The Karianna Spectrum

TuTus for Tanner

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:05:07 -0800

While the Tiarathon was a complete blast for me, and for the majority of the Shredheads, it was an unfortunate "bust" for our dear Shredhead Her Bad Mother, who passed out the evening before the race, so made the prudent decision to sit out the half-marathon. While there will always be other races, and it is definitely best to take care of oneself rather than pushing hard into an endurance event when the body is spent, this particular race had great significance for Catherine, and for her...

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Run Like a Princess

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:33:27 -0800

On Sunday I completed the "Tiarathon" - otherwise known as the Disney Princess Half-Marathon. I must admit I'm in shock a bit that it is over. After all, it was about a year ago that I started the 30-Day-Shred with the Shredheads community, and about a month and a half later that I reluctantly decided to climb on board to the whole "let's run a 5K" madness. As I looked for a race that would be fun and magical, I came across Disneyland's September race, but also noticed Disney World's Princess...

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Packing My Tiara

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:27:51 -0800

A week from today, I'll be on an airplane bound for Florida. The last time I was in Florida, it was for the ARVO conference. ARVO stands for the "Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology" but "ARVO" sounds so much more hip, don't you think? While in Florida that other time, I presented a poster on visual search, ate wings at Hooters and swam in the ocean while wearing a very strange weight-lifting uniform (because I thought I was too fat for a bikini. In reality, I was not fat in...

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Making the Science Fair Mandatory?

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:03:20 -0800

Last week I completed a huge item on my "to-do" list: Co-Chairing our school's Science Fair. As expected, there were little glitches here and there. We will learn from our mistakes and the process should be much smoother next year. Things such as night janitors being forced to take furlough (so not available to open the gym for us) because of budget cuts were not under our control, but at least we know which questions to ask next time. I knew there would be bumps along the road, but what I...

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A Breezy 10k

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:18:18 -0800

From my "Daily Mile" report: (The race was called "Bay Breeze" both for the location and for the ease of the flat course.) 2 minutes faster than my very first 10K last October; however, I felt much better after this one than that first! I felt like I could have kept going today, which was sort of the point because I wanted to practice keeping a steady pace for the Tiarathon. This was the first time (aside from the Disney 5K) that I ran an entire race without walk breaks. I'm kinda surprised,...

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Science Fair

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:23:20 -0800

I will be looking at things like this all day today. This particular poster -- with super glittery-sparkly accents - belongs to Splig. Rest assured he participated in the actual "science" part, too. Close-ups of Splig's glittery accents:

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Recreation over Responsibility

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:24:39 -0800

Over a week ago, I ran a half-marathon. (Yeah, I really did. And I didn't die.) And this coming Saturday, I have a 10K trail race, put on my the same people who did the challenging mud-slinging OMG-a-creek race from a couple weeks ago. I really shouldn't be having so much fun. Instead, I should be cleaning my house. After all, the boys' toys and other belongings are still piled in the living room even though at least one room is dried out from The Great Mold Invasion. I should start the...

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Standardized Tests

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:06:41 -0800

Last May, my then-second-grader took his first STAR test. And then this autumn he took the OLSAT. He's also taken some other assessment tests here and there, and one recent exam prompted the teacher to say she didn't believe the results because so many of her otherwise high-achieving students seemed to have scored low. She then mentioned that the computer teacher who gave the tests provided heavy incentive to finish quickly. Rushing through an exam does nobody favors. I remember the whole...

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My First Half Marathon

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:06:26 -0800

From my "Daily Mile" report: This was a Tiarathon warm-up. I took it pretty easy to make sure I could go the whole distance. It was definitely fabulous to reach the end. Now I KNOW I can do the Disney Princess Half! Here's more of the story: An unfortunate side-effect of the awesome trail run I had last week was that I made a big mistake and used my dryer to help the drying-out process of my shoes after removing all the mud -- so my shoes shrank a bit. Running in them last week didn't...

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Mold and Mud.

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:33:33 -0800

The start of last week was tough. It was really tough. Lots of work to do, lots of "extracurricular" hassle, and in general just a tiring time. (Plus it was raining - great for our drought, not great for the rapidly growing weeds in our too-fertile soil or for very energetic boys who appreciate the outdoors.) On Thursday the weather cleared a bit, so I went for a quick run. I joked to a friend that if I hadn't signed up for a 10K on Saturday, I wouldn't have allowed myself that break. After...

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Project 2010k

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:51:18 -0800

It has been rainy out. So rainy that if I didn't have a 10k on Saturday, I'd probably not consider running in the wet weather. If I hadn't already signed up for the race, I'd probably not. But I figured this would happen, so planned ahead. Presenting - Project 2010k. This year I plan to run at least a 10K per month. That's right, for 2010, I'm running at least 12 races 10K or longer. I include the "and longer" because I am currently signed up for two half-marathons (and thinking about a third...

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Late to School

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:33:12 -0800

Splig forgot his shoes. Let's go home to retrieve them! Construction delay. Why was I the van chosen for such a privilege to lead up the line? STOP sign to stop me, long line of traffic behind. Let's just move this pole... Ten minutes later, finally back at our house, now where are the shoes? Splig seems sad but smug. He got to skip Spanish class. Plus, more time with Mom!

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What I Did Last Night

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:48:59 -0800

You know whose dress this is, don't you?

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My Brain is Out to Lunch

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:47:45 -0800

Thursday afternoon the Cat asked me, "Are those chips okay?" and I had no idea what he meant. "You know, I figured the cheese wouldn't be okay, but I ate the crackers that came with them." he continued. It wasn't until I emptied the boys' backpacks that I saw what happened: I had swapped the Cat's and Splig's lunches. Yes, the crackers the Cat ate technically weren't "approved" but I was glad he didn't eat the neon yellow cheese. (Yes, I sometimes feed Splig the artificial stuff to which the...

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How Quickly They Fall - and Rebound

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 13:22:14 -0800

For those of you who are forced to watch SpongeBob, remember that song "It's a Per-FECT Daa-aay!"** ? Well, Splig was pretty much singing that tune on Friday. (** Turns out SpongeBob is "It's the Best Day Eeeee-ver!" while the "It's a Per-FECT Daa-aay!" is like Hannah Montana or something else in that genre. Yikes!) All week he had been eagerly anticipating a box of Star Wars figures, a late-arriving Christmas present. Each day, his head hung with disappointment. On Friday morning, the...

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