I missed Wordless Wednesday yesterday. Instead, here's a video by my nephew who is currently seeking employment:
Monday's Song:
Hello, It's Me - Todd Rundgren - Miss Rachel
PEACE
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Chloe
OK.
I missed Wordless Wednesday yesterday. Instead, here's a video by my nephew who is currently seeking employment:
Monday's Song:
Hello, It's Me - Todd Rundgren - Miss Rachel
I missed Wordless Wednesday yesterday. Instead, here's a video by my nephew who is currently seeking employment:
Monday's Song:
Hello, It's Me - Todd Rundgren - Miss Rachel
Monday, July 26, 2010
Hello It's Me
"...I've thought about us for a long, long time."
Randomenss (Again, just so I can catch up.)
Bryan at RU set me up with an actual training schedule. He had attempted this last year, but did not follow through very well. This time he's on it, or all over it, and I'm super happy about this. I've been adhering to the schedule as best as possible. The running and strength trainings are going well. The two things that are tripping me up a bit are the swimming and biking. I'm having a few issues with my gym and their craptastic stationary bikes in the cardio area. All the good bikes are in the spin class area, which we aren't allowed to use unless were in a spin class. There are only a few spin classes at times I can't attend. The pool is less complicated only if I can get past the stinging eyes at the gym pool and the cut back hours of the public pool. I'll figure this out. I'm also considering looking at other gyms if I can negotiate the same cheap rate I pay now, which is the only reason I've been staying with my gym.
A couple of weekends ago, Hubs and I attended a wedding at the Children's Museum in Downtown San Diego. At first I couldn't picture a wedding there, but for a warm summer day it was perfect. The ceremony was held in the courtyard in front of the museum and the reception was inside. It was really quite charming. It's difficult to see, but fresh flowers in shades of green and white were strung to make garlands, then attached to the beam of the pergola to make a more contemporary, yet lovely back-drop that gently swayed with the breeze.
Katey* and Eric.
Unfortunately, we didn't get any interior good pictures of the newlyweds at the reception, but Hubs (in true form) got this photo:
Architects NEVER seem to put their brains on vacation or pause for any reason...
"Happy Birthday to you!"
Best friends. Post cake photo op.
It was also Hub's dad's birthday earlier in the week. Thankfully, Hub's sister brought an extra cake. I think I would have run out of cake, otherwise.
Happy 87th birthday to George, Sr!
My brother was in town for the weekend, mostly to spend time with dad. I invited him to run with the track club on Saturday morning. My brother is very friendly, and had no problem chatting it up about running with some of our track club members before we began to run. He ran with me for about the first mile, just to get caught up on the happenings of my dad, and whatnot. After that he sped up to catch the next group, then ran ahead of them to catch up with the front group. Needless to say, he's speedy. After the run he commented how organized our club is and wants to take a few of our ideas home to his club and was asking a few key people there some questions. I guess the extent of his club is that they just show up at the same time, run, then no one really sees each other after that. In our track club people usually hang around for the other runners to return, and sometimes we have guest speakers. Our club has a lot of dynamic people behind (and in front of) the scenes, and it's a rather well oiled machine, so to speak. My brother's friendliness was misread as creepiness by one lady. In her defense, she had no idea who he was and he was asking a lot of questions. She later on asked us who this "creepy guy" was, then she pointed him out. Of course I said, "Oh, that's my brother." *Insert awkward moment here.* I tried to make light of the comment and came back with "yeah, he IS creepy," then just sort of blew it off. By this time my brother was already in his car, getting ready to leave, so he didn't hear the conversation. I mentioned this conversation to my Hubs, and he said that women tend to get a little creeped out by guys they don't know in general. Hubs said that when we first joined the track club he would attempt to chat with a few of the people he was running with, mostly women, but they wouldn't be so receiving of his conversation. They would look at him as if he were a threat, as some "creepy guy." He was only trying to join in the camaraderie and chat about running. Of course, he's been with the track club for a couple of years now, and most everyone has seen him or knows who he is. He's no longer the creepy guy.
While we were out running, my daughter and grandson were making their way to Comicon. My daughter has attended Comicon every year ever since she was in high school. I supposed Comicon has become a ritual, but now she takes the kid, and he LOVES it. Comicon photos by my daughter.
They attended a panel for a show he watches. During Q & A time he raised his hand and they answered his questions!
Tron!
Later on that same day, Hubs and I met up with my dad and brother for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Old Town.
My bro, Dad, me.
In the world of running, I'm starting to pick up the pace a little. A 4 mile tempo run is about a 9:25 minute mile and it needs to be an even 9 or better. Asthma has been tough this year, even more so than in years past, and it slows me down. The legs and feet are working just fine. I need to run smart and NOT run through any pain. I've been injured enough, thankyouverymuch. My next race will probably be the Fire Run towards the end of the August. Wanna join us? It's a flat 4 miler. I'm familiar with the route since I've run it twice before. Cold beer at the end is always enticing.
Wednesday's Song:
Orbs - Maduro
PEACE
*Katey is an architect at Hub's office
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Whatever
Randomness
I haven't felt much like blogging lately. No reason. At the moment, short sentences or updates on Facebook and Daily Mile seem to suffice.
Last week, after our Saturday run with the track club, about 12 of us went out for breakfast. Chatter about different events to run and everyone's upcoming runs was the bulk of conversation as we ate. Towards the end of our meal, one of our running friends, Kate, pulled out a deck of Osho-Zen tarot cards, and had each of us select a card, randomly. Kate had mentioned that she preferred the Osho-Zen cards because they aren't dark, but more positive, more calm, more zen-like. I have mixed thoughts about things like tarot cards, because I'm not sure how much of it is made up by the person doing the reading, or how much of it has some truth, psychology, or foresight behind it. I was rather surprised how close to home some of the readings were -- and one person began to tear up -- but in a good way. Kate only knows us as running friends, and not much about out personal lives. She also phrased what she had to say in terms of running, not just for me, but for everyone. Here's the card I selected:
According to Kate, this is one of the rainbow cards, a good and beautiful card in meaning. She said that what I need to do now is to plant "seeds" and nurture what's going on around me, to slow down and wait for those "seeds" to grow, and that I need to be patient. I will achieve what I want to do, but not just now, no matter how much want whatever it is now. I suppose that could apply to anyone, but maybe it's not as generic as it seems on the surface since this applies directly to me. There is a lot that I want NOW. She said that I have a "spirituality" about me, so I should understand what this all means in the larger picture. I'm keeping and open mind.
Summer has finally arrived in Southern California. I knew it wouldn't be a gradual thing. It went from cold to hot right away. I actually like the warmer temperatures and longer day light hours, however, I need to plan my runs early in the morning or late in the day OR run on the air conditioned gym's treadmill.
The grand-kiddo has a birthday on Sunday. He'll be 7. For the past month he's been insisting that he's 5 going on 6, but I think this has more to do with friends he's made at day camp. Hubs and the grand-kiddo were at the grocery store, picking up a few items for dinner. The cashier asked the kiddo how old he was and he replied, "I'm 5 going on 6." Hubs immediately corrected him and said, "no, your 6 going on 7." The kiddo insisted that he was 5. The lady in line behind them chimed in with, "young man, only older women are allowed to lie about their age!"
Intensity has increased with each run and workout. Bryan switched up what I'm doing at RU and what I do on my own. At RU I'm getting back to doing some of the things I have the most fun with, such as throwing a weighted ball (about 8 pounds, maybe?) at a wall and catching it while lunging. I love workouts where I get to throw stuff. Pylometrics are slowing coming back, too, and I love those types of exercises -- reminds me of being a kid. The biggest change is intervals. Last week the intensity was slow to moderate. This week it's moderate to fast with shorter interval ratios*, but (still) not an all out effort. I ran my intervals on the gym treadmill -- it's easier to keep track of time and intensity. It was still tough, but good tough, and I was a soggy, sweaty mess when I was done.
At RU on Wednesday there was another lady also working with Bryan at the same time. He often has two to four clients at the same time. Even though her workout was different than mine, she still had an equally intense work out. She began to complain a bit, how hard it was. Then she noticed what I was doing and also noticed that I wasn't complaining. One of the PT assistants told her that I never complain. The lady asked me, "well, why aren't you complaining?" It's times like that I wish I could come up with some snappy remark right off the cuff. I just said something about the injury and this is better than drugs, which is true. I'm much happier being able to do a hard workout than being injured doing nothing. I'm just slow on the uptake with witty remarks.
The garden is finally holding it's ground. I actually had enough kale, romaine lettuce, zucchini and yellow squash to actually use in a meal. Here's what I did with the yellow squash:
My sister's eldest son has been busy over the past 6 years or so. He started out in the Marines but was injured at boot camp with a hip fracture and received a medical discharge. Since being in the Marines was no longer an option he went to college with the focus of becoming a lawyer. He earned a bachelor's degree in Political Science, did well on the LSATS, was looking ahead to law school, and was hired to work at a prominent law firm in Chicago. After working a year at the law firm he realized he wasn't truly happy with his career choice. He wanted to become a lawyer to make a difference, but it wasn't working out that way, at least in his eyes, since the law firm dealt with foreclosures. He quit his job at the law firm and enrolled in a culinary arts school in Chicago. A few months ago he graduated from the culinary arts school as a pastry chef, had a job at a golf club as the main pastry chef, and was recently hand picked by Disney Orlando for a paid internship program, assigned to a restaurant at Epcot Center. Disney is also covering his living accommodations -- he shares a place with three other guys, plus he has unlimited access to all Disney parks. Needless to say, he's extremely happy, and now he feels that his possibilities are endless. He did a complete about-face. I know it surprised my sister and her husband, since they footed the bill for college, but they also want their children to be happy. I'm thrilled for my nephew because it isn't too often that your career makes you truly happy.
Wednesday's Song:
Fresh - Kool & The Gang
PEACE
*This is how the workout was written:
10 minutes warm up.
Intervals - numbers are the minutes, first number fast pace, second number moderate pace:
1/2, 2/2,3/2, 3/2, 4/2, 3/2, 2/2, 1/2
10 minute cool down
I haven't felt much like blogging lately. No reason. At the moment, short sentences or updates on Facebook and Daily Mile seem to suffice.
Last week, after our Saturday run with the track club, about 12 of us went out for breakfast. Chatter about different events to run and everyone's upcoming runs was the bulk of conversation as we ate. Towards the end of our meal, one of our running friends, Kate, pulled out a deck of Osho-Zen tarot cards, and had each of us select a card, randomly. Kate had mentioned that she preferred the Osho-Zen cards because they aren't dark, but more positive, more calm, more zen-like. I have mixed thoughts about things like tarot cards, because I'm not sure how much of it is made up by the person doing the reading, or how much of it has some truth, psychology, or foresight behind it. I was rather surprised how close to home some of the readings were -- and one person began to tear up -- but in a good way. Kate only knows us as running friends, and not much about out personal lives. She also phrased what she had to say in terms of running, not just for me, but for everyone. Here's the card I selected:
Flowering
According to Kate, this is one of the rainbow cards, a good and beautiful card in meaning. She said that what I need to do now is to plant "seeds" and nurture what's going on around me, to slow down and wait for those "seeds" to grow, and that I need to be patient. I will achieve what I want to do, but not just now, no matter how much want whatever it is now. I suppose that could apply to anyone, but maybe it's not as generic as it seems on the surface since this applies directly to me. There is a lot that I want NOW. She said that I have a "spirituality" about me, so I should understand what this all means in the larger picture. I'm keeping and open mind.
Summer has finally arrived in Southern California. I knew it wouldn't be a gradual thing. It went from cold to hot right away. I actually like the warmer temperatures and longer day light hours, however, I need to plan my runs early in the morning or late in the day OR run on the air conditioned gym's treadmill.
The grand-kiddo has a birthday on Sunday. He'll be 7. For the past month he's been insisting that he's 5 going on 6, but I think this has more to do with friends he's made at day camp. Hubs and the grand-kiddo were at the grocery store, picking up a few items for dinner. The cashier asked the kiddo how old he was and he replied, "I'm 5 going on 6." Hubs immediately corrected him and said, "no, your 6 going on 7." The kiddo insisted that he was 5. The lady in line behind them chimed in with, "young man, only older women are allowed to lie about their age!"
Intensity has increased with each run and workout. Bryan switched up what I'm doing at RU and what I do on my own. At RU I'm getting back to doing some of the things I have the most fun with, such as throwing a weighted ball (about 8 pounds, maybe?) at a wall and catching it while lunging. I love workouts where I get to throw stuff. Pylometrics are slowing coming back, too, and I love those types of exercises -- reminds me of being a kid. The biggest change is intervals. Last week the intensity was slow to moderate. This week it's moderate to fast with shorter interval ratios*, but (still) not an all out effort. I ran my intervals on the gym treadmill -- it's easier to keep track of time and intensity. It was still tough, but good tough, and I was a soggy, sweaty mess when I was done.
At RU on Wednesday there was another lady also working with Bryan at the same time. He often has two to four clients at the same time. Even though her workout was different than mine, she still had an equally intense work out. She began to complain a bit, how hard it was. Then she noticed what I was doing and also noticed that I wasn't complaining. One of the PT assistants told her that I never complain. The lady asked me, "well, why aren't you complaining?" It's times like that I wish I could come up with some snappy remark right off the cuff. I just said something about the injury and this is better than drugs, which is true. I'm much happier being able to do a hard workout than being injured doing nothing. I'm just slow on the uptake with witty remarks.
The garden is finally holding it's ground. I actually had enough kale, romaine lettuce, zucchini and yellow squash to actually use in a meal. Here's what I did with the yellow squash:
Pizza on a store-bought crust with yellow squash from my garden, vidalia onion, garlic, buffalo mozzarella cheese, reduced fat feta cheese, and red sauce.
My sister's eldest son has been busy over the past 6 years or so. He started out in the Marines but was injured at boot camp with a hip fracture and received a medical discharge. Since being in the Marines was no longer an option he went to college with the focus of becoming a lawyer. He earned a bachelor's degree in Political Science, did well on the LSATS, was looking ahead to law school, and was hired to work at a prominent law firm in Chicago. After working a year at the law firm he realized he wasn't truly happy with his career choice. He wanted to become a lawyer to make a difference, but it wasn't working out that way, at least in his eyes, since the law firm dealt with foreclosures. He quit his job at the law firm and enrolled in a culinary arts school in Chicago. A few months ago he graduated from the culinary arts school as a pastry chef, had a job at a golf club as the main pastry chef, and was recently hand picked by Disney Orlando for a paid internship program, assigned to a restaurant at Epcot Center. Disney is also covering his living accommodations -- he shares a place with three other guys, plus he has unlimited access to all Disney parks. Needless to say, he's extremely happy, and now he feels that his possibilities are endless. He did a complete about-face. I know it surprised my sister and her husband, since they footed the bill for college, but they also want their children to be happy. I'm thrilled for my nephew because it isn't too often that your career makes you truly happy.
Wednesday's Song:
Fresh - Kool & The Gang
PEACE
*This is how the workout was written:
10 minutes warm up.
Intervals - numbers are the minutes, first number fast pace, second number moderate pace:
1/2, 2/2,3/2, 3/2, 4/2, 3/2, 2/2, 1/2
10 minute cool down
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Running In Circles
I'm kind of wondering... what happened to Summer? I know other parts of the country are experiencing typical Summer weather, but we're not. Cool, blustery, drizzly, more humid than normal weather is what we have right now. It's actually perfect running weather if you plan on an easy run, but for everything else it's kind of a damper, pun intended.
My new workout schedule is going OK. The only problem I'm having is pool time. The pool I want to go to isn't opened when I have the time available, and now that it's summer the swim lesson sessions occupy most of the pool. The gym pool is available and usually crowd free, but every time I swim there I come away with irritated, red eyes, and I wear goggles. It takes a days to recoup from that! Ick! I'll have to start looking around for another near by pool that does not require membership.
I trekked out to the gym for intervals per my new schedule. I thought it might be easier to keep track of the intervals on the treadmill instead of taking it to the streets. One minute warm up, then I did 4 sets of intervals x 6 minutes moderate pace and 3 minutes faster pace. Lows at about 5.2, highs at about 6.5 and 7. It was just OK. I have a lot of catching up to do, but I'm taking it slow. I cooled down off the treadmill and walked around the gym track for 5 minutes. Stretched afterward.
3.46 miles
37:00 minutes
10:41 pace
I'm still working on nutrition. Something is off kilter, but I can't figure out what it is, yet. In the past I could pin-point exactly what was throwing me off and make adjustments, but this time I can't. I'm attempting to eat as clean as possible, using less processed foods, eating out less, no fast foods, no junk foods, keeping on top of my water intake, and so on. I've been tracking everything on Daily Burn just to make sure I'm on top of the macro-nutrients. I'll probably track my nutrition for a month. I find tracking nutrition to be tedious, but it's helpful when trying to pin-point what my weaknesses are.
Robin over at Running Circles Around Turtles featured me on her blog yesterday. (Check it out!) I was honored that she she featured me and what I had to say. Most of her interviewees give concise, short answers. Ummmmm... I was a bit wordy by comparison, but there's a lot of explaining to do. I was pretty excited to see the interview on her blog and how she took the time to enlarge and bold certain words and phrases. Pretty cool, Robin. Thanks!
At the 4th of July run, I saw a friend from the track club who I had not seen in a few months. She actually remembered my sea green and white Pearl Izumis, and asked why I wasn't wearing them. They have been retired to gardening duty, and this is what they now look like:
Yesterday's Song:
Morning View - Greg Howe
My new workout schedule is going OK. The only problem I'm having is pool time. The pool I want to go to isn't opened when I have the time available, and now that it's summer the swim lesson sessions occupy most of the pool. The gym pool is available and usually crowd free, but every time I swim there I come away with irritated, red eyes, and I wear goggles. It takes a days to recoup from that! Ick! I'll have to start looking around for another near by pool that does not require membership.
I trekked out to the gym for intervals per my new schedule. I thought it might be easier to keep track of the intervals on the treadmill instead of taking it to the streets. One minute warm up, then I did 4 sets of intervals x 6 minutes moderate pace and 3 minutes faster pace. Lows at about 5.2, highs at about 6.5 and 7. It was just OK. I have a lot of catching up to do, but I'm taking it slow. I cooled down off the treadmill and walked around the gym track for 5 minutes. Stretched afterward.
3.46 miles
37:00 minutes
10:41 pace
I'm still working on nutrition. Something is off kilter, but I can't figure out what it is, yet. In the past I could pin-point exactly what was throwing me off and make adjustments, but this time I can't. I'm attempting to eat as clean as possible, using less processed foods, eating out less, no fast foods, no junk foods, keeping on top of my water intake, and so on. I've been tracking everything on Daily Burn just to make sure I'm on top of the macro-nutrients. I'll probably track my nutrition for a month. I find tracking nutrition to be tedious, but it's helpful when trying to pin-point what my weaknesses are.
Robin over at Running Circles Around Turtles featured me on her blog yesterday. (Check it out!) I was honored that she she featured me and what I had to say. Most of her interviewees give concise, short answers. Ummmmm... I was a bit wordy by comparison, but there's a lot of explaining to do. I was pretty excited to see the interview on her blog and how she took the time to enlarge and bold certain words and phrases. Pretty cool, Robin. Thanks!
At the 4th of July run, I saw a friend from the track club who I had not seen in a few months. She actually remembered my sea green and white Pearl Izumis, and asked why I wasn't wearing them. They have been retired to gardening duty, and this is what they now look like:
They're so beat up, but still one of my favorite pairs of shoes!
Yesterday's Song:
Morning View - Greg Howe
PEACE
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Sunday, July 04, 2010
4th of July
"Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July
Hey baby, baby take a walk outside"
Hey baby, baby take a walk outside"
How about a run outside instead?
The Annual Coronado Independence Day 5k/15K 2010 is one for the books. I woke up with a bit of a bloated and grumble-y stomach, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't run, but aesthetically it wasn't pretty being bloated. The Hubs and I ran in the 5k. My plan was to run conservatively at a moderate pace and not to race for PRs. I don't want to risk re-injury. The weather was overcast, a little cool, but humid. Before the race we saw Cathie, Wendy and Michelle, and several others from the track club. I kept an eye out for Lisa, who said she would wear her red Jamba Juice T shirt, but since it was the 4th of July there were SEVERAL people wearing red t shirts. Ah well. Everything went off without a hitch. There was a bit of a bottle neck at the beginning of the race for about the first mile in a few spots, which slowed me down - and maybe that was a good thing since it kept me from going out too fast, but after that it was easy to get around and pass people. I was thrilled that the event coordinators finally decided to use D tag timing, which worked to my advantage. I'm a good 3:40 minutes plus from smashing my original PR, but that's OK. I'm in no big rush to PR my 5k time any time soon. Bonus points that they finally gave us tech t-shirts instead of cotton ones!
My final results:
Overall: 334 out of 962
Women: 141 out of 581
F 50-54: 7 out of 53
Age/Grade: 58.34% Place: 167
Finish: 29:23 Pace: 9:28
Tag Time: 29:23
Gun Time: 29:44
Hubs final results:
Overall: 441 out of 962
Men: 233 out of 381
M 50-54: 15 out of 32
Age/Grade: 47.90% Place: 449
Finish: 31:18 Pace: 10:05 PR
Tag Time: 31:18
Gun Time: 31:40
A few pre race pics:
Me and Hubs
Wendy, Me, Cathie
Michelle (back from injury), Me, Cathie
Wednesday's Song:
Eggplant - Train
PEACE
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