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!

Goodbye Harry

I finally finished the 7th and final Harry Potter book. The first part of the book dragged on a little bit but I really got into it about half way through. All yesterday I couldn't wait to get home to read some more of it. With about three hundred more pages to go, I figured I would probably finish it sometime today. I was wrong. Last night I went on a reading marathon... I read virtually non-stop from the time I got home at about 5:00pm until 8:45pm. I took a 15 minute snooze somewhere in the middle when my eyes just wouldn't stay open anymore. I didn't even take a break for dinner. And I'll even admit that I cried. :(

Now it's back to running :D After being absent from track last week due to the Stitch N'Pitch game, I will be back there tonight. I think this may be our last night of circuit drills before we start hill training

LOOOONG Weekend

Sometimes weekends seems so short, and sometimes they stretch on forever (which I'm not complaining about). This was a LOOOONG one :D

Friday night I went to Target to pick up the new Harry Potter book and some other things. I was slightly nervous that they might not have any books left, but there was a full wall of them :D Once I got home, after dinner and some tv, I finished up the last few pages of book #6 and started on #7. It was a little sad knowing that this would be the last time I'd start a new Harry Potter book :(

Saturday morning I headed off to Alameda for Rocky and Phil's Mentor Led Run. I had dressed for warm weather so I was a little nervous when I went through the tunnel and was engulfed in fog. Uh oh, maybe I should have dressed a little warmer :( When I got out of the car at the Alameda Ferry I was pleasantly surprised though... it was still very overcast, but not really cold at all. And the wind that is usually always whipping at the ferry terminal wasn't there either!

The 8 miles went very well. There is just something about this course that I really like. I think it's because we're not on the same boring trail all the way out and all the way back. The first two miles are along the bay with some pretty houses to our right. They we hit the wooden bridge and bike bridge that crosses the channel. On the other side of that bridge, we run for about .75 miles through a neighborhood before we come out along the beach for the next mile or so. It's also all pretty flat, except for the bridge :D I ran the first 4 miles with Phil but when I turned around, he continued on for another mile. Crazy boy... he and Rocky rode their bikes for 10 miles to mark the course, and then RAN those same miles right afterwards. A swim in the bay and it would have been a Triathlon!

The last two miles are always the toughest on this course... you keep thinking that the end must be around the next turn. And it's not. But that's where the Garmin helps out... it tells me exactly how much further it is until the end :D I finished feeling very good. My final time was 1:32 for 8.05 miles. That's about an 11.5 minute mile. I think the first half I was a little faster and then slowed down the last couple of miles. By the time I finished, the sun was starting to peak out but the wind was also picking up.

After we waited for the last runners to come in, a group of us headed out to the Coffee Mill in Oakland for breakfast. The parking was a pain in the rear but the food was well worth it! I had a scramble with avocado, bacon, spinach and swiss cheese, toast and potatos... yuummm :D

Finally I was heading back to WC... after my shower I had hoped to have time for a little nap but that didn't happen. I read for a little bit and then had to get ready to go back over to Oakland to meet up with Claudia and Rocky. Rocky's former boss is in a new band and they had invited us to their debut gig at a band member's house in Mountain View. I was really surprised once we got there how much they had done for this little gig. The host/hostess had rented tables and chairs, and there was a stage with complete sound and lighting set up in the back yard. Joe's band, Big Eye, did a really fantastic job! They did a lot covers of songs from the 90's-- Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, etc. All the music I used to listen to in High School! They played 3 full sets and by the time we said our goodbyes and headed home (after a Jack in the Box run) it was pretty late. By the time I got in bed it was even later and I was very happy that I could sleep in the next morning!

After sleeping in a little bit Sunday, and reading more Harry Potter, I went back to Oakland (that's trip #5 through the tunnel for anyone keeping count :D) to meet up with Claudia-- We were going down to the Art and Wine Festival in Alameda. The Festival was fun... the alcohol was too expensive so we really just shopped around at the booths and in some of the stores along the street. The crowd there was definitely very different from the one you get at the WC and even Lafayette Art and Wine Festivals. It was fun to watch all the people though, and look at all the cute doggies :D And I was a very happy camper after my yummy corndog (a festival must-have) and Funnel Cake. I came home tired and covered in Powdered Sugar dust! I spent the rest of the day napping, reading and catching up on some TV!

PS... I'm updating my Lake Chabot post with a couple of pictures so check them out!

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Yea, it's Friday!! Woo hoo!

Last night I had intended to do my workout video since I had missed the track workout this week. Didn't happen. My co-worker Ann invited me to meet her, her cousin, and a friend out at Stanford's for dinner and drinks. That sounded like a MUCH better idea than exercising! What no one was aware of was that Broadway Plaza was also having it's Summer Jazz Series last night too so the whole shopping center was packed and parking spaces where few and far between. :( But we had a wonderful dinner and a lot of fun chatting.

Tonight I'm going to buy a copy of the new Harry Potter book... I wanted to re-read the last one to refresh my memory before I started on the new one. I think I have less than 20 pages left to read so it's time for a trip to the bookstore :D Then it's early to bed for me since I'll be up early to head out to Rocky and Phil's Mentor Led Run in Alameda for an 8 mile run! The Diablo Valley team is having a Coached Run in Oakland, which means they'll have water stops, but I really love running the Alameda course so I'm heading over there instead-- I'll gladly trade water stops for a good run on a good course.

What's my real age?

According to a very detailed survey on RealAge.com, my real age is 28.5 (2.1 years younger than my calender age). I'll take it :D But does that mean I have to turn 30 all over again?! Go take the survey... it's fun and will give you a good idea of things you need to improve in the areas of nutrition, physical activity, social support, stress, and lifestyle. Very interesting :D The other girls in the office took the survey and only one other ended up younger than her calender age. One even scored 8 years older!!

Last night Amy and I did our normal run, but this time we started in Alamo so we could bypass the trail closures in Danville. We ran the opposite direction-- towards Danville and back-- hoping that the tail breeze and down slope would help us on the way back. We both still ran too fast on the way out. By the time we got to the turnaround at a little past 2 miles, I was hot, sweaty and exhausted. On the way back we slowed down a little and the downhill slope did help a little. I think we finished our 4 plus miles in about 46 minutes. We even sprinted in the last 50 yards or so. I felt pretty good... just WAY out of breath!

Just say NO.... to cotton candy

Last night's Stitch N'Pitch baseball game was fun, but not really because of the game, mostly because of the socializing! The Giants lost and Barry didn't hit any home runs, 'nuff said about that.

After work I met Amy on the BART train and on our route into the city we picked up some more of our group. We got to SF a few hours before the game so we could have dinner at this yummy place called Primo Patio. It's this tiny but really cute place that serves Caribbean food. I had the Jamaican Jerk Chicken Sandwich.... yummmmmm.... and a drink called Buli Buli, which I love partly for the name and partly for how good it was. They combine beer, lime juice, sugar and ice into a pitcher... sounds a little odd but it's very good :D

After eating we headed over to the park. First stop, pick up our Stitch N'Pitch swag. Last year we got a cute tote, some fugly yarn, a few patterns and a pair of needles. This year we got another cute little tote, no yarn, some knitting needles (including a pair of size 1s that were way too long to be of any true use), some patterns and a cute little tape measure with the Stitch N'Pitch logo.

What I said about the game above pretty much sums it up... a lot of big swings but not many hits from Barry and lots of flashes going off every time he swung-- in fact, not many hits from ANYONE on the Giants (until after we left that is). I really didn't pay too much attention to the game, in fact I missed all of the runs scored by the other team! We were all chit chatting, talking about running, about knitting, and god knows what else.

A little aside... Cotton candy is a sport's event tradition for me, going back to King's games in high school with my dad. And if I'm not actually eating it, I'm spending the whole game tracking the cotton candy man around the stadium/arena. Usually they ignore my silent cries but not last night... even up in the nose bleed seats the cotton candy man seemed to always be there :( No fail, the ONE time I don't want cotton candy, we see the cotton candy man about 50 times.

When it looked like the Giants were destined for a loss, and Barry wasn't going to be hitting a home run, a bunch of us left. The earlier you leave, the more you avoid the mad chaos on Muni and BART. But of course once we left, the Giant's rallied back and scored 4 runs in the last inning to tie it and go into extra innings. I think they took it all the way to the 11th inning, but then ended up losing anyway :( Oh well, guess we didn't miss too much.

Tonight Amy and I are doing our usual run but not in our usual location. Because of the trail closure, we're going to meet in Alamo. Hopefully the beer, fries and jerk chicken I had last night don't come back to haunt me!

Trifecta of fun :D

Tonight a group of us running knitters (not at the same time, we're not THAT skilled) are off to Stitch N'Pitch night with the Giants at AT&T Park. A bunch of us went last year and had a lot of fun... you get to sit in a special section of the park with a bunch of other knitters and last year they gave us a little Stitch N'Pitch tote bag with some yarn, patterns and even bamboo needles. Last year we all knitted a Giant's hat, and this year we were all supposed to do the same. With as busy as we've all been, I think most of us are going to be wearing the hats we made last year!

As it just so happens, our little Stitch N'Pitch night happens to land right during Barry Bond's chase to reach, and surpass, Hank Aaron's home run record. He's only 2 homers away from a tie and he just might reach it tonight. I'm sure McCovey Cove behind the park will be packed with kayakers and boaters vying to catch a home run ball!

What makes this night a true trifecta of fun is the fact that my first major league baseball crush will be pitching for the visiting team. A few years ago, Tim Hudson was part of the Oakland Athletic's Big 3-- 3 very good, and very good looking, pitchers. All three-- Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito-- have moved on to new teams but tonight I'll get to see Timmy in action again. :D

Pretty Schmitty, those hills were BRUTAL!!

On Saturday morning was the dreaded Lake Chabot 10 miler. I ran, I conquered, and I came home coated with dirt and sweat. :(

I woke up Saturday morning, got dressed, ate a little food and headed off to Lake Chabot at about 6:45am. My stomach hurt the whole time. As much as I told myself this was no biggie, I've run 10 miles before, I've run at Lake Chabot before and I know I could do this, my body wasn't listening. :(

The first group was set to go out at 7:30 so before Coach started warming us all up, I went to the potty. After I came back, Coach had already gathered everyone together but since I didn't see them stretching, I thought I still had some time to chit chat before I joined them. After a few minutes we see the whole group running towards us so Claudia and I fell in behind them thinking we were doing the warm up run before we stretched. Instead of turning around and heading back the start, we kept going. Oh well, I guess we weren't doing our usual warm up and stretch!

Since the first time I ran Lake Chabot, I've hated it. Yeah it's pretty, but I've never been good at running hills and Lake Chabot us full of them. This time was no different. For our run on Saturday we started off by heading around the left side of the lake from the Marina. Up we went, down we went, rinse and repeat. Claudia and I ran the first semi-major hill but walked the rest. When I'm doing 10 miles, especially on a tougher course, my goal is to just do the damn thing, not necessarily do it quickly!

After going out 2 miles and back, we were back at our starting point. Claudia's knee and head were hurting her at this point so she decided to call it quits. Considering it had been 3 weeks since she last ran, and she was nursing a sore ankle and knee, she did a fantastic job! Now I was on my own for the rest of the run :(

After passing "GO" I headed out along the other side of the lake. The right side is the "less" hilly side-- at least the part that I had run before is. Little did I know what was in store for me! After almost 2 miles, the paved trail turns into a dirt fire road. And that's where it all went downhill (or in this case, literally uphill). The first part of the dirt trail is a VERY LONG hill. I have no problem admitting that I walked the entire hill (except when I saw Jeanette at the top and ran the last 50 yards :D). I think if I would have tried to run it, I would have died of a heart attack, rolled off the trail down the hill and into lake, never to be seen again, except by the fishies.


Towards the top of the hill was a fork in the trail. Left for the 10 milers and right for the 8 milers. Jeanette was waiting at the fork in the trail, taking pictures as people struggled up the hill. She pointed me to the left, telling me that I would "LOVE this part of the trail... it's so pretty in there amongst the trees." She also told me that this part of the course was known as the 10 Hills Trail because it's a series of "rolling" hills, but "don't worry, they're not bad". She lied. Some of those hills were so steep I didn't even run DOWN them. After running (or walking) for awhile, I saw a couple of people who were coming the other way and said that the water stop was just ahead. 10 minutes later, we hadn't reached the water stop. They lied to me too :( The next time someone told us we were almost there, I didn't believe them but they were actually telling the truth and after cresting the next hill we saw the water stop and the turn around up ahead. But now we had to go back the way we came, up and down those same damn 10 hills. Urg.

After being on my own for awhile, I did find a running partner along the way! One of the participants and I were neck and neck along the 10 hills trail. She'd pass me, then I'd pass her. Since the trail was pretty empty by the time we turned around, it was nice to be on the trail with someone else. We talked each other through the hills and finally we reached the fork in the road again. This time we got to go the other way, back to the start. I figured at this point, we HAD to start going downhill since it didn't seem we could climb anymore. Wrong again. We had one more big hill to go up before we would head back down to lake level. Less than a mile to the finish we finally got to the down hill! It was nice to run again, since I had been doing so much walking, and nice to have enough breath to chat with my running partner! Despite my filthy legs, sweaty body and worsening blisters, it was a great end to the run! Over 2 hours and a little over 10 miles after I had started, I was finished. :D

Saturday was also the honoree potluck so after hanging out for awhile, I headed back home. I ate some lunch, scrubbed off all the dirt and then took a nap... ahhh, heaven! I wasn't sore at all the rest of Saturday, but yesterday and today my calves are a little tight and my hip (joints?) are sore. But all in all I'm not as sore as I thought I was going to be after 10 miles of hills. :D And boy am I glad that run is over!

Rumble in the East Bay!

This morning I got a Bay Area wake up call... which means EARTHQUAKE!! At about 4:40 in the morning I was woken up by a "little" 4.2 magnitude earthquake. I don't think it lasted more than a few seconds but to my half asleep mind it seemed like forever. I remember laying there in bed wondering what I would do if it got worse... run outside in my pjs practically blind with no shoes? Get dressed first, or at least grab a sweatshirt since it's probably chilly outside? Put in my contacts, or just grab my glasses? Put on flip flops? Grab the poor fishy, if he hasn't been sloshed out of his tank? Thank god I didn't have to find out because it was over before I had made any real decisions. But knowing me, I would have taken the time to get partially dressed, put on my glasses, grab my shoes, purse, phone and fishy before I ran outside. Wait, I don't think you're even suppossed to run outside during an earthquake. Hmmm, living in the Bay Area maybe I should know this stuff!

Eeek, tomorrow I have to run 10 miles :( At hilly Lake Chabot :( I'm scared :(

Ouchie, ouchie, ouchie...

That's what I've been saying for the past couple of days, ever since that darned track workout. I know, track is good, track makes you run better, and faster but it's SUPER hard :( Right now it hurts to breath, laugh, sneeze, roll over, get out of a chair, walk down stairs... pretty much everything! Here's what our workout was like on Tuesday night:

10 minute warm up (4 times around the track)

Plyometric (explosive) lunges (this hellish exercise where we get in the lunge position, and then jump up to switch legs, coming back down in lunge position)
Hellish exercise #2 (I don't even remember what it was called, I think I've blocked it, but we laid on our backs with our legs up in the air and tilted them to the right, back up, and then left and up)
Push Ups
Bridges (Look easy but are super hard, especially if you have no core strength like I do. Basically you lay on your stomach, back and sides and then prop yourself up on your elbows for 30-60 seconds-- or 15 seconds if you're me)
Plyometric (explosive) skipping

Run one lap

Regular lunges
Reverse Crunches (lay on your back with your feet in the air and lift up with your legs)
Heel walks and toe walks
Butt kicks and high knees
Pickups

Run one lap then repeat it all again :(

I was so pooped towards the end, and my muscles were so shot, that I actually fell down while doing lunges. And I didn't fall while I was moving, I fell while I was HOLDING the lunge position... my legs just gave out under me. I don't think anyone saw me though, thank god!

After track I felt super nauseous though... I think I was a little dehydrated from not drinking much water that day, and only drinking water, not Gatorade, during the 2 hours of track. :(

Last night I met up with Amy for our weekly run. This week though we had to run a different route since part of the trail is closed off. We ran parallel to the trail on the streets of Danville and it was actually nice... shaded, cute homes to look at and practically no cars. About a mile in, we hooked back into the trail until we turned around a little past where we usually turn around.

The run back took us a little longer since it's the slightly uphill portion. I think we overdid it the first half because we were definitely slower, and took a couple one minute walk breaks, on the way back!

Last night before our run, I had the brilliant idea of taping my foot to prevent more blisters. I put bandaids on the existing ones and then taped around that to keep the bandaids in place. Well, it didn't work so good :( When we got back I took the tape off and saw that my two smallish blisters had turned into two much larger blisters. I think sweat from my feet loosened up the tape and caused it to rub on the skin... nice visual, I know! I went to the store and got some moleskin, but now I have to wait for the blisters to heal before I can use it :(

Go A's!!

... oh wait, they lost :( Last night I went to the A's vs. Texas game. Karen was going to take a friend for her birthday but that didn't work out so she invited me :D Karen has a hookup so, although she bought tickets for the cheap seats, we got to sit right down front near the Texas bullpen! The game wasn't very crowded so it was really easy to get seats really close... in fact, we were in the second row! The only think I was nervous about was someone hitting a line drive foul ball down the first base line right into my face! There was a guy in front of me who had brought a mit so I was hoping if that happened, he'd catch the ball before it got to me! There were a couple of balls that came in near us but none that were too close. Pheeewww!

Her friend, who is on-field security, scored us some Bazooka bubble gum from the bullpen's stash and also gave me a ball! It was fun watching the bullpen guys horsing around out there... some of them did more playing around than anything else. I guess that's what happens when you may pitch only an inning or so every few games!

Tonight it's off to track... hopefully I won't end up as sore afterwards as I did last week!

I "heart" lumpia

Yum... just writing that title is making my mouth water... more on the lumpia later...

Wow, this was a busy weekend! I can't believe that it's over already! Friday night I rented a movie and just took it easy in preparation for the 8 miler Saturday morning. I watched Catch and Release, a cute movie if a little cheesy :D

Saturday morning I headed over to the Berkeley Marina to do the Mentor Led Run with the Bayside team, led by Phil, Matt, and Lindsay. The weather in Berkeley was PERFECT for running-- overcast and chilly! It was so cold at the start I kept my sweatshirt on for the first mile or so of the run. I started out running with Matt, which means I was going a little faster than I should have. After the first mile, he took off ahead of me and I ran with another woman for awhile. I was feeling really good but when I got to the hill behind Golden Gate Fields, I decided to walk it so I didn't wear myself out-- after all, I still had to make it BACK to the marina! By that time Phil had caught up to me so we ran together the rest of the way.

After we turned around at mile 4, I was expecting to run into Claudia. At the base of the Golden Gate Fields hill we ran into Brandy, who had been running with Claudia earlier. She said that Claudia had tripped and fell around mile 1.5. :( That part of the course is particularly uneven and I'm surprised no one has taken a spill there earlier! Further down the road we see Claudia and Rocky pulling up... Claudia's knee is all scratched up and her ankle was starting to swell :( After chatting for a few minutes, Phil and I took off again to finish the rest of the run.

We finished in 1:36:03. All in all, I felt really good, other than my calves getting a little stiff towards the end. I think they were still shot from the track workout on Tues. and super speedy run with Amy on Wed. Today they feel fine though so I think they're pretty much recovered. I also got a couple blisters on the instep of my left foot. It seems like everytime I get new shoes I get blisters there for a few runs. Then the shoe is broken in and the problem is gone. I think I'll use some moleskin during our next few runs, just until the shoes are broken in.

After the run, just as the sun was starting to come out, I headed back home to get ready for a former co-worker's baby shower. It was really nice to see her, and fun to see all the fun baby stuff she got! AND we got yummy ladybug cupcakes as a favor!

Sunday I went over to Rocky's Uncle's house for the Reyes family reunion :D Yummm, lumpia :D If you've never had lumpia, you haven't truly lived. It's a little like an egg roll, but much smaller and yummier... and when it's dipped in that sweet sauce, it's pure heaven! They had tons of other food... ribs, chicken, Betsy's sister, beef, hot dogs, pasta salad, rice (of course), cake, It's It, otter pops and lot's more! It was an afternoon filled with yummy food, sun, laughing kids, barking dogs and Rocky's fun relatives :D His family is so big, I spent half the time trying to figure out who was related to whom, and how! I even got to see my little muffin... he was such a baby, wanting to sit on everyone's lap. I wonder how he got so spoiled?! :D

Happy Friday the 13th!

This about sums it up for me...

Tonight it's about rest and relaxation because tomorrow is our 8 miler! I know it's not much when you think about the big picture-- after all, we're training for 26.2 miles. This feels like it's our first actual LONG run... anything that's 6 and under doesn't really seem that far!

Stare Down...

My coworker brought in a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts this morning... they are now sitting on a table that is right outside my desk area. For the past 2.75 hours (yes, I'm counting) I have been trying to ignore their call.... come, eat me Olivia, I am SOOO tasty! SHUT UP!! So far I've won the stare down, but I don't know how much longer I can hold out :(

So last night I met up with Amy for our "buddy run." We were sans Claudia this week since she was on her way back from a wedding in Tahoe. Amy was unsuccessfully trying to find a satellite signal for her Garmin watch and after a few minutes we just gave up and headed on out. As cool as the watch is (I LUV mine) sometimes getting a satellite connection can take a little time. I've learned to turn my watch on when I leave my house instead of waiting until I'm ready to start running. Sure, I look funny driving down the road with my arm out of the window but by the time I get to the run, my watch is ready to go.

The whole way out, Amy's watch kept beeping, letting us know that YET AGAIN it had lost the satellite signal. Stupid watch. When we get to our usual turn around point and my watch says we've only gone .86 miles, I know some of that beeping must have been my watch too. Our turn around point is actually about 1.3 miles out so my watch probably dropped the signal at some point too. The other crazy thing was that my watch said we'd been running slightly under 12 minutes!! Umm, are we SURE we turned around at the right spot? At first Amy thought we hadn't, that we should have gone one more section of the trail. But then she checked her mileage chart that gives the distances for each street we reach and yep, we turned around at the right spot. I guess that "explosive" skipping really did help! No wonder we were too out of breath to do any talking!

The way back took us a tad longer, mostly because we stopped to walk a little while we figured out if we had turned around at the right spot. 27 minutes later we were done. Yep, that's right, 27 minutes for 2.7 miles... SUPER fast for us! And boy I felt it... I was out of breath and my muscles were starting to tighten up. Today, I can hardly walk... track on Tuesday and our super fast run last night did a number on my calves! Hopefully everything will stop hurting before the 8 miler this Saturday. I'm a little nervous about that distance-- it seems so much further than 6 miles!

Are those sweat droplets?

Nope... RAIN! Last night I headed out to the Diablo Valley team's track workout at DVC. The skies were grey and the weather was cool... but hey, I wasn't complaining! Partway through our workout, it started to drizzle.

Right now the team is doing circuit training and plyometric drills-- basically lots of different exercises broken up with laps around the track. It was nice to be on an actual track... the last track workouts I did with the team were at a park in Concord. It wasn't really a track, more of a gravely path around the park.

Here's Coach Tim's description of what we were going to be doing:

"Plyometric drills are the secret to running strong and faster. The drills may look like child's play with lots of hopping, skipping and jumping, but these simple drills simulate explosive actions to help you become a stronger and faster runner. Plyometric training will put more spring in every step you take, which is the key to better running. At Tuesday evening's track workout, you'll be introduced to plyometrics with skipping, slightly increased ranges and some tempo paced running."

Here is Coach Tim demonstrating the Plyometric, or "explosive", skipping:

And here's a breakdown of what I did:

WARM UP: Ran for 10 (about 4 laps around the track)
Squats 15
Crunches 30
Lunges (each leg) 10
Push Ups (Girly version) 12
Plyometric Skipping 50 yards, 2x
Run 1 Lap Easy Pace on Corners, Tempo Pace on Straights

Isometric Squat (Hold 40sec to 2min), 2x
Superman Back Extensions 15
Heel Walk/Toe Walk 50 yards each, 2x
High Knees/Butt Kicks run 50 yards each, 2x
Strides 50 yards, 4x (This means you basically run and speed up for the first 25 yards, then slow down for the remaining 25 yards)
Run as before

Then we repeat it all, and this time I upped the reps for most:
Squats 25
Crunches 30
Lunges (each leg) 15
Push Ups (girly) 12
Plyometric Skipping 50 yards each, 2x
Run 1 Lap Easy Pace on Corners, Tempo Pace on Straights

Isometric Squat (Hold 1 min), 2x
Superman Back Extensions 15
Heel Walk/Toe Walk 50 yards each, 2x
High Knees/Butt Kicks run 50 yards each, 2x
Strides 50 yards, 6x
Run as before

Man... I'm pooped! Track started at 6:30, I didn't get home until 8:45. :( Just enough time to grab a quick bite, jump in the shower and ice a little bit before bed. Good news is that neither my hip or knee bothered me during the workout... they were a little sore afterwards but I didn't have a problem during track!

Lots of fun, but little running :(

Wow, I have lots to catch you all up on since I haven't blogged since last week! I've been a bad, bad girl and have not been running much in the past week... there's been too much going on and it's been way too hot :(

So last Tuesday I mentioned I was going to go home and do my exercise DVD... that didn't happen. Neither did getting up early on the 4th to go running. Claudia texted me that morning saying that she had gotten home really late the night before and did I mind running on my own instead of meeting at Lake Merritt! Not at all, I said, right before I rolled over and went back to bed, knowing I wasn't going to get up and run on my own! After I finally rolled out of bed, I headed over to Claudia's around noon to hang out for the rest of the day. We worked on some party favors, watched a little tennis and then at 2:00 headed over to the pool with Phil. Karen, Lindsay and Christina joined us there and we hung out at the pool the rest of the afternoon, drinking some yummy sangria and snacking on goodies! Around 5:00 we headed back to C&R's condo for BBQ and a movie :D

Thursday it was back to work :( No running that night either since I needed to finish up the scrapbook stuff I was bringing to the reception on Saturday. I got it all finished up so Friday night I just hung out... I went to get my toes done and then was treated to a wonderful massage from Christina! Ahhhh, so relaxing!

Saturday AM I got up really early to run, anticipating a hot day. I got dressed, headed out of my apartment to run on the trail and was met with cloudy skies and chilly weather... YEA!!! I ran 6.02 miles in 1:11 hours. I felt way better on the way back than I did starting out, thanks to the slight decline :D I did something funky to my hip and knee though and they've been bothering me since then. I ran in my new shoes so I'm hoping that it doesn't have anything to do with that :( Tonight I'm off to track with the Diablo Valley team so we'll see how things go...

Now on to the fun stuff :D Saturday after my run I got everything ready for Claudia and Rocky's wedding reception/party later that day. My parents were coming in the afternoon so I wanted to get everything all laid out and ready to go so I could hang out with them. Once they got there, we had a wonderful lunch at Chow in Lafayette and then did a little shopping. At 3:45 it was off to the community center at Civic Park to help set up and then the party started at 6:00.

It was such a fun party! All our TNT peeps were there with a bunch of other friends, co-workers, and family. Everyone looked so great in their Hawaiian clothes, the food was yummy, the wedding cupcakes were delicious, the hula dancers put on a great show and of course East Bay Mudd rocked the house! There is no way I could describe the whole evening so here are some pictures:

Sunday I met my parents for breakfast and they we spent the rest of the day shopping in Berkeley and Walnut Creek. We even went to the Apple store in WC to check out the new iPhone. I have to admit that I was really iffy about a phone that costs $500 but those things really are cool, especially the internet capabilities. But as cool and fun as they are to play with, I don't think I'll be shelling out that much money any time soon for what's just a fancy phone!

Now that the party is over, I'll be focusing more again on my training! At least our heat wave seems to be over so the weather is much nicer!

Holy heat wave Batman!

Um yeah, it's super hot outside. It's supposed to be in the 100's over the next couple of days. Thank god for air conditioning! And it's even worse in Yuba City... Weather.com says that it's going to be 107 degrees tomorrow!!! Isn't that about how hot it is in hell? So glad I'm not there right now!

Yesterday I was a busy little bee: I met Jeanette for lunch in Walnut Creek. She just got a new job with the company that Amy works for. This week she's only working part time and she needed me to taste the carrot cake cupcakes she's making for Claudia and Rocky's wedding reception this weekend so we decided to meet up for lunch! That cupcake tasting is a tough job... but I know someone has to suck it up (in this case suck up a bunch of cream cheese frosting!) :D

After work I went to Danville to get some new running shoes and run another errand. I also met Claudia there since I had given her back the ribbon I was using to put together some of the favors for the party. I had finished one batch, given the finished ones to Claudia and then picked up another batch, forgetting that I still needed the ribbon. Duh... such a blond moment. By the time I got home, I was not in the mood to do my workout video so instead I highlighted my hair and worked on the other crafty wedding party project! So productive!

Today I was supposed to meet up with Jeanette and go to the Diablo Valley "it's going to kick my ass" track workout. BUT I checked the website and track is canceled for tonight... yea!!! It's super warm out today so I'm going to just go home and do my workout video.

Tomorrow I'm getting up early to run with Claudia at Lake Merritt. What good girls we are running on the holiday! For the rest of the day we'll be plopped by Claudia's pool with some yummy Sangria and snacks. The rest of the gang will be joining up with us for a BBQ at their place later! It'll be such a nice relaxing 4th of July!

Everyone have a fun and safe 4th of July!!!

Welcome July!

I can't believe it's already the beginning of July... it seems like not too long ago we were saying goodbye to winter. It feels like the older you get, the faster time passes. Summers seemed endless when we were little and now they pass way too quickly!

Friday night Claudia, Rocky, Karen and I went to see the Giants play the Diamond Backs. We had a free parking pass so we decided to drive in instead of BART. BART can be convenient but on game days there are just TOO MANY PEOPLE to deal with! We figured that it wouldn't be easier to just drive in since we wouldn't have to pay to park... and it should have been easier but we had the bad luck to run smack into Critical Mass, a literal mass of cyclists who "reclaim the roads." Of course this happens when I have to go potty too :(

The game was fun... I don't really remember much of it since I had my eye out for the cotton candy man the whole time. Since I was little, attending a professional sporting events was less about the sport for me, and mostly about the people watching and cotton candy, and not necessarily in that order. :D By the end of the night I was on a sugar and salt high (salt from the sunflower seeds, another baseball game must) and my mouth was a pretty blue color. Cotton candy has really come a long way since back in the day... they have all these fancy flavors and colors. I got the 4 in one bag... purple grape, yellow lemon, blue berry and pink something sweet (we couldn't really figure out the flavor on that one).

Saturday I had decided to run on my own instead of going to Livermore with the DV team or Oyster Bay in San Leandro with the Bay side team. I headed to Alamo with the intention of running on the Iron Horse Trail out towards Walnut Creek for a mile and a half and back, and then out towards Danville for the same distance, making 6 miles total. I went out to the Rudgear staging area, since I figured that was about 1.5 miles... it was actually 2.3 miles. I felt really great on the way out (helped mostly by the slight decline)-- at one point I looked at my watch and it said I was doing a 9.49 minute per mile pace. Yeah, WAY too fast. There were a ton of people out on the trail, including my boss' wife Nancy who is training for the Breast Cancer Walk (crazy lady... even I wouldn't attempt that!!).

I definitely took a lot longer to get back to where I started once I turned around. I could feel the slight incline and at one point my hips really started to hurt. By the time I got back to where I started (54 minutes and 4.6 miles later) I wasn't feeling great and didn't think that trying to go out for that last 1.4 miles was a good idea. I was disappointed in myself but I figured that a run cut short was better than getting injured. I'm hoping that it's just a case of shoes with too many miles on them... I've worn these shoes for the past 4 races. Whoops, time to get some new ones!

Later that night, after a nice nap, I met up with Karen and Claudia in Oakland. Rocky's band MotherHumbuckers had a gig that night in the city so us girls met for dinner in Oakland before hand. The band did a really fantastic job, as they usually do, but unfortunately they didn't make it into the next round of Emergenza, a kind of international battle of the bands that they've been competing in. :( After they played we stuck around to get our free CD, sticker and poster and then headed home :D

Sunday I got to sleep in... ahhhh :D The rest of the day was spent cleaning, doing laundry, running errands and working on a special craft project. Man, it was a busy weekend... and it looks like the craziness isn't going stop until after next weekend! Maybe THAT'S why the time passes so quickly... too many fun things on the calender!