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Tecolote Park Trails

Taper time! The Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll half marathon is next Sunday!

I think this is the first time I am taking a taper week as a no run week.  After two ridiculously busy weeks back at work, my body is just saying "no."

I am listening.

In addition to my body just saying "no," I am dealing with some allergies that I haven't had to deal with in YEARS.   This time I can't pin-point the triggers, but I've looked as if I've aged 10 years over the past two weeks due to the itchy eyes, dry skin around my eyes, and darker than normal allergic shiners (under my eyes.)  There is no concealer or cream that will camouflage any of this allergic reaction.  I have two theories to my allergy dillema.  The office where I work is right next door to a lumber retailer, and they create plenty of dust, OR it's the scented oil diffuser bottles my boss has put in the office since I was last working there full time.  I'm guessing it's the scented oils causing the issues.  I'm going to ask my boss take those out for a week to see if it makes a difference in how I feel/react.  My boss did give me a sample Rx for a newer allergy eye drop, which does offer relief, but it's just a temporary fix.

Did those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving have a good one?  I'm certainly thankful for all of my blogging friends.  Running and reading would not be the same without you all. 

Thanksgiving was quiet this year.  Hubs and I opted to sleep in instead of run in a 5k Turkey Trot.  We both needed the rest.  Most of our relatives were in other states and cities this year.  There were only about nine of us at my sister in law's house  for Thanksgiving dinner, compared to the 20+ people we're used to.  I did host a day after Thanksgiving dinner for my side of the family, but that was easy, since I swore NOT to use leftovers.

This year Evan wanted to help.  I showed him how to use an apple peeler, how to use the food processor, how to measure ingredients, how to roll out a pie crust, and how to saute' mushroom.  These new cooking skills beat out watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

Evan is demonstrating his mad rolling pin skilz.

A future chef?

I also stayed away from the Black Friday sales. I did partake in some internet shopping, but there was no way I was going to set foot in any mall or store, even for groceries. I'm all for a good deal, and kudos to those of you who camped out to get a good spot in line for a good deal on that wide screen TV or computer. Working in retail many years ago sort of ruined the thrill of shopping for me. I did work all of those crazy retail hours and had to deal with the aftermath when it was all over.

Hubs and I did get in a couple of walks:

and


For both walks we tackled Illion St, which is what I refer to as "The Hill." This street has a 16%  grade, and I would equate it to doing stairs, just because you need to use your legs as if you're ascending/descending stairs. I've mentioned this street before because we've seen Marines train by running up and it over and over again.  The only thing worse just as good is the steep hill that goes through Torrey Pines State Park towards USCD.   Since I have the La Jolla half marathon in my future, and the route goes through Torrey Pines State Park, I will be utilizing "The Hill" as much as possible over the next five months. I hope shin splints will no longer be an issue...

Yikes.


Finally, this:

Evan - Watching TV with Transformers.

Monday's Song:
D'yer Mak'er- Led Zeppelin - Running With The Black Knight

PEACE

PS

Check out this sweet giveaway at Run Faster, Mommy for really cool Sporty Girl's jewelry!

Keep My Head High

I really wasn't planning a blog hiatus, but the past couple of weeks have been crazy busy.  Most of the crazy had to do with our rental house.  I'll go into details about the rental house later.  Right now I just need to catch up.

I'm still dealing with shin splints, however the soreness isn't as bad as it was just a couple of weeks ago.  I've only run once in the past two weeks, twice if we count the Run Fit class at RU last night, but that was not continuous running -- We did circuit training.  I've also  made a discovery that the custom orthotic for my left shoe is most likely a contributor to making my shins splints worse than they needed to be.  I took the orthotic out of my left shoe and replaced it with the original insole that the shoe came with.  Guess what?  I had little to no discomfort in my shin.   At the Run Fit class I was able to SPRINT for the first time since about August, and there's no next day overwhelming soreness or pain. *WHEW* I must add that I still can't do a lot of side to side movements, but when I run it's not side to side -- it's forward.  I like moving forward, and not just with running.

My dad left for for a Mediterranean cruise last week.  I'm not sure of all the ports, but Morocco and the Egyptian Pyramids are on the itinerary.  It's the perfect trip for him.  He's traveling with a group from his church.

The same day my dad left for his cruise was the same day my cousin came up from Ensenada, Baja California - Mexico.  The plan was for her to stay at my dad's house while he was away, but he forgot to leave the keys with us.  My cousin had a lot of business to take care of while she was here and she ended up staying with us until we could have a set of keys sent down from Fremont, CA where my brother lives. It was great catching up with my cousin, but she needed a lot of assistance with looking for particular businesses and agencies.  It's a long story, but her purse was stolen with all of her identifications in it, including her Military ID, California Driver's License, her Mexican residence ID, and so on.  She was planning to stay with us only one or two days until the keys arrived, but it turned into four since a couple of agencies required long waits in line, such as the DMV.  The advantage to my cousin's stay with us is that we were able to catch up on all of the relatives happenings and  incidental gossip in addition to a lot of thought provoking conversations about spirituality.

My cousin is a veterinarian.  It was funny that my cats and dog seemed to know she was an animal person.  My cat, Lumpy, would not leave hear alone at all. 

Computer companion

Since just before the end of September we were dealing with our rental house.  A friend of ours had lived there for over three years, but work was about an hour drive one way.  He decided to move closer to work.  He kept telling us that he was working on cleaning the house and getting it ready for the next renter.  Hubs and I figured all we needed to do was  paint and shampoo the carpets, plus some small repairs and a little yard work.  We were wrong.  So many things were broken or dirty beyond cleaning.  We were shocked.  Our friend hired a cleaning company to help him out, but it was so dirty that even the cleaning company charged him extra... and it was still not up to par when the cleaning company left.  Trash and rotten food were left behind in the driveway.  Some personal items were left behind, even though our friend said he took everything and that other stuff was ours.  In all fairness, we did keep a few things in the garage, but mostly Hubs' drafting equipment, a desk, a dresser, rolled up blueprints, and a few toys from when the kids were little, but that's all. These items were all off to the side and out of the way.   Our friend's kid's photo album, some of his furniture, bird care supplies and clothing items were definitely not ours.  We have a long list of things that were broken and needed to be replaced such as entire closet doors.  We really did not expect this since he rented another house from Hubs folks a few years back and everything was fine.  Our friend was expecting his security deposit back, but the cost of getting everything fixed and cleaned exceeded that dollar amount.  Needless to say, our friend is a bit miffed with us, but mostly with Hubs since they handled the agreement together. I'm not sure what will happen with this relationship, and I hope we can get past this mess.    

Hubs and my son worked at the house every singe day for the past two weeks painting and doing repairs.  My cousin even helped us a few hours hauling trash and cleaning cupboards.  I sanded and varnished the kitchen floor and part of the living room floor.  I also spent time scrubbing various things like greasy drawer pulls in the kitchen, the mold off of the ice and water dispenser on the refrigerator door, and the fireplace that was left full of soot, ashes, and wood.*  Since we didn't rent a dumpster, we put trash in receptacles where ever we could, which meant hauling bags of garbage to our house, my inlaw's house,  my sister-in-law's house, a neighbors house (she offered) and  my dad's house.  New carpet has been installed and everything is beyond ready for the renter, who should have moved in when our friend moved out.

*SIGH* 

 If that weren't enough, someone rear ended the back bumper of Hubs' car while he was idling at a stoplight after a trip to Home Depot, buying items to finish fixing up the rental.  No one was hurt, just the bumper.  Hubs had to laugh because it has been a draining past couple of weeks -- then the car gets bumped.  At some point you just have to laugh because it's so ridiculous.

If there's an upside, sanding and varnishing floors is a really good workout.

Now that we have some momentum going, we need to get back to caring for the house we live in.  I need to sand and refinish parts of the dining room floor where the dog likes to hang out.

My boss turned 60 last week.  She looks amazing for 60.  If you met her you would never guess that she's even close to 60.  There's something to be said about healthy living. Her family arranged a surprise party and had a small gathering.  I was quite touched to be included since I haven't been summoned to the office in several months due to a very stable staff. One of my former co-workers flew in from Texas to be here for the occasion.  It was so good to see her again.  This birthday event was somewhat like a family reunion, even though it was people I have worked with.  I guess it's a good thing when you can consider people you work with as family.   I thought Hubs brought a camera, but he didn't use it.  My boss was given a toga, crown and gold tone asps to wear at her party.  It was great.  I must explain that my boss is notorious for pranks, and you know what they say about payback.  It was awesome.

Good news.  My daughter finally got into San Diego State University.  SDSU was being a bit stingy with admissions, but recently let more students in. SDSU is only a 15 minute drive down the interstate, but it will take much longer just to find parking.

Saturday, October 16, is my daughter's 27th birthday.  Since she has a gig working behind the scenes at a college play on Saturday evening, we'll be taking her out for lunch.  She has plans to spend next  weekend  in Las Vegas to celebrate.
 

1983

2010

There's plenty of blog fodder ruminating in my head, but there's so much that it would quality as the longest blog post ever if I were to write it all down.  Two extremely busy and emotional weeks will fill a head.  I'll spare you all.  Besides, there's too much fodder to even process.  I'm exhausted.

Song from 9/29/2010:
It Happens - Sugarland

PEACE


*My cousin kept calling me "Cinderella."

Push

Wow.  I have a moment.   I can get in some blogging...

I did see the doctor last week for the fatigue I've been dealing with.  He ordered  fasted blood tests (thyroid, iron, vitamin D, adrenals, celiac panels, B 12, etc) and a pulmonary function test.  The fasted blood tests are done, and now I'm just waiting on my appointment for the pulmonary tests.  He also put me on a steroid inhaler (Qvar) in hopes that will help open up my lungs more, and to see if that helps lessen the fatigue. 

I started working out with a group on Thursday evenings with Rehab United. Last Thursday we did endurance testing.  Last year I kicked bootay.  This year...  um, not so much.  Most of my numbers were cut in half.  I couldn't do nearly the same number of push ups and pull ups I could do last year.  The fatigue has really taken it's toll on me. I guess the good thing is that I now have a new baseline to start with, and I know I can get it back if I just keep pushing through -- at least I hope it works out that way.   The only thing that looked half way decent was my timed mile.  We were supposed to run one mile as hard and fast as possible.  I was timed at about 7:15 for that mile, but I think that's wrong.  We run around the complex where RU is located, which is just under 400 meters by several feet.  We ran 4 times around the complex, and I know that's just short of a mile.  I'm guessing that my  mile is more like 7:45 or 8:00.  It's certainly possible that I could run 7:15 for just one mile if I'm busting out some speed, but I wasn't, except for maybe the last 100 yards or so. I didn't have my Garmin with me, so I couldn't check exact time or distance.  The good part about working out on Thursdays is that I'm with people I already know from last year's group, and they're a lot of fun.

The last time I ran was Saturday morning with the Rehab United group.  The plan was a 40 minute, time on your feet run. Most of the people who showed up ran about my pace or under, which is unheard of.  Last year I was the slow-poke of the group since most everyone's slow pace was an 8 minute mile.  (Yeah, yeah, speed is all relative, but when you're shooting for an 10 or 11 minute mile for a long run, there's a lot of waiting around involved on their parts.)  Our fearless leader, Justin, and his girl friend were the speedy ones -- probably in the mid 7s, low 8s.  I  held an average 9:30 m/m for  the 4.4 miles I ran, but I just couldn't push harder than that due to my ongoing issue with shin splints and fatigue.  I should be able to hold around a 9 minute mile with ease. I was a little frustrated, but glad I was able to hold my own without going any slower.  I was able to pace with my friend Renata, and I think having her just slightly ahead of me kept me from slowing. Renata and I came in ahead of the group, which was a novelty to me.  I'm NEVER at the head of any running group when it comes to speed.  (This year several people are opting out of the Las Vegas trip due to the expense, and a lot of those people were MUCH faster than me.) Everyone else came in just after us, so it's not like we were channeling our inner Kenyans - we were just pushing through as best as possible.  As for my left shin, it was not too happy with me.  I even wore compression socks, which helped tremendously, but still not a fix for my screaming shin.

I booked air fare and a room for the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. I was planning to register for the half marathon on line, but the processing fee is $11.00. That's just ridiculous. I thought I'd be able to use my $10.00 discount code, but that processing fee negates the discount. I'll sign up the old fashioned way, with pen and paper and no processing fee, AND a $10.00 discount through Rehab United.

Just in case, if you're planning to run Las Vegas, a lot of the hotel web sites say they're sold out for that Saturday. Call the toll free number and ask for group reservations. I was able to book a room at Luxor that way, even though the site said it was sold out.

My sister and her husband were in town last weekend. They are so happy to be back in California, and the job transfer has been smooth. They stayed in Coronado at the Glorietta Bay Inn and we were able to share dinner with them. We (sort of) celebrated my brother-in-law's birthday. Long story short ... BUT, He was constantly joking around with our server, so she brought out a huge slice of mud pie  -- on the house. Hubs suggested a candle for the mud pie because it WAS (supposedly) my brother-in-law's birthday. Not really, his birthday was in July, but since there was a mud pie, it only seemed fitting that someone was sung to.

We were all laughing, not only because it wasn't his birthday, but because the people at the adjacent tables were singing, too. The server was a really good sport.  PS: That's my sister on the right side.

Monday's Song:
I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More - Barry White

PEACE