Every day I'm strength training

I've been doing a lot of this lately:

 I've been biking to work and around town more, which is great. Although one day the hour bike ride home from work aggravated my IT band and caused some hip pain. But it's feeling better now.

Overall, my IT band is still a bit sore, but I'm running. Not at the levels to do serious marathon training, but at a level where I'm happy. I think the consistent strength training is helping me recover faster, and it certainly makes getting up at 5 AM four days a week worth it. I think at this point, the marathon is too soon for me to train and reach the mileage levels where I'll have a good race and not threaten injury. I don't have the base I was hoping for, and while 12 weeks out is enough for some people to train effectively, not a first time marathoner with a recent IT band injury. So I'm going to find some 10 mile training plans and kill it on the Twin Cities 10 Mile on October 6.  My plan last year prepared me pretty well, so I may go back to that one.

 It's getting to the hot point of summer, where my lunchtime runs may have to move inside or in the morning. Sam thinks it's hot out too.

Coming up:
TBD... probably more structured than I've been the last two weeks

past few weeks:
June 24 - Strength training; 2 mi
June 25 - Strength training; bike to/from work (20 mi)
June 26 - Strength training
June 27 - Strength training; 2 mi
June 28 - yoga
June 29 - biked to the Twins game
June 30 - 1 mi, biked downtown to the Pride parade
July 1 - strength training; biked to/from work (20 mi)
July 2 - strength training; 2.5 mi
July 3 - strength training
July 4 - rest
July 5 - strength training; 3 mi
July 6 - canoe trip
July 7 - 27 minute run with Sam (my Garmin wouldn't sync), yoga
July 8 - strength training; bike to/from work (20 mi)
July 9 - strength training; 2.5 mi
July 10 - strength training
July 11 - strength training; 3 mi

TCM training - Week 3

I went to my physical therapist on Monday, all set to describe my new left IT band issues, and she said, "Yeah, that happens sometimes." Well. Wonderful. It was supposed to be our last appointment, but she's extended our sessions through October and the Twin Cities Marathon, to help with this new issue and anything else that comes up.

I went for a test run that afternoon, to see where things were with my knee. I couldn't make it a mile without stopping in pain. It's really demoralizing to spend so long thinking about something and working towards that goal, only to be held up before training really even starts. This last week had 21 miles on the schedule, and I did 1 mile. On the other hand, I also woke up at 5 AM and did my strength training routines 4 days, additional strength training Nike Training exercises, and biked the 10.5 miles to work (up hill both ways!) on Wednesday. So it's not a complete waste, but not anywhere near the mileage I was hoping for.

After taking another rest week, I cautiously went out today to see how my knees/IT bands were doing. Success! I made it 2 miles without having to stop. There was some lingering pain, but nothing that forced me to stop. I'm cautious about running through the pain, and finished the two miles in good shape. So that was an awesome turn of events - I'm going to be laying off increasing mileage and will incorporate more rest days than I planned this week so I don't backslide. I was also reminded, by my good friend Matzke, about increased cadence and a shorter stride as to land midfoot instead of heel striking. I made a deliberate attempt to have fast turnover and shorter strides today also. I also need to be better about foam rolling, too. No consistency with that at all.

We'll see how this week goes, but today's run was enough to make me feel like I still have a shot at a good training cycle and preparing for the marathon. I also had an itch to do a sprint triathlon (YWCA Tri in August), but we'll see how that fits in if marathon training continues as planned...

Last week:
Monday: 1 mile, AM - routine 1
Tuesday: AM - routine 2, Nike Training workouts (Butt Buster and Ab Burner)
Wednesday: AM - routine 1, bike to and from work (round trip 21 miles, ~120 minutes). My abs were so sore on Wednesday, either from the Ab Burner or biking.
Thursday: AM - routine 2 (only one set)
Friday: rest
Saturday: biked around town
Sunday: rest

Week to come:
Monday: AM - routine 1, 2 miles (minimal pain!)
Tuesday: bike to work, strength training
Wednesday: Run attempt
Thursday: Run attempt or strength training
Friday: yoga
Saturday: rest or run attempt
Sunday: bike to yoga/rest

Week 2 of TCM training

Well, considering I had 18 miles on my schedule for training last week, I ran 1.75 of them. Awesome, IT band. Way to go.

I went out for my three miles on Monday, cautiously optimistic about the state of my left IT band. I could barely make 1.75 miles, which may or may not have ended in an epic sobfest on the trail that runs along the river in downtown St. Paul. My sister says the only thing I get emotional about is running (it's true). So I had a good 45 second cry, then sucked it up and started doing hip/glue strength training exercises.

I think I need to be more consistent about strength training. I do it regularly when I can't run, and then get sloppy when I start upping my mileage and training. I started getting up a half hour early four days a week to do a mix of core and glue/hip exercises. This is to go on top of my regular training, and really be a habit that sticks with me regardless of what I'm doing.

I'm seeing my physical therapist tomorrow morning, and hopefully she'll give me some insight as to what happened with my left IT band.

Last week:
Monday - 1.75 miles
Tuesday - Routine 1 in the morning, more strength training at noon
Wednesday - Routine 2 in the morning, went to the gym with my Bolder Options mentee and we rode bikes and lifted some weights
Thursday - Routine 1 in the morning, some stair running and stretching at noon
Friday - off
Saturday - indoor rock climbing with Andrew
Sunday - Biked 50 minutes to and from yoga, 1 hour vinyasa yoga class.

Week to come:
TBD

Oh hey, IT band

So I wrote my last post Thursday morning pre-run. I went out at lunch for 3 miles, and lo and behold, at mile 2.5, my LEFT IT band starts feeling irritated.

For fuck's sake.

I spent all winter/spring rehabbing my right IT band/glutes/hips, and on literally week one of marathon training, the other IT band gets irritated. I would laugh if I weren't so pissed off. Is this a thing? Alternating IT band problems?

So I'm going to take it easy and make sure I do my hip/glute strengthening physical therapy exercises equally on both sides, and try to keep up with the marathon training program as best I can.

Thursday - 3 miles, irritation set in at miles 2.5.
Friday - Supposed to do 3, but rested and just did a 75 minute yoga class.
Saturday - 4.5 miles. Irritation set in at around 3 miles, stopped, stretched and massaged my left IT band. It kept me going for another 1.5 miles, but the distance between stops kept getting shorter and shorter.

Here's the plan for next week:
Monday - 3 miles
Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - 3 miles
Thursday - cross training
Friday - 3 miles and yoga
Saturday - 6 miles

We'll see how much of that actually gets done, but I'm going to try.

Bacher out.

Week 1 of Twin Cities Marathon training

I've decided to use this space to track my training for the Twin Cities Marathon. It would be the 4th place I'm tracking (in addition to my running log, my mileage calendar at work, my run/strength training calendar at home), but hey, what's one more?

This is after last year's Twin Cities 10 Mile race, which has been my best race to date. I trained well, I felt strong during the race, I had negative splits and ran pretty aggressively the last 6 miles. While I'd like to think I can repeat that level of performance, 10 miles isn't 26.2. It's an entirely different ball game and I'm not kidding myself. My IT band issue flared up again last winter, and am still shaking off the last lingering effects of that.

I've modified the Green Bay Marathon training plan for this race. The first 3-4 weeks are similar in distance to what I've been doing the past month, and this gives me a level of confidence in my base training. I was worried that my IT band injury was going to leave me at 0 at the beginning of the training plan. I've got 7-8 weeks of base training, in addition to the first 3 weeks of the marathon training. The marathon plan adds an additional day of running per week, but since the daily mileage is similar, I'm not worried about it.

This week so far:
Sat/Sun - off. I decided to take a break and sleep in before 18 weeks of long early weekend runs.
Mon - 3.5 miles, hills. In St. Paul, there's some big elevation gains from the river up to the Cathedral (260 feet). The route follows the last half mile or so of the Twin Cities course, so I like to imagine that I'm finishing the marathon when I do this route.
Tues - 3 miles, and I did some of the physical therapy/strength training routine from my physical therapist and a few yoga stretches for my hips.
Wed - Strength training. I've started using this Nike Training Club app to vary my strength training, since I was getting a bit bored. I'll let you know how I like it. I did the 15 minute Ab Burner workout.

Plans for rest of the week:
Thurs -3 miles, easy. I have to learn how to run easy - every run tends to turn into a tempo run and I have to give myself a break some of the time.
Friday - 3 miles, easy, plus yoga. I actually think my IT band re-flare up from mid May was because I had not gone to yoga for three weeks in a row.
Saturday - 5 miles
Sunday - rest

just because i can

We're all moved into our new place and putting the finishing touches on a few things, like hanging pictures, etc. Plans are in the works for an awesome island for the kitchen, ala Erich. I'll have to post a picture of the table he built (once Andrew gets all his computer stuff off of it) and the rest of the place. 

I really wish Sam would act happier and more pleased with our new place.

 

No appreciation for what he's got. Except for a very, very dirty tennis ball and a stick. He had a stick in the sun and a stick in the shade, and would move between the two to chew on them.

Also, this is Sam trying to play Andrew's harmonica:

I went to my physical therapist yesterday. He did a deep tissue massage (so good!) and put some kinesthetic tape on my leg from below my knee up to my hip. I went out for 4 miles today (longest run since March 4), and it seemed to help somewhat. The first half felt great; the second half I could feel irritation in my knee. I did some stretches and iced it, and I don't feel any pain or soreness right now. So we'll see how it goes. I'm optimistic for my prospects - I'm on the fence about trying the Cellcom, but I think I'll be in good shape for the Bellin. Either way, I was so excited to be running today. I was running and felt tired and thought about turning around early, but then reasoned that being tired means shit. I can keep going if I'm tired. If it was painful, that's a different story. But tired? Keep going, just because I can.

Anyway, time for a nap. Bacher out.

holding pattern

Soooo, my IT band is still on-again, off-again irritated. The IT band wrap didn't help so I'm just resting, not running and doing strength training. I don't know where that puts me for the Cellcom, but I'm hoping I can do a run/walk thing and still participate. Any thoughts of improving on last year's time are out the window... now it's mostly a hope that I can do it at all.

We are moving to a new apartment in less than a month! I'm quite excited. Of the list of things I wanted in a new place, it meets 90% of them - two bedroom, fenced in backyard, non-coined operated washer and dryer, plenty of counter space... just no dishwasher. But I can live with that. I'm anxious to move and get out of this current place... a backyard! Room to invite people over! A dining room!

In preparation for the move, I've been sorting through my stuff and decluttering. I found my old high school journal yesterday, which was sort of fascinating. I'm slightly amused at the things I found important enough to write down and how different my interests were then compared to now (for example, I was talking with an old high school friend a few weeks back and she thought it was amusing how I would do anything to avoid gym class in high school but now I'm a runner). It also seemed like each day was either THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE or omg, life is SOOO terrible. I never felt like I was particularly moody and I felt like I was pretty even-keeled emotionally, but that could be my current outlook projecting back on how I imagine I should have been. But I suppose at that point, I was invested in my friends or the shit I did at school, and investing yourself in something can lead to being hurt. Maybe I've made better choices now (and had better options) about the people I surround myself with and the activities I choose to do, but I haven't really felt emotionally distraught now the way I seemed to feel frequently back then. Or maybe I deal with them better. Either way, it's certainly interesting to have my feelings stored and preserved in that fashion compared to just regular hindsight.

I've been feeling like I waste too much time online (specifically on Facebook), so I went through and deleted pretty much anyone who wasn't family or a past roommate (with some exceptions). I really don't care about random people I used to know and what they're doing... if I did, I would know about it, right? So already I can tell I'm spending less time on there. It took me like 3 hours to delete nearly 400 people... my hand felt like I was getting carpal tunnel.

I think these pictures of my dog are funny:


Bacher out!

life updates

A few updates for you:

1. My IT band is still slightly irritated. It feels fine when I'm doing my regular things, work, etc. I've tried running a bit (since I thought it was more completely healed than it seems to be), and after about a mile, it gets a bit painful. Not as bad as before, but not at the point where I'd like to be. I'm going to try a more active recovery, where I run but not as far or fast as I was going. Which is a bummer.

2. We are moving! To somewhere TBD. Still looking, which is a pain in the ass. But both Andrew and I agree - we are ready to be out of our apartment. Our perfect place has a good set of criteria... whether we meet all of them or not is another story. My guess is we'll have to compromise on something - number of bedrooms, state of appliances, price - but it really depends on the place. If anyone knows of a 2 bedroom duplex/apartment with a backyard (preferably fenced in), dishwasher, non-coin operated washer and dryer, within 4-5 blocks of a bus line that goes to DT St. Paul (preferably in St. Paul), let me know.

3. Sam peed on Andrew's leg this morning. My dog is kind of dumb.

That's it. Bacher out.

i hate my IT band.

I'm so pissed.

My IT band started acting up on Sunday. I wasn't sure that's what it was, but a little internet sluething today pretty much confirmed it. I ran my 7 miles on Sunday, then iced it Sunday and Monday nights when it started feeling sore. Then today it felt pretty good for most of the morning, so I decided to head out for my 3 mile lunchtime run. Stupid IT band got irritated on the run and I had to take an easy pace. It felt sore but not super painful on my way back to work, however, after I sat down for an hour (and I'm guessing my muscles tightened up), standing and walking around was pretty painful. Limping may or may not have been involved.

So I've pretty much benched myself until this gets itself worked out. Planning on ice and rest, mostly. I'm just mad because I was really rocking the training up until this point. I hit 98% of the training runs, am getting much faster than I used to be, and generally feel solid about Cellcom training up until this point. So it's just frustrating to get some solid training in and then have to rest due to injury.

So let's hope it heals quickly and I can get back on my training plan.

maaason!

Look at who I met last weekend!

My new nephew, Mason! He's the cutest thing ever, even with his old smushed Irish hitman face. I'm looking forward to seeing him next month when we go back to Green Bay and probably giving him a present, since I have no other children to smother with love.



Indy did his best Mason impression.

Sam chewed on both of Indy's toys in retaliation.

Sam will cuddle with pretty much anyone.

I did my six miles this morning and it went pretty good. I don't have any timed proof yet, but I'm certain I'm faster than before and absolute better at finishing strongly. It felt awesome to bang out six good miles and feel like I could do another few. I've been running during my lunch hour, which is fantastic. I feel like I concentrate much better in the afternoons after I've run and the day goes by so much faster. Now the mileage on weekday runs are getting to the point where I can't run the miles during my lunch break, so I'll be back to running in the morning again. It's a bit of a bummer, but I joined a gym across the street from my work, so on non-running days I'll head over for strength and cross training.

Ok. I'm going to go. Bacher out.

twenty-seven

Today is my birthday! I'm 27 today, which puts me squarely in the "late 20's" category.

I went running over my lunch break and thought about how grateful and lucky I am for many things:

• The physical ability to run three miles. To run three miles and feel awesome. The ability to do so on my lunchtime, in the sunshine, without a coat, in February, on my birthday.
• My gentleman and my dog.
• My other family members who really enjoy celebrating birthdays.
• The company of good, old friends.
• To be able to celebrate future birthdays with my new nephew.
• That I am an awesome guacamole maker.
• The delicious birthday meal I'm looking forward to tonight.

January is definitely over.

Birthday Bacher out.

sam the reflective

Sam and I go running together and we have a pretty good time. Sometimes we'll go in the morning before work and it's usually still dark out. I worry about my own visibility, wearing black pants and a purple jacket (even with all the reflective features they boast). I've been wanting a reflective vest for a few months now, but just haven't found the right one at the right price. Sam, being much shorter and blacker than I am, is even more of a visibility nightmare. Cars may not be looking for him and he may just blend in with the background. I usually head downtown since the sidewalks are clearer in the winter than anywhere else; downside is that people don't usually expect or look for runners and their black Labs.

Guess who is now more visible at night?

He's my school crossing guard.

Some more Sam:

Having a pretty rough day.

A goofball in the car on the way home from Wisconsin over New Years.

Opening his Christmas present. Hint: It was an antler and what seems to be the most promising non-destructible toy yet.

irresolute

I really dislike New Year's resolutions. Maybe since I associate them with falling off after 6 weeks, I don't think they're useful or effective. I always think, "Oh, well that's something the person won't really keep up through March," or that they only half-heartedly want to accomplish it. On the other hand, I don't necessarily think that about goals. I feel a person can set a goal and they have a fairly good chance of achieving it. It's the same thing, just a different word, so I don't know why I have those connotations. Increasingly, I feel the need to reassess and set new goals at year end, which is deliberately something I really didn't do before. Blame it on some type A personality shit.

Last year, I wanted to cook two new recipes a month and learn how to cartwheel. Trying two new recipes a month was pretty successful - here's a catalogue of some recipes I've tried this year and enjoyed. I have some new ones in my recipe folder too. I'm not making an intentional goal to try new recipes this year since I feel it's stuck with me pretty well and I have lots of inspiration to try new recipes. Don't they say it takes 6 weeks for something to become a habit? Well, I think I've got this down. In fact, tonight I'm making roasted butternut squash and bacon pasta.

Cartwheeling? Nope. Still don't know how.

I've got a few I've been kicking around for this next year:

• 100 books in 2012. I kicked 75 books in 2011's ass (currently on number 102 for 2011) and I think I can do it again next year.
• 3 half marathons - Green Bay in May, Red, White and Boom in July, and one more in the fall. I wanted to do two last year and only did one, mostly for financial reasons.
• Cut out meat one day a week, for health and environmental reasons. Probably Mondays.
  
• Progress on our net worth, specifically through building savings and paying down our smaller debts. I know goals are more likely to be accomplished if there's a specific, measurable goal, but we haven't sat down and figured that out yet. But those are the things I think we can hit, based on some initial calculations.

Good? All right. Bacher out.

i was running.

I went out for a long run this morning, aiming for 11 miles. It went well; I felt pretty consistent through most of it. I went down to the Midtown Greenway, connected to the Cedar Lake Trail, (which is quickly become one of my favorite running paths), ran along the river, went past Gold Medal park and the Guthrie, then headed back south to my apartment. The scenery is great - you run through woods, through prairies, through urban areas, along a river and over a bridge. Nearly everything you can think of for scenery.

After crossing the river to Northeast, I was chugging along on the path next to the river and there were a lot more people than usual in the area. It seems they were having a 5k race that morning. Which is all fine and dandy, until I realize that the starting line of the race was in my path and the race route went over the river on the Stone Arch Bridge, which was where I wanted to cross back. As I get close to the bridge and the crowd of people, I hear "We're about to begin! One minute until the start of the race!" So I join this race for the first quarter mile across the bridge, then peeled off in the opposite direction to run up a really, big-ass hill.

Other things I've seen while running: A bike accident with an ambulance team, wedding photography, a marching band playing Lady Gaga before the Pride parade, countless crowds for Twins games, some middle aged dude who yelled "Yeah! Yale!" as I wore my Forestry sweatshirt.

Tuesday I took Sam out for his very first run with me. He did very well and wasn't too distracted by squirrels and birds. I took a water bottle to give him water while we ran, which helped him cool down. We did 2.6 miles (including some water breaks) and he was definitely into it. He was speeding up during the last quarter mile to the point where I was sprinting to keep up. I could feel it the next day; it was definitely a good speedy run. I think Sam liked it; after we were done he had lots of energy - almost like his own runner's high - and then he crashed and was tired, tired, tired. We're going to go again on Monday.

The only new picture I have is of a scratch under his eye. He got it from the dog park yesterday; a couple of dogs were rough-housing around with him and one must have got him with their teeth. Sam seems to be fine, so I'm not worried.


It's that spot underneath his right eye. He wouldn't sit still for a picture.

Bacher out.

great purge of 2011 update

So I was purging things, specifically stuff in my fridge. Here's how it's going so far:

Half empty marinade bottles - two gone!

Mustard - one gone! Andrew just tossed it. Hopefully out of the recognition that it's crazy to have 4 different types of mustard in our small fridge. Or in any fridge.

Stir fry sauce - one gone! We've been having a lot of stir fry lately and it's been delicious. A little secret: add sesame oil when you cook the vegetables. Delicious.

Salad dressing - both gone! Although we'll be buying more Caesar dressing soon since that's the kind Andrew likes. I'm fine with mixing up balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a little pepper on the spot for my salads.

Travel shampoo and soap - three gone! First I had to finish my own shampoo, but then I moved on to the little bottles.

Ok friends, I need some motivation. I have my half marathon training plan all figured out for the Monster Dash at the end of October. I'd been running away, hitting all my workouts for about five weeks and now... no motivation to run. My knees have been feeling a little sore/creaky lately and I don't know if that's a running injury or as a result of my stand-up desk at work (it's awesome; everyone should have one), but it's adding to making me not want to run at all. I went out yesterday and my knees were fine, but I don't know. Maybe actually registering for the race will give me the boost I need to get back in the game. Maybe my training plan was a bit too ambitious, ramping up the mileage too far out from the actual race for it to be sustainable for me. Either way, I need to get my head (and feet) back in the game and fast.

Since I know you missed it the last time I posted, here are more Sam pictures:

He was sitting on the couch and the pillow fell over on him and Sam just sat there. It was cute.

He's helping me blog again. What a nosy puppy.

My mom's coming today for the weekend! Maybe she'll help motivate me.

Bacher out.

just get up and dance

"Nobody cares if you're not a good dancer. Just get up and dance. The same holds true for racing. Whether first or last, we all cross that same finish line. Just get out there and run."

-Dean Karnazes, Ultrarunner and best-selling author

the distance

The distance in question is 13.1. Heck yes, half marathoning it. May 2011.

I'm also thinking this would be awesome, ala Duncan. Lady, come do the one in Minnesota. Or Wisconsin. I hope they take slow people, because I'm slow but I can jump over a fire.

My mail carrier has not been delivering some of my mail, specifically, important letters from my undergrad regarding my loans. So if that's not getting through, what else have I been missing? Way to go, postal service.

I had an epic Cookie Fail last Sunday. They went in like this:



And came out like this:



Don't know what happened... We ate them anyway.

here we go!

Speaking of goal setting...

I'm kind of psyched to participate in Amanda's Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge at Run to the Finish. I've been reading her blog for a few months now and I've enjoyed reading her insights - plus who doesn't like her gratitude journal at the end of all her posts?


I've been on and off with the running for the past few months/weeks. I stopped working at the Y and my rental company's gym closed (rats!), it was too hot for me to run outside (lazy!), I get busy with work (excuses!), etc.

But if I really want to run the Cellcom half marathon in May, I need to start being consistent about building a base before starting increasing my distance. That goes back to tracking my workouts, making the time to get to the gym and sticking with my schedule. Earlier this week, Andrew and I went to the YWCA to redeem our year family membership that I won awhile back. I'm primed for committing to half marathon training - consistent access to a gym, a goal to work towards, a regular schedule I can plan around. I think the HBBC will be exactly the type of additional motivation I need to stay on track.

Mom - whatcha thinking? I bet I can get more points than you!


In the words of Mario... here we go!

my completely uninteresting story about magazines

Awhile back I got "free" subscriptions to a running magazine and a bicycling magazine by registering for a race online. They were offered as an incentive for registering through that website, which meant 15 months of the magazines without paying for them. It was nice to get fun mail, not bills, plus they were interesting - I found a really great recipe in one of them; it was motivating when I was training for the Bellin, etc.

However, I checked my bank account today and saw that they automatically renewed for $39 and $32 each. Aw, hell no. I called up and canceled the biking one, since I'm not a huge biker. I was going to cancel the running magazine, then resubscribe through the cheaper deals they have online or as a tear out in the magazine. However, the automatic cancel system offered 6 months for $6, plus a refund of the $39. I'll pay $6 for the magazine - I like it and it really does get me out the door at least once after reading it.

Moral of the story: Check your bank accounts often and look for discounts.

Moral of the story 2: I'm utterly bor(ed)/(ing).

I'm also making bread that needs to rise for 6 hours between mixing and baking. 3 hours to go...

registry guilt

Well, the Bellin Run this weekend happened as planned. I did not run as planned because apparently, my plans were off. Thank you, Nike+. That 6.5 mile run I did last week? 6 miles. Nike+ tracked my 10k at 7.6 miles. So my expectation of running a 10:30 pace? Based on inaccurate numbers. It just meant I had to readjust my expectations. I ran faster than I did last year by 2 minutes, but I still felt I could have done better. I think it's hard to do well when you're standing around for at least 45 minutes before your wave starts. Maybe I'd do better on another 10k.

Andrew and I are getting things ready for our wedding this weekend and the party in August. We had some extra time today before going to a work picnic, so we went to Target and started of thinking of things we'd like on the registry. There's somethings we know for sure (box set of Indiana Jones movies, magnetic knife stripe), but we (especially Andrew) feel conflicted about asking for a bunch of stuff. We already live together and have collected things like dishes, pots and pans, etc. We could register for nicer things, but as a whole, we have no real issue with the things we have. It seems wasteful to register for things we don't really need or would simply like to have because we have the option of having them. I'm surviving perfectly fine without an egg plate so far.

However, people like to bring gifts to weddings and we want to help people celebrate their excitement with us. People coming to the small wedding this weekend have already asked about what they can bring - both in terms of gifts as well as food.

I don't know. My non-materialistic side is brushing up against the idea of going into Target and pointing at stuff I want. Any suggestions for managing feelings of registry guilt?



EDIT:
Of course. As soon as I write out my registry guilt, I head over to A Practical Wedding and Meg offers her lovely, often incredibly useful, advice:

The registry is not about the wedding, the registry is about the marriage. For us, we hope that means a long life with a passel of kids, a ton of family gatherings, and lots of cooking. So for us, that’s what a registry is about – letting our friends and loved ones build that home for us. The registry is like a barn raising.