Slacker

I've been a major slacker all week with the running. Monday was a rest day so I didn't do anything. Tuesday I was going to go to the track/hill workout but then found out we were going to be having a heat wave. I went home Tuesday after work, laid on my bed while I was thinking what I was going to do... suck it up and go to track, do a video, do a core workout... and I promptly fell asleep. By the time I woke up it was too late to do anything. :( Wednesday was supposed to be the hottest day of the year, getting up over 100 degrees in Walnut Creek, so Amy, Claudia and I ended up doing another pedicure/dinner night instead of running. Amy and I got the pedicures and then Claudia met up with us for some sushi :D When I got home I passed out on the couch for awhile before I woke up and went to bed.

I still haven't decided what I'm doing tonight... It supposed to be really hot again tonight and I've got a lot to do before I leave for Tahoe this weekend so I think I might stay home and do either a core workout, or my exercise DVD. I wish this darn hot weather would go away and it would start to cool down already... I'm sick of constantly worrying about the heat when planning my runs :(

Matching outfits... it's not just for little kids anymore!

So my family is wierd. We dress the same... WITHOUT planning it. We've done this many times before... coordinating outfits, same color shirts, etc. but this weekend was the worse. Check out the photo evidence:

FRIDAY NIGHT:

Notice the blue theme going on here?

SATURDAY:
I got back to the hotel after the run with my brother and my mom comments how she and my dad both have khaki pants and white shirts. What did I bring to wear on Saturday? Brown skirt and white tank top. When my brother met us for breakfast, what did he have on? Brown plaid shorts and a white polo. And what's scary is that I packed that outfit specifically for Saturday, and my brother wasn't around when we all got ready.

Look, even the couch matches.

SUNDAY:
We went with Green on Sunday. My dad had a light olive shirt on, which matched my olive green shorts, which matched my brother's green shirt. My mom said her shirt was green, but I think it's more bluish. Still, 3 out of 4 is bad enough. Even my uncle coordinated with his black shirt.

I'm hiding my green shorts out of embarassment ;)

Portland Part II

I uploaded some pictures last night so now I can update you on the rest of the weekend in Portland:

Friday:

I left straight from work for the airport to catch my flight at 6:00. I ended up being the first person in the "A" line so I got my pick of seats! I went straight for the 2 seat exit row with the extra leg room and since it was a full flight, someone soon plopped down next to me. Boy was I in for a treat (said with heavy sarcasm). Over the course of the next hour or so my already semi-intoxicated seat mate threw back one double followed by a single of Wild Turkey. From the moment I got on the plane I had my book open (the universal air travel sign for DON'T TALK TO ME!) but my lovely seat mate spent the whole flight staring at my and trying to engage me in conversation. This of course meant I had to breath in his stinky Wild Turkey breath the whole time. Yuck. So much for a nice relaxing flight.

I got into Portland and met my brother and parents at one of the airport restaurants where they had been waiting for me. We picked up my bags, got in my brother's truck and headed into Portland for some dinner. We ate at this yummy neighborhood pasta place called Justa Pasta. The weather was pretty nice-- a little cool but not cold-- so we sat outside on their patio and had some yummy pasta. My brother's roommate came by to say "hi" for a little bit. After dinner Grady dropped us off downtown at the Embassy Suites, our home for the weekend.

Saturday:

After Grady and I finished our run, my parents went to a coffee place around the corner to wait for he and I to get showered and dressed. We met back up for breakfast and ended up going to this place right around the corner from our hotel. It was all organic food and very yummy. I thought it was funny though when I was reading the menu that one of the dishes included "vegetarian-fed beef". Hmmm, so my beef is vegetarian? I just think that's a little funny.

After breakfast my brother wanted to meet up with some of his friends at the Adult Soapbox Derby up on Mt. Tabor. It was a little bit of a hike getting up to the road where they were racing, since we had to park at the bottom of the hill. There were some pretty views from up there and the soapbox racing, although sporadic, was fun to watch. There was no one keeping the crowds back along the course, and there were long breaks between each heat, so we saw some close calls as people tried to clear out of the way before the soapboxes came down the hill. We hung out with my brother's roommate and friends and then my uncle, his girlfriend and THEIR friends met us there too.

We didn't stay for all the heats and left in the afternoon. My mom had heard about this really big bookstore called Powells and wanted to go check it out. I thought... yeah, yeah, big bookstore, how big could it really be?! IT WAS HUGE!! It's the size of an entire city block and is so big, they have maps telling you where the different book sections are. I was a little overwhelmed by it all and stuck towards the front of the store where are the knick knacks and giftie stuff was. After that we went back to my brother's place and had some wine, cheese and crackers. From there we went to meet my uncle and friends at the Kennedy School. The Kennedy School is a former Elementary School that was turned into a "lodging, dining and meeting experience." The school is completely intact but the multi-purpose room is now a theatre, the classrooms (with their chalkboards) are guestrooms, the library hosts various gatherings, the "Detention" room is actually a bar, and part of the school is now a brewery. We ate outside in a large courtyard-- the food is what you'd find at a brew pub (with the exception of the tater tots... that's definitely in keeping with the school theme) and the brew is all brewed on-site. A bunch of my brother's friends ended up meeting us there after dinner so we all hung out and visited. After that it was back to the hotel.

Sunday:

We met up with my Uncle, his girlfriend, and friends for breakfast at Mother's Bistro and Bar a couple of blocks from our hotel. This place is pretty popular and was already crowded, with a line of people waiting outside, when we got there. We sat at a table outside on the sidewalk it was a little chilly but not too bad. With all the overcast, cool weather in Portland, you'd think there wouldn't be alfresco dining anywhere but I saw tables outside restaurants all over town-- and not empty tables but ones packed with people. I guess for those Portlanders a nice day doesn't necessarily mean a sunny warm day! Our food at Mother's was really good but we ALL overate. It just all sounded so good!

After brunch we said goodbye to my uncle and the four of us walked down to the Saturday Market, which actually goes on Saturday and Sunday. It's kind of like an Art and Wine Festival, without the wine. There are tons of vendors that sell everything from jewelry, to wall art, to children's clothes, and of course food. We did a run through and I was actually the only person who bought stuff... of course some jewelry! We still had awhile before we had to go to the airport, but not enough time to really do something major so we just went back to my brother's to hang out. My mom and dad hung out at his place reading the paper and my brother and I walked around his neighborhood. He lives in a really cute area (for those who know Portland, he lives in NW/ Nob Hill). He's a block away from a bunch of shopping and eating places-- Williams Sonoma, Urban Outfitters and tons of cute little boutiques. We spent about an hour or so walking around and looking in the shops. Then it was time to head to the airport and fly back to the Bay. :( THANK YOU GRADY for being such a good host... I had such a fun time visiting Portland!

Attack of the hissing geese (Portland Part I)

I'm back! Portland was great and we all had a blast! Since I haven't uploaded any of my pictures yet, today I'll just blog about the run I did Saturday in Portland with my brother.

I woke up Saturday morning at 6:30 to get ready for the run. I had spent the night on a very uncomfortable sofa bed so everything was already a little stiff and achy. I filled up my fuel belt bottles (with gatorade powder inside already) with water and the Gu I brought with me and I was all ready to go. My brother met up with me at the hotel a little after 7:00 and we walked down the street to the waterfront. The weather was perfect for running... a little sunny but cool with some big clouds coming towards us.

Portland's Waterfront Park

Portland has a really nice waterfront park and trails that go along both sides of the Willamette river. I had looked online for some good running spots and my brother suggested we just run along the river. Because of all the bridges you can pretty much cover any mileage you want using the trail system. The actual trail system is about 40 miles total (although it isn't all finished yet so not all the trails are well linked together yet). We picked a route that would get us to about 10 miles (we both needed to do 12) and figured all the walking we would do the rest of the weekend would make up those 2 extra miles.

We started out at the Waterfront, ran north along the river and crossed over the river on the Steel Bridge. The Steel Bridge has two levels-- the upper one for cars, and a lower one for trains and pedestrians. The lower level isn't high enough for ships to pass underneath so when a ship or barge comes through, the middle section of the lower level lifts straight up (I guess this is called a "double lift" bridge). Of course we got to the bridge right when they were lifting that section for a barge that was coming up the river. We hung out for a few minutes will all the other runners and bikers out there and watched the empty barge and tugboat pass under the bridge. Kinda cool :D

Steel Bridge

On the other side of the river we hooked into the Vera Katz Eastside Esplanade trail. It's a nice paved path that runs along the river-- there are even some interesting sculptures along the trail. After about a mile or so, we hooked into the Springwater Corridor Trail which runs parallel to the river along a train track. Once we got past the gravel plant, it was a really pretty trail and seemed very far removed from the city. We passed by the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge with all the gorgeous wildflowers and trees. That trail took us all the way to the Sellwood Bridge where we crossed back over the river.

Springwater Trail

Sellwood Bridge

At this point Grady and I took a little Gu and gatorade break. Grady hadn't brought anything with him so like the good sister I am, I sacrificed some of my gatorade. :( At this point we had run almost 6 miles or so and I felt really good. Pretty much all the sun had gone away so it hadn't warmed up too much and was still cool. Up until this point Grady and I had stuck together... it was nice to have some time to chat and talk about his life in Portland. He's usually MUCH faster than I am but was a good brother and didn't leave me in the dust. I think he had planned on running ahead of me for the last few miles but since he was starting to have some pain in his foot along his arch (maybe Plantar Fasciitis) he decided to stick with me at the slower pace. I'm so glad he did because I would have gotten SO lost on the way back if I was on my own. The trails on this side of the river were much more disjointed... a few times we had got to the end of one trail and had to run down some random side street for awhile to connect into the next trail section. Grady (usually very directionally challenged) did a great job navigating us around.

View of Portland from the Sellwood Bridge

Along this side of the river we had some beautiful view of downtown Portland. For most of it we were right along the river but after a couple miles we ran on the street until we got back to the Waterfront Park. At one point we cut across this grassy hill, right through a huge flock of geese. Most of the geese just hobbled out of our way (do geese hobble?) but not all of them... some of them actually HISSED at us! Yes, they hissed. They opened their little beaks and emitted this awful little hiss. I never knew they could be so mean :(

We survived the hissing geese and made it back to our starting off point. My Garmin said we had done about 10.25 miles but since I lost the signal a couple of times under the trees, I rounded it up to 10.5 :) I don't know exactly how long it took us... I had to start my watch at mile 1 because it took so long to find the satellites... something to do with traveling hundreds of miles since I last used the watch. My watch said we did the last 9.5 miles in 1:52 so I figured we did all 10.5 in a little over 2 hours.

Stitch N'Bitch night

Last night Amy hosted a Stitch N'Bitch gathering so I got to enjoy a night of eating good food, drinking wine and bitching (we left out the stitching part) :D We got to check out all of Amy's yarn that she bought while in Chicago-- I was very tempted to grab a skein when she wasn't looking :D It was all soft, yummy yarn in Amy's "signature" colors of red, grey and black! Since it was so hot out last night, I was very happy that we were (not) Stitching N' (mostly) Bitching instead of running! THANKS AMY for hosting us! I even got home in time to lay out all my clothes for this weekend's Portland trip... now I just need pack it all tonight!

All of the people in our Stitch N'Bitch group are runners and I really love how no subject is too gross or off limits for us, especially relating to all types of bodily functions. Last night was no exception... Let's just say I learned way more than I was prepared to about the joys of menopause. We went WAY beyond the topics of hot flashes and hormone fluctuations. Thank you Amy, Anita and Cindy for letting me know what I have to look forward to!

Kathy Griffin's Dog Training Tips

So last night I ended up working out at home instead of doing track. They were starting hill training today at a park way out off of Ygnacio Valley Blvd. in Concord. It was super hot yesterday (about 94 degrees when I drove by the bank at 4:30) and I really needed to do some laundry before I could pack for my trip to Portland on Friday. So I stayed in my nice cool apartment and did 40 minutes of my workout DVD while I did some laundry. I did 1 leg workout, 2 buns workouts and 1 ab workout. By the time I was done my legs were shaking and I was sweating despite the air conditioning.

Since I didn't have to go all the way out to Concord, I also had some time to catch up on some of my TiVo'd shows. I will freely admit that one of the shows I TiVo is Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. I used to always be a little annoyed by Kathy-- I thought she was too abrasive and over the top. But then I happened to catch an episode during the first season her show was on and I've been a huge fan ever since. In this episode Kathy hires this kooky German lady to help her train her crazy dog Pom Pom. The dog trainer has some very interesting ideas about dog training, including one very crazy suggestion for how to keep the dogs from leaving Kathy's property and running up to the hill above the house. Last night, even though this season is over, my TiVo taped this episode and I was so excited to watch it again. I laughed so hard, I almost choked. Really. Below are a couple of clips of Kathy's attempt to train the dogs-- the first one is a little shorter and is better quality, the second clip is longer but not as good quality (I think someone just taped their TV screen while it was playing). Enjoy :D

I just don't get it...

... why is it that you can stuff yourself silly at night, and then wake up hungry? Why aren't you still stuffed the next day, or just not hungry at all?

Last night I met up with my coworker Ann, her friend Lara, and cousin Maureen for drinks at the Cantina in Walnut Creek. We met at 5:30 which for some is a little early for dinner so we started out just with drinks and the chips and salsa they have on the table. About 3 margaritas (for me) and 3 baskets of chips (for us all) later we left the Cantina. Lara had to head home but Maureen, Ann and I were hungry for some real food so we went to a Thai place a block or so over. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs because we ordered WAY too much food-- Spring rolls (fresh out of the fryer and piping hot), Pad Thai, Curry (mild) with veggies and a yummy mushroom and assorted veggie dish (plus a glass of wine, of course)! Wow... I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

I don't think we even made a dent in all that food though... which means I have some yummy leftovers waiting for me in the fridge! Finally at a little after 10, my overstuffed belly and I were headed home. I had eaten WAY too much food... it was just so good! I figured it should probably hold me over for awhile but nope, this morning when I woke up I was starving and my belly was growling. I just don't get it :(

What have I gotten myself into?!

That's exactly what was going through my mind during the run on Saturday :( Urg... it was a tough one, mentally and physically.

First though, Friday night... I drove over to the Coliseum BART station and met up with Petra, Amy, Claudia and Rocky. We had pretty good seats in section 105 but we might as well have been in the bleachers for all the game watching we actually did! We spent most of the game chit chatting, and I spent most of it trying to avoid the lure of cotton candy man who seemed to constantly be hovering nearby. Since most of us had to get up early the next morning, we didn't stay for the whole game and left during the 7th inning stretch. Don't ask me what the final score was, or even what the score was while I was there... I think they lost though :(

Saturday I was off to San Leandro at 6:00 AM. Claudia needed to start her run a little early so she could still fulfill her Fall team cappy duties. I offered to start early with her. Since the team was running 14 miles, but our schedule said 15, we decided to start with the 1 mile loop that goes around a point at the marina. That way we could get that extra mile in first, instead of tagging it on at the end when we probably wouldn't want to do it!

After that first mile, we walked over to the starting point at the other trail where the team was doing the long run. We stretched and then took off. Already at 6:45 it was starting to get warm. I had dressed for cooler weather because San Leandro is often overcast and windy but I could tell already that it was going to be a hot, sunny day. Unfortunately, I was right :(

We reached the 2 mile mark (which for us was actually 3 miles with that extra loop we did at the start) and it was time for Claudia to turn back. She was going to run back to the start, and then come back out and finish the mileage when the Fall team started. Just before she turned back, we ran into Rocky and Phil. They were out there setting up the water stop for the Fall volunteer that was running late. Claudia and I being the nice people we are, we hung out to help them set up. :D Once we were finished, it was too late for Claudia to run back so she hitched a ride back to the start with Phil. That meant I was on my own from there :(

The first 2.5 miles of the San Leandro trail is pretty nice... most of it's marked every .25 miles and it's all paved. But after 2.5 miles, it turns into a gravelly path. And it sucks. BIG time.
:( Running on all these little (and not so little) rocks really wreaks havoc on your joints and feet. It also slows down your running pace, at least for me, because I'm trying to avoid the bigger rocks and keep myself from spraining an ankle. :( Finally I made it out to the halfway point at mile 7 (mile 8 for me). By this time everything hurt a little, especially my back. The last time I trained for a marathon, I had some problems with my lower back getting really tight while I ran. It seems like it's starting up again this season too. I put this stuff called MyoMed (one of our client's products) on my back before we started out to try and prevent it from stiffening up too much. I put some more on at the halfway point and it seemed to help for awhile. I could feel my that my lower back was tight but the cooling sensation made it feel better.

This was the point where things started to get tough mentally. Things were already starting to ache and I knew that I still had to run 7 more miles to get back to the start. It seemed like a daunting task. And then I started to think about how when I got back to the start, I will have done only 15 miles... if it was marathon day, I'd also have to pull out 11 more miles on top of that. Oh my god, there was no way! Well, I KNOW I can do it... I just have to remind myself of that sometimes!

The 7 miles back were not so fun but not awful. I had to walk a few times, and stop to stretch a couple times. Everything was just getting achier and achier. Finally I got back on the paved trail and knew that I only had a little over 2 miles to go! That made me happy! During the last two miles, I was paying close attention to my watch. I really wanted to finish in under 3 hours so I was trying to push myself to make it, but not push myself too early and completely crash. The last half mile or so I really kicked it in (or at least it felt like it... I was probably running no faster than some people walk at this point!) and I did it! My final time for exactly 15 miles was just a hair under 3 hours... I think it was about 2:59 and change! I was happy about that my my body felt like I just got beat up by a gang of thugs. :(

I hung around at little bit with the team, and then Claudia, Rocky and I headed over to La Salsa for our usual post-San Leandro lunch. Yummy shrimp tacos :D I finally got home a little after 1:00 and then spent the next couple of hours cleaning the house-- vacuuming, steam cleaning some spots and dusting. It wasn't until about 3:00 that I finally took a shower, and then took a nap. When I woke up from my nap I noticed that I got sunburned... even through my shirt. I had on a short sleeve shirt but my shoulders and chest got a little pink. I guess that's what happens when you're out running for 3 hours in the sun. :( Now I know to put sunscreen EVERYWHERE, not just where my skin is exposed! The rest of the night was spent relaxing and watching some tv. I think doing all that after I ran was actually good... I didn't wake up from my nap feeling sore at all, just a little stiff. Even today I feel really good!

Sunday I did a little more cleaning, especially in the kitchen. It's amazing how dirty those little nooks and crannies that can get! Later that day Claudia and Rocky came over for dinner. I found a recipe on a blog that I read for spicy shrimp and even though I'm not a fan of spicy stuff, it looked really good. It was super easy to make and turned out well-- not spicy at all! There was a lot of shrimp, and we (mostly Rocky) finished off most of it. We also had a yummy apple tart with ice cream for desert :D My belly was very happy!

It's Friday already?!

Wow, I haven't been very good at updating my blog this week! There hasn't been much to update about...

Wednesday I met up with Amy and Claudia at our usual spot. Amy had just gotten back from a trip to Chicago where she bought LOTS of yarn and did some running too :D She even brought back the cutest little stitch markers for us! THANKS AMY!! Since Amy had just run a half marathon on Sunday, and it was a little warm out, we decided do just 3 miles. We took it pretty easy, especially on the way out. On the way back we picked it up a little bit, helped in part by the slight downhill I'm sure! We did a total of 3.25 miles in about 36 minutes.

Last night I had an appointment after work and by the time I got home, it was pretty much time to leave for the Buddy Run at Heather Farms. I had intended to go, but when I thought about all the other stuff I wanted to get done before the Finale of So You Think You Can Dance started, I decided to skip it this week. :D Bad girl... shame on me :(

Tonight I'm off to the A's game. Our friend Petra had some extra tickets to the game and nicely invited a few of us along! I'm not planning on staying out too late though because I have to get up at 5:30 AM tomorrow for the 15 miler at San Leandro Marina. I won't be eating any ballpark food tonight either... I don't think my body would too happy with me tomorrow if I ate a hot dog tonight!

Nothing much going on

I've been such a bum the last couple of days. I didn't do any working out or running on Monday night. I just caught up on some, did some laundry and worked on some computer stuff.

Last night I had every intention of heading out to track. After I got home, I was sitting on the couch catching up on the new Hills episode (which I'm SO happy is back on!) and I had a serious case of the long blinks. The longer I sat there, the sleepier I got and the less I wanted to go to track, but I was going to be a good girl and go anyway since I knew Jeanette was going to be there too. A little before I needed to leave, I went in my room to start getting ready and saw that I had missed a call on my cell from Jeanette. The first thing I thought was maybe she was calling to say she wasn't going to track... and if SHE wasn't going, then I wouldn't feel bad about not going. :D Well, that's exactly why she was calling so I didn't end up going to track. :(

Tonight though there will be no slacking off... I'll be meeting Claudia and Amy for our usual Wednesday night run. And then Thursday I will be heading off to join the Bay Side team for their Buddy Run :D

Good times

Lots of stuff going on over the weekend :D

Friday after work I went over to Lindsay's parent's house to help her celebrate her 24th birthday! A bunch of TNT people were there, along with Lindsay's family and some childhood and school friends. Her parent's house sits up on a hill in Orinda so we all sat outside in the backyard enjoying the gorgeous weather, stunning views, and great company! We had some yummy pizza from Zachary's, salad from our own salad bar that Lindsay's mom prepared, and a SUPER yummy chocolate ganache birthday cake. After all the food, and the beer, I was dreading my 10 mile run the next day. But it was well worth it... after all, birthdays only come along once a year!

Saturday I was up at the butt crack of dawn to get ready for our run. I met Claudia, Rocky and Jeanette at the Berkeley Marina at 7:00. The weather at the Berkeley Marina is always hit and miss... regardless of the time of year, sometimes it's sunny and warm, sometimes sunny and windy, and sometimes overcast and freezing. Saturday it was overcast and freezing. But if I'm running 10 miles, I'd rather run in that weather than when it's warmer.

We started out running around Cesar Chavez park, which is about a mile, and then stopping to stretch. After we started back up again, Rocky took off, and the 3 of us continued on. Instead of turning right along the frontage road like we usually do, this time we ran south along the water towards Emeryville. That stretch of road is a little boring but at least it's a change of scenery from our usual Berkeley route. We made it to the gas station near Chevy's, turned right, and headed down to the Emeryville Marina. Jeanette had sped on ahead of us not long after we turned to run along the water... we caught back up to her when we turned around. After was started running again, it wasn't long though before she took off ahead of us again! On the way back we ran into some other TNT peeps, mostly those from the summer team who didn't want to trek down to Fremont for their Mentor Led Run.

About 200 yards before the finish, Claudia and I ran into Brandy and stopped to chat with her. A few minutes later we started running again but it wasn't easy.... our muscles had tightened up in just those few minutes and did NOT want to start up again! We finished in good time though....our final time for 10.10 miles was 2:00:56.

After our run I headed back home to do a little cleaning, eat some lunch and take a nap :D Other than a trip to the grocery store and doing some stuff around the house, I spent the rest of the day just relaxing and reading. I felt really good post-run... not at all sore or tight, even on Sunday!

Sunday I met up with Claudia and Rocky in Oakland to carpool to Sonoma, where we were meeting Martin and Minnelli. About a year ago, we all made a trip to Sonoma (my first) to go wine tasting. We ended up at the Cline Winery and really enjoyed the winery, wines, and very personable staff. The majority of our group ended up enrolling in their wine club, which means every few months they get 2 Cline wines that they can either have sent, or pick up. After that, it became a tradition to go pick up the wine at Cline and then spend the day wine tasting and enjoying Sonoma. A few of the wine club members in the group were out of town this weekend so it ended up being just the 5 of us that met up in Sonoma. We decided to break from our usual tradition of brunch at the Carneros Bistro and instead had a nice picnic at the winery. The weather was perfect, the food was good, and we enjoyed some of the wine we had just bought!

Make my sandwich THIS big!!

After Cline, we went across the street to the new Jacuzzi winery. As the name implies, these are the same Jacuzzis that invented THE Jacuzzi. They are also ancestors of the Cline family. We tasted some more wines there, and some olive oil they press using their olives. After leaving Jacuzzi, we decided to head back home (with one detour along the way... see picture).

On the way back, we decided to stop in at the winery we always see on the way to Sonoma. It's this big beautiful building up on a hill and we always wonder about it driving by. It turned out to be Domaine Carneros, which makes some yummy champagne (which of course we had to taste :D). After that we really did head home :D

That's a lot of Champagne!!

At Domaine Carneros

Another night off

I don't think I had any intention of running last night... and I didn't. I kept telling myself I SHOULD go run, but then I'd remember all the things I needed to get done. If I really wanted to run though, I would have made the time... but I didn't really want to :D

Instead I spent the evening running some errands, making my pasta so I could carbo load for tomorrow's run, and then catching up on some tv. I think it was an all together productive evening :D

Right after work tonight I'm off to help Ms. Lindsay loo celebrate her birthday. I need to be a good girl though and not have too much fun since I do have to run 10 miles tomorrow :( Yeah, we'll see how THAT goes!

Playing hooky

Yesterday I got an email from Amy asking if Claudia and I would rather get a pedicure than run. Ummm, you need to even ask me that? I had secretly been wishing that I would some how not have to run last night-- I think Amy was reading my mind. :D

Amy and I met at the nail place down the street from my place at 5:00 and Claudia met us a little later once she got off work. A half hour later our toes looked pretty and our legs were nice and smooth! Since Claudia's pedi started a little later than ours Amy and I hung out in the massaging pedi chairs after our toes were done. I was so nice to just sit there, getting our backs massaged, watching The Devil Wears Prada on the flat screen tv and just chatting.

After we were all done we went down the street to Stanford's for some drinks and dinner. The weather was so nice-- sunny but not too hot-- we sat outside on the patio. I got this yummy berry mojito. I so wanted two but when Amy turned down a second cocktail, I followed her good example. :D For dinner I had the Margherita pizza... yummm :D All in all, it was a very fun evening... THANKS LADIES!!

Since I didn't get my run in last night, I think I might head over to one of the Diablo Valley Buddy Runs. The key word there is "might"... I also "might" spend the evening watching tv and carbo loading for this Saturday's run :D We'll see!

Soda VS. Pop

I found this website today, www.popvssoda.com, that is trying to answer the age old question-- is it Soda or Pop? What do you call it? I'm a soda girl :D Go to the webpage and do your part to settle this much debated controversy!

Last night I went to track over at DVC. Jeanette was there too this time (aka. Troublemaker) and it was nice to have a running partner for the evening. We started out with a 10 minute warm up, and then did 4-6 strides (pick up speed over 50 yards). After a little stretching, we did some interval training. Basically we were supposed to run at our "5K" pace (which means running hard enough that you can't get more than a few words out) once around the track, and then walk or slowly jog a recovery lap. We were supposed to do that 4-6 times. Jeanette and I figured we'd do 4 to start and then see how we felt after that.

Coach Gary said that he wanted us to try to stay consistent during our intervals-- he didn't want us to run so fast during the first one that we had nothing left for the rest. In fact, he wanted us to actually get faster each interval. I don't really have a "5K" pace... all my running, whether it's a 5K or half marathon, is at about the same pace. So when Jeanette and I started our first interval I was just thinking that I'd run faster than I normally do, but not a full out sprint. I think our first lap was about 2:20 (which if we went 4 times around the track at that pace would be a 9 minute mile). Okay, a little TOO fast. After our cool down lap, we did our second interval. This time it was closer to 2:30. At this point I was thinking there was no way I'd be able to beat my first time. Well, I did... the 3rd interval was about 2:16. The 4th one, which just about killed me, was about 2:11. That last interval took everything I had... there was no way I could do 2 more. So Jeanette and I ran our 10 minutes of cool down. In total, I think we ran about 4 miles, including both our warm up and cool down laps.

SOO sleepy :(

This will be a boring post since last night I didn't do anything :D I went home, took a nap, woke up to eat some dinner and watch a little bit of TV and then went right back to bed. All the weekend activity caught up with me and yesterday the only thing I could think of was sleep :(

Today I feel much more rested-- just in time for track tonight! Last week Coach Gary thought that we may be starting hill training this week but I guess we're not starting that until the 21st. I'm not sure WHAT we'll be doing tonight, but at least it won't be hills... not yet :)

Where did the sun go?

Seriously, what is up with this crappy weather? Isn't it like August? Or did I go into a food coma from eating so much this weekend, and wake up in October? Of course we couldn't have had this weather when I was running 12 miles on Saturday... grrrr :(

Saturday I woke up early to head over to the Alameda Ferry Terminal. Claudia is the PR Cappy for the new Fall team and she wanted to get started early so she could be back in time to do the team stuff. By the time I was ready and we started running, it was about 7:15. Last week I wrote how overcast and ugly it was when we ran in Alameda. This weekend it couldn't have been more different! By the time Claudia and I got to the first water stop, I was sweating like a pig. There was a slight breeze, but it was at our backs so it wasn't doing much to keep us cool. But after we crossed over the pedestrian bridge and ran through part of a neighborhood, we were back out along the water and running directly into a head wind. It cooled us down a little bit but made the running a little tougher.

When we got to the turn around point at mile 5, we both felt pretty good. We headed back the way we came, this time with the wind at our backs and running directly into the sun. After crossing the bridge, we found our breeze again. Ahhh, a little cooler! During the last 2 miles I was dreading getting back to the start, and heading out for ANOTHER 2 miles. I was ready to be done. But another part of me knew that I really needed to do at least 2 more miles. By the time Claudia and I crossed the start/finish line I was pooped. I did NOT want to keep running, especially since Claudia wasn't going to do anymore. BUT, I made a deal with myself... I would hang out a little and rest until Phil finished his 10 miles, and then if he was going out for 2 more, I'd go with him. A few minutes later, Phil comes rolling in and keeps on going with no pausing or stopping. That was my cue... back on goes the race belt and off I go! For the first mile, I felt great, but once we turned around, I was dying. The breeze we had during the first 10 miles was now a strong headwind and it was so hard to keep moving forward. I made it though... with the first 10 miles a little under 2 hours, and the last 2 in 22 minutes, my final time for 12 miles was about 2 hours and 16 minutes.

After the run I went home to eat, shower and nap before the next activity. Rocky's band, Mother Humbuckers, was playing a gig at the Rockit Room in SF. Claudia and I met up at Chevy's in Emeryville for dinner-- the food was super yummy but I ate way too much. My eyes were definately bigger than my stomach! Then it was off to SF for the gig. As usual, they all did a fantastic job and we had a lot of fun watching them. There were some other bands playing too... a couple of them a little wierd, including the one whose bass guitar player got naked during the last song. AHHH! Check out Claudia's blog for some pictures (not of the naked guy... just us and the band :D)

Since Saturday was such a late night I slept in a little bit. Around noon I went out to Redwood City to visit my friend Katie. We've know eachother since we were 4, and have been best friend since we were at the bus stop together in the 2nd grade. Even though she lives close by in Redwood City, she's a super busy anathesia resident at Stanford Hospital and I don't see her very often. We went out to lunch, caught up with eachother and then spent time on the internet looking up high school friends on MySpace and Google :D

After hanging out on the Penninsula with Katie, it was time to head back to WC for dinner with Claudia, Rocky, Lael and Anthea at PF Chang's. More yummy food for my belly!

Make running fun...

For some reason, I've started getting Runner's World in the mail. I got one issue last month, and then another one just yesterday. I have a love/hate relationship with Runner's World-- it's full of a lot of useful information, but after I look at it too long I feel like a lazy coach potato and that I'm not doing enough in my training. I spent part of the evening looking at the new issue: I learned about how potatos are good for carbo loading, what the wear pattern on the bottom of my running shoes means (mine tell me that I have a good shoe for my gait), and how it's important sometimes to forget about training, goal pace and negative splits and make running fun, like it used to be when we were kids (or like Phoebe from Friends sees it). Ummm, I didn't even think running was fun when I was a kid!

Wednesday night run

Last night Claudia and I met at the Iron Horse Trail in Alamo-- Amy was off getting her hair done so it was just the two of us this week. When we met up in the parking lot, Claudia said she was hoping I'd call and cancel-- funny thing is I actually considered it! But, we were good girls and did the damn thing, even though we really didn't want to :( Claudia's just getting back into her training after taking a few weeks off due to her sore ankle/knee and it was super hot out so after we started running, we decided to do just 3 miles. We took it slow and finished in about 34 minutes. And then of course we stood around in the parking lot for about another half hour chit chatting. :D

I'm blogged about my blister problem a few weeks ago and I'm still dealing with it :( I tried out the moleskin and that seemed to work, at least for the short runs. On the long ones it moves around until it's not longer covering the area that needs the protection. So that's not going to work. Then Phil suggested New Skin, the stuff you can either spray or brush on to an area that acts as a waterproof liquid bandage. I've used it a couple time on short runs and it seems to work okay but I'm not sure of it's staying power for a long run. We'll see how well it prevents blisters on Saturday during the 13 miler. :(

Quickie track workout

Last week's track workout marked the end of our circuit training (Oh darn, I missed it). Next week we're going to start doing hill workouts but, to show the participants how far they've come, last night Coach Gary timed us running around the track for 1, 2 or 3 miles. I guess they did this at the beginning of the season so last night they got to see how they've become faster and better runners. Many people said they took over 5 minutes off their time! I didn't go to the track workout when they did this, so I didn't have anything to compare my time to. I did finish 2 miles in a tad over 22 minutes. :D

Tonight I'm running with Claudia... Amy's off to get her hair done so it'll still be just two of us. Maybe next week all three of us will be back together again!