Red Rain

Upper Body Workout - Bowflex - Lats, shoulders, biceps, triceps, chest.

If we decide to run in an event this weekend, we'll most likely run in the Jingle Bell 5k - Benefiting the Arthritis Foundation. My husband said he would run in that one with me if we do run. There's also rain in the forecast for tomorrow, which, ironically, wreaks havoc on people with arthritis, including me. We'll see how it all goes.

Yes, it's raining. Not only am I spoiled by the normally wonderful Southern California weather, but so are my animals...

Two of my cats and the dog are pictured here, in the near vicinity of a portable floor heater. The cat on the floor - under the chair, Luna, has declared war on the dog, Logan, and major hissing and claws are usually involved. This is a very rare moment, that Logan and Luna are cohabiting peacefully for the sake of warmth.



At the upper left hand corner is my big tabby cat, Lumpy, AKA Artimes. He's hard to see in the first photo, but he really is there, hiding... See?



Finally, it's the last day of NaBloPoMo. I've officially posted every day this month. I did notice that I did mess up one day, and that was yesterday's post. I really did post it yesterday but it had the wrong date. I did the celebrity look-alike thing the day before, and kept it saved as a draft so I could add it to my post on the actual day of posting. I noticed the wrong date this morning and changed it to when I actually did write and publish the post.

Peace

Celebrity Skin

Yesterday's workout was lower body, sans weights - squats, lunges, side leg raises, donkey kicks, abs.

No workout today, but that doesn't mean I'll be sedentary. I'm dragging out the Christmas decor, which is behind several heavy boxes that my husband put in the way.

There's just one more day to call into jury duty.

I'm still debating on participating in a run this weekend. There are a couple to choose from. The one that I really wanted to do was originally scheduled for 12/8, but it is now rescheduled for THIS Saturday, 12/1. If I don't run this weekend, there are runs right before New Years, and that will fulfill my December run event goal.

It seems like everything comes back again, and this face recognition template is going around, again... Last time it went around I didn't have a blog.

The one on the far right is Holly Hunter. My blog template cut part of the graphic off. The funny thing about this is that I don't think I really look like any of these women. It's just the photo probably looks more similar to the photos of the women that came up.

Peace

Cold

This is an e-mail I received from a close friend of mine. I thought it was worth sharing. It's basically a page from his diary, which is why it starts off like a typical day after Thanksgiving. He gave me the OK to publish this entry. All of the names have been changed.

11/23/07
"This is how my day went. I woke up at 3:00AM in order to get to the door buster Black Friday sales starting at 4:00AM. I figured nobody would be that crazy and I would be first. Last year I went to the stores at 1PM after lunch and everything was gone. Good thing I asked them when the doorbusters were gone, and they said within an hour of opening the doors. Traffic was fairly heavy at 4 in the morning. I visited Kohls at 4, Circuit City at 5, Walmart at 8, LOW/Target at 9, and then finished up at the mall. Kohls was very busy, but it wasn't difficult finding a parking spot. Circuit City was jammed packed. It took me 10 minutes to park, an hour to find stuff I wanted, and 1.5 hrs in the checkout line to pay. LOW was not busy at all so I think I made the right decision to take the tax loss of the shares. The mall was insane, but good thing I didn't go to Wrentham Outlets, which opened at midnight, as there were reports of fights over people trying to find a parking spot.

On my way home, I stopped in WFMI in search of the $100 turkey. I didn't want one, I just wanted to see if I could find one. Sure enough, the high end turkeys at the regular stores, Plainville, was the low end at WFMI. There were about three to four brands above that. The WFMI brand turkey that came in a bag filled with brine solution was $80. And the mother of all turkeys, a 24 pound bird at $4.29/pound, brand Heidi's Hens, came to a whopper price tag of $102.96. This compares with my price tag of $4.90 for the turkey I roasted for the Colts/Patriots game. And that was expensive because I bought just the turkey at $0.49/pound which would have been $0.39/pound had I bought $25 of additional items.

I got home from shopping at 1PM and rested a half hour before heading out to do my good Thanksgiving deed. I helped a victim of the subprime collapse. First, some background information. Readers Digest condensed version. Fifteen years ago a woman named Sara married some guy named Joel. They bought a house and had two daughters. Money was always tight. Sara stayed at home to raise the two daughters and hubby was in the flea market business. Pressures mounted and they got divorced. She got the house, full custody and all the flea market crap which was stored in the house. After a couple of years, Sara meets someone new and dates him until he ends up in jail. What did he do to end up in jail? Nothing. Sara's bad daughter, as opposed to the good daughter, accused him of sexually assaulting her. He gets convicted of that which he did not do, so he is out of the picture. The subprime market collapses and Sara can neither refinance nor make the mortgage payments. The bank forecloses on her and orders her out of the house on Halloween. Here's where it gets pretty bad. Sara and good daughter Mellissa had nowhere to go so they stayed in the house in spite of the eviction notice. Nobody talked much about where the bad daughter was, but rumor has it that she is getting treatment somewhere. The oil tank goes unfilled because the oil company won't fill the tank of a foreclosed house. The electric company shuts off the electricity because nobody is supposed to be living there. After a few nights of freezing cold temperatures and no light, Sara leaves to stay with a friend. Meanwhile, the locks are changed and Sara cannot visit the house to feed the two cats and two dogs. The friend's apartment does not permit animals so Sara figured she would just visit the house once a day. Mellissa is upset because she is worried for her pets. She visits the house at night and manages to toss food in through a crack of an open kitchen window. This has been going on for three weeks.

My coworker and friend Tom, whose daughter is a friend of Melissa's, asks me to help move Sara's stuff out of the house. I am told 8 people have volunteered to help. On Saturday, 11/24, everything that is left in the house will be hauled away. I get there and the house looks beautiful from the outside. However, as soon as the front door was opened for us, the stench reminded me of a public urinal that had not been cleaned for ten years. Two would be helpers called to cancel. Another two showed up at the site and then chose not to help once they saw the inside of the house. Imagine three weeks of dogs and cats shitting and urinating all over the place, and junk piled everywhere just like in the Oprah show segment on the junk collection couple. I could have gone home at that instant when I saw it, but I decided to stay and help. It was cold outside. In was cold inside. There were no lights once the sun went down. All I had was my key chain LED light. I knew I'd have to throw away everything I was wearing once done, including my shoes.

We emptied as much as we could before midnight arrived and we all were tired and hungry. Two members were injured so the real move team was just two, my coworker and me. One of the injuries was a sprained arm so that guy was out of the picture. He fell down the stairs while carrying something heavy. It is hard to navigate stairs in total darkness, except for the light from the full moon, and the carpet was so ripped up that you could trip at any time. My coworker took him to the hospital. Sara went to see if she could get some flashlights or kerosene lamps. So now it is me and Mellissa moving more furniture and boxes from the house to the front lawn to be loaded into the truck when Sara returned with light. Mellissa loses her balance while carrying this six foot tall wooden scare crow and falls, breaking a large mirror and getting glass stuck in her ass. It is so bad that she was bleeding through her jeans. She is in agony and asks me to help and all I can think of is her sister falsely accusing a guy who is now in jail. But it is clear that she needs help so I use my little light to find towels, rubbing alcohol, etc. I had to go into lawyer mode for a minute and asked her to confirm that she requested help, that this does not constitute harassment and that we would tell her mother exactly what happened as soon as she returned. She agreed. There was no light in the house so I turned on my car and in the beam of my xenon headlights, I administered first aid to this young woman's ass. I may not be a doctor, but I did okay, and I'm sure this was easier than if I had been called upon to deliver a baby.

After we finished up, we all went back to my coworker's house for a nice turkey leftover dinner with all the fixin's. Sara said the bank's trash hauling company will be emptying the house starting at 10:00AM, so as a big thank you, we could have anything we wanted. Since I'd say we only removed about 20% of the stuff in the house, there was a lot left. She left behind some decent stuff, a TV, two computers, a piano. Of course, there was no way we could have moved the piano. But most of the stuff was flea market stuff she got from her hubby in the divorce. I told her she could have a huge yard sale, but she thought that was just too much both physically and emotionally.

This experience reaffirms my longstanding belief that if you have a bad day there's always someone who is having a worse day. Capitalism works at the top but the consequences are the ones who get stuck on the bottom. Sometimes there are no safety nets and you can become homeless in a second. The government does little to help the bottom and the middle's standard of living just keeps getting worse. I asked Sara about the bank who is sticking it to her without any regard for the human side of business, if there is such a thing. She told me the name of the mortgage company. I checked them out on the web and they just happen to be one of the largest residential mortgage companies in the country. Never judge a website by its homepage. I saw the reality of what they will do if a customer is unable to pay the mortgage. And finally, if I had been the market to buy foreclosed homes because the price was just too compelling, and I bought this house, the moment I stepped inside I would have vomited, dropped to my knees and screamed."

I'll be back to MY regular posts tomorrow. Have a wonderful Wednesday.


Peace

Feelin' At Home

Cardio workout at home - Billy Blanks - Cardio Bootcamp DVD- 30 minutes. Whew!

Last week my husband purchased a few very large sweet potatoes, but I didn't want to make the typical sweet potatoes and marshmallows. Meghan over at Pinkdumbbells.com posted a link to this recipe for sweet potato minestrone. Today was the day I put a couple of those large sweet potatoes to good use. I like this recipe because you don't need to be exact with the measurements. It says to use large sweet potatoes, but I've seen sweet potatoes as big as footballs... I guess it's all relative to what you have on hand. The flavors are a little different than we're used to for regular minestrone, but it really is yummy, it's vegetarian, and makes for a wonderful cold weather soup to warm the soul.

Here's a photo of my little bowl of soup right before digging in:


I still have to work on my food photography technique, like cleaning up around the rim of the bowl and pairing it up with some crusty, whole grain bread. I was hungry and I didn't want to spend the time prepping soup for a picture. After all, it is soup, not one of my kids! It is one colorful and tasty bowl of soup, so maybe it didn't need further embellishments.

Sweet Potato Minestrone From Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 2 large stalks celery, chopped
* 2 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 (28 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes
* 5 cups vegetable broth
* 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
* 2 large carrots, sliced thin
* 6 ounces green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
* 5 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:

Heat oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Saute onion, celery, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, with the juice, broth, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans and garlic. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.


Peace

Gold Medal

Today, while looking for some different exercise ideas on Runnersworld.com, I had stumbled upon a site that I hadn't seen before, "Medals 4 Mettle."

"Medals4Mettle (M4M) is a non-profit organization founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2005. Its mission is to celebrate and reward the individual and collective courage of all human beings by facilitating the gifting of marathon finisher’s medals from marathoners to people who have demonstrated similar mettle, or courage. The recipients can be any age and might have exhibited such mettle by dealing with disease, handicaps or any similar challenge. Marathon runners around the world, and others who have won medals, give their medals to Medals4Mettle. Then our nationwide network of physicians and others award these medals to those who might not be able to run a marathon, but are in their own marathon to continue to live their life. As marathoners run through the streets, large crowds cheer the runners for their effort. Medals4Mettle lets these runners, healthy enough to compete in such an event, to return the cheers to those who have supported them."

A common topic amongst runners (in addition to running goals, personal records, injuries, and training schedules) is "what do you do with your finisher's medals?" Some people have suggested making wind chimes or Christmas ornaments. Some people frame the medals that have significant meaning to them, such as their first medal, the medal from the race where they blew past their last PR, their Boston Marathon medal, etc. After running in several long distance events, a person does end up with quite the collection of medals. I also have my medal collection, and I have plans to participate in more half marathons and marathons, but at some point it may be too cumbersome to hang on to all of those medals. I really don't have THAT many (10). They all hang on a hook along side a mirror in my bedroom. I do like the way they clink and clang against each other when they are moved, which serves as a reminder that I actually did all of those runs. Perhaps it is the sentimental part of me that doesn't want to part with my finisher's medals just yet, but when I do, Medals 4 Mettle will definitely be the recipient. They will take off the original ribbon and put their own Medals4 Mettle ribbons on before handing them out to people who are in "their own marathon to life life."

By the way, they also take event T-shirts.

Peace

One For My Baby (And One For The Road)

Over this Thanksgiving weekend I:

• saw my sister and her family, all at the same time.
• ran in a 5k
• watched what I ate at the big Thanksgiving meal.
• didn't watch too closely what I ate the days after.
• spent time with my husband's side of the family.
• watched a few cheesy Christmas movies with my husband.
• stayed away from the malls.
• had family and friends over at my house.
• nursed my cold.

Now I need to take a look at my running and workout plan, or remake one. I have already exceeded my goal of 12 run events for the year. I'm up to 13 run events, but I would still like to fit in just one more to top off the month of December. There is one event on December 8, but I haven't signed up for that one yet because I need to make sure we can fit it in. It's purely a logistics issue. If we don't do that one, there are a few right before the end of the year.

Have a wonderful post Thanksgiving week!


Peace

Genius Of Love

I just don't know about this one...

Peace

Friends

My brother in law Jaime and my grandson Evan -- best buddies forever.



Peace

Red House

The "Run For The Hungry" 5k is complete. It wasn't pretty, but I finished with a respectable time of 27:29 - my time posted at the event. Even though the event coordinators asked walkers, people with dogs and people with strollers to start at the back, a lot of them didn't listen, so we started the run slow. Once we got going, it was easy to weave around walkers and dogs, and it never bottle-necked, so there was plenty of room to pass. Most of the stroller folks were speedy. It was kind of hard to breathe, still having a cold and dealing with chest crud. I did what I could and feel good about the run. This event was not chipped.

Edit

270

IRENE M

48

244

9/99

F

San Diego

27:29

8:51

Pre-race with the crowd

Look! I'm finally wearing Dori's "FIND YOUR HAPPY PACE" shirt! The color actually worked well with my running skirt.

Michael and I

A band at the race playing "Red House." The girl on guitar, about 10 years old, was awesome.

HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

PEACE

I Love A Parade

The Claritin D kicked in and seems to have helped with the head portion of my cold. I also had a scheduled visit to the Chiropractor this morning. A few adjustments helped tremendously, and my head and chest no longer feel tight. I do feel better, but the energy is still on the rebound.

I picked up our race numbers and t-shirts yesterday. It looks like this run will be a busy one. There were many who pre-registered and many who were just signing up. Thanksgiving 5ks or Turkey Trots are popular, but I've never run in one before. I think I initially like the idea of sleeping in and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV with the kids, preparing what ever it is I was to assigned bring to the feast (usually homemade pies and potato rolls), and thinking that I was glad I didn't sign up for a run because there was so much to do. This year signing up for a Turkey Trot/Thanksgiving Day run was part of the PDB Mega Challenge, which is the only reason I had signed up. My kids are now adults and the only kid at home, my 4 year old grandson, doesn't care too much to watch the parade. Someone else is making pies and rolls this year, so I'm bringing a bean dish and a carrot dish, which I'm prepping tonight. All I have to do is add the herbs and steam the veggies right before we leave for my in law's house, so there really isn't much labor intensive cooking involved.... Perhaps this Thanksgiving day 5k will become a new tradition? Time will tell.

Peace

Funky Stuff

I'm still battling this pesky cold. The tough part is having so much to do and I just don't feel up to it. I *had* to go out to Costco this morning. I thought I'd go right at opening but it was already busy five minutes into it. It wasn't too bad, though, not like it will be tomorrow. I came away with just a few essentials, plus Christmas cards, Led Zeppelin's "Mothership" CD, and a stop at the pharmacy to put my name on the national registry because I bought a box of Claritin D for my cold and allergies. I understand why I have to sign the registry, but it still makes me feel strange, as if I'm a criminal. I sure hope the Claritin kicks in soon.

I also have that 5k at Petco Park on Thanksgiving Day. I was hoping to shake things up and attempt something faster than a 8:35ish minute mile (which is what I'm averaging for my 5k's right now), but this cold just isn't letting up. I'm still participating, I'm just not punching it.

Enjoy your Tuesday.



Peace

Fill Me In

I've been 100% at NaBloPoMo so far. I've discovered that, although I don't mind posting every day, I'd prefer not to post every day. Some days, in my mind, it's just filler. Maybe the reality is that every day is filler, but I mostly use my blog for keeping track of my running/working out progress or lack there of... The great thing about having a blog is all of the wonderful people I've met. I highly doubt I would have *met* everyone on my own, with out the blog.


Peace

Pancakes

Activity: Run
Date: 11/18/07 11:09 AM
Distance: 3.11 miles
Time: 0:31:56
Speed: 5.8 mph
Pace: 10' 16 min/mile
Calories: 294


Even though my head was feeling detached from my body, I went out for an easy run in the neighborhood. I did some mindless carb loading yesterday (bread) and this morning (pancakes), so I needed to burn some of that off, before it turned me into a slug. It sure beat sitting at home watching the Chargers get pummeled. I could hear the groans through-out the neighborhood as I ran.

We're all passing around the same cold, again. This time it has manifested itself in my head, making it feel like I'm underwater. It's not bad, just annoying.

I've received an e-mail from Runningskirts.com for a little competition for their members. All I have to do is wear one of their skirts in a TG day run or turkey trot, and send them a picture (from that event wearing the skirt) with my official finish time. Granted, there are plenty of super speedy women who wear their skirts, and I see them at every event. My chances of winning anything are slim, but what the heck. I suppose I can put off wearing my prize for reaching my goal weight a couple more weeks, until the next 5k.

Have a great week.

Peace

Pancakes picture from Photobucket.com

Food For Thought

I usually don't post stuff like this, but this time I felt it was worth the effort:



Happy Saturday!

Peace

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

Last Sunday, the same day of the Silver Strand Half Marathon, my brother participated in the Big Sur Half Marathon. (That's my bro, pictured to the left at another run event.) He wanted me to join him at this event but it just wasn't in the budget to make another flight up there. Since he usually runs at a fast pace for his age category, they gave him a seeded number. He was surprised at this, but at the same time almost embarrassed. He hasn't put the effort into training, plus he was running with a sore calf. His goal is to at least place in the top 500 over all at any big run event. Here's his results:

Bib: 164
Name: Karl S
Gender: M
Age: 52
Hometown: Fremont CA
Place Overall: 541 out of 3596
Men: 430 out of 1564
M 50-54: 29 out of 175
Age Grade: 62.39% Place: 483
FINISH: 1:46:26 pace: 8:08
Turn: 1:00:50 pace: 7:51
Chip Time: 1:46:26
Gun Time: 1:46:36

I guess it's all relative, but he normally can run well under a 7:45 minute mile for a half marathon. This was a slow day for him. I'd give anything to have one of his slow days! He doesn't train as much as he should. His wife gets irritated with him for doing these long runs and not training properly. She kept telling him that he would get hurt. Well... It finally happened. My brother, the go machine who has never had a major running injury ever, the guy who has been running since he started high school a zillion years ago, has an injury. He blew out his calf trying to sprint to the end. He said he just about collapsed right at the finish line, but managed to stay vertical, hobbled around to collect his medal and post race nutrition, and went to find his brother-in-laws who also participated in the event.

After our respective races, he called me to chat about our runs and the experience of getting injured. Before we ended the conversation, he casually mentioned something about sitting in the hotel Jazuzzi for some relief. I responded with "Say what???" Then he repeated wanting to get into a hot Jacuzzi. I was kind of shocked that he didn't know to ice the injury to prevent swelling and further injury. Yikes. His response to that was "I've never been injured running before... I dunno." Then I reminded him of the book that HE REFERRED ME TO, "Marathon Training For Dummies," a book he actually owns, that has a whole big section on injuries... He said he never thought to read that chapter. *sigh*

I need to give him a call to find out how he's doing. I'm sure he's received a big dose of "I told you so" from his wife.

Peace

On The Runway

Bowflex UBW - Focused on lat tower exercises. Also fit in cable rows and bicep curls, and a set of reverse flys with dumbbells. I went as heavy as I could stand, which wasn't very heavy. Maaaan, do I feel wimpy...

I've finally signed up with the San Diego Track Club! I actually signed up through their Rockin' 'n' Runnin' Marathon Training Program. Not only does it include membership and training, it includes discounts to local stores and two race entries, amongst other things. My husband doesn't know it, but I've also signed him up, as well. He keeps saying that it doesn't matter that he's slow, but he's just as concerned about finishing time, even though he doesn't tell me. After just about 25 years of marriage, a person sort of *knows* these things.

After doing a little math, I discovered that I beat my previous HM time by 00:6:05 minutes. (Yeah, it takes me a while...)

The season premier of Bravo's Project Runway was finally on last night. It airs here at 10:00 PM. I'm normally go to bed around 11:00 pm, maybe midnight. I fell asleep during the show, darn it! I did see the start, and recall part of the middle, but I woke up in time to see who won, but fell asleep before I found out who was "aufed." I've heard that Simone was eliminated. I'm sure I'll be able to catch the show again, as Bravo will rebroadcasts their shows a zillion times.



PEACE

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Guess where I went today? Yep. Federal Court for jury duty. I sat around and waited for a long time and was glad I brought a book. I did go through the juror selection process, which took a few hours. I was not selected. Hooray! (Oops, I mean, darn!) I have to call back later today for further, prerecorded instructions. I'm on call the whole month of November. Yesterday I had planned out my workout for this morning, but I received the prerecorded info that I had to be at the court before 7:30 AM. The workout never happened. I did fit in about a half hour of walking around downtown at my lunch break, so I suppose that counts for something.

Happy Wednesday.


Peace

Beat Of Progress

Per the PDB Mega Challenge, we were to evaluate ourselves and grade our own progress or where we're at in this challenge. I had to go back and reread what I had originally posted in the sign up. I had more than one thing to work on.

The biggest issue I had was motivation. I was going through the motions but not mentally, spiritually, emotionally there. I also felt tired, sort of like I could care less, weak. I had run events that I was signed up for during the summer, and I did them, but I didn't find the satisfaction that I normally do. Workouts were the same, no spark, but I didn't quit. I even went to the doctor and had tests but that was inconclusive. He didn't seem to think it was depressions. I kind of think I hit a wall that lasted 3 months long.

That lull I felt all summer has diminished, and it's showing in my progress and performance. One of my goals was to improve my 5K time, which is slowly getting better, but in turn I have smashed my half marathon time by almost 6 minutes, which happened this past Sunday.
Grade A

My weight loss is also progressing. This morning I weighed 123, which was a surprise, because of all that pre and post half marathon carb loading. I'm not planning on owning that number until it stays there for a while. If that number sticks, that puts me at my goal for the last challenge, and I get to claim my prize of the new running garb I purchased months ago, that's still in the bag. It also puts me with in 2 pounds of my goal for THIS challenge. An added bonus is that I was able to fit into my Nike running skirt and wore it at the HM this weekend. (The skirt wasn't fitting at all this summer. It used to highlight a bad case of muffin top and muffin thighs, which are now gone.)

Grade B+ ~ 2 pounds to go.

Another item on my list was to join a running group. I'm going with the SDTC. I found the info for 2008 and sign-ups are soon, especially for the SDRNR Marathon 2008 training. I'm also signing up my husband. Even though he says he's just running in events to do something with me, I know he would like to be a little faster. He just needs to train.
Grade B (I found the info, I just need to wait for sign ups, so I don't get an A yet.)

My next hurdle to get over is the 8 day cruise we have planned next month. I'm going to try hard to eat and drink as clean as possible. It's so easy to go off track on a cruise, and it's no excuse for slacking. The key is to be as active as possible and stick with the healthier selections on the menu. I know, it's all easier said than done, but I can do it.

Back to working out with weights tomorrow.

Peace

Running On Sunshine

The Silver Strand Half Marathon is now History. Rain was in the forecast but the weather was perfect for running - mid 50s at the start, the air was crisp with a light breeze, and partially cloudy. It never rained. The course was mostly flat, starting at the entry to the military base at the far northwest end of Coronado Beach at Sunset Park, just adjacent to dog beach. Most of the people I knew who said they were participating backed out due to injury or scheduling problems, but we did recognize a few people. One of my husband's employees and his friend were there, we spotted one of the Runningskirts.com twins, and we saw a bunch of people who we sort of knew from the San Diego Track Club.

This particular HM was unique because it highlights athletes with disabilities. There were several amputees participating. There was also a relay competition, a skater's division, and a "bike" division. Prior to the start of the race we were informed that there would be a film crew there, filming the HM in Imax for some sort of documentary on a well known athlete's life... I can't remember who the athlete is.

The majority of the route went along SR 75/Silver Strand State Beach with one incline that was an overpass. The race finished near the Pier in Imperial Beach.

At about mile 4 I found myself running along side a man who I finished the Balboa Park 8 mile run with. He remembered me. We ran the rest of that mile together, then we wished each other well, and he went ahead. I never saw him after that.

My time was 2:13:11 - about a 10:09 m/m pace, a PR! I knew I was doing well when I passed the 6 mile marker and my time was under an hour. When I passed through the finish line the clock was 2:14 and change, so I knew my actual time would be better! I knocked off just about 6 minutes from my last PR at the San Jose Inaugural Half Marathon in October 2006, of 2:19, which was also a flat course. My mile splits were the best I've ever had for a half marathon distance.

While waiting in line to dine on bananas,oranges, fruit juice, bagels,water, etc, I saw a woman with a SDTC t-shirt on and asked her if she was in the San Diego Track Club. She said she was and I went on to tell her that I plan on joining them. We introduced ourselves, and Alexis and I chatted about SDTC events. As we chatted I found out that she runs with Anne/Run-DMZ. (Anne, if you're reading this, you are famous for your post run baked goodies.) I also met several others who belong to the SDTC, who were exuberant about running and about the club. Now I really have to join.

My husband finished the race with a decent time, considering that he didn't train. He came in at around 2:50. We're still waiting for the results to be posted on the internet site. I found my results posted at the event, but my husband's weren't posted at that time. A very cool thing that I was able to do was watch my husband finish his race and be the one to place his finisher's medal around his neck.

We brought a camera and took several pictures, but SOMEONE left the USB cable at work, and for some unknown reason, the media card won't fit into the appropriate slot on the computer. I'll post those pictures another day, when the USB cable is present. The picture above is from my cell phone, at the IB Pier, right after the race. My husband is in the very center of the photo, white shorts and white shirt.

After feeling blah about my runs all Summer, it's a wonderful feeling to be back in the swing of things, and feel revived and good about my running. A PR highlights how much better I feel. It's about time!

Peace

Time After Time

The Silver Strand Half Marathon is done!

I FINALLY PR'ED!

2:13:11

I knocked off just about 6 minutes off my last PR of 2:19. It did help that the course was mostly flat. I haven't found the results on line yet, but my time was from the results posted at the event.

I'll fill in the details in a day or so. I'm beat!

Peace

Dreaming

No running or workout today. Today is a carb-load day and we still need to pick up our race numbers. The weather forecast for tomorrow implies rain, but meteorologists have been predicting rain since mid week. I've never run in an event with rain before. We'll see how it goes.

Recently, I've been having dreams about being at work. Perhaps there's a little part of me that feels guilty for not being at work all of the time, and just maybe that's why I'm dreaming about work. I dunno. I suppose this could be analyzed until the cows come home, as I'm sure there's more than one way to look dreams, depending on what theories you subscribe to. One dream was about a coworker announcing that she's pregnant. Another dream was that I showed up to work, only to find all new techs who didn't know how the office worked, and all the seasoned techs were on vacation. Where is my warm, sandy beach dream?

Peace

Baby, It's Cold Outside

No workout or running today.

Something I haven't thought about in a long time is snow skiing. I used to really enjoy it, and the last time I went, probably a good 8 years ago, was on a ski trip with my son's Boy Scout troop. It was near Lake Arrowhead. VH1 had some show being taped and Jennifer Lopez was there. I didn't see her but my husband did, and that made his day. The scouts had a good day and earned their skiing badge. I had a good day of skiing and came home exhausted because I wanted to fit in as many ski-runs as possible. Now that I'm a little bit older, I experience pains I never knew I had until it gets cold out. I love the beauty of the mountains, and I really did love the exhilaration of whooshing and swooshing down the snow-packed mountains, then ending the day with a nice hot buttered rum and snuggling with my husband at the ski lodge. Now, even the thought of getting cold hurts. I would much rather save the money and take a tropical vacation. Perhaps I'll go snow skiing again, at some point, but not right now. I think I just need to work myself up to it again.

Peace


Photo from Travelplan.com

What I Like About You

1 hour of yoga. No method. I did my own thing.

Guess what??? Just when you thought it was safe to casually read blogs, here's a meme!!!!!!!! If you're participating in Nablopomo, it gives you something to write about in your blog. Talk about convenient!

Here are the Rules:
• Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
• Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
• Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
• Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here is my tagger:
JULS
It's all her fault so, if you find yourself tagged (at the end of this post), direct your dirty comments to her. (Sorry, Juls! I stole that blurb from you!)

Here are five random facts about me:

1. I'm part Russian, German, Austrian, Polish, Spanish and French, and I grew up with a mixture of Mexican and Russian customs, traditions, and foods. It's a long story.

2. I'm a Gemini. I was born in the year of the Boar, June 9. I share the same birthday as Donald Duck, Michael J. Fox and Johnny Depp.

3. I can curl my tounge.

4. When I was about 3 years old, my mom made me a Tinkerbell costume for Halloween and I won a prize (all of $2.00, which was probably huge back then) and my name in the local news paper. Keep in mind that this was well before you could just go to Target and buy a really cool, all inclusive costume. It was early 1960-something and Mom was very crafty.

5. I dislike licorice.

AND...

Here are the names of the five lucky bloggers whom are now officially "tagged" (and because I know you all really want to do another one of these memes!):
Barbie2be
Not Soccer Mom
Pat - Note To Self
Leslie - Be A Good One
Evelyne - Mentally Ready

Rest Stop

No workout/run today. A rest day...

A couple of weeks ago I came a cross a recipe for soup that intrigued me. It was actually from a segment on the local mid-day newscast. I've never really made a recipe from a tv show or news segment before because most TV recipes usually have some form of cheese or dairy, which I need to be careful with due to allergic reactions. This recipe is for roasted garlic and squash soup. Squash is one of those vegetables that's iffy in my house, it's either hit or miss, but this soup was a definite home run with everyone. They even came back for seconds.


ROASTED GARLIC & SQUASH SOUP
(From KGTV San Diego - Chef Larry)

1 garlic bulb
2 tsp.olive oil
Salt
Fresh ground black pepper

For the soup:
1 tsp. olive oil
1/2 cup leeks, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrots, diced
2 cups Butternut, Acorn or Kabocha squash, peeled, diced
1 bay leaf
1/3 tsp. thyme leaves
4 cups chicken stock
salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)
Chives, minced


Roast the Garlic:
Method: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare roasted garlic by slicing off tapered end of the garlic bulb. Season open end of garlic bulb with olive oil, salt and pepper. Wrap seasoned garlic bulb in aluminum foil. Roast garlic in oven for one hour. Remove and cool. Remove roasted garlic from skin and reserve.

For the Soup:
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or pot. Add leeks, celery, carrots, squash and thyme, cook over medium heat.

Allow vegetables to cook until tender and well "caramelized". Add roasted garlic and chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Carefully puree mixture with a hand mixer or blender. Adjust seasoning and finish with cream if desired. Place soup in a tureen for service or portion into individual soup bowls and garnish with minced chives. Makes six to eight servings.


My take on this soup:
The roasted garlic comes out soft and buttery. Be prepared to get a little messy when taking it apart. I personally don't measure on recipes like this, so it's easy to fudge a little on the measurements if you don't have enough of one thing or too much of another. I had more than the recipe indicated and used it, so I basically doubled it. I used butternut squash. When Chef Larry made this on TV, he added about a half cup of pumpkin(pureed/mashed/smooshed/canned - whatever) which is not listed on the recipe. I added the pumpkin since I had it.

There wasn't a listing of the calories, carbs/protein/fat ratios, but it's low in fat and calorie kind if you leave out the cream.

Enjoy your Wednesday.

Peace

Deck The Halls

Deck the halls with avocados!
Fa la la la la,
la la la la!

Yeah, it's a little bit too early for holiday songs, unless you're advertising on TV.

Yesterday, while spending a little time outside with the dog, she retrieved some avocados that had fallen off the tree(s) and brought them to me ~ well, sort of. She dropped them several feet from where I was standing. This was a first for her, bringing me avocados, but I really shouldn't be too surprised. She is part lab retriever. It sure beats the pinecones she used to bring in from the neighbor's tree at our prior neighborhood, which left a dusty, prickly mess on the floor. The avocados aren't even close to being picked off the trees yet, so they're a bit like rocks. The avocados still need about another month or so on the trees before they're ready to harvest. I'm not sure if the dog actually likes avocados as far as food goes. I'm more inclined to think she's just playing around, as if they were one of her tennis balls.

Today
Activity: Run
Date: 11/06/07 09:18 AM
Distance: 3.18 miles
Time: 0:31:20
Speed: 6.1 mph
Pace: 9' 51 min/mile
Calories: 302

Today's run was my first run in 6 days. If I had planned it out better, such as taking my water belt, I could have put in more miles. I wasn't sure what to expect since I'm still dealing with a cold. The first mile was hard, but once I got warmed up and found my "groove," it wasn't so bad, and I was thinking I could do more than just 3, but I was needing water. I ran up and down some hills, but not anything treacherous.

Peace

People Have The Power

Upper Body Workout - Circuits: Bean push-ups, bench dips, bicep curls, upright rows, ab crunches. 6 sets.

I'm still trying to get past this cold. I had to rest between sets, just so I could get some breathing and coughing in... The up side is that I do have some energy back.

I wasn't called into jury duty today *shock* but I still need to call in every day the rest of this week. I guess it's better than going down there and waiting around all day, but it makes it hard to plan out the week.

Did anyone happen to catch Nova's Marathon Challenge? I watched it just because a friend thought I might find it interesting. Yes, it was interesting, and I think this program would be excellent for someone contemplating running a marathon for the first time. Only one of the members lost weight, but she was also participating in a boot camp workout program in addition to marathon training. All but one of the participants completed the challenge. The one who couldn't run had stress fractures, but was there cheering for everyone on marathon day, at the Boston Marathon. I had always thought a runner needed a qualifying time to run the Boston Marathon, but I guess, since this was a Nova experiment, they had special permission to participate.

Peace

Even Marathon Runners Need to Nap

Day 4 of NaBloPoMo.


Nope. No running today. What will I do instead? There is a Chargers VS the Vikings football game that I might view, plus the highly anticipated Patriots-Colts game, look for some sort of broadcast about the NYC Marathon, and watch a rebroadcast of Nova about marathon training. Since I can't do a sport or activity today, I guess I'll watch other people on TV be active. Sheesh. It's bugging me that I'm not running today, but I still feel crummy. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I have to call in to jury duty tonight to see if I need to go in. It is highly unlikely that they'll tell me I don't have to go in.

Have a great Sunday. I hope yours is more exiting than mine.

Peace

Feels Like Today

No run today.

I can't believe it...

I'm slammed with yet another cold. Everything aches, my head hurts and I'm tired. I don't think this is allergies since my husband said I was warm this morning. This is exactly how I felt the day I ran my last SDRNR marathon in June this year. The run can wait a day or two.

At the Nike Women's Half Marathon/Marathon, we received a rather decent goody bag, with things I'd actually use. One of my favorite items was this:

I love the back side, too!


The single most motivational item for running this half marathon or marathon was this finisher's necklace:

Front

Back



I'm positive this little piece of jewelry is going to be worn out. It's something I can wear in real life. It would look a little funny if I wore my other finisher's medals all the time.

You know when a run event is a good one when everyone keeps talking about it weeks after it's over -- and I'm not the only one.

Peace

Face Down

Here's another Halloween pic of a couple of the "big kids." My daughter went as a D.E.A. agent and her boyfriend went as Tony Montoya - Scar Face, in front of a neighbor's house. She had the big aviator sunglasses and the letters "D.E.A" on the back of her shirt. Everyone kept asking my daughter about hand-cuffs.

In the world of running, well, at least my little corner of the world, I'm planning a longish run for tomorrow. I haven't decided on a distance yet, only because I just did a half marathon about 2 weeks ago. It's somewhat of a maintainace run to keep everything moving, and to prep for my next half marathon in just one week.

TGIF!

PEACE

Night Rally

Halloween Night 2007 is now a memory. This is the first Halloween we've had in this house, this neighborhood. Even though the time change didn't happen this week, most trick-or-treating didn't start until it was dark out. It was nice to receive a steady stream of trick-or-treaters, instead of a few here and there, for a total of 10. I lost count this year, and this is the first year we went through an entire large bag of candy quickly, before opening 4 others. This year we enjoyed a lot of super-hero costumes. There was one large group of kids, under age 10, wearing Spiderman costumes, and that included a baby. There weren't too many blood and guts costumes this year, but more traditional costumes like pirates, fairy princesses, superheros, and what ever weird get-up and make-up someone could come up with at the last minute.

I'm attempting to be a part of NaBloPoMo All I have to do it post something in my blog, every day, for the month of November. Sounds easy enough, but we'll see how it goes.

It's time for the list of the October winners for:

"NAME THAT ARTIST /BAND/COMPOSER/MUSICIAN/ETC." For those of you who haven't played yet, it's pretty simple. I title my blog posts with song titles. Be the first to correctly guess who recorded/performed the song, post your answer under "comments," and if you are correct, the glory, and a little notoriety, is yours.

10/31/07 This Is Halloween - From the Movie "Nightmare Before Christmas" - Barbie2be

10/30/07 Follow You, Follow Me - Phil Collins/Genisis - Work(s) In Progress

10/27/07 Stardust - Nat King Cole - Barbie2be

10/23/07 Patience - Guns N Roses - Barbe2be

10/22/07 Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves - Aretha Franklin - Barbie2be

10/19/07 Geek In The Pink - Jason Mraz - Barbie2be

10/17/07 I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet) White Stripes - Smartypantz32

10/16/07 Kitty - Presidents of the USA - Barbie2be

10/15/07 Nothing At All - Santana - Barbie2be

10/12/07 Good Day - Jewel - Smartypantz32

10/11/07 Hard To Say I'm Sorry - Chicago - Katiefeldmom

10/09/07 Orange Crush - REM - Smartypantz32

10/05/07 Windy - The Association - Run-DMZ

10/04/07 Cook With Fire - Heart - Smartypantz32

10/03/07 The Secret Life Of Plants - Stevie Wonder - Smartypantz32

10/02/07 Borrowed Tune - Neil Young

PEACE