Holy Hair, Batman!

After a horribly humid run during my lunch break, my hair was a poof by the end of the day. You know what, I think I liked it :) Maybe it was just the head band. Please excuse the lack of makeup.

Racing for What Again?

I've been a little late reporting on Saturday's race, so I'm going to pour it out now. While I would love to say I've been recovering from the race the past few days, that would be a complete and total lie :) I spent the majority of the weekend hanging out with family and my God children. I brought down the house on the Connect (is it with a K?). It's funny because my B.F.F. actually practices in the hopes of beating me one day ( I don't own an Xbox) but it will never happen. One time we had a dance battle and she was doing really well, then her boyfriend dimed her out and mentioned how she practiced the same dance over and over again for the past week. I have a little secret though..... my baby sister (Curl Meets World) teaches my older sister and I all of the latest dance moves whenever she comes into down. That's right. I know how to Dougie, Jerk, do the Boot, Lean wit' it and Superman (just to name a couple). So Whenever My B.F.F. sets up these dance offs, I kill it. I'm sure we both look ridiculous but at the end of the day my scores just have to be higher than hers. Kind of like when running from a bear, you don't have to be FloJo, you just have to be faster than the guy next to you hahahahahaha.

The Race:
Distance: 10K
Difficulty: Hills (meh)
Time: 58:03
Place in Age Group: 5th
(Apparently all the runners slept in)

Back on topic. So Friday night I spent the night over my sister C.M.'s  house in preparation for the race or just to catch up on our shows. The Jury is still out :) I guess it was pretty fruitful because we ended up doing Yoga at 1:00 AM and I totally stretched out my poor neglected muscles. While I'm sure some of you have heard me diss Yoga.... it... felt..... amazing! I hate stretching and it's a great way to trick myself into doing something I despise. I'm not saying I'm going to join a sweat Yoga class any time soon, but I'm definitely thinking about picking up a 20 minute DVD. I think we only got about 4 hours of sleep that night and man I really didn't want to get out of bed!

Either way we got up and made it to the race just as the the horn blew. The race really didn't seem that bad at first. The first mile went by really fast (some idiot thought it would be cool to run the first mile at a 7:30 pace) and my music really had me going. I spent the majority of the time trying to swerve around people and possibly lip-syncing to One Republic. After the first mile we ran into neighborhood hills facing directly into the sun. I mean typically it wouldn't really bother me but...... the race organizers neglected to put up mile markers! How insane is it to have no idea where you are exactly and how far you have left? I felt like I was just repeating the same damn mile over and over again. Elementary school, house with blue shutters, Minivan, house with green shutters, barking Pomeranian. Over and over again,people!

I definitely had a mini-battle with another racer, too. You know when you're both running and kind of leap frogging each other. Did I mention it was a middle-aged, sweaty man that apparently lost his shirt along the course. Nothing like catching a sweaty man-boob and nipple in your peripheral vision. It was absurd! Every time I thought I had left him in the dust, his nipple would slip up on me like a horrible remake of Jaws or something!Ultimately I did out run him but the damage to my retinas is probably permanent. By time I made it to the last half mile, I was totally ready to get it over with. I even did that thing where I find this pint up energy to sprint the last leg of the run. I always feel so stupid! It's like I'm reliving my days as a sprinter. How crazy do I look crossing the finish line like I just finished a 100-meter dash. I'm surprised I didn't start jumping imaginary hurdles. Well  anyway, I totally ended up with some chaffing (I bet FloJo's thighs don't rub raw.....) and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a result of my magical sprint. All and all the race was OK, but I was a little disappointed with my time. I'm a person who likes to see instant results so it's crazy knowing that it's going to take time to get my body into gear with distances. I'm signing up for a 4th of July race so hopefully I'll see some improvement. Well I should probably go do something productive with my day like clean or stand over my husband's shoulder while he cooks (:P).

Stay Classy :)

Burning Question of the Day

Why do guys have to pee standing up? No, seriously. Let's get beyond the whole "Peeing standing up since the dawn of time" thing and fast forward to the present. I feel like guys could have easily transitioned to peeing while sitting when the toilet was invented. There's no shame in sitting! I grimace every time I have to think about my poor bathroom rugs or the mystery piddle on the scale next to the toilet (thanks Bug). My favorite is when you discover someone has overshot the toilet and you have this conversation:

Female-Type: "The floor/rug smells like pee?Did you miss the toilet?!?!!!!"
Male-Type: "I didn't do it!"
 Female-Type: "Really?! Are we really going to pretend like I did it?"
 The above argument is just as ridiculous as someone blaming Steven Hawking for bludgeoning someone to death..... (odds 1 in 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000). Just had to put that out there. I wonder if they mass produce the stickers in the image above?

Stay Classy :)

Week in Really Fast Review

So I know it's been a couple (half a week)  of days, but I've been really busy. I wish I could have blogged every day but I'm certain it would have been considered a severe case of child neglect had I have. I tried really hard to remember all of the amazingly cool and funny things I did over the past few days (because m life is that cool)...... that didn't work out so well. Maybe next time I'll take to jotting things down. I guess you're just going to have to settle for the abbreviated version :) I went to a happy hour for work earlier in the week and it was pretty cool. Definitely got the scoop on all the office gossip. Can you say AMAZING! I also got to practice exploding pounds and learned snail pounds from the cool giant in the IT department. Examples (WARNING: UNKEMPT NAILS):

                                                                               Snail

                                                                     Explosion!
                                          If you still don't get it, remind me to show you how to pound .

So on the non-work boozing side, one of my favorite things happened on this week.........Series Premiers! Roll your eyes all you want, I love the start of Summer TV season! Some of ya'll might not be aware of my reality TV addiction, but it can be pretty bad. I find reality TV to be a great motivator and deterrent, depending on the show. I watch Hoarders when  I clean, Biggest Loser-esque shows when I run on the treadmill, and intervention when I'm thinking about taking another swig of NyQuil :) There is just something therapeutic and precautionary about watching someone's dirty secrets play out on television.

Hoarders started Monday and I was amazed at how bad the hoarders are this season. This women had over 300,000 dolls in her house. Insane! She even had a doll hospital.... that's right....a doll hospital. The other woman lived in mounds of trash and had containers filled with pee and depends filled with poo littering her home. I'm going to give you a minute with the visual.......Yeah I pretty much spent one of my night's cleaning the basement and eying Leo's toys for donation candidates.

My sister (Curl on the Move, C.M) also e-mailed me and ropadoped me into signing up for a 10k this weekend three days before. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but I really haven't ran longer than 5 miles at a time in about 8 months (yeah I'm bad, I know). So I'm just going to hope for the best :) At least it will give me a rough estimate of what my pace time will be for 5-10 mile runs. Oh and in other news, while talking on the phone to C.M. on my way to the Metro I found IT. Apparently I walk past the same shop 10 times a week and never noticed what was in the window..........

                                                               Compression socks!

The store is a specialty pharmacy and it just happens to specialize in all things related to leg health (and diabetes). I HAD to pick up a pair of athletic compression socks! My legs have been really sore from running this week, so I even slipped them on  in the Metro just to give them a try. That's right, if you were sitting next to me on the Metro, you might have seen this......

                                                                    Too Sexy for Words


My legs feel amazing! I think it is exactly what I needed to get ready for tomorrow. My legs were so dead today that I had to quit running after half a mile during my lunch workout. Half a mile people! I was seriously disappointed but I guess my legs were tired of asking for a break and decided they were just going to quit. Hey better today than tomorrow...during a race... mid stride.... in front of people with cameras.

Oh yeah and apparently my flat iron didn't commit suicide. I guess the breaker in the bathroom went out and  I just didn't notice. I'm glad I didn't do a post-hoarders clean on the bathroom because my Baby Bliss straightener would probably be at the county dump wondering how I could have abandoned it. I'm still kind of upset I had to rock the slave braids two days in a row (it builds character?), but at least I don't have to spend a hundred bucks on a new one. Well gotta go. I'm sure there's some carbo-loading or stretches I should be doing for tomorrow. Wish me luck (or remain silent, whatever floats your boat :))!

Stay Classy ;P

Dirty Liars

So the other day I was reading a running magazine looking for suggestions on extending my runs. Of course I find what I'm looking for, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear (eat a pint of cookies and cream ice cream  to build leg strength and extend endurance). They suggested running twice a day at smaller distances but a longer distance overall. So instead of running  four miles, do two in the morning and another three at night. I definitely gave the article side eye after I read it, but figured I couldn't discount it before I ever even tried it. What if breaking up my runs is the missing link between me and an Iron Man competition or something? Back to reality now. Since my day already went to crap I figured what else could possibly go wrong? I might as well try the method for kicks and giggles. My first run was in DC and my second was around my neighborhood. I definitely think the authors are dirty liar faces but I guess I'm going to try to keep it up for the next week or two just to see if it makes a difference. I definitely feel like I should be faster, probably because everyone in DC runs and they do it so effortlessly.
 Person A:"Hey Amy, did you drive in today?"
Person B:"No, I decided to jog the 15 miles in for some light exercise"
Me: "*cough*  dirty hooker *cough*"

*On a side note: My shorts were awesome! I ran without having to extract them from my upper thigh every two minutes and I didn't hear any sound. You know, the *vik, *vik, *vik sound windbreaker material makes when its rubbed together...... much like corduroy :)

 Here are the stats
Distance: 3.1 Miles
Time: 26:17
Difficulty: Relaxing
Course: Four Scores
MVP Song :  Dr. Dre ft Eminem and Skylar Grey "I Need a Doctor"

I forgot my lunch today so I figured I might as well run during lunch to stave off the hunger pangs. I ran from work, to the Lincoln Monument, around the Reflecting Pool (which is completely drained) and back around my building. It was a pretty decent run. The only crappy part is trying not get ran over by a taxi driver when dashing into traffic or getting stuck at the light. I have a pace to maintain people! Oh and let me not forget you have to play dodge the tourist. I don't know how many times I had to hip swivel around a grown adult or a pack of bratty middle-schoolers. I considered slapping a phone out of a girls hand (she was texting while walking) but figured I should probably avoid getting arrested during work hours. Other than aforementioned headaches, it was a pretty good run. I got to stare at myself in the reflection of the building windows so that's always a plus. I looked official...... even if  I was running at the pace of a senior citizen. I even found the DC War Monument...... you know the dilapidated one hidden behind weeds and a chain link fence over by the Lincoln. At least its staying true to the city's reputation ;P

Pre-run

Stylin' Locker Room

Run Deux
Distance: 2.8 Miles
Time: 25:02
Difficulty: I'm Still Wheezing
Course: 'Hood Run
MVP Song : Lupe Fiasco ft Skylar Grey "Words I Never Said"

 I had an hour to kill when I got home so I laced the sneaks back up and decided to do some interval training. As I mentioned earlier, there are a ton of inclines in my neighbor hood and they vary in degree and distance. Apparently I was riding out a high and decided that would be great to try.  My legs are now completely jello and I had to deal with annoying neighborhood kids that have nothing better to do than yell at you as you run by. Don't they have braincells to waste on huffing or XBox? Whatevs.  The run was a beast but the playlist I made on the metro definitely helped me get through. I think the next time  I split my runs up I will try to do two flats or intervals first. Either way, I finished both runs and I guess it wasn't the worst thing to happen today.

Pre-duex

Fake Enthusiasm

Post-duex

Real Under the Boob Sweat

Stay Classy :)

Getting Worse

It's about an hour after the flat iron discovery and it's officially gotten worse. I had to put my hair back into oh so classy french braids but my morning seemed to be going better. I even remembered my iced coffee in the mason jar.

Classy Jar to Compliment My Classy Braids

Then it happened, I open the front door and I'm greeted with rain. No big, I'll just sprint to my car which happens to be all the way at the end of the driveway. Keys and Bug in hand, I go for it. As I run up and start clicking the unlock button I reach for the door ...... Still locked. Maybe I pressed the wrong button? That's cool I'll just try again. Ehhhhh! Still wrong. Finally, I decide to unlock it manually (gasp) and I end up setting off the alarm. I'm pretty sure my neighbors now thoroughly hate me. Before it was an almost hate and now it's concrete. Eventually the coffee kicks in and I start the car, silencing te alarm for the time being. Im assuming my dead keys have something to do with a huge auarium magnet some one got yesterday for father's day but this is only speculation. So now I'm running ( actually walking slowly after all most busting my butt on the wet daycare floor) to work with slave-trade braids and semi- wet clothes. I've decided to spend my metro commute writing this entry and focusing on my ever so important playlist. Studying can totally wait( rolls eyes)! Side note: why is it that I get annoyed when people sit by me and the metro is semi empty but I get even more pissed when I'm one of the last people to have a seat partner? It's like when they don't sit by me they're saying" I'd rather take my chances sitting by the crazy metro bum than sitting next to the splendid young woman with the scowl". I'll stop ranting now.

Dead

My Flat iron died today. I imagine someone poisoned or maybe it jumped off the counter to it's death. RIP, you will be missed........ I really hope today isn't one of those days.

Curl Meets Sale

While conducting my wifely duties  on Father's Day (i.e. doing whatever my husband wanted to do for the day) I managed to slip in a quick trip to T.J. Maxx. It was right after the trip to the pet store and during a Taco Bell run. He finished his food while I ran in to "find a scarf". Sucka! I was already wearing a scarf and it's the middle of June, who needs to find a scarf in June?!

Scarf and Boots in June

(almost as hot as the dining chair and blinds in the picture )

 I checked out the athletic section and a couple of things caught my eye. I just happened to stumble across a padded sports bra and I had to pick it up. Why? Because one day (probably never) I want to be one of those girls that just runs in her sports bra and shorts.  They make it look so effortless, ya know. I know it's a dumb goal, but its the little things for me ok! I do it on my treadmill but I would never do it on the street unless my sports bra was padded at the very least. Of course after that I found two pairs of awesome running shorts. I normally wear pants when I hit the road but if I plan on extending my runs I don't want to overheat. I'm still on the fence about the practicality of the shorts though. My thighs rub so I'll probably spend the whole run trying to pull them down or I'll end up with a four-alarm thigh fire (great image). Of course then I had to find socks and it was only natural I get new headphones too :) I basically left the store with two new running outfits and accessories. Can't wait to show my swag off while running in DC!

Some of the Loot:

Lost Car = THIS!!!!!!!

Sooooo even though I graduated in November, I had to wait until June for my commencement ceremony. The ceremony was great, everyone in my posse made it (not necessarily on time but I digress). I had  to be there two hours early so I ended up taking my own car and parking it in the parking garage on the fourth floor. After the ceremony my BFF and her boyfriend accompanied me back to my car but as you ca tell by the title it wasn't there. We walked around the parking garage for almost an hour looking for my car. I couldn't find it anywhere. It felt like 100 degrees in the garage and I seriously thought about calling a cab and just writing the car off as dead to me. Eventually Jeff suggested checking my ticket stub and sure enough, we were in the wrong garage. Apparently the stubs have the garage names written on it and I was too stupid to check. How ironic, On the day I am declared to be a scholar I am also declared an idiot, LOL!  I finally left in my car but the damage had already been done. My hair looked like a helmet. After spending the entire night before straightening it, it met its death in a cruel parking garage. It was my graduation, have you no mercy, humidity! Lesson learned.....

Before

After

Straight Hair Redoux

It Had to be Done

Distance: 4.17 Miles
Time: 36:05
Difficulty: Eh
Course: Parkway Tango

 Friday I had so much energy after work,  I had to go for a run before picking up Bug (one of the many enduring names I use for my son). I actually ditched my car in the daycare parking lot and went running from there.I basically had 50 mins to make it back before daycare closed and I became the Mom that forgot to pickup her child on time. It was nowhere near as awesome as running around the DC monuments by work but I guess it wasn't as bad. The only crappy part is that I had to run uphill to get out of my neighborhood and then run on a major parkway. I can just imagine the hideous faces I made while oncoming traffic swerved in horror. The humidity wasn't too bad but the incline took alot out of me and I didn't recover until the very end of the run. Oh and if you're wondering how my hair held up, I looked like a freaking puff ball.Here's an after pic if you don't believe me....you've been warned. I also walked into the daycare like this so i'm sure the I looked drop dead ZEXY , sweat stains, tangles and all.  

Curl on the Run

I guess I'll start by introducing myself. I'm Curl Girl (don't worry, I'll probably reveal my true identity in the next post) and I started this blog to keep track of my current endeavors. While the title of the blog might suggest I am some gazelle-like goddess with ringlets of silk, I'm just a girl trying to perfect my hair and my run. I know, I know, shallow right? Before you flood the comment section with hate-mail, let me explain. I spend 99% of my time devoted to others (son, husband, work, friends, traffic) so this blog is going to be the one place I can go to indulge in all things me (frivolous things you don't dare discuss in public). I'm not going to clutter it with funny things my son says, "No she didn't" things my co-workers say or things my husband did (unless it's pee your pants funny). I want to use this space to discuss the things that interest me the most and to figure out how I can achieve my goals. Now back to running and my hair.......

Running
I was always a fast kid growing up. I ran track and played sports so I had to be fast. I was a great sprinter but I just never cared for distance. Why would anyone want to run when they could get their faster by bike or car? The farthest I could run without stopping was exactly 3/4 of a mile (exactly 3 laps on the track). I just assumed my heart would implode if I finished that final lap. After high school I joined the military and basically had no choice but to learn how to run. It was either that or face humiliating punishment so let's just say I miraculously found my run groove in basic. While I am out of the military now and pursing Grad or Law School, I am still working on my run. I'm a solid runner as long as I do shorter distances (under four miles) but I feel like I'm selling myself short. I live in the DC-area so I try to sign up for races every couple of months. Normally I try to stay under four miles, I do the occasional 5-miler but you better believe I complain the whole time. I know I can run farther than that, I just have to get over my mental block (darn you brain!). I want to run 5-10 miles just as fast as I can run 1 mile without having to breakout the inhaler. Hopefully by documenting my adventures in running, I will find the encouragement I need to breakthrough my barrier.

Curls
So up until a year ago, my hair was chemically straightened for the majority of my life. Last year I decided to put in the effort with my natural hair (after copying my older sister) and I stopped with the chemicals all together. I still straightened my hair everyday which essentially led to severe damage. I've been wearing my hair curly since earlier this year and now I'm just trying to tame my mane (or 'fro depending on the humidity). Curls have totally been a blessing in disguise. I can now go to the beach AND actually get in the water! I can ride in convertibles and not worry about my hair looking wind-blown and most importantly I can run without worrying about sweating out my hair :)

Curls and running will play a big part in my blog, but it wont be the only thing. I'm sure I'll talk about my unnatural obsession with reality TV or what crazy thing happened on the metro this morning. Hopefully you'll find my sense of humor to be refreshing (if not just pretend like you do) or at least not a waste of time :P Well welcome to my blog, look around and stay if you would like!

Curl Girl