Anyone still out there??

Hey everyone! I'm back... at least for today! After my big promise months ago to get better about blogging on a more regular basis, I pretty much abandoned my blog :( I initially blamed the new job, but now that I'm more settled in, have my own office, and have the time to update, I still don't have that urge to write. BUT, the time has come to get on here again and at least write SOMETHING :)

Here are some general updates on what's been happening in my life over the past few months...

Work: I LOVE my new(ish) job :) The people I work with are great, and I really enjoy what I do. We're still building our company, and just moved into our own office space a little over a month ago. We've accomplished a lot, but there's still always more work to be done!!

Running: At the time of my last post I had just finished a half marathon in SF. I'm a little sad that I never did my post-run recap, but since it has now been months since the race, it's probably not going to happen. Suffice it to say that my recent experience was not too much different than the previous two times I've done that race. It went well, the weather was gorgeous, the Great Highway sucked, and I was happy to have it over with :D

Despite my good intentions, I ended up taking a long running break after the race. I went out and ran a handful of times, but never more than 3 miles or so. My break is now officially over and training has begun again! The Chicago marathon is just a few months away, and our training calender started on June 6. Claudia, Sandra and I (along with a fellow TNTer Leslie who isn't training for the marathon, but just wanted to come join us) met up at Lake Merritt on Saturday morning for our first (!!) training run. We're following a more advanced training calender which had us starting at 6 miles! Eeeek! 

Let me just say that 1) I hate running in circles, 2) I hate running through geese, ducks, and on duck poop, 3) I like the new paved trail around part of the Lake and 4) 6 miles was tough! Claudia and I stuck together for both laps around the Lake, but we did have to take a couple of walk breaks. Despite those breaks, I'm still very proud of us. When you haven't been training, 6 miles is not a short easy run and we did it. I felt really good afterwards... maybe that was due to the strawberry mimosa we had at breakfast :D

Life: The rest of my life has been full of all the normal things... time spent with friends and family. My best childhood friend got married and her wedding in Nevada City was a lot of fun. There have been BBQ's, trips home to YC to see my family, a trip by my parents FROM YC to see me, a black tie event to celebrate LLC's Man/Woman of the Year. 

A Time of Change

This is time of change, not only for the country with the inauguration of a new President (WOO HOO!!), but also a personal time of change... I started a new job!! I enjoyed working at my previous job for almost 8 years, but the right opportunity opened up (thanks to Claudia :D) for me and I had to take it! It's going to entail learning a lot of new information, but I'm excited to take on a new challenge!

I don't have much to update on the running front, which is partly why I've been so bad about updating. I caught a little cold last week and decided that with a new job starting, and a 10 mile run coming up, I'd take the week off of running. Saturday I was very nervous about doing the 10 mile run since I still was still congested and wasn't sure how that would effect my breathing. We started off at Pt. Isabel and it was a gorgeous day for a run. It was a little chilly when we first got there and that started up a bunch of coughing. Once we got started though, it got a little better. We ran north along the trail up to Richmond and then back to Pt. Isabel, which was 7 miles. I took a little break there to catch my breath and check on one of my mentees who was a little behind me.

I was completely pooped, but really wanted to finish 10 miles, which meant heading south along the trail, which parallels the freeway for part of the way, for another mile and a half and then back. On the way out all I could think about was how I just wanted to be done already! I made it to the mile and a half mark and then took a little walk break once I turned around. It was getting harder for me to catch my breath so I walked a quarter mile, and then ran a quarter mile on and off all the way back.

I was so happy to be finished with that run! I didn't even look at my watch when I finished... I didn't even care how long it had taken me, just that I finished it! Even though the last mile and a half was tough, it was a pretty good 10 miler! No aches and pains, and I wasn't too sore afterwards. That might have been due to the restoring Pupusas I had for lunch at a Salvadorian place in Berkeley with Claudia and Jeanette afterwards :D My throat was NOT happy with all the coughing, the run and all the chit chatting afterwards... later that night my voice was pretty much gone. It's mostly recovered now and I only sounded a little bit manly on my first day at the new job :)

Happy 2009!

Well, it looks like I've already broken my New Year's non-resolution to update my blog more! I had a very fun New Year's Eve with Claudia and Rocky-- we had a yummy crab dinner with lots of wine and then stayed up till 2:00am watching all the silly New Years stuff on TV. Then next morning Rocky cooked us up some omelets and then I went home to spend the rest of the day being a lazy bum :D 

This last weekend we had a Coached Run at Heather Farms in Walnut Creek. Although it was frigid again, once we got out there we warmed up fairly quickly. I knocked out 8 miles and felt really good the whole time! Since I run at Heather Farms every week, it was nice to run the trail in a different direction and get a change of scenery (although we run there in the dark during the week so it's not like I can see anything anyway!). The most interesting part of the run was that I got pooped on by a bird! I think in some countries that means I'll have good luck! After the run I joined some of my teammates at a diner nearby for breakfast. Our Arizona runners (all three of them) will be doing the half marathon in just two weeks so that was our unofficial send off for them!

On Sunday Claudia, Rocky and I had a day of culture in San Francisco :) We drove over early and went to the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. They had a lot of interesting things, but a lot of weird art too. I like art that looks pretty, not something that looks like a 5 year old could have done it :) After the de Young, we went next door to the Japanese Gardens, which I haven't been to since I was a Freshman in college. It's so pretty there, but I had remembered it being bigger than it was. We walked around a little and then headed off to our next cultural destination, the Legion of Honor.

I had only seen the Legion of Honor from the outside and didn't really know what kind of museum it was and I was pleasantly surprised. I liked it a lot better than the de Young. We walked all through the building, but didn't see the Leonardo di Vinci exhibit because they charged extra for that. By that time we were all getting hungry so we headed to a different part of the city to grab a bite to eat. It ended up being a LONG day in the city, but it was fun to kind of play tourist and explore some new places!

Last night instead of our Buddy Run we had a hill workout. We have Cause for Celebration tomorrow night and after the two holidays, that would have meant 3 missed track workouts for the team. They decided to cancel our usual Buddy Runs and have "track" instead. We met up again at Dougherty Valley High School and did the same set of hills we did a few weeks ago. I think it was a little easier this time than last time! I guess the hill workouts are working! I have to say I don't hate them as much as I used to!