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I haven’t run more than 9 miles since last year’s half marathon, but I ran 10 last weekend.

And shattered my old 10 mile PR! By 14 minutes.

Check it out — here are my race times (some are embarrassing — note that my mile time for the marathon is my WALKING pace, though I didn’t walk!).

[previous 10 mi time — Capital Pursuit 2008]

[last Saturday's run — note the epically fast ending at 6:41/mi]

I am definitely giving myself props. And bragging rights.  Not to mention that it was 95° out on Saturday compared to the 50° 2 years ago.  YAY!

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well, I spent 90% of this day driving around Ames trying to figure out how the hell to A) get across town and then B) get out of town to Des Moines.

As it turns out, apparently I’m living on the island of Ames.

After driving around for nearly 3 hours, I decided it would be better just to go home and work.

So, this is why I couldn’t get out of town …

Red means roads are closed. Basically, I was landlocked. I did manage to get across town and to where I was hoping to get OUT of town, but that road was also closed. Due to construction. Of course. Thanks, construction.

These photos are courtesy of the Des Moines Register … Wow. This is ISU’s stadium.

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This past weekend, Mark and I trekked up north to his family’s place in the Twin Cities to hit up his brother’s 30th Birthday and Housewarming party.  Our friend Ben met us at Mark’s parents’ house on the way back from a camping trip in Canada. Ben’s car had been broken into a few different times and dismantled, so he didn’t have any way to get back to Iowa. His parents were going to Madison, and since Minneapolis was kind of on the way, they dropped him off with us since we were heading back to Iowa.

Anyway, that was kind of a mouthful.

So Nick, Mark’s brother, turned 30 (which, guys, I realize I’m getting closer and closer to that. No more birthdays. Seriously.), and he christened his house that he bought back in March or February with a nice little get-together. Mark, Ben, Mark’s dad and I showed up with some Moosehead Lager (my new favorite beer) and a bottle of Jim Beam. We were ready to roll.

Ben and me (also, check out the epic cleavage! what up?)

Beautiful scenery … one of my favorite parts of heading to MN.

I love the lilypads in all the little ponds and lakes.  I actually ran 6 miles on Saturday on the Gateway Trail and went past a few of these. It was so refreshing — not to mention, it was about 5 degrees cooler and a lot less humid. So much easier and more enjoyable to run!

… not beautiful scenery. I giggled when I saw this guy driving by. But then I quickly realized this is probably going to be Mark someday.

Related: this truck pulled into the gas station we stopped at on the way back. The guy left the truck running, took up two spaces, and pretty much gave off an all-around aura of douchebag. Seriously. Who drives this?

And I must mention, that nothing makes me more happy than a new pair of big, cheap earrings. I love going to visit Minnesota for so many reasons, and sadly, one of them is to hit H&M for some adorable cheap couture. I picked up a skirt, a dress, a scarf and 2 pairs of earrings for an unbelievably low price. Why we don’t have one of those stores here is beyond me. Regardless, I am happy to have some new earrings!

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I just got all my stuff moved, and I’m settling in. Time to check out my awesome new porch on the roof with the cool spool table.

Nothing like beers, brats and cigars to start the summer off.

Our friend Matt lighting his cigar

Mark hanging out on my porch with the awesome spool table.

Me and the last bottle of IPA

Barney tries to get a paw on a beer or two. Not successful. He did manage to get the butt end of a bratwurst.

Looks like the end of the first night of summer. Such a gross subject, but I thought it made a really cool picture. It’s like hipster art.

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So here I am on a normal hermiting Saturday afternoon. Elbow deep in crafting. Getting ready to put it all away and go work out.

I’ve been making shrink jewelry all day and I went outside to spray acrylic coating on the pieces to seal them.  For all who don’t know, I have a huge porch that’s enclosed with 8-10 ft. walls.  I chose this apartment for that reason because I was concerned about my safety living alone (I used to get stalkers — but that’s a really long and scary story).

ANYWHO, who would have thought that I would get stuck outside on the hottest day of the year?  Go figure.

The big sliding door’s lock latched apparently when I shut it. Normally I would have just kept the screen door open, but I was spraying fume-y stuff and — oh — by the way — my screen door has been broken since I moved in. So that wasn’t an option anyway.

I finished spraying. Turned around. Pulled on the door. What the HELL?  Locked.

Poop.

Okay, wellll I seem to remember one of my windows not wanting to shut all the way (which I noticed earlier today because it annoyed me that I was running the air with the window cracked).  So, Ms. MacGuyver took the grill cleaning utensil brush and pried the window open a bit more.  But then the window slammed all the way shut when I took out the utensil to put a tree branch in it to hold it open to pull with my body weight.

CRAP.

So, what is my next option?  Well, just in case, I try the door again. Not so much.

So I have this little tree in my porch that I have always been afraid that some robber/stalker/burglar/rapist was going to climb down and get me (yea, paranoid much??). Well, thank GOD for the tree because that’s what saved me.

There isn’t any branches low enough to where I could climb up from the bottom of the tree, so I grabbed my bike that was parked on my porch and used that to boost me high enough to where I could start climbing.  All the while, all I could think about was OH MY GOD I’M IN MY PJS AND IT’S 3 PM AND I’M GROSS I HOPE NOBODY SEES ME CLIMBING THIS TREE!!!

So I get high enough to where I can see over the walls.  At this point I’m trying to figure out how to get over the wall and grab onto the light pole (which was how I suspected burglars/rapists/robbers/stalkers could get to the tree) and slide down.  I was looking around a bit for more options and I noticed a guy in the parking lot walking towards my door (my apartment is next to the entrance).

AND, not to mention, this guy is the ONE neighbor I ever talked to here and he’s saved my ass once before already (not as dire last time — couldn’t get the door open because the lock on the door was broken (yay).

Okay, so here I am. In the tree. In my jammies.  Hollering out this kid’s name.

He sees me. HALLELUJAH.  ”So… this might look a little weird, but my sliding door locked and I’m stuck out here. Can you call the property management?”

SURE!

Yes.  Most random, awesome thing ever.

This kid is my hero.  I’m seriously bringing him cookies later. He tossed me water over the wall and everything.

So I sat and waited about a half hour for the maintenance guy to let me in my apartment (ridiculous) — and yes, the kid I knew could have let me in himself had my door to the apartment not been locked.

Anyway, that was pretty intense. It is ridiculously hot out (heat index of 106°) and if I hadn’t caught my neighbor, I’d probably still be sitting out there or have 2 broken legs from climbing over a wall and jumping down.

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yay for those of you that aren’t big MJ fans (which includes, as I’m finding out, a LOT more of you than I thought).

So I was so wrapped up with being upset about MJ *still* the other day when I ran that I totally didn’t blog about my awesome run.  Yeah, I’ll go ahead and say that I was running for him, in my mind, because it kept me going.  I used to listen to some of his stuff when I ran, but recently only have listened to heavy stuff when running. I can’t believe I could switch at the drop of a hat like that (in this case, the drop of a glittered black fedora hat).

Anyway, due to the fact I was running with purpose and that my mind was definitely elsewhere AND the fact that it was 20° cooler and not deathly humid out, I was able to complete my 45 minutes of running without stopping.  Well — obviously I had to stop at intersections, but I don’t count that because that’s a life-or-death kind of situation. Not stopping=getting plowed by a vehicle.

So this is my longest non-stop run since physical therapy!

Also — I set out to do a JOG…not a run. I had Mexican for lunch (which is a terrible idea for someone with stomach issues, I know), so there was a fiesta going on in my tummy.  I decided I should just risk it and go because it was so nice outside. Lo and behold, I didn’t have any issues. Crazy, right? Yeah. I know.

Oh and nikeplus.com has a new look/layout/functionality.  Not a fan just yet.  We’ll see if it grows on me.  OH and apparently I’m “chimes1″ on nikeplus now … WTF??? I’m THE chimes.

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