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.

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.

Travels

Michael and I on top of the roof of Sam's childhood home in Guanajuato, Mexico.

We're baaaaaaak!

There are so many stories about the places we've been to, people we've met, things we've seen. I'll post some highlight pictures in another blog post. I was planning this great photo collage for my first post of the new year, but most of my favorite pictures aren't with me at the moment.

I'm thinking I need to follow Anne's lead and initiate a "Wordless Wednesday." I took so many pictures that I ran out of space on my media card, and had to download the pictures to Michael's laptop. Yeah, he took the laptop on our trip so he could do some work. *grumble* Next time I'm bringing extra media cards.

In just under 10 days we visited so many places - I counted about 10 cities/villages/sites, but I know there's more. Sam kept saying we were living like gypsies because we were always on the go. I think there was only one down day in Queretaro to do laundry, check e-mails and rest. I came home inspired and with an entirely new perspective of Mexico. I was awestruck. I have TONS of pictures, but for some reason the media stick Michael transferred the photos to (from his laptop) isn't cooperating.* I have to wait until he brings his laptop home from work, just so I can download some pics here. I have some great shots.

We had some of the best food from the street vendors and in farmer's markets, not to mention super cheap. We were stuffed full, beverage included for about the equivalent of two or three American dollars. Everything was super fresh and made to order, right in front of us. We were constantly on the go, so we mostly had only two large meals per day, and perhaps a light snack at night. We were so busy that I was able to maintain my weight.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. I'll catch up to you all, soon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009's song :
It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Andy Williams, etc...

PEACE

*Discovered that he copied the photos to the stick as "read only." DOH!

Loose in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Marathon/Half Maraton Event - Part 1

It has to be in two parts, mostly because of pictures, but the day of the event felt like three days rolled into one. I guess waking up at 4 am and going to bed at 1 am the next day had something to do with it.

I'm still not rested, but I've unpacked. Life has been busy since returning from Las Vegas, so I'll update as best as I can.

Friday 12/4

Made it to Vegas with little to no problems. Our flight was delayed for about a half hour, due to weather delays in the Midwest.

After checking into our hotel room at Luxor, and figuring out the elevator, we walked over to Mandalay Bay to pick up our race numbers and swag.


After a few times around the expo and scoring on some free Pearl Izumi socks, a red knit cap (came in handy), Elvis sunglasses and a ton of other non-essential items, we finally connected with AKA Alice:


She looked so put together and ready to go out. I looked like I needed an early bedtime! I don't know if it was the dry Las Vegas air or the smoky casinos, but my eyes puffed up almost the minute we arrived in Las Vegas. Oh yeah, I even met "Walter." I wasn't thinking, otherwise I would have gotten pictures of AKA Alice and Walter together.

After the expo, Michael and I went in search of some place to eat. It turns out that a sushi bar in Mandalay Bay had happy hour prices on select types of sushi and sake. We were there just in time to take advantage of happy hour.

Back at Luxor - Checking out the swag...

Nothings says "Merry Christmas" like Vanilla Gingerbread Gu. No, I haven't tried it yet.

After a walk down the strip, a brief stop in Walgreens, and a snack at McDonalds, we called it a night.


Saturday 12/5

We actually slept in. I've been waking up at home about 5 am without an alarm, so it felt weird to wake up at 8 am. After a coffee at Starbucks, we were back at the expo to look for more friends. I don't know why we spent more time milling around at the expo, it was kind of a waste, but we did see a few people from the Rehab United group, and walked up and down the strip with them. A long 4 mile walk was probably not the best idea but it was nice to get some fresh air. We also stopped inside a high end mall that just opened that weekend, just to see what it was all about.

Renata, Jessica and Me getting in a stretch. Those cylinders were illuminated ice. Security told us to get our feet off the display.

No trip to Las Vegas would be complete with a few architectural photos from Michael.

We parted ways with our friends and went back to the sushi place for our carb load dinner. We had the same happy hour meal, just left out the sake, and added a huge bowl of rice. We spent the evening in our room and rented a movie and snacked on pretzels filled with peanut butter. I know, not real exciting, but with the race the next morning and an early wake up time, we needed to keep things simple.

Sunday 12/6

Race day! We woke up at 4 am because we needed to meet the RU group down in the lobby at 5:15 am. I'm glad I had the where-with-all to purchase bottled mocha frappachinos at Starbucks and a couple of pastries the night before because that place was PACKED first thing in the morning. We kept the frapps cold in the ice bucket. It worked well!

Down in the lobby, we saw a couple of the RU people and then waited for everyone else to trickle in. As we were waiting, we noticed SEVERAL people starting to come back in from a night on the town, still all dressed up and blingy. I'm not quite sure if it was the "walk of shame" or they were still party-ing. Someone jokingly commented "gee, I wonder if they're running today?" My PT Bryan showed up, then eventually Justin and everyone else was there. It felt like we were about to go skiing, more than running. It was so cold. We all went outside to do some warm up stretches and then have a photo op:

Click photo to embiggen

I'm sort of on the left middle, with the reflective strips on my shoulders blaring. The guy right below me to the left with his tongue sticking out is Bryan, and guy at the front far left on the bottom row is Justin. Renata and her husband Gil are donning the white trash bags. Everyone else is either a part of the Run Fit program or RU staff. Photo credit to Michael.

After the warm up, we all went and dropped off our gear and waited in our numbered corrals. I was in #17. I couldn't get Lucy to cooperate, so I scanned the crowd for someone with my kind of Garmin. A guy was kind enough to show me what I was doing wrong. I had the right sequence down, I was just trying to hurry myself and missed a step. It really isn't that hard, but when you're half asleep and freezing, things just don't fall into place as they normally would. I called AKA Alice, but she ws still trying to get to the gear check area, which wasn't close, so we never hooked up. There were pre-race fireworks, the National Anthem, and then we were off, sort of. I started the run with Renata and Kristen. It took us about a half hour plus to get to the start line, since they were letting people go in waves. It was cool that the jumbotron at Mandalay Bay showed the runners.


I ran about the first two miles with Renata and Kirsten, but my calf was still tight, and I felt their need to go ahead of me, so I told them to just go ahead. I kept a relatively steady pace through the entire race. I was allowing myself some walking if I needed to, but it never got to that point.

Somewhere around mile 6, I think, maybe after the 10K point, I came upon Dawn, blogger Running Pink Chick. She came with a group from Canada. In the huge sea of people, I was so happy to see her. Since my camera went kaput on me right after the start of the run, she whipped out her camera and too this shot:


We ran together for a short while, but I had to keep my pace so my calf wouldn't lock up. It really lifted my spirits to run with Dawn.

I kept scanning for AKA Alice and her day-glow green race shirt, but no such luck.

After the turn-around that took us through a little neighborhood then back down the strip, I saw Renata waiting in line at the restrooms. Amazingly she caught up to me around mile 9, and we ran about 2 miles together. She pulled slightly ahead of me, but I always had her in sight. Around mile 1o.5, maybe 11, this Chippendale's dancer guy ran in front of me. He was wearing nothing more than the starched white collar, cuffs and bowtie, and black briefs, oh -- and running shoes. That's it. I kept thinking this guy had to be freezing or he was going to freeze something off...

As I approached mile 12, my left calf started to complain. It was stiff for the whole race, but it started to pinch and nag. I told myself that it's not a marathon, and I could manage 1.1 more miles. I did have the Zensah's on, which were a tremendous help. I don't think I could have run the entire HM without those. As I rounded the corner at mile 13, a huge group from RU waiting were there at the corner and yelled my name. One of the guys had a camera and I stopped and posed real quick for a photo,then ran my last .1 mile. I'll post the photo if I can get it.

Ran through the finish line! According to Lucy it was 2:30:00. Official time was 2:29:57. It felt good to squeak by in just under 2:30. It was my slowest half marathon, but with the calf issue, I felt quite satisfied. I ran the whole way.

Finished!

We got the bling!

After the race, and gathering up post-race eats like bananas and oranges, etc, Renata and I decided it would be a good idea to hang out in the souvenir tent because it might be warmer. It was probably a whole 10 degrees warmer, but it made a difference.

To be continued...

Tuesday's song:
Leaving Las Vegas - Sherly Crow - Southbay Girl - Planet Ynnep Running

PEACE

Hay Amores

IXTAPA/ZIHUANTANEJO - NUMERO DOS

Finally... Some of the pictures from my husband's camera.

Wednesday's song:
Come Away With Me - Norah Jones - Barbie2be

PEACE

Come Away With Me

IXTAPA/ZIHUANTANEJO, MEXICO, WEDDING TRIP/MINI VACATION, NUMERO UNO

I really wanted to get this entire trip recap in one blog post, but I made the mistake of using my husband's camera for most of the trip. He took the camera to work. GAH!

For some weird reason we couldn't get flights from San Diego into Mexico. Most of the flights went north to either Los Angeles, San Francisco, or even Phoenix, Az and Seattle, Wa. Really. San Diego is a border town. It seemed ridiculous to drive 2 hours to Los Angeles, so we opted for a short 20 minute drive to a friend's house, then another short 15 minute drive across the border to fly out of Tijuana. Easy. Smooth flights, little to no turbulence, no problems. No pilots slacking on laptops overshooting the destination...

We had one short layover in Mexico City. We had no time to leave the airport or explore the city, but the airport was ginormous. It reminded me of a Legos building...

Benito Juarez International Airport

Arriving at the little Ixtapa airport, greeted by the tropical foliage and 90+ degrees and humid weather, was the beginning of vacation mode.

"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore..."

We took a taxi to Las Brisas Hotel. Each room has a view of the ocean. Here's a shot looking out to the patio of our room . I would have slept in that patio hammock all night if it weren't for the insects, iguanas, coati and other unusual jungle critters...

¡Cómo es escénico!

At our first evening at the hotel, we joined the parents of the groom at the hotel lobby lounge for happy hour.

Consumición de los cacahuetes en la barra de hotel.

Happy hour offered two drinks for the price of one, but they'd bring out the two drinks at one time. These margaritas were loaded, made from scratch, and not the syrupy sweet mixes you get in the states at chain restaurants. These were wicked.

¡Aclamaciones! My Spanish speaking skills were MUY BUENO after these.

What is it that they say about good intentions? I had intended to run, either at the hotel gym or somewhere, but after a few times up and down this set of stairs at the hotel, I figured I was good to go. My GPS didn't pick up a signal at all and it was too hot and humid to wear socks and shoes. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Stairway to heaven... or at least the hotel lobby.

Sure, we were there for a wedding and to visit with people, but we also spent a lot of time doing this:

My husband is one of those dots out in the water. Yes, I did join him to body surf every time we went out.

We bought Gatorade while there, in Ixtapa, thinking that it was the standard yellow lemon/lime flavor. Little did we know it was mango flavored until we had a swig of it and THEN read the label.

¿Mango? ¿Quién sabía?

Más a seguir...

Last Wednesday's song:
Mexico - James Taylor - Pat's Running Blog - Nine Oh Nine

PEACE

Mexico

Travel websites always show this:


But this is the reality:

Weather

3-Day Weather Forecast for Ixtapa MX THU 22 89º F / 31º C 76º F / 24º C FRI 23 90º F / 32º C 76º F / 24º C SAT 24 90º F / 32º C 75º F / 24º C Forecast provided by IntelliCast.

I wonder if it will stop raining long enough for our friend's nuptials and getting in some fun in the sun?

I wonder if I'll actually use my running shoes for running?

I wonder if my GPS will work in Ixtapa?

See you sometimes next week!


Saturday's song:
Morning - Amos Lee

PEACE

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere

Well, now...

I've been a tad busy since about Thursday. Thursday there really wasn't much to discuss other than I ended up with food poisoning from a fish place we went to after an industry/vendor thing for my husband. I'm thinking it was the tuna tartar that did me in. I'm kinda thinking it wasn't supposed to be served at room temperature. I was up all night and in the restroom about every couple of hours, had to cancel my chiropractor appointment on Friday morning at 8 AM , and got in more sleep until about 10:30 AM Friday morning. Good times. I was a bit concerned because we had a dinner/show/room thing planned FRIDAY EVENING at 5:00 PM. Yikes. With a Pop Tart (I know, but that's what I could deal with) , Chicken & Stars soup and a couple of pretzles, I was OK, and by the time dinner rolled around I was ravenous. Thank goodness.

The dinner/show/room package was for Jim Gaffigan at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay. Ever since the one time we did the dinner/room/show pacakage, we always plan to attend another show the following year. Last year was Robert Plant & Allison Krauss. The year before it was Heart. This year we were looking for a music group or singer, but the shows that we were interested in sold out quickly, and there were good seats still available for Jim Gaffigan. It was a great choice. After a fabulous dinner and dessert, we sauntered* out to the venue. I'm not sure why, but we ended up with third row, center seats. (I just asked for best availabe, and we didn't even get the uber package.) Gaffigan was hysterical without being raunchy or using curse words. A lot of people brought their kids, which was different, but nice that you could bring your kids to see a comedian. He had a lot of new material, but also went into the "bacon" and "Hot Pockets" routines he is know for. It was so much fun. We laughed to the point of crying. We were lauging at other people laughing. We finished off the evening at the bar while listnening to a blues band and then called it a night. We were done.

Saturday morining we woke up kind of late, about 8:30AM, which means we missed the 8 mile run event out at Balboa Park, but we weren't in condition to run. You can't call a Grey Goose martini and two vodka tonics carb loading. I don't even think there's a carb there, unless you count the olives. I don't normally drink that much in one week, let alone one evening, which explains the late wake up time. Once we got ourselves together, we wandered around Point Loma for a breakfast haunt. We ended up at the Red Sails Inn. Service was so fast it was almost scary, but impressive. It's a place to return to, for sure.

Still waking up! I can't even muster a cheesy smile yet!

Once we had our breakfast and felt more awake, we went walking around, but didn't get too far because we found a place that sells a lot of European and organic wines. I just about did a happy dance because I've had a really hard time finding organic wines that taste good, and most European wines are organic, although they aren't classified as such. I'm extremely sensitive to the sulfates in most non-organic American wines -- I break out in an itchy, dry, rash (excema), and it really bites. I've been missing a lot of my favorite wines. We came out of there with 4 bottles, three from Europe and one from Argentina. I plan on saving those for another weekend. -- I'm not quite ready just now.

We ended up going back to the hotel to soak in whatever time we had left, asked for a late check out, and spent a few hours at the pool area. While we were there, the cabana bar had opened... Gee, a couple of Coronas and lime sounded really good with a plate of calamari, especially sitting poolside... It felt like a vacation, we might as well take advantage of it.


While we were enjoying drinks, we started looking around at the pool area. I kept saying "this is how I would like our backyard to look, but on a MUCH smaller scale."

No lawn to mow. Then after the second Corona, we decided it would be a good idea to install a running track around our backyard, made out of that cushy stuff they use on high school and college tracks. Then we decided it could be a multi-purpose track so that our grandson could ride his bike around it and also have a place to use his remote control cars. Luckily, we stopped after two Coronas; heaven knows what else we would have decided to do with our backyard.

Wednesday's song:
Reebok Tacos** - eCID

PEACE

*Waddled

**"I rock Nike socks with Reebox."

Wide Open Spaces

...and a few tight ones.

Springtime in Chicago.

Executive Ninja in Kyle's car.

Me and Jaime at the Orange for breakfast. They had menu items like Green Eggs and Ham, and Frushi -- sushi made out of fruit.

My sister's dog, Phoebe. She actually barks " I love you." It sounds like Scooby-Doo saying "Rye Ruv Roo."

Getting some love.

Chicago has a bid for the 2016 Olympics. Banners are up everywhere.

The Sears Tower

...and one obligatory photo of a Mies Van Der Rohe building.

Activity: Run
Date: 04/27/09 10:00 AM
Distance: 4.04 miles
Time: 0:37:22
Speed: 6.5 mph
Pace: 9' 15 min/mile
Calories: 377


Here's my haphazard run that started along Lake Shore. I was supposed to run over to Navy Pier, per my sister's instructions, but I never saw the signs to get there, so I just kind of made my way up to the streets, ran around until my GPS gave me the mileage I needed and went back. I had no clue where I was going and couldn't find a single sign on how to get to Navy Pier. Usually, my runs are pretty much a straight line. I was running around a construction site and a ton of people. No, I didn't run on the Chicago river. I suspect there was a little GPS bouncing, especially with all the buildings and running next to a television station. It wasn't quite the 6 miles I wanted to do, but it was a mile walk from the hotel and back, so I technically did get in the 6 miles.

Yesterday

Activity: Run
Date: 05/02/09 09:46 AM
Distance: 16.20 miles
Time: 3:00:52
Speed: 5.4 mph
Pace: 11' 10 min/mile
Calories: 1553




This was my 16 miler with the track club. I did better than I had expected, but I didn't anticipate needing more electrolytes than I had on me. Calf cramps kicked in right at mile 16, and I ran the .20 just to get to the gazebo at Hospitality Point. Yay. It would have been awful if the cramps kicked in earlier. At least I was in sight of the end. After a little electrolyte drink and some stretching I was OK. Around mile 10 I ran with Cathy, who ran the Boston Marathon last year. She remembered me from volunteering at the water tables at mile 23.5 at last year's Rock 'N' Roll Marathon and my hip injury, complete with walker. I mentioned that I am expecting to finish this year's marathon at about 5:30 or thereabouts. She informed me that were were running at a 4:30 marathon pace at that point. Oops. After the next half mile I told her I was going to back off my pace and chat with her the end of the run. My split at mile 10 was a 9:58 m/m. I would have been toast well before the 16 miles were up if I had kept that pace. I guess it was good to know that I could carry that pace 10 miles into a 16 mile run. That was also my fastest split.

It was also kind of humid for our run. Look how nice and sweaty I am. Right behind me is Sabrina, who I met at the beginning of the run. We ran the first 8 miles together.

Hey, guess what??? I'm not lopsided anymore!

Wednesday's song:
My Kind Of Town - Frank Sinatra - Pat

PEACE