Take It All

"Didn't I give it up
Tried my best
Gave you everything I had
Everything and no less"


 Summer, although somewhat at the end for most people, has been in full swing for me over the past couple of weeks or so.  For weeks not much happened, but then August starts and everything becomes super busy... and exhausting.  A lot of the busy isn't anything extra special, work and house stuff, but nothing earth shattering.  There are some notables, though.

Hubs' uncle and cousin visited us from Rio de Janiero Brazil.  Between work and everything else, we found time to share some great moments together.

My daughter Renee, Uncle Pedro, my grandson Evan, and cousin Ana Christina.

We managed to purchase tickets to Adele in concert. I was initially irritated that I could only purchase over priced tickets through an unaffiliated on line ticket agency and not through the venue ticket sales, but it was a concert worth attending. At first Hubs was thinking I was dragging him to a chick show, but he was pleasantly surprised.  Even though Adele was accompanied by her band, she could have easily sang without the band. She was THAT fabulous.  In addition, Adele's personality is nothing like her songs of relationships gone wrong.  The girl is genuine, hilarious (let the "f*** bomb" fly a lot)  and really connected with the audience.  She also dedicated  the song "Make You Feel My Love" to Amy Winehouse. The cool thing is that she had us  - the audience -  turn on the lights to our cell phones and cameras during that song.  I didn't get a picture of that, it would not have turned out on my cell phone, but the affect was amazing.

@ the SDSU outdoor amphitheater. Adele is down there, I promise. Not the best seats, but I'm glad we managed to get tickets without having to apply for a loan. 

I ran in the America's Finest City Half Marathon on August 21, 2011.  I honestly did not train well for this particular half marathon.  I guess my head wasn't into it as much as it was for the SDRNR half marathon this past June.  I did almost no speed training and it really affected my time.   My goal was to complete the Triple Crown series, since I had never done that before.  Done. Check. I have no mile to mile account of this race.  I just could not find my groove at any point in the race.  Sometimes it takes me the first couple of miles to get my bearings then I'm OK.  No groove.  I dragged.  No reason.  No good excuses.  Perhaps not being mentally invested in this race affected my performance.  I haven't looked at all of my stats, but this could possibly be my second slowest half marathon.   I must say that the support on the route (water/electrolyte stations, restrooms, etc) was well done.  I'm also loving the Triple Crown Medal.  I think this has to be my absolute favorite medal.  One of my friends said it looked rather Olympic.

I completed these three races...

... to receive this.

There were a few notables on race day.  Waking up at o'dark thirty so we wouldn't be late for the bus to the starting area was extra special since I didn't sleep well.  We had cool, overcast skies at the start of the race, which was somewhat of a bonus since August can be toasty.  The warm up and stretcing exercises with the track club was nice, and helped me to wake up.  During the race here were a couple of guys who were running ahead of me who stopped at the half way point to do burpees.  I'm not sure how many they did, I wasn't going to stick around to count, but they full on, proper burpees without looking tired.  Show offs...  I got it done in 2:30:00, and that included walking up part of the 6th Ave. hill.  It wasn't the hill that got me, it was just that I had no umph to spare even well before that late point in the race with one mile to go.  I actually felt like walking the rest of the race, but managed to focus on and follow someone just in front of me who was running at a pace I could deal with.

I'm having kind of a tough time bouncing back from this race.  I usually recover rather quickly from a half marathon, but I've been feeling rather lack luster since that day.

I've been asked to do review on this book:

I'm still reading it and will probably give a full review on my next blog post.  Several pages have been dog-eared or tabbed.  There are some great quotes and a few pet-peeves in the writing. I should have been finished reading it by now, but I haven't had much time to sit still and just read, or even blog.  I just need to remember to take the book with me to work and read it during my lunch hour.

My niece Amber, (Hubs side of the family) who was training for her first triathlon for later on this year, ended up with a femoral fracture, similar to what I went through back in 2008.  She had a similar surgery, too.  In her case, what caused the break to manifest further was a freak accident where a kid (playfully) jumped on her after she completed a brick (training).  There's speculation that she had the beginnings of a fracture, but the kid jumping on her caused a dislocation and possibly contributing to the fracture.  Surgery was on  8/19.  She's  going through a lot of what I went through and I've been talking to her a lot.   I keep reminding her that she will get through this and complete a triathlon, but I know that sometimes it's hard to sit still, be happy and heal while all of  your friends are out there training. I feel for her.  Been there, too.

My niece Anne, my brother's eldest daughter, is officially engaged.  I'm not sure when they're planning the wedding and any details, but we'll attend if they have a big to do. Anne will be the very first out of all of my nieces and nephews from both sides of the family to get married.

Anyone till there?
I hope to get back to regular blogging soon.

Song from Tuesday, August &, 2011:
Heaven - Los Lonely Boys


PEACE

Heaven

Summer is finally in full swing in my neighborhood.  Going to the beach, backyard barbecues, early morning running before the heat kicks in, outdoor concerts and visiting with family and friends is on the agenda.

Speaking of backyard barbecues, Meg - Meg Runs and her husband Steve (Boy Scout) hosted a blogger meet up at their home.  It's so funny how we live within such close proximity to each other and have never met.  We've probably been at the same run events, either running or spectating, but have never bumped into each other.  This time the happy occasion of Jill - Run With Jill and her son visiting California was just what we all needed to meet.   Also in attendance were Chris - The Manly Runner and his girlfriend Alycia, Anne - Run-DMZ, Cindi - AKA Alice and her husband Michael (Walter), and  Glenn - The Running Fat Guy.   Hubs manned the camera and managed a few great picture.

 I was able to catch up with Anne. 

"Walter", Meg, "AKA Alice", "Boy Scout"

Meg's back yard is enchanting.  It reminded me of what my grandparent's house used to be when I was young.  I was inspired. 

 Boy Scout manning the barbecue as Meg looks on.  The grilled pizzas were awesome.

Photo op with Jill.  

We had a good giggle about Victor Newman. :)

 All of us

 Left to right: Jill, Meg, Steve, Chris, Alycia, me, Hubs, Anne, Glenn, Cindi, Michael

I'm wishing I had more initiative and snapped photos, but I was enjoying the company of wonderful friends.  It's kind of funny how somethings just fall into place and you just know you're going to get along.  Hubs made the comment that we're always going to events, parties, and homes of people I have never met in person, but through the internet.  I have trusted that these meet-ups are going to go well, and that no one is extremely off kilter.  There are no overtly bizarre stalkers or ax murderers in the bunch.  The evening was lovely, conversations flowed, and we left feeling warm and fuzzy.  I appreciated how Meg and Steve made everyone feel so welcome, and it was fun having everyone together. 

Running?

Oh yeah, I run.

Last week I fit in about 20+ miles, even though Daily Mile says 19.5.   There's about 3 unaccounted miles that I never took the time to log in.   On Saturday I ran 10.5 miles with the track club up the hill that goes to Fort Rosecrans.  It's a long, gradual hill, and I felt a sense of accomplishment when I was done.  I've never run that route before.  One year I think we were out of town when the group ran that route, and the next year I was cruising because I was still getting over the broken foot debacle, made it to the first water station at mile 3 and went back to the start at Harbor Island. It felt good to get over yet another hurdle.  I need to maintain at least 20 miles a week, which can be a challenge with a wacky work schedule, but  It's doable.

It wouldn't be summer without an outdoor concert.  This year was Los Loney Boys joined with Los Lobos for fabulous music and a great time. Having decent seats wasn't too shabby, either. 

Of course, since this was somewhat of a stay-caytion, we had a room facing the bay...

Still not a wake yet, but so glad to be there! No, I didn't go out for a run. 

Song from Saturday, July 23, 2011:
Just Breathe - Pearl Jam

PEACE

I Shall Believe

I was hoping that with the start of school would mean time to catch up on blogging and checking in more regularly, but it hasn't quite worked out that way. I don't know whose idea it was to have school start the day after Labor Day, but it always makes for a very short and busy week.

Right after Labor Day, Hubs and I went to see Sheryl Crow in concert at Humphreys.  Most of the songs were from her new CD "100 Miles From Memphis, " but several of her well known hits were scattered through out the show.  The encore included her hit "All I Wanna Do" and a Michael Jackson tribute "I Want You Back."  She puts on a great show and we were in awe of her extremely talented band and back-up singers. Hubs is more of the Sheryl Crow fan than I am, but I had a lot of fun, too.

4th row, center.  

Hubs snapped this photo. 

Sheryl Crow is super fit, by the way.  She has some serious muscles, and looked fabulous.  You can't fake a healthy lifestyle, that's for sure.

I hooked up with Rehab United to train for the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in December. I missed the first group strength training class because I had prior plans, but I made it to the first group run. There were only 7 of us for a 30 minute run, but several people were participating in other running and sporting events. We should see more people this weekend. I ran about 3.2  miles, but it felt like a lot more.

Running isn't as effortless as it should be these days.  I just can't fight the fatigue I've been dealing with all summer. I'd have a glimmer of energy for a day or two, but it doesn't last.  It's not like I haven't been running, I would do at least 4 to 6 miles for most of my Saturday runs while concentrating on building speed, plus do some high intensity interval training on the treadmill gym during the week, run at the bay or my neighborhood once or twice a week, and fit in a weekly session at RU. I believe this is something other than just a case of feeling burnt out and is not psychosomatic.  On top of the fatigue I've been dealing with a ridiculous case of shin splints in my left inner shin. Newbies get shin splints from wrong shoes, running too fast, far, too soon. I'm far from newbie status, but the shin splints started (a few weeks ago) when I was wearing heels, and would sort of go away after I warmed up while running. Now the shin is just constantly reminding me that it's there, warmed up or not. I'm doing all the stretches that I'm supposed to do, massaging it with the stick, plus ice. I even backed off running a bit last week. I'm not sure if the shin splint is a result of the fatigue I've been dealing with, but I have plans to call the doctor this week.  Good times.

In other news,  I just found out that I'm going to be a great aunt!  My niece is expecting her first baby in early December.  I'm not sure why things were kept secret for so long, but we're all excited.  My grandson is excited to finally have another kid in the family.

Wednesday's Song:
Be True To Your School - The Beach Boys - Run-DMZ

PEACE

Hang On Sloopy

Life has been a whole lot of busy, which means I'm a whole lot of tired today, but that doesn't give me a day off since I'm hangin' with the grandkid today since his Mommy is on a mini trip out of town.

Friday the hubs and I traveled a whole 6 miles or so to Humphrey's by the Bay for a concert evening with Ringo Starr and his all star band.  When I booked this concert  back in April I did not realize Ringo was playing with an "all star" band.  I mean,  "all star" can be just about anything.  I didn't do any research prior to the show to see who was "all star."   It turns out that "all star" was really impressive:

Edgar Winter, Wally Palmer (The Romantics), Ringo Starr, Gregg Bissonette, Rick Derringer, Richard Page (Mr. Mister), and Gary Wright.

First things first, though.  When we checked in, the front desk person upgraded us to a mini suite.  It turns out that the mini suite faced the concert venue and stage.

Hubs and I on the balcony area of our room.

The venue view from our room.

We've been to quite a few concerts at Humphrey's, but we've never had a room this close to the venue, so we began calling friends to see if they wanted to hang out in our room during the concert, and (basically) see the show for free.  During dinner at Humphrey's restaurant*, we were calling friends just to see who could join us. It was such short notice, but two couples said they were on their way!

The view from the balcony... Seriously!

One of the couples we invited, Bruce and Liz, are HUGE Beatles fans.  HUGE.  Hubs decided that he actually liked sitting on the balcony to watch the concert, so he gave up his 4th row center seat to Liz.  She couldn't believe it.  She kept asking if Hubs was OK with it, and " are you sure?"  Hubs was happy to hang out with the guys and enjoy the drinks he brought instead of paying $6 to $10 for drinks on the floor.  The guys decided it was OK for the ladies to have the floor.  Liz and I found our 4th row center seats and danced and sang pretty much the whole time. Liz was in constant awe.  Even more awe-some was that this was a concert where we actually knew 99% of the songs.  I couldn't get over that Edgar Winter was singing and playing the Wally Palmer - Romantics hit "What I Like About You."  Edgar Winter, of course, played "Frankenstein."  Richard Page from Mr. Mister sang his hits "Kyrie" and "Broken Wings." Rick Derringer did his "Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo."  Gary Wright  headed up "Dreamweaver."  Remember those songs?  Of course, Ringo did his hits "It Don't Come Easy", "Photograph," "Yellow Submarine," amongst other well known hits.  It was fun sharing this particular concert experience with Liz just because she was so very much into it and constantly saying  "I can't believe this!"  The other couple who joined us brought their three year old daughter since a babysitter wasn't available, but they were able to hang out in our room and balcony area, were able to order room service,  and still enjoy the concert.

 Cell phone pic - 4th row center.  That's Ringo, center stage!

 Edgar Winter playing the sax  - "Frankenstein"

After the concert, local band Rockola** was playing in Humphrey's lounge, and admission was free if you showed your room card. Bruce and Liz are followers of Rockola and even had a fundraiser at their home with Rockola donating their musical talents for the fundraiser. Of course, we went to the lounge to dance and listen to a few sets!

Liz and Bruce still dancing!

At the end of the evening, Hubs and I were pretty wiped out and crashed. The next morning were were, uh, slightly hung over. We managed to get ourselves together enough to walk a few blocks to The Red Sails Inn for breakfast. Upon sitting down, Hubs decided to take his wallet and cell phone out of his pockets.

Cell phone and wallet... What's that third thing?

Yep.  Slightly hung over.  The hotel remote control made it into his pocket!  The people at the table next to us were just busting up over this! Of course, this warranted a blog- worthy picture, and a mention on Faceboook.

We had a stick-to-your-ribs breakfast and plenty of coffee, then we were back in business.  One thing about eating on the outdoor patio at The Red Sails Inn, is that of the seagulls was rather brazen.  While we were dining one seagull swooped down and stole bacon or sausage right off of people's breakfast plates.  That seagull stalked a particular plate and would just suddenly swoop down and grab exactly what it wanted in the blink of an eye.  This occurred about  five times while we were there, and Hubs was even a victim.  My plate wasn't interesting to the seagull since I had huevos rancheros -- no breakfast meats! 

Because we slept in we didn't run, even though we brought our running clothes and shoes.  Who were we kidding? We did swim a few laps in the pool before checking out, which made our little respite seem more vacation-like.  We needed a few more days, but we'll take whatever time off we had.  It was great.

Now it's back to reality, sidewalk chalk, marbles, Legos, baking cookies and paddle ball with the kid. Running?  Maybe later this week.

Friday's Song:
Missed Opportunity - Daryl Hall & John Oates

PEACE

*Dinner at Humphrey's is fabulous, by the way.
**Known for paying homage to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, and other 60s/70s bands.

Missed Opportunity

Somehow, I completely missed making note of my 1000th blog post.  Now it's at 1012.  How did THAT happen?  I missed it. I was planning on doing a look back at some of the highlights (and low-lights) of what I've posted since day one and maybe even do a give-away. Maybe I'll make up a new landmark number and celebrate that.  Hmmmmm.

I haven't been blogging much about running, but that's going OK.  I'm back in the mid 9m/m to high 9 m/m range without feeling like I want to hurl.  Honestly, it is a little bit of a push, but I'm not killing myself, either.  My long runs are still about 6 miles or under and I'll be adding more mileage as fall rolls around. I'm posting on Daily Mile, which automatically links to Facebook and Twitter.

Bryan has written out a workout/run schedule for me.   I'm trying to adhere to it as best as possible, but I'm just not feeling the bike love. He has me on a bike once or twice a week. I use the craptastic upright stationary bikes at my gym, which are certainly not contributing to my bike love. Last week I rode for 40 minutes and the readout said I went about 26 miles. This week I rode 45 minutes with the same intensity and the readout said I went 16 miles. WTF?  In addition, the upright bikes are scattered through out the gym and not all in one place with the rest of the cardio equipment, as if that's supposed to make us not notice how crappy the bikes are. I've mentioned before, but the good bikes are all in the spin class section in another room and cannot be used unless you're in a spin class. The spin class times don't work for me.  Bryan suggested using the elliptical, but I'd much rather run up and down stairs for an hour, use the Stairmaster, or even slam my hand in a door* before even considering an elliptical. The elliptical is my least favorite piece of gym equipment. I'll use it if I have to, but I'd prefer not to. Now I'm 'trolling the net for upright stationary bikes.

This weekend Hubs and I are going on a  staycation. We have dinner/room/concert tickets at Humphrey's by the Bay once again.  This time it's for Ringo Starr. Even though we purchased these tickets back in April, the timing of this little respite couldn't be more appropriate.  Honestly, we could use a week or more, but an escape for an overnight is just fine with us.

Live at the Greek Theatre 2008




Wednesday's Song:
Courage To Grow - Rebelution

PEACE


*A bit dramatic, but you get the idea.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Activity: Run
Date: 07/09/09 10:28 AM
Distance: 3.09 miles
Time: 0:33:55
Speed: 5.5 mph
Pace: 10' 59 min/mile
Calories: 297



Hill Repeats
The first mile was just running mostly downhill just so I could get to the part of the neighborhood where I could do hill repeats. The secret to hills, which really is no secret, is have lunges and squats be a big part of your routine. It felt good to power up those hills and cool down on the flat parts and the down hills. I'm really appreciating all of those lunges and squats they have me do at RU.

Ever since the 4th of July my nutrition has been off. I've been craving carbs like crazy. I don't know if it's because I've had a shift in workout routines or what, but I could easily eat a whole giant Costco sized bag of Stacy's Pita Chips, the plain ones. To make it more seem balanced, I made some hummus last night, but it doesn't make up for all the chips I inhaled. I suppose it could have been worse. I could have jumped into an entire box of Hostess chocolate cupcakes, but I didn't.



I purchased tickets to see Jim Gaffigan on 7/31. He's the guy who talks about bacon, cake, and Hot Pockets... I think a change of pace will liven up the routine.



Yesterday's song:
Always Asking Questions - Howard Jones

PEACE

Struttin' With Some Barbecue

Thursday a friend of mine mentioned he could possibly get comp tickets to a Yanni concert, the only thing we would have to pay would be the $4.00 processing fee. My reaction was "Sure, whatever." $4.00 for a concert ticket is pretty cheap. You can't even see a movie for $4.00. I sort of tucked the concert idea away in my head, and didn't think much about it until my friend called on Saturday afternoon to firm up the details. I'm not big into Yanni, but I'll listen, plus I'm familiar with a couple Yanni songs. I kept thinking "I hope we stay awake for the concert" because we woke up bright and early to go running that same Saturday morning. We were pleasantly surprised that the seats were not in the nose-bleed section of Cox Arena, but just 6 rows up from the floor, at a slight angle of the stage. The concert was anything but a sleepy concert. Yanni had something like a 22 piece orchestra, mostly strings, cool lighting, plus extremely talented singers. It was a pleasant surprise. Yanni truly looks really happy doing what he's doing. I've been to some concerts where the performers look like it's just another gig, another day at the job. The concert wasn't what I expected at all. It really was great and we were all blown away.

Sunday we hosted Father's Day at our house. My husband insisted on barbecuing. He requested shrimp for Father's Day, so I obliged and found some huge tiger shrimp, shell on, de-veined, which were the hit of the day. He also barbecued steak, bratwursts, veggie kabobs and corn on the cob. We had a ton of food and drinks, so much that we have enough left over for the 4th of July. We didn't over buy, it's just that people brought more stuff. We also had perfect weather. Unlike the day before, we had gorgeous weather, perfect to have everyone gather outside.

Today I'm feeling like a slug. You bet I indulged a bit yesterday. How could I not? Shrimp, steak, wine coolers, apple pie, family and friends? I didn't have RU today, thank goodness, so I did a much more scaled back workout at home instead:

Squats - Several sets while watching Oprah...
Push-ups, real ones - 5 sets of 12,
Abs to failure on a stability ball - around 200ish,
20 minutes of stretching, mostly hips, quads, sides.

I supposed I could fit in something else, but I'm still dealing with the food hangover...

Saturday's song:
Grey - Yellowcard

PEACE

No Complaints

My husband's uncle and second cousin have been here for the past few weeks and return to Brazil tomorrow. I do have pictures of them, but every time I think to upload the photos, my husband has his camera and is not home.

We took my husband's relatives and parents out to dinner last night. I sat next to his second cousin. I was admiring a beautiful ring she had on. It's a cabochon, royal blue faux sapphire stone in a silver setting. It's very pretty. I had mentioned that the ring was lovely and she just smiled and nodded with an "obrigado," which means thank you in Portuguese. We went on about our dinner, conversation was lively. I managed to pick up bits and pieces of the stories being told. I know about 10 words in Portuguese and can understand tons more, but enough to get the gist of a conversation. After dessert, Michael's second cousin wanted me to hold out my hand. She put the ring I had admired on my index finger and said the ring was a gift for me. *GASP* I was floored. She said the stone symbolized peace, strength and foresight. I was rendered speechless. At first I thought she was just showing me the ring, but she insisted that it was for me. Of course I thanked her and kept saying "wow." I'm still saying "wow." What a sweet gesture!

Today was also the annual thunder boat races on Mission Bay. The sounds of the race boats resonated through out the neighborhood. It's sort of like NASCAR on the water. We could see a few of the boats in the distance as they raced by. This made for an exciting day for my grandson because "those boats go really, really, fast!" The loud roars of the thunder boats, uh, races resume tomorrow morning.

My son turns 21 on Monday. For his birthday he wanted a 2 day pass to Street Scene, September 19 & 20. For a few years it really wasn't held on the streets, but in stadium parking lots. This year it's back Downtown, on the streets. There's several stages with several bands scheduled to perform. My son was interested in seeing Beck, pictured here, but there's plenty to see and hear. My son mentioned that after one of the bands finished playing, the lead singer came up to him, shook his hand and said "thank you for rocking out!" Sorry, I can't remember which band it was, but my son thought that was pretty cool. Since my son turns 21 on a Monday, he has no plans to go out drinking. He has classes that day and I'm sure he has plenty of studying to attend to. Don't worry, I won't let his birthday go unnoticed. You know there's a cake to set a blaze, a song to be sung, and cake to eat. I just love celebrating birthdays.

Yesterday's song:
Atomic Dog - George Clinton and the Funkadelicks - Run-DMZ

PEACE

Late At Night

Late yesterday afternoon, my husband called to inform me that he was given a ticket to see Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick in concert, but just one ticket from a work colleague. It didn't bother me that he was going without me, but it did seem a little weird that he was seeing Heart in concert without me. We're Heart geeks from way back in the day. I've lost count of how many Heart concerts we've been to. We've also seen Cheap Trick several times, but not deliberately. They were either opening for other bands or played at one of those all day music festivals. When we first started dating, my husband's 1960-something Pontiac behemoth vehicle did not have a working radio and we used to sing "Surrender" at the top of our lungs as we motored down the road. Amazingly, we've never seen Journey together, and the song "Open Arms" was our song for a time when we were dating. I swear, we burned a deep groove in that vinyl Escape album. My husband called me from the concert while Cheap Trick was on but I honestly couldn't tell what song was performed. Then he called back when Heart was on. He called 7 times during Heart ~ once to tell me the were on, and one time for 6 of the songs. It was almost like playing Name That Tune. I got all of the songs correct, even "Love, Reign O'er Me." (Originally performed by The Who.) Then he called several times during Journey, but the connection was choppy and cut out. I figured he couldn't hear me say "stop calling," so I finally sent him a text message to stop. Around 3 am he calls and wants me and my son to go pick up his car because he's driving his drunk work colleague home in a different car. If there is any consolation, is that my husband was the designated driver and there's absolutely no traffic at 3 am. Good times.

In food news, I had Cocoa Krispies for breakfast this morning. Yay me! (Oh, come on, now, it's food and I'm blogging about it.)


Yesterday's song:
Ready To Run - Dixie Chicks - Diary of an Aspiring Loser

PEACE

Everybody Have Fun Tonight

June ended with a bang. My husband and I went to the Robert Plant/Allison Krauss "Raising Sand" concert (Featuring T Bone Burnett) last night. We purchased the dinner/hotel package and it seemed like a mini vacation. Dinner was fantastic, and we were upgraded to a full suite -- I'm not sure why we ended up with an upgrade, but I'm not complaining. For the concert we had 3rd row, center. I don't ever think we've had seats that good, anywhere. I honestly wasn't sure what to expect, and I wasn't sure how the different styles of Robert Plant and Allison Krauss would mix, but this concert ranks up there with one of the best shows I've ever been to. My husband and I are more Robert Plant fans, and we knew little about Allison Krauss, but now we're in awe of her talent. Their voices melded well together, and the on stage chemistry between everyone was amazing. They did a blues-y, slower version of Black Dog and The Battle of Nevermore that knocked our proverbial socks off. They also did a very haunting version of Down to the River to Pray from the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? ~ as well as the collaborative songs from the new CD.



Our son went with his friend, and their seats weren't quite as up close as ours, but with a venue that seats 1400 people, every seat is a good seat. Long story, but my son and his friend were given signed copies of the Raising Sand CD... They almost got back stage by accident -- a security guard thought they were a part of the crew, but they were honest and told the guy they were just trying to get to their seats.

We also sat next to a couple who seemed very indifferent to the concert. When I was seated, I made a comment about the great seats, and they just looked at me, and didn't say a thing. During the concert they sat quietly and kept looking at their watches. Everyone else there was dancing, singing some of the songs, clapping, and having fun. Right before the encore, the lady said something like "I gotta get out of here." When they left, the couple that sat on the other side of them said something about that couple being a definite joy kill. We ended up chatting with the other couple and ended up going to the hotel club for a couple of drinks and to talk about the concert, and laughing about the dead-pan couple who weren't enjoying themselves. Third row center seats were wasted. If they didn't like it, they could have given their tickets to someone in one of the back rows who and left. Sheesh. Perhaps they were given the tickets and that type of music wasn't their thing. I dunno.

My husband needed to get something out of the car right after the concert. Our car was parked near the tour bus. A couple of guys saw my husband walking away from our car near the bus and asked him "Dude! Are you the bass player with the band?" Heh. I wonder what would have happened if he said he was? Hehehee.

This morning we took advantage of the hotel swimming pool. I quickly discovered that I need to build back up to swimming, and it wasn't as effortless as I had anticipated. I couldn't do a crawl or breaststroke what-so-ever because of the kicking, but I could do a version of a back stroke and water walk. Water walking simulates running, so I might have to check more into that, and what I need to do to get it right.

Yesterday's song:
Killing The Blues - Robert Plant & Allison Krauss - Barbie2be

PEACE

Killing The Blues

I drove to my 6 week post op appointment today. This is the first time I've driven since I was admitted to the hospital. They took a few x-rays before the appointment. It looks like I have a spatula in my femur, attached with screws. My surgeon said everything is progressing normally and I can now use a stationary bicycle along with swimming. He also said in about three months I could probably test out running a little, but nothing ridiculous like a sprint or long distances. I was pretty psyched about the go-ahead for stationary bike riding. He also gave me a referral for physical therapy, which will most likely be a lot of stretching.

Tonight my husband and I are going to a concert. This time it's Robert Plant and Allison Krauss, together. We bought the tickets months ago, and it's a sold out show. My son and his "friend" will be going, too. The venue is at Humphrey's Concerts By The Bay, a smaller, outdoor venue that I've talked about before. We purchased the dinner/room package again, and we're really looking forward to it.

No official workout today, but I'm busting my butt cleaning the house.

Yesterday's song:
Walk This Way - Aerosmith and/or Run DMC - Simply Pink

PEACE

We Belong

Tonight's track club workout was supposed to be 7 X 800 meters, with 400 meter cool down jogs between each 800 meters. I only did 4, and ran one 400 and couldn't run the next 400. I'm not sure what's going on but BOTH front of my hips are hurting. I could barely keep up with the back of the pack of C group, and I usually run at the front. I was so frustrated having to stop so soon. I'm not a big cry baby, but I really felt like crying due to sheer frustration. I have a scheduled chiropractic appointment tomorrow morning, thank God,and I hope Dr. Carl can help. For now, I've downed a couple of naprosyn, took a cold shower and used ice. I'm still hurting. I think I've just attended my last Tuesday night track workout until the marathon is over, which is just 4 weeks way. It seems like I get more beat up at the track workouts than I do on the long runs. *sigh*

I'm still deciding about TNT and the Nike Women's Half Marathon. If I could figure out how to get some corporate sponsors, I'd go for it. I have a couple of weeks to decide.

Guess who's headlining the concert with Neil Giraldo after the marathon this year? I hope we're not too tired to attempt attending the concert. Last year we missed out on Seal.




Yesterday's song:
TNT - AC/DC - Barbie2be

PEACE

One More Cup Of Coffee

My husband went on the run with the track club today. He explained that they began the run in their usual spot at Hospitality Point, but they went north, towards La Jolla and back to Hospitality Point to finish. I decided earlier in the week that I would not attend today's run. I'm having all kinds of shoulder and back issues brought on by asthma. I'm setting an appointment with my GP for Monday so I can get a new Rx for an inhaler or SOMETHING. Not being able to breathe properly makes for a tight upper back/shoulders and unnecessary fatigue. Strong, hot coffee usually does the trick for me - in diverting the asthma, but today it didn't work so well. My left quad is still a little sore, and that's actually not so bad, but I also felt that if I ran the 14 miles that was scheduled today I might risk injury to the quad. This time I took the advice I often give others and rested.

It's not looking so good for my chances of running in the Nike Women's Half Marathon. Several people noticed their credit cards were charged to the event and also it showed up on their Active.com account. There was no charge on my credit card account for the event, nor was there any new information on my Active.com account, where I signed up. I suppose I have until April 1 to learn my fate. I'll be greatly dissapointed if I don't get in. Right now I'm not counting on being in.

Things aren't totally gloomy in my little world. I managed to purchase 4 tickets to see/hear Robert Plant with Allison Krauss at Humphrey's on June 30, 2008. Tickets went on sale this morning at 10 am, and we did get decent seats. I was going for the cheaper seats but those were already sold out! We managed to get into the front section, a few rows back, so that's pretty sweet right there, plus we bought the dinner package. It wasn't cheap but we don't go to a lot of concerts, either. We've seen Robert Plant in concert before, but the venue was huge. Robert Plant was just a small figure on a large stage from where we were seated. Humphrey's is much more intimate. I'm very much looking forward to this concert.

Yesterday's song:
All I Really Want - Alanis Moresette

PEACE

We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place

My husband and I took a mini break this weekend for a concert and overnight stay at the concert venue. It was great. They upgraded our room to a junior suite, dinner was fantastic, seats were 4th row center, and the concert was outdoors and the weather was perfect. We enjoyed the concert - Heart rocks - even after all these years, but the concert seemed too short. The next day we got up and went for a long walk/talk and watched the ships go by. After checkout, we cruised over to the beach and went boogie-boarding, more walking and out to dinner. The two downsides were having to come back home to reality and making the mistake of weighing myself after a long "free" day. I know it's mostly water retention, because I did splurge and have a few drinks at the concert dinner, but it's still brings things back to reality. I know that by Wednesday or Thursday my weight should be back to normal. Hubbie has some things to handle at work, so we're probably not going to leave again until Wednesday or Thursday. We're just going to pack the car and go somewhere, no where in particluar, probably up the coast.

I need to get out and run.

Have a great day!

Peace

EDIT -- I actually ran at the bay around sunset!
Activity: Run
Date: 09/11/07 06:27 PM
Distance: 5.58 miles
Time: 0:56:26
Speed: 5.9 mph
Pace: 10' 06 min/mile
Calories: 534