Summer Breeze

I feel like a kid starting back at school with the first day of school assignment" "What did you do over your summer vacation?" Aside from not blogging*, I've been doing a lot of the usual, such as going to work. My running has kind of taken a back seat to tendinitis in my left foot, but it's not that bad, and I'll get out and walk the dog for a mile or two at a time and try to put in some slower, longer runs during the weekends. The most I've run at any one time has been 8 miles. Instead of writing about my summer vacation, I'll just show a few photos instead.

My most recent race picture... From June at the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Half Marathon.  

4th of July Weened - Hubs and I finally trekked to Los Angeles to hang out with my sister and her husband.  My sister and I both needed some relaxation and found it at Malibu Winery.

Griffith Park Observatory

View from a hike at Griffith Park trails.

I finally had my medal rack mounted and put up my race medals!

From my backyard.  Tomatoes and assorted greens were great this summer.

I was selected for the half marathon.  This will be my third Nike event.

We still have weekends with Evan.  He's been joining us on some of the runs, but walking.  He's a real trooper!

Summer isn't officially over yet.  There's still more beach time to be had and perhaps a concert or two... and maybe put in more time on my feet.

Cheers!

Song from Wednesday, May 8, 2013:
Carry On  - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

PEACE

*I'm mostly on Facebook now.

Rescue Me

 Meet my new running partner:

LEXI

After a few inquiries to rescues and several internet searches for specific breeds (Labradors or German Shepherds),  I stumbled upon Pet Finder, which directed me to Wagging Dog Rescue and several lovely professional photos of Lexi.  I wasn't sure how good my chances were for adopting Lexi, but I figured it was worth a try.  A couple of weeks later I finally received a reply from the lady who heads Wagging Dog Rescue and asked me to submit a formal application.  She did mention that there was another family who was interested in Lexi, but she wasn't convinced that they were the right family for such an active dog.   The rescue people liked my application better because they liked that Hubs and I are runners and have a very active lifestyle.  It didn't hurt at all that we have a big back yard.  It wasn't much longer that the date was set for Lexi's foster dad to bring her over to meet.  We all bonded immediately, but she especially bonded with Hubs.  She followed him everywhere.  I kind of felt bad for her foster dad because we could tell he loved her, and that giving her over to us was hard.  He was a little emotional with the good byes.  After a two week "trial" period, the adoption was final and Lexi became a part of our family.  

It's all about the ball.   The concentration is fierce.

A "Lexi-Proof" ball.

4 year old Lexi is VERY active.  We must have a bajillion balls all over the yard now, and she loves to play fetch until our arms give out.  Just as with training a person to run and adding mileage, I'm doing the same with Lexi.  We're up to about 5 miles, but not solid running yet. I'd prefer to call running with Lexi "interval training." I think we'll be up to a solid 5 miles of running soon.  I don't think I'll have her run more than 6 miles at a time once we get to that point, but I need to make sure she can go the whole five without having to slow down for anything -- except a potty stop.  She has turned out to be a great running partner and gets excited when she sees me put on my running gear. 

Lexi gets along with just about everyone, even our cat Lumpy.  They're not snuggle buddies, but they sniff out each other every morning and that's it.   She has been great with kids, as we put her to the Evan and his best friend test.  The three of them wore each other out.  She does bark for her "greeting," which can be intimidating, but it's her way of saying "hello," especially since there's a wagging tail behind that bark.

Lexi's story of being a rescue is all too typical.  She had at least two prior owners and was in either a shelter or the humane society, and was also found as a stray before she ended up at  Wagging Dog Rescue .  She is micro chipped and the rescue was able to trace her prior owners, but no one stepped up.  This broke my heart.  She weighed about 50 pounds when the rescue took her in, and should weight about 75 to 80 pounds.  I'm happy to report that she's almost at her goal weight at 72 pounds at her last vet visit.   

Lexi is definitely at her "fur-ever home" with us.  We're in love.

Waiting for "Daddy" to come home.

Song from January 30, 2013:

Never Grow Up - Taylor Swift

PEACE

Yesterday to Tomorrow

Happy New Year!


The holidays sure came and went so quickly.  I wish I had the time to bask in the joy of the season, but I felt as if we rushed right through Christmas, then on to New Year's Eve, and here I am, just about a week into the new year and wondering where December went.   I thought I would do a lot more blogging during the holidays, but with everyone except me off from work and school, I had very little computer time, unless I could check e-mails and Facebook on my iPhone.  

What a difference a year makes.


Last year I was not a happy camper at my former place of employment.  It was unnecessarily stressful, brought on by a uber micro managing business owner/boss who encouraged throwing your fellow coworkers under the bus.  I was constantly sick and dropped a solid 10 pounds, 15 if I count the week my weight dropped to a number I haven't seen in years.  It was not a healthy weight loss and I did not have 15 pounds to lose.  10 was OK, but losing weight without wanting to is scary, especially when I was eating high calorie foods (on purpose) to maintain weight.  I was constantly stressed working in a toxic environment - not only people toxic, but something (physically) there made me ill.  From Monday through Friday my eyes would feel dry and puffy, my head felt fuzzy,  and I always felt lethargic.  Saturday and Sunday (my days off) I felt clear-minded and healthy.  Monday it would start all over again. Running was my true refuge, no matter how crummy I felt. Running gave me clarity of mind and I could feel grounded again.  I don't know what I would have done without running since it kept me sane. I remember the few days after I left that office, sitting on the couch watching TV and realizing how amazingly good I felt for the first time in months.   

This year I am a very happy camper at my current place of employment, where I began working about a month after I left the toxic office. It may not be the fanciest or most up-to-date technical wonder of an office, we still use a DOS based program, but  it's great when your employer always says things like "thanks for being here today, " and means it.  We all share in each other's accomplishments and look out for each other when needed.  My only gripe about my current job is that I'm not working enough hours.  Oh, and the weight came back.  That's not really a gripe, though.  I was hoping to at least hang on to a 5 pound weight loss, but I'll take the happy + 5 pounds over the miserable -15 pounds any day.  My running has stayed the same, though.  I wish I could say that a happier workplace has lead to better running, but that keeps changing, regardless of what's going on in my professional/personal life. 


Other Stuff...


My son's band actually played a show at the House of Blues, Downtown, San Diego -- and got paid.

UNDEAD GARDEN performing "Grilled Cheese."  My son is on the drums.

Not bad for an iPhone/Facebook photo taken by a parent (me) trying to look inconspicuous. 

After the gig, and back at home with is band mates & friends, Hubs felt the need to make a few grilled cheese sandwiches for the band. 

 My son started out as a lead guitar player, and is quite talented with his guitar playing abilities, but there were always issues finding a reliable drummer.  They would find a drummer who would seem consistent for a few weeks, then suddenly be late, not show up, or move out of town without notice to anyone.  My son took a few drumming classes at the community college, and took it upon himself to sharpen his skills.  Now that he's THE drummer, the band has consistent practices with complete sets and are now booking gigs.  I'm floored.  They still need to sharpen their sound a bit, but the fact that they already have a following and are booking gigs is amazing.  Their sound is sort of punk-metal. 

New Year's Resolutions?

I don't really make New Year's resolutions, but I have been known to do some goal setting.  Once I am finished with prior race commitments, I'm going to take a break.  I have a few races planned up until June, and after that I'm going to just cruise and run without a particular race in mind.  I'll continue to run, but running won't be the sole focus. There's so much more out there, and maybe I need to refocus on my other passions that have been left in the dust.  

My current agenda includes the Carlsbad Half Marathon, which is taking place in a couple of weeks.  As much as I would love to say that I'm 100% prepared for this race, I'm not.  Regardless of how ill prepared I am, this is one of my favorite races.  Even though it starts off at a shopping mall, most of the half marathon is along the coast, and it's beautiful.  This is a race for the mind.  The two times I've run it I've been sick, and just ever so lucky to finish.  I'd say running along the coast kept me going.  My game plan for this time is to (again) just finish and I'm OK with that.  I don't need a PR to enjoy the ride. 

Song from Thursday, December 22, 2011:

(There's No Place) Like Home for the Holidays - Perry Como

PEACE

(There's No Place) Like Home for the Holidays

December brought a slew of non-stop busy-ness.  It's been party, party, party... sort of.  I can't remember the last time Hubs and I were invited to a grown up party together until this year.  After Las Vegas, we had four holiday parties last week, plus our wedding anniversary of 29 years on December 11th.  This week was a little calmer but busy with baking and trying to remember what we did with certain Christmas decorations.  I went old school this year and used most of the Christmas decorations from the years when my kids were in grade school.   We also put up the tree in the living room this year. 

The dining room where the tree usually goes is, uh, having issues...  

Like last year, the Kiddo was my decorating buddy and helped me with the majority of the decorating.  Hubs put one ornament on, and and my son put a few up high were I couldn't reach, and my daughter was oblivious to other life around her while busy with studying for finals.  

Living room fireplace.  

I would so love to have a warm fire, but this fireplace needs to be repaired or torn down and rebuilt.  I put candles in it but there's no damper, and the air coming in through the top blows out my candles. *sigh*    The kiddo pointed out that since we can't burn anything in this fireplace that Santa won't get burned when he comes down our chimney.

The Kiddo

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas because I got this surprise delivered today:

Nothing says Merry Christmas more than socks, holiday peppermint Gu's, and Stingers from  blogger Tara - Colorado Runner!   Yay! 

The packages were shipped from REI.  When UPS delivered the boxes I was wracking my head trying to remember what I had ordered from REI.  Then it clicked that these were from my Secret Santa from the Bloggie Gift Exchange.  One box contained the great pair of Smartwool running socks, and the other box contained the Gu's and Stingers.  The timing is perfect because I'm out of any type of gel/goo electrolyte and I just might have to save a couple for the Carlsbad half marathon next month.  The socks are on my feet right now:

Warm and cushy!  I can't wait to run in these! Thanks so much, Tara!

On the running front, not a lot of running has been happening.  Somewhere between the parties and work, I caught a cold.  It's not a bad cold, but just enough to mess up the flow of day-to-day life.   I know I had the cold before I had to deal with the bratty snot-nosed kid patient and his clueless mother.* Gross. I hope to do a slow, longish run this Saturday morning, which happens to be Christmas Eve.

In other news, for the first time in YEARS (2000?) I received a cash bonus at work.  I honestly wasn't expecting much of anything, maybe a box of candy, but since I'm part-time right now I felt the bonus was rather generous.  I had plans for new Ugg boots and have change left over for an outfit, BUT one of my cats became rather ill yesterday and my bonus went towards paying the vet bill. Merry Christmas to my vet. Oh well.   At least I had that cash to help lessen the blow of that hefty vet bill, and for that I am grateful.    FYI, it was my little girl cat, Luna, the little bitty 8 pound cat who can beat up our 75 pound dog.  The vet thinks it's a thyroid issue.  She's doing much better now and will be on meds for a week.  Good times.

This year we didn't send out Christmas cards.  I suppose we could have, we just didn't.  I'm thinking of New Year's cards.   Just in case, consider this picture of the Kiddo and me your Christmas card from me:

Wishing you all lots of Christmas cheer!

Song from Thursday, December 8, 2011:  

Good Intentions - Toad the Wet Sprocket

 PEACE

*On the scale of one to ten in snotty-nosed grossness, this kid was a 10, plus he sneezed all over everything.  It was so gross that I felt the need to wipe everything down with rubbing alcohol when he and his mother left the building.  I'm not a germophobe, but felt gross dealing with this obnoxious kid.  I just don't understand parents who let their kids run a muck in a medical office, or any professional office.  Sheesh.

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

Just Breathe

Blogging?

I have no good reason as to why blogging hasn't happened as frequently as it once did.  Perhaps having computer issues have slowed things down a bit, and I'm not big on phone blogging, especially when auto correct gets in the way.

Everyone in my house had a cold.  It wasn't anything tragic, it was just more annoying than anything.  Now that the cold has diminished it has been rather hard getting back into a groove.  I kind of feel as if my energy was taken away from me, and I can't quite get it back, especially when it comes to running.  I should be able to keep up with the group, but I just can't.  I'm quickly out of breath, but having asthma factors in. I'm sticking with the training as best as possible, still getting in the miles, albeit slow.  This too shall pass.

The kiddo has turned 8 years old and is counting down to when he can finally get his driver's license. I don't want him to rush things because he's still cute, says funny things, and thinks we're still cool.  I'm soaking up this phase of his life as much as possible.  I know it won't be very long before he thinks we're creepy, but it's currently a blissful time. The other night he brought me a hot cup of herbal tea.  The hot tea was his idea and his Papa helped him out. Yes, it was a warmish summer night, and he brought me hot tea so we could spend time together.  How could I resist?

Compared to my last job, my current job calm,  REALLY calm. I have coherent, linear thoughts and don't feel like my head is going to explode.  I'm doing pretty much the same things that I was doing at my last job, but now I'm dealing with "normal" people for employers.  It's so refreshing to work for people who don't micro-micro-micro-manage their business.

In my head. Calm.

I'm always on the hunt for natural, non-dairy treats.  Not having having ice cream during the summer months kind of sucks.  I have an allergy to cow's milk products which triggers skin issues and asthma.  While grocery shopping I discovered Luna & Larry's Organic Coconut Bliss Bars.*

I happen to like coconut, and was overjoyed to see that these contained NO DAIRY.  Every time I look in the frozen foods section to find something that resembles ice cream, it contains some form of milk. Finally, I found something that is palatable with the consistency of an ice cream bar. It's not like I'm going to wolf down the entire box (only 4)  in one sitting, but when I have a small splurge, these will fill the no ice cream void. 

In addition, I've also discovered that coconut water is a great electrolyte. I've stocked up on Zico.

The only thing about coconut water is that it's best served COLD.  It's not so great at room temperature. I've also noticed that it's easy on the digestive system, and doesn't mess with my system if I drink one of these before running. I haven't ventured into the other Zico coconut water flavors, like chocolate, but the natural coconut is just fine with me. *


Song from Monday, July 18, 2011:
Happy Birthday - Stevie Wonder

PEACE


*These reviews are my own.  No one gave me anything to say my 2 cents.

Little Room

I'm cautiously optimistic that my computer won't bug out on me again. I was able to read some blogs, catch up on Facebook and sort through e-mails on my iPhone, but I'm not much for posting from my phone, unless it's super short. Yes, I know people who could probably compose entire novels on their cell phones, but I am not one of them.

The last time I posted was around the time we celebrated my mother-n-law's 90th birthday. The amazing thing is that she is still rather all together, considering her years. She still likes to boss everyone around and be the matriarch of the family. I think I once mentioned that she didn't want to use a cane to aid with her walking because (she said) it would make her look old. For the first time in years, the entire family was together. No one was away at college, those who were living out of state flew in for the occasion, and everyone who lives locally made the effort to show up. It was pretty incredible that no one thought to take a picture of all of us together.

The track club's half marathon training program is in full swing. I've been making the effort to attend the Tuesday night workout at Balboa Park, as well as the Saturday long runs, provided I'm not scheduled to work. The Tuesday night workouts are killer. I always end up feeling so beat up by the time the hour is over. The hills of the back trails of the park are on the schedule. It's not the hills that concern me, it's the dust mixed in with the warm weather that gets my asthma going. I may have to figure out how to work around that, like wearing a mask (NOT!), resign myself to the VERY back of the pack, or run someplace else.

I was looking forward to my long 4th of July weekend, but I ended up coming down with a cold, which took up my entire three day weekend. Figures. Hubs had come down with the cold earlier in the week and passed it along to me. This is the first year we opted out of running in any Independence Day 5ks. As much as I needed to sleep in that morning, I just couldn't. My head was too stuffy to remain laying down. Sheesh. A cold, no 5k and no sleeping in. Yeah, it sucked. Once I got up and downed a couple of Sudafed, and chased those with some coffee, I decorated cookies, because that's what you do when you're amped up on Sudafed and coffee.

Well... that's what I do when I'm amped up...  I get all artsy-craftsy. Notice the lack of attention to detail.  I am not a professional and do try this at home.  Results may vary and may be better because you won't be amped up on coffee and Sudafed.  Just sayin'.

While I decorated cookies, Hubs textured and painted the small bathroom. He also braved Home Depot to buy stuff to re-attach the toilet. I'd say this weekend bathroom project (that has taken about four months to work on) is about 85% finished. He still needs to cut floor tile for the trim, replace the old medicine cabinet, attach the back-splash behind the sink, and maybe add some sort of window treatment.

Before

During

After

FYI, those blue tiles on the wall were aluminum. Needless to say, those tiles did not age well, however, the ceramic blue tiles in the shower are fine. Back in 1947, my Grandpa had to cut costs somewhere, and using aluminum tiles were more cost effective.

When working on the small bathroom was over for the day, we had friends over for a barbecue.  Once again, no one thought to take pictures, but we barbecued and ate way too much food, roasted marshmallows for s'mores later on, then watched fireworks from the roof and backyard. 

Now that I'm somewhat on the rebound from my cold,  I started back at RU with a killer workout. Even though they knew I was rebounding, they still believed that I can handle a bunch of weighted lunges, pylometric exercises and pseudo kettlebell-esque exercises, THEN run right after.  Good times. It was all finished off by some assisted stretches that were extra special. (Yeouch...)  It's all within the realm of getting me running just as well as I did for Rock 'n' Roll in June.

I need to get a little more serious about training for the AFC half marathon which is just next month.  Getting a cold sort of threw me off a little, but I need to put some distance and hills back into my long runs, especially since I can't attend some of the Saturday morning group runs. Dollars to doughnuts, it will be warm and humid on the day of the AFC half marathon and I need to be ready.

Song from last Thursday:
Low Tech Lady - Ana Laan

PEACE

It Amazes Me

 

Song from Saturday, June 11, 2011

Feelin' Alright - Joe Cocker - Run-DMZ

S

PEACE

Feelin' Alright

THE (ALMOST) ONE WEEK POST HALF MARATHON POST.
(Is that a bit redundant?)

Now that the post race glow (sweat) is gone, I've had a little time to think about my 13th half marathon.

First of all, there are no glorious photo finishes of just me running through or anywhere else on the race course. I also have photo proof that the group of Elvises (Elvi?) could outshine a girl in day glow-green.    Here's what I've got:

 This one is sort of OK. Just in case, I'm the one in the day glow tank top, right on the 5k marker.

 I'm *just* to the right of the group of Elvises. They were stopping for photo ops  with other people during that stretch of the race, making it HARD for me to even pretend to look like Kara Goucher for that last .1 mile. 

 I wanted to look like this.

 This is as  good as it gets!

This is the post race photo op that I almost didn't stand in line for:

Happy to have my third fastest half marathon  in the books!

It turns out that this was my third fastest half marathon.  My official PR is 2:13:11, which was Silver Strand 2007.  Second fastest was also at Silver Strand 2009, clocking in at 2:13:30.  I never would have guessed that last week's half marathon would rank third fastest thus far at 2:17:53.  I'm thinking another Silver Strand half marathon is in my future, but I'm not sure about this year. This year isn't about speed.  It's about being conservative and not pushing myself so hard that I yield to injury. 2011 is all about cruising.

I wonder if it's possible for me to cruise and PR? Perhaps it is.  Hubs is cruising and PRing just about every race he's been in for the past year, even with foot issues.  Speaking of Hubs, here's his glorious race action photo:

Hubs, early in the race, near the Aerospace Museum at Balboa Park.

Soon after the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll event, I celebrate a birthday.  I kind of wish my birthday would fall right on race day, but the logistics never seem to work out, but it's OK.  My birthday falls during post race recoup week, and that sort of gives me an excuse to throw caution to the wind, relax and wear balloon hats.

Balloon hats only after martinis.

I celebrated with these guys... 

 The Kid and The Dancer

The Guitar Hero

 (Fuzzy, but The Kid was the photographer)

Me & Hubs 

(From The Kid's perspective)

We celebrated my birthday at the Corvette Diner, a throw back to the 1950s and  1960s, which was  Hubs idea, since we wanted to include The Kid and still enjoy adult beverages.

Of course I made a wish!   

All is good.  The martini glass IS empty.

Tuesday's Song:
Little Wing - Originally by Jimi Hendrix, redone by Santana featuring Joe Cocker

PEACE