Goodbye Iago!

Finally, Iago goes to his new forever home today. His new human decided last month she wanted to adopt him, but wanted to wait until after she was done traveling over Thanksgiving to take him, so he could have a more stable transition.

Iago has been a challenge since he hasn't always been a model kitten, but when he isn't climbing all over the fridge, unrolling balls of yarn or knocking over the garbage can, he can be very sweet. He loves to rest on a lap and find a t-shirt to suck on (leftover kitten behavior) before catching some zzzzzzzz.

One kitty that won't be entirely sad to see him go will be Vegas. She just never warmed to his presence and tirelessly chased him around the house possibly trying to keep him in line. Iago started to bond with Hutch in the last week so I hope neither is too sad when they are separated.

Good luck Iago!

Happy Birthday to Me

Dear Self,

Congrats on making it to 33! In case you don't have enough bumps and bruises over the years or enough tools at your disposal to further demolish your body, here is your birthday present! A 2009 Redline SS mountain bike - sturdy, burly, and most importantly, it matches your eyes.

Love,
Me

PS - anyone wanna go mountain biking?

Sidelined by the Swine

Not a lot went on this week because I was either on my couch or in bed with the flu, most likely of the swine variety. Ugh it was terrible, the worst I've ever gotten. The only time I can think of where I felt physically worse was when I had Montezuma's Revenge in Mexico, but this was still pretty bad.

Now I think I know why I did so crappy at the trail run on Sunday. I felt pretty run down, but I just chalked it up to my long ride the day before. I was definitely feeling pretty crappy on Sunday night, but again I shrugged it off and just thought I just overdid it over the weekend and just needed to rest. Well I got plenty of time to rest as I was completely knocked out over the next week. I had to cancel plans with out of towners and my first group ride, watch bad daytime TV or just sleep. Such a freakin' waste of my time.

The best part was I had to use up ALL of my remaining vacation/sick time at work to cover my week off so now I'm stuck at the office for all of December which is going to be painfully boring. Eff you swine!

Trail Running is Hard

Today Joan convinced me to go trail running out in Ridley State Park for the Media Mud Stain run. 5 miles through the woods on a gorgeous day, so what's not to like (except the running part). Let me preface this by saying I'm not a runner, hate it and I believe you should only run when someone else much bigger is chasing you. But, I don't get to see Joan that often due to her crazy work schedule at the large animal hospital (veternarian) so I relented and decided to join her.

Some of her friends from the hospital joined us and we got ready and started. Joan and I ran a leisurely pace for the start and then we got to some hills which absolutely drained me. The trail was lovely, but it was much harder than I anticipated. I had a nagging cough throughout most of the race, likely from riding the day before with my mouth gaping open like a dog. Oh, did I mention that I rode 45 miles the day before and I'm tired and sore from that? No wonder I was feeling like total dog shit for the last 2 miles. My leg muscles were very pissed and my chest was pretty tight. Maybe I should do some more running for conditioning purposes cuz this is kinda pathetic.

I made it across the finish like in a blistering 1:03 and placed 124 out of 133. Joan's friend Jess placed 2nd in her age group - yay! We ended our day with some brunch and mimosas and I headed back home for some quality time on the couch. Would I do it again? Probably,but I might do soe running in the days leading up to it and get proper trail running shoes.

Drink Beer, Save Cats!!!

City Kitties is having a party to benefit West Philly strays, and we hope you'll join us to make Friday the 13th a lucky day for unlucky cats! Drinking beer won't actually save cats, but buying raffle tickets and City Kitties merch will. We'll have raffle drawings all night, City Kitties 2010 Calendars, buttons, and magnets for sale, and much more!

When: Friday, November 13th, 8pm - 12am

Where: Doobie's, 22nd and Lombard in Philadelphia

How much: suggested donation of $5 at the door

Raffle tickets: $2 each or 3 for $5

There's lots of great stuff in the raffle, like massages, sport tickets, gift certificates; pretty much stuff you can use and really want. If you can't make, but still want to help, consider a donation. The kitties say thank you!

46.5 Miles

This is my longest ride to date. Don't laugh, you have to start somewhere. I've been hankering to do for a long ride since rugby has been over. I told myself I was going to take a break from hard physical activity for a week or two, buy some much needed cycling gear and then start up my training, easing my way into it. Then I had a amazing idea (like all my ideas).

I've been trying to go for rides with Travis and Janine for some time, but either weather or rugby kept getting in the way. Joey was racing out in Schwenksville (near Pottstown) so what better way to kill a Sunday than by taking a nice long ride out to the race, watch some cx racin' and get my long leisurely ride in (and also show off some of my new gear)? Yes I know how far Pottstown is from Philadelphia. We all met up nice and early at the Art Musuem and started the trip out to rural suburbia. We started on the Schuylkill River Trail until Valley Forge, were we then veered off onto the Perkiomen Trail. Travis started lagging behind due to her hefty mountain bike and time was ticking away so she waved Janine and I on ahead so we wouldn't miss the race. Everything was going really well, minus the woman who ran into Travis and then bounced into a tree, until a particularly rocky part of the Perkiomen Trail, which was primarily gravel, dirt, leaves, etc. Not so good for skinny little road tires like Janine and I were sportin' on our bikes.

About 6 miles from our destination, my back tire went kaboom...NOOOOOOOOO! Crap, we are so close and I'm so not good at changing tires! The last tire I changed was in my house and after 30 minutes I had to walk away or I was going to have an aneurysm out of sheer frustration. Thankfully I was able to change it in less than 5 minutes, but then Janine's CO2 cartridge wouldn't work so we had to wait for Travis to catch up with her spare (mental note: always carry my own gear with me). We got it inflated and we were on our way. After a few more miles and me realizing I put my back tire on with the brake against the tire (I thought is seemed harder to pedal) we climbed some hills, made a u-turn and finally found the race sight. Unfortunately we miss Joey's entire race. Goddamnnit, and he did really well too. We hung out for a bit, refueled, took in some sun and then started the long journey home. Ugh. Luckily Travis made a phone call and was able to have Meredith pick us up in Collegeville. As we were riding, I was almost certain we could make it back to Philly...eventually, but it was probably best to get a ride. If we decided later on the way back that we were indeed super tired, would kinda be effed. We got back to my place and fested on hot roast beef sandwiches and Punkin' Ale to help with the refueling process. Good God it felt good to lay down on the couch.

I was absolutely knackered yesterday and this morning, but now I feel pretty good. My muscles are a bit sore, but nothing outrageous. I can't wait to do it again.

Happy Days for Hutch

Whoa, check out Hutch! Doesn't he look fantastic? He's recovering nicely from his surgery on Wednesday (10 teeth extracted, zoinks!) and doing extremely well. Hutch seems absolutely relieved to be rid of his bad teeth and shows it by devouring his food every morning and night. His personality has changed too - he's more alert, more social, runs around a bit more and just generally looks much happier! I think Hutch is still a bit hard of hearing, but it doesn't slow him down.

Of course, Hutch still loves to find a free lap and curl up for a snooze. I can lay my knitting on top of him and he doesn't mind, he just loves being all warm and cozy and most importantly, safe. Most men in the tri-state area would kill to be curled up in my lap with me scratching their head as we watch TV, but for now, Hutch has my full attention.

If you know anyone looking for a companion cat who plays well with others, is super friendly, and loves to spoon, let me know!