Blog

December 18
I made it through the Campus Loop yesterday on our run, and with the exception of the last mile when I completely bonked from hunger, it was a great run. I realized as I was running that not only was that the farthest I've gone on a run since 3M last January, it was the first time in almost four years that I've done that particular route.

I have always loved the Campus Loop. At 10.5 miles, it's a good distance, and you cover a lot of the city in it. You start at the Rock, then head west onto Scenic with the nice view of the lake and all the pretty houses. Then you go through some of Hyde Park and through campus. TMy favorite part is the stretch through the grounds at the Capitol and then down Congress Avenue. It's neat to be able to run around the beautiful building and then cruise downhill past all of the shops on Congress. The only bummer is the last mile on the trail. It's so hard to hit the trail and know exactly how many steps you have left.

The weather was perfect for running yesterday morning - cool enough for tights, but not so cold that our ears fell off. Our little pack was one of maybe 10 heading out on that or similar routes. It was great to see so many people out taking advatange of one of Austin's best running routes. Although, I could have done without being caught behind the slow guy on the 35th Street Bridge. I hate that bridge and always try to run over it as fast as possible.

I also could have done without bonking in the last mile. It is the first time I've ever felt hungry while running. I ate before I left the house, and I meant to carry some Gu with me, but I left it in the car. Next time I'll have to eat a little more and remember my Gu. I had to walk twice in the last stretch because I just couldn't make my legs go. I truly thought that I wasn't going to make it to the end, which was incredibly frustrating. I had felt so good during the rest of the run, so to finish feeling wobbly was a let-down.

I stopped for donuts on the way home. They were the only things that sounded good to me. I should have bought two for me. One just wasn't enough. And even though I bonked, I still did a little victory dance for Brandon and the girls when I got home.

December 15
I finally made it through my project from hell, and it's such a relief not to have to spend every night working after the girls go to bed. I've gone out to dinner twice this week - guilt free. I'm taking a break over the holidays and not accepting any more projects until after the New Year. The nice thing is that I already have two lined up. Yay me.

Let's see, what else has been going on in my life while I was working?

I've gotten started on Christmas preparations. I mostly finished my cards tonight. I cut cardstock for 80, but I think I'm only sending out about 60. I'll use the leftovers for Brandon's clients. I have a few straglers whose addresses I needed to track down before I hand over the spare cards, though. I'm almost done with Christmas shopping. I still need gifts for my dad and Brandon's dad. I know what I'm getting my dad, but I haven't a clue for Brandon's. I'm hoping inspiration will strike while I'm out looking around. Steve has turned into a really good gift-giver now that he's in charge of presents, so I want to make sure to get him something nice in return.

Brandon and Ella have decorate the house with miles of lights. You can almost land a plane by them. I have a picture of it in my December photo album at www.kodakgallery.com/hokgardner. The girls and I bought a tree last Saturday while Brandon was out of town, and I put it up in the stand all by myself. I'm quite proud of it, even if the tree is a little lopsided. The girls and Brandon decorated it Monday night while I finished my project. It was funny to listen to Brandon supervise the decorating. The girls had different ideas of Christmas-tree beauty than he did. We've been quietly rearranging oranments ever since.

The end is in sight with my dental work! I had a root canal yesterday, and unlike the other three I've had this year, boy did it hurt! I'm still a bit sore. I have an appointment on Monday to have four permanent crowns put in. All I have left is a gum graft in two spots, but I'm holding off on having that done for now. I just can't bear any more dental work or expense. I've paid Dr. Wallace more than $15,000 this year. I told the periodontist that I needed to wait at least six months to let me recover emotionally and finacially from all the work I've had done, and he told me I shouldn't wait more than three months. I told him I was waiting six. Any less than that and they'd have to start the IV valium drip two days before the procedure just to get me in there. I think he thinks I was joking, but I wasn't. There's no way I can go back in for more work any time soon. I just can't.

Time to go threaten noisy children with coal instead of presents. I love this time of year. Santa Claus is the perfect stick/carrot for obtaining good behavior.

December 9
Each summer, when it starts to get hot, I think, "This is as hot as it's going to get." Then I walk out of the house on that first truly hot day, the kind that feels like a blast oven, and remember what summers in Texas are really like. I realized this week it's the same way with the cold. We've had some coldish morning runs where I've needed tights, a hat, gloves and a vest. But this morning was the first really cold morning of the year. When my noze went numb walking to the rock, I remembered what real cold weather running was all about. I don't think it was even above freezing when we started out. I wore tights, two shirts, a vest, a stocking cap and thick thermal gloves. I warmed up a bit on the first little bit, but when we turned into the wind on Lake Austin Boulevard, my eyes started to water and my cheeks started to burn from the cold north wind. We shivered our way through the cold stretch, and then turned so that the wind was at our backs. That part of the run felt so good, despite the cold. I had warmed up enough that I pulled off my gloves and unzipped my vest. Liz, Mary and I led the pack along Lake Austin Blvd., and the pace felt so good. I love running in cold weather.

When I got back to the car, I made a quick stop to change into lighter gloves and drop off my hat in favor of a headband. Then I headed out with Cristina, Shannon and Mary to add on a few more miles. I cut off at the 3-mile loop and ran solo for the last mile. I had warmed up enough that even though I was running into the wind again, I didn't really mind it.

I ran a total of 8, and it was such a change from last Saturday's run, which was essentially the same route. It was warm and humid and I struggled through the run, not enjoying any of it. I couldn't even keep up with the pack on Exposition as we headed back to the rock. One member of the group kept hanging back to keep me company, and I really wanted to tell him to leave me to die on my own, but I couldn't talk and run at the same time. Today, though, felt so much better. I didn't talk much, but it was because we were running hard and pushing the pace a bit. I enjoyed every step of it - well, maybe not the hill up to Windsor.

December 1
I'm hating my freelance work right now. I'm working on a really tedious project that involves creating lessons plans for teachers who use the Elements of Literature series published by Holt. Basically, I'm compiling page numbers for all of the components of each literary selection into one document - that means I'm creating about 100 lesson plans for each book. It's nit-picky and slow. What's worse, the book I have to work from isn't the current one, so the page numbers aren't correct. I have to look up the new page numbers in a book map for the new book. I can't count the number of times that I've had to go back and make corrections because I accidentally entered the old numbers in the lesson plan. I'm sure there are some incorrect page numbers that I haven't caught.

I tried to get out of the project. When I picked up the current installment, the project manager gave me two grade levels to work on and told me to let him know if I couldn't get everything done so that he could give one of the grades to someone else. On Monday I sent him an e-mail saying that I wouldn't be able to get the second grade level done by next Tuesday, the original deadline. I thought for sure he'd ask me to bring the book and ancillary materials in so that he could give them to another freelancer. Instead, he asked when I thought I could have everything finished by. I told him Monday, December 12, thinking it was too long a time frame. Nope. He said it was fine. Sigh. So I'm plugging away at these things, grumbling all the while. The only good thing is that because the lesson plans for this grade level are more complicated and are taking me longer, the project manager is drawing up a new contract and raising my per lesson plan fee.

I'm just holding on until the 12th, when I can go back to enjoying free evenings with my family and have time to run child-free errands while the kids are in school. I'm not going to take on anything new through the end of the holidays. Unless something interesting comes along.