Baby, What A Big Surprise

About three weeks ago, I had noticed on Meg Runs blog that she put on her sidebar a pair of gently worn men's Nike Lunar Glides, size 12, for free. At first I didn't think much about it, until about a week ago it occurred to me (after seeing the photo of the Nikes several times) that my husband wears a size 12 and likes Nikes. I contacted Meg and the shoes were still available. She said she would mail them out at no cost to me. I knew the shoes would be on their way soon, but this has been a busy week and had other things on my mind. Today the UPS driver stops at my house. UPS? I didn't order anything. Then I saw the shoe sized box and realized what it was. I opened the box, expecting to see only shoes and perhaps a note, but this is what I saw:

Upon opening the box I found the glittery leaves, the bag of chocolates, the little note, and the shoes.

How cute is that?

This package totally made my day. I was feeling as if I was slogging through the mud today, and this package lifted my spirits. I'm sure it will make my husband's day, too. Thanks Meg! You make a difference!

I'm taking the next few days off from running and working out, so (hopefully) I'll be fresh for the Silver Strand half marathon on Sunday.

Tuesday's song:
What It Takes - Aerosmith - Barbie2be

PEACE

What It Takes

Even though I ran the 5k on Sunday, Bryan at RU showed no sympathy on Monday. I had a hard, sweaty workout. Oh, don't get me wrong, it was good workout and it wasn't long before I ready to be done.

Speaking of working, I filled in at work on Monday. It was nice to be back, in spite of having to learn their new computer programs and fee schedule. It wasn't difficult, just different. Everything else was just like riding a bicycle and it was good to see some of our regular patients again. I keep hinting that I'm available to put in more hours when they need me, especially since my coworker (who is on maternity leave) may not want to return to work so quickly.

Monday was also another Runner's World wear test shoe event for March 2010 issue.* Even though this event is now (supposedly) by invitation only, people start lining up for this event at 3:00 PM, and it begins at 5:30 PM. There are always new people in line, hoping to get something after the people with invites go through, and sometimes they do score some running shoes. Since I worked I couldn't leave the office until 5:30 PM. I showed up at 6:00 PM, placing me at the back of the line. I am so thankful that they decided to check IDs a few times (I was on their list) and I moved up to the middle of the line. Whew. By the time I made it to the front of the line, there were only two pairs of my size left. I ended up with Brooks Switch 3.


I've never tried Brooks before, nor have I ever worn a stability shoe. I normally take a neutral or neutral plus. With my inserts for high arches, they seem to be OK. I took them for a test run on the gym treadmill today, and immediately noticed that they had a lot of heel cushion, and that's a good thing. Time will tell how these shoes will fare for my bones. Bonus points that these shoes aren't Easter egg colored. It's difficult to see in the picture, but the trim is royal blue and dark purple.

I'm also trying out a new sport's bottle.* It's from Smash Sports. The concept is similar to that of a Playtex nurser, which is what my husband immediately pointed out. The bottle holds the liquid inside a biodegradable liner. Just hold your finger over a small hole on the bottle and squeeze. It took me a few times of squeezing the bottle before I realized I had to cover the small hole, but once I did that, everything worked great. Since the bottle isn't super hard, it's ergonomic. There's also hand strap available to place on the bottle. I'm not sure if I'll go the strap route yet, until I become more familiar with this bottle. I'm also not 100% sold on the idea of the liners, since they have to be replaced, but it does prevent that sloshing liquid sound that can be rather annoying.

Today
Activity: Run
Date: 11/10/09 10:00 AM
Distance: 3.31 miles
Time: 0:32:00
Speed: 6.2 mph
Pace: 9'40 min/mile
Calories: 304

I put in my intervals on the gym treadmill. As sore as my body was from yesterday's workout, I felt really good on that treadmill. Being plugged into some really good tunes helps. I did pyramid intervals and took one minute walk breaks between sets. Walking pace was 4.2 mph and built up to a sprint pace was 7:50 mph. My goal for intervals is to get rid of the walk pace completely. I'm not quite there yet. I still need that walk pace to recoup from the sprint. At least I can now hold the sprint pace for a minute without wanting to pass out or throw up. I know, I'm still not super speedy, especially when compared to the women in my age group who can run 6 minute miles, but, hey, it's good for me at this moment.

Sunday's song:
Dancing In The Streets - Martha and the Vandellas - Run-DMZ

PEACE



*Disclaimer - I reviewed these on my own. Other than receiving the products for free, I didn't get paid to give my two cents.

Dancing In The Streets

...well, running in the streets.


7th Annual Shelter Island 5k

This event is one of those "must do" events. The race starts at the Shelter Island Holiday Inn and ends at Humphrey's By the Bay in the concert venue with a champagne brunch. It's very social and people are generally in a great mood. It's a flat route, mostly scenic, and can be competitive... or not -- Plenty of people opt to walk. It offers a champagne brunch alongside the bay, which is reason enough to get up very early on Sunday morning.

The thought of a champagne brunch was quite appealing to my friend Rich, who ran his first race with me, the Fire Run 4 Miler of August this year. He also talked his reluctant wife, Mayra, into joining us. This would be her first 5k. They also brought their very sleepy 2 year old daughter Alessandra.

Pre race photo op - Me, Rich, Mayra, and Ale in the stroller

Ale stretching with her mama

Me & the hubs

Ale and her daddy at brunch

It's amazing who you'll run into at some of these races! Blogger Glenn of Running Fat Guy drove down from Newport Beach for the event and, of course, any event with champagne, er, mimosas would not be complete with the day-glow green race shirts of Blogger AKA Alice of Heffer Blog and the Heffers. We also encountered several very happy* SDTC friends and members.

Glenn, Mik, AKA Alice, me & Michael

Here's the scoop:

I woke up at about 5:15 AM feeling tired. I slept, but it was anything but restful. My stomach also felt off and I was hopeful that I'd feel better after I had some coffee and a little something to eat.

Once we were at the event I felt just OK, but still not quite right. Even though I stretched and tried to warm up, my legs felt really heavy from the start. Yes, I was pushing harder than the day before, but I still felt like I my legs never warmed up for the entire race. I had no chutzpah to sprint in at the end. None. Nada. Zip. Regardless of the chutzpah-less finish, I still had a good, consistent pace and finished with a 27:59. I squeaked in under 28 minutes. One second under 28 minutes is peachy. Last year this 5k was my post-surgery comeback race, finishing at 33:30. What a difference a year makes!

The ironic thing is that the final race results match up to my GPS results, which never happens in a non-chipped race.

What my BiM GPS application recorded:
Activity: Run
Date: 11/08/09 07:58 AM
Distance: 3.15 miles
Time: 0:27:59
Speed: 6.8 mph
Pace: 8' 53 min/mile
Calories: 304

Actual race results:
403 IRENE M 208 50 6/53 F San Diego 27:59 9:01

After (sort of) a nap, I am feeling better. I think the lack of sleep really messed with me today. Next race - Silver Strand Half Marathon, November 15, 2009... next Sunday.

Yesterday's song:
Your Long Journey - Allison Krauss

PEACE

*Perhaps it was the champagne?

Your Long Journey

Activity: Run
Date: 11/07/09 07:1208 AM
Distance: 6.08 miles
Time: 1:08:46 Speed: 5.3 mph
Pace: 11' 19 min/mile
Calories: 586

I ran with the track club today, for a change. RU was doing the train run, which is about 16 miles, and I didn't need that many miles. The track club met at one of my favorite places, Tidelands Park in Coronado. Since I have the 5k tomorrow I decided to take things easy. I ran with one of my track club friends, Kate, and we chatted the entire 6 miles. Chatting also prevented me from going too fast. I felt amazingly invigorated after this run, I'm not sure why, but part of it is probably being back with my SDTC running friends. It was somewhat therapeutic and exactly what I needed. This is not to say that running with RU isn't good, because it is, but I'm usually running alone because most everyone is faster than I am in that group, but they're all much younger, too. I am FAR from being the elder runner in the SDTC.

I've been struggling since last week on a how to handle some news I received. My last blog post was a bit fragmented, and just bits and pieces of random things, but I was avoiding what really was on my mind.

One of my closest friends informed me (through e mail) that her only son, only child, passed away last week. Nick was 29 years old. I'm not sure what happened. I don't know if he was ill, was in an accident or something else. I can only imagine the devastation and heartbreak my friend is feeling. We exchanged a couple of e mails since I heard the news, and I've asked her to call me when she's ready.

From all appearances, things were going well for Nick. He worked in the radiology department at a hospital, had an active social life, and was a very caring and thoughtful person. The last time I spoke to Nick was during the time I was in Chicago to spend some girl time with his mom (my friend) and my sister. It was a brief phone call, but he sounded like the same sweet and charming Nick I knew when he was a kid, but with a much deeper voice.

"God's given us years of happiness here
Now we must part
And as the angels come and call for you
The pains of grief tug at my heart
Oh my darling
My darling
My heart breaks as you take your long journey"

Farewell, Nick.
October 4, 1980 - October 28, 2009


Tuesday's song:
Don't Want To Miss A Thing - Aerosmith

PEACE