Okay Pete, here it is.

Durham NC is the home to some pretty big tobacco companies - Liggett and Myers, P. Lorillard, R. J. Reynolds and the American Tobacco Company (check out some history here). Though no longer in business, they left quite a legacy especially with regard to the giant warehouses downtown, many of which are now residential and commercial buildings, and the famous Lucky Strike smoke stack.


Another remnant of the tobacco industry is the American Tobacco Trail (ATT). As the name indicates, the American Tobacco Company is involved. Their processing plants and warehouses were connected by rail lines built at the turn of the 20th century. In the 1980s the Triangle Rails to Trails Conservancy (TRTC) was formed to preserve the corridor as a multi-use trail. The ATT is still a work in progress, so though it claims to be a 22 mile stretch, it's pretty broken up and "volunteer-maintained" in many parts. When it's totally finished though, it will be awesome.

So, the point of all this was to say that I ran on the ATT yesterday. I did a six mile run in the morning. It is a super pleasant path to run on (biking too) because most of it is shaded by trees so it's much cooler. In fact, when running into the sunny patches I could swear the temperature increases by at least 10 degrees, at least. I really do have to start getting up earlier because July and August are going to be rough no matter how much shade I can find.

*Photo from http://www.everywheremag.com/places/1813.

El Regreso

I just got my bike (not mine, but it's exactly the same) back from DC, and it has been truly missed. In an effort to make up lost time I decided to cycle to all of my dog walks today instead of use the car. It was a really great day, but my legs were definitely killing me by the time I got home at 4:30 PM. I actually had to walk it up the last hill because I just couldn't find it in me to pedal. For whatever dumb reason I always feel a little embarrassed about walking the bike, but c'est la vie. Using google maps I figured that my total mileage for the day was just short of 20 miles. The longest rides were 6 miles of which there were two, so it wasn't anything too crazy. Combined with the walks, it was a pretty active day. But I don't know what YOU guys are up to, so maybe that is considered mellow. Intimidate me in the comments section.

The art of walking a chihuahua

Sometimes I walk a chihuahua. Yeah, yeah, get your laughs out now. It's like a step away from walking a cat. That's my conclusion anyway. The other day I fashioned an analogy to describe my trouble in convincing the dog to actually move forward: It's like playing golf on the nintendo wii. You know when you get to the final shot and you have to hit the ball just very lightly or it will go into the red zone and start flipping out? Well that's what it's like tugging on a tiny tiny creature in hopes that it will come your way. I fear that if I pull too hard it will just fall over and get dragged across the ground. To be fair though, I have thought about doing that a couple times. Anyway, what I have learned to do is just pick the dog up and carry it a few blocks away, put it down and let it walk home. What can I say, I got tricks.

The dog is very cute though. I don't usually like chihuahuas, and this pup is really sweet outside its efforts to prevent me from doing my job. Also, the owners have the most amazing cat. He has thumbs and I love him.
In training news, I ran about 5-5.5 miles around Durham this morning. The weather was really nice. I just finished my walks for the afternoon, so that was an additional 4-4.5 miles of walking. I have two more tonight. Nap time. ♥

I done did it.

I was able to get all 100 letters signed, sealed, and delivered to the LLS headquarters today in time to benefit from the sweeeeet postage deal they had going. Now I have time to sit back and contemplate how many people I might have sent a letter to that are not the people I thought the were. Better yet, I enjoy imagining the look on person X's face when they see the envelope and think: "Who the heck is Emily O'Sullivan?" All I can hope for is that they read the letter, and even if they haven't been in contact with my mom in a while (ever?), they are moved to donate anyway. Thinking positively. Speaking of that notion, did anyone read that piece about Oprah in Newsweek titled "Crazy Talk"? Let's converse.

ANYWAY...

After getting all that fundraising jazz done with, I had some doggy walkin' to do. I did three walks tonight, so something like 3.5 miles. It would usually be a little more, but two of the pups are slow. One is just huge, like tiger size, and the other is just not that into it. The latter is more interested in sitting in the middle of the road as cars are approaching and forcing me to drag her around. On my last walk of the night I saw this awesome cactus bloom:

The pup tried to taste. I told him it was not a good idea.

Real talk: I didn't run five miles yesterday like I said I was going to do. Instead I ran directly after my walks tonight, but just three miles. My bum hurts tonight. Tomorrow is going to be about 8 million degrees and I have about that many dog walks, so I will not be running. Nope. Happy weekend kids.

My team

These little guys work around the clock taking the phone-in donations I am receiving at a non-stop pace.


Actually, I just wanted an excuse to put that picture* on my blog. Instead of enslaving kittens I am in go-go-go-mode trying to get together the last of my letters to send out on Thursday. This is round one. Hopefully I will get more together. Big thanks to anyone that sent me their address or helped me get lists together of people to contact. FYI: I am now proficient in internet forward and reverse yellow page use if anyone wants to pay me for this skill. Just sayin'.

In training news: After a couple days off, I got back out there today. I ran three miles then walked about 3-5 minutes and then ran one more. Not great, but I will be out again tomorrow with a goal of five miles. Not sure where I will run though. I need a new trail. Wah wah. At the end of the week I plan to do a long run of 8 miles. Let me clarify: For me, that is a looooooooooooong run. Use your imagination to picture what I must think of a full marathon. ♥

*The picture was found on cute overload's site and it's from the Humane Society. Thanks lil A for sending it my way!

Do I know 100 people?

I need to have 100 addressed envelopes to send out by this Thursday for donations. I have about 65-70 right now and I am struggling. If you have a chance, drop your addy in the comments box or send it to me by email: lefty3870@gmail.com. Thanks a million billion in advance. Seriously. ♥

Just so you know

I did what I said I would do. Ran all around Latrobe's high school/middle school and some adjacent neighborhood and few times. The cheerleaders and football players got to see how cool I am.

Genius

Greetings from Latrobe, PA! Training up here hasn't been outstanding, but I managed to run four miles yesterday. I plan to run four again tomorrow morning before I catch my plane back to Durham (there now I have made my intention public and must stick to it). In other adventures, I went to Fallingwater today. It's just the most incredible place. Frank Lloyd Wright, you leave me speechless. I can't imagine what it would be like to have such visions and the skill to execute them so perfectly. Thank you so much Western Pennsylvania Conservancy for freezing the house in time, encouraging the surrounding environment to thrive, and still managing to bring tens of thousands of people through every year. Please, please go to this place.

Amazing.

Summer Babes

Jack & Sally

Confessions of a Naughty Runner

I went for a run today for the first time since Tuesday. Oops, didn't mean to take so many days off. First confession complete. I planned to redeem myself by hitting the path around east campus at Duke for several loops this afternoon. After about 2 miles, or a lap and some change, I just quit. It was pretty lame. I don't even really know why I quit. I wasn't too tired and I wasn't too hot. I was just being lazy. Second confession complete.

On the way home I had to brainstorm so I could salvage the day's attempt to train. And boy did I ever. I got the boom box and put it out on the porch, grabbed the jump rope and started. I did one minute of jumping between sets of lunges - forward, backward, sideways. Obviously, this was tough, but when I was done I was feeling a lot better. I do need to say one more thing on jump roping (jumping rope? what's your preference?) though: It's hard! I maintain my position that you would need to be 12 years old and/or a member of the Bouncing Bulldogs in order to continue this type of exercise for any extended period of time.

Because I am awesome, I indulged tonight with a great dessert. Last night I made mint chocolate ice box cookies and stacked them with layers of whipped cream and left them to set in the fridge overnight. They were soft and decadent and tasted like a thin mint cupcake. The end.

mmm.

Home, again.

D.C. was pretty chill. I spent most of my time there working the last few days of my "old" job's contract. It ended with an amazing dinner at my boss's house. Cow racing on the Wii and sipping Venezualen rum with great company are among the best of ways to spend an evening.

Other than work, I didn't actually hang in D.C. proper at all. It was mostly a Columbia, MD trip. I like it there. Zack's family is great and I love their dog Opal. She has these eyes that will make you do anything (see below). Suffice it to say, she gets a lot of late night belly rubs. One night she was in such ecstasy she refused to get off the bed so we could go to sleep (she's a big girl and there just ain't room) and Zack had to carry her out.


Unfortunately, I didn't get much done in the way of training while I was there besides my one six miler. Ooops. Between the rain and the 1.5 hour commute each way for work, my motivation to bust it on the trail was definitely compromised. However, I had a pretty good workout today, but I will tell you about that later along with a picture of the dessert I am rewarding myself with. Go me.

Oh also, duh, best part: I saw Pete! We had breakfast and he brought me gifts! A Dave Van Ronk LP and fancy dried pears from Annie. I guess word is out that I enjoy those. Anyway, I gotta get better at this stuff and remember to take phone pics with special people I want to post about. See Annie's blog, gag spot, if you wanna creep on their San Fran lives.

Desk Lunch

I just took a walk to Trader Joe's on my lunch break so I could pick up a canister of whipped cream for these chocolate icebox cookie "cupcakes" I made last night. I ran out of the homemade stuff and I needed something to spruce up the lids (pics to come). They are for the bbq I am going to tonight at my boss's house with the rest of my co-workers. We are in the midst of completing a study about water-related projects financed by the World Bank so I will be topping them with blue sugar. I know, so clever.

Of course, I can never just get one thing! In my defense, I needed something for lunch and it's a better deal to grab a couple things to prepare myself that would leave me with extra for later. I grabbed a bag of dried Bartlett pears (had never tried- awesome!), some pre-sliced asiago cheese, and flax honey flatbread crackers. I had some spicy three pepper hummus (zingier than I anticipated, but good for making me want to hydrate) already. I made a couple little "sandwiches" with that and the cheese. Between my 8-grain bagel this morning and the flatbread I am doing a pretty good job of eating complex carbs today (yay me). Apparently something like 65% of my diet should be carbs now. I guess I will need to cancel my zone diet subscription. Ha ha.

Chow!

Grubbin'

Last night I made dinner for Zack and his sister, Liz. I always have this idea of frying polenta. At the same time, I always forget that submerging the stuff in oil doesn't make it crisp up. Instead it just absorbs it all and becomes a really nasty greasy goop that belongs in the garbage. Oh well. Having learned my lesson (again), I pan fried the polenta in a little butter in a non-stick skillet (which also helped improve things) over med-high heat and it came out nice and crisp on the outside and warm and soft in the middle. Yum. The rest:

1. Saute a bunch of spinach (I am always amazed at the shrinkage) with minced garlic (I like a lot, but whatever's your pleasure) in some olive oil until wilted.


2. Pan fry polenta rounds. I used that pre-made stuff that comes in the sausage-esque vacuum tube thing in the produce section. It was sundried tomato flavor, though not sure I could tell. Anyway, transfer to a paper towel lined plate.


3. Almost best part: Fry eggs over easy. Two per person. If you don't know how to fry an egg over easy, watch this tutorial and start enjoying life!


4. Spread a layer of spinach on each plate, top with several polenta rounds. Two eggs on top of those (make eggs last so they are hot!). Then sprinkle with feta and throw on some sliced cherry/grape tomatoes.


5. Best part: EAT

I took that picture with my phone after I scrambled it all up. Sorry I don't have a fancy Nikon rebel slr digital camera that makes the food look as good (sometimes better) as it tastes. Just make this easy dish and you will be happy.

Run-Walk Experiment

After work yesterday we went over to Lake Elkhorn in Columbia MD (where I am staying) so that I could run the trail there a few times. Note: Lake Elkhorn is not a lake. It is more like a glorified pond. More interesting though is this little tidbit about Maryland: There are NO natural lakes in the entire state! Crazy. Anyway, there is a path that goes around the “lake” which is said to be 2 miles. All along the path are many offshoots so it was a little confusing at first. I definitely took one wrong turn. It was alright though because I ended up stumbling upon some kids doing some fun stuff on skateboards like riding down a hill then crashing into grass and jumping off the boards. Meanwhile this other kid was being forced to sit in the adjacent park and practice trumpet. Wah wah.

Back to business! I decided I needed to run 6 miles last night, so three loops (and a little change due to my detour). I also decided to try out this training technique known as the run-walk method that I read about in the New York Times in an article "Better Running Through Walking" posted yesterday. Apparently some people are big proponents, while others are skeptical to say the least. The idea is that you run, and then walk. Duh. However, it’s not that you run until you are tired, then walk to rest, but walk before you are tired. Some say this method prevents injury and can even improve running time. It went pretty well for me, though there was definitely a little devil-me on my shoulder when I was walking saying "Doesn't this feel great? Running sucks." I asked my runner pal Amy* what she thought about it and she expressed a similar sentiment:

For me, it’s just uncomfortable. Like if I start walking, I never want to start running again. My lack of willpower forces me to run the entire time.

She also name dropped some famous dude Jeff Galloway, so you can check him out if you want more deetz on this run-walk thing. If you have anything to say on the topic, or any other topic for that matter, drop it in the comments section as per usual.

Overall the run last night went well. These were the highlights:

• Skateboard kids, as previously mentioned.
• A million tiny babies in strollers that would look at me when I ran by.
• Crazy cute Jack Russell puppy.
• When this lil kid pointed at me and said “She’s like mommy” and the dad said “Yeah mommy runs too, but she’s not that skinny.” Yesss, I am skinnier than someone’s mom.

Then we went back to the house and had butternut squash ravioli. Before I knew what was in it I suggested we put marinara on it. After we proceeded to do that, Zack’s mom was like “Are you sure you want to do that? It’s squash.” But you know what? It was darn good. Then a dead bug fell out of the light over the kitchen table and landed on my plate. The end.

*Amy is a great runner. She has run several half marathons and done very well. This October she will be running her first full marathon in the Baltimore Marathon. Whether she likes it or not, she will be featured on this blog somewhat regularly.

Thank you Marti Brauer!!!

I received my first donation last night! I am so deeply grateful for this. ♥

Wardrobe Malfunction

Unfortunately, in my eagerness to get out of the house yesterday and on the road to DC I managed to forget my running shorts. I am left with several options:

a) Borrow a pair of my boyfriend's giant mesh gym shorts (I might need suspenders too).

b) Run in men's boxers (preferably ones with an obnoxious print).

c) Buy a new pair (downside: $$).

d) Go sans pantalones (see the wiki page for "nudity in sport").

It's a tough call. Too bad I don't know how to set up some kind of voting mechanism so that I could avoid making a decision all together. I will add that to my to do list along with "read more books" and "take an art class." Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments section.

In 153 days I will run 26.2 miles.

Apparently I will have to do it all at once. Yeah, it turns out that's what a marathon is. I have been running a fair amount over the last few weeks, but I am really going to have to get my "A-game on" or something to that effect.

I am in DC for the next few days so hopefully I can run some of the more interesting trails around here and just bop through the city. One thing I hate is to run in one direction for a long time only to have to turn around and follow the same path back to where I started due to a lack of paths or sidewalks. Cities are perfect for zigzagging around. It really keeps you entertained weaving through different neighborhoods. When I lived in Montreal (shout out to my MTL homies) I used to be able to run for so long without acknowledging my exhaustion just because I was always discovering new places. Durham is a little different. The Duke trails are nice, but they get a little boring after a while. Le sigh. I will just have to get more creative. Probably a little more daring too.