Random Thoughts Friday!

1. I hate shoes. Jen and I got into a conversation this morning about shopping. We see these great outfits that are stylish and sexy and would love to buy them. Except neither of us can stand wearing those stylish and sexy high-healed shoes. There's nothing sexy about clogs.

2. I'm a scientist (in case you didn't know). I am easily influenced by sound scientific studies. In addition I have more than a small interest in nutrition and its links to disease. For this reason, it is a very bad idea that I bought the book The China Study . So, 4 chapters into the book I am in preparation for a vegan diet overhaul. I'm not going to be strict about it when I'm around friends or family (don't want to drive people too batty worrying about what to feed me), but I'm starting to learn how to cook vegetarian dishes. My dish of the day was Quinoa Tabbouleh . It's great. I also made vegetarian chili last night and have enough to feed an army. It's super tasty, but I think in the future a little beano may be in order....

3. I'm really starting to get used to this heart rate training. On only my second run, I increased my pace by :45 per mile and decreased my HR by more than 5 beats. Crazy. I just focused on my breathing the entire run and the HR came down like a charm. Pretty sweet.

4. Man, some things about winter really suck! I had a 2 hour bike ride with Jen scheduled for tomorrow morning and had to totally bail on her. I don't have the money to buy winter gear right now (see #5) and I just hate being cold. So the forecast of low 40's and rainy for the morning has me running to my trainer. So I have a 2 hour appointment with my trainer and a movie at 10 am tomorrow.

5. Car dealerships suck. I took in my car for it's "required" 30,000 mile tune-up (otherwise my 100,000 mile warranty is invalid). I walked out of there $400 poorer after a glorified oil change. Sons o' bitches! (as my mom would say)

6. Speaking of my Mom, she called me very excited tonight. Turns out, she was invited to a slot tournament the same weekend as my half marathon in Vegas. Result- a room at the Belagio for free. In her words: Hoity- friggin - Toity! I guess it's a nice place, huh?

7. And I saved the bad news for last. Steve got the diagnosis of B-cell lymphoma yesterday. They need to take another biopsy for flow cytometry to determine exactly what type and stage. So here is what I'm going to do about it- I am going to sign up for the Janus Charity Challenge for Ironman CdA to try to raise as much money as I can for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I told myself I wouldn't pick a charity to raise money for unless I had one that I was truly passionate about. Seeing a dear friend go through the battle with lymphoma will be more than enough for me.

And now, my friends- I have a date with my bed. I'm such a big loser going to bed at 9 on a Friday. But hey, I'm tired. I had a lot of nightmares this week and wasn't sleeping too well. I'll make up for it tonight