Why I Didn’t Buy My Husband a Birthday Gift

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Brian and I haven’t bought “presents” for each other in like, four years. For anything.

I’m pretty impossible to shop for (50/50 picky and I just buy anything I want for myself), and he’s the simplest person in the world that’s happy with a thrifted tshirt and a good six pack of IPA.

watch

one of the last presents Brian bought for me – and possibly the only one I didn’t exchange. hanging on to it for dear life.

Which is exactly what his brother gets him every year for Christmas. A bag of old tshirts and something to pour in a pint glass. It’s his favorite gift.

I’m used to the horrified/confused looks people give when I answer their gift inquisitions with “Nothing. Really, I didn’t get him anything.” by now, and most of our good friends just know better than to ask.

No, we’re not hippie, non-materialistic, “our love is present enough” do-gooders. We’re also not fun sponge lame-o’s trying to suck the happiness from exciting events by pretending they aren’t worthy of a little extra attention. We celebrate (not the Hallmark holidays, though, cmon), we just don’t do it with wrapping paper and bows.

Previous “gifts” over the years have been : trips to Cancun, Jamboree in the Hills, Vegas, and Big Bear; the Baseball Hall of Fame, Spring Training, All Star Game, and that one magical year the Tribe *ALMOST* went to the World Series (uhhh we like baseball) ; brewery adventures at Great Lakes, Stone, and Ommegang; and flights home to celebrate with the fams (even if they are gift-givers…)

happyeverything

See? Non-giftwrapped presents are fun. And Brian doesn’t lose sleep trying to come up with an idea I won’t hate, because lord knows I won’t pretend to love something if I can exchange it for something I’ll actually use.

The point of all this is today’s Brian’s birthday, and once again I’m off the gift-giving hook. He’s getting a tribute tattoo for his grandpa that served in WWII at Pearl Harbor, something he’s talked about for YEARS. He finally found an artist and concept he likes and I don’t have to worry about birthdays, anniversaries, or Christmases for like four years because HOLY SHIT getting a custom piece of artwork etched onto your skin canvas is expensive.

This weekend we did the cheap birthday “acknowledgement” with breakfast at our favorite hidden spot and a 4 mile hike through Peters Canyon. It was awesome.

breakfast

photo 4

hike

yes, emily, rattlesnakes. this trail will not be included on any upcoming itineraries, promise.

Happy birthday, babe. No bows required.

Sarah OUaL

The Many Faces of OUaL Running

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I don’t like apologizing for not posting, because I think it’s kind of vain to think anyone really noticed and also y’all probably breathe a sigh of relief every morning your reader/bloglovin/feedly/etc doesn’t show “ONE MILLION unread posts”.

ftr (for the record), I moved to bloglovin and indeed, am lovin it.

This Eugene Half training cycle has been less than stellar, and well-documented as such.

BARF you all just threw up because you’re so sick of hearing about my pity run stories and womp womp doomy gloomy all the time barf barf BARF.

Well guess what? No more! At least, not today. We’ll tip probably like, 45% gloomy and 55% annoying endorphin high.

Last night was a heavy tip towards the latter.

After shoveling way too much food in my dinner hole I set out for an easy 6 miles, and from the first step I felt great, despite dinner still sitting precariously high in my esophagus. Within a mile I decided to just run until I felt like stopping. At the 2.5mi dead-end I knew I wanted more than 6, and once I hit the second stretch of out-and-back I decided to just go big and make it 10. My long runs have been a weakness, so having an impromptu, STRONG double digit weekday run was a huge ego boost. My legs and head were finally on the same page, I didn’t have a watch telling me I was “too slow” or scaring me the pace was “too fast”, and the quiet night air kept Fun Sarah’s thoughts clear and uninterrupted.

STAY FOREVER, FUN SARAH!

Please. I’m begging you.

Anyway, I got to thinking about all the different “Sarahs” that show up for runs. Last night’s was a rare visitor obviously, but there are a few regular characters lacing up the Brooks each day.

Conveniently I was looking for something to do with the inordinate amount of dog pictures on my phone, so here are Chico and Frankie to personify the Many Moods of Runner Sarah :

morning

“noooo not going. maybe K will sleep in…”

[texts kristina:] ‘you up??’ ‘yeah’ ‘…damnit.’

track pre

track during

track after

(before) “UGH do NOT want to drive to the track. long day at work. wah wah.“

(during) “cmon, Margot! how many more? a little faster!“

(after) “I LOVE __(whatever the workout was)__!!“

hills

 ”all the way up? more than once??” [pees pants]

late night

“just stay here. it’s dark and cold out there. your dinner should settle. a beer would be lovely – ohhh New Girl is on!” [waits until 8:30 and finally drags ass out door and wonders time and time again why it's impossible to fall asleep before midnight]

long run

“i’ll drag your sorry ass through the rest of this run if it’s the last thing i do…”

Happy Friday! Ali if you’re reading and not immediately X’ing out of anything running-related I hope the cute dog pictures made your chrons feel better for a bit.

Sarah OUaL

* this post is dedicated to Momma OUaL because she’s all dog crazy and missing her grand-dogs. they miss you too, mom. *

Head Straight, Legs… sort of

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My brain is playing games on me. Right when I get out of my head and start running on feel and for ‘fun’, it smacks me with a cold case of “you can’t do this without me (mwuwahahahahaah)” .

So much easier to run without thinking.

I’ve had chronic issues with tight calves (the anarchist in me blames transitioning from heel to midfoot striking) but can usually manage them with regular downdogs and easy stretching. Which I HAVE been doing. Swear.

However the last two weeks they’ve been getting progressively tighter and yesterday my reinstated brain admitted they were outside the realm of “normal”. After a hill workout and fast track sesh this week, I spent all of yesterday massaging, stick’ing, and Compex’ing to get blood moving through there, but finally decided running hard this weekend wasn’t in the cards.

photo 2

ps COMP20 is good for 20% off at Compex through 3/31

5k

I actually was really looking forward to 5k painface

Which is a bummer because I was registered to run the same 5k course I ran two weeks ago this morning. I figured with trying not to measure my current self to my old (sub20 attempting) self, it’d be good to have a progress report come within THIS cycle. Chase down route PRs instead of PR-PRs.

Grasping at straws here, please stay with me.

As much as I wanted validation of improvement, chancing this flare up morphing into something serious at the hands of Hills McGee would NOT be worth it. Not now that I’m gaining momentum in training and race season is on the horizon. So I bagged the 5k and opted for an easy (FLAT) 10 miler that I actually really enjoyed. Pain-free.

(I’m taking comfort in the fact that at least my registration $$ went to the university T&F team and not some race director’s pocket)

Speaking of race season, I made some plans…

ragsc

I CAN’T QUIT YOU, RAGNAR.

Yes, the weekend before Eugene. No worries though, this is not race-sabotage ultra relay’ing. I weaseled my way onto a 12-man team and then weaseled my way into one of the easiest legs (runner 1) – three nice, flat, ~5mi each slap bracelet fun runs.

AND I get to lead off. Holla!

Looking forward to van time with some old friends and making new ones – and wearing that sexy reflective vest. Man I freaking love relays.

[the OUaL-pedia on Relay’ing]

Anyway I’ll continue my calf TLC’ing and know this isn’t anything major – I’m not even calling it a setback. Actually it’s such not a big deal I don’t even know why I wrote a whole post about it. My head’s on straight, my legs are tight, and I’ve got a big white van waiting for me in a few weeks. That’s all.

Starting a roll call – who’s running Ragnar SoCal? Eugene?

Sarah OUaL

The Sun is Coming! (sun safe with Mission Athletecare)

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This is going to be pretty rude to those of you covered in a winter encore blanket of snow right now, but believe it or not, Spring is here.

We don’t have a lot of “seasonality” here in SoCal for justification but the calendar tells me it’s true. Sorry if you just got done shoveling your sidewalk or stripping ten layers and yaktraks from your outdoor run.

But the sun will be coming around (if not you can come visit), and all those pasty shoulders and legs will finally emerge from layered hibernation soon.

And with that announcement, it’s time I took my pedestal for another Skin Protection Soap Box Speech.

If you’re unfamiliar with my story, I’ve had two skin cancer scares in the last two years.

In 2011, a week after my wedding, I went in for surgery to remove one pre-melanoma mole and one basal cell carcinoma (a non-metastasizing form of skin cancer). This past December, I went back to have two more pre-melanoma areas excised.

Neither case was life-threatening, but had they gone undetected it’s hard to imagine how quickly they would have sped down the cancer-forming path they were on.

  • As a brief nerd-out, pre-melanoma means there are abnormalities in the cells that have a likelihood of morphing into melanoma, a deadly (but treatable) form of skin cancer. A carcinoma is a grouping of cancerous cells, but the non-invasive kind that don’t normally spread to your other organs or kill people.

I go in for routine checkups every 9 months or so – a quick eyeball body scan by my dermatologist, and if she finds anything suspicious or worrisome she shoots it up with local anesthetic, razors it off (it doesn’t hurt, swear), and sends it to the lab for biopsy. If it comes back abnormal or with unclear margins – meaning a larger chunk needs cut to get all the bad stuff out – I go back. This last round she ‘operated’ in-office, a mostly painless punch biopsy with some stitches. The first procedure was done at a hospital by a plastic surgeon, which I felt was overkill (and expensive) but they were able to knock it all out at once and stitch me up extra pretty.

That’s a joke. All the scars are gnarly.

sc

4 personal advocacy points – great conversation starters. 

Anyway, as your homework for reading this torrid tale (for the umpteenth time, some of you long-term readers) :

1) PLEASE visit your dermatologist for an annual skin check. Or every other year. I don’t care. Just go in – mine was covered by insurance, super quick, and painless. Sure you’re naked and being inspected by a stranger, but I promise it’s worth the peace of mind.

2) DOUBLE PLEASE remember to wear SPF! Even when it’s not sunny or you’re only going to be out “a few minutes”. Not only will you be preventing scary cancer, but you’ll keep your skin young and won’t look like a wrinkly old bag by 35.

Lucky for you I’m not here shoving this down your throats without at least offering to help.

Mission Athletecare sent me some things to keep my skin happy and hopefully out from under the knife this year, and I want to share them with you. Because I love them and hate sunburn (and thigh chafing).

photo 1

5 hour anti-chafe stick, SPF50 continuous spray, SPF30 lotion, SPF30 facestick

I bet you all know how sunscreen works. You put it on – 30 min before exposure, preferably – and it keeps the bad rays from hurting you or turning you into a lobster. Pretty simple, but in case you need visuals here are some really lovely photos of the application process :

mission1

mission2

ps if your thighs don’t rub together when you run we can’t be friends

The continuous spray makes total coverage foolproof, and I can get my hair and scalp without greasing em up real bad. I add some facestick (feel free to take a moment to admire my 6am beauty) to my cheeks, nose, and lips since I don’t like wearing my daily moisturizer because I get a sweaty slimy mess. Bonus : the stick is kind of tacky so it keeps me from wiping sweat in my eyeballs somehow? And lastly, a gratuitous inner-thigh shot of the anti-chafe balm. Also in constant contact with my underboobs, collar bones, and chicken flapping arms.

Reminds me I should go do some pushups after this.

I think there are HIPAA laws against me calling your doctors to make skin check appointments for you, so I’m going to do the next best thing(s) to help keep you sun safe this summer :

1) Use code “SARAHOUAL30” at missionathletecare.com for 30% off your entire order.  (through 5/15/13)

2) Enter to win! One random reader will win an anti-chafe, continuous spray, and facestick – Summer Running Protection kit of their own. To play :

  • Leave a comment telling me your most exciting spring/summer plans. Something a gnarly sunburn or melanoma diagnosis would put a damper on.
  • Tweet “__(something fun you’re doing this spring/summer)__ will be SUN SAFE thanks to @sarahoual and @missionathlete #FUcancer”
    • ex. “Running Boston will be SUN SAFE…”, “Camping Yellowstone will be SUN SAFE…”, “Drinking margs by the pool will be SUN SAFE…” – you get it
  • Schedule a skin check. Let me know. These entries also awarded a virtual high five and insta-BFF status.

1 entry for each, must leave a separate comment. Winner will be chosen by random on Tuesday 4/2 at noon PST

Good luck! The sun is fun and makes everyone happy so enjoy it, responsibly! (like the alcohol commercials).

Sarah OUaL

A Mental Check Up

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Weekly training reports used to be my favorite to write.

  1. They’re easy because you don’t have to think of a compelling topic and how to write about it – Just elaborate on your training log and maybe put some words on a headless picture of your legs in compression socks and running shoes and call it a day.
  2. I happened to be routinely kicking all my workouts’ asses and it was fun to brag about write about success. “’nother track workout, crushed my goal times! tempo, shmempo, coulda gone faster! booyah bitches!”

Cocky, fast* Sarah was easy to chronicle but kind of a cunt.

*relative. always relative

In these days of battles to get out the door instead of battles to see JUST how far under goal pace I could run, I think a head report is due. Check in with the medulla oblongata. We’re only five weeks out from Eugene, after all.

photo 1 (2)

I think the tiedyed shirts were for volunteers – we were walking through the expo (last year) and two girls sitting at a table packing up were like, “want one?” and we’re all “heck YES” and now it’s perfectly broken in and my favorite shirt. good story.

After last week’s 5K and its pivotal AHA!-I-found-my-competitive-spark-again moment I can say my mindset towards running has improved drastically. Do I bound out the door every day and beg for more miles? No. But I’ve never been a real JAZZ HANDS SO EXCITED RUNNING IS THE BEST EVERRRRRR [glitterbomb] runner, so that’s fine.

What has changed, is my approach to each workout. Let me give you an example :

[set scene : leaving work to drive 50min through rush hour for 8x800 at the track]

old sarah : “Barf. It’s going to hurt and UGH I’m so out of shape no way I’m going to hit my goal times how depressing remember how fast you were last year and how much you loved 800s and the track? You suck – go home and have a beer and feel sorry for yourself instead.”

new sarah : “So maybe you’re slow and it’ll feel harder than it should – get over it. You won’t get any faster and they won’t get any easier by skipping. Once you’re there you’ll feel better. Put the Mo Money playlist on let’s go.” (‘go get em, tiger’ self-administered butt slap)

oldnewsarah

grumpasaurus vs reasonable, non-homocidal Sarahs

Not a complete 180, but the switch from whiney quitter (oh jk you can’t quit if you never start…) to a stern yet stable voice of reason seems to have made all the difference. Nobody’s trying to say you have to put on a bubble costume and chase a unicorn down a rainbow to make a turn in ‘tude. Just approach each workout like it’s there for a reason, it has a purpose, and is getting you one step closer to your goal.

Just a little self-medication I’ve been force-feeding myself that I thought I’d pass on.

The mental is coming along, and with it was a tough physical week. I had a few small ‘niggle’ scares (hamstring and calves) that I think were compounded from the hilly 5k course and finally running workouts hard again, but I’ve been TLC’ing and trying to manage that fine line of sore-pain and pain-pain. Lord knows the last thing I need rattling my fragile brain is a kinda-sorta injury to freak the fuck out over.

This has gotten off track. I’m not injured, I just need to stretch before I’m sore and foam roll before things hurt. Prevention and smarts.

photo 2 (1)

so dependent and needy. ugh fine I need you, too.

So onward we go into the final few weeks of this cycle. Finish up strong and who knows what I’ll pull out of my ass up in Oregon. There is magic in the air up there, remember…

Sarah OUaL

I have something pretty cool coming up this week that will hopefully get you excited about spring and the sun and I KNOW most of you are still covered in snow the end is near I just know it and seriously that sucks.