I hadn't run since last weekend. I did the same pace though (thank goodness) that I did last Sunday: about 12:11 per mile. Obviously you don't get better if you don't practice. Guess what I'll be doing this week?!?!

We also took some spring Central Park pictures. Of ourselves.

Okay, I also took some generic spring pictures. I hope you enjoy them.

Stay tuned next week for pictures from the Pizza, Beer and Tiara Party. Mmmmm.

Chelly

Running, Quilting, Stitching and Other Nonsense

2006-04-02T18:39:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

Okay, here's a huge update on life as I know it.

RUNNING

Lookee -- Lookee. TROPHIES!!!!

Yes, both Debbie and I got trophies at our latest race, the Long Island Gold Coast 5K. We both did personal bests to our great amazement, astonishment and disbelief. I actually did a 39:10 as seen on this picture. That's me looking up wondering if their equipment is working properly.

Here's me near the end of the run wondering if my heart and lungs were going to finish the race with the rest of my body.

Accepting our awards.

Mugging for the camera.

Our Trophies.

Close Up of Plaque on Trophy.

And yesterday, I also ran the Concern for Hunger 5K. I did pretty good cause the course was up the Harlem Meer hill. I did much better than I thought I would on the hill. My time was 40:40. It just keeps getting better.

A couple of weeks ago, Debbie and I did our first run together for the season, the Colon Cancer Challenge 4M. Here I am running in the rain. I don't like running in the rain. I hate my face getting wet. A job well done at 51:49.

Oh, and here are just a couple of good pictures of us eating lunch (really big burgers )

Stay tuned next week for our running pictures from the Thomas G. Labrecque Classic 4M where they'll be taking pictures of us during the race.

QUILTING

Ta-Da! The finished quilt top. Now I just have to find the money for the backing, the batting, and the quilting....

STITCHING

Some recent finishes and almost finished.

The is the Bleus du ciel and you probably can't see it but guess what year I finished it -- apparently 5006!!! Yes, I do have some dyslexia (courtesy of dad) and I didn't even notice when I was stitching it.

Here's M Designs Summer

And the is another of the cats from Scandinavian Stitches (over one of course)

And this isn't finished yet (I plan on having it done this week though). It's Fleur from Elizabeth's Garden. I'm planning on entering this and the Michael Powell Chapel in Woodlawn this year.

And I'll leave you with a little bit of spring in New York.

Chelly

Running and running and running and ru........

2006-03-09T17:48:00.000-05:00

That's what it's all about this weekend. Although I'm totally NOT ready for it, Debbie and I have our first run together this weekend (okay, she's already had a first run on her own). So I set up a webpage for donations and I'll raise what I can in the next two days. Yes, I know, nothing like waiting till the last minute but you know me. You can donate at Colon Cancer Challenge. Just go under "Sponsor a Participant" and search under my name, Chelly Campbell.

So wish me luck. I'll post pictures and results after the race. Keep your fingers crossed.

Chelly

More Quilt Pictures

2006-02-23T21:37:00.000-05:00

Hi all,

Just uploaded some of the new quilt pictures before leaving for LA and thought I'd pass them on to you really quickly.

Here's a picture of three panels and then here's some close-ups of those three panels. When I come back, I'll get pictures of the whole thing for you.

Can you spot the mistake that I took apart?

Enjoy,

Chelly

Everybody Else Updated Their Blogs So I Better Too

2006-02-21T20:20:00.000-05:00

Hi all,

Just a little update since there really isn't all that much going on. All the panels on the quilt are finished and apart from having to take one panel apart (there was a mistake and would have driven me crazy the rest of my life!) and putting it back together, things have gone really well and very quick. I have now put three of the five panels together. It's huge and hard to sew cause it's so heavy. I have marks all over my legs from being scratched with pins.

Went to a MetroStitcher event on Sunday. Very glad I went even though I couldn't stay long. Val's place is huge and very nice. Wish I had that much room to roam around in. And it got me stitching again -- something I haven't done in awhile due to above-mentioned quilt.

Other than that, I've been working out some. Ran in the park last Thursday when it was so nice out and really enjoyed it. I did a halfway decent time too -- 4.34 miles in 56:24. Not as good as my first run but not too back considering I haven't run outside much. I'll have to get busy the next couple of weeks since the race is coming up.

However, I have a respite coming this weekend cause I'm going to LA and get to run in lovely 70 degree weather!!! YEAH!! I can't wait. To be warm and not have to wear 8 bajillion layers.

So when I get back I'll put up some pretty pictures of warm weather and I'll get some updated quilt pictures for you. Maybe I'll have a cross-stitch finish too.

Oh yeah, I also did some cross-stitch ordering online. Yes, I went a little crazy but I haven't bought any cross-stitch stuff since last CATS. I hope it gets here in time for me to take something with me to LA. Also for those of you interested, Michael Powell has his new Secret Garden 2 available. It's not up on his website yet but I found it on the UK site Sew and Co. Check it out. I like it better than the first one.

Well, it's off to bed for me.

Chelly

The Next Panel in the Ongoing Quilt Saga

2006-02-08T18:04:00.000-05:00

Hi all,

Hope everything's going great with everyone out there in blogland. Not much going on here except that I've changed gyms and I'm feeling much better about everything. Today was the first day at the new gym. It's got lots of pluses including many, many locations and different and newer equipment and weight training. And there's one location near me that's open 24 hours a day. So when I go to bed at 8pm and Friday nights and wake up at 4:30am, I have somewhere to go.

So here's the next column/panel in the quilt to end all quilts. Here's the panel alone and then the two panels together. It's slated to be 7 1/2 feet wide and 9 feet 4 inches long. Ridiculous isn't it? -- Especially since I'm only 5'1".

Hope you like it. I'm very excited about it.

Chelly

Quilt Update

2006-02-04T20:50:00.000-05:00

Hi all,

There really hasn't been much going on lately. Running outside a few times and taking a bike ride since the weather's been so great up till now. I think we have one more day and then it's back to winter. Brrrrr! Had dinner with Mel and Debbie recently at the local Mexican restaurant. After two 1/2 pitchers of marguaritas for the three of us and a complimentary shot of tequila each, the movie Nanny McPhee was even funnier.

So I'm going to give you the latest update on my quilt. I've finished one row/column on my NY Quilt. The math has been killing me. I mean, how do you get .5625 parts of an inch? So there's a little fudging of numbers. Anyway, I've had to break the column into three pictures cause the damn thing's about 10 1/2 feet long. Never just do what you can overdo.

What do you think?

I'll update you when the next column is complete. Hopefully, this one will be easier now that I kind of know what I'm doing. There's going to be a lot more number crunching as it goes along though. Wish me luck.

Chelly

The New Year

2006-01-21T12:47:00.001-05:00

Hi all,

Sorry it's been such a long time since I blogged but in December my computer went to the hospital and gave me its cold so I was under the weather, the weather was under the weather, my computer was under the weather, and mentally was under the weather. So I ditched the gym for the month, ate whatever I wanted and have decided that I must do things that I enjoy and that make me happy in the new year.

Here's some of the stuff that's been going on in life lately though.

Caity (my 14 year old cousin from Albuquerque) came to visit for Thanksgiving. It's her first big trip by herself and the plane ride in was very bumpy and she was a little shaken up. But we had a great time shopping, eating and going to the theater and stuff. Went to Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, Hairspray, Sardi's, Dylan's Candy Bar, Rice to Riches. I think she really enjoyed it. The horse's name is Romeo. And the band -- OHIO UNIVERSITY.

Here's a picture from the WABC Christmas Party which they have every year at Tavern on the Green. This is me and Joe Nolan (who does traffic for us) and Debbie DuHaime (who also does traffic). It was a nice time even though I had to leave early since I had to work the next day.

Then we had the MetroStitchers Christmas Party and Gift Exchange. Also this is the stitching shrine that Joan ended up with. Joan, please let us know where you put it and send us a picture.

Transit Strike -- ah, not to bothersome for me except having to be in to work at 1:30am instead of 3:30am. Exhaustion sets in.

Christmas at home. Very nice. Very relaxing. I needed that. Mom put up a red tree this year. And here she is proving that you can buy the Brooklyn Bridge and me and dad after we installed his new Christmas fountain.

New Year's Eve. I decided on the spur of the moment to have a little party. Debbie, Joan, Valerie, Barbara and me. We killed 5 bottles of Champagne (one a piece) and everyone was having lots of fun. I haven't laughed so much in ages. I need more of this -- and more champagne. Here's the progression of the evening.

Oh, and I actually did start a new cross-stitch project on New Year's Day. Two actually. Started another cat picture from the Scandanavian designer and a summer design and had my first finish of the year, Bleus du Ciel. It's very nice. I'll try to get a picture of it up soon.

And then the following weekend, I had the first MetroStitcher event of the year. I didn't get any pictures but you can see some on Debbie's blog. I think everyone had a great time. We had 14 all total who came. And some people we hadn't seen in quite some time (...Marci). The object was to work on or start a new big project. I started working on The Blackwork Balconies pattern I've been wanting to do for a long time. I had some trouble figuring out the chart (it's hand drawn) and finding out which threads will work best. I think I've got it now and I'll try to post some progress pics soon.

However, in the meantime, I took a class at City Quilter on how to do a t-shirt quilt. Many of you know that I've had stacks and stacks of t-shirts waiting to be made into a quilt but no one ever offered a class on it before. Well, I had my first class where we took the t-shirts and fused interfacing on them and cut them. I used 10 yards of interfacing and worked like a dog for 4 hours. Didn't make a dint in the stack. Went on Tuesday and bought 15 yards of interfacing -- ironed for 2 hours that night. Still had loads of shirts left. Went on Wednesday and bought 20 yards of interfacing -- ironed for 3.5 hours that night. Finally finished ironing and had half a yard of interfacing left. Whew! Then spend 2 hours Thursday evening cutting all the damned things out. Friday saw me getting rug burn on my knees crawling around the floor trying to lay out my quilts and taking pictures. Saturday saw me trying to get the pictures printed so that I could take them to class on Sunday. AGH! Here are pictures of the three quilt layouts that I've decided on. Apparently I'm making three quilts. :)
The first one is the "Before NY" quilt.
The second one is the "New York" quilt.
And the third on is the "Broadway" quilt.

I've still been working out and have finally broken through this stupid plateau that I've been on for the past 6 months. The weather's been nice enough I've even been running outside in the cold. Went running at the Hudson River Park and did 5.25 miles. Very exciting. It was a lovely day to run. I felt very invigorated. Later I felt sore and very tired. But I'm trying to keep hold of that invigorated memory. And it was nano's first time out. Yes, I have an iPod but Santa Dad got my note and I now have a nano to add to my electronics. And I love it! It's so cute and tiny. And it worked like a dream out on the road sitting so pretty in it's armband. Thanks Dad!

Well, that's the 2 month update in a nutshell (okay maybe a conch shell). I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and have all sorts of interesting and amazing things planned for 2006. I'm going to make it a great year!!!

Chelly

Life Lately

2005-10-29T17:49:00.000-04:00

AGH!! Almost had an entire post ready for your perusal and lost it all. So I'm trying again.

Well, it's been awhile since I updated so I'll just quickly let you know what's been going on and then put up some pictures for you to enjoy. You can click on the thumbnails to see larger pictures.

Debbie and I went to Hershey, PA for the Stitching Festival. It was nice to see old friends and just be able to sit around and stitch although I think we're all getting older since we really weren't up past midnight. Here's a picture of our STASH. I think this was Friday night before the final shopping spree so it's actually bigger than this. And here we all are sitting in a nice circle together after rearranging the furniture. We're enjoying the nice imported hand made Italian tables. There's Val, Debbie, Ann, Carol and Joan. I'm taking the picture. I was pretty surprised at all the stuff I bought. Especially cause I didn't think anything really caught my eye at first.

And of course, no trip to Hershey would be complete without our obligatory trip to the Hershey Gardens. We had a little fun. Debbie played "I'm King of the World" while I had my way with Maisy the Cow.

We said hello to the piggy thanks to the 10 sec delay on the camera so we could take pictures of ourselves.

And then there's some nice autumn pics too.

And for the first time, I actually got some good rose pictures.

And the Festival obviously inspired me because I've had seven -- yes, seven, finishes since then. Some of them, I bought while I was at the festival and then there are a couple of others that I had at home that I wanted to work on so here they are. The red piece I bought at Maureen Appleton's booth. It's a French design and measured about 2 inches square. Then there's the Cat from Scandinavian Stitches which I did over one.

Then there's Periwinkle Promises Bicycle Built for Two which I totally finished which included tasseling, stuffing and stitching together. And Shephard's Bush Snow Bag which I've had for a long time and finally decided to stitch up. I have the Halloween Treats Bag finished already.

These are Permin of Copenhagen designs which I bought when I was in Santa Barbara this past spring. I have three more in this series. I'm doing them on 40 ct. over two so that they're smaller than called for.

And this is probably a bit of a stretch as a finish but I had never hemstitched the ends so I finally did it and stuffed it. It's ...and the pea from Bearly a Bird Designs.

I haven't put this together yet (ran out of thread) but this is a needlebook which I loved and I thought was appropriate with all the New Orleans events. I stitched it on Echo Sparkle fabric from Picture this Plus. I love their fabrics. Yes, if you look close, you'll see I'm off a thread with my Fleur de Lis. Oh well.

I know that some of you know that I won a ribbon for Technique down at Montpelier recently. Here's the Chapel by Michael Powell. The year is in the church step and my initials are in the door of the blue house.

And since it's Halloween weekend, I thought I'd show you my costume. I went to a Halloween party last night. Okay, I'm a bit disheveled because I took these when I came home instead of before I left.

I hoped to see some of you at Val's a couple of weeks ago but ended up in the Emergency room at Manhattan Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital when I apparently got a small piece of rust in my eye. Agony! My only thought is that perhaps the needle I was stitching with was getting a little old and started to rust and I rubbed my eyes. 36 hours of pain.

I'm planning on being at Theresa's in a couple of weeks, hopefully with a couple more finishes. I'm working on Bleus du Ciel and Bleus d'Ocean from Picoti Picota and The French Needle. I'm also going to begin the next three Permin of Copenhagen designs. They work up fast. I also still have Fleur from Elizabeth's Garden that I'm working on. I'm probably going to start a Sweetheart Tree kit and the other Hillside Samplings Topiary Ornament IV.

My last race which was supposed to be a 5K was cancelled due to the awful weather we had that weekend. I ended up being kind of happy about it cause I was really tired. I'm still spending five or six days a week at the gym and am working hard. I think Debbie and I are running the New Year's Eve Midnight Run in Central Park this year. Brrrr.

That's about it for now. I hope you have a great Halloween with lots of treats and maybe a trick or two. Don't forget to vote on Nov. 8th. I'll leave you with an autumn pic from the Gardens. Enjoy.

Chelly

My First Race

2005-09-19T12:00:00.000-04:00

Saturday was it -- My First Race. It was the Fitness Mind, Body, Spirit 4 Mile Run. After a month of training, numerous Advil and Tylenol 8, and a few days off, I finally felt like I was ready -- okay, not really ready but that I could at least run the complete four miles without giving up.

So after meeting up with Debbie and my trainer Clara (who thankfully agreed to run with me for moral and coaching support), we got in place to start the race. We were packed in, that's for sure. Of course, Debbie took off as I predicted and did great with a time of 40:47, a 10:11 mile.

There were 3,305 people who finished the race. Out of 1407 people in my age group, 30-39, I finished 700. Right in the middle. My time was 52:31 and it was a 13:07 mile. I was just glad to finish. My goal was to do it in under an hour and I did. Clara insisted on taking this picture. At least she didn't need a wide angle lens to take it.

Here's my better side. This was probably at about 3.5 miles. Luckily by then I had the end in sight because around 2.5 miles, I was giving out. Apparently 35 minutes is about all I'm up too so far unless I really push myself. And, as you can see, there are still people behind me!!!!!

And here I am crossing the finish line.
And here are Debbie and me celebrating the big finish and our first race together. My face is as red as Debbie's shirt.

And here's the whole gang -- Clara, Me and Debbie. We were very excited.

After the race, Debbie and I went to Sarabeth's on Central Park South where we had a lovely brunch and then walked over to FAO Schwarz where we took a couple of silly pictures.

Then I finally gave out and went home to take a nap. Sorry Debbie.

To celebrate that night I went out to see and it was excellent. It was very much like the movie. Apparently they wrote the screenplay and the musical at the same time. So everything you see in the musical, you'll recognize from the movie and vice versa. It was great. And the set design was amazing. I highly recommend it.

Other than that, it was a quiet weekend and I'm just trying to recuperate and get back to the gym a couple of times before it's off to Hershey for the Cross-Stitch Festival. Boy, I can't wait for a weekend away. I need a vacation (although Debbie is going to make me run with her one day). I'll take some pictures for you while we're down there.

Oh yeah, and here's me wearing the sweater I made.

That's about it. Tune in next week for visions of chocolate. And there's only 2 1/2 weeks till the next race -- a 5K. I must be crazy!!!

Chelly

One Down, Two to Go

2005-09-12T18:55:00.000-04:00

Here's all the lowdown on yesterday's NYC Century Ride. I left home and pedaled 6 miles to the Harlem Meer at the top of Central Park and got in line and started the ride. Everything went great and I was moving right along and feeling very strong. We crossed the Brooklyn Bridge which was great. And then we were in Brooklyn. We rode through Marci's old neighborhood and I realized again what a nice little place it was.

Finally we got to the rest area in Prospect Park which is a very nice park by the way. I think it was my first time there. So after a quick bite to eat and a bathroom break and a gawk at the animals, I was on my way again.

So away I go, out of the park, down the hill and then it happened. My first flat. Heres' the offending inner tube. Apparently I had gotten some glass in my tire and that was that. The Marshalls that stopped to help me couldn't help because I don't have a quick release front tire so I walked my bike for about 1-2 miles toward the closest bike shop. Luckily, under the Williamsburg Bridge, Jim (one of the guys that I met on last week's ride) came by and helped out. He also has a foldable bike so had all the right equipment to help me out. About 15 minutes later, we were on our way again.

The next rest stop was Astoria Park in Queens where they had bananas and Krispy Kremes. Yumm! And this is where Kevin (from work) and his friends found us. There was still a ways to go so after a quick stop we were off again looking for the next bridge to cross.

After awhile we cycled our way to the Triboro Bridge. Here's what it looks like from the saddle of a bike going across and here's the view from the bridge. It's a very long bridge but we made it and we were in Randall's Island (I think) and there was a very nice park there. The other picture is Jim riding ahead of me. And then we went back to Manhattan! YEAH!! We were on the home stretch. Next stop -- Central Park!

And here it is! What a fabulous sight. All in all, when I arrived home, my odometer said 51.27 miles. What a ride.

Here we are at the Finish line when we get T-shirts and water bottles and hot dogs from F&G and Italian ices. A lovely ending except for still having to ride home. Here's me and Jim and me and Kevin and his friends.

So that was the ride. And I was in bed by 7pm. Next up is the 4 mile race this Saturday which I feel totally unprepared for. Clara and I have got a lot of work to do this week. And my body has a lot of healing to do. I guess all I can do is my best but every time I think about the race my stomach gets tied up in knots. It's going to be a long week.

On a different note, here's a picture of the sweater that I crocheted (as modeled by Penelope Poodle). I still have to weave in some of the ends and trim them. I'll try to get a picture of me modeling it later this week. For all that it's a sleeveless sweater, it's very heavy and it's a little warm to wear in this 80-90 degree temperature. But it does fit although I probably would have made it a couple of rows longer. But since it's my first clothing finish, I think I did pretty good. I'm working on about three other projects right now so maybe next week I'll have to get busy on them. Also we're off to Hershey next week for the cross stitch festival. So I'll pull out some stitching (which I haven't done for awhile) and it'll be very nice. I usually don't cross-stitch much during the summer anyway.

I guess that's about it. I'll post pictures and results of the race next weekend and let you know how I did. Wish me luck.

Chelly

Tomorrow's Challenge

2005-09-10T22:09:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is the NYC Century Ride. I'm looking forward to it and think I'll do fine. We start at about 7:30a and for 35 miles, I figure that unless something goes terribly wrong, I'll be home by noon. I did buy a Camel Water Carrier which should help out a lot. I'm hoping not to have to stop very much.

And Friday's running venture was a sham. My body just hasn't had time to recover yet so only actually RAN for about 2 miles and then we walked about 2 more miles. But I'll be ready for the race next week. I took today off and am feeling better already. I'll be training but taking it a little bit easier this week. I have good feelings about it (most of the time).

I also finished a crochet project. A sleeveless tank with a hood. I'll get pictures up for you in the next day or so. It's done in a variegated ribbon yarn in tropical colors. It's very nice and worked up very quickly.

I'm taking my camera tomorrow so maybe I'll get you some pictures in the next post.

Stay tuned for athletic updates.

Chelly

Not Quite a Running Machine but Getting There

2005-09-06T15:38:00.000-04:00

Well, Labor Day has come and gone and now there's no vacation till Thanksgiving. Sadly, summer is officially over. I guess its time to start looking into the tanning beds in the neighborhood.

Here's the update on my Athletic Prowess. Friday, I went running in the park with my running trainer, Clara. She wouldn't tell me how far we were running but at the end of my run, the computer said 5.11 miles. YEAH!!! And I did it in the same amount of time that I did 4 miles the previous week. I was running about 4.1 mph. Not bad for only my third time running outside. I'm still going to be eating Debbie's dust but at least I begin to think I won't make too poor a showing.

And on Sunday, I decided to do a 30 mile Manhattan Perimeter Ride with 5 Borough Bike Club to get ready for the NYC Century ride next weekend. Well, let me tell you, they need to get new odometers. First of all, I'm thinking "I've done 26.6 miles in 2 1/2 hours before so for 30 miles it should be about 3 or 3 1/2 hours. Starting at 9a, I'll be home by 1p." NOT!! We didn't start until 9:40a. And there were 60 of us on the ride. When group riding, you're only as fast as the last person riding. I got home at 6:02pm and my odometer read 40.5 miles! However, we did get free pizza at the end where the pizza place let us bring our bikes in. Neat, isn't it?! Anyway, I refused to ride my bike home. Luckily, with a fold up bike I could put it in the backpack and took it home in a cab.

Otherwise life has been relatively quiet for me this week. I read a really good book, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, that I think most of the readers of this blog would love. It's actually not a sci-fi/fantasy. Imagine that. It's kind of a gothic suspence/mystery. It's very compelling and I stayed up till 9:30p last night to finish it. I've already loaned it out (something I don't usually do) and after that, it's on its way home to mom, who I'm hoping will take the time to read it.

That's about it. Not very exciting this week but that's okay cause there's lots coming up in the future. Stay tuned. I'll leave you with this picture. Enjoy.

Chelly

New and Exciting Things

2005-08-28T10:03:00.000-04:00

Gosh, I'm not even sure where to start except to say that I'll try to post more often. I've been a little lax lately -- you know, summer and all.And I found lots of Smiley Files today so since I only have a couple of pictures to upload for you I'll try to amuse you with all the Smileys I found. Hope you enjoy them.

What's going on in my life? Well, my birthday was a bit overlooked although I overlooked it too. No big events, parties, drinking activities -- not even a really good dinner. It just sort of happened this year. I did get my cake (as you saw in a previous post)but that's about as eventful as it got. Very odd for me to just pass it by. It kind of crept up on me this year.

Since then, I've gone on a couple of dates, one -- well, let's not talk about it, and one very successful. I've had two dates with this person and the third date is supposed to happen on Monday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm trying to stay in the moment and just enjoy the fantastic kisses.
Otherwise I've been training for upcoming races and runs. I went out three weeks ago on a 16 mile bike ride, last weekend on a 26 mile ride and yesterday I did 16.5 miles. I have discovered that I need padded shorts, padded undies and probably a gel seat to complete the 35 miles. I'll also have to make some small adjustments to my seat before the ride. Only two weeks to go. I feel confident about finishing in a reasonable time (although it's not a race) with minimal fuss.
I'm saving all that fuss for the runs. Running outside is quite intimidating for me. However, I've worked with a running coach this week and she actually had me run 4 miles in Central Park. Just because I did them at 3.4 mph and it took an hour and 10 minutes, I'm not supposed to feel discouraged. I must start somewhere, right? But I've got three weeks to go. Who knows what might happen by then.

Of course, I'll be eating Deb's dust during the race but that's okay. She can get water, order brunch and get our goody bags before I hit the finish line.
I've also been crocheting. I've been keeping it a little bit of a secret because I don't want to be one of those cross-stitchers who suddenly discovers _________ (Fill in the blank: beading, knitting, tole painting, etc.) and forgets about cross-stitching. My attention span has diminished a bit over the summer and I've wanted something that's a little bigger to work with and not as specific; remember, I do a lot of petit point. Here are the projects I've done so far modeled by Penelope Poodle. The first scarf was done in ribbon yarn and is pretty neat to work with. I'm working on a sweater now in that same ribbon yarn, just a different color. The hat turned out great although I could have done two in the same amount of time if I had paid more attention to the directions. I ended up taking parts of it out two and three times. But remember I haven't crocheted in years and years so I'm just figuring out how to read the directions again. And the hat and scarf were made out of this specialty yarn which had little loops on it. Not sure I like it but I'm trying to get used to crocheting with different yarns again too. Personally I think the hat looks a little like a fancy bathing cap. I still need to put fringe on the scarves too. I do have a couple of other crochet projects going at this time but I'm not posting them till they're done, just in case they never get done. I think I'll be taking this crochet class to help me read patterns and work on my gauge.
I also rearranged and cleaned (okay, mostly cleaned) my entire apartment. Apparently it was time to take all the books off the shelves, dust and log them in Delicious Library. This is THE BEST library program I've found. All you need is your iSight Camera and it reads the barcodes off the books and searches the web for the info. The only problems that it has is that it doesn't give an exact match on some of the older books, it doesn't differentiate between paperback and trade paperback and most of my special signed, numbered and leatherbound books I'm going to have to put in by hand. So it won't bring up estimated values on those books (which are, of course, the most expensive in my collection). It does do books, CDs, and DVDs though. Very nice. And the graphics are great. So my apartment was ripped apart for about a week and I didn't get much of anything else done. I'm much happier with the result though so it was worth it. Now for that pesky stack of paperwork I still have to get through.

I've now spent about three hours on updating my blog (and playing with Smileys) when I should have been getting my tushie to the gym. AGH! But I owed you all. So can I tell you how much I don't want to go to the gym today. Yep, that's me. Well, I'll have to at least get out of the house to head to the grocery store. Enjoy your day.

Chelly and Odie