Running Total Week 4

Once again I only went out twice this week to run, and neither of them were with my regular running buddies or my usual routes. I had the awesome chance to run with my other running bestie, Megan. She's 4259 in the picture below. Since her role at BFA has changed, I see her much less often and finding time for our schedules to intersect is very difficult. This week was the first time we'd run together since September and as we set out for our first run together on Monday afternoon, it felt just like old times.

A miscommunication between us resulted in us running 13 kilometers that day! It actually felt pretty great, but I was WIPED.OUT afterwards, more exhausted than I usually am for a long run. I went to a dinner party at some friends' house, itching to replenish all the calories I'd burned that day with a delicious meal and celebrating my loss of 3.6 pounds that week. While filling my plate generously with fixings for taco salad I was suddenly overcome with a horrible feeling and knew immediately that I would not be cleaning my plate that night. Not wanting to draw attention to myself I asked my host and hostess if there was a place I could lie down for a few minutes, out of sight from the other guests. They graciously and discreetly ushered me upstairs to their guest room, gave me a glass of water, and told me I could stay as long as I needed. I curled up under the huge duvet feeling beyond miserable and wondered if I was finally coming down with the flu that had been going around...and woke up two and a half hours later to find that I'd completely slept through dinner. I was mortified, but again my hosts were so gracious and understanding, and obviously my body needed to recover (it ended up not being the flu, just exhaustion) so I'm thankful that they were so understanding and hospitable.

My second run that week wasn't nearly as exciting. Sadly my routine was interrupted a lot this week as I was away at a conference from Thursday morning to Sunday night and was completely overwhelmed preparing to leave beforehand. I'm looking forward to getting back into my regular routine this week, as my first race of the season, the Rock'n'Roll 10-miler in Nice, France, is two weeks away! I can't wait!!

WEEK 4
Monday: 13 km
Wednesday: 5 km

2014 Running Total, Week 4: 68.9 km

KBL Weigh-in: +2 pounds (which I don't understand at all, because I worked out extra hard while I was away on my conference and was super careful about what I ate. Needless to say I'm not happy.)

 

P52 / 11 / green

This week I attended my very first St. Patrick's Day party. A couple from BFA hosted a green dinner, at which everything we consumed was green. The evening began with a walk around town where we found shamrocks with St. Patrick trivia written on them. Then, our meal was served in three courses:

• Course 1: Salad, cucumber dressing, broccoli, cucumbers. Pretty normal, until you add in the green cheese (Wasabi gouda! You have to see it to believe it.).
• Course 2: Here's where things start to get weird. Green noodles, Swedish meatballs in green sauce, and homemade sweet rolls with butter, both tinted the most magnificent shade of mint I have ever seen.
• Course 3: Green applesauce, green cottage cheese, and green lemon bars.

The beverage of choice was "pond water" - apfelschorle (bubbly apple juice) tinted green.

It was a fun evening spent with people I don't have the chance to spend nearly enough time with!

P52 / 11 / green

*TMI: I was concerned that there would be awkward ramifications of consuming so much food coloring, but today everything appears to be normal. Just thought you should know. :)



P52 / 10 / excitement

So, this post is almost a week late but that's what happens when life gets busy!

These shots are from our middle school activity day - we loaded the vans and headed off for a morning at the bowling alley. Watching these third culture kids attempt a rather American sport was fun to watch! And for whatever reason, I managed to score a 122 on my first game! Excitement abounded that day.

P52 / 10 / excitement

P52 / 08 / spirit

My friend Katrina hosted a Dominion tournament for her birthday, and when she first announced the party I followed her around announcing that it would also be a costume party. I started rumors on Facebook, telling everyone who RSVP'd to the event that they needed to wear a costume. She laughed, thinking I wasn't serious. I convinced a few others to go in costume with me - after raiding the drama closet we put together costumes representing various action cards: the Schmied (smith), the Dorf (a royal villager), the Jester, and the Hexe (witch). I also brought along Katrina's monk costume, which represented the Kappelle card (the chapel). The ones who didn't think to wear a costume jockingly mocked us, but we know that deep down, they were just jealous of our epic costumes.

I dressed up in costume to play a strategy card game tournament on a Saturday night.

I am officially a nerd.

P52 / 08 / spirit

P52 / 03 / random

This week's topic is Random. The collage I made sums up what was quite possibly the most random event of my week. Our staff office has two large windows that overlook a field and a small driveway. One afternoon I just happened to look up from my desk to see a group of students dressed in colorful wigs, capes, and oversized sunglasses running wildly towards Brandon, a teacher who was holding up a camera. The whole scene was quite entertaining but SO random. Turns out they were filming a commercial for an upcoming spirit day!

If I weren't relying solely on my webcam I would have much better pictures than this but a crappy picture is better than no picture at all, right?




P52 / 03 / random



#353: SADCC Day 20: the mira

Blech. It might have something to do with my scarf being too short and too narrow, but this one is just awful.

show&tell #353: SADCC Day 20: the mira

#347: SADCC Day 14: the braid

Confession time: I didn't actually wear this one in public. It felt like I had an elephant's tusk hanging from my neck. I guess it would work better with a thinner scarf, but it has to be long otherwise the braid won't work. Eh, anyway, two thumbs down.

show&tell #347: SADCC Day 14: the braid

#346: SADCC Day 13: the X

It was a long day. I almost didn't get around to taking this picture.

Oh, and The X is kind of impossible. I don't recommend it.

show&tell #346: SADCC Day 13: the X

#345: SADCC Day 12: the twist & pull

This is my Vulcan pose. Life long and prosper. With scarves.

show&tell #345: SADCC Day 12: the twist & pull

#344: SADCC Day 11: the fake knot

Forgive the poor quality of today's pic - all my batteries are dead so I had to resort to using the webcam on my computer.

Also, I've graduated to Roman numerals because, well, I only have 10 fingers. Can you see the XI? It kiiinda looks like I'm flashing a gang sign but I promise I'm not. Word.

show&tell #344: SADCC Day 11: the fake knot

#342: SADCC Day 9: the boa

True confessions: I'm slightly repulsed by this one. In the video, it looks like a giant donut around her neck, and it just seems so constricting. The look on my face says it all. But, I gave it a shot today because I didn't want to cover up too much of my awesome Phantom tee, and purposely wrapped it looser so avoid feeling constricted by the boa.

show&tell #342: SADCC day 9: the boa

#341: SADCC Day 8: the magic trick

This one looks way more complicated than it actually is. It's a cinch. (haha... no pun intended!)

PS, I was running on fumes by the time I took this picture. Excuse the crazy hair and tired eyes.

show&tell #342: SADCC Day 8: the magic trick

#306: oops.

Monday after school someone accidentally turned off the power strip, which the fridge was plugged into. Tuesday was a day off. Wednesday morning... we had to do this:

show&tell #306: oops.

#281: welcome to the neighborhood

A month or so ago I unknowingly parked in my neighbor's spot on the street, which made him angry enough to tape a nasty letter to my windshield. Apparantly in Germany you can call dibs on public places because the next day, these lines were painted on the street.

show&tell #281: welcome to the neighborhood

#280: fall party

The middle school fall party theme this year: Movies.
The staff costume: Toy Story.
This photo: Epic.

show&tell #280: fall party

#264: when I grow up I want to be...

show&tell #264: when I grow up I want to be...

#238: chillin' & grillin' & double feature

show&tell #238: chillin' & grillin'

double feature

That double feature defintiely needs an explanation. A game called Ultimate Ultimate uses the rules of Ultimate Frisbee, but with tons of other objects in play at the same time. Our middle school chaplain enjoys tossing in items such as a rubber chicken, a beachball, and gross things like hardboiled eggs, vegetables, and sausages. I actually watched an 8th grader take a bite out of the sausage in the middle of the game. No joke.

#215: creative problem solving

show&tell #215: creative problem solving

This is the entryway inside my new apartment. The doors in this building are of the frosted glass variety, meaning someone standing in the hallway would be able to look into my apartment. The peeping Tom wouldn't see details, but shapes and colors, yes. I rigged up a solution with my fabric shower curtain and over-the-door hooks that fit perfectly in the space. The entryway also includes my shoe shrank, scarf rack, and full-length mirror. Coats and jackets must be hung in my bedroom for lack of hall space. Yay!

#203: lifesaver

Two Aleve was all I needed to endure 7+ hours on a bus plus back pain and cramps. Can you say "happy pills"??

show&tell #203: lifesaver

#190: sale

show&tell #190: sale