Monday, February 15, 2010

A Valentine Weekend

We choose to beat the crowds and celebrate Valentines on Friday night. Dinner was at 7:00 at Taser's in the Woodlands. This restaurant has been open for about a year and Logan and I have stopped in for a drink and appetizer's before a movie a time or two. We have never had dinner there because it is one of those places that normal people only can afford to eat there on special occasions. As usual I had my special occasion only rack of lamb for dinner and a wedge salad as my appetizer. Logan started out with a dozen oyster's and for an entry he had the side by side sirloin which were 10 ozs a piece. The food was to die for, the rack of lamb melted in my mouth like sweet love. It beat (in my opinion) rack of lamb at Kirby's, Perry's and Vick and Anthony's (not that these places aren't great, but not as great as Taser's). Logan's steak was obviously very good because he ate all 20ozs and then some.


Saturday morning I had an 8 mile run on the schedule, so I headed out of the house and meet up with Team Striver's for a cold run. Lynn and I ran together and had great conversation. After the run we had a coffee and more conversation. Saturday afternoon was special time for me and the recliner in which I stayed in all day until I went to bed.


Sunday my honey got up early and was clanking around in the kitchen so I decided to see what all the commotion was, when I did I caught him making my breakfast. After breakfast I got dressed to meet up with Team Strive for a group bike ride. I had 1:15 and a 15 min run off the bike. The bike ride was great, weather was beautiful and I am getting used to the tri-bike more and more each time I ride it. Hopefully one day soon I will be able to ride in aero. When I got home from the ride Logan was MIA so I called him and he told me he was almost home. When he arrived this is what he brought in..



The picture is poor quality because my blackberry takes horrible photos, but it is my new couch I have been asking him to go buy for months. Yeah for my great Valentines weekend.
Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Valentine's Day

Did You Know?

Looking for Love
188 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine's Day the second-most popular greeting-card-giving occasion. (This total excludes packaged kids valentines for classroom exchanges.)

Over 50 percent of all Valentine's Day cards are purchased in the six days prior to the observance, making Valentine's Day a procrastinator's delight. (Source: Hallmark research)
Research reveals that more than half of the U.S. population celebrates Valentine's Day by purchasing a greeting card.

There are 119 single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) who are in their 20s for every 100 single women of the same ages.

There are 34 single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) age 65 or older for every 100 single women of the same ages.

904: The number of dating service establishments nationwide as of 2002. These establishments, which include Internet dating services, employed nearly 4,300 people and pulled in $489 million in revenues.

Be Mine
2.2 million marriages take place in the United States annually. That breaks down to more than 6,000 a day.

The estimated U.S. median ages at first marriage for women and men are 25.3 and 27.1 respectively, in 2005. The age for women rose 4.2 years in the last three decades. The age for men at first marriage is up 3.6 years.

Candy is Dandy!
1,241: The number of locations producing chocolate and cocoa products in 2004. These establishments employed 43,322 people. California led the nation in the number of such establishments with 136, followed by Pennsylvania with 122.

515 locations produced nonchocolate confectionary products in 2004. These establishments employed 22,234 people.

3,467 Number of confectionery and nut stores in the United States in 2004. Often referred to as candy stores, they are among the best sources of sweets for Valentine's Day.
The per capita consumption of candy by Americans in 2005 was 25.7 pounds. Candy consumption has actually declined over the last few years; in 1997, each American gobbled or savored more than 27 pounds of candy a year.

Flowers
The combined wholesale value of domestically produced cut flowers in 2005 for all flower-producing operations with $100,000 or more in sales was $397 million. Among states, California was the leading producer, alone accounting for nearly three-quarters of this amount ($289 million).
The combined wholesale value of domestically produced cut roses in 2005 for all operations with $100,000 or more in sales was $39 million. Among all types of cut flowers, roses were third in receipts ($39 million)to lilies ($76.9 million) and tulips ($39.1 million).
There were 21,667 florists nationwide in 2004. These businesses employed 109,915 people.

Jewelry
There were 28,772 jewelry stores in the United States in 2004. Jewelry stores offer engagement, wedding and other rings to lovers of all ages. In February 2006, these stores sold $2.6 billion worth of merchandise. (This figure has not been adjusted for seasonal variation, holiday or trading day differences or price changes). The merchandise at these locations could well have been produced at one of the nation's 1,864 jewelry manufacturing establishments. The manufacture of jewelry was an $9 billion industry .

Friday, February 5, 2010

Spinning at the gym

Last night I took a spin class at the new gym and it left me feeling a bit cheated in a workout. Not that I did not get anything out of it but I have not been to a spin class in months so I should have had my ass handed to me. I did manage to break a sweat but my legs were not burning when I left. I do not feel the normal soreness today that I am used to felling after a class with Viv or Kelli. I am missing my Pure fitness girls that yell at you for not working hard. This instructor gave the class "a break" in the middle of the class, what the *@#!? So I figure that something maybe was off last night and I will try a class again sometime in the future but I hope that is not the best they can do.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

A week in training

My first week of tri-training ended and the second week started yesterday. It seems weird to me that I have only run about 10 miles since my marathon on the 17th of January. I know that sooner than later the mileage will pick back up and I will be having some 2-a day workouts.

Last Tuesday night I met up with some of my teammates for a 3.25 mile run at the waterway and then dinner at Barryhill. Wednesday 1 hour coached swim a 400 w/u, 3 broken 400's then a we were free to put on our fins and swim easy 25 hard 25. 50/50 and 75/75. After the 25/25 I had a horrible crap that forced me out of the water. So sadly I was only in the water for about 45 mins with an unfinished workout. Thursday night a 40 Min bike ride in doors on the trainer.
Friday a day off and loved it.

Saturday I ran Bill Crew Remission Run 5k where all proceeds are donated to MD Anderson Cancer Research. Placed 3rd in my age group(and there were 28 in that age group) a first for me. I ran this race in memory of my friend Pamela who lost her battle with cancer in August of this year. It was a very cold damp morning as I lined up with the almost 300 other runner and tried to stay warm. We were sent off by an 8 yr girl who is a lymphoma survivor, she said "GO". Most of the race was on pavement because we had a butt load of rain on Thursday and Friday but a short bit was on the grass in which I triped and fell down. I was hoping for a PR in this race and knew it could probably happen since I am a little bit faster than the last time I ran a 5k. I thought a lot of my friend during the race as she loved to run but could not from other conditions she had since childhood. After she got sick from cancer she loved to hear about my races, she thought it was amazing that I could run so far. I have been keeping her with me in all events since August 18th 2008. I know she was pushing me through the race, I finished with about a 5 min 5k PR of 27:35 so my hardware will go to her children.

Sunday was my first group training ride, it was still very cold. I rode for an hour, got in 15.9 miles.

Hope to see you on the roads soon.