Slacking and whining.

I feel like such a slacker. I haven't been running. I haven't been blogging. I haven't been knitting.

So what have I been doing?

Darned if I know. But I've been exhausted lately. Damn RA.

I did run on Monday. I pushed it on the treadmill and managed 3 miles. Believe me that I felt every ounce of those miles yesterday. Even Ollie couldn't get out all my kinks.

I did pick up my bib for my 8K race tomorrow! I'm hella nervous that I won't be able to run the whole 5 miles. Especially since I haven't run a whole lot the last week and a half. Call it a taper week, I guess.

Run, Sprinkles, Run!

 

I need to complain about the treadmill for a little bit. OMG...I know why people hate it. It was hella cold here on Monday (the high was 40 degrees!) so instead of running with the Hibernian Harriers Run Club...I decided to pop over to my apt complex gym and get a run on the treadmill in. Piece of cake...right?

 

Ha! My apt complex has no TV in the workout area. So its deathly silent. I thought...surely I can get a wi-fi signal. I did! But it was so weak that nothing would pull up on my tablet. Finally I had to resort to draining the last 10% of my phone battery to play some music because I was dying.

 

The hard part about running on a treadmill is figuring out your pace. When I run outside...I can vary my pace. Sometime I run faster and sometimes I run slower. Sometimes I even need to walk for a min before I can run again. On a treadmill...that's very hard to do.

 

Also, there's no scenery. No telling myself, "Sprinkles, just run to that tree. Ok...now just run to that sign." There is nothing to distract yourself with.

 

I think I'm going to try either running in the dark by myself on well lit streets...or on the treadmill at work...since our gym at work actually has a TV in there! 

Weekly Recap

Oh man....what a week!

I have not run a whole lot because this week has been so crazy!

Monday:

I managed to sneak out of work early (I took my boss home) and worked in a run with the Wal-dog. We only went 2.05 miles because it got dark. I do NOT like to run in the dark. I was impressed with Waldo. He kept up like a champ!

After my run (and a quick shower), I went to my C25K graduation! We all met at Crabtree Tavern and enjoyed a great meal together. There was lots of laughing and joking around. We gave our coach/leader/guy a card and gift card to Fleet Feet. I told him he could use it to get some new shorts! (The day we ran in the SLEET, he showed up in shorts!) We've all promised to keep up with each other and go running together again.

Such a good looking group!

 

Tuesday:

 

I had tickets to go see Macklemore and Ryan Lewis at the PNC Arena! I pretty much paid nothing for my ticket because I had won a gift card from the PNC Arena that I used to get it. So imagine my face when I found out that it was $20 to park!!! Crikey!

 

I went to the show by myself and had a blast. I sat next to the nicest family. It was a little uncomfortable sitting next to the mom while the opening acts were rapping about F-this and F-that. I told the mom that they seemed like cool parents to take their kids to a concert like this. (My parents would have NEVER gone to a rap concert with me. Or even let ME go!) She told me that they didn't censor their kids music and that they were both straight A students so they didn't worry too much about it. It's just music. I thought that was a cool way to look at it.

 

The two opening acts were ok. They were Big K.R.I.T. and Talib Kweli. Honestly, I wasn't terribly impressed. Maybe because the sound quality wasn't that great? Talib Kweli rapped over a track of himself for a couple of songs and that really just turned me off. They both had a couple of songs I enjoyed but honestly, I just wanted to hear Macklemore.

 

Plus I was really uncomfortable when I saw a young girl (maybe 8 years old?) walk past me in a homemade Macklemore shirt while one of the opening acts was singing "F-these haters, F-these hoes." *censor is mine and mine alone.

 

Macklemore does curse in his songs. But it's not every other word. I have a problem with people who can't talk or rap or sing without cursing every 3 words. There are lots of words in the English language!

 

After the opening acts, we got to sit there for about 30 mins. Weee! So fun. I know I'm getting old because I texted Bliss and told her I was ready for the main act to start already. It was past my bedtime!

 

Finally at 9pm...the main act! Such a great show. Macklemore had such a stage presence. He would talk to the crowd and really kept the energy going. I just loved it.

 



Why is it in this day and age I still can't get a good concert pic on my cell?

 

Wednesday:

 

RatBastard and I went to therapy. I supposed now that we're back together I should come up with a new nickname for him. I'll think about it.

 

Therapy went well. We both really liked our therapist and RB really took it seriously and opened up a lot. I'm looking forward to our next session. We even have homework!

 

Thursday:

 

Stitch 'n bitch night with my knitters! Where my stitches at? I'm working on a pair of fingerless mitts that are currently the bane of my existence. I have frogged them once completely and now am ripping out two rows. On DPNs. Boo!

 

Friday:

 

Hasn't happened yet but I have a Girl Scout meeting tonight! We're going to work on our detective badge and probably talk about our pending trip to Savannah next year! Fun!

 

HOPEFULLY I can get some running in on Sat. I feel like I haven't run in forever but I think that since I ran so much last week...I'll be ok this week. But back to the grind next week! I'm running 8k on Thursday next week!

 

Friendship and love

I am thankful for my friends.

I have a good amount of friends. I have knitting friends, running friends, GS friends, friends from college and high school, friends I only chat with on facebook, texting friends, long distance friends and even a best friend.

I am truly blessed with good people who share my sorrows, my joys and keep me sane.

That being said...I have noticed several different reactions when they find out that I'm back with RatBastard:

• "Why?! Why would you do that?! Are you out of your mind?! What are you thinking?!!!"
• "I think you're making a huge mistake.
• "I think you're making a huge mistake and I don't want to hear anything about it. I just can't handle hearing about him."
• "You do what you have to do."
• "Who am I to judge? Just be careful."
• "You'll be sorry when he breaks your heart again."

Some of these reactions were hard for me to hear. Some of them, I have no response to. How do you put into words how you feel about someone?

I understand why they've reacted this way. They love me. They don't want to see me hurt....again. They've been there, done that, and don't want it to happen again. Trust me....neither do I.

I can't even begin to explain why I'm back with RatBastard. I just know that I love him. I love him for the man that he is, the man that he was, and the man that he is going to be. I see so much potential there. I know how I feel when I'm with him. I know that he loves me. I know that he has some issues that need to be worked out. So do I. And we're working on them.

Hopefully...this relationship will last a long time and my friends will come around. Time will heal old wounds and new memories will be made.

Either way...I know my friends have my back and always will. And I love them for that.

Thank you friends.

Running update

I have been running!

Last week was a crazy week with running.

Monday - Hibernian Harriers Run Club
Tuesday - C25K meetup group - W8, D1
Wednesday - Ladies night at Fleet Feet
Thursday - should have been W8, D2 but I needed a rest day
Saturday - C25K meetup group - W8, D3!

On Wed, I went to Ladies night at Fleet Feet. It was very fun. I got there and there were about 14 of us ready to run. We took some pictures and then we were off!

Good looking group!

 



It was a straight shot down Six Forks Rd and then back. The way down was easy...I was running at a good pace and felt great. I loved watching the people in the cars just staring at us as we ran past. The way back was much harder...it was all up hill! I don't remember there being any downhill!!!

Back at the store they had some delicious cocktails for us to try as well as some snacks. The stuffed mushrooms were particularly delicious as I shoveled about 12 of them into my mouth. I had to apologize to a lady for eating while she was talking to me but I was STARVING after running 3.49 miles!

After I ate, I decided to go get a chair massage. I was 2nd in line so I talked to a guy about being cryogenically frozen. Apparently, its the new thing to do in sports medicine. You take off your clothes (you wear panties and gloves) and then step into this machine with your head outside of it. The blast you with cold for about 3 mins. It makes your blood go to your core and is supposed to rejuvenate muscles and all that good stuff. I can make an appt for to try it for just $20 so I might do that. It sounds interesting!

The chair massage was excellent. I wish I could get one of those after every run! After that, it was all over. I took my picture with my running friends and we were outie!

 

My running girls!

 

 

On Sat...we ran our last meetup group! It was kind of bittersweet. It was awesome because everyone was able to run the full 35 mins and most of us went the full 3.1 miles (5k!). We actually ran a little further...3.35. Not too shabby! I also found out that I look like a total doofus when I run!

 

 



Goofy girl!

 

This week will be rough trying to fit my running in. I need/want to run at least 3 times this week...but I have a full schedule.

 

Mon - Meetup group graduation! Hooray for a nice dinner with running friends!

Tues - Macklemore concert! I can not wait!

Wed - Therapy session with RatBastard - should be interesting

Thurs - Stitch n' bitch

Fri - Girl Scout meeting

Sat - will definitely be able to run

Sun - The new Hunger Games movie! Catching Fire here we come! 

Ode to Ollie

Oh Ollie, my Ollie,
You make me feel so good.
Oh Ollie, my Ollie,
Roll with you, I always should.

Your grid knows
Just how to please,
Your touch sends me into ecstasy.

With you I make sweet, sweet love
I promise you'll never have to wear a glove.

You know just how
To make me moan,
My neighbors
I'm sure adore,
Oh my God,
I always scream...
I'm just your running whore.

-Sprinkles

Thanks for always working out the kinks.

Adulthood

I have NO toilet paper in my house.

I swear...who let ME be an adult? Shouldn't there be some sort of test or rulebook to follow? Nope...they just throw you out to the real world and you're forced to fend for yourself. Such craziness.

I obviously can not be held responsible for my own lack of TP in which to wipe my behind!

Guess I'll have to "borrow" a roll from work to get me through til I can make it to the grocery store. Jeez.

In running news...

I had an awesome run last night with the Hibernian Harriers Run Club! They had a rep from New Balance there, letting folks try some new shoes for the run. At first I thought, "Why would I want to try a new pair of shoes when I have my most awesome Adidas Supernova Sequence 6s?" But then he said the magic words....Free Pint Glass.

So I tried the new shoes. I have no idea which ones they were.

Bad Blogger.

 

I always like New Balance shoes. I mean...they have an "N" on them. Sprinkles starts with an N! Obviously those shoes are made for me!

 

With this group, I always start out way too fast (9 mm!!!) and end up much slower and towards the very back of the pack. I'm ok with this. Last night, these two girls caught up with me and were excited to see that I had a map as it was their first time and they were slightly lost. I let them know that they were totally cool to run with me, but I was slow and they would probably end up passing me up.

 

Turns out, they were right about my speed! What's even crazier? We were about halfway done running, when one of them asked me who else I run with. I'm explaining my meetup group to her when she goes, "Sprinkles?" OMG! It ended up that I was running with two of the girls from my first meetup group...the girls I ran the Electric run with! So cool!

 

So we ran the rest of the way together and I actually did really well! I felt good and fast and strong. I managed to mostly run up the crazy hills! We made it back to the Hibernian and I returned the New Balance shoes. They were alright to run in but my socks bunched up a bit which made my left toes go numb. I had that same problem in my old Adidas shoes but not in my awesome new shoes. I also collected my free pint glass! Yeah-ah! All in all...a great night!

  

 

If it's free...it's for me!



Seriously long seriousness.

So I said goodbye to my ex-husband yesterday. He left to move to Ohio to live with his dad.

Back story:

In 2005, Sprinkles met a man we'll call Jazzy. Jazzy was smart, funny and kind. He was also 20 years her senior. They started talking in Feb, met in April, visited twice in May, and Sprinkles moved to Raleigh to live with Jazzy in August.

Her parents were livid. Not only was Sprinkles moving across the country away from them, she was doing so with a much older man.

Eventually, Sprinkles and Jazzy got married. They had their typical ups and downs like all marriages do, but things were pretty normal for a few years. Sprinkles' parents finally even came around and liked Jazzy.

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Then Jazzy started working long hours. Like 70-80 hour weeks. And when he wasn't working...he was drinking. When Jazzy would drink...he would become extremely depressed and say disparaging things towards himself and their marriage. Then in the morning, he wouldn't remember the things that were said.

In March of 2011, Sprinkles went home to Texas for a much needed break. She had started therapy the month before because she didn't feel equipped to deal with a depressed alcoholic who worked all the time. While she was there, Jazzy called to let her know that he was quitting his job out of the blue. Despite pleading...there was nothing she could say to change his mind.

Eventually, the bills started piling up. Sprinkles took a second job at a big box craft store. If you're going to take a second job, might as well be doing something fun...right? Jazzy decided that he really didn't want to work and would rather stay home and drink all day. Or he'd come up with crazy schemes for the future like going back to art school (with what money?) or making wooden toys to sell on ebay.

Sprinkles tried to be supportive but was reaching her breaking point.Through it all...she kept pleading and begging Jazzy to get help. To find a job. To work on their relationship. No dice.

In November of 2011...the electricity was turned off. Turns out that Jazzy wasn't paying all of the bills and wasn't telling Sprinkles about it. Sprinkles realized that she should have been paying closer attention to these matters.

Since Sprinkles was working two jobs and needed electricity and hot water to function well at those jobs...she moved in for a few days with MommaB. MommaB has a guest room and let Sprinkles bring the Wal-dog with.

The breaking point came when Sprinkles was staying with MommaB and Jazzy drunk called her. He accused her of never loving him and started to say some really nasty things before Sprinkles calmly told him she wasn't going to listen to that and hung up on him. Within 30 mins, he called her back to apologize.

That was the final straw.

Sprinkles told Jazzy he needed to move out....she wanted a divorce.

Fast forward through Sprinkles moving out, a year-long separation (thank you state of North Carolina), and lots of heartache...their divorce was final on May 10th, 2013.

This happened to be the same day Sprinkles had a mammogram. She had found a lump in her left breast.

The day that Tina the tit-lump got a biopsy....Jazzy attempted suicide. Sprinkles received a call from the Raleigh PD. Apparently, the bio hazard team had to be brought in because they suspected that Jazzy may have been trying to make a WMD. It turns out that he wasn't...he was just trying to harm himself. He did 3 weeks in the local mental hospital.

Sprinkles was going through her own challenges in life through this time (see: Tina the tit-lump) and was unable to be there for Jazzy. Plus she no longer really knew this man anymore. Thankfully Tina turned out to be benign.

In August, Sprinkles and Jazzy were able to spend some time visiting together. Jazzy came by on a nice Sat afternoon and they took the Wal-Dog to the dog park. They talked and had a strange, but pleasant afternoon. Sprinkles had no hard feelings left towards Jazzy.

In Sept, Sprinkles got a strange feeling that she needed to check on him. Something didn't feel right. She called and left a message and he didn't answer. She went to his apt and still no answer...nobody home. As she was about to call the cops to come check on him, a neighbor stopped her and said he had been taken out by ambulance. A couple of calls later she found out he was back in the mental hospital after a second suicide attempt.

That Sunday, she got a call from Jazzy. "Will you please go by my apt and get my clothes and bring them to me?," he asked. Of course. After all...if she doesn't....who would?

-------------------------------------------------------

When my ex-husband got out of the hospital (he was released after about a week), I saw him a few times. I brought him a cane as he has trouble with his balance now. I took his fancy sleeping bag that he no longer had use for. We chatted and I brought him cookies. I had trouble staying long because he now smokes inside his home and it hurts my lungs.

It's like looking at a stranger I used to know. He's missing most of his teeth. He smokes like a chimney. He repeats himself a lot and doesn't remember things so well.

He was evicted from his apt. I had to tell him that for my own mental health and safety...he could not stay with me. He ended up having to move to Ohio with his dad.

I'm happy for him. I'm glad his dad and him will have the chance to rebuild their relationship. I'm glad that he will have family around him to help him get his life back on track. I wish only the best for him.

I said goodbye to him last night. It was very odd. I felt strangely emotional afterwards....like I just wanted to cry for no good reason. I guess it's the closing of a chapter of my life.

I can't believe it...

I use RunKeeper to track my runs. I've been tracking my weekly runs religiously since August. I started running in June but wasn't so diligent in keeping track.

I decided to do the math and see how many total miles I've run in just a bit over 3 months.

118.5 miles!!!

I can NOT even believe it!! How on earth did I run that many miles? Not to mention the fact that a lot of those miles were hard won on my own.

This is so freaking true!

In other news...

Warning...cursing occurs in this post. Please shield your eyes if that is offensive to you.

Lately, I've been having really bad road rage. Little stupid things make me boil with anger and then a flood of curse words come flying out of my mouth before I even think about what I'm saying.

My go-to phrase is: "Suck my dick, asshole!"

Now really Sprinkles? Is that necessary? Lets look at this logically....you don't have a dick. So then I start to wonder...why is there no female equivalent to this famous curse-phrase?

If GI Jane can say it...why can't I?

 

There has to be something better than "Suck my dick, asshole" that I can yell to offending drivers. Like the asshole who decided to slow to a complete stop in the middle of the road after I honked at him for going too slow!

 

If you have anything better that I can yell at horrible drivers (of which there are many!)...please let me know!

 

In other news...

 

I had dinner with RatBastard on Sat night. I am attempting to keep it on the DL but as I'm posting it online for the world to see...I am apparently having trouble with that! It was a good dinner. He apologized for everything that had happened in the past (very important to me) and we were able to discuss how I felt. He's agreed to go to counseling with me so we can work on building trust back up and working on how to deal with certain family members. We're going to slowly start to date again. 

 

This works because RatBastard has moved to a different town about 20 mins from me. He also can't drive so it falls on me to do the driving. I hate going to that town (I always get lost!) and have a very full schedule so we won't be able to play sleepover every night like we did before. I think this will introduce a very new element into our relationship.

 

There's just something about this guy that I can't seem to walk away from. Maybe I'm just stupid and will end up getting my heart broken again...but maybe there's something there also.

 

I want to at least try to find out.




Hurricanes Hockey!

Hockey is big down here. You wouldn't think so, since I live in the south...but trust me when I say it is. We do things a little differently though. For example, we tailgate for HOURS before a hockey game! We believe in Redneck Hockey!

I'm a big hockey fan but not as big as my friend HotRod or even my boss. I follow games but not religiously. I tend to talk a bigger game than I actually follow. :D

So when the opportunity arose to go with HotRod to a Full Season Ticket Holder Event with the Carolina Hurricanes...you'd better believe I said hells yeah!!

We got there right on time and stood in line for a while. While HotRod waited in line...I went and picked up a ticket to go see Macklemore later in the month! Awesome! (yes...I'm not afraid to go to concerts by myself)

We picked up our food vouchers and schedule and decided to go up to tour the press area. This was pretty exciting to me because I love behind the scenes stuff. They had the door to the TV area blocked off but open...you could see inside but not go in. We convinced one of the guards to let us take our pictures in front of the TV backdrop...so that was awesome!

Coming to you live from the Hurricane's game...it's Sprinkles!

Next we decided to go down to the ice and take shots on goal. After waiting in a small line and signing our lives away...we were allowed on the ice to practice shooting pucks into the net. It is harder than  it looks! I made one of my 3 shots in!

 

Gooooooooooooaaaaaal!

After that we went and took a tour of the locker room. We stood in front of one of the most annoying people on the planet. Everything we said about how cool the locker room was or any joke we made about sneaking into somewhere...she had a know-it-all response to. But we quickly ditched her and made our way back up to where the food was!

 

Who me...hide in a locker? Never!!!

After sitting down and eating (nothing terribly exciting...chicken fingers, pork bbq sandwich, and pink lemonade) we went down to the ice and got to take our picture on the team bench, in front of the Zamboni, and in the penalty box! HotRod made me take his picture with the storm squad chicks. (I won't mention what I call them!)

 

Jumping over the players bench just like a real hockey player!

We were pretty worn out after running up and down the stairs after this so we picked up our dessert. (Dippin Dots for me and a cinnamon roll for HotRod) There was only one thing left to try to do.....meet Tim Gleason.

Tim Gleason is my favorite player on the Hurricanes squad. I love him. MommaB made me a shirt that says "Tim Gleason makes onions cry" and "There is nothing to fear but Tim Gleason." I met him back in 2011 when Raleigh hosted the All Star game and I got his autograph and gave him a kiss on the cheek!

So you'd better believe that I wanted to meet him again! Unfortunately....I had verbal diarrhea when I met Timmy and sounded like a babbling idiot! But I did get his autograph and I got to take a pic with him again!

 

Be still my heart!

 

And just because everyone thinks I went to this event by myself...here's a shot of the two of us on the player's bench. It was hard to get pictures together because one of us would take the pic while the other person was doing the activity or posing!

 

 



Yes ladies....he's single!

Where's Sprinkles: Halloween Edition!

Sprinkles has been spotted!

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. When else is it social acceptable for an adult to dress up in costume and eat tons of candy?!

You already saw a preview of my awesome costume (that I've worn the last 4 years in a row!) so it should be no surprise to you what it is!

So let's play...Where's Sprinkles?!

 

Sprinkles is hard at work!

 

 



Sprinkles stretches after a run!

 

Sprinkles also went to Panera for her stitch n bitch but forgot to record the moment for blog-sterity. So just pretend you can picture me knitting! Use your imagination! It looked pretty awesome. I got tons of weird looks and lots of smiles. Love it! 

City of Oaks Marathon recap

I'm going to post vomit today. I've had so much going on this past week/weekend that I want to capture on blog paper...that it's going to take a couple of posts!

First of all...the most recent: The City of Oaks Marathon and Half!

I volunteered for this awesome event last night and OMG it was so much fun.

I was scheduled to be a course monitor for which I got the awesome swag you saw in an earlier post. I showed up to my intersection on Hillsborough St in downtown Raleigh at 6am and it was COLD! I sat in my car as long as I could.

I met my partner, CostaRica and we sat in our chairs side-by-side waiting for some action. Ms. CostaRica was so nice. We chatted about how we got into running and she told me that her and her husband were expecting their first child! I eventually had to go get my sleeping bag out of the trunk (hooray for never cleaning it out!) and bundled up in my chair and snoozed a little.

Finally we started to see people running in our direction! Little people! It was the kids mile run! They were so cute running...some with parents...some by themselves. I saw some of them afterwards with their big medal and they were so proud of themselves!

We sat around a bit more and finally the fast runners started trickling past. I stood in the middle of the street and directed traffic. I clapped and cheered for all of the runners. It was so much fun yelling their bib numbers and giving them encouragement. I had so many runners thank me for being there to which I just told them that they were the real inspiration. I saw people who looked fresh as a daisy...and people who looked like they couldn't take another step. I tried my best to encourage them all.

Run away from the crazy lady!

I wasn't far from the finish line so lots of runners asked me how far they had left. I was happy to be the one to tell them only .1 of a mile! I told them to run towards the donuts and beer! I told them that they looked awesome and that they should finish strong because they've got this! I told some runners that their feet were on fire they were running so fast! And others that they were killing it!

I saw a dad who had finished and was wearing his medal. I congratulated him on finishing and he told me that his daughters had surprised him at the finish line and that he didn't know they were coming. I could see how much this meant to him by the tears of joy in his eyes. That made me tear up just a bit.

Finally...6 hours after the roads had opened back up and I was getting ready to leave...I saw that there were still runners out on the course, now running on the sidewalk. I stopped on the other side of the street and cheered as loud as I could for those last runners who had been running for 6+ hours! They were amazing...talk about giving it everything you've got!

 

Some runners started to pass as I was taking pictures...so this is me in action!