Activity: Run
Date: 10/02/07 10:57 AM
Distance: 3.50 miles
Time: 0:38:17
Speed: 5.5 mph
Pace: 10' 56 min/mile
Calories: 331
I've just received my race number/confirmation for the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco. I've been training all along, but I realized that it's San Francisco, and the half marathon route does have some hills, (DUHHHH!) and I'm not sure how intense those hills are just by their elevation charts. It looks like there's a pretty good one after the first 10K distance. I figured I should tackle "The Hill" again, so that's what I did yesterday. No real warm up. I just started out my front door, right at the first corner then up hill. I did take a slightly different route than normal, but it's still a climb. I even went past where I normally turn to go back down, and went up even more and reached the summit. My average time looks kind of slow but keep in mind that it's about an 11% grade going up, and about a 19% grade on parts of it going down. My splits got faster as my run progressed, not because of going down hill, but because of some of the flat parts of the route I took.
Today
Lower body workout - Hammies - 5 sets of 30 on The Bean, outer thighs side kicks - 5 sets of 20, obliques - just like side kicks but knee to elbow 5 sets of 20, abs 4 sets of 100, and back extensions 5 sets of 30.
Other Stuff
No word back on the blood tests from last week. I'm hoping that no news is good news. I'll give the doctor's office a call if I don't hear anything by the end of today.
Yesterday I visited my local nursery. It's a pretty nice nursery and they play classical music, have several running water features, and lush plants, which lends to a very calming experience. The afternoon at the nursery was very therapeutic for me. I was looking for a particular sized pot that I could not find at the Dollar Store, Target or Walmart. For all practical purposes, gardening season is pretty much over for most of the country, so the selection for pots and gardening tools a the larger chain stores is pretty limited right now. My local nursery is somewhat on the pricey side, but they continue to carry a wide array of plants and gardening goodies to keep the avid gardener happy. I did find a pot, which was way more than I wanted to spend, especially since I usually find my pots at the dollar store, but this plant is going to be around for the long term, so the pot has to be hearty as well. I rescued a coffee leaf plant from the office, that was bound for the garbage because one of my coworkers forgot to water it. It was near dead, but as soon as I brought it home, re-potted and watered it, it came back to life and the existing leaves turned red. It was never red at the office. The new leaf growth is a bright green. This plant, which was considered trash, is now flourishing in my living room, in a nice ceramic, burgundy colored pot. It's quite happy.
They also had, on sale, smaller pots of mums. The rich burgundy color of the mums made me want to take them all home, but I only came home with three. I couldn't resist the fall colors of the mums.
Speaking of bringing things back to life, this succulent was a part of one of my grandmother's potted plants. It was the only living potted plant left from my grandmother. She passed away over 20 years ago. It amazed me that this plant could survive such neglect, but it was pretty sad looking, and parts of it were shriveled up. It's a hearty succulent. Granted, they don't need much water, but with just a little water and dusting off, it has grown in size, and it has produced flowers.
No gardening experience is complete without my trusty sidekick, Logan. She's always there to make sure I am not alone, and that small flying objects, like bees, won't get in the way.
Peace
6 comments:
Stevie Wonder
I love coffee plants but I never manage to get the leaves to turn red! So tell me more about this succulent that was your grandmother’s. Have you had it since she passed or did you just now find it somewhere and bring it back to life? Details!!!
oh, oh, oh... poop. smartypantz beat me to it... :( stevie wonder.
your plants look great. the only thing that looks that good in my yard are the weeds.
Smartypantz - Winner!!! I had never dealt with a coffee leaf plant before, so I'm not sure why it turned red. Maybe a little TLC? I don't know, but the red leaves are prety. There a long story to this whole house thing, but my uncle lived in this house after my grandparents died. I'm guessing that this plant just happened to be in a spot where it did get some water to survive, because my uncle didn't do much to maintain anything at this house for 20 years. After my uncle died, my husband and I bought the house and we're in the process of fixing EVERYTHING. :)
Barbie2be,
These are potted plants. You should see the lower half of my yard, just beyond the box wood hedge in the picture of my dog in the window. Um, weeds... *sigh.*
Great job on the hills! And we WILL find a way to see each other in San Francisco. Look for an email from me later today or sometime tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I'm doing my last long run (12 miles) in the morning -- wish me luck!
You're quite the gardener! And Logan is very pretty. :-)
I don't know how to read elevation charts, but I've run along part of the course before. Much of it is flat, but past Fisherman's Wharf is the Presidio, which has a monster hill. I ran a 10 miler one year, where I ran from the Wharf to across the Golden Gate bridge. Besides the Presidio, there's a hill to get from the bay to the street. I climbed stairs to get to the bridge, but I assume the race course will be on the street.
Thanks for the info, Dori!
I have the half marathon elevation chart on my fridge. It's the first hill that looks kind of intimidating. The ones after that might be better.
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