Random Five (Friday Five Edition)

It's been quite awhile since I have posted.  It's been a very busy couple of weeks for me which included training all week last week, which meant catching up on everything this week.  So I thought I would post some random things that have been happening.

1 - Since about May I have had a sore throat on and off.  Never with a fever and never anything that was a big deal.  When I had my yearly physical last month, I mentioned it to her.  She wanted me to go see an ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) doctor.  Again, since I didn't think it was a huge deal it took me awhile to get around to make an appointment.  The funny thing about the practice she referred me to was I called and expected that it would be 3-4 weeks at a minimum to get an appointment, and they had one for the next day.  That never happens.  I saw one of the ENTs on Monday and he put an optical fiber endoscopy down my nose to look at the back of my throat.  It turns out that I have Adenoiditis.  It just means that my adenoids are infected and he gave me these HUGE antibiotic pills to take.  If it doesn't clear up, I'm to go back in a couple of weeks.

2 - Just these past few days, it is now starting to feel like fall.  I've never really like fall as this time of year is when I get most of my anxiety due to darker and colder days.  Even though it's the same 24 hours, because it's darker early, I feel like I have less time to get things done, which causes most of my anxiety.  Once I get used to it, the anxiety tends to alleviate for the most part.  But I am very thankful to have the few extra weeks this year.

3 - I only play the Mega Millions and Powerball when the jackpot gets really high like it is now.  I know I will never win, but I enjoy thinking of what I would do if I did.  Paying off my house and car and paying off any debts that my parents have and then traveling.  I've only won a dollar a couple of times, but I played the Mega Millions last Wednesday and I matched 3 numbers and won $10!  I know that's not a huge deal, but it was exciting for me.  And I'll be reinvesting that money into my dreams for tonight's drawing. :)

4 - I'm a bit embarrassed on how long I have owned my couch, but I've had it forever.  It is a loveseat that rocks and reclines.  I've had it forever because it's very comfortable and it fits perfectly in my awkwardly long and narrow living room.  I always sit on the right hand side because it's closest to the end table and the past month I have noticed that the cushioning (or lack of) on that side is probably causing me issues with my glutes (and therefore my knee).  So I have moved the couch around so that the end table is on the left side.  I have to say it is awkward.  I am right handed and it's weird to have everything on the left side.  But I either have to get used to it or go shopping for a new couch, which fills me with anxiety.  For big purchases that will be daily use, I have to know everything about every option and I have to analyze it all to make sure I am making the right choice.  I swear as the item for purchase gets bigger, the time I analyze it goes up 100 times.  It's ridiculous.  So for now we will see how this works.

5 - I never hum.  I never whistle (while I work).  I never sing.  But I noticed over the last few months that I have started humming.  It's so weird, I don't know why I all of the sudden started.  And the weirder part, it's always the same song.  Not only that, it's always the same Christmas song.  I might understand it some if I started it now, but it's been happening all summer long.  In June out of nowhere I'll realize that I'm humming a Christmas song.

And a bonus - I had to share this as it's probably one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen.  It was on a sunrise ride I did last weekend.

I'm hoping to get a few posts prepped, so when I do have a busy couple weeks, I'll still have something to post when I don't have time to sit down and write something out.  Till next time. :)

How have you been?  Anything random happen to you this week?

I'm linking up with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0

Weekly Wrap (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

Before I get started I wanted to see if there was anyone out there that has an Apple Watch and participate in the Activity Sharing, I'm looking for Activity Friends.  You can find my email in my profile or leave a comment.  

Another busy week.  This was my high mileage week before Princess.  I am officially on taper.

Monday I got up to run 3 miles.  As I was watching the local news for the current weather they were talking about all the ice on the roads from the rain that came through overnight.  They were talking about all of the accidents, naming at least 5 accidents on major highways.  I thought it best not to go out, slip on some ice, and bust my behind.  I mentioned the ice and not running at work and a coworker said that she went out for a run and it was very slick.  But apparently she has special shoes to help with the ice.  I felt like I made the right decision.  I had also found out that my friend that wasn't sure if he was being laid off, is being laid off.  He is there till the summer and has severance, so he has awhile to find another job.  I know he will find something quickly.

Tuesday was my FT class.  Well sort of.  Instead of letting us have our class till the end of February like they said we would, they forced us into the Strive area.  This area is small and out in the middle of the place.  It's made for 5-7 people and when we normally have over 10 we were in other member's way.  On top of that the classroom was empty.  Yup, they'd rather have us out in the middle of the gym then in a room.  I didn't feel like I got the workout I normally do.  It's very disappointing and no one but the manager of the gym was happy.  That afternoon I heard from a different friend of mine that worked with me at my last job.  She said that she found a new one.  I was so happy for her because where we used to work is so dysfunctional.  She is going to be so much happier.

Wednesday morning I absolutely couldn't sleep.  I kept waking up and finally at 4 I decided to go find a book to read.  I read for about an hour and was starting to get sleepy.  My alarm was to go off at 5:30.  I fell asleep for 15 minutes and awoke before my alarm.  I was actually refreshed so I just got up to start my run.  With missing my Monday run, I had to up my mileage for Wednesday to 5, so getting an earlier start was a good thing. 

I woke up with a sore throat, but didn't think much about it.  Throughout the winter I tend to have a lot of sore throats, especially in the morning.  But they never turn into anything.  During my run it didn't hurt at all and that usually is all there is.  After my run I noticed it again.  Throughout the day it just got worse.  When I got home I checked my temp, and no temp, which was good.  I took some NyQuil and went to bed early.

Thursday I headed to the new gym class.  We did the same thing we did on Tuesday.  It was boring and it was so motivating that I barely got my 30 minutes in of activity by the end of the day.  Yes, it only tracked 10 minutes of activity for the 45 minute class.  My throat was still hurting, so that didn't help.  In fact most of the day my throat hurt, again with no fever.  Bleck, this was too busy of a week to get sick.  I ended up emailing the director of the gym (cc'ing those that take the class as well) asking several questions that we all have been wondering.  She replied that she wouldn't answer the questions via email and will only see us individually.  This is very frustrating!!!

Friday I had another 5 mile run on the docket.  My sore throat was going away, but my head was very stuffy.  Like how your ears are stuffy when you are on a plane.  I was glad that I got out for a run.  I took it slow, but getting the heart pumping.  I kept thinking that the faster my heart pumped the quicker this bug would make it out of me. I did see another beautiful sunrise.



Saturday I was supposed to do 10 miles.  While it would be in the 40's throughout the morning, there was rain predicted to start at some point in the morning.  I decided to start earlier then the running group.  I knew it would take me awhile to get the miles in and I wanted to try and beat the rain.  I ended up really liking the 10 mile route that the group had planned.  It took us over the river and back then up through part of the city and back.  While my throat felt fine and my head wasn't very stuffy, I had mucus - ick!  So it was good that I could bail the run half way through if I needed.

While I love going over the river, I hate this particular bridge.  You can see all the way down and with my fear of heights I HATE it.



But seeing the river, even with the cloudy skies, can be very beautiful.



And I do like this bridge because it has a good hill down and a good hill up.



I got through the neighborhood and I saw this in someone’s yard. It reminded me of my grandmother who loved dead trees.

Then back over the bridge.



After crossing the bridge I saw the big group of runners I would be behind if I started with them.  I headed back through the city and felt good enough to continue on.  About mile 6 1/2 I felt a few drops.  Before I knew it, it had started raining.  Not a sprinkle, but not quite a rain.  I decided to push on.  While it was somewhere in the 40's the rain didn't make it colder.

After the turn around I had a couple miles to go and the rain became a true rain.  At this point I was just really tired of the rain and the run.  About a mile to go and the rain started to really come down.  Man that sucked.  It did make my last mile quick.  I was soaked by the time I got back to my car.  A hot shower was on the docket when I got home.  And then a nap.  I couldn't sleep, but a couple hours laying down helped.

That afternoon I had an appointment to get my hair cut.  I'm growing it out so that I can give it away to someone that needs it.  I finally felt like my hair was starting to grow, finally.  She trimmed and thinned it.  It's good for another 12 weeks.

That evening I went to see "Brave New World", a local play.  We usually get dinner before, but I wanted the extra time to just relax.  While I wasn't feeling bad, I was tired.  The play was good, it was 1984-ish.  While it was written back in the early 1900's it was about a future world where the "proper society" was perfect, well at least their Alphas and Betas were perfect, and everyone belonged to everyone.  And the "savages" believed in God and had families.  The word "Mother" and "Father" were profane words.  It was interesting, but I think I liked 1984 better.

Sunday is usually my day to stay home and get things done around the house.  I was finally starting to feel better.  Still some flem and mucus, but nothing annoying like Saturday.  But Sunday was my big fun of the weekend.  I met a friend for lunch and then we went to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with the music played by the symphony.  They played the movie on a screen without the music track and the symphony played live.



The symphony was great.  They didn't miss a beat throughout the whole movie.  They were so good that half the time I forgot there was a symphony there to play and got sucked into the movie.  I had to keep reminding myself that I payed a lot more then a regular movie ticket to see this and I should really appreciate the live music.  During the last scene people started leaving.  I know that almost everyone there probably has seen the movie, but why miss the credits where the symphony plays and you can really appreciate it?  Oh well, their loss.

Monday is right around the corner and there is another busy work week.  Last full week till Princess.

How sick do you have to be to not get out and run?  Do you like to go to the symphony?

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.

Weekely Update (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

Well it's been an interesting week.

 

First Monday started with me not wanting to go for my run.  So I slept an extra hour and when I got to work to see that the building was being evacuated.  It turns out that a drink machine on my floor caught on fire.  We were displaced to different places around the building or went home to work there.  I decided to join our business partners on their floor and worked till I could get back to my desk.  It was fun sitting with them.

Tuesday I was supposed to go to my gym class and I got up and ready and went downstairs to put on my shoes, my stomach just hurt.  I laid down on the couch and just tried to let it pass.  I didn't have my laptop so I had to at least go into work for that.  I was able to get a Ginger Ale - having to go to another floor since they removed ours - and started to feel better.

I did get my run in on Wednesday but it was a crappy one.  It was hot and I'm really losing my running endurance.  But I got out there and did it.

Thursday we found our that our manager got a different position in the company.  It really doesn't effect me, but it will be interesting as we have an interim manager as we wait for the new one to be hired.

Friday over 400 letters that were sent to customers got sent back to us.  I don't 100% understand how it happened, but it meant that we had to re-stuff the envelopes by hand.  Not only that, we had to check them off a list, twice because we had a handful that didn't match the list.  It was tedious, but fun with the people I was working with.

Here we have an outdoor theater that does two Shakespeare plays a summer.  We went to one Friday night.  There was a chance of rain, and it did start about 15 minutes after the play started.  So we got a voucher to go back next weekend.  On my way home the isolated downpours seemed to have followed me home.  It was so bad that everyone was going 15 MPH just to be able to see anything.  We all had our flashers on to make sure we could be seen.  Major roads were being flooded and it seemed like every block we were splashing.  There was one road where the mailboxes had about a foot of water up to them.  It turned out it was just my side of town.  My folks barely got any rain and we got about 3 inches in an hour.

Friday I realized that my triathlon is next weekend.  WTF?1?  Where did June go?  Saturday I decided to join the Sunrise Ride and we took off around 5 AM.  Yes that's early, but seeing the sunrise is so worth it.


And seeing these sites just make the ride fun.


On the ride, I decided that I'd go for a run and do my first and only brick for this training cycle.  I knew if I could do the ride and then a 3 mile run I could do the race.  I road 35 miles and then ran 3 miles.  I knew I could do it, but this was just want I needed to figure out how hard it would be.  And it was hard.  I walked most of the last mile.  This will be the least confident I will be going into a triathlon.  We will see how it goes next week.

Saturday afternoon I went to see Wonder Woman.  It is such a great movie.  Who needs Captain America when we have Wonder Woman?  It was great to see a woman super hero of her own movie.  I hope to see more as the genera grows.


How was your week at work?  How did a race go when you feel you didn't train very well?  Have you seen Wonder Woman?

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.

Catch Up On The Last Few Weeks (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

So I haven't done a weekly wrap up in a few weeks so I thought I'd do a quick recap.

Last I left it, my mom was having knee surgery.  She did great.  They had her standing and putting a little weight on it 5 hours after the surgery.  She went home 2 days later and has been doing great with her recovery.

My dad went into respite for the week while my mom recovered.  I think he did well.  At least that's what they said.  He is home now and hasn't lost his routine, which is what my mom was worried of.  He will be starting a day center next week, which will give my mom some time to herself and it will also give him other stimulation.  I hope it helps him.  I can tell things have gotten worse with him as he is quick to get frustrated, which then he takes out on whomever is trying to help.  It just makes me mad because that is not him.  He is such a gentle man and to see him do that is very upsetting because it's not him, it's the horrible disease.  So maybe having some trained individuals around him a few hours a day might help.

I just finished Robin Robert's book, "Everybody's Got Something", and as the title says, everyone does have something to get through.  It just seems like the right time to read this to know that I'm not the only one dealing with something.  I LOVED this book.  It was about her latest health struggle and throughout the whole book I wished she was my friend.  She is such a real person and so uplifting.  The next book on the deck is "The Handmaid's Tale".  It's not a type of book I tend to read, but my mom gave it to me for my birthday and I have had several people say that I have to read the book and then watch the series on Hulu.

 
I saw a couple of movies.  The first Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which I really enjoyed.  It was very funny, despite the boring family issue it was a fun movie.  I also saw Alien: Covenant.  It's the sequel to the prequel of Alien.  It was a typical Alien movie - fun and scary.

A couple friends at work decided to do a 30 day fitness challenge.  I've thought about doing one of these, but usually that was in the middle of the month and I am too OCD to start something like that in the middle of the month.  And I would never remember when it was the first of the month to start it.  So we are doing the 30 Day Buns, Guns, & Abs Challenge from Squishy Cheeks & Cupcakes.  We are on the 4th day and I need to get off my butt and do today's set.

I went on my first real ride on Saturday.  Probably did too much the first time.  The ride I like to do takes off a few miles from my house.  It's great because I don't have to load my bike on my car and can just ride up there.  Doing that, the ride turned out to be 25 miles.  About 10 miles more then I probably should have.  It was the first Saturday of the month and the bike group has a new rider ride.  I didn't realize that this year they moved it to a different place, so I was the only one there that wanted to do the smallest amount of miles.  So I was on my own on the way back.  I really wanted to wait for someone, but I had to get to my hair appointment.  It really wasn't that bad as there was very little traffic.  The only problem was that my ass HURT.  Like bad.  So bad that a few miles from my house I thought I was going to throw up.  I couldn't wait to get off the bike.  That'll teach me for doing too much too quickly.

I got home and quickly showered and headed to my hair appointment.  Since I cut it short, I have been on the fence on if I want to keep it short or grow it out again.   A few weeks ago I had a dream that told me what I wanted to do - grow it out so that I can cut it and give it to Locks of Love.  Locks of Love takes long hair that is cut and turns it into wigs for those going through health issues which makes them lose their hair.  So we have to grow out the dyed blond hair first so it will probably take a couple of years to get it long enough.  But I'm excited.

After my hair appointment I decided to look into getting a new bike.  Not really because of my bum, but just to make riding much more comfortable as my bike is just a little bit too long for me.  After a couple of years of saying I need to get a bike, I finally pulled the cord and did it.  I had been eyeing the Avail Advanced since I did a test ride two summers ago.  I went into a local shop here and did another test ride and I knew it had to come home with me.  I'll go back to the shop tomorrow to get it fitted and I'll bring it home then.  I'm so excited for my next ride next weekend.

Today I think I'm getting sick again, or should I say my allergies are kicking my ass again.   I was just dealing with this less then 2 weeks ago so it is very irritating.  We will see what tomorrow brings.

Have you read any good books lately?  Have you seen any good movies lately?  Have you ever cut your hair for Locks of Love?

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.