Friday, October 05, 2007

Windy

Activity: Run
Date: 10/05/07 10:41 AM
Distance: 12.34 miles
Time: 2:18:26
Speed: 5.3 mph
Pace: 11' 13 min/mile
Calories: 1168


What the above stats don't show is how incredibly windy it was. I had a good, steady pace for the first 3 miles, in the 9:50 to 10:00 min/mi range, then it was all a struggle from there. It was so windy that I was actually having regrets about doing this run today, and I tried to justify that it would have been easier to run up and down "THE HILL" several times to fit in at least 12 miles. I can't remember a run where my quads were so tight right afterwards - probably from pushing myself into the wind. I ran at the bay, my ususal route, except for a little detour towards the Sea World parking lot, just to get in the miles. It was so windy that I could see sand clouds in the distance, and I was dreadding that I'd have to be running throught that. I was also thinking that I could actually fit in 13.1 miles, but it was so windy that, somewhere around mile 8 or 9 I lost a full water bottle off of my hydration belt, and that would have been enough to carry me thorugh mile 13. I couldn't even hear the bottle drop because my ears were very wind blown and actually hurt. I'm glad this run is over. San Francisco has to be better! No, San Francisco WILL be better!

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Peace


EDIT - I WAS RUNNING IN 20 - 25 MPH WINDS...

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Cook With Fire

Non workout/run day.

Last night was the finale of Bravo TV's Top Chef. I currently don't follow a lot of TV shows but I was drawn to Top Chef's season 3. I really enjoyed seeing the skills of each chef, the culinary delights or disappointments that the chefs would come up with, the melding or clashing of certain personalities, and the anticipation of who would hear "pack your knives and go." I didn't follow season 2 very closely when it was initially on, but Bravo rebroadcasts their shows a gazillion times, so I eventually caught up once that season was over.
I was anticipating the season 3 finale since I had followed it closely. Would the winner be the imaginative and pretty Casey, technically proficient and intense Hung, or the culinary creative and every body's friend Dale? I even made myself comfy in front of the TV. SUDDENLY, right before the broadcast of the final episode, the picture on my TV screen becomes pixeled. Then it freezes. I start flipping through the other stations to see
if it's happening on other stations as well. About 6 stations in a row were pixeled and frozen. *UGH*... Obviously, it's my cable service having some sort of satellite transmission problem. I thought I could just jump on the internet and watch from my computer but I couldn't find a feed for Bravo. Then I thought, just maybe, I could find a chat or a board that discussed who the winner was, since the broadcast was eastern time, three hours ahead. Nada. I'd just resigned myself to find out who won via internet the next morning, and tried to settling in to watch something else, but kept checking to see if the frozen screen was still there. Eventually, with about 25 minutes left in the show, the pixeled screen was "fixed" and I was able to view a part of that episode and, finally, who won. Sheesh. It was no surprise to me that Hung took the victory. He wasn't one of the fan favorites, personality wise, but this was culinary competition, not a Ms. or Mr. Congeniality contest. He did have his foibles along the way, like the breakfast cereal diorama ~I can't find a picture but it was pretty funny ~ but when push came to shove, he did a lot of shoving to prove himself. His hard work and skill did pay off. I personally would love dine on a meal put together by Hung, or the other two finalists on this show. Oh, and since this show is really about the finished product, here's a picture of Hung's duck with truffle.

Now that Top Chef is over, I'm anticipating Bravo's next season of "Project Runway."



Peace

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

The Secret Life of Plants

Yesterday
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

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Borrowed Tune

It's time for the list of the September 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.


9/30/2007 Caught a Little Sneeze - Tori Amos - Barbie2be Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

9/29/2007 New Roads, Old Places - David Weiss

9/28/2007 The Road and the Sky - Jackson Browne - Note To Self Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

9/27/2007 The Stairs - INXS

9/25/2007 Doctor! Doctor! - The Thompson Twins - Miss Rachel Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

9/23/2007 Lose Yourself - Eminem - Run-DMZ Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket


9/19/2007 Mental Hopscotch - Missing Persons - Barbie2be Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

9/18/2007 Something in the Air - Thunderclap Newman, Tom Petty, etc. - Barbie2be Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

9/17/2007 A Change Would Do You Good - Sheryl Crow - Barbie2be Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

9/15/2007 Almost Paradise - Mike Reno & Ann Wilson - Smartypantz32 Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

9/14/2007 The New Workout Plan - Kanye West - Barbie2be Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

9/12/2007 The Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin - Barbie2be Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

9/05/2007 Earthquake Weather - Beck - Erin Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

9/04/2007 Looking Out My Back Door - Creedence Clearwater Revival - FV Tom
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Peace

Back to my regular post tomorrow!