Go Blue, Beat OSU!

I  squeezed in a few last workouts this week.  I got a nice and easy run in on Monday, and then on Tuesday I just did some easy weights in the gym at lunch.  Tuesday night was day 5 of stims.  I don't want to push it, so I'm done.  No more exercise (beyond walking) until I am cleared by my doctor, which will be sometime in January if I'm lucky, but more likely February.  :(  (My RE is very conservative with IVF pregnancies, and I will be in his care for the first trimester.)

Su 11/20: rest
M 11/21: 4.06 easy, 37:16, 9:11 pace
Tu 11/22: 30:00 min free weights on the balance ball (8 upper body exercises, 10-15 reps, 3 sets), 2x1:00 planks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now on to the real excitement of the weekend - its the BIG game!  Michigan vs. Ohio State, one of the best rivalries in college football.  Except, it hasn't been very interesting lately.  Michigan hasn't won since 2006.  Its about time!  So, thats how I plan to spend my afternoon.  Let's Go Blue!

10 pts: Oregon over Oregon St

9 pts: Stanford over Notre Dame

8 pts: Michigan over Ohio St

7 pts: Wisconsin over Penn St

6 pts: Michigan St over Northwestern

5 pts: Georgia over Georgia Tech

4 pts; Virginia Tech over Virginia

3 pts: Rutgers over Connecticut

2 pts: Florida St over Florida

1 pt: South Carolina over Clemson

Update: Not bad, my highest score of the year.  I'm still in third, but only 1 measly point out of second with one week to go.

Congrats, JV!

Well, I wasn't sure it was possible, but Justin Verlander did it.  Last week he took home the AL Cy Young award, and today he was named the AL MVP!

JV is the first starting pitcher to win both awards since Roger Clemens in 1986.  He had an awesome year winning the pitching triple crown, and in my opinion the award was well deserved.

I still want to get my hands on a JV cape.  It would make a great addition to my outfit next time I go to a Tigers game.

Go Blue! Beat MSU!

Its rivalry week in Michigan: the UofM vs. MSU football game takes place at noon today in East Lansing.

Josh and I are hanging at my parents, watching the game with my favorite State fan, my sister.  But we are hoping Michigan kicks State's butt!  My parents are claiming to be neutral, but I think my mom is secretly rooting for Michigan because she feels bad for me since State has won the last 3 years in a row.

Here are my picks for the week:

10 pts: Oregon over Arizona St

9 pts: South Carolina over Mississippi State

8 pts: Oklahoma State over Texas

7 pts: Virginia Tech over Wake Forest

6 pts: UNC over Miami

5 pts: Texas A&M over Baylor

4 pts: Illinois over Ohio State

3 pts: Texas Tech over Kansas State

2 pts: Michigan over MSU

1 pt: Florida over Auburn

UPDATE: 39 points, somewhat disappointing week.  Good thing I had my confidences in order, bad thing I couldn't pick the winners.  Josh fell the third, I'm hanging onto 6th place.

All I have to say is GO BLUE!

New gear and the taper

This morning I started out on my last long-is run before the marathon.  I took it nice and easy; I am trying to respect the taper.  But really, tapering kind of sucks and I added in a few extra miles this week - it is just so hard to cut back now, I'm ready to run this thing!  But deep down, I know I need to let my body recover to be ready for the exertion I expect of it next weekend.

I tried out some of the new gear I picked up at the Brooksie Way expo.  I am most excited about the arm sleeves - I've wanted a pair for over a year now, and I think I will wear them for the marathon next weekend.  They are treadwear and were only $15 (about half the price of others I've seen).  I like that I can easily hang these from my fuel belt when I get warm, and I don't have to try and take off a shirt over my head while running.  These are the Tech Series which are moisture wicking and they double as hand warmers with their foldover cuff - very cool! 

Look ma, no hands!

I picked up a Bondi Band for $7, since I am too lazy to order a Bic Band online.  I hear great things about the Bics (and they have bands with glitter!), but the Bondi is supposed to help wick away some sweat and I always end up with some sweat stinging my eyes by the end of a long run.  I wore this under my hat, and I think it helped.  I have tried it without the hat as well, and it doesn't slide around or fall off - a BIG plus.  I also picked up a new running short sleeve shirt - this one is Mizuno, and I bought it solely for the color.  I needed something to match my socks.  :)  I think my marathon outfit will probably look very similar to what I wore today - except for black shorts instead of blue.  I wore my fuel belt loaded up and want to test to make sure nothing shifted around too much. 

So here is how the last week looked for a total of 22.01 miles.  It was technically the second week of the taper, I have 3-4 more short easy runs this week before the race next Sunday.

M 10/3: Rest
Tu 10/4: 4.29 easy, 39:56, 9:18 pace
W 10/5: 4.67 easy, 43:33, 9:19 pace
Th 10/6: 4.12 easy, 38:40, 9:22 pace; 15 min Ab Ripper X, 15 min light lifting for arms, chest, shoulders
F 10/7: Rest
Sa 10/8: 8.93 long, 1:26:00, 9:38 pace

And... its football Saturday!  So here are my picks:

10 pts: Stanford over Colorado

9 pts: Oklahoma over Texas

8 pts: Nebraska over Ohio St

7 pts: Arkansas over Auburn

6 pts: Virginia Tech over Miami

5 pts: Arizona State over Utah

4 pts: Georgia over Tennessee

3 pts: Iowa over Penn St

2 pts: Texas A&M over Texas Tech

1 pt: Missouri over Kansas St

UPDATE: 51 points for the week, my best week of the year, but still only good enough for 8th place in my group.  Good week for everyone, lots of people with 1 low-point miss.  Josh is hanging onto first by a point.

And the ALCS Game 1 is tonight... with JV on the mound, I predict a Tigers victory! Major bummer.

Party in the D

Welcome to the ALCS, Detroit Tigers!

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the Go

We have a busy weekend planned, starting with a wedding yesterday.  Our friends Magen and Neil were married right here in Bay City - we didn't know how nice it was to attend a wedding a mile from your house.  All of our friends should get married at the Doubletree from now on!

 Me and the Hubs, all gussied up.  It drove Josh crazy that I got multiple compliments on my "messy bun" hairdo!

The beautiful bride.  Her skirt and train were a beautiful lace overlay with a bunch of beadwork.  Gorgeous!

Some of the girls - we had such a fun night!  They had a photobooth there, so we have some awesome pictures from that as well!

Unfortunately I had to go into work to cover a quick meeting at 6:30 this morning, so Josh and I figured we would get an early start headed down to my parents for the day.  We are going to stop at Oakland University so I can pick up my race bib for the Brooksie Way half marathon on Sunday.  Then, its an afternoon of college football and family, followed by Tigers baseball at my brother and sister's house in Rochester (within a few miles of the race).

I'll be back with a race update tomorrow, but here are my football picks for the week:

10 pts: Georgia Tech over North Carolina

9 pts: South Carolina over Auburn

8 pts: Notre Dame over Purdue

7 pts: Wisconsin over Nebraska

6 pts: Alabama over Florida

5 pts: Navy over Air Force

4 pts: Virginia Tech over Clemson

3 pts: Baylor over Kansas State

2 pts: Michigan State over Ohio State

1 pt: Texas A&M over Arkansas

UPDATE:  Ugly, ugly week - but for our whole group, so I don't feel that bad.  Lots of upsets - I had inklings for Clemson and Kansas State, just couldn't pull the trigger.  I dropped one spot to 5th, but I'm still only 4 points out of 2nd.  Josh is holding onto a 4 point lead in 1st. 

Going long

Today was 20-miler day.  (Most) everyone training for a marathon does one - a run of 20 miles or more.  When I trained for the Bayshore Marathon, I actually ran a 20 miler and a 22 miler - no room for that this time around due to injuries.  So after running 19 last week, I pushed this run to 21 miles - making it the 3rd farthest I have ever run.

Yes, I know I look like a huge dork.  But at least I'm a dork that just finished running 20+ miles.

Nothing exciting to mention, except the mountainous blister on the inside of my right big toe that I am nursing...  other than that, I felt pretty darn good!  I did make a few untimed stops along the way, but my average pace was 9:32 min/mile - definitely canNOT complain about that!  I tried to keep my pace 9:30-9:40ish and it felt pretty good.  I still managed a negative split.

In SkinnyRunner style, I snapped a few pictures along the way.  I ran out the the State Park, then down along the Riverwalk before heading home.  It was a beautiful morning for a run - I would definitely take this on race day!

 I really do like the rail trail system we have around here - its really pretty, and there are a lot of shaded areas for when its hot.

Here is a lookout point out at the State Park.  I run along the Saginaw Bay a little ways, and this is a small branch off of that.  I love early morning runs and how serene everything looks.

Here is the view of downtown Bay City from one of the bridges I run over to cross the river.  The Riverwalk (on the west side) is usually pretty active and is part of the overall Rail Trail system (it is all connected).

And here is the part that SUCKS - the ice bath.  I am such a baby about getting in, but I really do think it helps with recovery!

I also reached a new weekly mileage high for this training cycle:  41.81 miles running, 6.45 biking.  Here is how it looked:

S 9/18: 6.45 bike, 35:51, 10.8 mph
M 9/19:  P90X Back & Biceps, 35:00 min
Tu 9/20: 5.19 easy, 48:05, 9:16 pace
W 9/21: 10.52 pace, 1:36:01, 9:08 pace (last 5 miles all under 9:00 pace)
Th 9/22: 5.02 easy, 46:18, 9:13 pace
F 9/23: Rest
S 9/24: 21.08 long, 3:20:54, 9:32 pace

And, its football Saturday!  Here are my picks for the week:

10 pts: Oregon over Arizona

9 pts: Ohio St over Colorado

8 pts: Alabama over Arkansas

7 pts: LSU over West Virginia

6 pts: Notre Dame over Pitt

5 pts: Michigan over San Diego St

4 pts: Georgia Tech over North Carolina

3 pts: Florida State over Clemson

2 pts: Texas A&M over Oklahoma St

1 pt: Arizona State over USC

UPDATE: I had 50 points for the week, which was middle-of-the pack for my group.  I did manage to sneak back into 4th place, and Josh is still holding on at the top by a of couple points.

Let's Go Blue!  You'll find me on the couch the rest of the day, watching some college football.

You might see me on What Not to Wear.

But only because I choose function over fashion when it comes to running.  We already know that my new shoes don't match my wardrobe.  But why did I pick bright pink compression socks?  Sure, they look AWESOME, but I own one single bright pink shirt.  And these bright yellow water bottles really compliment this color scheme I had going on:

And check out that MP3 player from 2004.  Still going strong!

Not pictured: my $5 flea market sunglasses, my Garmin, and for some reason, my wedding rings.  I'm still married, I swear.  Oh yeah, and to all those who I passed on the trail this morning:  sorry, I forgot to put on deodorant.  Oops.

All that aside, what a beautiful morning for a run.  Temperatures in the 50s and sunny - a runner's dream (OK, I would also go for 60 and cloudy).  The air had a wonderful bite to it, and the cooler temps drastically improve my performance.  It was by far my best run of the year, and the longest at 19 miles.  I ran a negative split to boot: 1:33:52 / 1:30:51.  The only thing I would have changed: I do wish I had worn shorts instead of capris, but that is it.  This was a great cap to the running week, and now I fully feel like I am back on track for the marathon a month from now..  Here was the week, 38.74 miles total:

M 9/12: P90X - first half of Chest and Back, Ab Ripper X
Tu 9/13: 5.06 easy, 47:12, 9:20 pace
W 9/14: 9.48 easy, 1:28:21, 9:19 pace
Th 9/15: 5.15 pace, 47:30, 9:13 pace
F 9/16: Rest
S 9/17: 19.05 long, 3:05:22, 9:44 pace

And I can't end this post without sharing my College Football picks for the week:

10 pts: South Carolina over Navy
9 pts: Nebraska over Washington
8 pts: Stanford over Arizona
7 pts: Iowa over Pittsburgh
6 pts: BYU over Utah
5 pts: Oklahoma over Florida State
4 pts: Notre Dame over Michigan State
3 pts: Ohio State over Miami
2 pts: Texas over UCLA
1 pt: Clemson over Auburn

UPDATE: I had 46 points for the week, which isn't great but not bad either.  I dropped 1 spot to 5th overall - but Josh tied for second best week and remains in first.

Wine and Victory!

What a weekend!  This will be a long post, but it was an eventful and busy weekend.  I had a lot of fun up north, drank a lot of much-needed wine, "watched" Michigan beat Notre Dame in one hell of a nail-biter while drinking and dancing in a gay bar, watched the Tigers complete their third consecutive series sweep, and got a good long-ish run done.  Whew!

So on Saturday, I carpooled up to Traverse City with some great girls.  We grabbed a quick bite to eat downtown and then headed up to Suttons Bay for a wine tour.  It was such a beautiful weekend and the scenery was gorgeous!

The view from Leelanau Cellars Tasting Room

The wine wasn't bad either.... We went to four wineries on the Leelanau Peninsula: 45 North, Chateau Fontaine, Good Harbor Vineyards, and Leelanau Cellars.  45 North had the best wine, and Leelanau Cellars offered the best tasting experience (as in, all you can taste), but Chateau Fontaine wasn't far behind.  I would not go back to Good Harbor, we didn't have a great experience there, unfortunately.

 Ready to start the wine tour at The Vineyard Inn on Suttons Bay

Gettin' our drink on!

After the wine tour, we chilled on the beach at the Vineyard Inn before heading back to our condo at the Grand Traverse Resort.  While getting ready to go out, I took the opportunity to turn on the Michigan game (though muted) to follow the action in between gift opening and other things.  At one point someone said - "Pizza, Beer, and a Football game - this looks like Neil's [the groom's] bachelor party!".  Ha!  Girls still know how to have fun!  We beautified ourselves and headed downtown to Sidetraxx, which is a gay bar.  You know what they do NOT put on TVs inside of gay bars?  Sports.  So, this girl "watched" the last quarter of the Michigan game on ESPN Gamecast on her cell phone.  It was sufficient (though I caught up on the video replays later), and I am so glad I got to spend the night celebrating Magen!

Me and the Bachelorette!

And besides, if I stayed behind, I never would have had the chance to see this beauty:  a Disco-Chest!

Only in a gay bar... I hope anyway.

We took off pretty early the next day to get home and recuperate.   I spent a good portion of the afternoon on the couch and watched Doug Fister and the Tigers sweep the Twins for their 9th win in a row!  They are on FIRE right now, and it is so exciting to watch them play.  I just hope they can keep this momentum into October and win then too :)

Around 5:00, I got my butt off the couch to go for a run.  I spent the day hydrating fairly well, so I really wanted to get a good 14-miler in.  This would officially put me back on track for the marathon, having only missed 1 long run (an 18-miler) and 2 weeks worth of shorter runs.  I made it!  It wasn't pretty at the end, but that was a great cap to a week of come-back running.  Here is how Week 13 shaped up:

M 9/5: 9.18 bike, 49:27, 11.1mph; 2.55 easy, 22:39, 8:52 pace
Tu 9/6: 4.02 easy, 37:34, 9:21 pace
W 9/7: 5.21 easy, 48:30, 9:18 pace; first half of P90X Shoulders and Arms
Th 9/8: 7.06 easy, 1:05:03, 9:13 pace
F 9/9: Rest
S 9/10: Rest - up north
S 9/11:14.0 long, 2:14:58, 9:39 pace
Week total: 32.84 miles running, 9.18 bike

After all that, I am exhausted!  To cap off the night, I watched a replay of the Michigan-ND game on the Big 10 Network.  It's great, to be, a Michigan Wolverine!!!!!

VICTORY

Under the lights

I am missing the big game tonight.  I'll be in Traverse City for a bachelorette party, which, by-the-way I am very excited to attend.  BUT, I am also bummed that I will miss the first night game EVER in the Big House under the brand new lights, even if I was going to watch it from my living room.  (Josh and I talked abut getting tickets on and off all summer, but they were all ridiculously priced and we never pulled the trigger on them.)  I'll have to do my best to stalk the game on my phone and try to find a replay later this week - its against Notre Dame, and you can usually find replays of the decent games on Big 10 Network.

In the meantime, here are my week 2 picks.  I'll be back tomorrow to update the winners.

10 pts: Wisconsin over Oregon state

9 pts: Alabama over Penn State

8 pts: North Carolina over Rutgers

7 pts: Iowa over Iowa State

6 pts: Texas over BYU

5 pts: USC over Utah

4 pts: Tennessee over Cincinnati

3 pts: Michigan over Notre Dame

2 pts: Georgia over South Carolina

1 pt: Auburn over Mississippi State

UPDATE: Not a bad week! I missed College Game Day so I wasn't changing any picks at the last minute like I usually do.  I earned 46 points, which was second highest for the week and moved me into 4th place. (Also not bad considering I was a little hungover from the beer and wine tasting on Friday night.)  Josh on the other hand had a 47 and moved into first....  It's going to be quite the battle this year.

Also, I need to get my long run in tomorrow sometime, since I am headed up north early today.  So, I will update my running stats with a weekend re-cap tomorrow.

Boo-yah!

After back-to-back series sweeps of the White Sox and Indians respectively, I am totally comfortable getting ready to cheer my Tigers through October:

That's right, they have a 99.5% chance of making it to the postseason, even higher than Boston (by a tiny bit).  With a 9 game lead in the division, they barely need to play .500 ball to clinch, and that assumes the other teams win out.  Considering the Tigers haven't won their division in over 20 years, this is huge!  When Detroit went to the World Series in 2006 (as the wild card), I was living in Green Bay.  Of course I watched all the games, but it just wasn't the same as being in a town also rooting for that team.

And I can't let this post go without mentioning Justin Verlander again.  22 wins!!!  10 straight winning decisions!  Even when he is "off" JV stills looks pretty good.  While he is a lock for the AL Cy Young in my opinion (though I have seen some decent arguments for CC and even Weaver), I am also on board with JV being considered for MVP.  I fully understand why some people think the MVP should be reserved for a position player who takes the field and helps their team every day.  BUT - the award is designated for the MOST valuable player - and if that player should only happen to play 30-some games, so be it.  I won't go through the stats here, but what JV has done for the Tigers is undeniable.  I do not think he will walk away as the AL MVP this season, but I do expect to see him finish near the top of the voting (lets say top 3-ish).  But if he does win, you certainly won't hear me arguing otherwise.

Are you ready for some football?

 Its that time of year again.  Sharpened pencils and pointy crayons, fall air and sweatshirt weather, leaves changing colors, cider mills and pumpkin doughnuts, more D-list celebrities making a name for themselves on Dancing with the Stars*, playoff baseball, and college football.

I freaking LOVE college football.  Some of my favorite memories during college were tailgating at 702 S. Division with roommates, neighbors, friends and family.  I will be the first to admit that I forget players names, don't know enough stats, and have trouble following all of the teams and coaches (there are just so many!), but I do alright.  At least, I know enough to call-out Josh when he starts making shit up.

 Me with 5/6 of my 702 roommates before the Penn State game in 2007.  The other 1/6 was too busy living it up in Hawaii - the nerve!

There is nothing like the Big House, formally known as Michigan Stadium.  I went to my first game just days before starting classes my freshman year, and I was instantly hooked.  I only missed one game throughout college, and that was for my cousin's wedding (even when tickets to the Ohio State game were going for $400 my senior year, I held on tight!).  It is awesome to be a part of a crowd of 110,000+ cheering your team to victory - the scoreboard reminded us each week that we were "part of the largest crowd watching football anywhere in America today".  Even though we don't go to games very often anymore, Josh and I spend most Saturdays watching the Michigan game and the other big games of the week on our ridiculously-large-came-from-the-bachelor-pad-high-def-TV.  (I hate to admit it.... but it is a damn good picture.)

 Inside the Big House.  Trust me, its a BIG house.  And yes, I somehow managed to get us front row seats in the alumni section for this game.  I am awesome like that (sometimes).

I play in a College Pick 'Em league on ESPN, and I don't remember exactly how high I've finished, but I'm in the top third every year anyways.  Each week ESPN picks 10 games, and you pick the winners and rank each pick in order of confidence from 1-10.  If you get this pick right (straight up, not against the spread), you get the number of points of your confidence ranking.  If you get the pick wrong, zero points.  I also participate in a Michigan alumni pool where you pick the winners of games involving the Top 25 teams each week, but I never expect to have a chance at actually winning that one since over 1,000 people play it.

I figured I would go ahead and post my picks here each week (after they are "locked" so Josh can't copy me), and then update with the results for the week.  Hey, my life just isn't that exciting and I spend a couple hours on Friday evening / Saturday morning doing my research to put this together, so I might as well share it.

Without further ado, my Week 1 picks:

10 pts: USC over Minnesota

9 pts: South Carolina over East Carolina

8 pts: Auburn over Utah State

7 pts: Michigan over Western Michigan

6 pts: Hawaii over Colorado

5 pts: Boston College over Northwestern

4 pts: Oregon over LSU

3 pts: UCLA over Houston

2 pts: BYU over Ole Miss

1 pt: Boise State over Georgia

UPDATE: I got 43 points, good enough for 6th place (out of 13), so middle of the pack.  But dammit... Josh is in second.... 

*Seriously, Elisabetta Canalis's credentials were described on one website as George Clooney's ex-girlfriend.  Umm, so that's whats makes her famous?  The truth is, I have idea who this chick is or what she has done except for dating GC.

So is it 10, or 12?

I thought this article welcoming Nebraska to the Big Ten by Rick Reilly was pretty good ("Cornfrontation" - had me laughingout loud!).  And it made me excited for college football all over again.

Starting this fall Nebraska and Colorado are leaving the Big 12 the join the Big Ten and PAC-10, respectively.
So the Big Ten now has 12 teams. (Though it has had 11 since Penn State joined years ago.)
And the Big 12 now has 10 teams.
This is just meant to confuse those learning to count.

I think they need to work on their logo a little more.  (And the division names, I really hate the division names).  I really don't understand why they are trying to make the I and G in BIG look like a 10, since TEN is still the second word.  And there aren't 10 teams, there are 12.  So I just don't get it (though if there were ever 16 teams, the G does look like a 6).  This one isn't as bad:

source

I don't have any logos of my own to share, but I hope that some marketing kid at one of these schools comes up with something.  I know if I were a marketing professor, my final assignment in all of my classes would be to figure out what to do with the Big 10 to 12 teams mess and come up with a new logo and division names.

I am kind of excited about the conference playing an extra game and determining a champion.  I would like to see them add two more teams in the future, but this is a fine place to start.  I hated the divisional split at first, but I've started to come around.  In any given year, it could play very lopsided, but that happens (look at the Big 12 last year).  They did protect the Michigan-OSU game, but in the future I could see them playing back-to-back weekends.  (Yes, I said in the future.....  both schools have some rebuilding to do.) 

A little more than 7 weeks to go, and we start the era of Hoke.  GOOOO BLUE!

Justin Verlander is Awesome

JV is totally rockin' my world right now.  Hasn't lost since April 27th.  No-hitter against Toronto in May.  Tied for the major-league lead with 11 wins.  All-Star (would probably start for the AL, but he won't be available).  AL Pitcher of the Month for June, where he went 6-0 with a 0.92 ERA.  Wowza.

And for those not watching Tigers games almost every night, have you seen the Justin Verlander capes handed out last Sunday?  I want one!  I would totally wear this while watching JV pitch, just for added luck of course.

To be clear, this isn't Josh, just some random guy named Evan willing to post this pic on the internet.
Oh, and the time stamp on the pic is wrong.  These capes are totally 2011. 

Josh and I do this thing where we predict the Tigers' starting pitcher's line for the game.  We don't do this every night, just sometimes, but we also don't miss too many JV starts.  We just play for bragging rights.  Here are the predictions for tonight:

Tuesday night JV line:
Josh: 8 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 8 K, No Decision
Nikki: 7 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 7 K, Win

And since we are TOTAL weirdos, we thought we would have some fun with Josh's semen analysis that he is going in for tomorrow.  Like I said.... weird.  I know.  But we have to have fun with this somehow.  Guesses were based on the Wikipedia "normal."

Wednesday morning Josh SA line:
Josh: 1.7 mL, 35 mil total sperm, 68% motility, 3% morphology
Nikki: 2.25 mL, 33 mil total sperm, 63% motility, 4% morphology

Both our guesses would put Josh in the normal category, which is what we are going for.  We should get the results on Friday, or at our follow-up appointment on Monday.

Yes, I know..... W.E.I.R.D.