Umstead 50 Mile Endurance Run

One day left until I run 50 miles.

I signed up for the Umstead 50 Mile Endurance Run back in September 2011. It seemed so far away. Now it is just a stone throw away.

I have been training for this race since last year. Week after week of running over 100+ miles. Running hill and speed intervals. All of those hard workouts and miles will finally pay off.

The race will start at 6 a.m. at Umstead State Park in Raleigh, North Carolina. The people running the 100 mile race will have to run the course loop eight times. I will be running the 12.5 mile loop only four times. The course is along a dirt road that is about 10-15 feet wide. That is one of the reasons I chose to run this race. The course is on a road, not trails. I won't have to worry about twisting my ankles. I am more of a road racer then a trail racer. I love running races on the road.

I would like to finish the race in 10-12 hours. My last 50K on a very hilly course, I finished in 5:45. If I don't finish in the time that I hoped to, that is ok. As long as I finish and without any injuries, it is a major victory for me.

I can't wait to get this race started.

The Final Four

It is no surprise to me that all of the Number 1 seeds have made it to the 2012 Women's Basketball Final Four. The final four are Baylor, Stanford, Connecticut and Notre Dame.

Notre Dame Irish will play Connecticut Huskies Sunday at 6:30 p.m. and the Stanford Cardinal and Baylor Bears game will follow after. Approximate start time is 9 p.m. (EST)

All four teams are great. Since the start of the season, I have wanted Baylor vs Notre Dame in the National Championship. Baylor and Notre Dame have played a game against each other back in November. Baylor won 94-81. Hopefully these two teams will meet again Tuesday in the National Championship.

Photo Credit: Notre Dame's Natalie Novosel, left, and Kayla McBride, right, guard Maryland's Tianna Hawkins under the basket Tuesday, March 27 during the NCAA regional championship game at Raleigh, North Carolina. (South Bend Tribune/Robert Franklin)

Spring in the yard

Books read in 2012

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal, Toni Bentley
Chasing the Runner's High, Ray Charbonneau
The Perfect Mile, Neal Bascomb
Cleopatra, Stacy Schiff
The Carrie Diaries, Candace Bushnell
Summer in the City, Candace Bushnell
Forgotten, Cat Patrick
Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs
Pretty Little Liars, Sara Shepard
Flawless, Sara Shepard
Perfect, Sara Shepard
Unbelievable, Sara Shepard
Wicked, Sara Shepard
Killer, Sara Shepard

Currently Reading: Heartless, Sara Shepard
Up Next: Wanted, Sara Shepard

Women's NCAA Basketball Tournament

I watched the first half of the Baylor vs Georgia Tech women's basketball game live Saturday. I was at church for the second half.

I recorded the game because I wanted to watch all of it. I was excited to read on my twitter timeline that Brittney Griner dunked. Griner had a two-handed dunk in the second half of the game against Georgia Tech. This was the second straight game that Griner had dunked in and seventh dunk total. She is now tied with former Tennessee player Candace Parker, for the most dunks in NCAA tournament play (2). Griner said to reporters that she wanted to get a dunk "in this game."

Baylor defeated Georgia Tech 83-68. Griner finished the game with 35 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks. Baylor will play Tennessee tonight at 7 p.m. in the Elite Eight.

Another game I recorded Saturday night was Duke vs St. John's.
Duke defeated St. John's 74-47. Duke will play Stanford Monday for a chance to head to the Final Four for the first time since 2006. Duke didn't have a dunk, but they also had an excellent play. Tricia Liston scored a three-point buzzer beater to end the first half.

Notre Dame had an easy time on Sunday. The Irish defeated St. Bonaventure 79-35 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Notre Dame has won all three tournament games by double digits. They will face Maryland Tuesday evening in the regional final.

Photo Credit: Baylor center Brittney Griner dunks the ball during the second half of an NCAA women's basketball regional semifinal game against Georgia Tech Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa. (Associated Press/Charlie Neibergall)

Paint and tiles

The day after my husband and I picked out our new mattress and bedroom set, we picked out new colors. The new colors that both of us picked are for the porch and bedroom. We are still discussing what we want to do with the half bath. Today or tomorrow, my husband and I will be going to a local tile store to look at a couple of different options.

When my husband remodeled the kitchen last year, he planned to work on the porch also. The kitchen ended up taking longer then he wanted. Once the kitchen was complete, he was tired of remodeling. He worked on the kitchen by himself. That is a big project for one person. He decided to leave the porch project for this year. The porch is without its trim, there is joint compound on the walls and some floor tiles missing. Soon that will be a thing of the past.

The colors we picked out for the porch are a light gray and sky blue (think Caroline blue). The walls will be painted gray, the cabinets and trim will be painted sky blue. There is a space underneath the cabinets and above the counter. That wall will become the license plate wall. If you don't remember, I received all 50 states license plates for Christmas. Those plates will be hung together to create a license plate wall just like the one in Famous Dave's BBQ. The plates that don't fit in that space will line the top of the room underneath the trim.

Our bedroom will also receive a fresh coat of paint. Before buying the mattress and bedroom set, my husband and I talked about re-doing the bedroom. Currently the colors are a light green and pale yellow. We decided to go in another direction. The bedroom will now be painted a cranberry red. The trim will be a cream color. I have always wanted a red room. Now I will have it. I have loved the idea of a red room since I saw the episode of Sex and the City where Big paints one of his bedroom walls red. I thought the wall was lovely. Now we will have four red walls.

The last room to receive a makeover this year will be our half bath. We are looking using tile. While at Home Depot last week, I found slate tiles. My husband and I really liked how they looked. It hasn't been decided if the slate tiles will go on the wall or the floor. We are still in the planning out stage. I'm hoping after a trip to the local tile store we will have our answer.

Another spring has arrived. With the arrival, it has brought another round of remodeling projects.

New look

Our mattress is 11 years old. The springs are weak and it is sagging in the middle. My husband and I decided to look at new mattresses over the weekend. We headed down to a furniture store in Toledo, Ohio.

Walking into the store, we already had a idea of what kind of mattress we wanted. Finding the brand we were interested in, there were a couple of options. The brand had five different lines. My husband and I tested all five out. A salesman came over to help us. My husband told him what we were after. The mattress was a little steep in price, so we wanted to talk about it. We walked around to the other stores attached to the mattress shop. We ended up in the store with bed frames, dressers, tables and chairs. We ended up finding a new bedroom set that we both liked. But we were just talking about future options and we headed back to the mattress store.

My husband told the salesman that we would buy a new mattress. While waiting to get approved for financing, I was flipping through a catalog that I picked up at the other store. Inside the catalog was a coupon for a new bedroom set. The salesman told us that the coupon was good for today only since we just bought a new mattress. After talking care of the mattress, we walked back over to the other store to look at the new bedroom set again. It was a good deal, we couldn't turn it down. My husband and I had our current set for 11 years, we figured it was time for a change. Later this year, my husband will be re-painting the bedroom. The new bedroom set will work well with the new paint scheme.

Our plan was just to look at new options. About two hours later, we walked out of the furniture store will a whole new bedroom.

Photo: Our new bedroom set

Books read in 2012

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal, Toni Bentley
Chasing the Runner's High, Ray Charbonneau
The Perfect Mile, Neal Bascomb
Cleopatra, Stacy Schiff
The Carrie Diaries, Candace Bushnell
Summer in the City, Candace Bushnell
Forgotten, Cat Patrick
Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs
Pretty Little Liars, Sara Shepard
Flawless, Sara Shepard
Perfect, Sara Shepard
Unbelievable, Sara Shepard
Wicked, Sara Shepard

Currently Reading: Killer, Sara Shepard
Up Next: Heartless, Sara Shepard

Duke and Michigan

Duke and Michigan men's and women's basketball teams both played this weekend. Only one of those teams won: Duke women.

Michigan men's basketball team played Friday in the NCAA Tournament Second Round against Ohio University Bobcats. Michigan lost 65-60. The Wolverines comeback in the second half fell short.

I thought Duke men's team would make it to the Sweet 16 without any problems. I was wrong. Duke was upset by 15 seeded Lehigh 75-70 Friday night. Mason Plumlee and Austin Rivers led the Blue Devils with 19 points each. Duke finished the season with a 27-7 record.

Michigan women's basketball team played Sunday and was defeated in the First Round by Oklahoma Sooners 88-67. The Wolverines were never really in the game. The score was tied early in the first half at 6, then Oklahoma went on a 11-1 run.

Duke women's team had an easy time with their First Round game. Duke beat Samford Bulldogs 82-47 Sunday evening. Elizabeth Williams, Dukes's top scorer and rebounder, played with a stress fracture in her lower right leg. Williams has 11 points. Tricia Liston led Duke with 22 points. Duke will play Vanderbuilt tonight in the NCAA Second Round.

Photo Credit: Duke center Elizabeth Williams (1) passes the ball under pressure from Samford forward Taylor Reece (10) in the second half of an NCAA women's basketball tournament first round game Sunday. (Associated Press/John Russell)

Favorite photos from March 14, 2012

Weekend plans

Not much is on the schedule for this weekend.

My husband and I plan on staying in Friday. Probably before or after dinner, I will be flipping the channels in between Duke/Lehigh and Michigan/Ohio. Those games start within five minutes of each other. Duke and Lehigh will start at 7:15 pm. I have a feeling that I will not see the end of either game. I will most likely fall asleep during the game. I have been going to bed really early lately.

We do have plans for Saturday. With the weather so nice, we are hoping to play a round of putt putt. Following putt putt, we will be looking at mattresses. Our mattress is 11 years old, it is time to retire our current set. The glorious day will end with dinner somewhere for the two of us.

Usually on Sundays, we don't do too much. It is a day to be lazy. If it is not raining, the dogs will be taken for a walk and they will receive a bath. The bath isn't too much fun for them. But they really need one. Also, the women's basketball tournament begins. I know I will be watching some of those games throughout the day.

The weather is going to be perfect this weekend. It will be so nice to spend time outside enjoying it.

Platinum

I joined the President's Challenge back in 2010. Since that time I have earned enough points to win a Presidential Champions bronze, silver and gold awards. To earn points, you just have to be active. It can be anything from running, aerobics, household chores, walking and shoveling. It is basically anything you do. Those are five activities that have earned me points in the Presidential Challenge.

After I accumulated the 160,000 points to earn my Gold Award, I learned that there was another award after gold. That was the Platinum Award. You need to earn 1 million points to win this. When I logged in my 22.3 mile run on Tuesday, I earned enough points to win my first Platinum Award. I have been working towards the platinum since August 29, 2010. It has taken a lot of work, but now I'm working towards my second Platinum award. I will keep going for as long as this program is around. I'm hoping to earn many more in my lifetime.

NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament

The men had their Selection Sunday. The ladies have Selection Monday. The bracket for the women's basketball tournament was released Monday evening.

The top seeds for this year's tournament are Baylor, Connecticut, Stanford and Notre Dame. I personally enjoy watching all four top seeds play basketball. My two favorites No. 1 seeds are Baylor and Notre Dame. Baylor had an outstanding year is 34-0 this season. The Baylor Bears will play the University of California-Santa Barbara Sunday in Bowling Green, Ohio. Bowling Green is about an hour south of my home. I would really love to drive to the game and watch in person, but I know I won't. I will probably have a better seat watching at my house.

Connecticut plays on Saturday against Prairie View in Kingston, Rhode Island. Stanford meets Hampton in the first round Saturday in Norfolk, Virginia. Notre Dame opens the tournament heading to Raleigh, North Carolina to play Liberty Sunday.

Some of my other favorite teams also made the tournament. Number 2 seed Duke will play their first round game Sunday night against Samford in Nashville, Tennessee. Michigan earned a 11th seed and will meet No. 6 seed Oklahoma Sunday in Norman, Oklahoma.

I'm looking forward to watching the ladies play some basketball this weekend.


Photo Credit: Baylor center Brittney Griner (42) shoots over Texas A&M forward Kelsey Bone (3) during the first half of the women's Big 12 Conference Tournament on March 10, 2012 in Kansas City, Mo. (Associated Press/Jeff Tuttle)

Books read in 2012

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal, Toni Bentley
Chasing the Runner's High, Ray Charbonneau
The Perfect Mile, Neal Bascomb
Cleopatra, Stacy Schiff
The Carrie Diaries, Candace Bushnell
Summer in the City, Candace Bushnell
Forgotten, Cat Patrick
Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs
Pretty Little Liars, Sara Shepard
Flawless, Sara Shepard
Perfect, Sara Shepard
Unbelievable, Sara Shepard

Currently Reading: Wicked, Sara Shepard
Up Next: Killer, Sara Shepard

Sports Weekend

The IAAF World Track and Field Championships took place over the weekend in Istanbul, Turkey. The United States won a total of 18 medals: 10 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze.

On the first day, Ryan Whiting won the shot put with a mark of 72-2.25 feet. On Day 2, Brad Walker finished third in the pole vault with a height of 19-0.25 feet. Chaunte Lowe was the winner of the high jump with a leap of 6-4.75 feet. In the women's shot put, Michelle Carter won bronze with her throw of 63-9.5 feet. Winning the men's heptathlon and setting a world record was Ashton Eaton with 6645 points. In the women's 400m, the US won two medals. Sanya Richards-Ross won gold with a run of 50.79 seconds and Natasha Hastings was third with a time of 51.82. In the last event of Day 2, Justin Gatlin won the 60m dash in 6.46.

On the final day of competition, the US won two medals in the women's long jump. Brittney Reese and Janay DeLoach went 1-2 with their jumps of 23-8.75 and 22-10.75 feet. Reese set a championship record with her jump. Bernard Lagat won the 3000m with a season best of 7:41:44. Erica Moore was the bronze medal winner in the women's 800m with a time of 1:59:97. Another two medals were won in the men's triple jump. Will Claye won gold with a leap of 58-1 feet and Christian Taylor was the silver medal winner with a leap of 57-10.25 feet. The US 4x400m relay team finished second to Great Britain with a time of 3:28:79. Tianna Madison finished third in the women's 60m with a time of 7.09 seconds. Aries Merritt beat China's Xiang Liu in the men's 60m hurdles to win gold. Merritt's winning time was 7.44 seconds. To close the championships, the men's 4x400m relay won gold with a time of 3:03.94

Besides the IAAF World Championships, the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships were held this weekend. Oregon Ducks women's team won it's third consecutive Indoor Track and Field title with a total of 49 points over Kansas. The Ducks had wins in the pentathlon, 60 meters, mile, 400m and the 3000m. On the men's side, Florida Gators also won their third consecutive Indoor Track and Field Championship with 52 points. They beat SEC rival Arkansas by five points. The Gators had wins in the 60m, 400m and triple jump.

The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships were being streamed online live this past weekend from Idaho. I decided not to watch them live on the computer. I wanted to wait to watch them on Sunday night when they will air on ESPNU. I would rather watch track on my big screen TV and not sitting in an office chair watching a 22 inch computer monitor.

I did watch some women's basketball over the weekend. I watched the Big 12 tournament. Baylor played Kansas State in the Big 12 semifinal Friday. Baylor had a pretty easy time with Kansas State and won 86-65. In that game, Brittney Griner set a tournament record with points scored. Griner scored 45 points, had 10 rebounds and 7 blocks. Baylor defeated Texas A&M 73-50 Saturday to win the Big 12 Conference Tournament championship.

Switching over to men's basketball, Duke and Michigan both played in their conference quarterfinal games on Saturday. Both teams lost. Duke lost to Florida State 62-59. FSU went on to win the ACC Tournament defeating North Carolina and Michigan lost to Ohio State 77-55. OSU then went on to lose to Michigan State in the Big 10 Tournament final.

The bracket was announced Sunday and Duke is the second seed in the South region. They will play Lehigh Friday in Greensboro, NC. Michigan is the fourth seed in the Midwest region. They will play Ohio Friday in Nashville.

Such a busy sports weekend. I love this time of the year.

Photo Credit: Sanya Richards-Ross celebrates winning the gold in the women's 400m final during the World Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday in Istanbul, Turkey. (Matt Dunham/Associated Press)

No-meat Fridays

I observe no-meat Fridays during Lent. I'm not a big fan of fish, so my options are limited. I found a couple of meatless recipes on the internet and presented them to my husband. I told him I could eat any of the three that I found. I asked him which one he wanted to try. He picked Three Cheese Baked Ziti with Spinach by Campbell's Kitchen.

I really liked it. As a fan of ziti, I was pleased with the mix of the three cheeses, spinach and sauce. We will be making this dish again.

Three Cheese Baked Ziti with Spinach
by Campbell's Kitchen

1 package (16 ounces) uncooked medium tube-shaped pasta (ziti)
1 bag (6 ounces) baby spinach, washed (about 4 cups)
1 jar (1 pound 9 ounces) Prego® Marinara Italian Sauce
1 cup ricotta cheese
4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Prepare the pasta according to the package directions. Add the spinach during the last minute of the cooking time. Drain the pasta and spinach well in a colander. Return them to the sauce pot.

Stir the sauce, ricotta, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and black pepper into the pasta mixture. Spoon the pasta mixture into a 13 x 9 x 2-inch shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.

Bake at 350°F. for 30 minutes or it's until hot and bubbling.

Photo credit: Campbell's Kitchen

ACC Men's Basketball Tournament

The ACC men's basketball tournament begins today. My favorite ACC team, Duke Blue Devils, have a first round bye. Duke will play the winner of the Clemson/Virginia Tech game on Friday at 7 p.m. Duke beat both teams this season. They beat Virginia Tech both times and the only time they faced Clemson.

If Duke is good enough to win their quarterfinal game, they could face Miami, Florida State or even Georgia Tech. Miami and Georgia Tech play each other in the first round today. If Duke meets Florida State or Miami, they will have their hands full. Duke lost very close games to both teams. They lost to Florida State by three and Miami by four.

If they can get a rematch, I hope the ending is different from the previous ones.

A new channel

While looking at my timeline in Twitter last week, I saw an interesting tweet from the USATF (USA Track and Field). They tweeted that Universal Sports is now on Dish Network. Oh my gosh!

For the last couple of years, Dish Network hasn't offered this station to viewers. I was really sad when a deal was made with DirectTV and nothing for DISH. Universal Sports Network airs year-round coverage of Olympic sports like track and gymnastics.

This is huge. All of this weekend, I will be watching coverage of the World Indoor Track and Field Championships. Also, I should be able to watch most of the upcoming US Olympic Track and Field Trials in June. In 2008, NBC and Universal Sports had coverage of the trials. If that is the same for this year, I won't be missing any of the action. NBC usually shows the bigger, well-known events in full. To the other events, they get 30 seconds of coverage. I will be able to watch the events in full on Universal. I am going to love those 10 days in June.

The schedule of events for the US Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Books read in 2012

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal, Toni Bentley
Chasing the Runner's High, Ray Charbonneau
The Perfect Mile, Neal Bascomb
Cleopatra, Stacy Schiff
The Carrie Diaries, Candace Bushnell
Summer in the City, Candace Bushnell
Forgotten, Cat Patrick
Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs
Pretty Little Liars, Sara Shepard
Flawless, Sara Shepard

Currently Reading: Perfect, Sara Shepard
Up Next: Unbelievable, Sara Shepard

Downton Abbey

I finished watching Downton Abbey Season 1 over the weekend. Now that I have seen Season 1, everything in Season 2 makes much more sense to me. I started watching Downtown Abbey at the beginning of Season 2.

I love this show. The acting, the story lines, the costumes, the way the British talk and Maggie Smith's one liners. What I didn't understand while watching Season 2 was why O'Brien (Siobhan Finneran) and Thomas (Rob James-Collier) were so disliked. Now I understand. Those two schemed, lied, stole and caused a miscarriage during Season 1. They are the most hated people in the house. I also dislike their characters too. They are the people we viewers love to hate.

The characters that I like are Mr. Carson (Jim Carter), Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) and Matthew (Dan Stevens). Carson is the butler of Downton Abbey. My favorite scene of him is when Downton Abbey had their first telephone installed. He picked up the receiver to practice how he would answer the phone in his best butler voice. As for Lady Mary and Matthew; they played will or won't they get engaged all season. They are attracted to each other, but Mary is stubborn in her ways. At the end of Season 1, Matthew decides to part with Mary. She finally realizes her mistake in turning him down when he purposed earlier.

Downton Abbey finished Season 2 in January. It will return to PBS for Season 3 in January 2013. That is a long wait. But it will be worth it.

Photos:
Top: Downton Abbey cast
Middle: O'Brien and Thomas
Bottom: Matthew and Lady Mary

Weekend plans

Compared to last weekend, this weekend will be so much different. I was in Battle Creek last weekend working crazy, long hours. Sunday was my only day off and I needed it. I completely took the day off from running and exercise. When Monday rolled around, I said to my husband that I needed another day off.

On the schedule this weekend are a few items. I'm excited for a dinner date with my husband, running, reading and finishing Season 1 of Downton Abbey.

U.S. Indoor Track and Field Championships

The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships took place over the weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I recorded the footage on Sunday and watched it the other day. Only the top two finishers will be heading to the IAAF World Indoor Track and Field Championships in March.

The events I was interested in were the men's and women's 800m, 1500m and 3000m.

The men's 3000m was won by Bernard Lagat followed by Lopez Lamong and Galen Rupp. Rupp was leading Lagat and Lamong with a few laps to go. At 700m to go, Lagat and Lamong passed Rupp. Lagat and Lamong ran together until the bell lap. Lagat then outkicked Lamong and quickly left him behind. Lagat ran the final 200m in 26 seconds. Lagat finished in 7:47.54.

Jenny Simpson was the winner in the women's 3000m. Simpson took the lead with six laps to go and finished in 9:19.15. Jackie Areson passed Sara Hall in the final 100m to finish second in 9:20.61.

The men's 1500m was won by Leo Manzano in 3:48.05. Manzano was able to outkick Matthew Centrowitz and Galen Rupp in the final straightway. Rupp was leading the pack until the last 100 meters when he was passed by Centrowitz and Manzano.

In the women's 1500m, Jenny Simpson was able to hold off Brenda Martinez to win in 4:15.04. Simpson had a huge lead on the final lap until Martinez was able to close the gap. Martinez finished in a close second behind Simpson in 4:15.11. Sara Vaughn finished in third.

In the women's 800m, Erica Moore jumped out to a big lead and was able to hold on. Moore won the 800m in 2:01.08. Moore beat her training partner, Phoebe Wright (one of my favorite runners) by two seconds (2:03.07). Moore's time was a season best and the top American time for the indoor season.

These athletes will be heading to the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey on March 11-13. Leo Manzano and Jenny Simpson will not be going to Turkey to represent the US. Since they are not going, the second and third place finishers will be on the team. Filling in for them will be Galen Rupp in the 1500m, Jackie Areson and Sara Hall in the 3000m and Brenda Martinez and Sara Vaughn in the 1500m.