Gala

Last night I got to be Amy's date to the Marine Mammal Center's Annual Gala! Jeanette brought Claudia as her date so it turned into a girl's night out! The gala was at the Ritz in SF, which I had never been to... SO pretty! We got into the city a little early and had a cocktail before cocktail hour :)

Claudia and I

Amy, my date, and I

Jeanette and her "date"

The girls all dressed up :)

The gala itself was very fancy and a lot of fun. First we got to enjoy some champagne and appetizers while we visited with some of the other party goers and then we moved into one of the ballrooms for dinner, a presentation and auction. The three course dinner was amazing... we started with a salad with pistachio crusted goat cheese and raspberry vinaigrette, then the most delicious braised short ribs, horseradish mashed potatoes and green beans, and finally an apple-raisin pastry for dessert. YUMM!!

How cute is this little seal?!

The live auction was a lot of fun too... I'd never been to an auction before and I had to hide my paddle so I wouldn't be tempted to raise it, just for the fun of it! Plus, I couldn't afford any of the auction items-- the bids for each started in the thousand dollar plus range! :(

Pretending to bid

The whole night was incredibly fun... THANK YOU Amy for bringing me as your date!!

Girl's Nights

Last night I met up with Claudia, Jeanette and Lindsay for a Girls dinner night. It's been way too long since we did our last Girl's Night (Havana's and Sex and the City) and it was time to get together again! We just did dinner this time... we went to Pizza Antica in Lafayette... yummmm :) We met up at 6:00 and spent the next three hours eating, talking and catching up!

Tonight is another Girl's Night... I get to be Amy's "date" to a big, fancy gala for the Marine Mammal Center at the Ritz Carlton in SF!! Her, and Jeanette's, company had some extra tickets so Claudia is going as Jeanette's date, and I get to go as Amy's! We get to get all dressed up and spend the evening sipping cocktails and eating fancy food! Amy, Claudia and Jeanette went last year and had a fabulous time so I'm excited to be able to go this year also!!

I just took pictures from this weekend off my camera so now I can share them :D

Claudia and I at the Rockit Room Friday night

Rocky, Claudia and I at Now & Zen

Sugar Ray (Mark McGrath in the white tank top)

Gavin DeGraw

A "Rockin'" Weekend

Well, I managed to cram a lot of fun into the weekend, but no running! Whoops! Friday night Claudia and I met up in Oakland and had dinner before heading off to the Rockit Room in SF for the MotherHumbuckers CD Release Party. We got out there super early (no traffic!!) and ended up going with Rocky, Ollie and Jose to a Thai place down the street... they got dinner and Claudia and I got dessert :D When we got back to the Rockit Room, the first band was already playing. We listened to the rest of their set, and watched all the MotherHumbuckers fans, friends and family start pouring into the club. By the time the feature band went on, there was a pretty big crowd there! They did a fantastic job, and even played some new songs that I wasn't familiar with! After they were done playing we hung around visiting and listening to the other two bands that came after MotherHumbuckers. We didn't leave until around 1:00, and I wasn't tucked into bed until around 2:00 am. I haven't stayed out that late on a Friday night for a long time! It was well worth it though!

Claudia and I had decided that instead of getting up early to run on Saturday, we'd give our self a few hours to recover and then run together around 5:00. Umm yeah, that didn't happen. I think we were both still tired from the night before and just wanted to relax. I was going to make dinner for Claudia, Rocky and I after we ran but we just skipped the running part and did just dinner instead!

Sunday we were all up early so we could get out to the city for Now & Zen. We had scored some free tickets (and ended up having a few extra) and I was super excited about going! We went to Whole Foods to pick up some sandwiches for lunch, and then drove into the city. When I first walked out of the house around 8:45am on my way to Oakland, it was freezing, and I was so happy that I had bundled up. I even brought along some gloves and a fleece hat in case it was really windy or cold, seeing that the concert was outside in Golden Gate Park. Of course it ended up being sunny and warm and I was burning up in my long sleeved shirt! The concert started at 12:00 and they started letting us in around 11:00. Already I could feel that it was warming up and by the time the second act went on, I was getting uncomfortably warm. I ended up buying a 1999 Now & Zen shirt they had there for $10 just so I could change out of my long sleeved shirt :D

The bands were all really great... the first one to go on was Lenka, then Sarah Bareilles, Sugar Ray, Gavin DeGraw and finally Duffy. They were all amazing live performers and even though I didn't know all the songs from most of the artists (except Gavin DeGraw and Sugar Ray, who mostly played their old hits, with a few news songs sprinkled in), I really enjoyed each one. After over 5 hours of sitting in the sun listening to music, I got home around 6:30, tired and sunburned, but happy. It was a great weekend :D

No time to run...

... life is just too busy right now! After bailing on Amy on Monday, I'm also bailing on our run tonight, next Monday AND the following Thursday :( With Nike coming up, and a new season of TNT starting, there are too many things interfering with my run schedule :( After Nike I think the running schedule should be back to normal, at least until I start the Winter TNT season in early November! I did manage to fit in a run with Claudia on Tuesday and that went okay. Neither of us where in a running mood but we were good girls and went for our run! It was pretty warm out too, which didn't help us at all, but at least we did the damn thing, as Coach Al likes to say :)

Tonight I'm missing our run to attend an Info Meeting for the upcoming Winter Season of TNT, which I'll be a mentor during. Yep, after many seasons of captaining, I'm going back to being a Mentor. I got a little burnt out of captaining, and I'm looking forward to being able to "mentor" a group of new participants!

This weekend is going to be a very busy one... tomorrow night it'll be a late night out in the city at the CD Release Party for Rocky's band, the MotherHumbuckers! It should be a lot of fun, but not really the best thing to be doing the night before a run. Instead of running Saturday morning, I think that Claudia and I are going to run later that day in the early evening. That way we can sleep in and recover from the party before doing 6 miles :D

Time to taper

It doesn't seem quite right that we're in taper mode now, when I've only really been training for the past couple of weeks! But, tapering we are! Right now, tapering just means that I'm bailing on a few weekly runs due to other commitments and this weekend I'm only running about 6 miles :)

My weekend started out nicely... my parents were driving through Walnut Creek on Friday afternoon so we met up for an early bird dinner after I got off of work. We went to the yummy new burger place I had gone to last week (it was one of the only places I could think of that might be open at 4:30 :D) and I had a very good, and running friendly, chicken sandwich. After a too-quick dinner, my parents had to head back on the road again and I went home to get everything ready for the 10 miler the next day and just hang out.

Claudia and I had decided to meet up at Heather Farms and run our 10 miler there. We figured that would be good spot since we could run out and back one way for 2.5 miles, refilly our bottles back at the car, and then go out 2.5 miles and back the other way. Mentally we thought it would break the run up nicely into two more manageable sounding distances :D We needed all the mental help we could get!

We started out around 7:30 and both had expected it to be on the cool side. It actually started warming up and there were no signs of the clouds we thought we be out. The first 5 miles went really well... we chatted and ran at a very comfortable (not too slow or fast) pace. Once we got back to the car we refilled bottles, refueled and then headed back out onto the trail. During the second 5 miles the clouds started rolling in, which brought us a welcome break from the sun. I think we slowed down just slightly, but we were still running the entire time (except for some short breaks waiting for the light to change at the cross streets). We finished our 10 miles in almost exactly 2 hours and we both felt really good. I feel much more confident now about the Nike Half Marathon in two weeks-- I know it's not going be my best half marathon, but I feel prepared to be able to do the distance without dying along the way! After our run, we went out to breakfast to reward ourselves with some pancakes and waffles :D Yumm!

After a quick trip to Target, I went home, took a shower and took a LONG nap :) I woke up and was surprised to find that I wasn't hurting at all (other than a little chaffing... ouch). I love how after long runs I feel completely justified doing absolutely nothing for the rest of the day! Sunday I didn't do a whole lot of anything either... it was so nice outside I sat out on the balcony and read, and then got sucked into The Starter Wife on USA. Ahh, another unproductive day :)

Last night I had to bail on my run with Amy (SORRY AMY!!) because my parents were driving back through town again and wanted to hook up for another early bird dinner :D I don't get to see them a whole lot and it was nice to be able to have a quick dinner with them! We went to grab a bite (and some wine) at Va di Vi and I heard about their weekend down in San Jose and Santa Cruz. My mom was taking a class on doing voice overs and then got to have a recording session at a studio in Santa Cruz. (Shameless plug to follow: If anyone needs someone to do a voice over, my mom's available!)

Am I ready?

Our biggest run before Nike is happening tomorrow... the 10 miler! Claudia and I are meeting up to run together... we've figured out a double out and back course so that we can stop back at the car halfway through and fill up our bottles if necessary (since we won't have the benefit of water stops :( I'm not as nervous about this long run after doing 8 a couple of weeks ago... I know it's not going to be easy, but I know we can get it done! Wish us luck!!

Last night I met up with Claudia and Amy in Danville at the Iron Horse Trail. Even though we all have slightly different paces, it's nice to have that accountability when you know you're supposed to be meeting people to run. I think we all figured that we'd start out together and then as people felt speedier or slower, we could all settle into our own pace. Well, that didn't happen... we actually all stuck together! Since we were heading out North on the trail first, we got a nice downslope. The weather was perfect and there was no huffing and puffing, but I wasn't sure if the decrease in exertion also meant we were going slower. Nope, we were actually going faster than Amy and I had during our last run! On the way back our exertion levels were higher, but that was mostly because we were running on a slight upslope. I think our return pace was the same, or even a little faster than our pace for the first half! It was a great run, and it's nice to be feeling a little more in shape... after each run I feel more and more like I did when I was running regularly with Pam and Amy. Hopefully that means I will be more prepared for Nike too!

A friendly PSA

You've all registered to vote, right? And if you're registered, you're planning on actually voting, right? I hope so :) I for one am very excited about voting. I just got all my stuff in the mail and am planning on reading it all over and filling out my sample ballot like a good little voter so I'll be all ready for the big day! Every year we're inundated with voting PSA's reminding people how important it is to vote-- I always kind of ignored them and was very late in joining the voting bandwagon. Most PSA's are usually pretty lame and cringe-worthy, but that's not true about one that I stumbled across today-- it's pretty motivating, and even funny in parts! Check it out:



On a running note, everything is going very well. I skipped out on my Monday night run with Amy because I had a nasty headache. Claudia wasn't able to run on Tuesday so I asked Amy if she'd be able to run on Tuesday instead of Monday. She was, and so we met up last night to run together. It was really warm out, and for some reason the air was really crappy, but we had a pretty good run. We both felt that we were running much slower than last week's run, but once Amy looked at her watch she saw we were actually running faster! We were still out of breath at the end of the run, but it was nice to know that we weren't dragging as much as we felt we were! I'm really hoping that the weather starts to cool down though, especially for this weekend's 10 miler!

3 Week Countdown

EEEK!! It's less than 3 weeks to Nike! I'm feeling much more confident about it than I was a couple of weeks ago, but the true test will be the 10 miler this coming weekend! On Saturday Claudia and I met up with the Bay Side team out in Alameda. I had anticipated cool weather (it's either freezing, overcast and windy or HOT out there) but we got the HOT weather! We started at 8:00 and within the first two miles we could feel how warm it was getting. We went another mile out and then turned around to head back. I felt really good, and it was fun to catch up with Claudia and chat. I love running in Alameda, but the last two miles are a bitch... you think the Ferry Terminal is around every corner! Finally we made it back to the start (neither of us had our watches so I don't know how long it took us) and I think we both felt really good. Warm, but good :)

I spent the rest of the day doing some cleaning at the house. Lindsay was out of town so it was a great time to unleash my inner Monica (Friend's reference for those that don't know) and start scrubbing. I got a lot done, and also managed to fit in a nap on the couch. Later that night Lael and I checked out this new burger place in Walnut Creek. It's a "customized" burger joint, which means you get to pick everything you want on your burger, from the meat (beef, chicken, turkey, veggie) to the type of bun, and everything in between. It was really good, and VERY filling :) We followed that up with some yogurt (that I couldn't even finish) and then went to see Eagle Eye at the theatre which was pretty good. Very much like a newer version of Enemy of the State with Will Smith and Gene Hackman.

Sunday I was on a cleaning binge again and did some more scrubbing, sweeping and steam cleaning. I did a few errands while my landlords were over fixing up a few things, and made it home in time to get some of the recent complex gossip :) Then it was on the couch for DH and Brothers and Sisters-- I'm so happy that all the new shows are coming back!!

Crazy week

Ugg... this has been a crazy and not very fun week. I'll just leave it at that :( The one thing that has been going pretty well is the running! I ran on Monday with Amy and, other than feeling very out of breathe at the end, I felt really good. Thursday we met up to run again. It was much warmer out than it had been in the beginning of the week but it was still a good run. I wasn't quite as out of breathe at the end but I think we ran at about the same pace, which is a good sign. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Claudia and the Bay Side team that's gathering in Alameda for a Mentor Led Run. We're just going to do 6 miles this weekend, and then next weekend (2 weeks before the race) we'll do our "long" 10 mile run. After that we'll "taper" and then it's race time! We'll have to see how well the race goes after my 4 week training schedule :D

Back to our regularly schedule runs

Now that Tri season is over and she is (knock on wood) injury free, Amy and I were able to get back to our Monday night runs! We met up last night in Alamo at 5:00. Since Amy had just finished her tri about a week ago and a 10 miler on Saturday, and I had just done a high mileage (for me) run, I figured we get in a leisurely paced three miles. Yeah, not so much. We started out running at a pretty good clip, chatting along. By the time we got close to our usual turn around point, I was huffing and puffing! We took a very short walk break to catch our breath and drink some water after turning around, and then started back. I think we were running a little faster on the way back because all talking had ceased :) By the time we finished we were both pretty out of breath! So much for our leisurely run :)

Nike Preview

It's no secret that my training for the upcoming Nike Half Marathon has been non-existent. During the past couple of weeks I've been trying to get my butt in gear, with limited results :( Two weeks ago I went for a run with Lindsay... we did about 5.5 miles, part of which we walked. Last week I decided to walk the Lafayette Reservoir and then on Thursday I went on a nice 3 mile run with Claudia (which left me very much out of breathe!). That's pretty much been the extent of my training.

On Saturday the area Team In Training teams were doing their "Nike Preview" run where they got to run part of the Nike course. Claudia and I decided that would be a good run for us to join the team on. Initially we had intended to run our longest run (10 miles) since that was what the team was going to do. After realizing though that we still had 1 month left until the race, we decided that we really didn't need to do more than 8 miles or so, and then we could do our long run in another week or two. Boy I was nervous about this run!! I knew it was going to be a challenging run, since it would include some of the biggest hills that are in the Nike course, and we were planning on going 3 miles further than my longest run so far!

I ended up heading to the city super early on Saturday morning alone, since Claudia was sicky. :( I got there about 7:00 and joined all the other TNT peeps at the Sport's Basement in the Presidio. The 10 mile route was going to head out to the right from the parking lot towards Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 and then come back past Sport's Basement, go up a massive, seemingly never ending hill before coming back down on a series of trails. Since I was only planning on doing 8 miles (or 7 if I wasn't doing well), I went out towards Fisherman's Wharf but turned around after about 2 miles. Those first 4 miles went very well... the weather was perfect for running-- cool, overcast and at some spots drizzly-- and there was only 1 small hill that I walked up on the way out and back.

After the first 4 miles, the course really got hilly :) Since I've done this race so much, I knew what was coming and had planned on walking the long hill. On and on it went, and finally I got to the top where there was a water stop. The water stop was actually manned by a girl I went to high school with so we spent a few minutes chatting. After hydrating, I continued running down the road (and finally got to enjoy a nice downhill section) before I realized that something wasn't quite right. Since I had turned around earlier than most everyone else, I was one of the first runners, but I soon realized that not only were there no runners in front of me, there were also no runners behind me. I got the sense that I had gone too far, and should have made a turn somewhere near the water stop. Part of the problem was that there were a few other TNT teams out there, and they were doing a different course... I had stopped seeing our markings, but was still seeing other TNT markings. I stopped along the side of the road to try and figure out what I should do and I saw a trail cutting across the bluff to my right. I thought maybe that trail would hook into the trail that our team was going to be running on, so I headed down the trail to check it out. The trail ended up petering out so I headed back UP the trail, and then back UP the road to the water stop. Well, at least I got a little more hill training in!

Once I got to the water stop, I saw that everyone was turning off onto a trail so I followed them. The trail would along the bluff and we got to enjoy some amazing views. We ran underneath the Golden Gate bridge and then back down to the bay. The team was doing a small extra loop out to Ft. Point and back, but since my Garmin told me I had done almost 8 miles, and I still had .8 miles to go to get back to the start, I decided to skip the extra loop. I ran back to the start and ended up with a total mileage of 8.66! I was so excited to have finished the run in one piece, and to have done more than I thought I could do! Even though I know I won't have a Nike PR this year, I feel less nervous about being able to actually do the race!

Throughout the run I felt really good, and only had to walk the hills, not any of the flat parts! I also felt great... just a little soreness in my knees and hips. I hung around for a little bit at the team potluck and then headed back home so I could shower and take a nap :D That night I celebrated finishing the run with my friend Ann... we went to a cute little restaurant called Pappo in Alameda! We sat outside and enjoyed some wine, food and yummy Creme Brulee. After all the talking and visiting we did after dinner, we were still hungry when we left the restaurant and decided to go get an ice cream! Ahh, the perfect end to the day!

Sunday I didn't get to sleep in too long... I met my friend Katie in the city and we spent the morning and early afternoon at the SF MOMA... we checked out all the art (some of it very weird... I don't get some art) and also went to the Frida exhibit, which was amazing! We were starved by the time we left the museum so we headed for lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. SO good! I was pooped by the time I got home so I took a nice long nap and then spent the evening watching the Emmy's.

Pac Grove Weekend Recap... Finally!!

Grab a seat, a cold (or hot) beverage and put your feet up... this is going to be a long one :D

Our weekend started on Friday, since Claudia, Rocky, Amy, Lindsay, Phil and I had all taken the day off to drive down to Pac Grove. Claudia and Rocky picked me up at about 9:30 with Starbucks waiting and a packed car, and we headed down the freeway to meet up with Phil, Linds, and Amy. The drive down to Pacific Grove was uneventful and even a little ugly thanks to the gloomy skies. We arrived around noonish and drove straight to the hotel hoping to check in early, which they let us do! The Hyatt in Monterey where we stayed was really nice... it was actually a bunch of buildings lining a golf course and our room was pretty spacious. There were these weird lights though next to the bed and our shower only had half of a glass wall... the other end of the shower was completely open. I found this very weird and obsessed about it all weekend!

After checking in we made our way towards the starting area in Pacific Grove, and along the way made a stop at Carrows for lunch. The starting area was also the "Expo" where Claudia and Amy picked up all their race stuff. We checked out the empty transition area and then met up with some of their teammates who were going for a pre-race dip. Eeek. I don't why they all didn't just call it quits, turn around a go home after taking a look at the water... FILLED with kelp and it looked freezing!!! Amy and Claudia skipped the pre-race dunk so they're wetsuits wouldn't be all wet and icky the next day.

The empty transition area

The swim entry point... all that stuff in the water is the kelp they had to swim through... ikkk!

After we got back to the hotel, Claudia spent some time getting all her race gear organized while the rest of us relaxed :D At 6:00 we walked across the parking lot to the Pasta Party. I've been to many, many pasta parties, some better than others, and I have to say this was one of the best I've been to! The food was really good, the speakers didn't go on and on, and the honoree speaker (in this case the mom of an honoree) was amazing-- by the end of her talk, we were all on our feet singing along to "I Will Survive", led by her amazing daughter! And thankfully the Pasta Party didn't go on too long so after a quick team meeting, and one last gear check, the triathletes could get to bed at a decent time :)

The next morning the alarm went off at o'dark thirty :( Claudia got up and got ready, and I got to lie in bed a little longer since Lindsay and Phil were coming to pick me up after Claudia, Rocky and Amy left. Off our little triathletes went and about a half hour later Phil, Lindsay and I arrived at the start area. We snuck our way into the transition area and quickly found Claudia and Amy. They seemed to be doing well, although you could tell they were nervous :) Since Claudia and Amy's swim wave wasn't until more than an hour after the first wave started, we just hung out chatting with friends who had arrived and watching the men doing their 2 loops in the water.


















Pretty soon it was time for Amy and Claudia to start!!! A quick hug, good luck, and down they went to the water! The girls both looked strong as they came out of the water the first time, ran around the rock and then ran back into the water. Since we wanted to be able to see them come out of the transition area on the way out on the bike, we left the beach as soon as they started their second loop and trekked out to the bike part of the course.






We managed to find a really good spot to cheer them on and made it just in time! Not too long after we parked ourselves, Amy and Claudia came riding out of the transition area. I had made this obnoxiously giant, neon sign so they easily spotted us on the side of the road. Since they were doing 4 loops of the bike course, we got to see them a bunch of times!






After they went out on their last loop, we hightailed it over to the transition area. We figured this would be the best place to see them come in on the bike, and then go out on the run. First Amy came in looking very good, and not far behind her came Claudia, also looking really good. And best of all, they were still smiling so we figured they must be feeling pretty good too! Into the transition area they went with their bikes, and a few minutes later, out they came with their running gear on!




Since the run course ALSO was comprised of multiple (3 loops-- talk about needing mental toughness!!), we parked ourselves along the run course right where they'd be coming in, and then turning around to go back out. There were a lot more people crowded along the run course and since I couldn't see too far down the road, I was afraid I was going to miss them. But thanks to the aforementioned obnoxious sign, they had no problems finding me! The sign even got a shout out from the announcer up in the tower near the finish line. I swear that sign was like a beacon! I was starting to get worried on the run course because it was really starting to warm up (well, warm for Monterey... I still had my long sleeved shirt on and pants!) and I didn't know how the girls would feel in the heat. But each time they came running by us, they didn't look at all like they were struggling.



After they went out on their last loop, we walked closer to the finish shoot so we could see them cross the finish line. Amy came in first, and was closely followed by Claudia... WOO HOO!!! They both did such a fantastic job, and it was so fun being out there to cheer them on! CONGRATS AMY AND CLAUDIA!!!








After chatting with all their fans (us :D) we all headed over to a restaurant around the corner for some lunch. After lunch we headed back to the hotel and hopped straight in the shower! Amy and Claudia were pooped, and so were Rocky and I (hey, spectating is hard!!) so we all ended up nodding off a little. After a short rest, it was time to get up and get ready for the Victory Party, which was also in our hotel. The food was pretty good (although not as good as the night before) and they even had a cake!! There was much celebrating, congratulating and talking about how everyone did. We actually hung out at the Victory party until they kicked us out, and then we made a short visit to the sport's bar next door in the hotel. Finally we headed back to our rooms (after a quick visit to the golf course :), watched the video that Rocky had taken and then conked out!

The next day we slept in a little, then got up and got everything packed up. Rocky, Claudia, Amy and I headed to Cannery Row for some lunch and little shopping :D After that we got in the car for the long drive back to the Bay Area!

I didn't want this post to be TOO long, so there are some things I left out... Claudia and Amy wrote a great weekend and race recap, and have some more pictures posted! To read Amy's recap click here and here. For Claudia's recap go here and here!

Tri weekend... take 2

Last weekend was Phil's Triathlon, this weekend it's Amy and Claudia's turn! The race is early on Saturday morning, and most of us are heading down tomorrow to stay in Monterey and cheer them on! It looks like the weather isn't going to be as nice as it was in Santa Cruz, which is actually okay... the triathletes will have perfect racing weather, and the spectators won't have to bake in the sun all morning!

I don't have much of a training update since there hasn't been much training going on :( I was doing so much better and running more consistently when I WASN'T training for anything! Now that Nike is just about a month away and I should be training for it, I haven't done jack crap! Since I'll be away all weekend, I'll have to continue (start) training again next week. Pretty soon it'll be time for our 10 miler, and I haven't done more than 5 miles yet! I'm in big trouble! BUT, the way I look at it is that I never do really well at Nike, and I've done it before without training, so it may not be pretty, but I'll be able to do it!

GOOD LUCK AMY AND CLAUDIA

(and all the other TNT peeps going to Pac Grove)!!!

An earthquake, Dave and Big Kahuna... My Weekend Trifecta

As long as earthquakes don't do any real damage, I think they're kind of fun but a little scary at the same time... kind of like a roller coaster! Friday night Lindsay and I were sitting on the couch watching tv when the apartment started to shake. Next thing you know, Lindsay has jumped over to the spot next to me, and we're grasping on to eachother's arms. I know Lindsay freaks out a little during earthquakes so I kept repeating "It's going to be okay" over and over. I think I freaked myself out doing that though because tears started running down MY face! I'm such a dork (or as I texted Claudia later, "fork")!

Saturday I ended up not going out for a run with the Diablo Valley run team, but instead ran with Lindsay, who was out with her walk team in Moraga. Well, we didn't RUN the whole time, there was some walking in there on the uphill sections, but I think we did a pretty good job! We ended up going a little over 5 miles, and managed not to pass out in the heat! While we were out there we also ran into Claudia and Amy who were on their last team run with the Tri team!

After the run I went home, showered, got some things prepped for Big Kahuna the next day, and then met up with Amy at 4:30 to go to see Dave Matthews!! This year Dave was playing at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley and it was all open seating, which means the first ones there get the best seats. We got there right when the gates opened, and even though we had to wait in a long line to get in, we still got seats with a really good view of the stage-- the Greek Theatre is small enough that most ALL the seats have a good view of the stage! Boy it was HOT on the stone benches though! The concert was fantastic, as usual, and even though I didn't know every single song they played, I thoroughly enjoyed each song. I even made a celebrity sighting... Peter Coyote!

My celeb sighting, Peter Coyote

By the time I got home from the concert and took a shower (so I wouldn't have to the next day) it was 12:30, and I had only 3 hours until I needed to get up to get ready to go down to Santa Cruz :( 3:30 my alarm went off, I got dressed, and then headed off to Claudia and Rocky's. We got down to Santa Cruz around 5:30 and headed down to the beach to find Phil and the rest of our cheering squad. We saw Phil coming down from the transition area, and then walked down to the swim start at the beach. At 7:05 Phil's wave took off and the race was ON!!!

After Phil got in the ocean, we ran over to the other side of the pier where the swimmers would be coming out of the water. It took him 45 minutes to swim the 1.2 miles and then he was off to the transition area to get ready for his 56 mile bike ride. We were able to walk up this little hill a block up from the beach and see him as he rode from the transition area. At that point he was looking really good! After seeing him, we knew we had about 3.5 hours until he'd be coming back so we went to the car to change in to some cooler clothes (it was only 8:00 and already getting really warm) and grabbed a bite to eat.

3 hours later we were back at the top of the hill waiting for Phil to come back. About 45 minutes later, and a few false alarms, we saw Phil coming down the street and he still looked like he was doing well! We ran across the street so we could cheer him on as he went out on the run portion of the race. Just a few minutes later we saw him running towards us. I was kind of worried about how he'd be feeling... it was HOT out there, with no cloud cover and he'd already done a long swim AND bike ride. If it were me, the LAST thing I'd feel like doing would be running a half marathon. But Phil didn't look like he felt the same way :) He was smiling, and running well as he went by us!

We knew the run would take him at least 3 hours, so to kill the time we walked down to the Boardwalk. We took a photo in the photo booth, had a corn dog and giant beer, rode on the Giant Dipper and then rounded out a day of bad eating with a chocolate dipped soft serve ice cream. Yummm :) By then it was time to head down to the finish line along the beach and wait for Phil to run in. It seemed like the ultimate insult to made these athletes run along the sand, dodging sunbathers and playing kids, for the last half mile! But when Phil came in, he STILL looked great! He had a smile on his face (and very good sign) and was still running :D Final clock time was 7 hours, 20 minutes (official chip time was 7 hours, 15 minutes)! After his grand finish, we all ran down to congratulate Phil and see how he was feeling. After talking with him, I'd never guess that he just finished a 7 hour plus Half Ironman... he looked and sounded better than I do after just a marathon!

Since it had been a pretty long day, after we talked with Phil for awhile, we headed back to the car and got back on the road. I finally got home around 4:30 or so, but after being up for 13 hours, with only 3 hours of sleep before that, I felt like it might as well be 10:00 pm. :( A shower and a nap did wonders although I still felt worn out from being in the sun all day!

CONGRATULATIONS PHIL!!

Nature

I like nature, but on Wednesday I realized how much of a wussy city girl I am! Since I've been such a lazy bum lately, and haven't started my Nike training, I decided on Wednesday that after work I'd go on a little mini hike after work. Every day on my way to and from work, I drive by a parking lot for one of the trails in Briones Regional Park. I've always been curious as to where the trail went, so I figured I'd check it out. Of course I had to pick one of the hottest days to go exploring!

After work I changed into my workout clothes and headed down the street to the trailhead. There were only two cars in the parking lot, and one belonged to a woman who was picking her kid up at the school next to the parking lot. Everyone else was probably in their nice air conditioned homes :( On the way out on the trail I stopped to grab a map of the park and read some of the notices up on the board. They had warnings about ticks, mountain lions and snakes. Great. On my way I went... up, up and up the trail (which at first was just a gravel road, and then branched off to a dirt trail). After a few minutes on the trail I saw a lady with her three dogs coming down the trail-- the other car in the parking lot belonged to her, which meant I was now all alone up there. I kept going for awhile and then figured that this probably wasn't the best idea... I started worrying that I would get bitten by a snake, trampled by cows (which graze in the park), attacked by a mountain lion, or just trip on a pile of cow poo and tumble down the hill and no one would be able to help me. Basically, I just freaked myself out! After almost a mile on the trail, I decided to turn around and head back to the parking lot :) It was a good workout since it's such a hilly trail, and the views from up there are amazing, but next time I think I'll go up there with a buddy!

As of right now I have plans to head out to Heather Farms to get in a run with the Diablo Valley run team. I think they're already up to 7 miles... but I'll probably do just 4. Not too impressive, but at least it's a start! Saturday night I'm off to the Dave Matthews concert with Amy (SOOO excited!!!!) and then on Sunday Claudia and I will be heading down to Santa Cruz at the butt crack of dawn to cheer on Phil at his first Half Ironman Triathlon!! GOOD LUCK PHIL!!!!!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend has passed... summer is over :( You wouldn't know that by the weather though... it's stinkin' hot out there!! Labor Day weekend was a lot of fun... pretty busy but still time to just relax.

Friday I met up with Claudia and Phil for some dinner before Pride and Joy played at the Blackhawk Plaza. We just ate at Alberto's Cantina in the plaza, and enjoyed watching all the crazy Blackhawk folks getting ready to party! After dinner, the three of us went over to grab some seats in the plaza and wait for Chris, Meenu and Rocky. Pride and Joy put on a GREAT show and the plaza was PACKED!!! Although the music was fantastic, I don't know what was more fun... the show, or watching all the Blackhawk people. I swear it's like watching a live episode of the Desperate Housewives of Orange County!!

On Saturday Rocky, Claudia and I headed off to Sonoma for a picnic at Chateau St. Jean. When we went there a few weeks ago, we heard about an "event" they were doing there over Labor Day weekend and decided that would be a nice way to spend a Saturday. Unfortunately, it took us FOREVER to get up there with all the traffic! It didn't end up really being much of an "event" but there were a lot of people out on the grounds picnicking and relaxing all day. We had brought some sandwiches, snacks and wine and just spent the day enjoying the warm weather and lovely scenery (Chateau St. Jean looks like some chateau right out of a foreign movie-- it's really pretty)! We were so full from snacking all afternoon that we didn't make our usual stop at Mary's Pizza Shack in Sonoma for dinner... we did have room though for some ice cream at Ben & Jerry's :D

Sunday I spent the morning just relaxing and hanging out. Lindsay and I went for a walk down the Iron Horse Trail and then cooked up a yummy breakfast of eggs, hash browns and sausage! Later that afternoon we took BART over to the Art & Soul Festival in downtown Oakland. Last week I had been searching around online to see what was going on in the Bay Area over the weekend and saw that the Indigo Girls was going to be playing Sunday at the festival. I've been a big fan of the Indigo Girls since college but have never seen them live... I couldn't pass up a chance to see them live for only $10!! Lindsay and I got there a little early to just walk around the festival... it was a MUCH more diverse crowd than we usually see at the Lafayette and Walnut Creek Art and Wine Festivals so it was fun to walk around and check it all out. A little before the Indigo Girls were set to start at 4:00, Lindsay and I headed towards the main stage to grab a spot. The area was SO packed that we got kicked out of our first spot, and had to cram in near a sidewalk with a bunch of other people. The show was great though, and the Indigo Girls sounded just as good live as they do on their CDs! By the end of the show we were pooped from walking around and standing all afternoon so we headed home, grabbed some dinner at Chipotle and then both passed out on the couch!

Monday morning was another relaxing morning. I did a little cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping and then whipped up some brownies to take to Claudia and Rocky's for a BBQ. Rocky and Claudia cooked up some yummy taco stuff for Chris, Meenu, Lindsay and I! We ate, talked, played with the doggies and played a game of Cranium (Claudia, Meenu and I lost :()! It was a fun night-- we were having so much fun we didn't get home until after 8:00!