11:15

It's 11:15pm here in Portland.  I know that's not super late for most, but it's past my bedtime.  I'd like very much to be asleep.  I got into bed at 9:30 this evening and barely read before turning out the light because I'm pretty tired.  However, about five minutes ago, I gave up the attempt at sleep and came out to the living room.  So, journey with me on a little trip around what's on my mind this evening, if you like.

I've been thinking a lot this evening about my upcoming 10K run.  It's less than a week away now.  I'm totally able to shuffle along in something that could be at least called jogging for the entire 10K - that is, I'll be able to "run" it all - but I'll be slow.

I did some looking this evening and, for the first time, actually looked closely at the results from the 5K I did last month.  I did really well!  At least, for me I did.  I know I posted about this before, but I didn't know quite as many details. 

So, my run time was 29:15, beating the 30 minute goal I had by 45 seconds.  Overall, I finished 251st out of 1104.  In my age group, I finished 9th!!!!  That's out of 121 people.  Wow.  Okay, so a lot of people just walked the thing, but still.  I feel quite good about it. 

Mostly, I should feel good because I met my personal goal.  I shouldn't compare myself to others, but I'm a competitive sort and I like looking at those things.

I was looking in good part because I was wondering what the times were like for the 10K.  Turns out it's good I can feel good about my 5K results, because what I'll be doing in the 10K?  Not so great.  Chances are really good that I'll be quite near the tail of the pack. 

This sort of makes sense because many more people do 5Ks then 10Ks.  If you're doing a 10K, you're probably a more serious runner, so the field is tougher.  Still, I'm not real happy with my projected finish time.  And, I wasn't before I looked up 10K finish times, so it's still a personal goal thing.  I'd just sort of hoped that it would turn out that my projected time would be more competitive than I thought and I'd be able to say, "Oh, well, then an hour and 15 minutes isn't anything to feel badly about."

And yes, I know, the longer you go, the more that just finishing is a good thing.  Yeah, yeah.  But, I was hoping for middle of the pack.  Sigh.  Maybe someday.  I've been rather putting myself through the ringer on miles and still...oh well.  Truthfully, I haven't felt that strong in the last couple weeks (there was a cold in there) and I don't think my 5K time would be any better now, either.  Well, again, at least I'm doing it.  And it'll be fun.

We've got plans this weekend.  Tomorrow evening we're going to see this Cirque du Soleil show.  To be honest, even with the Cirque hopeful living in my house, I didn't realize that they were even in town until a couple days ago.  Do Jump got lucky and scored some free tickets for the performance troop members and their families.  Who-hoo!  I'm looking forward to it, but it'll end up being a second late night in a row after not sleeping tonight.

On Sunday, I think we're going to go to this show.  It's reasonably priced and we know some of the people in it.  We have to go to the 2:00 show if we go because in the evening, we've got a Zig Zag families potluck to go to.  I've gone and committed to bringing some sort of main dish.  I only have vague ideas of what that'll be.  I'm thinking of a Mexican casserole that I make, but I'm kind of worried it's not enough, so that is bouncing around in my skull - what to make and take?

Thanksgiving is coming up.  We're not doing anything with family or friends.  It'll just be the three of us.  Of course, I'll have my run in the morning.  I've gotten us some gluten free vegan rolls that are currently inhabiting our freezer, but other than that, I'm not totally sure what we'll make.  We briefly considered eating out for Thanksgiving at Portobello, which has a vegan menu with gluten free options, but aren't super excited about dropping $100 for the three of us, even if that means I don't have to cook after my race (which would, admittedly, be cool).  Actually, I do know that we'll be making a polienta stuffing and either blueberry or pumpkin pie, but other than that?  Still up in the air.

We bought season ski passes this year for Mt Hood Meadows and are all very excited about going.  They are opening tomorrow!  They do say that the base isn't great yet, but we're really glad for the early opening.  One year when we bought passes, nobody opened until mid December and we didn't really get our value out of them.  We're talking about going up on Tuesday.  Wednesdays are going to be our usual ski days this winter, but I don't want to go the day before my race.  In fact, both Tuesday and Wednesday are supposed to be rest days, but I don't want to pass life up, either.  Anthony is going to be off both days, as he has some comp days coming for extra hours he's worked the last couple weeks.  It'll be nice to have him home for nearly a week.

I've signed up for a half marathon in the spring - the Hippie Chick half marathon to be precise.  It's supposed to be a fun one.  I'm looking forward to it already, but I want to do a couple in between these November ones and then to keep my motivation up.  Davan is also saying she'd like to do a 5K, so I'm thinking of signing us up for the Resolution Run, which is a 5K on New Year's day.  The same outfit puts on a First Run, which is a 5K at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, but that's a little late for us.  And I'm thinking we might ski on New Year's Eve.  It's fun to do - the resorts all stay open late and do fireworks.

It's even crossed my mind to see if there's a 5K in Colorado Springs when we're there, but a quick search just now says no.  We're there for just a week right at Christmas, so that's not too surprising, but it would have been fun, maybe, to do a Christmas Eve run if there were one.

Back to food, Davan and I have been thinking that this whole gluten free thing isn't doing much for us.  Neither of us really feels any different.  This is disappointing because I wanted to feel better!  We've been doing it for nearly two months now and are pretty much ready to give it up.  I think we're both planning on giving it through mid December and then, if we haven't had some indication that it's doing us good by then, we'll be giving it up.  This will make our Christmas trip to Colorado easier, not to mention Davan's camp experience in the summer more do-able.  I just didn't know how she'd manage being vegan and gluten-free at a camp across the country, which would make it hard to send supplemental food.  Not that we think it's really going to happen, but if she did become a Circus Smirkus Trooper, 10 weeks would be a long time to live on Lara Bars, but even 2 weeks for the alternative camp would be pushing it.

Davan and I have already had a discussion about camp and food.  We're thinking that she'll probably flex some to make it doable.  She draws the line at cheese and she won't drink a glass a milk, but she's willing to eat things that contain some eggs and/or dairy (minus cheese), which should make them able to feed her.  We talked about how sometimes we have to make these compromises for other goals and adventures - like when I went to China and ate my veggies by picking around the meat in various dishes.  She's not thrilled, but willing.

Okay, it's now midnight and I'm more tired than ever.  Having gotten my thoughts out on paper (so to speak), maybe I'll be able to sleep.  I've been hearing Davan moving around in her room, so I guess she can't sleep tonight, either.  Bummer.

Good night all.  I hope you are all getting a better night's sleep than I!