Sunday, September 29, 2013

I cheated on sleep




I love sleep. It's like just one notch under family. It might even be tied with coffee and chocolate.

Eric posted this on my Facebook wall.


I couldn't agree more.

It was perfect because I'd finally added one of those cute motivational sayings to my phone's alarm clock like I always see on blogs.



I had to set the alarm to go off while writing this post
because I'm not coordinated enough to take a screen shot
when I actually wake up.


If asked, I would definitely say I love sleep more than running. My actions this weekend didn't reflect that.

Friday morning, I was up at 3, and Lily and I hit the road running at 3:30am. We were aiming for 20 miles, but ran out of time and only got 18.75. Still, not bad before sunrise. I even found a new neighborhood to add to my home turf long run repertoire. There was a portion where I was pretty positive I would have to tell her to go ahead and call Eric to come pick me up, around mile 12. I took a salted caramel Gu, which helped, but what really did the trick was Lily being nice enough to listen to me rant about all the people that really pissed me off this week. Nothing fuels a run better than anger (although anger and salted caramel Gu might just be the ultimate combination).

You might think I would have gone home directly after work and headed to bed, and I normally would have, but there was something preventing me.



That's right. Ke$ha.

Ke$ha was performing at Pier 5. Being cheapskates, we opted to watch from Pier 6. Here's what I mean.



Pier 6 is pretty close to us. Only a 20 minute drive and then another 45 minute parking spot search.

From Pier 6, we could hear perfectly, see decently, and enjoy our Chipotle dinner (purchased for only $10 with a BOGO coupon). Our friends who had amazing seats updated us with pictures (like the one above) so we could actually check out the outfits.

Our view - those screens they put up basically did nothing.

When I walked over to get our dinner during the opening act, I'm pretty sure Ke$ha's limo suddenly pulled up on the sidewalk in front of me. 


She's in there. I felt the strong presence of glitter.
I demanded a selfie to brag on instagram. As always, I got some bonus pictures before I could wrestle my phone back.







The only thing detracting from our experience was the people next to us. It was a mom and her daughter who couldn't have been more than 7, yet had every word to every song memorized and was singing along loudly and doing what appeared to be pre-choreographed dance moves with her mom. Neither batted an eye while Ke$ha pretty consistently dropped f-bombs and discussed sex and drugs in between songs. Now, I'm not a parent, I'm not trying to judge anyone for their parenting. All I'm saying is it's a little unnerving to hear a 7 year old talking about brushing her teeth with a bottle of jack.

We walked the glitter filled streets (literally) back to our car, and I immediately fell asleep on the way home. Wild.

Saturday, I was up at 6 to host a group run and man the Charm City Run water stop at the inner harbor. I barely survived through 4 miles, and then did another 3.25 on my own after my shift. It was at a 10:20 pace and made me want to quit running forever.

I needed all the help I could get staying awake on Saturday. I went out to lunch with my BFF Casi, and one of the sandwiches we shared had coffee rubbed marinated beef. I couldn't taste the coffee, but it was still a really good sandwich, and I stayed up until like 10pm.

Except I couldn't because we had a football game. The games are 40 minutes, and most people play around 25-30 minutes of them, and it's exhausting. I'm sure any NFL player would back me up on this.

A minimum of three girls is required, and this week our team had two show up. You're allowed to play with 2, but your team has to play with only 7, instead of 8, and obviously both girls get no breaks. It gets more complicated and tiring. Every third play is a "gender" play, meaning the quarterback has to throw to a girl. The pressure is on us while the boys get a break (they aren't even allowed to cover girls). So essentially, while the guys play 2/3 of the time, girls play all the time. This was a further problem, because we had two girls, yet only one girl who could actually catch the ball (hint: it wasn't me).

I somehow managed to survive and even tagged several people on defense, which is officially the first and only time I've done anything to help the team. We lost 40-19, which is significantly less of a point deficit than our loss last week.

Sunday was another 6am wakeup. I met my friend Jen for a 12 mile run. The weather was perfect, and this run was a huge confidence boost. I'm off my antibiotics, and for the first time since getting sick, I felt like myself. Our overall pace was even under 10 minute miles (9:21!). I managed to run, go grocery shopping, prep breakfast and lunch, clean the apartment, and shower all before the Ravens game at 1pm.

If there was ever any doubt that in a marriage, you rub off on your spouse, we proved it so hard today. I was sitting on the couch, watching the game, eating a (Wegmans) sub packed with salami, and Eric was out doing a 10 mile run. If you had told me that would happen any time in the first two years of our marriage, I would have laughed so hard.

In other news, we tried a bacon chocolate donut.




I had high expectations, but I gave the whole thing to Eric after a bite, and his response was "it wasn't too bad". Donuts are pretty low on the dessert continuum for me to start with. I realize this may come as a surprise to most people who are in my phone contacts. You people are probably wondering "then why did you blow up my phone about the free donut at Dunkin on National Donut Day"? Obviously, donuts are still dessert, and it's been scientifically proven that anything free tastes at least 10 times better. But when you break it down, donuts are like less sweet cake without frosting, and therefore kind of useless.

Still, it looked really good (when I originally bought it, not so much in the picture). I want to replicate it with a fresh donut and freshly cooked crispy bacon and then see what's what.

Who would you stay up to see in concert after a long run at 3am? Obviously Katy Perry, and also Lady Gaga, I may have even shelled out for real tickets for them, Britney Spears, (laugh all you want). Also any grunge/rock band from the 90s (except Dave Matthews band, ew), but only if they have all the original members or use some sort of time machine (ex. Nirvana).

What's at the bottom of your dessert continuum? Generally fruit based desserts, unless they are seasonally appropriate (ex. apple pie on Thanksgiving, blueberry cobbler on the 4th of July, etc), and donuts, and Snickers. I've probably given this too much thought.




11 comments:

  1. I'm not sure I'd stay up to watch anything after runnnig 19 miles at 3am. That's the middle of the goddamn night.

    I really don't like fudge or brittle. Also, anything cinnamon flavored isn't really dessert. It's a punishment for your mouth.

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  2. Ditto to Kara above. No music sounds good enough to keep me awake. Period.

    So, I always adopt a family for Christmas and last year's crew had a 6 or 7 year old little girl who wanted nothing other than CDs....but they were all KeSha and other quasi-wrong lyrics for an elementary school girl. I went through a serious moral dilemma when trying to shop for her gifts! I mean, shouldn't her mom have regulated what went on the list?!

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  3. Hi! I popped over here after reading your guest post on Logan's blog (which I loved, by the way... but I still have a few reservations about ultras). I cannot imagine cranking out almost 20 miles before the sun comes up, but I would totally stay up late to see Ke$ha. I would also stay up late after an early morning long run to see Lady Gaga, The Charlie Daniels Band (I didn't laugh at your Britney Spears, you don't laugh at my Charlie Daniels), and Jimmy Buffet.

    This may shock you, but the bottom of my dessert continuum is anything chocolate. I do not like chocolate at all, except for York peppermint patties. People who like chocolate like to tell me we can no longer be friends when they find that out, but then I remind them it's more chocolate for them. Ditto for any dessert that has any kind of nuts in/on it.

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  4. I can't decide if I like that close-up picture of Ke$ha better, or the second picture of Eric. Probably Eric.

    Apple pie is my most hated dessert. I think you knew this? Please don't hate me. Also, who doesn't like chocolate?

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  5. "If asked, I would definitely say I love running more than sleep. My actions this weekend didn't reflect that." I'd definitely argue with that. I don't think I saw one wake-up call later than 6. Is that correct? ;-)

    Bottom of the dessert continuum.... good question! Jello is pretty low on my list, as are most Chinese desserts. I mean, they're good and all, but cold red bean soup or warm herbal soup with fruits and fugus or shaved ice with fruit on top (even if you add sweetened condensed milk) just isn't really "DESSERT". As such, I feel totally justified in eat Chinese "dessert" after dinner, then going out to eat REAL dessert (like, with chocolate) afterward.

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    Replies
    1. Good call! I totally meant to phrase that the other way around. I'll blame the lack of sleep for my mistake. It has now been fixed! And I could not agree more - fake desserts require immediate follow up with real desserts.

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  6. I don't have many problems hauling my butt out of bed early in the morning, it is staying up late at night that kicks my butt. If I am up past 9 I am not a happy girl.
    Not sure I could do the chocolate bacon donut.. I like bacon and chocolate, but somehow that combination just seems all wrong to me.

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  7. I'm with Kara. If you I was going to stay up after a 19 mile run, I'd probably have to skip work and sleep all day to do it.

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  8. I'm with Kara....no way in hell would I stay up late after getting up at 3am to run. I've gotten up that early to run more than once, but I go to bed at like 7pm.

    And anything fruit flavored or candy-ish is at the bottom of my dessert list. I like chocolate and baked goods only, although I will eat chocolate candy (like a hershey's bar) in a pinch. Ice cream is also near the top...but none of that sorbet or fruit flavored nonsense.

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  9. I'm exhausted after reading about your weekend, I don't know how you're still able to function. There is no way I would get up that early and stay up late for anything music related.

    I think pie is probably my least like dessert particularlly cream pies, hello that's just jello in there! But let's be honest, I'm never going to say no to any kind of dessert.

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  10. Bahahaha 1) I don't think I would ever cheat on sleep. I love it too much. 2) I would have gone to bed, but that's just because I'm lame like that...but really, I probably wouldn't have gotten up at 3 to run and then I WOULD have gone to the concert. 3) I'm the opposite of you - I'll take fruit deserts over chocolate any day..I'm surprisingly not a huge chocolate fan. Please still be my friend...I'll give you ALL the chocolate out of my trail mix!

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Thanks for commenting! Comments make me probably more happy than they should.